Sam Amick
Appearances
The Athletic NBA Daily
Jokić and Curry make history + Ja Morant on the move?
Hello, Dave and as appreciate you guys having me, we shall see. I have been dropping that comparison a little bit these past couple of days. I don't know that the Grizzlies fans will enjoy that one.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Jokić and Curry make history + Ja Morant on the move?
And maybe I'll be wrong because we all know how things finished up with Fox, but the parallel to me, it's imperfect, but I do think it's worth drawing is that, you know, in Sacramento, you had a guy in Fox who over the course of time became increasingly uncomfortable with with the direction of the franchise, with the way things were unfolding on the floor.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Jokić and Curry make history + Ja Morant on the move?
Now, the other parallel, Mike Brown gets fired. That's a guy that De'Aaron Fox rocked with until the end. Taylor Jenkins gets fired. That's a guy that, based on our information, that Ja Morant rocked with until the end. Now, the X's and O's stuff that you guys are well-versed in is that Taylor is a guy who, to simplify it, played more the way that Ja has preferred over the years.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Jokić and Curry make history + Ja Morant on the move?
Now, when the Grizzlies, after firing Taylor Jenkins, elevate a guy in Tuomasu Salo, the Finnish coach who they went out and got last summer, paid a seven-figure salary to. At the time, I don't know that a lot of us, certainly not in the national media, really picked up on the breadcrumbs along the way that showed that not only was Taylor in trouble,
The Athletic NBA Daily
Jokić and Curry make history + Ja Morant on the move?
but that Tuomas was a guy that the organization and GM Zach Kleiman specifically really wanted to take a look at because he looks at offense in an entirely different way. His Paris basket team had done some innovative things internationally that got the attention of the Grizzlies GM.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Jokić and Curry make history + Ja Morant on the move?
He wanted to integrate that into what Memphis was doing, but it wasn't working with, you know, the kind of vision that he had. And now they make this move. The part where I wonder where things are headed with Ja is that this is just
The Athletic NBA Daily
Jokić and Curry make history + Ja Morant on the move?
not really sat well with him in terms of the way he wants to play the game um you know he's saying all the right things for now the organization to be clear has been full-throated in their denial that he is going to be available anytime soon a couple weeks ago it was speculated in the media that they would start listening potentially this summer to john moran trade offers
The Athletic NBA Daily
Jokić and Curry make history + Ja Morant on the move?
not even a hard media report, more of just kind of chatter. And Zach went out of his way to refute that and said basically that opposing teams could keep dreaming and that wasn't going to happen.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Jokić and Curry make history + Ja Morant on the move?
But I will say this, it's one of those situations where the noise always starts from the outside and sometimes it dissipates because a team gets back on track and the thing it has going, if that makes sense, is good enough that the star player gets comfortable again. But a lot of times it continues to develop like it did with the Fox situation. And the guy ends up leaving town.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Jokić and Curry make history + Ja Morant on the move?
No, I haven't. I have not been given any indication about fireworks of any kind off the court that go beyond basketball. I mean, we know how challenging the last couple of years have been, you know, when it comes to John, the different kind of missteps that he has made.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Jokić and Curry make history + Ja Morant on the move?
And to be honest, he should probably, you know, and I imagine probably does feel thankful that the organization has certainly stood by him all the way through. And he's a guy that has been trying to just kind of get back to not to quote LeBron, but to making the main thing the main thing. Right. And, you know, this was basketball. This was a guy who has seen his star dim. You know what I mean?
The Athletic NBA Daily
Jokić and Curry make history + Ja Morant on the move?
He was not too long ago, essentially kind of given that unofficial title of, you know, rising American star, the guy who was going to take the mantle from the LeBrons and the Steffs, potentially right there with, you know, Zion Williamson, who also has had. his own kind of obstacles. He's just his arc has gone in the wrong direction.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Jokić and Curry make history + Ja Morant on the move?
Yeah, it was crazy. A lot of shot making. Big threes. Aaron Gordon was hitting big threes. Alexander Walker obviously returning. And then, you know, the Westbrook thing is going to be like the headline probably tomorrow because they had it won. You know, he could have, I guess, dribbled it out with 10 seconds left. Then they probably foul him with eight. I actually don't mind taking the layup.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Jokić and Curry make history + Ja Morant on the move?
And whenever that happens with a guy like that, who is so talented and who is still very young and and on the early side of his prime, you know, he's going to obviously constantly assess the situation.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Jokić and Curry make history + Ja Morant on the move?
I think, S, that it speaks to Zach's continued belief in the roster. Now, I will qualify that by saying, you know, that is typically the sequence of events when things aren't going well. Like the GM is the guy who put together the roster is probably going to, you know, have losing belief in the roster be the last move that he makes because then he's got to look himself in the mirror.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Jokić and Curry make history + Ja Morant on the move?
And that's not... disparage zach at all that's just kind of the historical context um and the idea that you you have a guy in tuamas who again was challenging to get into your program you were excited about what he would bring to the table you weren't seeing it to your liking and the clock is ticking
The Athletic NBA Daily
Jokić and Curry make history + Ja Morant on the move?
And then post all-star break, you know, the Grizzlies were, I believe, 35 and 16 as of February 8th. They start losing games at a pretty high rate after that. They were 11 and 20 against teams that were above 500. You know, coincidentally, that last OKC one-sided loss was, that ended up costing Taylor his job, or at least his last game.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Jokić and Curry make history + Ja Morant on the move?
It was on the front end of that streak going back to February 8th. They got boat raced by the Thunder at the start of that stretch as well. So the theme was that Zach, understandably, was looking at this going, we are not true contenders. And so try something different. But again, the backdrop that is worth unpacking even more deeply is that And this is across the league.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Jokić and Curry make history + Ja Morant on the move?
Once an organization has somebody in-house that is aspirational and who has a clean slate and who doesn't have any baggage, then the clock is ticking, I think, for the incumbent head coach. And that's, again, where you can maybe draw a parallel to the Sacramento situation.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Jokić and Curry make history + Ja Morant on the move?
Although, like with the Kings and Doug Christie, that was more ownership-driven, the aspiration to get Doug in that spot when he was on Mike Brown's staff. But, you know, to me, now that you look back at it a little more clear eyed, you know, Taylor was was in a spot all year long. And the only way to to not get fired here was to be damn near the top of the West.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Jokić and Curry make history + Ja Morant on the move?
How do you miss the layup? Yeah, you can't miss it. And then I don't know why you're even getting close to, you know, fouling Alexander Walker there. I mean, look, if he hits it, he hits it. You want some kind of a contest, but it was almost like a fake hustle late contest that put him in danger. And just, I mean, a combo blunder that will be the story. I mean, like Jokic's stat line.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Jokić and Curry make history + Ja Morant on the move?
so this is me reading the room just to be clear not intel coming from the grizzlies just in my experience again given what we know of the context of bringing him to memphis and what he represented i would be pretty surprised if he was not the coach next season um that's just me talking uh because it it feels like a vision it feels like a philosophical shift
The Athletic NBA Daily
Jokić and Curry make history + Ja Morant on the move?
And, you know, and one that I have a hard time thinking they're only going to commit to for 10 games. On top of that, when you give the guy a seven figure multi-year contract as an assistant coach, that does not typically portend, you know, a short term relationship. You know, we we don't have all of the coaching info around the league.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Jokić and Curry make history + Ja Morant on the move?
But as you guys know, that's a pretty steep salary for an assistant of any kind in the length of the contract.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Jokić and Curry make history + Ja Morant on the move?
Yes. I was also in person for the Steph tonight who would be in that category. Yeah. And he had the only the fifth ever 50, 10, 10, five tonight. Yeah. Yeah. Which is funny because like you said, it's a little overshadowed. What did Jokic was 61 and then what else?
The Athletic NBA Daily
Jokić and Curry make history + Ja Morant on the move?
You mentioned, and this is going to sound so hatery on this stat line, but how many minutes? He ended up playing like 50-something minutes. He played 53 minutes, yeah. You can bulk up your points a little in this massive shootout in overtime where you played 36 straight minutes. His second half was most stars. Full game, right? Because you're talking about 24 minutes plus an extra 10, 34 minutes.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Jokić and Curry make history + Ja Morant on the move?
I think Steph averages 32. But, I mean, yes, to your original point, yes, Nikola Jokic at this point is starting to get in that all-time – Top 15, best center ever. Steve Kerr called him the best center ever.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Jokić and Curry make history + Ja Morant on the move?
No DiVincenzo, no Nas Reed because of suspension. No Rudy Gobert late because he fouled out. Yeah. Yeah, I mean, that's a huge win. He celebrated it, didn't he, right, when Jokic did that?
The Athletic NBA Daily
Jokić and Curry make history + Ja Morant on the move?
By the way, how about the Jokic? There's .1 left. Yeah, and he's still trying. And he was still trying to find a way to, like, if I just bat this ball.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Jokić and Curry make history + Ja Morant on the move?
but yeah, no, you could tell how much like Edwards wanted this one. I mean, there's probably, you know, the playoff history between these two is kind of a, anytime you go through like a fierce seven game series, like there's just a little extra. Didn't Mike Malone have some quote this week that, They play them better.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Jokić and Curry make history + Ja Morant on the move?
Yeah, his coaching staff had been watching film, and it's like they play us harder than they play anybody. Yeah, this is big for Minnesota. I think if Minnesota loses this, they are the likeliest eight, which means that's the road playing team. And with winning this... Every result is swinging massively right now. I mean, we're going to get, I assume, to this Warriors-Grizzlies game.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Jokić and Curry make history + Ja Morant on the move?
Yeah, we'll just go to it now. Yeah, that is huge standings-wise. If the Warriors lose tonight, they're one and a half games behind the Grizzlies. And the Grizzlies, it would be 2-2 head-to-head, but the Grizzlies have a better conference record, so pretty likely the Grizzlies would have the tiebreaker. Instead, the Warriors win.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Jokić and Curry make history + Ja Morant on the move?
They're a half game ahead of the Grizzlies and they clinch the tiebreaker. We're talking about do the math for me there, but that's like a three, four game type swing. I was talking to Warriors people pregame and even at shoot around and the more realistic, clear eyed defense. people within the Warriors, and their thought was win tonight in Memphis, very likely you're avoiding the play-in.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Jokić and Curry make history + Ja Morant on the move?
They now have a really clear path to be the five or the six. If they had lost tonight, it would have been really hard for them to avoid because they think the Clippers are probably going to win a lot of games if they have the tiebreaker. Grizzlies would have.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Jokić and Curry make history + Ja Morant on the move?
So that's what felt like was on the line April 1st in Memphis was playing or not playing, Warriors win, and I think they've got a good chance here to avoid it.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Jokić and Curry make history + Ja Morant on the move?
Yeah, yeah. Somebody asked Draymond this, like a local Memphis reporter, like, is this the best Steph Curry game you've ever seen? He was like, hell no.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Jokić and Curry make history + Ja Morant on the move?
they had projected they were going to be open at 1045, 11 a.m. basically at the arena. You know, y'all talked to me last night, late night in Oklahoma City. I took a really early flight to make sure I made shoot around for a few reasons.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Jokić and Curry make history + Ja Morant on the move?
But I got there when they projected to be open, and they didn't open for another 30 minutes, which told me, man, this is like a heavy game plan shoot around, you know, more than usual. And then once it did open, to me, he went through like a full – like pregame shooting routine at like 11 a.m., 11.30 a.m., whatever. And they mentioned it. You know, I didn't even say anything about it.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Jokić and Curry make history + Ja Morant on the move?
And Draymond mentioned it postgame that he could see Steph's focus and shoot around. And Steph said he shot it really well and shoot around. And for him to mention it, I mean, yeah, I think he did. He had a week off recently because of that tailbone injury. I think that refreshed the body and mind a little bit. Apparently he played golf on this road trip twice, you know,
The Athletic NBA Daily
Jokić and Curry make history + Ja Morant on the move?
Including yesterday, although now I'm talking to you past midnight, two days ago in San Antonio at the La Conterra Resort or something out there. And for whatever reason, that really gets him going. They always worry that everyone has to fill up their cup their own way. Well, Steph plays golf. He was juiced up for this game. You could tell early, to your point. Really aggressive.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Jokić and Curry make history + Ja Morant on the move?
19 in the first quarter. End of the first quarter, he had like 19, 5-4, and two steals. Yep. In 10 minutes. 32 at half. What was funny about his game is he hits his 11-3 with like four minutes left in the third.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Jokić and Curry make history + Ja Morant on the move?
and it's a closed game right they're not offending that well jaws killing them uh and steph has like every three-part record imaginable except for single game one he was there his teammate did it broke steph's record clay has it 14. he wants it steph wants that record and he admitted to me post game like Because I had the same thought. He hit the three with the 16 minutes left in the game.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Jokić and Curry make history + Ja Morant on the move?
He's already got to go for it. This could be the night. And he admitted he started the fourth. I don't know if you all remember. He had two really bad threes. He was even doing one of his like pointing at himself at the bench. Like, oh, my bad on that one. And he had to rein himself back in because he was like, okay. He was thirsty for it.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Jokić and Curry make history + Ja Morant on the move?
But he's like, you know what's more important than that record? The fifth seed.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Jokić and Curry make history + Ja Morant on the move?
Oh, really? When the the month before the Ray Allen record a few years ago, he was like hit a deep slump because he he was just too antsy about just trying too hard.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Jokić and Curry make history + Ja Morant on the move?
They were just really bad defensively, and I'm used to them being really good defensively. You know, there's a reason Steph had 52. Like, you know, they were trying some of their, like, top-locking and various stuff with, like, Jalen Wells, Scottie Pittman, whatever. They just were making a bunch of errors defensively.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Jokić and Curry make history + Ja Morant on the move?
Yeah. You know, the relocation stuff or, you know, leaving them at bad times. Aldama was turning his head and Steph's running behind. It's like clearly their game plan was very Steph Curry oriented, like it always has been. But two things defensively, they just, the personnel is not very good. It's like Zach Eady and Luke Kennard, guard and pick and rolls.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Jokić and Curry make history + Ja Morant on the move?
And, you know, like you said, a rookie is their primary perimeter guy. Jaw has his issues. Yeah. And then Jaron Jackson was obviously great defensively. Draymond roasted him postgame. No, I shouldn't say that. Draymond did not roast him postgame. Draymond is really friendly with Jaron Jackson. They have Michigan State connection.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Jokić and Curry make history + Ja Morant on the move?
And he was critical in a big brother way about it, where I would agree with Jaron Jackson. It's just silly fouls. Two in the first quarter, he's just running over Moses Moody. Handful of jersey half the time on rebounds. That changed the first quarter. They're up one. He gets the second foul, goes to the bench. It's Warriors go on a run.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Jokić and Curry make history + Ja Morant on the move?
And then you mentioned the one, the one that Draymond apparently went over to Desmond Bain during the game when it happened. It was basically like, dude, you got to tell your guy here. What's he doing? He misses a three and he's frustrated and Quentin Post is just going for a rebound. He just grabs his arm and yanks it. It's his fifth foul.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Jokić and Curry make history + Ja Morant on the move?
And then Jimmy Butler pump fakes him with two minutes left, gets the sixth foul, which, you know, Kirk called the biggest play of the game. So that, I mean, you asked me what I meant. That's what I see with the Grizzlies. They're really bad defensively right now.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Jokić and Curry make history + Ja Morant on the move?
We'll see what happens. 28 of 28 from the line tonight. 12 of 12 for Butler. Yeah. That's huge. That's what they weren't doing. First of all, they don't get to the free throw line in the first place. And they were, for a large part of the season, they were the worst free throw shooting team in the league, despite having Steph Curry. As far as percentage, that's no longer the case. So, yeah.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Jokić and Curry make history + Ja Morant on the move?
Thursday night, Warriors-Lakers. Marquee game, it's the 14th day of a 14-day trip for the Warriors, two-week cross-country. Then they go home Friday night, and it's Jokic-Curry in Chase Center. If Steph plays, because that's an absurd back-to-back coming off a two-game. Yeah.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Jokić and Curry make history + Ja Morant on the move?
Appreciate you, Anthony. What's the big game tomorrow night? I'll just try to catch it. Oh, man, I haven't even looked.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Jokić and Curry make history + Ja Morant on the move?
You go back to OKC? No, I'm good.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Cavs on cruise control | Mike Brown’s final days with Kings
um they're they're in a bind i mean they're very active on the trade market right now um and in fact even kind of in the days leading up to the mike brown firing i don't know all the specifics but i was told that they were you know they were pretty deep in some different trade stuff that where they were looking for something to change
The Athletic NBA Daily
Cavs on cruise control | Mike Brown’s final days with Kings
They didn't have to be the coach, didn't have to be DeMar going to the bench. You know, this is what you do when you're struggling is you tinker. And I think if they and this is where the front office, to their credit, they do. They're willing to take accountability here. If the front office had been able to get something over the finish line, then Mike might still be the coach.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Cavs on cruise control | Mike Brown’s final days with Kings
They don't mind admitting that. Now, I've heard them tied to Cam Johnson for quite a while now, but that is a very popular player at the moment. It's going to take a lot of the ball right now. It really is, yeah. They were tied to Dorian Finney-Smith. Now, obviously, he goes to the Lakers. There's some other options in there. They're perpetually tied to Kyle Kuzma.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Cavs on cruise control | Mike Brown’s final days with Kings
They've kicked around the Zach Levine thing in the past, Brandon Ingram. At some point, they need somebody who can play some defense, though. That's the thing that's limiting. Yeah, a backup big is probably the number one priority. They've been... To me, it's a... Man, why am I blanking? I mean, you know, Robert Williams type would be amazing. Yeah, right. Yeah.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Cavs on cruise control | Mike Brown’s final days with Kings
And that's the thing where you fix the Sabonis defensive problem because that's such a major issue. Having that back line help defensively. Yeah, totally. Yeah, and honestly, one that is, you know, and it was in our piece last week, Jonas Valanciunas is one that makes a lot of sense, not only for how he would help them, but he's very close with Sabonis, you know, pretty –
The Athletic NBA Daily
Cavs on cruise control | Mike Brown’s final days with Kings
tight relationship there and by the way part of that pelicans team that uh that went six and oh against the kings last year so right you know how you know how decision making the nba a lot of times are are guilty of like they want to go get the guy who who kicked their ass yeah the guy that kicked their ass or the guy that they kicked ass with i mean you know doc rivers is kind of like the king of that i think so yeah
The Athletic NBA Daily
Cavs on cruise control | Mike Brown’s final days with Kings
It's like Kobe going to get Matt Barnes because he showed a little gusto type stuff. I like that.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Cavs on cruise control | Mike Brown’s final days with Kings
Well, I mean, the Jimmy thing, I think, is going to have to play out until around the deadline. You know, obviously, Miami puts its statement out in pretty clearly Pat Riley language. So, you know, that might as well have been the Pat Riley Twitter account. announcing that they weren't trading Jimmy. Do I think it's partly a leverage play or a negotiating ploy? Yes.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Cavs on cruise control | Mike Brown’s final days with Kings
They don't like the level of noise right now, and they want to make sure, and they clearly didn't love whatever seemed to be available to them trade-wise in the conversations that they had. They were clearly not in love with. So now you've got to play hardball. Now you've got to push it. You have time to play those games. The Warriors, to me...
The Athletic NBA Daily
Cavs on cruise control | Mike Brown’s final days with Kings
are front and center on that issue because Phoenix has major obstacles with the Heat's, you know, what appears to be their lack of desire to bring back Bradley Beal. That is a deal breaker. The Warriors, of course, have this calculus of, you know, Steph and Draymond getting older. Could Jimmy come save the day and get them back into contention? Right.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Cavs on cruise control | Mike Brown’s final days with Kings
But then what are you paying Jimmy this summer?
The Athletic NBA Daily
Cavs on cruise control | Mike Brown’s final days with Kings
No, he helps today, but then you got to recommit for tomorrow. That's the issue. And at the same time, you're going to be watching Jonathan Kaminga potentially flourishing in a heat Jersey and wondering what might've been. You know, the problem is right now you're seeing Kaminga continue to improve, but it's not part of a winning calculus as of yet.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Cavs on cruise control | Mike Brown’s final days with Kings
You know, Golden State is dropping games and they barely beat Phoenix the other night, but they're on a bad stretch. So to me, the Warriors are front and center with Jimmy. And I hate to make this like the all things Sacramento conversation today, guys, but like the Fox thing is still right there. Yeah, because. You know, teams that are interested, they are doing their homework.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Cavs on cruise control | Mike Brown’s final days with Kings
They are they are asking questions. They are figuring out what they would be willing to offer. There is a pretty significant appetite for De'Aaron Fox, you know, if and when he decides that he wants out. I mean, if he wants out, he's the best.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Cavs on cruise control | Mike Brown’s final days with Kings
Of course. Thank you for having me, guys. Happy holidays. Happy holidays. Juggling the day job with all this stuff. We put this tree out yesterday. Oh, no. It's time of year. The Kings put their head coach out the other day, if you happen to hear. The timeline, Dave. That loss to the Pistons, obviously, for the most part, was the final straw. They're up big late.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Cavs on cruise control | Mike Brown’s final days with Kings
And by the way, everybody keeps glossing over the fact that Damanis Sabonis did not play. Kind of a big factor. But he's not playing because of an illness. Terrible ending to that game. A four-point play in the corner with De'Aaron Fox having an absolute boneheaded defensive decision.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Cavs on cruise control | Mike Brown’s final days with Kings
And then this was a theme that continued Mike Brown's postgame press conference where he was pretty candid and cutting. And with his commentary on that play was the type of thing that, you know, kept getting everybody's attention. Mike being so publicly critical of the players.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Cavs on cruise control | Mike Brown’s final days with Kings
But they, of course, didn't make the decision until the next day after the Kings practiced after, you know, there were social media pictures of Mike and De'Aaron talking at practice. My understanding, our understanding is that it's essentially the procedural delays are the reason that they didn't tell Mike that he was out earlier. You had people in different places.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Cavs on cruise control | Mike Brown’s final days with Kings
You had meetings that had to take place. You had legalities, all of the above. It's not the first time a coach has been fired over the phone, but- Certainly it sparked a lot of support for Mike around the league with Michael Malone, putting the Kings on blast and Steve Kerr and, and, you know, people like that.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Cavs on cruise control | Mike Brown’s final days with Kings
Anytime a coach gets fired, especially one like this.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Cavs on cruise control | Mike Brown’s final days with Kings
It is. And I think, to me, the central question, I mean, yeah, the Coach of the Year thing, John Hollinger wrote about it the other day. It's an undisputable history of that being a curse. But for the Kings, it kind of was a tipping point where, you know, was Mike Brown the most central, important player? secure figure in the room who was going to lead this franchise going forward?
The Athletic NBA Daily
Cavs on cruise control | Mike Brown’s final days with Kings
Obviously, the answer was no. It was not that long ago that that I would have said the answer was yes, that above the front office, that Mike was kind of taken over the franchise. And Within these struggles, the sixth game losing streak, you know, not meeting expectations, you started to learn little by little that Mike's voice was not winning out.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Cavs on cruise control | Mike Brown’s final days with Kings
And the synergy wasn't there between, you know, him in the front office and ownership. So, you know, interesting times in SAC again, and we'll see if it makes a difference here.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Cavs on cruise control | Mike Brown’s final days with Kings
Yeah. The Fox thing and the quick backdrop there to remind the listeners is like it's it's kind of getting glossed over. I was as we reported. I mean, it was a week before that, you know, De'Aaron's agent, Rich Paul, shows up. to Golden One Center. You know, he's out there kind of center stage, so to speak.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Cavs on cruise control | Mike Brown’s final days with Kings
He's sitting with the Aaron's wife, for say, for the entire game, talking to her the entire game. Before the game, as we reported, you know, he had a meeting with the front office. where it was made very clear that you're in the danger zone here. Basically, they are thinking about De'Aaron's future. They are clearly contemplating the prospect of asking for a trade.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Cavs on cruise control | Mike Brown’s final days with Kings
They have not done that to this point, but he's not happy with the vision here or the path that they are on um the part that is tough to speak to is how much of the mike brown decision was truly player driven because everybody i talked to that was downplayed um the influence and the pressure applied by the players for the most part
The Athletic NBA Daily
Cavs on cruise control | Mike Brown’s final days with Kings
was was secondary if that makes sense like you can't there's a lot of the stuff we all saw the press conferences matter it's tough to be that hard on players when you are losing yeah um by the way this gets glossed over too mike mike's an old school coach you know it's practicing every day it's having shoot-arounds every game day um that stuff flies when you are
The Athletic NBA Daily
Cavs on cruise control | Mike Brown’s final days with Kings
kind of the bell of the ball and you're the beam team and everybody loves you but when you're losing games that stuff you know kind of wears thin um sabonis and brown were known to have a tricky relationship where demonus would push back a lot on mike uh and so some angst on that front but you have to also realize that
The Athletic NBA Daily
Cavs on cruise control | Mike Brown’s final days with Kings
You know, Vivek Ranadive, the longtime owner of the Kings, who has been through so many coaches at this point, my feeling is that at least part of this calculus was him being concerned about De'Aaron's future. He does not want to lose De'Aaron Fox.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Cavs on cruise control | Mike Brown’s final days with Kings
In fairness to De'Aaron, who has pushed back on social media publicly about the idea that he played a part here, De'Aaron is not responsible for the organization fearing what he might do, if that makes sense. If they made choices based partly on that, that's not his fault. He's simply trying to figure out his situation. So a lot of layers to it. I think where I land, guys, we don't really get...
The Athletic NBA Daily
Cavs on cruise control | Mike Brown’s final days with Kings
paid to pick sides here. We're trying to convey what happened. Mike Brown's a hell of a coach. If you look at the room and point the finger and say, yep, he's the problem right there, I would not agree with that. I like Doug Christie. I'm curious to see how he does as a coach. The roster is the roster. The roster has holes. This is not a good team. It has holes. You said it in your piece.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Anthony Edwards carries Minnesota | Beal benched; Suns win
He got, oh God, I forget exactly what it was, but he got blocked like 40 times last season and he's on pace for like 70 times this year. And, you know, it might not seem like a lot, like when you're looking at it, you know, just a game or five games at a time, but over a season it adds up and we really are seeing, you know, his worst finishing season, possibly in his career.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Anthony Edwards carries Minnesota | Beal benched; Suns win
I have to double check the stats, but at the very least in, you know, six or seven years, so.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Anthony Edwards carries Minnesota | Beal benched; Suns win
Well, are you talking about with the Plumlee lineup or with the Plumlee? Yeah, I mean, it's no secret. So like you guys are wondering about what are the issues with this team? Like it's no one thing. There's the Bradley Beal piece. There's the Devin Booker piece. There's the lack of wing size piece, which is another thing that we haven't even hit on. Right.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Anthony Edwards carries Minnesota | Beal benched; Suns win
But it's like, you know, they either have guys who are good defenders or, you know, who are good defenders, but are like six foot four, like Josh Akogi and can't shoot. And they don't have the right blend of three and D perimeter guys. And then another big one is they have arguably the worst center rotation in the entire NBA. And I think it's telling, arguably.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Anthony Edwards carries Minnesota | Beal benched; Suns win
You know, it might be bottom five, bottom six. But I think it's telling that they close a game like tonight's against Philly with a rookie, Oso Godaro, who's drafted 40th overall.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Anthony Edwards carries Minnesota | Beal benched; Suns win
And their entire center... Yeah, I've been really impressed with his effort and the way he also can play at the elbow and kind of be that connecting piece offensively. He's also a 6'10", 230-pound rookie.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Anthony Edwards carries Minnesota | Beal benched; Suns win
Yeah, their stars in some ways have let them down. I would say the exception to that is Kevin Durant, who I think will be their their only all star this year. I don't think Devin Booker has a chance, unfortunately, with the way he's playing. But then a lot of their role players have also let them down. Yusuf Nurkic has been one of the worst centers in the NBA.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Anthony Edwards carries Minnesota | Beal benched; Suns win
Mason Plumlee, honestly, is only a veteran minimum contract. So, you know, I don't really blame him for it, but. is showing signs of age. I think he's 34 years old and just looks so much older than kind of the Mason Plumlee I knew from a few years ago who could still get up and catch some lobs. Right now he catches a ball in the short roll and he's just afraid to look at the rim.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Anthony Edwards carries Minnesota | Beal benched; Suns win
So it's a completely different player and they have issues all over the map with their rotation to the point where it's like, You talk about how to solve them. I don't think a Jimmy Butler trade solves this. I think they're three or four trades away from being the contender that they think they are.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Anthony Edwards carries Minnesota | Beal benched; Suns win
I'm glad you asked that. I figured we had to cover it.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Anthony Edwards carries Minnesota | Beal benched; Suns win
I mean, if they were willing to trade one of their rookies, I absolutely do not want them to. Let me be clear from a fan's perspective, but like from the Matt Ishbia perspective of how do we. you know, how do we dig this even deeper and go all in, all in, all in? I guess, theoretically, that's how you could scrounge up an asset.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Anthony Edwards carries Minnesota | Beal benched; Suns win
Otherwise, I think, honestly, Nurkic has been so bad that I think any sort of addition by subtraction is at play. We've talked about all sorts of centers. If they could just get a Jonas Valanciunas, a Nick Richards, someone who makes, you know, $15 million or less and is not good.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Anthony Edwards carries Minnesota | Beal benched; Suns win
Not horrible. Not horrible. That would honestly help them a lot. Again, I don't think it makes them competitive in, say, a first round series against the Oklahoma City Thunder. But I do think it would make them substantially better in the second half of the season.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Anthony Edwards carries Minnesota | Beal benched; Suns win
And maybe if they could claw their way all the way back to like the fifth or sixth seed, they could talk themselves into having a chance against whoever they'd play in the first round. But if they're just going to be an eighth seed, like... they have quite the ladder to climb at this point. And it's going to take more than just a minor move to get there.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Anthony Edwards carries Minnesota | Beal benched; Suns win
what okay not next year that they own is 2031 yeah 2031 yeah they have a 20 they have a pick in 2026 which is swapped like three times and they get the worst of it or whatever and uh yeah their next one that they own is 2031 yeah which they will probably trade good luck yeah yeah
The Athletic NBA Daily
Anthony Edwards carries Minnesota | Beal benched; Suns win
First of all, Dave, as appreciate you guys having me on. This was the most fun I've had watching a Suns game in probably three or four weeks. Wow. I wouldn't even say it was a perfect game by any means. It was a fairly horrendous first half. But yeah, they were smiling. They were having fun. The rookies got in and gave some good production.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Anthony Edwards carries Minnesota | Beal benched; Suns win
Bradley Beal goes to the bench and drops, I think, 25 points in his first game off the bench. So people are making jokes that he's Manu Ginobili now. I would say.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Anthony Edwards carries Minnesota | Beal benched; Suns win
well let's pop the brakes but i do appreciate the settlement yeah there's joel so yeah joel didn't play it's a shorthanded sixers team your question is everything fixed obviously everything's not fixed yeah um i i do think there is a certain level of professionalism that these guys um this particular locker room maybe has approached this game with and they did feel connected something i want to say to
The Athletic NBA Daily
Anthony Edwards carries Minnesota | Beal benched; Suns win
There are a lot of athletes who kind of in these types of situations, especially his situation, could easily pout. Yeah. And he did not look like that. If you want to be a body language doctor, a body language expert from tonight, he looks like a guy who's who wants to go out there and play and win games.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Anthony Edwards carries Minnesota | Beal benched; Suns win
There are all sorts of issues with the team this season, and one game is not going to solve that. And potentially, even as we talk about it, one trade alone is not going to solve that. But it was it was good just to see them smile a bit for once.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Anthony Edwards carries Minnesota | Beal benched; Suns win
Yes, it was a great question, but it was absolutely necessary. It's maybe a little bit counterintuitive for people who write some people. I mean, I think a lot of people have been saying for a long time, these three stars don't fit together. Yeah. But what helps that it happened now is a you have the whole Bradley Beal trade rumors looming. Yeah.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Anthony Edwards carries Minnesota | Beal benched; Suns win
Of course, we all know that he has the no trade clause and and maybe, you know, that is a way to sort of push him to be willing to waive that. So that's there. And you have to consider that. But there's also a statistical objective argument for as a as a basketball team, why this was a good move for them. Yeah, just throw a couple lineup stats at you guys.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Anthony Edwards carries Minnesota | Beal benched; Suns win
When Devin Booker, Bradley Beal, and Kevin Durant share the floor this season, I think they have a net rating of minus seven when all three of them are together. When just Booker and Durant are on the floor and Beal is off, that flips to a plus six. And so, you know, which doesn't make them doesn't make them an elite contender or anything.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Anthony Edwards carries Minnesota | Beal benched; Suns win
But the difference between a plus six and a minus seven, there's been this consistent thread throughout the season of kind of every lineup Bradley Beal has been a part of. He's sort of tanked the net rating a little bit with a couple of particular exceptions. And so, you know, it was something that had to happen again. I don't think that one move by itself fixes this team, but we'll see.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Anthony Edwards carries Minnesota | Beal benched; Suns win
Maybe, you know, they have a weaker schedule coming up here over the next couple of weeks and. And maybe they can generate some positive momentum before the trade deadline even comes.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Anthony Edwards carries Minnesota | Beal benched; Suns win
Yeah, I think it's a good question, Dave. And I think it's something, uh, this, this sort of greater existential thing that we're going to have to touch on, on our pod. We haven't really touched on, uh, Like with more depth and we're probably going to have to cover pretty soon. You know, with Book, it's year 11. And this is something we don't really think about with him.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Anthony Edwards carries Minnesota | Beal benched; Suns win
You know, we don't think about him having this extent of mileage on his body at this point. But, yeah, he's got a recent groin injury. He did play in the Olympics this summer. So maybe there's some residual effects there.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Anthony Edwards carries Minnesota | Beal benched; Suns win
But personally, I think, you know, you combine, thankfully, knock on wood, he hasn't had a major injury in his career to the extent of he hasn't torn an ACL, he hasn't torn an Achilles, but he has had multiple hamstring strains, calf strain here, a groin injury there. And I do think over time it starts to add up.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Anthony Edwards carries Minnesota | Beal benched; Suns win
to a point where as exceptional as he's been delivering passes this season, and he really has become such a smart playmaker over the course of his career, he does seem to be lacking a little bit in that burst. And I think we're still hoping that it's just kind of a slump that he can get himself out of.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Anthony Edwards carries Minnesota | Beal benched; Suns win
But even a little bit of like the lift on kind of those 15, 16 foot elbow jumpers, which for Devin Booker's entire career has been his bread and butter.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Anthony Edwards carries Minnesota | Beal benched; Suns win
It just doesn't seem to be there to the same level.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Anthony Edwards carries Minnesota | Beal benched; Suns win
Well, it was 60%, but yeah.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Inside the Luka Doncic trade + Lakers deadline plans
But history between Kyrie and A.D. And so as you look at that landscape, you again, I'm just going to keep it surface level here for the most part. But you look at Luca and he's not really part of that fabric. So the Mavericks have, you know, more experience.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Inside the Luka Doncic trade + Lakers deadline plans
No, I mean, you know, a little and I'm peeking on my phone so I can have all the pieces in front of me. I mean, a little peek behind the curtain the night before the trade went down. You know, I had hit up some folks about how I was hearing that that Zach might wind up in sack in this deal. Mm hmm. So that, that part of it, you know, ultimately happens.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Inside the Luka Doncic trade + Lakers deadline plans
And I, on that aspect, I will say, you know, in the here and the now, I think Zach's officially become an underrated player, you know, like there's metrics.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Inside the Luka Doncic trade + Lakers deadline plans
I mean, you can look at the metrics and like, and I know a lot of folks don't want to hear that word, but like the analytics and say, there's a discussion to be had that, you know, he's having a better year than De'Aaron and De'Aaron's having a pretty good year.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Inside the Luka Doncic trade + Lakers deadline plans
So the Levine part and the fact that his contract is not nearly as toxic now as it was a couple of years ago because the cap continues to spike. Right. That part I get. The pick return is a little bit deceiving because the, you know, you start with the 2025 first from Charlotte. That's going to be two seconds because it's protected 14. The 2027 Spurs first.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Inside the Luka Doncic trade + Lakers deadline plans
is like literally like, unless you just think De'Aaron's going to forget how to play basketball. That's going to be, that's going to be a late first. You know, the 2031 first is really good, but that just feels like a lifetime away. Yeah.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Inside the Luka Doncic trade + Lakers deadline plans
But that's a good, that's a really, really good asset, you know, and then you got a bunch of seconds, you know, it's going to probably again, probably wind up being five seconds. If that first turns into two seconds. Right. The bigger thing, if I was Joe Blow Kings fan, is like the return was okay.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Inside the Luka Doncic trade + Lakers deadline plans
Especially, I mean, you know, they, somebody joked, they should send flowers to, um, Nico Harrison because after the Luca AD trade, the Fox trade looks fine. Right. Right. But the problem I think now in terms of their planning is that, you know, you've got a front office and Monty McNair and Wes Wilcox that I do think are facing, you know, some peril in terms of their job security. Um,
The Athletic NBA Daily
Inside the Luka Doncic trade + Lakers deadline plans
and and you have a a a retool it's not a rebuild it's a retool and it's trying to remain competitive which i'm sure is at the behest of owner bebek ranadive yeah um so in the here and now it's kind of mildly interesting de rosen levine sabonis monk at the point you know devin carter is interesting as he's finally playing the rookie um keegan murray you know in that lineup too but where is it all going because
The Athletic NBA Daily
Inside the Luka Doncic trade + Lakers deadline plans
The runway suddenly seems pretty short. Zach's going to be there a couple of years. DeMar, I've been told, is not going to get moved before the deadline. But how's DeMar feeling about this? He came to play with De'Aaron Fox. How's Sabonis feeling about this? How's Malik Monk, who collegeed with De'Aaron, right? The whole connection. Yeah. Although I will say, Malik's one of those dudes.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Inside the Luka Doncic trade + Lakers deadline plans
He got paid. He got paid. He had the ball in his hands, too, probably. He got paid and promoted. Right, right. I think Malik's fine. I just think they... I think...
The Athletic NBA Daily
Inside the Luka Doncic trade + Lakers deadline plans
Can't universally speak for everybody around the team, but there's a strong sense that there's a decline in faith in the organization's kind of, you know, strategy and soundness, if you will, that could mean that a bunch of these pieces are kind of quietly, you know, Looking off in the distance going, okay, this is probably not a long-term deal. Where am I going to go next?
The Athletic NBA Daily
Inside the Luka Doncic trade + Lakers deadline plans
So the biggest thing that is, again, by myself and others, probably a little underreported, is the contract mechanics that played a part here. By getting traded now, De'Aaron can now extend with the Spurs in July. I believe it's in July. It's six months from the trade. Right, right. If it waited until the summertime... He's got to wait until January. Now, I don't know.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Inside the Luka Doncic trade + Lakers deadline plans
I don't know if that moves the needle for you guys because it's like, all right, but if you know you're going to do it eventually, what's the rush? I think why do it now? And that was probably the number two reason. Number one reason would probably be because the level of urgency on the king side and the level of uncomfortableness within their locker room.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Inside the Luka Doncic trade + Lakers deadline plans
was such that you would obviously have to fear them going somewhere else with him. Now, yes, there are reports that Clutch told other teams, represents Fox, that they told other teams to stay away and pursue him at their own peril. But if you're the Spurs and you think you do have the type of partnership that you want with Fox and Wemby and your organization,
The Athletic NBA Daily
Inside the Luka Doncic trade + Lakers deadline plans
then that's a tough risk because the Kings needed to move on. The Kings had significant pressure from De'Aaron's teammates to make something happen right now. So I think that played a part.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Inside the Luka Doncic trade + Lakers deadline plans
Yeah. It's not great. I mean, it's funny. Cause you know, I wrote like a month ago, like I wrote, what are they doing? Like they got to do something. And you know, and this is, this is part of the danger of our jobs is like, sometimes you're hypocritical in media. Like we're going to say, what are they doing on the front end? Cause they're not doing anything.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Inside the Luka Doncic trade + Lakers deadline plans
And then we're going to say, what are they doing on the backend? Right. Cause they didn't do enough. But
The Athletic NBA Daily
Inside the Luka Doncic trade + Lakers deadline plans
it's it's not enough it's not a lot um and listen it's a results-based business right so i'm not going to really have any guilt saying this like when we earlier in the season did a story ranking all the front offices in the league we focused on asking every single team and their people who's your top five well the funny side benefit of that story is that
The Athletic NBA Daily
Inside the Luka Doncic trade + Lakers deadline plans
it cracked me up how many people wanted to share their bottom five. And it was like, well, no, that's not the story. You can't unhear these things. And so along the way, you know, I mean, I'm just giving context for like the way their colleagues see their performance the last couple of years, you know, and it's the front office with Arturis Karnasavis and Mark Eversley, who
The Athletic NBA Daily
Inside the Luka Doncic trade + Lakers deadline plans
long tenured execs who know what they're doing and they're smart guys. But, but right now the reactions to their choices are just wildly negative across the league where Chicago would just come up time and again with people, you know, throwing them in their bottom five. So it's not just media slander. You know, it's real stuff.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Inside the Luka Doncic trade + Lakers deadline plans
But I'm going to lean into that, baby, and just take my base.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Inside the Luka Doncic trade + Lakers deadline plans
No, this is not as spicy, but it is. It's spicy, but it's already out there. But I will say, you know, it was already on my radar before it was out there. You know, Jake Fisher, who's now over in Substack, had put something out today and did a nice job with it, talking about the Warriors and their pursuit of kind of every star, but Jimmy Butler and a gentleman named Kevin Durant. The Durant...
The Athletic NBA Daily
Inside the Luka Doncic trade + Lakers deadline plans
There's a lot happening there right now, and I do think it could be a very interesting couple of days where the sons desperately want Jimmy, but then there's this kind of question of if they don't get him, what's the mood? Like if we, if there's another trade deadline that comes and not comes and goes, but if the guys in the room say, Oh, geez, are we really still rocking with this crew?
The Athletic NBA Daily
Inside the Luka Doncic trade + Lakers deadline plans
You know, like what are the possible dominoes there? And, you know, the warriors are, are, are very aggressively trying to find somebody to put next to Steph. So, uh, I would love to, this would be unethical. I would never do this, but if I could hack into, uh,
The Athletic NBA Daily
Inside the Luka Doncic trade + Lakers deadline plans
mike dunleavy's cell phone records and see how many calls he's put into milwaukee how many calls he's you know i think reaching for the stars uh pun intended is what they're doing um so you know don't be surprised if if we hear i don't know what'll get done yeah but if we hear that they're being aggressive man saturday night proved to me
The Athletic NBA Daily
Inside the Luka Doncic trade + Lakers deadline plans
hey not much you know just hear from the uh the old Intel Dungeon that uh that I haven't left much uh over the weekend I will say I'm so thrilled to be with you and uh didn't get into a car accident when the Luca trade happened I might have been driving back from a uh a personal event and uh notification pops up and and the car might have veered off the road a little bit oh my God yeah
The Athletic NBA Daily
Inside the Luka Doncic trade + Lakers deadline plans
I'm uncomfortable right now. Go ahead.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Inside the Luka Doncic trade + Lakers deadline plans
I love, by the way, how you put that, because it feels like everybody's in like, you know, sports therapy mode. You know, denial. Yeah. Talk about your feelings. How did this happen? I mean, on the Dallas side, I admittedly continue to try to learn as much as possible about the motivations and the relationships and the dynamics and why this happened.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Inside the Luka Doncic trade + Lakers deadline plans
It is Nico Harrison, the Mavs GM, who is the driving force behind this deal. It is, you know, to call it not to be crude, but ballsy is just an understatement. It is an incredibly bold move that... Could be wrong. I think most likely is not going to age well. I personally believe that Luka... The tricky part here, guys, is that I understand some of the concerns.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Inside the Luka Doncic trade + Lakers deadline plans
And I don't mean I agree with them, but I acknowledge some of the concerns that the Mavs clearly had about the way Luka handles himself as a professional. A little bit of shades of... And this is a little bit of a kind of a... There's a little bit of dishing of dirt happening right now, obviously.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Inside the Luka Doncic trade + Lakers deadline plans
But like Joel Embiid comparison where it's like concerns about body, concerns about health, concerns about work ethic, habits. You know, you even hear it and it's kind of out there. I mean, Luca likes to have a good time and party. And so that's, you know, that stuff. OK, I get it. But here's the tricky part.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Inside the Luka Doncic trade + Lakers deadline plans
The way you went about trading him and choosing to deal with the Lakers, and as we've reported, and this is 100% true, even though Nico kind of acted like it wasn't true, they talked to at least one other team. That absolutely happened. But you did not tell the rest of the league that Luka was on the market, and you sent him to the Lakers. So not only did you put him on basketball's biggest stage –
The Athletic NBA Daily
Inside the Luka Doncic trade + Lakers deadline plans
But you put a chip on his shoulder the size of Crypto.com Arena because you are broadcasting to the basketball world that you think that this guy has already reached his peak. That's, to me, the message that he is... not equipped to make the most of his talent. If I'm him, that's what I'm hearing. That's what I'm feeling. When I get in the gym, that's what I'm thinking.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Inside the Luka Doncic trade + Lakers deadline plans
When I get with JJ Redick and LeBron and honestly, for as much as I have spent several years, a lot of my career at times, analyzing and critiquing the Lakers and some of the way they function, right? Their culture. The one thing we always sleep on Is what that stage, what that franchise means to players. Right. Like, trust me when I just went down there last week. Right.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Inside the Luka Doncic trade + Lakers deadline plans
And I know I'm kind of commandeering the conversation here, but. Commandeer. Please continue. Please. Yeah. I went down there last week and it had probably been two months since the I don't even it might have been my first Lakers game this year in L.A. And for all the years I've done this because my home courts are kings and warriors and they're fine. You go do your work at those arenas.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Inside the Luka Doncic trade + Lakers deadline plans
I went down to the Lakers game and it never ceases to amaze me. as I sit on press row, how my brain kind of looks around and goes, Ooh, we like this place is different. Like the celebrities, the spotlight, the glitz, the glamor, that stuff, uh, for a dude like Luca, who, by the way, every road trip that they would have in LA, this should tell you a lot.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Inside the Luka Doncic trade + Lakers deadline plans
Luca would, it was the only time that he would do his media, uh,
The Athletic NBA Daily
Inside the Luka Doncic trade + Lakers deadline plans
immediately after the game in his jersey right well that is not his habit right he typically takes like an hour to talk to the reporters like usual stars do right yes well guys why is he doing that well because it's la and he's got plans and he wants to go have a good time so you know all of which is to say that man i can i can intellectually understand how nico looked at this and said
The Athletic NBA Daily
Inside the Luka Doncic trade + Lakers deadline plans
Man, AD, who I have a relationship with from the past. Rob Palenka, who is my guy from the Kobe days. Rob, lifelong Kobe agent. Nico was Kobe's Nike rep. I mean, I first met Nico in the halls of Staples Center every single night after games waiting for Kobe. That was Kobe's guy. So there's a synergy in that relationship.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Inside the Luka Doncic trade + Lakers deadline plans
So AD, Kyrie, you know, Clay, the rest of that group, whoever they're going to get, they're a good team right now. It's just the idea that like, man, like the whole basketball world was dying to see what the next 15 years look like for Luca. Yeah. And now that's in a different jersey.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Inside the Luka Doncic trade + Lakers deadline plans
No. Who else comes to mind? Well, Jimmy Butler. Jimmy Butler is the.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Inside the Luka Doncic trade + Lakers deadline plans
Yeah, I mean, you could counter that by saying, like, you look at the De'Aaron Fox situation in Sacramento. Right. My understanding is they were ready to pay him, and it wasn't going to be the supermax because he wasn't going to qualify. Right. But, you know, that still is him choosing to be elsewhere. Right. I get your point. I think there's merit to it for sure. To me, I mean, yes, the idea.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Inside the Luka Doncic trade + Lakers deadline plans
What's the final number on Luka? What do you have waiting for him? It's like 345 or something. It's just massive. And I get that. But by the way, if it goes well with AD, they're going to be giving the same amount of money to AD, who is routinely sidelined by injury.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Inside the Luka Doncic trade + Lakers deadline plans
Folks don't question his conditioning or his work ethic to the degree that they do Luca, but they do question his toughness and things of that nature. So You know, I it feels partly like, yes, finances always play a part, but call it culture or personality. I think personality is a key word here, like Nico, Jason Kidd, Kyrie, Luca. One of those things is not like the other.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Inside the Luka Doncic trade + Lakers deadline plans
Like the last guy is a bit of he's I mean, call him a rebel, call him a lone wolf. It's not that I mean, he seemed to connect with Kyrie. And but this is me. You know, I'm a little torn on this topic. Yeah. The Kyrie component, I think, has not been talked about that much.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Inside the Luka Doncic trade + Lakers deadline plans
And at minimum, I think it's fair to highlight that you had a synergy between Nico and Kyrie that was born out of the risk that Nico took to trade for Kyrie in the first place. The relationship, again, we go back to relationships. Nico had the relationship with Kyrie from Nike. And that led to that deal. You know, Kyrie and AD have talked about playing together in the past.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Inside the Luka Doncic trade + Lakers deadline plans
If you remember, it blew up when AD was in New Orleans. Boston, right? He was going to go to Boston, and they thought they had him. And then AD's dad publicly talked about how he wasn't going to sign in Boston. But that was actually about the city. That was... Really, the way that they treated Isaiah Thomas was what motivated A.D. 's dad to say, we don't want to be there.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Warriors down Thunder | De’Aaron Fox to Spurs?
So they do need to do something, you know, or else, you know, again, big fella might get a little restless again, but there's a lot to consider.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Warriors down Thunder | De’Aaron Fox to Spurs?
I think that Kawhi is still that guy. He really is. The last time they saw Victor Wimbinyama was New Year's Eve. It was the second night of back-to-back. I was not there, so can't put anything on me. But I'm pretty sure there was a stretch where Wimby outscored the Clippers by himself to begin that game. San Antonio wound up being up by 41.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Warriors down Thunder | De’Aaron Fox to Spurs?
So this was a game that the Clippers put extra attention into. When they beat the Spurs in October – The Spurs were up by 26 at the end of that first quarter. It required that big of a comeback. So this was a much more contested game. The Clippers were up 16 in the third quarter, but the Spurs actually wound up taking a third quarter lead. And what's so thrilling about Kawhi coming back is that
The Athletic NBA Daily
Warriors down Thunder | De’Aaron Fox to Spurs?
It was already like small benchmarks just to get him to debut. Right. He's coming back to practice. He's shooting around. He's taking contact. He's getting to be on a road trip. All this before he even put the damn uniform on. Now we're on the other side of the debut. You know, how long can he play? Who? Who is he playing with? Is he running to the corner?
The Athletic NBA Daily
Warriors down Thunder | De’Aaron Fox to Spurs?
Or, okay, now he's running some pick and rolls. He's getting his isos. That's the first mid-range shot he made. That's the first dunk. We saw it. He hit the floor and got up and lived to tell about it. Now, tonight, he just took the Spurs. So he did it in the third quarter to get that lead. And then when he comes back in in the fourth quarter, they jack the lead back up.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Warriors down Thunder | De’Aaron Fox to Spurs?
And then, for good measure, he comes in with like a minute left in his restriction and empties the tank yet again. Helped. Harden get to 20 points. So that was for 20 point Clippers. And that's what's fun. You know, Kawhi is only out here because he's healthy, because he's, you know, not surviving these games, but thriving in these games. And I don't you know, it's complete basketball.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Warriors down Thunder | De’Aaron Fox to Spurs?
Kawhi is not out there just to score or to be a decoy, a presence. He's out there to do what the Clippers need him to do. given the possession. If it's hand to the ball, if it's make the right pass, if it's face, if it's, you know, take on a defensive assignment. He's playing like Kawhi Leonard, the Kawhi Leonard that we've always seen when he's at his best.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Warriors down Thunder | De’Aaron Fox to Spurs?
The thing with Kawhi and Zeus, he doesn't want to talk about even this part anymore. He's a high floor player to go along with a high ceiling player. And what that means is... High ceiling, he elevates his teammates and does great things, things that, you know, max players do, right? But he's a high floor player because he just doesn't make mistakes. He's the adult in the room on an old-ass team.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Warriors down Thunder | De’Aaron Fox to Spurs?
OK, the big brother team. Exactly. So James has six turnovers in the first half. You mentioned that the Spurs were getting out and running. They were pressuring the ball. The Spurs don't pressure the basketball like their bottom five team when it comes to forcing turnovers. And here Jeremy Sohan was on back-to-back possessions, ripping James in the backcourt.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Warriors down Thunder | De’Aaron Fox to Spurs?
The second one finished with an and one. I don't even think he made the free throw, but still, you know, the crowd gets hype. And one, stop the game, put the replay up, everybody lineups. You know what I mean? Right. James goes into halftime and he apologized. And we've had this thing all season with T. Rulu where it's like, You tell these guys, they turn the ball over too much.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Warriors down Thunder | De’Aaron Fox to Spurs?
And he's like, you show them, you tell them, and they just say facts and go on with their day. So James, he goes in at halftime and he took responsibility, accountability. And it's great when guys say it, but it's even better when they actually implement it. James didn't have a turnover in the second half.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Warriors down Thunder | De’Aaron Fox to Spurs?
The Clippers operated like they were playing a bottom five turnover defense in the second half. They only had six turnovers. That was huge. And so I'm not surprised because Kawhi is easy to play with. There's a reason his win percentage over the course of his career is as high as it is. He had a great example set in the city of San Antonio. And he's carried that as he's grown his individual game.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Warriors down Thunder | De’Aaron Fox to Spurs?
He always brings his team along with him. That's why he's worth it. That's why, you know, and when I say worth it, you know, I know that correlation, that connotation always comes down to, you know, guys who have attitude issues or guys who just, you know, personality wise, you need to make adjustments. Kawhi is not that person. We all know what the,
The Athletic NBA Daily
Warriors down Thunder | De’Aaron Fox to Spurs?
Only challenge with Kawhi Leonard is availability, you know, keeping him on the floor. He's worth it because when he's on the floor, he knows what he has to do, but he's not satisfied with what he has to do. It's raising the level of his teammates. And he's done that. At the very least, he's done that for the four guys that he shared the floors with.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Warriors down Thunder | De’Aaron Fox to Spurs?
Yeah, he is. I described him in a story that I wrote earlier this week at The Athletic as arguably the most indispensable player on the team. It's no disrespect to the other candidates that could fill that role. But we've seen James Harden be off the floor and other guys handle the ball. We've seen Norman Calvinist games and James Harden, for example, drop 40 or something.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Warriors down Thunder | De’Aaron Fox to Spurs?
Kawhi didn't play before January. But if this is Zubat's, I mean, there's not another center on the Clippers who've even played 20 minutes in a game, let alone what the heck this team would do if Zubat had missed real time.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Warriors down Thunder | De’Aaron Fox to Spurs?
And he's an example of a player who under multiple coaches, under so many point guards, like the point guard position for the Clippers used to be a revolving door on an annual basis. You know, he's always quietly put the work in. And for so long, it's just a matter of great post player for a guy who doesn't get the tussles.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Warriors down Thunder | De’Aaron Fox to Spurs?
Great pick and roll player for a team that doesn't run the pick and rolls because they don't have a player who is a primary playmaker and able to take advantage and make sound decisions on a basis that lets a coach like T. Lou trust that player. Okay. Not to name names. You've seen the best of all this team has played. So now, you know, it's a credit to zoo. It's a credit to T. Lou.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Warriors down Thunder | De’Aaron Fox to Spurs?
It's a credit to James Harden. James Harden gets in the gym with these guys and he drills them. And as good as zoo was in previous versions of this team, uh, This team had a gaping hole to fill in terms of someone who needed to be featured offensively.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Warriors down Thunder | De’Aaron Fox to Spurs?
And that combined with the work that those guys put in starting when James got to the team and, you know, got the point guard mantle undisputedly last season. And now you just have a guy who is at the perfect intersection of skill and opportunity. he's a skilled player. He's not this oaf who's just happens to luck into some buckets. He's a guy who has a jump hook. He has a spin move.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Warriors down Thunder | De’Aaron Fox to Spurs?
He has a ability to plan his pivot foot, go one way, dream shake, you come back the third way. And, and that's what's, that's what's great. You know, he's still got another level to do too. Like dude is, I congratulated him on the end one. He didn't want to hear it tonight, but you know, He was checking that last few minute report after Phoenix. So, you know, it ain't shade at all.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Warriors down Thunder | De’Aaron Fox to Spurs?
He can get to the free throw line better. You know, he can make free throws at a more consistent rate. But, you know, even when he's playing at the short roll, like he's got games where he's racking up, you know, more than three assists per game. He is... And then that's not we're talking about offense when he's anchored the second best defense in the NBA.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Warriors down Thunder | De’Aaron Fox to Spurs?
OK, so he's a complete player from the center position outside of the fact that he's a non-threat shooting the basketball outside the paint. Like besides that, he does everything that you ask him to do. And I doubt he gets rewarded with the all-star selection. But I think he's got bigger goals and I think he's got another goal. And that's to be an all defensive team rep.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Warriors down Thunder | De’Aaron Fox to Spurs?
That's the thing that makes the most sense. I mean, this is not a team that is going to go for broke. We saw that team last year where they maxed out on the players that they could get. And so they're trying to be responsible. This is the new CBA. We keep saying new because we keep seeing things that we're not used to conventionally seeing as far as behavior from teams.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Warriors down Thunder | De’Aaron Fox to Spurs?
The Clippers are just one example. You saw the Warriors say bye to Klay Thompson. You saw – The Minnesota Timberwolves trade Carl Anthony Towns for a player that everyone knows not as great a fit as Carl Anthony Towns proved to be for a team that made a Western Conference Finals run. There will be more. And so the Clippers are trying to understand that, hey, we have a way to be competitive now.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Warriors down Thunder | De’Aaron Fox to Spurs?
And maybe there's another ceiling because you haven't seen Kawhi Leonard finish a playoff series as with Toronto as a head coach or with a guy like James as the point guard, like who knows what this team could do in a seven game series, but you have to be responsible when you're building your team. Now, that being said, there's a lot of money on that bench not contributing.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Warriors down Thunder | De’Aaron Fox to Spurs?
And so it behooves the Clippers to explore ways to balance or just, give this team a chance because you need a better Vince Zubat's insurance. Mo Bama's a player who is an NBA player, but he's only played 1,000 minutes once. He's got no availability. Being a lottery pick. Even when he's available, Mo's just not out there to fill more than 15 minutes in any given game.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Warriors down Thunder | De’Aaron Fox to Spurs?
But what's tricky, Zena and Dave, is that The backup center role isn't just having a Obama-sized person. What do these second units do? They downsize and they throw your junk lineups out there. Yeah. And you have to be cognizant of playoff basketball. Is there a player that fits that intersection? Yeah. Right.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Warriors down Thunder | De’Aaron Fox to Spurs?
You could start in a pinch, but you could also play in lineups that mirror what your role might be if you're going to be on this team, especially in a playoff setting. That's going to be tricky, but I think that's what the Clippers are trying to figure out over the next eight days.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Warriors down Thunder | De’Aaron Fox to Spurs?
Come on, John. John Collins is the theory player. OK, I just don't I just don't know if he's the in practice player because John has his weaknesses. You know, people talked about a day on sharp. I just don't think they're on sharp is a player with who can who can elevate his game too much to one dimensional for what the Clippers need. Right. And that's the thing.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Warriors down Thunder | De’Aaron Fox to Spurs?
I think it's going to have to be something outside the park. And you know what? I'm also bracing myself for this being the first time that the Clippers don't make a move at the deadline. But I feel like, again, there's literally a guy on the team who is making $11 million and hasn't been with them since Honolulu. So...
The Athletic NBA Daily
Warriors down Thunder | De’Aaron Fox to Spurs?
I filed that thing Tuesday morning. All right. Let's see.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Warriors down Thunder | De’Aaron Fox to Spurs?
I can't wait to break that down.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Warriors down Thunder | De’Aaron Fox to Spurs?
He has indeed, Dave. Big news. You know, we did see this coming. We've been tracking this for quite a few months. You know, De'Aaron's discontent, if you will, or more specifically, just his concern for his own long term future in Sacramento. And does this team have a high enough ceiling to warrant him signing a long term deal? You know, he's got one year left on this current contract.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Warriors down Thunder | De’Aaron Fox to Spurs?
has declined multiple extensions was eligible for the supermax if he you know was an all-nba player that does not appear to be the the track that he is on at the moment um but admittedly a little bit for me uh surprised that this ended up popping off before the trade deadline it had seemed like this was going to become a summertime off-season thing right you know the kings make the coaching change going from mike brown to doug christie and and there was a lot of
The Athletic NBA Daily
Warriors down Thunder | De’Aaron Fox to Spurs?
Fox negativity within that, meaning that, like I've written, he didn't pull the trigger on the Brown deal. In fact, he went to dinner with Mike after the coaching change, and it seemed like the Kings went one way while De'Aaron was thinking another, if that makes sense.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Warriors down Thunder | De’Aaron Fox to Spurs?
But still, they won a bunch of games, and you thought that it had quieted down enough that it would become an off-season thing, but that's not the case. You could argue that the time should be now for the Kings in terms of maximizing his value, You know, the entire league seems to know that the Spurs are the destination that he's looking at. But we'll see what happens here.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Warriors down Thunder | De’Aaron Fox to Spurs?
Well, it's interesting to keep it in Texas, you know, and we've been hearing this for a while. Houston, I think if this thing gets to the summertime, Houston might revisit the idea of thinking about De'Aaron Fox. But they are not doing that during the season. They are obviously playing fantastic basketball. They're second in the West.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Warriors down Thunder | De’Aaron Fox to Spurs?
their plan that they're going to stick to is to get to the end of this season and then monitor what they think of their current group and then go from there. So in that scenario, maybe Fox comes into play. Not right now.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Warriors down Thunder | De’Aaron Fox to Spurs?
The Lakers, I'm told, are not a place that De'Aaron or his camp is trying to push him towards, even with the connections between Fox's agent, Rich Paul of Clutch Sports, LeBron James, Anthony Davis. This is a whole different conversation, but probably not a great sign For the Lakers, the clutch camp looks at their operation and says, no, let's go elsewhere with a young all-star level talent.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Warriors down Thunder | De’Aaron Fox to Spurs?
But again, that's a conversation for another day. Orlando comes to mind. They have interest in Fox. They've been doing some due diligence on him for quite some time. And I think formulating their own opinion. I don't know if they're jumping in immediately right now, but it wouldn't shock me.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Warriors down Thunder | De’Aaron Fox to Spurs?
They've had so many injuries this year, and you can tell that they are trying to hold on to all of that positivity that came with the strong start they had while also trying to figure out how do we take the next step. So Orlando comes to mind. I'm leaving somebody out, but I mean... Go ahead.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Warriors down Thunder | De’Aaron Fox to Spurs?
that you can go and trade for that we know of but in the summer maybe you have more of a bidding war perhaps and it is very difficult to get these teams to a place yeah to your point mid-season yeah to pull something like this off again i already said like houston's out of the running because mid-season doesn't work for them the other two teams that i was blanking on miami and the clippers are frequently mentioned with fox um you know now the miami thing
The Athletic NBA Daily
Warriors down Thunder | De’Aaron Fox to Spurs?
You know, that's kind of interesting. You know, you never know. We could see, does a Fox and Butler situation kind of run headlong into one another? You know, I think whatever the Butler situation ends up being is potentially a three, four, five team deal. Tough to put together. But, you know, you have two big time pieces in Butler and Fox now in play.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Warriors down Thunder | De’Aaron Fox to Spurs?
But yes, to your question, the summertime is easier logistically. But the question becomes, do the Kings lose leverage by that point? I don't love the gun to the head analogy, but the point gets across. It's even more intense in the summer where you are running out of time. Absolutely, for a small market franchise like the Kings, you cannot run the risk of losing Fox for nothing.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Warriors down Thunder | De’Aaron Fox to Spurs?
And I'll also say that if you think about the Kings' history with this front office, with Monty McNair and Wes Wilcox, when they traded for Damanis Sabonis,
The Athletic NBA Daily
Warriors down Thunder | De’Aaron Fox to Spurs?
the pacers they shocked the world by moving tyrese halliburton that was kind of ahead of a timeline that people did not see coming i think they have shown a willingness to do something and strike while the iron is hot even if you know it causes waves publicly and as a quick aside to that you know during that time
The Athletic NBA Daily
Warriors down Thunder | De’Aaron Fox to Spurs?
you know hyla burton got moved because he was the guy with the value you know what i mean like fox got floated at that time but back then he his contract was something that most teams didn't have interest in he was not as good as he is now and he had a lot more time left on that deal
The Athletic NBA Daily
Warriors down Thunder | De’Aaron Fox to Spurs?
And I share that to kind of remind folks that while Fox, the perception of him now is he's one of the franchise centerpieces, and that is true, but it was not that long ago that even De'Aaron himself knew that he might be in play, you know, with the team being the ones potentially motivated to move him. So, you know, they've been active before.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Warriors down Thunder | De’Aaron Fox to Spurs?
Yeah, I mean, the Jimmy stuff in Miami, it's it's hot and heavy and all the worst kinds of ways. You know, my goodness, he was back for a couple of hours going to shoot around before he suspended again. And so the dynamics continue to be so difficult that I do ultimately think that if I'm handicapping it, that Jimmy is going to get moved before the deadline.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Warriors down Thunder | De’Aaron Fox to Spurs?
phoenix like you said continues to look incredibly problematic even though that's where jimmy wants to be the bradley beal obstacle remains so teams like the kings teams like the warriors um i think are going to have to rethink whether or not they want to jump in here because the price on jimmy is going down i don't know how much but it does appear that it is going down and like if you look at the warriors for example
The Athletic NBA Daily
Warriors down Thunder | De’Aaron Fox to Spurs?
you know, before their prospect was, oh, you mean we got to attach a first? We got to give you Jonathan Kaminga? You know, like that's just not happening. And we can't sacrifice our future in that kind of a way. Well, what if you could
The Athletic NBA Daily
Warriors down Thunder | De’Aaron Fox to Spurs?
get jimmy butler you know with less than that where maybe andrew wiggins was the worst thing that you were giving giving up or the most valuable thing you were giving up the kings are in a similar spot they want to win now they're not looking to reset the table here um you know and i think that uh that there have been for sure indications that they haven't completely uh kind of left the possibility of going after jimmy so i would i would keep that as kind of an open question
The Athletic NBA Daily
Warriors down Thunder | De’Aaron Fox to Spurs?
But, you know, that is we're in like phase two or phase three with the week six of this. I mean, this is like from a negotiating standpoint, there's been a shift behind the scenes. Like I think where where Miami is now realizing we're going to have to lower the asking price. It doesn't mean they're going to say yes to any of this stuff. Right.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Warriors down Thunder | De’Aaron Fox to Spurs?
We just got to see what the market looks like at that point and go from there.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Warriors down Thunder | De’Aaron Fox to Spurs?
Um, yeah, Zach's a tricky one. It's like, man, one day he wants to be in Chicago. One day you can't wait to get out of Chicago. Um, I'm in that camp, you know, just, I don't weigh in opinion wise that much. Cause I'm just following the information, but like, man, Zach, he's had an incredible year. He's amazing. Yeah, he's amazing.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Warriors down Thunder | De’Aaron Fox to Spurs?
And I actually think some of these teams we're talking about should go ahead. And you're going to roll the dice when it comes to his health. But he has been able to put together a good stretch right now where he's mostly been healthy. And it makes a lot of sense to me why Milwaukee would be thinking about it. Chris Middleton is a problem. And I like Chris a lot.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Warriors down Thunder | De’Aaron Fox to Spurs?
But it's just the difficulties he is having. Physically, performance-wise, even now that he is back going scoreless the other night, this is something the Bucs look at it like everybody else. And you talk about ceilings. They know we are not competing with Boston, OKC, Cleveland, any of these teams with this current group.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Warriors down Thunder | De’Aaron Fox to Spurs?
But they are also already so out over their skis from an asset standpoint, you know, all in as much as anybody in the NBA when they made the trade for Damian Lillard that, you know, I think the internal discussion there is like, my goodness, are we really doing this again? Whether it's Levine, whether it's Butler, I think those are all real conversations that are being had.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Warriors down Thunder | De’Aaron Fox to Spurs?
And I'm very curious to see what they do because standing pat seems problematic to me. They're not good enough. Yeah, you got Giannis to sign the long-term extension, but if they stand pat and they bow out in the first round again, and I know it gets tired from a fan standpoint, but it's like we're just going to restart the whole is Giannis happy discussion again.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Warriors down Thunder | De’Aaron Fox to Spurs?
Yeah, definitely. Yeah. But also they don't have, it requires, you know, I think the guy, the player wanting to be there. Right. Because they don't have much to offer. You know, they can't compete with, we didn't mention Memphis, by the way, that's another good one. Yeah. And from an asset standpoint, they can't compete with teams like that.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Warriors down Thunder | De’Aaron Fox to Spurs?
But it was reported, and it's true, that Jimmy, his camp has sent word several times to Memphis that he's not interested in playing for the Grizzlies. That was not the case with Milwaukee. So, okay, can you kind of use that to your advantage, the idea that Jimmy might actually want to be here? Can you make that happen? With Zach, does Zach want to be in Milwaukee?
The Athletic NBA Daily
Sixers Big 3 debut in loss | Hartenstein returns in Thunder win
Like this has been happening for years. It's kind of an open secret situation. that some of these frustrations were there. And if you look at Philly and the question of could the coach or the GM be in trouble, I would probably contextualize it and say, if you go back, I forget the exact number, but Joel has had a number of GMs, a number of coaches during his tenure. I think ownership-wise,
The Athletic NBA Daily
Sixers Big 3 debut in loss | Hartenstein returns in Thunder win
Some of the conversation at that level has got to be, you know, highlighting that backdrop and realizing that at some point it has to fall at his feet and just keep working on fixing that instead of thinking that you can just make a change elsewhere to try to solve it.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Sixers Big 3 debut in loss | Hartenstein returns in Thunder win
Yeah, I mean, that is the sense around the league is that, you know, for these contending teams or competitive teams, that there's a little bit of a kind of, you know, one-stop shopping in Brooklyn. Just a bunch of guys that aren't seen, you know, by rival teams as part of the Nets' future.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Sixers Big 3 debut in loss | Hartenstein returns in Thunder win
Now, the Cam Thomas situation, you know, I think it's fair to highlight, like, not only didn't get an extension done, but, you know, my understanding was that that... kind of, you know, possibility was, you know, extinguished pretty quick in the process that that wasn't something they were looking to do.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Sixers Big 3 debut in loss | Hartenstein returns in Thunder win
I think that's somewhat telling talented players scoring the heck out of it, but, you know, certainly not a guy who moves the ball. He's a gunner. So, you know, Cam Johnson, you go down the list, like, They've got a lot of really good guys.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Sixers Big 3 debut in loss | Hartenstein returns in Thunder win
Bojan Bogdanovic hasn't even played, but that's another dude that if you get him back out there. Now, in fairness to the Nets and GM Sean Marks, the indications on that side are that it's not going to be the fire sale that some people might think it's going to be. We'll see. Yeah, you win a few games. You got Jordy Fernandez trying to make his way as a coach. And, and these, I'm just being honest.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Sixers Big 3 debut in loss | Hartenstein returns in Thunder win
These are the stories in the parts of the job that are tricky this time of year, because everybody's got competing agendas. You know, Jordy wants good players because he's trying to, to do his thing as a coach, Sean, you know, as they continue to kind of dig out of it, the James Harden, Durant, Kyrie Irving hole is, is trying to figure out what the future looks like. So,
The Athletic NBA Daily
Sixers Big 3 debut in loss | Hartenstein returns in Thunder win
The last line of that column said that Sean is going to have a lot of possibilities to sort through at the deadline. I think that is a very fair and safe statement.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Sixers Big 3 debut in loss | Hartenstein returns in Thunder win
Yeah, guys, it is a mess. I would say, man, if I was advising the Sixers as an unpaid consultant, I would say if you just would have done your media responsibilities after the game first and then had the team meeting, then none of this probably gets out because, you know, when you don't talk to the media for an hour, after the game, which is what happened.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Sixers Big 3 debut in loss | Hartenstein returns in Thunder win
There are rules in place that that, you know, kind of raises alarm bells and and all the reporters on hand scurry around and try to figure out what's going on. All the reporters at home. We're talking about an hour. What's going on there? Well, and that's the thing is like, you see the tweet, I saw it from Gina Mizell, shout out to her new blue sky account, Philly inquirer.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Sixers Big 3 debut in loss | Hartenstein returns in Thunder win
Like she put that out there and then, yeah, you start making phone calls and trying to figure it out. So interesting times indeed, Tyrese Maxey decides to take the microphone, so to speak with the team and tell the big fella that he's just not, you know, being the leader that he needs to be. And you're talking about timeliness and professionalism and, and just the way that you move off the court.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Sixers Big 3 debut in loss | Hartenstein returns in Thunder win
So that is such an interesting choice for me to see Tyrese make because he's five years in, he's 24 years old. To me, it's him sending a pretty direct message that it's time for somebody to lead this group. And I applaud him for it. And the best thing, and to his credit, is that Tyrese and Joel, by all accounts,
The Athletic NBA Daily
Sixers Big 3 debut in loss | Hartenstein returns in Thunder win
are very tight and remain very tight, and that Joel is looking in the mirror to an extent here, and that he gives Tyrese that kind of space to have that voice because they had mutual respect. But 2-11 is just wild. I don't know how else to say it. I can't believe that they've lost this many games. I know the East is not as good as we thought it was going to be.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Sixers Big 3 debut in loss | Hartenstein returns in Thunder win
Maybe they can catch up here a little bit, but yeah, tough times.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Sixers Big 3 debut in loss | Hartenstein returns in Thunder win
I don't have a great sense of what his frustrations are schematically. The only thought I had there is that if you go back to last year when Nick Nurse was new on the job, Nick wasted very little time making it clear that he was going to try to push Joel to be at his best. You remember the little subplot about how the Sixers decided to go have training camp all the way in Fort Collins, Colorado,
The Athletic NBA Daily
Sixers Big 3 debut in loss | Hartenstein returns in Thunder win
by all accounts and I was actually there there was like a little passive aggressiveness there where it was like oh by the way Mr. Jokic the guy who is a champion and keeps winning that MVP award over you is right down the road and the guy that at the time people you know kind of felt like Joel was ducking so Nick
The Athletic NBA Daily
Sixers Big 3 debut in loss | Hartenstein returns in Thunder win
has shown this willingness to even get, kind of needle his guy a little bit to get him to that next level. So I think there's a natural friction at times between them. And even friction is probably the wrong word, but attention. Beyond that, I just think that the physical stuff remains very confusing to me.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Sixers Big 3 debut in loss | Hartenstein returns in Thunder win
I was in France watching Joel, obviously had some games where he didn't look great, finished very strong. But talking to Team USA people, the more important thing is he didn't miss a practice. He didn't miss a shoot around. He didn't miss a game. If he didn't play, it was because Steve Kerr chose for him not to play. So to go from that,
The Athletic NBA Daily
Sixers Big 3 debut in loss | Hartenstein returns in Thunder win
to left knee injury management being such a massive story this season, it feels like he had some kind of a setback in between there, because he just obviously doesn't look like himself.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Sixers Big 3 debut in loss | Hartenstein returns in Thunder win
No, that's all on point, Dave. And I feel like to add to it, this is one of those stories for me that once it comes out, I feel like within the past 24 hours in my circles and just media, it's almost like we're kind of taking some blunt of criticism from people around the league who are, I'll just be totally honest with you, who are saying, man, you guys have been going easy on him for years.
The Athletic NBA Daily
State of the League | LaMelo out-duels Luka; Lakers lose
Yeah, 21-1 run to finish that third quarter and eventually take the lead. It was basically a combination of just crazy shot making from the Hornets. And then the Lakers, like you said, bottoming out. The turnovers were bizarre for them. You know, Luca for the entire game had a lot of turnovers. I think he ended up with six overall. And so eight assists, six turnovers for him.
The Athletic NBA Daily
State of the League | LaMelo out-duels Luka; Lakers lose
He enjoys the sport. Yes, he absolutely enjoys the sport. You know, it's funny you brought up like Jackson, because I think generally there's this conversation about younger audiences and how does the NBA tailor their product to younger audience? And I think if you saw The all-star game format, you have this situation where it's like you get bite-sized basketball.
The Athletic NBA Daily
State of the League | LaMelo out-duels Luka; Lakers lose
It's 10 minutes here, 10 minutes here. The attention span is all over the place because you got a performance here. You got all that stuff. So it's interesting how much they're putting their eggs in the basket of let's try to tailor this thing towards younger people versus we have this audience already. How are we going to create a good broadcast for television?
The Athletic NBA Daily
State of the League | LaMelo out-duels Luka; Lakers lose
And then that's interesting because you look forward to the new TV rights deal and how they're supposed to kind of approach this situation. We're leaning into streaming more often. So I think that's why these questions come up mostly. It's how they're going to use this next little bit to tailor their audience to the next generation. I agree.
The Athletic NBA Daily
State of the League | LaMelo out-duels Luka; Lakers lose
It was sloppy overall for the Lakers as they were trying to move the ball. Still feel like a team that's trying to figure out who they are. And you could tell that one in this. It just felt like they were discombobulated throughout. And so Charlotte took advantage. They're like, hey, you're going to let us get into this basketball game. Sure. Why not? We'll take this one.
The Athletic NBA Daily
State of the League | LaMelo out-duels Luka; Lakers lose
it was it's a weird that's a weird angle also it's like there's there's too many of these conventions now so you have nba cup has its own convention summer league has its own convention nba all-star weekend has its own convention every player has a podcast that you can have access to so that level of access now has been so integrated into our everyday life whereas it doesn't feel as special anymore to get that sort of access
The Athletic NBA Daily
State of the League | LaMelo out-duels Luka; Lakers lose
People in Canada here will love it.
The Athletic NBA Daily
State of the League | LaMelo out-duels Luka; Lakers lose
S. Now that we see it, Mark Williams would not have been good enough to elevate. No, no. Mark Williams would not have been good enough. I don't know if there was a solution to this Lakers defense other than Anthony Davis staying there. That would have been the solution.
The Athletic NBA Daily
State of the League | LaMelo out-duels Luka; Lakers lose
Yeah, fair enough. No, there were a few possessions, especially in the clutch where, you know, teams tend to especially teams that are playing small like the Lakers, like they finish. out with Dorian Finney-Smith and Jared Vanderbilt. They're trying to pre-switch everything to get LeBron out of actions, get Luka out of, out of actions.
The Athletic NBA Daily
State of the League | LaMelo out-duels Luka; Lakers lose
There was one possession where they tried to double Lomelo ball and Luka is guarding Lomelo and, you know, they double him, but then he doesn't rotate over to get the guy in the corner, ends up being a wide open three for Nick Smith Jr. And so there's just, there's little wrinkles like that where you can see their defense falling apart.
The Athletic NBA Daily
State of the League | LaMelo out-duels Luka; Lakers lose
And so if you are having this switch everything mentality that they're trying to have, you got to, you got to rotate over. You've got to be in front of the guy.
The Athletic NBA Daily
State of the League | LaMelo out-duels Luka; Lakers lose
I think even in that year with Dallas, they still had some bigs to go to. Maxie Kleber was another big that they could go to. Dwight Powell was another guy, God bless his soul, could still be able to be a guy who could play some minutes for you. This Lakers team is relying on Jackson Hayes, who has been playing well, playing better, but Alex Lenn does not play the part here.
The Athletic NBA Daily
State of the League | LaMelo out-duels Luka; Lakers lose
Yeah, and I'm not worried about Luka's rust. He just couldn't hit anything tonight. And I think part of that is probably the vacation and coming off of six weeks of missing games and trying to get your legs right under you. There were a couple of possessions where you could see the connection between LeBron and Luka.
The Athletic NBA Daily
State of the League | LaMelo out-duels Luka; Lakers lose
Obviously, the transition play has been awesome between the two, but there was one time... This was actually the massive dunk that LeBron had on Mark Williams, which is funny out of all things. Imagine going from...
The Athletic NBA Daily
State of the League | LaMelo out-duels Luka; Lakers lose
about to be lebron's teammate to getting dunked on lebron by lebron in a week uh but luca was in the post they they sent the double team and then it was a swing lebron was one pass away he just attacks the closeout goes out and dunk on mark williams so like it's easy when those guys are on the floor together it makes a lot of sense offensively defensively it's different questions
The Athletic NBA Daily
State of the League | LaMelo out-duels Luka; Lakers lose
Yeah. Yeah, you mentioned the Warriors. They went 3-1, like you said. And Draymond made headlines when it came to a big declaration for a lottery. Actually, yeah, he had a lot of comments throughout the weekend. But there was one that jumped out, which was that the Warriors were going to win the championship this year. I know you kind of got a chance to catch up with him as well.
The Athletic NBA Daily
State of the League | LaMelo out-duels Luka; Lakers lose
How do you feel about that comment? Do you think there's some validity to it? And what did Draymond say when you asked him?
The Athletic NBA Daily
State of the League | LaMelo out-duels Luka; Lakers lose
You know, not a big deal.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Celtics troubles | Jimmy Butler to Milwaukee?
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The Athletic NBA Daily
Celtics troubles | Jimmy Butler to Milwaukee?
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The Athletic NBA Daily
Celtics troubles | Jimmy Butler to Milwaukee?
I'm going to pull the curtain back a little bit. We workshopped this off the air. Your answer is insane to me. I said the number that came to my mind, which I'll share in a minute, but the reaction has got me second guessing myself.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Celtics troubles | Jimmy Butler to Milwaukee?
I said five. I mean, we got some good pizza joints in my town. You know, it's like. Good ingredients.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Celtics troubles | Jimmy Butler to Milwaukee?
I'm not a, talk about a hot take. No pun intended. I'm not a cold pizza guy.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Celtics troubles | Jimmy Butler to Milwaukee?
Yeah, so I would put this in the category of just things to monitor, not trying to sit here and take that spotlight and put it fully on Milwaukee by any means. Admittedly, the main reason that I looked into this particular topic was because it had been reported that Memphis and Milwaukee were told by Jimmy's camp to not pursue him, that he did not have any...
The Athletic NBA Daily
Celtics troubles | Jimmy Butler to Milwaukee?
hopes or dreams of a long term future in either of those cities. Now, admittedly, in terms of my reporting style, I've got a real aversion to I don't like, you know, pushing back on stuff that is out there just professionally. That's not always something I love to do. But I also kind of want to make sure that we have stuff correct.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Celtics troubles | Jimmy Butler to Milwaukee?
And I was told by both sides that Milwaukee was not told that they are out. Now, to the question of, you know, how they see the situation, are they interested in Jimmy? I would just say stay tuned. I think the background that is worth remembering is that, you know, a couple of basic things, right? We know Milwaukee is underperformed.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Celtics troubles | Jimmy Butler to Milwaukee?
When they got beat the other night by the Knicks really badly, Giannis got my eyebrows raised when he talked after the game about how they were 0-8 against the top three teams in the East. They have a history of going after big fish, if you will, obviously, with Damian Lillard coming to town that way. And they have a short runway there.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Celtics troubles | Jimmy Butler to Milwaukee?
when it comes to age and i think a level of desperation potentially that if i was in that front office with john horst and their group kicking this idea around i think it would at least be worth chewing on it's interesting to talk about the bucks and the urgency that they have but what about from the miami heat side
The Athletic NBA Daily
Celtics troubles | Jimmy Butler to Milwaukee?
So they are signaling patience, which is obviously the prudent thing to do. Again, I'm going to go back to the old stay tuned kind of label on this one because as we get to the end of this week and we have the Miami-Denver game on Friday where all eyes are going to be on Miami. how the Heat handled Jimmy's return. As I reported, he does plan on showing up and clocking in.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Celtics troubles | Jimmy Butler to Milwaukee?
He doesn't want to lose any more money. He's already lost about $2.3 million. And so that side is kind of clear. Are the Heat going to put him on the floor? And I'm just hypothesizing. Are they going to send him home but pay him, which is there's a gray area in terms of the league rules, whether or not you can do that. We don't really know.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Celtics troubles | Jimmy Butler to Milwaukee?
So the urgency to me is going to or the lack thereof is going to depend on how uncomfortable is it when he comes back? Because I do think as much as they are preaching patience, they've got some elite basketball players on that team, some pros who want to accomplish things. And I don't think want to spend the next three months with this hanging over their head. Bam on a mile being number one.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Celtics troubles | Jimmy Butler to Milwaukee?
I think, you know, sometimes we forget about the human part of these situations because pragmatically, yes, the best chess move is to wait for the summertime and just tell Jimmy to get over it. It's just it's never that easy.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Celtics troubles | Jimmy Butler to Milwaukee?
I admittedly don't have clarity here. It's one of those things where, man, the vast kind of difference between the narratives and the information on both sides is tough to reconcile. And by that, I mean that all kinds of extremely strong smoke signals that Phoenix has produced pursued this heavily and it's a priority and it's something where they want Jimmy in-house.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Celtics troubles | Jimmy Butler to Milwaukee?
Matt Ishpia being the guy who chased down Kevin Durant, chased down Bradley Beal. You know, this is kind of his ethos and he wants Jimmy to be a part of this team. Now, by the way, quick subplot that I know you guys are aware of. Son's CEO, Josh Bartelstein, is the son, no pun intended, of Mark Bartelstein, Bradley Beal's longtime agent.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Celtics troubles | Jimmy Butler to Milwaukee?
So you've got this father-son dynamic that is really, really fascinating. And you have Mark, who I spoke to on the phone earlier this week, continuing to be comfortable publicly stating that there is absolutely nothing going on
The Athletic NBA Daily
Celtics troubles | Jimmy Butler to Milwaukee?
between the suns and the heat that relates to bradley beal he says he has not talked to brad about potentially waiving his no trade clause that is obviously the biggest factor in a potential heat suns deal and considering that brad going either to miami which the heat are known to not want brad uh you know at the moment they did in the past not anymore uh or to a third team like
The Athletic NBA Daily
Celtics troubles | Jimmy Butler to Milwaukee?
that's the only way to really get this done. And so that's where it doesn't add up. I don't think they're going to shock the world and, and send Devin Booker to Miami. So that is where, you know, I don't know, maybe Jimmy doesn't get what he wants and that to swing it back to the Milwaukee thing or another team like Milwaukee.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Celtics troubles | Jimmy Butler to Milwaukee?
I do think that could be where this story goes next is that Jimmy might not get to where he wants to go. And then he's got to consider some other options.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Celtics troubles | Jimmy Butler to Milwaukee?
I've got a 15 year old who's just got his permit. It was on my mind. It's so perfect.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Celtics troubles | Jimmy Butler to Milwaukee?
So, you know, it's just kind of this angst from parts of the league teams that would potentially like to get something done with Zach Levine, with Nikola Busevich or Alonzo Ball, where, you know, if I'm being frank about it, they continue to just look at Chicago on the other side of the negotiating table.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Celtics troubles | Jimmy Butler to Milwaukee?
And just be shrugging, like, at what point are you going to realize this is the hand you have? It's time to play. And to give the listeners and the viewers the quick math, the Bulls have to finish in the bottom six to absolutely guarantee that they hold on to their pick.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Celtics troubles | Jimmy Butler to Milwaukee?
if they are the seventh worst team in the nba then and it's it's real small but a three percent chance of getting uh the uh you know of losing their pick and from there then you're talking about a 75 chance if they're the eighth worst team you know then you're kind of giving it up uh in this day and age
The Athletic NBA Daily
Celtics troubles | Jimmy Butler to Milwaukee?
where the CBA is structured in such a way that lottery picks are just absolutely integral to a team's building or rebuilding. It seems just absolutely insane for most teams or to most teams for them to give this pickup right now, considering that nobody thinks that Zach has a long-term future in Chicago or Vooch or, you know, Lonzo is a different discussion.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Celtics troubles | Jimmy Butler to Milwaukee?
Maybe they want to get something done with him. But yeah, Admittedly, we don't ever know all of the details about what's being put on the table and what they're saying no to. But the general idea is that they're asking prices continue to be higher than some other teams believe should be based on their situation. And what those teams are counting on is the clock.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Celtics troubles | Jimmy Butler to Milwaukee?
right right and the idea that go ahead keep winning because if you want to be bottom six in the nba even though they kind of claim they don't the you know you need to be literally in the neighborhood of a 300 winning percentage and then they're pushing 500 right now yeah
The Athletic NBA Daily
Jimmy Butler, Kevin Durant, De'Andre Hunter and the Trade Deadline
I thought they were crazy. Yeah, that's a good point. And it's worked out. So our batting average is not great on that front, and it goes back to the fact that you just have to see it. So I don't know if any other examples come to mind for you guys, but my general rule – Every year we do preseason predictions, right? And I just have it in my head.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Jimmy Butler, Kevin Durant, De'Andre Hunter and the Trade Deadline
The early signaling was we do need help, but it was so messy in Miami with Jimmy, there was some reservation about him being the perfect guy. Now fast forward to the trade deadline getting closer and closer, the Warriors' pursuit of Kevin Durant and that possible reunion that honestly two nights ago I went to bed thinking, man, I think this is going to happen.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Jimmy Butler, Kevin Durant, De'Andre Hunter and the Trade Deadline
If the majority of this team has not played together before, I don't care how good it looks on paper. I'm not handicapping them as a West champion or East champion, whatever. I've got to get eyes on it first.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Jimmy Butler, Kevin Durant, De'Andre Hunter and the Trade Deadline
It's like Minnesota a couple years ago. They get Rudy Gobert. We all do the math and we're like, oh, this is going to be a top five defense no matter what. But it took them a year to figure it out. This is the argument here for making the trade at the deadline.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Jimmy Butler, Kevin Durant, De'Andre Hunter and the Trade Deadline
Versus something that's going to be available in the summer, in my opinion, because they get the next few months to figure all this stuff out. And they already got a jumpstart on building this team around Luca by picking up Mark Williams. And I think the LeBron and Luca thing is going to be, I think it's going to work. I'm not worried about those two guys working on the offensive end.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Jimmy Butler, Kevin Durant, De'Andre Hunter and the Trade Deadline
It's all defensive. But, you know, again, we need to see them play. Sam, there were other moves.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Jimmy Butler, Kevin Durant, De'Andre Hunter and the Trade Deadline
Can I jump in before we move on? I just to add to the LeBron discussion, I think it's worth noting. And, you know, we'll see how this ages if it holds up OK.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Jimmy Butler, Kevin Durant, De'Andre Hunter and the Trade Deadline
I'm now of the opinion that the LeBron Luca thing is probably going to be awesome because partly because, and I'm talking on the court, but also just, I mean, my goodness, you can't ask for a better fit with Luca and all the conditioning and health concerns. Go put him next to the guy who is the best of all time at taking care of his body.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Jimmy Butler, Kevin Durant, De'Andre Hunter and the Trade Deadline
And also LeBron and his family love living in LA so much that, I think if he got sideways in this situation and it turned sour when it comes to his part in Laker land, then he might end up having to retire somewhere else. And I think that that is enough to make him say, you know what? I'm reading the room. Let's go. I'm going to be the Luca whisperer and try to make the most of this. I love it.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Jimmy Butler, Kevin Durant, De'Andre Hunter and the Trade Deadline
He's going to be Yoda. Is that what you're saying, LeBron? I'm like eight years old, but yeah. He's going to be Yoda. Let's see. The Cavs, they pick up DeAndre Hunter. They're already a championship contender. I think this solidifies that in my book. How do you feel about that move? How did they pull that off?
The Athletic NBA Daily
Jimmy Butler, Kevin Durant, De'Andre Hunter and the Trade Deadline
No, I love it. And this one, admittedly, I don't have a lot of the inside stuff on how the talks came together. But, you know, you're talking about George Niang and Karis LeVert and some draft capital. I like it. I mean, DeAndre Hunter, two-way player. having a fantastic year. You know, the Cavs, as much size as they have, we know physicality at times is an issue for them.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Jimmy Butler, Kevin Durant, De'Andre Hunter and the Trade Deadline
So more versatility, more kind of, you know, chippiness and aggressiveness on the wings, a little bit more edge, which is when the Cavs play Boston, when they, you know, play OKC with what they bring defensively. It's just another very, very strong role player. to a team that has been incredibly dominant, you know, and, and until recently it was on a historic pace.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Jimmy Butler, Kevin Durant, De'Andre Hunter and the Trade Deadline
So, um, Colby Altman out there, the Cavs GM who, you know, has been through it, man.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Jimmy Butler, Kevin Durant, De'Andre Hunter and the Trade Deadline
You talk about a tenure that, you know, started with LeBron coming back and LeBron leaving and, and, uh, and, and Colby kind of made his way up through that front office, uh, you know, takes the gamble on Donovan Mitchell that so many assumed was not going to pay off because Donovan would, would head off to New York eventually, uh,
The Athletic NBA Daily
Jimmy Butler, Kevin Durant, De'Andre Hunter and the Trade Deadline
And that obviously played a big part here. It showed a couple of things. It showed the level of desperation with the Warriors because they knew at that time that Kevin wasn't going to be thrilled about coming back. Now, they were willing to do the deal with a certain level of discomfort. And as we reported yesterday, I think it was, the Suns had interest in Draymond, for example.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Jimmy Butler, Kevin Durant, De'Andre Hunter and the Trade Deadline
uh continues to build around him uh i i'm i'm kind of a big fan of what the calves have built up there yeah kobe altman does not get enough credit for his rebuild in cleveland i mean it started with just getting in on as a third team fourth team and picking up second round picks that they didn't have because the cupboard when lebron was gone completely bare um yeah that's a good point
The Athletic NBA Daily
Jimmy Butler, Kevin Durant, De'Andre Hunter and the Trade Deadline
Exactly. Exactly. But this aspect of.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Jimmy Butler, Kevin Durant, De'Andre Hunter and the Trade Deadline
just a high price tag. They wanted two firsts, you know, teams, you know, in my neck of the woods, last I'd heard the Kings had, you know, one first on the table and they felt like it was a good first. And so there was a, I think across multiple teams, a discussion about, as we know, not all firsts are created equal.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Jimmy Butler, Kevin Durant, De'Andre Hunter and the Trade Deadline
So there was some frustration in the Nets direction that they just, they sat on their price tag. They obviously knew, that it seemed to know that it wasn't going to get done near the deadline.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Jimmy Butler, Kevin Durant, De'Andre Hunter and the Trade Deadline
I forget exactly where they were, but somebody tweeted a picture of Nets GM Sean Marks and one of his kind of right-hand associates scouting a game in middle America where it was just not exactly the same as working the phones a day before trade deadline. They kind of knew what they were doing, and if somebody wanted to call Sean and offer the moon for Cam, then maybe they'd do it. But
The Athletic NBA Daily
Jimmy Butler, Kevin Durant, De'Andre Hunter and the Trade Deadline
that hits a guy that he could have been a game changer. Like you look at Milwaukee getting Kyle Kuzma, you know, in my head, I kind of go, man, like, you know, what if you got Cam in that role instead, that kind of a player and, and youth wise and upside wise, you know, there's more untapped potential there, I think, but yeah, I mean, Marcus is right.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Jimmy Butler, Kevin Durant, De'Andre Hunter and the Trade Deadline
You know, the baddie leaves alone and, and we'll see if there's, there's another.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Jimmy Butler, Kevin Durant, De'Andre Hunter and the Trade Deadline
This has been a banner day on this show.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Jimmy Butler, Kevin Durant, De'Andre Hunter and the Trade Deadline
If MTV can't make me feel young, then nobody can.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Jimmy Butler, Kevin Durant, De'Andre Hunter and the Trade Deadline
You want to give us a trade that nobody did or you want to save that?
The Athletic NBA Daily
Jimmy Butler, Kevin Durant, De'Andre Hunter and the Trade Deadline
A trade that nobody did. I'm going to disappoint on that front. We might have one that we shared a little bit here. But, yeah, I'm going to disappoint for now. That's okay.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Jimmy Butler, Kevin Durant, De'Andre Hunter and the Trade Deadline
That's okay because the summer is coming. Some of these trades, this is important to remember, that Cam Johnson is probably getting moved this summer, right? A lot of these trade talks are starting now for stuff that will happen later.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Jimmy Butler, Kevin Durant, De'Andre Hunter and the Trade Deadline
I don't have anything sexy worth sharing on the pot. Again, we mentioned the Kings. John Collins is a funny one. going to the Kings just because near about a week before the deadline, I mean, you had people even saying that some players were already getting messaging that John was likely going to be on the team. And, and so that one kind of faded. Yeah.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Jimmy Butler, Kevin Durant, De'Andre Hunter and the Trade Deadline
You know, that's not a star player, but it's a very well-known name, but yeah, we can never get enough of that stuff. Right. Like, you know, there's, there's 200 different moves that could have happened that didn't
The Athletic NBA Daily
Jimmy Butler, Kevin Durant, De'Andre Hunter and the Trade Deadline
Yeah, I'm sure Danny Ainge was involved in a bunch of them. We'll find out later.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Jimmy Butler, Kevin Durant, De'Andre Hunter and the Trade Deadline
I'm going to leave you guys with this because I can't let this go. And I'm stealing this from, I think this was Draymond Green talking to Baron Davis on his podcast. I had not slowed down to think about the fact that they were dying laughing that Danny Ainge, known Laker hater, helped the Lakers get Luka Doncic, and didn't know about what he was doing until the very last minute of that trade.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Jimmy Butler, Kevin Durant, De'Andre Hunter and the Trade Deadline
And there were some folks talking about how, man, would the Warriors think about – maybe even moving Draymond to relieve pressure from those dynamics to make Kevin more comfortable to come to the Warriors. That's the kind of stuff they were looking at.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Jimmy Butler, Kevin Durant, De'Andre Hunter and the Trade Deadline
I find that admittedly hilarious, and I like Danny a lot. I'm not trying to put salt in the wound. But the idea – it's a real thing around the league that people believe – Danny won't trade certain players to certain teams based on old rivalries from back in the day. Like Knicks, like, no, we're not doing that. Like, so Danny's old school.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Jimmy Butler, Kevin Durant, De'Andre Hunter and the Trade Deadline
And I'm pretty confident that had he known that he was going to help gift wrap Luka Doncic to the Lakers, he might've ducked out of that deal. I love that.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Jimmy Butler, Kevin Durant, De'Andre Hunter and the Trade Deadline
It's crazy. That's how it ought to be, by the way. Have some pride. All right, guys, this has been a great day for us here at the NBA Daily. If you were on the stream, thanks for hanging out. If you weren't, go and check it out. The YouTube channel is pretty fun. Sam, thank you so much. We've leaned on you like a crutch for this entire trade season. So thank you so much.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Jimmy Butler, Kevin Durant, De'Andre Hunter and the Trade Deadline
I hope you're taking some time off for All-Star or at least after All-Star. So thanks for hanging out with us. Appreciate it. For Zena Kata, I'm Dave DuFour, and this has been the NBA Daily. Thanks for hanging out with us.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Jimmy Butler, Kevin Durant, De'Andre Hunter and the Trade Deadline
But when Kevin decided clearly to broadcast the level of disinterest and discontent that would be there if he went to the Warriors, that was a game changer because the level of uncomfortableness went up for the Warriors. They had to then figure out, okay –
The Athletic NBA Daily
Jimmy Butler, Kevin Durant, De'Andre Hunter and the Trade Deadline
That option that had all that history and basketball-wise, obviously, you would just put Kevin right in and get back to doing what they did a few years ago. That's off the table. Then they turned to Jimmy. And really, it's, I think, a win-win for both sides. I still think Jimmy Butler is one of the best players on the planet. Take all the drama away.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Jimmy Butler, Kevin Durant, De'Andre Hunter and the Trade Deadline
He's an incredible ballplayer who, honestly, if you talk about making the most of your talents, he's on my short list all time. For sure. And the Warriors... Give him this extension that really is one additional year because he declines the option for next year, has a year after that. So you are talking about two and a half years potentially.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Jimmy Butler, Kevin Durant, De'Andre Hunter and the Trade Deadline
You know, that's the contract relationship where we're going to see what what Steph and Draymond and Jimmy can do. But it was a pretty interesting path to get there.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Jimmy Butler, Kevin Durant, De'Andre Hunter and the Trade Deadline
Right. To me, Zena... The optics, there's just enough there where they can say, oh, no, we have young guys that are going to improve and we'll see if we can get a new deal done for Kaminga this summer. And so you can sort of check the young box in the future box.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Jimmy Butler, Kevin Durant, De'Andre Hunter and the Trade Deadline
But where I land on this and where it feels like they landed is that one way or another, Steph Curry is going to one day not be on your team anymore. And when that day comes, the best case scenario of whatever strategy you come up with right now is going to pale in comparison to what you had in him and what you did with him. And so that leads you to say – All right. Jimmy's crazy. He's nuts.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Jimmy Butler, Kevin Durant, De'Andre Hunter and the Trade Deadline
You know, sometimes in good ways, sometimes in dysfunctional ways. But, you know, I was in the bubble when he took the heat to the finals. And like that dude was a monster. And that dude, when he's motivated early in the Miami years. Incredible. I mean, if you would have given him one more guy, then, you know, I think they put a better fight up against the Lakers. Yeah. So he's 35. I get that.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Jimmy Butler, Kevin Durant, De'Andre Hunter and the Trade Deadline
Uh, he does take very good care of his body. He's going to be motivated. Uh, you know, I think it could be a good fit. I kind of like the fire when you talk about spark and competitiveness, my God, Jimmy Butler and Draymond green. Are you kidding me? Shooting is, you know, something I think in the buyout market, they got to start trying to find some shooters.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Jimmy Butler, Kevin Durant, De'Andre Hunter and the Trade Deadline
They've gone from splash brothers to, you know, cannibal brothers. Uh, So I, you know, yeah, that's better job, Dave. But you know, I'm kind of digging it for now. I think it'll be fun to watch.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Jimmy Butler, Kevin Durant, De'Andre Hunter and the Trade Deadline
Yeah. Let's talk about the KD side of this, because when the reports came out that Jimmy Butler wanted to go to the suns, I don't know if you were like me. I mean, you you're more plugged in than I am. So maybe you weren't as blind as I was, but I thought, Oh, Kevin Durant wants Jimmy Butler to come play. And they're going to try to get these guys together.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Jimmy Butler, Kevin Durant, De'Andre Hunter and the Trade Deadline
Welcome to the NBA Daily. It's trade deadline day. So we got Sam Amick to break down all the big moves from the last 24 hours and the fallout ramifications. Good morning, everybody. Good morning, Zena. Good morning, Sam. Although it's afternoon, let me not pretend like we're not talking right after the trade deadline. This is probably going to go out pretty fast. This is an emergency podcast.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Jimmy Butler, Kevin Durant, De'Andre Hunter and the Trade Deadline
But then we wind up in this situation where to get Jimmy Butler, the Suns were going to have to get rid of Kevin Durant. And that to me seems absurd. And apparently there's like issues now in Phoenix where KD is not necessarily happy. But how did that happen? Like, how did you get to the point where the Suns are actively shopping Kevin Durant around?
The Athletic NBA Daily
Jimmy Butler, Kevin Durant, De'Andre Hunter and the Trade Deadline
We just finished the live stream. If you caught us there, thanks for hanging out with us all day. It was a pretty good time. Sam, I know you're the busiest guy on the planet right now, so let's jump right in. Jimmy Butler, he's now a warrior. We thought he was going to go to Phoenix. That didn't work out. How did this happen?
The Athletic NBA Daily
Jimmy Butler, Kevin Durant, De'Andre Hunter and the Trade Deadline
So the sense I get is that, and you nailed the breakdown there, Dave, because it was supposed to be Jimmy to Phoenix with Kevin. And then you started realizing that if the Suns didn't get Jimmy, that there was, beneath the surface, there was a level of impatience or frustration that the team was feeling from Kevin in some form.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Jimmy Butler, Kevin Durant, De'Andre Hunter and the Trade Deadline
And I'll be honest, it's funny, as long as I've covered Kevin, I've joked in the past couple of days with colleagues, And I like and respect Kevin, and we have all learned how sensitive he can be at times to being represented publicly with his feelings and his emotions.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Jimmy Butler, Kevin Durant, De'Andre Hunter and the Trade Deadline
So all I'm saying is I'm not speaking for how Kevin felt, but the Suns and people around the NBA were getting intel that Kevin might be available if they don't get Jimmy. So the idea was that he's not satisfied with the Suns. He was hopeful that they would get Jimmy, and then he would have renewed hope. And once that wasn't going to happen, this is the part that I love.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Jimmy Butler, Kevin Durant, De'Andre Hunter and the Trade Deadline
There were strong indications that Pat Riley was kind of sitting up in his chair a little bit and going, whoa, whoa, whoa, wait a minute. If the Warriors are going to get Kevin Durant, I think I want Kevin Durant. I think I'm going to swoop in and take Kevin and box the Warriors out and go that route.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Jimmy Butler, Kevin Durant, De'Andre Hunter and the Trade Deadline
In fact, as we sit here on our podcast, one of Kevin's producers, whose name is escaping me, I've talked to him before, but one of his closest kind of Friends in the media space had tweeted out a picture of Kevin in a heat jersey or put it on IG. And so that got people's attention, you know, and so that's the sequence of events.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Jimmy Butler, Kevin Durant, De'Andre Hunter and the Trade Deadline
And now I don't know how far you guys want to go down the Kevin Durant road, but certainly as you want. Well, I mean, I wrote the other day that the Warriors were not alone and talked about Dallas and the fact that they made the trade for Luka.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Jimmy Butler, Kevin Durant, De'Andre Hunter and the Trade Deadline
And, you know, myself and another one of my colleagues, David Aldridge, had multiple people telling us that Dallas had their eyes on KD as a possible, you know. Domino 1 was AD. Domino 2, what about KD? And they didn't expect that to be something that would unfold at this deadline because, again, people didn't think Kevin would be available. So I think that's worth watching in the summertime.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Jimmy Butler, Kevin Durant, De'Andre Hunter and the Trade Deadline
Another team that I hit on was Houston. Now, admittedly, man, Houston's always a tricky one because – They feel so good about what they have now, where they're going, that their message had been, we want to see this group through at least until the summer. But leading up to the deadline, there were some indications that they were kicking the tires on Kevin.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Jimmy Butler, Kevin Durant, De'Andre Hunter and the Trade Deadline
Now, admittedly, when we wrote our piece, You know, they were messaging immediately, like, I don't think we're, you know, a home for KD. So that is a case where the dynamics are interesting. GM Rafael Stone is there, Coach Ime Odoka. I definitely get the idea that, you know, I think there's just people in the room talking about this. But Houston became part of the conversation.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Jimmy Butler, Kevin Durant, De'Andre Hunter and the Trade Deadline
Guys, thanks for having me. I think you're as busy as I am. I just saw you on the live stream and now you're on the pod. So appreciate you joining me here. I mean, listen, it's funny if you go back a couple of weeks on the Jimmy Butler front. Myself, Marcus Thompson, Anthony Slater had detailed in a story how the Warriors. seemingly did not have interest in Jimmy Butler.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Jimmy Butler, Kevin Durant, De'Andre Hunter and the Trade Deadline
Now, if you look at the summertime, and we'll see how Phoenix plays the rest of the way, I think it's 100% fair game to say, you know, You know that the the monitoring of Kevin Durant is now on a whole different level with people wondering, you know, what's going to happen there.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Jimmy Butler, Kevin Durant, De'Andre Hunter and the Trade Deadline
They just – the Suns, they're pretty – I mean, so far, they've never signaled a willingness to get off of Devin Booker. So, yes, and I'm glad you mentioned that, Zena. The idea was that Houston was going to essentially do like a routine check-in on Devin because it's widely known how much they think of him.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Jimmy Butler, Kevin Durant, De'Andre Hunter and the Trade Deadline
Devin is the type of guy that, largely because of not only talent, resume, but age, that his age is much more in line with what they're trying to do. And like I'd written a couple times, the Durant thing was unlikely because same idea with James Harden previously is that they're trying to keep the timeline on a certain track. But yeah, Booker not available.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Jimmy Butler, Kevin Durant, De'Andre Hunter and the Trade Deadline
Don't believe the Durant discussion even happened. And now Houston is perfectly content moving forward to see what this group can do.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Jimmy Butler, Kevin Durant, De'Andre Hunter and the Trade Deadline
Guys, stick around. We're going to take a quick break. And when we come back, I'm going to ask Sam about the Lakers and if he agrees that they're now actually championship contenders. So the Lakers shocked and have kind of muted Super Bowl week by trading for Luka Doncic Saturday night. And they weren't done. They picked up Mark Williams, good young center from the Hornets.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Jimmy Butler, Kevin Durant, De'Andre Hunter and the Trade Deadline
They get this, you know, floor spacing, like vertical spacing, big to pair with Luka Doncic. They are serious contenders now in the West just by adding Luka Doncic. But now they've got this perfect fit. And offensively, I think they're going to be a pretty big load.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Jimmy Butler, Kevin Durant, De'Andre Hunter and the Trade Deadline
How did the Mark Williams trade come about for the Lakers and like, were they, were they thinking about other guys or was this the guy that they had their eye on the whole day?
The Athletic NBA Daily
Jimmy Butler, Kevin Durant, De'Andre Hunter and the Trade Deadline
First of all, Dave, I got to rib you a little bit, my friend. Like, man, how many times have we said on paper, like, this is a perfect fit and it's going to be great. And the Lakers famously had the Sports Illustrated cover, like, this is going to be fun with Dwight Howard and Steve Nash and Kobe and all that. So I'm going to reserve judgment on paper.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Jimmy Butler, Kevin Durant, De'Andre Hunter and the Trade Deadline
It looks good. Luka's coming off a calf injury. You know, I think his general health obviously has been a hot topic lately. Mark Williams, I like the addition. Some health concerns with him that, you know, people have obviously talked about his struggles on that front. But yeah, the roster looks fantastic. I love, absolutely love Luka.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Jimmy Butler, Kevin Durant, De'Andre Hunter and the Trade Deadline
what i've been hearing and i have not been to la since the trade but um from here hearing from lebron about his headspace in relation to luca um that clip from the game the other night with luca on the bench when lebron just goes beast mode through the lane and finishes and one looks at luca and says basically this is what we do you know like that sort of Chemistry could be a lot of fun to watch.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Jimmy Butler, Kevin Durant, De'Andre Hunter and the Trade Deadline
So I'm still a little bit in shock that this deal went down. To your question about getting Williams, you know, before the trade, Lakers obviously already on the hunt for a big – at that time it was to satisfy – well, I shouldn't say that. We didn't know at that time. We thought it was to satisfy Anthony Davis' desire to play at the four spot.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Jimmy Butler, Kevin Durant, De'Andre Hunter and the Trade Deadline
And we had information and insight from top to bottom. You're talking ownership, front office players. There were certainly people in the building who thought it might be a good idea, but really in Warriors world, as Zena knows really well, where the prominent voices there matter so much.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Jimmy Butler, Kevin Durant, De'Andre Hunter and the Trade Deadline
But considering the Luka discussion dates all the way back to February 7th, that was not the case. They had talks with Houston about Steven Adams. No deal gets close there, just not enough on the table. We heard names like Robert Williams out of Portland. Jonas Valanciunas, although I, you know, pre-deadline or pre-Luka trade, been told that he was too kind of plotting for their preference.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Jimmy Butler, Kevin Durant, De'Andre Hunter and the Trade Deadline
So once you get Luka, then, you know, I would love to have seen their list. And who knows, maybe I could still track it down. The list of lob prets and these types of players, because, you know, Luka's skill set is so unique and so dynamic that, you know, you knew what kind of player you wanted.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Jimmy Butler, Kevin Durant, De'Andre Hunter and the Trade Deadline
You know, defensively, some concerns here, but offensively, I think a wonderful fit in the vein of Derek Lively and Daniel Gafford. You know, we've seen how much damage Luka can do with guys like that. So, you know, kind of like the Warriors, I'm fired up to see this team too.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Jimmy Butler, Kevin Durant, De'Andre Hunter and the Trade Deadline
So I wasn't on board with this, but the most recent obvious one that has become an absolute disaster is Paul George going to Philly. Yep. Like when Paul went to Philly, that was I think if we had a rotten tomatoes gauge, it'd be like a solid 80 percent, you know, like that. People were digging that move. One that I wasn't on, and this is the inverse of your question, Zena, is Kyrie to the Mavs.
The Athletic NBA Daily
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No, I mean, other than, I mean, that he is somebody who fits in very well with today's NBA. And, and I think that phone is going to be ringing. Admittedly, I'm a little early on the, the free agency front. Yeah. So I don't know what the suitors list might look like, but there's certainly going to be a healthy one.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Thunder Finals Appearance + Offseason Primer with Sam Amick | Slam N Jam
Ja, es muss sein. Die Ironie ist, ich werde sagen, wir gehen von der Superteam-Approach weg, außer OKC ist der Ausgleich. Sie haben eine Superteam, dieses Trio. Und wiederum, du hast Leute auf Rookie-Kontrakten mit J-Dub und Chet. Und es kann nur so lange dauern. Aber weg von...
The Athletic NBA Daily
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die heliokentrische Anwendung, die ironisch ist, weil wir immer noch die Lukas der Welt haben, die globale Superstar sind und, du weißt, die vielleicht zurückkommen können, du weißt, die Konferenz-Finale, die letzte Phase, aber The second apron realities are such that it is, I think, the age of semi-affordable players with a less elite transcendent skill set.
The Athletic NBA Daily
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Actually, I agreed the other day with Austin Rivers had a whole bit on this, where he was like, if you can It's not about having a Kyrie Irving handle. If you can perfect the straight line drive, play on both ends of the floor, hit open shots, you can play in today's NBA. And those are the guys that are going to fill up 90% of the rosters. And then you've got that upper crust of 10%.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Thunder Finals Appearance + Offseason Primer with Sam Amick | Slam N Jam
But it's an interesting philosophical discussion about like, You know, I mean, Shea obviously has the ball in his hands a lot. And so he, I guess he pushes back on this a bit. But it's just, you know, we had that era of Harden and, you know, not Steph, because everything with him so much is off the ball. But just guys, I mean, Joker obviously has the ball a ton.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Thunder Finals Appearance + Offseason Primer with Sam Amick | Slam N Jam
Feels like we're changing a bit there. And that's going to be, that's a basketball thing, but it's also a business thing where, you know, more guys making 15 to 20 million dollars As opposed to, you know, can we get three $60 million guys?
The Athletic NBA Daily
Thunder Finals Appearance + Offseason Primer with Sam Amick | Slam N Jam
Auf jeden Fall, auf jeden Fall. Ich liebe die dramatische Reaktion. Ich habe Shams in meinem Kopf jetzt, der sagt, das ist ein großer Aufhebel. Ich meine, das Janis-Ding, das wird interessant sein, um zu sehen, ob es sich gut ältert oder nicht. Weil wir es ziemlich nahe betrachten. Ich werde ehrlich mit dir sein. Ja, ich kann Verrücktheit sehen.
The Athletic NBA Daily
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Aber ich sage immer noch, wir können nicht übergeben, dass er noch nicht seine Hand aufgenommen hat und gesagt hat, dass er eigentlich Milwaukee verlassen will. Und seit dem Ende ihrer Saison, wie ich sagen werde, persönlich habe ich mich etwas näher an Milwaukee gewechselt, um den Puncher die Chance zu haben, ihn seit dem Ende des Jahres hier zu überzeugen, weil wenn sie verloren haben,
The Athletic NBA Daily
Thunder Finals Appearance + Offseason Primer with Sam Amick | Slam N Jam
You looked at it and it was just, you know, and I know the situation really well. It's like, come on, three straight first round bow outs. The only avenue they had to try to pivot again was to trade Dame this summer. And I thought that was going to be a conversation because, you know, that's already where things were heading. But then his injury means you lose that ability to pivot again.
The Athletic NBA Daily
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Und es gibt all diese Faktoren, wo ich einfach nicht verstanden habe, wie in der Welt die Bucks Janis tot in den Füßen sehen und so aussehen, als hätte er dort eine versprochene Zukunft. Aber seitdem das am Ende ihrer Saison passiert ist, You know, Boston sees Jason Tatum go down. So Boston gets significantly weaker.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Thunder Finals Appearance + Offseason Primer with Sam Amick | Slam N Jam
We know their cap situation and the fact that, you know, this summer, whether it's Derek White, you know, somebody else, like they're likely going to have to move somebody. So the Celtics are down. The Cavs, who look so dominant, get bounced. You know, the Pacers are obviously fantastic, but that's the funny one to me, because the Bucks have such... an der Ecke mit den Pacers.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Thunder Finals Appearance + Offseason Primer with Sam Amick | Slam N Jam
Ich denke, sie haben eine deutliche Selbstvertrauen gegen Indiana. Ich denke, Giannis hat keine Ahnung, wie gut Indiana aussieht, weil er denkt, sie können ihn gewinnen, egal was. Ich kann die Bucks sehen, die ihm sagen, bist du sicher, du willst entweder in den Westen gehen, der ist noch mehr verpackt, oder wenn wir einen Handel mit jemandem im Osten machen, oder beide Konferenzen,
The Athletic NBA Daily
Thunder Finals Appearance + Offseason Primer with Sam Amick | Slam N Jam
Es ist einer dieser Dinge wie die Carmelo-Anthony-Situation damals mit Denver, wo du zu den Knicks gehst und der Roster ist zerbrochen und du bist wirklich nicht in einer besseren Situation als der, den du so hart gearbeitet hast, um rauszuholen.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Thunder Finals Appearance + Offseason Primer with Sam Amick | Slam N Jam
any less concerned than he is about the milwaukee situation so that's my two cents on janice um you know from there of course you know duran and others will we'll see what happens but um we obviously have moved very very far away from the days of okay july one free agency i mean you know the extensions are up so much that that everything is movement now um and business is being done differently yeah
The Athletic NBA Daily
Thunder Finals Appearance + Offseason Primer with Sam Amick | Slam N Jam
I mean, Derek would surprise me, but then again, Derek is the one, you know, the Celtics have a bold front office. You know, with Brad Stevens and Mike Zarin's been there forever. They've made bold moves before. And I think if you test the market for Drew, you know, I mean, Porzingis with his health stuff and the way he played, you know, I don't think it's going to be robust for him either.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Thunder Finals Appearance + Offseason Primer with Sam Amick | Slam N Jam
But if Derek is the one who can replenish your roster in the kind of way that can keep you close to the level you were at before. And I could see them doing that. I saw speculation the other day about the Warriors trying to pull something off for Derek White. I mean, that would be incredible for them. But then, I don't know, maybe a Kamingas coming back. I mean,
The Athletic NBA Daily
Thunder Finals Appearance + Offseason Primer with Sam Amick | Slam N Jam
Again, our Anthony Slater wrote the other day about how tricky and challenging any Kaminga signing trade is going to be. So I don't know which of those guys it'll be, but that it is. I don't know how you guys feel. I'm a little torn on this. You know, the parody is fun, but the second apron realities and the runways of these really good teams getting shortened to the degree they are.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Thunder Finals Appearance + Offseason Primer with Sam Amick | Slam N Jam
Das hat mich ein bisschen überrascht, weil ich es mag, Jason Tatum und Jalen Brown zu sehen, die sich durch all diese Jahre der Konferenz-Finals-Verluste gedreht haben, und jetzt, nur weil der CBA so strukturiert ist, müssen sie es brechen. Cleveland, wir dachten, sie wären für den langen Termin vorbereitet, aber sie haben schwierige Fragen, die sofort kommen.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Thunder Finals Appearance + Offseason Primer with Sam Amick | Slam N Jam
Er hat keine Angst vor deiner Knie. Was redest du da über? Aber nein, du hast recht. Und es gibt so eine ungewöhnliche Wissenschaft von, du weißt, Joel Lorenzi aus Oklahoma war auf meiner Seite und ich konnte sagen, Joel ist da immer da und seine Energie war ein bisschen wie, ich stehe auf, wann auch immer ich will und ich sitze auf, wann auch immer ich will.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Thunder Finals Appearance + Offseason Primer with Sam Amick | Slam N Jam
So like the parody is fun in the moment, but then you look up and it's like, I wonder how we're going to feel about the churn when it's every three, four, five years, you know, these teams are just kind of disappearing.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Thunder Finals Appearance + Offseason Primer with Sam Amick | Slam N Jam
No, I completely agree, Alex. I mean, you know, even right after the Wolves lost, you're walking through the hallway at Paycom Center. And admittedly, it's a little awkward because that group in particular, I really enjoy their front office and their coaching staff. And from a media standpoint, they're very inclusive in terms of like, you know, you get to spend real time with them.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Thunder Finals Appearance + Offseason Primer with Sam Amick | Slam N Jam
And so the last couple of weeks, I was around them a lot and enjoyed the heck out of, you know, Tim, you know, their whole group.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Thunder Finals Appearance + Offseason Primer with Sam Amick | Slam N Jam
you know matt lloyd and tim's brother joe and all these guys um and then you see him after and you're kind of trying to give it the old hey great season but you could kind of tell right away to your point that no but none of them were going to say we didn't think we would be here but they were like listen if you you know if you would have asked us how we felt well we made that trade um and then told us that we were in the west finals like
The Athletic NBA Daily
Thunder Finals Appearance + Offseason Primer with Sam Amick | Slam N Jam
Pretty damn good. And you mentioned it earlier, two conference finals after the run of struggle that they had in Minnesota all those years. This is a legendary time for the team in that market. And yeah, to do it on the heels of a trade that was largely financially driven is impressive and I'm with you. I think it is going to become more the norm.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Thunder Finals Appearance + Offseason Primer with Sam Amick | Slam N Jam
Bei Garland ist es so, dass jedes Mal, wenn man kürzer fällt, die Fragen, die vorher da waren, Sorry, guys. Every time you fall short, the questions that were there before are going to come back. Meaning last summer, Donovan Mitchell goes into the summer and our group had reported right when their season ended that Darius Garland was going to likely ask for a trade. Und das kam nicht zu Ende.
The Athletic NBA Daily
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Aber es benötigte, dass Darius einige sehr echte Gespräche mit Kenny Atkinson, mit Colby Altman über seine Rolle hatte. Du hattest also Darius, der eine größere Rolle wollte. Er wollte nicht nur in der Runde sein. Und es war ein Storybook-Saison von dort. Sie haben das ausgerichtet. Sie waren fantastisch. Aber das andere Teil der... Also, ich meine, ja, ich konnte sie sehen.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Thunder Finals Appearance + Offseason Primer with Sam Amick | Slam N Jam
Ich war ein bisschen mehr so, weil ich der Ausländer bin, wie aufstehen und dann schuldig fühlen und umdrehen, um zu sehen, ob die Leute hinter mir auch aufstehen, weißt du. But you're right, especially whether it's a big moment when everybody gets up or the beginning of the game when they don't want to sit down until somebody scores. But it's a good problem to have.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Thunder Finals Appearance + Offseason Primer with Sam Amick | Slam N Jam
pivoting, because you have to keep evolving. I mean, when they look up and they're for all intents and purposes finishing 7th or 8th in the league, that's not where they were trying to be. So, yeah, I could see something happening there.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Thunder Finals Appearance + Offseason Primer with Sam Amick | Slam N Jam
Well, I mean, it's wild. If you would have told me, guys... I wrote a story about the Pacers right around the time when they were 10 and 15. Yeah. And it was crazy because they came through Sacramento. And I'm just going to be real. I was just trying to like, I didn't have a lot to write that week. And I was like, all right, what can I do on the Pacers? Let me talk to Tyrese.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Thunder Finals Appearance + Offseason Primer with Sam Amick | Slam N Jam
Ich habe mit Rick Carlisle gesprochen, aber meine Energie für diese Geschichte war, dass dies der fluchige Konferenz-Finale-Partizipant ist, der zurück nach der Erde zurückkommt. Und was ich that night gelernt habe, das ich immer wieder erläutere, weil ich denke, dass sie viel Kredit dafür verdienen, ist,
The Athletic NBA Daily
Thunder Finals Appearance + Offseason Primer with Sam Amick | Slam N Jam
Even at 10 and 15, I had asked Carlisle when they were in Sacramento, I said, essentially, the only downside of making a conference finals appearance is that expectations go up. How do you feel like your group is handling the framing of their situation now? He didn't run from it at all and literally just said, we are trying to win a championship. That is what we are trying to build.
The Athletic NBA Daily
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I actually walked away going, okay, there's a legitimacy to this program. kulturell, die mehr substanziell ist, als ich es bemerkt habe. Also, um es von 10 zu 15 zu sehen, was sie jetzt sind, mein erster Gedanke zu Ihrer Frage, Andrew, ist, dass es die Pacers sind.
The Athletic NBA Daily
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Und es ist nicht unbedingt eine Bewegung, die sie erheben kann, obwohl ich mir sicher bin, dass es, je nachdem, wie das Ende geht, es gibt Sachen, die sie schauen. Aber sie sind in einem ziemlich guten Spot. Und sie müssen die Miles-Turner-Freie-Agenz-Sachen herausfinden. Aber er ist weit erwartet, um sich umzusetzen. Aber sie sind gut positioniert.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Thunder Finals Appearance + Offseason Primer with Sam Amick | Slam N Jam
Detroit, mit all dem Momentum ihres Programms, was können sie tun? Ich sehe keine Mannschaft, die nur einen Weg entfernt ist. Ich meine, wenn du auf der Liste gehst, Philly, ist natürlich nur ein riesiges If von Gesundheit. Was ist mit Orlando? Klar. Sie brauchen einen Guard sehr schlimm. Meiner Meinung nach ist es schwierig.
The Athletic NBA Daily
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Ich fühle mich, dass sie ein bisschen auf der guten Seite ihrer eigenen Identität sind. Ich fühle mich, dass sie viele der Moves, die sie sich vorstellen könnten, might actually take away from their superpower, which is that incredible defense. Yeah, true. You know, like when you hear Trey Young attached to them, like I, you know, I don't like that.
The Athletic NBA Daily
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Like I'd see, but and I get it because they need shooting and they need offense. But, you know, they... Ich weiß nicht, wenn es sie gewesen wäre, wäre ich bemerkenswert, weil ich denke, besonders national, weil wir über Orlando nie gesprochen haben, wir haben komplett über das, wie bedeutend ihre Verletzungen letzten Saison waren. Ich meine, sie waren massiv.
The Athletic NBA Daily
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Ich wäre bemerkenswert, um zu sehen, wie die Entwicklung aussieht, weil Paolo besonders ist. Und, you know, can he be a little more special next year? And the rest of those guys getting better as well. Not to say they don't make any moves, but they have such a unique attack defensively, especially in this era where all of a sudden that's what we're doing. You know, OKC is showing.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Thunder Finals Appearance + Offseason Primer with Sam Amick | Slam N Jam
So, yeah, I mean, but yeah, I do expect them to kind of get back into that top tier position.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Thunder Finals Appearance + Offseason Primer with Sam Amick | Slam N Jam
That as young as they are, that it's, you know, I've certainly been convinced that it's, you know, unless they really mess this up, this organization should be, you know, raising a trophy this year. It's just, it should happen. And I just, I say should in terms of talent and coaching and program and all of the above. They have... Ich nenne es immatüre Momente.
The Athletic NBA Daily
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Ich denke an die Knicks. Lassen wir uns nur sagen, dass sie in dieser Serie fallen. Für mich sind es Giannis und Kevin. So all the teams we're going to talk about, I think first have to figure out what's going on with Giannis, because Giannis in San Antonio could be a very real thing. The Rockets certainly would, that Giannis is somebody that they would think about cutting into their core for.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Thunder Finals Appearance + Offseason Primer with Sam Amick | Slam N Jam
So from there, it's just a matter of, all right, is he available? If not, then the Durant market gets spiked and a lot of these teams are going to be in play. Miami is one where I don't know how good they would be with Kevin, but they're always going to be in the conversation. They obviously are reeling in the wake of the Jimmy Butler trade and how bad they were after he was gone.
The Athletic NBA Daily
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Houston's candidacy for Durant Ja. Ja. Es ist, weil die Leute fragen, ob Ime Udoka verschiedene Ideen hat über die Urgenz von jetzt. Und auch, wenn du Royal Ivy als Assistent-Coach auf deinem Team hast, der ein sehr guter Freund von Kevins war. Und das ist eine Verbindung, die immer gemacht wird. Aber die Rockets, denke ich nicht, werden Kevin fangen. Aber wir werden sehen.
The Athletic NBA Daily
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Er hatte ein gutes Jahr, hat sich in der zweiten Halbzeit natürlich ausgetauscht, aber er stellt immer noch Elite-Nummern ein und könnte jemanden helfen. Aber von all diesen Teams, ob es Veran oder jemand anderes ist, bin ich wirklich gespannt, wie die Knicks reagieren, wenn sie in der Tat hier ausfallen.
The Athletic NBA Daily
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Alex, leider, jetzt mache ich die Editing für euch. Wegen der Großartigkeit von Sam Vecini, bin ich schrecklich im Draft. Ich habe nicht viel. Ich bin nur ehrlich mit euch. Ich habe keinen guten Sinn dafür, außer, dass ich glaube, um den Loop auf unsere erste Frage zu schließen, ich werde einfach wieder sitzen bleiben.
The Athletic NBA Daily
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wie ich es in den nächsten sieben Jahren oder so sein werde, um die Dutzenden Spieler, die das Oklahoma City Thunder-Draft haben, zu genießen. Ich meine, das ist, wo mein Fokus ist. Und wegen der kommenden NBA-Finale auf meinem Flughafen am letzten Tag war ich tatsächlich, und Andrew, du wirst mich stolz haben, weil du der Experte bist,
The Athletic NBA Daily
Thunder Finals Appearance + Offseason Primer with Sam Amick | Slam N Jam
Man, I did a deep dive on like, all right, I need to go back and make sure I specifically understand how many picks they have, where they got them, which ones turned into this guy, which ones turned into that guy, how many more they have coming. And, you know, it's just remarkable. So the fact that, what do they have, 15 and 28, I think, in this draft, you know, they've got... Nothing sexy.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Thunder Finals Appearance + Offseason Primer with Sam Amick | Slam N Jam
Yeah. So that's kind of my focus. Other than that, it's, you know, it sounds like You know, I mean, Dallas certainly is going to take Cooper and San Antonio appears to be preparing to hold on to number two. You know, from, you know, the Philly situation is interesting. So, but I know I don't have a great sense of of which teams are going to be the most aggressive.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Thunder Finals Appearance + Offseason Primer with Sam Amick | Slam N Jam
Ich spreche nur von Spiel, nicht von Geist. Wo sie Fokus verlieren oder die Intensität nicht auf dem Pedal halten. Ich blame sie nicht, weil niemand in der Liga den Pedal auf den Pedal setzt, wie sie es tun. Das ist das Größte. Sie sind das beste Team. Aber außerhalb davon, und ich habe das ein bisschen am letzten Tag geschrieben, ist...
The Athletic NBA Daily
Thunder Finals Appearance + Offseason Primer with Sam Amick | Slam N Jam
I say this respectfully, because he's a hell of a player who just dealt with hell stuff last year. And I'm being somewhat of a smartass, if you will. But it is the season of...
The Athletic NBA Daily
Thunder Finals Appearance + Offseason Primer with Sam Amick | Slam N Jam
moving away from paul george appears to work for a lot of different organizations you know what i mean like yeah clippers decision uh the clippers decision to to not you know re-up them they end up having a good year obviously they look like they might be a conference finals or finals participant but
The Athletic NBA Daily
Thunder Finals Appearance + Offseason Primer with Sam Amick | Slam N Jam
Es gibt den Hintergrund mit OKC und dem Fakt, dass der Paul-George-Vertrag die Grundlage für dieses Juggernaut-Team ist. Du hast den Indiana-Hintergrund. Das ist etwas, was ich am anderen Tag gedacht habe. Es gibt all diese wilden 6-Degrees-Paul-George-Komponenten für dieses Postseason. All das, um zu sagen, dass die Sixers vielleicht... Go with the trend and see what happens.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Thunder Finals Appearance + Offseason Primer with Sam Amick | Slam N Jam
And like you said, go get a good young player and start going in that direction.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Thunder Finals Appearance + Offseason Primer with Sam Amick | Slam N Jam
So we're simply talking 30-point games. 30-point games, Brunson as a Knick. No other stats. Okay. All time, not these playoffs. Correct. 30-point games, I'm going to go with 27.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Thunder Finals Appearance + Offseason Primer with Sam Amick | Slam N Jam
Nope. We're good.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Thunder Finals Appearance + Offseason Primer with Sam Amick | Slam N Jam
It's one thing to see the viral clips all season long of Thunder players goofing around with Nick Gallo or you having light-hearted interviews with different guys or the TNT interviews where they demand that 3, 4, 5 players are part of it. The whole fraternity feel...
The Athletic NBA Daily
Thunder Finals Appearance + Offseason Primer with Sam Amick | Slam N Jam
I need to earn my points. I've already given you. The pressure to at least get one so that your scorecard is not incorrect at the end is immense. So I'm going to go with a warrior, but my question is, I'm trying to think about how many games in the conference finals Draymond missed versus Steph.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Thunder Finals Appearance + Offseason Primer with Sam Amick | Slam N Jam
So, I'm just gonna go with the, you know, you hear LeBron's name, you think about Steph in that same sentence. So I will say Steph.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Thunder Finals Appearance + Offseason Primer with Sam Amick | Slam N Jam
Number three, please. All right. Question number three.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Thunder Finals Appearance + Offseason Primer with Sam Amick | Slam N Jam
I'm gonna make Andrew answer this one. Is that an option here? No, no, it's not. Damn it. I was trying to get there.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Thunder Finals Appearance + Offseason Primer with Sam Amick | Slam N Jam
It's a... Throw it back to you, Andrew.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Thunder Finals Appearance + Offseason Primer with Sam Amick | Slam N Jam
Oh, my memory is failing me, man. The Knicks against the Knicks and the Suns. Wow. Is the wow that I should be remembering this, Andrew? No, no, no.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Thunder Finals Appearance + Offseason Primer with Sam Amick | Slam N Jam
I just saw him chugging a beer at a Pacers game. And hanging out with Pat McAfee. I don't know. I got LeBron. We got a 50-burger in the conference finals.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Thunder Finals Appearance + Offseason Primer with Sam Amick | Slam N Jam
was for me mostly an online experience to this point to get closer to it and try to understand it a little more and see that it's very real and then see it kind of actually have such a positive impact on the way they play to where like after game five Chet Holmgren was asked essentially how are you guys able to Ja. Ja. Ja.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Thunder Finals Appearance + Offseason Primer with Sam Amick | Slam N Jam
The MJ was correct, correct? Yes, yes, yes.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Thunder Finals Appearance + Offseason Primer with Sam Amick | Slam N Jam
That helps you at all. MJ against the Knicks. Who dropped 50 on the Suns? They've been going all time. I'm just going to throw a Wilt in there. It had to have happened at some point.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Thunder Finals Appearance + Offseason Primer with Sam Amick | Slam N Jam
Well, I mean, the Clippers was second round, first and second, right? In the bubble? I mean the Nuggets, rather. Sorry. No. No, I just 3-1. I've got the Joker bubble Nuggets in my head, but... They fell short in the conference finals. That sounds inappropriate. It was not the bubble nuggets. They lost to the Lakers in the conference finals.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Thunder Finals Appearance + Offseason Primer with Sam Amick | Slam N Jam
Yeah, I'm just going to go with franchises that have been there a lot. So Celtics. Guess what, Sam?
The Athletic NBA Daily
Thunder Finals Appearance + Offseason Primer with Sam Amick | Slam N Jam
The lack of confidence. I really think I'd trick you on that one. Andrew, would you have picked OKC if I didn't pick OKC?
The Athletic NBA Daily
Thunder Finals Appearance + Offseason Primer with Sam Amick | Slam N Jam
Very nice.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Thunder Finals Appearance + Offseason Primer with Sam Amick | Slam N Jam
Well, I'm curious if you have a list.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Thunder Finals Appearance + Offseason Primer with Sam Amick | Slam N Jam
Unless you have a program where your leaders, you know, Shea being somebody who is his normal nature, it appears, is to lift guys up and to include people. But he's not the only one. They have that culture. It seems very real. You know, at times I'm guilty of admittedly rolling my eyes a little bit and thinking it was corny. But you can't really argue with it now.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Thunder Finals Appearance + Offseason Primer with Sam Amick | Slam N Jam
In 2012.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Thunder Finals Appearance + Offseason Primer with Sam Amick | Slam N Jam
I'll say Lakers.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Thunder Finals Appearance + Offseason Primer with Sam Amick | Slam N Jam
My mind went to the other side, Houston.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Thunder Finals Appearance + Offseason Primer with Sam Amick | Slam N Jam
No, my friend. I'm plugging three or four days at home before these finals. Thank you to Sam Presti and their crew for making quick work of the wolves.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Thunder Finals Appearance + Offseason Primer with Sam Amick | Slam N Jam
They're having a great time and they look like they should win the whole thing.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Thunder Finals Appearance + Offseason Primer with Sam Amick | Slam N Jam
Ja, ja, wie du weißt, hast du mich durchgeschaut und ich hatte einige Dinge, die an der Homefront passiert sind. Ja, das erste Quartier des Spiels und ich weiß nicht, Sharon, also mein ältester Sohn und glücklicherweise ist alles in Ordnung, aber er ist in einem Auto-Krieg gestorben. Also das erste Quartier und ich kriege einen Telefonruf über einen Auto-Krieg.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Thunder Finals Appearance + Offseason Primer with Sam Amick | Slam N Jam
And the only saving grace was, I look up and the thunder, you know, ahead by 90 points, it didn't matter. So I'm in the back on the phone. So yeah, you go back and read my column from that night and just know that I didn't actually watch any of the first half. You came and sat down and I was like, summary, Thunder good, Timberwolves very bad.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Thunder Finals Appearance + Offseason Primer with Sam Amick | Slam N Jam
But it is, listen, first world problems. I'm excited to cover the finals. Every year I get reminded that as much as I enjoy this time of year, the travel is heavy. And so... Getting home for a few days is nice. But before you know it, it'll be back in Bricktown and see what they can do. But like always, we will have all kinds of coverage coming at you. But appreciate you guys doing this.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Thunder Finals Appearance + Offseason Primer with Sam Amick | Slam N Jam
This was fun.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Thunder Finals Appearance + Offseason Primer with Sam Amick | Slam N Jam
Probably not to be political, Alex, a little bit of both. But I do think like Denver... Ja, genau. Die Nuggets, wir alle kennen die Narrative mit ihnen und es war das Gleiche bis zum Ende, nämlich die Dämpfe sind das Problem.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Thunder Finals Appearance + Offseason Primer with Sam Amick | Slam N Jam
Aber wenn du über Jokic mit Jamal Murray, Aaron Gordon sprichst, du weißt, MPJ und seine Schulter waren ein Problem, natürlich, also ist er der Typ, der ich denke, ist ein massiver Fragezeichen gerade jetzt, aber Aaron Gordon im Wesentlichen hat einfach eine wundervolle Playoffs und große Klatschmomente, wie das Trio.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Thunder Finals Appearance + Offseason Primer with Sam Amick | Slam N Jam
of Joker, Jamal and Aaron are, they should still be excited in Denver and figure out how to add to it. Now, you've got all these other uncertainties. You've got the, you know, Russell Westbrook has a small player option. I'd be surprised if he was back. So they have to figure out, you know, the depth was exposed all the way through that series. But, you know, it was impressive.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Thunder Finals Appearance + Offseason Primer with Sam Amick | Slam N Jam
The thing too, my last thought on that, Joker is so interesting because, man, it's like You could tell in that series that when he squinted hard enough and actually thought we might be able to get to the conference finals here, then you saw his superpowers rise. Then when Gordon has the injury, MPJ has the injury, you can feel it slipping away. And it's human nature, but you can tell...
The Athletic NBA Daily
Thunder Finals Appearance + Offseason Primer with Sam Amick | Slam N Jam
Für mich ist der Joker so, als würde er die Räume beobachten und wenn er eine 10% Chance sieht, geht er dafür. Und wenn er nicht, dann fällt er ein bisschen. Und ich fühlte mich, dass das am Ende ein bisschen passiert ist gegen OKC. Du hast gesagt, du wärst überrascht, wenn Westbrook zurückkehrt. Was macht dich daran zu denken? Man, Schlecht geht direkt für die Aggregatoren.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Thunder Finals Appearance + Offseason Primer with Sam Amick | Slam N Jam
Ich habe nur mein Wunsch. I mean, listen, when they fired Michael Malone and Calvin Booth, the insight and the information that came out regarding the Westbrook experience. And I know he hates this stuff. He's been getting upset with media for a minute now. And I get it because it's it's such a tricky and I'm going to answer the question, but a tricky dynamic to cover because it's.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Thunder Finals Appearance + Offseason Primer with Sam Amick | Slam N Jam
Ich habe gestern einen Rant gehört, in dem Raja Bell auf dem Ringer schreit und schreit, wie man es dem Minimumspieler verurteilen kann. Wie er Russ verteidigt hat. Es war ein ziemlich lustiger Rant, wo er sagte, erzähl mir, welches NFL-Team hat die Medien schreit, es sei der Backup-Quarterback.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Thunder Finals Appearance + Offseason Primer with Sam Amick | Slam N Jam
But that's obviously a little disingenuous, because Russ does have the ability to kind of elevate or kind of devastate his own team. And that... Es war ein Basketball-Issue und war es während der Saison.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Thunder Finals Appearance + Offseason Primer with Sam Amick | Slam N Jam
Als Malone ihn ein bisschen begonnen hat, hat er das kleine Geheimnis, das jeder weiß, an dieser Stelle von Russs Karriere, das ist, dass man ihn nicht starten kann, weil man ihn nicht starten kann. Nachdem er das wird, will er diese Behandlung. The internal dynamics at times were tough. ESPN reported that Aaron Gordon got into it with Russ in the Clippers series in the locker room.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Thunder Finals Appearance + Offseason Primer with Sam Amick | Slam N Jam
So that's the thing. They have to be sensitive to dynamics. And I just don't know if that, I mean, again, it's his option. So that part comes into play. And I'm sure he's going to see what his market looks like and figure out what he wants to do. But it's really just a vibe. I would be surprised if he was back.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Thunder Finals Appearance + Offseason Primer with Sam Amick | Slam N Jam
Andrew, Alex, thank you for having me. It was a delight to get to see you in person, Andrew. It's been a long time since I was in OKC. So these past couple of weeks getting, you know, not a little bit, but a lot of bit of time out there has been fun. I will say this, you and I hanging, you know, two seats apart from each other.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Thunder Finals Appearance + Offseason Primer with Sam Amick | Slam N Jam
Ich erinnere mich an Julius Randle, der das Anfang von 3 gespielt hat. Und dann, auf dem defensiven Ende, kommt er zu Chet in einer Art und Weise, die mir die Intensität von Spiel 3 gezeigt hat. Und ich weiß nicht, ob ich die Wolves in Spiel 3 gewonnen habe? Ja, das stimmt. Ja, ja. Und so habe ich mich literal zu Joel gewechselt. Und das ist ziemlich lustig im Hinterkopf.
The Athletic NBA Daily
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Und ich war so, oh Mann, ich habe gesagt, okay, er wird heute Abend verlieren. Und er ist so, warum? Ich sage, weil das war das, was der andere Tag nicht da war. Okay, gut, sie hatten einen Moment, es sah aus, als würde die Desperation da sein und Chet sah flüsternd aus und sie waren nicht am Ball bewegen.
The Athletic NBA Daily
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Und ich schwöre, 30 Sekunden später ist Nas Reed auf dem Break und ich kann es ehrlich zu Gott nicht erinnern, dass jeder Spiel, jeder Spieler jemals Alex Caruso, just in a full sprint, and in our live blog I said he was a heat-seeking missile. Like, just running after Nas, where you talk about that word afraid, like Nas looked like he was in a horror movie, he was about to scream.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Thunder Finals Appearance + Offseason Primer with Sam Amick | Slam N Jam
You know, like, tribbles off his foot, out of bounds. That's when I was like, oh boy. Like, that's what... Ich habe jemanden getextet, als der Westfalen-VP-Voteur kam und ich einer der Leute war, die für Shea gewonnen haben. Und ich weiß noch nicht, ob sie verrückt waren.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Thunder Finals Appearance + Offseason Primer with Sam Amick | Slam N Jam
Es war ein Scout für ein anderes Team, der literal gesagt hat, weil er die Vote noch nicht gesehen hat, er sagt, ich hoffe, du hast für Caruso gewonnen. Und es sprach zu der Dämpftigkeit dieses Teams und dem Fakt, dass sie Starpower haben. Sie haben defensive Rockstars auf und runter im Rostrum. Und der Angstfaktor ist in der Defense. Es ist die Intensität von Lou Dort.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Thunder Finals Appearance + Offseason Primer with Sam Amick | Slam N Jam
Es ist der Fakt, dass wir am anderen Tag darüber gesprochen haben, wie Shea... Er hat sich eigentlich defensiv zurückgedrückt in dieser Serie. Es gab viele Lazy, die sich um die Screens drehen und sich auswählen. Das ist etwas, was man von Shea nicht normalerweise sieht. Und es ist so, dass er einen wirklich wichtigen Druck trägt und er kann das ein bisschen auf dieser Roststelle tun.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Thunder Finals Appearance + Offseason Primer with Sam Amick | Slam N Jam
Ich denke, das spricht auch zu Angst. Guck mal, wenn sie so gut sind, dass Shea kann, du weißt, coasten und ein bisschen wiederholen, dann wird das nur, du weißt, Dinge auf der anderen Seite des Flurs beeinflussen. Also, ähm, sie sind, ich meine, sie zeigen in den Playoffs jetzt, dass sie es wert sind, die historische Framing der regelmäßigen Saison zu leben.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Thunder Finals Appearance + Offseason Primer with Sam Amick | Slam N Jam
68 Wins, 12,9 Punkte Differenzial, all these things, that speaks to dominance. And really, on paper, this should be the beginning of a fairly long and dominant run.
The Athletic NBA Daily
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So I don't know his market elsewhere, but I think it's definitely fair to kind of revisit and question how that partnership looks right now. Because before this series, I remember about a month ago or so trying to get some clarity from the Wolves as to their updated view on somebody like Kevin Durant, who they had made a run at at the February trade deadline. And as of that point,
The Athletic NBA Daily
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At these games, and this is your all season long life, either there or at the scorer's table, you know, in the belly of the beast, so to speak, was a lot of fun. Because in today's NBA, media seating is not typically that good. Loud City is living up to its name. I think my hearing is definitely, you know...
The Athletic NBA Daily
Thunder Finals Appearance + Offseason Primer with Sam Amick | Slam N Jam
die Nachricht war, dass ja, wir hatten damals einen sehr echten Interesse, aber jetzt ist Nas die Priorität. Und es ist wie, weißt du, das ist die Frau, mit der ich tanzen werde, und ich werde mich nicht um nichts anderes kümmern. Aber dann ist es schwer, diese Serie nicht zu sehen und zu sehen, wie wenig Einfluss er damals hatte.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Thunder Finals Appearance + Offseason Primer with Sam Amick | Slam N Jam
Ich meine, der Art von Geld, über den du sprichst, wenn es jemand ist, der ich weiß, dass es stylistisch eine wirklich schwierige Serie für ihn war, aber wenn du sechs Punkte Ausgaben hast und nur totale Nichts, dann mache ich mich wundern.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Thunder Finals Appearance + Offseason Primer with Sam Amick | Slam N Jam
You know how they see it, because they've they've got, you know, with Julius and and Rudy and Nas that that whole a whole lot of money going to a whole bunch of bigs. I'm curious to see what happens. But in a vacuum where I guess independent of all that, you know, Nas's body of work is certainly going to. be reflected in the market somewhere.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Thunder Finals Appearance + Offseason Primer with Sam Amick | Slam N Jam
I mean, he's a fantastic player that should get the type of offers that are going to make Minnesota's cap sheet look even messier.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Thunder Finals Appearance + Offseason Primer with Sam Amick | Slam N Jam
No, other than just a big-time raise coming and a guy that's been on one of the best contracts in the league for a minute. You know, when he's not trying to guard his cousin. He's pretty good. I'm fascinated by that assignment. It had to be so, I mean, they're like brothers and it's like, it had to be so tricky to, to try to, you know, to fight that off.
The Athletic NBA Daily
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Couldn't be more different as players like Jace is basically kind of ground bound and is not this high flyer like Jason was. And is, you know, just this really smart, super high level decision maker more than anything. Um, whenever I watch him, I am such a big fan of watching the way that he makes defensive decisions, watching the way that he makes consistent decisions as a passer.
The Athletic NBA Daily
2025 NBA Draft Preview + Rookie Awards | Slam N Jam
He played with the Boozer Twins at Columbus down in Miami, and
The Athletic NBA Daily
2025 NBA Draft Preview + Rookie Awards | Slam N Jam
you know, didn't really get a chance all that often on the ball necessarily because cam particularly, uh, you know, potential number one, overall pick number two, overall pick next season, uh, is on the ball all the time there because he's, you know, Apollo Bankaro type kind of prospect, maybe a little bit thicker and not quite as capable on the ball, but, uh, something in that vicinity.
The Athletic NBA Daily
2025 NBA Draft Preview + Rookie Awards | Slam N Jam
So he hasn't gotten a crazy amount of on-ball reps throughout the course of his career. And at Michigan State, he's obviously not getting a crazy amount either because Tom Izzo doesn't really hand the ball over to freshmen regularly. But I do think there's a lot of latent ball skill there.
The Athletic NBA Daily
2025 NBA Draft Preview + Rookie Awards | Slam N Jam
Really big shoulders, kind of in that... People will bring up the name Jalen Brunson when I talk to them, but... I don't quite think it's that necessarily, but Jalen wasn't what he is now when he was a freshman, so you never know, right? But big shoulders, really good footwork, really good gathers, great decision maker, just kind of has all of that.
The Athletic NBA Daily
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I think if you ask GMs right now, would they take Ace Bailey over whoever they had at number one, which was very widespread and different for every front office last year? I think that some would take Ace Bailey. So I think it'd be like three and a half right now would be my response. But I would say in terms of like real franchise changing players, talent. Cooper flag is absolutely that.
The Athletic NBA Daily
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It's just that he's not a super athlete, so it's going to take... Him being elite at all of that stuff in terms of the footwork in the gathers once he gets to the NBA in order to be able to reach his ceiling as a potential on-ball player. But even off the ball, he's a super high-level shooter, a really good defender. He's just a little bit small.
The Athletic NBA Daily
2025 NBA Draft Preview + Rookie Awards | Slam N Jam
Yeah, 50-50 on who goes higher. Liam, unfortunately, has an ankle injury right now. Hopefully he gets back and is able to kind of showcase what he's capable of. I think Khan probably has a bit of a higher ceiling because I think Khan is a little bit more natural on the ball. Not like a point guard necessarily, but can run second side ball screen actions.
The Athletic NBA Daily
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The reason that Khan remains so high for NBA teams is largely because he is... he hasn't shot the ball great this year, but like if you go back through his high school career, he's like a knockdown guy. Like he's an absolute flamethrower. It's kind of everything else. He's done everything else really, really well. He's been a really good defender this year for Duke.
The Athletic NBA Daily
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He's highly, highly competitive, much like Cooper. He can run second side ball screens. He can really pass the ball. He isn't like a breakdown dudes off the bounce shot creator, but he is a guy who can create his own shot from time to time. So yeah, Eventually, the shooting is going to come. Khan is not going to be a 35% three-point shooter. He's going to be close to a 40% three-point shooter.
The Athletic NBA Daily
2025 NBA Draft Preview + Rookie Awards | Slam N Jam
When you put all of that together and stack it up, I like Khan a little bit more personally, but You know, Liam's another kid that's super competitive, knockdown shooter, way better defensively than what I think he gets credit for, in all honesty, because his block and steal numbers are quite low. Really, really sharp without the ball.
The Athletic NBA Daily
2025 NBA Draft Preview + Rookie Awards | Slam N Jam
Connecticut is starting to use him on the ball as their primary initiator before his injury because they just trust him to make decisions and they don't have a great point guard. So I'm a big, big, big fan of both of them, in all honesty. And I have both of them in the top 10 right now.
The Athletic NBA Daily
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So I've been told definitely over 6'5", without shoes. Okay. Whether or not he comes in at 6'7". I don't think he's going to come in at 6'7", without shoes. Yeah. But if you told me he's like 6'6", 7'5", with shoes, I've been told he's bigger than what people have thought coming in.
The Athletic NBA Daily
2025 NBA Draft Preview + Rookie Awards | Slam N Jam
It's like a guy that's their guy. Like they would love Khan.
The Athletic NBA Daily
2025 NBA Draft Preview + Rookie Awards | Slam N Jam
yeah also that doesn't come from having talked to them about it i just like sure that i know what they value like i feel like i have a pretty good handle on it because frankly it's kind of similar to what i value in the draft yeah i just big can shoot super competitive great character like high feel for the game he ticks all of their boxes in my opinion yeah and his name is knipple
The Athletic NBA Daily
2025 NBA Draft Preview + Rookie Awards | Slam N Jam
There are a lot more knipples coming, too. That's a big family up in Wisconsin, and they have a lot of high-level hoopers there.
The Athletic NBA Daily
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Yeah, I kind of mentioned Fears. I would say Fears is the guy that I'm most looking forward to in that respect. Trey Johnson is a guy that people got real excited about, just for the people here. I was looking at... Texas's on-off numbers earlier in terms of like, you know, the guys that are helping the team consistently, the guys that are hurting the team consistently, right?
The Athletic NBA Daily
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I think Dylan Harper could be that for sure. I really liked Dylan. He's like right on that precipice of like tier one, tier two grade for me. Uh, I love everything I've seen from Dylan Harper. Uh, all of the Intel with Dylan is extremely, extremely high level, much like it is for Cooper. Uh, Cooper's Intel is just like some of the best Intel like I've gotten about a prospect.
The Athletic NBA Daily
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Five of their top six players have a positive on-off rating. Arthur Columa's plus 22.4. Caden Shedrick plus 4.6. Jordan Pope plus 8.2. Kendall Weaver, you know, plus 11. Julian Larry plus four, right? Trey Johnson is a minus 15.7, right?
The Athletic NBA Daily
2025 NBA Draft Preview + Rookie Awards | Slam N Jam
I mean, I was probably one of the people that said that, um, I don't, I'm trying to be nice about this. Uh, look, there's, there's not been much like positive production in this rookie class. Like we can just kind of put it that way. Sure. Uh, I mean, would Kaysen Wallace's rookie year last year, would he be third in the rookie of the year voting? Maybe. Right now? Probably, right?
The Athletic NBA Daily
2025 NBA Draft Preview + Rookie Awards | Slam N Jam
I think that people would have Jalen Wells ahead of him just because of the counting numbers at the end of the day.
The Athletic NBA Daily
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Yeah. And like, I would still take haste and over Jalen Wells. So like, you know, it's, it's tricky and that's no disrespect to Jalen. Jalen's had a great year, but like I Jalen Wells right now is my rookie of the year. I have rookie rankings coming tomorrow with the athletic as we speak. So probably up by the time that this goes live. And yeah, Jalen Wells is number one for me right now.
The Athletic NBA Daily
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Jalen went 39th, I think, in the draft. I think I had him ranked 47, 48. I was probably too low on him, but Jalen is a guy that has knocked down shots and taken on tough assignments defensively. That's kind of the extent of it so far. He's averaging 11 points, hasn't really produced much across the rest of the box score. It's just not a great rookie class.
The Athletic NBA Daily
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It was always a draft where you hoped that there would be some development down the road where there'd be a number of players who would really emerge and step up and become those kind of all-star caliber players, right? So this class is performing down to my expectations. I just didn't have... I didn't think there were many guys who would come in and make an impact immediately.
The Athletic NBA Daily
2025 NBA Draft Preview + Rookie Awards | Slam N Jam
Uh, and then Dylan's is also exceptionally high level. So I, There aren't a lot of red flags with either of those players, and I think that's what's so exciting about those two particularly.
The Athletic NBA Daily
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I think that my answer would be Jared McCain to this, uh, Jared McCain's. I was actually always a little bit higher. Like I had a lottery grade on McCain and I was always a little bit higher on him because I did think that there was some latent ball skill there that he didn't get a chance to show all the time at Duke. Uh,
The Athletic NBA Daily
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I think I even thought that there was like, there were like some Fred Van Vliety kind of outcomes in terms of super high level shooter, tough defensively, you know, maybe not great off the ball defensively, but you know, super strong lower half willing to fight as a smaller guy on defense. I did not see the offensive growth coming this quickly with him on the ball. Uh,
The Athletic NBA Daily
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Jared McKay, like, you know, we talked about the strength of this rookie class. Like Jared McCain is out for the year. I think he played what, like 23 games this year. Right. And yeah,
The Athletic NBA Daily
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I still have him third and like rookie of the year voting and like rookie rankings right now, because what he showed on the ball in terms of being able to create consistently and efficiently as an NBA player, this early, he averaged 15 points, 46% from the field, 38% from three 88% from the line.
The Athletic NBA Daily
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had a true shooting percentage that was above league average, despite having a usage rate that was really, really high. Like he was up at 25% usage because he was taking on a ton of responsibilities with Tyrese Maxey out.
The Athletic NBA Daily
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And then you look at like, he had a monster monster stretch there from like, you know, the beginning of November until, you know, right around Thanksgiving where he was just a stud. So yeah,
The Athletic NBA Daily
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I would say that the ability for McCain to consistently use his pace and use his change of tempo to get downhill and be able to score from inside the arc and not just be reliant on his three-point shot, that would be probably my main skill that I didn't see coming this quickly.
The Athletic NBA Daily
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Yeah, I think it's probably this is for me. I went with A.J. Mitchell here.
The Athletic NBA Daily
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I loved A.J. Mitchell. I had a first round grade on A.J. to, you know, thought the Thunder were super lucky to get him at number 40 overall. I thought that he was a little bit more of an on-ball guy than what he has proven himself to be. I remember talking to him pre-draft and he was like, no, I feel pretty good shooting off the catch.
The Athletic NBA Daily
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It's just I didn't have to do it at Santa Barbara because I was playing in the... He didn't say this, but he's playing in the Big West and he had to be so responsible for everything that they did that... he felt like he could shoot it at a real level. And he proved that in a big way. I thought that his defense was timely, rotationally. He's not a difference maker on that team defensively.
The Athletic NBA Daily
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They have seven guys with an all-defense case, it feels like, this year. But you know, he was smart. Like he knew where he had to be. He knew where to rotate, uh, you know, him being able to fit in as a player that could play both on and off the ball for an Oklahoma city team that does need like one more ball handler, I would argue consistently to emerge. Uh,
The Athletic NBA Daily
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enormous like absolutely enormous and you know he's an absolute keeper for them i'm assuming that they're gonna have to break into their room exception that they still have some of in order to retain him on a longer term deal here when they convert him before the season ends yeah and he's on a two-way contract has not spent one minute with the g league and will not you know i've had conversations with him about that and he's
The Athletic NBA Daily
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Yeah, so... The answer to me is Portland, number one. I just am not... Portland is not an untalented basketball team. They're sitting at seven right now in the draft order as we speak, right? It's not like they don't have guys, but... I'm fairly worried about the scoot Henderson experience at this point. I do think that like a coaching change is in order there.
The Athletic NBA Daily
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One of like the coolest like NBA prospects I've talked to just in terms of He just has this like quiet, like free spirited, like confidence though. Like you can tell that like, he's like very self-assured and what he's doing that he's all about the right things.
The Athletic NBA Daily
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Cause he is all about the right things, but it's also just like, has like that, you know, went to college for three years at Santa Barbara laid back mentality, like perfect vibe for him. Uh, just such an interesting dude. Yeah.
The Athletic NBA Daily
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Yeah, so I have two names here. Cody Williams is probably one. Again... I always thought Cody was much more of a long-term play than what other people, you know, seem to or whatever. Like he's so skinny. It's just going to take a lot of time for him. He is just a very, he's very different human than, than what his brother Jalen is, right?
The Athletic NBA Daily
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Like Jalen, you know, was six foot one or whatever up until his senior year of high school and, you know, grew and then grew again at Santa Clara and like developed this enormous, massive chip on his shoulder. And that carries through to everything that he does. Whereas like Cody Williams was immediately evaluated as like a top 10 player in his class and a five-star player. And, you know,
The Athletic NBA Daily
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I would hope that this year kind of allows Cody to develop that same chip on his shoulder, that desire to prove people wrong that Jalen has. I think that this could end up being like a good thing for Cody Williams. Maybe if he's able to do that, but yeah, I mean, just the sheer lack of strength at this point.
The Athletic NBA Daily
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He's just really, really incapable of playing on an NBA court right now because of that lack of strength. He can't get anywhere on the court and he just kind of gets blown through defensively. Really needs to hit the weight room, needs to be physically strong and able to kind of deal with bumps.
The Athletic NBA Daily
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The other guy just, you know, Tejon Salon has been able to get some minutes here for Charlotte, which I had some questions about. coming into the year. I will say that many of the flaws that I saw with Salon, I had them at like... 13 ish, something like that. Like I saw it as an informed bet where like, if it really broke, right, it might break. Right.
The Athletic NBA Daily
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And you get like an Aaron Gordon, any kind of, you know, defensive player who can not be as vertical as Aaron Gordon. Cause salon was always a terrible finisher in France, but you know, could play defense and has the right mentality. Like he's super aggressive. He has no fear. Like he's very, you know, confident in himself as well. But yeah,
The Athletic NBA Daily
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The lack of finishing, the lack of consistent shooting ability, all that continues to... The flags for Salon remain the flags is kind of the thing right now. And that is always a bit of a worry when that's the case.
The Athletic NBA Daily
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This is Jalen Wells for me. Jalen Wells is going to be a really good NBA player for a long time. He is a 38% three-point shooter that I think will get better at that. His shot is beautiful. I have no concerns about that. That has also shown that he can handle things defensively, and that's probably where I mis-evaluated him.
The Athletic NBA Daily
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And look, he's a fascinating prospect that we'll talk about in a second here. But like, I didn't love him defensively at Washington State. I even went back and watched like a couple of games at Sonoma State when he was there, like thought he was okay on that end, like the Juco level, but wasn't like a crazy, crazy defender to me.
The Athletic NBA Daily
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I would like to see scoot under a different coach, especially after he played really, really well without Chauncey Billups there for a few games earlier this season, I think about a month ago. So I would really like to see just like a different voice there, but you know, scoot himself, it's all flashes. It's not consistent play. And it feels like a lot of the time he doesn't,
The Athletic NBA Daily
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Uh, the fact that he's come in and like, has really embraced taking on tough assignments for the Memphis Grizzlies. Like they've challenged him to do that every night and he's done it. Look, I don't think he's been like a great defender this year, but he's been totally passable at guarding some of the league's best players.
The Athletic NBA Daily
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And that is a really difficult thing to ask a rookie to do, even if he is, like, 21 years old. So, I mean, he's going to play in the NBA for a long time. And, you know, how people end up missing on this guy is just classic, like...
The Athletic NBA Daily
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double whammy of late bloomer physically who, you know, was under six foot in high school at one point and then like shot way up during COVID and like had to deal with not being able to be scouted really like during COVID all that much being in, you know, all due respect to the Sacramento area, but like not really a basketball in high school hotbed. Um,
The Athletic NBA Daily
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and he continued to emerge and didn't even have a D1 offer coming out of high school and goes to Sonoma State, plays there for two years, goes up to Washington State, plays great last year, and has that mentality of work and putting in the work and has continued to emerge and continued to get better. Prime example of development not stopping once you don't get a scholarship, right?
The Athletic NBA Daily
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Yeah, I mean, this is Reed Shepard for me. I have no worries whatsoever about Reed. I know that people have brought up the fact that they aren't as good with him on the court. I mean, I just think that it's like a total lack of consistent role thing for him to me. I mean, he just went down to the G League and dropped like 49-8-5 or something like that in his first G League game.
The Athletic NBA Daily
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He was completely absurd. I watched that game. He got wherever he wanted, whenever he wanted. Still an awesome shooter. Still has real ball skills in pick and roll. Thinks the game at a super high level. It's just that he's behind Fred Van Vliet and Jalen Green, and that's a hard spot to be for any young player. They're trying to win now, and they have a couple of really good guards.
The Athletic NBA Daily
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You can't play him with Fred Van Vliet. It just doesn't work size-wise for what they want to be defensively. Fred plays 38 minutes a night or whatever, and it's... Rightfully so, by the way. It's just going to be tricky to try and manage that whole thing, I think.
The Athletic NBA Daily
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So, you know, this one was hard for me. I went with Donovan Klingin, and it's not really like... scheme-based or anything like that. It's just that he's stuck behind DeAndre and Rob Williams a lot of games.
The Athletic NBA Daily
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If both those guys are playing one night and the Blazers have done a good job, but the Blazers in general have had DeAndre get hurt for a minute and then Rob was hurt for 30 games this year or whatever, 25 games. They haven't had to
The Athletic NBA Daily
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manage this issue a ton yet but when i watch clinging i'm like this this dude should be playing like 25 minutes a night immediately he's awesome like he is really really good and really capable of taking on like big big minutes i think you know immediately it's just that you know unfortunately he is stuck behind those two guys and part of the problem is for portland right now like i don't think there's a taker for eight and like that's going to be like really really tricky for them to figure out and then
The Athletic NBA Daily
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regularly understand like the tempo of the game in the way that you need to at the point guard position. So, I mean, they, you know, kind of strike me as a team that could really use one Brooklyn, obviously, but like Brooklyn is also in a big market. And from what I understand about kind of their plans moving forward, I,
The Athletic NBA Daily
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on top of that like rob williams is in a funky spot too where he's played 12 games this year and you know like is he could really help a team but what team is going to actually give them value for rob williams not knowing if he can actually stay healthy in the playoffs so they're in a tough spot. I think Klingon's in a tough spot.
The Athletic NBA Daily
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You know, I would hope that they're able to move one of those two bigs before the deadline and just really clear the way for Klingon.
The Athletic NBA Daily
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Yeah, no. Not for me, really. Oh, okay. I saw her at one, I had Reed Shepard at two, and I had Steph Castle at three. I feel good about that stuff of what we've seen so far. Uh, you know, SAR has had a really strong stretch of games here, uh, over his last 10 or so.
The Athletic NBA Daily
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You know, I think he's averaging like 15, seven and three assists and, you know, shooting like 49, 44 and like 65 or whatever it is from the line. But, you know, defensively, like he still has some warts to work out, like in terms of positioning, in terms of where he is on the court. But, uh, I still think Sar has played a really strong stretch of games, and he was always more of a project.
The Athletic NBA Daily
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You were hoping that as he gets stronger and gets more physical and is capable of dealing with bumps a little bit more often, that he'd be able to be the kind of stretchy big man that can protect the rim that teams... or constantly seeking all the time in the NBA. He's had a couple of plays where he's like grabbed and gone on the defensive glass and like really, really flashed some ball skills.
The Athletic NBA Daily
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So yeah, like I'd still probably have saw at one, like probably read it too. And probably castle at three. In all honesty, I like all three of those guys. I'm, you know, fan of them and think that they're probably going to work out as high level players. But again, like I didn't have anyone in as a tier one or a tier two grade in this class.
The Athletic NBA Daily
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And I think that's ultimately, you know, born itself out and how they've played to this point.
The Athletic NBA Daily
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So like nobody is like putting up immense stats. Right. So like this one's a little bit hard. Uh, I would say Keyshawn George is probably like the guy here for me. Like I didn't have a super high grade on Keyshawn, you know, does consistently play a bunch of minutes for, uh, the Washington wizards.
The Athletic NBA Daily
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You know, I know that they've kind of reduced that recently after he was like really, really, really in the mix, uh, heavily early in the season, but he's still playing like 20 to 25 at night. It feels like, and yeah, You know, look, he's not super athletic. He is...
The Athletic NBA Daily
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they have so many draft picks now and they have so much flexibility and cap space moving forward that they're going to be able to turn this thing around on the fly pretty quickly. Right. And I don't think they're just looking at this draft is like, we have to get number one or number two.
The Athletic NBA Daily
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a shooter like i think he probably will shoot off the catch but he's not making shots this season but i've never really bought the ability to like score on the interior i have thought he's always kind of like a one of those guys that people think have ball skills but like doesn't really have enough for the you know guard position really so he has to be a wing he's super high level defensive wing shown some flashes there but you know i haven't seen a ton to where i'm you know
The Athletic NBA Daily
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beating down the door to say, like, if I'm in a front office, like, yeah, let's try and go steal Keyshawn George. You know what I mean? Yeah.
The Athletic NBA Daily
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Can you explain the Hector banana bread thing to me? Because I have no idea where that came from. I just looked on Twitter one day and saw it.
The Athletic NBA Daily
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I think I would just say the stretch that Jared McCain had before he got hurt. Yeah. Before Tyrese Maxey came back, like McCain just went like totally bananas in that run. Yeah. For a seven game stretch, he had 26 points, four assists versus only two turnovers. He shot 51, 46, 96 assists. in a seven game stretch, like in the NBA.
The Athletic NBA Daily
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And, you know, that was against the Knicks, Cleveland, Orlando, Miami, Memphis, like really, really good teams night in night out and was consistently just putting up buckets and scoring in the way that he was look like, I don't know what the future holds for Jared McCain.
The Athletic NBA Daily
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they're looking at things holistically and saying, we need to get another star in the building and we want to position ourselves in order to be able to find that star either via free agency trade market or the NBA draft.
The Athletic NBA Daily
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Like if he's an all-star or if he's just going to be like a really, really good NBA player, but we know that he's a really good NBA player now. And that's the stretch that has stuck with me most throughout the course of this year.
The Athletic NBA Daily
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yet to shoot a free throw okay so let's just like eliminate players here these are not answers these are eliminations okay okay so sar is not the answer here rissa shay is not the answer here reed is like a very real potential answer here i think Castle is not an answer here. Five was Holland. Holland is not an answer because he missed those two free throws at the end of a game.
The Athletic NBA Daily
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Salon is not an answer. I don't think he's played enough to where he shot free throws. Let's see. Edie is definitely not an answer here. Klingin is definitely not an answer here. Cody Williams is not an answer here. He's played too many games. Who else here am I missing? What other names? Yeah, I'm going to say Reed Shepard.
The Athletic NBA Daily
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So given all of the assets that they have given everything that they have kind of strung together via a series of moves here recently, the Mikkel Bridges deal, everything like that, they're in like a pretty positive position, I think. Washington also strikes me as a team that could desperately use a real star, obviously.
The Athletic NBA Daily
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I'm like trying to think of like international players. You said 2012-13, right? He was in the 12 draft draft.
The Athletic NBA Daily
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I don't even think that there were many... I'm really trying to think through that class. For some reason, I think that was a college-heavy class.
The Athletic NBA Daily
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I mean, like my immediate response was like, yeah, I'm like really trying to think through it. Like, So, Eastern Conference playoff team. My first... The first place I went was Dario Saric. But I don't think he turned the ball over that much. And I don't think... He came over late, so I don't think he even... I think that that's three years too late, even.
The Athletic NBA Daily
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I think that if they were to get number one, a core defensively of Cooper Flagg, Bilal Kulabali, and Alex Saar would just be so fun to watch in the front court at the 3-4-5. I don't know that Washington necessarily has... I like Alex Saar a lot. I'm really interested in his development throughout the course of this season, but... I don't think he's like a number one option down the road.
The Athletic NBA Daily
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I'm trying to think who it could even be...
The Athletic NBA Daily
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That feels like a right era.
The Athletic NBA Daily
2025 NBA Draft Preview + Rookie Awards | Slam N Jam
No. Good old Timmy Mozzie?
The Athletic NBA Daily
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Thanks, Alex. Cool stuff.
The Athletic NBA Daily
2025 NBA Draft Preview + Rookie Awards | Slam N Jam
I think he's Argentine, isn't he?
The Athletic NBA Daily
2025 NBA Draft Preview + Rookie Awards | Slam N Jam
Okay. My first guess is going to be Zach.
The Athletic NBA Daily
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Okay. Andrew. what about the other Zach Risa Shay that is correct I got nervous I don't know why I got nervous I was like that's kind of like yeah it's a hard Eve Missy has played a ton of minutes this year so I'm gonna say Eve it's put so many minutes that is correct Andrew what about Steph Castle
The Athletic NBA Daily
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I'm going to say next. John Mabo at Toronto.
The Athletic NBA Daily
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I also heard a SAR and I was like, Oh, see, it's your fault.
The Athletic NBA Daily
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And I certainly don't think below is going to be a number one option down the road. So they really do need somebody who can come in and be that guy. And then the last team here that really stands out is Utah. Yeah. Their rookies obviously have not played particularly well this year outside of Kyle Filipowski, who has looked quite good for where he was selected in the second round.
The Athletic NBA Daily
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Okay. What if you guys sweep this? Wouldn't that be cool? That would be amazing. That would rock. I don't know what's going to happen. I'm going to say... Oh, man. This is where I do some math now. Why are you making me... I didn't know that math was going to be involved here. Oh, man. I'm trying to think his Tristan Da Silva blocked enough shots to do this.
The Athletic NBA Daily
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We've done quite well here, Andrew.
The Athletic NBA Daily
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This does feel good, doesn't it?
The Athletic NBA Daily
2025 NBA Draft Preview + Rookie Awards | Slam N Jam
Do we just call it here? Oh, man. That's gross.
The Athletic NBA Daily
2025 NBA Draft Preview + Rookie Awards | Slam N Jam
Is this like, what the hell is that? It's like a song like that, isn't it?
The Athletic NBA Daily
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No. Oh, man, this is such a bad guess. I'm going to say Tristan Da Silva, but I don't know. If he has the blocks, it's by like one, I bet.
The Athletic NBA Daily
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I wouldn't have gotten to Reid either.
The Athletic NBA Daily
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Cody Williams, that was always going to be a project. We'll talk about Cody a little bit later, but Cody is somebody that I think the flags are starting a little bit early with him maybe. Isaiah Collier has been just exceptionally inefficient. I'm not really a Keontae George guy. And then Taylor Hendricks obviously suffered that horrific injury early in the season.
The Athletic NBA Daily
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So I have three names, and I'm hoping that you take one of them and that one of the ones that you have is wrong.
The Athletic NBA Daily
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Yeah, that's one of my names.
The Athletic NBA Daily
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That actually helps me a little bit, that hint. Thank you. Oh, really? Oh, you're welcome.
The Athletic NBA Daily
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Truly, there is no show I enjoy doing more than this one. It is fun. I get my ass kicked in trivia every time. And it's just such an enjoyable, enjoyable experience. So I'm glad to be here, and I'm glad to get to chat with you.
The Athletic NBA Daily
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The other name I had that I'm not going to guess is Devin Carter because Devin Carter just came back, right? But 34 being so low, like Devin's definitely played 34 minutes in the five games or whatever. Yeah, yeah. My other name is like I don't think I've seen A.J. Johnson play this year. He has played...
The Athletic NBA Daily
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Okay, let's go number eight. I always feel like that is a funky one.
The Athletic NBA Daily
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Yeah, Andrew can go first.
The Athletic NBA Daily
2025 NBA Draft Preview + Rookie Awards | Slam N Jam
So that is the number I would have, like, I think I would have set it at 42 and a half. So that's gross, Andrew. I'm going to say under.
The Athletic NBA Daily
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Yeah, that was the right.
The Athletic NBA Daily
2025 NBA Draft Preview + Rookie Awards | Slam N Jam
So they could really use somebody as well to pair with Lowry Markin. And I think that a lot of their plans are kind of hinging on that at some point.
The Athletic NBA Daily
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You're getting cardio, baby.
The Athletic NBA Daily
2025 NBA Draft Preview + Rookie Awards | Slam N Jam
I think I have two names that I would guess. Hmm.
The Athletic NBA Daily
2025 NBA Draft Preview + Rookie Awards | Slam N Jam
So my two names here are Rissa Shea and Carrington.
The Athletic NBA Daily
2025 NBA Draft Preview + Rookie Awards | Slam N Jam
I'm going to play what I think is the pace game. I'm going to say Bob is my answer.
The Athletic NBA Daily
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Andrew, you were thinking about the Wizards. I can't believe I said that. I didn't even choose a wizard. I'll say this. I'm a little bit advantaged here because I've just recently filed rookie rankings and have looked through these numbers a little bit. Like, Bub, his sneaky played like a hundred more minutes, I think, than like anybody else this year.
The Athletic NBA Daily
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Okay, that would make sense too because he's tracking defensively.
The Athletic NBA Daily
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Two questions remaining. I mean, this is the first time in a while. Soak it up. It's up is the thing. Number six.
The Athletic NBA Daily
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To an extent? Yes. If only because I question what level he will get to as a shooter. He is, he has kind of an unnatural shooting motion as we've all seen at this point. And I do think that there's going to be some work that has to be done there, but I, I have just like this immense faith in Cooper flag as a player prospect.
The Athletic NBA Daily
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I mean, this is Eve Missy. That is correct. Is it really? I just threw like a big dunks name out there. I was like, okay, like Eve, whatever. He dunks.
The Athletic NBA Daily
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By the way, what was the dunk score and what was it, Alex? Do we know?
The Athletic NBA Daily
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You guys did great. Yeah, it was also mine.
The Athletic NBA Daily
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Read by Jimmy Butler. At some point, either they are out already or early next week, I'll have an updated trade deadline big board where we'll kind of dive into the candidates that could be moved at the deadline. Yeah.
The Athletic NBA Daily
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about it i mean look like i saved my best writing for letterboxd and writing about movies so uh i compared emilia perez to watching bartolo cologne bat earlier today wow so wow yeah that's that's that's where i'm really saving the good stuff for that's amazing uh sam thank you so much for coming on the show of course anytime guys
The Athletic NBA Daily
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competitive human being like when you talk to people around the nba around college basketball around high school basketball uh about cooper flag they just bring up competitiveness and work ethic like unannounced basically a lot of the time like they'll just you won't even necessarily ask them about you know specifically what's cooper like off the court whatever they'll just be like he's the one of the most competitive human beings we've ever seen
The Athletic NBA Daily
2025 NBA Draft Preview + Rookie Awards | Slam N Jam
He's one of the hardest workers we've ever been around. He just has this immense drive and desire to win that he's going to do whatever it takes to be the guy that wins. It's going to extend to the NBA. It has already extended to college. The way he has figured out college basketball over these last three or so weeks as a guy who just turned 18 years old,
The Athletic NBA Daily
2025 NBA Draft Preview + Rookie Awards | Slam N Jam
is kind of staggering like he just dropped 42 against notre dame uh this past weekend as we're speaking he is an unbelievable competitor that i really just buy into being a real number one option at some point like maybe you do want to have a primary guard scoring option next to him at some point like that might be the best way to get the most out of a cooper flag built team
The Athletic NBA Daily
2025 NBA Draft Preview + Rookie Awards | Slam N Jam
But I do believe in him as being the best player on a team at the very least at a pretty high level.
The Athletic NBA Daily
2025 NBA Draft Preview + Rookie Awards | Slam N Jam
some of this will be dependent on draft order. I think like if Charlotte was to get number two, I would be interested to see what they would do with Dylan Harper and LaMelo ball. Right. I would just take Dylan Harper, but I would be intrigued to see what their thought process on it would be. I don't, I don't have the answer on that as we talk.
The Athletic NBA Daily
2025 NBA Draft Preview + Rookie Awards | Slam N Jam
I think that there are circumstances depending on how the lottery shakes out, that it could become more of a question for me personally on my board. I would be surprised if Casper is particularly, I don't, I would be surprised if I don't have Casper is at number three by the end of the season. In all honesty, I don't even have ace at number four personally right now. I have edge come at four.
The Athletic NBA Daily
2025 NBA Draft Preview + Rookie Awards | Slam N Jam
So like, ACE is the guy though, that you can sell yourself on going a little bit higher. If a team just really buys into, okay, this is a guy that his three minute, this, this kind of the line I keep saying, right?
The Athletic NBA Daily
2025 NBA Draft Preview + Rookie Awards | Slam N Jam
Like his three minute or four minute highlight video that you put together at the end of his season is going to look better than everybody else's three minute or four minute highlight video. Yeah.
The Athletic NBA Daily
2025 NBA Draft Preview + Rookie Awards | Slam N Jam
there's no doubt like his shot making ability is that special. He also, when he locks in defensively, like he was actually pretty good in the game against UCLA tonight. Defensively. I thought he was really good in the game against Alabama defensively. He's six foot nine. He is switchable. He has instincts as a weak side rim protector. Um,
The Athletic NBA Daily
2025 NBA Draft Preview + Rookie Awards | Slam N Jam
The name Jaden McDaniels is a name I've gotten a couple of times for him in terms of, okay, maybe it doesn't work out as a scorer for him, but can he just be such a good athlete that he's capable of taking on tough assignments and being able to find a floor in the NBA that way? I think Jaden was a little bit better instinctually than ace was.
The Athletic NBA Daily
2025 NBA Draft Preview + Rookie Awards | Slam N Jam
And I thought he was just, but neither of them were like super engaged defensively in college. Yeah. So yeah, it's a little bit tricky. I think in again, like Jaden went 27th or whatever, 28th on draft night. So you're not having to take that risk at number three, number four, number five.
The Athletic NBA Daily
2025 NBA Draft Preview + Rookie Awards | Slam N Jam
aces by far the trickiest player to evaluate in this class um it's going to be a lot of deep dive intel research on the team side and on my side it's going to be a lot of uh trying to really dive into the tape i mean i just did a video on the game theory youtube channel like breaking down I mean, he, he was abysmal defensively in the Indiana game.
The Athletic NBA Daily
2025 NBA Draft Preview + Rookie Awards | Slam N Jam
Uh, just got back cut constantly, uh, took some of the worst shots I've ever seen a human being taken a basketball game in my life. I think I might've said in the video, it was the worst 39 point game I've ever seen somebody have, uh, in my life. And I've watched a lot of cam Thomas games at this point.
The Athletic NBA Daily
2025 NBA Draft Preview + Rookie Awards | Slam N Jam
It was a hard watch. Ace is one of the more interesting players that you'll find in really this last decade of the NBA draft. He is somebody that is also only five months older than Cooper. He's really young for the class as well. So you want to buy into the potential for growth.
The Athletic NBA Daily
2025 NBA Draft Preview + Rookie Awards | Slam N Jam
The way that teams go about evaluating ace is, in my opinion, going to be probably the most interesting thing about this 2025 NBA draft outside of who gets the number one overall pick and gets a chance to end up with Cooper flag.
The Athletic NBA Daily
2025 NBA Draft Preview + Rookie Awards | Slam N Jam
I have a theory. It is just that. My theory is that because he has a relatively flat shot trajectory a decent amount of the time, and because he plays very stiff and doesn't get a lot of bend through his lower half, I think that he probably is a little bit more of an inconsistent free throw shooter than he is in the run of play of a real basketball game where...
The Athletic NBA Daily
2025 NBA Draft Preview + Rookie Awards | Slam N Jam
okay, I have to really jump up and engage in like elevate over the top of somebody. Cause every shot the guy takes is contested. That's what it feels like when you watch it, like Rutgers games. Right. So he has to like really bend and elevate and jump up and like kind of gets his rhythm that way. I kind of wonder if that's what's happening with the free throw shooting a little bit.
The Athletic NBA Daily
2025 NBA Draft Preview + Rookie Awards | Slam N Jam
I don't think it's likely that another prospect will join that top two group, but I have had this question posed to me by a few people, like how many players would go number one overall in the 2024 draft from the 2025. Right. And I do think Casperis would go number one in 2024. Okay. Uh, Look, Ace Bailey, I'm sure we'll talk about him, like fascinating player.
The Athletic NBA Daily
2025 NBA Draft Preview + Rookie Awards | Slam N Jam
He's not kind of getting that same level of lower half engagement and it's leading to, you know, inconsistent free throw results. Ace Bailey has touch. Like I'm not real. So the way that people use free throw shooting a lot of the time is as a touch indicator, right?
The Athletic NBA Daily
2025 NBA Draft Preview + Rookie Awards | Slam N Jam
Uh, if you make the kind of shots that ace Bailey does, I kind of artificially just refuse to believe you don't have touch, right? It's just a matter of ironing out the consistency and whether or not that consistency ever comes. And in ACEs case, I think that there is a wider degree of variance in his potential as a shooter than a lot of players I've evaluated previously. Yeah.
The Athletic NBA Daily
2025 NBA Draft Preview + Rookie Awards | Slam N Jam
Biggest risers, fallers month in the last month and a half. So Thomas Sorber is a guy that I really like at Georgetown. Six foot nine to six foot ten big man who is just really sharp defensively, really reactive on the court, can really pass the ball, reacts to the game at a super high level. Like you can just see the way he's thinking about the game on the court.
The Athletic NBA Daily
2025 NBA Draft Preview + Rookie Awards | Slam N Jam
Like it feels like even as a freshman, there are times where he's like kind of organizing what Georgetown is doing out there. I've been really really really super impressed with what I've seen from him this season Another guy that's like really risen is definitely Jeremiah fears at Oklahoma. He has certainly led Oklahoma to a terrific start to the season.
The Athletic NBA Daily
2025 NBA Draft Preview + Rookie Awards | Slam N Jam
I'm probably, I wouldn't say I'm like higher or lower on him. I just need to watch more of him in sec play because he has some real tendencies that concern me in terms of his ability to finish at the rim. He has not been great as a finisher at the rim and half court situations this year.
The Athletic NBA Daily
2025 NBA Draft Preview + Rookie Awards | Slam N Jam
Uh, turnovers does not, you know, consistently make great decisions as a passer, in my opinion, and can sometimes over penetrate and over dribble and get himself into a little bit of trouble. He's also not really a shooter at this point. So. there are a number of things that I think he's going to have to work through in order to be a good NBA player early in his career.
The Athletic NBA Daily
2025 NBA Draft Preview + Rookie Awards | Slam N Jam
And I don't really see him being a good NBA player early in his career, but he might be so capable of getting paint touches in driving, you know, buckets at the basket because he is such a lightning quick driver of the ball and has good last step. Acceleration has good first step acceleration. Like I, the name Monte Ellis is one that has kind of come up when I've talked to NBA scouts.
The Athletic NBA Daily
2025 NBA Draft Preview + Rookie Awards | Slam N Jam
Like that's kind of an interesting one to me, but yeah, you know, he's one that has certainly risen up the boards this year. And, you know, we all kind of want to see more. The last guy, this is more like in Maui and just throughout the course of the season is Jace Richardson at Michigan state, Jason Richardson, you know, former dunk contest champions kid.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Wemby out for the season | Nuggets take 2 seed in the West
the degree to which his energy issues impacted his play. Cause the Spurs had fallen off. And some of the Spurs fans who are watching every single game have already jumped in my timeline and said, we could see this for a while. This was like a, a conversation topic among Spurs fans. Like what is going on with Vicky looks more winded than normal.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Wemby out for the season | Nuggets take 2 seed in the West
So the, you know, the short term though, is like, if they were headed toward, you know, not being in the playoffs anyway, like, You know, their future is just as bright when you talk about bringing Wemby back, bringing De'Aaron Fox back. Obviously, you know, he pushed his way there largely because of the chance with Wemby. You know, Stephon Castle, Devin Vassell, all these guys.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Wemby out for the season | Nuggets take 2 seed in the West
And by the way, two first-round draft picks in this June draft. You know, they've got Atlantis pick. and they have their own. So, you know, they're going to come back even stronger. I am very curious, as a quick aside, you know, and this is maybe worth a whole pod down the road, you know, who's going to be coaching the Spurs next year?
The Athletic NBA Daily
Wemby out for the season | Nuggets take 2 seed in the West
I think their questions remain about Greg Kopovich's health, his future. You know, Mitch Johnson has done a nice job as interim, but a lot of rumors flying around about maybe a change happening there. So lots to be figured out, and I do still think a bright future for Wemby and the Spurs.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Wemby out for the season | Nuggets take 2 seed in the West
yeah i mean it's a fair question dave i just don't know first and foremost they got to get clarity on the medical stuff like when you know can they can they pinpoint when the clot began forming why it was forming uh you know without that clarity it's going to be tough to attach it to certain trips But everything you're highlighting is fair.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Wemby out for the season | Nuggets take 2 seed in the West
I mean, again, kind of online doctor degree here, but reading about deep vein thrombosis, it can certainly be exacerbated by travel and by airplane rides. And so we'll find out, I guess, if those are dots that are fair to connect. You know, and again, Victor's perspective is going to be really interesting here because we all know our systems better than anybody.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Wemby out for the season | Nuggets take 2 seed in the West
I just want to learn more about when did he start not feeling like himself? You know, and we'll see how he sees it at some point.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Wemby out for the season | Nuggets take 2 seed in the West
I mean, I don't know, Zena, what the takeaway would be for me if I was one of those guys, because on the one hand, you know, each situation we've seen like this, you know, and Dave, you highlighted Chris Bosh and, you know, Oscar Thompson, Christian Coloco, there's some other ones.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Wemby out for the season | Nuggets take 2 seed in the West
you know those all kind of independently felt like outliers i mean i guess that's the nature of of a blood clot right is that it's it's very very difficult to figure out um the whys and the hows and the wins of something like that so i if i was a player i think my focus would probably just be on the idea that for one this particular young superstar
The Athletic NBA Daily
Wemby out for the season | Nuggets take 2 seed in the West
has captured the attention not only of media and fans, but of his peers. In my column that is out on The Athletic now, I talk about how that whole idea of who's going to take the torch next has been something where Vic feels like the only guy who really wants to grab it.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Wemby out for the season | Nuggets take 2 seed in the West
Anthony Edwards comes out this week and tells the world that he doesn't want to be that guy and even said, that's what we got win before. That's what they got win before. You know, some other guys have tried and fallen a little bit short, at least to this point. You know, you got John Moran and the fact that injuries and his PR fall off has been pretty steep.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Wemby out for the season | Nuggets take 2 seed in the West
And he kind of fell out of the running for that unofficial job. You got Zion Williamson with his injuries and some of his PR stuff. Luka Doncic, you know, like good candidate, but an imperfect candidate for that role. SGA is probably the one guy that right now his star is as bright as anybody's. But Wemby...
The Athletic NBA Daily
Wemby out for the season | Nuggets take 2 seed in the West
added ads i shouldn't be saying past tense adds that international element the combination of charisma confidence um and you know culturally as well at a time when the league is trying to grow you know uh well beyond the american borders and they have been for decades but this is a a new chapter you know they have
The Athletic NBA Daily
Wemby out for the season | Nuggets take 2 seed in the West
investments in interest in trying to start a new league in europe that lines up very well with having wemby as the face of your of your your franchise and of your league all of those things made him so unique not just on the court but off and i think even his peers the other players out there are probably just looking at that and wondering you know what it means for him going forward
The Athletic NBA Daily
Wemby out for the season | Nuggets take 2 seed in the West
Thank you for having me, guys. The podcast that none of us wish we were doing. Yeah. You know, Victor was on the ascent doing incredible things. I decided to rock the Paris Olympics hat today in honor of the young man who we all want to be healthy and happy going forward. So
The Athletic NBA Daily
Wemby out for the season | Nuggets take 2 seed in the West
My understanding is, to your question, Dave, in terms of how it happened, I don't know the exact timeline, but he has been feeling low energy for quite some time now. And it sounds like it might be even a matter of weeks before the All-Star break. Complaints about low energy, confusion about low energy.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Wemby out for the season | Nuggets take 2 seed in the West
Gets to All-Star weekend, obviously took part, had his controversial strategy with Chris Paul and the skills competition on Saturday night, and then ends up playing in the two different versions of the All-Star game on Sunday. 13 combined minutes, still feeling behind the scenes, low energy. Then decides. All right.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Wemby out for the season | Nuggets take 2 seed in the West
And he even said to reporters, you know, I'm going to spend a couple of days not thinking about basketball. And his hope at that time was to go on a two day vacation of sorts and to finally get his energy back. But when he got to the end of that little stretch of time and still wasn't feeling like himself, then the alarm bells were going off.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Wemby out for the season | Nuggets take 2 seed in the West
even more than before they began the testing process and thankfully found something that if not detected could have certainly been a lot worse i would never pretend to be a doctor on this show or any other but you know it's not a real complicated problem you're talking about a blood clot
The Athletic NBA Daily
Wemby out for the season | Nuggets take 2 seed in the West
that if it were to continue growing or being in his system, it could break free, and the life-threatening part potentially is that it can go within his system down to his lungs, and at that point, it could be an embolism, and that would be the absolute worst-case scenario. So glad they found it.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Wemby out for the season | Nuggets take 2 seed in the West
The Spurs are signaling optimism as it relates to him being ready at the start of next year, and they do feel like they avoided something that could have been a lot more serious.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Wemby out for the season | Nuggets take 2 seed in the West
Yeah, it was kind of wild in terms of just our jobs and how, you know, you're to a certain extent, you're a prisoner of kind of where your head is at when certain news happens. And so I'm literally sitting on my couch, had just finished the sixth and final episode of Court of Gold, the Netflix doc that chronicled not just Team USA, but all the teams.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Wemby out for the season | Nuggets take 2 seed in the West
And I mean, probably four or five minutes after the end of the documentary, which I absolutely loved and which I need to highlight the Six episodes finishes with Victor Wimbanyama as the focal point, as the dramatic mic drop where Team USA wins gold. They have footage of Victor behind the scenes with tears welling in his eyes, getting spoken to by Boris Diaw, the French team GM.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Wemby out for the season | Nuggets take 2 seed in the West
Everybody's trying to lift Vic up because he's devastated that they lost to the Americans in the gold medal game. And it was such great insight. to the competitor that he is, to the care factor that he has. And then he then, they cut to the scene where Vic is talking to the media after the gold medal game loss. And he says, I'm learning and I'm afraid for everybody else.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Wemby out for the season | Nuggets take 2 seed in the West
And they said, well, who are you talking about? The NBA or the rest of the world? And he said, everybody. You know, and so it was like this dramatic, like, damn, like this guy is coming next. So, man, like from a mental standpoint for me to be watching that and just going, oh, that was some good storytelling. That was a fantastic doc.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Wemby out for the season | Nuggets take 2 seed in the West
And then to see this awful news where, you know, you're looking at a big time setback for a guy that that is obviously on the ascent is unfortunate, to say the least.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Wemby out for the season | Nuggets take 2 seed in the West
I mean, truthfully, you know, I mean, this I don't want to downplay any of it. But now that we know and let's really hope that it's safe. Yeah. Healthy is good. You know, I can make an argument that it's a setback, honestly, for the fans. Yeah.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Wemby out for the season | Nuggets take 2 seed in the West
folks who wanted to see him finish his year, who, you know, expected to see him win his first defensive player of the year award, which he's now no longer going to be eligible for. The Spurs had fallen a bit in the standings. I am very interested whether it's, you know, next few weeks or next few months, whenever Victor speaks to hear his perspective on the,
The Athletic NBA Daily
Were we wrong about the Nuggets? | Chasing down the Cavs
We don't have to go through the entire history. This season's not started the way that they expect it to. Number one, Chris Middleton's not been healthy. They've looked pretty old. They've had a lot of rotation issues. Now Damian Lillard's been out for a few days with some concussion issues. They have won two in a row.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Were we wrong about the Nuggets? | Chasing down the Cavs
He's not getting stood up as much when he attacks from the wing with the ball in his hands, which is great. Quickly, before we go, they get it to 15-0. Do you think they make it 15-0?
The Athletic NBA Daily
Were we wrong about the Nuggets? | Chasing down the Cavs
That's awesome. Well, Carter Rodriguez, Chase Down Podcast. Go and check it out. Stick around. After the break, Zena and I are going to take a look at some early season statistics and see which of them feel real.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Were we wrong about the Nuggets? | Chasing down the Cavs
The second game took 59 points from Giannis, and it took every single point and overtime to beat the Pistons. What's going on with the Bucs?
The Athletic NBA Daily
Were we wrong about the Nuggets? | Chasing down the Cavs
Right. Right. Right. So I thought it would be a good time to check in on some teams and play a little bit of that Goldilocks game that we like to play around here. So you I'm going to give you some net ratings for some teams with their record. And I want you to tell me, Zena, if this feels just right, too high or too low.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Were we wrong about the Nuggets? | Chasing down the Cavs
That's what we got to figure out, because some of these, I think, are dead on and, you know, match the eye test. Some of them a little bit striking. I want to start with the Indiana Pacers. They're five and six right now. We know that they've struggled a little bit. minus three and a half net rating. How does that feel to you, Zena?
The Athletic NBA Daily
Were we wrong about the Nuggets? | Chasing down the Cavs
I mean, again, we were, we're watching these games every single night and you know, they have been struggling.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Were we wrong about the Nuggets? | Chasing down the Cavs
I mean, again, the two best teams, the two most fun teams to watch any night are, Last season was the Pacers and whoever they played.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Were we wrong about the Nuggets? | Chasing down the Cavs
It's a big Denver Nuggets show, so let's stick with them. Denver Nuggets, 7-3 right now. 2.7, plus 2.7 net rating for the Nuggets.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Were we wrong about the Nuggets? | Chasing down the Cavs
All right. And the last one, this one is interesting. The New York Knicks, they've struggled quite a bit. We've documented the defensive struggles on this show, especially Carl Anthony Towns around the rim has just been awful. They're five and six net rating plus 4.2, which is, is shocking. That, that feels too high, doesn't it? You see my face, right?
The Athletic NBA Daily
Were we wrong about the Nuggets? | Chasing down the Cavs
In the game, we made this game up and it surprised me.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Were we wrong about the Nuggets? | Chasing down the Cavs
I mean, they lost a really tough game against the bulls where, I mean, Jalen Brunson hit two and a half game winners. The, the actual game winner was in and out and they have just lost some hearts, heartbreakers. But yeah, um, uh,
The Athletic NBA Daily
Were we wrong about the Nuggets? | Chasing down the Cavs
I mean, well, I mean, they've got some offensive shooting issues, but man, I think if they solve the defensive end, this team could be what we thought they might be coming into the season. It's not over yet. It's still early Zena. And they probably got some moves to make. I think, I don't know. We don't know. That's going to do it for today's show folks. Thank you guys for tuning in.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Were we wrong about the Nuggets? | Chasing down the Cavs
Thanks to Sam Amick and Carter Rodriguez for stopping by. Thanks to Zena for hanging out all week. You guys have a good weekend. For Zena Kata, I'm Dave DeFore, and this has been the NBA Daily. Thanks for waking up with us.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Were we wrong about the Nuggets? | Chasing down the Cavs
Good morning and welcome to the NBA Daily for November 15th, 2024. Coming up, we got Sam Amick to talk about the Bucs and trying to figure things out and Denver's resurgence. We got Carter Rodriguez from the Chase Down podcast to talk about the Cavs and their 13-0 start. And Zena and I are going to take a look at some early season statistical trends and see if they're real or not.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Were we wrong about the Nuggets? | Chasing down the Cavs
Look, Drew Holiday also covered up a lot of the lack of athleticism that they've had for years, and now we're just seeing it. It's more apparent because it's Dame at the point of attack. I want to swing over to Denver because the Nuggets have looked better here recently, especially, but better than any of us expected coming into the season.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Were we wrong about the Nuggets? | Chasing down the Cavs
Given the two bad summers that they've had as far as roster construction goes, it helps when you've got the best player in the world in Nikola Jokic, and he's averaging... Someone called it a 30 point triple dozen because it's 30, 12 and 12. I mean, it's kind of absurd.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Were we wrong about the Nuggets? | Chasing down the Cavs
But now we get I don't want to get into the workload stuff. That's for later on in the season if they start to struggle. But for right now, like this is working. Christian Brown has been awesome. And frankly, like when do we get to the point where we say, OK, well, Calvin Booth actually was right.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Were we wrong about the Nuggets? | Chasing down the Cavs
Good morning, everybody. Good morning, Zena. Good morning, Sam Amick. We usually don't do this, but we're going to start the show with our guest because it's Sam. Sam, you know, you're basically part of the show at this point. Sam, our senior national NBA writer. How are you? Good, guys. Thanks for having me. Blessed to be here. Yeah.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Were we wrong about the Nuggets? | Chasing down the Cavs
Well, we're kind of out of time, so we'll let you go, Sam. But I know you'll be back soon because December 15th is right around the corner. Not that that's a super important day for all these teams that are struggling, but we're keeping an eye on it. Coming up after the break, Carter Rodriguez from the Chasedown Pod is going to join us to talk about the Cavs and how they got to 13-0.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Were we wrong about the Nuggets? | Chasing down the Cavs
We'll be right back. One of the early season's best stories, the Cleveland Cavaliers, are now 13-0. And Zeno, we could have just done a whole segment where we talked about how good they were, just us. But we decided to reach out to our friend Carter Rodriguez from the Chasedown podcast, the best Cleveland Cavaliers podcast. Actually... One of, like, two that I know.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Were we wrong about the Nuggets? | Chasing down the Cavs
It is. Hey, the Cavs are back. Carter, you're back. Welcome to the NBA Daily. It's good to see your face. I'm going to give you a lot of credit for sticking with the Cavs during the down years, as I always do. This team has been rebuilt from the ashes that were left behind of the LeBron years. You've got...
The Athletic NBA Daily
Were we wrong about the Nuggets? | Chasing down the Cavs
Darius Garland and Donovan Mitchell, the two headed attack guards, and you've got the two headed attack bigs and Evan Mobley and Jared Allen, everything coming together. How much of this early season success are you going to place at the feet of Kenny Atkinson?
The Athletic NBA Daily
Were we wrong about the Nuggets? | Chasing down the Cavs
You guys got to hang out the other night at Clay Night or Clay Day. I don't know how Clay Day. Get it right. Clay Day.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Were we wrong about the Nuggets? | Chasing down the Cavs
You should have taken a boat. It was a whole thing. Exactly. But you guys got a chance to hang out and catch up. I got a chance to see Sam not too long ago. So, you know, we're all familiar with each other. Sam, I want to talk about familiarity with the Bucs. This team has been together for a little while. They added Dame last year. Obviously, they changed coaches twice last season.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Were we wrong about the Nuggets? | Chasing down the Cavs
Yeah, you mentioned some of his crazy shooting numbers to start the year. I mean, the team overall is leading the league in three-point shooting, like 42% almost. Okay, that's not sustainable. We know that. Number two offense in the league. Do you buy the offense? Because I feel like a lot of it is predicated on the shooting.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Were we wrong about the Nuggets? | Chasing down the Cavs
I mean, you go through the numbers and you say, okay, they're not top 10 in three-point attempts. I mean, you know, we talked about the pace and it is up there, but... The shooting is absurd right now, and it's going to come back down to earth. Like, is this offense still going to be, you know, I'm just saying, you know, it's a small sample size, you know, 13 games and they are just blistering.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Rockets ready for takeoff in the NBA Cup? | Jimmy Butler’s hair raises Heat questions
Well, I mean, first of all, to me, the joy that you saw after they beat the Warriors, and this is right up Xena's alley, is not just the NBA Cup. They had not beat the Warriors since before. There we go. Right.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Rockets ready for takeoff in the NBA Cup? | Jimmy Butler’s hair raises Heat questions
I think it was maybe Tari Eason. The cameras caught him going in the locker room and you could read his lips and he said, about effing time. That was the vibe. 15's a lot, man. Second longest streak. Yeah.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Rockets ready for takeoff in the NBA Cup? | Jimmy Butler’s hair raises Heat questions
And it was funny because, you know, in this kind of I'll get back to your question, David, it kind of it made me think about, you know, those Rockets teams that battled with the Warriors in the conference finals and and how much things had changed. And so what I enjoyed writing about in the piece today is that this Rockets rebuild has got such a different tint than the era that came before.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Rockets ready for takeoff in the NBA Cup? | Jimmy Butler’s hair raises Heat questions
Ime Udoka comes in, and credit to the Rockets, Tillman Fertitta, Rafael Stone, when they went looking for a new coach, they made it a priority to pick somebody who was going to be defensive-minded. In fact, Rafael says in the piece that it was actually defensive-minded over best coach, which sounds kind of wild.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Rockets ready for takeoff in the NBA Cup? | Jimmy Butler’s hair raises Heat questions
He then even goes, thankfully, Ime was best coach as well, but that's where their heads were at. They thought the defensive side needed to get impacted, And so he may comes in. And in this part, this subplot has always fascinated me. You know, James Harden made it really, really clear that he wanted to come back to Houston a couple of summers ago. They even met.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Rockets ready for takeoff in the NBA Cup? | Jimmy Butler’s hair raises Heat questions
It was he may James's agent and James and he may had to find a tactful way, you know, ultimately. And Rafael as well of saying thanks, but no thanks, because that's not the type of road. We're going down. They wanted defense. They wanted two way. They wanted young. And now you see what they have.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Rockets ready for takeoff in the NBA Cup? | Jimmy Butler’s hair raises Heat questions
And what I tried to capture in the story is is basically, you know, like who are these rowdy rockets at the top of the story? I enjoyed the heck out of writing email Doka going into the season.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Rockets ready for takeoff in the NBA Cup? | Jimmy Butler’s hair raises Heat questions
as a 45-minute PowerPoint presentation for his team that chronicles the previous season, their first together, everything that was good, everything that was bad, everything in between, and then who they want to be in the coming season. A lot of numbers, a lot of analysis.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Rockets ready for takeoff in the NBA Cup? | Jimmy Butler’s hair raises Heat questions
Well, everybody's sitting around the room, players, front office, coaches, and at the end of the 45-minute video, they were all pretty surprised to see what I call the montage of mayhem, which is 15 consecutive minutes
The Athletic NBA Daily
Rockets ready for takeoff in the NBA Cup? | Jimmy Butler’s hair raises Heat questions
video clips of different like fisticuffs incidences every little dust up that happened with the rockets last year starting infamously with ema getting kicked out for talking trash with lebron yes remember that that's amazing oh that's good i'll tell you what i went down this rabbit hole that is online on youtube where folks of course they they did the lip reading they did all of it
The Athletic NBA Daily
Rockets ready for takeoff in the NBA Cup? | Jimmy Butler’s hair raises Heat questions
it down like emay is saying some things to lebron and he gets booted in that game two weeks later uh dylan brooks and emay both get ejected in milwaukee apparently on this video emay made sure to have the audio also included from the commentators and you could hear them saying things like houston's at it again here come the rockets and he may told me the story and i'm like all right i'm a little confused
The Athletic NBA Daily
Rockets ready for takeoff in the NBA Cup? | Jimmy Butler’s hair raises Heat questions
Is this like, hey, guys, time to knock this off? Or is this like, this is who we are? He's like, oh, no, this is who we are. Turn it up to 11. Right.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Rockets ready for takeoff in the NBA Cup? | Jimmy Butler’s hair raises Heat questions
That's crazy. Yeah. And they're leaning into it. I mean, and they have synergy from top to bottom. I asked Rafael, the GM, like, Do you ever have times when you kind of feel like your coach is maybe pushing the envelope a little bit too much? And he says, I'm 100% fine with every single thing he's said and done. We take the consequences. He actually, I thought it was fascinating.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Rockets ready for takeoff in the NBA Cup? | Jimmy Butler’s hair raises Heat questions
He said, and I'm paraphrasing, but that the cost of backing up, so to speak, and this is up your alley, Dave, as if it's a fight, the cost of backing up is actually greater than not backing up. And that's the way they're going to roll. And honestly, it's been fun to watch.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Rockets ready for takeoff in the NBA Cup? | Jimmy Butler’s hair raises Heat questions
for sure uh ime and i talked for quite a while and and he likes balance and i actually thought it was fascinating because i went into it admittedly really curious about what his view in the organization's view was going to be of jalen green and alper and shangoon right because as you guys know the narrative had become last year they they win 11 games in a row and and alpi was hurt for most of that stretch so then the narrative became that they're faster
The Athletic NBA Daily
Rockets ready for takeoff in the NBA Cup? | Jimmy Butler’s hair raises Heat questions
when Jalen has the freedom to run, when Shingun doesn't slow him down. Ime pushed back very hard on that and just vehemently disagreed and basically said that the combination of having an attacking scorer like Jalen as an option at times, Shingun is one of the best low post scorers in the game, that the optionality he likes. He likes the balance.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Rockets ready for takeoff in the NBA Cup? | Jimmy Butler’s hair raises Heat questions
He kind of flexed on the fact that they have seven players averaging double figures right now. I think it's 11 plus. They don't have one player averaging more than 20 points a game. Jalen is right below the 20 point mark. But you watch that game against the Warriors and you see the problem with that. Right. Like who's the guy?
The Athletic NBA Daily
Rockets ready for takeoff in the NBA Cup? | Jimmy Butler’s hair raises Heat questions
No question. And I think that's going to have to get answered over time. It's funny, the other day, just a quick side story, Mike Brown of the Kings was highlighting the fact that Houston and Orlando are among the worst shooting teams in the league, yet they're winning a whole bunch of ballgames.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Rockets ready for takeoff in the NBA Cup? | Jimmy Butler’s hair raises Heat questions
Mike was basically kind of trying to make the argument that with his team, that their poor shooting is not the problem, that their poor defense is the problem. So, you know, a little bit of like,
The Athletic NBA Daily
Rockets ready for takeoff in the NBA Cup? | Jimmy Butler’s hair raises Heat questions
the the grass is always greener but your point is well taken zina i think that jalen specifically feels to me like the guy who's in over the course of the next i think the rest of the season and we can get into this i do not anticipate for now at least, the Rockets making a major move that would cost them Shingun or Green. I don't. I think they want to see this through the season.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Rockets ready for takeoff in the NBA Cup? | Jimmy Butler’s hair raises Heat questions
But Jalen is the one who my understanding is when he did his three-year extension, you know, Shingun did five years.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Rockets ready for takeoff in the NBA Cup? | Jimmy Butler’s hair raises Heat questions
that that green wanted a shorter deal that basically and this is a good way to think you believe in yourself the idea was that if if i become michael jordan so to speak then you know i can get paid in a couple years uh and the rockets were fine with that but he's gonna have to show that he can be that guy because as recently as last year you know we reported on this pretty pretty uh heavily as recently as last season
The Athletic NBA Daily
Rockets ready for takeoff in the NBA Cup? | Jimmy Butler’s hair raises Heat questions
you know, they were comfortable talking about Jalen in trades and star hunting. And I mean, names like Devin Booker, if he broke freeze, Ian Williamson, you know, they have been looking for seemingly more reliable offensive options.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Rockets ready for takeoff in the NBA Cup? | Jimmy Butler’s hair raises Heat questions
And Jalen, as much as they love him, there's just a little bit, I think still of a, you know, it's something beyond a trial period, but I think it's still, you know, the relationship is evolving. Yeah.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Rockets ready for takeoff in the NBA Cup? | Jimmy Butler’s hair raises Heat questions
Yeah.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Rockets ready for takeoff in the NBA Cup? | Jimmy Butler’s hair raises Heat questions
Yeah. And to your point, Xena, like last night, you saw Kaminga like in real time audition. You know what I mean? Yeah. I was like, please don't trade me. I'm going to be the guy right here. I'm going to take the torch from Steph. You know, that's happening, you know, with every game.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Rockets ready for takeoff in the NBA Cup? | Jimmy Butler’s hair raises Heat questions
So the Houston side, again, you're only as good as what you're being told right now. But from folks who definitely know, the interest in Jimmy Butler does not seem to be very strong, if really at all. And that does check out with their organizational messaging has been consistent going back to last year.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Rockets ready for takeoff in the NBA Cup? | Jimmy Butler’s hair raises Heat questions
where they've drawn a pretty distinct line between possible targets in terms of players who were in their early 30s or even late 20s. It seems like even future Hall of Famers like Jimmy Butler, Kevin Durant, they do not appear interested in 34, 35 plus players.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Rockets ready for takeoff in the NBA Cup? | Jimmy Butler’s hair raises Heat questions
And that's why I think when Jimmy's name is crossing their desk right now, and I'm not the only one reporting this, but, you know, that the indications are that's highly unlikely. And that's why, again, I go back to Devin. Devin's a guy that no signs that Devin wants out of Phoenix. But if he ever did, my God, the Rockets would be at the front of the line and a lot of other teams. Yeah.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Rockets ready for takeoff in the NBA Cup? | Jimmy Butler’s hair raises Heat questions
But the age difference there, I think, is a key factor.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Rockets ready for takeoff in the NBA Cup? | Jimmy Butler’s hair raises Heat questions
Dave, Zena, thanks for having me. I'm honored to be such a regular guest these days.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Rockets ready for takeoff in the NBA Cup? | Jimmy Butler’s hair raises Heat questions
Well, guys, I would be lying to you if I did not admit that I was surprised, not necessarily that they won, but by the landslide victory that it was. Because if you hone in on the top three, you're talking OKC, Boston, Miami. You know, Boston is flying more flags in their building than any other franchise. Miami has got nothing to sneeze at. They've won quite a few as well.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Rockets ready for takeoff in the NBA Cup? | Jimmy Butler’s hair raises Heat questions
And so OKC jumps out at you. If you go down the list, you're talking Memphis, Minnesota. They obviously haven't won either. But for OKC to run away with it surprised me. And I think partly it's two things. For one, that even though those Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook, James Harden teams didn't actually take it over the finish line, got to the finals once. And then James, they lose James.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Rockets ready for takeoff in the NBA Cup? | Jimmy Butler’s hair raises Heat questions
KD and Russ do their thing for a while. I think if I could try to put my...
The Athletic NBA Daily
Rockets ready for takeoff in the NBA Cup? | Jimmy Butler’s hair raises Heat questions
mind and kind of the minds of the voters it's a combination of past and present the kevin durant russell westbrook james harden thunder didn't obviously win a title but they were memorable they were special and then even after james left for houston you're talking about a kd and russ era that you know sticks in the minds of every basketball person um i think that's part of it but in the present day the idea that a team could
The Athletic NBA Daily
Rockets ready for takeoff in the NBA Cup? | Jimmy Butler’s hair raises Heat questions
somehow pull off the combination of title contending you know type of competition and level with having a cupboard that is just absolutely stocked full of assets with draft picks and young players galore and having every possible option available at your fingertips it feels like this vote is is the product of envy if you will um because they are not
The Athletic NBA Daily
Rockets ready for takeoff in the NBA Cup? | Jimmy Butler’s hair raises Heat questions
really any other teams in the league who come close to OKC. I hope I don't mess this up. I believe we just wrote it. I think it's 13 first round draft picks through 2031, 17 second rounders. You know, you're talking about even if they stand pat and they don't go, you know, star hunting for another big talent.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Rockets ready for takeoff in the NBA Cup? | Jimmy Butler’s hair raises Heat questions
they could conceivably plan on losing some of these guys because they don't want to pay that next contract and just making sure they draft well again and keep the runway getting even longer. They've just got every option available. To me, that's the biggest thing.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Rockets ready for takeoff in the NBA Cup? | Jimmy Butler’s hair raises Heat questions
You know, it felt, Zena, like it was a process oriented vote for the most part. And, you know, the people who voted, admittedly, a lot of it was text message. You're not always talking to the person. So they didn't necessarily unpack their entire thought process. But it did feel like some of the commentary that we got back, positive and negative.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Rockets ready for takeoff in the NBA Cup? | Jimmy Butler’s hair raises Heat questions
This was mostly focusing on the positive was, you know, the types of risks that different executives would take. Oh, OK. It was in the piece about somebody said Tim Conley of the Timberwolves that they just kind of like the fact that he doesn't give an F. I like that.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Rockets ready for takeoff in the NBA Cup? | Jimmy Butler’s hair raises Heat questions
And so I think, you know, it's a process oriented thing that, you know, you hear players talk about it a lot in their own craft. that, you know, you have to put the work in and then let the results kind of be what they are. I think some executives look at it the same way. Control what you can control.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Rockets ready for takeoff in the NBA Cup? | Jimmy Butler’s hair raises Heat questions
Make sure you're absolutely turning over every single rock possible, having as many relationships as possible so that you don't miss opportunities based on interpersonal politics. So I think it is a fairly nuanced, you know, kind of – respectful analysis of what these people do. And honestly, I feel like what we did is kind of the tip of the iceberg.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Rockets ready for takeoff in the NBA Cup? | Jimmy Butler’s hair raises Heat questions
I would love to learn more about, you know, how these people think.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Rockets ready for takeoff in the NBA Cup? | Jimmy Butler’s hair raises Heat questions
I'll tell you just real quickly, Dave, because you mentioned it.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Rockets ready for takeoff in the NBA Cup? | Jimmy Butler’s hair raises Heat questions
You hear some of that stuff, and this wasn't in the piece, but I remember somebody telling me they had a ton of respect for Danny Ainge, who obviously is now heading Utah, but they did kind of include some kind of feedback about how Danny still has the player personality where everybody kind of knows he's probably not going to do a deal with the Knicks.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Rockets ready for takeoff in the NBA Cup? | Jimmy Butler’s hair raises Heat questions
He's probably not going to do a deal with the Lakers because, you know, Mr. Celtic is just kind of has that kind of fabric and that kind of wire. Those little things are fascinating.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Why the Clippers didn’t want Paul George | Celtics potential sale
First of all, thank you guys for having me. Appreciate you. It's funny because that shoot around the day of the game, Paul George and the Sixers were at UCLA. We talked to Paul about what he anticipates as far as the crowd is. And he essentially says, I think it'll be positive. You know, he's got no ill will.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Why the Clippers didn’t want Paul George | Celtics potential sale
He just waxed poetic about his relationship with the front office, the coaching staff, Kawhi Leonard. It was just a mutual admiration society. Then you get to the game and it was anything but. And the part that cracked me up is we had a news headline that I had written where Kawhi
The Athletic NBA Daily
Why the Clippers didn’t want Paul George | Celtics potential sale
For most of the day, the first sentence of the story said, as reunion games go, Paul George expects Wednesday night to be essentially nothing if not amicable. And then it was anything but amicable. So he didn't, I don't think, see it coming. You know, I will say it's funny because the mood was certainly, you know, largely anti-Paul George. Some cheers, but it also wasn't.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Why the Clippers didn’t want Paul George | Celtics potential sale
This was not LeBron going back to Cleveland.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Why the Clippers didn’t want Paul George | Celtics potential sale
It definitely didn't feel, it didn't even have him first of all. And we're going to get into the, into a dome experience. They, I mean, it is what it is. They're people are learning how to get to the arena. It's logistically a much different task to get to Inglewood than it is downtown LA. You know, it's like people are trying to find the Clippers again. So you did have a lot of empty seats.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Why the Clippers didn’t want Paul George | Celtics potential sale
You didn't have a sellout crowd. And so you didn't have the intensity, but, You did have the creativity, though. You mentioned it, you know, the wall with the, you know, with the PJ PJ PG. Be careful before you think before you speak signs, that stuff turning around like choreographed, you know, anti PG stuff was a new twist. But but yeah, he he didn't have a lot of love waiting for him.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Why the Clippers didn’t want Paul George | Celtics potential sale
To the latter question, Zena, no. And we can get into the details there. They obviously, the Warriors situation was really the only substantive chance they had to get assets in return for Paul. They did have flirtations with other teams. Denver showed some interest. There was a Michael Porter Jr. scenario there that didn't really go very far.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Why the Clippers didn’t want Paul George | Celtics potential sale
The draft assets that the Clippers wanted back were way more than the Nuggets were willing to give up. So the Warriors situation is front and center. The way they describe it is that basically if the Warriors would have legitimately put Jonathan Kaminga and to a lesser degree, even Brandon Pajimski on the table, then maybe they go ahead and do it.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Why the Clippers didn’t want Paul George | Celtics potential sale
It was framed this way to me that, I mean, listen, it's been a little while since we had two teams kind of a little bit, you know, kind of chirping at each other in the media like we do with this story because the Warriors had some stuff to say about the Clippers when Our guy Anthony Slater had a good piece a couple weeks ago, and then there was some of that with my column.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Why the Clippers didn’t want Paul George | Celtics potential sale
The Clippers' view is this. They claim they were prepared and comfortable to do something with the Warriors to give them Paul George for maybe a quarter on the dollar, and they felt like the Warriors wanted Paul for a nickel on the dollar. And it was just kind of a bridge too far. So no regrets there, I don't think, Zena.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Why the Clippers didn’t want Paul George | Celtics potential sale
Now, in terms of just the idea of having Paul George in a Clippers jersey, I think some. I think a little bit. But they absolutely drew the line in the sand. And there's all these different scenarios. And I'm talking three-year deal, four-year deal, no trade, clauses, requests, all that stuff. But when it came to...
The Athletic NBA Daily
Why the Clippers didn’t want Paul George | Celtics potential sale
the way they want their books to look going forward, the big thing that I admittedly learned that I didn't really understand before is making the summer of 2027 a priority.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Why the Clippers didn’t want Paul George | Celtics potential sale
Because the key distinction between Paul's situation and Kawhi Leonard's is that Paul wanting a four-year deal and not being willing to just take what Kawhi got, which is three years and $150 million, that would have put Paul out an additional year past Kawhi.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Why the Clippers didn’t want Paul George | Celtics potential sale
And I think the truth that this is just me talking, but the truth that I feel like the Clippers are not quite comfortable broadcasting just yet because they want to continue having a very good partnership with Kawhi and James Harden is that they're obviously already thinking past them. You know what I mean? Like those guys.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Why the Clippers didn’t want Paul George | Celtics potential sale
And so the idea of Paul George making $60 million at the age of 37 in 2027 through 2028 is something they just weren't interested in doing.