Warriors Fill Out Roster, AD Goggles, Lively’s Shocking Growth Spurt & More

00:00:07
Speaker 1: And welcome to No Dunks, the Internet's original basketball podcast. I'm your host today, Trey Kirby joining me here in the yard. It's Tass mellis. Yeah, what's going on, Trey. Oh, we're getting so close to the NBA season here, tasty, it's getting pretty exciting.
00:00:23
Speaker 2: If you ask me, I feel like the vibes are better, the vibes are they're cooking.
00:00:28
Speaker 1: Yeah. Once we start seeing these guys in their jerseys, their shorts, their facial hair, their haircuts, you know you can't help but get excited. No Skeets today is still doing the Green Card Dance in Canada. We'll hopefully be back soon. And yeah, NBA season right around the corner. You're getting excited.
00:00:47
Speaker 2: It sounds like, oh gosh, yeah, yeah, JD is working on our studio. I will say, I don't know if it's just me here recency biased, but I feel like this is the most excited I've been for an NBA media day, and.
00:01:03
Speaker 1: I'm trying to think.
00:01:04
Speaker 2: I'm trying to think.
00:01:08
Speaker 1: I don't know.
00:01:08
Speaker 2: I feel like our media brethren, we're pumping out the hits, we're pumping out the notes of every media day. I feel like I made more notes or chuckled or you know, made a little snarl at more tweets this year than I.
00:01:24
Speaker 1: Ever have in the past. Excellent, excellent, exciting times. Maybe we should host our own media day once we get back into the new fangled classic factory.
00:01:35
Speaker 2: Yeah, okay, wait, I think that's a that's a good idea. I know there's there's lots of things that we're going to talk about today that you're going to create videos about in the coming weeks.
00:01:44
Speaker 1: Yeah, because stuff is going on, man, stuff is going on. Lots of people were talking, lots of people were asking questions, so we got a lot of things to talk about. Yeah, we're going to play a little bit of is this news? Oh baby? Is this news? The first little bit of news, This one's news. This one is definitely new. Questioning it all, I say it's a little misleading. The Warriors, according to Shan Saranya, have agreed to deals with Al Horford, d Anthony Melton, and Gary Peyton. The second This is news because the Golden State Warriors didn't do anything this offseason, but it's also kind of not news because these guys haven't actually been signed to the team. All of this has to wait until Jonathan Kaminga resolves his stalemate with the Warriors before they can find out exactly how much they're offering Horford Melton and Gary Peyton. But they're at least saying, yeah, we're gonna be on your team. They're not a media day, they're not practicing because they don't actually have contracts. But they will someday have contracts, is what it seems like. So tasks tell me how this is news or cannot.
00:03:02
Speaker 2: Listen. This is not new news if that's what news is classified anymore as because these guys were expected, but the fact that it is sort of happening. I had to go to NBA dot com slash transactions to check out are any of these actual deals now it does list as Gary Payton the second coming back under a contract, yeah, or Horford and Dandy Melton have not. I will say it's news because when we go back to the Warriors in the playoffs, they needed a better defender at the center spot specifically, and Al Horford is that guy. Any switch needed, he will be there to help out. He will guard absolutely anyone, and the Warriors in the past when they have won in twenty two and then eighteen and seventeen. They did it with a center beside Draymond Green, you're Kevan Lune or JaVale McGee, you're Boga and Al Horford will be there to help out. I know he is frank and old. That being said, this guy right now, he ain't drinking alcohol and becoming older and older. He's drinking his chocolate milk. I think he's taking care of his body. We've seen this guy and how many years he's gone through the NBA, and he's been fine. And Trace Jackson Davis is a guy who's gotten another year older at twenty five year number three. We'll see what he can become as a backup guy.
00:04:21
Speaker 1: But this helps.
00:04:22
Speaker 2: I mean they needed defense, They needed to be bigger, so I think this does help. It is weird not seeing these guys at media day, and that is very strange. But even though they still don't know what their roster is because Kuminga is not signed, I think they will get off to a good start. I think they're devoted to that. Last year they started twelve and three. On November twenty second, they were first in the west Man Okay See was twelve and four while they were twelve and three, and then a bunch of injuries happened to a guy like d' Anthony Melton, who I think is a question mark because he's recovering from an injury. But at the same time, the oldest team, as I know you tweeted about it is odd to see this team who's really old, kid even older?
00:05:09
Speaker 1: Yeah, super old, thirty nine years old Al Horford. If the Warriors somehow make it to the finals, I think unlikely he'll be forty years old playing in the finals. But you gotta love the fit with Horford and Draymond both very switchable guys, super high IQs. Steph Curry hasn't really played with a stretch big like Al Horford. You know, Quentin Post gave them a taste of that last year, but he was a rookie only going into a second year. He'll probably be part of the rotation. But yeah, Horford is gonna help. The key for the Warriors will be staying healthy throughout the year. With these guys who are in their late thirties, they're all missing twenty games a season. Al Horford hasn't been a full time starter in a couple of years, so that will be a huge question. But it's good that they finally got a tall guy because this Warriors team is tiny, like Trace Jackson, save it's the dude's a center. He's six foot nine. The only other guy they have that's over six seven currently on the roster is Gee Santos, and I mean Horford is not a giant either. So this is an old, small team that doesn't always bode well for long term success. But I think they're going to be a tough out when it comes playoff time, assuming everybody is healthy. You mentioned Horford is probably starting. I totally agree with you, Steph, Jimmy Draymond, those guys are locks. So the big question for the Warriors is like who is going to be their two guard. It kind of comes down to Buddy Heel brings the shooting, and then Brandon Pajenski, maybe the highest upside of guys they could throw in there, had an up and down season last year. And Moses Moody, who just doesn't seem to really ever establish himself as a guy for Steve Kerr he gets thrown in. He always seems ready whenever he gets thrown into the rotation, but seems unlikely that he would be the starter. Who you think ends up getting that last starting job for the Warriors.
00:06:56
Speaker 2: It's a great question. I think they really could all be there. Moody didn't always just click when he was in there, but the three is usually pretty steady, so you could see that. You could see Buddy who did respond to playing with good players and defended like Jalen Green in that first round, was a reason they're playing intense defense. I think it could be Brandon Pujemski, just because he plays so well when he's playing well with really, really really good players beside him, and he's like he is a playmaker, and so I think I think they kind of need that over Buddy Healed or Moses Moody, somebody to be able to get into the paint and make things happen. I think this is a good sign for the Warriors as we're naming these guys who are capable NBA players, along with adding Al Horford to the trace, Jackson Davis and quintin post center rotation, they are fricking old, that's no doubt about that. That being said, it is it's an improvement over last year's team. Against Minnesota in the playoffs, they were too freaking small. As we've said then, just didn't have enough centers out there. So Horford being there helps. Hopefully Tray Shacksonton Davis improves, Hopefully Quinton Post improves. But yes, they could they could just use another body out there. But again they're still they're still working through the back end of the rotation. Like it seems like they're going to sign Seth Curry at some point, just as Old also small, super old, just to take minutes away from the guys that you said, Jimmy has to sit, Seth has to sit, and so the guys like Moses Moody and Pajemski and potentially Seth curR are going to play a good amount of minutes to get them to the playoffs healthy.
00:08:46
Speaker 1: Yeah, the question will be what the ceiling for this team. FanDuel has the Warriors at plus three thousand odds to win the title. That's the same as the Atlanta Hawks. It's tied for tenth overall, sixth in the West. That seems about right to me, Like, I think the Warriors are probably a top ten team with a pretty good ceiling, just because you like what Steph can do come playoff time, Jimmy has shown that he's able to raise his game come playoff time. Horford, we've seen do it in the finals as well. Draymond. Of course, you don't need as much depth necessarily when it comes playoff time, though that seems to be changing around the league as well. So yeah, we'll see what happens with the Warriors. It's good they're actually getting a team together. I saw they also signed a couple of rookies so that literally they can have enough players at practice today they're having their first players and or their first practice and they finally have eleven guys on the roster.
00:09:37
Speaker 2: Yeah. I don't mean to be a pessimist, but at times I was looking watching their press conference and I was clicking through and I was looking, Oh, it's to Anthony Melton there, Oh it is Gary Payton the second there, And I see some of these faces and I say it, I don't know who that guy is? Who is that? So, yes, you can say that about the Golden State Warriors. They don't have every buddie as far as the championship team in twenty twenty two that they had, but they do have camaraderie and chemistry together that they didn't have last year even because they signed or excuse me, they traded for Jimmy mid season. Bam.
00:10:14
Speaker 1: They turned it on and they were awesome.
00:10:16
Speaker 2: And now they actually have a training camp together. You see Draymond and Jimmy Butler working out together. You have what is probably the best center that Steph Curray has ever played with. You know, there was Andrew Bogan, there was other guys in Draymond Green plays center, but it's freakin' Al Horford and he's old, so we will see what he can bring now today, fresh office, another bottle of chocolate milk. But it feels like this team has it. It's a matter of sticking together and maybe maybe a little more size and being healthy six months from now.
00:10:53
Speaker 1: Really it'd be nice to they don't have to go through the play in tournament as well. They've been a playing team quite a bit recently, and that's just stressful. It's also feels like the last month and a half of both of this previous season and the season prior has been almost playoff basketball for the Warriors, where they have to win seventy five percent of their games to even squeak into the play in tournament and that's the problem you run into when it's all old guys. One guy that's not in camp, Jonathan Kaminga still hanging over our heads, the Coaminga stalemate. He has until tomorrow to pick up his qualifying offer, which is just a little bit under eight million dollars. They've been reporting about three different options that the Warriors have presented to Kaminga. There's a two year, forty five million dollar deal that they've offered him with a team option for the second year. There's a three year seventy five million dollar deal that's been offered that has a team option for the Warriors in the third year. Then there's a no options deal three years fifty four million dollars. What do you think is going to end up happening with Kaminga, Because there's been some weird stuff going on. His agent is literally doing a media tour saying if you give him a player option, he'll buy in. But if he takes the qualifying off or good luck. That doesn't seem like the ideal way to enter a season where you do have championship expectations because there's always that expectation for Golden State.
00:12:12
Speaker 2: I think he comes back under a two or three year deal, as you said, to make a good amount of money, just because it doesn't seem all that positive if you enter free agency here in twenty twenty five and there's a bunch of options in twenty twenty six. I know our man Sham Sharania said this was going to be an incredible offseason and it was not. But I think you should say the same thing about next year because there will be more options. I don't know if Minga wants to enter that really, I don't think in comparison to this season, there's going to be way more competition for him. And so I liked hearing all the Warriors players yesterday when they were asked about Jonathan Kaminga. They were basically to me saying, come on back, man, we want you, we need you, we love you. The question is on the other side, does he want to come back again and be under Steve Kerr, who they seem to butt heads so I can I can understand why he'd want to go somewhere else, but it just it's scary for me if I'm whoever it is, you know, Brooklyn or Sacramento or wherever do you want him being on being a top one, two three guy. Hopefully one of these Warriors can say to him, you can sign a contract in a couple of years after this one's done. There's lots of money to go around to see the TV deal just two more years, man, So I'm I'm not sure what the feeling is, but it seems like money wise, this would be the best position for him.
00:13:46
Speaker 1: Well, yeah, he can definitely make the most money by agreeing to one of these deals with the Warriors, but they only really want him as an asset, and he doesn't want to be a Warrior. He wants to go somewhere where he can be a number one, number two option and take as many mid range jumpers as possible. I think it's pretty weird the way his agent is handling this stuff, posting clips of kminga like coming around a screen, being like, look, he can play in a system. Then there was also the thing that Warriors fans were going in and slowing down two point five speed the kaminga jumper and finding that there was a frame slip to make it look like he had a quicker release for his three pointers. Odd stuff, But you're right, Kurt, Steph Curry is talking like he will be a Golden State Warrior. He keeps saying when he's here, not if he's here. I think that's pretty consistent throughout the rest of the Warriors as well at media day, but kind of unusual that Steve Kerr and Mike Dunleavy Junior didn't talk. That seemed like they were maybe ducking these questions about cominga because that's going to be a thing hanging over the Warriors heads until a resolution has come about. It doesn't feel dissimilar to the summer where Jordan Poole and Draymond Green and Klay Thompson were all going to be free agents and it was kind of kind of like, who is Golden State gonna choose? The pool thing hungover at the Warriors heads all year. It was a cloud over the locker room and they were never to get never able to get out of their own way. So they need to figure out what's gonna happen. I think they have until midnight Wednesday for the qualifying offer to go down, and I don't know. I think the Warriors would be better off washing their hands of Jonathan Kminga.
00:15:24
Speaker 2: I get it, yeah, I get it that he might be a locker room point of conversation. But I wonder, I wonder if, like we've talked about them being in a play in is just just a problem for this team. Having to play so many minutes is a problem for this team. If Kerr gives him the keys a lot of the time, not all of the time, but a lot more of the time, but it might be off the bench. So I mean, that's the scary part for Jonathan Minga that he seems like he doesn't want it. So, yes, it is a question good thing for the Warriors. They have gone through this a billion times before, but yeah, they want to have a training camp with all their guys, so it is. Yeah, it is a bit of an issue for sure.
00:16:15
Speaker 1: All right, let's go to Dallas over the summer. Anthony Davis had surgery for a detached retina in his right eye. He's made a full recovery after like a month long recovery, he said. But Anthony Davis said that his doctors told him he's gonna need to wear goggles for the rest of his career. He's got the eye protection going. What do you think about this test?
00:16:36
Speaker 2: I think this is good news for Anthony Davis. He has never wanted to wear these things ever, and you could hear him in media day saying, ah, yeah, I gotta do it. The doctor say I gotta do it. He's finally doing it. This guy had three eye injuries in thirteen months, so just over here, Pop pop pop poked that many times, and you could see his off season surgery still wearing on him because he had red, extremely red eyes. Well, I yas right, I very red and swollen. Yeah, he's saying it's from the drops that he's taken. You know, he's not making excuses. He's just saying it's it's tough. Man. I've never liked it, but I'm wearing the horse grants this year, the Kareem Abdul Jabbars, and.
00:17:23
Speaker 1: It just sucks.
00:17:24
Speaker 2: That being said, if he's got goggles on, it's good for him. I know you've gone through a bunch of it, Trey, as a ball of yourself, you keep on. You show up at the at the studio with banged dives like.
00:17:35
Speaker 1: You're right, I got like a black guy every four months. It feels like Luckily, as Laura once told me, I'm blessed with the neanderthal shaped skull. I have a heavy browbone and deep set eyes. So usually I'm taking the brunt of the elbows to my orbital bones. Nothing's broken yet, but uh, you know, I got scars and black eyes. Maybe I need to switch to the horse grants as well. I thought that was a funny line from Anthony Davis. He followed up by saying it won't be like that, but I will have some protective eyewear for sure. So I'm curious. It basically comes down to do you want the horse grants the squares? Do you want the more circular ones that kind of just look like a regular goggle more Kareem style. My guess is that he'll go with the Oakleys that we've seen him wear in the past with the Lakers. Anthony Davis actually looks pretty cool when he wears goggles.
00:18:29
Speaker 2: I think absolutely. You know, I did my my my Google image search yesterday and yeah, he looked it looks super cool. Yeah he's not. He's definitely not going with the Kareems. To me, that's who he seemed he repelled the most. He didn't want that yesterday when I went hearing him. You know, the creams are big, the Oakleys are Yeah, they're almost stylish, man, they kind of look cool.
00:18:56
Speaker 1: They're cool. The coolest guy to ever wear the oleas was Antoine Big Dog Car circa nineteen ninety seven ninety eight, playing against the Chicago Bulls, wearing like the Cepia orange tinted ones. I didn't know that he necessarily needed to go with tinted oakleys, but they did look pretty sweet. And I guess Amari Stottenmeyer is a guy who had similar issues, right, Like, he kept getting poked in the eyes and eventually he just had to start wearing glasses as well.
00:19:22
Speaker 2: Yeah, they were tinted the Antoine cars, they were cools and and so these are like what kids are wearing for just around and for baseball too, right that like the shape of them.
00:19:33
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, if he shows up in a pair of mirrored pit vipers would be an incredible look for this guy. I guess a little bit of an adjustment period getting used to playing every single game. Oh yeah, I never see him whatever, So you can never see.
00:19:46
Speaker 2: Him his eyes when he if he was wearing those, like, you never know where he was passing to. Why wouldn't Why wuldn't they start wearing it? It's like it's not allowed. It's like a quarterback can't, right, you can't.
00:19:59
Speaker 1: You can't like have a dark tint. You gotta be able to see the eyes. Yeah that's true. Yeah, yeah, I think that's true. So they probably would.
00:20:07
Speaker 2: Would ban him, but or ban them. But he should do it for one game, yeah, exactly.
00:20:12
Speaker 1: Preseason. You can do anything like Sam Persons wore a do rag in a preseason one time, but then a halftime they're like, hey man, you can't do that. In the NBA, they're all right, fine, but if you started off, it's better to ask for forgiveness than permission. In other MAVs injury news, Jason sid Kid said that Kyrie Irving is not ahead of schedule, even though you saw him shooting some jumpers on the internet and Kyrie confirmed it. They both say he's on schedule. Just feels like they're not really pushing him to come back. They want him at full Kyrie Irving status whenever he returns.
00:20:47
Speaker 2: Yeah, watching those clips of him bang home shots from mid court cool to see, but it is a lot different, and it's a long different than actually go inside to side lateral movement in a game, way different, So I'm sure it's months ahead now. He did in the off season when asked while he was twitching, he was on his twitch, he was asked if he's coming back, and he said, I didn't guarantee that I'm coming back even next season. So it's a real real swing here to seeing him ball after hearing those comments, because yeah, he does. You know, you know, look good when it comes to sitting on my butt watching a guy take shots from mid court, but he looks better than a guy who's not going to be around all season. So I would expect that he'd come back, but it's gonna be months.
00:21:38
Speaker 1: Yeah, it does feel like he will play this season at some point, and you know, it's probably like a late in the season thing. Maybe Marchie gets the ramp up in time for the playoffs, and if the Mads are sitting in a good position, maybe they can make some noise. Because I did like that photo they were getting together of Kyrie, Anthony Davis, and Cooper Flagg's pretty cool they got three number one picks on the same team. I don't know if that's ever happened in NBA history.
00:22:06
Speaker 2: Yeah, I would have maybe imagine, you know, when somebody sneaks in like a and Anthony Bennett. You know, maybe not a great number one pick, but probably the free and the fact that you saw Cooper Flag shaking hands with Michael Jordan pretty cool.
00:22:23
Speaker 1: Yeah, that was cool.
00:22:24
Speaker 2: Yeah, so he's got a great start. Even though you know he's he hasn't said a lot. I think Cooper is a pretty quiet guy. But yeah, like you said, things from the outside looking in are looking good for Cooper Flag and for the MAVs. I think this Anthony Davis news is good. The guy's going to be healthy. To me, I mean, it reduces his eye injuries. How could you not be pumped about that. It feels like they've got good news top to bottom in that roster.
00:22:54
Speaker 1: The people are saying that the Timberwolves once had three number one overall draft picks. They're saying Kat Wiggins and Anthony Bennett. Is that true? Though? Wasn't Wiggins traded for Bennett? Wasn't that part of the deal with Cleveland. I don't remember if that's necessarily true, but Dion mentions Dereck Rose did end up on the Timberwolves as well, and he was a number one pick, So yeah, maybe that's it. And then I think the Lakers right now have two and Lebron and DeAndre Ayton. So it happens, but it isn't usually when two of the guys are in their pseudo primes, you know. I guess, yeah, Tyrie obviously coming off an injury, but he's still a good player in the NBA. Anthony Davis is all NBA caliber, and Cooper is playing as well. Still, we will see what they look like when they are up to full strength.
00:23:42
Speaker 2: Must better that Derek Rose one, because I had it in the back of my head. I didn't know it jumped into in the back of my head that Derek Rose has been part of three number ones, although it was it was with the Wolves, although he had he had a fifty point game with the Minnesota Timberwolves. But I'm guessing it was.
00:24:02
Speaker 1: So they're saying Rose, Cat and Wiggins, so that makes sense to me. They were rocking the like the Prince Jerseys.
00:24:10
Speaker 2: I remember that seventeen seventeen eighteen. I guess was Wiggans last year. Gosh, I loved clicking around on Basketball Reference. Where are you seventeen eighteen roster Minnesota Timberwolves. Yeah, they must have been Wiggans. He was on the team. Yeah, they must have played together.
00:24:27
Speaker 1: Nice, so it's happened before. I don't know if anybody else touched didn't the WNB, I think the Aces. At one point they had four number one overall draft picks on their team. I'm pretty sick they won the title that year. Can you believe it? Good stuff? Also in Dallas, Derek Lively mav Center said he grew two inches over the summer. He's now seven foot three. If you buy it, tasks, I'm buying it. I started, I started doing my googles. Can you grow at twenty one years of age?
00:24:58
Speaker 2: Sure? Yeah?
00:24:59
Speaker 1: Sure?
00:25:00
Speaker 2: What happens? February he turned twenty one, So this is, you know, kind of like twenty one and a half. But that's fine. I think you know from from very very quick googles that it's about of a fifteen percent chance to grow at twenty one. Usually everybody has grown, has finished growing. But it's it does happen, and so twenty one and a half, Yeah, I'm good with it. I checked all the sites in terms of NBA dot Com Basketball Reference, are they listing him at any higher than seven foot one? They are not. He's still seven to one, so it's not official, but I buy it. You buy it.
00:25:37
Speaker 1: No, I don't think so. He was asked have you grown any this summer, and his response was I believe so I would definitely say I have. I just got to get the exact measurement, but I'd say seven to two seven three. This is one of the easiest things to possibly find out. If you've grown, just stand by a wall and people will measure you. It's simple. If you've grown, you know you've grown.
00:26:00
Speaker 2: Yeah, well they have to measure, aren't they. Actually they're actually doing measurements in the NBA now right.
00:26:06
Speaker 1: Yeah, you have to have legit measurements, so we will see.
00:26:09
Speaker 2: Yeah, he's got I guess they do it at some point in training camp, probably not on me D Day, at some point in the next few weeks. So he's got time to grow even if he wants.
00:26:21
Speaker 1: Yeah, he's got time to grow. He's still got today. But I will be scouring those measurements and that roster once the Mavericks actually release it. Hey, if they got a seven foot three guy, makes even more sense for Anthony Davis to play the four and for Derek Lively to play the five, and if he is able to still move the way he was at seven foot one. If he's able to move like he does at seven foot three, they're gonna be an awesome defensive team. And I think they're gonna be a good defensive team regardless.
00:26:48
Speaker 2: Yeah, this is fantastic stuff. This is one guy who slips under the radar in terms of headlines and whoeveryone is talking about with Cooper and Kyrie and ad obviously, but he didn't play a lot of last season, so we didn't really get to see their entire roster. Like, there's so many guys on this team with Christy even who no one's really talking about as the young guys to bring the glue to your D'Angelo Russells and those types of vets out there. This team has a very very good roster in theory, and when they played last year, they look like they could really play. So this West is ridiculously tough.
00:27:33
Speaker 1: Yeah, the West is ridiculously tough. Some teams season is going to be over by the time we get to December, just by getting off to a bad start and having to play catch up. So maybe it'll be the MAVs. Maybe not to tie a bow on things, Ludasan here in the stream, team is mentioned. In the nineteen eighties, the Lakers had three number one picks in Kareem, James Worthy, and Magic Johnson. That's a decent, you know, threesome. They did okay getting those three together. So wouh the track record? That's good. If you can get three Hall of Famers on the same team, you're gonna have a chance to win.
00:28:07
Speaker 2: Yeah, and maybe ye win the w NBA Finals.
00:28:12
Speaker 1: Exactly right, So MAVs buyer stock. Now, maybe it doesn't happen this year, but next year. In Philadelphia, the Sixers had media day on Friday after we talked about Jared McCain's thumb injury and the news out of Sixers camp was not great tasks. Neither Joel Embiid nor Paul George have timelines to return following their respective knee surgeries. Embiid had his left knee done in April. Paul George had his left knee done in July. Both of them said they're listening to their bodies and that's kind of gonna be the guiding principle for how much and when they're able to play this season. So talk to me a little bit about Philadelphia starting the year off with three injuries already.
00:28:59
Speaker 2: Yeah, I would call this news. It feels like we're going back to last season where Embiid's status it's just conspicuous. We don't know what it's going to be. Daryl Moorey was conspicuous about it last year. I think we could just say, like they kind of did last year, it's indefinite TBD. I will save that. Paul George went definitely more disappointing coming off of last year. There was some talks about him turning a new leaf this coming year, and then he went and had surgery in July, and so that part is definitely discouraging that he hasn't recovered from that. And at the same time, and I mentioned July, I started thinking about the draft pick and Vja Edgecomb and the fact that there may be this season there could be guys to compensate for Paul George when he sat or Joel Embiid when he sat. But then you mentioned that other injury and Jared McCain Quentin Grime still isn't sign. I think they're gonna miss kershwan Yabusele because he played so many games they got to go to Dubai. Now they're in Dubai to have training camp, So I mean they got a lot of moving parts. They're not getting the camaraderie getting going with Paul George in the lineup at the very least, you know Joel EMBIDI can kind of expect knowing his knees, but pg's not there, so it is. Yeah, it's a poopy start, no doubt about that.
00:30:29
Speaker 1: Yeah, And I mean I think, look, Embiid is obviously their best player. I thought it was kind of funny what Nick Nurse has said. He's like, yeah, hopefully there's actually some management this year because last year he just didn't play, so we didn't have to manage anything. He just wasn't out there. They need Embiid to do anything this season. But missing Paul George maybe is even worse for the Sixers because you look at the wing depth they have and they basically don't have any wing depth. Justin Edwards had some decent moments last season, but other than him, it's like Kelly u Bray Junior is going to play a major part on the wing for the Sixers. They brought in Trendon Watford, who was decent for the Nets last year, but not really a starting caliber player. They don't have any other young guys who can fill in on the wing. They do have a bunch of these small guards, and signing Grimes would be huge for this team. But I mean, Paul George had, you know, just an all time Paul George quote at media Day. He said, it can't get worse than last year. That was a rock bottom kind of season.
00:31:30
Speaker 2: Right.
00:31:31
Speaker 1: That's the kind of thing people will pull out if they had the exact same kind of season this year. Last year, Joel Embiid played nineteen games, Paul George played forty one games. That's a combined sixty games from those two guys. Do you think they play more or less this year? Six combined games for Paul George and Jowell Embiid.
00:31:48
Speaker 2: I'm going over because I do think there is some sort of plan with Joel Embiid playing. But but but but who knows that that's that's the unfortunate thing. I will say with with the Nick Nurse comment, I feel like Embiid once to gear up. I think he's gonna pull off more of the Kawhi Leonard twenty four to twenty five plan, which is sit for a long time and then gear up slowly as the season goes on. But yeah, that's forty over under. I don't know if that's a line on FanDuel, but it should be excuse me, sixty over under. You said, uh, that's I'm taking the over because yeah, I mean that's.
00:32:38
Speaker 1: Such a low number. Like you gotta hope they have to get more than nineteen games from Embiid this season just I mean thirty games would be playing fifty percent more like that would be ridiculous to not get over sixty games between those two guys.
00:32:51
Speaker 2: So it is tough. It felt like when they signed Paul George, it was, ah, okay, here comes the patchwork behind Maxi Embiid and Paul George. Here comes You're you know you're you're Kyle Lowry or Eric Gordon and the old guys. And now the patchwork ain't even there this season with McCain out, Quentin Grimes ain't playing, I think they will Mitch miss the patchwork of Yabusele. So that's the scary part. Even even though as you said, there's there's hole, there's guys to fill. And Ubrea, I think the Watford signing was was a good contract. I was a nice contract, Daryl Morey, But I'm not sure even beyond the starters, the great players that the patchwork is enough. It is the Eastern Conference, but still that's the that's the worrisome part as well, Like, yes, we want Paul George out there for sure to look like Paul George, but even the that secondary supporting cast is not not currently ready to go.
00:33:56
Speaker 1: Yeah, definitely not. They got a lot of eight and ninth men masquerading as fifth starters right now. So we'll see what happens with Grimes. He's on the same qualifying offer deadline sort of deal as Jonathan Kaminga, so there will be a resolution in the next forty eight hours for both of those guys. The Trailblazers also had media Day on Friday, and they also had some bad injury news. Third year guard Scoot Henderson as a torn left hand string. He's expected to return to basketball activities in one to two months.
00:34:25
Speaker 2: Is this news, test, It is news. This is Scoot trying to grow from year two to year three, because he did improve from year one to year two. I always hate to see a guy not be able to get a start going It is. It is a terrible thing for Scoot. Now it's time to be positive. Good environment in Portland. I do think with Drew around, Drew Holliday will be good, very good for Scoot Henderson. Jeremy Grant is going to play basketball this year. He didn't seem super excited at media Day. He did not No, he felt like he was going to be dealt this past offseason. He answered the question with all his heart when he was asked basically if he expected to be here. No, not really, but he is a very good basketball player. So I do think looking at the roster, considering Chauncey Billips went and got two offensive minded coaches because he knows they were really good defensively to end the season. They've got a good locker room, but we need better offense. I think that that part of the team and how they could grow is positive. I'm excited to watch this team. Danny Avdya coming off the bench year number two for him in Portland. I'm excited to watch him with Young Hanson. He was asked about playing with Young Hanson and he said, yeah, I like it. I'm watching him play. I know he can handle the ball. I love giving goes. I'm excited to play with young Hanson. So I do think if you start to go through the roster, considering they got new coaches to try and take care of that side of the ball while Chauncey had the other side of the ball, I'm excited. But yes, Scoot would be so much more beneficial to have a freaking camp. But if it is a month, you know he can still get better again. The year one to year two jumps in efficiency were there.
00:36:20
Speaker 1: They're real.
00:36:21
Speaker 2: He was coming off the bench, and so there's just more room I think for a guy in Danny Avdia who will be better in year two in Portland having a great summer with the Israeli basketball team. So I think there's enough to keep them going despite Scoot as an individual to be a little pessimistic about.
00:36:41
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think it's good that they have Drew Hollidays like that answers the question for their starting lineup at the point guard spot. At least Hi'll slot in there and be the guy for Portland. He plays defense, He'll get the guys the ball where they need. Maybe his scoring takes a little bit of the jump after kind of being the fifth option for a lot of the time I'm in Boston, but this really sucks for Scoot. Thirty year is supposed to be a breakout year. He hasn't had a breakout year yet.
00:37:06
Speaker 2: He was good last.
00:37:08
Speaker 1: Season, but this was kind of a prove it year to me for Scoot Henderson. Show us that you're going to be an important piece of the Blazers going forward, because I mean, twelve to fourteen points per game is not what the Blazers were expecting when they drafted Scoot number three and moved on from Damian Lillard. This guy was supposed to be a star for them, and now he's going into rehab mode with an injury that can linger as a player that really needs to maximize his athleticism. So I think this is pretty bad for the Blazers. Maybe they can survive it if it's only four weeks, you know, he only misses a handfull of games, But if it's eight weeks, they could be behind the eight ball when it comes to making a run into the playoffs. And I have absolutely zero confidence in Jeremy Grant. That guy looked completely checked out. You mentioned it. They asked him if he thought he'd be back on the Blazers this season, he said, I definitely didn't. But then you look at his contract and there's no way a team is going to take a chance on Jeremy Grant. Thirty two million this year, thirty four million next season. Then he has a thirty six million dollar player option for the twenty six twenty seven season. Jeremy Grant is thirty one years old test that hasn't been in the playoffs since he played for Denver in twenty twenty, and he plays sixty games per season and he expects to start. They asked him if he was going to come off the bench. He's like, I don't see that happening, which means I think Shaden Charp probably goes to the bench because Denny Avdia has been their best player to Monty Kamara, second team All Defense. He started every game that he played last year, so Sharp to me seems like the odd man out, and that seems like completely antithetical to building for the future to be sending your young guy who you need to see what he can do as a number one option, to the bench to play behind Jeremy Grant, who isn't a good guy to have as your leading scorer like, he's not an efficient player. He doesn't shoot well from two. He's not a big defender. He's just a guy that can sock up sop up possessions because nobody else does. So. I think this is a kind of a disaster contract. He's got one of the worst contracts in the league. Because I don't know who's touching that thing.
00:39:16
Speaker 2: I cannot disagree that was a monster when they signed it. And yeah, yeah, he signed thinking that he was going to be a number one guy, and it hasn't been great when he's on the court, and it hasn't been great in the locker room in terms of the as you said, what path that this team is on, because it is even though they went and got Drew Holliday, it's devoted to younger players. And as I said, I'm excited to watch Denny have the ball, and he's got a start a lot of games. I know he's good enough and cares about the team enough to come off the bench at times, but when you have a monster contract like Jeremy Grant, I'm sure he expects to start as well. So where's the room for this team if Denny's playing? Like you said, now with Anthony Simon's gone, I guess there's more room. It's probably Shane Sharp though, as you said, that seems they need to pick a direction.
00:40:22
Speaker 1: The Blazers are caught in the middle right now. We'll see they were nice last season, like it was fun to watch the Blazers play defense. That was basically when Jeremy Grant was out and Timani Kamara and Denny Avdya really stepped into bigger roles. Klingon is going to be better this season, assuming he's able to play more than like twenty five minutes. I don't have a lot of expectations for young Hansen this year. He's still just a rookie coming from a lesser league, so we'll see what he's actually able to do. But they're just trying to make it back to the play in tournament, and that's not really a place you want to be as a Bulls fan. I can speak to that.
00:41:01
Speaker 2: I will say I can't wait to talk about our Tunis arturists, Carnichiabus and his words. I got some great words from him. I will say they are picking a younger path, but they just couldn't find anyone that takes I don't think they wanted, yeah, you know, a great guy to have in your locker room, but they couldn't find anyone to take Jeremy Grant.
00:41:26
Speaker 1: They're not going to find anybody to take Jeremy Grant.
00:41:28
Speaker 2: Yeah, that that is a problem. Otherwise they've gotten young with you know obvious a lot younger and your your Scoot and your sharp Tamara.
00:41:40
Speaker 1: The old guy.
00:41:41
Speaker 2: I think Drew is just is strictly there to to help guide some of the young players, considering they're not paying anyone the max at this point max beyond you know, the rookie contract. It's fine to have Drew Holliday's contract around. It's the Jeremy grant. Unfortunately that it works with the numbers because they're not paying much for basically anybody. Denny's on one of the best contracts uh in the NBA, so it works financially. But yeah, they're they're I think the only old guys really are Drew, Jeremy and Robert Williams is still on the on the roster.
00:42:15
Speaker 1: See the way I look at it is the only young guys are Scooting Sharp because like Omdiez in his prime, the dude's twenty five years old, he's not young anymore. He's right in the middle of his prime. You know, Kamara was an older rookie as well. So I don't know. This is just an odd team to me, and I don't think it proved me wrong. We'll see.
00:42:36
Speaker 2: Yeah, well, you know, Kligan's still young and and young Hanson let's call him young Hanson. He ain't old, he's.
00:42:42
Speaker 1: Young, that's true. He's twenty years old.
00:42:45
Speaker 2: They're they're looking for guys. I mean they are sort of picking, you know, letting Deandraton go. It will be a fun a fun roster. I think that the Jeremy Grant issue is more locker room Jeremy Grant, like you said, he obviously did not feel extremely happy sitting there at the table. So, you know, beyond on the floor play, which Drew Holliday should help with, he should help this team be excited to take the floor together. What is Jeremy Grant going to be in these situations? I don't know if he can adapt to being more of a role player. Really. I mean, I'd rather see Danny Avdya handle the ball so many more times on this team than Jeremy Grant. So TBD.
00:43:33
Speaker 1: Here, Well, since you mentioned four play, let's talk about something sexy or did you say floor play?
00:43:40
Speaker 2: I think I said floor Oh.
00:43:42
Speaker 1: Well, anyways, here's something The Toronto Raptors were asked about the excitement in Toronto over the Blue Jays get into playoffs in Major League Baseball. RJ. Barrett responded, in a couple months from now, it's gonna be us this news tasks, are Barrett making a playoff guarantee?
00:44:02
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, baby, this is incredible news for Toronto as a city. But let's just zoom out.
00:44:10
Speaker 1: Let's just zoom out for a sec.
00:44:11
Speaker 2: I think if you watched NBA ME to day and what happened in that Toronto Raptors ME today, you got to be super excited. Dark O Rijakovic, their coach, says, our projected starting five has been practicing basically an entire month together in September for a month, and I think that in and of itself is a heck of an accomplishment. This is Toronto Raptors basketball, where last year is a manual. Quickly ever gonna play. They have just injury issues up and down the roster. Brandon Ingram sat there. He didn't play a minute. So the fact that they're all playing together in Ingram and Barrett and Quickly and Barnes and Yakaperl is exciting stuff. Listen to some of the quotes from these guys. Scotty Barnes yesterday said, we got thirteen fourteen guys who can step in.
00:45:01
Speaker 1: We have a complete roster.
00:45:03
Speaker 2: What is this, Okay, say East maybe Brandon Ingram, Yeah, I'm good, might as well go there.
00:45:11
Speaker 1: Come on, come on, you're getting the hyped that they practice together. They gotta play a game together.
00:45:17
Speaker 2: I know, I know that that is an accomplishment. These guys put on their shorts and they played together. That did not happen last year. So the fact that you hear this kind of stuff, Brandon Ingram complimenting a guy like RJ. Barrett, man, I didn't know he was that good.
00:45:33
Speaker 1: I thought he was a gunner, is what he said. Yeah, but he was just a gunner. It turns out he can just stand off to the side and watch me cook.
00:45:40
Speaker 2: Yeah. I guess he didn't watch Toronto Raptors or New York Knicks basketball at all. I mean, he can set guys up, but honestly, as far as the roster goes, RJ Barrett seemed almost relieved that there's a brandon Ingram out there and a Scotty Barnes and Emmanuel quickly out there, that he doesn't have to be the only guy to set things up like he did last year. So there's just so much positivity going on. Brandon Ingram was asked about the difference between New Orleans and Toronto and he said, well, the most impressive thing to me is that every seat in the arena is filled, mine included.
00:46:15
Speaker 1: He said. He said, I was sitting the whole time I was there in Toronto just watching the fans.
00:46:23
Speaker 2: Fans of a team that was abysmal last year. So that's a great sign. And I will say I know it's positivity time because this is the time to get extremely excited. And that's where our tourist, carniesievis As I said, comes into play. He said, you talk to a lot of teams right now and they think they're in that they can compete now. As a Bulls fan, that's disappointing to hear. But as a Toronto Raptors fan, or is any other team in the Eastern Conference. Your Hawks, your Bucks, your teams that have some hope, maybe perhaps to be one of those top six, you got to be super excited and you put it all together. You gotta be excited. Now when you said for play, I thought you were talking specifically about this quote because Brandon Ingram was asked about how him, Scottie, Barnes and RJ will work as a threesome and he said, you gotta put a pause on that. That's an acceptable pause. That nice one.
00:47:28
Speaker 1: What are you supposed to say, Trio? I guess a big three. Saying threesome is actually pretty funny.
00:47:39
Speaker 2: How will you guys perform out there?
00:47:41
Speaker 1: Yeah, if it was the Montreal Raptors, they would call it a manase TOI I believe. But it is a good question. How do those three guys fit together? That's a great question Barnes, Ingram and Barrett, which brings me to my second question. Well, RJ Barrett even be in Toronto at playoff time.
00:47:59
Speaker 2: Only if they're good. They they will be looking to see if if if if I if they don't play well together. I don't know. It's it's hard. It's hard when you look at the Ostern Conference again, if these guys play to not see a team that is winning a bunch of games. I think that they could be easily be a five hundred team if they're all playing together. So that I think Bobby Webster, the new head of the front office after the great messia Ugerie has gone, basically said we're not making any sort of assessments now Timm d on everything. So it's a fair question, Tray, will r J. Barrett be playing basketball beside Scottie Barnes and Brandon Ingram? And I know it's a fair question who We're talking about three guys that are basically occupied the same space out there, but I will. I think there will be a lot of cutting, There will be lots of wheels being run. I think, you know, Scottie Barnes is entirely fine with that. R J. Barrett, as Brandon Ingram said, he's a playmaker. He got way better at that. I know it's not as four K and Ingram's going to score a lot of points, So I think the offense will be totally different this year.
00:49:14
Speaker 1: They've got a lot of talent for sure, and I was kind of surprised. I think r J. Barrett shot like forty on corner threes for Toronto last year, so that would definitely help him stick around. But of those three, he's definitely the most likely to be traded. You know, Barnes is the star of the team. They just gave RJ. They just gave Ingram the big deal after the trade last season, So when you're looking numbers wise, RJ seems like most likely to potentially be shipped out. I was checking the odds on fan Duel this morning. The Raptors are a minus one oh eight to make the playoffs, a minus one twenty two to miss the playoffs. But they do have the best odds in the Eastern Conference to make the play in tournament minus one oh five. So fan Duel at the very least is having them as playing team. I think that's quite likely they could click. They do have a lot of depth on this team, even when you get to the backup guys like you know, Grady Dick is probably a rotation player. Oh, Chaiabaji is a rotation player. Maybe their rookie Colin Murray Boyles is able to do something. I was excited to watch Mamu in euro Basket. They've got some dudes. So if they get like good seasons from all of them and they fit better than I think they do. I don't know if they're a top six team in the East, but they could be a top ten team.
00:50:37
Speaker 2: Oh. I think there's no doubt they could be a top ten team. I mean, you just went through a bunch of players. We're getting deep. We're getting almost thirteen fourteen players out there. I think they could fill out a roster very well. I think RJ. Barrett and his playmaking last year is kind of key to those three guys who operate in the same space in Barnes himself and Brandon Ingram. This guy at five and a half assists per game last year, a huge career high for him. He was asked to do that kind of thing on a floor where Emmanuel Quickly wasn't even playing now not to see.
00:51:13
Speaker 1: Yeah, so what's Quickly going to be doing that? And if Barrett's the playmaker? I also thought Ingram was the playmaker and didn't Scotty Barnes lead the team in assists last year.
00:51:22
Speaker 2: Well, so you're saying only one man can dripple on the guy can have the ball, Well, Bartch doesn't have to do it as much anymore. Quickly can't do it as much. That's not really his I know he's a point guard, but he's not really leading your team and assists. Ever, and Scotty Barnes can do it, I think, Yeah, this is a team that's it's it's that wheel man. Keep that thing going off at the top, just keep cycling that ball. So in the Eastern Conference, I think they could easily be a play in team. And I always see these odds and I say, hold on, what is making the playoffs? Even mean? I guess it means you have to win a play in game if you get in the play or does it mean you're in the top six because it make it? I guess is making the playoffs winning a play in game and getting into the actual playoffs? Or do you have to be top six like when.
00:52:14
Speaker 1: It's all said and done, top eight is playoffs. Yeah, yes, it's probably what it is. But I'm a little uncertain on that though. I do know obviously, if you make seven through ten, you have made the play in tournament. And I saw the bulls there odds they were plus one ninety to make the play in tournament. Yeah, what a what an awesome availability from our trash Carnissivus who said we're going to try and win every game this year. But also there's no expectations for this team, so they're just like the Blazers, They're just like the Kings. It's like, what are you actually trying to do? The only guy who impressed me at Bulls Media day was Matzos Buzzellis, who said he wants to win Most Improved Player this year and he wants to be an All Defensive team player this year. Like those would be huge steps forward for Mantus Boozellis, but at least somebody there is trying to do the right things and has expectations for at least himself going into the season. He also says he wants to win a championship, but I think the Bowls are probably a little bit away from contending for a title. But you know, if Josh Giddy is going to be looked at the end of last season, if Mantas Bozellis wins Most improve and makes All Defense, maybe they're cooking something.
00:53:27
Speaker 2: Nats.
00:53:28
Speaker 1: How about the Blue Jays though? What's the playoff outlook look like for the Blue Jays?
00:53:34
Speaker 2: Hopefully the Bats get going a little bit because they were a team that everybody start to hype, and then they lost six of seven, but then they responded well with the sweep to end this whole freaking one hundred and sixty two. So they look good, they're excited, But the Bats number one, Yeah, they just stalled a little bit. In second. I don't like five days off between the playoffs or excuse me, the regular season and the playoffs for teams that actually win their division, because they have to wait for the other series to go on. So I'm concerned. I'm concerned about the Bats. If they've stalled to end the season now here we see them go after five days off, it's yeah, I'm.
00:54:13
Speaker 1: A little worried.
00:54:14
Speaker 2: I'm a little worried. And they're going to throw in an injured Bobashit probably who's going to come back, Boba Boba. Hopefully it'll be all right. But yeah, I'm definitely concerned about the Bats.
00:54:26
Speaker 1: I hate that bye when like you win the division, it kind of sucks to get the buye, especially I think they play the winner of Yankees Red Sox. Right, Yes, that's like so similar to the way the Braves season ended the past two years, Like they won the division, got the buye, but then the hot team in the second half of the year. It turned out to be the Phillies, a division rival, just like what the Blue Jays are going to be running into. Gets a little bit more consistency and they stay playing rather than wasting. The bye is a killer. I think you got to be able to respond.
00:55:00
Speaker 2: I listened to the Blue Jays broadcasts and Buck Martinez, the Blue Jays legend, always was saying, everybody on that roster, the pitchers, the hitters, the coaches, the fans, everybody loves the time off. I don't get it. This is a game. You wake up, you put on your cleats, you go run, you sit down, you put on some seeds in your mouth, spit them out, you get up, and you go out and you play. You hit the ball four times a game, you get your VP. It's the same thing from March to the end of October, then boom sit out, or the end of September then boom down.
00:55:41
Speaker 1: Yeah, five days you just sit there.
00:55:44
Speaker 2: So yeah, it's a flow. So those those division series, it's the best three out of five. It sounds weird to say that's quick. Yeah, it's not a lot of room for error, Yeah, exactly. And then DBD hopefully the J's are are in that championship series.
00:56:05
Speaker 1: Yes, we shall see. I got some time to dig out my Blue Jays hat. I think it's in my closet, but not completely certain.
00:56:13
Speaker 2: Everybody excited last thing about hats. Since you mentioned hats, I almost bought another one. All I do is have Blue Jays hats. I don't need another one. But everybody excited about the white panel hats. It's just the basically it's white.
00:56:26
Speaker 1: One class. The classic Blue Jays look white in front blue backs.
00:56:31
Speaker 2: Yes, yes, because they don't wear them a lot.
00:56:34
Speaker 1: It is. It is a class. Yeah, I don't know how.
00:56:36
Speaker 2: I shouldn't say a lot like they've gone through somebody newer ones. This is a throwback. Well it's it's not all the way, it's not. I don't know what the panel, how big the panel is if it's all the way to the front. Anyways, almost bought one. So if anybody has a used one they don't want, I'd love a used one. Why do I want to use one?
00:56:58
Speaker 1: Send your hat to test where your used hat. Used hat is up there with used shoes as one of the weirdest things to put on. But look, man, spray it with some lyesoil or something. You're living the life. You got a little bit of time to figure it out as well.
00:57:12
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's going to be tough.
00:57:14
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's right. We got some more injury news. The Grizzlies announced on Friday that Brandon Clark is undergoing a procedure on his knee after having another procedure earlier. There's some complications I suppose on his rehab and he's gonna be reevaluated in six weeks. They also announced that Zach Edy is out another six to nine weeks not nice with his ankle injury, and Jaron Jackson JUNR is expected to return in four to six weeks. Jay Huff went to the Pacers over the summer, So now the only healthy center in Memphis is Jock Landale. This seems like bad news, tests.
00:57:54
Speaker 2: Very bad news. Who is going to play for this team. I know Jock is gonna get out there, He's going to bank some bodies. But this team is small. We talked about the Warriors off the top being small. This is a terribly small team. I think you're going to see a bunch of wings out there. How how big do they go with their wings? Do they you know they size up and put Gigi Jackson, who's also probably still growing because he's a kid like Derek Lively. And you have a bunch of really good wing defenders, Vince Williams, Cedric Coward their new guy. So that bodes well. I guess their team that can get by with their wing depth. I don't know how much they can size up, but it is scary that both those guys you mentioned in Zach ed and jar and Jackson Junior out to go along with Brandon Clark, who has had some injury issues. That just sucks for this Canadian that he just hasn't been able to get out there for full on seasons the last couple of years. And the last year he played a lot of games surprisingly what was banged up in the postseason, And so here we are.
00:58:59
Speaker 1: That's start, Yeah, exactly right, sixty four games for Brandon Clark, but like you're saying, he got hurt towards the end of last year, six games only in the twenty three to twenty four season. Hasn't played more than sixty four games in a season in his career. Just seems to always be banged up. And I was saying earlier there's some teams they're going to be behind the eight ball before the season even really gets kicked off, and I think the Grizzlies could be one of those teams. They've already got a major adjustment to make, going from Taylor Jenkins to now a full season of Isolo as their coach. They did the Desmond Bane for Contavious Caldwell Pope trade, which was more financially motivated than anything. Definitely a downgrade on the court going from Bain to KCP, and now they basically don't have any centers ready to play. Jack Landale was out of the rotation for most of the year with Houston last year. They were happy to see him go, even though they're running out double bigs, and they brought in Clint Cappella, so that shows you what they thought of Jock Landale. Definitely not a starting caliber guy. I do like Santi al Dama, I think he's gonna have to step up massively for the Grizzlies, But you could see them having a really slow start and kind of trying to come from behind once Jared Jackson Junior most especially comes back. I guess it's good news for them that he is the guy who's supposed to be returning, soonest. But yeah, the team looks like they'll be okay whenever they get Edie and Jackson together, like I saw they took, you know, their starting lineup picture together at media Day. The starting lineup looks decent, but it's gonna be a little bit before we actually see them all together.
01:00:41
Speaker 2: I guess. Yeah. The positive is Jared Jackson Junior will be their starting center not too far into the season. It shouldn't take that long. Other positives. When east Elo took over at the beginning of April, he gave the ball to John Rant to run a lot more pick and rolls, and so he will be to do that again. He'll have a different pick setter and Jock Landale, but that guy can set some picks and so it's not on John Morant to be the number one guy for the entire season. But it would have been great to have a camp with Jaron Jackson Jr. Out there running with John Rant when you have your first season under Thomas Islo. So you know all that to say, the other guys like Jackson, who didn't play the entire season last year, will be there healthy and so there's there are some bodies to fill up the roster. While Jared Jackson Jr. Is hurt because he's the primary guy you got to be concerned about. Although you know, Zach Edi had a tough first year too with his injuries, so people will look at him quickly and say, whoa, he's seven to four. Maybe he's always going to have issues. So that's the the worrisome part with him.
01:01:53
Speaker 1: Yeah, definitely worry. Some other thing I wanted to ask you, we saw you know, new photos of old faces in new places. Who do you was the weirdest new player to see in a new jersey at Media Day because we've had, you know, maybe not the most exciting summer, but there was still some player movement during the off season.
01:02:15
Speaker 2: I will say the thing that was weirdest to me was the new look for a bunch of guys not jerseys. I will say, like Jamal Murray has the twists of his hair going. I've never seen him do that before and great sign for Jamal Murray. He was also asked, hey, do you feel like this is gonna be the first year you make the All Star Game? Hey?
01:02:35
Speaker 1: Man, I do. I'm not worried about that.
01:02:37
Speaker 2: I think I'm going to have a good November, I think he said, or maybe he said first month. Either way, he's going to start the season well, he says, he feels healthy. Twists look good. Also, Jason Tatum's braids, Yeah, yeah, as Jalen Brown said, I don't know he was. I guess he was on a twitch. I don't know he was watching. He was looking at a video on his phone. When he saw Jason Tatum with the braids. He said, well, j t will try just the boat anything, and he did, and he looks good. I think he looks good. There's a bunch of different facial hair going around the NBA, so to me, just seeing everybody sitting at their at their new on there at the desk for the press conference with their new look, I thought that was the weirdest thing for me.
01:03:19
Speaker 1: Yeah, you like the new looks. Jimmy Butler playing it straightforward, you know he did, uh, he did the dreadlocks once upon a time. He did Emo Jimmy. Then last year for the heat he was like, I'm locked in normal look. He said. Emo Jimmy might make a return later this year. Because Buddy Healed is a big fan of Emo, Jimmy and those guys are like, uh, just a hilarious mix together. For me, the weirdest player to see in a New Jersey was definitely Kevin Love on the Jazz. He people were saying they should call this guy Big Love after the HBO series about Uh, I think some Mormons in the Utah as well. There was a video Kevin Love with the other New Jazz Usuf Nurkic and Kyle Anderson. These guys didn't necessarily look thrilled to be in Utah, but Kevin Love said prior to aging, he would have taken this as a negative thing and try to like build himself self up, like you know, they wrote me off, but I didn't right back kind of thing. Instead, he's trying to be a positive light to his teammates, which I think means he's going to be pretty nice with the memes because that was something he got really good at there at the end of his Miami tenure.
01:04:36
Speaker 2: He was the meme champ, that's for sure. It's great to have that positivity around for guy like Ace Bailey, who I know most people are saying, well, he didn't want to be here. I think that's a bunch of bull hockey. He looked like he wanted to be there when he was asked about Yesjay. They went on a hike a few weeks ago. He could hear Ace Bailey saying, WHOA, this is the first hike in my life.
01:05:00
Speaker 1: I think.
01:05:02
Speaker 2: He seems super happy, and so I know. We talked about Lowry marketing and where we would where we would place him in terms of the rankings when we did our entire show ranking everybody in terms of a starter, and I said, hey, that guy's an All star man. He's not just a one time All Star. I know it's tough, but there's lots of positivity going around in Utah. I think it will be tough for him to make it, but to see a guy like Ace Bailey, who I think you could say is the most you know, raw talent out there. I know Lowry is really really great player, but if we can see Ace Bailey grow into a really good player, that's obviously incredibly great for the Utah Jazz who've tried year after year after year after year to get the number one pick. They end up with the guy at number five, who supposedly didn't want to be there. But you hear him in the Prescot diferences. In his first one, he was all smiles.
01:06:04
Speaker 1: Yeah, he probably realized I'm gonna get the ball a lot and get to shoot a lot. So, like I know, he wanted to go to Washington where that would have been the case as well, but he decided to part ways with Omar Cooper. I don't know if he was his manager or as agent, but seemed to be kind of a driving force for getting Ace away from Utah. Didn't work out that way, but there's opportunity there. I also saw Lowry markinen H throwing a frisbee.
01:06:29
Speaker 2: Oh I didn't see that.
01:06:30
Speaker 1: Yeah. Yeah, Like they were out on some hills throwing a frisbee with the Jazz guys. So at least they got some uh, some good camaraderie and some beautiful nature out there in Utah. And the uniforms look great like they're going there like they're full on mountain rebrand at this point, because they were kind of like halfway in between last year. But they look really sweet. Uh, just probably not going to be a lot of winds for the Jazz. I also like seeing them.
01:06:55
Speaker 2: Nice jersey, that's a nice purple soft jersey.
01:06:58
Speaker 1: Man, Yeah, I like the Gradient Mountains looks beautiful. It does. Yeah. I liked seeing an old Chris Paul back on the Clippers. That was pretty interesting, wearing their new set of uniforms. And I saw Duncan Robinson has like a little mustache.
01:07:14
Speaker 2: Going there on the Oh that is so hot right now?
01:07:20
Speaker 1: A few guys that were not in camp though, there are some free agents left on the market. People are making noise that this is the first time since two thousand and eight that Russell Westbrook isn't at a media day currently unsigned. Who do you think is the best free agent left on the market? Task so that anybody out there that can still help a.
01:07:38
Speaker 2: Team, Oh yeah, there, it definitely is. It depends what your team needs. Malik Beasley is still available. He's an incredible shooter. He obviously has off court issues. With the investigation still ongoing, Am I right that it's still ongoing?
01:07:57
Speaker 1: It's a question mark to me because there was you know, I think there was a report earlier in the summer that the investigation is over. But yeah, it doesn't necessarily seem totally cleared, right yeah, playing so I don't exactly know what's going down, But no, team has signed him. He's definitely the best player left out there, but I think there are still questions to be answered before some team decides to take the plunge.
01:08:22
Speaker 2: I get it for sure. So that's that's a different definitely a question mark. You mentioned Duncan Robinson. That guy is basically taking Malik Beasley's spot with the Pistons, although it seems like the Pistons can still re sign Malik Beasley, would be a far far smaller contract than he initially was going to get. But I mean that's an incredible shooter that's still available. Jonathan Kaming is still available as a great scorer out there. But I would say because those two guys are question marks, Quentin Grimes, I think is the best player if you know, if you want, what you're getting is a lock of a good secondary off the ball score, but will also be fine taking the best offensive player on the defensive end. He's your guy, he's available, So I would go through those three. But I think there's some other flyers that you could take on a bunch of players that are still available.
01:09:26
Speaker 1: Yeah, exactly right. I mean Beasley, like we said, big time question mark, kaminga yet to be resolved. Seems likely he'll be on the Warriors one way or another, just because the reporting around him is that trade talks have been shut down, basically on the Warrior side saying we're not increasing our offers out there. Everybody knows what the score is here. We'll see what happens. And then Grimes feels like he's going to be back on the Sixers some way or another. They've only offered him like a four year, forty million dollar contract something on a low value. But he opened a lot of eyes last season after the Dallas deal was done, and he kinda took the opportunity to put some forty point games up and show how much more he can do with the ball. Just doesn't feel like there's a team for him that's going to spend a lot of money. So maybe he takes the qualifying offer, goes back to Philadelphia, has another good season, and then is able to go into unrestricted free agency. But the Flyers, the questions are like, is Westbrook going to get signed and which team will sign him? Maybe Dallas is interested. I haven't looked at their financials to know if they can even do it, but they're a team that is lacking in point guard depth, even though they did bring back Dennis Smith Junior and then Ben Simmons. I suppose is a question as well. He played in the NBA last year. Apparently the Knicks were kicking the tires on him. But it's not entirely certain that Ben Simmons wants to continue his NBA career. I think Stephan Bondi reported.
01:10:53
Speaker 2: That I will throw in a couple guys that have maybe produced an emergency podcast on our show, Cam Reddish is available.
01:11:05
Speaker 1: I thought he signed overseas. Oh did he Yeah, he's playing for some team overseas. Now, Oh he's in Lithuania.
01:11:12
Speaker 2: Maybe, huh, I didn't see that.
01:11:14
Speaker 1: You see saw Louis Okay sal le I. He's playing in the Lithuanian League.
01:11:21
Speaker 2: Oh, okay, surprising. I would have thrown him in like sort of into the camp with Delan o'banton, who's still available as in a very capable guy. We were talking about Portland recently. I think that was last year where Chauncey Phillips only played him in fourth quarters for a while and he was like one.
01:11:40
Speaker 1: Of the best fourth quarter scores in the league or something like that, right, Dolan o'banton. That's a good call. My team should take a gamble on him.
01:11:46
Speaker 2: Yeah. Yeah, a younger version of Cam Reddish who yeah didn't Yeah he didn't click. But Delan Bennett feels like I can still can still get there. It's the Cam Reddish level.
01:12:01
Speaker 1: That people like us.
01:12:05
Speaker 2: Did an emergency podcast for because you know, he had that great playoff series with the Atlanta Hawks when they went to the conference finals. As he contributed in that series, but I wouldn't say great series.
01:12:22
Speaker 1: Yeah, he contributed. The only reason we did Cam Ruddish emergency podcast is because he was the number ten overall pick. There's no other reason. He hasn't necessitated a podcast before or since he been back. He played defense though for a while. He did up in that series, that's for sure. Yeah, that was a sixer series. I think Sixers Hawks.
01:12:44
Speaker 2: Yeah, the Bucks one is Yeah, the Bucks was the conference finals where they lost. Yeah, he was playing in that when he was playing Chris Midleton alright. In that one.
01:12:54
Speaker 1: There's a bunch of old guys like you mentioned point.
01:12:56
Speaker 2: Guard, like if you desperately need one, Corey Joseph literally was arting for the Alarto Magic last year for a bit, he's available, and then Seth Curry we talked about and there's a real oldies out there, like Markis Morris or DeAndre Jordan. If you want a locker room smiler, he's still available. Jic listed all the guys that he's gonna miss from his team left this past season. DeAndre Jordan was one of them.
01:13:25
Speaker 1: Vlacho Chanchar Yeah, yeah, I think he listed basically every Nugget who was on the team last year except for Michael Porter Jr.
01:13:34
Speaker 2: That's right. Yeah, I wonder why that happened. And Reggie Jackson, now that you mentioned Nuggets, he's available. Need a deep, deep roster player.
01:13:45
Speaker 1: I can see him coming back. I saw Tory Craig and Jay Crowder were out there. Those are guys that always get signed at the end of the season to some team. But yeah, the bargain bin is getting pretty empty here. I guess the biggest question mark is probably I wonder if the team will decide to give him a run. We shall see anything else tasks from these couple of media days, or shall we wrap things up?
01:14:11
Speaker 2: I think our media day out at this point. I think I've mentioned everything I possibly know from media Day, all the other stuff was like why talking Dearn Fox as well, Uh, the fact that he's got a hamstring injury, He's not gonna be ready for the first game of the season. So although Victor women Yama is fricking ready and seems like he's very well cultured, after this off season, he doesn't get a training camp with the Aaron Fox.
01:14:45
Speaker 1: That's that's too bad. Yeah, Fox is also recovering from like finger surgery as well.
01:14:51
Speaker 2: But hamstring means you can't run in training camp at all. You can't get possessions with Victor women Yama. You're gonna miss no. Remember first is the target date, So not only are going to miss the first game, you're going to miss a few. So that's things. And then the Kauhi stuff, as you said.
01:15:10
Speaker 1: Yeah, the Kauhi stuff. I mean, there's not much else for the Clippers to do besides duck the question and say we look forward to the investigation proving that we were doing legal stuff. Though it does seem pretty notable that when they're asked if Uncle Dennis is asking for things outside of the limits of the salary cap, and they're basically like, yeah, we all know the rules, they're not just saying no. You know, they could easily say no, he didn't ask for anything like that, but they are clearly not saying that, So we will see what transpires there. Johannis made some waves as well, not being at Bucks training camp because he was diagnosed with COVID when he was over in Greece, though he zoomed in and kind of confirmed that, yeah, he had looked at some other places. I think that will probably still continue to be a storyline throughout the season his future with Milwaukee. But they signed his brother, they brought in Miles Turner. They did what they could to keep youian Us around over the summer, and if he's able to play to an MVP level like we've seen for the past seven seasons, the Bucks still have a chance in the Eastern Conference as a playoff team. So maybe that's something that keeps you on Us happy enough to stick around, because it doesn't seem like he wants to leave. But he also is always mentioning that the only thing he cares about is playing for a competitive team that's trying to win.
01:16:31
Speaker 2: So yeah, and he did it. He had a long interview with Harris Staver in Greece, and I know a lot of people weren't tracking this Greek interview, but it's the first time I got to hear some real Greek. I don't consume a lot of Greek in my day to day, so I watched this whole thing, and I think one thing that didn't make a lot of headlines was him saying, yeah, I'd play in Europe at some point. And I know he didn't go hard on it, but he made it clear like sort of as you're as you're implying that he would be comfortable leaving Milwaukee at some point if things aren't going well. I think he knows that he is. He's not getting younger, he's thirty, and at some point he would be comfortable leaving Milwaukee if it's the right scenario. Now, Europe is way down the road, and he did say part of it is are they going to pay me the same as they do in America? And the answer no, I don't think so. I don't think it's even close. But there's there's some very rich European team owners that could I mean there's there was he even I think it was him who brought up, you know, MESSI coming to America in as a as a sort of a comparison.
01:17:52
Speaker 1: And so he didn't.
01:17:53
Speaker 2: He didn't rule it out, you know, five years or six years down the road. So you make a good point about even going somewhere else in the NBA. We don't. We don't know that Yanis is going to be there forever. And he is, you know, watching what's going on with Luca et cetera, and he knows very clear that it'd be fine with him at some point, I think too, to move on if things aren't great going well in Milwaukee.
01:18:22
Speaker 1: Although he loves Cole Anthony as his point guard man. He loves Anthony. Cole Anthony seems like a fun guy to have around. We'll see what happens with Giannis. I can definitely see at the end of his career, when he's ready to hang it up in the NBA, maybe he decides to go play overseas in Europe, maybe even in like whether it be this Lebron led league or this Adam Silver League, like helping launch it. He could play with all of his brothers on the same team. Get the Nasis over there. Costas is already playing overseas as well. Isn't there an Alex Antetokounmpo. Yeah, he's around all right, So that's four out of five. You can have a full team of Anto Tokumpo's if you're honest.
01:19:00
Speaker 2: So Desires, Yeah, Francis his brother Francis from if I am correct, he played soccer for a while. He can be out there.
01:19:08
Speaker 1: Call him up. Why not? Five on sa Chakompas sounds like a tough team to beat overseas, at least as for us. We'll be back sometime later this week. These teams are starting to practice. Maybe we'll get some news. We'll definitely hear about COMINGA and Grimes and what they decide to do with their contracts. So hopefully nobody gets hurt and any of these practices. I feel like we've had a lot of injuries in off season workouts that they're starting to surface right now. We've also got no buffs later this week. Episode two of Survivor is Wednesday night, so we'll be back on Thursday, and then we're getting into the season preview Season tasks NBA starts on October twenty first is Night one, so next week we're going to be starting our preview stuff. We'll do over under podcasts for the Eastern and Western Conference. We will talk about your your favorite team.
01:20:01
Speaker 2: Garone teed.
01:20:02
Speaker 1: Very exciting time.
01:20:04
Speaker 2: It is an exciting time, looking forward to it. Man, it feels right, it feels it feels exciting. Adam Silver is right. Parody's great, Parody's great. A lot of teams out there with a chance to win.
01:20:16
Speaker 1: Everybody's undefeated right now, even the Clippers. Shout out to the Clipper bro. You heard it here first. Have a great time, turn up, love you guys awesome.
01:20:29
Speaker 2: Thanks for joining us, and remember disc golf is better than frisbee fun, just better.
01:20:36
Speaker 1: Embrace the disc people.