June 25, 2026 • 36 mins
On today's episode, Jason discusses the trade rumors linking Charlotte Hornets guard LaMelo Ball to the Minnesota Timberwolves and Toronto Raptors, whether the addition of LaMelo would be enough to keep Anthony Edwards happy in Minnesota, why good teams tend to pass on talented-yet-unserious players like Ball, why it's so hard to find a landing spot for Jaylen Brown that would allow him to both 'be the man' and still have enough to satisfy the needs of the Boston Celtics, whether teams like the New York Knicks, San Antonio Spurs and Oklahoma City Thunder have fundamentally changed the way NBA teams view roster building, and what to watch for in the World Cup matchup between USA and Turkiye.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:05):
This is straight Fire with Jason McIntire.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
What is up, firefan, It's me Jason McIntire, Straight over. Oh, Thursday,
June twenty fifth, we got USA Soccer and Action tonight
against Turkey. A. I didn't know Turkey changed the name
of its country from Turkey to Turkey.
Speaker 3 (00:28):
Ya.
Speaker 2 (00:29):
But that's how I'm told you need to pronounce it.
Now they play tonight, A's so fi. I'm not gonna
be there. We already went to the Paraguay game, you know,
empty the savings account just to get to the game.
I'll be watching with some buddies. We'll do a little
preview at the end of the pod regarding the World Cup.
But we got to open. Not with the NBA draft,
not with Austin Reeves new contract, not with Giannis hanging
(00:50):
out with bam Adebayo. But holy cow. As we record
this nearly midnight on the East Coast, reports emerging that
LaMelo Ball is close to being traded, yes, traded from Charlotte.
Two potential landing spots include a way for it, the
(01:12):
Minnesota Timberwolves and I guess the Toronto Raptors. I don't.
First of all, First of all, I do need to
admit that, as usual, your boy was just early. He
was not wrong. Fourteen months ago, before the Cooper Flag seepstakes,
remember the lottery balls, I said, if Charlotte wins the
(01:35):
lottery and they draft, they're gonna get Cooper Flag, they
should trade LaMelo Ball because I just don't think he's
a serious basketball player. And they didn't win the lottery,
but they ended up getting Kanka Nipple, who was pretty
frickin awesome, and Charlotte ends up making the play in
an unbelievable classic game. I forget who was against because
they don't show the play in stats, but he was
(01:58):
phenomenal in the red season and in the play in
they win, can Nipple was not good at all. He
got bench down the stretch and if memory serves, I
think it was like spring break was about to start.
But the Hornets got blasted in the second play in
game and they did not make the playoffs. But they're close.
They won forty four games, you know, and you got
(02:19):
a good core, Brandon Miller, Miles, Bridges, con K Nipple,
LaMelo Ball, you got a solid core.
Speaker 3 (02:25):
Right.
Speaker 2 (02:26):
The problem is LaMelo Ball, like I said, he's he's
like immensely talented but still plays in like a juvenile manner.
And I know that's crazy to say when he average
twenty seven and four, but when your point guard shooting
forty percent from the field, not great. I mean he's
shooting ten threes a game thirty six percent, and the
(02:46):
seven assists are great that the turnovers turnovers were way down,
so we saw growth on that front. But again, he's
a forty percent field goal shooter now two years in
a row, like because he takes horrible shots. And I
know he's twenty four turning twenty five this summer. He
can grow up a little bit. But what I'm wondering
is why the hell would the Minnesota Timberwolves want to
(03:07):
get in bed with Lamello Ball and Anthony Edwards. I mean,
they'll lead the league in exciting must see TV, but
I mean we talked about the Wolves going conference finals,
conference finals, and they regressed this year to the conference semifinals.
You might put him in the first round. It out
with LaMelo Ball, Like there's you only have one basketball guys.
(03:28):
Anthony Edwards is your guy. You build around him the
way the Knicks built around Brunson. You don't add another
high volume high usage guy in LaMelo ball. Now the
other question is, who the hell are you giving up,
because you're clearly not giving up j McDaniels or you've
got no wing defense, right, You're obviously not giving up
(03:49):
nas Reed because he's taking the place at Julius Randall,
who you just salary dumped, which leaves you with Rudy Gobert.
I guess. I mean, I didn't know there was a
market for Rudy Gobert. Honestly a little surprised that anyone
would be interested in him. You know, I know he
showed well. I think it was one game against Wenby,
(04:09):
but by and large he did not have a great postseason.
And he's the kind of guy where it's like, if
you're the Hornets, what do you do with Why would
you want him Rudy Gobert? Is he taking you to
the top? I mean, you could theoretically say, hey, we
just drafted Christian Anderson, the guard from Texas Tech, really
good shooter. We pair him with Kobe White like a
dual point guard deal. Canipple Miller were just missing a
(04:33):
room protector. Their defense stunk, So you get LaMelo and
his horrible defense off the court, and you upgrade the
defense significantly with Rudy Gobert. Then you've got guys like
Seon James trey Mann, like solid dudes. I think they drafted.
Did they draft Liam McKinney. No, that was a year ago.
I'm sorry. That was the Yukon the kid they drafted
a year ago. Overall, I like the Hans Seinbeck pick.
(04:57):
I don't know how much of a factor he'll be.
He's only twenty years old, but he put up big numbers.
Gives you front court flexibility. Rob, I listen, I'm up
for trading LaMelo. I don't see why the Wolves would
want him. I guess I could rock the idea of
Gobert going there and you know, improving them from a
forty four win team to maybe forty eight and their
(05:19):
top six. I think this is a better roster than
the Miami Heat half. And by the way, I did
you know, Rob, We've talked about this. Sometimes I need
to be delicate when I'm taking apart Cowherd's takes. But
he's got this take that Luca's always hurt. Luca's always hurt.
So I decided let me punch up the numbers. Hey, Google,
Gemini last four years. Who's played more games Luca or Jannis.
(05:42):
I mean, you could take a guess Luca's played more
games than Gianness in the last four years. So the
narrative is Lucas always hurt, but really it's Yanness. I mean,
I think the Heat probably should worry about that. So
if you factor that in, I definitely think the Hornets
with the addition of Gobert are better. I think, yeah,
better roster than the Miami Heat. So I think they've
contend for a top six spot.
Speaker 4 (06:04):
Yeah, this whole thing is kind of bizarre because you know,
we started we were texting before they started recording, and
it was just like, well, you know, if this reports
are accurate, it's Minnesota or it is Toronto, Like what
could either team offer that would be enticing to you?
Like we threw around the Rudygaubert you mentioned that it's
like you know, Brandon Ingram RJ. Bear, Well, you already
got Brandon Millier, got conk Nipple, and say what you
(06:26):
want about conkonndiple, but you know, they seem to like him,
and you would imagine they have their wings in the
future in those two guys. So it's like well, what
makes sense. And as you were talking, I'm over here
scourging the dark recesses of the Internet.
Speaker 3 (06:39):
Oh and I'm on.
Speaker 4 (06:40):
Social media and I see a couple of semi reputable
NBA insiders saying that number one, they think Minnesota is
it's theirs to lose, and number two that if this
were to happen, the expectation is that they would expand
the Julius Randall trade to make it a three team deal.
(07:01):
So you're getting rid of Julius Randall, potentially salary dumping
Dante DiVincenzo, and you're throwing in whatever first round picks
you have left.
Speaker 2 (07:10):
Wait, butit hold on, paus pause. Who were they salary
dumping DiVincenzo to I.
Speaker 4 (07:15):
Guess this in this situation would probably go to Charlotte
or to Chicago. Okay, so you're expanding this trade. And
then if that's the case, then in whatever forty eight
hours after Minnesota allegedly reportedly salary dumped Julius Randall, you
(07:36):
mean it telling me that Charlotte would then in turn
salary dump LaMelo Ball after he just had his healthiest
season basically of his career. He ended up playing seventy
two games before that, he had played forty seven twenty two,
thirty six. You know, I know that you're not very
high in him. I'm not very high on to him either.
To your point, I think he's an unserious basketball player.
I think it's hard for you to win at the
(07:57):
highest level if he's your your guy or one of
your founder pieces. But the talent is there, and I
don't see anybody just giving him away for you know,
two future first round picks like that doesn't make sense
to me either. This whole thing is bizarre, and maybe
it leads to a bigger conversation. We didn't even prepare
for this, but Front of the Show Brian Winhorst had
(08:19):
said on his most recent podcast episode after the Yannis
trade that he had been hearing for years that Anthony
Edwards is frustrated with Minnesota ever since they got rid
of Towns because without a legit second star next time,
he's been double teamed a lot, you know, and Julius Randall,
even though he is an All NBA All Star level player,
you know, at least at one point in his career,
(08:41):
is more of a black hole offensively, right, And the
two of them never really saw eye to eye, but
Wood Minnesota in this situation take a gamble on the
talent of lamellow ball because they are that afraid of
losing Anthony Edwards and him becoming the next Giannis here
in a year or two.
Speaker 2 (09:01):
Possibly The problem is, is Anthony Edwards gonna be excited
to see a ball hog chucker like LaMelo ball show up?
Speaker 3 (09:11):
Like?
Speaker 2 (09:11):
Is that an enticing Hey, hey, hey, I gotta stay now,
I gotta like If anything, this is probably gonna drive
him away. The other team mentioned in rob was the Raptors,
And you know, I'm not as bullish on this Raptors team.
I know they did push the Cavs to seven. They
won forty six games this year. Scotty Barnes, the Lynchpin, RJ. Barrett.
(09:32):
They did have some postseason injuries that kind of curtailed things.
It's interesting because this is a franchise. It's kind of
been irrelevant since Kawhi left. But Emmanuel Quickly was pretty
damn good. Yaka Pearl has been a major bus But
the kid, Murray Broyles they drafted in the front court
has been pretty good. Jamal shed had a good rookie year.
(09:53):
Jacobe Walter I just if Brandon Ingram is the guy,
I don't know what the I don't I just have
no clue at all, none what the Hornets are doing.
Brandon Ingram is one of these empty calories dudes who
does nothing but just shoot the basketball, no emotion. He's
not a leader. He's like a Kevin Durant light right.
KD scores a lot, Brandon Nerew scores a good amount.
(10:16):
Neither rebounds well, neither assists, neither does any of those.
Neither's a leader. I just it's tough for me to
get all fired up about anyone from the Raptors.
Speaker 4 (10:25):
Now.
Speaker 2 (10:25):
I am a little higher than market on RJ. Barrett,
who's still young. He just turned twenty six. He was
good with the Knicks, but you know, the second they
move off and they win the title, I don't totally know.
Speaker 3 (10:39):
Is he a two?
Speaker 2 (10:40):
Is he a three? I'd like him as a sixth man. Ideally,
I think he can be a bucket getter off the bench,
lefty from Duke. But again, Toronto also doesn't make a
lot of sense. Rob.
Speaker 4 (10:50):
Yeah, I don't think a lot of teams make a
lot of sense for La mellow Ball. There's a reason
why maybe not this time last year, but late last
year we were doing one of these podcast and we
were trying to figure out, Hey, the Los Angeles Clippers,
I think we're five.
Speaker 3 (11:04):
And twenty at that point or something like that.
Speaker 4 (11:05):
We're trying to figure out what could they possibly do
to salvage this season? What are they gonna do? You know,
they're in salary cap purgatory. They have no draft picks,
they have an injured Kawhi Leonard, they have a washed
up James or you know, at that point, washed up
James Harden, you got zubots and what And one of
the things that you and I remember discussing on this
podcast was do you take a swing on a distressed
(11:26):
asset like a LaMelo ball?
Speaker 2 (11:28):
Wait, hold on, hold on? What Why are you calling
him distressed?
Speaker 4 (11:31):
Because at the time he had only he'd been averaging
like thirty five years old, because he was never playing,
you know, he has a bad attitude. Allegedly reported like like,
what can you do to just make a swing? And
credit to the Clippers, they didn't make that kind of move.
They got out of the hole. They ended up acquiring
you know, from Cleveland, what's his name? Oh my god,
(11:51):
I'm spacing on his name already, the guard Garland and
they got out of it, right, But that was nine
months ago, Like this is a different time now, LaMelo
Ball his value has been replenished somewhat, but the original
issues still remain. He's a chucker. He doesn't seem to
(12:14):
care about defense. He doesn't seem to take anything, including
his off court life, very seriously. Check his hitting run numbers,
just google it if you got time, and it's like,
what team, especially good team, is signing up for that
unless there's a level of desperation that we are just
not privy to.
Speaker 2 (12:33):
Yeah, I think you hit the nail and the head
with good. If I'm a good team, I don't think
LaMelo puts me over the top. I think if I'm
an average team that wants to make the leap, I
take a chance on LaMelo, which is what Toronto could
be doing. Hey, Scotty Barnes is like our quasi point guard,
but he's not really a point guard. Could we get
LaMelo there? It's just you know, John Morant had a
(12:55):
good run right in Memphis where I think they made
a couple conference semifinals. They got out of the first
round at least once or twice with John Moran, and
then he went sideways. I'm not saying LaMelo is gonna
go sideways, but in terms of similar player, you know,
John Morant was just basically Russell Westbrook attacking the rim,
and I would say LaMelo is essentially a version of
(13:18):
John Morant that just shoots a ton of three pointers, right,
because he does attack the rim and does some crafty
crazy layups and make some good passes, but he's just
out of control too often for me. I think he
would Anthony Edwards be frustrated playing with him.
Speaker 1 (13:31):
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Speaker 2 (13:43):
You know, there's more Jalen Brown chatter coming out from Chams.
It sounds like Boston's actively like looking around the league
to unload this guy. I don't know. There's no way
that Jalen Brown would be in some kind of deal
for LaMelo, right. I cannot imagine LaMelo Ball being a
Brad steven No way the kind of guy he covets.
(14:04):
And when Stevens says, hey, hey, this is the guy who's
gonna be our point. I don't.
Speaker 3 (14:08):
I don't.
Speaker 2 (14:08):
That doesn't make sense.
Speaker 4 (14:09):
Right, not at all, And depending on who you talk to,
Like Chris Mannix reported that there's an executive around the
league saying that Boston would like to get size and
that's the whole reason behind the Jalen Brown shopping that
if you have size, that's why they want to be honest,
But Brad Stevens himself said after the season ended, like
he didn't mention size specifically. He said, we need to
(14:30):
affect the rim. All we do is shoot too many threes.
Everything we do is about the three point. That's not
a way to win in today's NBA. In his opinion,
we need to get more points in the paint. We
need to get attacking the basket. And if you go
down the list of teams that you would think have
the requisite talent to require to acquire a Jalen Brown
and you look at the big guys they could potentially offer,
(14:52):
none of them are what you would consider to be
rim running, rim attacking type of players. Like Evan Mobley's
not really that, Chet Holmgren's not really that, Like what
about Rudy Gobert, but are you giving up Jalen Brown
for Rudy Gobert Gobert And I don't know, I maybe.
Speaker 3 (15:11):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (15:11):
So then it's like, all right, well then it's Jalen Brown.
Speaker 3 (15:14):
You know.
Speaker 4 (15:14):
The Pelicans apparently are shopping their wings around, like, but
are you happy turning Jalen Brown into Trey Murphy and.
Speaker 3 (15:21):
The other?
Speaker 4 (15:22):
Uh, the guy that everyone likes the Lakers. I'm space,
I'm saying all these names right now as no, the
the the wing player that everybody is linking in a trade, Herb,
Herb Jones, Jesus Christ. We're struggling hearing the over set
the Lakers that, I'm like, what the hell right, No,
We're We're But it's like, so rob, let.
Speaker 2 (15:40):
Me ask you this. So just hearing you out made
it sound like, is there a world where teams saw
Jalen Brunson built they built around him and it worked.
Dallas could not envision that the Nixon envision that. Could
the Celtics be like, well, shit, what if we just
built around Tatum and we gotsive guards, three point shooters
(16:02):
and a rim protector and we went that way? Like
I don't know, Evan Mobley as your room protector is
not the worst thing in the world. He's a good defender.
Jared Allen, you need obviously more than Jared Allen. Rudy
Gobert is interesting. I don't know that he fits in Boston.
But in reality, if you all of a sudden said
we're gonna put the tatums our the sun and everything's
(16:23):
going to revolve around him. Peyton Fritcher, Derek White, I
don't know. I wonder if teams are starting to think
the model was two stars, right, you need two stars?
What if the new model is one star? And as
you pointed out, I think you were the first person
who put me on this was og Narobi was like
lies in for the tip in. Oh my gosh, he's
(16:44):
so good, amazing. He's made zero All Star games in
his career. Like, wait a minute, what and they're winning
a title with him as their second best player. Oh,
so that's how you do it. You find your star,
your clutch guy, your brun and then you build the
right pieces around him and they don't have to be stars.
(17:05):
Carl Anson Town's obviously qualifies as a star. He technically
their second best player. But I think because he's so
good two ways I think OG's their second best player.
Who what do you think, rub.
Speaker 4 (17:16):
I think on a regular season night tonight, you probably
say Towns is the second best player. You know, but
in the playoffs, in the sixteen game season as well
eighty two game season, right, og Anenobi, for my money,
was throughout the playoffs fluctuating with Brunson and Kat as
the second best player. Because there were times throughout that
(17:36):
Atlanta series where Brunton was not the second best but
the best player.
Speaker 3 (17:39):
Right. There were times throughout.
Speaker 4 (17:40):
The Cleveland series Brunson was not the best player. Cat
was not like and I think it goes back to you.
Maybe it's what you're talking about here, is the days
of us having two stars and dudes is not sustainable anymore.
There's too much depth, there's too much good talent, and
the second apron sucks. So basically just screwed themselves exactly.
(18:02):
And so you look around and you're like, hey, you
know what, the Knicks, of course are the champions. But
San Antonio, OK. See, you know, even to a lesser
extent Indiana last season, it's like, well, if our best
player is good, of course you got to be like
an all NBA caliber guy, which Tatum is, and you
know Jalen Brunson is.
Speaker 3 (18:20):
But if our fourth.
Speaker 4 (18:21):
And fifth and sixth guys are all at least good players,
that might be the move. So maybe if you're Boston
and you're saying, hey, we got the Jays, we got
Derek White, we like Peyton Pritcher. But then it's like
everybody else is kind of on a good team, like
a ninth or tenth man. Maybe we can turn Jalen
Brown into rather than saying Chet or Evan Mobley, maybe
(18:42):
it is give us a couple of wings. Hey, maybe
Portland give us Shade and Sharp and give us Jeremy
Grant and give it like you know what I'm saying,
You get three or four dudes, and maybe that's the
way you got to attack this.
Speaker 2 (18:53):
So if you're the Lakers, just spitballing out loud. Luca
is your Brunson, but he didn't take a pay cut, right,
Reeves would have to kind of sort of be like
your Cat.
Speaker 3 (19:05):
Mm hmm.
Speaker 2 (19:06):
I don't know. Ree's just got that huge deal and
Cat is kind of all over the place. I don't
I don't think Reeves is as good overall as Cat,
but he can be right, if you need Reeves to
carry you for two weeks, I think he can. Right.
Speaker 3 (19:18):
He could be as good in his role as Cat
is in his role.
Speaker 4 (19:21):
Right.
Speaker 2 (19:21):
Okay, So then the Lakers need to find their OG
and an Obi.
Speaker 3 (19:25):
The macow Bridges and their Josh Hart.
Speaker 4 (19:28):
Uh, well, what about what I'm saying, Like, that's what That's
where the different the difficulty is. It's like, Hey, you
have your guys who you think can carry you on
a night to night basis, and one of them is
arguably the best player in the league. What you don't
have is the other guys that are gonna make up
for his deficiencies the same way all the Knicks guys
make up for Brunson, the way all the OKC make
up for Shay.
Speaker 2 (19:49):
So if you're the yeah, the Timberwolves actually kind of
sort of have that Anthony Edwards would be there Brunson,
Jaden McDaniels as their OG. I guess Gobert's nas Reed whoever,
and then they they de Vincenzo could have been their
Bridges or Hard and frankly, they were on the doorstep
right two years in a row Conference conference finals, So
(20:10):
I guess it can be done. I'm wondering if just
just speaking out loud, and I haven't really put this
down on paper or anything, but it almost if Jalen
Brown gets moved for a non superstar, I wonder if
we're entering the era where everybody's just gonna have one
star and then satellites around them. Is that where we're headed?
(20:34):
I mean, you and I like Austin Reez, he's not
like a superstar. No, like I think the heater building
it the wrong way with Giannis and Bam. Now you
could argue, well, they're doing it with they're doing defense
at first, they're gonna have Bobby Portis and look at
the length of defensively and Davion Mitchell. They're gonna win
with defense. Okay, fine, but you actually need to make
shots and they just don't have any shot makers. LaMelo
(20:59):
Ball is a shot maker, although you know, he hasn't
really been in the playoffs, so we don't know how
he's going to handle that crucible of oh my goodness,
it's you know, it's it's winning time. You're down eight
against Wemby runs a takeover like Lamello. I don't think
he's that guy. I do think Jalen Brown is getting
more interesting, Rob so his age, Yeah so. And unfortunately
(21:25):
he did that video from China where he was like,
oh yeah, you just give me the four hundred million.
I'll play here, no problem. Because I was gonna say,
like you could you have him for three more years
and then somebody could roll the dice and just say
our window is three years and then we're gonna we're
not gonna pay him because I don't want to be
paying Jalen Brown seventy million dollars when he's thirty four
years old. I just don't want to do that. Now.
(21:45):
He could still be awesome, and maybe you do, but
it's interesting, Toronto. Could you pair Jalen Brown, who's a
good defender, with Scottie Barnes and build around them that way?
I mean, that's a pretty formidable duo I think you
can make. I mean, Brown's an All NBA guy, he
was in the MVP race. Rob, He's very good. I
(22:07):
think you could build around Timmy. I mean it's not easy.
You remember that Nicks have been building about Brunton for
three years, you know.
Speaker 4 (22:16):
Yeah, Well, the thing with Jalen Brown and this is
something that as much as I applaud him for that
he wants to be the man, that he wants the pressure,
that he wants the success of the franchise to live
and die on his shoulders, and I totally appreciate. I
think there's something virtuous about that.
Speaker 3 (22:30):
Is if you're.
Speaker 4 (22:30):
Boston and you're not just gonna give him away for nothing,
You're like, I need something back that's gonna satisfy my
needs as well. So you go down the list and
it's like, well, okay, if I trade him to Houston, Like, well,
I guess, isn't that technically Kdi's team?
Speaker 3 (22:42):
Right?
Speaker 4 (22:43):
If I trade him to Detroit, well, that's that's CAD's team.
It's like, where can I send Jalen Brown where the
team that's acquiring him is gonna satisfy his needs to
be the man while also having the requisite pieces we
can send out to Boston to make them feel good
about it. So it's really New Orleans.
Speaker 2 (23:01):
New Orleans is going nowhere, but they've got some interesting
pieces like Trey Murphy, who is who could be the
next OG? And an Obi, right, I think you might
have compared to I did so. Somehow his name came
up recently and I was like, okay, no all star appearances,
but good numbers, good length, good wingspan. Herb Jones is like,
you know, Trey Murphy light, but you need you need
(23:23):
two of those guys. If I'm giving you a star,
I need two of those guys in return, right, absolutely,
And nobody's given you Herb Jones and Trey Murphy for
for Jalen Brown. I don't even know if the Pelicans
do something like that, but you start looking around. I
think I mentioned the Hawks on here. Let me ask
you this, Rob, what about the Dallas Mavericks. Well, no,
(23:44):
actually no, Kyrie would not. Kyrie would not go back there,
but it'd be interesting. Yeah, yeah, Now I don't know
Jaylen Brown. It's Cooper Flights franchise.
Speaker 4 (23:56):
I mean the team that I always liked objectively, even
as a Laker fan. I always liked the Clippers for
Jalen Brown with the fifth overall pick. Now they and
then why goes to the Clippers or whatever. But it's
like you have your star, he has his own team.
You have you have Darius Garle. We have some guys
there to fill out the rest of your roster, but
it's like he's in l a guy I think but
they made the fifth overall pick, so that you know
(24:18):
is moo at this point.
Speaker 2 (24:20):
So Portland did make the playoffs, got smashed by the uh.
Speaker 3 (24:27):
By Furst.
Speaker 2 (24:28):
Yeah it was one one and then Wenby was suspended
I think, or maybe he had the concussion. Yeah, it
was a concussion, Denny. Avdia is a real interesting piece.
I'm wondering if, if if you're Portland, do you take
a chance and say, you know what, we're not our
owner's cheap. I'm sure you saw the contract that yeah,
(24:48):
a one year deal with a sliding scale. It was
like whoa, whoa, whoa. That's that's freaking dark. But if
you if you're Portland, do you say, listen, we got
a lot of stuff, Scoot Holiday, Sharp Bible, a lot
of guys, but we don't have someone to pair with Ovdia.
Do you say, let's try a three year run of
Avdia plus Jalen Brown. We've got clinging, we could we
(25:10):
could sell off Robert Williams. Is that moderately interesting? I
don't think he'd want to go to Portland, but that
to me, at least Portland is an attractive team, not
not the owner's cheap. But I just saw Odia as
a horse bro.
Speaker 4 (25:25):
But if you're Poortland, don't you want to keep Avdya? Yeah,
you keep it and you try Avdia and Jalen Brown.
But then whose team is it then?
Speaker 2 (25:34):
I mean Avdya is only twenty four.
Speaker 4 (25:37):
I know, but it's the idea that that it's his team,
that he's the franchise player. I mean, like, I would
love to see Jalen Brown in Denver. I think that
Jamal Murray for Jalen Brown swaps felt fits a lot
of needs for both sides.
Speaker 2 (25:50):
But that's team Jamal Murray.
Speaker 3 (25:54):
For Brown.
Speaker 2 (25:55):
Well that's not bad, but again, the whole his team. Well, okay,
you go through the league, there's not a lot of
teams that don't have a guy. Wizards have their new guy.
Speaker 3 (26:05):
You want to go to the Kings like that?
Speaker 2 (26:07):
I mean, aren't there aren't they a cuffs team? Sixers
are taken, the Sons are Booker? Or you could say, hey,
we'll send you to Phoenix and give us Devin Booker.
Speaker 3 (26:19):
I like that.
Speaker 2 (26:21):
I mean, then then it would be your team. You
could play with Dylan the villain, Jalen Green, Mark Williams.
Good luck in the Yeah, I don't know if James
Brown make the playoffs in the next few years. But
like every teams, somebody's yeah, Detroit has a guy, the
Bulls have, Boozell's Caleb Wilson.
Speaker 3 (26:37):
I don't know.
Speaker 2 (26:39):
Brooklyn doesn't have a guy. Wait, Michael Porter Junior, No,
he was traded there. They don't have a guy. So yeah,
it's tough. It's going to be difficult to appease Jalen Brown.
But I definitely think NBA just got super spicy. By
the way, second round of the draft was not that interesting.
There was four million trades that happened. It was it
was almost like points to pay attention, right rob, because
(27:02):
as the draft pick happens, they're like, oh wait, there's
a trade. And then it's like this guy's getting rerouted
to two different teams and it's like, I mean, the
Lakers picked up a couple dudes the Knicks. I don't
know if the Knicks actually got any wonder they just
kept trading them once they got them because James Dolen
so cheap. But like, let's see here, who who are
the ones that Braiden Smith jumps out the Purdue kid
(27:25):
who set the record. Listen to this Braden Smith goes
from the Bowls and then he was traded to Indiana,
which actually is a good move, right the Pacers want
a guy from Purdue. You had the kid Isaiah Evans
from Duke. He goes to Brooklyn and has traded to Minnesota.
I'm sure he's thrilled to play with Anthony Edwards. You
(27:48):
had Bruce Thornton. I actually liked this pick by the
Knicks traded to Houston. He's a bucket from Ohio State.
But like almost every single guy once they drafted him,
was traded and so it's kind of it feels like
a waste to pay attention. Anything jump out of you
from the second round, Rob Well.
Speaker 4 (28:04):
The big story to me, of course, was the kid
from UNC falling almost out of the draft entirely right
vsar On Revasar Yeah, yeah, yeah. And the reason why
I thought that was just I mean again, he is
a seven footer with legitimate range. I could see why
he'd have value. He's also not very athletic. Who knows
(28:24):
if he can defend, you know, in space, so that's
probably why he fell. But what I found interesting is
coming into the draft, CBS Sports had reported that he
had an nil deal on the table for right around
five million dollars to come back to uncow that he
was going to be the preseason ACC Player of the Year,
and his management said, Nope, we're gonna go to the draft.
(28:45):
We're going to be a late lottery kind of guy.
Guarantee this amount of money. This is what we're gonna do.
And not only does he not going to lottery, he
doesn't go in the first round. He goes almost at
the end of the second round. So that, to me
is just a cautionary tale. Especially in the NL era,
there is no reason anymore for you to declare for
(29:05):
the NBA Draft early unless you are assured a top
twenty pick.
Speaker 2 (29:10):
So I don't totally disagree with that. But okay, so
he would have got five million in NIL, but he
was at Washington, so we would have had to transfer
somewhere else. So he was at UNC.
Speaker 3 (29:22):
He was at Carolina.
Speaker 2 (29:22):
Oh, he was at Carolina. I don't know why I
said Washington. So he's at Carolina and he's getting five
million dollars and then you've got to pretend to do
school for what from December through March, right while you're
really focused on basketball. He's already twenty two years old,
so you know, at the at the end of that year,
(29:43):
he would have been able to have been twenty three
for next year's draft, Like, is that really appealing? I
mean five million dollars is pretty nice. What's he gonna
gets the second round pick? Nothing guaranteed?
Speaker 4 (29:55):
Right, No, nothing guaranteed. He's probably gonna get maybe two.
Speaker 2 (30:00):
So he costs himself some money. Oh interesting?
Speaker 4 (30:05):
Like to me, I find that stuff more interesting than Hey,
did you see the guy who fell to number fifty five?
Speaker 2 (30:10):
You know, like that he cost himself money by going
to the league. But yeah, you get to be a pro. Now, now,
what where'd he get drafted?
Speaker 1 (30:16):
Again?
Speaker 2 (30:17):
He ended up going to the Atlanta Hawks. That it's
not a bad city. He he's a European, right.
Speaker 4 (30:24):
Yeah, And it is possible that he would have been drafted,
you know, maybe as high as forty or in that area.
But his agents said, hey, if we're already this far down,
we might as well steer you to a team where
there is a path to play. Yeah, and the one
thing the Atlanta Hawks do not have.
Speaker 3 (30:37):
Is a center.
Speaker 2 (30:38):
Yeah that that well, akong Wu, but he's.
Speaker 4 (30:41):
Six', nine you, know they don't have any other, centers
legitimate seven foot centers on their.
Speaker 2 (30:45):
Roster, yeah, okay all, Right SO, nba.
Speaker 4 (30:50):
You thought this was going to be a rough time FOR, Us,
man you thought, over what are we going to talk?
Speaker 3 (30:54):
About the off season is so much more.
Speaker 2 (30:56):
Interesting, oh it's, Popping, yeah, son fun week in THE, Nba,
man and we'll see Where LaMelo ends. Up and obviously
that will get us through the month for sure Into.
Speaker 1 (31:07):
July Fox Sports radio has the best sports talk lineup
in the. Nation catch all of our shows At Foxsports
radio dot com and within The iHeartRadio app SEARCH fsr
to listen.
Speaker 2 (31:19):
Live all, RIGHT i want to wrap up quickly With
World cup ACTION usa Versus TURKEY a. Tonight from so,
far the game means nothing for either, squad like truly.
Nothing TURKEY a is eliminated with two losses. Already THE
us is through with two. Victories nobody can pass The United.
States even If australia beat The, paraguay it won't. Matter
(31:43):
they'll be. TIED us beat them head to head AND
us wins a gold, differential so it doesn't. Matter THE
us is locked in for Next wednesday In Santa. Clara
And i've seen some, simulations they are very very likely
to Play. Bosnia now you can, Scoff, Oh, Bosnia we're
gonna steamroll, them. Guys they opened up The World cup
(32:04):
and actually looked decent in Tying canada IN i think
it was In. Vancouver then they came out and got
buried by The Swiss, swiss but bounced back with a
pretty handy win Over. Katar they did look very weak
against The swiss that there's no denying that they got
a red card in the eightieth. Minute after, that The
(32:27):
swiss scored three, Goals SO i mean this was a tight.
Game for eighty. Minutes bosnia had no. Offense THE xg
expected goals point two three For Bosnia switzerland two point zero,
six so they were expected to score two goals scored.
Four bosnia was expected to score a quarter of a
goal and got, One and you could scoff at. That
(32:49):
but these are just the advanced, stats. Guys this Is
i'm just telling, you that's what the advanced stats. Says
now Against, canada it was interesting Because bosnia scored early
And canada ended up making an unbelievable comeback and scored
in the seventy eighth minute in that. One THE xg
Was canada one point two to, Three bosnia point nine to,
(33:11):
six so a little bit. Closer and THEN i don't.
EVEN i don't. Even The qutar game doesn't really mean
a damn thing because It's. Katar that. Game we know
that means. Nothing qatar is a, horrible horrible. Team but
this is where you can. Look it's like three to
one was the, final but there was an own goal
that made it to nothing AND Xg bosnia less than a,
(33:34):
Goal so THE us will be. Favored make no, mistake
THE us will be healthy for that. Game, again this
is just assuming they Play bosnia regardless of what happens Against.
Turkiya but as a, RESULT i take no chances Against.
Turkya IF i Am, Pochettino i'm one thousand percent Resting.
PULISIC i know he said he's good to, go he's
going to be. Available there is no, upside nud to
(33:59):
play negative. Upside just sit him on the, bench rest
him and have him train and get ready for the next.
Speaker 1 (34:07):
ONE i.
Speaker 2 (34:09):
WOULD i would, actually let's see who got yellow cards
for THE us and that opener so it, was oh.
DAMN i can't find that very. Easily BUT i Know
Tyler adams is on a, yellow that's for, sure AND
i would Rest Tyler. ADAMS i would probably Rest weston.
McKinney i would one hundred percent rest Flow ball, AGAIN
i burned him, up and THEN i think you got
(34:30):
to honestly look at the defense and be, like all,
right what's the? Situation does anybody need? Rest Like freeman's
playing out of his, Mind tilman is playing exceptionally, well,
Guys i'm just saying there's you don't go with a
full bench. Lineup But, mexico who was in a similar,
situation played. Reserves the reserves were super excited to play
(34:54):
against a team that needed a win to get, in
And mexico won three, nothing and SO i think if
you put in SOME us reserves that they would be
totally amped up and fired up to try to generate.
GOALS i would also probably Rest Surginio. DESK i would
consider resting richards who gotta Knock. ROBINSON i would Well
(35:19):
Richardson robinson will definitely. Sit they both have. Yellows the
ues actually doesn't have many. Yellows, Oh balagan has a.
Yellow he's one hundred percent. SITTING i would like to,
see you, know some of some of these other. Guys
Joe scalley's only twenty Three Geo rena will definitely. Play
Sebastian burholter probably. Plays i'm, curious do we See haji
right up? Front maybe a little more Some, zendejas like
(35:42):
THE us has a lot of guys they can trot.
Out it's gonna be a good. ONE i do know
a bunch of buddies going to this and they're a
little disappointed that THE us is gonna be resting polistic in.
Company but the pub and circumstance around this game very very.
Exciting it'll be likely the last fast game AT sofi
for THE, us unless apparently they get to the. Quarterfinals
(36:05):
then many people are saying simulations would have THE us
playing AT. Sofi, now that will be a tough, game
but it's gonna and that would be likely against one
of These, France, Spain germany type caliber teams at any.
RATE i Think i'll give THE us a one nothing win.
Here would not be surprised by a zero zero. Tie
(36:25):
turkey a one of the bigger underachievers. Now some people
felt for the, hype thinking that they were a very
dangerous team my model fell For chechia, Eliminated ecuador very
likely to be. Eliminated those were two teams it was
high on that are clearly not going. Anywhere other ones
still very much. Alive but enjoy the game tonight and
(36:47):
we are back. Tomorrow talk to you, then
This is straight Fire with Jason McIntire.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
What is up, firefan, It's me Jason McIntire, Straight over. Oh, Thursday,
June twenty fifth, we got USA Soccer and Action tonight
against Turkey. A. I didn't know Turkey changed the name
of its country from Turkey to Turkey.
Speaker 3 (00:28):
Ya.
Speaker 2 (00:29):
But that's how I'm told you need to pronounce it.
Now they play tonight, A's so fi. I'm not gonna
be there. We already went to the Paraguay game, you know,
empty the savings account just to get to the game.
I'll be watching with some buddies. We'll do a little
preview at the end of the pod regarding the World Cup.
But we got to open. Not with the NBA draft,
not with Austin Reeves new contract, not with Giannis hanging
(00:50):
out with bam Adebayo. But holy cow. As we record
this nearly midnight on the East Coast, reports emerging that
LaMelo Ball is close to being traded, yes, traded from Charlotte.
Two potential landing spots include a way for it, the
(01:12):
Minnesota Timberwolves and I guess the Toronto Raptors. I don't.
First of all, First of all, I do need to
admit that, as usual, your boy was just early. He
was not wrong. Fourteen months ago, before the Cooper Flag seepstakes,
remember the lottery balls, I said, if Charlotte wins the
(01:35):
lottery and they draft, they're gonna get Cooper Flag, they
should trade LaMelo Ball because I just don't think he's
a serious basketball player. And they didn't win the lottery,
but they ended up getting Kanka Nipple, who was pretty
frickin awesome, and Charlotte ends up making the play in
an unbelievable classic game. I forget who was against because
they don't show the play in stats, but he was
(01:58):
phenomenal in the red season and in the play in
they win, can Nipple was not good at all. He
got bench down the stretch and if memory serves, I
think it was like spring break was about to start.
But the Hornets got blasted in the second play in
game and they did not make the playoffs. But they're close.
They won forty four games, you know, and you got
(02:19):
a good core, Brandon Miller, Miles, Bridges, con K Nipple,
LaMelo Ball, you got a solid core.
Speaker 3 (02:25):
Right.
Speaker 2 (02:26):
The problem is LaMelo Ball, like I said, he's he's
like immensely talented but still plays in like a juvenile manner.
And I know that's crazy to say when he average
twenty seven and four, but when your point guard shooting
forty percent from the field, not great. I mean he's
shooting ten threes a game thirty six percent, and the
(02:46):
seven assists are great that the turnovers turnovers were way down,
so we saw growth on that front. But again, he's
a forty percent field goal shooter now two years in
a row, like because he takes horrible shots. And I
know he's twenty four turning twenty five this summer. He
can grow up a little bit. But what I'm wondering
is why the hell would the Minnesota Timberwolves want to
(03:07):
get in bed with Lamello Ball and Anthony Edwards. I mean,
they'll lead the league in exciting must see TV, but
I mean we talked about the Wolves going conference finals,
conference finals, and they regressed this year to the conference semifinals.
You might put him in the first round. It out
with LaMelo Ball, Like there's you only have one basketball guys.
(03:28):
Anthony Edwards is your guy. You build around him the
way the Knicks built around Brunson. You don't add another
high volume high usage guy in LaMelo ball. Now the
other question is, who the hell are you giving up,
because you're clearly not giving up j McDaniels or you've
got no wing defense, right, You're obviously not giving up
(03:49):
nas Reed because he's taking the place at Julius Randall,
who you just salary dumped, which leaves you with Rudy Gobert.
I guess. I mean, I didn't know there was a
market for Rudy Gobert. Honestly a little surprised that anyone
would be interested in him. You know, I know he
showed well. I think it was one game against Wenby,
(04:09):
but by and large he did not have a great postseason.
And he's the kind of guy where it's like, if
you're the Hornets, what do you do with Why would
you want him Rudy Gobert? Is he taking you to
the top? I mean, you could theoretically say, hey, we
just drafted Christian Anderson, the guard from Texas Tech, really
good shooter. We pair him with Kobe White like a
dual point guard deal. Canipple Miller were just missing a
(04:33):
room protector. Their defense stunk, So you get LaMelo and
his horrible defense off the court, and you upgrade the
defense significantly with Rudy Gobert. Then you've got guys like
Seon James trey Mann, like solid dudes. I think they drafted.
Did they draft Liam McKinney. No, that was a year ago.
I'm sorry. That was the Yukon the kid they drafted
a year ago. Overall, I like the Hans Seinbeck pick.
(04:57):
I don't know how much of a factor he'll be.
He's only twenty years old, but he put up big numbers.
Gives you front court flexibility. Rob, I listen, I'm up
for trading LaMelo. I don't see why the Wolves would
want him. I guess I could rock the idea of
Gobert going there and you know, improving them from a
forty four win team to maybe forty eight and their
(05:19):
top six. I think this is a better roster than
the Miami Heat half. And by the way, I did
you know, Rob, We've talked about this. Sometimes I need
to be delicate when I'm taking apart Cowherd's takes. But
he's got this take that Luca's always hurt. Luca's always hurt.
So I decided let me punch up the numbers. Hey, Google,
Gemini last four years. Who's played more games Luca or Jannis.
(05:42):
I mean, you could take a guess Luca's played more
games than Gianness in the last four years. So the
narrative is Lucas always hurt, but really it's Yanness. I mean,
I think the Heat probably should worry about that. So
if you factor that in, I definitely think the Hornets
with the addition of Gobert are better. I think, yeah,
better roster than the Miami Heat. So I think they've
contend for a top six spot.
Speaker 4 (06:04):
Yeah, this whole thing is kind of bizarre because you know,
we started we were texting before they started recording, and
it was just like, well, you know, if this reports
are accurate, it's Minnesota or it is Toronto, Like what
could either team offer that would be enticing to you?
Like we threw around the Rudygaubert you mentioned that it's
like you know, Brandon Ingram RJ. Bear, Well, you already
got Brandon Millier, got conk Nipple, and say what you
(06:26):
want about conkonndiple, but you know, they seem to like him,
and you would imagine they have their wings in the
future in those two guys. So it's like well, what
makes sense. And as you were talking, I'm over here
scourging the dark recesses of the Internet.
Speaker 3 (06:39):
Oh and I'm on.
Speaker 4 (06:40):
Social media and I see a couple of semi reputable
NBA insiders saying that number one, they think Minnesota is
it's theirs to lose, and number two that if this
were to happen, the expectation is that they would expand
the Julius Randall trade to make it a three team deal.
(07:01):
So you're getting rid of Julius Randall, potentially salary dumping
Dante DiVincenzo, and you're throwing in whatever first round picks
you have left.
Speaker 2 (07:10):
Wait, butit hold on, paus pause. Who were they salary
dumping DiVincenzo to I.
Speaker 4 (07:15):
Guess this in this situation would probably go to Charlotte
or to Chicago. Okay, so you're expanding this trade. And
then if that's the case, then in whatever forty eight
hours after Minnesota allegedly reportedly salary dumped Julius Randall, you
(07:36):
mean it telling me that Charlotte would then in turn
salary dump LaMelo Ball after he just had his healthiest
season basically of his career. He ended up playing seventy
two games before that, he had played forty seven twenty two,
thirty six. You know, I know that you're not very
high in him. I'm not very high on to him either.
To your point, I think he's an unserious basketball player.
I think it's hard for you to win at the
(07:57):
highest level if he's your your guy or one of
your founder pieces. But the talent is there, and I
don't see anybody just giving him away for you know,
two future first round picks like that doesn't make sense
to me either. This whole thing is bizarre, and maybe
it leads to a bigger conversation. We didn't even prepare
for this, but Front of the Show Brian Winhorst had
(08:19):
said on his most recent podcast episode after the Yannis
trade that he had been hearing for years that Anthony
Edwards is frustrated with Minnesota ever since they got rid
of Towns because without a legit second star next time,
he's been double teamed a lot, you know, and Julius Randall,
even though he is an All NBA All Star level player,
you know, at least at one point in his career,
(08:41):
is more of a black hole offensively, right, And the
two of them never really saw eye to eye, but
Wood Minnesota in this situation take a gamble on the
talent of lamellow ball because they are that afraid of
losing Anthony Edwards and him becoming the next Giannis here
in a year or two.
Speaker 2 (09:01):
Possibly The problem is, is Anthony Edwards gonna be excited
to see a ball hog chucker like LaMelo ball show up?
Speaker 3 (09:11):
Like?
Speaker 2 (09:11):
Is that an enticing Hey, hey, hey, I gotta stay now,
I gotta like If anything, this is probably gonna drive
him away. The other team mentioned in rob was the Raptors,
And you know, I'm not as bullish on this Raptors team.
I know they did push the Cavs to seven. They
won forty six games this year. Scotty Barnes, the Lynchpin, RJ. Barrett.
(09:32):
They did have some postseason injuries that kind of curtailed things.
It's interesting because this is a franchise. It's kind of
been irrelevant since Kawhi left. But Emmanuel Quickly was pretty
damn good. Yaka Pearl has been a major bus But
the kid, Murray Broyles they drafted in the front court
has been pretty good. Jamal shed had a good rookie year.
(09:53):
Jacobe Walter I just if Brandon Ingram is the guy,
I don't know what the I don't I just have
no clue at all, none what the Hornets are doing.
Brandon Ingram is one of these empty calories dudes who
does nothing but just shoot the basketball, no emotion. He's
not a leader. He's like a Kevin Durant light right.
KD scores a lot, Brandon Nerew scores a good amount.
(10:16):
Neither rebounds well, neither assists, neither does any of those.
Neither's a leader. I just it's tough for me to
get all fired up about anyone from the Raptors.
Speaker 4 (10:25):
Now.
Speaker 2 (10:25):
I am a little higher than market on RJ. Barrett,
who's still young. He just turned twenty six. He was
good with the Knicks, but you know, the second they
move off and they win the title, I don't totally know.
Speaker 3 (10:39):
Is he a two?
Speaker 2 (10:40):
Is he a three? I'd like him as a sixth man. Ideally,
I think he can be a bucket getter off the bench,
lefty from Duke. But again, Toronto also doesn't make a
lot of sense. Rob.
Speaker 4 (10:50):
Yeah, I don't think a lot of teams make a
lot of sense for La mellow Ball. There's a reason
why maybe not this time last year, but late last
year we were doing one of these podcast and we
were trying to figure out, Hey, the Los Angeles Clippers,
I think we're five.
Speaker 3 (11:04):
And twenty at that point or something like that.
Speaker 4 (11:05):
We're trying to figure out what could they possibly do
to salvage this season? What are they gonna do? You know,
they're in salary cap purgatory. They have no draft picks,
they have an injured Kawhi Leonard, they have a washed
up James or you know, at that point, washed up
James Harden, you got zubots and what And one of
the things that you and I remember discussing on this
podcast was do you take a swing on a distressed
(11:26):
asset like a LaMelo ball?
Speaker 2 (11:28):
Wait, hold on, hold on? What Why are you calling
him distressed?
Speaker 4 (11:31):
Because at the time he had only he'd been averaging
like thirty five years old, because he was never playing,
you know, he has a bad attitude. Allegedly reported like like,
what can you do to just make a swing? And
credit to the Clippers, they didn't make that kind of move.
They got out of the hole. They ended up acquiring
you know, from Cleveland, what's his name? Oh my god,
(11:51):
I'm spacing on his name already, the guard Garland and
they got out of it, right, But that was nine
months ago, Like this is a different time now, LaMelo
Ball his value has been replenished somewhat, but the original
issues still remain. He's a chucker. He doesn't seem to
(12:14):
care about defense. He doesn't seem to take anything, including
his off court life, very seriously. Check his hitting run numbers,
just google it if you got time, and it's like,
what team, especially good team, is signing up for that
unless there's a level of desperation that we are just
not privy to.
Speaker 2 (12:33):
Yeah, I think you hit the nail and the head
with good. If I'm a good team, I don't think
LaMelo puts me over the top. I think if I'm
an average team that wants to make the leap, I
take a chance on LaMelo, which is what Toronto could
be doing. Hey, Scotty Barnes is like our quasi point guard,
but he's not really a point guard. Could we get
LaMelo there? It's just you know, John Morant had a
(12:55):
good run right in Memphis where I think they made
a couple conference semifinals. They got out of the first
round at least once or twice with John Moran, and
then he went sideways. I'm not saying LaMelo is gonna
go sideways, but in terms of similar player, you know,
John Morant was just basically Russell Westbrook attacking the rim,
and I would say LaMelo is essentially a version of
(13:18):
John Morant that just shoots a ton of three pointers, right,
because he does attack the rim and does some crafty
crazy layups and make some good passes, but he's just
out of control too often for me. I think he
would Anthony Edwards be frustrated playing with him.
Speaker 1 (13:31):
Fox Sports Radio has the best sports talk lineup in
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listen live.
Speaker 2 (13:43):
You know, there's more Jalen Brown chatter coming out from Chams.
It sounds like Boston's actively like looking around the league
to unload this guy. I don't know. There's no way
that Jalen Brown would be in some kind of deal
for LaMelo, right. I cannot imagine LaMelo Ball being a
Brad steven No way the kind of guy he covets.
(14:04):
And when Stevens says, hey, hey, this is the guy who's
gonna be our point. I don't.
Speaker 3 (14:08):
I don't.
Speaker 2 (14:08):
That doesn't make sense.
Speaker 4 (14:09):
Right, not at all, And depending on who you talk to,
Like Chris Mannix reported that there's an executive around the
league saying that Boston would like to get size and
that's the whole reason behind the Jalen Brown shopping that
if you have size, that's why they want to be honest,
But Brad Stevens himself said after the season ended, like
he didn't mention size specifically. He said, we need to
(14:30):
affect the rim. All we do is shoot too many threes.
Everything we do is about the three point. That's not
a way to win in today's NBA. In his opinion,
we need to get more points in the paint. We
need to get attacking the basket. And if you go
down the list of teams that you would think have
the requisite talent to require to acquire a Jalen Brown
and you look at the big guys they could potentially offer,
(14:52):
none of them are what you would consider to be
rim running, rim attacking type of players. Like Evan Mobley's
not really that, Chet Holmgren's not really that, Like what
about Rudy Gobert, but are you giving up Jalen Brown
for Rudy Gobert Gobert And I don't know, I maybe.
Speaker 3 (15:11):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (15:11):
So then it's like, all right, well then it's Jalen Brown.
Speaker 3 (15:14):
You know.
Speaker 4 (15:14):
The Pelicans apparently are shopping their wings around, like, but
are you happy turning Jalen Brown into Trey Murphy and.
Speaker 3 (15:21):
The other?
Speaker 4 (15:22):
Uh, the guy that everyone likes the Lakers. I'm space,
I'm saying all these names right now as no, the
the the wing player that everybody is linking in a trade, Herb,
Herb Jones, Jesus Christ. We're struggling hearing the over set
the Lakers that, I'm like, what the hell right, No,
We're We're But it's like, so rob, let.
Speaker 2 (15:40):
Me ask you this. So just hearing you out made
it sound like, is there a world where teams saw
Jalen Brunson built they built around him and it worked.
Dallas could not envision that the Nixon envision that. Could
the Celtics be like, well, shit, what if we just
built around Tatum and we gotsive guards, three point shooters
(16:02):
and a rim protector and we went that way? Like
I don't know, Evan Mobley as your room protector is
not the worst thing in the world. He's a good defender.
Jared Allen, you need obviously more than Jared Allen. Rudy
Gobert is interesting. I don't know that he fits in Boston.
But in reality, if you all of a sudden said
we're gonna put the tatums our the sun and everything's
(16:23):
going to revolve around him. Peyton Fritcher, Derek White, I
don't know. I wonder if teams are starting to think
the model was two stars, right, you need two stars?
What if the new model is one star? And as
you pointed out, I think you were the first person
who put me on this was og Narobi was like
lies in for the tip in. Oh my gosh, he's
(16:44):
so good, amazing. He's made zero All Star games in
his career. Like, wait a minute, what and they're winning
a title with him as their second best player. Oh,
so that's how you do it. You find your star,
your clutch guy, your brun and then you build the
right pieces around him and they don't have to be stars.
(17:05):
Carl Anson Town's obviously qualifies as a star. He technically
their second best player. But I think because he's so
good two ways I think OG's their second best player.
Who what do you think, rub.
Speaker 4 (17:16):
I think on a regular season night tonight, you probably
say Towns is the second best player. You know, but
in the playoffs, in the sixteen game season as well
eighty two game season, right, og Anenobi, for my money,
was throughout the playoffs fluctuating with Brunson and Kat as
the second best player. Because there were times throughout that
(17:36):
Atlanta series where Brunton was not the second best but
the best player.
Speaker 3 (17:39):
Right. There were times throughout.
Speaker 4 (17:40):
The Cleveland series Brunson was not the best player. Cat
was not like and I think it goes back to you.
Maybe it's what you're talking about here, is the days
of us having two stars and dudes is not sustainable anymore.
There's too much depth, there's too much good talent, and
the second apron sucks. So basically just screwed themselves exactly.
(18:02):
And so you look around and you're like, hey, you
know what, the Knicks, of course are the champions. But
San Antonio, OK. See, you know, even to a lesser
extent Indiana last season, it's like, well, if our best
player is good, of course you got to be like
an all NBA caliber guy, which Tatum is, and you
know Jalen Brunson is.
Speaker 3 (18:20):
But if our fourth.
Speaker 4 (18:21):
And fifth and sixth guys are all at least good players,
that might be the move. So maybe if you're Boston
and you're saying, hey, we got the Jays, we got
Derek White, we like Peyton Pritcher. But then it's like
everybody else is kind of on a good team, like
a ninth or tenth man. Maybe we can turn Jalen
Brown into rather than saying Chet or Evan Mobley, maybe
(18:42):
it is give us a couple of wings. Hey, maybe
Portland give us Shade and Sharp and give us Jeremy
Grant and give it like you know what I'm saying,
You get three or four dudes, and maybe that's the
way you got to attack this.
Speaker 2 (18:53):
So if you're the Lakers, just spitballing out loud. Luca
is your Brunson, but he didn't take a pay cut, right,
Reeves would have to kind of sort of be like
your Cat.
Speaker 3 (19:05):
Mm hmm.
Speaker 2 (19:06):
I don't know. Ree's just got that huge deal and
Cat is kind of all over the place. I don't
I don't think Reeves is as good overall as Cat,
but he can be right, if you need Reeves to
carry you for two weeks, I think he can. Right.
Speaker 3 (19:18):
He could be as good in his role as Cat
is in his role.
Speaker 4 (19:21):
Right.
Speaker 2 (19:21):
Okay, So then the Lakers need to find their OG
and an Obi.
Speaker 3 (19:25):
The macow Bridges and their Josh Hart.
Speaker 4 (19:28):
Uh, well, what about what I'm saying, Like, that's what That's
where the different the difficulty is. It's like, Hey, you
have your guys who you think can carry you on
a night to night basis, and one of them is
arguably the best player in the league. What you don't
have is the other guys that are gonna make up
for his deficiencies the same way all the Knicks guys
make up for Brunson, the way all the OKC make
up for Shay.
Speaker 2 (19:49):
So if you're the yeah, the Timberwolves actually kind of
sort of have that Anthony Edwards would be there Brunson,
Jaden McDaniels as their OG. I guess Gobert's nas Reed whoever,
and then they they de Vincenzo could have been their
Bridges or Hard and frankly, they were on the doorstep
right two years in a row Conference conference finals, So
(20:10):
I guess it can be done. I'm wondering if just
just speaking out loud, and I haven't really put this
down on paper or anything, but it almost if Jalen
Brown gets moved for a non superstar, I wonder if
we're entering the era where everybody's just gonna have one
star and then satellites around them. Is that where we're headed?
(20:34):
I mean, you and I like Austin Reez, he's not
like a superstar. No, like I think the heater building
it the wrong way with Giannis and Bam. Now you
could argue, well, they're doing it with they're doing defense
at first, they're gonna have Bobby Portis and look at
the length of defensively and Davion Mitchell. They're gonna win
with defense. Okay, fine, but you actually need to make
shots and they just don't have any shot makers. LaMelo
(20:59):
Ball is a shot maker, although you know, he hasn't
really been in the playoffs, so we don't know how
he's going to handle that crucible of oh my goodness,
it's you know, it's it's winning time. You're down eight
against Wemby runs a takeover like Lamello. I don't think
he's that guy. I do think Jalen Brown is getting
more interesting, Rob so his age, Yeah so. And unfortunately
(21:25):
he did that video from China where he was like,
oh yeah, you just give me the four hundred million.
I'll play here, no problem. Because I was gonna say,
like you could you have him for three more years
and then somebody could roll the dice and just say
our window is three years and then we're gonna we're
not gonna pay him because I don't want to be
paying Jalen Brown seventy million dollars when he's thirty four
years old. I just don't want to do that. Now.
(21:45):
He could still be awesome, and maybe you do, but
it's interesting, Toronto. Could you pair Jalen Brown, who's a
good defender, with Scottie Barnes and build around them that way?
I mean, that's a pretty formidable duo I think you
can make. I mean, Brown's an All NBA guy, he
was in the MVP race. Rob, He's very good. I
(22:07):
think you could build around Timmy. I mean it's not easy.
You remember that Nicks have been building about Brunton for
three years, you know.
Speaker 4 (22:16):
Yeah, Well, the thing with Jalen Brown and this is
something that as much as I applaud him for that
he wants to be the man, that he wants the pressure,
that he wants the success of the franchise to live
and die on his shoulders, and I totally appreciate. I
think there's something virtuous about that.
Speaker 3 (22:30):
Is if you're.
Speaker 4 (22:30):
Boston and you're not just gonna give him away for nothing,
You're like, I need something back that's gonna satisfy my
needs as well. So you go down the list and
it's like, well, okay, if I trade him to Houston, Like, well,
I guess, isn't that technically Kdi's team?
Speaker 3 (22:42):
Right?
Speaker 4 (22:43):
If I trade him to Detroit, well, that's that's CAD's team.
It's like, where can I send Jalen Brown where the
team that's acquiring him is gonna satisfy his needs to
be the man while also having the requisite pieces we
can send out to Boston to make them feel good
about it. So it's really New Orleans.
Speaker 2 (23:01):
New Orleans is going nowhere, but they've got some interesting
pieces like Trey Murphy, who is who could be the
next OG? And an Obi, right, I think you might
have compared to I did so. Somehow his name came
up recently and I was like, okay, no all star appearances,
but good numbers, good length, good wingspan. Herb Jones is like,
you know, Trey Murphy light, but you need you need
(23:23):
two of those guys. If I'm giving you a star,
I need two of those guys in return, right, absolutely,
And nobody's given you Herb Jones and Trey Murphy for
for Jalen Brown. I don't even know if the Pelicans
do something like that, but you start looking around. I
think I mentioned the Hawks on here. Let me ask
you this, Rob, what about the Dallas Mavericks. Well, no,
(23:44):
actually no, Kyrie would not. Kyrie would not go back there,
but it'd be interesting. Yeah, yeah, Now I don't know
Jaylen Brown. It's Cooper Flights franchise.
Speaker 4 (23:56):
I mean the team that I always liked objectively, even
as a Laker fan. I always liked the Clippers for
Jalen Brown with the fifth overall pick. Now they and
then why goes to the Clippers or whatever. But it's
like you have your star, he has his own team.
You have you have Darius Garle. We have some guys
there to fill out the rest of your roster, but
it's like he's in l a guy I think but
they made the fifth overall pick, so that you know
(24:18):
is moo at this point.
Speaker 2 (24:20):
So Portland did make the playoffs, got smashed by the uh.
Speaker 3 (24:27):
By Furst.
Speaker 2 (24:28):
Yeah it was one one and then Wenby was suspended
I think, or maybe he had the concussion. Yeah, it
was a concussion, Denny. Avdia is a real interesting piece.
I'm wondering if, if if you're Portland, do you take
a chance and say, you know what, we're not our
owner's cheap. I'm sure you saw the contract that yeah,
(24:48):
a one year deal with a sliding scale. It was
like whoa, whoa, whoa. That's that's freaking dark. But if
you if you're Portland, do you say, listen, we got
a lot of stuff, Scoot Holiday, Sharp Bible, a lot
of guys, but we don't have someone to pair with Ovdia.
Do you say, let's try a three year run of
Avdia plus Jalen Brown. We've got clinging, we could we
(25:10):
could sell off Robert Williams. Is that moderately interesting? I
don't think he'd want to go to Portland, but that
to me, at least Portland is an attractive team, not
not the owner's cheap. But I just saw Odia as
a horse bro.
Speaker 4 (25:25):
But if you're Poortland, don't you want to keep Avdya? Yeah,
you keep it and you try Avdia and Jalen Brown.
But then whose team is it then?
Speaker 2 (25:34):
I mean Avdya is only twenty four.
Speaker 4 (25:37):
I know, but it's the idea that that it's his team,
that he's the franchise player. I mean, like, I would
love to see Jalen Brown in Denver. I think that
Jamal Murray for Jalen Brown swaps felt fits a lot
of needs for both sides.
Speaker 2 (25:50):
But that's team Jamal Murray.
Speaker 3 (25:54):
For Brown.
Speaker 2 (25:55):
Well that's not bad, but again, the whole his team. Well, okay,
you go through the league, there's not a lot of
teams that don't have a guy. Wizards have their new guy.
Speaker 3 (26:05):
You want to go to the Kings like that?
Speaker 2 (26:07):
I mean, aren't there aren't they a cuffs team? Sixers
are taken, the Sons are Booker? Or you could say, hey,
we'll send you to Phoenix and give us Devin Booker.
Speaker 3 (26:19):
I like that.
Speaker 2 (26:21):
I mean, then then it would be your team. You
could play with Dylan the villain, Jalen Green, Mark Williams.
Good luck in the Yeah, I don't know if James
Brown make the playoffs in the next few years. But
like every teams, somebody's yeah, Detroit has a guy, the
Bulls have, Boozell's Caleb Wilson.
Speaker 3 (26:37):
I don't know.
Speaker 2 (26:39):
Brooklyn doesn't have a guy. Wait, Michael Porter Junior, No,
he was traded there. They don't have a guy. So yeah,
it's tough. It's going to be difficult to appease Jalen Brown.
But I definitely think NBA just got super spicy. By
the way, second round of the draft was not that interesting.
There was four million trades that happened. It was it
was almost like points to pay attention, right rob, because
(27:02):
as the draft pick happens, they're like, oh wait, there's
a trade. And then it's like this guy's getting rerouted
to two different teams and it's like, I mean, the
Lakers picked up a couple dudes the Knicks. I don't
know if the Knicks actually got any wonder they just
kept trading them once they got them because James Dolen
so cheap. But like, let's see here, who who are
the ones that Braiden Smith jumps out the Purdue kid
(27:25):
who set the record. Listen to this Braden Smith goes
from the Bowls and then he was traded to Indiana,
which actually is a good move, right the Pacers want
a guy from Purdue. You had the kid Isaiah Evans
from Duke. He goes to Brooklyn and has traded to Minnesota.
I'm sure he's thrilled to play with Anthony Edwards. You
(27:48):
had Bruce Thornton. I actually liked this pick by the
Knicks traded to Houston. He's a bucket from Ohio State.
But like almost every single guy once they drafted him,
was traded and so it's kind of it feels like
a waste to pay attention. Anything jump out of you
from the second round, Rob Well.
Speaker 4 (28:04):
The big story to me, of course, was the kid
from UNC falling almost out of the draft entirely right
vsar On Revasar Yeah, yeah, yeah. And the reason why
I thought that was just I mean again, he is
a seven footer with legitimate range. I could see why
he'd have value. He's also not very athletic. Who knows
(28:24):
if he can defend, you know, in space, so that's
probably why he fell. But what I found interesting is
coming into the draft, CBS Sports had reported that he
had an nil deal on the table for right around
five million dollars to come back to uncow that he
was going to be the preseason ACC Player of the Year,
and his management said, Nope, we're gonna go to the draft.
(28:45):
We're going to be a late lottery kind of guy.
Guarantee this amount of money. This is what we're gonna do.
And not only does he not going to lottery, he
doesn't go in the first round. He goes almost at
the end of the second round. So that, to me
is just a cautionary tale. Especially in the NL era,
there is no reason anymore for you to declare for
(29:05):
the NBA Draft early unless you are assured a top
twenty pick.
Speaker 2 (29:10):
So I don't totally disagree with that. But okay, so
he would have got five million in NIL, but he
was at Washington, so we would have had to transfer
somewhere else. So he was at UNC.
Speaker 3 (29:22):
He was at Carolina.
Speaker 2 (29:22):
Oh, he was at Carolina. I don't know why I
said Washington. So he's at Carolina and he's getting five
million dollars and then you've got to pretend to do
school for what from December through March, right while you're
really focused on basketball. He's already twenty two years old,
so you know, at the at the end of that year,
(29:43):
he would have been able to have been twenty three
for next year's draft, Like, is that really appealing? I
mean five million dollars is pretty nice. What's he gonna
gets the second round pick? Nothing guaranteed?
Speaker 4 (29:55):
Right, No, nothing guaranteed. He's probably gonna get maybe two.
Speaker 2 (30:00):
So he costs himself some money. Oh interesting?
Speaker 4 (30:05):
Like to me, I find that stuff more interesting than Hey,
did you see the guy who fell to number fifty five?
Speaker 2 (30:10):
You know, like that he cost himself money by going
to the league. But yeah, you get to be a pro. Now, now,
what where'd he get drafted?
Speaker 1 (30:16):
Again?
Speaker 2 (30:17):
He ended up going to the Atlanta Hawks. That it's
not a bad city. He he's a European, right.
Speaker 4 (30:24):
Yeah, And it is possible that he would have been drafted,
you know, maybe as high as forty or in that area.
But his agents said, hey, if we're already this far down,
we might as well steer you to a team where
there is a path to play. Yeah, and the one
thing the Atlanta Hawks do not have.
Speaker 3 (30:37):
Is a center.
Speaker 2 (30:38):
Yeah that that well, akong Wu, but he's.
Speaker 4 (30:41):
Six', nine you, know they don't have any other, centers
legitimate seven foot centers on their.
Speaker 2 (30:45):
Roster, yeah, okay all, Right SO, nba.
Speaker 4 (30:50):
You thought this was going to be a rough time FOR, Us,
man you thought, over what are we going to talk?
Speaker 3 (30:54):
About the off season is so much more.
Speaker 2 (30:56):
Interesting, oh it's, Popping, yeah, son fun week in THE, Nba,
man and we'll see Where LaMelo ends. Up and obviously
that will get us through the month for sure Into.
Speaker 1 (31:07):
July Fox Sports radio has the best sports talk lineup
in the. Nation catch all of our shows At Foxsports
radio dot com and within The iHeartRadio app SEARCH fsr
to listen.
Speaker 2 (31:19):
Live all, RIGHT i want to wrap up quickly With
World cup ACTION usa Versus TURKEY a. Tonight from so,
far the game means nothing for either, squad like truly.
Nothing TURKEY a is eliminated with two losses. Already THE
us is through with two. Victories nobody can pass The United.
States even If australia beat The, paraguay it won't. Matter
(31:43):
they'll be. TIED us beat them head to head AND
us wins a gold, differential so it doesn't. Matter THE
us is locked in for Next wednesday In Santa. Clara
And i've seen some, simulations they are very very likely
to Play. Bosnia now you can, Scoff, Oh, Bosnia we're
gonna steamroll, them. Guys they opened up The World cup
(32:04):
and actually looked decent in Tying canada IN i think
it was In. Vancouver then they came out and got
buried by The Swiss, swiss but bounced back with a
pretty handy win Over. Katar they did look very weak
against The swiss that there's no denying that they got
a red card in the eightieth. Minute after, that The
(32:27):
swiss scored three, Goals SO i mean this was a tight.
Game for eighty. Minutes bosnia had no. Offense THE xg
expected goals point two three For Bosnia switzerland two point zero,
six so they were expected to score two goals scored.
Four bosnia was expected to score a quarter of a
goal and got, One and you could scoff at. That
(32:49):
but these are just the advanced, stats. Guys this Is
i'm just telling, you that's what the advanced stats. Says
now Against, canada it was interesting Because bosnia scored early
And canada ended up making an unbelievable comeback and scored
in the seventy eighth minute in that. One THE xg
Was canada one point two to, Three bosnia point nine to,
(33:11):
six so a little bit. Closer and THEN i don't.
EVEN i don't. Even The qutar game doesn't really mean
a damn thing because It's. Katar that. Game we know
that means. Nothing qatar is a, horrible horrible. Team but
this is where you can. Look it's like three to
one was the, final but there was an own goal
that made it to nothing AND Xg bosnia less than a,
(33:34):
Goal so THE us will be. Favored make no, mistake
THE us will be healthy for that. Game, again this
is just assuming they Play bosnia regardless of what happens Against.
Turkiya but as a, RESULT i take no chances Against.
Turkya IF i Am, Pochettino i'm one thousand percent Resting.
PULISIC i know he said he's good to, go he's
going to be. Available there is no, upside nud to
(33:59):
play negative. Upside just sit him on the, bench rest
him and have him train and get ready for the next.
Speaker 1 (34:07):
ONE i.
Speaker 2 (34:09):
WOULD i would, actually let's see who got yellow cards
for THE us and that opener so it, was oh.
DAMN i can't find that very. Easily BUT i Know
Tyler adams is on a, yellow that's for, sure AND
i would Rest Tyler. ADAMS i would probably Rest weston.
McKinney i would one hundred percent rest Flow ball, AGAIN
i burned him, up and THEN i think you got
(34:30):
to honestly look at the defense and be, like all,
right what's the? Situation does anybody need? Rest Like freeman's
playing out of his, Mind tilman is playing exceptionally, well,
Guys i'm just saying there's you don't go with a
full bench. Lineup But, mexico who was in a similar,
situation played. Reserves the reserves were super excited to play
(34:54):
against a team that needed a win to get, in
And mexico won three, nothing and SO i think if
you put in SOME us reserves that they would be
totally amped up and fired up to try to generate.
GOALS i would also probably Rest Surginio. DESK i would
consider resting richards who gotta Knock. ROBINSON i would Well
(35:19):
Richardson robinson will definitely. Sit they both have. Yellows the
ues actually doesn't have many. Yellows, Oh balagan has a.
Yellow he's one hundred percent. SITTING i would like to,
see you, know some of some of these other. Guys
Joe scalley's only twenty Three Geo rena will definitely. Play
Sebastian burholter probably. Plays i'm, curious do we See haji
right up? Front maybe a little more Some, zendejas like
(35:42):
THE us has a lot of guys they can trot.
Out it's gonna be a good. ONE i do know
a bunch of buddies going to this and they're a
little disappointed that THE us is gonna be resting polistic in.
Company but the pub and circumstance around this game very very.
Exciting it'll be likely the last fast game AT sofi
for THE, us unless apparently they get to the. Quarterfinals
(36:05):
then many people are saying simulations would have THE us
playing AT. Sofi, now that will be a tough, game
but it's gonna and that would be likely against one
of These, France, Spain germany type caliber teams at any.
RATE i Think i'll give THE us a one nothing win.
Here would not be surprised by a zero zero. Tie
(36:25):
turkey a one of the bigger underachievers. Now some people
felt for the, hype thinking that they were a very
dangerous team my model fell For chechia, Eliminated ecuador very
likely to be. Eliminated those were two teams it was
high on that are clearly not going. Anywhere other ones
still very much. Alive but enjoy the game tonight and
(36:47):
we are back. Tomorrow talk to you, then
Host
Jason McIntyre
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