Analyzing Klay Thompson to Mavs, OKC’s depth + Lakers sending mixed signals | The Hoop Collective

Analyzing Klay Thompson to Mavs, OKC’s depth + Lakers sending mixed signals | The Hoop Collective

hello and welcome to the hoop Collective podcast we talk about the NBA which we’re doing on Monday evening free agency is a crackling most of the stuff’s already done joining us from New York City Mr Northeast Corridor himself we’re gonna we’re gonna have more Bond temps next year just when you thought you didn’t have you you’ve got enough we’re gonna have more Bond Temps boning it up it’s going to be ESPN bontemps Tim bontemps I was waiting to get introduced and I we have a we have a anti- Midwest bias on this pod so I’m I’m GNA remind you that I’m from the Midwest and gonna see the floor now of my colleague who’s not happy Midwest yeah I’m not sure I agree with that first off how many years how many years have you how many years have you lived in New York City and San Francisco a lot and you’re from New York State uh that is correct I don’t think you’re from the Midwest joining us from Dallas Texas B McMahon howdy Partners listen Wendy don’t you try to butter me up with Mr Middle America crap okay I got a bone to pick with you heard it on the Pod seat at the floor watch you on your fancy City Slicker TV appearances today I95 I five the coastal bias there’s never been an Omaha resident who has this disease of coastal bias just infected in them like you can we talk about Interstate 35 can we talk about the highway where the western conference is going to run through next year sir do you drive on that Highway yeah no kidding I was you’re stealing my thunder BN you drive on that Highway you never take I35 who doesn’t you do you drive on that highway I mean I do you do you drive on the highway or do you fly fly in a plane you fly to OK I drive on the highway Drive acoss state lines but listen I gotta tell you that might be a first that I got might be a first that Tim McMahon had nothing to say it was just I was like h h h h he had no response to that point being Interstate 35 from San Antonio all the way up to Minneapolis but especially right now after this little flurry of early free agency activity the defending West Champion Dallas Mavericks and the number one seed Oklahoma City Thunder have both been aggressive to upgrade and again the West whether it’s Minnesota Oklahoma City Dallas and in the not too distant future San Antonio it’s running through I35 yes I didn’t say that the league was running through I95 and five I was saying that the you see two sets of two different things are happening along I95 and I5 okay don’t try to deflect my attempt to actually discuss Middle America as a common man and get back I would like to discuss you flying back and forth to Oklahoma City and not even driving on I35 listen buddy you don’t get frequent fly or freaking driver miles in fact you do they keep a little tally right on your they actually do they actually do well what do you what do you uh um what do you get at bies these there’s like a bies uh or what’s the name of the what’s the name of the Big Gas Station bies yeah bies World gas stations I I personally the coffee is phenomenal the uh I enjoy their their barbecue sandwiches um they actually have some very fast F gear and I tell you what you’re antibes no no no I’m fullblown a what you talking about he’s going through all the things he likes he doesn’t he doesn’t drive to okahoma city and San I was I was just at buies the other day stopping to as we brought the boys home from camp and I’m just here to tell you got my car washed also though if you need to pause and take a little moment on the throne ain’t no cleaner bathrooms and bies baby all right we talk about the NBA the Mavericks allegedly the Mavericks made a big move um and I assume that Klay Thompson will be arriving by um one of the um Dallas Mavericks controlled private aircraft very clay frequence of bies we gotay would love bies he’s got to get familiar with the lakes around here we can can we get one of his boats in one of these Lakes by the way I know the only toilets we talked about in the NBA or the Inuit dome but um so sorry the ball baby sorry about that one no listen for the Mavericks this is a franchise that how many times has the July early July discussion about the Mavericks been H swung and missing another free agent swung and missing another star free agent and obviously Klay Thompson is further down the road in his career but for the first time ever the Dallas Mavericks won a recruiting battle for a massive free agent and the fact they won it over the League’s most glamorous franchise when the Lakers were offering more money per year and for a longer term is pretty remarkable um you have to give niik Harrison credit this is why by the way where were the gakers getting that money well obviously they were trying to dump salaries but where because I see two salary dump trades that the Dallas Mavericks made I see no salary dump trades the Lakers have made sure but you also know that they were telling clay we can get to this number okay so you know whether they could or couldn’t they didn’t and and they don’t need to at least right now immediately we can get back to your sweet little West Coast in a little bit here um but again you got to give Nico Harrison credit for you know having this plan and being able to make it happen his ability to recruit in the relationships was one of the reasons he was an attractive GM candidate despite never having worked in a front office before you know coming from two decades at Nike um I do think Jason kid it’s different when you’re recruiting to play for Jason kid frankly than Rick carile it just is um you know J kid has a different sort of relationship and like people players I think respect Ricks ex’s and O’s mine but I don’t think there’s necessarily a long line free agents wantan to play for him uh by the way you know it’s funny because you’ve heard all this time year after year well no state income tax in Texas no state income tax in Texas that never helped for the Mavericks you heard it again this time when clay was hearing it though the his financial advisor is a guy named Joe mlan played ball at Arizona back in the day played a little bit overseas uh actually an aaou teammate of a gentleman gentleman named Jason kid so you know that that didn’t hurt matters and then real real quick as a quick aside on this saying there’s no state income taxes isn’t exactly accurate NBA players get paid by the game sure and they have to file taxes for every game obviously he will play a majority of his games in Texas not just the home games but also two games in San Antonio two games in Houston um you know there’ll be two games in Florida there’s no state income tax there but it’s not like it’s you know 0% versus 15% or 14% whatever it is in California just sorry just to bear and again it’s never made a difference in the many many times the Mavericks have tried to dangle that before um it makes a difference when you’re coming into a situation where the team’s coming off of a finals appearance and they have an MVP candidate who’s just enter in his prime who’s you know probably the best shot Creator in the NBA and and frankly this is one of the perks of having a happy keyword happy Kyrie Irving on your roster and say what you want to say about Kyrie’s history I think both you guys would agree with me he is very well liked and respected by players throughout the NBA and he’s been Klay Thompson’s teammate on team Team USA on a couple of occasions you know won a gold medal at the 14 World Cup the 16 uh Olympics um he was a a big part of this recruiting thing and I you know I think his ability to kind of relate to Clay because my understanding is they didn’t necessarily talk a bunch about basketball I I called Kyrie’s agent stepmom to tell you Riley Irving and she said you know that that Kyrie Bas was talking to at Clay on a kind of a personal basis not necessarily trying to sell the team but just hey let me meet you where you are like what what going on and they were talking about boat engines sure Kyrie obviously came here from a situation where he felt disrespected and unappreciated you know right or wrong that’s how he felt clay clearly had the same type of feelings especially of the this last year in Golden State and something I’m told that Kyrie really emphasized to him is hey what I’ve found here in Dallas is the a sense of family so having Kyrie as a leader of the team who’s comfortable serving as a lead recruiter so to speak when Luca is not going to do that he’s not comfortable doing he doesn’t have the relationships and he’s half a world away he’s in gree right now getting ready to play an Olympic qualifying tournament that’s a big big week of Olympic qualifying by the way so it is and we we we’re gonna hey it’s gonna be there is a lot to talk about we’ll get into that as things slow down with uh with free agency but again I think this is you see the production of Kyrie on the court You’ I think if you’re around the team you’ve felt his impact in the locker room this is another perk of having again a happy Kyrie on the roster yeah I mean I that’s true to a point I I’m just more curious to see where this lands the Mavs overall because I do like the fit of clay obviously going with kyne Luca he’s going to get a lot of open looks think he’s going to knock him down um you have talked I think with I would think it’s fair to say pretty uh direct knowledge of the fact Tim that Klay is going to start and that I think presents some real challenges for Golden State Clay is not mavick well not n sorry definitely that was a Fredy sliit uh certainly presents some real challenges for Dallas um he is not the defender he used to be he used to be in two-way player now he can’t really move nearly the same way totally understandably after the injuries he’s had and he’s now probably taking the derck Jones Jr spot in the starting lineup so that’s going to be something Dallas is gonna have to navigate including um what they do at the end of games and how that’s going to go I’m very curious to see how that plays out but we saw the Mavs in the finals look like a team that was young and scared in the moment and not ready for it and Clay has been in the moment a million times and having him there and having all the experience they have from being there I think will help a ton and we talked yesterday about the Naji Marshall signing I really like that a lot now they might have to massage some stuff with clay in terms of sometimes maybe not closing games but I also think like we talked about on yesterday’s po it’s a different conversation when you’re having it with somebody who doesn’t have the baggage in a place like Clay did in Golden State just like Ray Allen did in Boston he went to Miami he was very happy to come off the bench not saying clay will come off the bench but if he’s not playing down the stretch in a game it’s not going to be a huge story in Dallas unlike in Golden state where his every movement was a huge story so you know this does I think make the Mavs better than they were last year if you look at basically trading Josh green and Derek Jones jior from your playoff rotation and putting in na Marshall and Klay Thompson I think Dallas is better are they good as Oklahoma City the other I35 team we’re going to talk about I don’t think so but they’re certainly right there in that pack of teams that’s trying to be in the top four in the west which is a brutal group to get into and you know like you said for all the years they struck out on getting guys play solves a real need for them and I think gives them a boost on a few fronts um do we know I haven’t heard I just know that um LeBron called Clay did the Lakers actually get a meeting with Clay did they actually meet with him my understanding I believe W reported was that both teams did get a meeting with him I know that the Mavericks that the Mavericks had uh had a meeting with him was it was Nico Harrison and Michael Finley I think the bottle in in Hermosa Beach California has gotten more publicity out of this than probably anything that’s ever happened no W repeats I mean I I don’t know if that’s the place at w frequents like you know W is he does it with a smile he’s almost like is he if he does I promise you this W ain’t paying for his next meal there as much although I tell you menu it was a reasonable reasonably priced menu I mean you know some of the Entre got up in the 40s and 50s but it wasn’t like anything crazy you you’d have the samon you always have the salmon I know you not always they got like a good seab bass on there I’ll go with that all right uh look the defense thing though first of all again you you you can’t recruit clay understanding how tough it was for him to come off the bench last year how important starting is the Comfort level and then say hey you’re coming off the bench so he’s going to be in in the starting lineup and offensively you’re talking about adding maybe the best catch and shoot threat and that’s something he can still do at an elite level to ever play the game to the best playmaking duo and creating duo in the league right now they’re going to score a ton of points with with a an awesome lob threat in the middle how’s it going to work defensively completely fair question that’s a puzzle that Jason kid Sean Sweeney who by the way is at Lucas side right now with the Slovenia national team that’s a a uh a puzzle that they’re going to have to figure out I feel pretty comfortable telling you that they are happy to have that puzzle to figure out but let’s you can’t diminish the importance of Derek Jones Jr on the defensive end to the Mavericks success last season you know in the last 20 games through the playoffs he was the one who and you know it’s not like he was shutting down SGA and Anthony Edwards and you know Paul George but he was the one that was his assignment and it’s at this point I guess that’s PJ Washington to start games um I do think Lively ends up starting and they’re gonna I’ve been told they think Lively has like Jem Noah Kevin Garnett type of defensive potential in terms of not just being your traditional anchor but being an all over the floor type of presence they’re putting a lot on on him to you know prop up a defense that it’s not like Clay’s a terrible Defender but he’s definitely not the all defensive candidate that he was in his 20s and then how’s the rotation going to work but they don’t have like Naji Marshall is a tough dude I think when you’re talking about bigger Wings power forward like he’s a really good uh guy to throw on those guys can he stay with John Morant can he stay with SGA like there’s not that guy on the roster Dante exam’s probably their best on ball Defender I think he might be more important this year than he was last year but yeah that there there’s question marks there I will say this they got rid of their two defensive Wings who stunk it up on that in the floor last year and Hardaway and Josh green um they also lost their best def def Wing but Quinton Grimes will have a chance to contribute to but yeah can the Mavericks be an average to good defense if so they’re a contender if not see so they so you you look at the big picture they traded five second round picks Dereck Jones Jr and Tim Hardway dere Tim hard J and Josh green and Josh Green for Naji Marshall and Klay Thompson and Quinton Grimes who if he get where he was a couple years ago could be a addition now he’s been banged up he’s had a knee issue we’ll see if he’s right but if he is right he could be a perfect fit for what the team needs no he can yeah Quinton gri is absolutely gonna have do you like that bontemps do you like that that that that In-N-Out there I I I like it in theory I mean I do think that it overall from a talent standpoint it’s better um I think a lot of it does hinge frankly on Quinton Grimes because if he is able to give them anything like he did um two years ago with the Knicks before the knee stuff acted up he can do all the stuff M Grant is talking about from guarding these guards that we’re talking about on these teams across the West if he can’t that’s obviously an issue that the Mavs have and look they also are going to have we’re going to have to see exactly what they have promised clay and how they’re going to manage that in terms of having him out there because like he’s still a good player the idea that he he’s not washed up but there’s a reason why he was not playing down the stretch of games for Golden State and it was because they were having issues with him at the other end of the court and that is where if you’re playing with Luca you’re playing with Kyrie all of a sudden you could be having a lot of trouble and like I love Derrik Lively I think he’s got a chance to be awesome I I think you know comparing him to Kevin Garnett and Rudy goar like I I’m not saying the potential is not there for that but like oh he’s gotta wa he’s to go to get there that’s what I’m saying we’re talking about a guy who’s 19 like there’s a there’s a long whatever there’s a long way to go yes no doubt but obviously I you know we’ll hear from luuka I assume at some point here this week and and uh I in then the Mavericks themselves but I assume that it was a pretty exciting day for the Mavericks my my understanding is Luke is pretty ecstatic yeah um I know that you know the people who are uh over on on this side of the pond are awfully excited about this um and look they have an open roster spot they’re essentially limited to because of the uh the hard cap they essentially limited to a minimum spot there maybe it’s bringing back markei Morris who’s you know didn’t play a lot but he’s definitely like that OG valued voice in the locker room maybe it’s bringing in a a guy who can you know have a chance to stay in front of the elite guards that you’re going to run across on a regular basis in the Western Conference you know a guy like I’m just throwing a name out I Flo this out to somebody in the organization and uh it didn’t get shot down a guy like Luca’s rookie teammate former mads lottery pick Dennis Smith Jr who you know they could use another guard on the roster um be a good signing on especially at the minimum Smith Jr’s quietly had a good season in Charlotte last year it was it wasn’t in Charlotte last year that was last year Nets last year Brooklyn no he’s what he’s become so quietly I forgot where he was he’s a solid defensive guard that if they signed him for the minimum they’d be a very good signing for them also a guy who I could see making some sense in Philadelphia as another team that needs to F the roster with some minimums he’s become a pit bull defensively he’s a limited offensive player you know obviously he hadn’t panned out as a lottery pick but he’s established himself as a really good defensive guard and you know they could use another guy who can put the ball on the floor because we’ve talked about like look Luka especially if they go to the Olympics he’s going to need to rest some he he’s not going to play 82 games you know Kyrie’s not playing 82 games right now you know Jaden Hardy a young player who’s got a chance to kind of be that Jordan Clarkson Jordan P microwave type of score he’s your other I’m gonna call him a point guard um you know Dante exom I guess can play some point but they could use another ball hander too all right so let’s go up I 35 um to Oklahoma City Oklahoma City with their big move their big free agent um uh maneuver was to sign Isaiah hartenstein to a three-year contract averaging $29 million just under $90 million that blew the Knicks out of the water the Knicks were already gonna have trouble keeping hartenstein with where they were at with the apron they you know they they can’t because of the bridges trade they were facing an apron issue even if they could negotiate the way around it hardenstein could only go four years and about 72 million that that’s the max they were allowed to offer him and so the Nick the uh the Thunder just blasted over the top of that they they wanted to remove all doubt about whether he would move to Oklahoma City from New York and um you know they go with the 90 basically 887 million offer um hartenstein is a guy who makes a ton of play plays he he rebounds he’s very um active defensively gets steals gets his hands on balls very disruptive and um he’ll be I assume be their starting center or at least play a lot of time at Center uh alongside Chad homr at power forward so that’s a move uh you combine that with um with Alex Caruso the trade that they made last week to to pick him up they also made two other minor signings bringing back um you know key bench players for them uh Aaron Wiggins got a fiveyear $47 million deal so about 9 million or so a year nine and a half or whatever a year and Isaiah Joe who’s one of the best flat out one of the best three-point Shooters in the league um gets a four-year $48 million deal so $12 million a year for him and they sort of handled all their business right in a row there um and boy this team is going to be long when they have their top lineup out there man do they got guys who are big and rangy and cover a lot of ground and defend and the hope I guess bont temps with hartenstein is that he brings some of the rebounding and you know sort of interior toughness that frankly their president Sam prey kind of implied they didn’t need but actions over actions over words as there were already rumors fly flying around the league that this is the guy they were gonna Target yeah somehow they booked a private jet to Eugene Oregon where where hartenstein was on uh on July F or June June 30th I guess and night of June 30th so I’m I doubt that that was planned with minutes to spare but uh we’re gonna we’re not we’re gonna move past that and just focus on the acquisition um the Thunder were already an excellent team they’re their asset base remains extremely strong and now they’ve added two x excellent players to their to their mixed BS yeah I mean look they were they they you know if they had normal shooting luck in the conference semifinals they’re probably in the NBA finals and instead they obviously lose to Dallas it’s not a knock on Dallas Dallas deserved to win but the Thunder missed a lot of shots they guy they believe their guys normally make and PJ uh PJ Washington and Derrick Jones Jr shot the lights out for six games like it’s just the facts of the matter same as when K leart did it to the Celtics the year before but the Thunder are quite clearly the best team in the it’s really not close I actually disagree I do not think Isaiah hardenstein will start most of the time I think the the I would say the Thunder will still go with their normal lineup but now they have the ability to play Isaiah hartstein with Chad hren if they want or start him in certain matchups maybe he starts against uh say this against Nicole yic against Joel embiid against Rudy goar and maybe he doesn’t against most teams um I would suspect given the way the Thunder operate that they’ll say to him we paid you $29 million a year and you will do whatever role you’re going to be in and I would assume Isaiah will be just fine with that um there is a player option on the third year that deal when the Thunder do start to get expensive and it does turn that into a bit of a humid trade exception which is something we’ll see if the Thunder do something with over time but look between Caruso and hartenstein and the Improvement of this Thunder team especially when we talk about kcp going away Dallas obviously um you know we just talked about they’re a good team that has some questions the Clippers are taking a step back Minnesota we have to see what their roster looks like ultimately the Thunder to me should be very clear and heavy favorites to make it to the NBA finals out of the Western Conference look this is the deepest team in the NBA and I’m I’m not sure that it that it’s close and you know what this what this I would say the Celtics would have a little bit of a argument with that is with the Knicks and and and terms of having like 11 or 12 high quality rotation players I mean I think it depends on I think it depends on at some point what level of depth you’re talking about but talking about just in in terms of that um the other thing is this is Sam prey you know there’s been so much conversation around the Thunder about when are they going to package up those picks and go get another star and this is Sam prey basically saying we’ve got our star core you know SGA MVP finals Jaylen Williams who you know had a phenomenal sophomore season he he’s got a chance to be an All-Star soon as next year you know Chad hen Rookie of the Year runner up he’s got a chance to be an All-Star uh soon so you know saying hey we’ve got that star Trio and building out around them getting to the best role players in the league and look you you mentioned shooting luck with the Mavericks the they address the biggest problems in that series one the fact that Josh giddy was unplayable and just clogged things up when he was in there and and Caruso in addition to being one of the best perimeter defenders in the world shot it at 41% from three you’re going to guard him out there two Derek cver II absolutely dominated the glass in the second half of game six as the Mavericks came back from double figures that was an example of this rebounding flaw really biting the Thunder the butt you know bringing in arenstein directly addresses that and he’s not a a shooter but he fits as a as a passer as a screener you know as a guy who who’s a crafty uh interior scorer an outstanding defensive player uh you look at like Rim protection field goal percentage him and Chad are both top 10 in the league in that category the other thing I think this does whether hardenstein starts or whether he comes off the bench he’s not going to play 35 minutes right he played about 25 a game last year but I think this is going to ease the wear and tear and the physical pounding on Chad who played all 82 his three-point numbers really dropped late in the season dropped in the playoffs I you gotta assume part of that just he didn’t have his legs um Chad’s still going to play the majority of his minutes at center it’s just math right because when arnstein’s not on floor he will be so even say bump Isaiah’s minutes up to um 30 still 18 minutes a game at Center for chat but the what whatever it is you know if it’s 10 or 12 minutes a game at at the at the four that eases the pounding the more physical matchups probably arenstein plays more and those so I think this is something that’s really going to help Chet be able to kind of keep his legs for a long 82 game plus they hope you know 20 or so more schedule yeah and I just I still think when you look at this team they’re still so upwardly mobile they still have so many things that they can do I mean they’ve done all of this and they haven’t moved a single draft pick it’s amazing yeah it’s amazing it really is amazing I mean got the best team in the west yeah um like I I I think you know it was a it was a good job by the Mavericks considering their limitations with what they’ve already traded away to M do an upgrade the Thunder upgraded several key spots yeah and are still absolutely loaded like well D they got they got two perfect fitting Elite role players and like you said they didn’t give up even a second round pick the Mavericks TR Jos they tra yeah they traded Josh gaty the guy who shouldn’t have been playing and playoffs for them for Alex Caruso a guy who can close games in the playoffs for them and Isaiah hartenstein who can who solves their biggest issue which was rebounding and they set their C because they’re going obviously you’re looking a couple years down the road Chet’s going to get a fun Max that maybe not as fun under the CBA same with Jay dub uh the year after that SGA is going to get I’ll break this news right now he’ll get the richest contract in NBA history because that record is going to be broken every year just like it was today by Tatum next year’s Luca the year after that will be SGA um but like why do you tear up the team options for for cheap on uh on Wiggins and Isaiah Joe because you you lock them into what will be long-term team Friendly Deals and you do it this year and you’re not touching the tax you’re doing it so down the road I assume those contracts are descending so you’re doing it so down the road as these paydays Spike for your Stars those guys are on what will be extremely team-friendly salaries at that point I mean whether they’re ascending or descending they’re still going to be low enough that it’s going to be advantageous to the Thunder and yeah I mean look they’ve I mean Sam prey and those guys have done a phenomenal job for a long time and they’ve been you know we we were joking about it earlier on the group text but Sam prey said before the season that they had to finish their breakfast and they went through the season and they methodically looked at how this went they cleared some salary when they did the Gordon trade during the season the Gordon Hayward trade didn’t work the way they hoped it would he admitted as much after the season in terms of this season’s impact I don’t think he scored a single point in the playoffs but it allowed them the ability to go out and get hartstein without having to make any moves in fre in free SE to clear space and they turn giddy into Caruso like they’re one of the huge winners of the summer and again like they should be way ahead of Denver in the odds like they should clearly be the favorites get outest I looked today and they weren’t which no that’s why that’s why I’m saying it because they kept showing it on on like tonight on our free agency show there was Denver and then Oklahoma City like it Oklahoma City should be as far out in front as Boston was last year it should be I was surprised it wasn’t I thought it’d be OKC Dallas Minnesota Denver but Denver was still uh yeah they’re behind the brods makers are behind although no one’s actually making that BET right now right you’re not sure people I’m sure people are but I I would not advise it is this the first double Isaiah team in NBA history probably not I’m sure not so they’ve got two Jaylen Williams two Isaiah you know they’ve really cornered the market in those areas uh all right speaking of uh teams with guys under contract Boston Celtics had an eventful day um still basking the glow of their Championship um they signed Jason tat for the most money they possibly could sign him for largest contract in NBA history 5 years $314 million and they signed Derek white for the most money they were allowed to sign him for his Max on on an extension um four years and was it 126 was that right 125 yeah so next year not 2425 but next year when Jason Tatum’s contract extension kicks in and Dereck White’s contract extension kicks in there starting five Jaylen Brown Jason Tatum Drew holiday Chris EPs porzingis and Derk white all guys who have signed contracts um extensions uh in the last 12 months all of them combined will make 200 million just for their starting five next year and by next year you mean 2025 because that’s when porzingis will be back probably yeah well that’s true fair point he’s going to miss the start of the season after the surgery last week or I guess maybe was this week but um $200 million just for their starting five of course they’re compelled to have 14 players uh Peyton Pritchard is also on there for seven million bucks Al probably gonna they’re probably goingon to extend Sam Hower that number is going to go up even further I mean listen that’s an expensive roster how’s the ownership going pay for it well I mean it’s also a roster that I’m not convinced is going to look the same as it does right now a year from now no matter what happens but it does lead us into our next topic I believe yeah so Celtics lock it down um shortly after those extensions were finalized I think the Tatum announcement actually came out afterwards but obviously it was a done deal uh Wick grbach the controlling owner of the um the governor of the Celtics announced he’s selling the team um and that was interesting it was a two paragraph statement but bontemps the second paragraph the first paragraph Was a stunner because you don’t see teams win a championship and cell uh within you know 10 days very often you don’t see Flagship franchises sold well that’s for sure absolutely one of the biggest 10 sports brands in the world is that I didn’t I didn’t exhaustively I mean I don’t know I don’t know if it’s one of the biggest 10 sports brands in the world it’s one of the biggest 10 sports brands in North America for sure okay fair enough uh the second paragraph of the statement though was a Whopper bontemps uh yeah I will read the uh statement right here as I will pull it up because I was poorly prepared sorry I well I did no no no it’s fine it’s it’s fine uh the managing Board of the ownership group expects to sell a majority interest in 2024 or early 2025 with the balance closing in 2028 and expects Wick gusc to remain as the governor of the team until the second closing in 2028 now I see McMahon looks confused so I’m going to explain this for everybody the wick Rus Spec’s plan here is to sell a majority of the team now and then keep control of the team for the next three years while the Celtics are expected to be a really good team and then say hey all right now it’s your turn to have the team down the road this is called I was gonna say this is called the Cupid this is what you do when you sell control of the team and then try to say you actually still control the team when you in fact do not control the team right but that’s the the thing about that is when you sell the majority share of the team whoever buys the majority share decides who’s in control do that that well that’s not necessarily true well that if you buy the majority share of the team you’re going to pay a majority share of the bills that’s right the are going to lose a bunch of money the next few years here’s the thing this is called This is called wishcasting it’s called wishcasting This is we’re gonna sell the team for a lot of money which by the way the it said in there that they it sounds like Wick Gus’s F father is also part of the ownership group I think you can deduce from the way this is laid out that the team the family decided as a group it made sense to sell the team now father’s in his late 80s I believe um they’ve owned the team for 22 years now had a ton of success um but yeah the idea that they’re going to be able to sell the team to somebody for I mean I think it’s going to cost at least five billion do to get the Celtics least the records right now for controlling Shar on a team is $4 billion do which is what Matt isia paid for the Suns the Celtics as you point out big manah I would say I’d say fellas there’s the in some order the Lakers the Celtics and the Knicks probably the top three maybe the Bulls like that’s the top four I would say and I guess the Warriors those are probably the five that in the league where they would be ranked in some order the Nets just sold for evaluation including the arena and some other stuff for around six now the Celtics don’t own their Arena bottom line is it’s going to be a massive price if somebody pays a massive price to take control of the Celtics they’re going to control the Celtics yeah why would they agree to that and and the question that was the question when Cuban was like I’m still in charge of basketball operations they just care about real estate and the in perpetuity he said something or believe said forever forever forever more forever more until immediately after he said it and then he did not and then it came out like H there’s actually nothing in the contract there that’s right and then it came out like nobody knew also that was also a Cas because it’s not true yeah that was also a case of wish casting this is a case of wishcasting yeah look we need to go into the financials listen here’s but it’s just hilarious it’s hilarious here’s the bottom but here’s the other part of it right if you’re if you’re Celtics ownership okay and the Celtics have obviously they’re in a huge Market they’ve got a bunch of De pocketed people around this team but the Celtics ownership group is not Steve Balmer yeah like it’s just not and the Celtics right now are on Pace to have a luxury tax and payroll bill as of right now approaching $500 million next year not this coming year but the following year when all these extensions kick in that would be the record in the NBA history by a hundred million yeah okay I don’t think the Celtics are going to be paying a luxury tax bill to that degree so there’s a lot of different factors involved here I think there’s little doubt that the expense of the team is going to be part of it and we talked a lot yesterday about the decisions that come with this new CBA and the moves teams are going to have to make and look full credit to the Celtics for putting the pedal down with a team that won the title and keeping everybody together this year to try to have have as good a chance to win not sure it’s going to last after this year and at least in the exact form it’s in now because th this team is currently on Pace to be like obscenely expensive and after four you get the Sam Hower extension Factor which I think is likely to happen sometime this summer their entire starting lineup has gotten massive extensions over the last 13 months is that correct I think porzingis is the only one that’s a uh that’s an eight- figure extension if I if I’m not mistaken the rest of them were were nine figureure deals right right I just want to put something into perspective because I just think every now and then it’s a good idea to just put Steve Balmer into perspective obviously it’s been a bad couple of days for the Clippers and Steve Balmer today it’s never actually a bad day though for Steve balber here I was gonna say I’d like to have his bad days that’s right today Monday today was a good day on the stock market today was a very good day for Microsoft their stock price went up $9 2.1% today Steve balmer’s Microsoft Holdings increased by $3.3 billion today okay just want to point that out this is why the NBA created a whole set of rules to prevent Steve Balmer from just spending as much money as he wanted Oh I thought that’s why they that’s why they decided to go ahead and get Batum Nick Batum and Chris Dunn and mo bombas like good damn stock market we can afford these guys now yeah like every time Microsoft increases their dividend by one cent he makes like $30 million extra for the or something like that well well listen and I I think it’s also worth pointing out to mcm’s point like you look at the last 22 years the Celtics have more wins than all NBA teams except for San Antonio and Dallas they have more playoff wins than any team except Miami they’ve been to the finals four times say see I should have been I should be in operations it’s just how great Cuban is but listen it’s they have been one of the model franchises in the league for basically the entire time that these guys have been in charge I mean they had Danny a run the team for almost two decades he was P he was succeeded by Brad Stevens who’s done a phenomenal job they’ve had I guess four total coaches they had Brad Stevens Doc Rivers and now Joe moula succeeded IM odok after a year like they have done about as good a job stewarding a team as you can and it’s going to be really interesting to see what this looks like Steve paga who is the co-owner with with gusc has said he’s going to tryy to buy the team certainly um you know he buys the team you would think it’s going to be a similar situation to what it is now there’s certainly I think the possibility that Fenway Sports Group own you know led by John Henry which owns the Red Sox which owns nessen has the Bruins already on nessen if they could get a hold of the Celtics and get all the state all the teams on nessen in Boston that would certainly be an interesting situation for them going forward in the New Media ecosystem that we’re in so this is going to be a team that a lot of people are going to have interest in buying and who buys it could have some real ramifications yeah for the league and obviously for one of the Premier teams and the Celtics right and all that was good information I was going to put it this way whoever buys the Celtics gonna have a ton of money and they’re not going to be slashing the payroll at least immediately so uh it’s just it’s just more interesting that you would immediately sell a team right after you win the championship but also when you want them for the new buyer to to pay all your losses and let you still run the team it’s a it’s a it’s a very Brazen it’s a Brazen move but look Wick grbach is wealthy and he’s going to become ridiculously fabulously wealthy and he’s going to have his two his two uh Rings uh to take to take with him um but look that’s a good thing if the Celtics are focused on their ownership and not worried about their roster um that’s that’s a very good thing the roster’s in pretty good shape too I would say so I would say so um tell you what bont temp’s just leaving rose pedals up and down that cute little Highway you love that I95 the uswb is he’s turned over a new blanket bontemp is not afraid to drive from New York to Boston and New York to Philly listen first of all I am not I drive on the highways unlike our guy from Texas who has to fly pampered pampered Texan has to fly can’t be I always get upgraded on those 30 minute flights I’m sure you do I’m sure you get upgraded very nicely um and look I caught like I see it and the way to see it right now is that the I95 Corridor has had a very good couple of weeks the Nets finally picked the direction tore the thing down to the studs as they needed to the Knicks obviously got Mel Bridges Celtics are keeping their championship team together Sixers get Paul George loading up wizard signings Wizards how far gotas Valen chunis that was that was great got Alex SAR in the draft you know does that go through Orlando no doesn’t look like it um Miami where a little different down there yeah it goes down to Miami um Bon you had a stat on get up today about the last time the Sixers Celtics and um uh Knicks all had over 50 wins this would have been a good whz of the quiz oh I will I will ask man because I know he was not up at 7 AM to watch the show okay uh they’re I always wake up with Wendy you wake up for the sleep upate that’s for sure um how many times actually got less sleep than me last night how many times in NBA history McMahon have theck this one 1981 there you go finish the question for the for well for the listeners uh there has been one season when the Knicks the Celtics and the Sixers all finished with at least 50 wins which was 1980 81 when the Celtics and Sixers each won 62 games and had one of the all-time great Conference Finals uh you know Dr J Larry BT I mean it was obviously one of the the legendary series and you know look those three teams like we’ve talked about I think are clearly a top the East right now and are set up to have an awfully fun um awfully fun season with you know homec court advantage between which of those three teams gets the number one seed meaning potentially you only have to beat one of the other two instead of both of them which could be a huge difference ultimately so we’ll see how that goes and the Knicks obviously have to find a way we talked about is on the other side Oklahoma City it’s a big loss for the Knicks Mitch Robinson missed a ton of time last year they don’t really have you know they got Jericho Sims who’s an okay backup center certainly he’s had some injury issues you’ve got Joel embiid sitting there again down 995 he is healthy he gave the Knicks a lot of trouble even when he wasn’t 100% in the first round series they just played so Nicks have some work to do to try to fill out their roster um at the center spot in the wake of hartstein leaving well and if if you’ve got a healthy Giannis that you run into in the playoffs I would say Rim protection is is pretty massively important in in that match up as well hey I’ve got a wiiz of the quiz okay where does Klay Thompson rank in alltime three-pointers made and who’s the last person that he passed uh he is is he sixth he’s sixth who’s the last person that he passed I’m guessing Jason kid nope Ray Allen nope Ray Allen’s ahead of him nope not hadn’t passed Reggie honestly I this one it shocked me that it wasn’t huge news when he passed him because it was Kyle corver and you know how important it is when you pass Kyle corver on the all-time three-pointers maist that is something where there it’s worth an allout brawl to get that damn ball and so I I guess there wasn’t like a wrestling match for the basketball after the game shocked me he just passed Kyle corver and it wasn’t like headline news what the hell oh man that was so well done do you think that they that they could put their hands on that ball right now the other the otherall man to smuggle that ball out too I don’t know I got to go back and figure out like if you ask dard if you asked Dame Lillard like if if he was right here you could say Hey where’s that Kyle corvo ball do you think he could give you an answer maybe the answer is yes maybe seriously maybe he’s like yes it’s it’s it’s in spot six on my ball display no I tell he he can tell you exactly where it is it’s at giannis’s [Laughter] house oh my God that was great listen we’ll be talking plenty Yannis soon though cuz Greece is hosting that Olympics qualifier s is in that bracket we Fe On The Pod we love the ball well we actually got a got a big weekend of news coming up here because bont is headed off to Vegas here in a couple days to Team USA is starting training camp U bont have to beat Brian’s caddy while he uh he takes a break until he goes on his International sojourn he’ll take Paris let you roast in Vegas exactly right it’s exactly right now you see where things sit everybody well first off yeah we we is in Wheel Cover USA you get Vegas I get par he’s on a roll first off I did this job for many years for Mark Stein uh before I before I had um you know I was covering the senior team which is this is my swan song this is my last Olympic yeah hey McMahon guess what he’s GNA do Paris and he’s gonna get out of the way so I could do Los Angeles very far away don’t forget thear don’t forget the guar World Cup listen I was prepared to leave after Tokyo but that doesn’t really count as an Olympics I couldn’t leave my hotel room so I think I’m within my rights to go to Paris you’re totally within your rights it’s all it’s all good it’s just funny I’m looking forward to this weekend there’s going to be a lot of news at Team USA we’re going to have a lot of stuff going on these qualifiers we do enjoy f ball here on the hoop Collective and there’ll be a lot to talk about be fun Gonna Be A Team USA LeBron James and he’s LeBron James Steph Curry Leonard Ka Leonard Bron gonna have a contract finalized fellas what’s that number going to be on that contract 160 million is what it’s GNA be because um look here’s the thing about the Lakers that was a professional segue mcmah absolutely professional hey he’s giving you Team USA I’m trying to take over hoston duties actions over words as of right now 11:30 p.m Eastern Time on um on Monday the Lakers have made one signing this off season and it isn’t even their second round draft pick it was a Max contract it was I guess a Max for for Max Christie he’s really he’s rolling right now whatever he ingested is kicked in bont it is he is really he’s really feeling it he’s recovered from The Yips at the start of the Pod when he got thrown off by the I35 comment now he’s rocking and rolling you’re right we’re back by the way we’re back on I5 thank you very much we go um they’ve signed one contract that’s Max Christie um and that seems problematic Brian if you’re uh trying to become a championship contending team when you won one playoff game I’m not sure they I’m not sure that they well I’m not sure that signing free agents is something that they’re really interested in doing because Rob pinka came out and said we want to focus on development we want to focus on you know keeping our draft picks and so while I think LeBron definitely gave a lot of excitement to the Laker fan base when his agent went on the record and said he would take a less it was not what Rob pinka was talking about a couple of days earlier when he hired JJ reck your line Brian yeah to ask you a question yeah why would he do that why Lebron James and Rich Paul are not dummies right no they they they set up this expectation of we are going to take less money we’re going to Dain to cut into our half a billion dollars whatever it is they made and I’m not faulting them for doing it sure great but it then set up this expectation to where the Lakers would get this benefit from LeBron James if he could if they could get Klay Thompson one of these other couple guys to sign but they were probably all kind of long shots in the first place to really get any of them right so I will ask as the LeBron Watcher on the Pod why would they do that I I do think they were hopeful they could get either Klay Thompson or I I never really seriously thought was gonna have him take a pay cut but but why would they announce it to the world this way why would they do that because there there’s no downside that’s correct yeah it works out if it works out it’s the most magnanimous gesture ever the Lakers have returned Championship contention by signing one mid-level player and using draft picks to trade away D’Angelo Russell all because of the uh the the ability of LeBron James to give back to the Laker franchise and if they fail to do that then he gets to take all his money and say you guys messed up I would have taken a pay cut any players seems like a seems like a great set they had apparently a real offer for clay and you know only clay knows how close he would have done it so I mean it wasn’t like there was no no chance of it happening have happened I’m joshing I’m I’m Josh around a little bit with with this this whole thing but I’m just gonna say I think the Lakers dodged a bullet by not doing this Klay Thompson thing and it’s not that Klay Thompson can’t play but it’s that this this move would not have made them a any kind of serious Contender to do anything except maybe get into the top six maybe in the west and so you’re gonna trade draft picks to trade D’Angelo Russell to then sign Klay Thompson to put him on this team to maybe finish seventh I think that would have been crazy I think they’re much better off holding their powder not trading these picks trying to develop these players but’s see if JJ R can develop a system that they like going forward with some of these players maybe they could develop Max Christie into maybe JJ’s maybe JJ’s structural changes will result in a maybe they’ll do something but this team despite all of our attempts to try to will it into Championship contention is a contender to potentially be in the playing tournament look again actions over words the Atlanta Hawks just made a trade trading away dejonte Murray and one of the most important things they did was acquire the Lakers 2025 unprotected first round pick they looked at the lay of the land and said we like the Lakers 2025 pick you know David Stern the older I get the more graay I get the more I respect of the stuff he used to say and David Stern used to take new owners and sometimes even longtime owners aside but specifically new owners and he would give them a couple pieces of advice and one of them one of the pieces of advice he would give is that it can be a mistake to think that you’re one player away because over the course of NBA history you often see teams sort of mortgage themselves or really make a bad short-term decision to quote unquote get the one player now look if the one player is Kevin Durant okay it’s not it it doesn’t it’s not one- siiz fits all but David Stern would give that advice and how serious LeBron thought the Lakers would be able to execute something that forced him to give up the money I don’t know only he knows that but I will say LeBron was guilty of what new owners often guilty of which is believing you’re one player away well and look by saying that and he believed it last summer right and he made he believed at every trade deadline yeah he made it I was as as our Network as as as as all these other Laker fans as as all before and after that trade deadline he made it crystal clear that he really wanted a reunion with Kyrie they didn’t get it done in the trade deadline and they didn’t try to get it done in free agency one of the great wh ifs in in in Maverick’s history as well is what if the Lakers wouldn’t have been like up West finals run continuity baby here we go gotta bring back DLo gotta bring back ruy and now they couldn’t have offered the same amount of money as the Mavericks but they could have made a bid that would have been interesting to see what would have happened they chose not to listen there’s a lot of completely ridiculous things the Lakers have done over the past few years there’s a giant list but probably the single most confounding thing is their repeated choosing of D’Angelo Russell choosing him over Mike Conley choosing KY even as much as I have made my points about Kyrie Irving they chose D’Angelo Russell over Kyrie Irving like it’s very strange redur well yes and now he still remains on the team and he’s sitting there on this contract he opted into because he didn’t have a market because that’s what you do when you opt in because you don’t have a market and they’re still sitting here with D’Angelo Russell all this time L he remains on the team like Russell Westbrook remains on the clippers but Nicole yic doesn’t want to play with D’Angelo Russell he wants to play with Russell Westbrook that’s that is a fascin assuming that transaction actually happens which Denver right now is looking for cheap Talent um because they’re not really spending and I guess I think the I think what the nuggets are waiting for is for the Clippers to cut Russell Westbrook and they did uh acquire Chris Dunn who I assume will be uh getting point guard minutes Russ’s minutes I guess um I think they’re just G to try to sign him and I guess if you’re signing a minimum guy you’re you’re you’re getting what you pay for but I have to say the concept of Russell Westbrook fitting in really well with the Nuggets caught me by surprise but well they need somebody to score in the in the second unit and you know our buddies at dmvr sports they’re the ones who put out there that hey Joker wants to play with Russ and I asked around and and I was told that is true players are not good GMS we just got done talking about this with LeBron James Russell Westbrook on the Nuggets will be a disaster and if they sign Russell Westbrook after letting kyp go like I mean give me a break with the with the Nuggets like just give me a break this just absolutely ridiculous management you know Joker remembers though he remembers just like I do the most memorable regular season game one of top two or three that I’ve ever covered the last time the Nuggets didn’t make the playoffs Russell Westbrook eliminated him with a 30 some odd foot buzzer beater to give him 50 points cap a comeback on the day he broke Oscar Robertson’s record the man’s built for Mile High moments baby I’m just I’m honestly really mad about this this Denver offseason uswb we got him you got niic you got Nicole yic he’s one of the best players of all time he’s in his prime and this team is just sacrificing pieces off the team over money infuriating last I checked Christian Brown is they’ve got him ranked above Alex English now in alltime nuggets [Laughter] greates look I just there’s a ton of pressure pressure on them to deliver this year after the moves they’re making and I’m sorry I I am not a believer in Russell Westbrook going to this team that already do shoot any threes and now you’re gonna add Russell Westbrook to it I just I just don’t understand the theory of what they’re doing it doesn’t make any sense well if you need coverage of uh well here’s the thing I when you sign minimum players your chances of success are very low Denver has hit on some recently but if you’re relying on minimum players to play real roles you’re probably in trouble well who no matter who that minimum player is I honestly I don’t care who it is Dereck Jones Jr played a pretty critical role for the Mavs last year I mean there it point though the ex if you’re relying on it it was a beautiful surprise for the for the acks right but if you you know and that’s the that’s obviously the risk of what Philadelphia is doing right and by the way because I I I there’s there’s a bit of a narrative that you know like the Warriors have made some tragic mistake by in terms of being a championship contending team by not resigning Klay Thompson I am bummed out that Klay Thompson is not on the Warriors going forward like I would like him to have just played his whole career there it would have been fun for those guys to all ride off in the sunset together but like if the Anthony Melton’s back is okay which is a big if because he missed basically the entire 2024 calendar year because of ongo back issues he’s a better fit for the Warriors this year than Klay Thompson they’ll be better this year having DeAnthony Melton on the team than Klay Thompson doesn’t mean Klay Thompson’s bad but he’s a better fit with his skill set next to Seth Curry right now well than Klay Thompson is and he’ll come off the bench behind Brandon P pods I can never say the name JY there you go I’m not 100% certain on that if he’s healthy I I could see him starting at the two because he he is a dynamite Defender and he’s a borderline 40.3 40 40% three-point shooter I wouldn’t be shocked if pod starts either but DeAnthony Melton’s really good and if he had not had these back issues last year he wouldn’t be signing a one-year full tax full ml deal which clearly a bad on himself to have a big year and get paid next year so I like the fit of clay in that it would have been nice if they had been able to find a way to make this work in Golden State but the idea that the Warriors have like completely taken a massive step back here I just don’t I just don’t buy that I mean they didn’t make the playoffs last year it would have been nice from a warm fuzzy standpoint and it’s like it is a bummer that a guy who had such a Legendary Run as a one- team guy is is is going to another team but the simple fact is Clay was miserable last year it was time for them to break break up and they didn’t break up the dynasty they broke up the guys who were the core of a dynasty that’s P it’s been over that’s right that’s been over they and give them credit they came back a couple years ago one last harah won the fourth title I mean legendary stuff but they were they were the most expensive Lottery team in the history of the world last season they’re literally the most expensed team in the history of The League last season finished ninth uh all right we have still more to come the rest of the week we still haven’t seen ad Donovan I haven’t seen the Cavs do anything yet so we’ll see if Donovan Mitchell um gets extended by the next time we join the podcast see Demar D rozan winds up too he’s probably the biggest free agent left on the board yeah bring him up with the Lakers probably I mean I know the Lakers have talked about it he’s he’s not a good fit for the Lakers well when does that ever stop I mean I guess if you can get him at the mid level that’s a good value it’s a funny line also that’s a good value but he’s a bad fit well and the other I that is true I don’t like to fit at dear there it will be interesting to see where dear lands because he doesn’t seem to have a clear home at the moment and the other thing to watch for too we talked about a little bit is the Pelicans in general I find fascinating they have this Brandon in situation he clearly seems like the odd man out there unless they can do something with CJ McCollum which I think will be a lot harder to do and on top of that they have basically no Center on the team they’ve got got uh you as Mei their rookie first round pick out of Baylor and if you count Zion as a center which I don’t I say he’s a four they that’s it so you think yeah he’s not a center he’s well that’s what I mean I’m just saying by the way on his uh on his his ex profile or whatever on his ex he posted a video of himself a few years ago playing on a dirt court and I just dir their court on the ground on on the dirt in Africa and he’s like look how far I’ve come I was like it’s pretty good to go from playing on the dirt and it wasn’t like when he was eight no I mean look he’s a he’s a really interesting he’s a really interesting guy going forward but he also he can’t he’s not gonna be playing 35 minutes a game got to they’ve got to turn probably Ingram into a starting center it’s that’s no secret yeah it’s just gonna be very interesting to see what they look like because they’ve got they’ve clearly in both them and Atlanta after that dejonte Murray trade that Atlanta’s got like six centers on the team it seems like and the Pelicans have none so something roster wise has got to give in both places care see what that looks like all right well thank you for listening and watching The Hoop Collective thank you to Jackson our producer thank you to Tim and Tim and uh we will talk to you oh enjoy your fourth of July everybody and we’ll talk to you later this week thanks cupcake adios amigos

Brian Windhorst is joined by ESPN’s Tim Bontemps and Tim MacMahon to react to Dallas finally getting a big name free agent with Klay Thompson, if big acquisitions have made the Thunder the favorite in the Western Conference, an interesting day for the Boston Celtics, the Los Angeles Lakers avoiding a potential mistake, potential problems in Denver and more!

0:00 Introduction
4:29 Dallas adds Klay Thompson
21:29 OKC Thunder the favorites in the West now?
33:14 An Interesting Day For The Boston Celtics
46:21 NBA Trivia
49:48 Olympic Basketball
51:29 Lakers’ Interesting Narrative Shaping
59:19 Key Takeaways Around The League
1:07:03 Thanks For Watching!

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