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Speaker 2: Slash Baseball, All right, welcome to hoops tonight here at
Speaker 2: the volume heavy Saturday. Everybody. Hope all of you guys
Speaker 2: are having a great weekend. I'm coming to you guys
Speaker 2: again from Vegas for NBA Summer League. Got a jampackshow
Speaker 2: for you guys today. We're gonna hit the Rockets Lakers
Speaker 2: game from Lafe night. Talk a little bit about BROWNI
Speaker 2: James's summer League debut. We're going to talk about Reed
Speaker 2: Shepherd and how impressive he looked in his first game
Speaker 2: here in Vegas. I'm gonna tell you guys a little
Speaker 2: bit about my interview with Hime Hawkes which we recorded
Speaker 2: yesterday that's going to be airing on our feeds on Monday.
Speaker 2: And then the biggest story in the NBA yesterday, Jalen
Speaker 2: Brunson takes a nine figure discount and guaranteed money compared
Speaker 2: to what he could have made if he waited until
Speaker 2: next summer to sign. Something that's going to help the
Speaker 2: Knicks and something that is kind of complicated as it
Speaker 2: pertains to the CBA, the relationship between the NBA Players
Speaker 2: Association as well as the owners. It's a really interesting
Speaker 2: topic I want to dive into, and certainly is amazing
Speaker 2: news for Knicks fans as they get set for hopefully
Speaker 2: a couple of years here where they can be consistently
Speaker 2: in the top tier of contention. So we're gonna get
Speaker 2: to all that stuff today. You guys know the drill
Speaker 2: before we get started. Subscribe to the Hoops Tonight YouTube
Speaker 2: channel so you don't miss any more of our videos.
Speaker 2: Follow me on Twitter at Underscore json LTC. You guys,
Speaker 2: don't miss announcement, don't forget about a podcast for you
Speaker 2: where you get your podc under Hoops tonight, and then
Speaker 2: keep dropping mailbag questions in those YouTube comments so we
Speaker 2: can keep hitting them throughout the rest of the summer.
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Speaker 2: So I told you guys a little bit about this fear.
Speaker 2: It was incredible. Excited to go back. The Heimhawkes interview
Speaker 2: is super cool. So, as you guys know, it's my
Speaker 2: first opportunity to interview an NBA player. We've interviewed a
Speaker 2: former NBA player. We interviewed Damian Wilkins, who is the
Speaker 2: leader of Overtime Elite, but this is our first current
Speaker 2: active NBA player to interview. We were at the Brotherhood
Speaker 2: Deli at the at the Thomas and Macarna so it's
Speaker 2: kind of like on the concourses, like a restaurant that's there,
Speaker 2: and I may had done like a meet and greet
Speaker 2: and some other stuff there. First thing that stood out
Speaker 2: to me he is huge, Like he's listed at six
Speaker 2: six with like a six to ten wingspan, but I
Speaker 2: would venture to guess that because he was at least
Speaker 2: a half inch taller than me and I in shoes
Speaker 2: him about six six six six and a half. So
Speaker 2: he's probably the better part at six seven six seven
Speaker 2: and a half when he's got shoes on, and he's
Speaker 2: incredibly built. And so it was funny because we talked
Speaker 2: about the uh we talked a lot about his post
Speaker 2: game and I've read a stat to him on the
Speaker 2: in the interview about how he was like the third
Speaker 2: best post player in the entire NBA to have at
Speaker 2: least seventy five reps during the regular season, And it's
Speaker 2: not hard to figure out. He's just he's just big.
Speaker 2: He's big and strong, and he's capable of like winning
Speaker 2: those ground battles, and like there's you know how it
Speaker 2: is with NBA players, It's always different when you see
Speaker 2: him in person, like I've seen Anthony Davis in person
Speaker 2: now twice. I saw him in person at the USA
Speaker 2: game on Wednesday, and like, you watch him just swallow
Speaker 2: up shots around the rim. There was a kind of
Speaker 2: a chase down block he had. I think it was
Speaker 2: on On Shay, It might have been on Jamal Murray,
Speaker 2: can't remember who, but where ad like jumped on right
Speaker 2: in front the rim and brought his arms up around
Speaker 2: both sides of the rim and like slapped the backboard
Speaker 2: on both sides. It was like cheating. I don't know
Speaker 2: how anybody gets a shot off over that guy. Like
Speaker 2: there's a different level of like appreciation you get for
Speaker 2: the physical stature of NBA players when you actually see
Speaker 2: them in person. That was the first thing that stood
Speaker 2: out to me about Hime. But he's super nice, super informative.
Speaker 2: We talked a lot about the Team USA Select team process.
Speaker 2: We talked about his first season with the Miami Heat.
Speaker 2: We got in the weeds about his post game. We
Speaker 2: had an interesting conversation about jump shooting and the and
Speaker 2: the highs and lows of your process of trying to
Speaker 2: develop as a jump shooter, and so yeah, like you know,
Speaker 2: Summer League is a little weird because it's when I
Speaker 2: first came here two years ago. I was just like,
Speaker 2: because I didn't come, I was with the volume at
Speaker 2: that point, but it wasn't a sponsored trip. I just
Speaker 2: kind of came as a fan and I just kind
Speaker 2: of parked my ass in the seats and I just
Speaker 2: took in the games like NonStop. And that was a
Speaker 2: really fun draft. If you guys remember that was the
Speaker 2: Paloboncaro Draft and Jabbari's and that was kind of a
Speaker 2: fun like there were just lots of like really high
Speaker 2: level players playing every single day. But over the last
Speaker 2: couple of years, obviously with the volume, there's been more responsibility.
Speaker 2: So we're not going to get to as much Summer
Speaker 2: league basketball today. We're just going to talk a little
Speaker 2: bit about Rockets, Rockets, Lakers. But getting to do that
Speaker 2: experience was super cool. I'm hoping you know, it was interesting.
Speaker 2: I'd never done it before, so as I went in,
Speaker 2: I was like, am I going to enjoy interviewing NBA players?
Speaker 2: This is going to be something I want to do
Speaker 2: in the long run, And I genuinely enjoyed it. Love
Speaker 2: talking hoops with them. That video is coming out on Monday.
Speaker 2: I'm super super excited to share that with you, guys.
Speaker 2: That's going to be fun looking forward to it. Lakers Rockets.
Speaker 2: First of all, I'm blown away by the Lakers fan
Speaker 2: base because that place was completely packed for the Laker game,
Speaker 2: like up into I shouldn't say completely packed, it's probably
Speaker 2: like ninety five percent full, Like there were some rows
Speaker 2: in the nosebleeds that were open, but the lower bowl
Speaker 2: was completely packed and the upper bowl was pretty full.
Speaker 2: And then as soon as that game ended, even to
Speaker 2: see the first and second overall picks and Zachary Rissasche
Speaker 2: and Alex Sargo against each other, the arena just emptied out.
Speaker 2: And like, again, those guys aren't the traditional top picks, right,
Speaker 2: Like my friend Sam Vessini and his draft guide had
Speaker 2: both of those guys as Tier three prospects, which means
Speaker 2: they have all start upside, but they're considered more or
Speaker 2: less like role player prospects, right, And so it's be
Speaker 2: unusual for the house to be packed for something like that.
Speaker 2: But that just goes to show you too, one thing
Speaker 2: the power of Bronni and then two the which is
Speaker 2: basically the power of the Lebron James brand and everything
Speaker 2: associated with his family. And then two just Laker fans
Speaker 2: and how they just show up and force to everything.
Speaker 2: It's obviously, as you guys know, I did a Lakers
Speaker 2: podcast before I did Hoops Tonight, and so the Laker
Speaker 2: fan base has been very good to me and has
Speaker 2: helped me get to where I've been in the industry,
Speaker 2: and so it was just kind of a cool demonstration
Speaker 2: of that yesterday. But in the game, I want to
Speaker 2: the two guys own a zero in on are Bronni
Speaker 2: and Reed Shepherd because Read Shepherd was like, like so good,
Speaker 2: so so so good yesterday. We're gonna get into that. Bronni,
Speaker 2: it still feels like his feel for the game is
Speaker 2: just off right now. Like on defense to start this game,
Speaker 2: he's guarding Red Shepherd. As we know Read Shepherd is.
Speaker 2: There's different kinds of shooters, right, There's shooters and then
Speaker 2: there's like lasers or like the coach that I when
Speaker 2: I first started coaching high school basketball, Doug da Moore,
Speaker 2: the coach I coached at Underneath at Accounting the Foothills,
Speaker 2: who the year after they won the state championship. He
Speaker 2: used to always tell me there's shooters and there's makers,
Speaker 2: and there's two very different things. Right. A maker is like,
Speaker 2: you cannot leave this guy open or he's going to
Speaker 2: hit the shot, or as a shooter, it's like maybe
Speaker 2: he makes him, maybe he doesn't. You know. It's more
Speaker 2: of a streaky sort of thing. Reed Shepherd is a maker.
Speaker 2: He is a guy that you cannot leave open. I
Speaker 2: can't remember the exact number that I pulled when we
Speaker 2: did our scout on him around the draft, but he
Speaker 2: shot an absurdly high percentage on unguarded catch and shoot
Speaker 2: jump shots at Kentucky and Bronnie James got that matchup
Speaker 2: to start the game, and what I thought was interesting
Speaker 2: was immediately off the top in the first shift, he
Speaker 2: lost him twice. And it wasn't like he lost him
Speaker 2: because he was running through the blender. He lost him
Speaker 2: in off ball defense. The first one, Reid was at
Speaker 2: the top of the key and he kind of sunk
Speaker 2: down into the lane and help and it's like, you're
Speaker 2: guarding this laser shooter. You gotta be attached. Easy swing
Speaker 2: pass from Cam Whitmore back to Reed Shepherd. Read Shepherd
Speaker 2: just pump fakes Brownie jumps flying out of his shoes
Speaker 2: out to try to block the three point shot. Reid
Speaker 2: takes a simple jump dribble into the lane. Cam Whitmore
Speaker 2: cuts along the baseline back door and Reid hits him
Speaker 2: with the back door pass and he gets the easy
Speaker 2: reverse layup. And it's like your off ball defensive responsibilities
Speaker 2: if you're Brownie there are fundamentally different. Because you're guarding
Speaker 2: a laser. You cannot be digging down into the lane
Speaker 2: anywhere far enough to where you can't just make a
Speaker 2: simple drop step move to be right back in the
Speaker 2: shooter's pocket, like you just have to stay attached. A
Speaker 2: couple possessions later, same exact sort of thing. Read Shepherd's
Speaker 2: on the left wing this time. I think it might
Speaker 2: have been Cam Whitmoregan, I can't remember, but one of
Speaker 2: the Rockets players is dribbling at the top of the
Speaker 2: key and Bronnie's like digging down at the nail and
Speaker 2: swiping down at the basketball, easy swing pass out to
Speaker 2: the left wing, wide open catch and shoot three for
Speaker 2: Reed Shepherd, who of course knocks it down because that's
Speaker 2: what he does, right and so like it just right now.
Speaker 2: It's just you can tell even though the tools are there.
Speaker 2: And again I'm a big believer that the tools are there.
Speaker 2: For Bronnie, his athleticism is real. You saw that on
Speaker 2: the offensive end, right, like the downhill slashing ability is
Speaker 2: first bucket driving along that right slot into the lane.
Speaker 2: There was that transition run out where he like popped
Speaker 2: up off of two legs like on the move to
Speaker 2: have that easy one handed dunk. Like he's got the tools,
Speaker 2: but everything is just so like it just feels so
Speaker 2: raw at this point, even the jump shot. Like we
Speaker 2: know he has the touch because we've seen him get
Speaker 2: like make really high percentages of his threes in drills,
Speaker 2: but in games, it's just there's not a fluidity to it.
Speaker 2: I want to talk about the concept of energy transfer
Speaker 2: for a second. This is something that I think is
Speaker 2: really really important in jump shooting that doesn't get talked
Speaker 2: about enough. And the general concept of energy transfer is
Speaker 2: when you're shooting a deep three, for instance, called like
Speaker 2: a twenty five footer, right Like, Yeah, a good shooter
Speaker 2: doesn't have trouble getting the ball to the rim or anything,
Speaker 2: but there is a certain amount of energy that you
Speaker 2: have to get into the basketball to get that twenty
Speaker 2: foot foot That twenty foot shot a real chance to
Speaker 2: get in with the appropriate amount of arc that it
Speaker 2: needs to have a high percentage chance to go in.
Speaker 2: And so that energy transfer process starts at your feet
Speaker 2: and it comes up through your knees, up through your hips,
Speaker 2: through your back, up through your shoulders, up through your
Speaker 2: wrists on the release right. And so that is why
Speaker 2: in your form you don't want to have wasted movement.
Speaker 2: In addition to that, you want the ball to flow
Speaker 2: in a straight line up through to the basket, meaning
Speaker 2: like you don't want to have the ball swinging around
Speaker 2: and changing direction a ton in your release because that
Speaker 2: disrupts energy transfer. Think of it like this. The less
Speaker 2: efficient you are with your energy transfer as you come
Speaker 2: up through your body into the shot, the more you
Speaker 2: have to snap your wrist at the end to make
Speaker 2: up for it. The more you have to snap your
Speaker 2: wrist at the end to make up for it, the
Speaker 2: more it's hard to replicate that movement in a very
Speaker 2: like muscle memory type of consistent way. Whereas when you
Speaker 2: have excellent muscle memory, or excuse me, when you have
Speaker 2: excellent energy transfer, it's just a very light flip of
Speaker 2: the wrist. When you watch the best shooters, when you
Speaker 2: watch Steph, when you watch Clay, it looks effortless because
Speaker 2: they're getting perfectly efficient energy transfer up from their feet
Speaker 2: through the top of the basketball. Bronnie has like a
Speaker 2: weird dip that he does where he kind of like
Speaker 2: gets out of his power line. He brings the ball
Speaker 2: up like a catapult where he brings it back and
Speaker 2: then forward. And when you bring it back and then forward,
Speaker 2: you're basically creating a hitch in the shot. The best shooters,
Speaker 2: they come up in their shooting pocket, they bring it
Speaker 2: up along their chest rather than bringing it back this
Speaker 2: way and then shooting. And so that's why I think
Speaker 2: we're seeing a lot of Bronnie leaving the ball short
Speaker 2: on the front of the rim, not getting enough arc
Speaker 2: on the shot, having kind of like an inconsistent looking release.
Speaker 2: It's because of the fact that right now there's just
Speaker 2: a lot of wasted movement and wasted energy in his
Speaker 2: jump shot. All of this comes back to say he's raw,
Speaker 2: He's got forty years to figure it out, and like
Speaker 2: that that's going to be that's going to be the
Speaker 2: challenge for him is figuring out the jump shot form,
Speaker 2: figuring out some of the reads to make it a
Speaker 2: higher level, better game plan, discipline on the defensive end.
Speaker 2: There's one angle to this that that didn't get broached
Speaker 2: that I want to get into though. So last night,
Speaker 2: those of you guys who are longtime listen listeners of
Speaker 2: the show, remember Raj Chappollo. Raj is a friend of
Speaker 2: mine who I actually did State of the Lakers with
Speaker 2: early on, and him and I would go live after
Speaker 2: Laker games and we would go And I had a
Speaker 2: dinner last night with a bunch of my friends in
Speaker 2: the industry and Roj was there and we were chatting,
Speaker 2: and rog made an interesting point. It was something that
Speaker 2: I didn't even factor in during the Brawny thing. And
Speaker 2: this is a legitimate criticism as it pertains to the
Speaker 2: Brownie signing. He takes up a roster spot. And the
Speaker 2: truth of the matter is is he is more or
Speaker 2: less a two way type of prospect. That's not an
Speaker 2: insult to where he was drafted. That's typical. The majority
Speaker 2: of second round guys are kind of like two way
Speaker 2: prospect type of dudes. On a two way contract. He's
Speaker 2: not taking up a roster spot. He can play fifty
Speaker 2: NBA games if you want to, even though you're not
Speaker 2: going to use him like that. But he doesn't take
Speaker 2: up a roster spot, then the Lakers would have two
Speaker 2: free roster spots, which would give them some flexibility in
Speaker 2: the trade market. Say they did want to take a
Speaker 2: they wanted to flip D'Angelo Russell for you know, a
Speaker 2: backup center and a two somewhere. Right, Like, say they
Speaker 2: wanted to bring back two players in a deal, they
Speaker 2: can't do that right now because of the fact that
Speaker 2: they don't have the roster spots available right So, like
Speaker 2: if they had, they have one roster spot available right now.
Speaker 2: So in theory, right now, they could trade out one
Speaker 2: player and bring back two, but they could not trade
Speaker 2: out one player and bring back three right What if
Speaker 2: they wanted to sign Gary trade If they want to
Speaker 2: sign Gary Trent Junior and make a trade that brought
Speaker 2: back two players, they would be constricted because they don't
Speaker 2: have a roster spot. And so there is something to
Speaker 2: be said about the risk that Rob Polinka and Genie
Speaker 2: Buss took by signing Bronnie James to a legitimate four
Speaker 2: year NBA deal, is he is eating up a Lakers
Speaker 2: roster spot for the next four seasons. Now, the counter
Speaker 2: to that is they can dump salary, so they could
Speaker 2: probably send a team a second round pick to take
Speaker 2: Cam Reddish on in their payroll for a season, just
Speaker 2: trade him into an empty cap space. The team that
Speaker 2: takes it on is getting a draft pick out of
Speaker 2: it as compensation, So the Lakers could create a roster
Speaker 2: spot if they need it. But there is something to
Speaker 2: be said about the Lakers did affect their flexibility by
Speaker 2: banking on Bronny to be an NBA player. And I
Speaker 2: do genuinely believe that Bronni has that capability, but I
Speaker 2: think he is years plural away. I think he has
Speaker 2: a lot of ground to make up in the meantime,
Speaker 2: and there was some risk and lack, you know, kind
Speaker 2: of affected flexibility by them going that way.
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Speaker 2: Read Shepherd, we were talking about feel for the game earlier.
Speaker 2: The feel for the game is there in a massive
Speaker 2: way with Reed Shepherd, and I thought the perfect way
Speaker 2: to describe it is that that play that I demonstrate
Speaker 2: that I talked about at the very beginning of the game,
Speaker 2: where Read Pump faked Bronnie out of his shoes and
Speaker 2: then hit kim Cam Whitmore on the back door cut.
Speaker 2: That is easy and simple basketball that is made by
Speaker 2: just understanding what is happening in front of you on
Speaker 2: the floor. Step one, Reid had to catch the basketball
Speaker 2: in position to shoot right away. This is a mistake
Speaker 2: that I see a lot of young basketball players make,
Speaker 2: where like they're spotting up, but they're not stand there
Speaker 2: like standing straight, or they're not really like in an
Speaker 2: active athletic position to be able to go right away
Speaker 2: on the catch. Right What you want to do is
Speaker 2: you want to be down in your shooting stance with
Speaker 2: your hands out ready in the shooting pockets, so when
Speaker 2: the ball comes to you, you can literally on the
Speaker 2: catch flow directly up into your jump shot. It buys
Speaker 2: you time, and when you're dealing with NBA level athletes,
Speaker 2: there's not much time. You don't have all day to
Speaker 2: load up into your jump shot. This is exactly what
Speaker 2: we were talking about with Bronnie, which is why he's
Speaker 2: getting some clunky releases and ugly misses. Right Reed, Shepherd
Speaker 2: on that play, he's down in his stance and immediately
Speaker 2: on the catch, he just shows the ball because he
Speaker 2: sees Bronnie's out of position. He's making a read as
Speaker 2: he's waiting there for the catch, he sees the ball
Speaker 2: coming at him. He's making a read. Bronnie's at a position.
Speaker 2: This dude's gonna close out too hard. Just show him
Speaker 2: the basketball. Bronnie goes flying by very simple dribble move
Speaker 2: into the lane. Once you get into the lane, you
Speaker 2: immediately canvass the floor and pay attention to what's happening
Speaker 2: as Bronnie made the move. Cam Whitmore's man stuttered for
Speaker 2: just a second because he was watching Reid get dribble penetration.
Speaker 2: Cam made a read cutting along the back door, and
Speaker 2: Shepherd hit him with the back door cut. That's not
Speaker 2: a move that takes thousands of reps in the gym
Speaker 2: to build out some complex skill set. That is just
Speaker 2: simple feel for the game. There was a play along
Speaker 2: the I can't remember his name, the bald dude for
Speaker 2: the Lakers, the bald white dude who plays guard. He
Speaker 2: was guarding Reed Shepherd on the right wing, and it's
Speaker 2: like he comes over a ball screen and there's things
Speaker 2: are kind of congested, and so he doesn't really have
Speaker 2: anywhere to go, and so he just puts the bald
Speaker 2: dude in jail, traps him on his backside, kind of
Speaker 2: just meanders into the elbow, waits for the situation to
Speaker 2: clear out, sees that there's nothing there, but he sees
Speaker 2: the bald dude kind of leaning on his left hand side,
Speaker 2: and he just does a whip across crossover left to right,
Speaker 2: gets a ton of separation and rises into a shot. Again.
Speaker 2: It's one simple move, one crossover. But he got to
Speaker 2: that spot by virtue of just patiently letting a play develop.
Speaker 2: And what makes me so excited about Red Shepherd's fit
Speaker 2: with the Rockets is they have tons of that athletic
Speaker 2: upside with guys like Jabari Smith Junior, with guys like
Speaker 2: Jalen Green. They have guys like alburn Sangun who's going
Speaker 2: to be able to get the defense into rotation. Reed
Speaker 2: Shepherd is going to catch with an advantage a lot,
Speaker 2: and he's going to capitalize on it. I get that
Speaker 2: the fit is funny here is we're talking about two
Speaker 2: white dudes. But this is what actually makes him similar
Speaker 2: to Austin Reeves in my opinion, because Austin Reeves is
Speaker 2: one of those guys where doesn't really have the athletic
Speaker 2: upside to like run your offense in super large doses.
Speaker 2: Austin can run action so will read. Austin can run
Speaker 2: ball screens with Anthony Davis. Austin can get buckets. Austin's
Speaker 2: a dude who's had you know, a bunch of twenty
Speaker 2: point playoff games in his career. And I'm not trying
Speaker 2: to sit there and pretend like he doesn't have the
Speaker 2: ability to do it. But if you put him against
Speaker 2: an elite perimeter defender and with an elite screen defender.
Speaker 2: He's not going to be the kind of guy that
Speaker 2: can take you to the Promised Land. Neither can Read Shepherd.
Speaker 2: But the context of these supremely gifted offensive players like
Speaker 2: Alpa and Shangoun, like Jalen Green, Jabaris Smith Jr. These
Speaker 2: guys like they are going to be able to set
Speaker 2: him up with advantage opportunities so that he can play
Speaker 2: kind of in the flow and be a connective piece.
Speaker 2: My favorite role for Austin Reeves is I want him
Speaker 2: to be the second best ball handler on the floor.
Speaker 2: I want him to be playing off of the other
Speaker 2: guys because then when he runs action, he has a
Speaker 2: favorable matchup because he's a lesser defender on him. And
Speaker 2: then when he has opportunities to catch in that advantage,
Speaker 2: he can take advantage of his feel for the game
Speaker 2: and his really well defined skill set. Right. That's kind
Speaker 2: of where Reed Shepherd can fit in with Houston. I
Speaker 2: love it. He showed some real off the dribble pop two.
Speaker 2: Like I talked about the lefty cross, he had multiple
Speaker 2: dribble combination pull up jump shots. He had that floater,
Speaker 2: although it was double dribble. He at that floater that
Speaker 2: he hit on Dalton connect He had a super deep
Speaker 2: three from like thirty five feet away. Twenty three points,
Speaker 2: four rebounds, five assists on seventeen shots four six three
Speaker 2: super super impressive Summer league outing for Reed Shepherd. I
Speaker 2: think that's gonna be a really fun fit there in Houston.
Speaker 2: And again, guys like I, this year in Vegas, my
Speaker 2: itinerary has been super full, so I haven't had a
Speaker 2: chance to watch a ton of the games. But when
Speaker 2: I get back into town in Tucson, we're gonna cover
Speaker 2: Summer League. We're gonna cover We're gonna cover a lot
Speaker 2: of USA basketball. Monday morning, team USA plays against Australia
Speaker 2: and then Wednesday morning they play against Serbia. Will be
Speaker 2: covering those games on the feed. So we're gonna get
Speaker 2: back into the some of the basketball weeds when I
Speaker 2: get back to Tucson. After this event, moving on to
Speaker 2: the Knicks. So Jalen Bruns takes his extension rather than
Speaker 2: waiting to become a free agent to sign. His deal
Speaker 2: ends up being effectively a nine figure difference in the
Speaker 2: amount of guaranteed money that he could have taken. But
Speaker 2: this is complicated on several levels, so I want to
Speaker 2: get into some of the details. First of all, he's
Speaker 2: a small guard. Do any of you guys remember Isaiah Thomas.
Speaker 2: Remember when he had that year where he averaged like
Speaker 2: twenty eight twenty nine points per game, he received MVP votes.
Speaker 2: It was an unbelievable year for Isiah Thomas. If you
Speaker 2: guys remember, he was tweeting like back up the Brinks
Speaker 2: truck right like, he was like, I want all the money.
Speaker 2: But then he got into a playoff series against the
Speaker 2: Cleveland Cavaliers and he suffered a hip injury, if you
Speaker 2: guys remember, and he just didn't look like the same guy.
Speaker 2: And guess what, he didn't get paid. And it went
Speaker 2: from him getting the Brinks truck big paycheck to him
Speaker 2: getting a whole lot of nothing, right compare relatively, He
Speaker 2: got a tiny fraction of what he would have got
Speaker 2: had he take in maybe a smaller guaranteed deal sooner
Speaker 2: in that process, right, he wanted to He bet on himself,
Speaker 2: He bet on getting all that money. He ended up
Speaker 2: getting hurt. Didn't get it right, Like that super Max
Speaker 2: deal sounds amazing, But what if Jalen Brunson gets hurt
Speaker 2: this year. What if Jalen Brunson plays in the playoffs
Speaker 2: while banged up and doesn't look quite like the Jalen
Speaker 2: Brunson we saw last year and then suddenly like his
Speaker 2: the the Knicks are looking at the situation like, eh,
Speaker 2: I'm not sure we can offer that lucrative of a deal. Right.
Speaker 2: This is not choosing between two deals standing right in
Speaker 2: front of him. It's not like he had, you know,
Speaker 2: a deal, the deal that he signed for one fifty
Speaker 2: and then this other deal for two sixty right next
Speaker 2: to each other, and then he like crumpled up the
Speaker 2: two sixty and signed the one fifty. It's one fifty
Speaker 2: now or maybe the two sixty next summer, right, So
Speaker 2: it is it's a lot more complicated than that. It's
Speaker 2: also a fifth year, so there are opportunities to recoup
Speaker 2: their earnings. Yazi Goslin is a guy follow on Twitter
Speaker 2: does amazing stuff with the cap and he did a
Speaker 2: really nice job breaking down you guys to follow him
Speaker 2: on Twitter. I highly recommend you'll learn a lot to
Speaker 2: help you kind of understand some of the CBA stuff.
Speaker 2: He did a really nice job breaking down the fact
Speaker 2: that if Jalen Brunson opts out after his third year,
Speaker 2: so he just does the first three years of the
Speaker 2: deal and then signs the Supermax. It comes out to
Speaker 2: about the same as he would have made if he
Speaker 2: took the two sixty guaranteed next year, So like he
Speaker 2: can recoup the earnings in the long run if his
Speaker 2: agent chooses to play hardball at that point. Right. Also,
Speaker 2: not everyone is as money motivated as other people. Like
Speaker 2: I understand that it, Like I know, I am, Like
Speaker 2: I would have a hard time turning down that kind
Speaker 2: of money, but like, hey, Jalen Brunson is the kind
Speaker 2: of guy that's like maybe he's looking at the situation,
Speaker 2: like you mean to tell me right now, I can
Speaker 2: sign for one hundred and fifty million dollars guaranteed, a
Speaker 2: contract that seemed kind of like beyond my comprehension five
Speaker 2: years ago, Like this is right here, I can sign
Speaker 2: it right now. Oh and I get to play with
Speaker 2: all my buddies. I get to play with Dante DiVincenzo
Speaker 2: and Josh Hard and McHale Bridges. I get to play
Speaker 2: with my buddies. We have a real team that has
Speaker 2: a real chance to win the title. Let's just instead
Speaker 2: of like trying to hold out for something better. Let's
Speaker 2: just take a good situation that's right here in front
Speaker 2: of us, and I think that's what he tried to
Speaker 2: jump on it. And to me, you know what, like,
Speaker 2: I'm never gonna hate on a guy for doing that.
Speaker 2: The other angle is, and this is where it gets
Speaker 2: a little more complicated. The other angle is the NBA
Speaker 2: Players Association. Right, So, anytime a player takes less than
Speaker 2: the most possible money he can earn, he does the
Speaker 2: owners of favor, right, And there is this everlasting conflict
Speaker 2: between the owners and players in the form of their
Speaker 2: collective bargaining agreement that is essentially a battle for the
Speaker 2: a battle for earnings. Right. The players are in this
Speaker 2: long journey to demonstrate that they are the reason this
Speaker 2: league makes money and they deserve the most. The owners
Speaker 2: are on this long journey to say that they are
Speaker 2: the ones that are the reason why this league earns
Speaker 2: so much money and they deserve the most. They're jockeying
Speaker 2: for position all the time, right, And I don't know
Speaker 2: the exact number right now, but the revenue splits right
Speaker 2: around like fifty to fifty. Right. But in the CBA,
Speaker 2: the owners put all these restrictions in they won that
Speaker 2: battle in a big way because a lot of players
Speaker 2: are starting to sign for less and less. Now, in
Speaker 2: the big picture, Mike, it might end up working out
Speaker 2: because at the end of the day, it's going to
Speaker 2: be fifty to fifty revenue split anyway. But the players
Speaker 2: want to be able to earn as much money as
Speaker 2: they possibly can, and anytime they take a discount it
Speaker 2: does a favor to the owners. But once again, that's
Speaker 2: complicated because of this simple fact that there's no guarantee
Speaker 2: that the Knicks will offer him that money next summer.
Speaker 2: If he gets hurt, they probably won't. Jalen Brunson has
Speaker 2: been fortunate with health health the last couple of years
Speaker 2: up until he broke his hand in the broke his
Speaker 2: finger or whatever in that playoff series. I think he
Speaker 2: just wanted to take the guarantee that was there. I
Speaker 2: don't Again, that's his prerogative, and I don't like it
Speaker 2: how I don't like how it's being framed as like,
Speaker 2: Jalen Brunson did the Knicks a huge favor. He did.
Speaker 2: He did the Knicks a huge favor, But it's more
Speaker 2: complicated than that. I think he also was just taking
Speaker 2: advantage of some financial security. To quote, to quote my
Speaker 2: friend Ryan, who's also a producer here at the volume,
Speaker 2: he said, there's never a bad time, It's never a
Speaker 2: bad idea to turn down one hundred and fifty million
Speaker 2: dollars guarantee. And that's what Jalen Brunson decided to do.
Speaker 2: More importantly, though, it is a favorite to the Knicks
Speaker 2: because it's way easier for the Knicks to maintain roster
Speaker 2: control of their core players now Jalen Brunson, mckel Bridges,
Speaker 2: Oh Jane, and Obi. They should be able to retain
Speaker 2: them all now and retain some flexibility. The second bit
Speaker 2: of this is like, well, what if they end up
Speaker 2: in the second apron when this is all said and done, Like,
Speaker 2: what if they sign McHale Bridges and they sign Mitchell
Speaker 2: Robinson next year and they end up in the second apron? Well,
Speaker 2: the second Apron is only bad in the sense of flexibility.
Speaker 2: As long as you're willing to pay the bill, you
Speaker 2: can keep your players. It's bad with flexibility player movement, right,
Speaker 2: So the question is can you be in the second
Speaker 2: second Apron with this scroup? If McHale Bridges signs the
Speaker 2: same type of extension next year that Jalen Brunson just signed.
Speaker 2: You will have Brunson, Bridges, Annonobi, Dante DiVincenzo, Josh Hart,
Speaker 2: and Duce McBride all locked up for each of the
Speaker 2: next three seasons. Right, and if Bridges takes a similar
Speaker 2: discount to Brunson, you have better chance to retain Mitchell Robinson. Right.
Speaker 2: Let's say they retain Mitchell Robinson. At that point, you
Speaker 2: have two starting caliber guards, right, Brunson and de Vincenzo.
Speaker 2: You have a good bench guard, Induce McBride. You have
Speaker 2: three awesome forwards who could all start. Josh Hart could start,
Speaker 2: ohj Anobi should start, Mchalbridges should start, right, and you
Speaker 2: have a good starting a caliber center in Mitchell Robinson. Right.
Speaker 2: So it's kind of like I talked about with the
Speaker 2: Boston Celtics. They're a second Apron team, but they have
Speaker 2: these four core guys and Drew Holliday at Derek White,
Speaker 2: Jalen Brown, Jason Tatum who are consistently healthy, consistently available,
Speaker 2: consistently great. So they can afford to lack flexibility because
Speaker 2: they have such a good starting five and six players
Speaker 2: in counting Al Horford right, So like, as long as
Speaker 2: you don't need to make a change, then you're fine.
Speaker 2: It's like the Lakers. You can't be in the second
Speaker 2: apron as a Lakers because you desperately need to make
Speaker 2: some tweaks at the two and three spot. They've needed
Speaker 2: to do that for years. So for them, they can't
Speaker 2: operate in that second apron because if they do, they're
Speaker 2: handicapping their own the ability to address their flaws. This
Speaker 2: looks like a roster that can be in the second apron,
Speaker 2: So do the Celtics. As long as you have a
Speaker 2: roster that makes sense, in a rotation that you can
Speaker 2: work with, then the second apron is not as big
Speaker 2: of a deal. But no matter what, this this deal
Speaker 2: from Jalen Brunson just gives the Knicks that flexibility, gives
Speaker 2: him a better chance of retaining all those guys and
Speaker 2: having a long contention window. Again, as I look at everything,
Speaker 2: the one thing I'm not trying to say it's a
Speaker 2: no go because maybe Julius Randall comes into camp and
Speaker 2: it's a super natural fit. Maybe Michale bridges like slides
Speaker 2: to the two and you play Julius Randall at center.
Speaker 2: Sometimes like who knows how this works out. Maybe it
Speaker 2: all works great, but I have a feeling he's gonna
Speaker 2: be the odd man out. And then at that point,
Speaker 2: I think you try to look to flip Julius Randall
Speaker 2: basically into a little bit of depth as like at
Speaker 2: like the guard forward spot in a backup center because
Speaker 2: now at this point you need a backup center without
Speaker 2: Isaiah Hartenstein. So like, we'll see how it all shapes out.
Speaker 2: But a big day for the Knicks because that just
Speaker 2: gives it just makes it far more likely that they
Speaker 2: can extend that window. Just if you paint it as
Speaker 2: Jalen Brunson doing the Knicks of favor, that is, that's true,
Speaker 2: but let's not forget that, like there are some complications there.
Speaker 2: There's some reality to the fact that that we've seen
Speaker 2: small guards make that gamble before and lose, and I'd
Speaker 2: hate for that to happen to Jalen Brunson. And I
Speaker 2: would imagine if I was him, I would imagine right now,
Speaker 2: he's kind of resting easy, know that he's secure for
Speaker 2: the next four years and that he's gonna be happy
Speaker 2: playing basketball in an environment that he loves. All Right, guys,
Speaker 2: that is all I have for today. I'm headed down
Speaker 2: to the Summer League building. I'm gonna be there most
Speaker 2: of the day. I'm going to the Dead Show tonight,
Speaker 2: so i'll be there until about five thirty. Come by
Speaker 2: and say hi. I'll be around just kind of hanging
Speaker 2: out in the seat some. I'll be down in the
Speaker 2: press area some. But come say hi if you haven't
Speaker 2: had a chance to yet. And then I'll be fine
Speaker 2: home tomorrow morning and we'll get right back to the
Speaker 2: grind on Monday. As always. I appreciate you guys, and
Speaker 2: we'll see you then.
Speaker 1: The volume