2025 NBA Free Agency Has Been...

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Twenty twenty five. NBA Free Agencies opened up about twenty
seven hours ago. As I record this video, and I
basically want to talk about all the cool things or
not so cool things that I've been seeing over the
last chunk of time. Shamseraani did tell us this is
going to be the craziest, potentially the craziest off season
of all time. It ain't been that, but there have
been some teams going forward, and as we see, we're

(00:21):
in the parody NBA, even though okay see did their
thing and it might be the most out of all
the previous champions, the most prime to go back to back.
There's so many teams looking at the landscape of the
NBA and say, hey, why can't it be us? And
because of that, we got teams being aggressive. The Denver
Nuggets are aggressive for basically the first time forever since
they got rid of Calvin Booth and all those dudes.
The Atlanta Hawks. Matter of fact, I'm starting off with

(00:42):
the Atlanta Hawks. Look at this, this is a real
NBA team, y'all. If you've been watching this channel for
some time, maybe listening to the podcast. Three of the
last four years, I've come to the show and convinced
myself that the Atlanta Hawks were going to be at
least good, right, not not saying that they would win
Eastern Conference or they would do this, they would do that,
but I had convinced myself that they would be making

(01:04):
some noise last year. Didn't fall for the height because
if it burnt my ass over the last couple of years,
it's impossible for me at least to look at this
depth chart for this season and not think that this
is going to be a really successful year for the
Atlanta Hawks. Now. The biggest additions they have, of course,
is Christaps Porzingis, who was basically a salary dump but
like still a competent and really good player if we

(01:26):
could get his lungs with him again. And you know,
when he did play last year, which is not that
big of a time, he was pretty solid. They're the
only team to say yes to the Joe Dumar's madness.
Joe Dumares said that he called players or teams between
like pick nine and thirteen, and everybody said no. That
Alanta Hawks were the only team that said, yeah, we'll
do that deal. We'll take that unprotected best of Milwaukee slash.

(01:49):
The Pelicans and now Milwaukee did some things today that hell,
that pick might be even juicier. And they traded down
to get Aisha Newell, who I didn't like if he
was going in the lottery back pick twenty three. Asa
Newell is a perfect pick. And in the last twenty
four hours they added to kill Alexander Walker. I think
they had a twenty four million dollar trade exception and
they were able to get the kill as a Walker
just ship out a second round pick to the Minnesota Temples.

(02:11):
Really good deal there, and also Lukenardan a one year,
eleven million dollar contract. The one thing, oh notification is
it no my luck is as soon as I'm done
on filming his video of something big happens, I'll just
recorded the video regardless. The one question mark that you
can you can ask about a Tray Young led team,
There's two question marks, I guess. The first one is
can you create a good defense if Trey Young is

(02:35):
on the court. Trey Young, for all his worth, has
been better and better defensively every year of his career.
But he's only able to do so much as a
six to two guy. And I'm being very generous when
I say six to two six to guy that has
so much pressure offensively. I don't expect Trey Young to
go out there and be Dave I Mitchell right who
has a similar hype profile. But with the team that

(02:55):
they are building right now, Trey Young should be Okay.
Daniels is a DPOY candidate last season. Reside Again, I
don't know if I'm ever pronouncing that right projects to
get better throughout time. Jayalen Johnson good defensive player. Porzingis
when he's healthy, good defensive player. Nikile Alexander Walker added
him to this team, and again we're talking about a
bench role player, the sixth seventh man in the rotation.

(03:18):
He adds so much versatility to what the Atlanta Hawks
could potentially do because I was really questioning, like, what
is the backup point guard situation going to be for
the Atlanta Hawks. Is Kobe Buffkin gonna be ready to
play real NBA minutes when it matter? In this depth chart,
they got v Cregi as a backup point guard. None
of that is really relevant because Nikkeile Alexander Walker is
a combo where you just saw in Minnesota that they

(03:39):
were able and will they were willing to let him
initiate offense time and time, and now they can just
have a placeholder backup point guard when Trey Young is
not on the court. Dyson Daniels also showed last season
that he can be some some creator of facility. Jalen
Johnson was a point four last year. And I think
that all of this would not matter if we didn't
see the transition in Trey Young's game from last season.

(04:02):
Trey Young played off the ball the most he had
ever played in his career. You know, early on to
the season, he was talking about how he's buying into
what quinn snyders preaching, and we did see that last year.
You know, the first couple of years of Trey Young's career.
Of course, his useless rate is still pretty high, because
he's pretty fucking good. I would want it to be
pretty high. The first couple years of his career, it
was high pick and roll and let Tray Young spread
out with the Kevin Herders of the world. The one

(04:23):
year John Collins shot it well and so on and
so forth. This year, of course, we still get that
because that's a great thing to do offensively, but he
played off the ball and let the others Cook a
lot more, and I just think that opens up the
game so much for the others on this team. And
with the Eastern Conference being where it is right now,
where it's gonna be no Tatum, no Halliburn, hell no Dame,
and Dame only got a damn job right now, Why

(04:44):
why can't the Atlanta Hawks be the team and make
some noise next season? Like, I don't think that's out
of the realm of possibility. I think there are a
couple of big question marks right when you think about
that being a reality. Will you get a healthy Porzingis?
Will you get a healthy poor Zingis? When it matters?
Right because basically the last two run, even though they
won a championship in Boston two years ago or last
year or whatever, he basically didn't play until like the

(05:04):
first game with the NBA Finals. We gave us a
game and then he was done, right, So can he
be healthy? Reminder, he was gonna play salary dumps, So
that was a worthy gamble if you're the Atlanta Hawks
because if he don't work out, so what That's the
first question mark? Can we get a healthy Porzingis? And
the cool thing is, like an Yuka Congo and Porzingis
can run some lineups together. Uh, they just have so
much versatility. Like there, I'm again looking at this depth chart.

(05:26):
There could be lining them swarre Trey Young is out there,
when Calais Enderwalker, res I say, Jalen Johnson, Porzingis, they
could be a lineup. Who's yucka Congo, Chriss Porzicas. They
could be line ups was Yuka Congo Jalen Johnson? That
could be smaller lineups Orris I say again, sorry, moving
over to the floor, and you add the shooting of
Lucunard and like Quin Snyder is about to have a
field day and he's gonna have so much fun with
this different roster constructions. Anyway, going back to the original point,

(05:49):
the second thing that was like a big question mark
in my personal opinion or for next season is what
type of league could we see from Resacee? Right, it's
a fine rookie. Last season, I think towards the end
of the year he got his wings and he started
to play a lot better. He had a couple breakout performances,
so on and so forth. But like if he can
be I don't even know what's the realistic expectations for

(06:10):
a year or two guy, But if he could just
be good, let's just say good. Now, I'm not even
saying that he's an All star. I'm not even saying
he's a high level starter. If he could be a
starter level player, that's really good for this team. Sixteen
defensive minded, can knock down the shot, at least, that's
what we're hoping, can knock down the shot, or saw
on and so forth. This offseason has been as amazing

(06:32):
as you can get for the Atlanta Hawks. And if
we want to go back to draft day when they
did trade for the pick that ended up being asing
getting the extra value back, you saw what's going on
to Milwaukee, which is basically, I don't fucking know if
Yann's worth tooever, no matter of fact, let me not.
But if John's worth toever, you want your own picks back,

(06:53):
because if I'm not mistaken, let me double check this.
They do have some rights to their twenty twenty seven
along with the twenty twenty six that you just saw
it traded, so like in case, just just just just
in case. I don't know if I've ever been more
excited for Lenhawks. And again of saying something because I've
been excited about three of the last four years. I'll
be I don't come back and buy mini ass And
somebody said they still got a little bit more money

(07:14):
to spend, and I don't know where they go there.
Maybe it is going to get another wing for three
four type of guys, just in case Asa Nua is
not ready to play four minutes or five minutes, whatever
it may be. But I'm excited for Lenahawks basketball. And
they were able to do this really fast. It feels
like just a year ago they traded for Dejoontay Murray
and gave up all of the all of that capital capital.
They were able to retain some some draft picks back

(07:34):
while putting together competent enough team that if we were
coming back here in April of next x year, like, oh,
the Hawks are the four seed. Yet that's not a surprise,
and that's pretty dope. Next thing, this is very low key.
I'm not gonna spend a lot of time on this
when the Charlotte Hornets continue to just do really cool
things around the edges. They traded for Colline Sex, they
got a second round pick in that one. They got
Pat Conaton on an expiring contract, for two second round picks.

(07:55):
They just brought back Terrence, a trade man as I
you know, got home from where I was at. So
around the edges, it's not a team. I think it's
about to go make some noise next season. But like
I think, over the last year, this new regime, this
new ownership group, and this new general managing group have
done pretty damn good stuff. And I really like like
a lot of their draft picks. I think Kaka nub
was really cool. I don't have ano pain on Liam
McNeely other than me thinking his thirty one percent in

(08:17):
college from three is probably not realistic. I think he's
a better shoot than that. But Seon James, I think
the James the NBA player. I could be wrong there,
but like he could be that. So really like their offseason,
even if it's not again groundbreaking stuff. Next team is
this one, the Denver Nuggets. Now the different Nuggets pulled
off of trade yesterday a little bit after free agency started.

(08:37):
Basically sitting in Michael Porter Junior in a twenty thirty
two first round pick, and it's chains for Cam Johnson.
Immediately as I saw that, I'm like, that's that's that's
a win. For the different Nuggets, not just because Cam
Johnson is a good player, but also it frees up
the opportunity for them to do more things. It is
so crazy that Mike Malone for three years or basically
ask at Calvin Booth, please give me some veterans, Please
give me some veterans, Please give me some depth. And

(08:59):
Calvin Booth is like, nah, here's Hunter Tyson. Nah, here's
Ignajia on an extension, and I think this might be
an interim GM. It's like, no, we're gonna go get
players right now. And they all might be thirty plus,
but like when is our window? Our windows the Nakola
Jokics window. So they bring in Cam Johnson, I think
it's twenty nine, thirty years old. They bring back Bruce Brown,
who the last at Bruce Brown looked pretty good is
when he was playing along side of Coola Jokics. They

(09:20):
bring in Tim Hardaway Junr and they trade for Yondis
Valentunas to complete Salary Duff from the Sacramento Kings. Jokis
has never had a center of Nicole Jonas. Valentoons is
caliber to back him up. And I'm not even trying
to gas Valentiunas. He's okay, But that shows you, man,
that boy DeAndre DeAndre Jordan played real playoff minutes for
this team last year. Yonis Valentunas, You'll never ask him

(09:43):
to do too much. If Nicola Jokins is the one
in front of him, Can you give me eight to
ten minutes in the playoffs? Valentnas, Yeah, sign me up.
This has been great, And the criticism that was going
alongside the Cam Johnson trade, some of it is warranted. Right,
Michael Porter Junior's younger. Michael port Junius contra it was
twenty million dollars. More so, Michael Port Junior is younger,

(10:03):
Michael Porter Junior is a how do I that's a
really good conversation. I'm thinking about the shooting, right, They're
both phenomenal shooters. They're both some of the best shooters
in the league. But because of Michael Porter Junior's size,
maybe it's just a little bit more valuable him as
a shooter. I could be just just talking there. And
they also gave up a twenty thirty two first round pick,

(10:24):
and when that conveys, Jokics is like in his mid thirties,
and my response to that is who the hell cares?
You have the greatest player in the world on your
team right now, you should not give a damn about
anything outside of this current timeline. Yeah, this could not
work and they may not go on to win another championship,
and in twenty thirty two Yokics is out of the

(10:44):
league or on his last leg and end up being
a fifth overall pick. You should not care because you
went for it on the timeline that matters. Reminder this
team when they had Aaron Aaron Gordon playing with a
bad hammy in the last couple of games, I think
it was just hammy and Michael Porter Jr. Had a
fucking shoulder braks on. They took our champion okay see
thunder team to seven And now you're telling me I

(11:08):
get real rotational players. This Nuggets team has not been
a high volume of high fifty three point shoot the team.
They add a guy like Tim Mardiway Jr. Who, let's
be real, could be hot in Kimny Cole, but then
they haven't had that type of guy. Julius Drata kind
of projects to be that, but he it's not really him.
So they add a Tim Hardaway Junior and they get in, Cam,
and because you dropped that extra twenty million dollars in
the trade, well you were able to go sign some

(11:30):
of these dudes on the minimum, and if I'm not mistaken,
they still got a little bit more money than they
could spend. This is great. I think they're better today
than they were two days ago, and I think that's
all it really matters. I think Cam Johnson brings another
level of creation that Michael Porter Junior was never able
to do. He's a better pass than Michael Porter Junr. Defensively.
You can flip a coin there. I think that the
value that Michael Porter Jr. Had as a defender is

(11:50):
that he was taller and longer, so and he also
rebounded a lot better. So this team is smaller today
than they were yesterday. But again they got Yonis Valen
Junas on the team. I just really like the fact
that their starting to do some stuff well. I feel
like the last couple off seasons, after they basically acquired
Aaron Gordon, they were losing more players than they were adding.
In this offseason, It's like, who knows who's gonna go
on with Bruce Brown. Bruce brob basically had one really

(12:11):
good year of his NBA career and that was with Yokic,
so hopefully they can re connect some of that stuff.
So there's a possibility that he's not that good because
the last two years he hasn't been that. But it's
a league minimum contract, so it don't really don't really matter.
So get ready to see some cowboy outfits back in Denver, baby.
And again, Big val only needs to give you ten
to fifteen minutes a game in the regular season, and

(12:32):
in the postseason it's even less because Jokic is just
an iron man and he can play forty plus minutes
on a nightly basis. So really like that. And again,
even though OKC was so good in the regular season
and really good in the postseason as well, there's nothing
about their team that makes you think that nobody else
should be going forward. And the Denver Nuggets are going
for which I think is a win next winner. Houston
Rockets Boyle Boyle boy tray for Kevin Durant. Extend Jabari

(12:57):
Smith Junior still during Finney Smith away. They got him,
I said, as a shooting guard. Got lead still doing
Finny Smith away from the Lakers. Resigned Cella re signed
Steven Adams and bring back Clin Capella, bring back Jay Shawn,
Jeff Green, and Aaron Holliday on minimums. Re Shepherd should
probably get some burn this season. I don't know what
can be said outside of what has already been said

(13:17):
across platforms, but boy, I'm really excited about this Houston
Rockets team. I think they also have some positional versatility
that you saw in the postseason or in the regular
season last year. And now they're adding Kevin Durant. Who
knows that im and Thompson gonna look like a year three.
Who knows what Alfred Shitgun's gonna look like next year
coming off an All Star appearance. So Barr Smith Junior
is just a good ball player. He just got his extension.

(13:38):
I'm just really excited about Houston Rockets. I don't know
if there's anything else to say. Not excited about what
the hell this team is doing, but I digress. Not
currently excited about what this team is doing. But I'm
expecting to sign Yander eight and tomorrow when he clears waivers,
so they won't have Mexican. Mexican lebrisis starting center. Look
at the money, Hey, listen, I don't know what the
heck is going on in Toronto, and if you're a

(13:59):
rap just spanding, you can explain it to me. Please
explain it in the convers section, because this is a
very expensive start and five for a team that it's
not gonna be very good. They gotta be okay. They
might be okay, but I don't know if they're gonna
be you know what I'm saying? Cool? You honest? So
Damian Lillard doesn't have a job currently, and he seems

(14:20):
really excited. He uploaded twice on Instagram since the news
has happened, so he's doing okay. He's doing really okay.
One of the more bizarre situations where I get them,
we get notification that Miles Turner was going to the
Bucks for four years. I think it was one hundred
and seven million dollars, and everybody looked at each other like,
how the hell are they able to pull it off?
And then like two minutes later, we had the Dame news,

(14:41):
and I think in real time I felt bad for
Dame because obviously he had the blood clock, fought his
way back to try to play in the postseason, and
then tore his achilles. It felt like they may have
been doing him dirty, but it seemed like it was
a mutual thing, so I feel less bad about it.
I still don't look at the box and say, oh
my god, here they come to the Eastern Conference, because
that line up that they could run out there, as
cool as it was still your third most important player.

(15:04):
I don't feel great about that future. But you got
to try some things, and they're trying some things. Man,
they're trying. I think I wrapped there. Obviously, gonna be
doing a lot of offseason stuff as things keep rolling in.
Also got podcasts and stuff if you want to get
more opinions. But yeah,