The Relegation Zone Draft With Rob Mahoney!

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Oh, yeah. Coming up on the sack low show. Rob Bahoney is here to talk about everything that's going on

in the NBA, which is a whole lot of nothing.

We're still waiting for LeBron. How long will we be waiting? Why are we waiting? Where do we think he's going to go? Where do we think he should go?

We talk all about that. We have a trade. The Lou Dort era is over in Oklahoma City. A starter, a stalwart, gone to Atlanta in a salary dump. And Zachary Risa Shay.

The number one pick in the draft just two short years ago, in a draft that's shaping up to be an all-time crossroads woman for a bunch of teams off to Dallas in that same trade. We talk about that. And we do it while we rank the nine teams who at least start the season

in relegation zone danger based on where they were in the standings last year. They're outlooked this year. Some of these teams are going to be maybe better than that, especially the Dallas and Edwards with Kyrie Irving Healthy. But we just do a fun draft and intrigue draft.

We're most interested in that's the only criteria you can draft whoever you want. So it's a good way to talk about the Washington Chicago Memphis Dallas Sacramento. A whole bunch of teams, Rav Mahoney. We're going to deep dive all those teams in rapid fire succession. They're outlooked for this season.

They're outlooked beyond all that. Lots of fun stuff coming up on the Zacklows Show. Welcome to the Zacklows Show. It's almost vacation time. It's July 21st, day 22, waiting for the brun.

We're running short on food and water. No decision has been made. Rav Mahoney is here on his way out the door to undisclosed locations for vacation.

“LeBron, are you bringing a microphone in case LeBron signs while you're on a boat somewhere?”

It simply won't be happening for me. But I've already eaten three of our fellow media members as we wait for this to unfold. You know, it's it's desperate times out here. We have that left to go and connected to that. We have James Harden and Dre'mon Greens still sitting on side.

Do we have Jail and Durin still sitting on side in a in a what couldn't be a prolonged restricted free agency stand off a good old fashion stand off at the restricted free agency. Okay, Karau Rob, do you have any left over thoughts on the brun James? Do you are you have you have you?

I cross the Rubicon yesterday where I'm like I now no longer I'm planning any of my life around this. I'm going to go swimming if I want to go swimming. I'm going to make dinner plans if I'm going to have dinner plans.

I might have the second glass of wine if I want to have the second glass of wine and the

takes will probably be even hotter with that. So that's where I am I don't I'm not mad at it. Like people who have when my contract has come up in various iterations people will tell you I am a very slow decision maker not to compare myself to Lebron James and what's at stake for him. So I empathize I'm just not playing my life front anymore Lebron.

I think it's totally reasonable. We have talked ourselves in and kind of out of or maybe just into whatever the next possibility is as they have come up. I've enjoyed it. I've had a good time kicking around all this. We've you know done the white boards and such along the way. I just think we're we're cool for now. Like calls when a decision is made report it somewhere.

I'm thrilled to find out whatever it may be. But yeah the days of just kind of hanging on every minute until this happens.

“I think both we are too late in the summer for all that for all of our six.”

And also Lebron is a very important player but maybe not that player anymore. I gotta tell you I haven't left my voice note yet for rich. No. I did speak to him yesterday about matters unrelated to this. Didn't really make a case for for Spotify ringer for Lebron where I you know maybe I maybe I should have yeah I will say where would you start do you think like what's what's the pitch for us?

Certainly not a financial one. I don't think I don't just like leave leave the L word like a see like make your legacy bigger than what you did on the court bigger than what you did with the schools in Akron like talk be the basketball narrative destroyer talk to us and just about basketball on your own pocket. It's not going to happen. He's already doing that on mind again. We can just get mind again.

This time I will say two things no one knows anything like I don't like that that is a line that has been paraded by executives from damn near every team that is even within the inner circle

dark and you ping them. I ping them like hey I hear rumors that team extra you have like a

salary dump of this player in the works to fit Lebron. They're like we do. Okay I mean I never heard

that but cool so no one knows anything. I don't know anything. I will say I did find it just just a little notable that Pat Riley sat with Dan Lebetard yesterday for an interview among about many topics among which was Lebron and the how their relationship is thought since Lebron left on fairly bad terms in 2014. But this is now the second GM Bob Myers already did this in the in the Lebron derby but Riley has heft and a deep existing relationship with Lebron. I don't know

what motivated him to do that but it was interesting to me. I mean he does see life guy Pat Riley

“where if there is an opportunity if there's a possibility and all you need to do is get out in front”

of it a little bit publicly. Why not say a few things? You know if he really has thought to that extent so I think it's good management. I think it's good like not information gathering but projection into the marketplace. I just don't know how much it's really going to mean. Like Lebron wants to go to the key because of the golf situation and the basketball situation and all the other situations involved. I would think that part has already been decided as far as

like Pat Riley's involvement in it but maybe there really are dominance yet to fall. Here is the last thing I will say on this. We've done the fit thing to death. What's the best fit? What's the worst fit? Why is this an awkward fit? Why is this a clean fit? Does he have anything to talk to with a with a mellable about like do they have anything in common? What would their conversations be like? Does Lebron understand emojis on texts all that? And certain

fits are cleaner than others and the Miami one which I looked at a little bit more deeply yesterday was it's like you know like Brian Winhorse just said it's a place where he could be a playmaker.

“Like a number one playmaker if you want to play that way. And if I'm Janis I'm like a really”

okay and Lebron Janis BAM has its complications but here's where in Mitchell hard in Lebron two big says it's complications. Where I've landed on this is Lebron is still so good and so smart and so versatile because of his size that he's just going to help whatever team he goes to and if the fit is in perfect so be it like you're not going to find it like work I think we're

overthinking some of this like he's he is just that good and proved last year as a third option

for 20 to 25 games whatever it was and he's pretty valuable and then I think I think it'll work wherever he goes to varying degrees that's all. I really don't have any questions about whether the Miami situation would work relatively like they would be really good they'd be a contention for if not the entire east and certainly advancing several rounds in these from conference playoffs. I just kind of wonder if at the end of the trade road for Janis after

these years of wanting to get to the next team or thinking about the next team he finally gets there and then has to share creative responsibility and also bam has to share creative responsibility with someone who is as prominent as Lebron someone who is as gifted and brilliant on the court as Lebron like it's a blessing to have him as part of your team but it forces you

“into a different kind of role just by his existence there and I'm not quite sure that's what Janis”

thought he was signing up for in a trade to the heat in the first place. I'm assuming they will check with him and his agent who's also bam's agent before doing anything in the strip article though although Riley may just not care like Riley has already told uh the nazis hey buddy look elsewhere man like we don't we don't need you here as our cheerleader like you're

going to look at all of their at all the bros you got to look elsewhere um okay here's what we're

going to do uh we are going to do what I'm calling the relegation zone draft and it's not necessarily all these teams are going to be so bad they're going to be in the relegations zone it's just that based on where they are starting after where they finished in the standings last season and what's happened in the off season here are teams who um kind of are starting at the bottom and are either clearly aimed that way or could aim that way of things go badly so we're going to look at nine teams

and the nine teams are uh in the east Washington Brooklyn um bringing up the standing sorry remember all my teams Washington Brooklyn Chicago Milwaukee in the west Sacramento Memphis Dallas Pelicans clippers CBD we don't even know who's on the freaking team true shout out my boy Lipton uh and in my boy cats uh over there keep it up boys um and we're just going to go through these teams rapid fire and the draft is just purely intrigue based I said you could be it

your intrigue could be based on anything could be based on one player it could be based on hey actually this team could be pretty good this year it could be based on they have a really interesting trade candidate it could be based on I have absolutely no idea what they're doing

could be any of those things uh and then we'll just sort of rapid fire through them so I'm

“generous so it's don't give you the first pick Rob we got a kind of team you get the number one pick”

I am somewhat surprising myself in selecting the Memphis Grizzlies as the number one pick at the intrigue draft how do you feel about the Grizzlies act I feel angry because they were also my number one pick it's going to be intrigue draft um uh well screw you Rob okay I don't want to give you the number one pick anymore but you can take it uh make the case for the Memphis Grizzlies who by the way I'm just going to say Fandwell has just released maybe not just released I just

noticed them refreshed overunders the Memphis overunder on Fandwell as of now in their roster is probably finished boring a little like wave d-low trade KCP wave and stretch KCP whatever is

going to be they are what the hell did they go they are 27 and a half okay so a slight bump up from

last year yeah I don't even know what the record was last year but it was bad uh so make the case why are you so excited about this 27 and a half when teen so even if they do those things you mentioned you know potentially wave or bio-d-low wave or bio-kCP all of the above this is a shocking number of NBA players on this roster like a shocking number of good interesting young guys guys who we've had a little time with or maybe in the case of some of uh you know the

reserves who came over from the jazz we just want to see an expanded opportunities and I'm looking at this group and I'm just like this is a dizzying collection of just kind of baseline talent more

“than honestly a lot of playoff teams have and it's anchored by camp boozor who seems like a legit”

standard bearing rookie right like a guy who does not make a lot of mistakes who knows where to be who knows how to play is the kind of big who I think is going to make the decent guards on the team that much better by making their jobs easier with his ability to facilitate and also make some of the bigs here that much more solid in the way they finish around the rim because of his connecting passes I just like the way that I don't know how this fits together because there's

frankly too many guys to play we have no idea what the rotation would even look like but that possibility alone has me very intrigued um they were number one with a bullet for me I just could not be more excited to watch this team play I think that 27 and a half number is low and it's a little early for the Zach Bill house over under spot which we're going to do in the fall maybe we might be changing the location of that um for one time only we'll see uh I just lock in the

“over now for Memphis if this stage of 27 and a half I think they're going to be incredibly annoying”

to play against uh depth in the regular season we've seen is powerful now I will say the

evisceration of out and out tanking is going to hurt all of these teams and make you maybe gravitate toward the under I just think this team has legit talent like I joked a couple of months ago that if you took like like if we if we massage the numbers the right way so if we took tied your arms whatever what he'd like 10 15 20 games last year and they were like crazy and we took Zach E.D.s whatever games last year and they were crazy and they're net rating with him was

like plus 18 or something bizarre like that and we just project a little bit a lot above expectation development for like Sandra Coward and Jill and Wells both whom I expect will start I bet we could create a projection system where it's like the grislies are expected to win 55 games and we just completely over indexed like Zach E.D. that's exactly what he'll do for 82 games and I think he's on track to be ready to start the season whatever um tied your up like I don't know it's tied your own starting

they have Scottie Pippen Jr's awesome great Spencer's pretty good they've just got a lot like I forgot that Jeremy Grant was on the team until I started doing the deal like a completely useful player who might be a backup for them now if they're gonna start Coward Booser E.D. beef stew is here Quentin post is here they have so many bigs like who is get a play center for this team I genuinely don't know E.D. stew post stew could play a little bit of four I mean like can O. Max prosper get minutes come on let's

get can Taylor Hendrix get minutes like these guys are can GG Jackson Jr get minutes like they have a lot of guys on the team and they're gonna and and they seem committed based on how they played last season and it's summerly to this just like everyone's gonna play four minutes shifts and we're just gonna be like rapid fire hockey subs in and out I'm all in I'm all in Grizzlies Western conference finals let's go I'm glad we talked ourselves into that I mean I do think if you are gonna go rapid fire

substitutions get a lot of guys in and out they have such contrasting styles where I mean you you mentioned a guy like O. Max prosper who's quite good for them playing small ball five just throwing him in off of a Zach E.D. Stint and the whiplash that opposing teams that have to go through like okay now we have to totally recalibrate the way we think about this team we're playing against I really hope he gets some opportunity still I really hope Hendrix doesn't get

the trade I just I think that the combination of wells and coward and booster is so rock solid

as young cores go that I'm even more intrigued in like the high variance guys I'm even more intrigued in in GG Jackson I'm even more intrigued in like which of these kind of variables can pop in a way that we might not be expecting because otherwise it just feels like as a young team goes like pretty adult you know there's a lot of guys who just kind of know what they're doing it's a strange phenomenon and that I think cambooser a rookie is already the best player on the

team and you may disagree with that I think you'll be the best player on the team this year and I think the team will actually be pretty decent that's a rare thing to say like a rookie is the best player and I think they're going to be better than 27 and a half wins yeah I just think he's going to be awesome he played some three in summer league and it's completely comfortable because he just has it do it all offensive skillset he looked actually passable to me defensively now again

it's summer league he'll be challenged a little bit more in the regular season and this team they're

going to have as many as three first round picks in the next draft including their own and

Utah's top five protected which annoyed them because they can't fall in the top five any more

“that's why it's top five protected because they've jazzed picked in the top five two years in a row”

and can't pick in the top five three years in a row anymore and a bunch of other draft assets I think they've come out of this marant bane triple J core about as well positioned as possible yeah the hall of picks a lot of guys to take flyers on take chances on see who kind of like drift to the top of this mix it's a cool opportunity I think it's going to be one of those even if it is not to our projection systems fullest effect the kind of developmental system that

just fun to watch game to game and will actually be a good use of everybody's time in terms of filtering out which of these guys are actual high level players right now I think by the way I think EDI is good if you can say it's definitely good it's yeah I mean that's one of the biggest ifs in Memphis basketball certainly I I would love to believe that that's true even if it's not true I mean we talked about the center depth and the options that they have here to just get through

the season but yeah that combination of getting him actually on the floor and having an actual point

“guard rotation I think it's going to just do wonders for this team surprise surprise and to be clear”

I don't expect exactly need to play even if he starts a season healthy which I think he's on try to do I don't expect him to play more than 55 to 60 games and he's not it's not the he's going to do playing 30 minutes again but I think in his minutes he's going to be a pretty goddamn productive offensive player and like big enough on defense to be a pain in the butt get rebounds protect the rim now by the way I've you seen Quentin posts contract from the

much value who three year 30 year through your 30 million dollar offer sheet no are there

are there some non guarantees on there what's going on the whole thing after this year is not guaranteed oh nine million guaranteed this year 8.55 zero guaranteed 2728 same amount zero guaranteed team option 2829 but good for Quentin posts okay it's my turn to pick unless you have other Memphis thoughts no let's go again we're we're drafting based on intrigue okay not quality not fun just intrigue the only move the neurons pelicans have made his off season deciding the Andre Jordan to a

bizaro two two year minimum contract other than that it's unclear if they realize that the off season is started and yet this team what what did they win last year I mean 20 something games 26 and 56 and they did nothing now they had health issues up and down the roster to John they Murray barely played her of Jones and trade Murphy both miss some games Zion was actually reliable and I just I mean I'm intrigued about their phone line situation and cell phone

reception I'm intrigued by that okay I'm not sure what's going on I am intrigued that there's there is a lot there are a lot of interesting players here we have very little to no information about how well some of those players fit together and it's unclear if any of them other than Derek Queen and Jeremiah Fears are like long for this team um Dejante Murray's contract is

“up fairly soon I think let me bring up their cap sheet Zion has this is the last guaranteed”

year left on Zion's contract Dejante Murray has a player option for next season 30.7 that's a lot Jordan cool is expiring who cares and like we just don't know things like are you going to start Zion and Derek Queen are you committed to Zion long term again this is the last guaranteed season of Zion Williamson's contract like Fears Murphy herb Jones Queen that feels like the youngest core of the team they only played 220 minutes together those four last year and they were not good

minus 11 per hundred possessions does that mean you don't start Derek Queen does that mean you

“start Zion at the three and eaves me see at the five and Derek Queen is whatever he is”

something they tried last year I have no earthly idea but they they do control their pick in fact they have a they have kind of like a super pick up I'm reading this right they have I'm going to read it to verbatim New Orleans will receive the more favorable

of its twenty twenty seven first round pick okay and Milwaukee's twenty twenty seven first round pick in

Atlanta will receive the lesser of the two protected for selections one to four if this pick falls within that range one to four New Orleans gets both picks their own pick and the Milwaukee pick not being credible uh so I just have no idea what to make of this team they have a new coach tomorrow mostly item what what's going on here Rob but there's interesting players like to do you want the more it was alright when he came back later I don't know what's going on here

there's interesting players I guess it's are you okay

“me picking the pelicans in intrigued your first team well I mean are you okay is a really”

loaded question sorry um maybe I'm not okay maybe you don't know maybe the meds are going to trade for instance going on my whole family is going to fall apart because I don't know I

don't know Rob I just like if we're talking intrigued my first question and maybe this is

oversimplifying it is like what changed and the answer right now with the pelicans is absolutely nothing is it possible that I just wanted to kind of make fun of the pelicans I mean at the front of the podcast maybe it is they do control all their picks and all their pops I just don't know like what the plan is no one around the league knows what the plan is no one knows like whether we should call Joe Dumars or uh or Troy Weaver who are like what's going on um so I just don't

and sadly enough did you see uh we'll go to Roy from the athletic is moving out of New Orleans to cover the rockets and well this is just hemorrhaged like there's no national outlet covering the pelicans anymore and they're just like they still have that member when Zion Williamson was so interesting that people flocked there no pun intended to cover the pelicans what is Zion Williamson he played a lot last year yeah but played very well I thought to Jonathan Murray came back and like

got his feet under him you know Tray Murphy got to push his game for they're like a lot of little things in terms of the markers that were reasons for optimism and they resulted in this team being

very very bad even still and so it's like they exist to me more I always say less as a basketball

team than as just like a constant looming trade rumor as like hypothetical Greece for the trade machine whenever they would like to get involved in such a thing they just don't seem terribly interested in movement right now and I'll say this like what Jamal Mosley did when he first came to Orlando in terms of getting that team to buy and defensively that's something that could really help the pelicans frankly and a lot of different aspects like if you can get them to that

level defensively that he did at the outset with the magic grade there's also a lot of evidence to suggest if you want like a great deal of offensive sophistication say for example trying to fit all these weird awkward players together who are like talented but we really don't know if they work he's maybe not your guy for that particular job so I really don't know how to expect more of the pelicans given that they've done nothing and resolve nothing as far as like the actual

problems of the roster and I'm not really sure that the number one thing that Mosley brought to Orlando which was we're going to try really hard and be super physical defensively yeah even fits with like extra Williams and Queen front line they could just doesn't seem built to play that way and I'm not sure what they're vehicle to being like an okay defense really is schematically personnel wise

“any of that here's the thing about the west and tell me if you disagree I think like seven to 10”

in the west is pretty open in the sense that like we can pin in if you want the same top six in whatever order from last year Oklahoma City we know San Antonio Denver another team is not done much of anything in the offseason but they're Denver the rockets the walls I think the lakers will be rock solid I don't love what they did in the offseason but I think the win-and-off games after that it's like the teams that were in this range last year Portland they

all of a sudden have like some questions including like what the hell's going on with their arena situation and by the way I'm not well verson at like the local guys there I've been reading the stories about the county the state the city the least agreement all of this Portland is an awesome NBA market with some fun NBA history then NBA needs to not fuck this up do not let this guy come in here and hijack this franchise and remove it from Portland and leave the

Pacific Northwest naked of NBA teams until and unless Seattle comes in Portland's an awesome market their fans are better than this they don't deserve this Phoenix like we'll see they just

I think there's like some pretty severe downside risk in golden state right now without that team is built so all of this is to say I actually think one of these teams that we're going to talk about could be like oh they have home court in the play-in how did that happen I think the west app the east is better than the west the east is not the two best teams are in the west yes although the champions are yes it's a fair caveat yeah the east has 11 legit good teams

“and the west I think is a little shallower than that it's crazy to think I can't remember the last”

time when that was the case I'm just I'm so used to pretty much comprehensive western conference dominance as these things go relatively speaking but yeah that that's why you isolated there's not a lot of reason for optimism in terms of any of those teams making a huge jump forward as far as like the blazers and the suns and the warriors in that mix and so I do think one of these teams that we're talking about is going to mess around and get pretty favorable play and position

I just would be shocked if it's the pelicans given everything that we've seen from them and maybe that's aspirational on my part because I think the thing I would love to see from New Orleans most and maybe from Jamal most is just a commitment to playing Derek Queen more like the the whole situation and like less April more March she got in more at the end at like very into the season but why in a season going nowhere is Derek Queen playing like 20 minutes a game like that that feels

like antithetical to everything the pelicans should be about at this stage and I frankly don't know if he and Zion work together I don't know if they ever could work together I'm just not basing my future off Zion Williams anymore from the pelicans and so like they need to get fears and queen in particular on the court together as much as they possibly can to see if that's

“anything that's workable at all because the rest of it just hasn't gone anywhere that's why I”

mentioned that fears Murphy Jones Queen quartet is like that feels like a structurally like like normal sound yes set up to try to figure out what you really have in fears and queen

what you did not have the first round pick in this last draft by the way that trade is simplified

now is like Kingston Fleming's for Derek Queen it's not just that they traded the Pacers their pick back during the NBA finals before seeing how the NBA finals turned out to get a second pick in that draft to then bundle those picks and move up to get Derek Queen the Pacers picked turned out to be very very good yeah so anyway and that you mentioned Zion like he was very good last year but I thought a lot about this on the pod he was sort of

it was a new world for him we're like okay we have this center who's going to initiate a lot of offense am I in the Dunker spot now my Dunkin and do I not get to like there was not nearly as much point Zion as there was during his prime and it was and he it's not like he's offering you any shooting of any kind to space the floor it was just a little bit you know walky all right so you made fun of my pick that's fine you can pick third you're welcome to make fun of this pick I might

make fun of it myself at the circumstances we're any different but I am here as shocked as anyone

“that I will be selecting the Chicago Bulls with my second pick I think this is the highest I've”

ranked them in any exercise of any kind since I don't know in a lot like 15 years it's been it's been a tough run for the bulls but we are now here hopefully on the other side of it Bryson Graham regime is in place and I assume at least 70% of the reason you are doing this is because of Caleb Wilson

I mean holy shit like I become a believer so quickly I think here's what it is with Caleb Wilson

for me he is the Bizarro Pat Williams in that he looks the part and he dazzles in a way that makes you want to believe that this is real like that the high water marks of everything that he can do it's like I am talking myself into it every single day hoping that he turns into some like super-wing Paul George G combo forward who's also a brim protector and a switchable defender like I just he could be so much and really it is him but it's also the combination of him and Montespozole is together

another prospect I'm really high on where if those guys can prove or show any indication that they can like amplify each other this thing is going to start going somewhere pretty quickly you nailed it those guys at the forward spots are the reason I had Chicago pretty high too I was going to pick Washington

first but but I had them pretty high those two at the forward spots are if they can sort of just

be like almost interchangeable like we can both do a little bit of everything so depending on how the position is flowing I'm on the ball I'm setting a screen I'm spotting up the three I'm attacking it close out running like hell in transition I was super impressed with Caleb Wilson's passing yeah in transition in summer league I do think and none of this none of this is to say that Caleb Wilson won't be awesome I think he will be awesome I do think I was a little less like

threes and one summer league game as he did it an entire college basketball season at UNC yeah I

had the flashback to like Zion's first NBA game where he made like five threes and everyone was like

oh my god Zion concludes reason he just did not make any for like two years we'll see I thought his off I thought his off the dribble stuff you mentioned like playing the three being a Paul George being a ball handler I thought it was like a little stilted and very reliant on athleticism and just like lanky arms and awkwardly flailing towards the rim and getting calls yeah part of the reason he got a lot of calls is because he is super athletic he does have super long arms people hit him

and he forces people to hit him so I'm just interested to see how that sort of development of like Caleb Wilson full blown three in the NBA actually goes yeah but yes I couldn't I'm very excited for

“the team I think they're built to play super fast and just be fun to watch on offense I don't think”

they're going to be very good let me see what their fan dual line is I mean I would not it was into 20s somewhere they don't organize this enough the 26 and a half that feels about right to me because it's exciting as they are if you're going to start Josh giddy this is just projected Josh giddy norm Powell good signing yes zealous Wilson claxed in and off the bench you have trade zones at the point rock solid jails myth at the five rock solid is a backup fight

everything in between that is just like a big old shoulder shrug slash really I got to put in Patrick Williams again I got to put in Isaac a coro again I think they're going to be like dilly is still here and it's like I think they're going to be pretty bad but interesting bad and bad in itself is just a world of change for where the bulls have been and I think some of it's that for me I'm just so used to being down and sour on this team and they'll be two weeks

where they're kind of fun to watch and then it'll get just kind of real sad really quickly and

“Caleb Wilson changes a lot of that also like I think this combination of players”

makes me a little more excited to see Josh giddy this year and some of them might even be tago splitter in the coaching job there where giddy and deniobdi are very different creators and drivers but as far as like how do you make the most of a sort of like non-traditional point of attack we've seen some evidence that could be the case I think one thing you also need if you're going to have a non-traditional creator handling the ball a lot is like who are the

guys around him who have like zero hesitation in their games. Norm Powell has never hesitated

in his entire life to take a shot like the aggressiveness and the focus of a guy like him on the wings plus what you're getting from Wilson like I think those are the kinds of guys you want around Josh giddy and so Josh giddy not my favorite player think he's good at what he does but clearly limited this to me feels like a fuller picture that could actually maximize what makes him unique and special and everything you said about kill Wilson defensively switchability oh my god rim protection

that's all going to be legit he's going to be an awesome multi-positional force and eventually they're going to build this team to switch all over the place they already are kind of starting

“that with Clarkson at the five although his switchability is kind of waned a little bit yeah I think”

I'll have a post Brooklyn bump in effort and engagement I was wondering that because I mean it's been years now since he has had frankly any reason to try and he's still super young I don't want to like write him off but I I don't just take it on a faith that all that's just there and not paper it over with bad habits I think we're going to need to see it a little bit I don't disagree I will say screening and rolling hard to the rim with the collection of ball handlers that were

allegedly going to pass to him in the last two years I think probably sapped his energy a little bit and it's like in summary there there were possessions that were playing swan I'm just going to ignore that swan shot 13% it's summer league like it was a little warming oh my god finishing was a little alarming yeah but they were asking him to play the point and like stuff he's not going

to do but they would have swan Wilson Noah sang a who finally got some real minutes in summer league

looked like I'm like mildly curious offensively it was kind of a mess and a center and you could just see like the collective length on the floor defensively was like it was a real obstacle for these teams trying to just arms everywhere and I don't know what any of those players are going to be in terms of swan and a sangae sangae's little clumsy I thought offensively but has some length and some skill I just think they're going to be fun to watch in bad and guess

what that's not a bad place for them to be would you like to have I would assume Noah Kobe white or more then you got in return for them sure did they did they like blow every transaction from Levine to Rose and all that yes they did but they are here they control all their picks they have easy paths to cap space they are a sweeping giant again which is good for the league

of Caleb Wilson and free throws what did you think of the one three free throw for all the points

“gambit in summer league which they've also done I believe in the duly before yeah I can't say”

have like a particularly strong take on it conceptually I am I understand what it would do for the game in practice I found myself like is this really even worth changing anything like is here's where I'm coming down we can either do this or we can just cut every replay review and half and that would save just as much if not more time so why don't we just do that instead and keep the flow of basketball like the flow of basketball I I need I need a month I need a month before I weigh

in again on replay and sports because I'm so angry about BAR the I was already ready in the NBA it's just like we just I just can't have this anymore I'm ready to live with human error again yeah and then the disgrace of the world cup made me want no more reviews well did you have a team in the world cup? No mostly watching dispatch especially I have to say if that at all mostly just check it in here and there but as those things go like calling off

sides by like three hairs on a video replay review don't get me started like this I was cheering in the end I was cheering for Spain because I thought they were the only mega power team that did not benefit from complete bullshit officiating at any point in the tournament I have just enough knowledge to be dangerous and stupid I hated like I thought English fans come at me okay come at me I thought the referees literally stole the quarter final game from Norway they're like

we don't want Norway to win we want England to win we're going to disallow this goal on an egregious flop we're going to ignore the ball maybe maybe not hitting the catch okay I can't okay I'm going to make another pic now I'm going to pivot from what my pic was going to be because I want to talk about the Dallas Maverick so I'm going to pick Dallas who I think is clearly the best team of this group they're over under is set at a surprisingly low 34 and a half wins again I

think that reflects the you're just not going to walk into 15 easy wins against teams that are trying to lose anymore this team obviously is interesting for tons of reasons they have the reigning rookie of the year you and I both voted for him in the end they have Kyrie Irving coming

“back from injury as both I think a very popular and important member of this team if they want”

to compete for a playoff spot and I like I said I think a high-end play in spot is just sitting there yeah for them this team I was thinking of when you brought that up like they they really could find themselves in that position in part just like going from with all due respect like the brand and Williams level ball handlers having Kyrie Irving back on the course is just like such a monumental difference in the baseline functioning of this team I think it will help Cooper flag a lot obviously

and so like I the Kyrie Irving could be the most interesting trait piece on the market during the season I just would not rush into that discussion because I think this team partly because

they don't control their first round pick is is very motivated to try to make the playoffs

and they obviously just are stacked with combo forwards you know they in addition to drafting whereas Johnson they picked up Santiago Dama and they just picked up Zachary Risa Shay the number one pick in the 2023 NBA draft or 2024 bad some recent NBA draft over Alexander Steph Castle and Reed Shepherd in what looms as just a massive sliding doors moment for the spurs maybe for the rockets definitely for the hawks not quite as much I don't think for the wizards but

having Risa Shay over Castle and Shepherd over Castle is and having Castle fall to Victor Wenbanyama's team as a result is just like we can't undo that like the amount that that's swung the balance of power in the league and in the west I mean this team looked they're obviously depending someone on Derek livelies like like ability to run and jump yeah they obviously just have a lot of of good players you know PJ watching's a good player the guy not your

marshals a good player really good they have probably too many combo forwards but that's fine they picked up Marcus Asper for nothing which I liked and they're just going to be like a competent team across the board they have two very high end players in Kyrie who can prefer which is there for this group so obviously they're intriguing for that reason what did you

think of let's talk Lou Dort Zachary should say second round picks sure what do we think of this

“where do you what is what's your most interesting sort of angle on that trade I mean I think from”

the Mavericks perspective is just they've proven to be one of the most opportunistic teams at the summer like since Messiah's Yuri took over picking up Santiago Dama for what's like a heavily

maybe at best invisible for large portions of last season it's a real problem in his game like

he doesn't have the kind of force in his creation that insists in sway into the action you can just kind of like fall by the wayside maybe that can be fixed maybe it can but it's exactly the kind of opportunity the map should be all over and just like see if this works see if he can play see if a guy who at his best is like a nice flow forward can work off of Cooper Fleck and work off

“of Kyrie Irving I think there's reason to believe that that might be possible and if all”

it really costs you to get in on that it's like Ryan Nemhard and some like transactional ballast like I just think that's an opportunity that's probably too good to pass up for them but it's a no-brainer for Dallas despite the fact that Risa Shay because his number one pick makes about the mid-level exception this is not like a trivial piece of salary to put on the books now they have some optionality with that like they don't have to pick up his option

and they could decline it and still resign even all of that you know he has shot 36% on threes in two NBA seasons that's like not bad and it feels bad and it felt bad because when the games got tough teams clearly just decided we're guarding you with our weakest player and we're

just going to ignore you and Quinn Sider you ain't him out of the starting five and then basically

stop playing him in the postseason against the next uh let's do let's flip it around would you have done this trade if you were the Hawks it feels like selling law and Risa Shay for sure but they

“have so much else going on I think I might and here's here's a reason why like it's a very”

simple way to view these things in terms of how you evaluate teams but it's why I think about it's like what are you like to play against and I think the Hawks were establishing themselves is like a really good really formidable team a team that knew what they were doing that finally figured out like how to play through Jalen Johnson and CJ and the Kiel really effectively but what they've got going on a defense like dice and Daniels to kill Alexander Walker now Lou Dort Kingston Fleming's in

this group too like that is a full on fucking lockdown like that is handcuffs and a straight jacket and a weight around your neck in a water tank level perimeter defense I think that might be more valuable to them where they are now then waiting and seeing was Zach her Risa Shay when they would know better than anybody that maybe it's just not there for him it's clearly a win now move for a team that I don't think is quite ready to win at the level like oh they can win the

East now kind of win but it's a win now move I think it's a Quinn Snyder move like you clearly lost faith in Risa Shay and from what I had heard like Dallas was knocking on the door about Risa Shay

when when it kind of seemed like the Hawks might be amenable and they had to find a third team

because the mads did not have much of what the Hawks would have wanted in came Oklahoma City who was now under the second apron and the Hawks had picked off two of the Oklahoma City casualty Zaryn Wiggins and Lou Dort now both of whom I think will really help them. Dort is a really and again like so low on Risa Shay yeah it's like a stunning admission of we fucked up the draft like stunning and early you almost admire the earlyness of it it feels too early for me and yet

I don't he has shown me nothing particularly he got better at like nothing from here one year or two he does not do enough with I think he will be a good NBA player I think he'll be good a good solid role player which is not what he was drafted to be a number one but I think he'll be a good solid role player I don't think he will ever be good enough because of his lack of ball skills showing so far he's only 21 to like make the Hawks really the really regret despite that said

I think the Dort fit is going to be tricky for them it's another sort of shaky shooter the pile on top of Dyson and J.L. and Johnson they're lucky both their centers of Congo and Jacqueline Dill can shoot or in Lando's case kind of shoot well enough to space the floor yeah and they immediately face the question like they caught lightning in a bottle starting CJ Nikhil Dyson Dianos and J.L. and Johnson like do you think they like my hunch would be

they start Dort and bring CJ off the bench because I just think oh well I mean I don't I don't

“know I didn't even consider it honestly CJ was so important to the floor of their offense and”

like as a counterbalance even when he wasn't initiating and they could keep him in the starting five and bring Dort off the bench and what that would do is I think if they bring CJ off the bench they're now facing like well now we're bringing CJ and Fleming is in together two small guards who are going to be challenged a little bit on defense although I love the way Fleming's looked it's some really I'm super impressed and then you also have to answer the question

it's like is Dort's best skill not wasted but minimized a little bit coming off the bench like

coming off the bench the other thing about Dort aside from the shooting is I'd be curious to

“hear your thoughts on this the Hawks they just want to play this like random fast pace reading”

react everybody can kind of do everything basketball yeah and that's not how Lou Dort plays like it's not he attacks closeouts now and then but it's a it's both it's somehow both slow and out of control which is a hard double to hit and so I don't know how he fits in that like is he going to come up and set a ball screen and roll into space and make plays like all the other guards on the team do add I don't I get what they're doing which is recesses a sunk cost who makes a lot of money

get us a player who can help us now who Quinn Snyder is going to trust he's not an expiring deal we still have all the flexibility in the world to flip him and bundle assets if somebody big becomes available if they extend him for like a lot of money like if this if this becomes a four

year a hundred million dollar extension I'm not going to love this for the Hawks I and it would it would

veer into like I maybe just wouldn't have done this territory well in some of the reason I would love it is Lou Dort was not the same defender last season that he has been historically I've already took like a slight step down in terms of just making like even more erratic plays taking some gambles taking some weird angles like I just think the balance kind of clearly shifted in terms of case and wallest being their best option on a lot of opponents and Lou Dort

kind of falling into the background I would say the same is true of Dyson Daniels like as far as who you want on opposing stars which is why if it were my call I would bring Lou Dort off the bench

“for that reason and I think I think the value in having him is less”

like clearly the fit issues are what they are you're going to find a way to navigate systemically who he is in such a free flowing offense I share your concern but I think the value of if you're an opposing star you do not get a minute on the floor without one of these guys in your jersey like that to me is valuable and I think yes you want him against top line opponents but every rotation is staggering stars every rotation is trying to stretch guys out and it's like

if you can target guys during those second quarter minutes where it's like they are expecting opposing stars to finally get theirs to get their opportunity to really cook and it comes

Lou Dort as like they like the antidote to that I actually think that could be a pretty powerful thing

yeah and you can do I mean like we sort of more of a simple file the coaches will tell me all the time you're fixating too much on new starts it's about who finishes and how we can

“stack our minutes and how the rotations are juggle but it is interesting I like Wiggins for them”

is sort of just a free free money yeah and they needed a little dose of something off the bench we'll see what a zubi and as a new all can really give them off the bench I dare to be a good solid team it's that's going to it's just going to be an interesting bet and I just think they concluded this is not a good fit with Reece and Shay like he doesn't fit with our priorities our coach etc very quickly Oklahoma City ducks the second apron yep they lose three

valuable bench players Aaron Wiggins who was really really good for them in the title run and then kind of faded out the rotation to the playoffs last year Lou Dort a starter who we talked about as early as November December did not seem like a good fit for the spurs matchup and was taken down in minutes and they got destroyed in his minutes against the spurs and then Isaiah

Joe who would always fall to the fringes of their rotation in the playoffs they still face enormous

bills going forward once they extend case and wallets depending on like team options for some of their young guys and I don't know if you saw Sam Preston's interview with the Oklahoma I sure did what was known and you're laughing what was notable about that to you I mean I don't know that I've ever seen a general manager get in front of what feels like an ownership promise in this particular way of look Lou Dort had been a trade candidate for exactly this reason like

okay see it was close enough to the second apron Lou Dort's contract was the most convenient way to get there if they wanted to make that kind of trade but Sam Preston going on the record something he does pretty infrequently especially in this kind of interview setting and saying overtly this is a financial decision and it was made with the assumption that we're going to be more competitive and payout more down the line we're saying all the quiet parts out loud in a way that

I really appreciate I was I very much appreciated it it it was I don't I don't know how to read it because Sam has been there forever he has the leeway to do it every once he has presumably a fantastic relationship with ownership and I would guess that ownership did not read that and express any shock surprise that he said it out loud but he did say it is my understanding that the savings we are having now and by being under the tax in some recent years will be reallocated to future

teams which is great news for case and Wallace if I'm easy yeah I'm like all right woo let's go and down the line agent Mitchell when he becomes extension eligible I look obviously

her has shrunk and look like this was a team that was like ridiculously deep and now spots 10 to 15 which is like talk about a first world problem are first round picks and can't ritualyams and or first round picks that missed all or most of the last season or two seasons in top it's case and so they're gonna have to play those guys and see what they are which is

“that's good that's what that's like good opportunity I think from the thunder and those players”

I still think this would be my favorite to win the championship as of now if everybody's healthy but the number one seed is there for the spurs to get this year because I don't think the thunder are gonna pile up regular season wins but I don't know if this is a directive to

cut costs and get under the second apron I don't think any of these players are so essential

that it should impact like the thunder's championship equity and it hurts their death but if this is what you got to do you got to do it it's whatever they got some picks they got I don't know we'll see we'll get to see Maura and Topic and Sorber and Sturts let's go that's the thing like some of the maybe a little further down the line starts me like take a little time to really be an impact player for them like Topic could be good and a very different kind of playmaker than they've

had as far as like working around Shay and certainly when Jayda was out I also think like part of the reason the Isaiah Joe move happened in the first place as Jared McCain just like so

“clearly supplanted him in the first place love Isaiah Joe I think all three of these guys”

should the thunder have had to part ways with our valuable players especially to teams with

less expectation than the thunder have then it's like what Isaiah Joe can't do what Lou Dort can't do what Aaron Wiggins can't do is just let's a damning if you're mostly trying to advance in the playoffs as opposed to win everything and for a championship team to have like three or four question mark guys off the bench but all question mark guys with lottery pedigrees for the most part that's a pretty thrilling regular season project to have especially for from people like us who

are trying to figure out who they can be where they're sealing might change like I'm not taking off the table that their depth might be even more impressive next season if those guys start panning out all right we got five teams left in our draft and it's work it's getting ugly now the teams the best of most fun teams are off the board I'll go they'll get you disagree with me

“on New Orleans it's your pick well I think there is still one very fun team off on the board”

uh I can only be myself and so I will select the Washington Wizards there you go baby they gotta be here uh just a radical influx of talent around what was already a fascinating young core that talent may not to be to everyone's liking if there may be two hundred and twelve

million reasons why long-term it might not work out but in the short-term I think the playmaking

of Trey Young in particular is just going to do so much for guides like Kishan guys like Alex Sarg guys like guys like Trey Johnson in terms of everyone in Washington felt overtax in terms of how much they were being asked to handle the ball last season and now you have a great passer if also a flawed defender and everything else that comes with Trey Young setting those guys up in a way that to me is very exciting there are no brainer pick I actually had them above Dallas

but I just wanted to talk about the trade um they're over under 34 and a half which I don't really know what to do with um because if Trey Young and Anthony Davis play 65 games each again let you can scoff fine like where it where it's it's July 21st I can dream of Anthony Davis playing 65 games let me do it um that's a pretty like those are two of the top 30 players in the NBA maybe is Trey Young a top 30 player Anthony Davis and it's a healthy Anthony Davis is way above that

and a great two way player and they just you know like you start Trey Young this wildly exciting rookie AJ DeBanza who looks ready to contribute immediately on both ends of the floor he actually defended in summer league yeah soar and Davis and you just pick of your cool abali Trey Johnson, Kishan George you ever then off the bench like some combination of those guys eightens here for whatever reason uh you know above Carrington is still here will Riley like they have

real talent I can see why the numbers are skeptical it's the wizards they're still super young around Trey and AD uh when AD is not playing I think defensively they'll be pretty challenged um but there's a lot to like you're not anything I think there's a lot to like I think when AD doesn't play they're going to need to figure out the defense when he does play they're going to need to figure out the spacing if it's him and Sara especially DeBanza too who we're going

to need to see kind of who he is as an NBA shooter um how all that part works out but I like they were just such an abysmal offense in terms of acting like a professional basketball team last season there's a lot of guys who's individual talents I believe in and I'm hoping this can be you know we talked about Cooper Flag and kind of who he became by the end of the season I think part of the reason

in the year and I thought the skill development really paid off later when everything was kind of coming together I'm wondering if the same can be true of some of what we saw last season from a guy like Kishan George for example like it was messy then it's probably still going to be messy these guys are still young but in terms of him and below even Bob Carrington to a degree I actually think this is going to be like a real big time will Riley season and we're going to be talking about him

differently by the end of the year uh but I can't wait till I can't wait till that gets accreated in Washington to be an NBA analyst big time will Riley season loading I mean Riley is going to be a problem look we'll Riley was a problem in the last few months in season and he got to summer league

“and he was like I'm sure never shot and I loved it and also I think ever he clearly has some”

some on-ball juice in a way that is fun to watch and could get good for them I also think I think he is a he's going to be a better spot shooter than he's been now that there's some functioning offense to play up like he feels like one of those wings who could be really good coming off the bench and will be but also could play with Tray and AD and kind of the big boy was starting line up to the extent that that's an actual thing I don't think I can take the over on 34 and a half

quite yet I think he has to do two good and two deep just to take the over on hope you know just to take the over on entry can we do that I will say give me give me all the defense of Tray young inverted pick and rules because the band's just pick and roll game looks ready for primetime in terms of the force city plays with um and and and that's the question about the team and I've talked about before is is there an in between world between extreme Tray ball like Tray young does

everything and this fantasy world where Tray young is going to run around like Steph Perry which is

never going to happen and he had some comments recently about how he's such a willing all fall player

he actually finds it funny that people think he's not and I'm like okay those big words man like he really haven't dialed into that I don't know like what film you're watching or what game you think you're playing but you have like kind of flirted a little bit at times with moving off the ball and like I get the Tray young standing and half court has some value to your spacing he has flirted a little bit with setting some ball screens it didn't seem like you really

love doing it well let's see it man if you think the criticism is so ridiculous as to be funny to you

“then let's like let's see a little bit more of that because I think the team would benefit from”

your presence in your distribution making everything easier for the young guys but also you letting the young guys stretch their wings a little bit by not controlling every single position on the floor I do think as far as those kinds of things go not to get a business of just defending Tray young and every turn I think it's a pretty dangerous business I think Tray young's underrated I'm not trying to even criticize Tray young I think he's like pretty pretty wildly underrated

I think people have just kind of largely forgotten how amazing a playmaker he is and kind of the

effect he can have even on a young team that's coming up and what he did with the hox but in this case if you're trying to convince a veteran starter change their habits in some cases it might be difficult to do it when your other young players are involved like a veteran changing for young guys can be a tough sell but a to-to-bance is talent is so obvious like he's such a clear downhill threat all the time that if you're telling Tray young we want you to move off

off all we want you to set off all screens we want you to start to pick him up just such a sometimes as a part-time job moon lighting I just think that's a little easier to do when if you're Tray young you can believe in the guy you're selling out for an agey debonset is a worthy talent for anyone to kind of like make some compromises in their game for how about a Tray young Alex Sarpick and role flip it back to agey and defense so it becomes an agey and defense to

Anthony Davis pick a role with Tray young running to one of the corners like can be stuff like that by the way another thing about Tray young and I don't need to pick on because I do think he's

underrated I like him I am I am getting tired of him if you read interviews he's always like

what he's talking about the young players and how he can coach him up in this and that he's always like you know when you've been to where I've been in this league like you've learned he's like I'm paraphrasing but it's like a lot of when you've done what I've done and been where I've been and been where I've been is a phrase that comes up you know you've learned some things like it okay man like it was one conference finals five years ago in a weird like post-COVID put

the like during COVID kind of season when Ben Simmons like like melted into a puddle on the floor and like let's just like take it easy sure it's not like you're a grizzled three-time champion who's better or someone who's been in the finals for so just take it easy okay we got four more teams to go for to go through we'll take a quick break and we'll do that okay we have the clippers the

“bucks the kings and the nets get excited Rob before we do that I have a very important announcement”

to make oh what you got you remember uh as this you're a Simpson's fan correct or you not are you a Simpson's hater I'm not a hater I am agnostic do you are you aware of the

repeatedly and feverishly urge the thunder to strike some manufacturing do or they produced

“novelty miniature door license plates and put them in their gift shops in the thunder”

and the thunder did not do that yeah cowards that they were they did not take your advice now one thing they did do was make this license plate for me which says door and it's autographed by Lou Dort and it's at Oklahoma license plate it's one of my treasured pieces of basketball memorabilia it hangs back there in my background I'm just gonna say I have relayed this idea to the hawks already and they seem a lot more receptive to it okay then the thunder were and if they do this and it's

sells I don't even want a percentage that's my Pulitzer Prize if this happens and the and the door license plate becomes a sensation you can put it around the chains that the kids like you can put it like it just there's a there's a whole host of opportunities I have talked to the brass there they are having a marketing meeting this week they seem interested in it this is my valhalla this is this is a this word and if it doesn't happen then they just have to trade them to a

more creative team you can put it on the chains that the kids like is just I mean that's an all-time

pull from this pot just incredible stuff for me I have to say though I mean a lamest front office

on the younger side is these things go do you find yourself having to explain the symptoms since bit more no the people I I floated to where where the joke and and also not for nothing if you're gonna go all in on the the gentleman's club promotion they got next by Lou Cornet and the powers that be less here this seems like a walk in the park I mean if you're creative enough to go there why am I blanking on the name of the club magic city magic city of course if you're

gonna go there which I I have no stance on I was just generally like this seems fun and and interesting this is an opener okay my next pick is also a no-brainer out of the kings the bucks the clippers and the nets by far the most interesting and intriguing to me are the Brooklyn nets I am excited for the nets I'm excited for what Yeg or Joeman Gemin did in summer league I just I'm excited like they're starting five could be probably will be

Michaela Brown Jr. Joeman Michael Porter Jr. Julius Randall and Dayeron Sharp finally getting a

chance as a starter yeah off the bench it's just a pile of young players that I'm kind of interested to see what they are Joeman looked awesome in summer league the veterans fit I don't know what they're gonna do with those veterans that's part of the intrigue there's already buzz out there that like if extension talks to Michael Porter Jr. don't go well could he be on the move already and boy could he fit in a lot of different places Detroit comes to mind even at

land it comes to mind absolutely et cetera et cetera kian Ellis is here for some fun veteran presence um

“there's just there's like a lot of fun I think I think Joeman is gonna be a very like a good pick”

at eight I think he's gonna end up being a good value pick at eight I'm super interested in him playing on and off the ball I think this seems gonna be fun to watch I mean Yeg or I thought it's summer league not only was he good but he just felt like one of the guys that is too good to be there but also one of the guys that's on the verge of something you could see his game just kind of like solidifying under him in a way that he and Michael Brown I think are just

gonna compliment each other so beautifully it's one of my favorite combinations in terms of like

this dynamic downhill guard and this bigger lengthier playmaker where Yeg or Joeman may never

get to the basket as much as other people or anyone might like he may never get to the basket much at all I really don't know but as long as you put him with a more dynamic slasher who can work off the dribble and get into those spaces I think it can really work and so those two guys working together very exciting in a way that I don't know that like any combinations of nets players have been and that was to me one of what was really holding the back last year was

they have all of these guys who are supposed to be potentially useful playmakers down the line potentially useful NBA players I didn't really see any combination of them that felt like they were added together and this is the first time that it feels like they are taking a step in a direction where these young players are complimenting each other yeah Troyori Powell Siroff Wolfe is just like

“okay well we'll see like I think Wolfe could be a good backup big just because of his creative”

ity and his ability to shoot the three the others are just like I mean I'm interested I mean what's the title yeah like I'm a little I am a little worried that like are we bringing Keon Ellis and he's gonna stand in the way of guys like Drake Powell getting further opportunity that's that that's a concern but like I guess maybe there's gonna be time and room for everybody with this group I believe they extended Jordy Fernandez in the off season and so he

should feel less pressure to chase wins the the over under is 23 and a half which is pretty ugly uglier than I thought it would be but I get it because the east is competitive no one is

they do not control their first run pick Houston has the right to swap picks with Brooklyn

which looks like an extremely valuable chip for the rockets but the nets still have just a pile of extra stuff from Philadelphia from the nicks from the nuggets at some point they're gonna strike

“in free ages he and I think their their best case scenario this year is their young guys actually”

look good enough to be somewhat attractive to somebody who's looking around for a place to go it's still New York City the nicks win in the title is a disaster for the nets in their perception and their level of fandom and all that I just think I think this back court I think they have a chance to have their back court of the future set in stone with brown and joe and it's very early but already they've elevated themselves well above the other guys and now I'm that's enough excitement

for me yeah I wonder if those guys do click could they be one of the teams it's in position not just like a like a free agency destination but to be in the train market, Jared Jackson Jr kind of trade talks right of like late in the season flipping Julius Randall into something else flipping Michael Porter Jr into something else like finding the piece of the guy who as you say he's either gonna be extension eligible or ready for their next deal and their team may not be

the most eager to pay them but here it could make sense if they work with those two guards like

“that's something I would have my eye on for sure with them and I think Jordy's a very good coach too”

can I ask you a net's related trivia question oh god sure we talked about neglecting now the Chicago bulls he has been holding down that starting center spot for a long time for the Brooklyn Net's do you remember before Nick Clarkson became the starter of the Brooklyn Net's who their last previous starters were at the five so did post there's a there's a gap between Brook Lopez and Nick Clarkson there is of and this is of the like I would say this is probably

more the Kevin Durant Kyrie post James Hardin but James Hardin may have also been involved well Blake Griffin flirted with that status at one point particularly in the playoffs but I did think he's not who you're aiming at no he is it was a platoon job Blake Griffin the Marcus Aldrich Andre drill and that year right LA I forgot about LA a truly strange in somewhat cursed time and net's basketball history but also kind of glorious

“in its way I remember a fondly regardless but on the line to on the line okay clippers buck's kings”

who you got I guess I'm taking the clippers but I don't feel good about it I feel just less bad about them than I do the kings or the bucks and so let's go with the clippers you're kind of by default any lower than that would feel somewhat disrespectful they just have a roster that makes me like cock my head to the side and say huh the purposes of this exercise are we assuming that the collide trade goes through just not because we you think that's gonna happen but just

because like if we're gonna talk about the clippers we're talking about the ingram dick it's center version of the clippers yes we we are talking about that version um with all the words that come with it with all the strangeness of that particular group like they're going to need to figure out a lot but there are going to be a players here I like I continued to be

invested in the Darious Garland experience and seeing what he can be this is really the first true

opportunity for them to tease out what their team is going to look like with him at the helm King Wagler I refuse to be deterred based off of any summer league findings not to worry about it uh I like who he can be as a pro I like who I like who he could be playing in his own pace potentially you just have to give him other athletes to work off of um and there's enough like other interesting younger spots around the edges here to keep me really on the hook I'm a big

yonic owner needor house or guy I am like I would say somewhat of a believer in like your Jordan Miller maybe less Kobe Sanders to be honest but like there's there's some guys here who could be interesting and maybe gravy did could be a moment too as far as like find a second home re-establish your NBA value we'll have to wait and see on him but uh I guess the other one that maybe we should talk about is like do we take it as a given that Ben Mathorin is going to be back

here or where are you thinking on all that? It's been interesting how radio is silent at that whole situation has been which happens in restricted free agency um I've heard nothing I bet I haven't beaten the doors down trying to figure out what's going on with Ben Mathorin because when the situation like this happens my assumption is that we'll get to September and they'll hammer out a deal that like he's probably not going to be psyched about but everyone

will do their best in the bond so I have him pencil it on a team next year I've never he's fine

like I like I don't I I would like him as like my seventh guy come off the bench and create some offense I'm not sure he's a starter out of good team could he develop into that sure I guess but um there's that piece and just it's just it's a weird they're doing what they should do which is just collect assets take flyers on really hutch of eras of the world yeah um grainy dicks

I just it's just a weird mismatch of guys and I'm not really sure what it amounts to as a basketball

team um but you know the wadler thing is interesting is they do you think they start him right off the bat and just say hey we're going to start you with garland will figure it out or bring them

“off the bench I have no idea yeah I think that's how it should I mean the alternatives would be”

either leaning on someone like math or in or I guess I guess you could start Derek Jones at the two that would be the worst thing in the world I think they'll start Derek I penciled in garland done ingrown Jones Lopez as a starting fly but just in pencil it could go in a number of different directions you could start really at the four I'd like to see them start neaterhouser if you can come back healthy at any point disease and just like throw him into the fire they're

over under is 28 and a half which is pretty goddamn low for where the LA clippers have been and it feels and feels right to me because as much as they probably don't want it to be

this is going to be a pretty deep rebuild for them and they do not control their first round pick

in this draft the thunder of all teams get the swap picks with the it's a line of swaps where the thunder are first in line the Indiana picks are could do in Toronto picks if they get them could be valuable if they get to keep them who the hell knows what's going to happen and obviously they struggle with the modular pick falling to them but it's it's a it's a mishmash so it's not one that I like look at them like I'm really excited to see how garland in ingrown fit

“to get there now like I just it doesn't feel like it's gonna be very fun to watch I think it could”

be worse right I mean we certainly saw some rebuilding teams last season then we're just an absolute chore I don't think it's that I just don't feel any particular pull to like pull this team up on the league past hour right now garland is extension eligible that that could be interesting I would not extend him if I were the clippers I did a number that he whatever number he's going to like actually take a deal I would not sign because I just need to stay healthy for longer I think

you and I is like just basketball purist guys have a soft spot for his game he's on self is he's super creative off the dribble like just just a change of pace of just a whirling ball of fakes and hesitations and faints and fun passes but he's undersizing he's been hurt a lot and he got a play but there's that and so now we're down to the blocks from the kings can I can I just pass pass pass just keep an empty roster spot you know

I will take I will actually take the kings and leave you with the bucks I just find both of these situations immensely depressing for a team that's as bad as the kings are and I think they're going to be bad there is just not a lot to be excited about unless there is a cuff really really pops and I like you I'm not reading much you know some early he took a lot of shots he was a super efficient find whatever he's going to get to do

at every once he's not going to be efficient to share rookie guards running an NBA offensive are not going to be efficient I like Nick Clifford I think Nick Clifford has a chance to be like a low end starting wing on a good team kind of do it all smart player needs to be a little bit more forceful on offense he's an interesting prospect yes I think most of the nice things that I would say about the kings are either Nick Clifford related or Maxine Renault related like that's

that's kind of where my enthusiasm is at this point I just worry Maxine Renault is and I was driving the Maxine Renault first team all rookie trained like I like I was shocked when coal in the back seat I heard there been a bit in the caboose like I was on it or the caboose is not the the same card now the coal I'm a little rusty on my 19th century train architecture I just think he's so defensively limited that I wonder if his destiny is like a very good backup and not a starter on a good team

obviously so bonus is the starter here until days to finally and mercifully trade him does anyone that will give up anything for him I keep it very is fine like like again like just an okay starting wing until he shows me a little bit more and then it's like the Levine situation could not be more depressing this is a bonus situation could not be a little more depressing

league monk has like a preposterous contract it is interesting how some of these like 20 million

ish contracts when they're signed and I think Kobe white and disobey will be interesting bellwether for this too when they're signed my reaction the general reaction is like that's kind of what you pay for like a good guard a good six man monk was a six man of the your candidate a good

“and then like Christian Brown that's what you pay for like a good young guard who's a winning player”

and piz with yoke etch and then very quickly they become like oh that's a terrible contract and some not all of them but some of them and you know they have their first round pick right at a time when tanking is less profitable than it's ever been it's just hard and then that that they have no real extra they have a 31 pick from Minnesota that's their only like extra

to have just that one extra draft asset and not a lot of young players to be like super excited

about is a pretty depressing place to be in yet I'm still taking them here because I want to see a cuff I want to see Ray Noah want to see Nick Clifford and I don't know if I didn't want to take the king's last I think they're still the right choice I mean we're going to get into the box

“but at least this is a team that maybe the best thing about them is that they are starting to”

turn the page it's just such a gradual process right like it's not just waving and moving on from tomorrow to rows in and moving on from us so Westbrook and like some of these messages of what's been happening but as you mentioned like they still need to trade the bonus they still need to figure out what to do with Levine it's just going to be there not in by the way they're not getting anything for those guys so bonus to get something it won't be like a dump where they have to

attach things but you're not getting Levine is a dump so bonus you're not getting anything that's like oh wow we got a this young prospect that's very exciting you're not getting that you're just getting money that's a little less damaging and like some seconds or something and so like they brought in a cuff people people seem quite excited about I would say I'm a little a cuff skeptical but I'm also not following college basketball the closest so let's let's see who he can be as a

pro other than that they're kind of in that pelican zone of with all due respect to Jonathan Mobo have not exactly done much to add to this roster and expand it beyond what it already was so you're really banking like Keegan Murray having a nice comeback and healthy season you're really banking on some of your guys like Nick Clifford being able to expand what they already do and I'm already kind of impressed by the range of what he does I'm not sure how much further he can really stretch

I'm sure he'll get a little bit better and more solid over time but yet they're just there are not a lot of footholds here and there may not be for some time which unfortunately has been the case with the kings for I mean just so many stages of their history yes stop me if you've heard this before but the kings are counting on the lottery to rebuild their team and that is not been kind to them and when it has been kind to them they have fucked it up so completely that Tyreys Halleberg

and Endier and Fox were too many point cards and then to zero point cards with not enough in return they do have a pretty blank slate on their roster after next season and like easy availability of Caproom which you know Caproom is not getting you a superstar free agent these days but it's still useful get some value deals get some salary dumps pick up some draft assets which they

“badly need but this is the team what I think of the relegation zone and how the three worst teams”

are punished with lesser lottery odds than the teams below them in the standings or right above them in the standings or however you want to phrase it this is the team that I really think of as a team that will really try to not be in the relegation zone and I'm not sure if they can get there what do you think their fan do all over under is take a guess oh my god for the kings I would think it's got to be low I'm going to guess like 22 22 and a half I mean

they are paying Zach Levine and Dumat Disubonus like 90 million dollars and their overunder

is lower than the Brooklyn death that is like astonishing oh okay the box yeah I mean speaking of bleak I guess this is fitting if I'm going to take the Grizzlies first in this drafts for all of the depth that they have this is just a pile of dudes it's not really a roster it's a great way to put it's exactly what I have is so a bunch of guys it's what happens when you make a couple of big trades you just have like okay this is not a basketball team it's just a collection of guys

waiting for flights to different places a different gate to the airport completely and I further the record I don't expect a team that just went through the yawnest trade in particular to have all it shit together to have a roster that makes sense that would be unreasonable it just doesn't mean I have to want to watch it and you look at this combination of players and there are some bright spots there's some guys I'm interested in certainly like I want to see you break and buries is

I am a yaka chona sky I'm a Ryan Rollins guy like there are players here in elements here close

“where I think what he could be with this team could be pretty exciting but I don't know there's”

there's so many I'm luke warm on there's so many that don't make sense together there's Gary Trent Jr the 64 million dollar man yeah we don't we don't I've already believed I've already talked about them I'm a Justin saying but let me start here do you do you think color wear and milestone or just kind of start together or is there a way out of that or for that not to happen because I really would not like it I also just don't see why it wouldn't be the case

I don't think they'll start together thank you I do think that's the place to start though because on the one hand I just want to start color wear and to hell with the milestone or thing

let me just see what I have in color wear he is the sexiest prospect I got from Miami I've always

him over time but he's got something he's got something that if you can bottle it and shove it in the right directions on and off the court he's something but then on the other hand like I have to rehab miles turner's trade value and I'm not sure I can do that if I'm bringing him off the bench and so then you're stuck asking a question of like hey should we start both of them that won't work but is it something that we can try I don't know man I like if you here are

all the guards this team has I'm just gonna read you the names of every guard on the team Tyler hero extension eligible by the way Gary Trent Jr. cares silver age a green great in buries Kevin Porter Jr. Ryan Rollins cast brush jacket Jonas like it's just so many guards I don't know how any of them fit together I don't know who's long for the team and who's not and that's before you get to the the swing guys like you know Hacca's Nate Aement etc. who's one

Django I thought was very good for them right there's just like too many guards who's must here doing something and they don't even really have a realistic at my I shouldn't say realistic if they extend hero at what it's going to take to extend them and this this is this is the

“same thing is Michael board of juniors if you're not going to do that you should try to be flipping”

them immediately yeah they're not going to have cap space this summer or the summer after that because they have all this dead money on their books from Dame and then Miles Turner and they don't have a first round pick in this draft their first round pick goes to either New Orleans or Atlanta it's a mess if they I think all things I think they did okay in the honest trade considering they waited too long to do it yeah I just don't have any idea what this is going to amount to and it looks like a very

long long road back I think part of the reason that's the case and that they feel so rudderless at this particular moment in time is just the difference between Tyler Hero and the kind of player you would hope to get back in at Jonas trade where I grew it through they got a bunch of stuff they needed to refresh their coffers they needed to just like volume of movable players and picks and stuff to work with that was that was clearly a value to them but they're

going to need to figure out if Tyler Hero is any kind of keeper not just in the extension sense but like do you want to build a basketball team with this guy as one of the load bearing elements of it and I just don't know that he's ever really been that guy that's not something I would be super eager

“to do Tyler Hero's good good score good creator I think like it's good he can fit in a lot of”

context he's just not the he's not the first brick you want to lay down for a bunch of different reasons and I think it puts them in a really weird spot to have to like negotiate that right out of the gate he's he's a one-time all-star who might just be a one-time all-star which is like a like

CJ McCollum's a no-time all-star like he's been that's a player that I've always

pumped him to in terms of like his standing in the league present in future very good player just like not gonna drive winning on his own as the best player on a team it's just again they don't control their pick rebuilding through the draft is less is harder than it used to be under these new rules no one is going to Milwaukee into their cap space if they ever get cap space it's it's what you actually sit down and look at the roster post-ionist trade it's just a mess it's a mess

and I don't even mean that in a bad way like these are bad players or they miss evaluate at the players it's just too many parts that don't fit together and I don't know how Taylor Jenkins is going to make until Jake's very good coach by way I don't know how he's going to make any of this what's like where do you find room for the guys that you even like like how how do you shift through this like if you really want to find a opportunity for AJ Green is is he going to be able to play

more than 15 to 18 minutes on a team like that so I really don't know well I mean the answer is

you just don't play terrorist libert at all I mean yeah you don't play Gary Trent junior at all whoops he's making guaranteed 64 million dollars until otherwise proven you know by the league and you just maybe take Kevin Porter junior and trade him to another team and just go you know Rott Rowland is a guy to me he's 4 million this year player option 4 million next year that he'll opt out of surely and then be extension eligible or something eligible for a new contract he's

“I think worth keeping around if the price is right but I just let's go all in with the”

young guys before in the relegation zone it doesn't even really matter to us because we don't control our picks so we're not like incentivized to try to be out of it in a bizarre way but it's it's uh I don't I don't I'm gonna watch a lot of bookscams I watch every team a lot I'm not gonna I'm not gonna forsake any of these teams there will be on my league pass roll

of decks in their normal frequency I might try to there's always a strategy route where

you can do I'll watch them against a really good team that I really love to watch and it's

bucks king it's like like let's go let's get them both out of the way now I don't I don't know

“but that's what it's gonna feel like next year it's gonna have to be a little bit of both and”

I just really hope that by the time they work out in the schedule that they have filtered some of those guys out it it's not even like a young guys versus old guys thing it's just like their elements of this roster that are not part of the future their elements of this roster that actively distract from the players or trying to evaluate like Kevin Porter Jr is one of those guys weren't even though he might be valuable to some people in some context I would know what they are

but when he's on the court he wants to have the ball on his hands and he will fight to have the ball on his hands and so if you're hoping for Braden Burry's to create if you're hoping for Tyler here to create or to figure out who Casper or Syracca Jones could be for this team guys like the guys that can put a junior actively sort of stand in the way of that and so I want to see

“who here is worth keeping and I think it's gonna be a long road to get to that point to even just like”

let's marginalize cow clues well it's marginalized portal it's marginalized carousel of air like you got to put that whole process through its paces and so we're gonna check in early but I'm I'm thinking prime books watching basketball maybe like December early January like before it gets truly awful but after some of the initial stuff has been worked out I will say I'm glad you

brought up Yucca Tunis again first of all I love Burry's and Summer League and I liked him in the

draft to my limited draft tape of him that I saw as I ran again it this guy's gonna be good I thought that was a good pick for them. Yucca Tunis should not just be like a footnote that we throw in here he's a six five point guard with very creative vision sometimes creative to his own detriment where he's throwing passes over his like literally over his head Lucas style to teammate to aren't expecting them but the vision the idea the idea that his brain registers are very unique

he also shot 42% on threes obviously low volume you'll need to go 156 but that's something to build like that he could be a very interesting player that makes everybody around him better I'm I'm interested to see him play but yeah it's gonna be it's gonna be rough for a rod Mahoney you're heading you're heading to an undisclosed location for some vacation you will not be taking your podcast in equipment so if LeBron signs I will not be going to you for an emergency podcast I

leave in 10 days for my sojourn I will be taking my I take my microphone I can't help it I get a little antsy so the microphone in the camera what can I make one caveat on that front I do want you if in the case the LeBron walks back his dismissal and does decide to sign with the Indiana Pacers I need you to put up the white smoke and I will find some emergency podcasting equipment and we must we must reconvene in an internet cafe somewhere and wherever you're going to be

I don't I don't think that's gonna happen but now I don't know how many more public appearances LeBron has in the next week but maybe one of them will be the one all right and then you're up and I'm for stage TV today right what are you guys going to what what are you guys going to be talking about yeah we're up in a cave for you right now where it's we're anglein towards the season finale it's I mean very exciting very unhinged times for an absolutely bad shit show

I've had a bunch of people try to sway me on widows bay as a as a spouse neutral show how violent is it how tense is it does it fit the bill uh what is the tolerance and appetite for light to medium horror uh zero to one percent yeah it's like it's just like a little spooky you know I wouldn't say it's like deeply scary but it also is probably the show of the year certainly the funny and show of the year all right well we'll have to do a rundown of my thoughts on the bear

at a later date but uh wrap wrap my honi it's always great to see you enjoy a well deserved vacation

and thank you for your time. Appreciate it Zach thank you. All right that's it for today's episode of the Zach low show thank you to Rob Mahoney thanks as always to Mike Billy and Jonathan on production thanks to you all for listening to and or watching the Zach low show we will be back later this week with something I have to come up with something got to talk about something so we'll see you then thanks everybody and see you soon 21 over in president select states for Kansas into

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