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That's indeed.com/bluewire, terms and conditions applied. Need to hire? You need Indeed. Hello, everybody. Welcome into the NBA front office show. Happy Monday. We've got some transactions around the league to discuss. Plus one big question for the Southwest Division. Lots to dive into. I'm Trevor Lane, joined by Keith Smith. Make sure you subscribe right here to the channel. The season, it's almost here. Training camps right around the corner. Hit the subscribe button. Don't forget to turn on notifications as well. Keith, you want to just start? I guess let's start with the saga of Isaac Okoro. That's the story that we've been following for a while now. The biggest name still out there in free agency. Finally, off the board agreeing to a $3 million or $38 million deal with the Cavs. What did you think about the contract? Yeah, I think it's fine for both sides. I feel a little bit better about it for the Cavs than Okoro. I think that's a pretty good number for him. About $12 million or so a year. We'll see what it comes down on Sunday. There's also maybe some of that's in bonuses. We haven't seen it. I don't think it's been officially signed yet. But yeah, I think it's good for Cleveland. I think this is a good signing for them. Keep him in the mix. I think he is a good player. He's been an improved shooter every year. He's been in the league. Really good defender. He's their best wing defender that they have. On the team. So I think he's an important player in that respect. So yeah, no issue at all with this contract. It does make Cleveland probably a little bit more expensive than they really want to be. But that's something they can deal with another deal or two if they need to down the line. Now, this three years, 38, that's roughly MLE money for Isaac Okoro. Like that's a pretty good deal. I like that deal for the Cavs. This is part of the reason why a lot of players don't like the MVP, they don't like restricted free agency because Isaac Okoro was in a spot where he couldn't get an offer from another team because nobody was going to offer a money knowing that the Cavs were just going to match it anyway. Why do their work for them? And then from the Cavs side, you're just going to wait it out. And so eventually you can sign a positive value contract. And I think that's exactly what this is. Now, as you said, we're still waiting. There could be, I would think we probably would have heard by now, but I suppose it's still possible that there's like a player option for the third year or something like that coming in this. But overall, it's a good deal for the Cavs. This was the big question mark still hanging over them. And so now you get this done and you don't have to deal with these questions on media day coming up in a few weeks. Yeah, and that's always a good thing too. Yeah, everybody can just kind of come in. Cavs roster now essentially full. I don't know that they'll fill out their last roster swatches because they're basically a little into the tax, just a little bit under that first apron. And I think they'd rather stay a little bit into the tax and have the potential of getting out of the tax entirely with another trade if they could pull that off. Because they also know they're going to be really expensive in the coming years because Evan Mobley next season, he jumps from 11.2 million this year to 38.7 million. So that's that that plus Jared Allen, plus Derek Garland, plus Donovan Mitchell. And Donovan Mitchell goes up almost 11 million. So we're in a spot where this Cavs seems going to be very expensive starting next season. So when you're only a little bit into the tax, I always think it's it's very smart to get out of it. This year, if you can, stop that clock on being the repeater team and all that if you if you can pull that off. So I think that's the important part here for Cleveland is, you know, get a core when the fold. Then you can figure out the rest of this a little bit later down the line. Yeah. Yeah, exactly. Exactly. And good that the Cavs now they've got this question answered. And off they go. All right, let's jump over to the Knicks. And the Knicks they they add Marcus Morris. Now he's on what from my understanding, this will be an exhibit nine contract from Marcus Morris. Meanwhile, Landry Shamet also signed to the Knicks. Keith, they don't have enough roster spots for for all of this. Right. I mean, the the word out of New York was that Marcus Morris, the Knicks see him as a four or a stretch five now. And that he is going to legitimately compete for a roster spot. What's going on here for for New York? How are all these pieces going to fit together? Yeah, I think this is more of a let's get a look at guys. Sort of situation and let's see what it looks like. Shamet's also on an exhibit nine. They also have Tumo KK and for camp on an exhibit 10. Just in case people were wondering exhibit nine is what used to be called the old summer contract, which is a fully non guaranteed contract. Doesn't count towards the cap of the tax unless the player makes opening night. Exhibit 10 is essentially the same thing, but with some G League language added in for a lot of exhibit tens. The guys can be converted to a two way contract in other players. They also get a bonus if they go play in the G League after being waived in the preseason. So, um, so for the Knicks, you're in a spot with Morris and Shamet. Let's take a look. No harm, no foul. If it doesn't work out and they don't want them, they wave them and move on very easily. If they do want to keep them around, you can keep one of these guys. Maybe they shed some salary in another way. The weird thing is, the only guy on the roster who's not really like a part of the rotation or a developmental player for the Knicks is key debates. The op who they got in the McKill bridges trade. So maybe you could move on from him and keep two players. So we'll see, but this is good for training camp. I still think, yeah, you could say Morris is a stretch five option. And that's probably what he is at this point. But I still think they're a little thin behind Mitchell Robinson, just given his injury history. So I would be looking to still add one more five in New York for sure. And they've been linked to a few guys, some of the names that have popped up recently. I mean, really their names have been popping up all summer, but was guys like Walker Kessler, Robert Williams, Nick Richards, Jonas Fallon, Schoon is that, I mean, Jonas, I know he signed with the Wizards, but everybody believes that the Wizards are going to move on from him. At some point, like they kind of signed him in order to trade him sometime, either this season or next season. But those are kind of the names that are out there, because I think the Knicks recognize too, like they never really replaced Isaiah Hartenstein. They haven't done that. And he was such a big piece for them, especially given Mitchell Robinson's injury history. So I do think eventually there's a move to get a true five. I almost like, I know you can kind of play Marcus Morris as a stretch five, but this is not okay. The boxes checked and the Knicks are all set at the center position. Now, I think they are still going to need to go look and see if they can find somebody to be a backup big behind Mitchell Robinson on this roster. And I think that move will come at some time before the trade deadline. They'll make that move. But again, those are kind of the names that have been out there. They've been thrown around, I believe it was Ian Begley who had those, but again, Walker Kessler, Robert Williams, you had Nick Richards and Jonas Valenshoonis as some names just to keep an eye on for New York. Yeah. And the other thing too, is they do seem committed to some minutes when Jewish Randall is a small ball five, which would be huge for them. Because that would open up just a lot of opportunities. They they have to do something to clear the forward wing log jam. Because right now you have Jalen Brunson's going to play a ton of minutes at the point. Whatever behind him is probably going to come in with Deuce McBride. And that's, I mean, Tyler Colix, the developmental guy. I think campaigns like the break glass in case of emergency veteran point guard. Then you've got a whole bunch of guys who overlap at positions between Josh Hart, Dante, Devin Chenzo, the two guys that are probably going to the bench. Then you have Randall and Annanobi and Bridges, who are all going to likely start. But Tom Thibodeau, we know, I mean, we make the jokes all the time, but those jokes are grounded in reality. He likes to play his starters a lot of minutes. It's not 40, 45 minutes, but it's like 35, 38 minutes. And that's just not going to leave a ton of playing time. So unless they've managed to back him off that, which, by the way, would be huge for the Knicks if they could get tips to, hey, play the starters like 30 to 35 minutes and use your depth because you have it, then maybe that'd be being a good way. But if you could get Randall at the five, that just opens up a few more minutes throughout the course of the lineup for other guys. Yeah, absolutely. And if you can, again, it would be huge if you could play small, which would Julie is Randall on the five if they can get away with that. All right, let's jump over. We typically, we don't talk a ton about two-way guys. But Christian Caloco joined the Lakers. I think this is, you know, Lakers by a society or obviously. But it's just interesting that this is a guy who at one point was an early second round pick just a couple of years ago and then developed an issue with blood clots. And that, I mean, that's scary stuff. That's potentially life-threatening stuff. It looked like his playing days were over. And now he has an opportunity to make a comeback here with the Lakers, who are needing some help at the center position after losing Christian Wood due to knee surgery based on the projections. It sounds like December is probably the earliest. We'll see him back on the floor. So what do you think about Caloco and trying to restart his NBA career here with the Lakers? Yeah, good spot for him, good for the Lakers. He showed a lot in Toronto as a kind of a very raw big man, especially offensively. He's basically offensively, he was a catch and dunk guy. But defensively, he's big. Like he's a legit 7-1 or so. He's also fairly strong. And he is a pretty good rebounder and a really good shot blocker. If you go look at like his per minute numbers with the Raptors, they're really impressive. It just didn't play a lot. He only played like 13 minutes a game or something like that. So I know Toronto was in a spot where they were hopeful. All right, he's going to be our guy behind Jakob Pertil. And I do kind of wonder, was there maybe after the blood clot stuff popped up, was there maybe a thought of, geez, you know, maybe we could have moved on from Pertil and plug Caloco in as our starting five at some point and move forward that way. So this is no pun intended, maybe a little, a huge pickup for the Lakers, who are just lacking size in a major way. And it's important to know, too, your two-way players, you can get 50 games out of them. In the Lakers this year, they're not going to run into the hole. They don't have a full roster situation. They're going to have their full roster. So they'll get 50 games out of Caloco, presuming the fitness to play panel, clears them. And my guess is if we're this far down the path, we know he's going to get cleared to play. Let's, you know, fingers crossed and that that's all behind him. And he's okay. That's the most important thing here. But he can play. This is a great pickup because then what will happen is as the roster develops around the course of the year, the Lakers can always convert him and they'll convert. I mean, even if it's a straight conversion to a one-year deal, he'd be a restricted guy at the end of that. And they'd be able to control the process there a little bit. So this is, this is a really good pickup for them. It's a, this is one of those important ones. Yeah, they lost Blake Henson in the process. Who's a kid? I know they really liked and would have preferred to not lose. Wing shooters with size like that just don't really kind of come along all that often. He'll resurface somewhere else, but they had to do something to address size and get playable size. And my guess is he's going to be a two-way guy who logs maybe rotation minutes right from night one just because of the Lakers big man situation around Anthony Davis. Yeah, he'll have an opportunity now to go, it'll essentially be. I think we're going to have a training camp/pre-season battle between Christian Coloco and Colin Castleton to see who was kind of the third string big on the Lakers behind AD and Jackson Hayes. And potentially Coloco, again, a very high second round pick, is there rust? We'll have to wait and see what, what does all of that look like? How is he now? And maybe there's the potential that he can become like a real backup option for the Lakers at the five. As we said, a guy who had a lot of potential coming into the NBA, certainly a young player to watch. Unfortunately, it looked like his career was over due to this medical issue. And now he's back. And so obviously wish him the best. Unfortunately, the Blake Henson had to be let go in order to open up a two-way roster swap. And as you said, Keith, I'd be surprised if he doesn't pop up somewhere with another team and get that opportunity because he's six, eight can shoot the ball. That those kind of guys are typically in high demand. So I'm sure he will land somewhere. I'll say this too. I would not be surprised if at some point Christian Coloco, if everything comes back the way it looked with Toronto two seasons ago, he passes Jackson Hayes. I think he's just a better defensive player than Jackson Hayes is. Jackson Hayes really, I think by the Lakers, so simplifying his role on offense, which was just run to the rim and then get offensive rebounds. And don't just dunk it or lay it in. Like they kept it very simple for him. And I thought he was a really nice backup for them once he kind of that became his primary role behind AD, but I think Coloco offers that plus the defense and the rebounding. So I would not be surprised if he eventually could beat out Jackson Hayes. It just may take a little while and then you are going to run into the whole, but we do have to manage his games because we want to be careful. Because if there's not a conversion opportunity right away, you don't want to be in a spot where it's all right. Now you get to sit in the dewy for a month because we have to wait until a roster spot opens up or something like that. So it'll be a little bit of a, you know, we're going to have to play games here to try to, you'll manage all of this, but they should be able to pull it off. Now, one thing to keep in mind too, as we've said, the Lakers don't have any roster spots. So if they do, let's say Coloco hits and everything works great and maybe he becomes the backup. They Anthony Davis, right? The Lakers would need to do something in order to convert him at some point. Now they don't have to do it right now. They wouldn't have to do it tomorrow. They wouldn't have to do it next month, but at some point they would have to convert him to a full roster spot once they hit that 50 games played. And in order to do that, they would have to clear somebody off of their books. So that would mean likely a trade would have to take place because I'm sure they're not going to want to go over that second to Raven, which they're just under right now. So they would have to trade a player onto somebody else's roster or perhaps just make some type of a consolidation trader or whatnot. So the Lakers would need to do something. They would have to make some type of a move in order to keep him once he hits that 50 games played mark. But we'll see again. We'll see how he does an exciting return for Christian Coloco. All right, Keith, you want to jump over to our one big question? Yeah, let's do it. So I'll ask the vision today. Southwest division. Let's go. This is the way it finished up last season. Dallas Mavericks, New Orleans Pelicans, Houston Rockets, Memphis Grizzlies, San Antonio Spurs Keith. I would say this is not the way it's going to finish this year. Do you? I know you are extremely high on the Memphis Grizzlies. I think I would put them either one or two here. Do you think the Grizzlies, I know you're very high on the Grizz. Do you have them ahead of the maps or behind the maps? Just behind. I think Dallas will probably be the top team in the division. I think Dallas has a potential to win five, six more games this year than they did a year ago. Just their first half of the season was not great. Everything really came in a focus for them at the trade deadline when they picked up. PJ Washington and Daniel Gafford. Everybody just then like everything just kind of fell into place for the Mavericks. I think Tomsom was a really good addition for them. So I've still got them as the best team in the division, but I do think the Grizzlies are the second best team. And I don't think the gaps like a seven, 10 game margin anything like that. I think it's more like maybe a two or three game margin. That's kind of been kind of playing around with the standings and wins and losses and all that stuff over the last few days here, but that's about where I have them right now. So I think in the end, just move Memphis up to two and then bump the other teams down, bump New Orleans down one, Houston down one. I like what San Antonio is doing. I'm just not ready to take them past anybody else in this division. Okay. So you would keep. I think that was my other question is would you keep New Orleans ahead of Houston? I think that'll be interesting to watch playoff, but let's start with the maps. What's your big question for Dallas? The time for holiday hosting is upon us. 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Visit king supers dot com slash vaccines for more restrictions and exclusions apply seaside for details. Yeah, it might it's going to be can clay Thompson start all year because right now with the maps, if we'll see who starts out of lively and gafford, you know, and then it looks like it'll probably be PJ Washington, Clay Thompson, carrier Irving and Luca Donchich, not a whole lot of defense in that group, especially on the perimeter. Clay Thompson is just not really that guy anymore. He is not somebody who's going to get down in a stand, stay in front of ball handlers and do that. He was at his best the last couple of seasons, defending opposing fours. He's still I think the bigger threes he's okay on, but you're you've got to have guys who can cover for Luke and Kyrie because as much as even when they're better, it still doesn't like take them to the level of good they're they're okay. You know, but I think you know, that's my big thing. If clay Thompson hits enough shots and can defend enough, he'll start all year. Otherwise, are they going to have to go to my guests would be Najee Marshall, not a bad backup plan. I like Najee Marshall a lot. And then do you turn Thompson into like some form of super sub where you know, he just gets a lot of minutes and you know, gets a bunch of shots off your bench. He was that that how it goes. So that that's my big question for the maps. I would imagine and without you know, no confirmation on this, but I would imagine that part of the map's pitch to clay was you're going to start. I would I would assume that was part of the the pitch for the master. So I would assume they're going to give every opportunity for him to start and stick in the line up. You're right. They do have some pivot options there. I think my big question is, is this the year for Luca? Is this finally it? I mean, we've been having him as one of the guys who could win MVP last few. In fact, I think he's been my MVP pick the last two seasons in a row just hasn't quite gotten over the hump. Is this the year that it finally happens? We know the talent is there. Does the addition of clay as another shooter to kick out to? Does that make the difference? Does that put the maps in that upper upper echelon for the entirety of the season rather than kind of a late season run? Because if you're up at the top for the majority of the season, that's going to win you more votes than just kind of a late season run that gets you into like the four seat or something like that. I do wonder if this is the year that we see Luca truly ascend and finally win that MVP. Yeah, I think that that's a good one. Yeah, it's uh, yeah, you're right. He's knocking on the door. That's historically that's been how it's kind of happened in the NBA, right? You knock on the door for a little bit, then you finally break through. I'm going to guess there's going to be some level of voter fatigue with the NBA Joe pitch battle back and forth. And maybe that helps Luca as well as long as he's in the, um, you know, as long as he's worthy, right? As long as he's worthy of it. I think he'll definitely pick up some votes that way. But yeah, that's a good one. Okay, let's jump over. Let's just stay in order of the way they finished last season. Let's go to the New Orleans pelicans. You started things off the maps. I'll start things off the pells. Who's going to play center? That's the biggest question in New Orleans. Who is going to play center for this team? They have Daniel ties. They have Eve's me. See, but that's really it at the center position for New Orleans. Does this do the New Orleans pelicans just say, you know what? We don't need a center. We're punting on the center position. Like Darv and Ham did mid season with guards. I don't like guards anymore. I'm just going to play wings. Um, do the pelicans decide to punt on the center position and just play Zion? As a five small ball, we're going to put our five best players on the floor regardless of position. And is that the path they go down? Or do we ultimately see a trade where they land somebody? Again, just like the next, we talked about them. The same names are being linked to the pelts with the exception of Jonas Falanchunus. Um, for obvious reasons, but Walker Kessler, you know, Nick Richards, these are all guys that the pelicans could should and and are interested in. So the big question for them, it's what do they do at the five? Yeah, I mean, mine's related to that. And it's just who goes to the bench and how does this resolve? Like we've talked about it a ton already. We don't need to spend a bunch more time. Rehashing things we've already said on previous episodes, but you have six guys for five starting spots and none of them are centers. So it's really six guys for four starting spots. That's Zion, Ingram, McCollum, Murray, Jones and Murphy, all are starting level guys at this point. And it's just going to be what does that look like? And how does it resolve itself? At this point, I'm going to assume we're not going to see a trade because it would be kind of surprising here in the next couple of weeks ahead of training camp, but would not be the worst thing if they did get one done. And we have seen trades happen late the last couple of years. So maybe that's how it will go down. But yeah, I am very curious to watch this all play out. If if nothing else, it should be a really good training camp battle in New Orleans, because there's a lot of guys I can play on this roster. That's right. That's right. All right. Let's jump over to, I guess, next in line is the Houston Rockets. You want to kick that one off? Yeah. So for this one, I'm going to go to kind of the heart of the show here. And it's what happens with extensions for Jalen, green and Alpern Shinger. Oh, and it's really, it's, are we, and there's two lines of thinking with this. It's either get it done, just to get it done. And we've got our pieces and we're moving forward. Or, well, I guess there's three. Or there is, well, let's see, Shinger, pretty solid, deserves an extension. My guess is there's an understanding there of, hey, we're going to take care of you, Tyree Smaxie style. We'd like to maybe have the flexibility, have some cap space. But either way, are we all in an agreement that we should wait? Great. Let's go. But with Jalen Green, the question may be, hey, you played really well for a month, month and a half last year. And the rest of the season was not very good. So if you repeat that, we are happy to discuss a new contract, keep you here. He recently said in an interview, he wants to stay in Houston long term. That's where he wants to be. I think Jalen Green may have really, it just took him a long time to play real basketball, like to play winning basketball. And once he kind of figured it out, I think then it all clicked for him. And I think that play late in the last season was him taking off and going to a new level. And if it was, then I think we're in a spot where Houston probably wants to work something out with him. But can I see it for a couple months more? Then I feel good about it. And we'll talk this. So I don't think we're seeing neither extension. Then the other option is, hey, we're not doing anything with Jalen Green, we're ready to move on. And we're going to postpone signing Chengoon until after we do free agency this coming summer, much like Tyrese Maxi. And we're going to use a bunch of cap space and go chase upgrades and all sorts of stuff for this roster. So that's the kind of, like, if I just the heart of what this show is, is transaction roster cap stuff, the rockets are fascinating right now. But it's right now for next summer. They can already be giving us some answers and some clues to what their plan may be. Yeah, I agree with that. I think that that was going to be my big questions. What do they do with Sengoon? What do they do with Jalen Green? I love Sengoon's game. I've talked about that quite a bit. He's one of my favorite young bigs in the NBA. I'm really curious to see the way that all plays out. You know, I'm torn now that you've taken my option one question here for them. So I'm torn between something focused on Reed Shepherd and what he can mean for this game. Given how great he looked in summer league, does that translate over to the NBA regular season? Are we talking about an MPP, but rookie of the year candidate here in Reed Shepherd? But I think as fun as it is to talk about Reed, my most the thing I'm most intrigued by. It's Stephen Adams. What's going to happen here with Stephen Adams? How many minutes does he get? Is there a comeback? Are there teams that are knocking on the Rockets door wanting to trade for him if he shows that he's healthy? The Rockets just say, you know what? He fits the defensive schemes that we want. He sets a mean screen and that's going to open up things for guys like Jalen Green, for guys like Fred Van Vliet. How exactly do they deploy Stephen Adams? And is he back to being 100%? That's a big question here because he's kind of, I don't want to say that forgotten, maybe nationally. I think a lot of people forget that Stephen Adams is on the Rockets roster because we haven't seen him in so long. So what does he do for Houston? How do they deploy him? And then what does he become? Does he become the one to punch at the center position long term with Senghoon? Are we talking trade around the trade deadline? How does all of that play out with him? Yeah, that's a good one. I think with Stephen Adams, and I'm going to use this to talk about Reed Shepherd and I'm in Thompson too. I think there is a chance what the Rockets are looking at with Stephen Adams is, as much as it's been billed on, we wanted to get another veteran here, wanted to get somebody behind Shenguin, wanted to get somebody to really help. I think they're looking at it and saying, hey, when we go to our bench groups, man, this guy's going to free up Shepherd coming off screens. He's going to really open up Thompson. And what he may be able to do is lay a screen, kind of be that road grader and give him a runway, right, to get downhill, to get to the get to the rim where he does things best. Because I think one of the things the Rockets really want to know this season is, is our back court of the future looks like it's Thompson and Shepherd. How much into the future is that next year, they can be our guys, because that also helps answer the questions about what do we do with Jalen Green? What do we do with Fred Van Vliet, who do they have a team option on? You know, what do we do there in that second unit? It's also going to feature another couple of young guys, Tara Eason and Cam Whitmore too, are going to be there. So I think having Adams there, he becomes that veteran stabilizer for a bench that's full of really first and second year guys, because Eason, as much as he's going into year three, he missed a lot of last season. So he's really almost like a second year guy. So you've got an extremely young bench and I think they're going to be like, Adams is just the one who's going to be like, hey, settle it down. And in addition, somebody drops one of the kids when they go in for one of those big dunks or something, you better believe it's coming back your way on the other end of the floor. Yep. Yep. Stephen Adams, I think the only player that I've seen, pick a player up to remove him from an altercation and just carry him off the floor like a child. I love this Rockets team. They're going to be like very heavy in my league past viewing. I can already tell. I just, the starting group is fun. The bench group is fun. Anybody's listening to the show? I know you know, Jabari Smith Jr. is one of my favorite players in the league. I think he is. I, I think he, there is a world where he is the best player on the Rockets in a couple of years. And it's kind of like, whoa, like, I didn't see that coming. And I love shank, shank goon. Excuse me, too. I think he's outstanding. I just think there's a world where Jabari Smith Jr. just takes that leap in. All of a sudden, like everything clicks. He's attacking off the dribble. He's doing all the things he can do because I'm a huge fan of him. I love the kids. I love that. Like, he sent him Whitmore. Just play with that. Just, it's just that energy level. And then Thompson is just, what's he going to do? Like it, it might be crazy. Like it might be, you know, dude, you just try to throw it through the other eight guys on the court, like to make a pass. Like that was ludicrous, but he's going to try stuff. He's a lot of fun. And then Reed Shepherd just, you know, that kid can play. So I can't wait to watch this Houston team. There's a lot of young talent here. As you're mentioning, guys, it's like, Oh, yeah, that's right. They've got that guy, too. Oh, yeah. They've got, and they've got that. It's just, it's one after another after another. Really exciting team. All right. Let's go over to Memphis. You kick things off with the Rockets. I'm going to go with the Grizzlies here. The Gris for me, the big question, because I think, you know, you see that record, 27 and 55 last season, that is not indicative of what they are as a team. That was the insanely injured Grizzlies. I think this is a very good team. I think they're ready to make a push in the Western Conference. My big question for them, it's Zach Edie ready because he is going to get a big role. He's going to get minutes and he's a rookie. I know he was an older rookie coming in. I know he's got a lot of experience at the college level, but still there's going to be a lot that's going to be placed upon him. A lot that's going to be asked of him. He's going to have to be ready to play night in night out for Memphis. It's a tall ask for a tall guy. I think he can, I think he can do it. I'm excited for him, but this is a Grizzlies team that wants to go somewhere and a lot of rookies are given the grace of, well, we're going to let you learn through playing. We're going to get through the growing pains. We're not worried about winning and losing right now. We were able to get you because we're a bad team and our trajectory is on the upswing, but we've got time to figure this out. That's not Memphis. They had the nine pick because everybody was hurt last year. That's not what they really are as a team. They are ready to win right now. I hope that Zach Edie is also ready for that. Yeah, I think I look forward to Memphis this season, at least to start the year, keep everything very simple for Zach Edie. Yeah. Straight drop coverage on defense, but drop coverage in a, in an aggressive way, where it's you're going to drop, but then I, I want him challenging shots. People wondered, like, is he really a good shop locker? Is it just because he was big in college? I think he is a good shop locker. I, I did not probably said this on the show before, but in college, Purdue asked him to just play straight up because they couldn't have him off the court because when he was off the court, they weren't very good. So they did not want him getting into any kind of foul trouble ever. So they were really like, we just need you to be big. They're like around there. I think Memphis can say be big, but also be aggressive. So if he gets him foul trouble, all right, we've got Santee El-Dama, we've got Brandon Clark off the bench. We can slide Jared Jackson, Jr. if over if we need to. They've got a lot of ways they can cover for him. So it's going to be be very aggressive with that. And then offensively, it's just going to be finished around the rim. And he should almost walk into like 10 points eight rebounds every night, just by being so big. Like I think that'll happen. He has tremendous hands. I think you're going to see him play really well. So now my big question is, can John Moran get back to being the guy we all loved a couple seasons ago before the foolishness with the guns and the videos and all that ridiculous stuff that the first one find he's a young dumb kid. The second time, dude, what are you doing? Like you've got to be be smarter than that. That's, you know, that was just stupid. And then I'm not going to hold the injury against them. My fear with John Moran is his style of play at his size is always going to lead to him missing 20, 25 games a year at least, just because he's going to get banged up. But if he can play 65, 70 games and be like electric in those games, like he was, that this Memphis team can challenge for a final spot. Like that's how good he was. Desmond Bain is terrific. You got to get him over his foot injuries. Hopefully he's back and fully ready to go. Jared Jackson Jr. is really good. There's always going to be that question until it isn't. They have enough on the wing. I think Vince Williams Jr. really came forward in a big way. I think Marcus Smart is going to play a big role for this team as a he's going to have one of the weirder roles where he may start as the three and then function also as the backup point guard, which is just an odd way to play. But I think this Memphis seems pretty loaded with talent. I think they're the kind of Memphis team to people in that city love because they're just going to, they're just going to be a bear to play against. They're going to hit you. They're going to be super physical. I like that a bear to play against. Yeah, I didn't mean that either. But they're just they're just going to be tough, man. But it put it. You know, almost none of it will fully matter if Jock can't get back to being a superstar like where he was headed a couple years ago. Yeah, Jock definitely needs to get back on track and continue to become one of the or continue to be one of the bright young stars in the NBA. All right, Keith, I'll let you kick things off with our final team. And that is the San Antonio when Ben Yama's. What's your big question for the Spurs? Are the veteran guys, they added enough to push them into something more than a team that's just better like at a bare minimum. I think Chris Paul Harrison Barnes, improvement from the kids. Yes, when Ben Yama included lifts them the dirtyish wins. But are those guys, can they lift them to 20 a 20 win improvement and get them up around a 500 or better record, which would have them maybe challenging for a play and tournament spot. If you can get them up to there, that changes everything because then maybe it becomes all right. Maybe we think about roster building different even moving forward where now it's time to move one or two of these younger guys and get another veteran in here. I think it's that's what the Spurs are trying to find out. There's a portion of you added Chris Paul, you're adding Harrison Barnes because we just want to be a better team, even if it's not drastically better record wise. We just want to play better basketball. We want our young guys in the right places. We want them learning from veteran players. But there's got to be a part that is, can we push the envelope a little bit here to be in a spot where all right, we are ready. We're ready for more than what we thought. I think I think it's going to be close and that's going to be fun to watch developed throughout the course of the year. Keith, I think here's an interesting question. If you are, this is not my big question, but it's still an interesting thing to consider. If you are, if you got to be a fan of any specific team, your fandom is suddenly you are a free agent fan. Would you rather become a fan of the Houston Rockets given their situation or the San Antonio Spurs in the situation they are in as both teams that are on the upswing? There's Spurs because of Wambi because of Wambi because I think in in totality, there's a lot. There's more young talent. I think on the Rockets in totality than the Spurs, but the Spurs have that one guy. Yeah, that's it. And it's been proven over and over and over again in the NBA. You have the one guy, the other guy, you'll get the other guy, you or let me rephrase, you'll have the opportunity to get the other guys. You, you, you and then it becomes do you get the other guys or not? Because if you do, you're going to be great. And the Spurs have shown us, when they have the one guy, they know what to do to get the rest, right? Like, you know, I realize it's been a down period for San Antonio. It's like the most down period they've ever seen. This team a few years ago when their playoff, uh, uh, street snapped at what a 21 years in a row or whatever it was. They'd only gone four years without making the playoffs in history. They had four seasons that they didn't make the playoffs. And in one of those seasons, they got David Robinson. And in the other one of those seasons, they got Tim Gunkin. Well, now I think we're up to like six or seven years without making the playoffs, but still it's not very many. And in half of them, you ended up with franchise altering players, Robinson Duncan and now one Banyama. So I would, that's the only reason why if you're telling me who do I think will be better for the next two, three seasons, I'd probably pick the Rockets just because I think they're closer to being better, but the Spurs are not far off that either. Just because, I mean, one Banyama, I'll be surprised if he's not an all star this year and then it'll be a decade or more until he's not an all star again, probably 10, 15 years at least. Yeah. No, and I think that's the correct answer. I just think it's interesting when you look at how these two teams are built. All right. Let me wrap things up with San Antonio here. And I know every time we talk about the Spurs, you have to talk about when you do, you just do because he's that good. He's that, he's that impressive. But let me read you something, Keith. Let me, let me, let me read you something here. So how about this stat line? 20 points for assists for rebounds, 37% from deep, 47% from the field, just 23 years old. You would think that that's a pretty damn good player, right? That's a pretty exciting player with some real upside in this league. And yet we're all kind of overlooking Devin Vassell. What can Devin Vassell be? Can he continue his ascent? Obviously, he had injury issues a couple of seasons ago, this past season played in 68 games, not a perfectly healthy season. But this is, I think, a really good player. And I think that, you know, he's the highest paid San Antonio Spurs for right now. But I think all the talk about when be causes us to overlook how exciting Devin Vassell actually is. This is a very talented player that I always have a lot of fun watching. And I think his rise is one of the big question marks, because yes, when he's going to keep going to that next level, but can Devin Vassell become maybe the second guy or maybe the third guy on a championship caliber team, caliber team, can he become that for the San Antonio Spurs because I do think he's on that trajectory? Yeah, we all focus on their Chris Paul edition as far as he'll make life easier for when be because he'll get him the ball in the right places. But it's not just when he's going to get Vassell the ball in the right spots. He's going to help Jeremy Sohan going to help Sheldon Johnson, he'll help Stefan Castle as he figures out as a rookie. And then Harrison Barnes is going to help all of those forwards Sohan and Johnson and others. Hey, this is some of the tricks of the trade to defend. These are some of the things you can do this way. Yeah, I put Devin Vassell, he is terrific already. And he's only going to get better. Like you said, he's still young, still improving efficiency is going up. Took a big leap as a passer playmaker last year. Some of that came out of Spurs point guard situation was not great. For a lot of the year, Trey Jones is, I like Trey Jones, but I like Trey Jones is a backup point guard. I think he can be a good backup point guard. I know almost like a version of his for a little bit lesser version of what his brother ties is just, you know, really good backup point guard. But Vassell playing with Chris Paul, that's just going to really help him quite a bit just to get better looks, better open shots, Harrison Barnes, that'll help too. Harrison Barnes is sneakily, he's an okay screener, right? He had to be young in his career, playing with Curry and Thompson, and then playing with Luca for some years and then playing in Sacramento with Darren Fox the last couple of years. He has to know how to set pretty decent screens. He's, I'm not going to say Steven Adams by any means. He's not, you know, crunching guys to the floor, but he knows what to do with that. He's going to help Vassells, I think, in for a big year too, alongside Wumbanyama. And I think you're right. The question is, can we start to find out next year is, when bees are number one, that's done. That question's already answered. Is Devin Vassell the number two? And if he is, great. Or is he a number three, and we got to go find a number two, develop a number two, and figure it out. And if that's where it is, that's okay too. His Devin Vassell is, his contract is perfectly fine for a guy who maybe is a third option. Yep. Absolutely. Absolutely. Exciting team. You know, you look at this division, Keith, the Southwest division, there's fun teams to watch and any night. Any like, you want to tell me, Hey, this team is playing, sign me up. You know what I mean? Like any of these five teams, they've got a game. I am in to watch that one. So all this, all this is doing is it's just getting me more impatient for the season to start the season to start. Fortunately, we're not that far away. Just a few more weeks, then we'll at least get pre-season action and we'll be off and running. But that's the Southwest division. Next show, we will head over to the Eastern Conference and start taking a look at those teams over there. But Keith, good Monday show, and a good way to start off the week, I think. Yeah, I can't believe I completely forgot to say it on on front office Friday. Front office Friday was three weeks from the first pre-season game. This Friday, we will be two weeks from Celtics nuggets kicking off the pre-season in Dubai, playing at 12 o'clock. So like when we're doing front office Friday, because we're generally somewhere, we start around 12 or one or so, we'll be right in that window where the Celtics and Nuggets are playing. And they're not the only ones playing that night either. We've got the New Zealand breakers are playing the Utah Jazz and the Timberwolves are playing your Lakers that night too. You know, later that night where we're there. Like we're now in the window next week. Training camps open for the Celtics and Nuggets. So like we're just about there. Like we are really closing in on training camps and those are always fun. And then we'll have real basketball back here before we know it with the NBA. That's going to be incredible. Yes. Yep. Can't wait. Can't wait. All right, everybody. All of that. More reason to subscribe to the channel. If you're not a subscriber yet, turn on those notifications as well. Apple podcast spotify listeners. Make sure that you give us that rating and review. Till next time, everybody, see you and stay safe.
