Navigating the Post-Tatum Injury: Brad Stevens' Master Plan

it is friday, 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 will be discussing the Celtics, the Boston Celtics, and we're going to talk about how there's no need for panic in the city that I used to be living in for 15 years, boston, because Brad Stevens, big brain brad, has got y'all locked down and there's no worries to be coming from that area. We will tell you how brad stevens is going to navigate this year without jason tatum and what he's looking for in the future and what he's trying to do this year to kind of get ready for the 2026-2027 season, with the Celtics being in that situation and being in a situation where they are absolutely hampered by missing their number one guy, jason Tatum.

Who are some of the people that are going to step up? Which teams are going to step up? Which teams are going to step up? Which franchises are going to make their mark on this upcoming NBA season? Vegas has put out their odds. We will talk about the top four teams in those odds. As far as that's concerned, we will break those teams down and we will go from there and I will tell you right now Detroit don't come at me, do not come at me there. And I will tell you right now detroit don't come at me, do not come at me. I'm gonna tell you right now. Just because vegas has you number five, I think it actually, or were you six were you behind philadelphia? Which is kind of crazy, kind of disrespectful actually, to tell you truth. But I'm only doing the top four today. As far as that's concerned, we will be getting in. Once we get into august, we'll be breaking down division by division and we will start looking at all the teams so everybody is going to be represented in this situation as we get into august and start locking in on what you've done with your teams over the summer and what to look forward to when we get into training camp. So we will be breaking down those four teams. And then there is a piece of breaking news that we need to talk about and it's coming out of new orleans. So we're gonna start there.

But before we do that and get into like the crux of the podcast, again, my absolute appreciation to the audience. What you guys are doing is giving us it's giving me goosebumps. Can y'all see it? I can see it. I don't know if y'all can see it, but I can see it. Vietnam yes, they're listening to the podcast.

France is heavy now. They're like catching up to Germany as our biggest representative outside the United States. Germany is still first, but France is coming up. New Zealand, australia, india, india is real big into us, morocco, of all places. I was like what is going on. I was like what is going on North of the border of the North American continent.

Canada has stepped in to the chat. Basically, thank you, canada, thank you for your patronage of our podcast. We really appreciate it. Need to talk about some of these other countries that are hitting us up Chile, bolivia, argentinaina it is amazing to me, peru has entered also as well. Uh, we got to get our neighbors to the south of us. Mexico, what's up? I know y'all like basketball, I know you like football more, and I mean soccer when I mean football, but I just want to thank everybody for downloading the podcast being a part of this. Basically, what we're doing here is that this is for the love of hoops, this is for the love of basketball, this is for the love of the nba, and I am glad to be on this journey with you folks. So again, we talk about this all the time.

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And we had talked about the New Orleans Pelicans. And we had talked about the New Orleans Pelicans God, if they didn't have bad luck, they would not have any luck whatsoever the rookie, derrick Queen, who they moved up from the 23rd overall selection to the 13th overall selection. Now, mind you, mind you that when New Orleans did that, they actually gave up their 2026 first round pick for that and people will say, well, you know, hey, you know, to get something you have to give something. But everybody that I've talked to in the league was like what, why would they do that? Because remember the stipulations on that particular pick. It's not just the pelicans now this. We're going to talk about this injury that happened to derrick queen in one second. But remember, the 2026 pick is not just conclusive. On to New Orleans, no, no, no. If, for some reason, milwaukee goes south, it is between the two of them, so it's whoever has the worst record out of both of them. That pick now belongs to someone else. And I'm doing like, wow, what are we doing right now? And everybody around the league is saying, what are we doing? Even though you wanted to pick, I'm sure there could have been something else that could have worked out, whether it was multiple seconds, maybe further futures first, or whatever.

But the thought process around the league is that New Orleans is not going to be good this upcoming season. And now Derrick Queen, who was their first first round pick, has an injury to his wrist that requires surgery and he will be out for the next 12 weeks. So guess what? Yeah, he'll be able to do the cardio because he can definitely continue to run. It's a wrist injury, but the problem with that is is that you're not getting shots up. You're not being able to work on your dribble package, you're not being able to work on the counters for the counters that maybe people saw in Summer League, so these things are going to put on an absolute halt.

The other problem with this is that this is going to linger into the first part of the year and it's also going to go through training camp. The big issue with that is is that you want to build a foundation of cohesiveness, and how are you doing that without one of your main pieces that you got in the draft that you might have been depending upon at least for like 14 to 18 minutes a night, and now he's not there. And then he's got to ramp up, understand the playbook, understand what you're trying to run, understand his defensive assignments through the processes or what have you. He is going to be behind and he's going to be in a forever game of catch up during the regular, during his rookie regular season, and that does not sound like it's conducive to winning. So, new orleans, you better tread lightly. You better hope that zion is fully healthy and that he's going to carry the mail for anywhere between 68 to 72 games.

Trey murphy, third, is an excellent talent. Zion williamson is an excellent talent. The problem is is that injuries, and I don't like what you have around those two guys Right now. It is young talent, very explosive talent. Jeremiah Fears yeah, jeremiah Fears looks awesome, looks quick, looks explosive. But you know who looked quick and explosive last year? Rob dillingham. We were thinking that he was going to play a major part with the minnesota timberwolves and we found out quickly that physicality he didn't have any of it and this is what we're walking into. So Big blow for the New Orleans Pelicans, I hope.

First of all, our hearts go out to Derrick Queen, and you know Having this injury sucks, especially when you're trying to. You know I mean shoot. You want to get up shots, bro. You definitely want to get up shots, bro. You definitely want to get up shots at this time of year. And now we're waiting. But derrick queen is a good dude uh, he's a dog, from what I hear out of that baltimore and maryland area, and if anybody is going to attack his rehab with reckless abandon. It will be derrick queen, because we know how much he loves hoops. So get well, my dude. Hopefully the rehab is not as strenuous as I think it's going to be, and we just hope that a speedy recovery is on the table for you.

But this is not. This is not how you want to start out the year. If you're the new orleans pelicans, you need everything to go right. Everything on to the rest of the podcast that we have scheduled for you, because we have some big thoughts on the boston celtics and I want to get into that right now. So again, we're also coming off the pretenses of the Celtics one year removed from their championship run and yet they're in a full recalibration mode. Four veterans are gone, they have a superstar on crutches and the front office is spinning strategic calm under new ownership and a new CBA. But the tone isn't panic, it's patience, and this is Brad Stevens and the North Star doctrine that he has cooked up for the Celtics.

The Celtics are sitting on about $320,000 above the second apron as we speak. Right now, a sliver of cap space becomes a choke point on the roster strategy. Brad stevens addressed this head-on. This is what he said. This is a quote that surreal pulled. We are very comfortable with this group heading into next season. But make no mistake, that isn't contentment, this is calculation. The second apron restricts teams building tools no sign and trades, no mid-level exceptions, no buyout market. Go into the third year and the penalties pile up even more.

So Stevens moved early, sending Drew Holiday and Christoph Porzingis away. Right, so Drew Holiday is in Portland as we speak and it is that that trade got them Anthony Simons and we'll talk about him a little bit later. Christoph Porzingis they basically sold cheaply to the Atlanta Hawks Kudos to the Atlanta Hawks for kind of pouncing on this situation. They needed a big that was like a rim running big and also somebody who could do the pick and pop, and a guy who was 7'4 four and he can protect the rim, provided that christoph porzingis is healthy. And that's a big. If they allow luke cornett to walk away, he's in san antonio and they're also saying goodbye to al horford. Now al horford is still a free agent as we speak, but the they basically closed the door on bringing al horford back, not because he wanted to is because he had to. They know that the money is going to be a sticking point and still, through all of it, stevens insists that the biggest moves other celtics they can, they can make isn't a trade, it's internal.

Another quote from our girl Soraya the most important acquisition is getting Tatum off out of the boot. He isn't wrong there. That's our North Star. It's not a metaphor, it's a mission. Tatum is rehabbing daily, jalen brown is in the gym and derrick white is expected to carry the torch defensively. The vibes surprisingly steady. What do you expect from boston celtics?

Brad stevens has been running this organization for about five years now and if you, he's just been a model of consistency and success. He has really taken to this job. I did not know once he got it from Danny Ainge what this was really gonna look like. Well, he has done an outstanding job just captaining this team through all of the angst and can they win the big one and all these things? Listen, they turned into a math problem. You know, joe mizzoula came in after the exodus of emate one, ema adoka. That thing got completely swept on a rug and also we got him smooth out of the paint.

There's a new owner in town. His name is bill chisholm. His ownership group is taking over for the gross specs and now remember the grossbacks. As far as wick is concerned, he did not want to sell. It was his dad who wanted to sell, and the reason for it is because the elder grossback is 91 years of age and he wanted to have his estate pretty much cleared up for any situations where you know he's going on to that afterlife. So that was really the genesis of the trade. Bill chisholm walks in, pays six billion dollars for the squad and and mind you, six billion. And the boston celtics do not own their own arena. So at some point I would expect that they'll get a new arena somewhere in boston, maybe near the bay. That might be real nice. I remember when I first got to boston and they were talking about building the new fenway park and it was going to be by the bay. Could you imagine if the celtics get there first? Now this is like what god it's almost's almost 24 years ago.

The new ownership is also pushing patience over panic philosophy. Stevens says explicitly that they won't sacrifice draft capital to save dollars. Simons and Niang, who are kind of like the new kids on the block, so to speak, for the Boston Celtics. They might be the first ones to go. We'll get into that a little bit later, but I would look for a couple more trades of cost-cutting matters because of the fact that they're definitely going to get underneath that second apron, if not the first apron.

Let's get into a little Anthony Simons talk. Anthony Simons is 26 years old. He's had three straight seasons of 20 plus points per game. He's a shot creator, a pull up threat, but Portland didn't ask him to defend at all and it showed. Brad is betting on the upside, not the completeness. Now Nick Niang is is coming in and he's a rotational guy. He was in philly and he's been in cleveland. He's been a lot of places. He's kind of a stretch four with a motor. He also has a little dog in him. You know I'm saying he's not going back down from anybody. He's not really gonna take a lot of shit from anybody as well. Not built for switches, but he competes. Brad called him a pain. A pain to play against. High praise from a guy like stevens. They also added uh, luca garza, a guy who was in minnesota monat and nemes keta is back with the green.

These aren't throwaway signings, these are post apron lottery tickets. Brad has been on one or two of these guys who might pop. One good thing about brad stevens is that he has an eye for this type of thing and, again, if there was other than sam presti, um, really, it's only sam presti, like. I like what colby altman's done there, but I really like that brad ste Stevens has had a just a a lineage of winning. Through all the moves he's made. He's been aggressive when he could. He knows when to take his foot off the accelerator and the.

The thing that I don't understand with Brad Stevens is that you don't hear a lot of love for him. We talk and it's my fault so we talk about Sam Presti all the time on this podcast, but we should look east and give some love to Brad Stevens and the job that his front office and his staff has done about, uh, recognizing talent, uh, being aggressive when they can make a trade, uh, and being very nimble and flexible with their philosophy. Not like. It's not like um, what's the word I'm looking for? It's not like. They are not have a foundation. They definitely have a foundation and that foundation lies in jason tatum and jalen brown, but knowing what parts to pick up when they need them like that drew holiday trade was just amazing when they did that I'm not talking about the one where he went back to portland.

I'm talking about when he came from Portland to Boston, like Milwaukee, didn't see that coming. Now Tatum Is working every day, you know, so At the end of the day, we know that he's going to Try to be back as soon as he can. My whole thing is Is that the Achilles injury is not like an ACL. It's not like a PCL or MCL. The Achilles is one of those injuries that you must take seriously and I would be more on the cautious side when it came to Jason Tatum, knowing that you don't want to miss prime years like we're in right now with Jason, but giving him that extra little three to four months rest if you don't play him, you know, when it comes to the postseason, I think personally would be a great idea and it was something that the Boston Celtics should really really look into.

The one thing that I like about Stevens he said this he doesn't say rebuild, he says build. He doesn't use the word reset, he talks about retooling at the highest level. There's an art to the front office transparency. Say too much, you take morale. Say too little, your fans think you have checked out. Say too little your fans think you have checked out.

Steven walks that line with steady feet and nimbleness. He's borrowing from danny age, who was there for a long period of time. He's ownership pressure and he's moved. Then he's. He's more than anything than making sure the guys in the locker room Know that this isn't a lost year. It's just the in between To the next phase Of Complete dominance by the Boston Celtics. Well, at least our guy, brad Stevens, thinks so, because when Tatum comes back, the picks are still here. When you avoided panic spending, you're ready to go. This is what Brad Stevens and the North Star Doctrine is all about. The message isn't loud, it isn't fast, but it's focused. Stevens isn't chasing headlines, he's building towards the horizon. The Boston Celtics fans can stomach the stillness. They might just wake up with another title window. And that is what Brad Stevens is trying to navigate through this year about. He is trying to navigate.

Okay, I have a devastating injury. Our cap situation was perilous and we knew we were going to have to pivot at some point. Anyway, here's the best time to go ahead and do that. Yeah, it sucks that we're doing this to Jalen Brown, but they're a dynamic duo and Jalen Brown doing it solo, dolo, on his own, is not going to get us the success that we really are looking for. So, at the end of the day, this is where we are as a Celtics team. So let's go ahead and move forward.

And what can we do? How can we take advantage of situations and how big do we want to swing? I don't think they're necessarily going to tank. I'm going to get into some of the things that might be on the table for them momentarily, but I think what you're gonna see is hey, is pritchard really that dude? You know we just paid him. Is he really that dude? What other things can we get out of some of the young players and some of our like sam housers of the world, if there are trades to be made right, which we do believe? So, and I'm telling you right now, I have it on good authority that boston is not done before training camp opens up. Now I don't know if they're going to necessarily do something within the next couple weeks, or will they wait until closer to um training camp opening up, which is in like mid-September, mid to late September? I would think that it will probably be done within the next couple weeks, as the landscape of the NBA starts to change, so let's get into some of their options.

The easiest moves to make would to be trade Anthony Simons or George Yang. Now, anthony Simons, you're going to have to look for a particular spot for him. He's going to be a little bit harder to move, simply because Anthony Simons is owed $27.7 million this year. How you can spin this into your own advantage is that it's an expiring contract. So Brad Stevens is sitting on $27.7 million and for some teams who are being Cap savvy this is what we are hearing from the Lakers, project 2027. And all this other stuff Not saying Lakers are going to move On Anthony Simons, they have too many guards to begin with. That's why Bradley Bill is playing for the Clippers Instead of the Lakers. But Anthony Simons is making $27.7 million dollars and if you were trying to shave Some money, this might be a good way of doing it.

What could you give back in return? Let's think about this. I talked to a couple scouts. I talked to a couple People who are in the buildings Of some of the Eastern Conference and Western Conference and what they thought of our guy Anthony Simons, and the prevailing thought was this Because he's an expiring contract and because he gets buckets, he'll have interest from playoff teams lacking shot creation. Hmm, that used to be Orlando. It might still be Orlando, but I don't know if they're needed to move off money right now. We'll see. There are some defensive liabilities when it comes to Anthony Simons. So the salary size means contender return, likely limited protected picks, salary matching young player or cap flexibility for tax team.

So what you're looking for, it all depends on what you're looking for with anthony simons. Are you looking for draft assets? Are you looking for a young player that maybe might not be getting the opportunity at his current location? Or are you looking for like solid, like 12 to 18 million dollar contracts and maybe shave some money off the back end of that? And then you know, move along. Because here's the thing if you can find somebody, especially if you're looking at, let's say, oh, after December 15th, because we all know what that means the people who sign contracts over the summer, they'll be eligible for trade December 15th. So if you sign a mid-level exception, which is going to be anywhere between fourteen point seven million to fifteen point four million, if I'm not mistaken, that will be able to give you some cap flexibility. That puts you underneath the second apron, and that is something that the celtics are desperately looking for now.

The market reality on our guy, anthony simons, is this is that no premium assets unless it's a bad contract swap, like I don't know? The celtics are into that. Teams who are wanting like a one-year audition, not a foundational ad. There are teams out there who are looking for shot creation. I wonder if Minnesota takes a leap onto.

Anthony Simons, there's a candidate for you. Is there something in the water in Denver? Maybe not, but you know we throw names out. I know Sacramento is trying to do something. I don't know what they're trying to do, but they're trying to do something and we'll see what that's all about. But I know one thing Boston has no desire, and I repeat, no desire for zach levine. They are not interested. Okay, 0.0 on that guy.

Could phoenix get involved? Because they seem to not care about money. But yes, they do. They are starting to care. Why do you think they did the Bradley Bill thing when they went and waved and stretched him Because they needed to get under that second apron? Even Matt Ishpia is starting to succumb to what I'll call. They won't call it this, but I'll call it this.

It's a hard cap. The new CBA, you can call it whatever you want's a hard cap, the new CVA, you can call it whatever you want. Second apron All these things. Here's what it is. It is a proverbial hard cap. You're too restricted, there's not much you can do and the All of the little penalties Are so punitive that at some point you just succumb to the pressure. And I gotta get out of this because we won't be able to do anything if we don't get off of this second apron. So our guy, grad steven, said hey, we gonna beat, we gonna beat this to the punch. Let's go ahead and start shaving off money here and there, start getting ourselves together. Right For our guy, george Deang, he's going to be a little bit easier to move. You're talking about $8.2 million of expiring contract. That is just beautiful, beautiful cap management right there, and I think this will be the piece that might move first. I think it'll be very easy to get off.

George niang, can you maybe get a young player who might be struggling in another area? Maybe brad stevens saw him in a previous draft, thought he was a good sell, take or whatever. Wasn't able to get him because maybe they were drafting too low and he said always, you know, always like this kid and he gets him, and then he's saving some money along the way because, remember, they're only 320 000 dollars over the second apron right now. So if you got a young player, let's say that guy is making about five to six million dollars. George niang is making 8.2. Now you're underneath that second apron and now you can start breathing a little bit easier and then you can see what you can do.

As far as the anthony simon situation, notice that I have not talked about Sam Houser. Notice that there's a reason for it and we'll get into it momentarily. Little bit more about George Yang, what another team will be looking for. He's a stretch shooting for which is valued all across the league. Does he have defensive limitations? Yes, he does. The league. Does he have defensive limitations? Yes, he does.

Playoff exposure means return is roster filler or second or like a late second rounder. He might be used as a salary blast, as in a larger deal. He fits a deadline ad for a playoff team, especially if you're looking for somebody who's going to fill that 8th or 9th man in the rotation. If you're just trying to beef up, you know, basically have a little bit more options is concerned. And if you have 12 minutes of George Niang and he gets hot, can win you a couple ballgames here and there, can win you a couple ball games here and there. So the simon's name package could be met with a late first, early second salary relief or a reclamation project. So that's what you're looking for. Do not expect a needle moving up upside on their own. Most probable return is luxury tax savings, a fringe rotation, big and unprotected second rounders. If you want to get real froggy, if you want to get real spicy, look no further than changing out some of the core.

It has been long rumored, it has been long thought of that if somebody was going to leave boston it would be jalen brown. Ryan stevens has said on the record I have no desire to trade jalen brown. I'm gonna bring up a statement I said in our last pod you are only as loyal as your options and I'm gonna tell you right now if there was a young player coming back that had high upside potential, or if somebody was about to break you off a true lottery, pick something very like minimally protected or what have you. I think the cell takes my junk all over that, but it's not going to be easy to to trade jaylen brown. Three reasons. One they don't have like the desire to do so, so whatever is going to come back to Boston, it would have to absolutely blow them out of the water. I want to make that perfectly clear.

Brad Stevens is not looking to trade Jalen Brown, but if there was a trade to be made let's say there was multiple first round picks maybe a young guy with a ton of upside who knows, you know, are you? Are you in the E's Meecy deal? Are you in the E's Meecy collective? Could the damn Miami Heat get Jalen Brown with, like Kalel Ware? You imagine Kalel Ware in a couple first rounders going to Boston and Jalen Brown going down to Miami to the 305 who we shut her thing. I know Boston people don't want to think that because they have been trying to rid themselves of the Miami Heat and that voodoo that they use down there, that seems to cost Boston all kinds of shenanigans, all kinds of misery.

Now what somebody will be getting if they got jalen brown a primary scorer with playoff experience, beyond also somebody who is still 28 years of age, all nba history. He's not a proven hub of offense, though, or a true alpha. He works in tandem with tatum. We're about to find out how he how good he is without tatum. He can show and prove this year how good he is without jason tatum.

So now, if you get the overwhelming deal now, I'll tell you another team that I would look out for, and this is the team that would absolutely scare me if I was a Boston Celtics fan. Look out for the Houston Rockets. Houston did not give up a lot to get Kevin Durant, and now they still got a bunch of young players With pretty good salaries. If you were getting a Jalen Brown back and you gave a Reed Shepard, atari Eason, I'm sure the Celtics would ask for Amin Thompson and Houston would completely shut that down. Like completely shut that down. They'd be like hell to the no, you are not getting Amin Thompson, but you know a couple first rounders and some young players with some upside and some young players with some upside, because one thing that the Boston Celtics need to make sure that they do with this year if you want to call it like a sabbatical or a hiatus you want to make sure that you get some young legs in the building and you start in the building and you start boosting up your depth that you lost over the last couple years with some win.

Now moves like the drew holiday deal and what have you? I will say this again we have still not talked about sam hauser. I'm gonna say this one more time I'm not saying that it will happen. I'm not saying it will happen. There's two things with this trading brown signals, a soft reset, expect one to two down gears, but asset war, chess upon tatum's return sounds real tasty. Again, I'm not saying it's going to happen, but if traded, the demand would be a starter back, a nil near all-star talent or a guy who has the upside to get there, and multiple picks anything less would be a loss for the franchise credibility.

It will take a monumental deal to get Jalen Brown out of Boston. I do not expect that to happen, but the team that I would really worry about if I was a Celtics fan Would be the Houston Rockets. And how aggressive do they want to get? These are still questions that need to be answered and we got a whole month and some change to go right. It's almost what damn near two months at this point.

If you wanted to get a little bit? I don't. I personally would never want to do this. But if you wanted to say, okay, we're not going to change jaylen brown, but we can get probably a pretty good return for this other guy, would you have any thoughts of trading derrick white? He is an all defensive guard. He's a two-way glue guy that drives culture. This is why you do not get rid of jay. Uh, derrick white. He is a all defensive guard, two-way glue guy. So he's gonna knock down shots and he's gonna guard your best dude. And guess what? He's a rim protector at six foot three, which is crazy and a good culture. Dude. That's mean he don't sit there and be like hey, listen, I'm gonna need to take about 20 shots. I need to start boosting up my, my offensive productivity for my next contract. He's a guy that gets in where he fits in. If you know what I'm saying, he's undervalued by the casuals elite teams, covet white. Let me tell you something there are so many guys, there's so many teams, that would love derrick white on the squad right now. There are so many teams that would love Derek White on the squad right now. He could fetch a lottery pick, a premium young player from a contender easily Possible returns.

If you were to trade a Derek White Guarantee one first, if not multiple Usually with the multiple you'll get protections on those, so we don't know how good those would be. But you're one unprotected first out of that deal or you're not doing it. You will get a rotation ready young player or a complete overpaid by a desperate team. Now there are a couple out there, so we'll talk about those in a second. Trading white creates a leadership culture void. Only move him if you're overwhelmed by the offer or you're committing to a youth movement. They're not committing to a youth movement because they got jason tatum and they have jalen brown. But if they were overwhelmed again, there are a couple teams out here that if you were looking to get a little like hey, what do you want to do? Do I want to change up my squad a little bit? Is there a way for me to do that? I'll throw something out there. Detroit, you, you were. You were worried that you weren't going to get talked about in this podcast, correct? The Pistons fans out there? Y'all worried that you were not going to get talked about in this podcast.

Could you imagine Derek White in a Pistons uniform and Jaden Ivey who would be kind of like a miniature version of Jalen Brown, a six foot version of Jalen Brown, super duper, athletic, super duper, raw Not raw, I would say unrefined game, but the defensive capabilities, or upside on One, jadenivey, tremendous, tremendous. And if you're getting derrick white and pistons, you're going like well, what, what does this look like? Well, you're getting caved. Somebody who can actually go okay, like that is a rock solid dude. He's gonna give us something on the defensive end for sure and he's just going to be a steadying force In our locker room.

Remember, derek White is a culture guy and if Detroit was looking to really get into that mix Of the Knicks, cleveland, atlanta, orlando, which are the top four teams that Vegas has picked out Not in that particular order, I'm just saying but if they were looking to do something, derek White would be the type of guy that you would do it for. And could you get something where it's jay nyvee and isaiah stewart, stewart and maybe a protected first round pick for derrick white. Does boston even listen to that? You bet you, you bet your ass, that brad stevens would listen to that. Okay, that is getting a big that can come off the bench and provide defensive uh, rim protection provide that edge that you always are looking for. And then jay nyvee is that upside play where, hey, if you want to move on from jaylen brown in the next couple years and you you wanted to make sure that j JNivey was set With Jason Tatum you reset your timeline With a situation like that. And again, for the aggregators out there who will sit there and have this up on Hoops Hype, I am not saying that this is in the mix, I am just throwing out analogies and suggestions that might be out there if, if there was a situation where derrick white hit the trade uh market. Okay, so before you get so super crazy and start going into the trade machine and start typing in Derek White to the Detroit Pistons and then putting it all over Twitter and talking about how I made this trade up, well, first of all, you heard it from me first. Second of all, if you're doing something like that, don't aggregate me. Just letting you know we are going to show some love to brad stevens right now because I just want to. I just want to roll this out there for the people because, again, we talk about sam presti on this podcast a lot. We talk about how he built that team, how he's done such an incredible job. Another guy who deserves flowers is Brad Stevens.

Now 21-22 was his first year as the president of player personnel for the Boston Celtics, taking over for Danny Ainge, who then went on to Utah. He was the finals runner-up. He had a top two defense, massive turnaround from a late start. Remember that was the ema adoka one and only season. They got off to a really rough start. They were like at 500, I want to say around january 3rd of that of 2022, and then they took off like a absolute missile and they they made a finals run 2022-2023. That is the we went through the Emea Delca scandal. We had a young coach on the bench by the name of joe mazula who we were really worried about. Whether was this guy going to be able to manifest this team to its destiny. But with a rookie coach, a lot of kind of unstabilizing situations going on. The Boston Celtics reached the Eastern Conference Finals and pushed a game seven. They had the best net rating in the league, consistent top two in the East, and this is the second year of Brad Stevens being at the helm.

Now, in 2023-2024, celtics are the nba champions. They have 64 wins. Strength of schedule is off the charts. They're number one in that, number one in offense and they sustain elite defense. So what do you do for encore? Right, do Right. Do you become a fat cat, whatever? No, not.

The Celtics Last year, 2024-2025. 61 wins, number 3 net rating. They lost in the East Semis. But the reason why Jason Tatum tears his Achilles? We don't think that If Jason Tatum tears his Achilles, we don't think that if Jason Tatum was there, we think that the Celtics are on their way at least to the Eastern Conference Finals, if not the Finals. What does this all add up to? So, under the Brad Stevens regime, the average record 60.75 wins per year, rating top three every year. That means they are getting buckets. Offensive rating never below two since 2022 and their defense was top five every single year. By the way, that is the consensus winning formula. A top 10 offense, a top 10 defense, basically means that almost walks you into the finals all by itself. Now you get a top five, you're guaranteed.

It's kind of like having it like a, a 770 credit, uh, credit score. You know what I'm saying? It's like what kind of house you want? Oh, you want, oh, you want this three million dollar house show. We can get you that because you have a 770 credit score or 800 credit score. Yeah, 800 credit score. Man, this, there's nothing this world won't open up for you. You know what I'm saying?

Again, he's acquired and extended key pieces IE, drew Holiday, christoph Porzingis, derek White and Sam Houser. Remember, we never mentioned Sam Houser in any of those deals and I'm going to tell you right now from my sources back east Sam Houser is one of those pieces that, albeit he might be the sixth man or seventh man or whatever the case may be, they find him to be absolutely critical to what they do. They love that. They love that guy, guy and they don't have any thoughts of trading him. They will resist vigorously to trade sam hauser and the.

The thing that I love about grass stevens is that, okay, joe mizzoula wants to. He wants to uh, play a certain style. The roster identity and the roster profile that Stevens has built for Joe Mazzulla it's been like a match made in heaven elite shooting, two-way wings, versatile, versatile defenders that's what they got all over the all over the team. They've integrated rookies such as, uh, peyton pritchard. Now, jordan wash hasn't got that love really yet we'll see what he looks like. This year they've avoided overpays ie sam hauser and peyton pritchard but now must navigate this post-title acorn squeeze, which they will, because brad stevens is a goat when it comes to these type of things.

Team building, when it comes to your pillar franchises, is really hard because there's such an excretation, there's such a a level of like standard. Like our guy mike tomlin of the pittsburgh steelers would say the standard is a standard. Well, in boston the standard is the damn standard. We are trying to win championships. We got 18 of them and that's not enough for us. We looking for 19. Okay, we, a greedy franchise, boston fans want that championship. Do not think of anything else but looking for a ring.

But our guy brad stevens has been a lead team builder since he got there. He's been proactive with his instincts, never testing or Never resting on his laurels, titled to major retool in one summer. Are you kidding me? Again, it talks about his nimbleness, of what is going on right in front of him. He's a realist, but also always looking to gain that edge At all times when they needed a rim protector and a little more defense, what did they go out and do? They went out in and they. They bought high on Christoph Porzingis and Drew Holiday that he knows to to strike when the iron's hot and he keeps enough chips in the coffers so when the moves are coming, he can be the first one to jump on it. Now is he facing his biggest test as a talent evaluator and a decision maker this year 100%.

But other than Sam Presti, I would not want anybody else Doing this for the Celtics, other than Brad Stevens. You know what I'm saying. I respect my guy, john Horst in Milwaukee, jeff Weltman in Orlando I respect that dude. No doubt Michael Winger In Washington he was also part of the Clippers. I respect him as well. But Brad Stevens and Sam Presti To me Are the gold standard. You can talk about Daryl Morey, you can talk about Leon, you can talk about Leon Rose in New York, but Brad Stevens has been doing it and he has been doing it at such an elite level. It's hard to question anything that he does at this point.

More times than not, it will be Simons and and Nguyen leaving, before, obviously, jalen Brown and Derek White. Again, what it would take for Jalen Brown or Derek White to move would be and well, if it's Jalen Brown, it would be like a guy who is entering that phase of all-star. And if it was Derek White, it would be a young upside guy who would be able to team with Tatum and bring Tatum into his mid-30s and then that guy would take over basically for Tatum. So that would be, ie, like a Jaden Ivey type of guy or what have you. And again, if Jalen Brown was going to move anywhere, I would tell you, look out for Houston. And again, I'm not saying that this is going to happen, I am just telling you they are the team most equipped to go and take and get a Jalen Brown from the Boston Celtics. They have the pieces. If they have the picks, they can get it done. I'm going to get aggravated, I'm going to get aggregated for this, I know for sure. And then people are going to be calling me, going like did you put out a trade out there for jalen brown going to houston? I'm like no, listen to the pot, listen to the damn pot.

I have one exec that I talked to. This is what he said about brad stevens he's a elite, he's a lead talent evaluator and decision maker at the highest level by any metric championships, regular season playoff wins and talent optimization and talent optimization. He is top tier. Well, we got to find out how top tier he is because this is his biggest challenge. Yet he has to balance the books, he has to keep the roster morale high and he needs to asset have asset preservation on his mind. With tatum coming back off the achilles on his mind. With Tatum coming back off the Achilles, brad has built a modern, winning program. Now it's about not panicking, playing the long game, using the apron rules to your advantage, maximizing the youth development that you already started with Peyton Pritchard and our guy Sam Houser, and pounce when the market shifts. That's the move of a top front office maker, with Boston not being one of the top teams that are about to challenge for this title.

Who are the teams that we need to look at? Well, let's look at them. Vegas got odds out, espn got odds out they they're telling us certain things. So let's look at it. The cleveland cavaliers are one of your usual suspects. They are coming off a year where they won 64 games, albeit they had tremendous injuries that happened to them again.

Darius Garland had turf toe, which usually turf toe is for more like football players and baseball players before it is a basketball player. So it's weird that he got that. But he just had surgery. Shout out to our guy, hopefully he's going to be well and what we have heard is that he is going to miss a partial of the regular season going into next year. Turf toe is devastating it's. I mean, deon sanders, when he was playing football, had turf toe and like he said that it was like trying to walk on. It was absolutely unbearable. Trying to push off of it or pivot off of it was absolutely just, it was just not happening. You lost balance, lost control. I hope our guy derry's going is, uh, healing up, recuperating well.

But the calves they're good man, you know I'm saying they are good, don't worry about them. You know you got donovan mitchell out here, you got evan mobley, you got jared allen, you got our guy sam morrell, so they're gonna. Max streus is still in the building and then they did something really savvy they traded for our guy lonzo ball. Lonzo ball is going to help out immensely. You know what I'm saying. He's a connector. If he can be healthy and give them 18 minutes a game, it will be absolutely monumental for this team.

Now the concerns with the Cavs Are playoff base. Only with the Cavs are playoff base only can Mitchell create against top tier playoff defenses. Without Garland he ain't gonna have to worry about that. Garland will be back before then. You saw the difficulties in this playoff season that just passed without Garland. There Mitchell was very regular. He looked like a regular dude and that's not what you want, not when you paying him all that money. You would hope that he would rise above. You would hope that, okay, yes, our other real big piece to our core is out, but Donovan Mitchell can help us get to the promised land, or try to get us to the promised land. He went out with a whimper, so we're hoping for better situations for our guy Donovan Mitchell Garland.

The last three years, man, there've been injuries and now I'm starting to wonder are we hitting that era or that area of like? Are you always injured? And I'm not. And listen, this is no shade to him. Darius garland is a six foot one, six foot two point guard who was barely about 180 pounds. Remember, not last year, but the year before prior, he had his jaw broken and he had to eat through a straw and he lost like 25 pounds. So he was playing basketball at an elite level at 155 pounds. There was no way he was going to be effective under those circumstances. But there have been injuries and they seem to have started to compile up. And if you're starting to start stacking injuries on top of injuries or what have you I hate to use this word, but is darius garland becoming a health gamble? Toe surgery clouds early season now, with lonzo ball being there, that helps a little bit, but he has his own injury concerns. But their core, their buy-in and their flexibility big or small pace or half court make them a true contender. Because, hey, evan mobley is still in the building, deandre hunter is still in the building, jared allen is still in the building, so they'll still be a very formidable team in the regular season, no doubt with or without garland. I think they have enough ammunition to go ahead and compete when it comes to the regular season.

My questions when it comes to the cleveland cavaliers is in the playoffs after the 82 games, are your Tire is your? Is your tread on your tires thin or is it still very, you know? Okay, we got a lot of grip to the road and the question Continues to linger About two things. The funny part about it is we don't even need to talk about evan mowgli anymore, because we found out he's ready. He's ready to be that dude.

The questions now are on, obviously, darius garland's health and a person I never thought I would be talking about questioning, talking about questioning Jared Allen. Jared Allen is going to have to step up, be more physical, be that not just the rim protector, but have that like that nasty in him. Now. Jared Allen is a, is an intellectual. Okay, jared Allen loves to read. He's a voracious reader. He's kind of a. He's an anomaly in the league, you know, and some would question his dedication. I would not. This is not. I'm not that guy. I just think that he Is a different type of cat. But You're going to have to show us, jared, that when push comes to shove, you won't get pushed around. The last couple years, you've been pushed around and you can sit there and say, well, hold on. You're being critical of me. Do you know what you're talking about? Yes, I do. Yes, I do. I've seen it the last two years. There were rumors as of that. At the end of last year, cavaliers got bullied.

We get through the 2024 2025 season and we're still talking about hey, how tough is the interior of the Cleveland Cavaliers and no one's looking at Evan Mobley, so it's directly on you. My guy, ja, so can you bring up the physicality? We know you have the greatest throw in the NBA right now. You could definitely be one, one of the backups On the Jackson 5 back in the day. Okay, that fro is amazing. You are 7 feet tall, but with the fro you are 7'5". But I'm going to need the fro or you, to have some more physicality. So when people come to that paint they're a little leery and if you can bring that, that will help your team immensely.

My guy again, when we talk about the cleveland cavaliers, we're not talking about the regular season. We believe that they'll win a ton of games even without darius garland early on in the season. They have too many answers. I believe Mobley can score. You got Donovan Mitchell. Max Struess can get hot. Lonzo Ball is a complete connector. Our guy, sam Morrell, loves to score the basketball. There's enough there to keep them afloat. I ain't even talking about my guy DeAndre Hunter. Basically, we're looking at a really good situation with them. It will be about the playoffs. We need to get to the squad. Okay, we need to get to. I can't wait until we get here. Yes, sir, let's talk about it.

The Knicks they got a new coach, mike Brown I don't know, we'll see they still got a loaded roster. The Knicks are second in the east odds for good reason. Jalen Brunson is an absolute dog 6 foot, just look like a fire hydrant, but he is a playoff shot maker at the highest level. Our guy Mikhail Bridges, and OG Ananobi provide the wing depth, the wing defense, the point of attack defense that you need. Josh hart is a rebounding idiot and I mean that in the warmest way possible. There's no way that a six foot four guard should be getting like eight, nine boards a game. But j josh hart is out there putting his body on the line every single moment. He is out there.

And let me tell you something when Coach Thibodeau was on that bench, josh Hart was out there for like 46 minutes out of 48. He did not believe in a bench. I guess it was against Tom Thibodeau's religion. He was like we play the starters. That's what we play. We don't play no bench dudes. We don't care about them, we only care about the starters. And if you start for me, be prepared to go the full boat. Now we hope for change. Okay, we hope for some bench utilization. We hope for our guys getting a blow every once in a while pause, I know y'all out there nope, y'all not doing it to me but we do hope for a little more rest for jaylen brson, og Ananobi, mikael Bridges, carl Anthony Towns and absolutely Josh Hart. I thought Josh Hart was going to die at some points last year.

New coach Mike Brown inherits a locker room that's still adjusting to Carl Anthony Towns, to locker room that's still adjusting to carl anthony towns. With questions about leadership and hierarchy, if rows aren't clear early or if towns doesn't commit to the defensive end, internal friction may could resurface on the floor. The roster versatility is real. Defensive lineups with bridges, og ananogi and josh hart can suffocate opponents. Bronson is a battle-tested g and certified stud. Okay, carl anthony towns scored a bunch of points in the playoffs. He looked amazing.

There were still some of those crazy cat plays y'all know what I'm talking about where we kind of going like what you doing, what are you doing right now? But there were less of them, so I couldn't get super crazy about it. They also brought in jordan clarkson, who's a microwave scorer off the bench. Our guy deuce mcbride really provided some scoring and also some defensive versatility when he was out there. Shots out to our guy deuce mcbride. You know how much we love him. He's one of our, he's one of front runner podcast collective favorites ever since he was at west virginia bob huggins guy. You know I'm saying'm saying Love Deuce McBride.

The question is less about the talent and more about the buy in. And here's the thing Mike Brown is a try hard, and what I mean by that Is that there's a lot of effort, there's a lot of like. You see him moving, grooving and all these type of things. But Mike Brown, everywhere he's gone, gone. He's really worn out his welcome. Now I will.

I will not speak about the sacramento situation, because I think that if mike brown is there, dearon fox is still there and that team is mostly intact instead of looking like the west coast version of the chicago bulls. If you're going to be there, you're not going to be sitting here and having these dudes be practicing during the regular season. Okay, you are not doing that. Mike. I'm telling you right now don't be like the reverse tips, like we're gonna run them in practice and then they go play games and then we're going to practice, like you can't have back to backs and then have a practice. Okay, that's a quick way to lose your squad. My guy, don't do it.

This is a more veteran team. There's not a lot of young cats on this team. There's a lot of veterans who's had a lot of playoff experiences and what have you? They seen some shit in the nba. They don't need you to come in and be some sort of tony robbins type of dude. They need you to be a coach. Understand? Like, hey, we need to take a blow here, we need to get a little rest here. What have you? Can you understand that mike brown should say yes, I do understand, let's make sure we get you some rest now. Don't worry about it. It's only a shoot around. No practice today, whatever. Get your, you know, get your therapy in, you know, get your recovery in and then we'll see you at the game. We'll do a lot of video work, whatever the case may be, to get everybody caught up to speed, because, remember, they've been with TIS for the last two years. They have been rolled into the ground. They need respite, they need a tree To shelter them. Mike Brown, brown, can you be that tree for the new york knicks? I hope so.

Here's a stat from serea. In the 2025 playoffs, lineups with bridges, og ananogi and jalen brunson had a positive 12.8 net rating across 250 plus minutes. You know what that means. That means that they have a serious, serious playoff core and if you don't get them early, get them early, you gonna get got. Brunson is an absolute killer. Like there are no questions about Jalen Brunson and his shot creation and how he can get to his shot, and there's nothing you could do about it.

Now here's the question that I have can Mike Brown create a third closer to help Jalen Brunson and Carl Anthony Towns? I do have a nominee. I'm going to raise my hand now and give you my nominee. Can we see OG Ananogi or Mikkel Bridges one of the two? Be that third closer, be that third guy that's getting like 18 to 20 points a game. They both have the talent to do so. Can Jalen Brunson get off ball just a little bit more To help those guys out? That's what Mike Brown hopefully has come in to do Is to make sure that he empowers either Mikkel Bridges or OG Ananobi. I personally like OG Ananobi a little bit more If I was going to give the keys to the kingdom. As far as, like the third, like captain of the ship, it would be OG Ananobi.

Again, they did add Jordan Clarkson to to the team. That's going to help. They also got our guy gershon yabuselli from the 76ers. He's going to be a lot of fun in madison square garden. The strength of the team obviously is brunson. The defense is obviously going to come from uh bridges and og andanogi and, to a lesser extent, deuce mcbride. But also here's the other person that needs to get some love mitchell robinson.

The one thing about it was is that he was out for most of the year and he came back and you saw immediately he paid dividends anytime he was on the court. They look better. They have, they have awesome rim protection. He was grabbing every rebound he possibly could that josh hart did not get. You know I'm saying so. I like the knicks a lot. I think personally, if I was gonna pick between the two, I like the knicks a little bit more. But I do question the coaching situation that has changed over. It's not that I think tips should still be there. Well, you know, it depends on who you talk to, but I can see his style kind of grading on the players, but I don't know. If you replaced Tibbs with Mike Brown, that was a questionable situation. Well, we'll see how it all works.

What keeps me up at night About the Knicks? Chemistry, chemistry. It's a hidden variable and with mike brown's arrival can he fix it or will he let town's presence and new roles unsettle the room? There needs to be a third guy that they can automatically say this guy is going to get us 18 to 22 points. They need to find that guy and empower him immediately. That should be basically what the first half of the season should all be about. Can we cultivate the third guy? So then, when we get to the playoffs're not sitting there going wondering like, okay, which one of them is going to show up tonight? Is it going to be og? Is it going to be mikhail gregis? No, you need to know. Before you get to the playoffs you need to know. So finding that third closer is monumentally important.

Now the other thing that needs to happen the utilization of the bench. I know it's crazy new york city, but you're gonna see. You're gonna see three to four. You're gonna see at least three dudes. They're gonna be playing like somewhere in between 14 to 18 minutes. It will be absolutely shocking to your system To see OG Ananobi sitting on the bench For more than 30 seconds at a time. It will be absolutely outstanding to see Mikael Bridges sitting on the bench, having a little Gatorade Chalking it up with the fellas for a second, maybe also getting a little video tutelage from one of the guys behind the bench, or whatever the case may be. This is all going to be new to New York Knicks fans. It's going to be super new to y'all, because Tibbs was like no, no, no, you get one gulp of water, you can towel off some of the perspiration that you have on your body, but your ass is going back in within within a minute. Okay, I cannot have you on this bench. We pay you a lot of money to play basketball, so go play.

When you're talking about the starters with the knicks, you're talking about one of the deep, one of the deepest, the most adaptable defenses in the eastern conference. They have a true floor, general in Brunson. Uh, the next hundred days are about building the buy-in, getting towns to commit to the defensive side of the ball. The having Mitchell Robinson the entire year is going to be essential, and then the additions of Clarkson and Yabu Selly to fit the culture and also to provide a respite for our guys on the. For our guys who start and played like 44 minutes a game last year is absolutely monumental and critical to continue to push that agenda forward.

The next thing that we need to talk about orlando. Orlando got our guy desert bang, paulo glencarroll and franz wagner got somebody who can shoot from the outside. We do not have to wait on jet howard anymore. We do not have to wait on that dude because desmond bain is here. Here is a volume three point assassin. He will shoot over 40. He will also love that he will be playing with franz wagner and also paulo blanquerro, that he will be playing with Franz Wagner and also Paulo Blanquerro.

Jalen Suggs is an absolute beast on the defensive end of the ball, point of attack defender and also great rebounder, and his improved three point shooting Leaves me all fuzzy inside. Okay, suggs is a tone center. Bane is an off-ball sniper that punishes rotations. When you hey, if you're late, if you hesitate for one second, that ball's going up and it's going to be cash money. There's still no proven crunch time option beyond paulo ben carroll. That's all changed. All change doesn't, bane is going to be that guy. Okay, you don't have to worry. If franz shot doesn't get better, desert bane will shoot that wall and that takes care of the mistake that you made with Contavious Caldwell Pope.

I also look for Debs and Bain's usage to go down and crunch time a little bit. I think Bogner, I think Debs and Bain, I think our guy Suggs will help him if we can keep them all healthy. Remember we had oblique issues all over the place last year in Orlando. Hopefully those are gone. Bane as a three-point and also spacer is a perfect fit to what Paulo wants to do, because he's trying to probe inside and then kick it out to his shooters and if Desmond Bane is out there he's going to get a lot of open looks, so it's gonna be great.

Now the concern is this boncaro and also franz wagner are still young. Right, they're still on that young side. They haven't gone through a bunch of playoffs like crucibles as far as that's concerned, and I think what happens with that is that you still got to build up those scar tissue type of um memories. So then it kind of insulates you once you're there and you've been there a couple times and you go. Okay, I know what this is all about. Now I'm saying it takes a while for that to happen. We all can't be the Oklahoma City. We all can't be that. But when you talk about Suggs Wagner, you talk about the switchability. If and I'll say this again if Jonathan Isaac is and I'll say this again if Jonathan Isaac is healthy. I will say this until the day I probably die, because Jonathan Isaac has never been healthy.

What are you going to get from Wendell Carter Jr this year that's another guy who was hurt last year the things that you will know about this team. This is a high character team. They have a ton of buy-in on the defensive end. Our guy listen Mosley, jamal. Mosley is a great coach. I love this dude. I love what he's brought to the Orlando Magic super unselfish play, great defensive, scrappy situation and they played in games that they shouldn't have been in because of their defense. Now they're going to have another scoring option on their team. That is going to help them kind of open up the floor a little bit. This should help both Paulo Banqueiro and Franz Wagner to break out a little bit. This should help both paulo bancaro and franz wagner to break out a little bit this year. And I'm gonna tell you right now if the six foot eleven and six foot ten dudes break out this year, we might be looking at okc east. Okay, because that's a different level of playmaking, that's a different level of seeing the floor, court vision and all of that.

And then again we talk about the defensive versatility. Destin Bain is no scrub on the defensive end. He's not like the great lockdown defender, but he's a good team defender. Our guy Suggs is a absolute lockdown defender. Point of attack dude Paulo Bencaro plays defense. Franz Wagner is an MF-er on defense and if you can get anything out of that center position whatsoever, you're gonna be alright.

And then we haven't even talked about Anthony Black and some of the guys on the bench. Orlando is in a good spot. They still have a ton of picks left. No, they don't. They have four picks that went to Memphis, but they still got young players to. If they need to jettison off, like Anthony Black, he would have a lot of desire around the league and you would be able to kind of recoup some of the picks that you lost in the Memphis trade to get Desmond Bang. But you had to get Desmond Bang. You had to. If you didn't, you would have another season where you'd be twiddling your thumbs trying to say how is Paulo Bencaro getting in the paint? Because he would not be able to get in the paint because they're gonna stack it.

What keeps me up at night about the orlando magic is really simple. Do we have enough shot creation? I would love another shooter. Can you get me one more shot? Making in the playoff is essential at crunch time and having Desmond Bain out there will help you. Having another guy out there that you can absolutely count on would be completely beneficial. How does this young group handle the playoff adversity? Will someone step up as a closer to help out? Paulo van carroll, I think you have a lot of candidates.

We talked about desmond bain. We talked about our guy sucks. He's a certified g. Franz wagner is the guy. That's the real answer and I'm gonna say it just like this. A lot of people might not know this, you, you might know this, but will the real Slim Shady please stand up, and I'm talking about Franz Wagner. You kind of skated around the outskirts a little bit, my boy, and I'm saying this to you because you have such an extreme talent level. You have great handles. We love your passing, we love your scoring ability, but you're gonna have to knock down that three-point shot with a little bit more consistency to help your team get to that next level.

So I hope that all of August, whether it's in Germany, whether it's in Orlando, whether it's on Mars, whether it's in Bolivia, whether it's in orlando, whether it's on mars, whether it's in bolivia, whether it's in antarctica, you are getting up three point shots. Be behind the link, be behind the three point line, and I want you to shoot a bunch of three point shots from all quadrants of the three point, whether it's the corner above the break, at the tip of the the three point, whether it's the corner Above the break, at the tip of the three point line At the top. If it's at the logo 30 feet, you don't even need to shoot it. 30 feet, dog. We need you, like right on the line. Okay, just be close to the line, shoot the three, get better at it, because we know it's in your bag. We ain't asking a lot from you, my guy. We asking about 36%. Okay, we asking for league average? None of this. Like I go two months without hitting a three, none of that. That's what keeps me up at night.

When it comes to Orlando, they are ready to win now. But, must be honest, our path depends the the magic path depends on Paulo Ganqueiro's next leap. But his next leap is attributed to the leap that Franz Wagner is taking. And also, how quickly can you implement Desmond Bain into this? Desmond Bain is a is a basically unlock code for this team. He raises the floor of the Orlando Magic.

I do not believe this is going to be just a 500 team next year. They will not be 41 and 41. This is a. This is a absolute lock 50 win team. If everybody stays healthy, lock to win 50. Okay. And if you win in 50, you're in the top end of the East. Their depth, their defensive culture and their intangibles will keep them in every series and also in the regular season. This group is worth betting on. But keep an eye out on the deadline for that final sniper piece that I've been talking about, final sniper piece that I've been talking about. I do think there's another move coming and it's gonna come at the trade deadline.

Oh yo, let's go down to the dirty, dirty south. We went down to the happiest place on earth, right. We went to disney world right with orlando, but now we need to go down to the dirty, dirty south. Okay, we need to go down to where Jermaine Dupri hang out. We need to go down to where Ludacris hang out. Okay, we need to go down to where 2 Chainz and them hang out. We need to go to Atlanta.

Atlanta made a bunch of moves in the offseason. Okay, okay, they were super busy. They said hey, kristoff Porzingis, you want to be an Atlanta Hawk? For sure, nikhil Alexander Walker, we're going to steal you from Minnesota. He was like alright bet. And then they got Luke Kennard To make shots. He is kind of the the yang yang. To Dyson Daniels ying, okay, and let's not forget that the chosen one is coming back. Jalen Johnson is going to re-enter the chat come 2025-2026 regular season and let me tell you something Atlanta was playing really good ball until Jalen Johnson got hurt. Now you got more pieces around. Trey Young and Jalen Johnson. Those are the two guys that are going to stir the drink.

Dyson Daniels was an absolute anomaly and he was a complete diamond in the rough. As soon as they washed it, as soon as they polished it up, it shined bright. My man was getting three steals, a game, which is unheard of, absolutely unheard of. Dyson Daniels was getting more deflections than a hockey goalie. Okay, he was out there just ping, ping, ping, ping, getting steals left and right.

Then let's not forget the number one overall pick from last year. Not forget the number one overall pick from last year, risa shea, is still there. He got buckets, he can shoot the ball, he's a three and d guy and I think that another year under his belt it's gonna do him good. And also you're gonna take some of the pressure off of him because with jalen johnson back in the building, with trey young there, with nikhil alexhil, alexander Walker also there and Christoph Korzingas, you're not looking for Rissach, zachary Rissach, to score more than like 12 to 14 points. Can you provide defense? Can you provide rim protection? Can you provide defense? Can you provide rim protection? Can you provide defensive rebounds? Can you do that? If you can do that, man, if you can be 14 and 7, atlanta is gonna be real nice.

The one question still hasn't changed trey young's defense and his ability to be, to be able to play off ball. Now, when Jalen Johnson was there last year when he was healthy, you started to see it a little bit. It was. It was clunky, but he was doing it, maybe reluctantly, but he was doing it, and we were happy about that. The other key to this is is that porzingis is always going to be a question mark with his health. Uh, he hasn't been able to stay healthy everywhere he's been, so we can just hope and pray. But here's the thing Porzingis is more of a Luxury item Because Onyeka Okongwu Is going to be manning the middle.

But if Porzingis can be who we, if he can be what he was the first year With the Celtics man, this is going to look great, great. It's gonna be looking real nice because you got a point of attack defender like dyson daniels there. You got another guy in jalen johnson who can be a rim protector or also a help defender as a wing. Zachary reshae is the same exact way man. They got a lot of depth on this team. They got a lot of answers To the test, so to speak, and here is the Soraya special. The Hawks ranked second In the east In half court Offensive efficiency last year, but they were bottom three In defensive defensive effective field goal percentage. You got to be able to stop people. They have insulated trey young as much as they possibly can. When you bring in to kill alexander walker. You have dyson daniels, you have jalen johnson back in the fold he healthy zach, zachary Richichet, and then the rim protection of Christoph Porzingis and also Aneka Okongwu. This team is ready to go.

I'm going to say something a little bit later that might throw some Atlanta people off, but we'll talk about it then. The things that we are looking for, say what you want. I've given the Atlanta front office a bunch of shit over the last couple years. I did not like how they did my guy, travis Schlenk, but I must say the win now moves Absolutely pilfering of Nikhil Alexander Walker In that sign and trade. That was strong. I love that move. And then Luke Kennard being somebody that you don't have to really rely on, but you can say, hey, man, second unit, get your shots up. Whatever Kennard is a sniper, you know who could use him Orlando.

I think at some point this is going to be Jalen Johnson's team. I don't know when that happens, but we will see and he's going to have plenty of options. Whether it's Jalen Johnson, aneke Okongwu, christoph Porzingis, doesn't matter. He's going to have a lot of guys to throw that oop to and it's going to be pretty. It will all depend on health and Trey Young's I don't know what you want to call it would be his. How invigorated would he be on the offensive side and defensive side of the ball? Trey Young can move his feet. He's a quick little dude.

We're not asking him to be the greatest defender of all time. What we asking for is you hit your assignments. You try to get over the screen every once in a while. You work hard to recover and if your guy is, if your guy blow past you and you get the defense, you better go look for the guy on the perimeter that they're going to swing swing to, instead of just standing in the middle of the floor and doing absolutely nothing.

Trades young's decision making still oscillates under pressure. His shot selection can be poor. Quinn snyder will not tolerate that shit this year. He has a team that can win. Andder will not tolerate that shit this year. He has a team that can win and he will not be tolerating that. And here's the thing With Reese, shea Daniels, newell Buffkin and Jalen Johnson and Nikhil Alexander-Walker they got enough.

Where, if for some reason things get a little crazy, does trey young get traded? These are the questions you gotta ask yourself now, because I don't think they bring in all of this. And then they they gonna look directly. If they get off to a rough start and trey is out there dribbling the ball for 22 seconds and then either throwing like a late last second pass or throwing up a ridiculous 35 footer that he has no business throwing up. It's all going to come down on you, jack, because this team is loaded and again, I know we got some questionable health issues with porzingis and a couple others. If, if you're not asking porzingis to play like more than like 24 minutes, which they have enough depth to provide that situation for him, this team is going to be alright. It will be up to Trey Young and how he wants to fit in it. 100% will be his call.

Because here's what I am going to say the Atlanta Hawks have one of the best offensive ceilings in the east outside of Cleveland or New York, if Porzingis is healthy. They're versatile, they're long, switchable defenders surrounding Trey can cover a lot of the regular season ground, improved spacing and shooting, with guys like Nikhil Alexander Walker, christoph Borzingas who can hit a three-point shot oh, by the way, jalen Johnson was shooting 38% from three before he left. And again Zachary Richichet. This is year two, by the way. He still can't drink legally. He is 20 this year. I don't even think he's 20 right now. He'll be 20 sometime this year.

There's a lot going on in Atlanta. I love it, but the things that keep me up at night Trey Young and his willingness to play defense or try to play defense, and also, how much hero ball are we getting from Trae Young this year? Those are my questions. Can Risa Shea make another leap? Can he be a stable contributor to a ready made playoff team? I think they have a lot of. Like I said, I think they have a lot of answers to the quiz. I really do. They are a playoff. They are a defensive, playoff caliber team.

Right now, we need to see the specialists do their things, things and we need to see what that closing lineup is going to be. But again, I believe it will come down to trey young, and this is what the last thing I am going to say. The east is wide open and atlanta's aggressiveness is smart. This group is built to take a swing, but their path is still narrow. If all rookies aren't playoff ready, porzingis misses any time whatsoever. Listen, you can miss early, you can't miss late guy. You can miss early, you can't miss late. They're going to need you for that playoff push. You can miss early, you can't miss late. They're going to need you for that playoff push. And I'm going to tell you right now If Trey does not fall in line that Trey deadline, we're going to see some fireworks and it might have Trey Young's name all over it. So this is a spicy season in atlanta, no doubt.

Okay, this might be like a real wives of atlanta type of situation. Okay, we might see some drama coming down the pike in atl and I'm gonna ask trey young again are you gonna be the R&B singer or are you going to be the three-point assassin that we know you can be? Are you going to be that lob-throwing Trey Young that we saw absolutely decimate the Philadelphia 76ers three years ago? Which one is it going be, my man? Because you can't live off that playoff glory for too much longer. The shine has rubbed off and they got a new toy in town which is named Jalen Johnson, and they're a lot more excited about him and want to build around him, and the internal development, especially with him, surrounding him, is what they are looking to do. So. If you get out of line for one second, my guy, you might be somewhere else, just food for thought. But that is our program for today.

I would like to thank Soraya for all her support. I would like to thank the rest of the staff for all of their support. Man, thank you for all they down for us, making me look smart, because I am dumb without y'all. We also would like to thank the audience for what they do, because, again, we talked about it. We talked about some of the new countries that have popped up, the growing numbers that we're seeing, and again I say this with humility, we don't have a budget for advertising. So when I see numbers and growth and new countries pop up and new cities in the United States of America, and we see Canada growing, and what have you in the united states of america? And we see canada growing, and what have you? That is because of you, that is because you had listened to the podcast and went. You know what? Let me tell somebody about this podcast. I'm really enjoying this and again we humbly say thank you so much.

We do this twice a week for you, tuesday and friday. Feel good, friday is coming to an end. We want you to have a great weekend and we'll be back on tuesday, but before we get out of here, the best part of you is you make sure that the people that surround you are supportive, understanding, people that are cherishing you, that are lead, just kind of like just lifting you to victory every day because you're getting after it every single day. Now, if you got people like that in your life, make sure that you appreciate them, acknowledge what they are doing for you, say, hey, man, really appreciate what you're doing. Thank you so much. It means so much to me. Send them a text Go out to have a jamba juice, get a coffee, go have some lunch, whatever the case may be.

Throw a card out there to somebody. Little FaceTime action, maybe just a you know a little quick text. Hey, just thinking about you, hope everything is well with you today. Out there to somebody A little FaceTime action, maybe just a you know a little quick text. Hey, just thinking about you, hope everything is well with you today, whatever the case may be. Because if we're doing that for one another, we're sharing those type of experiences With one another. This is a better world. So with that, we up out of here. Enjoy the rest of your Friday, deuces Ooses. We up out of here, enjoy the rest of your friday, deuces oozes. And we'll see you on this podcast on tuesday late.