Speaker 1: On this episode of This League, it is the Trade
Speaker 1: Deadline Show. We discuss all the trades as well as
Speaker 1: the winners and losers from the NBA deadline. What is
Speaker 1: going on with Golden State and with Steve Kerr? The
Speaker 1: best potential names from listeners for potential NBA teams expansion
Speaker 1: teams in Vegas and Nashville. Why Mark Cuban is like
Speaker 1: most fans when it comes to evaluating players, and like
Speaker 1: most investors, I would say loaded show.
Speaker 2: So we're saving the dms until Monday.
Speaker 1: Today is the day. Yesterday was the day. Actually at
Speaker 1: three pm everything was going down. It was I think
Speaker 1: quieter that most of us wanted it to be what
Speaker 1: most of us imagined it to be. And I was
Speaker 1: waiting for the bombs to drop THEO and I always
Speaker 1: like to find out who's.
Speaker 2: The better Scooper.
Speaker 1: You know, everybody calls it the WOJ bomb, but like
Speaker 1: Shams wants to do his thing too. So today the
Speaker 1: real battle on trade deadline day was their super Bowl.
Speaker 1: Today was their day. It's that and then free agency
Speaker 1: right and.
Speaker 2: Draft Knight and Draft Knight. I think WOJ dominates.
Speaker 3: Draft Knight, That's true.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I love how he's found. Woj has found unique
Speaker 1: ways to say that this draft, this draft pick was
Speaker 1: coming right and still because the NBA had told Woj, listen,
Speaker 1: we need people to listen and watch the NBA Draft.
Speaker 1: If all they need to do is follow on Twitter,
Speaker 1: then what are they doing watching us? So he's like,
Speaker 1: Miami Heat are keeping their eyes on that's just a
Speaker 1: Julia Portland Trailblazers have been intently focused on Gary Trent Junior.
Speaker 1: So so here's what it was, right, the Woge versus
Speaker 1: Sham battle Royale. WOJ broke the Delawn deal, the lawn right.
Speaker 1: Sham's broke the McGee deal to the Nuggets. Then WOJ
Speaker 1: breaks Voucevich deal that puts him up to Then WOJ
Speaker 1: breaks Fournier to the Celtics. Obviously he's a magic in.
Speaker 1: Plus three, woje Aaron Gordon to Denver. Plus four WOJ
Speaker 1: Brown Wagner to the Bulls. Plus five wog Beagillica. Do
Speaker 1: you pronounce it Beagillica. It's be Alitza, be a Leicha, Yeah,
Speaker 1: be Alicha, Okay cool. That's how I've heard it said
Speaker 1: to Miami. I don't hear his name A lot be
Speaker 1: Alicha to Miami plus six. Then Shams comes in with
Speaker 1: George Head to the Sixers plus two. Woj Norman Powell
Speaker 1: to the Blazers, then Shams with Rondo.
Speaker 2: So Woje dominated Shams eleven to five.
Speaker 3: He got the big ones too. He didn't just dominate
Speaker 3: in quantity, dominated in quality as well.
Speaker 1: Yeah, he got the ones that we care about.
Speaker 2: So what deals did you find to be the most interesting?
Speaker 3: Didn't see Aaron Gordon go into Denver, and I kind
Speaker 3: of hate it as well as I would say pretty
Speaker 3: much every other Western Conference contender, because the West just
Speaker 3: seems to never get worse at the deadline. It always
Speaker 3: gets better. So that was one I didn't see coming.
Speaker 3: Vouch to the Bulls obviously, big one. I kind of
Speaker 3: like their core now, although they may never be serious contenders,
Speaker 3: just to like it. And Evan Fournier thought it would
Speaker 3: take a little more to get him.
Speaker 1: Evan Fournier is going to be the pick that the
Speaker 1: Celtics get that they will regret. I think Fournier is
Speaker 1: not nearly as good as he looks like he is
Speaker 1: when he plays for the Magic, So that's just the
Speaker 1: way that it is. I like Vushvich. He can't guard
Speaker 1: at all, he can't defend whatsoever, but he can get
Speaker 1: you twenty five mostly all in the last five minutes
Speaker 1: of the fourth quarter when it doesn't matter and you're
Speaker 1: down ten. So but that makes the Bulls very fun,
Speaker 1: makes the Bulls fun. And also you've got another bucket
Speaker 1: getter with Zach Lavine. They're one of the best teams
Speaker 1: against the spread in the NBA. I think that this
Speaker 1: now means you bet against the magic every single game,
Speaker 1: every single game. Also, I loved Norman Powell to the Blazers.
Speaker 3: Really, I was curious what you thought about that.
Speaker 1: So one, we know that we're not going to be
Speaker 1: able to probably keep Gary Trent Junior. I like him
Speaker 1: a lot, But it was all of the tea leaves said,
Speaker 1: Gary Trent Junior was going to sign elsewhere for more
Speaker 1: money than we were going to pay him, Because really,
Speaker 1: are you going to pay a backup shooting guard, combo
Speaker 1: guard who can't facilitate playmake but is really just a
Speaker 1: guy that can get mid range shots and shoot deep
Speaker 1: for eighteen million a year.
Speaker 2: I don't think we're gonna do that.
Speaker 1: So now you've got Norman Powell, who can do a
Speaker 1: lot of the same things that Gary Trent can do,
Speaker 1: but you also can defend a little bit better. And
Speaker 1: I think you can play them at the three, which
Speaker 1: you can't play Gary Trent Junior at the three. I
Speaker 1: don't know if they're going to extend them, but I
Speaker 1: think everyone's just trying to get better for the playoffs.
Speaker 1: Who does it make better? I think that the Nuggets got,
Speaker 1: like you said better, I said, like, the problem with
Speaker 1: the Nuggets is they don't have that third option. If
Speaker 1: Jamal Murray and Nikola Jokich have to go off for.
Speaker 2: Thirty in order for you to.
Speaker 1: Be in the game, Yeah, that's a big time problem.
Speaker 1: And you still lose and you go what I think
Speaker 1: they went three and six during that time or four
Speaker 1: and six. Now you have a guy that's sort of
Speaker 1: like what you had in Jeremy Grant, where you've got
Speaker 1: a guy that can shoot. You got a guy that
Speaker 1: is big and can defend multiple positions, and someone else
Speaker 1: over Michael Porter Junior that's going to be able to
Speaker 1: get some buckets.
Speaker 3: Yeah, and you don't have to play Paul millsap twenty
Speaker 3: five minutes game or whatever he's get. I think he's
Speaker 3: getting like twenty four minutes a game.
Speaker 1: And he's a liability. Let's be honest.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, yeah, yeah, yeah, law Tech Bulldog. But
Speaker 3: it's the end of the road for Roll Paul miss
Speaker 3: Up there.
Speaker 1: There was a time where the Blazers were eyeing Paul
Speaker 1: Millsap Hard I think for like six years in a
Speaker 1: Row was like Paul Matt Millsap and trade rumors to
Speaker 1: the Blazers. So I liked.
Speaker 2: What we got.
Speaker 3: I couldn't believe, like sorry, in Row, I couldn't believe
Speaker 3: how little it took to get Aaron Gordon, like he
Speaker 3: was that available, Gary Harris, RJ. Hampton in a first
Speaker 3: round pick. That seems like a fleece to me.
Speaker 1: You know who got fleeced the most out of that,
Speaker 1: in my opinion?
Speaker 3: Who?
Speaker 2: I think Boston?
Speaker 1: Because Boston wanted Aaron Gordon bad and the front office
Speaker 1: in Orlando said, in order to get Aaron Gordon, it's
Speaker 1: gonna take a Drew Holiday type trade. I would not
Speaker 1: say that R. J. Hampton and Gary Harrison a first
Speaker 1: round pick is anything close to the kind of deal
Speaker 1: that it took to get Drew Holiday to the Bucks.
Speaker 3: Yeah. No, even if it's even if it's unprotected because
Speaker 3: it's still the nugget, Like that's not a good pick,
Speaker 3: like that was. I guess my biggest takeaway of today
Speaker 3: is how available a lot of these guys are.
Speaker 1: Vusovich too. They said the same thing about Vusovich. I
Speaker 1: really think that Orlando was like just telling Boston that
Speaker 1: to see if they could get someone big, like a
Speaker 1: Marcus smartin three first round picks or something, and once
Speaker 1: they couldn't, they were like, you know what, fuck Boston,
Speaker 1: I don't care well some of the West, some of
Speaker 1: the bulls, who cares.
Speaker 2: What do you think about Rondo?
Speaker 1: Rondo goes to the Clippers for Sweet Lou Williams with
Speaker 1: two second round picks and cash.
Speaker 3: I think it's pretty pointless trade. I mean, Rondo's bad,
Speaker 3: he just di is okay. But playoff Rondo exists because
Speaker 3: regular season Rondo exists and he's bad. I don't think
Speaker 3: we're just gonna keep singing a resurgence in the playoffs,
Speaker 3: like like that's really what he lives on, is Like
Speaker 3: he he plays good in some TV games, and people
Speaker 3: remember what he used to do for the Celtics. Like,
Speaker 3: I think it's fairly a menial trade. I mean Lou Williams.
Speaker 3: I mean everyone made their like Magic City jokes. I
Speaker 3: guess he could help them a little bit. I mean
Speaker 3: he's he won't be any worse than Rondo.
Speaker 1: So it was it was funny that somebody said, hey, uh, Lou,
Speaker 1: I bet you're gonna get traded. This is like about
Speaker 1: a month ago, and Lou goes, this is my last stop.
Speaker 1: It's not your last stop. It's not your last stop.
Speaker 1: Another trade that came in last minute past the deadline,
Speaker 1: Victor Oladipo to Miami for Avery Bradley, Kelly Olynnok and
Speaker 1: a twenty twenty two pick swap. I was being told
Speaker 1: that Myami did not really want Victor Oladipo and that
Speaker 1: Victor o Ladipo really really wanted to go to Miami.
Speaker 1: But because I mean his mental part of his game,
Speaker 1: his mental part of his we'll call it spirit, right
Speaker 1: is I don't really know how to describe it other
Speaker 1: than it's not good. Right.
Speaker 3: He doesn't seem to handle like losing well or adversity.
Speaker 1: He's mentioned multiple times about teams giving up on him
Speaker 1: on national TV during interviews, like, hey, this is my
Speaker 1: fourth team. Da da da da da. I just want
Speaker 1: to prove myself like it's unfair and everybody's counted me out.
Speaker 1: He's basically plays the victim role quite easily, and I
Speaker 1: get it. He's been injured and he's been bounced around
Speaker 1: the league, and he was good in college and everybody
Speaker 1: thought he was going to be really good when he
Speaker 1: went to Indiana before.
Speaker 2: He got hurt. But boy does he struggle emotionally.
Speaker 1: So that was an interesting trade, and I think the
Speaker 1: only reason that trade got done was because the biggest
Speaker 1: trade that did not happen was Kyle Lowry.
Speaker 2: Everyone said Kyle.
Speaker 1: Lowry would either go to the Sixers or to the
Speaker 1: Miami Heat, or to the Lakers. And Kyle Lowry stays put,
Speaker 1: why why he's on an expiring Marty?
Speaker 2: What do you think is that play there?
Speaker 3: I mean, it just seems like the package wasn't there,
Speaker 3: The interest wasn't high enough for guys to give up
Speaker 3: on for gms to give up on their young players.
Speaker 3: I mean what was reported was the Lakers didn't want
Speaker 3: to give up Horton Tucker and Miami didn't want to
Speaker 3: give up Tyler Harrow. So I mean, I think it
Speaker 3: just comes down to that they don't see the value
Speaker 3: in trading for a thirty five year old point guard
Speaker 3: in Kyle Lowry and giving up their young guys to
Speaker 3: do it.
Speaker 1: And on top of that, Kyle Lowry wherever he goes,
Speaker 1: wants to be extended. He said. Anywhere I get traded to,
Speaker 1: I expect is going to give me at least a
Speaker 1: two year deal twenty five million dollars per year. So
Speaker 1: now you've got to pay Kyle Lowry fifty million dollars
Speaker 1: and you give up Tyler Hero in the process. I'm sorry,
Speaker 1: I don't know if that gets me to contention enough
Speaker 1: for me to make that mo.
Speaker 3: Yeah. I just feel like the twenty twenty three version
Speaker 3: of Kyle Lowry is certainly going to be worth less
Speaker 3: than twenty five million dollars.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 1: Heat looking to also be the front runner for LaMarcus Aldridge,
Speaker 1: who is being bought out by the San Antonio Spurs.
Speaker 2: Does that move the needle.
Speaker 3: A little bit?
Speaker 2: A little bit?
Speaker 3: Yeah?
Speaker 1: The Heat seemed to have moved the needle a little bit, right.
Speaker 1: They got LaMarcus Aldridge, they got not Kyle Lowry but
Speaker 1: Victor Oladipo, and they got one other person a week
Speaker 1: ago who was that It was Arisa. They got Trevor
Speaker 1: Trevor Ariza. I think the reason that people are not
Speaker 1: saying anything about Trevor reason and we forgot about it,
Speaker 1: is because Trevor Arisa has been going through a custody
Speaker 1: battle for the last like eighteen months, and I don't
Speaker 1: think he's been playing basketball, So I don't know if
Speaker 1: he will play basketball, but he's making twelve million dollars now.
Speaker 3: I will always be thankful for Trevor Ariza because he
Speaker 3: was such a bitch on the Suns that we had
Speaker 3: to trade him and we got Kelly Ubray and we
Speaker 3: used Kelly Ubray to get Chris Paul. So thank you
Speaker 3: Trevor Resa.
Speaker 2: Thank you Trevor Ariza.
Speaker 1: So a Resa did play the other night. So in
Speaker 1: my book, the winners of this are Nuggets, Bulls, and Blazers,
Speaker 1: and also Orlando.
Speaker 2: Orlando gets Gary Harris, RJ.
Speaker 1: Hampton, Wendell Carter Junior, and two first rounders from Chicago,
Speaker 1: one first rounder from Denver, and two second rounders from Boston.
Speaker 1: You're a trash team. You need to rebuild. These guys
Speaker 1: don't want to re sign with you. They're miserable. So
Speaker 1: not a bad day, I think losers in my opinion,
Speaker 1: Celtics big time losers, Rockets, oh my god, Oh my god,
Speaker 1: and Sixers, and I think, probably to a degree, Lakers
Speaker 1: and Clippers. But really, Rockets and Celtics are my biggest losers.
Speaker 3: What do you think I would say that. I would
Speaker 3: also maybe throw Phoenix in there. And I may not
Speaker 3: have been saying that if we hadn't lost Orlando last night.
Speaker 3: But it just seems like this team was at least
Speaker 3: a piece away. And I mean, I'm sure they were
Speaker 3: in the mix trying to get moves done, but they.
Speaker 1: Just could you have wanted though that you didn't get.
Speaker 3: I was really into the idea of Larry Nance. He
Speaker 3: may not have been available, but that was a name
Speaker 3: that was floated out there. John Collins would have been cool.
Speaker 3: I know that's sort of a pipe dream, But just
Speaker 3: for us to stand pat the first trade deadline where okay,
Speaker 3: we have a chance to make a serious run feels
Speaker 3: a little weird.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, I don't know that anyone was available
Speaker 1: that you would have wanted.
Speaker 3: I mean, yeah, that probably is. It just seems a
Speaker 3: little weird.
Speaker 1: Then notable people who have not moved. I thought it
Speaker 1: was very interesting that Lonzo Ball is staying put in
Speaker 1: New Orleans. New Orleans is not.
Speaker 2: Going to resign him.
Speaker 3: Doesn't seem that way.
Speaker 2: They will not be able to afford him.
Speaker 1: They tried to offer Lonzo Ball an extension over the
Speaker 1: summer that Lonzo Ball, in my opinion, sort of stupidly declined.
Speaker 1: I think it was fifty six million over four years.
Speaker 1: I think fourteen million a year. I don't know that
Speaker 1: Lonzo Ball's market value is that much higher than that.
Speaker 3: I think someone's going to overpay.
Speaker 1: You think so, either I can't shooting this well, yeah, See,
Speaker 1: here's the question.
Speaker 2: Do you think that gms know what they're doing?
Speaker 3: No? I mean no, neither do I I can I
Speaker 3: can never pick it out.
Speaker 1: No, because Lonzo Ball is shooting the way that Lonzo
Speaker 1: Ball is shooting, because he's being set up in that way.
Speaker 1: Then if you use him in another way that he's
Speaker 1: not being used in right now, then the shooting numbers
Speaker 1: are going to go down. So who is going to
Speaker 1: be facilitating for Lonzo and playmaking for Lonzo Ball in
Speaker 1: the Knicks? Is that? Is that going to be a
Speaker 1: manual quickly? Is that going to be Derek Rose?
Speaker 2: I don't know.
Speaker 1: No, twenty million a year to Lonzo Ball to probably
Speaker 1: be a thirty four percent three point shooter instead of
Speaker 1: a forty percent free throw shooter. And then you're going
Speaker 1: to put the ball in Lonzo Ball's hands, who turns
Speaker 1: the ball over quite a bit, quite a bit. I
Speaker 1: like his playmaking, but as like a secondary playmaker.
Speaker 3: Oh hey, before we keep going, I have another loser. Yes,
Speaker 3: Austin Rivers just getting thrown in that deal going to
Speaker 3: OKC from New York.
Speaker 1: Yeah, that that was like kind of snuck under the surface. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it was a three team deal.
Speaker 3: What would it was the George Hill Sixers, So it
Speaker 3: was Sixers thunder Nicks. I think Terrence Ferguson got sent
Speaker 3: to the Knicks and then Rivers to Oka See as
Speaker 3: part of that deal. And it's just, yeah, that was
Speaker 3: one that just got thrown in, and I feel a
Speaker 3: little bad for.
Speaker 1: Him, you know. But what I would say is that
Speaker 1: two things. One shout out to Austin Rivers just had
Speaker 1: a baby. Now he and his baby's mom or his
Speaker 1: fiance girlfriend. Now they have to move to Oka See
Speaker 1: where it's a quieter, where it's safer and has less
Speaker 1: homeless people laying out on the street instead of near
Speaker 1: Penn Station in Madison Square Gardens. So and I think
Speaker 1: also Austin Rivers was miserable playing for Tom Thibodeau. As
Speaker 1: soon as they got Derrick Rose, Austin Rivers was nowhere. Yeah,
Speaker 1: Tom Thibodeau was like, he's out of the rotation all together.
Speaker 1: And I was listening to something like The Knicks Wall,
Speaker 1: the blog site that talks about the Knicks a lot,
Speaker 1: and they've basically said that Austin Rivers has disappeared completely
Speaker 1: off the face of the earth since the Knicks got
Speaker 1: Derrick Rose. So his change of scenery was necessary. Otherwise
Speaker 1: he was gonna just become I think, more and more disgruntle.
Speaker 2: But yeah, you're right. It was like kind of a
Speaker 2: weird scenario.
Speaker 1: Other big names that did not get moved that I
Speaker 1: thought might get moved, Wayne Ellington in Detroit, his name
Speaker 1: was circulating, Kelly Ubray.
Speaker 2: I don't know what's going on that with that.
Speaker 1: We can tell we're gonna talk about the Warriors later,
Speaker 1: but what are they doing?
Speaker 3: Yeah, I don't know. I mean, there was a major
Speaker 3: push towards the end of the deadline. That's when you
Speaker 3: started hearing a lot of the Ubray stuff. I mean,
Speaker 3: I think teams are just scared of him because he's
Speaker 3: been he's played on three different teams, and he's been
Speaker 3: three different players on each of those teams. So he's
Speaker 3: kind of a hard player to trade for it because
Speaker 3: you have no idea where you're gonna.
Speaker 1: Go en amazing first of all, uh huh, could be
Speaker 1: three different type of people. That means you've got some
Speaker 1: stuff in your bag where you can change depending on
Speaker 1: what the team wants from you. Or you're so inconsistent
Speaker 1: or unpredictable that we don't even know what we're buying.
Speaker 1: And you're on an expiring so Oubra, I think it
Speaker 1: might get underpaid next year. He's looking for a big contract.
Speaker 1: He's gonna fall off of a cliff.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 1: Spencer Dinwittie did not get traded, which I was surprised about.
Speaker 1: I know, coming off of an ACL with the player option.
Speaker 2: Is it a player option or.
Speaker 1: There's an option on that Lori Markinen didn't get traded,
Speaker 1: and I know that they want to trade him because
Speaker 1: now they have Lusevich and it's just just an awkward
Speaker 1: combo on the roster. So he'll probably get moved what.
Speaker 1: He's got a couple of years left on his contract,
Speaker 1: so he'll probably be moved in the off season. John
Speaker 1: Collins sticking put heard Trey Young's name a little bit
Speaker 1: in trade talks, in trade talks, which was very surprising.
Speaker 1: So I don't know if that's smoke, if that's fire
Speaker 1: or what, but I heard that bubbling around in terms
Speaker 1: of what the Boston Celtics wanted. They I think Boston
Speaker 1: Celtics wanted Trey Young and maybe Cam Reddish uh for
Speaker 1: Jalen Brown.
Speaker 3: I would hate that for Boston.
Speaker 1: Boston's in such a bad such a bad spot. Bogdan Bogdanovich,
Speaker 1: another Atlanta Hawk, did not get moved, Ricky Rubio did
Speaker 1: not get moved, and Kristaps Porzingis did not get moved.
Speaker 1: So yeah. A few days ago, Mark Cuban was reported
Speaker 1: to not be interested in trading Kristaps Porzingis again, which
Speaker 1: I just don't understand it all. I don't understand it
Speaker 1: because you wanted to move him. That was what the
Speaker 1: news was from the beginning of the season.
Speaker 2: Correct.
Speaker 1: Uh, yeah, yeah, Kristaps needs to go blah blah blah,
Speaker 1: we're gonna get rid of And then Kristaps starts to
Speaker 1: play well, he starts to up his game, and at
Speaker 1: that point Mark Cuban says, no, now we're content to
Speaker 1: keep him. But unfortunately, that's just not the best way
Speaker 1: to run a team. You don't start talking about selling
Speaker 1: or trading a player when they're playing the worst in
Speaker 1: their career and then decide to keep them when they're
Speaker 1: playing the best. That's just not how proper investment works, right.
Speaker 1: This is why investors consistently lose money because they think
Speaker 1: that when the stock is at all time highs, that's
Speaker 1: going to continue to climb up.
Speaker 2: It's going to continue to get more expensive. That's just
Speaker 2: not facts.
Speaker 1: That's just not true. Christaps is not going to get better.
Speaker 1: If you were going to trade Christaps now, it would
Speaker 1: be the time to trade Christaps, not two and a
Speaker 1: half months ago when he was trash and broken. So
Speaker 1: you have the whole buy low, sell high philosophy and
Speaker 1: investing is completely lost on NBA owners and NBA gms.
Speaker 1: In my opinion, it's just insane. This is why investors
Speaker 1: lose money. Irrational behavior and recency bias keeping you from
Speaker 1: doing the thing that you should be doing. Irrational pessimism,
Speaker 1: and irrational confidence. There's a whole term called the national
Speaker 1: exuberance about investors thinking that stocks are going to do
Speaker 1: well when they are at all time highs because we
Speaker 1: are greedy and fearful all at the same time. And
Speaker 1: that is Mark Cuban in a nutshell. Take that from
Speaker 1: a former broker, which I am. Mark Cuban is a
Speaker 1: fucking idiot when it comes to trade. Sorry, that's all
Speaker 1: we have for the trades. Is there anything that I missed?
Speaker 3: Nothing really of note. I just want to say markis
Speaker 3: christ the Spurs is hilarious. I can't think of a
Speaker 3: player in the league that would gel worse with Greg Popov.
Speaker 3: It's just so. I guess he's at the stage where
Speaker 3: he's just like, fuck it, I don't care who you
Speaker 3: trade for.
Speaker 1: This leads me to believe that this might.
Speaker 2: Be one of the last Greg Popovic years.
Speaker 1: I think so, which is sad because this is Michael
Speaker 1: Jordan getting rim checked right. This is Wizard's Michael Jordan.
Speaker 1: This is not the top of the mountain, Greg Popovich
Speaker 1: sailling out into the sunset. This could be a disastrous end. Also,
Speaker 1: no DeMar DeRozan. Yeah that was interesting. It wasn't even
Speaker 1: really any whispers today, no whispers, so he'll probably leave
Speaker 1: for nothing. Fictitious teams, fictitious names. Last episode, we answered
Speaker 1: a DM and somebody asked me what my two expansion
Speaker 1: teams would be in the NBA, which what cities I
Speaker 1: would want them to go to? And I said, besides Seattle,
Speaker 1: I think Vegas and Nashville are the two best possible
Speaker 1: situations for an NBA franchise. And then that led me
Speaker 1: and Marty to get into a back and forth banter
Speaker 1: about what those team names might be. So, after some
Speaker 1: great thought, I think on Monday, because at a certain
Speaker 1: point you can't really plan for a show when you're
Speaker 1: just basically waiting for the trade deadline to drop it.
Speaker 2: So all I did on one.
Speaker 1: Day, like for an entire day, was think up Las
Speaker 1: Vegas and Nashville team names. I think, I think I
Speaker 1: texted you too, Mike, Marty do some thinking. We're gonna
Speaker 1: cover this. So the rules for naming sports teams are funny,
Speaker 1: and I was looking at all the different teams NHL,
Speaker 1: even like G League, Arena Football, and team really has
Speaker 1: it bad because all the great names are stolen taken
Speaker 1: from me. All the real predators like the bears, the tigers,
Speaker 1: the lions, oh my, like all of those have been stolen.
Speaker 2: Those have been taken.
Speaker 1: There's nothing that you can do, so you have to
Speaker 1: get even lower on the like the food chain in
Speaker 1: the in the animal kingdom. You just have to go
Speaker 1: lower and lower and lower, where all you have basically
Speaker 1: are like arachnids and like fish and like small birds.
Speaker 1: So the kraken, yeah, or fictitious natural disasters like I
Speaker 1: was looking up what the what the windstorm from the
Speaker 1: Alchemist was, like the desert storm for a Las Vegas name,
Speaker 1: Like I was literally looking up like what a haboob is,
Speaker 1: which is a desert storm in Arabic?
Speaker 3: Yeah, no, they get those in Arizona. Yeah, I was
Speaker 3: there for haboo.
Speaker 1: Here it's crazy. Or a zephyr, like you're just literally
Speaker 1: this is where I was. I was deep into like
Speaker 1: googling actual disaster names, googling bird names, and it's like,
Speaker 1: can't use falcons shit, Like, can't use this. The end
Speaker 1: up having these scrappy ass names. So what are your
Speaker 1: names that you have? Okay, for for Vegas, we'll do
Speaker 1: Vegas first. Okay, So Vegas I thought was way easier
Speaker 1: than Nashville. I threw out the Las Vegas luck in
Speaker 1: the last episode.
Speaker 3: I still like that and I think the city of
Speaker 3: Vegas would like that as part of marketing. I like
Speaker 3: the Spades. Oh you do that because a lot of
Speaker 3: people thought it Aces. That's a WNBA team name. Their
Speaker 3: branding is Sick.
Speaker 1: Sick and Spades is almost like male Ace.
Speaker 3: Yeah, so Spades, I think might be another good question
Speaker 3: coming in on that a little too hard, so maybe not.
Speaker 3: I like the Oasis Oh okay, yeah, I tried to not.
Speaker 3: I tried to have one that was singular uh, and
Speaker 3: then I got a little lazy and I threw out diamonds.
Speaker 1: Well, I don't think you can use diamonds because of
Speaker 1: the diamondbacks, That's true.
Speaker 3: Don't think you can use that.
Speaker 1: So I had a few, so okay. I got into
Speaker 1: some gambling names, so I got the jokers, the destinies.
Speaker 1: I also had the luck, the strip.
Speaker 2: What else did I have?
Speaker 1: The cash?
Speaker 2: The Las Vegas cash cash would be cool, the.
Speaker 1: Las Vegas high Rollers, the Las Vegas gin after the
Speaker 1: juniper berries that are in Vegas, and like the alcohol there.
Speaker 2: Let's see what else did I have?
Speaker 3: The Las Vegas Las Vegas gin. They would sell so
Speaker 3: much mercher, so much merch.
Speaker 1: Right, the Las Vegas paotes and you can bring Phil
Speaker 1: Jackson back, which I thought was great. The pumas have
Speaker 1: not been used. Here are some bad ones. Uh. The
Speaker 1: one that I really liked that could never be used
Speaker 1: is the Las Vegas Fossils.
Speaker 3: The fossils, Yeah.
Speaker 1: Like the stone. It would just be a footprint in
Speaker 1: the stone. It would literally be I don't even know
Speaker 1: how you would showcase that to the world, Like how
Speaker 1: you could make it a mascot. It would just be
Speaker 1: like a like a Rosetta stone with like a dinosaur. Paul.
Speaker 3: There's gotta be some team named the some minor league
Speaker 3: baseball team named the Fossils.
Speaker 1: There's got to be also. I wanted the maybe the
Speaker 1: Las Vegas tobacco, but I don't think you could have
Speaker 1: smokable plants. I wanted the demons.
Speaker 2: I don't think you could do that.
Speaker 1: The skunk also bad name that got scratched, The Las
Speaker 1: Vegas Skunk, the Las Vegas Lucifers, I also don't think
Speaker 1: you could use.
Speaker 3: I like the devil themed ones. It just sounds like
Speaker 3: you're trying so hard to be like edgy and you're not.
Speaker 1: Yeah, no, your that's big facts. Yeah, the oblos, the beasts,
Speaker 1: yeah uh. And then here are some submissions from readers,
Speaker 1: and they did not miss Vegas Blackjacks, Vegas Stars, Vegas Gamble,
Speaker 1: Las Vegas Diamonds. Like you said, Las Vegas Flush. I
Speaker 1: like the Flush, that is very it would just be
Speaker 1: like cards. Uh, the Las Vegas Chips, it's okay. The
Speaker 1: Las Vegas Dealers, the Vultures, the show girls.
Speaker 2: I don't know about that.
Speaker 1: Yeah no. And the Legion, which I really like.
Speaker 3: Legion's cool.
Speaker 1: The pit bosses too specific, very specific. The shots would
Speaker 1: that just be alpha.
Speaker 3: The NBA is trying to get away from the whole
Speaker 3: gun thing, like we saw that in Washington.
Speaker 1: Somebody said shooters and I was like, nah, that's not funny.
Speaker 1: The Vegas mob, No, the Vegas.
Speaker 2: Nip slips, it's just ridiculous.
Speaker 1: And the Vegas Regrets, which I also kind of think
Speaker 1: is dope. You also have to think to yourself, like
Speaker 1: you have to be like at six seven suiting up
Speaker 1: for the Vegas Legion, Like it has to make sense
Speaker 1: that way.
Speaker 3: Of those, I like Flush and Legion the best, so
Speaker 3: do I.
Speaker 1: I also liked the Stars Dallas Stars though Dallas Oh yeah,
Speaker 1: I can't use that. Black Tacks were cool. Okay, So
Speaker 1: who do you have for Nashville?
Speaker 3: Like I said, these were a little hard, I mean
Speaker 3: I thought of the Nashville Hot Chickens. I shortened that
Speaker 3: to the Nashville Hots. Oh, okay, I don't hate. I
Speaker 3: think that's kind of cool. Got Nashville Tunes Nashville Records
Speaker 3: and a playoff the Hots and on the music theme
Speaker 3: as well. I got the Nashville Hits Nashville Hits.
Speaker 2: I like that. I like that.
Speaker 1: Here's what I had. I started out with some animals.
Speaker 1: I think that mustangs would be very cool, like the
Speaker 1: Tennessee Mustangs.
Speaker 3: Yeah, that's not used in pro.
Speaker 2: Sports and has not been used yet.
Speaker 3: That's my high school nackname.
Speaker 1: The mocking Oh really, Nashville Mockingbirds. Didn't love that as much.
Speaker 1: The hell Benders, which are a sick if you google that,
Speaker 1: google hell Benders and like a cartoon and you think
Speaker 1: to yourself, yes, this is an arena football team or
Speaker 1: like a Tria a baseball team.
Speaker 2: But sick for a basketball like look at that.
Speaker 1: If you can have the Pelicans, then you can have
Speaker 1: the hell Benders, the Tennessee Coppers for copperheads, the Nashville Notes,
Speaker 1: the Nashville Banjos, the Nashville Outlaws or Tennessee Outlaws. The Mandolin.
Speaker 1: The Mandolin.
Speaker 3: You know, we were gular.
Speaker 1: We're getting into some strange ass like places. The Leopards.
Speaker 3: I like Outlaws. And fenders.
Speaker 2: I like the.
Speaker 3: Fenders for the guitar fenders.
Speaker 1: The Printers, the Tennessee Printers for Printer's Alley was a
Speaker 1: big publishing town.
Speaker 2: The Smokies from the for the mountains.
Speaker 3: The name is it, yeah, yeah, the Tennessee Smokies. I
Speaker 3: think it's the Cubs double a team.
Speaker 2: Oh well, okay, so that's a good name. I chose
Speaker 2: a good name.
Speaker 1: The buckles, the buckle of the Bible belt is where
Speaker 1: that comes from. Probably not gonna work. The Tennessee Whiskeyes.
Speaker 1: I know we're getting away from alcohol themes. So I
Speaker 1: also have some rejected names. The Nashville Treads or the
Speaker 1: Tennessee Treads for tires. Bridgestone can't use the Nashville Dixie.
Speaker 1: That's a no go. Can't use Dixie again. Racism. Can't
Speaker 1: use Honky Tonks or tonks due to Honky can't use nectar.
Speaker 2: I had the Tennessee Nectar.
Speaker 1: To sexual, to sexual very sexual, and then in terms
Speaker 1: of best reader submissions, we had the Nashville Nightmares, the
Speaker 1: Tennessee Dollies, the Nashville.
Speaker 3: Cords, Cords good.
Speaker 1: I like the Chords, the Tennessee Tempo, the Nashville Moonshiners,
Speaker 1: and the Nashville Hot so.
Speaker 3: Oh hot singular hot.
Speaker 1: Single didn't and it could just be what like.
Speaker 3: A hot sauce bottle, like hots better? I think I
Speaker 3: like hots gots?
Speaker 1: Or what about flames, the Nashville.
Speaker 3: Flame, Calgary Flames.
Speaker 2: Oh yep.
Speaker 1: See, there's just too many teams in too many leagues
Speaker 1: taking all the good ones. So expansion teams have it tough.
Speaker 1: Send us your more submissions for Seattle names. If we're
Speaker 1: not gonna use SuperSonics, goodness, gracious, You've got one generation.
Speaker 1: We'll call it of a dynasty, and we'll do another
Speaker 1: generation of whatever the fuck The Warriors are now. I
Speaker 1: don't know are they rebuilding? Are they sort of like
Speaker 1: in a pause? It feels like the pause, do you
Speaker 1: know what I'm saying? Like it's not quite rebuilding. It's
Speaker 1: definitely not in that dynastic mode. No, they're not tanking.
Speaker 1: But they're not not tanking.
Speaker 3: They're like in the middle. They're like Jimmy World.
Speaker 1: Yes, they're like this Ja Kolesong. He's just called the middle.
Speaker 1: That's why I chose it. There may be no team
Speaker 1: more confusing to me than the Warriors. Like one day,
Speaker 1: I'm like, oh, yeah, this team could be dangerous in
Speaker 1: the playoffs. Steph's ball in oohbrace finally putting things together.
Speaker 1: Draymond is the best defender ever in life. We'll get
Speaker 1: to that another day. Best defender to ever walked the
Speaker 1: face of this earth, just like he.
Speaker 3: Said he tweeted today. Fun fact, he tweeted it day
Speaker 3: Rondo to the Clippers best trade of the day. So
Speaker 3: what just a best put you in a where his
Speaker 3: basketball IQ is these days?
Speaker 2: I think Draymond Green has a great basketball IQ.
Speaker 1: But I just think he's maybe so smart that we
Speaker 1: think he's done.
Speaker 3: I don't.
Speaker 1: I don't, dude. And then like other times, I'm like,
Speaker 1: are the Warriors tanking?
Speaker 2: What are they doing?
Speaker 1: I'm not sure what he's even going on. And it's
Speaker 1: like the more you dig into it, kind of like Boston,
Speaker 1: how the more you put it all together in one
Speaker 1: gumbo pop, you're like, oh my god, this is an iceberg.
Speaker 1: There is more under the surface than we even understand.
Speaker 1: Let's just look at the lineup changes, which have partly
Speaker 1: been dictated by COVID and injuries, but also because Steve
Speaker 1: Kerr is battling apparently between doing what he wants to
Speaker 1: do right now rotations and lineups, and what he wants
Speaker 1: them to do moving forward forward for the future. Right
Speaker 1: he's basically fighting with the organization about what direction they
Speaker 1: should be going, not only for tomorrow but also for
Speaker 1: the long term, which is not a good sign when
Speaker 1: you're in the middle of a beef or a battle
Speaker 1: with the GM and the owner of your organization. Big
Speaker 1: time issues all seemingly centered around James Wiseman and James
Speaker 1: Wiseman's role and the role.
Speaker 2: Of a big man on a team like the Warriors.
Speaker 1: If Kerr had it his way, this is what we've
Speaker 1: known from other press conferences that he's had on record.
Speaker 1: If Kerr had it his way, they'd be tanking. They
Speaker 1: would not win many games this year. Steph Curry would
Speaker 1: be playing like thirty minutes a game, and they'd probably
Speaker 1: slip down the standings into No. Man's Land get a
Speaker 1: top pick and probably get someone like Caid Cunningham. They
Speaker 1: have that wouldn't be terrible.
Speaker 3: I like Kid, I like Kid two.
Speaker 1: They also have the Timberwolves first round pick for this
Speaker 1: year if I think it's top three protected. So if
Speaker 1: the Timberwolves get number four, which they probably will or worse,
Speaker 1: the Warriors have that pick as well. Steve Kerr is like,
Speaker 1: this is a pandemic year. This is a bullshit year.
Speaker 1: Klay Thompson has been now gone stolen from us for
Speaker 1: two years.
Speaker 2: We can't do anything.
Speaker 1: We have Oubra and we have Wiggins just jacking up
Speaker 1: and making shots like with five minutes left to go
Speaker 1: in the fourth quarter, and everyone thinks he's bawling and.
Speaker 2: We're not gonna win.
Speaker 1: We're not gonna Basically, Steve Kerr's so spoiled and used
Speaker 1: to contending that He's like, well, if we're not gonna contend,
Speaker 1: then fuck it, let's just thank let's.
Speaker 2: Just hang it up.
Speaker 3: He's like the Eric Bledsoe of coaches. Correct correct.
Speaker 1: Curry, though, is not feeling that there is no player,
Speaker 1: especially a marquee player, walking the face of the earth
Speaker 1: that you tell them that they can't contend and they say, yeah,
Speaker 1: you know what, You're right, We can't contend. Steph Crery
Speaker 1: is like, who are you to say? Who knows? Like injuries,
Speaker 1: a couple of things happen here and there, I put
Speaker 1: up seventy. You just never know. And so that's the tension,
Speaker 1: that's the strife. No one is frustrated. The media is frustrated,
Speaker 1: Curry's frustrated. Apparently, management and ownership are frustrated. No one
Speaker 1: seems to be happy except for Steve Kerr. Steve Kurr
Speaker 1: just seems to be like, this is all part of
Speaker 1: my master plan. You just all need to hang around
Speaker 1: and watch and see. And that's strange because everyone thinks
Speaker 1: about Kerr with like I think everyone associates Kerr with
Speaker 1: the death lineup, him changing the league into this small
Speaker 1: ball system, which was Draymond, Kevin Durant, Steph Curry, Klay
Speaker 1: Thompson and Iggy Yep. That though, was only what from
Speaker 1: what I hear from other people who have been around
Speaker 1: the Warriors organization, something that Steve Kerr only likes to
Speaker 1: go in doses on just to keep other teams on
Speaker 1: their toes so that they have to have roster flexibility
Speaker 1: as well. He does not like to go small. If
Speaker 1: he had it his way, he would not go small.
Speaker 1: Forget that death lineup and that small ball from the
Speaker 1: championship years. So Wiseman to Steve Kerr is his wet dream.
Speaker 1: He's like, oh my god, Wiseman is exactly why and
Speaker 1: exactly what we need to move forward into the future
Speaker 1: as soon as we get Klay Thompson. I don't know
Speaker 1: if I believe that, but Steve Kurr certainly does. And
Speaker 1: the question, though, to me at first glance, was why,
Speaker 1: what could it be and why could Steve Kirby so
Speaker 1: rooted in that philosophy that a big man is so
Speaker 1: necessary that he will hang on and play Alex Magologic
Speaker 1: over Eric Paschal because he needs a big man. And
Speaker 1: I believe that the reason why is because he played
Speaker 1: for Popovich, was mentored by Popovich on the Spurs, and
Speaker 1: has Papovich DNA running through his veins, you know, as
Speaker 1: a guy who has a fan base in the West
Speaker 1: Coast that plays against the Spurs a lot like what
Speaker 1: Pop's mentality is, Right, you have that big man as
Speaker 1: the anchor. Yeah, then you have consistently thinking about the
Speaker 1: future and a lineage and a we'll call it a
Speaker 1: transition plan for when your marquee stars go down right
Speaker 1: whenever they leave, a legacy succession plan.
Speaker 2: That's Wiseman and.
Speaker 1: Number three, like you stick to that plan and never
Speaker 1: deviate from that plan. High character guy like Wiseman anchoring
Speaker 1: your offense and defense, making sure that you have someone
Speaker 1: for when Stephan Clay leaves, and like you just stick
Speaker 1: to that trust that process. And you know, Pop is
Speaker 1: King Tankris and he is stubborn. He's so stuck in
Speaker 1: that move that that's why they just fucking suck.
Speaker 3: Right now, we are talking about the guy who ended
Speaker 3: the seven seconds or less era to trade for Shaquille
Speaker 3: O'Neil in two thousand and seven, actually it was two
Speaker 3: thousand and eight at the time.
Speaker 1: Yes, yeah, that's that's the key. So Steve Kerr is
Speaker 1: trying to model his coaching career after Greg Popovich, and
Speaker 1: the organization, of course Sensus towenty twenty one and not
Speaker 1: nineteen ninety one, is not super.
Speaker 2: Happy about it.
Speaker 1: So the latest news is that there's tension going on
Speaker 1: internally over what the team is doing and where Wiseman
Speaker 1: fits in, where whether Kerr's philosophy makes sense for twenty
Speaker 1: twenty one. Kerr says he prefers for Wiseman to learn
Speaker 1: on the fly and make mistakes, no matter what that
Speaker 1: means for their playoff hopes. He believes that James Wiseman
Speaker 1: is the future, and the rest of the organization thinks
Speaker 1: we don't have time for that right now.
Speaker 2: We need to win right now.
Speaker 1: So that's tough and not something that I think is going.
Speaker 2: To be solvable right now.
Speaker 1: I think this is something that is going to showcase
Speaker 1: why the Warriors are in.
Speaker 2: That middle zone.
Speaker 1: They're not quite tanking and they're not quite winning now,
Speaker 1: and I don't think anyone really knows what's going to
Speaker 1: happen moving forward. And apparently Kerr is now putting Wiseman
Speaker 1: permanently in the starting lineup permanently. So I like Steve Kerr,
Speaker 1: but maybe he just doesn't always know what he's doing.
Speaker 1: You said to yourself that one of your greatest regrets, Marty,
Speaker 1: is that Steve Kerr was a Phoenix son as a GM,
Speaker 1: and he was a terrible GM, but you thought maybe
Speaker 1: he was a prolific coach.
Speaker 3: Well, not really regret, It was just annoying that he
Speaker 3: was a pretty good player, like for his role. He
Speaker 3: until recently was thought of as a very good NBA
Speaker 3: head coach and he was our general manager and he
Speaker 3: was just complete garbage at it. So before this started
Speaker 3: coming out about his coaching ability, it was like, oh,
Speaker 3: the one bad thing he was at it was with Phoenix.
Speaker 1: But now yeah, but think about this, though, Steve Kerr
Speaker 1: was probably instrumental in drafting Wiseman.
Speaker 3: Yeah, it appears that way.
Speaker 1: Yeah, And I know that most people would say, what
Speaker 1: do you need LaMelo Ball for what? You already have
Speaker 1: a plethora of guards.
Speaker 2: But I don't know.
Speaker 1: If LaMelo Ball's out while Clay is down, you can
Speaker 1: trade him. You can then ship him out for more assets.
Speaker 1: I think you could get more for LaMelo I you
Speaker 1: traded him prior to the injury.
Speaker 2: Than you can for Wiseman.
Speaker 1: Yeah, absolutely right, So you're basically having a one year
Speaker 1: rookie rental or you could have traded that pick.
Speaker 2: I don't know.
Speaker 1: So Steve Kerr is putting Wiseman and Curry on the
Speaker 1: floor together, and that experiment is fucking terrible. When the
Speaker 1: two are on the floor, the Warriors have an offensive
Speaker 1: rating of one hundred and two point nine, and the
Speaker 1: number jumps to one hundred and seventeen when Curry's on
Speaker 1: the floor with anyone else any other lineup, but with
Speaker 1: Wiseman it jumps from one oh two to one seventeen.
Speaker 1: So I think the organization needs to figure out what
Speaker 1: they're doing, because you kind of have to have Curry
Speaker 1: and Wiseman on the floor at the same time if
Speaker 1: they're both healthy, right, you can't have Wiseman starting in
Speaker 1: Curry not starting. No, if Wiseman's permanently a part of
Speaker 1: the starting lineup and Curry is two and they're seventeen
Speaker 1: points worse off offensively, rut row, rut row. So to me,
Speaker 1: this is going to be a constant issue to monitor
Speaker 1: for the future. This is really no news except for, hey,
Speaker 1: the Warriors are more in disarray than you think. Curry
Speaker 1: and Clay want one thing, Kerr wants another thing. And
Speaker 1: if you're Bob Myers, and then you have to decide
Speaker 1: between what your two franchise stars want versus what Steve
Speaker 1: Kerr wants.
Speaker 2: You know, what do you think he does?
Speaker 3: That's pretty easy. You're gonna back with your all stars.
Speaker 1: Yeah, And so either to me, either Wiseman gets shipped
Speaker 1: out early. They're not gonna let them cook in the oven,
Speaker 1: or they're going to be in no man's land. So
Speaker 1: it's one thing to build this complex triangle around. Like
Speaker 1: you said, it's easy to coach all stars. It's easy
Speaker 1: for Steve curR to be a very very good coach
Speaker 1: when he has Kevin Durant, Klay Thompson, Steph Curry, Draymond Green.
Speaker 1: Very very easy to build something complex for all of
Speaker 1: those brilliant minds to be able to figure out and
Speaker 1: out scheme your opponents. It's difficult when you have a
Speaker 1: guy like James Wiseman who very clearly doesn't know how
Speaker 1: to play basketball.
Speaker 2: I mean, that's just big facts.
Speaker 1: So are the Warriors a playoff team with a puncher's
Speaker 1: chance or are they just in a testing ground for
Speaker 1: or an incubator like Jordan Poole or for James Wiseman
Speaker 1: for the return of Clay I don't know. The answer
Speaker 1: is probably going to be the key though to how
Speaker 1: long the Warriors continue to be patient with Steve Kerr,
Speaker 1: who is widely considered the most stubborn coach in the NBA.
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