Injury To 76ers Embiid Will Have Miss Time And Awards!

[00:00:00] [Music]

[00:00:27] Saturday afternoon, it's Front Runner Podcast Collective, Hope Brothers and Sisters, it is

[00:00:34] your host Vince and we are going to talk about a lot of the goings on in the NBA, but before

[00:00:41] we get to that, we're going to say let's get on the subscription of the podcast, follow

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[00:01:41] it happen for you guys and we're going to continue to do that. Now with that being said, also

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[00:02:12] appreciated. With all that being said, let's get into what's going on in the NBA. And where

[00:02:20] we're going to start is it's kind of a hot button subject right now. It's on, is it fair

[00:02:27] for Joel and B and this games played new initiative that Adam Silver put into play. As you know,

[00:02:40] 65 games is the benchmark that you need to hit for getting the award. So you're looking

[00:02:48] at 17 games you can miss and then after the seven after you miss the 18th game, you are

[00:02:58] now eliminated from these awards. Now, all over digital media, podcast, ESPN, social media,

[00:03:08] it's going to heat it debate really has and this is kind of where I fall on it. I am not

[00:03:16] saying that Joel and B was not hurt. Obviously has come out as of the last couple of days

[00:03:24] that he has a tear in his meniscus. They have not let us know how bad the tear is. As far

[00:03:33] as that's concerned, they're taking the weekend to kind of figure all that out. So as soon

[00:03:38] as we know, you'll know on that. This isn't even about playing 65 games. What this comes

[00:03:52] down to is that the rule was put in for one reason and one reason only. Okay. It wasn't

[00:03:59] for injured players. It was for players who randomly take off days. Okay. So for the people

[00:04:14] who are upset and looking for answers of why this injustice is happening. Keep in mind,

[00:04:28] the rule was collectively barking between the NBA and the players association. All right.

[00:04:36] So they had to go ahead and ratify this. Now I know this in those negotiations is a lot

[00:04:42] of give and take and this is maybe one of the things that the owners stood on and we're

[00:04:48] going to get to the reason why in one second. I want to reiterate about Joel and be this

[00:04:56] is not a point towards him. This is this has nothing to do with him. It is unfortunate

[00:05:04] that he's hurt is unfortunate that we have this rule will understand that it was collectively

[00:05:10] bargained. But the reason for this rule is simple. You come to this podcast every week

[00:05:18] because we talk about the NBA. You got TV rights. You got digital rights and you got

[00:05:25] fervent fan interest. Okay. So that's the reason why this rule was put into place. I

[00:05:35] do not agree with the rule, but I understand why it is because everybody knows that a

[00:05:46] lot of these players, I don't know how you want to put it. I don't know if it's considered

[00:05:52] like the Instagram generation, TikTok, X, whatever social media. I believe that these

[00:05:59] guys do not ever want to be embarrassed. And I think that if they're not playing at their

[00:06:06] most optimal condition, they feel like they might get embarrassed. And yes, I understand

[00:06:16] that the game is athletically better. I understand that there is a pace difference to the NBA

[00:06:25] now. Understand that the players are asked to do more. I definitely understand that.

[00:06:31] So do I understand why they they kind of cook in 16 to 18 games off a season. So then when

[00:06:41] they get off when they're done with the game, we see it every single night in the NBA. If

[00:06:49] somebody has a bad game, they are getting cooked on social media. Absolutely cooked.

[00:06:57] So we can't have it both ways. We can't have it where the guys play as close to 82 games

[00:07:04] as possible. And we'll get to that in a second. And then being mad when they don't play or

[00:07:13] have scheduled rest days or, you know, they've been pushing it. You know, let's say they

[00:07:18] played five of they played five games and eight nights. Okay, I can understand maybe

[00:07:27] kind of spark, you know, spreading that out a little bit, right? I understand all of these

[00:07:33] things. But at the end of the day, the rule was put in because of the fact that they want

[00:07:42] to have the players on the court. Is the rule unfair? Yes. Can we fix the rule? Yeah, this

[00:07:51] is a real easy way to fix this rule. If you want the NBA players to play at their most

[00:07:58] optimal condition and what have you, and you want to make the league a little more spicier,

[00:08:06] you want to also maybe create even better revenue with your regional sports markets scale the

[00:08:17] season back to 64 to 68 games. If you do it to the 68 that like bakes in your in season

[00:08:26] tournament deal, you cut off, you know, 14 to 18 games, you know, the thing is 64 or what

[00:08:35] is it? They play an extra game, right? With the in season tournament, they only play one

[00:08:40] extra, right? So if you play 65, right? Because you're the team that goes to the in season

[00:08:49] tournament, a 64 game schedule to me seems something that can be doable. And especially

[00:08:56] when you get to 32 teams in the league, which we are about to in three to four years. Now,

[00:09:04] I don't know how you break that up. Maybe go to a NFL style where you don't play the

[00:09:11] entire other conference. Maybe you break it up by division. Maybe divisions become a little

[00:09:18] more important than I don't know. Or maybe it's a straight. Hey, 64 games, you play. You play

[00:09:27] one game there and you play one game here. I know that would be kind of crazy because,

[00:09:36] you know, we have these conferences. People will be wanting to split those up as well.

[00:09:43] I mean, we really don't even look at the divisions anymore at all. If you think about it. Now,

[00:09:51] for my younger audience, there was a point in time where there was they still have them.

[00:09:59] There was Pacific division. People were really like pumped up, but they won the Pacific division

[00:10:04] or whatever. Now, the Lakers never did because they were always looking for championships.

[00:10:08] But on the off chance that Sacramento or somebody else wanted, they were psyched. You know,

[00:10:16] we don't care about those things anymore. So if we don't care about those anymore, then

[00:10:22] why don't we just have no conferences whatsoever and just have a league. NBA league, you play

[00:10:32] each other twice, 64 games, boom. Top 16, get in. Not marching, man, this is all because

[00:10:41] it's not one and done. You know, maybe you still have your little plan, you know, do

[00:10:46] that whole thing and just keep it moving. But if we're not going.

[00:10:52] So I'm going to go to that. If we're gonna still have this, I don't agree with the rule of 65 games. But I will say the reason for the rule is because they, the league and someone in that players association thought about the fans thought about us thought about the people who covered the league thought about the television partners. All of these types of things.

[00:11:19] That is the genesis of this rule because whether you want to call it old school or whatever the case may be, there was a point in time where dudes played as much as they possibly can.

[00:11:33] Again, I will give you that this era is completely different. That's why throughout play less games, make the games more important.

[00:11:44] But if we're under this bracket of rules, and we're going to play 82, possibly 83 plus then playoffs, then guess what, they're going to have little staples in their CBA that are going to kind of force the guys to play.

[00:12:09] Now, the guys want to make a really big stink. Maybe they can get into the collective bargain agreement again and see if they can go ahead and shorten the season.

[00:12:18] Then everybody's happy. You could spread these games out games. The players be more fresh. You'd have the performances that you'd be looking for. You'd have maybe the effort on defense that you're looking for game and game out.

[00:12:35] But at this point in time, the rules are the rules. And unfortunately, with this being said, getting back to Joel on beat, it does look like there's a left tear in. There's a tear in the left knee in the meniscus.

[00:12:52] And we don't have any idea whether they're going to do surgery or they're going to try to give it rest and rehab and see if he can give it a go. So until we know something, you'll know something.

[00:13:08] All right. The other thing that I want to talk about is this is that there seems to be also a big debate on expanding the all star rosters and whatever.

[00:13:23] I think there was one other thing I wanted to get to with that.

[00:13:27] Here it is. So, you're hearing a lot of people on social talk about this guy got snubbed. This guy got snubbed. You know, the Montes bonus got snubbed.

[00:13:42] You're hearing Fox trade young, you know, why is Jalen Brunson not starting in the all star game. That's a, that's a good question. You might, might want to revisit that one.

[00:13:54] But here's the one thing that I'm going to say to the fans that are out there that are talking about, we should expand.

[00:14:04] Here's the thing.

[00:14:08] I think we should expand. I think that's the problem with this current iteration of sports in general.

[00:14:19] Oh, well, we should let this guy in and let this guy in.

[00:14:24] What makes the NBA so special and what makes these other leads so special is that you have, you have a, a very small percentage that make it into the NBA, a very small percentage.

[00:14:38] Okay.

[00:14:41] There are 450 players in the lead. There are 30 head coaches. There are 30 exact player personnel decision makers, however you want to call them.

[00:14:52] You know, one guy makes that call. You know, there are 30 majority owners or governors in the lead.

[00:15:02] So to tell me that you want to be inclusive in such an exclusive society, which is the NBA, it's kind of baffling to me.

[00:15:15] I don't think anybody thought about it that way, but, you know, we tell these kids that are in high school.

[00:15:24] Only the best of the best get into the NBA or the NFL or major league baseball or whatever.

[00:15:31] Only the best of the best. You have to be this. You have to have a certain athletic profile, all these things.

[00:15:39] Right.

[00:15:41] And it's true, because the numbers bear it out. We got all these players getting ready for March Madness coming up in the next couple of weeks, right?

[00:15:51] And, yeah, they might be able to play in Spain. Some of these guys might be able to play in the, like, the, what is it the, there's an Adriatic League, you know, there's a league in Israel.

[00:16:06] There's a league in Russia. There's a league, not a place. You can play basketball on a lot of places.

[00:16:11] But if you want to play at the highest level, the NBA is it. And there's only 450 slots.

[00:16:20] That seems pretty exclusive to me.

[00:16:25] Kind of like the All-Star game should be.

[00:16:28] Kind of like what the Hall of Fame should be. Shouldn't be the thing, the Hall of Very, Very Good.

[00:16:36] Should be the best of the best.

[00:16:41] So, I'm sorry, I don't, I don't get down with my young people when they talk about, let's expand the rosters. Sorry. Call me old school.

[00:16:51] Call me whatever it is that you want to call me.

[00:16:55] But at this point in time, I think it should be special that you make an All-Star team.

[00:17:02] And it gives you a kind of a footprint of what the league was in a certain decade.

[00:17:09] Right? Because I don't believe in the, you know, the GOAT talk. Everybody wants to do all that.

[00:17:14] We talked about it on our pod in the last couple episodes. So go get the archive pods.

[00:17:21] But I will tell you that when it comes to this particular game and the snubs and what have you, I think it all works itself out.

[00:17:31] I think that people take this way, way too seriously.

[00:17:35] And yes, it does matter, I guess, in your Hall of Fame profile, but honestly,

[00:17:40] I think we would have a better indication of what the league is if we just looked at what the true All-Stars were.

[00:17:47] Now, I understand that certain, certain situations is a popularity contest.

[00:17:53] A couple years ago, we had the K-Pop star that got Andrew Wiggins into the playoffs.

[00:17:59] But that's an anomaly. That doesn't happen very often.

[00:18:04] Usually the people who are getting into the All-Star games are very, very, very deserving.

[00:18:11] So I understand the cries. I understand the outrage, but I'm also liking the situation the way it is,

[00:18:23] keeping it as exclusive as possible. It should be like a treat. It should be a reward for your play.

[00:18:29] Throughout the season, the fans are appreciative of your efforts on the floor.

[00:18:35] That's why they voted you in. They want to be able to see your crazy athleticism or your shooting

[00:18:41] or whatever it is that you do in the game. And I think the fans should get that.

[00:18:47] You know, call me crazy.

[00:18:51] All right, we do a lot of Lakers on this podcast, and I'll tell you, I'm actually kind of sick of it too,

[00:19:01] but here's the problem.

[00:19:04] They keep doing stuff for me to have to talk about them.

[00:19:09] And what I want to get to with the Lakers is that we've danced around a lot of subjects with them.

[00:19:20] What they're going to do, how can they get better, what's going to make them a contender, all these sorts of things.

[00:19:28] The emoji post that LeBron James put out there with the Hourglass, we're going to get to that momentarily,

[00:19:37] but the one thing that I want to want to get to first is this.

[00:19:43] I want people to realize what the ownership structure is for the Lakers.

[00:19:49] Jeannie Bus is the majority governor of the Los Angeles Lakers.

[00:19:58] All right.

[00:19:59] I understand it's one of the premier franchises in the league.

[00:20:05] It's one of the crown jewels, get all that.

[00:20:09] But they have a really different type of ownership dynamic that I think people really don't cool themselves in on.

[00:20:21] So I'm going to break this down for you.

[00:20:23] Jeannie Bus believes in Polinka, and she is basically put that mandate out there.

[00:20:34] And this ties into the LeBron, a little emoji in a second. So give me one second with this.

[00:20:41] Whereas the majority owner, Jeannie Bus only owns like 63% of the Lakers.

[00:20:48] Okay.

[00:20:49] It's a big chunk of change, but the Gutenheimer grew.

[00:20:56] The Gutenheim group has the other 20, the, what? Yeah, the only 37% of the other Lakers. Okay.

[00:21:05] Now, that 63% is then split up between her and her siblings, which there are six of them.

[00:21:16] So that 63% turns into not as much, right?

[00:21:24] You know, we're looking at what, like a little bit over 10 point some odd or whatever.

[00:21:33] If you're talking about actual revenue for the majority owner of the Los Angeles Lakers.

[00:21:41] Now, I don't know if the bus kids.

[00:21:45] It's a group on a certain amount of money of that revenue that gets kicked back into the team. I'm not aware of the inner workings of the bus family. But I mean, that's how they make their money. All the other stuff that they do. Couple of the kids actually, you know, working in the organization. So I'm sure they put poor back into the, poor back into the franchise.

[00:22:13] But there's a couple that are out there doing their own thing and really don't have a lot to do with the team.

[00:22:19] And they allow Jeannie and the other two sons to run the team with the Gutenheim group and Ralph Palinga at the helm.

[00:22:31] Getting back to LeBron's emoji of the hourglass.

[00:22:36] Obviously, this was a passive aggressive move by LeBron that something needs to change and we're running out of time.

[00:22:46] Everybody took that as certain guys on the team run out of time. I think actually what he was talking about is if we think we're going to turn this around and get to the place that we want to be.

[00:23:02] We're running out of time to achieve this goal.

[00:23:06] Now, could I be wrong? Yeah.

[00:23:10] Could he admit that he trying to get some people kicked out and get some other dudes in there? Most definitely.

[00:23:19] But I think LeBron wants to try to be successful. I think he has a goal every single year.

[00:23:28] And I think he thinks if we do certain things, we might be able to achieve that goal, but we're running out of time running out of game.

[00:23:39] So I think that's what he was talking about there. But I also want to get to this. And I told you all the Jeannie bus stuff for this particular reason.

[00:23:52] The Lakers are not touching the second apron.

[00:23:56] Okay. That's why I thought the Zach Levine rumors were absolutely erroneous. They're not touching it.

[00:24:04] Jeannie bus is not touching that. Not just because of all the restrictions that it does to the team and this team does not need restrictions.

[00:24:17] They need as much flexibility as possible.

[00:24:21] Because they don't have a lot of movement to do. So whatever they have, whatever flexibility they have, they have to keep it.

[00:24:31] So that Zach Levine deal was always a pipe dream.

[00:24:36] So for the people who were in on that.

[00:24:41] Sorry to tell you that was never going to happen.

[00:24:44] And I respect the treble lanes of the world who do.

[00:24:48] You know, they do Laker Nation, the cam bros who are on lockdown sports, locked on Lakers or whatever. They do a great job.

[00:24:57] I'm just here to paint this picture for you.

[00:25:01] In the climate of the NBA at this present time, Jeannie bus can't look at the Lakers and go.

[00:25:08] I'm going to pay because I think we have an opportunity to win.

[00:25:13] And I'll tell you exactly why that is.

[00:25:16] LeBron can see here, do all the passive aggressive stuff, stare at.

[00:25:22] Clenka make comments, vague comments, all he wants.

[00:25:28] But the truth of the matter is the nasty truth of it is.

[00:25:32] Is the Lakers.

[00:25:36] With LeBron.

[00:25:38] And a D.

[00:25:41] As the two guys.

[00:25:43] At the top of the food chain.

[00:25:50] Aren't sufficient to win a championship.

[00:25:54] And I know that's hard to hear for people.

[00:25:57] I know it is.

[00:26:00] But they're not legitimate contender.

[00:26:03] LeBron isn't the difference maker he was five, six years ago.

[00:26:09] Ad is playing excellent explain out of his mind.

[00:26:12] But look at the record.

[00:26:14] The record tells you what they are.

[00:26:17] Now in the preseason, this podcast did hit you that they were going to be a plan team.

[00:26:23] And that's kind of where they are at this point.

[00:26:27] They look like a plan team.

[00:26:30] Unfortunately, the two stars who are making 88.2 million dollars of the 166.5.

[00:26:39] That's available to the Lakers at this present time.

[00:26:42] Because I will tell you again, they're not going over the cap.

[00:26:46] I think the cap right now is.

[00:26:50] 168 169.

[00:26:52] They're not going over.

[00:26:55] So that 166 is pretty much about where they're going to be.

[00:27:00] But with 80 and LeBron making 88.2 and I do not.

[00:27:06] Sit here.

[00:27:08] And think they should be making less bread.

[00:27:11] But they're the part of the reason why the Lakers can't.

[00:27:15] Get over it.

[00:27:17] And I'll tell you, we're going to, we're going to go through an exercise in a second.

[00:27:21] So bear with me.

[00:27:25] They got limited assets.

[00:27:28] People don't look at Delo as, as, as a real.

[00:27:33] Blue trip asset at all, unfortunately.

[00:27:37] They look at the 2029 pick as the kind of the crown jewel of that situation.

[00:27:44] And let's, let's ask this question.

[00:27:49] Let's just be, let's just be real blunt about it.

[00:27:52] Real, real fair about it.

[00:27:54] I'm going to give you a list of people.

[00:27:58] List of tendons or whatever the case may be.

[00:28:00] You tell me.

[00:28:01] All right.

[00:28:04] Celtics, Jason Tatum, Jalen Brown.

[00:28:07] Who would you rather have 80 or LeBron at this present time?

[00:28:12] Bucks, Giannis and Dane.

[00:28:16] I don't know.

[00:28:18] Nick's, Blonson and Randall.

[00:28:23] I mean, you can make an argument right for 80 and LeBron there.

[00:28:29] Now, it's Donovan Mitchell and whatever guy is on a heater because right now it doesn't matter.

[00:28:35] It's Donovan Mitchell and, and the, and the Mitchell, that's.

[00:28:40] So I can understand 80 and, and LeBron there.

[00:28:44] Pacers, Haliburton and Siaco.

[00:28:48] I don't know.

[00:28:49] I like, I like Haliburton a lot.

[00:28:52] OK, see thunder.

[00:28:54] Gilges Alexander and, and J. Dub, or Chet.

[00:29:00] Which one you want?

[00:29:02] 80 and LeBron or, or, or that, Tandu.

[00:29:07] Timberwalls and Edwards and Cat.

[00:29:11] Yeah.

[00:29:12] That looks great.

[00:29:15] Clippers, Kawhi, PG or James Arden, the beard.

[00:29:21] Which one you want?

[00:29:23] Kawhi is, is on a mission this year.

[00:29:27] The numbers that that cat has couldn't have was ridiculous right now.

[00:29:34] It's your kitchen, Murray.

[00:29:37] I mean, honestly, one of the best duels in the league.

[00:29:42] Stuns, Booker and, and KD.

[00:29:45] Who you want?

[00:29:50] Pelicans, Brandon Ingram and Zion Williamson.

[00:29:54] Well, you can give me the argument that.

[00:29:58] LeBron and AD are better and, you know, we don't know.

[00:30:02] Zion is going to play.

[00:30:04] Hey.

[00:30:05] Um.

[00:30:06] I mean, I can understand, but it's not as like clear cut as we want to try to really make it out to be.

[00:30:17] Then, Mows have Luca and Kyrie.

[00:30:24] I'm just saying, when you think about the Lakers and you think about their tandem, you think about all of that situation.

[00:30:31] Do you honestly look at that team and go.

[00:30:34] That's a championship team.

[00:30:37] They can contend.

[00:30:39] Or do they need another guy?

[00:30:44] By the way, just kind of back it up.

[00:30:47] Yokech last night scored 27 points.

[00:30:52] 22 rebounds.

[00:30:54] 12 assists.

[00:30:56] Two blocks in 38 minutes in a 120 to 108 victory over the Portland Trail Blazers.

[00:31:05] Now, I mean, I understand the Trail Blazers aren't great, but Yokech is just, he's just amazing.

[00:31:13] School had a game.

[00:31:15] School.

[00:31:17] Our guy.

[00:31:18] Okay.

[00:31:19] He had 30 points in that game on eight or 15 shooting and three or seven from the three point line.

[00:31:27] And then the other game that I want to kind of squat like because there's one other thing we're going to get to today and I want to do this because it's kind of cool.

[00:31:35] I'm really excited about it.

[00:31:38] But we're going to look at all the franchises and what they might do or kind of what they're looking for.

[00:31:44] So every franchise like we're going to run them down for you.

[00:31:48] So looking forward to that.

[00:31:50] But Zion and Winby played Friday night.

[00:31:54] And what a great game by those two guys.

[00:32:00] And then Zion said that Winby could win three, four defensive players a year.

[00:32:07] He said, I want to put a limit on him, but definitely he can win an MVP in his eyes.

[00:32:14] But those two battle last night Zion closed it out and they won 114 to 113.

[00:32:21] Winby had 16 points, 14 rebounds.

[00:32:25] He had seven assists.

[00:32:27] He also throwing three blocks and two steals.

[00:32:31] Zion wasn't too shabby.

[00:32:33] Like I said, he closed it out.

[00:32:35] also had 33 points, eight rebounds.

[00:32:37] 4/6 and it looks like Zion's on page to play 65 games this year so far and that would be the most in his career. So good for Zion. They stay healthy. Great little situation for that. But yeah, I mean, it's it's interesting. Alright, we have another thing to get to which I'm against. Oh, excited about. And the reason why I'm excited about this.

[00:33:07] It's because of we're trying to give you a little insight into teams and what they're thinking and whatever. So what we're doing is we're calling this front runner franchise focus.

[00:33:23] Now we're not frank. We're not focusing on one franchise at this present time. We're gonna call this the NBA trade deadline front runner franchise focus. So we're focusing on the entire NBA.

[00:33:38] So what we're going to do is go run down all the teams and we're going to look at what they might be doing. What we've heard will give you a blurb on each team.

[00:33:52] If I think it needs a little more nuance. I'll give you that and we'll go from there. So that's, that's what we'll do. So we're going to start off with the Boston Celtics.

[00:34:04] Boston Celtics are searching around the margins. What I've heard is they're looking for a guard with size.

[00:34:12] Somebody can handle the ball, shoot it. Somebody where they're not just picking on Richard because he's kind of like the Achilles Hill right there.

[00:34:23] I've also heard that they're looking for big, which didn't make any sense to me whatsoever. Unless you're saying you want some Al Horford insurance.

[00:34:37] The Bucks, they're in flux. They need a wing and they need a wing. They can provide some ball pressure.

[00:34:49] Unfortunately, with Dane, Middleton's kind of slowed down, but he's looked a lot better as the year has progressed.

[00:34:58] They just can't really lock in that like two slot, you know, they just can't lock that in. And they'll be looking for somebody to try to feel that during this trade deadline.

[00:35:13] The Knicks. The Knicks are lurking for a star.

[00:35:22] Keep in mind they have an Evan 48 expiring contract that they can get rid of.

[00:35:28] They do have some pieces that if they wanted to move, they could, but I wonder what they're going to do with Randall being out.

[00:35:37] Do they just go and get margin pieces and then go into the offseason and then look for their start just because of how tumultuous everything is at this point in time.

[00:35:50] The Cavaliers are kind of a complete limbo. We have the the great performances by Donovan Mitchell and Jared Allen, Jared Allen got hurt last night, which bummer.

[00:36:04] Real sad about that one. Mobley's back with Mobley being back and Darius Garling being back.

[00:36:13] Now, do they go back to playing the way they were before, or do they continue this trend of how they're playing right now and leaving kind of the less and more less is more philosophy intact, or do they go back to the same old same old.

[00:36:34] Interesting days, including the 76ers. Well, right now everything's on pause until we figure out what's going on with them be maybe something around the margins.

[00:36:48] Hope they get the big guy back and see what they have, but I think if you don't have a real clear cut view of how stable that me is going to be, especially with the games that are going to be in the playoff.

[00:37:03] It's an absolute pounding. There's a lot going on.

[00:37:08] If he's not real straight, are you going all in this year, or are you just going to wait and really have the whole offseason kind of figure out what you're going to do.

[00:37:18] So the Pacers, they might be buying and selling at the same time. They still got some young pieces that they can move off of. They wanted to.

[00:37:29] They could reinforce what they've already done with the Pascal C. Occam trade.

[00:37:36] So it'd be really intriguing to see what they do, but they got they have Jerry Walker out of Houston, who was their lottery pick this year.

[00:37:45] They still have been mathering and they have a couple contracts. So I wonder what they're going to do.

[00:37:52] In that respect, but they have been out there looking around.

[00:37:59] Just don't know exactly what they are looking for.

[00:38:04] The roger deal actually complicates things and actually I'm kind of glad that we're bringing this up because in a previous podcast, we talked about it. Everything hadn't come out yet.

[00:38:16] But that first round pick that conveys to Charlotte.

[00:38:25] It has more protections on it and it puts that pick out till 2029.

[00:38:32] And those details weren't out during the pod. So I wanted to go ahead and clean that up while we're here.

[00:38:39] But now you can't still reimagine this team a little bit. I'll tell you why.

[00:38:46] If you look at Tyler hero and you say, let's get two pieces for one.

[00:38:52] You might be able to do something there.

[00:38:56] Now his value around the league is varying depending on who you talk to.

[00:39:02] There's a lot of people who say it doesn't have a bunch of value and there's some people who says, oh, make that work.

[00:39:09] Because the one thing that Tyler hero does do is he shoots, he can shoot the three and he can shoot it off the dribble or spot up.

[00:39:19] So I think that he would have some value in the league.

[00:39:23] I think it's on the other side of the ball that might be the problem with him.

[00:39:27] So that might be the issue there.

[00:39:30] The magic.

[00:39:35] They have the ability to do pretty much anything or they can just practice patients.

[00:39:40] Now what I have heard is that they are sniffing around a veteran guard and they're talking about a real veteran guard.

[00:39:49] I've heard things like Chris Paul. I've heard things like Kyle Lowry. I've heard things like that.

[00:39:55] So I think they're looking for a veteran guard that can kind of.

[00:40:01] When the chaos is going on, you got somebody there can be like, listen, let's just get into our stuff and want to play.

[00:40:11] The Bulls.

[00:40:13] The Bulls are trying to desperately stay in the middle, which is weird.

[00:40:18] Not allowed traction on the Zach Levine deal. What I've heard from there is that the Bulls would literally have to make a trade.

[00:40:27] Like with Caruso get assets back.

[00:40:31] Players and picks and then jettison off.

[00:40:35] Zach Levine. That's the latest.

[00:40:40] No, that's not just me. That's a that's Jake Fisher. Yahoo.

[00:40:47] Shams reported that other people reported that, but I wonder if somebody is going to take a swing on him.

[00:40:55] Just just I wonder if that is.

[00:40:58] If you can get a low enough price where maybe you can put some protections on the first.

[00:41:03] Is that enough to tantalize the Chicago Bulls and trading Zach Levine.

[00:41:09] Who hears the thing? I know a lot of people want to crap on them. I crapped on them. I didn't want him to be a Laker at all.

[00:41:16] But if you can get a guy who can legitimately give you 27 points a game.

[00:41:23] Could you work around his defense? Now you're just a piss core defensive team. Probably not.

[00:41:30] But if you have a collective unit. That you could really put around him.

[00:41:37] Might be scary season if you got another score that works well.

[00:41:43] The Hawks.

[00:41:46] The Hawks are another another iteration of that roster loading basically.

[00:41:55] We've heard things on Bogdan, Bogdanovich. We've heard things on Dejante Murray.

[00:42:00] We've heard things on DeAndre Hunter.

[00:42:03] Now those things have started to die down a little bit, but I still think the Hawks will be active as we get closer and closer to the trade deadline.

[00:42:14] The Nets.

[00:42:16] Well, there's a record out there.

[00:42:20] That the Nets turned down five first round picks for Michael Bridges.

[00:42:27] Now I will tell you what this is.

[00:42:30] I believe they were offered five first round picks. No doubt.

[00:42:34] But I'm also under the impression that those first round picks were throw some swaps.

[00:42:42] There were maybe some heavily protected picks.

[00:42:47] And I can understand why then the Brooklyn Nets was turned down that offer.

[00:42:54] I'm not giving you Michael Bridges for, you know, top 16 to top 16 protected picks and, you know, a couple swaps in there, whatever.

[00:43:05] No, no, thank you.

[00:43:09] The Raptors, Bruce Brown Jr. Yes, sir. That's the deal. I'm just letting you know right now. That's where the focus is.

[00:43:17] He is not long for Toronto. I think that will be something that we will definitely see out of Toronto before the trade deadline.

[00:43:26] We get to the Hornets now.

[00:43:30] I know that he has a crazy craft, no stuff is going on with him. Miles Bridges, can you buy low?

[00:43:38] Could a team buy low on him? I have a couple thoughts on that. The Wizards, the Wizards,

[00:43:51] is Coo's only going to get dealt and if so, what is he going to get dealt for? I think the Ties Jones deal is probably going to get done as well, but I think we're going to be maybe a little underwhelmed on that.

[00:44:09] Because I don't think they're going to get the first round pick that they're looking for with Ties Jones. The Pistons, I'm weirded out here because they did move Marvin Badly III.

[00:44:28] They really didn't get anything back from them. They screamed salary cap relief. We got more room, but who's going to Detroit? Let's be honest, they need something that is a floor riser.

[00:44:44] They need a floor riser there in the worst way.

[00:44:49] I don't know if that's the Levine situation at all. I don't know what to tell you, but they definitely need something that can say, "Hey, listen, at least we can be competitive in these games and let's see if our talent, our young talent can figure it out so we can actually look really competitive."

[00:45:08] All right, let's move on to the Temple Wolves. Unfortunately, they're going to be going bargain-basement shopping.

[00:45:17] They're not in the same situation as Milwaukee. They'd have to move off a piece to really do anything major to really better that team.

[00:45:31] I don't think they're really willing to do that. I'm looking at margin pieces only.

[00:45:38] Thunder. We all know what they need. Biggs. Any big with some thickness to them.

[00:45:53] That would be great. I don't know if you have to trade for it or wait for the buyout. I don't know. I don't know if our guy, Andre Drummond, who always seems to be the greatest buyout candidate.

[00:46:08] As a history in mankind, he always seems to end up in real opportunity situations. We'll see.

[00:46:17] The Nuggets are really interesting. Will the youth movement prevail or will Calvin Booth go ahead and get a vet in there to stabilize that second unit?

[00:46:34] Kings. They need a need a need a mover.

[00:46:43] Subonius is nice. He plays hard. He is very productive.

[00:46:51] Dear Fox is really good. Really good.

[00:46:56] But that team needs something. It just needs something else. And I don't know.

[00:47:05] I'm not saying you move off Keegan Murray. Not at all.

[00:47:09] But I wonder if you have a couple contracts that you can pull together and grab another guy.

[00:47:18] And allow Keegan to just continue to develop and grow without the pressure. It's like, listen, now you don't have to score 18.

[00:47:29] If you want to give us 14 to 15 and then every once in a while, jump up to 26 or whatever. Great.

[00:47:37] But at this point, they're kind of in that situation, right? That's where they are.

[00:47:42] So I'm interested to see what ends up happening during the trade deadline.

[00:47:49] Let's get to the suns and the suns. Here's my question.

[00:47:55] Do the suns have any seconds that they can splice into Adam size bites to get anything of note?

[00:48:08] I don't think they have anything to get at this point.

[00:48:13] Pelicans, we talked about in the last podcast. So go back to the last podcast. We did a whole thing on them.

[00:48:19] I'll just say the keyword is consolidation. And also maybe a playmaking guard.

[00:48:28] The Mavericks, they need a wing. They need a big wing, Kuzma, Harrison Barnes, McKill bridges, Bobo Fett, Chewbacca, CP 3O, whomever, they need a wing.

[00:48:44] It would be okay with scoring 16 points again, but providing really, really good defense. That sounds like Ojianna Noviolot.

[00:48:59] Well, they couldn't get him. All right. The Lakers.

[00:49:04] The Lakers need a reliable score. They need a third guy.

[00:49:09] Delo could be that guy, but I don't think he's on the level that LeBron would trust him enough to be that score to give him the.

[00:49:19] The rope, the, you know, to the reins to be able to do it. I think he doesn't trust everybody on this team. And I think that's a him problem, not a lake of problem.

[00:49:31] Just a, we'll get. Ooh, you know what? I'm gonna do it right here.

[00:49:39] The Lakers went in to Boston, beat Boston. LeBron wasn't there. AD wasn't there. They were missing the game. They had injuries. They were resting, whatever.

[00:49:49] They played a lot. So I don't have any problems with them taking this game off.

[00:49:55] All funny that it was this game, though. It was the Boston game where it was kind of like this probably L for us.

[00:50:02] But Austin Reeves went out there and bawled out, scored 32. DeAngelo Russell was out there with 14 assists. He was doing his thing.

[00:50:13] It was crazy.

[00:50:15] We had a van dole got hurt.

[00:50:20] You know, we used to say that people, Christie was contributing. Jackson Hayes had a hell of a game.

[00:50:30] But I will tell you that LeBron needs to trust somebody, somebody who can handle the ball. I understand he trusts AD, but AD is not going to handle the ball all the time.

[00:50:46] He needs to be able to respect whoever that person is. I don't know if Dejontay Murray is on that level for him.

[00:50:53] Will he give him that respect where he's like, okay, you can be the point guard.

[00:50:58] And then in current minutes or like at the end of quarters, I'll come in and I'll do my thing and then I can kind of preserve myself.

[00:51:07] Until the Lakers get to that point until they can either convince LeBron, that's where he needs to be or LeBron comes to that on his own.

[00:51:15] But listen, I think the Lakers are where they are, but they do need a reliable score.

[00:51:22] And it's whether LeBron things, Dele is capable of being that reliable scorer or does he look at him and say, we need to upgrade him.

[00:51:37] Jazz, Utah Jazz and X, and I have no idea, no idea what they're going to do.

[00:51:45] Trader Danny could do anything he desires. He could trade away the Olympics of the world, the Clarkson's of the world, the Collins of the world, kind of delve back into that lottery situation.

[00:52:04] It's funny, Utah of the last couple years is kind of giving you a sneak peek of what could be once they have all their kind of pieces together.

[00:52:15] But then Danny does something like towards the trade deadline and kind of pulls it away. We'll see if he does it this year.

[00:52:23] The Rockets, I have a good question for each town. Let me ask you all a question.

[00:52:29] I'm hearing that Janet Green is not part of your future. So, what's up with that?

[00:52:35] Number two overall pick, great scorer gets the whole incredible bounce, really athletic.

[00:52:45] And I don't understand the disconnect between Edoka and him. I just don't get that situation.

[00:52:54] So, he could be on the move. I don't know.

[00:53:01] I didn't know you guys were really trying to push the envelope here and move into hyperdrive on this rebuild, but it looks like that's where you guys are going.

[00:53:11] So, good luck there. We'll see what you guys get.

[00:53:16] The Warriors. Now, I reported on this podcast because Jake Fisher and others had reported themselves and I thought it was absolutely hilarious.

[00:53:30] But you were reported like three or four weeks ago that everybody except Curry was available.

[00:53:40] Now, the story has changed. And it was the story that I was telling you. It was everybody's available except for Clay, Draymond, and Curry.

[00:53:51] This is what we told you three to four weeks ago on this podcast. I have a pretty good connection in Golden State.

[00:54:01] I got a pretty good line into there. So, I told you three or four weeks ago this was never going to happen.

[00:54:09] And they're probably going to move the young kids and see if they can do something.

[00:54:14] If that's what they choose to do because I don't know.

[00:54:19] They might be looking at this situation going.

[00:54:23] Do we just kind of allow it to go this way for a second and then see if there's something we can do in the off season?

[00:54:28] I forgot the Clippers. I'm so sorry. The Clippers are margin team. So sorry. No disrespect to the Clippers. They play amazing basketball, but the Clippers are margin their margin hunting. Okay, it is not going to be a big move at all. Maybe a backup big.

[00:54:51] Maybe something who knows, but it's not going to be a huge move.

[00:54:55] Grizzlies are punting on the season. They might trade away some people.

[00:55:01] I know they're trying to get further and further away from the aprons that the cap, you know, with the cap restrictions that you have. So look for like

[00:55:13] cost cutting moves from the Memphis Grizzlies going forward.

[00:55:20] Trail Blazers.

[00:55:21] I wonder what Joe Cronin's voicemail looks like right now. I know that thing is full. I know when you get his voicemail, it's like the voicemail that you reach is full. Goodbye.

[00:55:36] People are calling on Brogdon. People are calling on Jeremy Grant.

[00:55:43] I've heard a little buzz around the Robert Williams situation, which is weird because I didn't think anybody will want to do anything with him until next year, but

[00:55:54] I heard maybe people trying to get in early and trying to buy low on Robert Williams, but Joe Cronin is not going for it. So we'll see how that goes out.

[00:56:03] And then last but not least, the Spurs.

[00:56:07] And the Spurs really, they need a guard.

[00:56:13] The guard shopping guard. They're guard shopping. They're scavenging the NBA landscape for guard.

[00:56:21] So that's what I look for them to do.

[00:56:25] So that is your front runner franchise focus on the NBA trade deadline. We are going to be trying to do something like that every single week.

[00:56:36] I think it's a good segment and I hope you guys really enjoy it too.

[00:56:41] So in the up on X, let me know what you think about that situation and we'll go from there.

[00:56:46] A couple of other things we can get to before we get up out of here.

[00:56:52] Stephen Adams being traded.

[00:56:56] Like I said, this is the money move. This is their getting their salaries under check before next year.

[00:57:05] They got three seconds.

[00:57:10] But it's that's an consequential at this point. It's the flexibility that this is giving them and again, I would

[00:57:17] look for more moves like that in the upcoming days for the Memphis Packers Leafs.

[00:57:23] So the move was Stephen Adams their longtime center to the Houston Rockets for Victor Oladipo,

[00:57:32] often injured Victor Oladipo and three seconds.

[00:57:36] I don't think Victor will even still foot in Memphis, honestly.

[00:57:41] I think this is just like I said, his salary will expire.

[00:57:45] Stephen Adams has another year on his contract.

[00:57:49] Flexibility, folks.

[00:57:52] Okay, the last thing that we're going to get to

[00:57:56] is that we know the

[00:58:00] we know the long rumor guys that we've heard out there.

[00:58:05] Dejante Murray,

[00:58:07] Zach Levine,

[00:58:09] Bruce Brown, Titus Jones, Kyle Kuzma.

[00:58:13] So I'm going to throw out some names that would surprise us

[00:58:18] if they if they moved.

[00:58:21] But I wonder if it's a surprise at all.

[00:58:25] So these are out of nowhere moves.

[00:58:33] What the bucks move Middleton for pieces.

[00:58:36] One of the things that we've been talking about with the Milwaukee Bucks is that their defense is porous on the outside.

[00:58:45] They don't have an on ball pressure guy.

[00:58:47] Could you trade Middleton and get two or three pieces that would be able to allow you to kind of

[00:58:58] hide down a little hide down a little bit? I will hope so.

[00:59:02] Now a lot of people would say Mitchell Mitchell Mitchell Mitchell.

[00:59:09] Could this be a Mowgli trade situation?

[00:59:14] Could Evan Mowgli be traded could they have seen enough now Jared Allen being hurt?

[00:59:19] Throws a monkey wrench into this. I wrote this before I saw that injury. So

[00:59:26] probably not but before the injury I was thinking about it.

[00:59:29] I was wondering if in the team and how it played because Evan Mowgli was out for a long period time.

[00:59:35] So was Darius Garland. I'm glad to see those guys back, but I was wondering if Cavaliers grass saw enough

[00:59:42] with the explosion of

[00:59:45] the offense and how smoothly it looked.

[00:59:50] That they might go a different direction, even though Mowgli is kind of a distress asset.

[00:59:56] He still has a lot of value around the league because his defense is so great.

[01:00:00] We talked about it earlier the Pacers with Juris Walker. I wonder what could happen there.

[01:00:07] Bulls, Demar DeRozan, Caruso, will they finally decide to go ahead and pull the plug?

[01:00:15] Or stay middling for the rest of their lives. I have no idea.

[01:00:19] We talked about the Jalen Green one for the Houston Rockets.

[01:00:24] The three that I left for you are the three that are probably going to make social media

[01:00:33] absolutely lose their mind.

[01:00:36] But I'm going to ask this question. I have I

[01:00:39] don't know.

[01:00:43] You might kill me, you might think I'm a complete moron, but these are questions that I have.

[01:00:49] Could the heat possibly move off of Jimmy Butler and

[01:00:53] go ahead and kind of

[01:00:57] re-gather some assets

[01:01:01] to make a fundamental shift in the team.

[01:01:05] And the reason why I say that is that you got Terry Rose here not playing great.

[01:01:10] Jimmy plays

[01:01:15] sparingly now and you know what you're going to get in the playoffs,

[01:01:19] but you know we have a disinterested Jimmy in the regular season and then we have a

[01:01:24] monster in the postseason.

[01:01:28] But I wonder if they would go ahead and seal and landscape the way it is right now,

[01:01:34] seeing how the East is stacked up,

[01:01:36] would it be time to move Jimmy and

[01:01:40] pick up some pieces that can help you down the line.

[01:01:46] And start re-imaginating the starting line up with this franchise.

[01:01:50] The other one that I had for you and

[01:01:54] this is kind of a doozy.

[01:01:58] What the Portland Trailblazers trade Anthony Simons,

[01:02:03] scoots already there, right.

[01:02:09] I know that Malcolm Brogdon is the piece that they're moving.

[01:02:14] And I'm not saying that you give up on Anthony Simons and listen,

[01:02:17] Treblet, listen, Rip City,

[01:02:20] I'm not trying to, I'm not trying to tear your team apart.

[01:02:23] I'm just asking this question, if scoot is the eventual point guard,

[01:02:28] Anthony Simons needs the ball.

[01:02:32] You can't have him as the two guard because we're back in the same situation we were with Dame and CJ.

[01:02:42] So my question is is that could Anthony Simons get croning back

[01:02:48] that crazy

[01:02:51] five, seven-pick deal?

[01:02:54] Just thoughts, just thoughts. But Anthony Simons and Jimmy Butler are the two guys that I thought of

[01:03:04] when I said out of nowhere, if they were traded, we would be like, whoa.

[01:03:10] So hit me up on Twitter or X, front runner PC.

[01:03:15] Let me know what you guys think of that.

[01:03:17] And with that being said, we can get up out of here.

[01:03:21] I will tell you that since we are dropping this on Saturday,

[01:03:25] we will probably go ahead and get a podcast out to you Tuesday.

[01:03:30] I want to kind of set up the rest of the week for you.

[01:03:33] If something of note really breaks, obviously before Tuesday,

[01:03:38] we will do a bonus pot.

[01:03:41] If for some reason nothing happens, Tuesday will hit the pot.

[01:03:45] Now, when the trade deadline passes and everything is in,

[01:03:52] we will do a trade after trade deadline special.

[01:03:59] That podcast will probably be long, depending on how many moves there are

[01:04:06] in the, you know, within the next four or five days.

[01:04:09] So that's where we are.

[01:04:11] I just wanted to kind of give you guys a breakdown of what we're looking at.

[01:04:14] We are staying on top of this as much as possible.

[01:04:18] And again, I am so thankful to everybody.

[01:04:22] The numbers are just growing.

[01:04:24] Thank you so much again.

[01:04:26] Be a friend, tell a friend, get somebody on this pot,

[01:04:31] tag them, tap in on X, have them tap in on the YouTube channel as well.

[01:04:36] So thank you guys again.

[01:04:40] You guys have a great weekend.

[01:04:41] Enjoy the hoops and we'll see you on this pod Tuesday.

[01:04:46] Be easy.

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