Haliburton on His Return, Preseason Thoughts, and Most Intriguing Players!

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Coming up on the Zacklow show.

Preseason basketball is here.

There's a lot of news.

Tyree's Haliburne is back.

There's some injuries.

There's some early hot takes and observations.

Nikias Duncan.

I know he's mainlining preseason basketball the same way I am.

We're just going to go back and forth.

Random preseason observations and takes things.

We've noticed things that just were putting it our back pocket.

I know it's only preseason, but that could be interesting for the regular season two.

That's kind of alarming for the regular season two.

Then we pick each of us our single most intriguing player for the upcoming NBA season.

Then Nick Friedell is here to talk about the Warriors.

It doesn't seem great.

Isn't it better than we think it is?

What's going on inside the Warriors is Pajemski can get a new deal.

It's a hype about Yaxxolendaborg.

I like him too.

We talked to Nick about that.

Then Tyree's Haliburne came back last night and looked pretty damn good.

The Pacers looked good.

Guess who's here to talk about it?

Tyree's Haliburne coming on the Zacklow show to talk about everything that's happened

since game seven of the 2025 finals should be a fun conversation.

That's all coming up next on the Zacklow show.

Welcome to the Zacklow show.

The NBA is back.

Preseason basketball is happening.

There are already some fun on court trends.

There are some actually important injuries.

Unfortunately, we got to talk about Tyree's Haliburne is back.

Nakaya Stunken, if there's anyone I know who is watching some of this preseason action,

maybe focused on the Southeast division, maybe not along with your WNVA work.

It's you, so we're going to nerd it up about early season, not even early season,

preseason trends.

How are you this morning?

I am doing well.

There's been so much basketball this year that I am soaking in and enjoying.

I'm also trying to make sure I stay sane as we now have the WPLAYALS mixed in with all

the preseason things that are happening.

So lots of note taking, a little bit of sleep, but we're having fun.

Let me tell you, you're catching me on a good day.

I'm in a good mood today for two reasons.

Would you like to hear them?

Yes, I would.

Number one, Tyree's Haliburne played his first game since game seven of the 2025 finals

in Oklahoma City.

We all know what happened.

And the Pacers are back.

I know you watched the first half.

I watched the first half.

Obviously, he's a little rusty.

Obviously, he's kind of feeling his way into the games.

Not forcing anything.

There weren't any step back threes really in all the Tyree's like highlight stuff.

But the passing, the vision, the off ball movement, all the stuff that he immediately

injects into their offense was there.

I thought his movement looked pretty crisp and his ability to change directions on the

dime looked pretty crisp.

The shot is the shot.

It's always going to be there.

I thought it was a super encouraging first step.

Pascal, Siacum was playing so hard that it almost made me uncomfortable.

I was like, dude, chill.

I know you've been waiting to play meaningful basketball for a bit now, but I love to

Pacers immediately look like a team, like this is a team that knows each other.

And it was a nice reminder.

Like, we're here.

The East is loaded, but like we're here.

We're going to have some kinks to work out with the spacing and zoo bots in the bench.

And is it Jarrah's Walker?

Is it who's the backup five?

Oh, be top and look great.

But I'm in a good mood because the Pacers looked ready to go.

Yeah.

I think you nailed it.

They look more like themselves in this preseason game.

Forges as much as you can take from preseason action.

Tyree's immediately injecting a level of organization into his offense.

I think it was good.

I think the biggest thing for me as he works to knock off some of the Russ is just going

to be how often is he driving, how deep into the paint is he driving?

And so a little bit of a mix bag there, understandably so in his first game back, but you saw when

he was able to generate paint touches, the whole breadth of the offense opened up.

You can still get to those push outs if necessary.

He has the late dump downs.

He has to kick out passes in there.

And then when the ball is taken out of the basket, like he is just immediately getting

them all up there, like the pace is right there again.

So I'm excited for him, happy for him personally.

And then on top of that, he just makes this pace routine make a lot more sense.

I'll also just sprinkle in while we're here.

Jair's walker continued to raise the brow for me.

Fun preseason for him so far.

Six times and the first half, I think.

And clearly they've decided we're going random preseason observations.

So here's what they've decided that he's jumped over Ben Shepherd in the Ben Chyraaki.

I think that's a smart decision and his playmaking is why.

He looked like he looked, we'll see what the shot making and the decision making and

the defense, but he looked like the right upside bet to take like whatever the eighth,

ninth, but that guy's going to play 15, 18 minutes a night.

And I think as you get into some of the smaller liners, you're going to have him on the floor

with, I'll be topping with Pascal.

So yeah, I can like just having a little bit more size and still maintaining some utility

offensively is going to be important for them.

So I like what I have seen so far.

I just want to see more preseason action to see what it looks like when the game starts

to count, but stock up for J.S. Walker for me right now.

Let me tell you a story in a caes.

Fall of 1996, little Zack Low just turned 19 years old sophomore year of college.

I'm in a dining hall in college watching game wanted, American league championship

series between the Yankees and the Orioles.

My match that year, 71 and 91 disastrous season, but we were coming.

We had some young pitching.

We had some interesting players.

Todd Hungley was starting to become a thing.

I was a little upset about how the season went.

And obviously I hate the Yankees.

The Yankees had won the World Series in a long time.

It was a great era of bad Yankee baseball that was ending.

Game one, I don't know, you may be too young to know the name Tony Tarrasco.

Game one of the American league championship series almost 30 years ago to the day.

Tony Tarrasco was about to catch a mundane Derek Jeter fake home run to right field.

One of many fake home runs Derek Jeter would sneak over the wall in his career.

And then a fan, Jeffrey Meyer, reached over the wall, caught the ball, stole it out of

Tony Tarrasco's glove.

The Orioles never recovered.

There was no replay.

The stupid umpire Richie Garcia got to call completely wrong.

Game run Yankees win the game.

The gluttonous fans rejoice and 30 years later.

All baby, I hope everyone in that stadium felt a wave of joy pulsating in their bodies

when Anthony Volpe hit a home run over the wall when yet another gluttonous fan couldn't

help himself and reached over it.

It would have been it would have been a hit.

It would have hit the wall was not going to be it out.

I hope they all had what I had when Croatia tied the World Cup against Portugal and

the ref screw them.

I hope they had that joy.

And then it was ripped out of them because this time, 30 years later, the fan and was not

rewarded.

The Yankees were not rewarded.

They are going home having been swept by the Tampa Bay rays.

I was laughing this morning in my house telling what happened to my daughter who was asleep

and my wife who doesn't care.

I was laughing like the million dollar man Ted D. B. Ossie just cackling to the point

that my family thought is there something wrong with him.

I've never seen him like this before.

Am I a jealous bitter Metz fan?

I am.

Am I jealous that the Yankees have won far more than the Metz?

I am.

Am I angry that the Metz had a higher payroll than the Yankees this year and failed and the

Yankees were in the playoffs?

I am.

Would I take a sweep in the National League Division series?

I would.

All of that said, boy, am I in a good mood today?

I hope Tony Tarrasco wherever he is.

I don't know where he is is having a great day.

I hope Jeffrey Meyer wherever he is having a bad day and the razor moving on.

So I'm in a good mood today.

And the guy said, and that that kid in the dining hall, that 19 year old kid, I was really

upset.

I was unhappy.

I said, I can feel it.

I can feel the world shifting back to the Bronx in a way I don't like after all these

years of mel hall losing and non-matically losing all this.

And it did shift.

They won a little world series and it was a nice little karma.

Karma went 30 years, but it came.

You know, I am glad that you are in a good mood.

I didn't expect this to be the reason, but it's someone who's to the part that probably

shouldn't have been to eat all to be.

I am not a big baseball guy.

I have a lot of Yankees, Mutuals, oddly enough.

And so like seeing their tweets come through the timeline and the best of all the basketball

stuff that has happened.

It hurts.

It hurts.

Oh.

I was like, oh, nobody's having a good time right now.

And I can't even console because you have dream liberty going down to the wire.

And then eventually, ACE's boundaries was crazy in that fourth quarter.

But you know, I love this for you.

I'm glad the younger version of yourself got a little come up with the way things happen.

Am I proud of any of this?

I'm not, but it's who I am.

And, you know, self-worthiness is important.

The brewers are now our team in the little household.

But anyway, okay.

We're just going to bounce around preseason is what it is.

Some teams play their real guys, some teams don't.

The first half of these games is very different than the second half.

You can't read anything into it, but you can just like back pocket some fun stuff for

like, I'm going to remember this one, the regular season starts.

And sometimes the preseason matters like the 14, 15 warriors kind of announced themselves

in the preseason is like, this is a completely different animal.

Watch out for us.

So let's just go back and forth.

Some preseason observations that are interesting, good, bad, whatever.

You can lead off.

Give me something you've noticed.

Okay.

I will start with a little bit of propaganda.

I am super intrigued by this Memphis Grizzly team.

I think this is your, you're talking to the right guy.

I've been driving the Memphis Grizzlies playing bus for a few weeks now.

But so I'll let you sing it.

Go ahead.

So we are alive.

When we had you on the podcast earlier this summer, just talk about things that brought

us joy.

I think we both mentioned some Memphis Grizzlies related things in the midst of all the

losing that they did.

And so getting into this preseason action, they have that opening game against Atlanta

Hawks.

And the offense is well space.

The tempo is fantastic.

They are moving cam booze around the board.

Ty Drum looks fantastic.

They're cycling guys in and out.

They're maintaining their full court pressure.

Defensively.

So the tempo continues to be up.

And then they just continue to flow.

They can just die.

It's you up in so many different ways with so many different players.

I ended up tweeting it out.

Perkling the glass.

And I saw that game.

And I saw what the offense looked like.

Yeah.

This is why I'm high on them.

Earlier this morning.

I am watching the Grizzlies magic game.

And your little magic.

We're not very kind.

Particularly in the first quarter against the Memphis Grizzlies.

Like we are also going to do the full court pressure thing.

We are going to be super physical with you off the ball.

We're going to make sense.

I'm going to make sense of switches.

Let's see what your offense looks like.

And when the shots are falling.

And we're going to play.

what you're looking at.

And when the shots are falling, it could look pretty bad, which also some fun stuff happening

on the Orlando side.

Maybe we get there.

But it was cool for me, someone that is intrigued by this business team and ultimately

high on this business team for them to have this kind of tests in back to back games,

where you still, what it looks like when it's working, free form to get to Hawks team,

that was good last year.

And then you get this Orlando team with a bunch of sides, like you're seeing Tristan De Silva

on Ty Jerome.

It's like, okay, what does that look like if you put more sides on Ty since he's going

to have a lot of ball handling responsibility?

Good tests for them.

My entry remains.

I guess I'll leave it there so I don't get too happy.

But keep an eye on the business business is where I start.

I mean, I couldn't be more excited about Cam Boosert.

He's starting at the Ford, the matchup with Ben Carroll was awesome last night in guarded

Franz as well.

He's playing a little bit at the five.

And let me tell you, he had a moment where he was at the five at Nick Lutchevitch.

He was hit in threes was on him.

And he it was like immediate barbecue chicken.

I'm taking you off the bounce and one for Cam Boosert.

I'm super excited about the kind of next layers on peeling and cetera cowards on ball

game is a secondary pick and roll guy.

I guess my worry about the obvious worry about the grisies is they probably don't have a

top 50 player in the league on their team, depending on how Cam Boosert does this season.

And if Zach Edie is healthy, Zach Edie played last night.

He's been massively impactful when he plays.

We'll see how much he plays.

He completely changes their team.

I guess my worry is a, you know, they're going to win a lot of games with depth.

And so they're going to look really good in the preseason in the third quarter against

the other teams backups when their backups are playing the other teams backups.

I don't know how much that carries over.

I'm a little worried about their passing in overall and in their starting five like

Cam Booserts and awesome passer.

And they'll get places with Jalen Wells and Cedric Howard attacking close outs.

But I'm a little worried with Ty Jerome, who I really like and will score the hell out

of the ball.

I'm just a little worried about the collective passing, but I remain optimistic about the

grisies.

I think that's fair.

And I think just in terms of the scoring like one of the things popped from the early,

it is Jalen Wells and the start lineup instead of Jeremy Grant, which I should have figured

that was the way to go just to get some lineup bouncing going to make sure the second unit

has a level of punch to it.

So we'll see how long they stick with that.

I don't think the passing thing is unfair.

I think that is where kind of their space in front most of the way they scheme things

and how quickly they move.

I think the theory is, we'll be attacked so quickly.

And you have so much ground to cover as a defense that we can open up easier passing

reads for everyone.

And so as long as you're able to maintain whatever advantage they get, they should be

okay.

But I do think that is a fair quid system.

My turn.

I watched the Bulls first preseason game last night.

Okay.

I'm just putting this in my back pocket.

The floor was really open for Caleb Wilson and modest Bozellis to do their sort of second

side slicing diagonal attacks with Jalen Smith starting at center as a real stretch five

and Nick Clackston was injured, not playing.

Obviously, there's a defensive cost and I have a Nick Clackston.

You're just not as good.

You're less switchy all of that.

But I'm just like just already I'm putting it in my back pocket of like Caleb Wilson

will see how the shot comes.

Bozellis will see how the shot comes.

I think it's probably kind of a done deal as a I don't know if it's going to the off

to dribble three is ever going to be a plus and not a minus for him.

The captain shoots fine.

He's always open.

I just they're all downhill attacking players with size and shaky slash unproven jumpers.

I just like the way everything looked with a stretch five in there and I'm sure the Bulls

have noticed that too.

I'm at Jalen Smith was great off the bench last night.

It was last year, rather.

I'm just I'm just putting a pin in that.

That's all.

I think that part is fair.

Like I want to dig into that one in particular, but I think broadly speaking, the Bulls were

a team last year.

You look at the shot profile.

We get to the rim of time.

We're going to get a bunch of threes up.

We're not going to take mid rain shots.

Maybe to the chagrin of my tossing zealous who may want to experiment a little bit more

inside the arches in the middle of the floor, but either way, like very structurally

sound in times of the shot location at the very least.

They're going to play with tempo.

And so if you do open the floor and line up with Jalen Smith at the five, that is more room

for Josh Gated to get downhill, which quietly got a little bit better dealing with contact

last year, the 14 foot floaters or push shots turned into 11 foot floaters and push shots.

So continue to map out that progress.

Caleb Wilson is going to get downhill.

My toss museum is absolutely going to get downhill.

And so the bones are there structurally.

Did you get any kind of internal growth?

It's going to be an offense that annoys defenses that are already formed at the very least.

So I appreciate the shot.

Your turn.

I guess what we're talking about fun offences and spacing in general.

I'm going to run a quick get Wilson to use the Nurgish, but okay, well, let's let's

let you continue it to jazz because I want to hit Nurgish for sure.

Oh, yeah, I'll go to you.

We can hang with her, but I'll get Wilson to use the Nurgish.

We'll circle back to that front.

But getting to see what this Utah Jazz offense looks like, I already was pretty high on it

heading in just because of the stuff they run the way that will party spaces as guys,

particularly the bigs kind of getting more things.

You need to sing this with Darren Peterson, where he compared it to Somerley, where he's

had the ball in his hands a lot to now.

Here's the anti-George initiating.

We can let Laurie have the ball a little bit.

Use the Nurgish before going down.

You have some of the high post high post up stuff.

I like to fit in the context for Darren Peterson.

And in general, I think this Utah offense is going to be very good.

They just have so many things to poke at as an offense.

They have so many skilled guys, so many mismatches they can create.

I'm excited to watch the offense.

I think the floor is going to stress me out.

And I think starting the preseason against the Denver Nuggets of all team will probably

accentuate some of the problems that they're going to have on that front, both in terms

of how they can match up physically and from a size perspective, how well they can end

positions.

And if you could just out, I have even bigger questions about the rebounding for Utah.

But offensively at the very least, they're going to put points on the board.

You nailed it with Nurg.

Look, if you missed his four weeks, which is his reevaluation timetable, tack on another

week, just because that's how it usually goes.

It's like 12 games, because we're still well into the preseason.

It's not the end of the world.

Like we always overreact to these short term injuries.

Teams just find ways to win random games that maybe it looks like a bad matchup on paper.

The jazz have a lot of talent.

I'm with you.

I think offensively this team is going to be really good defensively.

You lose his size.

You lose his rebounding or in all of that for a team that doesn't have a great defensive

infrastructure or the triple J.

Everyone else, I'm curious to see who is actually guarding the elite ball handlers on the other

teams, because Darren Peterson is not ready.

He can't do George isn't ready.

And this gives them an opportunity, I think, to experiment with, hey, how does it look if

we either start a smaller lineup, like maybe Ace Bailey slides into the starting five.

Maybe Josh Akogui slides into the starting five instead of just replacing Nurg with Jackson

Hayes or whatever.

And like we're committing to big ball, which I think is how they want to play with Nurg.

This gives them a chance to see like, hey, maybe does it make more sense for us to start

a wing with some defensive size and acumen.

I mean, Ace Bailey is not quite ready for that yet, but he's interesting.

But I agree with you, the cost on defense and just the facilitation you lose in the high

post and how Markin and works off the ball and how triple J works off the ball.

It's a meaningful loss that could cost them a game and every game's going to matter.

It's a really an opportunity for Kyle Phil Palski to play with the two starting base,

because you know, passing is probably his best skill.

As long as we're on injuries, a couple of other things we should mention.

Man, I don't even know what to say about the Clippers at this point.

Like, it might be time for Chuck DeCondor to fly south for the winter or something because

Brandon Ingram suddenly's got partially torn Achilles.

Max Truce got hurt in preseason.

He's going to be up for a while.

It's just not, it's not going well.

And obviously, Max Truce is there to get traded eventually no matter what the Clippers say.

So maybe none of this really matters.

It's just, I really would like the next Clipper headline to be like Keaton Wogler gets a puppy

and it look how cute the photo is and not any of this.

And then in Philly, really sad one, Ariel Huck Forty, who was said to be their third string

center and maybe their second string center while adembono is injured right now.

But still towards Achilles, I mean, just a brutal, brutal break for a guy looking for an

opportunity to get real minutes.

And you know, Nick Nurse came out and said, yeah, we're going to just do like backup center

by committee.

Bono will get first crack.

We've got Dom Barlow.

We've got your barri walker.

You mentioned going small with Dean Wade or LeBron at the five.

I would be very cautious about doing anything that over taxes LeBron'd at all in the regular

season, including guarding fives or acting as the five defensively.

Obviously, he can do it.

He's like guarded yoke kitchen spot minutes and done fine.

He can do everything.

But that's just a bummer for a team where that position is critical because of how many

games in bead will miss.

And you know, like I don't think Huck Forty is like changing your season either way,

but it would be nice to have as many as many cards in that backup center deck as you

can.

Like I think on the field of front, one, just a blanket injury suck and like seeing that

happen in real time and seeing the slow more replay when it ends, I just hate all of that.

Within the actual encore context, I think you know that you want to have as many options

in the four slash five room as possible.

So you can maintenance a you need a little bit during the regular season.

You don't want to put that on LeBron.

You want to say that for like high leverage matchups in the ultimate of the playoffs.

If you want to get that go that small.

And for a sixers team that already had like some defense of rebounding questions about.

Losing your backup center depth certainly doesn't help ease my concerns on that front.

So I'm curious to see how I'm going to play out of that.

And because of how the sixers built their team.

They're dealing with apron restrictions.

It's not like they can even sign another big off the street just to help in a short turn

if they want to like it's going to have to be some a trade of some sort to make that

work.

So I'm curious to see if they wait this out and just world with the option that they have

or if they do try to make some sort of like two for one deal or something just to loosen

things up.

We'll see what happens on that front on the clippers and call your sentiments that I

have said that you just get the late anger news.

Max Bruce in the first quarter of the opening free season games.

He goes down.

It's like, well, it didn't take long and I was enjoying it.

I actually had clipper notes prepared.

It was like, I kind of like how the offensive's functioning.

I am excited to see for however long he is healthy,

there is garlic at the helmet of the offense without having to like share with another small

guard, et cetera.

I just want as many good vibes for clipper fans as possible because this entire summer

has just been nonsense for them specifically.

I would do all too good vibes when I let's see some serious darlin.

Let's see.

Really had to murder continue to shoot like 80% on threes and come off staggers and get

open looks without having to dribble.

Let's see Keaton Wagler continue to build on what has overall been a strong summer for

him like a shaky first of summer league game.

But he's responded in a real way getting more comfortable attacking till to be fenced.

So there are some fun to be had.

I would just like for those who stay healthy enough for us to be able to talk about it in

earnest.

All right.

My turn.

Speaking of the sixers kind of.

It's been two preseason games, whatever.

I didn't watch both of them.

The AJ Mitchell Jared McCain bench duo is going to light the fucking league on fire all

season.

I mean, they are going to just blitz opposing second units with their collective off the

dribble scoring three level scoring.

Kane's been throwing some bullet pick and roll passes in the preseason and they are just

I mean, obviously sometimes AJ Mitchell might start if somebody's out and all of that.

I just think they're going to light up opposing second units.

And a day, Mara has shown some really fun flashes and preseason.

I will see how it carries over but like a couple blocks and then dunks on the other end

in transition.

A couple post ups over smaller players on switches that looked pretty deft.

But again, they've got a million centers on the roster and the dilemma of how much do

we want to play CHEP at center now that our perimeter guys are all healthy and we have

enough wing depth to maybe do that more.

But I just say McCain and Mitchell, it's just not fair.

The dynamism that they're bringing off the bench.

I mean, they are going to be toying with some of these opposing second units.

This under team is going to be so incredibly good again.

And just a quick hat to to my guys, Steve Jones, who was I think live tweeting that game

last night and getting into more thoughts earlier this morning.

So I want to get to watch that one in full.

I've got to see a little bit.

I'm also seeing like clips on his timeline.

But this is kind of what the thunder do.

They build up second units.

They trust they give start throws to the young guys.

Once they evolve, they get traded to keep the books cleared and other guys still post like

an assembly line of quality talent.

And so now you get a full season of the Jared McCain experience.

Here's to see what he does inside the art but outside of it.

He's going to light it up in OKC needs all the shooting that he can provide.

And we saw what Age of Mitchell did last year, like just continuously got downhill and

self created the minutes with him and Shay let the league on fire last year.

And I'm sure whether he starts or not.

There's going to be plenty of time where he is playing alongside shake ups and like letting

him toy with the second or maybe the third best point of defender on the floor.

That's not a fun proposition for defense.

And I'm right there with a dive are like if there's any sort of like chat injury or if

I say a hardsteins out or whatever, being able to go to that guy.

For like 15 minutes, like yeah, have fun trying to store at the rim when you already have

all of these perimeter defenders ahead of you that's ready to say the ball from you.

They're going to turn you over on top of that.

It's unfair.

It's well done.

I'm excited to see more from your turn.

Well, I am wearing like a Miami Bay shirt.

So I will circle back to the very first preseason game of the 2026 27 season.

Heat rappers was a lot of fun.

Finally, I saw what Yannis in Toronto,

or Yannis in Miami looks like against the Toronto rapper stood didn't have everyone.

So again, preseason caveats all they could stuff.

My baseline question is something I talked to Eric Bolster during like introductory press

or things earlier this summer was how does he feel like the blend is going to go between

the spacing principles that they introduced last year and ultimately removing screening

as a concept.

It felt like it's a within that.

And now having Yannis who is very good at like inverted pick and rolls.

And when he wants to screen can also be a very good role on top of that.

Getting to see the mix of Yannis with a clear floor.

As the heat are just kind of cutting and relocating all over places, get now hill.

He's generating catch a shoot three is for everyone on top of that.

And then when you don't stick to shoot or we do stick to the shoot.

He's now getting all the way down hills.

It's like, this is what you want to look like if you're the Miami Heat.

You're seeing Clay Thompson's all fall Grammy pop.

You're seeing Bam out of bio being booed around the board.

And you're seeing Yannis and Bam in tandem.

Just kind of switching out loading up help protecting the rim.

Color Larson looked good and Wiggins looked good.

Again, it's preseason, but like that's kind of what you wanted to see.

Multiple drives clean catch a shoot looks created.

Not a lot of like redundancy in the half court.

The defense was switchable and active, but you still had a presence at the rim on top of that.

It's not going to be what they shot from three every night.

Like that's kind of the formula you wanted to see.

So I just wanted to give a quick hand to the heat for what they look like.

Yeah, I mean, if you honest is healthy, they're going to be a very good team.

If you place 70 games, whatever 68 games, they're going to be a very good team.

He's got to be healthy in the playoffs, which he hasn't been.

I'm still interested in just sort of the what is Bam doing when Yannis has the ball.

Question and how they work that out, but there's a lot to do.

There's a lot of places he can be.

They can play two man game together a little bit.

Agree for sign encouraging.

All right, my turn.

Two Minnesota observations.

Okay.

Number one, Jada McDaniels looks ready for a big season.

He's just playing and has played for a while, but these these preseason games he's been playing

with just a level of like bravado and confidence on offense that feels even a little bit

amped up to me.

And I just think to Kaminga fit.

It's been two preseason games.

I was kind of pessimistic about the spacing of it on offense and sort of like how are

they going to work with that?

I'm intrigued after two games.

It's going to be messy and clunky on some nights because that's just the nature of the

beast, but a the aunt Kaminga McDaniels trio is pretty fucking big and physical on the

wing on defense.

And you've just seen enough of like like Lamello Kaminga pick and roll on one side of the

floor.

If you switch Kaminga's rolling ahead of that switch and Rudy's in the dunker spot looking

for an outlet pass and Kaminga's so fast that even if the help is there, you can go through

it or even more promisingly like Aunt Kaminga empty side pick and roll on the right side of

the floor, kick to Lamello, Lamello go bare pick and roll on the left side when the defense

is already in motion already compromised like they're hitting all and they're running

Kaminga clearly has the green light to like grab and go on train in transition.

Like they're hitting the right buttons for that to be a workable offensive combination.

I'm still a little skeptical and I you know, if it if it doesn't work very well, I.O.

Coming in is the obvious solution.

The bench is like really dependent on Terrence and his junior looks all right and bear

and Jay looks all right and you know bones whose bones, but I the first glimpses of the

Kaminga go bear fit look a little zippier than I anticipated honestly.

So you know TBD, but I there a team obviously that everyone is super intrigued to watch.

I like that.

I think we just talked about the worst little bit on the recent episode of the Dungers

but I think the thing that popped first year and I was just the injection of pace like

it's obvious because Lamello balls in the building, but like just seeing how quickly

they're getting the ball across half court, how quickly they are flowing from side to side

as you already mentioned.

It's one thing to have the threat of Lamello on one side and on the other.

It's another thing where you have to deal with that within like 12 seconds instead of

18.

And so the fact that you have that kind of skill, that kind of pace on top of that just makes

it difficult to deal with.

One of my baseline questions for the rules is going to be like how do they deal with teams

that want to switch?

And so having a Kaminga that is willing to slip out of there and you have finishing opportunities

or even if you just talk about transition stuff, he doesn't mind like sealing people.

Oh yeah.

He should be doing it already like if I got a small on me randomly like I'm going right

to the rim and they're feeding them the ball.

Yeah.

They are already looking at this preseason so checking boxes is going to be aggressive

but it's like good to see sound process on that front to where we can't hit these slips.

We can't hit these duck ins or seals already.

We have some side to side flow without two star guards.

And just and I will also just know I think they more and others have hit on this.

It feels like they've already thrown like 30 lops in the preseason already like the

vibes just generally seem to be high.

And so I also glad you hit on kind of the defensive struts of like the perimeter guys so far.

I also can't deny on how attentive these guys are going to be off the ball because the

line of the strut in the way that you would imagine there's going to be more switching

one through four with Rudy kind of roaming the back line.

It's not enough to switch.

You still do have to be active.

You still have a plug gap.

Still going to be ready for relocations and cuts and things like that.

It's very early but I've been encouraged that has to sustain as we get into regular season

basketball for the walls but they very much have top three offense top six top seven defense

potential.

So I hold in it.

Do you say top three offense?

They can.

I think the three point race certainly going to be up there.

And nervous is incredibly good.

Lamell is going to juice the transition attack and this is a rules team that have guys

that can get out but historically haven't been a great transition team throughout this

era at the very least.

I think it's on the table.

It's I like that.

All right.

Let's take a quick break.

We'll toss around a couple more quick ones and then hit our most intriguing players for

the upcoming season.

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All right.

I guess it's your turn.

You got one.

Go ahead.

I will be quick with this one.

Watching some Sacramento Kings.

I kind of like there is a cuff and the Montess of bonus together.

I have all the questions in the world about what that's going to look like defensively.

I think like we saw last year, this is very much going to be a bonus at the level.

Let's hope our rotations behind it are going to be strong.

But there is a cuff show very early on in some going back to some belief that he's going

to be a guy that created his own shot.

He's comfortable to navigate in tight quarters.

He can shoot.

He can drive.

There's a fun play making chops.

He has to decide in two paths and how often he wants to do so.

But the passability is there.

And with the Montess of bonus, one, you use them as a hub that takes some of the creation

burden off of A.C.

And two, one of very basic but important.

Note, he is such a good screener.

And his exchange is on hand.

Dogs does such a good job of forcing the finish to go over.

It makes life easier for there's a cuff to put guys in jail and they kind of navigate

those tight quarters inside the arc.

So just a quick note on that duo offensively at the very least.

I am intrigued.

I like what subonus can mean for A.C.O.

For however long subonus is going to be in Sacramento.

This is a pro.

I don't doubt that he's going to do subonus things and play super hard and ferociously as

he always does while he looks for the exit door.

I have a good king story for you about how their season started.

I heard this about a week ago.

I called up people who could verify it.

It's been verified.

At their first they get they all arrived for training camp.

They went out to a fancy training dinner.

Team the whole team to staff everything.

And at the dinner of a Vecca Ronda Dive spoke and he kind of turned the dinner into a

roast of lots of people in the room telling them all the ways in which they have been failing

as players, coaches, executives, whatever.

And I checked with the kings and they confirmed the gist of that I would say.

Some people were alarmed and were like this is not going over the way you intended.

Some people thought I get what he's doing.

He's using the fact that we've become a media punchline to motivate us.

He was not saying I the Vecca Ronda Dive, believe these things about you.

But here's what people say about you.

Prove us wrong.

But it was described to me as a prolonged roast that landed with some of the audience and

not some of the and some of the audience not as much.

So like the kings are the kings.

Okay, a couple more rapid fire ones before we transition.

I mentioned the bulls.

Dale and Swain dribbling the basketball makes me a little bit nervous.

But you know, like he won't have to do that as much when the real games start.

I'm already tired of Dylan Brooks and the season has even started yet.

Just like a knock.

Just like enough, man.

Like really like I know this is your stake and you've become famed.

We all got it now.

Just like save it for when it really matters.

And the pelicans, I just took note that they started eaves me see over Derek Queen in their

preseason opener, which I think if you want to have a competent defense and a more engaged

Zion, I think that's probably the way to do it.

And yet Zion still again, preseason game, whatever.

He's just still in this netherworld of like old Zion who I sewed and ran pick a point

Zion Zion who would occasionally center like not that often, but occasionally Zion who

was really the fulcrum of everything the pelicans had.

That guy like exists here and there, but a lot of times even with me see starting and

all the ball handlers they have it at one point they played.

I took notes.

They played Jeremiah fears, Jordan pool, Benedict, Mathurine and Sadiq Bay all together.

I'm like, good freak and luck making that work on offense.

But he's still a lot of times just kind of hanging around the baseline, dunker spot extended,

not as involved as he used to be.

So I just, there's a lot of talent on this team.

And I've joked before like as jumbly as it is.

And I mentioned that lineup and all the guys who need the ball.

It was going to be like a fourth quarter, like a quarter of every, every week where you

watch them.

They're like, did they just score 45 points in a quarter and look like the best team in

the world.

And then the next quarter they're going to give up 40 and like turn them all over eight

times and probably lose the game.

They're just such a bizarre team.

But I just don't think design situation can be scrutinized enough in terms of like he's

on a semi expiring.

Do they, is he really a part of their long term core?

What is he who would trade for him?

It's just a strange brew over there.

Yeah, it's like they've reached the inflection point of how much they want to invest in him

because you have Derek Queen in the building.

And because it just kind of feels untenable having them on the floor together defensively.

So you do just kind of get to a point where you have to choose one and try to accentuate

their strengths, but also kind of hide their weaknesses on defensive end.

I don't think you could do that for both with the rest of the personnel that they have.

I'd say other quick notes that I have to kind of close things out back to the Kings.

That may just be because the roster doesn't have a bunch of good defenders at all.

But in summer league, Emmanuel Sharpe popped for me immediately.

And in preseason, he will foul, but he's going to be very physical.

He's just a very good screen navigator while I'm thinking about random defenders.

Alpha Diallo and Denver.

Yeah, very fun.

I think I'm already forcing, I think, an ace second violation in his first preseason

game.

I'm just like, okay, that seems like a lot of fun for me.

John thinks that anything else I want to hit those are probably the two.

Oh, I treat by the Lakers tossing out some of their acquisition wings, some of the young

guys, ramp it up full court pressure.

We'll see how much that sustains as we get into the regular season, but they didn't feel

like a high pressure group last year.

And so that seems like a little bit of a shield for them.

We'll see if Jay Juretik speaks with that.

JJ is optimistic.

And so I take note of things like that because JJ says nothing lightly.

I think the Lakers are going to win a lot of games.

I just think the two teams in the West that are juggernauts are just going to be too good

for almost everybody.

Okay, let's shift gears.

Every year I would write this column when I used to be a writer, my six most intriguing

players for the season.

I have done that version of the podcast already over the summer.

I don't even remember who was on it.

Scoot Henderson was one of them.

And I said, I have separately a player who is my no brainer, most intriguing player for

the entire season.

I'm going to do a standalone segment on him.

So that's what we're going to do today.

And I said, I want you to pick.

I know you and Steve Jones on the Dunker spot.

Wonderful podcast.

Everybody should listen to it.

I have done your sort of version of that.

Most interesting players are intriguing players.

But I said, why don't you pick one?

And so we'll have our like actual apex, most intriguing players.

The guys were like most obsessed with for the season.

So I'll let you go first.

Who's your guy?

I know who your finalist for this world.

But I don't know who you picked.

I ultimately stuck with the Eastern Conference.

I would live in Bob Lee for this.

There are a bunch of reasons.

One, he is incredibly good at basketball and young for a Cleveland Cavaliers team that

I feel like as I've seen projections and read articles and tweets and listen to different

pods, you think about the top tier of the Eastern Conference in his naturally New York because

they just won a lot of Boston low, a lot of feeling intrigue.

There seems to be a very wide range on how good the Miami Heat are going to be for people.

Some feel like they can be top three.

Some feel like they're just going to be in the play in because the role players, whatever.

And I'm just like the calves did just make the Eastern Conference finals.

They did.

It wasn't the best version of themselves in the Eastern Conference finals because the

mix just kind of blitzed them.

So I understand some of that, but like they're really good.

And when you zoom out with that playoff run in particular, I think you can very much argue

that Evan Moby was just their most impactful guy in their playoff run.

And I don't know if that gets enough attention.

And when it does, it feels like that is brought up within the lens of, well, that's because

Donald and Mitchell didn't do what he was supposed to do.

That's because James Hart and did the playoff thing again.

It's like, Evan Moby is really good.

I think because he didn't make the Capitol L leap last year, some of the subtle

roof that he did make last year went under the radar.

Like I did feel like he was a better passer.

I did feel like he dealt with contact on drives a little bit more.

He was more intentional about hitting first on some of the post touches and on some

of the drives in particular.

Very quietly converted to career.

I see three percent of his two's and he was at 63 percent of his two's during the playoffs

as well.

And he's been in all defense candidate.

If not a deep-woiter since he has stepped into the NBA and so forth.

Caps seemed that I still think at the very least it turned out regular season wins.

If we do actually get another creation lead from Evan Moby or there's just more play

strength in general, which unlocks more lines with him at the five, and which means he gets

to build more picking role chemistry with James Hart and that looked really good during

the regular season last year.

The caps should be in the mix to come out of the East.

Like I don't think that is an egregious take to have.

And so for me, I'm watching once again on what level of growth we see from Evan Moby

on top of him being really good on both ends of the floor already.

I was going to ask you what specifically is the source of intrigue.

Like what are you watching from him?

We're like, I want to see what's different this year.

You mentioned more picking roles with with Hardin, maybe with with with him at center.

You mentioned his passing.

Yeah, yeah, the small uptick and assist last year and then an even bigger one in the

playoffs.

His three point shot kind of disappeared, 29% on on three a game.

Obviously that would be helpful.

It feels like we've been saying that for four years.

You know, part of my, as you may have heard, I don't trust the Cleveland Cavaliers when

I'm picking teams to come out of the East.

I don't trust James Hartin in big games.

And I just feel like, I don't know how you feel about this.

I thought the paid Watson trade was a very good move for them and they kind of move that

they should be doing and the player profile that they've been searching for.

I do think like the first 30 games of Watson, Moby, Alan is going to be a little clunky.

And there's going to be a lot of learning curve to like, all right, he's in the corner.

Teams aren't guarding him, even though he shot very well in the corner.

If he does that again, team so guard him, not like the most intuitive catch and go playmaker,

but can do it.

The guards both dribble a lot.

It just feels like it's going to be a little clunky on offense and they have this lever to

hit off the bench of going small with Watson at the four.

You throw in Tyson for one of the bigs.

You throw in Sam Merrill, both of them, whatever.

I just feel like the Cads are going to, are going to have to search a little bit for what

is our optimal rotation.

What is our optimal five-man lineup to close games with all the stuff other teams all

have to do too?

I just, I feel like it's going to be a little clunky for them.

I don't know how you think about that.

I don't think it's unfair.

I think, because I think we'll big picture a question that I had for Cleveland and we had

talked about this when we had to chase down guys on our podcast.

Kenny Atkinson pressed a lot of buttons last year in terms of how he wants the offense

to function, different lines he wants to press.

I think there is, in general, a thin line between experimentation and doing so to the point

where you don't really know what you're bringing.

Like what I just pressed all the buttons on the joystick hoping that my outfielder throws

to the right base or my guy steals home or something, just matching the buttons.

Yeah, it felt like a little bit of that in some key moments.

And so I do think broader strokes, who does Cleveland want to be?

I think that's a fair question to ask.

And within the clunkyness that you expressed, it wouldn't surprise me if that is the case.

I do think if you lean into more of a mobile high post creator and they've already done

that before in this time in Cleveland, you can, you can alleviate some of those concerns.

Like I don't think James Hart and Donovan Mitchell have to dribble as much if you are utilizing

mobility in that way.

It's something that I've cited a few times during the summer at this point, whatever

mobility, one of my favorite stats of last season is I think among a little under 200 guys

that ran at least 200 picking roles last year.

Nobody generated more points for possession.

First take a picture of them.

They ever mobility did.

As the ball handler as the ball handler.

It's like they use the only guy over 1.2, which again, 200 compared to like, Lucas

running a thousand, et cetera.

It's like some of that is still in there.

When you pair that with the growth that I think he displayed as a driver and as a foul

draw, which quick aside, the free throw shooting has to perk back up for him because that

was just weird for him last year.

60% last year after two straight years over 70.

Yeah.

So like that is in theory, low hanging from him to grab.

So if you average just 20, that might be a part or why.

But like I just think you can use them as a playmaker to kind of balance things out within

the offense.

Takes a pressure off a Mitchell, takes a pressure off a hard unlock some of the cutting

and relocation from paid to what's on top of that.

And with this growth as a self-creator, you can get into different looks offensively.

And I think the defense is just going to be there for him.

Like I he is just one of the best defenders on the planet.

And so my entry lies with like what the overall use of him is going to be or what the split

is going to be.

Because I have an idea of what actions he's going to be used into is just how much of each

one.

But I think you nail the right balance.

It makes life easier for everyone.

He becomes more impactful and Cleveland should be right there in terms of the upper echelon

to use the confidence.

I mean, the numbers every year with mobility and Allen together are unbelievable.

And defensively your infrastructure is so sound with those two.

And yet I'm still like not 100% convinced that that's a 25 minute game lineup in the

playoffs against great defenses unless something about how they play changes.

And maybe that's exactly what you're saying, just using your tools differently.

Because it just felt like offense was just too hard for them last year.

So this is I'm struggling internally with this myself.

Like it just so you have James Harden and Donovan Mitchell and two big guys who have made all

star teams before you've got shooters.

You've got lots of this stuff.

They just felt like it was so hard for them to generate really good shots analytically,

perhaps that's not the case.

But just a lot of dribbling like Donovan's passing kind of leveled down a little bit in

the postseason.

I think that's less about him and just more about the ecosystem not being quite right.

And then when I'm saying struggling internally, I'm saying Toronto, Holaceous defense, Detroit

Holaceous defense help both in both cases by the referees allowing more physicality in

the playoffs.

And the next just on the greatest magic carpet ride in the history of basketball and he's

on both ends of the floor.

So maybe, maybe my biases or whatever are over indexing on like blaming the calves and

under indexing on like, maybe it was just a suboptimal set of circumstances for them offensively.

But they just feel a little more uncertain than I'd like them to be even as you know, they

did make the conference finals.

And I sit here and I always say, well, it was a very uninspiring conference finals run.

And again, on the surface, it was like two game sevens against the Raptors who were

missing Brandon Ingram.

And I don't like you can sit here and say the Raptors are better without Brandon Ingram

and help them.

Like at some point, you need a requisite amount of scoring on your team to win a playoffs

series and not having quickly like objectively did hurt them, even though he would have been

hunted a little bit on defense.

And then they won game seven in Detroit on the road like infatically.

That was a really a great win.

And you know, I don't know.

I don't know how to feel about the cast.

This is I just don't trust them.

I don't trust them.

I don't trust them.

And I'm never going to trust them.

Okay.

That's it for me.

You want me to make my pick or any other thoughts on the calves?

I think we can flip you up here's the here who you have.

Well, you know, it's not just because you're here as the president of the Southeast Division.

By the way, I think every division, like I think every division like the conferences

and the NCAA should have like a fake president like who doesn't really do anything with

that.

And it's you say you would be my nominee for the president.

I will take that.

And you would just have to just give speeches everyone.

So about how great the Southeast division is and you know, create fake rivalries where

like whoever wins the season series between the Hornets and the Heat gets like a trophy

of some kind and all that.

My most intriguing player for the upcoming NBA season is brought to you by State Farm.

I think to me, this is a no-brainer.

My most intriguing player for the season is Brandon Miller in Charlotte currently up for an

extension.

I think they will probably get I would bet if I had to bet I would bet I'm getting something

done before the season.

Obviously, he's missed a lot of time with various injuries shoulder stuff last year.

The off season was, you know, he had to take some time to keep recovering from that.

He's a real eye of the beholder player.

Pessimists would see I think a Brandon and Grim 2.0 where the numbers and the physical

profile look great and it just doesn't translate into enough actual impactful winning stuff for

whatever reason.

Optimists would see I think a quicker more live player than Brandon and Grim a more alert

at Defender than Brandon Grim.

Someone who has more potential on that end if he stays healthy.

And the Hornets have clearly like look, the the Lemmele Ball trade was a lot of different

things.

It was a bet against Lemmele Ball.

It was a slight hedge against like we don't really think what we were last year was 100%

real in a world in which a third of the league was tanking and we yet again didn't get

out of the play in tournament.

It was a linked to that a bet on if we keep acquiring assets and assets and assets, we're

going to be the most nimble team in the league and already have a couple of really important

foundational players in Brandon Miller and Conn Canippell.

At the end of the day, it's also a big bet that both of those guys are actually foundational

players that they can be stars in their own right.

And I think, I think they're right about Brandon Miller.

I would be an op I would consider myself a Brandon Miller optimist.

I know the health the health issues have been there.

I know he doesn't get to the rim perhaps as much as you would like a guy who has the ball

as much as he had to get there.

His passing numbers are kind of met and if you look at the tracking data, he has one

of the lowest assists rates out of like all the hundreds of players who ran some requisite

number of thick and rolls.

There's that.

I think defensively he's been just okay a little bit fowl prone when he gets tired.

I just look at him.

I think the package is there and I look at all the different ways he can score should

be playoff ready ways to score like he can get to that that Chris Paul snaking mid-ranger

anytime he wants on the pick and roll except he's six eight and Chris Paul is six foot flat.

And I think he's going to learn on a lot of those plays where they end up in mid-range

shots or just he picks up his dribble and kicks it out.

He's like one dribble away on the pick and roll from having that retreating big man in

a real bad position.

He's one dribble away from drawing a foul at the rim.

He's one dribble away from creating a lob or a pocket pass to his big man.

And I think he has the right intentions and he's going to see that and you see flashes

of all of that stuff the right pass the hesitation dribble and drive to the rim.

Yeah, he's not like the most explosive first step athlete vertical athlete when he gets

a runway he is and he's very crafty and his change of pace, his crossover dribble,

his hesitation moves.

Those kind of things like make you effectively faster and more explosive than you actually

are in a raw way.

And I see absolutely no reason why he should not be a plus defensive player.

He can get skinny around screens.

He's big.

I think his activity level needs to get a little better.

But if I were betting, I would bet on Brandon Miller and I but I'm interested to hear

what you think of the Ingram comparison and sort of I'm more optimistic about Brandon

Miller than that.

I have no idea where you fall on him.

No, like one that as a Southeast enthusiast, I appreciate you bringing Brandon Miller to

the table first and foremost.

But no, in all seriousness, the Brandon Ingram comp is interesting to me.

Like my immediate thought as you're going into it is like, well, Brandon Miller already

and maybe this is just a product of when he entered the league.

He is already more willing to take threes and take threes off the bounce that Brandon

Ingram has ever been 30 and 36% on pull up threes last year.

And he takes like 10, not pull up 10 almost like 10 total threes per 36 minutes.

That's difference number one.

Yeah.

And so like him being if you're going to be pull up heavy as a wing for me, at least aesthetically,

I want a larger diet of that to be behind the arc.

And so the fact that he's willing to do it already just kind of gives him a leg up for

me when it comes to the Brandon Ingram comparison.

But like inside the arc, I think my biggest question for him now and moving forward is just

what level of force is he going to play with?

And I think you already kind of alluded to it because I do think you see these possessions

to where like he'll snake, take the extra dribble and kind of play through some contacts.

It's in there.

And as you mentioned, when he does have a runway, like he has some incredible ducks.

And it's a rare package already.

But I think in general, he's going to have to be more intentional about how he navigates

tight quarters.

The fact that he already kind of has the snake and keep it defender and jail can operate

and get into pull ups is encouraging that that gives him a foundation to build on.

Let me take that extra dribble snake back the other way and get into some of these scoops.

Like you see some of those on the film, the finishing isn't always there.

But like the fact that it's kind of in the wheelhouse for him at the very least, it gives

us something to build off of.

So I'm fascinated to see like how quickly he can grow in that because if he does, more

free throws should come.

He again, already has a three point thing.

And like I'm glad you brought up the playmaking portion because like I was looking at a lot of

the same numbers.

You look through some of the picking rolls or you look through some of the handoff reads

for him.

And it's just like, here's a pass that you wouldn't expect them to be able to make.

It's a live dribble skill that just kind of comes in random.

It's there sometimes.

Yes, like it's nine regular like early pickups and then swing to the wing or something.

And then it's just live dribble skill.

Just like obviously it's basketball.

You can't just say, hey, just do that over and over and over again.

If you would, he would be the Luca Dantian instead of Brandon Miller.

But it's just like if that's there, can you do that three times a game instead of once?

Then have to be 10.

And so I'm intrigued by that portion.

And like looking at some of his picking rolls where he was getting two on the ball.

And one, it wasn't something that he saw super often and with Lamello out of the building

now, I am fascinated to see how often he gets that coverage.

And then when he does get it, how does he handle it?

Because one of the things that popped from me to add to my notes is like, these are some

good place, some well placed passes.

He is super retreat heavy.

But he's in the second of winter.

He is backing up five six feet.

He said he said half court and it's hard to make the first pass quickly when you're going

backwards like that.

That's one of the things that stuck out for me.

And he's blitzed.

It's pretty hit or miss.

And I want him to get off the ball faster.

But like you said, part of that is an experience thing.

And the Lamello void.

I mean, obviously Kobe White is a very good player.

We'll see how that works.

I think it'll be fine.

Nas Reed is a spacing for that.

I'll open up the floor more than it was last year.

When Miller and Kiniple played without Lamello last year, they were like minus 10 per

hundred possessions now.

When you throw Kobe White in, it was very limited.

Like very limited, but it looked good.

So I'm just like the burden on him is going to be different.

He and Kiniple are both when they're healthy.

Khan's already heard too.

Hornets have like a bunch of injuries already.

They're going to have to do a little bit more of the heavy lifting on the ball.

And like all of that make like, I think I don't think the Hornets are a playoff team

this year.

I think they will take a tiny step back.

That's totally fine.

That was built into the Lamello trade.

I just think they're a super intriguing team for tons of different reasons.

And Miller being the very top one.

I think that is more than fair.

And I think as I'm thinking about Charlotte structurally because they led the league in

like guard screens by a very wide margin.

And when you have Lamello, you can do that as he can initiate and he can also be part

of those ghosts.

I do wonder what that is going to look like when it is Brandemiller said, you're saying

those ghost screens or those brush screens for Kobe White instead of Lamello are those

just going to be switches.

And just in general, how often will Charlotte see switches and what does that look like?

That's where some of the flashes of.

And I think we talked about this on the darkest spot.

No, you talked about it last year when the Charlotte Hornets were on their run.

Like Brandemiller taking some of these switches and seeing some of these smalls and like actively

going it.

These guys in a way that we weren't accustomed to earlier in this career.

It's like, okay, this is positive progress.

Continue to do that.

Continue to stack those reps.

But like it's in there to play with a little force.

Now, next up, I think.

I'm going to say the next step on some of those Mitch, Matt's funny that he did last

year was can we turn some of these jumpers over the outstrets arms of a small defender

into free throws?

I think it's in there.

Play strength has increased.

Handle has to get a little bit tighter.

And again, the mentality to get deeper into the pain has to be there.

But like the seeds are there.

So like I certainly understand why the entry level is high with Brandemiller, especially

when you tie that into Lamello trade plus Miller being extension eligible right now.

Like I think he's if he's not already better than Brandon Ingram, I think he will be

soon.

I would take a little of Brandon Ingram now, frankly, but I think Brandon Ingram is fine.

That's not a shy for anything.

He's okay.

I think the upside comparison and the guy I see a little bit when I watch him and I'm not

saying he's going to be as good as this player because very few people are.

But could he be 90% of Jason Tatum, 90 like the big apex wing who's like maybe not the

best passer in the world, but has a great mid range jumper.

Squares in a lot of different ways can spray it out, can defend like just sort of a jack

of all trades at that size who can shoot three's off the dribble, get to his mid range or

whenever like, could he be that is that?

I don't know, it's just the guy that I see.

I don't, I don't again, like he's not going to be I.

You should never bet on anyone being as good as a guy who makes first team all NBA every

year that he's healthy.

But I think Brandon Miller will make an all NBA team sooner rather than later I would

bet on him.

He is my number one most intriguing player for the season.

Nakai is Duncan.

What's your dunker spot schedule with Steve this week?

What do we got?

Oh, we it is we're in the middle on the NBA side.

We're in the middle of the vision previews.

So we are doing the Pacific division on Friday.

So if you are a fan of either the LA teams, the Warriors, et cetera, we are going to be

digging in and then on the W side, we are just deep and play off prep again.

I'm flying out or flying back to Vegas later today to see if the Aces extend their season.

So it's just going to be a mixture of the vision previews and W playoff content over

at the dunker spot basketball.

It's a great pod.

Steve's the best year of the best.

Nakai is thank you and speaking of the Warriors, we're going to bring on Nick Friedel to talk

old and stay Warriors.

That's the sound of a baby being born at St. John's.

That's the sound of your celebratory first meal being served.

That's the sound of sunshine pouring into your spacious room.

And that's the sound of a happy baby taking in its first view.

Because when it comes to your birthing experience, we've thought of everything.

St. John's everything for the better.

All right, Nick Friedel is here.

He's wearing a Cubs hat to remind me about P. Crow.

I'm strong.

That is noted and not appreciated.

Here's what we're going to do.

I haven't talked too much about two of the sort of stariest franchises in the league, the

Lakers and the Warriors, the California franchises.

I think the Lakers are just going to be good and really good and not as good as the Thunder

and the Spurs, but we're going to have Dan Waukey next week to do a Lakers deep dive.

And the Warriors, the Golden State Warriors, kind of just over here to the side, not forgotten

because Steph Curry's there and there's some Linda Borg buzz and Pajemski's extension

eligible and they still have all their picks and like, Dremons going to do stuff and Jimmy

Butler might come back.

But just, it feels a little depressing, Nick Friedel.

They're over under his down to 36 and a half.

Jimmy Butler is going to miss a large part of the season, half of it.

I don't know, something like that.

Porzingis is gone.

I don't know what's going on with him.

Al Hufford is very old and will miss a lot of games.

Steph Curry missed a lot of games last year.

He's old.

Moses Moody is out for the season.

They're always going to be fun because Steph is a show when he plays.

The system is a show when he plays.

Dremons and Steph have the chemistry that will never die.

Linda Borg looks like a perfect fit.

I like Pajemski, despite the fact there's been some sort of up and downs with him.

I like Brandon Williams adding a little speed off the bench.

Like there's stuff here, but man, I can't, I can't like get into this team.

Can you, can you tell me like what's, what's happening?

It is always good to see your buddy and what I would tell you what's happening with

this group is they are the most interesting trade deadline team there is.

If we could hit the fast forward button and go to the beginning of February, that's when

it gets really fascinating because I'm with you on all the things you outlined there.

They're not great.

They could be okay, but so much of that is contingent on Steph being out there for a lot of games.

I'm not sure at this stage with that knee, if that's possible.

But the real question to me is what happens at the deadline is Jimmy back, what does he

look like?

Are they potentially going to move him?

Are they going to potentially move Dremon when the time comes that Porzinga's deal could

be used in something with nobody knows what the hell is exactly going on with his health

situation.

So they have a lot of major major decisions to make, but they've got to make them heading

into February right now.

They look like a middle of the road team, but the Steph spotlight still shines so brightly

that you can't look away completely because when he is out there and he's okay health wise,

he's still awesome.

He's amazing.

He's a force unlike any other in the league.

I love Landiborg.

I know Anthony Slater, your colleague, covered the Warriors for ESPN, talked about how it

was Burys or Landiborg for them and then the Bucks made that decision for them basically.

He's 24 years old.

How many times are we going to hear it repeated that he's older than Jonathan Kaminga many,

many times.

He's a perfect fit with the Warriors.

He looks awesome in Summer League.

He shot the three well.

He shot the three okay in college pretty well last year too.

He looks just like an absolute seamless fit in the Steph Dremon, Steve Kerr, flow offense.

He's setting back screens.

He's running two man inverted picket rolls with Steph.

He's running two man without a wharf, he's cutting to the right spaces, hitting his shots.

He can defend pretty much anybody.

I think his sort of attention to detail on defense needs to improve a little bit but he's

a rookie.

He stands pretty upright.

Those reads off the ball and we're switching or we're not switching those are tough.

I think they've got a gem in him.

I just don't really know.

I guess I can't, I'm just, if you had told me that the Warriors got a gem of a rookie

who I think will make an all rookie team for sure.

I would be more excited than this I would think but I'm just not, I'm not that excited.

I got to say Nick like, it seemed like a scorcher when I said it last week and I don't

think it's a scorcher at all.

I think the Warriors are very much at risk of missing the play in tournament, not the

playoffs, the play in tournament.

I think there's a tenth best team in the West and one of those teams behind him, Memphis

or Dallas is going to exceed expectations and I just don't really like this team and

if Steph misses 30 games and those 30 games overlap with Jimmy being out, it's going to

be like kind of a nightmare.

Yeah, they are going to make it.

Insect to your point, I like Jackson a lot.

He fits very, very well.

The only question I have is defensively, is he going to be there every single night because

all anybody says who's been around him since summer late when he won the MVP is the guy

is huge.

He fits all over the floor but there are times you watch him in summer league and at least

early in the preseason and you're like, all right, well, he can shoot the hell out of

the ball.

But is he going to bring that intensity that they want every night on the defensive end?

That remains to be seen.

But to the larger point about where they are as an organization, if you're banking on

the Warriors being pretty good this year, potentially a French playoff team, you're banking

on basically two guys, not named Steph and they're yaxle being in the running potentially

for the rookie of the year if he's as good on both sides.

I'm not going there, but we'll see.

He's got to get to a point where you trust him every single night.

Insect, he's got to play and he's got to play well.

They don't have a lot of other options.

But the other point and it's crucial in any Warriors conversation, they have to have pods

be a little bit better.

And if you believe that the Warriors can get to a better place than they were at last

year, pods has to take that proverbial next step.

Now I would tell you, haven't just been out in Hawaii for a week for training camp with

them.

Pots looked awesome.

You talk to any one of those players, the coaches, they say he's been working on his

game.

He's in better shape.

He looks more confident.

He's the one that's been telling you, Axle, you got to be aggressive with Steph on the

floor because he needs you to shoot it and take pressure off of all the defenses laying

into him.

But that's really the issue with this Warriors team.

Everybody's been through it.

The core is so old that if you believe that they can be better, what you're believing

is the Axle and pods are the guys to help you do it if Steph can stay upright.

So a lot of ifs there, but I can tell you at least in the short returns of the last

couple weeks of training camp, Axle, they love him.

That Kerwan's him to be more aggressive.

He thinks he's a little too passive, especially with Steph, but that will come with time as

a rookie in pods.

He wants that new deal.

He looks motivated to be the guy that he's always thought of himself to be.

The question is can his game follow that up this season?

I like pods.

First of all, pods is definitely in the top five of most jarring hair transformations of

the offseason.

I was like, wait, what's happening?

The curls are gone.

And it just I think he looks a little tougher.

I think it's working for him.

I like pods.

I think he's like a solid fourth to fifth starter or depending on team context, six man kind

of guy.

I mean, 14, five and four on decent shooting last year.

He's a solid defender.

He takes a million charges.

He's not a great defender.

But he's pretty good.

I think that's a good player.

He hasn't he hasn't been helped by Joe Lakeups comments about him and he hasn't helped

himself with some of his comments about himself and that has contributed, I think, to outsize

the expectations among fans.

He's a good player.

You mentioned he's extension eligible.

I'd be curious what you're hearing about that.

I have noted before that his cap hold is $17 million.

The warriors are clearly a team that wants to be in a position at least to potentially

use cap space next summer for one last run or one more run at a big time addition or two

next to staff.

And so I've said I would bet on an extension with Pajewski happening, but right around

that cap hold number so that it doesn't really hurt their space at all.

But I honestly like I we're getting towards the deadline hasn't happened yet.

What are you hearing?

It has always felt like it would get done.

In fact, you know, I've been doing this way too long.

When you see both player and team say, Hey, we want to get this done way more often than

not, especially before these deadlines, it usually happens.

Paj likes being out here.

Don Levy and Kerr really like him.

You figure that the number is somewhere in there.

It always felt like it would be somewhere around 20 to me, maybe a little more depending

on the market.

But he seems comfortable out here.

And Kerr really seems to trust him and that trust is only going to grow.

So I'd be surprised if you and I are talking a couple weeks from now and it's not done.

The real question to me though is if you're the warriors and your pain pods and you've

paid staff and now you have Yaxl again, this ties back into what we're doing.

Well, what happens after that?

And that's what nobody seems to have a clear cut answer on and they're kind of waiting

to see how this plays out for context.

Jimmy is still months away.

He was in Hawaii, but you know, he's not able to do all that much.

Although he kept reinforcing.

I can dunk if I need to.

Okay, great.

But he's 37 years old coming off a major, major knee injury.

And he keeps saying he wants to stay with the warriors, but in order to do so, he's not

going to be anywhere near another max extension.

Dremons, a 27 million this year.

He's not going to be anywhere near that if he ends up wanting to stay.

So there are a lot of major question marks in the future.

But if you get the pods deal done and you still like the way Yaxl looks a few months from

now, those are the two core pieces with staff.

And I think that's really else is kind of up in the air, but specific to pods.

I think that there is enough push on both sides to make it happen before the deadline.

I would be if you told me Jimmy, by the words on the active roster for half their games this

year, I think they would I would sign up for that if I were a Warriors fan, not not playing

half the games because he's obviously not going to play back to backs and all that.

But that would in my mind on ballparking like January one or something like that for

Jimmy, which is a lot of the season.

It's half the season almost.

You mentioned the expirings, Jimmy and Dremon.

For Zingas has only three million guaranteed on a player option next year.

I feel like they're going to keep his contract on the books for trade purposes, at least

through this season and then decide.

The cap space thing is super interesting because it might it might impact how they approach

this season.

What were they with Jimmy when Jimmy first came, weren't they like 24 and 7 with him and

stepping on what he was like some crazy record, right?

Yeah, I mean, they had Steph from the outside and Jimmy would get to the foul line and provide

a completely different look.

I mean, they fit from a basketball perspective.

No question.

Neither one of them can stay healthy.

So I could, you know, the cap space weapon for them can be used in the off season, potentially

in a lot of different ways.

It can be used just to sign free agents.

It can be used to make lopsided trades where you take in more salary than you send out

or then you normally be allowed to take in because you have the cap space to do it.

And everyone's like fixated on how they control all their draft picks, but one and even that

one is top 20 protected.

It can be amended.

I just wonder if, like, I think they're going to be in the kind of position where we get

to February, whatever the trade deadline is.

I think they're going to be right around the sweet spot where the new lottery system

really helps them.

And like, I, I just wonder if that team that was 23 and 7 or whatever it was, if that

team is just gone, I would bet on it being largely gone because of health and age.

And if there is any move, like if it's even worth it to bundle up a bunch of picks to

salvage whatever the remains of that team is, if I could wait until the off season when

I have a lot more options to either use those same picks in a different way, use cap

space, whatever.

Like, I don't necessarily think it's like a lock that they make a big trade at the trade

deadline because I just think they're going to look at the standings and be like, oh,

wow, we're in the 321, potentially of the 321 lottery system.

Like, we could use a building block or two for sure.

I'm with you, but what I would tell you is having watched this team closely over the last

year, that that draft take, if it lands in the right spot, that's great.

This team, if we're being real, Zach is badly in need of hitting the button though.

They're just, they're not good enough.

And to your point about, all right, we'll throw all these contracts in and we'll make one

big move, potentially the deadline, sign somebody in the summer.

They're still not good enough.

They are trying to do right by step, but step 38 years old with a knee problem.

I mean, I'll give you some anecdotal evidence here.

We're in a Y.

We're in that preseason game.

They're playing the clippers.

He comes to the bench for the first time in the first quarter.

Immediately, he puts the heating pad on the knee.

And I went, oh, no, because this is going to be like that all year long.

He knows that the training staff knows that they still want to be competitive around staff.

Joe Lakeb is the owner.

He wants to win, et cetera, et cetera.

This team, though, as they're constructed, isn't close enough if they bring in that one

mythical major piece to get back to where they've been.

So if it were me and I were Mike Dunleven, I'm watching all this unfold.

I'm saying, all right, we want to keep stuff.

He fills the building.

He is the franchise.

But every single other person, let's talk.

I mean, they really like Yaxl and they really like pods.

I wouldn't stop it.

Either one of those guys from moving out if you got the right pieces back in place.

But that's the issue that they face and that they're not bad enough to tank all the way

out of it.

And they're not good enough to get back to the level that we're used to seeing.

And my point to you, as we sit here before the season is, of course, getting that top

to one or two or three pick, that'd be fantastic.

That piece isn't going to put them into a better place either.

So they are really just stuck in kind of no-man's land.

And the reality is that I don't see a move that's going to take them out of the situation

that they're in.

So if you're done leaving, I guess the best play is you keep the young guys with stuff

and you get everybody else out and you see what happens a year from now and keep building

from that point.

I mean, that pick, it made up with them in a better position to win today, next year,

whatever.

But it definitely puts them in a better position, both step, which is what they really

should be aiming at.

Now, if they are still aiming at, and they should be to trying to thread the needle of

doing right by step, I just keep thinking of, well, who's even the guy?

Who are they trading for?

And there are some possibilities.

The season will go haywire in a bunch of different places.

There's also the possibility of like, hey, maybe there's a guy on an expiring whose trade

value declines to the point that it doesn't cost us very much.

It costs us one protected future first round pick.

Or so like that.

What if the nets decide Michael Porter Jr. is just not a part of our future?

Anthony Davis, I've never really sensed the warriors are like super into that idea, but

like that's a name.

Like, there will be a guy like that who's like, yes, guy helps us and it's the cost isn't

that much.

Like the guy like, I just don't know who the guy that I'm bundling a lot of stuff to

go get because it's got to be somebody younger on the like young prime age timetable.

Like, Kawai's gone.

He's on the Raptors now.

Paul George, all these old guys that they've snipped around.

It can't be somebody like that.

Mark and ins locked up.

Like, someone through Devon Booker to me is a hypothetical.

I just don't see Phoenix even entertaining anything with that right now.

And the contract is huge.

And I don't, I think Phoenix wants to see what they have.

There's nothing going on to be clear in any point with Devon Booker.

I would look at a guy like if Orlando has a bad season, do I get a, do I try and get

a Mulligan on the Franz Wagner pick?

Like that's a guy I might throw a bunch of draft fix that because it's somebody of that

ilk or timetable or age or whatever.

But I just don't know like who, if you, if you are dreaming of this big superstar trade,

I just don't know really who it is.

And by the way, as I'm saying this, that's fine.

Like I think their best move might just be kind of ride it out into the off season,

keep all the picks, keep all the assets and see what comes in May and June.

Because I think this season is kind of D.O.A. to be honest with you.

I couldn't agree with you more on that point.

And I would tell you that I think the problem the warriors are going to face is, yeah, they

want to do right by step and if he's healthy, it changes the dynamic certainly.

But there's not that guy.

You want to throw every pick you got or a lot of picks.

It's kind of traded.

It's over.

Yeah, I mean, friends Wagner, Franz Wagner is not going to get you from wherever the hell

the warriors are to where we're used to seeing.

And then they'll say, all right, we just want to have a chance in the post season.

Franz Wagner is not the type of difference maker on that kind of deal that's going to take

you to a completely different place.

The fan base is more pissed off than I can ever remember it being because they were so

mad that there weren't a lot of moves in the off season.

And they're watching all these other teams improve and the warriors are sitting there going,

we don't want to give up the picks.

We don't see that kind of guy that we're trying to describe here being available.

And that's where I think there are going to be big questions as the season keeps going

because I think this is a team that's going to hover somewhere around 500, maybe a few

games below most of the year waiting for Jimmy and whatever happens.

But Zach, I cannot stress this enough.

Again, it's started season.

If I were the warriors, I would ride this thing out just like they're trying to do right

now because if you put all your picks into whether it's Wagner or Anthony Davis or

Phil in the blank, I've heard Devin Booker too, just a name getting tossed out.

Put Devin Booker on this team.

Give up all your picks.

How much better are you?

You're a better team, but you're not closer to some kind of extra bonus title at the

end of the step run.

So I would do exactly what they did in the summer and I would just close my ears to every

criticism that's out there.

And the fan base doesn't want to hear that.

They want to see action.

They want to see Steph have one more legit run.

I don't see it.

I think that the warriors are entering into that phase of what we saw with Kobe at the

end of the Lakers time.

Now, they're not that bad.

It's, hey, Steph out there.

Okay, this is a good night.

Something truly pretty cool could still happen, but this team is used to winning titles

and competing at the top and the way they're structured and away the money is and what

other assets are happening as Steph gets closer to retirement.

I think the best path is to be as cautious as possible right now.

Well, and also just like whether it's Booker or anybody else that has a huge salary for

the next season, you're taking away all or a lot of the cap space like the dream would

be add a player and still be able to add more players.

And that's, I don't know, man, I just, I wish I had more reasons to be optimistic about

this team, but I wanted to take a look at them because I like Landaborg a lot.

And I think the pods deal should get done.

And they're just always interesting as long as Steph is flying around.

There will be nights.

There will be nights like that Clippers playing game where the old lion roars again, where

it's like Steph Dremon handoff, Steph Dremon, wink, wink, flip the screen.

And like it looks like it's 2015 again.

There will be nights.

There will be moments like that.

But it's there becoming increasingly surrounded by the the creep of mortality.

Nick Fidel, I'm sorry your Cubs didn't make it out of the first round, but they did

better than the Mets this year.

It's always great to see you.

Thanks for PCA, my man.

It is always good to be with you.

And I had a done this and we're both saying it, but it's true.

And I was reminded of it being out there for a while over the last week.

If you're lucky enough to see it, still get a chance to go watch Steph and he is healthy,

go take it because he still is that great.

And he can still make the crowd go, whoa, you know, because you just not used to seeing

somebody like him.

Sadly, I don't know if his knee is going to be able to hold up.

He we're close to where he would want it to be.

But when he is out there, wherever you're at, if you're lucky enough to go get a ticket

and see him, you need to because it's, it's still a pretty cool and exciting atmosphere

every time he lines up to go play.

No, no, no joke, and man, on point Nick Fidel for the athletic.

I'll see you soon, bud.

You got it.

Not cool.

It is Ty Reese, how a Burton last seen on a basketball court a long time ago until

last night in Ames, I where we went to college.

You made your return from Achilles injury surgery.

How are you doing?

How did it feel to be back with your team in a true, true on court fashion?

Yeah, it was a first preciation.

It was, it was excited.

It was a lot of fun for me to get back on the floor.

You know, I think a preseason can kind of be like the dog days a little bit where people

like, as like, as my career went on, I'm like the preseason, like, can we just get this done

with.

But then I was excited to be back in Iowa State.

I think that was the most important thing to be back at, you know, where I went to college

and very special place to me.

And then just to be back on the floor was a lot of fun.

I feel like I, you know, you don't get that experience with practice or pick up, like,

that's just completely different.

And I had a lot of fun with it.

And I feel like I learned a lot and it's good to get film on tape, you know, no matter

what good, bad, and, you know, part of the journey of learning.

Is your post scheme, like physical routine, treatment routine, is it different now than

it was before the injury?

Like, what do you have to do if anything that's new?

Yeah.

I wouldn't say it's anything completely like super different.

I've always been, I mean, I had a lot of good vets, hair, some barns and, uh, I mean,

I, you know, Tristan Thompson and Cory Joseph and guys like that and who in buddy healed

who, you know, plays every game, right?

Like these guys who take care of themselves.

So I've always, every time I'm looking here, I've been pretty good about that of getting

massages, getting the tubs, doing all those things.

So post game is pretty much the same pre game.

There's a little more that goes into my lift and my movement session of getting my body

ready than, uh, there typically has been, but for the most part, it's pretty much the

same thing.

How do you feel?

I feel like I feel like I'm going to be a little daft through a real NBA game.

Yeah, honestly good.

Um, you know, I haven't really dealt with any problems, um, really at all with my legs

since having surgery.

Um, you know, a little sornice here and there, but I feel good.

I think yesterday was more about getting my wind.

Like even, even when you play in every year, I played that those first like four minutes

before that immediate time out are always like, oh my god, but yesterday I was like, I am

dying.

And, you know, like we play fast, but obviously Minnesota is playing much faster with the

mellow at point.

So, um, you know, it was just the game was going fast.

I think for everybody because it wasn't just me second win.

So I mean, I feel better than there were more, more people tired than just me.

All right.

So fatigue is one thing.

I watched the game, have to game.

Uh, I thought you looked like Tyree's however, and I thought you were changing directions

pretty well, moving off the ball, like the ball was popping, but like for you, what

did you feel like is a in terms of basketball?

What, what are you for this behind prime peak Tyree's Haloper?

Like is there a movement?

Is there a skill?

Is there a part of your game?

It's like, I, that felt good.

This, this I got a ways to go.

Yeah, I would just say, re adjusting to the speed of the game of live action stuff.

Um, I talked to Jason for a good while last night about it.

Like he said when he came back, it's like the game is going fast and there's really no

way to replicate it.

Uh, like pick up and practice.

He doesn't really do it for us.

And for me, I'm, I'm a, I don't think I'm a pretty fast processor, you know, like and

early in my career, I used to say sometimes like, man, the game is, is moving fast.

You know, rookie say that like the game's moving fast and wants to slow down everything

opened up for me.

Well, obviously the game has slowed down for me for a long time and yesterday was the

first time in a while that I felt like who I'm moving kind of fast.

So that's going to be the biggest adjustments for me just having to like slow back down,

especially with zoo too.

Like, I think the, from the most like tactical standpoint to talk about it, like zoo is by

far the best screener I've ever played with.

He is a guy who hits people.

He enjoys it.

He is great at it.

That's why he's had such a great career.

And I'm used to playing with obviously Miles, who's a guy who's like a early out guy,

a popper and with zoo because I was playing so fast, I kept coming off so fast.

I was so open, but looking down at my feet and seeing I'm one step in front of the

three point line.

And it's like, do I just shoot five horrible long two or do I try to just play the right

way for now, make the safe reads and do all those things.

And as time goes on and I start to slow down, get my feet right where I can just shoot the

three after picking roll or work to get downhill.

I had a couple of times I came off and picked up all up and like that step in front of

the three point line.

That's going to be the biggest adjustment.

And I feel like it'll come with time.

Now that I know that, I'm seeing film for it.

Like it's some all up and powerful.

Um, so I've been covering the NBA full time for 15, 16 years now.

Your playoff run two years ago, one of the coolest things I've ever been around.

I was at the next game one.

I was at all these circumference finals games, all the finals games, all the shots, all

that.

So this is my long-winded way of saying like, is game seven something you could ever

get over?

Do you just not think about it?

Like what is the process of obviously there's the immediate trauma.

There's the halftime locker room.

There's the tears afterwards around TV and all that.

But like a year and change later, like is there a point where is there something you

have to do to like close the book on that or is it just not something that can work like

that?

Yeah, I don't think it's something like we're like, I think the book will forever be open.

Um, you know, and I feel like it's not just me, but like anybody who goes to like a traumatic

life experience, it's really hard to move on from.

And for me, I've said many times like, I was at the peak of the game, you know, feeling

the best I've ever felt.

Um, and it has from a football, from a basketball standpoint, that whole run, but let alone just

that night where I was, I was feeling so good.

And so, um, it's something that would be hard for me to get over.

And we know what I talked to other guys who have lost in the finals.

Obviously different experiences.

Um, but I've talked to guys who have like Jason lost the finals, went on to win the finals

and he's like, I think a lot about that golden state series and some I think about a lot

because I wish I had that one too.

And he's like, I never stopped thinking about it.

And I'm the same boat.

I just got hurt, you know what I mean?

But I mean, that same boat where at the end day, to me, obviously, it's seven games

series and I got hurt in that game and that's the game.

They want to talk about what we could have won.

But like, I think a lot more about game four.

Oh, we're going to talk about that.

Don't worry.

We're winning going into the four.

Like that's been the hardest game for me.

So like, I haven't really rewatched much of the finals to be honest.

Like what's been put in front of you?

What I said on social media or, you know, if it's on TV or whatever, or you're watching

the run, whatever.

But the game four game is some I think about a lot more than in games.

So do you let yourself believe or maybe do you just fly out believes we were going to

win the championship?

Yeah, of course, of course, I believe that.

I'm a competitor.

I wouldn't want to play any of those games.

I didn't believe we were going to win and think some that everybody saw with our group

is, I don't think anybody could watch our playoff run and say, Hey, these guys conceded

at any point in any game they just believe that they were going to lose.

So let alone that game.

Like, we're winning a half.

We played a good brand.

We played a good, a good game from top to bottom as a group.

We just, I feel like about my out there things changed.

So yeah, I mean, of course, I view it that way and I'll always view it that way.

Nothing anybody could say any social media backlash in these comments.

Nothing could change my mind.

I don't care.

But we got to move on.

Like, I'm going to have more years of my career to, you know, hopefully chase that, chase

that dream again.

So, you know, we'll get that opportunity again.

I am a strong believer that everything happens for a reason.

You know, I am more than, more than ready for what's the coming next.

It's not funny.

It is, it's funny you mentioned game four because when, when we got word, you're going to do

the pot.

I was like, I should, you know, looking back at the playoff run.

I mean, I'm at the, I'm at the choke sign game.

I'm at a bunch of the games.

It's like, I want to go back and rewatch the fourth quarter or the second half of game

four because I remember being at the game.

And in my, it's one of the reasons I rewatch it is like in my head, you guys were ahead

by more in the fourth quarter in game four than you actually were, but it felt viscerally.

I mean, I remember vividly sitting there thinking, they're fucking going to do it.

Like, they're going to be up three one and this is going to be a wrap.

And you're up by four, I think, with like two and a half, two, 50 and change.

And then just like a bunch of stuff happens.

It's really crazy that happens other than a couple off ball fouls.

But with that was the game.

It's funny, you zero and on because that's the one I zero and on is like that's one

the series to me.

What do you, what, what, what sticks in your crawl about that game?

I don't know if you have a specific thing you remember.

If there's a shot, you remember you have, you have a step back three over a jet that

doesn't catch rim.

I lay in the game, but you have a lot of other great plays obviously.

Is there, what do you remember from that?

Yeah, lay in that game.

There was a lot of a lot of one on one possession between me and chat.

I think like two or three where I shot a three, some at the rim, something else happened.

It was obviously an elite defender.

But I mean, you say it all the time.

You have a basketball player, but like you wish you could get those back, you know,

to make a different decision, make a better play.

I feel like I was at like I said, the peak of my game in terms of closing games.

And so like you said, to be a four point game for two minutes, like that's closing time.

It's time to win.

And you know, I feel like I had, I could have done a much better job of closing that game.

And it's something that really bothers me because it's like if you go up three one,

the pressure of game five changes and, you know, obviously game five is where I

re aggravate the calf injury.

And so everything kind of changed from there.

And you know, we were at a top.

We're at a point where that series was about who could win two games in a row first.

You know, that's kind of kind of felt like it's somebody's got to win two in a row.

Because if not, we're going to win because we won't game one.

So somebody got to win two in a row.

So game four, you know, lose that game and then lose game five.

That had been the first time we had launched two games in a row.

I think since it's like January, we hadn't done that a very long time.

You know, so that's the game I wish that I could get back, you know, more than anything.

I know we're supposed to move on, but that's the one I wish I could get back.

Wait, another thing I had forgotten was how physical the matchup with Dort was.

And I had even forgotten someone was like, you got to rewatch the free throw and Dort like throws them on the ground.

Like, I don't remember that.

It was like, oh, yeah, he really like threw your ass on the ground during a free throw.

Like you're the Benedict Mathros shooting a free throw and all of a sudden you're on the floor.

I think he'd be, he was really like every step off the ball.

There's like contact.

He made it hard for you to get the ball.

I mean, that is that took must have taken something out of you.

Yeah, for sure.

I mean, they have so many, they have so many great ball defenders.

I feel like, I mean, I was seeing it now at Kaisen Males.

He shouldn't be getting paid here soon.

Another elite, elite on ball defender.

Karusos, a guy in battle many, many years, obviously, with him being in Chicago.

So I feel like what they, what they had was the capability to throw multiple defenders at a lot of us,

especially me and I think Dagnoles, obviously a great basketball mind knowing that he can't allow me to just bring the ball up freely,

especially at that time with the way I was playing.

So I feel like they did a good job, you know, top to bottom defensively.

I feel like we were doing a great job defensively, too.

Obviously, Shay is who he is and Doug had a great series as well.

So, you know, I feel like going into that series, people didn't expect much,

but I think that when you look back on it, you'll, especially as time goes on,

I think people realize how elite and how special a basketball is being played at the time from both sides.

And that's made a form.

There's also a shape which off late in that game on a baseline jumper that that's the one that pace or fans

will never be able to get over.

That's the one that when we do the POE meeting this year, and they talk about the push off.

I'm waiting for that clip to be shown so we can ask the question.

Clip never gets shown.

No, I was going to say I had my R version of that meeting with Amazon Prime,

because I do some stuff for MSOs there and they didn't show that one,

but I think it could have been in the montage.

Let's try enough of this.

This is a very similar team in terms of personnel with the one big exception in the middle in that zoo.

Going from a shooting center, a five out center, to a more interior oriented center.

It seems like it would be a big adjustment.

I honestly thought you guys looked really good last night offensively.

Like, is it less of an adjustment than maybe I thought it was going to be?

It's obviously it's different and it's adjustment not just on you, but on Pascal and how he has to space.

But do you, after a real game, how are you feeling about that part of your team?

I think you just hit the nail in the head and we're like,

it's much less of an adjustment than you or any media member

or anybody talking basketball would think.

Obviously it's different because we played like we were so five out.

Like, Miles is a guy who shoots a lot of jumpers,

he gets a lot of top, and he's lit the league in top of the key threes every year that we've played together.

It is different, but I think what we do such a good job of is outside of Miles,

when Miles didn't play, we had Isaiah Jackson,

we had Thomas Bryant, Tony Bradley played a lot in the finals.

It's not even we have never played with a big who's more of an inside threat, right?

And we've done a great job and I think the league is doing a better job

of taking bigs and spacing them to the corner.

So that if it does hit, it's quick to uphill DHO

or that their guys stays in the paint to help they corner cut.

And if you don't hit them, then you have the skit every time.

So I have no worries about it, especially because of Coach Carlisle

and Coach Pierce and the basketball minds that they are.

And Zooz Bayan has been amazing and he's a really smart guy.

I think that's what people take for granted is he's not a dummy.

Like he understands, hey, if I'm at the top of the key,

I shouldn't just be floating here if there's action going over here.

Maybe we go set in the way screen, I go set a pin down,

I get to catch him, we go right in the backside.

Like he has a brain, he's a really smart player.

So I feel like it's going to look great.

And I think what it helps us with two screening, obviously,

that we talked about, which he's a lead at.

And then having another post presence,

obviously past scale is such an elite post player,

but Zooz is as well.

So if you could throw it to Zoo and we're in the middle of figuring out

what our post basins are exactly going to be.

But for me, I tend to be the post entry past the past scale.

I have over the past couple of years,

I feel like I've got really good at being able to pull over in front

if people want to help.

Because I don't think that teams really want to dig or double off of me

and have a rotating defender where I get to make the read

on a rotating defender.

So typically teams will rotate from whoever the other high guard is.

But which could be Drew or double A or Kelly or whoever is in the game,

Jaris, whoever's in the game at that time.

But I feel like we're doing a really good job of figuring out

this is new in a sense.

But we've had to learn how to do it with past scale.

Now we're just doing it with a file.

You know, so I like it because teams are,

I don't think teams are going to be able to cross match as much.

I feel like we've played teams like Boston,

Mizzula and EGMA used to cross match us a lot.

Put Jason on miles, put centers on past scale.

Exactly.

And then just, you know, have them take, you know, long tours with contestants

and kind of putt try to analytic their way out of it.

I think that's going to be really hard to not put your five on Zoom.

So that'll be, that's an adjustment for deep ends as well.

He'll put your ass in the basket if you put a little bit of wing on him.

All right, very important.

The National League Championship Series is going to start soon.

You had a very much publicized falling out with the Milwaukee Brewers,

your childhood team.

Are you back?

Have you reconsidered that you had like you just said I was a Brewers fan.

Now I'm not.

Then you threw out a first pitch for the Cubs.

Are you really made a clean break with the Brewers?

You're just out.

Yeah, I'm out.

I'm out.

Wow.

I hear me halfway in, halfway out.

I'm out.

I'm completely out.

I'm a Cubs fan.

I was in the pot with all the Padres.

The Brewers are, you know,

congrats to them, but no, I'm out.

And the thing is like I got, I get absolutely killed on social media.

And people are telling me I was soft.

I have all these things.

And how I'm holding a grudge against the whole state of Wisconsin.

All this junk.

That is not the whole state of Wisconsin.

The Brewers are an organization.

The books are an organization.

These are organizations.

They don't rep.

They're not the whole state.

So when people want to, you know, group all those together,

it makes me laugh.

You know, you can't reply to everybody,

but it is what it is.

It's because they canceled the first pitch on you, right?

Didn't they, they, the Brewers proactively were like,

this guy's become public enemy number one in Milwaukee,

because of all the buckstuff, the game ball,

the playoff series,

Dame time.

I've got to say, man, like the Dame one in Vegas,

was it in Vegas?

I think it was in Vegas.

It was a tournament game.

When you threw the Dame time watch logo at him,

I was like, all right, he's really not messing around.

He's going for all the smoke.

Did you regret that?

Or was that like, no, in the moment, did you like,

did you think like, oh, wow, I'm actually doing it?

Yeah.

Do I regret it?

No, because it was obviously a lot of fun for our organization.

And the run we went on in that in season tournament

was a lot of fun.

And it just added to it.

So it was fun.

I think what I do regret more than anything is like,

what me and Dame's relationship has become,

because he was a guy who checked on me a lot,

early in my career,

especially when I got traded.

And we talked a lot.

And I got his permission to like,

be announced as the letter, oh, because that's his thing.

And I, we were supposed to,

I was supposed to talk to him when I was in Portland.

I got shingle, so I didn't have to go into Portland

this year, but yeah, I think I would love to have a conversation.

Because I think it just became more than it ever needed to be.

And I understand his, I missed communication.

And like, and put it on me, right?

I was young in the moment.

I was having fun with it.

It was probably a little much.

And you know, whatever happened from there happened.

But he's a guy who I have looked up to,

who, you know,

majority of my life,

and part of the reason I were zero is,

is Dame and Lillard.

So, and obviously we both went through the Achilles thing.

And so, you know, it's a guy that I would love to,

you know, at least we weren't,

we'd be cordial again,