The Bill Simmons Podcast - LeBron's Big Move, OKC Goes All in, and NBA Teams Are Dumb With Joe House | The Bill Simmons Podcast (Ep. 384)

Episode Date: July 2, 2018

HBO and The Ringer's Bill Simmons is joined by his longtime buddy Joe House to talk about LeBron James on the Lakers, how we got here, and some of L.A.'s recent signings, including Lance Stephenson and JaVale McGee. Then they talk Paul George staying in OKC over some "unfinished business," the "new" Western Conference, and teams that try to fill their rosters in July. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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That's SimpliSafe with two I's. Simplisafe.com slash BS. Well, if you missed the ringer.com's NBA free agency coverage, we were all over it all weekend. We had a feeling things were going to go fast. We had a lot of good people on call, ready to go. Thanks to them. Some great pieces up, free HD trackers, Paul George going to OKC. Kevin O'Connor wrote a really good piece about LeBron landing in LA and what that means

for the next few years of his career. We did a ringer NBA show last night. I made an appearance from a bad iPhone connection. And it's still going today. World Cup's up. We have Andrew Gritterdour wrote a really funny piece about Ben Affleck's Armageddon commentary 20 years later. Lindsay Zolad's wrote about Drake's new album. 25 songs. Settle down, Drake. Narrow that down to about 12.

So check that out. And then last but not least, Summer League Vegas. It starts this week. And we have a lot of people going. We are going to blow this out. We're doing a ringer takeover of Summer League. I am going on Thursday. Joe House and I are driving to Las Vegas on Thursday.

He's going to be on the podcast in a second. And we're going to do some Instagram stuff because we're driving in a BMW. Details to come on that one. But we're doing an Instagram drive, LA to Vegas. You're going to experience it with us. And then we're going to be in Vegas all weekend. We have a huge thing.

We got a bunch of rooms at Caesars Palace. They hooked us up in a bunch of different ways for some content things that we're going to try out. Most important, Friday, July 6th, 9 p.m., Las Vegas, Caesars Palace, Cleopatra's Barge, which is apparently a little boat in the Caesars Palace area. I'm doing a live podcast. Nine o'clock. It's right after the Summer League. So if you're there for Summer League, leave the games,

come right to the podcast. I'm going to have a bunch of people there, a bunch of guests. We're going to have some gimmicks going on. It's going to be good. And we'll tape it too so everybody who can't go can hear it. But if you're in Vegas, seating is limited. So I can't remember how many seats we have, but it's not that many. Tickets available right now. Go to check it out on theringer.com. We have the links and stuff for that. So there you go. Summer League, Vegas, we're going.

Things are happening. Cousin Sal might be there. There might be some eating. There's been rumors of a Cousin Hal versus House versus Mallory Rubin at the Caesars buffet. Rumors. Rumors, much like LeBron might be going to the Lakers 13 months ago. Anyway, check that out. All right, we're going to call House. But first, our friends from Pearl Jam.

All right, we are taping this. Right now, it is 9.20 Pacific time. Sorry for the delay. You know, LeBron could have waited. Could he have waited during the work week? Could he have done this on a Tuesday? Does he have to do this on a Sunday night? Hanging out with the family?

People are doing stuff? Why does he do this touch, Joe House? Why doesn't he care about us? I like it better on a Sunday night than like on the 4th of July. I don't want to be out at the barbecue, you know, knee deep in Miller Lights. That's true. Gordon Hayward did that to us last year on July 4th. He waited

right until July 4th to ruin a lot of media people's July 4th. All right. There's a lot to discuss here, but first of all, I should come clean. I don't know if you know this. I talked about it on a podcast with Sal a week ago, and you not listen because i i would have gotten an angry text from you i we sal and i cut you out of our lebron to the lakers bet we just we just cut you out completely and i apologize i can't believe it so you know how close i came last night to sending

the two of you a text saying if you sons of bitches bet on this and cut me out, I don't think I can ever forgive you. I literally came, like, that thought crossed my mind close enough to where if the phone was sitting next to me, I was going to send it. Yeah. Well, we did. But then I thought, you know what? Bill wouldn't do that. Yeah.

I did it. A, the mother effer has known for over a year. You've been saying it for a year now. Yeah. And B, you know, we're friends. I know. Well, the problem is that anytime the three of us have been together in the last year, something's gone wrong and I needed to erase some debt. So we cut you out. That was it. What were the odds? We did it when I was at the finals and just had heavy inclinations that things were going a certain way.

It was plus 250. Oh, I don't even feel that bad. Okay, good. Plus 250 is. All right. If you told me 15, I mean, I was going to hang up right now. I got, no, it was never 15. I got scared, though, when LeBron broke his hand during the finals.

I didn't know if that would make the Lakers back off. Obviously, his hand, you don't know if it will be ready in time for the season. But now it looks like it's okay. We're good. I'm being sarcastic. You're not being serious. I know you're not being serious. I saw him dive off that cliff, and that hand looked really good going through the water.

It looks fine. That possibly broken hand. water. Looks fine. That possibly basically broken hand's looking good. We'll never know what happened there. The media is just so afraid of LeBron at this point. Even this Lakers thing, everybody's like, oh, this is great, LeBron. He's going there for the right reasons.

He's not jumping to an instant champion. He's going to build something. First of all, this has been in the works for over a year. And how many times did we talk about this on the podcast? 20? I'm telling you, as reported on this podcast, you've been saying it for as long as I can remember.

When they gave Contavious Caldwell Pope $18 million last summer, that's when I was pretty convinced something was up. But you never know. And it's like if Cleveland had done better in the finals or who knows? What if they won the finals? Well, that wasn't happening. They weren't winning the finals. No, we didn't. As the season began who knew what kind of how that roster was gonna turn out well so kairi bolting was another bad sign the doing the one-year contract not not hiring a gm to kind of stare down when they had that broken pick that they didn't trade at the trade deadline there There were a lot of signs. And even the Cavs,

they tried to protect last year's team and improve it while also not completely decimating the future. And they were adamant about never trading that Brooklyn pick. I do want to ask your opinion on this. Doesn't Cleveland have dirty hands here? The not-resigning Griffin,

which really is the thing that catapulted and accelerated, um, Kyrie Kyrie's departure, those two things together. Yeah. So suggest a franchise that, that, you know, uh, is in unnecessary disarray. Yeah, I would say that's fair. I think all bets were off when he won the title because at that point he had an exit. He accomplished. Well, he knew the Cleveland people wouldn't be mad at them. They were so overjoyed at the title, and then he came back, and then he gave them four more good years that at that point,

I don't know, it became a little dicey. You're right. How fun is it to go to the finals every year? I mean, every year you get to go to these great playoff games in the East and you get to go to the finals. There was sadness and people could see it coming when I went to those two Cleveland games, especially game four. I was talking to people in my section about it

and they all kind of felt like he was leaving. I think everybody did. And they were so far away from the Warriors. I think in 2017, I think they were a lot closer. And if anything, you could argue, Haral Bob and I were arguing about this on Friday. I just think he's wrong on this one. I thought that 2017 team was really good and they just went against one of the all-time juggernauts we've ever seen, the 2017 Warriors. The 2018 Warriors, did you feel like that team was 80% as good as the 2017 Warriors? Where would you rank the two?

That's hard. I wasn't thinking about ranking year-over-year Warriors teams. Iguodala being injured, the thing that has been most impressive for the Warriors is the great good fortune, the outstanding luck of having all of their most important guys healthy for the most important stretches. I mean, Steph has had a couple of dings that really compromised the dynasty that they were building,

but they were able to overcome that. I would say, yeah, the difference to me is Iguodala's injury. Well, so I would say there's three differences. Iguodala's injury. Curry, I never felt like it was 100%, maybe by the, by I think in the Western finals, maybe 75 to 80. And then by the NBA finals, I think he was in the 90 to 95 range, but more of the attrition of the whole season. And they, you know, all of those guys talked about how hard it was, just how hard it was to go through it with the bullseye on their backs again.

And I didn't feel like it was the same team. I thought they could get to the same heights, but they couldn't do it as consistently, you know? And I also thought that the, you know, that game three, 2017 was just, that was a toe-to-toe slugfest, you know? And the Warriors- It was an all-timer.

But that, I think that 2017 Warriors team was really, really great. I think we'll remember that one, you know, and the dynasty itself. But I think at some point, LeBron realized how far away he was with this Cleveland thing. And this is why I wrote the piece I wrote in February.

Like, he didn't have a move, you know? I don't think everyone was talking about Houston. And yeah, in a perfect world of Houston at cap space, and he just could have gone there and they could have kept their team intact and basically just added him like the Warriors added Durant in 16. Yeah, that made the most sense, but they couldn't do that. They were where the salaries worked. The only way that really worked is if he went and took a minimum and then Philly, I don't think guaranteed him anything. He wasn't going to go to Boston. So let's start here with, with just big picture questions.

Was this the right move for LeBron? I actually think it was. What'd you think? It's the right move for LeBron because he, he chose it. It's, it's, it is by self definition, the right move. It is the move that he considered and made. I don't... We ought to give him the same benefit of the doubt that we gave KD, which is

he chose to live in LA over living in Cleveland. That's pretty reasonable. I can get that. People like to live in LA. People move to LA and then don't move back. Like you. Like you. Like me. I thought I was moving here for a couple years ago too.

I never left. Yeah, there's good weather, good food. Well, so that's one part of the LA thing. I think there's three different parts to the LA thing before we even get to basketball at all. Right, yes. One is really fun city to live in if you're an extremely famous person. He is now

walking among A-listers left and right and just doesn't stand out in the same way as he does in a place like Ohio, which leads me to the second part, which is his kids obviously are getting older. And that one son seems like he's really, really good at basketball. And if that kid's going to school in LA and Kevin O'Connor reporter is going to Sierra Canyon, which is a really good school about, I would say 30 minutes outside of LA in the Valley. He's not gonna stand out like he would in Ohio

where if you're LeBron James's son in some private school, you're the biggest celebrity James' son in some private school, you're the biggest celebrity in the entire school. He'll be a celebrity here, but he's not the same. And also the basketball is better out here too, if he really feels like that kid has a chance. So I think those two things, and then just the lifestyle out here.

He bought those two houses in Brentwood, which we found out about, I think a year ago. That was suspicious. He's got his, all of his businesses are out here. All of his operations are out here. It sounds like Space Jam 2 is happening. That's going to be out here.

It's just logical. Why would he stay in Ohio? You stay in Ohio if you have a juggernaut and he didn't. So now he has a chance to build one here. I thought it was interesting though. And I don't know how much of it was bullshit, but the second piece of this about the building, building a long-term contender with the Lakers, which was seemed like that was the intent of the Lee Jenkins piece. Cause Lee Jenkins is only writing what they, what they basically trying to get him to write. It seemed that what seemed different this time around was the four-year commitment. He can get

out in three, but it's four. And the fact that he's not forcing them to trade Andrew Wiggins for Kevin Love right away and all that stuff. It actually seems like he has a multi-year plan. Am I crazy thinking that? Or is that, was that your takeaway too? No, that's sensible. It all fits the narrative. Like he wants to live in LA and, and have this chapter with his family. Like, I think he lives in LA for the rest of his life.

I think so too. Those, the two houses there. And so thinking long-term about all aspects of his life his business interests the film stuff um you know what he's going to do after basketball and then you know having as a as a side piece uh the the reinvigoration of a of a cornerstone franchise that's pretty good right yeah so there's nothing incongruous about thinking long-term on the basketball piece when the other pieces are certainly on the face of it long-term. Yeah. The third piece is just the Magic Johnson part of it, which was in that Lee Jenkins piece,

which I felt was a factor for a long time. I could feel it the year I did TV with Magic. They clearly had a relationship. I think the young up and coming superstars with the NBA look at Magic differently than just about everybody. They just revere him. Like he's- With good reason. Yeah. He's accomplished the most.

He's accomplished more than MJ. He's- In a business sense. Yeah. Because he was one of the five best players ever and then had this whole second life as, as a really astute businessman who, who is just smart and gives good advice. And it's fun to talk to and it's fun to bounce things off of. And I don't think, you know,

LeBron James doesn't, his dad was never in his life. I don't think he has that, that kind of older senior person in his life other than Lynn Merritt from Nike, who I think is somebody that's been in his life for a long time, high-ranking Nike guy. But Magic's somebody that he's been in almost every situation LeBron's been in, right? And that's somebody he can just talk to whenever he wants. And I'm sure that was appealing to him. And I'm sure he wants to model the next phase of his career after Magic. How do I become a billionaire? How do I become an NBA owner? How do I become a soccer owner? Or all the other things he wants to do. I would say Magic's an asset for that. And I always felt like that was

going to be whatever the driving force of this post-signing narrative was going to be. It wasn't just about LA family makes more sense for the thing, but just like, you know, I want to become a billionaire and this will help me get there. He wasn't going to get that help from Dan Gilbert. And it was clear they didn't have a relationship. No, it was clear they didn't have a relationship. So you have those three things. And then on top of it, over everything else, this is one of the most famous franchises in the world. Not just NBA, anything. This is really the only, it's Lakers or Knicks. And I would say the Lakers are even more powerful than Knicks.

Where you're talking Barcelona, Real Madrid, the Yankees, the Lakers, the Cowboys. There's only a handful of these teams that when you're the best player on that team, it's just different. It's not like LeBron's obviously super famous already, but now he's the most famous player in the Lakers. If it's ever possible for him to get more famous and have more of a reach and be more loved and respected. This was the team to go to, I think. I don't think there was,

you're not getting that with the Philadelphia 76ers. You're just not, right? No, that's right. I mean, it's one of the largest TV markets in the world. So, and all the celebrities at the games and just the 41 games a year where you're just kind of king of the court. He could see that with Kobe. We'll talk about Kobe in a second because I'm fascinated by the Kobe part of this.

But a couple of interesting things in the Lee Jenkins piece. For one thing, I'm just going to read this part. Go ahead. Despite all of LA's recent free agent whiffs, which is funny in itself. I mean, they've been terrible for five years. NBA players almost universally acknowledge that the Lakers are the league's most attractive destination

as long as they meet a baseline for talent and competence. I disagree with that, but we'll get to that in a second. Then he writes, with Johnson and Rob Palenka, with Ingram and Kyle Kuzma, they've crossed the threshold. First of all, if they're getting Kawhi Leonard, they're trading Ingram in that. Second of all, he mentions Kuzma over Lonzo Ball. And I've been fascinated by the whole Lonzo Ball aspect of this because it really seems like Lonzo wants to play with him. Kevin O'Connor wrote in his piece, and I 100% agree. I think Lonzo's a nice fit with LeBron. He's one of those guys. He's a great passer who doesn't need the ball. One of the most interesting things about him as a point guard is he's not ball dominant.

He's this guy, he wants to get rid of it and he's always moving in his heads up. And that's actually a really nice type of guy to play with him. But the way that was put, the way that was written reminded me a lot of how he wrote that piece in SI in 2014. Remember Wiggins wasn't in it? Yeah. Wiggins wasn't in it. That's right. You beat me to it. Yeah. And all of us were like, whoa, Wiggins isn't in that what does that mean that's weird and then wiggins got traded so lonzo not being in there made me feel like there is a another move coming did that jump out of you or did you not notice that no i did notice it i think i would like to look at odds hopefully uh we can get somebody to post them whether or not lonzo ball will be on the lakers whatever opening day is. Was it October the 14th or 15th this year?

Whatever it is. He'll be a Laker. How about Lonzo and Luau Dang for John Wall? That's not crazy talk. I mean, I really... I'm there now. I'm all the way there. You're there now.

There's a story. Over the weekend, there was a story that came out one of the NBC Sports... You act like I didn't see it. I'm all the way there. You're there now. Over the weekend, there was a story that came out, one of the NBC Sports. You act like I didn't see it. I was laughing my ass off. Go ahead. Tell the listeners. The basic thrust of it was during one of the team-only meetings, Gortat called out Wall for Wall's lack of defensive intensity, which is absolutely well-founded. John Wall has not played defense in two years,

and Wall responded to Gortat with a series of effers and mother effers and eff-offs, which was apparently the moment where it became clear that Gortat had to go. Now, I didn't enjoy hardly any of the John Wall experience this past season. I mean, I tried to give, I bent over backwards. I bent so far over backwards, I almost tried to do, wow, Kyle can cut this.

I tried to do a Gronkowski self-suck. I bent so far over backwards. But, you know, the body of work for John Wall this past season was not very encouraging, not very confidence engendering. He showed up fat. I don't know whether that's because his knee was hurting him or not. And then between the lack of being in shape and the knee, that combination led to him needing to take time off and get the knee right. And during his time off, he went on and did a public

campaign, was on ESPN and other things in connection with one of his side brand opportunities opportunities and basically pilloried the the the team for you know galvanizing around his absence i mean none of the behavior was leader kind of behavior and this story about him you know uh running gortat out um now there is an element to it of of gortat you know really did make a career uh receiving on being on the receiving end of John Wall Dimes. Cortana made a great point though. He was like, John Wall didn't fight through screens so I was just guarding guards

and getting my ass kicked. Can you fight through some screens, John Wall? Can you switch? Can you do anything so I don't have to be guarding like Kyle Lowry? And John Wall MF'd him. They were all great points.

Watching the Wizards, I can back up Gortat's assertion that he was left on an island over and over again. Here's the worst thing. The best player in the universe has left my conference, and my team is still, at best, the sixth best team in the conference. They haven't moved up a lick. We're going to talk about that after the break. I do want to say, though, John Wall, clutch client. And it wasn't lost on anyone that right after they signed LeBron, they also signed Contavious Caldwell Pope for one year, 12 million.

Clutch client. I've heard that. That was like the little, if you sign LeBron, this will also happen bonus. You're 12 million. Clutch client. I've heard that. That was like the little, if you sign LeBron, this will also happen bonus. So Caldwell Pope, who is he average? Is he an average starter? He's exactly, if you look up replacement level. Replacement level starter?

Yeah. Never somebody that really knocked my socks off. Mine either. No chance of ever being an all-star. Seems like somebody that plays a position that you can find dudes that can give you 80% of what he's giving for not that much money, and the Lakers will have paid him $30 million last year in this year combined. That's like Austin Rivers kind of shit right there.

It's worse. They were so excited to get rid of Jordan Clarkson contract and then they give that dude $30 million. We'll save that for after the break. LeBron, the GM, still needs some work. But let's take a break. Hey, Casper is the place to shop for 4th of July mattress savings this year. With three lines to choose from, including the original Casper, the innovative wave, and the streamlined essential.

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That's casper.com slash savings to save up to $225 off your order. Valid until July 9th, 2018. All right, so last piece on LeBron. He does the old Philly Dick tease. I think my theory on this, as it was happening, we're talking about in the ringer slack,

uh, Rich Paul represents Ben Simmons. You know, they obviously have a ton of ties with Philly and it just seemed like one of those save the face Philly. Uh, just so at least they got heard. Of course, I don't think- It was respectful.

Yeah, but LeBron wasn't there and I'm not sure Rich Paul was either. So it was, you know, they got all the Philly fans excited for two hours that they had a meeting, you know, basketball Twitter. And so they were like, oh, Philly. It's like, come on. I wouldn't F with Josh Harris. He's got a lot of know, basketball Twitter. It's like, come on.

I wouldn't F with Josh Harris. He's got a lot of money, that guy. He really does. LeBron flies from Anguilla to LA. People are tracking his playing on Twitter. I got to say that crossed the line for me. Really? A little bit.

A little bit. I kind of enjoyed it. Yeah, you should be able to go on a family vacation he did nobody interfered yeah you should be able to be on a plane that people don't know exactly when and where it's landing if he's flying private i don't know that's part of the intrigue i don't mind it don't they do the same thing in the in europe with the soccer you're the problem with the internet house do they do that with soccer? I think so. So he pretended he was interested in Philly and then ends up there.

I gave him a meeting. It was a courtesy meeting. The last thing about the Lakers we should mention, the shit sandwich they signed yesterday. Oh, my God. Poor LeBron. The person who's killed LeBron over the years has been LeBron the GM. I don't know if he was responsible for those signings, but just to go through them, Caldwell Pope for 12 million, Lance Stevenson for four and a half and JaVale McGee for something.

But those were three guys they've added. It's like LeBron likes to give himself a degree of difficulty with, with, with crazy people. I don't understand it. All I would say is those are the first three guys had that have played in a playoff game. You know, since,

since cause, cause they're not, there isn't a Laker. The only Laker that played in the playoff game was, was Lopez and, and well, the last two did, but Caldwell, I don't know if Caldwell Pope is, The only Laker that played in the playoff game was Lopez and... Well, the last two did, but Caldwell Pope. I don't know if Caldwell Pope has even been in round one.

No, yeah, that is right. He's not played in any playoff games. So you're saying he needed the playoff experience of JaVale McGee and Lance Stevenson? That's exactly it. That's exactly what I'm saying. Ricky Davis played in some playoff games. Can they bring him back? Nate Robinson did. what other crazy people can we get on this team it's I the hilarious thing is the rush like why why why do they have to go get those guys right

away that's the thing what are you gonna miss out on if those guys get signed I think this front office I think the Lakers have been one of the secretly most incompetent teams of the past six years. And yet again last night. First of all, it's July 1st. They get LeBron. They can't wait five days. It's like my son at the old Toys R Us, before the Toys R Us. If you gave my son like a Toys R Us gift certificate, he's just first aisle he's in,

he's just buying stuff. It's like, just walk around the store, see what's in here. They go get three people that, by the way, would have been available on July 10th. I agree with this. Might've been available on July 20th. You know what else?

You know what else is great? Capspace. Right. During a time when every team is panicking about the luxury tax, running out of whatever they i mean they were they actually had cap space and they go and they shoot their wad on these one-year deals on guys that weren't even like guys you necessarily had to lock up and probably would have been available in august of course they're just bodies i mean the the kcp thing for 12 million kcp is like a six million

dollar player at best like 12 million we were past the point where we see ridiculous things you know overpays in the market now it's just the mega contracts yeah for the mega stars but it seemed like the other one said that sticks That sticks out. Well, it seems like everything else had corrected because Lou Williams was. I agree. That's what I mean. Lou Williams was $8 million. You saw like, all right, Ilyasova. I felt like the bucks overpaid for him.

That was three years, $21 million. It's not like KCP is better than Ilyasova. Every day of the week and twice on Tuesday, Ilyasova is a better basketball player. His whole career than KCP. It's not even close. Will Barton got four for 50, but that was an overpay. That was an overpay, but it averaged out to 12.

By the way, Will Barton's better than KCP. I don't know. Way better. Deion's better. I don't understand why they just didn't hold their space and just wait. Just wait a couple of days. The biggest problem teams make over and over again is trying to build their roster in July.

I never understand it. It's just inexplicable. The cap space is the biggest asset you have. And you get to February, you have these buyout guys on the market that you can go get. And that's last year we had Bellinelli and we had Eliasova and Greg Monroe who didn't work out that great for the Celtics. But all those guys are roughly the same as this.

Like Tyreek Evans was out there to be traded for. Nobody at cap space because everybody in July buys all these dudes right away. Bums. Another one was Indiana. Like Doug McDermott, three years, 22. Who were you competing against? I thought he was so available. Doug McDermott. Why are you doing that on July

1st? They locked that down on June 30th. So LeBron's building this team that, I don't know, maybe they don't care. Maybe they're trying to save cap space for 19 and they just wanted to make sure they locked down dudes on one-year deals. But even if they were doing that, I don't know why they picked those guys.

Well, that's exactly the rationale, right? That's what makes the most sense. One-year deal. So they found these guys at various points in their careers. I'll never understand KCP, but definitely JaVale. Well, KCP is clutch. He's a clutch client, and that's why he got that. And by the way, Kuzma signed with clutch recently, so

you can expect to see him stay on the team. Big one coming in two years for Kuzma. If Brandon Ingram wants to stay with the Lakers, he should sign with clutch. He should jump over there right now. Hey, Rich Paul, it's Brandon Ingram. How are you? I need now hey rich paul it's brandon ingram how are you i need a new agent maybe it's indicative of of where lebron's head is at for this upcoming season

he just had by far the most grueling season probably of any human being that's ever played basketball in the history of of humankind i mean the combination of uh roster overhaul how many games he had to play the the minutes that he played age you know which his age his age did all that in year 15 right so maybe he he comes into this situation like yes i'm. This is a long-term deal. We're going to take our time to get things straight. 2017, I mean, 2018-19 Lakers, what's the over-under? If it's 53 and a half, I'm going to take the under because I think they're going to win 53. Well, I have some news for you.

On July the 2nd. Who knows what the team's going to be. So they have their own first round pick. This is if you're going to get super devious. I'm not saying they would do this. I'm just saying. I'm just throwing it out there as just a game plan. If you're going to get super devious,

you're not beating the Warriors next year anyway. I don't think they're beating Houston either, by the way. You're not beating Houston. And probably five other teams you don't have a chance against in the West. Although with not beating Houston and probably five other teams you don't have a chance against in the West. Although with LeBron, who knows? If they can't get Kawhi, they couldn't get Paul George.

I wonder if the move for LeBron is you just take it easy this season. Maybe he gets some surgery, but he gets some surgery that we didn't know he needed and he could fix his broken hand, really get a good air cast for it. He could get his hand fixed.

Yeah. He shook Magic's hand, and now he's going to go get it fixed. I'm with you. I think this is possible. I think he re-injured the hand on that 11-foot cliff dive. It hit the water. It just didn't hit it right.

You can't call that a cliff, by the way. But they have their first-round pick next year. And it would be funny. In the West, it can't call that a cliff, by the way. But they have their first round pick next year, and it would be funny. In the West, it wouldn't be that hard to just finish with the sixth pick. He's never missed the playoffs, I don't think, since his rookie year, but maybe if this was like his MJ

going to baseball move, I don't think he would do that, but it would be an interesting strategy if they couldn't get anybody. Like, LeBBron's got some, got some, uh, tendonitis in his knee. We're going to clean up, but I don't think he's going to do that. I think he's going to be invigorated by, uh, you know, those LA crowds. LA has great fans. You know, these, they have fans that have been here. This team showed up in 1959 and they've been good ever since. I listed on a – I did a tweet yesterday.

I was saying when LeBron puts on their uniform, they will have had seven of the best 13 players of all time as a Laker. Think about that. The Wiz have not had any of the top 45 players of all time the best player oh you got I guess you had Jordan

do we count Jordan no yeah you had like zombie Jordan he wore the jersey it's zombie Jordan you're Bernard King

the best player you ever had was was Elvin Hayes right or Wes Unseld one of those I can't remember who I had one right? Or Wes Unseld, one of those. I can't remember who I ranked above who. Even the Celtics, who have won the most titles and have been the league's dominant franchise,

Bird and Russell were the only two guys they had in the top 12. Then they had Havlicek, and then you go backwards, and you go into like Koozie and Cowens and Sam Jones, Kevin McHale, all the great guys they had. But when you're talking about like all timers, the Lakers getting seven of 13 is pretty insane. And then I didn't mention Elgin Baylor. I had him like in the 17, 18 range.

Top 20. Yeah, he's top 20. So there's eight of the top 20. And, you know, it's become this recurring theme. The great players at some point end up in LA. What would you have done if you were LeBron James? The thing that, you know, I'm at this stage of my career. I just had the hardest year of my life.

Where can I go have, you know know i want to go live somewhere and not move around what's a great place to go live what's going on with my kids i want to see my kids like you know i have a kid who's really talented at this one thing yeah put him in a position to go watch him do that stuff that that's what would be those would be the factors you know in my head i wouldn't he's we're past the point where um to me there's going to be any more legacy defining like i i think it's possible that they don't make the finals during the the rest of his tenure in the with the lakers it's impossible to say what players they will lure and um you know what what the kind of chemistry and everything like that. But as long as Golden State,

how much longer do you think Golden State's run is going to last? Feels like at least three years. Yeah, at least two. Durant is leaving that New York Knicks door open, though. I'll tell you that much. He's just doing these one-year deals. I'm psyched for that. I want the Knicks to get better.

I mean, think about that. Guys now in the west looking at the east and thinking wow I could go make a mark on some historic franchises in the east but it wouldn't it wouldn't blow me away if sitting here today July the 2nd 2018 and we looked out over the next four years and said the Lakers didn't make the finals any one of those four years I wouldn't say oh that's impossible you, I can't believe it. I would believe it. I agree with you. I think the Lakers were the best move.

They were also, it seems like the take the least shit option out there for him. Nobody gave it. I didn't feel like anyone was giving him shit last night or today. Maybe because we knew this was coming for a year, but it's not like this was not like Durant joining the 73-win Warriors. LeBron's joining a team with really no All-Stars.

In terms of that seasoning, in terms of that softening the beach, the message management, we have previously got down on our knees and tickled the testicles of his media team, his media force. It's unbelievable. It's really great. It's unbelievable.

The last two years, they have been setting the stage for this. Yes. And even starting last summer when people really started to think it was going to happen, they've done a nice job of making it seem like it wasn't going to happen. And then all the way through the playoffs and the finals.

Here's what I'm holding on to as this is where I'm turning off my normal trying-to-be-objective-basketball brain and just my pure hatred of the Lakers. You've been doing a good job so far. I just want to tap into that for 90 seconds. Just give me a 90-second clock, Kyle, for some Laker hatred. So I was texting Louis K. last night. Yeah.

Our friend. I deliberately didn't. He, huge Laker fan, also an Angels fan. And he was mad that I didn't text him yesterday, even though I was like, why didn't he? I told you this was going to happen. Why didn't he text you? Right.

So we're going back and forth. He's starting to feel himself a little bit. And I texted him, this is going to be Pujols to the angels 2.0. And he immediately got defensive. He texted back three years is better than 10 years. And I texted him back. It's going to be a long three years when LeBron becomes a 240 hitter overnight,

like Pujols did. Then Lewis said, if you really felt like this, you wouldn't be so delighted you left the East. You only have one team to worry about. Let me have this.

And then I texted back. He took the four years because he knows his body is breaking down. And then it just degenerated into name calling at that point. Of course.

But yeah, the Pujols scenario is really all I have to hold on to as a Celtic fan. It can happen. He's had 15 years in the bank. That's tenuous because Pujols was 50 when he went to the Angels.

LeBron might be 50. Who knows? Yeah, no, I don't think, I think in basketball, well, LeBron takes much better care of his body, I think, than Pujols did. But, you know, it does go to show you, though. You never know. The guy, oh, my God, oh, and then the guy shows up and weird shit happens.

And we've seen that's been a recurring theme in the NBA over the years, you know? Sure, yeah, there's no such thing as a sure thing. Remember the Dwight Howard, Steve Nash, SI cover in 2012? Yeah, the only thing that's a sure thing is Golden State. Yeah, that's true. Let's take a break. Have we talked about Peter Millar? Comfort, fit, quality, style. They're setting the standard of menswear. Peter Millar was founded in 2001 with a single cashmere sweater and has grown into a

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favorites. Be sure to use my link and you'll receive complimentary shipping and a free hat. That is Peter Millar, spelled like Kevin Millar, M-I-L-L-A-R.com slash BS. Peter Millar.com slash BS. Let's talk about Paul George. Okay. Conspiracy Bill's going to come in. Can I call him in? Conspiracy Bill, come on in.

Hey, guys. How you doing? Hey, house. Hey, Conspiracy Bill. Good to talk to you. I have no proof of this. I'm just doing it for fun because it's a podcast. Don't turn this into a blog post because it's just for fun.

This is me talking to my buddy House. Here's my conspiracy theory for the Paul George thing. Go ahead. I think the Lakers tampered the shit out of him. And I think Adam Silver basically told both parties he's not signing there. Wow. That's it. He's not signing there. Wow. That's it. He can't sign there.

I won't, I won't take this any further, but here's how we're going to resolve this. You're not allowed to sign with the Lakers. And that's it. That's conspiracy bill. I have no idea if that's true. I'm just throwing it out there for fun to my friend,

Joe house, just for fun. Just for fun. Interesting is that would be, it's such the anti-Stern move because part of my own distaste, dislike for the arrogance of the Lakers franchise and their fan base is the enormous gifts that the league has given them, has bestowed upon them over the years. If David Stern had any integrity, any basketball integrity with respect to the franchises and the trades and everything, the trade that he would have put his foot down and stopped or delayed so that other teams could have participated in was Pau Gasol from Memphis to the Lakers, which was the singular trade that elevated the Lakers and elevated Kobe, created the opportunity for Kobe to go get those rings.

That was a gift. Chris Wallace bestowed that gift upon the Lakers. There's never been, I want the deep dive. I want the deep investigative reporting. I've never seen a single explanation as to why it is that the Grizzlies had to move when they moved without giving anybody else in the entire market an option to participate in the Pau Gasol sweepstakes. It was three weeks before the deadline. There was no such thing as a Pau Gasol sweepstakes. Wellakes it was three weeks before the gasol sweepstakes well

it was three weeks before the deadline now the counter that is that trade worked out great for the grizzlies because they got marcus saw but when they traded for him he was a late second round pick and he was like 325 pounds yeah that's not a counter it's a counter i mean they they were they had dumb dumb luck it wasn't the point of the trade they were terrible for another however many years after the trade he blossomed because he changed his life I think dumb luck is a very fair

phrase because that same year they took Hashim Thabit over over who did they take him over oh no that was the year they took Kevin Love and then traded him for OJ Mayo. A year later, they took Hashim Thabit over

Steph Curry and James Harden, which as it turns out was a mistake. But the trade that Stern does block is one that did have the potential. That's exactly right. For three franchises that dealt in a heads-up, arm's-length way to try and improve each of those teams. And there's still no explanation for why he intervened on that trade.

And so I love this idea of Silver intervening in this moment. It is hilarious, the position that the Thunder find themselves in. And I especially enjoyed John Gonzalez's piece with this quote from Sam Presti. I never saw any of the mini docs. Did you see the mini docs about the Thunder with Presti and whatever, that there was a process kind of thing for them? Not only did I see it, I thought it was some of the funniest content we've had basketball related

in five years where am I why can't I get a forward on that it's on ESPN ESPN on cable I'm busy I work hard

you're busy you play golf all the time I'll mail it to you on the golf course that's my job I'll mail it to you on the golf course yeah

in any event the tribe called quest quote which is scare money don't make none. I mean, that's the James Harden deal, dummy. Like, how could that come out of your mouth? What are you talking about?

It is almost like two different franchises. It is. It's funny. I heard Rachel on The Jump. I was watching The Jump that night, heading into July 1st. She was hosting The Jump and she was talking. She admonished people who thought the James Harden trade was just about the luxury tax. It was like, oh, there was a lot more going on there.

It's like, what are you talking about? The trade was 100% about the luxury tax. What were those other things going on there? They offered him four years 52 and he wanted four years, and they traded him. It was 8 million bucks. But it's funny because now they've done this complete 180. And now I would say, by the way, kudos to them. We criticized them six years ago for not spending money. Now they're spending money to the point that I'm actually kind of frightened for them. They might have a payroll with the luxury tax. It might cost like $300 billion or something.

They're so far over the luxury tax. It's almost like watching those Paul Allen Blazers teams. But I guess they had to do it because they're trying to save basketball at Oklahoma City, basically. If they don't keep them, then Russ is going to leave. Wow. They just locked in a 48-win team that can't get out of the first round what's going to be different Roberson is going to stay healthy and they'll be able to play

defense Carmelo Anthony is on that basketball team well I think the hope would be you either buy out Carmelo I already told you my plan for Carmelo you just don't play him. That's fine.

You just bury him. I don't have any problem with that. You tell him not to show up. We're going to send you checks. Don't come to work. And make it so that he eventually, with his basketball mortality looming, he wants a chance to prove that he can still play, and then he'll take the buyout like what Dwayne Wade did with Chicago.

You think Carmelo cares? You think that's something that's important to him? I think he cares about next year's contract. With the veteran minimum? There was a lot of weird stuff with the Paul George thing. I was obviously joking about conspiracy bill, although I also wouldn't be completely stunned if that was the case.

But the part I was surprised by was, it was like this unfinished business motif that, that like the Paul George, like that was a hash. Did somebody, didn't somebody do a hashtag with the Instagram unfinished business? Like we're keeping the game together. I love that. Somebody did it. Kyle, can you research that? Research Paul George unfinished business. What's it called if it's unfinished for 10 years? What's it called if it's never finished? The hashtag never finished?

The hashtag never finished business. Well, which one? Yahoo Sports here. Yeah, what did it say? Paul George stay put over unfinished business. Unfinished. Well, so here's the funny thing about that. They won two games in the first round

and got knocked out in six by Utah, who got killed in the next round. Their unfinished business, how about is getting to the second round unfinished business? That's right. I was dying. They won one more playoff game with Paul George

than they did the year before when Russell Westbrook went out and triple-doubled. I was amused by the whole thing. The party was great. I'm happy for OKC. They got to keep this guy. They took a huge gamble. I do think the whole gamble thing, the gamble was they had to figure out how to get Russ to sign that giant extension a year ago.

And they do that Paul George trade. They take basically a one-year flyer on him, hoping it will convince Russ to stay. That part worked out. They're screwed. They're screwed it just doesn't seem like that team as presently constituted with how much money they're paying Russ and Paul George

and Carmelo but Carmelo's only one year they're eventually going to get rid of him but then they gave Jeremy Grant three years 27, I like Jeremy Grant me too I don't know I don't know. I don't know

if he's worth the luxury tax they're going to be paying whatever the added money. It's double. It's essentially a $54 million contract. It's not our money house. But I was just

flabbergasted by it. I'm looking up right now how much money they spent. The other thing is, Paul George was completely healthy last year, right? 100% healthy. By all accounts. I didn't vote for him for any of the three All-NBA teams.

For good reason. I thought he was good. I don't think he had the best possible Paul George season. I don't think if he's the number two guy on your team and you have a superstar, I'm not positive that's enough. I feel like he... Really? I think you're right.

We just watched the first round of the playoffs. That was barely three months ago. They couldn't beat Utah. This is amazing. They have a superstar and he's the second guy. George is the second guy. I'm going to run out of the gym. I'm going to read their salaries just for 2019. You can react. This, by the way, this is great. I'm so glad they're spending money now because it's like they screwed up the Harden thing and now it's swung so far the other way. I'm actually rooting for them.

Yeah. Scared money don't make none. Scared money don't make none. $35.35 million for Westbrook. $30.6 million for George. $27.9 million for Carmelo. Why not? We're already at $27.9 million for Carmelo. Why not?

We're already at $94 million. Steven Adams makes $24 million. Now we're at $118 million. Andre Roberson makes $10 million. He's making $10 million a year this year. He can only play

on one side of the court, but apparently he's so crucially important to them they collapsed when he got hurt. They weren't able to play any more defense for the entire rest of their season because Andre Roberson, the glue that holds everything together, got hurt. Yeah, because there's no other team in the NBA

was audibling after some of their starters got injured last year. The Celtics came within two minutes of making the finals, but they're two best guys. But Andre Roberson was a game breaker. 10 million for him. Jeremy Grant,

8.3. Oh, we're not done yet. Alex Abrinas is going to make 5.5. Patrick Patterson, 5.5. Kyle Singler, 5.

That is just, I'm speechless house. it's a lot of money their active roster salary cap for 2018 is 155.7 million and they haven't even finished filling out

players yet wow I want to thank you oh my lord this makes me feel so much better about the Wizards oh my god there's a franchise

out there in worst position with the worst future. Or at least a comparable future. I think they had to do it. I don't know if they had to do the Jeremy Grant thing as much as I like them. I think at that point you just...

I just don't understand how they're going to pay for everybody. They're at Oklahoma City. They don't make as much money as other teams. I don't know what to tell you. Wow. Amazing. This is amazing. Scary They don't make as much money as other teams. I don't know what to tell you. Wow. Amazing. This is amazing. Gary Money don't make none.

Well, so what did you think about Paul George taking four years, right, out of the way as a three-year out? This was the most – here's what we learned, and I'm going to be – I want to be judicious about this. I want to be gracious about it. He had a life-altering injury. I mean, not just like career injury, career-threatening, yes, but also something that made him look at the mirror hard and wonder about his own sort of professional future. And he came back from it pretty damn good.

But I think it changed a mentality for him he has not been comfortable as an alpha dog since he came back from his injury he was uncomfortable in that position in indiana which is why i'm pretty sure he was you know out there publicly saying he wanted to get to la he needs the pressure off of him. He needs to be in a place where there is somebody else that's going to take the heat off of him by the situation or by the player. So he likes this. I agree with you. He likes the Westbrook.

He loves it. Yeah, it's great. He loves it. Take 40 shots, Russ. He doesn't just like it. He loves it. This is great. Take some more shots.

Yeah. I'll stay over here. You're 43. I'll do 16. And then we'll go to the Outback afterwards. We have unfinished business. We lost to Utah in six.

They didn't have Ricky Rubio. And Ricky beat us. Joe Inglis beat his ass. Joe Inglis beat Paul George's ass. Do they have unfinished business to take the Utah to seven in round one?

That's the business that still needs to get finished. So Royce Young, after they announced the Paul George thing, he's the guy who covers OKC for ESPN. Yeah, I know Royce. Yeah. Nice guy. Oh, sorry. Nice guy, like Royce Young. He tweeted,

scared money don't make none. That was his first tweet. The second tweet was, this is a massive landmark achievement for the Thunder in St. Presti. Can you imagine if they had like made the finals last year? I could see that tweet maybe. They lost in round one in six games to Utah.

I don't know. They also gave away the most improved player in the league. Who's that? Oladipo in that trade. Oh, yeah. I got confused for a second. That's a landmark achievement.

Oladipo, I don't know if he ever, I don't know if it happens for him in OKC, although he did change his body. Let's take one more break. Hey, when you shop online, do you suddenly turn into a tab hoarder, loading dozens and dozens of new tabs on your browser in search of a promo code, just one that works, afraid

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All you have to do is go to joinhoney.com slash Simmons. So joinhoney.com slash Simmons. So joinhoney, one word,.com slash Simmons. House, I really enjoyed that last segment. I thought it was a massive, massive achievement for both me and you and nephew Kyle. A testament. Oh, man.

What's your ranking in the East right now or the West right now? Warriors one, Rockets two. Yep. Who do you have three right now? Because it's not OKC for me. I'm just telling you now. Oh, no, it's not OKC for me. I'm just telling you now. Oh, no. It's not OKC for me either. It's either Utah or LA. It's probably Utah.

I would have LA three because I think they're going to get Kawhi. Okay. That's fine. But if they don't get them, I have Utah three, LA four, Minnesota five. I don't have Minnesota ahead of OKC. I have OK get them. I have Utah three, LA four, Minnesota five. I don't have Minnesota ahead of OKC.

I have OKC six. Minnesota still needs to figure out, they have a chemistry thing that they had to figure out. Well, they'll figure it out by firing their coach. Well, that's what needs to happen. Something needs to happen like that with them. They underachieved last year, and they had a weird vibe. There was weird chemistry. I didn't enjoy it. I thought that Minnesota team was going to be much, much, much better, and there was nothing I saw on the basketball court

that made it clear why it was that they were underachieving. Portland, are we making a mistake not putting Portland in the top five? No, come on. They looked pretty good last year. They just ran into the wrong team. They are who they are. They're great. It's fun to watch.

The people of Portland have a good product to go enjoy regular season basketball, but they're not, they don't have any genuine ambition or aspiration. They can't go anywhere. Who'd they lose to on blanking? Anthony Davis. Oh, yeah, the Pels. They got swept by Anthony Davis. Oh, we didn't even mention the Pels yet.

Right. So we don't know if Boogie's coming back. Right. But the West is, once you get past those first two, you have like eight or nine teams that are going to feel like they're absolutely a playoff team. Well, Denver just spent enough money.

Denver too. I mean, you can make a case. You can make a case. Denver is the fifth best team because they weren't healthy last year. Jamal Murray is out there too. They have a deal. They can make a deal. I loved when Denver announced...

Basketball Twitter was so fun the last few days. I loved when Denver announced that they were in on LeBron James. That they were ready to make a deal. They had no cap space and had never been mentioned for him ever. And he had already opted out of the Cleveland deal, so there was no way to trade.

I was actually thinking of announcing the Ringer was going to make a run for him and try to steal him from uninterrupted, which he owns, but that made about as much sense as Denver stealing LeBron. I just think it's, it's funny. It's,

it's indicative of ambition and aspiration. I like that out of Denver. Okay. All right. We have a couple more things to say really quickly. Cleveland. Yeah. That's your take?

I mean, I feel like Cleveland's best goal for next season should be to invite us there so we can improve their ranking on the food scene because that's the only ranking that they have any opportunity of improving in. We're going to do a rank and they're going to do a tank because Kevin Love is not going to be a cavalier for this upcoming season. I don't know if we're going to be back in Cleveland anytime soon. Ever? I don't think so.

Red Sox Indians. You had some good food at the baseball stadium. I had a good time in Cleveland. I know Nephew Kyle did. Nephew Kyle disappeared for long stretches. I support any city where you can walk around from hotels to sporting events. Those are the best.

Absolutely. Cleveland was fun and probably won't be back for a long time. I don't know what... They got their title. They can't complain. They had the second best player of all time played there for 11 years. That's pretty great. That's awesome.

Larry Bird played for the Celtics for 13 years and was really badly hurt for two of them. So Magic played for the Lakers from 80 to 91. I think it was 12 and then came back for that half season in 96. They had a nice run with him. Hard to complain. Cleveland has a great baseball team

very very good baseball team and who knows what the Browns are going to do but that's the focus now I thought no reason to think about the basketball team anymore

I thought bringing LeBron back was a massive landmark achievement for the Cavaliers and Dan Gilbert it was a massive landmark achievement I agree with this

they won the finals and it was great it was really it worked out for them. I don't know what they do now. They're screwed contract-wise next year. I would like to see, my one hope for them, I would like to see Kevin Love on a team

that uses him correctly before his prime is over. I still believe in that dude. Where, where? Who can do it? I was having some Utah ideas with him recently. I wouldn't be surprised. You know who I think? I think old Daryl Morey is rubbing his hands together.

He's always got something up his sleeve. Like Mr. Miyagi? Yes. And his inside-out game, like, you know, I know there was a little bit of gnashing of teeth about the idea that Trevor Ariza left and that Houston lost something. I'm not sure if anybody watched Trevor Ariza this season. Maybe he's a glue guy.

Maybe he's a chemistry guy. But, like, he's another guy. Look up replacement level and then look underneath that, and that's where you find Trevor Ariza. That's definitely the case for his offense last year. He shot abysmally in the playoffs. Excellent defensive player. Good glue guy.

Positionally. Good glue guy and super competitive. Listen, he brought a lot of good stuff to the table for them. Sure. But turns 34 this season. Right. The shot went south. Luke Mabamute should have all of those minutes.

He's so much better on both ends of the floor. I think that if anyone's going to be able to find random weird 3 and D dudes all over the map, it's going to be Darryl. I would say he's the best equipped out of anyone to do that. I didn't mind the Ariza thing. I got to be honest, I don't think Houston was crying over it. That's what I'm saying.

I think they were okay with it. Basketball commentariat saying, oh, little Nick to Houston. I was like, what? What are you talking about? It's Trevor Ariza. I will tell you, I thought it was a massive landmark achievement

for the Phoenix Suns and GM Ryan McDonough to get a guy of Trevor Ariza's experience and defensibility. That is going to be a fun team. I was thinking last night, I can't remember a more fun West Coast

League Pass batch of teams that you're not going to be able to watch because you're going to be snoring on your couch at midnight. But just go through it. The Lakers are going to be really fun. I think the Clippers have a lot of players I enjoy. I actually am excited for this Clipper team. Who's left on the Clippers?

Lou Williams? Tobias Harris? Milos? Trez Harrell? No? The only one that you got me with was Milos. He's the only one I'm interested in. I think it's a goofy team of dudes.

It's a goofy team of dudes who play hard and know how to play basketball. I'm in. Beverly's on that team. Those are the Clippers teams of when you moved to LA and got those tickets when nobody was going. Exactly. Yes. That's what I wanted. I wanted them to come back.

I wanted like the Marco Yarek era. Corey Maggette. Are you ready for Maggette? Yeah, we're back. Marvin Eli. Melvin Eli. Yeah, we're back. Are you ready for Maggette?

I am. I'm ready for Maggette again. So you got that. You got the Kings with De'Aaron Fox and Bagley and all the weird shit they're going to do. They have some terrible free agent signing that they haven't done yet. And then the Suns, I think, are going to be delightful. It's a delightful team now.

They're going to be interesting to watch. Definitely. They're going to play so fast. Booker, they got a bunch of interesting to watch. Definitely. They're going to play so fast. Booker. They got a bunch of good swing guys. I like, uh, Trevor Riza is the old vet with Tyson Chandler.

Who's somehow still there. Aiden is the young, young, uh, prodigy center. That's going to be fun. And then we didn't mention the warriors. Those are all the West coast teams.

And then Denver as well. If you count them as a West coast team, they do, they start like an hour earlier. And then you go to the Pacific Northwest, you got Damien there too and the Blazers. I enjoy watching them. My point is I'm going to enjoy West Coast basketball this year. And the alternative would be if the East Coast was on at 1030 at night and it was like, Orlando, Charlotte, Cleveland, Brooklyn.

Atlanta. That'd be a nightmare. Let's quickly go through some signings. Aaron Gordon, four years, 84, Orlando kept him. I agree with Zach Lowe's theory on this, that you keep the guy because you know you're going to trade the contract at some point. He doesn't make sense on the team they're building. And I think he's a valuable asset. I still am a believer. Haral Bob and I talked about it Friday. 22 years old, has been playing at a position without point guards basically for most of his NBA career. And I'm a believer. How about you?

I'm a believer as well. I think it's a fair contract. I think they're going to be able to get something valuable for that. $20 million is soon going to be like the old 10 or something. You know what I mean? It's not going to be like, oh my God, it's a backbreaker kind of contract. And he's so young and so athletic. I the he's got the world in front of him i wish i know it's impossible for like six months but lonzo and uh dang for aaron gordon would be a

fun trade i don't think it could happen until like january but i would love to see like just an incredible athlete with lebron just once we've never really seen it. We've never seen like the just the all-time kick-ass, above the rim kind of wing guy for him that he's just throwing weird alley-oops to and stuff. I would enjoy that. Chris Paul, four years, 160. Now this was wink-winked a year ago when they

agreed to trade for him. So you can't really fault Houston for this, but man. You know what's going to be frightening? 42 million a year for Chris Paul in year four of this. I'm not excited about that. Houston is now putting a very short finish line

on this whole James Harden and Chris Paul thing. I think this coming year, next year, maybe year three, but very reminiscent of where the Celtics were when they did the KG, Real and stuff. And they really thought it was probably a three-year plan and then everything else was gravy.

And they somehow stretched out five years out of that nucleus. But really, I think we all thought three, four max. This one, they've got, they were through year one already. And I would say the over-under for major contention years with these as your two best guys is probably two.

Agreed. Two more. And also think it was worth the money. Don't have any problem with that signing. Don't have any problem with the money. Agree that that's their window. Go for it. You got to go for it. My favorite signing so far

do you know what it is? no I don't even have a guess Fred Van Vliet for two years 18 million I like that one I get it because he bet on himself I mean he's no Contavious Caldwell Pope he can't get obviously can't get

KCP money you're right but undrafted or drafted in the second round? undrafted undrafted bet on himself

now making more money the next two years than I think dudes who are in the top five in his draft so they may have to fix that rule he

he was one of the two players on toronto i genuinely feared our best chances when in that in that first round series yeah the whizzies against the raps was him being injured was a huge opportunity for us to go steal games of course we didn't we couldn't do it pull it off but uh he i i feared him when he was on the floor. He's so effing smart. He's got a world-class basketball IQ. DeAndre, one year, 24. Cubes.

What's Dallas doing? I don't know. What a great question. What a great question. What a great question. Why are you back in business with a dude who not only left you at the altar, but that wasn't just like a leave you at the altar situation. Like it would be for somebody getting married. He screwed them over for that summer with their cap space. By the time they got their cap space back, it was over. You know why?

What? Unfinished business. Is that what it is? I didn't realize. Unfinished business. Where's Chandler Parsons, by the way? He's got to be available. Maybe he'll come back.

Get the band back together. Get him, get Pants DJ. DeAndre won for 24 I was okay with. I think three for 60 would have frightened me because I'm not sure athletically what his next three, four years are going to look like. I would just tell you

from the Clipper games I went to, I thought Harrell was more effective coming in as kind of the new wave five versus what DeAndre does. I want to say this. I feel like DeAndre after new years started playing to not get hurt. That's to the extent I watched Clippers games and saw them, you know,

doing stuff. I thought that, that he was playing to protect himself. Very reasonable. Very, very possible. Aaron Baines, two for 11. The man bun is back.

Yeah, Joel. We're coming for you, Joel. Joel doesn't like the man bun. He's still pissed about it. He's tweeting about it after the series. I also don't think he's afraid of him. He can't wait to dunk on him. The favorite dunk target of Joel Embiid.

He might have been a dunk target him. The favorite dunk target of Joel Embiid. He might have been a dunk target, but he got to wave as Joel left the court after game five. It was a massive land park. She had been fair in Bates. Joe Harris, two years, 16 million, back with Brooklyn. Now this is somebody the Lakers should have signed exactly exactly

at that price give Joe Harris one year for 12 million right if I'm Joe Harris I'm taking that over two for 16 why not do that do the Lakers have scouts do they watch basketball

well they have clutch what? Do they watch basketball? Well, they have clutch. Well, I know. I don't know what to say about that. Poor LeBron. His whole career, he won two titles. No, he won three titles and made all these finals. And yet, it felt only intermittently did he have people running his franchises

that actually knew what they were doing. Can't get away from the bums. Intermittently. Like what Cleveland did to him from 06 through 2010 was just a travesty. Like they literally drove him out of town. They made so many dumb moves and tied their cap up in so many different ways. Like he had to leave. And then what he ended up with Cleveland wasn't much different.

So not a lot of big moves left. Marcus Smart's still out there, right? Best of luck. Well, I think the Indiana thing really hurt him. And then your team's not doing anything, right? No. We need a center. Boogie's still out there.

Jan Mahinmi. Yeah, they have said that they're not. Who knows? Who knows? We'll see. That's it? That's all you're giving me? We'll see? I'm a porter for Boogie still makes sense. They have affirmatively said

they're not in the running for that, but that might be smokescreen. And you would sign up for that? Oh, yeah, I would sign up for that. Absolutely, positively. Immediately. I think Washington is the most interesting, hasn't done anything team yet, left of all the teams.

Because I guess we'll end on this. Boston and Philly now are the clear front runners in the East. Toronto still looming with the new coach. LeBron is gone. There's some narrative everyone will talk themselves into by December. Yes. Indiana, Miles Turner has been a big topic on the Ringer NBA Slack.

Got his body in awesome shape, all this stuff. So he might have a little break out here. They added Doug McDermott shooting. I guess that's a good thing. Old Depot. They still have some cap space to get somebody. I think they're in the mix. And I think you're a team.

Milwaukee. Oh, God. I think your team Milwaukee I don't know that's what I said at the outset of this podcast LeBron has left the East and the Wiz are still in 7th well the thing with the Bucks is it seems like they're reenacting LeBron's 2000's

Cleveland experience where you know they've just saddled Giannis with this 2000s Cleveland experience where you know they've just saddled Giannis with this roster that it's like what the hell is this he's going to have Bledsoe and Iliasova and Thonmaker and one year of

Chris Middleton who by the way is a free agent next year and is either you have to overpay him this day or he's going to jump and I don't know now there's a time either you have to overpay him this day or he's going to jump. And I don't know. Now there's a stopwatch on this Giannis era now. I don't like the team they put together.

I'm surprised they didn't move off of Bledsoe. I thought he was awful for them. Like even if, one trade I was thinking was Dennis Schroeder has, I think three years left. Bledsoe's expiring. That trade actually makes sense for both teams in some way.

I'd rather have Dennis Schroeder than Bledsoe. I like Dennis Schroeder as a basketball player. He seems like an irredeemable dick. Have you ever seen... Eric Bledsoe's Gandhi? Did you see him? That's a good point. Dick for dick.

That would be a dick for dick trade. So you've just given up hope on anything? I don't know. It's July the 2nd. It's impossible to say. So many moves yet to be made. Are you excited to drive to Vegas with me on Thursday? Hey,

now, now we're talking. Yes, sir. I'm really, I'm, I've already told the friends I'm getting together with on the 4th of July because we're going to get together on the 5th of July that I'm really going

to try hard to not overindulge, but I might, I might overindulge. And then I have that early morning flight out of DC. So the first stop we make when we get in this car is probably coffee. Instagram. My account is spitguy33. You can see a picture I put of me in house from 1989 on my Instagram I put up last week. People were commenting that the worm Sean Krause was behind us, that he looked like Macaulay Culkin. They thought we were partying with

Macaulay Culkin. There was a time when I could see that out of the worm. Yeah. So that was fun. That's on our Instagram, but we'll be doing Instagram stories and all that stuff this week. Yeah, at House of DC, at the House of Cards. They're all going to be

hot. Yeah, and then we're going to be on Cleopatra's Barge on Friday night. And then we're going to see some Summer League too. I am going to go out of my way to see Trey Young. I'm going to see him in person. Right? Is there a Summer League guy you're more excited about? Because Doncic isn't going to be there.

I think Trey Young is going to shoot from like 35 feet. Yeah. And make everyone. I'm fired up. And people are going to lose their minds. Yeah. I can't wait for the overreaction to Trae Young.

Nobody plays defense at Summer League. It's going to be awesome for him. He's going to love it. He could shoot his ass off too. That's why I'm excited to see him. Summer League is the place where you want to see heat check really elite three-point shooters who aren't being

guarded. Who don't have any defense being thrown at them. All right, House, this was a blast as always. Congrats to the Lakers fans. I hate to admit it, but...

Congrats to the Lakers fans. Congrats, Lewis Kay. God damn, you did it again. You did it again, Laker fans. Congrats to Lewis Kay. I hope this isn't Pujols 2.0. And we'll be back

a little bit later. Nothing could go wrong. We'll be back later in the week with House. Thanks, House. Thanks, buddy. Thanks again to ZipRecruiter. Don't forget to go to ZipRecruiter.com slash BS. Thanks to SimpliSafe. Remember,

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Friday, Vegas, BS Podcast live at Caesars Palace on the Cleopatra's Barge. Nine o'clock, tickets available. The Las Vegas takeover is happening. The Ringer is swarming Vegas this weekend. We have a lot of good stuff planned. More details to come as the week goes along. We have a Jaws rewatchables coming July 4th for you. Be ready for that.

Until then. I don't have.