Best Lowkey Moves of the NBA Offseason

Best Lowkey Moves of the NBA Offseason

[Music] What is going on everybody? How is everybody doing today? Welcome back here to another episode of the Just Balling podcast. Today we are continuing talk throughout the NBA off season. And for today’s episode, I wanted to kind of go through the most underrated or under the radar pickups this off season in my opinion. We’re going to talk about a bunch today and just kind of either moves that I feel like aren’t talked about enough, maybe they went for like less than $45 million a year or maybe were just a throwin in a trade as well and I think could make maybe the most impact in the 2026 season. And the first move that I want to talk about was with the Atlanta Hawks. And we’re not going to talk about Luke Canard or Christophs Porzingis or Kill Alexander Walker as Newell. I want to talk about Caleb Houston who still is not under the additions on the NBA website. Um I believe it’s been officially announced. It’s kind of odd and even if you go to like basketball reference, he’s somebody that still has his team under the Orlando Magic. But I thought forgetting Caleb Houston a minimum contract is well worth the flyer for the Atlanta Hawks who were going into next year’s season with a lot of big additions from the 2025 offseason. Right. There’s just a bunch of guys that I just mentioned that I think can be exciting next year for Atlanta. But I think when you look at like the end of this roster, I’m most intrigued about Caleb Pus. Like even Sprack doesn’t have it. So maybe it’s not been like officially announced by the team. I’m sure Hawks fans can let me know. But you look at like Vic Cretchie who I think is a super underrated young player in this league. Potentially like the loss of Garrison Matthews in this role. Like Kobe Buffkin is still a super unknown player. Um especially with this three-point shot. It’s not a guarantee that Dyson Daniels will be an elite shooter next year or Zachary Ree Sache. These guys are going to still have ups and downs, es and flows throughout the season. I think it’s well worth the flyer for Caleb Houston, who’s got good size. I think he improved defensively last year. I think Orlando Magic fans um can also let me know their opinion on that. Uh but I thought there’s a really good volume of him being just a flatout solid three-point shooter. Now, over the last two seasons, in the 2024 regular season, he took 193 three-point attempts, shot 37% on those threes. He took four or he took 163-point attempts last year, 40% on those threes. And if I go back to like what Caleb Houston did at Michigan, he shot around 35%. He’s always kind of struggled inside the rim or excuse me, inside the three-point line. At the rim, the decision-making within the three-point line gets a little wonky. I feel like he just doesn’t know what to do sometimes and it ends up forcing shots. But I like the idea of him playing off of Trey Young. I don’t really know how many minutes Quinn Schneider will play him in the 20206 season given how kind of deep this team is on paper, especially with the plethora of wings and Jaylen Johnson being healthy again. You add Nikuel Alexander Walker. I hope there’s a path for Houston to play. Atlanta’s dealt with injuries over the last few years, so it’s not a guarantee that all these guys are going to be healthy, but I believe Houston playing off of um Trey Young could be beneficial to his game as well. By far the best playmaker, passer, and point guard he’s played with in his career. And that’s no disrespect to like a Markel Falter, Cole Anthony, or even a point guard Jaylen Suggs from the 2024 season. But Trey Young is in a completely different tier from those guys in terms of playmaking and initiating. So, I’m really intrigued about Caleb Houston, who it’s been reported that he signed a minimum contract with the Atlanta Hawks, still 22 years old, and I’m surprised there wasn’t a reunion in Orlando. I know that they are penny pitching at the moment with the Desmond Bane trade. Um, and speaking of Trey Young, just kind of a quick side note, I saw on Twitter some debate. I mean, it’s funny with the Trey Young Derek White, who would you rather build a team around debate? And it’s kind of funny. It’s been going around, too, with Kyrie Irving and Chris Paul. We’re in NBA offseason talk, right? So, I I guess the first thing I want to say, I probably should have did this at the opening of the pod and separated, but I mean, Trey Young may not be one of the 10 15 best players that you want to build a team around, but you can at least have that conversation. There will be no team that is ever going to build around a player like Derrick White. Is Derrick White as good of a complimentary piece and a supporting piece that you can get? Yes, 100%. for the defense, for the offball movement, the offensive and defensive rebounding. There are so many things that Derrick White does well that fits perfectly when you have a Jaylen Brown and a Jason Tatum. But if Derek White and Trey Young were like, you’re trying to build a team around one specific player, you really can’t build a team around Derek White. You’re building Derek White around other players. So Trey Young is somebody you can at least have that conversation with that I don’t think we can ever get there with Derek White. Would I take Yeah. 15 other guys that I would start a team with over Trey Young for sure. But I do think you can at least have Trey Young be your number one and your offensive engine, which you just can’t with Derek White. And we even saw Atlantic go to the conference finals in 21 with Trey Young as the guy there. Um, and then yeah, the Kyrie Chris Paul debate has been funny this offseason as well. I I’m always a Chris Paul guy and I think Chris Paul is somebody that can elevate your floor. We’ve seen no matter where he goes, New Orleans, Los Angeles, Houston, Phoenix, he makes them not like marginally better, just in a completely different tier in in terms of where they were before Chris Paul got there. Kyrie Irving is so good in that secondary scoring role that I think Chris Paul can be like the best player on your team. You’re probably going to have a limit on your ceiling. I don’t like we saw Kyrie as the best player on his team uh in Brooklyn in 2020, in Boston in 2019, and he’s just better suited in this role. We’ll see how he’s going to be when he comes back um this season with Anthony Davis there. Uh because I’m going to kind of go through the NBA offseason deals here. I don’t know if really Boston has like a deal that I love. I’m intrigued about Chris Buchche who uh is 32 years old. He was the last remaining piece from the uh the 2019 Raptor squad. I I I don’t know. Boston their main goal this offseason was to cut cost and that’s basically what they ended up doing. Um I don’t think like not really like Charlotte’s going to be a fascinating team next year with their lack of rim protection um defensive like on the defensive end like Trey Jones I think going back to Chicago is a good addition I I I would like to talk about. I don’t think it’s gotten any buzz just because Chicago’s been Chicago um for the last half decade and they haven’t really been a team to take serious now. Josh Giddy will inevitably be back in Chicago. I have no idea the dollar amount. I’m surprised that one hasn’t been done yet. That one and the Quinn Grimes one I’m kind of I’m fascinated to see how that plays out. Like is Josh Giddy going to get four years, three years? Is the number going to be closer to 20 million, 25, 30 million as like for Quitting Grimes. Why hasn’t he been signed yet? I mean, it’s almost a guarantee that his numbers will go down next year in Philly. But I don’t know. He’s he was so good in the second half. He’s played in big moments before with the Knicks and he’s exactly who you want around Paul George and Joel Embiid. It’s just they have so many guards right now and they’re already paying 90% of their cap space to Embiid, Maxi, and Paul George in 2026. And how does like ownership feel about this team being so expensive potentially going in the second apron and paying those repeater escalator taxes um for this team if you give Quinn Grimes $20 million a year? And Daryl Moore does have the leverage, too, because nobody can really give Quinn Grimes what he wants. Nobody has cap space right now. But I do like Trey Jones going back to the Chicago Bulls um on a three-year deal, I believe it was. Right. So Trey Jones will be making $8 million for the next two years. And then it has a non-G guarantee in the third year at around 4% 4.4% of the team’s total cap space. Trey Jones was a really solid player in the second half for the Bulls where I don’t know, I enjoyed watching the Bulls in the second half like Giddy Bales, Trey Jones. I thought like in Kobe White it was just like a run and gun style of offense. That’s why I really thought they were going to draft like a Derrick Queen who can replace Vuchic and just run up and down the floor. Not the quickest player in the world, but a a solid athlete if he can get like more into shape and can kind of play a fast style play like even like a 7 seconds because of the talented um vision and hands that he has for a big. But Trey Jones averaged 11 and a half points, five assists, three rebounds, 57% from the field, um 50% from three on low volume, solid free throw shooter. I thought had good court vision in the second half as well. and I think is going to be a good backup point guard next year. We kind of know who the number one is going to be. It’s going to be Josh Giddy. We know who the backup’s going to be and it’s going to be Trey Jones. Lonzo Ball isn’t in the in the picture anymore. IO has been kind of more in that offball role. Uh you still have Kobe White who’s kind of replaced Zack Lavine as that main shot creator, that main isolation player, pick and roll ball handler. When when you’re looking to as like a score first or you need a bucket, you go to Kobe White. You’re not going to Josh Giddy. But I do think he can kind of maintain the offense. He plays like his brother um Trey. And I do wish they like were a little bit more aggressive. And Trey Jones is 25 years old now. I was going to look up how old is Tai. Is he 30 yet? Uh Ty is 29. Uh but I do think there’s still room for growth uh in Trey Jones’s game. And they brought back Billy Donovan. So they’re going to continue to build that connection since they only spent 18 games together after he was included in that Zack Lavine trade. Um going forward, definitely one of my favorite moves this off seasonason when it terms of like a veteran minimum. Larry Nance Jr. um who was a little bit older coming out of Wyoming. I thought has been kind of an underrated big man over the last few years. He’s just not been on a lot of great teams like he spent time in the post LeBron Cavs teams. Um he spent time in Portland, New Orleans, and last year with Atlanta, but he was banged up. And I just think Larin is smart inside. He’s a good lob threat. He could be a solid rim protector, and he can somewhat space the floor. He’s not a great three-point shooter, but last year I thought there was some intriguing kind of improvements in his game. He took um 76 threes last year. He was on pace to shoot a careerhigh in three-point attempts. Uh and he shot 44% from three. Now, I’m sure if he ended up doubling those three-point attempts and he took around 150, he was not going to shoot 44% from three. But I do think um we’ve seen a track record from him. We’ve seen a good shot selection. Now, I think it a lot of that helps with what I was talking about earlier, being able to play with Trey Young. He’s going to play with Donovan Mitchell and Dary Scarwin, who are really good passers and playmakers and have good court vision and pick and roll and they’re pick and roll maestros themselves where I think Larinance is going to be massive upgrade in Cleveland where that’s a team that didn’t have a lot of big man depth. I feel like I mention it all the time, but like Tristan Thompson was like one of their listed big backup big man last year. Dean Wade sometimes had to be a small ball five. So, you have Mobley, you have Allen, and I think you’re getting a really rock solid piece at the center position. You just hope that Nance can stay healthy. Uh, he was relatively healthy. Missed around like what 17 games in 2023. He missed 21 games in 2024. He was in that Dejonte Murray trade. Um, in the 2024 offseason, yeah, I guess like Nance has never played above 70 games in his career. Um, even like at the end of the Cleveland days, he didn’t play a lot. He played uh 36 games for the Pelicans and the Blazers in 2022. Was he included in the CJ McCullum trade? Um I believe he was. Yes, he was. Um back in that 2022 deadline. So hopefully Nance can stay healthy. It’s going to be a completely scaled back role. He’s played around 20 minutes a night uh in the 2020s. So that may even be 15 minutes a night and the Cavs definitely could use him to stay healthy going forward um next season. I would say like for the Denver Nuggets, I think it could be talked about more um in Bruce Brown going back to Denver because Bruce Brown is not going to be looked as the player that got what $20 million from the Indiana Pacers um in that 2023 offseason. He came off a amazing finals run with the Denver Nuggets that season was a big part of them winning a title. Now, he signed I think roughly the veteran minimum with Denver next year. Um and it looks like he’ll be fully healthy um from training camp preseason start of the year. Uh yep, it’s a veteran minimum at $2.2 million. Um thank God for him that Toronto picked up that team option after the uh Seakum trade to have him as a trade asset. Uh cuz he played what 18 games yet in 2025. He ends up going to the Pelicans in the Brandon Ingram trade. Uh he was a solid three-point shooter for the Pelicans. Nothing special. Not enough sample to really make anything of it. But we saw him have the best year of his career in 2023 with the Nuggets where he averaged 11 and a half points, four rebounds, three and a half assists, shot 35% from three, 48% from the field. And something that we know is true that players that play with Nicole Joic do get a bump. They’re going to get better looks. They can get on passes that normally other guys if they’re cutting or slashing wouldn’t find them whatsoever. And he was so good for Denver um in that playoff run. He basically shot 50% plus from the field in round number one against the Suns in round number two uh in round number one, excuse me, against the Timberwolves against the Suns in two, uh Lakers in three and was still a very effective player against the Miami Heat in the NBA Finals. Was a good defender and is still just 28 years old. He’ll be 29 by the time the season starts. But I do think this is one of the more I think impactful veteran uh ven minimum free agency signings. I know everybody’s talking about Denver and Bruce Brown has definitely been talked about a little bit more than a Caleb Houston or a Larry Nance Jr., but I do think this could be an extreme differencemaker for somebody that what is the veteran minimum next year? You’re making 2% uh one and a half% of the team’s total cap space in 2026, which is kind of crazy. Now, I don’t love I didn’t love the Detroit Pistons off seasonason, but if you look deeper into the Duncan Robinson contract, it’s really a one-year deal, which is pretty fascinating. So, Duncan Robinson ends up signing. It was like a three-year deal worth $47 million. And you’re like, “What? That’s that’s a pretty penny for somebody of Duncan Robinson who’s been all over the place.” He had the best year of his career. I want to say in 2021, was it 21 or 22? Um, it was 2021 where he averages 13 points, shoots 40% from three, eight and a half attempts a night, and then he gets rewarded with that big contract because he hit free agency as an unrestricted free agent earlier given that he was undrafted coming out of Michigan. So he gets the bag and then basically turned into a negative contract over the next two years with the Miami Heat. Uh was a little bit better over the last two years. I think can have his moments defensively. Not somebody you can rely on being your point of attack defender sometimes can get lost a little bit in help but you know has extreme touch around the rim um and can be an elite shooter and if he’s around somebody like what he was in with Jimmy Butler who’s going to be Kate Cunningham who’s going to attract so much of the opposing team’s defense he’s going to get great looks. So, the Dungar Robinson contract is guaranteed $16 million next year, around 10.8% of the team’s cap. And then on like you you’ll see it’s 15.9 million reported for 2027, but only 2 million of that is guaranteed. So, they can wave them and they’re paying less than the veteran minimum in dead cap. And then none of that is guaranteed for 2028. So, they can guarantee in 2027 $15.9 million. Not a bad tradable contract whatsoever either. you can use that as maybe salary filler in a different deal. Maybe it’s at the 27 deadline or in the 26 offseason and you can also like um or the team can wave it as well. I don’t know the exact date. Um okay, so it’s guaranteed the 2 million is guaranteed. It gets fully guaranteed on January 10th of 2027, which is crazy. So yeah, team could acquire him next offseason and be out of that as well. So there could definitely be some type of um agreement. Doug Robinson could be $15 million to make a trade work in the offseason, but that team is not going to have to pay that uh full $15 million in the 2027 season either. So, I do think this is going to become one of the more interesting tradable contracts. Like Dungeon Robinson won’t I don’t think he’ll be as good as Malik Beasley was in 2025 for the Pistons in 2026. I think you can get 70 80% of Malikite Beasley though and then like I said can become something more in the 2027 off seasonason where now this can be or excuse me 2026 offseason where this is a legit tradable contract that’s appealing to get off of $15 million can easily match that into a contract but a team is like okay we don’t want to take back like say it was like a Duncan or Tobias Harris or something like that um say he was actually under contract but he’s not like somebody like that we’ll take back Duncan Robinson easily wave him we only have to pay $2 million um in ad money coming back. So, I think that Dougen Robinson contract is a lot better when more of the details came out and there’s not really much money guaranteed either. $18 million guaranteed of a $47 million year or $47 million contract. Um, it’s always funny going past the Warriors and what they’ve done this offseason and it’s NA for resigning, NA for additions and they lost Kavon Mooney. The Houston Rockets were very active this offseason. I guess if we’re talking about like extreme under the radar pickups, I’m intrigued about Josh Aogi in um Houston now, you want as much depth as you can get just because injuries will happen in the NBA. Um and there’s some older players, but also some younger players on Houston and they like to play a gritty physical style of defense that can result in injuries. You pick up Dorian Finny Smith this off seasonason who was reported a four-year deal. Only two million’s guaranteed in that. Um I think plenty of people have been talking about that for the right reasons. maybe Clink Capella for bad reasons. Did they really need him? But I like Josh Aki’s defense um for one and a half% of your team’s total cap. A veteran minimum basically. Um and I thought this was a nice flyer for Houston. They’re going to have to definitely get rid of somebody before the season starts. I believe they are out of roster spots if I quickly count this. Um six. No, no. They actually got 15 guaranteed contracts, bunch of two right now. So, they’re able to pull that off. Um which honestly gives them I think somebody with really good defensive upside. I mean, the offensive numbers aren’t great. The guy has been in and out of good shooting years for sure after being a first round pick out of uh GTech in the 2018 NBA draft, but I love what he’s able to do as a point of attack defender. It’s not like Houston needs this. Like I thought the Lakers should have taken a flyer on Josh Kogi, who um I thought would have been something they could use for sure. And I think even like Charlotte, like they didn’t really need him because they’ve added a lot this off season to their bench. But I I do think he’s able to guard guys at half court, be a switchable defender, can hold his own in the post. Yeah, the three-point shots can be inconsistent, but hey, if you need somebody to get you a stop, having him in your like at your disposal, especially in a playoff series where guys can get injured, who knows how this season can go for Houston and he can step up. Maybe there’s a couple games in the regular season where Jabari Smith maybe needs some time off or a man Thompson or Tari E. aki can kind of be a better defender than an Aaron Holidayiday, a Jeff Green, a JSawn Tate, uh some of the other veteran minimums you have on your contract. So obviously like you could talk about Kevin Durant, you could talk about the Jabari Smith extension or Van Void or Steven Adams, but I do think the one of the more under the radar pickups definitely could be Joshi. I’m intrigued about the Pacers center depth next year. Now they gave Isaiah Jackson, I believe, a full was it a fully three-year guaranteed contract um going forward? I believe so. And then they bring back James Wisman who I’m intrigued coming off the major injury. But then Jay Huff as well got traded. He’s got two years left on the deal. Basically 379,000 of the 2027 portion of this contract is uh guaranteed. Now I don’t know if Jhoff I don’t think he’s becoming like overrated, but there’s a lot of like highlight tapes of Jay-Hawk going on Twitter. And I know Pacers fans are very excited to watch him. I think there was a reason why. Like he got off to a great start last year and truly broke out. Like him and Scotty Pippen Jr. were really fun in the first couple months for Memphis. Now, you go over the course of the season, there were some maybe defensive issues. Can he really like anchor a team’s defense or is he much of a three-point shooter? And you look at maybe some of the All-Star break numbers like post and pre, I remember that like yeah, he struggled kind of after the All-Star break. I think he may have had an injury. Grizzlies fans, you can correct me if I’m wrong. Um, but I he’s just bounced around a ton and there’s a reason why, but I do think he proved that he could be a at least backup center in the NBA last year for uh Memphis. He’s not going to be your long-term starter in Indiana. I would be a little bit shocked if that ended up happening, but he could be a good rotational big that could space the floor. And I know Hal Burnern’s out next year. And with Miles Turner in Milwaukee, I don’t know how many games um they’re going to be super competitive in. Maybe they still end up winning 40 games. But the way Carile likes to play, I think Huff fits the system very well. He’s somebody that hustles 110% of the time. He’s going to get up and down the floor and he can get some really good looks. I think he could have definitely gotten a major bump playing with Tyresese Hallebertton, but the way that they’re going to play, no matter if it’s a make or miss on the defensive end, they’re going to get off and running and Huff can get to his spots to get some good open looks. So, I’m a fan of that pickup for sure this off seasonason. I don’t know if you can really consider any Lakers moves under the radar just because they they are the Los Angeles Lakers, the most talked about team in the NBA. They just extended Luca Donuch. I like the Jake Oravia pickup. Um, I don’t I can’t say that he’s going to be better than Dorian Finny Smith next year, but I’m more intrigued about Oravia in 2027 than I am about Finny Smith. He was inconsistent last year defensively. I don’t know if he could be like your main stopper on that end of the floor. I can’t confidently say that Marcus Smart will be as well given how much he’s been banged up over the last two years. Uh, and we’re definitely seeing him regress, but I do like the upside in Moravia who’s around like 66 or 66. I’m not going to say what’s in between 66 and 68. And then he’s able to shoot 38% from three last year in the second half with Sacramento, 44% in like not crazy volume um with Memphis prior to the trade, but I thought looked more comfortable, more aggressive in the second half last year for Sacramento. And I do think there’s a good player there. And honestly, like you kind of have to buy like I just talked about Jay Huff. Well, he’s not playing with Hallebertton, but you’re talking about like Caleb Houston with Trey Young, you’re talking about Larry Nance with Mitchell and Garland, and you’re talking about um Bruce Brown with Nicole Yokic. Moravia is gonna get some very good looks playing with Muka Donic, Austin Reeves, and LeBron James, which I think is gonna outse what he’s getting paid next year for what he’s actually going to be able to perform with. I think it’ll be more impactful than Jared Vanderbilt, at least offensively. Vincent offensively, Quibba offensively, smart offensively, connect offensively. Like, there’s a chance he’s the fifth most important offensive player. Um maybe sixth if uh depending how high you are on DeAndre Aiden next season. I don’t know. I don’t think I have like anything here for for the Grizzlies itself. Um I think Jollandelle is an interesting pickup, but isn’t I maybe it’s a slight upgrade defensively from Jay-Hoff, but uh probably more of a um but yeah, uh downgrade offensively. That’s what I was trying to say. I’m also intrigued about Simone Fonteo in uh Miami. So they basically got him in the signing trade with Duncan Robinson. So Detroit got off some money there. Fontio has one year left on the deal. I believe it’s around seven or excuse me $8.3 million. He was really good for a horrible Pistons team in 2024. He gets traded to Detroit. A lot of games where they’re just getting blown out. Um and he was really good offensively in a small sample size in 30 minutes a night. He averaged 15 points, 47 from the field, 42% from three. We also saw Malachi Flynn get a 50-point game in the 2024 second half with the Pistons. Um, and last year, uh, Pistons fans could probably attest like was not consistent on either end of the floor and had somewhat of a down year. Now, Feio is going to be 30 years old, which is kind of crazy at the start of this year, but obviously came over very late. But if there’s a team that could tap into the potential of Fontekio, like they did with DaVon Mitchell and like they’ve had with like Haywin Highmith and Duncan Robinson over the years, it it will be the Miami Heat. There’s no Jimmy Butler there. There’s no great facilitating point guard. I don’t know if Da’Von Mitchell will take that step or Tower Hero can take that step as like a true floor general, but I do think Fonteo is a slasher around Bam and Kell Wear. Somebody that could still be a solid three-point shooter. Um, should still get open looks there. Wouldn’t be surprised if he’s playing a decent amount in Miami next year in the rotation if you’re going to say Rosier is not going to be in the rotation. He’s a much more effective offensive player than Hayward Highmith, I believe. And he could be better next year offensively than definitely than Jame Hawz potentially more and P Larson and maybe even more than Nicole Yoic will probably be more polished offensively than Kasparus just given like a 10-year age gap there and could be a nice backup uh to Andrew Wiggins and Norman Powell coming off the bench. Milwaukee I think Ryan Rollins coming back like Ryan Rollins was probably one of my favorite players um last year under the radar just just a dog defensively. Um great point of attack defender, great story as well. He’s what a second round pick in the 2022 draft. He was in the Chris Paul trade, uh Jordan Pool trade, and then had a nice kind of like stint with Milwaukee in the first half of the year. Played a little bit more in the second half as well. Um good defender, shot 40% from three, very active um on both ends of the floor. Will crash the offensive defensive glass. We’ll see if he’s going to be like anything of a passer um and as a playmaker, or is he going to be more of a spot-up three-point shooter, which is fine. They need three and D pieces in Milwaukee. and Ryan Ron uh Ryan Rollins came back on a very cheap deal. They have point guard depth. It’s not like elite, right? It’s Kevin Porter Jr., Cole Anthony, and Ryan Rollins. None of those guys are anywhere close to what Damen Lord can be or was for Milwaukee. But Rollins is going to be making $4 million this year. Um $4 million next year and as a $4 million player option in 2028. They did give some player options like to Bobby Portoris this off seasonason, to Prince, to Harris, like to Sims. They that’s kind of how they operated this off seasonason which um I don’t know if that’s like how desperate teams operate but they wanted to give their guys chances for ops out opt outs but Ryan Rollins was somebody they were okay committing a guaranteed 2027 salary for and he was probably okay you know what I’m getting $8 million I can get $12 million but I think for less than two and a half% of the team’s total cap in 27 and 28 Ryan Rollins uh for someone that’s 23 is probably the most intriguing young player on this Bucks team they traded away AJ Johnson as much as I want to believe in Tyler Smith still. He didn’t play well in summer league. Livingston played well in summer league. So, we’ll see. But I think Rollins will be the only guy under the age of 24 or younger, including Andre Jackson that’ll play like in crunch time for them because they just haven’t really trusted Andre Jackson at times um going forward. I think like for the Knicks, Gershelli and Jordan Clarkson are probably too notable of signings for them um this offseason. I think the Thunder resigning AJ Mitchell on that three-year deal is another player that’s going to um exceed his his market value for sure. Um I think Trendan Watford was an interesting flyer for Philadelphia. Uh I kind of liked what I saw in Brooklyn last year. Came over from Portland. He was somebody that was um undrafted I believe in that 20 um one draft which I think had uh Reeves as undrafted in that class too. Um yep Reeves. Was Nas Reed in that class or was he a year later? No. Yet Naz Reed was a little bit earlier 2020. I’m reading a book called Hot Dog Money. Very interesting. I’m enjoying it a lot so far. Um it’s about a lot of like college scandals um in the 2000s, 2010s, and Reed’s name came up, not in like a terrible way. Um but Watford was pretty competitive as a um rotational big wing for the Nets last year. Um he’s shown that he can somewhat space the floor and the 76ers have a glaring hole at kind of like that position in between Paul George and Embiid. I don’t know if they’re going to throw out Paul George as a four next year. Um, can they trust Justin Edwards to play up? Can they trust Kelly Ubé to play up as well? Um, something that could definitely be out of position for some of those guys. I think Watford could definitely take I don’t know about the starting power forward role, but somebody that is playing north of 20 minutes a night because he can be somewhat of a good spotup three-point shooter around Joel Embiid. Um, he could put the ball on the ground. He could be active defensively and he can finish around the rim and be a solid lob threat if he’s running the pick and roll with Maxi McCain Grimes Edgecomb going forward. He’s never really been on a competitive team. I guess his best season was probably the 2022 Blazers. He won 27 games because the 23 Blazers, okay, they won 33 games and then he was part of the Nets the last two years. Um or the Nets in 2024 went 32 and 50 and we know the Nets last year uh were really bad. They go 26 and 56. So, this will be by far the best team that Watford’s been a part of. And I think he can end up being um a solid 76er for his contract going forward where um for you YouTube folks, you’ll see how bad the 76ers like cap sheet is with 90% of the team’s cap going to the top three of Embiid, George, and Maxi. And Watford is going to be making up 1.6. And then the club option in 2027, it’s a really good contract honestly uh for the upside Watford can provide them. and they also picked up Jabari Walker on a two-way as well. Um, I think for the Suns will be interesting next year for sure. I think they have a couple guys that can maybe um be intriguing as a potential like under the radar pickups from this off seasonason. How is Nigel Hayes Davis? Shout out like the Wisconsin Badger coming overseas. How is Colin Gillespie going to be in maybe a more involved role? They pick up Jordan Goodwin who low-key for the last year like better than Marcus Smart and the Lakers let him walk for Smart. Um, obviously you trust Smart’s defense and his veteran leadership as well. So, I think there’s a chance like some of those guards of or Colin Gillespian Goodwin can be worth more than the one and a half% of the team’s cap they’re making. Um, and Goodwin’s not even a fully guaranteed. And I think Nigel Hayes Davis is an intriguing one after watching some of his um, uh, his overseas film this off seasonason. Still a really good player. Um it’s going to be a different ballgame coming back, but if he could be a solid enough three-point shooter, he can have a spot for sure going forward in that Suns rotation. Um I would say anything else like this offseason super under the radar that I really liked. I mean, Wendy Waters in uh San Antonio just they need three-point shooting and they’re like I don’t know, you can go through a bunch of guys on this team like Wendy Waters has had moments in OKC um and even Golden State throughout stretches where he’s a really good like uh spot-up shooter, catch and shoot as well and you’re going through like I don’t think he’s ever going to he’s not going to crack the rotation to start off the season because I think they also have some intriguing guys with like David Jones Garcia and Riley Min who got two ways as well and I like Julian Champeni shot but I’m not surprised if so and Carter Bryant, Stefan Castle, um Cornette, Dylan Harper, or not Cornette, but Dylan Harper, Kell Johnson. That those are six guys that have major variance in their three-point shot. So, keep an eye on Woody Waters, but I’m not like super convinced he’ll be a big rotational piece. I like um Saj Mimuk Kawashev leaving San Antonio for the Toronto Raptor. There’s a team that also has like way too many guys over there, but they do lack a little bit of big man depth. They lose Jakapa Per or excuse me, they lose uh Chris Bucher to the Boston Celtics, but are you going to feel comfortable with Mobo at a five or Con Murray Boils at a small ball five to start off their careers? Um obviously Mobo was sophomore, but Sandro basically seven foot big that could shoot pretty solid from three. Just remember him torching my Knicks last year. Um I wonder what was the final numbers. I think he was like almost perfect from the field. I guarantee it was his high score game. Okay, so yeah, it was March 19th. Um in 19 minutes he scored 34 points. Um nine rebounds. He went six of seven from two, seven of seven from three. So 13 of 14 from the field and knocked down a single free throw. Now I just want to pull up the box score of this game cuz this was I think when Bronson was hurt with the ankle injury. Cat had 32 in this game. I remember this was like the sky was falling for for a lot of Knicks fans and you’re like okay this team is maybe a first round exit going forward. Yeah. But I think Sajjo is a very solid pickup for the Toronto Raptors. I mean he’s got 2.4 4 million guaranteed this year. He does have a player option next year. Sure, that could have been a little bit better of a contract if it was a club option. There’s just a lot of mounts to feed in Toronto. So, I’m not really sure if Sandro’s numbers will look a little bit better, or is he going to do some of the more non-box score popping numbers uh going forward? I mean, the Jazz, I don’t know why they traded for George. I guess they got two seconds for for Nyang and they traded some seconds this off seasonason. Um or the one in the Sexton deal, so they recoup some there. Um, I think for them it’s just I’m excited to watch the young guys play next year. Uh, for Washington too, just a lot of lot of guards, a lot of wings. We’ll see if McCullum and Middleton are on this team past the deadline. Maybe Malachi Branham something, but there’s like six other guys I’m more intrigued about in Washington next year over Malachi Branham. um in like the back court/ wings like I’m more intrigued about Trey Johnson, Will Riley, Bob Carrington, Bal Kobali, Cam Whitmore, AJ Johnson, Keshan George. That’s seven guys and maybe even Justin Champeny that’s eight. Um and then you still have Cory Kispert in there and Jamir Watkins on a 2-way. So yeah, I would say those are some of my more of the under the radar pickups that I like this offseason. To recap, Sancho Mamu Kawashev on like a oneplus one with the Toronto Raptors. I’m intrigued about Lindy Waters in San Antonio, but I also want to give some love. I should have mentioned before, Kelly Olwin as well, I think. Um, just another good big man um that could space the floor a little bit if he could stay healthy. We’ll see um behind Luke Cornet and obviously WBY. Um anything else? Uh or I’m just recapping. Yeah, I like Jordan Goodwin um in Phoenix and Colin Gillespie back there as well. I like Trendan Watford in Philadelphia. Um I like the AJ Mitchell extension with the with the Thunder. Um I liked the Bucks bringing back Ryan Rollins on a two plus one. The Miami Heat getting Simone Fonteio in the Duncan Robinson signing trade going forward. Um, I like the Lakers getting Jake Ravia this off seasonason for sure. Jay Huff in Indiana. Um, Josh Kogi in Houston. H just scroll past the Warriors page. I didn’t mind the Duncan Robinson contract. I think it’s now an underrated contract with that partial guarantee in 27. Bruce Brown in Denver. Um, Larry Nanch Jr. in Cleveland. Trey Jones in Chicago. And then the last one I believe was uh Caleb Houston in Atlanta. So that is going to be it for me. Hope you guys did enjoy this episode of the Just Bomb Podcast. If you did, I’d appreciate you leaving a thumbs up on YouTube. Uh hit that follow button on Spotify or Apple Podcast. If you’re not, um could really appreciate you also leaving a rating and review over there as well. Uh no audio pod on Friday. It’s just kind of the offseason schedule. There will be a YouTube video though. Uh probably another Sporco quiz. I think that it’s a fun offseason just random um video to do. And then when we get closer to the NBA season, probably um beginning of October, end of September, uh we will go back to maybe three to four, maybe even five audio pods a week, depending on if there’s a lot to talk about. I’m excited for the Euro Basket this year as well. That starts like mid to the end of August. So, we’re coming up on that. We’re we’re going to be able to watch like Luca and Joic and some of those guys play in the Euro Basket. A lot of good talent over there um as well. So, be on the lookout for that. Hope you guys enjoyed. Catch you guys in the next one. Peace. [Music]

In this episode of the JustBallin podcast, Matt breaks down his most underrated moves this offseason that starts with Caleb Houstan to the Hawks and ends with Mamuuu to the Raptors.

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