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State Farm is there. All right, this is part two of the massive in the moment NBA trade deadline, Padrón facility here it is now 11. Twenty three to twenty three at the trade deadline is coming up in about thirty seven minutes. We've had a lot of trades already. Well, we'll go through some of the big issues.

We talked about Orlando and part one with Kevin Clark. We also had a really interesting Toronto Portland trade rosillo. Norm Powell for Gary Trent and Rodney Hood. Another score, Norm Powell, Toronto, selling all time high on him, Norman Powell has been red hot for the last, I don't know, four weeks. And Trent was somebody that I really liked as a playoff guy. But I think Portland was probably thinking we can't really play Lillard and McCollum and Trent together at the end of games were just too small.

Even if Trent's a good defender, we need more scoring a little a little bit more size, maybe a little little bit more of a heat check. And they now Powell Hood, who cares. Trent I think is a piece which you think of that. Great. I really like Norman Powell just as a score and a story, you know, second round guy and the way they used him, you know, when you go back to that finals run, you know, this guy can get shots in a bunch of different ways.

And that's one of the great, impressive things about this Toronto group the last couple of years, is that he felt like everybody that had the ball was was pretty, pretty capable as is getting their own shot, which is pretty rare. So I liked him. He seems pissed off all the time, which I kind of like to. And he had a player option next year, eleven point six million that he's definitely going to decline. So Toronto knew they couldn't resign him.

We're still wait and see what happens with the Lowry thing. They've invested a ton of money in VanVleet Chiasm, who's a big part of the investment. You know I was wondering if he was available at all with the Nick Nurse thing because that got pretty nasty. But Powell.

It feels like Portland's just like look man of all the options that are out there, they were on a couple other people. But they probably just feel like pals, a big offensive upgrade over Trent Insurance had his moments, you know, going to end up having a career here in Toronto, gets control over a guy that's still a rookie deal. So I feel like they feel like Powell is the upgrade in that. And then maybe they're just going to throw three guys that can create off the dribble and try to beat that way because they're not going to stop anybody.

I was pretty shocked by this season. Trent is having 15 points a game. Forty one games for the Blazers, take it seven 1/2 threes. The game is forty percent of them. I mean, he's the classic three and D guy. It just seems like Portland is looking at this guy and we don't have enough scoring. We have these two guys and a little bit of Kanter and that's it. And Powell gives them a little more size, all that stuff.

But Trent's a good piece. I thought that was a really good trade for Toronto. I thought Powell was going to end up being like a forty eight type. Pull backwards like two seconds or late for something like that, Trent's a real guy, like, to me that's a great asset. You could they could spin him right now to a contender. He's so cheap. And, you know, on a team like pick seven semi contenders, that guy would play for any of them.

So for me, it's like I like the deal. Even if Toronto doesn't trade, Larry, and they just keep the team, they have kind of like the deal for them anyway. If they feel like, fuck it, let's go for the playing game, the Lowry piece. So now it's it's 11, 20, so get thirty three minutes left. It seems like they've been trying to drum up this Lowry market that I never believed in, especially the Philly piece.

Once it became clear Philly had a chance to get George Hill, which they did, they gave up nothing for Georgia, just a couple of contracts, some some meaningless picks. And you get George Hill on a good contract. Good three point shooter. Good that he's been in a lot of big games over the years. Why wouldn't I do that over getting rid of Danny Green, putting Max in the deal, taking on more money, get it?

Like, I just felt like that was a much safer, smarter trade. What do you think? It's just an easier one to pull off because, you know, you go back to Hill last year in a winning environment and he shot the hell out of the ball and you probably trust him. You know, Lowry's just good. I mean, look, Loures another level of closing a game and feeling like, all right, I can trust this guy.

He makes a bunch of those winning plays. He can play off the ball. He can initiate your offense. You know, that's that's the thing that's really appealing about Lowry, even if. Thirty five years old, but it's a thirty million dollar contract, so you're got to get within twenty five percent.

And it's just it's hard to pull that deal off when you already kind of already understand where your team is. So whenever I saw the Philly rumors, I'm like, why would you want to give up Max for a rental? You know, Diable, I think Darryl may have been more willing to move him than the coaching staff was.

So then so I'd be forced, scared to give up Fireball the Maxey. I think he shot a guy. Yeah. And he shot it better because the the big knock on him coming out of schools like this guy can't shoot the ball at all. And then you didn't know if it was a little flukey who's making shots. And then he wasn't making shots again this year. And then he's had a really good stretch. So and then you're thinking, all right, first rounders.

I mean, look, teams are not in a hurry, even though they're just dumping first rounders all the time, but they're dumping first rounders for guys on the higher end that they have control over. And Lowry is a rental to move that kind of asset. Unless you felt like, OK, this guarantees us the number one seed and puts us over the top of the nets, which, you know, the nets are so scary right now doing what they're doing without Durant.

Yeah, Philly probably goes, you know, just a little bit too much. So we'll see what happens. The Lakers seem to be kind of the sneaky team that's that's hot on some stuff. I still stand by what I said about Lowry, like expecting to be traded, didn't guarantee that he's going to be traded. I didn't say that. I know he will be. But, boy, the way he walked off the court last night looked like a guy that expected to be traded at some point today.

So this is kind of confusing. Yeah. You take nothing more personally than when you say something on the podcast that you know is true. And then somebody chirps back on Twitter about it and then it ends up happening exactly how you said it. You said on this pod a couple of weeks ago, Larry's been telling people, you know, this is it. He's going to get traded for a deadline. That's with thirty minutes left. They're trying to trade him for the deadline.

I would say you were correct. The question for me is, first of all, failure is probably like Houri competing against why do we have to give up Green Maxcy?

A contract even homered, you know, to get the money. You're like, why do you want to trade Steph Curry? So are we competing against Miami? Because if Miami is going to be in on this, they're not getting him for Dragic and Precious and Andre Iguodala like they're going to have to throw in Hero. That's how they're going to have to get Lowry whether or not getting them. And they'd also have to match contracts. They'd have to send out either Iguodala or Dragic.

So that makes the team a little bit weaker. Maybe Duncan Robinson. I don't know, but I've never totally bought the Miami thing unless heroes involved. Because then why is Toronto trading Lowry if they're not getting at least one one potential blue tripper and then the Lakers really would have to be shrewder and KCP and maybe Talin Taling Jordan Tucker, which I guess you want to do it all. I mean, unless you're worried about not being able to keep them so.

I like Lowry, you know, I know I complain about him, but I get it, I get what he brings to a team and I get what he brings to a you know, there's just a lot of guys that you trade for and you go, OK, but is he going to understand how he needs to fit in? That's that's the most important thing in basketball, especially when you're not the best player. And so I think that's what he brings you with that three million dollar number is really hard to get to, especially for contending team.

You're like, OK, we're pretty good right now. We have a chance. So how much money can we really move out here just as contract filler to grab a guy that's only going to be here for a couple of months, so.

Well, and then with the Lakers, the only reason I would think they would there's two reasons is trade. Schruder, who I think's played pretty well for them. He's still not a great three point shooters that like thirty one percent this year. So deep down, you're thinking round two, round three round for the probably going to be leaving this guy open. Do we want him deciding our destiny? Whereas Lowry, it's an incredible playoff guy, ESADE in that Celltex series last year.

He has every trick in the book. He's incredibly competitive. He's just somebody you want on your side in a street fight, which is most good playoff series, become a street fight at KCP. They can replace him pretty easily, telling Horn Tucker. If that's the cost to really get Larry, I would do it. And then you have the Schreuder piece of he wants an extension. Do you want to pay that guy? Twenty five billion a year, going to pay him one hundred four for ninety four for eighty five for for whatever.

I guess that would be the reason to do it. My question is, is that enough for Toronto. I really think I'm just keeping Lowry at that point, if that's if that's the best offer I'm getting. I thought Denver was a possibility, but they ended up moving in on Aaron Gordon. And then after that, I don't I don't know where else. The Clippers right now it's eleven thirty to Pacific Time. The Clippers just traded Lou Williams in two seconds for Rajon Rondo.

So they have they have officially moved on from Lou Williams, who was secretly worst play-off player the last ten years. And I think he really was like like a disaster on defense and somebody who in every playoff series year after year sucked. So now they have Rondo, who's going to maybe give them some leadership and some toughness. And finally, somebody who incorporates other teammates and is it is basketball. They were like a series of solo acts and now somebody who's a little more inclusive.

I think that's a really good fit for him. Yeah, they needed better point guard play and they were pretty limited because they're signed guys. The guys they want to keep, they're not moving. The other guys are I mean, look to the Kenard deal in the Morris deal were bad as soon as they were signed, which I think they kind of understood based on their limitations. So nobody was trading for any of that stuff. So adding anything to a point guard position, which is a problem for them.

And they're also banking on the fact that Ron is going to turn to this guy, because I still think Rondo's playoff run last year for the Lakers is one of the most unlikely we could joke about the playoff Rondo stuff. He turned into a lethal spot up shooter. And, you know, when you compare this all to Lowry, there's just no fit there for the Clippers. The Lakers, it's complicated. I think basketball wise, it made the most sense with the Sixers.

But you said something earlier because I agree with where you're at with Lowry, but that's a pretty significant 180 from who he was for a bunch of years in Toronto, just getting their asses handed to him in the playoffs. Yeah, he had he he and Arolsen had some stretches where you're just like, I don't trust these guys to do anything. I think that twenty nineteen run was a career changer for him. And also like, you know, he's a little older.

He was always an annoying player to play against, but he figured out how to do all the things that we liked about him and kind of amp them up in the playoffs and a lot of good ways. He's just he's a bitch to play in the playoffs. That Celtics series, I still have PTSD from with that we they had the way more talented team. And it was just like Lowry and VanVleet were so freakin tough doing so many things in those charges and he gets especially in a seven game series, he starts getting your head with those charges and stepping on your toes and all the little stuff he does, which I think if you're playing Brooklyn in the finals, if you're the Lakers.

That's somebody I need in that series, you know, and they try to take a chance I would do it in the All-Star Game right at the end. God, he didn't get it, because that's just, you know, it's like a pickup game. Yeah, but I think, like, you think you're playing Harden and Kyrie and KD. And they probably have a tiny bit more talent with the best way to beat those guys, to try to fuck with them, try to fuck with all three of those guys, harden his playoff success has been well documented or lack thereof.

Kyrie, who you know, he floats in his own universe and maybe he's somebody you don't want to talk to, but that's somebody like, Hey, Larry, can you fuck with Kyrie for seven games? Can you just make his life a living hell. Can you do everything you can to try to knock him out of his game.

I think that's something he could potentially do, just defending him and being like, have you ever thought if maybe we're living on water and water land but Kyrie just can't shoot, it will be like well.

So Rondo, the Clippers. It changes my opinion of them a tiny bit. Because I just felt like Reggie Jackson, Lou, Ms. Luke Kennard, whoever there were always going to have a shitty guy in that guard spot in terms of playoff. Do I trust him? I don't I just don't trust any of those guys in the playoffs. I don't trust them in a game six down three to any of that stuff. I trust Rondo. We saw last year he was the third best guy in the Lakers for three straight rounds.

Something else, too, that you said that I think is is accurate for another reason, how you were kind of calling the Celtics Clippers just because for a stretch now, however many years this has been with the Celtics, you're just like, OK, who's who's playing tonight? You know, who what is what is the team's lineup this week? And that's been the case for the Clippers and what Clippers fans would always say, well, hey, you know, look at this.

I think at one point, I don't know, I haven't updated yet because I know they've had a couple losses and they're they're nineteen and six this season when Kawhi and Paul George played and it was it was just constant. It doesn't matter. Doesn't matter. Doesn't matter.

And I'm kind of like, you know, what I'd love is two months heading into the playoffs if you knowing exactly who you are. And you and I were talking late last night because we were just kind of going back on some stuff. And we mentioned the Celtics close loss again this week. And you're like, you know, this is a team that just doesn't have that toughness. And I feel like the Clippers are another example of this where they don't love adversity.

They don't there's times this season if they're smoking you, they look awesome, right? Front runners. And I'm not that's not unique. You know, when teams are up 20, they just feel better. They look like a better body language. But they've had a bunch of moments this year where the Clippers are go. Are you guys do you have any edge here? Like who are the tough guys? You would think if Rondo and he has to be engaged, he's back in Los Angeles.

He's with a team that has a chance. He's playing with two terrific players that there's a guy there that's just not he's not going to be afraid of any basketball moment. And adversity seems to maybe be the biggest issue with the Clippers. They just don't respond as well to it, much like Boston. Couldn't agree more. This is a team if you had a fantasy draft two months ago and said, what team will have a guy who had to skip a game because he had too much coffee before the game and was too over caffeinated?

And had to sit out, you would have guessed the Clippers and probably Paul George, I think, right?

Maybe Gibbsville McGee is a runner up, had another look at the list as the Rondeau Paul George Kawhi Marcus Morris Abakar crunch time. Your thoughts? Abarca is. He was so good against the Celtics last year, and I think if they had just said, hey, let's just play him into the ground and never play the Gasol minutes, then maybe Toronto wins that series. Agree every time Gasol is out there, they were they just looked a lot worse in that matchup against Boston's.

Look, that's a matchup, but that's the part where I've had roller coasters with different players. Whereas back in the beginning you're like, man, look at Sam Presti, look at this pick, and then you think of the blocks and then you go, wait a minute, though, is he just a block guy who's bad defensively? And how come now he's a two guard on offense so that as you know what, you can have that guy, Orlando, people are throwing him money and you just go, actually, it sucks when you pay him.

So I was off of them and then Toronto. I thought he was terrific in the finals against Goldsby, had some huge moments in that game six that weren't just buckets. It was just what he was doing, how was impacting the game. And then last year. So I was I thought he was an upgrade over Montrezl, but I don't know that we can judge. The biggest fear I have with a lot of this regular season stuff is I don't know that we were getting the best indicator of who everybody is.

So I like that group as a closing playoff group a lot. But Rondo has to keep you honest defensively with some of the shooting. I hope it doesn't turn into Kawhi not getting as many chances to initiate the offense because Kawhi playoff mode. Get to the elbow, get up and get that shot over you is probably one of the most lethal things when it's going right. So I don't want to lose any of that stuff. Yeah but we, I say go ahead.

We the same intel on Kawhi though that he doesn't want to be the initiator and the offense. That was a big issue with him and Doc Rivers Usher. He was the best thing they do, I know, but he wants them. That's why he played so well with Larry. I think he wants some of that burden to be taken off him. So that's something Rondo I think could do. And Maurice, I think now that he has Rondo makes a little more sense in that in that five when you have the Reggie Jackson in there now, it's like, all right, all five of these guys are just kind of on their own schedule during this game, especially the last five minutes.

I thought that's why they had so much trouble is very similar to the Celtics, where you have you have guys that are good players but not inclusive. So when things slow down, it's just like, all right, your turn. All right. Now it's my turn. I'm going to dribble through my legs a few times. Do step back now. It's your turn and it just doesn't work. And I think that's why both teams, the Celltex lost again last night.

How many how many close games have they lost in the last four minutes? Over ten, twelve, thirteen. Where you just feel like they're not going to pull through in these things. I felt that way a little bit about the Clippers, even though they're a much better team. So fun to have Rondo on the Clippers, especially if we have a Clippers Lakers thing and we talk about the Lakers quickly, because I think both of us did the same thing.

They were way more active the last few days than I think any of us expected. You know, considering that if Davis and LeBron are healthy, people still think they're the favorites. But it seems like everybody on that team. Is being bandied about, except for except for those two guys, and I was surprised by that and Kuzma my guess hasn't, I haven't heard Kuzma's name in anything but a bunch of their guys seem to be available but they seem very aggressive.

Were you surprised by that. Yeah, a little bit, because I don't know if it was just them saying, hey, can we improve this group? Is there someone we can pick off or do we need to solve a problem? Because it's kind of hard to think when you go back to the beginning of the year, all of us are in agreement. Hey, this team is better now. They're better now and this is scarier now. So I'll defer to you on this one, because I think you probably heard more than I did on the Lakers part of it.

But I mean, what were you hearing? I mean, was it that they were actively trying to get rid of guys because I didn't want to resign him? Or was it just hoping to maybe figure out a way to improve a part of the game because they can't shoot it, but they couldn't shoot it when they got back to the bubble last year, it didn't matter. OK, Kevin O'Connor is here. Hello, Kevin. Can you ask?

We're talking about the Lakers, so right now it is 11 forty two, there's 18 minutes left. We're talking about how the Lakers have been a little more active in the leading up to the trade deadline than we expected. The one thing that I was amused by was it seems like they had to have hair on their team for two months to realize that he can't guard anybody and that he's a defensive liability. I thought they knew that when they signed him.

I thought, you know, they signed him as basically like six man energy off the bench, which is what he's supposed to be. Right. You're not he's not supposed to be somebody who's closing games with you. I don't think, Kev. Were you surprised the Lakers were kind of involved in a lot of these trade chatter thingies?

No, because they shouldn't become complacent here. They just shouldn't be. You have LeBron James and Anthony Davis both dealing with injuries here and you have other teams in the Western Conference that are legitimate threats to make a run at them. So I actually appreciate the fact that the Lakers are at the least I mean, we'll see if they do make a big move here, but at least they are sniffing around and trying to do something I think is a wise thing to do here.

And if you if you pull the plug early and a guy, it's better than doing it late. I think that's the best thing you can do. If you realize something's a mistake early, you know, make a change, why sit on it and wait three years, have that contract and and deal with, like him being played off the floor in the postseason when you could get a bio guy and make space for him instead. It makes total sense to me what the Lakers are doing or trying to do.

I wish I had realized that when we brought in nephew Kyle.

But, you know, sometimes you live near Kyle. I'm kidding. I just wanted to make sure you're paying attention. We're going to take a we're going to take a quick break and then get karaoke's takes on the deadline as we head to the final stretch here.

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All right, it is eleven forty four. We got 15 minutes left, KFC just got to go speed round. Did you did you think Orlando got 100 cents on the dollar for Bruce Savage, more than 100 cents or less? About one hundred. It feels like good, good value to me. I still like Wendell Carter. Good, good, good value for him.

Are you surprised, though? Are you threatened by Carter and Bambas Corner?

I don't know if the bond besides can happen. Now, what happens here are the two guys that I like, so I'm happy to see them together on the same team. Hopefully one of them turns out I had forty five cents in the dollar for Gordon.

The Denver. What what do you have on that one?

I think about 50, 60, something like that. I love that deal for Denver. You guys talk about that one? Yeah, we both are. Yeah. That's a big one for that big time.

Yeah. Yokich We thought we were doing a whole thing about it scored and if it's ever going to happen, it's probably going to happen when you're playing next to Yokich. Yeah, he can he can be there. Jerami Grant. He can be there screener he can defend multiple positions. So much in love with Aaron Gordon. I'm excited to see that.

Let's talk about Philly, because we haven't talked about Philly in the pod yet. Philly, we talked a little bit earlier. We talk about, yeah, you should get George Hill basically for free over paying a pretty premium price for Kyle Lowry. That makes sense to me. We said it was George Hill, a crunch time you see in the game last five minutes for them, or do you think he's a bench guy? It depends on the defensive matchup, because you've got to figure like, all right, if Seth is closing to give you the spacing, I think their best two man group and this can be a little misleading as Embiid and Steph Curry this year.

So you know Simmons is going to finish. So you need spacing probably more Harris Dyball. I mean Harris has been on an absolute tear to here, so he stepped up big time and their defense has still been incredible for the month of March even with Embiid missing the games.

Yeah but I would think they may look at it as a Seth or George Hill thing around Simmons, around Harris and then figure out the other wing. So it may not just always be Seth and the other three guys with George Hill, but I think at least gives you a little bit more size there. And I don't know how much you put in any of that George Hill you saw from Oklahoma City this year, because, you know, I mean, those they didn't even need those guys at times because the Thunder keep winning some of these games that I can't believe they're winning with the group they put out there.

I agree. I think it's a it's Seth Seth career, George Hill, depending probably on matchups and honestly how Seth Curry's playing. But I you know, they they really thumped Dallas on that Richardson Hill deal. I mean, Richardson Curry deal. And I think I just like that they have another guard that they know can just he's been in games. He knows what to do. He's not going to take stuff off the table. Do you think Philly's done KFC?

We got twelve minutes left here. I mean, not quite yet. They were having those talks involving Danny Green with the Golden State Warriors. And I've heard that that could be mean. Kelly, you could go back to Philadelphia. And if that's the case, maybe that opens up a spot for them to get JJ Redick and a buyout. But we'll see with Philly.

I don't know how much I love that given up. Danny Green. He's been really good for that.

I thought Danny Green's playing well for them. I don't understand why they would even want to move on from him. Why isn't JJ Redick just getting traded? Why would he be a Bayaka? I don't understand that one because make naked 13 million like Denver could trade Will Barton for him right now. You want to do that? I think you'd rather have Gilbert. Yeah. Yeah. This would you would you want to get out it. He's got three years left.

No he has. Doesn't he have an option. You can get out. Yeah. And you're trying to win a title to. If you're Denver. And Doug Burns better right now, so you would probably, if your Denver hope to get JJ Redick on the bio market as well, if he does at that point, I grant that he wants a Northeast team.

Yeah, he's got a he's got an option next year for 14 six. I was talking to somebody last night. Oh. I thought he had three left my bed. So I was shocked because I was trying to figure out what they would do financially if they were going to pay Gordon and it would have seemed to make sense. You trade Berten for an expiring and then you could use that extra money to put toward the Gordon extension so you can have three guys plus Porter coming up eventually.

And at some point you can't be paying five guys, you know, big money anyway. So we don't we don't think Philly's done. We think Milwaukee's done. PJ Tucker. That's it. Maybe an Austin Rivers buyout. That's what I've heard, that if he gets bought out, that's the guy that could target nothing big. So I made that case last week instead of trading for PJ Tucker. I just would have rather had Austin Rivers as a buyout because I think he's more what they need.

But I was talking to Ben Thompson about it from Stratigraphy Fox fan site Psycho Psycho. And he was saying, look, we got off Jay Augustines contract and that's the only thing that matters about that trade. I don't even care if it's Ekers. Good. We had to get rid of that Augustine for seven million here. And he's right. The Bucs are in a situation where they got off of two terrible contracts, both of which were their fault.

But, you know, they get holiday. They stick the New Orleans with Eric Bledsoe, which is, you know, I would say one of one of the least appealing contracts we have right now, especially with the way he's playing this year. He could have just been saddled with that. And you look at what New Orleans did. New Orleans now has one hundred and sixteen million of Steven Adams and Eric Bledsoe for this year in the next two.

That's brutal. They turn holiday into Bledsoe Hill, which they turn into atoms, so they turn basically Holliday into this expensive atoms Bledsoe combo and then a bunch of crap picks. That trade looks bad all these months later. Am I being too hard on this? You guys are making faces at me. I don't expect Bledsoe to be this bad, but it's pretty clear he's checked out and I think all the guards are having a hard time figuring out what the hell they're supposed to do now because their best offense is letting Zion bring the ball up the court.

So I wouldn't change things to make other guys happy when this now appears to be maybe the most unstoppable offense. You know, and I'm kidding. But when Zion decides to go and we could see a difference in a playoff game, if the Pelicans, you know, in Zion's prime get to the playoffs and people try to build the wall like they do against Giannis, but zine's also terrific it's still getting through the wall and then passing other guys but I think it leaves guys like Bledsoe obviously Lonzo who's been rumored and especially the Chicago spirited to like him for years here at least of those guys in a bad spot.

But I also felt like for Jrue Holiday to just go out. All right, have all of these picks. I'm not going to now retroactively say New Orleans got worked in that deal because they have one year at 18 million a Bledsoe after this season, because after that, two years from now, it's pretty partially guaranteed. So, you know, I don't know what any of those picks are going to end up being at the end.

Can I ask you this? What's wrong with just keeping Jrue Holiday? I mean, yes, they got a bunch of pigs, but I think we and there's a lot of different reasons for this, but I think these guys now, they they just want to point out these pics they got. They do look at all the stuff Houston got for James Harden. Would they actually get they got a bunch of picks and they might get stuck with people leaving for nothing.

They they basically they could have had Ben Simmons, who's a real guy, who's the top twenty to twenty two guy in the league. And instead it's like, well we got all of these picks. I get it when it's OKC, right. OKC got what they got for Westbrook was amazing. When you look at their stash like there is like oh shit they got some good ones. I look at New Orleans picks and there's not like a blue chip pick that they have their own and then they got stuck with Adams Bledsoe two.

What do you think Cassie.

I mean the tough part for New Orleans is I mean, I agree with Ryan here. The return made sense for New Orleans and I'm not going to go back and retroactively feel differently about the return is a lot for Jrue Holiday.

One year of Drew. Yeah, go ahead. Yeah, it's not bad. It's just now if you're you're if you're stacking up, which team is going to be able to trade for the next superstar? OKC is still very, very clearly number one with seventeen first round draft picks over the next seven years. So for New Orleans they're up against it. If it does come down to that bidding war sometime in the future for whatever star might be available, that they're not going to be that team in the driver's seat unless they're giving up a key player.

Additionally, because they just don't have the draft capital.

When OKC is looming out there with all those, do you think they should have traded Ingram for Ingram and whatever else it took for Harden during that three weeks when no one of the best defensive players of all time was available? It's not time. It's not the time. It I mean, I know it's James Harden, but it's not that moment yet for New Orleans to go all in. I mean, I interviewed David Griffin back in December for a story I wrote on the Pelicans, and I asked him about that, like, when's the right moment to cash in?

And he's like, it's not right now, you know, you don't always know, but it's not right now. The team's too young. Zion and Ingram. You wouldn't rush that right now, I don't think.

What would the restaurant what would the rest of that roster look like around, by the way, right now and want to be good enough? I'm with Kevin because Harden in New Orleans, maybe not thrilled about it. Yeah, that's true. And, you know, I don't know how many places he was going to be basketball happy. And he's clearly that Brooklyn and he's in he's carrying a franchise again to the regular season like we saw that year when Houston had all those injuries and he put together those six weeks and they were actually winning games and they're doing it.

You know, it wasn't like some of these other guys where you're like, oh, cool, look at the stat line, like, OK, they lost by fifteen. Again, Harden wins these games in the regular season. So I don't know that, you know, I always I'm not of the mindset now if you're running one of these teams. The number one thing is who do I have that actually likes it here and I'm just not in a hurry to start trading stuff for guys, especially hard and worrying.

OK, but is this guy going to be out of here in a year? And for whatever you think of Brandon Ingram, I think Kevin and I are probably higher on him, Bill, than you are almost certain of it. At least I know I have him under contract. I know that he's cool with it. He's probably not going to be really cool with the idea that Zion is going to be the number one option, could be cool with it.

And not that what I've said. He doesn't seem cool at all with it, though, but it's kind of like the Jaylen Brown Bradley Beal rumors that were out there all the time. And I go, wait a minute. So Jaylen is a young guy who likes it in Boston and is cool with the city where. What are you trading for. If you're trading for Beal you're trading for one year of a guy who's supposed to want to stay because he went to the same high school as Jayson Tatum and the workout with Hanlan in the off season together like that.

Maybe that's true, but that seemed to be a bit of a stretch. So any of these deals that they go, hey, should this team have done this? Should they have done this? And all these different things are like, all right, well, yeah, on paper, I understand why you'd want to do that. But the job is to also make sure you're acquiring players are going to want to be there, because that's that's not really what the case is now with a lot of top guys.

And that's Lowry. To Ryan, what's that? The fact Lowry wants to be in Miami like, that's the probably a variable that impacted Phillies willingness to go all in. And we'll see with the Lakers. I mean, the Oladipo thing exactly what you said. I mean Oladipo first of all, you're absolutely right. The job used to be me a contender or my tanking and unfortunately I felt like, like more than half the league was going I'm going to tank and where the resentment comes in from the other GMs there in that Chicago.

Let's pick another Western Conference team, maybe New Orleans. You know Griff, although he's stockpiled the picks, it used to be OK, this is great. Like the resentment about Sam Hinkie was comical because he'd always be like, oh, this guy. Like, he actually is going to get an extension because his job is, look how bad I am. So there was resentment. So now it's transition from, hey, I'm tanking to look at all the draft picks that I've compiled.

And Houston probably could have done the Caris Levert side of it, but they wanted Oladipo. They offered him the two year extension which the max they could do with the CBA rules of trading for somebody like him. You knew he was going to turn it down. And now the reason and again we've only got a few minutes here so Oladipo could be moved. But the problem is it was like well yeah but I got all the draft picks when in fact the player that it was built around, it probably wants to go to Miami or New York and that's why some teams are really hesitant to give you anything for Oladipo right now, knowing he may bounce just like Kevin just said with Lowry to Miami as well.

Casey said it wasn't the right time for New Orleans, that there are too young. Zion scoring twenty six points a game and shooting sixty two percent from the field. I would argue the right time is now. He's one of the most devastating offensive players I watch every week. And I kind of wish they had just kept Jrue Holiday. I get it. We all thought Milwaukee overpaid from a pick standpoint just because we didn't know if Yoni's was resigning there or I was like, wow, this is really risky.

But once he resigned, look, I can tell you this. I'm never going to be a GM GM. But if I was a GM and I'm trading one of the best 20 guys in the league, I need to get a guaranteed somebody back. You know, if I'm trading James Harden, I'm getting Ben Simmons back. I don't care about all these picks that might not amount to Jack shit. Like give me somebody who's good that I can put on my team for a few years.

And I think that's what's been lost. I think when you when you trade for all these picks. It basically buys you time, this is a point we've made in this podcast over and over again, it's exactly you basically you've bought yourself three more years, Rafaelle Stone. It's going to be three more years before we even know if he was doing a good job or not, because none of those picks are coming in yet. The Orlando game right now, he's done a reset and now has all these picks and now we can't evaluate him for another three years.

I think it's like the sneaky way to have job security. Absolutely.

Now, this is exactly what we're talking about, because, I mean, it was this is taking now 2.0, even though it's not tanking, it's how would it surprise anyone to say, hey, you have this job, we're on the high end, you're making millions of dollars a year? Again, there's a couple of lower level guys, but it's not so much the most part. You're making a few million earnings season, and when you lose it, you don't get to just go somewhere else unless you're Daryl Morey or a very small list of GMs you can call the shot to go somewhere else.

So wouldn't it be normal like this shouldn't be breaking news, but I think it's very revealing. And you're absolutely right that, yeah, a lot of guys do the job like, yeah, I want to win, but I also like to stay here for a long time, too. Yeah. And I think that my my issue with the ones with the drug trade, just looking back, I think it's fair to look back if they just did nothing.

Like, literally nothing, and you just right now, you have Zain and Brandon Ingram and Jrue Holiday and you're trying to figure it out at the deadline. I think the price for Drew would have been just as just as juicy right now. You know, I think Milwaukee would have probably had the same offer that they had way back for for that. And, you know, I think I think the the weird season and then the short layoff and then just how hectic everything was.

I think it screwed some teams up a little bit. I if I were New Orleans in retrospect, I would really regret not waiting before I decided what to do.

And I think to your point about Ben Simmons, it's not like he only has two years left on his contract. He signed through twenty twenty four. Twenty five. So you have a lot of long term security and time, if you were in Houston to take that deal on and build around him and he's somebody that gives a shit, I would have just done a deal.

I would have just done Simmons deal.

Gotten five seconds like Simmons to first and Maxi the good call in the league. That's great. Versus if these picks were now you're keeping your fingers crossed that five years from now Brooklyn is going to suck. And, you know, by that time the GM, he might not even be there. All right. So the deadline is officially here. We're going to end part two. And when we come back, he's going to stay we're going to mail off our fast to Kyle and we're going to come back with part three of the Post Trade Deadline podcast here on the best, but.

When we saw. With. Wearside.