The Mismatch - Andre Iguodala Returns to the Warriors and More Transactions Around the League

Episode Date: August 6, 2021

Verno and KOC are back and full of anticipation for the Olympic gold-medal game between France and Team USA Friday night (0:30). They are also full of joy at Andre Iguodala’s return to the Warriors for what he says could be his final years in the NBA, but they’re concerned that the Warriors haven’t done enough to maximize the end of Steph Curry’s prime (7:50). Then they are full of tidbits as they move through several of the other rumors and transactions from around the league (24:57), including where Lauri Markkanen could end up (27:40), Kemba Walker to the Knicks (28:36), the Wizards’ new and improved roster (34:12), Mike D’Antoni becoming a consultant in New Orleans (38:40), and much more. Hosts: Chris Vernon and Kevin O’Connor Associate Producer: Sasha Ashall Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Listen up all you New York fans. Veteran New York Sports Talk host, John Dostrompsky, gives his unique take on all the big stories in the Big Apple and beyond, including guest conversations, gambling picks, and reactions from you, the listener. Check out New York, New York with John Dostromsky on Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. Welcome to The Mishmatch. I'm Chris Burnie. And join me as he does every Friday from the ringer.com is Kevin O'Connor, A.K.K. Kevin O'O. Kahn, Kevin O'Candleon, Kevin O'Cannibal, Kevin O'Clyssarian, Kevin O'Brien. How are you doing for that? I'm doing well. Free agency has continued, and we were going to get to all the moves that have happened since we last spoke. But first, we actually have a massive basketball game tonight,

and I was very pleased that is going to include a lot of NBA players, and I was very pleased at the timing of the game, a little worse for you in the Eastern time zone than it is for me in the Central time zone. But at 9.30 Central, 10.30 Eastern tonight is going to be the goal. metal game between the United States and France. And the reason that I was excited is because it's not at like 6 a.m. It's not at like midnight. We've actually got a good prime time setting for what is a very good gold medal game.

Now, the United States is over a double-digit favorite, which was a little surprising to me. but since they lost to France and Evan Fornier was probably the best player on the floor, I believe the last four games they have beaten their opponents by an average of 30.5 points per game. So for those people that wanted Team USA to run out on people, they have. But I am actually legitimately very excited for this basketball game tonight. It could be a really good game, right? And I think the French team, that last possession with Batum recovering and blocking the layup at the rim, it was really a sensational play.

And this French team has a lot of NBA players and also just a legitimately good international players, some of whom could survive in the NBA in some capacity. So, I mean, this is going to be a competitive game. I'm looking forward to it. But ultimately, Chris, like I've said from the beginning, you can't pick against Team USA. say there's just an overwhelming amount of talent. And they've figured some things out in terms of how they're running their offense to actually generate open baskets as a team should when they have everybody on it. And plus,

they have Kevin Durant who can just go off at any time. Well, and the reason that that one is worth noting is because one of the early criticisms, criticisms that I made was what is the pecking order here, right? Like you come down to the end of the game and it's like, They, you know, is it Jason Tatum's going to take a shot? Is it Damien Lillers going to take a shot? Is it Kevin Grant's going to take a shot?

Like what? Somebody has to emerge as the guy. And there is no question that throughout this Olympics, and we're going to see if this, you know, many times throughout history, this has marked the times, whether or not it was Michael Jordan, or it was Kobe Bryant, who was obviously the guy on one of his team. or it was LeBron James, or now Kevin Durant, right? And many times that is the guy in the league.

And of course, Durant was sensational last year after coming back from entry, awesome in the playoffs. And maybe it does. Maybe it is a foreshadowing of what could take place this upcoming year where we see him as the guy for the United States. the best player on the team and that it foreshadows that next year, you know, it becomes commonplace for people to talk about him as the best player in the NBA. He's kind of always been, and I remember there's a commercial years ago, second fiddle, but he has been absolutely awesome.

And the other one, and this was a late arrival after they had really struggled pretty early with two exhibition losses and then that lost France. Drew Holiday. True Holiday. Outstanding. Where would they be without Holiday? Because he has just been an engine for them coming off a championship. Even in that first game with France,

I remember watching that going, bro, if they didn't have Drew Holiday in this game, they would be getting killed. He is like, he's the only thing they got going. and Durand had gotten in foul trouble and it was a mess. But Holiday coming off of that title run with Milwaukee, absolutely essential to this basketball team. How cool is it to see these guys coming straight out of the NBA finals,

flying to Japan, competing in the Olympics right away, Holiday, Middleton, Booker. It's pretty cool to see those guys doing that. Well, they wouldn't have been blamed if they, if they bailed on it, just given the fact, it's a shortened season. And they just played in every round of the playoffs, including an NBA finals that went down to the end. And so it would, nobody would, nobody would think twice if those guys said, you know what, like, I'm trying to protect myself here. We've got a quick turnaround into next season. but those guys all strapped on their team USA jerseys and are representing the country.

Now, in the end, we are well aware of this. The entire narrative about this team is 100% dependent upon the outcome of tonight's game. Because they've already been the team that lost a game for the first time in 100 years. And so if they lose tonight, all of the good feelings about Team USA, Duran, and holiday and everything else are going to be washed away. You know that it's all kind of gone away for the last week, but it's all going to be their roster construct, everything that went wrong.

And so it is kind of fascinating that all opinions regarding the Olympic team are dependent upon victory tonight against France. And if they lose, it will be a disaster, and it will be a topic as to how they screwed up the roster and everything else. and if they win, they're really in a no-win proposition here. If they lose, he's horrible. And if they win, it's like, yeah, you're supposed to win. You got all the best players.

But if you win, you still win. And that's why these guys go out there and do it and compete and to win another gold medal. For some of them, their first gold medal for a lot of those guys. So, yeah, I look forward to it. This is going to be their biggest challenge, though. No doubt about that. No question. Going against the defense anchored by Rudy Gobert.

This will be their most NBA playoff-like, you know, experience with him in the pain. So, you know, they're running a heck of a lot more picking roll than they did in their first game back in early July. And it's been impossible to stop. I look forward to seeing the challenge for France and how they respond. A lot has happened since we last spoke. We spoke right after Free Agency had opened on Monday. We're recording this on Friday morning and the news just broke that Andre Iguidala. is going to join up with his old squad.

The Golden State Warriors. The Brooklyn Nets were in there with him as a finalist for this, but Iguodala is going back to the Warriors. I got to tell you, this feels a little bit like it will be met with maybe more enthusiasm than what the results will be. Igwadala couldn't, he didn't really help Miami last year, right? So I don't know how much what the expectation is. I mean, there's something always good about having veteran leadership that gets along with the other guys on the team and maybe can contribute some.

But I kind of sense my opinion would be this is probably more advantageous off the court and for the leadership reasons and for possibly helping young. players than it is on-court production that you will get out of him, even though he is certainly a trusted player that you could put on the court with those other guys. I think, I mean, he's not the same guy that we saw when a finals MVP. That goes without saying he's five years older now and just clearly not the same guy when you watch the heat the last two seasons. But with that said, I still think he can help. And I still think he can be a rock-solid, hard-nosed defender for your team.

team. He can still make the right play on offense facilitating moving the ball within their fast moving offense. That brings value. And with this Warriors team now, we made a video this week for the void kind of breaking down why I like their offseason. You always like them. No, it's. Yes, you do. Chris, I mean, I think my perspective was fair. I think it was fair. I think it was fair because, sure, it would have made a heck of a lot of sense to trade seven and 14 and a lot else to get Bradley Beal or to get Damien Lollard. The thing is, those guys aren't available right now. They're just not available right now.

You're not getting them right now. And if it's Ben Simmons, there's an argument to be had that trading for Ben Simmons makes a lot of sense. He also is a younger player. He is available right now. But the price right now is just extraordinarily high. And the Sixers don't want to trade Ben Simmons for anybody with Damian Lillard or Bradley Beal at this moment.

So for the Warriors, I just don't see where those realistic options were. they're too theoretical. This isn't 2K. The options just aren't there. So what they did, whether you disagree with the picks or not, you know, 7 and 14,

they have some younger guys, some longer wing defenders, which is what they needed. And that's also what they went out and got in free agency. Getting B-Elitsa, now getting Igwe Dala, getting the guys that they got,

you know, will allow them to have more versatility on the defensive end of the floor. It's going to allow them to have better spacing on offense. and did I miss somebody just there, Chris? Otto Porter. Oh, yes, that's right. I forgot to say Otto Porter.

He stinks. He, I mean, he doesn't stink as a shoot. You talked about Otto Porter like he didn't stink when in the video. He doesn't stink. He just doesn't stay, he doesn't stay healthy. That's the problem. He's not good when he does. He's gained like 35 pounds.

He got paid $150 billion and he stinks. He didn't gain 35 pounds. Yes, he did. Okay. When was the last time you saw him play? He was out of shape. not the athlete he was. He ain't a shooter.

But you were like, he could just hit open threes. He shot 44% of his catch and shoot threes the last five years. Two attempts. No, and five attempts per game. The last five years. He has hit four or more threes in the game

less than 10 times in the last three seasons. He's not a three point shooter. Chris, it's not what he is. He's hit 44. He doesn't shoot him. But he's hit, I know, but he attempts the last five years about four and a half per game.

It's not like he's a low volume one and a half time per game shooter. He's attempted a lot of threes per game. He'll have like a five for six in one game and then he goes one for three. Because he's auto porter. Huh? Because it's not what he does. He's not a shooter. It's not what he is.

And not to mention he's not good. Like I don't, he's. Yeah, Chris. When is the last time you saw auto board a play? We're talking about the eighth man on the roster, the ninth man on the roster, just to provide some shooting on the team. How did they get better in any way? He's not better than Kelly Ubrae? Did you see their shooting last season?

And they lost Kelly Upray? Did you see what the team looked like the last couple of years without Clay Thompson? This team was a team with zero effective shooters behind Stefan Kari. Now they have some shooters and B-Eliza and Porter-O. Are those players, good players, great players? No, Auto Porter needs to prove he can say healthy. After I tweeted out the other day, something about I like the auto Porter signing, good potential situation for him to restore his value.

An executive texted me and he's like, are you kidding me? Auto Porter stinks, just like you did. He's like, auto Porter isn't good. He doesn't stay healthy. This doesn't help them. And we texted back and forth. I said pretty much the same thing I said to you. And I put in the video, at least he's a veteran who, you know, can provide some support

on that roster when you have two younger guys and Moses Moody and Jonathan Kaminga who maybe those guys can play maybe they can't. I know you like Moody Kaminga's raw. He looked really good in the first summer league game. We'll see if he continues. It's just freaking summer league. But Moody will help them.

The underlying point of the video was they added some shooters. Now they've since added Andre Godala. They added some younger guys with upside. Isn't that kind of what you want to do is have some young players with upside on a team that's old. So you can have one of those guys maybe pop and become a really good player, maybe even a great player. And now you have some veteran support in case those guys aren't ready to contribute.

I just look at the Warriors roster. And I see a lot of wing defenders around a team that's fueled by Steph, Clay, and Dremont. And I think that's kind of a good formula for success. it's closer to what the Warriors did pre-KD than what they had with KD, which was obviously a dynamic, unbelievable team, but did lack some depth in certain seasons. So I'm happy with what the Warriors did considering the circumstances. If Beal were available, that be a different story. If Simmons were totally available for them right now, be a different story.

But those guys aren't. So I like what they did given the circumstances. I thought it was disjointed and fails to build around Steph Curry properly in his prime. And I also think that the draft told us what we needed to know about what's going on there, which is Jonathan Cominga after the draft was interviewed. And they asked him about talking with Steve Kerr. And he said, I haven't talked to Steve Kerr. Of course, everybody was like, what?

And he's like, I went in for my workout. And then I went out to eat with Joe Lakeup. So, Kurt, Kerr was in there at the beginning of like the pre-draft process. He wanted Davy on Mitchell, from what I understand. And then he went to Japan and was totally out of the picture. Like I said,

from what I understand about their pre-draft process. It's also insanely weird for your owner to be the one going out to eat with your draft pick. And then talking about how much he loves the draft pick. It's just bizarre. There's a lot of, there's a lot of cooks in the Golden State front office. A lot of cooks. There's a lot of cooks in their front office.

And I think that's how you end up with what they've got going on right now, because I don't love it. I don't love it. And I say this as someone who loves Steph. Steph's probably my favorite non-Mifference Chrisly player of the last decade. The other thing is this. I mean, you talk, Clay, Clay hurt that right before last season. You got to remember, KD, who has come back, he's the greatest success story we have had coming back

from an Achilles. He was 18 months. You know? And so I don't know when, and I don't think we do know when Clay Thompson is going to be available and Clay Thompson for that team. I guess we'll see. Yeah, Chris, and that's the one thing in the video that, you know, I regret not discussing more that we put up on Thursday, which is getting into, well, if

Clay isn't the same guy. that changes everything. And I think we'll find that out pretty quickly. We're going to find that out, especially on the defensive end of the floor. He can, he can shoot threes, you know, sitting down. He doesn't need to move the shoot threes. Not a concern. I'm not concerned at all about him on offense.

Where I am concerned is about defense. Clay was a terrific defender. Will he still be a great defender at the wing position? That remains to be seen coming back from a ruptured Achilles that happened right after a torn ACL. Like you said, I mean, Katie. Katie had a lot of time to rehab that. Clay has not. I think that, and I still think, and I know you mentioned Wiseman in there,

I think that they could use Wiseman in order to augment that a little bit more. Obviously Wiggins' name has come up a lot, especially if they get Clay back and Clay's going to be healthy, not necessarily the most ideal fit with him, Curry, and Clay together, probably. And the Wiseman think, look, I am of the opinion Wiseman could be much more successful somewhere else. You know, he is not in,

unless they are going to play pick and roll basketball, he's not in a great setup because, as you know, Curry gets trapped at the top and he throws that ball to Dremont and now it's four on three. And you know who could play four on

three basketball, Draymond Green? Like he is perfect, as we've talked about, perfect match for Steph Curry. You know who can't do that? James Wiseman, right? So when the trap comes on Curry, damn near half court, and now you throw it to Draymond, it's an advantage for you. Because he basically can play point card from that spot.

When you throw it down to Wiseman, which is what they want you to do, that's a lot to put on a kid that didn't play college basketball. And then last year is a very quick learning curve. And so I actually think it could be better for the Warriors and it could be better for James if they find something. You know, they can help them more for the next two seasons, which, because you really don't want to mess around with Curry's Prime. What would you think about them trading for Ben Simmons? Let's just say at some point the Warriors give up on the dream of Dame or Beal and they're willing to, you know, talk about some younger players. And let's just say it's, you know, some combination of two young guys, some future picks, you know, salary, whatever the deal is.

But on paper, what do you think about a team for the Golden State Warriors that would have Ben Simmons and Dream on green on it? You get the playmaking from two bigger guys. Simmons and Curry would be dynamic. Your spacing would hurt. But like, you know, what do you think about that combination if they were to land him? If I could go get Ben Simmons and I'm Golden State, I would. I would go get Ben Simmons. If I don't have to give up Curry, Clay, or Dre in order to get that,

I would 100% go do that. Now, the problem is one of their best assets is Wiseman, and it's a team that's got Joel Embed, and now they just signed Andre Drummond. For what reason I don't really know, but whatever. That combination, after all the trolling they've done with each other over the years, it's going to be hilarious. It's just bizarre.

Yeah, I don't love it. I don't understand it. I can't imagine Joelle B. likes it too much either. Even if he says all the right things to the media, I'm sure in the back of his mind, he's thinking all the things that he said before about Drummond, you know, like this clown, you know, this guy can't, you know,

he can never stop me. You know, he can't stop anybody. I'm sure he's thinking those things, even if he's not saying it publicly. Even if everything looks fine, he's, I can't imagine he's happy. I just can't. I would be shocked if Joel Bid's like,

yeah, Andre Drummond, I'm fired up. But to your answer, to answer a question about Ben Simmons. Yes, I would go get Ben Simmons. And I would say that virtually about any team because I am one of those. We talked about this couple of weeks ago. I understand what Ben Simmons looked like in the playoffs.

I also understand that there was a lot of pressure on Ben Simmons to be much better than he was. Ben Simmons, we must recall, when they got knocked out by the Kauai shot in the corner, the narrative about that Sixers season and the way it all ended, was not about Ben Simmons the way it was this time around. The spotlight was on him much brighter.

And in my opinion, it's because he's flanked by Matisse Thibald and Seth Curry and Danny Green. And there is a greater expectation for him to be more offensively potent. Jimmy Butler took that away. You didn't notice as much because Jimmy Butler was the guy, right? and I do think if you were to put him next to a real scorer, I think you could get the same results, right? Like, he can't be one of the guys that you really do need to count on and that it's such a huge deal that he's doing everything else but scoring.

Now, hopefully he develops as time goes on, but I think it is exposed so much more when he's not flanked by a true scorer. but when you tell me that you'd be flanked by Steph Curry and Clay Thompson I think that'd be great. He does everything else well. Like he does, not well, he's great.

He is a great defender. He is a great rebounder. He is a great playmaker. He ain't a scorer, as we know. And I think it can work in the sense that the Warriors don't always play with four shooters and Draymont at the five. oftentimes they're playing with

Draymond, you know, and another big, whether it's Looney or Wiseman now or in the past, whether it was Bogot or David West, guys who could maybe shoot some mid-range jumpers, David Lee, but weren't necessarily three-point shooters. With Simmons and a green front court, if you did run that, your defense would have unbelievable versatility because green can defend those bigger guys. They can both switch on defense. And then on offense, they're the two best, you know, screening outlets in the league

in the sense that either of them could be a screener for Stefan Curry who's inevitably going to get trapped and has one of those guys he can dump it off to and Green could space the Florida three you know Simmons who will see what happens

with his training this off season maybe there's improvement there probably won't be but you know having Simmons and Green on the court it can work he can work he would fall back into that role that he was with Philly where it was

is pretty clear. Butler was the guy. Yes. And that's a good thing. And Embed was the second guy. And right? Ben's one of the others. And also it would also just provide another playmaking presence on the team to help

alleviate the pressure off of Steph to have to bring the ball up to court all the time to initiate the offense. You could essentially with Ben Simmons, like one of the things like with Philly, Ben Simmons has been awesome for the Sixers and the sixers. that he became a great defender, second and a defensive player of the year voting, all defense, unbelievable playmaking creates open shots for his teammates. But playing with Joel Lombie has hurt him in the sense of what his half-court value can be. And this is coming from somebody who's been, you know, very critical of Ben Simmons since before the draft. Ben Simmons,

can you imagine Ben Simmons in the Bam Adabial role where he's like at the elbows facilitating for his teammates even more often than he already does? Can you imagine him in the Drainwant Green Roll where he's screening and rolling to the rim, bringing the ball up the floor with all these shooters around him. Ben Simmons and Joel and Bede have always been an imperfect fit on offense. It has worked to great effect, but in playoff situations and individually for Ben Simmons, I can't think of a better situation for him than the Golden State Warriors,

if that were to happen at some point in the coming months. So I'd go forward to depending on the price. All right, let's go through a free agency that has happened. I'll start with the most recent. We covered Ecuador already. Willie Hernan Gomez agreed to a three-year deal with the New Orleans. Pelicans. I mean, not really a needle mover, but another, I guess, reliable big.

Kelly Ubre, two years, $13 million a year, or two years, $26 million. To the Charlotte Hornets. Charlotte's going to be a fun team. Obviously, Ubre did not help his value greatly. by playing with the Golden State Warriors as many expected. But the Hornets who were a fun league pass team last year, you figure you go back into this season and you have a mellow ball. You could have you get a book night, right?

You can have Kelly Ubrae. They're going to be forward to watch. You're going to be back. You could have Miles Bridges, PJ Washington. You know, they're going to be pretty fun, I think. They're going to run up and down the floor. more, man. They're going to be fun of watch. Oh, Terry.

That's such a great call. Oh, Terry. I love that. Kevin O. Ken Birch, this is the reason Zach Lowe and you are bitter rivals now over Kim Birch. Yeah, over Kim Birch, yep. Toronto. Three years, a $20 million deal. Good for him. I'm glad. You know, home in Canada, that's where he wanted to be. Um, it's, he's a great. good player. He's a really good player. That's a nice addition for the Raptors. They're going to be competitive. I like the Raptors. I love that they drafted Scotty Barnes. And Raptors fans are

already, they're already falling in love with him and Banton. They were two rookies. Barnes and band, they have like some fun, you know, Lowry-de Rosen-esque, you know, chemistry with each other, with their senses of humor. There's some great Raptors, you know, social team posted a video of them. Yeah, Raptors fans are already falling in love with their young players. They're going to like them. And, well, the big story, their biggest acquisition, no offense to Ken Birch and no offense to Scotty Barn. Their biggest acquisition was honestly the retainment of Masayu Jiri. Yesterday it came down.

Oh, yeah. And he got an extension. And he is going to be with that organization for the long term. What's his new title, Vice Chairman? Yes. Just soon he's going to be NBA commissioner. I think he is. He would not shock me if one day he is.

Yeah, I wouldn't shock me either. George Hill he cleared free agency waivers he's signing a deal with Milwaukee so he's going back to Milwaukee

where he was a couple of years ago Charlotte Hornet two we previously mentioned it is not done but they are

a team that has emerged with great interest in Lori Markinen now I'm out on marketing but

I mean at this point you'd imagine it's a greatly reduced price than what we once thought was the going rate for Lori Marketing. And we talked about the Hornets being such a fun league pass team.

You know, if you can knock down open three, Zlmelo's going to get you some. One other team to watch for marketing is the Dallas Mavericks. I've heard they also have interest. So there's some sign and trade possibilities involving him. With Charlotte, Dallas, those seem to be the two teams, two teams that I'm hearing about the most.

Lou Williams went back to Atlanta. Lou actually had some playoff moments for Atlanta. and filled in ably for Trey Young when he was injured during their playoff run. The Knicks re-signed Julius Randall. Four years, $117 million is what Randall got. Are you surprised he signed now instead of waiting? No. I think it's very, very difficult to look at a piece of paper.

Not that I ever have, but I can imagine if you looked at a piece of paper that said, $117 million, I think it's difficult to not sign that, right? It's $117 million. It's not like, is it worth, if somebody's willing to pay you that and you say, look, I could think about what I could have had, but I can have, if I signed right now, I'm guaranteed $117 million, I'll never be surprised that somebody signed their name to that. I mean, there's a threshold where, you know, the difference in millions doesn't change your possibilities in life. Like, you can still, you can still go up there with Branson and Bezos if you want to at some point.

Yes. And, well, I mean, and he, I guess he's, the total value of his deal is five years and 140 million. That's pretty good, Kevin. Yeah. Oh, yeah. I know. It's pretty good. I don't know, but you're waiting for. There's also a chance that he plays out the year and value diminishes or you suffer an injury. Oh, for sure. It's about hedging your bets and getting long-term security, life-changing generational wealth for your family and their families to come. Look, I'm a Julius Randall fan. If we're putting the odds on Julius Randall being an all NBA player again, I mean,

it's probably pretty long odds. You know what I'm saying? Like, you've got to be one of the top 15 guys in the league. There's a lot of guys out, you know, that opened some slots. And there's a lot of great players. I mean, that's not a demerit on him. It's just hard to make an all NBA team. And he did it.

And so if we look back and that was Julius Randall's career year, that would be a hell of a career year and nobody would be shocked by it. You know? and it wouldn't be, you could still be an outstanding player in the league with that with that being your best year and you not maybe achieving that.

I'll tell you what though, Chris. You also can't rule out further improvement from him because I think with Julius Randall, it's important to remember he was a dud on defense before last season. He was a dud on defense. Going back to Kentucky, he was not good. He was really good

last season on the defensive end of the floor for the Knicks. Offensively, the improvement that we saw from him as a shooter. Maybe it's a one year aberration. It's a one year outlier, 41% from three, over five attempts per game. Maybe that ends up being an outlier and he falls back down to below 30%. But he's also a flashed the ability to do some stuff off the dribble for you. Maybe he's taking more dribble jumper threes than he was last season rather than just spot

ups. I just think we'll see. And I think it's fair to say he could be a better player with not as good as that. Yeah, that's a great point. Great point. He's got Kemba there now. Better player, but worse stats. It's very possible. He was the man on that team.

It will be fascinating to see now that they've added Kemba Walker post buyout from Oklahoma City where what the pecking order is, right? Because there was no question. He was the guy and everybody fell in line

behind Randall. He was their best player. played 40-something minutes every single night. He delivered for them over and over again until, of course, they got to the postseason. But now, a little less stress on him, too, probably. He probably gets to take. He made a lot of hard shots last year, a lot that did not fall in the playoffs. It wasn't like he just all of a sudden started taking a bunch of difficult shots. He made difficult shots a whole year for the Knicks.

he was a great shot maker. You'd imagine with the dynamic guard like Kimball Walker that you're going to be able to it's going to ease some pressure on you. You're going to get a little less attention. And maybe some of those shots become a little bit easier. But the volume just may not be as high because you got better players around you now. You got Kimball Walker. You got Evan Fournier.

You hope R.J. Barrett takes a step up. You know, you got guys that are also going to take shots too on that team. you know, where it was, he was kind of the man. Do you like the Kemba thing? That was kind of out of nowhere. For $8 million? Hell, yeah, I liked the Kemba thing. I love him back in the garden.

Oh, it's going to be awesome to watch that. And also, like, there's a difference between liking Kimba Walker at $30 million. I can't do that. Can I like Kemba Walker for $8 million? I absolutely adore Kemper Walker for $8 million annually. What a steal for the Knicks to have Kemba on your books for only $8 million. That's big time for them because he can still be a contributing player. And now at that salary, if he's not All-Star Kemba anymore,

he could be six man of the year, Kemba Walker, if you ever end up getting like a Damian Lillard. Let's just say theoretically, if you ever get a superstar in that back court, Kemba can become six man of the year, Kemba. Yep. Washington, they set Chandler Hutchinson and a 22-second round pick to San Antonio in part of a deal that would send Spencer Dinwiddie in a sign and trade.

Brooklyn is getting a 2024 second and a 2025 pick swap from the Wizards. Like I said, the Wizards are sending Chandler Hutchison to San Antonio. And Spencer Dinwiddie is going to be paired up with Brad Beale in that Wizards back court and signed a three-year $62 million contract in conjunction with that sign and trade. Dinwiddie, of course, one of the sad stories of last year. And as we know the way it played out, Brooklyn could have used him desperately down the stretch with their injuries. And what amazing insurance he would have been for them. Well, I didn't know if he was going to get a contract like this, though, Kev.

20 million bucks a year. I'm a Dinwiddie fan. I also am one that likes to see the results after injury. And be not to admit, like this is not, this isn't injury one for Spencer Dinwiddie. Like this, even going back to college, you know, I remember when he was coming out in the draft, some people really liking him. but he had had a college season that was messed up because of injury. Last year, not totally unlike the Lavert thing, right, back in the day.

So I would just be, you know, I'd be a little timid about that because, but that's what happens, right? Like you pay the money and then you hope. And here's hoping that he's able to come back fully healthy and realize his potential because when healthy, I really liked Dinwiddie as a player. I do. He's a really, really savvy pick and roll playmaker. Very good. Fluid with the ball.

Good decision maker can make buckets, you know, off the bounce for you. I like what the Wizards did this off season. And let me just say this straight off the bat. I don't know if this is going to work. I don't think anybody can know if this is going to work. But this team's 12 deep. Unsell Jr., their new head coach is going to have to make some tough decisions with the rotation.

and I don't know how good this team is going to be. The East is better now, but the Wizards are better too. They're a deeper team and that Dinwiddie Beal back court. I like the balance that those two are going to have. So for Washington, they don't have two stars anymore. No more Westbrook and Beale, but they do have one star in a deep roster with talent. Maybe now Beal can try to become the guy who's recruiting others. Whether that ends up panning out, whether he ends up saying, you know what, I'm going to leave, who knows,

what the future brings. But I really like what the Wizards of the soft season because they can build on this foundation. And this is like as we've talked about

more good players. You know, as you say, they go deep now. Like, now you look up and down and it's sometimes there's,

that's the trick to this, right? How many times do I have to play a player that really hurts me out on the court? And so they have,

yes, they have less, star power, but a better accumulation of talent to say the least. They're deep, man. I mean, by the way, they weren't good last year. So what does it matter? No, of course. What does it matter?

I was, I was looking at their roster last night. And I was just kind of like trying to figure out the depth chart. And I mean, so you got Harold, Hachimora, Bertons, Beal, Dinwiddie, potential starting five. Bench could potentially be Gafford, Kuzma, Kispert, Caldwell, Pope, Netto, that, That's five guys. What about Avdia? What about Holiday?

Like, that's another two. Thomas Bryan at some point comes back. You know, Garrison Matthews, who played last year suddenly is way out of the rotation. You know, so like, this is a, at least 12 deep in terms of guys who could get NBA rotation minutes. So I wonder how they're going to trim that down to nine or 10 on most nights. Everybody's been paying attention to all of the player transactions, but there was a

coaching transaction that certainly caught my eye. And that was Mike D. Anthony agreeing to become a consultant for Willie Green down in New Orleans. Because Mike D. Antonio, of course, was there with Steve Nash helping along with that last year in Brooklyn. And now, Mike D. and Tony, who has helped many different teams in the past and is well known as an offensive genius. Say whatever you want about him as a defensive basketball coach. He loves offense and he cares deeply about offense and he is good at coaching offense. And he has done it in a myriad of different ways.

You know, teams that he has been associated with have played all different kinds of ways. including through one guy like Hardin years ago, or whether he was with those seven seconds or less sons or even last year's Brooklyn team, who by the end they were really sharing the ball with each other, got that to work. It will be fascinating because on paper, the Pelicans thing seems odd.

But we had talked on Tuesday, and I said, I don't know how they helped themselves defensively on a team that stunk defensively, but maybe they'll just score 160 points a game and that'll be the deal. Well, if you bring in Mike D. and Tony, maybe they will. Maybe they'll just be a team that runs you out because Lord knows they got bucket getters all over for sure. I mean, along those lines, they're not done yet. You know, they just signed Hern and Gomez. You mentioned earlier, Josh Hart is still a free agent. It's possible. Hart goes back to the Pelicans. I'm told that he could

potentially be a sign and trade candidate as well. That could bring something else back, maybe another shooter who could be available. So for New Orleans, they're not necessarily done yet, even though the defense is imperfect, their offense is going to be awesome. Here's what I'll say. I would keep Josh Hart. I love Josh Hart. What if you could get Buddy healed, though?

I would move Josh Hart. You got me. You got me quick. No, I am a, look, I would be, and I get to come by this honest. I'll give them praise if they bring him back. I think they should bring him back. And another team, if they brought in Josh Hart, I would be a fusive in praise. I think Josh Hart is one of those kind of guys.

I think he can shoot better than he showed in New Orleans. You know, he was a better shooter in L.A. Honestly. Auto Porter, not a shooter. Josh Hart, shooter. I didn't say he was a shooter. I said he could shoot better. But what he brings to the table?

I'm just poking fun at you, Chris. Well, the last game that he played before he got injured this year, it's 17 rebounds in the game. He's a baller. He averaged eight per game at six foot five. this guy is a dog and he's going to be in the league for like 15 years. He's going to be one of those guys

that every team wants for the end of time, right? It's like Jay Crowder, people don't love his percentages all the time, but everybody wants a Jay Crowder on their team. Josh Hart is that kind of guy. He is a legitimate role player that has bought in and understands. He doesn't think he's a star.

He does everything else to make his team better. So if that calls for diving on the floor or defending the other best player or going and grabbing 17 rebounds or which interestingly enough, the 17, that is the amount auto Porter has gotten in the last three years. He got that in one game. 17 rebounds. Josh Hart is a dog and I love him as a role player on every team with stars needs role players. and sometimes they're few and far between of the guys that truly accept what they are within the context of the league

and then make themselves, as you said many times about some of those Phoenix guys, a star in your role, I'd pay Josh Hart. Now, look, he's not Buddy Healed. Buddy Healed is a needle mover. For any team in the league, I believe that. Maybe outside of the one he's been

stuck in purgatory playing for since he's been drafted. Yeah. And we'll see what happens with Hart. There seems to be, you know, with Heart and Marketing, there's a lot of possibilities as I'm recording at Noontime, Eastern on Friday. Yeah. Speaking of Buddy Heald's team, Sacramento, Terrence Davis, it's a two-year deal for Terrence Davis.

This is one of the great stories of the draft a few years ago. Toronto with the huge find, right? He was undrafted, I believe. I don't know. Did he get taken? I don't think he got taken to him. Yeah, he was undrafted. How do the Raptors find every good undrafted free agent?

It's unbelievable, isn't it? Well, and I told you that when I, I'll never forget when I was going through my article that year, and I was, he was on a lot of second round mocks. I asked one decision maker in the NBA about him, and his response was he should play football. Now, in fairness, he is not from far from where I am. He's from Mississippi. And I said that on the air one time.

And I had multiple people reach out to me and said, that's not a bad thing, Chris. You have no idea how awesome this guy is at football. And I was like, oh. Like, he was evidently a real thing. Like, you know, and then we've had guys like that in the past, obviously, most famously Charlie Ward 100 years ago from Florida State, but that he was a great high school football player. And even I think at Ole Miss,

at least one of the coaches had broached like, hey, come on, come play for us too, right, when he was playing there in college. He was a wide receiver, I believe, six foot four wide receiver, you know, wide frame. I could see him as a red zone target. Yep. Oh, I love here the first.

football stories. There's not that many guys anymore that play football anymore. No. A lot of guys give it up early. One of the craziest conversations I ever had with a guy about football was

once upon a time I was told by an executive in the NBA that the best wide receiver they had ever seen ever was Matt Barnes

and I was like what? Now you can go back and look it probably lists this on his Wikipedia or something Matt Barnes in California was like Brandy Moss he was he was a letterman in football and basketball here in all American

all state all CIF all city all league honors and I think he broke a touchdown record he had 20 something touchdowns or something receiving in high school. Okay. So I asked him, I interviewed Barnes one time, and I asked him about it. He said there is not one day that he wakes up and does not wonder what would have been.

And it's like a regret. Wow. Like, I think that Matt Barnes thinks he would have been a Hall of Fame NFL player. Wow. And I will tell you that I have met two people in my life that saw Matt Barnes play football that told me he would have been. Like he played in big high school football, California. And, I mean, just imagine, like, imagine what he would look like as a receiver. I mean, Matt Barnes, you know, he is long, he is athletic and evidently is faster than crap.

They said he just caught everything, everything. It's kind of crazy, right, to think back on it. Then this kid, this Terrence Davis, evidently. I mean, we've seen, I mean, like Antonio Gates is one example. He is the obvious example. But, you know, if Antonio Gates had stuck with basketball, he wouldn't have had an NBA career necessarily. You know, DeAndre Hopkins played basketball at Clemson

and was not very good. but he's tall, he can, he's fast, can run routes, his good hands. It is one of the best receivers in all the football. I wonder how many NBA players had they played football or continued playing football could have thrived, you know, as a, as a wide receiver, a cornerback, a quarter, a cornerback, you know, running back, QB. Julius Peppers was on great North Carolina teams. Oh, yeah.

Tony Gonzalez is a pretty good college basketball players. Yeah. Even next year's potential number one pick, Paolo Bancherro played football, I think, until ninth grade, and he was a quarterback, and he was a really good quarterback, yeah. And he gave it up because he wanted to focus on basketball

and didn't, you know, love the hitting as much. It's wild you say that because I, when I very first started my career, I was in radio, and I was doing a show with the guy who used to be a coach at Notre Dame for Lou Holtz 100 years ago,

as his name's Pete Cordellie. Pete Cordellie and I were doing the show together, and he starts talking on the air about this guy that he coached with at Notre Dame, who's now coaching at Ohio State. And he comes on the air. And I told my son this story, I said, because this is the first time I had ever heard the name LeBron James, and I will never forget it. And it's crazy because it was about a month ago I ran into Coach Cordellie. and I told him, do you remember this? So he comes in to the show one day, and he goes on, he says, I was talking to my friend last night. He coaches in Ohio, and he says he went to a high school football game, and he said he just saw the best high school football player he's ever seen, and he's a freshman.

His name is LeBron James, and he's in Akron. and he starts telling me about I know I'm the hand of God the first time I ever heard about LeBron James was as a football player because some coach that was friends with the guy I was doing with the show with had just seen him the night before and God knows what he looked like as a football player

I mean he probably did look like the best right I mean back in like 05 06 oh 7 back when I used to play Madden I remember making LeBron James in the game. Like I would make LeBron. Well, you know they put what's their names in there last year? Because I went upstairs one day and my son was playing. They put all three Ante Coupo brothers in there.

I'm serious. Wait, like did your son make him in the game? No, Madden. In Madden? Yes. I didn't see any of that. The three Ante Cumpo brothers were all in Madden. last year.

Like you could add them to like the my team. Oh yeah, yeah, whatever it was. Yep. As part of an NBA crossover thing. I see that back in October last year. They did NBA crossover.

They added the Anta-Combo brothers. That's cool. So you could add them to your roster. And he was like, Dad, look at this. And I was like, great if they could fix the gameplay

in franchise mode instead. Oh, I know. I said, who is that? He's like, that's Yonis. And I'm like,

wait, what? Yeah. Giannas on his team playing playing Madden last year. You see you see with 2K this coming year they have a new feature like you can you can like have like a non basketball

career in your my player mode you can like become a rapper if you want to. Can we fix the gameplay? Like can we make this can we fix the gameplay? You can be a rapper. Yeah. Love love if they worked on something else. That'd be nice.

Same with that. Same with NHL. I think there are some video games. Like I didn't play video games for like five, six years until last year during the pandemic. Like I liked playing Madden last year. I had fun with it. I still think I wish it were better in the year 2021 than it, that I would have expected it to be back in 05, 06, 07.

I think not having the 2K rivalry hurt creation and innovation between those two franchises. But like NHL, have you ever played? that game, Chris? NHL used to be great back in like 2011, 2012. It stinks. It stinks. You want me tell you the best one?

You only tell you the best one by a wide, wide margin that I have bought in the, because I rarely play video games. Of course, I'll play with my son every once in a while. You know, I learned for a bit how to play

Fortnite so I could play with them. My daughter now plays Fortnite. In fact, she yesterday begged and begged and begged me for a new skin. And I was like, Hey,

she wants LeBron skin in there? She's already got LeBron. Okay. He came out when Space Jam came out. Oh, no. And I said, what is this one? And I said, if you get it, you're not getting any for another week.

Because I ain't penny in 20 bucks for V bucks for you to buy. And so I said, I said, let me see it. So she hands me your switch. You know who it is? It's Ariana Grande. Oh, my goodness. That's something else.

She wants to be Ariana Grande. playing Fortnite. I'm like, wait, Ariana Grande's going to run around with a machine gun killing you. And I was like, all right, I'm in. I just want to see it. Oh, they actually have a, I just

Googled that they have an Ariana Grande concert and Fortnite coming up. Oh. We're living in the future, Chris. We're living in the future. Look, man, I only have one skin when I play. When I play, what's it called?

Fortnite? I only have one. It's like a job. Rogers or something? No, it's Astro Jack. It's Travis Scott with the big, with the big astronaut helmet on. Yeah, that's who I have. Yeah.

That's the only one I bought. I've only played Fortnite a couple of times because like that's the peak of Fortnite was before I got a console again last year. But I think Fortnite, Apex, some of these, you know, you know, shooting games, do an awesome job with updates. Yeah. Call the D. Warzone for any of the people who listen to this podcast to play that game.

it's kind of an embarrassment, the state of the game. Like how you allow a game to have so many hackers for there to be so few updates? Like, I think it's hard to build a video game. I'm not, you know, but like it's with the state of games like Fortnite apex, the amount of updates they have, the amount of features they have to always keep it feeling fresh. I wish that could happen for the people that are investing 60 plus dollars a year until, you know, a Madden or into, you know, call of duty with all the, you know, the pay for play stuff that they essentially have. have a lot of people investing their time, their money or their parents' money into these games. It'd be great if the product, you know, were better. No, no cheaters would be nice. That'd be a start. No cheaters. That would be great. No cheaters. Is that too much to ask Chris?

No cheaters? An anti-cheat. That would be great. Kevin O'Call a duty. I'm sick and tired of getting someone auto-locking on to me with wall hacks. Oh, boy, I don't even, you are, you might as well be speaking Chinese. I don't. I don't even know what that is. Soon enough, you'll hear William screaming. Oh, I hear him scream every day. Every day. I mean, he does he play, you know, he doesn't play Wars or right?

I mean, I went up there and it was on the console and I was like, what is this? Call of Duty Wars. He wasn't supposed to be playing. It's a great game when it's great. It's, but when there's cheaters in the lobby and all that, it, it's too Benny right now. It's crazy. I don't play much. I rarely buy, I really just buy sports games.

I'm going to tell you this, because I'll give them credit. The best game that I bought in, I cannot tell you, years and years and years, is the show. The baseball game is amazing because you can just play challenges on that, you know, and they've got it with baseball cards and you can, you know, you can win packs and you can, like, open up and build your roster, and you can play with Babe Ruth or Roberto Clemente or Bob Gibson. It's awesome. Like legitimately awesome. I obviously do not have the time nor the energy to be playing video games all the time.

But if I had like 30 minutes and I just wanted to play something for a little bit, it's fun. Like legitimately fun. And the graphics are great. And the announcers are great. Everything about that game, I love. True. The show has always been probably the best sports game. It's great.

And I'm sure like it's probably easier in some ways to build a great baseball game versus a great football game or a great basketball game or a great soccer game or hockey game. Because just the way the sport is, right? It's so much more dynamic, free flowing. You know why it's huge though, Kev? It's huge because I'll give you an example. A week ago, I went to the Cubs Reds game in Wrigley Field. my son knew virtually every player on that field.

He doesn't watch baseball. He knows them because of the game. And that's how they kids now because of Madden and 2K and everything else, that's how they know rosters and they know players. It was the same thing for me, Chris, around that age. That's how I learned all the NBA players back in 01, 0203. It's how I learned all the NFL players. It's how I knew, you know, offensive linemen for teams that I didn't.

root for or watch at all. I knew because of the video games. And I think, I still think today, clearly with your son, like a good example, video games are a great way to learn about the league. And I still contribute. I still look back at playing Madden. I used to play Madden. And I used to play some baseball games online a lot of a time, including MVP baseball.

That's one reason why I think I really fell in love with the transactional element of sport. and like the business side of it and building out a roster, how to, you know, have a system, what type of personnel to put together is because I love doing it. I love putting the puzzle pieces together in the video games. So it was always fun to do that. And yeah, it's just a good guide to understand that side of things with the salary cap and all that. And also just understanding who the players are, who's good. And yeah, I love it.

I still think despite some of my criticisms, it still has a lot of value. you if you just approach it from a entertainment perspective rather than looking for a simulation. If you're looking for a simulation, some of these games aren't for you or for me, maybe quite as much anymore, but I still like throwing on Madden sometimes. I still like throwing on Madden. I'll get it the day it comes out. I'm going to do, I'm going to get it too. I will.

I'll get it the day it comes out. I'm going to keep on playing the war zone and getting killed by HACIS. Yeah. No, the people that love stuff the most, most of the ones that complain about it the most. Because, exactly, and that's because you love it so much, you know there's little ways that it can be better. Right.

Oh, look, like, anytime, go talk to a wrestling fan. They hate wrestling. You know what I mean? Go talk to like a Star Wars fan. They hate Star Wars. You know, anybody, go to any of these boards. It's just people bitching about this stuff. Yeah.

You know what I mean? I love golf. I listen to golf podcasts. It's just people complaining about that. call in many times. And so I think that's just the way it goes. Anything you're very, very passionate about, right? No, it isn't too much to ask for like, can you remove glitch goals in NHL?

Like, why do by facing all these people doing the same cross crease, you know, thing every single time? Why does my goalie not know that's coming? Right. And more so can we get, like, can we remove auto aim? Can we remove wall hacks? Wall hacks, what they are, Chris is like, you can see through the wall and know we're people are. Oh, God. AutoAim would mean like it automatically locks onto your body or your head.

It's incredibly unfair. That's not war. Yeah, that's not fair. That's not what happens in war. So unrealistic. Very unrealistic. All right. I want real war. And also pathetic. Speaking of to spend $50 a month on a hack. But anyway, that's a different topic. Before we get out of here, we need to know one very, very important answer out of you. Kevin O'Connor. Kevin O'Connor. Tonight, will you be rooting for the French?

Rudy Gobert, Frank Nilakina, almost had a trillion the other night with the, what do you play, like seven minutes and he had a whole bag of nothing? He's outstanding. Will you be rooting for Rudy Gobert and Frank Nilakina or will you be rooting for the United States?

I'm rooting. for the United States. Only because Devin Booker's on the team. I'm an American. Yeah, but come on. I mean, you know what I'm really rooting for, Chris? Is a great game. That's what I'm actually rooting for.

It's an unbelievable basketball game that goes down to the wire with a brilliant moment at the end. That's what I really want. And it would be nice if America won. Somebody asked me the other day, they were like, I said, do you think that Mavericks fans, if it comes down to the gold medal game, do you think Mavericks fans are going to be rooting for Slovenia?

And I was like, you know. That's a funny. That's a fun question. What's that? And I was like. True. You know, American Texans.

I'm an American. Yeah. I'm in America. And then they said to me, they said, if John Morant was playing for Slovenia, which you. And I was like,

you know. Yeah. I mean, Silver is pretty great Silver is still awesome You're still meddling You know what I mean I don't know

Who would I be more happy for? You would be rooting for Slovenia If John was playing for that team You would be you would be rooting for France For that matter Chris Because even though they have Gober No way If they had John

Couldn't bring myself to do it Oh I tell you this You won't celebrate a lick if United States wins. But I promise you, I'm, I'm deleting Twitter off of my thing if Nilakina hits a game winning shot or something because you'll be on Twitter within one second. Frankie. Frankie smokes. Or if Rudy Gobert block somebody at the rim to win the game.

Oh, that would be outstanding. I love me, some Rudy Gaubert, Frank Nillian, Hayes. Killing and AIDS, that's right. Did you see that picture of him yesterday? I did not. You got to go look at this. Somebody tagged us on it and said, you know, Kevin might be onto something, whatever, and tagged this picture.

It do look like he'd been in the wait room for the last six months. Oh, offseason bulk photo? I didn't see that. Yeah. Bulk photo Killian. Interesting. Yeah. He must have just been doing his reps.

And he's like, F. Cade Cunningham. Take my spot. No way. He's just doing reps in the gym. He looked like, Killion Hayes looked like a different dude in that picture I saw. But you never know.

Did you see a good Instagram filter? Cade Cunningham officially measured at 6 foot 6. Still a big guard. He was listed at 6.8, or I believe, at Oklahoma State. So he's six foot six. That's the official measurement for Cade Cunningham.

Last thing, I don't know why that kid was not on TV and on interviews and everything a lot more in college and then post-college. I've seen more of Cade Cunningham in the last week. Draft night and then after draft night, I knew nothing really about him

outside of watching him play some at Oklahoma State. He is like, star power off the court. He is. Oh, he's electric. I love him. You said that interview with him, like answering a bunch of non-basketball questions.

That was hilarious. That was great. We should, I think, I think that should be incorporated. Why was he never like, that was never really like a thing? Like his personality is great.

I really enjoyed his interview on the, the old man in the three with JJ and Tommy too. I thought he really was great, showed like his vision for his future too. He seems very mature. He's a father too. Yes. Yes. Yeah, he's got a good head on his shoulders. Intensly likable.

Yeah, very likable. Pistons fans are going to fall in love pretty quickly with this team. That's for sure. All right, Kevin. We'll see what else happens over the weekend as a free agency is still going on. There's still a bunch of names out there that do not have teams associated with them yet. Big thanks to Sasha Eschow, our executive producer who is back in the fold

she's come back to us Kevin Sasha's back welcome back Sasha the only producer that has come back to us usually they just leave us forever and I don't want to say they end up doing better off but there's sometimes I feel like they've done better off but Sasha's back with us which is super

exciting for us it really helps our confidence and egos greatly that we didn't get ditched for the 75th time in four years. We're the podcast killers, not coach killers, podcast producer killers. I know. Well, we will be back next week. Have a great weekend, everybody. We'll talk to you next Tuesday.