Latest / The Sean O'Connell Show / Brett Siegel on LeBron James signing with the Sixers, What do other LeBron suitors do (?), Jazz a playoff team (?),

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Brett Siegel on LeBron James signing with the Sixers, What do other LeBron suitors do (?), Jazz a playoff team (?), · The Sean O'Connell Show

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  Speaker 1: You were listening to the Sean O'Connell Show from the
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  Speaker 1: Murdoch Hyundai Studio of ESPN seven hundred and ninety two
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  Speaker 1: to one.
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  Speaker 2: Af AM jam packed out number three Here on a Wednesday,
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  Speaker 2: Brett Siegel's gonna join us to talk a little NBA Connor.
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  Speaker 1: Niki, who is the Utah Royals GM for some soccer
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  Speaker 1: talk brought to you by our friends over at beer Bar.
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  Speaker 1: And then we will finish the show with Jade Lenalchen,
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: who we got our wires crossed a little bit on
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  Speaker 1: the timing of that conversation earlier in the show Utah
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  Speaker 1: Talons outfielder. Maybe maybe we're gonna get hurt to close
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  Speaker 1: out the show, so we're gonna try. The NBA had
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  Speaker 1: had things kind of on hold, a little bit, holding
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  Speaker 1: the breath, figuring out what's going to happen once Lebron
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  Speaker 1: James makes his decision, and of course Lebron James, twenty
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  Speaker 1: two time All Star, forty two years old, going to Philadelphia,
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  Speaker 1: it throws the whole NBA orbit out of whack a
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  Speaker 1: little bit, right, Everything gets a little off kilter when
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  Speaker 1: you're talking about a player of this magnitude. So now
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  Speaker 1: that everyone knows where he's going, and Contavi's called, well,
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  Speaker 1: Pope is joining and all that. Like, now the rest
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  Speaker 1: of the league gets to figure out.
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  Speaker 3: What's going on.
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  Speaker 1: The league gets to start announcing schedules and television slots
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  Speaker 1: and all that kind of stuff. But that is the
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  Speaker 1: gravity of Lebron James, and it is the one thing
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  Speaker 1: that as optimistic as we are about what the Utah
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  Speaker 1: Jazz are going to be moving forward, it is one
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  Speaker 1: thing that I don't think we will ever truly understand
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  Speaker 1: or have. I think that it's going to be really difficult,
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  Speaker 1: impossible for the Utah Jazz to ever be that much
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  Speaker 1: of a factor or have a player who's that much
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  Speaker 1: of a factor on the rest of the league's decision.
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  Speaker 1: And it feels like, feels like it just isn't possible.
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  Speaker 3: Even Carl and John weren't that way.
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  Speaker 1: But anyways, as promised, we welcome Brett Siegel from Clutch
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  Speaker 1: Points NBA Insider to join us and talk a little NBA.
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  Speaker 3: Brett, Welcome to the show. How are you.
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  Speaker 4: I'm doing well. I appreciate you having me today.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, thanks for giving us some time.
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  Speaker 1: I'm hindsight's always twenty twenty did you think that Philadelphia
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  Speaker 1: was the place Lebron James was gonna end up.
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  Speaker 4: It was always an option. It was kind of one
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  Speaker 4: of those that when you talk with people around the league,
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  Speaker 4: especially a summer league, they always got brought up. It
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  Speaker 4: was fourteens, it was Cleveland, Miami, Golden State, and Philly,
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  Speaker 4: but Philly was always the last one people have mentioned.
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  Speaker 4: It just kind of throwing there, like, yeah, there's still
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  Speaker 4: any Sky relationships around the board. Tyree's Maxie played with
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  Speaker 4: Show Embead on Teama. He has obviously the relationship with
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  Speaker 4: Mike Gainsey and then Bob Myers as well, who played
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  Speaker 4: a heavy factor in this between the respect that Rich
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  Speaker 4: Paul and Lebron both have for Bob Myers, and that
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  Speaker 4: respect is mutual both ways, but it was never at
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  Speaker 4: the forefront of the conversations. It was always is he
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  Speaker 4: going to go back to Cleveland or Miami or is
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  Speaker 4: he going to go join Stephan Draymond and kind of
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  Speaker 4: ride out into the sunset with them? And so once
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  Speaker 4: the seventy six Ers got Jalen Brown, that really kind
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  Speaker 4: of changed the calculus year because Lebron and everybody else
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  Speaker 4: is looking at the team saying, hey, they could be
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  Speaker 4: the best team in the East this year just with
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  Speaker 4: MB Brown and MAXI if they're healthy. And then you
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  Speaker 4: have VJ. Edgecombe entering his sophomore year with the seventy
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  Speaker 4: six ers. All of a sudden, if you have Lebron
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  Speaker 4: James to the mix, that may make them the best
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  Speaker 4: team in the NBA, not just the East. And so
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  Speaker 4: that's ultimately what this decision was. It was one that
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  Speaker 4: he made to go win another championship at the end
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  Speaker 4: of his career, whether that's this year, in year twenty four,
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  Speaker 4: whether that's next year, in year twenty five. Lebron James
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  Speaker 4: envision himself winning a championship with the Philadelphia seventy six ers,
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  Speaker 4: and it would be his fourteenth that he would win
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  Speaker 4: a championship with That'd be more NBA history for him,
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  Speaker 4: And that's just another layer of what this decision was.
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  Speaker 1: I thought he was going to go to the Warriors,
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  Speaker 1: not that I have any special insight. It just seemed
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  Speaker 1: to make sense that he and Steph would want to
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  Speaker 1: kind of ride off into the sunset together.
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  Speaker 3: Not the case.
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  Speaker 1: Fine, so he goes to Philadelphia, and for me, like
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  Speaker 1: the EMBIID, health is always such a wild card with
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  Speaker 1: Philly that I mean, maybe you can still win a
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  Speaker 1: championship if he misses half a season or whatever. Unfortunately
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  Speaker 1: he's missed half of his career. Does that factor in
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  Speaker 1: here at all? Because Lebron James is a massive addition
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  Speaker 1: even at his age. Is this insurance for Philadelphia even
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  Speaker 1: if Embiid is out now they can play obviously a
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  Speaker 1: very different lineup, but they can survive in mbid absence
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  Speaker 1: that maybe they wouldn't be able to had they not
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  Speaker 1: gotten Lebron.
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  Speaker 3: How do you see that being a part of.
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  Speaker 4: This Well, getting Jalen Brown and Lebron definitely helps that
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  Speaker 4: if Joel Embiid is still dealing with the prumbs. But
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  Speaker 4: one of the biggest things that happened to these conversations
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  Speaker 4: behind the scenes was that and Be told Lebron James
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  Speaker 4: that he is healthy and that he is ready to go,
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  Speaker 4: and we'll see what happens there. Because we're talking about
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  Speaker 4: a guy that has played ninety six games over the
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  Speaker 4: course of the last three years. It's an average of
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  Speaker 4: what thirty two games over the last three seasons each year,
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  Speaker 4: and that's just not going to work for the seventy
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  Speaker 4: six er. This guy needs to be on the court
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  Speaker 4: in order for them to be a championship level team.
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  Speaker 4: And we've seen it at times that when he is
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  Speaker 4: healthy and he's playing at that MVP level, this is
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  Speaker 4: a team that can make some noise in the East.
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  Speaker 4: Just unfortunately this past year, after they beat the Celtics,
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  Speaker 4: he wasn't healthy for that next series. They got steamrolled.
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  Speaker 4: And then they go out and they make these big additions.
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  Speaker 4: They had two top to fifteen talents in the league
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  Speaker 4: in Lebron James and Jalen Brown this offseason, so significant
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  Speaker 4: development for the Philadelphia seventy six Ers to have all
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  Speaker 4: these all star players playing together. And this is a
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  Speaker 4: team that should be in the NBA Finals this upcoming season.
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  Speaker 4: Whether or not they can, well, it's going to come
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  Speaker 4: down to health. Not only is Joel Embiid going to
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  Speaker 4: be the big question mark for them, but Ken Lebron
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  Speaker 4: James stay healthy going to the East Coast and playing
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  Speaker 4: for the Philadelphia seventy six Ers. Will he always be available,
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  Speaker 4: Can Tyrese Maxi stay on the court, because he dealt
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  Speaker 4: with some injuries last year. But again, it's all about
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  Speaker 4: that elephant in the room of Ken Joel Embiid's knee
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  Speaker 4: health to stay to the point that he can remain
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  Speaker 4: on the court, and right now, we just don't have
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  Speaker 4: an answer to that. It's been the biggest concern and
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  Speaker 4: one of the biggest injury storylines over the last two
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  Speaker 4: years in the league, and that's going to continue this year,
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  Speaker 4: especially with the spotlight fully on them.
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  Speaker 1: I saw you wrote about this already, but bring it
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  Speaker 1: to our audience if you don't mind, what is everyone
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  Speaker 1: who thought they were going to get Lebron James or
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  Speaker 1: hope they were going to get Lebron James do now
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  Speaker 1: because there's nobody else out on the market that is
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  Speaker 1: Lebron James. And if you've been preserving a roster spot
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  Speaker 1: and maybe some minimal salary cap space and things like that,
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  Speaker 1: you do.
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  Speaker 4: So let's start with the Miami Heat, because there's a
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  Speaker 4: team that pretty much already made their big splash this offseason,
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  Speaker 4: and that was trading for Jannis Ampatakumpo before the NBA Draft.
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  Speaker 4: Getting that deal done something that they thought was possible
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  Speaker 4: at the trade deadline in February. Milwaukee ultimately held off
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  Speaker 4: until this offseason, and those two sides come together to
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  Speaker 4: make this trade. So Giannis is now the featured star
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  Speaker 4: in Miami, next to Bam out of Baio, next to
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  Speaker 4: Andrew Wiggins on a team that has high championship aspirations
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  Speaker 4: in the East. They're not done making moves just yet.
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  Speaker 4: They have twelve players under roster right now and they
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  Speaker 4: still have about half of their non taxpayer mid level
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  Speaker 4: exception left. They're currently waiting to see what other talent
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  Speaker 4: could become available. Is Klay Thompson going to be a
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  Speaker 4: potential buyout option for them, because if he does get
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  Speaker 4: bought out by the Mavericks, which doesn't seem like a
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  Speaker 4: possibility right now. The Mavericks and Clay have not talked
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  Speaker 4: about that that buyout option yet. He has not approached
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  Speaker 4: them about it and the Mavericks are strictly looking to
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  Speaker 4: trade him. But if he was to be bought out,
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  Speaker 4: Miami would be a very top suitor for him, looking
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  Speaker 4: to get him on the rest of their non taxpayer
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  Speaker 4: mid level exception. But this is a team that is
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  Speaker 4: going to be hard capped at the first apron They
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  Speaker 4: have about ten million dollars in wiggle room left to
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  Speaker 4: fill two roster spots. Other names that have come up
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  Speaker 4: for them, DeMar DeRozan, Bradley Beal. But again, what are
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  Speaker 4: those guys going to be willing to take? Will they
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  Speaker 4: take minimum contracts? Are they going to want part of
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  Speaker 4: that mid level exception. That's why there's currently a waiting
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  Speaker 4: game for Miami because there's a pecking order of what
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  Speaker 4: kind of players they want to pursue, especially with Klay
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  Speaker 4: Thompson being at the forefront of those discussions. Staying in
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  Speaker 4: the easy look at the Cleveland Cavaliers, They're going to
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  Speaker 4: be getting a deal done with James Harden sometime within
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  Speaker 4: the next week or two. It's kind of very similar
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  Speaker 4: to this Draymond Green situation where they have a deal
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  Speaker 4: lined up. It's just a matter of when they want
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  Speaker 4: to agree to that and ultimately what that money's going
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  Speaker 4: to be in some stipulations about guaranteed money down the line.
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  Speaker 4: But James Harden will be remaining with the Cleveland Cavaliers
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  Speaker 4: next to Donovan Mitchell, Evan Mobley, and Jared Allen. This
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  Speaker 4: core is staying together. Whether or not they can make
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  Speaker 4: another move to add a guy like Jonathan Cominga in
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  Speaker 4: a sign and trade by giving up either Maxus or
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  Speaker 4: Demis Shuter, that's the big question. There's certainly a suitor
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  Speaker 4: for Jonathan Cominga, but so are the Los Angeles Lakers,
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  Speaker 4: and that's a team that has been going after Cominga.
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  Speaker 4: Heart is just up to up to Cominga in his
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  Speaker 4: camp and where they can get the most money at
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  Speaker 4: this time. So that's another hold up in the free
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  Speaker 4: agency market there for the Calves. And then the big
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  Speaker 4: question mark is the Golden State Warriors because this is
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  Speaker 4: a team that has been involved for multiple stars over
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  Speaker 4: the course of the last year and a half, even
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  Speaker 4: digging back to lass Ausie. They've been trying to get
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  Speaker 4: jan Sante Tokunpo. They've been trying to get Lebron for years.
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  Speaker 4: They tried to get Anthony Davis in trade talks with
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  Speaker 4: Washington Wizards. There were minimal talks about Jalen Brown at
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  Speaker 4: the trade deadline, and the Warriors called the Celtics again
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  Speaker 4: before the NBA Draft to see if there was any
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  Speaker 4: change in interest there, but the Celtics were interested in
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  Speaker 4: doing a deal unless the Warriors were going to empty
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  Speaker 4: all their future draft picks. So this is a team
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  Speaker 4: that has Stephen Curry and when they're fully healthy, Jimmy
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  Speaker 4: Butler can come back from his ACL injury and play
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  Speaker 4: well on paper, this is a team that should be
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  Speaker 4: in the Western Conference championship equation, but the problem is
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  Speaker 4: they just have not been able to remain healthy and
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  Speaker 4: there's just so many question marks about where the scoring
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  Speaker 4: is going to come from outside of stepp especially since
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  Speaker 4: Jimmy Butler will not be available until the absolute earliest
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  Speaker 4: around Christmas. We don't have a definitive timeline of when
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  Speaker 4: he's going to be back yet, but that's just the
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  Speaker 4: earliest kind of timeline of where people are looking as
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  Speaker 4: maybe he could be back for Christmas, maybe it would
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  Speaker 4: be early January or so. But they're not going to
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  Speaker 4: be adding another big star this offseason, something Warriors fans
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  Speaker 4: don't want to hear. But they have clean books past
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  Speaker 4: the twenty six twenty seven season, and if we know
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  Speaker 4: anything about Joe Lacup and the way that he handles business,
• 10:45
  Speaker 4: he's always going to be star hunting. So they're setting
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  Speaker 4: themselves up to make that next move. It's just a
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  Speaker 4: major question mark of what that next move is going
• 10:52
  Speaker 4: to look.
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  Speaker 1: Like down the line, Who helped themselves most with the
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  Speaker 1: personnel moves, like who adds the most up mobility Comparing
• 11:02
  Speaker 1: last year's roster to this year's roster based on the
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  Speaker 1: moves we've seen, even you know this Philadelphia, the Miami.
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  Speaker 1: I mean, there's some big fish that we're out there
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  Speaker 1: that are now playing in new spots.
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  Speaker 4: Well, we definitely have to give the Philadelphia seventy six
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  Speaker 4: is a round of Applauseake Gainsey, first time president of
• 11:19
  Speaker 4: that organization, was just hired and to be able to
• 11:22
  Speaker 4: make the moves that he did, not only getting Lebron James,
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  Speaker 4: but pulling off a trade that nobody thought was possible,
• 11:27
  Speaker 4: of dealing Paul George and two first round picks to
• 11:30
  Speaker 4: go out and get Jaylen Brown, who was in the
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  Speaker 4: MVP conversation this offseason. He got Anthony Simons for less
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  Speaker 4: than half of the taxpayer mid level exception. He got
• 11:39
  Speaker 4: Dean Wade on a nine million dollar contract from Cleveland.
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  Speaker 4: He came over with Mike Gainsey. So just an all
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  Speaker 4: around fantastic job to build this roster from one that
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  Speaker 4: nobody was really looking at. In the championship mix, it
• 11:51
  Speaker 4: looked very incomplete. They didn't really have a pass forward
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  Speaker 4: with Paul George eating up all that cast space. They
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  Speaker 4: move him. They add Jalen Brown, but le Bron James,
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  Speaker 4: Dean Wade, Anthony Simons. It's just a loaded roster that
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  Speaker 4: Philly has right now, and it's just championship or bus
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  Speaker 4: expectations for them. That's kind of what Philly's looking at,
• 12:08
  Speaker 4: and that's why there's so much hype around them, not
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  Speaker 4: just because they have Lebron, but because of those other pieces.
• 12:14
  Speaker 4: And then you can look at Lebron's former team and
• 12:15
  Speaker 4: the Lakers the way that they've completely altered this roster
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  Speaker 4: with nine new faces so far. Around Luka, Doncic and
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  Speaker 4: Austin Reeves, you had guys like Walker Kessler and that
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  Speaker 4: sign and dred Quinton Grimes, who's going to be a
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  Speaker 4: really good scorer off the bench for them on sex
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  Speaker 4: and another good score. You had Cameron Carr, who is
• 12:31
  Speaker 4: a rookie that played really well in Summer League. And then,
• 12:34
  Speaker 4: like we were mentioning before, if they're able to go
• 12:36
  Speaker 4: out and add a guy like Jonathan Kaminga to fill
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  Speaker 4: that spot that really hot Cha Mirror is leaving yin
• 12:41
  Speaker 4: and he left for the Los Angeles Clippers, but you
• 12:43
  Speaker 4: can get another dynamic forward and athletic forward and wing
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  Speaker 4: who's a slasher and cut around offense. Luka, Doncics and
• 12:50
  Speaker 4: Austin Reeves are gonna be able to find him, and
• 12:52
  Speaker 4: maybe that is the best spot for Jonathan Comga to
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  Speaker 4: finally become what he believes he can be in this league.
• 12:58
  Speaker 4: So really nice job by both Philly and Los Angeles.
• 13:01
  Speaker 4: There's some other moves that you can point to throughout
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  Speaker 4: the league. I think one of the more underrated moves
• 13:07
  Speaker 4: was the Hornets retaining Kobe White to be their point
• 13:09
  Speaker 4: guard after they traded LaMelo Ball to the Minnesota Timberolves.
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  Speaker 4: And I think that the Hornets are definitely a team
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  Speaker 4: to be reckoned with it. They have a really good
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  Speaker 4: vision for their future. But just overall, this league has
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  Speaker 4: seen improvements for a bunch of the teams and I
• 13:22
  Speaker 4: think that's going to be a very exciting season. Obviously,
• 13:25
  Speaker 4: the Spurs and Thunder are going to be at the
• 13:26
  Speaker 4: top of the championship equation and rightfully so. Those are
• 13:28
  Speaker 4: the two best teams in the NBA, and then the
• 13:31
  Speaker 4: defending champions in the New York Knicks. But it's really
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  Speaker 4: wide open. This is anybody's race to be had right now,
• 13:37
  Speaker 4: and we'll see what happens over the course of the
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  Speaker 4: twenty six to twenty seven season. I think it's going
• 13:41
  Speaker 4: to be a really fun year.
• 13:43
  Speaker 1: What do you think the Utah Jazz could be with
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  Speaker 1: an overhauled roster? With not fully overhauled? I got what
• 13:49
  Speaker 1: they traded away Walker Kessler, they drafted Darren Peterson obviously,
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  Speaker 1: and I say overhauled because we expect to see the
• 13:55
  Speaker 1: best players play next year, which has not been a
• 13:58
  Speaker 1: thing as of lates. So what do you think that
• 14:00
  Speaker 1: Utah Jazz couldn't do in terms of upward mobility.
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  Speaker 4: I was definitely high on this team when they first
• 14:07
  Speaker 4: entered free agenty. I thought that it was going to
• 14:09
  Speaker 4: be a four done conclusion of bringing Walker Kessler back.
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  Speaker 4: But that's just a price that they didn't want to pay.
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  Speaker 4: They didn't want to have this long term money tied
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  Speaker 4: down where they would then have to make decisions about
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  Speaker 4: some of these young guys like Kant George, like Ace
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  Speaker 4: Bailey when his contracts up, and now their first first
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  Speaker 4: round picked, Aaron Peterson, went his contract. So they wanted
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  Speaker 4: to have flexibility moving forward and not tie themselves down.
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  Speaker 4: So it does make sense from that perspective why they
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  Speaker 4: got rid of Walker Kessler, but losing him leaves a
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  Speaker 4: big hole in their front court. Obviously they brought back
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  Speaker 4: Usuf Nurkic, they do have Jaron Jackson Junior. But I
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  Speaker 4: just really liked the idea of having all this size
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  Speaker 4: to go and combat the Thunder and the San Antonio Spurs,
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  Speaker 4: who are two big teams in the West. And then
• 14:51
  Speaker 4: you look at some of these other rosters. The West
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  Speaker 4: is dominated by big guys, and you can go down
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  Speaker 4: the list with like yogicch Rudy Gobert for the Minnesota
• 14:59
  Speaker 4: Timberles being the as a banker that he is. You
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  Speaker 4: need to have size as a team, and so losing
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  Speaker 4: Walker Kessler, I think is really going to hurt them
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  Speaker 4: early on. But I am interested to see how this
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  Speaker 4: guard parent's going to work for the Jazz. I think
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  Speaker 4: Kante George took that next step that the Jazz and
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  Speaker 4: their fans wanted to see last year. And now you
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  Speaker 4: add a guy like Darren Peterson who can even elevate
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  Speaker 4: Keyante's play more while also being a factor to score
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  Speaker 4: next in. I think that this Tanda, this duo is
• 15:26
  Speaker 4: going to be very formidable in the Western Conference, and
• 15:29
  Speaker 4: it's something that a lot of people aren't talking about
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  Speaker 4: right now. I think that the Jazz are going to
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  Speaker 4: take a step forward this year. I just don't know
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  Speaker 4: if it can be fully into that play and picture
• 15:38
  Speaker 4: and be a playoff team in the West, just because
• 15:40
  Speaker 4: of how many competitive teams are out there. But you
• 15:43
  Speaker 4: have to be optimistic about this team's future.
• 15:47
  Speaker 1: Darren Peterson is like the same as with Ace Bailey
• 15:50
  Speaker 1: last year. We came into the pre draft process and
• 15:53
  Speaker 1: it was like, Oh, he's not going to work out
• 15:54
  Speaker 1: in Salt Lake He's not going to do the flirtation
• 15:57
  Speaker 1: with the Utah Jazz, and then you can read into things,
• 16:00
  Speaker 1: you can infer whatever you want based on that. I
• 16:04
  Speaker 1: think we learned our lesson last year a little bit
• 16:06
  Speaker 1: with Ace Bailey, who ended up being a really awesome
• 16:09
  Speaker 1: player for this team, great young talent that we expect
• 16:12
  Speaker 1: to develop even more, did not seem to have any
• 16:15
  Speaker 1: issue with ending up here in Salt Lake City. And
• 16:19
  Speaker 1: then there was that same cycle of speculation with Darren
• 16:22
  Speaker 1: Peterson that hopefully will also be a big nothing burger.
• 16:25
  Speaker 1: But there's an insecurity we have here in Salt Lake
• 16:28
  Speaker 1: City about kind of the place that this city in
• 16:31
  Speaker 1: this community has among NBA players and where they want
• 16:34
  Speaker 1: to be and everyone's got a podcast now, and they're
• 16:37
  Speaker 1: always like, Oh, what's the worst road trip? Oh it's
• 16:39
  Speaker 1: Salt Lake City. Oh it's Oklahoma City, Oh it's whatever.
• 16:42
  Speaker 1: How much does that matter these days? Where these guys
• 16:44
  Speaker 1: are making the money that they're making and they can
• 16:46
  Speaker 1: live wherever they want in the offseason, and I guess
• 16:49
  Speaker 1: it when they have an option to go wherever they
• 16:52
  Speaker 1: want in free agency, I guess it could become an
• 16:54
  Speaker 1: issue here. But for these young players, is Salt Lake
• 16:57
  Speaker 1: City a place where you can come and thrive.
• 17:00
  Speaker 4: I haven't ever heard from any of these young guys
• 17:03
  Speaker 4: that have been drafted by the Jazz that they don't
• 17:05
  Speaker 4: like being They always talk highly of the area. They
• 17:08
  Speaker 4: talk highly of the organization and everybody that's involved in it,
• 17:12
  Speaker 4: from the ages to ownerships. So it's a really well
• 17:16
  Speaker 4: run organization in Salt Lake City is a beautiful place
• 17:18
  Speaker 4: to be. And we even saw with Walker Kessler. He
• 17:21
  Speaker 4: said multiple times he did not want to leave Salt
• 17:23
  Speaker 4: Lake City, but it just came down to the price
• 17:25
  Speaker 4: for him. And ultimately the Jazz did agree to that
• 17:28
  Speaker 4: sign of trade. They got a slew of assets back
• 17:30
  Speaker 4: and it was kind of an offer that they couldn't
• 17:32
  Speaker 4: really turn down. But in Darren Peterson's case, this is
• 17:34
  Speaker 4: a guy that's entering the NBA with a chip on
• 17:37
  Speaker 4: his shoulder. He fully believed that he should have been
• 17:39
  Speaker 4: the number one overall pick, and the Jazz fans are
• 17:42
  Speaker 4: going to love seeing that because every single night he's
• 17:45
  Speaker 4: going to be bringing fire and he's going to be
• 17:47
  Speaker 4: looking to prove all his doubters wrong, especially even after
• 17:51
  Speaker 4: last year with how his freshman season at Kansas played out,
• 17:54
  Speaker 4: where so many people are criticizing him for missing games
• 17:57
  Speaker 4: even though he was dealing with those cramping issues and
• 17:59
  Speaker 4: the health concerns. Now he's had a full summer to
• 18:02
  Speaker 4: rest up. He looked really good in Summer League. I
• 18:04
  Speaker 4: talked to him a little bit behind the scenes in
• 18:06
  Speaker 4: the tunnel, and pretty much every answer that I got
• 18:09
  Speaker 4: from him is that he's just determined to prove everybody wrong.
• 18:12
  Speaker 4: And I feel like that really fits the mantra of
• 18:15
  Speaker 4: what the Jazz have built with Will Hardy as their coach.
• 18:17
  Speaker 4: This is just a team that wants a chance and
• 18:19
  Speaker 4: they want to prove that they're a team that can
• 18:22
  Speaker 4: stand with the big dogs in the Western Conference. And
• 18:24
  Speaker 4: I think that we're going to see that this year.
• 18:26
  Speaker 4: I think they're going to surprise a lot of people
• 18:27
  Speaker 4: and they're definitely going to improve from that twenty two
• 18:30
  Speaker 4: win mark during the twenty six to twenty seven season.
• 18:33
  Speaker 1: What it's all said and done, what's the resolution of
• 18:35
  Speaker 1: the salary cap circumvention accusations in the Kawhi Leonard situation.
• 18:43
  Speaker 4: So we'll start with the circumvention. I assume you're talking
• 18:46
  Speaker 4: about Gary Trent, correct.
• 18:48
  Speaker 1: I'm talking about the Clippers and the accusation that Kawhi
• 18:54
  Speaker 1: Leonard was given extra money outside of his NBA salary
• 19:00
  Speaker 1: as a way of kind of keeping him in La Okay.
• 19:04
  Speaker 4: Got it. So with Kawhi Leonard, that investigation seems to
• 19:08
  Speaker 4: be wrapping up at this time. Adam Silver in his
• 19:11
  Speaker 4: press conference that Summer League at the Board of Governor's
• 19:14
  Speaker 4: press conference, he told all of us that they could
• 19:18
  Speaker 4: theoretically end the investigation and put everything to a stop now.
• 19:22
  Speaker 4: But the problem is the investigative firm wouldn't have sufficient findings,
• 19:27
  Speaker 4: So the nine ten months that have been spent kind
• 19:30
  Speaker 4: of going through all this, it would be for a waste.
• 19:33
  Speaker 4: And Adam Silver doesn't want that to happen. He wants
• 19:35
  Speaker 4: to see this through, and he wants results, whether they
• 19:39
  Speaker 4: find something that Kawhi and the Clippers did wrong, whether
• 19:42
  Speaker 4: it's nothing, and everybody can move on from this and
• 19:44
  Speaker 4: put it behind them. But Adam Silver wants a conclusion.
• 19:47
  Speaker 4: He said that he wants this done the summer, and
• 19:49
  Speaker 4: I do expect that within the next two to three
• 19:51
  Speaker 4: weeks we're going to have some type of answer of
• 19:54
  Speaker 4: what's going to happen here, whether it's going to be findes,
• 19:56
  Speaker 4: whether it's going to be a Kawhi Leonard type suspension.
• 20:00
  Speaker 4: But this trade will be going through. It's just the
• 20:02
  Speaker 4: hold up right now is that the Raptors and the
• 20:04
  Speaker 4: Clippers mutually agreed to not finalize yet until a decision
• 20:08
  Speaker 4: is made. Because let's say Kawhi Leonard is going to
• 20:10
  Speaker 4: be suspended for fifteen or twenty games, and that's the
• 20:13
  Speaker 4: worst case scenario for Toronto. Maybe this trade gets altered
• 20:17
  Speaker 4: where a draft pick is then either protected or it
• 20:20
  Speaker 4: goes back to Toronto and the Clippers don't get as much.
• 20:23
  Speaker 4: That's kind of why there's this hold up right now
• 20:25
  Speaker 4: and why it hasn't been fully finalized yet. But it
• 20:28
  Speaker 4: will be going through. Brandon Ingram and Grady Dick have
• 20:31
  Speaker 4: already been with the Los Angeles Clippers and their training staff.
• 20:34
  Speaker 4: They're working out with them in Las Vegas. Kawhi Leonard
• 20:37
  Speaker 4: has been with Toronto and he's been up there in
• 20:41
  Speaker 4: Canada with them. So this is a trade that is
• 20:43
  Speaker 4: going through. As far as the Caps circumvention, I mean
• 20:46
  Speaker 4: I even mentioned Gary Trent junior, that's another thing that
• 20:49
  Speaker 4: the league is looking into where they're going to be
• 20:52
  Speaker 4: hard cracking down on these types of deals that are
• 20:55
  Speaker 4: made and if a player takes a discount, the NBA
• 20:58
  Speaker 4: is going to look into that. If a player it's
• 21:00
  Speaker 4: more money than they should have, like Gary Trent going
• 21:02
  Speaker 4: from a minimum deal and now he's going to be
• 21:04
  Speaker 4: making I think it's fifteen or sixteen million dollars per year.
• 21:07
  Speaker 4: They're looking into that because was that a deal that
• 21:10
  Speaker 4: was agreed upon a year ago when he originally took
• 21:13
  Speaker 4: a minimum contract to help the Bucks with their cap situation.
• 21:17
  Speaker 4: So the NBA takes these very seriously. They're going to
• 21:20
  Speaker 4: investigate pretty much any type of deals that happen like this,
• 21:24
  Speaker 4: and they're going to really look to, I don't want
• 21:27
  Speaker 4: to say, punish the Clippers in Kawhi Lairer but they
• 21:29
  Speaker 4: want to get it right. They don't want this to
• 21:31
  Speaker 4: kind of stand out and be a blueprint for other
• 21:34
  Speaker 4: players to then get paid on the side by taking
• 21:36
  Speaker 4: discounts for their team to help them build a championship contender.
• 21:39
  Speaker 4: They want parody in this league and they want the
• 21:43
  Speaker 4: vision to be clear to everybody that there's no wrongdoing
• 21:46
  Speaker 4: going on behind the scenes. And that's why Adam Silver
• 21:48
  Speaker 4: and the NBA has taken their time with this investigation.
• 21:51
  Speaker 4: They're letting everything play out.
• 21:54
  Speaker 1: I felt like the San Antonio Spurs were a little
• 21:57
  Speaker 1: ahead of schedule this year, made it all the way
• 21:58
  Speaker 1: to the NBA Finals. Of course, there were some questions
• 22:02
  Speaker 1: about how clutch Victor Winbinama came up down the stretch
• 22:05
  Speaker 1: and things like that. It's easy to forget because how
• 22:08
  Speaker 1: dominant he is, how young he is also, but the
• 22:12
  Speaker 1: San Antonio Spurs, I imagine, are going to be a
• 22:14
  Speaker 1: big problem for everybody for a.
• 22:16
  Speaker 3: Lot of years.
• 22:17
  Speaker 1: How long do you think it takes before they get
• 22:19
  Speaker 1: all the way over the hump. Is that a team
• 22:21
  Speaker 1: that's ready to win a championship even this year?
• 22:23
  Speaker 3: Potentially they are.
• 22:25
  Speaker 4: I think that within the next two to three years,
• 22:27
  Speaker 4: the Spurs are going to be winning their first championship.
• 22:29
  Speaker 4: It could even happen this year. Maybe they get past
• 22:31
  Speaker 4: the Thunder again and they use their championship experience from
• 22:34
  Speaker 4: a year ago of being in the NBA Finals to
• 22:36
  Speaker 4: overcome that hump. But there's several things that factor into
• 22:40
  Speaker 4: their first finals appearance. Obviously, Daron Fox did not have
• 22:42
  Speaker 4: a good series, and I'm one that was very critical
• 22:46
  Speaker 4: of it and pointing out certain things that he just
• 22:48
  Speaker 4: did not play well against the Knicks. And yeah, he
• 22:52
  Speaker 4: was injured. He had the high ankle spring. Maybe that
• 22:53
  Speaker 4: factor in a little, but that was the first time
• 22:56
  Speaker 4: he's really been in the playoffs other than that one
• 22:58
  Speaker 4: series that he had with the King. And then you
• 23:00
  Speaker 4: can go up and down this roster. This is really
• 23:02
  Speaker 4: their first playoff experience together and to be able to
• 23:05
  Speaker 4: go on the run that they did make the NBA
• 23:07
  Speaker 4: Finals and have tired legs at the end. Yet it's
• 23:10
  Speaker 4: kind of an excuse, but every championship team through the years,
• 23:15
  Speaker 4: and especially these young teams, had to get their first
• 23:18
  Speaker 4: to experiences before they finally got over them. Every superstar
• 23:22
  Speaker 4: talent like Victor Webbinyama, who's been labeled as a generational
• 23:24
  Speaker 4: type talent had to get their first and experiencing mosing
• 23:28
  Speaker 4: before actually winning a title. I mean, Lebron James did
• 23:31
  Speaker 4: it with the Cleveland Cavaliers. He made the finals and
• 23:33
  Speaker 4: didn't get over that hump at first until he ended
• 23:36
  Speaker 4: up going to the Miami Heat and he won a
• 23:38
  Speaker 4: championship there. So it's just kind of part of the
• 23:41
  Speaker 4: learning in the building stage for Wenbanyama and the Spurs.
• 23:44
  Speaker 4: Maybe they get back to the finals this year, maybe
• 23:46
  Speaker 4: they don't, but regardless if they do or don't, they're
• 23:48
  Speaker 4: going to have that fire and that passion to want
• 23:51
  Speaker 4: to win a championship. When Victor Wembinyama has talked about it,
• 23:54
  Speaker 4: even when when they lost Game five to the Knicks,
• 23:56
  Speaker 4: he made it very clear that he's not going anywhere
• 23:58
  Speaker 4: and he's going to work even harder to make sure
• 24:00
  Speaker 4: that he gets back to the NBA Finals. So I
• 24:02
  Speaker 4: think that their addition to Tobias Harris is only going
• 24:05
  Speaker 4: to help. I think that he's a very good season
• 24:07
  Speaker 4: better in this league, and he's a very good culture
• 24:09
  Speaker 4: fit for their locker room. Guy that's going to hold
• 24:11
  Speaker 4: these younger players accountable. That's something that they didn't have
• 24:14
  Speaker 4: in the playoffs and in the NBA Finals. So I
• 24:16
  Speaker 4: really like the Spurs. I think that they're right there
• 24:18
  Speaker 4: with the thunder and we'll wait and see how this
• 24:20
  Speaker 4: Western Conference is going to play out.
• 24:23
  Speaker 3: Brett.
• 24:25
  Speaker 1: Offseason is always like kind of a misnomer now with
• 24:27
  Speaker 1: pro sports. But do you get to enjoy the rest
• 24:29
  Speaker 1: of this NBA offseason now that the dust is settling some?
• 24:33
  Speaker 4: Of course, I'm thrilled to death that there's no Olympics
• 24:37
  Speaker 4: in this August. We've put that on the back burner
• 24:40
  Speaker 4: until twenty twenty eight. There's no long restricted free agency
• 24:44
  Speaker 4: type stuff playing out really like it was last year
• 24:46
  Speaker 4: with Jonathan Kamanda, Josh Giddy, Quentin Grimes all waiting until
• 24:50
  Speaker 4: training Campa. Sometime in August. We're going to get a
• 24:53
  Speaker 4: resolution to Jalen during a Paine Watson, but it's not
• 24:56
  Speaker 4: as relevant as it was last year in terms of
• 24:59
  Speaker 4: everything that was hap happening with those guys, and all
• 25:01
  Speaker 4: these trade talks and all the trades that were to
• 25:04
  Speaker 4: be made are done at this point. I'd be kind
• 25:06
  Speaker 4: of surprised if we're going to see another big move made.
• 25:08
  Speaker 4: So it's just about getting those last few contracts done
• 25:11
  Speaker 4: and then that's it for the summer and we can
• 25:13
  Speaker 4: wait until training camp starts in September.
• 25:16
  Speaker 1: Well, it's right around the corner and we'll look forward
• 25:19
  Speaker 1: to it. We'll have you back on discussing when those
• 25:21
  Speaker 1: things open up. Brett, thank you.
• 25:23
  Speaker 4: I appreciate it. Take it easy, NBA.
• 25:25
  Speaker 1: Inside of Brett Siegel there with great information all up
• 25:29
  Speaker 1: and down those topics.
• 25:30
  Speaker 3: Big thanks to him for hopping on