The Zach Lowe Show - One Big Question for Every Eastern Conference Team!

Episode Date: September 15, 2026

Zach is joined by Michael Pina to recap Steve Ballmer’s apology letter and put a bow on the entire Clippers saga. Then, they run through every team in the Eastern Conference and ask one big question for each. (0:00) Welcome to The Zach Lowe Show! (1:28) Michael Pina joins the show! (2:02) Final thoughts on the Clippers (9:43) Toronto Raptors (14:02) Boston Celtics (17:25) Philadelphia 76ers (21:09) Brooklyn Nets (24:37) New York Knicks (29:24) Miami Heat (32:51) Atlanta Hawks (37:01) Washington Wizards (41:39) Orlando Magic (46:33) Charlotte Hornets (51:38) Indiana Pacers (57:02) Detroit Pistons (1:03:18) Cleveland Cavaliers (1:07:47) Chicago Bulls (1:13:59) Milwaukee Bucks Host: Zach Lowe Guest: Michael Pina Producers: Jonathan Frias, Billy Gil, and Mike Wargon Social: Keith Fujimoto and Michael Szokoli The Ringer is committed to responsible gaming. Please visit https://fanduel.com/playwithaplan to learn more about the resources and helplines. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The 2006 Chevrolete Equinox awarded the most dependable compact SUV in the U.S. by J.D. Power is designed for your every day. And with available all-wheel drive, you can handle your to-do list with total confidence. Start your build at Chevrolet.ca. Details at J.D.Power.com. On the Zach Lowe show, it's Tuesday morning. It's mid-September. Training camp is almost here. Michael Pina from the Ringer is here for a fun sort of big picture look at the Eastern Conference. One big question for all 15 teams. One question that could define.

each of their respective seasons, whether they're trying to win the championship, or whether they're just sort of building from the bottom or in the Buck's case rebuilding or in the Bulls case kind of also rebuilding whatever the Nets are doing. We each wrote one question for each of the 15 teams. We're going to rapid fire quick hitting through all 15 of them. Kind of a nice way to start looking at the season. And we're going to start with the Toronto Raptors. Why? Because Kauai Leonard is finally months later a Raptor. The trade is done. Brandon Ingram and Grady Dick go to what is left of the clip. who, of course, announced over the weekend that they will not, not be contesting the NBA's penalties.

They will just accept them. And for all their bluster about lawsuits and witch hunts and all of that, they're just giving up and turning tail and eating the penalty. And the trade is done. We're going to talk about all of that. And what I expect to hear at Board of Governors later today about the Clippers, about NBA Europe, about expansion. A loaded Zach Lowe Show to start your week with Michael Pina. That's all coming up now. The Zach Lowe Show.

It's mid-September. I went to yet another New York Mets lost last night. We're not going to talk about that. I'm old for four for the season. It's going great. Michael Pina is here, and we're going to do a fun exercise today. One big question. We each wrote one, one apiece, for all 15 Eastern Conference teams.

The defining maybe small question, big question, whatever you wanted, something that's going to kind of be a pivot point for each team's season. And we'll do the West next week. Mr. Pina, how are you? I'm fantastic. Zach, thank you so much for having me. We are going to start with the Toronto Raptors, not because I'm that interested in the Toronto Raptors,

or I think the Toronto Raptors are going to win the East, or I'm trying to get some side deals with some businesses in Toronto. No, not for any of that reason, but because Kauai Leonard is finally, mercifully a Raptor under the exact terms that were agreed to months, weeks, years, I don't know, ago. Brandon Ingram is a clipper. Grady Dick is a clipper, two unprotected first round pictures, from Toronto 31 and 33 are Clippers property. Apparently they're not going to have to forfeit

those picks and a second round or in a swap. And that's all possible because Steve Balmer released a statement over the weekend or on Monday night, whenever it was, I can't remember saying they are not. After all their talk, Michael Pina, about witch hunts and using every avenue possible to deflect this podcaster's nonsense allegations and this penalty that the NBA They levied after miscommunication and this and that. It's a witch hunt. Oh, my God, the lawsuits are going to be flying. Nope, they're just going to eat the penalty.

Maybe secretly hope that the penalty will get shrunk. We'll probably ask Adam Silver about that at Board of Governors today. Can I read you, Mr. Balmer's statement, Michael? Please, please do. For my fellow Los Angeles Clippers followers, not sure you're a follower or how many of those there are anymore. But that's just line. We'll just line at it, line by line. This has been a very difficult time for everybody associated with the Clippers.

And for that, I have sincere regrets. This and that. What exactly are this and that? What do you regret? You just regret the vibes? I want to apologize. That's a nice word. To our fans, employees, and my fellow NBA team owners for the distraction and distress.

This matter has caused for which I accept responsibility. as principal owner. What is this matter and what are you accepting responsibility for? Just the distraction and the noise? Too bad. We are committing to put this chapter behind us. We have communicated to the NBA that we are complying with the penalties assessed by the league, have paid the fine, that was quick, and are moving forward. While there are still disagreements concerning the findings in the report, this is not where I want to focus. Team owners should support, not distract. I don't think I heard anything in there about cap circumvention or like, whoops,

Gillian Zucker was arranging side deals with four different company. Did you hear anything in there about that? I did not. It's an extremely vague statement. And I appreciate the apology to the fellow owners as well. I took note of that. Look, I'm sure. I mean, I've really suffered through this. My thoughts and prayers have been with them through this entire ordeal and their families and their pets.

really good. I apologize that you feel bad about the thing that I did. Apology, not apology. The challenges ahead of us are significant, but so is our resolve. We will continue to build our team and invest in our community. What kind of investments are you going to make? You know what? Better not to ask.

The confidence of our fans is our priority. Good luck with that. With our talented roster, I'm sorry, what? Outstanding staff and clear vision. I am certain that we will compete at the highest level. okay and be an organization our fans can be proud of. Well, good luck to you because if I know one thing about the clippers, it's that they have a long history of competing at the highest level

and being an organization that their fans can be proud of. This is, after all the bluster, just a delightfully chicken shit statement. And I will ask you, though, Kauai clearly gets off Scott Free and all this. He waves his trade kicker. He goes to the Raptors where he wanted to be, where Alex McKechnie, the last guy who really kept him healthier for a prolonged period of time, is working as the director of whatever he is or the president of whatever he is. I don't get into titles anymore.

He's probably going to sign an extension with the Raptors that is going to be enormous and presumably legal. And he paid a $700,000 fine, agreed to a backdoor deal with the NBA that the Clippers seemed gobsmacked by when it happened. And it was an end around around their own right to take this to our. arbitration. I think Mark Stein is the one who reported over the weekend. Maybe it was Jake Fisher, one of them, that there was some resentment among the clippers towards Kauai for how easily he gets to move on. Do you feel bad for the Los Angeles Clippers? No. I mean, of course not. I mean,

I read the report, the 36-page report. A lot of lying happened. A lot of rule-breaking. The fact that they were specifically warned and reminded of the rules after they broke them with D'Andre Jordan. So they're like a second time offender in all of this. I have no sympathy whatsoever. I think that frankly, getting the two picks from Toronto and the pick swap or whatever is a blessing for them. And we'll see what they can do with that. I'm not very optimistic.

I think that if I feel bad for anyone, it's for the fans, of course. I mean, this sucks for them royally. And I don't know when this team will be relevant again, let alone competitive, like, competitive in any sense. And I don't know what the path is. If you care about your fans, you are a man whose wealth can rise or fall or rise and rise and rise in tens of billions of dollars like per day, per week, per hour, depending on one company's stock price. Do something for your fans. Give them free tickets. Give them 70% off their season tickets.

Do something for your fans. Look, two things, I can hold these two beliefs simultaneously in my head. Kauai Leonard is a villain in this story. The idea that he knew nothing was going on, all my uncles just going rogue. I have no idea where all this money is coming from. I'm signing documents. Blah, Pablo Tori, on his podcast has pointed out here. The documents he signed.

I don't know where this money is coming from. I apologize on behalf of my bad uncle. Complete nonsense. And he is getting off Scott Free. and it is going to tar his career and his legacy. I can believe that. And I can also feel absolutely no pity for the Clippers, who broke the rules with DeAndre Jordan,

who should have reported to the NBA immediately what Kauai Leonard was asking for, who should have just flat out said, hey, no, you're not really worth it. But they were so desperate for relevance for a superstar that they've spent a year following around, like a stalker fan going to all his games in Toronto, that they couldn't say no to him,

not before he signed, not once he signed, not after he signed an extension. They could never say no to him. They could never even tell the NBA what was going on. They knew exactly what this whole thing was about and that Kauai ultimately was going to look out for himself. They shouldn't be surprised at what happened. And I still, no one has answered the question. Forget the Paul George Shay trade and Kauai demanding that and should they have done that.

Like let's leave that over here. no one has ever like answered the question if they said no is he really not signing with the clippers is he going to where the lakers i don't think you wanted to go to the lakers is he going back to toronto i don't know but anyway let's move on toronto has kawai leon essentially in place of brandon ingram colossal upgrade uh and they it also caused some picks which not relevant for this season so much other than trade assets and grady dick who had been surpassed in the rotation by Jacoby Walter. Michael Pina, what is your big question for the Toronto Raptors? Can Scotty Barnes be the best teammate Kauai Leonard has ever had is my question.

And you go down the list of, I went, you know, obviously through Kauai's career. You have Tim Duncan, manager nobly in there, mid to late 30s. You have a little Marcus Aldridge, made their team all NBA. As a 30-year-old in 2016, you have 24-year-old, Pascal Seacom, one most improved player in 2019. He's the second leading score on a champion. You have 30-year-old Paul George, made third-team all-NBA in 2021. 32-year-old Paul George in 2023, All-Star, another All-Star team for Paul George, the following year.

And then you have 35-year-old James Hardin, who was an All-Star and third-team all-MBA in 2025. And that's pretty much like... Can I just give a shout-out to NBA champion? Six-time All-Star, soon-to-be-retired number in Toronto, a game six-hero, Kyle Lowry. Can I just throw that? Just put him in.

Sure. Just put him in the pile. Okay, yeah, for sure. Apologies to him. He is a legend. Scotty Barnes is kind of unlike all of these guys, and that he's only 25 years old this season. He was an All-Star last year.

He was fifth on defensive player of the year voting, second team all defense. And I'm not one to overreact. to one playoff series, but I was so impressed by Scotty Barnes in that the Cleveland Cavalier series. I just thought he did absolutely everything, played every position at an extreme intensity, high energy, made incredible passes, was a great playmaker. If you just look at, you know, obviously the numbers were terrific. He was efficient and guarded everybody, guarded James Hardin, guarded Evan Mobley, helped off Evan Mobley, helped off Jared Allen,

clogged up. He was everywhere doing everything. And I was kind of blown away by that. And I feel like the Raptors might not, I mean, they probably still would have made this trade, but I feel like they were way more bullish and more confident in themselves in giving up two first and a pick swap to get Kauai because of what Scotty Barnes did in that series, without Brandon Ingram, without Emmanuel quickly. He was just so good and looked like such a superstar, such a budding superstar.

I'm so excited to see what he can do this year. And I think he is the key to everything in terms of just becoming the Pippin to Kauai's Jordan this season. Or like something like a complete equal. If not, if not he is in this analogy, no one is Jordan. But is he the superior player this year? That's how exciting it is. I like the framing there because, you know, not. And Kauai is purely additive to the Raptors.

He enhances everything they already do well from being a low turnover team to being a ferocious, contesting defensive team that forces a lot of turnovers. And then adds stuff that they maybe don't do as well if he has the same three-point shooting volume, if he gets to the line as much, it's just all gravy. My big question for the Raptors is this. Is there a world? So they're presumed starting five is Emmanuel quickly. one of my X factors for the year.

RJ Barrett, Kauai, Scotty, Yacca Purdle. Is there a world in which the Raptors swallow hard and make a decision that Jacoby Walter should start over either Barrett or quickly? I don't see that as likely given their pedigrees respectively. Or should Colin Murray Boyles just be the starting center of the Raptors? And you want to say that you're going to take a hit defensively at the rim. and on the glass.

And maybe you will. The Raptors have been much better rebounding-wise with Perthal on the floor than off. But last year, when Scotty and Murray Boyles are on the floor together, their rebounding was airtight. And I just think it's worth asking. Team number two, we're going to go through divisions

now that we started with the Raptors. The Boston Celtics, they have been in your backyard for a lot of your life, not anymore. You're a New Yorker now. I will let you lead off. What's your big question about the Boston Celtics who obviously made an absolute.

seismic trade breaking up the JAs over the offseason? This is pretty simple. Will Jason Tatum make an all-NBA team? I think that for me personally, I've just assumed that he would. I think I assume that he will look like himself, but it is a question. It is a question in terms of his ability, based on what we saw last year when he came back from devastating injury, is a question of his availability and how many games he will play, obviously making an all-MBA team requires playing in 65, at least 65 games.

This was someone who was first team all-N-BA in four straight seasons before he ruptured his Achilles. He was top six in MVP in all of those seasons. And I just think the whole ball game is if he's not who he was before, you are, obviously, you've lost Jalen Brown and you're just not going to be as good as you were last season. And I don't know what, I mean, obviously you were eliminated in the first round. So I just think it's that that's that's everything. Like if you don't have Jason Tatum as Jason Tatum, you're in you're in trouble. And clearly the trade was vote of confidence that despite missing game seven in that very demoralizing and really conference shifting loss to the Sixers, that they will have him.

I went a little more granular than that. And it's just like my big question is, is. Is the structure undergirding this team? Is it finally going to crack a little bit and force them to make some changes? By that, I mean, I've called them team extreme. So they are a very bizarre team in which they play offense at these absolute extremes. They don't turn the ball over. Well, let's actually, they don't get to the rim and they shoot tons of threes.

And as a result, they don't turn the ball over much and they don't get to the line. And bizarrely, their defense turns every opponent into exactly what the Celtics are on offense. They protect the rim. They don't force turnovers. They don't allow free throws. And they concede a shit ton of threes. Most of which are above the break three is actually pretty good at preventing corner threes. You usually see a team play one way on offense and say that's the most efficient way and try to force the other team to play a different way.

The Celtics are just extreme on both ends of the floor in an exactly mirror image way. And it's worked in the regular season. It's won them a lot of games. And who am I to question it? And I'm not really. I'm just wondering like at some point does that start to wobble a little bit? And do you have to sort of and Brad Stevens talked about this after the season? We got to get to the rim more.

We got to pressure the rim. How do you do that when you've swapped Brown for George? And yes, Tatum was not a non-factor last year and he's back. I don't know the answer. But part of it is Mitchell Robinson who will enhance their offensive rebound if he can stay healthy and probably get them more free throws just by being hacked. So that's my general question as well as this Peyton pitcher come off the bencher start. But we have all year to talk about these teams.

Team number three, going down the Atlantic Division, really, I think, the giant of NBA's divisions, of these these just hallowed institutions. I think the Atlantic is the most hallowed and the southeast is the least held. The Philadelphia 76ers, I will go first. Okay. My big question for the Sixers is just quite simply, this is a team who allowed a ton of threes, a ton of shots at the rim, defended much better with Joel and Beat on the floor despite, you know, his physical limitations. The teams don't go to the rim as much. They shoot poorly from more poorly from all over the place. Is that enough of a roadmap for this team to be a competent defensive team? I think offensively they're going to be fine. Yes, they've got four super high usage players plus VJHC. I get that. They're all going to miss time.

They'll figure it out. They're all really smart. I think the defensive issues, now that they were also a 26th in defensive rebounding last year and no better with Embed on the floor. LeBron's a good rebounder, but he's old. You know, everyone's focused on offense and how the ball is shared. I'm going to be just as focused, if not more so, on the other end of the floor. Can this team be a good enough defense to win for the first time in Joila Bede's career?

multiple playoff series. I think, yeah, that's a great question and a huge concern with just how this team is made up right now. My question is pretty simple. How many games will their opening night starting five actually play? And I think that they need a lot of time to develop real chemistry. I have respect for all of the individual players here. I just think that the fit is one that requires so much sacrifice. And I think it's a delicate balance to load-manage LeBron and load-managed Joelle Embed throughout the regular season to make sure that they're fresh for the playoffs and also have everybody understand their role when everyone is together.

So I'm just really interested to see how often everyone will be available to play. I think it's a huge, huge deal in today's league. I'm not sure you can bet on that, although you can bet on everything, I guess. So I haven't looked at an over under. The starting five is obviously Tyrese, VJ, LeBron, Jalen, Brown, Joelle, M. V.D. There are 82 games in a regular season. Joel's last three seasons, he has played 39, 19, and 38 games, respectively.

I will set the over under for how many games that lineup appears. And maybe it did not even start. Just how many games does that lineup play in together? I will set it at 22.5. That's going to be my over under. That's a great. I was going to say 20. I was going to say 20.

Yeah, you're right there. So that's like, that's the whole, that's everything for the Sixers, I think. I think that that starting five, I actually like their depth a little bit more than when the last time we talked about them. But. PCP. KCP, baby. Diamonds, Bylon. They got some guys.

Yeah, you just got to figure things out in crunch time. There's just so much that the regular season is for and having those guys together, I think is really important. And if we get there, I do think the other big question. if we get there is will this be the first sort of high wattage possible championship condition? I know you're down on them, but let's pretend things go really right. That has a superstar resting plan in place for the postseason with Joel Embed. Chris Ryan was like dead on when he talked about how, boy, they should just sit and beat

for game one against the Knicks, concede the game come all out in game two. I actually think that that was a topic of discussion within the Sixers. I don't think it was ever close to, like, being a real thing. But I don't, I don't think that idea was viewed as outlandish. I'll just say that. Okay. Next team, I will let you go first as we get to your hometown Brooklyn Nets, the hottest ticket in town, baby. What is your big question for the Brooklyn Nets?

Oh, man. Do they have their back court of the future? God, God, they fucking better. Michael, but go ahead. Yeager Dielman and Mikhail Brown Jr. You know, winning games is important for the Nets this year. Obviously, they don't want to be a laughing stock. They made the trade for Julius Randall.

They don't want to be relegated, et cetera. But I just think like the priority should be the development of these two together. Play them as much as you can. See what you have. I like Yeager a lot. I'm bullish on his career trajectory. And it's not something that you would hang a band. for, but he did make second team summer league, which was really great and he looked awesome.

Not only are we not hanging a banner for that. I'm deleting that from the podcast. You're just not your bands. Your ban from mentioning any, let alone second team summer league, but fine. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. He did shoot pretty well last season. 38.7% behind the arc in December, 47.2% in January showed that he can play off the ball. Answered some questions there. Looks bulkier because, you know, getting into the paint, finishing in the paint at the rim is a big thing that they have as an organization for him as he develops.

I know nothing about Mikkel Brown Jr. So I can't really say anything, but he was drafted high. And yeah, so those are the two, there's other things with this team, but those are the two players, I think, that are just the most important building blocks as they build something respectable in Brooklyn. Yeah, that is the thing to watch for a team that was 30th on offense last year and 25th on defense, so quite bad.

But, I mean, related to that, you mentioned Jomon finishing in the paint. His three-point shooting was way ahead of schedule. He made a ton of tough shots, clutch shots, rather, in for what passed his clutch games for the Nets. Yeah. He's big, tall, has great vision, has Moxie and Spunk. Like, I really, really like him. He's got to get to the paint and finish more, and that will unlock his passing. My big question was kind of related to that, like, they're a little, you know, I talked at the beginning of last season, how you could see

Charlotte building something interesting, like structurally based on the kind of shots they were taking, the kind of shots they were allowing the sort of tent pole. And if they ever started like making more shots, executing a little better, like there was something here. The nets are like a junior, junior, junior, junior, junior varsity version of that, which by which I mean, they took the seventh most threes last year and the eighth most shots at the rim and the third fewest midrange shots. that all combines to the fifth highest expected field goal percentage in the league, expected being the key word because they actually had the worst field goal percentage in the league. But if they can now they're introducing a whole host to new guys, right?

Like Mikhail Brown Jr. is going to get all the runway he needs. He's probably going to start. Julius Randall is a totally different kind of player than they've had. Darren Sharp is going to be their starting center. I don't know how that ecosystem changes. Similarly on defense, they allowed the third fewest threes in the league. They allowed the second most shots at the rim, which is bad, and I'm not sure how they're going to defend the rim with this team.

But clearly, Jordi Fernandez has something like, here are the things we believe in. Can they make some shots to turn belief into productivity? That's my big net's question. The last Atlantic division team, the defending champion, New York, Nix. They have the highest over under now on Fanduel in the Eastern Conference. I think that's justified.

I would pick them to win the East as of today. if we were making picks. We are not what. You know what? I'll go first on the Knicks. Go ahead. So, you know, there's this idea that they struck lightning in a bottle in the playoffs. And I heard you and Howard talking about this on the ringer NBA show.

Like, how do we, how do we sort of digest this team turning from a 53 win team? That was top seven on both ends of the floor. Like they had the hallmarks of a real contender, but then became just an absolute colossus in the playoffs with. the top offense, the top defense, a historically great point differential, all of that. And that is two separate questions really for me.

Number one, they clearly caught a rhythm. And ineffable, you know when you see it, you can feel it, you can't touch it, but you can feel it, like, locked into, this is the ideal way for us to play on offense. This is the ideal way that touches are spread, that possessions are divided between transition, half court, threes, Brunson,

cat passing from the elbow, Like they just found it. And this is going to be a Pacer's question too. Can they sustain it? Can they grab onto it and hold it and find it again when they really need it? But the other thing was you look at their defense. They allowed a ton of threes and average amount of shots at the rim. And in the playoffs, they had one of the worst expected opponent field goal percentages in the league,

but their opponent's shot 32% on threes, under 40% on mid-range shots, and just so-so at the rim, and now their rim defense is going to be a little downgraded going from Mitchell Robinson to Andre Drummond. How real was the postseason defense? I get what the numbers are, the numbers are saying maybe not as real as it might seem, given the level of opposition and the shooting quality and all that. I think the truth is somewhere in between. It looked pretty goddamn real to me. Kat has shown he can level up defensively when it matters. And those three wings together, Hart and Oby bridges are just

hellacious covering ground, protecting everything. But I am interested to see if they, if Mike Brown decides, hey, our defense allowed too many threes this year, prioritizing, shutting off the rim, or if that's how he wants to play again and how real that was. So that's my long-wind

to Nick's question. What was yours? Yeah, I mean, are they the team we saw on the regular season or the juggernaut we saw in the playoffs was one of mine? Also, just how much will Mitch Robinson's absence be felt, I think is the big question here. He was the longest tenured player on the team. Most of their best five-man units had him in them. Their offensive rebound rate went from 37 to 27 when he was on versus off the court.

He is a better defender by a demonstrable margin than Andre Drummond, who is coming in to replace him. He is a better offensive rebounder. He is just, he's got great chemistry with Jalen Brunson. And if you look at Jalen Brunson's on-offs with Mitchell Robinson, Brunson was more efficient. He's just, he just looks very comfortable with Mitch, and they have just a great two-man game chemistry, whether DHOs or pick and roll.

And, you know, this is the finals in game five, but like, this guy had six offensive rebounds in game five of the finals. And that was a game. I think we all forget because of just what happened and they won and everything. But like, if Carl Anthony Towns goes down with any type of injury during the regular season. I just think it could be, it could be trouble-ish for the Knicks. And there are questions as to whether or not you, because Towns had two points in game five,

he fouled out, he had five turnovers. The foul, it's the injuries, but it's, I mean, he's been relatively healthy for a couple seasons now, but the foul trouble and the playoffs reared its head again for him in the finals. And his minutes went down to 22 and 25 in the last two games. Right. So I just wonder if we see more OG and Anobie or, you know, Josh Hart at the Five sort of thing during the regular season because they have to play that way and what effect that has on their bodies because this team had great health through the postseason. That was one of the reasons they won the title and were able to kind of sustain that that chemistry and that lightning that you spoke of. So I just think that Mitch Robinson is a really important and really good player.

And I'm interested to see how they replace them. The rest of the bench is back. I'm expecting DiOwara to be part of the rotation. at least at the start of the season and to be potentially helpful. That's the Knicks. All right, let's take a quick break. We'll switch divisions

to the Southeast Division, the powerhouse Southeast Division. When West Jet first took flight in 1996, the vibes were a bit different. People thought denim on denim was peak fashion. Inline skates were everywhere, and two out of three women rocked, the Rachel. While those things stayed in the 90s,

one thing that hasn't is that fuzzy feeling you get when West Jetting welcomes you on board. Here's to West Jetting since 96. Travel back in time with us and actually travel with us at Westjet.com slash 30 years. Coming up. All right, on to the Southeast Division.

We will start with the revamped Miami Heat adding Janice at Tentacumpo in exchange for a bunch of players and a bunch of draft picks. Michael Pina, your big question for a team that played a strange, unique style last year that kind of worked and a team that hasn't had a great regular season

in a long time and finally got sick of missing on stars and said to hell with it, we're getting Janice. We'll figure out the rest later. What is your big Miami Heat question? How different is their offensive system with Janus Antenacumpo on the floor? I mean, last year, as you said, it was singular in a sense and very fast and allergic to pick and rolls. And do they, was that like intentional just because they didn't have a top 10, top 15

offensive player or was it because they just thought that that the, randomized attack was to their benefit, regardless of who is on the team. I lean towards them putting the ball in Janus's hands a little bit more, still playing as fast as they can. But, you know, you want to have this guy make a lot of decisions and put pressure on the rim and run your inverted pick and rolls with Tim Hardaway Jr. And Clay Thompson in a more, I guess, like mechanical offense, scheduled. offense. And so that's kind of, I'm just really interested to see how different they are aesthetically, schematically on the offensive end, because there are some issues that I'm sure

you're going to touch on. They were 20th and threes last year. And the heat have had quite a journey with the three-point shot on both ends of the floor. They've tried taking a ton of them. They've tried taking fewer of them and the same has happened on defense. And they were 16th in shots at the rim. You would think Janus by himself increases both of those in very healthy ways. just drive and kick threes. They have cobbled together between Clay and Portis and Tim Hardaway Jr. And some of their young guys, like if Pella Larson hits more shots, Bam, obviously we'll shoot more threes this year.

They've cobbled together a decent amount of catch and shoot, three-point shooting. And I think defensively, look, I mean, if Janus and Bam are healthy, and that's been an if for Janus, particularly at go time in the playoffs, I think they just have enough tools in the box. You add Davey on Mitchell and Drew Wiggins. It'll be a very good defensive team. I don't know if they'll be like top three, but they'll be, should be top 10, top eight, something like that.

My question is, do they have enough off the dribble shot creation around their two big guys and particularly enough pull-up jump shooting? I don't remember the last time. You might have to go back to the DeMarcus cousins, Anthony Davis, Pelicans, where the two best off-the-dribble creators on a team were big guys in Janus. And Bam. And I realize Janus is sort of a unicorn positionally, but all their pull-up. up shooting went out the door in either free agency in Norman Powell's case or Tyler

Hero in the trade in Yakuchunis who will see what he ever becomes but you know he had a vehicle we'll see but you know maybe Drew Smith levels up maybe Mitchell levels up but that's sort of how they figure out that offense and how they can defend uh how well they can defend when one in bam and yannis are on the bench and staggering those minutes those are my big key questions I like this team more than I did I'm we'll do an over a in a couple weeks, but I like this team more than I did two months ago. Okay. The weirdo Atlanta Hawks are next.

I don't know. Do you want to lead off with the Hawks? What was your big Hawks question? Obviously last year, lose to the Knicks in the first round. Only team that took two games off the Knicks in the playoffs got out of the Tray Young business took off when C.J. McCollum entered the starting lineup in place with Zachary Rises Shea, who is now a Maverick, and added Kingston Fleming's in the off season resigns pretty much everyone from last year's team that went on a big time run late

in the season fueled by a very easy schedule, but nonetheless, they blew those teams out and were competitive against the Knicks in the playoffs. Your big Atlanta Hawks question. How often will Dyson Daniels and Lou Dort share the floor? And can they share the floor and coexist on the offensive end is a question I'm going to be looking at with the Atlanta Hawks this season? And their offense was very good last year with Dyson Daniels on the floor. And he kind of operated sort of as like a small ball five.

He would set screens, slip screens into the paint, make decisions out of the short roll. He got into the pain a ton. He would push in transition. He would drive and kick his assist rate skyrocketed. He was awesome. I mean, a lot of people focus on the outside shooting. He was a really, really good offensive player, offensive rebounding. He just found ways to kind of impact the game.

and he did that with the benefit of shooting around him. Basically, everyone on that team could shoot Akung Wu, Jalen Johnson, McCollum, obviously, Nikolaj, Alexander Walker, even Zachary Riches-Shay when he was on the court. He'll knock down some spot-up corner threes. And if you throw Lou Doord in there, Lou Doer, over the last three years, shot 38.4% behind the three-point line,

which is definitely respectable, but it's just he's not worried about in the, same way. I mean, teams will let him shoot, I think. And so I'm just interested to see because if those two can coexist offensively, then defensively you have these lineup combinations where you can have Dort and Daniels and Nikiel Alexander Walker all on the court. And I really, really want to see that happen. And so that's my big question for the Illinois this season. Yeah, my, it's related to mine, which was, what was this defense real that played the last 40? five games of the season because they became like, I think they finished 10th overall in defense.

They were probably top seven over the last half of the season. They were first enforcing turnovers once they started winning in late February. They were a top five defensive rebounding team, which when you look at the personnel is like, they're getting a lot of contributions from everybody because they're like a Congo is an okay, isn't pretty good rebounder, but he's not a great defensive rebounder. And they allowed a lot of shots at the rim and got away with it. Again, like getting rim protection from non-center supplementary guys like Dyson Daniels, like Jalen Johnson. Can they find that same level of defense?

Was it partly a fluke? And part of finding that same level of defense is going to be the question of can we play Dort and Dyson Daniels and Jalen Johnson, who like you said, has improved as a three-point shooter, but is not treated as one. How much can we play them all together? I'm not even sure there's certain who they're going to start to start the season. and I think we get a little too fixated on starting fives, but your rotation does flow out of who starts the game.

My best guess on paper is Nikiel Alexander Walker, Dyson, Daniels, Dort, Jalen Johnson, and Akangu. So starting that trio I talked about right off the bat, moving CJ McCollum back into a bench roll, but you could talk me into a whole lot of different possibilities. They also signed acquired Aaron Wiggins away from the Thunder. I think he'll help them. They have high hopes from O'Gay, Aeson Newell, this Zubi guy they drafted. So their power forward depth is interesting to me.

But it's more like, hey, was that defense thing real? Or how did they actually do that? Like they don't look like a great rebounding team. And they became a really great rebounding team. So that's the Hawks. All right. Washington Wizards. I'm going to go first on the Washington Wizards. 29th in offense last year, 30th in defense.

So close to what I call Bobcatting. which is being 30th last on both ends of the floor. Only the Nets futureed offense and future shooting spared them. And they weren't bad by the numbers at pretty much literally everything that you could be bad at, except they didn't allow a lot of threes on defense. So congratulations them for that. They were horrible free throw wise, both ends of the floor. They never got there and they fell to everybody.

They were a horrible turnover team. They were a horrible rebounding team. They didn't get to the rim on offense and no defense allowed more shots at the rim than the Wizards. Poor Alex Sar challenged more shots than anyone at the basket on defense and by a country mile and did okay at it. And so that's my big question. Like we can sit here and focus on which young guys develop, how exciting DeBanza is.

You know, Anthony Davis is he around long term? Does he realize he's on the Wizards? Does he want to be on the Wizards? Trey Young and floaters and free throws. I want my big question is like, do they start winning some of the toughness categories? Like, do they start winning some of the territorial battleground around the rim? Do they start winning some of the battles to get to the line? Part of that is Saar and Davis playing together, which is interesting to me.

Are there nights where Sarr can still guard the fives and Anthony Davis can loiter out on some wings in the corner that aren't doing much? Like, how do they mess with some zone? Like, I think that's interesting. But, like, you know, this team will have its moments of kind of high flying. the young guys are flying around doing cool stuff. Can they get tough and win some of these sort of like in the paint muck battles? That's my wizard's question. Interesting.

I am, I'm pretty down on the wizards. I just, I hate how this team is constructed. I hate so much of, I do. I just, I, so my question is just, what if Anthony Davis is healthy and good? I talked about this a little bit with Howard and our most intriguing figures, pod that you referenced. I don't know. I'm just going into the season.

I kind of forget he's on the team a lot when I think about them. He's 33 years old. The extension is kind of out there. He's kind of on an expiring contract. He's a player option for $62 million next season. But if he plays and he's like looks like an all star, just what does that do for his trade value? To me, he just, he makes,

there's a lot of guys in this team who make no sense in Washington. and I feel like he's one of them. And I, like, are they going to trade him? What is this trade value? These are the, when I think about the Wizards, that's kind of what it is, and that's sad because they have AJ Jabanza and the focus should be on him,

but it just doesn't feel that way to me. I mean, Chris Middleton is on this team. I can't get over that. So that's my question about the Washington Wizards. And it is kind of a fun, mad lives of guys that are on the team that you forget about like, oh, DeAndre Aiden. Yeah. Has found his way to the Wizards.

Trey Mann, who has sneakily like one of the best stepback threes in the league, he just never plays in somehow on the Wizards. There are an interesting test of the relegation zone and the new lottery rules because for the entirety of NBA history, you would have said there's just no universe in which a team in the larva stage or pupa stage, whatever the stage of insect growth is, like the Wizards, should be in the business of paying Trey Young in $110 million or whatever it would cost to keep Anthony Davis around for the foreseeable future.

But there's also no benefit anymore. And in fact, some harm to your lottery odds and being abysmally bad, which is what happened. Would it happen, I think, if one or both of those guys were no longer on the team. Obviously, Trey Young is locked up under a three plus one that was preposterous the moment they signed it. So they're an interesting test case in that regard. But you're right. I think this is a discovery year for them in a lot of ways, like Bob Carrington. Are you part of our core or not?

The law Kula Bali, are you part of our core or not? He's extension eligible. I would be kind of pessimistic about his extension change. Will Riley was last year's late season scoring spree, just a product of there's no one around, or is there something here that we can build around? Or like you can be part of our core somehow. So I think it's a little bit of that.

But yeah, I'd like to see some progress as like a real basketball team competing in real basketball ways. I think we have two more South. these division teams left. The Orlando Magic, I will let you go first on the Orlando Magic. This is just the existential question that they've been dealing with for a little while now. Will they break up Palo Boncaro and Franz Wagner? We have 5,200 minutes of evidence that this is not really working when they play together. The offense is bad. Last season, when they played together with Desmond Bain, who was the guy they pushed all the chips into a choir to kind of,

be the connective tissue. Their offense was bad. And I just, you know, something's got a budge here. They have the third highest payroll in the NBA. As it stands right now, $32 million luxury tax bill. And they have not won a playoff series. I don't even recall the last time they won a playoff series. It was a very long time ago. And they have no playoff series victories, obviously, in this era with these two guys. And so they changed the coach, brought in Sean Sweeney. He's fantastic. But I just, they made like no personnel moves in the off season. And it's just kind of a bet on health and luck.

And but I don't think that these two guys together and I like, I like them individually. I do. I just don't think that even at just 25% of the cap apiece, that it makes sense when you're paying everybody else and we haven't even paid Anthony Black yet. So yeah, that's just, are they going to trade one of these guys and shake this up? is the question. This is the crossroad season, probably a year or two late

to be a crossroad season, but because of all the injuries that this core has suffered and that Bain has only been there one year after they traded four first round picks to get him. This is the crossroad season, forced in part by Anthony Black's salary timetable. And, you know, we'll see what they learn.

In defense of the Franz Paolo duo, which, as you said, They have not, they've had great moments together. And they may well win that Detroit series where they're up three one and they're blowing the shit out of game six. Fair. If Franz doesn't get hurt in that too, they probably do win it if Franz doesn't get hurt. They have not won a playoff series since 2010, by the way. They have a certain size defense to them, just those two together.

That is interesting and shot making ability in like in the muck of a playoff series. they were you mentioned that their offense was not very good when bain palo and franz were together it was like i'm looking at the numbers i'm cleaning the glass they were plus four per 100 possessions with those three on the floor offense was like about league average for a trio which again is is you'd like to be better than that but yeah for the magic league average is like you you you base a banner for that and as you no doubt know in the very limited minutes when sugs and wendell carter junior were out there that starting five was one of the best lineups in the league. Now, it was for so little time that is that, does that even matter?

My big question for them was, we all know the offense, the fit, and Franz and Palo, even when the team has functioned just well enough on offense for their defense to carry them, I think it's fair to say they have not really amplified each other on offense, which is if you're going to pay two guys the max, you need them to kind of amplify each other. And so this year will be attested with that. My big question was, this team sunk to. the 13th in defense last year. And that just simply is not good enough given the limitations of their offense.

Can Sean Sweeney, who's something of a defensive guru, can he get them to rediscover the sort of tenacity they had the season before and before that under Jamal Mosley? And are there schematic adjustments that can help that like your identity just can't be effort, effort, effort, effort, effort. And it's got to be something more than that. And a couple of areas is like they're kind of, they allowed an above average. amount of shots at the rim and a lot of high shooting percentage at the rim and they don't have a great rim protecting center. Wendell Carter Jr. is more of just like a workman-like semi-switchy

rebound guy, boxout guy. I'm interested to see if they can get some better rim protection and how that happens. I don't know. I mean, you mentioned the stagnancy of the roster. Bouch was really the only addition they hated. He might be their third string center. And then like on defense, they foul at everyone all the time. And they have for years. And they were 26 in free throw at a lot of that year, which is very bad. The pistons were 30th. The pistons at least got the benefit of we forced more turnovers than anyone in the league. So yeah, we reach and foul, but we get the benefit of you, of torpedoing your possessions and getting out in transition. This was an average team at forcing turnovers last year. And you can't, you can't foul that much without deriving any benefit from doing it.

And so there's something to be there to. So this team is not going anywhere serious. unless they can get back to being like a top eight defense. So that's my question. The Charlotte Hornets, our last Southeast Division team. I'll go first. Obviously, Lamello's gone. That's the big sort of ticket item. Kobe White, it's newly extended.

We'll start in his place. Nas Reid will start in Miles Bridges place. They have a whole pile of dudes. I mean, this team is like 15 guys deep. I have no idea what their rotation is going to be outside. They're starting five. I mean, you think Schroeder would be involved. Grayson Allen will be involved.

But they've got Royce O'Neill, Finney Smith, C, on, James, Grant Williams, on and on, not to mention the young guys they just drafted. Steinbach, I think, should play right away. My big question, zooming out, for all the attention on Lamello and the increased burden on Brandon Miller and Connopple and Kobe White, in those three on and Lamello off was a very limited sample last year.

The team played well, but we're talking like less than 100 minutes. Overall, Miller on, Knieppel on, ball off was not good for the Hornets. They really missed ball shock creation. So that's one. I'm going granular, more granular than that. This team was second in offensive rebounding rate and second in defensive rebounding rate last year. Some of that is scheme and how Charles Lee wants to play and keep people back.

Can they maintain being an absolutely elite rebounding team with a slight down. grade from a mellow ball who's a very good rebounder to cobi white who's just an okay rebounder like how how did they even obviously musa diabate just eats rebounds particularly on offense but like how did naz reeds not a great rebounder there was mouse bridges can can they i mean that's like when you're second on both ends in rebounding your start it's like you have five extra possessions in the game basically maybe even more than that can't how did they do that and can they maintain that steinbach is a great rebounder we'll see how much he plays that that's my question

Yeah, I mean, Musa Diabate, total freak. And Steinbach, I know, didn't watch anything of him in college, but I think was he like historically good college rebounder? He's a great, great rebounder, both ends to the floor. So, yeah, that's a great question. Mine is pretty broad. It's will they have an all-star this season? I like that.

Can Brandon Miller take a leap and be more of a name brand two-way wing? Can he be more efficient inside the arc? If you look at his on-offs with ball last season, his usage went way up. He took less efficient shots, so way more from the mid-range, and his shooting percentages went way down. His field goal percentage at the rim was 73% with Lamello,

53% without Lamello. So that's noticeable. And so can he be an all-star this season? And I love him, and I love Con Canip, as well. And I thought Con Cnapple had a case last season to be an all-star. He led the league in threes, led the league in catch and shoot points. He is so good. And I'm really interested to see, as you said, like, who is going to pick up the slack on ball? There's Kobe White.

There's, I mean, Dennis Schroeder's on this team. But then there's Brandon Miller and there's Con Cinepple. I think those two, assuming more on-ball responsibility, whether it be, you know, just DHOs where he's flying out of the corner, whether it's standard pick and rolls, whether it's like we're going to isolate Brandon Miller, which is not really like how they play. But I'm just interested to see how the offense shifts without Lamello and in a way that it can be hyper-efficient. Stay tuned on Brandon Miller.

I think he might be my single most intriguing player in the league for this coming season. So I'm going to have more on him in the future. Couldn't be more excited to see how he develops. I'm not saying I couldn't be more excited that he's going to all of a sudden be an all-N-B-A player. I actually I think he belonged on the fringes of the all-N-B-A conversation last year, given the injuries that knocked out some guys.

I think he fell short of eligibility either way. But this is a big, big moment for him and for Khan. By the way, at what point does the ringer Spotify write to make jokes about Bill giving Con a ride back to the hotel? We've reached the end of that. Can we not do that anymore? Is it too stale? Is it too old?

because you throw in the seatbelt comments. And these jokes just write themselves. And they're too, they're too like hammer, nail, obvious. But every time Khan comes up, I just think of him in the passenger seat, you know, being like, guys, drive me. Drive me. I'll tell you, he doesn't even have seatbelt buckled. Like, we're making some nice basketball small talk.

I feel like this is a good media day question for Connibals that someone needs to ask for Charlotte Hornet's media day. Absolutely. And no, I think that the jokes can go on. The jokes may go on. on. Okay, let's take our last break and we will do the Central Division, the Howload Central Division, five rapid fire questions for those teams. When it comes to recycling, a short rinse goes a long way. Leftover food residue can impact materials ability to be effectively recycled

and can spoil your other recyclables too. Containers don't need to be squeaky clean, just clean and dry enough to keep them and everything else in your bin ready for recycling. Learn more at Circular Materials.ca. Ready? Recycle. Repeat. Visit BetMGM Casino and check out the newest exclusive. The Price is Right Fortune Pick. BetMGM and GameSense remind you to play responsibly.

19 plus to wager. Ontario only. Please play responsibly. If you have questions or concerns about your gambling or someone close to you, please contact Connects Ontario at 1-866-531-2,600 to speak to an advisor. Free of charge. that MGM operates pursuant to an operating agreement with Eye Gaming, Ontario. We have five more teams in the Eastern Conference, the Central Division.

And we will start with a team that had a sort of lost year last year. We really saw the last real version of this team in game seven of the NBA finals in 2025. The Indiana Pacers, Michael Pena, you can go first. What is your big question for the 26 Indiana Pacers? 27 in the end of these. How does Abiza Zubats fit with Tyrese Halliburton? What does he do to their offensive rhythm?

I don't think it'll be an issue. I think he is better in a lot of ways than Miles Turner. Obviously, he does not shoot threes, but he makes quick decisions, smart decisions out of the short role. He can post stuff a little bit. He can run the floor and seal his man or whoever is back there trying to slow him down.

And so I think that there will be a bit of a clunky adjustment period, but I don't think it'll be a long one. And I just feel like this is the team right here. Can they sort of make him fit into how they played before without changing too much of what made them so special to kind of recapture the magic that they had a couple seasons ago? You said many words that are just dovetail perfectly with my question. You said rhythm and recapture the magic.

And I talked about it with the Knicks. This team, maybe even more than the Knicks, just found that holy paradise of just stemming from Halliburton and the sort of frantic fast but also intuitive way he plays and how fast the ball moves. They all found a way to find the right spaces around him, to play at his pace, to play with his sort of calculated randomness, I guess. And they found Nirvana for a while. Part of that manifested in like the greatest

run of crunch time shooting, maybe in the history of basketball from one player in Tyrese Halliburton and Aaron Newsmith in one game in which he had an out-of-body experience. But it was even broader than that. And given that they have now switched from a spacing center to an interior oriented center in Ibiza Zubats, given that the orchestrator of all of that is coming back from an Achilles tear, can they maybe not in the regular season, although winning enough games to be a top 16, is going to be critical for everybody in this conversation. Can they, if they get into the playoffs,

find that sweet spot again? And part of that is the Zubat's question. You know, the paint belonged to Pascal Seaccom. It belonged to the mid-range artistry of Andrew Nemhart and T.J. McConnell off the bench, T.J. McConnell kind of had a drop-off last year. He's a big part of what is, kind of an eye of the beholder bench

like Kelly Ubre, Obitopin, we'll see, Ben Shepard up and down, you know, the backup center spot, Jay Huff, are we counting on him? Jarris Walker. Jarris Walker, like, will he get minutes? We'll see. Kind of a prove a year for him. And now the paint

is shared with Vizu Zubats and Pascal Skiakum has become a pretty good spot up three point shooter. Good enough. We'll see. But also they're both very clever players and how they can sort of navigate those dead zones around the baseline and the in the middle of the paint and they're clever interior passers they can play off of each other they can run four or five pick and roll with siakum and zubats together you can do all sorts of different things to sort of

adapt to this new spacing reality um the other thing that part of the rhythm that the pacers had is they were regular season and playoffs and absolutely crazy elizabeths and absolutely crazy elizabeth shooting team from all over the floor, just consistently outperforming their expected field goal percentage because they were just a great, great shooting team that became even greater, particularly on threes in the playoffs. Part of that was from those kind of short mid-range spots, floater range and in some cases long twos, they were like unbelievable. Halliburton on floaters is 53%.

Nemhard is 47% and about that on long twos. Siakum is mid to high 40s. Zubots last year was 50. 33% on short twos, like outside the restricted area, but not long twos, that floater range. That was 99th percentile. That kind of cleverness with hook shots and flip shots and good interior passing, maybe combined with better defense and rebounding to Miles Turner gives you, you know, could maybe, and also this team has been a horrible offensive rebounding team,

partly by choice, right? Miles Turner is a spacing center, transition defense, all that. 29th last year, 29th year before, Zhu can bring that. So can they fit all that stuff in, but find that sort of just the ball's moving, the ball's flowing, everybody knows where to be that magic that only happens to certain special teams. That's my question. Okay. Anything else on Indiana?

No, I'll just say real quick, Zubat's impacting the offensive glass is another thing, but I feel like having his body to set off ball screens can mitigate some of the spacing a little bit wide pin downs, that sort of thing, where he's outside the paint and he lets guys kind of attack it off the dribble. The Detroit Pistons, ninth on offense, second on defense, still have not resigned their starting center, Jill and Duren. I still expect that to be done. I am not.

I will believe he'll take the qualifying offer when I see it. It's just, you know, you throw 200 million bucks in front of someone. I don't think they're taking the qualifying offer, but we'll see. I could have gone two different ways on this. but I will go with offensively one of these two things has to give. And obviously part of this is linked to the lack of a proven secondary creator around Kate Cunningham that everyone is fixated on. Obviously, they hope that Duren and Assar Thompson can both grow a little bit as playmakers off screens, off handoffs, whatever. But I think for this team to even maintain what it did last year, not necessarily in terms of win totals, but in like playoff.

We got the game seven of the second round. Right. You can't be 23rd in turnover rate and Cade is a big offender and 29th in three point attempts. Like if those two things are in that area again, combined with the fact that we'll see if their defense drops off at all without Isaiah Stewart and with more kind of shooters in the rotation, Isaiah Joe is here, herders back, et cetera. We'll see if they can maintain their number two rated defense.

They allowed the lowest three-point field goal percentage in the league and the second lowest shooting percentage at the rim. Can they maintain that? That's a tall order. But 23rd in turnovers, 29th in threes. I understand that Cade is overburdened and the rest of the team is pretty young and that is a recipe for turnovers. I understand that they're not a great, they're not a good three-point shooting team. They're not even a mediocre one. And so, and they want to own the paint and be tough and big and physical. One of those two things has got to go up toward the league average. Yeah, this is very similar to my question, which is where will they finish in three point rate? Last season, as you said, they were 29th and three point rate. They were 20th in non-garbage time three point percentage. So to be taken seriously as a contender, I think you need to be a better shooting team.

And if you look at the actions that were made by the front office over the summer, they would agree with that. So, you know, they add Isaiah Joe, who is one of the best movement shooters in basketball. they add John Collins, who is an excellent corner three-point shooter and actually pretty good non-corner last season. I'm glad you brought him up because Tobias Harris out, John Collins in is one of the sneaky, interesting moves that any good team has made in the offseason. Because I don't think John Collins is regarded as like a winner around the NBA. I actually have been always higher on John Collins than most people. I over index for sure on the Hawks 2021 playoff run where I thought he just sort of dug in and decided, okay, maybe I want to be a 22 point of game score and catch lob dunks.

And maybe that's not my fate right now. Maybe I have to rebound and play defense and switch and do the dirty work and still get 14 a game. I loved that player. He's kind of been lost at sea in different places in the last three or four years. I think thought he was going to start. with the clippers and didn't end up starting all that much. I'm very curious to see how he does in Detroit and would not be surprised if a month into the season, they're like, oh, wow, John Collins is like one of the bright spots of the

offseason so far. 100% agree with you. I've also been higher on him throughout his career than most. And I think he's a really good fit here. And I think he's a wonderful compliment offensively. to Cade Cunningham and that he can space the floor and he's content doing so. And he's also someone who can set a screen, dive to the rim and space the floor vertically. And he's more dynamic than Tobias Harris in that way.

So I think he's a really good fit offensively. But yeah, so I just think like the three point rate with him, Isaiah Joe, you know, technically they have Tori and Prince. I think that was like a sneaky Tori and Prince, Gary Harris, addition with Caris Levert, going out. I don't think that a lot of people cut onto that one, but that happened. And those are spot up three-point shooters. I think you're correct. I don't think a lot of people cut out to that one. If you go to a party this weekend, I would not recommend starting a conversation with anybody about the Gary Harris, Karris Lever, Tori, and France.

I think you'll get a lot of blanksters. And if you do meet someone who's like, I've been dying to talk about this for like the entire summer, no one, no one realizes Karris Lever is on the bucks. I think that person is needs to be an institutionalized. I agree with you. And it's probably me. They re-signed Kevin Herder, uh, who was banged up, but is a shooter. And Duncan Robinson is still around. So I, I think that they have, they will be more committed to it. I mean, just with Isaiah Joe and Duncan Robinson, if you kind of obviously will have to stagger those guys, but you'll always have like an elite movement shooter on the court. I think that's really a important, you know, running the ghost screen actions that he was so successful with SGA and

OKC. So, yeah, I just think they need to shoot more threes and they've recognized that. And my other, the other question is just like personnel-wise, are they going to make a big trade to add that guy who can be the secondary ball handler? They have all their picks. They have some contracts. That's the, that's the other question. But on the court with what we have, it's three-point shooting. And I enjoyed Giovante Green last year, too. He shot pretty well, he jumped very well from the corners. Just again, not on super high volume.

Ron Holland will be interesting to see if he is on the pistons in a year or if they pick up his options going forward. I'm not convinced that that's a lock. They're getting pretty expensive. Yeah, we'll see. And Paul Reed will get to cook, I think.

And what that means as far as John Collins as a screen and dive guy, we'll see. But, you know, they're over under is 48 and a half. They're still regarded as a top echelon team in the east by the odds. I think that's fair. The Cleveland Cavaliers, I will let you lead off.

You're a big question for the Cleveland Cavaliers, who obviously made one of the perhaps more impactful trades of the offseason acquiring Peyton Watson in a three-team sign-in trade that sent Max Truce, a core player on their team over to the Clippers and some draft equity to the Denver Nuggets. Peyton Watson, at least the idea is for him to be the sort of three-and-the stopper type that they've been trying to get for years and years cycling through. D'Andre Hunter, et cetera. Your big question for the Cleveland Cavaliers.

Can Hardin, Mitchell, Watson, Mowgli, Allen be the best five-man unit in the NBA, is my question. Not saying that that's going to happen, but that's the question. And as you said, Watson is on paper sort of the missing puzzle piece, the two-way wing. I think he's better guarding, you know, like point guards. and that will alleviate a lot of the responsibility that would fall on James Harden, who cannot do that, or Donovan Mitchell, who probably does not want to do that. But he's just like a tenacious defender. He shot 41% on a decent volume on threes last year and can do stuff, you know,

attacking the rim with the ball in his hands that he showed he won player of the week in January, obviously when Yokic was hurt. and I'm just high on him. I like him a lot. I thought that that contract was fine that he got. And I think that the nuggets will miss him. But I think like when I asked that question of, you know, can this be the best five-man unit?

A lot of that is because the depth on this team is low-key, not looking great. And I think that for this team to be the true, you know, contender that they aspire to be, they need to have like a really good, like, knockout punch from the jump and a good closing five and just something that they can rely upon. And that's what they're clearly hoping for with this five men unit. And so that's that's the question for me.

So I'm just going to pre-answer your question and say no, it can't be the best five man unit in the East because I just think, I think it'll be fine. I think it'll be a good line up. I just Watson plus two traditional big guys is going to be. interesting, like in traditional paint-bound. We'll see how sort of wide Mobley gets to develop his game. We've been waiting on that. It just, I mean, this team was a really good off. They were six in offense last year, and they got better with Hardin.

They were only 15th in defense, and they got worse with Hardin, which is exactly what you would expect. So they're a good offensive team. Their big four last year, Hardin, Mitchell, and the two bigs was awesome in the regular season and minus four per 100 possessions in the playoffs. and it just got clunky. And I even asked a broader question than a broader version of the same question, which is, can they, like, figure out who should play with who and how often?

It just feels like the lineup questions here are a little bit more fraught than they are with other contenders and more fraught than you would think, given the raw talent in that starting five you talked about. Like, are we all in on the two bigs playing together, or are we going to be all in on staggering them, which they've mostly been all in on that, which makes sense. And last year they settled on Hardin partnering with Allen and Mitchell partnering with Mobley. The Hardin Allen combos were awesome in the playoffs. The Mitchell Mobley combos were not good in the playoffs. And part of that was I was kind of disappointed with Donovan Mitchell's passing in the playoffs when it really got tough for them.

And then like if that lineup isn't great shakes, you mentioned the bench. Like does Sam Merrill have to play more just as someone who really will shoot and doesn't need the ball? And can he play with Mitchell and Hardin? and can the team survive on defense. Jalen Tyson to me is one of the big X factors in the league. I was kind of really pleased with his development last year. As a shooter, as an all-around player, maybe he's part of the answer. I just feel like maybe because of the personnel,

the two traditional bigs together, Hardin is such a ball-dominant player next to another ball-dominant player. I just feel like the combination stuff is a little more fraught with them. Good problems to have. But as you said, like their depth gets pretty thin. pretty fast. And so we'll see. Who does that leave us with?

Oh, boy. Okay. We're down to two teams. The Chicago Bulls and the Milwaukee Bucks. We'll start with the Bulls. I don't know, man. Like new coach. So who knows what their offense looks like?

And who knows what they believe in as a team? Right. Last year they played at a turbo fast pace. they took the second most shots at the rim, the eighth most threes, and the fewest mid-range shots. Michael Pina, they had the number one expected field goal percentage in the league

because of their shot selection. They did not have the number one actual. Fully worse than that. How does that identity shift with Tiago Splitter, with Norm Powell coming in, with a kind of fun starting five, presumably of giddy, Powell, Buzellis, Caleb Wilson,

and Nick Clax. And that's kind of fun. I don't, like, I think it seems going to be pretty bad. That's fine. I don't really even know what my big, I guess my big question, like if I really, what I really care about is how do Giddy, Wilson, and Buzellas, three bigger ball handlers or maybe want to be ball handlers, all of whom have at the very least something to prove as pull-up jump shooters, all of whom fit well playing a pretty,

fast, frantic pace. How is that all working in the half court? Who's got the ball? Who's setting screens? Who's going where? What's the system that makes those three click together? I couldn't be more excited for Caleb Wilson, but I guess I'll settle on that is my big question.

That's a good one. Mine is just what can they get for Norm Powell. Wow, just already jettisoning Norm Powell off the team. The second he signed the contract, it's a two-year, $44 million deal with a team option. It's pretty much the same contract that Bruce Brown Jr. signed in 2003. He was traded from the Indiana Pacers to the Raptors and the Pascal Seaccom deal. The Bulls aren't as far along, obviously, as either of those two teams. But Norm,

Norm makes no sense in Chicago. He is 33 years old. I mean, his shooting makes sense, but he's 33 years old. And they're rebuilding, like, by their new GM's own admission. They want to start at the bottom, they're not going to, like, they want to be organic about building something sustainable. And so I just have a few fake Norm Powell trades for you. By all means, let's hear them. I have not thought literally for one second about fake Norm Powell trades in quite a long time. So I have nothing to contribute here. Okay, super. So the first is Norm and Leonard Miller to the Orlando Magic for Jalen Suggs. That's number one.

This is primarily a cost-cutting move for Orlando and also a ability for Orlando to get more shooting in the door offensively. I don't love Powell plus pain, but it is a little duplicative. What am I getting out of that if I'm the Bulls? Jalen Sugs? Jailen Sugs, yeah. So for 39 games a year, I get to have Jailen Sugs on my team. Okay. The intensity, the leadership.

I don't like that. No, I'm not saying no. I'm just, that one made me sick to my stomach a little bit. That's what we're going for here. Sick to your stomach. Okay. Hopefully we get a little better with this one. Norm Powell to the Pistons for Kevin Herder, Ron Holland, and a first round pick. We're now getting, I like that. Obviously, Norm Powell was, I think, a real candidate to sign with the Pistons. Herder, Ron Holland. So second draft, Ron Holland, and a first round pick.

That's fair. That's fair. And that's fair for both things. So this is an interesting one. They just signed him semi-recently, but Norm to Denver for Christian Brown. Okay. And it's basically, if you're the nuggets, you're trying to obviously get off that contract. You get a great shooter, someone who can work short term. And if you're the Bulls, you're betting on, Christian Brown, obviously having a bounce back year, you don't really care too much about the contract

because you're not really worried about money right now in terms of your timeline. And he's a good role player, young athletic, who fits with your young nucleus. So those are my three little fake Norman Powell trades that I have for you. I'm going to say you're one for three, which you'd be, like, that's a pretty average Tony Gwynnear. That's a great batting average. Thank you. Wow. I just love it.

I don't want, Norm Powell has 21 million this year and a team option for next year at 22 and a half. I'm not sure. I like Christian Brown. I think he will swing back up this year and that contract will not look underwater

as it does today or quite to the degree that it's underwater. I just need a little something extra to take on that money. I understand that like the Bulls have all the cap space they need going forward. It just sneaks up on you and I'd just rather not have the downside scenario of like,

I got this like $26 million contract is in my way or it's like awkward. I can't. So I need a little something extra. The Detroit one is, is fun. That's enough talk about the Bulls. By the way, as we're on the Bulls, I will talk more about this when it's appropriate.

Stacey King passed away this offseason. Just an absolutely delightful dude. interviewed him lots of times, including on this podcast, but also about the 90s Bulls. One of my favorite sort of always made me laugh. Broadcasters was always super generous with his time and his personality. And I haven't talked about it. I just like, I'm going to really miss Stacey King.

And not like on the broadcast, I will miss him on the broadcast, but just like as a personality to run into around the NBA. Really, that really was a sad one. Okay. Okay, one more team, the Milwaukee Bucks. What a team it is. What a team it is. There's a lot of guys on the team.

There's a lot of guys on the team. It's a full team of guys. There are no answer to compos, but there are a lot of guys. I'll let you go on this one. I have a feeling I know what your question is going to be, but I'll let you go. I had two questions that I was trying to pick between,

but I'll go with who is on this team after the trade deadline is my question. You have Tyler Hero, you have Miles Turner, you have Jaime Hockes Jr., you have Ryan Rollins. Colell Ware is probably not going anywhere, I would imagine, but he's technically someone who they could, that could be on that list. And, you know, everybody else, so you, there's just so many, every time, you said this is on a pod with Rob, There's a team of guys, and that's all I think about when I think about the Milwaukee Bucks this season. But they have, they have Braden Burries who could win rookie of the year and was excellent in Summer League. First team.

Did he make first team? First team. Is there a third team? I don't think there's a third team, unfortunately. But he was first team. Put some respect on that. And if he's a clear breakout building block, I think that that's a huge win for the bucks as they kind of transition. into this post onto Tacompo wasteland universe of theirs.

But yeah, I guess just what are they going to do? What does the roster look like after the trade deadline versus before it is the big question for me? I will say Taylor Jenkins has already proven in Memphis. Like, he will get there and there will be a structure right away. And I mean like both organizationally around the office and, you know, how buttoned up everything, is, but also like on the court, he's going to look, is presumably spent the whole summer looking at this roster and as as as sort of fungible as it might end up being to your point. He's going to be like, all right, here's the guys I got.

Here are four things that we're going to do that are going to be just like non-negotiable. In Memphis at times, a lot of that focused on the corner three on both ends of the floor. As someone who came from the Mike Bluntin-Holster tree, it could be defensive rebounding. It could be not fouling. but I can guarantee you this for as pretty bad as this team is going to be and as tough of a watch as they might be on some nights, there's going to be stuff that they're good, like average to good at because they just decide as a team starting from their coach to be average or good at them.

My big question was, I count eight guards who have some degree of need for the basketball. Tyler Hero, Braden Burys, Karis LaBert, Ryan Rollins, Kevin Porter Jr., Kasparis Yakichonas,

and then a little less so because they're shooters, A.J. Green, and the very highly paid Gary Trent Jr. That's eight dudes. And we have not mentioned a,

depending on how you want to classify Rollins, a traditional point guard, a power forward, a big man of any kind. We're already at eight dudes. So some of those guys, are not going to play. I think Usman Jang, who's not one of those types of players, he needs to play based on what he did last season. Hakez, we haven't mentioned, coups, we haven't mentioned.

We haven't mentioned either of the center as Miles Turner is still here somehow, Detroitus from the Dame stretch and Hail Mary signing of Miles Turner. And Cole L Ware, who to me is either the most interesting or second most interesting behind Burry's long-term play on the team. I think they might start Ware and Turner together and see how that works. I don't know. But of all those eight guys like, holy smokes, what a thing to sort out, especially when one of them, Tyler Hero is an All-Star and is up for an extension. I think he wants a whole lot of money for a whole lot of years. And so there's pressure on that decision right away. And maybe that's a trade. Maybe it's just we take it to free agency and you walk. Maybe it's a sign in trade. I don't

know what it is. If I were the bucks, I don't think I would want to research. signed Tyler Hero to an extension at a dollar amount that he's going to accept right now. Damn. So, but that's just a lot of guards, man. Like, you want to see, like, I want to see, like, what does Yakuchunas have? He's one of the prizes that he trade. I want to see him have the ball, like a lot. And I'm not like, there's a lot of guys who can't play if he's going to have the ball a lot.

So I'm interested to see how that, how that way. I liked Yakuchinas last year. He shot well from three, throws over the head crazy passes. I want to see more same same uh yeah this roster is just like it's I don't it's just so strange it's just so strange um it's the kind of roster you have when you make a seismic trade and your team is

it's like a way station between team A with Janus and team B whatever comes next you're in this sort of liminal state yeah um I like Ryan Rollins though I want to see what uh when he can do this year or if he gets moved on to a greener pasture. That would be interesting. Like I would just not, like, I'm starting the season.

I'm not playing Lavert. I'm not playing Trent despite the contract. I'm not playing Kevin Porter Jr. Like those guys are just out of the rotation. Like, I just need to see these other guys play. And I can't see them play if you're playing the guys I mentioned. Particularly if I play Kevin Porter Jr., he's going to have the ball all the time.

And like, he's a productive offensive player. I'm just not playing into these guys right off the bed. I can't argue. I can't argue, Zach. Michael, Michael Pina, what do we got coming from you? What's your, what's your week like? It's Tuesday. What should we be on the lookout for at the ringer.com?

Podwise, column-wise. You've written a bunch of stuff I've read all summer. I was reading it over vacation. What are the nuggets doing? Breakout, intriguing players. What else we got? I think I'm doing an old-fashioned power ranking of the whole league for next week. So that's something for me to kind of ponder and,

we'll be tiering the teams and everything. So that'll be fun to kind of get me ready for the upcoming season. That's awesome. All right. I look forward to that. Power rankings are not easy. The competition for the, I think you should,

have you thought about putting the Clippers last just to just to put them there? Just like this is the place you now belong, even though on paper they're not less. They could be a candidate. They could be a candidate. They're no Sacramento Kings. It's going to take a lot to get, into that tier.

But they'll be near the bottom for sure. Yeah. Yeah, I think when I do this exercise for the Western Conference next year, I'm not quite sure what my big question for the Kings is going to be. Obviously, if I'm being serious, it will be about Darius Acuff. If I'm not being serious, it just might be why, why, how, where. Michael Pina, read his columns at the ringer.com, listen to him on The Ringer MBA show when he appears there.

And here, too. Thanks for coming on the Zach Lowe Show. Thanks, Zach. That's it. For today's edition of the Zach Lowe show, thank you to Michael Pina. Thank you, as usual to Mike, Billy, and Jonathan on production. And thanks, as always to you all for listening to and or watching the Zach Lowe show. The season is almost here.

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