Why The Grizzlies Cannot Expect Much For Ja Morant - Featuring Bryan Toporek

Mort & Bry discuss the Memphis Grizzlies, and Anthony Davis.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:18):
Hi, and welcome to the NBA Podcast. My name is
Morten Jensen, and today we'll be discussing the Memphis Grizzlies
who are looking to potentially potentially trade John Morand and
Jaron Jackson Jr. Both of which if you've listened to
this podcast before, you know where I stand on that
exact topic. And then we'll be discussing the NBA trade
that line, which will land on February fifth, just at large.

(00:44):
And when I say we and it's about trades. And
given that I'm the host this time around, you can
probably guess who I have on the docket, and it's
my good old buddy, Brian Saborik. How are you, sir?

Speaker 2 (00:54):
I am doing well. Happy New Year to you, Happy
new Year to all the listeners out there. Welcome to
slap Season. Baby.

Speaker 1 (01:00):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:00):
Got one big deal done, got another big deal probably
in the works. This is the blockbuster trade deadline where
no team is actually getting a star player that they.

Speaker 1 (01:11):
Want, right. So we got to start with the Grizzlies, man,
because look, we've talked about them for years on this show,
and I know people can be a little pissy in
terms of how we rate Jaron Jackson Junior and John
morand h I'm gonna stand by it, not out of
like spy it or because I'm stubborn. I just can't

(01:33):
get there. In terms of like those two having immense
trade value, I don't believe in that core moving forward.
If those are the two best players, they are seemingly
open to taking calls on Morant. My colleague Gullyico over
at yah who Sports also reported that Jaron Jackson Junior
may not be necessarily long for this roster as well,
like that doors doesn't seem to be fully closed. I like,

(01:56):
I support this if the Grizzlies really go in to
this trade deadline with the mindset that, yeah, the job
orange Jaron Jackson Junior thing that it may win us
a ton of games in the regular season, but in
the playoffs it just hasn't proven all that effective. I
support that ideology. I think that's the right play. Mm hmm,
because what is the upside here with those two.

Speaker 2 (02:19):
They kind of already signaled where they were going when
they traded Desmond ban this past summer. I mean, that
was a massive offer for Desmond Bain. I don't blame
them for trading him, but like, if you're committed to
the Bain Jaron Jackson Corps. You don't trade one of
those three. So yeah, that at least signaled they were

(02:39):
heading for a soft retool. And you know, maybe it
was they just didn't think you could build around those
three guys on max deals and you have much more
flexibility now. But I also think like part of what's
going on in Memphis is similar to what happened in
Atlanta this year where Trey Young missed a lot of time.

(03:00):
They saw they were kind of fine without him. Jalen
Johnson just turned into this, you know, all Star All
NBA caliber player and Trey's absence. The Grizzlies without Job,
I mean, they're they're just not good of a team
with Jaw or without Jaw right now. So why have
john Rant on this massive contract if he's not a

(03:22):
needle mover for you? And I think that is especially
given like the injuries, the surliness with the coaching staff.
I mean, there was the thing earlier this season where
he got suspended for a game after the Lakers game
where he just like quiet quit on the team in
the second half, you know, where a couple of years
removed from the suspensions, but I think there's still some

(03:44):
like rumbling slash questions about his off court habits, like
and he's not playing well this year. I mean, that's
you don't have to focus on that stuff. He's shooting
a career worst forty overall twenty twenty eight percent from DP,
so he's not even playing that well plus all of

(04:05):
this other stuff, and your pot committed to him for
the next two seasons. I mean, his contract runs through
twenty seven to twenty eight. So yeah, I think it
makes total sense that the Grizzlies are looking to at
least they're open to offers on him. As how that
was framed, right, I guess the question to you is, like,
do you expect them to get much more than the

(04:26):
Hawks just did for Trey Young.

Speaker 1 (04:29):
I don't, and like that would be interesting. I think
that's that's at least a subplot that's worth tracking that
if they're able to do so, I would love to
understand like the logic behind it, because in the whole,
you know, point guard hamster wheel that is John morand
LaMelo Ball, Trey Young. I rate Tray Young the highest
out of those three, and you know that's awfully just

(04:50):
just where I am so people who can can differ.
But I look at a guy who, yes, his shot
selection isn't necessarily great, but there is legitimate range. He's
by far are the best playmaker of everyone in that bunch,
Like that's been a thing that I think has gone
under the radar from for him in his entire career.
Like Tray Young is truly an amazing passer, whereas Moran,

(05:13):
you know, he's he's a good passer, sure, but he's
fairly pedestrian in that way. Like he's he's a fine playmaker,
but he's not a great one. Where his value lies
is athletically. LaMelo not really sure, let's like, let's save
him for another episode. I'm still not sure what the
hell he offers really, But Moran is just like he's

(05:34):
he's a guy who puts a ton of pressure on
the rim and that does have value. Like I'm not
gonna sit here and say, oh, that doesn't have value.
That he can attack the rim and he can jump
over Kevin Love. That's like, yes, he can't do that,
and that is a great thing to be able to have,
But he doesn't bend defenses off the ball at all,
Like at all, You're you're just letting him shoot him.
He can's four to three's on you in a row.

(05:56):
You live with that, and you look over at the
coaching staff and they go, yeah, you know what, he's
not going to do that again. It's fine, let's live
with it. So you're looking at a player who is
immensely limited, who is going to age not particularly gratefully.
Gracefully was the word, because his flour game is just

(06:18):
not that solid. Why would I, as any organization looking
at him, value him higher than Trey Young to a
point where I'm attaching picks, where I'm attaching like multiple
young players, I can't justify it. And hell hell, even
if I'm an interested organization, I'm also using the Tray
Young trade in my negotiation tactics with Memphis. Like if

(06:40):
Memphis comes in and says we want four first round
draft picks with John Moran, I am laughing my ass off,
and I'm saying, I will find you the similar value
of one Corey kiss Bert, right, because.

Speaker 2 (06:54):
You could have four first round picks. They're top twenty
nine protected, right.

Speaker 1 (07:00):
Happy. But see that's that is that is I actually
wouldn't even do that, even though I know you're you're
joking because that ties your own flexibility, Like I wouldn't.

Speaker 2 (07:09):
Even do that for first round swaps that are top
twenty nine.

Speaker 1 (07:16):
It's it's such an egregious like ask if they're asking
for the moon here, because the off court stuff alone
are worrisome enough, as you outlined, but the play on
the floor, like we're acting as if you know this
is a positive, and like I know Grizzly's fans they
love to hammer this point home. Like when Job Moran plays,

(07:38):
they win sixty percent of their games. Okay, great, like
they they have regular season success. I also think Jaron
Jackson Junior is a guy who can get you into
the playoffs. That's cool, but then when they're there, it's
sort of modest production for both of those guys. So like,
what is the end game here that you want to

(07:58):
get into the playoffs and then just not be relevant? Yay?
How how exciting?

Speaker 2 (08:05):
Well, I thought. John Hollinger of The Athletic, who used
to work in the Grizzlies front office a few years ago,
had a good column about Job recently and kind of
explained that there's a difference between West good and East good,
where in the West you have these. I mean, you
have the Thunder, you have an up and coming team

(08:26):
like the Spurs. You have the Nuggets when they're healthy,
you have the Rockets when they're healthy, like you have
these goliaths that you have to defeat. Whereas in the East,
especially this year, it's so wide open that like, you know,
you're the Pistons. The Knicks are good, but you're they're
not striking fear into your heart like Victor wembin Yama,

(08:47):
like shaegilg just Alexander, like Nikola Jokic. So a team
in the East might be more inclined to gamble on
job than a team in the West. And the Grizzlies
looking at their Like if the Grizzlies were in the East,
they might have said, you know what, Baine Jaw jaren, like, yeah,
that can go to top four seed. But in the West,

(09:08):
it's like we're struggling to even make the play in
right now. So I think that also might explain some
of their motivation to move off of him. I've seen
Miami mentioned, but I mean pat Riley loves chasing every
star under the sun, so of course Miami is coming
up in the Jaw talks, which I think is really
interesting since it seemed like one of Jaw's big beefs

(09:31):
last year with the coaching staff was that they were
not using him as much in pick and rolls as
they would as he would like. And Miami has effectively
abandoned pick and rolls this year. So, like, you know,
Spoe is such a good coach that I'm sure he
would tweak his system to incorporate more of that. I
think part of that was just he's designed the system
based on the personnel he has at his disposal. If

(09:54):
Jah came in, I'm sure they would tweak and work
some of that into their system as well. I think
the obvious concern of like do you want someone with
jaws off court questions? Do you want him unleashed on
South Beach? I think that is a very fair thing
to wonder, Like is he a heat culture type of guy? Unclear?

(10:15):
I think the optimistic case is that he's again just
kind of quiet quit on the Grizzlies, and maybe he
goes somewhere else and finds, as Jimmy Butler once said,
he finds joy playing basketball again, and you know, has
a second kind of a second draft guy, like a
very high end version of a second draft guy. I

(10:35):
think the interesting thing from Miami's perspective, not just with job,
but any big name that they would go after. The
NBA has not made it clear if they're allowed to
trade Terry Rogier, who was on the federal investigation for
a gambling allegation twenty six point seven million dollars this year.
I mean, he is their big salary matching piece, is

(10:56):
an expiring contract, Like any team that trades for him
is not trading for him as the players. You're trading
for him as salary relief. But apparently, like like the
NBA allegedly won't even rule on this until the Grizzly
or until the Heat are close to getting a deal
over the line with his salary, which I find insane
because like you can, Terry Rogier is twenty six point seven,

(11:19):
Davion Mitchell is eleven point six, Jaws thirteen or thirty
nine point five, Like those are close enough that Rogier
or Mitchell, you know, if you want to make them
throw in and Nikola Jovich or Hi Mayhawka's junior, you know,
I think Miami box at that. Maybe they throw in
a first round pick instead. But like the salaries are

(11:40):
right there if they can include Terry Rogier. If not,
then they have to include Norman Powell, Andrew Wiggins or
Tyler Hero, all of which I think are probably a
hard note from them. So that's a subplot that I
think deserves more attention because as much as I, you know,
make fun of the heat for all of their incessant whining,

(12:02):
especially during the Dame situation, like this is this does
feel kind of unfair to them that they don't know
whether they can trade their biggest salary chip that is
actually movable.

Speaker 1 (12:15):
Yeah, I agree, I agree. I actually did not know
that the League had said that we aren't going to
rule on this until you're close to a trade.

Speaker 2 (12:26):
That is possibly someone asked Adam Silver at a recent
press conference and he was like, this is an unprecedented
situation and we're working it out with them. But yeah,
it was I think someone from ESPN, Wendy Bontem's Bobby Marks,
one of those guys, had a a Terry Rozier primer.
I'm like, will they be allowed to trade him? And

(12:48):
the answer was, we don't know, and we probably won't
know until they get close. But that, like, that's insane
they're gonna you're gonna make Miami negotiate this deal with like, Okay,
well we'll try to trade you Terry Roger and Damian
Mitchell for John Morant and if it doesn't work then
the NBA says no, then okay, we're back to square one.

(13:08):
Like that, that just does not feel like how this
should be working.

Speaker 1 (13:11):
No, No, that's that's and and and also, I mean
when you look at how the league has historically preferred,
you know, pretty clear lines in terms certain things, this
goes very against that because it takes a long time
for teams to negotiate deals of any magnin two just
like a second rounder for a bench guy can sometimes

(13:32):
take a couple of months to go through. Honestly, that
it's it's not a short process. Like you will have
the occasional you'll let me call you back in two
minutes because you're up against the trade deadline and you'll
put you know, throw ship at the wall. Both sides
will will go, sure that works, and they'll they'll just
do it. But that is not the norm. I should say.

(13:53):
The norm is a slow process. So this only complicated
even more. It gives Miami more work on their hands
as well. Yeah, see, I knew that they weren't decided,
but I did not know. It was like, if you're
close to a deal, that just makes it even more frustrating.

Speaker 2 (14:09):
I'm going to try to find here we go. Yeah,
it was a The headline was Terry Rogier investigation shines
spotlight on NBA trade protocols from Bontemps and Marks in
early December. And yes, there isn't guidance from the NBA
as to whether the Heat could move Rosier. The fact

(14:29):
that he is still in the roster is assigned that
Heat believe it's a possibility. There is precedent to believe
that because Kevin Porter Junior was arrested in September of
twenty twenty three, charged with assault and strangulation, but was
traded a month later to Oksee, who immediately waived him.
Here's the big kicker. Sources expect that if the Heat
got close to trading Rogier, only then would Miami asked

(14:50):
the league for clarity on whether such a trade would
be allowed.

Speaker 1 (14:54):
Wow.

Speaker 2 (14:55):
Okay with that said, mort Yeah, if let's assume hypothetically
he is allowed to be traded, m H. Rosier and
you could either do Davion Mitchell or Simone Fintechio and
then another contract. Yeah, if it's if it's Rosier and

(15:17):
Mitchell for joh do you think Memphis says yes to
that alone or did they ask for something else?

Speaker 1 (15:25):
So at least ct mcollum had value. Also for Atlanta,
I like, that's that's actually a player I quite like
for Atlanta, although he's older, so like Tero sheer Is,
is a minus there because he's not playing whatsoever. He's
not someone who you're looking to re sign. So at
least when the McCollum, you're getting like a productive guy

(15:47):
who you might actually be interested in retaining after the
conclusion of this year. So no, I mean Daviian Mitchell, Yes,
I love him a fair bit, but he also seems
like a very Miami heat culture depending guy, Like I'm
not sure he would have a similar influence in Memphis,
for example, and I would be very aware of that

(16:08):
if I'm Memphis and I'm making this deal. So in
this case specifically, I would probably try to squeeze out
and protect it first to align that value. And that's
the only like pick I'm willing to relinquish. And again,
the protection does matter. I don't know if it's lottery
protected or top ten protected regardless, Like, I'm not adding

(16:30):
more if I'm Miami, like I'm recognizing Memphis tells me
in a negotiation packet negotiations that hey, c J productive player,
Corey kisper productive player. You know, the Hawks got two
of those guys, you know, back for Trey, You're giving
us a player who will maybe not ever see the

(16:52):
inside of an NBA arena.

Speaker 2 (16:54):
Again, right, yeah, I mean they acquire him and they're
waving him immediately, immediately, just for the rosters.

Speaker 1 (17:00):
Right, and then Davion Mitchell, who is one player who
doesn't come close to the totality of the column, and
Corey Kissbert. Then that's a fair point from Memphis point
of view. Let's be real. So in that context, I
could see the addition of a first.

Speaker 2 (17:17):
And that like Miami I'm assuming says Hawkes is off
the table because he has bounced back in a big
way after kind of flatlining last year. Kalel Aware is
off the table. What about Yovich? Do you think that.

Speaker 1 (17:30):
Would be the poison pill situation?

Speaker 2 (17:34):
Well, I just yeah, I mean, I like, do you
think Miami would be open to moving him assuming they
can make the math work.

Speaker 1 (17:44):
Yeah, I don't see why they wouldn't be.

Speaker 2 (17:46):
Oh, actually he's got never mind his trade restriction until
next year anyway.

Speaker 1 (17:51):
Oh okay, there you go.

Speaker 2 (17:52):
All right, well then screw that. Yeah, it's got to
be a first round pick. But are they oh some already,
don't they?

Speaker 1 (18:00):
I believe they do. By the way, we need to
reach out to Keith Smith of spot Track because it
has Nicola Yovich just nineteen years old. That can't be true.

Speaker 2 (18:08):
Yovich and Jason Tatum as.

Speaker 1 (18:10):
Nineteen years just a next Tatum.

Speaker 2 (18:15):
Miami is a Laddo protected first in twenty twenty seven
to Charlotte, and that is the only first day. Oh
they have traded all of their second round picks away.

Speaker 1 (18:25):
Oh god. Yeah, so maybe Miami isn't the team. Yeah, frankly,
because I'm not giving up bam hero wickans Powell like
where hawkas I mean Kaspara Shakos shown is but he's
not earning enough? Is he? Like three point six?

Speaker 2 (18:46):
I mean Zacrametto also keeps coming up as a potential
landing spot, and of.

Speaker 1 (18:53):
Course they are sure why not? Yeah, yeah, yeah, let's
just mess up that situation even more.

Speaker 2 (19:00):
I mean DeRozan and either Malik Monk or Dennis shrewd
or get you their salary wise pretty easily. So they've
got they have the money to match. Should they have
the interest in the question.

Speaker 1 (19:12):
To see Russ and John on the floor together, that's going.

Speaker 2 (19:14):
To be God, yeah, I mean that's this is the
problem though, Like there aren't a ton of obvious landing
spots for him. I did see KD the other week
was kind of hinting out a jaw interest for Houston potentially.
And then I mean Fred van Vlietz got the twenty

(19:37):
five million dollar contract that he's got the player option on,
so it's not necessarily expiring. I mean you can Dorian
Phineysis Smith is at twelve point seven million, so again
they've got the money. Like would you do van vliet
Dorian Phinney Smith and Tari Eason? I'm asking you, this
terrible person be asking this question too.

Speaker 1 (19:59):
But oh no, no, So Tari is in a situation
where he needs to be re upped anyway, So I
get like, Dorian's Finney Smith? Are we even sure that's
a good contract right now?

Speaker 2 (20:10):
So that's I mean, that could be a bad contract
for a slightly less bad contract situation, although he's only
only two years guaranteed on his deal.

Speaker 1 (20:22):
Right, yes, and then if you pick up the or not,
it's not an option. But like, if you guarantee the
twenty seven to twenty eight, then he has a player
option for twenty eight twenty nine, which is what weird
act structure, very very weird structure. I don't think. I
don't recall having seen something like this before. Yeah, but yeah,
I'm pretty sure that's going to be nick. No, yeah,

(20:43):
how do you do that? Actually? Because it's a player option.
If that was a team option, that would make much
more sense, right. Are we sure that's true?

Speaker 2 (20:53):
I don't know. I mean, yeah, either way, you're tearing
up that contract after twenty six twenty seven, so.

Speaker 1 (20:58):
Yeah, but given that it's a player option, I'm pretty
sure you can't tear it up, like, I'm fairly sure,
like unless the non guarantee supersedes the player option.

Speaker 2 (21:11):
That would presumably be the case. I'm trying to see
if I can find any reporting about that.

Speaker 1 (21:20):
Is an interesting deal.

Speaker 2 (21:21):
Actually, yeah, I mean why am I looking for a
sham's article about details? Oh yeah, yeah, that's that's on me.
That's on me.

Speaker 1 (21:31):
I don't want details, stay away from shops, silly.

Speaker 2 (21:40):
Yeah, Michael Scotto would probably have the yeah he's got
that sicko stuff. Oh yeah, here you go. Yeah, uh,
fully guaranteed. The first TEW year has a third year
non guaranteed salary and a fourth year non guaranteed salary
end player option. So that is weird.

Speaker 1 (22:03):
So well if it's non guarantee, so you can opt
into a non guarantee I guess.

Speaker 2 (22:09):
So, yeah, what's the point that.

Speaker 1 (22:12):
Is such weird negotiation? I can't even imagine, Like, what's that? Like?
How that.

Speaker 2 (22:21):
Yeah, four years and fifty three million was the headline,
right right.

Speaker 1 (22:25):
And then at the end of the day it was
two years, you know, twenty five?

Speaker 2 (22:29):
Yeah, oh, twenty six. Should we before we move on
from Memphis? Touch on Jared Jackson Junior, who was also
starting to percolate in some we need to train speculation.

Speaker 1 (22:41):
So I want to I want to do this the
right way because people know that I'm down on him,
and I do think context here matters, because again, I
understand the value that he does provide just in terms
of like being a consistent offensive player, just in terms
of like the volume, right, like you can pencil him
him for eighteen twenty two points every single night and

(23:03):
even in somewhat limited minutes. I'm well aware that having
a spacing big man who can also hit free FROs
that is not something you just find. Is that is
a someone who can play at the end of the
games and you can rely on to a certain extent,
which is positive. I also understand that defensively major bonus.

(23:23):
I don't think he ever was good enough to win
defensive Defensive Player of the Year. I wouldn't have gone
that route, but hey, fair enough, so I don't look
at him as someone who's year in and year out
is like in de at that level. But he's obviously
a very good defensive player. I'm not going to sit
here and argue otherwise. My issue is two parted with him.

(23:46):
One the rebounding thing. To me, I feel people just
coasting over that, just skirting over it like it's not
an issue. If you're six eleven and one of the
most athletic six to eleven players league and you know
that your team is missing out on the in the
rebounding department, and I mean they because I know this

(24:09):
year they're doing well. But that's because etc. Coward came
in rebounding the ball at a good rate. Sancho Dama's
rebounding ball a good rate, But historically speaking, he's not
been a good rebounder. There have been multiple situations in
the playoffs where you've seen them just get beaten on
the class where he could have come in and done
a difference, where he just flat out didn't. So a

(24:30):
big man who doesn't rebound will always be a red
flag to me, always, And then it's the playoff production
or lack thereof. Like historically speaking, it's been twenty seven games,
so you know, small sample size, alert, but it's been
spread out over four different years, which I do think
matters a little bit. But he does not. He does

(24:53):
not enter the playoffs and level up. He does the opposite,
you know, he does. He does the opposite of at
Donovan Mitchell who comes into the playoffs and like, oh,
by the way, I'm superman.

Speaker 2 (25:04):
I'm gonna now average thirty five points a game, thank you.

Speaker 1 (25:06):
Right, exactly like Jackson swings. And that is something I
think is a problem because you need someone who is
attached to that level of salary, for example, to be
one of your key guys, and he just hasn't been
in over four years in the playoffs, like totally, he's

(25:27):
shooting under forty percent from the field, and he's averaging
like just under sixteen per game. And I understand it's
not all about offense, but when you're earning that type
of money and you're looked at as one of the
primary key offensive players on the team as well, you
gotta do more. So unless I see him break some
of these patterns, I'm just going to be skeptical. Now,

(25:50):
I will say situation. His situation doesn't help because they
did go and find Zach Edy last year. Now Edie
has been injured a Tony's twenty eight games so far
this year. But like his presence on the floor does help,
you know, offset the rebounding issues that Jared Jackson Junior has.
So I don't hate that pairing long term because then

(26:13):
you if you have that big Beefy sag Edy under
the the that ryme that was intentional under the basket,
who will grab a ton of boards, block shots, score
at a high percentage, hit free froze like he's good.
Sagedy is good. He's just not available there is. His
size alone is just unfortunately begging for more injuries. That is,

(26:38):
that is such an unfortunate thing for a consequence for
his size. So I'm like, when he's out, can I
trust Jaron Jackson Jr. To come in and play center
full time and be like a strong rebounder and someone
who is almost mimics like a first option over the
course of a long period of time this year, He's

(26:59):
been given every chance to and he hasn't. I Look,
I will argue that over the past fifteen twenty games,
Cedric Coward has been a better player than Jaron Jackson Junior.
A rookie wing has been better than Jaron Jackson Junior.
That just concerns me. I'm not saying that this is

(27:21):
his normal standard. Clearly he's not having a good year.
But if this is what I'm getting after, you know,
just renegotiating and extending him, oh boy, I don't feel
confident in that. That is something that then I would
need to find like the specific fit where I don't
worry about him.

Speaker 2 (27:42):
Yeah. No, I mean I think it boils down to
he just signed a what amounts to being a four year,
two hundred and five million dollar extension, like as part
of a renegotiation, but starting next year, he has four
years and two hundred five million dollars left on his contract.
It's projected to be between twenty eight and thirty percent

(28:05):
of the cap each of those years. We've had the
conversation many times. It's increasingly hard to build around three
guys on max contracts. This is not a thirty five
percent max, so there is some nuance there. It makes
it a little bit easier, but still it unless you
have two guys on twenty five percent max and Jaron
on a thirty Like you know, if you had two

(28:26):
thirty five's in the thirty, it's still hard to build
around that, just given all the Apron restrictions. So I
think the question is ken Jaron Jackson be one of
the two best players on a championship team. If not,
then there's going to be some very limited circumstances where
it makes sense to have him on that type of
a contract. Like I know there's some speculation about Boston

(28:50):
wanting to add him. Okay, who were they giving up
to get him? Because it's like Simon's Maybe, but that's
still probable enough. I mean, like Simon's and Sam Houser,
I don't know how the math would work specifically with

(29:12):
the renegotiation extension, Like does Simon sam Hous or Peyton
Pritrick get you there? Maybe? But then you've got Tatum
and Jalen Brown on thirty five percent, Maxes Jaron Jackson Jr.
At thirty and you have Derek White Earning eighteen percent
of the cap, Like that's you're gonna be in second
a from prison and you're gonna be very limited and

(29:32):
the type of I mean, they've done a great job
this year of finding some like cheap rotation players who
look impactful, but those guys are not under contract for
very long in most instances, So I don't know. I'm
I think there are like the perception of Jared Jackson Junr.

(29:52):
Around the league of like, oh, every team should be
ready to burn down, you know, three or four first
round picks and whatever it takes to get Jared Jackson
Junior in here. I'm not sure that there are a
lot of teams where that would make.

Speaker 1 (30:07):
Sense, right right? I agree? And yeah, go ahead.

Speaker 2 (30:12):
Sorry, Well, I saw Rich Paul the other day float
Lakers the Lakers should go after Jaron Jackson Junior, and
he said they should flip Austin Reeves for him, which
you know I before he signed that extension, and with
the Lakers like in line to have sixty million dollars
potentially if Lebron James either retires or moves on. You know,

(30:36):
I thought he was their target. I thought he was
their big free agent target. I thought they would go
after him and re signed Reeves because they can use
the cap space hold or a cap hold trick that
the Sixers did with Maxi in twenty twenty four. So
I thought that was probably the plan. Jackson signing that
big extension makes it a lot more complicated. I mean,

(30:56):
they could theoretically just trade him into space, but you know,
the Grizzlies are going to correctly want assets for Jared
Jackson junior if they're trading them. So you know, right
now Austin Reeves is earning thirteen point nine million dollars, Like,
if they're trading for Jenam Jackson junior this year, it

(31:16):
really almost has to go because he's you know, if
they're not trading Lebron, and he can veto any trade anyway.
It's like Reeves really at least one of Jared Vanderbilt
Gabe Vincent MAXI Kliba or I guess DeAndre Ayton could
go too, But like that's just wiping out a good
chunk of the depth for a team that's already not
that deep, so even even the Lake. Like you know,

(31:39):
if they re sign Reeves this summer and then revisit
that like a almost straight up Reeves for Jeron Jackson
junior swap once Reeves becomes trade eligible next year, that
I think could be interesting. But I don't know. I
like much like I it was hard to find a
team that needs John Morant and we give up significant

(32:03):
assets for John Moran. I think teams would give up
assets for Jaron Jackson Jr. But right I don't know.
I think it's really complicated to find a team where
it makes sense for them to do so. And I
just had a terrible premonition of the Pelicans trading now

(32:24):
whatever picks they don't they haven't already lit on fire
and doing a deal built around Zion for JJJ.

Speaker 1 (32:34):
Man. It's it's difficult because, like to the listener, it
sounds like we're just crapping on him relentlessly. That's not
the case. It's the complexity of the attached salary structure.
That makes this concerning because if you were to ask me,
could Jaron Jackson Junior be the first best player on
in the championship winning team, I would say it depends

(32:54):
on who the first two guys are, But theoretically yes,
if it was you know what, it's like Luca and
a secondary All star who's who might not even necessarily
be that much better than Jared Jackson Junior, but just
a little bit. Yeah, like I will, I could go
along with that premise. I could see that and go, yeah, sure,

(33:17):
I would bin into that. But as you said, thirty
percent of the cap for a guy who just has
so apparent weaknesses, and like, again, what he gives you
is not nothing like I hope that I outlined that
thoroughly enough. Like I do think he plays a major
part in also getting you to the playoffs right now.

(33:38):
I consider him a regular season player. Most people take
that as a diss I don't think it is, because
if you're a regular season player who helps your team
get into the playoffs, that is a good thing. You
need that, you absolutely need that. My issue is that
he's getting paid like a guy now where the expectation

(34:01):
level has increased, Like, yeah, our expectation is to help
us get this, get us into the playoffs, but now
your compensation level is at a point where you also
need to have help us have success in the playoffs.
And that's where my eyes started like getting really big
and wide, because I'm like, I'm skeptical of that second part.

(34:23):
I will trust him to get my ass into the postseason.
I will not trust him to keep my ass in
the postseason.

Speaker 2 (34:30):
Yeah yeah, I mean again, can you be one of
the two best players on the title team. We've not
seen that yet. He's still young enough where that perception
can change, but he's also not that young anyway. He's
twenty six already. Like this might just be who he
I mean, is it fair to ask, like what has

(34:51):
he got gotten substantially better at in recent years?

Speaker 1 (35:00):
Oh? That's that's actually a really good question. The fact
that I'm struggling to answer kind of answers it.

Speaker 2 (35:07):
I think, right, Like, if this is just who he is,
he's still a really good player. I mean he was,
you know, Defensive Player of the Year a couple of
years ago, maybe all that defensive team last year, maybe
the All Star team last year. Like that's not to
take away anything from him, right, but you know, if
if this is who he is and you don't have
an expectation of a massive leap moving forward, I think

(35:28):
that also kind of changes the conversation around him, Like
we're having, you know, Evan Mobley is like a rich
man's version of this where the Cavs were like really
banking on Evan Mobley to become their franchise cornerstone and
like their best player eventually, and he's still hasn't quite

(35:50):
taken that leap. He's younger than JJJ, so there's still
hope for that. But like it, you know, if this
is who Evan Mobley is, I think that changes the
conversation around him as well. But for Jaren Jackson, like
he's even more established, So I don't know, like what
can you know, as you said, great chop blocker, great defender,

(36:10):
great you know, solid three point shooter and relatively high volume.
They do like the rebounding to get better. I think
you'd like the playmaking to get better. Yeah, you know,
could he add more of an off the dribble game?
Can he add more of a post game?

Speaker 1 (36:24):
Like?

Speaker 2 (36:25):
There are things that he could do to become a
deserving thirty percent max player. I'm just not sure he's
there yet or like you know, as currently in his
current form, I don't know that he's I mean, he's
clearly not the second best for the first best player
or second best player on the title team, because the

(36:48):
Grizzlies haven't really won anything of note with him as
the first or second best player on their.

Speaker 1 (36:54):
Team, right, I mean, we can say they've gone to
the playoffs and that's great, but if that's the criteria,
a lot of guys, yeah young right. By the way,
I was looking this up, I hadn't done this before.
I just I was interested in finding out if you
combine his career steals and rob like raw steals and

(37:17):
rop blocks, it still doesn't add up to the total
of fouls that he's been called for.

Speaker 2 (37:23):
I believe that. I mean, yeah, I just like they've
won one playoff series since Cort getting all of Josh
Jaron Bain.

Speaker 1 (37:33):
Right, and again it sounds like we're just racking on him.
It's not. It's just nowadays to wrap this up before
we go on, this has been a long segment. It's
also a part of the first and second apron We
We we are you and I we are guilty sometimes
and forgetting to put that into context. And we are because,
like it's been such a part of the way that

(37:53):
we cover the game that we occasionally forget to explain it.
The value now of deals that are in that twenty
five thirty percent range because of the aprons have just changed.
There's a reason that the Hawks were also getting out
of the tree young business. It was also financially driven.
It wasn't just his play was also financially driven. We've

(38:16):
seen a lot more financially driven trades over the past
two years because of the implementation of aprons. So with
a guy like Jaron Jackson Junior who is now occupying
next year and onwards almost thirty percent of the cap,
you're you're just not maximizing what you can get out
of a team given the constructions of the aprons. Like

(38:39):
if this was an apron free era, I would be
more inclined to just say, yeah, resigned Jaron Jackson to
like two hundred and five million, that's fine. But it's
the construction of the aprons that messes this up. Like
we're just not seeing superstars for exiting or sorry, we're
not seeing someone below superstar lever level earning that type

(39:02):
of money really, and when they do, like, hell, I'll
I'll say something like, I, you know, I follow this
burs a ton like I've been completely invested in the era.
But the d'aron fox extension where he got thirty percent
of the cap at his age, that's not something like
I think it's a good deal. I'm definitely raising some

(39:25):
questions in regards to how is that deal going to age?
Is he going to prevent them in a couple of
years from achieving the goal of winning a championship? He
might not. He might. We don't know yet because his
game is a little bit more scalable than I think
Jaren Jackson Junior's. But we just have to be more
aware of what players sign for.

Speaker 2 (39:47):
Honestly, yep, yeah, no, I thinletly, I mean I could
not agree more.

Speaker 1 (39:54):
Yeah, So I think that was like the best nuance
perspective we could give the situation. We still think there's
value in him as a player, but perhaps we should
wrap up like with this, I would feel far more
comfortable with Jaron Jaction Junior. He was at twenty percent
of the salary cap. That's when I think if he
was at that number, Oh, this would be fun, Like

(40:17):
then I would look at him as an asset or
you is that the same percentage like roughly?

Speaker 2 (40:24):
Yeah? I mean because at twenty percent is like a
little over Jalen Johnson money, right, yeah, I mean Jalen
Johnson should just be on max contract. So that's right.
It's not fair too compare him to that, but yes,
in the like thirty million dollar a year range, I
would feel a lot better than forty to fifty, right, fifty,

(40:44):
I mean averaging over fifty starting next year, which.

Speaker 1 (40:47):
Yeah, just too much.

Speaker 2 (40:49):
Yeah, it just makes it tough.

Speaker 1 (40:53):
So, Brian, as we were going through Jaron Jackson Junior,
something popped up from Sham Sharana, Oh boy, it's it's
a it's Anthony Davis related, and it's a it's a
twosome thing here because one, it's his Stallaceasones is essentially
over given the prognosis and the mass direction, he'll under

(41:13):
like he's likely to undergo surgery to repair ligament damage
in his left hand and miss several months. And then
Sham says, fascinating develop and the Mavericks are having renewed
Davis trade talks with multiple interested teams, sources set if
moved to a playoff consenter, the return timeline could allow
Davis to return during the postseason while establishing himself for

(41:33):
the long term elsewhere.

Speaker 2 (41:36):
Wait sure, yeah, wait so it moved to it mm hmm,
So a team would give up assets and the hopes
that Anthony Davis, the oft injured Anthony Davis could potentially
return during the postseason and then and then and then,

(41:59):
rich and co. If you're trading for Anthony Davis, and
you know you and I have both written about this lately,
if you're trading for him, they are telegraphing loud and
clear they want an extension after this year, right, So
you're going to trade for him, not see him with
your team much, if at all, and then they're gonna

(42:20):
come and ask you for an extension after this year.

Speaker 1 (42:24):
So I would not care about the extension part, honestly.
If I trade for Anthony Davis as an organization, I
just don't care what Clutch is going to say or
what they're going to try to push. I don't care.
Like it's up to me as an organization whether I
want to extend him or not. Like and like, let's

(42:47):
get into the deal first and foremost. I know people
who have listened to this podcast know the deal pretty
pretty well by now, because I've brought it up multiple times. Sure,
fifty four million this year, that's not really the shoot.
The issue is fifty four million, fifty four or sorry,
fifty eight point four million next year, and then a
player option at sixty two point seven. And then there's

(43:09):
this idea people are saying, well, you know, if he
signs an extension, he'll decline the player option twenty seven,
twenty eight. Now, excuse my French, Why the fuck would
I be interested in an extension with Anthony Davis at
that point in time, He's going to be thirty three
in March. He has played a grand total of what

(43:30):
twenty nine thirty games for the Mavericks, which is about
a calendar year since he got traded there. You won't
play the next couple months anyway, he is, his play
has diminished, like he is getting older, and father time
is certainly making us aware that it's that he is
getting older. He's still super super good, but not to

(43:51):
the extent that he used to be. Like, why would
I even even if if Rich Paul came up and said, well,
you know, we'll we'll turn down that last year of
six almost sixty three million, but then we re signed
for two like an extent him for two years forty
or sorry, not two years four, two years eighty because
they wouldn't take two years forty if they declined sixty three? Like,

(44:13):
why would I? Why would I add years to this
contract of substantial value? I wouldn't. Like. The only way
I extended with Anthony Davi is it's like a two
year deal, which was probably two forty twenty million a year,
because I'm not giving up more than that. At that
point in time, he is going to be thirty five
for thirty six. Why the why the hell would I

(44:36):
go about extending him? Why would I?

Speaker 2 (44:39):
I mean, I guess the question would be if it's
like a go Beart situation where he declines the player
option right sign is like you know, three for one.
I mean you you wanted to go as long as possible,
but let's say three for one twenty or something like that.
Oh yeah, no, I agree, I agree, I mean, I'm
I'm right with you. Like I think that the combination

(45:01):
of his age, injury history, and request for an extension,
unless it is something extremely team friendly, makes him radioactive?

Speaker 1 (45:11):
Yes?

Speaker 2 (45:12):
Or should I know? Some team will talk themselves into like,
oh well, maybe maybe he'll just stay healthy this time.
It's like, no, I don't Players typically don't stay healthier
as they get older. If anything, the inverse is true.
And yeah, I mean I guess, like without knowing the
exact dollar figure that they're going into the summer hoping for.

(45:35):
And really I don't even care about the dollar figure
as much they care about the years. But like, you know,
if they want, say two years ninety million, like, why
are you turning down sixty two point eight million dollars
in one year? If if that's what you're going for?
So I don't know, I mean, yeah, part of me,
part of me wonders if like the market itself just

(45:57):
tells him to go piss off and say, like, you're
not getting anywhere near this figure. You know, if you
you pick up your player option of your age thirty
four season, you will become an unrestricted free agent in
twenty twenty eight, you will be going into age thirty
five season.

Speaker 1 (46:14):
Right.

Speaker 2 (46:15):
If you think you are getting anywhere close to sixty
million dollars a year at that point, you are high
outside your mind, and please give me your the name
of your dealer, because I would also like.

Speaker 1 (46:27):
To space out. Yeah, yeah, I would like to shut
off my brain to the same.

Speaker 2 (46:35):
That sounds amazing, Yeah, I mean, it's just that's a
truly insane amount of money for someone who's you just
can't rely on at especially at now, much less three
years from now.

Speaker 1 (46:48):
Right, I'm just the entire ideology of extending him. It's
just nuts to me, because again, even if you get
out of the sixty three million and you like, let's
say two years forty five, I'm not adding another year
on that deal. I'm not adding it's certainly not at
that compensation level. It's Anthony Davis, So I'm playing him.

(47:12):
I'm paying him a million per game at best.

Speaker 2 (47:16):
Right, at best?

Speaker 1 (47:17):
At best?

Speaker 2 (47:18):
Yeah, I mean, I will say so. I'm guessing part
of the motivation for them wanting an extension over the summer,
like in theory, because he technically could have two years
left on his deal, they theoretically could not negotiate an
extension after the regular season begins next year, but if

(47:38):
he officially declines that option, they can because teams are
now allowed to negotiate with their own free agents before
free agency actually begins. So I mean that's like, especially
now that he's probably missed the rest of the season,
or like maybe coming back for a playoff run. Like

(47:59):
any team the trades are should say absolutely, like, well,
trade for you, but there's no chance for giving you
an extension. Let's see how you play next year. Let's
see if you stay healthy next year, right, and if so,
decline the player option and we can negotiate an extension
before a free agency begins, or help pick up the
player option, and then we can negotiate an extension next
summer when you'll have one year left on your deal

(48:21):
and we have the entire year that we can negotiate one. Right.
There's just there is no freaking way any team should
give Anthony Davis an extension this coming offseason, unless it
is the most team friendly extension in the history of
the NBA.

Speaker 1 (48:35):
Here's what you and I know, and here's what we
think first, or sorry, let's flip that. What we think
is what you just said. No one should give him
the player the extension. No one should go into the
Anthony Davis business at this stage and lean into it,
and it certainly shouldn't be expensive if they were to
do it history. However, this is what we know, is

(48:57):
that there's always some asshole team out there that is like,
we believe that we can turn this around. We can
change him, we can fix him, we can fix him.
The structure of our organization is built to withstand this.

(49:18):
We can do it. And then some asshole is going
to go out and give him a ton of money,
and then everyone a couple of years later is going
to say, oh, this poor team is handcuffed because they
re signed or extended anythingy, David, It's so dumb, Brian.
I'm at that point now where it seems that do

(49:38):
this with old players who just give them the farm.
I'm just done. I'm just done. And I don't have
any level of sympathy left for teams that are like, oh,
a guy with over ten years of service service, let's
give him for thirty five percent of the salary cap?
Why not? Like you know, my apologies, I don't. I just,
for example, this seventy six ers with the Empat contract

(50:01):
or the Paul George contract, take your pick. I hated
both of them, and I under no way I'm sitting
here going oh, poor Daryl Morian Poor Philadelphia seventy six
US ownership group for having made two his poor decisions.
Those were bad. Why would I sit here and say,
ah poor you like? No, absolutely not.

Speaker 2 (50:22):
Can I throw a who says no out there?

Speaker 1 (50:25):
Yes?

Speaker 2 (50:27):
And this would require a third team because both teams
are over the first aprint, so I'll keep that in mind.
But it's close enough. The salaries are close enough that
you could throw in send one minimum contract anywhere else
and it would work.

Speaker 1 (50:40):
Mhm.

Speaker 2 (50:42):
Karl Anthony Towns for Anthony Davis.

Speaker 1 (50:46):
Yeah, yeah, that's that's been banted about a little bit before.
It's it's pushing your chips all in if you're the
Knicks all because here's the thing. The upside of Anthony
Davis is better than Karl Anthony's Town's defensively is the
major key here. But man, if he's not available, then

(51:14):
that Robinson, oh, he's he can't carry those minutes. It's
going to be like Aeriel huck porty.

Speaker 2 (51:22):
Yeah yabo with small val yabo center Yeah.

Speaker 1 (51:26):
Ya yabas like the the alternative is going to be
so dramatically lessened that you can more or less pencil
the Knicks out of the playoffs. Before making a finals run.
If Anthony Davis is not available and if he's not
playing up to you know, the best version of himself,
like they would have to make a finals run this

(51:49):
year or next.

Speaker 2 (51:50):
Yep, I mean, I will say both guys their contracts
are the exact same length. They both have sixty plus
million dollar player options in twenty seven to twenty eight,
so effectively cap neutral for both.

Speaker 1 (52:02):
One easton build out of glass.

Speaker 2 (52:04):
Correct. But I mean to your point, Anthony, like, the
Knicks look very good this year. They can probably steamroll
their way to the Eastern Conference finals without breaking a sweat.
But if they make it to the Eastern Conference finals,
or do they make to the NBA finals, Right, they
got two pretty glaring defensive targets, and would Anthony Davis

(52:30):
take away one of those targets? Like could could? I mean,
Carl is obviously a much better three point shooter than
Ad assuming they don't play the playoffs in the bubble again,
but Ad, you know, can they live without that three
point shooting from the center spot if they've got a
much better defender?

Speaker 1 (52:49):
Probably?

Speaker 2 (52:50):
Yeah, So I don't know, I think it would be interesting, Like.

Speaker 1 (52:56):
It's just you know what it is you know what
it is. You're you're it's July, right, You're on the
beach and you've seen your kid just build the most
beautiful snow castle or snowsick sand castle, like he's just
about to build that last tower and it's looking pretty good,

(53:19):
and then that wave is coming in mighty mighty clothes,
and you're like, okay, let's rush this thing. It might
not be asked pretty, but we have to get this
done before the wave comes and destroys everything. I don't
know if Anthony Davis is like that last thing you
put on the sand castle, or if he's the wave.
He might be both.

Speaker 2 (53:40):
Yeah, all right, I got another one who says no
Anthony Davis for Luka doncic.

Speaker 1 (53:49):
Oh you asshole, Oh god, oh god.

Speaker 2 (53:59):
I had to. I had to.

Speaker 1 (54:01):
You know what. The funniest thing is as soon because
the way that I was told about this trade was
that my wife woke me up and she said, Luca
got traded. And I thought, you know, no, you've you've
been hustled by one of those Facebook pages again, yep,
And she was like, no, no, no, this is real,
and she gave me the phone and I like, I

(54:21):
read that out loud, like because I had to read
it out loud for myself just to make it make sense.

Speaker 2 (54:27):
Yep.

Speaker 1 (54:28):
And immediately I again, I had just awoken. I was
not like in a lucid mind. And even then, despite
the fact that I was still someone in a dream state,
I still knew this is going to be one of
the worst traits of all time.

Speaker 2 (54:45):
Yep. I mean it's never a good sign that a
reporter after breaking the news of a trade has to say, yes,
this is real.

Speaker 1 (54:53):
Right.

Speaker 2 (54:56):
For all of the other big trades, it's like, oh, okay,
they traded this guy, but they got like sixty first
round picks in return. Sure hurts, but you know when
Dame got traded, Yeah, that sucks, but like makes sense.
This one was like nope, uh yeah, you're gonna follow
up with like six first round picks, and the next
tweet right down it's like nope.

Speaker 1 (55:17):
And also the next thing I can remember was that
you and I did the what is luka dontic worth
pod years ago and at that point in time, that
was when okay, see had all the picks in the world,
like they still have a bunch, but like they had
everything under the sun, and we actually came up with

(55:39):
a roughly twenty draft picks type of compensation level where
it was like protected and it was like if they
wanted to keep their good ones, then it would cost
a team twenty first round draft picks of protection and
someone some picks that were expected to be low. And

(56:00):
we were asking ourselves, like at the end of the show,
is this crazy. We're both like, no, it's actually pretty
realistic and just in terms of like the value proposition
of it all. And then that was the compensation he
was ended. He ended up going for like Mikail Bridges
cost more.

Speaker 2 (56:19):
All right, I have a real one, Okay, okay, Yeah,
So Atlanta came up before the injury.

Speaker 1 (56:24):
Oh yeah, Atlanta was coming up a lot.

Speaker 2 (56:27):
I know.

Speaker 1 (56:27):
I hate that.

Speaker 2 (56:28):
Yeah, And so CJ. McCollum and Corey Kispert cannot be
included because they can't be aggregated, correct, So it would
and Jalen Johnson is obviously not not getting traded for
Anthony Davis unless they hired Nico Harrison and no one
told us, so it's obviously chrisps perzingis is thirty point
seven million, is the main salary filler. Atlanta is well

(56:52):
under the first Apron. They are a hard cap, but
they are like fourteen point eight million dollars under, so
they can take back a lot more salary than they
send out. I think read about it.

Speaker 1 (57:01):
I think before you even would suggest your trade, I'm
going to say Atlanta should say no. But I'm okay,
just completed.

Speaker 2 (57:07):
Yeah, well, I mean Recesscher was the other Resiche was
the h the other piece that was reported to Dallas
reportedly once and that Atlanta was reluctant to include. They
could instead include Luke Canard. That's it. He's eleven million,
resche Is thirteen point two, so or a conglu but

(57:30):
I don't think you're doing that. So or Nikola Alexander Walker,
which should be a hard note from Atlanta. So would
you do a deal around Porzingis and Resche if you
don't have to give up that twenty six bucks? Pelicans
pick no?

Speaker 1 (57:46):
No. I look, Atlanta right now is in such a
good position with their books. Yeah, McCollum and Persinkus are
coming off Luke Canard too, So three guys are coming
off the this year. Jaen Johnston is below market for
the next many years. Kilex Sander Walker on on ye
Ko Kongo. Both of those guys are underpaid compared to production.

(58:10):
Corny Kispert is compensated fairly. I would say that's a
fine deal. Like that's it's not overpaid, it's not underpaid.
It's just like you know, it's it's gold the Goldilocks situation.

Speaker 2 (58:21):
Right, he's paid, he's paid adequately paid.

Speaker 1 (58:25):
We should really that should be a new saying, a
Goldilocks contract.

Speaker 2 (58:28):
That's why it's perfect.

Speaker 1 (58:29):
Yeah, Sagurye obviously not a rookie second year guy, but
on a rookie scale contract like down year. But you
know he's so young he can salvage that. Dyson Daniels
on a straight twenty five five million after this year, fine.

Speaker 2 (58:46):
Yeah, yeah, is it fine?

Speaker 1 (58:48):
Yeah? So Dan fa Valley has has asked that question
as well, Like, I'm I am beginning to see that
it might be slightly more than what he should have
been given compared to just last year, but it's not Greaches,
it's fifteen percent of the cap. He's still one of
the best perimeter defenders in the league. So like, even
if it is slightly overpaid, it is not to a

(59:09):
point where it's like detrimental to the team.

Speaker 2 (59:12):
Yeah, he's only twenty two. He turns twenty three in March,
so like he's still got time to turn around. It's
really the three point shooting. He's shooting even deep this year,
which is an outlier compared to the first couple of
years of his career.

Speaker 1 (59:25):
So if he but it is fair to say offensively
he's been horrid. Yes, yes, it's been a very bad
offensive season for Dyson.

Speaker 2 (59:33):
He's got to go to whatever Josh Giddy's trainer, keep
them away from Ben Simmons and Matis. You gotta get
these Australian guys learn how to shoot. They just can't, right,
it's so crazy, like what what what is it in
the water down there?

Speaker 1 (59:48):
Right, it's they're so good at so many things, that
are they're just producing all around guys all over the.

Speaker 2 (59:53):
Place, but like defensive menaces.

Speaker 1 (59:56):
Right, but they just can't get guys to shoot. Like, yeah,
it's and then of course, I mean we have we
have some exceptions, but it's not a lot and it's
not like some of the starters moving forward, like it's
not a part of the new crop. No. Well, regardless,
if you're adding anything Davis to the Atlanta Hawks with

(01:00:17):
the books that I just outlined here. That would be
a problem, That would be a significant problem, because then
your books are suddenly not very clean. You don't have
the flexibility. And if you think that you were annoyed
with Chriss Porsinkis's injury pattern, now that Hi Anthony Davis experience,

(01:00:40):
you're not gonna look, You're not gonna like it.

Speaker 2 (01:00:42):
Mm hmm, So I'm with you. Yeah, Like, even before
this injury came out, I wrote something saying they should
think twice before training for him, and I like, I
understand the motivation to do it because as you said,
porzingis expiring, McCollum expiring, or they can aggregate him anyway,
so they probably don't feel as much motivation move him.
But like, if Porzingis expires, they'll have I think, like

(01:01:07):
thirty ish million in cap space this summer, which is
not a toime. Like you know they can. I mean,
they made a killing last year Nikil Alexander Walker at fifteen,
that's insane deal. But you know you're not getting like
a superstar with thirty million dollars in cap space and
all like that. So I cannot understand like wanting to

(01:01:28):
use that chip before it goes away. But I don't
think Anthony Davis is that chip, especially if he's given
the extension and like he's not aligned with their That's
what I didn't understand. Like they've got guys all in there,
like early to mid twenties, you know, locked up as

(01:01:49):
their potential long term core Johnson, Alexander Walker, conglu recess
A Daniels, and then Anthony Davis is already what thirty three?
A is it about to be thirty three?

Speaker 1 (01:02:02):
He's thirty three in March.

Speaker 2 (01:02:03):
Yeah, so like we're gonna trade it for an old off, injured,
expensive center who is in no way aligned with our
developmental timeline. Yeah, sure, if you can do it for
Porzingis and Canard maybe, but I mean, yeah, to your point,
like I I'd rather just have the flexibility I think.

Speaker 1 (01:02:26):
Right, this all comes back to one seam, and I'm
not trying to troll. I'm actually trying no, but I know,
I know, I know, but no, Look, we also have
to be really realistic about something. And you can you
can sit here and laugh at it. I am laughing

(01:02:46):
too on the inside about this because it is funny,
but we know that the bulls aren't necessarily serious about things, right,
like we know they are more serious about putting butts
in seats like that is not and my opinion that
is like they have made no secret about this over
the course of many, many years. They also are very

(01:03:07):
aware that Chicagoans sell tickets. They are, you know, the
homecoming of guys. They have so many expiring contracts that
they can make this work. Just Booch Collins, Herder for
Anthony Davis works and then you can even add it.
You can you can say you can, you can say

(01:03:28):
jaydon Hardy if you If so, it's not like a
three for one because three for one is are always
so difficult to do mid season. That's probably that probably
aligns with his value, in my opinion, what should be
his value. I'm not giving up first for him. I'm
not giving up young players for him. I'm not I'm
not even close to attaching value of that sort. But

(01:03:51):
if I'm just giving up expiring contracts, why not again,
this is a team that wants to go nowhere.

Speaker 2 (01:04:00):
Right Well, he's gonna say, if you're including Vouch and Collins,
who's starting at center for for the pulls for the
rest of the season, Smith Davis, Jalen Smith and then
who's behind.

Speaker 1 (01:04:11):
Him bats Us Bussels. I guess Patrick the center who
cares well.

Speaker 2 (01:04:19):
That's why I'm wondering, like could this be a sneak
tank move for them where they you know, they like
it essentially trade away all their depth at center and
like that hunts on the season, Like have they have
they been too competitive? They want to join the tank race?
That's what I mean.

Speaker 1 (01:04:38):
That would be smart. That would be smart. They're not smart,
so I don't think they think in those terms, but
I mean they're the tenth seat, they're just under five hundred.
That would be a smart way to go about it.
But like you could, but you can do it differently
then if you if you want to approach it like there,
they have so many expiring contracts that you can probably

(01:04:58):
get Youvon Carter in there instead.

Speaker 2 (01:05:00):
Like or yeah, well Kobe White would be the one
I would be right, would you include like it? Would
you do? Maybe not voot for him in that case,
but like Zach Collins, Kevin Herd or Kobe White.

Speaker 1 (01:05:12):
I mean, if I'm the Bulls, I'm probably trying to
sell something to the fan base in terms of like
Kobe White now has a running mate or sorry in
their marketing, Josh Ginty now has a running mate, which yeah,
but I mean, look, Kobe might leave anyway, so we'll see.

(01:05:34):
I don't think that's that big of a loss. I wouldn't, however,
And this is good news for Bulls fans who might
be listening in because I'm sure they've seen the reports.
But it seems like Iodo Sumo is pretty much a
lock to stay. He was like, oh, very verbal about
wanting to stay in Chicago, and you know, you can
extend him off one hundred and forty percent not of

(01:05:55):
his current salary, but he also the league's average salary,
so perhaps you can finagle some thing there. Perhaps you
go into free agency with him. So Desumo might stick
around for now. We'll see. So if you are going
to trade one of those two, why do Dosumo, both
of whom were you know, expiring deals, it's probably Kobe,
I imagine m HM would also give the Mavericks a

(01:06:18):
guard to pair with Cooper Flack moving forward.

Speaker 2 (01:06:21):
Right right, well, yeah, I mean that's yeah, Like I
think of all their expirings, he would probably have the
most value for them, because I mean, right, I know
they've got a bunch of injuries at center, but like
they've got Gafford still, they have Lively whenever he comes back.
I guess, like these guys are expiring anyway, so this
makes up for the injuries that they've got there for now,

(01:06:44):
like they could be a bridge. But like I also,
I'm not sure that the Mavericks want to win very
much this season, so even if they trade for these guys, Like,
I don't know, this is a conversation for a different day.
But yeah, like what we're already seeing with Trey Young
in Washington where he's having a right quad contusion that

(01:07:05):
has now sidled him for multiple weeks. Like, does Booch
quote unquote spraining ankle that knocks him out for the
next three months if the Mavericks trade.

Speaker 1 (01:07:13):
For him, the very durable Booch suddenly out of nowhere.
Just yeah, he's missed one game this year, played seventy
three last year, seventy six before that, and then eighty
two of the year before that. Suddenly out of nowhere. Oh,
Booch with his first long term injury for the first
time in like six years.

Speaker 2 (01:07:33):
He was chasing ice agents and slipped on the ice
and sprained his ankle and now he's out for three months.
That's exactly right.

Speaker 1 (01:07:39):
Yeah, right, exactly yeah. I mean, honestly, everything is on
the table. But my point, the larger point for me,
wasn't to crap on the Bulls here. It's basically to say,
that's the sort of team where you can trade for
Anthony Davis because they have no skin in the game.
They don't care, like if it seems to care, like

(01:08:02):
the Hawks, the Knicks, they just run such a big
risk trading for Davis, whereas the Bulls will be like, hey,
we can sell tickets all of this right, right, right,
So like maybe that's the play.

Speaker 2 (01:08:17):
Where are they going anyway right now? I mean I
don't think they should trade for him, to be clear,
but like this current core as constructed, like you have
so many expirings. They've done nothing of note with this group.
There's no real you know, they're barely hanging on the
plane conversation as is right now. So it honestly, at

(01:08:39):
least from like a tanking perspective, makes sense to trade
for a guy who's probably going to be out for
the rest of the year, and maybe you get a
decent draft pick to pair with Matas and whoever else
giddy whoever else is left after the tear down happens,
I mean.

Speaker 1 (01:08:55):
Eastern Conference Luka Doncic some tried to anoint him.

Speaker 2 (01:09:00):
Yeah, oh god, that's the thing.

Speaker 1 (01:09:02):
I don't think it's a widespread thing, but it's something
I've heard at least a couple of times. Yeah, right,
and yes. But by the way, I did not disappoint
your sir. I laughed equally as loud both times.

Speaker 2 (01:09:14):
Good, okay, a very charitable interpretation of what look at.

Speaker 1 (01:09:21):
I would say, so, no, but like you get you
catch my drift, like, yeah, totally with with Davis right.
Like again, it's just that is the type of team
I would look at.

Speaker 2 (01:09:31):
Yeah, yeah, a team that is going Now. It's just
it's funny to hear you say the lump the Knicks
into a team that cares and something to lose. But
you're right. I mean, it's like it's just given the
next history over the past twenty years, it's still just
disorienting to think of them in those those teams.

Speaker 1 (01:09:54):
And we should mention, like if we're bringing up unserious
franchises to where they can land up the Kings. I'm
not suggesting a specific trade. I'm just saying, you know,
those are the teams where if you acquire him, who cares.

Speaker 2 (01:10:11):
Oh like a bonus and ad trade.

Speaker 1 (01:10:14):
Oh yeah, bonus and Dennis Schroeder for god, no Saclobine,
Saclovine and stuff.

Speaker 2 (01:10:24):
Cooper Flag deserves better than.

Speaker 1 (01:10:25):
This Saclovine and Dario Sarich.

Speaker 2 (01:10:29):
Oh Man, Cooper Flag is going to demand the trade.

Speaker 1 (01:10:34):
I mean, Saclovine next to Cooper Flag wouldn't be worse
the worst thing in the world, Like that's I could
see that was rather Demartin Rosen came in instead and
just took over all of them, of the half court possessions. Hi,
Cooper Flag, nice to meet you. I'm gonna take up
all of your shots and all of the seconds that
you spent on the ball.

Speaker 2 (01:10:53):
I guess Levigne has won last year on his deal
than Anthony Davis, so they, oh, you know what, he
expires in twenty.

Speaker 1 (01:11:00):
Yeah, and you can probably have him decline his player
option and extent him.

Speaker 2 (01:11:05):
Well no, no, no, no, you you keep get him
off the books. And then in the summer of twenty
twenty seven, when Yannis and or Jokic become free agents,
suddenly you say, hey, we have Cooper Flag. Yeah, we
have Cooper Flag and eighty million dollars in cap space,
come play.

Speaker 1 (01:11:25):
Bud, and Nikola Joki is going to say he's going
to help me get more horses.

Speaker 2 (01:11:30):
Right, Yeah, I mean he is. He is staying in Denver,
but yeah, honest.

Speaker 1 (01:11:36):
I don't Yeah, I think honestly, I wouldn't be surprised
if Janni's if he is to leave it wants to
pair himself with with someone of note.

Speaker 2 (01:11:45):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:11:46):
Yeah, that's not to say Cooper Flag is no note,
but like that age disparitious.

Speaker 2 (01:11:52):
You're not joining a twenty year old. Yeah, that's fair.

Speaker 1 (01:11:56):
Oh boy, So what an interesting trade that line we
have ahead of us? Yeah? Yeah, So Brian, what what
is on the docket for you? Do you have any
interesting projects lined up as we wrap this up.

Speaker 2 (01:12:15):
I'm trying to think we got a couple of big
things coming to br but not specifically NBA related. We
did do a quarter century team at Bleacher Report over
the holidays that I would encourage folks to check out.
That was a ton of fun to do. And then
ih we ranked the twenty five best athletes under the

(01:12:39):
age of twenty five across all sports, not just nice
one sport. You can probably guess who was number one?
I hope so yes, yep, but yeah, I mean, I'm
gonna have plenty of trade content coming out over the
next couple of weeks, lots of cominga stuff coming later
this week.

Speaker 1 (01:12:57):
So yeah, oh, now you peak my curiate. Where does
Caleb Williams laying on that list? Is he way down?

Speaker 2 (01:13:06):
Let me see, I don't remember he's on the list right,
believe No, he did not make the list.

Speaker 1 (01:13:13):
He did not make the list.

Speaker 2 (01:13:15):
Wow, okay, we voted for this before the playoffs started, though,
so I bet he makes it next year.

Speaker 1 (01:13:21):
All right, well, oh it's fine, it's fine. I just
that that last game was.

Speaker 2 (01:13:26):
Yeah yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, no, he did did not
make the cut. But what yeah?

Speaker 1 (01:13:33):
Uh? Second, is is it an NFL player or second?

Speaker 2 (01:13:39):
No, the kid from Barcelona le me and Jamal.

Speaker 1 (01:13:42):
Oh yes, yes, yes, yes, all right, yeah that makes sense,
that makes total sense.

Speaker 2 (01:13:45):
And then Carlos Alcahaz tennis player third. So yeah, we
we got we got some diversity in sports.

Speaker 1 (01:13:52):
Nice.

Speaker 2 (01:13:53):
I don't think the first NFL guy I think was
not until seventh.

Speaker 1 (01:13:58):
Wow. Okay, well they're also bit older, right like right?

Speaker 2 (01:14:01):
Yeah, yeah, yes, that made it tricky. Yeah, like the
NBA guy you know, and like his six or seventh season,
and most of these NFL guys like are ineligible after
their first three, right now.

Speaker 1 (01:14:13):
That's fair, that's okay. Well, that's that sounds interesting. Definitely
link that out to the people and let them. Let's
go people listening in or where they can find you.

Speaker 2 (01:14:22):
Yes, uh, blue Sky only Blue Sky yea, So please
please join the party. It is the official app of
sports these days, sports without child porn always guys please.
Guy's official slogan these days.

Speaker 1 (01:14:35):
Good slogan, good slogan. I support that slogan.

Speaker 2 (01:14:39):
You would think so.

Speaker 1 (01:14:40):
And yet yeah, oh boy, well on that note, thank you,
I did not anticipate would be ending on that sour
of a note. We'll take it. We'll take it.

Speaker 2 (01:14:51):
It's the world we live in these days.

Speaker 1 (01:14:53):
It is Jesus, it is so everyone listening in, thank
you for doing so. Until we speak again, I have
a good one and especially in this day and age
right now, stay safe everyone,