The Bill Simmons Podcast - KD to Brooklyn, Another Knicks Failure, Philly's Big Save, and a Crazy Day 1 With Joe House | The Bill Simmons Podcast

Episode Date: July 1, 2019

HBO and The Ringer's Bill Simmons is joined by Joe House to recap a wild Day 1 of NBA free agency, including the Brooklyn Nets acquiring Kyrie Irving and DeAndre Jordan and swapping D'Angelo Russell f...or Kevin Durant, another miss for the Knicks, Al Horford to the 76ers, the Orlando Magic's new roster, Malcolm Brogdon to the Pacers, JJ Redick on the Pelicans, Jimmy Butler to Miami(?), the improved Utah Jazz, Kawhi Leonard's best landing spot, best available free agents, and much more! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Starting point is 00:00:00 Tonight's special emergency edition of the Bill Simmons podcast on the Ringer Podcast Network, presented by ZipRecruiter. The best teams start with great talent, kind of like the Warriors, who are now defunct. They had a lot of talent. They had Curry and Clay, they had Draymond, they added Kevin Durant. It all came together for three glorious years, and now it's over. No one knows the importance of talent more than ZipRecruiter. They deliver qualified candidates fast. Here's how. Their powerful technology scans thousands of resumes to find people with the right experience for your job.
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Starting point is 00:00:54 Meanwhile, SeatGeek is the best app for buying and selling tickets to sporting events, concerts, and more for $10. Off your SeatGeek purchase, the first one for any game or sporting event, whether it's a soccer game, baseball, NFL coming up, college football coming up, concerts, use promo code BS. Download the SeatGeek app or go right to SeatGeek.com. We're also brought to you by TheRinger.com, the world's greatest website where we are breaking down a tumultuous day in NBA for age. So you can read all the pieces we have. Kevin O'Connor wrote about Kemba and Kyrie switching teams. I mean, winners and losers. We have a whole bunch of stuff up already.
Starting point is 00:01:34 You can also listen to the Ringer NBA show. Another podcast we have. We'll be breaking down some of this stuff. Coming up, my buddy Joe House is coming on. I think he's five Pacificos in. I don't know if this is drunk house, but it's definitely buzzed house. He's got some thoughts. I have some thoughts. This was one of the crazier days in the history of the NBA. But first, our is late Sunday night.
Starting point is 00:02:18 Here's what we did. House and I started taping at 9.08 ET, and we went all the way through to a little before 11 ET. And then Nephi Kaya was putting the pod together. We're going to have it up. And then, of course, because it's the NBA, three things happened. So a couple of things we talked about in the pod you're about to hear. One of them was the Jimmy Butler sign and trade to Miami, which we assumed was done. And now seems like it's up in the air because there was some disagreement. Dallas was the third team. We don't know what's going to
Starting point is 00:02:49 happen with that. So as you hear all that part, keep that in mind, the Jimmy Butler thing, I'm taping this right now. It is 12, 11 AM ET. That's up in the air. I assume they're going to work it out even if Butler has to take less, but Kelly Olenek to Dallas and then Josh Richardson to Philly. We talked about most of it, but the big thing, Golden State retooled out of nowhere. They ended up turning the KD leaving the Brooklyn thing into a sign and trade. They got D'Angelo Russell, who in my opinion, was the best stealth free agent in this entire class, 23 years old and all-star last year in the East. But I think somebody with the upside to get even better. I was really impressed by him.
Starting point is 00:03:25 I actually, if I was Brooklyn, I would have kept him and not dealt with Kyrie and all the potential downfall with him. I just really like his game. I think he still has the room to get better. The free throw rate isn't great, but for what the Warriors do, I think they can maximize all the stuff he does, which is he's a fantastic kind of one-on-one perimeter dude. He's a heat check guy. He is somebody that I think could eventually be a 40% three-point shooter and somebody that could really work nicely with Steph and with Clay and can create his own offense and play off other guys.
Starting point is 00:04:04 What it does is it buys golden state time for the clay comeback from the ACL. If he can somehow come back March, April range, and they can stay late in the playoffs, like a seven or eight seed, assuming they signed another big guy. And they're, they're alive for the season before they weren't. I thought they were in real trouble this season just to make the playoffs if it was just going to be Curry and Draymond. We saw what teams were able to do against Curry. If they knew he was the only person they had to worry about,
Starting point is 00:04:36 you can get super physical with him. You can steer your whole offense to him. He needs other guys to play off of to get open and create space, all that stuff. Russell now, I think, increases the ceiling of that team and could put them in the six-seed, seven-seed range potentially in the West, which if Klay can come back and can be even 80%, 85%, suddenly they've at least become
Starting point is 00:05:01 a little bit interesting in the playoffs and round one, round two. So long-term Russell, Curry, Clay, I assume they're going to try to bring Kavon Looney back or some sort of big man like that. But at least they have the foundation now to, uh, to be really competitive. And then long-term, you know, they're the warriors and they have the best shooting backcourt of all time. They had to sacrifice Andre Iguodala. They traded him to Memphis for a lightly protected pick that doesn't really jump into place until 2024. It's like top four
Starting point is 00:05:36 protected then, top one protected in 25 and unprotected in 26. Pretty cold. The NBA is a cold place. It's been cold both ways. Let's be honest. This has been the player empowerment decade. And what we've seen these days is there's no loyalty really on either side with some very rare exceptions. But I think we'll remember this decade once and for all. it starts with LeBron stabbing Cleveland in the back and going to Miami. And as the decade went on, that didn't even seem like the worst thing that happened. Probably the worst thing that happened was the Celtics dumping Isaiah Thomas and putting him in the Kyrie trade when you're just talking about loyalty either way. The Iggy thing, he was an unbelievable warrior. The acquisition of him started their whole little dynasty run finals.
Starting point is 00:06:27 MVP future hall of famer was such a big part of that team on and off the court. He just was on a, on a book tour and had some unflattering things to say about the warriors and was talking about how he is basically misdiagnosed and played with a fractured leg. And when I read that stuff, I was thinking, Ooh, this, this probably isn't going to play out great. I did
Starting point is 00:06:52 not expect them to trade him within a week, but it's hard to, it's hard to imagine that that wasn't related, but I think big picture, they can buy out Livingston, I think, for $2 million. And this team looked old in the playoffs. They really did. Livingston and Iggy, especially when you get to those last two rounds and you're playing every other night in the conference finals, then the finals, just every game is a war. Those guys did seem old. And I think Russell, Curry, and Clay, it's a younger nucleus now,
Starting point is 00:07:25 not a championship nucleus, but it's a younger nucleus. They have a little more flexibility. And that team has been really good at finding the Jordan Bell, Quinn Cook, Ian Clark, Kavon Looney, like late first rounders, fringe guys, undrafted guys, second round picks. They've paid for picks in the 30s. And they've just been really good at being able to find guys, fifth, sixth, seventh, eighth, ninth guys. So they're going to be relevant. And before we bring in House here, really the only free agent now left, it is now 12-17 AMET, is Kawhi. Kawhi, I think I had heard
Starting point is 00:08:08 that he was going to stream this out for at least a little while, but we'll see. Everybody is just jumping on teams. Oh my God, as we're doing this, Bobby Portis signed a two-year deal with the Knicks for $31 million. We're going to talk about that with House in a second. I can't believe today. There's never been a day like this in the history of the NBA. The fortunes of 12 teams have changed. I'm not sure who the favorite is, unless Kawhi ends up with the Lakers.
Starting point is 00:08:38 I think this is the first season we've had. I don't even know. The 2004-05 season, maybe? The year after the Pistons won? When Shaq got traded to Miami? And we really had no idea who was going to win the title that year. And for a while there,
Starting point is 00:08:57 it seemed like it might be the Pacers. And then the Artest melee happened. And we ended up with a really strange Pistons- Spurs finals. But four other teams felt like they probably could have made the finals that year. That was the year Joe Johnson broke his face. It was just a bizarre year. And it feels like unless Kawhi ends up on the Lakers and they really become the prohibitive favorite, we just don't have a favorite.
Starting point is 00:09:23 We have nine or 10 teams that are going to linger. The buyout guys in February are going to be more important than ever being able to flip expirings for one last piece. That's why a team like the Celtics that we talk about in this podcast with house, they're not a finals contender right now, but they're one trade away from being a finals contender, especially if they can get something back in the sign and trade with Terry
Starting point is 00:09:44 Roger, uh, with the Hornets. If they can get an expiring contract back, that's in the 16, 17 million range. Uh, but you know, Bismack Biambo, if they just got him back now, that seems crazy. Why would you want Bismack Biambo? Well, he's an expiring contract. He's 17 million bucks. You could put him with the Memphis pick that they have, and they could really get another impact guy. You could put Biambo with Marcus Smart and the Memphis pick, and now you can get a guy who's making 30 million a year. You can potentially get Kevin Love. Now, I don't know if I would do that. I love Marcus Smart. But my point is, the Celtics are a move away from potentially being a finals team. Toronto is a Kawhi away from being the favorite to repeat. The Lakers are a Kawhi away from being the primitive favorite. The Clippers are a Kawhi away from being one of the 12 teams that have a chance to be competitive in the playoffs. So this is a crazy day. And you're about to hear really the genesis of it with House. We started taping 9.08 PM ET. Here it is. All right, we're taping
Starting point is 00:10:55 this. It is 9.18 Eastern time. So if more stuff happens, you're just going to have to hear it on the fly. Right before we started taping, news broke that Al Horford, former Celtic, signing with the Sixers, four years, $109 million. They also sent Jimmy Butler to Miami, who then signed a giant deal with them and got back Josh Richardson. Let's start here, House. It looks like Philly starting five next year will be Ben Simmons, Tobias Harris, Josh Richardson, Al Horford, and Joel Embiid.
Starting point is 00:11:28 Does the road to the 2020 finals go through Philadelphia? I believe the answer to that depends on what Kawhi Leonard decides to do. But I feel like I should start with an apology. Apology number one, just to get it out of the way. to do, but I feel like I should start with an apology. Uh, apology. Number one, just to get it out of the way. Three hours ago, you tweeted a picture of you and me and the former president of the United States, Barack Obama and, and David Jacoby and said that you would be joined by one of the people in that picture. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:12:02 This podcast, a lot of people were rooting for somebody other than me so i'm sorry i'm sorry for the consolation prize but that's the theme of tonight right there's a lot of consolation prizes going along around out there bill simmons i mean there's a lot of teams are just going to have to grin and bear it. Just take, take, take what you get. Now I love the Sixers position right now. And in fact, I tried to go online two hours ago and look at the Sixers odds. Cause there was a plenty of reports out there about Horford joining the Sixers, which I thought was terrific. I, it is a loss for the Sixers to have parted ways with JJ Redick, but, um, you know, at, at his age, you can get something that kind of walked up to it. I didn't know that it was going to be Josh Richardson, but I like that
Starting point is 00:12:52 Sixers lineup. I mean, when you think about how close they came to beating Toronto, I just, the only knock I have on the Sixers and I know all the, the Sixers stands, all the Brett Brown stands will come at us, but I, I mean, I'm still not a Brett Brown fan. I'm not either, but it's a little easier when you have that starting five. The other thing is, I mean, the ceiling of that starting five, I think is higher than what they had last year. Richardson's a better two-way player than JJ was and is.
Starting point is 00:13:20 And the Horford thing is important for a couple reasons. I do think he can play with Embiid and he gives them some protection from Embiid, a guy who is not exactly Mr. Durability. So, you know, if Embiid goes down for 20 games in December or January, if he misses game three of a round two series, you're not completely screwed.
Starting point is 00:13:44 You're not in the same situation you're in last year. I got to say, Philly took a pretty huge gamble last year with the Butler and the Harris trades, and especially what they gave up in the Harris trade. I thought they overpaid for Harris today, $180 million for five years. Just seems like a lot for a borderline all-star. But in terms of the big picture of what they're trying to do i guess it's okay i'd rather overpay somebody like that than pay 58 million dollars for terry rogier right at least you're overpaying somebody who's a borderline
Starting point is 00:14:17 all-star yeah i mean he he is going to be an important, important, important cog in a machine that has finals aspirations. You, you can't, you know, just walk out into the free agency market and grab all those rebounds. I like how hard he played. He plays his, his motor is great.
Starting point is 00:14:36 He, he kind of, you know, this was for him, this pet most recent playoffs, the, the, the most important games he ever played in his entire basketball life.
Starting point is 00:14:46 So he was inconsistent, but he had a couple of incandescent moments. I mean, he went off, we had a couple Toby games out there. He just wasn't able to sustain it, but with this team and kind of, yeah, go ahead. He was the fourth option. That's always tough, but keep going. Yes. Yeah. But they have a lot of luxuries. I mean, I think the Horford thing, especially maybe they can be deliberate with, um, we we've just learned, I think a pretty important lesson with Kawhi, with the load management, maybe 65 games for players who have certain, you know, injury proclivities who are injury risks.
Starting point is 00:15:24 Maybe you just look at the schedule and map out 65 games for them and minimize the risk, diminish, diminish the risk. Al Horford is that luxury for the Sixers and, and, uh, he and Embiid can play off it. Maybe both of them just play 65 games. You know what I mean? They can swap which games they take off. And the thing that I like the best about horford is it immediately should alleviate the thing that drove me absolutely bananas which is joelle and bead standing out at the three-point line with 16 seconds left on the
Starting point is 00:15:58 shot clock holding the ball waiting for a wing to come so that he could give a pass off, you know, a handoff. And then if it didn't materialize turning and then try either shooting, which is the worst case scenario or trying to get into the lane that drove me bananas. And if Horford should just be that guy, he's, he's superior at it in every respect, both the three point shooting and the passing. So I think that's a great opportunity for Joel Horford,
Starting point is 00:16:27 a great teammate, good guyford, a great teammate, good guy to have around really smart. Doesn't need the ball. Um, I really enjoyed him. I have nothing bad to say about Al Horford. I think the one worry that you would have is the third and fourth years of that contract, because, you know, he's been in the league a long time now, and this is a, all the moves you make today are moves that you make when you're trying to win a title over the next two years. But, you know, to be fair, they've been pretty, pretty, pretty candid about that, that they felt like their window last year was, was starting and they had studied what had happened with some of the other teams in the league, like the Durant Westbrook, OKC,
Starting point is 00:17:07 and you know, all these young teams in the past that thought they had these 10 to 12 year shelf lives. And they just didn't. And something happens and two stars don't get along. Somebody leaves, somebody gets hurt. And then all of a sudden the window's over.
Starting point is 00:17:19 And I do think that's what informed the motivation behind the trades they made last year. I still think they gave up too much for Harris, but whatever. The team, they came within a couple plays of beating Toronto, who won the title. And now I like this year's team more than last year's team. It's funny. I have a lot of Sixers fans in my life. They were like rock bottom about four hours ago because it seemed like Butler was out going to Miami. It wasn't even clear if they were going to be involved with the sign and
Starting point is 00:17:49 trade. And it was like, well, who are we getting? Is it, we're just getting Tobias Harris. Then JJ left. And it really did seem like the window was,
Starting point is 00:17:59 was slamming closed all of a sudden. Now it's wide open again and even better for them. The Celtics are worse. I think the bucks are a little bit worse unless Giannis has another jump to make. And Toronto, who knows? So I think Philly's probably the reliable bet in the East, I would say. Brooklyn is the team that got the most dramatically better. We'll talk about them in a second. But Durant's not playing next year, so they can't be considered a finals favorite right no i'm i don't i have them third in the east right now pending kawaii they they might drop the fourth third yeah with no kd that's what yeah i mean that's the ceiling their ceiling is third in the east oh yeah
Starting point is 00:18:39 yeah yeah the best they can hope for in the eastern conference this coming years is third that means they also have to get ahead get over uh indiana i mean i i love what indiana did like very quietly on the sly they put three guards in in place that uh you know pretty complimentary skill sets that really made the pain of losing boyan bogdanovich who i i still love i mean we had a season in washington he was like a super reliable scorer and his defense he tries it's not he's not a complete zero on defense he he's he he tries but you know they really ease the the pain of that they got brogdon they. They got Jeremy Lamb. And who am I forgetting? No, that was it.
Starting point is 00:19:27 And well, before they got TJ Warren a couple of weeks ago. And TJ Warren, yeah. They're definitely a little bit better. Yeah, they're in the 4, 5, 6 range. One more thing with the Sixers. So the big hole for them, that lineup they have is really fascinating defensively, where you have
Starting point is 00:19:45 Embiid, Horford, Simmons, Richardson, and Harris conceivably as the crunch time five with Simmons as the point guard. Now, if let's say they're going against Kyrie in round one,
Starting point is 00:19:59 I don't know which of those five guys guards Kyrie Dame Lillard, um, basically any Kemba Walker Dame Lillard, um, basically any Kemba Walker, any smaller guard. It, it, they still have one more signing. It feels like is my point because,
Starting point is 00:20:14 well, that, that, that, that, you know, you know, yeah,
Starting point is 00:20:20 there's a name out there. There's a guy that I love, especially for them. And I think attitude wise, it's a perfect match. there's a guy that i love especially for them and i think attitude wise it's a perfect match can they afford patrick beverly well after seeing some some of the salaries we're going to go through some of the salaries today i mean we're we live in a world where terry rogier is going to make 19 million dollars a year so i don't know what i don't know what that means patrick beverly's worth that's that's wizard's world that know what that means. Patrick Beverly's word. That's that's wizards world. That's what that is.
Starting point is 00:20:46 Defensively though, that Sixers team, Horford has the ability to switch and guards, guard all kinds of guys. Simmons, when he wants to be, it can be pretty good. And then from a rebounding standpoint,
Starting point is 00:20:59 it's just a fascinating team. We haven't seen a team like that in a while where the Richardson's going to be the shortest guy in the crunch time five, potentially. I like Richardson. I got to say, I haven't seen, team like that in a while where the Richardson is going to be the shortest guy in the crunch time five. Potentially. I like Richardson. I got to say, I haven't seen, I say, you know,
Starting point is 00:21:09 obviously watch Miami on league pass and stuff, but haven't don't really have a feel for him yet. It seems like he has a lot of potential. Good three point shooter. Not great. He's like 35%. Seems like somebody whose career is still getting better, but he's,
Starting point is 00:21:24 he's the wild card of this whole thing we'll see yeah versus like not getting anything for jimmy butler it's still pretty nice for them very nice yeah i mean you know they they lost jj and got kind of a 25 year old he's 90 years younger let's see it's easy plug and play let's see how he does um i was making fun of chris ryan all day today that the the ringer inadvertently ruined the Sixers and beat Simmons window with the story last year that shook up the front office and led to a whole bunch of mistakes. But now the Sixers are back on track.
Starting point is 00:21:55 I think Chris Ryan could sleep again at night. Thank God. So many things happen. I don't even really know where to begin. We had this earlier 6 p.m. ET, June 30th, free agency where stuff was going to start happening. And then meanwhile, stuff started happening all month. And by the time we got to today, we knew where Kemba Walker was going and we knew where Kyrie was going, had a feeling a couple other things were going to happen. Seemed like Horford was gone, et cetera, et cetera.
Starting point is 00:22:26 House, I got to say, I really like the new rules. Or I guess we should say the non-rules. The looking away from what the actual rules are rules. I like what they did this year. I think it was more effective. Do you like it? Well, first of all, I mean, it's not often that I can think of a specific instance where I was in your company and we were in the company of a high ranking NBA official. It was summer league 2018.
Starting point is 00:22:58 And he'd said, guys, tell me a couple of things that we could do better. And it was just after, you know, same time of year, we just went through the free agency period. And one of the things that came out of your mouth was this midnight start to free agency is an effing murder. It kills everybody. It kills the East coast. It kills the West coast. Can we move it up by six hours? Can't we just start a little bit earlier? And lo and behold, six o'clock start time to the free agency period on June the 30th. So from, from your lips to the NBA God's ears. I mean, I can't give you total credit, but that's a, that's a damn good suggestion.
Starting point is 00:23:40 And on top of that, the whole process got going all day today. So the news was coming out in a very orderly manner. It wasn't a complete pants-down free-for-all where I felt like I was having to search around for my underwear for two hours. I just liked the kind of pace of it. It was pretty good. What do you think? I wasn't going to brag about that Vegas conversation, but I did suggest that.
Starting point is 00:24:08 I don't think I was the only one. I was looking at it from a selfish standpoint. Because just from a ringer standpoint. Yeah, well, from a ringer content standpoint, you know, the thing's 1201 ET, which was nine o'clock PT. And we have to like do podcasts and write stuff. And it just made it impossible. Like you can maybe write a thing or do, do a couple of short tweets or
Starting point is 00:24:31 whatever, but you can't really get content that late at night, unless you're trying to kill your people that work for you. Uh, this was a lot more palatable. And what was really cool was it really started getting going. I would say like 3.m 4 p.m et yeah you know so yeah exactly i loved it we started getting a feel for stuff i like it they basically said they basically decided to look the other way and said to themselves and to everybody else like look once we get to the finals we know shit's's going down. Like just don't, don't do anything illegal, but we get it. You're going to be the, you have 75 roundabout ways of getting in touch with whoever, you know,
Starting point is 00:25:15 that the funniest thing was Al Horford. Basically, I think the Celtics offered him three for 85 and it looked like it was heading that way. And then all of a sudden he's like, I'm out. And, and, you know, during the old system, you'd be like, all right, what's going on here? Somebody's tampered. But now it's like, all right, cool. There.
Starting point is 00:25:33 Meanwhile, the Celtics are talking to Kimball Walker. That obviously happened way before. So I, I thought this was a lot better. I thought it moved a lot more fluidly. The big story, the Brooklyn Nets. The biggest story. They landed KD and they landed Kyrie. I'm not going to mention the DeAndre Jordan part.
Starting point is 00:25:55 I thought that was funny that people were positioning that as a big three. DeAndre Jordan's been washed for like two years. I don't know where everybody was on that, but he's washed. Would it surprise you if the Nets were worse just next year than they were this year? No, no, not a bit. It wouldn't surprise me. We know that these chemistry experiments can be challenging. We know that it can be difficult to integrate guys.
Starting point is 00:26:23 We don't have a view as to, we don't have perfect insight into whether or not Kyrie is going to be healthy. We just saw an example of Kyrie with a youngish set where he, uh, wanted to try and exert some influence and, you know, kind of shape some,
Starting point is 00:26:39 some, some youth with his veteran perspective. It didn't go perfectly. So, you know, the nets have an identity they clearly as an institution had a perspective that bringing kairi and kd in they can handle it they can manage both of those uh big personalities both of those mega brands and you know so good on the nets for making it happen but nothing is assured all that's going to happen is Kyrie Irving is going to be playing point guard instead of D'Angelo Russell for that team that's an upgrade how much of an upgrade I don't know are the nets going to be
Starting point is 00:27:18 able to be healthy all year I hope so because I want to see what Karis lavert uh could do i want to see what alan uh can do i want to see uh what dinwiddie can do with kairi and you know deandre will be out there for 22 minutes running around and doing deandre things great deandre and kairi is a good pick and roll right yeah in 2014 uh the nets kairi dinwiddie, Joe Harris, Torian Prince, Karis LeVert, Jared Allen. Still some maybe spots for two guys. The rest of these got better. They basically have just exchanged Russell for Kyrie.
Starting point is 00:27:59 I don't think it's realistic for them to contend next season. This is a long-term two years from now thing. I think more important was this was the first time they truly stole New York from the Knicks. Now I think this has been overblown to some degrees. I think the Knicks fans aren't switching. Um, and we've also seen, we saw it four or five years ago when they had Darren Williams and they got KG and Pierce and all that stuff. Like they were relevant to Joe Johnson, but the Knicks had Carmelo during that stretch and the Knicks had made a run in 2013.
Starting point is 00:28:36 And it was more adorable that the Nets were trying to compete with them. They had the crazy Russian owning them and all that stuff. This was different because everyone thought KD and Kyrie were going to the Knicks basically from January on, including myself and you and Sal, and we may or may not have ragered on this. It really did feel like a New York type thing.
Starting point is 00:28:58 And then the Nets stepped in and took them. And there was just something significant about it that KD and Kyrie wanted to play in New York, had the choice between the two teams and chose the Nets and chose Brooklyn. I feel like that actually really does matter. I don't know if it changes the equation of, are there going to be more Nets fans? Are the Nets going to be the team of the future in New York? Has Dolan ruined the Knicks to the point that the Nets could actually steal that corner? But if all of that stuff does happen, this will be the moment that we look back on. Do you agree? I do. I have a lot of questions. I have more questions than answers at this point in terms of the long-term planning and
Starting point is 00:29:48 the, you know, dialogue that we imagined Kyrie and Katie were having. It has been reported that Katie's thinking changed when he injured himself. And I'm trying to connect the dots there. Why, why would his thinking have changed as a result of his injury? What's your theory on that? I think there was a world two months ago where KD, Kyrie, and Anthony Davis were on the Knicks.
Starting point is 00:30:18 Or the worst case scenario is just KD and Kyrie. I think the injury changed everything. And I think we're going to learn all of these little tidbits. They're going to get sprinkled to us over the next few weeks and months. And I'm sure there's going to be some revisionist history, but I just don't think you spend your whole year planning on what you're going to do for the third part of your career. And you're just gravitating to Brooklyn over the Knicks. I don't believe it. I know people have talked about what a win this is for a great organization and they have good ownership and good young players. They built things the right way and
Starting point is 00:30:55 they stole this opportunity from the Knicks, all that stuff. I think that's somewhat true, but I really do think, I think in my heart of hearts, if he doesn't get hurt, I think him and Kyrie end up on the Knicks. I really do. Now, I may be wrong. It's just how I feel. The point that you just made about the superior position of Brooklyn in terms of their development and their ability to compete, they made the playoffs this year in the Eastern Conference.
Starting point is 00:31:25 Isn't that only relevant in the instance of Katie's injury? Like if Katie was not injured, we expect that he and Kyrie would have landed on the Knicks. Katie's injury changed everything. This is my question to you. Yeah, I think it did. And I also think, you know, once you get closer to actually making the decision and you're not playing basketball anymore and you're really,
Starting point is 00:31:53 you're really getting into it, you know, it's like the, I would say it's like getting engaged practically. And at some point when you're about to get engaged, you talk to a couple of your friends, you know, the ones you really trust and you go, Hey man, thinking about doing this, what do you think? You know, and, and, and they're going to give you an honest answer because they're your friends. I think with that, at least with Dolan and the Knicks, there hits a point here where they're really starting to think about doing this. And he has this catastrophic injury. He's not going to be able to play for a year. He's got to also convince, you know,
Starting point is 00:32:28 somebody else to go with him. And at that point, Kyrie's out, right? Why would Kyrie go to the Knicks to play with a lottery team? Why would he throw away a year of his career? At least with the Nets, he has a chance to make the playoffs, stuff like that.
Starting point is 00:32:40 That's one part. And then the other part is, I promise you people are telling him, like, the Knicks are a shit show. That's one part. And then the other part is, I promise you, people are telling them the Knicks are a shit show. Don't go there. Dolan's the worst. You don't want to play for that guy. Here's three James Dolan stories. And that stuff adds up. And I really think to me, this is more about where the Knicks are for the last 20 years than it is a KD decision. Dolan has made that play so unappealing that ultimately KD was like, yeah, fuck it.
Starting point is 00:33:15 I'm not going to go there. Because honestly, what made the most sense was him going there and them throwing away another year and getting RJ Barrett some reps, him rehabbing his leg. And then next summer, them really trying to make a run for it over the next three years. I think that made the most basketball business career sense. And he didn't want to do it. Now he's doing it with this Nets team instead.
Starting point is 00:33:40 It's just weird that it all led to this, to play for the Brooklyn Nets. I don't know. Well, the play for the Brooklyn Nets. I don't know. Well, the weird thing is the Nets are better. The Nets were better all season long. Yes. So the question to me is, at what point did it go from Knicks to Nets? Because the injury had to be the thing. It had to be the accelerating force.
Starting point is 00:34:09 It had to be the thing with the pivot because we didn't hear – I have to go back and see when the very first reports of Kyrie's interest in Brooklyn started trickling out because that really, to me, set it in motion. It had been the well, you knew narrative. It was the rock nation. Go ahead. No, it was the rock nation thing. It was when he, when he dumped his agent and signed with the new agent, it was over because he signed with an agent whose twin brother, you know, was running the nets and he did this whole rock nation thing.
Starting point is 00:34:40 And that's, that's when we knew, but I don't think anybody had any inkling until then that this was actually really going to happen so the Brooklyn thing there's one more piece we didn't talk about and this is something that I think mattered to KD when he went to the Warriors there's outside basketball stuff
Starting point is 00:35:01 and outside basketball reasons for both of these guys to do this I think with Kyrie it it's obviously is going to get more involved in the, with rock nation and that whole thing. Like there's a world in which you could really make a sell. If those guys are in the. We have access to these guys. We know these rich guys. And you're just kind of, the red ropes are lifting for you in a lot of different ways. When you go to the Knicks, none of that is happening from James Dolan. James Dolan's not like, hey, once you get here, I'll do this. And he doesn't have connections like that. And I actually think that's a detriment for them now because Brooklyn, not only do they have like the rock nation and the elite Brooklyn businessman, all these different
Starting point is 00:35:51 connections, but they also have the Alibaba thing. And I just think they bring more to the table from a non-basketball standpoint. I think that really matters to Durant and to Rich Kleiman and probably to Kyrie too. But does that make sense or, or am I overthinking this? No, I think that makes a ton of sense because that that's for the stage of career that KD is at, that's the legacy, uh, opportunity that makes, you know, complete sense for him. It's gotta be in the same way that, that LeBron's move was a legacy yeah um you know not just career defining but like what is the what are the next five chapters of my life look like kind of uh decision making that that he and kd i think we're coming at at it from that same kind of perspective kairi's young so kairi, it seems like less important to me,
Starting point is 00:36:46 although it certainly doesn't hurt to be in that position and ride the, um, the tailwinds of, of what those opportunities are going to look like, um, out of Brooklyn. But I don't know. I mean, the Knicks are the Knicks. It's, it's a, it's a worldwide iconic, you know, brand they play in Madison square effing garden. And I think there's still some chapters left to be written for the Knicks. I mean, they swung and missed in this free agency and they needed the good luck of Zion. If that had broken, if Zion had landed with the number one pick, how different would this have looked, do you think? That's a good segue. We're going to take a quick break
Starting point is 00:37:26 and I'm going to answer that. Let's talk about Vudu, a leading streaming app with a library of over 150,000 titles available to rent or buy from the latest holo blockbusters to your favorite indie films. They recently launched
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Starting point is 00:38:24 Enjoy Vudu on your smart TV, Roku, Chromecast, iPhone, or Android and online. No subscriptions. It's available wherever you watch TV. They make it easy to access all your favorite entertainment with the click of a button. Enjoy Voodoo on your smart TV, Roku, Chromecast, iPhone, or Android and online. No subscriptions, no contracts, just free entertainment. As you know, I'm a big Voodoo person, including buying the whole entire Fast and Furious library because they have these little bundle things you can do. A Star is Born, we watched that one actually this week on vacation on V can do. A Star is Born. We watched that one actually this week on vacation on Vudu. So there you go. Head to vudu.com slash Bill Simmons.
Starting point is 00:38:52 Sign up and start watching today and check out all the rewatchables that we've done in the past or in the future on vudu.com slash Bill Simmons. Speaking of the rewatchables, July 3rd, Bill Hader, myself, Chris Ryan. Should I just say what the movie is, Kyle? Please. No Country for Old Men. Yeah. The rewatchables. One of the five best movies of this century. I'm throwing it out there. I really believe it is.
Starting point is 00:39:26 So there you go. We're breaking that down. And it's awesome. It's really fun. So that is coming July 3rd. In time for your July 4th drive to wherever you're going. All right, back to us. So you asked me how much did the lottery.
Starting point is 00:39:41 I actually think this is one of the most influential lotteries we've had for how it shaped the next couple months of moves and things because it allowed the Lakers to finally have enough to pull the Anthony Davis tradeoff. Not just that they had another asset, but it kind of crippled the Knicks. The worst case scenario for the Knicks was New Orleans getting the first pick and then the Lakers moving into the top four. So that finished off both of those things.
Starting point is 00:40:16 The Zion part, New Orleans being, in a weird way, a competitor to the Knicks, even though the Knicks would have had to trade for Anthony Davis, like that, that just complicated everything. I think from a Durant standpoint, the combo of how the lottery played out and then him getting hurt, we're pretty fluky. Don't you think like, first of all, the odds of Durant getting hurt when he was playing the highest level he'd
Starting point is 00:40:41 ever played, he just randomly gets hurt like that. The odds of that are one in 200. And then the way the lottery played out, you know, considering what the odds were, the Pelicans were like, what were they, eighth? The Lakers were like 11th to play out where they go one, four. It just makes you think like, are the fates against the Knicks? But I will say this though, with the Knicks,
Starting point is 00:41:02 I was thinking about it. You know, the last couple years, they were actually in a better position to do what the Nets did than the Nets were because they had Porzingis. You know? Right. And they had two top 10 lottery
Starting point is 00:41:18 picks. You know? They had the pick where they could have taken Donovan Mitchell and they took Frankie Nicotine. They had the Knox pick. Those are two top 10 picks. The Nets didn't ever even draft them in the top 10. Plus, Porzingis was a way better asset than anybody the Nets had.
Starting point is 00:41:37 And they were tanking anyway. And the Nets were going the opposite way. They weren't totally tanking and they were trying to build this. They didn't have a reason to tank. They didn't have a pick. And they're trying to build this culture and taking a chance on dudes. And they're the ones that are doing like the D'Angelo Russell trades where they're taking salary with their cap space. The Knicks are spending their cap space on Tim Hardaway and Courtney Lee and people like that. They just kind of got outmaneuvered and outthought by the Nets for a couple of years there. And now the Knicks are in this situation where they're trying to emulate the Nets from a
Starting point is 00:42:08 couple of years ago. Like even they signed Julius Randle today, and that's a two-year deal with a team option for a third. But now they're in this mode where everything they do is going to be shorter deals, protect cap space, build, and, you know, hope Giannis wants to go there at 2021. It's the illusion of hope yet again, Joe house, the Knicks have done it for 20 years. It's always like this next guy's coming up in one year, two years. Now maybe we can get this guy and their fans fall for it every time.
Starting point is 00:42:40 And I fall for it every time. I thought KD was going there. The illusion of hope, Joe House. I mean, they have had a couple of moments. I mean, they had Linsanity. That was a pretty great moment. They got about 25 or 30 games out of Mari Stoudemire before he turned into a pumpkin. Your boy Mello was good for them them he gave them an identity for like a couple years uh and i don't think that the teardown the way that they um crafted it was that ill advised like i'm not sure that they ultimately are going to lose on the Porzingis trade because we don't yet know whether he's a guy that can play 80 basketball games.
Starting point is 00:43:34 He's a seven-footer with an incredible stroke and so far an injury tendency. Now, one catastrophic injury, but who knows when he comes back how he's going to be i thought they did a good job of avoiding that problem altogether and getting some decent decent assets and putting themselves in a decent position to swing for the fences as free agency the fact that they struck out this year isn't really the end of of of the story for the knicks it's a it's a low point there's no free agents next year no there's no free agents next year so they struck out for this year and next year yeah but but the thing that we found in the last i don't know it feels like a 24 month phenomena 18 month you if you're in a position where somebody is grows disgruntled we have this
Starting point is 00:44:26 new era of disgruntled stars and if you're a team that can suck up cap uh has the cap availability it happens to be in new york city and playing at madison square garden it's a pretty attractive allure like they could be in the ear like who knows who's going to be the nut the next disgruntled star um it could be a guy from washington who huh i i mean i i i i look i don't have a dog in this fight the celtics and nicks aren't rivals the celtics either the nicks have been other than a stretches, have just been terrible for 70 years. You know, I do think their name is pretty much mud within the league now. I really do.
Starting point is 00:45:15 I think there's going to have to be a lot of rehab. And it's one of those things where the moment Dolan sells the team, if he ever does, you know, then it becomes the most appealing situation in the league to be part of a new ownership and a rebuild and a new era for the next. But right now he's still there. He's not going anywhere. And he's, he's a fucking nightmare. Like what about the press conference when he barred the daily news reporters? Who does that? What is he like Donald Trump? Get the fuck out of here. This is where the league needs to intervene. he doesn't have to sell the team he just needs to not be the face of the franchise like we have enough evidence we don't need any more evidence
Starting point is 00:45:56 we are now officially beyond a reasonable doubt him as the face of the franchise is a effing disaster it's an f triple minus so they just he can keep own he could be the majority owner they need some you know bright and shiny new face to come in and be smiling like it's it's new york city there are lots and lots and lots of of influential human beings that can arrive in that city and immediately rehabilitate the image of the franchise you know one guy by the way who might have that impact who's expressed some interest in some nba ownership it's it's the guy that a lot of people wish was on this podcast tonight instead of me bill simmons what about one barack h obama what about him joining up with the next ownership
Starting point is 00:46:45 group and becoming the face of the franchise? Would that work? I mean, it's a noble thought, but there's two issues with it. One, Dolan is such a stubborn dick. There's no way he would ever give up any ownership, and he would bristle at the notion that somebody
Starting point is 00:47:01 else could come in and help save his image or like his hold on the frame he would never do that and then second you think barack wants james dolan in his life like honestly you think he's like going to home with michelle after dinner like hey i got this opportunity uh i can own a small piece of the next but now i have james dolan in my life for the next 10 years. Get the fuck out of here. I mean, I'm not Jacko. I'm not taking this in a political direction,
Starting point is 00:47:29 but I mean, he had eight years of Joe Biden. After we see a couple months of Joe Biden out there on his own now without the cover. I mean, was that a picnic? That's pretty good. Can I go, can I walk you through the last 20 years of the Knicks really quickly and all of their new reset buttons?
Starting point is 00:47:50 I mean, it feels gratuitous, but I know I'm going to enjoy it. So let's do it. No, you're going to enjoy it. You're going to enjoy this. So is the audience, except for the Knicks fans. So they make the 1999 finals, right? The reset button first was the Ewing trade to Seattle, which was allegedly, again, they're going to move on,
Starting point is 00:48:07 build around Houston, Canby, and Spree, the whole thing. Nope. Antonio McDyess. Remember that? I do. Big trade for McDyess. They traded the lottery pick that ended up being Marist Ademar.
Starting point is 00:48:20 That didn't work out. Stefan Marber. We're going all in on Stefan. Bringing him home. 2004. That didn't work out. Stefan Marbury. We're going all in on Stefan. Bringing him home. 2004. Starbury's coming home. New York City point guard. Nobody knows point guards like New York City. That didn't work.
Starting point is 00:48:34 Eddie Curry. Need a big man. It's going to be Eddie Curry and Zach Randolph. Going back to bully ball. Whole league's getting faster. We're going to pound people inside. That didn't work. 2008 and 2009. Those seasons heading into the summer of 2010. Remember that? It was two years of we're going to tank because we're getting LeBron.
Starting point is 00:48:54 He's coming. LeBron's coming. He's going to bring Bosh. It's going to be great. We're bringing those. We're doing it, man. It's weird. Throw away these two years.
Starting point is 00:49:02 It's going to be awesome. That didn't work. He went to Miami. They settled for Amari Stoudemire. That season, heading into February, it's like Carmelo wants to come here. We could have Amari and Carmelo. We're going to trade everything for Carmelo. Bring him in. Get Chauncey Billups.
Starting point is 00:49:19 Amnesty Chauncey Billups. Bring in Tyson Chandler. Now we got the big three. Here we go. Those are the next couple years. They didn't get farther than round two. Building around Carmelo. 2014, you remember what happened? You know what the reset button was that year? You remember?
Starting point is 00:49:34 I don't. This is tough. It's tough to keep all this track. Phil Jackson is coming home. Phil Jackson's going to save it, man. 69-73 Knicks. He was there. He knows what it takes. That lasted two years.
Starting point is 00:49:48 2015 and 16. It's all leading to the summer of 2016. We're going to have cap space. Phil Jackson's got it. He's going to figure it out. Nope. Nobody wanted to come. Tim Hardaway, Courtney Lee.
Starting point is 00:50:00 Boom. Now, next two years, we're going to rebuild around Porzingis. We finally have our guy. We have a unicorn. We just got to rebuild around Porzingis We finally have our guy We have a unicorn We just got to build around and play the long game That didn't really work out 2019, trade Porzingis Here we go
Starting point is 00:50:15 We're going to get KD and Kyrie It's going to happen We got all this cap space We got 80 million We cleared all this cap No, that didn't work out What's the new game plan? 2021.
Starting point is 00:50:28 Here we go. Giannis, he's going to come. I know he grew up in Greece and has no idea what it was like when the Knicks were getting these coming. It's never going to work, Joe. Ever. That's your Knicks reset button in the span of three minutes.
Starting point is 00:50:44 Wow. You left out two two prominent names we didn't even talk about joe kim noah or derrick rose oh i forgot those guys sorry i had 15 reset buttons i left out two my bad yeah yeah i forgot about joe kim noah what was that 2016 oh that was with the yeah, that was with the... Yeah, that was with the Courtney Lee. Yeah, God. Can't even keep track. Well, the Knicks are screwed. Jerome James.
Starting point is 00:51:14 The back of the SUV. Can I be a... This is going to be perceived as me being a dick because Kyrie was on the Celtics. Can I just be a dick for one second? Please do. It's a whole victory parade, right?
Starting point is 00:51:29 Brooklyn got KD and Kyrie. I just want to point out, I just want to point this out. I'm going to try to do this in the non-dickiest way possible. KD can't walk. He has a ruptured Achilles. He can't play for a year. And Kyrie, his season went so badly last year that we started doing internet Instagram videos of my head on Johnny Depp as Hunter Thompson's head
Starting point is 00:51:58 and Kyrie on the other guy's head of me driving him to the airport to get him away from the Celtics. If you did a poll of Celtics fans right now, how many of them are going to miss Kyrie? What's the percentage? It would be like 2%. It was a disaster in every respect. He is going to go down as one of the most disliked Boston athletes we've had. How much of that was his fault compared to the rest of the team? We could litigate that forever.
Starting point is 00:52:21 But I'm just saying, everyone is happy he left. So I know Brooklyn's excited they have him. He's going to be great for them the first couple months. But I'm just saying, like, just be careful. Be careful what you wish for with Kyrie. Just be careful. Is that fair? Well, I have one crucial difference to call to your attention. Please. One crucial difference to call to your attention, please. And it's this. We're not aware. I don't, I'm not aware of the Brooklyn nets taking out a giant machete sized knife and stabbing any of their young up and coming players that
Starting point is 00:52:57 overextended themselves that maybe they played injured that were due for a giant payroll. I mean, a giant, a giant payday. They did none of those. I don't think Brooklyn stabbed any five foot 11 players in the back on the moment of, of their payday. The curse of Isaiah Thomas is not to be trifled with bill Simmons when it
Starting point is 00:53:18 comes to your Boston Celtics. And, and I think, you know, the Celtics are, are, are still feeling it. I mean,
Starting point is 00:53:24 who would have thunk here? We are starting in 2013, that trade between the Celtics and the nets and on balance. Like it's, it's kind of interesting the way that, that, that all that's played out. A lot of assets have flowed to Boston and we we've had a couple Eastern Conference runs at the Eastern Conference finals. And, you know, took Cleveland to seven games in one year. Pretty
Starting point is 00:53:55 good, but never really threatening to make the NBA finals. Never going to win the title. No, we almost made the finals, but the team was never winning the title. So, yeah. made the finals, but the team was never winning the title. I'm with you on the karma thing. Believe me, I've thought about it a lot. It wasn't great. You can definitely point to that as something that, with the whole
Starting point is 00:54:19 Eastern Conference finals run aside from a year ago, wasn't great. Look, there's a very good chance that it was just the worst possible situation for everybody. And that Kyrie is going to go to the nets and be really good next year and just be happy. And maybe he was with the wrong teammates and the wrong coach in the wrong city. And in Brooklyn, he's going to be a little older, a little wiser. I'm not ruling it out. I'm not, this is, this to me is not like getting somebody who's just like, wow, what are you guys? You know, it's not like if somebody had signed Andre Blatch, you know,
Starting point is 00:54:54 like when, who signed the, who, when Andre Blatch left the Wizards, who was the next team that signed him? You were just laughing. I think it was the Nets. Yeah. And you're just laughing. You're like, that's hilarious that you think Andre Blatch is redeemable. I'm it was the Nets. Yeah. And you're just laughing. You're like, that's hilarious that you think Andre Blatch is redeemable. I'm not like that. I think there's a world in which Kyrie is like just awesome next year. But I also saw the bad side of Kyrie and it's hard to shake because and you saw you watch those Bucks Celtics games. He rolled over in that series, did he not? He did, but the curious thing with the Celtics is your franchise was confronted with an identity crisis within the first five minutes of Gordon Hayward and Kyrie Irving
Starting point is 00:55:37 supposedly playing together, right? Everything changed five minutes into the first game of the first season of them playing together. And it turned out that it wasn't capable of being salvaged. So that can happen, right? You were supposed to be in a very stable situation. I mean, I hate to remind you of your forecast for how many games the team might win this most recent season with those two guys back. But everything can change so quickly.
Starting point is 00:56:12 It's very hard. I'm glad that you're being generous. I think Kyrie can be successful with the Nets. He learned lessons in Boston. And I do think the Nets, in terms of their front office and the composition of their youth, it's a little different from the composition of what Boston had. And none of the Nets, all the Nets have under their belts, those young guys, is a first-round loss in the playoffs in front games. Hold on, House.
Starting point is 00:56:43 Before you praise the Nets front office too effusively they've come to terms with deandre jordan do you can you do you want to guess what the contract was it is we're getting it is now 10 or 2 eastern time what do you think the contract was I'm going to say three years, $55 million. Oh my God. How many Pacificos did you have? I told you five. Four years, 40. Okay.
Starting point is 00:57:17 That's fair. What's wrong with that? What are you talking about? What's fair? $10 million. DeAndre Jordan, did you watch him last season? What are you talking about? What's fair? $10 million. DeAndre Jordan, did you watch it last season? What are you talking about? It's chump change.
Starting point is 00:57:30 It's chump change. It's nothing. That's terrible. That's a terrible contract. I assumed it was an overpay that KD insisted on. That contract is borderline reprehensible. But I'm sure KD was like, look, you've just got to do this. I'm sorry.
Starting point is 00:57:44 You got to take care of my guy. LeBron did it for a lot of guys. Do you think there, you're an innocent bystander. Do you think there's more to the KD warrior stuff that is going to trickle out over the next four to six weeks? Because it seems like the narrative is KD just wanted to play with his friends and his friends are apparently Kyrie and DeAndre Jordan. When he went to the Warriors,
Starting point is 00:58:14 it was all about how he was close with Draymond Green and knew Curry, obviously, and he was going to play with those guys and new challenge at Golden State. Now it's like he wants to play with his friends. Do you think we'll ever fully know what happened in Golden State with Durant and that team? I think a couple stories will come out.
Starting point is 00:58:34 I think we'll get a sharper image of what was at the heart of the beef between Draymond and KD over the course of this season. But I don't think Draymond and KD over the course of this season, but I don't think, uh, Draymond and KD had a long friendship that preceded Katie coming over to the warriors. I think that Draymond was the warrior whisperer as kind of the spiritual leader of that team. And I think he was in Katie's ear, you know, as reported by Woj and that we were skeptical about it. But I think Draymond was in Katie's year for a good portion of the second half of that
Starting point is 00:59:10 last season with OKC before he jumped over. And then, you know, the circumstances played out the way that OKC lost that finals and Draymond, you know, proved to be a pretty good salesman. I don't know if they were friends at any point over the course of them playing together. They got along fine, it seems, until whatever happened this season. And the mutual interest in kicking everybody's ass has a galvanizing kind of effect,
Starting point is 00:59:40 and they were pretty good at it. But I don't know anything about the relationship component. Something's off. I'm sure we'll find out at some point in our life. By the way, Woj reported that KD and Kyrie took less than the max to allow DeAndre Jordan to get to 10 million a year with Brooklyn. Sure.
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Starting point is 01:01:10 the last couple of weeks. The Press Box, Brian Curtis and David Shoemaker, they came on after both debates last week and they're really great. Came on right after. I liked the first episode a little more because I think Shoemaker was drinking beer during it
Starting point is 01:01:23 and it was really just the best Shoemaker I've ever heard on a podcast. But I thought they broke down both the debates and the press coverage of them in a really smart way that did not lean in any direction. It was just really astute observations
Starting point is 01:01:37 about a whole bunch of things. So catch up on those if you didn't even hear those. And you should subscribe to that one. And then Bachelor Party, we are hitting the home stretch for The Bachelor. And Madeline Rubin was on Thursday. Her and Juliet are in love with Tyler C and going bonkers to the point that it's just hilarious,
Starting point is 01:01:56 the stuff they're coming up with. So Bachelor Party, this has been a crazy season and it's a must listen. So if you like that one, check it out. JJ Reddick podcast, by the way, he's going to New Orleans, but he had Zach Lowe on Thursday as well. And that was a fun re-listen. So there you go. All right, back to us. So a lot of shit happened today. We got to
Starting point is 01:02:15 rip through it really quickly because we're putting this up tonight. There were a lot of cool contracts. I'm just going to go through some of them and we can do our instant reactions. Celtics get Kemba for four years, 141 million. I guess I can talk about this whole Kemba thing in the Celtics later in the summer when the pot, cause we've done too much Celtics talk. I will say it's kind of staggering how bad his teammates were for his entire time in Charlotte. Like, like genuinely staggering I don't think any good player has played with worse players is where I would go yeah I I'm excited to see what he's capable of in this situation he's a to me he's a poor man's Kyrie he's a rich man's Isaiah Thomas I feel like he's a better fit for this iteration of the Celtics it is it's a it's a this iteration of the Celtics. It is, it's a,
Starting point is 01:03:05 it's a real shame that the Celtics lost Horford because I think we would have got the best version of Kemba with Horford, but the Celtics still have a move or two. They have to get somebody over six feet, eight inches tall on their basketball team to help them try and collect rebounds this season. So I guess we'll see, but I have my fingers crossed for Robin Lopez.
Starting point is 01:03:27 They might have to patch together. I think it's probably the easiest position in the league to patch together and try to find somebody. I talked about this a little in the last podcast, but they're upside. They're not a title contender anymore, I don't think. But they're one move away from being a title contender, which I think is important
Starting point is 01:03:44 because I think they were in no man's land think. But they're one move away from being a title contender, which I think is important because I think they were in no man's land before. Now they're a team you know, they're kind of like a few Wizards teams you've rooted for in the past, right? Like the Jamison Arenas Wizards or like even the Wall Beal Wizards. Yeah, where it's like
Starting point is 01:03:59 your ceiling is 47 of 50 wins and you could get frisky and maybe take somebody to game seven and round two, but you're not going to actually do anything, but they have the chance now potentially to add one more piece of the picks they have. So somebody sent me this list. All of the players that Charlotte have paid more in a given season than they paid Kemba Walker in any year that they had him on the team. Here's the complete list. Ben Gordon, Michael Kid Girlcrest, Cody Zeller, Marvin Williams,
Starting point is 01:04:31 Bismack Biambo, Al Jefferson, Dwight Howard, Nick Batum, and now Terry Rozier. All those guys made more than Kemba ever made for Charlotte. He peaked at 12 million. Just a really poorly run team. I'd actually think just quickly on Charlotte. They have probably the saddest roster anyone has put together in a while. Oh, tap the brakes, brother. No,
Starting point is 01:04:56 you got Bradley Beal. You have Bradley Beal on your team. They don't have anybody. Okay. Who's their marquee guy? Malik Monk bridges. Zeller. Like they have nobody. They're barren. It's going to be. Yeah. Yeah. Who's their marquee guy? Malik Monk? Bridges? Zeller?
Starting point is 01:05:06 They have nobody. They're barren. It's going to be... Yeah. Yeah. They did not extend the qualifying offer to Frank Kaminsky. I'm sorry to report. It's shades of Brooklyn in the mid-2010s when it was super dark after the KG Pierce trade and they had no lottery picks.
Starting point is 01:05:22 And it was just like, you know, a bear. It was Brooke Lopez and nothing. It was a bear in wasteland at this team at might actually be worse, but Holy shit. I mean, we talk about Dolan needs to sell the Knicks might be time. MJ.
Starting point is 01:05:38 I'm not, I'm not sure. I'm not sure if ownership is, is the move for you, but might need, might need to bring it some help. So anyway, so Kemba happened to buy a is the move for you. Might need to bring in some help. So anyway, so Kemba happened.
Starting point is 01:05:48 Tobias Harris, 180 for five. Milwaukee brought Chris Middleton back, 178 million. Orlando locked down Nick Vucevic for four for 100. And then Terrence Ross, four for 54. Al-Faruq Aminu, they brought in for three for 29. Kevin Clark, the ringer's own, the only Orlando fan I've ever met, was absolutely delighted
Starting point is 01:06:11 that they've almost hit the luxury tax with the seventh seed. Pretty impressive house. I mean, that's a 44 win team. Yeah. Let's go. 44 wins. We got this!
Starting point is 01:06:27 You forgot Brooke Lopez re-signed with Milwaukee by the way. I haven't gotten them yet. I had them on a different list. Oh. Oh, I'm sorry. No, I was doing all the giant numbers. So Butler was 4-1-42.
Starting point is 01:06:42 Horford 4-4-1-09. D'Angelo Russell is the only all-star or superstar who hasn't signed yet. So then we go in a little out of order. But Sacramento, $4,486 for Harrison Barnes, which I don't know. What does that feel like? $20 million too high? But how are they going to get anybody anyway? They got to pay the Sacramento tax. Then they spent three for 40 on Dwayne Dedman. And then they went and got Trevor
Starting point is 01:07:11 Ariza for two for 25. How's you watch Trevor Ariza last year. He played for your beloved wizards. Not a lot left in the tank. It didn't feel like, uh, who knows what he had left in the tank what incentive did he have to come here to washington and and you know go go bust his ass at all that that that would by the time he arrived you know the writing was so on the wall they were so on the john wall such a such a uh a terrible moment in in washington franchise history who knows whether or not Trevor Reeves... I think that's not a bad... He's still smart. He still knows where to be on the basketball court.
Starting point is 01:07:52 That counts for something. So you're saying you're signing off on $151 million for Harrison Barnes, Trevor Reeves, and Dwayne Dedman. It feels like a lot. Feels a tad high. feels a whiff lofty uh we both like malcolm brogdon did you like him enough if you're indiana to trade a first and two seconds and pay him four years 85 million
Starting point is 01:08:17 they really they you know indiana god God bless them. They have this ambition. They really think that they're going to crack that 55 to 62 win threshold. And they, I think, must have a perspective. Their view must be that Toronto is not going to be capable. Even if Kawhi does a one-on-one the window for for uh toronto is is closing and so indiana wants to be in that top three category with the the uh sixers and milwaukee and they just push the chips to the middle i don't really have any problem with it so they basically flip Bogdanovich for Brogdon. TJ and Warren. I thought TJ Warren was a steal.
Starting point is 01:09:11 Me too. That was the kind of trade, if that happened in our fantasy league, that would lead to 100 emails. And it would get insulting. And at some point, people would be challenging each other to a fight. It was just terrible. They built this weird team where they have all perimeter guys who can create their own shot and then Miles Turner and Sabonis.
Starting point is 01:09:34 You know, it's like a one or the other type team, but I kind of like it. Just a lot of guys who can attack off the dribble, a little bit like what Toronto had last year, where all of their guards and forwards can now create their own shot in some way. And then they have rebounding and defense. So it's interesting. I don't think they're going to win the title,
Starting point is 01:09:53 but I kind of liked what they did. Me too. Lopez to Milwaukee, four for 52. Utah, we got to talk about them. Bogdanovich, four years, 73 million. I really liked him. I actually thought he let you down in the playoffs in Washington, especially in the Boston series. But in Indiana, I thought the last two years, I thought he was terrific. Really liked him. Me too. I didn't really feel like he let us down, but go ahead.
Starting point is 01:10:23 Yeah. Well, he wasn't great. But Utah was in a situation where they were a good regular season team, and they would get to the playoffs, and it became clear pretty quickly that it was basically the Donovan Mitchell show. They had nobody else who could create a shot except for Joe Ingles, but in the playoffs, he's Joe Ingles. Now they have Conley running everything. Mitchell can play off the ball more
Starting point is 01:10:45 and Bogdanovich can create his own shot. Now that now they have the potential, they could play Conley and Mitchell Bogdanovich and Ingles with just go bear. Just all he's doing is rebounding and defending the rim. I kind of like it house. Hey, and I know they're going to get a lot of sleeper buzz as the summer goes along, but I just, as a team that makes more sense as a playoff team than it did. It's already started the sleeper buzz. I mean, there's already my,
Starting point is 01:11:12 my Twitter timeline is already filled with like, get your bets in now on Utah. And I, and I kind of want to put one in. I couldn't find any odds for him. I, I, I don't know what this does in terms of their ability to retain uh favors and it's not
Starting point is 01:11:27 like favors is done i think that he's done okay they can't afford to keep him now okay all right because i i mean i thought he was pretty good as a backup in that backup role um you can you can get a cheap version of that though yeah sure sure absolutely so utah right now i'm looking online 15 to 1 i don't hate it's kind of high well i like them to win the western conference i like that better i don't want to bet on them to win the championship but i do like the idea of them winning the western conference why is brooklyn 18 to 1 that's just just dumb. Brooklyn's not winning jack shit. Maybe two years from now, but not next year. Denver at 25 to one seems dumb.
Starting point is 01:12:10 That seems too high. So that, no, that's the most interesting one to me right now because they have a move. They have assets. If there's any team in the NBA that I thought had a legit chance at getting Bradley Beal, I think it's the Denver Nuggets. And I think that that's an interesting team if they're able to do it. If they did something like Gary Harris and I don't know.
Starting point is 01:12:32 I hope you want more than that. You got to get. No, you want. I'm saying a pick Harris Porter. You got to get Michael Porter. Right, right. Now you're talking. That's a deal. Like I would really, really consider that if I was Washington. No, that's not enough.
Starting point is 01:12:47 And Bradley. I think Portland's the team if you're going to trade Bradley Beal. That's the team that has the right mix of assets and young guys. Where they can give you. I wonder if Beal, is he going to get enough touches on that team? I don't know. I mean, Denver is a better fit for just for him. You're right.
Starting point is 01:13:07 Like if they, if it could be Gary Harris and, uh, and Porter jr. Who's the guy they picked this year in the draft that people like the guy like, no, they took another guy that we like,
Starting point is 01:13:20 but they got him, but they got him in the second round. They got somebody else that I like, but Portland could do the Zach Collins and Anthony Simons and expiring contracts and some picks and really kind of try to overpay for him. But listen, I'm already on the record with you. I think you should keep Beal. Just wait it out.
Starting point is 01:13:38 The dude's 25. He's really good. I wouldn't trade him. You're just basically. I'm not in a hurry to. Yeah, I would. I would wait until it's it was a complete overpay. Julius Randle, three years, 63,
Starting point is 01:13:51 but really it's a two-year deal. There's a team option. The Rozier trade or signing was just a jaw-dropper for me. Three years, 58 million. We were on a chain with a Knicks fan that we're friends with and my dad and you and our Knicks fan friend was pushing for Rozier. Like just kind of more intel. Hey, if we got this guy, is that a good thing? And I had to bring my dad in to give his season ticket holder scouting report to Rozier.
Starting point is 01:14:21 He was really bad last year. And is somebody that is basically like a 38-39% career shooter and that's who he is he doesn't get to the free throw line he's a good rebounder I think he's a pretty good defender I don't think
Starting point is 01:14:37 after watching him especially this year I'm not sure he's a starting point guard on a playoff team and I don't know how he's a starting point guard on a playoff team. And I don't know how he's like the best guy in a bad team. I think that, I think they're going to regret that contract test.
Starting point is 01:14:52 Not a fan. I mean, it hardly matters. Like it doesn't matter. It's just, I feel bad for them. It's like, oh man,
Starting point is 01:15:01 Jesus, Steve scouts, Ricky Rubio goes to Phoenix for three for 51. And then the other one we should talk about is Redick going to New Orleans for two for 26. Redick, who was basically doing this year by year and somehow figured out a way to just keep getting paid a lot. I think he made 29 and a half million
Starting point is 01:15:24 in two years in Philly. And then he made 26 here for new Orleans. So he basically made a almost 57, 56 plus million for four years being JJ Redick. Pretty good house. Age, age like 31 to 35, $60 million.
Starting point is 01:15:44 That's my G right there. I mean, that's a dude who's taken stock of the league, looked at himself and said, you know what? I'm going to gamble on myself. He did it. He did it successfully. We knew that the Pelicans needed some kind of old head, some kind of stabilizing force.
Starting point is 01:16:02 I honestly thought that Al Horford was headed to the Pelicans, but, uh, JJ is perfectly fine by the way. I mean, we have to figure out how to, maybe I'll just fly down there as a, as a, uh, a, a devoted and noted food lover, JJ Redick. Think about what he's going to be capable of down in New Orleans. I mean, incredible. Oh, so you, you're saying, well,
Starting point is 01:16:26 we didn't even mention huge moment for the ringer podcast network. JJ. Now in New Orleans on a really fun team, we have Zion access. This is great. Huge win all the way around. But, uh,
Starting point is 01:16:36 but you go down there, you and JJ do a little three day food thing. Something, anything. Yeah. So it's just the,'s just the opportunities are endless. That's all. I like that he's a future media guy
Starting point is 01:16:50 who already sees the floor like a media guy. He realizes, all right, I'm going to Philly. That's the new hot team. I'm going to immerse myself in that whole world. And now it's like, all right, Zion, that's the new hot team. He keeps jumping to the new hot team. Yeah. He's like an actor who keeps trying to go to the
Starting point is 01:17:09 best show with the hot young kids. Good luck to JJ though. That's a great team for him. They needed one more shooter. I still think they're going to be good right away. I don't think they're going to be a 55 win team, but I think they're going to be a little bit above average. So how will you remember today? Looking back? Oh, we, we last thing we didn't mention before you answer that question,
Starting point is 01:17:29 nothing with the Lakers yet. And the Lakers, I, I, it breaks my heart. Stop. It's one or the other. It's going to be one or the other.
Starting point is 01:17:39 What do you mean? And it, it's going to be D'Angelo Russell or Kawhi Leonard. I mean, isn't that inevitable? It could be neither. It could be neither. That would be my optimal case. Neither would be optimal.
Starting point is 01:17:58 But, God, it just feels like Kawhi said two years ago, I want to play for the Lakers. And then he just delivered a title to a place that had no chance whatsoever to contend for a title. He's made an indelible mark in the history of the National Basketball Association. He could go to Los Angeles Lakers and only have to play 65 games and come out in the playoffs again god damn it i don't like it i'm not rooting for it but there's a lot of logic to it i think i think there's a high possibility that they could get neither guy because russell
Starting point is 01:18:41 could go to minnesota and kawaii could go to the Clippers or, or just stay in Toronto. Well, let me ask you this. You, this is the first time we've mentioned the Clippers. Yeah. What would be the case for Kauai to go to the Clippers other than him wanting to be in Los Angeles?
Starting point is 01:18:59 That's it. That's not a great case. I mean, to Toronto, that situation was much better for him uh you know and then it's not like he said to to uh the the spurs i want to go to toronto but they were a lot sort of better team better position in the eastern conference what what is there now that he's in control of his own destiny what is there all right let's in control of his own destiny? What is there to commend the Clippers without other help? Let's play it out.
Starting point is 01:19:29 If you're him, you can't do four years in Toronto because you don't know who's on the team those last three years. It's UNC Ockham, basically. But you can do a one-on-one. You could be like, let's defend the title. Let's fucking do this. And I'll worry about free agency a year from now even if i get hurt i just watched yeah i watched all these injured stars get paid um let's go when he'll
Starting point is 01:19:53 be a 10-year veteran that's the other point like he gets that super duper max as a 10-year vet if he does the one-on-one other possibility he goes to the clippers He's the guy in the Clippers and they try to, I don't know. I mean, unfortunately we're almost out of free agents. Like what do you do? If you're them, you're like,
Starting point is 01:20:14 Hey, we're like, Hey, we, we think we can get Kavon Looney. I don't know. It's the first time we're mentioned the Clippers. It doesn't feel that that doesn't feel good.
Starting point is 01:20:25 They're supposed to be in the, in the mix. They're supposed to be, have a chance at two giant free agent signings. And it's, it's 10 23 East coast time. And we're just now talking about the Clippers. There's,
Starting point is 01:20:40 there's a couple of guys left that aren't free agents that we have to mention. One of them is named Kevin Love. Oh, yeah. Okay. Now you're talking. He's basically a free agent, right? You could trade for him from Cleveland.
Starting point is 01:20:54 Cleveland is way over the cap, and I think they actually might be a luxury tax team. They actually have to. Actually, when they get rid of J.R. Smith's contract, it'll be fine. But they're over the cap. You could talk. We'll trade for Kevin Love. We'll give you a conditional first or first or whatever. And maybe it's Kevin Love and Kawhi together with the rest of their team. I don't know if that makes a difference.
Starting point is 01:21:20 I was thinking Kevin Love with the Lakers, too, if they struck out. Could that be a possibility? That makes sense to me. Could he go to Portland? Here's the other guy for the Clippers. What about Steven Adams? Yeah. What about him?
Starting point is 01:21:41 OKC is, is well over the luxury tax by like 13 or 14 million bucks. And I think they would be a repeater team this year, which is a lot worse. So it does feel like Steven Adams could be had. He could be had. Let me ask you this, though. What does that do for OKC? How does that help them?
Starting point is 01:22:06 Well, they don't get slaughtered by the luxury tax. The people that buy season tickets don't give a shit about the luxury tax. They want a competitive basketball team that has a chance to play in the NBA finals. And they invested $525 million in Paul George and Russell Westbrook. Nobody has ever paid the repeater tax, At least that I can remember for a team that couldn't, that didn't have any chance to win the title, which they don't. So, okay. Well, that that's, so that's the determination they have to make and they have to sell that to their fan base. We're not going to make the finals. We're going to move Adams. Here's the rationale. Why? It's just a tough pill to swallow after the mega extension for Westbrook. That's barely 24 months old and,
Starting point is 01:22:46 and, and stealing, you know, Paul George essentially, um, and, and, and keeping him when he was,
Starting point is 01:22:53 it seemed by all indications, he was prepared to walk. That's your team. It's Paul George and Russell Westbrook and Steven Adams. What are you doing? But here's the thing. Adams wasn't that good last year, especially the last three months.
Starting point is 01:23:05 And I think you can make the case if you're them, like, look, we either way, we're not winning the title with Steven Adams. So why don't we could turn him into Zubach from the Clippers and save $23 million of payroll. And now we're not a luxury tax team.
Starting point is 01:23:19 And then we actually have the potential to maybe add some more money versus right now. We're absolutely crippled by our team. It's possible. The window is closing. The problem is Russell Westbrook playing the way that he plays is we've already seen it. It's a diminishing return position that they're in and they haven't won a
Starting point is 01:23:40 round in the playoffs yet with what, since KD has left. So they have an existential crisis. They need to sort it out quickly. I'm not one to underestimate what Sam Presti's capable of. You know another team we haven't talked about, speaking of a closing window,
Starting point is 01:23:59 where are the Houston Rockets in all of this? I mean, they created a 48 hour story last week that we openly made fun of on this podcast about Jimmy Butler's going to the Rockets. It's like, is he? How do we know? Has anyone told Jimmy Butler or the Sixers?
Starting point is 01:24:21 And that didn't work out. Yeah, well, we got to put a bow in the kawaii thing because his options are i would say one and one with toronto uh go to the clippers and just be the guy on a clippers team that's really would not be a title contender even if you put him on there or be the third wheel with the lakers and he he would be the third wheel. Would he care? I don't know, but we're coming off of playoffs where he was the best guy in the league. And I just don't feel like that would be the vibe on that Laker team. I don't, I thought the whole point of all this was he was supposed to be the guy.
Starting point is 01:24:59 And it was like, Kawhi needs to be in a big city and he needs a great shoe contract and he needs everybody to realize how great he is. And then you're going to be on LeBron's team. That feels weird. I don't something that something doesn't feel realistic about it to me, but he's also the most confusing guy in the league. So I'd believe anything. Speaking of that, there's no scenario. I just want to go ahead and rule this out immediately because we're talking about some GMs who pull giant rabbits out of their assholes.
Starting point is 01:25:32 There's no scenario under which Kawhi can go to Houston, right? None. Okay. Just wanted to confirm that. Not unless it's for James Harden. Daryl surprised us before. Huh? Not unless it's for James Harden. Daryl surprises before. Huh? Not unless it's for James Harden.
Starting point is 01:25:47 Okay. All right. Just wanted to make sure that's the case. Can I help me with this? Why is Jimmy Butler going to Miami? What's in it for him? Because he cares about winning. He wants to win a title.
Starting point is 01:26:02 Which title? The Platinum Pussy title? which title the platinum pussy title because it's that's the only thing i mean to really distinguish miami jimmy butler took a big have to get cut no we're keeping that in um that that is not getting cut jimmy took a big L over the last year. He clearly just wanted... Yeah, I think he did. Because he pushed his way out of Minnesota for reasons that remain unclear. He goes to Philly.
Starting point is 01:26:34 He's on a team that really almost, you know, came within a couple of bounces there, beating the team that ended up winning the title. And he was all about, I'm all about winning. I'm all about championship mentality, all that stuff. And now he's in Miami playing with Hassan Whiteside. He was beloved in Philly. This is why I'm confounded by him going to Miami.
Starting point is 01:26:56 The only things to commend Miami, the beach, the weather. Pat Riley, Spolstrax, Pat Riley, Levitar, Stugatz, Poppy. beach the weather pat riley pat riley pat levitar sure sure poppy and and the and the platinum pussy parade i mean it's a triple p down there let's not you know sugarcoat it but like that can't be your legacy that can't be your career philly loved him he was a he's a philly guy he fought his way up i mean he he really could have owned that city. I just don't understand it. You know, there's a couple things online today about how much it meant to him, how Miami treated Dwayne Wade, the retirement stuff on his way out and the respect and admiration
Starting point is 01:27:40 and love and that whole farewell tour because he was close with Dwayne Wade and how he watched that and how Wade was treated. And that really went a long way with them. I guess my point would be a lot of organizations have done that for guys who retired. Was it like Dallas was doing the exact same thing for Dirk DeWitzki? Yeah. Did a pretty good job. Yeah.
Starting point is 01:27:59 So that was weird. I think he just wanted to live in South Beach and be the guy. And I think Dwayne Wade was probably telling him how great it is to be the guy in South Beach. And now he's the guy in South Beach. Okay. All I know is, I mean, I'm sure we'll find out because he's a pretty candy guy. But my guess is there were things he didn't like on the Philly side. You know, you and I didn't really enjoy Brett Brown's coaching ever.
Starting point is 01:28:28 I imagine Jimmy had his own thoughts and we'd already heard about them. Simmons is an immensely frustrating guy to play with. I'm sure. And, and beat wasn't in shape, you know? And if I'm him and I'm looking at that big picture, maybe, maybe I'm like,
Starting point is 01:28:40 ah, I don't think I can win a title or anyway. I don't believe in these guys. Yeah. I mean, obviously he didn't believe in those guys cause he fled from them and went to Miami. So he did.
Starting point is 01:28:48 I mean, to a bunch of guys who have no track record of success whatsoever, but you know, best of luck. Did I tell you this happened after we started the pod? Dallas got drag itch out of that. It's drag itch to Dallas, Josh Richardson to Philly and Butler to Miami. out of that. It's Dragic to Dallas,
Starting point is 01:29:06 Josh Richardson to Philly, and Butler to Miami. And a couple things with Dragic, and I haven't researched this, but I'm pretty confident I'm right here. Him and Doncic are tight.
Starting point is 01:29:22 Sure. I think they played in Europe. How could they not be? In fact, I'm going to Google Dragic and Doncic. Oh, stuff comes up. Yeah, they played in the Euros together. There's pictures of them on the bench. There's some high-five pictures. Yeah. It's a Slovenian.
Starting point is 01:29:40 Oh, mentor. Mentor Goran Dragic. There you go. So, yeah. Mentor Goran Dragic. There you go. So, yeah. So that's great for Dallas. And you and I love Dragic. Because he kicked. Remember when he kicked the shit out of the 2010 Spurs?
Starting point is 01:29:55 I've always liked him after that. Remember that? Yeah, me too. I mean, that Phoenix team with him and Channing Fry of all players. They had an unstoppable pick and roll. Dudley, that was a really fun team.
Starting point is 01:30:14 I think he's been on some weird teams over the last few years, especially Miami. And I think Dwayne Wade, it was weird to watch the kind of hold Dwayne Wade had over those teams, especially in crunch time when he was at the tail end of his career.
Starting point is 01:30:27 But yeah, I like that move for Dallas. I guess the only other free agency thing we didn't mention is what happens with Boogie Cousins. It's an absolute shame that the Wizards don't have the salary cap to overpay him. I know you're devastated. It would have been the most Wiz wizards he move of all time to give him well i would have been first in line for terry rogier that would have been the most wizards he moved but boogie would have been second i still look i'm still a boogie believer i don't i want him to take this summer to get himself in the shape that he was
Starting point is 01:31:05 working himself up to because the flashes that he showed in the finals were pretty, you know, he had a couple moments. He still knows how to play basketball. His body just wouldn't respond. Like you could see his brain telling his body to do stuff and his body wouldn't do it.
Starting point is 01:31:21 And I hope that, that, you know, with the advances in medical science, that he's capable of getting leaner and getting back some of the spring in his step that was clearly diminished from the Achilles injury and then followed up with a quad injury. I'm hopeful that, that he's, he's healthy. I want a healthy boogie in my life. Well, house, we said we were doing this in real time uh mark stein just retweeted the mavericks
Starting point is 01:31:47 are huge fans of gordon dragic but could not take him back in the miami sign and trade with philly because they feared losing flexibility to make additional moves this summer so somehow that's out the window that was our first red herring yeah of the podcast i want to keep all the all the stuff we said about dragic in though because i because I think it kind of shows how funny this is. Oh, here's another one from Shams. The Bucs are expressing strong interest in free agent center Robin Lopez to join his brother Brooke in Milwaukee. I'm so happy.
Starting point is 01:32:18 Oh, I'm glowing right now. That would be cool. I want Dragic to go to Ph philly i honestly think that he knows how to run a pick and roll and anything that's going to have put joelle and b down to the block or you know in from 16 feet inside that they they need a point guard that can play in crunch time in the playoffs ben simmons is not that guy. And unfortunately, neither is TJ McConnell. So I hope, I want Philly to go get a credible,
Starting point is 01:32:50 accomplished, high basketball IQ point guard to really make that team compelling this coming year. Any last words for the Clippers? Best of luck. Look, it's Steve Ballmer. You know, all he did was, you know,
Starting point is 01:33:10 help build, you know, one of the two biggest companies in the history of the world. So I'm not putting anything past him, but it doesn't look great right now. Here's their team. Sorry, Ice. Sorry, Isaac Lee.
Starting point is 01:33:26 Yeah. Gallinari, Lou Williams, Harrell, Shea, Gilgis Alexander, Jerome Robinson, Landry Schammett, Sedarius Thornwell, Tyrone Wallace. They have...
Starting point is 01:33:41 Oh, Lord. They still have like $ million dollars left to spend wow hey it's it's only sunday night there's a lot that can happen would you do like a to have some advanced thinking in terms of the the uh physical capacity like what he's capable of physically can i give you a couple of my favorite free agents before we go that are left let's do it i love robin lopez and i really don't want him to go to the milwaukee i want him to go to boston come to boston robin
Starting point is 01:34:30 lopez pbev seth curry yeah seth curry is gonna be good for somebody justin. I'm pretty sure is a free agent. I like him. Yeah. Yeah. Um, we Sean homes. Sure. Or Rashawn homes. I don't know why I said Rashawn.
Starting point is 01:34:55 I like Rashawn homes though. I think he's a sleeper. Rodney Magruder, who is still on the Clippers. Am I wrong to like Sadorinsky? You're not wrong. I think they're going to try and keep them here in Washington because they don't have another
Starting point is 01:35:11 point guard really on the team. Okay. Am I wrong to like TJ McConnell? As like an eighth man? Ninth man? Tenth man? a ninth man 10th man better as a ninth man 10th man 10th man how do you feel about
Starting point is 01:35:33 Costa Cufas is he is he still in the league I guess that's my answer. Rondo. Oh, playoff Rondo. He should just take off this season and come back for the playoffs. Yeah. Could somebody just sign Rondo and tell him to show up on April 1st? Please stay away from our team until April.
Starting point is 01:36:02 I mean, he would do that deal, wouldn't he? You wouldn't take him for the whiz? No. God, no. Alright, House. I think we hit everything. Did we hit everything, right? Yeah, we hit everything. There's a lot going on. This is an ongoing saga.
Starting point is 01:36:17 Tonight is the first night we don't have to conquer at all. We're at the bottom of the mountain still. Oh, so... We don't know where Kawhi Leonard's going to play next year, for Christ's sakes. It seems like New Orleans is getting Derek Favors, who I know you've
Starting point is 01:36:34 enjoyed. Look, another smart veteran to go with that New Orleans team. David Griffin, A++. David Griffin and Trajan Langdon. Nobody seems to understand. It's now 10.40 p.m. ET.
Starting point is 01:36:49 Nobody seems to understand how Jimmy Butler is actually going to go to the Heat. So that might be a problem. This podcast might be in trouble. Well, because they can't match the salaries. I'm looking at somebody just tweeted Kelly Olenek and Derek Jones
Starting point is 01:37:06 would have to go to the Mavs and that's still not enough for a trade and match and blah, blah, blah. It's very confusing right now. Kelly Olenek's my homie. I want him to land somewhere good for him. Good eater, Kelly Olenek. Before we
Starting point is 01:37:22 go, I'm giving you 60 seconds as a Wizards fan to tell the Knicks fans to fuck off that the Wizards fans actually have it worse. Go. Ernie Grunfeld. I don't need 60 seconds. Ernie Grunfeld was the GM for 16 years here in Washington.
Starting point is 01:37:43 We're going to pay a penance. We missed the, the, the, the window for, for the, the maximum opportunity free agent wise. Apparently he didn't have a calendar in his office and wasn't keeping track of when these contracts on these super duper stars were going to come off because our money lifts next year. Yann Mahinmy and Dwight Howard are off the books next year. $22 million opening up for the Washington Wizards in a year where there are no fucking free agents.
Starting point is 01:38:13 Congratulations. And who can you get for $22 fucking million? It's the goddamn NBA. You have to have at least 40. Jesus Christ. Don't talk to me. The Knicks at least have exciting young players. Who's the best young player on the Washington
Starting point is 01:38:26 Wizards? Beal I'm not counting him because he's not going to be on the team you have John Wallace contract for four more years I'm telling you that if we're going to pay him this year go ahead and get our insurance money
Starting point is 01:38:44 and if they don't stretch him at the beginning of the 2020 I'm telling you that if we're going to pay him this year, go ahead and get our insurance money. And if they don't stretch him at the beginning of the 2020-2021 season, I'm going to stretch myself right on out as a Wizards fan. I'm already in on the D.C. United, by the way. D.C. United! You have... D.C. United! I'm a soccer guy. This season, you have John Wall for 38.2,
Starting point is 01:39:06 Jan Mahimny for 15.5, Dwight Howard for 5.6, and Jonathan Simmons for 5.7, who apparently you traded for on draft night to get a second round pick. You added his salary to this mix. Well, that's how you got Admiral Schofield.
Starting point is 01:39:22 That was a good pick. That was worthwhile. We can waive him. well that's how he got admiral school field that was a good pick that was that was worthwhile we got well jonathan simmons we can wave him or wave him and you bailed out rob polenko when he had to get rid of all his riffraff for uh for more max money you got mo bogner you got isaac bonga and you got some guy named jumerior jones all guys are on your team. Mo Bunga Jones. That's a great law firm. Mo Bunga Jones. Do you think the Dwight Howard retirement tour this year
Starting point is 01:39:53 will be more emotional than Dwayne Wade's retirement tour or slightly less more emotional? It feels like it's going to be kind of a pain in the ass if I was just going to be direct about it. House, we can listen to you at House of Carbs. When is the British Open? It is in two weeks. The preview shows July the 15th and 16th, and then we'll have the recap show on the 21st, I believe. I have no idea who's going to win the Open Championship,
Starting point is 01:40:27 competed this year in Northern Ireland at Royal Portrush. And speaking of golf, we have Cousins out in the Degenerate Trifecta going to Callaway mid-July. We're going to do a little fitting and shoot some videos. And personally, I think that's more exciting than the British Open, but I don't know. I'm just hoping nobody gets arrested. That's my only hope for that. Am I the last person who calls it the British Open? I know we're supposed to call it the
Starting point is 01:40:54 Open Championship now. Can I still call it the British Open or no? You can. You can. It's America. Feel free to call it whatever you want. Yeah, it is America. God damn it. And we have, we have the semifinals. We're playing England. Same week of July 4th. That's right. Whatever anniversary it is. We kicked their asses out of this country
Starting point is 01:41:14 and we took this country for ourselves. So I can't wait for that. And then, and then hopefully the finals against Sweden, Netherlands. I know you're watching. I know once you saw the words Sweden and Netherlands
Starting point is 01:41:25 in a sporting event, you just started watching it. You didn't even care what the sport was. To your favorite country's house. I'm a happily married man, and I feel like I shouldn't make any more observations on that front. Joe House, we can hear you at House of Carbs at a fairway roll.
Starting point is 01:41:44 Thanks for the time on this fantastic day of free agency. It's all happening, Bill Simmons. All right, thanks to House. Thanks to ZipRecruiter. Thanks to Proper Cloth. Ordering a custom fit shirt has never been easier thanks to Proper Cloth. Answer 10 easy questions to create a custom shirt size.
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Starting point is 01:42:21 with a lot more. Until then, enjoy the rest of the day. On the wayside On the first sun Never lost it I don't have To ever forget

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