Spurs ranked No. 1 in Tim Bontemps’ REBUILD RANKINGS 👀 ‘Because they have Wembanyama!’ | NBA Today

Spurs ranked No. 1 in Tim Bontemps’ REBUILD RANKINGS 👀 ‘Because they have Wembanyama!’ | NBA Today

It’s time to go coast to coast and we have to make it an all east edition with my guy Tim Bon in the building. Starting with new Knicks coach Mike Brown on how New York is going to look a little different this year. I just like I like to play fast and so we’re going to try to play fast and make sure that the floor is spaced the the right way. And then defensively we want to have a sense of physicality without fouling. Uh we want people to feel us and uh we want the fans to know that we’re going to get multiple efforts on that end of the floor. Yeah, I’m excited to see what he can do there. Uh the Knicks ranked in the bottom five in pace last season. Tim, is speeding things up key to their success? I have great respect for Mike Brown. I think he’s got a chance to do a very nice job with the Nickerbachers. However, every single coach that gets into a new job says they’re going to play faster. Now, Mike Brown did that with the Sacramento Kings. He had a lot of success. The biggest thing the Kings did was move the ball and have pace and space with the Aaron Fox and Demanis Sabonis running pick and rolls. Can Mike Brown have Jaylen Brown and car Jaylen Brunson and Carl Towns do that? That remains to be seen. Next up, Jaylen Brown who was back in a lab in Spain after his offseason knee surgery. Ramona, how will he fare as the 1A in Boston this season without Jason Tatum of course out with injury? You know, I think Jaylen Brown relishes moments like this. He tried to play through that injury all throughout the playoffs and I think he’ll relish being the 1A here. But there is a good update on Jason Tatum. He’s walking again. He’s out of the boot. He’s walking again. Said he’s been doing six days a week in rehab and I think he’s ahead of schedule and coming back to Makily. That facility in in uh the Mediterranean that the MVPA has sanctuary is a pretty incredible spot. Yeah, not bad. Uh in Philly, Jared McCent there is also making his return from knee surgery. David, if healthy. Are you ready to believe in the Sixers as a top six team in that conference? Yes, if healthy. But also, yes, that’s like if I could fly or if somebody grew wings or something like that. Health is just like in the metaphysical right now. There was like a moment where I started to believe in the 76ers and then 5 minutes later I realized that uh that was not should not be the case cuz I opened up and saw that Paul George is already hurt start the season. Ooh. All right, last stop, Chicago, where Josh Giddy is still a restricted free agent despite averaging 2110 and N over his final 20 games of the year. Tim, are we going to see a deal get done? This is going to be really interesting to see, Vanessa. We have three restricted free agents sitting out there that are in this similar spot. Josh Giddy in Chicago, Quinton Grimes in Philadelphia, Jonathan Kamingo with the Warriors. All three of them have interesting negotiations because there is not cap space out there in the market and their current teams have a lot of leverage to keep them. We’ll see if Josh Giddy and the Bulls can get some kind of a deal done. All right. Well, time flies. It’s been exactly one month since the NBA draft, and the guy that went number one had all eyes on him in the Vegas Summer League. Cooper Flag was relatively inefficient from the floor in game one, but exploded his next game out, tying that summer league record for most points by a number one pick. Our Marty Smith went to Flag’s hometown to find out more about the main man. You know the player flag. You know the posters. A duck of a lifetime. The accolades. A new ACC freshman record. But let me introduce you to the village that raised Cooper flag. I went to the furthest reaches of the Northeast to find out how a kid from rural Maine became the main attraction in the NBA draft. Newport, Maine is a postage stamp of some 3,000 residents in the center of the state. It sits on the shores of Sebastia Cook Lake with the patriotic bluecollar sensibilities that make smalltown America so charming. There’s a a fabric in our community of sticking together. This is a rural Maine farming community. Uh people who work really hard for their living and to have somebody rise above and put in that extra work, hit it on the national level as he did is pretty impressive. Flag’s basketball journey began right here at his childhood home in the center of town. This metal pole is all that remains from driveway hoop wars between a trio of brothers and a rotating tribe of teammates. I got so many memories uh here, but a lot of fights, a lot of fist fights, a lot of blood and tears. It was a joy to walk into those walls and and be around their family. Though, I have such great memories having sleepovers here and playing basketball here and growing up with them. The boys told me about a local entrepreneur I had to meet, Bob Bird, owner of Bears’s one-stop gas station. So Bob, yes. You play horse against the high school kids around here? Yeah, I play against most anybody. What happens if they beat you? They get a free tank of gas. What happened when you played Cooper Flag? He got a free tank of gas. Flag played just one year in this gym at Mccomomas Regional High School, delivering the only boys basketball state title in school history. When did you guys know that Cooper was different? in middle school. Never seen anything like it. Like we didn’t have a game within 30 points and he’d have 25 10 and 10 every night. [Applause] I think the highest compliment I can give to any player is you’re a great teammate and Cooper’s a great teammate. Why are you emotional about that right now? That group was very special. You know, we talked about being a family, and sometimes that’s a cliche, but that group really was that close. We really were a family. Everyone I met agrees. Flag is the biggest thing that ever happened here. He’s just really good and I really want to be like him someday. While he went on to stardom at prep school in Florida, superstardom at Duke Cooper Black, the most popular export from Maine since lobster and now stands on the doorstep of Mayor history means a lot to me. Coming from a small town, being able to represent a state in the basketball space, kind of put it on the map. Rest assured, Cooper’s flag, sun or snow, is forever planted right here in Newport. I mean that was just great stuff by Marty Smith. Uh Flag is the odds on favorite of course to win rookie of the year at minus 190 according to ESPN Bet Sports book. He’s followed by Trey Johnson at 9 to1 and then VJ Edgecom at 10 to1. From getting boards to on the boards, Spurs star Victor Wimbeyama hosted his own hoop Gambit tournament in France this week. Victor’s had quite the summer. He really has. He’s been everywhere worldwide. Wimy’s teammate Jeremy Sohan was in attendance as well as fellow Frenchman Rudy Goar. And speaking of the Spurs, our Tim Bontimps released his rebuild rankings from the 14 teams who did not make the playoffs last season. It’s not just about who’s good right now, it’s about who’s building toward greatness. Bonimp’s latest list of the best position for the future. Number one, the Spurs. Number two, Mavs. Number three, the Hawks. Number four, 76ers. And finishing the list at number five, the Wizards. So, uh, let’s let’s start with this, uh, Tim. Why why the Spurs? Two words, Victor Wyama. If you have Victor Wyama on your team, you have a chance to win a championship. And that’s what this whole list was about. How close are you to winning a title? There are several teams, Washington, Utah, Brooklyn, Charlotte, that if they’d gotten a Cooper flag, they might be number one on this list because of all the other young guys they’ve got. But this guy right here is an alien. He’s got a chance to be the best player on the planet. They have Stefan Castle. They have Dylan Harper. They have the ability to make other trades in the future. They just added the Fox. This is a team that when you look at that list, if a couple things go right, we could be talking about them going toe-to-toe with the Oklahoma City Thunder over the next few years. Victor Women Yamama’s got a chance to be the best player in the league. That is why they are at the top of that list. Okay, so we’ve spent the last few weeks asking all the big questions of the offseason. Who’s the team to beat? Which stars are on the move? What’s next for some of the league’s biggest names? But DDJ, you are done guessing. You’re ready to deliver three NBA guarantees heading into the season. The floor is yours, my friend. Yeah, I’ve always wanted to do this. These are things I guarantee. Can I Can I even do that? Anyway, so the number one thing that I’m guaranteeing here is that Victor Wimyama, piggybacking off what Tim Bond said, he is going to be defensive player of the year. Lock it in. He was close to defensive player of the year before he went out. Would have won uh that last year. 3.8 blocks and a steal at only two fouls per game. This dude, you are good luck scoring on him at any point playing a full season. you can lock him in as defensive player of the year for sure. Next, going to the Eastern Conference, we have our Eastern Conference Finals matchup locked and loaded. Cleveland Cavaliers, New York Knicks. It’s happening. I don’t care about the Wild Cards. Yes, the Atlanta Hawks look good. Yes, the Magic look good. But Cavs Knicks are primed with what’s going on in the East. No Celtics, no Pacers, Giannis not being a factor. probably it’s going to be up to the Knicks and the Cavs. One of these teams are going to make the finals and the other one is going to be left wondering if they got to make some real big moves. Finally, we’re going where we started. OKC, the Thunder, number one seed in the West. Lock it down. They are on an island right now. Not only are they going to be the number one seed, they’re going to get 60 plus wins. And I think they’re going to do it pretty easily. They’re going to be, you know, they got a lot of health on their side right now. Chad Homegrren looks healthy. JDub got that surgery. This team is better than they were last year. What’s scary is that last year was the worst version of this team. Everybody’s getting better. Chad’s getting better. JDub’s getting better. SGA is going to try to win another champ, another MVP. It is the OKC and everybody else in the league right now. Oh, those are some bold guarantees. Uh Tim and Ramona, let’s get your thoughts on DDJ’s guarantees. Ramona, I mean, I think that award for defensive player, they’d be named after Victor when he’s all said and done. So that’s that’s not a long limb that you went on on that one. The other ones I I agree with you probably that’s going to be the Cavs and the Knicks, but there’s a few teams that can make some noise and I’m not riding Giannis or the Bucks off at all. Um I I think in terms of guarantees like I still like the guy in Denver. You can say he’s going to average a triple double. I’m just going to say he’s going to lead the league in assists next year. He was second last year. Trey Young was the leader in assists. And I think he’s right there. It’s it’s he he does it in his sleep, guys. He does it in his and I think Denver got a lot better this off season. He’s got even more guys to pass to that he that are going to put the ball away for him and I I think that’s something he hasn’t done. Let’s let’s see him do it here. As far as David’s go, totally with him on Thunder, totally with him on uh Victor Win defensive player of the year. He might win the next five in a row. The one I’m curious about is the Knicks and the the Cavs in the conference finals in the East. We thought last year all season it was going to be the Cavs and the Celtics. Neither one of them made it to the conference finals. I am curious to see if both of those teams can get there. They certainly go into the season having all the expectations as David correctly said that they should get there. My prediction for going into next season, my guarantee for now, Miami Heat going over 37 and a half. I think it’s the best number on the board. The Heat won 37 games last year and they were 14 and 28 in clutch time games. They played the fifth most games clutch time games last season. They were 28th in winning percentage. That almost always evens out. They add to Norman Norman Powell this summer. They have a full season of Andrew Wiggins. They have a full season without the drama of the Jimmy Butler situation. I expect Miami in a week. Eastern Conference will be pushing to win games. We’ll be at or over 500 and well over the 37 and a half number. DDJ, I’m just thinking about I don’t know what I’m going to do in the Eastern Conference without Miami or Atlanta in the playin. It’s going to be so weird not having those guys down there. But I like these guarantees. I think I’m on board with with with both of them. I think we got five lock good solid guarantees here. I’m with it. I don’t know. Men Thompson defensive player of the year sounds good to me. I I I don’t I I don’t know. What do we think? Only first team all defense. First team all defense. That’s for sure. That’ll be that that’s going to do it for us on NBA today. We will be back next week. Thanks for joining us.

On NBA Today, the panel goest Coast to Coast covering the biggest storylines across the association. Then, Tim Bontemps details his Rebuild Rankings and why he gave the San Antonio Spurs the No. 1 spot for team with the brightest future.

0:00 Coast to Coast
2:35 The Maine Event
6:40 Bontemps’ Rebuild Rankings

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