Grizzlies, Spurs, and Mavs: Summer Moves and Future Dreams

it's wednesday, you know what time it is. Frontrunner podcast collective is back on the air. I am your humble host, vince, and on today's podcast we'll be breaking down the west a little bit. We've been spending a lot of time in the east so we have decided to do a little. Since school is back in session, we thought that we could bring back like an old situation. If you I'm sure they still do this in school they have like show and tell or tell us how your summer went. Whatever case may be, we will be looking at the memphis grizzlies, we'll be looking at the san antonio spurs and we will also look at the dallas mavericks, what they've done in the offseason, how we feel about it and as we get closer and closer to september and football obviously football is back, baby for sure. We'll be watching college football all weekend long, for sure. But we must carry on with the traditions of this podcast conditions of this podcast. We must also talk about our over the over unders and things of that nature, like how the west and how the east is going to look. We will be doing that towards the end of september, leading into october. So what we'll be doing now is focusing a lot of our attention from here on out, unless there's some breaking news that goes down on the west, since we spent basically the whole summer on the east. So we're going to be again talking about the memphis grizzlies, the dallas mavericks and the san antonio squares and the San Antonio Squares. In this particular podcast. We are Now back. Whole Folks are back. The Silent Assassin, soraya, is back From her hiatus, and things of that nature. So we're doing that. She will be providing notes To this illustrious podcast, which I am extremely grateful for.

Uh, the one thing that we want to talk about before we get into the pod is this we need you guys to continue the onslaught of telling people about the podcast. We've tried to grow in numbers. We're doing that. I appreciate you. You appreciate the podcast. It's a symbiotic relationship, love it. So we need to continue that.

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Let's get into this pod. We don't need to dilly-dally around. We are going to get right into it and we're going to start on Beale Street. We're going to start in Memphis, tennessee. Welcome back, sor.

You are now back in the groove, and what we're going to be doing right now is we're going to be talking about a team that is in flux. It's show and tell time and today's object is the Memphis Grizzlies. Think of this as the hustle and flow. Sometimes you don't have the shine, but sometimes you don't have the budget, and if you got a mic and a beat and a dream, you can still make something shake. And that's what the Grizzlies are trying to do.

Remember their big deal this offseason. There's been a couple of them. Desmond Bain is no longer a Grizzly, he is now an Orlando Magic. We will talk about the haul that they got back momentarily. Now a dude who felt like family had the barbecue energy is now gone. This is the consistent score that they had on the team. This is the guy who provided the spacing. Now in return, they picked up four future first round picks and also playoff tested vet Contavious Caldwell Pope hoping to regain his shooting stroke on Beale Street. Now in the draft they took Cedric Coward. This is one of our guys. This is one of the guys that we had our eye on the entire draft situation. He is one of our dudes and we are looking forward to Cedric Coward, who was at Washington State last year, only played six games, but we're looking forward to seeing what he could do as a Memphis Grizzlies. The one thing that he's going to be able to give you it's a little bit more than what Desmond Bayne was giving you is the defensive intensity and also being able to be a point of attack defender. I love this. I love this pick. Kleiman has done it again in Memphis. He's been brilliant. So this is when you look at these picks.

Soraya just dropped this in chat. She said the Bain trade stings emotionally, but by stacking the 2026, 2028 and 2030 picks, memphis has more ammo than a non-okc team in the west. Keep that in mind is that the team that drafts very well, seems to be able to, every couple years, find a real diamond in the rough, so to speak, has more draft capital ammo to be able to spray across the lake. And as DJ said in Hustle and Flow, it's hard out here being a pimp. It really is, but the translation for the Memphis Grizzlies Is that it's hard out here being a small market GM. But Kleiman does what he needs to do. He turns hardship into spectacular.

Think about what we thought of Desmond Bain coming into the league, or for a lot of us, or you know, I know I felt really good about Desmond Bain, but for the people who weren't like checking in on him in the college basketball season, you probably didn't know a lot about him. And Cedric Howard has that same type of shooting ability. Now, not as far as the volume is concerned, but as far as the percentages and if we can extrapolate that out and get him to shoot more, and you're talking about somebody who's shooting over 40% in the college ranks If he can stretch his range out and keep that same percentage. Look out, and then you got a top flight defender as well on top of it, and then whatever Cedric Coward can bring to the team In his first year. Now, last season was I don't know if you want to call it debacle, it really wasn't. They had long stretches Of the year where they weren't able to beat a good team To save their life. So the second half of the year, I think, they lost to every team that was a playoff contender. And then that showed itself up in the Oklahoma City sweep of them 4-0. And Memphis felt this was the opening act of a festival and OKC just unplugged their mic halfway through and you can sit there and say it was the injuries John Morant hip contusion.

Jaron Jackson Jr Now has toe surgery. Zack Eadie ankle. Brandon Clark knee. You can say continuity. You can say we didn't have all our lieutenants. All of this is true, but in the west, the brutal west, denver is still denver. Okc is basically start up with draft picks. Dallas has the now flag Kyrie, uh, anthony Davis triumvirate. So you got a lot of teams out here and we we haven't even got to Houston. And how awesome their offseason was. It is imperative that the Memphis Grizzlies make strides and we're going to talk about how they can make those strides.

Ty Jerome was also a pickup for the Memphis Grizzlies. He signed a three-year deal, 27.6 million. This is a awesome piece of business by rich climate. I mean this is great, it's a move, it's a movable piece down the road if that's something that you want to do, but what he can provide for you as far as the shooting is concerned, as far as the offensive playmaking is concerned, this is a guy who can definitely help this team. He's got to stay injury free but he can help this team. And everybody's got a dream. Memphis dream is simple keep jaw healthy, make triple. J's worth the extension and hope that the new wings grow very fast. And this is where we're gonna start on how the Memphis Grizzlies can get their mojo back.

John Morant played 50 games last year 23.2 points a game, 7.3 assists. It wasn't MVP job, but he's still one of the maybe five guards and leads who can collapse. He can collapse the defense on command. His challenge is going to be always the same thing can you stay in starting lineup? If you look at his injury history, if you look at like the last four, like the last four years, I don't think he's played more than 63 games in any of those years for somebody who is supposed to be the leader of this team.

It's time for jah to um become more mature in what he does. As far as his offseason workouts are concerned, he needs to make sure he's doing everything in his power to stay on the court and lead his team, not just by. Hey, I'm out here and I got the antics, I got the swag and whatever the case may be, no, I need to be out here making plays, balling out of control, taking some of the burden off Jaron Jackson Jr, who we'll get to in one second, and also keep in mind Now that you don't have Desmond Bain anymore. Yes, jaron Jackson Jr is a pretty good scorer. He needs things to surround him to be that scorer that you need him to be, so keep that in mind. This is another reason why John Morant must stay healthy or stay out of trouble, which you know last couple years he has it's been unfortunate injuries that have really gotten him and he's been snake bit with with those. There has to be some maturity and a level of responsibility towards his teammates and this franchise that's invested a lot in jock.

Now our guy jaron jackson jr. He got that five year $216 million bag. We were super excited for him. For sure. The extension screams this. I'm in charge of me. Okay, straight out of hustle and flow. He's a defensive keystone to this team. Hit 37.5% of his threes, which makes him a legit stretch big now, but the foul trouble still stalks him like a substitute teacher. Already wrote your name on the board, you know you in trouble. Our guy needs to stay out of foul trouble. He needs to not commit silly fouls 35, 40 feet away from the basket sometimes. He has carl anthony town syndrome and we need to have a little less of that, little less. Now.

A guy who came onto the scene last year that made bane maybe a little bit more replaceable, also with the advent of cedric howard being on the team, is our guy jalen wells. Jalen wells was a absolute just manna from heaven, basically came out of nowhere. He averaged 10.4 points per game. He was third in rookie of the year. Voting probably would have been higher if he hadn't gotten hurt. The size, the shot making the motor, because he brings a lot of defensive intensity. I think that this kid is going to be as impactful of a guy, especially now that they have lost Bain and also Marcus Smart and along with their rookie, cedric Howard, who is 6'6", super versatile, efficient with his shot making. He shot nearly 60% in college. If Wells Is in there Doing his thing, howard is one of those other guys could really cause havoc.

On the defensive end you got two guys long-armed who are good point-of-attack defenders, very aggressive when it comes to that Handsy getting deflections, and you want that and you need that, especially if Ja is who Ja is, and that is not something that I take lightly when I say this about Ja, because I love Ja Morant. I think that Ja Morant is really good for the league when he's healthy. The problem is that Ja Morant is slight. He's 6 foot 3. They list him at like 180. I wonder about that Sometimes, how skinny Jai is. He's super bouncy, but he's so what's the word I'm looking for? Reckless With what he when he thinks to go ahead and take off because he will try dunks on anybody, anybody, he will try anybody in this league. He has no fear. Sometimes that's a good thing.

Sometimes it makes you miss a ton of the regular season and in this climate in the west that is not possible anymore. You cannot just give up 20 plus games, 25 plus games and in josh's situation last year he gave up 32 games to be missing, you know, large chunks of the season at a time. Then we got to work you back into the rotation. We got to. You know people were playing in a sense out of position or upping their role, production and opportunities, and now they are supposed to just snap back to whatever role they were in. That takes time, a lot of time. So I am high on what rich climate was able to do.

I love the ty jerome signing. He averaged 12.5 points per game last year. He's your six-man stabilizer. But and like I said, we talked about Jalen Wells from previous draft and also Cedric Howard these are the foundation pieces that you continue to dig up and then acclimate to your system and then work. It's a good team. Are they ready to contend with the big boys this year? I don't know. It's a question.

Now let's look at the high valued assets that the the grizzlies have. John morant will be making 39.4 million this year. Tom Morant will be making $39.4 million this year, along with Jaron Jackson Jr making $35 million. Contabious Caldwell Pope will be making $26.1 million and Brandon Clark is going to be making $12.5 million. They've locked up $110 million into these four players, and that's before you even get to the rookie class.

In an era of second-achron hell, memphis has to hustle with the calculator. They have to make business decisions that are sometimes painful, and this is where the bank trade comes to fruition. It wasn't just basketball, it was economics, pure and simple. You flip a max extension guy into four first round draft picks. Then you gotta, you gotta do that, especially in Memphis, where you know that that's not what they do. They don't. They're not going to be this high spending apron. You know aversion to well. I mean, they're definitely apron averse, but they do not want to play in the aprons. They understand what their team is about. They understand that they have to win in the margins and they've done a good job over the years to do that.

Now, if the team has shown any playoff readiness or something that you can build on, I think that the ownership group would have allowed this team. But with taylor jenkins being fired and bringing in the new coach with like nine games to go last year which is nuts this team needs to show something for them to go and get into that situation again. But they bought themselves some time by going ahead and Cutting down on the money that Devin Bain was making. You know, you cut like 16, 17 thousand dollars off your 17 million dollars off your books Kind of gives you a little soft reset, which is real good. You kind of need that.

Now some people ask themselves did memphis outsmart themselves? Because look, bane is a walking 20 points, 40 from three and the type of locker room glue that you don't usually trade, and all of those things are true. But they bet on john moran, they bet on their star. Also, it is hard for a team in a market like memphis to sit there and say, hey, we're gonna get rid of the, the, the guy that this town revolves around. Remember the silk walker in portland and remember the whole situation with dane before he got traded. We have four years of rumors of whether dane was going to stay go. Was he going to be tired of losing in the first round, not making it to the playoffs? Why couldn't they put a six foot six wing player around, dame? That has not been the question in memphis.

The question in memphis has been continuity. Can you get it? Can Josh stay healthy and or stay on the court due to off the court issues and the only reason I bring it up is because these are some of the things that have kept him off the court for significant amounts of time. So this is not like a. We're not trying to bring up old stuff. All we're trying to do is give you paint you a picture of what it's been.

But they decided on him instead of sticking with bang. So that is the question and that's the bet that climbing has decided. We're gonna bet on jaw. We're gonna bet on the guy who hasn't played more than 63 games in his entire career. This is a guy also who is going to have issues with kicking rolls because he's so slight. Can we curtail his aggression? Going to the, going to the uh, painted area where the land of the giants live, so you don't get hurt as much because jaws has shoulder injuries and things of that nature and those things? As you get older, they start to creep up on you more. He has to find a way to get a mid-range shot. He has to find a way to get a mid-range shot. He has to be better at three-point shooting, which he's not that good at, and I can hear some of the fans now. So we gave a culture for maybe fix bane's deal is looming, 200 and million, 200 million dollars coming through. That extension was just about to hit.

Now, whatever you want to say about contavious caldwell pope, he still defends at a playoff level. He's a career 37 percent from deep. He does have his dry spells. You know he didn't shoot the ball well at all in orlando and you can say, well, was that the, was that the cliff that was about to start? And you'd be well within your right to say that. Now, if you want to say, do we have KCP insurance? With the advent of Ty Jerome and also Cedric Howard and Jalen Wells, you could say that Cedric Howard can't defend like KCP can and Jalen Wells, which he is a very good defender. It takes a while to learn all the tricks and tricks of the trade.

Now, while Memphis was thinning the wing area or kind of retooling the wing area, they they did re-sign Santi Aldama at a $52.5 million situation. You know, hey, the Patriots League's finest is quietly a 3-D stretch 4 now Doing his thing, shooting the ball very well, playing defense and everything like that. You know what he's all about. So here's the deal, here's what we're looking for if we want true success out of memphis. John moran has to play 65 plus games. I would actually put that total more at like 68, but you know we'll say 65 because 65 gets you into the regular season awards and things of that nature.

Jaron Jackson Jr needs to live up to his defensive player of the year. Top 5 averages 22-8. Shoot the 3 point shot at 36-37%. Jalen Wells needs to take another step forward, shooting 38 percent from deep on, like six attempts per game, like Bane Light. This is Bane Light or Bane or Bane. It's now Bane Clone because he plays more defense and can Cedric Howard, who probably had the best interviews of any potential draft pick last uh, this last draft cycle? Can he break into the rotation by December and play like 20 minutes a game by March?

Memphis wins 47 games, sneaks into the playoffs. I don't think they're going to be a 5 seed, I think they'll be more like a 7-8 seed. Now, if the kids hit, jaron Jackson Jr takes another step forward. We get 70 games from John Morant. What does that look like? Does that get them into the top 6? Who knows? The West is stacked.

The front office I've talked to think that memphis is one of those is like a player away and that player is not on the roster as of yet. So with the four picks that you got from orlando plus the picks that you have, is there a deal that can be swung, that can help them kind of thicken that lineup, thicken that rotation, allow people to kind of be put into their proper positions where they're more comfortable and there's not more of a burden on them? If not, we're going to be worried about Jod's health. If not, we're going to be worried about jobs, health. We're going to be worried about jaron jackson jr's mega extension and can he live up to it and provide the production that you need to have with that type of contract? And will the bane trade be something of a draft war chest or will it be something by the end of the season that memphis grizzly fans are just reminiscing about all the huge shots that desmond baines hit during his time in memphis.

This is a tough year to kind of go and rediscover yourself. You know we're going to talk about a couple other teams that have made moves and kind of changed their outlook or whatever. But keep in mind OKC is the defending, reigning defending champions Denver, who was the one team that pushed the Oklahoma City Thunder to seven games, got deeper and Jokic is still just as devastating as he's ever been. And then you got Houston, who might have shored up their front court or their half court offense by getting one of the best shooters that we've ever seen in Kevin Durant. So all I can say is that good luck, memphis. In the stack west.

There's a lot of questions that need to be answered on Bill Street before we can sit here and certify the Memphis Grizzlies as a team that has kind of Reshuffled the deck and have come out the other side better Than they were with the sum of their parts In the last couple years. Who knows, but I am looking forward To find that out. That leads us to a team that is getting some people back, made some changes, and they have some questions too that we need to have answered, and that is the San Antonio Spurs. Now the San Antonio Spurs are looking at a situation where they are looking to crash the party. They were not a playoff team last year, albeit they were starting to stalk their way to that position before Victor Wimbayama went down with the deep vein thrombosis situation. The San Antonio Squares are literally kind of going to be like a wedding crasher this year. Think about it. Every team in the West is out here throwing their own reception. The Thunder, they're the defending champions, like we said. Denver Nuggets are out here saying, hey, we had an incredible offseason. But here's the deal the return of the seven foot five victor win by yama, and he got some dudes with him. What are you gonna say? Before we get into all that, let's talk about this roster's story. It is not always romantic, sometimes it's messy, sometimes it's just a complete rom-com, but it's fascinating.

And the Spurs they traded for De'Aaron Fox last year. Remember that during the trade deadline, fox was upset about Mike Brown being let go. They brought in Doug Christie, darren Fox, who had gone through coaching changes, gone through regime changes there and seeing the Sacramento Kings take another step back. It wasn't good business for him and he decided that, hey, I'm going to go ahead and kind of flex my muscle here and I'm going to get myself out of town. And, lo and behold, he ends up in San Antonio. He ends up with Victor Wimbayama Yama.

Last season, the the Kings were kind of waffling on whether they were gonna give our guy Darren Fox the max extension. The squares had no problem with that. They are betting big on Wendy's being a phenomenal talent and just making leaps and bounds this next season, and Fox as, like, a veteran who's still young, who has done some incredible things in this league so far, and we'll get to those in one second. But here's the one thing I do have with this Both guys are looking to win, both guys are looking for some sort of whatever you want to call it uh, redemption story, things of that nature. Victor went by.

Yama, keep in mind, is the budding megastar of this team and of the nba, while meanwhile dearon fox has been the clutch player of the year, won the award a couple years ago. Clutch time numbers off the charts. But can they play together? Who gets the ball? Matter of fact, we got some other questions about Deere and Fox in one second. Now, clearly, the answer will always be Wimby until proven otherwise. I can't say this enough. We are still in the developing stages of Big Vic, which is scary. This is year three. Okay, year three.

Fox is a Ferrari, but does a Ferrari fit in a garage built for a skyscraper, like Wimpy? That is the gamble that we're playing here, because, remember, fox was the dude in Sacramento. Like it gets to be crunch time, oh, I get the ball. I dictate terms that can't be in san antonio. Now. Can he help victor win by yama be better? Can he help him get into more favorable spots and and what have you, and then play it like a secondary role? He sure the hell can.

But that adjustment Is hard for guys. It's not easy Giving up. Oh, I was a guy who was taking 26 to 28 shots or whatever. And now this dude Is going to be the guy that does that and oh, by the way, he's still developing. So it's like we're going to be the guy that does that and oh, by the way, he's still developing. So it's like we're going to have some nights where it looks fantastic, it looks all world alien, like whatever you want to call it, all the adjectives that we can give to it, and they're going to be nights where we're scratching our head, going what happened, what happened here? This, this, this, this doesn't look good. And then deer and fox is supposed to sit there and just kind of eat that true love is hard to find. True love is even harder to maintain. Wimby and fox will be trying to figure it out this year how to share the ball.

Here's a note from serea. Fox averaged 23.5 points per game last season on 46 shooting. His on-ball usage rates was 28.3 13 highest in the nba. Now, the reason why it was only 23.8 percent as far as this usage is concerned, remember DeMar DeRozan, who's another guy, who was one of that Clutch Player of the Year award has now made his presence felt in the state capital of California. Our guy, de'aaron Fox, is used to having like a 31% to 32% usage rate. He's not going to have that in San Antonio, and here's the reason why.

And here's the biggest question that I have About the San Antonio Spurs and there's no way they had a crystal ball In knowing this. But here is where it gets really spicy. San Antonio Drafted Dylan Harper, son of Ron Harper. But here is where it gets really spicy. San antonio drafted dylan harper, son of ron harper, with the second overall pick in the 2025 nba draft. Now, to complicate matters even further, the year prior they had already drafted stefan, who wants to be a lead guard. So now you got two bridesmaids fighting over Bouquet. Who gets the shine, who gets stuck in the corner? We have no idea, but we are absolutely fascinated of how this is going to turn out.

Now I'm going to tell you my thoughts. I endorse Harper. I love his game, but castle is legit too and when everybody wants to be the lead singer, sometimes the band breaks up. Harper is more of a polished uh of the two as far as context of a lead guard, the two as far as context of a league. Art. Castle has unique defensive abilities that keep him on the court when he's shooting only 20 28 beyond the arc. Can you imagine? You can imagine when dylan harper is on the court and castle is clacking for the ball, he's going to pull out like a wedding crashers quote. He's going to say you shut your mouth when you're talking to me. I'm literally thinking that is going to happen Because Harper don't take no mess. You know what I'm saying.

He comes from old school genes, which is Ron Harper. And if you knew what Ron Harper was really about back in them streets back in the day, he was tough nose defender and this is a guy who had like a devastating knee injury like before the ACL. Surgery got really, really good. He had one. He lost a ton of athleticism, remade himself into like a jump shooting defensive point of attack defender causing havoc or everywhere, wherever he went. So he probably implemented some of well, I wouldn't say the defense or whatever into his son. He just that mentality he just just implemented into his son.

Now, castle oh so rare's note harper averaged 19.4 points a game and four assists at records last year. Uh, castle put up 14.7 points per game last year and 4.1 assists as a spurs rookie. Point, one assists as a Spurs rookie. Those are the two guys that are going to need development and where is their runway of development? This is a question that we're gonna have to answer now. To top it all, off this offseason or before the offseason, greg Popovich officially retired the Spurs promoted Mitch Johnson, long-time assistant, to head coach.

Now Popovich has been with the Spurs for a long time. You can sit here and say, well, it's time for that old man to leave, or whatever. Remember Victor Wimbayama listened to Pop. Remember Victor Weng Waiyama listened to Pop. And I'm not saying that Victor will become a malcontent with Mitch Johnson running the squad. I don't think that at all. But you have to say that the vibe is a little bit different. You know it's a little bit different. Now. Sideline reporters and post-game scrums are going to be probably a breath of fresh air because you're not going to have the snark nor the kind of petulance that you will see from pop in those situations. But continuity without pop is still unknown. Johnson will need to prove he can earn the veterans trust while developing the kids who all want the ball.

Now, with all that being said, winby is bought in, it's a go. As soon as win by yama goes all roman emperor with thumb down signal. Spicy town, usa. Here we come. Okay, letting you know right now this only goes as vict Wimbayama lets it go.

But there's a lot of stuff swirling around in San Antonio and I understand that organization has been one of the model organizations as far as just hey, we keep our head down, we do our work, we handle our business. This is a dynamic that I don't know if this team has been like in for quite some time now. They saw the the balance of power shift between when tim duncan got there and david robinson was still there and some of the older vets were still there, and then Duncan became his team. So it's not like They've not seen this before, but it's a different day and age now and Mitch isn't pop. He can't be His job. His job is to manage egos, not reinvent the Spurs philosophy. Think Doc Rivers.

Without the the blown 3-1 leads, we have no way of knowing what awaits us in the future. All we can do is use the information at hand. So the Spurs are rolling dice on Mitch Johnson. Other guys that are going to be helpful to them is Harrison Barnes. Harrison Barnes is a true vet in this league but also one of, like, the most respected dudes in the league there. He handles himself very well super, professional, super, uh amendable to whatever situation he's been offered. You're gonna have a guy who is going to be able to shepherd some of these rookies and kind of groove them through this process.

Now, when you think about, uh, paying attention to the two guys in a room that make the most cake, makes the most cake as far as whatever case may be with Victor Wang by Yama and Darren Fox, barnes provides spacing and a bouncing act of development for me and also should be a major point of interest to corvida nation also. The essential holdovers are devin, vasil and keldin. Johnson serea has dropped this note in the chat. Barnes harrison barnes, to be to be exact, shot 39% last season from the three-point land castle needs to be attached at the hip of Barnes just for the tricks of the trade. If moving off ball is the permit is going to be for the more permanent basis, barnes will not complain about touches.

Olenek is there also as a guy who can, you know, kind of spare Wimby. As far as that's concerned as well, I like that little pick up. I like the Luke Cornett deal. I forgot about Luke Cornett. Luke Cornett is a 7 foot 3 dude who is going to play his role to a tee. He's come over. He's making 10 to 11 million dollars. He's going to back up Wimby. He's going to block some shots, get some rebounds, get you 6 to 8 points, nothing fancy but he's going to show up with his lunch pail every single day.

The Spurs now, with Fox being extended, with Fox at $37 million. You got Vassell at $27 million, now Barnes is at $19 million, olenek is at $13 million. And then you got winley and you got harper, who are uh, one was the number one overall pick and victor went by yama. You have harper, who was a second overall pick. So their rookie deals are going to scale a little bit higher than normal. They are in a position where they're going to be up against this cap pretty soon. No, from serea square's project. 148 million dollars is their salary structure in the next season. That's the highest since the duncan parker genoble era. What were they doing then? They were winning championships. That's what they were doing now.

Remember, pop was always able to squeeze championship dna out of his role players, but johnson faces the challenge of justifying big money in a results driven league. Who's gonna go? Also, again, I want to continue to say this I'm not gonna. I'm gonna beat this like a dead horse. Where is the runway for stefan castle and dylan harper? How much time are they actually going to get on the court? Darren fox likes to play like 34 36 minutes a game game. Devin Vassell needs his minutes. Kelton Johnson needs his minutes. You're going to have Dylan Harper out here playing like 12, 14 minutes a game. What's the role of Stephon Castle? Obviously he's going to have to shoot it better. Are you giving up on that type of defense, especially if you're looking to contend? Imagine giving a wedding toast right after Vince Vaughn. That's what Mitch Johnson is doing after pop. Every punchline, every eyebrow raise.

Fans will compare Johnson. He's already been thrown into the fire. Remember when by Yama Hellscare last year has already been thrown. He's already been thrown into the fire. Remember went by Yama Hellscare last year navigating the rookie minutes. That was Stephon Castle with the vets that he had last year. Remember Chris Paul was on this team last year too. Then they brought in De'Aaron Fox. He steered the ship, damn near making the playoffs. It was impressive until Victor went down and then all hope was lost.

So he has shown chops that he can do this, but he's gonna need to keep the vibes right. You're gonna have to keep Harper and Castle engaged, because if you lose them he's going to lose the room. Not because those are the straws that started the drink, but those are your big young pieces that need to develop along with Wimbayama. Those are the guys that you're hoping that in the 2028-2029 season. Those are the guys that are helping win by yama hoist the larry o'brien trophy. So it's imperative that you find minutes. It's imperative that you find situations where these dudes can flourish.

Now I will say this Dylan Harper, by some some reason, shows early on in his development. I think he is really the guy that needs to be getting the ball to win B. He's a confident dude. He's thrived in pick and roll at Rutgers Wimby's a skyscraper. Put them together and it does have dynasty potential. I mean we got to see it, but it looks like that also. The pick and pop aspect is a way to utilize the athleticism of Castle and the speed of Fox when both of them are on the weak sides.

The adjustment will have to be made. Most definitely. This is where buy-in comes from all parties involved in the messaging, from the coaching staff, and maybe a couple nudges from Quiet Legends and Tim Duncan and manny ginobili comes in quite handy. But if you can get dylan harper, who really to me is a maestro with the basketball, you can say what you want.

One of the reasons why trey young is so upset in atlanta is because of the fact that darren fox got a max deal and trey young is saying I'm a better guard than that dude. I am a better guard. Now I might have some deficiencies on the defensive end. Maybe my attitude is kind of shitty sometimes or whatever it is, but as far as production is concerned I'm better than him and I can't deny that. I can deny that you are a huge. You are a bigger headache than darren fox. Darren fox is a hard worker. He's never shot the ball very well from outside. He has shown improvement in that area, but he still hasn't shot it at a consistent level where you can sit there and go. That dude is gonna shoot 38 this year, right, he's just not shown that.

If you told me that harper manifest grows into this point guard position and you got harper, who's six foot five, long arms, cerebral passing angles that are, um, well beyond his years, if you told me that, hey, this dude is going to be the point guard, we're going to force feed him the point guard situation. We're going to make darren fox the two guard, but he's going to be the point guard situation. We're gonna make Darren Fox the two guard, but he's gonna be the point of attack defense, uh, on the defensive side of the ball. And then also, stephon Castle now becomes our, our wing guy and we're gonna stick him in the corner and we're gonna say, hey, man, you gotta hit these corner threes, but we need your defense and we need your athleticism. I think this is a match made in heaven, because if you tell me that we got victor and let's say I mean right now it's harrison barnes, but you can put anybody in there let's say they were trying to do some sort of spank, pick and roll where he's coming off like double screens or whatever.

You got now victor either flashing to the rim or popping, and this is where it becomes very important if victor pops out to shoot the three, he shot it. What at 35 last year, so a little bit better than normal then that he did his rookie year. If victor win by yama is going to continue to shoot that or shoot even better because that's also a possibility in year three, you know how dangerous the weak side is going to be. If you have de'Aaron Fox, who's screaming off like getting the ball and screaming off a defender closing out on him or, better yet, stephon Castle gets the ball in the corner, we have a hard, hard closeout coming to him in the corner and now he comes off the dribble, off the bounce and is able to attack the rim. These are all things that to me.

I look in my head and go. This could be how you unlock the Spurs and how you can keep De'Aaron Fox On the team, make them viable Because, let's face it, if, if the son of Ron Harper, dylan Harper, hits all of his expected like growth points, he's gonna be a better ball handler and a better decision-maker on ball than De'Aaron Fox could ever imagine. Not to disrespect De'Aaron Fox, but also like let's use your athleticism, let's use the best parts of you to make you even more dangerous on the court. And you also got this super duper alien in Victor Wynn yama, who can not just roll to the basket but also pop. He can shoot the ball from outside, wants to shoot the ball from outside, wants to get like six attempts from three. So if he's doing that, I mean, jesus, you're to have a great situation in San Antonio.

Now I don't know if you're going to see that year one. I don't know if this is something that they play with. You know, throughout this season we see it. But I think that would be the goal for me if I was saying okay, I got Dylan Harper, I got De'Aaron Fox, I have Stephon Castle, let's say, in this world right now, I have Harrison Barnes and I got Victor Wink-Banyama. How can I make this work? How can I make, if this is the most effective five that I have that I could put on the court, like in closing situations? How can I make this more effective?

Obviously, we're hoping for a jump or a leap from stefan castle in the three-point shooting acumen. That is what we're hoping for, all right. Well, let's say it does happen. Let's say he goes from 28 to 34. That would be great. But also the athleticism of stefan castle also. Here's the other thing if you are creating havoc on the defensive end, how many fast breaks, how many easy buckets are dearon fox and stefan castle gonna get? That's just foul money. That, to me, that's what I envision the Spurs to look like at some point Now.

In a couple years, harrison Barnes will be gone. There will be somebody else in that position. Hopefully it's somebody who is a rugged rerouting four, who has some upside shooting the ball, or whatever the case may be. But if you have Stephon Castle on the court, you have De'Aaron Fox on the court, you have Dylan Harper on the court, your ball handling has been taken care of. Oh, and, by the way, victor Wynn-Wyama is not giving up touches. Okay, he's just not doing it.

I'll say this If Harper becomes what he's supposed to become, he might be the actual counterweight to win. In five years from now, this could be the league's most unstoppable duo. I believe that with all my heart. I think that kid is heady. I think the shooting will grow. I don't know if he'll ever be an on-ball defender. I think he's more of a team defender, a chase defender, so to speak. But he is not going to be a guy who can be on-ball. You know, locking up people or whatever the case may be. But you have enough other guys around you and you also have Victor Wynn by Yama. Enough other guys around you and you also have Victor Wynn by Yama who can help if, for some reason, his assignment blows past him. They built this team right. It's just will they be bold, and bold enough to use the pieces that they have and their long-term vision of what they think they have in Harper Castle?

And here's the other thing If for some reason, the San Antonio Squares really believe that they're going to contend, the West is stacked. Okc not leaving. Denver not going anywhere we're going to get to Dallas momentarily. Houston's pretty good. The Clippers made moves. Whatever you think of the Lakers, they got Luka Doncic and LeBron James. Ok, they got those two dudes. Minnesota not going anywhere. Now will Sacramento slide back a little bit, maybe.

Is Portland really doing anything? Probably not. But the rest of the league new orleans still trying to do stuff. Portland is trying to do stuff, matter of fact. So san antonio has a lot of ways that they can improve. They have a lot of ways that I would love to see this roster kind of manifest itself. But if you can get Stephon Castle to agree that you're no longer the lead guard and we really need you to concentrate on these corner threes, man, you are going to get one hell of a team and I would love to see how this team looks More towards, like the trade deadline and beyond.

I think it's going to be rough patches early trying to figure out who is where and how many minutes people are getting. But, man, I hope that we get the very best out of victor win by yama this year. He doesn't get hurt, he's all good. That's my hope. Now we need to get to the Dallas Mavericks, and we got to do that. Think of the Dallas Mavericks as like the white lotus of the NBA. They look glossy, perfect a vacation brochure palm trees, swaying turquoise water, infinity pools where the drinks never stop flowing and the tagline screams paradise awaits. But if you were ever watched white lotus, you know what happens when you open the brochure. The first 10 minutes feel like a luxury and then somebody is screaming in the background. Paradise is a mask underneath drama, betrayal, secrets of every cabana, and that is your 2025-2026 dallas mavericks. Now, on the surface, it's a dream.

You just landed the number one overall pick in Cougar flag. White America. Stand up, our white hope is here. A prodigy, if you will. You brought Anthony Davis over. That's how you got the Luka trade going off squaring up. You know what I'm saying 24-12 capable of doing that. You got d'angelo russell to hold it down for the first half of the season until kairi comes back. Now you can see dysfunction seeping in because d'angelo russell ain't never met a early shot, kalak, a three-point shot that he hasn't loved to shoot. Kyrie is coming off an ACL tear at 33, 34 years of age. Ad had a retina surgery in the last spring.

There is a lot of spiciness going around Dallas. You can say these people aren't special, they're just rich, and for Dallas it's. The roster isn't flawless. They have some real good pieces, but they also have some pieces with question marks. This offseason snapshot is the definition of paradise. Masking as dysfunction. Dallas finished 39-43. They lost in a play-in. Offseason snapshot is the definition of paradise. Masking as dysfunction. Dallas hit is 39 and 43. They lost in a plan. They want to be contending deep. Nico Harrison says defense wins allows them to be contenders. We'll see.

Cooper flag is coming off a year where you scored 19.2 points a game, 7.5 rebounds, 4.2 assists at Duke, shooting 48, 38, and 84. That was his splits. He's going to come with a lot of confidence and swag. But remember this it wasn't not that long ago that Luka Doncic was getting traded. Everybody was freaking out. They thought that Shams had been hacked. You got Dika over here acting like everything's normal. Well, defense wins championships. Well, also, 34 points a game, almost 9 reboundsounds, almost 9 assists also wins championships. Just so you say Dallas has covered their situation with lottery magic.

Lucky into the number one overall pick to get Cooper flag. It was a Hail Mary. A Hail Mary for sure, but you know the ball falls the right way. It was a Hail Mary, for sure, but you know the ping pong balls fall the right way. Now, keep in mind and this is no shade on anybody, on Dallas but when Luka was there, his usage rate was like 35%. Also, you got to look at what the production he was given and whatever case may be, now Anthony Davis can still score the basketball.

Pj Washington is a good little role player. If Derek Lively stays healthy, he's awesome. Cooper flag should be good, but he's still rookie. Where are these points coming from? Where's the offense going to be coalesced at Cooper Flagg? We've said a lot of things about him, how good he is, how good he's going to be. Keep in mind this kid is still 18 years of age. Now he carries himself like a pro. We told you the stats what he shot at Duke 48% from the field, 38% from three and 84% from the line.

Flag has the capabilities of being like a low-level Kawhi Leonard type of defender. He attacks the basket with reckless abandon. He's still trying to figure out how to order uber eats and you want him to carry the franchise on nbat on Tuesday nights. Good luck with that. Now could he match Jason Tatum's rookie shooting profile? Except for Tatum was 19 at the point in time. That makes a big difference, just so you know. Flag is walking into a Dallas locker room with Kyrie. Rehabbing AD is always a medical risk waiting to happen and Jason Kidd is answering questions that he probably don't want to answer. I will say this landing flag giving Dallas a new era. I mean, it's pretty cool. Landing.

Number one overall pillow pick selection was serendipity for sure, or shenanigans. However, you, wherever you stand with that, his, his Duke production was legit. We talked about the numbers there. Now for the guy who's going to hold on to the bulk of the scoring, that would be Anthony Davis' job. Anthony Davis 24.7 points a game. Almost 12 rebounds a game. He's still the guy that is going to get shots up. Bounds of game he's still the guy that is going to get shots up.

What his problem is is that 80 chunks of games in multiple seasons. There's always something you know retina surgery, shoulder injury, ankle injury. There's something and we can sit here and talk about. It's his weight, it's his lack of Wanting to compete at the fly squat. We talk about all of this, but make no mistake about it ad is going to be in a situation where Missing 20 games, missing 22 games, is. Is that just the norm for him now? I mean, he's making 54 million dollars this year coming up, so he's gonna have to do what he needs to do to kind of keep that team until kairi gets back. Kairi tore his left uh acl and he'll be back sometime in 2026, sometime around either in middle of january to early february. That's what kind of like the due date that everybody's kind of looking at.

If you have kairi, you have orchestrated our offense and it will make cooper flag's job a lot easier. It will make anthony david's job a lot easier, but, lo and behold, you got D'Angelo Russell there. So how does this work? D'angelo Russell is not a superstar, he is a holdover. He's kind of like um, like an activity director at a resort, not the reason you book the trip, but the one making sure volleyball games start on time.

He signed a two-year deal, 11.6 million. That's a bargain in this league for back up guards, like 40 percent from three, and his high water mark was 41.5 a couple years ago. They definitely need a smart, savvy d'angelo russell. They need a d'angelo russell that the the reins are kind of taken off. But you got, you can pull back on him, you know, in an emergency situation, because he just Sometimes he just goes off script, and when he goes off script it is just you just wonder what the hell he's doing. Last year he was 12.6 points a game. You know, I'm saying it was sloppy last year. But Again, you're only asking him to do what he needs to do until Kyrie gets back. Now you got some savvy supporting cast vets. Pj Washington is still on his team. Najee Marshall was kind of a revelation. He kind of manned the point guard position last year when Kyrie went out and he didn't do a half bad job. Now Klay Thompson is a year older.

Derek Lively Jr is the guy that you want to stay healthy. He's kind of the hidden gem of this group. He's kind of the guy that if he's healthy and engaged and ready to go, he can be devastating. He's a legit rim protector. He. He's a career 72.9 percent shooting. I mean it's pretty good. So it's not like this team is devoid of talent. It's just that you got injuries with Derek Lively that pop up more often than not. You got injuries with Anthony Davis that pop up more than not. You got Cooper Flagg trying to become whatever he's going to become. You got Cooper Flagg trying to become whatever he's going to become, and then you got Klay Thompson, who was there because Luka was there.

I don't know how he feels about this team now. You know what I'm saying. I have no idea. He's 34 years of age. You know he still splashed threes, but the defense is not what it was before. Now they have a lot of mixed match parts on that roster and they have a lot of salaries that are between $9 and $16 million. So if they needed to kind of shore up a situation, they do have the pieces to do. So it just depends on when and where are they going to pull the trigger, and it's going to be all about the development of Cooper Flagg.

Now I will say this I don't know how they really feel that they're going to contend, especially when you have Cooper Flagg, who is literally 18 years of age, doesn't turn 19 until like middle of the season and this is the kid that you are building around, make no mistake about it. You can talk about contending all you want. Nico harrison, that's a smokescreen. Your situation, your priority right now, is to make cooper flag as comfortable as possible. Give him as many touches as he possibly can, put him in different scenarios, different situations, so then you can figure out what he is really good at, what he needs to work on, so then he can go into year two and figure those things out. That is what you need to do now. If contending or going to the playoffs happens within that situation, great, more power to you. But do not sit here and tell the Dallas fans that you are now a actual, legitimate title contender with a 18 year old who hasn't played one minute of NBA basketball yet. I love this kid. I think he's going to be box office.

I wonder what the three point shooting is going to look like the first year for sure, but his work ethic, the way he goes about his business, the way he um competes at such a high level. In situations like when he was at the olympic workouts, everybody was profuse in their um, the just, the platitudes they were given, cooper flack. And then he did not disappoint at duke. He was everything that was promised. At duke he played incredible defense. He was always in the passive lanes. He handled the ball. He was kind of like the de facto point guard when they needed him beat. You know, he kind of kind of shrinked up in uh, the final four game.

But at the end of the day we can't sit here and think like this kid is not great and if he continues to grow he's not going to be great. I don't know what it's going to look like the first year, but I do know this I like the kid, I like that. You know he is going to a good team. I just don't want the pressure to become so much and the expectations to become so much that we are delusional in what we're trying to do. You know, you want to know what cooper flag is.

Magic johnson, by christmas, be my guest, be my guest. But I think we should pump the brakes. This is the best. I mean, this is the most incredible league. This is the NBA. He's 18 years old. He has never guarded Jaron Jackson Jr. You know what I'm saying. He's not. You know what happens when Steph Curry starts to hunt him. These are all things he's gonna have to go through this year and I'm wildly, wildly excited to find out how he gets through it. But I think we need to pump the brakes on what he is, how he is and how they're going to contend, or it's going to be a disappointment if they don't contend.

Here's some of the scenarios that need to play out for this all to kind of work. Ad needs to play 70 games or more. Flag wins rookie of the year. Russell shoots 37% from three until Kyrie gets back. Dallas maybe gets to hopefully 47 wins. Worst case scenario 80 tweak something again. Derek Lively gets hurt again flag puts up maybe not the point total that you thought he was going to put up, but the defense was there and do the? Do we start hearing the nico chance in february?

If they're not where you think they should be, you can't be mad at them getting the number one overall pick. You can't be mad that cooper flag is a dallas maverick but also, in the same time, you can't be, you can't be so excited about this dude that you start printing up playoff tickets and long playoff, deep playoff runs. Let this man develop at the rate he needs to develop. Stop putting all the pressure on this team or on this guy to lead this team, because inevitably, cooper flag is your cornerstone. That's what he is. Ad can be like the number one guy for a short period of time or spurts at a time Kyrie is probably more suited for it but at longer stretches but not for a whole year the guy who needs to be that is 18 years of age. So I'm hoping and praying that this dude is allowed to develop at a rate that is more realistic than oh. Now that we got him, we got ad, we can start contending. I don't think that's realistic and I don't think that's fair to cooper flag.

So, with that being said, we're gonna get up out of here.

Um, I want to thank serea, the.

I know she's uh, gone through it a little bit, um, but we are glad to have her back also like to shout out everybody who has joined the Frontrunner Podcast Collective, downloaded the podcast and joined the podcast, really, really excited about our new audience and the day ones.

You know what I'm saying because the day ones led the, the, the new masses, into the light and, with that being said, the best part of you is you make sure that you are surrounding yourself with positive, uplifting people that are looking out for you and have your best interest at heart. Make sure that they are, um, giving you the, the, the words of nourishment that you need to fulfill what your ultimate goals are. And if they're doing that, make sure that you appreciate them, make sure you acknowledge them. Make sure that you're sending texts of appreciation or doing FaceTimes and whatever the case may be, or maybe actually take them out for coffee or something. Do that Now. If you're doing all that, you're a well-rounded individual. That's what I'm trying to get to right and if that's happening, we always have a seat at the table for you here at Front Runner Podcast Collective. So from For Serea, I am vince, and we will see you down the road, peace.