Yeah

...

when obviously there's the, a, a lot of player movement, and free agency when there's not only the free agency signings, but there's also a lot of trade, uh, trades happening in that window.

And I do think that the NBA is probably, like, the player movement creates a lot of interest in the league, but I think there's, they've gotten a little off balance on the focus being about transactions and, and, you know, the, the player movement and what might happen versus what's actually happening on the floor.

Mm.

Certainly in NBA history, and it was the very rare trade.

Typically in the NBA, when a superstar is traded, it's because he wanted to be, because he forced his way out, because he pushed to be traded, typically to, you know, his preferred destination.

This was the rare instance where a superstar was completely blindsi- blindsided and felt backstabbed by getting traded in the middle of the night.

Yeah

...

when obviously there's the, a, a lot of player movement, and free agency when there's not only the free agency signings, but there's also a lot of trade, uh, trades happening in that window.

And I do think that the NBA is probably...

Like, the player movement creates a lot of interest in the league, but I think there's...

They've gotten a little off balance on the focus being about transactions and w- and, you know, the, the player movement and what might happen versus what's actually happening on the floor.

Mm.

Certainly in NBA history.

Yeah

...

when obviously there's the, a, a lot of player movement, and free agency when there's not only the free agency signings, but there's also a lot of trade, uh, trades happening in that window.

And I do think that the NBA is probably...

Like, the player movement creates a lot of interest in the league, but I think there's...

They've gotten a little off balance on the focus being about transactions and, and, you know, the, the player movement and what might happen versus what's actually happening on the floor.

Mm.

Certainly in NBA history.

Yeah.

So we focus a lot on, like, the, the roster bit.

The games obviously are important.

That's what, you know, the whole thing is, is built around.

But we focus a lot on how rosters are built, you know, what's going on in the league.

And let's be honest, in the NBA a lot of how, a lot of the roster building equation is follow the drama.

Yep, yep, yep

... his whole career, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

Yeah.

Um, which is BS.

Um, so the intent of the state was that, um, municipalities would follow suit.

Well, no one up here had yet.

So I brought it up to Avon first, um, me and the lady who actually brought it to my attention went and brought it up there, and then I brought it up two more times there.

Um, brought it up at Vail Town Council, um, brought it up to county commissioners.

So all three of them actually n- now have stopped, um, charging tax on it.

Yeah.

But what are you expecting from him this year following such a big year last year? I

think he's the only good.

running back in their offense, which is great.

Obviously, I love having a piece of Shanahan's offense in the run game and the pass game, so he's obviously a big weapon.

And the reason I went for him and Henry, really, there wasn't a lot of people selling running backs.

I've been pretty short for running backs.

I figured if I didn't make a move here, I'd be in a bit of trouble.

If RJ Harvey had a promising season and Amarian Hampton didn't get injured, would you be looking at this sort of deal?

Is that going to become an argument or am I nuts?

I mean, listen, you know, neither one of them is very good.

It's just epic roster mismanagement.

You know, you get these guys in the same draft that go to a Western Conference Finals together.

And then next thing you know, a few years later, they're both gone.

And by the way, the Mavs went to the finals after Brunson left.

Right.

Are they still in your head?

Um, where should, if anywhere, in this series Thunder fans even be a little bit concerned, Tim?

I mean, listen, the, the challenge for the Thunder coming off of a game one blowout is to be disciplined enough to, like, drill down on details and as, as, uh, Mark Daigneault puts it, be detached from the outcome, right? The...

You won the game or, or you, you got a stop on a possession, for example.

He brings up a possession where they get a stop, but there's a busted coverage.

There's an open shot the Suns missed.

There's an offensive rebound.

They get another decent look.

Uh, Thunder have, are healthier now than they've been, and assuming that health holds, how would you see potentially a Thunder-Spurs seven-gamer go?

there you know a few weeks ago or a month ago you know they're shopping in with teams rich paul wants the extension or wants him in a place to give him an extension we have the hand injury and then we have the whole debacle that day of like he's out for the year 80s like lies online and then oh now he's not out for the year then we have the mav said he's going to be healed in six weeks not reevaluated um shams is you know reporting that teams are still interested then we get a video the other day of like or uh you know ad's before the game doing the workouts and stuff with the hand in the brace and he's not going to have surgery it's going to be healed what's going on with the 80s situation

AD is preparing to return toward the end of February or early March.

We will see, obviously, the trade deadline is Thursday.

We'll see if he's still on the Mavericks roster at that point.

If he is still on the Mavericks roster at that point, I think there's discussions to be had about whether it makes sense for him.

to return this season, considering the standings, you know, obviously there's going to be discussions at some point about Kyrie.

Those are still a while down the road.

What are ways that they do that? Or how is the influence of an agency like that? How does that affect a team? Because it does kind of seem like those run the world in a way.

(laughs)

Let's let him hoop.

I do think...

Listen, I do think he's going to be the rookie of the year.

Uh, I, I do think that he is, at 18 years old, ready to make an immediate impact in the NBA, um, because he can do so many things.

He can be a, a very impactful defender, a Swiss Army knife type of defender right away.

You know, he can run, he can shoot.

Tim, which of the- these three teams do you think will make the biggest leap? 'Cause, if there's one thing we've seen, is how much parody there is in the NBA right now.

... pretty high upside.

Uh, uh, it's a, it's a big time upside swing.

Extremely young, one of these kids who reclassified, he's a one-and-done.... you know, the, you're not gonna look at his numbers from OU and be real impressed.

Just honestly, like, he was an inefficient shoot first guard, but, you know, there, there's some talent there.

Um, again, it's, it's an upside swing.

Uh, honestly, kind of profiles pretty similarly, I, I think, to, to Jordan Poole, who they just traded for.

Um, and then, um, uh, I mean, honestly, man, they better be right on Derek Queen, because they gave up the 23rd pick, and then to move up 10 spots, they gave up unprotected the best of their pick or Milwaukee's next year.

That's... 'Cause we need to talk about this.

So he's kind of admitting, "I think they tanked last year, but we're not gonna tank this year."

Well, I mean, I think it's gonna be hot in Texas this summer.

I'm gonna, gonna go ahead and admit that.

Yeah.

(laughs) Because some things are just plain as day.

They absolutely tanked last year.

And what Austin Ainge said, I don't have the exact quote in front of me, but basically what he said is, "We're not gonna be manipulating minutes to lose games this year.

More likely the series goes four games or seven games?

Playing for the rest of the world, as opposed to playing for your country in the Olympics, I'm curious about the pride you think that the Team World would have against the United States.

Yeah, this is certainly a way that they're trying to make the All-Star game more competitive.

I, I can see that.

But look at the All-Star rosters from last year.

Is it gonna be 18 on six? Or are you just gonna say, "Hey, sorry Americans, but, uh, there's gonna be 12 international All-Stars regardless of qualifications." You get 12 spots for the Americans, 12 for the world.

And look, obviously the top end talent, you know, you know how many straight MVPs have been won by international players.

There's no question that there are, you know, a handful of international superstars.

So he's kind of admitting, I think they tanked last year, but we're not gonna tank this year.

But does this back up what the Mavericks did, Nico Harrison, his, his knock on him partly was, well, he wasn't in shape, and he knew he couldn't play defense.

Well, what I have consistently said is the conditioning concerns are absolutely legitimate, and still an insane reason to trade a generational talent months removed from him leading your franchise to the NBA Finals, when he fully intended to stay in Dallas for his entire career.

So, the Lakers first round exit does not justify the trade that was made.

Are the conditioning concerns legitimate? Of course they are, and like d- you don't need...

You didn't need this to know that.

Uh, uh, did people just like...

Has there been some kind of like optometrist revolution suddenly? Like f- did you not have eyeballs? Were they not working? Of course conditioning's been a concern with him throughout his career.

Is that kind of the model now moving forward, that OKC has put in front of us?

If Mark Cuban was still the majority owner, does this deal happen?

Hell, no. (laughs) No. 0.0% chance.

Cuban tried to talk Nico Harrison out of it, but Cuban got a, I mean, a five-minute heads-up.

There was this, you know, the equivalent of a handshake agreement on the deal by the time Cuban got a heads-up on it.

Um, but no.

When, when Cuban lost Juice, that made this trade a remote possibility.

And, and look, man.

Yes.

If Mark Cuban was still the majority owner, does this deal happen?

happen?Hell, no. (laughs) No. 0.0% chance.

Cuban tried to talk Nico Harrison out of it, but Cuban got a, I mean, a five-minute heads-up and there was this, you know, the equivalent of a handshake agreement on the deal by the time Cuban got a heads-up on it.

Um, but no.

When, when Cuban lost Juice, that made this trade a remote possibility.

And, and look, man, Mark Cuban as the, essentially as the general manager of the Mavericks for, you know, 20-some-odd years, had plenty of personnel missteps.

Going, going...

Okay.

This is not (laughs) a thing.

You know i- i- so, hey look, the conditioning concerns, these aren't new with Luka.

I mean, they literally go way back to the, like the pre-draft process.

That was the intel then, like you know, "Hey, you know, likes to have a good time, you know, the conditioning's going to be a concern." That's part of the reason the Mavericks were able to get him at three after moving up from five, because you know, three teams passed on the guy.

Um, it's been a concern throughout his career, and there was definitely a frustration that, man, still like they felt like, God, when they shut him down with the, the right wrist injury, which he had a, he had a wrist injury, but it didn't need 11 days.

It was, you know, get in shape, similar to the ankle, um, from J-Kidd and Nico's first year, it's like, "God, can't believe we're doing this shit again." You know, that sort of a thing.

And the calf stuff, it was four calf strains in 28 months, and then you worry about what's next, and Niko clearly is...

Where, where's the disconnect there?