NBA Free Agency Reaction: Damian Lillard waived by Bucks, Cam Johnson to Nuggets, Lakers weirdness

NBA Free Agency Reaction: Damian Lillard waived by Bucks, Cam Johnson to Nuggets, Lakers weirdness

All right, welcome to Hoops tonight here at the volume. Happy Tuesday everybody. Hope all of you guys are having a great week so far. Well, free agency, we decided to wait until this morning and that turned out to be a good idea. We had a whole flurry of deals. I want to emphasize we recording this at 9:43 a.m. Pacific time. So, there is still possibly some deals that could squeak by during the time that we’re recording this. But, I have I’m going to follow a very similar pattern to what we followed yesterday. I’m going to hit some top stories off the top. I want to talk about the Denver Nuggets and them going allin and what they pulled off yesterday. I want to talk about the Milwaukee Bucks who kind of broke the basketball world this morning bringing back uh an old classic the wave and stretch provision that you guys might reme remember from almost 10 years ago when the league gave an out for teams when they got into contracts that they didn’t want to deal with. And so we’ll talk a little bit about what the Bucks pulled off. Uh wave and stretching Dame bringing in Miles Turner, couple of other moves on the periphery that are fascinating. The third segment I want to hit today, I want to talk about the report that came out from Dave McMenan yesterday as the Lakers let Dorian Finny Smith walk, found a discounted replacement, and did a whole lot of nothing else, letting Brook Lopez sign elsewhere, letting Clink Capella sign elsewhere for a team that desperately needs a center. Obviously, DeAndre is still on the table for them, but a clear indicator from Dave McMenan that the Lakers are looking for cap space in 2027 as their current primary strategy. Something that doesn’t really make a lot of sense to me. So, I want to dive into that a little bit. And then, just like we did yesterday, there’s like 10 15 smaller deals that I just want to kind of go rapid fire through, give you guys kind of my initial impressions as we bounce all around the league today. You guys know the joke. Before we get started, subscribe to the Hoops Tonight YouTube channel so you don’t miss any more of our videos. Follow me on Twitter at_jasonlt so you guys don’t miss show announcements. Don’t forget about our podcast feed where you get your podcast under Hoops Tonight. It’s also super helpful if you leave a rating and a review on that front. Jackson’s doing great work on our social media feeds, Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, Tik Tok. Make sure you guys follow us there. And last but not least, keep dropping mailbag questions in the YouTube comments so we can get to a mailbag in our uh uh later week episodes throughout the remainder of the summer. All right, let’s talk some basketball. So, Denver Nuggets big day yesterday. They trade Michael Porter Jr. in an unprotected 2032 first round pick for Cam Johnson. They also signed Bruce Brown to one-year deal and traded Daario Sarich for Jonas Valenunis as they pretty substantially anchor their bench and solve that fit starter problem. Let’s start with Cam Johnson. So obviously an unprotected 2032 first- round pick, but that’s way out in the future when Jokic will in all likelihood be retired and you’re spending it on. I’ve always talked about this when it comes to first round draft compensation in the trade market. I’m generally good with it as long as it brings back a guy that you can close games with, a guy that you feel comfortable in a key spot in a playoff series being on the floor with your best lineups, that I think makes sense to spend first round draft compensation. when it comes to bench guys like, “Oh, this guy’s going to come up the bench for us and have a smaller role.” That’s where it gets tricky when it comes to including first round draft compensation, especially when it comes to unprotected first round draft compensation. Now, one of the things I talked about in the after the conference semi-finals, if you guys remember, was that I still very much believe in the core four of the Denver Nuggets, Jamal Murray, Christian Brown, Aaron Gordon, and Nicole Joic. They’re about as perfect fitting a four-man group as you’ll find in the league. They’re big and strong at every position. They have two very good athletes in Christian Brown and Aaron Gordon. They all complement each other perfectly on offense, even more so as Christian Brown and Aaron Gordon have both become better jump shooters over the last couple of years. The problem is is that they had nothing but very flawed options at that fifth spot, that fifth guy. We saw stretches in the postseason where they’ve got Russell Westbrook out there trying to fill that spot. Michael Porter Jr. had issues all over the floor in the postseason, including an inability to knock down open catch and shoot jumpers, which in theory would be the thing that he should have been able to handle there. And you guys are you Nuggets fans are probably still scarred by some of the open looks that he missed in pivotal spots in that Oklahoma City Thunder series. And the second problem was that the Nuggets legitimately fell off of a cliff when they went to their bench. I was having dinner on Sunday night with Adam Mars um before the trade and we were just kind of talking making small talk. I’m up here in Denver like I told you guys yesterday we’re getting ready to move up here and we were just talking about last season and you know one of the things I said to Adam was in that game seven the fronting of the post from uh from Alex Caruso kind of stole the attention coming out of that game seven. And I don’t want to sit here and pretend like that wasn’t the uh one of the big kind of defensive adjustments that kind of rocked that game, but the Nuggets got off to a great start in game seven. And what happened was is they went to their bench. And when they went to their bench, everything just absolutely cratered. And so honestly, like it comes down to it when it get when you get to the NBA playoffs. Ideally, you want to have for sure a fiveman grouping that you trust, but you really need seven, seven and a half guys that you can depend on to play key stretches in key playoff moments in various points of the game. And that bench weakness ended up being part of what burned them. If you remember, it was when the bench came in, they get absolutely rocked. All of a sudden, by the time uh the starters get back into the game, they’ve lost control. Aaron Gordon’s hamstring starts to become a bigger problem over the course of the game. I definitely thought their bench played a role in where things went south for them last year. And so, these two moves directly address, these three moves, I should say, directly address those two biggest issues. Who’s that fifth guy that they’re going to be starting and closing games with? and do they have the ability to go to their bench without completely cratering like they did in game seven. Let’s talk about Cam Johnson first. He’s one of the best shooters in the NBA. Out of the 58 players last year to take at least 500 jump shots. He ranked 13th in efficiency at 1.10 points per shot despite being on pretty high degree of difficulty jump shots. A lot of off the dribble jump shots, a lot of off the move jump shots. Some specifics. He was 44% field goal percentage when unguarded off of the catch. That’s 1.31 points per shot when you waited for threes. And he was right at about a point per possession off the dribble. 37.4% on off the dribble threes specifically as well. He was very good on the move. He was one of the very best movement shooters in the NBA last year out of 31 players to take at least 75 shots coming off of offball screens. Cam’s 1.15 points per possession ranked third in the entire NBA. One of the very best offscreen players in the NBA. Steph Curry, by the way, still holding still holding down the top spot there. Um Cam specifically shot 39% on threes coming off of offball action. He has substantially more off the dribble pop than Michael Porter Jr. as well. He ran a ton of action last year in Brooklyn. He ran 264 pick and rolls right at about a point per possession including passes. He was a really good ISO player. He ran 68 ISOs that led to 76 points. That’s 1.12 points per possession. Really just had a he kind of added over the course of the last couple years some of those basic ISO off the dribble moves like sideep threes, step back threes, things along those lines to get little bits of separation for him to beat guys in one-on-one situations. The offensive fit in Denver is an absolute dream. He’s just a way better and way more versatile offensive player than Michael Porter Jr. ever was. He brings a downhill rim pressure coming off of action that Michael Porter Jr. never did. He’s better at shooting off the dribble than Michael Porter Jr. When it comes to like straight up stand still shooting, Michael Porter Jr. is obviously one of the best guys that we’ve had in the league over the course of the last few years, but even then that failed him in big spots in this postseason run. I can’t look at it as anything other than a massive upgrade. And then on defense, it’s a bit more complicated, but I still view it as an upgrade. Michael Porter Jr. is a better rebounder than Cam, and he offers a bit more length at the rim in terms of like help defense situations, recovery stuff at the basket, but Cam is substantially better than him at every other element of defense. Cam has become a legitimately useful perimeter defender in the NBA. He has good foot speed and length. He competes on that end of the floor. I actually think he can guard the second best perimeter player on the other team and that’s what he’ll be doing off of Christian Brown. There have been many examples over the course of the last few years if you guys remember where Denver had to deploy Aaron Gordon on a wing for various reasons because Michael Porter Jr. can’t do that. And the side effect of that is it it removes Aaron Gordon from the rim as that helper defensive rebounder type of player which he can be so impactful there. Right. So, like I think they can actually just use Cam Johnson as their secondary perimeter defender instead of using Aaron Gordon like they have in years past, which I think gives them a stronger backline defensively in a lot of different situations. I I think Cam’s just a better athlete in terms of just up and down the floor athleticism in transition as well. That’s big for a Denver Nuggets team that could have used some perimeter athleticism. I just think Cam Johnson is an awesome basketball player. I think he’s a better basketball player than Michael Porter Jr. and I think he’s a perfect fit with the Denver Nuggets. This is a classic let’s go allin type of move and I now view the Nuggets as a legitimate top tier contender in a way that I did not before the trade. I think especially if you zoom out and it’s like they were this close to giving Oklahoma City a real problem last year in terms of them having a eight-point lead in the fourth quarter of game four, a game that could have put them up 3-1. a nine-point lead in the fourth quarter of game five, a game that could have put them up three to two. I I just I like it as an all-in move to try to increase their margin for error in those matchups. Bruce Brown, he took a payday after winning the chip and he goes to Indiana, but he struggles to find roles in Indiana and in Toronto. So, why not go back to the role that got you paid in the first place as that kind of like de facto sixth starter for the Denver Nuggets? He’s always had great chemistry with Nicole Joic as an inverted screener and as a cutter. brings perimeter athleticism for a team that needs it. They just ended up trading Dario Sarzich for Yonas Valenunis. So, they have I I preferred Al Horford for this spot, but I think Yonas is a certainly a better option at backup center than whatever Denver has had access to in years past. But like regardless of what happens the rest of the summer, the Nuggets did it. They identified the urgency surrounding the prime of the greatest player in the game today and they pushed their chips in the middle. And now I believe they have a great chance to win the title. They specifically match up really well with Oklahoma City. And this is the thing that I’m focused on and what all Denver fans should be excited about. Their interior size is a problem for Oklahoma City. Nicole Joic is a problem for Oklahoma City. Their overall basketball IQ on defense in terms of like forcing them to make decisions and make jump shots is something that manifests well in the matchup against Oklahoma City. These two addition, these three additions I should say, could be what pushes them over the hump to be able to win in that matchup. Do you know how you remember how we talked about how Isaiah Hartinstein and Alex Caruso, those two additions basically put Oklahoma City over the top? These could be similar additions for Denver that put them over the top. They they addressed this summer as an arms race. And with an Oklahoma City team that’s likely going to be standing pat, they’re betting on internal improvement. And guess what? Internal improvement will certainly be on the table for them this year, but Denver went and got better. Denver went and brought in talent and now they’re giving themselves as good a chance as they possibly can to compete with Oklahoma City at the top of the conference. I am not obviously going to make a decision right now. That’ll be something we do closer to the season and I can change my mind a half dozen times during the season. But I feel like Denver has a real shot, like a really, really good shot to win the Western Conference now because of the way they match up a match up to match up through the conference. Nothing says summer like long days, clutch plays, and firing off a few bets on the game. All with DraftKings Sportsbook. As the season heats up, so do the bats. And DraftKings Sportsbook has you covered with live betting, home run props, odds boosts, and more. Whether you’re chasing dingers or jumping in Midame, there’s always action to be had. Never bet on baseball before. It’s easy. Just pick a guy to go yard. Hammer some live odds midame or just ride with your squad and hope for the best. No spreadsheets, just vibes and dingers. It’s been a fun major league season. Aaron Judge hitting all sorts of home runs. We got Showi Otani pitching again. My Dbacks are still kind of like struggling there in the NLS. It is it is what it is. But here’s something special for first- timers. New DraftKings customers. Bet $5 and get $150 in bonus bets instantly. Download the DraftKings Sportsbook app and use code hoops. That’s code hoops. H O Ps for new customers to get $150 in bonus bets instantly when you bet just five bucks. Only on DraftKings, the crown is yours. So, the Milwaukee Bucks actually managed to pull off an emergency pivot to give Giannis one last shot. I was kind of over the course of the summer when I heard the reporting that Giannis was not going to consider requesting a trade. As I was looking at the situation, it was impossible to even conceptualize a way for them to bring in the talent that they needed to actually compete in the Eastern Conference. And we’re going to talk about whether or not this is enough talent because I still have my question marks, but even under those circumstances, this is better than I could have expected them to do. Now, they’ll pay a price. They broke out. The way they did this, they dug way deep into the CBA to find a provision that hasn’t been used in many years in the NBA. They waved and stretched Damen Lillard. What that means is his $113 million remaining on the on his contract, instead of paying it this season and next season, they’re going to spread that out over five seasons and wave Damen Lillard. This then creates the cap space that they needed to poach Miles Turner from the Indiana Pacers at four years in $107 million. So like the thing that we didn’t consider, the thing that I didn’t consider, the thing that again we haven’t even seen because there’s a price to pay there five years from now. That’s a long time. You can imagine when you look at I mean I see Lakers fans complaining looking at the payroll because Jared Vanderbilt is on the books for 11 million or whatever and he’s playing for them actually in the rotation. Imagine paying you know 20 something million for Damen Lillard four years from now five years from now and how that can handicap you. So they paid a price in order to do this but for what it’s worth under the circumstances you have Giannis. Giannis has committed to stay with you instead of requesting a trade. you had to do something. This ended up opening up the cap space for them to make that sort of move. Now, before we get into some of the specifics, they also retained Gary Trent Jr., Torian Prince, Kevin Porter Jr., Bobby Portoris, and Jericho Sims all on team friendly deals. So, that’s good. They got some discounts on on some specific guys. I think Gary Trent at that number is a really good deal considering how he shot the ball at stretches in the postseason. Bobby Portoris, I think you could talk yourself into being worth a little bit more on the open market. You got some team friendly deals and you do use the wave and stretch position. All of a sudden, you have the ability to bring in some more talent. So, we’ll talk about uh uh Miles Turner here in a second, but they also get Gary Harris on a two-year deal. He’s a minor upgrade in perimeter athleticism. I wouldn’t call him a needle mover anymore at this point in his career, but he’s a good player at that position. They’ve been really weak on the ball handling front. So they end up making another move today. They trade Pat Conetonin for Vasilla J Meic. Meich is theoretically a guy who brings in some ball handling. I haven’t seen that come to fruition in any real way in the NBA yet, but he’ll have another opportunity to do so here in uh in Milwaukee. My feelings are complicated. First of all, the number for Miles Turner, I’m not super worried about it. 27 million per year is basically the running rate for the middle tier of starting centers in the NBA. Look at what Isaiah Hartinstein got. Look at what Nick Claxton got. Hell, you got Turner for less than what the Wolves resigned Rudy Gobear for. And I just think Miles Turner is a better player than Rudy Gobear. So, he’s definitely an upgrade over Brook Lopez, but he did struggle with foot speed at various points in the playoffs. You guys remember he struggled a little bit coming up to the level against Oklahoma City. Now, I will say he did better up at the level when there was less ball pressure than he did when he had to go cover up at the level against a ball screen 40, 50, sometimes 60 feet away from the basket. So, there are some scheme things that Milwaukee can do to make life easier for Miles, but Miles is not exactly what I would consider a quickfooted center. And so, there will be some of the similar transition issues, but you also have to look at what’s available. Miles Turner was the best available center in the free agent market at this point. So at this point, you didn’t have an option to be able to just go like freely sign a rim running the floor athletic big like a Nick Claxton. He’s not a free agent right now, right? So you only have access to what’s available on the market. And Miles is flawed. He has his issues, but he’s definitely an upgrade. It’s a fair price for what his position typically demands at his skill level. It’s it’s far from perfect, but it’s what you can do in this situation. Then you look at how open the Eastern Conference is. You can talk yourself into in this East where you have a flawed Knicks team at the top and you have a flawed Cavs team at the top and the Pacers are down and the Celtics are down. you you basically look at it as an open conference with a chance for you to make a deeper run. But ultimately, even though they found a way to add some talent, I just don’t think this team is good enough yet to get the job done. I still think they have a severe ball handling deficiency. You’re going to have a lot of Kevin Porter Jr. on the ball. I like Kevin Porter Jr. H in the fit with Giannis Antenno. He had moments there last year where his change of pace and his size and his ability to put uh defenders in jail on his backside unlocked some things for Giannis on the role and in general that were just different than what we saw with Dame because Damon can be kind of one speed and super fast as and less of that change of pace. There was some stuff with Kevin Porter Jr. that worked with Giannis. Kevin Porter Jr. is going to be one of the worst lead guards in the conference. Like that’s that that’s just a fact, right? you go to Vasil Jamichi there theoretically, you know, a a slow pull-up shooting, passing um a perimeter ball handler, that’s just not going to be much to compete in an Eastern Conference that has some high level ball handling towards the top. So, like I admire the effort. Hell, he went deep into the rulebook to add some talent to this team. But I think this story probably ends with a mediocre Bucks team and Giannis eventually requesting a trade. I again, this is going to be fascinating. I’m looking forward to watching them, seeing what they’ve got. But are they as good as the Cavs? I don’t think so. Are they as good as the Knicks? I don’t think so. What about Orlando now having brought in Desmond Bane in another year of internal improvement and maybe a healthy Jaylen Suggs. We’re about to talk about some Atlanta Hawks when we get into our rapidfire segment. The Atlanta Hawks have brought in some more firepower. They are now a dangerous team in the Eastern Conference. I just don’t see it as being enough. But I will applaud the Bucks for bringing in more talent than I actually thought they were going to be capable of bringing in in this offseason under the circumstances. All right, quick Lakers topic and then we will move on to our rapid fire segment. So, the Lakers appear to be playing it safe. There’s a huge debate yesterday surrounding what the Lakers are trying to accomplish. They let Dorian Finny Smith walk to the Rockets. Now, there’s been some conversation surrounding the draft compensation. You send out some second round picks in the Dorian Finny Smith deal, right? And so now you’re like, “Well, why did you send out draft compensation for a player that you then let walk? That’s just poor asset management.” Now, I want to be clear, I would have retained Dorian Finny Smith. The only case for not retaining Dorian Finny Smith is if you went out and got one of these dudes on the mid-level exception. So, like if they had let Dorian Finny Smith walk and they got the Nquille Alexander Walker four-year $60 million dealer or three year or whatever the mid-level exception available uh to the Lakers was, boom, I’m on board. You just basically did a roster balancing move. We we’re we don’t have much in the way of athletic guards who can defend on the perimeter. We’re turning Dorian Finny Smith into that type of guy. I could have seen that as a viable option. I would have retained Dorian Finny Smith. That said, when it comes to the second round draft compensation piece, it is complicated in the sense that they made that deal before the Luca Donuch trade. So, it it is at least defensible to say that your entire approach and your entire focus and plan and strategy can shift when the craziest NBA trade in the history of the sport happens and it just upends everything that you’ve been planning to do. But this idea from the report from Dave McMenan yesterday straight up saying that the Lakers let Dorian Finny Smith walk to keep their books clean in 2027 for free agency. This is where I get super confused. When’s the last time we even saw a star level talent in this league just change teams through free agency? It doesn’t happen. They reup with their current team and they request a trade if they want to get moved and it ends up being the Dorian Finny Smiths of the league that end up being the salary filler in those types of deals. Banking on a big free agent signing feels like a huge risk to me. And how in the hell is this a good idea when you don’t even have Luca Donuch locked up long term? He’s going to be 27 years old at the start of next season. Meaning, he’s just entering into the age where it’s like the knees start to hurt a lot more than they did when you were younger. He’s going to just now start experiencing some of the urgency that surrounds his aging process. He’s going to be more motivated than ever. He just got embarrassed on the league stage as his team, the team that drafted him, traded him away, and their upper management just nuked him on the way out the door, basically calling him a fat ass. He’s going to be more motivated than ever. He’s one of this the most he’s he’s one of the most vicious competitors that we have in the game of basketball. I refuse to believe that this is all the Lakers are going to do. I don’t know how you could expect to convince Luca this is the right spot for him by punting. The summer of 2027 is two years from now, guys. You’re you’re going to punt two years of Luca Donuch’s prime for for a free agent signing that hasn’t happened. And there has not been a meaningful needlemoving free agent star signing in the NBA in years. It just doesn’t happen. That is a huge risk. So, I refuse to believe this is all the Lakers are going to do. I like I’m I’m not even going down the oh, Rob Pelinka is incompetent. He’s doing it again route. I I just refuse to believe it. They have to do something in terms of an aggressive trade to bolster their talent level before the start of next season. I I just can’t. Like, look, Jake Loravia signs two years 12 million. He’ll basically be the Dorian Finny Smith replacement. This is not a big shock any of you Lakers fans who’ve been following the team over the course of the last few months. He’s been hanging out working out with Austin all summer. Uh there was that video of Austin with Jake in the car and they were basically strongly hinting at the fact that Jake would be uh potentially a Laker. So not a big surprise there. Some agency politics probably taking place as well. There is some upside there. Lorravia has more off the dribble pop than Dorian Finny Smith. And you guys saw how in the Minnesota series DFS when he got chased off the line, it was a problem when Dorian Finny Smith put the ball on the floor and went into the lane. Larabia is a better closeout attacker than Dorian Finny Smith. He’s also like a younger, better athlete, so there’s some upside there. But I do still think that Dorian Finny Smith is the better player in the championship context. He has better length. He has a lot more experience guarding a lot of different types of players. He’s just a rock solid veteran rotation player. Now, I don’t think Dorian Finn Smith can be one of your top five players anymore. That’s why I’ve been advocating for Ruie Hatchim trades to try to bring in a starting three. But I do believe that Dorian can play 20 plus serious minutes of playoff basketball for you off the bench. Kind of like we were talking about with the Nuggets in that sixth and seven slot for serious championship teams. In other words, I like Jake Laravia and I’m excited to watch him with the Lakers. I think he has some upside, but I think the Lakers are a worse team today than they would have been if they just reuped with Dorian Finny Smith. So ultimately, as we zoom out, you make a Lavia deal, you let Dorian Finny Smith walk, you’re maintaining cap flexibility. I understand that your strategy has to shift post Luca. And I understand that you can’t be as in the moment as you were in LeBron and AD. with the LeBron and AD era, you didn’t see five years in the future. So, you had you had to be more aggressive in the short term. Yes, Luca Donuch, there’s a chance he’s with the Lakers to 34, 35 years old, maybe even later. So, I understand that you need to have a little bit more of a prudent approach to handling this every summer, but he’s going to be 27 next year. You cannot be punting seasons in his prime. you now have to kind of like tow the line of making just a little bit more savvy aggressive moves that don’t completely sell out your future. Like you don’t want to be giving away every pick and swap that you have. I understand you don’t want to be giving away every young player that you have. Like ideally like Dalton Connect to me is a guy that like made a lot of sense to trade when it was a LeBron and AD structure. Dalton connects now probably wouldn’t trade him unless it was for a starting caliber player because now Dalton kind of feels like a player that fits Luca’s timeline. I’m not debating that your strategy needs to change entering into the Luca era, but you cannot just sit there with the status quo and then be like, “Hey, Luca, we’ll reapproach this when you’re 29 and we’ll see how we feel at that point.” You don’t even have him locked up yet. So that I thought was strange. I refuse to believe it. I I they they I I will be shocked if they don’t make some sort of aggressive trade to bolster their talent level before the start of next season. All right, let’s start ripping through our rapid fire segment. Dorian Smith to the Rockets. Four years 53 million. We talked about this yesterday, so I’m not going to go into too much more detail, but I think it’s a really good move for them. They have so much left over in draft compensation that if they had to pivot off of Dorian Finny Smith like it, you know, in that third year of the contract or something like that, they could. It this Houston team is just so well positioned for the future that paying Dorian Finny Smith four years is not going to be what makes or breaks their success. So, I’m not particularly worried about that. It’s just an aggressive move to capitalize on the KD timeline, which I 100% support. He addresses two needs: shooting and experience. Again, I don’t I don’t like him when he’s in your core five, but if he can be that sixth player in your lineup, that seventh player in your lineup, which is what he’ll be for Houston, I think it makes a ton of sense. The Rockets also signed Clint Capella, so they now have three rotation centers on the roster. This is an extremely deep, extremely big basketball team. Not hard to see why they have the second best odds on DraftKings right now at plus 700 to win the title. Nquille Alexander Walker to the Hawks. four years 62 million as well as Luke Canard to the Hawks at one year and 11 million. If you were going to try to pivot around Trey Young to maximize him, what would you do? We talked about this with Sam Vassini when we did our pre-draft thing. There are these players in the NBA that excel at creating advantages. We talked about this with James Harden yesterday. We’re going to talk about it in a very discounted poor man sense when we get to D’Angelo Russell here in a minute. Trey Young is still one of the better advantage creators in the NBA. That is such a strong foundation because it puts all your role players in the situation where defenders are often sprinting at them instead of squared up on them. And so that when you have advantage creation as your foundation, it adds a great deal of value to what you surround that advantage creation in in terms of players that can dribble, pass, shoot, and defend. just classic role player responsibilities off the ball. This summer, the Hawks have been investing in that depth. You’ve already had three great options right in the middle of that lineup. Dyson Daniels at the two, Zachary Riset, and Jaylen Johnson in the front court. You’re adding Nquille Alexander Walker to that for depth. You’re adding Luke Canard to that for depth. In a wideopen East, they’re giving themselves a puncher chance. They watched what Indiana did. Indiana had their advantage creator. Oklahoma City had their advantage creators. They surrounded them with a bunch of depth and athleticism and guys that can dribble, shoot, pass, and defend. And it worked. And those teams got to the finals. Atlanta is looking at the room. They’re reading the room and they’re saying, “We have one of those guys. What if we just follow that same mold?” And like I like I think Atlanta should be eyeing a top four seed this year. I think that I think that should be their goal. I think it’s completely realistic that if they attack the season from the start and they have good health and all of these dudes get, you know, just really really uh uh invested in the attention to detail from day one, they there’s no reason in the world why the Hawks can’t why the Hawks can’t have a homecourt advantage in the first round. The Knicks bolster their bench. Jordan Clarkson is now a Nick. ran 416 pick and rolls and ISOs for the Jazz last year, including uh including passes. He generated 406 points on those 416 pick and rolls and ISO. So, just under a point per possession. He was 44% on unguarded catch and shoot jump shots. That’s really good. And 35% on pull-up threes, which is fine. So, I view him as just an upgrade to the campaign spot. A legitimate upgrade. The Knicks are a better team with him as their backup guard instead of campaign. Guess Yabiselli Yabiselli leveraged an awesome Olympics run with France to get himself a spot in the NBA last year. And he demonstrated for the 76ers that his skill does translate. He can shoot the ball. He’s a legit spacing big. He was 43% field goals on unguarded catch and shoot jump shots last year. He was 36% on pick and pop threes. So his percentages dip a tiny bit when he’s on the move, but he’s still very effective there. 36% is well over a point per possession. Now, his on ball stuff didn’t translate super well. He wasn’t super efficient in the post. Some of his uh driving closeout possessions weren’t great, but I do think the Knicks are more invested in that shooting piece than they are invested in some of the closeout attacking on ball stuff with what they have with Jordan Clarkson and Male Bridges and OG and Anobi and Carl Anthony Towns. So, I think it’s a good fit on that front. Now, his lack of foot speed was an issue playing defense in the NBA with the Sixers last year, but just like we talked about with Bobby Portoris yesterday, that’s not exactly uncommon with backup bigs. And if Yabiselli was a good defensive anchor in addition to being like a legit stretch big, he’d be getting somewhere closer to what Miles Turner got. So like at this point as a backup big, I think he’s a just as good an option as you’ll find for mo most of these other offensively minded centers that like Thomas Bryant or you know uh uh Bobby Portoris. These these guys that can shoot and do a lot on offense but are obviously going to come with defensive shortcomings. It puts you in a situation where usually you would prefer to have also a backup defensive big for specific types of matchups. But I like Yabuelli as a rotation option for the Knicks. The Knicks needed depth to cut their starters minutes so that they could emphasize attention to detail from possession to possession from day one of the season under a new coach. These moves help anchor that ability. Makes a lot of sense for the Knicks. D’Angelo Russell to the Mavs. Two years 13 million. To me, he’s the discounted poor man’s version of what James Harden is in this league. a really high floor offensive engine relative to other players in his salary bracket. The fit with the Lakers is I’ll give you guys an example from the Lakers. So, pick and roll for LeBron James and Anthony Davis never really came to fruition because they both were guarded by similar types of players. AD was typically guarded by big forwards. LeBron was typically guarded by big forwards. So, most teams would just end up switching that action whenever they could. There were rare examples where they’d go up against a big that couldn’t switch like a Yousef Nerkage for Phoenix for instance, and LeBron and AD would just eviscerate those dudes in pick and roll, but it just was too rare and it was too specific of a type of matchup that they needed for that to function. DLO was always guarded by, you know, the by a smaller guard and Anthony Davis being guarded by a bigger forward. They were not switching that action. And so DLO was able to take advantage of a lot of the bakedin drop coverage reads that were available to him in the Laker offense. And he was very good there. He had awesome chemistry with Anthony Davis because of the lack of switching in that action. He was actually the guy that set up Anthony Davis with the majority of his role man opportunities relative to like what LeBron was able to do uh or Austin who was you know obviously developing as a pick and roll ball handler throughout that year. But to me, DLO, if you look at this Mavs team, they’re in desperate need of ball handling. He already has good chemistry fit with AD at two years, 13 million to get a high floor defense, a high floor offensive engine on a team that is just stacked with defensive talent. I love the fit. I think it’s literally perfect. This makes the Dallas Mavericks better in the short term. All right, we have six more quick hitters before we get out of here today. Brook Lopez to the Clippers, two years, $18 million. I really like this deal. We’ve talked a lot over the years about drop coverage being a bracket. So, in modern pick and roll coverage in the NBA, you have two sides of the coverage, right? You have the guy chasing over the top of the screen, and then you have the guy defending the screener at various positions, either up at the level or further back in a deeper drop. Now, what ends up happening is these guys are so good at um scoring in the mid-range that there’s more responsibility on those ball handlers to come up up to the level in screens, especially when the on ball guy is struggling in his side of the bracket. If the top guy in the bracket, the on ball guy, stays attached and chases over the top, then he can’t take a pull-up mid-ranger. He can’t take a floater. he’ll get blocked. It forces the ball handler, it funnels him into the rim protector. But when that guy is not doing his job, when he’s getting hit on the screen and suddenly there’s separation, there’s way more pressure on the big in the other side of that bracket to come up high to the level to contest and to disrupt the ball handler coming downhill and pick and roll. Right. with Milwaukee, a team that really struggled with their perimeter defense talent. Brook Lopez was exposed as a big that could struggle to guard in space at this phase of his career. The Clippers are a team that can consistently keep highquality perimeter defenders on the floor that do a better job in their part of the bracket. So, while we all agree Brooke is not as good at extending his bracket of the coverage up higher to the level as he used to be, he isn’t going to have to as often in a Clipper system that has better perimeter defense talent chasing over the top. I think it’s a really good fit for Brook. I think it’s a really interesting example of a team that can bring really physically imposing center play for 48 minutes now. That backup center spot has been an issue throughout the Zubat era. Really, really like Brooke for the Clippers. I think that’s a big get. They’re a better team today than they were yesterday. Ty Jerome, three years, 28 million to the Memphis Grizzlies. For you Memphis fans, Ty Jerome was the best backup guard in the NBA last year. A very, very dynamic pick and roll scorer. An absolutely deadly floater. He was the best floater shooter in the NBA by a mile. Just a really, really impactful player in ball screens. Coming over the top, getting the defender stuck behind him, shooting that little pop shot in the lane. I thought he was the best backup guard in the NBA last year and then he completely and utterly decomposed in the playoffs with the Cavs. So, the way I look at it, if you’re a Grizzlies fan, you got to be betting on embarrassment during the job here. We talked a lot about comp competitiveness over the course of the last couple of days. If Ty Jerome is the competitor that I believe he is, you bet your ass he’s been sitting on his couch every single night the last couple of months just beating himself up over how poorly he played in that Pacer series. That will motivate him to round out his game even further in his offseason work. I think it’s a good chance that Memphis gets a very good version of Ty Jerome next year. I think it could be a really good fit for them. And at that number, that’s a lot of ball handling talent there. Caris Levert, two years 29 million to the Detroit Pistons. An emergency pivot to find guard depth after Malik Beasley uh ends up getting embroiled in a gambling scandal. I like Caris Levert. He’s an interesting player. He’s got a bit of tunnel vision as a ball handler, which can lead to him taking some iffy shots, but he has some real utility as a bench guard because he can legit get separation and create shots for himself. And because he doesn’t pass the ball much, he doesn’t turn the ball over very much, which can lead to a higher floor defense in the units that he leads. And I think he’s a very good defender when he’s healthy and locked in. He’s got great length. He slides his feet super well. I think he’s a good piece for bench depth on this Pistons squad. Now, I was hopeful that they would be able to facilitate this Dennis Schroeder sign and trade to the Kings for a guy like Malik Monk. I think Malik Monk would have been such a fun fit for the Detroit Pistons. Who knows if they end up working out a similar deal at some point down the line, but Dennis Schroeder did end up signing with the Kings as well, which I think is hilarious because the Kings will probably be the team that gets Dennis Schroeder one two one year too late, which is classic Sacramento Kings. I like Dennis Schroeder. I’ve been a big fan of him rooting over the years, but just with each passing year, he gets a little bit slower on that dribble drive, a little bit less capable of getting into the teeth of the defense. And it just feels like the Kings might be getting him one year too late. But uh I I’d keep an eye on the Pistons and the Kings. I think Malik Monk would be a really fun fit for a Pistons team that also is probably viewing the Eastern Conference as wide open and getable. Luca Garza to Boston for two years, 5.5 million, and Luke Cornett to the San Antonio Spurs at four years, 41 million. These deals are connected because clearly the Celtics are not interested in uh continuing any of their payroll issues that they have. They want to keep their payroll down, which makes sense under the circumstances. I think Luke Cornett is a really good player, and having him at that number in San Antonio is a win. He’s not exceptional at anything, but he’s pretty solid at everything. And I think that that is a really good option as a backup big in this league. Luke Garza, Luca Garza, excuse me, was an end of the bench big for Minnesota over the years. Very aggressive scorer in his minutes. This is a crazy stat. Uh Luca Garza’s career in the NBA. He’s at 22.3 points per 36 minutes in his NBA career. Takes a lot of threes and pick and pop situations and spacing situations. A very aggressive offensive rebounder and finisher around the rim. He hasn’t shot the three at a high percentage yet, but he’ll be a fun player in Boston as just an aggressive scoring big off the bench. And then lastly, Taius Jones, one year, $7 million with the Orlando Magic. Do you guys remember all the stuff that I said about Taius with respect to Phoenix and Houston. I talked about how I hated him with Phoenix as a fit because this was a team that had a redundancy of ball handling and a complete lack of overall physicality. And it just led to Taius being one of their worst plus minus guys all year long because his skill set just didn’t m it was a it was a diminishing return rather than a force multiplier. I liked him as a fit for Houston if you guys remember because Houston needed ball handling and had plenty of physicality to surround him with. The same concept applies here for Orlando. This is an Orlando team that could use some steady ball handling off the bench. Obviously, they lose Cole Anthony in this process. Tyus Jones to me is a force multiplier for an Orlando Magic team because the spot-up shooting, the reliable spot-up shooting and the off the dribble ability to create shots for his teammates is super valuable in an Orlando team that needs that and that can anchor him with all the defensive talent to prevent his lack of physicality from being an issue. Taius has his issues with offball focus and attention. He gets back cut a lot. He gives up a lot offensive rebounds. He is not a good defensive player. That’s all stuff that he’s got to work out, but this is an Orlando team that can support him and bolster him on that end of the floor. So, I think it makes a lot of sense. All right, guys. That’s all I have for today. As always, I sincerely appreciate you guys for supporting us and supporting the show. Obviously, if something crazy happens today, we’ll react to it. But, I am driving back from Denver to Tucson tomorrow. So, our plan at this point is to be back on Thursday morning. We’re going to kind of zoom out from free agency and kind of look at our biggest winners and biggest losers. I will see you guys then.

Jason reacts to the first day and a half of NBA free agency including the Denver Nuggets trading Michael Porter Jr. to the Brooklyn Nets for Cam Johnson and adding Bruce Brown, the Milwaukee Bucks waiving Damian Lillard and signing former Indiana Pacers big Myles Turner, D’Angelo Russell going to the Dallas Mavericks, Nickeil Alexander-Walker going to the Atlanta Hawks, the Houston Rockets signing Clint Capela and Dorian Finney-Smith after trading for Kevin Durant, the Los Angeles Lakers adding Jake Laravia to their roster of Luka Doncic and LeBron James, and more.

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