Malik Beasley Pistons Reunion STILL in JEOPARDY?! – From Half Court Episode 184
What is going on? I want to welcome you from halfcourt live. Something that we don’t do a whole lot, but figured for the return we had to do something special. I am Shawn Murphy alongside Marquett’s movement shooter, my better half, my muse, my flame, Troy Sergey. Troy, what’s going on, brother? It’s really good to see you again. And it’s great to be talking into a microphone at your face about basketball once again. Yeah, Sean. Uh, doing well. We got about six or seven weeks till the regular season picks up. Probably about four or five weeks till preseason. Super exciting stuff. Um, looking forward to a great NBA season. Lots that change this off seasonason that we’re going to be talking a little bit about, but also it would be uh it would be without remiss to talk about the WNBA playoffs. Uh, started yesterday as well. and uh Fever lost to the Dream. I know uh the the the Liberty and Mercury had a good game. Uh but uh yeah, so certainly holding on for a little more basketball uh high competitive basketball before the NBA season starts. And then obviously NFL is back. Week two was yesterday, so a lot of good stuff uh going on in both departments there. Your Lions had a good victory against the Bears. Uh so yeah, keeping busy with sports. Uh it’s a fun time I think not just with NFL but college football u and then obviously the W like I just mentioned. Yeah, for sure. It’s just I mean we we got through the tough times which is the dead parts of August when training camp’s going on and you’re just like you’re you’re just you’re literally craving anything like you’ll watch Hall of Fame game highlights over and over again because I just want to feel something, you know? Whereas now we actually have some tangible things to watch. We we have some high competitive games. And you know, listen, we obviously we’re basketball guys. That’s what comes first. And there’s nothing that really replaces the the high that is really competitive NBA hoops. But NFL has been great. College football has been exciting. Uh WNBA, like you said, really good season that’s been going on. Playoffs happening right now. Lot to consume. But Troy, another thing that people can consume is from Half Court. Now that we are back each and every week, you can consume this podcast right here on the channel. If you like that, be sure you like the video, subscribe to the channel so you don’t miss any of the content that we have going forward. Also, be sure you follow myself on X, Sean Halfcort. You can follow Troy as well at Troy Sergy44. Another little housekeeping note as well, we are going I’m going to be starting to do some more writing as well. You can find that on Substack uh uh from halfcourt.substack.com. It is free. There is the option to contribute, but you still get the content regardless. Just going to be doing some more Pistons in-depth analysis, opinion pieces, companion articles to podcasts. Want to start expanding a little bit more of the stuff that we’re doing here. Really going to be pushing hard for that this season. But Troy, let’s get right into some NBA basketball and a lot of the things that are happening. The biggest thing that’s looming in the NBA world is what exactly is happening? Well, I mean, other than the big Kawaii aspiration story that we’ll get to in a little bit, but for Pistons fans, the most prevalent, the most, you know, relevant question that people are asking is what’s going on with Malik Beasley? And we have a couple of answers to that. uh per Omari Kazen Kofa II friend of the show, one of the goats, Detroit Free Press, if there’s a uh he said quote, “If there’s a pathway, he would like to look at being considered to play for Detroit next season. I know that he’s got a lot of love for Detroit and it would and it would like to look at coming back, but there is some complications uh with the investigation with what’s going on.” And Adam Silver was actually asked about this at the NBA board of governors meeting about the investigations going on. And uh this is actually from Tim Bonteps of the Hoop Collective podcast. He said, quote, “I don’t expect Malik Beasley to sign with a team anytime soon while this NBA and federal investigation is going on.” End quote. So, couple things to dive in here, Troy, because about a month ago, uh, we there was a report that came out that said Malik Beasley has been cleared of any essentially no longer being considered a target in this federal investigation. But it came out about a day or like a couple days later that that wasn’t true. That he actually uh he was no longer considered a target. But that doesn’t mean that he wasn’t still being investigated. doesn’t mean you couldn’t still face legal trouble. That that doesn’t mean there still couldn’t be issues. So now we we hear pretty clearly from Adam S Adam Adam Silver who says, “Oh, not so fast. He’s not necessarily out of the water yet.” And for Detroit felt pretty confident. You know, it’s seeming like all roads were leading to Malik Beasley being back in a Pistons uniform real soon. But the reality of it is there’s still a lot up in the air. So Troy, I I I leave this question to you. You know, h how have what’s been your read kind of on this situation and h you know, how how have you kind of felt about some of the uncertainty and inconsistency within that reporting and in your opinion, how much does Malik Beasley being on the team versus not being on the team, how does that affect the ceiling of what this group can be? Yeah. Yeah. Certainly we don’t get stories like this every day uh every year. No. So, I think that’s what makes this somewhat exciting to be glued to the TV to watch to really see what’s going on. And you’re right, from the very get-go, you know, when it was an FBI investigation, that was what was really scary, right? Because I mean, we thought that his career was done, you know, maybe even have to serve time behind bars. Wasn’t quite sure all that would happening, but anything at that point was in the table. But you’re right. Certainly, I think what a month ago that was now. Uh I think yeah, mid mid August, I think we all Pence fans, you took a deep breath of woof, he’s innocent. But you’re right, a lot of this new stuff with the NBA, with the league now, has been a little bit confusing because um I know at least what I’ve seen on social media so far, Malik Beasley, it looks like views himself totally innocent, which again, of course, you’re going to put on that that that that, you know, personification. But at the same time with him, I maybe I’m naive here, but I don’t I think I think he’s clear. I trust the FBI more than I trust the league with investigating something like this. And you’re right, there’s smaller details within team management that I think you have to look at. Um, right. And that that’s something that certainly has to be looked at no matter what. But, you know, when looking at his contribution to the team last year, my goodness, he was a huge reason why we won games because we had a shooter that could go alongside with our young core. A guy like Kate Cunningham just expanded his game because of Malik Beasley. and Malik Beasley was able to get to his spots and score um more three-pointers than any Piston in our franchise’s history, which was so fun to watch. So, when you talk about, you know, building off of that, yeah, you want that guy again in your uniform, right? You want that guy to be on your team, uh he would very much still with running back impact this team a lot. Now, when looking at the guys we have, I mean, Duncan Robinson, you know, Caris Levert, the new guys that we brought in, those are, you know, bucket getters to say the least, but at the same time, to me, as good as those players are, they’re not Malik Beasley. I just really want Malik Beasley to be cleared from everything to sign that uh one year, seven 7.2 million, I think, dollar contract with Detroit. It’s on the table. And uh that would be my take about all of it. So, I I I really think he is that valuable to our franchise. And um I really really hope that this investigation can get cleared up soon because uh I’m a big Malik Beasley fan. I know you are as well and um really it was just all 82 games. It is such a fun regular season into the postseason with him on our team. Yeah, for sure. And I and I do want to make sure that we’re being clear on on just some of the facts here real quick. He is not cleared of any any federal investigation that is not concluded. um like he is the the NBA and federal investigations are going uh uh independent of each other. So even if he is cleared, if even if he is cleared and not found of of being crim, you know, criminally liable on anything, he could still, you know, potentially face something with the NBA. But at the same time, I think it’s also fair to mention from the public perspective, from the outside looking in that there hasn’t really been anything outside of that we that individual game in Portland with the rebounding that has tipped off anything other than here Buck the you know that we found out in that Pablo Tori finds out podcast. Uh which we’ll be talking about Pablo Tori quite a bit. I have a feeling over the next few months. But anyway, what we found out in that podcast was someone on Twitter mentioned he’s going to be investigated next. That’s all we really know outside of the overunder on the rebounding. So, when it comes to the evidence against Malik Beasley, like the like innocent or guilty, like innocent until proven guilty, like we don’t have a lot to work on as far as, you know, as far as saying someone is definitively guilty. So, I don’t think, you know, that that’s fair to say or or to bring up in in his case. You know, the thing that is interesting, though, and I think the part, you know, that that I I don’t even know if this is, you know, like Malik’s strategy. I don’t know if this is, you know, on behalf of his agents and the people that are representing Malik Beasley, uh, but, you know, the the bigger issue is just the lack of clarity in in the reporting in this situation, especially from some of the most prominent names in sports. like the like the the biggest reporter like in the league specifically Sham’s being so inconsistent with, you know, kind of like the reporting of coming out and and and really it just seems like he’s he’s reporting whatever is relayed via the agents, whereas there’s been quite a bit of factchecking and a lot of a lot of things that are just conflicting with Sham’s actual reporting. So, to me, it it’s just the the vibes on it are just weird from that standpoint. I I’m very curious to see uh you know, just how that develops from that point. But, uh let’s see. We have Chuck Brewer. It says uh I’ll play the other side of the coin. He wasn’t great on defense. And my screen’s being all weird, so let me move this over here. And the chances of him duplicating last season, not great. Unless it’s a great contract, I’d move on. And I understand that perspective. What I would say to that, Chuck, is if they can bring him back on the one-year $7.2 million uh contract, I think that’s potentially a win for both parties in the sense of for Malik, you still get to play in the league. You still get a you still get a salary that’s above the veteran minimum. And for Detroit, you are paying him half of what you were planning to pay him. you’re not signing him beyond a year and you can potentially depending on how things go, you know, cut your losses and move on. Like to to Chuck’s point, it is fair to say that to expect him to reach that level of volume. What is is just that’s difficult for anybody, but especially now just kind of with some of the personal struggles and things like that. That’s just a lot to, you know, expect on top of, you know, just some of those different things. But one thing I will say about Malik Beasley is he’s a guy that’s never out of the gym. He’s someone who’s always working on perfecting his craft. Like like he’s he’s been very active on social media and posting stories and things like that. And he’s from the looks of it, he’s been spending a lot of time in the gym shooting a basketball and and all of those and and really getting back into into the game, not letting that, you know, get away from him. So, as far as how this develops going forward, it feels like we we really don’t have a lot of clarity, but from the from the from the sounds of it, if Malik Beasley is cleared, the most likely destination is Detroit. And objectively speaking, Detroit would be a significantly better basketball team with him on it than without it. because with him you have one of the best three-point shooters in the league on top of Duncan Robinson, on top of Harris Levert, whereas instead those guys would have to be trying to replace that volume or that scoring in some capacity and that’s just going to be a tall task for anybody. Yeah, 100%. And um yeah, you just look at what he’s been able to accomplish last season. And you know, to Chuck Chuck’s point again, the the odds of exactly, you know, the same statistics as last season, you’re right, a little bit low, but that doesn’t mean that, you know, he still doesn’t have, you know, high um um versatile on this team, you know, highutation to this team. Yep. And it’s not because And it’s not because of the fact that, you know, he he’s not a great player or anything like that. It’s just he had one of the greatest three-point shooting seasons in NBA history last year. like he was only Anthony Edwards made more threes than Malik Beasley. So to make him at that clip at that volume, it it is tough for anybody to maintain. Even Steph Curry has has stretches where he’s not able to keep up the three-point shootings at that level. So anyone can go through that. So but then when you throw in a lot of the mental struggles, a lot of the things on top of it, that’s where a lot of the uncertainty comes in. Now, Troy, I do want to move on to this next story because even though it’s technically about the Clippers and it’s about this tree company, it’s about Kawhi Leonard, this is really a a lot bigger of a story than that. This is about the integrity of the NBA and the integrity of of competition in basketball moving forward. Because I I would wager, Troy, since the since the the Donald Sterling incident when uh when Adam Silver started as the as the commissioner of the NBA, this is his biggest scandal he’s had to face. This is his toughest test by far because not only do you have an allegation that’s that’s pretty significant, but it’s against what not only your richest owner by far, but one of the richest men in the world, Steve Balmer. And so I do want to lay out real quick just some of the facts and what we have and then we’ll get into discussion. So this is all from Pablo Tori. Pablo Tori finds out he’s the the the best journalist in sports that we have right now. The work that he’s doing is insane. And according to the the reporting that Pablo’s done, uh which includes seven different sources from within Aspiration, which is a company that went bankrupt that, uh essentially ran as a company that sold carbon credits to uh to companies to individuals essentially to try and offset people’s carbon footprint. they would uh broker uh they would essentially broker the the planting of trees. At least that’s what they were selling to people. Turns out that was all loaded up and they were just ripping people off. But one of the things that they were apparently doing with this company was they were the they were one of the prominent sponsors of the Los Angeles Clippers. And through that sponsorship, they also decided to have an individual sponsorship for Kawhi Leonard. Except the only problem, Troy, is this sponsorship of Kawaii has never been made public. And people within aspiration were told that this is all to circumvent the salary cap. Multiple people were told this in the business in the business and it was known as as common knowledge. And he was paid more than Robert Downey Jr., Leonardo DiCaprio, and Drake combined to endorse a company that he never publicly endorsed. And to all the employees, they were instructed that the number one priority is to pay Kawaii Leonard. And this is how lazy, by the way, Kawaii and and his camp were with setting this all up because in order to hide it, they they they sent they sent the payments to to an a corporation. This LLC that was set up by by Kawawaii and his camp was called KL2 Aspire LLC, meaning that its sole purpose is to receive money from aspiration. Just call it Apple time. Apple time. You don’t do KL2. Yeah. KL2 Aspire. Like come on. And then the parts where it gets really interesting is at one point Steve Bomber invested $50 million of his own money about at some point in 2022 before all of uh before this uh uh sponsorship was given. And in addition to the $28 million that Kawawaii was given in this deal, he was also given another 20 million in stock options. Let’s do some math here real quick. Troy Steve Bomber gave 50. What’s 28 plus 20? 28 plus 20 is 48. Numbers seem a little close there, don’t they? Almost like maybe he put that money in there for the sole purpose of it. Allegedly. Allegedly put that money in there to go to Qui Lender. And one of the kickers is as the company was failing, and this is perhaps the most damning report, the the the thing that the Clippers are going to have the hardest time explaining. As the business was in decline, as things were were were really starting to go to hell in a hand basket, uh the this company aspiration was going to miss another payment to Kawhi Leonard and his people. But all of a sudden, a firsttime investor puts $1.99 million into aspiration, which wouldn’t equal, which it was. 0.72% of the company. And the company that and the the LLC that made this investment came from a man named Dennis Wong. Dennis Wong is the only other owner of the Los Angeles Clippers, is Steve Balmer’s college roommate. And by the way, in case you want to throw out the deniability of he didn’t really know what was going on in the company, for one, you have to be sent disclosures on on if you’re being investigated by uh investigated by federal uh institutions, which they were. Uh and also they have to disclose their financial uh struggles in in their financial situation, which they were in default. Dennis Wong’s daughter is a project manager at Aspiration. So, it’s almost like if anyone could have known that that this was not a good investment, it would be him because he had all he would have someone from inside the company. And if you’re thinking, “But Sean, maybe he was making this investment to save people’s jobs the day Kawhi Leonard was paid. 20% of aspiration staff was laid off.” And he wouldn’t. It’s not like this guy Dennis Wong is going to need to fight to keep this daughter’s job. It’s not like she’s going to be in financial ruin if she doesn’t get if she doesn’t have this job with this company. He’s one of the he he he’s best friends with Steve Bomber like and he’s also a a a multi-million dollar real estate mogul. So, all this to say, Troy, the Los Angeles Clippers are going to have a lot of explaining to do, and a lot of people within the NBA have already said if the Clippers do not get punished here, if Adam Silver does not lay down the hammer in a severe way, this could potentially lay out the blueprint for other teams to do the exact same thing. And at that point, all bets are off. Right. Right. And I think the big thing that you mentioned earlier, what this is actually about is the integrity of the game. We can’t miss that through all of this. And um you know, as we were chit cchatting earlier, Sean, I mentioned to you, you know, all for capitalism here, but in 21st century America, especially now in this new era of 2020s, you know, your billionaires did not become that without doing at least something at least once in their life. little bit unethical, right? And this is especially Steve Palmer at a new level. Yeah, maybe a little bit. Um, you know, this is, I guess, what you expect having an owner this rich, but it’s something you you would have hoped not to happen. Uh, but looking at at Chuck’s comment here, the real question is, is it already happening elsewhere, but done better? Obviously, that does become a question that we have. That that very well could be true. And I think that’s the scary part about all of this is that this is the biggest name uh because it’s the wealthiest owner but also one of the wealthiest Americans right now. Uh and that’s what makes this story um you know extra interesting. But I I think this is def something that definitely we need to keep an eye on and I really hope looking at other things in the past and you know this can be a defining moment in Adam Silver’s um uh uh legacy of being a commissioner, right? I mean, it’s moments like this that define someone with that type of leadership position. So, you’re absolutely right. You hope that there’s something to get down on the Clippers. Um, but this is, I guess, what happens when you have an owner that wealthy. I would be interesting, Sean, have you read much about what’s going on on on Clippers Twitter or Clippers X, I should say. Like, what are fans perspectives of this right now? Who who who are diehard Clippers fans? Oh, they’re in dismay, Troy. Like, like they’re in dismay. It’s uh do you know the do you know the George Bush meme where someone’s like whispering in his ear from the you know from that tragic event in American history? Um the well it’s pretty much like that whenever Pablo Tori drops an episode now. It’s like oh no like like what what’s he going to come for now? because I think like it’s you were already in a really difficult spot with the Thunder winning a championship and with the the the assets that you gave up essentially forming a dynasty in Oklahoma City. You’re already struggling with that and with how things ended in the playoffs. You’re already kind of frustrated with the Kawaii thing as it is, but now you are just you’re just hoping to God that this isn’t true. Because just to give a little bit of context, the most common case, the most the thing that’s the closest precedent to this was in the late 90s, early 2000s, uh the Minnesota Timberwolves drafted Joe Smith and they wanted to pay and uh he wanted to be paid more beyond his rookie salary and Glenn Ta and Glenn Taylor uh seemingly obliged and the punishment from the NBA was not only did Joe Smith’s contract get voided and he had to sign elsewhere. but also the on top of losing that first round pick essentially Minnesota had to forfeit five additional first round picks that’s going to look like honestly like a fair punish like a fair easy punishment compared to what could happen to the Clippers if this is true because this is salary circumvention to a level and to a scale that we’ve never seen and the fact that it’s like this much money it’s in in this shady of a manner. And like I guess the the the one possible thing you can give to Steve Balmer, this is where it’s where it’s tough and I have to admit my previous bias because I’ve gone on the record on this podcast a lot saying I have a lot of respect for Steve Balmer and Steve Balmer’s naturally a likable guy because of his charisma and how, you know, just how much he cares because you can clearly tell he cares. But here’s the thing. This is a guy who knew how many who who who paid attention to how many toilets were going to be in this arena. Are you telling me he’s not looking at who’s going to be one of your presenting sponsors? They were going to be on the jersey patch. Like he didn’t pay attention to that. Right. Right. Right. Yeah. Absolutely. You’re absolutely right. And you can’t help but to think, you know, when looking at more punishment, too. I mean, talking about picks and salaries and all of that, but I mean, Adam Silver is the commissioner of the league. He can do something like, I don’t know, a forced selling of the team, which I don’t know if it’s going to get to that point. I I don’t know even if that is something he can do or not. He can technically all he can do is is ban him for life, which is what he did with Donald Sterling. Technically, he cannot force him to sell the team. He can banish him from the team or he can like he can he can banish him from NBA events, but it it is still like he would it would still have to be his choice to to sell. With Donald Sterling, essentially there was so much public pressure to sell that eventually his wife essentially forced him to sell. And so I don’t know if we’re going to get to that point or not. And to be honest with you, I don’t think Adam Silver wants that to get to that point even if they are found liable because Steve Balmer is such a valuable, you know, person to have here. But it it like one thing to be clear of as well is like to your point, not only is like not only is this a a a big point from the sense of like this is someone who has more money than they even know what to do with come from Microsoft which is one of the most like like competitive ruthless companies on the market. But on top of that, he’s already been fined for trying to circumvent the salary cap. He’s already been found liable for doing this before. So, it’s like you really thought you were going to get away with it again. Yeah. Yeah. Right. Right. Even if you have the loopholes, but like you said, the loopholes of KL2 aspiration. I mean, come on. You got to be smarter. Yeah. and and and just quite frankly just the way that this whole company is just like just a disaster of a company that I I can’t believe they they got all these people to to jump on board. I mean, I guess if you’re doing it for through the through the lens of saving the world, you know, a lot of people just will naturally trust you because it’s like, well, they have to have good intentions, right? Right. Right. Right. Climate change awareness. Sure. Uh-huh. Yep. for sure. And so the reason why this is relevant to a team like the Pistons is because the whole point the whole reason why the salary cap has gotten as as as strict as it has gotten is to promote parody is to keep players from going to the bigger to just leaving in free agency and going to the big markets or teaming up in the nice cities. It’s it’s to prevent the Los Angeles Lakers from winning another 17 titles over the next 30 years or the Celtics doing the exact same thing or the Knicks or the or the Bulls or I don’t know the richest owner in the world in Los Angeles who if you look at the net at at the overall net worth of the top 10 owners in the NBA to give you an idea of how big Steve Balmer’s net worth To match that net worth, you would have to combine the next eight owners net worth to match Steve Bombers. That’s how rich and powerful this man is. It’s unreal. By the way, unreal. By the way, want to know the funniest thing? You know what Steve Balmer’s role is in the NBA board of governors? Let’s hear it. He’s on the auditing committee. He’s his H his whole thing is ensuring financial integrity. Wow. The auditor is the one who’s doing the dirty work. Can’t you can’t write this stuff, Troy. You like you can’t script this. You can’t. You can’t. And I think when looking at, you know, a situation like this, it’s it’s comical. You’re right. We can smile, we can laugh, but man, uh there’s this is not going to end in September or October when the season starts. This is going to be an ongoing conversation we’re going to be having and the league’s going to be having for the rest of the season and maybe even this time next year. We’ll still be talking about this or at least looking at the repercussions of what this has done. It’s like breaking news. Ivy Aduran signing league minimum deals. Nothing shady, trust me. It’s like exactly. It’s like Yeah. All of a sudden, like Kawawaii decides to be team friendly when this is the guy who when he lost his Wingstop coupons called Wingstop frantically and said, “Get me my coupons.” Like this is who we’re talking about here. Yeah. And like we already know his uncle has asked for shady stuff in the past and he got in trouble for that. Why would the per why would Steve Bomber say no when that money is just trivial to him anyway? And so that’s that that that that’s where again I just think the Clippers are going to have a really hard time explaining that away. And again, if if if they are not found, you know, to be liable, if they are not like punished in a severe way, that that’s where things can get really screwed up is because you’re going to see a lot of teams working trying to work around the system and do the exact same thing. And by the way, remember when Jaylen Brunson signed that really team friendly deal like three or four months ago? Yeah, Pablo already said he’s investigating that. Oh my goodness. So, Knicks fans, I’d start praying, too. On that note, speaking of that, I think it’s a good time le let’s reflect, Troy, on the craziest NBA off season ever. That’s what was presented to us back in June. Do you remember back at the beginning of the summer, we were we were for sure Giannis Anttobo would not be on the Milwaukee Bucks, right? And he sure is still today. And the biggest signing that happened this summer was Nquille Alexander Walker. Nquille Alexander Walker. Josh Giddy just signed his deal with the Chicago Bulls for uh four years, $100 million. He wanted to get it to 30 and they were absolutely struggling to do that. Otherwise, a lot of restricted agents, restricted free agents are are hanging in limbo. Obviously, there was the Kevin Durant move. You know, it’s not like there were It’s not like there were things that that didn’t happen, but what we were sold versus what we got, there’s a real cavern there as far as the the real leap that was. So Troy, I I I want to I want to leave to you. Why do you think this off season was was such a dud? Like do you think a lot of it has to do with the salary cap and how how afraid teams are with really making big risks with how much trouble we’ve seen teams get in. Yeah, I I think that’s something to to look at, too. and just the whole, you know, collective bargain agreement as a whole. But also, you know, just I I guess teams that we thought, you know, would definitely be sellers decided not to. And um but, you know, there was moves and injuries I think of like, you know, Dave Lillard, you know, going back and uh Miles Turner, Miles Turner going to the Milwaukee Bucks. You know, those are significant, but you’re right, there there just wasn’t a ton. Um, obviously, you know, uh, a trade that we’re gonna be looking at and talking about, um, to really see out see pan out this year is going to be Kevin Durant to the Houston Rockets. But once that really happened, um, and then that the first 24 hours into was that July 2nd. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. When when free agency officially started. Um, you know, couple of busy things happened within a 24-h hour radius, but yeah, I just think it was teams looking to tweak what they have and run it back to try to be competitive. And teams that, you know, were trying to rebuild to the draft or at least found a new foundation, well, they’re going to run it and see with their younger guys. You know, I I think of obviously the Dallas Mavericks are in an interesting spot with with the number one pick with Cooper Flag and just seeing how that pans out. And, you know, there wasn’t really much to do there in that department. they already did their big trade earlier uh into into the year. Um and then you know some of the other teams as well uh just going to run it back with some of their younger guys that were you know on the the bottom side of of the the Western and Eastern Conference this year. So um not quite sure how to fully answer that, Sean, except just the fact that yeah, it just seemed like teams weren’t willing to be sellers at all. Yeah, I I I think the the one team that you did see that was a pretty significant seller was the Boston Celtics. And they said that uh they they straight up came out and said that the moves that they made were made because of the salary cap and it was to avoid being in the second apron because of the significant penalties both financially and from a from a player mobility standpoint that presents itself when you’re in the second apron. And by the way, if you ever find yourself confused about how the salary cap system works in the NBA, you’re absolutely not alone. It’s a lot to explain. If you’re ever looking for a really good resource, um spotrack on uh like spotrack.com has a really good NBA apron tracker where it shows you where teams are at salary-wise, who’s in like who’s who’s in what situation moneywise. And what we saw this year, Troy, was essentially every team that was in the second that’s over in the in the second apron was doing just about everything they can to get get the heck out of the apron. And there’s only one team now that’s over the second apron, which is the Cleveland Cavaliers. Otherwise, there’s only there’s only six teams over the first apron. I’m just curious, can do you think you can name five of those six teams? Absolutely not. Try just just try a listing. Just off the top of your head, just name a couple. Let’s see if you can get any of them. Knicks. Yep. Um Lakers. No. Okay. Clippers. No. Man. Um. So, the complete list is the Boston Celtics, the Dallas Mavericks, the Miami Heat, the Minnesota Timberwolves, the New York Knicks, and the Toronto Raptors. So, not not the typical teams, right? I I see Chuck uh asked Golden State. Yeah, I guess that would have been something I would have thought of if I had a little more time, but uh no, I was thinking about Miami, but I I just I wasn’t quite sure. Um but the rest of the four um totally surprised me. Yeah. All we’ve seen is teams that are wanting to shed salary and even even guys like Malik Monk are like teams are just unwilling to take on the contract just because they’re afraid of being over the apron and what that means. Like uh for example, a guy that hasn’t been signed and it’s been in the in the restricted free agency limbo, so to speak, has been Jonathan Kaminga. And it was reported earlier today by Shams that uh there was a deal like like from the from the uh from the Kings for uh for Jonathan Kamingo where they were willing to offer Malik Monk in a first round pick and the Warriors refused because they didn’t want to take back the salary of Malik Monk. And it’s like when we have guys like that that just can’t even get signed at this point. It’s like what? like at at a certain point, I think the salary cap’s done a lot of benefit. But if you’re looking at like the damage that it’s causing here, it is. It’s right in front of you. The summer the exciting summers are going to start slowing down because now that teams are learning the rules and learning the consequences. They’re going to abide by them. Now that you know, you have you have guys that are are signing these deals and staying put. It’s really good for teams and for markets and for parody, but for mobility and for like a lot of the things that we cover from that standpoint. The way it’s done is going to be changed. It’s all going to be trades, you know? So, um, all that to be said, I think like one thing like the NBA really has to has to consider is like a real middle ground versus where we were versus where we are now. Because on one hand, I I I love the balance of the league. I love the parody of the league. I love how competitive things are, but on the other hand, I think teams feel so like, you know, like like so strapped for for for space salary-wise that they’re afraid to take chances. And guys are also like especially that middle to lower class of the NBA players are struggling to find a home and to find like a stable contract, right? And I think what makes that difficult is, you know, the example you gave of Malik Monk. I mean, he he makes all 30 teams better on on your roster, right? I mean, he’s a guy that can give you high quality minutes and and and really, you know, give you some some good defense and some scoring push, but you’re right, it’s it is interesting that that a guy like him uh is struggling. But at the same time, you know, um kind of our childhood, I I guess I’m still thinking of like the big three with Miami and some of these other, you know, things that you’re going to see less of, which I’m happy about. Um Yeah. Yeah. I guess you right. It’s a double-edged sword, but um I I’m just happy something’s moved on from um the David Stern era of what the salary cap looked like in the NBA. Uh and and I know you’re talking about the happy medium uh to to look to, but I don’t know. I guess for me, if I’m going to take the another position on this, looking at the playoff dynamic on both conferences, it’s it’s new teams. the the playin adds another competitive, you know, push to it. It’s that that fourth, fifth, and sixth uh constantly becoming different. Teams like a Cleveland Cavaliers, you know, having the ability to to rise up. Obviously, the Pacers, looking at your champion, the Oklahoma City Thunder, how they were able to construct that roster and the the risk they took, but having having it pay off in the best way imaginable. That’s a fun league, Sean. I it is a fun league and I’m not disputing that. I I think my my conversation is more so through the lens of like for the players, did we screw ourselves over with the deal that we signed in the collective bargaining agreement? Because a lot of us are struggling to find homes and stable and stable contracts and you know there’s a lot less predictability, a lot less guaranteed money going out there right now. Whereas in, you know, like whereas in the past we talked about guys getting getting crazy money. Like there was a summer where like I remember like Harrison Barnes got like a four-year hundred million $120 million contract and like you know there there were like a lot of guys who were just getting paid money where it’s like I’m sorry why are they getting paid that? It was because there was too much room. You know, it’s like it’s like there there has to be somewhere in the middle where we can keep a competitive balance and incentivize players and and organizations to, you know, like like exist within this system, but also not allow it to where teams can just spend as as much as they want to just go and build the best team. Because I think the real risk you’re running here, Troy, just to kind of tie back to the last story, is if if teams are still struggling to operate within this system, they’re going to look for more ways to to to work around the system or to break the system. And especially if Adam Silver does nothing with this Steve Balmer thing or if they just get a light slap on the wrist for something that a lot of owners and a lot of teams feel is very shady business and something that shouldn’t be allowed to continue within the NBA. You’re just going to see more of this stuff happen. You’re just going to see teams do it but under the table. And I know a lot of people just want to believe, you know, oh well, it’s already happening. Like they’re already doing it. Yes, players already sign endorsement deals. Like they already, you know, like like do those things. But the difference is they all film a commercial. They all they all send out a tweet. They all wear a sweater to a game. They do something like they at least make it look like it’s an actual endorsement because they’re actually endorsing something. Right. This is just Yeah. Right. Right. This is just shady business. You know, that’s hope we don’t get caught type of stuff, which you’re absolutely right. We do not want to see moving forward at all. And I and I hope Yeah. I hope this this conversation at least with the aspiration and Kawhi Leonard gets talked about more because this is something our league needs to confront uh a lot sooner than later. We don’t want to put this under the rug and watch something even bigger go down in as soon as next season, you know, for all we know. So there there’s a lot there that that we can unravel. Yeah. So you already brought up Kevin Durant going to Houston. I think it’s pretty clear that they probably had the best summer of anyone in the league. I’d put I’d put Orlando right up there with them as well, being able to go get uh you know, Desmond Bane and the the quality of player that that brings back to them. But my my question to you is who do you think had the worst summer? Like who like like what’s the summer that you look at and you’re just scratching your head of like what what did you guys do here? Yeah. I mean, if anything, this would be an example of you could have done something, but you chose to do nothing when you couldn’t afford to do nothing. And that’s the New Orleans Pelicans, right? Um just what are they doing? What’s their direction? I would hate to be a Pelicans fan. And um another team may maybe Okay, this is maybe a controversial one because I Oh boy, here we go. But like dude DeAndre Aton Lakers that’s like you look at the successful Laker teams in the past then you look at um you know DeAndre Aen sorry look at not not DeAndre Aiden you look at Shaq right you look at Wilt Chamberlain you look at Kremil Jabbar you look at the the window of the bubble right with with 2020 and and Anthony Davis you see high caliber big man playing well, right? The Lakers are built upon, right, your your star guard and then your big guy that can go out there, Magic and Kareem, Kobe and Shaq, Luca and DeAndre A. And I I just I just if that if this team is serious about winning, which I think they are, hence they traded for Luca Donic and you’re going to get maybe one last year out of LeBron. I just don’t see I I I think they have to be in the camp of disappointing just because of the one person that they brought in as the guy who they’re going to expect to be a you know double double competitive center in the Western Conference. Yeah, I mean the the Lakers put themselves in a very difficult position with a lot of the salaries that they have. There’s a reason why all the reports suggest that they’re that they’re preparing for a life after LeBron. And it’s because until LeBron moves on, they have no flexibility to do anything because when you have players at this point at at those salaries on the same roster, your your options to of what to do otherwise are very thin. And for what they for what was available on the market, DeAndre Aton for that salary was probably the best choice. However, that doesn’t mean it was a good choice and it doesn’t mean that it makes them a good team. Now, is it is it better than what they had at center last year? Yes. But objectively speaking, no disrespect to Jackson Hayes, they could have brought someone out from center from from uh like from freaking like center court, like someone sitting courtside and they could have came out and they would have been as effective at playing the big as Jackson Hayes was. Like that’s just the reality of what they were facing. So, if Aton’s motivated, if he’s if he finally puts some things together and actually grows up, this could maybe be maybe be a worthwhile investment. But like you said, it’s not great. Another thing, by the way, that I think goes under the radar, not just the fact that like their big addition was DeAndre Aton, and we talk about the fact that they also just let Dorian Finny Smith walk, right? And he’s a guy that can give you great three and D. He played alongside of Luca. They already have a little bit of chemistry from Dallas. I mean, yeah, he helped that team in ways that they’re going to miss. Well, not just the fact that they let him walk cuz it was going to be hard for them to keep him anyway. Apparently, like the offers they gave were just from what from all accounts were just disrespectful and just he did not leave like feeling good about the Lakers at all. And I just think that’s something to note because that’s one of Luca’s favorite teammates ever and a guy that like really helped him tr like transition to the Lakers and so I’m not saying that there’s trouble in paradise. I’m just saying I’ve got my eyes on that. Right. Right. Uh what other teams can we think of? I was going to bring up Orlando for the good just because I’m a big Jasmine Bane guy. Um Orlando for the good. Absolutely. I mean, to me on the other end, I mean, if you’re if you’re the Phoenix Suns, like you’re just like Jaylen Green better work or you know, like like this this all better go well because you went and you gave Devin Booker I mean the the kiss of death contract, right? For all intents and purposes, the the the amount of money it’s like Devin Booker is a great player and that is not that’s not the problem here. Like this isn’t this isn’t a Bradley Beal situation where it’s like why are you paying this player this money? It’s the fact that you’re now essentially capped in because Troy like snap judgment. Is Devin Booker the best player on a championship team? Mhm. So then you can’t make him that money. Like you can’t make him that offer if you don’t have anything that’s actually substantial. And now you got Jaylen Green. You you have you have you you went out and got Dylan Brooks alongside him. Like yeah, this team will probably be like will probably be tougher. They’ll probably have a better culture than last year. I mean can’t get worse. But I mean this is and the worst part is they went out and traded everything they had in their cupboards too to go and add these bigs. And that’s another thing. They went out and drafted a big Malwash who um from Duke who all intents and purposes seems like he’s going to be a really good player. That’s one thing. But why then go and trade for Mark Williams five minutes later? Like what are you doing Mattisbia? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It really is tough. But I’m I’m looking at it on a basketball perspective above all else. Bradley Beal, Jaylen Green, and Devin Booker on the together. Bradley Beal’s gone. Oh, yeah. Sorry. Sorry. Gone. Well, still. How about throw Dylan Brooks in there then? Brooks in there. Bradley Beal, you know where Bradley Beal, he left for he he went to to peaceful waters with the Los Angeles Clippers. Yes, that’s right. I did forget that. But still got Dylan Brooks. You have you have Devin Booker, Jaylen Green, and Dylan Brooks. Yeah. I mean, I’ll shoot first type of guards. And who’s gonna be the point guard? Jaylen Green. Oh, no, he’s not. But yes, he is. or Devin Booker, which you just paid him that money because of his elite offball skill to be a guard who can who who can who can run off ball and when you can get the ball in his spots, he can dominate. When he’s just out there to score, you want Deon Booker forever more. If he’s out there to be your point guard, yeah, what are you doing? You’re just limiting You’re you’re you’re limiting his potential. You’re you’re you’re setting him up to fail. And yeah, that’s just it’s just disappoint. I mean, hey, go get your bag. Good for you. I mean, the other one’s obvious. He already brought it up. New Orleans. I mean, just I I mean, like that’s just a like the the trade. I mean, we we we’ve already said it, but you know, you know, I know. How about this last question about this off season? Other than the Detroit Pistons, who is the team you’re most excited to watch this season? Great question. Um, I would probably have to say either the the Lakers just because I’m so intrigued. I’m a Luca fan. I’m so intrigued by this Aton signing. Uh, but also I would say just because I I kind of fell in love with him just watching him play here, but in the new role of Milwaukee and them being in the same division as us, Sean. Um, I think just seeing how him and Giannis him and Giannis pair up. Uh, again, I want to keep an eye on our division and um, the Milwaukee Bucks I feel like are going to try to compete. Um, but it’ll be interesting to see how and obviously I hope our Pistons are are a lot better, but um, I I think for um, for for someone who watches the Central Division, Milwaukee is going to be fun. And then obviously Chuck beat me to it, but Houston is going to be fun I think as well just to see how that pairing goes. And if I had to throw another honorable mention out there, just San Antonio um just to see what what a what a full year with Wimi can look like. Darren Fox um really fun too. So yeah, no question. For me, uh, my my mind immediately goes to the Dallas Mavericks just because you bring in Cooper Flag, you it’s the first full year of Anthony Davis, you have all the pressure facing the Mavericks organization to go and deliver and to be a really good team right away with Cooper Flag and especially with how the Lakers are going to be, you have a you have a determined, pissed-off Luca Donuch. We all know that he’s coming out for blood this season. I think we all expect that. But the part that’s going to be fascinating to me is how is things going to go in Dallas and what happens if they hit turbulent waters? What happens if the season doesn’t go as expected? You know, like Cooper Flag, he has to succeed. Like at the minimum for for Mavericks fans to be happy, he has to be like 95% as good as Luca because at that point you can trick yourself into thinking he’s he’s as good as Luca. If he he if he doesn’t approach Luke being Luca at any point in his career, Maverick’s fans will never let that die. Even then, they might let it die. That bar is so high. if Luca is your bar. But that’s the problem. That’s the corner they painted themselves in. Yeah. When you go and make the dumbest trade in NBA history and get bailed out with the luckiest lottery results in NBA history, you have to strike you have to strike the jackpot to make that all worthwhile. If not, buy your Nico is not going away. Those chants will ring through Dallas a long time. Granted though, that might not even be the dumbest trade made in Dallas this year. So that’s a whole other conversation. I’m a Packers fan, Sean. So live question. I’m like, shut up, shut up, shut up, shut up, shut up. I’m not bitter at all. But Roy, one special thing we get to do since this is live is go through the chat and answer your questions that that viewers have left. And actually, our guy Pistons Talk before the show left us a really funny question where uh he’s asking us to build a car. Wow. Based off of five pistons. You have you have to build a Detroit Pistons car using the starting five. who would be the engine, the tires, the transmission, the blind spot production or blind spot protection. Yeah. The exterior. Okay. I want to try this first, Sean. All right. Uh-huh. First of all, the best part of this question is the we are the probably two of the people who know the absolute least about cars on the planet. I want to gonna be fantastic. Let’s get it. Okay. So, your engine’s going to be Kade. Uh, your tires I believe are going to be Assar Thompson. Your transition is transmission is going to be uh Jaylen Duran. Your blind spot protect. Well, I guess that I guess technically is your is your Jaylen Duran. So, I’m back to transmission. Uh, I guess Ivy. I guess Ivy can be your transmission and your exterior. Oh. Um, that one’s a little bit tough. I uh I guess you could go Malik Beasley, but you could also go um someone like a Ron Holland, too. I don’t know. Malik Beasley because he’s not a Piston. Okay. Oh, yeah. Right. Right. I guess you can’t go with him. Uh assuming he signs. Um I guess I’m going to go with Ron Holland. Okay. I like it. I All right. I’m gonna go with All right. Right. So, Cad’s the engine. Obviously, he’s the thing that makes everything go. Uh the the tires for me, I I I think I’m actually go with Ron here because he’s willing to get into the get into the into the ground, do the dirty work. He’s willing to get in the mud. He’s not he’s not afraid to, you know, ride through the rough waters. The transmission, I’m going to go with the SAR because his ceiling, if he if he rises to what he can be, he’s the thing that presses on the gas and makes this thing go to another level. Uh for the blind spot blind spot protection, I’m going to go with Jaylen Duran because he’s going to swap uh uh swap those shots or anything that’s coming through uh in your blind spot. And finally, to close things off, Isaiah Stewart is your exterior. He’s the He’s your body. He’s your core. He’s the He’s the thing that you want people to see on the outside of like what’s a Detroit business. He’s the exterior. I might have to endorse yours more than mine. That was pretty well thought out. Well, in fairness, I had m I had a couple minutes to read this and think this over while you had to struggle in real time and try and come up and think about these parts. So, I had a very significant advantage. So, as much as as much as the friend in me wants to make fun of you right now, I can’t. I really can’t. I like it. Oh my god. What else do we have, Sean? Well, looking throughout the comments, I I I saw something funny uh that said, “So, Sean, you’re not going to be screaming to bring him home anymore for Deon Booker.” And it’s like, you know, as a matter of fact, I’m not. I’m really not. Uh seeing here as well, uh from from Mr. Ray, if the Clippers organization is found uh to be guilty of circumventing the salary cap, Adam Silver has to lay the law down or it will be pandemonium. Honestly, like I I think that’s like I think that’s where we’re at right now, Troy, is like in in the NBA is like there are some real things on the line here for, you know, I think a lot of people are are waiting to see what Adam Silver does. I think a lot of owners uh you know are are are very tense and and very upset about these types of things. And I will say this, if I have the chance to ask Tjan Langden a question at media day, it’s going to be along the lines of this topic. Mhm. Yeah. So, very interesting things to come, but you’re going to want to be right here from half court when all that stuff goes down. We’re going to be upping the content game quite a bit this season. and really excited to be back at it. Uh took a break for about a month because uh for those that didn’t see uh I I mean we we were already planning on slowing down throughout the summer, but then all of a sudden there was a a big fire outside my apartment at my um at my complex and I was like, well, that might be a good sign that I’m I’m I’m quite literally burned out and need some time to to reconvene and reset before the season. But I’m really excited, Troy, that to to get back at it, to attack it this season. And we’re going to be doing a lot of great things here on the channel as well. Is going to be writing some good stuff over on the Substack. So, be sure you go to from halfcourt.substack.com, check that out as well. But that’s going to do it for today, folks. Thank you so much for listening. We will catch you guys next time from Halfcourt. And be sure you subscribed.
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