NO Max Extension For KD | Is Mazzulla An Elite Coach? | Giddey For Kuminga Rumors

NO Max Extension For KD | Is Mazzulla An Elite Coach? | Giddey For Kuminga Rumors

No max extension planned from the Rockets for Kevin Durant. We’re going to talk a little bit about that. Plus, Joe Missoula gets a multi-year extension with the Boston Celtics. We’ll talk about all that and more on today’s Locked on NBA. You are Locked on NBA, your daily NBA podcast, part of the Locked On podcast network. Your team every day. What’s going on, Hoop fans? Welcome to another episode of Locked On NBA, where it’s every team, every day, every game, everything this basketball we’re here. I’m Hayes, one of the hosts of Locked on Bulls. I am joined by Matt Moore, one of the host of host of Locked on Nuggets, and uh he just writes for a bunch of different places. HP Proxism, uh the Action Network. Matt Moore is everywhere that you guys want. How you doing, Matt? Good, man. Uh working on offseason reviews over at my Substack about the Miami Heat. hearing some stuff about Norman Pal and the money they might be giving him. I have a feeling we’re gonna be talking about that extension uh coming up here in the next uh maybe two weeks or so. It’ll be interesting to hear what happens as far as what kind of money Norman Pal gets. That’s going to be a fun thing to watch out for. Pat Riley has been kind of quiet for the most part of the off season. But uh one of the extensions that seems like it may not be coming is well an extension but it won’t be a max level uh extension when it comes down to it. Uh Tim McMahon was talking about Kevin Durant and he says this. By all appearances, by what I’ve heard, they’re not going all in on an extension for Kevin Durant. That doesn’t mean it won’t happen. There have been rumblings of, “Hey, KD isn’t going to push for the full Max.” I don’t know that the Rockets are going to put anything on the table that’s close to the Max. I think the Rockets, it’s not idea, but I don’t think uh they would panic if they go into the season uh with Kevin Durant just on the expiring deal that he’s on. How you feeling about that, Matt? I am not surprised. It’s funny in the story that was given. Bonds talks about how he’s like they’ve done a really the Rockets have done a remarkable job of showing fiscal discipline and restraint all the way through. Yeah. Big shocker that ter that Tilman Fertitta’s team is showing financial restraint. But I do think not locking in not going the heat route of being like we’ll give you anything. That’s how you wind up with Jimmy Butler being like, I’m 37, 36 and I want another huge deal. If you’re like, hey, look, we’d love to have you. We traded for you. We believe we can win a championship with you, but we do understand where you’re at in your career, and we’ve got to be able to keep our options open down the line. I I think this is another example of how under the CBA, every single dollar is going to be a little bit of a battleground. Like every single dollar you can save I think matters in the short term, in the long term for your apron flexibility. Even with guys like Kevin Durant, I think it’s worth being a little restrictive looking at his age, the injury situation, and everything. Giving yourself some outs, I think, is really important. So, I think it’s probably a wise decision. Uh McMahon did say that there’s been some rumblings. KD might not push for the max, which I think is, you know, not surprising given where he’s at in his career, but also interesting that like, hey, he’s not trying to chase the most money all the way to the to the finish line. And if he’s willing to take less, you do kind of wonder if like they’re going to be able to add somebody else next year before they got to deal with the extensions for everybody else on the roster, all the young guys. So, it’s going to be interesting to kind of see how they build this team out going forward. Yeah, I mean acquiring Kevin Durant was definitely, you know, you know, I’m high on the acquisition. I’m high on the Rockets going into next season. Um, and I did think at that time that an extension for Kevin Durant was just going to be a foregone conclusion that it was going to come. Now, it doesn’t need to be at the max. I don’t I don’t think it should be like I no disrespect for Kevin Durant, but I think at his age and the place that this team is in, yes, they do need him to get to that next level, but the plan is is for them not to to continually need him. You want to still develop your guys. So, I think you got a lot of young guys. You’re going to have to pay there. Uh, you already got rid of one in Jaylen Green to get Kevin uh Durant in there. So, I think this is a smart move by the Rockets. I think it’s a smart play. And even hearing that, you know, Kevin Durant may not even seek the Max, I think shows a level of awareness for him about what this situation is. If Kevin Durant wants more rings and he wants that to be in Houston with the Rockets, I I I don’t think he can have an expectation of getting the Max. And hopefully that also means that as those players grow, it alleviates some of the pressure on Kevin Durant. he can kind of just focus on what he does well while the young players help him cave a whole another leg to his career. Yeah. And what’s interesting is any any dollar amount that they get close to Jaylen Green’s deal is an upgrade, right? Like you swapped out Jaylen Green and Dylan Brooks, but you swapped out Jaylen Green primarily for KD. So if his AAV annual money comes in, you know, 3 million over what they were going to pay Jaylen per year, that’s a win cuz KD’s worth a lot more than 3 million per year, more than Jaylen Green. If it comes in under, that’s even bigger win. So there’s all these kind of ways, I think, to make it work. What I do think is interesting though is one of the reasons I had been really cool on the idea of them adding KD was that the things I’d heard was that some parts of the front office and I think they were eventually overruled or convinced were hesitant to go in on an older player with a young core. They wanted somebody that was going to fit their timeline. They still have all those picks from Phoenix by the way as Deon continues to to wallow out there in the desert though I think the Suns will be better than people expect this year. Um, so I do think it’s kind of interesting of, you know, how do you manage the KD acquisition to be the step to get you the guy because I do think there’s still kind of this question of is a men to I think Amen Thompson can grow into being the guy, but I don’t know if that guy looks like a 39 points per game a night scorer. Maybe he does, but I don’t know if that’s true. Is Shenun going to hit? Is he a guy that could average 30 a night? Is that Is that who his peak is? I don’t I don’t see that. Like I I look at a man and look at him as a guy that makes everybody better that does all the things all the time. I think he’s a great facilitator. I think he’s gonna be a really great pure point guard in this league in a league where there are very few of them. And I think Shenon is a lot closer to Dean Sabonis than he is Nicole Joic. Those are still really two really great players. Those are good players. Can you give them the money? Shenun’s gotten paid, but can you give a men the money and then be able to have KD and then add that one other guy, whoever that is, to be like the main weapon? Who is that? What does that look like? I look at any move where they’re not giving KD the max as a tacit admission of this. We we can we could win a title with this team, but we want to leave open the ability for us to get a guy that vaults us into super contender territory. Fair enough. I I got two things I want to ask, but I want to first get on this M Thompson because I find it interesting that you think that MN could turn into a pure point. I see MN turning into like more athletic, less toxic Jimmy Butler. I think that’s that’s what I see him turning into personally, but I think that’s a really good player still. Yeah. And I think Jimmy’s actually a really good passer though, like right like Jimmy’s actually I think in a lot of capacities. What was cool about Jimmy in his in his heyday a couple years ago was that he was able to take like one game it was like Jimmy dropped 55 and then the next game when they threw the kitchen sink at him he was passing and making plays for others. Now he wasn’t as consistent 1990 as I think you want from your number one. But I do think like the comp’s not bad there, but I watched the men in pick and roll situations last year. And when he was able to get the ball with space and freedom and when Jaylen Green was not on the floor, I I I just looked at a lot of like small plays. It wasn’t the overall data. It was just small plays of being able to be like, man, that was a really great pass by a men. Like he’s got that those chops in him. I think he really does have the ability over time to turn into one of those type players, which I I’m very excited about because it’s a player that I think the league needs more of right now versus just scoring point guards. Yeah, I agree. I definitely agree on the on the not just scoring point guards aspect for sure. What the other question I wanted to ask you in regards to the Rockets, Reed Shepard, h former third overall pick in in last year’s draft, 2024 draft, didn’t play a whole lot last year, only 52 games played. How important do you think it is for the Rockets overall ceiling for Reed Shepard to turn in to a starting caliber point guard in this league? You know, folks like Jackson Gatlin over at Locked on Rockets think he’s a big part of the Rockets future that they’re really invested in him and they really believe in him. It’s hard to get a sense because I think all of us thought that Reed Shepard might have been the best player in the draft last year and he just didn’t play. He just didn’t play. You know, he spent a lot of time with Rio Grand Valley and and in the minutes that he got on the court, he didn’t look necessarily like he belonged. Now, I think there’s some signs, some a couple of games, some flashes, summer league, where you can look at it and go, “No, that that guy that was a reason that he got drafted so highly is still there, but I’m putting Reed Shepard definitely in a in a that shadow box of I don’t know what he is, right? He could be the guy that we thought he was going to be as a prospect. He might be a miss. We just don’t know yet. And I’m not going to put him in neither in any of these categories until I see him on the court consistently with starting caliber players or rotation caliber players to get a better sense of who he is. I think the jumping the gun on who Shepard is, I think is a little premature. Hey, I I I agree. The the sample size is just so small for Reed Shepard at the NBA. And there are some players that just they just they they can’t get it um you know, their first year and they and they are a little bit more slow to develop. It’s just a number three overall pick. you do want to start getting something from him sooner rather than later. And hopefully what he learned down in the G-League last year and in the little bit of minutes he played at the NBA level, he’s ready to go. I just like you said, I haven’t seen enough want to say it one way or another. I I don’t want to damn him yet. Um, but I also don’t want to buy too too into it and he does end up just not really being worth the third overall pick, but it’s way too early to state that so far. The Rockets have done a really solid job at developing with this build of the team. So, let’s hope that that continues with Reed Shepard. It just was an interesting part that I wanted to bring up because feel like it’s it’s kind of thought missed the fact that they have a third overall pick that just didn’t really give much last season. So, we’ll see what he brings in year two. Him and Jabari both like Jabari’s missed some time and Jabari’s you know now it’s like is he going to get overshadowed by KD that gave him 119 million which is like a very moderate extension for a player that that at one point people thought he was going to Orlando because he was going to be the number one pick. I I still think that the the upside for Jabari Smith is very high. That’s what’s cool about the Rockets is they have so many guys that can make a jump and then all of a sudden we’re going to be talking about them in a completely different light even a year from now. Yeah, we shall see. We shall see. Well, we’re going to continue uh talking hoops as we always do. We’re going to talk about the Celtics extending Joe Missoula next. But first, we got to get to a message from Open Phone. If you’re running a business, you know that every mis call is money left on the table. Think about the last time you had an urgent need. Maybe for a plumber or a service provider. If the first person didn’t answer, did you wait? Probably not. You moved on. That’s why you need Open Phone. Open Phone is the number one business phone system built to streamline and scale your customer communications all from an app on your phone or computer. Open Phone lets me manage business calls and texts from a single app. The shared inbox feature is a game changer. Your team can jump into any conversation instantly without missing a beat. and their AI agent handles after hours calls, answers common questions, and captures lead so you never miss a customer. Open Phone is offering our listeners 20% off your first 6 months at openphone.com/lockdonba. That’s oph.com/lockdonba. And if you have an existing number with another service, open port them over at no additional charge. Open phone, no missed calls, no missed customers. More Locked on NBA coming up next. [Music] All right, Mr. Moore. With that said, Joe Mazula, he’s going to have more years and more money apparently, as well as they announced today that uh the Celtics have agreed to a multi-year extension with Joe Mazoula. How you feeling, Matt? You’re muted. Cash the minus 10,000 ticket. Uh I’m always muted. So, uh not as happy as as Doug Branson is somewhere in America. Doug Branson is is popping champagne bottles. Happy for Doug. Can’t wait to get him back on Monday. Um I’m not surprised, right? They go they go to the finals and win. They go to conference finals, they lose. They go to the finals, they win. They go to the second round, won 60 plus games. Like this team’s been a juggernaut under Missoula. And he definitely carried over the success that Brad Stevens built and then you know DOA built and then put his own stamp on it. But he’s definitely proven he can get to the players. They love him. They trust him. like there’s a real strong relationship there for as much of a weirdo as he is. Those guys really connect and listen to Joe Missoula. So, I’m not surprised they want to keep things intact. There’s no reason to move on. Do I still think that Joe Missoula is like a top tier elite Eric Spolstra um Steve Kerr level coach? No, I I would still have him pretty far down uh on the ult on the current coaches list, but he you can’t argue with the results and he’s continued to have success. What I do think is interesting is giving him this extension now is kind of a you what’s good about is you don’t theoretically you don’t have to worry about how this year’s goes without Tatum because a lot of times coaches wind up the stress of going through a lost year like this wears on the locker room and then the coach takes the fall for it like that’s happened before where it’s and then you know even the reporters are always like well you know they stopped listening to him I know it was it was not it was unlucky but it was time for him to go and it’s like no man like the whole thing got derailed because of that injury. Giving him the extension just means like, no, no, no. We’re we’re locked in long term. We know what he what this coach can do when he’s got his full complement of players. I I still am kind of curious what this looks like, especially this year, because I think he’s got to experiment a little bit more. I don’t think he can run the same system that he did last year. I don’t think he can just be uh iso iso iso with Jaylen Brown and then kick out to to shooters, right? I don’t think he can move Derrick White into Tatum’s role or move Derrick White into Brown’s role and move Brown into Tatum’s. They got to be a different team this year. Uh whether they keep Anthony Simons or not. So, I’m very curious to see what he does as far as how he evolves this team going forward because I really thought he got too far into the three-point obsession last year. It was a great balance of of winning the math game in 2024. Last year, I thought he went too far. So, I’m really curious to see how he does this year, but can’t argue with the extension, man. The track record’s too good. Yeah. I mean, he’s he’s a really good really good head coach. He won a title with you. He came in after all that was going on with Eime Adula and you got and the Seltis really didn’t miss a beat throughout all of that. He’s been a really good leader over that time as well. Um, and he’s he’s one of Doug Branson’s favorite people in the world. So, like you got to keep him going for that if nothing else, right? So, I’m happy for Joe, but you you raised a great point as far as like he’s going to have to coach differently and this may be one of the seasons where he he has to mix things up a whole lot based off just where they are as a as a roster, as a team, uh, where they are as far as in this place. I still think this is this is going to be a tough Celtics team. I think they’re going to be tough this year. Um, but he is going to have to do things a lot differently and he’s going to he’s going to earn that contract and I think this is going to be a season where uh if anybody doubts if it’s just the the the roster, how talented the roster is or how much coaching Joe Missoula is doing, he’s going to give people reason to remember just how good of a job he’s he’s doing here coaching wise. Do you feel like so like I brought up Spolster and what’s interesting is you know when he won his first title in 2012 it’s not like people thought he was all that awesome of a coach then. You know there’s so much talk during the heat era about Eric Spolster being fired or LeBron wanting him gone or whatever else. And it wasn’t really until the end of the 2010s that everyone was like man Spolster is a a great coach. Legitimately a great coach. And I think he he showed signs all the way through it. One thing I’ve said a lot is uh getting a group of role players to all play competent basketball together is not in a regular season is not that difficult. It’s really not. It’s difficult because you’re going up against superstars that you have to you don’t have the firepower for every night, but you can overwhelm them with team basketball in the regular season. Getting superstars to sacrifice to commit to each other. And this is where I don’t know on Missoula where Tatum was always this guy. Tatum’s always been willing to sacrifice. Tatum’s always been about being the team first. Like, Tatum is not an egoomaniac. Tatum is not looking out for his stuff. Tatum does Tatum did not get jealous when Jaylen Brown won finals MVP or Eastern Conference Finals MVP or both. Like, there’s never been a hint of jealousy or prot or defensiveness about his position from Jason Tatum. He’s always been protective. And Jaylen Brown, to his credit, has been the same way with with Jason Tatum where he’s never had those kind of issues. But eventually I feel like at some point Missoula is going to face a different set of circumstances where there’s going to be a different kind of culture in there. And some of that you can say no it’s not because the Celtics won’t require those guys much like the Spurs like they just don’t get those guys. And that that’s a fair counterargument. But I am just kind of curious about whether you think Joe Mulla can handle with his weirdness especially if you think that he could handle more difficult personalities in the locker room down the line. That’s an amazing question and I mean it see it from from from the outside looking in it seems like he doesn’t have a problem relating the players. I think that’s a a great first step and even if you’re dealing with kind of more problematic players is that you have to be able to relate to them first, right? And you have to get their buy in. I think the relatability plays a huge a huge role into that. But I think there are two things and and I’m throwing something back at you a little bit too as well. Like we also Joe Mazula inherited something. I won’t say like he hasn’t done a a good job at developing it further, but like eventually you’re going to have to get Missoula to actually develop young players. Like I mean like truly like develop them. I don’t think we’ve really seen that from Missoula or his staff quite yet either. So I I really don’t know. I know it’s not the greatest answer, but I don’t know. Like it’s I I would I would I would say more yes than no that I feel like he can deal with players that are may have more problematic mindsets. The development part of it, I think, is a little bit bigger of a question for me once they get to that part where they they have to develop that young t that raw young talent and we just haven’t seen that yet. Okay. So, we’re throwing this back and forth at each other, but I do need to know this. Like, do you think that Luke Cornett and Pton Pritchard got better as players in this? It’s always both. But do you think it’s more that they got better or do you think it’s more that the system showcased certain things around them and that they built a system where guys like that could succeed? For Luke Cornette, I do think it was I do think he got he got better. I because he was he was on the Chicago Bulls and he he didn’t he couldn’t stay on the court for us. So, I do think he got better. For Peyton Pritchard, I and I don’t I don’t mean this to knock Joe Mazula, but I think with Pton Pritchard was more a benefit from the role. Oh, not to say he hasn’t done any development, but I think he really benefited from his role increasing slowly over time with the Boston Celtics. Like that that minute increase and once Dererick White went to the starting lineup from the bench, it left a void there that Peyton Pritchard was able to step into and play really well in. I just don’t know if I if I give it like a whole bunch of development points, if that makes sense. Yeah. I This is the tough one for me is I’m really curious to see what Cornet looks like in San Antonio. Yeah. Right. Because the pick and roll numbers with him were nuts. They were so good. and Pritchard’s numbers are ridiculous. Like he’s one of the most impactful players in the league. It’s why he won six man and you watch them and you’re still like really and not just because it’s like goofy looking white dudes, right? It’s genuinely I look at their games and I’m just like come on like Pton Pritchard’s not like like Chris Paul, you know, like Chris like Luke Cornett’s not out here, you know, absolutely just like skying down the lane like vintage Clint Capella. Was it just the Celtics system that that augmented this or are they really that good? And that I think tells us a lot about that question of Missoula’s staff and their ability to develop talent because if Cornet goes there and he thrives and succeeds in San Antonio, then it’s like, no, no, they they helped make him a better player. Like Cornet gets the most credit, but they helped make him the better player. If Pton Pritchard has another phenomenal season despite missing Jason Tatum, because Pritchard and Tatum played a lot together. If Peyton has another great year, not just with three-point shooting, but with his playmaking, with his defensive side, with his plus minus, with all of that stuff, then I think we got to give credit to that staff for being able to turn those guys into legit pieces that can be on a contending team. That’s fair. That’s fair. And I guess we shall see. There’s going to be a lot that we find out this season about the makeup of this team and Joe Missoula for that matter as well. So, shout out to Joe Mazula for getting that contract extension. We’re going to next up be talking about the Warriors reportedly are interested in a signing trade for Josh Giddy. But first, we got to get to a message from FanDuel. Summer sports are in full swing. And whether you’re all about baseball under the lights, golf on the green, or highstakes soccer action, FanDuel is the best way to make every game more exciting. You’re already following the action. Why not make it a little more thrilling with FanDuel? 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And one thing I can say is that I know for a 100% fact the aggregators just wait for Jake Jake Fischer to go live because I I watched the the stream live and if I didn’t watch it live, you would think that this deal is on the precipice of happening the way the aggregators have taken it. But what Jake Fischer basically said is that the Warriors reached out uh to Josh Gide and his agency about a potential signing trade. We don’t know exactly when that happened, if it was recent, more earlier in free agency. He then goes on to talk that if that were to happen, it’s probably going to be a Kaminga and Josh Giddy dual signing trade type thing and scenario. Uh Matt, I want to throw it to you on this one. Does Josh Giddy make sense for the Warriors? Now, we know that in that draft process, the Warriors really thought they were going to get uh Josh Giddy. Uh you know, that’s been widely reported that they were very high on Josh Giddy in that draft. Does he make sense now for the Warriors, though? I kind of love this idea. I kind of love this idea for both sides. So Giddy I think is is best as a connector, right? So as a guy that can operate in between mechanisms, the shooting has improved a lot. He’s worked really hard to get that up to where a closer range of where it needed to be. I don’t know how he shot last year. Was he terrible or okay last year? It’s always Yeah, he was a really good shooter last year. Actually shot I think almost 37% from three, 38% on catch and shoot threes. He actually shot really good last year. Yeah, that sounds that sounds right. um he worked on it really hard in OKC and had that month where he was really good and then couldn’t do it in the playoffs and so they moved him. Um but as long as he’s able to shoot for Golden State, that’s the important thing here and that makes a lot more sense. I’ve talked about this a lot on this show and on others that John Kaminga is a north south player and Steph Curry is an east west. He moves from baseline to baseline, cut, relocation, shift all around, right? It’s hard to do that with an up and down vertical if you look at it. not not actual vertical but like north south player on the court. Having a guy that with like Giddy that’s able to act as a third facilitator with Butler I think is really smart. Curry, Butler, Giddy is like a that’s a really interesting three guard combo where you’re able to combine scoring and athleticism and playmaking with good shooting, elite shooting from Steph, good shooting on the outside from Giddy, and then great interior scoring from Butler on the inside. The other guys handle the defensive capacity with Draymond. Now, you Giddy and Draymond, they would be able to make things work. And then on the flip side of this, I look at Kaminga and I’m like, man, Kaminga and Maz Bazelas like, okay, all right, you play them at both combo forwards. Got to move on Patrick Williams, but you put both those guys at at combo forward and it’s like, all right, you’ve got a bashing front court now. Doesn’t really matter what you do at the center spot. Just put those two guys in the at the forward spots and go to work. Especially if you put in my guy Sticks, Jaylen Smith. Like, put those three guys. That’s so much athleticism. That to me makes so much more sense, especially with like that allows you to keep Kobe White and not have to worry about like his long-term money. To me, this makes a lot of sense. I love this idea for both sides, but as locked on host of locked on Bulls, you a little bit more skeptical? Yeah, I’m more skeptical on it because the way that I look at it is Jonathan Kaminga is is is I think he can be really good. Now, I worry about the fact that we drafted Noah SN, which he’s a forward to as well. Like, what’s going to be the makeup there? Uh Jonathan Kaminga is also better when he’s on ball. I think that Kobe White’s best when he’s on ball as well, but him and Josh Giddy kind of figured it out at times last season. I just don’t know if the fit is as seamless as you are. Now, it gives them a lot of young talent that can get out, play, and run and things like that. But I also think that Josh Giddy’s really good for that. To me, it’s it’s you would have to determine this. Is it easier then to go out and get the center that you need to make because you still need a a a better rim protecting center I think long term if that’s going to be your starting lineup or or do you feel more confident in Kobe White being able to run the point guard? That’s the thing to me in this is that you have to ask yourself the two between that and if you think it’s going to be easy for you easier for you to eventually go out and get that rim running shot blocking center I’d rather keep Josh Giddy. I think Josh Giddy as that connector like you said said Billy Donovan’s always been a better coach when he has a point guard that can run his offense at a high level. Josh Giddy did that last year. A lot of people make a lot about how Josh Giddy finished the season. What people don’t talk about is at the beginning of the season when Zack Lavine and Nicolus was there. Most of Josh Giddy’s assist and and buckets that he created were for Nicolola and Zack Lavine. So, the fact that he wasn’t scoring as much, he’s already shown that if you have players around him that need to score more, he can fit into that. And so, it’s I just I like Josh Giddy better as a player with when it comes to Jonathan Kaminga because we do have Modus Buzzellis and we just drafted Noah Singay. I think we’ll be fine at that forward position. I’d rather keep what we have in in in the point guard and Josh Giddy, but I can understand the talent of Kaminga being alluring as well. Would you rather have Giddy and Kaminga, Giddy and Kobe, or Kobe and and Kaminga? Man, um, it’s interesting, right? That is that’s that’s a very good question because IO’s there. I’d probably say Kobe and Kaminga. Interesting. Interesting. Probably. Yeah. Yeah. You have IO who can be the in between between them and focus on defense. Yeah. And I just feel like that makes a lot more sense rather than this like Giddy Kobe and IO being lost in the shuffle. Like a lot of this the Bulls roster doesn’t make a lot of sense to me. Um and so I I feel like Kaminga gives them a direction even if it’s and it gives them a gamble, right? Yeah. You know, ink him on the deal that you can get him to. If you’re going to give Giddy the money, you’re not necessarily losing anything. And then find out, right? Like is this guy capable of being like his good games? Was the problem just that he couldn’t have his great games in that system with that talent with those old guys? Because he is a gamble worth I think taking if you’re a team like the Bulls because with the Bulls otherwise I’m like where are you going? You’re not going to you’re not going to tear it down. You’re not going to tank. You’re not going to you’re ownership’s not going to let you do that. You’re going to gun for the playin every single year. So you need to be taking shots of the Indiana Pacers did when they traded Deon Sabonis for Tyrus Hallebertton. You need to be taking shots like that. Now, I don’t think that Kaminga is on the same level of Halbertton as a prospect, as a player, as a where he was in his career at the time. But I do think that taking a shot on a guy coming off his rookie extension with this kind of upside is worth that that’s a shot worth taking. That’s really good. And as another benefit, it allows you to move off of Patrick Williams without necessarily having to feel like you got to get value back. you could just be like, “We just got to get off the money and we, you know, we we gota it it makes that move easier on you.” Uh, when you have to just salary dump him. And I’m not like out on Patrick Williams. That guy could go a lot of forwards of his type go on and have long careers where it’s like the second half of their career they turn into like you know who’s really good. It’s like uh Marvin Williams, right? Yeah. Where it’s like, oh, you know who’s really good is Marvin Williams. He’s been like really good for them. I could see Patrick Williams. Well, maybe it’s a Williams thing. I could see Patrick Williams down the line, you know, 28 29 being like, you know, who’s really good for them is Patrick Williams, but right now, like, you don’t need that money on the books as you’re trying to reshape this roster and figure out a future going forward. That’s a good point. I mean, you make you make great points. I guess we’ll see what happens there. I I as far as I know we talked a lot about the Bull side of thing. Well, we’ve talked a little bit about the Warriors side of things, too. Like, do you think that Josh Giddy gives them as well outside of just this this run? We know that the two years with Steph, Dre, Jimmy, does he give them something to build around? Can Josky be that good where he’s he’s something for them to build around once those players are gone? H no, but it’s not like he loses all value then. Okay. Right. It’s like if he helps you win, then he’s learned what it’s like to win at a high level. He’s been a part of of contending teams. Um and he’s been in the system and he understands that he can be a a transitional rock for you because sometimes when you enter into those new eras, you do need those guys to be like, “Hey, this is how we run the system. This is what we do. this is how we perform, he can be that guy for you. And I think that Giddy has always kind of shown like a a willingness to learn and be coachable. And I just feel like he’s a I just feel like he’s a really good fit for Warriors style, play, culture, everything. Like everything that Jonathan Kaminga is not to me, Josh Giddy is. And everything that I think that Giddy’s honestly a bad fit for the Bulls, I think that Kaminga is. Where with Giddy, I’m like, you guys going to sign him to this extension when he’s not going to get that much better? like he’s just gonna be like pretty good versus Kaminga. I’m like that’s the kind of guy you need where it’s like man he might be an all-star in the Eastern Conference. He might just like rack up points and be great as far as an individual producer night by night if he’s able to play in a system that plays to his strengths, which Golden State doesn’t. And that’s nobody’s fault. We shall see. We shall see. I I I I I I do hope that regardless whether it’s Bulls or anything else that Kaminga goes to a place where he can really be him and show what he can do because I do think there is a lot of talent there in Jonathan Kaminga and the situation just didn’t work itself out in in in Golden State. But I think if you get Kaminga to a system that fits him and allows him to kind of thrive in the things that he does really well, I would not be surprised if the way that people view Kaminga completely turns around. Yeah. And this is what’s interesting about this restricted free agent and this is going to be the deal going forward, man. Um I I do I will say this kind of to to wrap us up. I I have always felt restricted free agency was a core concept that was unethical. Now people don’t care about ethics and sports business negotiation, but I do think you have to have some parameters of ethics when you’re building these kind of CBAs because the idea is for it to be an equitable side for both. and the players basically liquidated their leverage over young players in order to get their veterans paid. And that’s fine. But under the current CBA, it’s getting worse. Like the fact that these guys aren’t signed and we are at August 8th is that’s nuts, man. Crazy. Like those guys are are you they know they’re going to get paid. So it’s like, yeah, they can just go on vacation, whatever, chill out. But you’re still in the back of your mind. You’re worried like, what am I going to get? What what’s my future look like? And teams are going to keep squeezing like this. And I just think that the players should be thinking about the future generations and not just themselves like every other union has in its history. Don’t just worry about yourselves while you’re a member of the union. Worry about the you talk about it being a brotherhood. Take care of your young guys so they can get race structures better early on and they don’t wind up being squeezed like this because you’re going to see a lot of these guys over the next couple of years. I made the argument for squeezing the life out of Peyton Watson on locked on Nuggets and I don’t think that’s ethical or right. It’s what the Nuggets need to do. Yeah. So, they need to deal with restricted free agency going forward. Absolutely. And I think that that’s going to it’s going to be interesting in the era of the second tax apron and things like that. How how restricted free agency is handled going forward. I can’t wait to see it. But, you know, we’ll be talking about it here on Locked on NBA. Man, anything left, Matt, before we get out of here? Have a great weekend. Stay safe. Be kind to each other. Absolutely. We appreciate you guys for tuning in and and sticking with us all throughout the week. Locked on NBA is free and available on every podcasting app and platform of your choice as well as YouTube, the Odyssey app, Amazon Fire TV, Roku TV, Fubo TV, and a couple of other ones. Uh so you can find us anywhere you want us, man. But thank you. Uh shout out to Doug. He’ll be back on Monday. We’ll see you guys Monday as well. Peace. [Music] This stuff is always matte.

Matt Moore and Haize take you into the weekend with quite a bit of NBA news and rumors. The Rockets reportedly aren’t rushing to sign Kevin Durant to an extension. Is this a good sign or bad sign and what can Houston do instead if they don’t use that money on KD long-term? Plus, Joe Mazzulla gets a new deal from the Celtics but Matt and Haize aren’t sure about whether he’s the right coach in all circumstances. And the Warriors have talked to Chicago about a double sign-and-trade with Jonathan Kuminga and Josh Giddey and one of our hosts thinks this is the solution to both team’s problems.

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