# LeBron James & Heat rumors, Lu Dort Hawks trade reaction, Yaxel wins Summer League MVP w/ Warriors

An episode of [Hoops Tonight with Jason Timpf](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1536277916), 20 Jul 2026, 26 min.

Audio: https://podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/pscrb.fm/rss/p/clrtpod.com/m/arttrk.com/p/D5CA5/prfx.byspotify.com/e/traffic.omny.fm/d/clips/e73c998e-6e60-432f-8610-ae210140c5b1/90447913-4e20-4e90-aa1e-ae510011dd1d/333fc5bc-931a-4be9-9cdd-b48d010b220c/audio.mp3?utm_source=Podcast&in_playlist=9e36bb2c-2512-48e1-92f8-ae510011dd2b

Jason reacts to the latest rumors that LeBron James will join Giannis Antetokounmpo and Bam Adebayo on the Miami Heat, the OKC Thunder trading Lu Dort to the Atlanta Hawks in a three-team deal that also included the Dallas Mavericks, and Yaxel Lendeborg winning Summer League MVP for the Golden State Warriors. All lines presented by Hard Rock Bet. #Volume See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

## Transcript

[0:01] Speaker 1: The Volume. All right, welcome to tonight here at the
[0:17] Speaker 1: Volume Heavy Funday everybody, hope all of you guys had
[0:19] Speaker 1: a great weekend. Got a Japack show for you guys. Today,
[0:21] Speaker 1: We're going to once again have a little update on
[0:24] Speaker 1: the Lebron situation. Lots of Miami heat buzz. We'll talk
[0:27] Speaker 1: a little bit about that. I expect the decision within
[0:30] Speaker 1: the next day or two. We'll talk about why, talk
[0:32] Speaker 1: a little bit about my kind of current feelings on
[0:35] Speaker 1: that whole situation. After that, Lou Dort gets traded away
[0:38] Speaker 1: from the Oklahoma City Thunder to the Atlanta Hawks, sending
[0:41] Speaker 1: former number one pick Zachary Rissauchet to the Dallas MAVs.
[0:45] Speaker 1: I want to talk a little bit about what the
[0:46] Speaker 1: Hawks are building. I want to talk about Dallas taking
[0:49] Speaker 1: a shot on Zach. I want to talk a little
[0:51] Speaker 1: bit about Okay see shedding as much depth as they
[0:54] Speaker 1: have in this summer. And then the tail end of
[0:56] Speaker 1: the show will just give a brief shout out to
[0:58] Speaker 1: Summer League MVP jack Ville Leundenburgh. As the Golden State
[1:01] Speaker 1: Warriors edge out the Memphis Grizzlies last night, Yack hits
[1:03] Speaker 1: a couple of big jumpers to ice the game. We'll
[1:05] Speaker 1: talk a little bit about that, then we'll get out
[1:07] Speaker 1: of here for the day. You guys are the joke
[1:08] Speaker 1: before we started. Subscribe to the Oops to Night YouTube
[1:10] Speaker 1: channel so you don't miss any more of our videos.
[1:12] Speaker 1: We still have a goal to get over one hundred
[1:14] Speaker 1: and fifty thousand sub Summer League is coming. God, but
[1:16] Speaker 1: we get We came close. We gave it a good
[1:18] Speaker 1: run there. We added a ton of subs over the
[1:20] Speaker 1: last few months. I appreciate all of you guys for
[1:22] Speaker 1: helping us there. We still want to get to one
[1:24] Speaker 1: fifty though, so if you guys could help us by
[1:26] Speaker 1: scrolling down and hit that subscribe button, it would help us. Last,
[1:29] Speaker 1: but not least, if you want to get mailback questions
[1:31] Speaker 1: into our mailbag. My guess is our mail bag this
[1:33] Speaker 1: week will be pretty Lebron heavy because we'll probably have
[1:35] Speaker 1: news by then. But drop your questions in the full
[1:38] Speaker 1: episodes on YouTube underneath right mailbag colon write your question.
[1:42] Speaker 1: We'll get to them on Fridays throughout the rest of
[1:44] Speaker 1: the summer. All right, let's talk some basketball. So I
[1:48] Speaker 1: really do believe that Lebron will make his decision either
[1:51] Speaker 1: in the later part of today or somewhat early tomorrow.
[1:56] Speaker 1: I think that the I think there's a couple of
[1:59] Speaker 1: major reasons for that. One. I think Lebron is starting
[2:01] Speaker 1: to pick up on the fact that everyone's kind of
[2:03] Speaker 1: had enough of this and we're all ready to just
[2:05] Speaker 1: find out. There's even word of some pressure on the
[2:08] Speaker 1: league side having to do with the schedule makers and
[2:12] Speaker 1: the job that they have to try to piece together
[2:14] Speaker 1: the twenty twenty six twenty seven NBA season, And Lebron's
[2:17] Speaker 1: got everybody in a holding pattern because wherever he goes,
[2:20] Speaker 1: it's probably going to get twenty more, twenty to thirty
[2:23] Speaker 1: more national TV games than they would otherwise. Right, So
[2:26] Speaker 1: a lot hanging up there, and I think all fans
[2:29] Speaker 1: too are kind of like, all right, dude, come on.
[2:31] Speaker 1: And I think some of that stems from, you know, like,
[2:34] Speaker 1: say you are Cleveland, say you are Miami Golden State.
[2:37] Speaker 1: You're trying to like plan the rest of your off season.
[2:41] Speaker 1: You're trying to piece together like there's a could Cleveland
[2:44] Speaker 1: go after Jonathan Kaminga if Lebron doesn't come, Could Miami
[2:49] Speaker 1: end up making moves for guys like DeMar Derozen or
[2:52] Speaker 1: Russell Westbrook. If Lebron doesn't come, could Golden State end
[2:55] Speaker 1: up making some more substantial trades regardless of whether or
[2:59] Speaker 1: not Lebron comes, right, And then I think most fans too,
[3:01] Speaker 1: is just like, all right, let's see what happens. So
[3:04] Speaker 1: I think it's either gonna happen later today or tomorrow morning.
[3:09] Speaker 1: We will react to it as soon as it happens
[3:12] Speaker 1: here on the show, and we'll be talking about it
[3:13] Speaker 1: through much of the week, and then starting a week
[3:15] Speaker 1: from today, we plan on getting into our player rankings,
[3:18] Speaker 1: which should be fun as we kind of dig into
[3:19] Speaker 1: the rest of the offseason. Now. One of the stories
[3:21] Speaker 1: of the weekend was after Lebron went to fanatics Fest
[3:25] Speaker 1: and everyone was kind of sifting through the tea leaves
[3:28] Speaker 1: and just the general kind of rumors coming around, a
[3:30] Speaker 1: lot of Miami buzz, a lot of changing and the
[3:33] Speaker 1: odds as things have kind of shifted towards Lebron going
[3:37] Speaker 1: towards Miami. I maintain, first of all, just right up front,
[3:40] Speaker 1: I still think it's basically a three way toss up
[3:43] Speaker 1: right now between Cleveland, Miami, and Golden State, and the
[3:46] Speaker 1: advantages of all three situations are pretty clear. Golden State.
[3:50] Speaker 1: It's close to home, and it has the best basketball
[3:52] Speaker 1: fit both on and off the court. Like, he's going
[3:55] Speaker 1: to have a ton of fun playing with Steph and
[3:57] Speaker 1: a ton of fun hanging out with a bunch of
[3:58] Speaker 1: those older veterans champion dudes in the daily life of
[4:03] Speaker 1: the NBA regular season. But it's also a short, little
[4:07] Speaker 1: private jet flight down the coastline to get to Los
[4:09] Speaker 1: Angeles to see his wife and daughter. Right, So, like
[4:11] Speaker 1: that's the clear Golden State advantage. Cleveland. I think it's
[4:14] Speaker 1: a combination of two things. I think it's one they
[4:17] Speaker 1: have the home you know, the coming home storyline that
[4:21] Speaker 1: everyone talks so much about. And then two, they have
[4:23] Speaker 1: this like roster that's kind of clunky and messy, but
[4:27] Speaker 1: they have a lot of different ways that they can
[4:28] Speaker 1: move it around. They have a couple of tradable First,
[4:30] Speaker 1: they have players that other teams really want, like Jared Allen.
[4:33] Speaker 1: I'm sure would be pursued by any team out there.
[4:36] Speaker 1: If there was a star available, I could see Evan Mobley.
[4:38] Speaker 1: I just think Cleveland will most likely keep Evan Mobley.
[4:40] Speaker 1: But Cleveland has the combination of being home and even
[4:44] Speaker 1: though I don't like the fit as currently constructed, Like,
[4:47] Speaker 1: I think it'd be stupid just to run the team
[4:49] Speaker 1: back with Lebron. But if they have the ability through
[4:52] Speaker 1: draft picks, and you know, they could trade Jared Allen
[4:55] Speaker 1: for somebody, and they could sign and trade James Harden
[4:58] Speaker 1: with draft picks to get somebody else, like, they could
[5:01] Speaker 1: move the roster around in a way that could potentially
[5:04] Speaker 1: make it more interesting. And then lastly, Miami, it's just
[5:07] Speaker 1: this very strong basketball culture and the top end talent
[5:11] Speaker 1: that Giannis is obviously the best player available that Lebron
[5:15] Speaker 1: could pair up with, and there's some good history there
[5:17] Speaker 1: with Lebron in Miami. I do want to zoom in
[5:19] Speaker 1: a little bit on Miami before we move on. I
[5:23] Speaker 1: like Miami the most out of the Eastern Conference destinations.
[5:26] Speaker 1: To be clear, the basketball fan in me still really
[5:28] Speaker 1: wants to see Lebron and Steph play together this year
[5:31] Speaker 1: and see them doing the things that they did in
[5:33] Speaker 1: the Olympics, seeing Lebron operating as a passing folkrum but
[5:37] Speaker 1: not necessarily as a high volume scorer, and just kind
[5:39] Speaker 1: of greasing the wheels for everything that they're doing. I
[5:42] Speaker 1: just think that it's a very natural fit, and I
[5:45] Speaker 1: think that it would be the most fun that Lebron
[5:48] Speaker 1: could have. So like, that's still my number one option.
[5:50] Speaker 1: But among all the Eastern Conference destinations, I like Miami
[5:54] Speaker 1: the most for starters. They have the most use of
[5:57] Speaker 1: his playmaking talent, and both Philly and Cleveland because of
[6:01] Speaker 1: the Tyres Maxi Jylen Brown piece of this. I'd even
[6:04] Speaker 1: include mb depending on how much he plays, and Mitchell
[6:06] Speaker 1: Harden kind of backcourt. And I don't think Donovan Mitchell
[6:09] Speaker 1: is getting traded anytime soon for obvious reasons with the
[6:11] Speaker 1: new extension, right, So, like, I don't like Mitchell as
[6:14] Speaker 1: a game manager. I think he's gonna tuck Lebron away
[6:17] Speaker 1: in the corner and turn him into a spot up player,
[6:19] Speaker 1: which not that Lebron can't do that, I just don't
[6:22] Speaker 1: think it's necessarily his best trait at this point in
[6:25] Speaker 1: his career. Same goes for Philly. It's gonna be it's
[6:29] Speaker 1: there are gonna be fewer situations where Lebron's versatile basketball
[6:33] Speaker 1: skill set are on display. In those two situations, Miami
[6:36] Speaker 1: actually has a need for his playmaking talent, and I
[6:38] Speaker 1: guess there's it's worth mentioning that the jump shooting deficit,
[6:43] Speaker 1: there will be an issue and they would not be
[6:45] Speaker 1: a good jump shooting team, and that would certainly be
[6:48] Speaker 1: the clunkiest part of it. But Lebron is a very
[6:50] Speaker 1: underrated interior passer, and there are ways to kind of
[6:54] Speaker 1: like manufacture buckets in tight space if you know how
[6:57] Speaker 1: to manipulate interior spacing and if you can throw lobs,
[7:01] Speaker 1: which Lebron is very good at. So I think Lebron
[7:04] Speaker 1: specifically would bring a higher ceiling offensively out of Giannis
[7:09] Speaker 1: and Bam that they could otherwise achieve between just the
[7:12] Speaker 1: two of them. That is the advantage of Lebron's natural
[7:16] Speaker 1: playmaking talent plugging into an actual deficit on a team
[7:19] Speaker 1: that needs him. Like right away, Lebron would come in
[7:22] Speaker 1: as their second best ball handler behind Giannis right nis,
[7:26] Speaker 1: and you could argue that, especially in close games late,
[7:28] Speaker 1: that it could still end up being Lebron. So Miami
[7:31] Speaker 1: has a lot of use for Lebron as an on
[7:33] Speaker 1: ball player given the lack of playmaking talent ball handling
[7:38] Speaker 1: talent that they have on the roster. Secondly, he's kind
[7:41] Speaker 1: of a force multiplier for the athletic strengths of the
[7:43] Speaker 1: team like this is the part that I get excited about.
[7:47] Speaker 1: You walk out to play the Miami Heat in a
[7:50] Speaker 1: random game, and you know, outcomes Lebron, James, outcomes Jannis
[7:57] Speaker 1: and Tennankumbo outcomes I'm met a bio outcomes Andrew Wiggins.
[8:03] Speaker 1: And the fifth dude in this lineup's probably a Davion
[8:06] Speaker 1: Mitchell who's gonna get up in your guard's jersey for
[8:09] Speaker 1: at the thirty six minutes or so that he's out
[8:11] Speaker 1: on the floor. Right. There is a lot of like
[8:14] Speaker 1: rangey size in that group, a lot of physically imposing
[8:19] Speaker 1: basketball players. I like, even like you look at a
[8:22] Speaker 1: guy like Bobby Portis, do I think Bobby Portis is
[8:24] Speaker 1: a good defensive player. No, But in a system where
[8:27] Speaker 1: he's on the floor alongside two of those three guys,
[8:30] Speaker 1: like two of the Bron, Gianni, Spam or even Wiggins
[8:34] Speaker 1: on the floor, there's a switch ability to where like
[8:37] Speaker 1: you're asking Portis to switch out on the perimeter with
[8:40] Speaker 1: like Giannis and Bam behind him right, or Lebron and
[8:43] Speaker 1: Giannis behind him, or Lebron and Bam behind him right,
[8:46] Speaker 1: and it just creates this dynamic where they can actually
[8:49] Speaker 1: cover for each other and make life easier for each other.
[8:52] Speaker 1: So Lebron's like a force multiplier, doubling down on the
[8:55] Speaker 1: athletic strengths of the team overall, like in terms of
[8:58] Speaker 1: their physical profile, while also being a really nice plugin
[9:02] Speaker 1: fit with the lack of playmaking talent that they have.
[9:05] Speaker 1: Then you go down the list of some of the intangibles,
[9:07] Speaker 1: like they have great basketball culture and toughness, which Lebron
[9:10] Speaker 1: specifically talked about at Fanatics Fest is something that he wanted.
[9:13] Speaker 1: They have an elite coach, someone that Lebron respects a
[9:15] Speaker 1: great deal in Eric Spolstra. And the other piece of
[9:19] Speaker 1: this too is their ball handling weakness or deficit. I
[9:22] Speaker 1: should say it's taking place in a season where there's
[9:25] Speaker 1: actually quite a bit of discount ball handling that I
[9:27] Speaker 1: think will come available over the course of the season. Obviously,
[9:32] Speaker 1: you have Demark de rozen out there right now. Russell
[9:34] Speaker 1: Westbrook got the right now. I don't think Russell ever
[9:35] Speaker 1: play with Lebron again, But like that is going to
[9:40] Speaker 1: open up even more as the season progresses. With other
[9:42] Speaker 1: buyout guys that could potentially take shape over the course
[9:45] Speaker 1: of the season. Keep an eye on a guy like
[9:48] Speaker 1: Zach Levine becoming available at some point this season, Like,
[9:51] Speaker 1: there are opportunities this year I believe to jump on
[9:55] Speaker 1: a discounted ball handler and that is the biggest weakness
[9:58] Speaker 1: of this miam Heat roster, so it should be more
[10:00] Speaker 1: easy for them to address than a different personnel need.
[10:04] Speaker 1: Like I heard, you know, pat Riley talking about how
[10:07] Speaker 1: they want another big and you know, if they want
[10:10] Speaker 1: another big, we'll see who they end up going after.
[10:12] Speaker 1: But like that's there's not a ton of like center
[10:14] Speaker 1: talent out there right now. It's like a tough year
[10:16] Speaker 1: to get discounted centers because of the way that the
[10:20] Speaker 1: market went this summer. So it has its clunkiness. Again,
[10:22] Speaker 1: it wouldn't be a good jump shooting team, but it
[10:24] Speaker 1: comes with a good mix of an actual need for
[10:26] Speaker 1: Lebron's abilities, good top end talent with championship upside, strong culture,
[10:31] Speaker 1: and I also just think it's interesting. So like for
[10:33] Speaker 1: my job and talking about a team all season long,
[10:36] Speaker 1: I would enjoy covering a Lebron team in Miami. I
[10:41] Speaker 1: do think it's basically a three way toss up between Cleveland, Miami,
[10:43] Speaker 1: and Golden State. Now I expect us to find out
[10:46] Speaker 1: in the next thirty six hours, So we'll see when
[10:50] Speaker 1: we get there. Today's show is brought to you by
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[12:42] Speaker 1: Moving on to this Loudort situation. So Oklahoma City gets
[12:46] Speaker 1: three second round picks in the deal, Atlanta gets Lou
[12:49] Speaker 1: Dort as well as Ryan Nemhart out of Dallas, and
[12:51] Speaker 1: Dallas get Zachary Resache. A couple quick notes on the
[12:55] Speaker 1: Dallas side. Zachary Resache is his role really diminished over
[12:59] Speaker 1: the course of the season last year. His numbers to
[13:02] Speaker 1: start the year looked more or less like they did
[13:03] Speaker 1: the previous season in terms of minutes and scoring and
[13:06] Speaker 1: kind of in that similar role. But later in the year,
[13:09] Speaker 1: especially with the addition of Jonathan Kaminga, he kind of
[13:12] Speaker 1: slid out of the rotation a little bit. He averages
[13:14] Speaker 1: sixteen minutes per game over his final fourteen games in
[13:17] Speaker 1: the regular season, and he's basically completely out of the
[13:20] Speaker 1: playoff rotation. I like this gamble for Dallas, though you
[13:23] Speaker 1: got him for basically nothing. Mike Schmidz apparently really liked
[13:26] Speaker 1: him coming out of the draft a few years ago.
[13:29] Speaker 1: I've talked about Zachary on the show before there's a
[13:33] Speaker 1: there's some skill upside with him, Like there's some stuff
[13:36] Speaker 1: with his left hand driving closeouts that I've been impressed
[13:39] Speaker 1: with over the years. He's a good wide open three
[13:42] Speaker 1: point shooter. It doesn't manifest in his large picture percentages
[13:46] Speaker 1: because he takes a lot of contested threes and he
[13:48] Speaker 1: does not shoot super well on them. But I'd rather
[13:50] Speaker 1: have a guy who's more confident off the catch than
[13:53] Speaker 1: you know, just only shooting when he's completely wide open.
[13:55] Speaker 1: I think that that adds more value. But he's got,
[13:57] Speaker 1: you know, long term, I think he's going to in
[14:01] Speaker 1: the long run become a more and more reliable three
[14:03] Speaker 1: point shooter. Just the touch stats are there, especially when
[14:05] Speaker 1: he's wide open. He runs the floor extremely well, one
[14:09] Speaker 1: of the best transition wings or forwards in the league
[14:12] Speaker 1: in terms of just how quickly he gets up and
[14:14] Speaker 1: down the floor. There's enough talent there, even though it
[14:17] Speaker 1: is at a position where Dallas just has a ton
[14:20] Speaker 1: of depth that you know, again we'll see I would
[14:22] Speaker 1: imagine they are going to trade PJ. Washington at some
[14:24] Speaker 1: point to clear up some of that depth. But I
[14:26] Speaker 1: just like it as a talent play for Dallas pay
[14:28] Speaker 1: almost nothing former number one pick. Sure, he's been disappointing
[14:32] Speaker 1: to this point, but I still think he's got the
[14:33] Speaker 1: potential to be a good player. Why not take a
[14:36] Speaker 1: chance on him. So I liked it for Dallas. On
[14:38] Speaker 1: the Atlanta front, a lot of people, you know, talking
[14:41] Speaker 1: about how they're kind of over indexing towards perimeter defense,
[14:44] Speaker 1: and that's true. They're clearly doubling down on these perimeter
[14:47] Speaker 1: defensive types of players. Adding you know, lou Dord and
[14:51] Speaker 1: Aaron Wiggins is more of like a two way you know,
[14:54] Speaker 1: wing a little bit not great at anything, but pretty
[14:57] Speaker 1: good at everything, including doing some work off the bounce. Offensively.
[15:01] Speaker 1: There will be some criticism for them overlooking what got
[15:04] Speaker 1: them beat against the Knicks, which is like this complete
[15:07] Speaker 1: lack of shooting and overall offensive skill. And I get
[15:10] Speaker 1: that to a certain extent, but I think that's more
[15:13] Speaker 1: of a thing for the top end players on the roster,
[15:15] Speaker 1: like in the short term Nikhil Alexander Walker playing better
[15:19] Speaker 1: than he did in that first round series, Jalen Johnson
[15:22] Speaker 1: continuing to develop offensively. We'll see what Kingston Flemings can
[15:25] Speaker 1: bring in his early years. But I kind of feel
[15:27] Speaker 1: about Atlanta the same way I feel about Detroit. Like
[15:30] Speaker 1: eventually they're gonna need to pounce on a number two, right, Like,
[15:33] Speaker 1: in the same way that Detroit needs to pair Kate
[15:36] Speaker 1: Cunningham with a long term partner, you know, they need
[15:39] Speaker 1: to pair Jalen Johnson with a long term partner, probably
[15:42] Speaker 1: someone better than him. Right. So like in both cases,
[15:46] Speaker 1: it makes sense for them to wait for the right guy.
[15:49] Speaker 1: Like I don't want Atlanta to go jump on Tyler
[15:51] Speaker 1: Hero for the same reason I don't want Detroit to, Like,
[15:53] Speaker 1: you're you're gonna need there's one big move in here,
[15:56] Speaker 1: one big move for Detroit, one big move for Atlanta
[16:00] Speaker 1: point in the next year or two for some sort
[16:01] Speaker 1: of high level perimeter talent, and it makes sense to
[16:04] Speaker 1: wait for the right guy. So in the short term,
[16:07] Speaker 1: you know, you have some guys in house, like we
[16:08] Speaker 1: talked about Kingston Flemings, Nikile, Alexander Walker, Jalen Johnson, guys
[16:12] Speaker 1: that can hopefully show some development trajectory. But then you're
[16:16] Speaker 1: also building out this depth of perimeter defense talent. And again,
[16:20] Speaker 1: like when you go to make that big trade, you're
[16:22] Speaker 1: probably gonna have to include some of these guys, you know,
[16:25] Speaker 1: like when you make that big trade, you like lou
[16:28] Speaker 1: Dort could be the piece that if you extend him
[16:30] Speaker 1: on a relatively affordable deal, where like at least some
[16:35] Speaker 1: team who's getting rid of a guard feels like they're
[16:37] Speaker 1: getting rid of a high level ball handler, feels like
[16:39] Speaker 1: they're getting back a you know, pro like a theoretical
[16:43] Speaker 1: three and D player, and a guy like lou Dort,
[16:45] Speaker 1: right like a getting back a Nikhil Alexander Walker. In
[16:48] Speaker 1: a deal like that, you build out a depth of
[16:51] Speaker 1: you know, two way players, then when you have to
[16:54] Speaker 1: send one or two of them out to go get
[16:56] Speaker 1: a guard, you still have two way players left. And
[16:59] Speaker 1: so I don't like Atlanta just We're just going to
[17:02] Speaker 1: continue to get as many of these these high level
[17:05] Speaker 1: two way perimeter talents as we can that are on
[17:07] Speaker 1: the that are role players, so that if we have
[17:11] Speaker 1: to move them for the eventual deal, we still have
[17:14] Speaker 1: something left over to build a functioning basketball team. And
[17:17] Speaker 1: I know I'm using the term two way a little
[17:19] Speaker 1: bit loose with Lou Door. I'm going to talk more
[17:21] Speaker 1: about him in a minute, but I think Ludort's a
[17:23] Speaker 1: good basketball player, and I think that just going and
[17:26] Speaker 1: getting a good basketball player and adding him to your team,
[17:29] Speaker 1: even if he's a little bit redundant, is going to
[17:32] Speaker 1: help Atlanta in the long term as they finish their
[17:35] Speaker 1: team building process. Not to mention, just a lot of
[17:38] Speaker 1: good defensive players will make your defense good, and if
[17:40] Speaker 1: your defense is good, it buys you a lot of
[17:42] Speaker 1: margin for error for your offense, which again, which is
[17:45] Speaker 1: where you have your shortcomings with the current construct. On
[17:49] Speaker 1: the OKC front, it was abundantly clear that Sam Presty
[17:54] Speaker 1: was given explicit instructions this summer to shed salary, and
[17:58] Speaker 1: it was also abundantly clear that Sam Pressy was only
[18:01] Speaker 1: going to do that by sending talent to the Eastern Conference,
[18:03] Speaker 1: which is smart because it prevents them from bolstering teams
[18:06] Speaker 1: that they would otherwise have to face in the Western
[18:09] Speaker 1: Conference playoffs. Like could you have gotten a first round
[18:12] Speaker 1: pick if you would have traded Loudrt to the Western Conference. Maybe,
[18:16] Speaker 1: but then you could have lou Dort guarding Shay in
[18:19] Speaker 1: a second round series by virtue of sending all the
[18:22] Speaker 1: talent to the Eastern Conference, Like especially if you don't
[18:26] Speaker 1: necessarily believe in Atlanta as a short term contender, you're
[18:29] Speaker 1: sending talent to teams that you don't expect to have
[18:32] Speaker 1: to face in the playoffs. And if you do only
[18:34] Speaker 1: once right now, again, like you sent in Isaiah Joe
[18:36] Speaker 1: to Detroit, Detroit could certainly win the Eastern Conference, right
[18:40] Speaker 1: but like there's just a lesser chance of you having
[18:42] Speaker 1: to face that talent if you send it to the
[18:43] Speaker 1: Eastern Conference. I thought it was smart. So within the
[18:46] Speaker 1: confines of the specific mandate, Presty has done his job well,
[18:51] Speaker 1: you know, like he doesn't necessarily need more first round picks.
[18:55] Speaker 1: He's got plenty of them, so he sends them to
[18:57] Speaker 1: the East and maybe gets a little bit less value,
[19:00] Speaker 1: but he shed salary, maintains his competitive advantage over his
[19:03] Speaker 1: opponents in the West. Like he did his job. But
[19:06] Speaker 1: the reality is that Okac has shed a lot of
[19:08] Speaker 1: depth This summer obviously was a starter. He was sixth
[19:13] Speaker 1: in total playoff minutes for the thunder last year. Isaiah
[19:16] Speaker 1: Joe and Aaron Wiggins legitimate death pieces. Both of them
[19:19] Speaker 1: played in thirteen playoff games last year, out of the
[19:21] Speaker 1: fifteen that Okac played in. They were tenth and twelfth
[19:24] Speaker 1: in total playoff minutes for Okac, respectively. So like those
[19:28] Speaker 1: are legitimate rotation pieces. They're still every bit is intimidating
[19:32] Speaker 1: as a playoff opponent, at least mostly as intimidating. Like
[19:36] Speaker 1: they have the same top five guys as last year
[19:38] Speaker 1: if you consider Caruso and Hartenstein as the real like
[19:42] Speaker 1: other two best players that they consistently leaned on in
[19:45] Speaker 1: that postseason run, Like, they still have the same high
[19:49] Speaker 1: end top five. If you look at their top nine,
[19:51] Speaker 1: especially if Jay Dubb's able to come back healthy, it's
[19:53] Speaker 1: still Shay Chet, Jdubb, Alex Cruz, Isaiah Hartenstein, Cason Wallace,
[19:57] Speaker 1: AJ Mitchell, Jared McCain, and Jay Will. So like, still
[20:03] Speaker 1: a very deep team there in terms of a really
[20:06] Speaker 1: good top nine. My one thing, and we'll talk a
[20:09] Speaker 1: little bit more about this with dort in a minute,
[20:10] Speaker 1: is Dorte is big and strong and so like if
[20:13] Speaker 1: you look at the list of names that I just
[20:15] Speaker 1: gave you, guys, as we get past that top five,
[20:17] Speaker 1: like if we assume that JW. Crusoe and Hartenstein are
[20:21] Speaker 1: going to close most playoff games, you know, Casen Wass
[20:24] Speaker 1: kind of small, AJ Mitchell kind of small, Jared McCain
[20:27] Speaker 1: kind of small, right, So like lou Dort for all
[20:30] Speaker 1: of his flaws, he was one of their bigger wings, right,
[20:34] Speaker 1: not particularly tall, but he's very strong and he could
[20:36] Speaker 1: win battles on the ground. As a matter of fact,
[20:38] Speaker 1: like he was one of the best options in the
[20:40] Speaker 1: NBA for guarding big, strong forwards, like guarding a Lebron
[20:44] Speaker 1: James in a playoff series. We saw him guard lou Dort,
[20:46] Speaker 1: excuse me, guard Luka Doncic extremely well in a playoff
[20:50] Speaker 1: series a couple of years back. Like in that conference,
[20:53] Speaker 1: it's a real asset to have just a big, bruising
[20:56] Speaker 1: defender and you have two of them between him and
[20:58] Speaker 1: Alex Cruso, maybe even three if you consider j dub
[21:01] Speaker 1: And and just taking Door out of the equation, it
[21:03] Speaker 1: just makes okay, see a little less physically imposing. So
[21:07] Speaker 1: I think that's worth mentioning. But the back half, the
[21:10] Speaker 1: back third, the back six guys on the roster is
[21:13] Speaker 1: really where I think the roster is going to be
[21:16] Speaker 1: more tested this year, right because that top nine that
[21:19] Speaker 1: assumes perfect health. But you know how it goes in
[21:21] Speaker 1: the regular season. You know a lot of the time
[21:23] Speaker 1: you're going to work with three four of those guys
[21:25] Speaker 1: out of the rotation for one reason or another, a
[21:27] Speaker 1: little soft tissue strain, a you know, an illness, whatever
[21:30] Speaker 1: it might be. Right, So, like, I think that back
[21:32] Speaker 1: third of their roster is going to be tested in
[21:35] Speaker 1: a way that they generally haven't been outside of like
[21:37] Speaker 1: Kenridge Williams, right like, and we will see a lot
[21:40] Speaker 1: more Kenridge Williams this year, like guys like Nicolo Topitch,
[21:43] Speaker 1: guys like Bennett Sturtz I think could see real time,
[21:45] Speaker 1: we'll see with the center rotation, Like I'm not sure
[21:47] Speaker 1: how much we'll see a Demara or Tomas sober sober
[21:51] Speaker 1: because of just how they have the same top three
[21:54] Speaker 1: centers that they had in previous seasons. But again, we'll see,
[21:57] Speaker 1: like Hartenstein miss is a month, like you're you're gonna
[22:00] Speaker 1: probably see some sober or somemorrow, right, So, like you're
[22:03] Speaker 1: gonna see a lot of the back third of that
[22:07] Speaker 1: OKAC roster getting tested this season. And it's just not
[22:10] Speaker 1: as talented as it was in previous years. Aaron Wiggins
[22:13] Speaker 1: and Isaiah Joe they clearly stuck out, like sore Thumbs
[22:16] Speaker 1: is not strong, not as strong as the upper part
[22:20] Speaker 1: of Okac's playoff rotation, but that's just because of how
[22:23] Speaker 1: talented they were, and Isaiah Joe and Aeron Wiggins could
[22:26] Speaker 1: easily play for a lot of these other teams in
[22:28] Speaker 1: their top seven, top eight in the postseason. I think
[22:31] Speaker 1: Isaiah Joe in particular is going to be a massive
[22:33] Speaker 1: piece for Detroit this year. So like It's, it's it's
[22:37] Speaker 1: definitely a less deep team than what we've seen from
[22:40] Speaker 1: from recent Oklahoma City teams. Moving on to jack O
[22:45] Speaker 1: Lindburg and then we'll get out of here for today.
[22:46] Speaker 1: So he wins MVP last night ends up having a
[22:49] Speaker 1: fun battle with kambooser Ice is the game with a
[22:51] Speaker 1: couple of big jumpers, a little step back three along
[22:54] Speaker 1: the left wing, and then a wonderable pull up, a
[22:56] Speaker 1: very smooth look and wonderable pull up driving a close
[22:59] Speaker 1: out off of a pick and roll in the right
[23:01] Speaker 1: wing that ends up icing the game. Finishes the game
[23:04] Speaker 1: with the twenty ten finished Summer League averaging fifteen to
[23:07] Speaker 1: seven and four on forty six percent from the field,
[23:10] Speaker 1: thirty six percent from three, and eighty percent from the
[23:13] Speaker 1: line and wins MVP, and I thought it was a
[23:17] Speaker 1: very successful first little bit of professional basketball for Yaxell.
[23:21] Speaker 1: And again, like it's gonna be tricky with this this
[23:24] Speaker 1: Golden State roster because you know, we don't know what's
[23:27] Speaker 1: gonna happen with Lebron, But even without Lebron, like Gi
[23:30] Speaker 1: Santos is a really good player that he's going to
[23:32] Speaker 1: be competing for minutes with. And if you look at
[23:34] Speaker 1: the front court rotation, uh, like you have you had
[23:37] Speaker 1: a factor in Guissanto's Draymond Green alhor for Chris tops Porzingis,
[23:42] Speaker 1: but like there's a Jimmy Butler is going to come
[23:45] Speaker 1: back at some point this season. So it's gonna be
[23:47] Speaker 1: harder than we think for Yaxel to find like a
[23:50] Speaker 1: really substantial role for Golden State, especially if Lebron James
[23:53] Speaker 1: ends up joining the team. But I thought he showed
[23:55] Speaker 1: enough of that versatile you know, combination of being able
[23:59] Speaker 1: to score off advantage, do a little bit off of
[24:02] Speaker 1: like iso situations. We talked about the step back three.
[24:05] Speaker 1: He also had to play where he drove past cam Boozer.
[24:07] Speaker 1: With that he kind of like mimicked that Jimmy Butler
[24:10] Speaker 1: Jabin go where he like jabs and kind of like
[24:12] Speaker 1: swings the ball back and forth and then rips baseline
[24:14] Speaker 1: and then just powered through for the and one driving
[24:18] Speaker 1: along the baseline shows a little bit of that one
[24:20] Speaker 1: on one scoring ability, the versatility defensively to do multiple
[24:25] Speaker 1: different jobs, the connective playmaking talent. Just I thought he
[24:29] Speaker 1: showed to all of it and had a really successful
[24:32] Speaker 1: first Summer League campaign. Brought a lot of personality there,
[24:35] Speaker 1: a little bit of weirdness with him and Draymond Green
[24:38] Speaker 1: that like, I straight up like, don't really understand what's
[24:41] Speaker 1: going on there. I think that it's one of the
[24:44] Speaker 1: downsides of the Draymond podcast experience as it creates these
[24:48] Speaker 1: kind of bizarre situations for him and his teammates to
[24:51] Speaker 1: be in. But I think that'll more or less be fine.
[24:53] Speaker 1: I think Gaxel is a competitor and he's a good
[24:55] Speaker 1: basketball player, and as soon as they get into camp,
[24:57] Speaker 1: I think everything will will gel on that front. But
[25:00] Speaker 1: everything ended up shaping together nicely for that first round
[25:04] Speaker 1: pick for Golden State in Summer League. Summer League is over,
[25:08] Speaker 1: we will be digging more into Summer League prospects as
[25:10] Speaker 1: we get into our series season previews. So again we're
[25:14] Speaker 1: going to be doing player rankings for the next month
[25:17] Speaker 1: and a half or so. But usually once we get
[25:19] Speaker 1: to like mid September, we start doing the our season previews,
[25:24] Speaker 1: and for every single team that we cover in the
[25:26] Speaker 1: season previews, we end up digging into their draft picks
[25:29] Speaker 1: and how they looked over the course of summer and
[25:31] Speaker 1: what I think they'll be able to add in the
[25:32] Speaker 1: short and long term for their teams. So we'll dig
[25:35] Speaker 1: more into summer league prospects as we get into the
[25:37] Speaker 1: start of the season. Again. Schedule for the rest of
[25:39] Speaker 1: this week. I would imagine that we'll have a Lebron
[25:42] Speaker 1: signing at some point in the next thirty six hours
[25:44] Speaker 1: or so. We'll have an instant reaction. We'll probably have
[25:47] Speaker 1: a follow up reaction a day later after I sleep
[25:49] Speaker 1: on it and think through all the ramifications, and then
[25:52] Speaker 1: we'll have a mail bag this Friday. Then we'll get
[25:54] Speaker 1: into player rankings. That is all I have for today, guys,
[25:57] Speaker 1: is always a sincerely appreciate you guys for supporting us
[26:00] Speaker 1: and supporting the show. I'll see you whenever the Lebron
[26:03] Speaker 1: trade goes down, where the Lebron signing goes down, I
[26:05] Speaker 1: should say

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