Part 1: The 10 Players Facing the Most Pressure Next Season

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Coming up on the Zack Low Show.

It's July 30th, but you're listening to this much later

than July 30th.

This is part one of the two part podcasts

with Kurt Goldsbury that we're hoping to drop

over the next couple of weeks

as I'm galloping around Europe on vacation.

And it's a very simple gimmick.

The 10 players facing the most pressure in the NBA

for the 26-27 season.

We each made lists of 10 and we go in reverse order

from 10 to one, part one.

This podcast right now is the first half of our lists

plus some honorable mentions.

We hit the Celtics, we hit the Raptors,

we hit the Rockets, the Magic, the Pistons, the Wolves,

a bunch of teams and a bunch of interesting

sort of pressure facing players, if you will.

And then we ended with a deep dive on the Indiana pace

and did you remember them?

The Indiana Pacers, they didn't have any players

on either of our list so that they had several honorable

mentioned pressure players.

This team was within a win and maybe an injury

of the NBA title like a second ago

and they're over under as 43 and a half on Fandall.

They have a new center of each of Zubats

replacing Miles Turner.

Otherwise, basically the same team minus Ben Matherin

that almost won the championship.

What do we make of this team?

What should our expectations be?

So it's part one, pressure rankings, Pacers.

Hope you enjoy it.

Welcome to the Zack Lo Show.

It's July 30th, but you will be listening to this.

Sometime in August, what I am in Europe,

gallivating around.

Kurt Gold's very here.

We're going to have some fun.

We're going to count down the 10 players

under the most pressure in the upcoming NBA season

given that most, but not all of the offseason drama

and players changing teams has done.

Mr. Gold's very, how are you doing?

I'm great.

I'm excited for you and your family to gallivant.

Tis the season in the NBA calendar.

Where a bunch of us get to gallivant.

So enjoy it, Zach.

The biggest major drama still yet to be decided at least

is the word recording this on July 30th is Kauai Leonard.

The investigation continues or maybe almost ending,

maybe about to end into the aspiration alleged

cap circumvention scandal.

Baxter Holmes reported yesterday at ESPN

that this process could, could in a worst case scenario

for everybody involved, including me and you, go into 2027.

Because you and I talked about this on July 15th

when Adam Silver gave his press conference.

It's not like investigation over a decision done,

necessarily, there's an arbitration process

to which the union is a party.

There's an appeals process on top of that

arbitration goes one way or another.

So yes, obviously, we talked about that.

It could take much longer than Adam Silver's.

We hope to have this resolved over the summer timeline.

Unless there is some sort of, like I called it plea

bargaining agreement where the investigation is done.

Everybody gets together.

They hash out what's fair before going into set arbitration

process.

I have nothing else to say about this.

We haven't heard the end of it.

Maybe by the time people listen to this for the end of it,

like Pablo keeps coming out with episodes.

They're all very interesting.

There was one about a Ruid Island soccer team

that came out last night.

Awesome reporting.

I just, at some point, life will move on.

Yeah, it just, I think it's interesting

because the only thing I would add, Zach,

is that Adam Silver seemed to take a pretty

confidence dance throughout the spring

that this was going to be resolved this summer

before the season.

To me, that's the most no-worthy thing.

I don't think that was ever realistic

given the scope and as you alluded to,

Pablo's continuing to uncover things.

And then I thought Baxter's reporting was really relevant

because if the Clippers don't like the result,

or if the players association does not like the result,

both outcomes, I think, are very likely here.

There's going to be, there will be more things to do.

So it's looking more and more so.

Like I saw Adam speak in New York a couple of weeks ago

and I texted you right after he heard.

He said he's like,

Kauai Leonard is a Clipper.

He said that very adamantly.

And I was like, oh, that's interesting.

But yeah, the thing here is like training camp

is weeks away, brain and angroom,

great to dick, to hang in the balance,

Kauai Leonard hangs in the balance.

This is just getting to be messy and extended to the fall.

I'm excited to take a break from it

and it's going to be great.

The other offseason drama that did end in time

for me to go on vacation was LeBron James

signing with the Philadelphia 76ers.

After, of course, they famously acquired

Jalen Brown from the Celtics,

while Bill Simmons was undergoing a colonoscopy.

We've talked to Adnazium already on this podcast about

that trade, the Sixers team, the state of the East.

I just, I will say I'm excited to go on vacation.

Again, it's July 30th.

Because I fear Kirk that there is another week's worth

of inside the bronze decision coverage coming.

Because yesterday, July 29th,

albeit only five or six days after the decision itself

was made public, there was a Dave McMendom

and story on ESPN, which I feel like is like the fourth

in-depth story about inside LeBron's decision

to go to Philadelphia.

Simultaneously, there was Rich Paul and Max Kellerman

on our podcast network had Shom Straniyon

to talk about the inside story of LeBron James.

And look, LeBron is arguably, arguably,

the greatest player of all time.

I have nothing against LeBron.

I've loved the following his career.

I've interviewed him a few times.

He's awesome.

Like I have said from the before he even chose the Sixers

that I thought it would be kind of cool.

If he chose the Sixers, I've said he's not ring chasing.

All of that stuff, all of that said,

I kind of feel like they're having a little too much fun

at the offices of Clutch HQ.

Just sort of, it's not a victory lap.

It's like, oh, did you guys miss the breadcrumbs?

We had this breadcrum here, the breadcrum over here.

Do we tell you that this meeting happened over here?

It's get a little cheeky.

It's get a little cheeky for my taste.

And the other thing is, all of these stories

have fun little details in them

that were here too for unknown.

Like all of the Celtics were interested

or the Clippers had this offer.

And they come at the cost of things like this.

Anonymous quotes like this, this is from a menendom's story.

He didn't take the easy way

a Sixers source told the SPN.

He's comfortable being uncomfortable,

which a lot of people aren't.

Can we just settle down?

Like, did anyone say he took the easy way?

Was anyone making an argument

that there was a harder way he should have taken?

And why are you co-opting Darryl Moury's comfort

being uncomfortable, quote, and throwing it at his face

after you fired him?

And then added a source close to James.

I gained even more respect for him.

Everybody looks at a job as work.

But when I saw that, I asked myself,

let's say you worked for this company for 20 something years.

And you know that you're going to retire in a few years.

Would I go to Philly?

Would I go somewhere that's a six hour flight

and leave everything my family here to go there?

It's really the pure story of dedication to his craft.

It's basketball.

I gained even more respect for him.

There's not enough settle down juice in the grocery store

to pour on top of that quote.

Can we just all relax a little bit

with this faunting myth-making

about a dude who decided to go play

on a great East Coast team with Joel and Beat and Jalen Brown.

And it's just everything is a little, it's a little much.

I don't know if maybe I'm just cranky.

It's like a little much with the,

and then he talks about saying how he said,

trust the process at the, the fanatics.

Fanatics.

He did not say that in any way,

shape or form to drop some kind of Easter egg

about the six years, a source close to James told the SPN.

First of all, why do we have to have anonymous sources

about a super-coded fanatic system?

Quote, he thought it was funny,

but also it wasn't conscious.

Okay, what the fuck is that mean?

I'm just, it's a little too cheeky.

It's all too cheeky and I'm done now.

It's the drinks of content,

and I think they dropped a bomb in a perfect time

to own the news cycle.

They wanted to give him credit, you're right,

they really played it out perfectly.

Yeah, I'm happy about it.

I haven't spoken about it.

I think the MacNennaman column that you and I talked about

two weeks ago, where we had gone back and forth about,

man, this seems like it was realistic.

That actually changed my opinion.

I still didn't think it was going to happen,

but looking forward, Zach Lowe,

beyond this hysteria, I will say this,

it makes the Eastern Conference regular season programming

a lot more interesting,

because now those Philly, Boston games are juicy,

the Philly, New York games are juicy,

the Philly, Miami games.

There's like a matrix of great Eastern Conference games,

and some inner Conference games,

but ultimately I'm glad this happened,

and I can't wait for October,

because October is better discourse

in the NBA than August, that's for sure.

You know, Kirk, that was a really good take.

I gained even more respect for you from that take.

My even, even, thank you.

Onto the gimmick of this podcast,

the dust is settled, and this is supposed to be,

this is gonna be a two-part sort of evergreen podcast

that they can drop in while I'm on vacation,

so this feed does not go dormant.

So the gimmick is just this.

I said, let's each rank our 10 players

facing the most pressure in this upcoming NBA season.

Now that we've seen everyone exchange teams has gotten traded,

and we're gonna go in reverse order,

so we're gonna pick our number 10s,

facing the least pressure of the most pressure group,

and then part two will have the guys that we are facing

the absolute most pressure for the coming season.

I suspect that some sixers may come up in this discussion.

So we're just gonna go rapid fire

then I'll have a bunch of honorable mentions.

We'll see how our lists overlap,

and with that, Kirk, I will let you lead off

who's number 10 on your list.

Number 10 on my list is Lamello Ball,

the newest member of the Minnesota Timberwolves,

a player who's now been hoisted

from sort of a franchise that's happy to play basketball,

to one that expects to play basketball into May,

and maybe even June.

I think Minnesota took one of the biggest gambles

of this whole off season, sending out Nasrite,

the beloved Nasrite, a fan favorite,

and importing one of the most polarizing guys,

and the league, and you factor in the fact

that Minnesota has been to the conference finals

two of the last three years.

A tough second round loss to the spurs last year,

and then this closing or opening Ant-Man window,

depending on who you talk to,

and it feels like a lot of this falls on the shoulders

of Lamello Ball, will he be able to bring this team

to the next level and suddenly level up that glow?

And I'm pretty skeptical actually,

but nonetheless, I think he has a lot of pressure,

the kind of pressure he has never had on him

as a player in this league.

Here's the pressure, and he was on my honorable mention list,

along with Rudy Gobaer from this team.

And also, I like to go deep cuts, again, honorable mention,

I had Terence Shannon Jr.

Just because there is this massive hole at power forward,

because not only did Nasrigo out,

Julius Randall went out in a salary dump,

essentially, to enable this move.

But the pressure is, now you have expectations

that go beyond the play-in.

You have expectations of being a 50 plus win team,

and playing deep into the playoffs,

which means going toe to toe against the nastiest,

meanest, most athletic, most physical teams.

And I think that was the doubt

that Charlotte harbored about Lamello Ball.

If we got in a playoff series with Steph Castle,

or the Army of Oklahoma City Wings in your grill,

in your Jersey pushing, shoving, making every catch a chore,

are you gonna will,

or are you gonna get even tougher and out physical them

and fight for the ball and fight for position

and fight for rebounds?

Are you gonna get even more reckless with your passes

and your trickery and your highlight real chasing

and all of that?

I think it's the most fascinating,

one of the more fascinating experiments in the league.

I'm kinda with you,

that I'm a little less like optimistic about it

as a functional move than I was when it happened.

I get why they did it.

I think it will work to some degree.

Like I get, I think offensively,

they're gonna be very powerful moving Anthony Edwards

until less of a ball-dominant role.

I think the cost though,

when you talk about filling power forward minutes

from Randall and Reed to more McDaniels

at the four Shannon Jr. trade liles

here on the minimum, Jalen Clark,

like that's Josh Green might help a little bit.

So a lot, so lots of action.

And I did my homework for this assignment

and I said, there's five types of pressures,

Zach Lo that we're gonna talk about.

There's contract pressure,

living up to big numbers,

there's legacy pressure,

living up to career expectations,

there's health pressure,

which I'll come back to.

And then there's like this foundational pressure

when you're the center of an organization,

then there's market pressure.

I think Minnesota is a market that expects to win,

but the biggest thing we haven't talked about

with Lamello is health pressure.

And I'm sure you've talked to people around Charlotte

since their season where when they talk about this move,

they are unfortunately really skeptical

that Lamello's ankles and lower body

can live up to the grind that the modern NBA puts on these guys.

He only played 28 minutes per game last year

and that was no accident, Zach Lo.

That's a number that I think Minnesota fans have to ingest

and understand why they were doing that.

And it's also a big reason why they were willing to get off

of what some people consider

to be their franchise player in this transaction.

So can he withstand the health pressure?

Are his ankles gonna hang on to defend, Shay,

and these spurs dudes,

or is he gonna be on the injured list a lot?

Number 10 on my list, kind of a deep cup,

but I had some fun with this.

This will surprise you, I think.

Read Shepard from the Houston Rockets.

And I can't, like I could go,

there's a bunch of obvious guys on my honorable mention,

but like this is an interesting one to me for a number of reasons.

Never quite found his footing to the degree

we all thought he would or should have

in the regular season, even under E-Mail Doka,

who is defense first, incredibly demanding

and just would not go all in to start read Shepard

when they clearly needed a boost on offense

with Fred Bambley out.

Fred Bambley is back now.

He's back as read Shepard comes off,

a playoff that can only be described

as an absolute catastrophe in almost every possible way.

Shot 30% from the field, 30, mostly threes,

so not as bad as I thought paper.

Got picked on defense, committed one of the two

absolutely inexplicable egregious turnovers

at the end of game three against the Lakers,

trying to split a double team at half court

that cost the Rockets an un,

like you should never in a million years lose that game

and it ended up essentially cost it in the series.

And he is the number three pick in a draft

where Steph Castle was the number four pick

taken by an in-state Western conference rival

in an all-time potentially sliding doors moment

that the Rockets may just, the Rockets and the rest of the West

may not be able to recover from.

And this is maker break now for read Shepard

and break means is he a trade asset

that the Rockets use in some sort of mid season move

to sort of get a team to trading picks

and future prospects for a veteran kind of player.

We'll see, but I got my read Shepard, that's all.

You wanna go down to your list?

Yeah, the 2024 draft class, obviously,

it's a key year for these guys to make money to Zacklow.

You have to earn an extension.

And when you're drafted number three and you're draft,

you should be a max extension candidate, very least.

And he has a lot to prove to get there this season.

I just wanna say, I agree with that.

He was on my honorable mention.

Yeah, all right.

So I had Alex Sarr in the same sort of sense.

Like this is a time for you to get paid, young man.

Number, number, what next time?

Nine on your list.

Chet Hombren.

Oh, okay.

We have our first overlap.

Chet Hombren is nine on your list.

Chet Hombren is way up at number three on my list.

So we could knock off two birds with one stone.

You do the honors.

Okay, I'll do the honors.

I can't wait to hear what you say.

Obviously, this is a young player who had become

an all defensive type player, a rim protector, a stretch five,

a key piece of a championship team.

Things were looking great.

A year ago, this was one of the greatest pieces

of a potential dynasty for sure.

Then this birth series happened.

And I think Victor Weminyama,

just putting one of the ultimate sort of laser sights

on one person, it was a really interesting moment

in NBA history for me.

They obviously just have this cool rivalry

and Wembee just sort of poetically made that

a one-sided rivalry.

And that was all culminated, obviously,

with the game seven performance that'll go down

in Impa Mano, Oklahoma,

where Chet Heldon goes one of two from the floor

in 32 minutes, has four points, three rebounds

and two assists in a game where his team needed him the most.

And now, and I know this is a year and a half,

too, what happens this year is that glow.

His five year, $240 million contract kicks in five more years.

He has to rediscover that form that got him that contract

in the first place.

His defense remained stalwart in that series.

But our lasting image of Chet Heldon,

when the chips were down in a game seven against the rival

that is gonna define his NBA life for the next five years,

to team and the individual of Victor Weminyama.

Our lasting image of him is passing up wide open threes

and one play where he caught the ball,

kind of in the triple threat position,

but closer to the baseline on the right wing.

And it was like quick sand opened in the floor.

He literally just like tried to dribble and fell over.

And that was the end of Chet Honger.

And he averaged 11 points a game in the Western Conference Finals.

He took 11 threes total in seven games,

which is inexcusable.

He became a complete offensive zero for most of the series.

And given that the Thunder had to sacrifice a lot of depth this summer

to get under the second apron, it just can't happen again.

It can't, I don't expect Chet Honger.

And he falls into a lot of a bucket

where a lot of big guys live, bam out of bio lives here.

Sometimes Anthony Davis even lives here,

where I think they're great offensive games,

create expectations from people like,

why don't they average 25 a game?

No, Anthony Davis has, but like, why don't they have,

why don't this is an Anthony Davis average 30 game?

They just don't play that way.

They're not built to play that way.

It's not the nature of their game,

but you can't be a zero.

You gotta give me 18.

You gotta abuse a couple switches.

You gotta screen and roll for some dunks

and have just some impact on the game offensively.

What was really interesting about that spur series

is they're total reluctance to have Chet Honger

and play the five at all.

And if you look at what they did in the off season,

it looks like they're still reluctant

to have Chet Honger and play the five.

They lost a lot of their wing depth,

they're resigned as they are heart and sting

over keeping Lou Dort and others.

They drafted another center in the Mara Kid from Michigan.

They kept big jail in Williams, but I have two Thunder players

in my top 10.

He was one of them.

And I think he, this is his jerk goes to the outback moment

after the we believe loss,

where he just like vanished off the face of the earth

and came back literally from the Australian outback

a better player.

This is the moment that could define

Chet Honger's entire career.

It could go Dirk Niewitski or it could go Ben Simmons.

I expected to go closer to Dirk Niewitski, but we'll see.

Next on my list, we can be quick on this one.

We talked about how the Raptors are in limbo

with this co-I traded.

If it goes through, they will have tons of expectations.

Yaka Pertle is honorable mention on my list.

I think he's just honorable mention

because that contract is already a disaster

and I don't see any turning back.

Emmanuel quickly.

Doesn't it feel like he's barely played for the Raptors?

Like can you remember a single thing,

Emmanuel quickly has done on the Raptors.

Didn't play it all in the playoffs against Cleveland

and they were better defensively for it

because Jamal Shed took most of those minutes

and Chikoby Walther took a lot of those minutes.

They're gonna need Emmanuel quickly

to be better on defense.

And then you look at his offensive stats

and they're like about what you would expect

if you were the Raptors.

He's like 17, 6 and 6, 37, 38% on threes,

shoots a lot of threes.

He just, and he played 70 games last year.

It's not like he was out the whole year,

but before that, the year before he'd only played 38,

68, the year before that, it just feels like division was,

we're not handing the offense to Emmanuel quickly,

but you're gonna defend point guards

and you're gonna be this sort of like supercharged version

of a George Hill where you average 16, 18 in a game,

you're off the ball a lot.

You can set screens for Scotty Barnes

and reverse pick and rolls.

You punish defenses on closeouts

and we've seen like a quarter of it here,

a quarter of it there.

For this team to take the form that it thinks it can take,

they just need Emmanuel quickly to be very good

for a prolonged period of time.

And I feel like people have just forgotten about him

and he makes $32 million for the next three seasons.

It's time for them to get the Emmanuel quickly

who they thought they were getting in the OGN and OB trade

and the NICS already got the OGN and OB,

they get ripped of getting in that trade.

So RJ Barrett's done his job.

He's not even on my list.

I feel pretty confident about what RJ Barrett

brings to the table for better or worse.

He's an interesting extension candidate.

I've talked about that.

Emmanuel, quickly, it's like time for this

to be a consistent real thing.

Yeah, I have no notes.

I did not have him listed, but I agree that this person,

I was gonna bring up the OG part of this.

Like don't forget that he was one of the main pieces

in that trade, but yeah, dude, I don't have him on my list,

but a monthly issue.

You hate Canada, that's all.

Do I?

Your car got stolen in Montreal this summer.

So that's a story for another time, but I'm sure.

Wow.

Yeah, turns out auto theft is a big deal of Montreal's act.

We can do a whole podcast on it.

Sury, I just like your car, Sury,

yeah, dude.

Yeah, I don't know what else to say.

So I figured I'd sky who cares?

We're done with him, Emmanuel, quickly.

Donovan Mitchell, they played in the playoffs.

Donovan Mitchell, this is one that I'm like least excited

to talk about.

I feel like this has been his saga for the last two years

when I've been on your show.

It's now or never.

It was an ugly postseason.

Technically they made it to round three or whatever,

but it never felt like that was around three level

performance by this team.

And Donovan Mitchell's part of that.

He needs to be better.

As I said, I think there's five types of pressure.

On my list, this is what I would characterize that,

well, there's a legacy pressure.

This guy's so talented, so good,

yet he's never been real close to the NBA finals.

He's too good of a player, I think, to have that legacy.

And I still think Cleveland is really good.

And I think this team has a chance to put it all together.

And we talked about this on your show for months now.

We didn't see a lot of mobility and allen together

this year because of injuries.

They got hardened in the middle of the season.

They still have a chance in a pretty open Eastern conference

to make a lot of noise.

And Donovan Mitchell has a chance to get MVP votes,

all NBA consideration.

We've seen it for years, but I think time is running out

for Donovan Mitchell to be that guy.

How about the $75.5 million player option,

you know, has in 2030, 31 curts,

does that put any additional pressure on him?

Oh, there's a guy.

Right pressure, yeah, for sure.

I had Mitchell, Hardin and Mobley,

all in my honorable mentions, mostly because I'm just kind of

like you bored of talking about the Cavaliers at this point,

like he's and then Mobley going to make the leap offensively.

Let's have that discussion again in October.

That'll be fun.

And James Hardin, you know, Bill and I did our free playoff draft

of just different categories that he makes up

before the playoffs every year.

And one of them was like legacy guy.

And we got to the end and was like, wow,

we didn't even think about Hardin for like a guy

who can flip his legacy.

And it's like, cause I know exactly what's going to happen.

He's going to choke in a elimination game.

And that's just going to be what it is.

He's going to have some big games along the way.

And he certainly did in both their playoff series that they won

not so much against the Nix.

And I don't think they're done yet in the offseason despite

missing out on LeBron James.

There's I think some tepid coming to interest.

Again, it's July 30th is over.

According this by the time you listen to this,

John think coming there could be a cab or you could be something else.

I think there's some less also some level of Peyton Watson

sign and trade entrance for the cabs.

But there's apron issues on both sides of that.

And I'm not sure they have enough really to get it done.

But I think they know how big this up,

I'm upcoming season is for them with the East,

you know, having beefed up around the edges at least.

I think there are at least 11 good teams in the East.

So gets a good pick.

All right.

I'm going to predict that my next guy, number eight on my list

is also on your top 10.

How will ban caro from the Orlando Magic?

No honorable mention.

OK.

Now, dude, honestly, I don't do this month.

But I think I fucked up.

I should put up my there.

I think that's why we have two of us.

OK, I'm happy to get there with you

because this man has a lot of pressure on him

for a variety of reasons.

22, 8 and 5 in the regular season,

46% shooting, 31% on threes.

And again, the magic were slightly better with him off the floor

than on the floor.

I have talked about before that's used

the sort of a scarlet letter against him.

I don't really believe it.

I think that has a lot to do with the structure of their team

and all the injuries that have happened to them

over the last X amount of years.

In the playoffs, 26, 9 and 6 the game, great counting stats.

He always shows up.

He always plays tough.

42% shooting, 33% on threes, 46% on twos.

And again, why I don't believe in that scarlet letter,

the team was decent when ban caro was on the floor,

although not offensively.

Their score in margin was about even.

And it completes sinkhole when he was off the floor,

partly because Franz Wagner missed a lot of that first round

series against the pistons.

And look, I mean, the story remains the same.

His best nights, he looks like the number one

option on a great team.

His, for him and the magic to advance to the next level,

he has to bottle more of the efficiency

that defines those best nights, which

means probably taking fewer jump shots

because or getting better at shooting long times in threes

because he takes too many of both.

And also getting more comfortable and the shooting

is part of this, not playing the number one option role

all the time because you have another really good player

in Franz Wagner.

And you're going to have to learn to play off him

a little bit better.

And I just keep coming back to, I think

people are sweeping on the magic as a top six team

of the East next year.

I'm not going to say they're going to be a top six team.

I'm going to have to look at the standings and all that.

But they also have the Anthony Black question hovering

over their head and the money question,

but because they're payrolls huge,

but Sugs, Bane, Bankero, and Wagner only played 19 games

together in the regular season.

And that and that quartet was about plus 12 per 100

possessions.

I do still want to see more of it together.

Sugs was an honorable mention for me

because it's like, OK, man, like what is this just every year

going to be you shoot OK to not OK from three

and you're injured all the time?

Like is there a consistent player archetype

that we can tap into?

But I'm going to follow Bankero.

I've always been a not fervent believer,

but I have been defensive of him against the criticism.

He's just an empty stat, empty calories,

a good stat's bad team guy.

I think his passing and scoring ability

around the rim are pretty interesting.

But he's on my list.

Let's I'll put it that way.

Yeah.

And here's why I would, I mean, I've been horn on him.

I got aggregated on this very show

because of a palo take last year.

Look, sometimes it's too slow.

The ball sticks.

It looks like an old Josh Smith tape is the bit I use

and got aggregated for.

The name you didn't mention, which is why I'm pretty confident

about the magic this year.

Aside from the injury stuff is Sean Sweeney.

And I know I really do think Sean Sweeney

is going to change the culture and the vibe there.

I think he did a marvelous job in San Antonio,

a marvelous job in Dallas before that.

He's just one of these guys.

And I think that'll trickle down into Palo's game,

the style of offense.

I think the intensity of the team.

And he's too talented.

I remember the first time I saw Palo play was the final four.

And right now, he's just one of these guys

you see in person.

You're like, oh my god, this guy is so talented, so big,

so athletic.

He's a five tool player.

I still think he has a lot of potential to put that together.

Maybe that's why I didn't have him in this list

because I'm pretty optimistic, but I'll meet you there.

I think he does have pressure.

And that team has pressure because this core,

this duo of Wagner and Ben Carro,

it's time for them to put up a shut up.

And I do think I'd have to look at it too.

I think four, five, six is definitely in play

for the Atlanta Magic this year in the Eastern Conference.

All right, let's take a quick break

and then we'll continue on our fresher player list

with Kirk Goldsbury.

All right, I think it's your pick now.

What are you on number seven on your list?

Yes, I am on number seven

and I'm going with Deer and Fox from San Antonio Spurs.

You are overlapping with me again.

You had Chet Hogan at number eight.

I think I had him at number three.

You had Deer and Fox at number seven.

I have Deer and Fox all the way up at number two

of my top 10 pressure list.

So let's get into it.

But let me get out of the way

because you've obviously, you've got them all to say here.

You know, when you talk to people around the Spurs,

everybody was disappointed in the finals.

They think they had a chance to win

when you were head by, with 46 minutes left,

we're head whatever, you can roast them for that.

But Deer and Fox's performance in the 2026 NBA playoffs

was not good enough.

Now they'll quickly say what's at low.

He had a devastating ankle sprain.

He was making it work.

He was trying his best and I will agree with that.

That was a six week injury and the dude came back.

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Two weeks, a lot of NBA players would not have even tried.

That said, some of the things we saw,

I think, were just too bad even to say,

oh, he's got a bad ankle, like turnovers

that were unforced and just mental mistakes.

The defining mental mistake of the entire playoffs

was the botch layup over Anonobi enabling the Anonobi tip in

in game four of the finals.

100% and the greatest comeback.

This league may ever see in a big moment.

And those kinds of things make me put him on this list.

So I will acknowledge the ankle injury

with my friends in San Antonio,

but this man makes a lot of money

and they brought him in to make this team

a real championship contender.

I thought it looked like he had done that all regular season,

but then there were moments in the playoffs

where it didn't look like he was made for that.

So, but you have him higher on the list,

so I will turn it over to you, Zach.

Well, I have him higher on the list only for two reasons.

Number one, this is obviously a championship contender

that needs at least for some amount of time as Harper

and Castle really find their groove in the league,

needs his organizational capabilities

and probably his mid-range shooting,

which deserted him in the playoffs specifically

in the finals with that ankle injury.

He's also under pressure because he is starting

a four year, $200 something million contract

that is right now untradable.

And he's also under pressure because the guys behind him

were beside him and the rotation

are coming for his minutes if he doesn't produce.

So it's a perfect storm of all kinds of pressure.

The finals were bad for him.

The playoffs were largely for him.

15 a game, 41% shooting, 29% on threes and 47.

And a half percent on threes, which is not good enough.

Ankle Sprain was a big part of that.

He also started the season with the hamstring injury.

So he started kind of behind the eight ball

trying to build chemistry with Wimbledon Yamaha

and Castle and Harper and all those guys.

And after the finals, there was a lot of defensive deer

and fox and the defense I kept hearing was,

well, you know, the spurs were still better with him

on the floor than they were with him off the floor.

They need his organization.

They were incoherent without him on offense.

And I think in the finals in parts that was true,

they had a slightly positive point differential

with him on the floor in the finals

and a slightly negative one with him off the floor

in the finals.

But for the season and for the playoffs,

when the according to cleaning the glass,

when the spurs had Wimbledon Yamaha

who obviously is the keystone to everything,

Castle, Harper on the floor and fox off the floor.

It's not a huge sample size

and it goes about 180, 200 minutes in the regular season,

something like that.

And obviously less in the playoffs.

They absolutely wiped the floor with their opponents.

And so I get the idea that his skill set

is part of what this team needs,

that his clutch jumpshooting,

which again, Vanishing the playoffs,

he shot 43% on mid-ragers in the playoffs,

52 in the regular season.

I think they, if they want to win the championship next year,

I think they need deer and fox.

But I think the defense of him was a little overblessiferous

given how he performed in the finals

and what those numbers show.

But I do think they need him.

I do think they have a, he has a better season in him.

I thought, I kind of expected him to shoot better

from three, bounce back a little bit to his,

his king's highs and this context he didn't do it.

And he's just an okay to good passer for his position.

He's not an incredible playmaker

in terms of finding Wimbledon Yamaha and Lobs and stuff.

Hopefully that comes with chemistry,

but he's a no-brainer for wherever you put him

on the Swiss he's got to be there.

Yeah, and then Trio you lined up there.

Obviously Fox Castle, Wimbledon Yamaha, it feels like,

okay, that's the core of this team.

Sorry, Darren.

Sorry, everybody else.

You mean Hart, you mean Harper Castle Wimbledon Yamaha.

Yeah, sorry.

What did I say?

Fox.

Yeah, that's right.

So the two young guards in Wimbledon

is obviously this, this core Trio going forward.

One stat to Dearen's defense that I think is really important

is when Stefan Castle was the point guard

after Fox went out against Minnesota,

Stefan Castle, log two of the worst turnover games

that we ever seen in postseason history.

Dearen comes back and sort of studies the offense.

Those turnovers went away and then a related story

the Spurs put away the wolves.

So I do think his grown up maturity

has a grown up point guard in this ecosystem

is very valuable and was proved valuable.

And sometimes, but then the idea that this guy won

the clutch player of the year awards act a few years ago

for Sacramento just seemed like a distant memory

watching him down the stretch, hobbled on one foot.

But how, you know, playing in those moments

in the finals.

All right, I'm going to go to number seven on my list.

Jalen Durin, Detroit Pistons.

Honorable mention.

This is an obvious one incredible regular season.

All NBA, he's all NBA 13 appearances.

One of the reasons he has of July 30th

and more recording this is not yet signed

to a contract with Detroit Pistons to play next season.

And the playoffs were pretty much a disaster for Dearen.

He averaged about 10 points of game

way down from the regular season, assist to turnovers

about even he looked on steady,

rickety, uncertain to the point he started

trying his mid range jumper, which isn't ready for prime time.

And the roles to the rim that he feasted on

in the regular season in the first round

or Lando just took those away completely by switching

and going under screens on Kade cutting him

and there was no plan B.

And even in the second round,

the Cads defended a little bit more traditionally

against the pick and roll and he could not hurt them at all.

Couple of you see glimpses of it even in the playoffs.

Like a couple of times we would seal guys in transition

and dunk on them.

There's one game.

He had like a three dunk sequence in a row

on the Cavaliers and one game.

So there were snippets of it.

But the idea of him as like secondary offensive option,

a guy who can face up and create against playoff defenses,

a guy who can be a hub a little bit as a passer.

It just wasn't there.

I will say he's still only 22 years old.

Like it's incredible how young he is.

I'm a complete believer in his defense.

It's been a little unsteady at times.

His decision making can be a little hazy at times.

Again, he's 22.

I think he has all the tools and all the will

to be a guy who can play pretty much any scheme.

Defensively his rim protection in the playoffs was better

than it was in the regular season.

So I'm a believer he's kind of tied to a Sar Thompson

in the sense that like one of them has to develop

a little bit offensively on the ball

to make this really, really sing in the playoffs.

But I'm assuming he will be on the pisses next season.

Again, it's July 30th.

And I just think given what happened to him in the playoffs,

he's kind of like Eastern Conference Chet Hongren.

It not that anyone ate his lunch the way

when B.H. at home grinds lunch, but just the playoffs

didn't go the way it needs to go for him.

And he needs to dig deep and figure out why that is

and how not to make it happen again.

For a team that, you know, people are kind of hating

on their off season.

Like they've swapped out to buy his Harris for John Collins

and more or less, you know, they added Isaiah Joe.

They didn't do much.

I don't really, I'm not in a rush for them to do much.

They still have all their trade assets.

I still think they're going to win a shit ton of games next year

and be in contention for the number one seed in the East.

But they've now reached the stage where the playoffs

are what matters and he's just got to be way better.

Average 20 points a game in the regular season

didn't score 21s in 14 playoff appearances.

That's not good.

That pick and roll play with with Cunningham and him

had become one of the bread and butter actions

in the whole league, efficient despite just being spammed

game after game after game.

It worked until it didn't when it mattered most.

The Orlando series was tough to watch.

Being outplayed by players that I think most of us would have

thought are much below his standard coming into that series.

But the thing he said the most that I would put him lower

on my list in the honor of mention is the 22 year old part.

He's younger than some guys that just got drafted

in the first round.

And he deserves some time to grow.

But man, like I said, you have to score the ball on that team.

Particularly Zach Lowe in an ecosystem where offense

is not the strong suit where shot creation is not the strong

suit to lose the offense from Durin in that playoff run

was particularly painful for that team.

Let's go. Let's do come more guys now.

We'll pivot for a bit.

But like give us give me number six on your list.

We're getting towards the top five now.

Give me number six.

It is Jason Tatum.

The process of Celtics.

He is number five on my list.

So we we are about equivalent on Jason Tatum.

Go ahead.

OK, so I'm sure we're going to have some of the same things

that fair enough.

I think there's a perception that the Celtics either chose

Jason over Jaylen or Jason over Jaylen and Jason,

depending on who you talk to.

There's no perception.

They did.

That's what they chose.

Jaylen brings that out on the Celtics anymore.

But like our friends in Minnesota,

I think the expectations in Boston

remains guy high despite the massive trade this year.

And then that puts a lot of pressure on Jay.

And Tatum and the thing that I would say is he

has this market pressure associated with his team in Boston.

He has the contract pressure of a 35% of the cap guy.

And he has health pressure, which I wish I wasn't talking about.

But that's one of the big reasons I think we're talking about him.

He's failed to finish each of the last two post seasons.

His team didn't have him in those big losses against New York

obviously two years ago.

And then last year when he got hurt against the Sixers

and couldn't play game seven.

So Jason, say to him, what do you have, Zach Lo?

Well, first of all, on my honorable mentions,

I had both Peyton Pritchard and Derek White.

Because the Celtics don't expect to go down

in the standings in the Eastern Conference.

The Jalen Brown trade is a bet against Jalen Brown.

But it's also a bet on everybody who's left over from a core

who's been hugely successful in Boston for a decade now

starting with Tatum.

But also Derek White, whose three-point shooting fell off

a cliff last year.

And no one knows if it was a fluke.

You know, remember, he came to Boston

and that was the weak spot in his game,

the proven spot in his game.

And he had proved it beyond a shadow of a doubt.

And then last year, slipback really

caused the Celtics against the Sixers in the first round

and cost him all season.

And again, was it a fluke?

Was it because he had a bigger offensive workload

without Jason Tatum?

Well, now Jalen Brown is also not here, Paul George is here.

But he's not the same kind of just like feed that guy

and let him cook kind of guy as Jalen Brown.

And then Peyton Pritchard, I've already kind of joked about it.

I just like, let's stop with the Peyton Pritchard

could be Boston's Jalen Brown or Jalen Brunson.

Now that he's getting a higher role in offense,

Jalen Brunson is one of one Peyton Pritchard

is a fine player.

I have no doubt he can score 20 points a game in the NBA.

Jalen Brunson is a different animal.

But Tatum, look, I mean, it's indisputably his team.

He is still coming off in a kill.

He's staring, you know, he played the last 20 whatever games

of last season and six of Boston's playoff games.

And he played them a play well, 22, 10 and five

in the playoffs didn't shoot it great.

But he looked more or less like Jason Tatum

coming back from in a kill.

He's injury like he looked really good.

Didn't get to the rim quite as often.

Didn't finish quite as well, all to be expected.

One of the finest all around players in the sport still.

But again, this team doesn't expect to take a step back

and that's on it's his team.

And by the way, you look, they won the championship

two years ago.

The only players left from that team who played

any minutes in the playoffs in 2024

are Derek White, aside from Peyton Pritchard, Sam

Howzer, and Nemi Cata and Jordan Walls played 24

combined minutes in the title run in the playoffs.

So that they've just gradually whittled away that

nucleus around Jason Tatum.

And I think in all of the attention that the

sixers have gotten for putting all these high usage guys

together, including LeBron, for being the team that did

go out and trade for Jalen Brown.

And what does it mean for Jalen Brown to not be the

number one option on the team you got traded for?

And all of this, he's the most Jalen Brown is the character

of the offseason in the NBA.

I don't think enough attention has been paid to like what

this leaves for Jason Tatum to take care of.

I agree more.

Couldn't agree more.

I think that Bill brings up the value of durability

when he's talking about Jalen Brown a lot.

It's like, hey, I know these advanced metrics.

Yeah, the yada yada, but this dude choose up innings.

And the Celtics had a choice between a guy with a

traumatic lower leg injury and a guy who is durable.

And they chose the guy with the Achilles tendon injury.

And this these calf strain issues.

And I forget what the actual injury he missed game seven four.

It wasn't a calf strain.

Even though he's icing up his calf, I forget.

Regardless, I think there's a lot of that pressure on this dude.

Obviously, if he misses time in a Jalen Brown-less universe,

now we're talking about Derek White and Peyton

Richard being options one and two on an offense to win games.

I think the Celtics still win 50 plus games in a world

where Jason Tatum plays 70 games, 75 games.

If his number drops like 50 because of his injuries,

I just don't see this team keeping up

that standard that the fan base has come to expect

in the Jason Tatum era.

So he has a lot of pressure on.

All right, I'm going to reveal number six on my list.

So I've revealed 10, 9, 8, 7, and you have also taken five,

three, and two from my list.

So my list is down to the end.

Number six, and I did a deep dive on this guy

on a previous episode.

So we don't need to belabor it too much.

Walker Kessler, the chosen this, there you go.

Wow, our fives and sixes are flipped just like that.

I think it's self-explanatory, right?

The Lakers paid $130 million in trade

to two unprotected first round picks to get them on their team.

He has, I like Walker Kessler as a player.

People can go back and listen to the segment I did

about why I think this will actually work decently

for the Lakers on both ends of the floor.

There is no question that they overpaid for him

and are now trapped with this team

and have to figure out either this is the team

or is there a way to pivot by trading Austin Reeves

down the line or something like that

because they're out of tradable assets

because of the Walker Kessler deal.

All that said, he's played no meaningful games in the NBA,

basically, and barely played at all last year.

And so, yeah, I mean, for fairly or not,

those assets much like happened to McHale Bridges,

they're gonna hang around his neck until he proves

that he was worth it.

And that's it.

People can go back and listen to everything I said before.

Yeah, and there's multiple kinds of pressure in this draft

and I think it's fair to say everything you just said.

I would add, these guys don't get compared against each

of the very often, but a lot with Lamello Ball and Walker Kessler,

both going from these environments

where winning wasn't exactly paramount for the first few years

of their career, being sort of nice stories

and deep on league pass for years.

Oh, that's over now.

Now you're playing Los Angeles.

If reports are true, Luca Donchez lobbied to get you

onto this team to the point where the front office

gave out two unprotected first round picks and swaps

to get you and you played five games last year.

So he has this market pressure that the Los Angeles Lakers,

you know, the Marquis franchise in this league

can put on you more than any other team.

But he also has, I think this other pressure

associated with the transaction that landed them there,

fair or not.

And he has to fix a defense that sucks.

He has to deodorize a stank that is a stank at the point

of attack with Austin Reeves and Luca Donchez

in a world with SGA, Stifon Castle, Dylan Harper,

Anthony Edwards, Jamal Murray, Stefan Curry,

there's no shortage of guards that will punish you

for having a weak point of attack defense in this conference.

They are expecting a better defense in Los Angeles,

but really the only piece that is going to do that for them

is Walker Kessler and that is a lot of pressure

for this young man.

All right, before we get to our sort of collective top five,

I only have two of my top five left.

I'm gonna read some honorable mentions from my list

that I'm pretty confident are not gonna be in your top five.

Darius Garland, not on my top five.

Up for an extension, let's see how you do it to Clippers.

Josh Gidey, young, super exciting Bulls team.

Is he a guy or is he just a guy that's gonna get traded

as the Bulls remake their team under Bryson Graham's vision?

Do you have any Pacers on your list, by the way?

I have Tyree's Haliburne and my honorable mention category.

All right, table that for a second.

John Moran, he was an honorable mention,

almost cracked in Top 10.

Obviously, I don't think it needs to really be explained.

Dyson Daniels, he's only on this list

because he simply cannot shoot that badly from three

if the Hawks are gonna be viable.

It was under 20%.

And I've heard some rumblings from the Hawks

and people who have been in the Hawks practice facility

that he's remade his jump shot

or is remaking his jump shot, making tweaks to it.

Whatever the right terminology is,

and that it's starting to look better.

Because Dyson, Jalen Johnson, Lude Dorr,

like it's cool, it's gonna be awesome defensively.

Like it's just isn't gonna work well enough offensively

if he's a complete zero as a shooter.

I mentioned the Cads,

Jamal Murray, is he on your list?

No, he's not.

Jamal Murray and Cam Johnson, just because I refused

to shut the door completely on the nuggets

as long as Yokehitch is upright and healthy.

Kaleau Ware, just not on your list, I assume?

No.

He's a super intriguing player who could go boom or bust

and the bucks really needed to go boom.

Shade and Sharp fell out of the rotation

in the playoffs last year.

It always, his playing time always seems to go down

when the game's matter the most.

And was okay offensively last year.

There's always these glimpses, these weeks,

these quarters where he finds the right balance

of shot selection and like making the simple play

on offense as a passer and then it tends to go away

and he takes a lot along to.

Jalen Green, I've talked about a lot.

I was he on your list at all.

Honour will mention one of the biggest wild cards

in the league as a player option, $36 million for 27,

28 season of VNICs.

The only rookie who is on my list

is Darius A. Cuff Jr.

Only because, sorry buddy,

you carried the hopes and dreams of an entire franchise

and it's fan base on your back.

There ain't nothing there for the fans to glom onto.

Except Keegan Murray who's also Honourable mentioned

on my list.

And with that, oh one more.

You know, Gary Trenjuner's got a contract to live up to.

Oh yeah.

Yeah, 464 Gary.

I'm comfortable being uncomfortable, are you?

Okay, that's my, that's most of my Honourable mentions.

I left off a couple that I think you may have on your list.

But let's take a quick break and we're going to change gear.

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Here's for a minute.

I want to save the pressure stuff

for the high pressure stuff for the next episode.

Let's quickly take a detour.

A team that I really want to preview and look at,

maybe more deeply in October, but starting now,

you mentioned you had Tyree's Haliburate

and Honorable mention in your pressure rankings.

I have him, Pascal Siacum, and a Vita Zubat,

all Honorable mention in my pressure rankings.

And the whole point of this segment is like,

hey, remember the Indiana Pacers?

They were in the finals like a blink ago.

They were up in game seven in Oklahoma City, a blink ago.

Tyree's Haliburate and Teres is Achilles,

Miles Turner, signs in Milwaukee, and it's a lost season.

And then now they're back.

And they're back with the Vita Zubats at the five

in a very controversial trade with the Clippers.

And he takes the place of Miles Turner.

And essentially the rest of the team

is exactly the same as the team

that almost won the God damn NBA championship.

And their over under on Fandall is 43 and a half.

Now, the Pacers team that did almost win the championship

was not a great regular season team.

They started 15 and 17.

Aaron Nysmith was injured at the beginning of the season.

Andrew Nemhart was injured for much of the beginning

of the season.

And then they went on a run.

They just never ended a run of glorious chemistry,

fast pace, incredible legendary,

almost like unicorn level clutch play throughout the playoffs

and almost won the title.

And here they are at 43 and a half.

Feels disrespectful to me.

But I do have to say the most interesting question

maybe in the Eastern,

I have top five most interesting questions is,

this was like a rhythm team.

They clearly they found and it happened

with the nicks in the playoffs.

Like you see what a team just finds the right vibe

isn't the right word because it's not a vibe.

The right pace, the right spacing, the right chemistry.

They're in and the game just becomes a fuel game for them.

And you see when teams have it and then you see

when they lose it and everything becomes a little clunky,

a little forced, they'll just not as easy as it should be.

The Pacers found that year.

And just like can you just find it again

after a year off and importing a new center

and Pascal see outcomes a year older?

Can you just find it again?

Because Vegas is saying we don't think you can

at least not in the regular season

and the playoffs you have,

one of the great strategic coaches of all time

in Recarlow and a track record.

But can they find it again?

What do you think of this team?

I would take the over.

I'll meet you there for sure.

But I am fascinated by this team.

I think Tyrese Halliburton had emerged

as one of the most exciting smartest offensive players

in the league in the 2025 NBA playoffs.

I don't think that's a controversial statement,

but it feels like a long time ago.

Doing what he did in Madison Square Garden,

doing what he did against the Oklahoma City Thunder Guard's defense.

The fact that this wide open, fast paced offensive minded team

could go head to head with OKC and just get within one game

of winning it.

They went 15 and eight in the NBA playoffs.

It's as close as you can get to winning a championship

without actually doing it and to have that cruel injury

to rail it.

I think we've all sort of forgotten how good they were.

I have them.

I think the other reason that over under is lower

those act is the Eastern Conference is a little bit better.

And no one is tanking anymore, presumably anyway.

That's a great point too.

Great point.

And I think like teams like Atlanta and Charlotte

are on the come up, I think, or Orlando.

It's just a deeper Eastern Conference

not to mention the heavyweight to the top

with the Knicks and the Celtics and the Sixers

looming up there in the Cleveland Cavaliers.

So the average game in the Eastern Conference

is a lot harder now in 2026 than it was in 2024.

So that's why I think that over under is low.

But dude, I think we would be doing a disservice

to the Pacers and their fans if we said this team

is anything less than a team to watch

to win the Holy Eastern Conference.

I think I completely agree that they're being slept on.

However, if I were to explain that number and why it's solo.

Number one, Haliburton is coming off a miss season

and there's got to be some rust.

He played in a pro-M game recently.

It was incredible.

It's a pro-M game.

We'll see what that means.

But there's got to be some rust.

Siakum is now entering his, like, not quite mid-30s,

but entering the time of his career

as he's eligible for an extension, by the way,

where some decline should be thought about.

Ben Matherin is not here anymore.

And not that I was a huge fan of his.

They brought in Kelly Ubreh who, on the one hand,

I can see as a fit for their team

because he wants to play fast.

And he's a quick decision maker.

Now, his decision tree tends to just have one branch on it

at its score.

But that's fine.

Like Ben Matherin was similar.

And sometimes you need guys who have a different kind

of decision tree than the rest of your team.

And at least he makes his decisions fast, which

is what Riccar Laugh wants.

That said, is he going to play in the, like,

he completely flopped in Golden State

because you just couldn't play the read-in react style

that the Warriors played?

We'll see how that fits.

And the point is, their bench is TJ McConnell, who kind

of showed some age last year for the first time after being

a playoff hero and a pretty stalwart backup point guy.

Ben Shepard kind of has had a lot of chances to happen.

Kelly Ubrey, behind them, Jarris Walker, flashes,

flashes of playmaking and pull-up shooting kind of

hasn't happened.

Obi-Toppin looks great when they're running and was also

in the playoffs.

And then backup centers like J-Huff and then

Larry Nance behind him.

I can see the bench being not as strong as it was

in their title run.

And I can see them getting off to a slow start

as they figure out.

Like, I think of Vita Zubatsu as a better player

than Miles Turner.

I don't even think that's arguable.

But he's such a different kind of player offensively

that that Halleburton Turner pick and pop, sometimes role,

but mostly pop with Siakum sort of darting around

in open spaces and finding little crevices in the defense.

That's a sea change to a guy who's really only going to roll

to the basket and roll into the paint.

Siakum and Zubatsu are both so skilled that I think that

will all work eventually like they'll have some nice big

to big sequences.

Sometimes Siakum will screen and roll and like hit

Zubatsu on in the dunker spot.

Pascal's a good catch and shoot, three point shooter,

not a great one, but like mid to high 30s.

That I think that's good enough for this to work.

But I think there's going to be some growing pains.

The ceiling to me is still really, really high

if Halleburton is 100% by the end of the season.

Zubatsu gets back to the form from two seasons ago

when he was borderline all NBA.

And Siakum has one more great year in him at least.

I'm a believer in the Neesmith, Neymar combo as role players.

So I think the ceiling is still really interesting

and the coach is elite in Ric Carlyle.

And really this is like if you look at their books,

tons of people are eligible for extensions.

So this is TBD like Neymar, Top and Zubatsu, Halleburton,

Siakum.

Right now they're set up to be basically a two year team.

Everyone but Halleburton and Neesmith

and it comes off the books after 27, 28 as of now.

So they have that sort of like this is a clear two year

we're all in.

We traded what ended up being the number five pick in the draft.

And I just can't wait to see how it works.

I think the ceiling is still really, really high.

I agree.

I think Tyrese Halleburton could be first team all NBA

by the end of this year.

I think he could miss all NBA.

I think there's a lot of variance in his performance this year

for reasons you've already outlined perfectly.

But my eyes are on him.

That's why he's on this pressure list for me

as an honorable mention.

And one of my favorite things about Rick Carlisle

is he is coached effectively in many different ways.

When you look at the course of his career,

it's really amazing.

The coach in Detroit one way in Indiana another way in Dallas

a completely different way.

I think he's the exact right coach I'd want to go

from Miles Turner to Zubach with.

He's not going to say, oh, this is how we do it.

We're going to run pick and box with Zubach.

Like that's not what's going to happen.

If there's a concern for me, it's that

the Zubach fit that wide open pace and space

we're running up and down.

That I think really suits Tyrese and Pascal C. Ackum

and some of those role players you mentioned.

But ultimately I trust the infrastructure.

I trust Rick Carlisle and I trust Tyrese Halleburton

to have some alignment on the floor.

I think this will be a top 10 offense,

middle-up-pack defense.

And I think that's good enough to be four, five

in the Eastern Conference and above that 43 and a half.

Yeah, Zubach is a much different player than Miles Turner.

And I think the Pacers are, I think a lot of teams are,

like Sam Presley talked about this when he kind of

had to trade Ludoort.

He said something to the effect, I'll paraphrase of like,

you just can't keep playing the same way every year,

even if you've been successful playing that way.

Sometimes you just have to change

because you have to keep the league on its toes

a little bit.

I think there's a little bit of that with the Pacers

going from Miles Turner to Abitza Zubach.

Let's get tougher, more physical, more stout at the rim.

And I do think despite the fact that he's not a jump shooter,

like Miles Turner, that he has better feel on offense

as sort of like when the ball finds me in open space,

can I make the right decision quickly?

Miles Turner never really got there

and it was exposed a little bit in the finals in that regard.

And so I'm optimistic I wouldn't pick them to win the East,

but we'll get back to that in part two

of this podcast, which we'll air at some point soon.

All right, that's it for part one of this two

part Zach Loescho.

Thank you to Kurt Goldsbury.

He'll be back, of course, for part two.

Thanks to Oscar, Billy and Mike on production.

Thank you all for listening to and or watching

the Zach Loescho stay tuned for part two.

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