Are The Oklahoma City Thunder Still Top Dog In The West After NBA Free Agency? | NBA Squad Show

Are The Oklahoma City Thunder Still Top Dog In The West After NBA Free Agency? | NBA Squad Show

On today’s Locked on NBA squad show, free agency has shifted some things. Guys got resigned, guys got moved. Did anybody actually get better? Let’s talk about all that and more right now. Welcome to Locked on NBA Squad Show. My name is Nick Angstead, host of Locked on NBA Locked on Mavericks podcast. This is the squad show where we take over the feed of your favorite lockdown show. It’s an open invite for any host to join, talk about anything they want in the NBA. Today’s episode is brought to you by Game Time. Download the Game Time app, create an account, use that code locked on NBA for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply. Download Game Time today. What time is it?
Game time. Game time. I’m joined today from Locked on Thunder, Ryland Styles, Locked On Rockets, Kevin Durant’s new DM partner, Jackson Gatlin, uh DeAndre Aiden, superfan number one, Brian Camonetski, the uh biggest fan of Yonas Valenunis, this side of the Mississippi, Ryan Blackburn, and uh the guy that now has to answer to Chris Osboring’s doctor, Brad Roland from Locked on Hawks. We may end up somewhere completely different, gentlemen. But I want to talk about the Rockets first. A lot of people are talking about the Rockets getting Kevin Durant, all these different moves that they’ve made. I think they’ve made nine moves in free agency. Are the Rockets doing too much or are the Rockets now like in the tier with the Thunder right now? We’ve got Ryland, we’ve got Jackson. We might as well start there.
Rockets are about to run the West, everybody. In fact, I’m moving my name plate over Ryland because Rockets are going to finish with a better record than the No, they’re we’re not actually doing all that. I’m going to back that up a little bit. No, look, I mean, how can you not put the Rockets in the same tiers? At least on paper. On paper, they’re contenders, man. I don’t see I don’t see how
the same paper.
I mean, I hope you’re using the same paper. My paper looks pretty good. Even Even through Rockets tinted shades. But how does everybody else feel? Come on. Who’s Who’s buying that? Who’s buying the Rockets Kool-Aid again? Nico Harrison’s using they they were seed.
Put the coffee in. They were a two seed in the super competitive West averaging 28 points a game and so now they have Kevin Durant.
I just and only and only three made threes. It was ridiculous. No. Yeah. Look, they they they were a 52- win team. They added Kevin Durant. Like they might crack 60 wins this next year and they’re going to they’re going to meet the Thunder in the Western Conference Finals. It’s those two teams. Like let’s just fast forward to next May because that’s what’s happening. Ryland.
Okay, Jackson. Question for you. You have 17 power forwards on the roster. Who’s actually going to shoot threes for this team outside of KD and Fred Vanble Vleet? Dang.
Uh Jabari Smith Jr. is going to shoot threes and be just fine at it. Reed Shepard is going to shoot threes and be great.
Aaron Holidayiday is actually going to play some minutes and shoot shoot some threes. Tar E’s an okay shooter. Give him some respect. DFS shoots.
DFS will shoot threes. There you go. Like their shooting woes are a thing of the past. They will no longer be a bottom five three-point shooting team. We’re shooting for middle of the pack mediocrity here in Houston.
Just wait.
That’s good enough, right? The Thunder just Thunder just won a championship. Middle of the pack three-point shooting.
Yeah, if you got the if you got the elite defense, then the shooting doesn’t really matter as much.
I am now picturing Clink Capella taking threes right now. And I’ve seen plenty of that in practices. It’s not going to work out very well for you. Lots of two big lineups. It’s going to be going to be a lot of fun.
We’ve seen Stephen Adams take threes in in warm-ups. Anybody been at a game where you see Stephen Adams warm up? I’ve definitely seen him take John Corales on the squad show right now. Why are we talking about three-point shooting so much? We actually had to we actually had to trade John Carales to another network in order to get under the second apron. Like we had to we had to lose that salary.
We had a network to be named later. No, I I do like Houston though. I think that they are they’re going to be a fantastic team during the regular season as long as Kevin Durant stays healthy and surely like he’ll stay healthy throughout the entire season. I I don’t see any way that that uh that is that’s something that comes back to bite them. Honestly though, they they’re built to like withstand a little bit of KD missing some time. I think you go into it with the expectation that Katie is probably going to miss, you know, anywhere from 20 to 25 games. And they’re not going to just suddenly crater without KD. Um I mean, they won plenty of games last year where Jaylen Green didn’t show up as their leading scorer. So, if you just suddenly remove your leading scoreer from the equation, this Rockets team has plenty of experience doing that this past year. So, I think they’ll be just fine even in the games where KD misses. The goal is to have him healthy for a 16game run in the postseason.
Not not far be it for me to further pour the Rockets Kool-Aid. But you’re lit they’re literally changing Jaylen Green and Dylan Brooks’s shot selection for Kevin Durant’s shot selection. That in and of itself to me is enough to give him like five more wins in the regular season. My question though is Reed Shepard. Is he like he’s the backup point guard. Like how much are they going to ask of him? We didn’t see a lot of him last year at all.
A lot. Look, they g they gave him a shot last year. They gave him like the first quarter of the season to see if he was ready for the NBA. He wasn’t. He was deer in headlights. He did not look ready for it. Then they pivoted to Aaron Holiday. Um there is a lot riding on his shoulders to be able to make things work as the backup point guard, which I think kind of speaks volumes about how invested the organization is in him and how much they really believe that he’s ready to take that step forward. near the end of the season and some of the spot minutes that he would get and like garbage time moments or even a few of the games that he started near the end of the year, he looked like a completely different player than he did from, you know, the bright lights moments earlier in the season. So, I think for a steady like 12 to 15 minute a night role backing up Fred Vanleet next year with Fred and and Amin Thompson kind of handling the primary ball handler responsibilities and then obviously a lot of it a lot of the offense going through Shingun and KD as well. Um he’ll be just fine in that role. The other thing too is like the the Rockets still have so much stuff that they can use whether you’re talking appealing players, um, draft picks, you know, whatever to to acquire if you find you need another ball handler. That’s not going to be hard for them to come up with.
No, not whatsoever. And I and I want to like just really quickly in case anybody else here decides to bring up this topic of discussion, this is not a championship or bust move for the Rockets. Like I keep seeing that terminology thrown around and it’s like the dumbest thing because championship you did just say it’s two teams and we’re going to simulate to the end of the season. Only two teams that matter. You already said that. That was the first.
Yeah, but that that that implies that like yes, championship is the goal while you have KD, but it’s not or bust if it goes wrong. Like it would be disappointing if the Rockets didn’t at least make it to the Western Conference Finals after this move and match up with the Thunder. But it’s also not the or bust part of it because that implies that you like gave up your future in order for a shot to win a title right now. The Rockets still have a super bright future and a chance to win with KD for the next two or three years.
So, it would really be disappointing to you, Jackson, if they don’t get the West Finals, which in which means that they’re going to have to play in all likelihood one of Oklahoma City or Denver in the second round. Losing to one of those two teams in the second round would be disappointing for this Houston team. Like, I think that that’s still taking a step forward, especially if they battle hard in that second round series.
Depends on the outcome of the series, right? If you get like manhandled by the Thunder or the Nuggets, like in a you know, gentleman’s sweep, whatever, that would be super disappointing. If you go like go all the way a competitive seven game series, whatever, and you you just come up a little bit short, you know, couple different things break your way and you’re talking about advancing versus not advancing, I think that’s a different discussion. I would agree. I I think that it’s I think it’s Houston, Denver,
how Yeah. I want to know how you how do you feel, Ryland, looking at this Houston team, are you worried at all looking at it from a Thunder perspective? You know, I I I think that they’re interesting. They they gave the Thunder some stylistic problems a year ago without having these additions and then now. Uh I the only thing that I’m left questioning is how they’re going to jostle this front court and like how often are they going to play double bigs and how often are they going to uh maybe not have their best defensive lineup out there because the way that the Thunder were able to navigate having a a middle of the pack three-point shooting team in the playoffs and not in the playoffs, a terrible three-point shooting team, was that they were so elite defensively with every lineup that they put out there. And whenever you put a lineup out there with Shenon and Kevin Durant, uh perhaps you’re going to have some some lapses that you otherwise wouldn’t if you’re Houston. But I do think that it’s Houston and Denver in the West that are the two biggest threats to Oklahoma City. It’s pretty clear like
Minnesota losing Male Alexander Walker, they’re probably going to be just a little bit worse. Uh you never know what they can do during the season though. They they seem to find ways to continue to add talent. I I don’t really see the Lakers challenging at that level though. Uh Brian, sorry. Sorry, DeAndre probably not gonna not gonna be digging deep to to lead some playoff series wins here.
Ryan’s not buying into the dominating going on in LA right now. Okay,
here I will look it is the Lakers are trying to just sort of keep up with the Joneses here like you know keep up with Houston Jones
keep up with keep up with Denver if you can you know not fall and obviously DeAndre Aton doesn’t do that necessarily when you look at what everybody you know he’s not acquiring Kevin Durant it’s not the same thing but even if you
wait why why not why not Why wouldn’t you just go get KD though? Is Rob Pelinka dumb? He could have just gone and gotten KD.
I mean, I guess the GM wouldn’t give it to him. But
does he have a history of just getting a star player from another GM?
Did Rob Pelinka forget his cup of coffee when he tried to talk to
25 for 25 and Luca trade jokes on on the squad show. just into the frustration of of having DeAndre Eaton drop into the Lakers lap in an offseason where they wouldn’t otherwise be able to find a center was enough to keep Matt away from this show. So, um he’s he’s so deep as his Luca PTSD. But like I look at it this way. Even if I would even if you stipulate that fixes none of the professionalism bad habits that he’s built up over the last few years and all of it stays exactly the same, he is still so much better than Jackson Hayes that it it the Lakers are significantly better than they were at the end of last season. You know, I I like the Loravia signing. I think that will replace 75% of 80% of what you were going to get from from DFS. So, I’m not worried about that. And then you’re swapping out Jackson Hayes, who is a replacement level NBA player for a guy who has never averaged less than 14 and 10. You know, for all of our problems with Aiden, and they are myriad, he’s still a pretty productive guy who does all of the things that you would want a center to do on a Luca le team. He’s a good pick and roll player. He can get above the rim to finish. He’s a good offensive rebounder. You know, he can do all that stuff. So, I mean, just they’re replacing Jackson Hayes. So, that’s the gap. It’s you don’t measure eight against the ideal center that the Lakers could pick. If they could pick anyone, you measure him against who is he replacing and what was available. And they’re paying him less than the than the Spurs are paying Luke Cornet. I’m just glad feels exactly the same way as all of that.
He might not. LeBron crashing out DeAndre just look Aidan’s going to sit there and watch a rebound and watch like three or four Lakers fight over the same rebound. I think we all know the play I’m talking about here from his Phoenix days. And LeBron’s just going to crash out magnificently. It’s going to be awesome to witness.
Get the Rich Paul statements ready. Jackson Hayes picked up a foul every 13 seconds. I mean, again,
the thing is about the thing about Eton The thing about Eightton though, it’s not about like the
No, no, Nick. We’re talking about Jackson Hayes. Come on. Get
the idea. The thing about Jackson Hayes is it’s more about with Aon the lows are like he could check out like and he could check out much more.
There’s also some pressure though of like not like this is your last chance. I think I think this is your last chance in the league. If you can’t get the professionalism stuff right next to LeBron and Luca and the Lakers, then every other team’s just going to quit
trying to even make it happen to where that
worked out for guys before, right?
It has. How many times the last chance guy on a LeBron team worked out?
Last chance. If I already had like 200 million in the bank and this was my last chance to like establish myself before I was run out of the league, but I’m sitting on $200 million or whatever it is, I might be out of the league. I’m not sure.
Can you drive down an icy driveway, Brian? That That’s the question. Can you turn
Can you turn into this kid? Is that That’s the question.
The man has never seen snow. Give him a
He’s also He also sleeps on an air mattress every night as a $200 million man.
Frugal point that he won’t care about the next contract.
Would you rather him be Malik Beasley? I mean, what do you want?
At least he can bond over that.
I love the Lakers mafia swerve.
That’s a That’s a good thing.
I love this Lakers mafia swerve of that Eightton is actually underrated. I
Brian is Brian is legitimately not part of that and yet he is still buying all the eight and Kool-Aid right now. I’m not. It’s not that he’s underrated. It’s that he doesn’t suck. Like, you think you look at this at the reaction to DeAndre Aiden and think he’s trash. He’s not. I’m not talking about a guy going out and being an all-star and this is going to be the year he puts it together and, you know, he’s going to see his talent and we’re looking at, you know, 23 and 10, baby. Like, no. But he doesn’t suck. like there’s the the narrative is swung too far in the wrong direction on Aiden. I will say it again, if he so if he does nothing to fix any of the issues that he has from a professionalism standpoint, he makes the Lakers, you know, whatever 65% better at the center position than they were at the end of last year. Just because Jackson Hayes isn’t very good and his backup was Alex Len, Christian Koko. I mean, Trey Gson, like those are the those are the centers the Lakers finished the season with.
Can I just somebody on the stream? Today’s episode of the Lockdown NBA squad show brought to you by Game Time. Download the Game Time app, create that account, and use the code lockdown NBA to get $20 off your first purchase. You can use Game Time to do a whole lot of things and go see a lot of different things. Sports, movies, concerts, uh all kinds of different things you can do with Game Time. Go check it out. See what’s available in your area. And when you do, you’re going to see the panoramic views from your seat, exactly where you’re going to sit, what you’re going to see, what’s maybe in the way, obstructing it, all that. You’re going to see everything you’re going to pay at the front. There’s no hidden fees. What you see is what you pay on Game Time. Take the guess work out of buying tickets with Game Time. Download that app. Use the code locked on NBA. That’s all one word. L O C K E D O NA for $20 off. Terms apply. Again, create that account, redeem the code, locked on NBA, you get $20 off your first purchase. Download Game Time today to go to concerts, comedy, theaters. I’ve used it for all kinds of different things with Game Time. Download the Game Time app. Last minute tickets, lowest prices, Gun Ted. Can I call somebody out really quick? Uh Ryan?
Yeah. We were talking about the Thunder and the Rockets being the top of the West and you got nothing to say about the Nuggets right now. I think the Nuggets are squarely in that mix. What’s going on? I’m biting my time just like the Nuggets. Everybody talked about the Lakers. We talked about DeAndre Aiden. Ryan just like Yokic just sees horses running around his I’m I’m ex very very much like Jokic in that regard. We’re just gonna we’re just going to wait until October comes around. But no,
how drunk are you right now?
I think that How drunk are all of us right now? Denver has a chance to win 60 games.
60. I I did not think that they would like get anywhere close to that during a Joic tenure because one, they didn’t have a good backup center ever before. Now they’ve got Jonas Valunis who like, “Hey, Brian, he might be better than DeAndre Aton. I just want to let you know.”
And Holmes, two points better than DeAndre Aton.
Uh but either way, like now you’ve got Cam Johnson who’s I think a better player than Michael Porter, though they’re in the same tier. They got back uh Bruce Brown who’s just going to be wearing cowboy hats all around Denver and hanging out some hanging out some shots to people, things like that. And Tim Hardaway Jr. is a good spot. So they’re they’re they’re back. Like this is a this is a team that they were the two big weaknesses for them were that they were so narrow around that core four around what Jokic was doing and they had zero depth whatsoever and they’ve addressed both this offseason. Look, from a Thunder’s perspective, they should hope that you and Jackson are absolutely right that these two teams go win 60 games and then like the the Thunder the one seed, you guys are the two three seed and then the Thunder don’t have to worry about it until the until the West finals because they’re trying to not only repeat for the first time since those Warriors teams, but just simply get out of the second round or or better since those Warrior teams. So, it’s going to be very tough uh for the Thunder to pull this off and if they have to play Houston or Denver any earlier, then the chances of them falling by the way of what these typical champions have done grow exponentially. So, the Thunder should hope that that these two teams are really good. I think that Denver is a bigger threat to OKC than Houston because of Joic and because of just how they play basketball. Really bends the Thunder style of defense in a way that no other team’s been able to do uh to this point consistently. And then Houston, you know, is right there as well. But I think it is a clear top three in the West.
It’s It’s going to be a lot of fun. This is a this is a I I didn’t think that they could turn this around. The fact that they were able to trade Michael Porter Jr’s contract is crazy. Uh, and they got a better player. I want to take the squad show hat off for one second. I know we’re supposed to poke fun at each other, but like I’m actually so impressed with Denver’s moves. Like, they walked away. Being able being able to like
say nice things on the squad show.
Oh, what? I thought we were supposed to be mean to each other.
Shut up, Jackson.
You have to be mean the entire time.
I just want to clarify for Matt Moore, wherever he is listening, that the only reason I’m on the squad choice is because I finished my homework in time. So, um, all right. No, but like actually how how weird is it that like next year the winner of the Western Conference might just be the team that actually like ees out the one seed like between the Thunder, the Rockets, and the Nuggets. And I think you give the benefit of the doubt to the Thunder. They’re the youngest team. They they just did it this past season. They should be able to truck through the regular season with ease again. But at the same time, like it’s nothing is a given, right? They they sustained some major injuries this year and were able to power through those. But like if you lose SGA for an extended period of time for any reason, like whoever wins the one seen in the West might just cakewalk to the finals if they don’t have to deal with the other two teams
or if the Thunder have a significant injury that actually prevents a player from playing. Uh which JDub obviously he got hurt and was playing through some stuff and was still fantastic in the finals. So credit to him. But like Denver missed out on having Aaron Gordon in game seven. I don’t think they would have won that game either e either way, but it certainly didn’t help that they didn’t have or didn’t have a good version.
I still don’t know who on the Nuggets guards DeAndre Aton, so you guys figure that out. You know, I I I have a player who alitude the altitude guards DeAndre.
Can I Can I wager here? I’ve got a guy who’s averaging 14 and a half points and 10 rebounds on his per 36 numbers. Anybody want to wager a guess who that is? Because it might be better than DeAndre Aiden. Jock Landale. Jock Landale. Here we go. Would you rather have DeAndre Aiden or Jock Landale? Cuz they’re both 14 and 10, guys. Baby,
you laugh, but I was actually like when all of this stuff was happening, I’m like, “Ooh, Jock Landale might get the lead.”
How down bad do you have to be to be like, “Oh, this is my point. Like, we’re doing
the lness test.” Brian, did you ever once consider Dwight Pal from the Dallas Mavericks? Dwight Pal himself. We still have Maxi. We don’t need Dwight.
They were best friends. And it would be the power of friendship to get them back together. He was also in the Rayan Rado trade.
The the Rockets already disassembled the power of friendship by stealing uh Dodo. Who owns the power of friendship team right now?
Not even Luca could keep his best friend on the team. I don’t think Maxi has that kind of role. It’s probably wonder who are the power of friendship team. like they just they have to be until those guys make money and they decide
you know the next with Villainova crew but that’s it.
Yeah.
Is is going from Tom Tibido to Mike Brown an upgrade to anyone?
Yeah.
No.
Side grade.
Yeah.
It feels like a lateral move to me. Um, I think it’s a marginal upgrade only because Mike Brown is more willing to experiment in the regular season, but I think him and Tibs both have their postseason limitations, right? I think they’ve both been proven out as not the best uh quickest postseason coaches, but I thought Mike Brown was okay the last time that the Sac What was the last Kings playoff series against the Warriors when they lost?
The only the only one
the only one. Yeah. Yeah. But like D’Aren got hurt. I I think they win that series to if D’Arenar Fox is healthy. Mike Brown had coached well, but he was also coaching his former team which he like kind of knew intimately and I don’t know how much of a leg up that was. Probably a lot, but I think it’s a slight upgrade. It’s like a B to a B+, but I don’t still going to be a problem for them probably. thought it was pretty underrated how creative Tibs got in the playoffs when they’re making the conference finals and doing some impressive things just trying to manipulate the fact that Carl Anthony Towns was Carl Anthony Towns and like that they still had to kind of make up some of those differences but uh no it’ll be fascinating I think Mike Brown’s okay he’s he’s very clearly okay and uh what they’ve got Jordan Clarkson now sick
yeah how how much is it going to be just okay they got they got Clarkson they added to uh Yabusellle as well. Like they got a couple depth pieces like and just if you get back into the season and everybody’s healthy from the jump like how much is it just going to be like okay Mike Brown just like actually has like a solid like
10 deep NBA rotation that he can rely on and will rely on as opposed to Tibs running his guys into the ground starting in November
and the two best teams in the East are out of it, right? No Boston, no Indiana to have to try to get through. he might just sort of fall into a better uh more success. Like the Knicks might fall into the NBA finals because the Cavs love to throw up on themselves in the playoffs. The Celtics aren’t in it. The Pacers aren’t in it. And you look around and you’re like, I don’t know who else is in it. Maybe the Hawks. I don’t know. That’s a perfect segue to the Hawks. They’re going to be No, they’re going to be top four team. No, top four team in the East. Your top four in the East next year are going to be Cavs, Knicks, Hawks, Magic right there. Those are your top four seeds.
It’s an extremely bizarre timeline that we’re in where Wes is bringing up the Hawks as a as a as a finals team. Hawks and finals in the same breath. Lots of FanDuel graphics about the how the Hawks have the best title odds changed in the last like two weeks. I don’t know where I am. It’s like I gone back a decade. It’s very very strange. And it’s not like completely preposterous. If everything goes well, it’s like the East is pretty open. Shrug emoji. Like I I totally get it. It’s it’s fun. Porzingis never plays, but when if he’s there, sign me up.
Odds to make the finals or is this odds to win the finals or make fin odds to win the finals? Hawks plus 3,000. Boston Celtics plus 3,700.
Normal sport. Just a very normal thing that was that you just said there. Boston won the championship like 13 months ago and now they’re longer odds than the Hawks to win.
Don’t remind me. I still remember the confetti falling on me just thinking about like the one time that a team had to face the Celtics at basically full strength then they just
But Atlanta’s Atlanta’s better than Boston for next Oh, they are. Yeah. Right now. Oh yeah. No,
it’s wild.
I mean just if you needed to design a team that could protect Trey Young defensively,
they did it.
I think I think they did it.
Yeah. And
I mean I think also too it’s like everybody forgot Johnson missed Yes. you know, the second half of last year.
On top of all these great moves, they get Johnson back. It’s gonna they’re going to be awesome. They’re gonna be fun to watch. League pass top five.
As long as Canard is not on the court with Trey, they’ll be all right. Keep Luke Canard away from Trey Young. Everybody else is well suited to surround him, protect him, and yeah, you you mentioned Johnson, they won 40 games, like no one was excited about the Hawks last year, but winning 40 games with J missing like 45 games was actually a pretty solid outcome for that roster. And now they’re like a lot better and a year older. It’s I feel
How much are you guys celebrating the NIL Alexander Walker signing? Because Atlanta used to be the team that always talked about getting free agents and never got them and then you just got the one the one guy that everybody with a full mid-level exception. Every fan base was like, “Let’s just get Nil Alexander Walk.” Atlanta came away with from uh from the NAW sweep stakes as the winners. It
it is kind of on brand that it would be a nonfamous free agent that everybody wants, right?
The Hawks The Hawks have only gotten one famous free agent in my adult life and it was Dwight Howard. in case you’re wondering how that went.
He is actually the cousin of the finals MVP. So,
is he really? I hadn’t heard that.
Nepo famous. Like, that’s a new thing. Uh, but no, I mean, the short answer is like, yeah, it’s kind of surprising. And it was also like out there for a week. It’s like, hey, the Hawks are the favorites. And I’m like, the Hawks are the what on on what on the number one free agent that’s available. And also, he doesn’t have like a starting spot guarantee. Like, sometimes it’s like, oh, you you can see why a guy would go that that one spot. He’s not going to start. I don’t think right
do exactly the same thing in Atlanta that he did in Minnesota.
He’s signing up to be a sixth or seventh man and like willingly doing it and like clearly wants to be there. So it’s uh yeah it’s it’s different.
I’m still sick of these cities with geographical advantages. This is awful. Atlanta comes away with all the top tier free agents. Yeah. What’s the temperature? What’s the temperature and humidity rate outside in Houston right now?
It’s god awful. It’s Hawks exceptionalism again.
Yeah. No, but actually so I obviously look a lot of this health permitting with Porzingis, right? But it I mean is Porzingis a little bit of also an asset here as a $30 million expiring contract and could the Hawks potentially actually if if his health struggles continue, right? Could they not just flip I mean Aangu is a starting caliber center. A Congo can start just fine. Could they not then flip Porzingis and asset or two into something else?
He probably does if Porzingis isn’t healthy.
No, I was going to say there’s a chance he starts even if Porzingis is there. I I don’t know yet. I haven’t heard definitively, but like if they want to manage Porzingis, if they’re then kind of get him on board to play 25 minutes a game to stay healthy, like it makes total sense to me. But you’re right, if if he’s just like out, I mean, there’s the weird illness with Porzingis. If he’s just like can’t play, then yeah, he’s a giant expiring contract and they also paid a price to get him where it’s like basically no risk at all and it’s fine if he doesn’t play. I mean, they they want him to play. Obviously, he raises their ceiling quite a bit, but if he just can’t stay on the floor, it’s like, oh, all right, you traded the 22nd pick of the draft to get off Terrence Van. That’s not a big price to get a a true like top 30 guy when he’s healthy.
I just think Oh, go ahead.
No, I just want to point some math things out. If you just add Christophs Porzingis’s expiring salary, Luke Canard’s expiring salary, Zachary Reese’s rookie salary, and throw, I don’t know, two first round picks that might be owed by Milwaukee back to the Bucks, it pretty much matches Giannis’ salary.
There are multiple There are multiple ways. No, there there are multiple ways for that to happen. Uh the other one is uh Wisconsin native Jaylen Johnson who grew up there and is from there and would be probably advertising to the Bucks if they wanted to do that. I’m not saying they’re going to do that, but if if if Yiannis makes himself available,
it’s the Hawks. You have to have him wanting to go to the Hawks, which I always like, hey, that’s kind of a small wrinkle. As much as we’re talking about the Hawks in a good light right now, it’s not usually the destination that someone like that would pick.
But what if he told him Chick-fil-A was invented in
Atlanta? I might sell him.
Is that enticing enough to be honest?
There there are a lot of Chick-fil-As. There’s one in every corner here.
If they if they pro if the city promises him only in Atlanta, they’ll open on Sundays. [Laughter] Just one time there. Uh
or what was that commercial where the guy has the Taco Bell cantina like in his house? Like could they could they do that in the house?
The NFL. Yeah. Yeah. Hey, Taco Bell’s a nuggets thing. Keep keep out. They’re not bad.
I’m saying Chick-fil-A. Just Just steal their idea, you know, put one in his house, little little booth. Very Atlanta.
Little high school kid that just like works there all the time. Well, that’s what Chick-fil-A.
Who are the biggest losers like in free agency right now? Other than the Lakers, of course.
The Lakers won because because ago it was the Lakers, but
now they’re winning.
No, we’re just not the losers. I mean,
would you have traded Would you have traded Dorian for DeAndre Aiden? Absolutely. Yes. Oh,
I would I would not have done that. Just I’ll have done that.
I would have done that with you on this. You know what?
I’m on the eight and train with you. Let’s do this.
I love they’re dominating the squad show together, guys.
Off the cliff. Dorian Finny Smith is a is a 32year-old, you know, decent but on the downside three and D wing, you know, that no longer can really guard down like he can’t guard twos and ones anymore. And like it’s a great signing for the Rockets. I’m not taking away from what Houston did here, but what for what the Lakers needed, do they need that or do they need a center who isn’t Jackson Hayes? And so like
they traded they traded a a in this scenario they’re trading the seventh eighth guy in their roster for a starter. That’s a no-brainer. You do that every time. Yeah, absolutely. The only reason like we talked about on a show last week and the reason not to do it is because to get to $35 million the Lakers would have had to trade like four rotation players. And DeAndre Aton’s not that good. But for $8 million and giving up essentially DFS, but then you sign Laravia. I mean, to me, it’s kind of a no-brainer.
I think, yeah, look, you do it in a vacuum. It’s a it’s a no-brainer in a vacuum, but I think the idea here is that like if you could have kept DFS and gotten literally anybody else, then like that would have been a better possible outcome.
Jock Landale makes $8 million. You could have had him.
Why does Brandon?
He’s a living, breathing TPE. Just let him live, okay? That’s all he is. It’s a non-g guaranteed contract all four years. It’s like the greatest thing ever.
I was excited at the prospect of them acquiring Jock Land. I’m not lying. I’m like,
I want you guys to know Joel has gotten more run on this show than he did all season on Locked on Rockets. I just want you guys to know that right now.
And look, Denver’s had a better off season. The Rockets have had a better off season. The Hawks have had a better off We don’t need to be talking about the Lakers that much, although I’m happy to. It’s good for traffic. But I’m just saying like it’s this is a very significant signing for the Lakers to maintain a team that still has a second team allNBA player in LeBron James, a all-star adjacent player in in Austin Reeves and Skinny Luca. Hey, you got to watch those angles on those pictures. You you got to get you got to get it on video and you got
diet, man. We’re we’re I’ve seen it. No, Skinny Luca is the is in the same light as Hoodie Melo and Ben Simmons hitting offseason threes until we see it in person.
New Lakers new Lakers owner Mark Walter is going to import every ounce of food in the facility from Europe this year.
I just I would like to point something out to Lucas. They’re going to walk everywhere. It’s going to be very continental.
They’re going to walk. Yeah, he’s they’re gonna they’re going to walk from uh from Lakers games down the street to Stadium. That’s it. That’s as much walking as they’re getting. They’re going to, you know, throw a couple coins at street musicians. It’s going to be great. And Luke is going to stay skinny.
Wait, can we go back to Did anybody really lose free agency?
The Sacramento Kings. The Bucks.
They got Shruder.
Sick. I know.
The Sacramento Kings.
Yeah,
they at least got somebody. They did.
They sacrificed Yonas Valenunas to the Sacramento Kings went back to like when Alan Crab was making $20 million a year or whatever, and they’re like, let’s just do that with this guy.
And then they tried to give up Monk, too. the the thing that I didn’t get
actively trying to trade him
like why why would you try to get Shruder and then you also try to give out Monk like I would just keep both of them
because now they have Dennis Shooter and they’re like a man we did the thing again
where we have too many point guards too many guards who don’t fit together except like a way worse version of it
well and they went from Yonas to Dario Sarich and I was waiting for minutes
going to get bought out
I was waiting for minutes after that trade like that’s all like there’s nothing else there’s nothing else
there’s no way Dario is staying on the kings
minutes is a long time in free agency Brad I don’t very uh Chicago Bulls style trade where it’s like that’s it, huh?
Bulls have been tough too wise. We have totally as a society wormholed the no the idea that Allan Crab made almost $77 million of playing NBA basketball.
I have never forgotten it. That is a spectacular.
I mean the Nets gave him that four-year offer sheet and it got matched. All right. Who has the brightest future between the Bulls, the Wizards, and the Nets?
The Wizards.
Wizards. Wizards. Look at the Nets roster.
Yeah, it’s horrible.
The Nets are legitimately probably going to start Jaggar Deon, Cam Thomas, Terrence Man, Michael Border Jr., and Nick Claxton.
It’s not bad. Demon’s terrible.
Not bad. Not bad for what?
It’s a 10.
He’s terrible.
10 seed in the East right there, Nick. At what point does If can Cam Thomas and Michael Porter Jr. look off each other at the same time?
Yeah. at the start of his podcast or on the court. Yes. Thank god they got Jagger Dimmond because my god they need somebody to spoon feed these guys.
That that Nets roster just pull it up one day. Just just look at it for a little while and just kind of stare.
I mean think about and look I I love what Michael Porter gave to Denver. He being the locker room leader for the Brooklyn Nets and that group that like he’s not going to stay there forever, right? Like what are they going to do?
Yeah.
I mean they made they made five first round picks, kept them all and they’re all projects. All five of them are projects. They didn’t like try to like get an older guy who was like a low ceiling player. Nope. We’re taking five. That’s that’s the hardest part. It’s not that I have no idea if any of those guys are good or not. But how do you give 12 players that all need development enough time to actually
Did you hear their starting lineup? I just brushed straight up.
Brian 15 losses. That’s how you or sorry, 15 wins. That’s how you do it. Okay. They’re going to have they’re going to have 15 wins all season long.
I get it. But Washington I like Washington. Like I there were like three or four players that I would take five players I would happily take off take off that roster.
Yeah. The Wizards the Wizards should no longer be in those conversations. They they are they have they have too many dudes. Brian wants all the geriatrics from the Wizards roster.
Yeah.
Do the Toronto Raptors replace them? Just kind of like what are you doing type of thing? What what direction are they going? Um, what are they doing?
I don’t know what to make out of them. Yeah, they
Brad, you really like the the Murray Boils guy. You drafted him in our mock draft.
I I did like Murray Boils. I still do. I don’t know. Toronto’s like the worst place for him, maybe. Like, he’s just he’s a very Raptors player. Um, I just I don’t I I know why they like him, although they just changed their front office. So, who’s I don’t even know who’s evaluating players for the Raptors at the moment.
Webster. I drafted him and then got fired. But I think they they said after the they already knew he was leaving because it was like the next day. It was it was very odd.
True. It wasn’t parted ways. It wasn’t.
Wasn’t there wasn’t there a rumor that Kaman Malawatch would have been the the pick if Messiah was going to pick him?
I mean I would believe that. I don’t know.
He’s from Africa. I feel like Messiah is always going to pick those guys.
Yeah. I mean I felt bad for Mory Boils because it’s like oh you got you got to go play behind Scotty Barnes who’s like the the good version of that kind of player but it’s like it doesn’t they’re not they don’t really fit together. And then they have paid Yaka Pearl like a billion dollars. I I don’t know what they’re doing. It’s the Raptors. They got, you know, they’re better than the Nets.
They have play They have some decent players. It’s just I don’t know what their plan is.
Better than the Nets for sure.
Oh, they’re they’re leafs and bounds better than the Nets to be very clear.
The Nets don’t have a single player that would start on the Raptors, I don’t think.
I mean,
who are the bottom five teams in the East this next season? What the hell? Like, this is kind of hard to pick.
Nuts and Wizards for sure. Wizards. That’s two. The Hornets are going to be in a weird
I mean they’re try but they’re trying. They’re going to try. I don’t know if they’re going to be good, but they’re going to try.
They signed Mason. Mason P is their starting center.
They’re trying. They’re trying more. I would say watch out for
Are the Sixers going to start Trendan Watford? The Sixers could be down there again. Sixers could be if if Abid can’t play and we never know if he can play. There’s no team in the NBA. No team in the NBA has a wider expected win range than the Sixers. Shout out to the ma the mock draft squad show where we were all talking about the Sixers and I think it was Philip from M from Locked on Magic that was like yeah you know and if the Sixers if Joel Embiid can play and he’s like being all like nice about it and like and shout out to our new guy on lockdown Sixers Mark said it that goes Embiid is cooked there’s no chance that he plays the same way and it just goes straight into it and everybody lost it cuz we were just we hadn’t heard a Sixers guy like come out and say it like that. All right. Well, there
are we 100% sure that the Heat don’t land somewhere in the bottom five.
Oh. Oh, Wes. All right. Here we go. Wes.
If If everything goes to plan, they will be in the bottom five. Let’s go, baby.
We need to have one good pick. Let’s go.
Pull in the rip court right now.
They they they beat the Hawks in the playing tournament last year to get into the playoffs. Kept their pick for 2026. That’s the move.
The Sixers with moderate health will be better than the Heat. The Raptors,
there is no moderate health, right? Like the Sixers, to your point before, it was like they’re either going to win 55 games or they’re going to win 25 games. There is no in the middle for them.
That’s true. The Raptors could be better than the Heat. The Bulls probably won’t be, but I guess they could be.
They’ve The Bulls won more games than the Heat.
They did win more games last year. Orlando will be. The Pistons will be. The Bucks will be. The Pacers still will be.
Knicks will be. Celtics will be. Yeah. It’s not going to be good. Wes.
Sorry.
Be great. No. And it’s according to plan. It is going to be good.
Are we sure Giannis is like gonna play 70 games? Cuz if he doesn’t,
that team is
Yeah, that team
that’s pretty bad. The Bucks could definitely
Kevin Porter Jr. is leading that team to 50 wins. How dare you?
I mean, you get you get one Giannis EL turn and things go pretty sideways for Milwaukee. And the Hawks would love that just for the not in Houston.
Yeah.
Is Kous the third best player on their team?
Who’s the second? Yeah, yikes. Miles was like the fifth best player on the basers
in the finals. I like that move from Milwaukee. Like I’m glad that he got Miles. But then I’m just like you look at the rest of the roster and you’re like, damn, this sucks. Like this is bad. For what reason? Like why? Oh, they they did it to screw over the Pacers. That was the reason. That was all the incentive they needed.
If that’s the truth, then I respect it. Otherwise, I don’t get it. But I I made this comparison before like they they look like a college team, like a mid- major college team that got one five-star recruit and you’re looking and you’re like, “Wow, that’s pretty cool and then you don’t know anybody else on the roster. They’re all just like weird transfers and players like guys that you never heard of.”
So they’re like Rutgers of Ace Bailey and Dylan Harper were like combined into
Correct.
They have they have a bunch of like seventh men on. They were like Ben Ben Simmons’s LSU team.
Yeah.
Yeah. I mean they have a bunch of seventh men. It’s like you know Gary Trent Jr. is fine. Uh like Torian Prince is kind of fine. AJ Green is fine. Bobby Portoris is fine, but none of them are good. Like they’re not they’re not like top five players on a good team. So, and that’s their three through what? Three through seven on their
I think their starting point guard is Kevin Porter Jr. Jackson. It is right now.
It is it’s it’s not good. Things are about to go real sideways.
Remember when your team was built around Kevin Porter Jr.?
What if they brought in Russ?
Pretty sure their their backup point. Lots of meat, too. Like
Yeah. I think my big takeaway from this show is that Milwaukee is significantly worse than I thought they were.
That’s why look when when we were trying to say who got the worst offseason. I said Milwaukee like very early on. I really think they got they are just awful. They’re in a horrendous situation.
It’s not good,
man.
It’s not good.
It’s not good.
They are going to be paying Damen Lillard, right? They’re going to be paying Damen Lillard for as long as SGA is getting paid on this new contract.
I mean Lillard basically it’s the Javari Smith Jr. contract is the dead money on Damen Lillard. They’re almost exactly the same amount.
Almost the same.
When you start to quantify it that way, that is is that like top five most insane swings that a team has ever taken? They’re basically paying $40 million for Miles Turner.
Miles Turner four years. It’s really It’s really 50 million for Miles Turner if you do it that way. It’s it’s 27 plus 22. So, you know, 40 out of 50. It’s that’s a it’s a lot. Okay, we’ve gone long enough without talking about how one of the losers of the offseason so far has been Joe Dumar’s New Orleans Pelicans presented by Zion Williamson.
I have I have some thoughts about the Pelicans in a good way as someone who covers the Hawks on the other side.
I mean, no, no, no. To be fair, not in a way for the Pelicans. The Hawks makes more sense.
I didn’t know there was Pelicans Kool-Aid out there.
The Pelicans have made two uh very well two very bad trades with the Hawks in the last 12 months. Uh, and the first one was like I liked it more than everybody else did. The Dyson Daniels to Jonte Murray Trey. It worked out great for the Hawks. That was not like universally panned when it happened. This one was universally panned. Like I I can’t find a single person to I’ve been trying for about a week now to find a single person that liked it. Haven’t found one yet.
I have given this a lot of thought, Nick. It’s worse than the Luca train. But now he’s gone too far.
The 40 at the 40 minute mark. just an absolute bomb. We found a single NBA media personality that says that a trade was worse than the Luca trade.
Hear me out. So, is your is your list Babe Ruth the the hot Pelican straight
to be compared to Babe Ruth? That’s cool. That was the NBA. That was such a great quote.
Jason Pel’s gonna give up AJ Dysta next year to the Hawks.
I hope so. They they gave up an unprotected 2026 pick, the better of their own, which is going to suck. And the Bucks, which we already knew was going to stay.
We just went through their roster.
We And they were like, “Yeah, but to move up to 10 spots to to get Derek Queen, worth it. Not Cooper Flag, not Dylan Harper, but I like Derek Queen fine. I hate him now. I like them in the draft process. Like this guy’s going to stink because Joe Dear’s draft history is horrible. He’s the guy that took Darko. He I Matine Cleaves, he’s had some of the biggest busts in lot NBA draft lottery history. He does not draft well. He took Jeremiah Fierce who way too high at seven and then moved up 10 spots to get Derek Queen. These guys are going to stink. They’re going to be bad.
Yeah, but the Zero Fears jersey is going to sell them enough jerseys. The really fun thing about that is that that not only did they just trade that pick for Garrett Queen, they also the Hawks were like, “You know what? We also want 23. We’re going to have to take 23 as well.” And they’re like, “Okay, sure. We’ll give you 23 back. Why not?” At least the Mavericks.
At least the Mavericks got Anthony Davis, a player who we know has played in NBA games and has made all-star teams and has won a championship. We don’t know if Derrick Queen is going to be good. And you just gave up something that could legitimately be the number one pick. a top, let’s call it even a top three pick in a generational top three draft that people are talking about.
Yeah,
it is a horrible trade.
It’s not impossible that Max Christie will have a better career than Derek.
100% true.
Mavericks at least walked away from the Luca trade with something. We have no idea if the Pelicans are going to walk away with this tra from this trade with anything. The part that I think is really unfair is like Queen could have a really good rookie season and a really good career and then like but like Zion gets hurt in this, you know, like there are 25 other things that could go wrong. They’re sort of the Western Conference version of the Sixers where like the the win range is probably 20,
but like 15 other things could go wrong with with the with the Pelicans.
They have a terrible season. They give up what turns into the third pick. And Derek Queen is a first team allNNBA rookie. Like like all of those things could happen.
I think with Derk Queen, like the the whole time in the pre-draft process, you talked about what a unique skill set that he is and how it’s going to take a unique set of circumstances for him to hit his ceiling. And I couldn’t think of a worse front court for him to enter into to try to m to try to mascade his flaws and highlight his strengths than the New Orleans Pelicans.
Well, they there was there was that um like brief bit of chatter like, you know, the Lakers are calling around. They’re looking for any center they possibly can. They’ve they’ve they’ve inquired about me uh with with the Pelicans and like why on earth the Pelicans would trade me after a really really good rookie season young player
going for Derek Queen
I guess but like why they would do that and you’re just sitting there like and the answer is essentially I don’t know Joe Dumar does stuff
I I made a list of Joe Demar’s uh some of Joe Demar’s transactions over his career
already drafted Dark Milichic
drafted did Rodney White, drafted Matine Cleaves, all in the lottery, all of them bust. Um, when Rasheed Wallace and he gave Rashid Wallace and Alan Iverson these huge contracts. When they got off of those contracts, he used that money to sign Charlie Villain Noea and Ben Gordon. They basically just had these two huge Albatross contracts, Jackson Gatlin, you can look them up, but they had this huge huge albatross contracts on their books for essentially a decade and they couldn’t make any moves. He traded Chanty Bilips for Allen Iverson when Allen Iverson was 33 years old.
Shout out is the king of bad moves. And you would think he would like learn from all of that. I have a legal pad. The amount of hate to pull out a yellow legal pad to write all those down.
I I had to do a whole thing on this. And so it’s awful. And he didn’t learn anything. He learned nothing. He spent time in the league front office where ostensibly they’d be like, “This is these are good NBA teams and these are bad NBA teams.” And he was just like, “No, not not not getting any of this.” When he when they were showing him the bad NBA teams, was it all just teams run by Joe Dumar? Was they just like, “This is bad. Don’t do this again.”
I feel like they just I feel like we didn’t get Darko enough time. And listen to Locked on Pelicans whose podcast art is on the side of the Smoothie King Center right now if you can if you drive by.
It’s pretty sick. I I I swear to you, I almost I I want I wanted to talk. I wanted to do a crossover and I said, “You know what? It it would be mean to Jake.” I literally said I literally thought that like the day after. I was like, “Do I do I even ask?” You know, I was like, “You know what? I’m not going to ask Jake.”
It would just be him trying to explain it and you laughing.
Basically, just Jake in tears by the second segment.
I basically had the yellow legal pad out on the draft night that Wes just pulled out. And I was trying to figure out like why this was bad. Like, wait, is there a single way this could possibly be bad for the Hawks? The answer is like, “Oh, no, no, no, no. This is all I mean it may not be great. Maybe the Pelicans win 40 games. I don’t know. Maybe maybe it’s fine. But even then, by the way, if it’s like the draft,
you just wait.
Aren’t there Wait, their guards are Deontay Murray.
Jordan P and Kevin and and and Fears, right? Jose Alvarado.
Alvarado rookies are really bad. Like usually, especially one and done rookies and they just drafted two guys in the lottery that they’re going to probably play. And I couldn’t imagine
I couldn’t imagine a worse a better vet for Jeremiah Fears than C.J. McCollum and a worse vet for Jeremiah Furious than Jordan Pool.
Yeah, you throw him in there. Yeah, it’s And if he plays
Why did they do that trade? They don’t want the CBA guy around
cuz they’re going for it. Wes,
what are they going for?
For what?
They’re doing their best. Okay. I you just you guys are gonna be it’s gonna be egg on your faces when Joe f breaks out the the press conference where the fans are finally starting to see the vision. That’s all I’m saying. Had I had a good moment and now I’m having a bad moment again.
Oh, you guys are are a good team.
But Cooper Flag and Summer League will be our next.
You guys know that Cooper could just go on and on. All right, that’s a good that’s a good spot to end after Brian took all the the wind out of the sales. Not mine. Yeah, he sells DeAndre Aiden. Don’t forget.
Go check out Go check out Go listen Go listen and watch DeAndre Aiden highlights all over YouTube. You can just search DeAndre.
I have an I have one stat that I would like to share before we go.
Oh my
on the because me and Brian are driving the the the DeAndre
the A train. We call it the Ara. The A train. Thank you for
did not end up doing well in the in the boys. I don’t know if um
murdered people. List of centers to average at least 14 points, three offensive rebounds, 10 total rebounds, one block, and shoot 56% overall from the field last season. Damont Sabona, Avich, Zubach, and DeAndre Aton. It’s pretty good company. Wow. That’s the old Thaddius Young graphic with Michael Jordan, LeBron James.
Don’t ruin it, Ryan.
Don’t ruin it. Fad Young was really good. He was you’re like really good or did he just If you could choose between Thad Young and Jackson Hayes, who would you have taken?
I’m sorry.
Jackson Gatlin over both of us. I want Iguadala. Okay, there we go. Now we can
The death ray pointed at the Earth.
Give me Brennan Carlson. Incredible. There you I only get that right there.

NBA free agency shakeups have reshaped the league landscape. But which moves will actually impact the standings?

Nick Angstadt and a panel of NBA analysts break down the Houston Rockets’ offseason spending spree, the Los Angeles Lakers landing DeAndre Ayton, and the Denver Nuggets’ path to 60 wins. They debate which teams might sink to the bottom of the East and critique the New Orleans Pelicans’ controversial draft-day trade.

Hear insider perspectives on Kevin Durant in Houston, Ayton’s fit with LeBron, and why one analyst thinks the Pelicans’ move was “worse than the Luka trade.” Listen for bold predictions and spicy takes on the NBA’s offseason winners and losers.

0:00 Intro: Free agency shifts and NBA changes
5:33 Rockets’ offseason moves and playoff potential
11:08 Lakers’ acquisition of DeAndre Ayton discussed
15:09 Nuggets’ offseason moves and championship chances
20:27 Hawks’ free agency success and playoff outlook
25:42 Bottom teams in Eastern Conference debate
31:05 Bucks’ roster concerns after offseason moves
36:35 Pelicans’ controversial draft trade and future
41:53 Joe Dumars’ questionable front office decisions
47:40 Pelicans’ guard rotation and rookie concerns
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