Fallout From the LeBron Signing! Plus, Fake Curry Trades and Mets Corner!

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Speaker 1: Coming up on the Zach Lowe Show, we've all had time to digest LeBron James, Philadelphia 76er, alongside Jalen Brown, Joel Embiid, Tyrese Maxey, VJ Edgecombe. Now, Katavius Caldwell-Pope has also joined them. It's time to sift through the teams that didn't get LeBron James, starting with the Golden State Warriors, who appear to just be petering out toward the end of the season. Speaker 1: Steph Curry era. They re-signed Draymond Green about 30 minutes ago to a one-year $27.7 million deal, exactly the deal that he opted out of. What went wrong for the Warriors? Are they actually dead? What were the missed opportunities around the way that were actually realistic? Because this is a little bit of a depressing end-of-career situation for Steph Curry as of now. Doesn't mean this is going to be this way all the time for the Warriors. We talk about that. And then their whole tier of the West is kind of interesting because after the top six, which we'll see if they're the same top six, Portland, John Moran, Phoenix did a lot of stuff over the summer. We'll talk about them. And then Denver is not in their tier. It's above their tier, but they're in a very sticky situation with Peyton Watson. They were in one with Spencer Jones. So we're kind of going around the West, LeBron, all of that. Moe Tequila is here to talk about all of that. And then Sean Fennessey and I recorded a Mets corner and we did it before Francisco Lindor hit two. Home runs and had a triple in a 14, three win last night over the Braves. Keep Francisco Lindor. That's all coming up on the Zach Lowe show. Welcome to the Zach Lowe show. It's Tuesday afternoon. We've had some time now to sift through LeBron James, Philadelphia 76 or let it sink in. It's a real thing. Jalen Brown is also a star. 76 or not a Celtic. Joel Embiid is still a 76 or contagious. Coldwell Pope is going to be a 76 or a clutch reunion in Philadelphia. And it's time to sort through some of the collateral damage that LeBron's decision left in Cleveland, in Miami, and especially in golden state where the Steph Curry era appears to be heading toward a whimper of an ending mode to kill. You know him, you love him. He was here to help us sort through all of it. How you doing, bud? I'm doing great, Zach. I'm ready to roll. I'm just happy LeBron got it done before August because that was my concern was we were going to go into August with it. We were not going to go into August with it. We did not go into August with it. It's still July. LeBron is a sixer. And right before we went on this show today, Draymond Green re-signed a one-year $27.7 million deal with the Warriors. Basically the same deal he opted out of to potentially give the Warriors to flexibility to sign LeBron James, which they were not able to do. Not unexpected. Draymond is still a very good player. One of the 10 to 12 best defensive players in the NBA. His offense has declined precipitously. His ability to be a real true playmaking hub has declined a bit with it, but still quite a good player on a team that is just kind of a weird team. It's the first real move they've done other than drafting Yaxel Landeborg, who was awesome in summer league. We'll talk more about the Warriors in a minute. Do you have any leftover Philadelphia LeBron James thoughts mode to kill? Yeah, I think, you know, we're also, we're focused on the offensive end that we're not really looking at the defensive end a little bit in Philly and how that's all going to kind of slot itself out. You know, I know, look, Jalen Brown's good defender. I think edge comb is going to be their point of attack guy. If they can keep him beat when he's on the floor near the rim, I think makes a big difference, but I do have concerns about that. Like you go look at the, the, when he did play in the Knicks series, they put him out in space and it's a problem, right? And you have issues with what you have to deal with. And I think those are the questions I'll be very curious about. They're not a great rebounding team. So like, how do they fix that? Where does that come along? Obviously we know the depth issues with their back court with their front court and how they deal with the size. But those are things I don't think has really been discussed as much because again, we always just focus on the offense, but I think that's something to really kind of keep an eye on. Speaker 2 : I talked about that exact thing earlier this week or over the weekend when I did whenever I record, I can't remember all the it's summer just every day is a different day. I completely agree with you. I, I get why people are worried about the offense and how all these guys with 30 plus percent usage rates are going to mesh. I personally am not really worried about that just because minutes staggering slash guys missing games slash Tyrese maxi being a really great off ball player. I think VJ edge going, playing mostly off the ball is probably healthy for this stage of his career. And he's going to learn so much playing with LeBron. I'm not worried too much. It'll be interesting. I'm not worried too much about it. The defense to me is, is a, Speaker 3 : Yeah. Speaker 2 : Yeah. Speaker 3 : Yeah. Speaker 2 : Yeah. Speaker 3 : I want to say issue, because I think there'll be a solid defensive team, but are they going to be a top eight, top 10 defensive team? I don't know. You mentioned Embiid in the playoffs against the Knicks after his week of glory against the Celtics should be noted that it was like post appendicitis Joel Embiid along with chronic knee issues. Although I don't know how serious those were in the playoffs, Joel Embiid. But look, I mean, that's the whole thing. And beads the whole thing, unless it until there's a different starting center on the team. And I'm not convinced that that's even possible, even if the Sixers wished it were so. And I'm not sure that they do. Can they manage Joel Embiid through forget a regular season of multiple playoff rounds with it. And that could take many forms. As I've said before, it could take, Hey, we're up to, oh, we're going to sit you in game three. It could be, you know, we just won seven games. We'll have seven game series. We're going to rest you in game one. It could, it could take a lot of different forms. And now the team is talented enough that at least that might be a viable way to get through three playoffs. Speaker 2 : I'm not going to pick them to make the finals, but they are in the conversation. I think they have the second best finals odds in the east, but I agree with you that the defense is, is a big question mark KCP, no harm, no foul. I mean like a potential three and D guy off the bench who knows LeBron very well, fine. Like put them next to Simons and Dean Wade and their backup fives, which is still, I think kind of weak spot, but you know, fine. That's no harm, no foul. Speaker 3 : Yeah. I think that's, you know, it's, I like the KCP pickup in the, in the Speaker 2 : Opportunity. Speaker 3 : You know, getting them on the buyout market and, and jumping in, in that area. And again, we've seen what KCP can do when he plays with LeBron, when he plays with the Oak, which we've seen what it looks like when he doesn't, and that hasn't been a very good, but hopefully they can kind of recreate that magic that he had when he was with the Lakers and teamed up with LeBron and the way he goes, you know, listen, the Simon's aspect of it. Like I'm interested to see how that plays and, and, you know, they're going to bring a lot of defensive utility off the bench. Like he's at KCP weight and those guys, it just comes down to Embiid. And then it's also going to come down to Bona. It's going to come down to a 40, right. In terms of their backup positions and how they're able to hold up, they'd probably need to go try to find somebody else if they can at the center position. Cause those guys are just generally backups at this point. And I don't feel like it's something that they should feel very comfortable going into for the nights that one in B doesn't play. And I know we've, you know, I know you, I think you even mentioned it on one of the pods. Like we are going to see LeBron play the five. So, you know, that's going to be, that's going to be a that's going to happen, but it's not something that's going to be long-term and that's going to be on the nights that LeBron is actually playing. So I think they still need to kind of figure that whole area out. There's still work to be done in Philly, but again, this is going to be an awesome sort of fun thing to watch. And I'm not, I'm with you. I'm not that worried about the offensive end. They will figure it out. And the truth is though, they all have to sacrifice something and that's just what it's going to be. And they're all going to sacrifice usage. All their usage is all going to take a dip. Nobody's going to all of a sudden like usage climb in this situation, but they got to figure out what they can do offensively. I think this is a great opportunity for Nick nurse to get really creative on the offensive end. I know, you know, nobody likes talking about certain offensive philosophies, but this is a team that can run some triangle philosophies and get some good stuff out of it. This team can have a lot of movement with what they do. They can run a multi-layered offense, you know, with an action on the strong side with the pin down on the weak side or some other stuff going on with so many high IQ players. Like I'm pretty excited to see how that kind of plays itself out. 1 : I think this, and they can run, they can run like in transition. Everybody, but in beat is built to play that way. Look, I, this is, i think the most fun lebron outcome i think it's reasonable for him to have concluded that if he didn't want to go to denver for whatever reason and it doesn't appear that was ever realistic and he didn't want to go be danny glover and lethal weapon i'm too old for this shit in minnesota and it appears he did not then i think this is a reasonable place to land if his priority is i want to try to actually win i want to win into may and june and chase chase a fifth ring not that he's ring chasing he's not i've already addressed that go ahead can i jump it everybody should be ring chasing that's the point i don't i don't all 30 teams are chasing a trophy all the players should be chasing the rings like i don't i don't get bad with these guys that are ring chasing i mean maybe if it's i'm not gonna play and i'm gonna sit at the end of the bench and just want to get the championship ring sure but like he's gonna play he's gonna be a big part of it like i don't i don't i hate the phrase do you only places that would have been like oh really are san antonio and oklahoma city and he was never going to those places i think cleveland would have been equally viable as philadelphia perhaps even bill and i vehemently disagree on this he wrote the calves off completely because of the hardin lebron mitchell fit and i get that it's not the most attractive three-man on-ball machine particularly with hardin's dribble dribble dribble tendencies but the double big thing of and alan is interesting it's in the east not in the west where you're probably gonna have to beat both of those juggernauts to get to the finals um but here here are some things that having had a few days now to sift through all this here are some things that i i'm pretty certain of um the hardin and not darius garland thing was a pretty significant obstacle for the calves if they have never made the hard and trade i think they have a much better chance of getting lebron i don't know if they get him because maybe he just wanted to do something new that's in keeping with his career and that's not to say they shouldn't have made the hard and trade but i think they have a much better chance of getting that trade they were trying to go all in for this season and they didn't trust garland's health made good reason not to um the jalen brown trade i don't think the sixers get lebron james without jalen brown i think that that seems like common sense as of now 72 96 hours later it just can't be overstated that the celtics not only traded jalen brown to the sixers and let them get off paul george but also enabled them to get lebron james um and i don't know where he goes if jalen brown is not a sixer i don't know where he goes if jalen brown is not a sixer i don't know where he goes if jalen brown is not a sixer uh now linked to that are the warriors which we will get back to um and and linked to the words also is the anthony davis variable you know the reporting on this has been all over the place i've seen people say well you know did they did they try to get the warriors or whatever team to get anthony davis or would it have helped here's where i come down i think yeah it would have helped um i don't know if it would have swung it and i feel pretty confident saying no one was really told if you get anthony davis lebron is coming to your team or likely to come to your team i don't think it got anywhere near that direct and some teams got absolutely no communication about any player whether it was anthony davis or kairi irving and so the the number one thing and i keep saying this and it's the least sexy thing to say no one knew anything all the teams everybody i talked to everyone who was in it on the periphery of it was like i don't know we don't know and that included should we get this player or that player no one had a clue until he made his decision the sixers didn't have a clue until he made his decision and so those are just some thoughts um are you ready to discuss the warriors mo yes i am ready but i do want to nominate brad stevens for executive of the year for uh building this philadelphia 76ers team hey look we're going to get to brad stevens in a second and and this conversation if the celtics start the season 20 and five and i don't like the celtics are going to win they're over under i think it's 50 and a half i just i'm not going to i'm just going to prep you like the conversation is going to be if they're 20 and five and the sixers like and beads hurt and jalen brown's cranky and they're 18 and 12 like the conversation is going to shift a little bit yeah for sure and it can go the other way as well but i think that's going to be the that's part of the dynamic of of what you have as a gm and i was just being a little bit uh trying to be a little bit funny with the stevens comment the warriors are unquestionably the biggest losers of the lebron saga because this team has done essentially nothing in the season except kill the draft apparently although we'll see uh they only re-sign porzingis fine we'll see how many games he can play they've now re-signed dream on green fine he should finish his career warrior i hope that he does uh jimmy butler is going to miss a huge portion of the season and again like you should not just assume that when he comes back he's going to be jimmy butler he's coming off an acl tear we'll see what he is uh moses moody is going to miss a huge chunk of the season they're over under i believe is set at 39 and a half and they're going to be vegas thinks this is a sub 500 team and it just seems like they have left steph curry in the lurch and there has been just a lot of screaming and yelling about how the warriors failing curry uh bill went in on them hard yesterday and i don't disagree that clearly having arrived here the path from 2022 title which by the way they deserve a shit ton of credit for we'll get there to here is disappointing and there are probably some missed opportunities along the way i just want people to tell me what is the actual missed opportunity that you see that is realistic that would have put this team in position to win the title now or in one of the previous couple of seasons because i think a lot of this comes down to not now and not 2025 2024 was the was the finals appearance and the title that was kind of up for grabs if the warriors had found something in the interim between 2022 and 2024 everything after that you're you're driving up hill against the wind against the thunder and now the spurs but still would it be nice if the current warriors were not 39 and a half over under and kind of depressing absolutely so here's where jalen brown comes in because you know a lot of the warriors criticism in the last 48 hours has been focused on well why didn't you get jalen brown because if you had gotten jalen brown you could have had lebron james and maybe maybe but here's the thing mo uh shams reported this yesterday that the warriors in the celtics briefly talked about jalen brown at the trade deadline did you see this yeah and that the price would have been four ish first round draft assets and the warriors decided he's not worth it um the trade that just occurred for jalen brown and the negotiations around it would suggest that the warriors are in the consensus in saying that jalen brown is not worth it now mo you would say why not revisit it now when the price might be lower and you're only bidding against the sixers i think one of the things that's being overlooked is that the centerpiece salary in that trade is attached to a player who is injured and is going to miss a huge portion of the season the celtics don't want the celtics are trying to win games they don't want jimmy butler out till january february whatever it is and then a percentage of himself after that and as a result they're going to ask for more picks than the sixers attached to get off of paul george i would think um so those are just those are just sort of some of the jalen brown slash lebron realities even if you got jalen brown and lebron even sherwood strauss what a great piece about this today on his sub stack are you actually good enough to win the west you're still super old and you're relying on a player in jalen brown who doesn't appear to be a great fit with the way the warriors typically play to the point that he got famously left off team usa with steve kerr as the head coach um do you have any thoughts on jalen brown warriors before i move on with my spiel no i think it was really i think it's a really important point to note that the celtics did get a player that's going to theoretically be playing on opening night you know and paul george who should be healthy enough and ready to go and the work you're getting with jimmy butler is somebody that you might get in march and you talked about it earlier we don't know what he's going to look like at this point and beyond that we've also he's been plagued with injuries for the past few years like it's it's difficult to kind of envision that we're going to give up jalen brown in this situation we're going to get in march and we're not quite sure what he's going to look like as much as we want to joke about paul george and everything he was pretty solid for them for the the sixers last season apart from the one available but and but i think also in the playoff series against the celtics he was really good and i think that is something that kind of you sort of look into going like all right there's still something there is he worth the contract probably not right like it's he's overpaid at that point and you know he has a player option and i almost positive he'll pick that up but i think you know what you're looking at is just they have a piece there where it's hey we can go out and win games right now and not take that far of a drop off of what we were from last season when everybody written us off and we went out and won 54 games you know i think that's going to be the thing and then you add in mitchell robinson you're you're you're looking at where they're at you're kind of saying like hey man like the celtics aren't just sitting there going hey okay we're going to trade jalen brown and suck next so they're trying to go for it here that's a jimmy butler being injured is an important you know post whatever date he got injured reality for the warriors in these trade talks they do have i think three and a half first round picks that they can trade so they're not pick week they have a lot of picks and and those picks have some value because of the age of their roster you could say at 20 and the new lottery rules those are valuable picks um the here the other realities are number one the big salaries involved ever since jimmy butler got injured and jimmy butler got injured and jimmy since they traded Wiggins For Jimmy Butler, a masterstroke, by the way, that had everyone drooling over how good this team was going into the previous season. And at the end of the last end of two seasons ago, the salaries have always been attached to either injured players like Jimmy Butler or franchise legends who are hard to trade. It's hard to just straight up trade Draymond Green or, you know, it's just it's just not an easy thing to do. And this is what Ethan really nailed. All of this really comes down to if you think the Warriors just blew this and missed opportunities. It's not that they are being too precious, I think, with the assets that they have and too reticent to take risks at the expense of the post-step future, which they are trying to protect. That's true. It's that Jordan Poole, James Wiseman, Jonathan Kaminga and Moses Moody amounted to little to no trade value. And they tried to trade the number two pick before they even used it on James Wiseman and they couldn't find someone that they liked or a good fit. And then all of that blew up in their faces. They probably they did wait too long to trade. Kaminga, the sheen was off, but they also really liked Kaminga and their owner really liked Kaminga. They mismanaged that. I'm not sure that's changing their life. And that's really what it comes down to. They did not have those picks. And it's it's their fault. They made the picks. They could have had Franz Wagner. Alper and Shangoon was really high on their draft where they didn't pick him because they had picked Wiseman the year before or two years before, whenever it was. And those picks just didn't have any value for them. And so you look at the mode like I'm going to go through like the what ifs. On the way, you ready? And I'm going to miss some because there's been a lot like they could have tried to get Kawhi Leonard this past summer. OK, like he's old. He's in. He's currently not on. He's in limbo. He's literally in NBA limbo. They tried to get Paul George in when he was had the player option with the Clippers that he ended up opting out and signing with the Sixers. That was a very complicated potential three team transaction when no one none of the other not three team, three entity Clippers, Paul George. Warriors where all of the entities had different sort of incentives and visions of what the deal would look like. And Paul George, Max salary player for the Sixers, did not work out great until it did work out fine. The Jalen Brown, they tried to get Lowry marketing and the Jazz demanded everything to the point that it was really a kind of a nonstarter. The Giannis thing is interesting because I'm not really sure what happened when they used to be just hot and heavy on Giannis. And then you didn't. You didn't hear their name much in the last the last iteration of it. And I think it's probably because they were just outgunned. I don't think they could have really competed all that all that well with again, like Draymond Green or injured Jimmy Butler as the salary filler is just like not that attractive to the Milwaukee Bucks. Here are the ones that are interesting to me. Carl Anthony Towns ahead of when the Knicks traded for him. The Athletic reported at the time that the Warriors had. Sniffed around him and just couldn't have a package that fit what the Wolves needed and it would have had to involve Wiggins Wiggins salary Wiggins is played for the Wolves already. That didn't end well. That was an interesting name for me. They tried to get Kevin Durant, by the way, and Kevin Grant was like, no, thank you. Please don't trade for me. The Towns one is interesting. The other like if you want to look at realistic and well-timed ones in 2023 slash going into winter 2024. Trade deadline 2024. They looked at the Raptors guys OGN and OB and Pascal Siakam. And if you're looking for like a realistic, what if that doesn't completely handicap the Warriors post step and was doable. It looks something like you trade a decent amount of stuff for OGN and OB perfect fit exactly as we've just seen and you have enough left over for like another medium-sized move for another top 45 player who fits the way you play. I don't know. Who that would have been like just imagine drew holiday or Derek white or just like someone in that vein of players and then you're talking are there alternate universes where they nail every transaction on the way to that even even whiffing in the draft like they did. Maybe it's easy to say that now and by the way, they do deserve a ton of credit for turning Durant into DLO into Wiggins and a championship and then Wiggins into Butler and a team that looked pretty. Fearsome for a while with Jimmy Butler. So I think a lot of the Warriors criticism is a little the Warriors front office criticism is a little bit too loud and kind of also looking in the wrong places it to me. It all boils down to the draft picks that didn't hit well and not that Moody is like a whiff. He's a fine player. It just didn't hit well and it's wise man. It comes back to why you needed you needed a double or a triple and and Moody is a single like at the end of the day in terms of looking at it in that regard. But it's the draft picks that are the problem and it's picking Kaminga and then Wagner going the next pick right like that's probably a perfect sort of fit in where they go and how that kind of works out and it changes their trajectory of the team. The wise men one first off and build it the redraft. You sure did, you know for 2020, which was an incredibly weird draft is somebody that's been part of the draft process. I couldn't imagine of, you know, we're only going to do one. I'm not going to do one. One on all workouts. The guy has to wear a mask. We're going to do interviews just over zoom and and there's just so many different weird sort of things that went through the whole process even into just evaluating these guys like I kind of like yeah, maybe you should have taken LaMelo over Weisman like that's such a wild draft that I kind of say all right like that was strange and when you look at that whole draft there were a lot of whiffs in there. So I kind of a little bit forgive them a bit. On the on the wise men one for me. It's the Kaminga Wagner one that that really kind of changes everything for me. Shen Goon would have been a great would have been a really nice pickup. And I think the mistake is what we have wise men and then two years later saying we have wise men. We can't take Shen Goon. No, just take the guy you what you like and figure it out from there. And if wise men if you got to move wise men, you got to move wise men, but I think that's sort of the mistakes that they made. But in terms of the. The other stuff like yeah, they part of being able to trade for a guy is the other side has to agree to the trade. It has to make sense, right? Like I was all in like they should have gotten Larry marketing except Utah was asking for pretty much the Golden Gate Bridge. By the way, Larry marketing still on the Utah Jazz. So no one was able to trade for Larry marketing. Not one team. So there was, you know, so they were Danny Ainge was trying to fleece the Warriors and they just said the price was too high. Okay, like that's. Jerry actually speaking of the Jazz like Jaron Jackson Junior is another name who it took three firsts and you know, Desmond Bain took four firsts. I mean, are any of those guys at this stage right now turning the Warriors into real contenders in Steph's Twilight? And that's why I rewind to like 2023 2024. Those were the last best chances. I think for the Warriors to chase another title after the truly magical 2022 title that they conjured almost. Out of seemingly nowhere and I've said this over and over again this what's happening now was always the most likely scenario. It's what happens to every great team. Yes, they get old and they don't contend anymore. This great team happened to have the rare golden chance to do their version of the Spurs drafting Kawhi Leonard in whatever 2011 whatever draft that was and prolong your window and Kawhi Leonard is a miracle. You don't get that player often at number 14. Or 15 where he was drafted. You have a much better chance of getting it at number two. They did not they didn't get Halliburton. It's we've all done it ad nauseum. This was always the most likely outcome is that the young guys aren't good enough in time for the old guys and then the old guys leave and the young guys aren't quite good enough to do what the old guys did which was become a championship team and there is honor and going out on your shield or going out on your sword or whatever it is and they're going to keep trying to win like they still have all these picks. They're going to see what comes available. In the regular season and see if they find something that they fit better but as of now yeah I mean the over under is right this team has no shot they they they are not in the top six in the West I put Utah ahead of them I probably bring them like eighth ninth something like that a play in team in the West that's depressing it's not what Steph Curry quote deserves at the end of his career he also has four championships and two MVPs and a finals MVP I do have however now there's the next one. This level of the discussion is well should the Warriors just trade Steph Curry I don't think they will ever trade Steph Curry I don't think Steph Curry wants to be traded or will ever want to be traded I think he and I wanted him and Clay and Draymond to go out as Warriors for life together raging against the dying of the light Clay obviously left we're still here with Steph and Draymond and if you're Curry and you really did have a wandering eye and I don't think he does I'm just doing this for the sake of discussion. To be clear I think the smarter move is don't sign a contract extension he's eligible for one now two years and a gazillion dollars and do what LeBron did go into free agency and pick my team so that a team doesn't have to gut its roster to get me now and I have one more year with the Warriors and then if I really want to chase a ring or play competitive basketball I can sign for the minimum anywhere I want that said Mo I do have some fake Steph Curry trades just to do the thought exercise I love it I love it and I'm And again, the dream was all three of us of those guys would retire together so that was unfortunately not going to happen anymore um so I found six teams that make literally any level of sense as Steph Curry trade targets just this is again this is just for fun it's July 28th nothing's happening we're waiting on Peyton Watson and Jalen Duren indulge me in the thought exercise which I think is actually important to do if you're going to say trade Steph Curry they should trade him here's where we're looking okay are you ready for the teams in no particular order uh Atlanta needs a point guard has a lot of pieces it would take it would and has some picks some extra picks it would take three of their salaries starting with Dyson Daniels I don't think Jonathan Kamingo would be signed and traded back to Golden State in this scenario they're one that you could make the argument that um they have assets they have salaries to make it work and they are a player away from being extremely interesting and Steph Curry is still a top 10 to 12 player at worst in the NBA um Denver uh unfortunately they don't really have any picks to trade they're already hard they're already like have major apron issues can't take any additional money back in a Peyton Watson sign and trade it would have to involve Jamal Murray and or some combination of salaries that the Warriors don't want does really make sense and I know you have a couple so I'm wondering if I hit you with a couple of them any of yours along the way I'll let you know when you hit one of my teams Orlando yeah send Franz Wagner back to Golden State where he belongs Suggs Wagner and pick slash picks for Steph and Moses Moody works almost exactly in the trade machine you can put Bankero in for Wagner if you want uh it's going to take one of those two guys and the Warriors probably don't even want to eat the jail and Suggs salary but were they on your list they were on my list I got one out of two it was that that that that framework where I had Franz going to to Golden State and you know filler and then making it all work with draft assets Houston Fred on my list Fred Van Vliet Jabari Smith Jr. Reed Shepard and some sort of draft assets and the Rockets would surely bulk it including anything other than the players I mentioned any draft assets at all but just like no remember this is Steph Curry if I'm trading him in the Warriors you're gonna have to bowl me over I think that's actually like that's interesting I think that's legit interesting I think Shingun is probably a bridge too far for the Rockets but that package like that kind of makes sense to me again I don't think any of this is this is all pie in the sky yeah yeah I'd actually that's along the lines of what I had with Shingun being the centerpiece and I don't think Houston would do it but I also kind of looking at it this way with you know KD not wanting to do it but I don't think Houston would do it but I also kind of looking at it this way with you know KD not wanting to do it but I don't think Houston would do it but I also kind of looking at it this way with you know KD not not wanting to do it but I also kind of looking at it this way with you know KD not wanting to go to Golden State is more I think is is different than Steph Curry coming to KD and I think that's something where I think KD would be more open to that concept and that idea of having Steph on his team and I think that opens everything up and then you're kind of covered defensively because like they're not I'm in Thompson's not going to be on the board like they're not going to allow you know put that in play and I think that's an interesting one where I think that would be pretty fun to kind of watch as we go forward. if it were to ever happen which we both know not not likely Bill Simmons mentioned the Spurs De'Aaron Fox and every possible draft asset that the Spurs have including what they find out of the couch cushions yeah that make that makes some sense by the way speaking of Bill Simmons on that podcast did you see that Joe House unveiled the t-shirt that says he tricked Bill he tricked Bill it's getting a little warm in my home studio unzipped his hoodie or whatever and I think that's an interesting one where I think that would be pretty fun to watch as we go forward. and underneath was the Jalen Brown got traded during Bill Simmons colonoscopy t-shirt or whatever it was and it reminded me Mo did you see when Bill tricked me about attending the Taylor Swift Travis Kelsey wedding I did I heard that on the podcast and to be honest I was like wow Bill really Bill got to go to the podcast I mean to the wedding I don't know that he realizes the damage that he's done in my personal life. that this is following me around so we were at some friends house over the weekend they have a 12 year old girl Rada who's very good friends with our daughter we all we've all been very good friends and we were just catching up Rada is a big basketball player big basketball fan she loves LeBron her dad's a Sixers fan so she had a lot of questions about LeBron coming to the Sixers we're catching up on summer and this 12 year old girl not an adult a 12 year old girl says hey Zach you know there's something else I've been meaning to talk to you about. I was at the Travis Kelsey Taylor Swift wedding if you have any questions about it and I'm like even you even you are trolling me Rada about this this is what's happened to me in my life anyway I just want to share my humiliation does Rada does Rada talk trash on the basketball court like this seems to be the start of a dream on green like sort of run on the court from Rada I tell you she talks trash on Uncle Zach that's for sure. Yeah. And the last one of course you have to mention the Hornets who have all the ingredients and would surely just not it would not be Brandon Miller or Conk and Nipple they're not doing that it would probably have to involve one of Nas Reid or Kobe White who are neither of whom are tradable yet but under NBA rules another salary and then a bunch of picks and the Hornets also have the bonus of like the Warriors could get the Mavericks pick that the Hornets have and other picks that are not just the Hornets pick to give them as many bites at other teams failing as possible. So those are really the only those are the only teams that I could make a legit argument for I tried to mess around a little bit and try to see if I can get stuff to Boston and that just doesn't I've totally forgot that that was my other one Paul George and draft assets for Steph Curry that actually makes sense it actually I forgot to put that in my notes that was that was that was another one of mine I actually ran that by Bill and he kind of liked that one obviously. Well yeah I would hope Bill would like that one if you're getting Steph Curry but I think you know if if it wasn't like to me I said okay the Warriors don't want Paul George there's just no other way to make it work financially after that you know if it's Derek White Peyton Pritchard and just you have to gut the entire roster to get to just Steph's salary so it would have to be Paul George and at the end of the day I was just like I think I'll just leave that one off. Fair enough. All right let's take a quick break. And we'll talk about Golden State's area within the very interesting Western Conference. This episode is brought to you by ServiceNow. Look I have my dream job I get to watch basketball think about basketball talk about basketball but even dream jobs have the stuff that nobody dreamed about the busy work that gets in the way of the actual work. ServiceNow's AI specialists tackle that work requests handled cases closed the whole thing done so you have more time for the work you actually want to do for me that's breaking down SGA film whenever I want and then talking about it into a microphone. To learn how to put AI to work for people visit ServiceNow.com. This episode is brought to you by Michelob Ultra. Whether you're racing to climb the tallest mountains seeing who can score more birdies on the green or competing in a professional soccer match it's always better when there's a prize on the line especially if it's a Michelob Ultra smooth refreshing and worth all that hard work. Superior is worth playing for. Michelob Ultra Superior Light Beer. Enter for a chance to win Superior soccer basketball and golf prizes at MichelobUltra.com. Enjoy responsibly. Copyright 2026. Anheuser-Busch. Michelob Ultra Light Beer. St. Louis, Missouri. Okay, the Warriors. Enough with the Warriors. They finished 10th in the West last year at 37-45. Steph missed a lot of games. Jimmy missed the end of the season. It was not a great season for the Warriors. Kind of a miserable one actually. The top six in the West last year. Oklahoma City. San Antonio. Denver. Lakers. Rockets. Wolves. Over, under, wise, and according to my own personal thoughts, in some order those remain the top six. After that, the West gets really interesting. The play-in teams last year, 7-10, were Portland, Phoenix, the Clippers, the Warriors. Say goodbye to the Clippers. They're gone. Utah finished last in the West. I think they have a shot at, if there's a team that has a shot at cracking the top six, I actually think it's Utah out of all these other teams. Yeah. The rest of it is like, I think this Portland-Phoenix-Warriors nexus of strangeness, I think there's enough volatility there that a team like Dallas or Memphis, I think Memphis is being really underrated by Vegas. I don't know about New Orleans. There's just too much going on. But someone, an afterthought team in the West is, I think, going to have a shot, if not two of these afterthoughts. At chasing a play-in berth, because I just think the Portland-Phoenix-Warriors stuff, that trio has a lot of volatility. And in Golden State's case, a pretty bad downside. Like, Steph misses 35 games. They are, like, toast in those 35 games. Not, you know, toast-toast, but pretty toasty. So I thought this would be a good time to look at Portland and Phoenix. Which one do you want to start with? Let's go ahead and start with the Blazers. And go with. With that team, as long as they can just stay in Portland. Well, look, I'm not going to get into the whole thing about whether this is all a. by a cheapskate owner who wants the city to pony up money for his arena or whether it's a real move and I don't even know where they would move because that's one of the issues but there's a it's a very complicated standoff between you know the city the state a certain bucket of funding has already been sort of like kind of approved for the arena renovations to the Blazers but there's this communication gap between what the Blazers want what they're willing to accept and there's funding being held out it's just a complete mess how about the billionaire pays for an arena it's a wild thought um the Blazers over under is 43 and a half which actually is higher than I expected it to be four higher than the Warriors and four higher than the Suns um they're starting five I guess is going to be Ja Morant, Damian Lillard, Denny Avdia, Tumani Kamara, Donovan Klingin, off the bench Scoot Henderson, Drew Holliday, Shaden Sharp if he's in the rotation, backup five Robert Williams, the three of them, uh Hansen Yang is here uh you know there's some other guys Veet Krejci, Micah Potter, Sissoko they don't really have a true backup for this is a team that made its bones on defense last year they're 12th in defense they cannot shoot from anywhere and in Ja Morant you and I disagreed on this last time we were on I thought this was a perfectly fine flyer for them to take on a high-end talent that created some short-term issues and challenges for them I just I don't know what to make of this team 43 and a half surprised me I thought it would be more like 41 and a half or 39 and a half yeah and we should also mention they have a coach that's on a one-year deal like prove it type deal in terms of going forward and and that's probably a story for another time but that drove me nuts when that was uh announced and I and I because I like Micah Norrie I think he's almost kind of like the Ted Lasso of the NBA in a in a large degree but I think the thing that concerns me the most is just you just like laid out the starting line and then you're like oh my god I'm not going to you just like laid out the starting five and only two of those guys play defense right and it's Donovan Klingin and it's Jumaane Kamara after that the other three guys need to have the ball exclusively in their hands to really dominate I think I think Avdia plays defense just less so as a blazer because he has been the point everything on offense for them and that has sapped his defense in the past I've thought he was a perfectly fine defender but it wasn't there last year and I'm curious to see how how he handles it you know the way we talk about Philly like how does he handle less usage because Dame's going to eat into that and Ja's going to eat into that and both especially Ja not great off off ball in terms of you're not guarding him in terms of the spacing so that's going to crowd you even more and obviously you are guarding Dame when he's off ball but he's not really great as an off ball guy you know he's so used to the ball being in his hands as part of the reasons why it didn't really work so well in Milwaukee with him and Giannis in that pairing and I'm just going to be fascinated to see how they sort of paper over all of this stuff and it'd be interesting to see if if they do tweak the starting lineup a little bit and add more defense in the backcourt somewhere I don't know which one between Ja or Dame sits if I had to guess it's more likely Ja than Dame but I think you're going to have to kind of figure it out where you're going to get those things from because in the on a nightly basis just playing in the Western Conference Shea Yilgis Alexander the trio of Spurs guards Jamal Murray you know where Steph Curry like just the number of guards you have to deal with every night coming at you I'd be worried about them and yeah they're going to put Kamara on him cool that's going to open up other areas where they're going to be able to get attacked and and leave them vulnerable last year they made their bones defensively this year it's going to have to be totally just relying on offense and I'm not sure if that's going to go the way they think it is because I think that offense is going to have a little bit more trouble getting off the ground I mean again they're a team that can't shoot from anywhere and they're counting on internal development and certainly scoot finished last season strong from three and just overall and now on on paper he's back to a bench role as he's eligible for a contract extension uh we'll see what that what that brings yeah the Ja Dame thing I don't think will work I would put the over under on when they really have a come to Jesus moment about the starting five at like 14 and a half games and I and I don't know what happens I don't know if it's a trade one way or the other I don't know who will win but I think who would even get traded they have a bunch of extra draft assets from Orlando and Milwaukee to play with so it makes them an interesting team to watch but yeah the offense is going to be I think the jaw trade was a recognition of where they are as a team like yeah last year was fun it's not like we're contending let's take a shot at like a moonshot of if we actually can find the John Moran that was an all-nba player that sets us up to be a more interesting team in three years than we are currently slated to be and all it cost him was Jeremy Grant and Chris Murray which is fine whatever I just like it it does make me nervous when teams have it just in terms of short-term win totals when teams walk into seasons with like some pretty fundamental questions to ask and answer about themselves because it takes time in real games to answer those questions and sometimes it takes pain and I just don't know how the ball is going to be distributed offensively how this team is going to defend at the same level they did last year under Tiago splitter who was too expensive for them I guess um and just how they sort out this bench rotation that is again kind of heavy on guards and shade and sharp seems to fall in and out of the rotation all the time just it's a strange it's a strange team that um may not have cap room by the way until depending on a bunch of variables including scoot until the summer of 2028 when abdi's deal is up and his cap hold is so low because his current salary is so low uh and that's fine I just I could see a world where this where this goes fine and they are 500 team I could see a world where it goes haywire for a bit and all of a sudden they're a 35 win team and that puts some other teams in play what's your view of scoop going forward like if you're them how do you handle this I don't know if this is a guy you drafted that you thought was going to be a starting level guard his rookie season was derailed from the beginning with injuries and things like that I'm I'm a fan of scoot I'm I I own stock or own a house on the island I don't know what we're we're doing good straights alliteration good straights good straights good straights you know I'm I'm I'm still in the straight there and I think you know I'm just curious so as the team going forward where he did he did improve so much over the last season especially at the end of the season I'm curious to say like okay now we're going to move him back to the bench it's a little bit stunting his growth I'm just curious to say like okay now we're going to move him back to the bench it's a little bit stunting his growth where do you go with that like what's the plan like I I don't know if you can go give him a contract extension at this point and how do you sort of continue with his development like I'm just kind of perplexed a little bit with like what's the plan for Scoop Henderson as you go forward well what was so interesting about him last year and I like you I I kind of never gave up hope on him because he has he has stuff in his game that is hard to find a rhythmic stuff change to pay stuff for us although he's never been as good a finisher explosive of a finisher as you at the rim as you think um but the turnovers have been a disaster and the jumper has been up and down to say the least and what was so interesting about last year was that he kind of wasn't a point guard anymore he became an off guard slash hybrid guard with Denny Abdiah running the offense uh and among others and it's set up to be that way again and that's fine if that's his destiny as a player uh he could be very good at that and shot the ball well and had some good playoff games for them to answer your question I'm not entertaining an extension if I'm the Blazers unless he's willing to take a deal that's wildly below market because I've looked at the cap room situation this summer and I'm not afraid and of a team overpaying him and if the team does overpay him it means he's had a great season and I'm I'll I'll pay him uh right and if not I'll get into a jail and during Peyton Watson restricted free agency standoff and you know we'll see what happens but it's just a it's a strange team I am a believer in Abdiah I think what Abdiah showed last year offensively was real and that's what makes them a rant damn wild card so interesting is does he does he get to show that again or is it actually sort of better for him and the team to settle into a role that still he has the ball a lot but maybe not quite as much and he can get more spot up threes attack closeouts a little bit more but I I thought the scoring was going to be a little bit better but I think it's going to be a little bit better but I think it's going to be a little bit better but I think it's going to be a little bit better but I think it's going to be a little bit better but I think it's going to be a little bit better I I thought the scoring was completely legit and uh he was an all NBA almost borderline level player and I think that's real no that's definitely real like what he showed last year it sustained through the whole season you know and it wasn't just a matter of get it was getting downhill but also putting the pressure on the defense and getting to the line right like I think that was a key part of it and it's just the constant pressure that he applies to something he can continue to do you know they nicknamed him turbo for a reason right like he's just going to fly down the line and he's going to be able to do it he's going to be able to do it he's going to fly down the hill and get going and get down the lane and go from there and I think that's something that he can recreate I think he's going to look we're going to look to see more of that in transition from him but I am curious to see again it's how does that fit with jaw when like if I'm the opposing defense cool I'm going to let job bomb away from three and I'm just going to crowd the paint some more right and and at this point obvious used to it because that was last didn't address it anymore this season. And then you have Dame who can stretch the floor, but he's also going to want the ball in his hands a lot. So there's kind of just figuring out sort of the, the way this is going to go offensively. Cause I think the worst case scenario for really any team is my turn, your turn, his turn. When you have three guys, I think generally leads to a lot of difficulty offensively finding any fluidity and finding any sort of flow. And I think that's going to be something that they got to stay away from, but they have three guys that are my turn, your turn, his turn. And I think that's something I'm kind of just want to see what they put together offensively going into the season. I'm excited to watch them. And I am very excited to see Damian Lillard play basketball in Portland. Again, I think that first game is going to be awesome. And I can't wait to see that Phoenix last year's feel good story. 45 and 37 got smacked around in the first round by the thunder retained. Well, they retained a lot of their guys, but they also, their one big trade was Royce O'Neill and Grayson Allen, both like sometimes starters, sometimes backups for them in an unprotected 20, 33, pick to Charlotte for miles of bridges and a not good 20, 29 first round pick. That's like the lesser of a bunch of picks. They're starting five. I think we'll be jail on paper would be Jalen green, Devin Booker, Dylan Brooks, miles bridges, and Mark Williams. So no true point guard really in the bunch. The truest point guard on the team is calling Gillespie. Wouldn't shock me. If at some point he butts his way back into the starting five, just his, his stability is three points. One shooting. I thought he was great last year. The deal that they brought him back on is a great deal, but for now I think that's what they want to start. I think they need to figure out what they have in jail and green. He has a $36 million player option for 27, 28. And that's one of the biggest wild cards in the league. So off the bench would be Gillespie Luke canard. That's a nice deal. And this is now where the young guys take the place of the Grayson Allen and Royce O'Neill types for sheer. Fleming is going to have to play. Ryan Dunn will play Iguodaro and Malawatch will play some at the four for Iguodaro. Some at the five it's it's a, if we didn't even mention Jordan Goodwin, who's was a very, was a very good bench guard for them. They, they are, they are. I I'm a believer in Fleming. I think he's going to be solid. Iguodaro is a decent playmaker, switchy defender. Who's lack of a lack of anything on offense kind of handicaps him a little bit. And he's a terrible foul shooter. He's a solid player that their depth. I think is a reason for optimism. They're over under is 39 and a half, which is, for lower than the blazers. That surprised me a little bit. Cause I think their depth is pretty powerful. I just don't like, I don't see like a ton of upside here. I just very curious to see what this team follows up a 45 win season where again, like the blazers, they were a defense first team. They were ninth on defense. Some shooting luck was baked into that. And I just, you know, I don't know that the bridges thing is worth what they paid for it. And I don't think he's going to help their rebounding. Which was pretty bad last year. And the jail and green thing is going to be, it's it could, if they're going to start him, it could make or break their season. Yeah. And I think one thing that you didn't really mention is just the big man rotation. You know, like you're not getting Mark Williams took a step back defensively in terms of rebounding to fewer rebounds per game, a night with, with the way this from the previous season. And then you got to hope Malawatch pays off, like, and takes a leap as a big man in terms of what you're going. Cause I thought that was, was something that really hurt them. And like you said, riches, isn't really a good rebounder. And that's something you need to kind of build upon. Like they're there. Big man rotation leaves me wanting, like I, this is something I like the guards to have. I love the guys they have off the bench. When you laid off, when you, you ran off all those names, you know, and I was waiting, I was sitting here waiting. Like, is he going to say good one? Is he going to say good one? Can I just jump in? I think as the inside track to be their 15th man, he gave them good minutes last year when they called on him. Like their guard rotations and like how, how good all their guards, our is pretty impressive, but I just, I wish I could just turn some of those guys into big men. And I think they need to have some sort of big guy that really will present themselves at least on the terms of like, yo, I'm going to clean up the glass. I don't, I don't need much. I just need somebody that's going to dominate the glass for them in one way, shape or form. And then when we talk about shooting, look like Dylan Brooks was making unbelievable shots last season. Right? Like, and can he do that again? Like, I don't know what it, and sort of baking that in and looking into next season for this team. You know, I you're right when Jalen green is probably the make or break, if he's a guy that can start for them. But when it comes down to who's going to create for Devin Booker, and if he has to do everything and create on his own, it becomes really difficult for him. And especially when he has to create for others. Cause I like book one. It's just, Hey man, I have somebody setting me up. There's no, there's a reason why they went to the finals when they had Chris Paul beyond eight and playing great during that run. But, you know, I don't know if he was able to set up Booker a ton, but they don't have a setup man for Booker anymore. And we've seen him kind of drop off each season when he doesn't have a guy like that. And I think that's something that worries me when we look at this team. Do you remember pop quiz? Mo what team Deandre Aiden is currently on? Ooh, I did just, Oh God, obviously not the Lakers. Oh my God. I just, Oh God. I, I have to remind myself every time. There you go. Point we'll give you. I don't think the jeopardy buzzer sounded quite yet on, on your, on your answer. I was like, he's a backup. So I was like, Oh God. Okay. I just look at this team. I, some like I have their depth target right here. Sometimes I look at him like, I like this team. It's pretty deep. I think bridges will be all right for them. He's kind of a jack of all trades kind of player who might function better in this environment. They need a little bounce. They need a little more size at the four. I get it. And then I'll look away and I'll look back and I'm like, I don't know. What is this? They owe all these picks, including 2031 and 2033 unprotected picks. Like to what end they look in the end, just very average to me. And that's probably just what they are. An average team. And by the way, that's fine. If they've dug out of this, this morass that they were in after Beal and during Beal's money is still on the books and Durant to be average with some interesting young players, in Fleming and model watch and a good Doro and done. And Booker's still like not old jail and green. Maybe, you know, Bridges is in the same sort of age range as Booker. And so as Brooks, like that's a, that's a fun young ish team. That's totally fine. I just still don't really know where it's going. And I think there's going to be nights where it looks great and nights where it looks a little ugly. And they just look like a team. That'll be like 15th on offense, 15th on defense, 41 and 41. And that again, opens the door. For like, God forbid, there's an injury setback all of a sudden it's like, wait, are the Pelicans going to be the eighth seed in the West? What's happening right now? Well, you know, the one thing too, with Phoenix though, is, and we can, this is what they were last season. Every night. They're going to play their asses off. They have a bunch of guys that play extremely hard. Right? So you're in a dog fight each night. Any team that comes in a little bit lackadaisical is going to find themselves in a fight. The moment they step on the floor. And now, now, now the league knows that. And I don't think they knew that last year. And maybe that's worth a half a win less or whatever than it was, by the way, should also be noted. Jalen green has the player option. I said, Dylan Brooks and miles bridges are both extension eligible. Now I would bet on both of them getting an extension or at least having some pretty serious talks. You factor in all three of those guys on the books for next year. They're basically at the second apron for a team that isn't good enough to be at the second apron. So we'll see last team in the West. That is not in this tier is hovering way above. This year, the Denver nuggets who have had a little bit of an inactive off season. They signed this guy Diallo from Europe. They signed Marvin Bagley as a backup center. They resigned Spencer Jones after just an absolutely devilish maneuver. I mean, literally press the as Mr. Burns. Excellent. Fingertips touching. Excellent. Oh, we've opened up 6 million under the cap. Who do we like? Spencer Jones. Would that really? Fuck Denver? You would let's do it. And they did it in the buckets match. And now they have Peyton Watson hanging in the wind as a restricted free agent. I don't know that really anything has happened there other than some talks that have led nowhere. Some people around the league have speculated like, do the nuggets actually want Peyton Watson to take his qualifying offer of six and a half million dollars? In which case he'd be an unrestricted free agent after next season. I actually don't think that they want that and they should definitely not want that because if they're going to keep their window open and it was a popular topic, including here when they got eliminated into the first round last year, like, is this it? Is it just, is the window just closed given Aaron Gordon's endless injury issues? It's pretty close to close closed. I just can't slam it shut as long as you'll get just healthy and among the best three players in the league. So I'm going to open it a crack. Still, it might, the crack might be like San Antonio or Oklahoma city has to run into some issues at the right time. For the nuggets. But, but do you know what the nuggets played the Spurs as well last year? So I'm keeping it in a crack open. If you want to really open it up, Peyton Watson is exactly the kind of player that you need. You watch the Spurs and the Thunder play young, athletic, long, ferocious athleticism, physicality. That's all Peyton Watson. He's got flaws in his game. We'll see if the three point shot is real. He showed some ball handling, pick and roll stuff when you'll get you and everyone else on the team was heard. We'll see how real that is. Yes. There's a risk of overpaying him. I get it. The Nuggets are like, like way they're aproned out already with potential to be way aproned out they're looking at a tax bill that the cronkies have never even sniffed before um i don't know man like there's a world what if they just actually paid all these guys what if they kept cam johnson and christian brown and re-signed payton watson and just actually bit the bullet for a year is that really so bad cronkies uh what if they kept them all what the idea of and this is another theory i've heard floated well we'll just if we have to cut money we'll figure it out at the trade deadline that's a risky game because teams have you over a barrel uh but if they re-sign payton watson their starting five is murray brown cam johnson aaron gordon nicole yokich maybe watson moves into a starting spot under his new deal for aaron gordon maybe give aaron gordon an easier life off the bench for christian brown maybe go big for cam johnson maybe who was just okay last year that starting five by the way only played in 23 games last year was wildly effective when they played off the bench gets a little dicier mo a little dicier tyus jones is back straw their straights i guess i can't have multiple straights i guess i can't have uh scoot straights because i have straw their straights we gotta find a new one for scoot i i own there's nobody else on straw the straights it's me and whoever i well i was about to say it's me and whoever i invite to the straights we're not gonna uh spencer jones payton watson marvin bagley nagi's still here etc somehow zeke nagi's still here the bench is shaky but less so if they they will stagger murray and yokich when it matters uh watson can eat up a lot of minutes if they bring him back i think it's like a must to bring him back i like jones a lot it's a good team uh and i'm not closing the window i'm just not but tbd on what they do if they really if payton watson takes the qualifying offer and leaves that's a that's a that's not great for the denver nuggets if they don't resign payton watson i mean if they roster next season i'm closing the window like i think that's that's fair i just don't i think they absolutely need him i think you know unless you're going to get a bounce back season from christian brown and he's going to live up to the contract that he has now that kicks in this season at 25 a year i don't see a way for them to really and and i love yokich i want to see him at that level but we look at aaron gordon's injury history at this point and even watson only played it 58 games last season like there's still concerns with that but what we saw when he played especially when they didn't have anybody pretty much on the floor he was like showed a lot of growth now we have to see it again to say okay it's real and we have to see it sustained over longer periods of time but i think you absolutely have to have him back for them to really have a legitimate chance because i think he does such a great job i'm gonna be the point of attack defender and assuming aaron gordon is healthy aaron gordon could then take the big guys and that takes a lot of pressure off the yokich defensively in terms of what they have to deal with and i think that's an important thing to kind of pay attention to i think cam johnson is going to have a better season his second time around with the nuggets it's i likened it a lot to richard jefferson's second season with the spurs first season wasn't really good it was a little bit complicated when he came i don't know i don't know who should be more insulted by that richard jefferson or cam johnson rj can rj can rj can weigh in on this no it wasn't meant to be an insult i was there i was i know you're with our got there so the coaching was the problem then you're just trying to get me into all sorts of trouble right now and all of this and i see that little smile you have but i think the the way i look at it though is i think it's the second time around with a little more understanding of the system and and how to play i think goes a long way for cam johnson i that's an issue for them you know the the yonas valentina stuff didn't work last season i bagley's not an upgrade in that scenario for for for the nuggets but i think they have to kind of figure out how they're going to get this thing going but i think they gotta have watson that's got to be the starting point crocky's gotta bite the bullet well hey like just hey i think if it costs you if it ends up costing you cam johnson's expiring deal it's just a matter of like they don't really have any picks that are available to trade so i'm not sure how they even incentivize teams christian brown's deal runs through 2031 it runs through like eternity that's a rough deal but it also in six months it could look okay again if he shoots the three ball better and and and plays up to his potential um this is look you have nicole yokich you should be trying to win and they own 1700 sports teams some of whom are presumably very profitable they should be just fine footing the bill and hopefully the rams win the super bowl and they they could that's where the excess money can come in yeah enough uh it's enough i just attended a dodgers mets game where the mets just it was well i talk about it later with sure um uh and but i think peyton watson is important enough that if it costs you one of your other key players then it could because of your mandate to save money then that's what it costs you i think peyton watson needs to be on the team um and if he's not next year that'll be problematic and aaron gordon look i mean people are putting aaron gordon into these fake trades i'm just telling you he makes 32 million dollars 35 million dollars and 37 million dollars on a player option in 2029 his health issues are not a secret i love aaron gordon i'm like the president of the aaron gordon fan club he has lived out his greatest basketball destiny playing with nicole yokich is his right hand man the league knows about his health issues the rest of the teams know about his health issues i'm just not sure how tradable that contract actually is um and so we'll have to see but i'm not i look the thunder lost some depth and are going to rely on some young guys and losing some death doesn't hurt that much for them because they're already so deep but it does make them even more vulnerable to an ill-timed injury spurs are still pretty young nuggets played them well i'm not shutting the window until i until i have to with the nuggets and nicole yokich uh and bagley was good for the wizards last year mo i don't know how you know defensively not super viable but he eats eats up rebounds i mean it's being good for the wizards isn't necessarily going to get you to uh ready to go in the conference finals a little in the west or or even the final so hey look man over under for the wizards 35 and a half trey young's talking about we're putting the wizards back on the map anthony davis presumably is aware that he plays for the wizards and will report to camp in the right city uh when the season starts look out for the whiz baby look out i i like aj i'm excited for aj i'm ready to see all all we can get from there i'm excited for all these rookies this is going to be a tremendous rookie class uh i can't wait to see some of these teams all right double dribble podcast we've got you on the ringer a lot you're doing stuff for bleacher report now and then you got a twitch stream you and jaylen brown are carrying twitch on your shoulders like i've actually i've actually i've actually just i've given it up to jaylen brown okay the twitch stream is done i've he's he's surpassed me in a way where i can't even mention it uh anything else we need to mention uh videos on offside here and there offside uh from from time to time but off season there's probably not going to be a lot from me there and really just getting ready and next time zach you see me the chalkboard's probably going to be gone because i'm going to be in my actual office i'm going to have a studio my own little studio coming up soon i love that uh i i'm not sure when i will next to you because we're heading out on vacation soon to europe and uh i wish the dodgers nothing but bad luck between now and the end of the season and and uh i will i will talk to you soon mo if i have to text you if we trade for school ball uh don't how about let me tell you right now mo you guys trade for school ball and you send me a text message it's not getting returned i'm not returning it so just prepare yourself now for a non-response thanks bud thank you this episode is brought to you by nas energy introducing new nas energy grand prix guava for those that want to be fueled up and fired up with 100 mile an hour tropical tasting power ignite your taste start your engine shift your flavor to high gear with new nas energy grand prix guava hit the street grab a can and get after it somewhere out there is a chevy truck and the person who drives it well that's a chevy person you probably know one your buddy your sister ones who always show up they're the first to rise the last to leave they always have that little extra something and maybe you've got it too chevrolet together let's drive visit chevy.com slash trucks to explore the lineup all right it's time for our last mets corner before i head on to vacation in europe we're recording this on monday evening july 27th the trade deadline is approaching and sean fantasy i normally bring a microphone and a camera to europe because there's always one super dramatic nba story potentially hovering bubbling below the surface it was yannis last summer it's been kd before lebron just signed we are poised it's time to get started let's get started let's get started for the first dead ish nba august september in a long time but i'm bringing my stuff anyway because it does not seem like we are poised for a calm trade deadline in mets land in that in that vein can i interest you in this freddie peralta bobblehead that was the giveaway on saturday for the first 20 000 fans on the night i threw out the first pitch it's going to be a collector's item very soon because four frame freddie went out and did his thing the next day baby any interest Speaker 3 : I personally will pass, but I don't think I will. do think we will be asking 15 to 18 clubs around major league baseball whether or not they would be interested in freddie peralta's body in some form or fashion so uh yeah that's incredible and they really should have found a way to pivot off of that giveaway day but nevertheless we endure uh any then he pitched the next day four innings and the mets got a w anyway tyrone taylor who seems to just hit home runs every time we play him and marcus simeon woke up from a season-long coma and hit a three or he's actually has 11 home runs that's about all he's done is hit those 11 home runs and the mets beat the dodgers they're good they are playing who are we playing right now we're playing somebody right now as we record this the atlanta braves oh i'm sure that'll go great first place atlanta braves we will talk a little bit about my experience um throwing the first pitch in a game that the mets lost in like just every i'm just i'm glad that i took my dad and my daughter and my wife and some friends to a game that really summarized the experience of the 2026 match embarrassing errors embarrassing pass balls brett baity just throwing the ball all around the field at various positions none of which he can play adequately uh no clutch hitting at all to speak of until the game was 4-1 dodgers and the mets fake came back and got back in it um juan soto filled a cameo filmed a cameo within an emma stone movie and now is out with a calf injury and is asking answering questions about whether he's even going to come back at some point this season and he says he is it's going great sean it's really going great and you you are you are curious if this trade deadline even ends up being perhaps bigger than or should be perhaps bigger than than many people think it might be let's talk about let's talk about all the different permutations that we could get right because it is a pretty important six-day stretch here that we're going to have with the team it's probably the last important six-day stretch we're going to have with this team until we get to the offseason and even then there's no guarantee that we're going to have a six-day stretch until we get to the offseason and even then there's no guarantee that we're getting baseball next year so you could make the case that the next six days are the most important week for the mets for the next 18 months that's in play and that's upsetting to think about but it's it's definitely possible and there's a lot of different directions that they could go there's i think most of the insiders in baseball have clearly demarcated well here are the seven or eight players that are probably available for the new york mets david stearns and mets brass have indicated well there's like five maybe six that are currently untouchable on our roster but that doesn't account for every single player on the roster and i gotta say for a team that's 19 games under 500 it doesn't seem like there are a few tweaks away from being back in contention next year and so i'm feeling like are there maybe much more dramatic things that need to be done to radically alter what we're doing it's possible that that's not possible but let's just start with the people who we know we don't want traded i'm gonna name the people and you tell me i'll keep naming names and you say stop when i've named someone who you think should be traded okay should should be okay yeah carson bench uh juan soto nolan mcclain christian scott aj ewing zach thornton francisco lindor francisco alvarez luis terrenz oh oh okay no keep going keep going my daughter loves him too much okay that's nine players that i've just named luke weaver and now okay so you know that i have a i i i have this vision of how do we thread this needle of being sellers in what has been an all-time cataclysmic season that is long over and still acknowledging that we have one of the five best hitters on the planet and that's probably too high of a number in his prime on our team next year meaning we should compete and it seems like likely not certain that also a hall of fame level shortstop will be on our team in his early to mid 30s next season and so that was why i was like well this luke weaver guy man he seems awesome he's like he had millions scoreless in a row uh if we want to if we want to compete next year don't we need guys like that and then i've actually talked to some baseball experts over the last couple weeks i went to a game i met some people and they're like you know relievers are just kind of like if you can sell high on a reliever you just generally should because they're so volatile and so i've been swayed by that alvarez i am on team don't trade alvarez and i understand he's frustrating he swings at a lot of bad pitches he's young and he has power and he plays catcher and i don't really even care that he plays catcher poorly on defense because i i wore the jersey of a horrible defensive catcher onto the mound at city field to throw my first pitch because mike piazza was just that damn good as a hitter alvy's not in that in that range but you know i've been swayed by that the question you're basically asking is like if that's if if the line is luke weaver are we going to get enough stuff for this to be a real sell-off and like what's actually the pivot next year is bo bichette on the team next year is he better than this like luis robert jr horry polanco has done i mean literally nothing not one thing of any significance like so i is that enough and that's the question you're asking does it need to be more yeah i mean there's just a quagmire there's a big question about lindor which you and i have talked about the last two mets corners i think it's both an untradable contract and a bad time to trade him so i don't think that that's necessarily a key conversation point but there's a weird thing about this team which is there have just been roughly six awful major league expensive contracts either given out or traded for on the books and we don't really know what to do because if you look down the line next year the team has over 230 million dollars in payroll already committed in two years they still have over 150 and including opt-ins potentially 180 plus million dollars on the books this is a team zach that's going to struggle to win 70 games this is insane that they have this much long-term money committed to a terrible core right now and i didn't even i didn't even bother to do the math of what our record updated records since we were 45 and 24 last season and so to your point like this is just a flat-out bad team it's 200 games plus of just you're bad you're just really really bad and you can say well everybody got injured this guy inexplicably slumped frankie montes isn't even on the freaking team anymore so much but like that's how teams get bad is like a lot of things go wrong all at the same time and it's been going wrong for a baseball season and a quarter i don't know it's it's just like they're just not good yeah i i sent you this note someone tweeted this and i'll add an addendum to the tweet it was about the fact that boba shett jorge polanco marcus semi and sean mania devin williams kodai sanga and if you include frankie montas that's players who are currently making a total of 160 million dollars this year have accounted for 0.8 war 0.8 you know that doesn't even it's that's not even one win above replacement that's insane and mania has been actually okay he's been solid two months now to the point where i'm okay with him being 22 million dollars next year it is embarrassing to your point that in the coming year he's going to have to wait and see what happens next year he's going to have to wait and see what happens next year he's going to have to wait and see what happens next year he's going to have to wait and see what happens next year he's going to have to wait and see what happens next year he's going to have to wait and see what happens next year he's going to have to wait and you combine that with a bunch of low payroll teams like the guardians and the white socks etc performing really well this year and the mets are like the post the mets are through their own embarrassing performance are being used as a tool in the cba disagreement of like maybe a salary cap is not necessary look at these idiots they spend all the money in the world and they suck i never in a million years thought we would have been here when sterns was hired three seat three off seasons ago never in a million years i i i'm shocked now some of the some of what i just shared with you is bad luck you know it's bad luck the kodai sanga got hurt and it just has never been the best the player he was it's bad luck that montas got hurt it's bad luck that polanco and uh has has been as hurt as he has been even though you could have seen that before the signing i think there's the marcus semien question is is really tricky and it's really bothering me zach and one of the things that i do when i watch the games is i think to myself what can happen here that will make me happy um because what a question to ask like i i marcus semien is 35 years old obviously he was traded for brandon nemo in an effort to clear the final two years of nemo's deal and also to make space in the outfield for these prospects who are rising up you know ben started the season with the team aj ewing came up quickly proved himself a major league leaguer nick morbido is still in triple a right now he's somebody who's potentially part of the team you know we've got juan soto we've got tyrone taylor is reborn as hack wilson um so like i get that move i'm not necessarily debating that move specifically but literally marcus semien who is i think the worst position player in baseball has two years and 50 million dollars left on his contract i'm gonna keep saying this on metz corner for the next two years like that is a a fuck ton of money to be paying to somebody who literally should not be in the lineup i mean he is not despite that three run home run that you're citing um he is he's a negative he is literally a negative at the plate and he's his defense has been deteriorating all season and so it's really hard to even invest i like actually like investing in the sort of like let's watch the kids narratives we've had a lot of met seasons where the second half has been just kind of like let's get a look at what we have under the hood here who are the players who can come up and and play for us but it feels as though a tacit agreement made between Semyon and the front office that he is no matter what the everyday second baseman and despite his injury a couple weeks ago the plan was for him to play 162 games this year that's inexplicable to me inexplicable and it I don't know what it says about what the long-term strategy is going to be for the team but if we're making agreements like that with players who should not be on the field and we're making guys like Brett Beatty who is a much more natural second baseman than he is first baseman play first base you're meaningfully undermining the potential success of the team so I don't know I know that's a very small drop in the bucket relative to this disaster this year but it itches at me every time I watch them well look I mean you're you mentioned Beatty and I just was looking up like how often has he played second base in the past he's played it quite a bit I'll tell you right now he can't play any of the positions that he's playing right now he cannot play first he is a freaking walking disaster at first base he hit her I can't and then in the outfield you know we have all these now that Luis Robert Jr. is back and you and I were both watching the Brewers game last week I was watching with my daughter fly ball to deep Christian Scott who's been just a workhorse a godsend let's put him in the rotation and still next season is about to get out of a jam long fly ball to right field hit pretty hard but it's a fly ball that you have to catch and our our right fielder and I had just flipped on the game half an inning before our right fielder who I thought was Benj was like staggering back switching directions tripping over his own feet reaching out at the last minute for a ball that he's taken a horrible angle on and it drops in the warning track and hits the wall and it's a double and everybody scores and I'm I'm like my daughter and I are watching again I'm like yeah that's not that's unlike Carson Benj that didn't even look like Carson Benj and of course it was Brett Beatty and my 11 year old daughter not me my daughter says to me why is Beatty playing the outfield and I'm going through all the names of the outfielders we have including Taylor who's on the bench because god forbid we play him against a right-handed pitcher because Brett Beatty just has to play he's so ferocious offensively his left-handed bat has to be in the lineup despite that he cost us a game in the field my 11 year old daughter asked the question why is Brett Beatty playing the outfield honey I don't know but we're about to lose this goddamn game too I think that my instinct on that is there's either two answers to that question one is they're trying to show that Brett Beatty is a very versatile player and playing him before they're making they're making an effort knowing this is a lost season to teach him how to play those positions and give him more exposure to them so that he is a super utility player this is like the NBA man you're not a versatile defender just because you're bad at every position that doesn't make you versatile I know but you're right but Simeon stinks so put Beatty at second maybe he stinks a little less I I and you were at a restaurant you told me and the waiter said the same thing to you right like what is what is happening leaving the restaurant last Wednesday night at the same night of the game that you're describing and the first thing the guy said this is in Los Angeles this isn't you he just he grabbed me by the arm he said why the hell is Brett Beatty playing right field and I didn't know what to say to him I don't what the team is just an absolute farce and I'm I am so confused I'm so confused how it could have gone this poorly um I really I don't know where they're supposed to go now I think there's maybe two schools of thought here in terms of like dealing guys because they're gonna make deals right Brooks really is gonna be traded their mentor is going to be traded at any minute um I think there's a good chance Weaver gets dealt and they're going to be try to compile as many top 100 prospects as they can if you were the front office of this team would you say well we've got Soto and he'll be going in his age 28 season next year and we've got all these young guys you know who are not even at arbitration yet so that's all very cost managed those other players that Sean was bitching about those are a sunk cost right it's over we made those commitments don't worry about that would you try to acquire as many close to the big leagues prospects as possible or would you just try to acquire best player available and then consider dealing those prospects in the off season for major league ready players to to compete in 2027 the ladder I think I think everything has to be aimed at trying to get this team back to being something next season if you're going to have Soto and Lindor and McClain who's clearly ready for big things on the team next year I'm I would blame everything at that but again I'm I'm just an idiot I mean I I don't know what the other path is like I mean I guess if you get major league ready prospects and you just baseball is weird if you just have a bunch of good players on your team that's very very powerful so I I'm open to either path but I would I would aim more towards something that helps us flip for guys in the short term that can that can coincide with maybe a nice 20 27 20 28 season I think you're right and I think a lot of this season can be chalked up to bad luck too bad strategy for sure but just like you know Soto and Lindor playing six combined games together this year or whatever it is the fact that Bichette cannot be worse and you you know he's going to opt in after this season and he he simply cannot be worse he has been after coming alive in June he's been honestly one of the least impressive hitters in the whole sport this month Zach it's crazy um so I have a couple of a couple of things um I just uh on Lindor we're going through it right now in our house because she's aware my daughter that there is a possibility he'll be traded and she's gone through several phases of dealing with this phase one was well I won't be a Mets fan anymore I'll be a fan of whatever team Lindor is traded for if a fan at all and I said well that that hurts me I think you should stick with the Mets phase two was I will cheer for the Mets and whatever team Lindor is traded to even if it's the Yankees because they do need a shortstop and there's been I don't there can't be a world where the Mets trade a player of this caliber to the Yankees right like that has to be a non-starter I I don't think that they're a match in terms of the prospects that the Yankees have available to deal but never say never and then I said to her that's not acceptable you cannot cheer for the New York Yankees to have success even if they have Francisco Lindor on their team what you can do is root for the Mets root for his individual success and root for the Yankees to fail and she accepted that as a compromise in the rare event that Lindor gets traded to but if Lindor gets traded to like the Padres she's going to be a Padres fan and a Mets fan I think I have to accept that I think this is this is an acceptable trade with an 11 year old girl who's two years into being a baseball fan and fell in love with this one particular player you gotta start getting her on that AJ Ewing Carson bench oh she loves those guys you were on the way to meet a friend in Westchester she was like daddy and mommy do you want to hear my rankings of like my favorite Mets and it and it's Lindor and then it then Torrens she just has a soft spot for Torrens he's wonderful and then Ben Benjen Ewing are three four she loves she's all in on those guys that's what it's about too is you know as as I love Francisco Lindor too but when I was a young fan I was getting addicted to guys who I was watching debut in their rookie seasons and one of my great joys as a fan was watching um David Wright and Jose Reyes come up and watching them blossom into stars you know I was older and at that point in my life but getting having a real genuine connection obviously we went through this with Pete Alonso as well who we lost in the offseason um I I hope she sticks with it I want her to stick with it I think that there is well listen I was listening to Bill and his dad talk on Bill's show today and I haven't gotten to that part yet I'm still in the house the house section they they tried to spend as much time on the Red Sox as they possibly could to avoid talking about the Jalen Brown trade which I from their perspective but I found amusing but they did talk about the moment when Nomar Garcia Parra was traded which was of course a very um you know a tremendously important moment in Red Sox history that eventually got them off the schneid and they went on to win in 04 but before that happened I think it was the offseason before Nomar was traded mid-season where there was a lot of talk of him being traded and then he started the season and he was kind of didn't seem right his head wasn't on straight he was kind of making mistakes and maybe he'd been losing some of his time and there was a lot of talk about was he maybe going on the downside and they dealt him and then dealing him ultimately led to putting together the that that legendary team that came back against the Yankees and won the title but I I see some modest parallels between Nomar and Lindor there and I like Lindor and I don't want him to be traded but he does seem off and he does seem a little unhappy and he does have a very large contract and that that would be the most um earth-shaking thing they would do they're not going to deal any young pitching that obviously makes no sense um I don't think they're gonna deal Juan Soto I don't think that's ever going to come up um he does have an opt-out in a few years let's not let us not forget that I'll be very curious to see what happens with that opt-out I doubt he's going to opt out because the Mets essentially like have the option to retain him and if they pay him a significant amount more money but it just feels like they're very far away and I don't know how you fix it in a short period of time they're so bad that it pains me to say it nothing would even like in the NBA if this were the NBA which I realized it's a completely different game where one guy can impact winning at such a more dramatic level in baseball there would like a hundred percent be Juan Soto trade rumors even though he has a no trade clause as does Lindor as there's like apparently a third of Major League Baseball um but I don't I don't think we're there either I don't expect it seems like selling low on Lindor is is after just a nightmare season of injuries it injuries the top injuries just doesn't seem like a smart move. I will say. um first of all the Mets have done everything possible to keep my daughter uh a Mets fan like I can't I can't say enough about how well they have treated us the few games that we've went there including on Saturday when I threw out the first pitch like the whole staff was I'm gonna just name check Jordan, Kara, Sam, Mr. Met, uh Zach uh they were all just like amazing my daughter's been able to stand on Citi Field twice and like be pretty close to Lindor we were 10 feet away from Stephen Cohen Stephen Cohen was in his seat as I was preparing to go out on the mound and I I was like the journalist in me should go introduce myself make a connection exchange numbers whatever and I was like I'm just I'm nervous for the pitch which I will get to and I'm I also feel negatively about the team right now maybe this is not maybe I'm not in the right emotional space to go up to one of the Mets and I'm like I'm not in the right emotional space to go up to one of the Mets and I'm not in the right emotional space to go up to one of the richest men in the world who controls my personal happiness to some level and strike up this conversation you go sideways it can go it can go George Costanza's dad why the hell is your train shape you and her I gotta say my people kept telling me Jim Phelps Jim Phelps I do I would want to see you and Steve Cohen speaking to each other I you know I know that you talked last time we spoke about this that you were you didn't love listening to him um talk to Joel Sherman and and John Heyman I honestly did appreciate it because I felt like one he was more candid than almost any other owner would be in an environment like that and I appreciate the owner being honest too he seemed upset and bothered he was really going that was true and I I felt his fandom seeping through but there was a certain like impatience with the questions that I and the end that I didn't enjoy yeah it was a mixed bag I give him credit for making that appearance I don't know if he's going to be able to do it again but I don't know if he's going to do it again but I don't know if he's going to do it again but I don't know if he's going to do it again I know he wants to turn it around and he's in this weird thing where he's like well I've made this commitment to this executive and I don't want to be seen as somebody who is overreacting to the moment and firing that executive and then making this seem like you know a not very happy destination for for management but I don't think that's the case considering he's going to pay people 10 million dollars a year to spend his money which just seems like an insane proposition for almost any sports executive but I'm glad that the team took care of you that's the flip side of this is that you know the organization broadly seems like it's in a world-class state it's it seems like going to the ballpark is a lot of fun the team um despite its performance on the field like it's really it's a very well-run team outside of the team part of the team so they're in direct conflict but I want to hear about the first pitch because I saw what happened and I I have a lot of questions what's your what are your do you want me to just talk or do you want to ask your question where'd you get that arm on you Zach you know great stuff so here's what happened first of all the whole thing is a wallet machine I took the ferry we expect there's a ferry out from various places they get you to Citi Field including Stanford Connecticut we took that the ferry was like 30 minutes late and I was extremely stressed out because you have to be out there by a certain certain time or else this can't happen but they like whisked me through um and they're like they bring me on the field they give me the ball they give you the ball which I have and I have to decide what to do with it and um I had I had three choices for whom my catcher would be and I think if I were a more famous person one of the choices would have been a player but I don't meet that threshold and that's fine was anyone in my family and it just didn't no one is a great fit it was my dad who's 83 my daughter who wouldn't do it and my wife who would do it and is a tremendous athlete but it didn't didn't feel like the right pick Mr. Met or Mrs. Met now if I were as hashtag woke as I'd like to be I'd go Mrs. Met with all apologies to Mrs. Met Mr. Met's the OG okay like Mr. Met is the choice I'm sorry Mrs. Met you're amazing I'm really your addition to the team has been welcome on every front it's no and they sit they're like they bring you out on the field and they're like all right it's 701 the national anthem is going to be done at 702 Mr. Met and you are going to get announced and walk out into the field and I had practiced from a mound at our local high school easy speezy and I was super confident and I'm like I'm like I'm throwing I'm going to throw gas like for what what passes is gas for me I'm going up there I'm going to throw hard I'm there was no question I was going to throw from the mound they did tell me interestingly don't touch the rubber the pitchers don't like it when the ceremonial pitchers touch the rubber and whatever I'm okay but interesting you can stand right in front of it if you want so I was going to do that I did that and I got up there and I got tight I got nervous and so plan a was throw gas come hell or high water because I was confident plan b was take 30 off and just ensure that you get it all the way there on a decent trajectory and over the plate and don't embarrass yourself I pivoted to plan b very quickly despite Mr. Met pumping me up the whole time we were there silently he doesn't talk but yeah um what did how did he do that just like like gesturing at me pointing at me okay um and I was mildly happy with how it went and just thrilled that my dad got to be there my wife got to be there and my kid got to be there and witness that great it's like insane to me that I was able able to do this and for the only team I've ever truly loved um and it was awesome and then Mr. Met and I went backstage and we filmed a little skit that will appear on Mr. Met's social media channels I think sometime soon uh so we'll see how that how that goes but it was it was truly a crazy a crazy experience and with that I will open up the floor for questions okay one I thought you were gonna say I went backstage with Mr. Met and we did fireball shots and drank and watched the game together I don't think Mr. Met drinks uh okay I I'm very curious about the practice you played baseball growing up I presume little league and quit literally you know what I couldn't overcome I didn't want to get hit by a pitch I just like I could never get over like I didn't want to get hit by a pitch that's interesting because I felt like your emotion was pretty sound were you thinking am I I'm definitely going from the wind up should I consider going from the stretch just to you know make this a little bit easier on myself you know you left it a little high I did but it was over the plate over the plate and very respectable like obviously we've seen hundreds of versions of significantly worse first pitches I mean I thought you did very well but like how did you think about the way you were going to throw the ball so now that I've done it once and done respectively well I would like to do it again and like actually go for it and and show the arm but we got to get you out to a Long Island Ducks game I know like the Coney Island the whatever the Coney Island the Cyclones um uh I so I actually weirdly you know it is frowned upon for an adult human to bring a glove to a baseball game it's an it's a mark of embarrassment like I would never do it I thought about bringing one just to have like the comfort of of of going into a traditional wind up of like having a place to put the ball and grab it and grip it and I just decided that's too embarrassing I'm not going to do that I'm just going to throw the ball and then it was over and then you walk out and you're done and uh I some people have sent me videos uh I had some friends at the game in various places I was booed by a few there were a few straight boo birds in the crowd which like respect if you want to boo me boo me I did my best what do you want me to do they booed your performance or did they don't like your commentary about the NBA what do you think I think it was before I think as I walked out I heard a strip now one of my friends Tom whose last name she'll be redacted bought a ticket uh in section 11 and he's like I have to be close enough for you to hear me say low you suck so it was it was tremendous it was it was tremendous I had a question about the crowds actually because you know sparsely attended game is something I wanted to note uh I I clocked that despite the fact that it was a Nolan McLean yashinobu Yamamoto matchup you got a real corker of a pitching duel um you know did it did you feel the crowd when you were getting ready to throw or did you like could you sense that you were in a giant stadium or so in your head that you were like I'm in a hallway with Mr Matt I blocked it out I blocked I didn't I didn't look into the stands I I didn't I didn't look anywhere in the crowd I will say you know as recently this is the first game I've been to in a little bit since it really went South as recently as last September when I went to old what old timers day or whatever they call it now when the bottom was falling out but they were still like a half game up in the playoffs wild card race or two games up even but it was clearly like we're just gonna either fall backwards into the playoffs or not make it the crowd was still alive and like when Lindor would come up and my girl would play half the stadium was singing the lyrics and doing the wave back and forth the atmosphere the other night made me so sad it is like absolutely dead everyone like the the level of play has just killed the fans no one is singing hey my girl no one is doing the wave with with in in tune to the song um the crowd is totally dead the crowd was probably 40 percent Dodgers fans and they were like way louder than the Mets fans in multiple and I had people all around the stadium who reported my experience sitting pretty close the same like the Dodgers fans were loud and enthusiastic and the Mets fans were just like dead it's not they're not booing no one is booing it's just like disinterest and even in September of last year there was at least hope and interest and now there's just like you know it's only one game I'm gonna go back soon when I get back from vacation there's a couple good home series I think we have the Giants and the Astros coming up coming in, like, winnable games, hopefully. But that was. that was a sad it was a sad state of affairs it was just a totally dead the Mets portion of the crowd was just totally dead yeah it's it's it's depressing to think about that I mean we're now fully back to 1992 1993 era you know the Jeff Torborg managed teams that were so brutally underperforming relative to what their expectations were I think in 92 they went 70 and 92 and this feels like a 70 and 92 kind of season you know the thing that we have to watch for here that is kind of agonizing in two ways is where will they finish in the standings actually matters and they're they have the third worst record in the sport right now astonishing we need them to stay pretty much right there I mean they're behind the Angels and the Rockies and if they finish within the top six they have obviously a much higher likelihood of staying in the top six in terms of the lottery but even if they finish in the top six I think they can still fall out of the lottery and if they fall out of the top six picks then they get bumped down automatically 10 picks because of the threshold and the payroll that they have crossed so like that lottery is pretty important because if we're going to go through this season we at least need to get a top five draft pick out of it I guess I need to do this I guess I need to learn a new set of over complicated lottery rules right as the NBA has introduced the 3-2-1 relegation zone system I guess I'm gonna have to dive in and figure out how the hell this lottery works and this one is ornate man this one is complicated um and it's pretty much only complicated for the Mets because they're the only team that's going to be able to win the lottery so I think it's going to be a it's going to be a little bit complicated because they're the only team that spends this much money and is this terrible well uh uh hooray hooray for the Mets um there was something watching I love Ewing and Benj man no I love watching them I forgot like there was a moment in the game first of all the most exciting moment of the game was Tyrone Taylor's hit to pull us within 4-3 and then we didn't have a base runner in the ninth um then the Dodgers made a pitching change in like the seventh inning I think your eighth inning maybe and during the commercial break they shut the lights off in the stadium from the start of the game and then they shut the lights off in the like one of those sort of light shows they do and if the motif was on the jumbotron a subway train whooshed by and the whooshing of that train was then replicated in the lights around the stadium as if the train was going around in a circle very cool light show there was red there was reds and greens and oranges all flashing in the outfield too and I actually my brain actually thought wait a second are the are the Dodgers bringing in Edwin Diaz and the Met this is like the Mets are going to like do some sort of tribute for him because there's no other possible exciting thing occurring here there's certainly nothing exciting that the Mets are generating and I knew that Diaz was like maybe going to be active for the series I had lost I wasn't paying attention and then you know it was just like hey here's something that's kind of cool to watch while our team sucks and the other team makes a pitching change and it was I I got my hopes up for like a Diaz cameo and there was none none to be had yeah that's the stage of fandom that we're in right now we just hope for a cool light show while watching our favorite baseball team lose it's our biggest game of the year it reminded me of the very first game I went to in my renaissance of fandom um it was also a Mets Dodgers game it's crazy my daughter has seen two Mets Dodgers games and Otani has not gotten on base one time in two games and there might she's beginning to be skeptical that he's actually this good um we gotta teach her about sample sizes and things like that but that you know maybe wait on sample sizes but the but the first to my point is the first game the Timmy trumpet light show when they shut the lights off and everything what like that I think sealed her as a fan that was so spectacular that it was like her I it was it was spectacular to me let alone and then 10 year old girl and now a similar light show happens to Mark nothing other than there's the Dodgers are making a pitching change and yet another Mets loss um anyway it's Monday night we got we got a ways to go I guess we'll see what happens man any any final thoughts anything we didn't cover no I mean I'm sorry we're not you and I are both going to be um not available to to do a post trade deadline breakdown you know and uh I feel fine about that to be totally honest with you I am excited to find out who they acquire and who I can pretend is going to matter to my life in five years I might be three shots of rakia into my night in Croatia when they make a trade and I got a mic and I got a camera and I forgot to show you one the other cool thing the Mets did you get your personalized Jersey any number that you want wow so I chose 18 not because of Daryl strawberry although he was my favorite player I was wondering about that my my daughter and my mom have the same birthday February 18th 218 so I chose 18 for them and so this will be I got to figure out what to do with this I'll probably frame it but this is like this is I I get that anybody can make a personalized Jersey I get it but this is a very cool thing and uh I got to tell you it's possible that the Mets can acquire Brandon Lau at some point in the next 12 months I really hope that they do and in which case you'll have a a use for that Brandon low yeah because I can't I can't wear this one like there's no there's that I I frown upon it so it's either going to be framed or stashed somewhere but it was very cool anyway thank you to the Mets thank you to Sean fantasy the one and only subscribe to his newsletter on sub stack projections it's awesome it's teaching me so much about the movies I feel so smart now uh Sean fantasy who knows when we next reconvene in September what the state of things will be but always always let's go Mets as they were winning last night against the Dodgers my my daughter and I were watching and I said to her it's a lost season I didn't know about this lottery rules it's like why not have fun why not have why not why not it's still fun to see them win so let's have some fun let's have some fun thanks Zach that's it for today thank you as always let's let's do that again three two one all right that's it for today thank you to moja keel thank you to Sean fantasy thank you to the Mets for having a win before this podcast went up thanks to Oscar Mike and Billy on production thanks to you all for listening to and or watching the Zach Lowe show we'll see you next time 21 or over and president select states for Kansas in affiliation with Kansas star Casino or 18 and over in president DC Kentucky or Wyoming gambling problem 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