Bargain Bin Free Agent Targets

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Max refund two hundred dollars per day. restestrictions apply, including token expiration, seatful terms at fanool dot comot slash sports book gambling problem, call one eight hundred gambler or one eight hundred My reset Hello and welcome to Group Shat. I am Justin Verrier, joining me, Rob Mahoney, Jay Kyle Man. We're recording this in between the two soccer games. So if I start saying that you guys have a brilliant point or like it's a brilliant ball by you, which is what they'd say to every single play, that's why I mean, most of the time is a brilliant ball by us. We're Mving it around. We're keeping it in the air. I don't know what we're doing Are we doing well? Please, please praise us that linear thought really well, Rob. Nice. Thank you. Well, I will say one thing is that I think we have a lot of good announcers in basketball. obbviously Mike Breen, the go Glad to see him in the finals with the Kicks allou coming off probably Helsecyon times in terms of announcers in the NBA, but the soccer announcers, they just got it. First of all, they got the accent work, which is great.. And they're also like in on the theater of it all in a way that like even supersedes like what we do in the NBA. There was a goal from a guy named Bellingham yesterday on England and he was like, Oh, Bellingham, he rings up to scoreboard that one I was like, o, I mean look. Yeah. you're pretending Yeah, you're pretending Ion Eagle isn't capable of that Birdm, come on, he's throwing stuff down like that. sure. And better they call him the Birdman? We do now I will say how I know thatirdate he acknowledges himself as Birdmate in some capacity which I enjoy. I don't know the bird manan That's good. You're right. He would do it, but maybe a little bit more. Maybe we need just a little bit more cockney accents going around here. Um, but We also waited because we also wanted to check out this Jayalen Brown press conference at the selfs gave. Brad Stevens, Chisholm, the owner, got up front in front of the Boston media, talked about it. Just quickly. I would say My takeaay from this and I think the thing that's going to circulate as a result is Brad Stehvens basically outright saying that having seventy percent of your cap Plus a lot of your usage into two players is just pretty untenable in this day and age couldn't really get into Obviously like whatever whatever discourse existed between Brown and the organization kind of sidestepped a lot of those questions or just like focused on the emotional toll of just trading a player ten years into his run with Boston And obviously there' some statistical stuff that suggested probably that something like this wouldn't really hurt them all that much. Like there's insinuations all over the place. but I think the thing he said outright, Rob, which I think is going to be the thing that people take away from this is just like esn't seem like they're losing a ton in the short term, but it gave them optionality in the long term because of the way the CBA forces teams into the situation. Yeah, I mean I do think they're going to get optionality. and I know that because the word was mentioned eighty five to ninety times over the course say oions conference. We have options. You don't need a new word. Wellook, I know we're as guilty of this as anybody. This is a word that gets thrown around on, I don't even know how many podcasts, but now we know why. And it's Brad Stevens infecting us linguistically. And here we are talalking about the optionality of trading one contract for a similarly sized contract with a worst player attached to it. Yeah. I both, here's the thing. I don't think I' never really heard an argument that, oh Having this much invested in the cap is a good idea, or that you can even build a sustainable long term team. There's a widespread understanding that in this apron environment, it's really difficult to keep a contender together once the salary starts to bloat The conversation around the Celtics all throughout this process has been, why now Wh for this return? And I have to say trading for Paul George's contract when that's just an intermediate step it sounds like into getting where the Celtics hopefully want to go. That's not doing anything to alleviate these broader concerns about the timing of this deal. Yeah, don't I don't think that the thought process of like why trade him is all that difficult to understand. you know, especially I think in the messaging that's come out and I have to assume that it's gotten out through something close to the team or whatever it might be to sort of shharpen the language that was around the the like he's the seventh best player. The problem with Jaylen was that the distance between the value that he provides as a basketball player and the number that he was going to command in this increasingly, you know constricted environment that it's so so hard. It was just going to be really, really difficult. And the apex version of of the Jayss winning the title, those two guys being the focal point of it was the product of kind of a unique financial event a couple of years ago when they managed to get Drew Holiday, they managed to get poor Zingas. And it's just like, we're not going we're not going to end up in those circumstances again I don't and then you combine it with the fact that Jalen is like we were saying or, you know, in when We taped another part of this pot at another point in time. We were discussing this at another point that he's on the process of wanting more. and he got a taste of that. So you're moving towards that. It's like he's not going to scale back into an optimal version of that. And you know, even if he did, the money is going to not match up with that. So But the thing that that's really, really difficult to square is just the win, you know, it's but shouldhould they have done it a a year ago and tank this season so that they'd have a better talent. I think that would have been hard to understand too. It's just The return is just so, so weird. I think that's the part. you want talk about some bloodshot eyes. It definitely looks. I don't know if before he went on, he wanted to look more sympathetic, but Bre some Bread had some pretty worn out eyes Did you say we got some fake tears in there? putut little droplets going there to get a little moist He was he just looked like he'd been in front of a computer screen in a dark room for like seventy two hours to me. but I don't know if he's doing some editing, you know Just the clockwork orange with Jayalen Browns Swit stream just to make sure he knows specifically how to apply I mean, It was funny as the press conference kind of went on there and you got some of the more older guard reporters asking more pointed questions, which I always appreciate because they have no frills and they'll just basically be like, wait, didn't you already build depth because you're saying all this is to build depth in order to compete for longer term And I guess you can make the case as he kind of did that going forward, you will need to replace the depth that you've already built by having these draft picks and basically having previously traded a lot of your picks in order to get the Drews and the Chrisops in the door. you need to when Jordan Walsh needs to get paid, you need to replace him. It's kind of a really crass sort of thing underneath it all because it's basically like, oh, when your players are good enough to earn a living wage, you then have to trade them. That's a whole separate issue there Um I just I think the bigger question is ultimately the why now? likeike why did you do this now? Why didn't you wait out for even better deals to happen over the course of the next two months? I don't know if we'll ever get a direct answer to that. Rob. I kind of like the way I read what he was ultimately saying was, I don't know if he thinks they're getting appreciably worse in the immediate, orr at the very least, perhaps he thought that this version of the team, that Jalen and Jason Centric team without the guts of the twenty twenty four title team without Drew, without Chrisops, without Horford or a lot of the supplementary pieces that kind of bonded it all together. I do wonder and what I read from this was like maybe he thought that they would never get back there. And so this is probably around where they would top out with the Paul George type. It wasn't about Paul George It's about like, this is kind of what we expected anyway Yeah. I mean, if you're in Brad Stevens position you never go on the record and say we're going to be demonstrably worse after you make a big controversial tres. It was a lot of like Let's see how it goes. likeike let's see where the cards fall whichich fair enough, like I think most of us expect the Celtics to still be pretty good, even with Paul George as a member of the roster I think the larger concerns about the makeup of this team and the depth and all these things that were're circling like They do have good ninth and tenth men here on the bench I think the refreshing that we're talking about is more like where are they going to find the next version of the fourth and fifth guys that they need to replace the Por Zengus and the Drrews? And you know, if Derek White continues to trickle downward, what happens there?ike it's This is where If you'll take a drink or pardon it, the optionality comes into play. It's The thing that GMs dread most of all in my experience is not making this sort of hard decision. It's feeling like their hands are tied. It's feeling like they are so capap stricken that there's nothing they can realistically do to improve their roster. and then they're just kind of stuck ' these like All of these people who run teams are just like fiddlers by nature, right? Like they just want to tinker around the edges. They want to make their machine run a little bit more smoothly. They want to put in the one piece that puts it over the top. And if you feel like financially, having these two massive contracts is restrictive to that, I can understand the frustrations that come with it. I do just find it a little odd though When it's not like the Nick's two biggest salaries are dramatically smaller than Tatum and Brown They're not Jayen Brunson granted. It's Carlthy Townson OG andobi There are a lot of teams that are really successful, the Celtics included with giant salaries at the center of them and have still managed to cobble together at least enough depth to go on really long playoff runs I think the depth point that you made at the beginning is really on the money because and you would have to get to this You would have to arrive at this place with a really sober look at your roster and I think that the sixixers gave that whether they had it or not going into the playoffs, the sixixers gave it to them that they've they have really done a really good job of taking dudes who are probably like twelfth to fifteenth type men and bringing them up maybe to like eleven through eight. like they've done a good job like Gring assets to that point, but it's like there is a developmental question, I guess that somebody smarter than me could go and delve into, which is just like Can you get beyond that? How often can you get a player to like overshoot what is kind of a natural range of what they can accomplish with their with their skills. And I think that they are looking at the guys they have and they're saying like I don't we don't really know where the solid playoff rotation guys are. L these are good theseese are good regular season players and they have overachieved and you know, they fit in our system. But we saw that once they got strained that they're maybe not quite the types of players that can reach like a championship level. So naturally, they're going to be more expendable So a Jordan Walsh is going to sadly just kind of be like, all right, we're going to have to rotate in the next guy and hopefully find somebody that's, you know, find the pieces that are going to help them win the way they want to because they clearly don't think that they have it, I guess right now Well, I mean, it's also one way in which this is so directly a challenge trade, notot just because you're swipe like trading out one forward or one wing for another But this whole idea of like, what kind of depth do you have Jayalen Brown's contract and Joelnbad's contract pretty comparable to what you were getting from Tatum and Brown in the first place, It just looks a whole lot different when you already have Tyace Maxi on the roster and when you already have even just some of the supporting pieces that the Sixers do, where you can talk yourself into being bold and swinging for talent when you already have a little bit more of an infrastructure to accommodate it Yeah, with these press conferences, you're ultimately looking for the trail of breadcrumbs that get dropped in between all of the big long winded monologues I brootke down diversify the attack. That really caught my eye there. We perhaps wanted something a little bit less on the ball as I mentioned up top, like that having so much usage into two players clearly, Brad, I think is more of a type of let's share the rock. let's let's democratize the offense. And so again, that's probably another front office coach sort of thing being like let's play a little bit more, spread out. Paul George probably is going to facilitate that a little bit more than Brown. The other thing, another move isn't coming after this. I think he said that pretty directly where it's like, we don't have anything lined up for the now He had to sid step a lot of implications about life f agency because those aren't official so you can't really talk about them. But beyond that, I think he said like, this is it And so the optionality, the big Budzsword of the day like really is why they made this move. It isn't like a Treay Murphy coming down the road. We'll see like Tade deadline or maybe into the season, but for now, like This is the Celtics, which If you're a Celtics fan, you probably have to be feeling pretty sober about Right now But gu I guess two years from now, you might be able to flip Paul George's contract and you might be able to draft some guy with the seventeenth overall pick. Yeah or even one, frankly. because it's not like teams were like lining up to take Paul George back right now at the money that he's paid with all the restrictions that we're talking about in terms of what it does to your team But one year closer to it when he's more of an expiring or like even this upcoming deadline going into his expiring year with the player option Maybe then it's at least more of like you can get some teams on the phone and you can do it without having to attach some of these picks that you just got in the Jillen Brown trade to begin with. That's That to me is kind of the mystery with all of this. Like Jayen Brown all NBA level player. who is paid like an all NBA level player. mayaybe a little more than he's worth on the court. We can go back and forth on that. that's kind of a separate conversation Paul George is a good player who is quite massively overpaid The Sixers would have under other circumstances had to give up first to get off of in the first place and the Celtics took him back For the sake of flexibility, but really what it looks like out of the kindness of their heart. Like I don't see the mathematical play of we're taking back Paul George to make ourselves more flexible financially other than we're going to sit on his contract for probably at least a year Well he comes off in twenty. I mean, the conversation around what a thirty nine year old pushing forty years old Paul George in twenty eight, twenty nine is going to be pretty clear cut that like we ain't getting back in the business with this. Jaylen is Jaylen would have this this would have come to a head at some point. I know people are just fr and obviously justifiably frustrated about it coming to a head now, but I don't if you wanted to just find any sort of like light gray lining, we won't call it silver. It's not shimmering. It's not going to make you feel great, but it's like Paul George I honestly feel like I just need to take just a moment here and remind people that the apex of Paul George has been better than Jalen Brown in my opinion. I think the primes of these two players are not really even close in my opinion. And I think that Paul George is more role malleable. I think he's an incredible he's still an elite catch and shoot player who is taller and in a stationary isolation defensive kind of situation is just as good a defender as gave it to him at different times. So I want to be really like this dude isn't a bum. He's overpayid. But I just think if you're talking about in terms of the flexibility you're going to get off the money uncontroversially here, I guess that's a positive if you want one. And then he's going to be able to scale down in a way that basketball wise. I don't know that it'll reach the highs of What if we turn around the Celtics are better next year? What if they are Then we'll talk about it. Do you think that's going to be the case Is it a zero percent chance? No percent chance. There's a chance. there's a chance. I think that there it'll be easier some of the offensive complications of the Jason and Jalen pairing. thingsings will just flow a little bit more and from that flow, maybe they'll have a good regular season, but I do think they're playoff ceiling. is probably capped. And basically what you're describing is Paul George is just a high level role player. which is kind of what we're saying Jalen like won't live up to the Spermax. Well Paul George definitely will not live up to his contract. Maybe there's like some way that they rehab his value nextxt season show that he could be a productive player and then flip them again the following off season when he only has the one year. That's kind of the theory that we put into the Wizards when they tradeed for Trey Young and they're gonna to do that. Well wait no, actually, they're going to sign him to the worst contract in the league and just keep him from the long run Never mind. Yikes. Well heres here's the thing in light of Trey Young We're talking about Jalen Brown and Paul George and whether they're worth their current contracts. I fear we may have buried the lead on all of this, which is the Jalen Brown conversation is not that he's paid fifty eight million dollars this year. It's not even that he has two years left on his deal I think a lot of it is the Celtics don't necessarily want to be on the hook for his next extension, right? It's the money that's due after And so if you're not having this conversation now, you're having it closer and closer to the expiration of his deal It just still is a bitter pill to swallow for me. In terms of the timing of all of this. I understand the forecasting, I understand the concerns. I understand wanting to get ahead of it. I still feel If they had waited or if they had played this market differently that they could have been involved in some other conversations, Yonis or otherwise, this just it feels incomprehensible to me given all the reporting that's out there, even with all the pessimism out there that this was the best that they could do for Jayen Brown Do you really think they were going to be able to sell some team as that extension approached? Do you think how many teams do you think would have looked at that extension and be like, yeah, man dying to sign up for that? Like I just s seems like a tall order. It is a tall order, but I don't know. like teams get desperate. Teams want stars. like you wait for the right team and squeeze them at the right time instead of Oh, we have to get off this guy now because we're so worried about. I would presume, although Brad Stehvens wouldn't confirm it, the damage that's been done to that relationship that everyone is kind of dancing around with Jayalen Brown You play the market differently and all of a sudden, you get to make the trade when you have leverage and not when the other teams do It's all about time in the market, not timing in the market. You know Sure, they say is it They do say that. Okay. Pople say that Um All right, let's flip to the next part of the pod. as Kyle mentioned we recorded this earlier in the day. We're going to talk through the best fits for one LeBron James. We gave our one through Fives and then we talked about some Matchmaking fits tried to play a little matchmaker trying to put the remaining free agents to a new destination. So hear that right after we. I'm Arch Manning. I'm Madison Skinner. I'm Eva Yovich. I'm Dloria Mmore. W want to train like a Red Bowull athlete? Tell us your fitness goals this summer to enter the Red Bowull athlete challenge. You'll get to try each of our workouts for a chance to win an ultimate Red Bull experience They you have what it t All right, it's LeBron time. And Kyle, you actually brought your own whiteboard here d a little Rich Paul action. Yeah, there's a board back there. I was just gonna to kind of let the pub We need We need to like cultivate like a Redditpiry conspiracy theory kind of culture, right To the pod, I think that would sort of up our numbers, give people talk I don't think we want to stoke anything in any Reddits at this point. L let's you can doodle on your board as you please. It's your home, it's your life, but I simply can't encourage all that to watch the video and like really pinch zoom in. you could see Kyle trying to findind where Rob and I are going this summer, I guess. It just like theygage in your old career wise engaging your old's interests and things like that, you know, Don't worry about how I dooodle on my board, Rob, That's my business I agree. Okay Well, we couldn't get the rights to the real Rich Paul whiteboard. I asked for the clearance, but apparently I don't have it. Rob, I was surprised that you don't have the access to that. Why would it be me? your management Well, you're a big wig now, Juan. and also you're a Dallas residence. So if anyone knows the advantages of being close to oil, I do know all about the oil. If you want to know where the oil is literally buried, I'm your guy. I can hook it up Is there like a Spotify warehouse sort of like from Indiana Jones where the government keeps all like the props from the different shows, you know, and the whiteboard's going to be in there and years from now somebody will run it down I like the idea of that. Various Celtics ephemera from like rewatchable sets past, you know, It must be sitting somewhere I can assure you that there in fact is one And I know this because a year or two ago, I went and dug out all the stuff I left in my old office from suunset and Gower in what would have been like early twenty twenty because we had to vacate the office. We thought we would come back. We never did. And so six years later I have the New Orleans Baby Cakes mug that I so desperately was pining for. So there is this whole wow like sort of storage situation. they will watch you as you go into the storage situation just to make sure you don't take anything you're not supposed to, but It exists The lengths that I saw you go to save that baby Kicks mug, I've never seen you work so hard for anything in your entire life yearsars from now when all of this stuff is admitted, you know before a grand jury. I'm sure that's why they were watching you so closely whenever we're held accountable for everything that goes on here So we're going to go through the best LeBron fits on the board here. He's really the last guy out there who could probably make a meaningful difference, like a top thirty players sort of difference on a team. We've all ranked one through five, what we think are the best LeBron spots. I did it without really like being beholden to the whiteboard. like I in every single team. I'm basically looking for what is the best mix of like team fit, but also something that's realistic. Like I don't think he's going to take the minimum to join the pacers or someome of the smaller market teams that don't really necessarily need him Why are you trying to hurt me Itry is I'm just being a journalist. You know, I'm being beholden to the truth, ultimately. Yeah No, I think it's a good qualifier front. likeike just realistic enough that it's either like whiteboard adjacent or you least have to kick around the idea like The pacers for as much as I would love to see it are just not going to happen for a variety of reasons. So let let's get into the ones that at least might Yeah, I went with like narrative value, roster fit and then fun factor Just those three those three categories Okay, did you guys factor in anything beyond that? Rob. I know like LeBron is talking about happiness is like his motivating factor here. I don't know really what that means per se, considering his family is in LA. and he went to LA specifically for similar reasons. So it's a little nebulous. Did you factor in anything else I mean, I think you factor in the finding joy aspect in the sense of like Would LeBron have a good time playing here? Like would this be an experience that he would chase after or would want in some conceivable way? but that just usually ends up coming down to one of those other buckets anyway this is like a Murie Kondo sort of thing. like if you see Tyres Maxi like and he sparks joy, just go toward him. I mean, he always sparks joy. that one's a no brainer Very true. A Why don't we start with number fives here Rob, you wantanna go through your first So I have the Golden State Warriors at number five. Okay. Okay Okay Pak peak plausibility, perhaps. likeike I can really see this happening. I think it's probably still the favorite on the board. although I know the cals have maybe made some inroads just by the inaction out there otherwise in the market I just think that the Steph LeBron connection clearly work so well And it is one of the most powerful options anywhere on the board as far as where LeBron could go and who he could play with narratively in terms of basketball, in terms of just like quality of life mechanically getting through the regular season. what could be better than playing with Steph Curry for a full year and kind of living out that particular dream. I just think we we all deserve this in a way that transcends Olympic play or all star games or whatnot. And that includes LeBron and stuff too Kyle, where you have the warriors I have them at number two actually, because I feel like the narrative value here is pretty strong where you have the two arguably the most important players impactful players of their generation. American players that is, I guess you you could really quibble that, I guess, but we'll just go with it. I'll say the two most important two guys born at the same hospital in Akron, interestingly enough U notot that the same go back to where it really started. go all the way back. baby. There was some nurse on duty that had I don't know, mayaybe it was a nurture situation. We'll see. There are In terms of the roster fit It's a little clunkier, I think, just because if you listen to the things that that LeBron would want. And you know myself as a forty one year old pickup basketball player, I can kind of feel this way. There are some days where you get put on a team where you're like, I'm going to end up having to do more than I want to with this group of players. You know what I mean? I'd rather have to be calibrated where I can pick my spots and do the things and feel a little bit like I used to feel, but ultimately I don't want to carry the same usage load. It's kind of like when you look at the warriors, it's L Steh needs Burden taken off of him. beyond that Who really is gonna to be the person you know, who's going to be the person taking the reps to to lighten the load for those two guys. So I think it would be super, super fun. Like I went back and I was watching a lot of the actions where Steph and LeBron were involved with each other and like in the Olympics and It was a lot, a lot of fun in the pick and roll and the handoffs and things like that. but feel like basketball wise, it might be pretty clunky like them figuring out how to not overburden this team with their age defensively and then, you know, take not burn them out offensively because there's past step, there's just not a lot of offensive options. I ultimately had them number one And I did that because I just feel like the fit is like wide open for him. Like if you're looking at the depth charts as I have up here from mSpN. com right now the starting five is set up and the which you are always on, right? Yeah one hundred percent accurate all the time.. Gy Santos is right now the starting forward for the Golden State Warriors. And I just feelt like maybe that's just like me projecting on here because I see the void right happening. But there's just like clearly they need him. I think Chris Oops coming back gives them the stretch option at the very least could like like loosen things up in the offense a little bit, especially once Jimmy returns. I think Jimmy is really the sticking point where he's not expected back until February and you don't know if he's actually going to come back then because he's coming back from a catastrophic injury at an advanced age. And so does LeBron want to like wait for him to come back just you really want to put his probably last year in the hands of the recovery of another player That gets messy, but when he does come back, I feel like this is the type of team that suits his preferences, right? whereere it's just like we're all on the same page career wise, We all at the same level star wattage wise kind of varying. It just, I don't know, just feels like if you're Paying the role of LeBron and you look at this team, like this one feels more like something that he would be interested in It feels right in a bunch of different ways I think the balance is kind of what we're laying out here, which is do you pick the team that has players around you or maybe even coaches around you who are kind of at a similar stage of life? Like people you can connect with, a community that you can be a part of with the team Or do you pick the team that has the younger legs that could take some of the weight and the responsibility off of you to the extent that LeBron wants that. I think he wants it to a point. He clearly wants to be involved. He wants to be one of the co authors of whatever team he joins in the season that they're going to have But I think I just worry about the other part. L between Steph and LeBron and Jimmy Butler A all are any of those three guys going to end the season completely healthy? It feels like a long shot. like there's going to be nagging injuries, some of them could be taken out of the lineup altogether by the end of the season. like There's just like a lot hanging on their collective age in a way that I'm still down for the season. I'm still down for that for that team construction. I hope it happens, frankly I just don't know if it's like the ideal fit for what he should be chasing at this point a lack of piss and vinegar in that in that alignment. That's all I'm saying, you know, because if you watch these playoffs It was kind of a piss and vinegar playoffs. A lot of these back courts very, very physical at the point of attack I think this will be a recurring thing. and as I was going down through the teams thinking about what LeBron still can do in spurts in controlled doses. And then also what is going to be In order to get the most out of that stuff, I think you have to have some other counterbalancing factors on the floor, not just the scoring part, but just I think ball pressure and defensive prrotection is going to be really key. and I just don't know necessarily see it with the warriors. and there's there and that factored into some of my thought process for some of these other teams too that we can get into Yeah, I think the youth thing is interesting because on the one hand, I agree that he needs younger legs in order to pace him through the regular season. Most teams do, not just the older teams at this point. On the other hand, like how much does like the established veteran really want to hang out with the interns? you know? Like just in terms of like a vibes like getting through the season, is there really Peel to that And really airon yourself out here, Justin, you know Well, I don't wantan to hang out with most people, so I'm a little bit of a different case. I also feel like with Poemky in particular, like real Mario Chalers LeBron is just going to dog him the entire time. Oh sure. And I almost wonder if like we're thinking nostalgia play like there's no throwback like LeBron just like yelling at a teammate who's younger than him. So there's that So you're telling me like before LeBron has his readers on, he could look at Guis Santos and be like, o, that's Anderson Verjo But I'm playing in readers. It's funny Oh ye, I get some like goggles Horse Grant style, but the readers at the bottom of his I think it's beautiful. aging is beautiful, you know? Yeah. It really is. Well Ki, what do you think about the young guys on this roster? They have Yxel here, they have Pojemski Well Richard was pretty good last year. Yeah. And he he was good in some of the early I haven't checked on the like last day or so Summer reallyague returns, but he's playing well. He's an older player too. And I mean, I think it's important that we at least acknowledge him before people hear us like just roundly dismiss the warriors youth just say Google, you know like Yaxle is going to be He's an older player. He's as we know, he's coming in at twenty four years old and I think he'll be able to, you know, take a lot of tougher defensive assignments. You have a lot of great smart help on this team defensively like would be some of the wiser defensive helpers in the league. and I think LeBron in terms of like offball processing and playing that that chessboard, still brain is I mean, all time. I mean, it's arguably one of the best all time. That's offense and defense. So you have him and then you have obviously we talked about, you know, Pajemski and Will Richard. I think those are D Anony Melton resigned, you know, we've been I feel like the hypothetical D Anthony Melton is sort of like moving away from what he really is more by the day. So maybe he'll rebound and have have a better year, but I don't know where you guys are on the younger the younger players. It just feels like a lot's up in the air with them. Yes I just think that there's enough in support of what they have in this structure versus what they tried before, which is to try to break that structure to find something that would level them up. There are no longer these Jonathan Cominga types unless I'm like completely misreading Yaxle. I know he had some issues with some of the things he would say in interviews, but like if he could just play his role at least for this year or they can get him to buy into a role this year then level up down the road. like these guys support the team of a LeBron steph, Draymond sort of vision. And then you could worry about that later in a way that like they probably hadn't before. And so yeah, that's part of my understanding here, Rob is like I just think that it's more balanced than in the past where they're trying to mess with two timelines It definitely feels more balanced. It feels more cohesive for that reason But it's also not coincidentally why they don't have the kinds of ball handlers that they might need. Like you do have to walk this tightroad between being the style of team you want to be, but also having some pure bucket getters, having some creators, having some guys who are going to play a slightly different method O else everything is just going to be running Steph Curry as he rounds into his late thirties sprinting around ball screens every possession like you need alternatives and Look LeBron gives you a lot of alternatives. He gives you a lot of ways to tap into offense. He can play his own version of Bllyball, but really just using him as the trigger man for the greatest shooter to ever live. That's just going to make a lot of these guys really good within their roles, cutting slicing, hitting spot up shots like That foundation is going to be really fun and really good basketball, basically no matter how you slice up the rest of the roster When you mentioned scores, whyy don't we go to number five Amilis, which is the Philadelphia seventy sixers who now have an abundance of them, including clutch client Tyres Maxi, TM I did find it funny when when Nurish Paul was going through the whole exercise there he' wass like, Ohh, Tyre' Maxi, LeBron loves him and the cals don't have deare as girarlland. that's a big one. are his clients. I was waiting him to basically be like, you know what? my intern Lucy is from Chicago. Gota put that up there. Really loves the bean. Have you guys seen the bean? First of all, the bean can get fucked. The bean sucks. Oh far As far as landmarks go, come on, we can do better than the bean Man, suucking good letters. There we go What What's his actual name? The Millennium Arch or something like that? I've never been. Millennium Gate What is the be Fuck the bean. Wow. There we go. The cld gate sorry, the cloud gate. Is the bean worth being like is it worth saying get fucked? Rob, that's a you're really going nuclear on a pretty inanimate object that just looks cool and it's not like Well there's a problem. I guess here's the thing. when you're of a certain age you just get inundated with photos of your friends in their reflection at the bean. and it's like This is so seven hundredth most interesting thing about Chicago. a great American city. Go during the summertime, it's unbeatable Just don't go to the cloud gate He twisted that in the Sears Tower. comeome on. twisted that where he's pro Chicago. That was I approag That That was a savvy move. That's fine. That's fine. I just Well, with the Sixers here There's a lot going on for them. I almost wonder if there's too much. This is just like a really messy situation to really be vaulting yourself into. There's the fit there. Clearly. if you just want to take the Dean Wade spot in that starting lineup, it would be one of the most star studed starting lineups I've seen in recent history U having said that, similar things with Ibed As with Butler, where it's just like you're not really sure when he's going to play if he's ever going to play and when he does play, just feels like he wants to be pretty demonstrative about how he goes about his business and it's more lurching and slower than ever before and Butler at the very least you know that there's a finish line and it might just be that. he'll be back. And then we go from there whereereas with him be the start stop nature in addition to like how Jalen Brown is just going to really weave his way into this team Rob. For me, it's an attractive talent package, but as a full like fleshed out team. I just don't think it's there yet, and so I have them at number five Yeah, I actually had them as kind of an honorable mention for that reason. It it could happen. Osensible like again, they're on the whiteboard for a reason and the talent play for that kind of Void at Power Forward if you want to call it that Fair play. Plug Lebron in there his super processing brain clearly help these guys fit together I also think it might just be over compomlicating him over compompllicating it to put him there when they're already having the Jail in Brown like massive addition and massive amount of sea change that comes with that. too the point that, I mean, you talked about the fit Justin, but I kind of think Dean Wade fits what they need more than LeBron fits what they need. No one's going to turn their nose up at adding LeBron James to a roster under basically any circumstances, or at least they shouldn't Like they need perimeter defense. they need spacing. They need guys who are going to allow Jayen Brown and Tyres, Maxie and Joel and Bed to workshop their way into being a viable trio. LeBron can assist in some of that stuff, but like his standing, his reputation, in some ways, even his ego might be like a little too big for that kind of like Honestly like tertiary sort of role even within that setup. Well, I'll surprise you guys here. I have the Sixers as my number one destination for life. Let' go. I talk us through it, make the pitch Uh, fun factor obviously whatever who gives a shit at the end of the day. It doesn't really matter if you're having fun, you know, LeBron's not going to go anywhere just because of fun. I mean, he wants to win I think the roster fit here really makes a ton of sense. If you were going to allow LeBron to sort of sit in a lazy boy recliner for the longest amount of time on any one of these teams and still maximize the things that he does really well. I'm not going to make the Maxi pun. I thought about it for a split second This would be the team. If you think about all the scoring guards that the scoring tilted guards on this team, scoring tilted players, you'd be giving LeBron a lot of toys. I just think that that would be he would be in the position to pick his spots when he wanted to play in movements where you have the kinetic movement of the you could even throw Simons and Filon like mix them in with those teams You'd be unburdening those guys. He might average ten or eleven assist a game on this team. likeike I think he would be it would be a really, really fun fit. There's no real narrative angle here other than the Gany thing, but I think basketball wise, this would be very, very fun putting LeBron in Philly defeinitely would help them pace out the regular season. And so you could play through whatever Mb injuries happen. you could play through whatever LeBron wants to play and whenever he decides not to. I guess the question is does it force Jaylen Brown into more of a supplementary role because we were already saying Brown's arrival probablyably forces Tye Maxie to do a little bit less. Is Brown in his first year with Philly if he wants to do this like revenge tour? Is this going to force him to be a few years ago playing off of Kye style Jalen Brown' on more of like a supplementary offender like just attacking off of the catch story guy versus someone who's the main otlight, you know? And like LeBron soaks up All the oxygen in a room. is he going to want that But you're right, if he's willing to do that then certainly if fits, if not, it just seems a little clunky I just think you need a lot of people who are willing to do things. like how little are we willing to accept from Tyree Maxi is kind of the question if you plunk LeBron onto this team because now LeBron would be functionally their point guard in a lot of ways. Maxi would be unlocked as a scorer, but Jalen Brown is going to get up a lot of shots. Joelen Beat is going to get up a lot of shots I just feel the squeeze coming for too many of those guys where I'm already like wanting to wait and see and eager to see what Jalen Brown does to the makeup of this team and everyone's habits and influences and like the roles that they're playing within the offense. addding LeBron it does feel like one ingredient too many to me, but also like what I'm not turning it down. Like I would love to see that. I would love to see LeBron try to help these guys along, even if maybe It's not ultimately what's best for them. Yeah, I think a ganche just put the keep putting the spices in there Do you put a lot of spice in Baba Ganche? I don't know, I'm just saying. I've never made drak on top, maybe, but even that's more of a hummus thing, I gotta say I think the Jal and scaling down thing would be the main variable because LeBron has been his touch timee and his dribble time has like been ramping down over the past five seasons. So he is obviously whether he's like excited about it or not. He has been sort of drifting towards this Maximizing the things like he's really, really good in the short role. like I was going back and just kind of watching his actions directly with Luca. like how he navigated that. likeike he's still one of the best short role players ever. I mean when when he's playing in that situation. So having him there where they overplay a score like a Maxie or a Jalen Brown. I think you take pressure off of those two guys being home run hit or passers I think you can let them just kind of be who they are and it's just like Jalen, go try to get buckets and pick and roll Tyree. same kind of thing. You could even go for five with Joeell a little bit. I just think if guys were willing to slide and scale make I think it would make Pilly the best offensive team in the league arguably if he went there. I mean, they would be crazy if they kind of maxed out their potential. What all those guys can do if you get them to work in concert would be unbelievable And also I think we might be downplaying the narrative angle a little bit in the shadow of a season where the Kicks just won the title Bron going to Philly like a long suffering franchise in many respects. I mean, they've had some playoff success, but haven't won a title in almost fifty years have had some real low lows, LeBron coming at the tail end of like this process era and putting them over the top into It's a contention if everything went right. I do think there's some value there. And I do think the Sixers as an institution have a reputation and a standing that is like Okay, that is a team I could see LeBron actually going to Bron who wore six because of Julius Irving, Do they allow him to wear it for the one season that he's there? Like, yeah, you could definitely write out the script a little Yeah, interestnting. Do we make much of the golf store thing or the where do you all like The social media sort of campaign thing because he was in he was in Akron, right? also Really hiding, I have to say also in that club, just out in plain sight in a club I don't know. I feel like it's like just barely shrouded the social campaign that's going on. Yeah I mean, who among us doesn't go home for a little summer visit I don't know how much to read whenever LeBron is in Cleveland, but they're probably the favorite if we want to talk about the cabs. I have the cabs at three, unfortunately. I think for all the narrative reasons, they probably are top on this list. Probably the most likely scenario, especially if you're factoring in LeBron wanting to be in the East because the easier path to the conference finals at the very least. I just don't see how he fits alongside James Harden. I also think it's a very girthy front court if you put LeBron Mobli An Allen there like were we trading Jared Allen at that point in order to feature Moby is Mby ready for that considering he keeps getting beasted in playoff scenarios. But the big thing is like hardarden in LeBron defensively first of all, they're both basically power fors defensively at this point, but also they want to be on the ball. and so and Mitchell wants the ball. And so it's just like it's very cluttered. And so basketball fit wise. Imost wonder if they just like erase the pass couple of months since the deadline and just walk back the hardarden thing and just don't sign him. That would be great As long as he's there, Rob, I just I don't see it. Yeah, I ended I had times where I was making this list and they were not on the list for pure basketball reasons. And then I had times where I was making it and they're number one on the list for all of the narrative propulsion that LeBron going back to Cleveland would bring. And so I ended up just putting them at three and kind of splitting some of that difference where They are complex in terms of offensively. There's just a lot going on between LeBron and Harden and Mitchell for all the reasons you just described defensively All three of those guys need help and should not be chasing around the top scores in the league on a game to game basis. likeike that's kind of a nightmare scenario in terms of trying to manage a functional playoff level defense And yet there are some things that are just bigger than basketball. And it's like pretending that these guys, especially someone of LeBron's caliber and place in history, would think about their free agent decision as like, where do I fall on the org chart is just not realistic and not true to the spirit of this kind of exercise and true to what kind of decisions human beings make at this stage in their life. going back to a place where he played his most meaningful basketball, a place that is adjacent to his hometown effectively, that is his hometown team. That to me feels like a better conceptual fit than so many of the other ones that might technically be cleaner or have a vacancy at powerower forord or like make sense for this reason or that. like the calves just fit. They would have to figure out the basketball as they go and yeah, it would be really complicated, but We can't pretend we don't see it or we wouldn't understand why it would happen. Like it's the most human option on the board for him to just go back to Cleveland I just I have a hard time with the Cleveland one because you mentioned it like the defensive thing. I just think I have a hard time seeing him pick any team where like the front door to their defense is like' penetrated consistently if teams are getting into the first and second level. And I just think mixing the harden and the Donoan Mitchell thing there. I just think it would be a tough you know, you have a nice backstop stop with Jaret and with Evan, but I just think I agree with you. I think there would have to be some kind of movement there. And I think that both of those guys, you know, we wanted Donovan to kind of move into this you know, two smaller guard, you know, moving off ball more kind of a thing and they would do it here and there, but they never fully embraced it when it was him and Garland together. And I'm just like Harden is less and less likely to be a part of that. I mean it's just it's really clunky to me. I wrote this down. this is pretty wild. So there thirty seven guys in the league were in the five thousand touches club this past season and only Say had a longer touch time and dribbles per touch than Harden. So Harden was number two and he had the lowest efficiency in the top ten. So this is a guy who is he's not, you know, we're talking about LeBron embracing the fact that he's going to have to engage with off ball stuff, be less involved directly with it. Harden's going the other way. It's like he's he's going towards just like the only way I can stay on the floor now is if I have it my hands all the time. And I just don't think you're maximiz. It's like the worst version of what he was with Luca. Like I just don't, I just don't see it I don't see it working. And then the narrative side of it twenty sixteen was just like such a great. I know it didn't end it end in twenty sixteen, but that's the last thing that we remember. It's just like, can you remember like a TV show or a movie or whatever it is that had a perfect endpoint And then they came back again. It was like you to come back. leeave it there. Veronica Mars, what are you doing? Okay., please be respectful. Please respect our leegends. Did you throw that at Rob on purpose? becausecause Veronica Mars feels like an extremely Rb show. don. look guilty as charged. Didn't they bring it back specifically because the fans like they money toward it or there was enough of an outcry or something. I'm so glad you asked. So Jesus Christ. Th seasons, the third season was already kind of going off the rails a little bit because they were trying to get people to watch it. They had to j up the structure show gets canceled. Then they kickstart a movie that is like pure fan service, absolute Drek. thenen they revive it again as a Hulu series Short lived, a little more like hard boiled, I actually really liked it. Ends in like the controversial killing. I guess spoiler alert for Veronica Mars. I'm not gonna to say any names. But the controversial killing of a beloved character, people fucking lost their minds. Let me tell you. in my corner of the world, this was a huge deal. I did not. I actually I actually kind of liked it Okay, well, so maybe there's hope for LeBron there I think I think so if this is season four of Veronica of Mars, I'm going to be happy. I don't know how happy everyone else will be I don't see the narrative value there. I just don't. don't I don't know what the point is. Like I feel like it's just better for him to stretch his narrative out in another direction because the Cleveland thing was just so satisfying the end of it. Like why go back? I don't know. You don't see the narrative value in a guy going back home to play with people that he may like in a place that he enjoys LeBronso global now. it's just kind of like, I don't know. He transcends time and place. He's the Beatles. He belongs to everybody. just there's a point where he just did that. I just feel like his career has been crossed over into this like He's not beholden to one place. It's more just It's so expansive. It's like, why don't just expand it into another area? Like playing with steph, that's more interesting to me. like Going back to Cleveland, it's like Cleveland should be satisfied, right? They can't really be mad. It was perfect He just goes to Denver instead and just becomes like a dispensary guy, you know, just invests in the pot business gets into new terrain. Well We'll table that. They may be coming up on this list. Okay. Well, Kyle, where did you have the calves? Did you have them on your top five? I hadem at five. U Rob, you had the wararriors at five. You had the cavs at three Uh, whoo do you have it for So at four, I have a team that I feel like is not being talked about a lot that makes a good deal of sense to me. and that's the Houston Rockets Okay. I don't I really don't see this option being bandied about Don't believe they made an appearance on the whiteboard unless I'm mistaken U But if we're talking about reuniting, or in this case, uniting LeBron with Team USA teammates, but also like foils of a former life. LeBron and Kevin Durant playing together would be pretty rich. I also think it's like team up with Kevin Durant. inccredible pairing of scoring and playmaking between them Play for a contender that so clearly needs what LeBron brings to the table and just enter your like late stage magic Johnson era. like everything that we werere talking about as far as like the kind of passer he could be for the Sers I think he could do that and more with the rockets If you just imagine how much needeed and missed Fred Van Vet and then you make Fred Van Vleit sixty nine and as good as LeBron. I just think it could kind of work. Like he would help these guys run and gun. You have Amend Thompson and Tari Eon all game to take defensive responsibility off of LeBron. You're setting Kadady up possession after possession. you have Shangoon to short roll, help with the playmaking do all those things. It would be a little clunky in terms of the spacing sometimes and like a lot would fall on Is Jibari hitting his threes on this particular night But I kind of like it and I would kind of love to see it A lot of a lot of patrons with big stomachs and open mouths that really need a chef and LeBron would be an incredible caterer for them. Like he could come in and just be like, Hey, Read Shepherd, your life is infinitely easier in all these different ways. Kie like I mean, Katie that's one, you know, Katie obviously just making his life easier. A lot of these guys Jabari's That's the kind of character of this roster is they just have guys who can do things, but they just need that first step and I think LeBron could He'd be just an upgraded version of what Shenun does for them. I mean, Senun would be an interesting variable to this though. likeike what would happen with that? Do you think like you go to the bench? Could they play together? I don't know. Well, especially because the clip that's kicking around my mind as Rob is laying this out is LeBron saying on the foul line to Shengun, not you. Anyone can say it, but not you which is a tough for him. I like the general thinking you have here where it's like L brron seems best served brringing up a talented group of young players, especially the rockets who seem like they need an adult ike you talk about Jibbari Smith hitting open threes. How about Jibbari Smith recognizing time and place and situation and just knowing what to do with the ball on a given possession because he is so much talent, but good God, that guy just cannot make any sort of reason to fly. And so for that Lron I has a history of loving those guys that the lose track of time and situation, right? Yeah That's true. That's right. It goes well It very lely say's ten thousand dollars. I think Kevin Durant is an interesting variable there because on the one hand, I agree with you. I think like trying to bookend like, well, if it's not Steph, maybe it's the other guy on team USA. That's a nice little story. And how does it feel like Kevin Durant's like the worst sort of player for this team as we found out, not just because of his extracurricular activities on his Twitter accounts or maybe potentially allegedly U it's also like they need this guy to rear the youth, but like whenever you need KD, he's just like over in the corner working on his bag with like the big o old headphones on. It's like, I'll see you guys later. I got to I got to work out my dribble step Hezy pull up. It's fine here Uh, so for the don't know, Im I just can't But this is what LeBron is for. LeBron is the like let's go to top golf guy and Kie can work on his bag. you know, like there can be something for everybody. L Katie be the brooding one to the side making comments. likeike you got to stabilize that. There was too much power. It was tipped too much towards Katie. Yeah. I just so The front court would be Shengun in the Brawn or it would be Jibari in the I think Aams. No no, to be clear, I'm slotting LeBronon is like an actual point guard for this team.. Like I think I think on then is rotating around guarding whoever you need him to guard But you're playing LeBron, Amen Thompson, Katie, Jibari Shangoun, probably as your starters I don't hate it as much as I thought I would. The defense get a concern, but U You know, it's about as good of a fit as some of these other ones we've mentioned So I think it's interesting It's not just like who can guard but who can guard flexibly? Because like Amen Thompson can guard at least one through three, even some power forwards. Jabar Smith, one of the best bigs in terms of chasing wings and guards around if he has to do that. And so If you have to like cover for both LeBron and Kevin Durant to try to make their lives easier on defense, I think those are two pretty good ways to start Uh, Kyle, do you want to go with your number for now? Rock's not on my list, by the way. Number four I have the Minnesota Timberwols for the for the main reasons. I don't I don this isn't my favorite one. I'm not going to act like because I have a hard time seeing LeBron signing up for aspects of this because the chaos of the Lameello an LeBron idea would be extremely fun He would be an incredible mentor for those two guys Defensively though. I mean, so the fun factor very high The roster fit, I think they could use him talking about like teeams that are going to have a very strong frontline of defense to protect him and not overburden him. They can help him on all fronts. like I mean, you've got a good backstop granted Rudy has his issues. I think LeBron would help Rudy. But you have McDaniels, you have IO, you have Jayen Clark underrated, I think, you have, you know, and I just think defensively, they be in a pretty good spot. and I think he could fill in there at that spot where the the Randall Nes read thing and do basasically everything that those guys did and more and more and more and you like quintuple the basketball field in IQ. I think you'd be a fun fit there, but I There's no narrative angle there at all. It would just be him feeling bad for the wolves, I guess. I don't know our Minnesode or why would be the angle. But basketball, why is it make sense? I just don't know that I would I could see him signing up to like Tuter those two guys This is my favorite option by far It is we have a one for you This is my number one was it wasn't even close zero hesitation, Minnesota Timber Wols with a bullet I disagree about the narrative angle first of all. I I really think when you're trying to chart where LeBron will go Yet Can you go back to Cleveland or can you team up with Steph in Golden State? I think the idea of going to a team and saving it is like one of the few things he has like left that he could do, right? L Go to one of these teams that has never won a title. Go to one of these teams that hasn't been able to break through a particular wall. like I thought honestly, it was instructive and Rich Paul on the pod talking about why LeBron won't sign with the Kicks basically because they already won the championship. And if they hadn't, he would probably be there That's kind of part of the thinking, right? It's like who are the teams that really need what LeBron brings to the table and LeBron. I mean, just one of like the I can fix him kings like going going into Minnesota, helping Ant elevate his game, getting Lameello to play like nails, like more focused basketball. Taking Rudy to a place he's never been before, but also in the process like I think having the balance of like he can bring a lot to the wolves and they have everything that he needs to do a little bit less and get through a full season and take the pressure off. like Ant is a score, Lamelo is a playmaker Jane McDaniels and Rudy as defenders and Anta when he's really locked in as a defender to say nothing about. I agree with you on Jay and Clark. likeike that's that's a protypical LeBron teammate, if I've ever seen one It just makes sense. I don't know if it will make sense in his mind, but it certainly makes sense to me. See, unfortunately for Minnesota, a place I've never been to but seems lovely, especially in the summer That just strikes me as the type of place where Lerv would be like, Minnesota, I'm gonna spend my last year in the pros just freezing my balls off trying to get Cleveland. Yeah, I was gonna say That cold. Tropical Cleveland. Yeah. Yeah. Minnesota, you're taking the skywalk to get off of the road because you can't be outside when it's a certain of the year. Like there are degrees to thisure. I just don't know if he wants to do that year. I think the other part of this is like On the one hand, yes, there are young players there that he put his stamp on I feel like the task of trying to breathe life into Lameello on a daily basis and like trying to get him to like lock in, which is d nothing life. That's not the issue. Okay, well trying to build structure around our friend Lamelo Bal and trying to get him on task would send anyone to the insane asylum. Like I just wrote down for the wolves here on my dock Knuckleheads And like yeah, it might be fun to play off of those guys. Th Zany Edwards and Lamel Ball they're just eating skkittles at practice. Is isn't this fun? But on the other hand, like trying to get them to like execute at the highest level when you have your last year on the line, that seems really difficult I just think historically LeBron has been a brring Me your knuckleheads kind of guy Like that's that's where he lives and breathes is is like showing people, hey, you are wrong about this particular basketball talent. He may not work everywhere. He may not work in these other situations with these other stars, but he will work with me But maybe maybe maybe that's more trouble than it's worth at this point, but that does seem like how he likes to operate Sure, but with his best player like his go to teammates, like the big threes aren' usually where the knuckle headedness is concentrated. Well the knuckle headedness in this case is concentrated in one of the best players in the entire world and also like a clearly all star level offensive talent who just led one of the best offenses in the I thought we're just like full throated arguing over this hypothetical. I honestly think Ant needs less help. L Ant has completely convinced me that he's okay. Like I just feel like his accountability, his like he's been more he's really, really impressed me with how like willing he is to be like take inventory of his strengths and weaknesses and where he's his faults and things and when he's screwed up. I used to say that it's more of a stage of career thing where like LeBron in the T's Lakers era, sort of when he was peak of his powers ultimate floor razor probably of all time. I always said that he had this power called contextual healing. and at one point I tried to write a parody to that and it failed. but I just think that at this stage of his career, I'm like I just don't know how much he's wanting to flex that muscle. Like I feel like he wants a little more help, even though I think that he could help those guys Um I don't know. could it could happen. It could. I mean, that would be a really, really good basketball team. So I don't have a great argument. It's just kind of like does he would sign up for that? was my main like, I don't know I don't know if you're getting much more help than Anthony Edwards and L Mellall in offense, McDaniels and Gober on defense. like that's that's pretty much an ideal bal for a guy like LeBron Yes. that's why I had them four because I think the team fit is probably the best there But in terms of personalities, I also like Rudy's a very prickly sort. I don't know if LeBron like wants to gravitate toward this. It seems like he wants something like a known quantity and the closest that we have there is annt from their team USA days, but it's just like How much is he really on his level? He's not really a peer per se. He's more of like someone who idolized the brron going up. So I don't know, in Minnesota factors in here. so I don't see it happening, but I agree with you that like in terms of basketball, it probably is one of if not the best options for it. Um H we talked about the nuggetset We have not. So I have the sixers at five. I have the wolves at four, Cavves at three who we've all mentioned in the wararriors at one. The last team I have is the nugget. So I have at number two I do it as well Okay Um I just think basketball wise, it makes a lot of sense. I think if we're talking about the age range LeBron perhaps wants to gravitate toward guys who are on the cusp of something clearly last year didn't go particularly well, but I almost wonder if we're overestimating how much of a catastrophe it was when they had a pretty clear issue and a lot of it was injury related. obviously the defense is going to be a concern. It it becomes more of a concern with LeBron in there, but the offense can be just so blistering that it might just not . mayaybe you're worried about Aaron Gordon's health, mayaybe you're worried about Jamal Murray not being the same sort of player he was last regular season. There's a lot of things to like maybe quibble about, but just in terms of like a team that's like right there on the edge It just feels like LeBron would want to just be the one to push someone over the top And also apparently on this whiteboard Cronky is a factor here given his sure success in the LA market and some of his other teams. so There's that as well. I don't know. it just like spiritually it feels like a Yokish LeBron. is the type of thing basketball fans want and LeBron ultimately is probably one of the biggest basketball fans and so I wonder if he would want to experiment with that as well. Oh, it would be it would be sick I mean Yogich LeBron Aaron Gordon Jamal Murray in particular. Those guys share a basketball sensibility that I think would just be scintillating to see them play off each other. He would fit really seamlessly into so much of what they do I would quibble though Justin with like, The idea that their offense might like so potent enough, it's going to be overpowering as it is Like I thought if anything during the playoffs, you saw some of the limitations granted with certain guys injured, but like Jamal Murray was so over taxed and Yokage was had to go so far just to keep them solvent on offense. I do think they need to do something dramatic Bringing in one of the greatest playmakers of all time is pretty dramatic. And I think would catalyze so many of the things that already work there and unlock some things that aren't being tapped into even with Yokage there by like playing alongside him. This is kind of the juice that they need. This is like the accelerant for everything that you like about the nuggets without I don't think really taking away those elements at all I them in number three. I think that the stuff you're all h hitting on is when it is true. like when I was going through like his superstar fits You know, him with a helelio guy. It's like, you can make it work, but I think the ultimate version of him is going to be with I keep using this phrase low touch time. And I think the two candidates to like really give us the most fun hing Nirvana version of basketball would be Stehan LeBron or Yokichin LeBron and they'd be different versions because it's like Naturally like Yokach isn't going to be humming off ball the way steph would, but you would have Jamal Murray granted he stays healthy you and Kam Johnson, I think would be a pretty fun option to throw in there too like in terms of You get the offball movement, you get LeBron in these situations where You know, over the course of the season thinking about how I want to use LeBron like I don't want him pounding the ball for three or four dribbles per touch. I don't want him going downhill and taking that contact. I want him one or two dribbles in a straight line. He's still very, very effective like that. So I don't want him like accruing and amassing sort of damage over the course of the season. that's going to wear him down. But when you think about the teams across the league, LeBron and Yogus together, man. It's just incomparable. There's no there's no previous thing that resembles it. It would be the It would be the best like double fulcrum. offensive setup I can't think of a better one. I really't I don't think there's anything similar to in the history of basketball if those d twoes played together game Yeah what would even be the closest comp as far as like two pass No there's no two passers of this level that have ever played together, but on an actual NBA team and not like a dream team I don't even know what could come close. It would be Bird Walton. That would be would. That's a pretty good one. I think that would be the one. And both of those dudes are still capable of being elite. Go get it yourself, guys It would be so, so, so, so fun. I might move it to two, honestly. I'm talking myself into it. Yeah. And they also have the Peton Watson factor here. I almost wonder if as a result of this, he probably has to go elsewhere because we should mention Peyton Watson Also a clutch client. and so is this a way to get Peyton Watson somewhere where he could be featured and then slide LeBronon? Is there like kind of a quid pro quo there going there? I also think like If you look back last year with the nuggets, I think part of the problem with their offense was they didn't have guys like that. They didn't have Watson who was such a critical part of his offense and Gordon wasn't there. They would be a little hefty in the front court if you're counting on a Gordon LeBron Yokich front line U becausecause you would assume it would be Jamal Mur and Camp Johnson like complimenting them But I just think there's just so much creation to just put them into a playoff situation and just have them solve problems. like you just have two locksmiths like just working in concert together. It's just like you're cracking safe left and right depending on whoever the team is. And so it's an interesting fit. and for that reason, I have them number two Did we mention everyone on everyone's lists? Kyle, do you have anyone left Uh, Yeah, we got all mine. We haven't talked about the heat. That's one that's been thrown. We should talk about them. ye I think it' the only other one. I didn't have him on my list in part because I just assumed Norm Powell was going to be there just to have any semblance of shooting. And you look up and down this roster, it's just it's lacking a lot of juice outside of there you're just hoping and praying that Bam is going to be putting up threes more than even last year when he was just like really settling into that being a main part of his offense It just feels like they're at least a year away from being highly competitive And for that reason, I just don't see wasting perhaps your final year in basketball, like trying to make sense of something that like you shripp yourself down in order to build something a new rather than LeBron wanting to be a finishing piece to something that's already established Yeah, I just don't really think it would be what he or Janis or Bam. would really want in terms of the kind of basketball that they would be forced to play. like all three of them would have to give up some of the fun things about being a star and just do more dirty work to make their like union make sense for all those reasons, especially the lack of spacing It wouldn't be a disaster. I think it would be totally fine. I think the heat are going to be good with or without LeBron contending in the east certainly But I just don't think relative to some of these other options. it's really what he would sign up for or really what the people there would want I think it'd be Helio model superstar without the uphill gravity, which I think would be really, really difficult for LeBron at this stage. L Janis and LeBron together. I mean, it would have to be inverted. It'd have to be the other way around. And we've seen that Janis isn't really excited about playing that style of basketball. I just it would be a pretty clunky fit. Wait, Kyle, genuine question. What is uphill gravity shooting gra justust you pulling you want uphill it's just you pull everybody towards the half court linely. I mean, like everybody higher pickup points, like you're not jumping the level of a screen when when Janis is coming you you're playing drop, you know, and I think that'd be tough for LeBron. Yeah. makes total sense Uh alsoso, are we sure that Pat Rilly andeBron are like good Well I think that that would be the reconciliation here, right? Like that's some of the narrative value My understanding is it didn't end well and it still never got past the point where they reconciled. So You're right. This would have to be the reconciliation. This isn't like they are they're good now and then they had to out. Everyone's going to be on the same page moving forward in locksteps. I mean, bottles of wine would have to be opened, dinners would have to be had like tenense conversations in Pat Riley's office, I'm sure or like wherever. but like That is the prerequisite. And so that's some of the appeal of some of these teams. It's like, what would it take for LeBron to want to sign up for that? And I just don't know that there's enough here to overcome like haaving to mend that particular fence for this basketball reason That was a funny one because I kind of understood both of them where it was like I was like, Riley's perspective, I was just like, he's not wrong. I mean, I kind understand. But then from LeBron's perspective, I was like, Yeah, I'd be a little offended by that too. I'd be like, buddy this is this is a different era. like, you know, this a this ain't the same thing and I'm I'm kind of different from everybody else. Don't talk to me like that. I kind of understood both sides. Yeah. Definitely There are twenty nine other teams that will let my friends on the plane. Thank you very much. Yeah All right I still think the other two teams I've written down there, I still think the Nicks are an attractive option. They don't really need him and the narrative is muddled, but like would have fit really well. The New York possibility was something that was kicked around for years and on a daily basis leading up to the actual decision And so I just have them down. I kind of wish they would figure out something. like even if it was LeBron like filling in an injury void, like someone gets hurt and like all of a sudden LeBron is available. Let's do that right before the season starts I also have the pistons down, if only because I lament the fact that they don't seem anywhere near this chase and they felt like the type of team that should have been where they have the young superstar and Kade, they have this young context. clearly they're good without LeBron, but he would be the old guy like just adding what he does, putting little spice onto the dish and all of a sudden he hit another level But just like s one of the most disappointing off seasons thus far. Maybe they have something in their back pocket that they've been working on I saw like a Kevin Durant to Detroit rumor. who knows But like, that's the exact type of team that you'd want, the narrative potential is there where it's like, o, I beat them in the Etern confonference finals a couple of years ago. L let's just let me join them now in order to help get them over the top, you know I don't hate it. Honestly, I think LeBron clearly could help with a lot of playmaking, a lot of balancing out all of the pressure that's on cade would bring a ton to the pistons. I don't know that it makes sense, again, relative to some of these other alternatives, but It would be great because LeBron going most places would be great Do you guys have any other ones I have one other one I mean, if we're just going to acknowledge that L Le Bron Isn't going to sign with the Kicks because they won the title Then why not join the team that couldn't beat the Kicks becausecause they were so clearly missing endnd of game composure Organization to their offense in critical moments I would say toobias Harris is never going to get in the way of any team signing LeBron James, but I think the spurs are a team that we have to at least kind of throw out here as one that he could really and legitimately help in so many different ways and also has a lot of the kind of tent pollles to take the pressure off of him Yeah, you could you wouldn't have to he could really pick his spots on that deep. I don't Yeah the roster doesn't really. I mean, the Pacers were were a fun one too. I mean, that idea Halleie and LeBron together would be a pretty fun you're talking about I'd be another guy another entry on that list of guys I was talking about about. how he interfaces with certain types of superstars. I mean, that that would be a pretty fun one I mean, balance out the workload on the group project, you know, like see how it works this time I was going asked to the The Nicks. how many cl like the C the CAA clutch thing is pretty like stinky on that team in particular, right? How many clutch guys are on are on the Nix at this point I don't know Yeah off the top of my head. I think Oji maybe. I think Oji Either way. Let me let me fact check real quick It's not going to happen. So it's just like what we don't even. Oh Okaykay, I think I have answer Horns we I believe the answer is zero clutch clients on the. There we go Rster. There we go. I don't I don't know that the CAA stronghold is ready to invite Rich Paul in. I don't know. I'm just speculating. who knows Well it's almost Odyssey season, you know, if not a Trojan horse. There we go All right, why don't we take a quick break, come back, talk about some remaining freeagents and where they might go So good, so good, so good New summer arrivals are at Nordstrom Rack stores now. Get ready to save big with up to sixty percent off brands like Rag and Bone, Levi's, Adidas, and Free People. Join the Nordy Club to unlock exclusive discounts, shop new arrivals first, and more. Plus, buy online and pick up at your favorite rack store for free. Great brands, great prices. That's why you rack This episode is brought to you by Google Chrome. You think you know a browser, but Gemini and Chrome, that's new. It can help you with practically anything on the web, like restoring a vintage motorcycle from a fifty page restoration block, or finally break down that long article you've had open for weeks. Gemini and Chrome is here for it. Ready to make anything online makes sense? There's no place like Chrome. Check responssees set upp required compatibility and availability varies eighteen pllus All right, before we hopped on this podcast, unfortunately, one of my guys I was going to talk about as we kind of match makeake some of these remaining free agents with some of the teams still left with Capspace in order to make some moves was Rui Hachimur was one of my guys seemed like one of the biggest dominoes left on the board in part because it seemed like he was in concert with LeBron where it's like, o, if LeBron goessewhere, maybe the wararriors who have the mid level open, maybe they'll chase after There's just like a mid level spot with so few teams, maybe they would use it on him. The Clippers were one of the teams on my list because for that reason they ended up signing him Pretty nice deal, I would say overall, Rob, good player showed over the past two years he could play off of stars, just like the shot is there and catch and shoe situations bigig athlete Doesn't rebound a ton, not like an impact defender, but just a good solid player and it seems like the clippers I mean, they could use as many of those as they can get their hands. Oh yeah this point I like the price. I like the fit zero problem with him becoming a clipper. It's not the kind of signing that like opens up your imagination as far as who the clippers are going to be, but the clippers are going to be pretty good. I think they're like pretty comfortably in the glut of Western conference teams that are going to be vying for the play in And a move like this to me is a good reminder of the fact that they don't own their first round pick this year. Like it's invoked in a complicated swap that I think will probably end up going to the Thunder but could end up somewhere else So it's like they might as well be good. They might as well be competent. They might as well bring in Bwy to kind of replace some of what they were getting from John Collins or Nico Batoum and then some like Having a spacer who can also guard, like why would you pass up a player like I'm pretty amused just by that trio of players Tobias and John Collins and then Ruey. It's just like those guys walk into like auditions in Hollywood and I feel like they look around and see each other in the same in the same waiting rooms over and over. I just it's an interesting like Big four who can kind of shoot it cate it a little bit, notot going to be a heavby decision maker And just imagine one of them is Dyan McDermot and one of them is Dermt Mulononey, is that the guy You know, they are just in the same rooms constantly Yeah was really off the board It really isn't much there outside of a couple of restrict free agents, We still don't know about Jayalen Durin, obbviously Peyton Watson, who I mentioned earlier. I do want to talk about Watson before we get out of here. Which free agent still on the board is catching your eyes I think catching our eye is strong given who is left here because really it is There is the LeBron and like unresolved business of James Harden or just a Greener. To clarify for the audience, Rob wanted to do this segment. I did No I wanted to do this segment because like I want to dig around of the bargain bid. I'm not I'm not going to say I don't to pretend that these guys are gonna to fix any team, but can they give you fifteen good minutes? I think they can. This is like when you go to like mister Gaddy's and you were there for like an hour or maybe I don't know, thirty minutes and you got a few tickets and you're like, I want to spend them and you start looking through the case and you're like, Oh man, do I want the army man with a parachute or do I want the pencil topper Yeah, just like into like a few tootsie rolls, like a handful maybe. That's what the bottom of this list looks like. I'm like, who can help? Oh God. It's rough. Well Well, let me pitch you on not the army man with the parachute, not the Totsie rolls, but like the little monster finger puppet with the wiggly arms that you put on. my son loves that shit man. That's donon't hate on that Eless A.ot h notot hating a bit on that Not hitting a bit on want about to pit you, which is Why are the Lakers not blowing up Gary Payton the second's phone right now If you're a team with only minimums to spend and in desperate need of defense Like would that not be your first call as far as who they can afford? who could actually help them? Who has like, again, the ability to guard a wide range of perimeter opponents specifically guards I think he kind of represents where the Lakers are in their market right now. and I think he actually could help We've been here before Harry Payton Jun the second can only play for the Golden State Warriors. He tried playing elsewhere before. We got twenty to thirty Wjage articles about his failed physical It's true And he ended up back there for like, what was it like a bushel I think it was like five second round pick' want a title immediately, right? Yeah. He can only play for the Warriors and that's it See, I had the same exercise when I was trying to think about like, is there a good landing spot for Nicholas Patume until I remembered that Nicholas Pum just makes quality of life signings and has signed five consecutive contracts with the cllippers even while getting traded in between there somewhere. So maybe you're right Maybe he is just going to be a warrior He likes his grocery store. He likes his, you know you know, he's he's a creature comfort kind of a person. Its GP two, the rubber glove. I don't yeah, he can maybe see him going down there. I could pivot off of that. I had a similar kind of thought process about Mati Steel, another guy that I'm sure Justin has strong thoughts on If I'm the Laners and I'm looking I don't know what kind of market he's going to have because he's had health issues. He obviously basketball wise has been, you know, had little stints where it seemed like he's viable as a spacer He seems like a distressed asset if I'm And on the Lakers, I'm probably playing the distressed asset game now. I'm looking at somebody who's disruptive Maybe kick those tires. I think if you can't get GP two The Bible seems like Well, what's the dollar amount for him, I guess? He's not going to take the minimum, is he She might. It's so complicated at this point because in between all of his missed games the past two year, which is a considerable list. it's like most of them he's played the best basketball of his career. Like the shooting has been legit and now it is a small sample, but it's like not that small of a sample. He looks very comfortable shooting the ball and it feels like if that was like the one sticking point that he was such a destructive force defensively,s just like what can you give you offensively? Like I think he could hang there and he's obviously an intuitive player. Honestly, like one of my favorite players I've ever had to ask a question to because he's like Honestly one of the most thoughtful articulate people about basketball I've literally ever met. I don't know if that's an asset to the Lakers but he is a good guy Um, I just think like how much is the price there? Because if it is a minimum, then certainly, But if you have to actually risk your few available dollars for him, you're just constantly worry about the injuries because it was like a few things. I remember at one point last year, like he had an injury and then it changed on the injury report because it was something else. It's just These things have just been mounting for a few hs now That's where I could see want like like a flyer take the minimum for one year and guys are lohe to do this, we should say. playlers. If you depress your market, if you take a lower exception, if you take a minimum, they're so terrified for good reason that they're going to get locked into that price range as far as how teams consider them But if you're someone like Matist Thibel who's battled all of those injuries, who hasn't really been able to answer the questions of who you could be in the playoffs go to one of the most high profile situations available alongside so much offensive firepower. and show what you can be. Like if he went on a run with the Lakers where he was a genuine plus in whatever series or however many series they ended up playing in I think that's actually the kind of move that could explode his mark at a moment. N Never wearing socks to that guy. It's like forty degrees. It's just wearing like Berks, no socks on him like. Lookt do that That's how you get injured. That's how you get like frostbite, frankly. Don't please No. I was like in games, he's not weird socks It's like a The Oinic or he's more low he's more like no show low cut I was S show for a long time. I like some s show. That's twist sh onn a basketball court Oh yeah, yeah, it bothered my head coach. He came over to me during I have a vivid memory of this. He goes, wed sucks Yeah. Why do you care? It looks cool It does not look cool. No It didn. In the early two thousands, it looked cool then mid rain stocks cameamp. We know you want to show off your ankles, but like it's it's really not that deep I got these kids wearing tights All the way up to their caboos. Yeah I experimented with those. It gets really warm. It gets really warm because calf soreness is a real thing, man. So sureress compression socks. Anyway, is there any other names we would? Well, should we mention Pyton Watson here? He's a restricted free agent. Definitely of like a probably a higher class than some of the other guys were considering. seemeems like the big domino on the board. There was a story recently at that in the athletic where it was like, they're had an impasse, which tends to happen when other teams don't want to sign the guy to an offer sheet because they know that the current team is just going to match it. You're seeing a lot of that with Jalen Duran. And so I'm skeptical that the nuggets if they're not going to follow this LeBron dream scenario would actually let him go because as long as they're willing to pay the price of not only his contract, but also the luxury tax implications and Apron complications Clearly, they need him. They need exactly what he brings, which is like youthful juice like the type of offense that they're not getting for some of their aging players. Okay, we can't be saying youthful juice on this pod That's not a thing we can say. Also are we say an impassee? That no we' who's going to let that impasse Ipassee o are on the flag. Ipasse I'll put a little acc in got on this stuff because I'm trying to class this shit up, all right Everyone else is going out there with the World Cup and being all Euro style. I can add a little on boards up there. I just don't I can't're you're really in your caboose on this one. I cannot abide You can They're at an impas, all right just like for teams that need exactly what Watson brought to the nuggets last year. likeike I get like that it took a while to get there. I get that the injury stalled them last year Detroit, for instance, we talked about them before, like why do you not want Peton Watson Like that, you have the assets to go do something. Fucking do something Seriously. I think some teams can get in their own heads with guys like Watson where He probably is not best slotted as as a four full time, even though offensively's attempting to use him use him that way at points because like he just doesn't guard bigs that well. He's definitely the kind of forord who guards wings much more effectively. And so if you're the pissons, you're thinking, okay, we really need somebody who can fill this like specific to bias Harris kind of void if we're not going to keep to bias Harris That's how you talk yourself into getting John Collins, who's just like not as good of a player as Payyton Watson. And frankly id't require the kind of sign and trade haul that Peyton wants in might, but I agree with you. I think he could help a lot of teams. I think that kind of athleticism, that kind of defense, like who he is as a shop blocker is really valuable, really important. I don't know why the market is this way other than the nuggets need to get something significant in return for him if they do trade him or they need to keep him around because he's so useful and so important what they do Well is, I mean Mhm is on a job market. Another guy who's similar, I guess is Kuminga. I mean, that's the other player I had written down here in terms of What could happen with him? I I don't keep gravitating back to the Lakers. That's another team that I the Lakers or the I mean Camingo with the pistons. I don't know if they have the money to go get him, but Another two dudes kind of in a similar lane, similar age Andure The pistons, I just feel like they're right at the precipice of being something significant and you should be taking this opportunity to level up and Watson fits exactly what they're looking for in that he's a defensive first player, but brings this sort of offensive pop, not juice in order to like Take what they have and just add a new dimension to it. I think like him plus asar with the length there like would be crazy and then they have the defensive context to support them. You get a little like like the matchups in the lineups become a little bit more complicated because they have so much size that doesn't shoot. But like you could size down when you need to, you could size up when you need to, like there would be a lot there Kaming is a little bit different where he feels like more of a lottery poll to me still. L you want to find out what is still buried beneath there And if you have the available minutes to do that, I get it, but that's typically a team with no stakes. like Kaminga seems more like a bucks player to me that wouldn't lose anything by playing through him and like allowing him to explore the studio space versus a team like Detroit who has a lot wriding on next season I just don't know how much of a lottery poullet even is. It's like a A school raffle where you can fil. get a dinner with a local celebrity. Like I just really don't want even what the good version of Jonathan Cominga If I am a team that's playing for something It's so that's so insulting too, Justin. I mean, you're basically saying he's I don't know. You're just basically saying that you guys are saying different versions of the same thing here, which' just like I'd rather send him to a team that has no consequences and give him atrophy reps that are just rough and it doesn't add to anything and it's like K Kuminga Is it possible, I guess if you were going to play thev devil's advocate thing here and just say like, is it possible that he is just more equipped to be a part of a pick and roll heavy team where he's, you know, catching and quickly just, you know, he gets satisfied in those little second side catches he gets or whatever it is handoffs as opposed to a high read intensive kind of system that he failed in with the wararriors. It's like I could see I could see him working with the pistons. I guess my question about Watson with the pistons is do you think they keep leaning towards players when you were talking about Watson guarding wings more so. He's more of a three four. They keep going after these four three type dudes like Collins and Tobias and things like that. It's like are they trying to just protect that ruggedness that they have and if they go with a more sinewy rangey guy like a Watson is it just kind of leaning away from their identity more? It's like why they keep doing this I don't know, because Coins could play him five also. I don't know Yeah, I like the mix and match potential. I think Watson fits their style by adding something a little bit different Whereas like I was saying, like Kominga I think just gives them something completely different. and I don't know how much you need that, especially because you have the Isaiah Joe types in order to like be the onball like second unit sort of guy. Do you really need to funnel possessions, critical possessions through a guy like that? Like unfortunately, I just think this is where the Kinga market is I don't know who's signing him to like a Ruy Hachamur style mid level deal because those teams by and large like probably already have their young guys they're trying to develop. Yeah. I think he's probably like minimum make good on a good team or maybe just slightly above that on a team that isn't really competing for anything next year. Yeah, I think The minimum make good market for a potential playoff team is one that I'm eyeing and trying to figure out like, okay, what is the situation that could even give him a decent chance of success He just doesn't really have a track record of being like a good winning player in almost any circumstances. like can be productive, can score like we've gone've we've gone through all this commaminga stuff so much. But like, I hear you, Kyle about Is it systemic, right? Like is it a matter of put him in something that's a little more straightforward, putting him in a more of a pick and roll style system which many players have gone through golden state and just like not been able to pick up or find the cadence or lock into that offense. likeike it's not a unique problem for Jonathan Camominga. It's a very particular skill set that I don't think he necessarily has. Would he be better off somewhere that is just a little bit more straightforward that suits kind of the athleticism he can lean into and the driving part of his game that is easily like the most potent part of it But how do you find that? without putting him off the ball so often that who he is as a shooter becomes a bit of an issue or who he is as like a stagnant off ball player becomes a little bit of an issue. It's like There's a line we're trying to walk there that I don't know what the good situation is and maybe it's a team that just ended up giving away a bunch of stuff via trade over the summer and then looks at their bench and says, man, we could really use like one more creator to help spell some of these guys. Like you know, the hornets look up a couple months from now and are just like, man Jonathan Cinga really m sense for what we need right now. I could see something like that happening I'm just looking at the options The clippers love a project. You know, but they just gave away their mid level to Ruy. So it'd probably have to be a minimum sort of contract. justust isn't a lot of fits there I think Luca makes sense for him. I just think what you're talking about is like Gary we just said to people who were kind of the inverse. It's like Gary Payton is a point guard who can't shoot, but he has a very good basketball mind and you put him with the warriors and he has no problem mixing into what they do because he's so athletic and he can guard, but you put Cominga who's more of a, you know probably is better in a lower movement offense that's more with his physicality. So it's just interesting how these guys fit and where they don't It's true. And a lot of it is like Do you know who you are And I don't know that Jonath think's going be a knows who That's it right there. Yeah. You know he is like, I'm as good as Luca For the record, Justin, I do not. I go through life on a daily basis just grasping at straws, but Some days you get to come in here and talk about youthful juice and everything feels okay I know who you are, Rob. Look at the board. That's who you are. I know. Thank you for laying it all in. I've been trying to figure out my whole deal is, but I should have known and you'd be locked in I'llnd it over. Did we figure out where Rob is going based off of today's conversation He's following the oil money as we figured out earlier. He's really attached to it. What's the what's the appeal of If you were to write down your whiteboard, Rob and you're going to say like Rob's going to go back to Dallas. Here are the things that he's looking for. Is it like cool hats Uh, textms Pent charg is number one, let's be real about it Okay Wide open spaces, you know? I love all of us personally. Who doesn't know whate The chicks The chicks are very slash I' like ab absolutely stck. Cowboy takeake me away, come on Like we're just absolutely peeking. There's you trouble. Come on. This is what I'm saying. simimilar stuff So I guess the chicks have backdored their way somehow into being on the Dallas list. I don't know how that happened, but otherwise like food and space and convenience and cost of living I think it's a pretty good package, maybe not for a LeBron James level person. although look, that money could stretch very far. If he wants to live in Dallas for a significant portion of the year I would love it personally. I would love to go back at some point Just to clarify The chicks not Yeah No, the chicks. Capital T Capital C, the chicks because changes had to be made case your wife was listening to an hour thirty into this podcast and was like, whoa, Rob She's going back for the chicks Going back to Dal cheicks as one does. All right, well small upstairs Thank you to Jeff Shean for filming on production. Thank you to Isaiah Blakeley. We'll be back, I believe on Thursday We'll talk to then.