Best of The Herd

Doug Gottlieb fills in for Colin to tell you why Paul George signing with the 76ers is not just a win for Philadelphia but a big win for the NBA as a whole. He explains why Klay Thompson leaving the Warriors is not the end of the dynasty in Golden State but maybe beginning of something new. Plus, Jovan Buha from The Athletic joins the show reacting to big breaking free agency news in the NBA. 

 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Thanks for listening to the Best of the Herd podcast.
Be sure to catch us live every weekday on Fox
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Speaker 2 (00:19):
This is the Best of the Herd with Colin Cowherd
on Fox Sports Radio.

Speaker 3 (00:30):
Welcome in. This is the Herd. Wherever you may be
and however you may be, making this part of your day.
Thanks so much. I'm Duck. Got leave in for Colin
Cowherd and for the next couple of hours, I want
to talk sports with you. About to go into my
Lee Hacksaw Hamilton. Listen to join us in southern California

(00:53):
from Escondido to Powway. No, we will not have you
fill up the phone line. Welcome in. Rick Berger is
going to join us in fifteen minutes. There is a
lot of NBA basketball to talk about because it is
July first, which means free agency is here, right, Free

(01:13):
agency is here, and Paul George is there right as
uhs that birth of you used to say that right
on ESPN Sports Center right. Anyway, Paul George, now a
former Clipper, is apparently a Philadelphia seventy six or that
was the That was the late breaking news by Adrian

(01:36):
Warzanowski at eleven thirty on the West Coast. I saw
East Coast guy going two thirty in the morning, like, hey, dude,
guess what guy lives in Cali? Probably pretty good sense
the deal was. The deal was consummated in California. Nonetheless,
it changes a lot of things. Obviously, we'll get to
the Clippers angle. He was the the guy, the choice

(01:59):
A of the Golden State Warriors, and now he becomes
the second option, I would guess, or maybe third option
with the Philadelphia seventy six ers. And before we get
into the Sixers in terms of will it actually work
to win them a championship, the most important point to
point out is if you look at the downfall of

(02:21):
television ratings in the NBA. Okay, there's a couple different things. One,
it's obviously been hurt by the rise of the National
Football League. The NFL is incredibly popular. It is a
successful freight train that is basically out of control. Whatever
they want, whatever they do, whatever they put on TV,
Draft exhibmission game game, you put it on a streaming service,

(02:47):
you put it. This year, they're going to do a
Friday night game to start to start the season right
with the Eagles and the Packers, like whatever they do
is successful. So that obviously has been part of it.
The post Georgian era, right when Jordan leaves, that's when
we saw a dramatic downturn and then it turned around
a little bit once they got scoring back and you
got Steph Curry and Lebron James and Kevin Durant. So

(03:10):
some of it is that Steph Curry and Lebron James. No,
he's there fatigued with Lebron James. He's been doing it
for so long. But they're also West Coast And one
of the things I learned when I was at ESPN
for ten years was something that was data driven, and
they would tell you that sixty six percent of sports
television viewers are in the Eastern time zone, and then

(03:34):
you look at the direct correlation and what's happened to
the NBA's ratings, and it's not that hard to see
that when the Knicks became bad, the Celtics went through
a bad stretch. The Sixers have gone through stretches, right,
they were irrelevant when they were trusting the process. And
though the Sixers are better now and the Knicks are
better now now, you can see based upon what the

(03:54):
Knicks have done this offseason, what the Sixers are doing
in this offseason, and of course what the Celtics have
done in this season and in the postseason. When he
had a championship. You give me Boston, you give me Philly,
you give me New York. And this is a I'm
not gonna say it's gonna save the league. The league
wasn't in the process of dying, but man, is it

(04:15):
a shot in the arm. Because again data tells you
sixty six percent of sports television viewers are in the
Eastern time zone. There's a different level of intensity, different
level of passion hatred, if you will. And when you
bring Paul George in and you have a Big three,
no matter how successful it is, like, look, they're gonna
be the playoffs. Theyre in the playoffs this year. They're

(04:37):
they're gonna push the you know, push the envelope of
how good they can be. It's better for Philadelphia to
be good than for Cleveland to be good. Sorry, that's
just reality to it. It's better for New York to
be good than Boston or Philly, and definitely than Cleveland'll
be good, and they are, and the Boston Celtics are

(04:57):
the model, and everybody is chasing that model. I woke
up in a good place today, but no one will
woke up in a better place than Adam Silver because
there's nothing artificial about it. He had nothing to do
with it. We still have the different tax aprons which
going to play here. As we learned the salary cap yesterday,

(05:17):
we learned the apron numbers yesterday. But the NBA is
tracking when you have quality teams in Boston, in New York,
in Philadelphia, in Los Angeles. And we'll get to the
Lakers and what it means for the Lakers. You're in
a good place. It doesn't mean that small market teams
can compete. Oklahoma City's not going anywhere. Milwaukee should be better. Look,

(05:41):
do I think they're a championship caliber team? Probably not.
Think Damon Lillard has not only peaked, but he's been exposed,
especially for what he does on a real championship caliber team.
It doesn't mean that those teams can't compete but for
people to watch them has nothing to do with the
quality of the team. Like Minnesota's got due, but they're
in Minnesota. They just they're not a draw. The Knicks

(06:03):
are a draw. The Sixers or a draw. The Nuggets
are not. And then you turn around and you look
at the Clippers, and I saw a pretty good quip.
You know, they have a picture of Paul George with
a hard hat on visiting the into It Dome back
when the Clippers did it. Turns out he wasn't that

(06:24):
into it. I liked it. I liked it, I did.
I liked it. I chuckled. I didn't shortle, but I chuckled.
But has there ever been a franchise that has had
more coulda should have would have than the Clippers? I mean, honestly,
they they've done most things right here since they changed

(06:47):
ownership groups, it doesn't really matter, but they've done most
of the right things. I mean, Tyler's a fabulous coach.
He's really really good. That does he get a little
too caught up in ice ball, sure, but it worked
for him with the championship with the Cleveland Cavaliers. So
you know, you fall back on the things that you
won with but they could never with Lob City have

(07:11):
be healthy. It was always Blake Griffin, and then Chris
Paul just unhealthy at unlucky moments. And then when the
NBA changed and became about you know, offensive dexterity and
ball movement, they were still stuck in kind of that
old era of Chris Ball over handling the ball, but

(07:32):
out of necessity because they didn't have other guys that
were dominant ball handlers. Blake Griffin went from a dominant
force to as he aged, but also as it became
a lot more about pace and space and skill between
DeAndre Jordan and Blake Griffin. He didn't work in the
new era, and Chris Paul could never stay healthy. Then

(07:55):
they flipped it and changed and went all in on
Paul George and Kawhi Leonard winning biddy wars over everybody
and move mountains to get Paul George. And then either
Kawhi wasn't healthy or Paul George wasn't healthy and they
just couldn't get over the hump the Kulda and shoulda
and woulda. There was a stretch of time in each

(08:19):
of the past two seasons where by my estimation, the
Clippers were the best team in the NBA, but it
wasn't the stretch of time that mattered in the playoffs
and between Kawhi just not being healthy either of the
last two years. This is what you got. This is
what you got. And obviously, like, look, I understand the

(08:42):
popular perception is that big threes don't work, and you
know Darryl Morey loves his big threes. The question is
do we think Houston didn't work because they didn't win
a championship or because of a style of play or both? Right,
what was it twenty six, twenty eight consecutive missed three

(09:04):
point shots? They were pretty darn close. They couldn't get
over the hump. You know, I look at in many ways,
I do look at Morey's time in Houston much like
Billy Bean in Moneyball, when they were in the playoffs
and couldn't get over the hump. Just because they didn't win,
didn't mean it didn't work. It got them to new heights.

(09:26):
It got them to a level that the normal that
their overall talent shouldn't have gotten them to. So I
like this one. I mean, I think in talking NBA,
people will tell you that Joel Embiid Luka, Doncik and
Joker are the three best players in the league, and
Beid can be the most dominant. And now to Tyrese Maxey,
you add Paul George. That's pretty good. It's not just

(09:49):
and I know you're sitting there going like, hey, the
Suns had all these courses. Yeah, but the Sons had
a bunch of wings. They didn't have a big, they
didn't have a point guard. It's not the case with
the Sixers. And now you give the Sixers a versatile
weapon who can guard, and it's probably better off being
the second best or third best player on a team.
I like it more than most people do. And I

(10:12):
love what the Knicks have done. And the Celtics are
really really good. I mean, I guess the question is
who's the fourth starter and what's their bench actually look like.
But we'll get to that in the meantime. Paul George
is the Philadelphia seventy six er. It's good for the league,
it's good for the rivalry with New York, it's good
for rivalry with the Celtics. And now we'll see what

(10:32):
they are able to put around. You know, they got
Kelly Oubrey back as well, But what are they able
to put around those four players to form a team?
All right, come up next, I'm Doug Gottlieb. This is
the Herd on Fox Sports Radio and the iHeartRadio app.
How close are the Sixers to the Celtics? And well
Clay Thompson come back home.

Speaker 2 (10:54):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd weekdays
and noon Easter not a im Pacific on Sports Radio
FS one and the iHeartRadio app.

Speaker 3 (11:05):
Hold what up? Welcome in. This is the Herd. Wherever
you may be and however you may make it this
part of your day. Thanks so much. I'm Doug Gottlieb
in for Colin Cowhard and for the next two hours
you are stuck with me. Sequestered audience, right broadcasting from

(11:26):
the beautiful city of Green Bay, Wisconsin. Man, boys, I
know so cow has been hot, but I am looking
outside at I know whether it winter is going to
be different. But seventy two and sunny. Seventy two and sunny,
great day here in Great Bay, Wisconsin. Welcome in, hope

(11:47):
you're doing well. Obviously, free agencies here in the NBA,
and all signs point point to Klay Thompson. One of
these splash brothers, leaving the brotherhood and becoming a player
for I don't know what other team, and look, maybe
he comes back, maybe comes back at a discount rate.
But it's really hard. That's hard to do in the

(12:09):
same locker room. Just is you know. It's one of
those things. I remember talking to an NFL GM and
I was asking him about a player who who they'd
had previously. And one of the things when these players
ask for, especially like running backs, they ask for these
big contracts and they find out they're not getting it.
It's like, can you just sign him to it what

(12:30):
his actual market rate is? And the GM was like,
not really. It's like it's one of those things like
if you make you know, if you're asking for ten
million and you settle on four or five, you feel
like everyone, everyone in the locker room knows you swung

(12:53):
for the fences and you know, you basically hit a
ground ball through the legs of the first basement, you know,
and you're very happy. You should be happy to be
on first or second base. That's good, but the problem
is that you swung for a home run and you know,
you look at Clay Thompson and he was once Warrior royalty.

(13:14):
And while it's totally true, any of us can understand
that when you have sweat equity with the Warriors that
instead of making fifty million, you're still making twenty million.
Like that's a lot of money. It's a lot of money.
But when you used to be one guy and now
you got to take on a different role, not everybody's
ego can handle that. Not everybody's ego can handle that,

(13:38):
as opposed to go to a new place and they
just fall all over themselves to have you there. True,
you may not be killing it that much more financially,
but you're still in a little bit better place. I
bring that up because I do think the Warrior's going
to lose Clay. And if they lose Clay, I think
it's the best sign that they got to show to

(14:00):
win again. And you're like, what, Don't get me wrong,
I'm not convinced that Jonathan Kaminga is the answer, but
we're never gonna know the answer if you got to
play Clay Thompson. And maybe more than more importantly, even
than that is the you know, if you look at

(14:21):
the the Bulls dynasty, Yes, Pippin and Jordan were the
constance for both for both of the three peats. But
everything else changed. Everything else changed. I mean, go and
look at the roster and from Horace Grant to John

(14:43):
Paxson to Bill Cartwright, you know, to the bench players,
to whomever, it changed. And I think we all believed.
We all believed that Clay was Pippin. Maybe it's Raymond,
Maybe there is no Pippin. I mean, like there's a

(15:04):
part of me that says, last year, or even before
last year, that's when you get rid of after that's
when you get rid of Draymond Green, because Raymond torpedoed
last season with the punch and you know he's he's
aging as well. But the point is that if you're
if you're going to try. That's that's the issue with

(15:26):
the Lakers. And I love the idea that they want
to add another player, but the fact is that as
of now, the Lakers are running it back as they
were last year. You know, Donald Connect's a nice player.
Donald Connect's not going to be a starter. He might
be in the rotation, he might not. Brownie James helps
them not at all. If anything kind of hurts them

(15:48):
becomes it comes a little bit like a sideshow, like
like the walk on in college that people cheer for him,
or the scrubby who is your buddy in high school
who you and your friends chanted we want Steve. Anytime
you're up twenty points, we want Steve. We want Steve,
we want Steve. Is that we want for Brownie James.

(16:09):
That's what we've suggested for him, essentially, is he's become
that icing on top of the icing on top of
the cake. But otherwise they're just running it back. And
it's like how many times you have to see the
Lakers not really be terribly competitive with the Denver Nuggets
to think, hey, you know, the Nuggets are still in
their conference. They're not going anywhere with this group. And

(16:31):
oh yeah, by the way, the Lakers are getting older
by the day. When your superstar is forty and your
other superstar finally had a season they kept together, and
you still couldn't really do anything in the playoffs or
in the regular season, so you had to be in
the play and what are we actually fighting for here?
The point is that the only way the Warriors can

(16:53):
get better is if they immediately get worse, and the
Lakers are simply aren't willing to do that. The Warriors are.
You know, it doesn't mean they'll stay worse, doesn't mean
there's not a move that can be made, doesn't mean
there's not you know, some diamonds in the rough. But

(17:16):
I think the only way to get good is to
at least at least on paper, you're like man Klay Thompson.
But Klay Thompson couldn't make a shot in the playoffs.
And it doesn't mean that he can't be a viable
NBA starter. He just can't be your second best scorer.
And based upon the construction of the Warriors and the

(17:37):
fact that he had so much time and sweat equity
with the Warriors, he assumed that he had to be
that guy, and he's just not. He's still a good defender,
he still makes shots, he can still be a starter
on a playoff team, but he's got to be your
fifth best starter, and ego will keep it from doing that.
And for the Warriors, it's nearly impossible with the same

(17:58):
coach and the same players from to step down a
couple of roles with the same team. So this divorce
of a divine marriage may actually be what triggers them
into one more run with Steph Curry. It may not,
it may not. The league was catching up to them,
and that's when they went out and got Kevin Durant

(18:20):
and they did win a championship without Kevin Durant, and
it was incredible. It's incredible. But Andrew Wiggins played far
above his level. Some of the other competitors were hurt,
and they made the plays when they needed to and
won yet another championship. But let's be honest that people

(18:41):
have started to figure them out, They have started to age,
and they do need some more pieces, and I think
I think that's saying no to Klay Thompson. Like, how
many times have we seen, whether it's a dynasty or championship,
teams get derailed by the fact that one of their
star players wants more than he's actually worth. Happens all

(19:03):
the time. I mean, we just talked about Bruce Brown. Now,
Bruce Brown, the Nuggets didn't match, but Bruce Brown wanted
more money. And obviously I know that Klay Thompson is
a better player historically than Bruce Brown. But it's it's
just the point to be made that you know, you
run the risk, very strong risk when you re sign

(19:24):
a player who wanted more money that he's whatever, he
feels like, he's unhappy or he feels like the he
lets his feelings come out that that ends up rubbing
off on other players. By the way, here's Rick Buker
last hour on why he doesn't think Klay Thompson leaving
for LA is the right move.

Speaker 4 (19:45):
It sounds good, but it really doesn't make a whole
lot of sense in my mind for Clay because I'm
not sure that he's dramatically improving his his situation. I
would also say that if you look at what's transpired,

(20:07):
play has not looked in the same the same way
around the league. It's not they're not looking at we're
going to take a piece of the the Big three
or we're going to break up the Splash brothers. Uh.
If he was still held in the same regard, Orlando
wouldn't be going out and signing KCP for twenty two
million per like that? Would that would have been something

(20:29):
that they would have used to get Clay. Now, maybe
maybe Clay wasn't interested in going all the way across
the country, but again, that would have been a better
situation for him potentially, certainly financially and potentially competitively than
than what the what he would have if he if

(20:53):
he joined the Lakers.

Speaker 3 (20:57):
It's fascinating, right. I understand you have the sweat equity.
I get it. Okay, you have the sweat equity. But
I also understand that there's another dynamic here at play,
and that's that a new job and a new life

(21:18):
and a new beginning might be just the refresh he
needs to get a little bit more juice out of
the orange. And while there would be from the fans
a reasonable sense of hey, Clay came back and even
though he took less, he's been an all time great.
That's really hard on anybody's ego to be sitting there
making so much, dramatically less than you could be making

(21:38):
maybe on the open market, even if it was with
a bad team.

Speaker 2 (21:42):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd Weekdays
and Neon Easter not a Empacific.

Speaker 5 (21:47):
Hey, it's Ben. Hosting a Fifth Hour with Ben Maller
would mean a lot to have you join us on
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is the Fifth Hour, I'll tell you it's a spin
off of it. Ben Maler Show a cold hit over
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(22:08):
amazing facts about human nature and more. Listen to the
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Speaker 3 (22:16):
Welcome in Gottliebin for Colinis, the Herd on Fox, Portrayer,
the iHeartRadio app. So many things to get to in
the NBA. Why not ask for help right? Call it lifeline.
Yvan Bouja joins us. Of course, he covers the Lakers
for a living and thought he'd be just a great outlet.
Plus senior NBA Lakers reporter for The Athletic And let

(22:40):
me start with again the news of the day before
we get to Lakers specific because you cover the whole league.
What's your reaction to Paul George choosing to leave La
his home area and go to Philly and plip for
the Sixers.

Speaker 6 (22:54):
I was not surprised once the reporting came out that
there was this quibbling with the fourth year between he
and the Clippers, and feels like it's been trending this
way since Kawhi Leonard signed that contract extension where you know,
Paul George was eligible at the same time that Kawhi

(23:14):
Leonard was, and it recently just came out that Paul
George was not even aware that Kawhi Leonard was signing
that extension when he did, and he found out when
we all did when the news is broken. So it
feels like it really was going to come down to
the market for Paul George and if he could find
a better offer with more years, more money, and ultimately

(23:36):
that's what he was able to do. And it sounds
like the Clippers were only willing to offer him a
three year deal and him getting a fourth year and
really just a monster contract of north of two hundred
million dollars. You know, it makes sense that he would
go for that. And I do think Philly now with
him indeed and MAXI is in a position to potentially

(23:57):
be the number two team in the East. I would
put them there with the mix and if all you know,
Joel Indid could stay healthy for a postseason, maybe they
can get out of the East and potentially even win
a championship. So I do think slatting him as like
that number two point five guy in Philly. I think
it's a little bit better than what he was and
with Clippers being like technically the number two, but sometimes

(24:19):
even the number one when Kawi was out. So I
think he just has to do less offensively, which is
I think a win for him in his skill set
right now, and then defensively, I think he fits in
nicely with Indeed, so I think it was a really
smart move.

Speaker 3 (24:32):
I do too. I mean, obviously the last two years
of the contract. One, it's interesting you get to your
mid mid you know, other side of thirty five. That's
interesting to see what it looks like. But nobody seems
to care about that. Let let's get closer to home. Look,
Michael Thompson's beloved in Lakers Land. There's always been this
infatuation with getting Clay to come home. But it's it's

(24:55):
weird to be with the Warriors and then go to
the Lakers. And I don't know, is Clay getting close
to a decision.

Speaker 6 (25:04):
It sounds like it. So the latest I've heard is
the Lakers would love to sign Clay to their non
taxpayer mid level exception of about twelve point eight million dollars.
But all of the buzz over the past thirty six
hours or so has been that Dallas is the current
front runner for him, and part of that is because
Dallas has this trade exception that they created from salary

(25:27):
dumping Tim Hardaway Junior onto the Detroit Pistons. So now
they have this trade exception where Clay could sign the
Warriors signing trade with Clay rather and then he would
get more money than that taxpayer at Bell League, so
he gets somewhere closer to twenty million dollars and join
the Mavericks that way. Now the Lakers could technically do

(25:49):
the same thing. So either they could do a form
of a salary dump trade where they trade a d'angela Russell,
or a Ruijachimura to a different team attached asset and
create a similar exception for Clay, or they could do
a sign in trade directly with the Warriors, but they
would have to send out a salary in that and

(26:10):
the Warriors would have to accept the players that the
Lakers would be sending them, So it would have to
be something appealing to Golden State, maybe something like a
ruy Hachimora and a Jalen Chaffino, and you know that
helps them remain competitive and also gives them a former
first round pick one year and moved who is still
pretty young and I think showed some flashes in the

(26:31):
G League at least last season. So my read on
the situation is that I would still peg Dallas as
a slight favorite. But if the Lakers can get creative
here and either execute a salary dump trade to create
that trade exception or find a package with Golden State
that Golden State is comfortable with, then I think there's

(26:51):
a chance he could end up in LA. But it
would almost certainly have to be on a trade in
a form of trade, and it's going to have to
be more than that twelve point eight non taxpayer mid
level exception. And then the other thing is that potentially
affects how big of a pay cut Lebron James has
to take. So there's a lot of moving parts with this.
But my read is that if Clay ends up in LA,
it's almost certainly going to have to be in a

(27:12):
trade and it's going to be more than that twelve
point eight number.

Speaker 3 (27:15):
Okay, so what are they willing to part with? I mean,
they're not take D'Angel Russell, like nobody wants d Angel Russell.
I mean you have to get maybe a third team
and somebody who wants to, I don't know, play him.
I don't know what what else do they have to offer.

Speaker 6 (27:29):
Well, I'll say this, They're not going to trade Austin
Reeves because they're they're barometer for trading. Austin Reeves has
been a high level All Star and for as great
as Clay is for obviously a future first ballot Hall
of Famer, four time champion, he is not currently that level,
that level of player. And right so I think like

(27:51):
Austin read is off the table, Lebron and Ad off
the table, I think anything else is potentially on the table. Again,
a Ruyjachimura, potentially a Jared Vanderbilt, like those types of guys.
If that's what's going to get this done, I think
they'd be willing to do that. Maybe a pick. Although again,
like there's a reason why Golden State is willing to
let Clay Thompson walk here, Like, I mean, he's really

(28:14):
regressed and he's still an elite shooter, but defensively he's
no longer the same player he was just as a
scorer and then those nights where he'd score thirty seven
in the quarter or score sixty on less than ten dribbles.
It's like he can't do that anymore. So I think
maybe a pick or a protective pick of some kind
if it really comes down to it, and that's what

(28:35):
Lebron really wants and it's pushing for, but I think
they would prefer to maybe include like a Jalen Hucha
fino as the sort of draft compensation or the nugget
that they're dangling to get Golden State to do it.
Golden State, as it has been reported, is trying to
find a sign and trade partner here just to get
Clay the best contract possible, and they want to do

(28:56):
him a solid on the way out of hey, we're
not going to pay you, but let's help you get
the most money possible. So I think Goldtate is open
to making some sort of trade and potentially taking back
some salary, but uh yeah, it's just going to come
down to, uh, you know, ultimately, who who do they
value on the Lakers, What does that package look like?
And are the Lakers willing to potentially include a pick,

(29:17):
a pick swap something like that. That seems a little
high to me, but again, it just comes down to
how they view Clay and what Lebron wants.

Speaker 3 (29:25):
Evabu joining us. He's, of course senior NBA and Laker
reporter for the Athletic I listen, I I love that
Ridge Paul's working for his client. But unbelievable he said
about teams being interested. I mean, I havn't thought I
even thought Bob looked foolish in the NBA draft saying
they're telling people not to draft Bronnie James like no

(29:47):
one else was drafting Bronnie James. But what's the what's so,
what's the legit plan? I mean they because Rich Paul said, oh,
he's not doing a two way, so he's gonna sit
on the bench the whole year and not playing any better.
That doesn't make any sense. What's what's the honest playing
with Briani?

Speaker 6 (30:04):
So the Lakers are still forming a plan because and
part of the hold up right now is JJ Reddick
doesn't have his full assistant coaching staff yet. I mean,
he doesn't technically even have one assistant coach right now.
So they need to build out the assistant coaching staff.
They need to build out the play development staff. And
once they have that you know that he's also going

(30:26):
to be doing an introductory press conference tomorrow, so I
think we'll get some more insight tomorrow when we get
to actually talk to Brownie James and it will be
his first media availability as a Laker. But my read
is similar to yours and that you know, I think
he's gonna spend a lot of time in the G
League with the South Bay Lakers, and I think really

(30:46):
the only way this becomes some sort of distraction is
if the Lakers try to force him into a role
that he's not ready for and he really struggles and
it just becomes an awkward situation. But my understanding is
like part of what Rich was getting at with that
was not just a two way situation, but like he
wanted a team to really develop and have a plan

(31:08):
for Bronnie to succeed and to put him in a
position to succeed. And for me, that's got to be
him getting reps in the G League. And that's something
that Rob Plinka said was that he feels like Bronni
just missed out on the reps with USC in part
because of his cardiac arrest and the time that he missed,
so just from a basketball perspective, he has not had
the amount of reps that he would have liked over

(31:30):
the past years. So playing in summer league, playing with
the G League team, and then I'm sure getting some
garbage time minutes, like all those reps are going to
be invaluable for him. And then also that first hand
experience of learning from and observing his teammates and practices
and from the bench in games. But I do not
see him as a rotation player. I mean, you could

(31:52):
always exceed expectations and maybe zero.

Speaker 3 (31:58):
They're not a competitive basketball team. He's a rotation player. Again,
the problem is it's like you don't practice that much
when you're once the season starts, so he's not gonna
be playing. He needs to develop. Yeah, you keep him
up and you haven't. You have him do the at
least a game, you know, or you know, a game
with his dad, and that's gonna be that'd be really cool.

(32:19):
And then after that if he really wants to develop,
that's what the G League is for. It used to
be called the D League because it was the NBL
NBA Developmental League and only changed the name because of Gatorade.
So yeah, that that actually makes sense. What doesn't make
sense as the rich Paul, we don't want to do
a two way thing. That sounds great, but it doesn't
read us as reality. What what about Dalton Connect? I

(32:41):
love him, but like we're drawing up pin downs and
plays for him? What we do?

Speaker 6 (32:47):
Yeah, I mean, I think with any rookie, you have
to see them play first, at least in the summer League,
before you can begin to set expectations. So like, the
Lakers were e static that he fell to them, Like
I think so some times you see these war room
videos and it feels a little forced. It feels like
they are performing for the cameras and they know that

(33:08):
this is about to be broadcasted on national TV. Millions
of people are watching, and they're like, Okay, we have
to act like we love this pick or happy that
this guy fell to us. The Lakers were genuinely happy
that Dalton Connect fell to them. They requected a draft
workout with him, and him and his agent turned them
down because they were like, there's no way he's going
to be available at number seventeen. So once he fell

(33:31):
out of the top ten, because all mock drafts had
him as a top ten prospect, Top ten pick, and
once he felt to number eleven, it became a reality
for the Lakers of like, this guy's flipping and maybe
he falls to us. So they are very high on him.
And I think I wasn't really familiar with him because
he wasn't a prospect that I had prepped for, because
again I didn't think he'd be there. But in watching

(33:53):
film and then talking to people, like, it's clear he
can shoot the ball, and regardless of like any of
the deficiencies of his game, if he could just come
in and shoot thirty seven thirty eight percent at a
minimum for LA from three, like, that's a win. So
I think he could come in and be like a
twelfth to eighteen minute a night bench guy, like the eighth, ninth,

(34:13):
maybe even tenth guy on the roster, Like that's a win,
because the Lakers did not get that last year with
Jalen Hoodchasino, who statistically was one of the worst first
round picks in last year's draft and really didn't contribute
in any meaningful way. So the two reasons that connect
flipped were his defense, and that's going to be a concern,
and then he's going to have to figure out the

(34:34):
defensive end of the floor, and then his age. He's
already twenty three, will turn twenty four during his rookie season,
so that I mean teams are turned off by older prospects.
There's less potential there. But that also means he's more
NBA ready, so like he should be able to contribute
in year one, but him being like a starter or
a closer or like a significant piece of rotation, I

(34:55):
think that's a premature conversation.

Speaker 3 (34:57):
Yeah, yeah, would you shoot he's tough, I mean, you
can score other than the court very much in question,
And I would also be super super surprised. I mean,
they're gonna have their own defensive issues now because because
Lebron's no longer a defensive stopper at all. If they
miss on Clay, who's next? Oh oh, I'm sorry, I

(35:22):
just saw this. Clay's Clay's going to Dallas. So Clay
okay tops yet? Okay, So so Clay's off we discussed earlier.

Speaker 6 (35:29):
Dallas was Dallas was the front runner for the last
day and a half. Okay, So where they turn their
attention to next is the mar de Rosen is a
player that the Lakers have pursued. Uh, back in twenty
twenty one before they were gonna.

Speaker 3 (35:43):
They were gonna get him and then Lebron said no, no,
we want Russ right.

Speaker 6 (35:46):
Yeah, So that's like a FOURK of the boat or
you know, moment for them. So the one thing though
that people like people love to play fantasy basketball with
the with roster building and.

Speaker 3 (36:00):
No, it's the trade machine, so they think the trade
machine is real life like, no work that way.

Speaker 6 (36:06):
So the one thing with here though is that the
Lakers have fifteen players with guaranteed contracts, so the Lakers
have a full roster, and for them to sign at
the Martin Rosen, they're going to have to salary dump
because they if they use that non taxpayer mid level
exception twelve point eight million, they're going to be hard
capped at that first aprin So they're going to have

(36:28):
the salary dump at least one player onto a different
team to create that roster spot and that financial flexibility
to sign at the Martin Rosen or anyone else for
the non tax payer mid level exception. ESPN reported that
there's another name that Lebron James is cool with, but
I'm not quite sure who that is. I haven't been
able to figure that out. I will say that Gary

(36:50):
Trent Junior is a clutch client. He's also someone that
the Lakers have had interest in as a trade target
multiple times over the past few years. And Buddy Healed
also a former client of Rob Polinka. Some of the
Lakers have pursued multiple times on the trade market going
back to twenty twenty one that they had a was
it was but.

Speaker 3 (37:09):
It was Buddy, It was Buddy Yald and Martin Rosen
and it was done, and Polinka said pick one and
they're like, we want Russ and that was. That was
a dumpster fire that did.

Speaker 6 (37:22):
That was the rail the last two years of like,
I think there's an ultimate universe with Lakers will make
the Ross trade and they've potentially won another championship. It
really was that debilitating. But yeah, so I think the
Martin Rosen will be the next guy that they target.
He potentially could have a market for more than the
non taxpayer mid level exception. I personally don't love the
fit of the Marta Rosen with the Lakers because the

(37:43):
Lakers need shooting and defense on the wing. The Marta
Rosen is a below average three point shooter and he
is a below average defender. And he's also aging into
now his mid thirties. So like the name is the
sexy name. He is a former All Star, and like
he got the cachet, but like I don't quite put
him on like that third star level. And I also

(38:05):
think from an actual fit if we're talking about the
skills you need to thrive next to Lebron and Ad.
You need shooting and you need defense, and the mart
Rosen is a minus in both of those aspects. So like,
yes he can hit them clutch shots. Yes he can
score twenty a night, and those are valuable assets to
this Lakers team, but they really need shooting in defense

(38:25):
on the wing, and the mart ros In falls a
little short in both categories.

Speaker 3 (38:30):
Well, maybe they could somehow morph Dalton connect and Jared
Vanderbilt together into one human being in the offseason. If
they did that, it would.

Speaker 6 (38:37):
Be that player would be quite expensive.

Speaker 3 (38:40):
It would you have all great stuff. Man, thank you
so much for joining us.

Speaker 6 (38:46):
Awesome. I appreciate it.

Speaker 3 (38:47):
Doug. All right, just the breaking news is Clay Thompson's
going to join the MAVs three years, fifty million dollars.
I let that one and they'll they'll have well, there'll
be a signing trade there where Josh Green, an elite shooter,
went up in Charlotte. Oh poor Josh Green. So like, hey,
you just played the NBA Finals and now you're going

(39:08):
to Charlotte.