WEBVTT 00:00:00.080 --> 00:00:02.379 Welcome in to the newest edition of the Justin 00:00:02.379 --> 00:00:05.019 Townsports podcast. I am your owner and host, 00:00:05.139 --> 00:00:07.620 Justin Jackson. In this week's episode, we'll 00:00:07.620 --> 00:00:10.240 be talking about the NBA as we are ramping up 00:00:10.240 --> 00:00:12.779 into the offseason. We will also be talking about 00:00:12.779 --> 00:00:14.359 some of the new contracts players have signed. 00:00:14.400 --> 00:00:18.160 We'll also touch on the NBA draft day one as 00:00:18.160 --> 00:00:21.100 well. Now, as always, don't forget to like, rate, 00:00:21.120 --> 00:00:23.019 and subscribe to the Justin Townsports podcast 00:00:23.019 --> 00:00:24.820 on iTunes, Spotify, or wherever you get your 00:00:24.820 --> 00:00:27.960 podcasts. And as always, don't forget to follow 00:00:27.960 --> 00:00:31.000 the social media handle at JTimeSports. I repeat, 00:00:31.219 --> 00:00:33.619 at JTimeSports for all of your breaking news 00:00:33.619 --> 00:00:37.820 and updates. Now, as always, don't forget to 00:00:37.820 --> 00:01:23.900 sit back and get ready to learn something. We'll 00:01:23.900 --> 00:01:53.609 be right back. We'll be right back. his opinion 00:01:53.609 --> 00:01:57.549 from the heart he can never show you fake if 00:01:57.549 --> 00:02:00.969 you winning or you losing he gonna tell it to 00:02:00.969 --> 00:02:05.950 you straight this is just in time sports come 00:02:05.950 --> 00:02:09.449 and get your whoopie takes he gonna tell it to 00:02:09.449 --> 00:02:20.389 you straight welcome into the show This is one 00:02:20.389 --> 00:02:23.409 of my favorite style of shows, the Insta release 00:02:23.409 --> 00:02:28.469 shows. Also, these shows are great for me because 00:02:28.469 --> 00:02:31.409 I don't get to talk much pure basketball, right? 00:02:31.509 --> 00:02:34.610 And football is my number one sport. You guys 00:02:34.610 --> 00:02:37.150 know I'm a football coach. So football is my 00:02:37.150 --> 00:02:39.409 number one sport. But I do enjoy basketball. 00:02:39.430 --> 00:02:42.289 I like the machinations of basketball. I like 00:02:42.289 --> 00:02:46.610 the moves, the drama, the... kind of the roster 00:02:46.610 --> 00:02:49.789 control that a basketball player has, so on and 00:02:49.789 --> 00:02:53.169 so forth. So I do enjoy good basketball topics. 00:02:53.349 --> 00:02:57.270 I do enjoy good basketball discussion. However, 00:02:57.550 --> 00:03:01.430 I don't get a chance to talk much pure basketball 00:03:01.430 --> 00:03:05.990 pretty much at any point. And this is a show 00:03:05.990 --> 00:03:07.810 post -NBA finals. We're kind of moved away from 00:03:07.810 --> 00:03:09.490 the finals now. Oklahoma City had their parade 00:03:09.490 --> 00:03:12.210 yesterday, so we're officially putting a nice 00:03:12.210 --> 00:03:15.840 little string and bow. On the 2024 -2025 season, 00:03:16.020 --> 00:03:20.060 we're officially moving into the 2025 -2026 season. 00:03:20.199 --> 00:03:22.300 Before I go too further, remember, if you heard 00:03:22.300 --> 00:03:23.740 an intro, in case you skipped it and skipped 00:03:23.740 --> 00:03:26.860 that amazing song by B -Roy, remember to like, 00:03:26.860 --> 00:03:28.360 rate, and subscribe to the podcast, wherever 00:03:28.360 --> 00:03:30.500 you get your podcasts, iTunes, Spotify, whatever. 00:03:30.919 --> 00:03:34.259 And make sure that you follow the social media 00:03:34.259 --> 00:03:37.960 handle at JTimeSports. I repeat, at JTimeSports. 00:03:38.060 --> 00:03:40.919 Follow your breaking news, updates, and coverage. 00:03:41.139 --> 00:03:44.469 But... let's get into it so we're going to break 00:03:44.469 --> 00:03:49.969 down the beginning of the 2025 -2026 season in 00:03:49.969 --> 00:03:51.949 three sections so first we're going to talk about 00:03:51.949 --> 00:03:54.150 trades and if those trades have already kind 00:03:54.150 --> 00:03:57.189 of finished um and by the way i finished so somebody 00:03:57.189 --> 00:03:59.289 traded let's say like for instance we got to 00:03:59.289 --> 00:04:01.689 talk about kd so kd to houston involved the 10th 00:04:01.689 --> 00:04:03.840 overall pick That pick's already been drafted, 00:04:04.020 --> 00:04:05.680 so we're going to mention that player's name, 00:04:05.800 --> 00:04:08.400 what that pick turned into. And there's a couple 00:04:08.400 --> 00:04:10.439 other trades that have happened that the picks 00:04:10.439 --> 00:04:12.740 have already been kind of cashed in on. So we 00:04:12.740 --> 00:04:16.000 will talk about that as well. And then we'll 00:04:16.000 --> 00:04:18.160 go to our new deal. So some players have opted 00:04:18.160 --> 00:04:20.600 in, opted out, and signed new contracts. And 00:04:20.600 --> 00:04:24.300 then we'll discuss NBA draft first round reactions 00:04:24.300 --> 00:04:27.500 as well. This will not be a multi -segment show, 00:04:27.519 --> 00:04:28.699 so we're going to just go from topic to topic. 00:04:29.000 --> 00:04:31.339 However, today's episode is brought to you by 00:04:31.339 --> 00:04:35.740 NextGen. cornerstone consulting um relatively 00:04:35.740 --> 00:04:38.939 small company but they're a faith -based uh non 00:04:38.939 --> 00:04:40.740 -profit assistant so whether you need help in 00:04:40.740 --> 00:04:42.759 grant writing strategic planning business development 00:04:42.759 --> 00:04:47.199 next gen cornerstone consulting is where you 00:04:47.199 --> 00:04:51.259 would want to get all of your help in that aspect 00:04:51.259 --> 00:04:56.100 um that is where you want to look uh their social 00:04:56.100 --> 00:05:00.240 media handle their instagram is at next gen understone 00:05:00.240 --> 00:05:03.829 cornerstone underscore cornerstone so again it 00:05:03.829 --> 00:05:07.689 is at next gen underscore cornerstone for getting 00:05:07.689 --> 00:05:09.490 your grant writing strategic planning business 00:05:09.490 --> 00:05:14.230 development needs that is where you would want 00:05:14.230 --> 00:05:23.009 to go so let's get into it we are starting off 00:05:23.009 --> 00:05:26.250 with the trades so kevin durant as we discussed 00:05:26.250 --> 00:05:28.310 on last episode quickly we didn't really get 00:05:28.310 --> 00:05:30.129 into it but we've got to do a little bit but 00:05:30.129 --> 00:05:33.220 you know That trade is now effectively done, 00:05:33.319 --> 00:05:35.019 in my opinion. So, Kevin Durant was traded to 00:05:35.019 --> 00:05:37.240 the Houston Rockets in exchange for Dylan Brooks, 00:05:37.420 --> 00:05:40.259 Jalen Green, the 10th overall pick that became 00:05:40.259 --> 00:05:44.660 Kamon Malic. Excuse me if I mispronounced that 00:05:44.660 --> 00:05:48.899 incorrectly. The big center out of Duke. And 00:05:48.899 --> 00:05:50.839 five second round picks. So, five second round 00:05:50.839 --> 00:05:51.860 picks, of course, are going to stretch out over 00:05:51.860 --> 00:05:54.899 multiple years. We'll look back in, you know, 00:05:54.899 --> 00:05:58.569 years time and wonder if, you know. One of those 00:05:58.569 --> 00:06:00.949 picks becomes Nikola Jokic. Then we'll discuss 00:06:00.949 --> 00:06:03.149 those five seconds. Otherwise, over the course 00:06:03.149 --> 00:06:06.470 of human history, those picks will probably get 00:06:06.470 --> 00:06:09.129 faded off. Probably get faded off the discussion 00:06:09.129 --> 00:06:11.029 point. It'll probably end up being Dylan Brooks, 00:06:11.189 --> 00:06:13.649 Jalen Green. Second, the 10th overall pick. Again, 00:06:13.689 --> 00:06:16.829 that became the big center out of Duke. And then 00:06:16.829 --> 00:06:18.850 no one would discuss the five seconds ever again. 00:06:19.689 --> 00:06:21.970 And then, you know, just kind of seeing reactions 00:06:21.970 --> 00:06:24.209 over the past few days, that trade has been deemed 00:06:24.209 --> 00:06:28.329 of either kind of bold by Houston. not gotten 00:06:28.329 --> 00:06:31.529 enough by Phoenix, or Kevin Durant kind of trying 00:06:31.529 --> 00:06:33.790 to get a ring one last time. I think KD looked 00:06:33.790 --> 00:06:35.930 around his options, and I think he believes, 00:06:36.149 --> 00:06:39.110 well, he knows. I mean, he's staying in the West, 00:06:39.189 --> 00:06:42.009 but he's looking at, it's hard in Minnesota. 00:06:42.189 --> 00:06:44.089 Like, that's interesting. Ownership's changing, 00:06:44.269 --> 00:06:46.629 and Minneapolis is in the world's best city. 00:06:46.629 --> 00:06:49.110 It's cold. He's been in warm weather every stop 00:06:49.110 --> 00:06:54.209 except for Brooklyn. Because he got drafted to 00:06:54.209 --> 00:06:56.110 Seattle, but he's only in Seattle for a year. 00:06:56.230 --> 00:06:58.730 Then they go to Oklahoma City. And then in Oklahoma 00:06:58.730 --> 00:07:00.250 City, that's relatively warm. I mean, that gets 00:07:00.250 --> 00:07:05.029 hot in the summer. And then it's Golden State 00:07:05.029 --> 00:07:07.449 in California, San Francisco, California. Then 00:07:07.449 --> 00:07:13.009 it's Brooklyn. That's cold. And especially because 00:07:13.009 --> 00:07:16.490 the NBA is a, you know, it's a cold league. It's 00:07:16.490 --> 00:07:18.230 a winter league. Yes, it finishes in the summer, 00:07:18.310 --> 00:07:21.430 but it starts around October. And you play a 00:07:21.430 --> 00:07:24.069 lot of November, December, January, February, 00:07:24.170 --> 00:07:27.709 March kind of games. And in places like New York, 00:07:27.769 --> 00:07:30.910 March is still chilly. Like, it's cold. You have 00:07:30.910 --> 00:07:34.329 your heater on from October through March in 00:07:34.329 --> 00:07:36.110 certain parts of the NBA country, especially 00:07:36.110 --> 00:07:38.490 when you get into your Torontos and your Michigans 00:07:38.490 --> 00:07:42.569 and your, you know, your Milwaukees and your 00:07:42.569 --> 00:07:44.769 Minnesotas. Like, when you play in those places, 00:07:44.829 --> 00:07:50.699 it's cold from October to March. And it gets 00:07:50.699 --> 00:07:53.319 cold everywhere, but New Orleans winter is like 00:07:53.319 --> 00:07:56.339 four and a half weeks. You get a couple of false 00:07:56.339 --> 00:07:59.500 winters, we get cold spells, but we don't get 00:07:59.500 --> 00:08:02.660 snow like that in Louisiana. We don't get arctic 00:08:02.660 --> 00:08:05.600 blast like that in Louisiana. If it snows in 00:08:05.600 --> 00:08:07.879 Louisiana, you're off. That's it. The planes 00:08:07.879 --> 00:08:10.000 aren't flying, the roads aren't accessible, that's 00:08:10.000 --> 00:08:12.589 it. In Minnesota, it's like, oh, it snowed today? 00:08:12.750 --> 00:08:15.290 Cool, the snowplow came before. Put salt on your 00:08:15.290 --> 00:08:17.610 tires or put chains on you and go to work. Like, 00:08:17.629 --> 00:08:19.689 it's a different vibe. It's a different environment 00:08:19.689 --> 00:08:22.050 in those places. And ultimately, Kevin Durant 00:08:22.050 --> 00:08:25.189 chose to go to Texas. No state tax. He loves 00:08:25.189 --> 00:08:27.569 Emea Doka. Him and Emea Doka have developed a 00:08:27.569 --> 00:08:30.750 great relationship over the years. He loves Emea 00:08:30.750 --> 00:08:33.470 Doka, which for KD is huge, so on and so forth. 00:08:33.570 --> 00:08:35.669 If you're Phoenix, you kind of didn't solve your 00:08:35.669 --> 00:08:38.950 problems through this trade directly. Jalen Green's 00:08:38.950 --> 00:08:42.779 not a point guard. He didn't have a center. Now 00:08:42.779 --> 00:08:46.019 you added a center and a big kid from Duke. He's 00:08:46.019 --> 00:08:48.820 a developmental guy, but his upside is insane. 00:08:49.039 --> 00:08:52.460 He's a 7 '1", 7 '2", like a 7 '7 wingspan. He's 00:08:52.460 --> 00:08:54.700 got decent touch on his jumper. People have seen 00:08:54.700 --> 00:08:58.639 his jump shot. He was a dunker at Duke. He was 00:08:58.639 --> 00:09:01.100 71 % from the field. He was like second in the 00:09:01.100 --> 00:09:03.620 country in dunks. He was a dunker at Duke, and 00:09:03.620 --> 00:09:08.789 he's an elite run protector potentially. Good 00:09:08.789 --> 00:09:12.250 move by Houston to get Kevin Durant. Because 00:09:12.250 --> 00:09:14.669 you don't need Kevin Durant to be great 48 minutes. 00:09:14.850 --> 00:09:17.029 You need Kevin Durant to avoid five. Remember 00:09:17.029 --> 00:09:19.149 those slumps that they would go in the Golden 00:09:19.149 --> 00:09:21.070 State Series? And I'd be like, you know, they'd 00:09:21.070 --> 00:09:22.970 be like, man, Houston hadn't scored in four and 00:09:22.970 --> 00:09:25.850 a half minutes. And they've only, you know, they 00:09:25.850 --> 00:09:27.710 went from a two -point lead to now they're down 00:09:27.710 --> 00:09:30.269 two. Yeah, I mean, for those four and a half 00:09:30.269 --> 00:09:33.039 minutes, that team only scored four. Houston 00:09:33.039 --> 00:09:35.039 just has to avoid that, where instead of that 00:09:35.039 --> 00:09:37.379 four and a half minutes being zero to four in 00:09:37.379 --> 00:09:40.059 favor of the other team, it's eight to four in 00:09:40.059 --> 00:09:42.600 favor of Houston. So now they've grinded you 00:09:42.600 --> 00:09:44.960 for six minutes or four, four and a half minutes. 00:09:45.139 --> 00:09:47.419 And then by the time, you know, you're just like 00:09:47.419 --> 00:09:49.360 worn down and went off and kick back up again. 00:09:49.379 --> 00:09:51.559 Now they're still in front of you. You need Kevin 00:09:51.559 --> 00:09:53.519 Durant to avoid those droughts. And you need 00:09:53.519 --> 00:09:55.320 Kevin Durant three minutes left in the game up, 00:09:55.360 --> 00:09:56.899 you know, three minutes left in the game down 00:09:56.899 --> 00:10:00.299 one or down four. that ball gets swung to Kevin 00:10:00.299 --> 00:10:05.019 Durant and you get us out of here. I think Eme 00:10:05.019 --> 00:10:06.759 Adoka is going to be great for him as far as 00:10:06.759 --> 00:10:08.860 his coaching. Eme Adoka is a coaching center. 00:10:09.679 --> 00:10:11.279 KD doesn't have to be a leader of a team. Eme 00:10:11.279 --> 00:10:14.100 Adoka is there for that. That's going to be great 00:10:14.100 --> 00:10:16.240 for Kevin Durant as far as his career, in my 00:10:16.240 --> 00:10:22.000 opinion. The Boston Celtics were under mandate 00:10:22.000 --> 00:10:26.350 to get out of contractual hell. They were staring 00:10:26.350 --> 00:10:29.850 at a $500 million payroll, including salaries 00:10:29.850 --> 00:10:32.370 plus luxury tax, with Jason Tatum having a torn 00:10:32.370 --> 00:10:35.070 Achilles, and I think missing the entire next 00:10:35.070 --> 00:10:37.490 season. If he doesn't miss the entire next season, 00:10:37.529 --> 00:10:39.409 he's going to miss a vast majority of it. You're 00:10:39.409 --> 00:10:42.769 not going to be in title contention. So, what 00:10:42.769 --> 00:10:51.950 do the Boston Celtics do? They do a couple of 00:10:51.950 --> 00:10:56.220 trades. First trade they pull off is Drew Holiday 00:10:56.220 --> 00:10:59.100 sending him back to Portland. Thinking in your 00:10:59.100 --> 00:11:00.519 head, Drew Holiday never played for Portland. 00:11:00.720 --> 00:11:04.279 You would be exactly correct. The last time Drew 00:11:04.279 --> 00:11:06.240 Holiday played with a Portland Trailblazers, 00:11:06.320 --> 00:11:08.580 he was there for about a week. He never went 00:11:08.580 --> 00:11:09.799 to a facility. He wasn't even there for a week. 00:11:10.279 --> 00:11:14.340 It was part of the Milwaukee deal. They were 00:11:14.340 --> 00:11:16.200 shedding salaries. Drew Holiday ended up being 00:11:16.200 --> 00:11:18.940 one of those sheds. They trade Drew Holiday from 00:11:18.940 --> 00:11:23.159 Milwaukee to Portland. Portland redirects Drew 00:11:23.159 --> 00:11:26.200 Holiday to Boston. Championship later, Boston 00:11:26.200 --> 00:11:28.740 is now sending Drew Holiday back to Portland. 00:11:28.940 --> 00:11:32.159 In exchange, Portland sends Anthony Simons on 00:11:32.159 --> 00:11:34.639 an expiring contract and two second round picks. 00:11:37.539 --> 00:11:39.840 This doesn't do anything for any winning, but 00:11:39.840 --> 00:11:41.419 he immediately say Boston a lot of money. For 00:11:41.419 --> 00:11:43.100 Portland, you get a veteran in the room. You 00:11:43.100 --> 00:11:46.080 get a decent defender in the room. You get somebody 00:11:46.080 --> 00:11:49.019 that Chauncey Billups wants. This could be the 00:11:49.019 --> 00:11:51.559 vet that kind of Chauncey Billups would know 00:11:51.559 --> 00:12:00.820 about. So being him, Ime Adoka, JJ Redick, trying 00:12:00.820 --> 00:12:02.240 to think of some other former player coaches. 00:12:02.340 --> 00:12:06.600 Those guys were in the league when the vet. still 00:12:06.600 --> 00:12:09.960 exists, where he may not be nearly the height 00:12:09.960 --> 00:12:12.799 of his powers, if he ever had powers, you know, 00:12:12.820 --> 00:12:15.299 but he's not, he's nowhere near his prime, however, 00:12:15.559 --> 00:12:18.360 he is still, he may not give you anything, remember 00:12:18.360 --> 00:12:20.919 Udonis Haslam for the heat, like by the time 00:12:20.919 --> 00:12:23.519 that second era of the heat happened with the 00:12:23.519 --> 00:12:26.419 big three, Udonis Haslam was just there, he was 00:12:26.419 --> 00:12:27.919 the tough guy on the locker room to make sure 00:12:27.919 --> 00:12:30.200 things went smooth. Like, he was just there. 00:12:30.259 --> 00:12:32.399 He was the fowler. Like, if somebody hard -filed 00:12:32.399 --> 00:12:34.279 LeBron or D -Wade, Jonathan Hatton was checking 00:12:34.279 --> 00:12:36.460 in. He was putting somebody on the floor. Like, 00:12:36.500 --> 00:12:38.299 you know what I'm saying? Like, that was his 00:12:38.299 --> 00:12:41.220 job, right? I don't think Drew Holiday is going 00:12:41.220 --> 00:12:42.519 to be the enforcer, but I think he will be the 00:12:42.519 --> 00:12:45.419 leader. I think, and, you know, he's got a lot 00:12:45.419 --> 00:12:47.019 of money left on his desk. He's got about three 00:12:47.019 --> 00:12:49.759 years, $100 million left on his contract. It's 00:12:49.759 --> 00:12:53.019 a pretty bad contract for most teams. However, 00:12:53.259 --> 00:12:55.200 for Portland, if you're Darcy Billups, a lot 00:12:55.200 --> 00:12:57.139 of my team is young. So having a guy like Drew 00:12:57.139 --> 00:13:01.009 Holiday, Family man, good man. He's constantly 00:13:01.009 --> 00:13:02.909 giving in the community he plays in. He's constantly 00:13:02.909 --> 00:13:04.429 being a role model. You never hear him about 00:13:04.429 --> 00:13:05.769 him in trouble. You never hear him about him 00:13:05.769 --> 00:13:09.110 in a bad light, so on and so forth. That is worth 00:13:09.110 --> 00:13:12.210 the money to just have him teach and coach. He's 00:13:12.210 --> 00:13:15.070 still going to give you 20 minutes a night, 22 00:13:15.070 --> 00:13:18.710 minutes a night, you know, 12, 4, and 3, two 00:13:18.710 --> 00:13:20.809 good steals, and, like, that's going to be his 00:13:20.809 --> 00:13:22.990 job. At the end of the game, the close game. 00:13:23.360 --> 00:13:25.860 He's going to be on the floor because he can 00:13:25.860 --> 00:13:29.179 still play. It's just with Boston. If Tatum was 00:13:29.179 --> 00:13:31.240 healthy, he's still in Boston. I firmly believe 00:13:31.240 --> 00:13:33.159 that. But because Boston needed to shed salaries, 00:13:33.379 --> 00:13:37.600 they dumped him. And they also dumped Christas 00:13:37.600 --> 00:13:41.860 Porzingis. And a three -team deal with the Atlanta 00:13:41.860 --> 00:13:45.960 Hawks and the Brooklyn Nets. So Christas Porzingis. 00:13:46.639 --> 00:13:49.279 Christas Porzingis and a second -round pick to 00:13:49.279 --> 00:13:53.559 the Atlanta Hawks. Terrence Mann in a 22nd overall 00:13:53.559 --> 00:13:58.419 pick, which ended up becoming Drake Powell out 00:13:58.419 --> 00:14:02.960 of North Carolina, goes to Brooklyn. And George 00:14:02.960 --> 00:14:07.679 Niang in a second round pick ends up in Boston. 00:14:07.799 --> 00:14:22.039 So, again, a purely salary cap move. was, it's 00:14:22.039 --> 00:14:24.000 three parts. So for Brooklyn, you picked up an 00:14:24.000 --> 00:14:26.019 asset, you ended up drafting a player with a 00:14:26.019 --> 00:14:27.679 great, perfect find, right? Beautiful, right? 00:14:27.759 --> 00:14:30.019 Good job, Brooklyn. Okay, so that's pretty much 00:14:30.019 --> 00:14:36.679 it on the Brooklyn side. For the Atlanta Hawks 00:14:36.679 --> 00:14:38.879 side, this was a strategic maneuver as well. 00:14:40.840 --> 00:14:44.919 And why is it a maneuver of, they had a 20 -something 00:14:44.919 --> 00:14:49.440 million dollar, 25 million dollar, I believe, 00:14:49.950 --> 00:14:54.049 trade exception 25 .9 million dollar trade exception 00:14:54.049 --> 00:15:00.789 um from the djante murray trade christoph's porzingis 00:15:00.789 --> 00:15:04.350 salary is more than that trade exception so they 00:15:04.350 --> 00:15:08.970 can't use the trade exception on christoph's 00:15:08.970 --> 00:15:12.830 porzingis which means they still have said trade 00:15:12.830 --> 00:15:17.750 exception so and they're 30 million under the 00:15:17.750 --> 00:15:23.169 tax I mean, honestly, that is impressive GMing 00:15:23.169 --> 00:15:25.769 by the Atlanta Hawks. And they had another good 00:15:25.769 --> 00:15:28.210 move that, you know, the Atlanta Hawks is also 00:15:28.210 --> 00:15:29.850 getting credit for that we'll discuss later. 00:15:30.009 --> 00:15:32.850 But impressive GMing by the Atlanta Hawks. Did 00:15:32.850 --> 00:15:34.509 you still have your fat trade exception? Plus, 00:15:34.570 --> 00:15:36.909 you still have $30 million under the tax to maneuver. 00:15:37.710 --> 00:15:40.870 And then George Niang in a second round pick 00:15:40.870 --> 00:15:42.870 ends up in Boston. George Niang is a relevant 00:15:42.870 --> 00:15:46.759 human walk. I'm talking trade exception. What 00:15:46.759 --> 00:15:51.379 the Boston Celtics did do was shed their salary 00:15:51.379 --> 00:15:58.620 cap ridiculous as far as what they were able 00:15:58.620 --> 00:16:01.480 to accomplish. There was a purely a salary cap 00:16:01.480 --> 00:16:03.519 dump. Everybody in America, everybody in the 00:16:03.519 --> 00:16:06.960 world knew it, that the Boston Celtics were dumping 00:16:06.960 --> 00:16:12.919 salary. Plain and simple, they were dumping salary. 00:16:12.980 --> 00:16:16.080 So they end up shedding. thanks to the two deals 00:16:16.080 --> 00:16:19.139 they end up shedding over 210 million dollars 00:16:19.139 --> 00:16:23.340 in luxury tax bonus they shedded nearly a quarter 00:16:23.340 --> 00:16:27.879 billion dollars in in luxury tax penalty instead 00:16:27.879 --> 00:16:32.460 of going from five to over 500 for their um total 00:16:32.460 --> 00:16:37.000 bill they were around 280 something um as far 00:16:37.000 --> 00:16:41.019 as what they were having to pay now to deal with 00:16:41.019 --> 00:16:43.940 um i mean having to pay down with their roster 00:16:43.940 --> 00:16:50.799 now again Jason Tatum's probably out for the 00:16:50.799 --> 00:16:53.679 year. Not going to have Jason Tatum. Let's just 00:16:53.679 --> 00:16:58.840 start off with that, right? So doing that, knowing 00:16:58.840 --> 00:17:01.039 that, and still being able to make these maneuvers, 00:17:01.080 --> 00:17:03.500 it's quite an impressive GM. Shout out Brad Stevens. 00:17:04.339 --> 00:17:09.539 So that's because Boston. And the last pre -draft 00:17:09.539 --> 00:17:11.680 trade didn't involve picks. We can talk about 00:17:11.680 --> 00:17:14.960 it quickly. My New Orleans Pelicans traded C 00:17:14.960 --> 00:17:17.019 .J. McCollum, Kelly O 'Lennon, and a future second 00:17:17.019 --> 00:17:20.420 -round pick to the Washington Wizards for Jordan 00:17:20.420 --> 00:17:24.279 Poole, Sadiq Bae, and a number 40 overall pick 00:17:24.279 --> 00:17:28.200 in tonight's second round of the NBA draft. I 00:17:28.200 --> 00:17:30.960 like the trade. I don't love it. Now, I like 00:17:30.960 --> 00:17:33.880 the trade by itself. I don't love it by itself. 00:17:34.140 --> 00:17:35.880 Now, considering what we did later in the night, 00:17:36.019 --> 00:17:38.279 I love the trade because it kind of makes more 00:17:38.279 --> 00:17:42.119 sense. However, Jordan Poole, to me, is going 00:17:42.119 --> 00:17:43.900 to be a candidate for 6th man of the year. I 00:17:43.900 --> 00:17:45.960 don't think he starts in New Orleans. I think 00:17:45.960 --> 00:17:48.720 he has the potential to finish. So, I think that 00:17:48.720 --> 00:17:51.059 that two -guard spot in New Orleans, and we'll 00:17:51.059 --> 00:17:52.480 talk about it a little bit more, but that two 00:17:52.480 --> 00:17:54.440 -guard spot in New Orleans is going to be a starter, 00:17:54.519 --> 00:17:59.759 not a finisher. Andre Robeson for the Thunder. 00:17:59.859 --> 00:18:01.859 Think whoever started in front of Mondo Ginobili 00:18:01.859 --> 00:18:03.799 for the Spurs. That person would start the game, 00:18:03.839 --> 00:18:06.960 but he wouldn't finish it. I think that piece 00:18:06.960 --> 00:18:10.359 is going to be rotational. Again, we'll get into 00:18:10.359 --> 00:18:14.859 their rotations later. For the Washington Wizards, 00:18:14.980 --> 00:18:18.079 I don't know what you're doing. It's like they 00:18:18.079 --> 00:18:22.339 went super vet. Because now they have C .J. McCollum. 00:18:22.539 --> 00:18:25.059 He's expiring. Marcus Smart, I think, is also 00:18:25.059 --> 00:18:27.059 expiring. And they have Chris Middleton. who's 00:18:27.059 --> 00:18:28.900 expiring. So they have three veteran expiring 00:18:28.900 --> 00:18:31.960 contracts. They're set up for $100 million in 00:18:31.960 --> 00:18:35.819 cap space. That's a lot of money. Now, granted, 00:18:35.859 --> 00:18:38.000 you have to convince somebody to go to Washington, 00:18:38.039 --> 00:18:43.259 D .C., which, if you guys know anything about 00:18:43.259 --> 00:18:44.880 LeBron trying to get people to go to Cleveland, 00:18:45.180 --> 00:18:50.700 that's harder to do than just saying, oh, it's 00:18:50.700 --> 00:18:53.420 NBA 2K. I got $100 ,000 in cap space. I'm just 00:18:53.420 --> 00:18:56.470 going to sign a tattoo for agents. Nope. No, 00:18:56.490 --> 00:18:59.269 no, no. That's harder to do than it is on NBA 00:18:59.269 --> 00:19:03.049 2K. I assure you. I promise you. But the Washington 00:19:03.049 --> 00:19:05.450 Wizards now have a good, solid core of young 00:19:05.450 --> 00:19:10.529 guys. Zachary Reza -Sher, they ended up in the 00:19:10.529 --> 00:19:15.990 draft picking up Trey Johnson out of Texas. So 00:19:15.990 --> 00:19:17.970 they have a decent core of young players, and 00:19:17.970 --> 00:19:19.849 they're also adding, they have a lot of veteran 00:19:19.849 --> 00:19:22.549 experience with your C .J. McCollum, Chris Middleton, 00:19:22.630 --> 00:19:25.799 and Marcus Smarts. trying to hope to keep those 00:19:25.799 --> 00:19:27.339 blowouts away. Like, even if you start the young 00:19:27.339 --> 00:19:30.180 guys and you say, okay, you know, Marcus, Marcia, 00:19:30.220 --> 00:19:31.500 McCullough, and Chris Moses on the floor together, 00:19:31.680 --> 00:19:33.700 that's going to be, they're going to hold your 00:19:33.700 --> 00:19:35.599 second unit down. They may not explode your second 00:19:35.599 --> 00:19:38.339 unit, but they're going to keep two good defenders 00:19:38.339 --> 00:19:41.119 or one and a half good defenders, one good shooter, 00:19:41.200 --> 00:19:42.799 one good ball hand. Like, they're spread out 00:19:42.799 --> 00:19:45.119 as far as their vets where they can really handle 00:19:45.119 --> 00:19:50.359 a situation in Washington. And then our draft 00:19:50.359 --> 00:19:54.359 day trade. Or one we're going to discuss here 00:19:54.359 --> 00:19:58.359 that involves a player. It is Mark Williams to 00:19:58.359 --> 00:20:01.119 the Phoenix Suns. Mark Williams, yes, same Mark 00:20:01.119 --> 00:20:03.180 Williams that the Los Angeles Lakers said no 00:20:03.180 --> 00:20:05.579 to on the physical. He is now traded. He is traded 00:20:05.579 --> 00:20:08.339 to the Phoenix Suns in exchange for the 29th 00:20:08.339 --> 00:20:12.920 pick that became Liam McNeely. That became Liam 00:20:12.920 --> 00:20:16.119 McNeely, guard out of Connecticut. He's going 00:20:16.119 --> 00:20:18.579 to Charlotte in a lightly protected first -round 00:20:18.579 --> 00:20:20.519 pick. So that first -round pick is lightly protected. 00:20:20.700 --> 00:20:23.619 I think it's protected picks one through five, 00:20:23.720 --> 00:20:25.779 and it is the least favorable out of several 00:20:25.779 --> 00:20:29.079 teams. So it's weird in the NBA you can trade, 00:20:29.099 --> 00:20:32.180 like, least favorable picks or most favorable 00:20:32.180 --> 00:20:35.400 picks. And, again, that comes up later. But it 00:20:35.400 --> 00:20:38.259 is the least favorable 2029 first -round pick 00:20:38.259 --> 00:20:46.069 of the Cavs, Jazz, and Timberwolves. Yep, a little 00:20:46.069 --> 00:20:51.230 bit of contract news. Austin Reeves, the Lakers 00:20:51.230 --> 00:20:52.670 are offering him the max they can offer him, 00:20:52.690 --> 00:20:55.950 four years, $90 million. He declined it. He goes 00:20:55.950 --> 00:20:57.910 to true free agency. He's not held by his draft 00:20:57.910 --> 00:21:01.250 status as far as money he can make. Shout out 00:21:01.250 --> 00:21:02.750 to Austin Reeves. He deserves more than that. 00:21:03.049 --> 00:21:04.549 The Lakers are going to pay him more than that. 00:21:04.569 --> 00:21:06.150 They still have the ability to add the fifth 00:21:06.150 --> 00:21:08.089 year since he's going to go in for agency. And 00:21:08.089 --> 00:21:09.529 I think they might be able to go up to like $150 00:21:09.529 --> 00:21:12.849 for him. So kudos to Austin Reeves. Get your 00:21:12.849 --> 00:21:15.690 money. Get your money, fella. But again, Mark 00:21:15.690 --> 00:21:18.450 Williams is headed to Phoenix. Now, that gives 00:21:18.450 --> 00:21:23.210 Phoenix two centers acquired in the last 12 hours, 00:21:23.250 --> 00:21:26.750 24 hours. Again, the center from Duke and then 00:21:26.750 --> 00:21:29.730 Mark Williams both are headed to Phoenix to try 00:21:29.730 --> 00:21:36.289 and fix their center problem. Now we're going 00:21:36.289 --> 00:21:41.170 to transition into the NBA deals. Quickly, we're 00:21:41.170 --> 00:21:41.930 going to go through them, and then we'll get 00:21:41.930 --> 00:21:44.309 to the draft reaction to close this thing out. 00:21:44.410 --> 00:21:47.769 But our deals that have happened is Chris Middleton 00:21:47.769 --> 00:21:51.269 picked up his $33 .3 million player option. I 00:21:51.269 --> 00:22:01.009 am sure, and I almost mean 10 ,000 % sure, that 00:22:01.009 --> 00:22:04.849 the Wizards would have not wanted him to do that. 00:22:06.690 --> 00:22:08.390 I think they would have given him $33 million 00:22:08.390 --> 00:22:11.589 just to spread it over two years. Something like 00:22:11.589 --> 00:22:13.230 what Fred VanVleet ended up doing. We'll talk 00:22:13.230 --> 00:22:15.349 about him as well. But if you were to say, okay, 00:22:15.470 --> 00:22:18.089 I set up $33 million for one, I'll take $40 million 00:22:18.089 --> 00:22:20.549 for two or something just to spread the money 00:22:20.549 --> 00:22:22.710 out and eat less of it. But also, Washington's 00:22:22.710 --> 00:22:25.049 in a position where they – I'm saying that for 00:22:25.049 --> 00:22:26.490 financial reasons, but Washington's not trying 00:22:26.490 --> 00:22:29.299 to win this year. Not really. So, truly, they 00:22:29.299 --> 00:22:30.640 don't care if they give him a bunch of money 00:22:30.640 --> 00:22:31.900 to Chris Middleton this year because they come 00:22:31.900 --> 00:22:35.539 off of him entirely next season. So, maybe ultimately 00:22:35.539 --> 00:22:37.380 Chris Middleton picking up the option may have 00:22:37.380 --> 00:22:40.259 been best for both sides. He gets a bunch of 00:22:40.259 --> 00:22:42.440 money in one year. They come off his contract 00:22:42.440 --> 00:22:45.359 next year. Sort of like whenever NFL players 00:22:45.359 --> 00:22:49.400 with a franchise tag, like, I don't necessarily 00:22:49.400 --> 00:22:51.460 like the franchise tag because you can do it 00:22:51.460 --> 00:22:54.920 more than once, but it gives you a whole bunch 00:22:54.920 --> 00:22:58.180 of money at one time. Right? And players don't 00:22:58.180 --> 00:23:01.220 like the franchise tag. Three for 27 on one for 00:23:01.220 --> 00:23:03.599 27. He's still 27. He's got all of it at one 00:23:03.599 --> 00:23:10.279 time. You know, like, so I think that's, you 00:23:10.279 --> 00:23:12.039 know, definitely something to look at in Washington 00:23:12.039 --> 00:23:14.220 as Chris Miller is picking up his option. Daniel 00:23:14.220 --> 00:23:16.819 Gafford agreed to a new three -year $54 million 00:23:16.819 --> 00:23:19.920 plus contract with the Dallas Mavericks. He has 00:23:19.920 --> 00:23:21.500 a couple of incentives, I think, that can raise 00:23:21.500 --> 00:23:24.059 the value to $60 million. But he's going to go 00:23:24.059 --> 00:23:28.039 three -year, $54 million -plus contract with 00:23:28.039 --> 00:23:30.299 the Dallas Mavericks. Matisse Theibel picked 00:23:30.299 --> 00:23:32.480 up his player option with the Portland Trailblazers, 00:23:32.480 --> 00:23:35.880 worth $11 .5 million. This is the contract he 00:23:35.880 --> 00:23:39.400 signed in Philly before getting moved, if I remember 00:23:39.400 --> 00:23:43.779 correctly. Kyrie Irving declined his $43 million 00:23:43.779 --> 00:23:48.170 player option and re -ups with the team. for 00:23:48.170 --> 00:23:51.109 three years 119 million dollars now he could 00:23:51.109 --> 00:23:53.009 have gotten a bigger contract as far as a max 00:23:53.009 --> 00:23:55.750 i think he did what he did in order to give the 00:23:55.750 --> 00:23:57.789 team the most amount of flexibility because by 00:23:57.789 --> 00:24:00.650 going to that number it allows team to hold their 00:24:00.650 --> 00:24:03.589 exceptions that they don't burn off uh player 00:24:03.589 --> 00:24:05.769 exceptions and mid levels and whatever they had 00:24:05.769 --> 00:24:09.029 exception wise by going three years 119 he still 00:24:09.029 --> 00:24:11.750 gets a very he gets he gets his last big deal 00:24:11.750 --> 00:24:16.900 in the nba and he was able to um give the team 00:24:16.900 --> 00:24:18.319 some flexibility, especially because he's going 00:24:18.319 --> 00:24:20.619 to be out for a while. They can possibly use 00:24:20.619 --> 00:24:24.160 that $5 .7 million exception for a Chris Paul, 00:24:24.400 --> 00:24:26.720 for a D 'Angelo Russell, for a Dennis Schroeder, 00:24:26.740 --> 00:24:28.579 somebody, a veteran point guard that can hold 00:24:28.579 --> 00:24:30.559 it down and that wouldn't have an issue that 00:24:30.559 --> 00:24:32.660 once Kyrie comes back and is healthy, sliding 00:24:32.660 --> 00:24:36.730 and running that second unit. uh fred van vliet 00:24:36.730 --> 00:24:39.450 referenced him a few minutes ago he had a 43 00:24:39.450 --> 00:24:41.970 million dollar team option that was declined 00:24:41.970 --> 00:24:44.809 and he said they agreed on a two -year 50 million 00:24:44.809 --> 00:24:47.710 dollar contract with a player option on the second 00:24:47.710 --> 00:24:50.130 year kairi has a player option in the third year 00:24:50.130 --> 00:24:53.109 of his deal but a three two -year 50 million 00:24:53.109 --> 00:24:56.390 dollar contract with a player option uh for year 00:24:56.390 --> 00:25:01.029 two they basically for cap reasons took his 43 00:25:01.029 --> 00:25:03.730 and divided it by two and added and added a little 00:25:03.730 --> 00:25:07.579 kicker You know, he still gets his money. It's 00:25:07.579 --> 00:25:09.200 just divided over two years. And, again, he gets 00:25:09.200 --> 00:25:14.059 a little baby bump kicker of $6 million for his 00:25:14.059 --> 00:25:15.900 troubles of having to divide his money over two 00:25:15.900 --> 00:25:19.059 years. And then John Collins, with a lot of uncertainty 00:25:19.059 --> 00:25:21.519 happening in Utah with his future, picks up his 00:25:21.519 --> 00:25:24.420 $26 .5 million player option that he got from 00:25:24.420 --> 00:25:26.619 Atlanta when he was in Atlanta before ultimately 00:25:26.619 --> 00:25:31.599 being traded to Utah. And now we're going to 00:25:31.599 --> 00:25:36.019 move into the NBA draft. um the top of the draft 00:25:36.019 --> 00:25:39.099 relatively boring what i mean by that is the 00:25:39.099 --> 00:25:40.980 first two picks were pretty much as we expected 00:25:40.980 --> 00:25:43.460 cooper flag went number one dylan harper went 00:25:43.460 --> 00:25:45.740 number two now the interesting part about the 00:25:45.740 --> 00:25:49.640 draft started at number three now i will say 00:25:49.640 --> 00:25:52.119 before i get into that this is the first draft 00:25:52.119 --> 00:25:54.539 with multiple i remember like top 18 year olds 00:25:54.539 --> 00:25:58.359 because jeremiah fears and cooper flag both reclassified 00:25:58.359 --> 00:26:02.599 in up a year and like cooper flag just turned 00:26:02.599 --> 00:26:07.059 18. Cooper Flagg and Jeremiah Fierce will barely 00:26:07.059 --> 00:26:10.339 be 19 when the NBA season starts. They were both 00:26:10.339 --> 00:26:13.480 supposed to be high school class of 2025, not 00:26:13.480 --> 00:26:19.440 first round pick class of 2025. They both came 00:26:19.440 --> 00:26:25.160 up one year to play in college basketball early 00:26:25.160 --> 00:26:27.519 to get to the NBA even faster. So shout out to 00:26:27.519 --> 00:26:29.480 them for being able to do it. But the top of 00:26:29.480 --> 00:26:32.720 the draft was relatively, 22, relatively quiet. 00:26:33.289 --> 00:26:35.250 V .J. Edgecombe, number three to Philadelphia. 00:26:35.349 --> 00:26:37.650 I think that was Ace Bailey. And I think Ace 00:26:37.650 --> 00:26:39.890 Bailey, if he doesn't cancel his workout in Philly, 00:26:39.990 --> 00:26:46.410 I think he ends up there. Khan Naiple ends up 00:26:46.410 --> 00:26:50.190 at Charlotte from Duke. So Duke has two of the 00:26:50.190 --> 00:26:52.990 top four. The second Rutgers star, Ace Bailey, 00:26:53.170 --> 00:26:56.210 comes in at number five to Utah. His reaction 00:26:56.210 --> 00:27:00.630 to the draft, I mean, he looked like somebody. 00:27:00.750 --> 00:27:03.829 He just stared at the crowd. Like, there was 00:27:03.829 --> 00:27:06.390 no smile. There was no excitement. Reportedly, 00:27:06.410 --> 00:27:09.250 he wanted Washington, New Orleans, or Brooklyn. 00:27:09.609 --> 00:27:11.990 That is where he wanted to go. And he knew he 00:27:11.990 --> 00:27:14.190 was going to go. And those teams pick 7, 8, 9. 00:27:14.529 --> 00:27:18.529 He knew he was going to end up at 6, 7, 8. I'm 00:27:18.529 --> 00:27:20.269 sorry. He knew he was going to end up at one 00:27:20.269 --> 00:27:22.289 of those spots. He just knew it. And he wanted 00:27:22.289 --> 00:27:24.450 to go to Washington, Brooklyn, or New Orleans. 00:27:25.049 --> 00:27:27.950 I mean, it was wide. Now, New Orleans doesn't 00:27:27.950 --> 00:27:30.529 necessarily fit in that trend. Like, Washington's 00:27:30.529 --> 00:27:32.569 a big city. It's Washington, D .C. It's a big 00:27:32.569 --> 00:27:35.609 market. Also, a lot of opportunities there. New 00:27:35.609 --> 00:27:38.809 Orleans, fun city. Not the world's biggest market, 00:27:38.869 --> 00:27:41.549 however, but a fun city. Brooklyn's a huge media 00:27:41.549 --> 00:27:45.670 market. So, I'm sure for me, you know, and he 00:27:45.670 --> 00:27:47.650 went to College Basketball at Rutgers in New 00:27:47.650 --> 00:27:49.349 Jersey. So, he's used to being up there. I don't 00:27:49.349 --> 00:27:51.970 know why New Orleans was on his list. I would 00:27:51.970 --> 00:27:55.529 have loved to hear him explain it. One of those 00:27:55.529 --> 00:27:58.490 things we'll never get to know now. Ultimately, 00:27:58.490 --> 00:28:02.210 he ends up going fifth to Utah. So Winston Washington 00:28:02.210 --> 00:28:06.769 goes Trey Johnson, guard out of Texas. My New 00:28:06.769 --> 00:28:10.910 Orleans Pelicans go Jeremiah Fields out of Oklahoma. 00:28:12.930 --> 00:28:16.029 Brooklyn at eight picks their first of four guards. 00:28:16.250 --> 00:28:20.690 Igor Dimon, guard out of BYU. Colin Murray -Boyles 00:28:20.690 --> 00:28:26.190 out of South Carolina, out of SC, rather, forward. 00:28:26.720 --> 00:28:30.759 He goes to Toronto. And then the big fella out 00:28:30.759 --> 00:28:36.779 of Duke, Kaiman Malic, goes to the Houston Rockets 00:28:36.779 --> 00:28:42.859 from Duke. He was not happy. So, the other person 00:28:42.859 --> 00:28:45.140 was not happy about their pick. The guy, Colin 00:28:45.140 --> 00:28:49.180 Murray -Boyles, Toronto picked him. He says the 00:28:49.180 --> 00:28:51.599 F word before hugging his parents. Like, he didn't 00:28:51.599 --> 00:28:55.119 want to go to Toronto. It's these young guys, 00:28:55.279 --> 00:28:58.000 man, and it's not a bad thing. These guys, first 00:28:58.000 --> 00:29:00.579 of all, are financially liberated. They are not 00:29:00.579 --> 00:29:02.880 dependent on the NBA for their money. As far 00:29:02.880 --> 00:29:06.000 as, like, you know, Vijay Edgecombe is different, 00:29:06.099 --> 00:29:07.599 but I'm sure he had a pretty decent, a pretty 00:29:07.599 --> 00:29:09.680 trace mama. So he told the story after the draft 00:29:09.680 --> 00:29:11.700 that for seven years of his life, he lived on 00:29:11.700 --> 00:29:13.920 a generator with no electricity. Like, his mom 00:29:13.920 --> 00:29:18.140 had to do all kinds of stuff to feed them. When 00:29:18.140 --> 00:29:20.380 he got to Baylor, she wasn't living off a generator, 00:29:20.440 --> 00:29:25.099 right? But, you know, if they gave him $200 ,000, 00:29:25.299 --> 00:29:27.420 he could have stayed at her apartment or something. 00:29:27.480 --> 00:29:30.900 You know what I'm saying? Like, whatever. But 00:29:30.900 --> 00:29:33.160 there's less and less of those. Like, Cooper 00:29:33.160 --> 00:29:35.799 Flagg had money. Right? Like, some of these guys 00:29:35.799 --> 00:29:38.259 had families had money. But, like, it's less 00:29:38.259 --> 00:29:43.200 and less of the LeBrons who he said, like, if 00:29:43.200 --> 00:29:44.539 I was going to college, I was going for free 00:29:44.539 --> 00:29:46.740 because my mama wasn't going to be on Sex and 00:29:46.740 --> 00:29:48.059 the Housing no more. You know what I'm saying? 00:29:48.579 --> 00:29:50.740 Stuff like that. Like, there's less. and less 00:29:50.740 --> 00:29:53.460 of those i had to make it to get my family out 00:29:53.460 --> 00:29:56.380 stories juxtaposed to just they're really talented 00:29:56.380 --> 00:30:01.279 basketball players bae also these guys are making 00:30:01.279 --> 00:30:03.819 a lot of money in college and living in a place 00:30:03.819 --> 00:30:06.819 of their choosing for a coach of their choosing 00:30:06.819 --> 00:30:10.339 as the best player on the court a lot of the 00:30:10.339 --> 00:30:16.819 times so it you know colin murray boils f bombed 00:30:16.819 --> 00:30:20.079 it we got people out toronto Ace Bailey looked 00:30:20.079 --> 00:30:22.539 like somebody stole his best friend when he was 00:30:22.539 --> 00:30:24.759 picked by Utah. It's a different level. It's 00:30:24.759 --> 00:30:28.680 a different prospect we're dealing with. Gone 00:30:28.680 --> 00:30:31.039 are the days of the grateful player. Unless you're 00:30:31.039 --> 00:30:35.319 like a 50. If you're a top NBA pick, you're probably 00:30:35.319 --> 00:30:37.680 a top high school player. So you've been making 00:30:37.680 --> 00:30:39.819 money for a year or so. You've got money. You're 00:30:39.819 --> 00:30:44.319 not grateful in the NBA anymore. You're excited, 00:30:44.500 --> 00:30:46.519 but you're not, thank you for picking me and 00:30:46.519 --> 00:30:48.619 saving me. I probably didn't pick and save in 00:30:48.619 --> 00:30:53.720 college. Now I'm past that point, right? But 00:30:53.720 --> 00:30:56.140 I want – well, I'll talk about Brooklyn. Brooklyn 00:30:56.140 --> 00:30:58.200 had an interesting night that apparently a lot 00:30:58.200 --> 00:31:01.880 of people laughed at because they had five picks 00:31:01.880 --> 00:31:04.720 in the first round. This first round, which in 00:31:04.720 --> 00:31:07.259 football, my God, you're like winning. You're 00:31:07.259 --> 00:31:09.640 beyond winning the draft. You have five first 00:31:09.640 --> 00:31:12.150 -round picks in – football you're expected to 00:31:12.150 --> 00:31:15.329 drive five starters like you're gonna get a even 00:31:15.329 --> 00:31:17.390 if you even though picks are like playoff picks 00:31:17.390 --> 00:31:20.130 that's a receiver that's a lineman that's an 00:31:20.130 --> 00:31:22.750 edge that's a corner like when you picked up 00:31:22.750 --> 00:31:29.150 five firsts like no you're gm 11 gm legend level 00:31:29.150 --> 00:31:34.329 with five firsts in the nfl the nba logically 00:31:34.329 --> 00:31:36.970 people thought they were gonna trade package 00:31:36.970 --> 00:31:40.220 those pixie to come up or package those picks 00:31:40.220 --> 00:31:42.640 for a player. Like, you're not going to pick 00:31:42.640 --> 00:31:47.019 five people. The Brooklyn Nets picked five players. 00:31:47.500 --> 00:31:50.460 Four of them was guards. The best player on your 00:31:50.460 --> 00:31:51.900 team, in my opinion, in Brooklyn is Cam Thomas. 00:31:52.319 --> 00:31:55.799 Who's the guard? So you loaded up your guard 00:31:55.799 --> 00:31:59.400 room. I don't know what Brooklyn was doing. I 00:31:59.400 --> 00:32:02.740 have no idea what Brooklyn was doing. To me, 00:32:02.779 --> 00:32:06.369 Common Malich would have been great there. You 00:32:06.369 --> 00:32:08.230 got Nick Claston, but Nick Claston's been a heavy 00:32:08.230 --> 00:32:10.769 target of trade rumors. To me, that would have 00:32:10.769 --> 00:32:14.950 been a good spot for Common. I mean, you know, 00:32:15.029 --> 00:32:18.490 just looking at it, Derrick Queen, again, another 00:32:18.490 --> 00:32:22.670 big, a lot of centers went. They stuck and picked, 00:32:22.730 --> 00:32:26.069 and they picked five guards. Many people laughed 00:32:26.069 --> 00:32:30.529 at them. But the most controversial trade of 00:32:30.529 --> 00:32:34.890 the night was my New Orleans Pelicans. At the 00:32:34.890 --> 00:32:36.829 time when the trade immediately happened, I still 00:32:36.829 --> 00:32:38.130 think it's a good trade. We'll talk about it. 00:32:38.130 --> 00:32:40.029 By the time it happened, I went, oh, wow, New 00:32:40.029 --> 00:32:47.289 Orleans has flown up. So the trade was they traded 00:32:47.289 --> 00:32:52.309 a 2026 unprotected first round pick to be the 00:32:52.309 --> 00:32:55.670 best of the Milwaukee or New Orleans pick in 00:32:55.670 --> 00:33:04.720 2026. And something else. In order to get. They 00:33:04.720 --> 00:33:09.299 traded the 23rd pick, which ended up becoming 00:33:09.299 --> 00:33:15.480 Asanoah, forward out of Georgia. They traded 00:33:15.480 --> 00:33:19.640 the number 23 pick, Asanoah, and a 2026 unprotected 00:33:19.640 --> 00:33:22.240 first -round pick, the best pick of either Milwaukee 00:33:22.240 --> 00:33:25.559 or New Orleans, to come up from 23 to 13 to draft 00:33:25.559 --> 00:33:30.660 Derrick Queen, the center out of Maryland. Now, 00:33:30.680 --> 00:33:35.980 here's where... Here's where a lot of the discourse 00:33:35.980 --> 00:33:38.680 came. A lot of the discourse came. Nick Wright 00:33:38.680 --> 00:33:41.640 called it one of the worst trades in the last 00:33:41.640 --> 00:33:44.900 five years. Bill Simmons said one of the worst 00:33:44.900 --> 00:33:46.680 trades in the last decade. I mean, people are 00:33:46.680 --> 00:33:48.460 literally like, what the fuck is New Orleans 00:33:48.460 --> 00:33:53.259 doing? The ESPN article spoke about it as well. 00:33:53.279 --> 00:33:55.480 Like, New Orleans, I mean, they potentially traded 00:33:55.480 --> 00:33:59.980 a top three pick to come up from the middle of 00:33:59.980 --> 00:34:01.779 the non -lottery to at the edge of the lottery. 00:34:02.269 --> 00:34:05.630 to get their player now here's what i'm willing 00:34:05.630 --> 00:34:07.549 to say i'm willing to take this twofold before 00:34:07.549 --> 00:34:12.389 i get into my opinion the trade is successful 00:34:12.389 --> 00:34:14.789 if that pick is worse it's ten or worse let's 00:34:14.789 --> 00:34:18.449 be honest also we have been dealing with david 00:34:18.449 --> 00:34:21.610 griffin david griffin is a war chest gm what 00:34:21.610 --> 00:34:24.030 i mean by war chest gm is he stockpiles assets 00:34:24.030 --> 00:34:26.889 he stockpiles pieces he stockpiles picks etc 00:34:26.889 --> 00:34:30.019 builds the war chest to either make a big splash 00:34:30.019 --> 00:34:32.760 move or saying one of these war chest items are 00:34:32.760 --> 00:34:34.619 going to hit on their own. That's what a war 00:34:34.619 --> 00:34:38.159 chest GM is. Joe Dumars is an aggressive GM. 00:34:38.340 --> 00:34:41.539 He's an empty the coffer GM. He's a guy that 00:34:41.539 --> 00:34:43.880 says, okay, or president of basketball operations, 00:34:44.000 --> 00:34:47.400 if I am going to run this team, I'm going to 00:34:47.400 --> 00:34:49.639 run it for today and this year, not for two years 00:34:49.639 --> 00:34:53.280 later. So Derrick Queen was a lottery pick. He 00:34:53.280 --> 00:34:56.079 was a, you know, eight, nine overall kind of 00:34:56.079 --> 00:35:00.679 guy. Same thing with Jeremiah Fields. Fierce. 00:35:00.679 --> 00:35:03.940 Most people thought that the New Orleans pick 00:35:03.940 --> 00:35:07.019 was going to come down to either Jeremiah Fierce 00:35:07.019 --> 00:35:11.340 or Derrick Queen at 7. So when it got to 7, that's 00:35:11.340 --> 00:35:12.920 exactly what the choice was. They may end up 00:35:12.920 --> 00:35:15.239 driving Jeremiah Fierce. So they ended up working 00:35:15.239 --> 00:35:17.039 out a deal, and according to Dumars, they started 00:35:17.039 --> 00:35:19.619 calling teams at 8, trying to make the deal. 00:35:19.699 --> 00:35:20.599 It was like, we're going to come right back up 00:35:20.599 --> 00:35:22.920 because we identified Derrick Queen as our guy. 00:35:23.449 --> 00:35:25.110 So they were trying to, every time somebody got 00:35:25.110 --> 00:35:26.949 on the clock, New Orleans called. Trying to make 00:35:26.949 --> 00:35:28.210 a deal, trying to make a deal. Finally, they 00:35:28.210 --> 00:35:30.869 made a deal with Atlanta, and they trade, like 00:35:30.869 --> 00:35:34.469 I said, the 2026 unprotected first. And number 00:35:34.469 --> 00:35:41.190 23, again, became Asa Newell for the rights to 00:35:41.190 --> 00:35:44.809 Dairy Queen, basically. Here's what I'm going 00:35:44.809 --> 00:35:49.849 to say. I think it was a good idea. I think it 00:35:49.849 --> 00:35:56.320 was a good trade. There's only three ways that 00:35:56.320 --> 00:35:59.079 next season goes for the Bucs and the Pelicans. 00:35:59.139 --> 00:36:05.519 And two of them are net positives for New Orleans. 00:36:07.059 --> 00:36:12.019 Option number one for the way this season can 00:36:12.019 --> 00:36:18.000 go is both teams make the playoffs. Both the 00:36:18.000 --> 00:36:20.659 Bucs and the Pelicans make the playoffs. I kind 00:36:20.659 --> 00:36:23.420 of... For the East is weak. Yes, he doesn't have 00:36:23.420 --> 00:36:25.940 Dame Lillard, but the East is weak. When I broke 00:36:25.940 --> 00:36:30.099 down the Pelicans, the West, Oklahoma City, Denver, 00:36:30.380 --> 00:36:33.659 Lakers, Houston, and Spurs, and the Timberwolves 00:36:33.659 --> 00:36:36.480 are the lock teams to me. Those six are getting 00:36:36.480 --> 00:36:39.679 in. I think the play -in is going to feature 00:36:39.679 --> 00:36:44.179 some combination of Clippers, Dallas. Dallas 00:36:44.179 --> 00:36:46.519 is health -dependent because Kyrie's off a good 00:36:46.519 --> 00:36:49.360 chunk of the season. If AD goes down, that's 00:36:49.360 --> 00:36:51.789 a bad basketball team. The Clippers have a James 00:36:51.789 --> 00:36:55.670 Harden problem they have to figure out. And then 00:36:55.670 --> 00:36:58.090 the Warriors, they're one more year older, they're 00:36:58.090 --> 00:37:00.510 one more, you know, whatever. So those to me 00:37:00.510 --> 00:37:03.869 are the, you know, let's call it seven to eight 00:37:03.869 --> 00:37:07.590 teams that are playoff playing in the West. That 00:37:07.590 --> 00:37:10.050 leaves New Orleans, Portland, Phoenix, Utah, 00:37:10.190 --> 00:37:15.730 Sacramento, Memphis. I, in order for New Orleans 00:37:15.730 --> 00:37:18.920 to be a playoff team, They just have to be better 00:37:18.920 --> 00:37:23.159 than Portland, who's bad, Phoenix, awful, Utah, 00:37:23.420 --> 00:37:27.219 trying to lose, Sacramento, LOL, Memphis, who 00:37:27.219 --> 00:37:32.199 dumped Devin Bain and did nothing else. So those 00:37:32.199 --> 00:37:35.340 teams, all New Orleans has to be better than 00:37:35.340 --> 00:37:38.119 those teams. And they're the eighth seed, and 00:37:38.119 --> 00:37:40.820 this trade is irrelevant because then Milwaukee 00:37:40.820 --> 00:37:43.699 gets in and that's, you know, it becomes the... 00:37:45.460 --> 00:37:48.099 16th, 17th, 18th pick and, you know, it's whatever. 00:37:50.400 --> 00:37:55.599 Both teams are bad is the second option. And 00:37:55.599 --> 00:37:57.679 so, that would be a situation where instead of 00:37:57.679 --> 00:38:00.300 the number two overall pick, let's say both teams 00:38:00.300 --> 00:38:02.679 are awful and Milwaukee's pick ends up two and 00:38:02.679 --> 00:38:06.500 New Orleans ends up four. No harm, no foul. You 00:38:06.500 --> 00:38:08.460 still pick at four. You just don't pick at two. 00:38:09.260 --> 00:38:15.230 No harm, no foul. You know, and, Honestly, at 00:38:15.230 --> 00:38:17.550 the moment, there's no real standout number one. 00:38:18.170 --> 00:38:21.690 So, even if it's one in five, yeah, you don't 00:38:21.690 --> 00:38:23.610 have the number one pick, but I'm pretty sure 00:38:23.610 --> 00:38:25.289 Milwaukee, unless you're trading Giannis, isn't 00:38:25.289 --> 00:38:27.610 going to pick a number one. Now, you would hold 00:38:27.610 --> 00:38:30.929 as a big ass A and control who gets it. So, true, 00:38:31.050 --> 00:38:33.809 but, and ultimately, it doesn't help either franchise 00:38:33.809 --> 00:38:36.550 to pick a number one. No harm, no foul, right? 00:38:37.690 --> 00:38:39.349 If both teams are bad, both teams have been in 00:38:39.349 --> 00:38:42.550 the top five, no harm, no foul. The only way 00:38:43.440 --> 00:38:48.119 it becomes a problem is if one of the teams are 00:38:48.119 --> 00:38:50.619 bad. So let's say, especially if it's New Orleans. 00:38:50.679 --> 00:38:53.760 So let's just say worst case scenario, Milwaukee 00:38:53.760 --> 00:38:56.519 goes out, they sneak into the playoffs, you know, 00:38:56.519 --> 00:38:58.519 because Giannis is Giannis and they get the 17, 00:38:58.699 --> 00:38:59.920 right? They're in the playoffs. So their pick 00:38:59.920 --> 00:39:05.860 is 17, 18. And then New Orleans is horrible. 00:39:06.420 --> 00:39:10.539 Zion is injured again. Trey Murphy finally gets 00:39:10.539 --> 00:39:12.639 an injury bug. Herb doesn't come back right. 00:39:12.860 --> 00:39:14.820 DeJounte just doesn't really mess with the team. 00:39:15.119 --> 00:39:19.280 Willie Green gets fired. And they are 30 and 00:39:19.280 --> 00:39:24.139 52. And that pick ends up six. And now instead 00:39:24.139 --> 00:39:27.340 you're picking 18. And you would have had the 00:39:27.340 --> 00:39:31.920 rights to six. That's when it looks bad. But 00:39:31.920 --> 00:39:34.260 unless, like I said, but there's three scenarios. 00:39:35.039 --> 00:39:38.159 Two of them are net positives. Either both of 00:39:38.159 --> 00:39:40.059 you guys made the playoffs. Who cares about that 00:39:40.059 --> 00:39:42.380 pick? Both of you guys are bad. You're in the 00:39:42.380 --> 00:39:46.260 range of the early pick. Or both teams have got 00:39:46.260 --> 00:39:48.139 awful. One team's got awful, which you could 00:39:48.139 --> 00:39:49.159 have had that pick, but instead you're stuck 00:39:49.159 --> 00:39:50.860 with the lower pick. Especially if your pick 00:39:50.860 --> 00:39:54.820 is the pick that's a bad pick. So there is, you 00:39:54.820 --> 00:39:56.940 know. There was a lot of discourse. People are 00:39:56.940 --> 00:39:59.440 laughing at the Pelicans. People are slandering 00:39:59.440 --> 00:40:02.079 them, saying, oh, of course it is. It's Joe Dumars. 00:40:02.519 --> 00:40:06.980 Our guy, old Joe Dumars, he's always doing something. 00:40:10.119 --> 00:40:19.460 That's what's happening in New Orleans. And I 00:40:19.460 --> 00:40:21.440 think it was a good move. I think that it's a 00:40:21.440 --> 00:40:25.469 move. We will know the ramifications of in 12 00:40:25.469 --> 00:40:30.730 months. I think it's a little bit hard to rule 00:40:30.730 --> 00:40:33.889 that right this second. It's a bad trade or it's 00:40:33.889 --> 00:40:35.250 a good trade or whatever. I think that's hard 00:40:35.250 --> 00:40:37.489 to do because we won't know for another 12 months. 00:40:37.750 --> 00:40:39.710 We won't know whether the trade was a good trade 00:40:39.710 --> 00:40:41.750 or a bad trade for another 12 months because 00:40:41.750 --> 00:40:46.739 the team has to play. Obviously, this wasn't 00:40:46.739 --> 00:40:48.539 a championship move. This wasn't like we traded 00:40:48.539 --> 00:40:50.739 that pick and ended up with Trey Younger. It 00:40:50.739 --> 00:40:53.780 wasn't a championship -level move. However, it 00:40:53.780 --> 00:40:55.940 was a move that gives us two guys who identify 00:40:55.940 --> 00:40:58.820 as lottery picks. I also think Joe Dumars kind 00:40:58.820 --> 00:41:01.920 of said it best in his thing. Let's say in his 00:41:01.920 --> 00:41:06.280 interview, let's say Derrick Queen comes out 00:41:06.280 --> 00:41:08.539 and balls out. He's first -team -all rookie. 00:41:08.880 --> 00:41:11.119 He's clearly one of the best four or five rookies 00:41:11.119 --> 00:41:13.960 in the class, but we get hit with an injury bug. 00:41:14.590 --> 00:41:19.289 And now we pick seven. Well, guess what? Derrick 00:41:19.289 --> 00:41:21.130 Queen's one of the top five rookies in the class. 00:41:21.329 --> 00:41:25.110 So he's really effectively top five pick. Derrick 00:41:25.110 --> 00:41:28.469 Queen's a baller. He ends up, you know, right 00:41:28.469 --> 00:41:30.489 in that rookie of the year race or in the area 00:41:30.489 --> 00:41:32.809 of. And it doesn't matter if you trade another 00:41:32.809 --> 00:41:35.110 good rookie. You already got your good rookie. 00:41:35.190 --> 00:41:37.789 You already drafted him a year early. um so you 00:41:37.789 --> 00:41:39.409 know so there's a lot of ways to look at it i 00:41:39.409 --> 00:41:42.110 still think it was a good deal it's gonna age 00:41:42.110 --> 00:41:44.510 either really really well or really really poorly 00:41:44.510 --> 00:41:46.190 depending on those things performance next year 00:41:46.190 --> 00:41:50.170 but i think it was a good one i definitely think 00:41:50.170 --> 00:41:52.010 it was laughable i definitely don't think we 00:41:52.010 --> 00:41:53.269 should be getting slandered all over national 00:41:53.269 --> 00:41:55.889 media for you know being dummies and having joe 00:41:55.889 --> 00:41:57.630 dumars and other world the pelicans are the pelicans 00:41:57.630 --> 00:42:00.250 and what are they doing and no it doesn't take 00:42:00.250 --> 00:42:02.650 all that right like at no point let's take all 00:42:02.650 --> 00:42:07.860 that but It definitely, it's a calculated risk 00:42:07.860 --> 00:42:11.139 of a trade. Because if he's wrong, and let's 00:42:11.139 --> 00:42:13.000 say Derrick Queen is not all that great, and 00:42:13.000 --> 00:42:15.460 that pick becomes like number two, and you got 00:42:15.460 --> 00:42:18.619 a pick in the 20s. Okay, now it's a bad move. 00:42:19.139 --> 00:42:21.699 If both those picks are in the 20s, who cares? 00:42:21.900 --> 00:42:23.880 If both those picks are top five, top seven, 00:42:23.940 --> 00:42:28.019 who cares? There's a massive gap, and you could 00:42:28.019 --> 00:42:30.599 really use that pick, and it goes to Atlanta 00:42:30.599 --> 00:42:36.380 instead. That's the only thing. But that is all 00:42:36.380 --> 00:42:42.340 I have for you guys today. Absolutely great basketball 00:42:42.340 --> 00:42:45.400 show. Great NBA season. But, of course, in this 00:42:45.400 --> 00:42:48.820 business, you don't last very long as far as 00:42:48.820 --> 00:42:53.800 being the key topic of discussion. Don't forget 00:42:53.800 --> 00:42:59.739 to follow at NextGen underscore Cornerstone Consultant. 00:42:59.760 --> 00:43:02.699 They will be the sponsor. for today's show and 00:43:02.699 --> 00:43:04.780 also don't forget to like rate and subscribe 00:43:04.780 --> 00:43:07.380 to the justin times sports podcast on itunes 00:43:07.380 --> 00:43:10.199 spotify or wherever you get your podcasts now 00:43:10.199 --> 00:43:12.840 as always this is your host justin jackson signing 00:43:12.840 --> 00:43:13.099 out