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All right, special bonus episode of the podcast
because we have some resolution when it comes to Damien Living.
It's part of a three team deal.
Damien Lillard is headed to the Milwaukee Bucks.
Yes, that's right.
Dam is taking his talents to the Midwest.
And he's going to be a member of the Milwaukee Bucks.
I'm here with Rowan Netcarnie, SI Writer.
Rowan, before we get unpacked the layers of this,
and you have to unpack it from multiple different angles.
I want to pour one out for our good friends down in Miami.
Not just the Miami Heat fans, not just the Miami Heat organization,
but Heat Media.
Yeah, I'm talking to you, Heat Media.
You know exactly who you are that have spent the last two, three months relentlessly mocking this idea
that Damien Lillard could end up anywhere else but Milwaukee.
You took a metaphorical dump all over Joe Cronin.
You trashed the blazers for holding on to this guy for as long as they did,
thinking there could be no other outcome.
But Damien Lillard headed to the Miami Heat.
And look where we are now.
Damien Lillard is headed to Milwaukee.
Deandre Aiden is headed to Portland.
And the Miami Heat, to this point, have struck out.
They're going to go into next season with Tyler Hero as their starting point guard,
a disgruntled Tyler Hero, Kyle Lowry backing him up without Max Struse.
Without some keep, without Gabe Vince, some key pieces to their Eastern Conference Champion team.
Poor one out for the Miami Heat, Miami Heat Media, that just,
we're just so unbelievably arrogant about all this.
Listen.
Listen.
Listen.
Listen.
Listen.
Listen.
I came on this podcast a couple months ago and said the same thing to you.
I don't think the heat are dealing from a position of strength here.
Portland didn't like their assets.
I said that they needed to up their offer.
We talked about it on this podcast.
The idea that no other team would get involved.
The risk that came with waiting, the risk that came with not upping the offer.
This is what happens now.
I do think there's a lot of reasons for why Damien is in Milwaukee and not Miami right now.
We'll unpack this from Miami side, Milwaukee side, et cetera.
But you're right.
I think a lot of people locally in South Florida just assumed that Damien was going to be able to will his way to Miami.
And, you know, whether it was air against or other reasons, I think there's a few layers to why the heat ultimately did not step up their offer.
But this was this was the risk they ran with staying where they did now.
Having said that, I mean, if we're going to get into it, Portland, I still need to see what they do a true holiday.
Before we, before we, before we, before we, before we unpack all the layers of it, let's just like outline exactly what happened here.
So the deal as it was constructed.
In Milwaukee Bucks, they get Damien Lillard, the Portland Trailblazers.
They received Drew Holiday, Deandre Aiden, Tumani Kamara, a 2029 Bucks first-round pick, and a 2029 Bucks first-round pick swap.
The Phoenix Sons, with a third team buzz this deal, they get Yusuf Nerkich, they get Nasir Little, they get Keon Johnson, and they get Grayson Allen.
So the Bucks who are in wind now mode, they get Damien Lillard.
The Blazers receive a bunch of assets, including the former number one pick in the draft in Deandre Aiden, and the Sons move Aiden in favor of multiple pieces.
This is a team that need a rotation pieces, and they got a few of them in this deal.
So that's the deal as it was constructed.
So let's take it team by team here, and let's start with Milwaukee, which had the best record in the Eastern Conference last year.
Number one seed in the Eastern Conference, they were the favorite Rohan going into this season with Drew Holiday on the roster, with that roster as it was constructed.
Now, they get Damien Lillard, one of the best fourth quarter performers out there.
And they add him to a rotation that still includes Yostan de Kumpo, that still includes Chris Milton, that still includes Brick Lopez, and still includes Bobby Portis.
It was a key piece, whether it's as a starter or off the bench.
This to me feels like a home run.
This is John Horst for the second time in three years, taking a big swing.
Before he took a big swing at Drew Holiday, depleted some draft capital, gave up some assets, gets Drew Holiday from New Orleans, that helps that team win a championship.
Now, he gets Damien Lillard, a all NBA guard, still a lead at 33 years old, to become the number two option on that team behind Yostan.
This one from a team Rohan that had Yannis and guys that were kind to number two options.
Remember Chris Milton was often considered like the weakest number two option that was out there.
Now, they get Damien freaking Lillard as their number two option.
Chris Milton as their de facto number three, I love this deal in every possible way for the Milwaukee Bucks.
The Milwaukee Bucks already a favorite, just got a lot stronger.
What say you?
I couldn't not agree more.
Like you said, there's so many ways to say that this trades a home run from Milwaukee.
Number one, where does Milwaukee struggle the most?
Half-court offense.
A big reason for that is Drew Holiday is not a consistent offensive performer.
You substitute him for Damien Lillard.
Boom, your half-court offense is fixed.
You have another great pick and roll option for Yannis and Tentekumpo.
Number two, you mentioned the Drew Holiday trade.
If you think back to the fall of 2020, the Bucks.
They lose in the second round of the Miami Heat.
Yannis, there's all these questions at summer.
Is he going to resign?
Is he going to take an extension?
They trade for Drew.
What does Yannis do?
He reels.
What's Yannis doing this summer?
He says, I want to know if the Bucks are committed to winning a championship.
Not only do they acquire Damien Lillard for this year and make them arguably the title favorites
in the entire league, not just the conference, Lillard is under contract for four years.
That's a sign to Yannis.
We're committed to paying the salary requisite to being a championship contender.
And now that might be enough, frankly, to convince Yannis to stay.
And beyond that, not only do they acquire Damien, they acquire him over their chief rival
in the Eastern Conference, the Miami Heat, who knocked him out two times in the last three years,
kind of been the reason why they've gone after some of these names and moves.
And look at the rest of the East.
I don't think Philly has gotten, you know, markedly better in a way that scares anybody in that conference.
Boston, I think a lot of people would say, has gotten worse.
The heat, I think, are at best the same as the team that was struggling in the play in last year.
I think the smoke puts Milwaukee a cut above the rest of the Eastern Conference.
And again, you look at what the nuggets were able to do with Jamal and Nikola Yokich.
I think you have to put the Bucks with Middleton as part of that trio right up there with him.
Do they have death concerns? Yes, they were a little thin already before this trade.
I'm not a big Grayson Allen fan. I think if he has Bucks fans, they're not necessarily thrilled when he's on the court in the playoffs.
So this to me is a, like you said, a home run on every single level for Milwaukee, not only because of what it does for them right now,
but if you can make a trade that convinces Yannis to stay, that alone is worth making the move.
Of course it is. This is the double whammy of it all, right?
Like, not, this is why John Horst, the GM of the Bucks, is out there playing like three-dimensional check on chips,
whatever else is playing in checkers. It's unbelievable.
Not only does he get Damien Lilly, which is going to help this team win a championship this year in the years to come.
He also does the best possible thing he can do to get Yannis's name on the contract.
I saw the video going around social media. It was from this past all-star of the year before where Yannis, who as a captain, got to draft first in the all-star draft.
His first pick was Damien Lillard. He picked Damien Lillard first.
I saw a video that Damien Lillard did for GQ where he was asked the one player that could help him with a championship.
It was Yannis that could combo, like these guys have been wanting to play with each other for a number of years now.
Now they get it, and it's not just for one year. That's not the part of this, too.
Jury Hall, it was going to be a forage now for this year.
Damien Lillard's under contract for the next four years.
Yannis has two years left in his deal. He could extend, I believe, now, or we can extend next summer.
Who knows what he's thinking at that moment.
But if John Horst was going to do anything to ensure that Yannis was on this team long-term, this was going to be it.
And here we go. Let's pour one out again for all the teams out there that were keeping their powder dry for Yannis to decouple.
That includes you, Miami, like you were one of those teams.
That you were one of those teams where there was Yannis and Joel and Bede that was waiting to see if this guy was going to become available.
And then you'd use these assets to go and get him. That's what you're doing.
That's the New York mix up and do what other teams have been doing the exact same thing.
That is now most likely off the table.
As long as Lillard is still Lillard, I think he's going to be at least for next year.
There is no reason for Yannis to leave. All he's motivated by is winning championships.
Now he has Damien Lillard, Chris Middleton, Brooke Lopez, and a GM that knows what the hell he's doing.
That knows how to build a championship team.
John Horst is like the new Pat Riley. Like this is the way it's like.
Okay, okay, okay. I'm just saying.
Okay, okay.
He has been masterful.
He has been running.
Hold on.
Rowan, he is running a small market team.
He's running a team in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
And he has put together another championship roster around Yannis.
It has been brilliant.
And all these other teams out there, not only do you not get Damien,
but you have to live with the reality now that more likely than Yannis is off the table.
Yeah, that's why it killed a swallow, man.
A total home run on every level from Milwaukee.
And I'm just like you said, excited for all these other reasons other than what it's even going to be on the court,
which I think will be very exciting.
And for people who already talk about the defensive concerns, I get it.
But Damien has never played with the center as defensively brilliant as Brooke Lopez.
Either he's love Yannis there to help him.
It's a middle to the other to help him.
I think it's going to be just a fantastic fit in every way.
I agree.
What's up, people?
This is Cam Jordan.
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All right, so let's now look at it from the Blazers perspective.
Because this is a big moment for them.
They were trained in their franchise player, all NBA guard.
Yeah, there were some difficulties around that because Dave was exercising his influence publicly.
And you had a guard who was 33 with four massive years left his contract.
This was not an easy deal to make where you're going to get maximum value.
Effectively in this deal, they get Deandre Aiden, who was the number one pick what four or five years ago.
They get a future first round pick for the box too.
You know, 2029 in Milwaukee.
I don't know what that's going to look like.
So that's a reasonable pick to have.
That's a reasonable pick.
It's as good a pick.
I think it's a Miami first at that time.
Sure, but the way everyone was okay.
I'll let you finish.
Well, I'll let you finish.
It's one first.
And you have holiday.
Now, the Blazers have no use for holiday.
Like the Blazers have their back court of the future.
It's Scoot.
It's Simon's, Shade and Sharp.
It's all those guys.
That's where they're building around moving forward.
So they're going to trade Jew holiday at some point.
There's going to be a bidding war for Jew holiday, right?
He's 35 years old still playing at an all-star level coming off.
What was it?
All-star season this past year.
He is still a big-time guard who has proven he is an effective player in the finals.
The Bucks don't win that championship against Phoenix without Jew holiday.
His defense was absolutely necessary in that series.
So whether it's the Clippers, whether it's the Heat, whether it's the Raptors,
whether it's the Celtics.
I mean, there are going to be teams out there right now.
The Sixers.
Sixers that are going to be going after Jew holiday.
They don't have the same problems with Drew that they had with Lillard.
Because he's got one year left in his contract, which is like 35 million I want to say.
That's a reasonable number to deal.
You're not going to have to gut your team to do a deal like that.
He doesn't have the de facto no trade of, I want to go to this team, that team, whatever.
He's going to go wherever he's trade to.
They're going to get at least one first.
They might get two firsts in exchange for Jew holiday.
Let me go here because I have some thoughts on this.
First of all, I think they don't get two firsts.
I don't think that this is a great trade for Portland.
Okay.
Deandre Aiden.
They're going to get two firsts.
Like, what do you do here?
Two firsts for Drew or two firsts total.
If they get to only two firsts total, I'm underwhelmed by this trade for Portland.
Frankly.
Oh, you're crazy.
No, no, no.
First of all, first of all, the idea, I get that there are a lot of teams in on Drew holiday.
And I think he's a great player to help a lot of teams.
If Damien Lillard gets moved for one first in Deandre Aiden, I don't know where this supersized bit.
Super size bidding was coming off for Drew holiday, either, because he's older than Damien Lillard.
I just named the teams.
Yes, but he's named the teams that are going to be.
But he's also older and on an expiring deal.
So I don't think the teams are necessarily, that can cut both ways.
I don't think teams are just going to be lining up assets for him, either.
If they're not confident that they're going to resign him.
You mentioned.
I'm sure he's out there.
Billy's been obsessed with having all this cap space next summer.
I just think that Portland, first of all, let's talk about Aiden.
A clear upgrade over Nurkish.
At the same time, they're going to be paying Jeremy Grant, Anthony Simon's Deandre Aiden,
all in the neighborhood of $30 million next year.
If you combine all of this, I was roughly.
Jeremy Grant is going to go.
Jeremy Grant is going to go.
Again, that's going to be a tough deal to trade.
And that might eat into those first round picks.
I agree.
The Jeremy Grant deal is like for all the, as well as Joe Kronin did, I still keep going back to the Jeremy Grant.
Exactly.
And so I'm doing there.
Listen, as much as we can talk about the Blazers, they held out.
They didn't have to trade onto Miami.
They waited for other teams to get offers.
Again, I don't think Miami made their maximum offer.
And that's part of the issue here.
But if we saw reporting that Miami is willing to include Tyler Herald and two first round picks,
I don't think what Portland has gotten so far as markedly better than that.
If they end up with three first round picks, I think that's a good deal.
But if you get Aiden and two first, like to me, the idea that Kronin, all of a sudden pulled off this heist
in this massive plan and waited, I'm not buying that Deandre Aiden.
Okay.
That the, that the sons were willing to downgrade so thoroughly defensively when they have no,
they have not a single Kronin quote defender and they're starting lineup.
Their only Kronin quote defender was Deandre Aiden.
The fact that they were willing to punt on that former number one overall pick.
Uh, just goes to show how sick of him they were in Phoenix.
And let me tell you something.
Deandre Aiden and Phoenix.
Het was in the best possible situation for a big man to be in.
Okay.
That's not going to be the case in Portland.
You want to, do you really want to see Deandre Aiden have more responsibility on his plate?
Do you think that is what, uh, it is what's going to help Deandre Aiden?
So I'll just say that I, I, I, I gave, I traded the grade for SI.
People can read it.
It's on there.
Portland's got an incomplete so far.
I need to see what the holiday hall is before I'm, before I'm joining you in the standing ovation.
I need to see what that is before I'm joining everyone in this standing ovation.
For Joe Cronin, because I don't, if you get two first for Damien Lillard after all the,
Hey, we're not just sending him to Miami for whatever I like to me.
It's like, whoop.
You do.
You got two first one.
You could have gotten that from Miami.
So I'm not like particularly like enamored so far with Portland's maneuver.
If you're Portland, who would you rather have Deandre Aiden or Tyler hero?
If I had Tyler hero and two first round picks, I think I, I would rather have.
All right.
Hold on.
You will concede that Jewelry will return at least one first round pick, right?
I think so, but I think if it's, if it's not, you get, so you get, you get one,
let's just say the minimum conservatively, you get one first round pick for Jewelry day.
You have another first round pick coming from Milwaukee.
Then it comes down to Deandre Aiden and Tyler heroes.
He's still talking about two first round picks plus them one player.
I would, much, much, much, much, much rather have Deandre Aiden.
The Deandre Aiden slander is bizarre to me.
I think I, I tweeted out during the day that Joe Cronin did well.
I had all these people, most of them with like heat mafia in their profile,
saying like Deandre Aiden sucks.
Like the guy averaged 18 and 10.
He averaged 18 and 10.
I haven't averaged 18 and 10.
I haven't averaged 18 and 10.
Hold on.
He averaged 18 and 10 on 18 with Kevin Durant, Devon Booker and Chris Paul.
Like he averaged 18 and 10.
And they could not, and they could not wait to get rid of him.
Chris, I don't know what that is.
That aside, like that, that I agree, like his, he definitely wanted more, right?
He didn't want to be the rebound, get some putbacks, just the garbage man on that team.
And look, he's the former first number one overall pick.
I kind of get that.
He wanted an enhanced role, and now he's going to get one.
This guy, you're telling me in Portland, he's not going to average like 24 and 12.
Like I think that's a reasonable ask for Deandre Aiden.
Chris, I hear you.
I think his numbers will be fine.
But will he have the impact of like this, the former number one pick label?
No.
I think there's a reason why Phoenix, what the hell?
Phoenix, why are we blanching a 24 and 12?
What a, what a world are we living in?
We're 24 and 12 and like three blocks or whatever you forget.
Everyone has numbers right now.
We averaged a block, a block of game basically.
Everyone in Phoenix was sick of the guy.
Okay, they could, they could not wait to move him.
That he's like Monty Williams was fed up with him.
I don't think two years ago he got him into finals.
Like he was the anchor of a finals team.
I agree.
And after that, the impact has not been there.
And listen, I say this, you can go back, start of the playoffs two years ago.
And Phoenix was the number one seed.
I wrote about Deandre Aiden because I believed in Deandre Aiden.
And I staked my professional reputation to say Deandre Aiden is going to ball out this year.
And I think he put up a dot in that playoffs.
He put up a dot in this playoffs.
His attitude has been poor.
And so if you're saying what I rather have Deandre Aiden in two first or Tyler Hero in two first.
I'd rather have Hero because I think Hero frankly would have more trade value.
But look at that and just right now.
Look at that, look at, look at that team though.
That team already has three guards.
It doesn't need Tyler Hero.
That team did not have a franchise center.
Now they have one.
But you can move Hero and get even more assets.
It says you, says you okay.
Let's see what Miami can do with Hero now.
We got to bring him back.
I'm sure Hero's thrilled just to be shown up at training camp in Miami.
I do think Hero wants to be in Miami for what it's worth.
Even after all this is my understanding is he would like to be in Miami.
But I just have to be the starting point guard.
All I'm saying is even, I just think that that's, it's a loss.
So this like this Chromian victory lap that I'm seeing.
It's like, or the Blazer fans who are like, you know,
Miami's assets are terrible.
I don't think Miami had good assets.
But I don't, I don't look at this as a particularly special trade for Portland.
Considering their whole thing was like, we're waiting until we get the right offer.
And it's like, yeah, you did about just what you were going to do anyway.
Sent them to the team that he wanted to go to.
So I don't, I, I understand if they don't want to do that.
That's, you know, the general manager's right.
That's how trades work in this league.
Stars don't get to pick where they want to get traded to.
But the idea that because they held out, they got some amazing offer that they otherwise would not have.
I just don't buy that.
I think it's incrementally better, better.
And I think if they generate the kind of bidding war,
I think that will be out there for Jew holiday.
That's the, that's what this all depends on.
That's what this all depends on.
You're good.
Look, you have to get something to match the salary, right?
Maybe there's a young player thrown into that mix and a future first round pick.
I think there's going to be some maneuverant to try to get Jew holiday from all these teams
that are now trying to keep up with friggin Milwaukee.
Okay.
Milwaukee.
Well, they 58 wins last year.
A team that's poised to win 60 maybe.
This year of everybody stays healthy.
I mean, there's going to be jockeying for Jew holiday.
All right.
So now we look at Phoenix and what they got out of the deal,
which is use of Nercuts to flip him, play at center in a serious little rotation player.
Grayson Allen rotation player.
Last year on Johnson.
Okay.
Maybe he fits in that rotation somewhere as well.
It's obvious what the sons did, right?
They had four guys on super max salaries and a bunch of guys on minimums.
They flushed out their roster.
They swap out Nercuts for Aiden, which not a wash, but the way that they play,
you know, Nercuts can fit.
Nercuts can be a decent fit.
Well, I mean, the way what they ask of a center, right?
Just rebound, set screens, like Nercuts did that.
But Aiden, like I said, Aiden was their best defender.
I'm not trying to bag on your Nercuts here.
Aiden was their best defender.
And like they're going to give up 150 points a game.
I mean, this is, I would not have made this move if I was Phoenix.
I would not have gotten involved here.
I would have at least given their shot with Aiden and seen what Frank Vogel could have done with them.
If there's anything Frank Vogel goes good at, it's coaxing the best play out of centers.
I don't think adding Grayson Allen to their guard rotation
is worth the defensive downgrade that you get from Nercut from Aiden to Nercut.
Especially when I think when push comes to shove and playoff time,
Booker is going to play huge minutes.
Beal is going to play huge minutes.
Eric Gordon is going to play huge minutes.
I think Allen is a nice piece to have for the regular season.
But come playoff time when this is what this team is going to be judged on.
I would have tried to find that center with a much more defensive first mindset,
even if you're committed to moving off Aiden.
And Nercut just got three years left on his contract.
That's not a great deal either.
This strikes me.
Even though Phoenix has done a lot of work going gently,
not going gently into that second apron,
this strikes me as a financial move for the sons.
Because I don't think Nercut is at this point a center you can have defensively.
Especially when you're going to go up against Aiden,
you're going to go up against Yokeuch.
I don't like this move at all for Phoenix.
I think Grayson Allen is solid, right?
I mean, two years in a row, we shot 40% from three last year in the playoffs.
We shot 48% from three.
He's a reasonably consistent.
He's a rotation.
He's not a great defensive player.
Look, with him camping out on the wings,
it's going to open things up when he's on the floor for Durant,
for Booker guys trying to get to the basket.
Let me ask you a question.
A couple of questions here.
Who is guarding LeBron James in a playoffs series for the Phoenix?
That was still the question before this deal though.
Right?
That's not...
I get it, I get it.
Booker out there.
You're going to have to.
Who's guarding?
Josh Kogi.
I mean, you're going to try some things.
So that's what I'm saying.
I don't think that this trade addressed their biggest concern.
No, it did not address those things.
But it took some of the pressure.
It ended worse.
Maybe, maybe.
I mean, only they know just how rotted the eight relationships.
Exactly, exactly.
And exactly what that dynamic would be.
But they do now have real NBA players
that can be part of their rotation.
We can stop like waving the bull bull flag and saying,
like, some of these guys they signed on one year deals.
Now you've got Gordon, who's a rotation player, Grace.
Now on's a rotation player.
Nercatch is a rotation player.
You've got some guys there that have NBA experience.
NBA playoff experience, too.
So I...
Look, I'm with you because Frank Vogel has a history of resuscitating Biggs, right?
Absolutely.
I did it with Roy Hibbert in Indiana.
Did it with somebody?
Yeah, Dwight Howard in LA.
So I would have liked to have seen it too.
But I kind of get what the sons are doing here, right?
I get that they're trying to flesh out their rotation.
No, defensively, defensively, it's kind of a lateral move.
Yeah, Aiden's a little bit better, but Aiden didn't stop.
You know, Aiden's not a yoket stopper by any stretch.
I agree.
But I think he gives him a way better shot.
I mean, we'll see.
I mean, they were...
They were good defensively, though.
They were good defensively in recent years,
more because of McHale Bridges than Deandre.
Like, that's a reality.
Bridges was such a great defensive player
that it wasn't just Aiden, you know,
but I just...
The way I look at it is,
everyone had kind of floated this idea of,
they should trade Aiden from multiple rotation pieces.
That was a thought that's been prevailing throughout the summer.
Kind of what they did.
Ever since they got...
But if you told me that those two rotation pieces
were going to be Nurkish and Grayson Allen,
I'd be like, that's it.
Are you sure about that?
So I...
I'm not necessarily able to like get played.
It's your little play a little bit.
You know, former first round.
We'll see.
We'll see.
I mean, look, I...
I've been wrong before.
But at first blotch,
definitely not a huge fan of this kind of story.
Do you want to talk about this
from the heat perspective for a minute?
I do.
I do.
This is...
I don't know how you can frame it as
anything other than an unmitigated disaster for Miami.
And I feel buoyed in saying that
by seeing that Instagram post from Jimmy Butler.
Okay, that is...
Let me just put it on.
Good authority.
That is a joke.
All right.
Well, he did look like a joke at that time.
I am very confident that Jimmy Butler is trolling
with his Instagram.
But more of the point,
like there is no tampering in a situation like this.
Yes, yes.
There's no such thing as tampering.
I don't know how you look at this disaster for Miami.
They lost key rotation players in the off season.
They put all their eggs in a trade basket.
They went after Lillard.
They thought they were going to get him.
And now they go into the season with
one of the worst rosters they've had in several years.
Look at their starting lineup as a project right now.
Tyler Hero, starting point guard,
Josh Richardson, recently brought back on a minimum deal.
He's your two guard.
Butler's your three.
Tevin Love, minimum guy now.
He's your four.
Bam at a bio.
At five.
Your bench is Kyle Lowry.
It's Duncan Roberts.
It's Caleb Martin.
It's Haywood Heismith.
It's Thomas Bryant.
You got Jaime Hockis Jr.,
who apparently is so star-spangled awesome
that the players just had to take him in a trade.
You know, this heat team, as I look at it, Rohan,
eight, nine.
I mean, they're going to be going that far.
Because these guys, like you look at Butler and Lowry
and Kevin Love and some of these older guys,
they're not going to play 70 games, right?
They're going to play 60 and 65 at most.
Injuries are going to come up.
Rest is going to need to be had.
This isn't a team that once again is going to be battling
for a play in spot.
One more time.
And if they get to the playoffs,
they're not going to have the horses they had last year
to make the kind of run that they had.
So here's what I'll say.
I have a few things to sound like.
First of the roster, I mean,
I don't think Hero is a long-term option at point guard.
I do think that he missed the entire playoff run last year.
I mean, he can give them some of what Struse gave them,
not defensively.
But if you look at Struse's 3.2 percentage,
Hero will be a better offensive option for them.
Then Struse was.
I think they believe that Josh Richardson
can give them some of what Gabe Vincent gave them
during that playoff run.
But there again, there's a reason why Vincent got
a much larger contract this year.
I also know people who are very high on Haywood Highsmith
who had some moments during their playoff run last year.
So there's a lot.
I have been working on a few things this summer.
I'm just telling you what I heard.
I've been working on some things this summer
and actually had a conversation with Pat Riley a few weeks ago.
And he said something very interesting to me,
which was if you take a paraphrasing here,
but essentially he was like,
if you take a swing, you have to hit on it.
And he mentioned the second eight from to me a couple of times.
And I'm not saying I necessarily agree with the strategy.
I just think my understanding from the heat perspective here
is that I think they definitely want to dame,
but I think there was a price they were willing to go to
that was less than kind of their best off.
And I think they could have made a more competitive offer.
And if I were them, I would have.
I think the plan of,
the plan of saying Jimmy Butler,
go play 10 times better than you normally play
for three playoff runs in a row and get us to the finals.
Asking him to do that over and over again,
I think is going to have diminishing returns.
And I don't think you can look at this finals run
and say that's the team we are.
When we both discussed,
they were fighting to make the playoffs last year.
So I don't agree with the strategy.
I want to make that clear.
I think that Jimmy Butler deserves more help.
Frankly, I think that he saved that franchise in 2019.
They were in an abyss before he got there.
And they've struck out on a lot of big names since.
But I'm not going to say their interest in Lillard was overstated.
But I think that there were serious concerns that they had
that it may be prevented them from going all in
in a way that I think they should have.
It's just my understanding of the situation.
Whatever the understanding is,
they're not a good team right now.
And if Jimmy Butler was 25, I could understand patience.
But he's 35.
I agree.
I agree.
It's a dice.
I said it.
And I'm talking about it all summer.
It's a dicey strategy.
And I don't agree with it.
And it puts way too much pressure on Butler
as he gets older to just put on these heroic, heroic performances.
For what it's worth, I mean,
don't be in the mix for holiday.
I do think Larry's expiring is something that they can do.
They'll be in the mix for holiday.
But they probably have to overpay for him
because they can't sit there and think that they're
the only game in town.
The clippers are going to be in the game.
All the teams I mentioned are going to be in the mix.
Listen, they are in a tough spot.
And I agree.
I would not, if I were them,
I would not be putting all my eggs in the,
we just made the finals basket.
That's not how I'd be going about it.
I don't think they're going to be a tenth seed.
You mentioned that on this podcast one time.
I wouldn't go that far.
I still think right now, right now,
they don't think they'd be ten seed.
No, they're still better than,
I think they're still better than Brooklyn last year.
They were the seventh seed technically.
They lost one playoff game.
Brooklyn finished ahead of them,
but they had to head start because they had Kevin Durant
to start the season.
I think they're still better than Toronto,
which got worse.
I think they're still better than Chicago,
which hasn't done anything.
You're conflating, though.
You're conflating better than, like,
in a playoff series with all your players.
No, no, no, no.
I'm just looking at the last year's regular season.
Sorry, David.
I'm just looking at the last year's regular season.
I might put them behind.
They might be the second best team in Florida right now,
because of what would be the dramatic improvement
from the magic and a dramatic decrease in wins for the heat.
I mean, would it like...
I don't think they're finishing...
Magic won 34 games last year.
The heat...
I forgot how many games they won.
They won 44 games.
So the ten games...
Are the heat a few games worse?
The magic games better?
They are not going to be worse than the seventh seed.
Rowan, you are trying to put lipstick on a pig.
You're just...
Oh, let list eight teams that would finish ahead of them.
Rowan, you're assuming that Jimmy Bond...
You were arguing as soon as Jimmy Bond was going to play 75 games.
No, it's not.
He missed a ton of games last year.
So did Bams, so did Duncan Robinson.
All these guys, I'm factoring all that in.
Brooklyn's not done anything,
and they were under 500 after the Durant trade last year.
As good as Michael Bridges was, they were under 500 after that deal.
So I don't think they're going to finish six again.
But they're going to get ben...
Like, Ben Simmons is as reliable in this game.
Now we're counting on Ben Simmons.
That's where we are.
Now here's not counting on the guys on the roster.
I think the teams below them, they can land a little bit better.
Chicago, maybe not.
The Pacers, I think, are going to be a little bit better.
The Magic, as I mentioned, are going to be a little bit better.
Look, I think they're in a dog fight in the play-in,
is where I think they are.
And look, that's fine if you are the Orlando Magic, right?
Or if you're the Brooklyn Nets even because you're trying to build.
This heat team is built to win right now.
They're going to bunch of guys in their mid-30s.
I don't know what their next move is.
Like, what is Tyler Hero, Jaime Hosquez?
Hosquez and, like, a first round pick, get you at this point.
What is Kyle Lowry?
Get you at this point.
Maybe they can get you in if they do.
That would be a score for them because he'd be a good fit with that team.
But, look, I think the Seltas can go around and offer, like, Braugden plus a pick.
And some filler there.
I think there's, like, a hardened trade.
Yeah, three teams.
Yeah, three teams there that could happen.
Like, there's a lot of things that make more sense to Portland than a deal that...
With Miami.
So, it's no sure thing that get him.
I just think they're...
They're in trouble, man.
They're in a lot of trouble that way.
They need to do something.
I will be writing about this.
I think they need to do something.
But I also think...
Again, I don't think they're going to be a top four team.
I don't think they're going to be a top five team.
But I don't...
The East is shaky enough that I'm not like...
I'm not penciling them and to miss the playoffs or as a tenth seed.
No.
I'm still stuck in the fact there were so many embarrassing takes going for people down in my area.
That were like...
Okay, let's talk about...
We didn't go...
I sat there at Joe Kron's press conference in Vegas.
His first press conference after a little bit.
Joe was like, you know what?
We're going to be patient.
We think there are good deals out there.
We're going to take our time.
We do what's in the best of the organization.
I believed him.
Like, in that moment, I believed him.
Nobody down in Miami seemed to believe me.
Like, ah, no.
He'll make a deal.
He's got to do it right by dealing with those.
He's got to really get the deal done.
He didn't.
And I think he did better.
We can...
Reasonable minds can disagree on the return.
But I like Deandra Aiden.
He's just turned 25 years old.
I think he's going to put up big numbers this year.
And I think he's going to be better in enhanced role.
Now they have a little bit of balance in that rotation because they were kind of guard heavy at the moment with some of their young players.
Now they got a big.
They can throw the ball to.
You could score, do some things.
They're going to be bad.
There's no doubt about that.
But this makes sense for them.
This is a balanced roster that makes sense.
The Aiden, under a long-term contract, can grow with Scoot Henderson, can grow with Chaden Sharp, can grow with the Aberdeen Simons.
I like it.
Meanwhile, Miami, they are further away from a championship role than they were a couple of months ago.
That is for damn sure.
There's no disputing that at this point.
I'm not going to argue with you there.
All I'm going to say is if...
Again, I don't think Portland made a bad move here.
But if we're...
If our hope rests on Deandra Aiden, I'm like sure.
No, hope rests on Tyler Hiro.
Is Tyler Hiro?
Is Tyler Hiro?
Does he get more in a deal than Drew Holiday?
Remains to be seen.
Remains to be seen.
No.
That contract is not something teams want right now.
Otherwise, there'd be much more appeal to it.
I think the blaze did fine.
The buck's did great.
The sun's kind of a lateral move.
We'll see how it works out.
I think the lateral is generous for Phoenix.
The heat are on fire right now.
The Miami heat are on fire.
And it's kind of their own fault.
Just leave it at that.
We'll be back here on the crossover next week.
Yay, networks.
I'm Caleb Williams.
And this is almost pro.
UFC football.
Almost pro.
UFC football.
That's coach would say.
Let's keep having fun and let loose.
Since we're talking about coach and diving in,
let's get into game three.
Mm.
You have to transition, man.
You're pro.
Not almost pro.
You are pro.
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