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- [00:00]
A
Foreign. Welcome to no Dunks, the Internet's original basketball podcast. I'm your host today, Trey Kirby, joining me here in the yard. It's Tas Melis.
- [00:17]
B
Yeah. What's going on, Trey?
- [00:19]
A
Oh, we're getting so close to the NBA season here, Tassie. It's getting pretty exciting, if you ask me.
- [00:25]
B
I feel like the vibes are better. The vibes are. They're cooking.
- [00:28]
A
Yeah. Once we start seeing these guys in their jerseys, their shorts, their facial hair, their haircuts, you know, you can't help but get excited. No, Skeets today, he's still doing the green card dance up in Canada. He will hopefully be back soon. And, yeah, NBA season right around the corner. You're getting excited. It sounds like.
- [00:49]
B
Oh, gosh. Yeah. Yeah. JD Is working on our studio. I will say, I don't know if it's just me here, recency bias, but I feel like this is the most excited I've been for an NBA media day. Now. I'm trying to think. I'm trying to think back.
- [01:06]
A
Exactly. I don't know.
- [01:09]
B
I feel like our media brethren were pumping out the hits. We're pumping out the notes of every media day. I. I feel like I made more notes or chuckled or, you know, made a little snarl at more tweets this year than I ever have in the past.
- [01:27]
A
Excellent, Excellent. Exciting times. Maybe we should host our own media day once we get back into the new fangled classic factory.
- [01:35]
B
Yeah, can't wait. I think that's a. It's a good idea. I know there's. There's lots of things that we're going to talk about today that you're going to create videos about in the coming weeks. Yeah. Because stuff is going on, man.
- [01:46]
A
Stuff is going on. Lots of people were talking. Lots of people were asking questions. So we got a lot of things to talk about.
- [01:53]
B
Yeah.
- [01:53]
A
We're going to play a little bit of. Is this news? Oh, baby. Is this news? The first little bit of news. This one's news. This one is definitely news.
- [02:13]
B
I know you're questioning it. You're questioning it. All right.
- [02:16]
A
I say it's a little misleading. The warriors, according to Sean Saranya, have agreed to deals with Al Horford, D. Anthony Melton, and Gary Payton the second. This is news because the Golden State warriors didn't do anything this offseason. But it's also kind of not news because these guys haven't actually been signed to the team. All of this has to wait until Jonathan Kaminga resolves his stalemate with the warriors before they can find out exactly how much they're offering Horford, Melton and Gary Payton. But they're at least saying, yeah, we're going to be on your team. They're not a media day. They're not practicing because they don't actually have contracts. But they will someday have contracts is what it seems like. So Tas, tell me how this is news or how not.
- [03:02]
B
Listen, this is not new news if that's what news is classified anymore as because these guys were expected. But the fact that it is sort of sort of happening. I had to go to NBA.com transactions to check out are any of these actual deals now it does list as Gary Payton the second second coming back under a contract. Horford, Indian, Melton have not. I will say it's news because when we go back to the warriors in the playoffs they needed a better defender at the center spot specifically and Al Horford is that guy. Any switch needed, he will be there to help out. He will guard absolutely anyone. And the warriors in the past when they have won in 22 and then 18 and 17 they did it with a center beside Draymond Green, your Kevon Looney or Javale mcgee your Bogut. And Al Horford will be there to help out. I know he is friggin old. That being said, this guy right now, he ain't drinking alcohol and becoming older and older. He's drinking his chocolate milk. I think he's taking care of his body. We've seen this guy and how many years he's gone through the NBA and he's been fine. And Trace Jackson Davis is a guy who's gotten another year older at 25 year number three. We'll see what he can become as a backup guy. But this helps. I mean they needed defense, they needed to be bigger. So I think this does help. It is weird not seeing these guys at media day. That is very strange. But even though they still don't know what their roster is because Kuminga is not signed, I think they will get off to a good start. I think they're devoted to that. Last year they started 12 and 3 on November 22nd they were first in the West. Mad OKC was 12 and 4 while they were 12 and 3 and then a bunch of injuries happened to a guy like D. Anthony Melton. Yeah. Who I think is a question mark because he's recovering from an injury but at the same time the oldest team as I know you tweeted about. It is odd to see this team who's really old. Get even older.
- [05:09]
A
Yeah, super old, 39 years old. Al Horford. If the warriors somehow make it to the Finals, I think unlikely he'll be 40 years old playing in the Finals. But you got to love the fit with Horford and Draymond. Both very switchable guys, super high IQs. Steph Curry hasn't really played with a stretch big like Al Horford. You know, Quentin Post gave them a taste of that last year, but he was a rookie only going into his second year. He'll probably be part of the rotation, but yeah, Horford is going to help. The key for the warriors will be staying healthy throughout the year with these guys who are in their late 30s. They're all missing 20 games a season. Al Horford hasn't been a full time starter in a couple of years, so that will be a huge question. But it's good that they finally got a tall guy because this warriors team is tiny. Like Trace Jackson, Davis, the dude's a center. He's 6 foot 9. The only other guy they have that's over 6, 7 currently on the roster is Guy Santos. And I mean Horford is not a Giant either. So this is an old small team that doesn't always bode well for long term success. But I think they're going to be a tough out when it comes playoff time, assuming everybody is healthy. You mentioned Horford is probably starting. I totally agree with you, Steph. Jimmy Draymond, those guys are locks. So the big question for the warriors is like, who is going to be there to guard? It kind of comes down to Buddy heel, brings the shooting and then Brandon Pajinski. Maybe the highest upside of guys they could throw in there, had an up and down season last year. And Moses Moody, who just doesn't seem to really ever establish himself as a guy for Steve Kerr. He gets thrown in. He always seems ready whenever he gets thrown into the rotation, but seems unlikely that he would be the starter. Who you think ends up getting that last starting job for the Warriors?
- [06:56]
B
It's a great question. I think they really could all be there. I know Moses Moody didn't always just click when he was in there, but the three is usually pretty steady. So you could see that. You could see Buddy, who did respond to playing with good players and, and defended like Jalen Green in that first round, was, was a reason they're playing intense defense. I think it could be Brandon Pajemski just because he plays so well when he's playing well with really, really, really good players beside him. And He's a. He is a playmaker. And so I think. I think they kind of need that over Buddy Heald or Moses Moody, somebody to be able to get into the paint and make things happen. I think this is a good sign for the warriors as we're naming these guys who are capable NBA players. Along with adding Al Horford to the Trace Jackson, Davis and Quentin Post center rotation. They are freaking old. That's no doubt about that. That being said, it is. It's. It's an improvement over last year's team against Minnesota in the playoffs. They were too freaking small, as we've said, and just didn't have enough centers out there. So Horford being there helps. Hopefully Trace Jackson Davis improves. Hopefully Quentin Post improves. But yes, they could. They could just use another. A body out there. But again, they're still. They're still working through the back end of the rotation. Like, it seems like they're gonna sign Seth Curry at some point. Just also old.
- [08:26]
A
Also small, super old.
- [08:29]
B
Just. Just to take minutes away from the guys that you said, Jimmy has to sit, Seth has to sit. And so the guys like Moses Moody and Pajemski and potentially Seth Curry are going to play a good amount of minutes to get them to the playoffs healthy. Yeah.
- [08:47]
A
The question will be what the ceiling for this team. FanDuel has the warriors at plus 3000 odds to win the title. That's the same as the Atlanta Hawks. It's tied for 10th overall, sixth in the West. That seems about right to me. Like, I think the warriors are Probably a top 10 team with a pretty good ceiling. Just because you like what Steph can do come playoff time. Jimmy has shown that he's able to raise his game come playoff time. Horford, we've seen do it in the finals as well. Draymond. Of course, you don't need as much depth necessarily. When it comes playoff time, though, that seems to be changing around the league as well. So, yeah, we'll see what happens with the Warriors. It's good. They're actually getting a team together. I saw they also signed a couple of rookies so that literally they can have enough players at practice today they're having their first players and then. Or their first practice, and they finally have 11 guys on the roster.
- [09:38]
B
Yeah. I don't mean to be a pessimist, but at times I was look watching their press conference, and I was. I was clicking through and I was looking, oh, is the Anthony Melton there? Oh, is Gary Payton II there? And I see some of these faces and I say, I don't know who that guy is. Who is that? So, yes, you can say that about the, the Golden State Warriors. They don't have everybody as far as the championship team in 2022 that they had, but they do have camaraderie and chemistry together that they didn't have last year even because they signed or, excuse me, they traded for Jimmy mid season. Bam, they turned it on and they were awesome. And now they actually have a training camp together. You see Draymond and Jimmy Butler working out together. You have what is probably the best center that Steph Curry has ever played with. You know, there was Andrew Bogan, there was other guys, and Draymond Green plays center. But it's freaking out Horford and he's old, so we will see what he can bring. Now, today, fresh off is another bottle of chocolate milk. But it feels, it feels like this team has it. It's a matter of sticking together and maybe, maybe a little more size and being healthy six months from now, really.
- [10:54]
A
It'D be nice if they don't have to go through the play in tournament as well. They've been a play in team quite a bit recently and that's just stressful. It also feels like the last month and a half of both of this previous season and the season prior has been almost playoff basketball for the warriors, where they have to win 75% of their games to even squeak into the play in tournament. And that's the problem you run into when it's all old guys. One guy that's not in camp, Jonathan Kaminga. Still hanging over our heads. The cominga stalemate. He has until tomorrow to pick up his qualifying offer, which is just a little bit under $8 million. They've been reporting about three different options that the warriors have presented to Kaminga. There's a two year, $45 million deal that they've offered him with a team option for the second year. There's a three year, $75 million deal that's been offered that has a team option for the warriors in the third year. Then there's a no options deal. Three years, 54 million do. What do you think is going to end up happening with Kaminga? Because there's been some weird stuff going on. His agent is literally doing a media tour saying if you give him a player option, he'll buy in. But if he takes the qualifying offer, good luck. That doesn't seem like the ideal way to enter a season where you do have championship expectations, because there's always that expectation For Golden State.
- [12:12]
B
I think he comes back under a two or three year deal, as you said, to make a good amount of money. Just because it doesn't seem all that positive if you enter free agency here in 2025 and there's, there's a bunch of options in 2026. I know our man Sham Sharanya said this was going to be an incredible off season and it was not. But I think he should say the same thing about next year because there will be more options. I don't know if Kaminga wants to enter that really. I don't think in comparison to this season, there's going to be way more competition for him. And so I liked hearing all the warriors players yesterday when they were asked about Jonathan Kaminga. They were basically to me saying, come on back, man, we want you, we need you, we love you. The question is on the other side, does he want to come back again and be under Steve Kerr, who. They seem to butt heads. So I can, I can understand why he'd want to go somewhere else, but it just, it's scary. It's for, for me, if I'm whoever it is, you know, Brooklyn or Sacramento or, or wherever. Do you want Kabinga being a top 1, 2, 3 guy? Hopefully one of these warriors can say to him, you can sign a contract in a couple years after this one's done. There's lots of money to go around. You see the TV deal, just two more years, man. So I'm not sure, I'm not sure what the feeling is, but it seems like money wise this would be the best position for him.
- [13:46]
A
Well, yeah, he could definitely make the most money by agreeing to one of these deals with the warriors, but they only really want him as an asset and he doesn't want to be a Warrior. He wants to go somewhere where he can be a number one, number two option and take as many mid range jumpers as possible. I think it's pretty weird the way his agent is handling this stuff. Posting clips of Kamingo like coming around a screen, being like, look, he can play in a system. Then there was also the thing that warriors fans were going in and slowing down 2.5 speed, the Kaminga jumper and finding that there was a frame slip to make it look like he had a quicker release for his three pointers. Odd stuff.
- [14:24]
B
But you're right, Kurt.
- [14:25]
A
Steph Curry is talking like he will be a Golden State Warrior. He keeps saying when he's here, not if he's here. I think that's pretty consistent throughout the rest of the warriors as well at media day. But kind of unusual that Steve Kerr and Mike Dunleavy Jr. Didn't talk. It seemed like they were maybe ducking these questions about coming because that's going to be a thing hanging over the warriors heads until a resolution has come about. It doesn't feel dissimilar to the summer where Jordan Poole and Draymond Green and Klay Thompson were all going to be free agents. And it was kind of, kind of like, who is Golden State going to choose? The pool thing hung over the warriors heads all year. It was a cloud over the locker room and they were never to get, never able to get out of their own way. So they need to figure out what's going to happen. I think they have until midnight Wednesday for the qualifying offer to go down. And I don't know, I, I think the warriors would be better off washing their hands of Jonathan Kaminga.
- [15:24]
B
I get it, yeah, I get it that he might be a, a locker room point of conversation. But I wonder, I wonder if, like we've, we've talked about them being in a play in is just, just a problem for this team. Having to play so many minutes is a problem for this team. If Kerr gives him the keys a lot of the time, not, not all of the time, but a lot more of the time, but it might be off the bench. So, I mean, that's the scary part for Jonathan Kamiga, that he seems like he doesn't want it. So, yes, it is, it is a question. Good thing for the warriors, they have gone through this a billion times before, but yeah, they want to have a training camp with all their guys. So it is, yeah, it, it is a bit of an issue for sure.
- [16:15]
A
All right, let's go to Dallas. Over the summer, Anthony Davis had surgery for a detached retina in his right eye. He's made a full recovery after like a month long recovery, he said. But Anthony Davis said that his doctors told him he's going to need to wear goggles for the rest of his career. He's got the eye protection going. What'd you think about this test?
- [16:37]
B
I think this is good news for Anthony Davis. He has never wanted to wear these things ever. And you could hear him in media day saying, yeah, I got to do it. The doctors say I got to do it. He's finally doing it. This guy had three eye injuries in 13 months, so just over a year. Pop, pop, pop. Poked that many times and you could see his off season surgery is still wearing on him. Because he had red, extremely red eyes. Well, I at he has right eye.
- [17:09]
A
Very red and swollen.
- [17:10]
B
Yeah, he's saying it's from the drops that he's taken. You know, he's not making excuses, he's just saying it's, it's tough, man. I've never liked it, but I'm wearing the Horus Grants this year, the Kareem Abdul Jabbars, and it just sucks. That being said, if he's got goggles on, it's good for him. I know you've gone through a bunch of it, Trey, as a baller yourself, you keep on, you show up at the, at the studio with banged eyes like. I don't know.
- [17:36]
A
You're right. I get like a black eye every four months, it feels like. Luckily, as Laura once told me, I'm blessed with a Neanderthal shaped skull. I have a heavy brow bone and deep set eyes, so usually I'm taking the brunt of the elbows to my orbital bones. Nothing's broken yet, but I got scars and black eyes. Maybe I need to switch to the Horace Grants as well. I thought that was a funny line from Anthony Davis. He followed up by saying, it won't be like that, but I will have some protective eyewear for sure. So I'm curious. It basically comes down to do you want the Horace Grant's, the squares, do you want the more circular ones that kind of just look like a regular goggle? More Kareem style. My guess is that he'll go with the Oakleys that we've seen him wear in the past with the Lakers. Anthony Davis actually looks pretty cool when he wears goggles, I think.
- [18:30]
B
Absolutely. You know, I did my, my Google image search yesterday and yeah, he looked, he looks super cool. Yeah, he's not, he's definitely not going with the creams. To me, that's who he seemed he repelled the most. He didn't want that. Yesterday when I, when hearing him there, you know, the creams are big. The Oakleys are. Yeah, they're almost stylish, man. They kind of look cool.
- [18:56]
A
Yeah, they look cool. The coolest guy to ever wear the Oakleys was Antoine Big dog car, circa 1997. 98. Playing against the Chicago Bulls wearing like the sepia orange tinted ones. I didn't know that he necessarily needed to go with tinted Oakleys, but they did look pretty sweet. And I guess Amari Stoudemire is a guy who had similar issues, right? Like he kept getting poked in the eyes and eventually he just had to start wearing glasses. As well.
- [19:22]
B
Yeah, they were tinted. The Antoine cars. They were cool. And so these are like what kids are wearing for just around and for baseball, too, right? Like, the shape of them.
- [19:34]
A
Oh, man. If he shows up in a pair of mirrored pit vipers, be an incredible look for this guy. I guess a little bit of an adjustment period, getting used to playing every single game.
- [19:44]
B
Oh, yeah, whatever. So you can never see him. His eyes, when he. If he was wearing those, like, you never know where he's passing to. Why wouldn't. Why wouldn't they start wearing them? I mean, it's like, it's not allowed. It's like a quarterback can't. Right? You can't.
- [20:00]
A
You can't, like, have a dark tint. You got to be able to see the eyes. Yeah, that's true. Yeah.
- [20:04]
B
Yeah, I think that's true. So they probably would. Would ban him, but. Or ban them, but he should do it for one game.
- [20:12]
A
Yeah, exactly. Preseason, you can do anything. Like, Sam Perkins wore a durag in a preseason one time. But then at halftime they're like, hey, man, you can't do that in the NBA. All right, fine. But if you started off, it's better to ask for forgiveness than permission. In other Mavs injury news, Jason Kidd said that Kyrie Irving is not ahead of schedule, even though you saw him shooting some jumpers on the Internet. And Kyrie confirmed that they both say he's on schedule. Just feels like they're not really pushing him to come back. They want him at full Kyrie Irving status whenever he returns.
- [20:48]
B
Yeah, watching those clips of him bang home shots from mid court, cool to see, but it is a lot different. And it's a lot different than actually going side to side lateral movement in a game. Way different. So I'm sure it's months ahead. Now, he did in the off season, when asked while he was twitching, he was on his twitch, he was asked if he's coming back, and he said, I didn't guarantee that I'm coming back even next season. So it's a real, real swing here to seeing him ball after hearing those comments because, yeah, he does, you know, you know, look good when it comes to sitting on my butt watching a guy take shots from mid court. But he looks better than a guy who's not going to be around all season. So I would expect that he'd come back, but it's going to be months.
- [21:39]
A
Yeah, it does feel like he will play, though, this season at some point. And, you know, it's probably like a late in the Season thing. Maybe Marchie gets the ramp up in time for the playoffs. And if the Mavs are sitting in a good position, maybe they can make some noise because I did like that photo they were getting together with of Kyrie, Anthony Davis and Cooper Flag. Like, that's pretty cool. They got three number one picks on the same team. I don't know if that's ever happened in NBA history.
- [22:06]
B
Yeah, I would maybe imagine, you know, when somebody sneaks in like a. An Anthony Bennett, you know, maybe not a great number one pick, but probably in the free. And the fact that you saw Cooper Flag shaking hands with Michael Jordan. Pretty cool.
- [22:24]
A
Yeah, that was cool.
- [22:25]
B
Yeah. So he's got a great start. Even though, you know, he's. He hasn't said a lot. I think Cooper's a pretty quiet guy. But yet, like you said, things from the outside looking in are looking good for Cooper Flag and for the Mavs. I think this Anthony Davis news is good. The guy's going to be healthy. To me, I mean, it reduces his eye injuries. How could you not be pumped about that? It feels like they've got good news top to bottom in that roster.
- [22:54]
A
The people are saying that the Timberwolves once had three number one overall draft picks. They're saying Cat Wiggins and Anthony Bennett. Is that true though? Wasn't Wiggins traded for Bennett? Wasn't that part of the deal with Cleveland? I don't remember if that's necessarily true, but Dion mentions Derrick Rose did end up on the Timberwolves as well and he was a number one pick. So yeah, maybe that's it. And then I think the Lakers right now have two in LeBron and DeAndre. It happens, but it isn't usually when two of the guys are in their pseudo primes, you know, I guess, yeah. Kyrie obviously coming off an injury, but he's still a good player in the NBA. Anthony Davis is all NBA caliber and Cooper is playing as well. Still, we will see what they look like when they are up to full strength.
- [23:42]
B
Must better that Derrick Rose one, because I had it in the back of my head, I didn't know, jumped into the back of my head that Derrick Rose has been part of three number ones. Although it was. Yeah, it was with the Wolves. Although he had a set. What? He had a 50 point game with the Minnesota Timberwolves. But I. Yeah, I'm guessing it was.
- [24:03]
A
So we're saying Rose, Pat and Wiggins, so that makes sense to me. They were rocking the like the. The Prince jerseys. I remember that.
- [24:11]
B
17, 17 18, I guess was Wiggins last year. Gosh, I loved clicking around on Baske Conference. Where are you? 17, 18 Roster Minnesota Timberwolves. Yeah, they must have been Wiggins. He was on the team. Yeah, they must have played together.
- [24:27]
A
Nice. So it's happened before. I don't know if anybody will touch. Didn't the wnba. I think the Aces at one point they had four number one overall draft picks on their team and pretty sick. They won the title that year. Can you believe it? Good stuff. Also in Dallas, Derek Lively, Mav center, said he grew 2 inches over the summer. He's now 7 foot 3. Do you buy it, Tess?
- [24:51]
B
I'm buying it. I started, I started doing my Googles. Can you grow at 21 years of age? Sure, yeah, sure. It happens. February he turned 21. So this is, you know, kind of like 21 and a half. But that, that's fine. I think you know from, from very, very quick Googles that it's about of a 15 chance to grow at 21. Usually everybody has grown, has finished growing, but it's, it does happen. And so at 21 and a half. Yeah, I'm good with it. I checked all the sites. In terms of NBA.com basketball reference, are they listing him at any higher than seven foot one? They are not. He's still seven one. So it's not official, but I buy it. You buy it?
- [25:37]
A
No, I don't think so. He was asked, have you grown any this summer? And his response was, I believe so. I would definitely say I have. I just got to get the exact measurement, but I'd say 7 2, 7 3. This is one of the easiest things to possibly find out. If you've grown, just stand by a wall and people will measure you. It's simple. If you've grown, you know you've grown.
- [26:00]
B
Yeah, well, they have to measure, aren't they actually. They're actually doing measurements in the NBA now, right?
- [26:07]
A
Yeah, you have to have legit measurements. So we will see.
- [26:09]
B
Yeah, he's got. I guess they do it at some point in training camp, probably not on media at some point in, in the next few weeks. So he's got time to grow even if he wants.
- [26:21]
A
Yeah, he's got, he's got time to grow. He's still got today, but I will be scouring those measurements in that roster once the Mavericks actually release it. Hey, if they got a seven foot three guy, makes even more sense for Anthony Davis to play the four and for Derek Lively to play the five. And if he's able to still move the way he was at 7 foot 1. If he's able to move like he does at 7 foot 3, they're going to be an awesome defensive team and I think they're going to be a good defensive team regardless.
- [26:48]
B
Yeah, this is fantastic stuff. This is one guy who slips under the radar in terms of headlines and who everyone is talking about with Cooper and Kyrie and AD obviously, but he didn't play a lot of last season so we didn't really get to see their entire roster. And like there's so many guys on this team with Christie even who no one's really talking about as the young guys to bring the glue to your d' Angelo Russell's and those types of vets out there. This, this team has a very, very good roster in theory and and when they played last year, they look like they could really play so ridiculously tough.
- [27:34]
A
Yeah, the west is ridiculously tough. Some team season is going to be over by the time we get to December just by getting off to a bad start and having to play catch up. So maybe it'll be the Mavs. Maybe not to tie a bow on things, Luda San here in the stream team is mentioning in the 1980s the Lakers had three number one picks in Kareem, James Worthy and Magic Johnson. That was a decent, you know, threesome. They did okay getting those three together. So the track record, it's good. If you can get three hall of Famers on the same team, you're going to have a chance to win.
- [28:08]
B
Yeah. And maybe win the WNBA fives.
- [28:12]
A
Exactly right. So Mavs, buy your stock now. Maybe it doesn't happen this year, but next year in Philadelphia, the Sixers had media day on Friday after we Talked about Jared McCain's thumb injury and the news out of Sixers camp was not great tasks. Neither Joel Embiid nor Paul George have timelines to return following their respective knee surgeries. Embiid had his left knee done in April. Paul George had his left knee done in July. Both of them said they're listening to their bodies and that's kind of going to be the guiding principle for how much and when they're able to play this season. So talk to me a little bit about Philadelphia starting the year off with three injuries already.
- [28:59]
B
Yeah, I wouldn't call this news. It feels like we're going back to last season where Embiid's status is. It's just conspicuous. We don't know what it's going to be. Daryl More was conspicuous about it last Year, I think we could just say like they kind of did last year. It's indefinite tbd. I will say the Paul George one, definitely more disappointing coming off of last year. And there was some talks about him turning a new leaf this coming year and then he went and had surgery in July. And so that part is definitely discouraging that he hasn't recovered from that. And at the same time, and I mentioned July, I started thinking about the, the draft pick and Vijay Edgecom and the fact that there may be this season there could be guys to compensate for Paul George when he sat or Joel Embiid when he sat. But then you mention other injury in Jared McCain. Quentin Grimes still isn't signed. I think they're gonna miss Gershon Yabu because he played so many games. They got to go to Dubai now they're in Dubai to have training camp. So I mean, they, they got a lot of moving parts. They're not getting the camaraderie, getting going with Paul George in the lineup. At the very least, you know, Joel Embiid, you can kind of expect, knowing his knees, but PG's not there, so it is. Yeah, it's a, it's a poopy start. No doubt about that.
- [30:30]
A
Yeah. And I mean, I think, look, Embiid is obviously their best player. I thought it was kind of funny what Nick Nurses said. He's like, yeah, hopefully there's actually some management this year because last year he just didn't play. So we didn't have to manage anything. He just wasn't out there. They need Embiid to do anything this season, but missing Paul George maybe is even worse for the Sixers because you look at the wing depth they have and they basically don't have any wing depth. Justin Edwards had some decent moments last season, but other than him, it's like Kelly Oubre Jr. Is going to play a major part on the wing for the Sixers. They brought in Trend and Watford, who was decent for the Nets last year, but not really a starting caliber player. They don't have any other young guys who can fill in on the wing. They do have a bunch of these small guards and signing Grimes would be huge for this team. But I mean, Paul George had, you know, just an all time Paul George quote at media day. He said, it can't get worse than last year. That was a rock bottom kind of season.
- [31:31]
B
Right.
- [31:31]
A
That's the kind of thing people will pull out if they had the exact same kind of season this year. Last year, Joel Embiid played 19 games. Paul George played 41 games. That's a combined 60 games from those two guys. Do you think they play more or less this year, six combined games for Paul George and Joel Embiid?
- [31:49]
B
I'm going over because I do think there is some sort of plan with Joel Embiid playing. But, but, but, but who knows that. That's. That's the unfortunate thing I will say with, with the Nick Nurse comment. I, I feel like Embiid wants to gear up. I, I think he's gonna pull off more of the Kawhi Leonard 24, 25 plan, which is sit for a long time and then gear up slowly as the season goes on. But yeah, that 40 over under. I don't know if that's a line on FanDuel, but it should be. Excuse me, 60 over under, you said that's. I'm taking the over because.
- [32:38]
A
Yeah, I mean, that's such a low number. Like, you gotta hope they have to get more than 19 games from Embiid this season. Just. I mean, 30 games would be playing 50 more like that would be ridiculous to not get over 60 games between those two guys. So. I don't know. It's tough, man.
- [32:56]
B
It is tough. It felt like when they signed Paul George, it was a. Whoa, okay, here comes the patchwork behind Maxi and Beat and Paul George. Here comes your, you know, your, your Kyle Lowry or Eric Gordon and the old guys. And now the patchwork ain't even there this season with McCain out, Quentin Grimes ain't playing. I think they will Mitch miss the patchwork of Yabuzeli. So that's the scary part. Even, Even though as, as you said, there's. There's hope, there's guys to fill in. Ubre, I think the Watford signing was a. Was a good contract. That was a nice contract. Daryl Morey, but I'm not sure even beyond the starters, the great players, that the patchwork is enough. It is the Eastern Conference, but still, that's the, that's the worrisome part as well. Like, yes, we want Paul George out there for sure to look like Paul George, but even the. That secondary supporting cast is not. It's not currently ready to go.
- [33:56]
A
Yeah, definitely not. They got a lot of eighth and ninth men masquerading as fifth starters right now. So we'll see what happens with Grimes. He's on the same qualifying offer deadline sort of deal as Jonathan Kaminga. So there will be a resolution in the next 48 hours for both of those guys. The Trailblazers also had Media day on Friday and they also had some bad injury news. Third year guard Scoot Henderson has a torn left hamstring. He's expected to return to basketball activities in one to two months. Is this news task?
- [34:27]
B
It is news. This is Scoot trying to grow from year two to year three because he did improve from year one to year two. I always hate to see a guy not be able to get a start going. It is. It is a terrible thing for Scoot. Now it's time to be positive. Good environment in Portland. I. I do think with Drew around, Drew Holiday will be good. Very good for Scoot Henderson. Jeremy Grant is going to play basketball this year. He didn't seem super excited at media.
- [35:00]
A
No, he did not.
- [35:01]
B
Now he felt like he was going to be dealt this past off season. He answered the question with all his heart when he was asked basically if he expected to be here. No, not really. But he is a very good basketball player. So I do think looking at the roster, considering Chauncey Billups went and got two offensive minded coaches because he knows they were really good defensively to end the season. They've got a good locker room but we need better offense. I think that that part of the team and how they could grow is positive. I'm excited to watch this team. Denny Avdia coming off the bench as year number two for him in Portland. I'm excited to watch him with Young Hansen. He was asked about playing with Young Hansen and he said yeah, I like it. I'm watching him play. I know he can handle the ball. I love giving goes. I'm excited to play with Young Hansen. So I do think if you start to go through the roster considering they got new coaches to try and take care of that side of the ball while Chauncey had the other side of the ball, I'm excited. But yes, Scoot would be so much more beneficial to have a freaking camp. But if it is a month, you know he can still get better again. The the year one to year two jumps in efficiency were there. They're real. He was coming off the bench and so there's just more room I think for a guy in Denny Abdia who will be better in year two in Portland having a great summer with the Israeli basketball team. So I think there's enough to keep them going despite Scoot as an individual to be a little pessimistic about.
- [36:42]
A
Yeah, I think it's good that they have Jrue Holiday like that answers the question for their starting lineup at the point guard spot at least he'll slot in there and be the guy for Portland. He plays defense. He'll get the guys the ball where they need. Maybe his scoring takes a little bit of a jump after kind of being the fifth option for a lot of the time in Boston. But this really sucks for Scoot. Third year is supposed to be a breakout year. He hasn't had a breakout year yet. He was good last season, but this was kind of a prove it year to me for Scoot. Henderson, show us that you're going to be an important piece of the Blazers going forward. Because, I mean, 12 to 14 points per game is not what the Blazers were expecting when they drafted Scoot number three and moved on from Damian Lillard. This guy was supposed to be a star for them, and now he's going into rehab mode with an injury that can linger as a player that really needs to maximize his athleticism. So I think this is pretty bad for the Blazers. Maybe they can survive it if it's only four weeks. You know, he only misses a handful of games. But if it's eight weeks, they could be behind the eight ball when it comes to making a run into the playoffs. And I have absolutely zero confidence in Jeremy Grant. That guy looked completely checked out. You mentioned it. They asked him if he thought he'd be back on the Blazers this season. He said, I definitely didn't. But then you look at his contract and there's no way a team is going to take a chance on Jeremy Grant. 32 million this year, 34 million next season. Then he has a $36 million player option for the 26, 27 season. Jeremy Grant is 31 years old, Tas. He hasn't been in the playoffs since he played for Denver in 2020, and he plays 60 games per season and he expects to start. They asked him if he was going to come off the bench. He's like, I don't see that happening. Which means I think Shaden Char probably goes to the bench because Denny Abdia has been their best player to Mani Kamara, second team all defense. He started every game that he played last year. So sharp to me, seems like the odd man out. And that seems like completely antithetical to building for the future to be sending your young guy who you need to see what he can do as a number one option to the bench to play behind Jeremy Grant, who isn't a good guy to have as your leading scorer. Like, he's not an efficient player. He doesn't shoot well from two, he's not a big defender. He's just a guy that can sop up possessions because nobody else does. So I think this is a kind of a disaster contract. He's got one of the worst contracts in the league because I don't know who's touching that thing.
- [39:16]
B
I cannot disagree. That was a monster when they signed it and yeah, yeah, he signed thinking that he was going to be a number one guy. And it hasn't been great when he's on the court and it hasn't been great in the locker room in terms of the, as you said, what path that this team is on because it is even. Even though they went and got Drew Holiday, it's devoted to younger players. And as I said, I'm excited to watch Denny have the ball and he's got to start a lot of games. I know he's good enough and. And cares about the team enough to come off the bench at times, but when you have a monster contract like Jeremy Grant, I'm sure he expects to start as well. So where's the room for this team if Denny's playing like you said now with Andrea assignments gone, I guess there's more room. It's probably Shane Sharp though, as you said.
- [40:21]
A
That seems they need to pick a direction. The Blazers are caught in the middle right now. We'll see. They had. They were nice last season. Like it was fun to watch the Blazers play defense. That was basically when Jeremy Grant was out and to Mani Kamara and Denny Abdia really stepped into bigger roles. Clingan is going to be better this season assuming he's able to play more than like 25 minutes. I don't have a lot of expectations for young Han Sen this year. He's still just a rookie coming from a lesser league, so we'll see what he's actually able to do. But they're just trying to make it back to the play in tournament and that's not really a place you want to be as a Bulls fan. I can speak to that.
- [41:01]
B
I will say I can't wait to talk about our Tunis Arturis Carnishvist in his words. I got some great words for him. I will say they are picking a younger path, but they just couldn't find anyone that takes.
- [41:15]
A
Are they.
- [41:16]
B
I don't think they want.
- [41:17]
A
They brought in Drew Holiday.
- [41:19]
B
Yeah, you know, a great guy to have in your locker room. But they couldn't find anyone to take Jeremy Grant.
- [41:26]
A
I mean, they're not going to find anybody to take Jeremy Grant.
- [41:29]
B
Yeah, that is a problem. Otherwise they've Gotten young with, you know, Abdi is a lot younger and your, your scoot and your sharp. Kamara, the old guys, I think Drew is just. Is strictly there to, to help guide some of the young players considering they're not paying anyone the max at this point. Max beyond, you know, the rookie contract. It's fine to have Drew Holiday's contract around. It's the Jeremy Grant, unfortunately that it works with the numbers because they're not paying much for basically anybody. Denny's on one of the best contracts in the NBA, so it works financially. But yeah, they're, they're. I think the only old guys really are Drew, Jeremy and Robert Williams is still on the, on the roster.
- [42:15]
A
See, the way I look at it is the only young guys are scooting sharp because like Abdi is in his prime. The dude's 25 years old. He's not young anymore. He's right in the middle of his prime. You know, Kamara was an older rookie as well, so I don't know, this is just an odd team to me and I don't know they could prove me wrong. We'll see.
- [42:36]
B
Yeah, well, you know, Clegan still young and, and young Hanson, let's call him young Hansen, he ain't old.
- [42:42]
A
He's young. Yes, that's true. He's 20 years old.
- [42:45]
B
They're, they're looking for guys. I mean, they are sort of picking, you know, letting Deandre Ayton go. It will be a fun, a fun roster. I think the, the Jeremy Grant issue is more locker room Jeremy Grant, like you said, he obviously did not feel extremely happy sitting there at the table. So, you know, beyond on the floor play, which, which Drew Holiday should help with, he should help this team be excited to take the floor together. What is Jeremy Grant going to be in these situations? I. I don't know if he can adapt to being more of a role player really. I mean, I'd rather see Denny Avda handle the ball so many more times on this team than Jeremy Grant. So TBD here.
- [43:34]
A
Well, since you mentioned foreplay, let's talk about something sexy. Or did you say floor play?
- [43:41]
B
I think I said floor.
- [43:42]
A
Oh, well, anyways, here's something. The Toronto Raptors were asked about the excitement in Toronto over the Blue Jays getting the playoffs in Major League Baseball. RJ Barrett responded, in a couple months from now, it's going to be us. This news test, RJ Barrett making a playoff guarantee.
- [44:03]
B
Oh, yeah, baby. This is incredible news for Toronto as well a city. But let me. Let's just Zoom out. Let's just zoom out for a sec. I. I think if you watched NBA media day and what happened in that Toronto Raptors media day, you got to be super excited. Darko Rakovic, their coach, says our projected starting five has been practicing basically an entire month together in September for a month. And I think that in and of itself is a heck of an accomplishment. This is Toronto Raptors basketball, where last year is a manual quickly ever gonna play. They have just injury issues up and down the roster. Brandon Ingram sat there. He didn't play a minute. So the fact that they're all playing together in Ingram and Barrett and Quickley and Barnes and Jakob Earl is exciting stuff. Listen to this. Some of the quotes from these guys. Scotty Barnes yesterday said, we got 13, 14 guys who can step in. We have a complete roster. What is this, OKC East? Maybe Brandon Ingram. Yeah, might as well go there.
- [45:11]
A
Come on, Come on. You're getting me hyped that they practice together. They gotta play a game together.
- [45:18]
B
I know, I know. That is an accomplishment. These guys put on their shorts and they play together. That did not happen last year. So the fact that you. You hear this kind of stuff. Brandon Ingram complimenting a guy like R.J. barrett, man, I didn't know he was that good.
- [45:33]
A
I thought he was a gunner is what he said. Yeah, but he was just a gunner. But turns out he can just stand off to the side and watch me cook.
- [45:40]
B
Yeah, I guess he didn't watch Toronto Raptors or New York Knicks basketball at all. I mean, he can set guys up, but honestly, you. As far as the roster goes, RJ Barrett seemed almost relieved that there's a Brandon Ingram out there and a Scotty Barnes and Emmanuel Quickley out there, that he doesn't have to be the only guy to set things up like he did last year. So there's just so much positivity going on. Brandon Ingram was asked about the difference between New Orleans and Toronto, and he said, well, the most impressive, impressive thing to me is that every seat in the arena is filled, mine included.
- [46:15]
A
He said. He said, I was sitting the whole time I was there in Toronto just watching the fans, a Fans of a.
- [46:24]
B
Team that was abysmal last year. So that's a great sign. And I will say, I know it's positivity time, because you. This is the time to get extremely excited. And that's where Arturis Carnishvist, as I said, comes into play. He said, you talk to a lot of teams right now and they think they're in that they can compete. Now, as a Bulls fan, that's disappointing to hear, but as a Toronto Raptors fan, or as any other team in the Eastern Conference, your, your Hawks, your Bucks, your teams that have some hope maybe perhaps to be one of those top six, you got to be super excited. And you put it all together. You gotta be excited. Now, when you said foreplay, I thought you were talking specifically about this quote, because Brandon Ingram was asked about how him, Scotty Barnes, and RJ will work as a threesome, and he said, gotta put a pause on that. That's an acceptable pause. Nice one.
- [47:28]
A
What are you supposed to say? Trio? I guess a big three. Saying threesome is actually pretty funny.
- [47:37]
B
But menageri trois, how will you guys perform out there?
- [47:42]
A
Yeah, if it was the Montreal Raptors, they would call it a menagerie, I believe. But it is a good question. How do those three guys fit together?
- [47:50]
B
It's a great question.
- [47:51]
A
Barnes, Ingram, and Barrett. Which brings me to my second question. Will RJ Barrett even be in Toronto at playoff time?
- [47:59]
B
Only if they're good. They. They will be looking to see if, if, if, if, if. If they don't play well together. I don't know. It's. It's hard. It's hard. When you look at the Easter Conference, again, if these guys play, to not see a team that is winning a bunch of games, I, I think that they could be easily be a.500 team if they're all playing together. So that I. I think Bobby Webster, the new head of the front office after the great Messiah Jiri is gone, basically said we're not making any sort of assessments now TBD on everything. So it's a fair question. Trey, will RJ Barrett be playing basketball beside Scotty Barnes and Brandon Ingram? And I know it's a fair question who we're talking about three guys that are basically occupied the same space out there. But I will. I think there will be a lot of cutting. There will be lots of wheels being run. I think, you know, Scotty Barnes is entirely fine with that. RJ Barrett, as Brandon Ingram said, he's a playmaker. He got way better at that. I know it's not his forte, and Ingram's going to score a lot of points. So I think the offense will be totally different this year.
- [49:14]
A
They've got a lot of talent for sure, and I was kind of surprised. I think RJ Barrett shot like 40% on corner threes for Toronto last year, so that would definitely help him stick around. But of those three, he's definitely the most likely to be traded. You know, Barnes is the star of the team. They just gave RJ or they just gave Ingram the big deal after the trade last season. So when you're looking numbers wise, RJ seems like most likely to potentially be shipped out. I was checking the odds on FanDuel this morning. The Raptors are a minus 108 to make the playoffs, a minus 122 to miss the playoffs. But they do have the best odds in the Eastern Conference to make the play in tournament, minus 105. So FanDuel at the very least is tabbing them as play in team. I think that's quite likely. They could click. They do have a lot of depth on this team. Even when you get to the backup guys like, you know, Grady Dick is probably a rotation player. Ochai Baji is a rotation player. Maybe their rookie Colin Murray Boyles is able to do something. I was excited to watch Mamu in Euro basket. They've got some dudes so if they get like good seasons from all of them and they fit better than I think they do. I don't know if they're a top six team in the east, but they could be a top 10 team.
- [50:38]
B
Oh, I think there's no doubt they could be a top 10 team. I mean, you just went through a bunch of players. We're getting deep. We're getting almost 13, 14 players out there. I think they could fill out a roster very well. I think R.J. barrett and his playmaking last year is kind of key to those three guys who operate in the same space in Barnes himself and Brandon Ingram. This guy had five and a half assists per game last year, a huge career high for him. He was, he was asked to do that kind of thing on a floor where Emmanuel Quickley wasn't even playing now. Not, not to say.
- [51:14]
A
Yeah, so. So what's quickly going to be doing then if Barrett's the playmaker? I also thought Ingram was the playmaker. And didn't Scotty Barnes lead the team in assist last year?
- [51:23]
B
Well, so you're saying only one man can dribble. One guy can have the ball. Well, Barrett doesn't have to do it as much anymore. Quickley can't do it as much. That's not really his. I know he's a point guard, but he's not really leading your team in assists ever. And Scotty Barnes can do it. I think. Yeah. This is a team that's, it's, it's that wheel man keep that thing going off at the top. Just keep cycling that ball. So in the Eastern Conference I think they could easily be a play in team. I always see these odds and I, I say hold on, what does making the playoffs even mean? I guess it means you have to win a play in game if you get in the plan. Or does it mean you're in the top six because making I guess is making the playoffs, winning a play in game and getting into the actual playoffs. Or do you have to be top six?
- [52:14]
A
Like when it's all said and done, top eight is playoffs. Yeah, it's probably what it is but I'm a little uncertain on that though I do know obviously if you make 7 through 10 you have made the play in tournament. And I saw the Bulls, their odds, they were plus 190 to make the play in tournament. Yeah, what a, what a awesome availability from Arturish Carnisibus who said we're going to try and win every game this year but also there's no expectations for this team. So they're just like the Blazers, they're just like the Kings. It's like what are you actually trying to do? The only guy who impressed me at Bulls media day was Matas Bou Zealous who said he wants to win most improved player this year and he wants to be an all defensive team player this year. Like those would be huge steps forward for Matas Bouzelis, but at least somebody there is trying to do the right things and has expectations for at least himself going into the season. He also says he wants to win a championship, but I think the Bulls are probably a little bit away from contending for a title. But you know, if Josh Giddies as good as he looked at the end of last season, if Matas Bou Zealous wins most improve and makes all defense, maybe they're cooking something. Not. How about the Blue Jays though? What's the playoff outlook look like for the Blue Jays?
- [53:34]
B
Hopefully the bats get going a little bit because they were a team that everybody started to hype and then they lost six of seven but then they responded well with the sweep to end this whole freaking 162. So they look good, they're excited. But the bats number one. Yeah, they just stalled a little bit in second. I don't like five days off between the playoffs or, excuse me, the regular season and the playoffs for teams that actually win their division because they have to wait for the other series to go on. So I, I'm concerned, I'm concerned about the bats. If they've stalled to end the season. Now here we see them go. After five days off, it's. Yeah, I'm a little worried. I'm a little worried. And. And they're gonna throw in an injured Bo Bichette, probably. Who's gonna come back? Boba. Boba. Hopefully it'll be all right, but I'm. Yeah, I'm definitely concerned about the bats.
- [54:26]
A
I hate that buy when, like, you win the division, it kind of sucks to get the buy, especially I think they play the winner of Yankees, Red Sox, right?
- [54:35]
B
Yes.
- [54:36]
A
That's like so similar to the way the Braves season ended the past two years. Like, they won the division, got the buy, but then the hot team in the second half of the year turned out to be the Phillies, a division rival. Just like what the Blue Jays are going to be running into. Gets a little bit more consistency and they stay playing rather than wasting the buy is a killer. I think you got to be able to respond.
- [55:00]
B
I hate it. Now I listen to the Blue Jays broadcast and. And Buck Martinez, the Blue Jays legend always was saying everybody on that roster, the pitchers, the hitters, the coaches, the fans, everybody loves the time off. I don't get it. This is a game. You wake up, you put on your cleats, you go run, you sit down, you put on some seeds in your mouth, spit them out, you get up and you go out and you play. You hit the ball four times a game, you get your bp. It's the same thing from March till the end of October, and boom, sit down. Or the end of September, then, boom, sit down. Yeah.
- [55:42]
A
Five days. You just sit there.
- [55:44]
B
So, yeah, it's a flow. So those. Those division series is the best 3 out of 5. It sounds weird to say.
- [55:53]
A
That's quick. Yeah.
- [55:54]
B
Yeah.
- [55:55]
A
Not a lot of room for error.
- [55:56]
B
Yeah, exactly. And then dbd, hopefully the. The Jays are. Are in that championship series.
- [56:06]
A
Yes, we shall see. I got some time to dig out my Blue Jays hat. I think it's in my closet, but not completely certain.
- [56:13]
B
Excited. Everybody excited. Last thing about hats, since you mentioned hats, I almost bought another one. All I do is have Blue Jays hats. I don't need another one. But I. Everybody excited about the. The white panel hats. Just the. Basically, it's white like the class.
- [56:27]
A
The classic Blue Jays look white in front, blue backs.
- [56:31]
B
Yes. Yes. Because they don't wear them a lot. Oh, really? It is. It is a class. Yeah. I don't know how I shouldn't say a lot. Like, they've gone through so many newer ones. This is. Yeah. A throwback. Well, it's a. It's not all the way. It's not. I don't know what the panel, how big the panel is, if it's all the way the front. Anyways, almost bought one. So if anybody has a used one they don't want. I'd love a used one. Why do I want a used one?
- [56:57]
A
What am I. Yeah. Send your hat to Tess and wear your used hat. Used hat is up there with used shoes as one of the weirdest things to put on. But look, man, spray it with some Lysol or something. You're living the life. You got a little bit of time to figure it out as well.
- [57:13]
B
Yeah, man, it's gonna be tough.
- [57:14]
A
Yeah, that's right. We got some more injury news. The Grizzlies announced on Friday that Brandon Clark is undergoing a procedure on his knee after having another procedure earlier. There's some complications, I suppose, on his rehab and he's going to be reevaluated in six weeks. They also announced that Zach Edie is out another six to nine weeks. Not nice with his ankle injury. And Jaren Jackson Jr. Is expected to return in four to six weeks. Jay Huff went to the Pacers over the summer, so now the only healthy center in Memphis is Jock Landale. This seems like bad news, Tess.
- [57:54]
B
Very bad news. Who is going to play for this team? I know Jock is going to get out there, he's going to bang some bodies, but this team is small. We talked about the warriors off the top being small. This is a terribly small team. I think you're going to see a bunch of wings out there. How, how big do they go with their wings? Do they, you know, they size up and put Gigi Jackson, who's also probably still growing because he's a kid like Derek Lively. And you have a bunch of really good wing defenders. Vince Williams, Cedric Coward, their new guy. So that bodes well, I guess, their team that can get by with their wing depth. I don't know how much they can size up, but it is scary that, that both those guys you mentioned and Zach eating Jaren Jackson Jr. Out to go along with Brandon Clark, who has had some injury issues. It just sucks for this Canadian that he just hasn't been able to get out there for full on seasons the last couple years. And last year he played a lot of games, surprisingly, but was banged up in the postseason. And so here we are. Bad start for the Memphis Grizzlies.
- [59:01]
A
Yeah, exactly right. 64 games for Brandon Clark. But like you're saying he got hurt towards the end of last year? 6 games only in the 2324 season. Hasn't played more than 64 games in a season in his career. Just seems to always be banged up. And I was saying earlier there's some teams they're going to be behind the eight ball before the season even really gets kicked off and I think the Grizzlies could be one of those teams. They've already got a major adjustment to make going from Taylor Jenkins to now a full season of Isolo as their coach. They did the Desmond Bain for Kentavious Caldwell Pope trade, which was more financially motivated than anything. Definitely a downgrade on the court going from Bain to kcp and now they basically don't have any centers ready to play. Jock Landale was out of the rotation for most of the year with Houston last year. They were happy to see him go even though they're running out double bigs and they brought in Clint Capella. So that shows you what they thought of Jock Landale. Definitely not a starting caliber guy. I do like Santee Aldama. I think he's going to have to step up massively for the Grizzlies, but you could see them having a really slow start and kind of trying to come from behind Once Jaren Jackson Jr. Most especially comes back. I guess it's good news for them that he is the guy who's supposed to be returning soonest. But yeah, the team looks like they'll be okay whenever they get Ed and Jackson together. Like I saw they took, you know, their starting lineup picture together at media day. The starting lineup looks decent, but it's going to be a little bit before we actually see them all together, I guess.
- [60:42]
B
Yeah. The positive is Jaren Jackson Jr. Will be their starting center not too far into the season. It shouldn't take that long. Other positives When Isolo took over at the beginning of April, he gave the ball to John Morant to run a lot more pick and rolls and so he will be asked to do that again. He'll have a different pick setter and Jock Landale, but that guy can set some picks and so it's not on John Morant to be the number one guy for the entire season, but it would have been great to have a camp with Sharon Jackson Jr. Out there running with John Morant when you have your first season under Thomas Isolo. So you know all that to say the the other guys like Gigi Jackson who didn't play the entire season last year will be there healthy, and so there's. There are some bodies to fill up the roster while Jaren Jackson Jr. Is hurt because he's the primary guy you got to be concerned about. Although I don't. You know, Zach Edie had a tough first year, too, with his injuries, so people will look at him quickly and say, well, he's 74 maybe. He's always going to have issues. So that's the. The worrisome part with him.
- [61:53]
A
Yeah, definitely worrisome. Other thing I wanted to ask you, we saw, you know, new photos of old faces in new places. Who do you was the weirdest new player to see in a new jersey at media day? Because we've had, you know, maybe not the most exciting summer, but there was still some player movement during the off season.
- [62:16]
B
I will say the thing that was weirdest to me was the new look for a bunch of guys. Not jerseys. I will say, like, Jamal Murray has the twists of his hair going. I've never seen him do that before. And great sign for Jamal Murray. He was also asked, hey, you feel like this is going to be the first year you make the All Star Game? Hey, man, I'm not worried about that. I think I'm going to have a good November, I think he said. Or maybe he said first month. Either way, he's going to start the season well. He says he feels healthy. Twists look good. Also, Jason Tatum's braids. Yeah. Yeah. As Jalen Brown said, I don't know. He was. I guess he was on a twitch. I don't know. He was watching. He was looking at a video on his phone. When he saw Jason Tatum with the braids, he said, well, JT will try just about anything. And he did. And he looks good. I think he looks good. There's a bunch of different facial hair going around the NBA. So to me, just seeing everybody sitting at their. At their new on their. At the desk for the press conference with their new look, I thought that was the weirdest thing for me.
- [63:19]
A
Yeah, you like the new looks. Jimmy Butler playing it straightforward. You know, he did. He did the dreadlocks. Once upon a time he did Emojimmy. Then last year for the Heat, he was like, I'm locked in normal look. He said emojimmy might make a return later this year because Buddy Healed is a big fan of emojimmy. And those guys are like just a hilarious mix together. For me, the weirdest player to see in a new Jersey was definitely Kevin Love on the Jazz. He people were saying they should call this guy Big Love. After the HBO series about, I think some Mormons in Utah as well, there was a video of Kevin Love with the other new Jazz, Yusuf Nurkic and Kyle Anderson. These guys didn't necessarily look thrilled to be in Utah, but Kevin Love said prior to aging he would have taken this as a negative thing and tried to like build himself self up. Like, you know, they. They wrote me off, but I didn't write back kind of thing. Instead, he's trying to be a positive light to his teammates, which I think means he's going to be pretty nice with the memes, because that was something he got really good at there at the end of his Miami tenure.
- [64:36]
B
He was the meme champ, that's for sure. It's great to have that positivity around for a guy like Ace Bailey, who I know most people are saying, well, he didn't want to be here. I think that's a bunch of bull. Hucky. He looked like he wanted to be there when he was asked about it yesterday. They went on a hike. A few weeks ago, you could hear Ace Bailey saying, whoa, this is the.
- [64:58]
A
First hike of my life.
- [65:02]
B
He's. He seems super happy. And so I know we talked about Larry marketing and where we would, where we would place him in terms of the rankings when we did our entire show ranking everybody in terms of a starter. And I said, hey, that guy's an all Star, man. He's not just a one time all Star. I know it's tough, but there's lots of positivity going around in Utah. I think it will be tough for him to make it, but to see a guy like Ace Bailey, who I think you could say is the most, you know, raw talent out there. I know Lowry's really, really great player, but if we can see Ace Bailey grow into a really good player, that's obviously incredibly great. For the Utah Jazz, who've tried year after year after year after year to get the number one pick, they end up with the guy at number five who supposedly didn't want to be there, but you hear him in the press conferences in his first one, he was all smiles.
- [66:04]
A
Yeah, he probably realized, I'm gonna get the ball a lot and get the shoot a lot. So, like, I know he wanted to go to Washington where that would have been the case as well, but he decided to part ways with Omar Cooper. I don't know if he was his manager or his agent, but seemed to be kind of a driving force for getting Ace away from Utah. Didn't work out that way, but there's opportunity there. I also saw Larry Markkanen throwing a Frisbee.
- [66:29]
B
Oh, I didn't see that.
- [66:30]
A
Yeah, yeah. Like they were out on some hills throwing a Frisbee with the Jazz guys. So at least they got some. Some good camaraderie and some beautiful nature out there in Utah. And the uniforms look great. Like they're going. They're like, they're full on mountain rebrand at this point because they were kind of like halfway in between last year, but they look really sweet. Just probably not going to be a lot of wins for the Jazz. I also like seeing nice jersey.
- [66:56]
B
That's a nice purple soft jersey, man.
- [67:00]
A
Yeah, really soft. I like the gradient mountains. Looks beautiful.
- [67:03]
B
It does, yeah.
- [67:05]
A
I liked seeing old Chris Paul back on the Clippers. That was pretty interesting. Wearing their new set of uniforms. And I saw Duncan Robinson has like a little mustache going there on the.
- [67:16]
B
That is so hot right now.
- [67:21]
A
Few guys that were not in camp, though there are some free agents left on the market. People are making noise that this is the first time since 2008 that Russell Westbrook isn't at a media day. Currently unsigned. Who do you think is the best free agent left on the market? Tassel. Anybody out there that can still help a team?
- [67:39]
B
Oh, yeah, there definitely is. It depends what your team needs. Malik Beasley is still available. He is an incredible shooter. He obviously has off court issues with the investigation still ongoing. Am I right that it's still ongoing?
- [67:57]
A
It's. It's a question mark to me because there was, you know, I think there was a report earlier in the summer that the investigation is over, but it doesn't necessarily seem totally cleared.
- [68:09]
B
Right.
- [68:10]
A
Playing. So I don't exactly know what's going down, but no team has signed him. He's definitely the best player left out there, but I think there are still questions to be answered before some team decides to take the plunge.
- [68:23]
B
I get it for sure. So that, that's, that's a different. Definitely a question mark. You mentioned Duncan Robinson. That guy is basically taking Malik Beasley's spot with the Pistons. Although it seems like the Pistons can still resign. Malik Beasley would be a far, far smaller contract than he initially was going to get. But I mean, that's an incredible shooter. That's still available. Jonathan Kaminga is still available as a, as a great scorer out there. But I would say because those two guys are question marks. Quentin Grimes, I think is the best player if, you know, if you want what you're getting Is a lock of a good secondary off the ball score, but will also be fine taking the best offensive player on the defensive end. He's your guy, he's available. So I would go through those three, but I think there's some, there's some other Flyers that you could take on a bunch of players that are still available.
- [69:26]
A
Yeah, exactly right. I mean, Beasley, like we said, big time question mark. Kaminga yet to be resolved. Seems likely he'll be on the warriors one way or another just because the reporting around him is that trade talks have been shut down. Basically on the Warrior side saying we're not increasing our offers out there. Everybody knows what the score is here. We'll see what happens. And then Grimes feels like he's going to be back on the Sixers some way or another. They've only offered him like a four year, $40 million contract, something kind of low value. But he opened a lot of eyes last season after the Dallas deal was done and he kind of took the opportunity to put some 40 point games up and show much how much more he can do with the ball. Just doesn't feel like there's a team for him that's going to spend a lot of money. So maybe he takes the qualifying offer, goes back to Philadelphia, has another good season and then is able to go into unrestricted free agency. But the Flyers, the questions are like, is Westbrook going to get signed and which team will sign him? Maybe Dallas is interested. I haven't looked at their financials to know if they can even do it, but they're a team that is lacking in point guard depth, even though they did bring back Dennis Smith Jr. And then Ben Simmons, I suppose is a question as well. He played in the NBA last year. Apparently the Knicks were kicking the tires on him. But it's not entirely certain that Ben Simmons wants to continue his NBA career. I think Stefan Bondi reported that.
- [70:55]
B
I will throw in a couple guys that have. They've even produced an emergency podcast on our show. Cam Reddish is available. I. I know.
- [71:06]
A
I thought he signed overseas.
- [71:07]
B
Oh, did he?
- [71:08]
A
Yeah, he's playing for some team overseas now. Oh, he's in Lithuania maybe.
- [71:13]
B
Huh. I didn't see that.
- [71:17]
A
Okay. He's playing in the Lithuanian league.
- [71:21]
B
Oh, okay. Surprising. I. I would have thrown him in like sort of into the camp with Delano Banton, who's still available. As in a very capable guy. We were talking about Portland recently. I think that was last year where Chauncey Billups only played him in fourth quarters for a While.
- [71:40]
A
And he was like one of the best fourth quarter scorers in the league or something like that. Right. Delano Banton. That's a good call. My team should take a gamble on him.
- [71:47]
B
Yeah, yeah. A younger version of Cam Reddish who. Yeah, didn't. Yeah, he didn't click. But Delon Bennett feels like can still. Can still get there. It's at the Cam Reddish level that people like us did an emergency podcast for because you know he had that great playoff series with the Atlanta Hawks when they went to the conference finals as a. Obviously he contributed in that series, but I wouldn't say great series.
- [72:22]
A
Yeah, he contributed. The only reason we did a Cam Reddish emergency podcast is because he was the number 10 overall pick. There's no other reason he hasn't necessitated a podcast before or since.
- [72:35]
B
No, he has given him back. He played defense though for a while.
- [72:38]
A
He did up in that series, that's for sure. Yeah, that was a Sixer series, I think. Sixers, Hawks.
- [72:44]
B
Yeah, the Bucks one is. Yeah, the Bucks was the conference finals where they lost. Yeah, he was playing in that. He was playing Chris Middleton. All right. In that one. There's a bunch of old guys like you mentioned point guard like if you need desperately need one. Corey Joseph literally was starting for the Atlanta Magic last year for a bit. He's available. And then the Seth Curry we talked about and there's real oldies out there like Marquis Morris or DeAndre Jordan if you want to locker room smiler. He's still available. Jokic. Jokic listed all the guys that he's gonna miss from his team that left this past season. DeAndre Jordan was one of them.
- [73:26]
A
Vlaco Chanchar.
- [73:28]
B
Yeah. Yeah.
- [73:29]
A
I think he listed basically every nugget who was on the team last year except for Michael Porter Jr. That's right.
- [73:35]
B
Yeah. Yeah. I wonder why that happened. And Reggie Jackson now that you mentioned Nuggets. He's available. Okay. Need to need a deep, deep roster player.
- [73:45]
A
I can see him coming back. I saw Tori Craig and Jay Crowder were out there. Those are guys that always get signed at the end of the season to some team. But yeah, the. The bargain bin is getting pretty empty here. I guess the biggest question mark is probably Westbrook and I wonder if a team we'll decide to give him a run. We shall see. Got anything else tasks from these couple of media days or shall we wrap things up?
- [74:11]
B
I think I'm media dade out at this point. I think I've mentioned everything I possibly know from media day.
- [74:20]
A
Yeah, the other stuff was like, why Talking. Yeah.
- [74:24]
B
Dear. And Fox as well. The fact that he. He's got a hamstring injury.
- [74:30]
A
Yeah.
- [74:30]
B
And he's not going to be ready for the first game of the season. So although Victor Wembanyama is freaking ready and seems like he's very well cultured after this off season, he doesn't get a training camp with the Aaron Fox. That's.
- [74:46]
A
Yeah. It's too bad.
- [74:47]
B
Yeah.
- [74:47]
A
Fox is also recovering from, like, finger surgery.
- [74:51]
B
Yeah.
- [74:51]
A
As well.
- [74:52]
B
But a hamstring means you can't run in training camp at all. Like, you can't get possessions with Victor. Women. Yama, you're gonna miss November 1st is the target date. So not only are you gonna miss the first game, you're gonna miss a. A few. So. So that stinks. And then the. The kawaii stuff, as you said.
- [75:10]
A
Yeah, the kawaii stuff. I mean, there's not much else for the Clippers to do besides duck the question and say, we look forward to the investigation proving that we were doing legal stuff. Though it does seem pretty notable that when they're asked if Uncle Dennis is asking for things outside of the limits of the salary cap, and they're basically like, yeah, we all know the rules. They're not just saying no. You know, they could easily say, no, he didn't ask for anything like that. But they are clearly not saying that, so we will see what transpires there. Giannis made some waves as well, not being at Buck's training camp because he was diagnosed with COVID When he was over in Greece, though, he zoomed in and kind of confirmed that, yeah, he had looked at some other places. I think that will probably still continue to be a storyline throughout the season. Giannis's future with Milwaukee, but they signed his brother. They brought in Miles Turner. They did what they could to keep Giannis around over the summer. And if he's able to play to an MVP level like we've seen for the past seven seasons, the Bucks still have a chance in the Eastern Conference as a playoff team. So maybe that's something that keeps Giannis happy enough to stick around because it doesn't seem like he wants to leave. But he also is always mentioning that the only thing he cares about is playing for a competitive team that's trying to win.
- [76:32]
B
So, yeah, and he did. He had a long interview with Harris Stavro in Greece, and I know a lot of people weren't tracking this Greek interview, but it's the first time I got to hear some real Greek. I Don't consume a lot of Greek in my day to day. So I watched this whole thing and I think one thing that didn't make a lot of headlines was him saying, yeah, I'd play in Europe at some point. And I know he didn't go hard on it, but he made it clear, like sort of as you're, as you're implying that he would be comfortable leaving Milwaukee at some point if things aren't going well. I think he knows that he is. He's not getting younger. He's 30. And at some point he would be comfortable leaving Milwaukee if it's the right scenario. Now Europe is way down the road and he did say part of it is, are they going to pay me the same as they do in America? And the answer, no, I don't think so. I don't think it's even close. But there's, there's some very rich European team owners that could. I mean there's, there was he even, I think it was him who brought up, you know, Messi coming to America in as a sort of a comparison. And so he didn't, he didn't rule it out, you know, five years or six years down the road. So you make a good point about even going somewhere else in the NBA. We don't, we don't know that Janice is going to be there forever and he is, you know, watching what's going on with Luca etc and he knows very clear that it'll be fine with him at some point, I think to, to move on if things aren't going, going well in Milwaukee. Although he loves Cole Anthony as his point guard man, he loves Cole Anthony.
- [78:26]
A
Yeah, Cole Anthony seems like a fun guy to have around. We'll see what happens with Giannis. I can definitely see, see at the end of his career when he's ready to hang it up in the NBA, maybe he decides to go play overseas in Europe, maybe even in like whether it be this LeBron led league or this Adam Silver league, like helping launch it. He could play with all of his brothers on the same team. Get the Nasis over there. Costas is already playing overseas as well. Isn't there an Alex Antetokounmpo?
- [78:54]
B
Yeah, he's around.
- [78:56]
A
All right, so that's four out of five. You could have a full team of antetokounmpos if Giannis so desires.
- [79:01]
B
Yeah, Francis. Francis, his brother Francis, if I am correct, he played soccer for a while. He can be out there.
- [79:08]
A
Call him up. Why not? 5 Onto Campus Sounds like a tough team to beat overseas at at least. As for us, we'll be back sometime later this week. These teams are starting to practice. Maybe we'll get some news. We'll definitely hear about Kaminga and Grimes and what they decide to do with their contracts so hopefully nobody gets hurt in any of these practices. I feel like we've had a lot of injuries in off season workouts that are starting to surface right now. We've also got no buffs later this week. Episode 2 of Survivor is Wednesday night so we'll be back on Thursday and then we're getting into the season preview. Season TAs NBA starts on October 21st is night one. So next week we're going to be starting our preview stuff. We'll do over under podcasts for the Eastern and Western Conference. We will talk about your favorite team. Garon Teed. Very exciting time.
- [80:04]
B
It is an exciting time. Looking forward to it man. It feels right. It feels. Feels exciting. Adam Silver is right. Parody's great.
- [80:13]
A
Parody is great. A lot of teams out there with a chance to win. Everybody's undefeated right now. Even the Clippers. Shout out to the Clipper, bro. You heard it here first. Have a great time. Turn up. Love you guys. Awesome.
- [80:29]
B
Thanks for joining us. And remember, disc golf is better than Frisbee fun. Just better.
- [80:37]
A
Embrace the disc people.