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- [00:00]
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- [01:07]
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- [01:49]
Host 1
Good morning and welcome to the NBA Daily. Coming up on today's show, we're going to rank the buyout deals of Damian Lillard, Bradley Beal and Marcus Martin. Tell you who we think is going to have the biggest impact on their team. Before we get to our guest, Fred Katz, listeners, we want to hear from you. I have a link in the description of this podcast that has a survey and you can tell us what content that you enjoyed this year, what you would like to see next season and hey, maybe you want us to do some live shows. I don't know. If you do, let us know in that survey, we'd very, very much appreciate you guys doing that. With me today is my good buddy Fred Katz. Fred, what's up man?
- [02:35]
Fred Katz
Do they have Less Fred as an option on there? Because if so, I'm extremely Worried for the survey.
- [02:41]
Host 1
There. There is a, you know, say whatever you want portion of it.
- [02:46]
Fred Katz
Oh, my God. Oh, God. I'm gonna. I'm gonna win on the right or lose on the right end, I should say, aren't I? It's really disappointing.
- [02:54]
Host 1
Basically everybody just say that. You love to hear Alex Spears on podcasts. Okay, That's. That's what. That's what we all know. Okay.
- [03:01]
Fred Katz
It's the whole goal. That's the entire goal.
- [03:04]
Host 1
Okay. So there have been some interesting buyouts this summer of guys that have massive names, massive contracts. We will kind of go through the deal. I think it's so interesting to backtrack and look at, like, how did we get here? Kind of thing with each of these guys. But, Fred, I want you to rank these guys in terms of the impact that you think that they'll have, not necessarily this year, because obviously Dame is going to be rehabbing, but just the impact that they'll have over the life of the contracts that they're on with these current teams with the. The Clippers, the Lakers and the Blazers. So who's your number three guy, Fred?
- [03:45]
Fred Katz
Number three? I'm going to go. Marcus Smart.
- [03:47]
Host 1
Okay. Okay. So. So Marcus Smart, two years, by the way.
- [03:52]
Fred Katz
By the way, to be. To be clear, I like all of these signings. Yeah, all of these are good moves. So we're not. I'm not knocking any of these moves. These are.
- [04:03]
Host 1
All.
- [04:03]
Fred Katz
These moves are all additive to me. And. And the Dame one is controversial even within myself and within my heart and really within my brain. It's. It's basically my heart and my brain at constant battle. The damn one. But the Marcus Smart one is like, let's start there.
- [04:23]
Host 1
Yeah. So two years, 11 million. He's got a player option for year two. If things go really well, he'll go make more money somewhere else. This is a. This is not as crazy because the Wizards just have this year of 21.3 million of dead money on their books. They weren't. They have tons of space. Like, this is not impactful to them. The Lakers did have to waive Jordan Goodwin and shake Milton in order to access the biannual exception to sign Marcus Smart. Jordan Goodwin is actually kind of decent player. I think that he's a guy that will get picked up by somebody that will play NBA minutes next year. I do. Like, you have to rewind this a little bit to get to that Grizzlies trade where they traded the 25th pick in the 2023 draft that became Marcus Sasser. Which they eventually traded the 20A 2025 first rounder that became Walter Clayton Jr. That is with the Jazz now Antius Jones to get Marcus Smart. And then they had to actually give up a first round pick in order to get rid of Marcus Smart. Just a disastrous deal overall for the Grizzlies and a guy that they had pretty high expectations for, but a lot of it was he just couldn't play. But now the, and this is kind of like the tenor of almost all these deals is like, well, now the Lakers get him. They don't have to give up any assets. They get them on a cheap deal. And if it works, amazing. And if it doesn't, it doesn't really matter that much.
- [05:52]
Fred Katz
Yep, totally. The, the thing that I the reason why I have Marcus Smart number three, or one of the reasons why I have Marcus Smart number three is because of the player option. I, I do think there is, there's a world where, because Marcus Smart has has trended in the wrong direction for a few years now and there's a world where that trend continues. And then you're like, oh no, he's got the player option for next year. And the Lakers kind of just experienced this now. They were in a much more dire cap situation when guys like Christian Wood picked up his player option and that pushed him really close. They were really, really, really close to the second apron last year and they did not want to go over the second apron. So when guys like Christian Wood ended up picking up player options for year two of a deal, that ended up hurting them to a degree, or at least I'll say affecting them, affecting the way that they operated. Whereas they're not going to be in as constricting a situation next summer, we think, as, as they were last summer. So it's not going to be as big of a deal. But the player option, you're often like. That said, I think it was probably a situation where you have to give out the player option in order to get Marcus Smart. And look, let's go through the best and worst case scenarios here. The best case scenario is, the best case scenario is not you get the defensive player of the year again, I think those days are probably behind Marcus Smart. But the best case scenario is you get a guy who is ridiculously intense, who cares a lot about winning, who is going to go all the way out for every single possession, who just kind of sort of finds ways to make winning plays all the time. There are some of those players who, yeah, they take bad shots and yeah, they don't necessarily have a jumper and yeah, they have a flaw in this area that should be really easily exposed, but they just sort of make winning plays all the time. You know, Marcus Smart is, when he's going, right. Marcus Smart is very much, very cleanly. He might be the captain of that. You know, it's like him and, and Josh Hart. Just like these guys who are flawed, but you're like, those guys just win you games way too often for you to look at them as anything other than winning players. And, and Smart still goes intense as hell. He adds some switchability to their lineups defensively because he can still switch onto bigs and guard bigs even though, you know, the physical skill set isn't there to the level that it was, you know, three, four years ago. He's still one of their better defenders on the perimeter and, and he's also very importantly for them. He's another playmaker for them, which is nice to have behind Luka and LeBron. Just somebody who can run a pick and roll, somebody who can, who's, who can be an outlet on a fast break, go the other way and get you into your offense in a reasonable sort of fashion. I think, I think that's a good, very low risk, as you said, signing for them and they got better with that move.
- [08:59]
Host 1
Yeah, I think the biggest thing, like there's two things that I think are pretty impactful to this. One, Luka Doncic recruited him, which is, if you're a Lakers fan, that's music to your ears. That he's invested in this team to that degree is a big deal. And then his health, like is, is he gonna, he's gonna be able to play? I mean, he's played 54 games over the last two years. Like that's, it's just not a lot of basketball games. And so is he going to be able to play? I think is the biggest question because it's not like he was in a non competitive situation in Memphis. You know, I know Memphis did have a lot of injuries, but he was a part of like the reason that that team kind of fell apart was that they didn't have him available. And so like is his body able to hold up? Is a big one. He doesn't have to shoulder a huge load. I don't know if, I mean, I would guess he would come off the bench for the Lakers. You could argue that start and then maybe you bring Rui or Austin Reeves or somebody off the bench.
- [10:00]
ButcherBox
I don't know.
- [10:00]
Host 1
I don't really don't know what the starting lineup situation looks like, but I do know that the Lakers desperately need point of attack defense. That was just something that they didn't have at all last year. And so I just like the idea of them being able to add a guy who could theoretically do that at a pretty high level.
- [10:17]
Fred Katz
Yeah, 100%. I mean, look, nobody with the Lakers has told me this. This is just me riffing. I'm not reporting this at all. I'd be pretty shocked if the Lakers did not go into next year with like a plan to keep Marcus Smart healthy throughout the season.
- [10:34]
Host 1
Yeah.
- [10:35]
Fred Katz
And I would also be pretty shocked if that plan to keep him healthy involved him starting and playing 34 minutes a game. Yeah, I would imagine that they are going to monitor his minutes closely. They're going to monitor his regular season intensity closely. The other thing with Marcus Smart is he is the ultimate dude who you can never be like, all right, just go out there and just, you know, just keep it cool, man.
- [10:58]
Host 1
Yeah, take it easy.
- [10:59]
Fred Katz
Yeah, yeah. Don't, don't necessarily die for, you know, like, I watch Yankees games now because it's not basketball season. I watch Yankees games every night and I watch John Carlos Stanton run the bases and it's the most extraordinary thing you've ever seen in your life. The Yankees don't allow him to run hard on the bases because he's so fragile and he is genuinely. Dude can still absolutely rake and, oh, I love him to death. So clutch. He moves at a slower pace than I've ever seen any professional athlete. He scored from second on a single the other day, and I thought it was a miracle. It was unbelievable. The man moved so slow. You can tell John Carlos Stanton to move slow. And he'll move slow. He will, he will move slower than you ever knew possible. I, I, you can't do that with Marcus Smart. So you're really just going to have to monitor him in terms of back to backs and minutes and that kind of stuff, because once he's on the court, he is going to be in the first row of fans within five minutes. So, yeah, that's, that's just kind of the way that it's, it's going to go with him. So I feel like bringing him off the bench, I would guess bringing him off the bench is most likely scenario. And then if you get to a point where you're like, well, this lineup is really, really good, when we insert Marcus Smart for, you know, fill in the blank, then you can still play that lineup a lot and you can still close with that lineup and, and that could be, you know, that could be a route you take.
- [12:26]
Host 1
Yeah, similar, I mean similar to former Laker Alex Caruso with the Thunder this year. Like if he had any like ache or pain during the regular season, it's like, yep, you're sitting out, you know, like we're, we're not going to overtax you because we need you in the playoffs. And that kind of player I think won the Thunder showed in the playoffs that like just being tall is a little bit overrated. Some of it is like the length that you have and Marcus Smart has that and just like the intensity with which you can play, like those are playoff attributes. Those aren't necessarily things that you have to have night in, night out in the regular season now. Like they need Gabe Vincent who was like relatively healthy last year. They need him to stay healthy, you know, in order for this to happen. They need Dalton connect to be useful or Brianny James to be useful this year just because they don't have a ton of guards as is. And so if they can get relative health from those guys and then just kind of keep Marcus Smart on ice at times during the regular season, I think that, I think you're right. I think that makes sense. Fred, who is your second player here in this ranking?
- [13:35]
Fred Katz
I'll say Damian Lillard because I, I'm somewhat conflicted about Lillard. The reason I go Lillard over Smart is because the ceiling is just so much higher. I mean he was literally an all star. How many months ago? Five months ago he was an all star. Like he was averaging 26 a game. He is not the player that he was in his prime. He gets torched defensively. However, he's still an all time shooter, a 25 point scorer and an excellent player. And I understand why it's in fashion to, to dislike Portland signing a player of, you know, lillard's ilk, a mid-30s injured point guard. When they're a team that didn't even make the plan last year that still, you know, organizationally they still tell everybody that they are extremely high on Scoot Henderson, that they are extremely high on their guards, they're extremely high on Denny Avdia as a playmaker. They, they have, they have all of these young players who, a lot of whom are, are pretty good. And why are you bringing in this, you know, decorated veteran in order to take touches and take minutes and take opportunities from them? I, I, I've, I've had that same thought too.
- [15:03]
Host 1
And then, well, they brought two of those guys in. They brought two 35 year old injury prone point guards that are going to take touches away from guys.
- [15:13]
Fred Katz
Yes.
- [15:13]
Host 1
And they're, and they're going to be spending this year almost 50 million for those two. Yes. It is a, it is a strategy that I think is very strange is what I would say.
- [15:28]
Fred Katz
It would be strange if it wasn't Damian Lillard.
- [15:31]
Host 1
Yeah, yeah. Totally, totally true.
- [15:34]
Fred Katz
It would be strange if you told me on its face. All right. The Blazers just signed a currently injured. The Blazers won how many Games last year? 35.
- [15:47]
Host 1
Yeah, it was not many. Hold on, I'll pull it up.
- [15:49]
Fred Katz
Whatever it was. They finished pulling the playing tournament. They won 35 games. They had a nice second half this season. 36.
- [15:54]
Host 1
36 and 46.
- [15:55]
Fred Katz
Okay. They had, they had a nice little run at the end of the year where they were playing better than they kind of fell off. They had like a little, a little fake comeback towards the end of the end of the play in tournament. They, Denny Abdia broke out second half of last year. Tony Kamara was awesome all season, especially on the defensive end. He's, he's really become like a role player wizard. I think he's going to be, he's going to be awesome. Like he's already just a phenomenal defender and kind of a shot selection king. I think he mid range shot all season and it was, and it was like the end of the shot clock where he was trying to take a three, he pump faked, got closed out on, had to take one dribble in and put up a shot as the buzzer went off. I think that was near the end of the season. That was the only mid range shot he had taken all year. So like he, he is like otherwise everything either in the paint or from beyond the three point arc, he is, he is like the ultimate role player in terms of every single trait that he has. And I, he's, he's excellent. They have good young players and bringing in a 35 year old who is currently recovering from a major injury, who plays with the ball in his hands, who you would think that that would be awful. And yet I, I, I can't stop myself from loving the fact that the Blazers signed Damian Lillard and loving the fact that Damian Lillard signed with the Blazers. I also think from a personality standpoint if there was one ball dominant vet who was injured who I thought you know what, he'll still be great in the locker room like that. It's Damian Lillard.
- [17:41]
Host 1
Yeah.
- [17:41]
Fred Katz
And if there's one organization that I trusted to have the information to make that decision. It's Portland. Yeah, I just. Lillard wouldn't be there if he didn't want to be there. And he's very far from a dumb guy and he's very far from a dense teammate. He's like the ultimate culture, like culture in the locker room setter sort of guy. And there's no way, like there's a 0% chance Damian Lillard agrees to this. Because I think the other way you can look at this is why would Portland do this? The other way you can look at this is why is Dame doing this? He asked out two years ago and look, we know he, he wants to be near his kids. And that makes it even more beautiful to me that he just wants to be near his kids. Yeah, how are you gonna ever fault anybody for that and would not? He asked out two years ago and all of a sudden he's back and he knows the situation the Blazers are in and he knows how the NBA works and he knows how that situation goes. There's another part of this too, which is by the time Dame is healthy, it's possible Portland's in a better spot. I just out outlaid a bunch of their good young players. They have good young players who's clinging.
- [19:06]
Host 1
Who's the guy though? Like they've got. That's the thing that, that I think that they're missing from their situation is like, who is like who's the guy for them? Because it, I, I don't know, the Scoot Henderson is going to develop into that guy. I still think there's probably some hope of that. Maybe Shade and Sharp. I also wonder just about their, their cap sheet in general. Just because like it looks fine now, you know, you have but like in 27, 28 you have player options for Drew Holiday at 37, Jeremy Grant at 36, and then Lillard as on the 14 million, you know, and you're going to have to pay Denny Abdia, you're going to have to pay Scoot Henderson. Whatever he's going to make, you're going to have to pay Shade and Sharp, whatever he's going to make. I mean, it's just things get complicated really quick and in the Western Conference you have to have top tier guys, you know, if you really want to compete. So I do worry a little bit. Like I do like this Blazers team. They were super fun last year, but I don't know who the guy is for them. You know, once, like once Dame is Ready to come back and play. Like, is he going to come off the bench for them? Like, I have a hard time believing that, but I don't know. I just think it's a, it's a weird situation. I think the Blazers have, have gone from like this like really fun young team that's got a lot of really good players to. I don't exactly know what they're going to be. And now that they have Dame Andrew Holiday on the hook for a few years, I don't exactly know what they're going to be, especially in the West. If this was in the east, it's a completely different situation. I think that team makes the playoffs easily, but in the West, I think it's just a lot more murky.
- [20:53]
Fred Katz
Yeah. I mean, look, personally, I think, I think the Drew Holiday move was stranger than the Damian Lillard move.
- [21:02]
Host 1
Sure.
- [21:03]
Fred Katz
Number one, the contract is three times the size.
- [21:06]
Host 1
Yeah.
- [21:06]
Fred Katz
Two and a half times the size. Number two, like, I know we can all pretend like these organizations are robots and these teams are robots and these players are robots and they all have to fit the cookie cutter mold, but it's just not the case. It's not the case. And if the Portland Trailblazers have an opportunity to sign Damian Lillard. Damian Lillard wants to go back to the Portland Trailblazers and he's willing to do it it on a contract that's actually a little bit less than the mid level exception that is gonna age well because in year three it's like 8% of the cap. Then I don't fault them for being like, we should do that. And they didn't know that was going to happen when they traded for Drew Holiday. They didn't know that. No one knew that was going to happen. So it's not like they, they were like, all right, we're going to be able to get. Damn, let's execute on the Drew trade.
- [21:59]
Host 1
Right.
- [21:59]
Fred Katz
They didn't know that that was coming down.
- [22:01]
Host 1
It's, it's hilarious that they're on the same team now, by the way, just because of like the way that the, the original trade was the, the Bucks got Dame, the Blazers got Drew Holiday. Ayton to Monte Camaro 29 first. Man, they, the Blazers did so well. They got a 20, 29 first from the Bucks and two pick swaps in 28 and 30 from the Bucks. And like maybe that's, maybe that's the answer to the question is like, how are they going to get better?
- [22:29]
Fred Katz
It's like, right?
- [22:30]
Host 1
Those picks and those swaps could very well be the ticket to them getting better.
- [22:36]
Fred Katz
But 100% people, I mean there's, there are always a couple of first round picks that belong to other teams that are like the gold of the league. And now the number one gold of the league is easily. If you have a Phoenix Suns pick, it's like congratulations. Yeah, congratulations to you. You have a Phoenix Suns pick. Congratulations to the Houston Rockets, they have Phoenix Suns picks. Congratulations to the Washington Wizards. They have potentially three Phoenix sun swaps.
- [23:03]
Host 1
Swaps. Three. Yeah, yeah, I have for the Beal section, but having three swaps, I looked at it this morning, I could not believe it. I could not believe that they gave up that much to get Beal.
- [23:20]
Fred Katz
It was all they had.
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Host 1
Yeah.
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Fred Katz
And at the time the general public reaction, it was funny because at the time the general public reaction was was oh, wow, they gave up Phoenix, gave up everything to get Beale. That, that is imprudent. And also the genuine public reaction was, man, Washington didn't get anything. This is what happens is why you don't give guys no trade clauses. Washington didn't get anything. It's like, yeah, Phoenix gave all they had, but what they had was nothing. Washington didn't get a real first round pick. They just got swaps. Who knows? The Phoenix team is going to be good. Oh my goodness. Those three swaps, they have a swap next year. The Wizards are going to tank next year. They're going to full on tank. All right. Yeah, they're going to full on tank. And there is still a chance the Suns are not going to tank. There is still a realistic chance that the Wizards execute on that swap, that.
- [24:18]
Host 1
They use the swap because the Wizards.
- [24:21]
Fred Katz
End up seventh or sixth or something like that.
- [24:24]
Host 1
Oh, man.
- [24:25]
Fred Katz
And you know, Phoenix, you know, ends up right around the same place as they do and Phoenix wins the lottery or something and they swap six for one or whatever else. Like that's well firmly on the table.
- [24:37]
Host 1
To me it's the 28 and 30 swaps for, for them. Because I mean this next year is, is. It could, it could be helpful. Like you just don't know. But having a 28 and a 30 swap whenever you're. I mean, the Wizards I think are executing their rebuild quite well and I think that they, they're now in a position where like they just really need to hit on somebody in the top five. And if they do that in the next couple years and you have that 20, 30 swap in your back pocket and the Suns are just completely decimated by that point and they're at the bottom of the league. That could be huge for them because you could be good and picking in the top 10 or 12 or whatever it is. You know, like that could be, that could be big time for them. Anything else, Any, any loose ends that we want to tie up on the, on the Dame deal. Were you surprised at all at the three year, $42 million mark? I know it's not like a lot of money per se, but I feel like a lot of the reason that teams like to sign buyout guys is that they're already getting paid by another organization and so they don't necessarily need to take much at all. It seemed a little high to me. Like he'll be making like 70ish million now every year because he's getting paid by two organizations. That's pretty amazing for Damian Lillard. But were you surprised at that number at all?
- [26:03]
Fred Katz
No, I wasn't because I had heard that there were legitimate suitors for Dame and that the price that it would take to get him would probably end up being the mid level. So I, I think the price for Dame was going to end up being no matter which organization, the way it ends up happening in these sorts of situations is okay, are you going to give me everything you have? And I think it was similar with Bradley Beal, where it was okay, you're going to give me everything you have. You know, it was okay, the Lakers are interested, you're capable of opening up the biannual. Are you going to give me everything you have? That's 5.1 million. All right, the Clippers are interested. You have 5.3 million left of the mid level. You know, are you going to give me that 5.3 million? You know, I think with Beal, this is probably a good transition, right? I think with, with Beal. With Beal, the way the negotiations went down, Clippers made a couple of interesting moves leading up to the Beal signing. Which was. Number one was the obvious one was the Norman Powell one.
- [27:04]
Host 1
Yep.
- [27:05]
Fred Katz
Number two is a subtler one. They waived Jordan Miller. That was how you knew Jordan Miller was going. So I reported that Bradley Beal was likely ending up with the Clippers shortly after they waived Jordan Miller. That was the, that was kind of the, the windy pointing meme, cheat code moment because I had done, I had done their cap financials and they needed to shave off some. They were able to give beal the full 5.3. However, they weren't able to finish off their roster with two veteran minimum contracts. If they gave him the full 5.3. With the way their roster was before they wave Jordan Miller, they're able to sign a 14th guy to a veterans minimum and then they could sign another veteran guy to a to a prorated deal in the in the middle of the year and they could have 15 guys all on veteran vetman's or more expensive contracts throughout the year. So I was like the Clippers are going to maneuver to find a way to get Beal and a couple of vet minimums guys. So they did that so that they could give, they waived Miller and then they can give Beal all that he can get. A lot of the time with negotiations, it's just like if you have it, I want all of it. What resource do you have? What exception do you have? I want all of it. And I think that's probably what happened with Dame and I think that's what happened with with Bill as well, where it's just like what do you have available? You got to offer me all of what you have available.
- [28:33]
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- [31:39]
Host 1
We sent.
- [31:42]
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- [32:08]
Fred Katz
See?
- [32:22]
Host 1
Okay, your number one guy, Bradley Beal, who gets a two year around 11 million dollar deal with the Clippers. There's 19.3 million in dead money on the Sun's books until the 2930 season, which feels overwhelming. I didn't mention.
- [32:40]
Fred Katz
Does it only feel overwhelming?
- [32:43]
Host 1
It just feels just to me sitting at my house in Oklahoma City. Yes. It just feels a little overwhelming. That's. It's very overwhelming for the Suns and then the bucks. Also overwhelming. 22 and a half million of dead money until the 2829 season. And some of this is. And part of the reason why I wanted to talk about the trades that were made is like some of this is like just mistakes that were made in the past. With the Lillard deal it's, it's probably less of the mistake and more of just like bad luck. With the injury because if he didn't get injured, he's not. This is not happening. But it's just like how careful you have to be in this new cap environment. I don't know that this is necessarily something that's just going to happen all the time because of the aprons, but it's just like I feel like, like the last CBA and the new CBA just kind of colliding for a summer of like these like these bad, bloated deals that like you just can't do anymore, especially if you're a team that's going to be up against it. It's. I feel like it's more that than it is like here's the new normal is like we're going to have these massive buyouts every summer. I just think that this is just kind of like these two CBA is just kind of colliding here. The Suns, we did mention the, the pick swaps, but like the, this, this was the deal the Suns received. Bradley Beal, Jordan Goodwin, Isaiah Todd, Jordan Goodwin, two mentions on this podcast. Not playing for either of the teams that we mentioned. I do think that guy can play though. The Wizards got Chris Paul, Andrew Shamet, the, the Pacers were in this deal too, and it included, it says like they got Koulibaly, but they really just swapped Koulibaly and Jairus Walker and assets to make this happen. Melvin Agenza, Micah Peavey, the three first round pick swaps four second round picks and 26, 27, 28 and 30, which like, don't like, don't like sneeze at those either. Like those could be really valuable to the Wizards.
- [34:43]
Fred Katz
Also, can I add one more thing?
- [34:45]
Host 1
Yeah.
- [34:46]
Fred Katz
Because so Mike appevey was the 40th pick in the draft this year. That was a 2025 second round pick. Yeah, because the Clippers had that pick. That was the pick that New Orleans deemed enough value to take on 40 million of 26, 27 money to take Sadiq Bay's injured history and, and Jordan Poole's 26, 27 salary. So look, if they didn't have that pick, I'm sure that we found another pick to be able to use. But. And that's more of a oh my goodness, New Orleans deal than it is a. Yeah, but, but that was the sweetener in the Jordan pool deal.
- [35:26]
Host 1
Yeah.
- [35:27]
Fred Katz
40Th pick. So it was like it all comes together as like, oh my goodness, when you do like the asset tree, like the, the transaction tree or whatever you want to call it, like what Moves respond by this deal. It's like, oh, goodness. Like, this is facilitating an entire rebuild to where it also helped the wizards get over 100 million in cap room next year. Like, they cleared 40 million off their books sometimes.
- [35:50]
Host 1
And. And this is probably not a thing at all, but sometimes I wonder if executives use assets from, like, the tree of, like, a bigger deal just so it becomes part of the deal, you know, just like this. Like, you know, like, I. I wonder if, like. And I. I don't know. I don't think this is true, but it would be really fun if it was true. If a Sam Presti knew that J Dub was going to be better than Usman Jang, but he was like, I want J Dub to be a part of the Paul George trade, so I'm gonna pick him 12th instead of 11. Yeah, it's just like a small part in this is obviously much smaller than that. But, like, I just wonder if, like, that factors in at all in their heads or if it's. It's probably just something like after everything happens, you're like, oh, that's kind of cool that it's part of this, but I like to think that people are more conniving than that. But anyways, Bradley, I know.
- [36:46]
Fred Katz
I think that's a great. I think it's a great theory. I think that has to happen.
- [36:51]
Host 1
I think it. Because it would.
- [36:53]
Fred Katz
Because you thought of it. So, yeah, if. And if someone has that thought, why. Why wouldn't they do it? Because. Who's it. Who's it, Harmon?
- [37:03]
Host 1
Nobody.
- [37:03]
Fred Katz
It harms no one.
- [37:04]
Host 1
Nobody.
- [37:04]
Fred Katz
And it only. It only helps.
- [37:07]
Host 1
Yeah, it is.
- [37:08]
Fred Katz
It is. It is not a zero sum game. So if you have the thought, you should probably do it. It's a good idea.
- [37:14]
Host 1
Yep. Beal on the Clippers, I think, is awesome. 1. The Clippers have invested a ton of money in their medical staff, and I think, like, that's going to be a really, really good thing for. For Brad in. In la. I think it's going to be amazing for him. He's obviously a guy that has not played over 53 games since the 2021 season when he was with the Wizards and was an all Star. But the thing is, like, similar to a smart conversation that we had earlier, they don't necessarily need him day in, day out. Like, they need him to be shooting the ball well come playoff time. And he's still a really good shooter and he's still a really good scorer. I mean, he averaged 17 points per game last year on a team that was not well suited to have him in their offense at all. And so I think like this, this is a, a great use of their cap, a great use of the resources that they had. And like they let Norman Powell go, they didn't want to pay him. They get to pay Bradley BLS and they get to try out John Collins and see is a useful guy on a winning team. I think, I think this is an amazing deal for them. And as long as he can stay healthy like this is, I think this is going to put the Clippers in a little bit better situation than they were last year.
- [38:37]
Fred Katz
Yeah. Can I also add the last time Bradley Beal was consistently healthy because there was a period where Bradley Beal had one of the longest consecutive games played streaks in the NBA.
- [38:48]
Host 1
Yeah, that's. That is like hard to believe. But yeah, he played all 82 in 1718 and 1819.
- [38:54]
Fred Katz
Yeah, well, so that was a big thing for him because when he first came into the league he had these, what were they? Stress fractures in his shin and he was labeled as injury prone and he took that very personally. He hated that. So he made it a major point of pride to be like, I'm going to play in every single game no matter what. And I think that mentality probably sped up his injury clock down the line. That's my personal theory. That being said, when he was at his healthiest in his career, I don't think you're going to know the answer to this question. If you do, oh my goodness, I'm just going to retire. But who, who was the person who he relied on the most for his, his day to day training?
- [39:38]
Host 1
I have no clue.
- [39:39]
Fred Katz
Great. Okay, fantastic. I'm glad you don't know the answer to that question. We can still be friends. The answer is a gentleman by the name of Jesse Phillips, who was a trainer with the Wizards, who Beal is incredibly close with on both a personal and a professional level. Incredibly close. What is Jesse Phillips's job today? This you might get based on context clues.
- [40:05]
Host 1
Clippers.
- [40:05]
Fred Katz
Clippers.
- [40:07]
Host 1
Oh, interesting.
- [40:08]
Fred Katz
So that was actually a legitimate reason as to why Bill was as interested in the Clippers as he was. He is incredibly close with Jesse Phillips. He's incredibly close with him on a personal level. They're great friends and he has immense professional respect for him. He thinks he's unbelievable at his job and he, Jesse Phillips has a great reputation. So I mean that's why he's. You know, people talk about the, the people who the Clippers are bringing in on the medical side. He's he's been there for a while, he's very well respected. And so that was that I think is an interesting dynamic to this too. He knows Bradley Bill's body unbelievably well. So the Clippers are already going into this with the knowledge of like no, this is, this is how Bill trains best. This is how he goes best is how he operates best is the best way to handle him. They're already going into this with this expert sort of knowledge. And the reason why I have Beal number one on the list is just because I think we're gonna see. This is the only one where I feel, I feel pretty confident we're going to see legit production right off the bat, you know, like I know, I know Beal got so much flak over the last two years, not even saying it wasn't deserved. He got deserved flack over the last couple of years and he was a major character in why the Suns were as disappointing as they were over the last two seasons. However, when he's no longer on a contract where he's making 50 some odd million dollars and has one of the two no trade clause or at points the only no trade clause in the NBA and he's just a dude who is making $5.3 million on a one year deal who averaged 17 points on nearly 50% shooting, nearly 40% three point shooting and 80% free throw shooting. Who is a guy who people think of Beal as this ball dominant guy. Now that's not the core of who he is. You know like Dame is. Dam is a point guard who's going to facilitate and all that. And when Beal was averaging 30 a game in consecutive seasons in Washington, the comparison he most was like, he's like a, he's like a not at Harden's level, right handed James Harden in terms of just the way that he played stylistically. And that's not who he is and that's never who I've thought who he is. The core of who he is. When he first came into the league like the comparisons were Ray Allen. They weren't, they weren't combo guards, they were Ray Allen. He, he is still really really good when you run him around screens, you run him around pin downs, you get him flaring to the three point arc, you get him curling around picks and he can just use them to go downhill. You basically play him the exact way that Ty Liu played Norm Powell last year and which drove Norm Powell to tremendous success. Ty Lue is amazing with movement shooters. He is awesome with movement shooters. He ran great stuff with Paul George there. He ran great stuff for Norman Powell. I. I think it's a really great fit. I think it's a really, really great fit from basketball perspective. And I think you have to. You know, I always refer to this as the Joe Johnson corollary. When Joe Johnson got bought out by the Brooklyn Nets and signed with Miami, he was really good for them on a playoff run. And basketball world's general reaction was, oh, my goodness, look at Joe Johnson actually helping a team. Look at this. This is the Joe Johnson renaissance. And it's like, no, not at all. Your perspective of him just changed because he's no longer on a max contract, and so you're not holding him to max contract standards. Joe Johnson actually wasn't as good with Miami as he was with Brooklyn, because Miami, they were like, you're just going to be a role player. You're gonna. You're gonna do the stuff you're good at, and. And that's about it. And in Brooklyn, Joe Johnson, like, was actually, like, facilitating. Okay, he was. He was running a little bit more offense. He had more responsibilities. And Joe Johnson was not bad. He just wasn't anywhere near what his contract said he should have been. And our perspective realigned once he was no longer in that contract. We were able to think, oh, that guy's good. And I think that's what's going to happen with Bradley Beal. Like, Bradley Beal's still good. He is going to have to lock in defensively, and I'm not saying he's going to have to be Marcus smart defensively, but he is going to have to be better than he's been for the last half decade. And that doesn't mean he has to be good, but he. He has to be better. He's. He's. He's solid on the ball still, but off the ball, he'll get back cut and all that kind of stuff. And. And with the Clippers, with the way that they run defensively, you're going to have to buy into that culture. It's possible, but that's something that he's going to have to do in this as well. But I. I think it's a really good fit for both sides. I think both sides will end up very happy with it.
- [44:58]
Host 1
Yeah. Yeah. And, like, just to wrap this up, I think we. We both like all three signings. I think, like, it's very advantageous for all three teams. I think it's good for all three players. I Think everybody landed in a good spot for the most part.
- [45:12]
Fred Katz
Andrew, can I, can I cut you off?
- [45:15]
Host 1
Yeah.
- [45:16]
Fred Katz
Can I just say that we have breaking news from Michael Scotto that's on topic of what we're discussing. Yes, the Los Angeles Clippers have agreed to a deal with 12 time All Star Chris Paul. League sources told Hoopa.
- [45:28]
Host 1
Oh.
- [45:29]
Fred Katz
According to Michael Scotto.
- [45:31]
Host 1
Okay, well here, here's the, the next deal. Where, where would you rank this, this deal? Man, this is minute one. Clippers are, the Clippers are really old.
- [45:45]
Fred Katz
Look, look at that. Look at that. Photoshop of Chris Paul and a Clippers jersey. Would you ever thought you' in a Clippers jersey?
- [45:54]
Host 1
I could have never imagined it. Wow, that's, that's a big deal. One like the Bucks have lost out on like everybody but Cole Anthony at this point, which is just kind of a bummer for them because like they, they just need guys at this point to come to their team. CP ending up in the, with the Clippers I think makes a, a lot of sense just like lifestyle wise for, for Chris. I think a lot of it is like these guys are getting older. They would like to, to be in la, you know as part is part of that. But he'll be helpful to them. I think Chris Paul is still a helpful player and the Clippers ending up with these guys. I, I don't think it's by accident. I think the Clippers are a well run organization that have a big, just a boatload of resources that a lot of teams don't have. And I think that like it's a, it's an interesting squad. There are, this is a super old team. Like this is a very unk team out in la. But I like, I like them bringing in another confident player in Chris Paul.
- [47:05]
Fred Katz
Yeah. And this is another one where it's like I like the players are making these moves based on family right now. Yeah, I, I spoke to Chris Paul for a long time last season and we were, this was in the fall and we were talking about, we were talking for a while and we were talking about the, the how long he wanted to play for because I just kind of assumed he wanted to play forever and I just assumed he wanted to play till his legs fell off. Like he's just that kind of personality. And he corrected me. He was like, no, not, not really. I don't know how much longer I have. I was like, that surprises me to hear. Why do you say that? He was like, I've been away from my family for too long. I miss My family so much.
- [47:49]
Host 1
Yeah.
- [47:49]
Fred Katz
Like, I miss my family so much. His family lives in la, and he was like, I just want to be with my family every day. And, you know, being in Santa, he's like, you know, he went to San Antonio. People think he went to San Antonio because he wanted to mentor the young guys. Don't get me wrong, he did mentor the young guys when he was there, but that wasn't the reason he went there. The reason he went there was because they told him he would start and he wanted to play. He thought he could still play after a year of coming off the bench in Golden State. But he had. He had bounced around. He had been with Houston, he had been with Oklahoma City, he had been with Phoenix, he had been with Golden State, He. He'd been with San Antonio. And he wanted to be near his kids and was like, I want to be in LA because that's where my kids are and that's where my. My whole family is, where his wife is. And I think it was really, really. That was a really important thing to him. So that's. I think, where. I'm sure that's what this comes down to for him, on top of the fact that he gets to play for a really good team and an organization he's obviously familiar with.
- [48:53]
Host 1
Yeah, I think the Clippers have had a really good summer. I think both teams in la, honestly, who both had limited ways to get better, have found ways to get better for next season. I think both could probably look in the mirror at the end of the season and say, like, we've got to find ways to get better. We don't really have assets. We don't really have a whole lot available to us as far as picks go. And I think both teams were able to add a lot of it through, like, just mistakes that were made in the cba. This one is just a free agent deal, but they've been the beneficiaries for sure of, like, some mistakes that people have made. There's no question. Fred, thanks for coming on. Really appreciate it. That's going to do it for today's show. Hey, please go click the link in the show notes and. And fill out our questionnaire from this season. What did you like about the NBA Daily? This is our first season with it. We had an absolute blast doing the show, and we would love for you guys to give your feedback for that. It's in the description of the YouTube video, so if you're watching on YouTube, please click the link and fill it out. It'll take 30 seconds and then fill it out too. If you're listening on Spotify, Apple or anywhere else you get your podcast. As always, thank you for waking up with us.
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