[SPEAKER_02]: Now playing open for this is open floor Sports Illustrated's Chris Manics back at an NDA podcast with Sports Illustrated senior writer.
[SPEAKER_03]: I think it's time that the world gets to know my guy Chris Manics I think your opinion shared by everyone and now it begins now it begins
[SPEAKER_01]: This is the Open Floor NBA podcast where we talk about the league and all the big stories going on.
[SPEAKER_01]: And it back with me this week as he is every week.
[SPEAKER_01]: Former Nate Smith College basketball player of the year.
[SPEAKER_01]: 10 year NBA veteran number two overall draft pick and a guy that's prepared to break down the biggest free agent signing in Philadelphia 76ers history Evan Turner ET himself ET we we've just got a like for for context here we had been recording this episode
[SPEAKER_01]: for the last 45 minutes or so.
[SPEAKER_01]: Midway through the episode, the news breaks that LeBron James is signing with the 76.
[SPEAKER_01]: So the first part of this episode is totally out, totally gone.
[SPEAKER_01]: We are starting from scratch and we are starting right here with LeBron.
[SPEAKER_01]: going to Philadelphia.
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm accumulating my thoughts on this ET, but give me yours off the top.
[SPEAKER_01]: Your reaction LeBron signing a two year $8 million deal with the 76 years second year of this deal is a player option.
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, I'm really shocked.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm really, uh, I'm really shocked.
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't know my group and again, it done.
[SPEAKER_00]: That's the only thing that we see.
[SPEAKER_00]: Um, obviously the the six years had a great
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, they had great young pieces in the back court.
[SPEAKER_00]: I wasn't too sure if they would go that way because, you know, even though they had a good year this year, there's still, I think they're still developing and trying to get their feet under them now.
[SPEAKER_00]: They think I've got to jay them brown trade.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's firepower is legit, but, you know, I mean, he's going to be a great foreman for sure.
[SPEAKER_00]: He's going to be a great foreman.
[SPEAKER_00]: I think he's on fit in well.
[SPEAKER_00]: I think, you know, with the mindset of what Nick nurse.
[SPEAKER_00]: is able to do with a good team, good set, it's been cool.
[SPEAKER_00]: I think the number one thing is just making sure to atmosphere and, you know, chemistry and camaraderies at that right type of level, you know, especially being in Philadelphia.
[SPEAKER_00]: There's expectations of when, and, you know, a city of brotherly love.
[SPEAKER_00]: So sometimes when it goes up and down and you kind of have those, the brine weeks where, you know, he had a bad nine days, which weren't a bad nine days, you gotta be able to weather that storm and keep that team together.
[SPEAKER_00]: But, I'm shocked.
[SPEAKER_00]: I didn't see that coming.
[SPEAKER_00]: I didn't have any real players to really go around it, but hey, I'm looking forward to seeing this was not on my Bingo card, like you know what do you think?
[SPEAKER_01]: I did not have Philadelphia high on my list of potential LeBron landing spots for a few reasons.
[SPEAKER_01]: One, there's no connection, right?
[SPEAKER_01]: Like LeBron going back to Miami would make some sense because of his history.
[SPEAKER_01]: LeBron going to Cleveland would make some sense because of his history.
[SPEAKER_01]: LeBron going to Golden State would make some sense because of his connection to
[SPEAKER_01]: Steph Curry, Dreyman Green, and the proximity it has to Los Angeles where, you know, his daughter is still living and growing up.
[SPEAKER_01]: None of those things seem to be applicable to LeBron James in making this decision.
[SPEAKER_01]: It just goes to show that I think Rich Paul said this, nobody knows anything.
[SPEAKER_01]: Nobody knows anything.
[SPEAKER_01]: Everyone, I don't think anybody out there was predicting the 76ers.
[SPEAKER_01]: Like after that Miami heat video leaked, everybody was like, wow, it's got to be Miami.
[SPEAKER_01]: Like that's obviously the case.
[SPEAKER_01]: Miami, they made a mistake.
[SPEAKER_01]: They released the video link to the bronze press conference, but it's got to be the heat.
[SPEAKER_01]: Cleveland still obviously an opportunity.
[SPEAKER_01]: Dream on green, opted out for a reason in Golden State.
[SPEAKER_01]: There's got to be a reason for that.
[SPEAKER_01]: now he turns around and goes to play in Philadelphia.
[SPEAKER_01]: So the the basketball reason that I didn't think of it or didn't put them high on my list is that I just couldn't see LeBron James going to Philadelphia to being like a third fourth or fifth option on that team.
[SPEAKER_01]: We just saw LeBron.
[SPEAKER_01]: Shave for a long time and being the third option in Los Angeles.
[SPEAKER_01]: Eventually embraced it and the brief time, they played with Luca Reeves and LeBron.
[SPEAKER_01]: That's just played pretty well.
[SPEAKER_01]: LeBron was pretty good as the third option.
[SPEAKER_01]: Now he's going to Philadelphia.
[SPEAKER_01]: Where on paper you're talking about him being at least the third option behind Tyreys Maxi and Jalen Brown.
[SPEAKER_01]: Maybe a fourth option
[SPEAKER_01]: when Joel and Beat is healthy and out there in the floor.
[SPEAKER_01]: Maybe if Vijay Hitchcomb takes another leap in year two, which guys tend to do, he could be a fifth option out there.
[SPEAKER_01]: He's just being kind of a defacto point guard on the floor.
[SPEAKER_01]: Like for basketball reasons,
[SPEAKER_01]: it didn't make a ton of sense to me, at least not as much sense as Miami where he could be, you know, kind of lead playmaker down there with the heat.
[SPEAKER_01]: Cleveland, they need wings.
[SPEAKER_01]: He could step in, be one of their wings on a team that could compete for at least the conference championship next year.
[SPEAKER_01]: Now he's in Philadelphia on one of the most,
[SPEAKER_01]: Interesting rosters I've seen in a while like I just didn't I didn't see this one comment So let me ask about the roster let up like you look at this let me give you what their Lightly rotation is going to be their starting line because Maxine Edge comb in the backboard Jalen Brown LeBron in the front court Jwellembeed on that front line What do you think of that mix I mean, it's a sexy line up, you know for sure I just want to see how it's going to work
[SPEAKER_00]: You know what I'm saying?
[SPEAKER_00]: I believe Max is going to show up at high level at the EJB from show up at high level.
[SPEAKER_00]: And as you come, you just got to see what's left in the tank for Joall and B, how many games he's realistic going to play and how they're going to be able to build that camaraderie.
[SPEAKER_00]: He said in the playoffs, it was mid when they beat the Celtics, but they kind of ran down in a sense of trying to figure out how to play together because Joall was never available.
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, so I just want to see how that's going to work out.
[SPEAKER_00]: I think it's going to be a tough front line.
[SPEAKER_00]: I think, you know, a four out one in, such a way she would make everything look ugly, but she would even a brand playing out the post as a championship big.
[SPEAKER_00]: I believe that he could, he could be able to to orchestrate from all over the court.
[SPEAKER_00]: And my personal opinion.
[SPEAKER_01]: So I'm looking at some of the numbers here with the sixers.
[SPEAKER_01]: You had Maxine Edge come more both pretty good three-point shooters.
[SPEAKER_01]: Edge, Maxi shot 37% last year from three, Edge come 35, 36% from three.
[SPEAKER_01]: The front line though now is not
[SPEAKER_01]: not a high efficiency three point front line.
[SPEAKER_01]: Joellen B 33% from three, he's much better suited to playing in the post even though he's legs probably forced him out on the perimeter a lot more than they used to.
[SPEAKER_01]: Jalen Brown, he can shoot threes, but he is more of an inside the three point line type of player as well.
[SPEAKER_01]: The Bronjames last year shot around 32% from three.
[SPEAKER_01]: Is that a concern with this group?
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, when we were talking about Miami and the fit for LeBron and Miami, we said that LeBron didn't solve the heat's three-point shooting problem because Bam, Janis, both non-three-point shooters.
[SPEAKER_01]: LeBron does not solve any shooting problems in Philadelphia and Paul George for all of his weaknesses is a pretty good three-point shooter.
[SPEAKER_01]: It wasn't pretty good three-point shooter last year for the 76ers.
[SPEAKER_00]: I think you have to rely on them.
[SPEAKER_00]: We'll take the shots they get in the open shots.
[SPEAKER_00]: Sometimes when you sit there, the Brian and Joe L, the liar, their shots are contested threes.
[SPEAKER_00]: No open catching shoots all the time, even though you play with Luca.
[SPEAKER_00]: I believe what Tyre's Maxi's able to do on a pace that he has.
[SPEAKER_00]: If they're able to get stops, Tyre's Maxi's able to go down a hill, I believe he's going to continue to keep enough pressure on a defense to be able to open up enough shots.
[SPEAKER_00]: And if the defense on the hills,
[SPEAKER_00]: And I believe Jaylin Brown on a brand are much better three point shooters.
[SPEAKER_00]: When you have three other options, viable options, you have to actually worry about and you have a split second to get the shot off.
[SPEAKER_00]: So I believe if they take the right type of shots cool, sometimes do it's take NBA shots mixed in with their 28 shots per night.
[SPEAKER_00]: And by the time the season ends of like then, I ended up shooting 33 when I was at 35.
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, it's for people listing, we're really unpacking this in real time, like it just happened as we recording this episode.
[SPEAKER_01]: I do, I'm surprised, another way that like, I didn't know what the relationship was like with LeBron and Jalen Brown.
[SPEAKER_01]: They certainly not been as close as LeBron and Jason Tatum have been over the years.
[SPEAKER_01]: Jalen Brown is out of the Olympic cycle for the last few years.
[SPEAKER_01]: And there was that famous video clip.
[SPEAKER_01]: from a couple of years ago when Jalen Brown effectively said that brony james was not an NBA player.
[SPEAKER_01]: This is something that LeBron actually brought up like last season when he was asked about Jalen Brown.
[SPEAKER_01]: He said outside of like paraphrasing, but it's an outside of thing that he said about brony.
[SPEAKER_01]: We're cool.
[SPEAKER_01]: That's interesting.
[SPEAKER_01]: That's another
[SPEAKER_01]: It's another interesting dynamic there in that locker.
[SPEAKER_01]: My Jalen Brown is a unique guy as you know.
[SPEAKER_01]: The brawn is a big person.
[SPEAKER_01]: I think a lot of big personalities.
[SPEAKER_01]: Joel and bead is a big personality.
[SPEAKER_01]: Like Nick Nurs.
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm sure if you're Nick Nurs, you're waking up going, wow, we got LeBron James.
[SPEAKER_01]: But if I'm Nick Nurs,
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm telling my wife, my family, my kids, no vacations anymore.
[SPEAKER_01]: No, I got to get in the lab, I got to get to work.
[SPEAKER_01]: And I got to figure out a way to make this offense something functional.
[SPEAKER_01]: And even the defense too, like Embed, not the defense and player that he used to be, still can be a force when he's out there protecting the rim, but certainly not.
[SPEAKER_01]: as mobile as it used to be LeBron.
[SPEAKER_01]: I guess you're talking when implying the four, which is, I mean, I don't know about that either, like I don't know.
[SPEAKER_01]: I think you love playing the four, what he was in Los Angeles.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's just going to be interesting.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's going to be a real interesting.
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, I just don't want the ball to take an entire recent Axis hands.
[SPEAKER_00]: He's proven it to pass a couple of years.
[SPEAKER_00]: I think when it comes down to how you play, you got it with
[SPEAKER_00]: with edge cone, with, with, with, with the brine, with jaw and b.
[SPEAKER_00]: They can play at a pace but sometimes the ball stops with them.
[SPEAKER_00]: You know what I mean?
[SPEAKER_00]: I believe Maxi has a better chance to go on north and south switching to pace up, but you know the new, the new cheat code now is a point for the foreman.
[SPEAKER_00]: I believe a brine is going to age and that's by gracefully and it just
[SPEAKER_00]: After he gets done pounding even when you're in L.A. here's like you know what my basketball mind is saying I would be the perfect three minute.
[SPEAKER_00]: I would be the perfect third option, which is basically a second option.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's just given awesome reads the keys to be able to do what he does well at a high level because I can do a lot of other things great.
[SPEAKER_00]: So I believe my brand is going to figure it out.
[SPEAKER_00]: I believe that with the other four players and guys going down hill and how you want to play, it'll be advantageous for him to use his mind.
[SPEAKER_00]: And it nurses a good basketball mind, a good championship mind, obviously he's had a lot of, you know.
[SPEAKER_00]: great recognition because he took over for the Wayne Casey after the Wayne Casey won, you know, coach of the year that one year and took him to a championship.
[SPEAKER_00]: So I believe the number one thing with nurse is not being a camaraderie because he's already seen craziness enough.
[SPEAKER_00]: I just think it's like, man, this is make sure we figure out how to keep these guys healthy, how to make a plan to get there, how to make sure when we hit the playoffs, where we're going downhill and making sure we know what we're doing.
[SPEAKER_00]: Last year in a playoffs, Joelle literally told him,
[SPEAKER_00]: Hey, y'all get down court and run.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm gonna catch up, like, and you're trying to win the first week of the playoffs and it worked, but it was just like, hey, it has.
[SPEAKER_00]: That's not a great way to be.
[SPEAKER_00]: I understand I'm saying even recent there being like when a ball goes into the post, people need to know how to play off one of the biggest magnets in the game when it comes to Joel or even a bro.
[SPEAKER_00]: You can't just win get so many times, that's the way young groups in those situations where you're in an environment where there's a lot of experience, not so much in the east, but if you're trying to get to championship aspirations, okay, see the thunder, I mean the spurs are not going for that.
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, the the other part of this is like, is there risk to like Lebron's legacy is secure like he's either the first or second best player of all time.
[SPEAKER_01]: No debate there that is that he's in the top two.
[SPEAKER_01]: But is there the potential that this could have like some like.
[SPEAKER_01]: I've ever seen in Memphis kind of vibes if it doesn't work.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
[SPEAKER_01]: Shack in Boston if it doesn't work.
[SPEAKER_01]: Like, it's just because, like, you mean it didn't work?
[SPEAKER_00]: Crazy.
[SPEAKER_01]: What?
[SPEAKER_00]: The name of that crazy now is.
[SPEAKER_00]: Like, like, people are laughing, bro.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I thought he was crazy and he said it, like the game has switched up and, and now I'm gonna say now I'm saying the talent is a little different.
[SPEAKER_00]: Like, you know what I mean?
[SPEAKER_00]: Like, for the next three or four years, Brian might go on a court, he's like, I think at my size, weight and skill set, I'm probably good for the next five years in regards to being on a court.
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't think there's anybody out there, like the game is so filled with stats and numbers and legacy.
[SPEAKER_00]: win, win, win, win, win.
[SPEAKER_00]: I ever seen what the Memphis, like, he went to the Wild Wild West and they were still only putting up 80 points, 90 points and night and you need to make sure you're physically and mentally ready.
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't see that happening here.
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't, I think the Brian body is too great in general.
[SPEAKER_00]: I think he still has maybe three more years of being able play at a level.
[SPEAKER_00]: I just think this is, like you see, shout out to Michael Ruben.
[SPEAKER_00]: I think he somehow tied in to getting this done and there's a chess move, man.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's, it's a chess move.
[SPEAKER_01]: All right.
[SPEAKER_01]: And I'm just, again, it was, we're, we're kind of like, I want to read some of the, uh, LeBrona tweet just moments ago is we're recording this.
[SPEAKER_01]: I want to read some of this.
[SPEAKER_01]: You said quote, I thought I was done when the season ended.
[SPEAKER_01]: I wasn't ready to announce it.
[SPEAKER_01]: And I knew I needed some time to really decide, but I was pretty sure I played my last game.
[SPEAKER_01]: I was honest at that last press conference,
[SPEAKER_01]: period.
[SPEAKER_01]: I still, I still truly love this game and I have more to give.
[SPEAKER_01]: The last few weeks have been really special.
[SPEAKER_01]: I've been able to have no clue what to do and take real time just to think.
[SPEAKER_01]: I've had an incredible few months with all the people I love trying to figure it all out.
[SPEAKER_01]: This is my last decision, I'm not going for the money, I'm not going for family, what am I really playing for at this point?
[SPEAKER_01]: I still want to sacrifice, I still want to work, I still want to grind, I still want to compete to win, to have a chance at the feeling of winning another championship.
[SPEAKER_01]: I believe I can help make the 76 or championship team and I am so excited to energize a new fan base and start this incredible journey one last time.
[SPEAKER_01]: Thank you L.A., my AML forever love and northeast Ohio will always be home.
[SPEAKER_01]: and quote.
[SPEAKER_01]: So there's kind of your answer, E.C.
[SPEAKER_01]: on the Y, like he made this decision.
[SPEAKER_01]: Obviously not for money because there's never going to be about the money.
[SPEAKER_01]: Not for family either, which a lot of people were speculating on over the last couple of weeks.
[SPEAKER_01]: He made it because he wants to pursue another championship and he saw all the teams out there.
[SPEAKER_01]: that wanted him, that Philadelphia offered him the best chance to win that championship.
[SPEAKER_01]: But I think he's right because I think if you go to Golden State, you're still on the West.
[SPEAKER_01]: He's still going to deal with Wemba Nyama and Oklahoma City and all those guys Cleveland.
[SPEAKER_01]: You're pretty good, but hardened Mitchell Lebron definitely some flaws in that rotation Miami.
[SPEAKER_01]: My name is got great front court players, but they cannot shoot the basketball, and LeBron does not help them shoot the basketball.
[SPEAKER_01]: So, I just, I think this, this makes sense for me basketball perspective.
[SPEAKER_01]: Like, what do you think of what he said there?
[SPEAKER_01]: And he is going to win a championship.
[SPEAKER_01]: He's trying the, the primary reason to continue playing was to go to a place to get a win a championship.
[SPEAKER_00]: He knows something I don't, bro.
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't want
[SPEAKER_00]: This is a buzz kill, like I don't, I'm trying to understand it.
[SPEAKER_00]: So I don't, I don't see championship, man.
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't, I don't, I don't see unless there's a crazy healthy Joe LnB.
[SPEAKER_01]: Well, let me ask you this, where, if it wasn't Philadelphia, where would his best chance of winning a championship be?
[SPEAKER_00]: My personal opinion, you have to go back to the east and you have to try to make it work with Cleveland.
[SPEAKER_00]: or I mean sound crazy bro, this sound dumb is hell bro, bossen.
[SPEAKER_00]: Like no, I'm just saying in general, like what do we eat?
[SPEAKER_00]: How do you feel bro?
[SPEAKER_00]: Because there's shit going out in the past.
[SPEAKER_00]: You know what I mean?
[SPEAKER_01]: Right.
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm, again, I'm surprised that it was Philadelphia for all the reasons that we laid out.
[SPEAKER_01]: But if it's just about finding a way to win another championship, which we were kind of told like going into this that it really wasn't about.
[SPEAKER_01]: That he wasn't chasing, you know, Jordan or chasing Kobe or chasing some of these guys with more championships than him.
[SPEAKER_01]: But if it's about winning a championship,
[SPEAKER_01]: Philadelphia Cleveland right around maybe the same level like I guess you could have come to Boston, but I don't know if Boston was interested Like I don't know what the Celtics were We're feeling about LeBron James same thing like I'd said weeks ago if that's San Antonio made the most sense go to San Antonio Be kind of a veteran leader in that locker room help these guys learn when it takes to get over the hump They're right there.
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean if they had LeBron James last year they beat New York in the arms like LeBron ain't going out the way the
[SPEAKER_01]: the spurs went out giving up double digit leads game after game after game he ain't going out like that they probably win that series in four or five games so that made and but I don't know what the spurs were interested I had not heard that the team's I had been hearing where the teams that were already out there the Minnesota is the Golden States the Miami's the Cleveland's and the Philadelphia 76ers so if these were his options and he wanted to win a championship well
[SPEAKER_01]: their worst place you can go and fill it off if you're trying to win championship.
[SPEAKER_01]: And you're right, it does like Embede, he's gonna have to be healthy.
[SPEAKER_01]: But I think what this does do is it gives Embede much more of a runway to ease his way back and through the regular season.
[SPEAKER_01]: Like Joel Embede, if he plays more than 30 minutes a game in any game in the regular season, Nick Nursh, we pushed out the door.
[SPEAKER_01]: He should be on the lamello ball.
[SPEAKER_01]: track there.
[SPEAKER_01]: We were playing less than 30 minutes per game.
[SPEAKER_01]: You should be on like the early Tatum track when he came back, like just use your way in, don't play him back to backs.
[SPEAKER_01]: Don't play in three games and four nights and for 50 games.
[SPEAKER_01]: Try to get on the floor for 50 games.
[SPEAKER_01]: Most of which will come in the second half of the seasons.
[SPEAKER_01]: You can rev up and I think having the bra on there gives this team some flexibility to win while he's out of the lineup.
[SPEAKER_00]: And also man, just the window, maybe you got to want, you got to eight month window to make the most of it.
[SPEAKER_00]: You know what I mean?
[SPEAKER_00]: Like, we're LeBron, people would really try to win this year.
[SPEAKER_00]: I just hope everybody takes it.
[SPEAKER_00]: Really, really seriously because it's hard to win a championship, bro.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I have a window to win a championship is key.
[SPEAKER_00]: And we're even just begging a guy to play 50 games.
[SPEAKER_00]: And say, hey, brothers, make sure you lock then that whole year for a championship run, because it's no longer you're done before and made.
[SPEAKER_00]: You're going to be done midway, Joan, if you everything's working the way it's supposed to.
[SPEAKER_01]: The very interesting, and I'm sure we're going to get into this a lot more next week, because we kind of find out more details about the Y with the project.
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, I'm not eating.
[SPEAKER_00]: Hey, and I'm just like, just a buzzkill.
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, and I want to understand and have it make sense.
[SPEAKER_01]: Let's talk about one of your former teams, the Portland Trail Blazers, which continued to be in the news for all the wrong reasons.
[SPEAKER_01]: This week, the Blazers announced, or at least confirmed, some shakeups to their broadcast team, Kevin Calabro, the longtime Blazers broadcaster, one of the best broadcasters in all the business.
[SPEAKER_01]: He is out in Portland several other pieces are out in Portland as well.
[SPEAKER_01]: You've got Neil Everett, who is gone.
[SPEAKER_01]: some of the radio people are gone or could be gone.
[SPEAKER_01]: So the cost cutting E.T.
[SPEAKER_01]: continues in Portland.
[SPEAKER_01]: I guess you're reaction to seeing more penny pinching, more cost cutting from new blazes on her Tom Dundin.
[SPEAKER_00]: That's great.
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, you can have to
[SPEAKER_01]: Pacific North West legend, right.
[SPEAKER_01]: He was with the Sonics for a number of years.
[SPEAKER_01]: Sonics are gone.
[SPEAKER_01]: You need to go over in Portland.
[SPEAKER_01]: Liz been there for most of the last 10 years.
[SPEAKER_01]: I think he was off for a year during COVID.
[SPEAKER_01]: But he has been a fixture calling those games for a long time.
[SPEAKER_01]: And he's excellent at what he does.
[SPEAKER_01]: One of the best local play by play guys in the business.
[SPEAKER_00]: And just a class actually a good do.
[SPEAKER_00]: I call the couple games with him.
[SPEAKER_00]: He had patience that they dropped a newbie next to them.
[SPEAKER_00]: You know what I mean?
[SPEAKER_00]: Like, just a legend.
[SPEAKER_00]: And every sense of the form, I was close to Kev, bro.
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't, I don't, I don't, that's why I, I think everything's more personal for me.
[SPEAKER_00]: Like, you know what I mean?
[SPEAKER_00]: So like, I don't want to go in and blurt the how is he doing?
[SPEAKER_00]: I just, I don't understand it at all.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's not my team.
[SPEAKER_00]: I wish I could sit down and get to understand it more.
[SPEAKER_00]: At first, I was a little bit skeptical prior to of how, like, you know, you can't run a hockey team the same way or NBA team the same way you run a hockey team, but he just won his first championship as first Stanley Cup and even though I was even part of trust surprises and I hated it, there were certain parts where I was like, man, Ed.
[SPEAKER_00]: That shit almost worked like you know what I mean like that but they like the sixers were one bounce Kawai bounce in from winning a championship that year you know I'm saying so I don't understand it Business is business you know everybody tights in analytics.
[SPEAKER_00]: I just know it being part of that Portland Trailblazers organization what made them so amazing were the people you know I mean like the people are unbelievable I believe they took great pride in their organization regardless if they worked there and not they were trailblazers like the whole town
[SPEAKER_00]: city like whoever don't want to say worked hard for the people and I saw that like in the next what's super tough because you got people that love that organ that franchise, love it, like every part of it, love all the long as it's placed because it's a worse travel and an NBA like every part.
[SPEAKER_00]: So um
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, this is business.
[SPEAKER_00]: You can't make your personal.
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't understand it, but you're praying for those people because like I said, you kept the library was like a legend and just a class act.
[SPEAKER_00]: So what do you think?
[SPEAKER_01]: I think he's running the Carolina Hurricane's playbook down to the last detail.
[SPEAKER_01]: Like everything that he did in Carolina when he took over, he is now doing in Portland.
[SPEAKER_01]: He got to Carolina and he shook up the front office.
[SPEAKER_01]: The head coach was gone within a matter of months.
[SPEAKER_01]: The general manager was gone.
[SPEAKER_01]: He
[SPEAKER_01]: deficiencies is the kind way to term some of the cost cutting but he gutted some of the personnel in that office.
[SPEAKER_01]: And he, you know, he also had a similar battle with the city of Raleigh over some of the money for the stadium that he's having right now with the city of Portland.
[SPEAKER_01]: But he has taken the Carolina Hurricanes playbook and he has dropped it into Portland and on the trailblazer.
[SPEAKER_01]: You made the point.
[SPEAKER_01]: He is reinforced, backed up, whatever word you want to choose by the fact that they want a championship.
[SPEAKER_01]: Like, and look, if you go back and look at what the Carolina Hurricanes were before Tom Dunton took over.
[SPEAKER_01]: They were a mess.
[SPEAKER_01]: They were a losing team.
[SPEAKER_01]: I think they had missed the playoffs nine consecutive years.
[SPEAKER_01]: The arena was a disaster.
[SPEAKER_01]: There was talk back then of the Carolina Hurricanes, which were previously the Hartford Whalers, moving up to Quebec and becoming the new Quebec team up there.
[SPEAKER_01]: in bad shape.
[SPEAKER_01]: Dunton came in and nobody liked what he did at the time, but he did take that money and he invested in the product.
[SPEAKER_01]: The hurricanes this year, I think they were top six in the NHL in payroll.
[SPEAKER_01]: They spent the money and it worked out.
[SPEAKER_01]: They won a Stanley Cup.
[SPEAKER_01]: They made the playoffs.
[SPEAKER_01]: for the last eight years, and this year, they win a scaling up, so Tom Dunden can look at his track record of success in hockey and say, you know what, I might ruffle some feathers here in Portland, I might piss off some now x employees, I might get into some public spats with city officials, but ultimately my way has proven that it works, and I can't fault him for that.
[SPEAKER_01]: I think the question is, and you kind of alluded to this, does
[SPEAKER_01]: Does the model that was successful in hockey work in basketball?
[SPEAKER_01]: Because even if you poor money into the team and are willing to go into the tax aprons, one of the things that makes team successful.
[SPEAKER_01]: Small market, especially team successful, is the investment they make in brain power.
[SPEAKER_01]: Like the money they spend on front office work on scouting all the things that make some of these small market teams great.
[SPEAKER_01]: Oklahoma City is great because of San Presti at the top, but they also have a deep staff of basketball operations, a detailed scouting department.
[SPEAKER_01]: They invest a lot of money in personnel.
[SPEAKER_01]: Not to mention like the PR staff they have out there, which is several many people deep of quality people working.
[SPEAKER_01]: out there.
[SPEAKER_01]: Same thing with San Antonio, which becomes a pipeline of top executives going to other places to work and become some top front office guys.
[SPEAKER_01]: So like it's a nice thing to say, look, I'm going to spend the money on the roster.
[SPEAKER_01]: They went out and they traded for job merit.
[SPEAKER_01]: You could disagree with the basketball fit many do, but job merit makes a ton of money and he wasn't a, he wasn't a sought after commodity.
[SPEAKER_01]: So they're trying to buy this distressed asset and turn it around.
[SPEAKER_01]: I just wonder if it's going to work.
[SPEAKER_01]: if they continue, if they don't invest in top front office guys, because so far, all they've done with the operational side is give the head coaching job to the one head coach that was willing to take the most humiliating contract in NBA coaching history, and they lost their assistant GM, Mike Schmetz, who went on to become the GM of the Dallas Mavericks, and to my knowledge, have not replaced him with anybody on Joe Cronin's staff, like you need
[SPEAKER_01]: to flesh out these top jobs with quality people because the difference between being a bad team and a good team, a good team and a great team is kind of those success stories around the fringes, like getting a good second round pick, landing a quality pick in the back half of the first round, nailing that mid lottery pick.
[SPEAKER_01]: Like this is not easy and it's not, it's obviously not a science, Oklahoma City has missed on some picks, San Antonio has missed on some picks,
[SPEAKER_01]: that your front office is stocked with people that know the game, can scout the game, and can help you put together the best roster you possibly can.
[SPEAKER_01]: I just, I don't like hockey, I don't know enough about hockey to make to go deep into the weeds, but sometimes in hockey, like you get a great goal tender, and you're all of a sudden you're going to stand in the cup final, or you're taking off.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's just a little bit different.
[SPEAKER_01]: especially in today's NBA with all the aprons you've got to manage your roster properly.
[SPEAKER_01]: You've got to have one or two really high salary guys, a bunch of mid-level guys, a couple of guys that can play that are making real cheap contracts.
[SPEAKER_01]: This takes a lot of work and this is really hard.
[SPEAKER_01]: And so my biggest critique, I don't love the whole firing of the broadcast people.
[SPEAKER_01]: I think it sucks.
[SPEAKER_01]: I think it hurts like the fans because the blazed at one of the best local broadcast in the NBA I thought over the last couple of years, but that's not necessarily going to affect basketball operations.
[SPEAKER_01]: My concern is that there's not a lot of money being spent on the front office types, the coaching staff, like even the coaching staff, like
[SPEAKER_01]: Maybe you don't need an assistant coach for every player, which is kind of a come like a thing now in the NBA, but you do need a deep back bench.
[SPEAKER_01]: You do need a lot of quality coaches that can help them make a nowhere.
[SPEAKER_01]: That can be valuable assets.
[SPEAKER_01]: Look at San Antonio, Sean Swaney last year with the spurs.
[SPEAKER_01]: How valuable was he?
[SPEAKER_01]: They paid a lot of money to get him out of Dallas, and he turned out to be a difference maker on the bench for Mitch Johnson, just ask Mitch Johnson, ask Victor Weminiam, ask Steph Castle, ask Dylan Harper.
[SPEAKER_01]: from the spurs going out and investing in one of the best basketball minds in the assistant ranks at that time who's only there one year because everybody realized that afterwards they're like, all right, well, this guy's going to be head coach Orlando was the one that won that sweepstakes.
[SPEAKER_01]: The blazers have got to spend in this area.
[SPEAKER_01]: If they don't, I'm sorry, you're not going to see a Carolina hurricane's like success story.
[SPEAKER_00]: You think, don't just kind of overconfident because he's like, hey, if I'm willing to go into that first or second apron, what are we talking about?
[SPEAKER_00]: Is there, is there like a way scale in the sense, especially when you look at Portland?
[SPEAKER_00]: You're not getting a free agent in Portland unless you throw them.
[SPEAKER_00]: You know what I mean?
[SPEAKER_00]: I arm and leg to go with it.
[SPEAKER_00]: So when it comes down and done, it's like, hey, bro, if I take all this money,
[SPEAKER_00]: in this run-in, and I split it on a product.
[SPEAKER_00]: And no matter what, we're gonna sit here and not, and I'm telling you, I got Phil Jackson, and we got the best practice of silly, like, he's like, nobody's coming to Portland for that regardless.
[SPEAKER_00]: We got to make sure if I'm throwing money in a second apron, shout out to all the staff, which I know is very, very important, but he's like, I'm gonna just go get a bit gun.
[SPEAKER_00]: Like, I don't care if the person that's holding a gun might be legally blind.
[SPEAKER_00]: Like, but, but the other thing I'm saying, if we were in LA or somewhere else cool with like Portland half the battle, it's like, hey Brown, not cause I was only fool to go up there and free agency, I mean, that's cause it gave me a lot of money and that was, and that's a real thing and I think, uh, could we take that in consideration, and maybe time being like, hey, I love what you do little God because,
[SPEAKER_00]: If he views an NBA order product and one of the biggest sports in the world at a smaller scale, do you think you give a damn about some hot shot assistant gym or some assistant coach of assistant coach?
[SPEAKER_00]: That's not a disadvantage, it's him being like, hey, I appreciate you champ, but
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm a moose, I'm saying like he's probably I'm a moose, I'm out the way and I can do recruited.
[SPEAKER_00]: As long as we throw an extra five million tours, our product can go on on the floor.
[SPEAKER_00]: I was wondering if that has to have a way in scale in that because if you're in Memphis, you have to go on in second apron if you're trying to win.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yes, he has some wild ideas.
[SPEAKER_01]: Somebody told me recently that he was asking some personnel
[SPEAKER_01]: about why Christian Wood was no longer in the NBA.
[SPEAKER_01]: Like as think he looks at the numbers that Christian Wood has put up, and sees like a guy that could potentially, you know, Dallas, he was like nearly a double double guy.
[SPEAKER_01]: Um, they will give you numbers.
[SPEAKER_01]: But you know, the reality is as you and I both know, Christian Wood is just proven to be not a winning player.
[SPEAKER_01]: That's the kind of stuff where you need people in your front office to kind of tell you like, nah, that ain't it like that ain't it like building a team look building an NBA team successful one has never been harder.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's never been harder because even if you find the magical mixer within a year or two you have to break it up.
[SPEAKER_01]: because these guys get too expensive.
[SPEAKER_01]: Look at what Boston's done.
[SPEAKER_01]: Look at what's on Oklahoma City is now doing eventually San Antonio is gonna get there.
[SPEAKER_01]: Like everybody has to shake up their roster because of these second aprons.
[SPEAKER_01]: You've got to have a full and robust staff in your front office.
[SPEAKER_01]: And that's more so to your point.
[SPEAKER_01]: In a place like Portland where nobody's going to sign you and I love Portland.
[SPEAKER_01]: We love to bane serene We love the wineries out there.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's beautiful.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's awesome.
[SPEAKER_01]: Like three months a year.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's spectacular But during the NBA season E.T.
[SPEAKER_01]: and you know this.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's not a fun place to be.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's icy.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's cold.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's messy.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's just as bare drinkers with flannels and that's just to girls.
[SPEAKER_00]: And you're absolutely right.
[SPEAKER_00]: And one thing that occurs sometimes is you forget, shout to my man, Dan Conner is important.
[SPEAKER_00]: I hope you start there.
[SPEAKER_00]: Just people didn't just know basketball.
[SPEAKER_00]: Like when you show up like bro, then those 10-year-olds.
[SPEAKER_00]: Like you know what I mean?
[SPEAKER_00]: Like when you see Christian wood, the show of me like why don't Anna let us work with him?
[SPEAKER_00]: It's little things that we always argue like Anna let us is cute, but it doesn't break down what a person is.
[SPEAKER_00]: Christian wood, shout out to Christian, what's amazing Anna let me believe.
[SPEAKER_00]: Then you have to show up and be like, hey, historically, he's never been able to be dependent on.
[SPEAKER_00]: You want to know why I hear when you come down to a shot up the time lower you want to my favorites you re up for 40 million the numbers say it's unbelievable But it's like a bra you can make all NBA defense but he'll never make it because he's only given us 48 games a year like you know that mean like
[SPEAKER_00]: Like if like you have to know that personnel and what they're getting into and being like, hey, when you think you don't have a championship here, like with Mitchell Robinson, he might be going for 35 years a year.
[SPEAKER_00]: Like you got to understand why this car breaks down.
[SPEAKER_01]: RTT good stuff.
[SPEAKER_01]: We will revisit all of this next week.
[SPEAKER_00]: All right, Robert, see you later.