The Ringer NBA Show - Eight Big Questions Ahead of the 2024-25 Season | Group Chat

Episode Date: October 17, 2024

Justin Verrier, Wosny Lambre, and Rob Mahoney tackle eight questions that pique their interest ahead of the upcoming NBA season. They discuss: Power ranking picks they already regret (00:00) “Preseason bulls--t” they’re buying (15:36) Must-watch League Pass teams (25:18) The team that will positively surprise them (33:15) The team that will disappoint them (40:32) Brandon Ingram trade destinations (45:42) Most intriguing new addition (56:40) Most intriguing under-the-radar player (01:02:08) Hosts: Justin Verrier, Wosny Lambre, and Rob Mahoney Producer: Troy Farkas Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hi, I'm Tara Palmieri. I'm Puck Senior Political Correspondent and host of Somebody's Got to win. Brought to you by The Ringer and Spotify. The 2024 election has been upended with Joe Biden off the ticket and Donald Trump facing a new challenger, Kamala Harris. If you want to hear what the insiders are really saying about the race, join me Tuesdays and Thursdays as I break it all down with lawmakers, journalists, and political strategists.

We'll go deeper than the headlines to the anxieties at the highest levels of power. And of course, we'll chew over all the hot political gossip as we head into this historic election. Be sure to follow. Somebody's got to win at Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. And welcome to group chat. I am Justin Barrier. And joining me, Rob Mahoney, Big Wads. We're back.

We're what? Less than a week away from actual NBA basketball. The preseason vibes are still flowing high. I'm going to see Oom tonight. What's up with you guys? I will be locked into the Mets game three at City Field first of three straight home games

where we try to get an advantage in this series, man. I'm not going to lie, mildly depressed on Sunday as we got smoked in game one, but then just quickly put that my worry to bed in game two and I hope we do more the same tonight. Let's go Mets. Well, as we hope to do more of the same was, what is it that you're bringing to the table for the Mets?

Like, what are you contributing to the process? Just a general good juju. Usually I'm pretty pessimistic about the Mets, but just the nature of this team just like never say die impossible to kill. It's flipped me into being eternally optimistic, all of the ninth inning comeback. So it's like you feel like you're never dead when you're rooting for this team. And so that's what I'm bringing.

man. I'm just taking away my Jets funk, which is just, let's not even get into that. And I'm just bringing nothing but positive vibes. I'm manifesting. I got crystals that I'm rubbing together, Rob. I'm writing this stuff down. Affirmations. I'm doing all of this stuff in service of getting the

freaking New York Mets to the World Series. Right. And we should mention we're recording Wednesday afternoon. So we don't know the results of game. First and foremost, whether or not Grimmis is going to be in attendance. Not only in attendance, but I expect his ass to be there right behind home plate. If he's a real fan, he would have gotten those good tickets. You think so?

I think so. Was, do you think he's going to be there? He's 150 million percent going to be there. The Mets are all in on this, like, wacky postseason run. And so, like, again, like I explained on the show, this is just the most Mets. thing ever. And so the oh my God, the grimace, the, all of it is just, it's, it's, it's high level met stuff. I just, I think the recording in advance really heightens the drama because by the time you listen to this, the crystals could be shattered. All the affirmations could be shredded.

Like, who's to say what could happen in the next 24 hours? Grimmis could have turned into a villain, you know? He lives along as a hero. I mean, they could have plucked him by now. Like, it could be a disaster. Grimmus could be dead right in the middle of Broadway as we're speaking. Yeah. But we don't know because we're only here to talk about preseason basketball or regular season basketball from the perspective of preseason. We've got six episodes of content.

If you want to go team by team, we did the preseason power rankings. There are six parts. There's a nice little playlist that they put together for us that you can go and check out. If you want to go tier by tier, or if you want to go team by team, but we are doing now the NBA season entrance survey. This is what we typically do

right after the power ranking. So I have, let's see, eight questions to go through here. Anything you guys want to talk about before we get in here? Do you just want to dive right in? I want to go straight in.

We've wasted enough time already. You don't want to hear about my perspective on Ulm, the opponent of the Portland Trailblazers tonight? Or you just want to go right in? I mean, what do you have? What do you have for us?

I don't have anything. but I've heard that they have two prospects. So I'm excited to learn who those people are and then perhaps watch what, two quarters of them playing basketball. There you go. All right. Number one starts with the power rankings.

First up, are there any power rankings mulligans that you guys have? So we recorded these over the course of what, two and a half weeks at this point? We probably turned in our ballots sometime in September. I'm curious, what are you guys feeling now a couple weeks from moving this? anything you guys would change as a result?

For me, just the past couple of days with the Joelle, you know, I'll never play it back to back for the rest of my life. Paul George with the bone bruised, Jamal Murray held out of games. I kind of just had like a kind of many, you know, I don't want to say panic,

but just like thinking about injuries and how important a role that they play now in today's NBA. And I think I would have been a little bit less cavalier about my Nuggets placement. Because even if it's not Jamal Murray, who, like, they can't win the championship without Jamal Murray.

No. But, like, if it's Aaron Gordon that gets, like, that's, they're done. Do you know what I'm saying? Like, it's O, where's OKC because their team is more deep and, like, with more people, more guys that are proven, they're relying on less unproven quantity. like, you know, let's just say

Isaiah Hartenstein went down. Like, it'll be mostly fine. Like, even J-Dub, like, it would be like, damn, that's crazy. But, like, it would be kind of okay. You know, I think they're just more resilient in terms of withstanding some bad injury luck. And so that's what I would say,

yeah, OKC because of the nature of their depth. I think you've got to look at them, you know, not just on 10. as, you know, slightly a more sure bet than Denver, who is just, you know, not only are they not as deep as they used to be the guys that they're relying on, man. Like, if, again, if Aaron Gordon doesn't, like, they don't have, they don't have anything there. Like, it's not happening.

You can't just put Zeke Najee in at the fore. Like, it's not going down. Death matters more now. Yes, 100%. As we're seeing across the league, Rob, it just seems like teams that are younger and deeper or going to have more regular season success. I think that's very possible. And I think it's also just a matter of like with where the league is in terms of the balance and the parity, it's going to be very small things that are going to swing meaningful like chunks of a conference, right? The entire

portion of a bracket can hinge on one injury at the wrong time. And so yeah, if you're a little deeper, I think you're better position than you've ever been probably to contend in the modern NBA. We've moved so far away from the like, let's team up three stars and hope for the best model. And now if you're going eight and nine, I mean, in some cases, 10 deep, like some of these contenders are, you're really well positioned to survive. Like the NBA more than ever feels like a game of survival. Game of survivor, perhaps even. Is it? I will say, you know, we're coming to you live from just publishing the top 100 rankings, you know, all your feedback has been beautiful and very kind.

All constructive. All incredibly constructive. I will say in terms of the copy, you know, we obviously. divvy it up among several of us who are on the panel, a lot of wrestling references, including from you, Justin. I didn't know you had that deep in your bag.

I definitely wrote most of them as I was going through the Mr. McMahon docks. So if you actually look at, especially for mine, you look at when they were written, it does tend to reflect what I was watching at the time. If I had I been watching like industry, you know,

there'd be a lot of like Coke references. It's just like watching Luca Dantran. is like doing a line. I'm a product of my environment. What can I say? Yeah. But Rob, any Mulligans on your end?

I felt like in retrospect and seeing how things have kind of turned out some of this preseason, also just like feeling out the vibe around the team, I think we may have been too kind to the Pelicans at 16. Oh, wow, too kind. Too kind.

Do we have to go back to our original Pelicans rule, which is that you cannot trust the Pelicans? You can never trust them. You simply can never trust them. And look, I think we wanted to give them the benefit of the doubt for a pretty successful regular season last year. That's a good instinct to have. But man, just the energy around the team, I do not like the fact that they don't seem to know what they're doing on offense. And in a lot of ways, haven't even gotten to the hard part yet because Zion and Ingram and Dejante Murray haven't all played together.

I want to give them room to kind of get up to speed. But at the same time, if you can't even look right with the simplified version of your offense, how is this going to look right when all those guys are trying to work on? around each other. How about Herb Jones, professional center in the NBA, who I believe starts sometimes at the two. Now, he's a wing and he's a bigger wing and we believe in his defensive capabilities. But like the amount of LeBron is our power forward for the big three heat, like mumbo jumbo that's coming out of the pelicans is pretty thick right now. Like if they had to guard centers, it would be Tice who's on the floor. And if not, it's probably going to be Zion. They just

doesn't want to say that because they don't want to say the Zion's the center. I'm just like not even bothered by the center situation as much as the overall state of things. You know, that's one problem on the board, but they have many problems on the board. Can't believe that Jenny Craig Zion didn't solve all the ills. What year is it? Of this team. If you know, you know, baby. That's right.

Get Richard Simmons out to New Orleans that. But you're right. The vibes aren't good. We'll talk about Brandon Ingram a little bit later. That situation still isn't cleared up. They still don't have a center. You're right. There's a lot of parts moving with this team.

And they're feeling a little iffy to me. The team that I have down here, though, is your Minnesota Timberwolves. So I don't know if you guys have seen the clip of Dante DiVincenzo telling Rick Brunson to basically fuck off. Yeah. I think they might win 82 games this year as a result. Oh, you think we undershot the. Yeah. To borrow Billism, the FU factor of the Minnesota.

The fuck you vibes are incredible right now. And honestly, I also just am slowly believing more and more in what they have assembled there in the wake of the Carl Anthony Towns trade. I'm kind of like to harken back to Vince McMahon, the Vince McMahon meme here where it's like as soon as the trade happened, I was like, oh, I don't know about that return. And now I'm at the point where it's like, let's go. Like I actually think this is a pretty good team.

And they did do a good job of assembling Carl Anthony, towns in the aggregate. And so they could just navigate the Randall situation if they can work the lineups. So they're playing certain guys and certain matchups. I do think there's a really strong possibility that DeVincenzo closes for this team, if not just supplants Mike Conley in the starting lineup. So I think there's a lot here to like. And I think the Knicks still will do well in that trade. But I also think the wolves might have done really, really well in that trade too. We say all this. And we have yet to see Julius Randall as a Minnesota tournament. Wolf.

So I was never worried about Dante DiVincenzo's fit. And if anything, like you, I've been very impressed by the point Dante lineups that they've been rolling out. That's a formula that can really work. He's shooting clearly is something they really needed. That was going to be easy. Now let's do the hard part, which is putting Julius Randall out there and still maintaining the spacing and even functioning at a similar offensive level as last year.

I think that that's where, you know, I've seen a lot of numbers being thrown around as far as like the number of threes that, for example, Julius Randall will take relative to Kat. And obviously their percentages are very different. But Randall will position himself on the perimeter. I just don't think anyone is really going to guard him out there. And so even though the Wolf's offense wasn't very good last year, there is significant room to drop.

I can promise you that. I like the idea of Dante at point guard, but it can't be with Rudy and Randall out there at the same time. Like, there's just no way he's figuring that puzzle out. as the main playmaker. And I don't think Ant is there yet either to be the guy that navigates that and makes that all work. Conley has proven to be the only person

that can make these Rudy lineups with other big men, be they Kat or anybody else, that he's the one that makes them, like, workable. And Kat was, again, like the guy that passed it to Rudy the second most on the team, right? Like, it was Conley as the main, like, okay, get Rudy involved guy, and Kat was the second guy.

And so, you know, I think it's going to, it's a lot tougher to figure that out than it has been so far because you haven't had to figure out how Randall's going to do his bully ball thing while Rudy's already out there. And yet, despite my best efforts, I could not get Mike Conley into the top 100. It's really a travesty. It's really, really tough times around here. I think it might be long for that. It's all good. Yeah.

It's true. I just think, like, you know, the ball handling that they're adding to some of these lineups. might be a nice benefit that they didn't have last year. For sure. Might make up some of the difference here. I'm also wondering about the Randall leverage point of this where it's like, I think we all think it might be a little bit messy. I'm also thinking like who is out there in the off season for Randall to leverage against

the wolves in order to get what he wants because it's really just the Brooklyn Nets who has cap space. And so it might be actually incumbent on him to show that he could be a part of a full team where he isn't number one or even number two on the call sheet. like I look at the Brandon Ingram situation I look at the cat situation I just feel like those type of players might not have much to argue

against in these sorts of situation because the league is kind of saying like actually you need to work your way in Demarta Rosen kind of similar thing where it's like he ultimately got to the Kings but like you know like in another world in a 10 years ago NBA he might have been still like an engine

for a team his lonesome so I don't know I kind of think it's all working out in the Wolves's favor I want to give Randall one bit of credit it too because I think when he played with Jalen Brunson last year, he really did try his best to make it work off ball and to defer and to facilitate and to play kind of a secondary or sometimes tertiary role with those lineups that were on the floor. There is a want clearly to participate in something like that and to buy into something that's bigger than him. And as you're saying, if that can if that can lead to a different kind of contract year phenomenon, which is to say proving that you're a great team player on a Minnesota team that makes a deep run, I think we're used. unanimous that we all want to see that.

Like, we all want the best for Randall and the wolves. We just have some skepticism about the fit. All right. Let's go to question number two on the docket here. Which preseason bullshit are you buying? And I'm actually going to go first here because I was just watching the Miami heat last night. And I got to say, bam out of bio. Yes.

Taking threes. Making threes. It doesn't look all that jenky. It looks pretty natural. He's four for 10 thus far in preseason. And I was also struck by how much. offense is on the court to start with in games for the heat. Like we talked about this over the course of the power rankings, but then to see it out

there where it's like Hero, Rosier, Yovich, if Bam's going to take three, like Jimmy might be the worst three-point shooter out there. They're clearly trying to overcompensate for the offensive issues that they've had in the past. But I think if they could strike a balance, if they have enough defense, enough grinders within that, and I think they do with Bam and Jimmy, I think this might be pretty good, actually. Yeah. Justin, our bullshit is aligned.

This is what I am buying the absolute most. In particular, the idea that Bam is willing to take those shots for really the first time in his career. It's not just that he's hitting, as you said, like a 40% clip. He's letting them fly. Like, those shots are getting up and they're getting up with a complete lack of hesitation on his part. And that's the thing that makes me think, okay, this is a player who's consciously trying to change the overall profile of his game that's trying to build something into it. He's never really had before.

And that the heat have never really had before. They haven't really had a lot of consistent stretch big options since, like, what, Kelly Olinick, basically? I guess Kevin loved in his defense when they have played him at the five in the past. Kind of fits that bill. Yeah, I liked in Team USA, especially in the games that were against much inferior opponents. Bam was being encouraged to take a bunch of those shots. And like his teammates were getting so hyped every time he would, like, fire one. Like, you know, everybody wants to see him.

Everybody wants to see Bam take more ownership of every offense that he's a part of. Whether it's the Dream Team or it's the Miami Heat, right? And so this could only be positive for the heat in terms of, you know, Bam becoming more assertive. And he does it incrementally every single year. He becomes more aggressive in terms of looking for his shot because he's obviously somebody who conceives of himself as a defensive first type. a player. Like, even when he's talking to media, you ever read like a BAM one-on-one.

He wants to, like, talk about what he's doing on defense, right? But it's cool to see him, like, coming to his own and be this guy in preseason. This is where you're supposed to be doing this stuff. So that's what's most encouraging about it. This isn't Ben Simmons in an empty gym taking 18-footers, then refusing to do so for the rest of the season. This is this guy being like, you know what? I'm trying to incorporate this into my game

and it's going to be dope. And no small coincidence as far as the Team USA bit of that was Eric Spolster and assistant coach on that team. I'm sure encouraging Bam to take these exact sorts of shots. He looks good.

Weir also looks good. Just a giant athlete who if locked in might be pretty damn good. I assume you were kind of tipping your hat there. You have Ben Simmons as someone you're buying

to the preseason hype on. Oh Lord have mercy. No, I do not have Ben Simmons as preseason hype that I'm buying into. What I would say is the hype that I'm buying into is Lakers Goodwill. I do think, yeah, yeah, I think the guys are actually happy to be being coached right now. Like all of this stuff about organization, they're vaunted starting five, right? which is going to Davoutil into another one of these categories later. But, like, I think people are happy that that's coming back.

And, like, I think everybody is genuinely happy right now. I do believe it. It feels that way. And it's not just sound and it's not just lip service. But, like, I do think these guys were so annoyed with Darwin, that they are very happy and feel very positive and have belief in what they're going to carry. into the season right now.

The wine is flowing. Yes. The wine is definitely flowing. Just to set the scene for an audio medium, I wish you all could see the shit-eating grin on Justin Verrier's face right now. Good thing we're not putting this one on YouTube. I disagree.

I actually have them down as my biggest disappointment later on. Me too. Okay. So you're saying the voice. vibes are good, but the actual product are not. I think people, I think it's not just, and it's not just them. It's like, you know, a lot of the sycophantic fan media is like really hyped about it.

Like, the fans on Twitter are, like, everybody's really positive. They're, like, really bullish on the Lakers coming into the season. That's why they're my number one disappointment candidate. Wow. Because they have actually. My head is spinning already. Everybody's like, yo, this is good. And again, like in the building, I do think it's genuine.

I do think people are really happy that this is JJ coming in here right now. And they feel like they have this like new approach, better approach, more consistent approach, more professional approach, blah, blah, blah. I really do think that's genuine. I just think they're setting themselves up with like, guys, y'all not winning 50 games this year. Stop. No, no. But the Lakers are going to be solid. Like, I have a hard time moving off of that opinion.

The high-end talent is too good. the parts of the rotation that we know are solid enough to depend on. There's just a lot of variables beyond that group. So you're buying the goodwill and happiness of the team right now. If happiness gets you the ninth seed, then yeah, I'm buying it.

Yeah, and I get it. If people want to be excited, like there's a lot there. If only because you have JJ, who is a celebrity coach, so that's something to want to look forward to. Also, they have a lot of young players. And what is the one thing that fans of a team typically like?

It's homegrown young guys that they could see develop. So if you want to go through that, that's totally fine. I personally don't see that leading to a lot of wins, if anything, seeing all those young guys out on the court, I'm like, God damn, this team is really young. And I don't know where, like, the upside is really going to come from, especially after LeBron played so much last year. And then in the Olympics, especially Anthony Davis did the same exact thing.

I'm also a little worried that the reports we're getting, going into the season are that they're looking for a center, which maybe they realize that this team is so sluggish with LeBron that they're never going to play up and down, that they're going to have to bleed all good things out of every possession, and that they want to play slower, and that maybe Anthony Davis will finally just start shooting more and more threes, right? I could see that maybe.

On the other hand, it does strike me as maybe something Anthony Davis is saying, where it's like LeBron got his guys in. Now, let me get one of my guys in. If everyone's just getting stuff, can I just not play fucking center every game? So, and I think that's more of a likely scenario with the Lakers than most teams. Or maybe Jackson Hayes at the five doesn't cut mustard. I think it's more of that. I think it's less about AD.

And certainly, I think they will continue to play fast because they basically have to play fast. Well, here's the other thing. Ad is a center. He has shown over and over again that he's a center. And so it's just like, you actually don't need centers. You need just a backup for Anthony Davis. And if you get someone better than that, No, but I think he wants that and they want that so he could play more four.

I don't know what the reason is, but if it's to minimize Jackson Hayes, I support it. I don't mind 80 playing four in the regular season, though. I think that's good outcomes, honestly. He just doesn't shoot. And I don't see a too big thing working in today's NBA. If he's not going to take like five threes a game, he has been shooting more of them in the preseason. But like, practically since the bubble, that part of his game has completely disappeared in a way that, like, we need CSI. And so I just don't see it happening.

Damn. Shouts to Horatio. I'm not saying that can't or won't happen that they do the too big thing. I think I just read that as more they're looking for a backup and not they're looking to unseat AD as a five. I think even AD has realized that his dreams of being Carl Malone are long over, okay? You're a freaking center and you're going to be a center when it's most important for the rest of your career. Like, from the day they traded for him, he's been like, I'm not really a full-time five. Like, he's been saying that. And you know what?

When they won the championship in the bubble, I think what did make them dynamic was that they did have AD and Dwight Howard. To a much lesser extent, Javelle McGee. But I thought, like, being so big was an additive situation. But as Justin mentioned, AD was making threes back then, right? But this is just like the AD, everybody's, it's like the little key. kid who always wants to like, you know, turn on a certain movie or whatever. Every now and again, you just throw him a bone and watch Lilo and Stitch for the 5,000 times.

You know what I'm saying? That's what it is with the center situation happened. Yeah. You get a little mermaid going. Like, we get it. You want to watch this again. We get it. You're not a five.

We get it. We get it. Why don't we transition to teams now that we do want to tune into on the league pass dial? Rob, who do you have number? one atop your league pass rankings this year? So I want to parse this a little bit because I would say the team I am most excited to really see in action is the new look New York Knicks. But they are going to be on national TV all the time.

They are not a true league, they're not spiritually a league pass team. Right. So I would say my number one league pass team is actually a staple on the back end of the docket late night. You're looking for that Pacific time viewing. I really can't wait to watch this. Sacramento Kings again.

And I in particular can't wait to watch them with DeMar Rosen in tow, a player who whatever, whatever, like, faults you may find in his game just has one of the most aesthetically pleasing styles out there and moves for days. And I love watching Cook.

I'm all in on the Kings. Now with Doug McDermott. Now with McDurhamets. Oh. No Jim and McDaniels. And all of a sudden, they're looking pretty good, you know? I like that.

I love the Kings as a pick just because they are, they've established their style, which is just a lot different from so many other teams, like the speed that they play with. But, you know, it's just their individual guys who I love watching them ply their trade, whether that's, you know, Swipe of the Fox or DeRosen, as you mentioned, or especially, you know, DeMont is a bonus. Like, he's one of my favorites in that way. Okay.

We're fully off the rails now. Sacramento is definitely up there for me. Like, yeah, I had to cross off all of the big dogs, like Dallas, OKC, the Sixers, the Nix. Like, I'm going to be, we have to watch those teams. They're the most prominent teams in the league. Like, it's not even like we're in dereliction of our duties if we're not watching those teams. But for me-Waz, I hate to break you, you're in dereliction of your duties if you don't watch the other teams too. This is literally our job.

It's available. That's available. All right. That's been an issue so far. For me, it's got to be the Houston Rockets, and nobody should be surprised by this if they listen to our Power Rankings episode. Just the sheer volume of young, exciting talent on this team is just irresistible for me. It's not just watching these guys play, but watching, like, who they can become.

Even just this year, who these guys can be much like. like what they can be projecting two and three years out. You guys know I'm repealed forever. Preseason has not, you know, disabused me of that notion. I'm still all about it. And so, yeah, Rockets are definitely my number one team. And my 1B, again, is going to be the Indiana Pacers. Especially for the mega early teams, man.

I'm definitely going to be firing them up. I just think Halliburton sets the tone of the personality of this team. and they play with like a little bit of vinegar in them. You know what I'm saying? Like there's something acidic about this group of guys that I enjoy. Are they too mainstream, though? Because now they've leaped into an Eastern Conference Championship. Yeah.

No, they're still playing the Heartland, brother. They still play in Indiana. Stop it. Rob, you know what? I think it's eligible. And the Rockets are a perfect team too. honestly on an individual basis Amman Thompson is just one of my favorite

players to watch in the league and I can't wait to see what he does and the way he kind of worms his way through what looks like a really crowded rotation of young talent Reed Shepard pretty good I've been watching those preseason clips

he's already making an impact in the like the steady reserve minutes like I'm not rooting for a Fred Van Vleet like injury but if it happens I'm tuning into every single game when he's starting no no wishing but I just want more for Reed. You're just putting that energy out there?

No, no, I already feel bad about it. I'm sorry for you. Okay. But I just want Reed and his cool mustache to be on my screen as much as much as possible. The novelty mustaches are coming. I don't know if there's going to be like a mustache night or if guys in Houston are just going to start showing up with them on.

But it's going to be a thing. Do we do mustache night? Do we? Yeah, like we all grow mustaches for one month of pods. I think if Reed Shepard wins rookie of the, year. We got to grow out the stashes. I'm here for that. I've actually been considering going solo stash

at various points over the past year. I haven't pulled the trigger on it, but this might be the entry point. If he just like starts the cultural revolution, like it could be here. I think you moved to Portland just to justify this decision. Just to live with yourself. I had the flannel. No, that's

the logical next step. I had the rockets on my list. I have number one with a goddamn bullet. You're San Antonio Spurs. I have to be honest, don't love Sohan being in that starting lineup, a little sludger than I had hoped for. But just watching someone pass the ball to Victor Webbenyama is just so rewarding. And he's already warping the dimensions of the floor on offense and the way that he did with defense. Maybe not to that extent.

But the fact that he's catching Al Ups from like what seems to be 10 feet out and dunking over Mo Wagner as if Mo was like 6-5 was already incredible. And so I'm here for any like that. And he's going to have like five to six of those plays a game. And so clearly number one for me. But do you think they're going to be a league pass team when, according to your projections, they're going to get flexed into every national TV game over the back end of the

season because they're winning 60 plus games. Great point. I have to imagine they're going to be on national TV alive, only to ride the victor wave. And be stupid not to. Yeah, as they should, as they should. Yeah. But I'm going to be out there grinding the Spurs Pistons games early on.

I'm going to be there day one. Honestly, I thought about the Pistons. I thought about the Pistons as a League Fast team. That's what I was just about to say, just off the edge of my list. Yeah. Early team, bad team. I'm still a major holder of Cade Cunningham stock. I have not given up on this kid.

And, you know, the logic of the team makes way more sense now. Glad that they got a new coach up in there, not a dude who was just like out on his feet and basically retired. I'm going to be happy to watch them early on this season. Before all the hope gets drained out of the fan base and the team, I'm very happy early on this season to tune in the Detroit games. Little shout out too to the Charlotte Hornets, who I think are going to be one of the most watchable teams on the early side

as you're looking for the Eastern Time slot. I am stoked to see what Lamello can do this season. I'm stoked to see how this group kind of rallies around him and fits around him. that they've remodeled things a little bit. I'm into it. Do you see Saloon just taking, taken threes?

I bushered that name. I already know. It sounded like it was like a cowboy bar. Don't even worry about it. There's some things that aren't worth doubling back for. He was like, he made a few of them last night against the Knicks, and I was like,

okay, let's go. Like I tuned in and then he bricked like two. I think he airballed one of them. So it's a work in progress, but that guy is just, he looks like the Terminator and he's shooting threes. Like, I'm all the way in for that guy.

I also have the no center pelicans on this list. I think for the same reasons you guys brought up that they could be pretty messy. Is this a watch a car wreck happen type of thing? It's that. And I also think if Zion's healthy, he could be an MVP candidate. Like, he looks pretty engaged in Zion in space with the court, like with four out around him. Like, could be pretty sick. I don't know how many games that will win them.

But I do think he individually will be pretty good. All right. Number four, which team will be the biggest positive supportive support? prize. Was, do you want to go first here? Yeah, so I've been talking to some of my little birdies around the Milwaukee Bucks. Master Whispers over here. Yeah, I love it.

Just a couple of little birdies. And I think for me, the positive thing, even despite the Middleton injuries, I think their offense is going to have a lot more cohesion and make a lot more sense. If you watch the first two preseason games, the first game, Janus just went out and did Janus things, just sort of like, killing people, running through five people, doing the Janus individually great thing. And I think when the Bucks were pretty good last year is because Janus or Dane were individually great and Chris Middleton played. And that was like when they were at their quote unquote best. I think this year there's going to be more of a team concept into how they make things

happen. And I think it's important for Janus hopefully if he commits to this. Because I think the early indications are that he's into the. idea of just like relying more on Dame to just be a point guard, set things up, and be more of a spot picker than a spot maker, basically. At 29, man, like, Janus has to learn how to take his foot off the gas a little bit. And the idea that he's this invincible guy, he's been pretty injury prone these past few seasons. I think it has something to do with his style of play. And if he could just be more trusting of more of the offense, which I think, you know, Doc is committed to it.

Obviously, Dame Lillard is who he is with his pedigree. And if Yonis could just be more committed for longer to it, I think the dividends are going to pay out. And I think it's going to show early season, man. Like, they're going to play a more cohesive sort of game than they did at any point of the season last year. Yeah, I think cohesive really is the word. And the tricky thing with Yonis is he's been willing at different points to take on different kinds of roles. for a stretch to try different things for a stretch. But it always kind of wobbles back and forth between him being a screener versus him on ball,

him spacing for other guys or cutting back door and deferring to other people versus him being really the only force and engine of Milwaukee's offense during some stretches of the last couple seasons. There hasn't been one consistent theme for him, despite the fact that he is almost always dominant individually, regardless of however he wants to play. And so if there's a universe that allows,

as you're saying, well, is not only Dame to be great, but some of these other guys to be activated in ways that a simpler version of the bucks wouldn't allow. That's how you get the most out of this roster.

That's how you make Gary Trent matter. That's how you make Tori and Prince matter. That's how you make Dela Wright matter. Like if you're going to make these signings on the edges and hope for the best, you got to at least trust those guys to do something. Having said that, Chris Middleton did not practice today

and is not going to play in their preseason finale. Yeah. So that's not great. Everything's fine. Everything's completely fine. Don't worry about that. But honestly, like, Middleton's tone in an interview that he did with Eric Name of the Athletic to me did sound optimistic in terms of kind of setting the benchmarks for himself about how

much he wants to be available and what would be considered a failure to him personally in terms of availability, kind of makes me think that he feels like he's headed toward hopefully a healthy season. I know that's crossing your fingers and taking a swing at it, but it did make me a little more optimistic about his chances of getting through this thing. Well, when you've witnessed the wonders of SpaceX live and in person, you know, you just have a much more hopeful outlook on life. That launch was legitimately impressive, y'all. Get to ass on it. Was it?

Rob, who do you have? I think for a lot of people, the Phoenix Suns might be a really pleasant surprise. And I see it, I see as a West that is very fractured at the top. And I'm coming around to the idea that the Suns could be one of these teams that's in the mix. it's because of one of the injuries we talked about earlier. They could affect some other Western Conference team. Maybe it's the fact that OKC really seems like the only like perfectly rock solid contender at the top and everyone else is going to be fighting amongst themselves.

I'm just convinced of this idea that a more polished and more dangerous Sun's team, which is what this looks like, could get into that mix. And by extension, could threaten or could push some of these other teams in a series. And look, the Ryan Dunn hype grow stronger by the day. Yeah. He looks like a real player. And they really only needed like one more real player to really round this thing out. Yep, I agree.

The team I have down here, in addition to the wolves, who's my number one on this list, I have the calves who, I don't know if you guys have clocked this, but a lot of the quants, a lot of the numbers guys out there, really high on the Cleveland Cavaliers this year. Well, they always are. Like, the calves are always like a sixth in net rating kind of team. Yeah, but it was kind of nice reminder of like, oh, maybe we're overestimating how much some of the injuries or underestiming

how much the injuries played a factor in there. I always took to heart, like, the stretch where they looked the best was like Donovan and Allen and not the other two guys. But maybe it's just like, oh, if they just change a couple little things as we talked about in the preseason power rankings, like maybe there actually is like a two, three, four seed type of team here as opposed to what we were projecting, which was much more like bottom half of that top six, you know? Right.

So something to keep an eye on. I mean, I'll be paying attention to what they do early on. only just to watch Rob's child, Evan Mobley, how far he's come along in his development and what he's done in the off season. You're going to wear that around your neck forever, Rob. Just be prepared to eat crow. Be prepared, wise.

It's coming. The stock is cashing in. I'm obviously feeling really good about Evan Mobley's season. I think he's going to be the best offensive player he's ever been. He's already a great defender. I'm feeling pretty optimistic about him. And I think there was legitimately an aha moment. in the playoffs last year.

The way he played at the five and like, it's like, oh, okay, this is how I leverage my immeasurable natural gifts, you know, into success. It's not, you know, of course, developing a jump shot, developing post moves, developing, like, picking roll chemistry with a guard. Like, that stuff comes with time. But, like, right now this guy has beautiful talent that he could be leveraging to better offensive output.

And I think we saw some of that in the playoffs, man. So I wouldn't be surprised if he came out and was just better this year. I also have the Kings down here. Similar reasons as we talked about at the top of the show. Team High Floor, you know, I think they can only be so bad. Also, Kagan Murray took 11 threes last night

against the Utah Jazz in a preseason game. Hell yes. So I think he's gonna let it fly. He's in for a big year. I'm also coming around on Kean Ellis is like a pretty crucial part of that team, at least balancing out the defense. So this is the best podcast we've ever done.

I just feel so good about everything that's being said here. Everything's coming up, Rob. Rob should not be that happy. It just has to mention of Kean Ellis. He just heard a man's name and just was delighted. The mention of Kean Ellis heard me. The mention of Keon Ellis would make me very happy, but we're still waiting for that.

Jesus Christ. All right, let's get a little bit more negative in here. Which team will be the biggest disappointment? I already mentioned the Lakers. I mentioned them too. Yep. Can I also throw out that we might be a little high off of the Grizzlies rocket fuel right now? Yeah, that's fair.

It's fair. We kind of cautioned ourselves. We tempered the enthusiasm even while we were talking about them. I would like to even maybe pull a little bit farther back here where I was just like looking at some of the three point percentages for the projected starting lineup where it's like, yeah, Bain, rock solid three point shooter. The rest of the projected lineup, Jha, 31% smart. And these are all like from their last healthy season. I'm not just going off of half seasons. Smart, 34%.

Jared Jackson Jr. last season, 32%. E.D. took two three-pointers last year. And I think those were the only two in his entire four-year career in college. It'll be fine. That said, have y'all seen the Zach E.D. Post-up numbers? They're good.

He looks very large and in charge, I might say. They are very juicy, very juicy. But yeah, the spacing is a concern, to say the least. It's a legitimate concern. I think for me, I'm putting this team on the board in part because the expectations are so high and the pressure is so high.

And that's the Philadelphia 76ers. A team that I believe in on paper and we are seeing the paper poked and prodded and maybe shredded a little bit with every potential Paul George injury update. Like the way in which I held my breath at the hyper extension news made me realize how vulnerable

this season feels for Philly. And to have the fact that I'm going to be doing that every time Paul George lands funny and every time Joel Embed lands funny, it makes me very nervous. And it makes me feel like this could be a season that feels like a disappointment, despite the fact that I think the roster is actually assembled very well. Yeah, sitting here in October, it's hard for me to see a version of, like, disappointment that doesn't happen before the playoffs.

Like, it's just, it's hard for me to envision that because Maxie's so good and he's so young and he can come out for 80 games or 70. games or whatever's going to be, and play balls to the wall, all-star point guard level, bona fide all-star point-guard level play, every single, the fact that they have that is going to be so key for what they do in the regular season, whereas, like, if Paul is gone, and they're still working through Maxie and Embed with, like, their role plays, that's still going to be beautiful basketball to watch, man.

And even in those games with Joel doesn't play, and Drummond has to come in and be the best rebound. in the history of the league, I think they're still well positioned with Drummond and Paul George and Ubre and the rest of these guys and Caleb to still put out quality lineups that still win, man. And so I'm not too worried.

I just think in the postseason, yeah, I foresee the Sixth's fans being disappointed by this unit. They're still going to win a bunch of games, I agree with you, basically regardless. It's going to be fun. Maxi is super watchable, is explosive, is everything that you say. it's just hard to think about an outcome

where they don't get an honest chance again to show the kind of roster that they have. That's kind of what I dread for them and I hope is not the case, but I think could potentially be in the air. Expectations are just too high for the team. I think that's the problem. People are just fed up with MB,

not making it pass the second round and like, this is the season where everyone's like, all right, you're out of tries here. You need to make this good and to see the injuries at the start I get being worried about them. At the same time, even if it's Maxi in one of them,

I think is a big upgrade on what happened at the end of last season where it was Maxi and nobody. I mean, no offense to Tobias Harris. Like, there were times of Tobias Harris wasn't even playing. It was bad.

I think if, but if Maxi has some help, I think he is on the doorstep of superstardom. I think that's going to be enough to get them through the regular season. If anything, like they seem to be accepting of the fact that the postseason is the only thing that matters at this point.

And so I'm still cautiously optimistic that we just got the injury news at the start in that, It was just like a bad omen, and that's it. So we'll see. Yeah, I love the idea of calling somebody a complete nobody than saying that you meant no offense by it right after. That's wonderful.

But yeah, just the Lakers, to me, is disappointment. Like, I could just completely see this thing starting off 11 and 10. And, like, everybody's just like, what the hell? I thought we were going to be really good this year. And, you know, the disappointment and the new coach who's just like really anal retentive and just like, you know, just like, oh. I could just see that being a problem in the season going off the rails. That's all I'm saying.

I hope the Lakers do well, though. I like you when the Lakers are doing it. Is that Nick Nurse? Nah, that was J.J. right? Yeah, that's J.J. Okay. It's a very uncharitable J.J. Reddick impression, I guess. Justin's, okay.

Very honest. He said, okay. I think I'm on a record here. I don't have to go too much farther than that. I think it's going to be fine. I think Lakers are going to be fine. I think J.J. Reddick is going to be fine. This is a lot of hand-wringing over a team that is ultimately going to be okay.

Yeah, I think we all met out in the same place. They're probably going to be ninth. It's going to be fine or disaster, depending on where you stand going into the season. Number six on the docket. Which team is Brandon Ingram going to be on at 3 p.m. Eastern time on February 6th? Rob, who do you have? I'm envisioning a future.

where all the calls are made, all the gestures, all the propaganda is back channeled about how great Brandon Ingram is, about how great a teammate he's been all season. No one is buying it. No one comes calling. No one wants to cash in their trips for Brandon Ingram. And we get the press release at the trade deadline. The Utah Jazz have traded for Brandon Ingram in like a in like a John Collins salary dump in which maybe they get back like some second round picks.

I could see it. Just in an effort for the Pelicans to get something back for a guy that they probably don't intend to bring back. I don't like that. Only, I like that for the jazz. I don't like it. I don't like it. I don't like it because it's just like if we're all in for Cooper

and if you're the jazz, you have to get Cooper flag in your building. But they're not, I don't, if they want to, they're not going to have that big of a problem getting into the bottom four. It's going to be up to them. though. Okay. That's the only like, okay, I hate it for Brandon Ingram, honestly. Like, that can't be what you want. Um, for me, when I thought about this, I don't think, you know, I got one of my, one of my civilian group chats, my buddy was like, yo, Sacramento's trying to get

Zach Levine and Brandon Ingram, which I'm sure you saw on like NBA Central or something like that. Sure. And, you know, whatever. I don't know how or why that could ever work. But I thought about a team that if pushed to the brink, has the kind of management that has the autonomy to basically do whatever they want, and could just make this as the last kiss goodnight, right? I'm thinking about Miami. I can see Miami after having struck out,

or whatever you want to call it, on Dame and Bradley Beal and a couple of these other guys that, came onto the Kevin Durant, that came on to the trade market and just being like, look, man, we kind of tired of this Jimmy thing. We really truly believe in the heat culture. And if anybody could get the best out of Brandon Ingram's ability, his talent, his skills that he already possesses, I don't see why it couldn't be Eric Spolstra and the Miami Heat, man. that's the kind of team I can see saying, you know what, F it.

They've done talent plays in the past. Granted, they're a smart group of people. I think if they actually liked Brandon Ingram, they would already went and got them. But like, I don't know. Things change. Things could change. People get hurt. All kinds of things can happen between now and February and again.

He's still got some level of star appeal. And I think the idea would be that he comes in and is completely transformed by, by the heat organization. He's not just the same old Brandon Ingram that we've known for most of his career. Get him doing like skull crushers and like dips. Hey, man. Get him in the gym.

Hey, man. Get that Versa climber warmed up. Let's go. That's right. Hasn't been used in a couple of years. No, I think that would make sense. So you were envisioning like a Jimmy for, for Brandon Ingram swap?

They're just going to give up and then. Sure. Jimmy. Yeah. Yeah, because they're obviously just like, look, we don't need to be committed. admitted to Jimmy, he's old. Brendan Ingram is much younger than him,

although has a crazy injury history, not dissimilar to Jimmy Butler's. It's not a great deal. Again, this guy's been on the market for over a year and a half now, and nobody's bitten. Nobody. And so...

That's the worrisome part. I agree. And so I kind of think what Rob laid out might be what we're headed for, where it's like the Pelicans hold on to him until about the deadline. Teams like the jazz start to creep if only because they might be able to get this guy for lower than you'd expect.

Because the problem with Ingram is not only his fit with some of these teams. It's also the fact that he needs a brand new contract and he presumably wants a full-on max after the season. And so that's a lot of money plus a weird addition to what you already have. What's a fair contract for Brandon Ingram? Is he wrong for saying I should get O'GN and Obie money? No, I mean, it's all what you can negotiate. So like if he wants to say give me the max, I say more power to him.

But I think he falls into that weird Demar de Rosen sort of category. Maybe like we were talking about before where it's like you have a value because of like your trajectory and some of the benchmarks that you've hit. But it's hard to glom what you do onto our existing team because you have to be effectively like if not the point guard like the secondary ball handler. But then you're tough to space off of. You don't really play defense. And so he's exactly the type of guy the league is moving away from if he isn't your number one. like how many spots are there for number one? We need like two expansion teams to give him the ball as much as he would need it.

So he's heading to Vegas or Seattle is what you're saying. Yeah, that's what I have. Oh my God. So I had the jazz down. I do think they would be the type of teams that would need them. But I had the jazz down there like Rob did. What do we think about the pistons for a similar sort of thing? He becomes your second next to Cade.

No. No? Just because he can't space off of a pick and roll guy. He can't play with Cade. Can't play with Cade. Does Cade become the spacer? Can Jane Ivy play with Cade? Well, look, they already have that question hanging over them.

I don't think Brandon Ingram solves what ails Detroit. And that's kind of the issue with Ingram is that the teams that are looking for spacing or looking for offense are not really looking for a Brandon Ingram. Not only the Pelicans connection, though, with old Pelicans GM going to Detroit. Trachian Langdon? Yeah. And then what about like, if you can get them for like beef stew and like a something else, Is that like the value is so low, then you're talking yourself into Ingram? Do you need a center?

No. Tobias Harris? Can I interest you in Tobias Harris? Because what are we giving for Brandon Ingram? Like we're all saying that no one's going to give meaningful pieces. You got to put contracts in there. And the other part we're not talking about here is the Pelkins aren't going to set back a contract at the same level of a Brandon Ingram max. Like a guy who has multiple years at a high value amount, they're not going to want because they typically do.

not pay the tax. They literally have never paid the tax in a franchise history. So if anything, they want lower value contracts or expirings plus like future. Steve Stu? I know. This is, this is going to sound insane. Just selling Brandon Ingram for soup? Literally. It's a hearty, meaty soup. You know? It's the chunky Campbell's. Yeah. We'll play tough in the post and also fill you up on a cold day. Here's the thing. I think you broke Waz. I think you like that one. Fill you up on a cold day.

Put that on a t-shirt. It's getting fall, man. We're entering spooky season. We need that hearty soup. We do need some hearty soups. I think for a team in the Pistons position, Tobias Harris is a better player to have than Brandon Ingram. And he's nowhere near as good as Brandon Ingram,

but it's like when you're primary, project is development. You don't want a guy who's going to take the ball out of Cade's hands or out of Jade Nivey's hands for that matter or clog things up for Jalen Duren. Like you want all those guys enabled and Brandon Ingram doesn't enable people in that way. I don't disagree. Yeah. So I feel like we talk about him like he's the worst player in the world.

I'm trying to be descriptive and somewhat fair. And this is where we end up. Brandon Ingram, honestly, man, if he was a great rebounder and defender, none of his stuff on offense would matter. Like, if he actually played up to his potential with his seven-foot wingspan and his good feet and, like, all of that, well, on offense, he's got good feet. Like, it wouldn't matter. It'd be like, yo, he's such a great two-way player.

Yes, he doesn't fit perfectly into every situation, but we could work around with it because he has something that he's contributing on a night-to-night basis, man. Like, if he was just a great, you know, guy that could guard threes and fours, and rebound his position well. Like, we wouldn't be having this, but he's like a zero on defense. And then he must have the ball. And then he doesn't space.

And it's like he's so limiting in how he can be effective for your team. Again, like, I think if you put him on the Brooklyn Nets right now, he's their best player easily. And, you know, he drops like 24, 25 a game. And everybody's like, oh, look at Brandon Ingram. He's so good. But that team wins 30 games.

You know, if you're trying to win, in a major way, I just don't know, I don't know, man. I don't know. What about this last option? What about the Los Angeles Lakers? You can always go home.

No. You play him at, in air quotes, point guard, and no, no. He's a big talent upgrade over what you have.

Why are you doing this to us? You don't think that's better than the Pistons option? I don't think either of the options are good. Okay, let's just say you let him do that. He now has to play the Vando role on defense. He has to be a power forward. Or the Reeves role or the Russell role.

I was thinking of more as like you play him as a de facto two next to a point guard. You're again leaning into the size component with the Lakers. And that's just your playmaking. point guard de facto run the second unit guy well, we just taking a ball out of the bronze hand well second unit for the most part and then like

So he's no a bench player No he's the starter who takes over the bench unit Okay okay okay You stagger your stars man And when it's closing time Him LeBron and AD What are we doing for that? You're just hoping one of those motherfuckers

Is a three-pointer Man It's tough Bleak stuff I actually think that's the most realistic of the ones that we're talking the darkest timeline. Yeah. I mean, the most realistic option may be that he's just

still a New Orleans Pelican. Yeah. Yeah. It's possible. All right. Number seven on the list. Who's the most intriguing new edition? So not necessarily the best. We've talked about Paul George. We've talked about some other guys a bunch over the past couple weeks. Most intriguing. Rob, who do you have?

For me, it's one we've already kind of touched on, which is Chris Paul is a San Antonio Spur. I really just want to see Victor Web and Yamba with that chance to live a normal life. with a real point guard. And he's had that in doses. You know, like, shout out to Trey Jones. Like, he did his best.

But now the adults are here and they're in the room and we're going to get everything a little more organized and I'm really excited to see it. I mean, just the glimpses we've been shown so far in terms of the lobs and even just like the basic entry stuff looks so much cleaner, so much more polished. A bounce pass into the post. It's literally a lost art.

I don't know where we lost the recipes, but we did. Oh, my goodness. Pass the giant human, the best. basketball and good things will happen. Super excited. It's good. Like, Chris Paul with young guys, unproven guys, is like his ideal role, man, because his whole like drill sergeant, like teacher's pet, like Mr. Know it all. Like, it actually works because these kids don't know anything. And Wembe loves the work. We have heard on and on again that Wembe loves the work.

Yeah. And so like, I think Chris Paul in his skill set at this moment right now is perfectly suited to this team's makeup. And it's a, is going to be dope to watch. Hopefully, you know, with Chris Paul at this stage, we got to mention the health stuff, so I hope he can stay healthy. But, yeah, definitely, like Rob, I'm intrigued to see what he's able to do

with those young bucks, those young pups. Who do you have, Was, for your best new... We mentioned them already, but it's Zach Edy, man. And this is the get-off-my lawn in me, right? Like, I get it, pace and space and five-out and, you know, cutting edge and getting up 53s again. and Boston and Porzingis.

And we get it. We get it. We get it. It's new agey. We get it. But Zach Eady is the reason why I'm most intrigued by him. It's not just that he's an exciting big man prospect. He's exciting because he's big.

Because he plays big. Because he's going to protect the paint. Because he's going to board the shit out of it. Because he's going to mall people in the post. As Rob mentioned with his early preseason, but early post. post-up numbers. Like, that's why I'm intrigued by it, because he's a big man who's going to play big.

And if he's able to contribute to this Grizzlies team, it means that they're, like, winning big. It means that they're winning 53, God forbid, 54 games. Like, that's really exciting stuff that, you know, he's an older rookie, but a rookie could be a part of getting this team back on track and precisely because he's such a just a wide, low, man. And so that's, I'm intrigued by that. Big old boy. Rob, are you excited as a post-officinado yourself?

I'm thrilled. I'm like we, I don't know that we're so back, but we're on the precipice of being so back. Yes. Are you going to be his Drew Hanlon? You're going to be like working him through the post moves. You're like, this is how I used to do it back in 95. Well, first of all, I'm still actively doing it present tense. but I consider myself more of a hemaelajuan than a Drew Hanlon. You know, like, I'm not going to stay with you all year, but if you want to come to me in the summer and pay me tens of thousands of dollars to do one quick clinic with you so you can say you did it, I'm more than happy to oblige anybody.

Okay. We'll put you guys together. We'll put you on a text chain. I have a list of three guys, neither of whom is a big man. First and foremost, DeJante Murray, because I have no idea if he is very good or not, was a former All-Star

kind of lost his way in Atlanta. Can he get back to the original form? Can he play more defense? Starting next to C.J. McCollum, I believe he started in a back court with C.J. All three preseason games for the Pelicans. Don't love that. But I do think if he could take over

the primary point guard responsibilities, if he could find some blend between the score for his guy he wasn't Atlanta with the guy he used to be, I still think there's a good player there. And so I'm intrigued to find out who is the real Dejante Murray. For the same reason,

Josh Giddy. We talked about him at Len. another big ball handler. Can this guy actually be a starting point guard in the NBA? Is the weird as Chicago Bulls lineups? Is that going to throw them off? Also very interested in that one. And lastly, Deniaavia for a little home cooking.

Look at you. Look at you. I can't remember the last time a rebuilding team traded draft picks just to get like a high floor, like just solid connector player into their house. Smart though. Maybe there's something there with him. And I'm intrigued to find out. Obviously, he had a really good season shooting the ball last year.

That was a bit of an outlier compared to his previous years. But, like, I think it's legit. And he's the type of guy you kind of want on every team. Like, he's going to be a really good defender. He's going to be a good shooter if that continues on. And he's obviously a pretty good passer and connector in his own right. So, like, trying to figure out, like, is he actually their best player? That'll be something I'm tracking while I'm watching these games.

Yeah, I think teams like Portland need infrastructure. And you need guys like him who, I mean, credit to Deniavdi has become the kind of player who doesn't take things off the table. He just gives. you a workable NBA structure around your young prospects. And if you want to figure out what Scoot Henderson can really do, you got to put Deniavdias around him. Last question on the board. This one is the Rob Mahoney Hall of Fame. Who is the Santee Aldama Memorial most intriguing under the radar player? Rob, the floor is yours. How many players am I allowed to name?

Let's do under five. Okay. in Champani of the San Antonio Spurs. Let's fucking go, Justin. Honestly, he's the kind of player who is going to be more important and more known the better the Spurs get. And we're going to zero in on him with what he's doing or not doing. And for that reason, I think he's worth flagging. Moses Moody needs to actually play.

He's probably too well known for this list, but he needs to actually play. Can I give you a champagne stat real quick? I would love a champagne. He's got the champagne of stats. He has taken 40 preseason shots, and 32 of them are from three. He made 47% of them. The Spurs, the difference between last year and the years prior, Greg Popovich learned how to coach guys to take the three-point shot,

and I think Champagne is going to be a good product as a result. I think he's going to be good for them. I think he's going to be reliable in a way that they need their role players to be reliable. Who also want to throw a bone here? Goga Patate. the Orlando Magic Center maybe the best third string center in the NBA. I know that's faint praise,

but physical, reliable, exactly what you want your centers to be. Honestly, the Lakers would be so lucky as to have Goga Batase as their backup center. They are fiending for a Goga in their life.

Aren't we all? I want to flag a couple of guys just on Stockwatch. I just want to put them on our radar now so we can say that we were there. Josh Minot in Minnesota, rangy, long as all hell, springy, looks like he might be a thing.

I don't think he's a guy, but he might be a thing if he has a chance to crack the sort of three, four minutes that I think could be there on the back end of Minnesota's rotation. And this is, I have to say, just the deepest of possible stockwatches.

I almost can't believe that I'm flagging this guy. Malify Leons of the Oklahoma City Thunder we, we. Basically Dutch Poku, except he doesn't shoot. Let's fucking go. This is what I'm saying.

Like giant wing who probably shouldn't be a big, but is big size, big, like as long as a big, really good activity, plays within himself. He feels like a guy who's probably going to play for the blue this season, if I'm being totally honest, especially because the thunder are going to be really awesome. I have no idea what he can be on offense, but I kind of want to find out. And my side needs to get on the phone and make the trade for him. Sounds like a raptor if I've ever heard one. Can you consider him again?

Malify Leons. Oh. Why, you had him on your list, right? That would imply that I had a list. That, I have to say, Rob, you have outdone yourself. Wow. Thank you. We love you for that.

Malify Leons? That's pretty good. Honestly, you're right there. Soccerblo, baby. He's Dutch, but yes. well close enough that was honestly hard to top I only have Tumani Kumar down

who Tumari's good seems way too mainstream like he would have been on this list last year but I was always kind of on the fence about him I think because I was always a little dubious about the shooting it has looked pretty good to start the preseason

and I saw him in person and he's a big old boy like he's like legitimately six eight he's like filled out in a way that young players typically aren't Like, so I get the hype around him. I think the team is pretty excited about him. I think people across the league also have earmarked him as a guy to watch there. So it's Monty Kamara. Keep him on your list.

I'm all for it. I'm a too, I'm a too money Kamara stand. We are simply waiting for the shot to work. That's true. Three for five from three in preseason, baby. So we're on the right track. Was, any guys you want to mention? Just maybe even guys in New York that you ran into.

Let me tell you some. I close my note. book as soon as y'all brought up the off the radar. I told y'all, I don't live. I live in the radar. The off the radar, off the beating path, it's like, bro, you know, like if somebody gets like three rotational minutes one day, it's like, I'm not like, oh, I can't wait until they get there next to it.

It's like, there's probably a reason why you're getting yanked around the lineup and getting no tick, you know, when half of these teams are dying for bench players. But I like that Rob could. Because again, you know how many years did we hear about Poku? Too many. Too many. You know what I mean? This is why it's tough for me with this type of guy where it's like, all right, you very

toolsy person or it's like a guy who has a couple of defined skills but doesn't really have the NBA sort of physicality. It's always those guys who we're most intrigued by, right? because it's like, oh man, you know, Steve Novak could shoot. Look, sometimes you need to indulge in an Anthony Randolph flight of fancy was. Well, listen, man, that might be the last time I had one of those talking about up until he was getting sent overseas. I was like, nah, this thing might still work out. It might still pan out and just sent overseas.

Went abroad and became a champion. A diplomat even. Yeah. Yeah, they gave him his papers, boy. They might have gone to the portage his ass. He was done. You're not allowed in America no more, boy. All right, let's wrap it there.

We'll be back on Monday, and we'll all be in the same place on Monday recording a podcast in person in Los Angeles, and not just any podcast, my friends. It is the variables. Part three, I think. I can't remember how many we've done. So, Strapping.

Thank you to Troy. Marcus on production. Thank you to Ben Cruz. We'll see you next time.