Locked On Lakers - Daily Podcast On The Los Angeles Lakers - Luka Dončić's New Body Has The NBA In SHOCK & Breaking down Restricted Free Agents! | NBA Squad Show

Episode Date: August 4, 2025

Nick Angstadt and the Locked On NBA Squad dive into Doncic's physical makeover and its potential impact on his game. They explore the restricted free agent market, with a focus on Jonathan Kuminga's situation with the Golden State Warriors. The panel debates the Houston Rockets' chances in the loaded Western Conference after adding Kevin Durant, and assesses the Orlando Magic's rise in the East. Plus, they examine how the Minnesota Timberwolves will cope without Naz Reid. Tune in for expert analysis on these burning NBA topics and hear why one host is having "an emotional basketball affair" with the new-look Luka. 0:00 Intro: Discussing skinny Luka and NBA topics5:07 Luka's transformation and its impact on NBA15:44 Restricted free agents and contract negotiations21:22 Houston Rockets' potential with Kevin Durant27:31 Magic's outlook and Eastern Conference standings33:21 Minnesota Timberwolves' prospects after changes39:07 Debating Houston vs Minnesota in rankings44:28 Orlando Magic's potential in coming season49:56 Timberwolves' playoff performance and future54:59 Derrick White's value and impact on teams58:39 Celtics' roster changes and future outlook  Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

On today's Lockdown NBA squad show, we take over the feed of your favorite show. We're talking about Skinny Luca. How is he changing the NBA? Do we care? Is he going to keep this up? We also talk about restricted free agents, Jonathan Camingo. What are the warriors doing with him? We talk about Houston, Orlando, Minnesota.

Are they dropping? We talk about Boston, all kinds of things on LockedonMBA squad show starting now. And welcome to the Lockdown MBA Squad Show. My name is Nick Engstead, host, host, The LockdownMBA. This is the squad show where we take over the feet of your favorite lockdown show. It's an open invite for any host to join, talk about anything, usually related to the NBA.

Sometimes not. We'll see what happens throughout this. Today's episode is brought to you by GameTime. Download the GameTime app. Create an account, use that code, locked on NBA for $20 off your first purchase. Joining me today from the champion locked on Thunder, it's Ryland Styles.

From the Skinny Luca having Lockdown Lakers, it's Andy Kamenitsky, from the Desmond Bain trading for Lockdown Magic, Philip Rossman Reich, and from the KD-DMing. Now, Jackson Gatlin. He's from Lockdown Rockets. gentlemen we may go somewhere completely different but today let's start with skinny luka

gracing the cover basketball player in part model in full andy kaminnski um my boy is hot nick my boy is white hot i am have i am having an emotional basketball affair with skinny luka and i don't care who knows this is like your ex goes on ozimic like levels oh no no no no no no no This is your ex. Your ex, Nick. Yeah, that's what I'm saying. Yeah, this is your ex, not just going on OZempic,

but then going on an Instagram tour during each step of the OZempic. Like, he was on the Today Show. Luca was on the Today Show. This is, your ex goes on OZMPIC and ends up dating Pete Davidson. Like, and they're just everywhere. You just have to see it everywhere, everywhere you go. He is. out there gallivanting in his new body and showing off a lot of leg.

For anybody else, do we care about this? Is this like, are you afraid of this? Ryland Jackson as teams that will be high in the West, Philip, you can sit out for the, as you're in the, the, the, the, the, the, the conference over there, but he's Moses guy, though. Do we care about this? Is this like, is this making you shaking your boots at all?

I don't know about shake, but I, I think you, you absolutely have to think about what this does for, Luca for his health or his ability on the basketball. Obviously, he was one of the best players in the entire NBA, top five, top three, whatever you want to call him, when he was healthy previously, right? But acting like the, I'm not going to call him fat like Nico Harrison, but like acting like his conditioning,

acting like his conditioning wasn't a bit of an issue at times that maybe got downplayed or, you know, looked over at times because of just how insanely talented he was. It was absolutely a factor, right? Like you go back to, you know, rookie year Luca, sophomore year Luca before he kind of added some of the weight, right? He was skinnier. He was leaner. He was on the Euro diet.

Like whatever you want to call it. And so now you're getting like this, you know, new look Luca. Now I will say the hype surrounding skinny Luca is approaching like levels of like hoody mellow workout videos in the off season or Ben Simmons hitting threes. Like I'll believe it when I see it when we're like three months in the NBA season. and if he actually stays skinny Luca and if it's actually improving his game, then sure, I'll be a little worried

that he's about to unleash terror on the entire league. But until then, you know, he can enjoy the influencer, IG thought model tour, whatever he's doing right now. This is the point I've made on game night

is that the key for Luca is not right now because we've seen Luca get in shape. Maybe not in this good as shape right now, like in this part of the season. But it's the post-international pre-NBA stretch. There's like a month in between there or a half month. Sometimes you're like, oh, man, how did he, how did he put on that way between?

He's just, he's just slamming cheese it's and all sorts of stuff. I mean, honestly. And then you, then it's the travel during the season because he was specifically mentioned that men's health article that the travel is something that really kind of not caught him off guard, but is difficult for him. And that during the off season, he's in one place. You're stable. You can get into a routine and like the travel of the NBA.

I mean, we've all traveled for finals and playoffs and stuff like that. Like eating healthy while. travel is very hard, it's very hard. But I guess they have everything available to them in the NBA. But you also have everything available to you. So your choices, like you can make. I'm sorry. Are we more from Locked on NBA, Locked on Nuggets has, has entered the chat.

Are we trying to argue that difficult for the multi-million dollar athlete who is catered to every single step of the way to eat a salad? Like, are we? Salads can have more calories than burgers, Matt. You don't know what kind of salad that is. You know it has more calories than both beer. That's very true. And that was a...

That's what he does during that month between in the off season. Nick, he's just drinking all his recovery beers, yeah. That's correct. But I mean, I believe that he's going to be in a different shape this whole season. I believe that he is taking it more seriously. A different shape is not like... You can be in any kind of shape. He could be a rumbus.

I feel like SpongeBob. We're not talking about this. We're not talking about this. We're talking about this. Oh, God. But I do think in terms of like on the court, he was already a, he was already a terrifying matchup nightmare for the entire NBA

that drug the Mavericks on what Matt Moore would call a fluke run to the finals. Like, that's how good he is. So I just don't think that there's a, our Mab's fluke runs reference from the squad zone. And I hid behind Matt, that way the Mazz Raccoon squad can't come after me. But I do think that there's,

nothing really left from the prove on the court in terms of being an incredible player. Could he be more competitive defensively? Sure. And maybe this will help him do that. But other than that, he was always a matchup nightmare and a guy who you should be scared of, even as the Thunder, even as the Rockets and everyone else at the top of the West. Here's the thing that I think, two reasons for optimism for me as somebody that obviously has a biased wishcasting interest in Luca maintaining this. For me. It's excellent for me. But one, he seems to be cognizant of the idea of wrapping his arms around this.

And, you know, the quote that he gave the men's health, like, if I back, essentially, if I backslide, then all of this was for nothing. And like recognizing that there is a commitment to it. And I remember when Julius Randall first signed with the Pelicans, I did an interview, Brian and I did an interview with him for the athletics several years ago. And he said that the first thing he did when he signed with the Pelicans was hire a private chef. Because he's like, when I would go on just on road trips to the, you know, to New Orleans for the Pelicans, I'd gain weight. Because the food is just insane in New Orleans. So it sounds like Luca is cogniz of the idea of there are steps towards this being a commitment. But also, too, if Luca immediately backslides and by,

December, he's looking like pre-Skinny Luca. Some would call it fat Luca. Do you know how humiliating that's going to be for him? Like if within three months, he goes from shredded, leaned out to looking like the guy before, especially after showing off this transformation at every single possible like I'm waiting for him to appear on NPR at this point. He's been in everywhere else talking about this transformation. like he has set himself up to be a massive joke if he doesn't follow through on this reasonably

well. We always like, I feel like we always like try and like come up with these narratives and ask this question like, how do elite athletes kind of find motivation? And this really does feel like sort of a kind of Michael Jordan moment where he's going to be like, I'm going to, you know, Dallas, I was happy there. They caught me off guard with this trade. they said all these really bad things about me, I'm going to show them.

And, you know, the one thing you don't do with incredible competitors, and you can say a lot of things by Luca Dodgers, that guy is a competitor. He wants to win. He may not know all the ways he needs to win. And, you know, maybe I haven't read the men's health thing, but maybe he got some ideas from LeBron, who has really been about taking care of his bodies,

obviously like 45 years old and still playing at a high level. I know he's not 45, I'm joking. But he's not that young. That's not even hyperbolic enough for it to be. like a hyperbole. That's fair. That's only like four years off. Look at that guy.

He's at the end of his career. At the end of his ropes, he's 32 years old. But Luca, like, Luca is one of those players that you give him an inch, just any reason to be motivated. And I can speak about this from experience as a magic guy because he loves sticking it to Jamal Mosley. When he's playing the magic,

Luca comes out with the big guns to stick it to his former favorite assistant coach, Jamal Mosley. You give those guys just a little bit of inspiration, a little bit of motivation, they go for the whole thing. They are killers. They are ruthless. And that's what makes them the best players. And that's why, you know, this does feel like this is going to be Lucas MVP season.

Like he is setting the narrative now. Winning, you know, winning the MVP is a full season narrative blitz and narrative attack. He's done the men south. He's done this media blitz. He's going to play Eurobasket. Slovenia has as good a chance as anyone to win that tournament. And then he's going to go to the Lakers, the biggest stage probably playing on opening night for NBC or whoever's airing the opening night games.

He's going to be in the spotlight the entire season. This feels like he is really going after it to show like, I'm going to show the world how good I am and how wrong Dallas is. And you know what? We kind of did this whole thing after they were bounced in the finals. We're like, oh, here's the embarrassment. That's finally going to get him. And like, all right, that's why I'm waiting to like,

all right, let's see if it, let's see if Andy is right about the whole thing. Like, all right, I know what I need to sacrifice now. And let's, but the finals, though, I don't think should have been considered an embarrassment for Luca. Like you did get to the finals. Like you achieved something, getting to the finals. You're one of the last two teams remaining. That's much different than getting sucker punched in a trade,

having your former team create a whisper campaign of, oh, we would have loved to commit to him, but old tubby, we can't trust on to get through his, right, to get through his. They were talking to those Game of Thrones birds. They were not whispering those. They took hundreds of millions of dollars out of his pocket. pocket like the getting eliminated in the finals does not come close to comparing to what he just

went through now like it's it's apples and cars it's it's nothing close to each other which one is the car luka now man he's fine-tuned machine oh i used to have a drop from jacit i want to be able to touch the car that's what he said is he's got introduced jacid's introductory press conference he said i want to be able to touch the card he used kit he used luka as the car now You know, very funny. Can we talk about the mental health article and how it used AI and completely got a thing wrong? It said, Luca had a 42-inch vertical. I mean, we refrain from talking about that part on our show.

I'm like the Lakers. We left that part alone. Even before your retraction became known, Nick, we just were like, let's leave that one alone. That sounds a little off. You guys are writers. That's nuts. That's insane. The deck, that came out a high profile article like that with a high profile, like, obviously PR blitz and all of that.

And to do the whole photo shoot with him and like to have that in there. I mean, somebody's intern got fired for that one. No, I mean, look, fact checkers are gone, man. Like editors work on SEO value now. Like editors work on, you know, how to program the back in order for you get populated in search and how to make sure that everything is functioning correctly from a back end. and distribution standpoint. Not, you know, like, I don't know how much people want to hear about the how the sausage gets made, but like, we just, we don't have back checkers anymore.

We don't have, like, definite editor setups here. So I'm not surprised that it happened. I'm, I guess, like, the kind of the question is, like, why did the author in question not go, like, wait, go look at really have a 42 inch vertical? Like, the guy that, like, every January is, like, slumping down the court and, like, clearly, clearly enjoys Mikkelov Ultra, or not Mikhailov,

whatever the opposite of that is. He did get sent a lot of ultra to his house. Mikhailob heavy. You guys know that story where they sent him like cases and cases like 100 cases of Michael of Ultra to his house.

Shouldn't we all be so lucky? Yeah, come on. We had Mikhaila bultra at some point. I don't think we got cases. Yeah, now they're just shipping cases of Ozempic to his house. I want to know how men's health got this. Why men's health? Oh, because it's such a clear, like, PR strategy of, like, men's health in the article,

they were so detailed and focused on, like, the muscle groups and the workouts he was doing and, like, detail about the diet and stuff. And then it came to the basketball and they're like, compared to the highlight dunks of Shay Gildjus Alexander. And I'm like, first of all, which highlight dunks from Shaidgilder's Alexander? It's not necessarily his game. I didn't write that part, too. Yeah, I had the 42-inch vertical.

I was like, man, the disconnect between the accuracy of the physical things and the non-accuracy of the basketball things. How many of the non-quote sections of that article do we think was actually AI? All. It's probably probably all, right? Or pretty close to it. All that included anything with basketball. Sick. We use AI for some of our stuff.

Yeah. And it tries to tell me that Luca is on the Maverick sometimes when it like suggests certain things to me. It's wild. Reggie Jackson is still on the Nuggets. Calvin Booth still has a job then. Oh, there's take me back. No, actually, David Adelman's going to be great. Today's episode of Lockedon to Bia Squad's brought to you by Gain Time.

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I've also used to go to concerts. I used to go to all kinds of things. Take the guests. We've got to buying tickets and concert tickets and show tickets with games. Game time. Download the game time app, create an account. Use the code locked on NBA for $20 off for purchase. Terms apply. Again, create an account. Redeem that code L-O-C-K-E-D-O-N-N-BA for $20 off. Download the game time app today. Downloading for $20 off. Download the game time map today. Last minute tickets, lowest prices, guaranteed. Do we care about any of these restricted free agents still out there? I was, I was, I think I think I've beat the Camt Thomas thing to death. I'm like, well, what's going to happen? And he's like, they're kind of like stuck in a stalemate. I'm here to tell you Jonathan Kaminga cares. Jonathan Kaminga cares a lot. Jonathan Kamaga's agent cares apparently. That dude is, like, it's, it is loud.

It is getting loud over there and has, I mean, it's obviously been loud since, like, Vietnam, but like, he has been, for, for as high profile as he thinks he is, he is not as good of a player as he actually is. I just want to say, I think the sons have the chance to do the funniest thing possible and flip Jalen Green for Jonathan Kamenga. I would love to see that take place. Wow. Just, just some personal amusement for me. I need to know if you're going to put Jalen Green your top 100 and you're locked on top 100 Please Jackson I've got it in mine

I love Jaylen I think he's still there For what reason I love Jalen Green I have him on mine too Is this restricted free agency thing It's just like this just gonna be like this every summer now Where there's just no money And they're just stuck for the thunder

Because like every but like that's That's what they did when they change the rules About how long you know how long you have to confirm the contract, the crazy cap hold for that. You know, if you're not like a guaranteed, you know, there's obviously the max guys. There's obviously guys who get like just under the max. But if you're like one of these, I don't know guys, you're kind of just stuck in limbo and your team is stuck in limbo too. I mean, this is getting into the cap nerdy stuff.

But it's just no one wants to move on any of these guys that are questionable because whatever they put down that the other guy is going to agree to, the other team's going to match. and you're just going to be handcuffed for, you know, for, you know, the however many days it is now, it's just not worth it to pursue any of these guys. And so some of these guys just need to be willing to say, okay, you're not giving me what I want. I'm going to bet on myself. I'm taking the qualifying offer and I'm going to be a free,

I'm going to be an unrestricted free agent next season. And I'll be able to go where, you know, essentially wherever I want to go. But again, some of the problem there is like, cap room doesn't matter anymore. Like everybody has to sign extensions because nobody has cap room to sign anybody big anymore. So you're Jonathan Cummian. and you think you're a $20 million player or whatever it is, a $30 million player,

you're not going to find that anywhere except for the team that you're on. And if they're not willing to give it to you, you're kind of stuck, you're trapped. And so I think, you know, restricted free agency has a purpose. My team knows it more than anybody else because of Shaq back in the 90s. But restricted free agency has a purpose. But it seemingly has outlived its purpose and has just become this, this tool to handcuff players two teams and when the team doesn't want them they don't know what to do anymore. It's just going to get worse next year because cap is only going to go up, we think,

7% as opposed to 10%. So that is not outpacing the 8% raises that happen for a lot of these other big contracts. So like everybody's talking about second apron culture, there's just less money and for these guys, especially the ones where you don't give them extended, like actual extensions. Those are the players that you have questions about. And those are just going to be the players that get squeezed all the time. It used to be that you could, if you squeezed these guys, that was like,

it was an insult. And like, but you can tell that they still feel that way. Like, Kaminga and Thomas still feel that way. But the owners have set it up where they could be like, sorry, we really can't avoid the apron.

Oh, man. We're all trying to find the guy who did this. It sucks. A shame I can't pay you the way that I used to pay these other guys, because that was kind of the thing for a while was like, a lot of guys were getting these contracts. And everybody was like, really?

And this is like, the corrective course for that. Now, I don't like it because they don't have a chance to hit the open market, right? It's restricted. Like, that's the other part of this is you don't want to waste your cap space in a limited market on a guy that the team can just be like, okay, we'll just match it. I also just think the Warriors are being morons here. You don't want him.

It's not very good. He doesn't fit with your team. You're trying to win the title with stuff. He doesn't really fit with stuff Curry. Love a God. Just move the kid. Like, let him go somewhere else. Send him to Phoenix.

I think he could actually be pretty good there. Doesn't he represent the only like young guy that kind of worked out for that maybe Pajemski now, but like I mean, getting a good time last year. I forgot saying. Never mind. Sorry. The time the timeline thing. Like he's kind of the only young guy that has any still kind of potential. I think it's less of the face saving thing.

And I think it's more of like, um, there is this like, well, we can't let we just can't let the asset go. Yeah. We can't let the asset go. You know, and I get it because from that standpoint, like the rockets gave Jalen green, a stupid. extension and then the sons were like okay they they the tin foil hat on that is they gave him that extension so they could trade him sooner because if you let him get to this summer i don't even think that's a tin foil hat that's just a hat okay fine there you go straight it's a sombrero then it's just a big ass hat how's that the account extensions the magic gave last summer i've been telling

people is like these are trade slots like you need a $15 million dollar salary dand for a d'angelo russle it's just how it works now d'angelo russle either last year or two years ago. I don't remember which one it was, but he was working off the last contract he had with the Lakers. And he openly talked about in so many words, yeah, I know that this contract was set up for me to be tradable. Like it turned out he wasn't until later than they thought they would. But these guys aren't stupid. Like they know how this stuff works. They know what the deal is when they sign these contracts. Like at this point, I think unless you're talking about a situation like Luca, most these guys are not going to be sucker punched anymore with a deal. Like they, they already,

they're like on the block the minute they sign their contracts. Like, that's the way this stuff works now. If anything, you know, with Matt, you were talking about them, the warriors being idiots and, you know, we want the asset. They spent a couple years now depreciating the asset that they refuse to let go. Like, if there's anything that I think could come out of the comminga situation, some of these other ones, you have to decide much quicker. Are you in with this guy or not? not because they could have gotten something for comminga a couple years ago. Instead, they've been consistently lowering his value. And now they feel like stuck because they have to do something with him. And they know he's too talented to just let walk for nothing. But he doesn't fit for what they

want to do. And they don't want to tailor what they do at all to fit him. So the whole thing is stupid. It feels like they're clearly not in on him. And they're also too embarrassed to admit that. I don't think it's embarrassment. I just think because they're embarrassing. I think when you think everything's embarrassing. Like I think I think I'm with him that I think it's embarrassing too. Well, I think it can be embarrassing from the outside, but I don't know that teams look at it that way. Like I don't know that they actually look at those kind of things.

It feels like it's both sides just don't know the value. Like Golden State doesn't value Kaminga as much as Kaminga values himself and thinks he should be paid. And so like, you know, whatever deals on the table is what two for. 48 or whatever it is or whatever that deal is. Like he's not willing to take that. And Golden States, well, we've got all the cards now. We've got all the leverage. So you're either taking this or taking the qualifying offer and spending another year at,

you know, whatever that amount is, that's much, much lower. Take it or leave it. Like, you know, yeah, I agree. They're kind of kicking the can down the road. But the contract expired. This is where they're at. This is how they value him. He doesn't value, you know, he values himself as much more and is holding out for more.

And there's just there's all the, all the seats at the table of taken and Coominga has no choice and a lot of these guys have no choice but to take what the team is giving them or exit or go for that qualifying offer and say okay I'll try I'll be an unrestricted free agent next summer then it's one of the things I hate the no trade clause on top of that it's one of the thing it's one of the things I hate in the league is that everybody wants to compromise the warriors aren't like well look you don't really fit what we want to do we bench you here you know fine go go be free and on his end like and he's considering it's not on the quality But that's the answer here.

It's like, all right, you don't think that this offer is fair. And you're going to show it and you're going to prove it to him. Sign the qualifying offer. And then get out of there. Then you can go make up your own mind. The problem, though, for comminga is he's not at a place where he can bet on himself. Right. Like, it's very clear.

Like, this is the one team maybe that he cannot bet on himself because he already knows they don't think I fit for what they do. And they're not going to make any accommodations for me. Like, right or wrong, no matter how you feel about comminga, the warriors are a terrible place for him to bet on himself. There's also not that much free agency money out there. Like Matt was like, he doesn't get to go test the market.

Like, are there guys out there getting huge deals? Like, there's not a ton of caps a space out there. Maybe the Nets would not have done the MPJ thing and signed him, but. Hey, we don't, we don't bring that up.

We're very happy about that. It's official, right? They can't rescind it. Like, they can come. Like, no take back fees. That's the difference between.

like restricted free agency now and restricted free agency four, five, six, seven years ago, the Nets gave what, four for 44 or four, you know, gave a huge contract to Alan Crabb. And everyone saw that deal was like, what are they doing? And it was like, Brooklyn was like, we have the cap room. We're going to make life miserable for one of our opponents and we'll take the salary. We'll eat it and we'll see what happens. Rebuilding teams don't even do that anymore. They don't, they don't take flyers on these restricted free agents and say, you know what,

we're not going to be good for two or three years. let's give it a try. Let's try this out. They don't act that way anymore. They get those players like getting Michael Porter Jr. In other ways. And so restrictive free agency is just, those players are just trapped. Like there's nowhere for them to go. And they're either going to take what the other teams,

what the teams are giving them or they're going to have to hit the qualifying offer and bet on themselves. And sometimes they're not going to get as much as they think they're going to get. Because there's just no money around anymore. No one plays free agency anymore. like Paul George going to the Sixers, the fact that Paul George went to the Sixers and has completely flamed out, that's probably the end of like big, big players moving in free agency like that. It's going to happen very rarely now.

No one plays free agency. That's entering the Lakers music again for 26, 27. They're loading up playing powder. Keep it dry. I am not convinced that that is the plan A, the way it's actually being presented. We shall see. Even by the standards of unimaginative star effery that we've seen from the Lakers as an organization, those reports feel conveniently stupid, like particularly the 2027 piece of it. Like the 2026, okay, you could maybe make an argument. We can't flip the roster the way we want to as quickly as we can this offseason. Maybe next off season when we really do have much more flexibility and a lot of contracts off the books. We just can maneuver better. But like the idea of

essentially sitting in idle for two years, two years of Luca's prime, because you're hoping that you can maybe lock up Janus from ages 33 to 36 just feels conveniently stupid. And I also noticed that the 2027 reports, to the best of my knowledge, did not start surfacing until after Rich Paul left the statement with LeBron's opt-in and hinting some displeasure, I did some math. I'll just leave it at that. They did not be like unconnected events to me. And all of a sudden this started coming out at a time when they were expressing perhaps a disappointed mood.

The clear of a bunch of space for Janus is the Mavericks playbook from 2019. They literally tried that exact. same thing. You just got a different onto Coupo. That's correct. They got Costas. And it worked out. Can I, I, I want to, I'm interested in the Rockets. Hayes on Locked on NBA Daily is very,

is very, very in on Houston. Rylan. The city or the, no. Not both. I can understand why the city. Rylan, I was, I'm kind of curious, do you have, like, they played you guys tough a couple times last year. I'm kind of

just curious. They played the Thunder a couple, top last year. I'm just kind of curious if you think Thunder fans should have like an appropriate level of fear for Houston or if they are still kind of not in that consideration. And I'm curious on Ryan's position on it from the Nuggets standpoint. Yeah, I mean, I have it as the Thunder, you know, the best team in the West. And then it's the Nuggets and Rockets, you know, two and three. I think that these are the three clear leaders in the clubhouse to try to win the Western Conference. So by nature of that, you should have an appropriate fear for Houston.

And I don't really even care how the Rockets start the season. I think that perhaps there could be a little bit of a stumble out of the gate for them as they figure out how all this stuff works with their new front court with Kevin Durant, pairing him with Shangoon. But I think that by the end of the season, they're going to be legitimate contenders. And like the Thunder better hope that it does go one, two, three, where they can delay the possibility of playing one of those two teams until the West finals and only have to go through one of them versus having to go through both of them if they're trying to repeat, which they are. So I do think that they should be legitimately fearful or just acknowledging that the Rockets are legit contenders. I still would have Denver ahead of them. But I do think it's very close. And it is a one, two, three to me pretty clearly.

Like I don't think there's an argument for anyone else to be in that top three. This is where I chime in. I think this is where I chime in. I actually, before you do, I actually want to hear if Ryan is like scared of Houston, friends of Nuggets guy. I'm appropriately, like, I'm higher on Kevin Durant, I think, than a lot of people are. On the top 100 that we released, I think I put him at seven on the entire NBA list, which is very aggressive still, given where he's been. But, like, you make sure that he's healthy heading into the playoffs.

And like, what was Houston week at this past year? It was scoring in the half court, a number one overall option, somebody that they could trust to sort of operate everything and draw all of the. attention and make things easier for the rest of their squad. Alpi will be better. Amman Thompson will be better. Jabari Smith would be better. I think he's one of the guys that secretly will benefit a lot from this. Now, that could also potentially backfire and they could decide, yeah, you know, we'd rather

trade him for some shooting. But we'll see what happens and what they ultimately look like. But I think that they are like, if Denver lost to Houston in the playoffs, I would not be surprised. Would it be disappointing for Denver specifically? Sure. but like would it be surprising no yeah and Houston should be able to i think protect kevin because they've proven that they have an excellent coach they have a team that can that can play a

winning style of basketball in the regular season because i still expect that defense to be really good with who they have on the roster and you know their roster is good enough to win in the regular season as we saw last year without their biggest flaw being that that bucket getter so i think that you can manage his minutes in a way that gets him to the end of the season and really inject him come playoff time. And that's kind of with the Thunderwood Crusoe. They kind of kept him in bubble wrap all season long. They unveil him in the postseason. He plays every game and plays that taxing style of basketball that he does play and it helped the Thunder win a championship. So I think that even from a standpoint of if you're iffy on Kevin Durant at this stage of his career

and with his previous health or whatever, I think that even Houston helps him get to the end, more than other teams good. Although we're not going to hang on. We had a vision in my head, Jackson, I had a vision in my head of Yokic and Valanchunis on the floor versus Stephen Adams and Alper and Shangun and just like tag team like WWA take down. If Valenzhenius on the floor it was not the postseason, huh? I was like in November. Can we just make that game four of that second round series?

Early 2000s NBA loves that idea. Honestly, I'm ready for it. Look, one of the things that I love about kind of the directions some of the teams in the NBA are headed right is teams are able to play multiple different styles. Right. You see some teams that are able to, you know, roll out the double big lineup. Like we saw the Thunder with their double big. We saw the Cavs with their double big. We saw the Celtics at times running their double big lineups.

Like, but the versatility to run the double big at times and, you know, having one of them ideally be a shooting, a spacing big, but then also being able to go small. And it was funny is I think the rockets are weirdly enough. They're kind of built right now very similar to how the thunder are kind of built, right? They've got there, they've got a ton. They're going to be a hell of a defense. the only difference really between the two is that the rockets went for like forwards and wings the thunder are a ton of guards right a ton of point of attack defenders guards um you've got the you know really the scramble get everywhere kind of defense that okayc runs and then you know offensively for okayc right everything runs through shay and then the the 10 to 12 minutes a game that she's sitting it runs through j dub the rockets it's going to be everything's running through kd in the half court for the most part that you know shingun will still shoulder some of the offensive burden, but Katie will take a lot of that pressure off of him.

One stat that jumped out when I was looking at things for this past season, right, is Shingoon commanded more double teams than anybody except for Nikol Yokic in the NBA this past season. And it felt like the Rockets failed to capitalize on those opportunities time and time again throughout the year, throughout the regular season, throughout the post season. Now you're actually giving Al P a running mate, you know, not even no running mate, oh, number one option, right? Because KD is number one now on this team, period, point blank.

you're giving him, you know, a fellow star to be able to actually take some of that pressure off of him. And I think that's going to do wonders for the Rockets offense because at times this past season and, you know, in the two years under Emio Doka, it felt like, you know, pulling teeth with this Rocket team trying to just watch them play offense, right? It hasn't been pretty. You know, you got a lot of you guys would clown on the Rockets through the regular season for how bad the offense actually look. And it did look bad, right? They had to try to find ways to be effective despite being, you know, kind of a mess offensively at times. now you've got Kevin Durant, one of the most gifted scores to ever touch a basketball. He's your get out of jail free card offensively.

It's not, he's not going to magically turn the rockets into a top five, top 10 offense, but it's going to look a lot better than it did last season. And they were already the number two seed last season with a broken offense. Like, it's going to get a lot better. I don't see how they're not clearly the favorites to be the second best team in the Western Conference right now. I mean, they're not clearly the favorite. Like they're in that conversation with Denver.

I think what's interesting is like there's no um the tide riser i think is really interesting like the guy that makes everybody better kevin durant hasn't been that for his teams and that's been like that to me is the missing thing here with brooklyn and phoenix like that's the thing is like he there's nobody that like makes everybody better he's not that guy and like if you look around like this group right like and he's got and his team's got luka you're gonna say us podcasters like this look at this group like that's what i thought you were going to Who's making everybody better here? That's me. I make everybody better. Andy, and Luke makes everybody better. Yokic makes everybody better. Honestly, like, the rockets are kind of trying to duplicate the thunder style,

which is like their offense is just kind of, it's statistically fought good, but like, and all it really is like the defense is what raises everybody up. Because, like, I don't know that men can do that. And I don't know that baby Sabonis is ready to like lift everybody up and be that kind of a weapon. And like, Philip,

like, I have that same question with Orlando. Yeah. Is like, who's like, who's like, like, Franz.

It's palo. It's palo, but he's got to be, he's got to be able to make shots more efficiently. Right. Right. And like Nick doesn't, like the Mavericks don't have one because they're not a serious team.

But like that is. Whoa. That's not like they traded away. It's not like they traded away a generational talent. Those are top three player in the game like five months ago. Poor Cooper flag. Quarer. Raise the flag.

No, but that's what I mean, Matt, to your point, that's what I was saying is the rockets are weirdly kind of built very similar to the thunder, right? The defense is going to be overwhelming. The offense is going to be, you know, so, so at times, but they don't need the offense to be phenomenal, right? They just need it to be better than it was last year. And the defense is going to be overwhelming. The rebounding is going to be the best in the NBA again. They've got depth. They're easily top five in the NBA as far as depth across the board.

Like, they're going to be able to keep Katie and bubble wrap throughout the regular season. But can you can you win 60 games? without that though because like okay see it's not a 60 win team like okayc doesn't have that kind of force but their defense was so good and shea was so good that they were able to get there like the rocket's record was great but if you go under the hood it's like oh they had an incredible record versus all the really good teams they couldn't compete within the playoffs like a little bit smoke and mirrors there how are they going to win 60 games how much how much of that is so you're saying smoke and mirrors how much of that though is just like again in the regular

season. Jalen Green was, you know, Jalen Green for some of the regular season and other games, he was also Jalen Green and didn't show up, right? And then in the playoffs, they got six out of the seven games where Jalen Green didn't show up. Like, you're replacing that with KD now. Like, that's what I'm, that's, and that's, that's a really like simplistic way to look at it, but you, you, you air dropped KD into that series in place of Jalen Green. They, they, they wipe the floor with the Golden State Warriors. Do you agree or disagree? Well, yeah, because the Warriors aren't good. Okay. Then move on to the wolves. What do they do against the wolves with katy in place of jalen green they still dfs in place of dylan brooks they still lose

they still lose to that wolves team oh yeah that wolf team was that wolf team was really good that wolf team was really good okayc making them look that bad was a was a credit to okay c and how bad finch coached the first two games of that series i really like seeing jackson on the end of this this your team is a fluke thing now i like i like how i like how katy hasn't even played a second of basketball the rockets and Matt's already out of it. He's like, he's like, nope, I don't, I can't buy it. And he won't put Cooper flag at his top 100. He's rejecting this, but he won't. I'm just, I am just playing devil's advocate here. Because I do think it's kind of interesting of, um, the fit with KD is the thing here. It's like, okay, it's not like KD was bad in Phoenix. It's not like KD was bad in Brooklyn.

So why weren't those teams better? Like that's the question was awful. The defense was horrendous. What? It's, that's easy. I mean, this was a bottom four defenses past season. Like the argument that I see from all the fans were like, why would you want? Go, okay,

go for it. That wasn't his entire career there. Like, that was last year, okay, fine. And I think the defense is more indicative of where that team got to with chemistry.

Like, I think chemistry and how that team was like together is what impacted that defense. Like, there's no reason for that defense to have been as horrendously terrible as it was. bad sure that bad i don't know and i feel the same way about the thunder on the other end which is like they are very they're except they're unbelievably cat like lou probably should have won dpo i right caruso all these dudes but like their ability to play together the chemistry that they had

defensively was that's what made them an all-time great defense and that's why the mavericks will not be that they tried really hard got vibes you got vibes over here they have no leaders you've no leaders. Oh, they're leader. They're leaders. Fredman bleeds a leader? Yeah, so hang on. You're saying Mavs have no leaders or rockets? No, Houston got leaders. Okay. I was like, I was like, so because like I, again, you're talking about the culture, the, the chemistry, all that. Like, you know, and I see a lot of people throwing out the stuff like Katie's not a leader. He doesn't, I don't think he needs to be that in Houston. Like, they just need him to show up and be KD. Show up. Hit shots, be, make clutch buckets, be the number one option. Awesome. They've got like, email is the culture. Fred is the culture. But again, but again, I'll ask like, if you want, if you want, if you want to, if you want to, if you want to, if you want to. them to be considered the super contender, which is how we label it over on Locked on NBA daily. Like if you wanted to be that, they can't be like, okay, they can't be like, well,

it's a pretty bad offense and then KD makes some shots. That's not going to be enough, Jackson. They got to be a top 10, top five defense. Like I, I've like taken digs at OKC, top five offense. How are they going to be a top 10 offense? I think the thing about Shangoon playing off of KD could get them there where that, that all of a sudden opens up a lot for him. I have the same question with the magic, which is like,

how good can they get? Okay, look, they were 12th in offensive rating this past season with as, as horrendous as their offense was. Yeah, no, it was propped up with offensive rebounding. Like, that's the thing. It was propped up with offensive rebounding and transition buckets, right? But the thing is, is when the game does slow to a crawl, right, in the postseason, right? They were in rock fights every single game with that Warriors team,

and that defense against the war, Warriors or against any other team that you slot them against. Like, I don't think the Rockets, there's not a way to expose that defense. I don't think they don't have like a weak link in the armor. The defense is good and that'll translate. And so that's why I'm just like, I really struggle to see how this team doesn't take a significant step forward. Call it homerism.

Call it looking at it with the rose tinted goggles, whatever you want to do. But KD by himself is going to drag this Rockets team into being a top 10 offense. You're telling me they can't jump up at least three. spots from 12 to 9 with the addition of KD over Jalen Green. Jaylen shot selection to the KD shot selection. A little bit of an upgrade. That's happening, period. Like that's an easy jump to make.

And then you factor, you sprinkle in a little bit of internal growth and improvement for the other young guys like Alper. Shoot, Alper and Shungoon had his worst years of pro shooting the basketball. He was wildly inefficient last season. If he can get back to what he shot, you know, years two and three, which I have,

there's more evidence than not that he can get back to. that level of efficiency, like that's another step forward for him. A men Thompson, year three leap. Okay. It's right around the corner. You, you know, no. No, no, Matt. You were responsible for the team.

You wound, you were all, Matt. His parents are going to be so mad from me. He just got home. He has algebra. No, they're going to be happy. Because then I'm going to, I'm going to, I'm going to tuck her myself out and take a nap later. It's all good. This is Jackson running around in circles in the liver room to get him.

What was your concern about the magic, Matt? So, we have to talk about one eastern conference team i know right i feel it's the only one here and i think the magic are really interesting and everybody's like very in on them um i'm the third they're the third scene is they're the third scene in the eastern conference guaranteed is happening guarantee okay well then it's not happening then um i think don't put that you on me bobby eight months from now everything jacks says is wrong i actually think i actually think

detroit is on their same level it's gonna be like one of them or detroit if it's not if the six It's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's might be there. It, it depends on health. Like, like, like, at the end of the day, like, yeah, a lot of guys missed time last year, but like, still so much is wrapped up in Jalen Suggs being good because the downgrade defensively from Jalen Suggs to Tyos Jones as a starting guard is humongous. And this team is still going to be really dependent on their defense. So they got to reprove that they can defend, you know, losing some of the guy, you know, losing some of the guys they lost. And that shouldn't be a huge issue.

But, you know, this is a franchise that hasn't had a top 20 offense since 2012. Like, I get the skepticism, like, show, you know, prove it to me that you can score. And, you know, Desmond Maine is a different kind of shooter than Gatius, Caldlo Pope. So I do think they're, I do think they're going to get out of the bottom 10 in offensive rating. Are they going to be top 10? No. Are they going to be top 15? I'm 50-50 leaning no.

They just need to be competent enough. And the Eastern Conference is just so wide open and so. that's bad, that that should be enough for them to win 50 plus games, be in the hunt for the third seat, certainly be home court advantage. And so they just, they just like the biggest question with the magic is, yeah, there's a lot of potential. And you expect young guys to grow. You expect, you know, Desmond Bay to help. They just have never done it. They haven't done it. And so you have to, you know, like to the point about Houston, Houston's done it. They were the two seats last year. Like, you know, there, yeah, there are questions about how they integrate

Kevin Durant, how they might change and all that. But they did it last year. They've proven they can do it. They have that institutional knowledge to do it. The magic haven't done it. They've scraped. They've scraped. They've, for the last few years, they've done all they could.

But they have to score the basketball. It's not, it's been really hard for them. I mentioned that we have to talk about an Eastern Conference team and literally John Corrales appeared. Like, just, you know, three times. John, are you in on the magic? Jackson just said that they should be guaranteed top three in the East next year.

I just say guaranteed. I said third. They're not going to suddenly slip into like the first or the second spot. So don't say top three. So only three. So you're wrong if they're second. You don't want to be wrong if they're second. Come on, Jackson.

You're not going to be second. It's the Cavs and Knicks. They're only going to be third. He's like, it's Cavs and Knicks. If you told anybody, the rockets were going to be second last year. Yeah. No.

Yeah, I would have been really wrong. I didn't tell anybody that because they overreachieved. Yeah, looks happened. Wait, they overachieve last year? Yeah. Yeah. Sounds a little fluke. You can't back down from that now.

Sounds a little fluke. That was Matt's whole point. It's not a fluke. What? We talked about it for 20 minutes that they overachieve there. I was defending you. It made me feel gross. I defended a team in Houston this much.

Back to the magic. John, do you believe in the magic? Only three. Can they get to three? Is the, Yeah, they can get to three. They can get to three. Three, my lord.

Three, my lord. Five, sir, three. I mean, obviously, they have to stay healthy, but, and, you know, I'd like to see Franz Wagner, like, somehow get into some sort of consistent shooting. But, you know, you're bringing in Desmond Bain is a big thing. And it kind of addresses their offensive issues. I love their defense. Obviously, I just watched the series where the Celtics just got pummeled by them defensively. And I do think they have an opportunity to climb into third.

There are a lot of teams that can climb into third, right? So, I mean, it's Cleveland and New York are won two. I assume everybody's kind of on the same page as that. But then, you know, Orlando, Detroit, I heard Atlanta mentioned. I'm such an Atlanta hater that I question, I question it. I think it's just a knee-jerk reaction for me. But no, it's a deep-seated Trey-Young non-belief.

That's right. How many years have we done with there? I mean, Trey Young on your top 100, John. Yeah. And not on there. He's not included. Not included.

No, yeah. I haven't done my list. He hasn't had 100. So just so he doesn't get fined. I haven't even thought about where he would be. Probably lower than most. I just, he hasn't done anything to prove me wrong.

So, but yeah, I like Orlando. I've been like kind of on the Orlando bandwagon for a couple of seasons now. And there have been injuries that have kind of derailed that and a couple of things, maybe a little out of their control that have derailed it a little bit. But I've gone into the last two seasons being like, I'm not so sure anybody wants to face Orlando. And I came into this season in this playoff saying, I'm not so sure anybody wants to face Orlando in the playoffs.

And I think what Orlando did to Boston was a big reason. reason why Boston was kind of in the position they were in the second round to get knocked out by New York. I think Orlando really softened them up with that defense. So you add a little scoring punch to that. I think Orlando could rise up and snag a third seat if things go well. I'm just glad you still like Orlando after the way Orlando literally pummeled Boston on occasion during that series. The vicious attacks by the Orlando magic. Go Go Go, All that was missing from that series was chance from the crowd.

Get the tables. That's all that was missing. You know, Mick Foley coming out with thumbtacks at mid-court. The performance center is like 15 minutes away from where I'm sitting right now. We can go back. I know. Yeah, it's right. I'm sure one of those guys would have come over with, you know,

this is how you hit him with a chair. But now, yeah, man. The only thing I don't like about Orlando is staying downtown. That's about it. Anything besides downtown Orlando, I'm all for. Oh, the humidity and not being close to an ocean is not, that's not great in Orlando. No. You do not want to be outside for more than two minutes right now.

I can tell you that. We've transitioned into talking about the weather on this basketball podcast. Speaking of Atlanta, they stole the Keel, Alexander Walker. States going well. Is Minnesota just cooked? Is Minnesota just cooked? Like, what's the vibe on Minnesota? Like, Nikol Alexander Walker, like an MVP, like,

people have reaction to that deal. I love Nikolajana Walker. I just think he was like the best player that like moved teams because nobody could move teams. Did you know that Nikol Alexander Walker and and Shagel is Alexander or cousins? Yeah, it's all in the family. The same family? Yeah.

What? Allegedly. I just think that they're betting a lot on like Jalen Clark or Terrence Shannon Jr. Take a step forward after back-to-back West Finals appearances. I think that they've been passed by by Houston and Denver. And I'd be more afraid of a team that's led by Luca. And if you can get DeAndre Aten to a plus level, call me silly. Call me silly.

I'm buying into DeAndre Aten, okay? I didn't realize you were drinking on this episode. I'm all in on DeAndre Aton. Well, we're about 50 minutes ahead. That's about when the beverages come out. I will say, Nikiel Alexander Walker was not the most important player in those matchups with the Nuggets and with the Golden State Warriors. he's really nice to have.

He's a good kind of role player connective piece for them. But I really like what Terrence Shannon did by the end of the year. I really like what Jalen Clark did by the end of the year. I think Rob Dillingham should be expected to jump up a little bit. They're going to be fine. And they're also great during the middle of the season. Mike Colleen these creaky knees really want Rob Dillingham to. Aren't the connective pieces more important in Minnesota than maybe some other teams,

though? Like aren't, don't the Timberwolves kind of need those guys to stack? to step up. But how much was Nick Hill that piece, though? Like, Nikiel's not like a secondary playmaker. He's just a spot-out. He's a pure 3-and-D dude. And that's valuable.

I think he's really good. But I don't know how you go from, they made back-to-back Western Conference finals appearances. They're done. I just, I look at them passed by, maybe. Yeah, I look at the moves of Denver and Houston passing them by. I look at what Julius Randall look like playing a defense of Calibur of OKC. And if you think that,

Houston can get to that caliber as well, then he's also going to be overwhelmed by Houston. And of all the different options that Minnesota had, like, whenever they could make a clean pass out to the corner to the Kelleckxner Walker, that was their best chance. And now they're banking on more younger, younger, unproven

guys to fill that role. And I think that's what the CBA supposed to do. Yeah. Yeah, I think at best that they're four, and then they could be five or six in the west. I mean, probably five. Yeah, but they were, they weren't top three in the west this year.

And I could like Ryan will black will back me up on this like Denver doesn't want to see him. Hell no. No. Never doesn't want to see. Katie. Katie did not have a, a fun experience playing Minnesota. That was not a fun experience for him in 2022. That was not that was not enjoyable for him.

Gross. The Fanduel had him at 45, 49 and a half over under their wind. That's still in the hunt. They won 49 last year. It's a good line. But like they, they're, they're a team that is going to. to be a little bit better than the sum of their parts in the playoffs because they just have the athleticism and the physicality. And they like Chris Finch is just a fantastic coach and is able

to like other than well, you know, those first couple games of the Western Conference Finals. Like he's really good. He knows how to make plays and like help his team set them up. So let me ask this then. If if better than some of their parts in the playoffs is like that's a great description of the Timberwolves. But is does that sense? set them up for kind of like leaning on while we're a better playoff team than a regular season team and kind of overlooking some of the things that they're going to need to fix. Maybe not this season, but over the next couple years is they're building a team because they're going to start getting expensive soon.

Is this like I don't know. I don't look at Minnesota as a team that's ascending into pretty soon. They're going to be like the contender. I feel like it depends on Anthony Edwards, obviously. He's going to have to take that week. their windows open and their ceiling is very low, is what I gather. And like,

look, I think that like Houston and, and, Houston and Denver are clearly better than them. But, like, Minnesota's done it. Like, they've gone to the conference finals.

You could say, like, the path opened up for them a little bit last year with, with the, with the way the seating's worked out. But, like, that's also the Western conference.

Like, it's, sometimes you just throw the eight teams up in the air and wherever they land is wherever they land. And everybody's about as good as everybody. else. And like Minnesota is a proven playoff team. And there's going to be very, very few series where Anthony Edwards isn't the best player on the floor. Like Oklahoma City is probably one of those series. Like Denver is one of those series. And they still won that. They're still able to beat the

nuggets in that series. The wolves are still just, I think, a really dangerous team that I think people are, like, I don't think they're necessarily better this summer. But I think people are kind of sleeping on their chances to, to advance in the playoffs again. still so good man yeah like he's like i get it's annoying i get how much of it how obnoxious he is i get it man and but like there's just not another rim protector like him he's still so good as an interior rim protector and the jump shot is really coming along there he's working with lethal shooter like he's taking these step in pull-ups like the the form looks great it's right in front of his face so you can't see the rim when he takes the shot like it's just looking great the rudy gobert

lethal shooter collab is like that's going to do some numbers on social incredible i could not believe that i was like we're doing this again he's sitting out your a basket right every time i want every time the timbrewall's coming to town to play the maps i go watch him warm up and he just sits and does dribble drills for a long time and i just sit and watch him and go what are we doing like i guess that helps with touch i agree with matt though he's great rim protector uh john i have i have white and an at an unreasonable number in my top 100 i think he is he is he is he's really good player i mean he should be he should be barely high again i haven't started my list so i don't know where he's going to end up but like i have devon booker as a guy right behind him oh geez wow so that's

hi hello oh that's incredible i mean if we're just going from like last like last year then i'm with him on that I would rather have Derek White on my team than Devin Booker if we're going to get last year. Because a lot of it's like Derek White can't do what Devin Booker does as the number one option. But Derek White is so damn good as second, third option in every single facet of the game. Like there's not a team in the league. There's not a single team in the league. I think there are a lot of teams that would sit there and say if we're looking for a player type to be. our point guard or be one of our lead guards.

Like I know I said this about the magic for forever. I mean, the magic need to find it Derek White. Like that's, that's the guy you want on your team to make your roster better. If you're the magic, would you have rather had Derek White over Desmond Bain? Jalen Sugg stole his hairs. Um, I, I honestly kind of think so because of the playmaking, because of the playmaking and shooting is just so much. I love Des. I love Des. I love Des. But yeah. I'm excited for Des too, but. Yeah, for sure. but like Derek

some more natural point guard and magic need that very very badly still and he's he's so smart he's he's one of the smartest basketball players you're going to find and like two years ago Ryan and I were having a debate at the table about would you rather have Jamal Murray or Derek White

and at the time it was like well you'd rather have Jamal Murray and now it's like no question like you'd rather have Derek White yeah like you just yeah no he's he's I mean it's a testament to him and he's done so much work to get to where he's going, to where he is. And he's still, he's 31 now.

So he's, he's, you know, starting to turn that corner. Um, but he's, he's so good. He's so smart. He, he reads things and he's like more athletic than people realize. I, and like, humble and all that. So he might be like one of like the perfect basketball player. He's just like one of those perfect guys that like non, non superstar. But I always say like he, guy like him is like the, the best quote unquote basketball player on the team because like your superstars can just rely on superhuman things that they do.

But they get away with some of the, oh, that that's not the right play, but he made it work anyway. Like Derek White just, whenever Derek White makes a mistake, I'm just like, well, that's that's clearly an aberration. And it's, you know, whatever. I don't know. I can talk about him all the question. So could you just then trade him so that he can go somewhere that's going to be competitive next year, please? Could you do that? Because I'd like to see Derek White.

No. Who's going to start at the center, John? Maybe me. Yeah, it could be you. Yeah, Luca Garza, everybody. Luca Garza, starting center for the Boston Celtics. Oh, my God. Yeah, yeah.

Oh my God is the right reaction. Didn't they say Cato was going to? I don't think so. That is so much worse. I'd rather have... What happened in Xavier Tillman? What happened? The guy's...

John is taller than Xavier Tillman. He exists. He exists. Honestly, the real answer is that he... The knee is a problem. And that knee continued to be a problem. I think last year, they didn't let on,

but that knee that was bothering him when he got traded over for Memphis, continued to be an issue. It kind of flared up again. I think he got heavy because of it because he couldn't really move and it just impacted him last season. If he can get the knee healthy,

if he can come into camp healthy, he might actually be like the preseason story that I'm writing about because he actually could be like a small ball center for sure. But right now I'm kind of like not including him because it's been a year and a half of the knee and kind of like, yeah, he had that moment in the finals. But the Celtics need a center.

They're starting Derek White, Jalen Brown, Garza, who else? Maybe George Nyang, he might start. And then I'm, Anthony Simons, yeah. Who are they training Anthony Simons for? What big are you trading Anthony Simons for, John? Myles Turner.

That's the question. my God. Yeah, I don't know. I don't know how Brad's going to do that because he's not going to want to spend the big money on that. Look, Celtics, this is like, obviously the Celtics are going to be like at best, like a 500 team, probably, right? Like, and that's, which is fine. And maybe they'll, they'll get a good match up in the first round of the playoffs and win because they know how to, you know, they've been there before. but like second round is probably

they're like everything goes right ceiling. They being who? They being just Jaila Brown and Derek White, right? Well, I mean like Richard. Pritchard. Pritchard. They're going to run like their offense isn't going to be terrible. Their defense might be like bottom five.

But you just kind of never know how things go. But bottom line is the Celtics are like a non-factor next year. But I still hold out like some hope that Jason Tatum can come back at some point with regular season games left to play, and he could use those as kind of like get back up to speed, get back into some NBA game shape, get that soreness out, then head back into the summer and continue, almost like an enhanced rehab stint.

And then the plan for the Celtics is why you keep Derek White, and you keep these guys is you have auditioned role players, and next year maybe you've gotten yourself into a place where you can use your full mid-level and you can be a little bit of a player in the free agent market and you can kind of fill some gaps in and this is a year maybe maybe uh things don't go all right and you dip into the lottery and you you get a decent player in the draft and then you come back and you've got a healthy tatum you've got everybody and and that that kind of gets you back into a little bit of the mixed year after that way for the celtics to sign d'andre aton next summer

this is just for Matt Moore who plays an NBA basketball game first Jason Tatum or Kyrie Irving Jason Tatum for sure 100% no question without question is that at least Jason Tatum wants to play basketball Nick hates you so much right now Matt That just he was just staring daggers at you

I just knew exactly what he was going to say we need to tease this for next week because I actually want to bring something from Ryan Blackburn onto next week's squad show, which is Ryan is of the belief that if you start in the NBA, not for all team, not for all, I'm trying to be fair to you. Not for all teams. The biggest eye roll I've ever seen. Not for all teams. Not in all situations, but most starters deserve a higher ranking on like than sub players

than bench guys. Let me actually explain this. They deserve, they deserve the actual benefit of the doubt. your rankings that a tie between a metaphorical tie between a starter and a bench player in your mind should go to the starter because they're on every scouting report imaginable Ryan Ryan has Peyton Pritchard at like a hundred yeah is that unreasonable yeah so so john so john so colin starts every game for the jazz and so i should put Peyton britchard below him because i don't i don't have colin sexton in my top 100 let's but he was a

starter in the NBA guys it's on a National basketball association team. Let's do the Let's do this next week when most of us will have submitted our list by then. So come back to the squad show wherever you're listening watching this. Your favorite feed, go check it out. Guys, we appreciate you and everyone. If you're jumping down on the show, there's a link in the description wherever you're listening watching this to find one of our great shows. We're still going multiple shows a week all the all the time.

Matt Moore is hiding the first time I've ever seen Matt Moore. Matt Moore hide. Great stuff from everybody. Go check out the link in the description to find your favorite show. This has been the squad show. Taking over the feet of your favorite show. Thanks for to listen to Lockton &Bee, Squad.