LaMelo Ball to the Timberwolves! Reactions and Grades. Plus, Mets Corner!

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Just yesterday. Here we are again, the Melon Ball. Trade it from Charlotte to Minnesota, along with Josh Green. For Nod's Reed and a whole bunch of draft tests that's going back to the Charlotte Hornets. Minnesota uses the last bullets in its NBA trade chamber for the Melon Ball to pair

him with the Anthony Edwards after losing Julius Randall. And now Nod's Reed, two of their three core big men, a complete sea change of identity. A gamble on one of the most polarizing players in the NBA is at a smart gamble. Is it a dumb gamble? What are the rules doing?

“Does this give them any kind of shot to compete in the Western Conference?”

Is it the wrong player to go well and on? We talk all about that with John Prisinski and both to kill. And then we also discussed the Charlotte and they're wow. What an astonishing response to the most exciting Hornets season in a long, long time. Talk about ruthlessly taking the long view.

Was this a little too ruthless? Or what is Charlotte up to in getting off a Melon Ball? Is it just held related? Is there something more? We talk about that.

And then most sticks around to talk about warrior, future, LeBron, future, pistons, sniffing around some interesting stuff. Everything that's going on in the NBA. And then it's time to spend a while. We're back on Metz Corner and it's not going great.

Sean Finniss, you sure? Let's come in up. Welcome to the Zadlo show. I told you we'd be back if there were news and boom. There is news that is both surprising and not that surprising.

The Minnesota Timberwolves have acquired Lamello Ball. Every ten and under favorite player and top jersey seller.

From the Charlotte Hornets, the feel good story of the second half

of the season and out goes their offensive engine on the pair with Anthony Edwards in his draft class back in the day in Minnesota in exchange. Timberwolves fan favorite, Nas Reed, whose very name is just code for being a fan and for being awesome people to save the name Nas Reed as they walk around Minneapolis. And an unprotected 233 first rounder.

Three first round pick swaps in 2028, 2029, 2030. And three second round picks Josh Green also goes to Minnesota, which is not a trivial bit of salary. A blockbuster and just a fascinating deal, a fascinating vote of no confidence by the Hornets in Lamello Ball after his healthiest season in a long time after their most successful season in ages as season that ended for the third time in Lamello Ball's career in a play-in

“low-out, which I think is not irrelevant here.”

And then on the flip side, a fascinating bet by the Minnesota Timberwolves, who salary-dumped Julius Randall in order to do something like this, I think they have another move coming in free agency likely to address the void at power forward, a complete sea change for the Timberwolves. Two of their three main rotation big men, Randall and Reed are gone.

And in their places, a guard heavy, faster, smaller, more dynamic potentially offensive team with Goldbearer still on the back line. John Krasinski from the athleticist here, mode to kill from everywhere is here, guys. This is the fun one, how's everybody doing? Great, Zach. Super fun. Yeah, it's like I went to bed last night, thinking it could happen,

woke up this morning and it did happen and credit the wolves man.

They are never shy about making polarizing big deals in trying to go forward and you're

there, they go again. You ain't kidding, John. They have now, Tim Connelly is now traded for literally two of like the five most polarizing players in the NBA that Rudy go bear. And now, the mellow ball, obviously the price for the mellow lower than what they paid for Rudy go bear. But I want to start, first of all, how are you? I'm doing well and they kind of echo

for my wife all that stuff and then, you know, it was like, oh, wait a minute, I should check and make sure nothing's happened lately, since I woke up and I'm on the west coast so it's a little bit, you know, later than everybody else. And I'm like, oh, the trade did go through and that kind of started, I was like, just turned to my wife going like, I probably will be on the microphone a

lot today. Yeah, the mellow three years and about 43 million a pop left on his contract.

Now, his reason had three three plus one at about 23 24 a pop. And in addition to this, I should mention right away, the Hornets resigned to Kobe White or agreed to terms with Kobe White. Three years, $74 million he will likely replace lomo ball is the starting point guard of the Hornets, although he is not really a point guard super interesting. I'll get to the Charlotte end of it in a bit. John, is this going to work in Minnesota because the bullets are out of the chamber?

The only bullets left in in the seven years where teams can trade picks and swaps and all of that

“are now trading out of your asset class of very good players. That's the only way you can sort of”

flip the table and recoup draft assets. So this is a, hey, if Anthony Edwards is even wondering a little bit about this new ownership regime, about whether there's going to be some penny pinching about, wait, we just traded Julius Randall who flamed out in the playoffs again. How are we going to compete? What's happening right now? This is the answer to that question. I further the mellow is very excited about this, despite some shell shock that Charlotte dumped him after what a wonderful

feel good story. And he and Anthony have known each other for a long time. What's your initial take on this? Yeah, I think that I will say I've talked to so many people within the organization today about what how this came about and what they thought and I put it out on social media, but the overwhelming reaction has been elation. And when you think about all of the questions that are around the mellows game around maybe his maturity and all of those things, you would think

there would be a little bit more kind of yeah, we'll we'll see, but they have been trying to get lamello ball for a couple of years now. They've checked in several times with the Charlotte Hornets to see if they would be willing to part with him because they think that his passing, his playmaking, his shock creation, his handling is exactly what they need next to Anthony Edwards

and they believe Zach that bringing lamello ball into an organization that has been in the second

round three straight years that is one at a pretty high level that has veteran guys who know what it takes to be competitive in this league. They think that will be good for lamello ball that he will kid get into this culture and they will help cover up whatever weaknesses he has, but they need it a point guard to take some of the pressure off of Anthony Edwards. They needed someone so that the spurs and thunder could not just mercilessly double and as soon as he walked across half

court and they'd see lamello ball is that type of a player and I mean people are just doing backflips over there right now about being able to get him. Well I'm going to put you on the spot give give the Minnesota Timberwolves a letter grade for the straight and I'm only doing this to set something up but I just give me or just quick letter grade Minnesota Timberwolves a choir lamello ball for Nas Reed and all these draft assets and they get Josh Green too.

“Yeah I'm probably going to go with a C plus and I think part of it is the price they paid it's”

it's I'm not as worried as everybody else about pickswops but I still think it's a high price in terms of the 2033 unprotected future 28 to 30 pickswops and things like that and that might not matter at all but I think I think I think two of those pickswops 29 and 30 John you've probably read the 17 paragraphs on the LGM more closely than I have today have already been previously swaps so this is now swaps of swaps and I got to tell you there comes a point where

even I am like just fucking wake me up when these swaps can bathe but in this in this new lot of regime if it if it persists into these years the those swaps could be valuable but continue mo you are giving them 78% C plus do better C me after class. Well it's it's more of the cost of what I worry about is what could you have done down the road better in the future you know what what are you you get what what guy is going to come up available and we're going to be like damn

“which we waited and made we could have made this offer and beat that you know I think the challenge”

also for me where I'm really most concerned for the wolves is the defensive end like Lamello has

never really showed that much interest into it it comes and goes he has the size where you think

he should be at least a average defender but a lot of times it seems like he's uninterested in that regard so I worry in that area and then they're incredibly thin like he said Zach

you know but it's it's now really go bare it's barrenger coming into the second year where it's not

“like he played a ton of minutes last year where we could feel confident and I think he's going to be”

good but I still think he's wrong and needs a lot of work I'm just kind of worried of you know if this was your last bullet did you really have to fire it right now at this moment and was this the right guy to target it so that's kind of where I'm because of offensively everything works for me okay and off the ball Lamello working you know all that stuff I do worry a little bit about still shot selection stuff hopefully they can

finish can beat that out of him a little bit but we'll see what happens so so to be clear the wolves I think John are right at the first apron as of now they're not capped at the first apron they haven't done anything to prohibit themselves from going over I expect that they will go over the first apron to address this whole at power forward and like I don't really even know I think they have to figure out what they're starting line up is they won one iteration is Lamello

and McDaniels power forward x and go bare and another is let's just put McDaniels at the

“four start all the guards together and go bare at the five I think Ternstian and Junior is a”

critical backup now who can play the three and the four for them and and Baron J is you know

they love him and he's going to get a chance to play now Josh Green could help them and just the ball I/O and trio being able to have at least one and probably two of those guys on the floor at all times sort of mitigates the pain of Mike Conley maybe not being here next year Bonne's Highland will see was a big part of their team is he going to be around next year that's a lot of ball handling to go around I asked Mo for the letter grade because he gave it a C

plus to to point out how polarizing this trade is John I'm sure you've seen the the wolves are getting d's in a part of her guy he plus I only I only read a couple because I wanted to get a sense and I I think this is a really interesting trade for both teams I think it could go really badly for either team I think the most likely scenario in my opinion is it goes pretty well for both teams and I'm including the wolves in that I get what Mo is talking about about the opportunity

cause I talked about it with the heat any honest when you put your chips in for this particular player you got no more chips for the next particular pro and I went through the heat like okay who in the next three years what kind of stars are going to become available that you could have thrown this gigantic trade package in that you threw for you honest well the timber was already did not have that kind of access to a gigantic trade package this was about the best they could do

one pick outright and some swaps in a second and a good player so I don't even think they would have

been competitive in that class of players that I talked about with Miami don't have been Mitchell I just made up names like guys in tier one MBA guide unless they were going to throw in a McDonald's or or somebody that they did not want to throw in so I don't think the opportunity cause is that that severe it does lock them in really to this team unless they flip one of these main guys and go a different direction I would give it probably a B B plus and I as many people

“know and one of the top 10% La Mellow fans in the national media I think he's been wildly”

underrated this entire time very carnivalesque some shot selection issues and late game brain efforts that made you wonder like this guy like know what the score is and that these MBA games count in the standings and that there's like a prize at the end for the team that wins but I thought he cleaned up a lot of that last year when he got a real team around him he started to try more on defense and I just broadly think that the fit with ant is going to be

really really good and the fit with Io and ant and him together their ability for ant to run inverted pick and rolls and hunt small defenders and all that stuff is going to be really good and to the point about La Mellow's carnivalesque elements is carelessness his laser fair to use a French term on a team that just loves French players I think there's it's going to be very interesting to see La Mellow ball is the clear cut number two guy on at best on a team after being the

number one guy on a bad team for most of his career I think there's like a material difference between how he will have to play with Anthony Edwards over him in the workshop and between ant who can dial it up on defense when he wants to make Daniels who's in all defensive level player and go bear who's in all defensive level player who's used to putting out fires all around him La Mellow's at least big and I think they have the ability to kind of protect him a little bit

more on defense than they're being gave a credit for I think this is going to work in terms of giving the walls a different look a more interesting diverse look on offense I don't think they're

championship favorites in a world where the spurs and the thunder exist and that's an unfair grading

curve and at the very least they're going to you can't beat San Antonio in Oklahoma City by trying to play like them they are now going to go at these teams with a completely different free flowing fast guard heavy dynamic that is at least going to make them different and tap into a different set of strength so I like I get the risk and I'm going to talk about why Charlotte moved on from the Mellow ball and why he's even available to begin with and all the negatives

“that come with it I like this is as I like this is a gamble for Minnesota I would I think the”

D's and stuff are just wildly too low on the Mellow and I think this will work to a reasonable degree do you agree John or am I crazy yeah no I mean I definitely see the optimism and it might I would say like my only reservation and I'm interested to hear both of you talk about this is why another organization gives up on an ultra popular player when he's 24 years old I have to go to pick up my daughter it's some practice and there's going to be crying the last

month answering their questions about the nicks which is fun and now they're going to be like what do I do it this jersey that I have I know what they're not going to be insoluble exactly they I mean he's ultra popular he had a very very good season last year I mean the all the A votes he got the most deservedly the advance metrics are off the charts plus 11 when he's on the floor offensively plus nine plus 10 when from a net rating like he really did have a great

great season and so then you you just like why are why are the hornets when Wendy what's going on in Charlotte like why are they why are they doing this and so that's my one reservation but I will say this in watching this timber wolves team when when they got dismissed by the spurs

in the second round something needed to change in a material way if they were going to continue

to show Anthony Edwards that they are committed to winning that they are trying to make up ground on the spurs and the thunder and the thing that stuck in Anthony Edwards craw the most coming out of that series was these guys and he didn't use guys used much more to rockatory terms were doubling me immediately what am I supposed to do against that and the spurs did not have to worry about Julius Randall hurting them from three did not have to worry about kind of

many of the things of often ruddy go bare at all well he even changed those injury was a big part of the game like huge huge part but like and then guess what they antsies cat when a championship like those are like important things in the in building to get to why the wolves did this and so if you're looking for ways to lighten Anthony Edwards lowered the most lamello ball is right at the top of the list the guys who can do that in terms of

getting an ant off the ball more ant is one of the best catching shoot shooters in the lead and he didn't get enough of those opportunities last year lamello is going to get those to him all of the time and so and there's just gonna be with all mellow there's gonna be an electricity here man like you know that we talked a lot about this team being kind of moody a little dull and trotting and selling a lot last year lamello is gonna come in and gonna be

throwing the ball all over the place it might go into the third row who knows but he's going to bring some juice and and I do think that that is going to be welcome to on this team look he's gonna take some crazy shots the one like it threes the drive everyone bananas that went in

“more than I think people want to give him credit for because when they miss particularly early”

in the shot clock it just looks like like like a like heresy basically like basketball heresy

and I get it I've always said you can't find the size the passing and the shooting in one package

very often and it's why I was always gonna bet on the mellow why I was always going to stick with him as as an MBA prospect and an all star level player and I thought last year he really did make real effort to a try to wriggle his way into the paint more and get to the line more sometimes successfully sometimes not be modulate his late game decision making a little bit remember this is a guy who James Abracad would bench in clutch time a lot because of just how unreliable his like time score

awareness was and defensively he's always been a gambler that's never going to change I thought he just sort of played with a little more alertness and physicality getting around screens

“and stuff last season then he ever did before and I think this is going to work offensively”

pace space match up versatility all that stuff obviously they've got some holes to fill out

there's there's there's a lot of reasons and really one reason the lot of reasons are his health

issues in the past and selling high after his first healthy season a long time all the decision

making stuff and defensive limitations that I just talked about and and what that means for if he's

“the best or co best player on your team how far are you really getting I think they've now insulated”

themselves looking forward from if you just project optimistically max for brand and miller max for conkinnable three maxes or three max level contracts is just really hard to then build a team around that and they've given themselves more optionality obviously more drafts as team as a ton of valuable draft pick starting with Dallas's top two protect the pick next year all of that is well and good if you asked me why did they do this I think it really comes down to a physical

toughness question that they have about the mellow ball that you watch these playoff series Oklahoma City San Antonio San Antonio New York and you just envision like this is a dude frontrunner is too strong of a term fast and loose like when the game's fun that's when he's at his best what are you going to do in game five o playoff series when Steph Castle has been in your jersey for five straight games when you're switching between jail and Williams in case in Wallace and Alex

Caruso bumping you physically just manhandling you up and down the court are you actually

“game for that because if you're going to be a serious team that's what you got to be game for and I think”

this trade says yes there's these ancillary salary pick benefits and faith and brand and miller conchanical and all that the hornets know the numbers they know their offense wasn't good when the mellow was on the bench they know all of that stuff and they decided they decided anyway we just don't think we can win the biggest games with this guy on our team I think that's really what it boils down to and just to wrap a bow on that before I shoot it to mo. I think these play

in disasters are fact have factored into it now there was like a four-year gap between the last play in disaster in the current one and but if you look at lo mellows and the hornets numbers 2021 2022-26 I mean they just got railroaded every time they were in the plan some of that was his fault some of it was not he did have 30 in the first playing game that thriller over Miami the

sure that they won and I don't think he was really the problem when they lost by a million points

to Orlando he had 23 points in that game they were only minus nine when he was on the floor continental crap the bed in all those games too but I think in totality they were just like we haven't really seen this guy in a serious NBA game and we can't picture him in those serious NBA games where it's just so physical like the rest of the playoff and he seems to be so physical is he gonna be able to withstand that mo what do you think of all that yeah I mean I think that's

a big reason for it when they kind of looked at it you touched on it when this is what everybody's doing right after the finals after the playoffs we're all looking at going like what did we learn you know build does it a lot when he looks at the draft when he's talking about it right like can I see these guys playing in playoff games can I see can they hold up and I think you know Charlotte just kind of said they've just sort of said you don't think he could do it we don't think

“he could hold up in the playoffs that's why they're so willing to get off him and then obviously”

all the other details contracts and and all that stuff to come and and how it kind of changes the team they found the right opportunity to sort of jump ahead and this is a sell high moment for them

right they finally get a season where he's helped the almost the entire way I think play 72

games through the course of the season it's their opportunity right there they can't go into next season and hope it you know for them hope it works out again because if he gets hurt or whatnot and he's out for a long time the team's gonna tank and then on top of that his value's gonna tank so for them it was a sell high opportunity to kind of answer the question John is to why they would why a team would give up so on their guy so quickly after the year that they had and I

think you know for me it's really important to see for Minnesota how exactly touched on it how he handles being the number two guy that this is a new scenario for him now for the most part especially after the last few years when Charlotte's been really bad he's been able to just kind of do whatever he wants now will he be a little bit more disciplined can he come in and be a little bit more straight line into these things like you know can he do even a little bit more defensively

then what he should yes he should be able to I mean he's already an elite defensive rebounder and so he has the size to do that um before I I go back to Minnesota I will say the other thing is they sold high the Hornet's did they better be competitive next year because if they take a huge step back and the fan dual odds are producer Mike Semida fan dual odds did they did not take a big step back at fan dual in terms of their conference finals odds and all that and I

Miller gets better and healthier Kobe White who I think that three years so any four

million dollar deal is fine now is re we haven't talked about yet is a huge addition who could

“I think walks in as they're starting power forward after having the starting power forward”

job in Minnesota for like 24/7 to the Julius Randall trade I don't know what that means from I was bridges it could be a bench roll it could be a trade I think now is reed will play some back up five their depth is still really solid the Hornet's have a lot of decent players coming up the bench including the two guys that they just drafted so I think they should be solid but if they're not this is going to be a tough pill for the fans to swallow and look I'm just saying

I'm just going to play this out lamello on the floor plus nine per 100 possessions lamello off the floor plus one and a half per 100 possessions and that doesn't change much if you isolate from January on in 350ish minutes with con and Miller on the floor and lamello off the floor minus 11 and a half per 100 possessions and look like Kobe White and Miller and Kinnipple only played 45 minutes together the whole season so we have not seen a lot of all those guys together

“and I think the Hornets are right to have faith that Kobe White can be a bit of a stabilizer”

and that all that you know everything will lift up to a decent level but there is risk in just that sense of are they underestimating lamello's impact on their offense I personally think that they are but that they can survive it and at least hover around where they were last year but I don't know that they're going to be you know I thought they could have won 50 something games like sure I don't see that now and I don't see that kind of upside now and that's okay given the long-term

stuff that they've probably opened up and if they're right about Lamello it's it's very okay I think they're going to suffer a little bit more offensively than they think they are and John I wanted to ask you I said we haven't talked about Nasrid just what is this mean to Minnesota for this guy to be off the team is anyone talked to him is agents I mean he is I remember having

Ryan Saunders on my podcast from Las Vegas just after that he was he has second round picker to what

he was a 2A guy and he said to me before we started recording just keep an eye on this guy Nasrid we just got I really like this guy and then you just see the towels that just say not I have one it just says Nasrid that's all it is it's like an inside joke among NBA diehards what is what is going to be missed both on the court and just culturally with him out of Minnesota yeah I mean briefly on the court and it's not to diminish it but like he is incredibly

versatile he has improved his game from the time he came in to where he is now greater than any player that I've seen in the Timberwolf uniform I mean he has turned himself into a really good 3. shooter guy who can handle it in the open floor really tricky around the basket he is a handful for anyone to deal with defensively and defensively he puts him good effort and with the right matchups he can be really good so they're gonna miss him with that he was a sneaky big reason they

dominated the nugget so much is because they didn't have anybody for Nasrid and and so he was a big help in that rivalry but I just want to focus more on Nas the person and Nas the cultural icon

“and I am not hyperbole here's act like he was an absolute hero here and I think he was a symbol for”

what Timberwolf fans always wanted and never had before which was like for years and years and years

when the Timberwolf was really struggled they always saw other teams find diamonds in the rough and develop them and turn them into something and like the wolves just never ever did that and then here was this guy who came into Minnesota who stayed in Minnesota every summer worked on his game turned into a really really good player and devoted himself to it took a back seat to cat into Jewish Randall was coming off the bench selfless and you know you have the Nasrid beach towels but

during their 2024 run to the western conference finals a a vocal tattooist gave tat Nasrid tattoos to people for like 25 bucks as a promotion I am not joking there are thousands of people in Minnesota with Nasrid tattoos on them that's just what he means to them he kind of his rise signified the rise of this organization and sort of the blossoming of basketball in Minnesota again after a very long cold winter and so there's broken hearts all over the market right now because

they had to give up Nasrid for lamello he was as popular as Anthony Edwards was here locally

basketball related in Minnesota and I think again he leaves a void behind at the position that I think they will try to fill if they start that small lineup I mentioned earlier lamello io and jaden go bear you know I think you'll see and guard power forwards some yes and in that alignment because jaden is so good on the ball defending guards um you know I also think not so Nasrid walks into starting spot I think you can play with call printer when call printers at the five I think you'll

play the five with miles bridges in Grand Williams who's ever if miles bridges even still around

“I think he's going to be a super important part of a pretty deep um Hornets team uh at another”

thing on lamello he's never played with a lob threat like go bear for extended minutes I think

that's going to help him as a driver and disguide to I just bear as it had a lob guy to throw him a ball like that you've been a soda before you never knew where an an or Randall mob for go bear was gonna uh let's take a quick break and so I basically like I like I think again these are there is no perfect move available what when you have already traded as much as a minute soda as traded there's no oh yeah this puts them right there with San Antonio Oklahoma City I like this

is a bet if you're if your benchmark is championship all your bets are probably going to fail and this one probably will too but I think it's an interesting upside bet that changes their style of play it makes them unique and fast and interesting and gives them something some hope

“and for sustainability on off it I would give it a B B plus I think the D's are under estimated”

let's take a quick break and I want to hit low on the hornets part of this okay the hornets last year's Cinderella story they trade their offensive engine and homegrown rookie of the year all that starting line up Kobe white Brandon Miller, Conkiniple, Nas Reed, Musa, Amlers, Diobote off the bench they got like a lot of guides it will see if again we'll see if Miles Bridges is still here but he and Grant Williams at the

four called Brenner is a solid second year guy now back up five Nas Reed will help in that

regard as well see on James McNeely the two rookies they drafted Steinbach and Anderson I think will walk right in they just have like a decent amount like a train man I didn't even mention because he didn't play much less year I'm probably even forgetting let me bring up their death chart to make sure no that's pretty much everybody the Josh Green is now in Minnesota he played a

“little bit for them I think their death is pretty good I've just interested to see I mean where they”

still have some cap flexibility to spend you know mid level they have a huge trade exception they can use the full mid level just an absolutely ruthless move by the Jeff Petersen original is the owner gay plaque and this is a team that was like Mark Williams like we're trading you once and twice if need be before we have to pay you and this is as coldhearted as it gets I mean Lamello legitimately not only was he really good last year and got all NBA votes he liked being in Charlotte he wanted

to be in Charlotte he spent the off season in Charlotte he was a fan favorite and they are coming off the first season of relevancy and what feels like ages and they pulled the rug out like this for all the reasons I said like what do you think of that roster that I just read off is it it feels like taking a step back for the steak of steak taking two steps forward down the line but how much of a step back do you think it actually is well first has anybody checked on Eric Collins

like the the the the the the the the fun he had with the play by play at the Lamello ball or are we I just I just he's somebody to check on him and make sure he's okay um Emily and the Charlotte PD traffic squad just they can probably I was gonna release source his well I think the Minnesota one better get ready I don't know like look man it's so nice is a different kind of wild card like you might want to just get it get an expert driver as part of the whole thing it's a different

ball game if I can derail us for a second being an LA guy living in San Antonio for a little bit there was a day where James Briego was the head video guy he sent me a text message hey man be careful there's black ice around the the practice facility and I just responded going like what time

are you picking me up I've never had to deal with this like what time you picking me up I'm not I'm

not driving in this but to back to the roster though like that is a deep squad right like I think it's going to be really interesting to see like multiple kind of like interchangeable parts right like you go from you can go Nazard you can bring miles bridges and you you know again assuming bridges is there but then it's great Williams you have a different sort of vibe in the in the front court you have most of the a bad day then you have called Brenner coming in again a little bit

there I think a lot of stuff for them is gonna depend on how is Khan Knipple gonna handle the second

season you know and and the way it ended those last two games has was was almost kind of traumatized half of everybody if part of your concern is the Hornets over the mellow balls play on sustainability is his performance in your highest leverage games you have to at least acknowledge that Khan Knipple also did not perform very well in your highest leverage games and ended one of them on the bench

“yeah and I think so that's something that you have to kind of pay attention to you have to see”

early on we got to see sort of like him shake that off and get going and and being Khan and can he do a little bit more with the ball on his hands off the dribble off the bounce you know and and be more just coming off screens and attacking and then the same thing with Brandon Miller where like I loved actually the pairing of the three guards when it was ball Miller and and

Knipple because they all kind of did different things ball was the the conductor but you know

Miller was able to attack and get down hill coming off screens and curling around you had Knipple coming off screens for shots and there was so many different things you can do now you got to figure out how are we going to get to all of that and is I like Kobe White the deal he's not lamello in the way that he can create for others and that's going to be a thing where you have to wonder that's my biggest question for them is where is the play creation going to come from

on a consistent and regular basis I know you have Kobe White there you got to hope that the other guys can handle it but it's not like I'm nervous handing that over to Khan Knipple to Brandon Miller like I just haven't seen enough from them being able to do it even McNally who I liked you know but again not really much of a run but we're going to have to see how he kind of goes this was a lot of pressure on your development staff to make sure these guys are ready like that has to be your

whole offseason Khan we got to work on you dribbling and making the passes and making and it content smart player and everything but can you make the right reads can you how quickly can you process everything with what you're going to see now and how aggressive teams are going to be on you now it's going to be interesting to see how they kind of play I like the way they're set up

“because as you said they got a lot of death I think they're going to still be able to play fast”

push the ball up the court get going play in transition fly up and down there I think they can be even a little bit more aggressive defensively but I think the the question still remains at the end of the day play creation where are we getting that and that's going to be the one thing for me that's the whole that I need to see kind of get filled before the season begins and they're not stupid they know that they know that the risk of this deal is a step back next season after

winning 44 games and having like the best net rating in the league after getting where your first

or whatever it was for all the reasons that you're saying this is a bet on both Brandon Miller and Khan can able becoming all stars think that's a pretty good bet I don't know that they're going to be like eight time all stars but they're going to be all stars I think Miller frankly was wildly underrated as the as one of the if not the key reason that that run came together a coincided exactly when you got healthy and was consistently on the court as a two-way player and I think it's a bet

that if they do if there is a star that they think is a better number one guy than the Melo that becomes available they now have Dallas's pick Miami's 27-pick lottery protected or unprotected in

“28 all the pick swaps we just talked about an unprotected Minnesota pick I think there's a king's”

picks up in there somewhere even like those are pretty valuable that they can get in on that and like we'll see other side thing before I talk Minnesota again I don't know what the Grizzlies are going to do with John Moran like I'm looking around and like I don't know what the team is for John Moran now that Minnesota and Miami have made these moves for big salary players and lost a lot of their trade just just not that John Moran is going to require a bounty of assets there you might

have to attach assets to Grizzlies to get off of him but just like mechanically both of those teams have used a lot of their bullets and I don't recover for John just so you know exactly the wolves were not coming for them they considered it a little bit but it was not going to happen and by the way I think the raptors were legitimately interested in the Melo ball I don't think that was a smoke screen I think there was real substantive discussion I don't know how far it got

but obviously they didn't get him I'm not sure that they're going to be a judge I don't know I to be sure to clear I don't know my assumption is for most teams it's going to be a stay away so I don't know what this means I don't really know what this means rim but John one before we let you go the one thing I wanted to take your temperature on you know I mentioned yesterday that when I was at the draft combine in Chicago last month maybe the hottest topic just sort of burbling

around was hey have you heard that ant is like kind of unhappy in Minnesota and like they just got eliminated in this and that and I checked in on it and I was told you can stand down on that that's not like that real of a thing but it was going around in the Timbic Man kind of resurfaced it earlier this week and then this Randall slash read slash Lamello stuff happens what did you heard

I know people in ants camp fairly well and I don't think it was ever a real concern for them right now yes Anthony Edwards was disappointed and frustrated with how the season ended that they took a step

back I mean he was injured Dante was injured I always injured there was plenty of reasons for it but

it was certainly not anything like hey you know I'm starting to think about my future here it wasn't that he likes being in Minnesota he likes being in a place that he can go around and not be swarmed and really bothered he likes living here he loves his teammates he has a great relationship with the coaching staff in front office so like they weren't immediately concerned but there's certainly a recognition that when you have a star of Anthony Edwards caliber your organization is always on

“the clock there is no taking for granted there is no waiting it is you have to constantly be doing”

things to build around him so that you give him all of the belief that this that where he is that can be competitive over the long haul and Tim Conley's been super aggressive in doing that but there was a sense from the entire organization after that spurseries that some things had to change and that they had to get more kind of I guess suited or situated for Anthony Edwards then what they were and I think a trade like this acknowledges that is that there's a recognition that

we've got to make things easier on aunt we've got to make you bring things that will help unlock even another level for him and show him that we're going to continue winning at a high level like we have and try to do even more so it was certainly a motivation watching cat when the title was certainly a motivation but they it was not like aunt was holding their feet to the fire

and look that triple big lineup was often on not always but there were weeks months where it was

just a little unwieldy we're like this combination would be a little clunky and this combination would work and then I had always said on my podcast I like when they would put jade in at the four and it was just not a look they could functionally get to when you're paying these three big guys like a hundred million dollars combined per year whatever it is and I'm excited to see them play like a faster, weaker, more dynamic style and we'll see what happens but before we

let you go is there any Minnesota angle that we have in covered is there an offseason and is there like a free agent that from their team that you think is likely unlikely to be back is there's something we have in hit that you think we should hit in the new look wolves. Well just in terms of

“like the context of this deal and what they gave up I think that they view that they had a part with”

Nazerie who they loved and a first round unprotected pick at 233 the swaps two of the swaps are

pretty protected and so they're not really that concerned about those but it's all in the context of they were also in on jalen brown like they were having real conversations with the Celtics about jalen brown but it was really made clear to them understandably so that it was going to take a lot more than this package that they gave up for jalen brown it was going to take a Rudy, Naz a young player like T.S.J. and our Sharon Chan Jr. or you on barangay and all of the pick stuff

that they sent and that was going to be a lot and maybe a bridge too far for a player that probably doesn't fit quite as well as lamello ball did and so they were beating the bushes for a lot of other options in addition to this lamello ball one but this is the one that they preferred they will look for a power forward they will look for more shooting to kind of spill everything out here so they are not done yet but yeah it was they were heavy and on jalen brown and really

having real conversations about that until the little mellow thing really became crystal clear that this was going to be able to happen can you say a name we're going to be hearing a lot oh go ahead just real quick I do appreciate Minnesota taking a swing and taking the risk and not you know like we've seen so many teams over the years kind of stand pat and say hey just a couple things didn't work out it would have been easy to use the Dante deep in chenzo injury and Io being her

ant being injured we were right there against San Antonio like I do appreciate that like

“Connelly did take a look and saying this has to change and I think just being willing to take the”

cut and that's is whatever wherever you land on the trade risk or is this crazy or what not they took a chance and it's just saying because we knew the way they were set up gonna work here well I think we just got that understanding I think willing to take the risk right here it's something that I at least appreciate in the sense from Minnesota saying like hey we're going to take a big swing and let's see if it works and I demo on that mode like they're paying the

not gonna pay the tax this season they dumped Julius Randall and it was like wow are you really not gonna pay the tax when Anthony Edwards is about to enter his prime Mark Laurie now extraordinary guys got on board and just said yeah we are going to we we like La Mello we think you can be a difference maker and so we're going to do everything we can financially to make this happen and that's a big move that was not a given I think when this offseason started.

Yeah they're swinging their swinging like Tom Brunansky and Ken Herbeck you know you're getting a send it on by freaking out an RBI baseball in Nintendo regular Nintendo NES they were my team

“they were just that power up and down and about that's what I know if I will even though the”

swing stuff is like I do think it's important for Moran and and also for the Mello like

his contract is not a 65 million dollar five-year albatross it's three years it's not that long

like this year's a given he's going to be on the wolves after that it's two years 41 43 46 like 25% of the cap it's not like a crazy unmovable I'm in jail now the next one if you maxed him out wouldn't be but they're not there yet like I don't think it's that it's not like crippling like that John Cresinsky where else can we find you at the athletic give the John Cresinsky shows which is your podcast all things in Minnesota what else we want to promote here.

Yeah the athletic will have a big story coming early next week keep an eye out for it did a little bit of traveling forward and really excited to to see it'll be at the athletic did you get interviewed by Walk Till Lipton Rosen and Cats for the aspiration if ever shall we stop what you travel? I wish that was it I wish that was it but you avoided the interview that was how he did he got out of town when they said they want to

interview I didn't do a big interview that I've been chasing for a long time so I'm looking forward to that and that's exciting yeah the John Cresinsky show on Talk North weekly we recorded something today and that'll be out later this afternoon as well all all things Lamello ball as well all right John Cresinsky thank you sir we'll say goodbye to you and Mo and I are going to continue now with some of the flotsom and jetsom that have gone on around these two big trades

but Johnny or the man we'll see soon but thanks guys okay Mo let's talk about a couple other transactions that have happened and this in this last couple of days let's start with golden state just for shit thingy those Alhorford is coming back on a two year 14 million dollar contract Alhorford last seen burying the clippers under a hail of three pointers in the play and tournament that's not so interesting on its own what's interesting to me is the Warriors now after selecting

Yaxo Landaborg and the first round of the draft are up to like about a hundred 90 million dollars

in payroll with with Dream on Greens player option is just like a placeholder for his salary and they have not brought back your patent the second and more notably Christophe Warzingus that figure puts them more or less nineteen twenty million dollars underneath the first apron and only like ten to twelve to thirteen under the tax they're going to go over the tax right the apron is interesting because if you use the full mid-level exception the big one

you cannot go over the first apron and so you're just getting into a math problem of porzingus full mid-level dream on's player option is dream on willing to opt out and take less to facilitate some combination of things and then oh yeah Lebron James is still floating

“in the ether as an option potentially for the Warriors among other teams and I think the market”

for him is pretty wide from what I've heard I think there were some negotiations before the draft with porzingus as people from what I've heard obviously they didn't result in a deal I just

sort of I think the Warriors are they're the Warriors it's Steph Curry it's always going to be

interesting I just you know this season Jimmy Butler is going to miss a lot of it Moses Moody's going to miss a lot of it if not all of it I do think the porzingus question is interesting and if they bring him back what the cost is and then the dream on player option thing maybe they get Lebron that would be fun I don't know mechanically how all of these things are going to happen but it just feels like you know the Warriors are going to do what we thought

they would do which is just sort of try to make the best of the end of Steph's career and not really be a contender but maybe be kind of fun I don't know any Warriors thoughts yeah it's kind of interesting like I thought this would have been the summer to try to maybe get a little bit younger

“I mean obviously the yeah XL helps with them in in that regard with their draft pick but I think”

you know look porzingus not then come not being able to come to the deal with porzingus I think not yet but if they don't that mean I think just having coreford in the in the full that least kind of gives them a little bit of just back up at least we have that it is I mean as great as coreford was in that clipper game it's you know he only played like what 35 games this season like it's been a a tough year for him in terms of just staying on the court and you

know going into his 20th season like it's kind of surprising there but the committing the next two

but sort of where they're at and with fact that they're probably going to go over the apron

“and have to figure out everything all of that sort of matters in place into it and then just sort”

of adjusting minutes of where you're going to go and they have so many moving parts that it's kind of just I don't really know where they're going to be at yet like I it's hard to have that opinion wouldn't for me was like my being on the brunt my not get liberal we don't know the the dream on green to it it almost feels a little bit like they're in the we're in the movies and everybody's kind of killed the joke but it's like one last job and let's get the you know let's

let's get this guy it's the ocean 11's and let's grab this guy in that guy in this guy if you were a bank robber like a part of a crew what do you think your job would be like you could be the heavy you could be the safe cracker you could be like the explosive guy you could be the negotiator you could be the getaway driver there's probably other roles like you know logistical planning like I memorize the blueprint of the the the bank like what's your skill set in a bank crew

“well I think the the um there's an obvious answer out there that I don't want to give out”

but I think I would be the getaway driver what do you mean what do you mean there's an obvious thing are you a bank I'd be the I'd be the explosive guy wow that was I mean that was that was sitting there but I I like to think of myself more as a getaway driver I think I'm not a good enough driver to be a getaway driver I'm a good I'm a very good like normal driver like I'm like I'm like castanza okay you don't know what's going you don't even see

what's going on here but like is a normal driver fine but as a getaway driver no I'm in a way I can be a good getaway driver I can I navigate the streets every day you know what I watched on YouTube where I don't even care it's fucking June I don't care I watch to for some reason oh because in Sean Fennessee's new newsletter projections about movies he mentioned I'm blanking on his name the director I don't know how to pronounce it correctly anyway the

director of drive among other strange and interesting movies and I was like you don't know I want to go do I want to go watch the first 15 minutes of drive on YouTube this is like one of the best opening scenes of all time speaking of LA getaway drivers and features Ralph Lawler calling a clippers game which I want to think that makes it I would be the safe cracker

“I think you know with people staring at me and a clock ticking and I've got to get to get this”

done before the alarm goes off I can execute that I have steady hands I have calm hands I'm good with numbers I'm good I can memorize things like I think that's my job but if you choke

at that job I mean the whole thing it's over it's over it's the most important job it's

over how we're talking about oh one last shot for the words well and basically what I'm saying is as of now if they pay poor zingas what his market is which is something then they're not gonna have access to the first the being able to level because they'll go over the first apron and you can't do that and so you just have a math problem as for the brown I legit don't know what's gonna happen with LeBron like legitimately don't know

you have all of the like all of the known options are financially interesting or tricky the words we just went through the calves are way over the luxury tax and have tons of offensive creators already and a power forward and have been mobility who plays this position to some degree the lakers are the lakers right they just signed off some reaves to a max deal I talked about that yesterday they have to figure out how to use what I mean they don't really have cap space

if they have LeBron's bird rights and so how do you do that juggling act someone I don't know I don't think this is necessarily been decided yet but the someone who would know told me yesterday the clippers are telling our our behaving I guess as if they are going to have cap space in the all season they can't open much they can open like 20 million but they have to like cut some options and run out some guys and that got me thinking

like LeBron clippers but I still I've always said I don't think LeBron ever wants to play

for the clippers even though it's in Los Angeles I just don't I still don't see that as an option so I don't I don't know the simplest answer is goes back to LA I don't know what that means for their cap space and his bird rights and how the order of events kind of works but I don't know man that I will say they had something with Luca Reeves and LeBron is the third banana that was a real thing I don't know where he could go and really kind of find that again in that sense I mean

look at the places you can go they'll automatically be it's LeBron we're gonna say contender and whatnot but like the situation he had set up in LA we're hitting him being kind of the third banana when they sort of fell into that and you know it was kind of perfect for him let him rest you know work off ball you can and then when he needs to turn it up he can turn it up and we we've seen him be able to do it but he doesn't have to do it all game he's got Luca and Reeves to

has to be the first or second guy you know when they had injuries and things like that then it

becomes a bit challenging that thing he just tires out and and at this point where he's at in his career I kind of just feel like the best place for him is really LA obviously they have to figure out the money and how to make everything work in that regards and in the lake we still have also a lot of things they gotta do they gotta add more shooting they gotta find a bona fide rim runner I know the most likely eight and it's gonna pick up his options smarts most likely gonna pick up his

“option they gotta decide on next myth with the team option what they're gonna do when I think”

they have to figure out where they're at but I don't feel like there's a place I look at with LeBron going like okay he goes to goals and state I don't feel like they're it's it's they're gonna be fun it's

gonna be great to watch it's gonna be exciting we're all gonna tune in I don't feel like they're at

the level where I can say okay they're gonna make a run at a title for anything like that like I just think it's it's a little bit hard for me to see it and I just think the lake is kind of just present the best situation for I think there are other teams outside this this sort of select group that also would kick the tires or have kick the tires and there's sign and trade possibilities and all that we'll see we'll see the other the only other thing of note that we haven't gotten too

as of now is I just thought to snuck under the radar that the piston salary dumped Isaiah Stewart to Memphis I really like what Memphis is doing in terms of just coward, E.D. Cam Booser it's a really nice place to start and then the other guys they drafted and the picks they have it's a nice starting spot I love Cam Booser I think he's gonna be awesome right away he might be he'll be the I think you'll be the best player on their team next year even those Zack E.D. was Godzilla for 11 games in

late last year um I just think it's interesting because the choice you know what I went through a couple of weeks ago might just most interesting offseason teams and it was teams that weren't involved in Janice and that for the most part we're not in the top five or ten of the draft just teams that are interesting in different ways I had to choice on my list because and I just said I think they're just gonna do something I think they got to the playoffs what they lacked was laid bare for them

they fact that the East is getable for them now that the Nick's obviously torched everybody but whatever they've played the Nick's pretty well in the playoffs in the regular season I just think they're gonna be aggressive that's just a gut it's it's that's just my gut feel and so they dumped this Isaiah Stewart salary and they can now open up a decent amount of cap from depending on what they do with Dunkin Robinson's partially guaranteed deal and Paul Reed's partially guaranteed deal

and Tobias Harris who they have burred rights on and so they'd have to renounce him to open up space they have a lot of optionality now there's been these coi rumors that they're gonna go a big game hunting I heard they at least checked on coi last year but then I was told that that was maybe not true

“so I don't really know how true that was this is the due diligence you have to do but obviously”

he'd be a plug-in play fit he's eligible for an extension the aspiration thing is happening I don't even know how movable portable he is in any possible way I'm just sitting there I don't know if it's

Michael Porter Jr I don't know if it's trainer if you're the third I don't know if it's jail and

brown I doubt that it is financially I just think they're gonna do something and I'm excited to see what it is yeah it's interesting so like when they made this move with beef stew it was more okay we're gonna now be in the running to try to go get somebody I think you know they were before Reeves agreed to the deal with the lakers I think they were the the biggest threat they take him away from the lakers I think you know we're hearing a lot of the norm pal might be

oh that's a good one yeah that's I forgot to mention you need to be perfect there yeah like that's that's a guy I think that they're kind of targeting and you know Miami obviously wants to keep him but I don't think they're gonna be able to do it financially so that's a double win if you're the distance you fill in need and you hurt when you're east rivals yeah it's it's kind of perfect it's uh was reading Jake Fisher and Mark Stein this morning and they had some stuff on Kauai and it sounds like

Kauai was not willing to sign an extension if he gets treated to treat I don't know all the way if I'm Detroit depending on what the prices I might be cool with that now if the prices just overwhelming in terms of picks and stuff then I'm not cool with it but that's right you know you call the call the bluff and see what happens but I think you know there's a level of like they have to make a move you know it was I was a bit frustrated at the trade deadline looking at the team go

you got to make a big move and harder being their move wasn't um obviously it and I think we all kind of knew that in the moment but I think you know this can't be a sea off season kind of like the wolves or I was talking about they took a swing they have to make a run at somebody they have and maybe then I get it maybe it's the wrong guy maybe things don't work but they got to make

“a run at somebody and I think they understand that that's why they made the beef stew trade right”

and now it's figuring out you know it's opening up space for them to go after somebody whether it's

for they are the most interesting teams in the free agency because we just saw what they did

“and they need somebody to be there with Kate cutting him to go to work here and and try to”

continue the run that they want on they can't just be a one-year wonder at this point what is a Egypt's prognosis in the world cup right now what's their next game what do they need to do how are you feeling about life I'm feeling pretty good so you know I'm living in the Egypt's the closest country to I know you're rooting for Egypt I'm dying hard for Egypt especially Mosala obviously being a mo so it was going it was going nuts after they they beat New Zealand

and I enjoyed all the videos afterwards right now the way it looks is we're going to move on we're going to play Cape Verde in the knockout round and if we win in that one and team USA which the way it looks now is going to play Bosnia it we could be facing a Egypt team USA one and that might be a problem for me in terms of torn household and who do I root for and my wife already told

“me if that's a scenario you have to for the USA but you know you know who you might be facing”

Bosnia hurts a govina don't sleep on those guys don't I saw them the game the game my wife and I went to was Switzerland Bosnia now Switzerland put it on them but Bosnia had a pretty good show but more importantly I'm impressed with the the crowd from Bosnia because they outnumbered everybody in the switch the Swiss crowd you go nuts you those I know I'm married to one they're everywhere the the post word diaspora where they have settled they have settled in mass and they are

Toronto was like Croatia for the game that I went to and they have a great great time at these games I had a very good time I just I can't take the tension and it's it's agonizing it's just agonizing and well in Egypt went down one nothing to New Zealand I was like dying I was watching that game and we were all cheering for Egypt because they were so clearly the better team at outlaying

“New Zealand but yeah Croatia has a game left against Ghana that's in two days in Philadelphia”

everything is on the board for them they could win the group it's very unlikely in England would have to lose to Panama I don't see that happening well England got given the biggest gift by getting away with a massive penalty like that should have been a penalty that was insane

I didn't see it that was against Ghana in time is zero zero time and Croatia could come second

Croatia could come third and move on Croatia could come third and not move on though and they can't come is fourth and I just want just just I just want them to move on they do not have to kind of team that they had in the last two World Cup when they came second and third did that run is not in them I'm aware of that not expecting it just get me to knock out rounds and you just just get me the penalty kicks in a knockout round game because they've had a preposterous record in

penalty in PK games in the last two World Cup you know just just get lucky who knows I don't expect them to go far but just that's all I want by the way my pet peeves talk about England and all this is this is for all international sports tournaments I get why they have to do it I I'm gonna lead with that I get why it happens I understand I hate that the host nations including the U.S. are given tier one status when they divide these groups Canada's group is like

put us in that group we're rolling like yeah it's a different that a group that I said it in the Olympics two only 12 countries make the Olympics in basketball it's incredibly hard to make and the host country automatically gets in I get why but when freaking London hosted the Olympics there's like oh great Britain is in like Serbia is not where whatever is it's like what are we doing look how it's just it's not fair and I would be I would be more happy about it if Croatia ended up

in Canada's group instead of in England's group but alas it is what it is host nations although it has I have to say the Mexico atmosphere has been awesome when I wish I was in Mexico for all of this everything I've seen I just wish that that's where I've had the most formal that and watching the celebrations with with each of when they got their first win in the world cup all right mode to kill the second most relevant sports mode right that may be forgetting a

mode there's a few others I'm sure in this week thank you for your time you can always find

on my twitch on off-sides on the double-trival podcast with Jared Dubin and Blinch report too sometimes right and here and here mode to kill thank you sir thank you for having me all right it's been a while

which is good for you Sean because the New York Mets are not going to win anything this year and it's time to reconvene from Mets Corner before I start how are you it's been a while of how

are you doing I'm wonderful I I've rarely gotten such amazing feedback then the the one I got after

appearing on your show after the next one and I just want to say at the outset of this conversation the Mets cannot hurt me there is a force field an impenetrability protecting me because of this next title and even I just spoke to our friend Brian compliment yesterday and we were like we're 13 days in I still feel great like nothing is changing so that I just need to foreground our conversation with that and say I'm doing very very well now I am going to make

some space for what I think is the appropriate reaction to what is going on here how are you doing exactly I'm good there's a difference between pain and embarrassment and if you recall the last time

“we had an angry Mets Corner I said the only thing I want is to not be embarrassed living amongst”

Yankee fans for the most part and so here's how this week is gone I was supposed to throughout

the first pitch at city field on the 22nd which was Monday of course it got rained out because

why would anything work out with the Mets so we're trying to reschedule and a lot of my friends were going to go including Yankee fans friends and they were going to buy tickets last minute and one of them had not bought tickets until the day off and he just gently poked me and said hey you know I don't mean to be mean but it's the Mets there's going to be good seed to available this is what I'm talking about I don't need it I don't need that in my life and that was three days ago and last night

Sean June 24th 2026 is going to be a day that I remember forever and we'll go down in Mets history as an all-time low point I get done with a big podcast on all the stuff happened in the MBA have dinner at the house of myself for a few nights you know what oh that's right they're playing

the second game at double header let me flip it on oh they're at three one you know what I can

send some text about lamella ball makes some calls they're winning alvy has another home run and you know I look this is not going great but it'll be on in the background and I sit down simian makes an error little do I know it will be one of six infieldier errors the newly revamped

“run prevention oriented Mets make uh in a game the most in a majorly game I think seven years six”

we we I can't um and then the exact moment that the season ended the exact Ralph Wiggum heartbreaking moment that the season ended Pete Crow Armstrong former Mets prospect bumps a line drive single over boba shed charging from third base boba shed leaps with all his might reaching up in the air like you would normally see somebody do an infielder do on the edge of the outfield grass except he's in the middle of the infield grass just an

absolute comical visual the ball rolls all the way to the outfield the cubs now lead four to three that was the end of the season there were four more errors after that there were Pete Alonzo chance in the crowd after that and then I ended with the Mets trading last year's all star starting feature David Peterson to the cubs for a prospect because he joins a list of pictures who have flat lined mainstays suppose mainstays David Peterson gone code I sanga

I would like to just poochy him out of my life send them back to to wherever he's from he's now in the bullpen manaya at three and whatever innings last night fine mantis member Frankie mantis he's like and Freddy parole to just give up ten runs last time we saw him the Mets are now 72 and 101 in their last 173 baseball games this team is bad it's embarrassing and I don't sense the appropriate amount of embarrassment

from the powers that be and I will now stop talking well you've just done it all the work

“I mean that was it you just use you summed up I think all of the appropriate”

detail and frustration for what's gone on let's like let's try to put some of our context since we've been doing this together um when things were coming apart last season and the dramatic downfall is happening I started talking to you about how we know David's current wants his own team he wants a team in his vision and so in the off season he deconstructed parts of the team there was one Mets corner we did where it was a very emotional day when Peter Lanzo and Edwin

that was painful as a fan because we had a lot of strong emotional ties to those two players

I could see the case for it from a baseball perspective why it was not appropriate to bring either of those guys back but I still felt bad about it I think you felt bad about it too we love beat especially the moves that they made in the off season I bright side of them I looked at them and I said man if this team stays healthy this is going to be a really interesting lineup I did not spend enough time thinking about how the biggest problem that we had in 2025 was

“the pitching staff and the only thing that was materially changed about the pitching staff the”

starting staff was we added Freddie Perlta and it moved that I liked and like a lot of other moves the addition of Jorge Polanco the trade for Luis Robert Jr. the development of Carson Benj and

the insistence that he would be a part of the ball club all of those choices the late

offseason signing panic signing seemingly above a shed after missing out on Kyle Tucker I found a way to bright side all of those scenarios I wanted to believe I predicted 92 wins this season on a podcast that's something that happened I'm not paid professionally to make these decisions but the people who are paid professionally to make them did a very very bad job of a very bad job and we are now watching the fruits of their labor which is not only is this a very bad team

as you identified it's neither a fun team nor a likable team it's a bunch of guys who are either prospects that we have know that we want to have a strong relationship to but have not penned out mega stars who came here from other places or guns for hire most of whom are at the on the back half of their careers I don't really like watching the team I'm still watching I watch game one yesterday you watched game two and you texted me after that that fun single

flow for both said I texted you I said please tell me you saw that and I wonder what I didn't elaborate and I wonder what your brain thought had happened it couldn't be anything it could I I don't know what you thought but if you certainly had peat crow transformed into an eagle and

“soared over city field like a majestic creature I might have believed you that's how bad things are”

going now and I haven't watched baseball that much for the last ten years we know this last two yes that bun happened and I'm like play I don't think I've ever seen anything quite like that but that's just me and then Ron Darling a minute later said I don't think I've ever seen that happen before I'm like okay this is where we are with the mats I don't think I've ever seen that happen before and it's an unfortunate thing happening to us I turn the game on after you made that

note to me and boy that was an interesting experience listening to Ron Darling and Gary Cohen talk about the team for the last three and things of that game because that was as direct and negative a communication by a broadcast team about what was happening to a team as as I've heard in a long time they more or less seem to be speaking two David Sterns about the team's decision to retain Carlos Mendoza and the fact the team is just undisciplined

checked out and and and bad and they were frank man and you don't hear that from broadcast teams a lot because broadcast teams have a lot of interaction with the team and the people who

“work with the team and you need to have a little bit of connectivity but the phrase of rock bottom”

and and despair were uttered during the broadcast yesterday and we know there've been a lot of times in that history right um worst team when he can buy the early 90s teams were extremely unlikable yesterday or two days ago I cited to you the 070809 period you know the collapse you know 7 and the failure to make the playoffs in 08 and the misery of 09 and 10 these kind of like forgettable washed away errors that we thought in 06 were going to be the beginning of something special

and really were not but boy this just even though it's not the worst record that a meds team has ever had it seems like the least valuable that the team has been to the fan base we don't we we we really don't like this we're really mad and I think our anger is justified and if I did not have the next title I wonder if I'd be able to not be red faced and shouting at you during this conversation and yet like I say there is a force field around me and I cannot be penetrated

I would like to see anger actually and it's one of the things that I've found annoying about David Stern's regular homestand media appearances is that he's so yeah of course we want to play better you know we're trying trying to play better I think there's a good team in here that'll recover and and make a season out of it and it's like dude can you can you just own some embarrassment and anger because it's it rings so hollow now because this is not a mid-market

team with modest expectations this is the second highest payroll in baseball and you are 34

46 we could go they were 34 and 41 and like minus eight and sniffing around the edges of the wild car race this is put us back into our proper place and like I said 72 and 101 30 games under

500 basically in a little bit more than a season since they had the best record in baseball last year

that's like you just flat out suck the team sucks and I don't want to hear any more platitudes about how we're playing better and like this and run prevention and that I want actual like anger and anger I don't mind call for anyone to be fired anything like that I just like let's be upfront about what has happened here which is that this is a complete disaster of a team and the thing that I want to talk about with you is I mentioned all the pictures that have like sort of

regressed or fallen out like it prolt as a free agent we don't know what's going to happen with him they might trade him who knows I mentioned all these other guys like McLean's been fine all things considered to find not great a little too inconsistent but like fine like I'm okay with what McLean

“yesterday was disappointing I think he's still promising but yesterday was the kind of thing where”

it actually feels like this is a team that is not well managed because he was put in a position

to gack a three nothing lead but giving up two consecutive three run home runs fine he's been just a you could give him like a B minus C plus if you want based on expectation yeah he's a rookie how is this team cobbling a starting rotation next season like that's the question that I'm now focused on because I mentioned all the veterans who are all trending the wrong way slash not in the starting rotation slash not even on the team anymore who are the reinforcements

that are coming in tongue is struggling in triple a struggling to add it other pitch to his repertoire and then you know I'm looking down at the the next group of like the Met's top 20 prospects Jack Weniger is 24 and I look at his mind really like stats are like fine they're okay they're not great he's the oldest here yeah and then down the line it's like relief pitchers guys who are 26 years old got ice like will Watson I don't know will Watson his video shit stats in double a like

so let's just say this season is gone right and then there's maybe a labor dispute and whatever I think the two big questions that we need to figure out is how do you handle a law season if you're the Met's because everyone's like well they're going to sell or they're going to buy

“the worst thing they could do is buy in a way that tries to save this season for some short-term”

gain but I don't know how you even sell when you are building around Francisco and Doran Juan Soto for next season and if you are building around them for next season it's like you're starting a pitching staff almost from scratch like they have absolutely no reliable starting pitching and almost nothing coming out of the miners like I don't know what like what is the best case scenario for next year's team at this point it's a really good question I don't have a

strong answer for you I think that they have tried to simultaneously go down all three tracks which

is that they have acquired mega stars and had a $350 million payroll they have a tried to build

from within and play young prospects like Carson Benj and now AJ Uing and they have also tried to find that middle ground of sort of like your discoveries or your underrated hidden gems approach the David Sterns did fairly well while in Milwaukee and all three of them have kind of come up snake guys with the exception of the acquisition of Juan Soto who is injured right now but it seems like maybe is not serious and it is having a wonderful season he's this is his second good

season I would love to see Juan Soto and our friends is going to our play a baseball game together but the old thing that I'm looking forward to now is like can we have both of them in the lineup that's the other thing I just want to say is I don't think this team is a 90 when team right now but if Clay Holmes and Francisco Lendor did not forget I forgot about Clay Holmes I should have mentioned him and that's a great story and a great story and he was pitching like an ace who's pitching

like a sion contender before he got hurt and he got hurt on a flookie line drive come back her and broke a bone and like that should happen in baseball and each time an injury happened when Robert got hurt when Blanco got hurt when Lendor got hurt when Clomes got hurt all it did was reveal the stunning lack of depth and the construction of the team because you're also thinking

“about other guys who have been injured this year remember Mike Talkman who was potentially”

going to be a right fielder with this team and who got injured right before the season started we're we're consistently running out Eric Wagaman Zack short we're consistently starting back up catchers because we don't have enough depth in our DH position so much there's been so much MJ Melendez and by Lendor I can't believe how much of this guy's in my life I mean look Mark Vantos is going is on track for like 400 at bats he's not a major league baseball player he's just

you know I thought you're going to say he's on track for 400 errors that as well I mean we're having a heartbreaking I love Brett Brady and I didn't want to give up on Brett Brady he's been terrible this year terrible Zack and so what this feeling that we have as fans right now and this leads to what happens in 27 and 28 is like I kind of want them to cut bait with all of the

guys and the starting rotation is this 100 million dollar glomeration of Manaya Sanga Montaus

Paralta a bunch of guys who were just not very effective we've cast off one of them in David Peterson and the fact that we got a top 15 prospect from the clubs is kind of fascinating in that

“trade but nevertheless if you want to bright side it again you can say okay well we have no one”

in the claim Christian Christians got coming off the injured list they just called up Zack Thornton he wasn't great in his first appearances in major league or but maybe he'll show us something over the next few months maybe you say a Jonathan Santucci looks good in AA maybe Jack went into your turns it around in the second half of the trip of the trip blaze season and then okay well there's like five guys under the age of 27 who could make up for rotation and don't forget

a lot of money coming off the books in the next two seasons so if you want to go out and sign tarq school or somebody like that and give them $500 million or $800 million you see if

Cohen is your owner and you could do it the problem is David Sterns is like one for 32

in transactions like his his head rate has just been terrible and some of it is miscalculation and a misunderstanding of either the market or the fan base or player health or any number of things some of it is bad luck right some guys just get injured and it's bad luck it's bad luck that this is the year that after playing 150 games for 10 straight years Francisco Indoor gets hurt and misses 30 games in the middle of a downward spiral but Sterns is in the sights of fans because

he's made a lot of bad choices and a lot of the bad choices he made hurt fans feelings when you didn't bring back Pila Lanzo whose name is being enchanted yesterday during the game people were upset they were real upset and he was very stride about that he showed a lack of contrition in those press conferences you know whether that whether or not it would actually matter if David Sterns got up in front of us all and said this one's on me I made a lot of mistakes

but I'm committed to making this team a world series champion and I'm totally reevaluating how I did

“my job in the last three years and I'm going to change some things like that's what people want to”

hear they want to hear I fucked up and I know I heard I know I I know I ruined the summer for you guys and here's how I'm going to change and I'm going to fix it I promise I'm going to try to get better he's not going to do that and even if he did do it what would it really accomplish it would give us a mild gratification for five minutes before we started complaining again so I have some empathy as far as rebuilding the team you just got to hope that all of these things that we keep hearing

about how he's rebuilding the farm system are real and what we're seeing from you in bench which is good like yes they are that is the bright side so far for real this season those they do look like major leaders and defensively I mean so do call them the psychopaths and all that just super fun to watch defensively flying around and so if there's more of that to come then we can be optimistic but yeah man this is this is low this is the depths right now Christian Scott I'm

glad you brought him up he's been workmen like and effective and just a stop gap that has been

“more than a stop gap the guy I want to shout out is a brazil bond like that guy I honestly”

might just give him MVP of the team he just comes in and does his job pitches a ton of endings he's been super reliable I love that dude and I'm I'm happy to have him but yeah I mean look I just don't I don't know enough about baseball to know how you just fill out a rotation that's like almost a blank slate other than McClan and maybe homes next year as I homes was awesome you're right about that how often does it happen that like literally a year ago one year ago

David Peterson was an all star that's a thing that happened you made the all start team and code I sang up before Peter Lanzo through a wild ball the first while he was covering was pitching like an ace like a like an actual number one number one be starter I mean number one five year rate in the first half of the last year how is this more common than I just know because I'm an amateur baseball fan that people go in a year from that to completely unplayable

to the point that you just can't be on the team anymore like it just feels like such a stunning drop off from an actual all star to you're gone to the clubs and you're throwing after openers and Sangha now I don't know what his role is going to be he's going to the bullpen and that's going to be it I don't think he'll start another game for the meds ever again he does have a very unusual contract where if he does suffer a dramatic elbow injury he automatically has a 2028 option that gets picked up

for $15 million so he's on the books for next year sweet that's great that's that's a tricky

situation um the case for both of those guys in what you're in terms of what you're describing is with Peterson um his underlying peripherals are not as bad as the 6.090RA it doesn't mean he would have been good this year but it's a little bit of an exaggerated number secondarily he's a ground ball lefty you know what sucks the meds infield defense and it's not good you know they've been playing

an aging second baseman at second base we shouldn't out there every day this is what we talked about

in the off season you talked all about run prevention and then you built a team where everybody was playing a new position and by the way everyone's injury prone and planco and ropert they might as well I don't know where they are they can be I don't think you'll ever see ropert again I have no idea where they are I don't think I don't think you'll ever see ropert again planco maybe we'll come back in the second half of the season but I saw video of him running in the outfit like great awesome like a secret run

is he training for the steeple chase like what like why am I seeing video of this um you know

“so for Petersen I feel like in addition to maybe regressing a bit and over you know I think he over performed”

against his peripherals last year and now he's under performing this happens there's a lot of variants and baseball and it comes to that sort of thing with Sangha I think it's perfectly fine to say he's clearly psychologically fragile I've done I'm done I'm done I'm out Ben Simmons him let him go become a professional fisherman or a dark player whatever like probably can't be it I think that's an apt comparison Zach I think he is kind of Ben Simmons asking that his skills are extraordinary

but he does not have the mental capacity to push through challenging circumstances and don't forget his first season was fucking awesome he was really really good I'm at it was that right before you came in or right when you came in I'm back to the team yeah and it's been sad to watch him unravel because I felt like I almost feel like they were like abusing him letting him go out there and pitch two days ago like he's clearly he's just not his head is not on straight and the team

is just desperate for starting pitching but they're going to just bury him in the bullpen and I don't think he'll be on the team 12 months from now but yeah how do you rebuild I don't know man they got to get lucky they got to hope something and he just wanted those weird baseball things to happen to them in the good way where a guy who wasn't supposed to be good suddenly becomes good I remember this happened with Daniel Murphy some years ago did you trade on the broadcast by the way when

there's a backup he's really really good but he was never a hotly touted prospect and he

transformed into a vital piece in that 2014-1516 team and so you just got to hope they you know they they discover a few of those guys but this is a low period this is a really really low period for the franchise and it's bizarre that there you have a $380 million payroll um I was like Peterson that one hurt me a little bit yesterday I liked him for stupid reasons like he was the starter at the game I went to with my dad and my daughter and my wife Lesher when I was really starting to get

back into like I'm going in person like he pitched eight innings that game like which seems like a

“like a tyrannosaurus wreck just walked across the stadium that's how rare it is and they won”

five two over the Dodgers he struck out Otani like four times I should have known that there was some maybe some luck going on because I think he induced like five double plays in that game but that was his game now he was he was he was he was he was that kind of picture purposefully he was the longest time you're meant to he was with the scene for a really long time and his Instagram account this is

how stupid I am about baseball like I is Instagram account if he's always pumping up his own teammates

and like congratulating them on stuff like I like this guy seems like a sweet guy and now this is just I mean there's 80 games left and there's no hope like there was hope at 34 and 41 and no one running away with the second and third wild card spots in the NL they the thing that got them to 34 and 41 after the 12 game losing streak was at least they stopped having long losing streaks they could never put together a long winning streak but they would go like two out of three

loose two out of three win two out of three just a gradual like pick up a game against 500 every 10 days and you knew like if they're actually going to get back into this they're going to need to win like seven out of eight at some point and they never showed anything like the ability to do that and then the other streaks dropped which is oh actually you're still bad enough to have a five game to the streak and now it's just over and I'm excited to rediscover what it feels like to watch

a bad hopeless baseball team for three months and just sort of find things to be like this Alvarez home run streak is is fun you know that I like Alvarez and wanted to play more I do too and and I'm happy to report that my daughter is still incredibly into it and doesn't seem to care that they're bad and still really loves them it roots for them and wants to watch them play and that makes it worthwhile for them and and Lendor is back for her too so she'll get to enjoy

“him being bad I think it's a take him a few weeks to really get on the side of right in terms of”

how he plays but the five game losing streaks that you pointed out is important there was a weird hinge in that there where there was a Thursday game where they won they survived they hung on six four against the Phillies heading into what was thought to be a fairly important series in the NL somebody lined out Schwarver I think lined out super hard off the right field yes and that scared me which wasn't really his fault right there had been an error in the ending or

weekend but there's no Friday game instead what there is is a Saturday and Sunday national game

“Saturday game I think on Fox Sunday game on ESPN and both of those games were calamitous and the”

broadcast just went out of their way to just dunk on the mats and you know rightfully so but we've I've endured 43 years of walnuts and it's very painful and it keeps happening in these national scenarios and those two losses began this streak of games where they gave up 10 they gave up 50 runs in five games you know like it was really an awful stretch there and it does feel unrecoverable and it doesn't feel like there's any 2024 magic in this team and yet I do still I'm with you I think

I'm going to keep watching because I like watching soto hit I'm loving Ben Genuwing I want to have a bounce back year and to be I think he it would be nice if he was just the permanent fixture DH that weirdly his value is not as high if he's not catching every day but he's not an elite defensive catcher but he could be an elite power bat if he just focused on that so there's stuff to look out for I want McLean to turn it around and to have a really solid rookie season like

I do and to your final question about the fire sale they have to do it and they have a ton of

“pieces that people are going to want you might not realize it but that's how one of the best bullpens in”

baseball they're bullpens being great really Brad's been Williams been okay but like to set up guys have been great no the weaver has been unbelievable mentor has come back healthy and extremely effective they have a lot of arms that teams are going to want at the trade deadline the question is does it make sense to sell all those guys if you are trying to be competitive in 2027 which did you sell Luke weaver who has another year on his deal when he looks like one of the five best

relievers in the story I wouldn't like if unless you're just giving up everything unless you're just opening the door to the full-on rebuild which involves painful decisions that we don't want to talk about I need somebody around next year to get some fucking outs you know I have a couple other important takes the construction hat sucks and the construction best sucks I hate it and it's a stupid home run thing I last year was much more fun and the OMG sign was obviously way more fun

I don't know what we got to do to get the mojo back but part of it is we just got we just got to have a better a better thing maybe you like and I don't know what do you think of the Spidey mask did you see the Spidey masks that I saw that I saw that with Alvey um the other day it's fine like it's cool um just what about this I have an idea just be good at baseball don't worry about what you're putting on when you get back into the dugout after you hit a home run did you see

did they lost for the first time this year for a team with a plus four home run differential it teams

prior to yesterday that had a plus four home run differential and a game were 35 and L again lost again they there was a line drive bunch single over the third basements head that went in actually trickled into the outfield I would believe anything at this point so so fucking painful watching pico arms strong so painful because he is such a dude he is just a baller I can't believe we traded him for three months of hobby bias so painful um it's not going great

okay did I tell you the story about my daughter going to the the game with her uh her school no um so her school's core is saying the national anthem like a month and a half ago I think I may have told the story if I can remember if I did it or not apologies to the listener if I did she's not in the chorus but the school bought a bunch of cheap seats and she wanted to go sit with their friends after they sang and it was horrible what I didn't go because the

playoffs were going on it was horrible whether windy cold and uh all of her friends were like hanging out in whatever lounge they had access to up there and she was like I don't understand I think I want to watch the game from the seats like what it where are you guys going and then then they all wanted to leave and like the sixth inning because it's getting late there's some cranky young children and she was like we're not leaving games not over we're like we're going

to stay for the whole nine and it's right mom like my wife was there with her and finally she

relented because everyone was just miserable and I was like I don't know what I've done and this seems like this seems like I maybe this has gone too far and uh she sometimes runs into my office like when I'm watching games and she'll just be like daddy's sort of hit a sack fly this happened of like you're so cute and the team is so bad but I'm just so happy they are into this it sounds

“like you need to introduce her to the New York Nix that's what we need you know she got into it a”

little bit um because my wife got super into it and they would watch the games and I don't know if it's because I work in it but and she's here's about it too much she doesn't seem to find it as fun a diversion as baseball she did like Bronson but everybody likes Bronson she's like I like that Bronson he's he's tough like yes fine he's but he's he's the newfangled staff where a little kid sees themselves in him you know and being the littlest guy on the court there's something

very powerful about that but at least at least she's into it and um hopefully we got my first pitch

we'll go to we have a couple other games that we're we're trying to do this fairy if you heard

about this fairy no there's a fairy now from Stanford Connecticut right to the stadium basically but

it only runs on select select games and it's like it's like 80 bucks round trip and but it's like oh you know it's like a floating bar that gets you to write to Z I want to try that out so I'm finding I'm finding silver linings but 72 and 101 when I sat down and did the very basic

“math that was like oh man that's like I think that I think the last 12 months of the worst”

team in the sport record wise I think there were some of the rockies in the last 12 months the Rockies who is that's one of the worst organizations in all of professional sports around the world I don't have anything dad except I'm actually I'm happy that I'm in I'm into it enough that I will still flip these games on at least for a few weddings here there to stay in touch with the team I still enjoy it I still like bizarrely like what they were ahead three one last

time I was like maybe this will be the game where we start to six game winning streak you know mad not even enough like I still feel the hope and the fandom so it's still a lot of fun and you got to get through some lumps and it's like the baseball gods are like you sure you sure you want to come back for this here's a blunt line drive squeezed in between six infield errors in one game and yeah you know what I'm coming back for more I have one last

question for you I'm a bold proclamation last week and the aftermath of the next win that I I now officially believe the jets will win the Super Bowl before the Met's win the world series the jets obviously are even more tragic in the last 15 years I know you're not a football expert but what do you think about that proclamation? I don't know anything about football I just know that the jets are like I've been a total laughing stock right and like airing blends the coach and

all I heard on sports stock radio was like maybe he's a good coach maybe he's not I don't know but the team was like dysfunctional didn't they have like no turnovers forced last year something crazy

“like that no I think it was four which was the fewest in league history I don't know if”

it only perceptions who's their quarterback genosmith that's something bad just happening right we will son yeah there was a report about some very bad behavior potentially that has now been kind of debunk but we're not sure I mean the jets are such a laughing stock that if you're telling me you believe in them more than you believe in the bets I I'm very very upset and very sad but also football's weird people teams go from worst to first much more often the one

comparison that I've made between them and I think that I think they both made the mistake of not firing their manager when it was very clear that they're not the right person that Aaron Glenn is ahead coach Carlos Mendoza's the manager seems like they don't got it you know you know when you're watching a team and you're like this team don't got it doesn't seem like they're listening to anybody they're not disciplined and the nicks of course made that change of her dramatic change

before last season moving on from tips bringing in Mike Brown controversial lot of fans didn't like it a lot of pundits thought it was terrible turned out to be one of the best things that's ever happened to the franchise so you gotta take risks and you gotta make changes sometimes but you

know what that's corner never changes you know just two guys be normal we'll be back Sean

Fantasy the big picture with Amanda Dobbins and the new newsletter on sub-sac projections which I was just reading before you came on it's outstanding and it makes me think in a lot of different ways everyone should subscribe to that you're the man thanks for your time and talking about this the spaceball team that is part of our lives thank you Zach and and Gomez All right that's it for today's edition of the Zach Low Show barring news will go on

“be back until next week that's why I said yesterday and then there was news so whatever who knows”

what will happen but probably next week thank you to Mola Dakeel thank you to John Krasinski thank you to Sean Fantasy no thank you to the New York meds through 80 games this season and

thanks as always to Jonathan Mike and Billy on production into you all for listening to and

we're watching the Zach Low Show will see you soon 21 or over in President's like states for Kansas and affiliation with Kansas star casino or 18 and over in President and DC can tuck your way home and gambling problem call 1 in 100 gambler or 1 800 my reset call 1 888 789 777 777 or visit ccpg.org/chat and Connecticut or visit mdgamblinghelp.org and Maryland hope is here visit gambling help line m8.org or call 800 327 50 50 for 24 7 support and Massachusetts or call 1 877 8

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