PodsGPT.io - Podcasts Summaries and Transcriptions

Hey y'all, it's Emisa and Devon here, and we've got some news for you. Get ready because MTV's official challenge podcast is heading back in time. For the first time ever, we're diving into an iconic season from the past. Free agents. We'll go behind the scenes with legendary cast members from the season, plus here what they've been up to since it ended. Just because there's no challenge on TV right now, doesn't mean we're going to leave our podcast listeners hanging. Listen to MTV's official challenge podcast on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcasts. In a new series from the teams at Novel and iHeartRadio, this is the Fighty Pucks. We're going out on the ice with the most violent hockey team ever. That was Gorilla warfare at the highest. Were they heroes or villains? You decide. I don't know what to say and they don't want to get shot. Welcome to the jungle. Listen to the Fighty Pucks on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Ladies and gentlemen, the greatest tag team in history is back and we're ready to make our grand entrance in season three of wrestling with Freddie. That's right, Freddie. We're bringing the heat with exclusive interviews, highlights, and all the in-ring drama from the world of pro wrestling. Not only are we talking wrestling, but we'll be unleashing those fan favorite side quests. So strap up your boots, put on those headsets, and get ready for more episodes. From your podcast, wrestling tag team James on wrestling with Freddie. Listen to wrestling with Freddie on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. This is the crossover NBA podcast on Chris Mannix joined, as always, by Chris Herring, SI Senior Writer, author of the New York Times bestseller, Blood and Guts in the Garden, and a member of South Florida's Boomerang Generation, Rohan Noncerny. I was excited for the intro today, Mannix. I knew you'd have something cooked up and you delivered. So well. Are you familiar with the Boomerang Generation? No, actually, I got to say. So the Boomerang Generation, Rohan, you set yourself up, you should have just said yes. I want to hear this, I need to hear it. So in the spirit of the Boomerang, and Herring, those rum going with this, the Boomerang Generation is the generation that moved out of their parents' house and Boomerang'd back in. I see. I see. Okay. Well done. Well done. Just like I do when you hit me with Pusha T. lyrics that I'm not even sure what they are. Just laugh and keep her whole leg, dude. Oh, man. All right. So guys, we are now in full off-season mode in mid-June with the finals in the Rearview Mirror. And we've already had some pretty interesting names enter the mix. And I want to start with Bradley Beale, the Wizards All-Star Guard, reports emerged this week that Beale and Washington will work together on finding a trade if the Wiz decide that they are going to do a complete reset. Beale just completed the first year of a five year, $251 million max extension. He has a full no trade clause, which means Washington has to work with him on a deal. The market for Bradley Beale, I think, is going to be interesting. He's going to be 30 years old in a couple of weeks. He is still a dynamic score, but he's got a history of injuries. He has been the most durable guy, especially the last couple of years. Herring, I'll start with you. What do you think the market is going to look like for Bradley Beale? I don't think it's going to be great. I think for a lot of what you just said, you imagined that only a handful of teams would be interested from the standpoint of how quickly does he put us into contention for something really big. You're only going to be interested from that standpoint. You really only can be interested from that standpoint because he's going to clog up most teams cap in a way that not just clog, but also you can't move him on a whim. You have to do it the way that Washington's being forced to do it now. I think the injury stuff is the bigger concern. What's interesting about this to me is that I actually think it might tend to end up looking like his teammates situation in Dallas a couple of years ago with Porzingis where you're going to have to end up trading him for bits and parts, and it's probably more of a player return that you're getting back. I would think that then picks just because I can't really see any team just leveraging their whole situation for him because he's a very, very, very good player. He has moments where he's a great player. But he's just not durable enough, and he's had pretty good teammates at times. Look, I understand that people aren't going to say Christophe Porzingis is the greatest thing since the second coming, but he's, he's, he had a great season last year considering what people expected of him. I think that the Bradley Beal trade that ends up happening will probably end up looking a lot like what the Porzingis trade out of Dallas looked like when he went to Washington where it's a couple of pretty good players. No one great, but a couple of pretty good players that make decent money because I don't think teams are going to be willing to give up really, really big draft picks here. I don't think you can. I think that he's too big of a risk. And I think to some extent, Washington will be viewing it as a thank you for whoever takes him off their hands considering that he's going to make that much money for the next few years. So it's a tough call. I mean, he's going to end up somewhere, but I think that it's a pretty small market for who's going to really be gun call about trading for him at this point. Yeah. There are a ton of factors at play here. First and foremost, I think Bradley Beal is going to determine Bradley Beal's trade market because it's going to come down to who he puts on his corner, quote, list, right? If he has three teams on his list of places that he would actually go to because it was no trade clause, where does that go? Where does that go? Essentially, there's no trade clause rank among the worst personnel decisions. It made zero sense at the time. It wasn't like Bradley Beal was going to turn down a $250 million extension because he didn't get a no trade clause. It's not under the radar. They saw the Lakers make the Russell Westwick trade and they were like, quick, let's give Bradley Beal a no trade clause right now. Just no one will notice. It's not only does it not make any sense. So one of the most, just give me a single reason for why this needed to happen. Like I can't think of a single reason why they needed to give him why they needed to give him a no trade clause. I truly, as you mentioned, he was not turning down that contract. No one has turned down a super max contract because of a no trade clause. Just truly baffling. So the Wizards have backed themselves into a corner because if Bradley Beal says I'll only play for two teams, Washington's essentially restricted to only the good. He's negotiating with those two teams. You factor that in with the idea that I think every team around the league is a little spooked right now about the new CBA, the second tax apron, what are the consequences going to be? I don't think a lot of teams, even teams that in a normal circumstance would be eager to add someone like Bradley Beal, I think even other teams now might take a step back and say, can we really afford this contract? How is it going to affect us a year from now, two years from now, et cetera? I'm with Herring. I wouldn't be surprised if he moved for spare parts if he removed for expiring contracts because if you're trying to acquire Bradley Beal at this point, why are you offering the Wizards anything? The rumors already out there, people have connected with the Miami Heat. I think that was who Shoms named in his first report about a potential trade. Let's just take the heat, for example. Why would you give up Tyler Hero in a Bradley Beal deal at this point? Because if he says, I want to play in Miami, the Wizards, they can't afford to have him on their roster for another four years at this salary, if they're trying to rebuild. They're really back into a corner here. I'd be surprised if he were moved for anything other than spare parts. You've got to give up a big contract to get Bradley Beal because you can't make the money work without it. If you're Miami and all it would cost you is Tyler Hero in a first round pick, I'd probably do that because you just made the finals. It may even be less though. Maybe, but I don't know what it's like to be Duncan Robinson in a first round pick. You're going to have to give something of substance back in return. Tyler Hero, six man of the year recently, he's the carrot in all that, but I don't think it would cost more than Tyler Hero. I'd probably do that if I were Miami, but let's dig into realistic options here. I think Miami is a realistic option because of the package that they can put on the table. I don't believe Boston is a realistic option. I refuse. This is going to be, guys, the first off season. I am putting a moratorium on Jalen Browne deals with off season. We have to stop. Every year we do this with Jalen Browne, where it's Jalen Browne for Anthony Davis. It's Jalen Browne for Kevin Durant. We're not doing Jalen Browne for Bradley Beal, mostly because I think it would be insane to do that. Jalen Browne is going to be 27 years old at the start of next season. He's coming up his first all-nbac and yeah, you're going to have to pay him a super max contract to keep him around. But in the next three or four years, there'll be a lot of guys with that super max contract. Making $40-50 million per year is not going to be this albatross around the neck of teams. If we learned nothing from the Denver Nuggets run, it's that consistency matters. Getting through the fire matters. The Celtics underachieved at the end of the season, getting beat by Miami, but trading Jalen Browne, in part because like Jason Tatum and Bradley Beal grew up together, is not the solution to your problems if you're the Celtics. I would take that completely off the table. In fact, I believe that is completely off the table. I don't think Boss is at all interested in doing a deal like that. The team that makes the most sense to me is Golden State. It's always been the case with Bradley Beal, because they can offer a young centerpiece in Jonathan Caminga in a deal, maybe even throw Moses Moody into that mix. They have Andrew Wiggins' contract that could make everything work. They have the draft capital that could make everything work and look, it sounds like they're trending towards bringing the band back together, having Dremon back either opting in or on a new deal. Clay Thompson will be back. We'll see if he gets an extension on his deal. Steph Curry obviously is there. You put Bradley Beal as a third option on that Warriors team. How do you stop them? How do you even slow them down? They become not as dynamic as the Kevin Durant Warriors, but just a cut below. And certainly more dynamic offensively than they were last season. They'd miss Andrew Wiggins, because Andrew Wiggins was a Swiss Army knife for them defensively and we saw what he did during their championship run a year ago. But that's a team herring that I believe makes the most sense for both sides. If you're Washington, you get young pieces or at least one piece. You get a draft pick. If you're Golden State, you get an all NBA level score that you can plug into an incredibly dynamic perimeter offense. Man, I totally hear you. Totally understood. We've seen how having a third all NBA caliber, all star caliber wing player just makes them unstoppable offensively. But man, just think about what we've been talking about with Beal and how his unavailability hurt so much, whether it's him getting COVID for like a fourth time or whatever else. And just the injuries and granted, they've been uncompetitive at times. So sure, he's just sitting out because there's no benefit in having him play after a while when you're trying to essentially lose. But Wiggins, and I understand that like, recency will tell you, oh, well, he just missed a whole chunk of this last season. I think that on some level was kind of their undoing that he had to miss that time for personal reasons, but he's been available most of the time throughout his whole career. And so it's not just that he's readily available most of the time, the vast majority of the time where he's a guy that's played 82 games before I think more than once. It's also just what he brings where even if he's not scoring for you, which he normally does, he's rebounding. He becomes their best rebounder sometimes. He becomes a guy that you can throw on LeBron and all these other guys, Beal can do things when he's not scoring. He can play make for you and stuff like that. But I think the availability part of it is just so important. And I think that the other, when you talk about the Swiss Army knife qualities that Wiggins has, I, you know, if you would ask me four years ago, would I be arguing that, no, you can't trade Wiggins because, you know, he's way more valuable than Bradley Beal. I think particularly for that team, I just think he is. I think you're right that the Wizards would do it. I just don't think that the Golden State should or really needs to right now unless you're looking to move off of somebody. You know, if you're not as interested in having Clay come back or something like that, and you're going to need someone scoring, okay, then I can have that conversation. Well, not to be salary cap nerd guy, but I don't think it is possible for the Warriors to acquire Bradley Beal unless they trade both Jordan, pool and Andrew Wiggins. My very basic understanding of again, this is where the new CBA comes into play because I'm with Manix. I think the Warriors, they're a team that over the years, I want to say it's been linked to Bradley Beal, but when we talk about Bradley Beal fake trades when the Wizards should have traded them like two or three years ago, the Warriors were a team that came up post a rant. The problem is they're already over the second apron, which restricts a lot of the moves you can make. You can't take more money back in a trade. That's an important one here because you're if they combine the contracts of Wiggins coming on Moody, they're not approaching Bradley Beal's $45 million a year salary. So they'd have to trade, I think Wiggins and pool to make it work. Now that's a much steeper price. I know pool obviously struggled last year, but he's been a big part of their future plans. And let's say they're even willing to do it, you trade pool and Wiggins for Beal. You now have Steph, Clay, Beal and Dremon making huge money next year. Even if Devin Chenzoe, for example, obviously back in on his relatively cheap team contract, you are going to have to put, you're going to have to knock every minimum signing you make out of the park at that point because your roster is going to be very top heavy. I'm not saying that that wouldn't still be a fantastic team. I mean, you still have Gary Payton signed, Cavan Looney signed. You'd have the young guys. It would just be a fascinating way to build a team right now when you saw the nuggets kind of do, I'm not saying that the nuggets are now the model, but they did it a little differently. Depth, two great players, et cetera. That's what I'm talking about when we talk about how the second apron and the new CBA comes into play because a team like Golden State is going to be very restricted in what they can do, not just for agency wise, but trade wise because of the tax situation. Yeah, and I think one other factor is that, again, Bradley Beal will decide where he goes. Yeah. And there were reports a couple of years ago when Golden State was in the mix for Bradley Beal that he didn't want to go there. Now maybe that's changed over the last couple of years. I don't know, but that has to be watched as well. The Philadelphia often gets connected to Beal. He's got a good relationship with Jewell and Beade there. Question the six would have to ask is, would we swap Tyrese Maxi for him? And it feels like, I don't know if I do that. In fact, I don't think I would do that. And outside of that, you don't really have anything that Washington would really want in Philadelphia. So, I don't know, it'll be interesting to see where, again, where he wants to go because that's what this is all about because of that no trade clause. He decides where he wants to go. So, I don't know. Yeah, this always happens. I mean, I covered, I guess I wasn't on the next beat right up until the very end of Carmelo's tenure, but he was one of the last guys before this to have the no trade. And you always end up having guys that stay with their franchise longer. Because of it, because it's like, you know, they know that they hold the keys to a deal getting done, essentially. Players, I feel like a lot of times, and I think this is one of the topics we're going to bleed into in a minute, sometimes have more loyalty than they really should to organizations that don't know what they're doing. And they end up sticking around longer than they should. And then, guess who ends up losing out, because that's the organization, because they can't really trade someone at the peak of their powers, or at the peak of their value is the more important way to put it. So even if you could, you don't even get to really scour the whole league, because it's only teams that that player would be comfortable getting moved to. So it's just about- I don't even think it's loyalty, Harry, that these guys have. I just think they know that you get the money now, and you deal with what you want out of your career later. Probably. I mean, that's why when people are like, well, Jalen Brown signed a Supermax in Boston, of course he will, because even if it doesn't work out, and he decides in a year he doesn't want to be there anymore, he'll have the money. And he'll just talk to Boston, and they'll figure out a deal if the way it works. And Carmelo was kind of the first to kind of pioneer that attitude. Like Carmelo and Harry, I think you'd agree, like all things being equally probably would have been a bull. He got a five-year deal for Chicago in that offseason, he would have gone there. But he could have gotten more guaranteed money, and it turned out to work out for him, because on the back end of that deal, he wasn't worth a fraction of what he was making on that last contract. So guys take the money, like Bradley Beale, it's not a diss towards him, but I don't think Bradley Beale, when he signed that contract, was thinking, I'm a wizard for life, I think he was thinking, I'm going to get a quarter of a billion dollars guaranteed, and a no trade clause. So why wouldn't I do something like that? And here we are. Shout out to Bradley Beale, by the way, because that is one of the best contracts. Shout out to Bradley Beale. Shout out to Mark Bartelstein, his agent, like for getting that included in the deal, because he's got a quarter of a billion guaranteed at a no trade clause, and now he can quite literally pick which team he wants to go to. Yeah, incredible. Truly that. That rarely happens in the end. Yeah. All right. Hey, all, it's Ameson Devon here, and we've got some news for you. Get ready because MTV's official challenge podcast is heading back in time. For the first time ever, we're diving into an iconic season from the past. And what better place to start then? Say it with me. Free agents. It's a fan favorite, and has so many iconic rivalries like Banana's versus Jordan, Laura versus Cara. Oh, and also you and I were both on it. Don't forget to mayor the wig. Oh, all right. Hey, girl. I know. We'll be joined by legendary cast members from the season, and we'll go behind the scenes with them for the first time ever. Plus, here what they've been doing, since the show ended, because you know Yala knows anyone to know. Yeah, just because there's no challenge on TV right now, doesn't mean we're going to leave our podcast listeners hanging. Listen to MTV's official challenge podcast on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcast, or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Claire Crofton, and in my new podcast, The Fighty Pups, we're going out on the ice with the most violent hockey team ever. That was guerrilla warfare at its highest. The Dambu Trashers wanted to win at any cost. They kicked out. They kicked out. They kicked out. I'll tell them I'm breaking loose here in trash account. You wanted to break every bone in his body. Literally throwing him like a rag doll. Going bananas. Here at the Dampery Ice Arena. They can't restrain him right now. So are they heroes or villains? You decide. I don't know what to say, and I don't want to get shot. There's the FBI side. There's my side. And somewhere in the middle is the truth. Listen to The Fighty Pups, on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. You and I are going to have a problem. You want to say what I'm saying to you? Welcome to the jungle. No matter which team you root for, the Unleashed podcast is here to help you pick winners and losers. So join me, Olivia Harlandecker, and my co-host, Jerry Ferrara, each week as we take a look at the latest lines and break down all the biggest stories and games in sports. That's right. From props to parlays, totals to teasers, we've got you covered. And you'll get to hear us celebrate our winners, or Bermone, our bad beats, but hopefully mostly celebrate winners. Plus, we'll talk with some great guests from the world of sports and entertainment, which reminds me, I got some calls to make, and I owe you to cash in. Okay, Jerry, yeah, you get on that. Now, a lot of shows break down games, but the Unleashed podcast is the only one that also breaks down each season of entourage, as I binge watch every episode, and make Jerry relive it in the process and take us behind the scenes. Oh, I got stories you could count on that. So listen to The Unleashed podcast, presented by BetMGM, on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. The other hot rumor this week involved New Orleans, the athletic reporting that the Pelicans are among the teams looking to move up in the draft, which has fueled speculation that Zion Williamson could be available. Zion is 23 or is going to be 23. He's under contract for the next five years. About half of last season with that hamstring injury, but before he got hurt, the Pelicans were playing great. So Rohan, we'll start with you on this one. The Pelicans are among, probably a half a dozen or more teams looking to move up into the draft. So we're draft year because there are a bunch of teams that want to move up, and at least one of the teams, specifically Portland, may be looking to move out, should Zion Williamson be on the table in a deal for a top three pick? Whew, yeah, man, Zion Williamson popping up in a lot of rumors and whatnot lately. What should the Pelicans do, man? So I think that Zion Williamson should be on the table in trades, because the Pelicans have proven over the last couple of seasons, they have a really good team. When Brandon Ingram, CJ McCollum, are healthy, they've played really good basketball. They have great supplementary pieces, Herb Jones, Train Murphy, Jose Alvarado, Jonas Valentinus has been really good for them. Like that team, when all those guys are healthy, I think is going to be a consistent playoff team. They might be back half of the bracket, but last year they were kind of beset with injuries, Zion going out halfway through the year, the year before that, they're going to make the playoff run without Zion. You have something there, and as great a Zion has been, can you trust him? Do you wait on him? Do you wait on him to fulfill his potential while Brandon Ingram and CJ McCollum are already playing great? My issue with the Pelicans, what I don't understand is, you know, it's not an old team, but it's a team that's been through a little bit together now. They have some shared history. If I were going to move Zion, I don't know that I would move him for a pick, even as good as we think, Scoot Henderson maybe, or some of the other prospects in this draft near the top, because to me, it's just kind of kicking the can down the road. They're saying, okay, let's develop another guy and see if he fits in next to who we have. So I could understand trading him. I think if a true superstar were to become available, so maybe someone unexpected, I don't know who that player is that I'm moving Zion for just yet, but I don't understand making the move if I'm New Orleans to get a draft pick. And my team is already proven they can be really good, and I think competes with anyone when fully healthy. I don't understand why they'd want to kind of go backwards in the timeline here. Haring, what do you think? Yeah, that was, I mean, honestly, I don't mean to paraphrase what Rohan just said. That was what I was a little bit confused by, as normally, I mean, let's put it this way. If you had come into this past year saying, if Zion stays healthy and produces the way that we know he can, which is essentially what he was doing last year until he ended up missing the rest of the season, you, I think even last year, you still would have had a list of, we would only trade Zion for this list of players. And I'm not sure how long the list would have been. It wouldn't have been that long, I don't think, because we've seen his potential. It's not even just potential. You've seen what he does when he's healthy from really like his second year on. The guy is like a 60 plus percent shooter, basically right up there with Yokech, as far as the most efficient guys in the league who are volume shooters when he's able to play. He's got some deficiencies defensively, but we know the biggest question mark about him is his ability to stay healthy. So in light of all that, you're talking normally about like, there are only 10-ish guys in the league. We would maybe trade him for considering contract, considering age stuff like that. Like he's a franchise player for most teams in this league if he's able to play. So to go from that conversation to now like, we'll trade him for a pick is just weird. I guess I get it because after a certain amount of time, how many times can you keep saying, we're going to roll the dice on him being healthy because we've got the rest of the roster ready to compete for, if not a title, then maybe, you know, a conference finalist, something like that. It's just weird to roll the dice on him to then trade for, you know, a pick, even in a draft like this one that's not winmanyama. You know, you're not going to get there in terms of how high up you get in the draft. So I don't know which guys or which teams you'd really be looking to trade with or who you'd be getting back. He makes a lot of money too, by the way. And so there would still need to be some pretty hefty throwins from whoever is getting him. But I just, I think it's too big of a question mark. Also, man, like if you can't get it right with him and maybe it's his body. And so maybe it's not a knock on the training staff. I'm not trying to knock anyone. But man, like, he kind of seems like the sort of player because of the way he produces it's worth trying to shuffle around some of your staff to try to figure out. Can we get some people that are specialists in helping guys that have been injured repeatedly to getting them right physically so that we can just get them to stay on the court? I would probably try that one time before I would just say, let's move off of Zion. I would probably give him one more year just because the rest of your core is relatively young too. And if you, I mean, they were in first place very briefly for maybe like a game or two. They were looking in first place. They were looking really on the season. I remember writing about it. They were scary. And that was with Ingram hurt, by the way, for most of that run when they actually ascended in the first place, you know, without him they fell apart. And frankly, Ingram was out for a lot of that time too, even when Zion left the lineup. But that's the makings of something more so than like, let's give this pick time to kind of gel with the rest of our roster and mature. I would rather try to go for it with Zion one more time. I wonder what Willie Green would stand on all this too. Like I imagine that he knows that it's capable of working if they've got their full complement of guys. I would go for it one more time before I would really have this conversation over a pick. If we're having a conversation over a play. So I'm a massive Scoot Henderson fan, like huge. I think Scoot Henderson is going to be an all NBA guard within the next five years. I think he has that maybe even earlier, maybe next three years. I wouldn't trade Zion Williamson for the rights to draft Scoot Henderson. I wouldn't, I certainly wouldn't trade Zion Williamson for the rights to draft Brandon Miller. Look, it's been a weird first few seasons for Zion. The foot problems that flared up early, the hamstring problem that flared up last year. But to you, the last week on Twitter, that's his world, that's his world. But to your point, I mean, the Pelicans were 23 and 14 when Zion went out in early January. They were really good. And we were looking at them saying, wow, when they're healthy with CJ, they could be a threat. They could beat a lot of teams in the Western conference. I don't think you can just put that aside because he had a terrible hamstring injury and then he had a setback to kept him out for the rest of the season. It's concerning because these injuries tend to pile up and you start to wonder can he ever stay healthy. But moving off a 23 year old who just two seasons ago averaged 27 points on 65% true shooting. That's an absurd number, 65% true shooting. I don't know how you do that, I don't know how you justify that. I mean, if you're the Blazers, you'd probably do that. I mean, because for the Blazers, I mean, if you're the Blazers, that satisfies kind of both your needs, you're both getting a guy that can help you win now and you're getting a guy that could be the centerpiece of a rebuild if you move off Damien Lillard, which we'll get to in a moment. But if you're the Pelicans, I don't know how that makes any sense because you'd still have CJ McCall, I'm who's in his 30s and is in kind of win now mode. Brandon Ingram looks like he's ready to win now. You'd have a win now team that's trying to incorporate a what 19, 20 year old rookie into that mix. And I don't really understand how that makes any sense. I also wouldn't trade Brandon Ingram for the third pick right now. I just think that this team is young enough and talented enough to just be left alone, to just say, we're going to build and we're going to build off this group, yeah, of this group altogether. So I would, yeah, I would not trade Zhion for, man, almost anything. I have a question for you. Do you get the sense, I don't know if you've had a chance to like really start talking to people at the office season and whatnot, but do you get a sense that draft night is going to be a night with a lot of movement or our team is going to see who is picked where and then maybe after the fact try to make some moves like is Portland basically on the the day and clock like right now or like how do you kind of see it all playing out? Well, let's talk about Portland then, it's a good transition to the Blazers. I think Charlotte uses its pick. I don't know who they use it on, you know, I've heard the last couple of days that there has been a growing amount of support for Scoot Henderson, there's obviously a concern internally about, you know, redundancy, yeah, like do you, you know, can they play together, I, you can't think like that though, like if you've got a talent that you believe to be transformative, you got to take it. It doesn't really matter how the fit works right away and Scoot Henderson, I mean, look at Scoot Henderson, like I encourage people if you aren't familiar with his game, like just look at pictures of him, he's built like a middle linebacker and he's got, you can watch him, like go back to the games in Vegas between the G league team and the Wemanyama team and Wemanyama was awesome, like he was incredible. But Scoot Henderson in that first game that he played in was just a cut below and did not back down and did not back down, not one inch, like I think he's going to be, he's going to be special. And you'll look, if the, I think the horn should draft him, but if he's on the board at number three, I don't see the blazers passing on him, I don't. And then that puts them in a Damien Lillard type predicament because Lillard has made it pretty clear and you know, publicly saying, you know, if we use that, that, that top three pick, yeah, it doesn't make a lot of sense for me to be around. I'm paraphrasing a little bit there, but he said, you know, and look, he's been pretty consistent with his messaging about, you know, I'm not going to ask for a trade or demand a trade, but if we get to the later stage of the off season and we're not in a position where we have a chance to win next year, Joe Cronin and I are going to have a conversation. I think that conversation is coming. I think it's coming because Portland, unless they can get a Zion caliber player of that age and that talents. You just can't, you can't move off that pick for a veteran that might get you like the sixth seed next year. That's not good basketball. That's not, that's not how you build a winner and as much as it pains people in Portland, the idea of moving off Damien Lillard, sometimes it's just time. And I think we're there with Portland, Rowan, I just think that you've got, you've got a team that has plateaued and even if Damien Lillard comes back and plays like it did last year, what are they? Eight seed, seven seed, six seed. They're just not there right now. And if you can draft Scoot Henderson and then get a hall of assets in exchange for Lillard, I think that's a hall that would be legit because Dam in his early 30s, playing at the level he has, he's just one of those guys where you say like that's a winner. He can take you over the top. He can push you over the top in ways that maybe Bradley Beal can't. It just doesn't, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to realize that's the best way to go. Yeah, I kind of agree and I, again, it's people, I know people in Portland shout out to Sean Huykin who are going to be like, oh, it's just another national podcasting. The Blazers should trade Damien if he wants to stay. What's the big deal? But it is a big deal. I mean, Sean, Sean's great, Sean's great. I read the Rose Garden report. You should all encourage you to subscribe to that. I just, if you're, you keep Damien Lillard and you're just doing that to sell tickets at the motor center and you're doing that to maintain relevancy over the next couple of years, mediocrity is not a strategy. It's not. And look, there's no guarantee that you'll be able to rebuild if you trade Lillard. Lots of teams have failed at that task, but it's pretty certain that just by keeping him around, you are not giving yourself a chance to win a championship. And that should be the end goal for teams. I will say they're in the rare position where a lot of teams when they trade their star, never a quote unquote bottomed out. Portland didn't bottom out, but the fact that they're starting with the number three pick and Damien Lillard kind of puts them a step ahead, a lot of teams that would be doing this kind of rebuild, right? They have the number three pick in a draft with three fantastic prospects. They're going to end up with a really good pick at the top of the draft, even if we don't know what that player is going to become, it's going to be a good pick and then they have the opportunity to go out and trade Dam for either a young piece or a package of picks. It's going to be fascinating because I'm with you. I just don't see the point of using that pick on a player and pairing that player with Damien, especially if it is a Scoot Henderson, beyond that, if you think of the best player that they could get for the number three pick, whoever that best player is, let's say it's Pascal Ciacum who has been an all-in BA guy, it would actually be hard to do much better than him. Maybe you guys can think of a name. Does Lillard's Ciacum get you past the Oakitch Murray? Toronto would do that. Toronto would do that in a heart. Toronto, you wouldn't even have to get the first minute of that phone call. Does it get you past LeBron and AD? Obviously, all these teams have more players to them, but even in an era of so much parity in the Western Conference, let's say they got Zion somehow for the number three pick. Can you defend well enough with Damien's Zion and can Zion be healthy enough and good enough he's never been through a playoff run before that now you have something resembling a contender? For me, the problem is it's not only that there's no perfect player available, it's even if they were able to get a really high impact veteran with that pick, as you mentioned, I just don't know that it really moves the needle for them in a meaningful way in the West with how many good teams are we even talking about Booker and Direct, like in Phoenix, it's just going to be there in such an... Listen, it's an unfortunate position because I love Lillard, I love the Blazers, I think it's been a great partnership and I think it's been a successful launch. Even if it hasn't resulted in a championship, that doesn't mean it's been unsuccessful, but I'm kind of with you Chris, I do think it's time, although once again, anytime I bring it up to people, they're still like, Dame loves it there. I still haven't heard from anyone I know that people are so up low. I don't think he loves it there, but I mean, I've talked to Dame on the record about this over the last year, and look, he's been pretty consistent. If we can win, then absolutely, I want to be here for the rest of my career, but if this team is going to go in a different direction and rebuild, it just makes sense to do something with me that moves me somewhere else. Harry, what do you think? Yeah, I think that that's the crux of it, is that we're talking about this as if like if there's a way to make them a contender through that third pick, and I don't think there realistically is, even if you get Zion with the third pick, which I don't think we all kind of agreed, we wouldn't do that, so I think we're, you know, we would all be surprised if it happened. There's real potential there for that to be disastrous too, for a franchise that has already had any number of disastrous outcomes with guys at the top of the draft, or, you know, an opportunity to make use of something at the top of the draft, whether it's Sam Buie, whether it was Greg Odin, even Brandon Roy, who had a fantastic run with them, didn't pan out from the standpoint of his, you know, his body holding up. It would be really tough if Zion becomes another cautionary tale in that sense, even though we've seen, again, with him, it's not even potential, it's just capability of staying on the court. And, you know, their Portland's not one player away, so I respect the hell out of Dame, like he's exactly the sort of star player I want. He's not out talking big or brash. He just goes out and produces wins and really high pressure situations when he's healthy. He can't do that totally on his own. And Zion helps fill certainly some holes for you, certainly gives you another franchise caliber guy, but, you know, has his own questions and they would still need more than that. And I think that's the challenge is that nobody really wants to say goodbye here for a lot of the reasons you just mentioned. I think Dame is a guy that, again, we talk about loyalty. He's been as close to that in sports as we've seen really. He's never really deeply entertained the idea. He's basically said what I hate about the media right now is that sometimes other people kind of project things on to you from the standpoint of wanting you to want a trade, even if you don't necessarily want one. Like, I don't think he wants to leave. I think he would love to stay and make it work. But even if you're able to do that by getting a guy that makes you more competitive, there's not a single guy out there on the market right now that puts you in contention right away unless a lot of other things fall apart for the other contenders in that conference. So I just kind of think maybe it's time, especially from the standpoint of what do you have? Maybe two, three more years if you're fortunate of Dame being at anywhere near this level. And then at that point, you would need to be pivoting anyway. And so Zion would be a great answer for that that buys you more time. But again, you don't know if you don't even know if he would be healthy enough to really sustain anything with Dame. And as your franchise face, it couldn't be more of an albatross from the standpoint of if he's not healthy than what. So I don't know. I think it's probably just time really for all these guys we've been mentioning. I would not put Zion in that category, but I think for Dame and Bradley Peale, I think they're kind of the same situation except Dame is just a much better player. And we view him as being even more tied to the organization because I don't think I genuinely don't think he wants to leave, but it just still might make more sense for him. But if Lillard was 27 years old, this isn't even a conversation. You don't pick up the phone if people call for him. But it's going to be 33 this summer. And you know, he's probably one injury away from becoming extremely difficult to trade, or at the very least not bringing back the type of package he'd bring back right now. And that's what you got to focus on if you're Portland. Maximizing his value at this stage. And you know, look, if you can start over with Scoot Henderson or Brandon Miller as your centerpiece, you've got Amphority Simon's there who is a terrific scoring guard. You've got Shade and Sharp there who was a top seven pick. Whatever hall you get in exchange for Damien Lowe, there are worst places to start from. You know, there are worse, worse places to be. Sharp, sharp and like Scoot Henderson would be a fantastic place to start. And that did not even include what they could get back to. Interesting. Yeah. Yeah. No question. Hey, all it's Ameson Devon here. And we've got some news for you. Get ready because MTV's official challenge podcast is heading back in time. For the first time ever, we're diving into an iconic season from the past. And what better place to start then? Say it with me. Free agents. It's a fan favorite and has so many iconic rivalries like Banana's versus Jordan, Laura versus Cara. Oh, and also you and I were both on it. Don't forget to mayor the wig. All right, P girl. I know. We'll be joined by legendary cast members from the season and we'll go behind the scenes with them for the first time ever. Plus, here what they've been doing since the show ended because you know, Yala knows anyone to know. Yeah, just because there's no challenge on TV right now, doesn't mean we're going to leave our podcast listeners hanging. Listen to MTV's official challenge podcast on the iHeartRadio app Apple podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Claire Crofton and in my new podcast, The Fighting Pups. We're going out on the ice with the most violent hockey team ever. That was guerrilla warfare at its highest. The Dambry Trashers wanted to win at any cost. They kicked out. They kicked out. I've been on breaking loose here in Joshua Cab. He wanted to break every bone in his body. Literally throwing him like a rag doll. Going bananas here at the Dambry ice arena. They can't restrain him right now. So are they heroes or villains? You decide. I don't know what to say and I don't want to get shot. There's the FBI side. There's my side and somewhere in the middle is the truth. Listen to The Fighting Pups on the iHeartRadio app Apple podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. You and I are going to have a problem. Do you understand what I'm saying to you? Welcome to the jungle. No matter which team you root for, the Unleashed podcast is here to help you pick winners and losers. So join me Olivia Harlandecker and my co-host Jerry Ferrara each week as we take a look at the latest lines and break down all the biggest stories and games in sports. That's right. From props to parlays, totals to teasers, we've got you covered. And you'll get to hear us celebrate our winners or bemoan our bad beats, but hopefully mostly celebrate winners. Plus we'll talk with some great guests from the world of sports and entertainment which reminds me I got some calls to make and IO used to cash in. Okay, Jerry. Yeah, you get on that. Now a lot of shows break down games, but the Unleashed podcast is the only one that also breaks down each season of entourage as I binge watch every episode and make Jerry relive it in the process and take us behind the scenes. Oh, I got stories you could count on that. So listen to the Unleashed podcast presented by VETMGM on the iHeartRadio app Apple podcasts or wherever you get your podcast. All right, last thing I want to get to is we are a couple of weeks away from I think one of the more fascinating free agencies for one player in particular in a while. James Hardin is undoubtedly going to opt out of his contract and become a free agent. Everything logical suggests that James Hardin and Philadelphia will find a way to get a long term deal done. You know, Philadelphia is a contender. James Hardin has a elite number or at least co-star. I'm not going to call them the number two because Joel and Veed is the reigning MVP, but he has an elite guy to play alongside. Tyrese Maxi is a young player that's only going to get better. It just seems like the situation where James Hardin is perfect. He's got the GM there that loves him and will do anything for him. Yet we continue to hear about other options for James Hardin. We continue to hear about James Hardin being interested in a reunion with Houston. And as crazy as that sounds, I know that over the course of the last six, eight months, there have been a lot of high-level conversations at Houston about bringing James Hardin back. There are a lot of people on board with bringing James Hardin back. It doesn't make any sense to me because that's a team in the infancy of a rebuild. And James Hardin at 34 years old doesn't seem to fit that timeline. But their interest in James Hardin is real. Now, if that interest manifests itself in a four-year contract, I don't know. I'm going to guess that the rockets, I would hope at least have at least some restraint in what they'd be willing to offer him. But we've also heard James Hardin connected to Phoenix. I'm sure in the next couple of weeks, we're going to hear James Hardin connected to somebody else. I guess the question is this, why is it not just a no-brainer for James Hardin to figure out a deal with Philadelphia and go back to a team that can pay him and can help him help him potentially win a championship? I mean, isn't the answer kind of obvious? I mean, we'll get the answer to this very soon. But if he decides to go to Houston, it's because winning is not the most important thing to him. And I like, I'm normally not that blunt with the way that I'll explain something. But if he's going there, at this point in his career, granted, he's been in situations where he had opportunities. It's not to say he's never been most interested in doing that. Houston, they had a cold opportunity to do it and it just didn't happen. Chris Paul got hurt. They had another good opportunity there while he was in Houston. The Brooklyn situation might have borne that fruit. He decided he didn't want to kind of be, he went there so that he could have a third of the work and it ended up being a lot more than that considering the Kyrie shenanigans, Katie Binghurt. He didn't want to wait around for that situation. He was annoyed by that situation. Okay, a lot of us have situations at work that make us frustrated. He's entitled to that. That's fine. And he saw someone else that maybe wasn't taking the idea of winning or winning at the highest level as seriously as he was. That's fine. He's entitled to make that decision. If he walks away from the Philly situation to go to Houston specifically, a team that even though maybe their best player long term is a big man, that team is run by its guards. Who kind of do the your turn, my turn thing. We'll see soon enough whether that was a function of their coaching or if that was just, you know, that no one's running the situation and that it's just kind of a free for all. If he goes to a situation where you're taking the ball out of their hands to some extent, theoretically taking the ball out of the hands should go to some extent for a team that doesn't play defense to be led and run by a guy that his work ethic from the way that we view it from the funny has off the court to the idea of him the way he exited Houston the last time is not necessarily a leader all the time would be so ridiculous to me. And if it's for big money, as you said, and no restraint on Houston's part, we've been talking about it. We haven't danced around. We've been talking about pretty actively from the standpoint of no trade clause and everything else. And sometimes teams get really desperate from a ticket standpoint. And if they're bringing him back at big money, we would be looking at a situation that looks like that to a team. So if he decides to do it, by all means he has the right to do it, I don't even need to call him on it. It just is what it is at that point. But like if you're walking away from a situation where we keep talking about how Philly is this close to making it to a conference finals and has an MVP, whether you view him as having been deserving or not, has an MVP on the roster has a guy that if hard doesn't stay looks very ready to take over the mantle of clearly being the second guy and has it times. Sometimes it's looked like he's ready to be the lead guy. What are we even talking about at that point? I think if you want to have a conversation about Phoenix, fine, that's fair. Harden has played with Katie before. Booker, at times looks like an MVP candidate. That's fine. We could have that conversation. But if it's about Houston, and he's really weighing that, even if it's a little bit more money, I just don't understand it at that point because to me, you can't look me in the face and tell me it's about winning at that standpoint unless you've just decided you don't care anymore. And I think we've all had the question about how heavily these guys value titles. We were just having that conversation about Dame and whether there's more to it than that, whether it's about the process, whether it's about the longevity of staying with one team, you can have that conversation about Dame. But Harden has moved teams enough now to where it's like, if you're doing it to take that big of a step back, whatever happens at that point, you just have to be willing to take it. And maybe money is worth it at that point to just kind of overlook the idea of winning. But you're not going to win there. And everyone knows it. The move then would not be about winning. It would not be about teaching those young guys to habits. So at that point, it seems only about money at that standpoint or maybe that you like the market because you played there for so long, but I just wouldn't understand at that point. He should go to Houston. I'm just, I'm done with the James Harden experience. Let him go to the rockets. Him, Udoca, whatever guy they decide to throw a ton of money at with all the caps, where they have, whether it's a brick Lopez or someone else, let them put together like some kind of middleing playoff team. And guess what? It'll end up being the same James Harden experience we've had for the last few years. Like just put him in Houston. I'm tired of playoff team. Like do you want like you put James Harden there? That's not a playoff team. No, I don't know, but like if I'm Philly, I am, I'm going nowhere close to the max for this guy, nowhere close to the max for this guy, who's now shown like time and time again. We just don't know if his body can handle four playoff rounds in a row. Yes, he, he had some big games in the playoffs this year, but when they needed him most down the stretch of game six, a chance to close out and move to the conference finals gave him nothing. Game seven in Boston. We saw it see him win a game seven in Boston. It can be done. They, they gave him nothing. Okay. Like I just, I'm, if you're the sixers, my question is if you're the sixers, you have Joel and B in the middle of his prime. I would truly rather take a small step back, then commit myself to James Harden at a number that's going to ruin the next three or four years of Joel and B's career. Like you have to be really mindful of that because you, you're going to get some flexibility eventually when Tobias Harris's deal expires. Maybe you can trade him. You have Maxi. You have a guy and B that theoretically we've seen now. I think guys want to play with Jimmy Butler loved him. James Harden seems genuinely joy playing with him. If I'm the sixers, I like, I'm lowballing the hell out of James Harden and I'm not someone who likes for players to get underpaid, but to me, you cannot make the mistake of handicapping and B's prime. I think these next three or four years are going to be his best years of his career as a chance to win a title. I'm not, I'm not handicapping myself to James Harden that he's next three or four years. It's a ridiculous number. And I have to think of all people would know that it's Darryl Mori, but he has this personal relationship with Harden that seems to cloud his judgment as times. I just would not take that risk if I'm the sixers. That's why I think frankly Houston makes sense for him because I just don't know that he's, the sons are the only other team that I think makes sense because he'd be the definitive third option there. And you can trust Katie and book in these big games. Exactly. I don't, it's going to be some kind of weird sign and trade. I don't love it either. Again, I'm with you. I don't know how it works, which is why I think the roads lead to Houston because they'll give him the money because he'll sell seats. And you're right. Maybe they're not a playoff team, but maybe they can use their space, add another vet and become at least decent, become respectable. But if I'm a contender, like literally outside of the suns, why am I trusting James Harden, especially at what he's going to cost and what he brings with him? I really struggled to see how he's worth it for a team trying to win a title. I have no idea why Houston would bring him in. It doesn't move the needle, at least not in the way they wanted to. And invariably, you're going to be stuck with a contract that is untradable on the back end with a guy making $50, $60 million in his late 30s. That doesn't make any sense to me. This is not a team. If we're talking about that money, that's what a four year max would roughly be. And look, that's what he's looking for. Like he's going to be looking for that dollar figure on a new deal. You are a team that I think made the right decision on a coach. I think Ema Yodoka is the right coach for that group because he's going to bring some order to that situation. He's going to be a disciplinarian. He's going to ruffle some feathers, especially in the first few months. There's no doubt about that. But I think he will eventually bring the best out of the young guys that are there. What they should do is allow Ema Yodoka to coach these guys up, to coach Jalen Green who's got all-star potential to coach Jabari Smith who's got all-star potential Alperin Sengoon, very good player, starting caliber player, coach him up, and then use that number four pick to draft the best player available and add him to that mix. The absolute worst thing that they could do is to sign James Hardin and trade that number four pick for a mid-level veteran. It doesn't make any sense at all in terms of building a franchise. So for Hardin, Rohan, I agree with you. If Houston will pay him and he loves it there, sure. You sacrifice any chance of winning a championship, but you get paid and you get to go back to a situation where that you really enjoyed. And while Darryl Moury's not there, his top lieutenants there, Raphael Stone, and I've been told that Raphael is on the same page as ownership when it comes to bringing James Hardin in. I get it if you're James Hardin. I just don't get it if you're the Houston Rock. So I think it's going to come down to for Philly Herring. It is the level of contract, right? Like if you can get James Hardin back on a two-year deal with a partial guarantee for the third, of course you do it. Like, of course you do it. Like, you're trying to maximize joelembeats prime years, Rohan said. And James Hardin for all his flaws over the next couple of years still helps with that. But if it's like four years or bust, I'm kind of with Rohan. I don't know that I do it. I don't think I do it. I mean, I think I'd cross my fingers and hope there's another level that Tyrese Maxx can get to, which I do think there is. And then I try to use some of that future flexibility. And maybe you do take a small step back next season, but I'd use that flexibility to try to get a piece that makes more sense over the next two or three years. Because a four-year contract for Hardin, it's going to bite you in the end. It just is. And maybe that's the price you have to pay to get two good years out of them, but it's a stiff price to pay, Herring. That's for sure. Yeah. I mean, it essentially, as we're talking about Hardin and the possibility or the name, at least being floated or the team being floated as Phoenix, it becomes the Chris Paul situation over again, where it's like you give him a deal. For on paper, it's a lot of money. It's over a couple of years. And you kind of re-evaluated at that point, because you're at that point, you're kind of shooting into the unknown to some extent, but the likelihood in all likelihood, you're going to watch someone fade at that age. It's just what happens, particularly when we've already started to see some of that slide, or some of that inconsistency from Paul, which we did last year, literally in the middle of a series last year, and saw it this year as far as the health and everything else. And just Chris Paul's numbers were not there as much. We're going to see that from Hardin at some point. It's not someone that has always prioritized his body. He's not someone that has always had incredible, incredible burst. If anything, he's actually had incredible deceleration, because he wasn't the most athletic guy, he wasn't jumping over people. So when some of that ability and that stop and start ability kind of slows down a little bit, it's just part of what's going to happen. And so if you can lock him in for a couple more years on big money, but money that runs out at a certain point or loses the guarantee at a certain point, like Chris Paul's is doing this coming year, you do it. I wouldn't do it at the numbers that were talking about for a max. Still, but if it's for two years, you can maybe run with that to some extent, because you're not breaking the bank necessarily in perpetuity when you've got an MVP and an all and be a caliber guard on your roster, aside from James Hardin. So sure, you would do that. But look, I mean, I'm not even sure that gets it done. Like at this point, we've seen that that's not necessarily enough to get it done. You're hoping that you just have enough one year to beat Boston. You're hoping that you've got enough to beat a Milwaukee. And you might not do it, but there aren't a whole lot of other answers there on the board right now. And so you're able to remake this roster with the Tobias Harris deal and some other stuff. And Siljo LNB has a run where he holds up perfectly through the whole run. Ron said it best. We've yet to see Hardin over the last few years really just hold up completely well. And the likelihood of that happening gets smaller as you take longer with this deal and as you let this play out even more. But there aren't a whole lot of great answers there. It's just not a great situation. And I imagine the situation looks even less great when you're hearing and watching the possibility of James Hardin completely ignoring your situation to take one that he's going to what a 22 win team or whatever it was, like, okay, okay, I guess. But that's kind of where we're at with this. And it just doesn't, it doesn't smell right to me. If it's just a leverage, play great. But if it's something that he's actually really going to consider, you might be better off without him. All right. Well, the off season is already interesting. So I'm sure we'll have a lot more to talk about in the next couple of weeks. Keep it locked over at SI dot com. We'll have a lot of off season stories coming up. And we'll be back on this podcast early next week. Hey y'all, it's Ami Sundev in here and we've got some news for you. Get ready because MTV's official challenge podcast is heading back in time. For the first time ever, we're diving into an iconic season from the past. Free agents. We'll go behind the scenes with legendary cast members from the season, plus here what they've been up to since it ended. Just because there's no challenge on TV right now, doesn't mean we're going to leave our podcast listeners hanging. Listen to MTV's official challenge podcast on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcast, or wherever you get your podcasts. In a new series from the teams at Novel and iHeartRadio, this is the Fighty Pucks. We're going out on the ice with the most violent hockey team ever. That was guerrilla warfare at the highest. Were they heroes or villains? You decide. I don't know what to say and they don't want to get shot. Welcome to the jungle. Listen to the Fighty Pucks on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Ladies and gentlemen, the greatest tag team in history is back and we're ready to make our grand entrance in season three of wrestling with Freddie. That's right, Freddie. We're bringing the heat with exclusive interviews, highlights and all the in-ring drama from the world of pro wrestling. Not only are we talking wrestling, but we'll be unleashing those fan favorite side quests. So strap up your boots, put on those headsets, and get ready for more episodes from your podcast wrestling tag team, J.I.P's on wrestling with Freddie. Listen to wrestling with Freddie on the iHeart Radio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Bradley Beal's Destination & Top Draft Trades