Kevin Pelton on Wembanyama, In-Season Tournament, and Siakam

And now the low welcome to the low post podcast live from beautiful and scorching Las Vegas, Nevada where summer league is rolling. I finally got here after two days of travel hell and flight cancellations, but I'm here. Damn it. I missed Wemba Nyama. Kevin Pelton. You did not miss Victor Wemba Nyama or scoot Henderson or all the good stuff. How are you, sir? I'm doing well and I'm glad you made it through the flight delays. I had a similar experience coming back from the East Coast a few weeks ago, and it was not so fun. You know, once you travel with a child delays and cancellations when you're traveling by yourself are just a piece of cake really. Like what delays with a little baby, that's bad. That sucks. The delays by yourself. And I just get my laptop out and do work. I did watch Wemba Nyama's second game from the lounge of the TWA hotel at JFK airport since my flight got canceled. And I think I think I was I was sipping a margarita and watching Wemba Nyama. And I think I made like squealing noises that might have alarmed some of the other patrons nearby. Like what is this guy doing? Obviously he had a shaky first game and the stupid. We don't need to do the thing where like four people say dumb things after one summer league game. And then there's like a hundred columns about these four people who said dumb things. You can just ignore the four people and not write a hundred columns and just move on with life. And he had a great second game. So you watched them up close. What what stood out to you seeing him up close in an NBA setting? Yeah, it was interesting. What you were doing. I feel like was my reaction a lot during the two games he played against Julie Ignite watching those on TV back in October. And you know, there's not and I certainly had it watching him at times during the French season as well. Because you know, there he just does things that you're not supposed to be able to do at that size. And you know, obviously the fatigue element was pretty significant for him playing these games after this period of time where, you know, I think he later lamented like less than half. Of his schedule has been basketball since the draft because of the fact that so much has been taken up by you know, marketing appearances things like that maybe just travel in general because of the fact that you know, he's been going back and forth from France. And the other element was I do think and this may be surprised me that there maybe was some degree of nerves, you know, playing in front of a large American audience for the first time. So the the Julie Ignite show exhibitions back in October. That was all scouts basically it wasn't like a lot of fans. That was what generated the excitement and hype among fans. And it felt like even the start of the second game was a little bit like that he had two points in the first 12 minutes missed a couple of free throws the first time he got to the line, which was a bit of an issue in general on Sunday. But then he blocks a shot. Gets out in transition for a dunk and everything starts going from there. And what I really think we saw in the fourth quarter that I hadn't maybe gotten a chance to appreciate in the limited French league action I saw from when money on is the competitive juices getting flowing when they forced to 24 second shot clock violation large part thanks to his defense late in that game. It's a three to pull them within one ultimately they end up losing that game, but still we saw like he was serious about winning in a game that no one else really cares who won or lost. Yeah that stood out a subset of that was his inviting contact on roles to the rim on you know when he's the screener and dribble handoffs like just going through guys and he gets knocked backwards because he's skinny but he's like if you're going to knock me backwards that's fine I get to go to the line a couple times. I mentioned the black shots and I know it's not sexy everyone wants to talk about the three point shooting and the dribbling and all the guard skills that he has and we're going to see like we saw a lot of that and we can talk about that. I've been saying since the first time I saw this dude play the defense is what is going to stand out immediately he's going to come into the league is a very good defensive player and just I know like he's going to get bodied now and then on the glass like like he's got to really be diligent boxing out because people are going to try to shoulder check him. You know run from behind him shove him out of the way on the other hand you so God damn tall he had that floater that he missed on the left baseline and he ran all the way under the rim and out jumped everybody and got it back for an end one is like oh my god. But I think his footwork is already pretty good like defending pick and rolls in different ways we saw the spurs use him on power forwards instead of center so he's defending the perimeter and although that maybe isn't the you know ideal shop blocking role for him he covers so much space in the passing lanes out there that it's like what am I supposed to do here they're just these arms everywhere all the time and he still impacts the game that way closing out I think he's just going to walk in the door as. I'm not going to say top whatever defensive player but I wouldn't be surprised if the first month of the season everyone is like oh offensively he's shooting 41% and it's like not going as great as we thought but oh my god he's leading the league in blocks or something like that what stood out to you about his defense. No I think that's absolutely right now I've felt about him kind of the entire way like especially early on and you know it sounds like the spurs were encouraging this particular summer league. He's going to explore in the studio space on offense what can I do what what am I capable of here I mean he shot a one-legged floater three to try to get within one in the late stages of this game no one most guys six foot five go to attempt that let alone guys who are seven foot five and that I think to your point that's what gives him the ceiling the ceiling of being perhaps unlike any player we've ever seen which is not a reasonable expectation for him particularly early in his career but the floor is set by the defense. That's what determines that and that's why he is even you know if he's not going to be great offensively right away still going to be a player who makes a difference in terms of winning and losing with the defensive element. You mentioned the having him almost exclusively on power forwards element and I think that's worth discussing for several reasons defensively there were times it felt like he was just kind of there on an island and was maybe not able to have the impact. Like if I were game plan it against when be at this point like that would be my plan is to basically you know hope he's on my best shooter and sacrifice that shooter in the sake of everybody else is playing for and for that's what to draw the spurs connection like for a bit that's what people did with Kauai Leonard when they were so terrified of him they would try to arrange their offense so he's ever he's guarding is just not involved at all but that sometimes that sacrificing like your best player but that's how scared people were of him. This is a totally different thing so you're saying you would aim for that you go over here and just stay over here please. He's quite as good as a help defender very good as a help defender but also a lot of his you know defensive value is his one on one defense whereas in when be it's much more about the help defense than it is you know his on ball defense necessarily but yeah. Like I think of the Packers used to always do this against the sea hawks and the Richard Sherman era that they would your Rogers would not look his direction whatsoever he was just like you're going to be out there covering one on one and I'm going to be going to the other side of the field which I don't know that that strategy necessarily worked very well at least when they were playing those games in Seattle but that that was the approach they took. I think if you're looking for how he can impact games in that role Robert Williams in Boston is probably the ideal comparison in terms of the much Bally Hood defensive shift midway through email you don't because one season is coach where he starts defending power forwards but he's helping aggressively off of them so that he's there at the rim well L Horver is the one defending centers and at the point of attack and pick and roll. And then I think this also matters on offense too because one of the things you saw a lot particularly on Sunday is you know most teams rule is going to be we're going to switch one for picking rules we might not switch with our center we are going to switch with our power forward and all of a sudden you've got a guy who's like six to defending women Yava in the post and even if he doesn't necessarily score out of that it's going to create some problems and the one thing that did stand out in a positive way on Friday from his offense was his passing ability especially over the top. Yeah I you mentioned the switching on defense that he faced and I was really happy to see first of all when those switches happened and now this is summer league right so you don't how much of this is going to carry over when those switches happened the defense reacted like oh this is a problem like they shaded help toward him right away they did not disrespect him and say you know what we don't think you're physical enough you're going to settle for a 14 foot fade away over our six three guard they were like this is a problem we're scared and he makes the right read out of we're scared defenses the other thing I liked was although he could just fade away over any of these guys in any time he wanted to do one point in the fourth quarter on Sunday and just very smooth looking turn around jumper but there were a couple like there's a difference between fading away for a 16 footer and kind of doing what yokich does which is like pivot pivot pivot and just like get to a comfortable little eight foot hook shot or floater and he had a couple of those where I like that you kept at least kept the space that you had earned you didn't surrender any space you got close to the rim and made it still an urgent situation there was another play this is the feel stuff there was another play where he screened he rolled I think there was a switch they couldn't get him the ball so he's now down on the block and just he's like all right that's it that didn't work comes out sets another screen pops for a three and the defense is like well he was just over here he's over and it was an open three on the left wing and he made it and the passing the versatility like the guy is it's like the offense might not be as efficient as people hope right off the bat but I don't I have not seen one thing I just haven't seen anything to counter the hype I mean the guy looks like a complete alien and is incredible at so many things and defensively the guy who reminds me most of his honest honestly like the combination of speed and length and the ability to just be like everywhere all the time just a bigger probably not quite as quick but pretty damn quick version of that kind of player like he's just everywhere interesting I hadn't thought about that comparison I mean the one thing the honest doesn't really do that when I was going to do we saw it multiple times this weekend is block three's and that's an element that rubber Williams maybe is again the best comparison that's a guy blocks a lot of three's more Williams in Charlotte does it a fair amount and then Matisse died among the shorter Chris Jay yes yes to go back to your point about on the block against the switching you mentioned the floater that he chased down the rebound and scored a three point play that was against the switch to me the play against the switch that stood out was he was on the left block double team comes he pivots middle nothing there you know there's no doesn't find anybody open and then decides to you know pivot come back to the the baseline side and oh even though there's a double team because of the fact that I'm seven foot five I still have an angle for this soft little like 12 foot banker off of glass whoo the spurs man I can't believe the spurs how did this is like Tim Duncan David Robinson Victor Wimbanyama sure spurs could we just talk about the spurs actual basketball team for five minutes I assume they're starting five will be trade Jones Devon Vassel who I love as and he's going to be in the perfect role now Jeremy Sohan who I also adore Keldin Johnson who is not quite as much my cup of tea as I think he is for other people but he's fine and when Banyama at the five I'm assuming they're just going to just go whole hog with that lineup start right up the bat no it's interesting because I mean they resign they're guaranteed I should say Zach Collins so they've got that option if they want to go Collins at five can we just have fun can we just have a little fun pop I know he pop but how about pop signing the five year eighty million dollar extension that was a pretty shocking bit of news when that came through when we were all sitting on so who comes up the bench Sohan yeah I that's the tough part is because Sohan is pretty clearly part of the core he was the one of their first round picks last year who's not asked to play summer league on this years they've got you know like Wesley trying to play point guard out here in Malachi Brianna who but a lot of points last season when he got a chance to play extended minutes is still there they are they are very high on Malachi Brianna if you talk to spurs people they're like I don't think people realize like we think this dude is going to be good he'll be a core guy off the bench for them along with I think Bullock is if he doesn't get rerouted somewhere McDermott is still there then they have a bolt load of guys and I have Zach Collins pencil don't take back up five Devonte Graham's got to I guess has got to find a minute somewhere I thought Zach Collins had a nice bounce back season for them last night and I don't mind the idea of starting him at the five just to save him the pounding of playing the five it's just not as fun and I just want them to be fun and decent like that's a decent starting five and the thing about Sohan is he showed actually he showed a little bit more one-on-one scoring chops like against mismatches now and then like using his size to score over people in the post and working off the dribble from the triple threat position like he had a little bit more of that than anticipated but I like I just think he's got that he's a guy you want on the floor a lot with your best players because he's got that sort of jack of all trades unselfish complimentary screening handoff extra pass defend everybody like he's he he looks to me like the glue guy that you want next to your best best players a lot so I just kind of like the idea of I mean are they who's the worst team in the west next year like the west is just loading I mean too many months it takes for Damien Lillard to get traded right is that the answer yeah Portland will be the first worst team in the west if if and when they trade Lillard I guess although they're not they're not going to bottom out certainly they you know Jeremy grand obviously he's going to be there but they'll bottom out by default right like if they're 15 it doesn't matter what their record is there's still 15th like they're still going to be high in the lottery odds like I think I I haven't started doing win no one is really started doing win projections yet it's too early there are too many variables but like I I think that spurs lineup that I just tried it out there they're like a good guard away from being competitive every single game like I don't know if that translates to 35 wins or something but like that they're not going to be a walkover and yet they might also get one more high pick and one more two more bites at the cap space apple like they are I mean hot take they're set up very well for the next 10 years if when Banyama stays healthy any other when Banyama takes to stay on the spurs for a second I mean a couple of things number one that's what made the Reggie block their part of it trade their part of it so interesting is like if you think which team has the best outlook for 2030 right now the spurs have got to be it right you're you're looking to the fact that they acquired an unprotected pick swap from the Dallas Mavericks in 2030 on top of their I believe top one protected pick swap that they have from Boston in 2028 now Boston is pretty well set up to be good for a long time but and they've got extra picks from Atlanta other teams like they are they are I mean we don't know what they'll do they've kind of build from inside you know slow build kind of team but there's they're really well set up but I like that they play slow played it a little bit off to see this off season you know they wasn't I mean you know even though the mentioned Lillard possible connection because of his respect for the organization it doesn't seem likely to happen and I think they're going to see what they have for a year see what pieces that they need to build around it and then summer of 24 is when you probably start to gas pedal a little more on this this team in terms of trying to win now to your starting lineup point I mean the thing is all five of those guys are probably not going to play together on a regular basis because you know one of them will be out of the lineup and maybe that's what opens the opportunity for Collins to start and you keep when be at the five I would say the last thing on winby specifically the one thing that was like marginally concerning to me this weekend was the number of times he was on the ground I think that's probably more a function of you know fatigue and that element of it then necessarily the NBA players you know that he's playing against because we did not see that a lot from him watching him in France or even those ignite exhibitions yeah he had a couple of jump shots where guys ran into his landing space Eddie fell over that we saw yeah I wonder if that's just a function of big guys closing out or not are not quite as adept at chopping their feet and stuff like that so like that yeah it is those landing spot things whether they're illegal not illegal clean plays like it's always those are always the ankle you know that's what worries you about about those plays all right let's switch gears because freaking spurs man usually they're on the other end of those plays no I guess on those plays yeah usually they win the lottery in the exact year you want to win the lottery unbelievable RC Buford and his blue chair unbelievable look it up for people who don't know pop pop just pop just grinning in the stands five years 80 million I get to coach this kid schedules got get my check secretary to schedule all the dinners in the wine wine sessions post game on the road trip unbelievable in season tournament format was announced this week the semi finals and the finals will be here in beautiful Las Vegas in December the NBA is dividing the 30 teams into six groups of five three groups in the east three groups in the west did all the teams in the group will play head to head games against each other so four games apiece those will all be on set days in November so that I think that was big because is that right I didn't know that I look I admit that the in season tournament has not been at the top of my focus this week in Vegas that's how I read the story now I'm going to have Evan watch on the podcast NBA guy who was the architect of this later this week and I think that's important because the number one obstacle with the group play structure and having the group play games also be regular season games was having fans understand and remember that this game amid an avalanche of games is actually important for another reason and I think putting as many of those games on the same night so you turn it into like hey this is a group play night this is a group play night these are all group play games makes it pretty easy to understand and then the six group winners and then two wild card teams the highest finishers advance the quarter final semifinals et cetera players on the winning team get five hundred thousand dollars players on the losing team get two hundred thousand dollars and the winners get to hoist the first annual NBA cup which gets you nothing but the money but is a cup it's a cup I don't know that I missed the press conference I don't know if the cup has been produced if it's a chalice if it's a goblet there was a cup there last night I assumed that it was the cup and in this is a rule of thumb on my Seattle sports podcast I do with my brother the fabulous pelton cast it's only a cup if you can drink out of it which it looked like you could what is are there any cups sports cups you can't drink out of world cup you can stand the cup you can what what that's the key appeal of the Stanley Cup I I don't know if I can name the cup that you can can't drink out of off the top my head but I know they exist there okay so there so I I initially like years ago when this idea was bandied about was skeptical of it I was like nobody will care about this it's just going to blend in it's not going to like make teams approach things with more urgency people pitched all these ideas like maybe the winning team should be guaranteed a playoffs but I thought that was crazy maybe the winning team should get an extra first round pick I thought that was a little crazy and also maybe counter to the interests of the players on the winning team who would have an extra guy coming into compete for minutes and so they settled on money and the more I've sat with it and thought about it I just I don't really get why everyone hates this idea so much or people seem to hate it I think it's like it's it's it's a total no harm no foul thing to me and I actually think provided I'm right and I'll get more clarity later this week that the group play games are all kind of clustered together so there's a little bit of like everyone realizes this is a group play night I think it's going to be kind of fun I don't necessarily think like fans are going to be in the finals like stressed in oh my god it's crunch time in the NBA cup the pressures on blah blah blah like but I think it'll be kind of fun and to me if there's an upside that is just hey it's kind of like ads 10% more fun to the NBA regular season which takes forever and has a million games I don't see any harm to this it the only harm is one two teams have to play an 83rd game and so okay so let them load manage you know a couple extra games and don't penalize them or anything I think it's totally fine and I actually kind of think it's going to be fun I think so too I mean so I have seen a version of this done in the WNBA the last few years here where they've added the commissioners cup in the same sense that the regular season games also count towards those standings and to your point about separating out those dates out on the schedule the WNBA has not done that it just is whenever your first game home and away against teams in your conference happens to be which is especially kind of unusual unusual in the WNBA because conferences have gone away in terms of the actual playoffs this is the only time really that conferences matter at all even the all-star game they do not have conferences you just select the best players overall so it is difficult to remember necessarily whether this is a commissioners cup game or not so I think that would be a positive in terms of those regular season games I mean I think my biggest concern was you know if you played say 32 team tournament and they were to invite you know a couple of international teams to fill that out before we get to expansion which cannot possibly come soon enough for me in Seattle you know I think in that case you would run the risk of everyone compares this to you know the FA Cup in England or you know the national cups in various other soccer or basketball leagues throughout Europe and I think the better comparison is it's more like kind of the second tier leagues cup types of competitions where teams are necessarily going to take this very seriously in the early rounds and it's only kind of when you get close to the finish line that suddenly it's going to get serious and I think that's why doing it the way that they've done where it is more than just the WNBA's commissioners cup is it really a tournament they only add one extra game between the top finishers in these conference is a championship so we have a tournament format where we're going to have the eight teams reduced down to one but you're close enough that you're only three games away you'd have to play two of those games anyway I think that is going to be worth teams taking seriously once they get to that point especially you know our colleague Dave Miniman pointed this out on Twitter on Saturday after the details were announced you know yes the $500,000 is not going to make very much difference to your star player but to the player on the end of the bench on the rookie minimum to I don't know if two way players are eligible but certainly to them like that's a big deal to those players and if you can help them accomplish that I think that's going to be something worth doing yeah everyone's a chump change for NBA players chump change for NBA players if you make two million dollars four million dollars five million dollars first of all to be clear you're incredibly rich and fortunate and an extra five hundred thousand dollars is not like maybe it is life changing I don't know but you're already doing great in life but if any of us we're like hey if you win this thing you get 25% of your salary instantaneously or an eighth of your salary or a tenth of your salary like that is a non-trivial thing for a lot of players now for the stars it's not that big of a deal and to your point like I don't think so here's what Tim Bontev's story on the the play and to be clear says the group play a portion of the tournament will consist of four games one against each of the other four members across each group and the groups are to be clear divided by quality of teams from the previous season they had pots of teams so that they're you're all playing within your conference but there's like elite teams okay teams and a bad team from the year before and that will take and those games will take place on seven dates throughout November this year those dates will be November 3rd 10th 14th 17th 21 24 28 four Fridays three Tuesdays I'm guessing there will be like other games that are not maybe group play games on those days but I think they're trying to cluster all the group play games the way I read it on those seven days which I think is a really smart idea to your point I don't think like oh it's group play game number two between the Celtics and the magic I don't think like jail and Brown's playing 47 minutes in that game and like someone's coming back early from an injury and everyone's gonna go crazy and that's fine like that doesn't have to be part of the deal for it to work I do think people will sense like there's kind of a fun thing at stake here and there it's it's easy to track the standings it's four games like and you can kind of bulletin board where they are I think it's going to be a little bit more user friendly and less confusing than it seemed at first and I'm pro fun it's going to be fun like to send my finals and the finals in Vegas will be fun and the NBA Cup cool let's try it what's no harm no foul I will say this so Kevin pelton and I'm going to sound like old man yells at cloud heaven watch in this article and I'm gonna grill I'm gonna grill him I'm gonna put the screws to him on this mentioned the name NBA Cup and how maybe down the line sponsors could come in there could be a renaming I don't want this to be the Kia presents the sprite Taco Bell pool and weed eater cup keep it to NBA cup or name it after an NBA figure like you named all the awards after the NBA figures maybe it ends up being the David Stern Cup no sponsor is the companies have taken over everything let's like let this thing over here be a fun little thing that has no sponsor commissioners cup is a fine a fine name for the WNBA version of this no no pool and weed eater independence that's my only yeah I kind of assumed it was going to be named the David Stern Cup that that would be from the get go what they would call it you know especially did Stern have any of the awards named after him the trophies named after him last year they named so many things I lost track of who got one and who didn't get one I did a whole podcast about this and like hot I think Tim Duncan didn't get one and I was upset about it and now I just don't even remember who got what I was trying I was at a dinner last night trying to remember who I voted second team all rookie I was with an agent we were talking about what it was clients and I was like I don't know don't you remember I have a fun one for you to spring this on you ready okay in season in season tournament related but not really I I was out to dinner with a with a buddy of mine last night who works in the works for a team and I had forgotten that I think him and another one of our mutual NBA connections had come up with this idea for a fake tournament that we thought would be a very fun event to see a three on three tournament involving all 30 teams where the three players on your team have to be the number one principal owner of the team the number one basketball decision maker of the team and the head coach and back in the day it was like we just we just thought it would be funny if those are the three players on your team like who would win who would be the worst team who's the worst possible player that you could have and back in the game I was like well it's Charlotte like as long as Charlotte has Jordan it's over for them well Jordan's 60 now I think Jordan Mitch Cup Jack Steve Clifford feels like a vulnerable team it off the top of your head do you like this idea should we do it and who is a strong team of course I like this idea the team that comes to mind and this is strange to me I legitimately had a dream the other night that I was a former NBA player I'd ground out like a modest career given my lack of like a physical tools and I was an assistant coach now and I was explaining the head coach of my team I had not had a successful career as him because I was pointing out look at how long your arms are relative to mine look at how big your hands are relative to mine and that that coach was Jason kid and I think the Mavericks with kid Nico Harrison like I don't know if Mark Cuban's still playing to the same degree that he was older as a wild card like we we were having conversations last night like if I just triple teamed Willie Green can Gale Benson make a wide open layup like if she's just under the rim I think catch the ball and make enough wide open layups to beat me I thought I thought a sneaky I don't know a lot about Joe's size game but the Joe size Sean Mark's Jacques Vaughan combination seems like a strong one to me with Ralph Speck I think at least is very competitive and feisty him and Brad Stevens and Joe Missoula that's a strong that's a strong team those are those are might be my two betting favorites unless Michael is still good enough and still insane competitive enough that he would just be like no I'm single handily winning this for us and still the principal owner is he has a huge agreement to sell the team I think that's the other the what other wild card here your producer Dan points out Matt ishpia was not that far moved from plain is a walk on in college I think you're right to hone in on owners the biggest variable golden state especially if like I'm still plays but especially a Kirk Lake I've got to play I've played with Kirk and you've got Steve Kerr and now Mike Dunlavy Jr. in that GM spot not the Bob Myers was any sludge I've also played with him but that that that team also comes to mind for me I think it has to be Joe Lake up I think we have to just have no exceptions it has to be the number one guy listed as the guff the first governor of the team I don't know if Steve can move around well enough anymore after all the back problems but what does he need to yeah his ability is a stand-up shooter is is speaks for itself I just thought this would be a fun idea those those would be there are some teams that are clearly going to be weaker than others we had a whole we had a whole discussion about with the vec around a dvd rail sacramentos chemistry because he wants to be the guy like it's he because he wants to take all the shots because he thinks he's in better shape than Mike Brown and my money McNair this is what you do in Las Vegas the Vekas trying to have them play through and Joe is the Joe Kerr oh yeah the four and five defense all right that's the end of my Zacklow Cup discussion I think it would be a fun idea and do monster TV things and yeah we had a lot if it's truly going to be the Zacklow Cup don't you have to make the fourth player make it four and four or maybe four players on a three on three team the fourth players the mascot do they have to play in their costume though oh yeah of course well then I think the Celtics become a huge favorite because lucky the leprechaun is just a guy like he's a guy wearing normal clothes he's like not in a costume like you see his face he doesn't have bulky clothes he's just like wearing a vest with shamrocks on it and a silly hat so he has big mobility advantage is I'm on record as I don't even think lucky should count as a mascot I think they're half-assing it with lucky I just don't like lucky I'm sorry lucky I'm sure you are a nice person I don't like lucky I don't think he's a mascot because you got some like I don't know what Benny the bull can do like in that costume if he can even grip the ball set some mean ass picks though Benny the bull ram you with his horns this is a hand I think this would be a fun idea we had a whole discussion like can Jodi Allen play like Jodi Allen Chauncey billups Joe Kronin used to play in college I think he's pretty tall like but Jodi Allen I can I throw her the ball I don't always like can she guard anybody I can I hide her on defense this is anyway I asked you to pick one team that you thought their off season had been under discussed or you found yourself out of outside of conventional wisdom a little bit on analyzing their off season please pick that team so I went with the Cleveland Cavaliers because I think this is an important off season for them you know this is their this was their big opportunity to go out and add to this roster after putting it together with the Donovan Mitchell trade so late in the game last off season and not really being able to do anything substantial with the trade deadline they had the ability they created the ability with the sign and trade involving Max Cruz to basically spend almost all the way up to the luxury tax line they'll be near that the next couple of seasons and then you get potentially extensions for Donovan Mitchell and Evan Bob Lee and you know I don't want to say that that's your last opportunity to do something especially in a league where I think teams change their fortunes now more via trade than they do via free agency but obviously they're out the draft picks from the Mitchell trade so they're not going to be able to take a big swing it's just kind of reshuffling the pieces via trade and they they obviously targeted their need of shooting they've upgraded dramatically there when you look at adding Strus George Neang and Ty Jerome it was interesting talking to people in Vegas this week that there was some question about I think the value that they got on those deals Strus considerably more than the mid level on that contract Neang three years 26 million and then Lever two years 32 million whether some of those were a little bit you know paying to you to try to address that specific need and because of the fact that they had that ability to do so this year I don't mind any of them and I don't really I don't get the pushback like Strus was getting the mid level which is 12 or 13 whatever it is so you're giving them a couple more million dollars a year than that which adds up to like 4 to 8 to 10 over this course of the deal I think Strus is a good player he is not going to they need this they need this theoretical 3 and D stopper guy who doesn't exist to them like it's hard to get those guys they need Isaac a Coral but can shoot and Max Truce can't guard like Isaac a Coral and Isaac a Coral can't shoot like Max Truce and so they're just going to have to finagle it one way or the other Strus is at least competitive on defense he's strong he's even with the highest levels yeah he understands game plans he executes them like he's not a sieve defensively he's fine and he can really really really shoot I know he's slumped in the playoffs last year I think he's a good shooter he might not be a great shooter might not be like a better shooter than Duncan Robertson but he's a good solid shooter and at that money I'm totally fine with that deal like I don't really understand the pushback on it kneeang is you know 8 million let's but I mean are people you said you were surprised at how many hot takes there were on Isaiah Stewart's four years 64 million dollar extension with the pistons which kind of came out of nowhere like why did this happen today it's the same deal that Truce got and like at least I'm pretty confident Truce can start on a playoff team with the right surrounding talent I like Isaiah Stewart I'm a big beef stew fan and I don't really mind that contract either because I think that's what you're going to end up paying third big men now in the NBA and I'm not maybe he's not going to be quite that but I mean it's the same deal are people mad about the Isaiah Stewart one two I was traveling all day and did not see much of their pushback I mean Matt is probably too strong and people is an exaggeration for the number of number of people I managed to talk to about this deal you know in the couple of hours after it broke last night so I think the points in the in favor of the Stewart contract relative to the Truce one at basically the same value number one that he's age 22 he's still super young I put this in my reaction piece he's younger than four guys that got drafted in the first round on again this is what I'm going to be saying I got like two more years before I have to stop saying it's about Patrick Williams am I never ending question never ever give up on Patrick Williams or down so we still got four guys that he's younger than every I'm running out of guys though in the draft yeah number two that his is starting a year later so it's going to take more advantage of the 10% copy increases we're likely to see when the new TV deal kicks in but you to your point yes Truce like they weren't going to get a better three and D guy than McStruz this obviously there was no chance of getting a better small forward to fill that need you know I think you do worry are you going to need to play Okoro against some of the bigger wings because of the fact that Struce just isn't quite big enough to guard them because in Miami he wasn't tasked necessarily with guarding the opponent's best perimeter player Jimmy Butler was doing that I honestly think that in time a portion of those assignments are going to go to Evan Mowgli when Jared Allen is on the floor and so when Jared Allen is back there to protect the rim things change if Jared Allen's resting and it's like the Neyang Mowgli front court and you need him back protecting the rim I think Evan Mowgli will be ready for that in doses and you put McStruz over on you know whoever McStruz can manage to guard or hide on or Al Hoar for it even it's got a guy like that to use the Boston example of Brown and Tatum you know we'll see how often they do that yet it's not it's not ideal I think Neyang at that money is fine. Neyang is a really good shooter who moves his feet a little better on defense that I think he's given credit for and can play with either probably not both but either I mean we'll see it at times they'll go super big just to try it but either Mowgli or Allen. The concern is what it means for friend of the pod Dean Wade. Yeah Dean Wade. Oh that was a reside the somber Dean Wade oh no I can't even bring my I can't even bring myself to do the jingle because it's been a rough six months in Dean Wade land I still have faith in you Dean Wade I still have faith I can't do the jingle I can't do it don't have it in me and the Lavert deal two years 32 million it reminds me of the D'Angelo Russell contract which is like clearly this is okay let's just bring this guy back it's manageable money he does I know everyone's like he's a bad fit with Mitchell and Garland too many ballhandlers at times that's true at other times like he the only playoff game they won against the Knicks was because of Cara's Libertability to handle the ball and set screens and work as a sort of middle playmaker in that sense like it's not bad to have a lot of guys who can do stuff with the ball his shooting hasn't gotten to the place you hoped it would be if you're Cleveland it's a totally tradable contract if he has a decent year and somebody needs an extra ball and like I'd I like all the deals for Cleveland I had them as a clear one of the winners of the offseason you see maybe a little just again to your point like I think it's more more good than bad for sure I do think the other interesting element about Cleveland from a big picture perspective like even up to the first trans series against the Knicks like everything was gravy last year this is an organization that hadn't accomplished anything without LeBron James is Brian Windhorst has mentioned repeatedly you know since the healthy on days of the 90s marked price Larry Nance Brad Doherty teams and now Larry Nance is younger son is playing for the cabs and summer league Pete Nance is out there so that's that's been a long period of time is what I'm trying to say here and this year they're going to be real expectations and if they don't win a playoff series playoff round I think it would be considered a little bit of a disappointment in Cleveland yeah I I agree and especially kind of the the East is in a weird state of flux right now and they're one of the teams that's going to enjoy a great deal of continuity and I think probably benefit from that benefit from the experience they got in the playoffs and and the bad of it like like Evan Mobile wasn't good enough Jared Allen was like way not good enough and you hope that you know Evan mobile especially given that they're young particularly mobile that they kind of grow from that my pick was Milwaukee who has not hardly been talked about at all largely because I think they stood pat they brought back Chris Middleton on a three hundred million dollar deal with the player option I thought that was really good value for the bucks he wasn't the same guy last year but he was pretty good in the playoffs 24 6 and 6 on good shooting his pick and roll numbers in the playoffs like I wrote about how the volume of his pick and rolls went down and how that had become their signature play when they won the championship Middleton Yanis pick and rolls and how we had seen less of those I looked it up today the efficiency of them when they did it was like off the charts awesome in the postseason which is a great sign they brought back Brooke Lopez definitely the Rockets thought they had it it didn't have it and Brooke Lopez on a two year deal is totally fine Malik Beasley at the minimum not a not just fine I mean I you the money is fine but having him is necessary because they had how were they going to replace this if you have the honest with two plus one left on his contract eligible for an extension September you can't take a step back you have no means to replace these guys like they were kind of trapped in the bringing these two guys back and I think given that they were trapped like that they got them on deals that are not long and not damaging in any possible way Beasley at the minimum is awesome J Crouter comes back after doing nothing for them last year and they poked around on John Collins a little bit and a couple other things that made me think they're a little bit open-minded in terms of they understand that they're running this team back but the question is eventually you need to find a road map to the next team you need to show Yannis in 2028 here's what our team could look like and I don't necessarily they haven't done that and I don't know how they can do they just don't have the tools to do that they don't have a first round pick to trade until 2029 but I do think they're keenly aware of that Drew Holiday actually becomes extension eligible in the season next season to that will be interesting but you know it's funny to think about them KP because Philly's embroiled in dramas we're going to talk about later the Celtics re-change their team they reshape their team with the smart poor Zingas deal they're still there I had Milwaukee winning the title all season last season obviously that wet poo poo they've already won it it's a weird thing because they've already won a title so they've done the thing where they've proven it under the most pressure in the biggest stage game sevens against Brooklyn games six against Phoenix Yannis makes all his free throws and yet every time they lose in the playoffs including this most recent loss to Miami other than the year Middleton was hurt in 2022 and they took Boston to seven which I thought was a really good showing by them it gave me a ton of faith in them going into last year but they've had so many playoff exits that leave you shaking your head like is there something wrong with this team like how can they lose these games in this manner and yes Yannis was hurt in game one and they didn't play games two and three and was clearly not a hundred percent but like drew holidays scoring and efficiency has dropped off badly three playoffs in a row obviously defensively we know what he is one of the very very very best it's I don't remember a team that had won it I don't remember a core that had won a title in a recent vintage and also left me worried like are they going to choke in the playoffs if like one thing goes wrong for them I don't I don't quite know how to feel about them anymore it's the same team and I don't it's the same team I was optimistic about all season Chris Middleton should be healthier going into the season that he was last year and get off to a better start and be be really healthy for the playoffs of things go right I don't I just don't know what to think what do you think short term and long term it's a good point because we've seen in pat and the recent past a lot of teams who are like okay who cares what you doing the regular season you got to prove us to prove it to us in the playoffs like you know Toronto was like that for a long period of time Toronto yeah and but that was because of the fact that they hadn't won the title and then they won the title and no one had any doubts about their their toughness when they brought back that same core minus coi the next year you know you have a doubts about their high end ability but not you know can they do it in the playoffs that that you know phrase that sort of way so yeah for a former I mean I'm trying to think I don't know if there's been one NBA history where that kind of question mark is applied so it is a fascinating year especially when you like they're they have continuity in terms of the roster at least at this point but they are going to have a new head coach and how different is that going to look and again can we judge anything that Adrian Griffin does until we get to the playoffs and look Milwaukee fans can ask us to bury our team and we're going to send about Yannis in his extension he's always said he wanted to stay in Milwaukee I get it Bill Simmons had a whole monologue on his podcast this week about how Mark Lasserie selling his stake in the team was a red flag for him that there's some fear there that Yannis might leave otherwise why would you sell the team even though the valuation was like so high that Mark Lasserie made a killing out of selling his but the valuation was so high because Yannis plays for the team exactly and I'm not I'm sure Milwaukee fans thought well that's just Bill being alarmist he's a Celtics fan he's trying to destabilize the books like that's how fans think about these things if you don't think there are people within Milwaukee's brain trust that are scared Yannis is going to leave at some point in the middle of his career you are wrong that is a fear that exists not in all corners of the box brain trust and organization because he has been so loyal because they have one with him they did right by him with the Jew holiday trade but almost every team other than probably Denver operates with an umbrella of fear that if things go badly this dude could leave and we're screwed and you know look I out like they're getting older around him and I don't know what young talent in the pipeline is going to hit maybe March on both champ makes a leap this year they just put AJ green onto a standard contract he can really shoot it they're clearly looking around I think for ways to get more athletic the kid they drive Andre Jackson from Yukon is is an example of that so maybe they'll hit some of those but you know the road map is is a little murky and that's just what happens to championship teams you have to kind of get older to win championships and trade your picks to win championships and so the road map is a little murky that's all yeah I mean it would be male practice for them not to be worrying about the possibility of you honest leaving now you don't want to do that to the point where you suddenly become so short-sighted in your moves that you actually cause him to leave because of the fact that he looks around and says how can we possibly win this going forward Andre Jackson Jr. so generated a surprising number of takes here talking to people he I I love watching him play at Yukon it was absolutely the kind of guy I want on my team in terms of the winning plays the the shooting has remained a struggle so far during summer Lee and maybe hasn't been able to do as much with the ball in his hands as I kind of expect it based on what we saw at Yukon where you know early in the season he was their de facto pointer we'll see bucks I mean if I pick the bucks to win the title last year and Janice got hurt in the playoffs I should still pick them to win the title this year but a lot of things have changed including Denver ascending Phoenix remaking its team you know the L.A. teams in the Warriors aren't going away Boston remade its team and you did the manner of those losses it's just disturbing and it makes you think like is there's just something off kilter when things get tight all right let's switch to a damn the damn hardened landscape of unhappy guards the nexus of unhappiness Joe Kron in yesterday spoke at summer league while I was on a three hour layover in Salt Lake City about this could if it takes months it takes months I hope that's how he said it but I don't think he said it that way that's it could take a while then it would be very helpful if Damien Lillard opened his wish list beyond a singular team the Miami Heat and that this could take a while and the buzz going around Vegas is they are not entirely bluffing when they say if he's on our team in training camp he's on our team in training camp we're okay with that maybe they are maybe they're not but that's certainly what they're signaling and clearly there's been no progress at all so to speak of with the deal with the heat and so just here we are I don't want to debate who's right who's wrong I think everybody's right and I did this last week I don't want to debate the available packages and fake trades I've already done that what's interesting to you about this and I know you had I asked you is there a dame take or a dame opinion you you have that you don't feel like has been aired or you haven't said so I guess start there you asked me if there was a dame team I think you know a wild card dame team and I replied to it that because so one of the things that often comes up in this conversation is number one all these teams can make better offers than Miami and yeah that's great they have to make the offer a lot of people can do things the making the offer is what the what actually counts in this one and the reason if I were a team that were not you know I can't say on James list because James list is one team but it seemed that we feel like Damien Lloyd would be amenable about getting traded to and a team that's capable of containing for a championship right now my fear would be okay let's say I trade for him and we're competitive but we're not a championship contender two years passes Damien Lillard in a place he did not want to come on a team that is not yet containing for a championship says I want out of here and now all of a sudden you're trying to trade him I believe you know tears would be 35 right at that point on an expiring $60 million deal or entering the last season of the you have two years left right you're okay yeah just be entering that option which we have it on the books or that extension I shouldn't say which we have on the books of a certain number but it can still go up with the cap like one of the things like a lot of the contracts you see sign now the argument for them is yeah today it might be this percentage of the cap but the cap's going up it's going to be less than a couple of years so that applies to like the strict and steward contracts we were talking about because of that damn extension he won't necessarily get pumped all the way to the 40% max in or the 35% max in the next cap but he can certainly get very close to it so the rising cap actually increases Damien's extension and he probably won't still have been a top 10 player the previous year is he is right now so I think you're going to have you're going to be trading him at a loss if you have to re-trade him in two years so if that possibility exists you have to be good enough to win a championship right now for that to make any sense whatsoever as a move and you know look I know the list is one team but teams sometimes have to if you really want Damien Lillard if you're that team and you really want Damien Lillard like I would use Boston as the best example and I'm not saying they want Damien Lillard everyone knows that they have a fake trade package Malcolm Brogdon Robert Williams three picks three swaps whatever that can compete at the very least with what Miami's best offer is if not exceed it probably exceed it but you know six and one half doesn't the other not Jalen Brown I keep saying this I just don't think that trade makes a ton of sense for either team I think it makes actually a little bit more sense for Boston this theoretical Jalen Brown Damien Lillard swap then it does for Portland but I just I don't see that happening Jalen Brown I is going to get the super max as I said last week I think they're haggling for the fringe stuff you know trade kickers things like that but if you're a team like that any team pick a team I don't care like you're going to get a chance to meet with Damien Lillard that's going to be part of the process the players should let you meet with Damien Lillard in his agent and like try to sell him like if you're a good team and you have confidence in your infrastructure and you think you can actually take a shot at it for multiple years not one year this isn't Kauai who's an expiring and you got to win the title that year and he walks he walks try to sell yourself bet on yourself as a team bet on yourself can apply to teams too you know that that'll be interesting you know the Miami offer what's your take on the like the theoretical best Miami offer I have described it as palatable which I think is better which I by which I mean it's better than it has been made out to be and to clear the theoretical best Miami offer which who knows if it's on the table they if you're the only team on the list you don't got to put your best offer on the table but it's hero pick pick another high salary from their high salaries I amend the thunder pick that I owe so I can throw throw in three three firsts unprotected 24 28 30 I think or something like that whatever they are Yovic Hakez so my two most recent first round picks like that's that's a lot of stuff in those heat picks far out I know everyone assumes that he'll be amazing as long as Riley's there they've had down years before the problem is if you don't like hero and it doesn't appear the really love hero so you flip him in you flip him into another pick so now I can spin it to my fans okay I got like six first round picks if they want I keep getting stuck on if they want a player who's the player and if it like hero would be the player like the young building bot player and they're already well stocked with guards so maybe they don't want another guard who's the player and that's where like I haven't really been able to answer that question of like who's the player who's the Michaela Bridges of this trade for them I don't like maxi is an answer that has been used by lots of people we can talk about the three team you know trade where all of this gets wrapped up together with the Clippers the Sixers and the Blazers I think there are workable versions of that for sure where Hardin goes to the Clippers Dame goes to the Sixers a whole boatload of stuff including Tyrese Maxi goes to Portland and maybe like a norm powel or something comes to Philadelphia I don't know something like that I think there's workable versions of that but like I haven't like but Maxi's a small guard too and he's better than the small guards Portland's got maybe Scoot looks like he's going to be a stud I haven't found the player you know what I mean like the guy that I'm going to be he's going to be my Michaela Bridges I do wonder to what degree the excitement about Maxi relative to Tyler Hero and I think the one big difference is Maxi I think is capable of playing point guard and Hero isn't and that I think makes it a lot more palatable to be a small guard although Hero is bigger than Maxi I wonder how much of the relative excitement is the fact that Maxi is still in the last year of his rookie deal and his salary could be anything next year even though we know it's probably going to be a really large salary whereas Hero already is locked into that salary and we're thinking of that that number and contracts change the way that we think about players not just about the contract but about the player themselves probably more so than they should who that guy is I don't know that I see it I mean I think if if I were what in Portland I the Michaela Bridges is not out there that deal was not happening because the fact that Damian Lillard is not Kevin Durant I don't know if I would be as concerned of that because I already have the guy that is my north the guys that are my north stars and it's good Henderson change chart I think that's what gives them the ability to make a deal that is heavy on picks and light on current talent return especially because if you're if those are your two guys and they're you know 19 and 20 or whatever scoot and shading are we shouldn't be trying to win right now we should be accepting that there's going to be another year or two of hopefully will be fun will be very exciting look at I'm saying this is someone you know a lot of people don't have anything invested in the Portland Trailblazer's future that's where I go watch games I do have something invested and I feel it would feel a lot more comfortable going to games next year without Damian Lillard there knowing that scoot and shaden are going to be really fun to watch even if it isn't necessarily translating to wins yeah I think hero has become underrated because he made the finals without him because he is a defensive liability I think I think he's a very most teams aren't trying to make the finals like we spend all this time talking with is that enough to win at the highest rounds of the playoffs like only a few teams get there that's the point that's why they're the high rounds of the playoffs yeah I think he's become underrated as he's a very good offensive player who do a lot of things offensively and he's in any elite catch and shoot three point shooter I mean over 40% every year sometimes by a lot and actually what I've said this before like I like it better when he re-oriented game towards being a little bit more clay Thompson and a little bit less I want to be point guard Tyler hero but the fact that he can do all of those things at a decent level I think he's a really interesting offense but like I comped him when I wrote a piece about Tyler about a year ago and I comped his upside to I think he could be like a C.J. column type of score who's who's never an all star but is a really good player and can be the third best player on a great team if you have the right pieces around him and I think that's like a good player and maybe that strikes people as like wildly optimistic but if you look at the numbers it's not like he's already a 20 point score he's a good passer he's a good shooter from mid range and from three okay I don't I now now there's suspense like my assumption all along was this will be a long drawn out process and I'm sorry damn but that's the trade off you made when you signed an extension with Portland is this does not get to unfold on your timetable you but but but my assumption and I guess if you asked me to bet now would still be that it just takes a while and Portland extracts enough out of Miami that everyone can be happy and the heat will certainly fight to keep Hawkes who's a win now player and fight fight to keep a swap or a pick like that stuff matters my assumption is been that that's what we'll end up but every day that goes by every week that goes by like who knows right but I don't know what he would if you were a betting man would you still bet on the heat I would for the reasons I laid out at the start of this and I would say I don't think that they're bluffing like certainly everything that Joe Kronin said yesterday is what you're hearing from everyone behind the scenes that there's no traction with other teams that you know that this could take months that they're happy to wait this out and they don't feel comfortable making the Miami offer at the very least as it is right now I will say it's one thing to say that on July 11th and it's another thing to say that on September 11th when training camp is two weeks away and you're staring at the prospect of actually doing it and also the like the actual challenges making the trade become greater in season you can't take back you know so many guys that it pushes you over the roster limit like you have to start cutting guys if you make this trade you know after the season starts you do it in training camp still those those challenges are why the Donovan Mitchell trade got done when it did so I think you can it's it's easier to take that position even if it's a legitimate position now than it will be win training camp is going to offer if the Lillard thing is holding up the hard and thing if or if there's a point where the Sixers and the Clippers engage or reengage if they've really even I think they've engaged but I don't think it's gotten so serious if they say okay this thing is just going to take too long let's do our own separate thing if there's even a palatable deal with the Clippers that the Sixers would do I think there probably is but I don't know that that deal is palatable to the Clippers and then the other name is as Mark Stein and Michael Grange Michael Grange who covers the Raptors for sports and it wrote a bang on piece about this that I co-sign everything and it is Pascal seeachum and you wonder there's just so much Pascal seeachum noise right now and I don't quite know what to make of it because Toronto is a tough organization to read they obviously kind of went forward and backward at the same time over the trade that line and now the offseason with Van Fleet going but portal coming and pick out the door and portal resigning I said as soon as Van Fleet left I said this weeks ago before he left that seeachum is the guy to keep an eye on that if there's another shoe to drop it's him and the noise just hasn't really abated Michael Grange Roy yesterday about how he hasn't showed up at Summer League and maybe there's something to read into that again I would read that column and I think he was bang on Atlanta is the team mentioned most often Indiana has been mentioned with them I don't what we can talk about that I don't it's hard to make this fake trade work and someone even said to me like could if the damn thing Miami can't get damn would they end up going after seeachum with a similar package that's a weird fit to me butler seeachum at a bio but talent is talent I don't know what's going to happen but this seems to be a so much smoke there's got to be fire situation here start with Atlanta and Indiana what do you think of his potential fit so start with the Hawks what do you think about his potential fit with the Hawks and what the deal and what the deal would look like like who's going out because that determines some of the fit too right like who's left over exactly because one of the players who's definitely not going out is to John Tamerie now that he signed this extension which was awesome for the Hawks that they got that done but that that like that flip made sense to me to some degree in terms of Toronto gets the ball handler that they need without for advantage lead obviously they signed Dennis Schroeder's replacement but you know that's you mentioned going forwards and backwards unfortunately that's a that's a way bigger backwards for Toronto which is why I think they have to start considering deals for their guys who can be free agents next summer I mean they should have started a long time ago but now they really have to in terms of matching salary you could get there with either Deandre Hunter or Clint Capella and then you would you would have to have city being there basically because of his salary and then you could just put together the guys that Atlanta has on minimum contracts some of which are still non guaranteed you guarantee those that would be enough salary to get you there I don't know what that does for Toronto exactly like Capella makes no sense after they just resigned Pertle Hunter could be a fit there you could certainly play him with their other their fleet of other forwards but seems like there's going to have to be more value than just Hunter and Bay who again do things that a lot of the guys already did yeah Hunter has got to be in any iteration of this deal just his $20 million salary is necessary I think he's a piece that Atlanta facing a money crunch going forward would not like be totally adverse to getting off that contract although I think he's a good player he just hasn't been healthy enough and is shooting has gone wildly up and down defensively he hasn't quite been what he was cracked up to be but he's young I think you'll be a good defensive where he's got to be in the deal bogged on bogged on which becomes trade eligible but not till September that's an almost exact salary match with Siakum those two guys together but again if I'm Toronto I'm like well what else are you throwing me and Atlanta has a Kings pick next season they can only trade their 2029 pick and they can put in a 2028 swap as well is that is that enough and then you get to like the they probably they would just this is just this is not reporting this is me gaming this out to be clear to listeners like I'm not reporting any of this I have not had these conversations with the Hawks but if I'm them I want Capella in the deal because I'm ready to promote a conguu to the starting five and Capella's money is troubling to me for the same reasons as hunters and if I'm Toronto I don't want Capella I want a conguu that's the guy that I want because Hunter is no longer like a crown jewel of a trade kind of player at this point in his career he's more of a question mark a conguu is that guy for me even though I have Perdol I'll figure that out later and Atlanta's like we're not giving you a conguu and the whole thing just kind of starts to fritter away similar with Indiana which they have all their picks they have an exact salary match with with buddy he'll Daniel Tyson T. Jim McConnell but I the Raptor is going to be like well we want Mathurin or Jaris Walker who you just drafted and the Pacers are going to be like no we don't want to give those guys up or that's why we're giving you the picks and that one kind of falls through to me too and if he doesn't want to be in Indiana he's an expiring contract like that's that's also a part of it I don't know that he does or doesn't but I just keep hearing Atlanta Atlanta Atlanta which makes me think maybe he's not amenable to being in Indiana yeah and one of the things about Jaris Walker has been one of the highlights of Summer League for me he didn't shoot the ball particularly well in his first game but you know I watched him a fair bit at Houston and I never saw him flying around on defense like he has been in these two games it's been incredible like perfectly timed block shots from the weak side just picking guys clean off the dribble like I maybe Calvin Samson system which worked incredibly well for Houston to be clear was maybe the best team in the country over the course of the last season going into the tournament and maybe he was holding Jaris Walker back defensively he's like no he blocked a lot of shots and that was intriguing in combination with his mobility and his playmaking which is also shown up and maybe even better than advertise this far but oh boy he is I would go forward with Jaris Walker right now and not worry about Pascal Ciacum if I were the Pacers I don't think I don't think the Pacer's interest level is quite where it has been reported to be let's put it that way do you have a wild card Pascal Ciacum team before you go to Las Vegas International Airport and play the slots for McCarran it's McCarran I think play the slots McCarran yes I've never played the slots well waiting but maybe if my flight got to got to lay that badly knock on wood that it was a dangerous flight delay that's a bottom five flight delay placed to have your flight delayed because of the possibility you could just end up losing $500 because your board and then you're really just doubly pissed off about the delay wild card Pascal Ciacum team Chicago I'm going to basically go around Zach Levine I assume and it might not be good news for your guy Patrick Williams if they added another I'm just giving you bad news on this fun I don't this probably isn't actually going to happen I mean maybe if you're if you're Toronto you talk yourself into Levine gives us the shot creation we lost with van fleet he's a bigger guy he can fit a little bit more you know we have like enough good defenders that we can hide him a little bit at that end that that's a construction I could see Megan says in the Chicago you get bigger you know you the fact that it's a guy under contract for several years for an expiring is a concern but also might might not be the worst thing in the world of Chicago so we think of that I I have floated on this podcast before when I was do we we were doing fake Zach Levine trades there's something I like about the Scotty Barnes Zach Levine fit like the shooting around him the secondary shot creation I think that fit works I think finding the right deal valuation that both teams would agree with is difficult but I've floated that before I'll just wrap it fire because I know you got to go Dallas doesn't have enough stuff Phoenix doesn't have any stuff the Philadelphia has like the Tobias Harris plus a pick package but they're embroiled in so much other stuff that I don't really see it the Camaroonian connection would be kind of fun though the most fun team it this is just too crazy but it would it would kind of be fun if Oklahoma City was like it Lugan's door Dovis pertain salary a whole bunch of picks we have so many picks we can't possibly use them and let's see what we can do with this team they just don't rush things like that I mean the Paul George trade was kind of an anomaly that fell into their lap a little bit but like she guilt just Alexander's ready to win today that team almost made the playoffs I know they're super young and they're getting homegrown back and they want to see what that looks like but you know they played very very small last year like with without a true four sometimes they're sliding door to the four jailing Williams to the four I think you'd be a fun fit there but I you know yeah the other one is um go ahead you have thoughts on my crazy idea I am intrigued by can I give you the super cap dork note on this which is that people might say well they can't re-trade Bretons they just got him with other players because they just got him oh yeah because of the fact that he was acquired in cap using cap space not with a trade exception they can aggregate his salary and dork is Canadian he is that is true call this one in the other one this is bizarre Julius Randall made all NBA last year and Pascal see how come didn't but I bet every nix fan would be happy a lot of nix fans would be happy about a Randall plus and a Toronto would be the team asking for other stuff that's the thing and the nix would say wait a second our guy was all NBA last year they're almost the exact same age why should we do another stuff makes less money but his playoff performance has been concerning for multiple seasons now Julius Randall's I just the teams would haggle too much but I I kind of like an idea built around that construction I don't think there it is also on their team and is Canadian I don't think that really makes a ton of sense those are my wild card teams all right go go play the slots Kevin I don't think I'm going to try my luck this time Kevin pelton the pelton cast he's I didn't even realize you had already graded the IZS Stewart extension so beef stews deal is up you've graded every goddamn move of the offseason go have a beer win some money save travels back to Seattle and who knows maybe in five or six years or four years or eight years or ten years we'll be talking about the Seattle TBDs I hope it goes for the NBA yeah thanks KP thanks for having me