Is A Bucks Front Court EXODUS Imminent? | Can Giannis SURVIVE Without Lopez and Portis?
it is safe to assume the Bucks front court is going to look much different next year but is that for reasons we have not discussed camille and I dig into that take a look at the whatifs surrounding the Eastern Conference champion Indiana Pacers and the rehab that continues for Damen Lillard next on today’s Locked on Bucks you are Locked on Bucks your daily Milwaukee Bucks podcast part of the Locked On podcast network your team every day welcome into Locked On Bucks i’m Justin Garcia joined as always by Camille Davis you can hear me during the season on the Bucks Radio Network you can find Camille year round as an analyst on the Locked On NBA show and the Technical File podcast as well we thank you for making this your first listen of the day each and every day today’s episode is brought to you by Monarch Money take control of your finances with Monarch Money use the code locked on NBA at monarchmoney.com for 50% off your first year well we were uh maybe a little cryptic in the open there Camille it is certainly safe to assume the front court’s going to look much different for the Bucks next season there’s been a lot of chatter surrounding Giannis and uh what happens there obviously that’s the big domino not only for the Bucks but for the league but uh Brook Lopez is a free agent bobby Portoris has a player option that he can opt out of and those are two very big and vital pieces jericho Sims for that matter is a free agent so I think it’s safe to assume at least one of those three names Jericho Sims Brook Lopez and Bobby Portoris will not be on this team next season maybe multiple pieces and as you start to look at the landscape it gets interesting in that you know some things have opened up for the Bucks by way of that Kyle Koosma trade and one of those things is the sign-in trade component and I I don’t want to get too far down the road with this one because there’s a lot that has to fall into place here for the Bucks but it is interesting when you look at two very big free agents this summer where the Minnesota Timberwolves I think are having those same conversations of hey we think we’re probably going to lose either Nas Reed or Julius Randall and if the Bucks are losing pieces let’s say Brook Lopez and Bobby Poris are both gone that leaves you a pretty big hole there in the front court next to Giannis and certainly for depth reasons that could the Bucks all of a sudden become involved with one of those Timberwolves guys and say “Look we got minutes we got an opening playing next to Giannis uh Nas Reed specifically I think Bucks fans would love him you hinted at you want to be a starter we can offer that to you and playing alongside Giannis and and we can pay you by way of the signing trade.” Yeah nas Reed as a player before he signed his last contract with Minnesota to stay where I was like man Nas Reed would be a really nice piece here and there are a lot of similarities to his game to Bobby Portoris’ in the sense of a floor stretching big um I just feel like Nasri can kind of get to it a few different ways but ultimately I think with the way that the NBA is heading with this current CBA um as we continue to wait to see what the landscape is going to be with new contracts that seeing more teams just execute these trades of like hey this didn’t work out for us but I think what you have might be a better fit because we’re close like for the Timberwolves to get to the Western Conference Finals two years in a row for a franchise that as we know historically yeah Pacers where it’s like historically that that hasn’t happened frequently and now you’ve done it backtoback years here i can think that you would feel like you’re kind of close to getting to where you need to but you need to make just a couple more changes some tinkers there and honestly for the Wolves I did not expect them to be back um in the Western Conference Finals this year after that Carlton Towns trade last off season so for them to get there figure out how to work with Julius Randall was big for them but I think it’s something that could be on the table and Nas Reed to your point about uh if he’s looking for a starting job that could be wide open for him here in Milwaukee because you mentioned the uh the current rotation here bobby Portis can opt out he can be your free agent this off seasonason we know Brook Lopez is a free agent this off seasonason we don’t really know what direction Brook’s looking to go into what’s important for Brooke this off seasonason for him to continue his NBA career you have Giannis who we know all the conversation around Giannis right now but we’re having this one assuming he stays in Milwaukee um and then outside of that you have Jericho Sims who’s a free agent and then you have a Tyler Smith who didn’t hit the floor pretty much at all last season so your front court is really thin there and Nas Reed could be a really good piece um if that’s of interest to him to play next to Giannis get that starting role because I do think for the Bucks and thinking about their front court having a big that can space the floor next to Giannis is a necessity doesn’t have to be every big with that skill set but I think you have to have at least one that can do that next to Giannis i think there’s pros to both those names that we mentioned and Julius Randall and Nas Reed viously Nazarita is younger and his shooting especially to your point pairs nicely with Giannis um I I suppose let’s just get this out of the way i don’t expect it to happen um not to get all clickbaity i don’t expect the Bucks to land Naz Reed or Julius Randle in a signing trade but I think given their cap situation given the fact that if we are to to assume that Giannis is not asking for a trade and is still part of the team we know you got to explore everything you can to continue to whether or not it’s a gap year but at least keep this team headed down that path and continuing to add young players that fit around your best player and one of the best players in the league is a way to do that but it is worth at least mentioning because it is a possibility now because of that trade that sent Chris Middleton out it brought in Kyle Kosma and it gave you those levers to pull and we should point this out too with sign and trade so if you are the team acquiring the player in the sign and trade you’re hardcapped at the first apron but everything else we’ve talked about the minations the Bucks can use and levers they can pull um you know using a bianual exception using the non-t taxpayer mid-level those hard cap you at the first apron as well so I think it’s safe to assume the Bucks are going to operate as a below the first apron team this season um if you send back salary in a sign and trade that hard caps that other team at the second apron which the Timberwolves are currently just over the first apron but that’s knowing those guys that we just mentioned there and they got 13 players so they need to add one more and those guys are in for a raise so Timberwolves are going to be probably in that range of close to the second apron um in terms of the fits again I think everybody would say “Well Nas Reed.” Mhm even the conversation of Naz Reed versus Bobby Poris an interesting one i think a lot of Bucks fans would side toward Nas Reed there given he’s what three years younger four years younger bobby Poris he’s really come on one of the better sixth men in the league the last two three seasons and now he’s reached the point where you kind of feel like you’ve graduated from that he talked about this at at his end of the season press conference as well he’s looking to get paid and and to be a starter in this league and I I do think there is a fit there alongside Giannis julius Randall is another one that I I wouldn’t scoff at i mean he’s he’s I believe the same age as Bobby Portis and in some ways he’s similar to Bobby Portoris where I think a lot of times you know what to expect yep from Julius Randall especially regular season consistency there’s certainly some questions on the defensive side and how that translates to the playoffs but I think one thing that he does provide that the Bucks are really in need of we talked about all through last season he’s a very good passer and he is a good secondary creator and that is something the Bucks are going to continue to have to find here as they move down this path the one I I I suppose in a vacuum if I had my choice I would choose Nas Reed um the one thing that complicates all of this and I think really shines a light on the importance of Bobby Portoris and how he fit with this group is Nas Reed isn’t a center right nas Reed is just a four and a lot of Bobby Portoris’ value to you which is why I think all things considered you’re better off just having Bobby either opt in or work something out where he opts out and you sign him for a three plus one or something along those lines is the consistency that we talked about you know what to expect from Bobby Portoris every game uh every game is another piece like the only games he missed last year were the suspension and when his grandmother passed away other than that Bobby Portoris has been an iron man for you but his versatility that he can play the five he can play the four he isn’t just pigeonholed into that one spot which is something that a lot of times I think goes unnoticed yeah and I I think for Bobby too I’ll give him a lot of credit because I had questions um just around like you know is Bobby Portoris the right fit for this Bucks team uh once they acquired Damen Lillard because when I thought about when they initially signed Bobby it was kind of like we need that scoring punch to kind of balance out all the defense that we have on our roster because Bobby Poris has never been known as a defensive big it’s the scoring um that he can give you their versatility in that sense uh but I feel like this season especially after the trade deadline and the few games that he played and then getting to the playoffs like he I’m not saying he’s like a rim protector or anything like that but I felt like the effort uh was a lot better from Bobby defensively and it just felt like this was the year I believe you had some stats last week or the week before about Yeah with Bobby the Bobby Giannis pairing this year and just how much better it has been um in comparison to years prior so like they have been building that chemistry and I feel like this past season was the best that we’ve seen Bobby and Giannis playing together like next to one another and maybe that’s in part because you know he wasn’t asked to be doing a lot of drop coverage as much he was able to kind of scramble uh switch a little bit more um and just using him in a better position and now my opinion of Bobby is even higher um than what it was before of like if the Bucks can find a way to keep Bobby Portoris who as we mentioned he’s 30 years old younger than Giannis uh but you know around the same age and they built this chemistry like in the front court thinking about all the other change that might be around them if Brooke Lopez does leave um I think it could also be helpful in accelerating like continue like just being able to have those two together and continue to build off of that could also be beneficial for the Bucks going forward yeah some additional thoughts on that trio moving forward here also we got another update of sorts on Damen Lillard and his continued rehab and we know the finals matchup so we’ll start to take a look at that and some interesting whatifs from the Indiana Pacers through the years coming up next on Locked on Bucks ever check your bank account and wonder where did all my money go between dining out online shopping and entertainment it’s easy to lose track that’s where Monarch Money comes in as your personal CFO giving you full visibility and control over your finances monarch Money isn’t just a budgeting app it’s a complete financial 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Bucks team so there’s that to keep in mind uh but you know as we’ve talked about before I think assuming Giannis is still in this team the thing is you have to find the right bigs that fit around him need floor spacers and guys that can knock down shots and and ideally guys that have some mobility and versatility to play alongside him and keep that defense i mean I think Nazri checks some of those boxes Julius Randall checks some but there is no real perfect fit that’s out there again the Bucks could do this that’s that’s why we led with hey let’s keep an eye on this because I’d be surprised if all those guys are back in Minnesota we we don’t expect all the guys to be back in Milwaukee so let’s just monitor this because Bucks are going to be probably around that first apron under the first apron if they’re using things like those exceptions and assigning trade caps that for you as well you can take in money which the Bucks now have that space to do so it’s not anything you can dismiss outright which we could have the last couple of years that’s the interesting thing to keep an eye on and frankly you know for some of those guys too same thing we’ve talked about with players like Bobby Portoris when you look at okay who are the teams that have cap space that don’t need those things like a sign and trade to go out and acquire them the Detroit Pistons are the only team with enough cap space that are set up in a quote unquote win now mode right now does Kade AllNBA change that a bit though because I know he is going to be in line to get a bit more money so maybe the Pistons actually don’t have as much uh money to play around with now that Cade has gotten this accolade and it has the contract boosters in it that we thought that they would i mean they’re going to have some space but just not as much yeah they’re still going to have some to your point it’s it’s not where it was uh before they were what was the figure about $25 million was what they were projected to have I believe and actually I don’t know if this includes the K trigger so they’re going to have enough to take on one of those contracts in this scenario but yeah of all the teams that have cap space I mean that’s it you know the the Rockets have $10 million that that’s for for either of those two guys you know Nas Reed’s looking for more than that julius Randle’s making more than that the um Timberwolves same story they can pay to keep those guys the the Wizards have just a sliver of cap space but they’re not a desired landing spot and then you got the Brooklyn Nets who have a ton of cap space but you know who are you going to be playing with and who else is on that roster so I I do expect there’s going to be a lot of trades this summer to your point of this doesn’t work didn’t work for us you try it out and we’ll take on this thing that didn’t work for you i think you’re going to see a lot of that across the league this summer yeah same here and and that makes it kind of interesting like I heard Shams mention that he thinks that this is going to be a really busy offseason with just a lot of different moves happening and I think that’s part of the why of just like there are a lot of teams that are looking at this of like we have a shot and I think that this new parody era uh that’s being ushered into the NBA also can accelerate how certain teams feel about their rosters of if it’s open why not us take a shot for it and even in the East like you’re hearing the reports of like the Pistons and they’re like “We got to do something this this offseason because we think we’re right there.” I think we’re going to see a lot of moves in part because you know again the CBA is causing it but also a lot of teams are thinking they’re in position where maybe we are only a couple of moves away from being able to really make some noise come playoff time and that makes for an interesting dynamic because that’s part of why we’ve talked about for Giannis like stay stay in the East like it makes some sense here like the East is pretty open and I can see a lot of teams attacking this offseason in a way of like if we can just figure this out I like our opportunity to go forward yeah and I mean we we see a lot of chats too about hey we need a wing more so than a big uh well on the surface yes but if you know with all the flux you have in your front court this off seasonason you may well need a big more than a wing and you know same same team applies thereof uh okay can we interest you in a signage raid for Niki Alexander Alexander Walker things along those lines it’s just to point out there are other avenues the Bucks have to explore and I know we we led with this discussion and and I think I I said I think we both said I don’t expect this to happen the big reason is what are you giving back in a signing trade you know like usually it’s we’ll take on this player you’re signing him you’re sending him to us and we’ll give you a couple of second round picks or something along those lines depending on the value of the player maybe it’s a late first round or something like that bucks don’t really have that to give so outside of uh we got a young player that maybe you’re interested in that’s about it that the Bucks can offer so that’s the biggest reason of why I don’t think that would happen but again it’s a path the Bucks do have available to them here this off season um speaking of offseason we talked about this a couple of uh shows ago that we’ve continued to see these updates from Damen Lillard and continuing to get out there he was in the I don’t even know what you call it but um if you’re rich enough to afford it to work on your rehab we we’ve seen him on the treadmill working out now so look we both said I am not going to doubt Damen Lillard and his ability to recover from this it’s a long road and that’s I think the thing that we should point out the Bucks aren’t going to get any type of of exception or relief for that because he has to be ruled out through June i don’t think that’s going to be the case i mean we’re already seeing him do some physical activity here um can you expect him back for the playoffs probably but the the larger discussion is what version of him is going to be available for the playoffs you you’ve seen a lot of well it’s basically a year and people point out the KD injury well that was 18 months what gets lost in the shuffle there was that was also the following season was extended and bumped out because of the pandemic but still I don’t think we can realistically expect Damen Lillard to look like the guy that he was leading up to that injury in April of next season yeah the the dame pieces is tough one I love seeing him attacking his rehab i knew he would with the mentality that he tends to have of you know I’m listen this isn’t the hand I wanted to be dealt but I got it so I’m about to play it and I’m make the best out of it that I can um and I don’t doubt Dame’s you know mentality of attacking rehab what he’ll be able to do once he comes back in the sense of he’s going to still try to beat Damen Lillard but what we’ve seen from other players who’ve had Achilles injuries is that the game’s a little bit different for him coming back um so thinking about how a smaller guard is going to continue to uh play post injury the thing that I’ve been saying is with Dame’s injury I do think if the Bucks do retain Giannis and they move into this more Giannis ccentric offense that that’s actually a pretty good situation for Dame to walk back into because the ask of Dame wouldn’t be okay now that you’re healthy come back in here and and continue to run the offense how you did before the injury but more so of like hey we’re running this offense through Giannis right Now it’s going to give you a time to kind of reaclimate to playing NBA ball here as an offball player um and we’ll be able to still find you your spots there but you can kind of ease yourself back into the game and if Dame is a player that is going to come back late in the year we’ve talked maybe post Allstar at best or somewhere in there who knows what the timeline’s actually going to be but when thinking about the roster I do think it’s kind of interesting to think of the Danny Lillard piece of it like if you’re not expecting him before the trade deadline which I’m not again we don’t know he could surprise but Damen Lillard is kind of is going to kind of be like a trade deadline player where it’s like we’re adding him on to the roster later on into the year so yeah it’s interesting to think about what this team needs to do to get to that point um and how the identity might change until Dame comes back and then how can Dame fit back into that once he’s healthy uh there’s there’s been a lot of chatter around one name specifically that we’ve seen come up in the chat here and I’ve heard a few people mention I mean dating back to the trade deadline this past season and it’s an interesting player it’s certainly an interesting fit i think it makes sense alongside Giannis but here’s the the challenge the Bucks are going to have is I don’t see what they have to offer the other team so the Cam Johnson discussion and thoughts on the Indiana Pacers and how they got here how things could have went much differently coming up after this on Lockdown Bucks so Cam Johnson has been um a much discussed name among Bucks fans camille I do think at this point he’s starting to get a little bit overrated i think he is a perfectly fine third or fourth option on a really good team a solid role player type but the Bucks are kind of transitioning out of that where you need the role players around the players that you have they need to accumulate more of those types but let’s just look at this since everybody’s bringing up we’ll we’ll trade Kyle Kosman attach a first round pick bring in Cam Johnson here’s the problem with that cam Johnson and Kyle Kosma are on the same contract it’s in the inverse right i believe it’s basically the same dollar figure for two years but Cam Johnson’s deal goes up in the second year kyle Kosma’s deal goes down in the second year so you’re not offering the Brooklyn Nets any cap relief moving forward if they’re both coming off the books the same year you can throw in your first round pick in 2031 sure i don’t think that first round pick in 2031 should be untouchable as we’ve talked about many times it is the most valuable asset that’s out there among any team right now i don’t think Cam Johnson’s the player I’m trading that for i’m not opposed to moving that pick but I’m not moving it for a guy that in an ideal world is your third or fourth best player on the team so in your opinion that that 2031 draft pick should be used to kind of bring in a star similar to like when they went out for Drew Holiday when they went out for Dame not necessarily like the Yes not like a superstar because I I think what we’ve seen is that’s not the way you win anymore but a young star level player okay and you don’t see that for Cam at this point in his career or like maybe he’s someone who can continue to grow into that i mean he is what like 26 20 no 28 29 years old yeah 28 29 so he is a little bit older too in the Yeah he is going to be what he is so I get the the Cam Johnson fit for sure and it was somebody who I was even thinking about early on like would I trade that pick like maybe I would but now seeing how the playoffs have gone and what it seems like the direction going forward will be to for success not saying there’s only one way forward because we know there’s multiple avenues to get somewhere but it does seem as if the pathway forward is no longer the the super teams like I think it was Miles Turner who was asked about that after the Pacers won the Eastern Conference Finals of like that that’s done like we’re just a group of guys who like to play together um and we all fit together and I think that’s the way forward like no more you know three superstars on a team maybe two and he’s like I mean we had two guys who are considered all-star like stars but maybe not superstars so I that 2031 pick like it’s not untouchable to me either um but if we were going that route I’d rather it be for a younger player that could have some star potential going forward yeah I I mean we’re seeing suggestions in the chat too of using that 2031 to bring back players like John Collins and and Collins Ston ruy Hachimura just came in and no you don’t look the reality is Giannis is either not on the team in 2030 or at that point that’s 5 years from now we’re talking about a 35year-old Giannis that’s starting to transition into that phase of his career the reality is that is going to be a really good pick potentially depending on the lottery but it’s it’s going to be a lottery pick in all likelihood that you’re giving up in 2031 and to me it’s not that type of player that you give it up for and I I don’t know and and frankly that’s what’s going to make it even tougher is I don’t know how reactionary this off season is going to be where teams are saying “Well well no we’re not giving up for that like we have this guy we’re going to keep him and see if we can make it work it could be that as well and I think so let me ask you this cuz just looking at the comments coming in here uh one of the things for that 2031 draft pick that’s being proposed is one that we kind of threw out a little bit earlier in the offseason around would you attach it to Dame salary to get off of that contract uh to bring back i’m already seeing you shake your head like nah not doing it still not in the like this is not a pick for dumping salary this is a pick for trying to improve the roster no and and I mean I think in that case you just I mean I hate to phrase it this way but you just kind of take your medicine right like Dame is under contract this season and then he has the player option for 2627 i I think it’s safe to assume he’s going to pick up that player option but then it’s an expiring contract i’m not attaching a 2031 as valuable as that projects to be just to get off of that salary especially if the reality is look even if we we have Giannis saying he doesn’t want a trade you know you’re looking at years where I guess we could say down years and gap years but as as we discussed before well if we’re saying a gap year as some people have deemed it is well Bucks finish like six in the East and lose in the first round or or maybe in the playin tournament and don’t get in that’s not too far off from where you’ve been the last two years basically so I I don’t attach a 2031 just to get off of that salary um especially because you know the bigger conversation that I I don’t think any of us really want to have is if it doesn’t if Giannis says “I’m not asking for a trade i want to stay here.” You’re going to have the same conversation next summer and then he becomes the guy that the year after that has a player option and the possibility to become a free agent in going into next summer where this this just isn’t going away where the reality is it could be when that dame contract ends it all ends and then you’re starting a rebuild so giving up things that are in front of you just doesn’t make sense to me on that front no that makes sense to me which is why I wanted to ask the question because that’s the the idea of it is like hey we’re going to attach this to get off and kind of I don’t want to say accelerate the the rebuild like you’ve mentioned it’s been called a gap year i’ve been saying it like a retool year uh of the sense of like we’re getting ready to change how we play offensively so this is a year to kind of retool the team to find the guys that fit this new play style that we’re going to go forward with um and yeah I I I do think that there could be some benefit to actually holding on to Dane this season you re-evaluate next off seasonason if you want to once you see how the rehab has gone so on and so forth in that contract is expiring but right now I think there could be some benefit to of Dame rejoining this team post trade deadline post all-star break whatever that timeline looks like um to add a little something else to this rotation especially if they’re able to keep some of the young players who we’ve mentioned as what I think is like step one in the the retool around a more Giannis ccentric offense yeah and look you have other things that are on the table too i mean it’s it’s really just one of these players but you could stretch someone and spread that out over three years to shave off another what basically $6 million in uh in cap room for this summer and allow you to do even more things like offer more money to Bobby or guys like that and um you know already assuming they’re going to break up that non- taxpayer mid level to hopefully retain a pair of guys maybe use the bianual as well um I just I think unfortunately for the Bucks a lot of the names that most fans are going to bring up to like trade this guy and attach a first round pick if you had something else if you had you know even if you had five second rounders and said “Okay we’ll trade this guy and we’ll give you all the second round picks that we have to get off of this.” I’ll listen to that but for how valuable that 2031 figures to be I don’t think you use it to dump salary and I don’t think you use it to bring back um a super role player type like a guy that this this guy makes us better but what does he really do for our ceiling yeah i I think the hope in that situation would be like a Mikuel Bridges thing where it’s like we’re giving up all these assets to bring in this guy like we know the pecking order of him is not going to be high on this team but we think that is what we need to be able to win and the Knicks put together a team that could beat the Celtics and they did uh just ran into some troubles trying to beat a team like Indiana that has a defin Yeah it’s the same as the Timber Wolves from last year like that’s that’s just the way that it goes so like if you’re building your team to be able to compete with one team like again the matchups are so important for him going forward so um real quick too before we wrap up here um if we are going to continue to talk with the Pacers I see Skeleton 21 had a comment saying it’s MVP season for Giannis 90% and I think that again should be part of the the pitch to Giannis about the staying in Milwaukee it’s a retool year we’re going to be doing this but you’re going to have the ball in your hands a lot you’ve already put up gody numbers you’ve been the top three MVP finalist for the last two years three years consistently so you might be able to put up some numbers that can even boost that case a bit more for you while we’re trying to figure out this next era of Bucks basketball yeah I mean that’s the model that’s what you sell him on and and this is how we’re going to play and we saw it yield the results down the stretch of the season now it’s just finding the right players that fit around him and you know again the big test case to me is this finals because Tyrese Hallebertton winning the most overrated player with the caveat of how few players actually voted on it was outright ridiculous but this is the test case of there’s no superstar on this team there’s a lot of really good players that fit around each other and if they win is this the model that teams are pushing forward um I think if you injected Commissioner Silver with some truth serum he would want the Indiana Pacers to win the finals because that that is the you know the balloon that he can float out there of look they did it you can do it too this is the new model for the league where every team has a chance now and you know that’s the interesting part is all the whatifs surrounding this team just to keep it brief Camille but we talked about before Rick Carile thought he was getting the Bucks job in 2021 was that the reason he resigned from Dallas no but the writing was on the wall they were headed towards a split he did not have a great relationship with Luca Donuch and I think Rick knew I’m probably fired next season so he resigned i believe I had to go back and look at this but I believe he announced his resignation the day after the Bucks lost game two to the Nets by 49 points and I know it was during that Net series there’s certainly chatter rick is keeping his eye on the Bucks and thinks he’s getting that Bucks job in coaching Giannis you won a championship so you could say well what if what if we had Rick Carlau who’s certainly a great coach and one of the more underrated coaches in the history of this league I think unless he gets this championship here with the Pacers then he’s going to start to get that due um but you got a championship in that year so it’s hard to push back against that but that’s one of the bigger whatifs with the Pacers what if they don’t get Rick Carile um what if they didn’t do things like okay we’ll pay Bruce Brown an an insane amount of money for one year because that’s a walking trade exception that we can then use to get Pascal Seakum the Paul George trade and what that yielded them and the Oklahoma City Thunder but one of the other ones that gets lost in the shuffle Camille is maybe the bigger what if and that is you know Miles Turner starting to get his flowers all through this postseason he’s been a guy he talked about this a couple of games ago that has constantly been featured in trade rumors and talked about what that did for his mental health but remember three years ago when the Pacers signed DeAndre Eaton to a monster offer sheet and the Suns match what happens if the Suns don’t match and then they move Miles Turner and this team doesn’t look anything like this shoot even when they made the trade for Hallebertton getting rid of Sabonis and it was one of those questions of like what who is it benefiting what is what is happening here you you’re certainly on the smart side if you’re one of those few who immediately this a win for the Pacers but at the time the discussion was what what’s going on here this is a weird trade and who won this yeah and I think my initial reaction I’ll have to go back and check the tape but I’m pretty sure I was kind of like man I don’t know why the Kings are going to give up on Hallebertton right now like I know they have Fox and all of that but he seems like a really good young player this could be a win-win situation for them both eventually but I think that they gave up on Hallebertton too quick way too quick i know my my reaction at the time was I think this helps both players i I think Hallebertton is probably slightly better than Sabonis and uh slightly better is an understatement yeah at this point Hallebertton has shown um he’s in the finals now this is going to be like you mentioned a really interesting finals and as it continues to go on I think just the lessons that we’ve learned through this playoffs of again multiple ways to get to a championship but it seems that the new pathway forward um is a lot more like the teams that we’re actually seeing compete for this championship this year we could do shows on whatifs alone yeah this all like what if the Knicks don’t go all in for Male Bridges and Carl Anthony Towns then is it putting even more pressure on I don’t know what happens with Giannis if they have all these things to offer as people pointed out the Nets have a ton to offer up they have um what number eight 19 26 and 27 in the first round this this uh this draft here so yeah there’s a lot of whatifs that are going to be out there um we are going to have Frank on the show i know we’ve teased that quite a bit the past couple of days we’ve had a few scheduling issues he’s back in Austin now and settled in after the floods that they’re experiencing but I believe we’re going to tape with him tonight either way sometime early this week we’ll have Frank and and get his thoughts on the off season and um a few others that we’ve started to have some discussions with that’ll be joining us on the show in the next couple of days and couple of weeks as well so so be sure to stay tuned for that that’ll do it for today’s show for Camille i’m Justin thanks to everybody for tuning in we’ll talk to you once again tomorrow on Locked on Box
Bucks’ Frontcourt Shakeup? Trade Rumors Swirl as Milwaukee Eyes Championship Run Will the Milwaukee Bucks revamp their …
