Luka Dončić’s New Body Has The NBA In SHOCK & Breaking down Restricted Free Agents! | NBA Squad Show

Luka Dončić’s New Body Has The NBA In SHOCK & Breaking down Restricted Free Agents! | NBA Squad Show

On today’s Locked on NBA squad show, we take over the feed of your favorite show. We’re talking about Skinny Luca. How is he changing the NBA? Do we care? Is he gonna keep this up? We also talk about restricted free agents, Jonathan Kamingo. What are the Warriors doing with him? We talk about Houston, Orlando, Minnesota. Are they dropping? We talk about Boston. All kinds of things on Locked on NBA squad show starting now. And welcome to the Lockown NBA squad show. My name is Nick Angst, host of Locked on NBA and Locked on Mavericks. This is the squad show where we take over the feed of your favorite lockdown show. It’s an open invite for any host to join, talk about anything, usually related to the NBA. Sometimes not. We’ll see what happens throughout this. Today’s episode is brought to you by Game Time. Download the Game Time app, create an account, and use that code locked on NBA for $20 off your first purchase. Joining me today from the champion locked on Thunder. It’s Ryland Styles from the Skinny Luca having locked on Lakers. It’s Andy Camitzki from the Desmond Bane training for Locked on Magic, Philip Rossman Reich. in front of the KD DMing now Jackson Gatlin. He’s from Locked on Rockets. Gentlemen, we may go somewhere completely different, but today let’s start with Skinny Luca gracing the cover basketball player in part model in full. Andy Konetski. Um, he My boy is hot, Nick. My boy is white hot. I am h I am having an emotional basketball affair with Skinny Luca. And I don’t care who knows. This is like your ex goes on Ozic like levels. No, no, no, no. This is your ex. Your your ex, Nick. No, that’s what I’m saying. Yeah. This is your ex. Not just going on OMIC, but then going on an Instagram tour during each uh step of the Ozmpic. Like he was on the Today Show. Luca was on the Today Show. This is your ex goes on Ozic and ends up dating Pete Davidson like and just they’re just everywhere. You’re just you just have to see it everywhere everywhere you go. He he is out there gallivanting in his new body and showing off a lot of leg for anybody else. Do we care about this? Is this like are you afraid of this Ryland Jackson as teams that will be high in the West? Philip, you can sit out for as you’re in the uh the the B conference over there. But he’s Moses guy though. Do we care about this? Is this like is this making you shake in your boots at all? I don’t know about shake, but I I I think you you absolutely have to think about what this does for Luca, for his health, for his ability on the basketball. Obviously, he was one of the best players in the entire NBA, top five, top three, whatever you want to call him when he was healthy previously, right? But acting like the what I’m not going to call him fat like Nico Harrison, but like acting like his conditioning acting like his conditioning wasn’t a bit of an issue at times that maybe got downplayed or you know looked over at times because of just how how insanely talented he was. It was absolutely a factor, right? Like you go back to, you know, rookie year Luca, sophomore year Luca before he kind of added some of the weight, right? he was skinnier, he was leaner, he was on the Euro diet, like whatever you want to call it. And so now you’re getting like this, you know, new look Luca. Now, I will say the hype surrounding skinny Luca is approaching like levels of like hoodie mellow workout videos in the off season or Ben Simmons hitting threes. Like, I’ll believe it when I see it when we’re like three months into the NBA season and if he actually stays skinny Luca and if it’s actually improving his game, then sure, I’ll be a little worried that he’s about to unleash terror on the entire league. But until then, you know, he can enjoy the uh the influencer IG thought model tour, whatever he’s doing right now. This is the point I made on game night is that the key for Luca is not right now cuz we’ve seen Luca get in shape. Maybe not in this good of shape right now, like in this part of the season, but it’s the post international pre-NBA stretch. There’s like a month in between there or a half month and sometimes you’re like, “Oh man, how did he how did he put on that that way between he’s just slamming cheeits and all sorts of stuff.” I I mean honestly and then you then it’s the travel during the season cuz he was specifically mentioned in that men’s health article that the travel is something that really kind of not caught him off guard but is difficult for him and that during the offseason he’s in one place you’re stable. you can get into a routine and like the travel of the NBA. I mean, we’ve all traveled for finals and playoffs and stuff like that. Like eating healthy while you travel is very is very hard. But I guess they have everything available to them in the NBA. Uh but you also have everything available to you. So your choices like you can make a crazy choice. I’m sorry. Are we Matt Moore from Lock NBA Lock on Nuggets has has entered the chat. Are are we trying to argue that’s difficult for the multi-million dollar athlete who is catered to at every single step of the way to eat a salad? Like, are we Salads can have more calories than burgers, Matt? You don’t know what kind of salad that is. You know what has you know what has more calories than both? Beer. That’s That’s very true. And that that was a that’s what he does during that month between between in the offseason, Nick, he’s just drinking all his recovery beers. Recovery beers. Yeah, that’s correct. But I mean I I I believe that he’s that he’s going to be in a different shape this whole season. I believe that he is taking it more seriously. A different a different shape is not like you could be in any kind of shape. He could be a rhombus. Like feel like Spongebob. We’re We’re not talking about this. We’re not talking about this. We’re talking about this. Oh god. But I I do think in terms of like on the court, he was already a he was already a terrifying matchup nightmare for the entire NBA. That that drug the Mavericks on what Matt Moore would call fluke run to the finals. Like that’s how good he is. So I I just don’t think that our Mavs fluke runs reference from the squad. And I hid behind Matt that way the mass raccoon squad can’t come after me. But I I do think that there’s nothing really left for him to prove on the court in terms of being an incredible player. Could he be more competitive defensively? Sure. And maybe this will help him do that. But other than that, he was always a matchup nightmare and a guy who you should be scared of even as the Thunder, even as the Rockets and everyone else at the top of the West. Here’s the thing that I think give two reasons for optimism for me as somebody that obviously has a biased wish casting interest in Luca maintaining this. It’s e it’s excellent for me. But one, he seems to be cognizant of the idea of wrapping his arms around this and you know the quote that he gave to men’s health like if I back essentially if I backslide then all of this was for nothing and like recognizing that there is a commitment to it. Like I remember when Julius Randall uh first signed with the Pelicans. I did I did an interview Brian and I did an interview with him for the Athletics several years ago and he said that the first thing he did when he signed with the Pelicans was hire a private chef because he’s like when I would go on just on road trips to the you know to New Orleans for the Pelicans, I’d gain weight because the food is just insane in New Orleans. So, it it sounds like Luca is cognizant of the idea of there are steps towards this being a commitment, but also too, if Luca immediately backslides and by December he’s looking like pretty skinny Luca. Um, some would call it fat Luca. Do you know how humiliating that’s going to be for him? Like if within three months he goes from shredded, leaned out to looking like the guy before, especially after showing off this transformation at every single possible oper. Like I’m waiting for him to appear on NPR at this point. He’s been in everywhere else talking about this transformation. like he has set himself up to be a massive joke if he doesn’t follow through on this reasonably well. We we always like I feel like we always like try and like come up with these narratives and ask this this question like how do elite athletes kind of find motivation and this really does feel like sort of a a kind of Michael Jordan moment where he’s going to be like I’m going to you know Dallas I was happy there. Uh they they caught me off guard with this trade. They said all these really bad things about me. I’m gonna show them. And and yeah, you know, the one thing you don’t do with incredible competitors, and you can say a lot of things about Luka Dantric. That guy is a competitor. He wants to win. He may not know all the ways he needs to win. And you know, maybe I I haven’t read the men’s health thing, but maybe he got some ideas from LeBron who has who has really been about taking care of his body. He’s obviously like 45 years old and still playing um at a high level. I know he’s not 45. I’m joking. Um but yeah, he’s not that young. That’s not even hyperbolic enough for it to be like a hyperbolic. That’s fair. Only like four years off. Look at look at that guy. He’s he’s at the end of his career, at the end of his ropes. He’s 32 years old. Um but um Luca, like Luca is one of those players that you give him an inch, just any reason to be motivated. And I can speak about this from experience as a Magic guy because he loves sticking it to Jamal Mosley. and he’s playing the magic. Luca comes out with the big guns to stick it to his former favorite assistant coach Jamal Mosley. Um, you give those guys just a little bit of inspiration, a little bit of motivation, they go for the whole thing. They are killers. They are ruthless. And that’s what makes them the best players. And that’s why, you know, this does feel like this is going to be Luca’s MVP season. Like he is setting the narrative now. Winning, you know, winning the MVP is a full season narrative blitz and narrative attack. He’s done the men’s health. He’s done this media blitz. He’s going to play Euro Basket. Slovenia has as good a chance as anyone to win that tournament. And then he’s going to go to the Lakers, the biggest stage, probably playing on opening night for NBC or whoever’s airing the opening night games. He’s going to be in the spotlight the entire season. This feels like he is really going after it to show like I’m going to show the world how good I am and how wrong Dallas is. And you know what? We kind of did this whole thing after they were bounced in the finals. We’re like, “Oh, here’s the embarrassment that it’s finally going to get him.” Like, all right, that’s why I’m waiting to like, all right, let’s see if it, let’s see if Andy is right about the whole thing. Like, all right, I know what I need to sacrifice now, and let’s But the finals, though, I don’t think should have been considered an embarrassment for Luca. Like, you did get to the finals. Like, you achieved something getting to the finals. You’re one of the last two teams remaining. That’s much different than getting sucker punched in a trade, having your former team create a whisper campaign of, “Oh, we would have loved to commit to him, but old Tubby, we can’t trust on his to right to get through his Game of Thron They were talking to those Game of Thrones birds. They’re not whispering.” It took hundreds of millions of dollars out of his pocket. Like the getting eliminated in the finals does not come close to comparing to what he just went through now. Like it’s it’s apples and cars. It’s it’s nothing close to each other. Which one is the car? Luca now, man. He’s fine-tuned machine. Oh, I used to have a drop from Jason Kid, I want to be able to touch the car. That’s what he said is it got introduced. Jason Kid’s introductory press conference. He said, I want to be able to touch the car. And he used kid he used Luca as the car analogy. And it very funny to me. Can we talk about the mental health article and how it uh used AI and completely got a a thing wrong and said Luca had a 42 inch vertical? I mean we refrain we refrain from talking about that part on our show Lakers. We left that part alone even before uh your retraction uh became known, Nick. We just were like let’s leave that one alone. That sounds a little off. You guys are writers. That’s nuts. That’s insane that that that came out a high-profile article like that with a high-profile like obviously PR blitz and all of that and to do the whole photo shoot with him and like to have that in there like I mean some somebody’s intern got fired for that one for sure. I mean look fact checkers are gone man. Like editors work on SEO value now. like editors work on, you know, how to program the backend in order for you to get populated in search and how to make sure that everything is functioning correctly from a back-end distribution standpoint. Not, you know, like I don’t know how much people want to hear about the how the sausage gets made, but like we just we don’t have fact checkers anymore. We don’t have like definite editor setups here. Um, so I’m not surprised that it happened. I’m I guess like the kind of the question is like um why did the author in question not go like wait did Luka really have a 42 inch vertical like the guy that like every January is like slumping down the court and like clearly clearly enjoys Michelob Ultra or not Michelob Ultra Michelob whatever the opposite of that is. He did he did get sent a lot of Ultra to his time. You guys know that story where they sent him like cases and cases like like 100 cases of Michelob to his house. Shouldn’t we all be so lucky? Yeah. Come on. We had Michelobra at some point. I don’t think we got cases. Yeah. Now now they’re just shipping cases of Ozic to his house. I want to know how Men’s Health got the got got this. Why Men’s Health? Oh, because it’s such a clear like PR strategy of like Men’s Health. the in the article they were so detailed and focused on like the muscle groups and the workouts he was doing and like detailed about the the diet and stuff and then it came to the basketball and they’re like compared to the highlight dunks of Shay Gilders Alexander and I’m like first of all which highlight dunks from Shake Gilders Alexander it’s not necessarily not necessarily his AI didn’t write that part too yeah the 42inch vertical I was like man the the disconnect between the accuracy of the the physical things and then the the nonaccuracy of the basketball How many of the the nonquote sections of that article do we think was actually AI? All probably probably all. Right. Or pretty close to it. All that included anything with basketball. Sick. We use We use AI for some of our stuff. Yeah. And it tries to tell me that Luca is on the Maverick sometimes when it like suggests certain things to me. It’s wild. Yeah. Reggie Jackson is still on the Nuggets. Calvin Booth still has a job then. Oh, there’s Take me back. No, actually, David Adaban’s gonna be great. Today’s episode of Lock Squad’s brought to you by Game Time. We’ve all been there. Logging on early, waiting forever for concert tickets to go on sale. GH I did this trying to get into the Aeros Tour for Taylor Swift and you just get stuck and you’re like, “All right, give me my I just want to get tickets. I just want to buy them. This is like capitalism. Give me the tickets.” Okay, Game Time will give you the tickets. They’ve got them. Go check out. And also they have price drops that are actually they actually get get lower as you get closer to game time, as you get closer to showtime because you can go to games, concerts, theater, uh comedy shows, all kinds of stuff. You can save up to 60% with their killer last minute deals on game time. You can also see the view from your seats. I love that as well. 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It is getting loud over there and has I mean it’s obviously been loud since like Vietnam, but like he has been for for as highprofile as he thinks he is, he is not as good of a player as he actually is. I just want to say I think the Suns have the chance to do the funniest thing possible and flip Jaylen Green for Jonathan Kaminga. I would love to see that take place. Wow. Just just some personal amusement for me. I need to know if you’re going to put Jaylen Green in your top 100 and you’re locked on top 100. Please, Jackson. I’ve got him on mine. I love Jaylen Green. I think he’s still there for there. I love Jaylen Green. I have him on mine, too. is this restricted free agency thing is just like this just going to be like this every summer now where they there just no money and they’re just good for the Thunder because like that’s but like that’s that’s what they did when they changed the the rules about how long you know how long you have to to confirm the contract the the crazy cap hold for that you know if if you’re not like a guaranteed you know there’s obviously the max guys there’s obviously guys who get like just under the max but if you’re like one of these I don’t know guys you’re kind of just stuck in limbo and your team is stuck in limbo, too. I mean, this is this is getting to the cap nerdy stuff, but it’s just that no one wants to move on any of these guys that are questionable because whatever they put down that the other guys going to agree to, the other team’s going to match and you’re just going to be handcuffed for, you know, for, you know, the however many days it is now, it’s just not worth it to pursue any of these guys. And so, some of these guys just need to be willing to say, “Okay, you’re not giving me what I want. I’m going to bet on myself. I’m taking the qualifying offer and I’m gonna be a free I’m going to be an unrestricted free agent next season and and I’ll be able to go where you know essentially wherever I want to go. But again, some of the problem there is like cap room doesn’t matter anymore. Like everybody has to sign extensions because nobody has cap room to sign anybody big anymore. So if you’re Jonathan Kuminga and you think you’re $20 million player or whatever it is, a $30 million player, you’re not going to find that anywhere except for the team that except for the team that you’re on. And if they’re not willing to give it to you, you’re kind of stuck. You’re trapped. And so I think, you know, restricted free agency has a purpose. My team knows it more than anybody else because of Shaq back in the 90s. But restricted free agency has a purpose, but it seemingly has outlived its purpose and has just become this this tool to handcuff players to teams. And when the team doesn’t want them, they don’t know what to do anymore. It’s also just going to get worse next year because cap is only going to go up, we think, 7% as opposed to 10%. So that is not outpacing the 8% raises that happen for a lot of these other big contracts. So uh like like everybody’s talking about second apron culture it there’s just less money and for these guys especially the ones where you don’t give them extended like actual extensions. Those are the players that you have questions about and those are just going to be the players that get squeezed all the time. It used to be that you could if you squeeze these guys that was like it was an insult. It was a and like but you can tell that they still feel that way. like Kaminga and Thomas still feel that way, but the owners have set it up where they could be like, “Sorry, we really can’t avoid the apron.” Man, we’re all trying to find the guy who did this. It sucks. A shame I can’t pay you the way that I used to pay these other guys because that was kind of the thing for a while was like a lot of guys were getting these contracts and everybody was like, “Really?” And this is like the the corrective course for that. Um, now I don’t like it because it’s they don’t have a chance to hit the open market, right? It’s restricted. Like that’s the other part of this is you don’t want to waste waste your cap space in a limited market on a guy that the team can just be like, “Okay, we’ll just match it.” I also just think the Warriors are being morons here. You don’t want him. He’s not very good. He doesn’t fit with your team. You’re trying to win a title with Steph. He doesn’t really fit with Steph Curry. Love a god. Just move the kid. Like let him go somewhere else. Send him to Phoenix. I think he could actually be pretty good there. Doesn’t he represent the only like young guy that kind of worked out for them? maybe Pajki now, but like last year I forgo sight. Never mind. Sorry. The time the timeline thing like he’s kind of the only young guy that has any still kind of potential. I think it’s less of the face saving thing and I think it’s more of like um there is this like well we can’t let we just can’t let the asset go. Yeah, we can’t let the asset go, you know? And I get it because from that standpoint, like the Rockets gave Jaylen Green a stupid extension and then the Suns were like, “Okay, they the tinfoil hat on that is they gave him that extension so that they could trade him sooner.” Cuz if you let him get to this, I don’t even think that’s a tin foil hat. That’s just a hat. Okay, fine. Hat. There you go. Straight. It’s a sombrero then. It’s just a big ass hat. How’s that extensions the magic gave last summer I’ve been telling people is like these are trade slots. like you need a $15 million salary to for a few how it works now. D’Angelo Russell either last year or two years ago, I don’t remember which one it was, but he was working off the last contract he had with the Lakers and he openly talked about in so many words, “Yeah, I know that this contract was set up for me to be tradable.” Like, it turned out he wasn’t until later than they thought they would. But these guys aren’t stupid. Like they they know how this stuff works. They know what the deal is when they sign these contracts. Like at this point, I think unless you’re talking about a situation like Luca, most of these guys are not going to be sucker punched anymore with a deal. Like they they they already they’re like on the block the minute they sign their contracts. Like that’s the way this stuff works now. If anything, you know, with Matt, you we’re talking about them the Warriors being idiots and you know, we want the asset. They’ve spent a couple years now depreciating the asset that they refuse to let go. Like if there’s anything that I think could come out of the Kaminga situation, some of these other ones, you have to decide much quicker. Are you in with this guy or not? Because they could have gotten something for Kaminga a couple years ago. Instead, they’ve been consistently lowering his value and now they feel like stuck because they have to do something with him and they know he’s too talented to just let walk for nothing, but he doesn’t fit for what they want to do and they don’t want to tailor what they do at all to fit him. So, the whole thing is stupid. It feels like they’re clearly not in on him and they’re also too embarrassed to admit that. I don’t think it’s embarrassment. I just think because they’re embarrassing. I I think Well, you think everything’s embarrassing. Like I think I think I’m with him that I think it’s embarrassing, too. Well, I think it can be embarrassing from the outside, but I don’t know that teams look at it that way. Like, I don’t know that they actually look at those kind of things. I think I feel like it’s it’s both sides just don’t know the value. Like, Golden State doesn’t value Kuminga as much as Kuminga values himself and thinks he should be paid. And so like you know there whatever deal is on the table is what two for 48 or whatever it is or or whatever that deal is like he’s not willing to take that and Golden states well we’ve got all the cards now we’ve got all the leverage so you’re either taking this or you’re taking the qualifying offer and spending another year at you know whatever that amount is that’s much much lower take it or leave it like you know yeah I agree they’re kind of kicking the can down the road but the contract expired this is where they’re at. This is how they value him. he doesn’t value, you know, he values himself as much more and is holding out for more and there’s just there’s no all the all the seats at the table have been taken and Kuminga has no choice and a lot of these guys have no choice but to take what the team is giving them or ex or go for that qualifying offer and say okay I’ll try I’ll be an unrestricted free agent next summer then it’s one of the things I hate I’ll have the no trade call on top of that it’s one of the things I hate in the league is that everybody wants everything like nobody ever wants to compromise the Warriors aren’t like well look you don’t really fit what we want to we benched you here, you know, fine, go be free. And on his end, like, and he’s considering signing the qualifying offer, but that’s the answer here is like, all right, you don’t think that that this this offer is fair and you’re going to show it and you’re going to prove it to him, sign the qualifying offer, then get out of there. Then you go make up your own mind. The problem though for Kaminga is he’s not at a place where he can bet on himself, right? Like it’s it’s very clear like this is the one team maybe that he cannot bet on himself because he already knows they don’t think I fit for what I they do and they’re not going to make any accommodations for me. Like right or wrong, no matter how you feel about Kaminga, the Warriors are a terrible place for him to bet on himself. There’s also not that much free agency money out there. Like Matt was like he doesn’t get to go test the market. Like I don’t Are there guys out there getting huge deals? like there’s not a ton of cap space out there. Maybe the maybe the Nets would not have done the MPJ thing and signed him. But hey, hey, we don’t we don’t bring that up. We’re very happy. It’s official, right? They can’t resend it. Like they can’t come back. That’s the difference between like restricted free agency now and restricted free agency four, five, six, seven years ago. The Nets gave what, four for 44 or four, you know, gave a huge contract to Allan Crab and everyone saw that deal and was like, what are they doing? And it was like Brooklyn was like, “We have the cap room. We’re going to make life miserable for one of our opponents and we’ll take the salary. We’ll eat it and we’ll see what happens.” Rebuilding teams don’t even do that anymore. They don’t they don’t take flyers on these restricted free agents and say, “You know what? We’re not going to be good for two or three years. Let’s give it a try. Let’s try this out.” They don’t they don’t act that way anymore. They do they get those players like getting Michael Porter Jr. in in other way in other ways and so restricted free agency is just they’re tra those players are just trapped like there’s there’s nowhere for them to go and they’re either going to take what the other teams what the teams are giving them or they’re going to have to hit the qualifying offer and bid on themselves and sometimes that they’re not going to get as much as as they think they’re going to get because cap there’s just no money around anymore. No one no one plays free agency anymore like Paul George going to the Sixers. The fact that Paul George went to the Sixers and has completely flamed out, that’s probably the end of like big move big players moving in free agency like that. It’s it’s it’s going to happen very rarely now. No one plays free agency. That’s entering the Lakers music again for 26 27. They’re loading up plan powder. Keep it dry. I am not convinced that that is the plan A the way it’s actually being presented. We shall see. Um it even by the standards of unimaginative star referee that we’ve seen from the Lakers as an organization, those reports feel conveniently stupid. Like particularly the 2027 piece of it, like the 2026, okay, you could maybe make an argument we can’t flip the roster the way we want to as quickly as we can this off season. Maybe next off season when we really do have much more flexibility and a lot of contracts off the books, we just can maneuver better. But like the idea of essentially sitting in idle for 2 years, Luca, two years of Luca’s prime because you’re hoping that you can maybe lock up Giannis from ages 33 to 36 just feels conveniently stupid. And I also noticed that the 2027 reports, to the best of my knowledge, did not start surfacing until after Rich Paul left the statement with LeBron’s opt-in and hinting some displeasure. I did some math. I’ll just leave it at that. They did not feel like unconnected events to me. that all of a sudden this started coming out at a time when they were expressing perhaps a disappointed mood. The uh the clear up a bunch of space for Giannis is the Mavericks playbook from 2019. They literally tried that exact exact same thing. You just got a different onto Koopo. That’s correct. They got Costas and it worked out. Can I um I want to I’m I’m interested in the Rockets. Hayes unlocked on NBA Daily is very is very very in on on Houston. Um Ryland the city or the No. Uh why not both? Could understand why the city Ryland I was I’m kind of curious. Do you have like they played you guys tough a couple times last year? I’m kind of just curious. They played the Thunder couple tough last year. I’m just kind of curious if you think Thunder fans should have like an appropriate level of fear for Houston or if they are still kind of not in that consideration. And I’m curious on Ryan’s position on it from a Nugget standpoint, too. Yeah, I mean, I I have it as the Thunder, you know, the best team in the West, and then it’s the Nuggets and Rockets, you know, two and three. I think that these are the three clear leaders in the clubhouse to to try to win the Western Conference. So, by nature of that, you should have an appropriate fear for Houston. And I don’t really even care how the Rockets start the season. I think that perhaps there could be a little bit of a stumble out of the gate for them as they figure out how all this stuff works with their new front court with Kevin Durant pairing him with Shenon. But I think that by the end of the season, they’re going to be legitimate contenders. And like the Thunder better hope that it does go one, two, three, where they can delay the possibility of playing one of those two teams until the West Finals and only have to go through one of them versus having to go through both of them if they’re trying to repeat, which they are. So, I do think that they should be legitimately uh fearful or just acknowledging that the Rockets are legit contenders. I still would have Denver ahead of them, but I do think it’s very close and it is a one two three to me pretty clearly. Like I don’t I don’t think there’s an argument for anyone else to be in that top three. This is where I chime in. I think this is where I chime in. Um actually I I actually before you do I actually want to hear if Ryan is like scared of Houston Nuggets guy. I’m appropriately like I’m higher on Kevin Durant I think than a lot of people are. I’m on the top 100 that we released. I think I put him at seven on the the entire NBA list, which is is very aggressive still given where he’s been, but like you make sure that he’s healthy heading into the playoffs. And like what was Houston weak at this past year? It was scoring in the half court, a number one overall option, somebody that they could trust to sort of operate everything and and draw all of the attention and make things easier for the rest of their squad. Uh Alpie will be better. Amen Thompson will be better. Jabari Smith would be better. I think he’s he’s one of the guys that secretly will benefit a lot from this. Now, that could also potentially backfire and they could decide, yeah, you know, we’d rather trade him for some shooting. Uh but we’ll we’ll see what happens and and what they ultimately look like. But I I think that they are like if Denver lost to Houston in the playoffs, I would not be surprised. Would it be disappointing for Denver specifically? Sure. But like would it be surprising? No. Yeah. And Houston should be able to, I think, protect Kevin because they’ve proven that they have a excellent coach. They have a they have a team that can that can play a winning style of basketball in the regular season because I still expect that defense to be really good with who they have on the roster. And you know, their roster is good enough to win in the regular season as we saw last year without their biggest flaw being that that bucket getter. So, I think that you can manage his minutes in a way that gets him to the end of the season and really inject him come playoff time. And that’s kind of what the Thunder did with Cruso. kind of kept him in bubble wrap all season long. They unveil him in the postseason. He plays every game and plays that taxing style of basketball that he does play and it helped the Thunder win a championship. So, I I think that even from a standpoint of if you’re iffy on Kevin Durant at this stage of his career and with his previous health or whatever, I I think that even Houston helps him get to the end more than other teams could. Although, we’re not hanging in my head. Uh, Jackson, I had a vision in my head of Joic and Valenunis on the floor versus Stephen Adams and Alper and Shangun and just like tag team like WWE take Val on the floor. It was not the postseason, huh? I was like, can we just make that Can we just make that game four of that second round series? Honestly, 2000s NBA loves that idea. Honestly, I’m ready for it. Look, I one of the things that I love about kind of the direction some of the teams in the NBA are headed, right, is teams are able to play multiple different styles, right? You see some teams that are able to, you know, roll out the double big lineup like we had saw the Thunder with their double big. We saw the Cavs with their double big. We saw the Celtics at times running their double big lineups like but the versatility to run the double big at times and you know having one of them ideally be a shooting a spacing big but then also being able to go small. And what’s funny is I think the Rockets are weirdly enough they’re kind of built right now very similar to how the Thunder are kind of built, right? They’ve got their they’ve got a ton they’re going to be a hell of a defense. The only difference really between the two is that the Rockets went for like forwards and wings. The Thunder are a ton of guards, right? A ton of point of attack defenders, guards. Um you’ve got the, you know, really the scramble get everywhere kind of defense that OKC runs. And then, you know, offensively for OKC, right? Everything runs through Shay. And then the the 10 to 12 minutes a game that Shay’s sitting, it runs through JDub. the Rockets. It’s going to be everything’s running through KD in the half court for the most part that you know Shingun will still shoulder some of the offensive burden, but KD will take a lot of that pressure off of him. Um, one stat that jumped out when I was looking at things this past for this past season, right, is Shingun commanded more double teams than anybody except for Niko Joic in the NBA this past season and it felt like the Rockets failed to capitalize on those opportunities time and time again throughout the year, throughout the regular season, throughout the postseason. Now you’re actually giving Alp a running mate, you know, not even no running mate, a number one option, right? Because KD is number one now on this team. Period. Point blank. You’re giving him, you know, a fellow star to be able to actually take some of that pressure off of him. And I think that’s going to do wonders for the Rockets offense because it at times this past season and, you know, in the two years under Emmy Odoka, it’s felt like, you know, pulling teeth with this Rockets team trying to just watch them play offense, right? It hasn’t been pretty. You know, you got a lot of you guys would clown on the Rockets through the regular season for how bad the offense actually looked. And it did look bad, right? They had to try to find ways to be effective despite being, you know, kind of a mess offensively at times. Now, you’ve got Kevin Durant, one of the most gifted scorers to ever touch a basketball. He’s your get out of jail free card offensively. It It’s not He’s not going to magically turn the Rockets into a top five, top 10 offense, but it’s going to look a lot better than it did last season. and they were already the number two seed last season with a broken offense. Like it’s going to get a lot better. I don’t see how they’re not clearly the favorites to be the second best team in the Western Conference right now. I mean, they’re not clearly the favorite. Like they’re in that conversation with Denver. I think what’s interesting is like there’s no um the Tide Riser I think is really interesting. Like the guy that makes everybody better. Kevin Durant hasn’t been that for his teams and that’s been like that to me is the missing thing here with Brooklyn and Phoenix. Like that’s the thing is like he there’s nobody that like makes everybody better. He’s not that guy. And like if you look around like this group, right? Like Andy’s got Andy’s team’s got Luca. Podcasters like this. Look at this group. That’s where I thought you were going to rebound. That’s me. I make everybody better. Andy uh makes everybody better. Jokic makes everybody better. Honestly, like the Rockets are kind of trying to duplicate the Thunder style, which is like their offense is just kind of h it’s statistically f good, but like and all it really is like the defense is what raises everybody up because like I don’t know that men can do that and I don’t know that baby Sabonis is ready to like lift everybody up and be that kind of a weapon and like Philip like I have that same question with Orlando. Yeah. Like who’s the guy? Like Fron, it’s Paulo. It’s Paulo, but he’s got to be he’s got to be able to make shots more efficiently, right? And like Nick doesn’t like the Mavericks don’t have one because they’re not a serious team, but like that is Whoa. It’s not like they traded away. Not like they traded away a generational talent that was a top three player in the game like five months ago. Poor Cooper flag. Grimes raise the flag. No, but that’s what I I mean, Matt, to your point, that’s what I was saying is the Rockets are weirdly kind of built very similar to the Thunder, right? The defense is going to be overwhelming. The rebounding is going to be the best in the NBA again. They’ve got depth. They’re easily top five in the NBA as far as depth across the board. Like they’re going to be able to keep KD in bubble wrap throughout the regular season. But can you ca can you win 60 games without that though? Cuz like guard depth is not a 60- win team. Like OKC doesn’t have that kind of force, but their defense was so good and Shay was so good that they were able to get there. Like the Rockets record was great, but if you go under the hood, it’s like, oh, they had an incredible record versus all the really good teams they couldn’t compete with in the playoffs. Like a little bit smoking mirrors there. How they going to win 60 games? How much How much of that So you’re saying smoking mirrors. How much of that though is just like again in the regular season Jaylen Green was, you know, Jaylen Green for some of the regular season and other games he he was also Jaylen Green and didn’t show up, right? And then in the playoffs they got six out of the seven games where Jaylen Green didn’t show up. Like you’re replacing that with KD now. Like that’s what I’m that that’s and that’s that’s a really like simplistic way to look at it, but you you air drop KD into that series in place of Jaylen Green. They they they wipe the floor with the Golden State Warriors. Do you agree or disagree? Well, yeah, because the Warriors aren’t good. Okay, then move on to the Wolves. What do they do against the Wolves with KD in place of Jaylen Green? They still DFS in place of Dylan Brooks. They still lose. They still lose to that Wolves team. Oh yeah, that Wolves team was Wolves team was really good. That Wolves team was really good. OKC making them look that bad was a was a credit to OKC and how bad Finch coached the first two game games of that series. I really like seeing Jackson on the end of this. This your team is a fluke thing now. I like how I like how Katie hasn’t even played a second of basketball with the Rockets and Matt’s already out of it. He’s like he’s like, “Nope, I don’t I can’t buy.” And he won’t put Cooper flag in his top 100. He’s projecting this, but he won’t I’m just I am just playing devil’s advocate here because I do think it’s kind of interesting of um the fit with KD is the thing here is like, okay, it’s not like KD was bad in Phoenix. It’s not like KD was bad in Brooklyn. So why weren’t those teams better? The defense was awful. The defense was horrendous. What? It’s that’s easy. I mean, was a bottom four defense this past season. Like the the argument that I see from all the fans were like, “Why would you want go?” Okay, go for it. That wasn’t his entire career there. Like that was last year. Okay, fine. I I and I think the defense is more indicative of where that team got to with chemistry. Like I think chemistry and how that team was like together is what impacted that defense. Like there’s no reason for that defense to have been as horrendously terrible as it was bad. Sure. That bad? I don’t know. And I I feel the same way about the Thunder on the other end, which is like they are very they’re except they’re unbelievably talent. Like Lou probably should have won DPI, right? Caruso, all these dudes, but like their ability to play together, the chemistry that they had defensively was that’s what made them an all-time great defense. And that’s why the Mavericks will not be that. It’s because they they tried really hard. Got vibes. They got vibes over here. They have no leaders. You have no leaders. Oh, they’re leader. They’re leaders. A leader. Yeah. So, hang on. You’re saying Mavs have no leaders or Rockets? Oh, Mavs. No, Houston’s got leaders. Okay. I was like I was like So, cuz like I again, you’re talking you’re talking about the culture, the the chemistry, all that. Like, you know, and I I see a lot of people throwing out the stuff like Katie’s not a leader, he doesn’t. I don’t think he needs to be that in Houston. Like, they just need him to show up and be KD. Show up, hit shots, be and make clutch buckets, be the number one option. Awesome. They’ve got like EA is the culture. Fred is the culture. Like but again I’ll ask like how if you want if you want them to be considered the super contender which is how we labeled it over on lock on NBA daily. Like if you want them to be that they can’t be like okay they can’t be like well it’s a pretty bad offense and then KD makes some shots. That’s not going to be enough Jackson. Like they got to be they gota be a top 10 top five offense. Like I I I’ve like taken digs at OKC top five offense. How are they gonna be how are they going to be a top 10 offense? The I think the thing about Shenun playing off of KD could could get them there where that that all of a sudden opens up a lot for him because he’s I have the same question with with the Magic which is like again how good can they get? Okay, look. They were 12th in offensive rating this past season with as as horrendous as their offense was. Yeah. As offensive rebounds because it was propped up with offensive rebounding. Like that’s the thing. It was it was propped up with offensive rebounding and transition buckets, right? But the thing is is when the game does slow to a crawl, right, in the postseason, right? They were in rock fights every single game with that Warriors team and that defense against the Warriors or against any other team that you slot them against. Like I don’t think the Rockets, there’s not a way to expose that defense. I don’t think they don’t have like a weak link in the armor. The defense is good and that’ll translate. And so that’s why I’m just like I I really struggle to see how this team doesn’t take a significant step forward. Call it homerisism, call it looking at it with the the roset tinted goggles, whatever you want to do, but KD by himself is going to drag this Rockets team into being a top 10 offense. You’re telling me they can’t jump up at least three spots from 12 to nine with the addition of KD over Jaylen Green? Shot selection to the KD shot selection. A little bit of an upgrade. That’s happening. Period. Like that’s that’s an easy jump to make. And then you factor you sprinkle in a little bit of internal growth and improvement for the other young guys like Alpin. Shoot Alpin Shening had his worst year as a pro shooting the basketball. He was wildly inefficient last season. If he can get back to what he shot, you know, years two and three, which I have there’s more evidence than not that he can get back to that level of efficiency. Like that’s another step forward for him. Amen Thompson year three leap. It’s right around the corner. You you set him up. No, you did this. You’re responsible for this. You can’t put the two facs are going to be so mad for me. He just got home. He He has algebra to do tonight. Be happy because then I’m going to I’m going to I’m going to I’m going to tucker myself out and take a nap later. It’s all good. This is Jackson running around in circles in the living room to get What was your concern about the the Magic, Matt? So, we have to talk about one Eastern Conference team. I know, right? It’s the only one here. And I think the Magic are really interesting. Everybody’s like very in on them. Um, I’m third. They’re the third scene. They’re the third seed in the Eastern Conference. Guaranteed. It’s happening. Guaranteed. Okay. Well, then it’s not happening then. Um, I think don’t don’t put don’t put that juju on me, Bobby. Bobby. Everything Jackson says is wrong. I actually think I actually think Detroit is on their same level. It’s going to be like one of them or Detroit. If it’s not if the Sixers, it’s it’s Orlando, Detroit, and Atlanta in that second grouping. And Orlando might be there. It it it depends on health. Like like at the end of the day, like yeah, a lot of guys missed time last year, but like still so much is wrapped up in Jaylen Suggs being good because the downgrade defensively from Jaylen Suggs to Taius Jones as a starting guard is humongous and this team is still going to be really dependent on their defense. So they got to reprove that they can defend, you know, losing some of the guy, you know, losing some of the guys they lost and and that shouldn’t be a huge issue. Um but, you know, this is a franchise that hasn’t had a top 20 offense since 2012. Like I get I get the skepticism like show you know prove it to me that you can score and um you know Desmond Bane is a different kind of shooter than Contavius Calwell Pope. So I do think they’re I do think they’re going to get out of the bottom 10 in offensive rating. Are they going to be top 10? No. Are they going to be top 15? I’m 50/50 leaning no. They’re they just need to be competent enough. and the Eastern Conference is just so wide open and so just bad um that that should be enough for them to win 50 plus games, be in the hunt for the third seed, certainly be homec court advantage. And so they just they just like the biggest question with the Magic is yeah there’s a lot of potential and you expect young guys to grow, you expect, you know, Desmond Bane to help. They just have never done it. They haven’t done it. And so you have to, you know, like to to to the point about Houston, Houston’s done it. They were the two seed last year. Like you know there, yeah, there are questions about how they integrate Kevin Durant, how they might change and all that, but they did it last year. They’ve proven they can do it. They they have that institutional knowledge to do it. The Magic haven’t done it. They’ve they’ve scraped, they’ve scrapped, they’ve they’ve for the last two years, they’ve they’ve done all they could, but they have to score the basketball. It’s not It’s been really hard for them. I mentioned that we have to talk about an Eastern Conference team and literally John Carales appeared like speaking three times. Yeah. John, are you are you in on the magic? Jackson just said that he should that they should be guaranteed top three in the East next year. Um, no. I didn’t say guaranteed. I said I said third. They’re they’re they’re not they’re not going to suddenly slip into like the first or the second spot. So, don’t say top three. So, only three. So, you’re wrong if they’re second. You don’t want to be wrong if they’re second. Come on, Jackson. You’re They’re not going to be They’re not going to be second if the Cavs only going to be third. He’s like, it’s Cavs and Knicks. Have you told anybody the Rockets were going to be second last year? Yeah. No. Yeah. I would have been really wrong. I didn’t tell anybody that because they overachieved. Flukes happened. Wait, they overachieved last year? Yeah. Sounds a little fluke. You can’t back down from that. Now, that was Matt’s whole point. It’s not a fluke. What? He We talked about for 20 minutes that overachieved there. I was defending you. It made me feel gross. I defended a team in Houston this much. Back to the magic. John, do you believe in the magic? Only three. Can they get to three? Is the Yeah, they can get to three. They can get to three. I think I think three, my lord. Three, my lord. Five. Five, sir. Three. I I mean, obviously obviously they have to stay healthy, but And you know, I’d like to see France Vagner like somehow get into some sort of consistent shooting. Uh, but you know, you bringing in Desmond Bane is a is a big thing and and it kind of addresses their offensive issues. Um, I I I I love their defense. Obviously, I I just watched the series where the Celtics just got pummeled by them defensively and I I do think I do think they have an opportunity to to climb into third. There are a lot of teams that can climb into third, right? So, I mean, Cleveland and New York are one two. I assume everybody’s kind of on the same page as that. But then, you know, Orlando, Detroit, I start I heard Atlanta mentioned. I’m I’m such an Atlanta hater, uh, that I I question I question it. I think it’s just a knee-jerk reaction for me. But no, it’s it’s a deep-seated Trey Young non-belief. How many years have we Trey Young on your top 100, John? Yeah. Not on there. He’s not included. Not Not included. No. Yeah. I I haven’t done my list. He’s 100 so just so he doesn’t get fined. Uh I haven’t even thought about where he would be. Probably lower than most. I just I I He hasn’t done anything to prove me wrong. So, uh but yeah, I I I like Orlando. I I I’ve been like kind of on the Orlando bandwagon for a couple of seasons now. And there have been, you know, injuries that have kind of derailed that and a couple of things maybe a little out of their control that have derailed it a little bit. But I I’ve gone into the last two seasons being like, I’m not so sure anybody wants to face Orlando. And I came into this season in this playoff saying, I am not so sure anybody wants to face Orlando in the playoffs. And I think what Orlando did to Boston was a big reason why Boston was kind of in the position they were in the second round to get knocked out by New York. Like I think I think New I think Orlando really soften them up with that defense. So you add you add a little scoring punch to that. I think Orlando could could rise up and uh snag a third seat if things go well. I’m just glad you still like Orlando after after the way Orlando literally pummeled Boston on on occasion during that series. The vicious attacks. Wow. By the Orlando Magic. Go go go go go miss elbows. All that was missing from that series was chance from the crowds. Get the tables. That’s all that was missing. You know Mick Foley coming out with thumbtacks at mid court. The performance center is like 15 minutes away from where where I’m sitting right now. We can we can go back. I know. Yeah, it’s right there. I’m sure I’m sure one of those guys would have come over with, you know, this is how you hit him with a chair. U but no. Yeah, man. I the only thing I don’t like about Orlando is staying downtown. That’s about it. Anything besides downtown Orlando, I’m all for. Oh, the humidity and like not being close to an ocean is not that’s not great in Orlando. No, you do not want to be outside for more than two minutes right now. I can tell you that. We’ve transitioned into talking about the weather on this basketball podcast. Speaking of Atlanta, they stole the kill. Alexander Walker. Date’s going well. Is Minnesota just cooked? Is Minnesota just cooked? What’s the vibe on Minnesota? Like is Alexander Walker like an MVP? Like I people’s reaction to that deal. I love N Alexander Walker. I I just think he was like the best player that like moved teams cuz nobody could move teams. I just did you know that Alexander Walker and and Shake Alexander are cousins? Cousins? Yeah. It’s all in the family. The same family. Yeah. What? Allegedly. I just think that they’re betting a lot on like Jaylen Clark Shannon Jr. here to take a step forward after back-to-back West Finals appearances. I think that they’ve been passed by by Houston and Denver. And I’d be more afraid of a team that’s led by Luca. And if you can get DeAndre Aton to a uh plus level, which I call me silly, call me silly. I’m buying into DeAndre Aton. Okay. You were drinking on this episode. That’s I’m all in on DeAndre Aton. Well, we’re about 50 minutes in. That’s about when that’s about when the beverages come out. I will say Nikil Alexander Walker was not the most important player in those matchups with the Nuggets and with the Golden State Warriors. Like he’s really nice to have. He’s a good kind of role player connective piece for them. But like I really like what Terence Shannon did by the end of the year. I really like what Jaylen Clark did by the end of the year. I think Rob Dillingham should be expected to jump up a little bit. They’re going to they’re going to be fine and they can rank during the middle of the season. Mike Cony’s creaky knees really want Rob Dillingham, too. Aren’t the connective pieces more important in Minnesota than than maybe some other teams, though? Like, aren’t don’t don’t the Timberwolves kind of need those guys to step up. How much was he that piece though? Like, Nick Hill’s not like a secondary playmaker. He’s just a spot out. He’s a He is a pure 3 and Dude, and that’s valuable. I think he’s really good, but I don’t I don’t know how you go from they made back toback Western Conference finals finals appearances. They’re done. I just I I could have been passed by maybe. Yeah, I look at the moves of Denver and Houston passing them by. I look at what Julius Randle look like playing a defense the caliber of OKC. And if you think that Houston can get to that caliber as well, then he’s also going to be overwhelmed by Houston. And of of all the different options that that Minnesota had, like whenever they could make a clean pass out to the corner to the Kellix Alexander Walker, that was their best chance. And now they’re banking on more young younger unproven guys to fill that role. And I think that’s what the CBA is supposed to do. Yeah. Yeah. I think at best that they’re four and then they could be five or six in the West. Yeah. that like they were they weren’t top three in the West this year and I could like Ryan will black will will back me up on this like Denver doesn’t want to see him. Hell no. No doesn’t want to see KD KD did not have a fun experience playing Minnesota. That was not a fun experience for him in 2024. That was not that was not enjoyable for him. Gross. The FanDuel had him at 45 49 and a half over under their win. Still in the hunt. They won 49 last year, but it’s a good line, but like they they’re they’re a team that is going to be a little bit better than the sum of their parts in the playoffs because they just have the athleticism and the physicality and they like Chris Finch is just a fantastic coach and is able to like other than well, you know, those first couple games of the Western Conference Finals like but he’s really good. He knows how to make plays and like help his team set them up. So, let me ask this then. if if better than some of their parts in the playoffs is like that’s a great description of the Timberwolves, but is does that set them up for kind of like leaning on, well, we’re a better playoff team than a regular season team and kind of overlooking some of the things that they they’re going to need to fix? Maybe not this season, but over the next couple years as they’re building a team because they’re going to start getting expensive soon. Is is is this like I don’t know. I don’t look at Minnesota as a team that’s ascending into ah pretty soon they’re going to be like a the contender. I feel like I think that is done. It depends on Anthony Edwards obviously he’s going to have to take that leap. Their windows open and their ceiling is very low is is is what I gather and and like look I I think that like Houston and and uh Houston and and Denver are clearly better than them but like Minnesota’s done it. Like they’ve gone to the conference finals. You could say like the path opened up for them a little bit last year with with the with the way the the seedings worked out, but like that’s also the Western Conference. Like it’s it it’s sometimes you just throw the eight teams up in the air and wherever they land is wherever they land and everybody’s about as good as everybody else. And like Minnesota is a proven playoff team and there are going to be very very few series where Anthony Edwards isn’t the best player on the floor. Like Oklahoma City is probably one of those series like Denver is one of those series and they still won that. They’re still able to beat the Nuggets in the in that series. The the Wolves are still just I think a really dangerous team that I think people are like I don’t think they’re necessarily better this summer, but I think people are kind of sleeping on their chances to to to advance the playoffs again. Rudy’s still so good, man. Yeah. Like he’s like I get it’s annoying. I get how much of how obnoxious he is. I get it, man. But like there’s just not another rim protector like him. He’s still so good as an interior rim protector. And the jump shot is really coming along there. He’s working with Lethal Shooter. Like he’s taking these step pull-ups. Like the the form looks great. It’s right in front of his face so he can’t see the rim when he takes the shot. Like it’s just looking great. The Rudy Goar lethal shooter collab is like that’s going to do some numbers on social. Incredible. I could not believe that. I was like, we’re doing this again. He’s sitting out basket, right? Every time I wa every time the the Timberwolves come into town to play the maps, I go and watch him warm up and he just sits and does dribble drills for a long time and I just sit and watch him and go, “What are we doing?” Like, guess that helps with touch. I agree with Matt though. He’s great rim protector. Uh John, I have I have Derek White and an at a un an unreasonable number in my top 100. I think he he is so good. He is he he’s a really good player. I mean, he should be he should be fairly high. Again, I haven’t started my list, so I don’t I don’t know where he’s going to end up, but like I have Devin Booker as a guy right behind him. Oh jeez. Wow. So, that’s high. Hello. Whoa. That’s incredible. I mean, if we’re just going from LA like last year, then I’m with him on that. Like, I would rather have Derrick White on my team than than Deon Booker if that if we’re gonna get last year. Because like a lot of it’s like Derek White can’t do what Devin Booker does as the number one option, but Derek White is so damn good as second, third option in every single facet of the game. Like there’s not a team in the league Derrick White would not make better. There’s not a single team in the league. I I think there I think there are a lot of teams that would sit there and say if we’re draw if we’re looking for a player type to be our point guard or be one of our league guards. Like I I know I said this about the Magic forever. I we the Magic need to find a Derrick White. Like that’s that’s the guy you want on your team to to make your roster better. If if you’re the Magic, would you have rather had Derrick White over Desmond Bane? Jaylen Suggs stole his hair. Um, I I honestly kind of think so because of the playm because of the the playmaking and shooting is just so much. I love Dez. I love Dez, but you’d rather have I know I’m excited for Dez, too. But yeah, for sure. But like Derek White’s more natural point guard. The Magic need that very very badly still. And he’s he’s so smart. He’s he’s one of the smartest basketball players you’re gonna find. Like two years ago, Ryan and I were having a a debate at the table about um would you rather have Jamal Murray or Derek White? And at the time it was like, well, you’d rather have Jamal Murray. And now it’s like no question. Like you’d rather have Derek White. Yeah. Like you just Yeah. you know, he’s he’s I mean, it it’s a testament to him and he’s he’s done so much work to get to where he’s going uh to where to where he is and and he’s still I mean he’s 31 now, so he’s he’s you know starting to turn that corner. Um but he’s he’s so good. He’s so smart. He he reads things and he’s like more athletic than people realize I and like humble and all that. So he’s he he might be like one of like the perfect basketball players. He’s just like one of those perfect guys that like non non-s superstar, but I always say like he guy like him is like the the best quote unquote basketball player on the team because like your superstars can just rely on superhuman things that they do, but they get away with some of the oh that that’s not the right play, but he made it work anyway. like Derek White just whenever Derrick White makes a mistake I’m just like well that’s that’s clearly an aberration and is it’s you know whatever I don’t know I could talk about him all in the matrix so could you just then trade him so that he can go somewhere that’s going to be competitive next year please could you do that because I’d like to see Derek White comp No start at center John maybe Yeah. Could be you. Yeah. Luca Garza, everybody. Luca Garza, starting center for the Boston Celtics. Oh my god. Yeah. Yeah. Oh my god. Is the right right reaction. Didn’t they say Kada was going to I don’t think so. That that is so much worse. I’d rather have What happened to Xavier Tilman? What happened? The guy in the John is taller than Xavier Tilman. He exists. He exists. I honestly the the real answer is that he the knee is a problem and that knee continued to be a problem. I think last year the knee was they they didn’t let on but that knee that it was bothering him on the you when he got traded over for Memphis continued to be an issue. It kind of flared up again. I think he got heavy because of it because he couldn’t really move. Um and it just impacted him last season. if he can get the knee healthy, if he can get come into camp healthy, he he might actually be like the preseason story that I’m writing about because he he actually could be like a small ball center for sure. U but right now I’m kind of like not including him because it’s been a year and a half of the knee and kind of like yeah, he had that that moment in the finals. But um the Celtics need a center there. There’s they’re starting Derek White, Jaylen Brown, um Garza, uh who else? Maybe maybe George Nyang. He might start. Um and then I’m I’m Anthony Simons. Yeah. Unless who are they who are they trading Anthony Simons for? What What big are you trading Anthony Simons for? John, question. Oh my god. Uh yeah, I don’t know. That’s I don’t know how Brad’s going to to to do that because he’s not gonna want to spend the big money on that. I look, Celtics, this is like obviously the Celtics are going to be like at best like a 500 team probably, right? Like and that’s um which is fine and and maybe they’ll they’ll get a good matchup in the first round of the playoffs and and and win because they know how to, you know, they’ve been there before, but like second round is probably their like everything goes right ceiling. They being who? They being just Jaylen Brown and Derek White, right? Well, I mean like Pritchard Pritchard take a lot of threes. There’s they’re still going to run like their their offense isn’t going to be terrible. It’s their defense might be like bottom five. U but you you just you kind of never know how things go. But bottom line is the Celtics are like a non-factor next year. But I still hold out like some hope that J Jason Tatum can come back at some point with regular season games left to play and he could use those as kind of like a get back up to speed, get back into some NBA game shape, get that soreness out, then head back into the summer and continue almost like a an enhanced rehab stint. And then the plan for the Celtics is why you keep Derek White and you keep these guys is you have auditioned role players and next year maybe you’ve gotten yourself into a place where you can use your full mid level and you can be a little bit of a player in the free agent market and you can kind of fill some gaps in. And this is a year maybe maybe uh things don’t go all right and you dip into the lottery and you you get a decent player in the draft and and then you come back and you’ve got a healthy Tatum. You’ve got everybody and and that that kind of gets you back into a little bit of the mix the year after. Can’t wait for the Celtics to sign DeAndre Aton next summer, right? This is just for Matt Moore. Who plays an NBA basketball game first? Jason Tatum or Kyrie Irving? Jason Tatum for sure. 100%. No question. Without a question. Is that at least Jason Tatum wants to play basketball. Nick Nick hates you so much right now, Matt. That that that just he was just staring daggers at you. No, I’m just I just knew exactly what he was going to say. We we need to tease this for next week because I actually want to bring something from Ryan Blackburn onto next week’s Squad Show, which is Ryan is of the belief that if you start in the NBA, not for all team, not for all. I’m trying to be fair to you. Not for all teams. Biggest eye roll I’ve ever seen. Not for all teams, not in all situations, but most starters deserve a higher ranking on like than sub players than than bench guys. Let me let me actually explain this. They deserve they deserve the actual benefit of the doubt in your rankings that a tie be like a metaphorical tie between a starter and a bench player in your mind should go to the starter because they’re on every scouting report imaginable. Ryan Ryan has Pton Pritchard to like 100. Yeah. Wow. Is that unreasonable? Yeah. So, so John yet. So, Colin Sexton starts every game for the Jazz and so I should put Payton Pritchard below him because I don’t I don’t have Colin Ston in my top 100. Let’s but but he was a starter in the NBA. Guys, on a National Basketball Let’s do this for Let’s do this next week when most of us have will have submitted our list by then. So, come back to the squad show wherever you’re listening, watching this, your favorite feed. Go check it out. Guys, we appreciate each and every one of you for jumping on the show. There’s a link in the description wherever you’re listening, watching this to find one of our great shows. We’re still going mo multiple shows a week all the all the time. Matt Moore is hiding. The first time I’ve ever seen Matt Moore Matt more hide. Great stuff from everybody. Go check out the link in the description to find your favorite show. This has been the squad show taking over the feed of your favorite show. Thanks for listening to lock in a B squad.

Luka Doncic’s stunning transformation has the NBA world buzzing. Is “Skinny Luka” the key to unlocking the Los Angeles Lakers” championship potential?

Nick Angstadt and the Locked On NBA Squad dive into Doncic’s physical makeover and its potential impact on his game. They explore the restricted free agent market, with a focus on Jonathan Kuminga’s situation with the Golden State Warriors. The panel debates the Houston Rockets’ chances in the loaded Western Conference after adding Kevin Durant, and assesses the Orlando Magic’s rise in the East. Plus, they examine how the Minnesota Timberwolves will cope without Naz Reid.

Tune in for expert analysis on these burning NBA topics and hear why one host is having “an emotional basketball affair” with the new-look Luka.

0:00 Intro: Discussing skinny Luka and NBA topics
5:07 Luka’s transformation and its impact on NBA
15:44 Restricted free agents and contract negotiations
21:22 Houston Rockets’ potential with Kevin Durant
27:31 Magic’s outlook and Eastern Conference standings
33:21 Minnesota Timberwolves’ prospects after changes
39:07 Debating Houston vs Minnesota in rankings
44:28 Orlando Magic’s potential in coming season
49:56 Timberwolves’ playoff performance and future
54:59 Derrick White’s value and impact on teams
58:39 Celtics’ roster changes and future outlook

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