Mavericks vs Thunder Frontcourt, Luka Doncic Body Transformation + Eastern Conference Predictions

Mavericks vs Thunder Frontcourt, Luka Doncic Body Transformation + Eastern Conference Predictions

[Music] What’s up, basketball fans? Welcome into episode two of All Things NBA. I’m your host, Jimmy Crowder, with my co-host, Austin Payne, aka All Things Thunder. Austin, Monday night. How we doing tonight, man? Doing great. Doing great. Uh sad summer summer league’s over. Ready for some more ball. I know, man. And it feels like I mean we’re just in the dead point where it’s like free agents are signed, big trades are made, summer league basketball’s over, and now all we have to talk about is any little story that pops out that may or may not really mean anything. Um, but we’re going to talk about quite a bit today. So, just to kind of give you guys an overview what we’re talking about, um, talk Mavs Thunder. That’s how we’re going to start pretty much every show because we know that that’s that’s kind of our audience. That’s what you guys want to hear about. So, we’ll talk some Mavs Thunder, obviously. Um, we’re going to talk about some trades and transactions that happened since the last time we podcasted because, uh, it’s been about two weeks since we got to record anything. Talk about the remaining free agents, especially the restricted guys. Like, there’s still a lot out on the market and we don’t know what’s going to happen. There’s been some rumors here and there. Um, and then last time we did the Western Conference tiers. Today, we’re going to go through some of our Eastern Conference teams, uh, and where we see those falling, but, uh, Austin wanted to start off with a nice shotgun blast to the chest for Mavs fans. So, I’ll let you I’ll let you kick it off and we’ll kind of go in there. Oh, yeah. Absolutely. Absolutely. So, I mean, yeah, very few storylines going on right now. So, I’ve been scouring Twitter and haven’t uh been hard not to notice the all the images coming out of Luca’s new uh summer bod. So, saw the the magazine cover, wanted to fire at Jimmy’s way. As a Mavs fan, what is your opinion on how Luca is looking right now physically? Here’s here’s my thing, and I know like a lot of my subscribers and followers are still Luca fans, and I don’t blame them for that. I am still cheering for Luca, but I’ll never cheer for the Lakers. There’s a big difference. Although, at this point, it’s kind of hard to be like, uh, if Luca does good, the Lakers are probably going to do good. The thing with this Luca summer body is that you can find tweets from every single summer since Luca’s been in the league and saying, “Oh, good lord. This is skinny Luca season.” And I do think this time it’s different. I I I definitely think there’s a difference because he has a different motivation than he’s ever had before. It just as a Mavs fan, it really stings that it took him being embarrassed and called out for it and traded away from the team that drafted him to really get serious about it because I do think he’s serious about it. Like I think it’s he’s talked about, you know, he’s gluten-free. He’s eating 250 grams of protein a day, which is crazy. Uh I bet his house stinks because there’s so much protein going on in that house. Um, and it just it it hurts that it’s it took this long and it took him to get into it, but I mean I think it’s legit, but we’re going to find out really soon because he plays a lot of Euro basketball. There’s there’s games all through August with Slovenia and that it’s never it’s never leading up to that where I’m worried because he always looks great leading up to that. And then during that play, he always looks great. It’s the little gap between Euro basket and the season starting that I’m like, what happened? What happened? Why why are you slow coming out of the gates? So, I don’t know. as a non-Mass fan. I mean, what’s your what is your outlook on what’s your opinion on it? Yeah, I mean, I obviously haven’t kept up with how he’s looked over previous summers near as closely as you have. So, to me, this was like kind of impressive. Like, I think he looks really good and I feel like shedding a little bit of that extra weight will probably help him on the defensive side of the ball a lot. But today, I saw a lot of what you were talking about with people tweeting out timestamped, you know, posts from previous years where he was looking good as well. I also though feel like this is a little different. I feel like he doesn’t always play a significant amount of summer league or not summer, summer ball. So like he’s going to be he’s in good shape going into Euro Basket. He’s only going to have a few weeks before training camp starts. And I just personally think with all of the narrative from this past year, I would struggle to see him coming out of Euro Basket like bulking up 40 pounds and then going right back in. So I I I’m pretty impressed. Like I honestly think he’s going to come out and probably be in mid-season form in October. No, I think he will. I mean, and as a again, as a Mavs fan, I mean, it’s like it’s weird because I would say it’s like breaking up with the ugly girl and then she gets really pretty all of a sudden after you break up. But it’s not even that because we didn’t break up with him. Like we got if Luca’s the ugly girl, then Yeah, I know. Yeah. I mean, because Well, that’s the thing. That’s what I’m saying. It’s not It wasn’t our choice and we never saw thought he was ugly. I mean, we always thought even if he weighed 400 lb, he was still putting up the numbers he was. And I can I mean we could rehash the whole trade a million trillion times. Um but it is just a another another reason that you can see I mean this kid is 27 years old 26 27 years old. It’s like there’s a story that came out today or that was republished today about Durk and Durk like took an interview. He’s like I didn’t take my diet and my training consist or seriously until eight years in the league and that’s right where Luke is at. And so it happens for different people or different players at different times, but you know, I think it’s not so much time heals all wounds for Mavs fans. It’s going to be winning without Luca that’s going to heal some wounds. And so that’s really where it’s going to come down to. It’s like even if even if Luca’s dropping 50 a night, like if the Mavs are are on pace with the Lakers or better, it’s going to feel a little bit better. Totally makes total sense. Now you will shift to the thunder here a little bit. you tweeted out something about I’m not looking at the tweet right now, but you said something about OKC building an elite front court or one of the best front courts in the NBA. And uh I gave you a little flack for it and I think Mavs fans everywhere are going to give you a little flack for it. I mean, I agree Chad Chad is a special talent and if you put him in any front court, it becomes a better than average front court. But if we’re talking depth and we’re talking players, explain your explain your reasoning because you put a picture, I think, of Brandon Carlson in there. So, totally. Go ahead. Yeah. Well, let me start off. I was getting into it a little bit with some Mavs fans on Twitter, and I do want to qualify because I some of them made a good point. Like, I I’m viewing this and making that statement assuming Chad’s going to be healthy. Um, now that might be a big assumption to some people, and that’s okay. I’m not really here to argue that. Like, if he gets hurt, he gets hurt. I tend to think that yeah, he’s skinny. He probably is more injuryprone in some ways, but I also don’t think he’s going to take that kind of a fall on his hip every year. Um, so I’m going to push that aside. I’m just going to say I’m assuming Chad plays enough games to be eligible for postseason awards this year. With that in mind, I think Chad is a top, as of right now, probably a top six to seven center in the league with the potential to be much higher. So, do we Let me Let me ask you this as as an outside looking in. Do we call him a center because he’s if he’s playing next to Hardenstein? Yep. I think that Chet plays better at center and I think that what you saw down the stretch of the playoffs this year was that when we got into crunch time when the games really really mattered a lot of the time Dagnol went away from the two bigs. He would start them together a lot of the time, but he’d very quickly stagger them. And then we saw in the Pacers series that he completely went away from it as a starting lineup. I tend to think with a development of Kase Wallace that that’s going to continue to be the case. Kase is too good to not start in my opinion. And so it wouldn’t surprise me if the starting lineup changed this year. Wouldn’t surprise me if it stayed the same, but it wouldn’t surprise me if it changed. So I’m considering Chad a center. I think all the numbers say that he plays better at center. So if you’re starting center is Chad, your backup is Hartenstein. Your third guy is Jay Will, who stylistically can be really good, he can also disappear. And then you’ve got a guy in Thomas Sorber that basically every draft guy that I listened to said that he was the most well-rounded center coming out of the draft. Now, they didn’t say they didn’t say best. They they made it clear that potent potential. Yeah, there were some guys that they looked at with a little higher potential than Sorber, but right now, just as far as frame goes, as far as skill goes, as far as defense, multiple people that I found said that he was probably the most complete and NBA ready uh center to come out of the draft. So, there’s four. You’ve got a fun rookie right there, and then you’ve got Brandon Carlson. And yeah, I get it. Everyone thinks he’s kind of a meme. I like Brandon Carlson, and I’ll give you a few reasons. one, he played he only played two or three games in the summer league and he blew everybody away. Like it was two to three minutes until you thought this guy’s way too good to be playing in the summer league. Now, can you take a lot away from summer league? No. So then let’s let’s walk it back a little bit. He’s still really young, but he’s a true sevenfooter. He’s got a little more weight to him than Chad does. He’s a very very very good three-point shooter. We saw that in the regular season for the Thunder. A lot of it was garbage time, but some of it wasn’t. There were moments when Chad was hurt and Carlson was kind of coming up and down from the blue to the Thunder, and he played good minutes. And I will always remember one game in particular. We were playing, we had just lost the the 15game win streak had been snapped. Cleveland beat us in Cleveland. The next week they came to us. The day before that, Hartenstein goes down with an injury and immediately we’re like, “Okay, there’s no shot.” like we’re not winning this game. I was fine with it. I was like, “Okay, we have no center. We’re not going to win. They’re the the best record in the league.” Well, Dagnel didn’t even tell Carlson he was going to do this, but he throws Carlson in to the game early, like midway through the first quarter, and he went straight at Moy and Allen and was the best center on the court for 15 minutes. I mean, it’s crazy. I was at that game that that was one of the few thunder games where they didn’t play the Mavs and I was like, who is this? I mean, this looks like one of my fraternity brothers out there hooping. Right. Right. So, again, I I’m not gonna like overhype it and say that this guy is going to be a starter, but I I legitimately think his rim protection is pretty good. He can space the floor, which is all anyone is looking for in an NBA center this this the kind of year this kind of So, I think that he has real potential to be like a a third string center on a team with a good front court or like a backup center on a team with a bad front court. So, right there, Let’s Let’s play a game. Let’s play a game. Let’s do it. Let’s do it. I’ve got some solid front courts listed out. You just tell me. I mean, we’re gonna go rapid fire. Okay. And let’s assume health. Like, we’re going to assume everybody’s healthy ally all the time, which is obviously you got to play that game when you’re getting the offseason. I’m going to give you a front court and you tell me if you would straight up trade everybody in the Thunder front court for exactly this front court. Okay. Okay. I’m in. So, I’m going to start off with my team who I think is one of the top three front courts in the NBA. You’re getting Anthony Davis, Derek Lively, Daniel Gaffford, PJ Washington, and I’m gonna throw Cooper flag in there because he’s gonna play the four. Cool. I’m not even going to explain myself and I’m gonna say Oklahoma City. Oh my lord. We’re already off. That is That is ridiculous. There is no way you would take that. Let me Now you can’t explain yourself because I think that is ridiculous. Okay, I I will just for this one explain myself. And here’s why. Um, you know how high I am on chat. You asked me, you asked me right before the draft, would I trade Chad for the number one pick and take Cooper Flag? And I said no. And that is not a again not a disc for Cooper Flag. I think you’re high on Flag. You said it in our last episode. Totally. Yeah. So, I’m extremely high on chat. I’m high on Lively. I don’t really care. I think Gaffford’s a good player. I think he’s kind of towards the end of his career. I think AD’s towards the end of his career. Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. Did you say Daniel Gaffford’s toward the end of his career? Well, sorry. Sorry. Not end of his No, no, no. My bad. Let me rephrase. Not end of his career. I don’t see him being like a number two. Number three. Well, maybe number three. I don’t see him being a backup center that’s getting a ton of minutes for many more years. Maybe three, two, three. But asinine. Okay, that that’s that’s fine. Let me just tell you where. Ridiculous. No, that’s fine, dude. Let me just tell you where I’m at. Maybe part of it, too. I will admit I don’t watch every maps game. I probably don’t even watch half. So, I I’ve You just watched the four that we beat the Thunder in in the regular season. Well, the three the three. Yeah. Yeah. The three that you beat the Thunder in. Um I I I I just am not I’m just not a huge Gaffford guy. Don’t think he’s bad, but it’s whatever. Um so I like the youth of the Thunder Court and then I think Yeah. I I don’t know. I think like AD prime. Yes. But I’m not there with AD. If you had this front court, I mean 80 is better than anybody on the entire list. When healthy, he is a top five player in the NBA. Okay, if you had 80, Lively, Gaffford, PJ Washington, I’m not even going to put Cooper flag in there. If you had that four instead of Cadet, Hartenstein, Jay Will, and Sorber, you would be you’d win the next five championships easy. If crazy is we’re going to win the next six with these guys. This is I don’t even know if it’s worth going through the rest of this list if you just took OKC over Dallas. Uh, all right. How about this one? Denver, you get Jokic, Valenunis, and Aaron Gordon. I’ll take Denver. Okay. Milwaukee, you get Giannis and Miles Turner. I’ll take OKC. All right. I’m not going to go there. I’m taking Keep going, dude. Keep going. I don’t think there’s Cleveland, Allen, and Moy. Okay. Houston, Shangun, Capella, Adams, Jabari Smith. OKC, Minnesota, Rudy Goar, Julius, Randall, Nas, Reed. OKC, easy. Uh, San Antonio, Victor Wimyama. I And I’ll just stop there. You Yeah, I’ll take I’ll take San Antonio. Okay. Uh, Toronto. This one’s a funny one. I don’t know. Purle, Scotty Barnes, Brandon Ingram. I’ll take OKC. I think I’ll take OKC on that one. And I have a few more. I mean, there’s a few more in here like Orlando with Ben Caro. solid. But when window car Jr. and go Patad, they don’t move the needle. Yeah. Uh here’s my here’s my parting shot on this. So why I I get I sound crazy, but I I’ll also fully admit I’m a Homer. Um yeah, here’s where I’m at. I love Chat. I love Hart. I fully understand Hart might not be on the roster long. And then I’m crazy high on the potential of Sorberg defensively with Chat, but he hasn’t even played a game. No, I I get it. I get it. I get it. I get it, man. I do. I really do. And I think I I think you’re also just like acting like PJ Washington is a is a throwin there. He’s like No, I think ranking these All right, let’s do this. Let me Let me do this. And I’m gonna And now I’m stuck on this. Do it. Do it. Okay. If you’re ranking the best players when healthy of the group and we’re going to go Anthony Davis is in there, Derek Lively, Daniel Gaffford, PJ Washington. I’m gonna leave Cooper Flag out and then you’re going Chad Hartenstein, Jay Will. Okay. AD is number one. Win healthy. Andy Davis is the best player of that group. Chess number two. Yep. I would put Lively three. I would almost put I now I don’t watch much. I’d put Gaffford above Hartenstein. I think Gaffford See I I think this is kind of where we’re missing because I think and again some of it might just be lack of of watching. Like I actually wait hold on sorry sorry pause pause. I’d put PJ PJ as the next guy next best player in that group. So, I’d go 80 chat lively PJ. Yeah. Okay. So, three of the first four are match. Sure. See, I think that’s just where we’re off a little bit. Like I I I actually do think highly of PJ Washington. Like PJ’s the archetype of a guy like I want. Um but I I think we’re we’re just off with the Hartinstein with the Gaffford and kind of with the the PJ. Like I I would put Hartinstein right after I’d put Lively. And I would put Lively above him just because I think he’s super good and I think he’s young and he’s got a lot you would put Hardenstein above PJ Washington. I would personally, but again I’ve watched all of five Mavs games and last year the second half of the year I wasn’t even sure they were trying to win. Um but I just part of here’s part of the thing to me too. Hartinstein is one of two guys that Oklahoma City brought in. And what that guy did was push Oklahoma City over where they were before and got them to a title by addressing a really key issue, which was physicality on the boards. So, I just personally love the fit of Hartinstein in Oklahoma City. I think that he’s the best like lob threat we’ve ever had in Oklahoma City. I think he’s just incredible. I love the way he plays. Now, he didn’t play super well in the last series, but all the way through the playoffs, I thought there were moments where he looked like the best center on the court. Um, not with Yokic, of course. So, again, I I I fully understand it’s a homer. I get it. I just love I hope I hope the comments I hope the comments are lighting you up right now, dude. They will. They will. And I’m ready for it. Because if you think Hartstein is a good lob threat, if you watch one game of Daniel, I mean Gaffford is Gaffford and Lively and even even I mean obviously Anthony Davis. I think also I think people have forgotten how good Anthony Davis is because he was part of a Luca Donic trade and like I’m not going to dive into a full AD rant here, but like he in the in the playin game when he was not healthy and I know health is always a big issue. He scored 40 points and then the game I mean he won us the Atlanta Hawks. So, every game he just showed something different and I mean this year Go ahead. I feel like his debut for you guys was one of the most impressive center performances I’d seen outside of Yokic in forever against Houston. I’m I’m with you. I think AD is unbelievable. I just think again part of why I’m taking this as youth. Like it’s part of why I buy into the Thunder so much as a whole anyway is that they just won the title and they did it without many of these guys being at their peak. I personally think the biggest leap left on the Thunder is for Chad Homegrren. And if Chad does that, I think Chad is a potential top three center. Now, I’m not saying he will do it. I’m just saying if he will and he’s shown flashes, I’m going to bet on that guy 100% of the time, especially with how important the center position is getting. And everybody wants a center like chat on their team. So, it’s not I I get it. I get it. I probably objectively, if I wasn’t a Thunder fan, would answer that differently. But I love this group. I love this front court. I’m a huge fan of their potential. Golly, I can’t wait to watch our front court just put you guys on the ground next year. Dude, I can’t wait till no one on your team can dribble. We’re gonna get we’re going to get to so many different side points if we don’t move on from here. But u All right, look, we talked about the front courts. I think you’re absolutely crazy. I think they is a good front court. Uh let me ask you one question. Okay, so obviously we disagree on the Mavs. completely okay. I’m willing to hear that. So, talk to me. Look at OKC’s front court. You run through a few of those. Who would you take above OKC’s front court? Um, I would take obviously the Spurs. Anything with Wimi in it. I’m taking the Spurs over OKC’s front court. I’m taking Giannis and Miles Turner over OKC’s front court. And I maybe it’s just if I’m trying to make the playoffs next year, but um I’m the Cleveland one is interesting. I mean, you have Evan Mobley who was defensive player of the year, but Jared Allen is a guy that I don’t know if I can play him in the playoffs on a regular basis because he just doesn’t stretch the floor. I that one’s pretty close for me. I actually obviously Denver with Jokic, Dallas already talked about it. Atlanta’s interesting to me because Porzingis is like the same archetype as as Chad, but doesn’t have a a ceiling there. And then I love Jaylen Johnson and I really like Anka Kongwoo. Um, but he still has some room to grow. And then Houston, it depends on what Jabari Smith can turn into. And if you want to call KD a power forward, I don’t know. But and I I just don’t love Shenoon. I mean, I watched Shangon last year in the playoffs turn into I mean, it looked like one some of the worst basketball I’ve ever seen. Um the Minnesota like the three the threesome of Goar, Randall, and Nas Reed is more overall talented than I think all of OKC’s combined. But Chad and Hartenstein is a better playoff like deep run duo than I think a Gob Bear and Randall are. So I’m close on that one. Um I only listed like ones I would take like I’m not taking Walker Kesler and Liinan over over what OKC does. But Right. So really our our big difference is Dallas and Milwaukee. Milwaukee. Yeah. And well no we both agreed on San Antonio. Yeah, that’s probably where I’ where I’ i’d say the the forures and then the rest of them I think all have a case, but Sure. Sure. Okay, I can take that. So, front courts, we I’m sure we can dive into more position stuff uh as the offseason goes on because now we’re just sitting waiting for basketball, but you know, things we didn’t get talked about last podcast because they hadn’t happened yet. Uh the Clippers made two big moves um big relatively speaking, but Bradley Beal gets bought out from Phoenix. Chris Paul gets bought or Chris Paul goes back to the Clippers. um in what could be his last season. There’s rumors now that he’s going to try to keep playing, but I just don’t know how. Uh I said it on my last on the Mavs podcast, my last All Things Mavs podcast. I think the Clippers are like on paper a very dangerous team. They should be like the four seed in the Western Conference. I think they’re right below Denver and Houston now. Obviously OKC. Um, but I am a fan of Bradley Beal and I think Bradley Beal on the contract he got is a lot better of a player than what we’re going to get in Phoenix. Yeah, I completely agree. I think the possibility of Beal being like a sixth man is pretty interesting to me. I think he’s still got some juice left. I think defensively is where you might see some issues. He’s okay on ball, but seen him get blown by a little too bit in Phoenix. But coming off the bench for that salary, I think it’s like a musthave. Like that’s not something that you can pass up on. I like it. I’m actually getting higher on the Clippers as time goes by. I’ll always be a little worried about this just their collective age, but so old. But the talent is there. And if you look at last year, they really did end the last two to three months of the regular season. Probably is the second or third best team in the West. And if you don’t get a Aaron Gordon tipin dunk, they might yeah have met us in the Western Conference semi. So I’m definitely impressed by them. I think that Beal and Chris Paul to the Clippers is a pretty significant move. I think you’re asking the only problem is you’re asking a lot of Kawawaii on defense and you’re asking a lot of Zubat on defense and those are both great defenders. I mean, Zubat is I think one of the most underrated series in the league, but like if you’re starting, you’re starting Harden, you’re starting John Collins, who’s an iffy defender. Is Beal gonna start? Is it going to be Harden, Beal, Kawawaii, Collins, Zubats? I would I think so. Like I think that’s what I would do, but I I mean it’s really hard to tell. But I I will say the thing that you just mentioned about uh Zubox getting maybe a little too much defensive, you know, assignments put on him. Now, at least he’s got Lopez to back him up. So, I think, yeah, you you got some potential for him to have a few minutes of rest on the bench, especially during the regular season. And then you just hope you don’t run up against Joic in the first round of the playoffs again. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I think they’re if they’re healthy and if they’re if they’re all playing, I think they’re a top four seed in the West next year. And I I I said on my last show, I have the Mavs as five seed, so I think we’re going to get another Clippers Mavs first round matchup. I wouldn’t be shocked to see it. But um other thing that happened, I think the Aiden thing had happened last time we talked. We did. And we’re both kind of eh whatever on that. Like good better than what they had, but nothing crazy. The the one that especially for me being an Oklahoma State boy. Marcus Smart goes to goes to the Lakers on a buyout. And of course, they just luck into another like solid piece. Now, here’s my thing on Marcus Smart. Look at his games played the last two years. Last year, I think he played 20 games. The year before that, I think he played 25 games. like he is not the defensive player of the year that he was in 2019 or whatever it was when he won it with Boston. But again, it’s another better than anything they had. And he’s a guy that I think anybody can play next to Luca, but he is a guy that can definitely play next to Luca. Well, and I’m curious. I don’t actually know the situation. When he ended up in Washington last year, was he injured or did they just not play him because they were tanking? It was probably a mix of both. It was like he was slightly injured. He probably could have played if they were playing for anything, but like why why would you play for anything if you’re Washington at that point? Yeah, I I’m super high on this move. Like I think for what you gave up, he is like you said, he’s not the defensive player of the year anymore. But you have to do some serious covering up with a team of LeBron James and Luca Donuchets defensively. And I think Marcus Smart goes a long way to do that, especially if Luca is able to just give a little more effort defensively and he’s in a little better shape and able to do that. I think with Smart, the Lakers, you know, they still have a depth issue, but now they’re a team that I’m looking at in the West to make a little bit of noise with the talent they’ve got. Yeah. Also, Reeves, I mean, it’s I think you have to start smart and you have to go I guess I agree. I I think you go smart, Luca, Reeves, LeBron, Aiden, and Yeah, Smart’s Smart’s got a heavy load on his plate for that one, but we’ll see. I think he’s up to it if he’s healthy. Yeah, I mean, this is probably a crazy take, but I I almost think there’s a world where you should bring Reeves off the bench. I I just don’t think he’ll he’ll I mean, he’s he’s due for another contract. He’s just not gonna he’s not going to accept it. And if he does, make him mad, and you’re going to have to trade him at the deadline. No, I agree. That’s I don’t I don’t think it happens, but we’ll see an OU and Oklahoma State guy on the court starting in sharing a starting lineup next year. That could be I don’t know if that’s ever happened. I can’t think of anyone else. Not that I can think of off the top of my head, but I’m sure there’s somebody. Yeah, good times. But in the comments, yeah, we’re probably forgetting somebody. But the other thing that I think could be interesting that’s been a little overblown because Mark Stein just posted a piece and I trust Mark Stein with my NBA info life. Um, there was talk about the Bulls not being able to trade Vousvich. If they can’t trade Vousvich, then they’re just going to buy him out. That was way overblown. It doesn’t sound like they’re actually going to blow him out. they or blow him out. They’re going to they’re going to buy him out. I It sounds like they’re actually going to hold on to him until the trade deadline and then see if they can move him by then. And it’s crazy to me that they can’t move him because I mean he’s a 20 and 10 guy still. Even though the Bulls stink, but if he were to get bought out, it’s almost you almost have to lock in. It’s either the Lakers or the Warriors that he’s going to at that point. Yep. Absolutely. No, I I don’t get why they can’t get rid of him. I mean, we’ve seen way worse centers moved this off season for more. So, I I just yeah, I don’t get it for the don’t understand it for the life of me, but I think he’s a guy worth having. I think him at Golden State would be something that starts to scare me a little bit because even if Golden State Horford, I’m not that worried about Golden State with Horford, but I would think Busousvich to Golden State makes quite a bit of sense. Vousvich moves moves the needle a little more for Golden State than Al Horford does. Um, and then still the reason and we’ll kind of kind of transition to our free agent discussion, but like the reason the the Warriors haven’t made a move is because this Kaminga thing has just not been wrapped up. They can’t figure it out. Uh, he wants more money than the Warriors are willing to pay him. And more than I think most teams should be will I don’t think he’s that good. I I’m not high on Kaminga at all. Am I crazy? No, I don’t I don’t think you’re crazy. I was actually hoping you could convince me to be high on Kaminga. I think that he shows flashes at times, but no one want like the the narrative’s out on him. If Kerr doesn’t like him, yeah, he might be athletic. He might offer something that a lot of players don’t have, but that’s not the kind of guy that I think people are going to be jumping at the opportunity for, especially if he ends up with a slightly higher contract than the Golden State Warriors think he’s worth. Well, and the only team that really is like interested in it, well, there’s two teams. It’s like the Suns and the Kings. And the Kings have to be like the wasteland of players that don’t make a lot of sense in today. Like Zack Lavine is a is a chucker and he’s athletic. That’s about it. Demar D Rozan is a mid-range king. Nobody needs mid-range guys anymore. Uh they’re getting Dennis Schroeder. They’re overpaying him to run point for them. Damontto Sabonis is a back to the basket like rebound center guy and then what they’re going to go get Kaminga. Like that team just I don’t know what their vision is. I guess Yeah. It’s almost Yeah, it’s almost like they want to win 40 games a year. I know. They’re a they’re playing they’re they’re like the Hawks of the West now. The Hawks have gotten better, but the Hawks of the West in that they’re just gonna be in the playing every year for the next three to five years. Yeah, they’re they’re the Western Bulls. Yeah. Yeah. Bulls. That’s a better team. Speaking of Bulls, uh another restricted guy, Josh Giddy sounds like I still think he ends up going back to Chicago. Uh, it’s just crazy to me that none of these, like Josh Giddy, Cam Thomas, Thomas, Jonathan Kaminga, Quinton Grimes are all restricted guys that just can’t seem to close a contract and go back to where they were going to be. Yeah, I the Giddy one is extremely weird to me because I don’t see why they’re not offering him basically whatever he wants. They knew in trading for him that they were going to be in these discussions one year later. And you don’t trade Alex Caruso for a one-year Josh Giddy rental. You have to think that he’s got something worth building around. And I think he does. When he got starting minutes towards the end of the season, I thought he played extremely well. I like Josh Giddy. He has flaws, but I think that he’s the kind of guy that if you’re trying to build around and build a team in Chicago, he’s the guy I would get. Well, and they traded Lonzo Ball, so they they still have like that’s not that Lonzo was playing a ton of minutes or anything, but that’s another point guard that’s not on the team. I think they got to figure out something with Kobe White. I would love Kobe White in Dallas. I think every Mavs fan would, but I just don’t think they’re going to trade him. Um, Cam Thomas, not gend. He’s a guy that wants starter money and big star money, and he’s a guy that’s only ever put up big numbers on a bad team. I think he’d be a great six-man on a contender, but it just there’s no there’s no team that can give him money. Um, so he’s not going anywhere. Quinton Grimes, I think, deserves to get paid a little bit more, I think. And I think as Mavs fans, like, we see now why they had to trade him because he’s expecting to get like $25 million. and the Mads they had signed Quinton Grimes for or kept him didn’t trade for Caleb Martin like they would have been in a a pinch trying to keep Quinton Grimes around. U let’s get to the more interesting one. There’s three point guards still on the market unrestricted guys. Malcolm Brogden, Russell Westbrook, Ben Simmons, rumors swirling around Ben Simmons potentially going to Boston. The only one I want to spend time on right now is Westbrook. Like it why? Let me ask you this. Chris Paul back to the LA Clippers. Dame back to Portland. Why is nobody at least thinking about a Westbrook back to OKC reunion in these Twilight years? Well, somebody’s thinking about it and it’s me. I am obsessed with the idea. I think it’d be very fun. Obviously, you need to clear a roster spraw, but I’m fine giving Isaiah Jail away from Russell Westbrook. Realistically, Russell Westbrook is probably not coming back to Oklahoma City. as hard as that is to to stomach. But I don’t for the life of me understand why there’s not more of a push for him by a lot of teams that need some ball handling. I thought he had overall a pretty good playoffs. Russell Westbrook is the most hot or cold player on planet Earth. He’s been like that since he was in Oklahoma City in his prime. He had crazy games where he did crazy things, but he’s still got a lot of what made him great. He’s still somehow pretty explosive athletically. He does make dumb decisions still, but I thought he played an unbelievable series against the Clippers, and I just Yeah. can’t figure out why no one’s jumping at the opportunity for that. Yeah, I think I the favorites to land him are the Sacramento Kings again. I mean, they just keep popping up with all these random free agents. Uh I would hate for him to be in Sacramento. I just don’t think it’d be very fun to watch. I still think the team that makes the most sense for him. I don’t think it’s going to happen now, is Milwaukee. I think he’d be awesome in Milwaukee even though they got Cole Anthony. Um I do think he would be great in Milwaukee, but it just doesn’t it doesn’t sound like it’s gonna happen. But um that kind of lets us I mean talk about the Bucks. We’re going to get into this final little segment here. Talk a little bit about our Eastern Conference teams, where we have teams, where we have them tiered off. Did the same thing with the West. If you want to go watch that episode, it’s probably somewhere down in the comments or something like that. Um but I think we each did what, five tiers. And spoiler alert, the fifth tier is the Brooklyn Nets with the ugliest roster I’ve ever seen. Let’s start at the bottom just for now, just just because we’re talking about the Brooklyn Nets. Just the draft. They drafted like six point guards. I mean, I like Jerger Demon. Uh I like Nolan Trayori. I That’s about it. I I think I mean Danny Wolf is interesting. Uh, they have Drew Timmy, but Brooklyn has to be and now they have Michael Porter. Michael Porter Jr. might get 35 shots a game. I think that’s I I do not understand it. When that draft night started, I almost guaranteed that they were going to trade at least two of those first rounders out. And if you had told me, hey, they’re going to pick all five, never in my life did I think they would have used four of the five on guards. I’m with you on Demond. I like him a lot. Besides that, I don’t think any of those guys are massive needle movers. Just immediately, they obviously could turn into that, but I just don’t even know what the dynamic of this team is going to be like. You’ve got four rookies that are all playing similar positions, fighting for contracts, fighting for time. I just don’t see it. Well, the thing with the lottery now and I mean we just saw it the Mavs winning the lottery with the 11th pick. Like they’re going to go out and tank next season and they want probably AJ Deansa. Uh I think that’s how you say his last name. But like there’s no guarantee they’re going to get it. So they could be in a in a dark place. So that’s the that’s the last team. Let’s actually start at the top. Like legitimately I think we both have two teams here at the top that we both agree on. We both put the Cavs and the Knicks up there. And assuming health, again, that’s what we’re kind of doing for the most part, assuming health. Like, I just don’t see how any other teams crack that top two. Yeah, I tend to agree. Specifically, I’m pretty high on the Knicks. I like the Jordan Clarkson deal. I like the Yabule deal. I think that they’re both pretty good fits for New York. I feel like New York was just one or two depth guys away from being in the finals last year. And I find it extremely hard to believe that the East is going to be more difficult to get through next year than it was this year. I think they could walk into the Eastern Conference Finals with the team and the roster that they’ve put together. Well, and with the Cavs, I mean, the Cavs are going to be their biggest opponent. Like, it’s a good thing they got Lonzo Ball because Darius Garland’s going to miss like the first two months of the season or something like that. And so, but Lonzo Ball’s not a guaranteed health guy either. and they go out and they get Larry Nance who like I don’t know whatever probably just kind of returning to to Cleveland kind of a late uh depth piece. Uh there’s rumors they might move Desmond Bane but since they since they moved Isaac Aoro apparently they don’t aren’t looking to move Bane or not Desmond Bane Dean Wade, sorry. Uh they’re not looking to move Dean Wade as much. But yeah, I think the Cavs are just they got to rely heavy on defense. I think they’re also getting a full season, you know, they’re getting a full season of DeAndre Hunter who they traded for last year. that felt like a really random trade for the Hawks to do, but Cleveland getting him I think was awesome. Um, so yeah, I think Cavs and Knicks, I think that’s primed to be the Eastern Conference Finals again next season. But the second tier, we both uh we disagree on a couple things. So the one teams we agree on, we’ve got the Pistons, the Hawks, and the Magic. We we agree on all three of those. I think I really love what the Hawks did. I know a lot of like it’s like the NBA nerd pick to have the Hawks high on the Eastern Conference. Um, Pistons bounce back well from losing Shruder. They go and get Duncan Robinson, uh, Caris Levert, they lose Tim Hardway Jr. also. Um, and then the Magic, A+ off seasonason for the Magic, I think. Uh, Tyus Jones trade for Desmond Bane. They lose Cole Anthony Casey. They drafted Jace Richardson, who I really like as a as a backup point guard. Uh, but then the teams we disagree on. I’ve got the I’ve got the Milwaukee Bucks up there and you’ve got the 76ers. So tell me tell me your thoughts on the Sixers here. Yeah, I mean the 76ers pick is is entirely dependent on potential and health. I think if if I were to sit here and tell you right now, hey, Paul George and Joel Embiid are going to be healthy for 70 games this season, they’re going to go into the playoffs healthy. I I think that we would think in this East they’ve got a good shot to make a run. Now, do I think that’s going to happen? Not at all. But if the 76ers are healthy, they’re they’re probably the most talented team in the East. They’re up there. Uh I I’d probably give the Knicks I’d give the Knicks a slight edge, I think. But Embiid’s I mean, people forget Embiid just won an MVP. Like, it might have been a sympathy MVP, but he still won it. Uh I think Tyrese Maxi is amazing. I really love Jared McCain. Uh if they bring back Quinton Grimes, I think it’s a good piece. Um, but because of what you said, because of health and because I don’t know what I mean, even when Paul George was healthy last year, he didn’t look good. Sure. Um, so because of that, I’m putting the Bucks a slight edge higher for two reasons. Jiannis Antenna Kmpo and Miles Turner is the front court. Who is giving who’s going to score on that team? Like against that team, I mean, and I like the Cole Anthony pickup. Uh, I think it was it was perfect. their depth and their overall roster is a gigantic question mark. I mean, I honestly can’t even tell you that many other players on the team that are are are needle movers. I mean, I’m about to look at their roster right now just so I can I can go through it, but I’m a big believer in Giannis. And if I had to make an early MVP pick, I’m actually going with Giannis because I think he’s gonna have a huge year. Yeah. No, I I put a little asterisk down. I have the Bucks one tier lower than Jimmy does, but it’s it’s right there. They were right on the edge to me. The only reason I didn’t put them there is I have seen the Bucks fall short in the playoffs early with Giannis before specifically. You look at this year now. Yeah, they lost to the Pacers and the Pacers ended up going to the finals, but I don’t know. I just I I actually like some of the moves the Bucks made. I think that the Bucks overall did the right thing. I know that they’re getting so much flack for what they did with Damen Lillard, but at the end of the day, they kept Giannis, which has to be the most important thing. you kept arguably the the first, second, third best player on planet Earth. So, they did their job and I I like some of the pickups as well. So, I I think they’re right there. If they end up making a run, I won’t be surprised at all. But just their lack of depth and again seeing Giannis fall short when he’s had to carry literally everybody on his team before kind of kept me from putting them in that that second tier. That’s a team that I would have my eye on at the trade deadline to make Yep. some other move. Uh, I think Koozma probably gets moved probably at the deadline for something unless he has a bounceback year, but he was really bad last year. Um, Koozma in that in that first round pick does intrigue me. If you trade that last pick that you have available with Koosma because, you know, a 2030 2021 9 2030 Bucks pick looks pretty appealing to me right now. So, if I’m a team and you’re offering me that and Koosma, they might actually be able to get a needle mover. And if that’s the case, I would say the East needs to watch out. Yeah. Uh, so third tier for me, that’s where I dropped the 76ers because I just don’t believe in in Paul George anymore and I don’t believe in in Joel Emb’s health. I I have the Hornets here. I have the Heat here and I have the Raptors here. Um, and then you’ve got Go ahead. Who do you have? Yeah, so I’ve got the the Bucks there like we said. I’ve got the Heat as well, the Hornets and then that’s where I’ve slotted the Celtics. Okay. So, let’s spend a little bit of time with the on the Hornets because I think we’re both decently high on the Hornets, at least being a 13. I think they’re they should be a playin team all things considered. Like, they have a very interesting team. They had a very fun off season. Uh, a very white off seasonason. They went and got Canipple. They got Pat Coneton. They traded for G, not Gordon Hayward, uh, Pat Coneton. They Gordon Hayward OKC’s. Yeah. They brought Mason Plumbley back. Um, and then there’s one other they made. They Yeah, they picked up Colin Sexton. And then they drafted Brian Cochrin, too, who’s who I think is solid. So, that’s a team that I hopefully they can just put it all together. It just depends on if LaMelo Ball can keep his head on straight and and play winning basketball, honestly. Yeah, I I’m very high on them. I think they had one of the best drafts that anyone had this year. And I think that the key, like you said, is LaMelo Ball’s health. I now think they have pieces that they can play around him, but LaMelo’s got to be there. If LaMelo plays 60 plus games with Ston and some of these rookies contributing, I think they could be a very fun team to watch. And with the lack of depth in the East, I actually think they could make a bit of a run. I think so, too. Also, Brandon Miller, I mean, Brandon Miller went out super early last season. I think he’s going to have a good bounceback year. Um, now a team we disagree on, you’ve got the Celtics here. I I put the Celtics all the way down to four. Uh my tier four, um which might as well be last because Brooklyn’s in its own tier. But I mean, obviously you’re not high on the Celtics, but you’re higher than me. So what’s where’s your head at with the Celtics? Yeah, I mean part of me putting the Celtics there is just how bad the East is. They’ve still got Jaylen Brown. Jaylen Brown won the Finals MVP two years ago. I think Anthony Simons is okay. Like I think he’ll provide a little bit of a scoring punch for them. I just think with as as weak as the East is and you’ve got Derek White, you’ve still got Jaylen Brown, you’ve got Anthony Simons, yeah, there’s very very very little depth. You lose basically your entire front court, but I think they’ve got enough high-end talent to win enough games to be somewhere kind of in the middle of the East, maybe play in range. Could you guess who you like, don’t look at the roster. Who do you think their starting center is next season? I couldn’t tell you. It’s either Nemius Keada or Kada or Xavier Tilman. I think they have the worst front court in the entire NBA next season. They added Luca Garza. Is Luca Garza gonna play NBA minutes for this team? Um I I don’t know. And I I mean I like Simons, too. I think he’s okay, but they’re trying to trade him. Like they’re trying to flip him. Uh so I don’t know how high they are on him. Dude, maybe they can trade him for Jackson Hayes. I mean, god, the Lakers luck. They’d probably they’d get something out of Jackson Hayes. Um, I just I really think this Celtics team should take advantage of having their pick next year, shut everything down. I think come trade deadline, this is going to be a team that is looking in at the 11 seed. They’re right there and they just say, Jaylen Brown, you’re shutting down. Uh, we’re going all in on like Jordan Walsh is going to play a bunch of minutes for us. Uh, and they’re just gonna they’re going to go in all in on on the tank. I think George Nyang is starting for them. I mean, I just think they’re going to be a mess. Uh, yeah. No, I say like you said, Jaylen Brown is is a great player. We’re yet to see if he can be a number one. We’re going to find out really soon. He has been in the playoffs. Like you said, he won finals MVP. Jason Kidd called him the best player on the Celtics when we played him in the finals. Um, but I don’t know, man. I got him pretty low. Yeah. No, that’s fair. I think the the reason they’re moving off Anthony Simons or wanting to I think is probably because they’re trying to do exactly what you’re saying. Like I think he’s probably too good to play. Yeah, honestly, you’re probably right. Um so fourth fourth tier kind of a just a mess of teams. Wizards, Bulls, Pacers, Celtics for me. You’ve got the Bulls, Pacers, Raptors, Wizards. Um oh, that’s another team I guess we disagreed on. I have the Raptors a tier higher in three. I just think they’re a very intriguing team. I’m not going to spend a ton of time on them, but Emanuel Quickley is solid. RJ Barrett is solid. Brandon Ingram is solid. Yaka Purle is solid. Scotty Barnes is solid. I hated their draft. I did not like I don’t like Murray Boils, but y it’s whatever. I think if they would have gotten Malawatch, I would have even been even higher on them. Um but I think I think they’ve got a team that could make a little bit of noise in the East, at least that bottom half of the East. But um the only team I want to talk about here, we’re not gonna talk about the Pacers. We know they’re they have their pick. They’re gonna they should tank. They just don’t have anybody healthy. um the Wizards and I don’t didn’t think I’d ever want to spend any time on the Wizards, but like sneaky decent team in the East that like should want to tank but has like a weird set of veterans. They have CJ McCullum. They have Chris Middleton. Um they, you know, have Alex Sars coming back next year. Uh Buck Carrington is is a really fun young guy that I like a lot. Bill Alcoali is another young guy that I like a lot. Uh they go went out and got Malachi Brandham, AJ Johnson, Marvin Bagley, Justin Champini. Like again, Cory Kisser is another guy, but like if Smart had stayed there, I would have been like this is a weird like like a starting five with Smart, CJ, and Chris Middleton is like a bunch of savvy vets that could have made a little bit of noise in the bottom of the East, but they shouldn’t want to win is their thing. Yeah. No, I agree. I actually think they’ll be a very fun team to watch. I’m looking forward to watching the Wizards and I I actually like what they’re doing, I think, down the road. I think there’s potential for this team in the future, but um a whole lot of interesting kind of one-off pieces to me that won’t put them above, you know, 20 30 40 or 34 35 wins, which ironically might be enough to get them in the in the play in the East, but it sure might. Hey, I do want to ask you one thing. Yeah, hit me. This is just something I’ve been thinking about. Did the Pacers Are the Pacers just toast? I feel so bad for Pacers fans because their owner finally says, “Hey, I’m willing to go into the luxury tax. I’m going to pay the tax to keep this team together because of how deep they go.” I totally understand that you would be paying the tax unnecessarily this year because of the Hallebertton injury. But they let one injury and one guy being out for an entire year release Miles Turner, who I think is hands down a top three player on their team. And now it’s just it’s it’s the Pacers themselves have shown how hard it is to get back to the finals. And now I don’t know. What do you think long term? I just feel very bad for them. I think a lot of people I mean Seakum is is a really good number two. He’s not going to be a good number one next year. People are kind of like, oh well they have Andrew Nimhard, but like Nimhard was great in the playoffs in the finals. But if you look at his regular season stats, he was I mean he wasn’t what he was in the playoffs in the regular season. I think he’s I think he’s really good. An elite role player. I don’t think he’s a number two on a team that wants to make the playoffs. Um yeah, they need to they need to go get draft picks. They need to really focus on the development next year of Benedict Matan, Johnny Fury. Uh Jerus Walker is still a guy that we haven’t really seen blossom into what I thought he could blossom into coming out of the draft. If they can focus on that development, internal development, go get one more pick next year because they got their pick back. Yeah. um get a healthy Hallebertton, get a healthy obviously Andrew Nimhard’s healthy and then have seakcom like I still think they’ll be probably a top five team in the East on Tyres Halbertton’s next year, but they got to really focus in on some of this internal uh development that they that they need to do. But right, it just mean yeah, what you just said is the hard part for me. Like I agree. I think they probably will be a top five team in the East, but Pacers fans don’t want a top five team in the East anymore. They have been there. They were within 30 minutes of winning the NBA title. And now maybe the best you’re looking at is top four, top five. I don’t know. It’s just kind of heartbreaking that that injury moved the Pacers to where they’re at right now. Yeah. He’s got to hope that and Achilles tears have come so far. Like the the recovery from him has come so far that I think he’ll be back. But there’s also debate on is he really a number one on the best team in the NBA. I guess we’ll see if he has good enough number twos and number threes, which he almost did. But yeah, it’ll be a good question. So, I don’t know. We’ve gone like 45 minutes on this show. Yeah, there’s been so much to talk about, so much to unpack, but appreciate you guys tuning in. Make sure you subscribe, get in the comments. I think my goal for this channel, I really want to hit 5,000 subscribers. We’re getting close, inching closer every single day. Uh, go follow me at all_ththing_mavs on Twitter, on Tik Tok, on Instagram. Awesome. Tell them where they can find you. Yeah, all things OKC on Twitter and then you guys can follow. I just started up a Tik Tok account so you guys can follow there. All things OKC Thunder. So, look forward to seeing you guys there. Look forward to you guys all telling Jimmy how good OKC’s front court is. All right, basketball fans. Talk to you guys next time. [Music]

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