0:00

Hey, it's Bill Simmons from The Ringer and

0:02

this is a podcast called The Rewatchables.

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We have been doing it really since 2017. It

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started with how much we loved the movie Heat. We

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decided to structure a whole podcast

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with categories, most rewatchable scene,

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you want the full archive, you can hear them

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0:44

Welcome to the mismatch. I'm Chris Vernon and

0:46

joining me. He does every Thursday night from the ringer.com

0:49

is Kevin O'Connor, aka Kevin Obama. Kevin

0:51

O concert, Kevin O conflict,

0:52

Kevin O Candyland, Kevin O Blazarian. Kevin!

0:57

Vernon! How are you doing? Kevin O, how

0:59

are you doing tonight, man? Our last Thursday

1:01

show of the summer, our last Thursday

1:03

show of the summer as we will

1:06

still be doing one episode of the mismatch

1:08

every week until we

1:10

get near the beginning of the season.

1:13

Um, I'm tired. I'm always

1:15

tired after summer league. I was

1:18

there from Friday morning

1:20

until

1:20

Tuesday. from

1:25

the West Coast back to Memphis is

1:28

always an adventure. And we got

1:30

stuck in Dallas, uh,

1:33

on the way back. And so we left the hotel at like 1030

1:36

for Vegas time and got back

1:39

at like midnight, um,

1:41

after a full day of travel, which is,

1:43

there is nothing worse than being in Vegas for

1:46

like five days and then having

1:48

a 20

1:49

hour travel day. It

1:51

was terrible. It

1:53

was terrible. And so, uh, I'm,

1:56

I'm recovered now. I feel a lot better than I

1:58

did yesterday for sure.

1:59

Sure, but man,

2:02

time change takes it out of me for

2:04

sure, as well as days become

2:07

nights, nights become days, you're

2:09

taking in so much basketball

2:11

and then doing shows, et cetera. But

2:14

all in all, it's great to see- Late dinners, nights out,

2:16

parties. Yeah, great to see everybody.

2:20

I feel good, no hangovers, zero

2:22

dollars gambles, but lots of great food,

2:25

lots of great times, and some

2:27

good basketball, some bad basketball,

2:29

some very ugly basketballs, it

2:31

was a good biggest trip. Well, and this is

2:33

why we're the mismatch because I am the exact

2:35

opposite of you. At

2:38

one point I was up a lot of money and

2:42

I reached in my pocket on the way home and

2:44

that money was no longer there.

2:47

And you know, I made

2:49

this mistake, well, I

2:52

made this mistake many times in my life, but one

2:54

year I recall, I,

2:58

when I went,

2:59

I would win, and every time I would

3:01

win, I would leave,

3:04

I would go, I would cash it out, and I would

3:06

go spend the money. So I'd like

3:08

go buy tickets to shows, or

3:11

I would go buy like, you know, souvenirs

3:14

for my kids or whatever, right? And

3:16

it's like, man, I don't know whatever happened

3:18

to that philosophy because I should have kept that

3:21

one because there's many times where I was

3:23

up really big, but as they say,

3:25

the house always

3:26

wins at the end. The more you play, it's

3:29

probably not gonna go your way. That's why they have all

3:31

those shows and lights and everything else. But

3:34

anyways, good trip. I was glad

3:36

I got to see everybody. We got to do the live

3:38

show together. Got to see a lot

3:41

of ringer people that I don't usually see

3:43

throughout the year. And a lot of people

3:45

from around the NBA that I don't usually

3:48

see throughout the year. There were tons

3:50

of

3:51

players and executives staying at

3:53

the hotel I was at. And so it was

3:55

just every other moment I

3:57

was running into somebody, but let's.

3:59

Let's get to the actual basketball because

4:02

it seemed as if when

4:04

I was still talking to people that were there

4:06

and by the time I left,

4:09

I came home and I've

4:11

been watching the games. I actually

4:13

think it's been a pretty good TV product just

4:15

to, I kind of view it like pre-season

4:18

football and I know a lot of people hate like

4:20

pre-season NFL, but I like

4:23

it in the sense of the

4:24

announcers are just kind of end up talking

4:27

about the league at large.

4:28

And so it's something good to just have on in the background

4:31

and when something awesome happens

4:33

I could turn on. But man, the

4:35

one that I

4:38

kept having to look up at the screen

4:42

was Chet Holmgren.

4:44

And that one felt like,

4:46

man, I am surprised

4:48

he is still out there.

4:51

I am happy that he is playing

4:53

this much. He played in Utah and

4:55

now he's playing out in Las Vegas,

4:58

getting back in a groove. And I

5:00

saw his first game

5:02

in the Utah Summer League.

5:05

And if you go from that moment

5:08

to what took place in this last Oklahoma

5:10

City game with him, I

5:12

mean, I

5:13

think it is exactly what they wanted

5:16

to accomplish.

5:17

And I think that I got a much better

5:20

view of what this guy

5:23

has the opportunity to be for

5:25

the first time through because he is, he's

5:28

one of those rookies you can get super excited about

5:30

because we're robbed of the opportunity

5:32

of seeing him last year.

5:34

But Kev, there are,

5:37

I know it, everybody can always say it's Joe

5:39

Summerly. He does

5:41

some very special stuff, Kev. He

5:43

really does. He absolutely does.

5:46

I mean, I think with Chet, like in that game against

5:48

the Pacers you're talking about, he scored

5:50

at the rim, you know, off rolls to the

5:52

basket. It felt like a hundred times. It was

5:54

some of the worst pick and roll defense

5:57

you'll ever see that the Pacers played.

5:59

It was absolutely.

5:59

horrific. But

6:02

you know, throughout the summer league, he's also

6:05

shown, you know, the ability off the dribble.

6:07

He had a couple of nice passes in that

6:09

game. Some of them were, you know,

6:11

assisted some turned into assist some didn't.

6:14

But Chet his handle,

6:16

he had a pull up jumper as well, I believe

6:18

in that second half. Chet he's

6:21

a do it all guy. And I think

6:23

with him, with Oklahoma City, they've shown

6:25

off all those skills. And even in the

6:27

prior game, I think it was against

6:29

Dallas, if I'm correct, Dallas

6:31

or Sacramento, one of those two Dallas.

6:34

And, you know, like his disability,

6:36

the space to floor as well, he forced the defenses

6:39

to step out against him, attacking

6:41

close outs. He's shown everything that he

6:43

can do. And I think for Oklahoma

6:45

City, he's going to make a significant impact on

6:47

their offense as a floor spacer, but

6:50

also on defense with his shop walking. That's been

6:52

his best skill throughout this entire summer league

6:54

is not blocking, which comes as no surprise.

6:57

That's going to be immediate. He is going

6:59

to be he's going to matter defensively,

7:02

immediately. And the other thing is, we

7:05

talk about opportunity

7:07

and fit. There is nothing

7:09

better than him being like, he's

7:12

really like a fourth option walking in.

7:14

Because you got SGA,

7:16

you got Jaylen Williams, you got

7:19

giddy. Like, you

7:21

just get to you get to pick

7:23

your spots and you're not game planned

7:25

against like we always talk about how

7:27

much harder it is for guys, many

7:30

times their second year because rookies

7:32

get to play so much.

7:33

And so the second year, in

7:35

many cases, is not

7:38

the advanced year, but is actually

7:40

maybe a step back because,

7:43

as we always talk about, you're on that whiteboard. When

7:46

they are getting ready for that game last night,

7:48

or tonight, they have,

7:50

they've got a book on you now. And

7:53

so they've seen you play and you're

7:55

there as someone they want to try

7:57

to take away. He's far down.

8:00

whiteboard starting out and he's

8:02

just going to be able to be comfortable, you know,

8:04

he's going to be able to be comfortable and

8:07

not be game-planned against and I

8:09

think he can have a

8:11

fantastic rookie season. I really do.

8:14

I think that's spot on like in

8:16

terms of he goes to OKC

8:18

they have so many other options on offense

8:20

and and yet I think with his

8:23

skill set

8:24

he's an enhancer, right? Like he's

8:26

just because of his floor spacing because

8:29

of the the verticality at the basket

8:31

as a lob threat for SGA and all of their

8:33

ball handlers and as a floor spacer

8:35

opening driving lanes even more for those guys

8:38

and on defense Oklahoma City last year was

8:40

13th in defensive rating pretty

8:43

close to average. When Chet's on the floor

8:46

I would expect them to be a top 10 defense

8:48

maybe even better than that maybe top seven, top

8:50

six, top five. Chet's that much

8:52

of a difference maker as a rim protector

8:55

so if he's improving your defense he's also

8:57

creating more transition opportunities for SGA

9:00

and Giddy and and Jalen Williams he's great

9:02

open floor players and I

9:04

think for Oklahoma City Chet

9:07

is just the type of guy who can accelerate

9:09

this forward for the Thunder in ways

9:11

that, you know, we're talking about right now

9:13

but will be very apparent when we actually

9:15

see all the pieces together on the floor and

9:18

the fact that last season Giddy

9:20

and SGA the question

9:22

with them was how will these two guys

9:24

who are average or below average shooters

9:27

coexist together? The fact that those

9:29

two guys proved that they can enhance

9:31

each other and excel with each other

9:33

on the floor that SGA was a, you know, an MVP,

9:36

you know, borderline MVP candidate

9:38

as a top five guy who was a no-brainer all

9:40

NBA player. The fact that SGA

9:43

and Giddy both shot at least, you know, solid

9:45

from three. Giddy improved as the year

9:48

in the middle of the season around December, January

9:50

and SGA maybe next

9:52

season he's doing more spot-ups and

9:54

less off the dribble maybe his numbers go down

9:57

slightly but his efficiency goes

9:59

up. For Oklahoma City, it's

10:01

going to be very, very interesting to see

10:03

the way in which Sam Presti with all of those assets,

10:06

you know, how does he pick his spots

10:09

building with this team as good as they

10:11

are already. 40 and 42 last

10:13

year with one of the best coaches in all of basketball

10:16

and Mark Dagnall, an elite tactician,

10:18

elite at making adjustments, elite at enhancing

10:21

his players, elite at player development. He's

10:23

a great coach.

10:24

I wonder how Presti is going to build around

10:26

this team and a lot of that might have to do with chat and

10:28

the immediate impact that he makes. I've

10:30

got to tell you a great story about Presti. So

10:32

he was at one of the games and one of my

10:34

buddies was sitting like caddy

10:37

corner to him. And he had

10:39

like this,

10:40

like this, not

10:43

like a wispy piece of paper, almost

10:45

like a, almost like a piece of poster

10:48

board type thing, right? And it had

10:50

like all this writing on it, like, you

10:52

know, 4D, blah, blah, blah, like all these different

10:55

like mix of like letters

10:57

and symbols and,

10:59

and, and numbers. Like shorthand,

11:02

like, or like shorthand his own language. Yeah,

11:04

yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Almost like shorthand his own language or whatever.

11:07

And so my buddy takes a picture of the damn

11:09

thing and spent the whole weekend trying

11:12

to decipher what it was that

11:14

he kept looking down at. And, and

11:16

then showed me the picture and I'm like, I don't know what the hell

11:18

any of that means. It was like, it

11:21

was one of those beautiful mind things

11:23

where it's like, it felt like if

11:25

somebody were to take a picture of this

11:27

document that I was holding, that

11:30

you would never be able to tell what it says anyway.

11:33

And I thought that was the craziest

11:36

thing it was, it had like a bunch of like

11:38

letters and numbers and all this stuff on it. And

11:41

they could never figure out. He was like, I just

11:43

wanted to see what he would kept looking at.

11:45

And so I tried to snap a picture of this, you

11:48

know, this thing that he was looking at.

11:50

And he was like, this is what it was. And I like

11:52

zoomed in on it. And I was like, I don't know what the hell

11:54

that says. I can't tell anything with it.

11:56

Anyway, if you're an old Gloomis City fan, you got to be

11:59

over the moon.

11:59

on 100 other guys that

12:02

would have caused fan bases to be over the moon.

12:05

I mean, Jabari, my God. I

12:07

mean, the guy that he played the couple of

12:09

games, he averaged 34 points in

12:12

those games and he shot nine threes

12:15

and was at 33%

12:18

shooting the nine threes a game.

12:20

And it's like the defense was always

12:23

going to be ahead of the offense for him. High

12:25

energy player.

12:26

I feel like he is one of those perfect examples

12:30

of a guy where patience

12:32

is going to be a virtue. And so anybody

12:34

that was out on Jabari Smith Jr. early,

12:39

you're going to rue the day because this

12:41

was a very talented kid coming

12:43

out of Auburn, kind of be set by the

12:45

same thing

12:47

that was his issue in Auburn,

12:49

which is what he was playing with pig guards. And

12:52

he goes into a rookie year in

12:54

a disastrous situation with

12:57

pig guards. And, you know,

12:59

I, I told you, like they play like an AAU team

13:01

where they're just whoever's got the

13:03

ball and they're flying up and down, taking

13:06

whatever kind of crap shot, and it just is

13:08

a terrible environment for development. That

13:10

being said, they've got some veterans now

13:12

on their team. They've

13:13

got some guys that care deeply about winning.

13:15

They've got them a coach

13:18

that has got his bona fides in leading a

13:20

team to the NBA finals, and

13:23

you saw the flashes of

13:26

that talent that made everybody

13:28

think that Jabari Smith Jr.

13:30

was going to be the number one pick in the draft

13:32

and that made it a real debate on

13:35

whether or not you liked him or

13:37

Paulo Bancaro or possibly

13:39

even one of the other guys, but he was, he

13:41

was kind of locked in as one

13:44

for, I know you had Paulo higher the

13:46

whole time, but

13:48

most of the mocks had Jabari Smith Jr.

13:50

at the very top for the whole draft process.

13:53

And I think that

13:54

at least this summer league

13:56

was the first time that that looked

13:59

like. it made all the sense in

14:01

the world because we kind of got

14:04

the full experience of him, at

14:06

least in this summer league. And it seems like

14:09

he's well on his way to having

14:11

a much better second season

14:13

than what is his rookie season. The thing

14:16

that impressed me most about him in

14:18

the summer league was like you mentioned the

14:20

high volume of threes and

14:22

the below average percentage, 33%. It's

14:25

not like he was shooting the lights out. But

14:27

it just needs to get up a little.

14:29

Yeah, I mean, and also he was taking a ton of shots

14:31

off the dribble. He was taking pull up threes.

14:34

He was taking like in that last game

14:37

he played it against the Pistons. He had

14:39

this

14:39

beautiful turnaround fade

14:41

away jumper with two guys around

14:44

him from the left block on

14:46

the post with the shock lock running down.

14:48

And

14:48

I mean, he had these pull up

14:51

shots from outside and in

14:53

some interior passes,

14:55

finding open players, drives to the

14:57

basket, attack and close outs. I mean, he

14:59

scored in every which way

15:02

possible creating shots. And he

15:04

had the trash talk against James

15:06

Wiseman as well, you know, after

15:08

roasting him on multiple occasions.

15:11

I just felt like it was an absolutely complete

15:14

summer league performance by Jamari Smith. And he

15:16

showed

15:17

all the type of stuff that he flashed

15:19

at Auburn because at Auburn, he, you know,

15:21

people kind of talked about him as like the like

15:23

a three indie plus guy, he

15:25

shot 43% at Auburn. He

15:28

was a great defender at Auburn. But

15:30

he also did flash like pull ups

15:33

and you know, turnaround shots from the post.

15:35

That's something that wasn't as efficient for him as a rookie.

15:37

But I mean, he just looked so much smoother.

15:40

I felt like handling the ball, you know,

15:42

keeping it a little lower, keeping that

15:44

a tighter dribble. Hopefully that translates to

15:46

next regular season for him because it's

15:48

the same thing you just said about Chet, Chris. Yeah,

15:51

Chet

15:52

is in a situation where he doesn't, there's

15:54

not too much pressure on him. With Jabari

15:57

Smith in Houston, like you

15:59

got Van Vliet.

15:59

there. You drafted Amen Thompson,

16:02

you've got Jalen Green, you have all these other

16:04

ball handlers, you have Shen goon with his dribble

16:06

handoffs. It's not like Jabari Smith

16:08

needs to be running the offense necessarily.

16:11

He just seems to be filling gaps and

16:13

running the show when he needs to as a guy who's,

16:15

you know, six foot 10 with size.

16:18

So I think he fits right in perfectly as

16:20

somebody who can play off of others, but

16:23

also now showing the ability to handle the ball a bit

16:25

too. It's a great fit for Houston and like

16:28

you, I've liked their core for

16:30

quite a while now. I remember you know, last

16:32

year during

16:33

one of the live shows,

16:35

like we drafted our, the ringer live

16:38

show in Utah, I have to remember correctly

16:40

during all-star break, me and Kyle Mann

16:42

drafted like the rookies playing

16:44

in the rookie and the rising stars game. And I had

16:46

a ton of Rockets. I've always liked this Rockets

16:49

young core, even though they've stunk, I've liked the individual

16:51

players. Are you with me

16:54

on this Rockets core, having

16:56

a really, really bright future collectively,

16:58

especially now with Udoka as our head coach?

17:01

I think it much, much better. I mean, they look,

17:04

I was always in favor of,

17:07

Hey, I thought last year they should have

17:09

sped up the process and like, Hey, how

17:11

many young, how many young guys

17:13

do you need? Right? You've got

17:16

Jabari, you've got Jalen

17:18

Green, you've got Shen goon, you've got

17:20

Tari Eason. It's like, these

17:23

are good, by the way, really good. Yeah.

17:26

Doubling down, tripling down on talent, like just

17:28

put some vets around these guys and then

17:30

let them grow. And so yes,

17:33

I mean, I always liked the young

17:35

talent. I just think that they needed to even

17:37

that roster out. And finally, this was the

17:39

summer that they did it and

17:42

just get some vets in there because otherwise

17:44

you're just going to have like, you know, the situation

17:46

like you had last year, which was you

17:49

had like really one vet

17:51

on that team and in Eric Gordon

17:53

and Eric Gordon wasn't into it at all. You

17:55

know, you remember that quote after the game. They're like, how

17:57

have you, how much, how much improvement have you seen? It's

18:00

the beginning of the year and he's like, no improvement.

18:02

None. You know

18:04

what I mean? Like, this is not what you need

18:06

around your team, right? And then you remember

18:08

the whole disastrous John Wall thing

18:11

where they had him around, but he

18:13

wasn't like playing at any game. It was all just,

18:16

I just didn't like the way it was run, but it

18:18

is certainly

18:20

much more serious now than

18:22

they have been the last couple of

18:24

years. And yeah, they've got some young talent

18:26

for sure.

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19:06

Other guys that I think would make their fan base super excited

19:08

that I wanted to mention. We touched on Chianti

19:10

George earlier in the week. That

19:13

remained the same for Utah. Looks

19:15

like they might have really gotten one in George.

19:18

He continued that throughout summer league. Doug Jaylen

19:20

Durlan. I liked what I saw out of him

19:23

from Detroit.

19:24

You know, Ivy started

19:27

out real slow and then got better. Ossoor

19:29

Thompson, same thing. That Detroit,

19:32

there's another one that's got some talent. Like they need...

19:35

You see the play Ossoor made, Chris? That

19:37

steel ripping the ball away from Brady Dick. Then

19:40

he pushes the break and he gets the

19:42

ball back and he just kind of like floated

19:45

midair as he, I don't know, he just glides

19:47

to the basket and remembers. Dunks

19:50

and it was, I don't know, like I've never seen that dunk

19:52

look like that midair. It was just absolutely

19:54

nuts athletically.

19:56

So you got Ossoor, you've

19:58

got... I mean, they need... the end, they

20:00

need Kate or Ivy to become like a top 30

20:03

player, for sure. Um,

20:05

do you think, you know, going for

20:07

him, do you have that level of belief

20:09

in Kate? Yes. I

20:12

loved him his rookie year, that

20:14

second half of his rookie year. I

20:17

know that the game's become less

20:19

important, but I thought

20:21

that he was really onto something. And I thought that

20:24

we got robbed of what could have been

20:26

a real trajectory that

20:28

took place last year. Now, I don't

20:30

know. I mean, the guy looked like he'd been,

20:33

you know,

20:33

uh, you know, walking the tablets

20:36

up Mount Sinai with Moses or whatever.

20:39

Uh, the last time I saw that, you see a picture of him?

20:41

I mean, a guy looked like he'd been down and out.

20:44

The huge, not only the huge

20:46

hair, but the huge beard with it, the whole thing. And

20:48

I'm like, you okay, bro? You

20:51

know, uh, but we

20:53

got robbed of seeing him last year, but I'm, yes,

20:56

I love Kate and I love Ivy.

20:58

So I certainly think one of them is going to be a good hit

21:00

for sure. But now you got some of those,

21:03

you need some of those big guys to come along and you just

21:05

saw the picture. Did you see

21:07

the cake cutting the picture? I'm just laughing

21:09

about it. Oh, I'm pretty, I'm

21:12

just laughing about the thought of it. I did see

21:14

it. I'm pretty sure it was Photoshop

21:16

though. No. I'm almost

21:18

positive it was Photoshop. No, it's not. It's

21:21

not Photoshop. I'm almost.

21:24

The cake cutting in with them. No. With

21:27

the beard and the big hair. I'm

21:31

pretty sure it's Photoshop. No way.

21:33

I don't believe that. It is. It's Photoshop.

21:36

It is? It

21:37

is. I hate to tell you it's Photoshop. Come

21:40

on. I know. Really?

21:43

I know. I thought I was wrong first too. I

21:47

did. Oh, what a shame. It's

21:49

a good edit. It's a really

21:51

good edit. You can't believe anything on

21:53

the internet anymore. I know you

21:55

really can't. It's true.

21:58

It's really not him. No,

22:00

it's not him. Let me let. Let.

22:04

It's really not him. It

22:06

really does look like it, though, huh? I'm

22:09

joking at it right now, dog. Did

22:11

Kate cutting him just get back from the 10

22:13

commandments on the top of sign? You're

22:16

not seeing that.

22:17

I did. I know that is him.

22:19

It's not real. It's not. It's

22:21

not real. It's not.

22:25

Oh, man. The link to the

22:27

to the before photo. Oh,

22:29

shoot. Well, I apologize

22:31

to Kate cutting him. Look, I said

22:34

I said I love the guy. I

22:36

said I love the guy. So they edited him to

22:39

make him look like he's been walking

22:41

in the desert. It really is

22:43

a great tweet, though. It really is. I

22:45

think I'm just getting back from receiving

22:48

the 10 commandments. Yeah, that's what I said.

22:52

Unbelievable. So good. All

22:54

right. Well, goodness. Anyways, the

22:57

point is I do. I'm a big fan of his

22:59

big fan of Ivy's. And now they got the big

23:01

guy during I like during I

23:04

look, I had during here in Memphis

23:06

during his Memphis season

23:08

and he is.

23:11

He is a hell of an athlete and

23:14

plays hard and he's active.

23:16

And so I was I was

23:19

really happy with what I saw out of him out of

23:21

Summer League. It's not easy as a big guy, you

23:23

know, that doesn't have the ball in your hands. Because

23:25

in many cases, these games are

23:27

like NBA, AAU. And so

23:30

if you're a big guy, you got to really

23:32

be active and you got a hard role and you

23:34

got to be finishing lobs. And

23:36

I like during I do.

23:38

And they might have hit on that one, too.

23:40

He had a good rookie year

23:42

and certainly looked better even

23:45

in this, even in

23:47

this summer league. So another guy that would be exciting.

23:49

And then I want to talk about a couple of the guys that you

23:52

have tweeted about

23:55

that are not the

23:57

necessarily the biggest of the

23:59

names, right?

24:00

I think those are always the ones that are going to excite

24:02

people but it seems

24:05

as if You think that this

24:07

summer league does matter? For

24:10

some of these guys, you know, we always have

24:12

to determine when we're watching this does

24:15

it matter or not? So let's walk through these

24:17

max Christie

24:18

you like max Christie

24:20

Christie's been absolutely awesome

24:22

for the Lakers and I think

24:24

if you go back to my draft profile

24:26

with him in 2022 before

24:28

last year one of the things you know, just the

24:31

headline of him is lanky

24:33

wing with versatile defensive skills and long-term

24:35

shooting upside and with him

24:37

in Michigan State He shot under 32

24:40

percent from three,

24:41

but the flashes are now

24:44

turning into consistency

24:45

He shot over 40 percent with the G League

24:48

Lakers last year over 40 percent

24:50

from three with the NBA

24:52

Lakers With you know limited opportunities

24:55

and this year in the G League. He's shooting over 50 percent

24:57

from three He's shooting the heck out

24:59

of the ball and mid-range pull-ups So that touch

25:02

that he displayed on layups

25:04

floaters from the free throw line is

25:06

now finally translating And I think

25:08

with him at six six

25:11

with pretty good length He's added

25:13

weight to his frame added muscle to

25:15

his frame

25:15

He looks like the part of the part of a guy

25:18

who's now ready to be a at worst You

25:21

know 15 minute per game player who spots

25:24

up from behind the arc who plays tough

25:26

hard defense makes the right smart

25:28

passes on the floor and Fills

25:31

the role as a high IQ player

25:33

who does the minimum 3 and D style stuff

25:36

I think for the Lakers, it's gonna be very very interesting

25:38

to see

25:39

After all the signings they made all

25:41

the wings they added even the cam reddish types

25:44

of the world Is Darwin am

25:46

gonna give 20 year old max

25:48

Christie an

25:49

opportunity to play over some of those

25:52

veteran players or younger players

25:54

who still have something to prove like a reddish because

25:56

I think he's shown a lot this past year Going

25:59

back to his time with us Salt Bay Lakers and the fact

26:01

it's now translating at a real

26:03

high volume. He's averaging over 20 points

26:05

per game in both summer leagues and

26:07

this California Classic and in Vegas.

26:10

He looks tremendous for the Lakers and that's

26:13

encouraging for LA because Huchafino has not

26:15

impressed so far. It's been a real rocky summer

26:18

league for him. Colin Castleton has

26:20

looked really good for the Lakers as a playmaking big

26:22

of their young guys, but Max Christie above

26:24

all of them has really impressed me.

26:27

You see him in like the KCP

26:29

role.

26:29

Yes. Yeah, that's a good,

26:32

that's a good, right? Somebody you could learn

26:34

from, right? KCP. As you're describing

26:36

it, that's what I'm thinking about and kind of how you

26:39

fit in, that's in the Lakers world.

26:41

It's like, don't screw things up. Yeah.

26:44

The Danny green, the KCP, something like that.

26:46

Yeah.

26:47

Yeah. And he, um,

26:49

you know, when you mentioned like, will he play over,

26:52

like if he's good, he'll play over Cam Reddish.

26:55

I saw the LeBron tweet. You know,

26:57

I have a theory on Cam Reddish.

26:59

It's just like, you know, this was forever

27:01

Rudy Gaye. This is Jeff Green. A

27:03

lot of these guys that are like cut from this cloth

27:06

that are like that six, nine

27:08

crazy athletes,

27:09

everything looks the part. My theory

27:12

is that these guys are

27:14

absolutely positively

27:17

unbelievable at

27:20

pickup. If you ever talk

27:22

to basketball players, they all think

27:24

they all thought Rudy Gaye was unbelievable. They all

27:26

thought Jeff Green is unbelievable. They all

27:28

love Cam Reddish. I really think

27:31

that I think that like when there's no

27:33

structure and

27:34

there's no like offense, you

27:36

got to be in defense. You got to be in and they all

27:38

play together in the summer that this

27:41

guy's probably like frigging Carmelo

27:43

who by the way is on other summer, like

27:46

just killer, but that like Cam

27:48

Reddish, uh, is like, he's cut

27:50

from that same cloth of

27:52

these guys that I can

27:54

only imagine that when they play

27:57

unstructured, like when they're playing pickup amongst

27:59

all the.

27:59

NBA guys in the summer.

28:01

They're just unbelievable.

28:04

Unbelievable. Well, Chris, I

28:06

think for Cam Riddish, the Lakers are going

28:08

to be very interesting to monitor

28:11

because

28:12

think about Max Christie, everything

28:14

I just said. He had good touch in

28:16

college.

28:17

He was not a good three point shooter. He goes

28:20

to the Lakers. They put him through their developmental

28:22

system. He improves as a shooter. Austin

28:25

Reeves, you can say the same exact thing about Reeves

28:27

was, you know, an inconsistent shooter.

28:30

And in college, he's become a good,

28:33

reliable guy from behind the arc in the NBA

28:36

with Cam Riddish. That's been the number one

28:38

thing throughout his career. Going back to college,

28:40

he's been an 80% plus guy from

28:42

the free throw line. He has never been a good shooter

28:45

from three. So how do you translate

28:47

that

28:47

consistent success from the free throw

28:50

line to spot up threes, catch

28:52

and shoot. If the Lakers can do that

28:54

with Cam Riddish,

28:55

he's had his moments where he's been a very good defensive

28:58

player.

28:59

He's had his moments as a guy, you know, attacking

29:01

in a straight line to the basket. If

29:03

they can make Cam Riddish into a consistent

29:06

shooter, that could change the trajectory

29:08

of his career as a high end role player

29:10

in this league. Yeah, but that's the issue

29:13

in the context of Christie.

29:14

That's the issue. And what you brought up with

29:17

Max Christie, Max Christie is going to understand

29:19

where I fit in in the NBA. And this is how I'm

29:21

going to have a long career. Guys like Riddish

29:24

are not,

29:25

they're not built to be role players. They don't

29:27

figure out they need to be role players. I disagree. I

29:30

disagree. Eight to 10 years into their career.

29:32

I promise you, Cam Riddish thinks he should be

29:34

one of the best three players on the team. I promise

29:37

you. I disagree. I mean, he

29:39

had Duke, at Duke, he took the back

29:41

seat. He was the third wheel. He quit at Duke.

29:43

He literally quit. He quit.

29:46

He quit.

29:48

That's what he did. He had a

29:51

great team. And he wasn't

29:53

one of the top two guys. He was on there

29:55

with Reddit. He was on there with Zion and

29:57

RJ, and he literally quit.

30:00

The day of the game

30:02

said I can't go

30:04

when it's the NCAA tournament.

30:07

Like, don't tell me it, Duke. It's

30:10

exactly what happened. I'll tell

30:12

you Portland. In Portland, last

30:14

year, he had the best stretch of his career, arguably,

30:17

and at least compared

30:19

to the Knicks,

30:20

took a backseat. I

30:23

mean, it's not like he was

30:26

in the driver's seat for Atlanta earlier

30:28

in his career either. He's never

30:31

really gotten an opportunity to be the guy.

30:33

And he's never been good.

30:36

That's my point. He hasn't

30:38

been the guy since high school, yes, and he hasn't

30:40

been good. He's never been good because he

30:42

doesn't know how to be a role player. He'll figure

30:44

it out in 10 years.

30:46

You know, that's what happens with these guys.

30:48

Might figure it out at age 24 with

30:51

the Lakers. We'll see what they can do with his jumper.

30:54

Yeah, I mean, this is Ben

30:56

Macklemore all over again. Another really

30:58

talented guy. You know,

31:00

they're summer kids. That's all

31:03

I'm saying, Chris, is I'm just curious to see if

31:05

the Lakers, one of the best drafting

31:07

programs, clearly one of the better player

31:09

developmental programs, if they can figure something

31:12

out, well, Cam Reddish. And if they can't,

31:14

that doesn't bode well for him as a shooter moving

31:16

forward in his career. Now, that's fair. Jordan

31:20

Walsh, you tweeted about. I

31:22

did not see Jordan Walsh. So tell me what

31:24

I need to know. He

31:26

looks like a blend of

31:29

the maniac we saw

31:31

on defense at Arkansas this

31:33

past season as a freshman

31:35

and the guy who in high

31:37

school did more off the dribble

31:40

than he was allowed to show at Arkansas, considering

31:42

their other ball handling talents.

31:44

And for the Celtics, it

31:47

is incredibly encouraging to see

31:49

Walsh doing all that stuff off the dribble.

31:51

Because at a minimum, you're

31:53

hoping Jordan Walsh can be a guy who, you

31:56

know, at least shoots threes at a competent

31:58

level. He's shooting 37.

31:59

on threes on six threes

32:02

per game in the summer league.

32:04

But he's also, you know, passing the ball. He had

32:07

a beautiful behind the back dish. He's

32:09

had some nice passes of smoothly off the

32:11

dribble attacking close outs and he's hitting pull ups.

32:14

He's getting to the

32:16

rim and he's still doing all his wild stuff on

32:19

defense as an energizer. He really

32:21

let a let us sell this comeback against

32:23

the Lakers on their last game.

32:25

And so for Walsh, you know, the Celtics trade

32:27

down like three times, pick up a

32:30

bunch of extra second round draft picks and still get the guy who

32:32

looks like one of the steals of the second round. Walsh

32:35

looks like to me, like somebody who can potentially

32:38

play right away or at least deserves an opportunity

32:40

to play right away. And if his shot continues

32:43

to be as consistent as it's been

32:45

in summer league, then it's going to be hard to keep

32:47

him off the floor because his defense is already that

32:49

good. It's good enough to get regular minutes.

32:52

It's all about the jumper.

32:53

You like their second round pick from last year, the

32:55

guard from Bama Davidson, J.D.

32:57

Davidson? Yeah, he's solid. I'm not

32:59

a huge fan of him, but he's definitely

33:01

a solid player, you know, knows how to pass the ball.

33:04

He just doesn't, hasn't shot the ball well. That's,

33:07

that's gotta be able to shoot. Uh,

33:08

one guy that you mentioned. Isn't

33:11

that such a make or break skill, man? Like how

33:13

often does that come up with so many players at this

33:15

point? Like there's so much talent, even

33:18

like we're talking about Chet Uzman

33:20

Jang

33:21

is looking great for them in his second year.

33:24

And with all these guys, just so

33:26

much talent. If you can't shoot it, it's hard

33:28

to get consistent minutes. And it

33:31

also could keep you from being like a super

33:33

duper star. Everybody I talked to loved

33:35

both Thompson's. And that was the only

33:38

thing they said.

33:39

If those kids ever get a shot,

33:41

watch the hell out. Because they can't shoot

33:44

like neither of them are. They're

33:47

just going to get, they're going to, you're going to go

33:49

under. You're going to go under against those

33:51

guys.

33:53

Osar though, he had a nice

33:56

pull up three and a pull up mid range

33:58

jumper in his last game.

33:59

That was the game that I can mention to you earlier where

34:02

he had the steal against dick and then the

34:04

lob dunk on the other side He also hit those two

34:06

jumpers his his shot looks better than

34:08

our men's it has throughout the entire

34:10

pre-draft period That's one of the reasons why I had him

34:12

just one spot ahead of our men, but our

34:14

star looks good, dude I'm very excited

34:17

to see him play with

34:18

chat 90 and all those guys one

34:20

of the guys that I mentioned Or

34:23

that you mentioned. I mean that I

34:26

Talked to some people there about and I

34:28

brought up to somebody while

34:31

I was out there an

34:33

executive in fact, I brought up that

34:35

Malachi Branham and He

34:37

was like the Spurs love that

34:39

kid and I was like, oh they do

34:42

and he's like, yes They

34:44

love Branham. They think he's

34:46

gonna be something and I saw I thought it was interesting

34:48

You tweeted about Branham during summer league.

34:50

I guess you're a fan as well, huh?

34:54

Yeah, he had a 29-point game

34:56

against us against the Wizards just

34:58

hitting pull-up threes Spin

35:01

spinning moves from the in the

35:03

middle of the lane into mid-range

35:05

jumpers floaters you know kind of

35:07

fading out of bounds Branham

35:10

is an absolute bucket getter and Last

35:13

year is kind of a surprise one and done for Ohio

35:16

State comes out and doesn't

35:18

do a lot all season long for the Spurs

35:21

But for the Austin Spurs, he's performing well And

35:23

I forget the numbers off the top of my head But I believe he had

35:26

a stretch over like an 8-10 game period He

35:28

was averaging almost 20 points per game

35:30

for the Spurs down the stretch of the season and granted

35:32

it's you know Tank in time

35:34

it's you know teams aren't necessarily game

35:37

planning for the Spurs at that point of the season the fact

35:39

that He did show the goods that

35:41

he did at Ohio State and now it's Translating

35:44

to summer league you got to feel a strong

35:47

sense of optimism for him

35:49

moving forward for the Spurs and He's

35:51

he's like a

35:52

he's an interesting piece kind of in their mix

35:55

right like Devin Vassal You

35:57

got him as your long-range E3 and D

35:59

wing can do a lot off the dribble as well. Kelton

36:02

Johnson, your downhill attacking

36:04

wing. Jeremy Sohan,

36:06

your defensive stopper who can handle

36:09

on offensive bid and has improved his jumper

36:11

a lot and obviously Wembenyama. Brandon's

36:13

kind of that spark plug guard

36:16

wing player at 6'4", 6'5",

36:18

that fills some gaps within

36:21

all of their needs that they currently have,

36:23

their players that they already have. What they

36:25

just need, the Spurs are missing that

36:28

playmaking point guard

36:30

and that big, strong,

36:32

heavy center to compliment Wembenyama.

36:35

Other than that, they have a lot of the pieces they

36:37

look for from a roster construction standpoint.

36:40

Well, and the other thing is with as many players

36:42

as they have and young talent and how

36:45

good they've been at developing it,

36:46

if the Branham kid is really good,

36:49

they just keep on having

36:51

the assets in order to

36:53

be able to move to fill in what they

36:55

want to get.

36:56

They can,

36:58

because they just decide, hey,

37:00

you got all these young guys

37:02

then guys that are in their first

37:04

contracts, now we decide which

37:06

of these, you

37:09

just named off four or five guys. You're

37:12

typically not gonna have a four or five guy

37:14

core. You're

37:15

really gonna have a three guy core.

37:17

And then you're gonna build out around that

37:20

and the other guys are gonna change. Because those are the guys

37:22

you're gonna end up paying the big bucks to and those

37:24

are the guys that are gonna be part

37:26

of it for the long term.

37:28

And so it does feel like part of this

37:30

year, especially with wenbyama, it's

37:33

gonna be figuring out like who is, who's

37:35

the young core?

37:36

Like who are the guys that are gonna be there?

37:39

They're going to be in their positions

37:41

for the long

37:44

haul. The other stuff will fill in the

37:46

gap here, will fill in the gap here, will fill in the gap

37:48

here. But which of these guys, because

37:50

the other ones, even

37:52

if they're not the perfect fit

37:55

with Victor, because that's what you're building out the whole

37:57

thing around.

37:58

If they're not the perfect fit, they're still talented.

37:59

guys that you could go

38:02

and swap for what you need. So

38:04

I think they're in a good position right now, especially

38:06

when they got some guy like Malachi

38:09

Branham, impressing people and

38:11

the word is out that they really think something

38:14

of him.

38:15

Because they're not gonna

38:17

keep them all, right? They're

38:19

not gonna keep them all. They're not gonna keep

38:21

five guys for the long haul, or six

38:24

guys for the long haul. And so they'll

38:26

identify who is that

38:28

core along with Wendy and

38:30

the other ones. They can swap for that

38:32

stuff that you need. They're

38:36

in a good spot, I think.

38:37

There's a lot of good young cores.

38:40

I mean, just think about all the names we've

38:42

rattled off during this podcast. Oh

38:45

yeah. So many of these teams that

38:48

stunk last season. I mean, Oklahoma

38:50

City was average. They could

38:52

be kind of this next year, Sacramento

38:54

Kings, a team that propels themselves

38:57

into a top six seed. The

38:59

Spurs, the Rockets, all

39:01

these teams that were bad. Like

39:03

the Magic were good to close the season, but they

39:05

still

39:06

only won 34 games. The

39:08

Pistons, all the names were listed. There's

39:11

a lot of good talent

39:13

across the league right now. You

39:17

have all these names and all this potential that

39:19

doesn't necessarily mean that you're

39:21

ever gonna be anything because the threshold is just

39:23

so high.

39:25

Because all these good teams also

39:27

have developed talent, deep developed

39:29

talent. And the league's loaded.

39:32

The other thing is by the time you get to the playoffs, the good teams

39:34

are old.

39:38

Young teams don't win big. Yeah,

39:40

you're right. They just don't win big. Don't

39:43

you feel like with all those talent, Adam Silver's

39:45

talking about how they're closer than ever to expansion.

39:47

It's time to expand.

39:49

There's a lot of good players that should be getting

39:51

consistent minutes and can be getting consistent

39:54

minutes. What should I think? Oh, I think

39:56

that when I watch summer

39:59

league and you know, I go down because

40:01

my hometown producer calls

40:03

the hustle games. And so I watch a lot

40:05

of those games in the G league. When

40:08

I watch summer league and

40:10

I watch the G league, I

40:13

am continually, I'm

40:15

continually left with the thought that the margin

40:17

is so razor thin between

40:20

whether or not you have an NBA career or

40:22

not. So many times it's about being a good

40:24

teammate. It's about having a great attitude.

40:27

It's about understanding what kind of role that

40:30

you, you know, where you fit in, how

40:33

hard that is for everybody

40:35

to figure out because they're all so, they're

40:37

all so great for so long. I don't

40:39

know if you saw it, there was a clip that was going around

40:42

and it was about, uh, it

40:44

was Gilbert Arenas and he said, he was talking to

40:47

young players

40:48

about, you know, finding your

40:51

spot on a team

40:53

and trying to figure out, you know, where you fit

40:56

in and not everybody can be the guy. And

40:58

he said, he was talking to these kids and he was telling

41:00

them, uh, about

41:03

Pat Beverly. And he was like,

41:06

what do you think, uh, it's like high school

41:08

kids. He's like, what do you think Pat Bev average

41:10

in high school? You know, they're like, Can we, can we average

41:12

like 30 or something like that? Yeah.

41:17

37 average, like six steals

41:19

a game too. Yeah. In

41:22

Chicago.

41:25

Not an easy place that go average 37,

41:28

but it's like, then you realize

41:30

like, I'm going to be, uh, how

41:33

am I going to have a 12 year career? Right?

41:36

How am I going to have a 15 year career? And

41:39

what do I need to dedicate myself to do to be

41:41

able to get on the court? And so

41:44

there is so much talent when

41:46

I see that, but it's like, can you, can

41:49

you be the guy that can have

41:51

a small role and

41:54

star in that role? Because

41:57

talent is not the issue. There is

41:59

enough talent. There's no

42:01

question. I tell you this. I go to that

42:03

summer league. I watch that G League

42:05

and I'm left and I'm like, geez. Like I

42:08

told you that that was that guy's name I said

42:10

that I saw in Chicago. I saw he had another

42:12

good game.

42:13

That he had like the game-winning play.

42:15

Jevon Freeman

42:18

Liberty. Unbelievable name. Freeman

42:21

Liberty is a, I mean, for

42:23

a hyphenated jersey name. But

42:26

I never heard of that guy in my life. You

42:28

watch him and you're like, this guy's not at

42:30

the NBA. Like

42:32

he was good as hell.

42:34

In the game, I was at he had like 24, eight

42:36

and six. Then I came back home and watched him again.

42:39

And I'm like, God, who is

42:41

this? This guy is good.

42:43

He has a great name. Great name.

42:45

Freeman. A great name

42:48

and he's a he's a good player. Like

42:50

you watch him play and you're like,

42:53

what is the difference between him and a lot of guys in the

42:55

NBA? It ain't much. Because

42:57

he's he goes hard.

42:59

He's got this dogged nature

43:02

about him. He's just but

43:04

and I know that

43:06

you see all those guys that are participating in the G

43:08

League, they're participating in summer league. And it's like

43:11

I it's a long winded way to tell you I agree

43:13

with you. Like there's enough players.

43:16

There's enough players out

43:18

there right now. And when

43:20

I went to that friggin AAU tournament, wait

43:23

till you see what's on the way.

43:25

Jesus Christ, Kevin, I walked in and

43:27

there were seven footers, six,

43:30

eight, six, seven.

43:32

Like if you weren't NBA

43:35

size, this was at the Peach

43:37

Jam that I was at. Like this was

43:39

the lead up to the Peach Jam the weekend

43:41

before. When

43:44

I went and saw Cooper flag and all that group.

43:47

But if you didn't have like six,

43:51

seven or bigger across your front

43:53

line, you were small.

43:56

Most of them had like seven footers.

44:00

center. These kids are 15, 16, 17. I'm like, oh

44:02

my God, this is ridiculous.

44:09

You walk into that gym.

44:11

Oh my God.

44:12

That size is why I'm so obsessed with

44:15

what you know, Orlando,

44:17

Oklahoma City, some of these

44:19

teams are doing where they just have a ton of size

44:21

across positions. That's the future

44:24

of the game is skill plus

44:26

size

44:27

because the three-point shot is migrated

44:29

to across positions at this point.

44:32

Ball handling is not just for six

44:34

foot one, six foot two guys. It's

44:37

also for six foot seven, six foot eight, six

44:39

foot nine guys more than ever before. Obviously,

44:41

you've had Magic Johnson in the 80s, LeBron

44:44

James, Oscar Robertson was big way

44:46

back when but it's just more. There's more

44:48

guys with size who can handle and run an offense

44:51

and SGA being that guy for Oklahoma City,

44:53

a luke of that guy for Dallas

44:56

and so on and so forth.

44:57

Amen Thompson could be that for Detroit

44:59

at six seven. Osar and Cade Cunningham

45:01

are both big for the Pistons. Teams

45:04

are huge across positions and

45:06

I think that's the future of the game that we're going to see.

45:09

Kevin, I went to I went to one game and

45:11

they were like, I think it was Atlanta. It's

45:13

either Atlanta or it was one of those teams. I

45:15

can't remember but like did

45:17

a kid who like they said he

45:19

was playing up so he's

45:22

playing like with the you know the 17 years

45:24

or the 16 years whatever

45:27

but he was like 14 or 15. He's freaking it

45:29

was a six eight wing.

45:31

Mike is like having like Jaylen Brown

45:33

out there. Like it's like 14 or 15. It's like come

45:36

on bro.

45:38

Like what is going on?

45:40

You walk in there Jim and you just can't

45:42

even believe it. It doesn't look anything like your high

45:45

school team did. I promise you.

45:49

Couple other things that we need to mention before we get out of here.

45:52

Uh the Damian Lillard stuff

45:54

is like it heats up, cools off, heats

45:56

up, cools off and I think they tried to cool it all

45:59

off by.

45:59

saying, it could take months, which usually

46:02

means it's going to be done within like a week, right?

46:04

Like they're trying to get everybody off their back. You

46:07

do wonder,

46:08

you know, he's obviously trying to force his way to Miami.

46:11

I do think somebody, if they

46:13

just want to get another first rounder by moving

46:16

off of, you know, somebody

46:18

else ending up with hero, I do

46:20

think somebody will absolutely give

46:22

up a first rounder in order to get hero.

46:25

I mean, the numbers are the numbers

46:27

guy shoots great from three, 90%

46:29

from the free throw line already

46:32

won a six man. He's super young,

46:34

still 20.5 rebounds

46:36

for assists, whatever the hell it is. Like he's a good player.

46:39

He's really good. And he could, and

46:41

I don't think his development is done,

46:43

but it doesn't seem like they want

46:45

hero, but they've got to try to find

46:47

this third team. And

46:49

I would imagine that you're now by

46:52

saying, Hey, we can drag this thing out. You

46:54

know, you're probably trying to get the best 13 offers

46:56

that you can involved there.

46:59

Typically when people say we don't want to drag

47:01

or we're willing to drag this out, typically

47:06

they don't drag it out. But I

47:08

don't know. What do you think? Do you think this might just be

47:10

something that drags on until later

47:13

in the summer or until those

47:16

Miami guys are eligible to be traded?

47:19

Maybe is kind of the timeline. Or

47:21

do you think that we're going to look up at within the next

47:24

week, we're going to have to do some kind

47:26

of emergency pod because there's a huge deal

47:28

that went down.

47:29

It could be a repeat of the Kevin

47:32

Durant or Ben Simmons saga where

47:34

Katie and Ben Simmons demand trades during

47:36

the summer. Katie ends up returning

47:39

to the nets and playing for them until he's traded

47:41

mid season. Bet Simmons does not

47:43

return to the Sixers and he gets traded mid season.

47:46

It could be that for Damien Lord. It

47:48

could be that the Blazers,

47:50

as we've talked about for a long time now, are

47:53

just waiting for a better offer.

47:54

It could be that they're waiting for the heat to maximize

47:57

what they can, or it could be that they're

47:59

hoping to get it.

47:59

for a surprise team to pop up

48:02

out of nowhere and make a big deal. Maybe

48:04

it's the Sixers in a three way where they're sending

48:07

Maxi somewhere else. Maybe it's

48:10

a younger team like the Utah Jazz trying

48:12

to accelerate things. Maybe it's the Minnesota

48:15

Timberwolves flipping Carl Anthony Towns to

48:17

the Knicks or some other team in a three way

48:20

deal. It could be a surprise team that

48:22

pops up out of nowhere and it seems like that's the

48:24

Blazers intentions. But ultimately, Miami

48:27

as of today has the best offer,

48:30

but the best offer is a weak offer. It's an

48:32

extremely weak offer. So at

48:34

the least, the Blazers need to wait until

48:36

Hamehakes and their

48:39

other young players are eligible to be

48:41

traded. Tyler Hero

48:43

is in a position where he can be flipped for those young

48:45

players possibly from recent draft picks

48:48

that can't be traded yet as well. So

48:50

we'll see what happens here. It'll be very

48:52

interesting to see if Miami ends up landing him but

48:55

if you're the Blazers, they're in the

48:57

right to be patient here. This is

49:00

what they should do because that Miami deal right now

49:02

sucks.

49:03

Interesting what you say about that you mentioned

49:05

Kat. Maybe it's not involved with the Damien

49:08

thing or not, but that was one of the things when

49:10

I was out and about in Vegas. I was with

49:13

some people that cover Minnesota and

49:15

all of them

49:16

across the board. All of them

49:19

said Kat's gone. It's

49:22

a matter of where. Before the season.

49:24

No, it's just a matter of time. The

49:26

Nasri thing was exactly what I thought the

49:31

Nasri thing is.

49:33

I said, so which one's gone? They said Kat.

49:35

Kat's going to be the one that ends up somewhere else. That's

49:38

the one. For sure. I

49:40

mean, Minnesota should be going, should go

49:43

for Dame. Evidently, his agent's

49:45

calling everybody threatening him. Yeah,

49:47

who cares? I do think that if it drags

49:49

out, we're probably he's

49:51

not going to bail on Portland

49:54

and then not try. Even though

49:56

the Scoot thing got so exciting that

49:58

they should just, you

49:59

want that. to you want you don't want

50:01

a drama to start. I don't

50:03

know, Chris. You don't want the drama.

50:06

You don't want to know

50:07

how I disagree. You need

50:10

it. You need to do what's best for your franchise

50:12

and it's not drama to bring Damien

50:14

Miller to all people back. Dame is a professional

50:17

and it would quiet down if he's back and

50:20

it would pop back up if necessary in January

50:23

or February. But there's also advantages

50:25

to having scoot around Dame too. Yes,

50:27

there could be a little bit of drama involved. Yes,

50:29

there could be questions around the team of whether he's

50:32

going to be traded or not. But at the same

50:34

time, I interviewed Scoot Henderson over

50:36

the weekend

50:37

and it's running on the ringer on Friday and

50:40

I talked to Scoot about Dame and he

50:42

said he spoke to him. He's

50:44

asked him for advice

50:46

and Dame's given that advice.

50:48

So for Scoot, what I said to him in the interview

50:51

was, if he's traded,

50:54

you are in the driver's seat right away. If

50:56

he's not traded, you get reps playing

50:59

off the ball and you get to share the

51:01

ball with Damien lower and get to learn from

51:03

him. So for the Blazers side of things,

51:06

there are advantages. If this ends up being

51:08

a KD style situation where he does

51:10

come back, they wait until the season

51:12

to end up making a move because that could

51:14

be advantageous to Scoot Henderson earlier in

51:16

his career. I disagree.

51:19

I think you'll

51:21

be gone by the beginning of the season. Yeah, I know. But

51:24

with my point though, you just said how

51:26

you get rid of the drama.

51:29

As long as he's not pissed about the situation.

51:31

He's not, Dame's a professional. That's

51:34

why those threats are so empty. Though

51:36

you're going to get an unhappy player. Please

51:38

be serious. This is Damien Lourd

51:40

we're talking about, not James Harden.

51:42

Well, let's talk about James Harden because Sam

51:44

Amick put out that he is dead

51:47

set on going to the Clippers.

51:49

That's where he wants to go. Now

51:52

that is a subplot. What do

51:54

you think he would look, we've seen him quit

51:56

on other teams. Would he quit on his

51:58

boy, Daryl?

51:59

I guess it said in the article that he was upset

52:02

with the way Darryl handled the contract extension

52:05

stuff anyway.

52:06

And so, jeez Louise, you

52:08

want to talk about not the place to quit in is Philly.

52:11

You could pull that crap off and use it in Brooklyn,

52:14

but you ain't pulling that off in Philly. You

52:18

ain't going out there and dogging it in Philly.

52:21

And especially poor, I mean, God, you

52:23

wouldn't want that. This is one where I

52:25

do think

52:26

Darryl's going to have to do something about it because he's

52:28

got a new head coach and Nick Nurse, and you

52:30

want this thing to get started off well.

52:33

And it's like,

52:34

I don't think that he's got to

52:36

make sure that James gets what he wants. On

52:39

the other hand,

52:41

the longer that one drags out,

52:43

this might be the exact opposite of what you just

52:45

talked about with Lillard. It's like, you

52:48

bring him back, he will just, he'll

52:51

do the Simmons thing and dog it, have his cell

52:54

phone at practice and maybe even not

52:56

even show up to practice. And

52:58

he doesn't want to be somewhere.

52:59

He don't want to be somewhere. And

53:01

so you've got a, that would

53:04

be a concern. You

53:07

know, I don't know whatever happened to the Clippers

53:09

thing when this stuff first all came up. And

53:12

I still feel the same way where it's like,

53:15

it makes all the sense in the world to have the Harden

53:17

and Harris trade

53:20

to the Clippers and George

53:22

and Norm Powell or

53:25

whoever end

53:26

up in Philly as some kind of

53:28

like, those are like the major pieces

53:30

to a deal. If you're now,

53:32

if you're the Clippers, you got to decide, are you, are you

53:35

about to do the extension

53:37

with George and Kawhi? Cause they're both going

53:39

to be up, but their contracts

53:41

are up. Harden's got this

53:43

one year deal. So you

53:46

could have that for a trial run. Maybe get the best

53:48

version of him. Cause he's trying to get another 200, you know, $160

53:50

million contract at some point. So

53:55

fall off your books. If the Harden thing

53:57

doesn't work out, Harris falls off your books.

54:00

Powell's out there for, you know, two

54:02

more years after this one at like 20

54:05

million. So obviously you're

54:07

getting off of that. And

54:09

I actually think it might make

54:11

both teams better. It's possible, you know,

54:14

hardens more of a carry your team

54:16

while Kawhi plays his 30 games

54:19

than, than Paul is, but, you

54:21

know, they're both up for extensions

54:24

and it's like, are you gonna, you're gonna extend

54:26

both Paul George and Kawhi

54:28

Leonard for a lot of money going

54:31

forward? I almost feel like both

54:34

of them being in different situations for one

54:36

season might get the absolute

54:38

best out of them in terms of game

54:41

played and production because they

54:43

would both be so interested in getting

54:45

that coveted

54:46

last extension. Right?

54:48

I don't know. I would not extend any

54:51

of them right now, Chris. I think if you're the Clippers,

54:53

you're considering how you're opening up a new arena

54:56

next season, as in not later this

54:58

year, but the following year for the 24, 25 season. So

55:02

for the Clippers right now, I'd go

55:04

all in this year, assuming there's no

55:07

great, you know, trade

55:10

Paul George trade. If there's something

55:12

involving George where you move him now, then maybe you

55:14

do it. I just don't think that's necessarily out

55:16

there. So if you can get, if you can get

55:18

hardened and you can dump

55:20

some long-term salary, including Norman

55:23

Powell and maybe just one first

55:25

round draft pick and have clean books

55:28

next summer, you go all in this

55:30

year, maybe you make a run. And

55:32

if you don't, which you probably won't

55:34

harden George Leonard,

55:37

all free agents next year, you'd only have

55:39

like zoo bots and Kobe

55:41

Brown and maybe Terrence Mann under

55:44

contract for next season. You'd have a

55:46

clean slate

55:47

with a pretty good free agent class, a

55:49

new arena opening and

55:51

a lot of ways to build out

55:53

your roster. So I think for the

55:55

Clippers side of things, maybe that

55:57

should be approached, go all in this year.

56:00

and then have clean books next summer and then

56:02

you react depending on how this year goes

56:04

for PG kawaii and harden

56:06

I

56:07

Just think if they move him

56:09

if they move harden they're

56:11

getting a star back I just

56:13

don't think he's so you think it's really it's

56:16

only a three way if they get lame back then

56:18

cuz what other star Are they gonna get besides

56:20

Demi and muhlard? No, no, no, I'm saying if

56:22

they see I can't

56:23

I will we mention George

56:25

They can't get George

56:27

Right

56:30

So are you three way with game then which would Oh

56:34

Lillard and Embiid would be awesome. You'd

56:36

have to give up maxi to get Dame though. You wouldn't

56:38

have the assets otherwise What's

56:41

your window with Embiid like, you know? Be

56:44

in the one of the best three

56:46

players in the league I know it's

56:48

right now you gotta go probably about the three years

56:50

that you would have Lillard, right? Mm-hmm.

56:53

I agree and you probably got

56:55

about three years of him being amazing Yeah,

56:58

I've got to go for it I would go for it

57:00

as well If I get if I could somehow

57:02

pull that off and he would be okay

57:05

with going there Last

57:07

thing to rule cuz I bet you what one more

57:10

thing on that note Chris. I'll tell you this

57:12

For let's say that these teams that

57:15

everybody talks about being the third team

57:17

for Tyler hero all of those teams

57:19

would rather have Tyreese maxi,

57:21

so If Philadelphia

57:24

is willing to give up maxi which all

57:26

reports say they wouldn't that they don't want to give

57:28

him up But if they at some point change

57:31

gears and say they are willing to trade maxi I

57:33

bet you the Spurs, you know the jazz

57:36

The Nets all of these teams

57:38

would be willing to give up more picks for maxi

57:41

Which would increase Philadelphia's leverage and

57:43

negotiations with Portland for Damian

57:46

lowered so just something to keep in mind over

57:48

the weeks ahead when it comes to harden stuff

57:50

and Potential three-way step out

57:52

there for Philadelphia and in the Dame sweepstakes

57:55

if indeed they are willing to give up

57:57

maxi

57:58

last thing the NBA rule of changes,

58:02

the extra coaches challenge, totally

58:05

in favor of, this is a good thing. So

58:08

here's the thing, you only get another challenge

58:11

if you got screwed in the first place because

58:14

you had a bad call go against you and you won

58:17

your challenge. And I've been to a lot of games

58:19

where I've seen a coach,

58:21

you know, there'll be some goal 10

58:23

that takes place in the first quarter and

58:26

they don't challenge it because they want their challenge

58:28

for later in the game. And

58:31

so now, you know, if

58:34

something happens earlier in the game

58:36

or in the first half that

58:38

you think you got screwed on, now you

58:40

don't, that doesn't have to be a strategy

58:43

where it's like, hey, we got screwed on this, but

58:46

God forbid, what if something happens, you

58:50

know, in the fourth quarter with four minutes

58:52

left and then I'm gonna really, I'm

58:54

a block charge or something, I'm gonna really wish I had

58:56

that challenge.

58:58

And then the other thing is the flopping.

59:02

So they're

59:04

gonna try to call this live. Let

59:07

me see on the front, I think it's going to curb

59:10

flopping drastically and it

59:12

won't be as bad of a problem. You know,

59:14

happened with the rip through, it happened

59:17

with the, you know, the foul hunting

59:22

and we've seen that change things dramatically.

59:26

I do think that it's gonna be very hard to call live. Block

59:29

charge is always hard anyway. And

59:31

a lot of times, you know, a big, if

59:33

they put their, if they put

59:35

their shoulder down and then you throw

59:38

your arms back in the air and fly

59:40

on the ground, like

59:42

there's probably contact there but now

59:44

you exaggerated

59:46

it. And so now you're called to flop

59:48

and it's like, I don't know. I think that's gonna be,

59:50

I think the actual flops

59:53

that do get called

59:54

are going to be highly

59:56

controversial and guys are gonna get super pissed

59:58

when they get called for a flop. I

1:00:01

think the actual flopping will

1:00:06

be curbed dramatically and virtually

1:00:08

stop. Like, egregious

1:00:10

flopping. But

1:00:12

then

1:00:13

I think the ones that do

1:00:15

get called are, guys

1:00:17

are going to get really mad about that. And

1:00:19

I think it's hard to call those live.

1:00:24

Obviously it's hard to call them live. Who's

1:00:26

calling flops live? It happens

1:00:28

so rarely. We're screaming

1:00:31

at our TV, flop, flop, and it became

1:00:33

a problem. But if they were

1:00:35

good at calling them live, they'd call them live.

1:00:38

They can't. They're

1:00:40

not good at doing it live. There's

1:00:42

so much going on. So, I

1:00:44

don't know. I'm just for looking

1:00:47

back at the game and then assessing them after

1:00:49

the fact and then publicly shaming guys and

1:00:51

finding them money. Putting their

1:00:53

name up on NBA.com, this

1:00:56

player was fined for flopping.

1:00:59

He's a dirtbag. And

1:01:01

everybody gets to retweet it. Well,

1:01:04

I think it'll help. I do

1:01:06

too.