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Speaker 1: Hi, and welcome to the NBA Podcast. My name is

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Mortan Jensen, and today we'll be discussing some current events,

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one of them just the minor little thing, the New

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York Knicks winning the championship, no big deal, and then

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of course Thiago Splitter getting hired by the Chicago Bulls.

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Speaker 2: But let's start with the big one.

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Speaker 1: And to help me through those two topics today I

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have the one and only Keith Smith from Spots Track. Keith,

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how are you, sir?

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Speaker 2: I'm doing well. Thanks so much for having me.

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Speaker 1: Oh, of course, man, it's been a while, so it

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was about time to get you back on the pod.

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First and foremost, the Knicks fifty three years in the

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making this championship, Like just the emotional level of Knicks fans.

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I mean, I look, I'm not a Knicks guy, but

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i am. I've just been overwhelmed positively so by seeing

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all the reactions like this seems like it's multiple generations

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who have just been yearning for this to happen, and

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now it's happened. Like what's been your read on it?

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Speaker 3: Yeah, it's been really fun watching, Like outside of the

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rampant destruction, right, I've never understood that and that is

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a funny. I was talking to a friend of mine

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and he's like, yeah, that's the one idiot idiocy of

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fandom that we all share across no matter what country

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you're from. Is this desire to my team won a championship.

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Let's just go break things right. Like I've never really

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understood that, but you know, hey, whatever, folks on the positives,

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Like it's been so cool to see like starting that night,

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this celebrity Knicks fans And I put him in that

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order because I believe they are truly Knicks fans, Like

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they are not Nicks celebrity fans, right that are like

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just show up in a game, but they're really a

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celebrity fan. Like these guys are like like Timothy Shallomey,

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Spike Lee, Like they're legit fans that are there all

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the time, you know, live and die with the team

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and all that. Like that was cool to see them.

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Super cool to just see the city like just rid

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up and so you know, it's like who knew there

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were so many orange and blue light skimes have around

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a city, Like pretty cool with that and just you

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know all the people like talking about like I remember,

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I'm not a Red Sox fan. But I remember when

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the Red Sox finally broke through, like the people after

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eighty something years talking about like I thought I was

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gonna die and never see this. Yeah, Like and then

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I know a lot of some Knicks fans in my

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life were like, It's just never gonna happen, like I'm

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never gonna see my team win a championship, and you know,

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lo and behold they did, and I mean absolutely incredible stuff.

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And I you know, super happy obviously too for the players,

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the coaches, everybody, everybody involved, like just really really cool,

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cool thing to see.

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Speaker 1: Oh absolutely, And honestly, I think this is interesting also

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from like a roster construction perspective, like the way that

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they just leaned into like win now guys like guys

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in their primes like Brunson and Anobi, towns Bridge is

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Hard are all in their prime years, like between the

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age of twenty eight and thirty one. I want to

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say if something along those lines, I mean, I wouldn't

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be shocked if more teams just say screw it. The

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window is so small. Let's just go all in for

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these prime guys and see if we can actually make

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like a Knicks play.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, the window is small and the league is wide open, right,

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like everybody assumed, all right, well it's thunder, yeah, and

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then all right, cool, the Spurs are here to challenge them.

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And I'll say to people whenever they say Spurs will

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be back, and I'll be very clear, I do think

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the Spurs will be back. But we all said that

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when the thunder with Durant Westbrook and hardened and that

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group never made it back. Things happen, right, Things happen,

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Things don't go the way you always think they will,

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And I think we're in a place where, yeah, they

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probably will be back, But I don't know that anybody

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is fears the Thunder and fears the Spurs. And I

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don't all due respect to the next, I don't know

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that anybody fears the nickt the way like they maybe

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did back in the day with teams like.

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Speaker 2: The Warriors, the Dynasty Warriors, to be clear, yeah yeah, yeah, yeah.

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Speaker 3: Not the twenty two, which was still pretty good, Yeah,

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got the job done, but the Dynasty Warriors those same

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year as Calves, right where we could be we you

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rewind what ten years ago and you and I could

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have said, well, Calves Warriors, that'll be the final exactly

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in the middle of June. Yeah, like next a year

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from now, it'll be the final again. And and we

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would have been right for you know, a bunch of years,

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four years in a row. And I think think now

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what we're seeing is teams are like why not us right?

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Like things happened along the way, team stumbled. But what

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I'm glad you touched on was the roster build component

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for the Knicks, where the Knicks were the old Knicks,

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the pre Leon Rose Knicks. We're just Oh, that guy

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was really good, let's get him. Oh that guy's really good,

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let's get him. Oh that guy's really good, let's get him.

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Speaker 2: And it was like you.

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Speaker 3: Signed six guys who don't fit at all together, Like

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what are we doing? This isn't a team like this

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is a mess where this team was put together with

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or we went out and got our point guard, right,

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we have our Then we we got one of the wings,

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then we got another wing, then another one, and then

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we went yeah, we like Mitchell Robinson movie when somebody

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can actually give us a little more offensive punch. And

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they went out and made the big move to get

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Carl Anthony Towns and just kept building and building and building,

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And I think what's so cool is as you look

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at this roster, it gives everybody a sense of Yeah,

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it doesn't have to be all drafted and development doesn't

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even have to be draft a guy and then hit

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right in a trade. You can use free agency as

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a tool. You just have to find talent that fits

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together versus just collecting talent.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, I agree with you, like there are multiple ways

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to get the job done now. And that's also something

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that's interesting to me that we will talk about in

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a later episode. I think just in terms of like

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how roster construction is also becoming While it's been more open,

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it's also becoming more limited in the way that the

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league is structure is certain things. But I want to

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get back to just the Nicks at large, because after

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the first two games, I had Karl Anthene Sounds as

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my Finals MVP at that point, and then for the

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remainder of the series he was pretty quiet. And if

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you had told me before a final series that Carl

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Anthony Towns would not even average ten shot attempts per game,

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that he would average first ten points per game, I

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would not have said, oh, yeah, I feel confident that

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the Knicks could do this, especially in five, like to

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them for them to have so many components that they

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could go to, like Josh Hart had two awful offensive

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games and games once and two, and then he just

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flipped the switch and started making offensive plays like Oceananopi

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up until game five. I think was also in the

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conversation for Finals MVP. He was just so great and

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he was averaging twenty three plus. Like just the fact

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that they had so many players in that starting lineup

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that they could go to who could sort of seize

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the day, that to me is just there was a

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level of self sacrifice involved in that mentality that I

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found really really interesting. Like it was almost like in

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the European sense, I think of, you know, the euro

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League teams basically saying, oh, we don't care, we don't

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care who scores if someone just does like Bronson obviously

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is still the head of the snake. But even so,

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it was just such a spread out equal opportunity the offense.

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I just I did not have the Knicks at this

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level going into the playoffs whatsoever.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, same, And I think back to Michail Bridges was

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the guy on the nets, right, they got all the

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shots he wanted, could do whatever he wanted with the ball,

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and the the Knicks get him in, it's, hey, you're

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gonna have to be comfortable being our third, fourth, sometimes

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maybe even fifth option on the floor. Then they go

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and get car Anthony Towns and the idea was, all right,

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you're going to be our number two or one a

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option alongside Brunson. But then I think the change Mike

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Brown made in that Hawks series when they fell down

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two to one, which is a whole other thing, like,

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how were the Hawks the only team that had these

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guys right in the playoffs? Right, It's just so funny.

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But I think it's with Towns changing it up and saying,

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all right, he's getting his shots and touches, but they're

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coming late in the shot clock. They're coming after we

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try to run other stuff, and it's they were throwing them. Basically,

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they were throwing them a bunch of grenades, and it

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was like, figure it out here, big man, late in

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the clock. And now what I think when they made

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that change to say we're going to open possessions with

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the ball in his hands that way, he's involved in

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Towns talking after the finals about how like much. He

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loved being a passer in these playoffs and setting his

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teammates up and he's like, it's awesome, my kid set

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them up. And I think that was such a smart

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change because it kept him engaged. It kept him involved

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rather than just saying, hey, go spot up in the

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corner right, or go spot up at the top of

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the key, like you're keeping him engaged and involved with

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the ball in his hands.

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Speaker 2: And then that.

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Speaker 3: Led to I thought, throughout the course of these playoffs,

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this was the best I've ever seen him play defense.

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Speaker 2: Yes, like I think.

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Speaker 3: He just yeah, just went to a different level where

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it was like, all right, it was not only was

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it like how many times do we say if they

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can you get passable defense right right out of Towns

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or passable defense out of Brunson Brunton still, I mean,

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Brunton's the big thing is he's just so small, right,

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Like it's just hard for him to make an impact.

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Towns didn't even give him passable defense. It was straight

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up good defense throughout the latter rounds of the playoffs,

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and that was absolutely huge for the Knicks not only

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to be Spurs, but to get past the Cavs to

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take down the sixers, like he was so good on

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that end of the floor and I just never saw

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it coming.

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Speaker 2: No, me neither.

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Speaker 1: And I think what's interesting is the ripple effect it

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had when Towns turned into a passer early in the

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clock because, like Brunson, at least in the initial series,

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we saw that his assisted field goal rate was much

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higher in the playoffs than it wasn't the regular season.

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So he was also able to play a little bit

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more under the radar, He was able to pick his

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spots a little bit better, he was able to be

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set up a little bit more instead of just having

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to shoulder that burden of self creation consistently. So I

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think they found something long term here in the way

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that they're using Towns. And also just shout out to

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Mike brown Man, but just like he made this this

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change like fairly advanced into the playoffs and then they

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just started rolling with it, Like I did not think

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that a coach would have the caholeness to make such

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a late change, but he did, and it worked, and

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he just kept going at it. Like and also in

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the finals in that game four, like when they were

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down twenty nine, if you looked at Mike Brown. He

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was just like completely composed. You never felt like he

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was panicking or stressing or anything of that nature. He

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was just like, all right, no, we know that the

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Spurs tend to lose leads, so like, let's make sure

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that as long as they make bad decisions, let's capitalize

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on those bad decisions. They did, and they just slowly

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but surely chipped away and he was just this steady,

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steady rock throughout that entire comeback. Like, I man, this

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just the team of destiny thing that was I think

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that started in like the East finals. That's he That's

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everyone was talking about them in that vein. Yeah, like truly,

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everything just came together.

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Speaker 3: I'm with you more because for me, there's so much

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like it's just the way my brain works. I'm just

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very you know, I'm hyper realistic. I am very logical

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with these things. And there are times when I'm like,

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I just I almost ought to reject that stuff because

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I'm like, it just doesn't it's just not a thing

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to me. But then there becomes a point when I

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gets whether it's I get swept up in it or

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it's just I don't know if there is another answer, Like,

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but this is what it is, and maybe this is

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destiny at work here with this. So I think we're

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really in a place with this Knicks team that when

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they fell behind, there was never a waiver in their

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belief of we can still do this. And that's obviously

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massive in a comeback because you have to. Then you

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fall down by twenty nine. You got to get everything

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right pretty much from that at that point forward. Otherwise

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you just you miss on even one thing and you're

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just that's ay, You're gonna lose.

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Speaker 2: The game anyway.

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Speaker 3: You have no margin. You've left yourself no margin for her.

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Then I am, despite being a very logical, realistic person,

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I'm a big believer in momentum in games. I know

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a lot of people say it doesn't exist, it's not

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a thing. But when in that game they're down, they

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get rolling the crowd. That was one of the best

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crowds I've ever heard in my entire life. I talk

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to people who are in the building, like media members,

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They're like, I couldn't talk to the person next to me.

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Speaker 2: It was so loud, and it is I think.

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Speaker 3: That gets going that feeds the players when the players

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need that, I need that little extra to make you

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know that one more close out, or that one more rotation,

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or make that, you know, put a little extra on

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my drive here.

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Speaker 2: Whatever.

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Speaker 3: It is like that, they just feed off that and

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then you know, so anybody says momentum is.

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Speaker 2: Not really a thing.

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Speaker 3: I don't know that that that Game four come back

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to me, says, eh, momentum might might be a.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, insurance health helt Yeah exactly.

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Speaker 1: And what's crazy about the final series too, is it

274
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was only a twelve point difference overall, Like twelve points

275
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differentiated these two teams. It was it was an excellent series.

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I mean, it was so close and there was so

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much drama. It like this was good television too. This

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was like the NBA has to be happy both about

279
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like obviously the Knicks winning a championship, like the league,

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like they can say all the right things to go, oh,

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we don't care about who wins the title. They know,

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damn well, if the Knicks winning a title, that is

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going to increase interest significantly. So they are well aware.

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Speaker 3: I don't know a single Knicks fan that hasn't dropped

285
00:15:13,279 --> 00:15:16,039
a couple hundred bucks on Knicks championship.

286
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Speaker 2: Yeah, it's able to buy in.

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Speaker 1: Look right, So right. I mean that, so that alone

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is a thing. But at the same time, it was

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an entertaining finals. Everyone was like going into the finals saying, oh,

290
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the real finals was the West Finals. Turns out not really,

291
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not really. So this was a great way for the

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NBA to end a season, and I think they needed

293
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it too, because there have been a lot of discussions

294
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throughout the course of the year about the state of

295
00:15:44,360 --> 00:15:47,639
the regular season and a bunch of stuff, like I

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think the NBA needed this.

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Speaker 2: Well.

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Speaker 3: I think what was cool too was it's rare that

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a four to one finals You're gonna come on and

300
00:15:58,519 --> 00:16:01,559
be like, what a great series because it's for one, right,

301
00:16:01,600 --> 00:16:04,720
it wasn't even that close games wise, right, but every

302
00:16:04,759 --> 00:16:08,240
individual game was awesome And maybe they weren't awesome the

303
00:16:08,279 --> 00:16:10,720
whole way through, but they were awesome by the time

304
00:16:10,759 --> 00:16:13,440
it mattered, And that was, you know, so huge. And

305
00:16:13,480 --> 00:16:16,159
I think to the interest slate, like I used the

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mom test, right, my mom was super into this because

307
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she just got completely enthralled by Wembinama, Like she was like,

308
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this guy is so big, and like she was just

309
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like she was watching these games. We grew up like

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a massive Celtics family. I don't know that she watched

311
00:16:36,360 --> 00:16:39,639
any of the last Celtics finals other than a handful

312
00:16:39,679 --> 00:16:42,200
of minutes here and there. Like that gives you the

313
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sense of like how caught up she wasn't And then

314
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like you said, the New York of it all, the

315
00:16:47,240 --> 00:16:49,200
WEMBI of it all, like it was, Yeah, it was.

316
00:16:49,240 --> 00:16:53,240
It was basically a pretty perfect ending to the season.

317
00:16:53,279 --> 00:16:55,679
And I think, you know, there's a course always a

318
00:16:55,720 --> 00:16:58,039
lot of well, if the Thunder had gotten there with

319
00:16:58,080 --> 00:17:01,039
the Knicks of one, I don't, I mean one, they didn't,

320
00:17:01,279 --> 00:17:04,279
so who cares? Right, they didn't, right, so it doesn't matter.

321
00:17:04,880 --> 00:17:07,279
But also like the Thunder were so banged up, Yeah,

322
00:17:07,319 --> 00:17:10,279
I don't. Like, I think the Knicks were gonna be

323
00:17:10,519 --> 00:17:13,160
whoever it was like at the the end of the day,

324
00:17:13,359 --> 00:17:15,880
just like whether it's Team of Destiny or just they

325
00:17:15,880 --> 00:17:18,039
were that good And it's probably a little bit of both.

326
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Speaker 2: Like I think the Knicks were just ready and it

327
00:17:20,440 --> 00:17:21,000
was their time.

328
00:17:21,119 --> 00:17:24,359
Speaker 1: Yeah, I agree. Before we move on and take a

329
00:17:24,400 --> 00:17:27,240
quick commercial break to talk about Ciacko spoiler being hired

330
00:17:27,279 --> 00:17:30,039
by the Bulls, do you think that the Knicks have

331
00:17:30,039 --> 00:17:33,240
a chance to repeat next year? Because we always seem

332
00:17:33,319 --> 00:17:35,640
to ask that question, and it's been like, what seven

333
00:17:35,839 --> 00:17:38,279
or eight different champions in the row, Like, do you

334
00:17:38,319 --> 00:17:41,039
think that the Knicks have the capability of breaking that streak.

335
00:17:41,960 --> 00:17:44,440
Speaker 3: I think they they do because it doesn't feel like

336
00:17:44,519 --> 00:17:48,200
a completely, oh my gosh, just came out of nowhere championship.

337
00:17:48,319 --> 00:17:51,720
I mean there were I preseason I picked the Knicks

338
00:17:51,720 --> 00:17:55,119
to be in the finals. Oh nice, full hand up.

339
00:17:55,680 --> 00:17:59,599
I changed that because I bought fully in. And there's

340
00:17:59,680 --> 00:18:02,759
some bias, some Homerism coming in there on the Celtics

341
00:18:03,160 --> 00:18:07,599
when they were getting getting to the playoff period. But yeah,

342
00:18:07,640 --> 00:18:10,160
so I don't think it was like this Knicks team

343
00:18:10,279 --> 00:18:13,319
was like yo, this like the Pacers last year. Had

344
00:18:13,359 --> 00:18:15,640
they won, that would have felt like wow, what an

345
00:18:15,640 --> 00:18:19,480
all time no one saw this coming champion, right, So

346
00:18:19,519 --> 00:18:22,359
I think the Knicks have a chance for short to repeat.

347
00:18:23,160 --> 00:18:25,200
I think what the league tells us now though, is

348
00:18:25,319 --> 00:18:29,240
it's really really hard, and it's they just played a

349
00:18:29,279 --> 00:18:32,799
ton of basketball into the middle of June. They're gonna have,

350
00:18:32,839 --> 00:18:35,440
along with the Spurs, the shortest off seasons of anyone.

351
00:18:35,920 --> 00:18:37,759
They've got some big I know we're gonna probably talk

352
00:18:37,799 --> 00:18:41,039
about it later, but some big offense or big free

353
00:18:41,079 --> 00:18:46,359
agent decisions to be made them themselves, and for them,

354
00:18:47,160 --> 00:18:49,799
it's really about money and the second Apron and all

355
00:18:49,799 --> 00:18:53,279
that stuff on keeping some guys. So you know, if

356
00:18:53,319 --> 00:18:56,839
you bleed a little talent, some other teams get better.

357
00:18:57,400 --> 00:19:01,720
Let's obviously see where is Yiannis playing? Right, Like, there's

358
00:19:01,759 --> 00:19:04,960
gonna be real contenders. So I would if you were

359
00:19:04,960 --> 00:19:07,440
telling me Nicks versus the field, I would pick the field.

360
00:19:07,559 --> 00:19:08,759
Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm over.

361
00:19:08,599 --> 00:19:11,880
Speaker 3: The Knicks repeating, But I don't think if we're talking

362
00:19:11,880 --> 00:19:13,319
a year from now and the Knicks are back to

363
00:19:13,359 --> 00:19:15,720
back champs, I don't think I'd be like, oh my gosh,

364
00:19:15,759 --> 00:19:16,640
where did this come from?

365
00:19:16,720 --> 00:19:17,359
Speaker 2: Right? Right?

366
00:19:17,799 --> 00:19:20,319
Speaker 1: And you alluded to it, Like, we're going to split

367
00:19:20,839 --> 00:19:23,839
our conversation into two podcasts, so we will take a

368
00:19:23,920 --> 00:19:28,200
quick commercial break, we'll be back with Thiago Splitter analysis,

369
00:19:28,480 --> 00:19:30,920
and then we'll have a second pot up as well,

370
00:19:30,960 --> 00:19:38,359
talking about free agency. So we'll be right back, all right, Keith.

371
00:19:38,759 --> 00:19:41,920
The Chicago Bulls who have hired Bryson Graham as their

372
00:19:41,920 --> 00:19:45,279
executive vice president of basketball operations, they have made their

373
00:19:45,319 --> 00:19:50,039
first big decision, or he has, rather signing Thiago Splitter

374
00:19:50,359 --> 00:19:54,480
or hiring Thiago Splitter rather as the organization's new head coach.

375
00:19:55,000 --> 00:19:58,759
It seems like the Bulls are somewhat serious about this

376
00:19:58,799 --> 00:20:02,400
whole thing, which is slightly refreshing considering where they've been

377
00:20:02,400 --> 00:20:04,799
over the past few years. Like, I don't have the

378
00:20:04,920 --> 00:20:07,480
read on Splitter in terms of like whether he can

379
00:20:07,519 --> 00:20:10,039
be a championship level coach, but I do think we

380
00:20:10,079 --> 00:20:12,480
saw enough from him last year to the point where

381
00:20:12,960 --> 00:20:15,799
he can be a solid, like from point A to

382
00:20:15,920 --> 00:20:18,519
point B coach, which I think is what you really

383
00:20:18,559 --> 00:20:20,920
need at this stage when you're rebuilding and trying to

384
00:20:21,240 --> 00:20:24,200
grow something new, Like you don't necessarily need someone who

385
00:20:24,200 --> 00:20:26,200
can take you to the finals straight away, You just

386
00:20:26,240 --> 00:20:29,279
need someone to install the right culture. What do you

387
00:20:29,279 --> 00:20:31,359
think about that decision by Chicago?

388
00:20:32,640 --> 00:20:35,000
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think what we saw him do with that

389
00:20:35,039 --> 00:20:39,640
Portland Trailblazers team which had been kind of bullsish for

390
00:20:39,880 --> 00:20:42,839
a few years, where it was like kind of good

391
00:20:42,960 --> 00:20:46,720
but never really good enough, always just playing tournament level

392
00:20:46,960 --> 00:20:50,519
but never really gonna make noise in the playoffs, and

393
00:20:50,559 --> 00:20:55,240
then he takes over. Imagine what that must have been

394
00:20:55,319 --> 00:20:57,960
like a day into the season, You're coming off your

395
00:20:57,960 --> 00:21:01,759
first game and it's like, hey, coaches in jail and

396
00:21:01,799 --> 00:21:04,480
now you're the coach now, like I can't I can't

397
00:21:04,519 --> 00:21:07,160
even imagine what that was like. And the way not

398
00:21:07,279 --> 00:21:10,279
only did things on spiral and go out of control,

399
00:21:10,799 --> 00:21:12,720
I think he really did a good job of kind

400
00:21:12,759 --> 00:21:16,599
of galvanizing that team. And then they had a ton

401
00:21:16,640 --> 00:21:19,359
of injuries throughout the course of the year. Scoode Henderson

402
00:21:19,759 --> 00:21:23,039
missed most of the year, Shadon Sharp miss time, Jeremy

403
00:21:23,039 --> 00:21:25,720
Grant miss time, some guys that were really counting on

404
00:21:26,400 --> 00:21:29,119
to be major players for them, and he just kind

405
00:21:29,160 --> 00:21:33,440
of I think his approach of whatever's here and in uniform,

406
00:21:33,480 --> 00:21:35,960
we're just gonna go, yeah, like that's what we got,

407
00:21:36,039 --> 00:21:39,519
where we're gonna we're gonna move is really really good.

408
00:21:39,519 --> 00:21:42,880
And I think his courage to kind of say, all right,

409
00:21:42,960 --> 00:21:45,200
Danny Avdia is our best guy, and the best way

410
00:21:45,240 --> 00:21:47,039
for us to play is for him to have the

411
00:21:47,079 --> 00:21:49,680
ball all the time and everything else is gonna orbit

412
00:21:49,759 --> 00:21:53,440
around that. That's huge, Like, now we'll see what kind

413
00:21:53,440 --> 00:21:55,720
of roster the Bulls give him at this point. I

414
00:21:55,720 --> 00:21:58,599
think the about the only short thing on the roster,

415
00:21:58,720 --> 00:22:02,599
because I'm a big believer is Modess busellis beyond that,

416
00:22:03,000 --> 00:22:06,480
who knows, but that's kind of cool because it's, you know,

417
00:22:06,519 --> 00:22:08,720
a blank slate for a new front office and a

418
00:22:08,799 --> 00:22:11,880
new coach to kind of build this together and and

419
00:22:11,920 --> 00:22:14,799
wi'll see your where goes It all really starts next

420
00:22:14,839 --> 00:22:15,400
week at the.

421
00:22:15,400 --> 00:22:17,599
Speaker 2: Draft and what do they want?

422
00:22:17,680 --> 00:22:21,759
Speaker 3: But I think this is just a good, solid higher Yeah,

423
00:22:21,799 --> 00:22:25,039
Like I don't think there's I'm not like you. I'm

424
00:22:25,039 --> 00:22:27,720
not like I'll get the next banner ready in Chicago.

425
00:22:28,240 --> 00:22:31,240
But I like it just feels like it is, like

426
00:22:31,839 --> 00:22:37,039
this is just solid logical, makes sense, Like let's let's

427
00:22:37,119 --> 00:22:38,319
let's move this forward now.

428
00:22:38,319 --> 00:22:40,480
Speaker 2: And I think that's for the Bulls.

429
00:22:41,079 --> 00:22:43,079
Speaker 3: If we can get into a little bit more this

430
00:22:43,200 --> 00:22:45,960
makes sense conversations, I think we'll all be a lot

431
00:22:46,000 --> 00:22:46,559
happier in.

432
00:22:46,519 --> 00:22:47,240
Speaker 2: The end, right.

433
00:22:47,480 --> 00:22:49,920
Speaker 1: I think that's interesting because so many things that they

434
00:22:49,960 --> 00:22:52,599
did under our tours kind of show is did not

435
00:22:52,839 --> 00:22:55,000
make sense. And I think that entire hire back in

436
00:22:55,039 --> 00:22:57,839
twenty twenty, you know, that was during COVID. They'd never

437
00:22:57,880 --> 00:23:00,119
met in person, allegedly, and like they were just a

438
00:23:00,240 --> 00:23:02,319
lot of issues, a lot of red flags about that

439
00:23:02,359 --> 00:23:06,279
whole setup. Like this time it feels a little bit different.

440
00:23:07,359 --> 00:23:10,200
I mean, Graham comes in, he hires a lot of

441
00:23:10,279 --> 00:23:14,119
people who are well respected around the league, and it

442
00:23:14,160 --> 00:23:16,920
seems like the Bulls are actually trying to be serious

443
00:23:17,000 --> 00:23:18,839
right now, which is kind of funny to me because

444
00:23:18,880 --> 00:23:20,599
this is something that they should have been like ten

445
00:23:20,680 --> 00:23:23,880
years ago. They're always so behind the curve, but at

446
00:23:23,880 --> 00:23:26,640
the very least now they've joined the wagon. And I

447
00:23:26,680 --> 00:23:29,720
didn't know what to expect from like a head coach perspective,

448
00:23:29,799 --> 00:23:33,359
but for them to also seemingly realizing, oh yeah, we

449
00:23:33,400 --> 00:23:37,920
need an eighth b coach, it just the logical steps

450
00:23:38,039 --> 00:23:40,680
they kind of track for a change, which I think

451
00:23:40,759 --> 00:23:44,880
is very optimistic for Bulls fans, especially because I think

452
00:23:44,920 --> 00:23:49,039
we saw last year or this season the level of

453
00:23:49,079 --> 00:23:52,720
apathy reached an all time high.

454
00:23:52,880 --> 00:23:55,599
Speaker 3: Yeah, and now that's a problem, right. I always say,

455
00:23:56,839 --> 00:24:00,559
when fans are angry, that is way better when they

456
00:24:00,559 --> 00:24:04,200
stopped caring. When they stopped caring, you've lost, Like, like

457
00:24:04,799 --> 00:24:08,240
you know, I live here in Orlando, and here in Orlando,

458
00:24:08,519 --> 00:24:11,079
there was a period of time the Magic were so

459
00:24:11,279 --> 00:24:15,759
bad for so long after the Dwight Howard era that

460
00:24:16,519 --> 00:24:20,039
what happens here in Florida is till football season's over,

461
00:24:20,279 --> 00:24:23,119
no one really cares, like It's just I mean, that's

462
00:24:23,160 --> 00:24:25,799
just that's just how it is. Football is king in

463
00:24:25,839 --> 00:24:28,519
the South and is king here in Florida. So if

464
00:24:28,519 --> 00:24:32,039
the Magic aren't good by the time football season's over,

465
00:24:32,759 --> 00:24:36,960
they become a nice wintertime distraction until Orlando City Soccer

466
00:24:37,039 --> 00:24:39,960
starts playing, which is really taken off in the city

467
00:24:40,000 --> 00:24:43,640
and people love it. So it did for the Magic.

468
00:24:43,759 --> 00:24:46,079
What they were right on the tipping point of was

469
00:24:46,799 --> 00:24:50,799
people stopped being angry. They just stopped caring. And when

470
00:24:50,839 --> 00:24:52,759
you when you get there, that's really hard to come

471
00:24:52,799 --> 00:24:56,240
back from. So I think now when you when I've

472
00:24:56,279 --> 00:25:01,359
talked to different Bulls fans, they seem prettyize like like

473
00:25:01,640 --> 00:25:05,759
we are starting over, but it's not, at least to

474
00:25:05,839 --> 00:25:10,799
this point. It's not starting over but kind of halfway

475
00:25:10,880 --> 00:25:13,079
starting over because we're gonna trade for all these pricey

476
00:25:13,160 --> 00:25:15,720
veterans and all this other stuff. Now we'll see what

477
00:25:15,799 --> 00:25:18,720
they do with fifty million in cap space this summer.

478
00:25:19,160 --> 00:25:20,839
If all of a sudden, you and I are talking

479
00:25:20,960 --> 00:25:23,880
and a month from now and it's like, so they

480
00:25:24,000 --> 00:25:27,559
reacquired DeMar Derozen and zach Lavine, and that's cool right

481
00:25:27,599 --> 00:25:29,319
then to be like, yeah, what are we doing here?

482
00:25:30,000 --> 00:25:32,160
But if it is like, hey, we're just gonna slowly

483
00:25:32,200 --> 00:25:35,559
insteadily build. They're gonna get some players because you can't

484
00:25:35,759 --> 00:25:38,400
under the new lottery reform. You can't just go in

485
00:25:38,519 --> 00:25:41,160
being like who cares if we win ten games, like

486
00:25:41,279 --> 00:25:43,720
we want a high pick, you gotta you know, it's

487
00:25:44,279 --> 00:25:47,319
kind of funny to think about teams in March in

488
00:25:47,359 --> 00:25:49,519
early April, like trying to win every game because they

489
00:25:49,680 --> 00:25:51,839
got to get to four, like can't be in this

490
00:25:51,960 --> 00:25:53,960
bottom three, Like we want to get to four, which

491
00:25:54,000 --> 00:25:55,960
is in the end of the day. I think gonna

492
00:25:55,960 --> 00:25:58,519
be a good thing for the league. But I think

493
00:25:58,559 --> 00:26:02,680
for the Bulls, it seems like we're finally moving in

494
00:26:02,720 --> 00:26:06,200
a place where there is some direction. Yeah, instead of

495
00:26:06,319 --> 00:26:09,400
just this, let's cobble together the best team we can

496
00:26:10,480 --> 00:26:12,559
without any patients involved to do so.

497
00:26:12,759 --> 00:26:16,759
Speaker 1: Right right, And I think what's also interesting is this

498
00:26:16,799 --> 00:26:19,759
whole new team coming in, not just Splitter but also

499
00:26:19,759 --> 00:26:24,279
Bryce and Graham, Like they don't have any uh, you know,

500
00:26:24,480 --> 00:26:27,759
ties to any of the existing players. Like I'm sure

501
00:26:27,799 --> 00:26:30,000
that I agree with you what you said about Bats's

502
00:26:30,000 --> 00:26:33,480
Brisilla's I think he's so good that Splitter and Graham

503
00:26:33,480 --> 00:26:35,480
will see eye to eye on you know, if we're

504
00:26:35,480 --> 00:26:37,640
going to strite this guy, we better get something good

505
00:26:37,640 --> 00:26:40,119
in return at the very least. But like there's not

506
00:26:40,599 --> 00:26:44,720
an established relationship within like the Josh Giddy sphere for example,

507
00:26:45,319 --> 00:26:47,640
So if they want to pivot off him, they can

508
00:26:47,720 --> 00:26:52,000
do so without batting an eye. And I think that

509
00:26:52,160 --> 00:26:58,200
level of clean slate is ultimately what allows these executives

510
00:26:58,200 --> 00:27:00,319
and head coaches to really turn a page and say,

511
00:27:00,359 --> 00:27:04,359
all right, new future, let's just ignore what happened over

512
00:27:04,400 --> 00:27:06,839
the past five or six years. And that's just such

513
00:27:06,839 --> 00:27:09,559
a necessity for a fan base starving for change.

514
00:27:11,680 --> 00:27:15,000
Speaker 3: Yeah, completely agree. I mean we're in a place where, yeah,

515
00:27:15,079 --> 00:27:18,000
you just like it sounds weird to say it this way,

516
00:27:18,039 --> 00:27:22,799
but just like normalcy, like how much you crave it, right,

517
00:27:22,920 --> 00:27:25,599
like like just act like a normal team And that's

518
00:27:26,039 --> 00:27:28,119
you know that, that's big. And yeah, I'm a huge

519
00:27:28,160 --> 00:27:31,000
fan of Boozellis. I think I think he showed real

520
00:27:31,319 --> 00:27:35,599
real stuff over his first couple of seasons, especially last year.

521
00:27:35,640 --> 00:27:38,240
I think there's a little bit more on ball juice

522
00:27:38,279 --> 00:27:41,119
there to be unlocked. I think he's gotta be somebody

523
00:27:41,119 --> 00:27:44,680
whose game is pretty scalable. So if they get ultimately

524
00:27:44,759 --> 00:27:48,000
players who are better than him, that's not a problem

525
00:27:48,039 --> 00:27:50,119
because I think he can slot in as a two,

526
00:27:50,160 --> 00:27:52,759
like a number two or number three in the pecking

527
00:27:52,880 --> 00:27:54,759
order guy. But I think there's room for him to

528
00:27:54,759 --> 00:27:57,119
grow and maybe grow into being a true number one

529
00:27:57,480 --> 00:27:59,960
as well. So the rest of the roster we'll see,

530
00:28:00,240 --> 00:28:03,640
you know, there's not it's not like they're completely devoid

531
00:28:03,720 --> 00:28:07,599
of talent. It's just, you know, what where are we going,

532
00:28:07,680 --> 00:28:09,960
you know, with with this group? A little bit like

533
00:28:10,039 --> 00:28:12,880
it like like I'm not I know a lot of

534
00:28:12,920 --> 00:28:15,759
people really don't like Josh Giddy, but I think it

535
00:28:15,799 --> 00:28:17,839
gets too far when people like this guy's not even

536
00:28:17,839 --> 00:28:18,640
an NBA player.

537
00:28:18,759 --> 00:28:21,359
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, yeah, I mean it's insane.

538
00:28:21,400 --> 00:28:23,960
Speaker 3: The guy is, Yeah, he's never gonna be a great

539
00:28:24,000 --> 00:28:27,440
defender and he's never gonna be I know he's improved

540
00:28:27,440 --> 00:28:30,240
as a shooter, but we're probably not gonna get there

541
00:28:30,240 --> 00:28:32,799
where it's like, oh my gosh, this guy's a you know,

542
00:28:32,880 --> 00:28:35,279
twenty five point per game guy who's making all these

543
00:28:35,359 --> 00:28:38,799
jumpers and everything. But he's just a solid player and

544
00:28:38,880 --> 00:28:41,960
you can you you can win. I'm excited to see

545
00:28:41,960 --> 00:28:44,759
if they can get anything out of Rob Dillingham. I

546
00:28:44,839 --> 00:28:47,039
liked him in the draft. I think there's a chance

547
00:28:47,119 --> 00:28:49,519
maybe he does turn into a player. We didn't we

548
00:28:49,559 --> 00:28:52,839
didn't really see any of Noah Senge. Let's see what

549
00:28:52,880 --> 00:28:55,319
that looks like. And then obviously you know they've got

550
00:28:55,319 --> 00:28:57,519
a chance to do some stuff here in the draft.

551
00:28:57,559 --> 00:28:59,640
So I'm excited see where things go.

552
00:28:59,640 --> 00:29:04,319
Speaker 1: For that's amazing the words excited in Chicago in the

553
00:29:04,359 --> 00:29:10,880
same sentence that's been years man. So I'm guessing that

554
00:29:10,920 --> 00:29:13,839
the Bulls are also gonna pop up in our next

555
00:29:13,880 --> 00:29:16,880
episode when we're gonna be talking about like the just

556
00:29:17,039 --> 00:29:19,960
free agency in the cap space route, because like, let's

557
00:29:19,960 --> 00:29:22,000
just go into a little bit of a spoiler here,

558
00:29:22,039 --> 00:29:24,799
because they have just an insane amount of cap space.

559
00:29:24,880 --> 00:29:28,079
What did what do you have them ask going into

560
00:29:28,119 --> 00:29:30,519
the summer. It's just in terms of like potential raw

561
00:29:30,559 --> 00:29:31,440
cap space.

562
00:29:31,960 --> 00:29:38,920
Speaker 3: Yeah, fifty four point four million, which seems pretty realistic

563
00:29:39,079 --> 00:29:42,160
for projection. Every once in a while you kind of

564
00:29:42,160 --> 00:29:44,480
get one of these where it's like, well, if they

565
00:29:44,519 --> 00:29:46,599
do this, this and this and this, they can get

566
00:29:47,519 --> 00:29:51,160
even more cap space. But it's really like you're talking about,

567
00:29:51,240 --> 00:29:53,079
here's the guys who would come off the books to

568
00:29:53,160 --> 00:29:57,279
create that cap space. Zach Collins, Nick Richards Collin, Sex

569
00:29:57,359 --> 00:30:01,000
and Andfrey Simon's Gershon Yabusell. Yeah, there are good players

570
00:30:01,000 --> 00:30:03,480
in that group, maybe even a couple of them are

571
00:30:03,480 --> 00:30:06,720
back with Chicago, but there's no reason why they need

572
00:30:06,759 --> 00:30:08,960
to be like, well, they're not going to let this

573
00:30:09,000 --> 00:30:11,119
guy go. Of course they're going to keep YO, X,

574
00:30:11,240 --> 00:30:13,680
Y and Z player not out of that group. And

575
00:30:13,720 --> 00:30:17,079
then everybody else is I mean, yeah, Patrick Williams contract

576
00:30:17,160 --> 00:30:19,680
is is what it is at this point, right, But

577
00:30:19,720 --> 00:30:22,720
it's eighteen million, so I think it's thirty eight million, right,

578
00:30:22,839 --> 00:30:26,000
And I have to kind of keep reminding people anything

579
00:30:26,039 --> 00:30:29,319
under twenty million you can you could work around relatively easily. Yeah,

580
00:30:29,599 --> 00:30:32,519
it's probably not going to be the difference between yo,

581
00:30:32,640 --> 00:30:35,480
you you know, getting a player, not getting a player

582
00:30:35,920 --> 00:30:38,359
or whatever. So yeah, fifty four million, that's you know,

583
00:30:38,440 --> 00:30:40,960
for reference, as I you know, have projected it and

584
00:30:41,000 --> 00:30:43,160
mapped it out. That's the most in the league. That's

585
00:30:43,160 --> 00:30:45,359
ahead of BOUTH, the the Lakers, and the Nets, and

586
00:30:45,359 --> 00:30:48,240
I think everybody else, unless they're going under like the

587
00:30:48,279 --> 00:30:52,079
Bucks did last year, which was for a very targeted acquisition,

588
00:30:52,440 --> 00:30:54,519
I think everybody else probably stays over the cap.

589
00:30:55,880 --> 00:30:59,160
Speaker 1: And well, you can listen into our chat about free

590
00:30:59,160 --> 00:31:02,960
agency in the next episode until we do.

591
00:31:03,039 --> 00:31:04,039
Speaker 2: So, Keith, can you.

592
00:31:04,039 --> 00:31:05,720
Speaker 1: Tell our listeners where they can find your work and

593
00:31:05,759 --> 00:31:06,839
what you're working on, sir.

594
00:31:08,039 --> 00:31:10,480
Speaker 3: Yeah, for sure, you can find all my written work

595
00:31:10,519 --> 00:31:14,880
at spot track dot com. I've got a We're about

596
00:31:14,920 --> 00:31:17,440
two thirds of the way through our off season preview series,

597
00:31:18,000 --> 00:31:20,680
so we're uh, if we go in order of elimination,

598
00:31:21,079 --> 00:31:22,680
we're almost at the end of the teams that got

599
00:31:22,680 --> 00:31:25,720
eliminated through the first round. Rest of those will continue

600
00:31:25,759 --> 00:31:29,240
to go up here fairly regularly. I had my rookie

601
00:31:29,240 --> 00:31:33,720
scale extension projections come out for this offseason. The players

602
00:31:33,720 --> 00:31:36,680
from Victor Webbin Yama's draft class who are eligible to

603
00:31:36,720 --> 00:31:43,079
extend spoiler max for Wemby big shock right now everyone.

604
00:31:44,119 --> 00:31:47,279
But but there are a lot of other interesting players

605
00:31:47,319 --> 00:31:50,160
in that draft class, so I think you know, that's

606
00:31:50,160 --> 00:31:52,839
worth checking out. And then I've got a piece that'll

607
00:31:52,880 --> 00:31:57,200
probably post either it'll post at some point here in

608
00:31:57,240 --> 00:32:01,000
the next few days as we're talking. That will be

609
00:32:01,599 --> 00:32:05,480
all the projecting options and guarantees and whose options get

610
00:32:05,480 --> 00:32:08,960
picked up, whose don't. Things like that. With that, and

611
00:32:08,960 --> 00:32:12,599
then free agent rankings coming out, just a ton of

612
00:32:12,599 --> 00:32:16,160
offseason content coming here over the next couple of weeks

613
00:32:16,240 --> 00:32:17,640
leading up to start a free agency.

614
00:32:17,839 --> 00:32:20,279
Speaker 1: Sounds good and you guys don't want to miss the

615
00:32:20,279 --> 00:32:23,400
next episode, so check in on the NBA podcast until

616
00:32:23,440 --> 00:32:26,240
we speak again. Have a good one and stay safe everyone,