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Speaker 1: Hoops Tonight, presented by FanDuel here at the volume. Happy Thursday, everybody.
Speaker 1: It is very good to see all of you back
Speaker 1: here on the live shows, just like we were doing
Speaker 1: all season long. We're gonna have Carson back today to
Speaker 1: gonna dive into all things NBA Free Agency, including this
Speaker 1: Kevin Durant drama, this Kyrie Irving drama. I'm gonna share
Speaker 1: with you guys six moves that I either loved or hated,
Speaker 1: and we'll get into the weeds a little bit, and
Speaker 1: then all of you guys that are watching at the
Speaker 1: end for as long as we feel like it. We're
Speaker 1: going to be taking questions from the audience, so drop
Speaker 1: some questions in the chat and later on in the show,
Speaker 1: we will be hearing from you guys, and we will
Speaker 1: get into your favorite moves before we get started, If
Speaker 1: you guys could uh subscribe to the Volumes YouTube channels,
Speaker 1: you don't miss any more of our content, as well
Speaker 1: as following me on Twitter at Underscore Jason lts you
Speaker 1: guys don't miss any more of my video your content
Speaker 1: as well as show announcements things along those lines. We're
Speaker 1: gonna get started with k d as I have been
Speaker 1: talking about a lot since the end of the season.
Speaker 1: The playoffs are all revealing. There is no hiding from
Speaker 1: that stage. Whatever there is to learn about your basketball team,
Speaker 1: we're gonna learn on that stage. And the Nets were
Speaker 1: was clearly different on that stage than any of the
Speaker 1: other teams that performed. Everybody else managed to win at
Speaker 1: least one basketball game. Now, don't get me wrong, they
Speaker 1: caught a bad draw. But when you've got Kevin Durant
Speaker 1: Kyrie Irving on your team, you expect to be able
Speaker 1: to get a win, especially with as flawed as that
Speaker 1: Boston team was, and then Damn Near losing to Milwaukee,
Speaker 1: and then dan Near losing to Miami, and then blowing
Speaker 1: three games in a row the way they did against
Speaker 1: the Warriors. That was a series where the Nets should
Speaker 1: have been able to be more competitive. Did you guys
Speaker 1: feel like the Nets were one Ben Simmons away from
Speaker 1: getting the job done? Didn't think that was the case.
Speaker 1: And I think that's a big part of why the
Speaker 1: Nets played hard ball with Kyrie, because you put up
Speaker 1: with the drama if there's a trophy at the end
Speaker 1: of it. Just ask every team that's dealt with with
Speaker 1: Lebron James over the years. But two years ago, Kyrie
Speaker 1: Irving took two separate personal leaves of absence for no
Speaker 1: particular reason, and one time was even caught partying with
Speaker 1: his family during that stretch. And you know, if things
Speaker 1: go well, you looked at something like that over but
Speaker 1: they didn't this past year. The Lakers. Excuse me, the
Speaker 1: Nets had no business playing the Celtics in the first
Speaker 1: round of the playoffs. With as talented as that team was.
Speaker 1: They should have had a higher seed. They should have
Speaker 1: been able to play a team like Chicago or you know, uh,
Speaker 1: any of those lower seeds in the Eastern Conference to
Speaker 1: get more time for the team to get healthy and
Speaker 1: ready as they made a deeper playoff run. But that's
Speaker 1: not what happened. They had to play the Celtics in
Speaker 1: the first round. Why because Kyrie Irving refused to get
Speaker 1: the vaccine, made a big spectacle out of it, missed
Speaker 1: a huge chunk of the season, and the Nets ended
Speaker 1: up being the seven seed. And so when they lost
Speaker 1: all of a sudden, Joe Sigh and Shawn Marks and
Speaker 1: these guys in the Brooklyn Nets front office, they're sick
Speaker 1: of it because the drama was no longer worth it.
Speaker 1: So they played hard ball with Kyrie Irving. And when
Speaker 1: they played hardball with Kyrie Irving, Kyrie Irving tried to
Speaker 1: leverage the Lakers against them with that alleged six million
Speaker 1: dollar taxpayer mid level exception that he was going to take.
Speaker 1: The Nets were like, cool, go ahead, take it. He
Speaker 1: didn't take it. He opted in, and once again the
Speaker 1: Nets were poised to go at it again this season.
Speaker 1: And it was only a matter of time before someone
Speaker 1: like k D, who cares about the basketball more than
Speaker 1: anything else, would look at this situation and read the
Speaker 1: writing on the wall, which is that the Nets were
Speaker 1: not good enough. Boston is going to be better next year.
Speaker 1: Tatum and Brown will be one year better. They've learned
Speaker 1: a lot from this playoff run. You know they're gonna
Speaker 1: be addressing their ball handling concerns that were problematic as
Speaker 1: they made there towards the end of their playoff run.
Speaker 1: They're gonna be better. Milwaukee with Chris Middleton's gonna be
Speaker 1: significantly better. I loved the Joe Joe Ingles picked there
Speaker 1: or moved there. We're gonna get into them a little
Speaker 1: bit deeper later on in the show. Miami is poised
Speaker 1: to uh potentially make some moves this offseason. The East
Speaker 1: is gonna be better. Brooklyn is not good enough. And
Speaker 1: Kevin Durant read the writing on the wall. He accepted reality,
Speaker 1: and he demanded a trade. And I'm happy for him
Speaker 1: in the sense that he seems to finally be getting
Speaker 1: his priorities right because he went to Golden State, because
Speaker 1: he prioritized the basketball. He cared more about what his
Speaker 1: role on that team would be, the ease and the
Speaker 1: free flowing nature with which he would be able to
Speaker 1: play the game of basketball. He cared about that, so
Speaker 1: much more than anything else. And unfortunately, because things went
Speaker 1: the way they did while he was there, he started
Speaker 1: to start caring about other stuff, like the narrative and
Speaker 1: what all of you think about what he did while
Speaker 1: he was there, and it allowed him to lose sight
Speaker 1: of that priority, and he chased a situation based on
Speaker 1: the narrative instead of based on the basketball. So he
Speaker 1: partnered with his friend Kyrie Irvin, who obviously was proven
Speaker 1: to be an unreliable teammate, just like he was in Cleveland,
Speaker 1: just like he was in Boston. And as a result
Speaker 1: of that, because he did not prioritize the basketball, he
Speaker 1: found himself in a situation where he was at a
Speaker 1: disadvantage on the basketball court where he had to play,
Speaker 1: you know, two years ago, the best basketball he's ever
Speaker 1: played in his life, just to lose to Milwaukee and
Speaker 1: seven or this year to run into a situation against
Speaker 1: Boston where doesn't seem like they have enough horses. And
Speaker 1: so it's good to see that he accepted that reality. Now,
Speaker 1: the question that I have is I wonder where the
Speaker 1: relationship with Kyrie is at. I believe that him and
Speaker 1: Kyrie are still close, but I think Kira, I think
Speaker 1: Kevin has at least come to terms with the fact
Speaker 1: that maybe that partnership is an't the same. You could
Speaker 1: be friends with somebody but not be good business partners
Speaker 1: and I believe he's come to terms with that. So
Speaker 1: the question is where's Katie going to end up now?
Speaker 1: He put as his prior prioritized destinations, his favorite destinations,
Speaker 1: Miami and Phoenix. I don't necessarily understand the draw for
Speaker 1: Brooklyn there because if I'm Brooklyn and I'm getting back
Speaker 1: Tyler Harrow and salary filler and a bunch of picks,
Speaker 1: Tyler Harrow is not moving the needle for me. If
Speaker 1: I'm going to Phoenix and I'm getting DeAndre Ayton on
Speaker 1: a sign in trade Max and I'm getting Mikal Bridges,
Speaker 1: who's very good, but he's not a star and he
Speaker 1: makes twenty million a year, that's not moving the needle
Speaker 1: for me. And again with DeAndre Ayton, and I really
Speaker 1: like DeAndre and he plays the most replaceable position in
Speaker 1: the NBA. If you're not Nickel Yokit or Joel Embiid,
Speaker 1: I can probably get seventy of your production for a
Speaker 1: tiny fraction of the salary. And so the question is
Speaker 1: if you think DeAndre Ayton can be Joel and beater,
Speaker 1: Nicola Yokich thinks, great, the sons are your partner, go
Speaker 1: after DeAndre Ayton. But I would imagine that Sean Marks
Speaker 1: does not think that DeAndre Ayton is Nicola Yoki or
Speaker 1: that DeAndre Aton is Joel Embiid. So as much as
Speaker 1: Katie wants to go to those destinations, I don't necessarily
Speaker 1: see the assets there as being worthwhile for Brooklyn. So
Speaker 1: how much cache does KD have has Kadi? Is the
Speaker 1: relationship broken between Kyrie and Sean Marks and Joe Si
Speaker 1: but solid and healthy between k D and those guys,
Speaker 1: I don't know. Because if that bridge is burned or
Speaker 1: if that bridge is not in great shape, then if
Speaker 1: I'm Brooklyn, I'm looking at those situations that I'm going
Speaker 1: that's great, k D, but I'm going to where the
Speaker 1: better assets are. You know, We're gonna find out a
Speaker 1: lot about Katie's casche with the Brooklyn front office in
Speaker 1: this next couple of weeks, depending on where he gets traded,
Speaker 1: Because the way I would look at it, Katie should
Speaker 1: theoretically fetch the largest trade package in the history of basketball.
Speaker 1: This is not James Harden coming from the Rockets. This
Speaker 1: is not Paul George. This is not Kawhi Leonard after
Speaker 1: he had any tendant apathy. This is not any of
Speaker 1: those situations. This is Kevin Freakin Durant at the peak
Speaker 1: of his powers, under contract for four more years, and
Speaker 1: even if you believe he's aging, at least two or
Speaker 1: three of those years, he's gonna be a top five player.
Speaker 1: So in theory, he should bring back a ridiculous package.
Speaker 1: If I am Brooklyn, I want draft picks. I want
Speaker 1: absolute slam dunk, home run guaranteed great young players to
Speaker 1: go with it. And I'm not getting that from Miami
Speaker 1: or from Phoenix. If I'm Brooklyn, I'm calling Toronto and
Speaker 1: i want Scotty Barnes. I'm calling New Orleans and i
Speaker 1: want Zion Williamson and all the picks, because then at
Speaker 1: the very least, I can come back to this situation
Speaker 1: with a bona fide young superstar prospect, a sure thing,
Speaker 1: and the hope of what those draft picks might be.
Speaker 1: I get it. I get on Laker fans about this
Speaker 1: all the time because they want to be protective of
Speaker 1: their assets, and they go, oh, well, that's the future
Speaker 1: of the franchise. What are the real statistical chances that
Speaker 1: first is going to be a top five player in
Speaker 1: the NBA, even if it's a lottery pick, it's extremely unlikely.
Speaker 1: Zion Williamson and Scottie Barnes both project to be guys
Speaker 1: who are probably on the low end for at least
Speaker 1: a few years in the top ten. That's the type
Speaker 1: of prospect they are. So if you're a Toronto fan,
Speaker 1: why would you want to give up Scotty Barnes for
Speaker 1: that exact same reason. If you're a New Orleans fan,
Speaker 1: why would you want to give up Zion for that
Speaker 1: exact same reason. It's not guaranteed that they will develop
Speaker 1: into that level of prospect, but right now you're a
Speaker 1: playoff team without that guy. Zion Williamson was out and
Speaker 1: the Pelicans pushed the Suns to six games and looked
Speaker 1: really good. Herb Jones and Trey Murphy looked like awesome
Speaker 1: three and D wings for them. Brandon Ingram looks like
Speaker 1: a star in the making. C J. McCollum would be
Speaker 1: as good of a second or third option as you'll
Speaker 1: find in the league. Toronto with Pascal Siyakum, you know
Speaker 1: o g Na, nob Ken Birch, Chris Boucher, They've got
Speaker 1: all of this talent there. If you can convert Zion
Speaker 1: or Scottie Barnes into Kevin freaking Durant, you become a
Speaker 1: top tier contender. And for both of those teams, it
Speaker 1: was the alpha dog talent that was lacking for them
Speaker 1: in this playoff run. So I get it the excitement
Speaker 1: behind players like that would cause you to have some
Speaker 1: hesitation there. But if I'm Brooklyn, that to me is
Speaker 1: the starting point of where I'm looking. And if I'm
Speaker 1: New Orleans, especially New Orleans because his Zion's health issues
Speaker 1: and his weight issues, I would be willing to flip
Speaker 1: those guys for Katie in a heartbeat. Now, what you
Speaker 1: guys might think is why in the world with Kevin
Speaker 1: Durant want to go to Toronto? Why in the world
Speaker 1: with Kevin Durant want to be buried down in New Orleans.
Speaker 1: He's the only guy that I feel like would want that.
Speaker 1: You know why, because Kevin Durant cares and only cares
Speaker 1: about the basketball. If you if I could, and you know,
Speaker 1: Brandon Ingram, for instance, is very much a hoop head,
Speaker 1: is very much wired, just like k D wasn't into
Speaker 1: the drama in l A, just wanted to focus on
Speaker 1: the hoops. That might be the perfect situation for him.
Speaker 1: Katie is kind of uniquely mentally equipped to go to
Speaker 1: a smaller town relative to the rest of the NBA
Speaker 1: and play with a guy like Brandon Ingram and play
Speaker 1: with a guy like c. J. McCollum and be happy.
Speaker 1: But most importantly for both Toronto and for both New Orleans,
Speaker 1: they provide k D with a solid basketball situation where
Speaker 1: he could focus on what he's great at. When he
Speaker 1: was in Oklahoma City and when he went to Brooklyn,
Speaker 1: he had to do everything because in Oklahoma City they
Speaker 1: didn't have enough talent, and in Brooklyn they prioritize the
Speaker 1: wrong kinds of talent. They focused on offensive skill instead
Speaker 1: of on size and athleticism, and then they ended up
Speaker 1: getting physically dominated by the Boston Celtics. If he goes
Speaker 1: down to two New Orleans or goes up to Toronto,
Speaker 1: he can fit into a team that will do the
Speaker 1: dirty work for him, play for great coaches, and be
Speaker 1: able to just fall into a role and be great
Speaker 1: at what he's great at, which is exactly what he
Speaker 1: did when he was in Golden State. So yes, I
Speaker 1: understand why he wants to go to Miamire Phoenix, but
Speaker 1: I don't think they're realistic destinations. And the two that
Speaker 1: I would keep my eye on is Toronto and New Orleans.
Speaker 1: Who the hell knows what's gonna happen, though, intel is
Speaker 1: that every single team is calling the nets. Intel is
Speaker 1: that their prioritizing assets as they would. This whole experiment
Speaker 1: with Katie and Kyrie has been a disaster. Why would
Speaker 1: they do them any favors. Let's move on to Kyrie.
Speaker 1: I don't have any intel on this other than the
Speaker 1: stuff you've heard on from your regular important reporters, but
Speaker 1: it's starting to feel like almost like an eighty percent
Speaker 1: chance that Kyrie is going to be a Laker. The
Speaker 1: only other team that it really makes any sense for
Speaker 1: is Dallas having lost Jalen Brunson. But the intel there
Speaker 1: is that they're more interested in building wing depth and
Speaker 1: that they like the idea of maybe having Gore on
Speaker 1: dragets side fall into that third role in upgrading Spencer
Speaker 1: Dinwiddie into the Jalen Brunson role. Not a lot of
Speaker 1: teams are willing to put up with the Kyrie circus.
Speaker 1: The Lakers don't have the luxury of turning away talent
Speaker 1: because they are at a talent deficiency. So it makes
Speaker 1: sense the reports you're hearing from Brian wyn Horrison, from
Speaker 1: Stephen A. Smith that Kyrie wants to be a Laker,
Speaker 1: they actually makes sense and it's and as far as
Speaker 1: the basketball fit, we already know how the Lebron Kyrie
Speaker 1: thing works. And most importantly, just to get into a
Speaker 1: little bit of an xs and ose a fit there.
Speaker 1: One of the things that causes problems for the Lakers
Speaker 1: over the last couple of years with their high pick
Speaker 1: and roll with Anthony Davis is they haven't been able
Speaker 1: to run it. Why because when they run it with Lebron,
Speaker 1: they just switch because it's two forwards, And when they
Speaker 1: ran it with Russ, or when they ran it with
Speaker 1: Dennis Shooter, or when they ran it with Ray Jean Rondo,
Speaker 1: the three of those guys can't shoot. So you can
Speaker 1: run dramatic drop coverage against it, and you can have
Speaker 1: the guards go underneath the screen. Kyrie Irving is a
Speaker 1: ball handler that can run pick and roll with Anthony
Speaker 1: Davis and one not allow you to switch because they're
Speaker 1: two completely different defensive assignments, and to force you to
Speaker 1: chase over the top of the screen and bring your
Speaker 1: big up because Kyrie will pull every single time coming
Speaker 1: off of that screen. It completely flips the dynamic of
Speaker 1: the way you can guard Anthony Davis as a screener
Speaker 1: and will open up so many more things for Anthony
Speaker 1: Davis as a rollman or for Kyrie Irving coming off
Speaker 1: of those screens. To me, it's a home run basketball fit.
Speaker 1: We're gonna get a little bit more into the other
Speaker 1: moves the Lakers made later, But again, as is always
Speaker 1: the case with Kyrie, the idea of him is better
Speaker 1: than the reality of him. The problem is is that
Speaker 1: when he's on the floor, it looks great, but he's
Speaker 1: not always on the floor. The problem is that even
Speaker 1: when things are going well, his brain can be elsewhere. Famously,
Speaker 1: in the two thousand seventeen playoff run, when the Calves
Speaker 1: were clicking and beating the ship out of everybody, Kyrie
Speaker 1: Irving was emotionally pulling away from the team. That's the risk.
Speaker 1: The problem is that the Lakers don't have the flexibility
Speaker 1: to say no to him because of their lack of
Speaker 1: talent as far as the machinations of the trade. That
Speaker 1: the problem is is you can't just trade Russ for him,
Speaker 1: because Russ makes a eleven million more dollars and is
Speaker 1: a significantly worst basketball player. But a first round pick
Speaker 1: feels like too much for Kyrie right when no one
Speaker 1: else is bidding on it, So you got to find
Speaker 1: a delicate balance there. The way I see it, there
Speaker 1: are two options. You can either ask for Seth Curry
Speaker 1: in the deal and include the first round pick, or
Speaker 1: you can remove the first round pick entirely and offer
Speaker 1: to take the Joe Harris contracts Now, Joe Harris was
Speaker 1: an excellent three and D player two years ago, and
Speaker 1: the nineteen to twenty million I think he makes some
Speaker 1: of the next two seasons doesn't seem like that big
Speaker 1: of a deal for an excellent three D player. But
Speaker 1: I have heard from people that would know that his
Speaker 1: ankle is still nowhere near ready to go, and he
Speaker 1: may not be ready to play until about halfway through
Speaker 1: this next season, so he's actually become a bad contract.
Speaker 1: So that might be an interesting way to get a
Speaker 1: player back that you won't be able to use for
Speaker 1: a little while. But that might be available for your
Speaker 1: next playoff run and save that first round pick so
Speaker 1: that you can use it for something else. But either way,
Speaker 1: it just feels like all the momentum is heading towards
Speaker 1: Kyrie going to the Lakers, and that to me feels
Speaker 1: like a realistic option. And also, Kyrie is doing the
Speaker 1: work behind the scenes through his agent and letting everybody
Speaker 1: know that's where he wants to go, and more often
Speaker 1: than not, that will scare away teams when it comes
Speaker 1: to paying real assets when push comes to shove, I
Speaker 1: think Rob would do it for a first round pick anyway.
Speaker 1: But I do think Kyrie will end up with the
Speaker 1: Lakers and that might be just the thing that can
Speaker 1: get them back into the mix of things with their talent. Okay,
Speaker 1: so before we bring Carson on, a couple of quick announcements,
Speaker 1: you guys that are listening, If you guys could please
Speaker 1: subscribe to the Volumes YouTube channel, I would sincerely appreciate that.
Speaker 1: Please like this video it really helps us a lot.
Speaker 1: Follow me on Twitter at underscore Jason lt so you
Speaker 1: guys don't miss any more of O show announcements and
Speaker 1: things along those lines. Unlast, but not least, if you
Speaker 1: missed part of this for whatever reason, and you can't
Speaker 1: get back to you to subscribe to our podcast feed,
Speaker 1: which for the time being is under Lakers tonight. Lastly,
Speaker 1: we are going to at the end, Carson is gonna
Speaker 1: come on and we're gonna go over some moves, other
Speaker 1: free agent moves around the league. But we are going
Speaker 1: to do a mail back at the end, So submit
Speaker 1: your questions in the chat. We will get to you
Speaker 1: guys after we get through these moves. Carson, what's up man.
Speaker 1: It is good to see your face again. It is
Speaker 1: good to see you as well, and it is a
Speaker 1: great time to be an NBA fan as always, because
Speaker 1: you never know what's gonna happen. It seems felt like
Speaker 1: this was gonna be kind of a boring offseason for
Speaker 1: a couple of days, and then obviously we have the
Speaker 1: k DNS. So, like you said, we're gonna walk through
Speaker 1: some of the most interesting moves of the day, and
Speaker 1: we're gonna play a game called love it or hate it.
Speaker 1: You are gonna tell me if you love or hate
Speaker 1: the moves, and we will start with the slew of
Speaker 1: signings that the Lakers made today. They brought in Damien
Speaker 1: Jones on a two year deal, and Lonnie Walker the
Speaker 1: fourth Wantascano Anderson and Troy Brown Jr. All On one
Speaker 1: year deals. So, Jason, do you love that or do
Speaker 1: you hate that? For the Lakes, I'm I love the
Speaker 1: Damien Jones signing and I hate the Lonnie Walker signing,
Speaker 1: the Troy Brown Junior and Juant Toscano Anderson signings. These
Speaker 1: are veteran minimum contracts. So when it comes to this
Speaker 1: sort of thing, there's not an exact science there. Everything
Speaker 1: is a complete gamble. It's it's either old guys that
Speaker 1: a good percentage of them don't pan out, and then
Speaker 1: a good percentage of them do. So it's like it's
Speaker 1: a total coin flip. You know. It's like you get
Speaker 1: a mellow who ends up fitting great for you as
Speaker 1: a spot of three point shooter, but then you get
Speaker 1: like a you know, you'll you'll end up getting a um, um,
Speaker 1: some other old guy that won't paying out like a
Speaker 1: like a a DeAndre Jordan for instance. Um. The young guys,
Speaker 1: it's a completely different story. You're usually getting a great
Speaker 1: deal of athleticism and enthusiasm and guys who play hard
Speaker 1: for you and stay bought in, but they're usually too
Speaker 1: inexperienced and too inconsistent to be reliable for you in
Speaker 1: a road patian, especially when you get into the postseason.
Speaker 1: But it is what it is. The Lakers had, though,
Speaker 1: this mid level exception that every team gets once a season,
Speaker 1: and I had said many times throughout the end of
Speaker 1: the season that they had to spend it on a
Speaker 1: wing that was at least six eight that could guard
Speaker 1: multiple positions, and that could absolutely certainly be in your
Speaker 1: late game rotation. You're late like postseason rotation and close
Speaker 1: games for you, especially when you're strapped like this and
Speaker 1: you don't have the ability to offer money to other players.
Speaker 1: And for them to use their mid level exception on
Speaker 1: another undersized, very athletic tons of potential, but for them
Speaker 1: to use that slot on a player like Lonnie Walker,
Speaker 1: who I like, who's a fine young player, the upside
Speaker 1: of the of them signing is great because he's a
Speaker 1: great athlete, he has extended stretches where he shoots the
Speaker 1: ball well, and then overall he's pretty inconsistent. I think
Speaker 1: he's a career thirty four percent shooter. Can get into it,
Speaker 1: can get into the lane, can defend when he's really committed.
Speaker 1: All that stuff is great. The problem is is, are
Speaker 1: you certain, like beyond a shadow of a doubt, that
Speaker 1: Lonnie Walker can close basketball games for you in the
Speaker 1: second round of the playoffs. I don't know, and that
Speaker 1: to me makes it the wrong use of those resources.
Speaker 1: The one thing I will throw the bone to Rob Polinka.
Speaker 1: How many times have I preached about old plotting centers
Speaker 1: and how useless they are in this NBA, and how
Speaker 1: I almost prefer a six ten guy to a seven
Speaker 1: foot guy who can run and can cover ground. You
Speaker 1: need to be able to get up and down the
Speaker 1: floor and transition when teams play fast, and you need
Speaker 1: to be able to cover ground in five out. Damian
Speaker 1: Jones is that guy. I watched him play for the
Speaker 1: Lakers two years ago before they dumped him for Andre Drummond.
Speaker 1: He was a great fit while he was there. He
Speaker 1: was really good towards the end of the year in
Speaker 1: Sacramento last year. I will say that that was the
Speaker 1: right direction for them to go at the center position,
Speaker 1: But I just I just can't believe that they didn't
Speaker 1: use mid level exception slot on a on a on
Speaker 1: a more traditional wing. So you've obviously talked a lot
Speaker 1: about the need not just for Lakers but across the
Speaker 1: league of having those guys wings in the six six
Speaker 1: to six nine range who can guard multiple positions. And
Speaker 1: obviously all three of these guys are on the low
Speaker 1: end of that spectrum, if not below that spectrum. There
Speaker 1: are really long like abnormally, so I think all three
Speaker 1: of the Wings have six ten plus wingspans. You also
Speaker 1: talked about how part of what made the Warriors so
Speaker 1: strong this year, for example, is just that they had
Speaker 1: good basketball players, Guys who were smart, who make good decisions,
Speaker 1: who played hard. J. T A I think has those traits.
Speaker 1: Troy Brown Jr. Is not a great basketball player, but
Speaker 1: he has some of the playmaking, some of the two
Speaker 1: way abilities. So do you have any positive thoughts in
Speaker 1: terms of, you know, outside of Lonnie Walker, with those
Speaker 1: other two wings investing obviously very little resources and guys
Speaker 1: who at least are in kind of the right mold,
Speaker 1: or how how comfortable would you say you are with
Speaker 1: those two signings specifically. Well, what's funny about it too,
Speaker 1: is I swear Rob Polinka just like listens to all
Speaker 1: the Twitter trolls and then does the exact opposite of
Speaker 1: whatever he did. The previous season, it's like it's like, oh,
Speaker 1: we lost to the Suns and no one could shoot,
Speaker 1: no one could score. It's like, Okay, I'm getting all
Speaker 1: guards and wings that don't guard and only play offense,
Speaker 1: you know, and then it's like, uh, the entire narrative
Speaker 1: last year was they're too old, they're washed up, and
Speaker 1: so now it's all young, freaky athletic guys that you know,
Speaker 1: that have all this potential. And you know, as far
Speaker 1: as the uh, they're limited offensive skill goes, you know,
Speaker 1: this is the issue. When you've got Lebron James and
Speaker 1: Anthony Davis on the roster. Let's forget about Kyrie Irving
Speaker 1: for a second, who I believe will be a Laker.
Speaker 1: If you have Lebron James and Anthony Davis on your roster,
Speaker 1: you're going to pack the paint. That's just you. It's
Speaker 1: the only thing you can do. You can't hope to
Speaker 1: contain them any other way. It's what every team did
Speaker 1: this last year. It's what every team did the year before,
Speaker 1: It's what every team did the year before that. So
Speaker 1: you constantly find your guys in close out situations, and
Speaker 1: in close out situations you need to do one of
Speaker 1: two things, really well. You either need to be a
Speaker 1: dead eye three point shooter, which Troy Bound Jr. Is not.
Speaker 1: J Wants Uskano Anderson is not and Lonnie Walker is not.
Speaker 1: Or you need to be a very very smart, savvy
Speaker 1: close out attacker. I want you guys to think about
Speaker 1: like a andre Iguadala for something like that. You know,
Speaker 1: think about an Auto Porter Jr. These are guys that
Speaker 1: are not, you know, necessarily overly athletic at this phase
Speaker 1: of their careers, but you can count on them to
Speaker 1: rip through when the guy closes out on them, get
Speaker 1: into the lane, collapse the defense, and make the next
Speaker 1: read and that sort of that sort of close out
Speaker 1: attacking that those making those reads requires a great deal
Speaker 1: of experience and savvy and basketball like you not to
Speaker 1: say that those guys won't be able to do that
Speaker 1: one day, but it's really hard to do. There's a
Speaker 1: reason why he Wants Uskano Anderson fell out of the
Speaker 1: rotation for the Warriors. It's because the Warriors typically are
Speaker 1: running a ton of four on three as a result
Speaker 1: of Steph Curry traps and the overall chaos that is
Speaker 1: caused by the Splash Brothers and wants us annoy Anderson
Speaker 1: was less reliable as an intelligent decision maker in those situations.
Speaker 1: Doesn't mean they won't have moments. Anytime you have young
Speaker 1: athletic players like this, they will have moments. There will
Speaker 1: be a game where the Lakers beat the ship out
Speaker 1: of a good team and Wantasconna Anderson has fifteen and
Speaker 1: Lonnie Warker is eighteen and they're locking up and everything
Speaker 1: looks great. But with young players, it's always about consistency.
Speaker 1: They struggle to identify the things that are working for
Speaker 1: them so that they can replicate them, and they struggle
Speaker 1: to identify the things that are not working for them
Speaker 1: so that they can get them out of, you know,
Speaker 1: their list of habits. So it's just it's one of
Speaker 1: those things where I wish Rob Polinka would just kind
Speaker 1: of learn all the lessons from all of the things
Speaker 1: that happened over the last couple of years and build
Speaker 1: a more well rounded roster. If that makes sense. Yeah. Absolutely.
Speaker 1: Let's move on to the traditional free agency signing of
Speaker 1: the day, if you will, and one that we've heard
Speaker 1: a lot about because obviously the pure market wasn't overwhelmingly
Speaker 1: intriguing for this year, but Jalen Bronson was the name
Speaker 1: that kept coming up, and the Knicks were the team him.
Speaker 1: They kept coming up being attached to him. It seems
Speaker 1: as if he has very least headed to the Knicks
Speaker 1: on a four year, close to one hundred and ten
Speaker 1: million dollar deal. Jason, what are your thoughts on that?
Speaker 1: Do you love it or hate it? Well? I hate it,
Speaker 1: but they this interesting. The situation is is super interesting
Speaker 1: because like, uh, we don't really know what's happening. It
Speaker 1: seems like everyone's reporting that he's going to the Knicks.
Speaker 1: But then we got that weird Agrian war Zanowski tweet
Speaker 1: that he's going to meet with the Knicks armed with
Speaker 1: a five year, one six million dollar deal from the Mavericks.
Speaker 1: So here's the one thing we know for sure, Jalen
Speaker 1: Brunson is going to be very rich after after today
Speaker 1: or whatever this all gets gets settled. As far as
Speaker 1: the Knicks go, I just don't understand with a brand
Speaker 1: as big as the Knicks, with the theoretic capable theoretical capability,
Speaker 1: they have to be able to bring big name free
Speaker 1: agents if they could just demonstrate consistent competence, and like
Speaker 1: this is a six one guard who is not an
Speaker 1: All Star or close to an All Star. He was
Speaker 1: a pretty good playoff player in specific matchups. He's very
Speaker 1: good against the Jazz, was good for stretches against Phoenix,
Speaker 1: was good for stretches against Golden State. But he also
Speaker 1: struggled for stretches in both of those series. Everybody struggles
Speaker 1: to the in the playoffs to certain extents. You don't
Speaker 1: want to overread into that. But he was also doing
Speaker 1: it against bench lineups primarily, or against the secondary defender.
Speaker 1: As Luca was gathering the best defender going against or
Speaker 1: going into New York, he will get the best perimeter
Speaker 1: defender every single night. He will be going against first
Speaker 1: units primarily. He'll be in the Luca don Che's role.
Speaker 1: And here's the thing. It's very likely that he puts
Speaker 1: up decent numbers, but that this team has a clearly
Speaker 1: defined ceiling, and that probably is first round exit in
Speaker 1: an Eastern Conference that has a team as good as Miami,
Speaker 1: a team as good as Boston, a team as good
Speaker 1: as Milwaukee, and his team as good as Feeling. So
Speaker 1: the way the problem that I have with it, if
Speaker 1: I'm the Knicks, like man, keep developing your young players.
Speaker 1: Do what the Lakers did. Keep developing your young players,
Speaker 1: have your brandon Ingram, your Kyle Kuzmo, your Josh Hart,
Speaker 1: you know, your your Lonzo Ball, have them already, and
Speaker 1: keep that cap space open something each passing summer so
Speaker 1: that you have the ability to get a real big
Speaker 1: name free agent and then flip the rest of your
Speaker 1: young players for one of his buddies. It's a proven method.
Speaker 1: We saw the Clippers do it, we saw the Lakers
Speaker 1: do it. It works. It is a proven method. And
Speaker 1: I just don't understand this, like it's like a race
Speaker 1: to mediocrity. It's like they're sprinting fast as they possibly
Speaker 1: can to lose to to Boston in the first round
Speaker 1: next year. I just don't understand the idea. And I
Speaker 1: like Jalen Brunson. It's just and I'm happy that he's
Speaker 1: getting paid. It's just as we're looking from the perspective
Speaker 1: of the Knicks, I just don't understand what their goal is.
Speaker 1: I completely agree with you. I think Brumpson is very good.
Speaker 1: I think he's fundamentally a willing, winning player. He does
Speaker 1: a lot of things really well. But it's an overpay,
Speaker 1: and it's especially an overpay given the direction of the franchise.
Speaker 1: So if you were the Knicks, how would you have
Speaker 1: gone about this offseason? Like, what would be the direction
Speaker 1: to take from your perspective? So I mean, well, look
Speaker 1: at what the Lakers did over the last couple of years.
Speaker 1: Essentially they only tie up their core players that they
Speaker 1: know are part of their future, right, so they had
Speaker 1: Lebron tied up, Anthony Davis tied up. Outside of that,
Speaker 1: there was no big money any anywhere else on the
Speaker 1: uh on the roster, and they consistently signed their supporting
Speaker 1: pieces to one year deals, so you can essentially rotate
Speaker 1: them through each passing summer. It's okay to be towards
Speaker 1: the bottom of the league as long as you're demonstrating competence,
Speaker 1: if you have a good coach, if you guys play
Speaker 1: hard every single night, if you're competitive, if you draft well,
Speaker 1: and if you show you demonstrate to the rest of
Speaker 1: the league that you're building something. What happened with the
Speaker 1: Lakers in two thousand nineteen, they demonstrated to Lebron over
Speaker 1: the previous years. Because here's the thing. The Lakers are
Speaker 1: an absolute ship show, as everybody knows, but they have
Speaker 1: one department in their front office that's one of the
Speaker 1: best in the league, and that's their college scouting department.
Speaker 1: They consistently year and in year out find high quality
Speaker 1: NBA players on the margins. This past year they did
Speaker 1: it again with Austin Reeves. It makes you really wonder
Speaker 1: what this Max Christie kid can do, because it's like
Speaker 1: his kid who didn't shoot well at Michigan State and
Speaker 1: I think only average like nine points a game, and
Speaker 1: you're like, you almost can just bet that he's gonna
Speaker 1: be a rotation player for the Lakers next year because
Speaker 1: that's just what they do. So that one piece of
Speaker 1: competence in the Lakers front office demonstrated over a half
Speaker 1: decade that they knew how to accumulate quality young players
Speaker 1: that the rest of the league wanted. And then they
Speaker 1: kept their cap space open, and then when Lebron came,
Speaker 1: they immediately flipped all of the assets for Anthony Davis.
Speaker 1: You can absolutely do something like that. I'll give you
Speaker 1: an example. Let's say that you had all this cap
Speaker 1: space open and you went after Bradley Beale and Bradley
Speaker 1: Bill already signed with the Wizards. I just want to
Speaker 1: give you guys an example of what I'm talking about
Speaker 1: Bradley bal Is really good friends with a Jason Tatum. Right,
Speaker 1: Let's pretend you know the uh something things didn't go
Speaker 1: as well with the Celtics last year. You sign a
Speaker 1: Bill and Bill goes Tatum's my best friend. Let's trade
Speaker 1: for him. Again, that's not going to happen. But there
Speaker 1: are little friendships like that all around the league. All
Speaker 1: you have to do is catch the right free agent
Speaker 1: in the right summer, and the right friend who's in
Speaker 1: a situation where he's not overly happy, and have the
Speaker 1: requisite assets to make the trade. If you can pull
Speaker 1: off those three things just like that, you can have
Speaker 1: the star talent you need to compete. And again, this
Speaker 1: is not Milwaukee, this is not Oklahoma City. You don't
Speaker 1: have to, you know, build on the margins and hope
Speaker 1: that things break your way. You are the New York
Speaker 1: freaking Knicks. Okay, you absolutely if you can demonstrate competence,
Speaker 1: you absolutely provide these players with a world stage, the
Speaker 1: Mecca of basketball, the all all of the history that
Speaker 1: comes along with it. You can absolutely pull these huge
Speaker 1: personalities in the NBA. You just have to kind of have, uh,
Speaker 1: you gotta have the opportunity ready each passing summer as
Speaker 1: these guys come available. As we all know, it just
Speaker 1: depends on which which particular summer you catch, and you
Speaker 1: catch the right star who's ready to make that move.
Speaker 1: Al Right, Well, we do have word from Woes now
Speaker 1: confirming Jason. It is a four year, one hundred four
Speaker 1: million dollar deal for Bronson with the Knicks, with a
Speaker 1: player option on the final season. So there you go
Speaker 1: the march. But I'm glad you got all that money. Man,
Speaker 1: He's gonna be rich. I'm happy for Jalen. This is
Speaker 1: not a Jalen take. This is a This is a
Speaker 1: New York Knicks take. Yeah, and I don't think anybody
Speaker 1: can really be opposed to a New York next take. So,
Speaker 1: but you mentioned Bradley deal there in the example that
Speaker 1: you gave with him and Tatum. He did, of course
Speaker 1: signed the super Max to stay in Washington, or at
Speaker 1: least to be paid by Washington in five years two
Speaker 1: hundred and fifty one million dollars. Jason, do you love
Speaker 1: or do you hate that move? It makes sense for
Speaker 1: both sides. It's very similar to what happened with Janice, right,
Speaker 1: Like Janice is a little bit unhappy with how things
Speaker 1: are going. You know, Milwaukee can provide him the biggest,
Speaker 1: most financially lucrative contract, and so you basically just signed
Speaker 1: the guy and you tell Janice like, hey man, two
Speaker 1: years go by and this isn't going well, we'll trade you.
Speaker 1: But then maybe things break well and you win a championship,
Speaker 1: and now he's gonna be there forever, right Like That's
Speaker 1: that's kind of the way it can break the other way.
Speaker 1: But like, if you're the Wizards, you never want to
Speaker 1: lose the asset for nothing. You sign him. If things
Speaker 1: aren't going well around the deadline and you're way below
Speaker 1: five hundred or next year's deadline or whatever it is,
Speaker 1: you can at that point trade Bradley Beale and get
Speaker 1: some sort of asset return for him. If you're Bradley,
Speaker 1: this is just where all the money is. You take
Speaker 1: all the money and you have that flexibility. This is
Speaker 1: where that cachet matters. And this is what I'm so
Speaker 1: curious about what the glen nets as it pertains to
Speaker 1: k D and Kyrie. You know, we have seen that franchises,
Speaker 1: when they feel a sense of loyalty from a player
Speaker 1: that they're willing to work with them, but when you
Speaker 1: burn that bridge and the working relationship suffers, they're less
Speaker 1: willing to do you favors. And Bradley Beale has built
Speaker 1: up a great deal of cash a with the Wizards.
Speaker 1: Obviously I don't have intel on this, but I would
Speaker 1: be willing to bet that the conversation was, Hey, dude,
Speaker 1: signed with us, You've been so good to us. When
Speaker 1: you're ready to go, we'll ship you off and if
Speaker 1: you give us a list of three or four teams
Speaker 1: that you like, will get you to one of those
Speaker 1: three or four teams based on who gives up the
Speaker 1: most assets. To me, that's kind of like the new
Speaker 1: modern day free agency, where you're basically just you're chasing
Speaker 1: the money and getting that sort of uh, you know,
Speaker 1: freedom of choice from the trade market. All right, well, Jason,
Speaker 1: we've got a Lakers related move to get your thoughts
Speaker 1: on here. Malik Monk the King's for two years, nineteen
Speaker 1: million dollars. Do you love? Do you hate? That? So?
Speaker 1: I would love it for the Lakers if they didn't
Speaker 1: promptly go sign another small guard with the mid level exception.
Speaker 1: My whole theory was this entire Laker off season was
Speaker 1: you have to. Even though I love Malik Monk's game
Speaker 1: and he deserves every penny of that deal, with this
Speaker 1: particular Lakers roster, he did not fit a specific need
Speaker 1: for them. His there was a there was a diminished
Speaker 1: return on his specific skill set because of their perimeter
Speaker 1: size weaknesses. So I wanted them to use the mid
Speaker 1: level exception on a bigger forward because that was their
Speaker 1: specific weakness. That's where I wanted them to allocate those resources.
Speaker 1: Same goes for the Kings. In this case, You've already
Speaker 1: got a small guard and deer and fox That's already
Speaker 1: an issue there, okay. And so from that standpoint, like
Speaker 1: I don't like the idea of partnering, and I get
Speaker 1: I get it the Kentucky connection and the guys are
Speaker 1: good buddies and all that stuff. If you're the Kings,
Speaker 1: you just put a hard ceiling on your own individual
Speaker 1: or your own team success because in this league, perimeter
Speaker 1: size does matter. Your ability to contain ball handlers on
Speaker 1: the perimeter matters, and night in and night out around
Speaker 1: the league. Just like Malik was attacked with the Lakers,
Speaker 1: and just like Daron Foxes is still attacked to this day,
Speaker 1: they're gonna struggle to contain teams on the perimeter, especially
Speaker 1: in the Western Conference, which is freaking loaded with guards.
Speaker 1: What if Kyrie comes, Man, it's gonna be Jamal Murray
Speaker 1: one night, Kyrie Irving the next night, Steph Curry the
Speaker 1: following night, Damian Lillard the next night. Like that. It's
Speaker 1: gonna be night after night of dominant guard and you
Speaker 1: don't have the perimeter defensive pieces to contain that. Okay,
Speaker 1: so you're gonna, um, gosh, I'm blanking on his name.
Speaker 1: What's the little guard they signed last year? Uh? The
Speaker 1: kid out of Louisville. Do you remember, um, the little
Speaker 1: stocky defensive guard. Yeah, the King's uh it's uh oh
Speaker 1: man Mitchell, Davean Mitchell. So like Davion Mitchell, great defensive player, right,
Speaker 1: So he put him out there to help with dribble contain.
Speaker 1: And now you got a bench malik or you're playing
Speaker 1: three tiny guards, you know, Like I just I don't,
Speaker 1: As is always the case for the Kings, I just
Speaker 1: don't understand what their plan is. And and like you
Speaker 1: literally um u Ivy was there for the take in
Speaker 1: taking at the draft, and then you took the plotting forward.
Speaker 1: Who would have made more sense with a team that's
Speaker 1: closer to the to the title, you know what I mean.
Speaker 1: So I just the Kings are gonna Kings. That's what
Speaker 1: we said after the draft. And and again I'm really
Speaker 1: happy from a leak that he got paid. I just
Speaker 1: think he would have made more sense going to a
Speaker 1: team that already had a great deal of size on
Speaker 1: the perimeter, so that you can compensate for his specific
Speaker 1: size weakness. Well, like you, I have quite an affinity
Speaker 1: from Leak's game individually, but the King's not Unlike the Knicks.
Speaker 1: I agree, continue on the march to mediocrity, and this
Speaker 1: deal is a continuation of that for a team that
Speaker 1: is actually in contin pending mode. You've got an interesting move.
Speaker 1: The Bucks bring in Joe Ingles with their midlevel exception,
Speaker 1: obviously coming off of his injury. Jason, do you love
Speaker 1: that or do you hate that? I love it again?
Speaker 1: The playoffs don't lie. They reveal everything, and you got
Speaker 1: to pay attention to what that you know, all revealing
Speaker 1: playoff run will show you what did we learn about
Speaker 1: the Bucks this year? Obviously, Chris Middleton's injury was a
Speaker 1: big impact there, but there was where was the weak
Speaker 1: spot in the rotation. Kind of felt like it was
Speaker 1: Grace and Allen right, kind of felt like a little
Speaker 1: bit of like Pat Conaton inconsistency. Right, what you need
Speaker 1: is another guy who can guard on the perimeter. Now,
Speaker 1: Joel Ingles is coming off an injury, so it remains
Speaker 1: to be seen. But I mean, this is a player that,
Speaker 1: before he got hurt, was as reliable of a three
Speaker 1: D guy that you'll find in the league. This is
Speaker 1: the guy that completely shut down Paul George when they
Speaker 1: upset the Oklahoma City Thunder a few years back. Like,
Speaker 1: this guy is a very good perimeter defensive player with size.
Speaker 1: It was a lights out three points. And most importantly,
Speaker 1: like we talked about earlier, Carson, when you have guys
Speaker 1: that forced you to pack the paint and Janice might
Speaker 1: literally might literally be the quintessential player that fits this
Speaker 1: mold in the entire league. Boston was literally ignoring everybody
Speaker 1: on Milwaukee to clog the paint on Janice and in
Speaker 1: Game seven, they just couldn't make a shot. Having a
Speaker 1: guy like Joe Angles who can knock down the shot
Speaker 1: and is an intelligent closeout attacker, a guy that can
Speaker 1: get into the lane and make smart reads to other
Speaker 1: perimeter players on kickouts. I loved it. This to me
Speaker 1: is an example of using your mid level exception on
Speaker 1: a player that addresses a specific need and that you
Speaker 1: know can play in a playoff series. I know Joe
Speaker 1: Angles can be your fifth player in a closing lineup,
Speaker 1: not sure that Lonnie Walker can be that. So just again,
Speaker 1: this is a smart team behaving smarter than the other
Speaker 1: teams around the league. I loved Angles to the Bucks. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and he will be thirty five, and I did think
Speaker 1: he regressed a bit even pre injury, but two years
Speaker 1: ago I thought he should have been six Man of
Speaker 1: the Year. Genuinely. I mean he is a winning basketball
Speaker 1: player to the extreme, and so to get that with
Speaker 1: the m l E is pretty good. All Right, last
Speaker 1: specific couple of moves here that we're gonna get your
Speaker 1: take on before we go to some questions. Jason, the
Speaker 1: Philadelphia seventy six ers brought in p. J. Tucker for
Speaker 1: three years thirty three million and Daniel House for two
Speaker 1: years eight and a half. Do you love that or
Speaker 1: do you hate that? For Philly? I love it. But
Speaker 1: first of all, guys, before we before I finished this
Speaker 1: particular take. Remember we are about to do a mail back,
Speaker 1: so if you guys have any questions about anything related
Speaker 1: to free agency, please drop it into the chat and
Speaker 1: we will get to it here in just a minute. UM.
Speaker 1: The numbers seem big, right, particularly for Tucker three years
Speaker 1: thirty three million. It was the biennial exception on Daniel
Speaker 1: House that means it hardcaps the team. So I'll be
Speaker 1: curious to see if that restricts some of their flexibility
Speaker 1: as they get closer to the deadline. UM this year.
Speaker 1: But at the end of the day, again, the playoffs
Speaker 1: are all revealing. What did we learn about the seventy
Speaker 1: six ers this year? I felt like they were soft.
Speaker 1: I felt like they struggled against a very tough team
Speaker 1: in Miami to match their intensity, to match their competitiveness.
Speaker 1: When you when the star of your team, is it
Speaker 1: Joe l Embiid who is a foul grifter, relatively inefficient
Speaker 1: in terms of putting the ball in the basket compared
Speaker 1: to other bigs around the league, guy who relies on
Speaker 1: jan Kie basketball and can be pouty and can be
Speaker 1: dramatic and can fall on the ground a lot. And
Speaker 1: then your other stars James Harden who arguably is the
Speaker 1: least you know, in terms of like the fight or
Speaker 1: flight response. He might be closer to flight than any
Speaker 1: superstar star in this entire league. You need somebody to
Speaker 1: help bolster their own psychological weaknesses. And so I love
Speaker 1: the idea of bringing in p J. Tucker and Daniel
Speaker 1: House to just tough s O B S dude, just
Speaker 1: tough dudes that are just gonna come in there and compete.
Speaker 1: And when a team like Miami comes and punches him
Speaker 1: in the mouth, even if James Harden enjoy the Beach
Speaker 1: struggled to match that with their competitiveness, you know, damn well,
Speaker 1: p J. Tucker and Daniel House are gonna be right
Speaker 1: in there, barking back, getting in their faces, being physical,
Speaker 1: and doing the things necessary to try to rest that
Speaker 1: battle back into their favor. You know, Draymond, that Draymond J. J.
Speaker 1: Reddick pod was so interesting the other day, and and J. J.
Speaker 1: Reddick was he was, I don't know if you heard
Speaker 1: this part card of a J. J. Reddick was giving
Speaker 1: Draymond crap for his antics in the finals, and at
Speaker 1: one point He's like, why are you such a dick?
Speaker 1: You know, Draymond's like defending himself. But you know what's
Speaker 1: funny is what Draymond was saying was true because they
Speaker 1: were showing some of the clips of him, like doing
Speaker 1: ridiculous stuff in the finals, fallon the hell out of people.
Speaker 1: There's some truth to what Draymond was saying. When there's
Speaker 1: someone on the court doing that stuff, it rattles people.
Speaker 1: It don't like. I know Jalen Brown doesn't believe it,
Speaker 1: and I know he pushed back on again again on
Speaker 1: it today. That kind of thing does rittle people. It
Speaker 1: gets in your head. And the Sixers needed needed people
Speaker 1: like that in their locker room, people that are willing
Speaker 1: to fight back in that department to help win that
Speaker 1: mental battle because you're just not going to get that
Speaker 1: type of fight response from Embden. From Harden, I agree
Speaker 1: with you completely there, and I think we've seen that
Speaker 1: time and again. All Right, So let's get to the
Speaker 1: mail back here, because we've got some good k D stuff.
Speaker 1: Some theoretical trades will start with this from from Taylor
Speaker 1: O'Neill Jason. Should the Nets send Katie to the Rockets
Speaker 1: for their draft picks back plus some young projects. Oh man,
Speaker 1: that'd be so me into. Katie would us. Well again,
Speaker 1: this is this is where we get into the cache stuff,
Speaker 1: because like, like if I was Brooklyn and I really
Speaker 1: want to disturb the pot, especially you know, we're also
Speaker 1: coming up on some CBA negotiations here relatively soon, and
Speaker 1: the word around the league is is that the owners
Speaker 1: are gonna be trying to rest back some control. That
Speaker 1: would be one hell of a power move from Brooklyn.
Speaker 1: The ship Katie off to NBA Siberia and Houston. Here's
Speaker 1: the thing, there's absolutely no reason for Houston to do
Speaker 1: it because they don't have enough talent to make a
Speaker 1: run with Katie, and I believe that Brooklyn can get
Speaker 1: better young players elsewhere around the league. So as I
Speaker 1: get why as a Houston fan that might be interesting,
Speaker 1: it just is completely unrealistic and quite frankly, like I'm
Speaker 1: sure Kg's at Katie's agent would throw an absolute fit.
Speaker 1: All Right, how about this one? Jason, Katie to the
Speaker 1: Pacers for Malcolm Brogden, Miles Turner, t J. Warren, t
Speaker 1: J McConnell in three first round picks. That's a lot
Speaker 1: of money. So you're gonna have to throw some stuff
Speaker 1: in with Katie there. But what do you think of
Speaker 1: that in theory, and then we're going We're going out
Speaker 1: with Katie and Tyrese Halliburton at that point just the same,
Speaker 1: the same same thing as the Rockets, Like it's it's
Speaker 1: one of those things where it burns the bridge with
Speaker 1: Katie because him and his agent are gonna be piss
Speaker 1: you shipped him off somewhere where he can't win. The
Speaker 1: Pacers are still not gonna win. And if I'm uh,
Speaker 1: if I'm the Nets, I'm not getting enough back for
Speaker 1: that to really move the needle. Like even all of that,
Speaker 1: I'd rather have Scotty Barnes, even all of that, I'd
Speaker 1: rather have Zion Williamson. I'd rather have even some of
Speaker 1: those theoretical packages from Phoenix involving Aton and Bridges, I'd
Speaker 1: rather have those. Yeah. Well, like you said, all thirty
Speaker 1: teams are calling, and I'm sure all thirty fan bases
Speaker 1: want to try to find a way to get Katie
Speaker 1: in there. What do you think is the single least
Speaker 1: logical or perhaps cruelest location for Katie to go in
Speaker 1: the league. Oh, I got one for you, Carson, Okay,
Speaker 1: Kevin Durant in exchange for Andrew Wiggins, Jonathan cominga and
Speaker 1: Moses Moodie and we run it back. Yeah. Can you
Speaker 1: imagine could someone photoshop a couple of those really quick
Speaker 1: for us? No. I was thinking about that the other
Speaker 1: day because, like I, I don't think the Nets would
Speaker 1: do it, because I mean, I know the Warriors fans
Speaker 1: love their young prospects, and Colin Coward in particular is
Speaker 1: very high and Jonathan Comedica and I like Jonathan Comigo two,
Speaker 1: He's just not a home run. None of those guys,
Speaker 1: none of their young players are sure things. And I
Speaker 1: would imagine that Brooklyn will be able to fetch a
Speaker 1: sure thing. But that is an interesting idea in the
Speaker 1: sense that, like, you know, the basketball fit is great,
Speaker 1: and I'm sure the Warriors would make that trade. It's
Speaker 1: just it's just one of those things where I just
Speaker 1: think they'll end up getting something else elsewhere. Yeah, that
Speaker 1: would be hilarious. Though. Oh wait, can I can I
Speaker 1: throw out one? So I got roasted the other day
Speaker 1: for my proposed Lakers Nets trade, and I understand the
Speaker 1: skepticism because I and again, guys, this is fake trade season.
Speaker 1: Almost everything we're saying is unlikely. So I'm not over
Speaker 1: here trying to to be prescient or anything. But I
Speaker 1: am genuinely curious to see when it's all said and
Speaker 1: done and the moves are made, whether or not Brooklyn
Speaker 1: gets much more than Anthony Davis first, because you have
Speaker 1: to think, even if you didn't think Anthony Davis was
Speaker 1: in your timeline, Brooklyn could theoretically flip him for a
Speaker 1: huge package, right. And so it's one of those things
Speaker 1: where like, again it's super unlikely, but that Russ and
Speaker 1: a D and the two first for k D and
Speaker 1: and Kyrie. I just it's not as insane as everyone
Speaker 1: thought it was. That's all I'm gonna say. That's I
Speaker 1: it's not likely. Not put my name on it, but
Speaker 1: I'm just saying I I didn't think it was that
Speaker 1: outland this all right, Well, let's take a quick break
Speaker 1: from some Katie talk here to look at a team
Speaker 1: that was on the biggest NBA stage this year and
Speaker 1: fell just a little bit short, and that of course
Speaker 1: is the Boston Celtics. So you got this question from
Speaker 1: steel O Green Jason, who do you think the Celtics
Speaker 1: should look to bring in to help the core guys
Speaker 1: on their roster? So the big one that stood out
Speaker 1: to me, and there's some intel in this department already.
Speaker 1: The intel is that they're targeting t J. Warren and
Speaker 1: Daniella Gallinari. But I think both of those guys want
Speaker 1: the mid level exception um and they may end up
Speaker 1: going somewhere where they can get a little bit more
Speaker 1: of a bigger role. Daniella Gallinari is a name that
Speaker 1: I've thrown out that I'd love for the Warriors to
Speaker 1: get um in terms of a great way for them
Speaker 1: to elevate their ceiling the late The Celtics need ball
Speaker 1: handling and they need someone who can can consistently get
Speaker 1: shots at the rim. So this year, I can't remember
Speaker 1: the numbers exactly off top my head, but Daniella Gallinari
Speaker 1: had about a hundred and forty something post ups hundred
Speaker 1: forty six post ups I think, and he was about
Speaker 1: fifty six percent from the field in those situations, got
Speaker 1: to the line thirty eight times, made thirty six of
Speaker 1: them only at ten turnovers. He was one of the
Speaker 1: more efficient post up players in the league this year
Speaker 1: in a decent volume. He was doing over two post
Speaker 1: ups per game. I liked him as an option that
Speaker 1: you know, theoretically, if you've got Marcus Smart on the floor,
Speaker 1: Jason Tatum on the floor, Jalen Brown on the floor,
Speaker 1: and their ball pressuring the hell out of those guys.
Speaker 1: Daniella Gallanari is probably gonna fetch a slower forward that's
Speaker 1: gonna struggle with ball pressure. So you could see him
Speaker 1: as a guy who they could use as a release
Speaker 1: valve to bring the ball up the floor when they're
Speaker 1: struggling to get into the paint. Because guys are sitting
Speaker 1: on the right hands, you could throw the ball into
Speaker 1: the post to Daniella Gallinari. And again, post ups that
Speaker 1: draw double teams are another great way to get into
Speaker 1: your driving kick game. And driving kick is where Boston's
Speaker 1: at their best. So again they're they're all they're gonna
Speaker 1: have at their disposal is going to be you know,
Speaker 1: veteran minimum contracts and mid level exception type stuff. They're
Speaker 1: all all of their players in their rotation in our
Speaker 1: under team control this year. Grant Williams has got a
Speaker 1: team option, but it either already picked it up or
Speaker 1: they're going to um. But that the guy that I'd
Speaker 1: be looking at there is Denila Callinari on the mid
Speaker 1: level exception. Okay, I said we were going to take
Speaker 1: a break from Katie. I hope that was enough to recharge,
Speaker 1: because you've got another Katie questions one from Neo Verdon.
Speaker 1: Is it possible that Katie wants to join the Suns
Speaker 1: besides the fact that they have Book and CP already,
Speaker 1: because I have his new super team in the West
Speaker 1: and therefore get a chance to beat Lebron and Steph
Speaker 1: in the same playoff run and win the championship in
Speaker 1: that style. Do you think that's a factor, Jason, I don't,
Speaker 1: because I mean, for those of you guys who listen
Speaker 1: to the beginning, I think the valuable lesson that Katie
Speaker 1: learned here is that he can't control the narrative. And
Speaker 1: as much as he tried to in Brooklyn, as much
Speaker 1: as much as he put that at the top of
Speaker 1: his list of priorities, it ended up being the wrong
Speaker 1: way for him to go about this. I think Kate
Speaker 1: he cares about one thing and one thing only moving forward,
Speaker 1: and that's basketball, and I think he would pick a
Speaker 1: destination based on the potential basketball fit. Phoenix in Miami,
Speaker 1: what were they compared to the rest of the league? Phoenix,
Speaker 1: we said most of the year was the most talented
Speaker 1: roster from top to bottom. Not counting their stars right
Speaker 1: in Miami is basically Golden State East without enough talent.
Speaker 1: K D in theory fixes those problems for both of
Speaker 1: the teams. The problem is is, like we talked about earlier,
Speaker 1: I'm just not sure if I'm Brooklyn and I'm getting
Speaker 1: anything back there that moves the needle for me. So,
Speaker 1: as we learned, because of an obscure cb A rule
Speaker 1: having to do with the Designated Rookie extension, the Miami
Speaker 1: Heat cannot send bam At a bio to the Brooklyn
Speaker 1: because they already have Ben Simmons on the roster. I mean,
Speaker 1: I mean, I suppose the in theory could send Ben
Speaker 1: as well in the trade, but it would get a
Speaker 1: lot more complicated. So it's like, is Tyler Harrow and
Speaker 1: some draft picks from a team that's gonna perennially be good.
Speaker 1: Is that moving the needle of your Brooklyn? No? Probably not.
Speaker 1: And then DeAndre Ayton Phoenix doesn't want him, you know
Speaker 1: if you heard some noise from Detroit, but then they
Speaker 1: didn't want him. Why because just like the NBA, just
Speaker 1: like the NFL, figured out that running backs were kind
Speaker 1: of a market inefficiency that you could get of Ezekiel
Speaker 1: Elliott for of the salary. You can do the same
Speaker 1: thing with centers in the NBA. Damien Jones for the
Speaker 1: Lakers will be you know what, sixty sevent as good
Speaker 1: as a Clint Capella for veteran minimum, Like that's that's
Speaker 1: just what you're getting. When that role, when that position
Speaker 1: on the floor screens and dives to the rim and
Speaker 1: sits in the dunker spot and guards and drop coverage
Speaker 1: and occasionally guards a guy on a switch and doesn't
Speaker 1: do anything else, then an A plus plus plus at
Speaker 1: all those things is only a little bit better than
Speaker 1: a B minus at all of those things. And so
Speaker 1: I just don't if I'm Brooklyn, the idea of getting
Speaker 1: back DeAndre Aton on a super max or max excuse me,
Speaker 1: it doesn't make much sense. And then you know, Michael Bridges,
Speaker 1: you and I talked all year Carson about what it
Speaker 1: might look like if he had an opporunity, opportunity to
Speaker 1: do more offensively. He had that opportunity against Dallas, and
Speaker 1: he couldn't really do it. And I really like Michael Bridges,
Speaker 1: and I do think he will get better, But to me,
Speaker 1: his peak will be kind of like what Andrea Iguadala
Speaker 1: was for the two thousand fifteen Warriors, a really really
Speaker 1: dumbinant perimeter defensive player that can have scoring punches and
Speaker 1: will be a smart, you know, third fourth option. But
Speaker 1: I just don't ever see him being that guy. And
Speaker 1: so it's just as much as those destinations are k
Speaker 1: ds preferred destination, they'd have to give up too much
Speaker 1: talent to get him, and then they'd be right back
Speaker 1: in the same predicament. And then most importantly, if I'm Brooklyn,
Speaker 1: I can just get more elsewhere. So I think you
Speaker 1: make some really interesting points about eight and there and
Speaker 1: just how he sort of relates to the state of
Speaker 1: the NBA overall that we will get back to in
Speaker 1: one second. But before we do that, just looking at
Speaker 1: Katie's path, if he were to end up in Phoenix,
Speaker 1: specifically right where they literally had the best record in
Speaker 1: league this past year, or even Miami where it's a
Speaker 1: reigning one seed, do you think there's an argument that
Speaker 1: he closes his path to being a top ten player
Speaker 1: of all time if his championship resume is joined a
Speaker 1: seventy three and nine most talented team ever won A
Speaker 1: couple of Rings there, tried to build a super team,
Speaker 1: failed miserably, then goes joins the best record in the NBA,
Speaker 1: even if they give up some talent to get him,
Speaker 1: Like how much stock could you put into Rings that
Speaker 1: he continues to win in that fashion compared to if
Speaker 1: he had actually had to fight an uphill battle from
Speaker 1: this point forward in Brooklyn, or if he goes to
Speaker 1: a Pelicans or Raptors, where yes he's asking out, but
Speaker 1: he's not going to teams that were at the apps
Speaker 1: loute top of the league this past year. So the
Speaker 1: problem is is I think the damage is already done.
Speaker 1: But to Katie's credit, I really think he's come to
Speaker 1: terms with that. Like I think he's at peace with it.
Speaker 1: I think he knows that he'll never get the amount
Speaker 1: of credit he deserved in Golden State. I think he knows,
Speaker 1: And we did a whole I did a whole thing
Speaker 1: on this the other day. But like the the the
Speaker 1: revision is history with those Warriors teams to where it's
Speaker 1: because they won in this two season, all of a sudden,
Speaker 1: k D is being erased from the two thousand seventeen
Speaker 1: two thousand eighteen seasons. I agreed with Raymond, Like I
Speaker 1: think the Warriors losing two thousand and seventeen, if if
Speaker 1: the uh, if the Calves run it back and the
Speaker 1: Warriors don't get k D. It's really the simple. Hey,
Speaker 1: Warriors fans, did you guys think you were way better
Speaker 1: than the Celtics because you won three games in a
Speaker 1: row at the end, Yeah, you probably do well. The
Speaker 1: Calves beat you three times in a row in two
Speaker 1: thousand sixteen. They kind of figured you out and to
Speaker 1: Draymond's credit, and I thought I thought Draymond was wrong
Speaker 1: when he said that that that staff couldn't create a
Speaker 1: shot back then. But he is right about the fact
Speaker 1: that Steff has gotten a lot better. Stuff is the
Speaker 1: stuff is doing two teams what he did in two
Speaker 1: thousand sixteen, even though they're much better at defending him. Now,
Speaker 1: that's the credit to Steph as defensive. As defenses have evolved,
Speaker 1: he's evolved with them. As far as k D goes, though,
Speaker 1: it's like, dude, there is no version of this story
Speaker 1: that ends with you not having those fair or unfair,
Speaker 1: those marks on your resume. So like my thing is, like, Dude,
Speaker 1: if you can't win the court of public opinion, win
Speaker 1: the trophies, because the trophies last forever. You know that
Speaker 1: that they can't ever take those away from you. So
Speaker 1: I would continue to pursue the best available basketball situation
Speaker 1: and say, screw the narratives, screw all the talking heads
Speaker 1: that are that are beating you down. The Warriors fans,
Speaker 1: They're never gonna like you the same way they used
Speaker 1: to ever again anyway, So who cares? You know, like,
Speaker 1: at this point, dude, control what you can control, which
Speaker 1: is what happens on the basketball court. Go out there
Speaker 1: and win all the trophies. Alright, We've got one last
Speaker 1: hypothetical Katie scenario for you, This one courtesy of Mike
Speaker 1: h who says Katie liked his tame time in the
Speaker 1: Pacific Northwest when he was in Seattle. What are the
Speaker 1: odds he gets traded to Portland? And how good could
Speaker 1: they be? So the fit I love him and Dame,
Speaker 1: you know, I I like the direction Portland has been going,
Speaker 1: targeting wings. That Jeremy Grant fit is awesome. The problem is,
Speaker 1: once again Portland's just will not be able to hang
Speaker 1: in the UH in the actual bidding war that's about
Speaker 1: to take place, Like they just don't have any realistic
Speaker 1: prospects that are going to like Anthony Simon's played really
Speaker 1: well last year, really started to blossom, but he just
Speaker 1: signed that big deal, which I don't think he's gonna
Speaker 1: be able to be I don't even think he's legally
Speaker 1: allowed to be traded until this year's deadline. And most importantly,
Speaker 1: if i'm Brooklyn Is, Anthony Simon's moving the needle for
Speaker 1: me now. And in terms of draft picks, they don't
Speaker 1: have the same amount of picks that they can offer
Speaker 1: compared to some of these other teams in the league. Actually, Carson,
Speaker 1: I got one for you. Yeah, what it? What if
Speaker 1: the Boston Celtics traded every single pick they had and
Speaker 1: Jalen Brown for Kevin Durant. Wow. I I think that
Speaker 1: that would be a win win, genuinely, right. I mean,
Speaker 1: why is it that one getting talked about more? That's
Speaker 1: a good question. I think that Jalen may not be like,
Speaker 1: you know, number one guy building block, but he's very
Speaker 1: good number two guy building block. He's all star caliber
Speaker 1: player already, and you get the future draft assets, although
Speaker 1: obviously those picks probably won't be great. But I think
Speaker 1: for Boss and it's a no Brainer. I mean, you're
Speaker 1: giving up a current, you know, all star levels scoring
Speaker 1: wing for an all time great scoring wing. So that's interesting,
Speaker 1: that's very interesting. But but let's let's just let's frame
Speaker 1: it like this, that's a that's a package that probably
Speaker 1: won't get the deal done. That is way better than
Speaker 1: anything Portland's can offer. That is way better than anything
Speaker 1: you know, these other teams that we've thrown out can offer.
Speaker 1: Like even to me, that's a better package than what
Speaker 1: Miami or Phoenix can offer. Like, if you're a GM,
Speaker 1: would you rather have Jalen Brown under team control for
Speaker 1: with the long contract that's a Max or DeAndre Aton?
Speaker 1: I want Jalen Brown. Yeah, do you want Tyler Harrow
Speaker 1: or do you want Jalen Brown? I want Jalen Brown. So,
Speaker 1: like to me, like, that's that's an example of like
Speaker 1: the way this like this bidding war should result in
Speaker 1: the largest return in the history of NBA trades. And
Speaker 1: so that's where we need to frame this, Like we
Speaker 1: just presented a trade of Jalen Brown in a ton
Speaker 1: of first round picks and that probably really doesn't get
Speaker 1: it done. That's the way that we gotta look at this,
Speaker 1: Like it's just that's why, that's why my brain keeps
Speaker 1: going to Toronto into New Orleans. Like if I'm Brooklyn
Speaker 1: and I can get Zion Williamson in a bunch of picks,
Speaker 1: or I can get you know, uh, Scottie Barnes in
Speaker 1: a bunch of picks, that to me is gonna beat
Speaker 1: anything else because I'm getting a bona fide superstar prospect
Speaker 1: and I'm sending Katie to a good basketball situation, and
Speaker 1: you know, it's just and to me. To me, those
Speaker 1: are the directions that I'd look over the course the
Speaker 1: next couple of days. Al Right, guys, that is all
Speaker 1: we have for tonight. I'm headed down to Mexico with
Speaker 1: my wife for the next four days. But I'm bringing
Speaker 1: all my stuff with me, so yeah, might as if
Speaker 1: anything crazy happens, you guys will get some sort of reaction.
Speaker 1: Uh As, I'm gonna finally get a chance to relax.
Speaker 1: It's been a wild couple of months with a whole
Speaker 1: lot of basketball, and I'm actually excited to take a
Speaker 1: little bit of a break that's set. Any big signings,
Speaker 1: any big trades, any anything. I promise I will get
Speaker 1: at least something up on YouTube for you guys, um
Speaker 1: as there has always been the case. From the bottom
Speaker 1: of my heart, I sincerely appreciate you guys supporting us
Speaker 1: and supporting the show, and I'll see you guys in
Speaker 1: a couple of days. The volume