Lakers get their center, Knicks get their coach & Beal wants out of Phoenix | The Hoop Collective

Lakers get their center, Knicks get their coach & Beal wants out of Phoenix | The Hoop Collective

Hello, welcome to the Hoop Collective podcast. We talk about the NBA which you’re doing on Thursday afternoon just before Independence Day. Joining us from the Get Up studio on the set there in the Robert A. Iger building, the brand new Robert Aigger building in uh Soho, Manhattan, Tim Bonttos. Hello everybody.
You’re the only Disney employee working in that building. uh hours before any other people here. I can tell you that. I just went and got a coffee in the cafe and the place is deserted.
So the the thing about our new studios there is literally it’s right next to all the ABC studios. So um it’s like Good Morning America, Mark and Kelly, The View, Get Up, First Take. And the other day I was I had to uh I there’s just like bathrooms there where you know they’re all gender bathrooms and I had to uh wait for Joy Behard to finish going to the bathroom so I could go. And so it’s inevitable that one day I’m going to walk down the hall and Stephen A and Whoopi Goldberg are going to be locked in some sort of debate in the hallway. It’s only a matter of time before it happens. All right. Joining us from Dallas, Texas. He’s getting ready to go to Salt Lake City. It’s Ban McMahon. Howdy, partners. I tell you, there’s a little bit of time there where I thought Whoopy Goldberg might actually end up being the Knicks coach like in that movie, but uh Eddie Eddie, but they found they found somebody else. They found somebody better resume.
You know what the best part of Eddie is? I don’t a lot of our listeners, viewers of a certain age are going to have any idea what you’re talking about. Um, they like have these great trash talk sequences with like Brad Dohy and like Avery Johnson and I can’t remember who else. Um, it’s it’s awesome though. I highly recommend it. All right, we have a coach in New York, but first I think we should talk about the Lakers getting a center. Um, that was them getting DeAndre Aton on a two-year deal. Um, I have to say while DeAndre Aiden has flaws in his game, which we have discussed in this podcast over the course of years, when you don’t have a center and you’re limited in your what you can spend, getting a player who can produce on that level for that money, which was about $8 million a year, um, is a decent save. So, while he’s not the perfect player, nor do I think he’s the long-term fit as the center for Luca, it is a much better position than they were in um two days ago. Bon temps. Yeah, I mean, look, we’ve been talking about the Lakers getting a center literally from the moment they traded for Luca Donuch back in I guess late January, early February. I don’t remember exactly what the date was. Um they obviously made the Mark Williams trade. They rescended almost immediately afterward. And ever since then, it’s been like, “All right, who are the Lakers going to get at center?” And yes, DeAndre Aton is a flawed player. He is far from a perfect player. There is a reason he was just bought out of the Max deal he was on. That being said, he also is one of the most talented centers that was available this summer. Could argue is the second most talented center after Miles Turner on the market. And the Lakers getting him on this deal, a two-year deal at less than the full mid level, I think, believe player option on the second year. Um, that is a that is to me a real win for them to get this deal done. And that’s not to say that DeAndre Drayton is going to be an all-star with the Lakers, but he is a guy with a lot of talent who fits in in many ways what they need. He’s a he could be a presence inside, particularly on offense. He is not often played to the level he’s capable of on defense, but if the Lakers can coax some good play out of him, he could really make a significant impact this year for them. it’ be a big upgrade over Jackson Hayes. And also, yes, he’s not a max player, but it is a far different calculus to become a good signing when you have to clear being a guy that’s at essentially what is the room midle around 8 or $9 million than if you’re making $35 million. So, the Lakers still have a lot of holes. They’re still, I think, outside the top four in the Western Conference, but DeAndre will help them. I think it’s a good signing and at least gets them started. While they’ve seen several other teams in the West make upgrades over the past week or so, I I would argue he was the most talented center on the market. He’s the most physically gifted center on the market. Um, you know, the problem with DeAndre Aiden has never been about talent. He’s 7 foot 250 chiseled, athletic, has good touch. Like, he has all the talent in the world. called him a talented doofus on Get Up. And and I don’t mean doofus as in a lack of intelligence. I just mean he’s he tends to be foolish. I mean, he’s, you know, just like he tends to just wear down his coaches, his veteran teammates just with not malicious stuff, but he’s late, you know, he’s not paying attention to detail, he’s snowed in, you know, all these kind of things. There was a I did a piece on him a couple years ago when he was sort of ascending when the Suns were ascending and I remember finding all of these videos of Chris Paul screaming at him in the huddle like every single huddle Chris Paul was yelling at him about something like like every single night. Now,
it’s not a coincidence that was the best stretch of his career when he had Chris Paul directing him around the court.
To DeAndre Aton’s credit, he did play a significant role on a team that went to the NBA finals, was up 2 in finals. You know, also to Chris Paul’s credit, I was really down on the fit of DeAndre Aton with the Lakers because I know like, hey, if if he’s going to be not rolling hard and wanting post ups and all that kind of stuff, Luca is not a guy known for an extraordinary level of patience with his teammates. I think JJ Reic’s patience could certainly be tested. And I talked to a couple people yesterday about DeAndre. I talked to one former Phoenix staffer, one former Portland staffer. And the former Phoenix staffer is like, “This is not going to work. He’s, you know, he’s he’s going to do this little half roll thing. Luke is going to just get fed up with him. You know that JJ Re’s going to get driven crazy. This is going to be a disaster.” The Portland, former Portland staff was like, “Listen, everything that went wrong in Portland, some of it was on DeAndre, some of it was on the organization.” His feeling though was Aton’s going to understand the situation here. He’s not a Max player. He’s a guy who’s been dumped by two franchises and as you said, is basically playing on a prove it deal for the room mid level here. you know, with a, you know, one-year deal plus a player option. And that that’s going to create a sense of urgency. It’s going to create a kind of hunger that maybe he has not had at his first two stops in the league. And I said, “Okay, is is he going to do the things you have to do to to thrive playing with Luca?” And he says, “If he knows he’s going to get past, he’ll roll hard, you you know, he pointed out that he was a very effective uh role finisher with Chris Paul uh during their time together with his son. So, I’m after that conversation, I am a little bit more optimistic about this. And the thing is, if Aton is it’s all about attitude. It’s all about willingness to do dirty work. If he does those things, it does have a chance to be a long-term fit. I think it’s either going to be a long-term fit or a short-term circus fire. [Laughter] Yeah. So, I I would also say I think the Lakers need even another center because well, you need more than one and right now they have one. They probably need a second one. I will also add one thing really quick. It is worth pointing out that
I believe and you guys can correct me if I’m wrong. I’m pretty sure that it was the DARE side of the equation that went to the Blazers and helped orchestrate this buyout. I think in part because they sort of saw the writing on the wall in Portland and saw that they drafted Donovan Klingan last year. They drafted Yang Hansen, I believe is how we’re saying it this year, and they clearly were going in a different direction at the center spot. And to McMahon’s point,
this is DeAndre Aton’s chance to reset
what people think of him and his career going forward. Like, if this goes well, there’s a lot of cap space next summer. He is an extremely talented player. I believe he’s still only 26. like he could still cash in and have a totally different second half of his career or he could go the other way and be a guy that’s looking at a minimum deal a year from now. And like that’s all entirely down to how he handles what is a pretty great opportunity in front of him.
Well, and I think the that was the concern from DeAndre and his agents when they went to Portland. Obviously, Portland was looking to move on from him. Portland was, you know, it makes all the sense in the world for Portland to have phased him out this year and gone with their young bigs. Um, and if Aton’s kind of in, and look, I don’t think Aidan’s a guy who’s great at masking his feelings or and or preventing his feelings from being evident when he’s on the floor. So if he’s feeling un if he’s feeling unappreciated, if he’s feeling, you know, maybe even disrespected, unwanted, and all those kind of things, and he kind of mopes through a season, then he’s looking at maybe being a minimum guy next year. Now he gets basically all I he might have left a little bit on the table.
I’m not sure a minimum guy, but okay.
Okay. But scrap heap guy. He’s in a situation now he has a golden opportunity to restore his value with a franchise that has a glaring need for a long-term solution at that position. And if you are a big guy in the league, you’ve got to get over the postup stuff. But there’s no better point guard to play with than Luca Donic. Derek Lively had more dunks during a rookie season which he missed time with injury than DeAndre Aton’s had in any year in his career. That’s awesome.
I mean, all all you got to do is roll hard and roll hard and be willing to clean up the the, you know, the trash and he’s going to get four dunks a game, you know, plus whatever else. And like there will be I think there will be opportunities for him to punish switches. Like his post-ups have to come off of punishing smaller defenders on switches. Not thinking, okay, this was a play call for me. Let me, you know, or forget the play call, let me go post up in the, you know, the nail and and and try to operate. Like that stuff’s got to get scrapped. But he’s got a chance to to feast uh just thriving as as the pick and roll partner with Luca Donuch. Well, we’ll be keeping an eye on the Lakers offseason moves. It’s still not clear what their roster is going to look like, so we’ll see. Um, it’s not clear who the Knicks head coach is, Mike Brown. Um, I met Mike Brown in 2005 when he was hired as the head coach of the Cleveland Cavaliers like in the first week of June. And I remember at the press conference, um, the Cavs didn’t have a GM yet. That was interesting. And, uh, so owner Dan Gilbert hired him. And uh at the press conference, he gave him a clock cuz he was giving him the gift of time. Couldn’t make this up.
I thought I thought he was giving him a clock cuz he was on the clock. I thought that’s what you were saying, right?
Which is what he is in New York. He’s already on the clock.
Yeah.
I thought this morning on first take.
Evan Cohen asked me this morning on first take. He said, “Is Mike Brown already on the hot seat?” I said, “Obviously.” Because he obviously is already on the hot seat. No. through no fault of his own. That’s a situation into
during the playoffs. I mean, this is a true story. There’s another time during the playoffs where Dan Gilbert, I’m not saying he himself did it. He may have had somebody do it. He left a whoopy cushion on the seat at the for the a playoff press conference on the podium. He left a whoopy cushion and the Mike Brown sat on.
I tell you what,
what was the point of that? to make Mike Brown.
Yeah, to embarrass.
Okay,
I might I might see if I can pull that off at the live show with Bon Tims in Vegas. Dan Dan Gilbert Prime Dan Gilbert in the Twitter era really would have been true Twitter era really been something like the comic sands letter was obviously the nent days of Twitter, but if you can imagine like the last few years if that had happened in like 2023, I the the internet would have literally melted if that happened. So he he bought the Cavs March 1st, 2005. Okay. On April 1st, one month in, one month as the owner, he, by the way, in that month, he fired the coach and the Cavs went were plummeting from being like in third or fourth place to out of the playoffs, just so you know. And on April 1st, he wanted to put out a release that said that the Cavs were signing Dennis Rodman to a 10-day contract. as an April Fool’s joke. Now, he didn’t put it out because this PR staff talked him out of it, but that was because that was one month into his his uh his time as owner.
Well, you remember the
Not a boring fellow, Dan Gilbert. Not a boring fellow. the the jokes when he hired a uh hired an actor to pretend to be a ref during a timeout and then got into a fight with the actor and Dell Harris turned white as a ghost, freaked out, hurried to break it up.
Oh my god. So, on Mike Brown, um what you need to know about Mike Brown, um and and I don’t think he does this anymore and you know, but just helps you understand a little bit about him. Um he for years used to bring his own iron on the road because he wanted to he had the thing where he would iron um he he would and an ironing board because he had this
ironing board. He might have.
I mean, you can’t talk about anybody packing anything given you pack 5,000 pairs of shoes.
He definitely packed his preferred iron. And the man who was in charge of packing his iron was Jordi Fernandez. Jordi Fernandez was the lowest staffer um um on the Cav staff and just over from Spain looking for a foothold in in the NBA. And Jordy was kind of like like I think he I don’t know what his role was, but he was basically Mike Brown’s gopher. I mean, he
he definitely helped out in practices and stuff like he was doing coaching, but he was also Mike Brown’s gopher. And he was in charge of packing the iron. And Mike had this thing where he before every game would have an ironing board set up in the coach’s office, um, home and road, and he would iron his shirt. He wanted to be the one to iron it. It was like this zen thing for him to iron his shirt before he went out to the game.
Not not an OCD fellow whatsoever, Mike Brass.
Right. Well, I think it’s just it more goes to the point of how um sort of disciplined and pnicity he is. He was he’s a he was raised in the air as an Air Force brat. He graduated um high school at Rammstein Air Force Base in Germany. He was a dominant point guard I believe on the Ramstein Air Force Base. uh high school or whatever. Um yeah, but anyway, um I remember like early, you know, my years covering covering Mike Brown. Um he uh he was so obsessed with defense. Um like the Cavs like the Cavs would lose a game like 89 86 or something. And so you’d be in the post game and you’d be like, “Coach, uh offense really struggled tonight. you know, he needed some more uh he needs some more help for LeBron. He was like, “We should have gi we we we lost 89 86. We should have only given up 85.” And that sort of process led to the 7977 uh games in the conference finals against the Pistons. Um
it’s going to be a great fit for Cat. Having said that, when the Kings won the or got to the playoffs for the first time in 16 years two years ago, I think it was and I think it was in 23 and he was named coach of the year. Um they led the league in offense and I think they led the league in passes per game and so
believe it was the best offense in NBA history at that point.
That well every offense seems like it’s that way every year, right? Record that gets broken every year. Yes. So, Mike Brown has come a long way in 20 years as a coach. He’s really um he’s still going to be hokey. I know that that um that thing that’s uh going around the internet, which was his his I don’t know if he called a rant um when he was talking about his thought process on how he wants the Kings to play and he kept saying we have to be good possession after possession after possession. and he kept saying it like 17 times over.
Just need to be methodical by stacking or playing the right way. Possession after possession after possession after possession after possession after possession after possession after possession
and people thought like he was there was a glitch in the matrix. Um that is how he operates. He you know he’s a pound the rock Greg Papovich disciple. Um, so, uh, I can see how he would win a coaching search that would that mostly featured longevity as opposed to star power or whatever because he over the course of many conversations kind of wears you down and be like, you know what, this guy does it. So, I don’t know if it’s going to mean the Nick’s greatness, but
that’s who he is. He also had the advantage of actually not being employed by another NBA franchise as their head coach in this particular coaching search. But listen, it was a clumsy coaching search by the Knicks, but they had like he’s a qualified guy. Obviously, he’s been a two-time uh coach of the year. I do think he’ll be able to, you know, walk into the Knicks facility and and, you know, command respect from the players. The other thing in New York, I think it’s important that you have a coach who’s not going to be like intimidated by the uh media cesspool that is New York City. To borrow one of my favorite Rick Carile lines,
I was going to say these are your these are your peers you’re talking about there.
I I say I say it with love, Carlile did not. He was mad at him because they were writing mean things that like Mike Woodson’s job was in jeopardy. Um which was literally what he was upset about. But seriously, I think Mike Brown, you know, he for as pnicity as he may be, he’s a he’s an engaging guy. He’s a funny guy. You know, I don’t think he’s going to have any issues kind of developing rapport and and managing um you know, demanding media core, demanding beat core. I don’t think that’s going to be a problem. Um, how much do you think his time uh as a Warriors assistant kind of changed him and altered his approach?
A lot. A lot. Um, completely altered the way he he he mellowed out. I could tell Mike Brown stories for two, three hours. Um, but you know, he he was a lot for for players. He he wore, you know, he wore out the Cavs his first time around a little bit. He wore out the Lakers in his time there. Um uh he was he was kind of known for marathon practices and marathon um shootarounds especially. Um and I think being with that sort of very mature multi- championship winning team mellowed him out. Um, I think I think it made a big difference in the way he approaches stuff and and for a team like the Knicks who has, you know, some pretty self, you know, Jaylen Brunson, Josh Hart, Male Bridges, these are these are these are very mature dudes. So, I actually think that that kind of uh that kind of, you know, arc in his career probably help him. I I was out there with the Warriors uh for a good chunk of Mike’s time out there and I I definitely think it mellowed him out to some degree. I mean, he was always, as Brian laid out, a very hard charging guy. I mean, I think he talked about that when we were on uh when he was on the pot a couple years ago during the finals. I think it was after that um that first King seasons in 23. and he definitely I think sort of watched how Steve Kerr handled things and took a bit of a different approach. And I I do think it it led to a lot of the things that went right in Sacramento. And the only thing I’d say about the general reception to Mike here is I’ve used this analogy a few times today. I think you could draw a lot of parallels, at least if you want to be optimistic about it for the Knicks to 30 years ago when the Yankees hired Joe Tory when they fired Buck Shoalter in a very similar circumstance, a guy that had gotten the Yankees back to the playoffs as a very popular guy with the media and in the city and it was controversial by George Stein Brener to fire him. And when they hire Joe Tori, who like Mike Brown was 55 years old, like Mike Brown had coached three places before. Like Mike Brown hadn’t won a championship before. Joe Tori Casey hadn’t won a playoff game before. He got they got destroyed for hiring him. The clueless Joe was the back page of the Daily News. Nobody thought it was going to work. Everybody thought it was going to be a disaster. And that led to 12 straight playoff appearances and four titles. Now, I’m not saying the Knicks are going to become a dynastic team, but in my opinion, of the coaches that were available after, as McMahon said, they struck out on the uh currently employed guys who may have been potentially better fits. I always thought if it got down to people that were available that Mike was the only real viable option among them. He’s definitely going to be able to handle the media part of the job well. This is a Knicks team that needs to uh be picked up on the defensive end. Mike has all sorts of credentials as a defensive coach and he showed with the Kings he’s got the ability to run a sophisticated offense and you know one thing you could say about the Knicks is that their offense was a little predictable while being pretty good and that some more ball movement and some more um creativity at that end could improve things for them some. So, you know, we’ll see how it goes. But I certainly think when you look at the options that were available, this is about as good as the Knicks could have hoped for. And now it’s just a matter of whether he can live up to the very high expectations that are on him because whenever he gets introduced sometime next week from then on it’s going to be, you know, finals or bust. I mean, I don’t know if it’ll be championship or bust here, but it’s certainly going to be finals or bust. And if he doesn’t do that, you know, it the next spring is not going to be pretty here. Yeah. That’s why I would say to him, get your money, you know.
Oh, he’ll get his money. Yeah.
Wasn’t there a time when he was being paid by three teams?
There was. Yes. Um,
he’ll get his money. The man can negotiate.
When he came back to Cleveland, you know, he got fired by the Cavs, then he coached the Lakers, and then he got fired by the Lakers, and he came back to Cleveland, and he was so skeptical because they hadn’t gotten LeBron yet, and, you know, there was this long rebuild, and I think he got a five-year contract, or it might even have been longer. It might have been I it was a very long contract. It was like, “Okay, we’re going to commit to you, Mike.” Because, you know, he had He’d gotten fired in Cleveland the first time around despite five 50 win seasons and two 60 win seasons. He had had backto-back 60, right?
He got to keep the clock. Um they fired him after back to back if
if LeBron if you go back like obviously they had LeBron James. Those Cavs teams were not loaded with talent. Like he did an unbelievable job with those teams. Like seriously like they were not It was LeBron and a bunch of role players and he won 66 games with them. like he did a really good job with that cast.
In all honesty, you know, I know NBA TV like might even be going away. I don’t know. But like if you if anybody has ever seen the famous, you know, 48 special where LeBron had 48 points in Detroit. Um, by the way, if you ever watch that game, it used to be on NBA TV all the time. You will, you know, all these dudes who talk about how much better the league was in like the 80s and 90s.
Just go back and look at the 2000s,
the 2000s. Forget about the 90s and see that game was is almost unbearable to watch. Sorry about the drilling in my wall next to me. Had to be done. That’s all you got to say. It’s had to be done. Um
the life of the star. Uh anyway, if you go back and watch that game, yes, you will see LeBron have an incredible uh second half. You will also see some great coaching by Mike Brown in that game. Was an elite coaching game. But either way, it’s neither here nor there. Um, he’s been fired four times, so he’s far from the perfect coach, but he has a lot of success on his resume. Coaches get fired. That’s that’s just that’s a, you know, it’s a matter of when, not if. Almost every single coach gets fired. Pop was an exception. There’s not many exceptions. All right, we’ll see if the Knicks uh we’ll see if the Knicks do anything else to their roster. They look like they’re set, but we’ve got some big unknowns out there in the league right now. We’ve got a lot more podcasts to do this summer, but um All right. So, a little bit ago as we’re recording this shadowing.
Yeah. There’s there are What do you want me to say? You know, I’m not getting right now.
What you said?
Um I’m not getting aggregated on July 3rd. Okay. We’re just not going to
He’s not He’s not locking any doors. No more door locking.
He’s not locking any doors. I had to hear that line all day today. That’s for sure. Um, yeah, we’re a little low on news at the moment. Um, okay. So, Dwayne Rankin of the Arizona Republic reported that the Suns are in uh buyout, serious buyout discussions with Bradley Beiel. This is something that has been in the ether for a few days now. Maybe by the time this pod comes out, it’ll have been done. Maybe it won’t be done, but we all know that this is true, that they are in serious discussions. And so on the heels of Dame Lillard getting bought out, getting basically waved and stretched on 113 million, Bradley Beal is probably going to get bought. It probably is not going to be that high because I think Beal is intending or at least discussing.
Well, here
the thing, it can’t be that high. So, right,
there’s a quirk in the rules. Uh we talked about this with the Damon Lillard uh wave and stretch where a team cannot have more than 15% of the salary cap in dead money at any time. So in the past few years the Suns have at different points waved and stretched EJ Liddell, former Ohio State star and Missir Little. And those two guys this year are going to be on the books according to Bobby Marks for about $3.8 million. So the maximum amount that you can have on your books is somewhere around $23 million this year in debt money. So because of that, Bradley Beal, who’s currently owed about $110 million, I think it’s just a little bit less than what Dame’s deal was, um he’s got to give back at least 13 or 14 million or so.
Yeah.
To allow it to be a legal buyout. So the Suns are going to end up with basically the same Deb cap hit that the Bucks are going to have on their books, but because of this Nir Little signing that they or this wave and stretch in the past, they have to get Brad to give back a little bit just so they can actually do it.
And look, typically a buyout is a guy gives back the money he’s getting on his next deal. You know, it’s I don’t know. Is there is there a situation now where Beal can get 14 million? Is there a team is there a team that has the full non-t taxpayer mid level? I don’t I don’t see a few there’s a few teams that makes sense for him. Um I mean I don’t know how real go. Yeah. I’m not looking to go into the realm of speculation.
Okay. My point is there’s a couple places he could go.
My point is this. Just real quick, he doesn’t have to get the he doesn’t have to get if he’s let’s just say for the sake of the discussion he’s leaving 14 million on the table and he wants to be whole
because for example DeAndre Aiden didn’t quite get whole. He was a couple of million short of being whole but he went from being
a possible third stringer in Portland to starter in LA. If Beal’s looking to be whole, he just needs to make 14 million over two years. He doesn’t have to make it all that this year. So just just
so yeah, but there the he’s going to get bought out very likely. They’re haggling about money, you know. I mean, I remember when I when I went uh was around the Suns for a little bit to to write the story on the not so pleasant state of the Suns. And you know, this was when Beal had heard his name and trade rumors for months despite the fact he had a no trade clause. I talked to him about it. He was honest about feel and by the way he’d also been in his eyes demoted to a six-man role for a while there. And you know he said he felt disrespected and but you know he didn’t he mentioned like hey there wasn’t anything that uh that made sense before the trade deadline. He didn’t want to just like KD he didn’t want to uproot his family or you know his personal life in his in Beiel’s case his his family young kids wife in the middle of the season. Somebody pointed out like, you know, summer, there’s a lot more options on the table. There’s a lot more possibilities. I don’t think Bradley Beal is in any way, shape, or form opposed to getting his walking papers from Phoenix. I think he just wants as much of the money as possible to go along with him. Yeah. Um, so there might be some more by the time we do our next podcast. There might be some more there. But I will just say like um if they do this buyout um it will save the Suns somewhere in the neighborhood. You know they haven’t completed their roster yet. They could add more to it but I believe Bontams it will save the Suns it will get them out of the tax or be very close to getting them out of the tax which will save them $160 million this year alone. And it’s the repeater tax thing. Also, is this our first indication that Microwave Matt isn’t just about right now, right now, right now? Maximize your chance of winning a championship every single year. Is this
Well, it’s I would say I would say that there are a lot of parallels to a team I covered back in the mid2010s, the Brooklyn Nets. And you can you can lay all the parallels out and it’s eerily similar the situation with the two teams. You’ve got two owners that were very brash that came in talking tough about how they were going to spend a bunch of money and immediately build a championship team. You got Muel Proker off with the Nets back then. Obviously, you got Matt Ishbia now. You have teams that wind up having disgruntled stars. They ended up buying out and waving a stretch. You had Darren Williams back then. You have Bradley Beal now. You have two franchises that traded all their draft picks, went all in to try to win a title. Kevin Gardett and Paul Pierce trade back then. the obviously the Kevin Durant trade and then the Bradley Beal trade subsequently now for the Suns. They both only won one playoff series with those teams before they fell apart. And you also had those owners who traded all their picks and spent all this money and declared they were going to spend money till kingdom come. The picks weren’t going to matter because they were going to be competitive.
After they started losing games, they said, “You know what? Kind of sucks to lose games and also lose a mega ton of money.” And so after that, you know what we’re going to do? We’re going to stop spending a mega ton of money. And what is that going to do? That’s going to mean our team is going to stink. And what is that going to do? It’s going to give other teams really good draft picks. That’s why the Boston Celtics for the last decade that had Jason Tatum and Jaylen Brown. That’s why the teams coming up with the Suns draft picks, the Memphis Grizzlies next year, the Houston Rockets after that, the Washington Wizards after that, they’re sitting here rubbing their hands together. They’re going, “All right, this was the bet that we made. We made a bet that this this run of spending was not going to last. Look, we’ve been saying for a while and as you just pointed out, McMahon, we’ve been waiting for the Suns and for Matt Ishbia to look in the mirror and say, you know what, we got to stop digging. We got to start trying to turn this thing around. And the Kevin Durant trade was an admission of that. We all said at the time there was not a big market for Kevin Durant. They got as much as they could, which wasn’t much. This is another admission of that. the Bradley Bill trade, which you know, at the time it was seems, oh man, they didn’t give up that much for him. Just a few swaps, no big deal. Just take out a guy with a no trade clause, he’s going to be great. No big deal. It’s going to be awesome. That didn’t work out very well. This is a This is a team that for two years has just been flying ahead, not looking at any of the ramifications, anything they have been doing, and the Bills coming due on all of it. And if you look at this Suns team right now, this roster isn’t very good. They’re probably the 13th best team in the West or so.
Yeah, I see little to no chance of them being a real factor in terms of trying to get in the playoffs.
The Grizzlies, who just made this trade with the with the Bagic with Desmond Bane, are sitting there all but certainly getting a lottery pick and which by the way, they felt like that pick was
they felt that pick was the best asset they got in that trade.
Yeah, for sure. Like that was a very targeted thing that they said, “Hey, we’re going to get a lottery pick next year and it’s worth taking like we talked about the other day. We’re going to take a bit of a longer view, try to have a same same level team now and see if we get a really high level return with that pick and the other picks and the outy years and try to, you know, give ourselves a higher ceiling going forward.” But man, it’s just it’s just a real reminder that, you know, for all these people who were like, “Oh yeah, the Suns are just going to spend, is going to spend, it’s all going to be fine. Everything’s going to be great.” going balls to the wall like this. We’ve seen it over and over again in the history of the league. It tends to not work out very well and maybe the Suns are finally starting to figure that out and it’s probably going to be a pretty painful stretch here as they try to reorient this team. And by the way, Phoenix, unlike Milwaukee, is a place where guys are going to want to go. So having I mean Milwaukee is not a free agency destination. Phoenix has been in the past. So, for the rest of this decade, they’ve got $22 million of dead money on their books like the Bucks. That’s going to be pretty painful down the road. If if Phoenix can’t get out of this salary cap jail that they’re in, they’re going to be hamstrung and trying to build this team around Devin Booker, who, as Brian has said multiple times, is about to get a $150 million extension himself.
Yeah. So, it’s actually going to be slightly less than that because uh next year’s numbers came in a little bit lower than projections. Uh, but it’s going to still be over 70 million.
Yeah, he can still make all his car payments. And I would just I would just say um Brad Beal did average 17 points a game this last year. He has shot over 50% three consecutive years. He shot, you know, he shot 39% on threes last year. He is going to be a significant free agent if this goes through. Somebody will Brad.
Yeah. Brad Beal on a max salary with the no trade clause is complete albatross. Brad Beal, you know, if you signed in a one like in some of these like mid-level exception uh territory can be a huge addition to a good team. Now, I think in a lot of situations, he’s probably going to be best utilized as a six-man. I think that’s something he’s going to have to, you know, uh, accept and embrace. But the, you know, to your point, Brad Beal can still score. It’s just 50 some odd million dollar salary on a team that had two guys who were better scorers. It was a terrible fit. I’ve also seen a lot of stuff about how the Suns are going to do addition by subtraction with no Kevin Durant and now no Bradley Beal and that the vibes will be better. All I’m going to say is they’ve replaced Kevin Durant and Bradley Beal with Jaylen Green and Dylan Brooks. I’m not going to bet on that leading to more than 36 wins. The 36 wins they had last year. Just say that. Well, and and listen, they dumped DeAndre Aon for addition. Whoa. Oh boy. I That’s the kind of renovations they’re doing on the Phoenix Suns right now. Uh they they dumped DeAndre Aton for the old edition.
That whoopy cushion. That was a big whoopy cushion.
Yeah. Uh, and and you know, say what you want about DeAndre Aton, the Suns have not been better since he left. I think that’s very fair to say. They have not won a playoff game since he left.
No, they have not. All right, with that, we’re going to wrap this up. We’ve we’ve done four podcasts this week. There’ll be more stuff to talk about next week. Um, we’ve got a
four podcast and Bon Bonips has done the Windy TV schedule this week. He’s tired, man.
It’s I’m glad you guys are finally starting to appreciate, you know, you know, the amount of innings that I throw. My stuff isn’t always that great, but I you know, there’s a lot.
No, you’re Charlie Huff. Ain’t no doubt about it. You are Charlie Huff. You’re making references to 1980s movies and Charlie Huff. I don’t think uh I’m old gray in that beard.
Old. That is true. uh hoopcollectlive.com for uh information about the live show next week at the MGM Grand next Saturday. So, thank you to Rafa who’s producing today. Thank you to Bon Tempson McMahon. Thank you for watching and listening to the Hoop Collective. Who knows what next week will bring. Happy Independence Day. I hope everybody has a great holiday weekend.
Yeah, thanks to Rafa especially. We don’t get days off, but Jackson sure as hell does. Uh hope he’s having a great time on his little vacay. Adios, amigos. [Music]

Lakers get their center, Knicks get their coach & Beal wants out of Phoenix | The Hoop Collective
In this edition of The Hoop Collective, Brian Windhorst is joined by ESPN’s Tim Bontemps and Tim MacMahon to discuss the latest NBA Offseason Shake-Ups. The Los Angeles Lakers lock in their center with Deandre Ayton, the New York Knicks bring in Mike Brown as head coach and Bradley Beal wants out of the Phoenix Suns.

0:00 Intro
2:01 Lakers get Ayton
11:38 Knicks hire Mike Brown
27:20 Beal buyout discussions

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