NBA’s Western Conference: KD Move TO Houston, 3 Team Trades, + Paolo Got The BAG!!!

it is tuesday, you know what time it is. Front runner podcast collective is back on the air. I am your humble host, vince, and we got a kick-ass show for you today. But before we get there, I want to address why we've been gone. I had COVID. I lost my voice. There was a massive migraine just sitting on my head. There were points when I lost my smell, the taste and all that sort of deal, but the lethargicness and the inability to be able to think was massive for me. And all this stuff is going on in the NBA and I'm just like it's breaking my heart. I'm going oh, I want to talk about this. Oh, I want to talk about that. Oh, I can't talk about this, anything. But we started to feel better over uh, as the as uh fourth of july hit and you know, uh, producers have lives too. You know I'm saying shout out to serea, she have a life. She's out there doing her thing, yachting it up. You know maya out there sitting on massive amounts of lakes in Minnesota. So we bring you our podcast on his normal day, which is Tuesday. We bring you a bunch of storylines that we need to get on. We're not going to go through every last one that we missed or whatever we need to get on. We're not going to go through every last one that we've been, that we missed, or whatever, but the first thing that we want to do is tell you how grateful we are to be back, how grateful it is to be being on this mic, sharing this time with you and reaching our audience wherever it may be, whether it's across the pond, in Great Britain, india, italy. You know Portugal, spain, you know our South American brothers and sisters down there in Argentina, chile or Chile, how we say it Bolivia, even over in China, japan. Shout out to our people in Germany who do it real, real, big for us. We have missed you and we are ready to start this pod. So, without further ado, let's get into it. We have so much to get into, but we're going to start where we need to speak, and what they've done is.

The trade was three teams. You got John Collins coming to the Clippers, so obviously John Collins was in Utah and his jacked up finger comes with him. The Miami Heat received Norman Powell, who's coming off a career year, and then the Utah Jazz received two, two outstanding UCLA Bruins in Kyle Anderson slow-mo and Kevin Love, the, the, the perfectionist of the outlet pass. Both are going to the Utah Jazz. Actually, kevin Love coined himself as a math issue as part of this deal. So we're gonna break down this trade, look at it from all the angles and then we're gonna go from there.

The first thing that I want to talk about with this is that each piece of this trade matters, and I'm gonna say it again, collins coming over to the Clippers matters for two reasons. I believe that some, the there is a, a faction in the Clippers organization that looked at the playoffs last year and said we were too small. And John Collins, being 6'9, being an absolute leaper, can jump out the building. He becomes that primary lob threat that James Harden absolutely loves and adores. So he'll have an athletic wing big that will be able to go ahead and catch lobs. So you can you can understand that the pick and roll will be in full effect with john collins being with the clippers now. Will I call it lob city 2.0? I think that might be a stretch personally, but I think john collins is a good vet, the one thing that you know about the dude himself. He's a good guy. He's gonna come in, do his work. He's going to do the things that he is really really good at now.

There is one thing that we all know about the NBA Is that that 4 position. Now it's imperative that the person who is at that 4 position Shoots 3's. Or, if he's not shooting 3's, your 5 has to shoot 3's. One of the two has to get down beyond the arc. John Collins, for 3 years straight, has not made more than three three-point attempts in a game. So I'm gonna say that one more time it has been a long time almost damn near a presidential term since John Collins has made more than three three-point shots in a game.

Now you say, well, well, vince, you can get three-point shots from anywhere. Like Kawhi can shoot three-point shots, he could. James Harden can shoot three-point shots. He may as well, he might have to. You know, it could be our guy chris dunn, or is there something else coming? We will get to that later. But john collins is going to the clippers, the miami heat.

Get norman powell now norman powell, we gotta talk about this. Get Norman Powell Now Norman Powell, we gotta talk about this. John Collins is due $26.6 million for the 2025-2026 season. Norman Powell got a cap hit of $31 million. You're saying where did all this other money go? Ah yes, we will get to that momentarily. But norman powell's coming off the career year, I was very shocked that the clippers moved off norman powell. Personally, I thought that he had, uh, given them a, a spark and he was a bridge to a healthy Kawhi later second part of the season. I think he was integral to what the Clippers did in the first half of the season because I think his scoring and his production kept him afloat when everything could have went sideways. One of the reasons why the Clippers probably made the playoffs and what have you was because of Norman Powell and his work that he did early on in the season. Now he takes his talents to Miami. This was an absolute slam dunk deal by the Miami Heat.

People have been talking about the demise of pat riley for a while. Oh, he's lost it, he's washed, he's so old. Oh, we losing people. All these things are happening. Here's the one thing that we know about the miami heat. It's not just pat riley, it's the whole grain trust. But the one thing that you know about the heat is this they don't tank, they don't try to tank, they're not like oh, we fill up our hands, let's get all the veterans out here. We're gonna play nothing but g leaguers and young people and we're gonna absolutely be terrible and put a terrible product on the floor. They don't try to put a terrible product on the floor, but they definitely don't tank. What they do is they kind of trail water until the big free agent comes right to. The big free agent is there and then they say, hey, we're the miami heat. Would you like to come down to south beach, enjoy this beautiful weather that we have, enjoy this fantastic facility that we have, and we're gonna pay you a bunch of money and let's win. That is what the heat do. That's been their mo. That is what how they've operated since pat, since Pat Riley got there. So Getting Norman Powell Keeps them in the mix In the sense of where, if something does come up, they have enough pieces that they can move around and go ahead and Attract that big fish if they want to. But I think that you're going to see another year when this team is probably going to be Flirting around the sixth spot in the east somewhere in there, you know, waiting for whoever is the disgruntled all-star, the disgruntled game-changing superstar, to come down to Miami.

And what was Utah's Prize in this whole deal? Now, I could tell you that it was the two UCLA Bruins that they got Kyle Anderson, slow Mo, who's making 9.2 million dollars. I could tell you it's the veteran leadership that Kevin Love brings to them. Or it could be the 26 million dollar trade exception that they got in this deal. It could be that that's where the money went. That was the John Collins contract. They got a 26 million dollar trade exception. You say well, vince, you know, about 77 percent of these trade exceptions go unused. I 100 believe that, but I think that the angels are going to recognize this trade exception. They might, they might trade the trade exception. How about that? You're gonna see some real innovative stuff coming out of these NBA franchises Because I'm telling you, people have not wanted to hear it.

Over two years We've been talking about the boogeyman that's in the closet and that is that damn CBA. Those acorns are real. Ask the Indiana Pacers how real that acorn is. Miles Turner is now a Milwaukee Buck. Talk to the Boston Celtics. As soon as Jason Tatum got hurt, be paring down salary. Oh, christoph Porzingis, we'll see you later. My guy, you're going to Atlanta. Peace out, drew Holiday. Hey, I hope you love Portland Oregon. Guy, you're going to Atlanta, peace out. Drew Holiday, hey, I hope you love Portland Oregon. It's very green up there, it's very peaceful. Get you a couple flannels.

But we're going to have to pare down our payroll. The Golden State Warriors are underneath the tax for the first time in a while. Everybody has to be more fiscally responsible in these days because the cap whatever you want to call it, it's a hard cap. You can say well, no, there's no, it's not hard. No, if you get to the second apron and you have lost all flexibility to acquire players to augment your team in any sort of way, that is a hard cap. It's not even a question about what we're talking about now and here we are, but that 26 million dollar trade exception. I believe Utah will use that. They will weaponize that. I don't know if it will be during the summer or it will be something that they will use before the trade deadline in February of 2026. I don't know, but I believe that that trade exception will become a major player somewhere down the road. Exception will become a major player somewhere down the road. Now they also got a second round pick for their trouble to get involved in this.

So how does this help the heat Miami gets norm pal. They desperately needed offense. They were 21st in the league. They were bottom five in easy buckets. Pal comes off a career best season scoring 21.8 points per game, nearly shooting 50 from the field and he was pretty much healthy. Now you well, 21.8 points, pretty good. Mind you, norman Powell has never averaged more than 14.5 points a game.

In his entire career Norman Powell has been a career backup like a six-man type dude microwave scorer off the bench. But he had to come in start with James harden, of all people, and give buckets and that is exactly what he did. His health is a question. He missed 22 games in three of the last four years. Somewhat of a risk in a miami system with their staff. But as far as he his fit with the actual miami heat, off the catch on the move as a spacer for hero and bam out of, he fits all of those categories.

So Miami really came up in this situation. They took advantage of a situation and they absolutely nailed it. I love Norman Powell going to the Miami Heat. I think he makes them a lot more dynamic on the offensive side of the ball more dynamic on the offensive side of the ball and if you get anything more from kalel where and bam out of bio, who had a dreadful season last year. He had an absolutely horrific offensive productive season. It was terrible. But those two dudes man in the the paint man come on and now you got a surefire dude that is going to be instant offense for you, a longer hero. They can get anything from that three spot.

Knowing that the east has been really compromised by the injury to Tyrese Halliburton, shout out to our guy Tyrese, we love him. You know, we hated to see him go down like that. Jason Tatum is gone for pretty much the whole year. Our guy Dame Dalla, who's not even in Milwaukee anymore, who might end up with the Boston Celtics Just throwing that out there. He might end up in Beantown. Hey man.

So what you know, here's what you come here for. You want, you want kind of like little, little tidbits of information. I get them here and there. Now, what does Miami Books look like right now? I'm glad you asked. Soraya has that knowledge for us. This is a note from her. Right now they're $1.3 million over the tax. Don't panic though, because even with Powell's extension they'll have $20 million below the tax line in 2026 2027. It's all about having the flexibility going in to that 2026 2027 year. Being over the cap one year does not hurt you. It's that second year where it absolutely annihilates you and allows everything to freeze up. You don't have any capability of doing anything.

So what grade do I give the miami heat in this trade, this three-team trade? We will have to give it a minus. We have to assume health for pow. But if he's upright, this moves Miami into probably the top six, just because of all the injuries and some of the upheaval that has gone on in the Eastern Conference as far as that's concerned. So does this mean that they are out? On the, uh, bradley Bill thing, we will talk about that a little bit later. We'll talk about that. We got some information on Bradley Bill and we'll be uh, discussing that post haste.

But we got to get to the Clippers and how this registers for them. Let's flip over to Los Angeles, the la la, where I dwell. You know how we kick it. You know sun. You know sand oceans, you mudslides. You know we get our brush fires from here and there every once in a while. But the one thing we do have here is we got hoops. We got two teams. Even though I don't like the Clippers whatsoever, we still got to talk about them.

The Clippers did give up Norman Powell and we talked about there's a there's a faction inside the Clippers organization who played against the Denver Nuggets and said man, we are entirely too small, we cannot hold up against the more physical front courts in our conference. Enter John Collins. John Collins is a 6'9", 235 pound pogo stick of a man. He averaged 19 points, eight boards. He shot 53 percent from the field, 40 percent from deep, and he is young. He's a young, 28 year old guy, very athletic, and will invoke visions of Lob City when they had Blake Griffin in a Clipper uniform. But the cost is real you lose the most reliable bucket getter that you had in Norman Powell. Collins is very solid, but he's not spectacular, nor is he a natural defender.

So my whole thing is is that, if you're thinking about beating denver, or is this a talent reset, or is it just like we got to give the facade that we're just bigger? I don't know which one it is, but I know there were people in that organization that felt like, hey, we gotta have a little more size. We can't go out here and just get absolutely obliterated on the boards and have a visa zoo bots out here, man in the paint, trying to get every board he can all by himself. That's terrible. That is a terrible mode of operation and we must change that. So john collins is gonna come in. They're gonna ask him hey, man, listen, if you score less, that's cool. We need you on the boards, we need your athleticism, we need you to be a weak side rim protector. These are are things that John Collins can do.

I think the burden. If Kawhi is healthy and we always use that as a caveat I understand he looked great in the second half of the season, but you know Kawhi, I know Kawhi. Hell, my mama, who is now passed on, knows Kawhi. He's just unreliable when it comes to a health situation. And asking or thinking that you're going to have Kawhi for like 75 games in a season, it's just not prudent thinking whatsoever. Knowing that you have a guy like collins who's going to be able to bring it most nice for you is kind of comforting. And again, the prerequisite size that they are looking for.

The clickers are quietly setting their financial register for 2027. Hmm, huh, 2027. Interesting, both LA teams are thinking 2027. You knew I was going to get the Lakers in there somehow. Right, you knew that. But both teams kind of come out and said this situation about 2027 and who's available and all these types of things, because that's supposedly when we're going to have a better free agent class.

I don't know why anybody thinks that. I have no idea these dudes are going to sign their contracts. When's the last time we had a really robust free agency where there was a bunch of stars out there that we could talk about and everything like that? Usually what it is is star is under contract for two or three years and says, hey, I kind of do not like where we are, or I don't want to live here anymore. We are, or I don't want to live here anymore. Or my wife said I don't want to live here anymore, however it go, and I would like to be moved. Now you can say, well, because you have cap space, you can go ahead and easily get into those type of those type of dynamics. Or you could just Spin to to the cap and then you know, have trade pieces that you send back to the team that the star is on and go from there.

I don't know how forward thinking this is. Right now they're under the tax by 7.5 million dollars, 15 million dollars under the first apron. But the next era, supposedly, is in 2027 and they're ready to pounce either in free agency or via trade. I think it'll be more trade than it will be free agency. We will see the but we, when the next star asks out, the clippers are ready. So they trying to get their books in order. And remember, this is a steve ballmer owned team. $49.98 million every single year, just off dividends. That's not his salary, that's just dividends, bro. This dude got a ton of cash so he doesn't care about the Akron's. You you know if it came to just money, but the punitive damages that the acorns cause.

As far as actual flexibility, and what I'm talking about is, do you have the capability of using your mid-level exception? Do you have the capability of using your tax payer main level exception? Do you have the capability of using your b payer mate level exception? Do you have the capability of using your biannual exception? Those things go away when you're over the apron. That's the reason for people being very judicious about this whole. Oh, we got to clean our books up. Joe Laker wasn't going to clean his books up Until the NBA forced him to clean his books up.

Matt Ishby, out here fighting the good fight for everybody. He's like I don't give a damn about apron, second apron, tablecloth, handkerchief, um doilies. He's the only one that's fighting the good fight and saying I got more money, I will continue to spend, I don't care. He's the only one. Meanwhile, we got ste Steve Ballmer out here, one of the high, high execs over at Microsoft. Going man, this apron is tough homeboy. It is ridiculous.

My question is this Does Collins fit Ty Lue's style? If not, what's the pivot? I think, personally, he does fit the style. He's 28. He's still tradable. I am skeptical, unless someone maybe, like I'm trying to think of who they have on that bench right now Is Chris Dunn going to shoot over 38% from three. They're going to have to find shooting somewhere, but we will get to that later.

There is a fix here. I think a lot of people know where we're going with this. We're going to have to give them a C on this situation. I think you lose norman powell. You gain john collins. No, no disrespect to john collins, um, but as far as the explosivity factor that you have with norman powell and you gave that up for john collins. I understand the whole deal about being bigger. I personally think I would want to be more explosive. You can always find a low, a lower cost pogo stick, you know. If that's what you're looking for, I think you could have found that at the trade deadline. But they said, hey, we gotta have some. We have some beef now, we gotta have it right now, let's go ahead and get it. So there's a void in los angeles, and again, we're gonna figure out how they're gonna clear that void up a little bit later.

So what does utah get out of this? Right, we talked about the, the trade exception and and all that. But what does kyle love, or kyle anderson and kevin love, bring to this team? Well, here's the other thing they bring to the team, which is great. They're both expiring contracts.

By the way, utah is very, very young. They just brought in ace bailey who's what? I don't even think he's 19 yet. Bailey, who's what? I don't even think he's 19 yet. So you got two vets who definitely know how to play the game. Um, will Hardy will be very grateful for that, because when he sees Keontae, george and all the rest of these guys out here.

I wonder what's our, what our guy Marketing, is thinking of all of this. So we got another dude that's not going to pass me the ball. I'm out here, I can average 26 in my sleep, and I got Ace Bailey out here Waving me off At 18 years of age. I wonder how long Marketing is going to be okay with this, because, like it or not utah fans, you don't want to hear this you are tanking like you are tanking in the most tank worthy way possible. What was that movie called a while ago? Dunkirk? That's y'all. Right now you are dunkirk. Right now you are a tank. A tank, you are a vessel for tanking.

Tankapalooza has hit salt lake city and it's going to stay there through the 2025-2026 season. You guys were so upset that you didn't get a top three draft pick this year that y'all said we are going to double down on the tank and we're gonna go. And we are trying to get AJ DeBasta. We are trying to get one of these other young cats that are coming out next year, because, let me tell you, boozer is coming. Okay, this kid is coming. They got another one out there. That man, they. This class, this 2026 class, is going to be deep. Can't wait to start cracking on that one now.

You will hear from austin age and danny age that they're going to bring in a veteran presence with kyle anderson and kevin love. You will hear that they have a a sense of calm that can come over the team. They can show you how to work, show the young kids how to work. They can show what it is to be a pro. These are all things that are 100% important to a young basketball team. But make no mistake about this situation. This is about tanking for a top draft pick with a bunch of upside. If kyle anderson nets a first which he will not it'll probably be a couple seconds or they flip that exception into a big deal. This could look savvy down the line, but this season, this season is all about the future, and the future is the 2026 nba draft.

Okay, so c plus for just getting involved in this trade and getting a couple ucla bruins. You know how I love it because I like ucla. That is my favorite university, even though you know your boy went to an east coast school. But uh, ucla broke my heart. But basically, what it comes down to is the clippers get john collins because they wanted a a more, a bigger front court. The Heat got Norman Powell, which was an absolute steal, and the Jazz got financial flexibility. They got contracts that are coming out the books next year and the ability to tank at the highest level of tank-osity. Now Soraya has this note. Let's not sleep on the Clippers' 2027 plan. Now Soraya has this note. Let's not sleep on the Clippers' 2027 plan. Zubat is the only rotation guy that is on the books and that is by design. It is opening a runway for whatever comes next.

Meanwhile, miami is setting up to make noise now, or pivot if it blows up. We shall see. So it depends on your timeline. Miami fans, should you be pumped for October? Clipper fans, should you be watching for 2027? And jazz fans y'all.

Hey, listen, I want y'all to know this. In utah, salt lake city and the surrounding areas of salt lake city, I want you to watch a lot of byu basketball. Uh, you're gonna want to watch a lot of sec basketball, a A lot of Big Ten basketball. You're going to have to get to know the 2026 draft class. That's what you are looking for. Okay, that's all y'all looking for.

So, listeners, what is your thoughts on this? Does this shake up Of the east? What y'all think about that? Is LA Now pivot to rebuild in two years? Drop y'all think about that. Is la now pivot to rebuild in two years? Drop your thoughts with us. Hit us up on x at front runner pc or at rea underscore fudge frpc. Y'all saying that's what we're trying to talk about. We're trying to get y'all going. I had a couple questions come in. We answered these. So we good, we don't have to do that, alright? Um, the next thing that we need to get to is this well, well, well, we are here now. I know you guys have heard it.

The rumors are true Bradley Beal is finally going to, in a sense, not escape from prison, but walk out the front door of his his captivity in Phoenix. Not escape from prison, but walk out the front door Of his, his captivity in Phoenix. Now, mind you, he was chilling. He was chilling in Phoenix. He didn't have to leave, he didn't care about leaving. Bradley Bill was getting 53 million dollars To sit on the bench and not do a god dog thing, and he was happy to do so. So much so, when the trade deadline hit last year, there were talks about. Hey, you know, would you be willing to come off your no trade clause to move here, or whatever? Bradley Will was like no, I'm good now. This is a guy who has started basically his entire career, and then he was relegated to the bench last year.

Now you say well, vince, you know you got to take one for the team. We all know this is not how NBA players' egos go. You imagine somebody telling LeBron over here about to be 41 years of age, making 52 53 million dollars, and knowing damn well that if he was making 33 million dollars, the Lakers could spend more money and make the team around him better. It's ego. Lebron got more money than he'll ever need. And listen, I'm not trying to listen. I'm not trying to count that man's pockets. I'm not trying to shake him down or anything like that. What I'm saying, though, is that your ego as an NBA player sometimes doesn't allow for the common good to happen. But Bradley, bill, shoot, you couldn't tell him anything.

Last year he was like hey, man, check this out. I make 53 million dollars. I live in phoenix, arizona. I can go golf wherever I want. Oh, you think the fans being upset? You think their vitriol scares me. Nah, player, listen, I'm 40 minutes away from vegas, so if I want a five-star meal, I don't have to be in phoenix. I can just get on a pj, go to vegas, break bread with my wife, break bread with my kids, and we can fly home. Money is cool, man. This is a great situation for me.

But now the buyout is happening. Now we don't know when it's gonna hit, how it's gonna hit. We are updating our phones every four seconds to see when it's gonna hit. It has not hit yet, but we know it's coming Because all the reports are. Is that Shams, rania and all the other, you know Mark Steins of the world who am I thinking of? Oh, my guy. Zach Harper, anthony Slater, john Krasinski Shouts out to the whole athletic NBA crew Letting us know, keeping us abreast of what's going on.

But Bradley bill is open to having a buyout, which makes perfect sense because, guess what? The Clippers have just opened up their full mid-level exception. I told you we were going to bring it back to the Clippers, we were going to bring it back to LA. So I'm going to run down some of the suitors. We're going to talk about what's going on with Bradley Bill and where he might go. But let's do this right now, the names that you are going to hear. You're going to hear the Milwaukee Bucks. Why? Because they have opportunity and if they can get them on a cheaper deal, they can say hey man, you got all the minutes you want. We need somebody who can put the ball in the basket and help Giannis and Miles Turner turn this team around him around.

I know john horse is praying to god and to ever whoever else he prays to, that bradley bill will look at milwaukee and go, hey man, I think I want to be in the land of cheese now. I'm gonna tell you right now, hold on. Actually, I'll tell you a little bit in a little bit, but I kind of know kind of where this is all leaning. But let's, let's get to it. Another team, that who could be looking at something like this can.

Can san antonio get in this? Can miami get on? Get in on this? Well, miami doesn't need to anymore, because they got norman powell, so they got a younger, also a guy. Even though he has missed 22 games in in the last three to four out of three out of four seasons, he actually plays more than bradley bill. So bradley bill kicks around the 50 game mark. At least my guy, norman pow, kicks around the 60 game mark. 10 more games makes a huge difference. So I don't think that's an area where he could go.

Could the Knicks use him? Hmm, well, the Knicks are under construction now. They got Mike Brown as a coach. We'll see how that works out. They need a bench guy. But is bradley bill gonna go to new york city and come off the bench?

You say, well, vince, he did it in phoenix. Well, that's because he was making 53 million dollars in phoenix that he wasn't going. He wasn't gonna mess that money up. But now that you're talking about oh, I can kind of pick my own destiny he's gonna look for a place where he can maximize his situation and basically extend his value. So that leads us back to where los angeles, the lakers, angeles, the Lakers Hmm, well, he goes to the Lakers.

One thing Austin Reeves is there, so he's not starting over Austin. You can tell me whatever you want. Oh, bradley Bill is so much better than Austin Reeves. Blah, blah, blah. Austin Reeves plays games. Austin Reeves is out here. Austin Reeves plays games. Austin Reeves is out here. He's going to be productive. He actually gives you effort on the defensive end.

We can talk about his athleticism or lack thereof. We can talk about a lot of things, but the one thing that we do know about Austin is that he's solidified himself as a Laker as of right now, until something else of way bigger than what bradley bill would be to cause any kind of rift between the lakers and austin reeves, so he would be coming off the bench for the lakers. The clippers, on the other hand, again have a full mid-level exception to give this man, and also they got ample minutes. So if bradley bill is trying to maximize his value and look towards the future, look towards next year, the clickers probably give him his best bet to do so. They just lost norman powell. We just talked about their three-point shooting and where it's gonna come from. Bradley bill is a excellent three-point shooter. He would have the ability to start now. I personally would not start bradley bill next to james harton, but hey, I don't run this team, I don't.

The other thing is is that when's the last time Bradley Bill played over 65 games? I'll wait, because it's been a while. When you go to basketball reference and you start looking and start going up, up and up and up and up and up to find when he played more than 65 games. I'm telling you right now, man, presidential terms have come and gone and bradley bill has not played 65 games. But hey, you're getting a outstanding talent, somebody who averages 17 points a game, who averages four rebounds, four assists. He is a bucket, no matter what, and if you can get any kind of production and here's the thing he will be motivated to play more than he usually does this year because, again, he is trying to re-establish his value. And if there's one more good payday, this is the time for bradley bill to say, hey, I gotta play like 68, 70 games. You know, if they want me to come off the bench, you know, or whatever case may be, I don't think they would, because there's nobody better than him that could start at the two guard, that could start at the two guard and he would be a much needed floor spacer for the Clippers. So to me, and also the other thing that I'm hearing is Bradley Beal's wife wants to move to LA, so I am almost confident that this dude is about to be a Clipper, and I just love just the concoction of what the clippers are.

Right now you got john collins, who got that broke ass finger. That looks like it, just it, just it looked like his finger went to like iraq and got blown up. Listen, I know it's, I know it's tenuous over there. Shouts out to the people over there dealing with it. I'm not talking about the military, I'm talking about the people. Okay, shouts out to the people over there. I hope everybody's safe Hope. Americans are out of harm's way. Americans, I hope they are out of harm's way.

Then you got Kawhi Leonard, which we all know what Kawhi Leonard is all about. You know, uncle Dennis, is he going to play? Is he not going to play? Is he going to disappear? Is he working with the medical staff? Is he not working with the medical staff? I don't know, we don't know.

And then you got Bradleyadley bill, who really you know, I mean that performance that he put on in phoenix the last couple years has been amazing. It's been absolutely stunning what he's, what he was willing to do, what he was willing to swallow, and then sometimes just apathy, just I don't even give two shits about what's going on as long as I'm getting my paper. So I think the clippers are in the driver's seat for bradley bill. We will see how it goes, but, um, the last time he was fully healthy 23 plus points a game, 46 from the field and 36 from three point land. He is a three-time all-star, but injuries and contract drama have cloud clouded the last two seasons. You can say the last six seasons, you can say the last six. He will definitely take a massive pay cut, but he's still getting his money from Phoenix, so he don't care. Listen, he's not giving up half that money we're talking about. I might shave a little bit off the top, maybe $15-16 million, but I ain't, I'm not giving15-16 million, but I ain't, I'm not giving all my money back. This is not charity.

So what do you think of our thoughts of Bradley Bill being a Clipper and what kind of team is that going to be? And I'm going to tell you, whatever they're paying Tyronn Lue right now as the head coach of the Los Angeles Clippers, it's not enough. If I'm Tyronn Lue right now as the head coach of the Los Angeles Clippers, it's not enough. If I'm Tyronn Lue, I go to Steve Ballmer immediately and say hey, bro, I'm gonna tell you right now I need 18 million dollars a year to coach all this shit. All of this. You got Bradley Bill out here. You got James Harden, who loves strip clubs. You got kawaii leonard, who believes in hippo laws but also believes in his own, you know, medical, uh, whatever team he has around him and he don't give, he don't care about what you got, he care about what he got. John collins and evisa zubat look like absolute, like Boy Scouts compared to everybody else on this squad.

So if I'm Tyronn Lue, if I'm Jeff Van Gundy, I'm asking for more money Because I'm going to lose sleep, I'm going to lose hair, I'm probably going to lose some weight. I'm going to definitely have to have a therapist on call to deal with all of what I'm about to deal with. Ah, okay, man, good luck. All right, we're gonna pivot because we're gonna talk about something awesome. Now we're gonna talk about we're gonna give flowers. Because we're going to talk about something awesome. Now we're going to talk about we're going to give flowers. Okay, we got through the muck, but let's talk about something brilliant. Let's talk about something awe-inspiring. We move on to right now Raphael Stone and the Houston Rockets in their three-phase overhaul, culminating in acquiring Kevin Durant. So let's get into it now.

You know I'm a history buff. You know. You know I like to dabble in a lot of the history. If you look over my shoulder reading a book right now about Captain Cook, as far as that's concerned, you know it's good stories about the high seas and what what went on in the pacific ocean and what have you and all the things that it details in great, great detail what he went through and what have you. I love the book.

Now I think it's important to go back because you know we didn't just get here like slickity split, okay, with the houston rockets. It was only 2020 and 2021 season that the rockets were like a trivia question because I was the one talking about. So you trade james harden? So think about that. That seems like such a long time ago. You trade James Harden to the Brooklyn Nets and you don't get Jared Allen out of this. I was clowning Houston. I was like I don't understand none of this. This makes no sense whatsoever. How is Jared Allen in Cleveland? So Harden goes to Brooklyn. Three team trade.

You know we're looking at Houston going like Hold on, I don't know what you got out of this, but this front office felt stuck. It felt like they were in a spin cycle. But let's hit the fast forward. Raphael Stone wants a guy that everyone questions. He flipped that script post-haste. The Rockets just kept making great picks.

But I do want to talk about this one second. Remember Steven Silas. He came in and thought he was going to be coaching James Harden and his kind of like veteran laden team Boy man. I bet you he felt like the rug was pulled out from under him. I mean, he's there and then all of a sudden James Harden gone. Steven Silas feels bamboozled. He thought like again. He thought he was taking over this team with this heliocentric genius in James Harden. Raphael Stone had different plans Because he was looking at James, looking at the strip club, looking at the way he was taking care of his body, and said, hey man, this is definitely not going to work. James didn't like the vibe that was in Houston either. He was looking to get gone. So then we bring on the tank. Yup, kind of like what Utah is doing.

Let's talk receipts Jalen Green, jabari Smith Jr. High variance, plenty of upside, but no road map. We saw flashes with. Sengun. Van Vliet was an absolute steal, but they paid a high price for him. He got $ million dollars annually for a under sub six foot six foot point guard who we thought maybe the best days were behind him. But he gave them playoff iq, he gave them toughness. And they also then signed dylan brooks to a contract. That guy, we thought he was going over to china, we didn't think that. But there was a lot of the internet man, that twitter, y'all was crazy. For that. Y'all was like good luck, good luck with your future endeavors in china. Dylan brooks remember, after he got clowned by the lakers in the playoffs, this dude end up getting 20 plus million dollars.

So Raphael Stone makes shrewd moves, not just in the draft, but also with his free agent moves. He overpaid where he had to to say, hey, let's build this relationship, let's understand one another. This is what I'm willing to give you right now, but when it's time for you to take a haircut, understand I will be coming to you. So there was great communication inside that front office with their players. They understood the assignment. And now here's the best part about this the assignment. And now here's the best part about this they kept drafting, they kept drafting. You know we talked about Jalen Green. You know some of the results of mix Jagari Smith Jr, who I think, never really got the chance to do all the things I thought he could do, but he's still absolute talent. And then, to lesser effects, ti eason and alfred shingun was kind of a throw-in. Now, keep in mind, the shingun revolution happens after a dismal first half of the 2022-2023 nba season.

We didn't know what this guy was. We thought he was like a below six foot ten kind of kind of you know, a softer version. We didn't see all the stuff that we're about to see now. The Rockets fell ass backwards into the Alcor and Shangoon experience. He became an offensive hub at that nail position. He started to show I got playmaking skills, I can score from here, I can get buckets, I can get rebounds. And he kind of reminded us of a kind of a discount version of DeMontis Sabonis. It's a good place to be DeMontis Sabonis for all his awards. He's a really good offensive player and he can get you into some sound offensive looks and get you good looks at the basket. So if that was what Alperin Shangun was turning into, then you enter Imei Odoka into the mix, the former Celtic coach.

And adoka demanded, demanded structure, he demanded accountability. Um, he, he demanded good shots. No, I'm sorry, he demanded good. He demanded better shots than good. Okay, he wanted great shots. And most importantly, most importantly, you are not going to play unless you had a defensive mindset.

The rockets omitted the 2023-2024 season and it they actually resembled an an NBA basketball team at the second half of the year. Here's a Soraya nugget the Rockets were bottom eight in clutch time scoring last year. Sometimes you just need a closer, not just potential. Couldn't have said it better than myself, because that Jalen Green playoff experience was awful to look at. Hey, listen, jalen Green can be mad at us all, he won't. I have never believed in the Jalen Green experience. I know there are some people who love the Houston Rockets, who have rode for Jalen Green, rolled for him the whole entire time he was there. I just never saw it.

We get back into what's going on with them. The draft picks galore, asset stacking and patient moves. Stone kept his powder dry. Then the front office got aggressive, but not reckless. Suddenly you got veterans who don't panic, young guys not pressed into crunch time, heroics, and Houston's net rating improved from minus six point seven to a positive one point two in two seasons. That is not luck. That is a system upgrade. That is understanding what ema udoka wants out of his team and then applying it.

Jalen green wasn't out there just throwing, just taking shots at like the 19, uh second mark of the 24 second clock. He wasn't doing that anymore. There weren't like lazy passes to the post or like just kind of half ass cutting through the lane. No, you cut with purpose, you cut with intentionality. Or you don't damn play Because we not going to turn this ball over, just because If you're not going to preserve the basketball, if you are not going to covet and cherish the basketball, then you can come sit next to me on the bench. That's what E-May Adelka said. Man, let me tell you there were some dark days for our guy Jalen Green. The early days of E-May Adelka and Jalen Green were not great. It was not great at all. My man saw a lot pine, a lot of pine on his behind.

We get to this point where Kevin Durant steps in. Here is where the Rockets timeline gets weird. Kevin Dur Durant comes in. He comes in because of what the playoffs look like. So we got a heliocentric late prime. Still a nightmare fuel for opposing coaches. This isn't plugging in a star. This is a philosophy shift you pivot from. Let's see what happens to. We better win now and the Rockets are one of the favorites in the west.

The Rockets saw the NBA finals. They saw Jalen Green. They saw what he did do and what was not enough. Let me just explain this. The half court situation was abysmal for the Houston Rockets in the playoffs. What they were able to do in the regular season was because of the fact that their defensive intensity was not being matched by anybody else.

But in the playoffs everybody plays hard. Everybody plays hard in the playoffs. So you're not getting. You're seeing people being very meticulous with the ball. You're seeing people take care of the ball. You're seeing people who have scouted you and scouted your tendencies on how you tried to jump passing lanes and what have you. And you're not going to get those easy buckets that you were getting in the regular season. You're just not going to.

So you can say what you want about kevin durant. Uh, last year in phoenix, you can talk about how he was pouting. You can talk about how he was singing like you know, like key sweat or whatever case may be. I don't know who sings like real sad songs now I guess j cole. Right, j cole sings sad songs, whatever, but he's still one of the better independent operators of self-created offense in the entire nba.

That is what kevin durant is. He's a seven foot shooting assassin. All right, I know he says he's 6'10. That dude ain't 6'10. Okay, the dude's seven feet tall. So you get you gain in like seven inches of height. You gain in like an unstoppable, like mid-range game in kevin durant. You're also gaining so much um respect from the defense and what kevin durant is going to do. There's going to be so many eyes on him that it's just going to free up everybody else to do their thing.

So, real note, kd averaged 27.5 points a game, 6 rebounds in 5 of 6 in 61 games last year. He's still productive, he's still gravity. He brings a wealth of playoff experience that the Houston Rockets can tap into. Now you also got you add to the mix shingoon now grown-ass man in the paint, van Vliet, a voice in the huddle, jabari Smith jr, who can learn so much from KD while he's there. And he's a switch army knife on defense. And oh, and, by the way, just for piling on Houston somehow got Clint Capella too. You know, maybe he's lost a step. Maybe he's not the rim protector that he once was about four years ago, but now you're talking about hey man, I need 15 quality minutes from you. I don't need 30. I need 15 quality minutes, can I don't need 30, I need 15 quality minutes. Can you give me 15? I'm sure that clint capella understands that ema adelka will squeeze every ounce of defensive juice that clint capella has in his body out of him. This is a absolute win. This is a absolute um.

To me, this was a great rebuilding process and the archetype of this rebuild is raphael stone, and he should get all the credit in the world for this. He saw a vision. He said I'm gonna acquire assets. I'm gonna continue to grind and mind in the draft. I am going to continue to pick good players, productive players, and then, when I can, when the iron is hot and it's time for me to strike, I am going to get the piece that we need. And that's exactly what happened. He saw the ineptitude of the offense in the last, in the playoffs. He said how can we make this team better? Oh, kd's on the market. Damn, there we go. We'll just do that now.

Here's the best part about this team they still got a bunch of draft picks left. They're sitting on a, on a Phoenix Suns 2027 pick. Phoenix know they ain't going to be good, but Houston's all in their payroll, says they're all in, they're over the tax, they're over budget. Under no illusions. If it breaks and it breaks big it's going to be great. But if it hits, if it hits, if it hits we're talking about parades in Houston. Homie Parades in Houston are great. It's going to be lit in Houston. Here's the other thing too. We got Stephen Adams, we got Dorian Finney-Smith, we goti eason. Amin thompson is going to go into that starting rotation. You know we love amin thompson. They still got reed shepherd. For god's sakes, this team is loaded and they have enough pieces where, if they need to make a move for whatever else they need, they can do that in the at the trade deadline.

So shots out again to raphael. Stone this dude. As far as executive. This is what I heard from listen. I got like a couple quotes from different executives. Let me tell you what they said. If durant stays upright, they'll outscore half the league on autopilot. Shingun Smith Jr eat because of KD's gravity, the warrior style split action, but with more size. From a player development dude in the Eastern Conference. I'm worried about the miles on Clint Capella, dorian Finney-Smith and Steven Adams. Clint Capella, dorian Finney-Smith and Steven Adams, now Amon Thompson and Tari Eason. They are ready to swing in the playoffs. If a starter pulls a hammy, well, amon is going to start, you don't have to worry about that. Another exec said this is somebody from the southeast, so you know the tax isn't just the luxury. Houston is in final or bust mode.

I keep an eye on trade ships and what the trade deadline will look like. What will shake loose for them, will look like what will shake loose for them. He shudders to think. Now here's the thing. Houston's done such an incredible job. They build up all this talent. They got a lot of depth. They got. They got now a one true scoring like demigod in Kevin Durant. They got Amon Thompson, who could be just the most athletic point guard we've ever seen and also kind of a Swiss Army Knight on defense. We saw how he shut down Steph Curry before the playoffs or whatever.

But does this make them an actual contender in the west? I say yes, but here's the one thing we still have to say. Here's the one thing that we still got to talk about. Okc is still there. Sga is still young, jalen Williams is still getting better and Chet Holmgren are still there. I mean, they're so good, so young, and now they have a title underneath their belt. Okay, see, controls their destiny. Houston is all in On a two year window. The Thunder can reload anytime they want. The Rockets have to cash in now. The Thunder's playoff run Showed maturity and resilience. Houston's path is riskier, but higher short term ceiling. This is a real rivalry now, one built on style and philosophy as much as it is on talent. Do I still think that okc is the best team in the west? 100, 100, I do, you can. You can take that to the bank. Do I think that the houston rockets can challenge the, the thunder? Yeah, I do.

Now, development will be key on this. How, how much better can amin thompson be? How much better will he be just because kd's uh, gravity and influence on the game? What does this mean for jabari smith and his development? Do they run a lot of offense through alcor and shangoon anymore, or is this going to be like the kd show now?

There's three things that could derail this whole thing. Health kd is 37 years old. Right hamstring calf injury. He's had an achilles tear a lot of lower leg injuries for our guy, kevin Durant, but it's not like he's gonna be asked to do everything. They got a lot of talent on that team. It's not like he's gonna have to be the defense stocker and then score all the points and then bring up the ball and then do all the rebounding and whatever they gonna be like. Listen, do what you do, kd, and then we'll do the rest.

Another thing that people need to think about now 2k is different than real life chemistry matters. Kd is being dropped into a team that's very young. Okay, there's not. I mean, yeah, van blee is a is a vet on this team. What have you? But when you got amen thompson, you got alcarin shangoon, you got jabari smith jr. You got tari eason, got all these cats out here. These are young dudes. So can they vibe? Can they get? Can they get together? Can they keep it on track? We don't know. And that leads to the whole ego thing. Kd, will he enjoy his stay in Houston? I ask that that's a legitimate question I have. Will KD enjoy Houston?

We have seen Durant's energy level dwindle in Golden State of all places. Now we can give a hearty thank you to Draymond Green and that stupid fight they had on the bench. Then he kicked Brooklyn with Kyrie. Remember he teamed up with Kyrie. He said I'm going to Brooklyn, we're going to go, we're going to dominate in Brooklyn, we're gonna go, we're gonna dominate in brooklyn. Now james harden gets there, things get out of whack and then we got sad kd again. So then kd asked for another trade and he goes to phoenix. I'm going. All right, you got kevin booker. Remember there was a lot of love. Oh, I love Devin Booker's game. Devin Booker's the man. We got Chris Paul. We got all this other stuff. It's going to be great.

Whatever the case may be, how did it look at the last part of last year when KD's standing at like the farthest end of the court, pouting, not engaging with his teammates and what have you? So when I ask this question, this is a legitimate question can kd be satisfied in houston? If it's, if it's, if you run into some rough waters, is he gonna? Is he gonna turtle and go into his shell, or is he gonna stand there and be like a, a vet, be a leader and say, hey, man, not today, not today, we ain't giving in today. Now I will say that ema adoka is the coach of that team. So so I can't wait Till KD Pops off with some real nonsense To Eme Adelka, who just got paid, just got the extension Shouts out to our guy Making that coin. We love you, eme, we love you making all that money, get it. But these are questions that are legitimate, these are questions that are vital and these are questions that legitimate. These are questions that are vital and these are questions that Houston can only answer on the court. We see you, kd, and you will need to get it. You will need to get after this.

Sherea's note. The West is merciless. Nuggets, wolves, mavs. You are one injury and you drop four spots. You can't say it better than that man. I'm going to tell you right now boy, you have an injury in the West. Shit, you can go from the two squad to the seven spot, just like that. Just like that.

Houston's going to have a ton of length. They are gonna have, they're gonna have a premier scorer of the highest level in kevin durant. Their half-court offense will be better. But I will tell you this the okc thunder are not going anywhere. Not one place are they going? And the thunder's death. Let them absorb injuries and just spit them out where houston's top end talent can win you win you a couple games just on skill. But you're gonna have to prove it to okc like seven times. Bro, I still give OKC the nod. But here's the thing OKC almost got got in the playoffs last year by Denver. So it's not, it's not beyond imagination that when we get to the playoffs next year OKC could listen, listen, I'm not saying they will, I'm not saying that at all, and you know me, I like to watch every round and then make decisions or whatever. But I'm gonna say this okc can get got because this west is so stacked.

Now here's our bottom line, frpc's bottom line rafael Stone. His gamble might be the blue print. I love what he's done. Nothing in between these rosters. He put facts over feelings so many times. He has still so much talent that he is still on that team. He still has draft picks at his disposal.

So how long can he keep the contender window open? I have no idea. I do think that there are moves that he can make. I want to see what it looks like. I want to see how it kind of acquiesce and kind of coalesces like. I want to see how it kind of acquiesce and kind of coalesces but shots out to raphael stone in the brain trust in houston for getting this team. Like I said, it was only 2021, it was only 2020 2021 season when the james hart thing went down and now we're going into the 2025-2026 season and this team has gone from lottery team to yo. We were the second seed last year and now we got kd. So rafael stone and his brain trust has done an incredible job and we wanted to give him flowers and we wanted to give the entire houston organization their flowers on this absolutely stellar rebuild.

Hit us up on x at real underscore, fudge frpc. Or hit me up at at front runner. Let me know your thoughts on what Houston is, what they can do, let us know. And if you drop a hell of a comment, it will end up on Friday's pod Most definitely. We gotta pivot real quick because our guy, paulo Bancaro, got the bag. Okay, paulo Bancaro got the big bag. Okay. I am so super excited for our guy. Five years, 287 million dollars for our guy the biggest contract in magic history, no doubt.

But here's the twist paulo is not the analytics poster child, he's not the darling of the spreadsheets. You know what he is. He's a multi-millionaire who is an absolute bucket. That is what Paulo and Carol is. He got 287 million dollars in Florida, no state tax. He's chillin in Orlando, the happiest place on earth Disney World down there and he's an absolute bucket. Shout out to our guy, paulo Bencaro. We love Paulo and we love his team, cause they are building a contender in Orlando. Man, oh man. You talk about the job that Raphael stone did. Our guy, jeff Weltman, needs some, some craze and love to Jeff. Well, me, build a absolute juggernaut in Orlando. Franz Wagner, bam. By the way, he got Wendell Carter Jr In all of Chicago's draft picks From like the early 2020's on until now. Look at what they built. Oh, jalen Suggs, killer. Franz Wagner Killer. Paulo Granquero, killer, and also paid. Then they got Desmond Bain this year. Are you kidding me? Are you kidding me? Let's keep it a buck.

The spreadsheet crowd isn't losing sleep over Apollo Grand Carroll, his high usage, his mid-tier efficiency, not the rim or three profile that every team wants. But context is king. When your point guard isn't a shooting threat and the teams are ignoring half your roster outside the arc, what do you expect from Paulo Guincaro? We expect you to get buckets at the highest level, and that's what he did. Now he might have be taking hard shots and whatever, but he was not stacked patty. That was not what he was doing. He, he was survival scoring Like, listen, there's only three seconds left on this shot clock and I got this ball and I got to find a way To put up a shot. That's what Paulo's offense, that's what it looked like Last year and the last couple years.

Remember Markel Fultz Was their point guard. Markel Schultz or Markel Fultz was their coin guard. Markel Schultz or Markel Fultz has not been able to shoot since he got into the league. Kcp Contavious. Caldwell Colt was supposed to be a guy who provided some gravity, provided some floor spacing, be in the corner, shoot threes at a 36, 37 percent clip. He did not do that. So this is where analytics versus the eye test war kicks off. We use not analytics darling, not analytics darling as a polite way to say. I wish he was more efficient. But let's look at the history. Guys like Carmelo, guys like DeMar DeRozan, guys like Jimmy Butler they lived on tough shots too and made a career off of it. Paulo Guincaro is doing the exact same thing Now, if you want to talk to me that, yo, he hasn't had playoff success.

Well, the models, they're right, they're correct. He hasn't, but it wasn't him, it wasn't because of him, he just didn't have the team around him. Teammates feel it. The right shot isn't always the open three. It's the one that you can actually get, especially when defense is tightened up, especially in the playoffs. You know what I'm talking about.

And then let's talk about the new acquisition desert bang. Orlando didn't just pay paulo gran carol, they added a legit scorer, a legit flamethrower from the outside, with real gravity, with real floor spacing. That now paulo can operate in the mid, in the mid post, and what have you? He's not a point guard. You're 100 correct. That will be manned by jalen sucks. Right, jalen sucks will be that dude, but he'll yank defenders off the ball. Finally, paulo will have some daylight on those drives that he will certainly do.

Bane could be the key to unlocking Paulo and Franz Wagner, but mainly because Paulo is the guy to the next level level. With a little more runway and a half second more space, boncaro shot selection might be cleaner, pure hero shots uh, highly contested tools might be less contested tools, more rim attacks, and then that will turn into better efficiency, and then the analytics community can praise Paulo Guincaro like we praise Paulo Guincaro. Where do we go from here? Hey, it didn't come.

Listen, good things cost money. Okay, if you want the finer things in life, some of this shit going to cost some money. Paulo Guincaro cost some money, man, you know what I'm saying? Listen, big gonna cost some money, paulo. We care about the cost of money, man. You know what I'm saying? Listen, big moves mean big money and by the end of the 2026 season, orlando will have four players Paulo Franz Wagner, jalen Suggs and Desmond Bain locked into premium prices.

The cap aprons are lurking, team flexibilities getting tighter. This isn't just betting on palo, this is betting on, all in all, the whole core. A healthy jalen sucks. Forget about it. Remember they were okay? And then jalen sucks hurt and then everything fell apart last year. Now you replace KCP with Devin Bain Again a real floor spacer and another stabilizing piece that auto-corrects the KCP debacle. By the way, caldwell Pope shot 34.2% from three last year, which was KCP's worst three-point percentage since 2019-2020 season, along with his lack of aggression on attacking the rim. Did you know that KCP attempted under 100 free throws last year and you know that it was the first time that he has done that since his rookie season. Kcp has been in the league a decade, so it was the first time that he shot under 100 free throws since his rookie season.

Here's a Sarray note. It looks risky. You lock up the core, this young. You better be right. If any one of these guys doesn't make the leap, the cap sheets gets ugly quick. But if it works, you got homegrown. Contender with all the time in the world Can't say it better than that. You think about it. Franz Wagner is under 25. Paulo Bencaro is under 25. Destin Bain just turned 26. Jalen Suggs is like about 25 years of age. So your four main characters are not even hitting their prime yet. We think of basketball prime at 27, 27 to 31, to be exact. So man, could you imagine what this team is going to look like in a couple years? You're talking about continuity, getting to know one another, and you got a ton of injuries in the East right now.

I think that Orlando can contend this year. I don't know if they're going to contend at the highest levels, but I think they got a real good shot and anytime, you got two dudes that are 6'10 and above, who can handle the rock? Shoot the rock. Get other people in position to shoot the ball, because Franz Wagner is a big time player, paulo ben carroll is a big time player and we need to put some more respect on jalen suggs name. Jalen suggs is basically the heart and soul of that team. You know, paulo gets all the fanfare. Franz gets all the love Because people love the smile and the curly hair and the eyes and all that sort of thing. He's kind of like. He's kind of like the, the uh, you know the boy band Dude, you know Heartthrob dude or whatever. But here's the thing that we cannot ignore whatever. But here's the thing that we cannot ignore about paulo. This is why he got the money. Okay, I want you to hear these names that paulo is linked with.

Lebron james luca donchage and now paulo ben carroll are the only three guys to notch 4,000 plus points, 1,300 rebounds and 900 plus assists before 223 years of age. That's getting it done, bro. I don't care if he's taking hard shots, I don't care if he's taking impossible shots. I don't care if he's taking shots from underneath the wood. I don't care if he's taking shots from underneath the basket, where the angle is so bad, or whatever the case may be. 4 000 plus points, 1300 plus rebounds, 900 plus assists, before he turns 23 years of age, that is productive and you pay that man. And they did shots out to john wellman and the crew down in orlando. You know, I vibe with y'all. Thank you for all that y'all do and thank you for paulo glenn carroll being who he is, who is a absolute stud and a certified G.

Now, with all that being said, all that being said, he had a terrible oblique Injury last year which seemed to be like a pandemic that ran through Orlando, because Franz Wagner had one too. Paulo missed 34 games last year. That's unusual, for Paulo Franz also had one of these stupid things. And then Jalen Suggs I don't know what happened to him. He had like 15 injuries and he just succumbed to the injuries. He was just like I can't do it anymore. They all back, they all back and all paid. So they going to get after it. So I will say this I don't know where Vegas has them right now. I haven't looked those numbers up, but I do want to say this Because we gave love to Raphael Stone, the Magic are a contender.

Now they're going to be a future contender. It was a masterful job by Jeff Weltman, with the help of the Chicago Bulls. I would like to thank the Chicago Bulls for giving all your draft picks to the Orlando Magic For the first half of the 2020s. Thanks to the Vucevic trade, the contracts Run through 2029. But the league moves fast. Orlando's window is wide open, but you know what we always say there ain't nothing guaranteed in this world, not one thing. So go get it. Go get it, orlando. This brings me to the people Magic. Twitter is already debating.

Who's the x-factor? Is it game shooting? Is it Suggs defense? This is Fonz Wagner. Steady growth or is it the supernova that is Paulo Blanquerro? We need to. We need to know.

Here At Front Runner Podcast Collective, let us know. Hit us up At Front Runner PC. Or hit up Rock Producer At Raya underscore Funch FR PC. The last thing that we need to talk about we talked about Bradley Bill. We talked about him getting the buyout and everything like that. Um, we will stay on top of this, this information. We will continue to monitor what's going on. I do believe that by friday, this will all be over.

I think we will know what is going to happen with Jake Fisher just put out a report within the last hour that the Clippers, the Lakers, the Bucks, the Wolves were confirmed suitors for Bradley Bill. I am told that the Warriors also should be added to this list. That is from our guy, jake Fisher, who is on the mark stein line. Go read his stuff. It is absolutely excellent. Jake fisher also does stuff for the bleacher report and what have you? We've been rocking with jake fisher for about three years now. Jake fisher does good work and, I believe, this report. So we got the warriors in on this dude.

We knew milwaukee was in on this dude, the clippers and the leggers. I think california is really the epicenter of the bradley bill situation. Okay, I'm not gonna hold you, not gonna sugarcoat this milwaukee. I love y'all. Y'all good people, y'all make cheese. Y'all got green bay packers up there. Listen, the jump around thing at camp randall at the university of wisconsin is one of the coolest things I've ever seen in my whole entire life. But if you think bradley bill is coming to Milwaukee and understand what it is to be in Milwaukee in February when this man has lived in Phoenix for like the last two or three year, come on, dog, you know this dude coming to California. Y'all know he coming here. So, whether it's Golden state, whether it's the clippers or the lakers, my money's on the clippers. But hey, it's never over till it's damn over and we will see how it all goes. But that is the thing that we are looking forward to and the reason why we bring this up is because of this.

Bradley Bill right now Is holding all the other moves up. So you're lesser, you're lesser, you're more role players, like the D'Anthony Melton's of the world, chris Paul's of the world, that Jonathan Kaminga trade that's supposedly still out there For somebody to have. You know, supposedly the Lakers aren't done. Other teams got other moves to be made, but we're all sitting here waiting for the Bradley Bill news to drop. So when is it going to happen? Like I said, I think it'll happen by friday.

Personally, I think what they're trying to work out now it's all about the cba. The sons want to stretch bill's deal, turning this monster salary into a manageable cap hit. But bill needs to bet that he'll make back what he gives up. So that's where the negotiation is right now. That's why the market and why some of the rumors and, by the way, some of our best content people.

They taking vacations. You know what I'm saying. Now listen my guy Rosillo, he ain't going to take no vacation. You know what I'm saying? He's still going to drop episodes. He might be in the south of France or somewhere, but he's going to drop episodes, don't worry, he will do that. But Bill, some other dudes they might be taking naps, but you know who's going to be here for you? Front Runner Podcast Collective.

As long as I don't get COVID, as long as I don't get COVID, as long as I don't get COVID, I will be here. I'm back. I feel good. I feel real, real good. But Bradley, bill Must His situation Must break the ice and then, once that happens, we can go ahead and finish up the rest of the moves and just focus in on summer league vegas and then really get into the offseason, where we'll start talking about the 2026 draft class. We'll start looking forward To training camp. We'll start talking about what these teams actually are, how they've been made up, who's the GM's that have done the best jobs and what have you. So that is what the summer Is going to look like for us.

So we appreciate y'all. I hope you guys appreciate us. We going to be up out us. So we appreciate y'all. I hope you guys appreciate us. We gonna be up out of here and remember the best part of you is you make sure that you surround yourself with people that are of the utmost, utmost supportive of you, that really believe in you, that invest in you. And if you have people who are that dedicated to you, make sure you that you appreciate them. Make sure that you say some kind words to them. Drop them a text or a facetime or whatever it is that you guys do you know, saying, oh, here's another thing you could do. You can actually talk to him in person. Take them out. Hey, what's up, man? Thanks for holding it down, like to my wife bells and whistles over there. Thanks for holding it down when I was sick, cuz my ass was sick and I thought I was gonna die and my wife said you're not gonna die, you cool you straight. I'm gonna hold it down for you. So if you got people like that in your life, appreciate them, acknowledge them, make sure they know that they feel loved and they you know they're. They're showing you love. You show them love in kind and return. All right. If you're doing all that. You know that you're a prime time player and if you're a prime time player, there's only one place for you.

Front runner podcast collective. We back baby tuesdays and fridays. You know how I do, and if there is a major trade, if there is something that we absolutely need to hit, we will break out an emergency podcast. Don't worry about it, because that's what we do here. All right, y'all stay easy. We'll see you friday, unless some other stuff happen. I don't think anything will happen until this bradley bill thing happens, but we'll see, who knows, later day. See y'all later, peace. See y'all later, peace.