The Ringer NBA Show - Three Free Agent Signings We Like and Three We Don’t | The Mismatch

Episode Date: December 1, 2020

KOC and Verno have a VERY special announcement at the top of the show, so don’t pump that 30-second fast-forward too hard. Then they get into how coronavirus could affect the 2020-21 NBA season, based on what we’ve seen from MLB and the NFL, and how the NBA schedule could play out (4:45). After that they talk about three free agent signings they liked and three they didn’t (12:45). Hosts: Chris Vernon and Kevin O’Connor You can find the brand new feed for 'The Mismatch' on Spotify, Apple, or wherever you get your podcasts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hey, this is Kevin O'Connor. On today's episode of The Mismatch, Chris Vernon talked about the latest news from around the league with a potential schedule release coming soon, Kemper Walker's knee injury. And then we talked about some of our favorite and least favorite free agent signings. At the top of the show, please don't press the plus 15 or plus 30 second button too soon because that's where Chris Vernon and I have our special announcement right after the Kevin O intro. All that next. Welcome to The Ringer NBA show. I'm Chris Vernon and joining me as he does every Tuesday from the Ringer.com. It's Kevin O'Connor, A.K. Kevin O'Bomber, Kevin O'Connor, Kevin O'Brien, Kevin O'Connor, Kevin O'Candness, Kevin O'Cardness.

Kevin! Verno! We got a big announcement. We do have a big announcement today. This is going to be the last week that you are able to listen to the mismatch, Not because we are leaving, but because we are going to our own feed. Yeah. So on the Ringer NBA show feed, you will still be able to listen to Ringer NBA shows throughout the week. But the mismatch is moving to our own feed, which will be up over the course of this week.

So we want to encourage all of you to take a minute out of your day at some point this week. Search for that feed and then subscribe to it. Obviously, we'll be posting it on social. but after four years of doing the show together, we are off on our own. A lot of pressure, Kevin, a lot of pressure. We're leaving the Ringer NBA show nests for the mismatch feed. It's exciting, Chris.

I think with our own feed here, it's still going to be Tuesdays and Fridays, you know, just you and me talking basketball, but having our own fee is going to give us more space and potential to occasionally bring on guests or even have emergency podcast episodes if there's a big trade

or if there's a huge playoff, game and whatnot. So I'm really, really excited and thankful that, you know, this will be our fifth season together. Our fifth season, Chris, that's crazy. Fifth. And our second, second, like we had a rookie year deal, four year deal. That's right. That's our second contract. We got a second contract. That's right. So is it true? I just want to run something by it. Is it true? Now, again, I don't want to air our dirty laundry over the podcast. But is it true that you fought? for a mismatch feed so that when it is not Tuesday and Friday, that you could hop on without me on a podcast and be able to say everything that you want to say without anybody fighting you

over it. And so you are going to sneak in little podcasts on like Wednesdays and Thursdays. When something happens, you're going to get somebody else with you on this feed that's not going to yell at you or argue with you or say something goofy and that that is why, that this now will give you total open rain for all your little nerds out there on Twitter. All the nerds and me, all my nerds. The little Kevin O. Acolytes or whatever we want to call them that don't like me, that you now have the forum, if giving your own feed, you can't just butt in on the ringer

NBA feed. But now that we've got our own feed, it's just free reign for Kevin O'Conflict. Partial truth there. I will be hosting a show on the Ringer NBA show feed. So I'm not sure which day that'll run. Oh, spread your wings. I will have a day on the Ringer NBA show feed and I'll believe we'll have, you know, we'll see what happens with that, what day it'll be.

It might be every other week. But so don't stay, stay on the Ringer NBA show feed as well. still got real ones with Logan and Rajas, some group chat. And I believe there are some other new shows in the works too for this feed. But, you know, with the mismatch, that's me and you, Chris. And I'm excited for us to be growing with our own feed. And I'm also excited for the opportunity to host a show on the Ringar, NBA show feed. So it's going to be a good, good time.

It's going to be a crazy fun season. And I'm pumped and jacked, Chris. I'm pumped and jacked for it. Well, we just had a season. that was unlike any other, and it feels like we are hurtling towards another season that is unlike any other, because within the next day or two, the expectation is that the schedule is going to be announced, and this is unlike anything that we've dealt with before, because we're only going to get half of the schedule with the NBA breaking this into twos. You have teams throughout

the NBA making announcements as to whether they are going to have no fans at their games, some are going to have say 20% capacity. Some are trying to take care of season ticket holders, you know, as many as they can and try to figure it out. So it really just depends on where you are within the country as to whether or not you're going to be playing in front of people or not. And then, you know, everything about this season is going to be much, much different. Now, who knows? They've come out with all the COVID protocols. We've seen what football has been through.

We've seen what college basketball has been through, even in this early season with all kinds of teams dropping out of tournaments, et cetera, et cetera. And so we obviously hope for the best, but there is no question that while we are so excited for this season to begin, we don't really know how it's going to go. I mean, look, I think we're all just praying that a vaccine comes sooner than later and that that could help things. But they're announcing the first half of the schedule and we'll know that by the time we speak on Friday for sure. It's going to be a bumpy ride. It's just going to be a bumpy ride. Look at what MLB went through. Look at what NFL is going through right now with the Raven Steelers game being postponed from Thanksgiving to Sunday to Tuesday now to Wednesday,

say 3.30 p.m. Eastern afternoon game. With the NBA, it'll be a little bit different than what we've seen with those other sports, especially at the NFL, because it's the only 16 total games. But, you know, with the NBA, that's why they're splitting it in halves. You're going to see some cancellations. You're going to see some postponements. And those games may or may not be done again during the second half of the season whenever that portion of the schedule is released. It's going to be complicated. I mean, the bubble was an immense success, it was really extraordinary what they pulled off. Zero, zero positive tests from players, staff, whoever it might be. That's insane. They are not going to have zero positive

tests throughout this. And what I do worry about is like with NFL team sizes, you have 50 plus guys and, you know, 20 plus coaches, a lot of people on those staffs. With the NBA, it's a smaller group of people. If you have a minor outbreak within a team, four, five people, you know, like you might have like the Ravens have this week, that really railroads your entire roster. You can get by in the NFL, like if you're missing a chunk of guys, especially with the amount of injuries that happens all the time anyway in a normal year. But with the NBA, if you're having a situation like that, I hope it doesn't reach that point. I hope protocols are followed and players and coaches and staff members and everybody involved. Does everything possible

they can to, you know, social distance, to wear their mask and whatever else? else. But all it takes is one mistake. And there's a lot that can go wrong throughout the season in terms of outbreaks within the players, but also it potentially sprang to their own families. There's risk involved. And I'm hopeful that it's going to work out. But we do know it will be a bumpy ride. And there will be positive tests. And there will be question marks about how safe this is for certain players and for teams and whatever else. It's not going to be easy. I will say the NBA has gotten the benefit of the doubt of taking this extremely seriously. They were the one that was able to pull that off.

Now, again, it was under massively different circumstances, but they obviously, I think that they will put their players and their organizations in the absolute best case. I think they're going to have best practices to be able to pull it off. Now, again, some things are inevitable. But I think they do get the benefit of the doubt that they are well thought out and well planned out much more than many of their peers in the other sports, obviously, right? And that's a credit to Adam Silver. And that's also a credit to Michelle Roberts. But there's one thing, like the NCAA, they had all kinds of time to plan it.

And they still got no idea what they're doing with this, right? the NFL, it's kind of like just going by the seat of their pants. It's just pushing through in the NFL, just pushing on through. They're just acting like it's not going on, right? In some cases. It's really hard to believe that Ravens and Steelers will likely still be played. That's outrageous. I mean, you had the Broncos playing with out an actual quarterback, you know, because of exposure.

As punishment. Like, I mean, it really did feel like punishment because there was the photo or the video that surfaced of the quarterback meeting, right, with them not. wearing their mask. And so it's like, oh, you guys don't want to, you know, behave in the manner that we're telling you how to behave. That's what I mean, though. That's what I mean, though. Like, that can't happen, you know, in these, you know, in these small group meetings amongst a team. You can't have, you know, all your guards in there or the entire team for that manner in a team meeting with nobody wearing masks. Because all it takes is just one mistake. All it takes is one mistake.

And you risk everybody being exposed because of the way this virus is. So, I mean, that, that to me is a really perfect example of what can go wrong. Well, look, we do have basketball right around the corner. This week, teams are back at their facilities and they're working out in two-man groups, four-man groups, and then it's going to extend to, it sounds like by the end of the week, five-on-five. And then you'll start to have a training camp starting around December 5th. You have a week.

And that'll give us a good, you know, at least, you know, you're not playing opponents, but at least we've got this lag time where we can see how if they can come out of this unscathed, you know, with these teams playing preseason games because in many cases they're playing four games, the way they are doing it. In many cases, teams are going and they're playing a team twice on the road, and then they're coming back home and playing a team two times at home. And so we'll see. You know, at that point, you now are getting these teams traveling.

You are getting them into another arena. It's not bouncing from game to game like it normally would be during the season. But we'll see if they can come out of that unscathed, right? Like we've got about that two week, we've got about two to three week time period where we're going to see how this works and whether or not they can pull that off Because look, if you have a bunch of problems during the preseason, it's obviously going to be a severe cause for pause. Yeah, no doubt about it, man.

And that preseason will, much like the bubble preseason scrimmages, we're using sort of a test run. This will be a test run of what's working, what's not working. Well, we didn't do that in football. You know what I'm saying? Like, there was no. Yeah. There was no, right?

So, I mean, you're doing this and you're at least kind of seeing, how does this work, you know, in those first couple of weeks? For sure. And then we just keep our fingers crossed that you're able to pull off at least these preseason games without there being a big problem with them. Anyway, it's going to be a season like none that we have experienced before. I must tell you, I've gotten extremely excited looking at all of these different rosters and thinking about the upcoming season. There is that group of teams that we haven't seen play in a long, long time, right? Like, just thinking about, like, for instance,

and I don't know what the broadcast schedule is going to be on all of these, but the Grizzlies are playing the Timberwolves and they are playing the Hawks. Those are their preseason games that they're going to be playing against. And as I was looking at the schedule, as that schedule was announced, I'm thinking of myself, I haven't seen the Timberwolves or the Hawks play basketball in, what, nine months. I haven't seen any of these teams. And they're going to look radically different. You know, the T-Wolves less so than the Hawks, but the Hawks, I mean, it's a totally different team than the last time we saw.

And so you have seen this team building. It's kind of died down after the draft. There hasn't been a ton of movement. I figure these teams are going to get everybody into training camp. They're going to see, oh, this guy's not going to have as big a role as we thought or this guy has really emerged. And then we'll probably see some movement before the season begins. trade-wise and maneuvering-wise. Obviously, guys are going to get cut.

But in looking at all of the rosters, free agency is not done completely, but we're certainly at the very tail end of it, where there's not that many guys that are out there available. This week, we are going to do three free agent signings that we liked, three free agent signings that we did not like.

All right. Do you want me to start with like or didn't like? Let's start with one that's based on news, Chris, recently. Because this week it was announced that Kemper Walker, Celtics, point guard is going to miss at least the start of the season, possibly into early mid-January after receiving an injection for his, you know, bothersome knee that's bothered him this past year. So the first signing, you know, like or dislike, I'm not sure if this falls into either bucket.

It may be neither like nor dislike. But signing Jeff Teague feels very important for Bobbiard. Knowing now that Kemba Walker had issues with this knee the past years, had issues with his knees for many years now, and that even after time off from March through July, didn't get it right, time off from September through December now, still not able to get it right. That's scary for the self-off. Oh, yeah. So Jeff Teague now suddenly becomes a guy who might not just be your Brad Wanamaker replacement coming off the bench for you. you, he might be your Kemba Walker replacement for at least portions of the season, if not longer, if Kemba can't get it right.

And Jeff Teague, he's a solid point guard. When I think of the average NBA point card, I think of Jeff Teague. So for Boston, it feels like an important signing where I was like, eh, whatever. It's a nice upgrade over a wannamaker. Now I'm like, damn, that's actually critical for them that Jeff Teague at least plays well enough. to keep up and elevate the talents of the Tatum's and Browns of the world. And don't you look back and think, oh, that's why they did that. They knew.

They knew that this is around the corner. And if we've got to get by, you know, Wanamaker was a good story. But you don't want Brad Wanamaker being your starting point card for a month and a half. You know what I'm saying? And so you went out and signed somebody that in the case that something like this comes up and they probably knew that this was around the corner with Kemba. We can get by with Jeff Teague. Jeff Teague's going to play his role on that team, right?

Yeah, he's going to get the ball up the court and get the ball to Jason Tatum. And so you're supposed to do. For the minimum, I believe 2.6 million for him. So, you know, Jeff Teague for that dollar amount, pretty good. Pretty good. There is the expectation now. I mean, Tatum's got to take, he's got to be the Tatum of the second half of the season and playoff Tatum and maybe even better than that.

Because when you're taking when you're taking the production of Kimball Walker and the production of Gordon Hayward out of that mix, I mean, where are your points coming from? You know what I'm saying? If I'm putting Jeff Teague in there, right? I mean, it's going to be more of Tatum. Your shot creation too.

You know, even beyond points, but points for others, points that are created without those two guys. That was the nice value in Hayward is the fact he was another guy who can handle the ball for you and make plays for himself or for others. And now you lose the two bests that you have at doing that. Tatum has got to make now a nether leap if Boston is to maintain championship hopes and expectations.

Tatum doesn't need to get better in the grand scheme of things because he's still so young. Development is not always linear. He can have another great season without getting significantly better. But for Boston to continue being a championship team, like we're going to see Tatum get better at scoring off the dribble against those tough defensive matchups. You need to see him get better at getting to the basket, drawing falls in the paint, at the rim. And his playmaking got so much better last season.

It's going to get even better now without Hayward there and with Kemba possibly out for some period of time. Well, and maybe we get a modern day McGrady, Yao, Wade, Shaquille O'Neill with Tatum and Taco Fall. They did sign Taka fall to a two-way contract. We know that's the most important signing of the offseason. That is. Yeah, I think Jeff Teague absolutely goes into the like category on that.

All right. First one that I liked when I went through all of the different free agent signings that took place. The first one I wrote down was Aaron Baines. Because a lot was. I got him too. I got Baines on my list too. Okay. Well, a lot was made.

Look, if you're going to lose Marcus A lot of. you're going to lose Sergei Baca. Now, like, Aaron Baines is ridiculously solid, despite the fact that John Morant stole his soul by dunking on him. He took off running the other direction like it didn't happen, right? And he was very good for that. Yes, he contests the shot. That's what I give him credit for that.

Thank you. Totally solid basketball player. Very good to anchor a defense, really good. good screen setter, very good team basketball player. And for two years and $14 million, you could do a lot worse. I mean, I go into a game with Aaron Baines playing center and I feel good about it. And again, if you're losing Abaka and you're losing Gassal, you haven't, Baines can replace a pretty good portion of center production for them, and he's not too old anymore. He's still got basketball left in him, and so I actually thought that was a really smart signing

at an extremely reasonable price for a starter that could give you a bunch of minutes and can anchor a defense, and he's always yelling. I just thought he really stood out to me when I first saw. Saul Phoenix last season. I thought to myself, boy, this is a really good signing for them because it just felt he was having to play with Aiton being out. And it just felt like with him and Rubio, it just felt so much more like a real team with real structure.

And so Toronto's known for doing smart stuff. I think the Baines contract is that's a really good signing. Are you aware of the Twitter fans of Aaron Baines? There's a Baines fan club on Twitter. Yes, Aaron Bates fan club. Yeah. Yeah, and it was passed from Suns fans to Raptors fans. The seamless transition of power, unlike other, unlike other, you know, situations we're dealing with in the United States.

But that transition happened quite easily for those fans. And with Aaron Baines, it's rightfully so that he has this, you know, kind of, you know, internet fan base behind him. Because he's just a rock solid player. He's just a rock solid player. And for Toronto, or replaced those two guys, Gasol and Ibaka, with Baines. I mean, it hurts to lose them. And it'd be better to have two than one. But it's going to be interesting to see with Baines now,

will you see Chris Boucher step up with a larger role? They also added Alex Lenn. What will Alex Lenn now do in that scenario? How much more do they play small ball? With OG or Pascal Seacum at the five, I'm curious to see how Nick Nurse and the Raptors adapt now with their new personnel since you don't have the two true bigs and Gasolni Baca. now you have the one in Baines and then Alex Lenn.

It's going to be interesting to see how that works out, but that's a good sign-ing for Toronto, especially for two years, 14 million. And I like the Baines fit with Seacom. I think it'll be good for Seacom too, right? Not be the guy that has to go in and bang all the time, right? You're counting on. Seacum, he's, I mean, he's so good already,

but it's amazing as good as he is, how much of a disappointment he felt like. Oh, nobody's, nobody's perception went down. I mean, this is a guy that started the All-Star game, Kevin. I know. I know. And I wonder, like, with Toronto, we talk about, I feel like we're talking a lot about, you know, Milwaukee, obviously. Brooklyn's, you know, the new team, Philly revamped.

But with Toronto, they're still the team where I look at them. And I'm like, okay, Seacum and O.G. And Van Blee, for that matter, are still young. Those guys can all still get better. could Toronto keep themselves in championship contention with a mini leap from Siakum, OG continuing to get better on offense, Vain Bleet further enhancing what he does and with Baines replacing Gasol and Ibaka. Like can they still be a contender in the East?

Yes. Seacom just needs a new move. He can't go to the spin move every time. He's had a couple months. He says, spin the other direction. It'll throw everybody. money off. You mentioned Milwaukee, another, another signing that I liked. Look, man, I have always like Bobby Portis. And he's been on rat teams his whole career. And they got in for two, two years,

seven million bucks. I like this signing. I really do. I like when you've got a team that's going to be playing. You, uh, you like Bobby Portis's eyes. Oh, I love it. You like the intensity. It just gets you, gets you ready to go on the court and battle, right? That's the kind of guy. that I want when the playoffs come around and all of a sudden your team's feeling a little soft. He ain't soft. He is a gamer.

And again, we talk all the time about placement and fit. He's been on terrible teams. His whole career, you know what I mean? Like you've been on bad teams that have been playing for nothing for the last 30 games of every season. You put him in a situation

where his team's playing for something. That's the kind of guy that when when it's a three-point game and the ball comes off the rim, he's going to be in the mix fighting you for that ball. And he didn't get paid anything. This is like a revitalized my career contract. And I am excited to see him in a situation, like playing games that actually matter because I think he's the kind of guy that you want when games actually matter.

He's in that cut from that Marcus Smart cloth, right? where becomes a fan favorite and he'll do anything he can to help you try to win that game. And I bet he makes winning plays for them. I do. I bet Bobby Fortis ends up making winning plays for them. And I bet he has a lot of success playing for in that Boondhozer system. You know, it's interesting with him. You know, we kind of joke about the eyes.

I first really liked Bobby Portis or I was like, ooh, he's a gamer. I remember Arkansas, I believe it was a sophomore area. he used to do like the Kevin Garnett thing where he'd slap the floor on a switch against a guard or a wing. Don't you remember the story? Don't you remember the story about they were asking him how he

how he gets fired up for games or whatever? Oh yeah, yeah, yeah. And he said, I think. I picture of the other team. The guy slapped my mom. Slap my mom, yeah. He's for real. Like, if he doesn't have a reason to hate you,

he closes his eyes and, convinces himself that you slapped his mom. And now he hates you. I love Bobby Morris. It's so funny. I want a whole locker room of these nutballs. But no, I think that's an edge that I think Milwaukee needs. I do.

I think they need more guys like that because, you know, obviously Janus is there for the fight and he's going to be giving it everything he's got. But, I mean, they've got a lot of guys on that team that are not necessarily demonstrative type guys, right? And I do think that having guys with an edge like that can certainly help you. Certainly when it comes playoff time, right? Sure. Because those are the kind of guys that can swing games for you just by those.

They come off the bench, they give you six points and four rebounds in six minutes, and all of a sudden they flip a game for you with their energy. Sure. And with Bobby Portis, there's not a doubt that he intends to bring the energy. sometimes he'll be out of position or whatever and all that. But maybe in a winning situation with a guy like a Janus on the court, a guy like Drew Holiday, you can live with some of that because of the energy that he's providing.

Maybe he can be like their mantra as Harold, what Harold was to the clippers at times during the season. When you see a guy that plays that hard and he loses every friggin' night, that's I like those guys. I will say this, though, somebody who liked Bobby Portis when he was on the draft, he hasn't been what I had hoped for, despite the loser.

situation. So I would hope with the bucks that he's able to find himself as a player and find the right fit for him because there's a lot to like and we'll see what happens there. You know, the signing, one of the signs I definitely like is a guy that's a proven commodity and we

already mentioned him in passing. That's Sergei Baca going to the Los Angeles clippers. Two years, 19 million. I'm not quite sure that that's a guy they expected to be able to get for that dollar amount, but they did. And having him as a replacement for Montra as Harold, who I just mentioned,

Harold was very good for them for two years, did not do well in the bubble. And there was the reported chemistry issues that the team had with him and Kauai and, you know, that was from the athletic. So for them to upgrade from Harold to I Baca in terms of on-court talent, in terms of shooting ability,

what Ibaka can provide with the spacing, ability to score off the dribble. And maybe the chemistry fit as well, bringing in Kauai's guy from Toronto. they won a title together. They made a run together. They know each other. Maybe chemistry can be better for the clippers.

And that seems to be one of the ingredients that needed the most improvement, more so than the talent itself. And nobody would know better than the people in that locker room, the players, the coaches, and those who work in the front office about what needed to change personality-wise to get things right there. And Ibaka, everywhere he's been, has been a good player to have on your side. So that seems like a big time move for the Clippers. Always plays within himself and always, from the very moment he came into the league, he was flanked by stars. And so he has embraced a role and played a role his entire career.

It's not like he went somewhere else and all of a sudden started shooting the ball 20 times a game, right? And there are nights where he may end up two for five. Right. But then there's the other night where he might end up 10 for 14, right? But whatever the role calls for. And so when you when you want to find guys to play alongside your stars, somebody like Ibaka is absolutely ideal. You're not asking him to do anything that he hasn't done for the last decade. You know, when you come in and playing with Westbrook and Durant, you know where you are on that pecking order. And so there is no issue with where you are on that pecking order. and I like it too. He was great for them. In fact, they should have played him more in the playoffs. I didn't think Nick Nersh played him enough in the playoffs because he was a big problem for the Celtics. He was good.

Really good. All right. Other one I liked. I was going to say, give me one you don't like, Chris. Give me one you don't like. Let me get the likes out of the way. Okay. All right.

We're going to get extremely negative in a moment. Okay. Extremely negative? Oh, disastrously. Okay. The last one, and this has absolutely nothing to do with basketball, is Udana Sazlap. They signed him for one year, $2.5 million. You know, we talk so much and people can roll their eyes about heat culture, you know,

and they've obviously promoted it. They've turned into a whole slogan, right? This heat culture, whatever. But this guy, he's never going to play a minute for you. but you saw him during the playoffs and there were like those timeouts where he was screaming at everybody. And I love this idea of the keeper of the flame. I also love the idea of somebody that plays out their entire career and the organization just keeps taking care of them because they want them around and they want that leadership. And it's almost like you're paying an

assistant coach except an assistant coach that comes and plays in your practices. And helps to he cares deeply about that organization and that culture and everything about it and so it's going to go by the wayside but these guys just don't exist anymore kev now i'm hoping that the curries and the thompsons and the lucas and the yannis is that we that we get back to you know a time where guys might spend their whole 15 year career 16 year career with an organization like dirt Novitsky did. But there was, there's a whole group of those guys, you know, when Westbrook was gone from Oklahoma City and Nick Hollison prior to that, like, Hasam's like the guy. He's the longest tenured guy. And it's almost a, to me, it's a throwback to years that are, that's gone now,

right? I don't know if we will ever see it again, really, where we ever see somebody play for, you know, have a 18 year career in one uniform. But, you know, they sign them on for another year. It takes up a roster spot, but I think I would argue that that's probably the most valuable 15th roster spot that an organization has in the entire league. And I believe in that stuff. Yeah, he's the highest paid assistant coach in the league, pretty much, you know. And I think it does matter.

I think there's a reason why they keep bringing him back, and that's because the impact he has on the players there. And he's part of that culture. He's part of what has made it, what it is. And it's pretty cool to see an organization reward that. And also for the player to want to be there and continue taking on that mentorship role. It's an awesome signing.

I'm glad you mentioned it, actually, because like you said, it goes overlooked. All right. The ones I didn't like. This is what you were so looking for. Let me mention one other one that. I did like. Oh, well, you had a thousand that you liked and two.

Here's the thing, Chris. How many are there that you can look at and be like, I hate that sign? There's not a lot of those. I had to parse it down. You're to parse it down? Yeah, I hate them all. I'm just kidding. Did you like?

I've got three. Let me just rapid fire these a cup real quick. Did you like Christian Wood to the Rockets? Fine. I think it's, I think it's been blown up a little too much, partly because of you. Okay, so a little bit of Christian Woodhipe. Yeah, a little bit too much.

Can we do something like on a winning team before I start giving you up? We'll see. We'll see. So you agree that he's a quality player, but you need to see it on a winning team. Yeah. So we'll find out. It could be three to six months of amazing basketball. Okay. How about Bogdan, Bogdanovich to the Hawks?

I love him. I love him. It's a little of an overpay, but I love him. You have to do that. Okay, so we both like that signing. I think it's perfect in the sense that I hope. I mean, we'll see. We've mentioned this a bunch. Push Trey Young off ball.

Push them off ball more often. You got Bogdanovich? You got Rondo? This one I'm going to do. I'll go ahead and do it because one of my dislikes. Is it Rondo? The more I've thought about it. Yes.

This is stupid. Yeah, this is stupid. This is stupid. Stupid. Why stupid? Why stupid? That's a strong order to use. Because a guy just helped the team win a title and he's in the like the twilight of his career, right? We're in the last three to four years of the Rayjon Rondo experience. Okay. You're not going to win big. You're just not. Like you're going to be fighting for a playoff spot if you're Atlanta.

Okay. I have a higher opinion of them. I think maybe than you do. But we both agree they're going to be fighting for one of the eight spots. or 18, you know, they'll be in the playing and all. Yes, they'll be in one of the play-ins, but it's not a sure-fire day or, like, I feel very confident they're going to be the playoffs. So, how happy you're going to be if you're Rajan Rondo in that situation? The other thing is, I just spent a fortune on Bogdanovich, right? I got Trey Young who averages friggin' 30 points a game. Now, you tell me how this fits.

Am I playing three guards? like, what am I doing here? Because this guy's not going to be happy if he doesn't play. And he's also a ball dominator. Like, and it was fine when he's playing with, you know, LeBron and AD or whatever. Is he going to be the mentor guy helping everybody along? I think so.

And okay. Okay. Is he going to be fine being a bench guy? I don't know about that. That's, that's the concern I have there. That's the concern I have. Like, Ray's on Roddo. This is what I'd guess.

My prediction would be, yeah, about this one. Are you ready? This is going to flame your head off. Okay. We get to the trade deadline and we will be talking about which contender is going to get Rondo. Maybe that will be the case. Wouldn't shock me one bit. Because what's the point?

Reginal Rondo is going to play for a team that's scrapping and clawing to get to the playoffs. He just got the money. He got the money. He got the money, but also the point is from Atlanta's perspective is you have a veteran, again, who could push Trey Young off the ball. to me. So where am I playing by Donovich at the three? Probably at the three. I mean, you're probably playing small.

Your team is going to be horrible defensively. It's a horrible defensive team. It's just going to be, it's going to score a lot of points. And that's what the hope is. They're leaning all in on offense. Defense, not so much. Not so much defense. Okay. So you think I'm playing. Cucapella on an island protecting the room.

That's what it's going to be. Cam Reddish and DeAndre Hunter, you need to really, really step up on the defensive end of the floor and elevate their play. And those guys can't defend. Reddish, all the knocks on him from his rookie season on the offensive end, even though we got better over the course of the year. He was consistently very, very good on defense. Hunter is a quality defender. So they do have some guys who can defend. It's just that guard defense. Traeong, one of the most abysmal defenders in all of basketball in the last 20 years. Rajan Rondo,

laxic-daizal during the regular season. And Bogdan Bogdanovich, a solid defender, but not a great defender. So this is a team that's going to have defensive issues, especially. with penetration into the rim because of the lack of guard defense. So this team, though, is going to score. And I would hope, I hope the intentions of adding Rondo are simply as like training wheels for Trey Young to get rolling off the ball. He can't, this team is not going to be what it can be if Trey Young is dominating the ball more than anybody else in the league.

Trey's talents as a shooter need to be unleashed off the ball. And if Rondo can help facilitate that for his long-term development, I'm totally cool with it. I get it, but we are also forgetting. He didn't give a shit about the regular season. Rondo didn't. For two years of the Lakers season. He's playing with the Lakers.

Like you did a video about how it might be better to have, you know, Caruso in there, right? And then he shows back up in the playoffs when the games really matter. But, I mean, he's at that stage of his career. and that's not the kind of guy that, to me, that's the kind of guy that needs to be on a team like the Lakers,

not a guy that needs to be on a team like the Hawks. I mean, I'll tell you what, though, I'm sure the Lakers, when they evaluated, I would guarantee, and this is not sourced or anything.

This is just me, like, reading between the lines here. I would guarantee the players wanted Rondo back. I bet LeBron wanted Rondo back. I went A.D., I bet all of them did.

But I bet you the front office looked at, and they're like, we're not going to get Rondo shooting 40% in the bubble again. We're not going to get that. We need to find an upgrade. I guarantee the front office made that call. Really against the wishes of the players and bring their guy back.

Because they know, they know the two years of Rondo struggling throughout the play, the regular season for the Lakers. The reason why Lakers fans did not like Rondo entering the postseason was because he wasn't good. He finished strong, but he was not good. And they got an upgrade and Schroeder a clear definitive upgrade. And for Atlanta, I look at it. I see the risk that you're mentioning and I don't love it.

But I am so in the camp of you got to push Trey off ball more often that I lean towards like for that sole reason. It may not be easy. There may be some challenges with Ronda wanting more touches, more playing time. But like hopefully in the end that helps Trey because you need to maximize who Trey is. All right. Other one I didn't like. I mean, look, we mentioned this when it first happened. That Bertons contract is the most obvious, it's the most obvious, massive mistake.

The last two years we're talking like we talk about Nicholas Batum's contract. We're talking about it how we talk about those contracts that, that offseason where it was like, you know, Chandler Parsons and Baton and all that, that whole group of guys, Baysmore, that whole group of guys. No. The Baysmore group, sure, but he's not making over 20 million. No, but this is a, I was a free agent in a crappy year contract, is what I mean by that, right? And so I got, because of what was out there and what was available, I got this number. And 5 and 80.

Davis Burtons is never going to make an all-star team, okay? and he is a good player who obviously shot the hell out of the ball last year on a team that didn't win very many games and played very fast and scored a million points, right? But he is no kind of formidable defender. And when I'm looking at the end of that contract, he's not young either. He's not young. So the last two years of that contract, I promise you, are going to. be rough if he's still in a Washington uniform. Can I push back against this?

Go ahead. Isn't it really a problem that Burthans is making $15 million this year? This season, his salary is $15 million. Is that really that much of a problem? No, this season. I just told you it's not this season. He didn't sign a two-year deal.

I agree, but I just want to go a year-year deal. I want to go year-by-year. 16 million next season, I don't think that's much of a problem. to maximize what Beal and Wall can be. By year three, that contract will be a disaster. He'll be 29 years old and the salary cap should go up and each year of the deal is 15 million, 16 million, 16 million, 17 million, and then the final year is partially guaranteed 16 million that year. To me, like, I get how 80 million five years sounds and it is an overpay in some ways,

but the first two, three years of that deal when you're trying to maximize Wall and Beal, I don't look at $15, 16 million and think that's a massive overpay for protons. I'd feel better about 11 or 12, but 15, 16 for a guy who's like one of the better shooters with that size in the league, I'm kind of cool with it. And then towards the end of the deal. You would be. You like the Allen Crab deal.

And that was a disaster too. I don't recall liking the Allen Crab deal. We'd have to go back to the pod. If that even happened when we were recording, I forget. it was it was the it was the it was the it was the blake griffin argument this is one of our biggest viral videos for alan crab and i said at the end i said alan crab and i listed up you said alan crail that contract's not that bad because i said what i i don't have a great memory that is one of my i have a weird memory i remember weird emotional details i remember the way i felt in certain

moments that weed man That's what it does to you. Kevin O Cannabis? I have a hard time remembering certain things such as like whether I liked the Alan Crabb contract. I really don't. I wish I had that faculty. I could just forget all the stupid things I said. It's amazing.

And we'll get into this. day in the future. But it's amazing how differently people's minds work and remember and visualize certain things. Visualization is very different for different people. Is that right? It is not the same for it is for everybody. Don't get deep on me.

I'm talking about free agent signings. I feel bad even just like touching on it because I'm like, what do you mean? You know, it's different for everybody. But like memories are weird, man. Our brains are all different. All of our experiences. I'm not helping the Kevin O'Cannabis statement here. But I want to get into it.

I want to get into it. But today is not the pod to do it. But someday I want to talk about memories and visualization. All right. I'll give you the last one I didn't like. And then you're going to. Chris is like, let's move on. I'm going to have you visualize something.

Visualize. I can't. Okay. No, here's what I'm going to do. Because you've got to give me one that you didn't like after I do this. Because I've let you off the hook. I know. I just really, there's not many that I didn't like.

I know. It's why we're the mismatch, because it's not in your comfort zone to not like something. Okay. Here, I'm going to help you, Kevin. Okay.

My last one, I have three that I didn't like. I have Bertons. I have the Rondo contract. Just because of the fit. And then I wrote down for my last one, everything the Knicks did. Everything.

Name the Nick. What are the, What are the Knicks do wrong? Name the nick. What was the kid, Gilchrist, Austin Rivers, who cares? It was just all favors. It was all agent favor. That's what it should be.

That's smart. Oh, God. Norland's Noel. Norland's Noel. Yeah, that's smart. I'm trying to have a real basketball team for God's sake. You should be tanking. It's the right thing to do.

Tank. Well, then don't hire Tom Tibido. Hire some Schmode stand over there. Tibbs can deal with it. Guys can have a damn. heart attack. Tibbs can deal with it. Huh? He's a big boy. Tips can deal with it. I promise you.

With Tom Tiddo took that. He didn't tell him. You're going to go out there and coach Austin Rivers, Michael Kid Gilchrist, Thirling to Noel. What's his name? We're going to waste another year of R.J. Barrett. And then whoever.

Yeah. I look at it like the Knicks didn't do anything dumb by signing stupid long-term contracts. The Knicks did those agent favors as you called it. And also, can we get some real players? How are the Nix's team that you hated what they did?

They finally didn't screw up. What are you talking about? They didn't screw up. They didn't do anything ridiculous that's going to hurt their future. What is there to dislike about the Nix did? They just handed out money to a bunch of guys. Yes, so they could feel the bad team. That's going to have a high lottery odds in a loaded draft

and have the opportunity to maybe land a guy who can't, change their franchise. They didn't screw up. That's a win. The Knicks didn't screw up. A win. How many years we're going to tank in a row? You're saying they have a Chris.

That's the bar. That's the bar for the Knicks. How many years they've been tanking, Kev? What was the last good Knicks team? I'm not interested in looking back. I'm interested in looking forward. You're still defending them being shitty on purpose. Yes.

It's been doing it for a decade. I'm not going to judge the brand new Knicks for an office from past mistakes. that other regimes made. I'm looking solely at who was hired what they're doing from day one and beyond. I don't care what Phil Jackson did. That is irrelevant right now. I don't care what these other regimes did. It's irrelevant to what the new regime is doing.

And the new regime, to me, I'm like, okay, this is looking pretty solid so far. Good draft pick and Obie Topping, a good head coach hire and Tom Tibido. They're not signing any stupid long-term contracts. They're not overpaying for an old guy with the hope. of them seeing them into the playoffs. No, the Knicks are retaining their cap flexibility. They're retaining their assets. You've been building a young team.

We've been doing this podcast. What is the problem here? Well, the Knicks did. I can't believe I'm defending the Knicks for hopping over the short little bar. Their ball was so low, Chris. And they leaped over it. Because we've been doing this podcast for five years and you've defended the Nicks not signing free agents, keeping their flexibility and being shitty.

I have. It's like for five years. You like what they do every year and they're shitty every year. It's unbelievable. Like, how can you? You're like, they didn't sign anybody and they suck. Yes. And it's like, that's the right thing to do.

They've done it for 10 years. At some point, it's not the right thing to do anymore. Get some real players. Who would you want them to sign? Get a real basketball team. Who did you want them to sign? Who did you want them to sign? Who did you want them to sign?

next sign. You want me to go pull up every free agent that's out there. Who would you want the next to sign? Yes, I want you to tell me you don't like what they did. Who would you've wanted the Knicks of sign to make them an actual relevant team? Hold on now. You want them to sign Bogdan, Bogdan for $20 million annually? Where does that put them? I don't know. Where does it? That clogs up 20 million in cap space. It makes them a seven seed, a six seed. If that. If that. And you know what it does? It pulls them out of the conversation. the potential to get a top draft pick and a loaded freaking draft year. Oh, God.

It was loaded two years ago and they got the eighth pick. It didn't work out. It never works out. It never works out. Why don't you understand this? It does work out, Chris. No, it doesn't. No, it doesn't.

When was the last time the Knicks? It worked out. When? Patrick Ewing, you weren't even born. It's 1985. with a frozen envelope. It's been a long time. It's been a long time.

It's been 40 fucking years. 40 years. It's worked out. That's when it worked out. I got to go through every free agent and tell you who they should have signed. How about this? How about this? My answer is not in Erland's Noel, Austin Rivers.

Good answer. Good answer. And Bobo Schmo. Good answer. You want me to go out and build the Knicks. That's what you want me to do here within a five-minute podcast. Yeah, at least I'm coming here with a plan, and that's retain cap space. You've had the same plan.

It's the same plan every year. I think it's the right plan. There's nothing easier than that. Go be shitty and try to get a hydrap pick. That's the easiest point. That's not a plan. Anybody can do that. Who can't do that?

Why do you even hire people? I'd just hire a, I'd hire a chimpanzee to do that. I wouldn't pay him a dollar. My, my, my Nix plan. is to make yourself look competent. Make yourself look like a team that is appealing to sign to. You look around the league right now. Both L.A. teams, their max slots gone.

They're not in there for a star player coming up. Look at the Nets. Their situation, they have two max players signed already. Look even at Phoenix, the team close to L.A. They are clogged up with Devin Booker and Chris Paul now. So what is the team that a player that's a star might, want to go to next. What team is that?

In a big market, the Knicks can be that team if they make themselves look like a competent franchise. And by doing that, focus on player development, have your young guys flourish and enter the 2021 off season with a load of cab space.

How did Phoenix do it? How did Phoenix do it? Become a real place that like somebody that Chris Paul would want to go to. They went and signed Ricky Rubio. They went and signed Aaron Baines. Like these are not things. that you are going to be excited about.

And they took this weird route to get there. No, but they got to be a legitimate team. That's the quest. You got to be a legitimate team. Yes, you weren't excited about the Rubio signing. You're not excited about the Aaron Bain signing. You're not going to be excited. So if you tell me, build the Knicks, I'm like, all right, you're not going to be excited

when I tell you to go get solid basketball players and become a team that somebody can see an upward trajectory. going to laugh at me saying this. Nobody joined it. You're going to laugh at me saying this. So if that's the case, what's wrong with Norlands, Noel? What's wrong with Michael Kid Gilchrist? They're awful. What's wrong with Austin Rivers? Austin Rivers is awful, really?

Really? The past couple years, he hasn't been a bench spark plug for the Rockets? You're telling me, Noel hasn't been a solid bench big. That Kid Gilchrist hasn't been an effective defender. Yeah, he can't shoot, but he's a very good defensive player. You're telling, so what's wrong with these signings? Adding

some okay veterans around your younger players. Because they're all Kentucky favors. It's just Kentucky favors. All right. It is. It's nothing to do with building a real basketball team. They're not doing that because Nerlans-O-L does this,

and Michael Kid Gilchrist does this. Worldwide West has been Kit Gilchrist's uncle for as long as I've known of either of them. I mean, like these are all just favors that they did this offseason. It had nothing to do with what those guys bring to the table basketball-wise. I mean, those fans. favors don't hurt. Maybe it'll work out. Those favors don't hurt.

And the relationship aspect between agents, Leon Rose being a former agent with CAA, that matters. It matters. Like would the Bron James, had went to the Lakers? If they didn't do a favor for KCP, probably still would have.

But I know it sure doesn't hurt. I don't know. There's still doing favors. There's still doing favors for KCP. The guy's going to make $150 million in his career. I mean, he's not. He had his moments in the playoffs. There's no way around that.

He was really good. He did. Really good. But when you look at how much money he makes at the end of his career versus where he is in the standings of NBA players, he is well outperformed financially, I will say. He's still got another deal. All right, Kevin.

It's going to do it. You've made me very angry. Now I need to go borrow some of your cannabis. We are very excited. We are very excited. The mismatch is moving to its own feed. We do want to encourage all of you to go find the mismatch feed this week. And please subscribe, subscribe, subscribe.

Our Friday show is going to still be on both feet. Yes. The Ringer NBA show feed. It's going to run on the new mismatch feed, which will be up by that point. And it'll be on the Ringer NBA show. So we'll remind you again on Friday in case you may hear today's episode or you want to be reminded it again to go subscribe to the new mismatch feed. Chris, this is exciting. I can't wait.

It's the biggest moment of my career. And like it's all, you know, it's all thanks to the listeners, these last four seasons, entering our fifth season. Oh, I was going to say our producer, Sasha, because none of this shit happened to us with Isaac. None of this stuff happened with Tate Frazier. As soon as we've added, Sasha, it's just, Zoom. Sasha, get that in.

I had to get it in. Thank you so much, Sasha. Thank you. And Sasha will still be producing as well. And she was never going to let us forget. how she has elevated us to a point where they have separated the feed. After we have been dumped by 17 producers. We just,

we finally got it right. We'll see where our number ends. It may have ended. That's the other part of the announcement. It's just about to come on here and say, actually, guys. Actually, actually, I'm not producing the show.

All right. It's going to do it for another edition of the mismatch. Be on the lookout and go subscribe to our new feed, which is going to be separated everywhere you get your podcast. And we will talk to you on Friday.