And

this one is going to make our very own Michael Crozier very, very happy.

I know.

The Cowboys, minus three.

Now, I know that the Giants are getting a lot of love with Jackson Dart there, Cam Scadabo, and obviously John Harbaugh, the new head coach for New York.

But Malik Nabors is questionable for this game, their star receiver.

I don't think they're going to be able to stretch the field against that Dallas defense who just drafted Caleb Downs, the rookie safety out of Ohio State.

Okay, your final game.

They can still use him, but keep going.

Exactly, and I think both these teams in Minnesota and the Lakers are sitting there, they're clearly behind Oklahoma City, they're clearly behind San Antonio, and then you can kind of argue everything else.

But they're probably, Minnesota and the Lakers are probably that next tier of teams that have the ability to kind of crack that, but they're not at that level.

So it makes Kuminga so much, uh, you know, so valuable because he can pop off, right? It's, it's, it's hard with Kuminga that I don't really know where he gets the idea that he's gonna walk in and be a number two scorer somewhere.

Like, he hasn't proven that.

Yes, he has the talent to become a big-time player, which is why so many teams have been, you know, after him.

Rarely does a 23-year-old that's a former high draft pick that isn't a free agent because he can't play, but he's a free agent because he didn't get along with, with, you know, Steve Kerr, and they didn't really work out in Atlanta.

That might be one of the other things that he's, he's waiting for and he's looking for.

Yeah.

But LeBron, [laughs] LeBron has at least proven that he's LeBron James.

Um, so al- although I was a little annoyed that it took so long, you know, at least he, uh, he has the right to do so.

It is so odd with Jonathan Kuminga that he's a total wild card.

I mean, the guy's 23.

At times he's been a big-time scorer.

I keep going back to when Steph Curry went down in that playoff series against the Minnesota Timberwolves.

Of, of all the squads that LeBron could have gone to, what did you make of him choosing Philadelphia?

I agree

...

there was some money left on the table for the rest of the guys that we'll get into a little bit later, in Grimes, in Mahone, Sexton, um, all that.

But in terms of Kessler, you had to get a franchise center, and I think to the point of Luka asked, but is that the only reason they did it? I think they looked around the Western Conference and went, "Okay, if you're, if you're realistically gonna think that you're gonna beat Wemby, Jokic, and then to a lesser extent Holmgren," and they just drafted Maro Hartenstein.

But they're creating y- a lot of bigs.

They're having double bigs.

That's, that's the new trend in the NBA.

Mm-hmm.

I don't know about you.

Some of, some of the chat's saying Ziaire Williams.

That, that's, that's an interesting, interesting get.

But it is, like we all thought before, before free agency, it was like, oh, they're gonna get priced out on Rui, gonna get priced out on Kuming, any of these guys.

We didn't expect necessarily Kuminga to opt out of that deal with Atlanta, so it was kind of a little bit of a surprise.

But when Kuminga, uh, uh, did, or, or the, the Hawks declined his, his number, it's like there's just a log jam of wings.

'Cause we're not even talking about Peyton Watson.

Yeah

I- if it's, if it's on the cheap, doesn't he stay with the Pistons? Isn't that the issue why, why talks are stalling?

Well, I saw a point that's been written that they're, they're kind of far apart on the contract.

So I guess, yeah, maybe Detroit is not offering what they want, but...

Or Duren wants.

But it, it is like the Lakers are in a weird spot, because the, a couple of the big centers that are gonna be out there with Walker Kessler, I highly doubt Danny Ainge is gonna be trading unless the Lakers just give an unbelievable deal to get him.

Luka Perlas week already made a case that he wants an A-plus center, made it clear to Rob Pelinka, made it clear to JJ Redick.

So this is interesting in that they're far apart.

I don't think anybody thinks that, yeah.

Um, what, what do you think, how do you think they handle the Smart situation? I, I think he ends back up with the Lakers.

I think so too.

This is a guy that I would, I would love to bring back.

I mean, if you don't bring back Marcus Smart, look, what's the alternative? Now, may- maybe you're going after a Payton Watson, maybe you're going after guys who are 3D wing defenders, but even if you are getting a Payton Watson, even if you are getting a, a few other guys, Marcus Smart was tremendous down the stretch, was a main reason why they won some of those playoff games against Houston.

And I mean, he's, he plays both ends of the floor.

The problem with Jared Vanderbilt, he's just as good defensively as, as Marcus Smart, but you can't play him offensively.

And then when you play against Oklahoma City or San Antonio, it's like you're playing five on four the other way because of his, you know, limited, uh, limited offensive game.

Eight years.