One Big Question for Every Eastern Conference Team! Plus, Ballmer Apology and Kawhi to the Raptors!

It's mid September, training camp is almost here.

“Michael Pena from the ringer is here for a fun sort of big picture.”

Look at the eastern conference. One big question for all 15 teams. One question that could define each of their respective seasons, whether they're trying to win the championship or whether they're just sort of building from the bottom or in the boxcase or in the bull's case, kind of also rebuilding whatever the nets are doing.

We each wrote one question for each of the 15 teams. We're going to rapid fire, quick hitting through all 15 of them, kind of a nice way to start looking at the season. We're going to start with the Toronto Raptors. Why?

Because Coiliner is finally months later, a Raptor, the trade is done.

Brandon here to me and great. He did go to what is left of the Clippers who, of course, announced over the weekend that they will not be contesting the NBA's penalties. They will just accept them. And for all their pluster about lawsuits and witch hunts, and all of that, they're just

given up and turning tail and eating the penalty and the trade is done. We're going to talk about all of that and what I expect to hear at Port of Governors later today about the Clippers about NBA Europe about expansion, a loaded Zach Low Show to start your week with Michael Pena. That's all coming up now.

Welcome to Zach Low Show. It's made September. I went to get another New York Metz Laws last night. We're not going to talk about that at all for four for the season. It's going great.

Michael Pena is here and we're going to do a fun exercise today. One big question. We each wrote one. Want to piece for all 15 Eastern conference teams. The defining may be small question.

Big question. Whatever you wanted, something that's going to be a pivot point for each team's season.

“We'll do the less next week, Mr. Pena, how are you?”

Fantastic. Thank you so much for having me. We are going to start with the Toronto Raptors. Not because I'm that interested in the Toronto Raptors, or I think the Toronto Raptors are going to win the East, or I try to get some side deals with some businesses in Toronto.

No, not for any of that reason, but because quite Leonard is finally, mercifully, a raptor

under the exact terms that were agreed to months, weeks, years, I don't know, ago. Branding room is a clipper. Greatie dick is a clipper. Two unprotected first round picks from Toronto 31 and 33 are clippers property. Apparently, they're not going to have to forfeit those picks.

And a second round or in a swap. That's all possible because Steve Ballmer released a statement over the weekend or on Monday night, whenever it was, I can't remember saying they are not. After all, they're talk, Michael Pena, about witch hunts, and using every avenue possible to deflect this podcast.

There's nonsense allegations in this penalty that the NBA levied after miscommunication. And this is not. It's a witch hunn. Oh, my god. The lawsuits are going to be flying.

Nope.

They're just going to eat the penalty.

“Maybe secretly hoped that the penalty will get shrunk.”

We'll probably ask Adam Silver about that at Board of Governors today. Can I read you Mr. Ballmer's statement, Michael? Please, please do. For my fellow Los Angeles clippers followers, not sure you're a follower or how many of those there are anymore, but that's just why we'll sign it at line by line.

This has been a very difficult time for everybody associated with the clippers. And for that, I had sincere regrets. This and that. What exactly are this and that? What do you regret?

Not just regret just regret the divides? I want to apologize. That's a nice word to our fans, employees and my fellow NBA team owners for the distraction and distress. This matter has caused for which I accept responsibility as principal owner. What is this matter?

And what are you accepting responsibility for? Just the distraction and the noise too bad? We are committing to put this chapter behind us. We have communicated to the NBA that we are compliant with the penalties assessed by the league, have paid the fine.

That was quick. And are moving forward. Well, there are still disagreements concerning the findings in the report. This is not where I want to focus. Team owners should support not distract.

I don't think I heard anything in there about cat circumvention or like whoops, Gillian Zucker was arranging side deals with four different companies. Did you hear anything in there about that? I did not. It's an extremely vague statement and I appreciate the apology to the fellow owners as well.

I noticed that. Well, I'm sure. I mean, I really suffered through this. My thoughts and prayers have been with them through this entire ordeal and their families in their pets.

Really good. I apologize that you feel bad about the thing that I did apology, not apology.

We will continue to build our team and invest in our community. What kind of investment are you going to make in the, you know what, better not this. The confidence of our fans is our priority. Good luck with that. With our talented roster, I'm sorry, what?

Outstanding staff and clear vision.

“I am certain that we will compete at the highest levels, okay?”

And be an organization our fans can be proud of. Well, good luck to you because if I don't want to think about the clippers, it's that they have a long history of competing at the highest level and being an organization that their fans can be proud of. This is after all the bluster, just a delightfully chicken shit statement.

And I will ask you though, um, why clearly gets off Scott free in all this. He waves a straight kicker. He goes to the Raptors where he wanted to be where Alex McKekney, the last guy who really kept him healthier for a prolonged period of time, is working as a director of whatever he is or the president of whatever he is, I don't get into titles anymore.

He's probably going to sign an extension with the Raptors that is going to be enormous and presumably legal and pay to $700,000 fine, agreed to backdoor deal with the NBA that the clippers seem to gobsmacked by when it happened and it was an end around their own right to take this to arbitration.

“I think Mark Stein is the one who reported over the weekend.”

Maybe it was Jake Fisher, one of them, that there was some resentment among the clippers towards Kowai for how easily he gets to move on. Do you feel bad for the Los Angeles clippers? No, I mean, of course not. I mean, I read the report that 36-page report.

A lot of lying happened, a lot of rule breaking. The fact that they were specifically warned and reminded of the rules after they broke

them with DeAndre Jordan, so they're like a second time offender in all of this.

I have no sympathy whatsoever. I think that frankly getting the two picks from Toronto and the pickswap or whatever is a blessing for them and we'll see what they can do with that. I'm not very optimistic. I think that if I feel bad for anyone, it's for the fans, of course.

I mean, it's the sucks for them, Royalee and I don't know when this team will be relevant again, let alone competitive in any sense, and I don't know what the path is. If you care about your fans, you are a man whose wealth can rise or fall or rise and rise in tens of billions of dollars per day per week per hour, depending on one company's stock price.

Do something for your fans, give them free tickets, give them 70% off their season tickets, do something for your fans. Look, two of the thing, I can hold these two beliefs simultaneously in my head. The why Leonard is a villain in this story. The idea that he knew nothing was going on all my uncles just going rogue, I have no idea

where all this money is coming from, I'm signing documents, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah territory on his podcast is pointed out here, the documents he signed, I don't know where this money is coming from, I apologize on behalf of my bad uncle, complete nonsense, and he is getting off Scott free and it is going to tar his career and his legacy. I can believe that and I can also feel absolutely no pity for the clippers who broke

the rules with the Andre Jordan, who should have reported to the NBA immediately, what coi Leonard was asking for, who should have just flat out said, hey, no, you're not really worth it, but they were so desperate for relevance for a superstar that they've spent a year following around like a stalker fan going to all his games in Toronto that they couldn't say no to him, not before a sign, not once he signed, not after he signed an extension,

they could never say no to him, they could never even tell the NBA what was going on.

They knew exactly what this whole thing was about and that coi ultimately was going to look out for himself, they shouldn't be surprised at what happened, and I still, no one has answered the question, forget the Paul George Shay trade and coi demanding that and should they have done that, like let's leave that over here, no one has ever like answered the question, if they said no, is he really not signing with the clippers, is he going

“to wear the lakers, I don't think he wanted to go to the lakers, is he going back to Toronto?”

I don't know, but anyway, let's move on Toronto has coi Leonard, essentially in place of Brandon and Grim, colossal upgrade and they, it also got some picks, which is not relevant for this season so much other than trade assets and greedy dick who had been surpassed in the rotation by Jacob Walter, Michael Pina, what is your big question for the Toronto Rappers, can Scotty Barnes be the best teammate coi Leonard has ever had, is my question.

And you go down the list of, obviously through coi's career, you have Tim Duck and Manage

and Obley and there, mid to late 30s, you have little Marcus Aldridge, made third team

player in 2019, he's the second leading score on a champion, you have 30 year old Paul

George, made third team all LMBA in 2021, 32 year old Paul George in 2023, all star, another all star team for Paul George, the following year and then you have 35 year old James Harden, who was an all star and third team all LMBA in 2025. And that's pretty much like, can I just give a shout out to NBA champion six time all star soon to be a retired number in Toronto game six year old Kyle Lauer, can I just

just put him in, just put him in the pile, okay yeah for sure, apologies to him, he is a legend, Scotty Barnes is kind of unlike all of these guys and that he's only 25 years old this season, he was an all star last year, he was fifth on defense, a player of the year voting, second team all defense and I'm not one to over react to one playoff series, but I was so impressed by Scotty Barnes in that Cleveland Cavalier series, I just thought he did absolutely

everything played every position at an extreme intensity high energy, made incredible

passes was a great playmaker, if you just look at, you know, obviously the numbers were terrific, he was efficient, and guarded everybody, guarded James Harden, guarded Evan Mobley, helped off Evan Mobley, helped off Jared Allen, clocked up, he was just he was everywhere doing everything and I was kind of blown away by that and I feel like the raptors might not, I mean, they probably still would have made this trade, but I feel like

they were way more bullish and more confident themselves in giving up two first and a pick swap to get Kauai because of what Scotty Barnes did in that series without Brandon and Grimm without a manual quickly, he was just so good and looked like such a super star, such a budding superstar, I'm so excited to see what he can do this year and I think he

“is the key to everything in terms of just becoming the Pippin to Kauai's Jordan this”

season, or like something like a complete equal, if not, if not, if not, he is in the synology, no one is Jordan, but he is he the superior player, that's how exciting it is, I like the framing there because you know, not Kauai is purely additive to the raptors, he enhances everything they already do well from being a low turnover team to being a ferocious, contesting defensive team that forces a lot of turnovers and then adds stuff

that they maybe don't do as well, if he has the same freepoint shooting volume, if he gets the line as much, it's just all gravy, my big question for the raptors is this, is there a world? So they're presumed starting five, is manual, quickly, what am I expecting from the year? Arjay Barrett, Kauai Scotty, Yaka Perto, is there a world in which the raptors swallow hard

“and make a decision that Jacoby Walter should start over either Barrett or quickly?”

I don't see that as likely given their pedigrees respectively or should Colin Murray Boyle's just be the starting center of the raptors and you want to say that you're going to take a hit defensively at the rim and on the glass and maybe you will, the raptors have been much better rebounding wise with Perto on the floor than off, but last year when Scotty and Murray Boyle's are on the floor together, the rebounding was airtight and I just think it's worth asking.

Team number two, we're going to go through divisions now that we started with the raptors. The Boston Celtics, they have been in your backyard for a lot of your life, not anymore, you're in New Yorker now. I will let you lead off. What's your big question about the Boston Celtics who obviously made an absolutely seismic trade breaking up the Jays over the off season?

“This is pretty simple. Will Jacen Tata make an All-N-B-A team?”

I think that for me personally I've just assumed that he would, I think I assume that he will look like himself, but it is a question. It is a question in terms of his ability. Based on what we saw last year when he came back from devastating injury, it is a question of his availability and how many games he will play, obviously making an All-N-B-A team requires playing

in 65, at least 65 games. This was someone who was first team All-N-B-A in four straight

seasons before he ruptured his Achilles. He was top six in MVP and all of those seasons. I just think the whole ball game is if he's not who he was before, you are obviously you've lost Jalen Brown and you're just not going to be as good as you were last season and I don't know what, obviously you were eliminated in the first round. I just think it's everything. If you don't

by missing games seven in that very demoralizing and really conference shifting loss to the sixers that they will have him. I went a little more granular than that and it's just like my

big question is, is the structure undergirding this team? Is it finally going to crack a little bit

and force them to make some changes? By that I mean, I've called them team extreme. So they are a very bizarre team in which they play offense at these absolute extremes. They don't turn the ball over. Well, let's actually, they don't get to the rim and they shoot tons of threes. And as a result, they don't turn the ball over much and they don't get to the line. And bizarrely, their defense turns every opponent into exactly what the Celtics are on offense. They protect the rim,

they don't force turnovers, they don't allow free throws and they can see a shit ton of threes. Most of which are above the break through is actually pretty good at preventing corner threes. You usually see a team play one way on offense and say, that's the most efficient way and try to force the other team to play a different way. The Celtics are just extreme on both ends of the floor in an exactly merry-image way. And it's worked in the regular season. It's won

them a lot of games and who am I to question it and I'm not really. I'm just wondering like at

“some point does that start to wobble a little bit and do you have to sort of and Brad Steven's”

talked about this after the season. We got to get to the rim where we got to pressure the rim. How do you do that when you've swapped ground for George? And yes, Tatum was not a non-factual last year and he's back. I don't know, the answer. I have a part of it is Mitchell Robinson who will enhance their offensive rebound if you can stay healthy and probably get them more free throws just by being hacked. So that's my general question as well as this Peyton picture come off the

bench or start. But we have all year to talk about these teams. Team number three, going down the Atlantic Division. Really, I think the giant of NBA's divisions. These just hallowed institutions. I think the Atlantic is the most hallowed and the southeast is the least

held. The Philadelphia 76ers, I will go first. Okay. My big question for the sixers is just quite

simply, this is a team who allowed a ton of threes, a ton of shots at the rim, defended much better with Joel and Beat on the floor despite his physical limitations. The teams don't go to the rim as much. They shoot poorly from more poorly from all over the place. Is that enough of a

“road map for this team to be a competent defensive team? I think offensively they're going to be”

fine. Yes, they've got four super high usage players, plus VJ. Come, I get that they're all going to miss time. They'll figure it out. They're all really smart. I think the defensive issues, now they were also a 26th in defensive rebounding last year and no better within Beat on the floor. LeBron's a good rebounder, but he's old. Everyone's focused on offense and how the ball is shared. I'm going to be just as focused if that more so on the other end of the floor. Can this team be a

good enough defense to win for the first time in Joel and Beat's career multiple playoff series?

I think yeah, that's a great question and a huge concern with just how this team is made up right now. My question is pretty simple. How many games will they're opening night starting five actually play? I think that they need a lot of time to develop real chemistry. I have respect for all of the individual players here. I just think that the fit is one that requires so much sacrifice.

“And I think it's a delicate balance to load manage LeBron and load manage Joel and Beat”

throughout the regular season to make sure that they're fresh for the playoffs. And also have everybody understand their role when everyone is together. So I'm just really interested to see how often everyone will be available to play. I think it's a huge, huge deal in today's league. I'm not sure you can bet on that although you can bet on everything I guess. So I haven't looked it in over under. The starting five's obviously Tyreys V.J. LeBron, Jalen Brown,

Joel and Beat. There are 82 games in a regular season. Joel's last three seasons he has played 39, 19, and 38 games respectively. I will set the over under for how many how many games that lineup appears and maybe did not even start. Just how many games is that lineup play in together? I will set it at 22.5. That's going to be my over under. That's a great. I was going to say 20. I was going to say 20. Yeah, you're right there. So that's like, that's the whole, that's everything for the six

or side thing. I think that that starting five. I actually like their depth a little bit more than the last time we talked about them. But KCP, KCP, baby, Simon, bylon, you've got some guys.

season is foreign and having those guys together, I think is really important. And if we get there,

I do think the other big question. If we get there is will this be the first sort of high wattage

possible championship, can I know you're down on them? But let's pretend things go really right. That has a superstar resting plan in place for the postseason with Joel and Beat. Chris Ryan was like dead on when he talked about how boy, they should just sit and beat for game one against the next, can see the game come all out in game two. I actually think that that was a topic of discussion within the sixers. I don't think it was ever close to like being a real thing. But I don't

I don't think that idea was viewed as outlandish. I'll just say that. Okay, next team, I will let you go first as we get to your hometown. Brooklyn, that's the hottest ticket in town, baby. What is

“your big question for the Brooklyn and man? Um, do they have their back court of the future?”

Yeah, God, they fucking better. Michael, what go ahead? Yeah, good. Yeah, men and McCail Brown Jr. You know, winning games is important for the next this year. Obviously, they don't want to be a laughing stock. They made the trade for Julia's Randall. They don't want to be relegated, et cetera. But I just think like the priorities should be the development of these two together. Play them as much as you can. See what you have. I like

you go or a lot. I'm bullish on his career trajectory. And it's not something that you would

hang a banner for, but he did make second team. Somerlie, which was really great. And he looked

awesome. Not only are we not hanging a banner for that. I'm deleting that from the podcast. You're just not your bands. Your band from mentioning any, it's let alone second team Somerlie. But fine. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. He did shoot pretty well last season. 38.7% behind the arc in December, 47.2% in January. Showed that he can play off the ball answer to some questions there. Looks bulky here, because getting into the paint, finishing in the paint at the rim is a big thing that they have

as an organization for him as he develops. I don't know nothing about McCail Brown Jr. So I can't really say anything, but he was drafted high. And yeah, so those are the two, there's other

“things with this team, but those are the two players. I think that are just the most important building”

blocks as they, they build something respectable in Brooklyn. Yeah, that is the thing to watch for a team that was 30th on offense last year and 25th on defense. So quite bad. But I mean, related to that, you mentioned Joeman finishing in the paint. He's three point shooting was way ahead of scheduling made a ton of tough shots, a clutch shots rather in, for what past is clutch games for the net's. Yeah, he's big, tall, has great vision, has moxie and sponk. Like I really really like him.

He's got to get to the paint and finish more and that will unlock his passing. My big question was kind of related to that, like, they're a little, you know, I talked at the beginning of last season how you could see Charlotte building something interesting, like structurally based on the kind of shots they were taking, the kind of shots they were allowing, the sort of tent pole, like, and if they ever started like making more shots, executing a little better, like there was something here,

the nets are like a junior, junior, junior, junior, junior varsity version of that, which I mean, they took the seventh, most threes last year and the eighth, most shots at the rim. And the

third fewest mid-range shots, that all combines to the fifth highest expected fuel goal percentage in

the league, expected being the key word because they actually had the worst fuel goal percentage in the league. But if they can now that now they're introducing a whole host to new guys, right? Like McHale Brown Junior is going to get all the runway he needs is probably going to start. Julius Randall is a totally different kind of player than they've had. Darron Sharp's going to be their starting center. I don't know how that ecosystem changes. Like similarly on defense, they allowed the third

fewest threes in the league. They allowed the second most shots at the rim, which is bad, and I'm not sure how they're going to defend the rim with this team. But clearly, Jordi Fernandez has something like, "Here are the things we believe in. Can they make some shots to turn belief into productivity?" That's my big next question. The last Atlantic division team, the defending champion, New York, NYX. They have the highest over under now on Fandwell and Eastern Conference.

“I think that's justified. I would pick them to win the East as of today if we were making picks.”

We are not what? I'll go first on the next. There's this idea that they struck lightning in a bottle in a playoff. I heard you and Howard talking about this on the ringer in B.A. Show. How do we digest this team turning from a 53-win team? That was top 7 on both ends of the floor. They had the hallmarks of a real contender, but then became just an absolute

to French and all of that. That is two separate questions really for me. Number one, they clearly

caught a rhythm. In an ethical, you know when you see it, you can feel it, you can't touch it, but you can feel it locked into this is the ideal way for us to play on offense. This is the ideal way that touches our spread. That possessions are divided between transition, half court, threes, brunch and cat passing from the elbow like they just found it. This is going to be a pacers question too. Can they sustain it? Can they grab onto it and hold it and find it again

when they really need it? But the other thing was, you look at their defense. They allowed a ton of threes and average amount of shots at the rim. In the playoffs, they had one of the worst expected

appointed field goal percentages in the league, but they're appointed shot 32% on threes, under 40%

on mid-range shots, and just so, so at the rim, and now their rim defense is going to be a little downgraded going from Mitchell Robinson to Andre Drummond. How real was the postseason defense? I get what the numbers are, the numbers are saying maybe not as real as it might seem,

“given the level of opposition and the shooting quality and all that. I think the truth is somewhere”

in between, it looked pretty goddamn real to me, cat has shown he can level up defensively when it matters. And those three wings together, heart and Adobe bridges are just polacious covering ground protecting everything, but I am interested to see if they, if Mike Brown decides, hey, our defense allowed too many threes this year, prioritizing shutting off the rim, or if that's how he wants to play again and how real that was. That's my

long-awaited next question. Woozers. Yeah, I mean, are they the team we saw on the regular season of the Juggernaut we saw on the playoffs was one of mine. Also, just how much will Mitch Robinson's absence be felt? I think is the big question here. He was the longest tenured player on the team. Most of their best five men units had him in them. Their offensive rebound rate went from 37 to 27 when he was on versus off the court. He is a better defender by a demonstrable margin

than Andre Drummond, who is coming into replacing. He is a better offensive rebounder. He is just he's got great chemistry with Jalen Brunson and if you look at Jalen Brunson's on-offs with Mitchell Robinson, Brunson is more efficient. He just looks very comfortable with Mitch and they have just a great two-man game chemistry with their DHOs or Pick and Roll. This is the finals and game five but this guy had six offensive rebounds in game five of the finals and that was a game.

“I think we all forget because of just what happened and they won and everything. But if Carl”

Anthony Towns goes down with any type of injury during the regular season, I just think it could be trouble-ish for the next and there are questions as to whether or not you- because Towns had two points in game five, he fouled out. It's the injuries but he's been relatively healthy for a couple of season now but the foul control and the playoff's revered. It's had again for him in the finals and his minutes went down to 22 and 25 in the less two-man. Right so I just wonder if we see more

OGN and OB or Josh Hart at the five sort of thing during the regular season because they have to play that way and what effect that has on their bodies because this team had great health through the postseason that was one of the reasons they won the title and were able to kind of sustain that chemistry and that lightning that you spoke of. So I just think that Mitch Robinson

“is a really important and really good player and I'm interested to see how they replace him.”

The rest of the bench is back. I'm expecting Dioruara to be part of the rotation at least the start of season and to be potentially helpful. That's the next. All right let's take a quick break with switch divisions to the southeast division, the powerhouse, southeast division coming up. All right onto the southeast division we will start with the revamped Miami heat adding Janice to Tantacupo and exchange for a bunch of players and a bunch of draft picks.

Michael Pena your big question for a team that played a strange unique style last year that kind of

worked and a team that hasn't had a great regular season in a long time and finally got sick

of missing on stars and said to help with their we're getting Janice we'll figure out the rest later. What is your big Miami heat question? How different is their offensive system with Janice and Tantacupo on the floor? I mean last year as you said it was it was singular in a sense and very fast and allergic to pick and rolls and do they was that like intentional just because they didn't have a top 10 top 15 offensive player or was it because

they just thought that the randomized attack was to their benefit regardless of who is on the team.

as they can but you know you want to have this guy make a lot of decisions and put pressure on the rim and run your inverted pick and rolls with Tantacupo Jr and Clay Thompson in a more like mechanical offense scheduled offense and so that's kind of I'm just really interested to see how different they are aesthetically schematically on the offensive end because there are some issues that I'm sure you're going to touch on. They were 20th and threes last year and he

had quite a journey with the three points shot on both ends of the floor. They've tried taking a ton of them, they've tried taking fewer of them and the same has happened on defense and they were 16th and shots at the rim. You would think Janice by himself increases both of those in very healthy ways. Just driving kick threes they have a have cobbled together between clay and Gordes in Tim Hardaway Jr and some of their young guys like a pelal arson hits more shots

Bam obviously was shoot more threes this year. They've coupled together a decent amount of

“catch and shoot 3 point shooting and I think defensively look I mean if Janice and Bam are healthy”

and that's been an if for Janice particularly at go time in the playoffs I think they just have enough tools in the box you add David on Mitchell and Drew Wiggins. I'll be a very good defensive team. I don't know if they'll be like top three but they'll be should be top 10 top eight something like that. My question is do they have enough off the dribble shot creation around their two big guys and particularly enough pull up jump shooting? I don't remember the last time you might

have to go back to the Marcus Cousins Anthony Davis Pelicans were the two best off the dribble creators on a team were big guys in Janice and Bam and I realize Janice is sort of a unicorn positionally but they all they're pull-up shooting went out the door in either free agency in Norman Powell's case or Tyler Hero in in the trade in Yakuachunas who will see what he ever becomes but you know he had a vehicle we'll see but you know maybe Drew Smith levels

up maybe Mitchell levels up but that's sort of how they figure out that offense and how they can defend how well they can defend when one in Bam and Janice sort of on the bench and staggering those minutes those are my big key questions. I like this team more than I did we'll do an over under in a couple of these values to steam more than I did two months ago. Okay, the weirdo

“Atlanta Hawks are next. You want to leave off with the Hawks? What was your big Hawks question?”

Obviously last year lose to the Nixon at first round only team that took two games off the Nixon

the playoffs got out of the tray young business took off when CJ McCollum entered starting lineup in places Zachary Risa Sheh who is now a maverick and added Kingston Fleming's in the offseason resigns pretty much everyone from last year's team that went on a big time run late in the season fueled by a very easy schedule but nonetheless they blew those teams out and were competitive against the Nixon the playoffs. You're a big Atlanta Hawks question.

How often will Dyson Daniels and Lou Dort share the floor and can they share the floor and co-exist something offensive end is a question I'm going to be looking at with the Atlanta Hawks this season. Their offense was very good last year with Dyson Daniels on the floor and he kind of operated sort of as like a small ball five he would set screens, slip screens into the paint make decisions out of the short roll. He got into the paint a ton he would push in transition.

He would drive and kick as a cis rate skyrocketed. He was awesome. I mean a lot of people focused on the outside shooting. He was he was a really really good offensive player offensive rebound and he just found ways to kind of impact the game and he did that with the benefit of

shooting around him. Basically everyone on that team could shoot a kung mo jail in Johnson. McCollum

obviously Nikela Xander Walker even Zachary Risa Sheh when he was on the court. He'll knock down some spot up corner threes and if you throw Lou Dort in there Lou Dort over the last three years shot 38.4% behind the three-point line which is definitely respectable but it's just he's not

“worried about in the same way. I mean teams will let him shoot I think and so”

I'm just interested to see because if those two can co-exist offensively then defensively you have these line-up combinations where you can have Dort and Daniels and Nikela Xander Walker all in the court and I really really want to see that happen and so that's that's my big question for the Linox decision. Yeah it's related to mine which was what was this defense real that played the last 45 games of the season because they became like I think they finished 10th overall in defense

they were probably top seven over the last half of the season. They were first in forcing turnovers

which when you look at the personnel is like they're getting a lot of contributions from everybody because they're like a Congo is an okay isn't pretty good rebounder but he's not a great defensive rebounder right and they and they allow a lot of shots at the rim and got away with it again like getting rim protection from non-center supplementary guys like Dyson Daniels like Jill and Johnson can they find that same level of defense was it partly a flu and part of finding

that same level of defense is going to be the question of can we play Dort and Dyson Daniels and Jill and Johnson who like you said has improved as a 3.1 shooter but is not treated as one how much can we play them all together? I'm not even sure they're certain who they're going to

“start to start the season and I don't I think we get a little too fixated on starting five”

but your rotation does flow out of who starts again my best guest on paper is Nikhil Agsander Walker Dyson Daniels door Jalen Johnson and a Congo so starting that trio I talked about right up the bat moving CJ McCollum back into a bench roll but you could talk me into a whole lot of different possibilities they also signed a acquired air and wiggins away from the thunder I think it'll help them they have high hopes from O. Gay a renewal this is a Zubi guy they drafted

so their power forward depth is interesting to me but it's more like hey was that defense thing real or how how did they actually do that? Like they don't look like a great rebounding team and they became a really great rebounding team so that's the Hawks. All right Washington wizards I'm going to go first on the Washington wizards. 29th in offence last year 30th in defense so close to what I call bobcatting which is being 30th last on both ends of the floor only

the next featured offence in future shooting spared them and they weren't bad by the numbers at pretty much literally everything that you could be bad at except they didn't allow a lot of three's on defense so congratulations then for that they were they were horrible free throw wise both

ends of the floor they never got there and they felt everybody they were horrible turnover team

they're horrible rebounding team they didn't get to the room on offence and no defense allowed more shots at the room than the wizards poor Alex are challenged more shots than anyone at the basket on defense and buy a country mile and did okay at it and so that's my big question like we consider and focus on which young guys develop how exciting defense it is you know Anthony Davis is here around long term to see realize he's on the wizards as you want to be on the wizards to try young and

floaters and free throws I want my big question is like do they start winning some of the toughness categories like do they start winning some of the territorial battleground around the rim do they start winning some of the battles to get to the line part of that is sarin Davis playing together which is is interesting to me are there nights where sarkin still guard the fives and Anthony Davis can order out on some wings in the corner that aren't doing much like how do they do they

“mess with some zone like I think that's interesting but like you know this team will have”

its moments of kind of high flying the young guys are flying around doing cool stuff can they get tough and win some of these sort of like in the paint mock battles that's my wizards question interesting I am I'm pretty down on the wizards just I just I hate how this team is constructed I hate wow so much of I do I just I I so my question is just what if Anthony Davis is healthy and good I talked about this a little bit with Howard and our most intriguing figures pod that you referenced

I don't know I'm just going to the season I kind of forget he's on the team a lot when I think about them he's 33 or 33 years old the extension is kind of out there he's kind of on an expiring

contract is a player option for 62 million dollars next season but if he if he plays and he's he's

like looks like in all star just what does that do for his trade value he just to me he just he makes there's a lot of guys in this team who make no sense in Washington and and I feel like he's one of them and I like are they going to trade him what's the what is his trade value

“these are just when I think about the wizards that's kind of what it is and that's sad because they”

have age of bonds and the focus should be on him but it just doesn't feel that way to me I mean Chris Middleton is on this team I can't get over that so that's my question about the Washington wizards and that it is kind of a fun mad lives of guys that are on the team that you forget about like oh dehydrated yeah it's about his way to the wizards trade man who has sneakily like one of

the best step back for his in the league just never plays in song on the wizards they are an

interesting test of the relegation zone and the new lottery rules because for the entirety of NBA history you would have said there's just no universe in which a team in the marvelous stage

of paying tray on any hundred and ten million dollars or whatever would cost to keep the

entity down for the foreseeable future but there's also no benefit anymore and in fact some harm

“tier lottery odds and being abysmaly bad which is what happened when it happened I think if one”

or both of those guys were no longer on the team obviously tray young is locked up under a three plus one that was preposterous the moment they signed it so they're an interesting test case in in that regard but you're right I think this is a discovery year for them in a lot of ways like buff character are you part of our core or not the law coolabali are you part of our core or not he's extension eligible I would be kind of pessimistic about his extension um will Riley was

last year's late season scoring spree just a product of there's no one around or is there's something here that we can we can build around or like you can be part of our core summer so I think it's a little bit of that but yeah just like I'd like to see some progress as like a real basketball team competing in real basketball ways I think we have we have two more Southeast

“Division teams left the Orlando magic I will let you go first on the Orlando magic”

this is just the existential question that they've been dealing with for a little while now will they break up Palabancaro and Franz Wagner we have 5200 minutes of evidence that this is not really working when they play together the offense is bad last season when they played together with Desmond Bane who was the guy they pushed all the chips into acquired to kind of be the connective tissue their offense was bad and I just you know something's got a bud

here the the the third highest payroll in the NBA as it stands right now 32 million dollar

luxury tax bill and they have not won a playoff series I don't even recall the last time they won a playoff series it was a very long time ago and they have no playoff series victories obviously in this era with these two guys and so they change the coach brought in Sean Sweeney he's fantastic but I just they made like no personnel moves in the off season and it's just kind of a bet on health and luck and but I I don't think that these two guys together and I like I like

them individually I do I just don't think that even at just 25% of the cap of peace that it makes sense when you're paying everybody else and we haven't even paid Anthony Black yet so yeah that's just they're going to trade one of these guys and shake this up is the question this is the crossroads season probably a year or two late to be across road season but because of all the injuries the discord has suffered and that ban has only been there one year after they traded

for first round picks to get him this is the crossroads season forced in part by Anthony Black's

salary time table and you know we'll see what they learn in in defense of the Franz Palo duo which as you said they have not they have had great moments together and they may well win that Detroit series where they're up to be one and they're blowing the shit out of a game six fair front if Franz doesn't get hurt and that's who they probably do win and if Franz doesn't get hurt they have not won a playout series since 2010 by the way they have a certain size defense

to them just those two together that is interesting and shot making ability in like in the mock-up of a playout series they were you mentioned that their offense was not very good when band Palo and Franz were together it was like I'm looking at the numbers out clean in the last they were plus four per 100 possessions with those three on the floor offense was like about league average for a trio which again is is you'd like to be better than that but yeah for the magic league average is like

you you based on a banner for that and as you know doubt no in the very limited minutes when Sugs and Wendok harder junior were out there that's starting five was was one of the best lineups in the league now it was for so little time that is that does that even matter my big question for them was we all know the offense the fit and Franz and Palo even when the team is functioned just well enough on offense for their defense to carry them

“I think it's fair to say they have not really amplified each other on offense which is if you're”

going to pay two guys the max you need them to kind of amplify each other and so this year we had tested that my big question was this team sunk to 13th and defense last year and that just simply is not good enough given the limitations of their offense can Sean Swaney who's something of a defensive guru can he get them to rediscover the sort of tenacity they had the season before and before that under Jamal Mosley and are there schematic adjustments that can help

that like your identity just can't be effort effort effort effort effort effort and it's got to say more than that and a couple of areas like they're kind of they they allowed it in a

they don't have a great rim protecting center when do a card of juniors more of just like a workman like semi-switchy rebound guy box out guy and it should do see if they can get some some better rim protection and how that happens I don't know I mean you mentioned the stagnancy of the roster of Booch was really on the addition

related he might be their third string center and then like on defense they foul at everyone

all the time and they have for years and they were 26th and free throw it allowed that sure just very bad the pistons were 30th the pistons at least got the benefit of we forced of our turnovers in anyone in the league so yeah we reach in foul but we get the benefit of you of torpedoing your possessions in getting out in transition this was an average team at forcing turnovers last year and you can't you can't foul that much without deriving any

benefit from doing it and so there's something to be there too so this team is not going anywhere serious unless they can get back to being like a top eight defense so that's my question the Charlotte Hornets are last southeast division team

August 1st obviously lamello's gone that's the big sort of ticket item

Kobe white it's newly extended we'll start in his place now's read we'll start in miles bridges place they have a whole pile of dudes I mean this team is like 15 guys deep I have no idea what their rotation is going to be outside they're starting five minutes to think shooter would be involved race and Allen will be involved but did that for us so Neil funny Smith see on James grant will he's on and I'm not not not to mention the young guys they

“just drafted Steinbach I think should play right away my big question zooming out for all the”

attention on the mellow and the increased burden on Brandon Miller and Conconquinipple and Kobe White in those three on and the mellow off was a very limited sample issue the team played well but we're talking like less than 100 minutes overall Miller on Conquinipple on ball off was not good for the Hornets they really missed ball shot creation so that's one my I'm going granular more granular

than that this team was second in offensive rebounding rate and second in defensive rebounding rate

last year some of that is scheme and how Charles Lee wants to play and keep people back can they maintain being an absolutely elite rebounding team with the slight downgrade from a mellow ball who's a very good rebounder to Kobe White who's just an okay rebounder like how how did they even obviously we should be about they just each rebounds particularly on offense but like how did now's reads not a great rebounder there was now's bridges can can they I mean that's

like when you're second on both ends and rebounding your start it's like you have five extra possessions in the game basically maybe even more than that can how did they do that and can they maintain that Steinbach is a great rebounder will see how much you play is that's my question yeah I mean it was the day about the total freak and Steinbach I don't didn't watch anything

“of them in college but I think was he like a historically good college rebounder great great rebounder”

yeah so yeah that's a great question mine is mine is pretty broad it's will they have an all-star this season like can Brandon Miller take a leap and be more of a name brand two way wing can he be more efficient inside the arc if you look at his on-offs with ball last season his usage went way to way up he took less efficient shots so way more from the mid range and his shooting percentages went way down his field goal percentage at the rim was 73% with

lamello 53% without lamello so that's that's noticeable and so can he can he be can he be an all-star this season and I love him and I love con connipple as well and I thought con connipple had a case last season to be an all-star led the league in threes led the league in catch and shoot points he is so good and I'm really interested to see as you you said like who is going to pick up the slack on ball there's Kobe white there's I mean Dennis shooters on this team

“but then there's Brandon Miller and there's con connipple I think those two”

assuming more on ball responsibility whether it be you know just D.H. shows raised flying out of the corner whether it's standard pick and rolls whether it's like we're going to isolate Brandon Miller which is not really like how they play but I'm just interested to see how the off-end shifts without lamello in a way that it can be hyper efficient stay tuned on Brandon Miller I think he might be my single most intriguing player in the league

for this coming season so I'm going to have more on him in the future couldn't be more excited to see how he develops I'm not saying I wouldn't be more excited that he's going to all of a sudden be an all-end be a player actually I think he belonged on the

think he fell short of eligibility either way but this is a big big moment for him

and for conn. By the way and what point does the does the ringer spotify right to make jokes about bill giving conn a ride back to the hotel do I we've reached the end of that can we not do that anymore is it too stale is it too old because you throw in the seat belt comments and I just these jokes just write themselves and they're two they're two like hammer nail obvious but every time con comes up I just think of him

in the passenger seat you know being like guys you're having to grab me that's really

“doesn't even have seat belt buckle like we're making some nice I think we're all small talk. I”

feel like this is a good media day question for conn cannibals that someone needs to ask for sure other words media to absolutely and no there I think that the jokes can go on. The jokes may go on okay let's take our last break and we will do the central division the hallowed central division five rapid fire questions for those teams we have five more teams in eastern conference the central division and we will start with the team that had a sort of

lost year last year we really saw the last real version of this team in game seven of the NBA

finals in 2025 the Indiana Pacers. Michael Pena you can go first what is your big question

for the 2026 Indiana Pacers 2026 27 the NBA. How does it be to Zuba's fit with Tiree's Haliburton? What does he do to their offensive rhythm? I don't think it'll be an issue I think he is he is better in a lot of ways than Miles Turner obviously he does not shoot threes but he makes quick decisions smart decisions out of the short roll he can post stuff a little bit he can run

“the floor and seal his man or whoever is back there trying to slow him down and so I think that”

there will be a bit of a clunky adjustment period but I don't think it'll be a long one and I just feel like this is this is the team right here can they sort of make him fit into how they played before without changing too much of what made them so special to kind of recapture the magic that they had a couple seasons ago. You said many words that are just ductile perfectly with my question you said rhythm and recapture the magic and I talked about it with the nicks this

team maybe even more than the nicks just found that holy paradise of just stemming from Haliburton and the sort of frantic fast but also intuitive way he plays and how fast the ball moves they all found a way to find the right spaces around him to play at his pace to play with his sort of calculated randomness I guess and they found Urbana for a while part of that manifested in like

“the greatest run of crunch time shooting maybe in the history of basketball from one player in”

Tyre's Haliburton and Aaron Newsmith in one game in which he had an out-of-body experience but it was even broader than that and given that they have now switched from a spacing center to an interior oriented center in Ibiza Zubats given that the orchestrator of all of that is coming back from an Achilles tear can they maybe not in the regular season although winning enough games to be a

top 16 is going to be critical for everybody in this conversation can they if they get into the

playoffs find that sweet spot again and part of that is the Zubats question you know the paint belonged to Pascal Siakum it belonged to the mid-range artistry of Andrew Nemhart and teaching McConnell off the bench TJ McConnell kind of added drop-off last year he's a big part of what is kind of a eye of the beholder bench like Calibre Obitopin will see Ben Shepherd up and down you know the backup center spot Jay Huff or be counting on him um Jaris Walker here this Walker like

will he get minutes we'll see um kind of approve it year for him and now the paint is shared with Davietz Zubats and Pascal Siakum has become a pretty good spot up group one shooter good enough we'll see but also they're both very clever players and how they can sort of navigate those dead zones around the baseline and the in the middle of the paint and you're clever interior passers um they can play off of each other they can run you know four or five pick and roll with

Siakum and Zubats together you can do all sorts of different things to sort of adapt to this new spacing reality um the other thing that a part of the rhythm that the Pacer's had is they were regular season and play us and absolutely crazy elite shooting team from all over the floor just yeah instantly outperforming they're expected fuel goal percentage because

playoffs part of that was from those kind of short mid-range spots floater range and in some cases long

twos they were like unbelievable halibut non-floaters is 53 percent. Nemhart is 47 percent

and about that on long twos. Siakum is mid to high 40s Zubats last year was 53 percent on short twos like outside the restricted area but not long twos that floater range that was 99 percent tile that kind of cleverness with hook shots and flip shots and good interior passing maybe with combined with better defense and rebounding the miles turner gives you you know could could maybe and also this team has been a horrible offensive rebounding team partly by choice right my house turners

a spacing center transition defense all that 29th last year 29th year before Zubat can bring that. So can they fit all that stuff in but find that sort of just the balls moving the balls flow and everybody knows where to be that magic that only happens to certain special teams that's my question okay anything else on Indiana? No I'll just say real quick Zubats impacting the offensive glasses and other things but I feel like having his body to set off ball screens can mitigate some

of the spacing a little bit wide pin downs that sort of thing where he's outside the paint and he lets guys kind of attack it off the dribble. The Detroit pistons ninth on offense second on defense still have not resigned there's starting synergy on durin I still expect that to be done. I am not I will believe he'll take the qualifying offer at when I see it it's just you know you throw

200 million bucks in front of someone I don't think they're taking the qualifying offer but we'll see

I could have gone two different ways on this but I will go with offensively one of these two things has to give and obviously part of this is linked to the lack of his a proven secondary creator around Kate Cunningham that everyone is fixated on obviously they hope that durin and a sartomson can both grow a little bit as playmakers off screens off

“handouts whatever but I think for this team to even maintain what it did last year not necessarily”

in terms of win totals but in like playoff equity we got the game seven in the second round right you can't be 23rd in turn over rate and Kate is a big offender and 29th in three point attempts like if those two things are in that area again combine with the fact that I will see if their defense drops off at all without Isaiah Stewart and with more kind of shooters in the rotation Isaiah Joes here hurters back etc we'll see if they can maintain their

number two rate of defense they allowed the lowest three point full go percentage in the league and the second lowest shooting percentage at the rim like can they maintain that that's a tall order but 23rd in turn over 29th in threes I understand that Kate is overburden and the rest of the team is pretty young and that is a recipe for turnovers I understand that they're not a great they're not a good 3 point shooting team they're not even a mediocre one and so and they want

to own the paint and be tough and big and physical one of those two things has got to go up toward the garage yeah this is very similar to my question which is where will they finish in 3 point rate last days and as you said they were 29th in 3 point rate they were 20th in

“nongarbage time 3 point percentage so to be taken seriously as a contender I think you need to”

be a better shooting team and if you look at the actions that were made by the front office over the summer they would agree with that so you know they add Isaiah Joes who is one of the best movement shooters in basketball they add John Collins who is an excellent corner 3 point shooter and actually pretty good non-corner last season I'm glad you brought him up because Tobias here is out John Collins in is one of the sneaky interesting moves that any good team

has made in the off season because I don't think John Collins is regarded as like a winner

around the NBA actually have been always higher on John Collins than at most people I I over indexed

for sure on the Hawks 2021 playoff run where I thought he just sort of dug in and decided okay maybe I want to be a 22 point game score and catch lob dunks and maybe that's not my fate right now maybe after rebound and play defense and switch and do the dirty work and still get 14 again I loved that player he's kind of been lost at sea in different places in the last three or four

“years I think thought he was going to start with the clippers and didn't end up starting all that”

much I'm very curious to see how he does in Detroit and would not be surprised if a month into the season they're like oh wow John Collins is like one of the like right spots of the off season

think he's a really good fit here and I think he's a a wonderful compliment offensively two

kid cutting him in that he can space the floor and he's content doing so and he's also someone who can set a screen dive to the rim and space the floor vertically and he's he's more dynamic than to buy

“a terrace in that way so I think he's a really good fit offensively but yeah so I just think like the”

three point ray with him I say a job you know technically they have Tory and Prince I think that was like a sneaky Tory and Prince Gary Harris addition with carousel overt going out I don't think that a lot of people cut onto that one but that happened and those are spot up three point shooters I don't I think you're correct I don't think a lot of people cut out to that one if you go to a party this weekend I would not recommend starting a conversation with anybody about the Gary Harris

Carouselvert Tory events on that one yeah I think you'll get a lot of my experience and if you do mean someone who's like I've been dying to talk about this for like the entire summer no one no one realizes Carouselvert is on the bus I think that person is needs to be in its institutionalized I agree with you and it's probably me they recently Kevin Herder who was banged up but is a shooter

“and Duncan Robinson is still around so I think that they have they will be more committed to”

I mean just with Isaiah Joe and Duncan Robinson if you kind of obviously will have to stagger those

guys but you'll always have like an elite movement shooter on the court I think that's really

important you know running the ghost screen actions that he was so successful with SGA and okay see so yeah I just think they need to shoot more threes and they've recognized that and my other the other question is just like personalizer they're gonna make a big trade to add that guy who can be the secondary ball handler they have all their picks they have some contracts that's the that's the other question but on the court with what we have it's three point shooting and I enjoyed

Giovanni Greenless you're too he's shot pretty well yeah very well from the corners just again not on supra volume Ron Holland will be interested to see if he is on the pistons in a year

or if they pick up his options going forward I'm not convinced that that's a lock

they're getting pretty expensive yeah we'll see and Paul Reed will get to cook I think and what that means as far as John Collins is a screen and dive guy we'll see but you know they're over under 48 and a half there's still regard to this a top echelon team in the east by the odds I think that's fair the Cleveland Cavaliers I will let you meet off your big questions for the Cleveland Cavaliers who obviously made one of the perhaps more impactful trades of the offseason

acquiring Peyton Watson in a three-team sign-in trade that's at max truce a core player on their team over to the clippers and some draft equity to the Denver nuggets Peyton Watson the at least the idea is for him to be the sort of 3 and D stopper type that they've been trying to get for years and years cycle through the Andre Hunter etc your big question for the Cleveland Cavaliers Ken Hardin Mitchell Watson mobiley Allen be the best five-man unit in the NBA is my question

not saying that that's gonna happen but that's the question and why as you said Watson is on paper sort of the missing puzzle piece the two way wing I think he's better guarding you know like point guards and then will alleviate a lot of the responsibility that would fall on James Hardin who cannot do that or done of a Mitchell who probably does not want to do that but he's just like a tenacious defender he shot 41% on a decent volume on three's last year and can do stuff you

know attacking the rim with the ball in his hands that he showed he won player the week in January obviously when Yokeitch was hurt and I'm just high on him I like him a lot I thought that that contract was fine that he got and I think that the nuggets will miss him but I think like when I asked that question of you know can this be the best five-man unit a lot of that is because

“the depth on this team is low key not looking great and I think that for this team to be”

the true you know contender that they they aspire to be they need to have like a really good like knockout punch from the jump and a good closing five and just something that they can rely upon and that's what they're clearly hoping for with this five-man unit and so that's that's the question for me so I'm just going to pre-answer your question and say no it can't be the best five band in these because I just think I think it'll be fine I think it'll be fine I think it'll be

a traditional paint found we'll see how how sort of wide mobile gets to develop his game

“we've been waiting on that yeah it just I mean this team was a really good off there were six”

and offence last year and they got better with hard and they were only 15th and defense and they got worse with hard and which is exactly what you would expect so they're a good offensive team they're big four last year hard and Mitchell and the two bigs was awesome in the regular season and minus four per 100 possessions in the playoffs and it just got clunky and I even as the broader question then a broader version of the same question which is can they like figure out who should

play with who and how often it just feels like the lineup questions here are a little bit more fraught than they are with other contenders and more fraught than you would think given the raw talent in that starting five you talked about like are we all in on the two bigs playing together or are we going to be all in on staggering them which they've mostly been all in on that which

“makes sense and last year they settled on hard in partnering with Allen and Mitchell partnering”

with mobile the hard in Allen combos were awesome in the playoffs the Mitchell mobile combos were not good in the playoffs and part of that was I was kind of disappointed with down to Mitchell's passing in the playoffs when it really got tough for them and then like if that lineup isn't great shakes you mentioned the bench like does Sam Merrill have to play more just someone who really will shoot and doesn't need the ball and can he play with Mitchell and hard in and can the team

survive on defense. Jail and Tyson to be as one of the big X factors in the league I was kind of really pleased with his development last year as a shooter as an all around player maybe he's part of the answer I just feel like maybe because of the personnel the two traditional bigs together hard in as such a ball dominant player next to another ball dominant player I just feel like the combination stuff is a little more fraught with them good problems to have but as you

said like their depth gets pretty thin pretty fast and so we'll see who does that leave us with oh boy okay we're down to two teams the Chicago Bulls and the the walkie bucks who will start with the bulls I don't know man like new coach so who knows what their offense looks like like and they're who knows what they believe in as as a team right last year they played at a turbo fast pace

they took the second most shots at the rim the eighth most threes and the fewest mid-range shots

Michael Pena they had the number one expected field goal percentage in the league because of their shot selection they did not have the number one actual player the worst in that um how does that identity shift with Thiago Splitter with Norm Powell coming in uh with the kind of fun starting five presumably of giddy uh Powell Bouselis Caleb Wilson and Nick Clarks and that's kind of fun

“I don't like I think it seems going to be pretty bad that's fine I don't really even know what”

my big I guess my big question like if I really what I really care about is how to giddy Wilson and Bouselis three bigger ball handlers or maybe want to be ball handlers all of them have at the very least something to prove as pull up jump shooters all of whom fit well playing a pretty fast frantic pace how how is that all working in the half court who's got the ball who's setting screens who's going where what's the system that makes those three click together

and I couldn't be more excited for Caleb Wilson but I guess I'll settle on that is my big question that's a good one um mine is just what can they get for Norm Powell by which is already jettison yeah how old the team i the second he signed a contract it's a

two year forty four million dollar deal with a team option it's pretty much the same contract

that Bruce Brown Jr signed in 2023 he was traded from the Indiana Pacers to the Raptors in the Pascal siakam deal um the bulls aren't as far along obviously as either those two teams but Norm Norm makes no sense in Chicago he is 33 years old I mean it's shooting makes sense but he's 33 years old and they're rebuilding like by their new GM's own admission they want to start the bottom they're not going to like they want to be organic about building something sustainable

and so I just have a few fake Norm Powell trades oh you buy all means let's hear him I have that thought literally for one second about fake Norm Powell trades uh in quite a long time so I have nothing to

contribute here okay super um so the first is uh Norm and Leonard Miller to the Orlando Magic

a ability for Orlando to get more shooting in the door offensively um don't I don't love Powell plus main but it is a little duplicate of egg what am I getting out of that if I'm the bulls Jalen Sugs Jalen Sugs yeah so for 39 games a year I get to have Jalen Sugs on my team okay the intensity the the the leadership um I don't like the Norm Powell no I'm missing no I'm just

“in that one made me sick to miss them a period that's all right that's what we're going for here six”

of your stomach okay hopefully we get a little better um with this one Norm Powell to the

pistons for Kevin Hurder Ron Holland and a first round pick we're now getting I like that obviously Norm

Powell was I think a real candidate to sign with the pistons um Hurder Ron Holland so second draft Ron Holland and a first round pick that's fair that's fair and that's fair for bookings so this is an interesting one um they just signed him semi recently but Norm to Denver for Christian Brown okay and it's basically a you know if you're the nuggets you're trying to obviously get off that contract you get a great shooter someone who can work short term and if you're the

bulls you're betting on Christian Brown obviously having a bounce back here you don't really care too much about the contract because you're not really worried about money right now in terms of your timeline and he's a good role player young athletic who fits with your young nucleus so those are my three little fake Norm Powell trades that have for you I'm going to say you're one for three which you'd be like that's a pretty average Tony Gwinnier that's a great

batting average thank you well I just love it I don't want Norm Powell has 21 million this year

“and a team option for next year at 22 and a half I'm not sure I like Christian Brown I think he will”

swing back up this year and that contract will not look under water as it does today or quite to the degree that it's underwater I just need a little something extra to take on that money I understand that like the bulls have all the cap space they need going forward it just sneaks up on you and I just rather not have the downside scenario like I got like this like 26 million dollar contract is in my way or it's like awkward I can't so I need I need a little something

extra the Detroit one is is is is fun that's enough talk about the bulls by the way I eyes were on the bulls I will talk more about this when it's appropriate uh Stacey King passed away this off season um just an absolutely delightful dude um interviewed him lots of times including

on this podcast but also about the 90s bulls one of my favorite sort of always made me laugh

broadcasters was always super generous with his time and his personality and I just I haven't talked about it I just like I'm going to really miss Stacey King and um not like on the broadcast like I will miss him on the broadcast but just like as a personality to run into around the NBA really that really was a sad one okay one more team do Milwaukee bucks what a team it is what a team it is uh there's a lot of guys on the team there's a lot of guys on the two's a full

team of guys um there are no ones to come close uh but there are a lot of guys I would like I'll let you go on this one I have a feeling I know where your question is gonna be but I'll let you go I had two questions that I was trying to pick between but although who is on this team after the trade deadline is is my question um you have Tyler Hero you have Miles Turner you have I may have his junior you have Ryan Rollins uh Colelle Ware is probably not going anywhere I

would imagine but he's technically someone who they could that could be in that on that list um and you know everybody else so you there's just so many every time you said this is on a pod with Rob

“just they there's a team of guys and that's all I think about when I think about the Milwaukee”

bucks this season um but they have they have Braden Buries who could win rookie of the year um and was excellent in summer league for making to be make first you have first team is there a first team for that I don't think there's a third team unfortunately um but he was first team put some respect on that and if he's a clear breakout building block I think that that's a huge win for the bucks as they kind of transitioned to this post onto Tacombo wasteland universe of theirs um but

yeah I guess just what are they going to do? What is the roster look like after the trade deadline

Memphis like he won't get there and there will be a structure right away and I mean like both

“for organizationally around the office and you know help button up everything is but also like on the court”

he's going to look presumably spent the whole summer looking at this roster and as as sort of fungible as it might end up being tier point he's going to be like all right here's the guys I got here are four things that we're going to do that are going to be just like not negotiable in Memphis at times a lot of that focused on the corner three on both ends of the floor as someone who came from the my gluten holes or she it could be defensive rebound it could be not

fouling but I can guarantee you this for as pretty bad as this team is going to be and as tough

of a watch as they might be on some nights there's going to be stuff that they're good like average

to good at because they just decide as a team starting from their coach to be average or good at them my big question was I count eight guards who have some degree of need for the basketball Tyler hero, great in buries, carousel of earth, Ryan Rollins, Kevin Porter Jr, Casperousioca Jonas and then a little less so because there's shooters, AJ Green and the very highly paid Gary Trent Jr. That's eight eight dudes and we have not mentioned a

depending on how you want to classify Rollins a traditional point guard, a power forward, a big

“man of any kind, we're already at eight dudes so some of those guys are not going to play I think”

Luis Manjang who's not one of those types of players he needs to play based on what he did last season Hacca as we have mentioned, who's we have mentioned, either of the center as Miles Turner is still here somehow to try this from the Dame stretch and and Hail Mary signing of Miles Turner

and Colelle where who to me is either the most interesting or second most interesting behind buries

long term play on the team I think they might start where and turn it together and see how that works I don't know but of all those eight guys like holy smokes what what a thing to sort out especially one one of them Tyler hero is an all star and is up for an extension I think he wants a whole lot of money for a whole lot of years and so there's pressure on that decision right away and maybe that's a trade maybe it's just we take it to free agency and you walk maybe

it's a sign and trade I don't know what it is if I were the bucks I don't think I would want a re-sign Tyler hero to an extension at a dollar amount he's going to accept right now and so but that's just so a lot of cards man like you want to see like I want to see like what is Yakuachunus have he's one of the prizes of that he trade I want to see him have the ball like a lot and I'm not like there's a lot of guys who can't play if he's going to have the ball

a lot so I'm just to see how that how that I like Yakuachunus last year he shot both from three throws over the head crazy passes I want to see more of him Sam Sam yeah this roster is just like it's I don't it's just so strange it's just so strange it's the kind of roster you have when you make a seismic trade and your team is it's like a waste station between team A with the honest and team B whatever comes next you're in this sort of liminal state

yeah I like Ryan Rollins though I'm going to see what we can do the show or if he gets a moved on to a greener pasture that would be interesting like I would just not like I'm starting this season I'm not playing Levert I'm not playing Trent despite the contract I'm not playing Kevin Porter Jr like those guys just out of the rotation I'm just like I just need to see these other guys play and I can't see them play if you're playing the guys I mentioned particularly if I play

Kevin Porter Jr's gonna have the ball all the time and like he's he's a productive all fed supplier of fine like I'm just not playing and it was guys right off the bed I can't argue I can't argue that Michael Michael Pina what do we got coming from you what's your what's your week like it's Tuesday what should we be on the lookout for the ringer dot com pod wise column wise you bring a bunch of stuff I've read all summer I was I was reading it over vacation but what are

“the nuggets doing breakout intriguing players what else we got I'm I think I'm doing an old”

fashion power ranking of the whole league for next week so that's something to for me to kind of ponder and we'll be tearing the teams and everything so that'll be fun to kind of get me ready for the upcoming season that's awesome all right I look forward to that power rankings are not easy the the competition for the I think you should have you thought about putting the clippers last

they're not less they're they could be a candidate they could be a candidate they're they're

no Sacramento kings it's it's gonna take a lot to get into that tier but they'll they'll be near

“the bottom for sure yeah I think when I do this exercise for the Western conference next year I'm”

not quite sure what my big question for the king is going to be obviously dairy you don't have

if I'm being serious it will be about dairy's a cuff yeah if I'm not being serious it just might be

“why why how where. Michael Pina read as calm to the ringer dot com listen to him on the ringer”

and be a show when he appears there and here too thanks for coming on the Zaclo show bud. That's it

for today's edition of the Zaclo show thank you to Michael Pina thank you as usual to Mike

“Billy and Jonathan on production and thanks as always to you all for listening to and or watching”

the Zaclo show the season is almost here the preview content is gonna keep coming fast and furious and we'll be back on Thursday for another fun episode of the Zaclo show we'll see you then 21 or over in president's lex states for Kansas and affiliation with Kansas star casino or 18 and over in president and DC can tuck your Wyoming gambling problem call 1 800 gambler or 1 800 my reset call 1 888 789 777 777 or visit ccpg.org/chat and Connecticut

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