Latest / Bring The Thunder Podcast / Thunder Get Hartenstein BACK 👀 | 7 Giannis Trade Scenarios + ONE Player OKC Needs Post-Deadline

Transcript

Thunder Get Hartenstein BACK 👀 | 7 Giannis Trade Scenarios + ONE Player OKC Needs Post-Deadline · Bring The Thunder Podcast

0:03
You're listening to the Bring the Thunder.
0:05
Podcast, A podcast by fans, for fans.
0:10
Yes, you are welcome everybody, to another episode from the
0:13
Bring the Thunder podcast. Today we have myself, Gabe, we
0:17
got Savier and we got Joe. We have a good episode here for
0:20
you guys today. We only have three topics that
0:22
we're gonna hit on, so it might not be the longest episode, but
0:25
it's definitely going to have good content, good conversations
0:28
and all that good, good stuff. So Joe, what do we got first?
0:32
Yeah, breaking news earlier from Brandon Rabar on Twitter.
0:36
Or XI should call it Isaiah Hartenstein is back.
0:40
And that's really exciting news, really good news for the
0:43
Oklahoma City Thunder. Savio and I touched on it last
0:46
night a bit during our post game live, perfectly timed for
0:51
Hartenstein to come back. We're in Minnesota tomorrow
0:53
night in Denver, home against Orlando in San Antonio, home
0:58
against the Rockets in LA, playing against the Lakers in
1:01
Phoenix. So we got the Western Conference
1:03
gauntlet coming up with the exception of the Magic there who
1:07
are a decent team themselves. So to get Hartenstein back, help
1:10
out, Chad is perfect time, perfectly timed.
1:14
But I think we get maybe on the season so far our third best
1:20
player consistently. He was having an amazing season
1:23
before he went down twice with the you know, the calf injury
1:26
and then he re aggravated the calf.
1:29
Excellent rim protection this year.
1:31
Obviously he's an engine on the offensive end.
1:35
Offense runs through him a lot. Big alley oop threat.
1:39
Just brings back so much more for OKC and I'm super excited to
1:42
get him back for this stretch. Yeah.
1:44
I mean, how many times have we talked about across this, you
1:47
know, kind of strange stretch of losing games?
1:49
How many times have we talked about one of the key reasons
1:51
we've been losing is because just getting crossed in the
1:53
rebound battle? And I know specifically Saturn
1:56
and I have said multiple times, even back when jaywal was out,
1:58
we kept saying as soon as Heartens I and jaywal are back,
2:01
you're going to see things change.
2:02
Well, Jaywal came back and you did start to see that change
2:04
happen. But ultimately we keep getting
2:06
more injuries, more problems, keep hitting.
2:08
But getting him back, I mean, that pretty much ensures that
2:11
we're going to be at least competing in the rebound battle.
2:13
Now, I'm not going to go out and say we're going to win every
2:15
single one because obviously that's not how basketball works,
2:17
but the fact that we're just going to be competing in those
2:20
games now that's going to get rid of those really annoying,
2:23
really dumb second chance points that we've been giving up a ton.
2:26
It feels like the second chat steps off the court.
2:29
It's all up to J will now to get every single rebound.
2:31
And while some games like just the other night, he's able to do
2:33
that, other games we're watching him box out or him get sealed
2:38
and and the guards are just not able to to go out and get the
2:40
board. It's not able to crash.
2:41
It's it's a complete warfare down there.
2:44
So getting the galley Harnstein back.
2:45
I mean it's you can't even put into words how big this is for
2:49
the team as we start to slowly get healthy again.
2:51
But he's one of the biggest. I mean I would even argue that
2:54
him being back is bigger than J Dub being back because J Dub's
2:57
great and I love everything he brings for us.
2:59
But J Dub just helps us get better and in like multiple
3:02
categories that we already are good at.
3:04
The missing piece of Hearten sign is genuinely like taking
3:07
away the team while they're running, you know, like you just
3:11
can't succeed without having that, that rebounding presence
3:14
and that big man on the inside. And Joe, you mentioned he's
3:17
almost been our third, probably our third most consistent player
3:20
this year offensively. He's been able to help out a
3:22
ton. I mean, he's we know he's got
3:24
the floater down, but he he's just such a such a lob threat,
3:28
such a presence in the paint. Everything he does this team
3:30
needs. And like you said it, it could
3:32
not come in a better time. I completely agree with
3:37
everything you guys are saying. And I mean on December 28th, he
3:42
got his first injury. Obviously we got the win in the
3:45
in the against the Philadelphia 76ers, but I think it's just
3:50
crucial timing. We mentioned that someone's got
3:52
to come back when we're talking about the post game show.
3:55
Someone has to return for this rough stretch of seven games
4:00
against the playoff teams. Obviously, it's a second strain
4:04
of the season. So he got even probably double
4:07
the amount of games that he was initially offered, even though
4:10
he could have been back a little bit sooner.
4:12
But averaging 11 points, 64% shooting, 1010 1/2 rebounds
4:19
nearly. And also his assist numbers are
4:21
at 3 assists the game. And I think moving forward, I
4:24
hope to see that kind of climb. I think we've been missing kind
4:29
of an extra playmaker and he'll add that to the team having an
4:33
extra lob threat in himself, but also creating or lob threat and
4:37
Chet Holmgren. And he kind of opens up Chet
4:40
when J Dub is out. So I like to see that two man
4:43
game. Also, it opens up Chet's game
4:45
from a pick and roll perspective because I think a guard screen
4:49
is a lot tougher for Chet to navigate because he generally
4:52
gets doubled off of those. A center screen is a lot harder
4:55
to double check on because he's just so much quicker.
4:58
So he brings, you know, lots of different variables, versatility
5:02
to the squad and I think it's a well timed addition for us.
5:06
We needed the reinforcements and, you know, front core of
5:10
Rudy Gobert, Julius Randall, and then obviously having to deal
5:14
with Anthony Edwards going towards the paint, Nas Reed as
5:17
well out there. So I don't think he's going to
5:19
get that many minutes, but it'll still help, you know, having him
5:23
out there. So yeah.
5:24
Absolutely, it's nice to have and another good thing and news
5:28
for OKC is AJ Mitchell won't be playing Thursday, but he will be
5:32
questionable to play Sunday as of now against Denver.
5:35
So that means he's progressing back, should be back for this
5:38
long stretch as well. The gauntlet, I'm going to keep
5:40
calling it. So we're moving in the right
5:42
direction, moving in the right direction.
5:44
Hopefully it's just J Dub will be waiting on soon.
5:47
Caruso should be back soon or soon Ish anyway.
5:51
So we're going to get to see some Oklahoma City Thunder
5:54
basketball again once and for all.
5:55
We're not going to have to see, you know, Uzma Jang and I again,
5:59
I'm not sliding Uzma Jang, but we don't have to see Uzma Jang
6:02
be our third player off the bench and and that would be a
6:05
sight to see for sore eyes anyway.
6:07
Anything else for you guys? Yeah, yeah, yeah, absolutely.
6:10
One of the things that kind of frustrates me when you're
6:13
talking with NBA fans and they bring this up a lot in the
6:16
playoffs, and it's when they start saying, and we got it bad
6:18
last year from all the all the doubters.
6:20
It's when they start saying that, you know, things had to go
6:23
perfectly for your team to win. Players got injured, You know,
6:26
talking about Halliburton, just just it's the it's the arrogance
6:31
of fans when they start to ignore the fact that injuries
6:34
are an incredibly common thing in basketball.
6:37
And we're starting to see that we got really fortunate that
6:40
last postseason, everything connected at the right time.
6:43
We were healthy, things worked well.
6:45
But to act like 1. Jada was hurt the entire time
6:49
and we are still succeeding. But that's, that's not my point.
6:51
My point is now we're seeing the injuries happen and, and it's
6:55
clearly affecting this team in so many ways.
6:56
But when fans act like injuries are are this freak thing that
7:00
never happened and you only won because a player got hurt, it's
7:03
so dumb because this is what happens.
7:06
We're seeing it in the regular season.
7:07
How many players are hurt? I mean, Tatum's missing the
7:09
entire season. Half our roster's gone.
7:12
Moran's missed a ton, a ton of games.
7:14
Zion's always like players get hurt.
7:17
Jokic is out, Wendy's out Shay's Luca's missed too many games.
7:21
Shay's the only one that's going to qualify for MVP in the in the
7:24
big four. Like injuries are very real.
7:27
They're so real. And I, I hate that, you know, we
7:30
have to keep like arguing this because people just want to say
7:32
that, you know, you only won the finals because that happened.
7:35
But go back and look at the last 20 finals winners and go ahead
7:38
and tell me that they didn't have any sort of help along the
7:41
way against an opponent who had an injury.
7:43
It always happens. Injuries are real.
7:45
And we're just witnessing that right now.
7:46
So Joe, you mentioned AJ coming back and obviously Hardesty
7:49
coming back. We're starting to see it connect
7:51
again. I just got to hope and hope that
7:54
we stay healthy post season comes around.
7:57
Please let all the stars align again and and just keep us
7:59
healthy for the post. Season, yeah, you mentioned a
8:01
bunch of the injuries that from last year and this year.
8:04
I mean, listen, OKC lost 14 games last year and they were
8:09
injured all season long. Hartenstein had a broken hand to
8:12
start the season. Chet missed like what, 50
8:14
something games last year when I hit AJ Mitchell went down for
8:18
the whole season pretty much with a foot.
8:20
We never got to see him in his rookie year and we see what he's
8:22
doing this year, how important he is this year.
8:24
So I don't really want to hear it.
8:25
Obviously the J Dub thing, injuries are part of the sport,
8:29
it's part of every sport. It's unfortunate, but even with
8:33
this year's injuries, as of right now, OK C OK C is still
8:36
the number one seed and they have 10 losses on the season,
8:38
so. I want to jump in here before we
8:40
change topics. Hardenstein missed 24 out of 48
8:45
games, so he's pretty much 50% of the season.
8:48
Also, we're top five and most injured teams.
8:51
I think we're in 5th place for that and probably slowly
8:55
climbing that list 'cause we're not getting any healthier.
8:58
It feels like we get one player back, one player hurt, and I
9:02
can't let you move on until we talk about the fact that US is
9:07
actually shooting 40% from the three-point line.
9:09
Just had to get that in there. That's my goat.
9:12
If you guys know about Dan Gang, comment that in the comments
9:15
section. Only real ones know if you know,
9:18
you know. So, yeah, all right.
9:20
Just have to do that in there. But yeah, that'll do it for the
9:22
heart and side news. Really happy and excited to see
9:25
him back on the court. First time since the 28th of
9:27
December. So it's been, it's been a while.
9:29
It's almost February here. Moving on here.
9:33
We do have some other news. Not really Oklahoma City Thunder
9:36
news yet, but maybe Giannis has officially, you know, pretty
9:43
much according to Shams said he wants out of Milwaukee and the
9:47
teams right now that are serious suitors at this deadline as we
9:51
speak in a week from tomorrow, Miami Heat, New York Knicks,
9:57
Golden State Warriors and who's the last one game the Minnesota
10:01
Timberwolves. Interesting teams for me
10:05
personally, I don't know if we see another in season trade.
10:08
I think it would be really dumb for Milwaukee to create some
10:12
type of in season trade right now.
10:13
I don't think they'd get as much value as they would in the
10:15
offseason. But your guys thoughts on those
10:19
landing spots for Giannis and and just what the hell went
10:22
wrong in Milwaukee to cause all this?
10:24
Yeah, I mean, First off, if if like all this plays out the way
10:28
it's sounding like it will. I'm just this is not a shot in
10:32
Milwaukee or their fans at all, but like such a I'm I'm just so
10:36
happy for you, honest because he's been stuck in what you can
10:39
just tell is this guilt ridden state for the last several years
10:44
or he feels like he cannot leave despite them not doing the
10:47
things that he wants them to do. Trading Drew Holiday was
10:50
something that was not something he did not want that I you you
10:53
just knew. And then finally getting Dame,
10:55
getting acquainted to Dame and then cutting Dame to to go out
10:58
and get Miles Turner. Like, they've not treated this
11:01
man well recently in terms of what he wants and he doesn't owe
11:05
them anything. He won them a ring.
11:07
He's been, he's become one of the best players of this era
11:09
with them. He can leave.
11:11
Like he needs to realize that he can leave.
11:13
And I'm so glad that finally it is coming out that he's
11:17
essentially decided he's ready for a new home.
11:19
As for the landing spots, I agree, these are these are
11:22
strange. I mean, the Knicks to me feels
11:25
like almost the least realistic because to me the Knicks are
11:28
just one of those teams that every single player ever is
11:31
going to be rumored to go to. I know there's talks that he's
11:34
interested in the Knicks. And I will say they do have
11:37
pieces that they could definitely trade.
11:39
I mean, I heard that they're thinking about trading Cat that
11:41
that's a big asset right there, which I think that's crazy for
11:45
what Cat's done for them. But they have assets.
11:47
So I don't know, maybe it's not unrealistic, but that one would
11:50
surprise me a little bit. The Warriors, you don't have
11:55
enough, in my opinion to trade for him.
11:57
I mean, I'm sure you can package something with Kaminga,
11:59
something with some pics. And I've even heard that they're
12:01
looking at trying to trade Jimmy despite the whole ACL problem,
12:04
which is also crazy, but that would be an interesting one as
12:08
well. What was the other two?
12:11
Minnesota, Minnesota. They're so they're in so much
12:16
trouble like they they have so many players who contracts are
12:20
getting worse, who are also getting older, Rudy Gobert,
12:22
Julius Randall, Dante Di Vincenzo, and then they have Ant
12:25
who is trying his hardest to stay loyal, trying his hardest
12:29
to be a superstar. But they keep having these like
12:33
good seasons, but they don't get anywhere and that doesn't seem
12:36
like it's going to go away anytime soon.
12:38
So if they were to trade for Giannis one, what do you have to
12:41
possibly get him? Because the Bucks don't want Nas
12:44
Reed. They don't want Julius Randall.
12:47
We don't know him I. Guess maybe.
12:50
But like for Giannis, I don't think it's it's, I think you're
12:53
going to see something very similar to the Paul George trade
12:56
where you're getting you're giving away a star, a young star
13:00
and picks. And I don't think Nas Reed is
13:02
considered a young star. Nas Reed is a great player.
13:06
I just don't think that's that's a viable option for them.
13:08
So that's the hardest part for me in Minnesota.
13:10
What do you give away to even even do that?
13:13
And but for them, I feel like they're the ones that need to be
13:15
the most aggressive. Like like I said, they're in
13:17
such a bad place. If they want to keep Ant and
13:19
keep their team where it's at, they need to make a move because
13:21
I don't think that they can win right now.
13:23
Like they're having a solid season again, but once playoffs
13:26
come around, I just don't think they have it.
13:28
I I don't know if they're going to be able to come out on top
13:30
and then the last team. What was it, Joe?
13:32
The, the, the Heat, This is the one you're hearing the most.
13:36
I am seeing this everywhere. I'm hearing it everywhere.
13:39
This is the one I think makes the most sense if you're just
13:42
going based off what the media is trying to tell you.
13:44
They, they've wanted him for what's felt like years, even
13:46
before he was even rumored to be traded.
13:48
It felt like Heat fans were trying to say they were going to
13:50
get him. They have things, they, they
13:52
have assets, they have players. This is the one where if he goes
13:55
there, I don't know if it's the best for him, though.
13:58
You know, I, I don't see them all of a sudden being contenders
14:03
just because Giannis went there. Like he'll play his, he'll play
14:05
his ass off, but that team's just not good enough in my
14:09
opinion right now. So I was sad you're getting on
14:12
this, but it's four very interesting locations.
14:15
I'd I'd be curious to see what other teams are kind of hiding
14:18
in the shadows thinking about throwing some.
14:20
Yeah, really, quick, SAT Beer. Bam at a Bio.
14:24
It's just been reported that Bam at a Bio and Giannis have
14:26
reportedly discussed the idea playing together in Miami.
14:30
All right, so we're just throwing smoke out here on the
14:32
show tonight, but I'll let you go now.
14:34
Just wanted to put that in your head.
14:37
Yeah, I think when it comes to a Giannis type of trade, whenever
14:42
superstars move around, I always think about other moving pieces
14:46
and a lot of the trades are stalled out right now.
14:49
I'm going to tell you guys simply.
14:50
I just don't think there's going to be a move happening within
14:53
the next week with how complicated complicated cap
14:57
navigation is. And I know exactly how cap
15:00
complicated that's going to be and with the lack of picks that
15:03
are available for teams until the summertime.
15:05
So most teams that are going to be possible suitors for him,
15:08
like the bigger markets, a lot of them have traded a lot of
15:11
their recent picks. So they're left with like
15:13
292920303132 picks. And to unlock those picks, it'd
15:19
be nice for them to wait an extra year and get additional
15:22
assets to throw in for a possible trade because I don't
15:25
think the Bucks are taking any kind of lowball offers.
15:28
Even with Giannis on pretty much a contract year, anywhere that
15:32
he's going to go has to be a mutual agreement between him and
15:35
the team and the assets that are coming in.
15:37
That's where I think Bucks are. Bucks fans aren't going to like
15:40
the asset return that they get from because he has a lot of
15:44
power in the negotiation because he's pretty much going to tell
15:47
the Milwaukee. He's already told them like he's
15:49
not coming back. So he's a depreciating asset and
15:53
as far as the four teams, I think it's going to get more
15:56
opened up during the summertime. I just don't think it'll be
15:59
teams that are like the Pistons, the Rockets, the Spurs.
16:03
I don't or us should be going around chasing for a guy like
16:07
that because of the youth that that's already on the roster.
16:11
I think it'd be a big mistake to take a aging star, pay him way
16:16
too much money and anything that happened in the NBA when it
16:19
comes to injuries, things like that.
16:21
And you don't want to true away future assets for someone that
16:25
you know, could only possibly win you a championship.
16:28
In my opinion. Like he's he's done it once with
16:32
really good scenario, I guess, and carried a pretty solid
16:35
roster. But I think you'd have to put a
16:37
pretty dominant roster around him to really get past, you
16:41
know, especially with him trying to go out West.
16:43
I think that'd be a huge mistake as well.
16:45
I think if I was Giannis, I'd try to land somewhere else out
16:48
east and just try to go head to head against like a Jason Tatum
16:52
rather than an SGA Yokich combo. That's going to make things a
16:56
lot harder on them. As far as like actual trades and
17:01
whatnot, I can give you guys a couple.
17:04
There's the most popular trade that's going around right now.
17:07
This is a three team trade. You guys can live react to this
17:11
one. I'm going to break it down for
17:13
you guys. So the Knicks get Giannis, Santa
17:16
Tekumpo, Jeremy Grant, the Bucks get Karl Anthony, Towns, Miles
17:22
McBride, pretty much some filler contracts and essentially 4
17:30
first rounders, 2 of them being swaps and also 2 Milwaukee swaps
17:37
in 20-30 and 32. So essentially 6 first rounders
17:41
in total and four of them being swaps, 2 of them being Milwaukee
17:47
swaps and Trail Blazers end up with Mikhail Bridges and fill a
17:53
contract. What do you guys think about
17:55
these three teams getting involved in a trade like this
17:58
one? Yeah, it's all pretty and funny
18:01
to speak about, but if so, the one to the Knicks just doesn't
18:05
make any sense to me because what the report came out today
18:08
and it was like they want a young like star and another
18:12
young player and then like 3 picks.
18:15
The Knicks have none of that. The Knicks have, I mean, maybe
18:18
Karl Anthony Towns, Mikhail Bridges, I don't know how if
18:21
their values super high right now with the with the, with the
18:23
way them they've been playing and to get Bridges, they gave
18:27
like four or five first round picks to the Brooklyn Nets.
18:30
So I don't know where the Knicks did get any of that from.
18:33
But that is like the most popular trade right now.
18:36
Yeah, so actually it was 3 Knicks picks and three Blazers
18:40
picks to help, you know, facilitate the trade and so that
18:44
that they can get Mikhail and Bucks kind of get that 6 picks
18:48
in total to kind of make it feel like they got a lot of return.
18:52
And they also get Carl Anthony Towns, who's technically an All
18:55
Star. So they're not just ending up
18:57
with some, you know, someone that's not valuable to them.
19:01
But I thought it was a pretty solid idea in my opinion.
19:05
What do you think, Gabe? I'm leaning more to what Joe
19:10
said as well. The thing that kind of turns me
19:13
away the most is actually Cat, and it's not because of his
19:16
ability or his skills. It's the fact that he is in his
19:18
30s already. He's one of those guys who's not
19:20
exactly been known for good defense.
19:22
That's always been his weaknesses.
19:24
He's not a defensive center. And trading Giannis for that, I
19:27
mean, if I'm a Bucks fan in that scenario, I feel like we're
19:29
essentially just returning to mediocrity.
19:32
I mean, you're getting these picks, like you said, that feel
19:35
nice and they're filler, but they're not doing a whole lot.
19:39
You know, they're not you're not trading for like the the you're
19:43
not trading for like the Jazz's pick or something here.
19:45
You're you're, you're not getting the greatest like
19:47
they're good, they're good picks, but you're trading away
19:49
somebody who is currently being considered as a top five power
19:53
forward of all time and his career is not over yet.
19:55
I mean, the guy is, and I get what you're saying with saying
19:57
that he's a bit older, but he's one of those guys who there's
20:00
just no signs of him slowing down.
20:02
I mean, he gets injured every once in a while and that's been
20:04
a problem, but. When it's not like Embiid where
20:07
he's just missing entire seasons and you're concerned about that.
20:10
And it's not like it's not like a guy like this is in no way a
20:14
knock on on Ross here. But like Ross, you could see his
20:17
athleticism slowing down, which you know, he just got better at
20:20
other things. But with Giannis, you're not
20:22
seeing that slow down. So I think trading Giannis,
20:25
you're trading away a guy who's still going to be a top five
20:28
player for probably the next Four Seasons, I would say.
20:31
And from there, like I just don't see him going down.
20:34
I, I really don't, I think Giannis is one of those guys
20:36
that's going to continue to rule the league.
20:38
I think he's going to continue to be an absolute dominant guy.
20:42
So trading him for a guy like Cat, who I like Cat and I like
20:46
what he brings, except he's not much of A defensive player.
20:49
He is also getting older and ultimately I, I think you're
20:52
just kind of remaining mediocre and that's not what I'd want if
20:56
I'm trading Giannis. We're rebuilding.
20:59
Yeah, definitely. I was going to hop in here real
21:00
quick before we get into a few more trade scenarios that may or
21:03
may not unfold. There's also been reports that
21:07
wherever Giannis lands, he wants Drew Holiday to come with them.
21:10
So clearly three team deal if it's in season would have to be
21:15
done. And that would have to be done
21:18
with the Blazers. Yeah, with the Blazer, another
21:20
report. Just, you know, I don't know how
21:22
true this is, but it looks I'm seeing it everywhere.
21:25
Giannis's mom posted a picture of him in Miami in the Heat
21:28
arena from years ago. So here we go.
21:30
It's starting to pick up. And not for nothing, before I
21:33
even knew of you guys a few seasons ago when the Celtics
21:38
signed Drew Holiday. If Miami signed Drew Holiday
21:42
that year, I think they maybe not win the NBA Finals, but I
21:46
think they go again to the NBA Finals.
21:48
I thought Drew Holiday with Jimmy Butler, Bam Adebayo, Tyler
21:51
Hero would have been the perfect fit in Miami.
21:54
So why not just instead of Jimmy Butler, it's Giannis and Drew
21:58
Holiday? I still think it works and I
21:59
think it puts them right up top in the East because as of right
22:03
now, without Halliburton, without Tatum, any team that's
22:07
competent around Giannis has a very good chance of making it
22:11
far or maybe to the Finals. I think if they were able to get
22:14
Drew, Giannis and Bam, I think that's clearly a leader to me.
22:17
I have them over Detroit and New York.
22:20
Wow, that's a really good shout out there that that can happen.
22:25
I got some other trades here, so this one is for the Los Angeles
22:29
Lakers. I know Gabe doesn't want to hear
22:32
this. Trying to pair up Luca with
22:34
Giannis. So the Lakers get Giannis,
22:36
Ansta, Kupo, Thanassas, Milwaukee gets Rui Vando, Gabe
22:41
Vincent, Kleber, Dalton Connect swaps OF26283032 and their 2031
22:50
first rounder. So pretty much the the biggest
22:54
haul you can get from the Lakers franchise and I probably
22:59
wouldn't like that too much from a Milwaukee perspective.
23:03
I'll probably go first on the trade.
23:06
It's just a lot of B level stars that aren't working out already.
23:11
Like there isn't really a A Lister in there.
23:13
And then the picks are going to be pretty much of no value
23:16
because yeah, Giannis is still going to be pretty solid, at
23:19
least for three plus seasons, alongside the fact that Luca has
23:24
never seen not playing in the playoffs.
23:26
So in general, I think probably not the best trade, but you guys
23:31
can quickly comment on it. Yeah, really Quick.
23:33
I don't want to piss off Laker fans right now, but I was
23:35
watching old Luca highlights earlier, like young Luca on
23:38
Dallas. It's not even close to the same
23:40
player. It's unfortunate, but if Adam
23:43
Silver allows this to happen again and he pushes this again
23:47
for Lakers and other stars, the trade deadline, that's not going
23:50
to bring them anywhere anyway. That's crazy.
23:53
I think if I'm Milwaukee, I'm looking for the most value I
23:57
could get. Like I said, I'd probably wait
23:59
till the offseason to really start looking at different teams
24:02
because contending teams, they're not going to trade for
24:05
them right now. But a team like OK C, which I've
24:08
said a lot, if they have a hiccup in the playoffs and
24:11
there's some reason they can't beat the Houston Rockets or the
24:13
Denver Nuggets, they'd be more willing to go get them in the
24:16
offseason. And that's a team who has
24:18
everything you'd want. You know what I'm saying?
24:19
And that's just a hypothetical, but for that trade in general,
24:24
no, I wouldn't do it if I was Milwaukee.
24:26
The best player in that package as of now is like Vando.
24:29
And hopefully Dalton Connect rises out of, you know what what
24:34
LA did to him because he looked pretty damn good.
24:36
And then LA just screwed him over like they do everyone
24:39
around LeBron James. But I don't see how that makes
24:42
sense to me for Milwaukee. Yeah, Luca going to the Lakers
24:47
was kind of the like the nightmare scenario because
24:51
Lakers fans were already obnoxious about anyone even
24:55
remotely rumored to be traded. They were like, he's going to LA
24:59
and then it happened with Luca. So now it's just like it it's
25:03
it's multiplied by 10. So they're all saying, honestly,
25:07
going to the Lakers. If he goes to the Lakers, I will
25:10
sit on live stream for 12 hours and just stare at the camera
25:13
until I like pass out. He is not going.
25:16
This is not happening. There is no shot he's going to
25:19
the Lakers that offer. I, I, I agree with what you
25:22
said, Saber. If I'm, if I'm Milwaukee, I'm
25:25
not taking a bunch of B to C tier stars like I'm not I'm not
25:28
going to call them stars B to C tier players and and just
25:32
continue now instead of returning to mediocrity, you're
25:35
just returning. You're pretty much like, OK,
25:37
we'll be a little bit below average now, like you're not
25:40
going to be terrible, but because it's the East, so you're
25:43
not going to be horrible, but you're not going to be you're
25:46
not going to be a mediocre either.
25:47
You're going to sit right around that like playing area and just
25:51
do nothing like that is a terrible.
25:53
That's that's a nightmare scenario for the Bucks.
25:56
If I'm a Bucks fan and that's the trade we land on for
25:58
Giannis, it's over If. You're if you're Milwaukee, you
26:01
got to one of two things or both.
26:04
Like, OK, so you got to find a young kid who think you think
26:07
you can see something in maybe build around him or have him as
26:10
a as a cornerstone for your franchise for the next couple
26:12
years or just get a ton of picks.
26:16
And I don't believe any of that comes from the Los Angeles
26:18
Lakers. So I don't believe that'll end
26:20
up happening. And for Giannis, either, like,
26:22
yeah, you can go team up with Luca and I'm sure they'll be
26:24
very good, but you still got to go through Denver and OK, C and
26:28
Phoenix is up there and Houston's up there and
26:30
Minnesota, all that good stuff. So I don't see like that would
26:34
be a good idea for either party in that trade.
26:37
Yeah, and the problem with it is Reeves is 27, so he's kind of
26:40
exiting the prime years. If he was any younger, maybe
26:43
it'll make a little bit more sense, but he's kind of in his
26:46
prime and it's not looking the best in, in my opinion.
26:51
He's still a third level star. Moving on though, this one's
26:56
this one's honestly really interesting and the Spurs can go
27:01
in a lot of different directions, but the Spurs pair
27:03
Giannis with Wimby. This is probably the nightmare
27:06
scenario for all Thunder fans. Pretty much every fan base
27:10
should be scared of this because if you guys are complaining
27:13
about the Thunder being a super team and we don't even have
27:19
exact superstars around SGA that we had just homegrown talent,
27:22
this is literally adding an actual bonafide MVP champion to
27:27
A-75 Demon. You know of an alien.
27:30
So this trade Milwaukee gets Devin Visal, Kelvin Johnson,
27:35
Dylan Harper 20302032 first rounder So 2 essentially 2 first
27:40
rounders and they just get Giannis and Thonassus in this
27:44
one. I feel like in my personal
27:46
opinion, yeah, Dylan Harper is very coveted.
27:50
Devon of Cells coveted. Kelvin Johnson's, you know,
27:53
turned himself into a pretty solid player.
27:56
But if I'm asking for anything, I'm trying to go a little bit
27:59
higher up and trying to get Stefan Castle to actually build
28:02
a round. I'm probably going to target if
28:05
it's not Stefan Castle, at the very least, I want Fox just to
28:09
at least lead the franchise. You need a point guard.
28:11
I don't think he would agree to the trade, so I probably
28:13
wouldn't target him for that sense, but maybe even just to
28:17
flip him to get more assets would be pretty nice.
28:19
Like if you get a bunch of picks around Darren Fox, you could
28:22
probably flip him around again because he's still valuable in
28:25
the NBA. So that's probably the direction
28:28
I would head towards. Obviously preparing to get
28:31
Stefan Castle. I just don't think the Spurs
28:34
would do something like that. And like I said, this is where
28:38
the Bucks kind of messed up and gave way too much leverage to a
28:40
guy on his contract here. You never essentially want to be
28:43
in this position. If I was honestly a Bucks fan,
28:46
I'd probably prefer him to walk at some point and just get off
28:51
his contract and just rebuild it all together in general.
28:54
Then to kind of hamstring yourself to players that don't
28:58
want to be there and get mid tier, you know, players
29:02
essentially you'd rather draft players that are more likely to
29:06
be bonafide stars. And the only one in that list of
29:09
names is Dylan Harper with the possibility.
29:11
And obviously you get some late first rounders that would come
29:15
in a couple years. But I feel like that's still a
29:18
lowball offer. And the Spurs can only offer
29:20
lowball offers because they're playing pretty much with house
29:23
money. I mean, that's that's the one
29:25
right there though. Sad.
29:26
But I'm glad you brought this one up.
29:28
Makes perfect sense for Milwaukee.
29:29
Like wait till the offseason and then go talk to the Spurs.
29:34
I'll take Dylan Harper. Obviously you want to shoot for
29:36
Castle, but I'll take Harper, I'll take Vassell and I'll take
29:39
Johnson and I'll take 2-3 picks. Whatever, and I'll give you
29:44
Giannis and I'll have a great core to young core to build
29:47
around and move towards the future and you get a superstar.
29:52
Making that trade for the Spurs depletes their depth.
29:56
But that's what happens when you want to trade for Giannis, you
29:58
know, so it's a good trade for the Bucks.
30:02
It's probably an exciting trade for the Spurs.
30:04
I don't know if they want to deplete their depth that much,
30:07
like we'll see how they finished in the playoffs this year, but I
30:10
do think if like they get bounced in the first round,
30:12
which I don't think will happen, it's a high possibility there.
30:17
Yeah, I just think, again, we don't know what's true, what's
30:21
not true. There's been a lot of reports.
30:22
I did see a report that said something about the Spurs are
30:27
not going to be pursuing him. Again, I don't know if that's
30:30
true. I think that's smart.
30:32
I don't think I would mess with the team I have right now, to be
30:35
honest. I'd be really concerned.
30:37
But if you can get them for that price that you named, that's
30:42
hard to say that you wouldn't do that because you're not giving
30:45
up. You're not giving up Castle,
30:46
you're not giving up Fox. You're you're keeping you're
30:49
keeping Castle, Fox, Wimby, adding Giannis and keeping guys
30:52
like Harrison Barnes who can still help out and still having
30:55
a solid bench around you, Jeremy Socan and those guys.
30:57
So it's hard to say no to that. And like you said, Joe for the
31:01
Bucks, that's that's probably the best you're going to get.
31:03
You're getting a guy who I mean, Dylan Harper was being talked
31:06
about is a top three player easily in that draft class.
31:10
And he's kind of, I'm not going to say being wasted, but coming
31:13
off the bench, like he's the kind of guy that it could be a
31:15
rookie starting somewhere and seeing.
31:17
Him, he's a, he's a good player for.
31:19
Sure. So if he gets traded there, I
31:21
think you would quickly see him develop into a much better
31:23
player. So that's that's a solid 1.
31:26
I just would be a little surprised to see the Spurs go
31:28
after him after what I've been kind of hearing.
31:30
But. Yeah, I think if the Spurs bow
31:32
out in the first round or something, they be a little bit
31:35
more likely to be like, OK, maybe we're not at the pace that
31:39
Wemby probably wants. And from what I've noticed,
31:41
Wemby says stuff in the media but I swear like he does not
31:45
mean what he says because. All he wants, he doesn't even
31:48
know what he's talking about to be.
31:49
Honest Well, all I think he cares about is winning now.
31:52
Like he wants to use every single year to win now.
31:55
And like he says he's with the franchise in terms of trying to
31:59
be patient and that. But from the actions that he's
32:02
shown as far as when he's injured, he's always trying to
32:05
play. Obviously, when you're a young
32:07
player, you want to do that and you want to win as many games as
32:10
possible. But I feel like the
32:12
overzealousness could get ahead of him and he could probably ask
32:15
them like, Hey, I want to go get a guy like Giannis, you know,
32:18
offer him what whatever it takes.
32:20
And so these things could push the needle.
32:23
Let's move towards a little bit more of a this this trait I
32:29
actually love the most so far. This is straight up trade with
32:35
the Trail Blazers who are having a lot of who have a lot of, I
32:40
guess, I guess resources with Drew Holiday being over there
32:46
and then Dame coming back. And I think that'd be a really
32:49
fire pairing having 2 elite guards alongside Giannis.
32:55
So the trade is Jeremy Grant, Robert Williams, Scoot
32:57
Henderson, and essentially Milwaukee gets the two first
33:01
that they traded away in that trade and also a 2032 first
33:05
rounder that the Bucks would own.
33:08
And he pretty much ends up pairing back up with a healthy
33:12
Dame after he's gotten some time to do that.
33:15
And then also the rest of the crew, they'd have, you know,
33:19
Giannis with his favorite teammate and Drew Holiday that
33:22
they've known to win a championship with and along also
33:27
they're pairing alongside another All Star in Denny Abdia.
33:30
So really four players that that are a really good core.
33:34
And I feel like that'd be top five out West with that like
33:37
pairing of all healthy players. So I feel like this is a really
33:41
fair trade both ways. And I guess if I'm the bucks,
33:45
I'd probably ask for Denny in this type of trade, but he's
33:49
kind of, I'm going to look up his age, but I don't know if
33:52
he'd be someone they want, maybe Scoots, the guy that they go
33:55
after. Yeah, for me, if I'm Milwaukee,
33:58
I still want more. Like I'd be asking for Denny
34:00
there. I don't know if Portland's
34:03
Giannis's ideal destination either.
34:05
Yeah, Denny's kind of 25 year old, so I, I guess it would kind
34:09
of make sense. But he's kind of on the higher
34:11
end in terms of age. So I don't know, like he's still
34:14
a secondary star to me, even if he develops by the age of 28, I
34:18
don't think he's going to get to like SGA level growth or, you
34:22
know, other MVP level growth. I think he'll, you know, turn
34:25
into a maybe second team all NBA, that type of guy.
34:28
But it'd be tough to see him grow past that because he has a
34:32
really over reliance on that, you know, on the free throws.
34:36
Yeah, for sure. I also agree with Joe.
34:38
I do think they would need to ask for a little bit more, but
34:40
this feels like one of those trades that would end up getting
34:41
taken after we've seen the market kind of deteriorate and
34:44
no one's really offering much. I could see them pulling the
34:47
trigger on this trade. Yeah, absolutely.
34:49
All right. We are going to move on off to
34:52
be honest. But we will keep everybody
34:53
updated as. Well, I've got, I've got one
34:55
more, Joe. I've got one more.
34:57
Yes, I do have one more. This one, actually.
35:00
I've got two more here real quick.
35:02
Tyler Hero, Simon Fentechio, Nikolajovic Kalelware 2030 First
35:08
2031 First 2032 First rounder for the Heat.
35:12
That's the one. I think that if there's going to
35:15
be 1, I think that's exactly what's going to happen.
35:17
And mistake me if I'm wrong, but I believe Tyler Hero is from
35:21
Wisconsin so makes a lot of sense I'm.
35:24
Going to agree with that too, that that makes complete sense
35:26
to me. Joe was talking earlier about
35:28
why this would fit with him on the heat.
35:30
That that's, that's it. That's definitely one of the
35:33
ones that I could see that's feels more realistic, I'll put
35:36
it that way. OK, sweet.
35:38
And the last one is the Warriors 1 Jimmy Butler, Jonathan
35:42
Kamingo, Moses Moody, who's probably the prize possession in
35:45
this 12026 first, 28 first, twenty 31st 2031 first and a 32
35:51
first. Feels like a lot of picks in
35:52
here to pair alongside Steph Curry.
35:56
If I'm the Warriors, I'm doing this one, but I don't know about
35:59
the Bucks. If I'm the Bucks and the
36:01
Warriors, I think I'm doing both.
36:04
If I'm the honest, I don't want to go to Golden State.
36:07
I think they have to make, you know, they have to get Giannis
36:10
to pair with Curry. They're ruining Curry's career
36:12
with what they've been bringing in.
36:13
They try to bring in Jimmy, Obviously unfortunate finish to
36:16
the season last year and then unfortunate injury this year.
36:19
But if I'm Giannis, Curry's like 39 next year, bro, I'm still
36:24
relatively in my prime, still have a few more prime years
36:27
left. Let me go out and pair with a
36:29
younger guy, not like extremely young, but a bona fide star that
36:32
that has a few more years left and we'll just go chase
36:34
champions championships together.
36:36
I like, I'm sure it'll work with Curry, but Curry's aging, man.
36:40
Yeah, I, I agree for the Bucks, this is this is a great deal for
36:43
the Bucks. I mean, I think anybody getting
36:44
a chance to have Kaminga like that's you guys know how high I
36:47
am on Kaminga, getting him out of there I think is a really big
36:50
thing. But I agree with what Joe just
36:51
said. But the same time the Warriors
36:54
odds would would skyrocket it for this one year.
36:58
Like I I think US versus them would be a heck of a Western
37:02
Conference finals. It'd be a really fun one for
37:05
storylines and I think Steph Curry still has a lot left in
37:09
the bag. I mean, he's having a career
37:11
this year still at and I think with the level of shooting he
37:16
has, like and the amount of running he does in terms of, you
37:21
know, for his age, I think he can keep going for especially if
37:24
you put Giannis onto the roster, like he'd have a lot more
37:27
breaks. Steph, I think this would be a
37:30
good pairing. Steph's extremely smart too.
37:32
I believe he has a decent amount left and I think he'll get out
37:36
before he knows that it's over. He wants to gracefully leave and
37:41
I mean, he's absolutely should. It's hard for the players, you
37:44
know, they've been in the same sport since they were a kid and
37:48
probably don't want to give it up.
37:49
But Steph's a really smart dude. So he'll, he'll get out of there
37:51
before, you know, they start calling them, you know, Steph
37:54
Brick and stuff like that. So you know what I'm saying.
37:57
But with that being said, we are going to move on to our final
38:00
topic here, kind of a rapid fire trade deadline special.
38:04
This will have a real trade deadline live and video coming
38:07
out next week by Thursday. But here I want all of us to
38:12
come up with one name. OKC absolutely needs to trade
38:17
for or to add before the trade trade deadline is up.
38:20
And I'll let one of you 2 start it.
38:23
Yeah, I mean, this is a quick pic for me.
38:25
I definitely feel confident about this one and I don't know
38:28
if I've really talked about it with you guys, but it's Anthony
38:30
Simons. I think Anthony Simons would
38:32
help this team beautifully. Joe, you always talk about that
38:35
Cam Thomas type of role. Having somebody like Cam Thomas
38:38
come off the bench. That's Anthony Simon's man.
38:40
He he's a taller guard. He's shooting 40% from three.
38:43
I think him on Boston is just kind of like a not a ticking
38:47
time bomb, but I think they're wasting him essentially.
38:49
I mean, that team is that sounds crazy because we know how good
38:52
they've been this season. But I don't know, just playing
38:55
in the East, I feel like he could be significantly better on
38:57
the West in a situation with us. So I'm going to say Anthony
38:59
Simons. I think he's got a lot to show
39:01
and I think he'd be so good off our bench.
39:04
Yeah, I'll go next on this one. After having a little bit more
39:10
time to think about a younger guard that we could use instead
39:13
of Russell Westbrook, I came up with IO Desumu.
39:17
He's just someone that I like that I think we can get at a
39:19
cheaper price than a Kobe White. They're pretty similar in terms
39:23
of flashes. I think he fits in really well
39:27
for kind of his averages, 14 1/2, three assists, 3 rebounds,
39:33
but he's highly efficient, 51% from the 445% from the three.
39:38
This is exactly the injection that we need into the roster
39:42
for, you know, not having the high volume, so the volumes can
39:45
still go to the, you know, higher end tier players, But
39:48
he's someone that you can have coming off the bench have in the
39:51
starting lineup if you want him in there, But I think he'd be a
39:54
perfect fit and also he'd add that spacing for AJ to get to
39:58
the lane a lot better for SGA to get to the lane a lot better and
40:02
even chat home getting to the lane now.
40:04
So this is the guy I want 664 He you know, you can still hide him
40:09
on defense. He's not the.
40:11
Worst defender, but he's not obviously the best defender, but
40:14
he is going to be elite for us from the three-point line and I
40:17
pray that if he does come to the Thunder and he starts breaking
40:20
it, he will. I will fly personally to the
40:24
stadium and have a talking with him because not ridiculous,
40:28
yeah. I think personally, I like both
40:31
of them. I, I, I think both of those are
40:34
the right moves. I got one that's even better and
40:38
not to sound like an asshole, but I do think this is just the
40:41
best possible trade that OKC can make at the before this year's
40:45
trade deadline. It's Sadiq Bay and I'm Jack
40:48
mentioned him the other day and I've been on him ever since.
40:50
He shoots the three ball extremely well.
40:53
He's becoming a scorer. Like he scores 3 levels in the
40:57
NBA, which is always fantastic. He adds defense, he's a big
41:00
body, he adds rebounding, he's a really good rebounder and he's
41:05
on a $6 million per year deal. You cannot get better value than
41:10
anywhere. Sadiq Bay, we have them.
41:12
What if we trade from? We'll have them the rest of this
41:14
year for six million and next year for six million and then we
41:17
can let them go or we can decide to bring it back.
41:19
But it's a perfect contract, it's a perfect player and it's a
41:23
perfect time for OKC to go get Sadiq Bay.
41:26
You just have to make sure to keep the beef between him and
41:29
Jay well settled. Before I'm sure they'll settle
41:31
that out, I'm sure Sadiq won't have any beef when he joins
41:34
A-Team who just won a championship and they're they'll
41:36
throw it to the side I think. But I I don't think you could
41:39
get better than that. No, that's an.
41:40
Incredible. I think IO's contract at 7 and a
41:43
half million. Is very similar.
41:46
Very similar, but I, I like the IO numbers.
41:50
I'm going to look at Sadiq Bay's averages this year, but I, I, I,
41:54
I, I personally prefer the IO numbers for the contract.
41:59
Let's see what Sadiq's got for the season.
42:01
It looks like he's shooting pretty solid from the
42:04
three-point line, similar in averages, but the place where IO
42:07
has them beat 45%. That's a 10% difference for a
42:11
$1.5 million, you know, increase in pay.
42:14
I'm taking IO all day, Ben. Yeah, just for me, just to
42:17
finish like the the nice dialogue, what happened here,
42:21
I'd rather have instead of the 10% increase, which is insane.
42:25
Like that's why I really like the IO pick as well.
42:27
I'd rather have the defense and the big body pause that Sadiq
42:31
brings to the to the OKC roster. Yeah, I can't argue much for
42:35
Anthony. His contract's not great.
42:38
Yeah, it's a. Four year 100 mil.
42:40
It's not it's not great, but I love Anthony.
42:42
I think he would fit really well.
42:44
But I like both your picks. All right, all right, Well, I
42:47
think go ahead and wrap up the episode here.
42:50
If you guys have not checked out, our Prop Wars episode is
42:52
now on YouTube or in the middle of filming the next week's
42:56
episode. But without further ado, Joe, go
42:59
ahead and let them know whatever we need to know and send it
43:01
home. Yeah, they got to know a lot.
43:03
You just mentioned prop wars, correct?
43:06
Yeah. Prop Wars is where it's at.
43:08
Go check out our first episode we released a couple days ago.
43:12
We're going to release episodes weekly every Sunday for the rest
43:15
of the season throughout the playoffs.
43:17
It's so much fun for us. You guys can play along.
43:19
The rules are on our Instagram. Go check it out.
43:22
Best thing that's happened to the show so far outside of our
43:25
fans and our viewers. Secondly, we'll continue to be
43:29
postgame and we'll be pregame and postgame.
43:31
Postgame lives as well for the rest of the year and go join up
43:36
on our premium memberships. We have such a growing
43:38
community. I can't be more thankful for
43:40
everyone who signed up for the membership.
43:44
We we met a few in person down in OK C I'll be returning to OK
43:48
C at the end of March, so we could set that up as well if we
43:51
if anybody wanted. And we're just getting better
43:53
and better at this members only stuff for you guys.
43:55
We're going to continue to get better because we care about
43:58
y'all so much and and that's going to do it for today's
44:01
episode. I'm really happy with how this
44:02
went. And Isaiah Hartenbeck,
44:05
Hartenbeck, Isaiah Hartenstein is back tomorrow and it's
44:09
getting me a little excited. It's not her up, baby.
44:11
Let's go.