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- [00:00]
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- [02:39]
Taz Mellows
Welcome to no Dunks here on the Athletic Podcast Network, where we're gonna put a little bow on everything. Free agency. And some little things will happen over the weekend. Then we'll just tear that bow up. We'll do it again on Monday.
- [02:49]
Trey Kirby
That's right.
- [02:50]
Taz Mellows
Why not? I'm Taz Mellows with me. It's the man in the middle, Trey Kirby.
- [02:53]
Trey Kirby
Hey, yo.
- [02:54]
Taz Mellows
Hey. And as always, it's the man making the magic happen. Tad late on the ao. Yeah, there's a lot. There's a lot on the go.
- [03:04]
J.D.
A lot of buttons over here.
- [03:05]
Taz Mellows
Hello. Hello, J.D. and as far as the intro goes. Yeah. People are loving it. Oh, yeah. Just wanted to give you that.
- [03:13]
J.D.
I'm glad you enjoyed it. That's the last we'll be seeing this week.
- [03:16]
Taz Mellows
Probably.
- [03:17]
J.D.
Maybe next week we'll see.
- [03:18]
Trey Kirby
Yeah, next year we'll see.
- [03:20]
Taz Mellows
If we squeeze in. Listen, we'll get to all that free agent, you see stuff. But first, a little reminder. Vegas show next week.
- [03:26]
Trey Kirby
Vegas, baby.
- [03:27]
Taz Mellows
Going to Mandalay Bay. The Sportsbook room. Should be exciting. July 11, 4pm it's free. We'll see you there.
- [03:36]
Trey Kirby
Yeah, I'll see you there.
- [03:37]
Taz Mellows
I'll see you there.
- [03:39]
Trey Kirby
What do you want to talk about?
- [03:40]
Taz Mellows
That's a great question. Yeah, yeah, we will see.
- [03:44]
Trey Kirby
If you have any ideas, let us know. We'll talk about it.
- [03:46]
Taz Mellows
Yeah, as far as what we're gonna talk about in this show later, we'll talk about where Damian Lillard should go.
- [03:52]
Trey Kirby
Okay.
- [03:53]
Taz Mellows
Mike Brown named as head coach to the New York Knicks and other tiny little signings like Duncan Robinson to the Pistons. There's some off court stuff with Michael Beasley we'll talk about, like some actual news. Did I do Michael Beasley again? The Michael Beasley. That Michael Beasley Dwight Howard video where Michael Beasley is talking about Dwight Howard's old relationship with Michael Beasley's sister. I guess that's in my brain. Anyways, other off court stuff. That's other off court stuff we won't talk about.
- [04:24]
Trey Kirby
There's a lot of off court stuff with Malik Beasley. And honestly, there's a lot of on court stuff with Michael Beasley. I do like seeing his one on one clips and his clips from the big three. The guy's still a bucket. He's killing the best one on one player not in the NBA right now. Is he coming back? I don't know. Should a team take a chance on Michael Beasley? Stay tuned.
- [04:41]
Taz Mellows
The guy can score. Yeah, yeah, all that stuff. Raptors stuff. But first, let's do winners and losers of NBA free agency in general. Trey, where do you want to start with winners?
- [04:51]
Trey Kirby
Easy winner. The Houston Rockets, because I'm factoring in the Kevin Durant trade as well. So basically the Rockets have added Durant, Dorian, Finney Smith and Clint Capella. Say them all together, that's a lot of old guys. But there are a team that can use some veteranship, I believe. They obviously lost Jalen Green and Dylan Brooks in the trade with the Suns as well. Fred Van Vliet coming back on a pretty smart deal, a good deal for him, getting a little bit like $5 million extra money. But it's two years, 25 per for the Rockets, which makes things a little easier from a team building standpoint. They brought back all of their end of the bench deep veterans in Aaron Holiday, Jeff Green, Jayshawn Tate, guys who can play in an emergency, which I think is good. And they're betting on Reed shepherd as a backup point guard here since pretty much everybody else on the roster is over six foot six. There's not a lot of guard depth for the Rockets. But they do have Fred Van Vliet. They drafted Reed shepherd number three last summer. He needs to get a chance at some point, so this is a good chance for him. And if the Rockets do want to make another move, they've still got some prospects they can trade. Like I've seen rumors of a Cam Whitmore for IO Dsumu trade with the Bulls. That would be an awesome pickup for the Rockets to get. A guy like IO who can be a third guard can be a little bit more of a defender for a team like the Rockets. So I love what they did. I think they and we'll get to the Nuggets here in just a second free agency win. Like they're probably tied for number two in the Western Conference behind the champion Oklahoma City Thunder. So you saw the Rockets take the take the warriors to seven games. You saw the Nuggets take the Thunder to seven games. Both of these teams got better. And I think the Rockets have a chance to make a run to the conference finals. And who knows what happens, you know, 10 months from now in the playoffs. I love what the Rockets did. They still got a ton of flexibility going forward. They still have a bunch of assets they had to jettison. Dylan Brooks, they had to say goodbye to Jalen Green. Those were kind of things I think that were built into the plans for the Rockets depending on how it went. So getting their guy and Kevin Durant and then solid supporting players rotation guys who were going to play in DFS and Clint Capella. I think it's been perfect so far for the Rockets.
- [07:02]
Taz Mellows
Yes, the Rockets far better. The Western Crawfords looking lethal. I do wonder about the guard play. It's totally true. Last year in the playoffs we saw how the warriors were able to take out Fred Van Vliet and Jalen Green in that instance. Now do you add Kevin Durant with Jalen Green gone and are are they good enough in that respect? Probably. You know what's forgotten about the Phoenix Suns and how bad they were? 3646 team and and they fell apart and they were bad defensively. They're a top 10 offense. Why? Mainly because the guy we just mentioned Kevin Durant who is spectacular. I just wonder when it gets down to it in the playoffs do they have guys who are going to take it to the hole enough because if you look at Kevin Durant's shots and where he takes them only 10% of his shots are at the rim for advance their lead guard. Same thing. Only 10% of his shots at the rim now Alpie he's going to kick it. He's. He's. He's going to kick ass is what I want to say but I stopped myself from air quotes swearing but he's he's the tag now he's going to be able to take it of the rim 30% of his shots there the other guy who's forgotten amend Thompson 40% of his shots are at the rim. What is he going to do? You know is he he's as we talked about him last week this now shooting guard for the Houston Rockets. I guess that's what he is. He's going to take it to the whole hard we will see more Reed Shepherd. I am interested to see him Cam Whitmore even if he gets on the floor the IO Dumu trade very interesting. It seems like that would help them from just guys who could handle the ball for Fred doesn't want to take it to the rim. He's never been that kind of guy. He wants to shoot from the outside. So does Durant and that's why the Suns were so good because he was that good in the mid range. So we'll see if it opens up the floor for for Others being that good, like Shangu and Amen Thompson.
- [08:48]
Trey Kirby
Yeah, it does feel like the Rockets could still use some shooting. I guess. Van Vliet is probably their most prolific outside shooter. Like, Kevin Durant's a great three point shooter, but like you're saying, he prefers to play in the mid range. He pops some threes from time to time, but it's a misuse of his talents to just have him standing around as a catch and shoot three pointer guy. So maybe the Rockets are able to find somebody who's just chucking threes. With a Jayson Tate contract, plus one of the picks they have, they can address that kind of need as they get further into the season. But for right now, I think just they've added a major score in Kevin Durant, which was the main thing they needed, and then beefed up in some other areas as well. So great stuff for the Rockets. They've been pretty patient, patient with their rebuild. They had a couple of bad seasons. They were getting trashed for Steven Silas being their coach. They professionalized bringing in Udoka and Fred Van Vliet and Dylan Brooks a couple of seasons back, and that's really paid off for him. They got their first All Star appearance out of Shengoon last season, went to the playoffs. They said, we're going to see how it goes and see what we need to do going forward. They saw how it played out and went after the exact sort of personnel that they need. So, yeah, it's been a easy choice for me for our first free agency winner.
- [09:58]
Taz Mellows
Totally true. Tiny, tiny nerdy note here. The Durant trade could involve an unprecedented seven teams. This is crazy, man, because it's not official. Yeah. When you think about it, seven, it is nuts. Yeah. Sources have told the Athletic that now a lot of the names involved would involve a lot of names we've already heard about. Yeah, like Clint Capella coming from the Atlanta Hawks to the Houston Rockets. And a signing trade would be part of this seven team trade. But the front offices, they got to do some work to figure all that out. And it'll be official in a few days, I suppose. July 6th, I guess. Unless they're still talking about it and still wanting to make sure that all these little pieces give them an advantage in the new CBA to get a signing trade involved, et cetera, that kind of thing.
- [10:43]
Trey Kirby
It's gonna be a crazy graphic whenever it pops out. Nobody has a template ready for a 17 trade. I guess they did a 6 teamer last year for Klay Thompson to go from the warriors to the Mavericks and they chucked in a whole bunch of extra pieces on that. So we'll do the same here. But I mean that's a quarter of the league. Seven teams. Like we're just going to roll everybody who moved teams during the off season into one trade. Make it easy. I guess we'll see.
- [11:05]
Taz Mellows
It is nuts. Yeah. That Klay Thompson one. As you said, that's an all time high. Six teams.
- [11:09]
Trey Kirby
Yeah.
- [11:10]
Taz Mellows
This one would be unprecedented. Moving on, let's go to the Denver Nuggets because they are clearly a winner of free agency. The best player in the world, Nikola Jokic was able to take OKC to seven games. They were up 2:1 in that series. He couldn't get it done. Especially because he didn't have any help. Enough help. I should say that he had some help, but he didn't have enough. Now you get Cam Johnson in there instead of Michael Porter Jr. They are a better team. Cam Johnson can put the ball on the floor and get to the rim unlike Michael Porter. And he can play some defense and he's a good three point shooter. Without Nicola Jokic and Jamal Murray really being able to be that gravity. He was able to do that as a number one option with Brooklyn. So excited to see Cam Johnson be there on that team. Another reason why Denver wasn't able to beat okc. Jokic was just gassed all season long. He had to do so much. And now they've got a far better bench with Bruce Brown coming back to the Denver Nuggets with now Jonas Valencunas being their backup center. A solid, solid center. That is a huge improvement on what Jokic had to do last year in terms of what he was carrying as far as the benchmark big time. Tim Hardaway Jr. Now coming to his side just to be a great three point shooter off the bench. That's just an incredible improvement I saw. Peyton Watson is there in Denver working out now. He's going to be there all off season, which he wasn't last year. If you're going to try and draw any little hope that somebody else can be a good player. DNVR pointing that out. Guess he didn't have a great relationship with Michael Malone last year so he left. So I just named all those guys and Bruce Brown Hardaway. Yonasaltu is now Peyton Watson. I guess we wonder if Russell Westbrook comes back because yeah, they could still use a point guard off the bench. But then you look back two years ago when they won the championship. They didn't really have A point guard off the bench. I mean, it was Bruce Brown and then it was Aaron Gordon and Jamal Murray kind of running the second unit. They didn't have one. They had Reggie Jackson. He didn't even play in the playoffs, really. He played a few tiny minutes. So I think they are just far better off. Again, Jokic had to carry this team so much. He had to play more minutes than he's ever played in his career and he had to do it in the postseason. So just excited for this team to have some depth, number one and number two, just the improvement of Cam Johnson over Michael Porter Jr. Especially defensively and on the offensive end. Just excited to see those guys work it together.
- [13:41]
Trey Kirby
I think the most important thing with The Michael Porter Jr. Cam Johnson trade is that they turned one guy into two guys, basically freeing up money to be able to sign Tim Hardaway Jr. As well. I don't necessarily know that. I think any of these guys in Hardaway and Valentunas mostly will be like playoff players for the Denver Nuggets. Those are the kind of guys that'll be like right on the edge of are they able to hang or will they be targeted? But I've seen Tim Hardaway Jr have a 15 point quarter in an NBA Finals. That's still one of the craziest things that's happened in the past couple of years. You know, Valen Shunas at least will be able to play during the regular season, which helps keep Yokich his minutes down, which helps keeps Aaron Gordon minutes down since this guy's basically been the backup five for the Nuggets. So yeah, you look at who the Nuggets brought in, it's Cam Johnson, Tim Hardaway Jr. Bruce Brown and Jonas Valentunas that wouldn't get anybody all that excited unless you had Nicola Jokic on your team and you took the champs to seven games. And it feels like all the Nuggets really needed was some competent role guys to be able to throw out there for five to seven minutes. Because obviously Michael Malone for quite some time didn't trust Pickett, he didn't trust Watson. Julian Strother did get some minutes for Adelman there in the playoffs. But I think those guys still needed to be better, the young guys for the Nuggets to really be able to count on their depth. But you can't deny that the Nuggets had very little assets going into this post or into this offseason. They basically had the Michael Porter Jr. Contract and the picks they had further down the line. They used an Unprotected pick to get off the Michael Porter Jr. Contract. That could have been a win in and of itself. But to get four guys who at the very least are going to help during the regular season. You hope Cam Johnson is good in the playoffs like he was for Phoenix. You hope Bruce Brown is able to throw it back like he did when he won a championship for Denver. This is just good for Denver to get a supporting cast around Jokic rather than just bringing in random veteran dudes on deals. Like the Dario Sarge deal never paid off. The guy was out of the rotation almost instantly. And at least Valentunas will be able to play. Yeah, at least Tim Hardaway Jr. Will be able to play. So I think this has been good for the Nuggets heading into the season. We still got a couple of months before things even get going. Would you favor the Nuggets or would you favor the Rockets?
- [15:57]
Taz Mellows
Yeah, that's a great question. I think I'm taking the Nuggets. I think I'm just riding with Jokic and what he's able to do. As far as gravity goes with all these guys, I think they, they are truly deeper. I think Jokic was doing so much in the regular season just because the bench couldn't play. The non Jokic minutes were horrendous and Russell Westbrook and Jokic, that relationship was deemed a success because he was on the floor with him at the same time when Westbrook was on the bench leading that second unit, things were not going well, really. It was him, Sarch, DeAndre Jordan, some Peyton Watson and you know, they, they, they try Jalen Pickett, they, they tried other things, but that's who we're talking about in comparison now to Bruce Brown and Tim Hardaway and Jonas Felon Shunas. And yeah, maybe you'll throw in a Peyton Watson to see if he can do it again, but I think they're far better off and I think the Cam Johnson improvement will, will show. It's. I think that's a guy who sort of was under the radar a little bit in Brooklyn and what he was doing and how good he was doing it and how he's developed here in the prime of his career. So I think they're better off. That's a, it's a great second round series between them and the Rockets to see who's going to play in OKC in the conference finals if that's the case. But yeah, we went through how they got Jonas Valentius or that they got him. I should say they traded Dario Sarich to Sacramento to get him. And then they were able to sign Tim Hardaway Jr. For that small one year contract, as you said, because they were able to get rid of that monster deal in Michael Porter Jr. And were able to save money trading him to Brooklyn. So they had money to deal with and they gave it up. And the two headed executive vice president of the Denver Nuggets front office. It kind of. That also flies under the radar. They've got two guys with the same title, Ben Tenzer, Ben ten and John Wallace. But they're doing a great job in comparison to what Calvin Booth was doing. They are getting old. You just mentioned that they're older. Yeah, that's true. They are. But they all line up with Nikola Jokic and that's the whole point is take advantage of your best player. So they're all going to be good while Jokic is good in general. And that's fine. And that's totally fine. Excited.
- [18:14]
Trey Kirby
I think you're right. They are an old team, but Jokic is in his prime. You got to go for it right now. The Rockets got older too, bringing in Kevin Durant. I still think I'm going Nuggets over Rockets just literally just because of the Yokage factor, but will be cool to see because it feels like two legitimate contenders or at least major obstacles that OKC is going to have to battle with going into this next season.
- [18:36]
Taz Mellows
All right, let's. Let's get to another winner. Who you got as far as free agency winners?
- [18:41]
Trey Kirby
I'll be honest with you, I don't know if this is a winner, but I'm picking them as a winner. I'm not even sure if they're better, but I do think the Memphis Grizzlies had an interesting off season. They started things off trading Desmond Bain for Kentavius, Caldwell Pope. Then they used one of those picks they got back from Bain to trade up and take Cedric Coward. Early in the NBA draft, they just maxed out Jaren Jackson Jr. And then the day after he's got an injury, he's gonna have to have surgery on his toe.
- [19:09]
Taz Mellows
He's got nowhere.
- [19:10]
Trey Kirby
Yeah, that's kind of a bummer. I mean, they. Obviously, the Grizzlies had to have known.
- [19:14]
Taz Mellows
Yes.
- [19:15]
Trey Kirby
It didn't happen overnight. So I guess they're saying it's going to be fine, but it's going to be a weird start to the season. Zach Edie, we know, is having surgery as well, so he's going to be out. Brandon Clark is returning from Injury. It's quite likely that the Grizzlies start their season with Jay Huff at center. I don't know if that's ideal.
- [19:31]
Taz Mellows
I never thought about that.
- [19:33]
Trey Kirby
Yeah, there's not a. The center position at the start of the season is not looking great for the Grizzlies, but eventually Ed will be back And Jaren Jackson Jr. Will come back as well. Hopefully he doesn't miss a huge chunk of time. I think there was a longer prognosis for Darius Garland to return than for Jaron Jackson to return, so I don't know which one is true. Is he going to be out three months? Is he going to be out six months? Who knows? He'll be back eventually and we knew the Grizzlies were going to pay him. I think he's a good player as well. Then you look at the other things Memphis did. They've got Santee Aldama back on a solid deal. Three years, 52 million. They've got Ty Jerome coming over from Cleveland three years, 28 million. And then cheap deals for Cam Spencer two years, 5 million. He's just an end of the bench guy. That's fine with me. They only lost Luke Kennard to the Hawks, which, you know, they'll miss his shooting, but he hasn't really moved the needle for Memphis so far. So I think their ideal starting lineup, Jaw KCP in the back court. I think it's between Jalen Wells, their rookie last year, and Coward if he's able to come and steal his minutes. Obviously the Grizzlies aren't worried about putting a rookie into the starting lineup. And then eventually Jaren Jackson Jr. And Zach Edie with Ty Jerome, Alama Pippen, either Coward or Wells and Clark off the bench like that's still a pretty solid team. Unfortunately for them, since the peak of the Grizzlies, the Western Conference has gotten a lot better. Are they better this season? I doubt it. Unless John Morant has a bounce back season which maybe playing an entire year under Thomas Isolo is what he needs if they're going to turn the team back over to him in a pick and roll scenario. I guess that helps Jaw out. But most importantly, there's a lot more flexibility for the Grizzlies. They have turned into a second apron built team where they've got a big two with a lot of role guys around them rather than a big three with cheap role guys. You know, they got tied Jerome because Cleveland got aproned. They got Sante Aldama back because there was no cap space out there. They've done good business moves. Maybe they can move John Conchar. For a guy like Gogo Patazi to start the season, I don't know what they're going to do at center, but that's just a concern at the beginning of the year. So I think the Grizzlies have done good business stuff. I don't know if it pays off for them this season specifically, but they've got a better chance of building around Ja and Jaren Jackson Jr. Than they did when they had the Desmond Bain contract on the books as well.
- [21:45]
Taz Mellows
Right. So in general I agree. Instead of going a full on rebuild, see a Jaren Jackson Jr. See a John Morant. This retool is very interesting and I think it's designed to see Tuomasi Salo, their head coach, getting a first time at training camp as a head coach to just say this team is John Morantz and Jaren Jackson juniors. That's who we're going to go behind and to see what he can do, what they can do around it. So that, that part is, if you're a Memphis Grizzlies fan is exciting rather than just tearing this thing down because you do have all NBA player, a fantastic, all NBA player in Judge Jackson Jr. And John Moran. We'll see if he can get back to what he was. And I think that's what Isolo is going to do. He's going to say, all right, you were going to handle the ball a ton and they're going to put a lot of guys around him. Like Cedric Coward I think is going to play a lot. Like I know they have Kentavious, Caldwell, Pope, but I wonder how much he's going to play in general. He is, he's there. He's going to be there for two more years. But I think the point is to get Cedric Cower and Jalen Wells a ton of minutes around those other two guys. So if you've got those two guys supporting Morant and Jaren Jackson Jr. Those guys can take as many shots as they want because Cowardice and Jalen Walls don't have to shoot all that much. And so I think the design makes a heck of a lot of sense and I'm excited to see Cedric Coward. It's kind of flies under the rudder that he was a senior. He's, he's an older college player and he's an incredible defender, a small forward or wing, whatever you want to call him, that they've been looking for forever. And so he fits perfectly all the headlines were the unfortunate time that Malik Andrews call him call in Coward. All right, so I called Malik Beasley, Michael Beasley multiple times in the last couple days. It's totally fine to do that. This guy is an incredible player. I'm very interested to see how they retool. It's, it's a good way of looking at it. Memphis Grizzlies could have just said ah, this ain't gonna work. A lot of off court stuff has happened with him. It's not going to work and just tried to rebuild it. But it is exciting that they've gone the retool mode and got a coach I think who is just going to put the pressure on Morant to handle a lot and Jaren Jackson Jr. So excited for that.
- [24:06]
Trey Kirby
Yep, we'll see what they look like. Health is going to be a big concern for the Grizzlies as it has been, it feels like for the past three seasons. They've just been so banged up with big injuries, little injuries as well, just not being able to keep their same team out there. So yeah, a bounce back season for ja, bounce back season for KCP and the Grizzlies are contending for a playoff spot I think in the Western Conference. And that doesn't sound like a great prognosis, but there's three really good teams up top I think in the west in okc, Denver and Houston. And then there's a big mess in the middle of teams that are going to be beefing for 4 through 11 or 12. Kind of it feels like Are you.
- [24:46]
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- [25:47]
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- [27:33]
Taz Mellows
Let'S talk about one of those teams.
- [27:35]
Trey Kirby
Hold on before we we're going to get to losers here in a second, I think. Obviously the Hawks are a winner as well. We've talked a lot about them on the show recently, bringing in Porzingis, Nikhil, Alexander Walker and Luke Canard. Plus that juicy, juicy New Orleans or Milwaukee pick for next draft. I think that's a a a winner here. And then I was going to curious test do you consider the Milwaukee Bucks a winner or a loser? Like, this is the transition period where we're switching from our winners to our losers.
- [28:01]
Taz Mellows
Yeah.
- [28:02]
Trey Kirby
And it's like the Bucks got the top free agent out there. Miles Turner was the number one guy. They replaced and upgraded Brook Lopez. I think that is a win for Milwaukee. But when you combine Turner's contract with Damian Lillard being stretched, it's going to cost basically $48 million per season for Miles Turner to be on the Bucks. That seems like an overspend to me, but maybe Giannis likes it. Like, literally, if Giannis likes it, that's all that matters, because things are going to be ugly for Milwaukee regardless. Once Giannis retires, they're still paying off the Drew Holliday trade, not to mention the Damian Lillard trade. There isn't a huge future in Milwaukee whenever Giannis is gone. So if you can extend the amount of time he's here, and if Miles Turner, a guy who apparently Giannis helped recruit to the Bucks, if that's something that helps convince him to stay, then I think it's totally worth it. And they're winners. But if Giannis looks at the team and says, wait a second, this isn't going how I like, then they turn into losers. But I think they got to roll the dice at this point, especially, like you compare them to what the warriors have been doing. They're keeping everything safe for whenever Steph Curry retires. Now, he's closer to the end of his career than Giannis is. But it feels like the warriors are stalling out, where the Bucks are at least trying everything in their power to keep Giannis around.
- [29:17]
Taz Mellows
Right. That's why I think the Milwaukee Bucks are a winner 100%. I know it doesn't seem all that great, and the team around United States doesn't necessarily. It doesn't. It doesn't say they're going to be a championship contender immediately, but they had no other choice. Yes, they bought in extremely hard on Damian Lillard, and they were paying him to be a superstar, but they had to let him go to please Giannis. Ted Kounmpo. And now, and I know people are saying, as you said, the $48 million number that they have to pay Miles Turner because it costs 22 million per year to get rid of Damian Lillard. Sure. But they're not paying Miles Turner that much. I mean, the idea was they paid a lot for Damian Lillard to get there, and now there was no other choice to make Yannis at the Kubo happy. As soon as possible. That was the only idea, to just stretch and wave, or wave and stretch them. That was their only opportunity. That's the only thing they could do. Now that you. Like you said, sorry about the Golden State warriors, we'll wait until Steph and Jimmy retire and then we'll figure it out from there. You could have just have Damian lillard be this $50 million paid guy who doesn't play. You could have done that. But then you go through.
- [30:33]
Trey Kirby
That's a good point.
- [30:34]
Taz Mellows
You go through.
- [30:34]
Trey Kirby
They were gonna have 50 million on the con, on the books, regardless.
- [30:37]
Taz Mellows
Exactly. That's the way. A good way to look at it. And you have such a good. Comes in, walks into the locker room and says, whoa, dude. Every single day for the next 365 days. Kyle Kuzma is his second best player and he obviously didn't pan out well. And Ken Porter Jr. Is his third best player, or however you want to put it. That's their team. That would have been their team that Yanis would have had to look at every single day. And that would have been a struggle. I think. I think I'd rather, you know, make this attempt of having Miles Turner in there with him to try and please giannis to be a 500 team. For sure. They should be a.500 team. They should be above that. But I'd rather do that than go forward with what they had against the Indiana Pacers in the playoffs, which was. Which was poops. It didn't work out. Now Mouse Ear just helps them out. They obviously need another guard. We'll get. Maybe we'll just say it now. The Vasa Micic is potentially their starting point guard. Potentially. They may even buy him out.
- [31:32]
Trey Kirby
Yeah, he might not even be here.
- [31:34]
Taz Mellows
But I'd rather have that than what they have. The guy could pass. He's going to be fun with the Isetokupo if he's playing. He's not. Not a good defensive player, but that's. Yeah, they're kind of short. They're short as far as guards go, but they're given some things an opportunity. They're trying our Gary's. They're trying Gary Harris, they're trying other guys. So I think this was. I think this is the only way to do it.
- [31:55]
Trey Kirby
You convinced me I was leaning winner. But, you know, if the Bucks come back this season, lose Brook Lopez to the Clippers, we know Lillard isn't playing. We're definitely calling them losers. If they are down two starters going into next season with the Giannis thing hanging over their head. So at least they brought in the number one guy on the market. We'll see how it turns out. And I don't know if Giannis is helping get Miles Turner to his team. You have to think he's going to be enthused that he actually signed the deal. So, yeah, let's see how you know. It's just going to be weird for the Bucks.
- [32:26]
Taz Mellows
Yeah.
- [32:26]
Trey Kirby
Someday Giannis won't be there and it will be ugly. But then, guess what? Maybe you draft another Yan.
- [32:30]
Taz Mellows
Honest.
- [32:31]
J.D.
Yeah.
- [32:31]
Taz Mellows
Or they can reel him in to stay there for his career. There's a chance that that happens. They had no other way of addressing this. You could say John Horst maybe gave up too much for Damian Lillard in the first place. That's a fair point. But going into the 25, 26 season, there was no other way of navigating this other than saying, Damian Lillard, you're waved and stretched. Now, you could hope that, I guess that he would have came back in 26, 27 and been a great player. But I, I along with, I'm sure a lot of medical people or people who've watched Damian Lillard as far as a basketball player last couple of years, they don't, they don't see the same dame. No, he's not the same guy, unfortunately. So I think this was smart in a weird way. Can't wait to watch. I think you'll be happy.
- [33:17]
Trey Kirby
That's a big, stretchy, big stretchy contract.
- [33:20]
Taz Mellows
Let's get to the losers.
- [33:21]
Trey Kirby
Let's. Losers.
- [33:22]
Taz Mellows
Let's start with the Los Angeles Lakers official. Are they an official loser trader? I did, I did, I did. Yeah. I think you go into the off season and LeBron James says, All right, I'm coming back. And his agent says, listen, I know this 40 year old guy is coming back, but he wants to win, essentially. That's their statement. That's his statement is an agent publishes this thing that says, LeBron's good, he's coming back, he's going to be with you. But you know what? He's so good, he wants to win right here, right now. You start with that and then what do you add? You add Jake Laravia instead of Dorian Finney Smith who leaves. I've watched Jake Laravia, I've watched him front Nikola Jokic, he gets after it. He can shoot the ball a little bit, but he, he ain't Dorian Finney Smith. So they got weaker on the defensive end, there's no doubt about that. And we'll talk about DeAndre in a second and what he can do. But just overall, when they made the Luka Doncic trade, the two things that we were looking for were better defense and a bigger team. They did not get better defensively. Losing Dorian Finney Smith, who can guard basically every position except five, but he can guard everybody. Jake Laravia is going to come in. I know he's Austin Reeves, bud. And he made the announcement that he was going to the Los Angeles Lakers while Austin Reeves was in the car with him. A front office sports doing a little podcast with those two guys. Cool. But it doesn't mean he's a good basketball player. Good enough of a basketball player to take LeBron James and Luka to another level. They're not a better defensive team than when they made the Luka Doncic trade. They're just. They're fine. But losing Dorian Finney Smith hurts. And then we get into LeBron in general. We talked about it as soon as free agency happened and whether or not LeBron could possibly be moved. After seeing the Rich Paul statement, I didn't buy it at first, but the more you look at it, I'm starting to believe it a tad bit more. Just because LeBron may be playing his last season, this might be his last one, and maybe he wants to play somewhere else. The tough part is all the math is getting a big enough contract coming back to the Los Angeles Lakers. Like what, champ? What really good team is going to give up $40 million in salary to get LeBron? That means you're giving up a good player. So that's. That's the puzzling part. But sitting here now, after watching what the Lakers did and what. And we just talked about okc, Denver and Houston and the really good teams in the Western Conference. The Lakers ain't anywhere close to that.
- [35:54]
Trey Kirby
Yeah. And I agree. I don't think they are or have gotten closer to that. But I'm a little. I'm a minor zag on what the Lakers did. I do think Dorian Finney Smith is the best player between him, Laravia and deandre Ayton. But what the Lakers essentially did was turn DFS his contract into Jake Larabia, who is eight years younger, and deandre Ayton, who's definitely better than Jackson Hayes.
- [36:17]
Taz Mellows
Yes.
- [36:17]
Trey Kirby
So if I'm a Lakers fan, I'm not necessarily happy. But I would say we got younger, we got more athletic, and we upgraded our weakest position. The next move for the Lakers is go and get Marvin Bagley because it would be very funny. To have the top three picks from the 2018 draft in Ayton, Bagley and Luca. And guess what? Bagley would be helpful for the Lakers. He's a rim runner, he's a center, he's a fast guy. He is also an LA guy, so, you know, be kind of like a meme signing. But I don't think it would hurt the Lakers. So, yeah, I mean, not ideal for la just because this is a team that wants to bring in stars. They've got the LeBron thing hanging over their head. I'm with you. I doubt he gets traded just because the teams that would want to trade for LeBron are teams that are theoretically in title contention and think he's the final piece to put them over the top. Which means it's going to be hard for them to get enough contracts, enough money back to send to la. And that's without factoring in things like whether that team may or may not be over the first or the second apron, what they're allowed to do. So, yeah, the Lakers didn't have a great off season. I think we're definitely seeing that this team is more, more tilted towards a LUCA timeline than LeBron because I don't know how LeBron says. Jake LaRavian, Deandre Ayton here now we've got a chance in the Western Conference. But JJ Redick was playing five guys in a playoff game last like two months ago, right? He played four of his five starters, like 24 minutes of the second half of a playoff game. They ran out of steam and everybody was like, you can't do this, J.J. now it's going to be funny to see him working with deandre Ayton. And a guy who's not always the most, doesn't have the strongest motor at all times is probably going to drive JJ insane. But they turned one player into two, both younger guys. I think that actually helps la.
- [38:06]
Taz Mellows
Yeah, I hear what you're saying. The problem is JJ Redick is going to ask deandre Ayton to run back on defense. He's going to ask him to set picks and work hard. And we don't know if that's going to happen. And I think that that is, that is the puzzling part. Will the Andre Ayton suddenly revert back to what he was with the Phoenix Suns and be who he was? That's the puzzling part. Now you can say LeBron James has done that for NBA players in the past who weren't playing to their capability. And LeBron at the leading locker room Might be able to do that. That's possible. But you will have an offense and defense, frankly, supported or ran around, I should say LeBron and Luca. Defensively, you need guys who can guard everybody. I don't think Jake Larava can do that. Deandre Ayton can't do that. And, and so, yeah, you got. You kind of traded one for two guys because they didn't rely on Jackson Hayes to play.
- [39:04]
Trey Kirby
They benched him.
- [39:05]
Taz Mellows
They bench him now. He may be the backup center. He may come back as the backup center. Now at least you have a guy that they're going to play, I guess. But there have been many coaches in NBA history, I mean, a few, not many that have said DeAndre, nah, this ain't working. This isn't good. You got. We're benching you like Monty Williams did with the Phoenix Suns. We got to bench it. We got to. So we'll see if they can do that. Now, five years ago, it's almost five years when they went to the finals against the Milwaukee Bucks. He was good.
- [39:32]
Trey Kirby
Yeah, he was good.
- [39:33]
Taz Mellows
Yeah.
- [39:34]
Trey Kirby
So you saw the Shams tweet putting up his playoff stats alongside the deal that he signed and not mentioning that he's there on basically a veterans minimum because. Because he decided to get bought out from his last contract. The bet on Ayton is weird. Like nobody is anticipating him bouncing back to where he was with Phoenix, but this is a pretty decent scenario for him to be in. He played much better playing off stars and smart guys in Phoenix than he did in Portland where there was a lot bigger expectations for him coming back in the Damian Lillard trade. Kind of being the centerpiece there. Even though to money, Kamara ended up being the better get for the Blazers. So I'm not anticipating a lot from Ayton, but you look at the team, they're better than they were I think at the end of the season when they had five guys in the rotation.
- [40:19]
Taz Mellows
I know we say Dorian Fannie Smith has been traded for two guys or, you know, you, you sub him out for two guys. But Jake Laravia has never been anywhere close to Dorian Phineasmith. Is he going to be able to play 30 minutes a game? They were going to ask a lot of Jake Laravia. He's never been that steady a player in the NBA. So I don't know. I don't know.
- [40:40]
Trey Kirby
But I mean, Ayton is how much better than Jackson Hayes?
- [40:43]
Taz Mellows
Definitely. Yeah, definitely. So we'll see what JJ Redick is going to ask him to play hard and go close to the rim and play to be a repellent on the defensive end. We'll see if he can do that. Also to drive at the rim on the offensive end. I don't know. J.J. redick was just said no Jackson Hayes, you're out. We're going to small, we're going five smalls and now if that happens again, they don't have those guys. I thought they would have been better off with Dorian Finney Smith over Jake Laravia playing small ball five or small ball four or whatever. So we'll see what Jake Laravia can do and we'll see the relationship between Redick and and Naten.
- [41:18]
Trey Kirby
Look, when we're talking about how good Jake Laravia and deandre Ayton can be, you can tell it's not a great off season for the Lakers.
- [41:24]
Taz Mellows
That's 100% true. Another offseason that wasn't that great. Golden State Warriors Trey, this was your pick as a loser.
- [41:31]
Trey Kirby
This was an easy one. The warriors are literally one of two teams who haven't done a single thing in the postseason. The Pacers are the other one and they kind of got caught off guard with a Tyrese Halliburton injury and then Miles Turner deciding to go away. The only thing that the Lake or the warriors have done so far, they lost Kavon Looney to the Pelicans. I think more of an emotional loss than an on court loss for Golden State. And then they drafted Kobe Bray, number 41. That's it. So far they're chasing Al Horford, which would be a good fit for the Golden State Warriors. He can play both sides of the ball. He's a stretch five which they had success with Quinton Post last season and Horford is a better player than Quentin Post, but he's also somehow the only free agent that the warriors could sign and get older. Like this is an ancient team. They've still got the Jonathan Kaminga question mark. No team is offering the deals that he wants. There's basically no teams left for him that have cap space after the Nets did the Michael Porter Jr. Deal. The warriors don't value Jonathan Kaminga. At least the coaching staff doesn't. Maybe the front office cares about him a little bit more, but it seems like that might be setting itself up for yet another awkward season where Jonathan Kaminga comes back to the warriors because there's nowhere else for him to be. And then he's in trade rumors once again. He wants to be able to get the ball and do his own thing. They want him to play in a system and it doesn't work out. You look at the Western Conference, OKC is the champs. They're bringing everybody back. They'll probably be as good or better next season with internal growth. Houston and Denver got better. Minnesota running it back. They did lose Nikhil, Alexander, Walker, but everybody else is there and they're betting on their young guys to take a step forward. I think Golden State is in the mix with both LA teams, the Clippers and the Lakers. They're probably ahead, I would say, of Memphis, Dallas, San Antonio and Sacramento. I mean, they do still have Curry. A full season of Jimmy Butler and Draymond Green, assuming those guys stay healthy. Still a good team, but it still feels like the warriors are stuck in that. Are we going to make the sixth seed or are we going to be the seventh seed in the play in tournament? And that's where they've been since they won the championship in 2022. So it just feels like the warriors took a step forward getting Jimmy Butler. I thought they would be a little bit more active during the off season, wanting to really go all in on the last couple of years of the Curry era. And instead it feels like they're just waiting around. Jimmy Butler fell into their laps at the trade deadline. He wanted to go to Phoenix. It didn't happen. They had the pieces to make it, make the trade a reality for Golden State. So maybe further down the line, Giannis Antetokounmpo is able, finally decides he wants out of Milwaukee and Golden State is able to seize that opportunity. I suppose that could happen, but this feels a lot more like last summer when they were chasing after Paul George, they were chasing after Lowry Markkanen and nothing happened. And then they had to make the trade for Jimmy Butler. It worked out for him, but I think it's just so like a real tightrope walking act here for the warriors where they're like, oh, just wait, this star might come available and we might be the ones who, who are able to seize on the opportunity and trade for him. As of now, the warriors aren't getting left behind in the Western Conference. Their big move was the Jimmy Butler move at the trade deadline. But the rest of the west is getting better and the warriors are just getting older.
- [44:50]
Taz Mellows
Yeah. And here we have the Jonathan Kaminga thing that still hasn't happened. It looks like that's going to be a sign in trade. Now you might say, well, can they get somebody really good back for Jonathan Kuminga? You can only get half of what Kaminga will be paid back in that trade because of base year compensation rules in the cba. And our man John Hollinger pointed out, because a lot of these deals have not happened quite yet, he could be dealt out and again, some money will be available and it could be part of a whole other big thing where Malik Monk could be sent out from the Sacramento Kings if Jonathan Kaminga is sent there. It's complicated, but maybe the warriors can. Can somehow get their hands on somebody else. But it's. It looks like it's just gonna be Al Horford.
- [45:42]
Trey Kirby
I mean, Monk would be awesome.
- [45:44]
Taz Mellows
Monk would be. Monk would be a specific for them. He would be.
- [45:46]
Trey Kirby
I mean, he would fit into the Jordan pool role from the championship year where he can play alongside Curry when Curry's on the court, and then somebody can handle the ball and get some shots and create for others. Like you're saying, pretty complicated for that to happen with Sacramento. But, you know, you don't put a past Sacramento. They'll. They'll get anybody who can dribble the ball.
- [46:05]
Taz Mellows
Yeah, it looks like, as far as Hollinger puts it, that Monk would get to Detroit and Kamingo would get to Sacramento. Wars would have a room to get Horford and that's it. That being said, I don't like that as much. Not as much.
- [46:16]
Trey Kirby
I mean, Horford will be good for the Warriors.
- [46:18]
Taz Mellows
He will.
- [46:18]
Trey Kirby
Definitely. Seems like that's where he's gonna go.
- [46:20]
Taz Mellows
Yeah.
- [46:21]
Trey Kirby
But, man, that guy's old too.
- [46:22]
Taz Mellows
He is old. It is unfortunate on that end. They just. They got old and we could see it in the playoffs when they played Minnesota. You gotta play four playoff series to be an incredible team, and that's frigging hard. So we'll see what happens there. All right, let's move on to. We just talked about Damian Lillard a little bit. We sn snuck him in with the Bucks. We're wondering if they are a winner or actual loser. Let's talk about Damian Lillard, the player. Where do you think he ends up signing and who should get. Who should go get him?
- [46:51]
Trey Kirby
It's an interesting situation because Dame Lillard is getting paid all his money, so he can basically choose. Here's where I want to sign on whatever kind of deal. Like, will he take a veteran minimum? Maybe will he be on like a biannual exception? Who knows? But it kind of opens up the entire NBA. I feel like for Damian Lillard to choose if he wants to sign this year for a year of rehab or if he just wants to take a Gap year and then decide next summer. I suppose there are like a few different spots like Portland can offer him being home. You know, like that's where his family is. He could rehab with the Blazers. He can tutor guys like Scoot Henderson, Shaden Sharp. He can tutor Jrue Holiday, you know, teach him all the different things about. They can talk about their favorite things of Milwaukee. Cheese curds, Mars cheese Castle, things of this nature. Golden State can offer him his childhood home growing up in Oakland. And then like, it would be cool to have Damian Lillard as a potential playoff wildcard. I don't know how the timing would work out. Man, it's a big ask for Dame Willard to come back from an Achilles injury and suddenly you're playing as Steph Curry's backup and sometimes alongside Steph Curry. That's kind of weird. Miami, they got a great training staff. They've been after Lillard for quite some time. They're very close to Balco as well. So if he wants to get illegal with it, maybe that helps out Damian Lillard and the Heat. But my favorite spot for Lillard is Boston. I think they're already taking a gap year. This next coming season they would be able to let Jason Tatum and Damian Lillard rehab their Achilles injuries together. They just traded Drew Holiday, so there is an opening at the point guard spot for the 26, 27 season when Lillard comes back healthy. And you know, we don't know what he's going to look like as a player because he has taken a little bit of a step back, kind of starting with his core muscle injuries. With the Blazers, still all star with the Bucks and coming back from an Achilles injury, At the very least Lillard is going to be able to shoot. They would be able to cover for him defensively with Derek White as a perimeter defender. The downside is he's on the complete other side of the country and it feels like he's trying to get back towards the West Coast. But from like a basketball getting healthy and then having a chance at a ring going forward, Boston might be the best bet for Damian Lillard.
- [49:03]
Taz Mellows
I do agree. Boston is where they should go. The timeline just works out so well. Timmy Lillard is not going to play next year or if he does, towards the end of next season, he's not going to be anywhere close to himself. So come back in 26:27 when his man Jason Tatum, the guy right beside him will be coming back at the exact same time. I think the timeline works out so well. They will be ready to Be a championship contender in 26, 27. Those two guys and Jaylen Brown and everyone around them makes so much sense. I think the role works extremely well because Tatum and Brown are your one two type of guys, and Lillard will be 36 at that point. It just. It makes so much more sense. Is this a time in Damian Lillard's career where he will be able to accept that? I don't know. Yeah. Where he would take such a step back, but after the surgery, after the injury, maybe. Maybe that's a chance. And the finances work, as you said. They don't have to pay him a ton. They could literally pay him a minimum to go along with his 22 mil that he's making per year. Now, actually, I take that back. So he was signed for 50 plus million for the next two seasons. He gets paid that, right?
- [50:12]
Trey Kirby
He gets his whole contract.
- [50:13]
Taz Mellows
Yeah. Yeah. Okay. So. So it's not like what the Milwaukee Bucks are doing where they pay 22 per year in terms of. They don't pay it, but that's what counts against the cap. 22 per year. Damian Lillard gets the money up front. I'm just trying to think, as Damian Lillard's financial advisor, we want to get money right here, up now, up front. But if he gets it up front, then all good, he can take whatever he wants as a supplementary income. So I think Boston just makes the most sense, and he can finally get to a point where he can win a championship again two years from now. If Tatum is back and Jaylen Brown is still there, which I assume he will still be there. They could be a championship team. They could be a team that's a contender. So I think that's the best one of all of them, because the warriors, as we've talked about, they're older, and we're going to add Damian Lillard two years from now, essentially. That's. That's. That's beyond ancient. This. This one makes the most sense to me.
- [51:04]
Trey Kirby
Yeah. Be interesting to see. And it'll be interesting to see how soon it gets done, because, I mean, there's really no rush for Lillard right now. He could sign it anytime, so.
- [51:12]
Taz Mellows
Cool. All right. Stay in the East. Here is something that happened over the weekend. We got to get to it. Over the weekend. When did it happen? Why am I saying over the weekend?
- [51:20]
Trey Kirby
Yesterday.
- [51:21]
Taz Mellows
All these days blend together. Mike Brown has been named head coach of the New York Knicks. What do you think, Trey?
- [51:29]
Trey Kirby
Yeah, he was. Look, Mike Brown has coached a lot of great players. He was lebron's coach. He was Kobe's coach. He was an assistant coach with Steph Curry. He got to coach Demar DeRozan and Zach Levine. What a lucky guy. Always good for a funny press conference per season when he gets really heated at the referees. So I think the spotlight in New York will get us at least two funny press conferences. For Mike Brown, I just don't really know what to expect from him because to me, Mike Brown is a defense first coach. But that's only because my first impression of him was from those LeBron teams where it was like, lebron, you're our offense. We're building a perfect defense around you. Can you get us to the promised land? They came up short. But then in Sacramento, after his 10 year winning championships with the warriors, he learned from Steve Kerr and the offense built them up as an offense first team. Never really able to get things going defensively in Sacramento. So I don't necessarily know which side he favors, but if the Knicks are thinking he favors the offense, I think that's good for New York because that, to me, is where they can take the biggest step forward. They were good offense last year at times they were a great offense. I just think it's going to be hard to build a good defense with Jalen Brunson as the starting point guard and Carl Anthony Towns as the starting center. Just not the personnel to build up on that side of the ball. So you need to really outscore teams on the other end. And I think Mike Brown was pretty creative offensively with Sacramento and was flexible to become an offense coach and build a team around dribble handoffs and at the time, Deer and Fox's speed, right? Like, he did a good job in Sacramento until he ran out of time. So I wasn't like super enthused about the Knicks getting Mike Brown. Like, he doesn't seem like a serious upgrade to me over Tom Thibodeau. The point or the goal right now for the Knicks is to make it to the Finals, to win the championship. They just made it back to the conference finals for the first time in 25 years and said, you're out of here, Tom. That's not good enough. There's an opportunity in the Eastern Conference for a team to be a surprise team in the East. Right now it kind of feels like if you can beat the Cavs, you can make it to the NBA Finals. I think the Knicks have a chance against the Cavs. I don't think that Mike Brown hurts them in any way, but I don't necessarily know that this is a huge needle moving move for New York to go from Tibbs to Mike.
- [53:51]
Taz Mellows
Yeah. In the New York City media. Is Mike Brown going to be the guy that gets all the headlines? No. And we'll get to other tiny little signings in the NBA in a second. But I think this kind of is classified as that because it's Mike Brown. But that being said, as far as the basketball goes, I think the Knicks want a few things from their head coach. They want everybody to touch the ball more offensively. First and foremost. They don't want it just going through Jalen Brunson and Karl Anthony Towns. And I think Mike Brown, as you said with the Golden State warriors where Curry was running off the ball, he has been part of those offenses and I think that's definitely a great, great positive thing that you can look at Mike Brown and say just do that. Just don't have Jalen bring up the ball as much. And I will say Jalen took fewer shots this year and there were times in the playoffs where he was running off the ball more and things were run by through other guys but it was too little too late. I mean that should have happened the entire season. I think that's what the coaches are, excuse me, the front office is looking for. They also want more players to play basketball. They want players to play fewer minutes amongst their starters. We heard Mikel Bridges say the bench guys are, we're all dying here. They should be playing more. I mean I'm paraphrasing but he wanted to quote back off a bit on the starters minutes because the bench deserves more. And you saw the starters go into the postseason and they weren't great in terms of plus minus per 100 possessions. They got worse and so got more guys have to play and I think Mike Brown will finally do that. And also I mean they, they want their defense adjustment of stop playing cat at the five. I think that's going to be done a little bit more through Mike Brown. I think now that they've signed Gershon Yabu Selli, it seems like a teeny tiny signing but I think we'll see him and Mitchell Robinson at the five more. Especially because Gershon Yebisadi specifically over Mitchell Robinson is a three point shooter. So it's a, it's a modern type offense where things can be moved around, the ball can move, be moved around and that just has to happen. So I'm excited to see what Mike Brown can do for the New York Knicks again kind of a few days into free agency. Not the biggest of names, so maybe not the most headline considering it was Jason Kidd first and other guys. But I think it definitely could work and he could get the respect and I think he will be good in New York, taking a lot of the pressure off of the players as well. Like he'll, he'll be good in press conferences, he'll talk, he'll funny. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
- [56:27]
Trey Kirby
More so the funny theatrical as well.
- [56:29]
Taz Mellows
Yes. All right.
- [56:30]
Trey Kirby
I think he's probably a little bit more creative offensively than Thibodeau is, so we'll see. I mean there's still three guys in the top 25 in minutes per game this season from the Kings, so he plays his guys a lot. But Yabu Saleh helps. I think Jordan Clarkson will help as well. And then we saw like Shamet was okay in the playoffs, campaign was okay in the playoffs. You just got to play those guys a little bit so you don't have to play the starters 37 minutes a night.
- [56:57]
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- [59:44]
Taz Mellows
Okay, we'll get to some rapid fire fine fun soon, but we've got some minor deals to talk about. Let's start with Duncan Robinson going to the Detroit Pistons. Three years for 48. Now there might be a signing trade or whatever, but anyways, Duncan Robinson's on the Detroit Pistons kind of came out of nowhere.
- [60:03]
Trey Kirby
Yeah, kind of came out of nowhere. He's definitely the beneficiary of Malik Beasley being in debt with everybody and being under investigation because I didn't necessarily see a 16 million dollar per year contract out there for Duncan Robinson when he turned down he had a player option right at the Miami Heat for I think 19 million. And it was just kind of assumed, okay, they're going to work out a longer deal for him. He'll make up his money that way. But once the Beasley thing opened up in Detroit, I think a decent replacement, I don't know. I don't know who I think is better as a defender, Duncan Robinson or Malik Beasley, but at least an equivalent shooter. I think Duncan Robinson, he shoots a ton. Like he gets like 10 three pointers up per 36 minutes. So he's gonna shoot it every time he can. He's a little bit older than Beasley as well. And I suppose there's a chance he starts in Detroit because they'll start Cade Cunningham, they'll start Duran, they'll start Tobias Harris. I think other three are question marks. I assume Ivey will be a starter when he comes back and you would like to get some shooting on the court. That's why I think Harris is going to start. He's a three point shooter. Ivey's not necessarily a reliable three point shooter. So maybe you need that guy chucking at the three spot between him and Assar Thompson. Nassar obviously is the long term play, but maybe Duncan Robinson starts. So they kind of turned Schroeder and Beasley into Caris Lavert and Duncan Robinson, I don't know if it's better, I don't know if it's worse, but he's not under investigation with the federal government. So this is a win for the Pistons, I think.
- [61:43]
Taz Mellows
I laugh at that, but it ain't that funny. It seems like that scenario is getting worse and worse and worse. Not as far as the NBA betting, but as the Michael Beasley story. Michael Beasley again, he's Michael Beasley. Malik Beasley's story off the floor over the last year, aside from basketball betting, has, has gotten more and more unfortunate. We'll say. The Detroit News obtained public records that show that Beasley had part of his Pistons paychecks seized because he had debts mounted to a celebrity barber, dentist, a landlord, a lender and a marketing firm. He was sued by a landlord twice, according to the Detroit News. So reading that, just obviously the unfortunate things seem to add up. He was released by the Minnesota Timberwolves or once upon a time not signed by the Minnesota Timberwolves in part because of off court issues, according to our John Krasinski. So we don't have any evidence that Malik Beasley did anything as far as NBA betting. But reading that on the Detroit News from Robert Snell and hearing all the other off court scenario type of stuff makes you think that Duncan Robinson's replacing Malik Beasley?
- [62:59]
Trey Kirby
Pretty much, yeah.
- [63:00]
Taz Mellows
So Duncan Robinson, will he be able to create more space for Cade Cunningham? You know, in part, I, I think that is true. Obviously Malik Beas was a great shooter too, but Duncan is going to do the same thing. I think he's going to be faceguarded by defenses a lot when he gets out on the floor to give a little bit more room to Cade. But will we see the Duncan that drives at times? Because he can do that at times. He showed that he can put on the floor. Is he going to be able to do that all the time? Is he going to be able to defend? That's. That's a good question. So you're right about Caris Lavert and Duncan Robinson replacing now Beasley here. Intruder. It's a big. It's a big. I don't know.
- [63:40]
Trey Kirby
Yeah, probably lateral.
- [63:41]
Taz Mellows
Yeah, it's probably lateral. So let's move on to that guy I just mentioned, Dennis Schroeder. He's going to Sacramento. Could be part of a signing trade again. But it's three years, $45 million for Dennis Schroeder. Three seasons. What do you think?
- [63:56]
Trey Kirby
Kings need a point guard, but this is not the guy that I necessarily would have targeted for the Kings. I think they would have been happier with a Tyus Jones, strictly ball mover, three point shooting type of point guard, rather than Schroeder, who is a good creator, good with the ball in his hands, good scorer for sure and usually helps bad teams like Dennis Schroeder. If he's your point guard and you're a team that's like on the come up, that's the best. It didn't work out with the Warriors. There were some times with the Lakers where it worked. But he's definitely a let's raise our floor kind of player, I think. But he's just going to take away touches from DeRozan, from LaVine, all of whom are already taking touches away from Demonta Sabona. So I just wonder if this is kind of like yet another nail in the coffin of Demonte Sabonis's time in Sacramento. It seemed like he was unhappy at the end of the season. It seemed like he was unhappy at times after the Levine trade as well. I just. The Kings had a great spark when they were lighting the beam. Went to Game 7 against the Golden State warriors. And since then things have gone pretty poorly for them. I'm not a big fan of the signing. No for Sacramento.
- [65:04]
Taz Mellows
Me neither. Yeah. After lighting the beam, we had obviously Dear and Fox wanting out, getting out and getting more players that definitely need to touch the ball. And now Dennis Schroeder is another step in that direction. Three years at 45, it's. It's puzzling how long that they signed into Schroeder for he hasn't been on it on the same team for two consecutive years since he was with OKC in 2018-2020. That's a long time ago. He just kept bouncing around teams since then. He's now going to be on 10 teams. This is his 10th NBA team. And the guy can obviously ball. And he helped Germany win a gold medal and he helped our man Gord, the Canadian coach, win a gold. But it's. It's these little doses. It comes in these little spurts that make it ideal. And that's why he kept bouncing around the league and three seasons. Sounds like a lot. And you're right about the Demonta Sabonis drama because if Schroeder is going to handle the ball and want to score and want to touch it a lot and it's going to go through him, he's going to want to shoot. Plus Demar, plus Zach, plus Demonis, who the ball should be going through. It just feels like it doesn't seem like a good recipe in this Western Conference. Just doesn't.
- [66:18]
Trey Kirby
No. And they're after Kaminga as well. That's another guy who wants to handle the ball.
- [66:24]
Taz Mellows
Yeah. Yep.
- [66:24]
Trey Kirby
Weird.
- [66:25]
Taz Mellows
Yeah. Very odd. Another odd one. The Toronto Raptors signing Jakob Poeltl to a big extension you didn't pick up. Well, anyways, it all comes down to player option, all that. It all comes down to four years for $104 million for Jakob Pearl over the next four seasons. Trade seems like a lot for Jakob. What do you think?
- [66:46]
Trey Kirby
Seems like a lot for Jakob. 30 when the season starts. He's basically making Nas Reed, Miles Turner money. I think he would probably rank both of those guys ahead of Jakob though. Purdl is a good starting center. This is kind of the market rate for a starting center. This just seems like an expensive team. The Raptors are getting pretty pricey here for a team that a we haven't seen play together. Hardly any games. They haven't had Brandon Ingram on the court yet. That guy's coming this season. But I'm talking even like the Barrett Barnes quickly hurdle part of the Raptors team hasn't played together and they might just be like, I'll play in team so I don't. They can't really. Were they going to let Pearl walk? You know, like, I guess they could have done his deal for his player option this next season and then address it in the summertime. They want to get the deal done now. That's just the way the Raptors have tended to operate as like we pay our guys and then figure it out later. I don't think this is going to kill them. But it's also like, okay, $100 million, 25 mil per season for Jakob Pertle.
- [67:47]
Taz Mellows
Mm. Yeah. Not to have the freedom to do it elsewhere. Yeah. In a vacuum, it's fine. You look at even Emmanuel Quickley's contract in a vacuum. Okay, it could work out. Same with RJ Barrett. Okay, it could work out. Brandon Ingram. Yeah, maybe Scotty Barnes. Yeah, maybe. There's just so many variables there. It's like when you go see a solar eclipse. Okay, you, you want, you want a full on eclipse that passes by perfectly where it's dark out there. But that is, it's not the best analogy here. But all of those things have to happen at the exact same time.
- [68:29]
Trey Kirby
You have to be in the path of totality.
- [68:30]
Taz Mellows
Yeah, the path of totality. You don't want a partial eclipse.
- [68:33]
Trey Kirby
It's not the same.
- [68:34]
Taz Mellows
No, it ain't. It ain't that fun. You want it to be dark out there and I don't know if Portal, Barnes, quickly, Ingram, Barrett, all those guys getting paid a ton is going to make it a full on total eclipse. It just feels like it's just going to be a partial. Like maybe, maybe we'll get a one good game. That's a total eclipse where everything works together. But how many, how many good months are you going to get out of these guys? We just haven't seen it the last couple of years. Now. Part of that is, of course it's injuries, but who's, who is leading this team? What's the identity of this team? It just remains a question. I don't know. Scotty. Scotty needs to have another guy as first. Scotty Barnes goes. That's the ultimate talent ceiling. It feels like on this team that's the guy who could be the guy, but it feels like he needs another great player on him. So is Brandon Ingram going to turn into that guy? It's possible. It doesn't feel like it's quickly. It doesn't feel like it's Bear. It doesn't feel like it's Purdle. So we're here at one of these teams. I don't know if we're, if the Toronto Raptors are the eternal like Chicago Bulls, where this is going to be like, okay, this is who we got for a playing team for the next three years. Maybe. It could be.
- [69:44]
Trey Kirby
It might be.
- [69:45]
Taz Mellows
It might be.
- [69:45]
Trey Kirby
Yeah. I guess we'll see what Ingram has left in the Tank, he just. We haven't seen him on the court hardly at all this past season and then had the longest ankle sprain of all time for the Raptors. But this is just how the Raptors do things. You know, they make a trade. They're not. They're worried about their free agency standing, so they do their free agency via trades and then pay the guys after they need to. And that means you got to pay the guys eventually, but then it ends up you're paying, you know, quickly $35 million a season. That one's looking crazy right now.
- [70:12]
Taz Mellows
Yeah, that one was unfortunate. He got hurt in game one. Why was Darius Garland under him for that rebound? That, that, that hurt. Yeah, but we haven't, we haven't seen that. But, yes, that one does not look all that great. And you're right, that's what the Toronto Raptors do. That's what Masai Ujiri did until he was let go this past week. Bobby Webster doing the same thing. And, and I suppose Rogers is saying, we want this. This, just this, the comfort level here, the stability of not paying a ton. Like the, again, the vacuum of Yaka Pertle at that much. It ain't that bad. The guy can play on both ends, but, you know, like your vouch in Chicago, he's not. Not moving a needle.
- [70:55]
Trey Kirby
Exactly. It's. It is very similar to the Bulls in that, like, the Bulls for the past three seasons have every year been a joke around the league. And everybody's like, they're only going to make the play in tournament. And then trade deadlines and transaction cycles like free agency come up and they're like, ooh, somebody could go and get Lonzo Ball. Somebody could go and get V. Guys that, like, look good on a contending team look helpful there, but you throw them all together and it's like, wait a second, we got the fourth best guy on every team and now that's.
- [71:21]
Taz Mellows
Our best guy on every team.
- [71:22]
Trey Kirby
So it is unusual. Unusual. But Pearl's cool, you know, and a team will be interested in him eventually if they decide to move off him, I suppose, and then they could just trade back for him again.
- [71:34]
Taz Mellows
Yeah, listen, as a Toronto Raptor fan, there's good days. And I say, well, I can't wait to see Scotty Barnes playing. I can't wait to see Manual quickly playing. I can't wait to see. See Brandon Ingram playing. I just mentioned three guys, specifically Ingram and Emmanuel Quickley that may not be playing sometimes. And so that's the, the, the, the question. Are These guys going to play. And if they can't play, they can't get to this next level of being a number one, number two guy. So all that to be said, they did make a fun move as far as a backup center goes. Mamu. Mamu Sandro. Mamu Kailashvili is your backup center. That's exciting.
- [72:16]
Trey Kirby
Is it?
- [72:17]
Taz Mellows
Yeah.
- [72:17]
Trey Kirby
You're excited. Yeah. I believe you. Yeah.
- [72:20]
Taz Mellows
Cheap, cheap guy.
- [72:21]
Trey Kirby
I want to text in all of my Toronto friends back. Did you hear Mamu's coming to the Raptors?
- [72:25]
Taz Mellows
Yeah, I did. I did some texting.
- [72:27]
Trey Kirby
Sure.
- [72:28]
Taz Mellows
The guy can shoot, so he's going to space the floor.
- [72:30]
Trey Kirby
20 points in 19 minutes or whatever he did last year.
- [72:32]
Taz Mellows
Once upon a time.
- [72:33]
J.D.
Yeah.
- [72:33]
Trey Kirby
30 points, 34 and 19 minutes. It's something crazy like that. Right. And then he, like, was hanging out with Flavor Flav afterwards. Yeah, that's exciting.
- [72:40]
Taz Mellows
Yeah. Flavor Flavors is buddy with the spurs, so that's great. If you look at it in a vacuum, this tiny little contract, it's a good move.
- [72:51]
Trey Kirby
Yep.
- [72:51]
Taz Mellows
So that's a positive.
- [72:53]
Trey Kirby
Batman. You can't get upset about that.
- [72:54]
Taz Mellows
No, I can't get upset with that. We have a couple deals that we mentioned a little bit earlier. Gary Harris to the Bucks. Vasa Micic might be on the Bucks. He was part of the deal to get Pat Connaughton to Charlotte, which saved them a little bit of money to get Vasa Micage back. And so in turn, they could do the Miles Turner signing after the Damian Lillard thing happened. So any. Anything to say about Gary Harris back to the Bucks? No. No. Gary Harris to the Bucks. Definitely to the Bucks. Me, kind of to the Bucks. Might not be there. Nothing to say about it.
- [73:28]
Trey Kirby
Gary Harris is a guy that I always thought was going to be good.
- [73:30]
Taz Mellows
Right.
- [73:31]
Trey Kirby
And he hasn't ever been good, but he's been okay.
- [73:34]
Taz Mellows
Yeah.
- [73:34]
Trey Kirby
Yeah. So he's fine off the bench.
- [73:37]
Taz Mellows
Josh Minot to the Celtics.
- [73:39]
Trey Kirby
Okay.
- [73:40]
Taz Mellows
From the Grizzlies. Minot, Timberwolf, I thought. Yeah, that's right. Yeah. Grizzlies. Yeah. Why would I say the Grizzlies? Yeah. Minot on this Wolves. He did play some. And the Celtics seem to be grabbing guys like Luca Garza and now a Josh Minot that, like, we're sort of saying with the Raptors in another way, like in a vacuum. Okay, some good minutes, but are they going to contribute here to the Boston Celtics?
- [74:05]
Trey Kirby
He might not have an opportunity with the Timberwolves, but he might be able to get on the court for the Celtics this season. Same with Luka Garza. There's just players ahead of them for the Timberwolves. So I don't think these are needle moving moves for the Celtics. They are in cost cutting mode. But who knows? It's worth taking a gamble on young guys who are athletic.
- [74:24]
Taz Mellows
And our last one here that we're going to mention, the biggest contracts of them all. Trey Mann to The Hornets for three years and 24 million. Biggest contract and also best minutes. Last year before he got injured, there was some talk that he could be six man of the year a little bit because he was good. And so they're guard heavy.
- [74:44]
Trey Kirby
Very guard heavy. Yeah, they signed Spencer Dinwiddie as well.
- [74:47]
Taz Mellows
Yeah.
- [74:48]
Trey Kirby
So Lamelo, they traded for Colin Sexton. They've got Trey Mann coming back from injury and then Spencer Dinwiddie as well. It seems to me that the Hornets said our team is not going to go in to the toilet when Lamelo ball gets injured. They got to have somebody as a backup point guard or at least a ball handler. So Trey Mann, he was fun to watch during the preseason who was wearing his long shorts. He's kind of got an Allen Iverson fetish.
- [75:12]
Taz Mellows
He's.
- [75:13]
Trey Kirby
He puts up some cool highlights. So yeah, get him back for basically the same deal as like Ty Jerome. Seems like a lot of money now when I say it like that. Ty Jerome at least has a bit of a track record. But yeah, whatever. Yeah, Trey man. In Alan French it would be very man. My favorite bargain bin guy that's been signed so far. Trended Watford going to the Sixers, two years minimum deal. He's only 25 years old. The guy was getting buckets for the Brooklyn Nets last season. So similar sort of deal in Philadelphia. Like he's young, maybe he could be something. They had some success with Justin Edwards as a random fine last year and then still no Josh Giddy deal. Yeah, we've made it through a whole week and the Bulls haven't overpaid him. So I'm happy so far. Every minute I'm happier and happier. Four for 100. He says yes. There's no deal out there for him right now.
- [76:09]
Taz Mellows
Yeah, I would, I would think he would say yes. I am not his agent, so I don't know the what he's being offered, but if you're the only one offering him something, then yeah, you gotta take it.
- [76:19]
Trey Kirby
Yeah, got to.
- [76:20]
Taz Mellows
All right, we'll get to any other deals including Josh Giddy on Monday. We'll be back July 7th. Our man Skeets will be back as well. So we'll do that then. But for now, let's get into a little rapid fire fun.
- [76:35]
Trey Kirby
I had a surprise banger tweet this week. I tweeted the bucks now have 100% of NBA Gary's and it got over a million views on Twitter, even though it was incorrect because Gary Payton ii.
- [76:46]
J.D.
He'S still out there.
- [76:47]
Trey Kirby
He doesn't have a team yet, but nobody cares. People just love Gary. So my question to you guys, who is your all time favorite Gary?
- [76:54]
Taz Mellows
Well, here's another guy that's not officially a Gary, but to me he's a Gary. Gary Bird. That's Gary Garrison Matthews. That's his nickname. That's his official nickname. It's his basketball reference nickname. And I will just say I got guy who gets a nickname like that, you know, related to Larry Bird with not having any himself, not having an incredible NBA career. That's a great accomplishment to me.
- [77:17]
Trey Kirby
That is good.
- [77:18]
Taz Mellows
Yeah. People here. There are people here in Atlanta who are. Gary. Garrison Matthews stands. We're saying, we're saying when, when Luke Canard was signed, they said, oh, come on, we already got Garrison Matthews. What do you want? Listen, Luke Andard's a far better player, but there's some Gary Bird fans out there and I'm one of them. Gary Bird.
- [77:40]
Trey Kirby
Larry Bird is a career 37% three point shooter. Gary Bird is a career 38% three point shooter. Tells you everything you needed to know. JD you got a favorite Gary.
- [77:50]
J.D.
Oh, so many Gary's. Who to choose? There's Tassa's drunk alter ego, Gary. He's probably my favorite Gary, let's be honest. But I love. So SpongeBob's Gary the Snail. Oh, it's more about SpongeBob saying the name Gary. Gary, you know.
- [78:06]
Taz Mellows
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
- [78:07]
J.D.
Is Gary Oldman. He's actually probably my favorite great Gary. You know, Slow horses. The guy, he can do no wrong. And put me down for Gary Larson.
- [78:17]
Trey Kirby
Far side.
- [78:18]
J.D.
Far side. Gary Larson.
- [78:20]
Trey Kirby
Great Gary. There's a lot of good Gary's out there.
- [78:23]
J.D.
There's a lot of great Garrys.
- [78:24]
Trey Kirby
Yeah, Trey, Gary Oldman was on my list for sure, but I'm going Gary Sinise.
- [78:30]
J.D.
Oh, he was on my list.
- [78:31]
Taz Mellows
Yeah.
- [78:32]
Trey Kirby
I don't know why I was thinking about Forrest Gump recently, but then I was like, man, it's pretty crazy that his name is Gary Sinise and the guy is always playing very sinister characters. He was just made for it. Forrest Gump. Apollo 13, Quick in the Dead, Snake Eyes. Gary Sinise. Great 90s actor.
- [78:48]
J.D.
Well, he was. He was a CSI guy for a while.
- [78:50]
Trey Kirby
He does. Definitely is on one of those CSI shows. I don't know which city he's investigating. Same Gary Sinise. Let us know. Your favorite Gary is in the chat while explaining how the Bucks came to wave Damian Lillard, our main man Mark Spears said on ESPN that, quote, the Bucks have some amazing super nerds in their computer room. Guys, what's the most amazing super nerd.
- [79:12]
Taz Mellows
Thing about you, man? I'm just gonna. I'm just gonna full on brag here. This past, this past week, the no dunks business world had some paperwork to do and I was told, you should go get a lawyer. And that's totally true. I should have got an attorney, but I wasn't going to do it. I sat in front of my computer, I thought, I can do this now. It wasn't fun, but I did it. And I thought of it as an accomplishment for myself. It. It's not fun reading all this legalese and just like having to go through all of that stuff. But I did and it was fun. And that's it. That's the end of my sentence.
- [79:53]
J.D.
Wait, it was actually fun? You had fun?
- [79:56]
Taz Mellows
Yeah.
- [79:56]
Trey Kirby
You felt like you learned?
- [79:57]
Taz Mellows
Yeah. When I got up from that computer after 16 hours of reading all these freaking words. Yeah. It felt. It felt like I did something, like it was an accomplishment. Did I do it perfectly? God, no.
- [80:10]
J.D.
That's good to hear. Good to know.
- [80:11]
Taz Mellows
Did I have to do it multiple times? Yeah. Yeah. Well, afterward the show, I'll tell you how much I screwed up and what we're all going to have to pay for. But anyways, that's it.
- [80:22]
Trey Kirby
Nice.
- [80:22]
Taz Mellows
Super nerd time.
- [80:23]
Trey Kirby
Business nerd. That's a. It's an important skill to have.
- [80:26]
Taz Mellows
I guess it is. Yeah.
- [80:27]
Trey Kirby
One of us four needs it.
- [80:29]
J.D.
Indeed. Yeah. I'm not a smart man, so the most nerdy thing about me is my glasses. It's like a Clark Kent disguise, you know what I mean? Like, I went for the biggest, thickest I could find just to trick people.
- [80:45]
Taz Mellows
Right.
- [80:45]
Trey Kirby
Do you think it's worked?
- [80:47]
J.D.
No, I don't think so. Because when I open my mouth, people realize, oh, that guy's an idiot.
- [80:52]
Trey Kirby
But you think the glasses maybe confuse him at first?
- [80:54]
J.D.
Yeah, I think so. I think so. You know, it's like that guy probably knows what he's talking about, but really, it's just I can't see very well. I have no fashion sense.
- [81:05]
Taz Mellows
So.
- [81:05]
Trey Kirby
Yeah.
- [81:07]
J.D.
So my glasses. That's the most nerdiest Thing about me.
- [81:10]
Trey Kirby
I think your glasses are awesome. Doesn't it say, like, right and left on the top of them?
- [81:13]
J.D.
Yes. Port and starboard and one of them and.
- [81:17]
Taz Mellows
Yeah. Yeah.
- [81:18]
Trey Kirby
Cool.
- [81:18]
Taz Mellows
Thank you. Yeah.
- [81:20]
Trey Kirby
Not nerdy cool for me. Most amazing super nerd thing right now is I started reading large print books.
- [81:27]
Taz Mellows
Oh, wow.
- [81:28]
J.D.
You need a pair of these, Trey.
- [81:30]
Taz Mellows
Maybe I do.
- [81:31]
Trey Kirby
Funny thing about me, I don't have any sort of vision enhancement. Just pure. Just pure eyeballs here. But sometimes it's hard to get a book from the library. Like, if it's. This a popular book. I've been trying to read Demon Copperhead for, like, a year, and it was never available. But then I was, like, on the website, and I looked it up, and they had the largest print edition available. So I, you know, put in my hold for it. It came, and it is so thick, it's like 900 pages long. And it looks like a. A phone book, how thick it is. So I feel like a big time nerd pulling up to the pool and bringing up. Pulling out the biggest possible book, flipping the pages. But I read so fast now. Yeah, it's like I can read 20 pages in five minutes. It feels like there's, like, maybe two paragraphs on the whole page.
- [82:17]
J.D.
Must feel great.
- [82:17]
Trey Kirby
Oh, yeah. You feel super accomplished pulling out a doorstop. But then, like, it looks ridiculous how big this thing is.
- [82:24]
Taz Mellows
Yeah, but you only get through, like, 1% a day, you know, depending on how much.
- [82:30]
Trey Kirby
Percentages are not good.
- [82:31]
Taz Mellows
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
- [82:32]
Trey Kirby
You got to read a hundred pages for it to really matter.
- [82:35]
Taz Mellows
I'm sure you read more than that. I'm just saying. But I reflect, projecting myself. Who doesn't read enough? I'm like, oh, 1%. That's all I read. Gosh.
- [82:43]
Trey Kirby
Well, sometimes. I mean, you know, sometimes I only have a chance to read one chapter, Right? And then it does feel like 1%. It's like four pages.
- [82:50]
Taz Mellows
Yeah. Four pages.
- [82:51]
Trey Kirby
Not good.
- [82:52]
Taz Mellows
All right.
- [82:52]
Trey Kirby
Got ourselves a big barbecue day tomorrow, boys. It's the Fourth of July. So tell me, what is the best side you can get at a barbecue?
- [83:02]
Taz Mellows
For me, it's those baked beans. I hope they're around. And listen, I know it's not ideal for everybody who might be at a barbecue that wants to stand and eat because, you know, you don't want to be scooping beans. But they're just so good, you know, they're. They're. They're sweet. They're. I. Hopefully they're warm because they're baked beans. They're just. They're just. They hit every spot for me. It's a baked bean. Yeah.
- [83:31]
J.D.
I wasn't sure if we were talking about barbecue. Barbecue side. Like, barbecue sides are like we're at.
- [83:36]
Trey Kirby
A cookout, you know?
- [83:37]
Taz Mellows
Yeah.
- [83:37]
Trey Kirby
More of a cook outside, I guess.
- [83:38]
Taz Mellows
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
- [83:39]
J.D.
Just give me a work a day potato salad. You know what I'm saying?
- [83:42]
Taz Mellows
Good choice.
- [83:43]
J.D.
Out in the sun. Got a couple of beers in me.
- [83:46]
Taz Mellows
You want a hot salad? Hot potato salad?
- [83:49]
Trey Kirby
Yeah.
- [83:49]
J.D.
Warm. I don't care. Yeah. It's been sitting in the sun. It's covered in flies. Chew them away.
- [83:54]
Taz Mellows
Delicious.
- [83:55]
J.D.
You know, if it's made right, it's great.
- [83:58]
Taz Mellows
Yeah, that's the thing. Yeah, I mean, that is the thing.
- [84:03]
J.D.
It's hard to make good potato salad. I'm with you.
- [84:06]
Taz Mellows
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
- [84:07]
Trey Kirby
I think those are both good. I'm adding both of those to my plate as well. Potato salad and baked beans. I think, like, the greatest cook outside is grilled corn. But the one I'm most excited to see right now, pasta salad.
- [84:19]
J.D.
Wow.
- [84:20]
Trey Kirby
I just.
- [84:21]
Taz Mellows
I don't know why.
- [84:21]
Trey Kirby
I just love a pasta salad. I prefer it cold, but still. Like, you can eat a pasta salad next to a pool.
- [84:26]
Taz Mellows
Yeah, yeah, true. I happened to be eating pasta with cheese in it yesterday, and it felt like a pasta salad, and I was excited and it was like, cooked, I don't know, six hours prior. It was a warm pasta, but it had been sitting there on our counter for like six hours. And I just hammered it. I started eating it. It was so good.
- [84:44]
Trey Kirby
Yeah. If you leave it alone long enough, any pasta turns into pasta salad.
- [84:48]
Taz Mellows
Yeah, that's it.
- [84:49]
J.D.
And what point. What's the temperature threshold that it becomes salad and then you're just eating pasta, you know what I'm saying? Like, how warm or cold does it have to get to cross that threshold?
- [85:01]
Taz Mellows
Right. Yeah, yeah. While I was eating it, I didn't know what to call it because it was just room temp. Right.
- [85:06]
J.D.
I mean, is it cold pasta or warm pasta?
- [85:09]
Taz Mellows
Yeah, exactly. I don't know what the threshold is.
- [85:12]
J.D.
If the feta cheese is kind of melty, that's pasta to me.
- [85:15]
Taz Mellows
Yeah, you're right.
- [85:16]
Trey Kirby
If there's any sort of melt to it, it's pasta.
- [85:19]
Taz Mellows
Yeah, yeah. It's a good way to.
- [85:20]
Trey Kirby
Yeah. Good stuff.
- [85:22]
Taz Mellows
All right.
- [85:22]
Trey Kirby
Looking forward to eating sides. I actually have a huge thing of pasta salad in my fridge right now.
- [85:27]
Taz Mellows
I made it last night. Oh, you made it.
- [85:29]
Trey Kirby
Alison Roman's recipe. Sun dried tomatoes are the secret ingredient. Didn't need to spoil it. When Was that you like sun dried tomatoes?
- [85:37]
J.D.
I'm not a fan. Yeah, give me a fresh tomato in there. That's fine.
- [85:41]
Trey Kirby
Fresh tomatoes in there.
- [85:42]
Taz Mellows
Oh, there you go.
- [85:43]
Trey Kirby
Quite jammy. But I had to cook it. How about that? I cooked down the tomatoes, cooked them with the sun dried tomatoes and then added it to the pasta and let it cool.
- [85:51]
J.D.
Okay.
- [85:51]
Trey Kirby
So I cooked it. Is it pasta or is it pasta salad? Who knows.
- [85:55]
Taz Mellows
Yeah, well, I think Allison is on to something. You know, you need something in a pasta salad that makes it a little stand out a little bit that you're not just eating friggin pasta. So cool. That was fun. We be back on Monday to talk probably some more things that have happened because there are going to be lots of deals that officially become deals. On Sunday, July 6th, our man Skeets will be back. And just a reminder, we'll be in Vegas.
- [86:24]
Trey Kirby
Yeah.
- [86:25]
Taz Mellows
July 11th live show. So come on by.
- [86:28]
J.D.
We're leaving a week today.
- [86:30]
Trey Kirby
We're leaving a week today.
- [86:31]
Taz Mellows
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
- [86:32]
Trey Kirby
That's right.
- [86:32]
Taz Mellows
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
- [86:33]
Trey Kirby
Crazy Cooper flag Bronnie James one week from today. Excited.
- [86:37]
Taz Mellows
We'll be there, baby. Hopefully.
- [86:38]
Trey Kirby
Yeah, we will. Well, we'll be there. I don't know what time our flight lands.
- [86:42]
Taz Mellows
It's going to be a packed.
- [86:43]
Trey Kirby
I haven't thought about it actually.
- [86:44]
Taz Mellows
It's going to be a packed house as long as. Oh yeah, our credentials are approved.
- [86:49]
J.D.
We can always buy tickets, I suppose.
- [86:51]
Taz Mellows
What? That's what I. I'm not 100% sure they'll be available night one. Cuz this is a, a new thing that summer league is doing but bumping it a day before pro like they were bumping it earlier to the Thursday. Although it's probably going to be one of those scenarios that there's tickets available because everybody will be playing. But I don't know. I don't know. Maybe I was. I was just wondering if it is just a double header. I don't know. Probably. We'll see.
- [87:17]
Trey Kirby
We'll see.
- [87:18]
Taz Mellows
Looking forward to that. We'll see you back on Monday everybody. But for now, Clipper Bros, you heard it here first.
- [87:23]
Trey Kirby
Have a great time turn up. Love you guys. Awesome. Thanks for joining us. And remember there's a Wikipedia page all about guys named Gary. So if you want to do some research. Get in there. Gary Fencik. Forgot about that guy. High ranking Gary for me.
- [87:38]
Taz Mellows
What does Gary Fencik do? Football player.
- [87:40]
Trey Kirby
I think he's a Chicago Bear when I was young.
- [87:43]
Taz Mellows
Oh, I got nothing on Gary Fencick.
- [87:45]
Trey Kirby
No Gary Fencik.
- [87:46]
Taz Mellows
Fencik.
- [87:47]
Trey Kirby
Yeah, he won a championship with the Bears. He was part of the shuffling crew.
- [87:51]
Taz Mellows
Legend.
- [87:52]
Trey Kirby
Two guys named Gary Green. No, there's like eight guys named Gary Green. Popular name.
- [87:59]
Taz Mellows
See you Monday folks.
- [88:03]
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