[SPEAKER_03]: Now, playing, open, floor.
[SPEAKER_02]: This is open floor.
[SPEAKER_02]: Sports Illustrated's Chris Manix back at.
[SPEAKER_02]: An NBA podcast with Sports Illustrated Senior Writer.
[SPEAKER_03]: I think it's time that the world gets to know.
[SPEAKER_03]: My guy, Chris Manix.
[SPEAKER_03]: I think your opinion's shared by everyone.
[SPEAKER_01]: And now it begins.
[SPEAKER_02]: Now it begins.
[SPEAKER_01]: This is the open floor NBA podcast we talk about the league and all the big stories that are going on in it back with be this week Of all the smoke monumental sports network Fox sports one and as always right here on this podcast each and every week The great Rachel necklace welcome back rich.
[SPEAKER_01]: Thank you.
[SPEAKER_00]: Let's get back from Maine.
[SPEAKER_00]: I love me big main guy lovely that northeast of yours.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's nice
[SPEAKER_01]: big sabago lake guy.
[SPEAKER_01]: Oh, that's, uh, that was a family tradition for many years.
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm trying to bring it back with my family now to get up there for, but I'm also a Vermont guy.
[SPEAKER_01]: Get a house, uh, everywhere.
[SPEAKER_00]: That is Christian X's dirty secret is he has a house in all 50 states.
[SPEAKER_00]: That would be nice.
[SPEAKER_00]: Are you potentially on the run?
[SPEAKER_01]: on the run the lamb, right?
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, are you preparing for needing, like, safe out?
[SPEAKER_01]: Just like to have, you know, the apocalypse, you keep, if you had to go to Manhattan, you can be there, you can be there.
[SPEAKER_01]: You can be there.
[SPEAKER_01]: I've always said, like, and there's nobody cares, but like, I live, I've had multiple jobs, and I worked a lot over the years, or single.
[SPEAKER_01]: I was single for a very long time.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yes.
[SPEAKER_01]: drank beer in a pizza for a very long time.
[SPEAKER_01]: So I would ever had extra money out putting a real estate.
[SPEAKER_01]: I buy something nice and Vermont is one of those places.
[SPEAKER_01]: A big Vermont guy now.
[SPEAKER_01]: Green Mountain State.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm just saying, if you ever commit a crime, no one's going to know where to go.
[SPEAKER_01]: No one's going to know which state I'm in, I'm most likely to be hiding in for a lot of woods up there.
[SPEAKER_01]: Okay.
[SPEAKER_00]: Good to know.
[SPEAKER_00]: We all heard it here first.
[SPEAKER_00]: We have to be guys looking and there's a reward.
[SPEAKER_00]: We all go to Vermont.
[SPEAKER_01]: All right.
[SPEAKER_01]: Lot to get into on the show today.
[SPEAKER_01]: We're going to talk about the Portland Trailblazers, some developments there that have the people.
[SPEAKER_01]: in Oregon pretty anxious.
[SPEAKER_01]: We had a trade, an off season trade, three team deal involved in Oklahoma City Atlanta and Dallas will dive into that as well and a few other things.
[SPEAKER_01]: But I want to start the show talking about the story that will never end.
[SPEAKER_01]: We are on week three Rachel Nichols.
[SPEAKER_01]: of the 20.
[SPEAKER_00]: I actually added it up this morning.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, of the Lebron James watch Lebron still a free age and you have to decide to leave the legors.
[SPEAKER_01]: We talked about last week about the possibility that Lebron at fanatics in New York City doing a bunch of appearances including
[SPEAKER_01]: an episode of his own podcast.
[SPEAKER_01]: Maybe he would use that stage to reveal his decision.
[SPEAKER_01]: He elected not to need a one of us really surprised by that.
[SPEAKER_01]: It doesn't seem like a LeBron thing to do to you.
[SPEAKER_00]: This is not smart.
[SPEAKER_00]: Look, he learned his lesson with the decision.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I will always say there's having been on the ground in Cleveland, Miami for both phases of that.
[SPEAKER_00]: Of course, people in Cleveland were upset he left, but that's not really why they were that upset.
[SPEAKER_00]: They were upset about the way he left.
[SPEAKER_00]: Just kind of playing with everyone's emotions, making it a TV special, you know, being so joyous on the way out or like, I'm taking my talents to sound all the stuff.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I think he and the people around him, I know I've talked to them all, including LeBron about those, like learn to pretty valuable lesson in
[SPEAKER_00]: How you deliver the news is sometimes just as important as the news itself The only thing I'm curious about is as we are on day 20 and who knows people listening in their cars right now might know more than we do But if we're still in limbo as you listen to this Do you think that this is kind of Squeezing some goodwill away if he doesn't pick Cleveland if he doesn't pick one of these cities that's absolutely everyone by the way Everyone is convinced he's coming to their city.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's easy
[SPEAKER_01]: Oh, there's, I mean, social media is a buzz with people reporting little science here.
[SPEAKER_01]: Like, I have been told, I've heard some stuff, but it's not worth repeating because it's all just
[SPEAKER_00]: But you get fan bases, I mean, this isn't LeBron's fault, but you get fan bases invested in it.
[SPEAKER_01]: They start to think of them LeBron and back in their jersey.
[SPEAKER_01]: Cleveland thinks of a third reunion.
[SPEAKER_01]: Miami thinks of runnin' it back again, LeBron and Yannis, Philadelphia.
[SPEAKER_01]: They start thinking, wow, we got jailin' brown.
[SPEAKER_01]: Now we can add Yannis to the LeBron to it.
[SPEAKER_01]: I agree that we're now inching towards the point where there could be a hostile reaction.
[SPEAKER_00]: Again, might not be his fault.
[SPEAKER_00]: We don't know what he's waiting for.
[SPEAKER_00]: He could be waiting for the team he wants to go to to make a move that they haven't been able to make yet.
[SPEAKER_00]: So that could be part of what this is about, I don't know.
[SPEAKER_00]: But I do think that the same way he and his team have been conscious about how do we announce this, which is why I never thought it was happening at Finattx Fest because that's once again, like auctioning off people's pain to the highest bitter, that the length of time is also something that they might keep in mind.
[SPEAKER_01]: I saw a clip where LeBron was talking about his daughter, Zuri's influence on this.
[SPEAKER_01]: Melissa Rollen wrote about this with the California Post, I read her piece on it earlier in the week.
[SPEAKER_01]: Obviously, LeBron's two boys are out of the house.
[SPEAKER_01]: One son is a former teammate now with the Lakers got another son playing college ball and Arizona But Zuri is 11 12 years old turning 12 something like that And is in the house obviously and he said that she would play or her happiness I guess would play a big role in that decision.
[SPEAKER_01]: Is there anything you could take out of that like
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, I mean, a little bit.
[SPEAKER_00]: Look, I never thought if he moved to Miami, let's just say that Savannah and Zuri wouldn't necessarily come with him.
[SPEAKER_00]: Because you and I've covered the NBA for so long.
[SPEAKER_00]: Often, when players have families that are at this stage, this age, 12-year-old kids, 13-year-old kids, the kids and the wife don't move, because the kids, just as the reporting has been on Zuri, are like too invested, and she's a huge volleyball player here in Southern California.
[SPEAKER_00]: Like, there's a bunch of stuff.
[SPEAKER_00]: You have your friends, you have whatever.
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, players kind of feel by the time they reach that stage of their career, how long is this stint in the city going to last?
[SPEAKER_00]: Like Chris Paul talks about the fact that he moved his entire family from LA to Houston, and what a mistake that was, because he thought that was for good, and it obviously wasn't, and then he had to get them all out of those schools, back into other schools.
[SPEAKER_00]: So the thing that's interesting to me about that quote is either the whole family's going to move, which is not something I would have expected.
[SPEAKER_00]: Or if it's really something about making his 12-year-old daughter happy, then he's going to come and stay.
[SPEAKER_00]: Because I don't live very far away from Lebron.
[SPEAKER_00]: And it is 10 minutes to the Santa Monica airport from where the area in which we both live.
[SPEAKER_00]: I, by the way, do not live in the same style of home that Lebron lives in.
[SPEAKER_00]: One of your many homes might be that fancy.
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't think so.
[SPEAKER_00]: But my point is, LA is compact enough that I live very close to him.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I
[SPEAKER_00]: The airport's time is the way.
[SPEAKER_00]: Santa Monica airport that does some commercial flights, but a lot of private planes, that if you want it to be the least disruptive to your family life, other than playing for the Lakers or Clippers, and you live here, is, hey, you could commute to practice.
[SPEAKER_00]: Like, wouldn't be hard.
[SPEAKER_00]: Getting a plane, 10 minutes from your house to the private plane, private plane takes off, 45 minutes in the air.
[SPEAKER_00]: I know, certainly no players who have had the nicks who practice in what rise to you.
[SPEAKER_00]: That's just right, a player's who live in the city, they're commuting back and forth.
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, in their cars, but it takes now or sometimes each way.
[SPEAKER_00]: Pretty much what LeBron commute would be on practice days, and then obviously game days not so much, but if it's really about disrupting her life the least A, I'm not sure why he left the Lakers, but B, if you were gonna leave the Lakers, it feels like, well, that just means it'd be golden state and therefore that decision should have happened already.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, you could probably spend three or four days a week living in Los Angeles.
[SPEAKER_01]: I remember, was it Philip Rivers when he absolutely, like, the Rams, they moved to the charge of the movie, San Diego to LA.
[SPEAKER_01]: He's commuting.
[SPEAKER_00]: He had a sprinter van.
[SPEAKER_00]: Yes.
[SPEAKER_00]: And he had customized with Schwartz film.
[SPEAKER_00]: Yep.
[SPEAKER_00]: That was pretty bad.
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, it's pretty, it was amazing.
[SPEAKER_00]: I thought, like, he's like, I'm going to say the facility.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm going to film for two hours.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm going to move, like, get home with that.
[SPEAKER_00]: And look, we know Kauai has used to helicopter to commute back and forth, San Diego.
[SPEAKER_00]: He also used to live in my old house, quiet live near me, and then both of our houses burned down.
[SPEAKER_00]: So, like, you know, I can't wait for losing here, but he used, now, once the Pacific Palaisade's house burned down, he was doing a lot of commuting from San Diego, like, I just, I, I,
[SPEAKER_00]: I thought there was an interesting sentence only in that if that is the deciding factor, then it would be gold state.
[SPEAKER_00]: There's just no other, there's nothing else that would make sense there.
[SPEAKER_00]: So maybe it's like, oh, if I'm not going to go on the state and have that convenience, which of these other cities feels like I can get the most family time.
[SPEAKER_01]: Are you surprised that Philadelphia continues to exist on a lot of people's short list?
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, the most credible reporters out there that have been weighing on in on this.
[SPEAKER_01]: I've consistently said Philadelphia's there.
[SPEAKER_01]: Now, I kind of get it from a basketball perspective because they are built to win right now.
[SPEAKER_01]: And if you assume perfect health, what you can't with the 76ers, but if you assume perfect health, like, hey, that's a team that can win the Eastern Conference.
[SPEAKER_01]: And if you win the Eastern Conference, we'll just saw what the next, you can win a championship.
[SPEAKER_01]: Okay, um, you're going to slot the bronze and power forward alongside Jalen Brown, who has had kind of a, um, a hot and cold relationship over the years, uh, Tyrese Maxi, who has elevated himself to kind of borderline superstar status, V.J.
[SPEAKER_01]: Edgcom, of course, only going to get better.
[SPEAKER_01]: Then is that a big guy that went out there in the floor is going to demand the ball?
[SPEAKER_01]: Like, is he, like, the, is he comfortable with the fourth option like that?
[SPEAKER_01]: I can't see the bass people.
[SPEAKER_00]: We know that he's not, because that is a big reason why he's not.
[SPEAKER_01]: It doesn't make any sense to me, like the 76 years ago.
[SPEAKER_00]: I, again, look, again, I don't want to be like, there's no way he's going there, because neither one of us know.
[SPEAKER_00]: Nobody knows.
[SPEAKER_00]: All the people who say they know don't know.
[SPEAKER_00]: And, you know, I've told these stories.
[SPEAKER_00]: I know some of the other people have covered LeBron for a long time, I've told these stories.
[SPEAKER_00]: I promise you, when he left Cleveland the first time with the decision to go to the heat, you know, who didn't know what he was going to say, Dwayne Wait.
[SPEAKER_00]: Swainway and he and Chris had talked about this and they talked about it for years and then they talked about it much more specifically in terms of, you know, the week's leading up and then Dwayne, Dwayne tells the story that LeBron went completely radio silent on him for 72 hours.
[SPEAKER_00]: Didn't answer him.
[SPEAKER_00]: Not just, oh, we didn't talk about it.
[SPEAKER_00]: Like Dwayne's like, you good and like nothing.
[SPEAKER_00]: And then when LeBron left Miami for back to go to Cleveland,
[SPEAKER_00]: They had Gordon Hayward in the building to potentially take that cap space.
[SPEAKER_00]: And if the decision to go back to Cleveland had been a day or two later or even maybe some hours later, like they wouldn't even have room for him.
[SPEAKER_00]: This is not something that gets like pre rolled out to the team.
[SPEAKER_00]: Unless, unless you want them to make changes.
[SPEAKER_00]: And that is the circumstance where maybe someone knows something about Philly and they want changes there, but I don't even see what they could be.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I just don't think that team is going to be able to play with two basketballs.
[SPEAKER_00]: So I just, I don't see it as a huge contender, but the truth is we don't know.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, it's hard to, it's hard to get any kind of read on what's going to happen next, but I sure hope it winds down.
[SPEAKER_00]: Well, I guess the only question I have for you though is the fact that this is taking so long.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's not uncomplicated where you're going to spend, I'm sure he hopes the rest of his profession basketball career, I don't think he's thinks he has multiple stops here.
[SPEAKER_01]: Maybe multiple years.
[SPEAKER_00]: Maybe multiple years, which I will ask you about.
[SPEAKER_00]: But like, there's not that much complicated about, okay, you know who's in Miami, you know who's in Cleveland, you know who's in Philly, you know who's in Golden State.
[SPEAKER_00]: So to me, the fact that we are in day 20, either is just hey, everybody involved likes the attention, and, you know,
[SPEAKER_00]: It is remarkable to be this age, and have the whole league waiting on you, and Adam Silver says, I can't even do the schedule until we're brown to sides, and you let the world cup go on, and you let whatever happens.
[SPEAKER_00]: So maybe it's just that, but also maybe it's because they're waiting for something.
[SPEAKER_00]: That interests me.
[SPEAKER_00]: And the other thing that you said about multiple years, he did say over the weekend, athletics fest.
[SPEAKER_00]: He said a few seasons or a few more years.
[SPEAKER_00]: And it was hard to tell if that was just, that's how he has talked his whole career.
[SPEAKER_00]: So he doesn't want to start talking in absolute.
[SPEAKER_00]: or if he really intends to play for a couple more years and that Olympics in Los Angeles is looking more and more like the dessert to his international career, the more that he talks like that.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, you know, I just don't know.
[SPEAKER_01]: We were texting about this before like I just don't know.
[SPEAKER_01]: I can, I am more interested in trying to report out the autopsy of this after the fact like what was he thinking over these last three weeks was it just a matter of seeing kind of as you said, what teams do?
[SPEAKER_01]: How does the dust settle with all this?
[SPEAKER_01]: How does this family feel about certain situations on fascinating to see how this plays out and to get kind of the post more to monitor after that?
[SPEAKER_01]: We have had some developments in the ongoing saga with the Portland Trailblazers.
[SPEAKER_01]: So everyone understands the situation.
[SPEAKER_01]: The team is looking for $600 million of public funding from the state, county in the city, to remodel the modus center, which is 30 years old and in my opinion, not good.
[SPEAKER_01]: Last week in Las Vegas, Adam Silver set off some alarms when he said that the negotiation between the city and the team have gone off track a bit, his phrase off track.
[SPEAKER_01]: This week we have seen some reporting from Jason Quick of the athletic that quotes a team source saying they are quote very far apart and quote on an agreement.
[SPEAKER_01]: on a deal like this.
[SPEAKER_01]: In a term sheet, the city sent over to the blazers on Friday, they asked for $3 million annually for a property tax offset, which would escalate over time.
[SPEAKER_01]: In addition, the deal would require the blazers to hire union workers and set caps on project cost overruns.
[SPEAKER_01]: The blazers who are now led by Tom Dunton, who is making an impact.
[SPEAKER_01]: across the NBA for good and for bad, have called that term sheet a non-starter.
[SPEAKER_01]: So put yourselves in the shoes of Oregonians everywhere, Portland Dites of the many people that have supported the Blazers over the years.
[SPEAKER_01]: How nervous would you be about the state of the Blazers in Portland?
[SPEAKER_00]: I'd be pretty nervous, and I would be nervous not just from these latest developments, but the national media and the national fans, I think, have really started to have the temperature rays here.
[SPEAKER_00]: Importland, they've been reporting on this, our former LA colleague, Bill R. M. has been really sounding the alarm on this for months, like, it just hasn't looked good.
[SPEAKER_00]: And one of the big issues with this arena is I think a little bit of a misunderstanding, the city owns the arena.
[SPEAKER_00]: And there are a lot of people out there that like, hey, if someone else owned the, you were renting an apartment and they wanted you to completely remodel it.
[SPEAKER_00]: You wouldn't do that.
[SPEAKER_00]: You would think that was unfair.
[SPEAKER_00]: The owner should remodel it.
[SPEAKER_00]: The way the city owns the arena is that it was will, it was will or gifted.
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't know how to say it.
[SPEAKER_01]: Jody Allen, the, the, the Allen family.
[SPEAKER_00]: It was gifted to the city as part of the sort of transition from the late Pallons ownership to get to this point to sell the team and everything for a dollar.
[SPEAKER_00]: That sounds great on principle, but let me give you an example and this is how I've been trying to explain people how I think of it is if you are a rich guy and you decide, man, I love exotic animals, I'm going to open a zoo, all the kids in the neighborhood come to my zoo, all the kids in town can come to my zoo,
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm at charge, so I'm going to make money off of these animals, but like I'm rich, I can afford to bring all these animals here and run a business that charges people for getting to see a cool thing, right?
[SPEAKER_00]: Everyone loves the elephant, they want to see the elephant.
[SPEAKER_00]: If the owner of the zoo turns to one of the parents one day and says, I am gifting you this elephant for a dollar.
[SPEAKER_00]: The family can't handle that.
[SPEAKER_00]: They can't pay the $100,000 plus dollars it takes a year to care and feeding of an elephant.
[SPEAKER_00]: Might not be that exact figure, but it's more expensive than you think, I promise.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's not a gift.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm sorry.
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't know how this came to happen and who agreed to it and often sometimes you get a couple city counselors who decide this will look good in the photo and might not be acting in the best interest of the city.
[SPEAKER_01]: But the fact that the quote city owns the building is something that happened to them and it's not like they built that like I mean I kind of push back a little bit of that and that an elephant is basically useless at least a arena is generating revenue for you.
[SPEAKER_00]: the elephant generates revenue if you try people to see it.
[SPEAKER_01]: That's how the elephant got there in the first episode of this no guarantees any of them want to see an elephant.
[SPEAKER_00]: They're already paying to see the elephant.
[SPEAKER_00]: I get it.
[SPEAKER_01]: I get it.
[SPEAKER_00]: I get it.
[SPEAKER_00]: No mess with my analysis.
[SPEAKER_00]: You're excellent.
[SPEAKER_01]: You're comparing the motor center to a wild elephant is what you're doing.
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, isn't white elephant party, isn't it?
[SPEAKER_01]: I think the motor sounds like a gulf quite frankly.
[SPEAKER_01]: Like I think it's one of the energy there.
[SPEAKER_00]: I feel like Portland fans are doing it.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's not the fans.
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm talking about the building.
[SPEAKER_01]: I've been there many times.
[SPEAKER_00]: The building itself is old.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's not good.
[SPEAKER_00]: It really needs to be torn down.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's the bottom line, no matter who you think is right or wrong or whatever.
[SPEAKER_00]: Citizens should not be paying for sports, stadiums, arenas, teams, especially now that they're all owned by Billionaires.
[SPEAKER_00]: There may have been a time where the guy who owned the team was just a little bit richer than all the other rich people in town.
[SPEAKER_00]: When Jerry Buss bought the Lakers, he was a very successful commercial real estate developer.
[SPEAKER_00]: He was not a billionaire and never was a billionaire.
[SPEAKER_00]: When you have the gap in wealth between today's sports owners and how most people live day-to-day, it is a obscene that we let any city, any municipality, any state.
[SPEAKER_00]: I believe the state of California has a law against this.
[SPEAKER_00]: Of
[SPEAKER_00]: The city paying for the arena.
[SPEAKER_00]: Now obviously we do tax supplements and infrastructure and whatever, but in terms of the big, big costs.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm sorry, I think it is shameful.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I think the fact that the Blazers brass and by that I mean the owner, the new owner, who is a billionaire, is trying to hold the city hostage.
[SPEAKER_00]: He bought into the team, you knew all the circumstances.
[SPEAKER_00]: If you didn't want to be important, why did you buy a team in Portland?
[SPEAKER_00]: And the NBA, I think bear some responsibility for this.
[SPEAKER_00]: There was nothing, they didn't make sure there was anything in the contract about keeping the team in Portland.
[SPEAKER_01]: I'd take a step further.
[SPEAKER_01]: I think the NBA wanted this guy.
[SPEAKER_01]: I think the NBA wanted someone with a history of running a professional franchise.
[SPEAKER_01]: And that's what Tom Dunn didn't run to the table.
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't think they just accepted him.
[SPEAKER_01]: I think they actually wanted him.
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, well, I think it's going to turn into a PR nightmare.
[SPEAKER_01]: Oh, it already is.
[SPEAKER_00]: If that, if that team leaves, if a beloved Northwest US team, hey, I've heard this, leave again.
[SPEAKER_01]: Something in the Pacific Northwest.
[SPEAKER_00]: I think that is going to be a huge problem for the NBA, which is why you heard that.
[SPEAKER_01]: My biggest, my biggest issue with Tom Dunton and his team at this point comes from.
[SPEAKER_01]: I'd like the elephant.
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't quite buy the overall analogy.
[SPEAKER_01]: The biggest issue I would have done on this and this came from the Jason Quick Stories is that they're still not willing to reveal what they would use the money for.
[SPEAKER_01]: They've said they've got concepts of how they would improve the mode of center.
[SPEAKER_01]: If you are asking for $600 million, just like if you're asking for a home
[SPEAKER_01]: home repair loan or some kind of investment from a bank, you would have to articulate what you were going to use the money for.
[SPEAKER_01]: And I don't think the state which the state by the way is already signed off on their end of it.
[SPEAKER_01]: This is more a county and a city issue here.
[SPEAKER_01]: But if the city and the county want to know what you're going to do with the money, you should be able to send them specs of everything that you were going to do, like down to the nickel of what you're going to use.
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't blame them for that part of it.
[SPEAKER_00]: I will say this.
[SPEAKER_00]: So when this initially sort of bubbled up a couple months ago, I don't remember what it was, I tweeted something about it because I feel very strongly that public money should not go toward billionaire welfare.
[SPEAKER_00]: This is a handout.
[SPEAKER_00]: I got to push back because I pointed out that Oregon, I believe in the pre-K through 12th grade, is the 47th out of 50 states in the country and education.
[SPEAKER_00]: First of all, the amount of people who are comfortable going on social media and insulting teachers for being greedy is just astounding to me.
[SPEAKER_00]: We have lost some values in this country.
[SPEAKER_00]: And then on top of it, the idea that you were defending billionaires is just beyond me, I don't understand.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, I don't get it.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, I grew at that part of it.
[SPEAKER_00]: Nobody should be paying for that money.
[SPEAKER_00]: And you know where that's $600 million could go?
[SPEAKER_00]: I bet there's some teachers who could use it.
[SPEAKER_01]: I agree and I think also the clean energy fund is where they're supposedly taking a big chunk out of that.
[SPEAKER_01]: That's something obviously very important nationally, but very important.
[SPEAKER_01]: Okay, and that's a very pro-environment state.
[SPEAKER_01]: So I agree with that.
[SPEAKER_01]: I do think to bring it full circle.
[SPEAKER_01]: I think if you're from Portland, you're very nervous right now.
[SPEAKER_01]: There are some deadlines coming up.
[SPEAKER_01]: I think August 12th, there's going to be a vote on some of the spending, I think it has to be voted on overall by the end of the calendar year for it to get appropriate.
[SPEAKER_01]: I may be screwing it up a little bit, but that's a deadline there.
[SPEAKER_01]: And to sit there in that room in Vegas last week, and to hear Adam Silva was generally pretty optimistic about these things.
[SPEAKER_01]: Like, we'll figure it out.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's gone this way.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's going that way to hear him very
[SPEAKER_01]: succinctly say that this has gone off track and went up that they basically assigned somebody to this in the league office and that person's covering it from day to day that tells me that the NBA is very nervous about the direction this goes and that tells me that there is probably a belief in the league office that this team packing up and moving is on the table.
[SPEAKER_01]: Like everybody's kind of like looking around like where would they go?
[SPEAKER_01]: I would look at Nashville.
[SPEAKER_01]: I would look at Nashville as being a potential man to blow the ownership group in Memphis.
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't know.
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't know how that would all work, but that's another tax haven.
[SPEAKER_00]: There are protective market.
[SPEAKER_01]: There are.
[SPEAKER_01]: Is it covered that though?
[SPEAKER_01]: That distance?
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't know.
[SPEAKER_01]: The answer to that either.
[SPEAKER_01]: But there's lots of other places.
[SPEAKER_01]: Well, it's three hours.
[SPEAKER_00]: It doesn't.
[SPEAKER_00]: Three hours away.
[SPEAKER_00]: Something like that.
[SPEAKER_00]: Well, three hour elephant ride.
[SPEAKER_00]: I love it.
[SPEAKER_01]: Well, either way.
[SPEAKER_01]: Nashville, someplace else.
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
[SPEAKER_01]: I would be anxious if I was in Portland.
[SPEAKER_00]: Who was you blame?
[SPEAKER_00]: If you were a blazer's fan, and the city did not vote to just hand a billionaire, $600 million that could be used to help the citizens of the city and county.
[SPEAKER_01]: Would you blame the public officials or do you blame Irish I don't think it's it's I think there's a blame pie I don't think it's one of the other.
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't think it's black or white I think you would definitely blame the owner the greedy billionaire for taking the team out of there because he didn't get exactly what he wanted No, I don't get all my money so I'm taking the team and I'm moving to Tennessee or Texas or wherever else
[SPEAKER_01]: But I would also blame some of the city officials for letting it get to this point and allowing as as much as it sucks to put up money like losing the trailblazers would be such a massive loss for the city in the state because they didn't get in a team back like honestly like I think Seattle from the moment Seattle left I think there was
[SPEAKER_01]: It's been talked about it's one of the biggest cities exactly like Sacramento was going to move there like there has been a push on some level for decades to get in the Seattle Super Sonics back in Seattle I do not believe that at the Blazers move we would be having that conversation.
[SPEAKER_01]: I think they'd be gone forever.
[SPEAKER_00]: Is that worth $600 million.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm actually asking
[SPEAKER_01]: I think it's a question of is it worth the 200 and something million to the county and the city?
[SPEAKER_01]: Because the state's already decided, the state's already voted in that Senate bill.
[SPEAKER_01]: That's done.
[SPEAKER_01]: Is it worth that much to the city and to the county?
[SPEAKER_00]: Just because a bunch of elected officials at vote or not, it doesn't mean.
[SPEAKER_00]: But I think the really what they're arguing over now is the back end.
[SPEAKER_00]: Is the back end?
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
[SPEAKER_00]: Look, I obviously, again, the fact that anyone's in this position is just to me, it's coming.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm sorry.
[SPEAKER_00]: Like holding fan base is hostage.
[SPEAKER_00]: and making them take money out of public works, whether that is schools, whether it is road repairs, whether it is clean energy, whether it is any of the other things, and everyone can pick their own issue.
[SPEAKER_00]: This is not a political discussion.
[SPEAKER_00]: Whatever you support, you are going to have less of it because a billionaire who is like a rounding error to pay some of this stuff.
[SPEAKER_00]: just had to squeeze it out of you and couldn't just pay it himself.
[SPEAKER_00]: I think if you buy a sports team, it is a public trust.
[SPEAKER_00]: And you are agreeing, I am going to spend some money here because then I get to be the big shot that cat owner and I'm the one who bestowing the Portland Trailblazers on the public.
[SPEAKER_00]: It is not a hostage situation and I think it is shameful.
[SPEAKER_00]: I really do.
[SPEAKER_01]: I actually don't think that I don't think Tom Dundin bought this team with an intention to move it out.
[SPEAKER_01]: And I just based that on that he bought the Carolina Hurricanes, people thought he could move that team.
[SPEAKER_01]: I think I think Dundin, and for better or worse, and a lot of times it's worse, I don't think he gives a bleep.
[SPEAKER_01]: about what anybody thinks of him, I think he's going to get the deal that he wants and if he doesn't get it, he's going to pick up his team and he's going to leave.
[SPEAKER_01]: He got the deal he wanted in North Carolina and I think he doesn't get the deal he wants, he's going to pick up this team in bail.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I know why that's not against the rules.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's not against the rules because the owners run the NBA.
[SPEAKER_00]: The fallacy that Adam Silver doesn't have a boss.
[SPEAKER_00]: Adam Silver has 30 bosses.
[SPEAKER_00]: And just like we saw with some of these other league issues,
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm sterling, et cetera, et cetera.
[SPEAKER_00]: There are a lot of people who don't want it turned around on them.
[SPEAKER_00]: You can't tell me I've got to keep my team in a city.
[SPEAKER_00]: Like, what if something kind of traffic happens and I need to move it or I want to move it or even if I have great intentions now?
[SPEAKER_00]: So that group of owners is not going to vote for some sort of rule to be in the NBA that if you buy into a franchise, you have to keep it there or some of these other issues.
[SPEAKER_00]: But again, that's Greed too, thank you.
[SPEAKER_00]: And like, I'm done.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm so sick of it, like, I really am like- Sure, just bought the pelicans.
[SPEAKER_01]: No, but it would care if they would.
[SPEAKER_01]: Wow.
[SPEAKER_01]: Just bad arena.
[SPEAKER_00]: Wow.
[SPEAKER_01]: Bad arena, not a great NBA market, like- Wow.
[SPEAKER_01]: Love the die hards in New Orleans, not enough of you.
[SPEAKER_00]: Wow, good food.
[SPEAKER_01]: Smoothie King Center, not a big fan of that either.
[SPEAKER_01]: We had a trade this week in the NBA, three team trade and the headliners of this deal between Oklahoma City, Atlanta, and Dallas is that Lou Dort goes from Oklahoma City to the Atlanta Hawks seed goes with law with Ryan.
[SPEAKER_01]: Nemphardo comes up from Dallas.
[SPEAKER_01]: Zachary Risha Shey was the 2024 number one overall pick.
[SPEAKER_01]: He goes from Atlanta.
[SPEAKER_01]: to Dallas and three second round picks go to Oklahoma City.
[SPEAKER_01]: So I want to put Oklahoma City in the shell fair because there's a couple of things I want to pack with them first.
[SPEAKER_01]: The biggest player in this deal, the most notable player, is Lou Dort, who is one of the best defensive wings in the NBA, helped lead that team to a championship, was one of the kind of the OGs in, um,
[SPEAKER_01]: uh... in Oklahoma City was there twenty eighteen i believe is an undrafted free agent he is that i look this up in the longest tenured Oklahoma City Thunder player until the straight up going to have his number up in the rafters someday uh... in Oklahoma next they want championship yeah i mean i think you do put the whole team in the rafters uh... i'm not arguing against it i'm just asking
[SPEAKER_00]: That was a very Cavalier.
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, I just, you know, Rachel Hayes, Lou Dort, we'll go with that.
[SPEAKER_01]: Oh, my Lord.
[SPEAKER_01]: I think probably given his accomplishments, not at all star, but yeah, I think probably gets his number up.
[SPEAKER_00]: Again, not against it.
[SPEAKER_01]: They haven't even, they only, they only, they don't have a Celtics here.
[SPEAKER_00]: I understand.
[SPEAKER_00]: But Nick Colison's up there for, you know, he kind of, he was the guy.
[SPEAKER_00]: He was Mr. Thunder.
[SPEAKER_00]: He was Mr. Thunder when they brought the franchise.
[SPEAKER_00]: There was a foundation of the franchise.
[SPEAKER_01]: Seattle, too, Oklahoma City.
[SPEAKER_01]: Right.
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, how many years was he there, too?
[SPEAKER_00]: Oh, it's a nice longer than Lou Dort.
[SPEAKER_00]: I wish itself a championship.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm willing to give a tribute video to anyone who wants one.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm all for celebrating.
[SPEAKER_00]: Definitely getting a tribute.
[SPEAKER_00]: And your player is, but I would push back that he's a luck for a...
[SPEAKER_01]: I would say get the number up there.
[SPEAKER_01]: My guess on that one.
[SPEAKER_01]: All right, he is not going to the Atlanta Hawks.
[SPEAKER_01]: So now have a pretty impressive defensive perimeter.
[SPEAKER_01]: The short, long time, one of the top defenders in the NBA, Dyson Daniels, one of the great basketball thieves in the NBA and the Kielano's at a Walker's kind of a Swiss army knife of a defender in that back court.
[SPEAKER_01]: Let's start with Atlanta.
[SPEAKER_01]: How much better do you think Atlanta gets with this deal?
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't know how to answer that because they got better in some ways, and I'm not sure they got better enough, and other ways to do what they did.
[SPEAKER_00]: Look, I wasn't a huge fan of the Zachary Rishishay pick to begin with.
[SPEAKER_01]: Tough draft that year.
[SPEAKER_00]: Yes, and look, there's always the hindsight if this guy was number six and whatever, whatever.
[SPEAKER_00]: However, stuff on Castle went number four in that draft and I'd sure rather have Stefan Castle who, by the way, did you see that?
[SPEAKER_00]: This first said that he grew two inches since the NBA finals, it's been a month.
[SPEAKER_01]: I guess was he 20 years old?
[SPEAKER_01]: So yeah, I guess still.
[SPEAKER_00]: He's 68 now with a 7 foot 1 wingspan they said.
[SPEAKER_00]: My Lord.
[SPEAKER_01]: Good for them.
[SPEAKER_00]: Just like, yeah, I'm 5-3 over here.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's very sad for me.
[SPEAKER_00]: That I, he wasn't my favorite draft pick or player there, but giving up on him without really having another plan offensively is sort of what I don't, I don't know how to talk about that.
[SPEAKER_00]: What do you think?
[SPEAKER_01]: Um, I think they were, they've been ready for a while to move off of Zach and Risha Shea, not just give him away, but to deal him in the right trade.
[SPEAKER_01]: You look at his numbers, the first couple of years durable as first year, played 73 games, average 12 and a half points, actually regressed this past year, down to about nine and a half points, shoot mid 30s from three, he's shooting mid 40s from the, from the field.
[SPEAKER_01]: look like a good player but didn't show anything six eight two hundred pounds kind of like didn't really be a great player yet so maybe they were around in every single day they clearly know what they were looking at and that point you're willing to deal in for a new door
[SPEAKER_00]: But let's be very clear about which Lou Dort you're getting.
[SPEAKER_00]: You're not getting height of his powers, Lou Dort.
[SPEAKER_01]: You don't think?
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't, actually.
[SPEAKER_00]: In fact, we'll talk about Oklahoma City.
[SPEAKER_00]: Yes, Sam Pussy came out and said this was a financial decision.
[SPEAKER_00]: And there's no question this helps their finances.
[SPEAKER_00]: But this feels very much to me like, hey, we know the asset is declining.
[SPEAKER_00]: No one else quite knows yet, or is like really registered that the asset is declining.
[SPEAKER_00]: And we're getting out now while we can still extract.
[SPEAKER_00]: a really good price, which they did.
[SPEAKER_00]: By the way, couldn't they just have not given him a contract?
[SPEAKER_00]: It's not like to not pay him they had to do this trade.
[SPEAKER_01]: Right.
[SPEAKER_01]: So, well, the financial part is big though, too.
[SPEAKER_01]: They get under the second apron by doing this deal.
[SPEAKER_00]: I understand, and they get a $70 million trade exception to leave, and all the things that I come out of my mouth that I'm still like, what's in apron?
[SPEAKER_00]: But,
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm saying that's smart on St. Preston's bar.
[SPEAKER_00]: I also think selling it.
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, look at his numbers.
[SPEAKER_00]: The shooting numbers are going down.
[SPEAKER_00]: So let me give you those right now.
[SPEAKER_00]: Three point numbers are way down.
[SPEAKER_00]: And then the other thing that you and I've talked about throughout the entire season is when you resort to, you can call it reckless play, you can call it dirty play, you can say it's a mixture of both.
[SPEAKER_00]: And there is no doubt that that has been increasing.
[SPEAKER_00]: There have been an increasing number of incidents with Lou Dort where stark players have accused him of playing dirty and appropriately, recklessly, however.
[SPEAKER_00]: And it's a difference, but I'm just saying, however you perceive it.
[SPEAKER_00]: That tells me that you've not assured yourself defensively anymore.
[SPEAKER_00]: Because you don't have to trip a guy if you know you can defend him.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, let me look at the numbers here briefly.
[SPEAKER_01]: His numbers did dip considerably this past season, shooting 38 and a half percent from the field.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's down from 43 and a half a year before.
[SPEAKER_01]: Shot 34 percent from three that's down from 41 percent and average in the single digits for the first time.
[SPEAKER_01]: Really, since his, his rookie year, and this is over a long played 69 game.
[SPEAKER_01]: So we had
[SPEAKER_00]: couldn't play in the series against the spurs.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, that was a bad one for him.
[SPEAKER_00]: No doubt about that and changes whatever else can do in the basketball court.
[SPEAKER_01]: He has though has had dips in his career and bounce back for them.
[SPEAKER_01]: I go back the 2223 season where he shot 38% from the field, 33% from the floor.
[SPEAKER_01]: Bounceback had two phenomenal years over the next two and helped contribute to a championship two years ago.
[SPEAKER_01]: So at 27 years old,
[SPEAKER_01]: I do think that it's reasonable to believe that his numbers can be more like the ones we've seen in the last two years then.
[SPEAKER_00]: So possible and then change of scenery and different teammates around him in different responsibilities.
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't think it's a bad trade for Atlanta in terms of acquiring a how could you want Lou Dort.
[SPEAKER_00]: Again, really likely Lou Dort is a player and aside from the dirty stuff and you know, feel like he could be a help in Atlanta, but I certainly understand not just financially why they were sort of like, okay, this is the place.
[SPEAKER_00]: to cut a lot of places financially.
[SPEAKER_00]: They cut him in art because when nobody's guarding you, everybody else is a tougher time scoring because they have more defenders in their face.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yep.
[SPEAKER_01]: I just like the deal.
[SPEAKER_01]: I think as much as we have been locked in in the last year about the need to get big, right?
[SPEAKER_01]: You've got to defend Wimbain Yama.
[SPEAKER_01]: You've got to defend towns.
[SPEAKER_01]: You've got to defend Kolioka.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's all the bigs that are out there.
[SPEAKER_01]: I still think fundamentally this is a wing league.
[SPEAKER_01]: And I think to win championships, you've got to have top level defensive-minded wings.
[SPEAKER_01]: And now Atlanta's got three of them.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yep.
[SPEAKER_01]: They got three top level, all defensive caliber type of guys on that wing.
[SPEAKER_01]: And then he jailing Johnson to be a superstar to be successful, but I like this deal.
[SPEAKER_01]: I think it's a solid solid deal for Atlanta.
[SPEAKER_01]: I also like this deal for Dallas.
[SPEAKER_00]: Like, do you think our friend Tim Bond-Temps was the engine?
[SPEAKER_01]: I think yes, Tim Bond-Temps made this deal.
[SPEAKER_01]: There was Fred at Tim Bond-Temps.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, I'll all cry at Tim Bond-Temps.
[SPEAKER_01]: He overruled everybody when up there and provided sources, of course to say.
[SPEAKER_01]: So there's sources down there, down there, around there, around there, around there.
[SPEAKER_01]: Um, I like the deal for Dallas as well because you just get a chance to take a while.
[SPEAKER_01]: Oh, dude.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's a free deal is a free deal.
[SPEAKER_01]: Number one pick right in Denmark.
[SPEAKER_01]: I'll do respect.
[SPEAKER_01]: You were a great addition late in the season to Dallas.
[SPEAKER_01]: She had made a nice run carved out of a little career for yourself.
[SPEAKER_01]: But this is a no brainer.
[SPEAKER_00]: But that sort of thing is that he wasn't my favorite pick in that draft or in any draft.
[SPEAKER_00]: But I'm not trying to get up on him yet.
[SPEAKER_01]: And if you're Dallas, you scoop them up, no question.
[SPEAKER_01]: Because now you've got Reese's J playing alongside Cooper flag.
[SPEAKER_01]: You've got two of the last three number one picks.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yes.
[SPEAKER_01]: You've got, and you're line up right now.
[SPEAKER_00]: And if Kyrie resizes, well, not a recent number one pick, you've still got three number one picks, which I'm sure is some importance to the people in Dallas.
[SPEAKER_00]: Look, again, he doesn't have to be great.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's not a matter of will he live up to being number one overall.
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't think he will.
[SPEAKER_01]: Especially not now.
[SPEAKER_01]: Once you're traded, you all bets are off.
[SPEAKER_01]: Especially when you give up nothing form through Dallas.
[SPEAKER_00]: But a lot of it is what you pick for these guys.
[SPEAKER_00]: So when Anthony Davis went to Washington, I grip there, I have a lot of friends who were like, oh, he's hurt all the time.
[SPEAKER_00]: Why did we make this trade?
[SPEAKER_00]: And I said, because you didn't really give up anything, it's significant for him.
[SPEAKER_00]: So if you were Dallas and you had to give up Luka Dodge Edge, Anthony Davis only playing 50 games or in the case there, I think it was 20 games.
[SPEAKER_00]: is a real problem because you've given up a ton.
[SPEAKER_00]: If you've not really had to give up much, then Anthony Davis for 50 games.
[SPEAKER_00]: Hey, free Anthony Davis for 50 games.
[SPEAKER_00]: That's a win.
[SPEAKER_00]: That's the researches situation right now.
[SPEAKER_00]: Great.
[SPEAKER_00]: Dallas didn't give up much for him.
[SPEAKER_00]: Whatever he does on that team is going to be a win, which is great for him too.
[SPEAKER_00]: It sucks being a disappointment.
[SPEAKER_00]: So getting a different environment, have different expectations, play the hardest you can, and maybe he'll be awesome.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, big win for Dallas on that one.
[SPEAKER_01]: Win for Reese's Shade, to be able to reset his career in a different situation, playing alongside a superstar in Cooper Flag, it potentially another star in Kyrie Irving.
[SPEAKER_01]: I, on the Oklahoma City side,
[SPEAKER_01]: I kind of expected some of this to happen, because of the fun.
[SPEAKER_01]: When two scenarios I could see with Lou Dord, one was he would opt out of his contract, which was a team option, and they would tear it up and give him a different long-term deal.
[SPEAKER_01]: When that didn't happen, and they just picked up the team option, because they did that thing with, did they pick apart his things option?
[SPEAKER_01]: I forget if they picked it up or he had my new deal.
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't remember.
[SPEAKER_01]: I think they gave a new deal.
[SPEAKER_01]: They didn't do that with Lou Dort or they didn't have the ability to do that with Lou Dort.
[SPEAKER_01]: The second that happened, I thought they were going to make a deal like this to offload that money because if you look at some of the finances, like they are now under the second apron, it's like it's like a $300 million savings for the entirety of this option, some of the moves they've made, I say a Joe, we enter Wiggins, those deals.
[SPEAKER_00]: I've read 200 million, but what's the other 100 million?
[SPEAKER_00]: Astronomical savings.
[SPEAKER_01]: Astronomical savings, they get under that second apron, they need to be there.
[SPEAKER_01]: So I expected a deal like this to happen.
[SPEAKER_01]: I did not expect to pick up my digital copy of the Oklahoma and read this interview with Sam Press.
[SPEAKER_01]: I want to read the quote that triggered me a little bit there.
[SPEAKER_01]: I quote, this is Presti, say quote, this was a financial decision, the impression that I have been given is that the savings generated this summer and from being out of the tax the last several years will be reallocated to future teams.
[SPEAKER_01]: That was a very interesting quote, because Sam Presti does not.
[SPEAKER_01]: make mistakes with what he says.
[SPEAKER_01]: He is very, very selective with his word choice.
[SPEAKER_01]: Even when he does, these talk to you, drop press conferences.
[SPEAKER_01]: Always says exactly what he means.
[SPEAKER_01]: Now, people in Oklahoma City will tell you that he is
[SPEAKER_01]: What he's doing is taking the heat off of Clay Bennett, the owner of the thunder saying, like look, we're doing this deal, and we're gonna use the savings down the line.
[SPEAKER_01]: The other interpretation that people are on the League of Ad is that he's kind of put the pressure on Clay Bennett to say like, all right, we did this deal.
[SPEAKER_01]: We moved off Lou Dort, who in addition to being a really good player, is very close with our alpha, with shade guiltous Alexander.
[SPEAKER_00]: Longest tenure, thunder.
[SPEAKER_01]: Longest tenure, thunder, Mr. Thunder, the new Mr. Thunder in Oklahoma City, like when you read a quote like that, how did you interpret it?
[SPEAKER_00]: I absolutely thought that was putting pressure on ownership.
[SPEAKER_00]: Look, you don't get to be as good as San Prestia without being as competitive as San Prestia's.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I think that,
[SPEAKER_00]: people in a way that's very cool for the rest of us.
[SPEAKER_00]: I think people in Oklahoma City and San Antonio feel they are locked in like a blood feud for the next however many years, five, 10, maybe more.
[SPEAKER_00]: And every little scrap of an advantage or not is going to be a big deal.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I think this was a little bit of, if this is a financial move and I would say it's a financial plus move, there were some other things they did, got out of it, besides just finances.
[SPEAKER_01]: But it's three second round packs being though.
[SPEAKER_00]: And also just, you know, look, you can play other guys.
[SPEAKER_01]: Well, yeah.
[SPEAKER_00]: I watched him, again, it is harder to shoot.
[SPEAKER_00]: If you are another member of the team on the floor with Lou Dort, when nobody is guarding him, that means more people are guarding you.
[SPEAKER_00]: So I think you get some things out of the tray that aren't strictly financial, but how I do see this is a financial move.
[SPEAKER_00]: And anytime you give up a little advantage for making another billionaire,
[SPEAKER_00]: Oh no, I think if you're saying Presti, you want to hold them accountable that like, okay, but when we need it, this one, this one I could make work, but when we need it, I need you to pay up.
[SPEAKER_01]: I actually don't think they take that big of a basketball hit as a result of this deal.
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm just not saying you do it.
[SPEAKER_00]: If it was Sam Prestey's complete, there was no money involved.
[SPEAKER_00]: Do you think he would have kept the door?
[SPEAKER_01]: No, you would have kept the door.
[SPEAKER_01]: You want to keep everybody.
[SPEAKER_01]: You would have kept Aaron Wiggins, too.
[SPEAKER_01]: You want to keep the door.
[SPEAKER_00]: You want to keep the door.
[SPEAKER_00]: Clearly, there is a basketball cost.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yes, but I think that the rise of case and Wallace over the last couple of years, the continued rise of AJ Mitchell.
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, and you look at Jared McCain now being part of that mix.
[SPEAKER_01]: These are all guys that will earn more minutes with this team.
[SPEAKER_01]: So I think moving Lou Dort, even though you definitely lose something defensively, you definitely lose something when it comes to leadership in that group.
[SPEAKER_01]: I think you
[SPEAKER_01]: get you you will gain something to by freeing up some more minutes for these guys think all these guys are really good players.
[SPEAKER_01]: Case in Wallace is an all defensive level player.
[SPEAKER_01]: Jeremy McCain is a bucket.
[SPEAKER_01]: They can get a more well rounded player out of him.
[SPEAKER_01]: He could be a star in this league.
[SPEAKER_01]: AJ Mitchell was on that track.
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, he was in the mix for most improved players this past year.
[SPEAKER_01]: Like they've got guys.
[SPEAKER_01]: Would he mention that it's Caruso still under contract there?
[SPEAKER_01]: So they have got a strong rotation of two guards in that back court that can fill this rule if they're not better Quote from Sam Presti.
[SPEAKER_01]: I probably would just sat here and I'm like, oh, this is just what happens in the second apron era.
[SPEAKER_01]: You've got to cut salary, but it was fascinating to me.
[SPEAKER_01]: Like Sam doesn't do a lot of these interviews.
[SPEAKER_01]: No, like he does the preseason stuff
[SPEAKER_01]: And postseason stuff.
[SPEAKER_00]: This was one interview with one outlet, with one reporter, and that tells you I have a message I want to get.
[SPEAKER_01]: And I get, it is Lou Dort, and you do want to explain your thinking since it is the, he's the longest tenure guy, like he's been around, you don't just want to brush this deal under the rug like some other ones, but it was just, his word choice was fascinating to me.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's very fascinating to me.
[SPEAKER_00]: If anyone has the right to hold the ownership accountable in their franchise, it's same for us.
[SPEAKER_01]: He is the best executive in the NBA by, I think, the country mile.
[SPEAKER_00]: I have a degree more.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's going to be interesting how that works out.
[SPEAKER_00]: But I think they actually be wizard.
[SPEAKER_01]: The wizard of Oklahoma.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm maybe.
[SPEAKER_00]: Who's Mr. Thunder now?
[SPEAKER_00]: It can't be the star.
[SPEAKER_01]: Can't be the star.
[SPEAKER_00]: Zax Bruso.
[SPEAKER_01]: That's been around long enough.
[SPEAKER_01]: I think.
[SPEAKER_01]: Thank you.
[SPEAKER_01]: He's a couple years.
[SPEAKER_01]: He came into the championship.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't know.
[SPEAKER_01]: I think it was more important for them to get hard and stand back.
[SPEAKER_01]: If they lost him, it would have been terrible.
[SPEAKER_01]: Totally.
[SPEAKER_01]: Now they've got to continue to chip away with Chet Homegren, get him better.
[SPEAKER_01]: But I think they've got enough horses in that back court to replace Lou Dort.
[SPEAKER_01]: I've got guys ready to flourish.
[SPEAKER_01]: Like I've been chasing Wallace with more minutes is gonna be excellent.
[SPEAKER_01]: I think McCain with more minutes is gonna be excellent.
[SPEAKER_01]: I think Carruso can when he's out there healthy.
[SPEAKER_01]: Like they've been managing his minutes over the last couple of years.
[SPEAKER_01]: I think he can play literally a game changer.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, like they've got enough guys out there.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's just, just don't usually hear from Sam that, that often like that.
[SPEAKER_00]: So, you know, I've been looking up.
[SPEAKER_01]: What's that?
[SPEAKER_00]: How much does it cost to raise an elephant every year?
[SPEAKER_01]: and what did you conclude?
[SPEAKER_00]: We're trying to find it.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's harder to find than you would think.
[SPEAKER_01]: Why don't we save that for next week's episodes?
[SPEAKER_00]: That'll be something that people will really, they will not do.
[SPEAKER_00]: And they'll be like, oh my god, forget the internet.
[SPEAKER_00]: I need to listen to next week's over in Florida to find out how much you cost to keep an elephant.
[SPEAKER_01]: And answer the question.
[SPEAKER_01]: Would you want to own the Motor Center?
[SPEAKER_01]: Or would you want to own an elephant?
[SPEAKER_00]: Dude, I would so much rather want to own an elephant.
[SPEAKER_00]: Oh my god.
[SPEAKER_00]: You?