Speaker 1: The Volume.
Speaker 2: Hi, everybody, welcome in. Can't wait ten minutes twelve minutes
Speaker 2: away from Chris Mannox joining us member of the Volume
Speaker 2: sports and talk about all the NBA moves. I thought
Speaker 2: the Lakers did pretty well. Phoenix has built a bench
Speaker 2: pretty quickly, so we'll talk about that. I got a
Speaker 2: couple of things on my mind. First, happy Fourth of
Speaker 2: July weekend. I'm going to take Wednesday off from TV
Speaker 2: and radio work Monday and Tuesday and hang out with
Speaker 2: some members of my family. My kids are getting older now,
Speaker 2: so I can't get them all for Fourth of July weekend,
Speaker 2: which is a bummer, but that's a part of you know,
Speaker 2: your kids growing up. So something that jumped out to
Speaker 2: me this weekend I watched people implode when Elon Musk
Speaker 2: instituted a view limit on Twitter. I could not be
Speaker 2: the only person and I view myself as a political
Speaker 2: independent to moderate that was struck by the irony of
Speaker 2: Hollywood elites saying they were leaving Twitter the minute Elon
Speaker 2: Musk purchased it, and then complaining all weekend about view limits.
Speaker 3: Which is it?
Speaker 2: So many people hated Elon Musk. I'm leaving He's ruined it.
Speaker 2: And now you're complaining about view limits. Take a deep breath,
Speaker 2: go outside. One of the things that has really turned
Speaker 2: me off from Twitter is not Elon Musk. It's the
Speaker 2: outrage constantly about Elon Musk. I think the media does
Speaker 2: a really bad job of connecting often with the public.
Speaker 2: Only twenty three percent of Americans are on Twitter, and
Speaker 2: I think for the people who aren't, if they went on,
Speaker 2: they'd be immediately turned off. It's just an outrage machine. Folks.
Speaker 2: Life is about limit, right. There's everything in our life
Speaker 2: speeding limits, term limits. I work in media, FCCS, limits
Speaker 2: on how many stations you can own. I love the
Speaker 2: state parks. I try to go to a state park
Speaker 2: every couple of years. Even they're not free. Twitter's a business.
Speaker 2: You have to buy an eighty dollars season pass. Now
Speaker 2: they'll have free days at state parks, but you got
Speaker 2: to pay to play, right. I mean, even our beaches
Speaker 2: in the country, there are places they're not free. You
Speaker 2: got to pay to go to some beaches. So a
Speaker 2: media platform, you think it's going to be free forever.
Speaker 3: No, it's not.
Speaker 2: It has to be ads supported and subscription supported.
Speaker 3: To some level.
Speaker 2: It was losing money when Jack owned it, it's losing money.
Speaker 2: Now with Elon, he's got to figure out how to
Speaker 2: make it work. I guarantee in ninety nine percent of
Speaker 2: you are on Twitter more than you're on Netflix, they're
Speaker 2: not given that thing away for free. I remember when
Speaker 2: newspapers first went to a paywall, bug me out. Now
Speaker 2: they're all on it. I remember when I used to
Speaker 2: be able to watch a lot of things on media
Speaker 2: sites without being bombarded by ads.
Speaker 3: Those days are over.
Speaker 2: Hopefully all of you listening have a broad enough life
Speaker 2: that view limits won't ruin your Fourth of July weekend.
Speaker 2: So I'm going to talk to Chris Mannix about this.
Speaker 2: But Damian Lillard is not as easy to trade as
Speaker 2: people think. He has requested a trade from the Blazers.
Speaker 2: Small dynamic guards that don't defend, don't truly elevate others,
Speaker 2: and have a recent injury history, and a contract that's
Speaker 2: pretty ugly at the end of the deal are hard
Speaker 2: to move now. I think he works in Miami, but
Speaker 2: that's because Bam and Jimmy Butler are excellent defenders. I
Speaker 2: think he works in Milwaukee. That's because Jannis and Drew
Speaker 2: Holliday are excellent defenders. But with Dame, he's given up buckets.
Speaker 2: He's small, and I think the league is finally coming
Speaker 2: to terms with dynamic guards don't necessarily make others better.
Speaker 2: Westbrook just signed a contract for eight mil.
Speaker 3: That was it.
Speaker 2: Dylan Brooks signed one for eighty mil. That's the reality
Speaker 2: of the league. Biggs with high skill level wings three
Speaker 2: and d Wings. And the other thing is the really
Speaker 2: smart gms in this league figure out that you find
Speaker 2: your star eventually and then you surround him with people
Speaker 2: who limit his weakness. Jokich not a great defender. The
Speaker 2: Nuggets go get Aaron Gordon from Orlando, a great defender.
Speaker 2: Steph the Warriors of Oways surrounded him, Peyton, Clay Thompson, Wiggins, Draymond,
Speaker 2: andre Igwoodahl years ago with the elite defenders. If you
Speaker 2: look at Lebron as great as he is, when he
Speaker 2: went to Miami, pat Riley knew that Wade and Lebron
Speaker 2: were not elite three point shooters. What did they do?
Speaker 2: Ray Allen, Mike Miller, Shane Battier. That's why the Dallas
Speaker 2: Mavericks coupling Luca and Kyrie gobbling up a lot of
Speaker 2: the payroll is sort of mystifying long term. I would
Speaker 2: not have signed Kyrie for a three year deal. He's
Speaker 2: ball centric, can't defend Luca's ball centric, can't defend its duplication.
Speaker 2: So you have to understand with Dame. I think the
Speaker 2: Utah situation's pretty interesting, and they have some draft picks
Speaker 2: and some young players to give Portland back. But if
Speaker 2: you bring in Dame, you have to own it. He's
Speaker 2: not going to give you seventy games, and he's not
Speaker 2: going to defend, and he's going to need the ball
Speaker 2: a lot. So that's why Miami and Milwaukee to me
Speaker 2: really work. I'm not sure though Miami has enough to
Speaker 2: give Portland a sense they at least broke even on
Speaker 2: the trade. You know, I was thinking about Major League Baseball.
Speaker 2: I think we're going to have a remarkable football season,
Speaker 2: and I've said for years I think Major League Baseball
Speaker 2: should shorten their season to about one hundred and twenty
Speaker 2: games and early August and go seven weeks of playoffs
Speaker 2: over by the third week of September. You play in
Speaker 2: warm weather all season, end in warm weather late October,
Speaker 2: early November, rain outs, cold, It's not how the game
Speaker 2: is supposed to be played. So, and there's another real
Speaker 2: estate reality is that when football starts, baseball shrinks. So
Speaker 2: you could own August and remember it's not until after
Speaker 2: Labor Day that first Thursday opens the season, but you
Speaker 2: would have Friday and Saturday before the NFL season's first weekend.
Speaker 2: Really art and I think you should be wrapping up
Speaker 2: baseball by then grab some momentum. But baseball this year
Speaker 2: is going to be really challenged to get playoff ratings.
Speaker 2: First of all, college football now has broader appeal. Michigan
Speaker 2: maybe the first or second best team in the country.
Speaker 2: USC will be a top five team in the country. LSU, Georgia,
Speaker 2: Bama obviously huge in the South, Ohio State, Notre Dame.
Speaker 2: There's more breadth to college football this year. Denver West
Speaker 2: will be more engaged, and they really haven't been for
Speaker 2: the last ten to twelve years since Pete Carroll USC eroded,
Speaker 2: So you're going to get some Western viewers watching college
Speaker 2: football that haven't for about a decade. It's going to
Speaker 2: be a big year in college football ratings. Secondarily, the
Speaker 2: NFL is growing every year. It is a monster, and
Speaker 2: more than ever, you've got really clever offensive coaches. So
Speaker 2: even when you get kind of marginal average quarterback tallent
Speaker 2: Tua as an example, you can elevate him significantly. We
Speaker 2: have about ten to twelve elite offenses in the NFL,
Speaker 2: and San Francisco doesn't have a great quarterback, but still
Speaker 2: I regard it as a top offense because of Kyle
Speaker 2: Shanahan and the personnel. So it's going to be a
Speaker 2: lot of points in the NFL. Early usually is in
Speaker 2: warm weather September. It's going to be a broad array
Speaker 2: of major college football powers. USC and Texas appear to
Speaker 2: be back and in Major League baseball right now. Seven
Speaker 2: of the top teams in baseball first or second in
Speaker 2: their division are the Reds, the d Backs, Cleveland, Minnesota, Baltimore,
Speaker 2: and Tampa. Good luck to major League Baseball. Not a
Speaker 2: lot of household names. The Yankees this year can't hit.
Speaker 2: They're on base percentage is three to zho one. That's
Speaker 2: the same as the A's, and the A's are a
Speaker 2: Triple A team. The Dodgers pitching is twenty second in ERA,
Speaker 2: so the Dodgers and Yankees are just not really special teams.
Speaker 2: The good news you can always watch the Cleveland Guardians
Speaker 2: in the playoffs. If they make it to watch future Yankees.
Speaker 2: So you're going to get a lot of non household names,
Speaker 2: non big brands in baseball in September and October, and
Speaker 2: I think we're going to have our best college football
Speaker 2: season and one of our more dynamic NFL seasons in
Speaker 2: a long time. Good luck to baseball.
Speaker 1: The dust has settled Colin Cowhard on free agency in
Speaker 1: the NBA. More than two billion dollars has been earmarked
Speaker 1: for NBA players over the first forty eight hours of
Speaker 1: free agency. A predictable dizzying of activity over the first
Speaker 1: few days of free agency. I wouldn't say, though, there
Speaker 1: has been anything that I would call a significant surprise
Speaker 1: over the first few days. I mean, the battle for
Speaker 1: Fred van Vliet was kind of what I expected. Houston
Speaker 1: and Toronto going back and forth before the Rockets come
Speaker 1: in with a massive offer. The Indiana Pacers made a
Speaker 1: bunch of moves around the fringes. Was there anything out
Speaker 1: there in the first couple of days that took you aback?
Speaker 3: Yeah?
Speaker 2: I thought the Dallas Mavericks were negotiating against themselves. I
Speaker 2: don't think that it was a market three years, one
Speaker 2: hundred and twenty six million. You know, it's funny. Mark
Speaker 2: Cuban does so many things I like. I find it
Speaker 2: to be a very odd franchise with their hirings, with
Speaker 2: their signings. I said, when they got Luca, they you know,
Speaker 2: they looked for years to find kind of the right
Speaker 2: remedy for the weaknesses of Dirk, understanding what a straints were,
Speaker 2: and they finally found a chippy team, a defensive team,
Speaker 2: a veteran team, guys that fit around him, a lot
Speaker 2: of length because Dirk was never a great defender. And
Speaker 2: it's like, oh this works, not long term, it's not
Speaker 2: the Spurs, but it works. Luca's a ball poor defender.
Speaker 2: I think there's a way to build around him, and
Speaker 2: that is now Eric Aaron Gordon's not on the market,
Speaker 2: Denver has him. But a player like that, players like that, gritty,
Speaker 2: tough defenders, guys that don't need the ball. Luca can
Speaker 2: control things. It's a little bit like a bigger version
Speaker 2: of James Harden. There was a way to build around
Speaker 2: James Harden. I always had this theory is that you
Speaker 2: find your star. The Warriors have done this, and then
Speaker 2: you protect his weakness. You know, they look at Steph
Speaker 2: clay Can defend in his prime, Wiggins Draymond Iggy like
Speaker 2: they knew what he was. The example I've used is
Speaker 2: Iannis early, not much of a shooter, Middleton became valuable.
Speaker 2: They were hoping there was more in the tank for
Speaker 2: Joe Ingalls. Jay Crowder aged very quickly, but he was
Speaker 2: a three n D guy.
Speaker 3: For a while.
Speaker 2: So you generally find your stars. He's next level at something, Yo,
Speaker 2: kitch it something. But they all have holes. Lebron was
Speaker 2: not a great shooter, either was d Wade. So what
Speaker 2: did Riley do? Ray Allen, Mike Miller, Battier. He got
Speaker 2: guys who could hit threes. Dallas once again will go
Speaker 2: into a season as the league arguably, I mean defense
Speaker 2: really now plays I think a really crucial role. Even
Speaker 2: Denver played really pretty good defense for a team we
Speaker 2: didn't view as an elite defensive team, and Dallas is
Speaker 2: going against the grain with an offensive team. Again, I
Speaker 2: love Cuban. I don't get moves here, do you.
Speaker 1: I get the desire to bring Kyrie Irving back, And
Speaker 1: I think Dallas is probably patting itself on the back
Speaker 1: by saying we got Kyrie Irving on a three year deal.
Speaker 1: Kyrie Irving wanted a four year deal or a five
Speaker 1: year deal. We got him on a three year deal.
Speaker 1: They didn't have any options here. You know, bringing Kyrie
Speaker 1: Irving back was both the only way to keep them
Speaker 1: competitive in an increasingly competitive Western Conference and to at
Speaker 1: least temporarily stave off you know, the Luka doncic what
Speaker 1: are we doing here conversation, because without Kyrie Irving, you know,
Speaker 1: that conversation would have happened, probably sooner rather than later.
Speaker 1: It may still happen, you know, to your point, this
Speaker 1: doesn't solve a lot of problems that the Mavericks have,
Speaker 1: especially defensively, but at least it kind of pushes that
Speaker 1: conversation down the line. Use the phrase, you know, bidding
Speaker 1: against themselves, and that's exactly what Dallas was doing here.
Speaker 1: This contract tells me that the tactical pr campaign that
Speaker 1: Kyrie Irving and his agents have waged over the last
Speaker 1: couple of months worked. You know.
Speaker 3: The first sort of salvo was Kyrie.
Speaker 1: Leaking it out there that he was going to have
Speaker 1: a conversation with Lebron James about playing in Dallas, which
Speaker 1: was ridiculous on the surface for starters. Lebron wasn't a
Speaker 1: free agent and isn't a free agent, and he's never
Speaker 1: expressed any desire to play anywhere outside of Los Angeles.
Speaker 1: But that was Kyrie's messaging to the Mavericks that, Hey,
Speaker 1: you've historically been a team that has struggled to recruit
Speaker 1: free agents. I'm your guy. I can bring in free agents.
Speaker 1: I can bring guys to Dallas that never would have
Speaker 1: considered going there before.
Speaker 3: That was his way of doing that.
Speaker 1: And then there's all the nonsense about meetings, like you're
Speaker 1: meeting with the Phoenix Suns for what exactly.
Speaker 3: Everyone with you know, a.
Speaker 1: Pair of eyeballs and ears, knows that Kyrie is all
Speaker 1: about the top dollar, right Like, the reason Kyrie is
Speaker 1: not a Brooklyn net right now is because he saw
Speaker 1: the writing on the wall. He saw a Brooklyn team
Speaker 1: that was sped up with all of his antics and
Speaker 1: was not going to offer him the kind of long
Speaker 1: term deal he wanted free agency, the idea that he
Speaker 1: was going to take some kind of short money to
Speaker 1: play where in Phoenix. In Miami, he's going to take
Speaker 1: the mid level exception from the Lakers. I mean, these
Speaker 1: were ludicrous suggestions, but the reality is getting a three year,
Speaker 1: one hundred and twenty six million dollar contract, which is
Speaker 1: all guarantee player option in that third year. If he
Speaker 1: wants it, he can pick it up. I don't know
Speaker 1: that to me. Colin says that Kyrie's game, whatever it was,
Speaker 1: it worked.
Speaker 2: I will say I think most moves in free agency
Speaker 2: are incremental, but I thought the Lakers had a series
Speaker 2: of good incremental moves. I thought, Gabe Vincent, if you
Speaker 2: can shoot and you play with Lebron, you'll get looks.
Speaker 2: They retained the two guys I would absolutely retained Ruleian Reeves.
Speaker 2: They got D'Angelo Russell for two years only, meaning you
Speaker 2: can move that in the year, and he does provide
Speaker 2: perimeter shooting. They moved off guys that I mean, let's
Speaker 2: not get ourselves. Lonnie Walker had a good game or
Speaker 2: maybe a half. Jackson Hayes I also thought was a
Speaker 2: nice acquisition. I think with Anthony Davis, because he's more
Speaker 2: he's a great defensive player. They become very reliant on
Speaker 2: him as a defensive player. And Jackson Hayes they needed
Speaker 2: another big, athletic body and that's what he is. He's
Speaker 2: had some trouble off the floor, but he's a big, talented,
Speaker 2: athletic body. So I thought Vincent and Hayes were nice pickups.
Speaker 2: I don't know a ton about Prince, but I thought
Speaker 2: they moved off the right people. I also thought they
Speaker 2: got Austin Reeves for a pretty good number. That was
Speaker 2: one of the I thought that was one of the
Speaker 2: shrewder deals because I like him. You know, you can
Speaker 2: become a hater in this league if you criticize a player.
Speaker 2: I like him, and I think he'll be a sixteen
Speaker 2: and a half point four as sist guy. But he's
Speaker 2: not an elite shooter, not an elite point guard. He's
Speaker 2: a decent defender. He initiates contract tact. Lebron likes playing
Speaker 2: with him. The number he got is a reasonable number,
Speaker 2: So I think they made a series of incremental moves Chris.
Speaker 2: But you know what, you can get a lot better
Speaker 2: by inches. It doesn't all have to be feet and
Speaker 2: meters here, and I thought the Lakers came out of
Speaker 2: the weekend. Are a better basketball team, a clearer basketball team?
Speaker 2: Your thoughts?
Speaker 1: Really, I've thought since January of this past season, Rob
Speaker 1: Polenka has made a pretty strong case that he's operating
Speaker 1: as one.
Speaker 3: Of the best executives in basketball.
Speaker 1: From the Ruy Hashimor deal to where we are now,
Speaker 1: the Lakers have been built correctly. You know, whatever they
Speaker 1: were doing before the accumulation of stars, going big, getting
Speaker 1: Russell Westbrook, none of that seemed to make any sense.
Speaker 1: But from the Hashimor deal to the DiAngelo Russell deal
Speaker 1: to everything we saw in free agency, the Lakers have
Speaker 1: had success after success. And look all the guys they
Speaker 1: brought in. You know, Torrian Prince, thirty eight percent three
Speaker 1: point shooter, versatile three and D guy. He'll work in
Speaker 1: that system. I think he'll be a better version and
Speaker 1: a more playable version of Lonnie Walker in that system.
Speaker 1: Gabe Vincent starter on an NBA Finals team, reliable guy,
Speaker 1: good contract, getting Austin Reeves back, as you said, on
Speaker 1: that team friendly contract. It did surprise me, Colin, to
Speaker 1: see that there wasn't a team out there.
Speaker 3: Just looking to screw the Lakers over.
Speaker 1: Like the Lakers they were telegraphing to anyone that would
Speaker 1: listen that they were going to match that, you know,
Speaker 1: mythical four year, one hundred million dollar contract. In a way,
Speaker 1: it surprised me that San Antonio, with all that cap room,
Speaker 1: that They didn't say, you know what, We're gonna give
Speaker 1: Austin Reeves four years one hundred million dollars just to
Speaker 1: kind of screw with the Lakers a little bit. But
Speaker 1: nobody did, and the Lakers get him back on a
Speaker 1: tremendous deal, the D'Angelo Russell deal. I mean, how many
Speaker 1: months ago were we talking about, Oh God, well, the
Speaker 1: Lakers give D'Angelo Russell a close to max level deal.
Speaker 3: They got him for two years in a song. It's incredible.
Speaker 1: So I thought the Lakers had an enormously successful first
Speaker 1: few days of the off season. On top of that,
Speaker 1: the guys we just talked about, they're all tradable, right,
Speaker 1: They all have digestible contracts for teams that could be
Speaker 1: looking to offload a superstar down the line. So if
Speaker 1: the Lakers in the next year eighteen months decide to
Speaker 1: go that direction where they want to add another piece
Speaker 1: of that.
Speaker 3: Puzzle, they can do it. They can do it.
Speaker 1: They've preserved some of their future draft capital, and they've
Speaker 1: got these digestible contracts that can be moved that could
Speaker 1: bring another star to the mix. I was a huge
Speaker 1: fan of what the Lakers did in the first.
Speaker 3: Couple of days.
Speaker 2: I think, and I've said this with Austin Reeves. I
Speaker 2: like him, but I do think what concerns people about him,
Speaker 2: so giving him like a max money deal. I don't
Speaker 2: see a lot of max qualities. He's not a max ballhandler,
Speaker 2: max shooter, max twitchy, max size. He's an older young
Speaker 2: player because he played in college forever. He's like a
Speaker 2: seventies throwback. So I think you see this sometimes in
Speaker 2: the NFL where Mac Jones comes in quarterback of the Patriot.
Speaker 2: It's out of Alabama, and he's pretty darn close to
Speaker 2: his ceiling, has a very redeemable rookie year, and that's
Speaker 2: kind of what he is. I do think after two
Speaker 2: years and ten points a game, I think Austin Reeves
Speaker 2: has another jump. But I don't think it's twenty two
Speaker 2: points a game. I think it's sixteen and a half.
Speaker 2: And I think you know, to Austin Reeves credit, he
Speaker 2: likes playing with Lebron. Lebron gets in the ball. Austin
Speaker 2: knows he's a good ball handler. He's not a pure point.
Speaker 2: Lebron can take that out of his hands. I think
Speaker 2: Austin and I wish more players realize this. This is
Speaker 2: a good fit for him. It's a really nice fit.
Speaker 2: And let's be honest, for a kid that's undrafted, it's
Speaker 2: like being an undrafted tight end and you end up
Speaker 2: with the Dallas Cowboys and Dack's throwing you Football's like,
Speaker 2: it's a damn good situation for him, and there's not
Speaker 2: a ton of pressure, like he's the you know, on
Speaker 2: some nights he's the second second best player, but he's
Speaker 2: mostly the third best player on a good team. So
Speaker 2: I thought the league spoke that we like him. He's
Speaker 2: maybe a tad closer to his ceiling than people think. Now,
Speaker 2: the Dame situation's interesting, and this sports cyclical. You and
Speaker 2: I grew up back to the basket centers. Then it
Speaker 2: became Jordan Kobe Wings took over the league. You know,
Speaker 2: small ball had its run, and I still think it
Speaker 2: can be effective if you have multiple three point shooters.
Speaker 2: Sometimes teams are fooled into thinking they do the Warriors did,
Speaker 2: Houston for a while did. The league now tends to
Speaker 2: be more European, highly skilled bigs, wing defenders very important.
Speaker 2: Dame is not as traitable as everybody thinks. Everybody's consumed.
Speaker 2: What do the Blazers get back. Well, here's what you
Speaker 2: get with Dame a tiny guard, two years of injuries,
Speaker 2: highly expensive late in the contract, and a huge defensive liability.
Speaker 2: I like him with Miami and Milwaukee because Chris, they
Speaker 2: can surround with excellent defenders. He doesn't work in a
Speaker 2: lot of places like people love Utah. Can they surround
Speaker 2: him with enough defenders? And the end of that contract, Chris,
Speaker 2: it's punitive, like if he's banged up two three years
Speaker 2: into this, that is a lead weight in year three.
Speaker 2: I think it's a harder contract. I think he's a
Speaker 2: harder player to move than people think.
Speaker 1: I think that the market won't be wide, but the
Speaker 1: market that will be there for him will be clawing
Speaker 1: over itself.
Speaker 3: To get him.
Speaker 1: And that includes Miami, Philadelphia, the New York Knicks. I
Speaker 1: think at least those Brooklyn, at least those four teams
Speaker 1: will be just throwing, you know, stuffing their offers with
Speaker 1: sweeteners to get the attention of the Portland Trailblazers. I
Speaker 1: do want to before I kind of give you know,
Speaker 1: my take on where who should go after him, where
Speaker 1: he should go. I have been disappointed in how the
Speaker 1: Blazers have handled all this, Like every public statement that
Speaker 1: Joe Cronin makes. It just makes him seem like he's
Speaker 1: mystified that Damian Lillard wouldn't want to be in Portland,
Speaker 1: and he's mystified why anyone would believe that the Blazers
Speaker 1: can't assemble a contender. What the Blazers did in the
Speaker 1: first few days of free agency was give Jeremy Grant
Speaker 1: one of the worst contracts that were handed out during
Speaker 1: free agency. A twenty nine year old good player just
Speaker 1: gets in excess of thirty million dollars per year. That
Speaker 1: is going to be any They do that knowing full
Speaker 1: well that wasn't going to satisfy Damian Lillard. That Blazers
Speaker 1: team last year was largely healthy. Like you know, I
Speaker 1: think Grant played sixty plus games. Lillard was in that mix.
Speaker 1: You subtract the games that they punted towards the end
Speaker 1: of the season for the crux of that season. Yeah,
Speaker 1: that was a healthy Blazers team. And somehow the idea
Speaker 1: pops in the head of Joe Cronin that giving Jeremy
Speaker 1: Grant five years to one hundred and sixty million dollars
Speaker 1: is going to placate Damian Lillard and make him think
Speaker 1: that this this this team has what it takes to succeed.
Speaker 1: I just didn't understand that. And now it just strikes
Speaker 1: me Colin that the Blazers are kind of going out
Speaker 1: of their way to pick a fight with Lillard, whether
Speaker 1: it's to say, you know, we were committed to building
Speaker 1: around Dame, but hey, he wants to go somewhere else,
Speaker 1: we'll do our best to make sure that happens, and
Speaker 1: then to and look, Lillard kind of started this by
Speaker 1: putting it out there that he wanted to be in Miami,
Speaker 1: but then the Blazers countering by, you know, effectively saying
Speaker 1: we're going to look around the league and do what's
Speaker 1: best for us, which they should. I just don't like
Speaker 1: it feels like an unnecessary fight to pick.
Speaker 3: You know, you're both both sides are adults.
Speaker 1: They could have gotten in a room and said, look,
Speaker 1: you're not going to win anything with me. You're building
Speaker 1: around Scoot Henderson, who could be the next meet you've
Speaker 1: got Shaden Sharp. Let's just use my value to keep
Speaker 1: pushing you in that direction and I'll find a contender.
Speaker 1: It just feels like it's become adversarial when it didn't
Speaker 1: have to be now, the team that needs to go
Speaker 1: all in for Lillard is the Philadelphia seventy six ers,
Speaker 1: because the Philadelphia seventy six Ers are in that Damian
Speaker 1: Lillard success window, that success bubble. They've got three years
Speaker 1: now of probably peak Joel mb who's I believe going
Speaker 1: to turn thirty during this season. They've got to find
Speaker 1: a way to maximize it. They've got an asset in
Speaker 1: James Harden that the Clippers badly want. They've got draft
Speaker 1: capital in the form of those future Sons pick, which
Speaker 1: I can tell you are as appetizing as any future
Speaker 1: draft picks to teams across the NBA. I mean, there
Speaker 1: is a widespread belief that three years from now the
Speaker 1: Sons could cratering like they could be just in a
Speaker 1: rough spot, and those draft picks and pick swaps have
Speaker 1: enormous value. If I'm the seventy six Ers, I Am
Speaker 1: going all out to construct some kind of three team
Speaker 1: deal that sends James Harden to the Clippers, brings Damian
Speaker 1: Lillard to Philly, and the Blazers. Maybe they get Tyrese Maxey,
Speaker 1: who maybe they don't need right now because they've got
Speaker 1: a surplus of smallish guards. But you take the asset
Speaker 1: and you get a boatload of draft picks, both from
Speaker 1: the Clippers and the Sixers. Sometimes there's just a deal
Speaker 1: Colin that's so obvious that you wonder why it hasn't
Speaker 1: happened already.
Speaker 3: This to me feels like one of them.
Speaker 1: This to me feels like the kind of deal that
Speaker 1: makes sense for everybody. The Clippers get their playmaker, the
Speaker 1: Sixers get Lillard and Embiid paired together. Those are two winners,
Speaker 1: you know, two win it all cost types of guys,
Speaker 1: And the Blazers get their package of young players in
Speaker 1: draft picks they can build around for years to come.
Speaker 1: That to me is a deal that all three sides
Speaker 1: need to be talking about right now.
Speaker 2: I want to talk Phoenix Suns for a second, because
Speaker 2: I think a lot of it. Bradley Beal's got many
Speaker 2: good years left, so does Ayton, and so does Booker.
Speaker 2: A lot of it just hinges. And they cobbled together
Speaker 2: a bench. They went and got Eric Gordon, so they
Speaker 2: cobbled together a little bit of a bench. He got
Speaker 2: nice little player. He's an older player, but a nice player.
Speaker 2: It really comes down to Katie's health. If you can
Speaker 2: get sixty games from him. So I am very much
Speaker 2: in on Phoenix because three of their players don't have
Speaker 2: a long injury history. I like the coach. I think
Speaker 2: he'll get Vogel will get the most. And I also
Speaker 2: think bench play in the playoffs can be a tad
Speaker 2: over rated. Boston didn't have a if you look at
Speaker 2: Denver didn't have a great bench this year. There have
Speaker 2: been teams like the Laker Bubble team that did have
Speaker 2: a very good bench, and the Warrior team a couple
Speaker 2: of years ago had a pretty good bench. But there's
Speaker 2: been other teams that have won the title that didn't
Speaker 2: have a great bench. What they had was some mix
Speaker 2: of size shooting, and I think that. I think if
Speaker 2: you have three elite players and a fourth who will
Speaker 2: be very good under this coach, it's a fairly dynamic team.
Speaker 2: But there was a comment about two weeks ago from
Speaker 2: Kad that was just so strange to me, and he
Speaker 2: talked about what inspirational players Kyrie and James Harden were
Speaker 2: and I thought, wow, now was that just for social media?
Speaker 2: Like I like Katie a lot, but he veers into
Speaker 2: odd sometimes when when you look at Phoenix and do
Speaker 2: you view it as combustible. I don't, but sometimes Katie
Speaker 2: getting into Twitter battles and these comments about stuff, I'm like,
Speaker 2: do you fear the combustibility of Phoenix.
Speaker 1: I don't fear the combustibility as much as the chemistry.
Speaker 1: Maybe not working on the floor, and maybe those two
Speaker 1: are cousins to each other, but I think that's a
Speaker 1: team that will you know, Brooklyn, you know, towards the
Speaker 1: end of course, James Harden and Kyrie were not seeing
Speaker 1: eye to eye. I don't see it being that type
Speaker 1: of situation, but the injuries do worry me. Kevin, of course,
Speaker 1: has his history. But Bradley Beal, I mean it's almost
Speaker 1: career long with Bradley Beal where he has been dealing
Speaker 1: with something one way or the other. Early on, it
Speaker 1: was the foot injury which he got pasted and what
Speaker 1: became a durable guy. But he had risk surgery about
Speaker 1: a year and a half ago. He battled multiple hamstring
Speaker 1: injuries last season. He's someone I'm worried about getting to
Speaker 1: that kind of sixty sixty five game threshold, you know,
Speaker 1: for this team.
Speaker 3: Booker's fine.
Speaker 1: The other the other unknown to me is how how
Speaker 1: well can Frank Vogel get through to DeAndre eight. Can
Speaker 1: Frank vogue get Ayton back to being the guy who
Speaker 1: accepted being a ten to fourteen shot per game player,
Speaker 1: who anchored a top ten defense during their time at
Speaker 1: that the elite level when they went to the finals,
Speaker 1: when they won sixty four games.
Speaker 3: Ken, Frank Vogel, get him back to that.
Speaker 1: I think he's uniquely equipped because he's a coach that
Speaker 1: can say, look, my teams, especially defensively, have been built
Speaker 1: around great biggs. You go back to Indiana Roy Hibbert.
Speaker 1: What was Roy Hibbert before Frank Vogel took over. Royebert's
Speaker 1: career took off in the aftermath of Frank Vogel becoming
Speaker 1: the head coach there in Los Angeles, Ad Dwight Howard,
Speaker 1: the bigs they played with out there, Frank Vogel can say,
Speaker 1: just trust me. I will find a way to get
Speaker 1: you your shots. I will find a way to make
Speaker 1: you part of the offense. And there's reason to believe
Speaker 1: that he can be that guy. So that I think
Speaker 1: is going to be a big key. Ken Frank Vogel
Speaker 1: get through to DeAndre Aid and make him happy and
Speaker 1: make him productive for that.
Speaker 3: Team this season.
Speaker 2: I want to pivot to this. I got into a
Speaker 2: discussion with a friend who works in Portland, small market,
Speaker 2: and I said, the upside to a big market franchise,
Speaker 2: it's often more attractive to the players, right, Like the
Speaker 2: stars want to go to the big market, not okay.
Speaker 1: See.
Speaker 2: And secondarily, big markets are more willing to move off
Speaker 2: players and take a big swing because it's not the
Speaker 2: only game in town. Everybody's seeking championships. In Boston they
Speaker 2: don't care you get to the playoffs. And in Portland
Speaker 2: for years they were terrified to move off you know CJ.
Speaker 2: McCollum and Dame because they were pretty good and it's
Speaker 2: the only big game in town and they were terrified
Speaker 2: by it. Yet Boston moves off the soul of that team,
Speaker 2: Marcus Smart, because eh, getting to the finals is the
Speaker 2: only you know, that's what we're seeking. So I love
Speaker 2: that premise that big market teams will just take bigger swings.
Speaker 2: I mean, moving off Marcus Smart is certainly as could
Speaker 2: be as punitive potentially in that back court as moving
Speaker 2: off CJ. McCullum would have been right, but Boston would
Speaker 2: do it. Here's my concern with Boston. Smart was a
Speaker 2: great locker room guy. Porzingis is not a culture center.
Speaker 2: He has injuries, He's becoming a bounce around.
Speaker 3: The league guy.
Speaker 2: Do you worry at all Tatum's not a dominant, relentless
Speaker 2: presence that some negativity with Porzingis and his personality could
Speaker 2: now seep in and Marcus Smart would not be there
Speaker 2: to call him on it.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think that's a real concern. I do think
Speaker 1: over the last couple of years, and I've been around
Speaker 1: that locker room a lot and know that team pretty well,
Speaker 1: they've had some of their younger guys step up and
Speaker 1: be more assertive in that locker room. I think Jason
Speaker 1: Tatum last season was more assertive. Jalen Brown has become
Speaker 1: increasingly asserted. Al Horford, the elder statesman on that team,
Speaker 1: has been a pretty strong presence in that locker room.
Speaker 1: So I think it's something they can overcome. I think
Speaker 1: they've got enough voices in that locker room that they
Speaker 1: can deal with the loss of Smart. In fact, I
Speaker 1: think the loss of Smart is more significant on the
Speaker 1: court than it is off and I understand why they
Speaker 1: did this deal. Colin. You know this goes back to
Speaker 1: the trade deadline in this past February, when the Celtics
Speaker 1: were all in on Yaka Pertl. They wanted Yaka Perle
Speaker 1: in San Antonio. The asking price from the Spurs was
Speaker 1: two first round draft picks. They had two offers on
Speaker 1: the table. One was from Toronto with a first round
Speaker 1: pick and filler, one was from Boston first round pick
Speaker 1: and filler without that second first round pick. The Spurs say, well,
Speaker 1: the Raptor's pick is going to be better, so we're
Speaker 1: going to take the Raptors offer. The Celtics pivoted and
Speaker 1: they kept Luke Cornett and they added Mike Muscala, two
Speaker 1: guys that turned out to be unplayable in the postseason.
Speaker 1: So they went into this offseason knowing that with Al
Speaker 1: Horford about to turn or just turn thirty seven years old,
Speaker 1: with Robert Williams historically unhealthy, and with Grant Williams his
Speaker 1: status for the long term still unknown, they had to
Speaker 1: add somebody reliable, and Porzingis, at least this past season,
Speaker 1: was reliable. It's abundantly clear that the Celtics wanted to
Speaker 1: give up Malcolm Brogden in that transaction, but Brogden's forearm
Speaker 1: injury is clearly something that is a cause for concern.
Speaker 3: So I understand that.
Speaker 1: It's a long way of saying I understand why they
Speaker 1: did it, But you know Brogden, who has been an
Speaker 1: injury prone player for the entirety of his career.
Speaker 3: If you know, the.
Speaker 1: Celtics are saying all the right things right now about
Speaker 1: that arm, I got to be honest. Some of the
Speaker 1: rumblings I'm hearing is that that arm may not be
Speaker 1: the kind of thing that you give it a few
Speaker 1: weeks off and it's going to be fine for next season.
Speaker 1: I would have serious concern about Malcolm Brogden going into
Speaker 1: next season. And if Brogden is not able to give
Speaker 1: you the kind of durability he had during the regular
Speaker 1: season last year, what are you looking at right now?
Speaker 1: Their rotation is Derek White, it's Peyton Pritchard, and it's
Speaker 1: Sam Hauser. Two of those three guys were not part
Speaker 1: of the postseason rotation. So not only are you still
Speaker 1: finish up front, because as we talk, I don't know
Speaker 1: what's going to happen with Grant Williams if he's back,
Speaker 1: if he's signed and traded. I don't know what's going
Speaker 1: to happen with that situation. But you are looking at
Speaker 1: a backcourt where Derek White might be your only reliable option.
Speaker 1: That to me is scary. I see a lot of
Speaker 1: takes out there about how the Celtics are better in
Speaker 1: the aftermath of this deal a month from now. That
Speaker 1: might be true if they bring Grant Williams back, if
Speaker 1: they swing another deal to get a reliable backcourt player,
Speaker 1: that could turn out to be accurate. But right now,
Speaker 1: I think the Celtics are a worst version of the
Speaker 1: team that they were last year.
Speaker 2: Well remember last year they were great and blowouts, They
Speaker 2: thump people all the time. They were about a five
Speaker 2: hundred team in close games, and sometimes that offense got
Speaker 2: jammed up. So I saw Porzingis as a he'll on
Speaker 2: jam it. Just go to the big eight feet in moves,
Speaker 2: well slashes, He'll get you unjammed. Offensively, if Brown and
Speaker 2: Tatum get into these kind of weird you know, these
Speaker 2: Rubik's cube and they can't quite figure it out, and
Speaker 2: you take it over, and Brown's more aggressive, and so
Speaker 2: I do think they it makes sense. William's you're bubble
Speaker 2: wrapping essentially for the playoffs. Horford is just older and
Speaker 2: less dynamic, and I do think he does get you
Speaker 2: a bucket, gets you unjammed, which the Celtics did a
Speaker 2: lot of those close games. We were all going, why
Speaker 2: is Marcus Smart taking the shots? But I think your
Speaker 2: point is championships may not run through the point guard position.
Speaker 2: But boy, you watch close games and half court games.
Speaker 2: If you don't have a facilitator, you know the guy.
Speaker 2: One of the teams that really did well just for
Speaker 2: an individual player was Washington getting Jones, who nobody watches,
Speaker 2: but I know I think Memphis because Jaws plus you know,
Speaker 2: if you look at Jaws net rating, he's going to
Speaker 2: be on for twenty five games. Marcus is not a
Speaker 2: true facilitator. Nobody has talked about Tias Jones, and I'm like,
Speaker 2: did Washington snare for a song one of the better
Speaker 2: players that moved?
Speaker 3: I think call it on that. Memphis needed to do
Speaker 3: two things this offseason.
Speaker 1: One was to find a plug and play point guard
Speaker 1: for the time that John Moranda is out, and the
Speaker 1: other was to replace Dylan Brooks like they needed a
Speaker 1: wing defender.
Speaker 3: And Marcus Smart can do both those things.
Speaker 1: Remember the last trade deadline, they were offering three or
Speaker 1: four first round picks to Brooklyn to get Michale bridges
Speaker 1: out of there to Toronto to try to extract O
Speaker 1: Giana Noobi like they were after that wing defender last year,
Speaker 1: in part because they knew this was coming with Dylan
Speaker 1: Brooks potentially parting ways with them.
Speaker 3: Marcus gives them a little bit of both.
Speaker 1: He's not the pure playmaker that Tias Jones is, but
Speaker 1: he has light years better defensively and gives them a
Speaker 1: guy that can guard three, sometimes four positions out there
Speaker 1: at a pretty high level.
Speaker 2: All right, Chris Mannix, great stuff back and forth, keep
Speaker 2: our eyes on Dame as always, Buddy. I know this
Speaker 2: weekend you've been busy with some personal stuff. All good,
Speaker 2: Very happy for you, Love that we're resigning you at
Speaker 2: the Volume. You've been tremendous for us, and have a
Speaker 2: great next few holiday days off.
Speaker 1: Love being back calling, and I always appreciate catching up
Speaker 1: with you and looking forward to what's next the Volume