One Big Question for Every Eastern Conference Team! Plus, Ballmer Apology and Kawhi to the Raptors!

This episode is brought to you by State Farm. Every player brings something different to the field. Some have speed, some have power, some have their own podcast. It's true. That being said, no two players are exactly alike, and the same is true off the field. That's why State Farm takes the time to get to know you so they can help personalize coverage for your life and budget. Like a good neighbor, State Farm is there. 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 slash Superior Access. Enjoy responsibly. Copyright 2026, Anheuser-Busch, Michelob Ultra Light Beer, St. Louis, Missouri. Coming up on the Zach Lowe Show, it's Tuesday morning. It's mid-September. Training camp is almost here. Michael Pina from The Ringer is here for a fun sort of big-picture look at the Eastern Conference. One big question for all 15 teams. One question that could define each of their respective seasons, whether they're trying to win the championship or whether they're just sort of building from the bottom or, in the Bucs' case, rebuilding, or, in the Bulls' case, kind of also rebuilding whatever the net is. We each wrote one question for each of the 15 teams. We're going to rapid-fire, quick-hitting through all 15 of them. Kind of a nice way to start looking at the season. And we're going to start with the Toronto Raptors. Why? Because Kawhi Leonard is finally, months later, a Raptor. The trade is done. Brandon Ingram and Grady Dick go to what is left of the Clippers, who, of course, announced over the weekend that they will not, not be contesting the NBA's penalties. They will just accept them. And for all their bluster about lawsuits and witch hunts and all of that, they're just giving up and turning tail and eating the penalty. And the trade is done. We're going to talk about all of that and what I expect to hear at Board of Governors later today about the Clippers, about NBA Europe, about expansion. A loaded Zach Lowe Show to start your week with Michael Pina. That's all coming up now. Welcome to the Zach Lowe Show. It's mid-September. I went to yet another New York Mets loss last night. We're not going to talk about that. I'm 0-4 for the season. It's going great. Michael Pina is here, and we're going to do a fun exercise today. One big question. We each wrote one, one apiece, for all 15 Eastern Conference teams. The defining, maybe small question, big question, whatever you wanted, something that's going to kind of be a pivot point for each team's season, and we'll do the West next week. Mr. Pina, how are you? I'm fantastic, Zach. Thank you so much for having me. We are going to start with the Toronto Raptors, not because I'm that interested in the Toronto Raptors, or I think the Toronto Raptors are going to win the East, or I'm trying to get some side deals with some businesses in Toronto. No, not for any of that reason, but because Kawhi Leonard is finally, mercifully, a Raptor under the exact terms that were agreed to months, weeks, years, I don't know, ago. Brandon Ingram is a Clipper. Grady Dick is a Clipper. Two unprotected first-round picks from Toronto, 31, and 33 are Clippers' property. Apparently, they're not going to have to forfeit those picks, and a second-rounder and a swap. And that's all possible because Steve Ballmer released a statement over the weekend or on Monday night, whenever it was, I can't remember, saying they are not, after all their talk, Michael Pina, about witch hunts and using every avenue possible to deflect this podcaster's nonsense allegations and this penalty that the NBA levied after miscommunication and this and that. It's a witch hunt. Oh, my God. The lawsuits are going to be flying. Nope. They're just going to eat the penalty, maybe secretly hope that the penalty will get shrunk. We'll probably ask Adam Silver about that at Board of Governors today. Can I read you Mr. Ballmer's statement, Michael? Please. Please do. For my fellow Los Angeles Clippers followers, not sure you're a follower or how many of those there are anymore, but that's just line. We'll just line at it line by line. This has been a very difficult, difficult time for everybody associated with the Clippers. And for that, I have sincere regrets. This and that. What exactly are this and that? What do you regret? Do you just regret the vibes? I want to apologize, that's a nice word, to our fans, employees, and my fellow NBA team owners for the distraction and distress this matter has caused for which I accept responsibility as principal owner. What does this matter? And what are you accepting? Responsibility for just the distraction and the noise too bad. We are committing to put this chapter behind us. We have communicated to the NBA that we are complying with the penalties assessed by the league have paid the fine. That was quick and are moving forward while there are still disagreements concerning the findings in the report. This is not where I want to focus. Team owners should support, not distract. I don't think I heard anything in there about cap circumvention or like, whoops, Gillian Zucker was arranging side deals with. Did you hear anything in there about that? I did not. It's an extremely vague statement. And I appreciate the apology to the fellow owners as well. I took note of that. Look, I'm sure. I mean, I really suffered through this. My thoughts and prayers have been with them through this entire ordeal and their families and their pets. Really good. I apologize that you feel bad about the thing that I did. Apologies. Not apologies. The challenges ahead of us are significant, but so is our resolve. We will continue to build our team and invest in our community. What kind of investments are you going to make? You know what? Better not to ask. The confidence of our fans is our priority. Good luck with that. With our talented roster. I'm sorry, what? Outstanding staff and clear vision. I am certain that we will compete at the highest level. Okay. And be an organization our fans can be proud of. Well, good luck to you because if I know one thing about the college, Clippers, it's that they have a long history of competing at the highest level and being an organization that their fans can be proud of. This is after all the bluster, just a delightfully chicken shit statement. And I will ask you though, Kawhi clearly gets off scot-free in all of this. He waves a straight kicker. He goes to the Raptors where he wanted to be, where Alex McKechnie, the last guy who really kept him healthier for a prolonged period of time is working as the director of. Whatever he is, or the president of whatever he is. I don't get into titles anymore. He's probably going to sign an extension with the Raptors that is going to be enormous and presumably legal. And he paid a $700,000 fine, agreed to a backdoor deal with the NBA that the Clippers seemed gobsmacked by when it happened. And it was an end around, around their own right to take this to arbitration. I think Mark Stein is the one who reported over the weekend. Maybe it was Jake Fisher. One of them that there was some resentment among the Clippers towards Kawhi for how easily he gets to move on. Do you feel bad for the Los Angeles Clippers? No, I mean, of course not. I mean, I re I read the report, the 36 page report, uh, a lot of lying, um, happened, a lot of rule breaking, um, the fact that they were specifically warned and reminded of the rules after they broke them with Deandre Jordan. So they're like a second time offender. And all of this, I have no sympathy whatsoever. I think that frankly, getting the two picks from Toronto and the pick swap or whatever is a blessing for them and we'll see what they can do with that. I I'm not very optimistic. I think that if I feel bad for anyone, it's for the fans. Of course. I mean, it's, this sucks for them, um, royally. And I don't know when this team will be relevant again, let alone competitive, like competitive in any sense. Yeah. I don't know what the path is. If you care about your fans, you are a man whose wealth can rise or fall or rise and rise and rise in tens of billions of dollars, like per day, per week, per hour, depending on one company's stock price, do something for your fans, give them free tickets, give them 70% off their season tickets, do something for your fans. Look, two things. I can hold these two beliefs simultaneously in my head. Kawhi Leonard is a villain in this story. The idea that he knew nothing was going on. All my uncle's just going wrong. I have no idea where all this money is coming from. I'm signing documents, blah, blah, blah. Pablo Torre on his podcast has pointed out here, the documents he signed. I don't know where this money is coming from. I apologize on behalf of my bad uncle, uh, complete nonsense. And he is getting off scot-free and it is going to tar his career and his legacy. I can believe that. And I can also feel absolutely no pity for the Clippers who broke the rules with DeAndre Jordan, who should have reported to the NBA immediately what Kawhi Leonard was asking for, who should have reported to the NBA immediately what Kawhi Leonard was asking for, who should have reported to the NBA immediately what Kawhi Leonard was asking for, who should have reported to the NBA immediately what Kawhi Leonard was asking for, who should have just flat out said, Hey, no, you're not really worth it. But we're, they were so desperate for relevance for a superstar that they've spent a year following around like a stalker fan going to all his games in Toronto that they couldn't say no to him. Not before he signed, not once he signed, not after he signed an extension, they could never say no to him. They could never even tell the NBA what was going on. They knew exactly what hit this whole thing was about and that Kawhi ultimately was going gonna look out for himself. They shouldn't be surprised at what happened. Um, and I still, no one has answered the question. Forget the Paul George Shea trade and Kawhi demanding that. And should they have done that? Like, let's leave that over here. No one has ever like answered the question. If they said, no, is he really not signing with the Clippers? Is he going to where the Lakers? I don't think he wanted to go to the Lakers. Is he going back to Toronto? I don't know. But anyway, let's move on. Toronto has Kawhi Leonard essentially in place of Brandon Ingram, colossal upgrade. And they, it also got some picks, which is not relevant for this season so much other than trade assets and Grady Dick, who had been surpassed in the rotation by Jacoby Walter. Michael Pina, what is your big question for the Toronto Raptors? Can Scotty Barnes be the best teammate Kawhi Leonard has ever had? Is my question. And you go down the list of, I went, you know, obviously through Kawhi's career, you have Tim Duncan managing nobly in there. Mid to late third. You have a little Marcus Aldridge made 13 all NBA as a 30 year old in 2016, you have 24 year old Pascal Siakam, one most improved player in 2019. He's the second leading scorer on a champion. You have 30 year old Paul George made 13 all NBA in 2021, a 32 year old Paul George in 2023, all-star another all-star team for Paul George the following year. And then you have 35 year old James Harden, who was an all-star and third team, all NBA. In 2025. And that's pretty much like, can I, can I just give a shout out to NBA champion, six time all-star soon to be a retired number in Toronto game six hero, Kyle Lowry. Can I just, just, just put them in, just put them, just put them in the pile. Okay. Yeah, for sure. Apologies to him. He is a legend. Scotty Barnes is kind of unlike all of these guys and that he's only 25 years old this season. He was an all-star last year. He was fifth on a defensive player of the year voting second team, all defense. And I'm not one to overreact to one playoff series, but I was so impressed by Scotty Barnes in that the Cleveland Cavalier series. I just thought he did absolutely everything, played every position at an extreme intensity, high energy, made incredible passes, was a great playmaker. Um, if you just look at, you know, obviously the numbers were, uh, he was terrific. He was efficient, uh, and guarded everybody, guarded James Harden, guarded Evan Mobley, helped off Evan Mobley, helped off Jared Allen, uh, clogged up the, he was just, he was everywhere doing everything. And I was kind of blown away by that. And I feel like the Raptors might not, I mean, they probably still would have made this trade, but I feel like they were way more bullish and more confident in themselves and giving up two firsts and a pick swap to get Kawhi. Okay. So I think that's, I think that's, I think it's, I think it's, I think that's one of the reasons why I'm so excited about this series. I think that's, I think it's one of the reasons why I'm so excited about this series, because he was so good and looked like such a superstar, such a budding superstar. Um, I'm so excited to see what he can do this year. And I think he is the key to everything in terms of just becoming the Pippen to Kawhi's Jordan this season. Speaker 2 : Or like something like a complete equal. If, if not, if not, he is in this analogy, no, no one is Jordan, but he, is he the superior player this year? That's how excited I am. Speaker 1 : Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Speaker 2 : Yeah. Yeah. Speaker 1 : I like the framing there because, you know, not Kawhi is purely additive to the Raptors. He, he enhances everything. They already do well from being a low turnover team to being a ferocious contesting defensive team that forces a lot of turnovers and then adds stuff that they maybe don't do as well. If he has the same three point shooting. If he gets to the line as much, it's just all gravy. My big question for the Raptors is this, is there a world? So they're presumed starting five is Emmanuel quickly. One of my X factors for the year, RJ Barrett, Kawhi, Scotty, Yaka, Purtle. Is there a world in which the Raptors swallow hard and make a decision that Jacoby Walter should start over either Barrett or quickly? I don't see that as likely given. They're pedigrees respectively, or should Colin Murray boils just be the starting center of the Raptors. And you want to say that you're going to take a hit defensively at the rim and on the glass. And maybe you will, the Raptors have been much better rebounding wise with Purtle on the floor than off. But last year when Scotty and Murray boils are on the floor together, their rebounding was airtight. And I just think it's worth asking team number two, we're going to go through divisions. Now that we started with the Raptors, the Boston Celtics. They are, have been in your backyard for a lot of your life. Not anymore. You're a New Yorker. Now I will let you lead off. What's your big question about the Boston Celtics who obviously made an absolutely seismic trade breaking up the Jays over the off season. This is pretty simple. Will Jason Tatum make an all NBA team? I think that for me personally, I've just assumed that he would. I think I assume, I assume that he will look like himself, but it is a question. It is a question. Of his ability based on what we saw last year when he came back from a devastating injury is a question of his availability and how many games he will play. Obviously making an all NBA team requires playing in 65, at least 65 games. This was someone who was first team all NBA in four straight seasons before he ruptured his Achilles. He was top six and MVP and all of those seasons. And I just think the whole ball game is if he's not who he was before. You are, obviously you've lost Jalen brown and you're just not going to be as good as you were last season. And I don't know what, I mean, obviously you were eliminated in the first round. So I just think it's, it's that that's, that's everything. Like if you don't have Jason Tatum as Jason Tatum, you're in, you're in trouble. And clearly the trade was vote of confidence that despite missing game seven in that very demoralizing and really conference shifting loss to the Sixers that they will have him. I went a little more. Granular than that. And it's just like, my big question is, is, is the, is the structure undergirding this team? Is it finally going to crack a little bit and, and force them to make some changes by that? I mean, they I've called them team extreme. So they are a very bizarre team in which they play offense at these absolute extremes. They don't turn the ball over. Well, let's actually, they don't get to the rim and they shoot tons of threes. And as a result, they don't turn the ball over much and they don't get to the line. And bizarrely their defense turns every opponent into exactly what the Celtics are on offense. They protect the rim. They don't force turnovers. They don't allow free throws and they concede a shit ton of threes. Most of which are above the break through is actually pretty good at preventing corner threes. You usually see a team play one way on offense and say, that's the most efficient way and try to force the other team to play a different way. The Celtics are just extremely good. They're not going to be able to do that. They're going to be able to do that. Anyway. and also have everybody understand their role when everyone is together. So I'm just really interested to see how often everyone will be available to play. I think it's a huge, huge deal in today's league. I'm not sure you can bet on that, although you can bet on everything, I guess. So I haven't looked at an over-under. The starting five is obviously Tyrese, Vijay, LeBron, Jalen Brown, Joel Embiid. There are 82 games in a regular season. Joel's last three seasons, he has played 39, 19, and 38 games, respectively. I will set the over-under for how many games that lineup appears in. Maybe it did not even start. Just how many games does that lineup play in together? I will set it at 22.5. That's going to be my over-under. That's a great—I was going to say 20. I was going to say 20. Yeah, you're right there. So that's the whole—that's everything for the Sixers, I think. I think that that— Starting five. I actually like their depth a little bit more than when the last time we talked about them, but— KCP. KCP, baby. Diamonds, Bylon. They got some guys. Yeah, you just got to figure things out in crunch time. There's just so much that the regular season is for, and having those guys together, I think, is really important. And if we get there, I do think the other big question, if we get there, is will this be the first sort of high-wattage possible championship? I know you're down on that, but let's pretend things go really right. That has a superstar resting plan in place for the postseason with Joel Embiid. Chris Ryan was, like, dead on when he talked about how, boy, they should just sit Embiid for game one against the Knicks, concede the game, come all out in game two. I actually think that that was a topic of discussion within the Sixers. I don't think it was ever close to, like, being a real thing. But I don't—I don't think that idea was— I don't think it was ever close to having Joel Embiid as outlandish. I'll just say that. Okay, next team, I will let you go first as we get to your hometown, Brooklyn Nets, the hottest ticket in town, baby. What is your big question for the Brooklyn Nets? Oh, man. Do they have their backcourt of the future? God, they fucking better, Michael, but go ahead. Yegor Yelman and Mikael Brown Jr. You know, winning games is important for the Nets this year. Obviously, they don't want to be a laughingstock. They made the trade for Julius Randle. They don't want to be relegated, et cetera. But I just think, like, the priority should be the development of these two together. Play them as much as you can. See what you have. I like Yegor a lot. I'm bullish on his career trajectory. And it's not something that you would hang a banner for, but he did make second team summer league, which was really great. And he looked awesome. Not only are we not hanging a banner for that, I'm deleting that from the podcast. You're just not your band, your band from mentioning any, let alone second team summer league. But fine. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. He did shoot pretty well last season. 38.7% behind the arc in December, 47.2% in January showed that he can play off the ball, answered some questions. There looks bulkier because, you know, getting into the paint, finishing in the paint at the rim is a big thing that they have as an organization for him as he develops. I know. I know nothing about Mikkel Brown Jr., so I can't really say anything, but he was drafted high and yeah, so those are the two, there's other things with this team, but those are the two players I think that are just the most important building blocks as they, they build something respectable than in Brooklyn. Yeah, that is the thing to watch for a team that was 30th on offense last year and 25th on defense. So quite bad. But I mean, related to that, you mentioned Joman finishing in the paint. His three-point shooting was way ahead of schedule. He made a ton of tough shots, clutch shots, rather. And for what passed his clutch games for the Nets. Yeah. He's big, tall, has great vision, has moxie and spunk. Like, I really, really like him. He's got to get to the paint and finish more, and that will unlock his passing. My big question was kind of related to that. Like, they're a little, you know, I talked at the beginning of last season, how you could see Charlotte building something interesting, like structurally based on the kind of shots they were taking, the kind of shots they were allowing, the sort of tent pole, like, and if they, if they ever started, like, making more shots, executing a little better, like, there was something here, the Nets are like a junior, junior, junior, junior, junior varsity version of that, which, by which I mean, they took the seventh most threes last year and the eighth most shots at the rim and the third fewest mid-range shots. That all combines to the fifth highest expected field goal percentage in the league, expected being the key word, because they actually had the worst field goal percentage in the league. But if there's, if they can, now that, now they're introducing a whole host of new guys, right? Like, McHale Brown Jr. is going to get all the runway he needs. He's probably going to start. Julius Randle is a totally different kind of player than they've had. De'Aaron Sharp's going to be their starting center. I don't know how that ecosystem changes. Like, similarly on defense, they allowed the third fewest threes in the league. They allowed the second most shots at the rim, which is bad, and I'm not sure how they're going to defend the rim with this team. But clearly, Jordy Fernandez has something like, here are the things we believe in. Can they make some shots? To turn belief into productivity? That's my big Nets question. The last Atlantic Division team, the defending champion, New York Knicks. They have the highest over-under now on FanDuel in the Eastern Conference. I think that's justified. I would pick them to win the East as of today if we were making picks. We are not. What? No, you know what? I'll go first on the Knicks. Go ahead. So, you know, there's this idea that they struck lightning in a bottle in the playoffs. And I heard you and Howard talking about this on the Ringer NBA show. Like, how do we sort of digest this team turning from a 53-win team that was top seven on both ends of the floor? Like, they had the hallmarks of a real contender, but then became just an absolute colossus in the playoffs with the top offense, the top defense, a historically great point differential, all of that. And that is two separate questions, really, for me. Number one, they clearly caught a rhythm. An ineffable. You know when you see it. You can feel it. You can't touch it, but you can feel it. Like, locked into, this is the ideal way for us to play on offense. This is the ideal way that touches are spread, that possessions are divided between transition, half court, threes, Brunson, cat passing from the elbow. Like, they just found it. And this is going to be a Pacers question, too. Can they sustain it? Can they grab onto it and hold it and find it again when they really need it? But the other thing was. You look at their defense. They allowed a ton of threes, an average amount of shots at the rim. And in the playoffs, they had one of the worst expected opponent field goal percentages in the league. But their opponent shot 32% on threes, under 40% on mid-range shots, and just so-so at the rim. And now their rim defense is going to be a little downgraded, going from Mitchell Robinson to Andre Drummond. How real was the postseason defense? I get what the numbers are. The numbers are saying. Maybe not as real as it might seem, given the level of opposition and the shooting quality and all that. I think the truth is somewhere in between. It looked pretty goddamn real to me. Cat has shown he can level up defensively when it matters. And those three wings together, Hart and an OB bridges, are just hellacious, covering ground, protecting everything. But I am interested to see if Mike Brown decides, hey, our defense allowed too many threes this year. Prioritizing shutting off the rim, or if that's how he wants to play again, and how real that was. So that's my long-winded Knicks question. What was yours? Yeah, I mean, are they the team we saw in the regular season or the juggernaut we saw in the playoffs was one of mine. Also, just how much will Mitch Robinson's absence be felt, I think, is the big question here. He was the longest tenured player on the team. Most of their best five-man units had him in them. Their offensive rebound rate went from 37 to 27. When he was on versus off the court, he is a better defender by a demonstrable margin than Andre Drummond, who is coming in to replace him. He is a better offensive rebounder. He is just, he's got great chemistry with Jalen Brunson. And if you look at Jalen Brunson's on-offs with Mitchell Robinson, Brunson was more efficient. He's just, he just looks very comfortable with Mitch. And they have just a great two-man game chemistry, whether DHOs or pick and roll. And, you know, this is the finals and game. Five, but like this guy had six offensive rebounds in game five of the finals. And that was a game. I think we all forget because of just what happened and they won and everything. But like if Carl Anthony towns goes down with any type of injury during the regular season, I'm, I just think it could be, it could be trouble ish for the Knicks. And there are questions as to whether or not you, cause towns had two points in game five. He fouled out. He had five. It's the injuries, but it's. I mean, he's been relatively healthy for a couple of seasons now, but the foul trouble in the playoffs reared its head again for him in the finals. And his minutes went down to 22 and 25 in the last two games. Right. So I just wonder if we see more OG and an OB or, you know, Josh Hart at the five sort of thing during the regular season, because they have to play that way. And what effect that has on their bodies, because this team had great health through the postseason. That was one of the reasons they won the title and were able to kind of sustain that, that chemistry and that lightning that you, you spoke about. So I just think that Mitch Robinson is a really important, and really good player. And I'm interested to see how they replace him. The rest of the bench is back. I'm expecting deal Wara to be part of the rotation, at least at the start of the season and to be potentially helpful. That's the Knicks. All right, let's take a quick break. We'll switch divisions to the Southeast division, the powerhouse Southeast division. This episode is brought to you by Paramount plus on September 18th, prepare for uncivil war mob land, the hit crime series from the underworld. A guy Richie returns to Paramount plus the Harrigan's are back in their empire is spiraling into chaos from the inside out as power plays fractured loyalties and reckless decisions collide fixer. Harry is left to clean up the fallout. Don't miss mob land starring Tom Hardy, Pierce Brosnan and Helen Mirren like cast rain September 18th on Paramount plus this episode is brought to you by born in Roma fragrances by Valentino beauty, the iconic fragrance duo Donna born in Roma. Oh, de parfum is a feminine fragrance featuring juicy black current, central Jasmine, Woody, cashmere and warm vanilla. It's masculine counterpart. Womo born in Roma. Oh, de toilette has notes of fresh violet leaf, aromatic sage, green vetiver, spicy ginger and mineral salt shop at Macy's.com. Coming up. All right. Onto the Southeast division. We will start with the revamped Miami heat adding Giannis. It's a decoupage in exchange for a bunch of players and a bunch of draft picks. Michael Pina, your big question for a team that played a strange unique style last year that kind of worked and a team that hasn't had a great regular season in a long time and finally got sick of missing on stars and said to hell with it. We're getting Giannis. We'll figure out the rest later. What is your big Miami heat question? How different is their offensive system with Giannis on Tenta Kumpo on the floor? I mean, last year, as you said, it was, it was singular in a sense. And very fast and allergic to pick and rolls. And do they, was that like intentional just because they didn't have a top 10, top 15 offensive player, or was it because they just thought that that the randomized attack was to their benefit, regardless of who is on the team. I, I lean towards them putting the ball in Giannis's hands a little bit more still playing as fast as they can, but you know, you want to have this guy make, make a lot of decisions and put pressure on the rim and run your inverted pick and rolls with Tim Hardaway, junior and clay Thompson in a more I guess like mechanical offense, scheduled offense. And so that's kind of, I'm just really interested to see how different they are aesthetically, schematically on the offensive end, because there are some issues that, that I'm sure you're gonna touch on. They were 20th and threes last year and the heat have had quite a journey with three point shot on both ends of the floor. They've tried taking a ton of them. They've tried taking fewer of them and the same has happened on defense and they were 16th in shots at the rim. You would think the honest by himself increases both of those in very healthy ways. Just drive and kick threes. They have a have cobbled together between clay and Portis and Tim Hardaway, junior, and some of their young guys like a Pella Larson hits more shots. Bam. Obviously we'll shoot more threes this year. They've cobbled together a decent amount of catching shoot three point shooting. And I think defensively, look, I mean, if you're honest and bam are healthy and that's been an, if for honest, particularly at go time in the playoffs, I think they just have enough tools in the box. You add Davey on Mitchell, Andrew Wiggins, there'll be a very good defensive team. I don't know if there'll be like top three, but there'll be, should be top 10, top eight, something like that. My question is, do they have enough off the dribble shot creation around their two big guys and particularly enough pull up jump shooting. I don't remember the last time you might have to go back to the DeMarcus. Cousins, Anthony Davis Pelicans were the two best off the dribble. Creators on a team were big guys in Giannis and bam. And I realized Giannis is sort of a unicorn positionally, but they're they all their pull up shooting went out the door in either free agency in Norman Powell's case or Tyler hero in, in the trade and Yaka tunis, who we'll see what he ever becomes, but you know, he had a vehicle we'll see, but you know, maybe drew Smith levels up, maybe Mitchell levels up, but that's sort of how they've figured out. That offense and how they can defend how well they can defend when one and bam and Yannis are on the bench and staggering those minutes. Those are my big key questions. I like this team more than I did. I'm we'll do an over hundreds in a couple of weeks, but I like this team more than I did two months ago. Okay. The weirdo Atlanta Hawks are next. I don't know. Do you want to lead off with the Hawks? What was your big Hawks question? Obviously last year lose to the Knicks in the first round, only team that took two games. I don't know. I think the big Hawks question was the team that took two games off the Knicks in the playoffs, got out of the Trey young business, took off when CJ McCollum entered the starting lineup in places, Zachary resus, Shay, who is now a Maverick and added a Kingston Flemings in the off season. Resigns pretty much everyone from last year's team that went on a big time run late in the season fueled by a very easy schedule, but nonetheless, they blew those teams out and were competitive against the Knicks in the playoffs. Your big Atlanta Hawks question. How often will Dyson Daniels and Lou door share the floor? And can they share the floor and co-exist on the offensive end is a question I'm going to be looking at with the Atlanta Hawks. This season, their offense was very good last year with Dyson Daniels on the floor. And he kind of operated sort of as like a small ball five. He would set screens, slip screens into the paint, make decisions out of the short roll. He got into the paint a ton. He would push in transition. He would drive and kick his assist. Right. Skyrocketed. He was awesome. My, I mean, a lot of people focus on the outside shooting. He was, he was a very, really good offensive player, offensive rebounding. He just found ways to kind of impact the game. And he did that with the benefit of shooting around him. Basically everyone on that team could shoot a Kong Wu Jalen Johnson, McCollum, obviously Nikhil, Alexander Walker, even Zachary Reese to Shay when he was on the court he'll knock down some spot up corner threes. And if you, if you throw Lou door in there, Lou door over the last three years shot 38.4% behind the three point line, which is definitely respectable, but it's just, he's not worried about in the same way. I mean, teams will let him shoot, I think. And so I'm just interested to see, because if those two can coexist offensively, then defensively you have these lineup combinations where you can have door and Daniels and Nikhil Alexander Walker all on the court. And I really, really want to see that happen. And so that's, that's my big question for the Atlanta ox this season. Yeah. My it's related to mine, which was what was this defense real that played the last 45 games of the season because they became like, I think they finished 10th overall in defense. They were probably top seven over the last half of the season. They were first enforcing turnovers. Once they started winning in late February, they were a top five defensive rebounding team, which when you look at the personnel is like, man, they're getting a lot of contributions from, from everybody because they're like a Congo is an okay, isn't pretty good rebounder, but he's not a great defensive rebounder. Right. Can they, and they allowed a lot of shots at the rim and got away with it again, like getting rim protection from non-center supplementary guys like Dyson Daniels, like Jalen Johnson, can they find that same level of defense? Was it partly a fluke? And part of finding that same level of defense is going to be the question of, can we play door and Dyson Daniels? And Jalen Johnson who, like you said, is improved as a three point shooter, but is not treated as one. How much can we play them all together? I'm not even sure there's certain who they're going to start to start the season. And I don't, I think we get a little too fixated on starting fives, but your rotation does flow out of who starts the game. My best guess on paper is Nikhil, Alexander Walker, Dyson, Daniels, door, Jalen Johnson, and a Congo. So starting that trio, I talked about right off the bat, moving CJ McCollum back into a bench role, but you could talk me into. A whole lot of different possibilities. They also signed, signed, acquired Aaron Wiggins away from the thunder. I think he'll help them. They have high hopes for Mo Gay, Asa, new old, this Zuby guy they drafted. So their power forward depth is interesting to me, but it's more like, Hey, was that defense thing real? Or how, how did they actually do that? Like they don't look like a great rebounding team and they became a really great rebounding team. So that's the Hawks. All right. Washington wizards. I'm going to go with the Hawks. I'm going to go first on the Washington wizards 29th in offense last year, 30th in defense. So close to what I call Bob cadding, which is being 30th last on both ends of the floor. Only the nets featured offense and future shooting spared them. And they were bad by the numbers at pretty much literally everything that you could be bad at, except they didn't allow a lot of threes on defense. So congratulations to them for that. They were, they were horrible free throw wise, both ends of the floor. They never got there. And they felt everybody. They were horrible. Turnover team. They're a horrible readout rebounding team. They didn't get to the room on offense and no defense allowed more shots at the rim than the wizards. Poor Alex SAR challenged more shots than anyone at the basket on defense by a country mile and did okay at it. And so that's my big question. Like we can sit here and focus on which young guys develop how exciting the banter is. You know, Anthony Davis is here around long term. Does he realize he's on the wizards? wizards as you want to be on the wizards Trey young and floaters and free throws I want my big question is like do they start winning some of the toughness categories like do they start winning some of the territorial battleground around the rim do they start winning some of the battles to get to the line part of that is sar and davis playing together which is is interesting to me um are there nights where sar can still guard the fives and anthony davis can loiter out on some wings in the corner that aren't doing much like how do they do they mess with some zone like i think that's interesting but like you know this team will have its moments of kind of high flying the young guys are flying around doing cool stuff can they get tough and win some of these sort of like in the paint muck battles that's my wizard's question interesting i am uh i'm pretty down on the wizards just i just i i hate how this team is constructed i hate wow so much i do i just i so my question is just what if anthony davis is healthy and good um i talked about this a little bit with howard and our most intriguing figures pod that you referenced um i don't know i'm just going into the season i kind of forget he's on the team a lot when i think about them uh he's 33 or 33 years old the extension is kind of out there he's kind of on an expiring uh contract is a player option for 62 million dollars next season um but if he if he plays and he's he's like looks like an all-star just what does that do for his trade value he just to me he just he makes there's a lot of guys on this team who make no sense in washington and and i feel like he's one of them and i like are they going to trade him what's the what is his trade value these are just when i think about the wizards that's kind of what it is and that's sad because they have aj jabonsa and the focus should be on him but it just doesn't feel that way to me i mean chris middleton is on this team i can't get over that so that's so that's my question about the washington wizards and it is kind of a fun mad libs of guys that are on the team that you forget about like oh deandre ayton yeah he's found his way to the wizard trade man who has sneakily like one of the best step back threes in the league just never plays and somehow on the wizards there are an interesting test of the relegation zone and the new lottery rules because for the entirety of nba history you would have said there's just no universe in which a team in the larva stage or pupa stage whatever the stage of insect growth is like the wizards should be in the business of paying trey young in 110 million dollars or whatever it would cost to keep anthony davis around for the foreseeable future but there's also no benefit anymore and in fact some harm to your lottery odds and being abysmally bad which is what happened would happen i think if one or both of those guys were no longer on the team obviously trey young is locked up under a three plus one that was preposterous the moment they signed it um so they're an interesting test case in in that regard but you're right i think this is a discovery year for them in a lot of ways like bub carrington are you part of our core or not the law kula bali are you part of our core or not he's extension eligible i would be kind of pessimistic about his extension um will riley was last year's late season scoring spree just a product of there's no one around or is there something here that we can we can build around or like you can be part of our course somehow so i think it's a little bit of that but yeah just it like i'd like to see some progress as like a a real basketball team competing in the real basketball ways i think we have we have two more southeast division teams left uh the orlando magic i will let you go first on the orlando magic uh this is just the existential question that they've been dealing with for a little while now will they break up palo banquero and franz wagner um we have 5200 minutes of evidence that this is not really working uh when they play together the offense is bad last season when they played together with desmond bain who was the guy they pushed all the chips into acquire to kind of be the connective tissue their offense was bad um and i just you know something's got a budge here uh the the they have the third highest payroll in the nba 30 as it stands right now 32 million dollar luxury tax bill and they have not won a playoff series i don't even recall the last time they won a playoff series it was the first time they won a playoff series i don't even recall the last time they won a playoff series obviously in this era with these two guys and so they're they changed the coach uh brought in sean sweeney uh he's fantastic but i just they made like no personnel moves in the off season and it's just kind of a bet on health and luck and but i i i don't think that these two guys together and i like i like them individually i do i just don't think that even at just 25 of the cap a piece that it makes sense when you're paying everybody else and we haven't even paid anthony black yet um so yeah that's just are they going to trade one of these guys and shake this up is the question this is the crossroad season probably a year or two late to be a crossroad season but because of all the injuries that this core has suffered and that bane has only been there one year after they traded four first round picks to get him um this is the crossroad season forced in part by anthony black's salary timetable um and you know we'll see what they learn in in defense of the franz paulo uh duo which as you said they have not they've had great moments together and they may well win that detroit series where they're up 3-1 and they're blowing the shit out of them in game six fair if franz doesn't get hurt in that too they probably do win it if franz doesn't get hurt they have not won a playoff series since 2010 by the way um they they have a certain size defense um to them just those two together that is interesting and shot making ability in in like in the muck of a playoff series they were you mentioned that their offense was not very good when bane paulo and franz were together it was like i'm looking at the numbers i'm cleaning the glass they were plus four per 100 possessions with those three on the floor offense was like about league average for a trio which again is is you'd like to be better than that but yeah for the magic league average is like you you raise a banner for that and as you no doubt know in the very limited minutes when sugs and wendell carter jr were out there that starting five was was one of the best lineups in the league now it was for so little time that is that does that even matter um my big question for them was we all know the offense the fit and franz and paulo even when the team has functioned just well enough on offense for their defense to carry them i think it's fair to say they have not really amplified each other on offense which is if you're going to pay two guys the max you need them to kind of amplify each other and so this year will be a test of that my big question was this team sunk to 13th in defense last year and that just simply is not good enough given the limitations of their offense right um can sean sweeney who's something of a defensive guru can he get them to rediscover the sort of tenacity they had the season before and before that under jamal mosley and are there schematic adjustments that can help that like your identity just can't be effort effort effort effort effort and and it's got to be something more than that uh and a couple of areas is like they're kind of they they allowed an above average amount of shots at the rim and a lot of the time they're not going to be able to allow a high shooting percentage at the rim and they don't have a great rim protecting center wendell carter jr is more of just like a workman like semi switchy rebound guy box out guy uh i'm interested to see if they can get some some better rim protection and how that happens i don't know uh i mean you mentioned the stagnancy of the roster booch was really the only addition he might be their third string center and then like on defense they foul everyone all the time and they have for years and they were 26 in free throw right allowed that shirt which is very bad the pistons were 30th the pistons at least got the benefit of we forced more turnovers than anyone in the league so yeah we reach and foul but we get the benefit of you of torpedoing your possessions and getting out in transition this was an average team at forcing turnovers last year and you can't you can't foul that much without deriving any benefit from doing it and so there's something to be there too so this team is is not going anywhere serious unless they can get back to being like a top eight defense so that's my question the charlotte hornets our last southeast division team um i'll go first obviously lamello's gone that's the big sort of ticket item kobe white it's newly extended we'll start in his place naz reed will start in miles bridge's place they have a whole pile of dudes i mean this team is like 15 guys deep i have no idea what their rotation is going to be outside they're starting five we need to think schruder would be involved grace and alan will be involved but they've got royce o'neill finney smith ceon james grant williams on and on and on not to mention the young guys they just drafted steinbach i think should play right away my big question zooming out for all the attention on lamello and the increased burden on brandon miller and con canipple and kobe white um in those three on and lamello off was a very limited sample last year the team played well but we're talking like less than 100 minutes overall miller on ball off was not good for the hornets they really missed ball shot creation so that's one my i'm going granular more granular than that this team was second in offensive rebounding rate and second in defensive rebounding rate last year some of that is scheme and how charles lee wants to play and keep people back um can they maintain being an absolutely elite rebounding team with a slight downgrade from lamello ball who's a very good rebounder to kobe White, who's just an OK rebounder. Like, how did they even obviously Obviously, Moussa Diabate just eats rebounds, particularly on offense. But how did – Nas Reed's not a great rebounder. There was Miles Bridges. Can they – I mean, that's like when you're second on both ends in rebounding, it's like you have five extra possessions in the game, basically, maybe even more than that. How did they do that, and can they maintain that? Steinbach is a great rebounder. We'll see how much he plays. That's my question. Yeah, I mean, Moussa Diabate, total freak. And Steinbach, I know, didn't watch anything of him in college, but I think – was he like a historically good college rebounder? He's a great, great rebounder, both ends of the floor. So, yeah, that's a great question. Mine is pretty broad. It's will they have an all-star this season? I like that. Can Brandon Miller take a leap and be more of a name-brand two-way wing? Can he be more efficient inside the arc? If you look at his on-offs with Ball last season, his usage went way up. He took less efficient shots, so way more from the mid-range, and his shooting percentages went way down. His field goal percentage at the rim was 73% with Lamello, 53% without Lamello. So that's noticeable. And so can he be an all-star this season? And I love him, and I love Con Canipple as well, and I thought Con Canipple had a case last season to be an all-star, led the league in threes, led the league in catch-and-shoot points. He is so good, and I'm really interested to see, as you said, who is going to pick up the slack on Ball. There's Kobe White. I mean, Dennis Schroeder's on this team. But then there's Brandon Miller, and there's Con Canipple. I think those two, assuming more on-Ball responsibility, whether it be just D8 shows where he's flying out of the corner, whether it's standard pick-and-rolls, whether it's like, we're going to isolate Brandon Miller, which is not really like how they play. But I'm just interested to see how the offense shifts without Lomelo in a way that it can be hyper-efficient. Stay tuned on Brandon Miller. I think he might be my single most intriguing player in the league for this coming season, so I'm going to have more on him in the future. Couldn't be more excited to see how he develops. I'm not saying I couldn't be more excited that he's going to all of a sudden be an All-NBA player. Actually, I think he belonged on the fringes of the All-NBA, a conversation last year, given the injuries that knocked out some guys. I think he fell short of eligibility either way. But this is a big, big moment for him and for Khan. By the way, at what point does the ringer Spotify write to make jokes about Bill giving Khan a ride back to the hotel? We've reached the end of that. Can we not do that anymore? Is it too stale? Is it too old? Because you throw in the seatbelt comments, and these jokes just write themselves, and they're too hammer, nail obvious. But every time Khan comes up, I just think of him in the passenger seat, you know, being like, this guy's driving me. He doesn't even have a seatbelt buckled. We're making some nice basketball small talk. I feel like this is a good media day question for Khan Cannibals that someone needs to ask for Charlotte Hornets media day. Absolutely. And no, I think that the jokes can go on. The jokes may go on. Okay, let's take our last break, and we will do the Central Division. The Howlode Central Division, five rapid-fire questions for those teams. This episode is brought to you by EA Sports, FC27. Welcome to the world's game. FC27 is introducing The Grounds, where the streets meet the stadium. Connect with friends, GoPro, and express yourself on or off the pitch. Play FC27 with the Ultimate Edition September 18th. Learn more at EA.com. Rated E for everyone. Includes in-game purchases, including random items. The Grounds is only available on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X and S, PC, and Nintendo Switch 2. New versions. 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. We have five more teams in the Eastern Conference. The Central Division. And we will start with a team that had a sort of lost year last year. We really saw the last real version of this team in Game 7 of the NBA Finals in 2025. The Indiana Pacers. Michael Pina, you can go first. What is your big question for the 2026 Indiana Pacers? 2026. How does Avicii Zubats fit with Tyrese Halliburton? What does he do to their offensive rhythm? I don't think it'll be an issue. I think he is better in a lot of ways than Miles Turner. Obviously, he does not shoot threes. But he makes quick decisions, smart decisions out of the short roll. He can post stop a little bit. He can run the floor and seal his man or whoever is back there trying to slow him down. And so I think that there will be a bit of a clunky adjustment period. But I don't think it'll be a long one. And I just feel like this is the team right here. Can they sort of make him fit into how they played before without changing too much of what made them so special to kind of recapture the magic that they had a couple seasons ago? You said many words that are just dovetailed perfectly with my question. You said rhythm. And recapture the magic. And I talked about it with the Knicks. This team, maybe even more than the Knicks, just found that holy paradise of just stemming from Halliburton and the sort of frantic, fast, but also intuitive way he plays and how fast the ball moves. They all found a way to find the right spaces around him to play at his pace, to play with his sort of calculated randomness, I guess. And they found a way to find the right spaces around him to play at his pace, to play with And they found Nirvana for a while. Part of that manifested in like the greatest run of crunch time shooting, maybe in the history of basketball from one player in Tyrese Halliburton and Aaron Neesmith in one game in which he had an out-of-body experience. But it was even broader than that. And given that they have now switched from a spacing center to an interior-oriented center in Ibiza Zubats, given that the orchestrator of all of that is coming back from an Achilles tear, can they, maybe not in the regular season, although it's not the regular season, but winning enough games to be a top-six team is going to be critical for everybody in this conversation, can they, if they get into the playoffs, find that sweet spot again? And part of that is the Zubats question. You know, the paint belonged to Pascal Siakam. It belonged to the mid-range artistry of Andrew Nembhardt and T.J. McConnell off the bench. T.J. McConnell kind of had a drop-off last year. He's a big part of what is kind of an eye-of-the-beholder bench, like Kelly Oubre, Obi Toppin, we'll see, Ben Shepard, up and down, you know, the backup center spot, Jay Huff, are we counting on him? Jairus Walker. Jairus Walker, like, will he get minutes? We'll see. Kind of a prove-it year for him. And now the paint is shared with Ibiza Zubats, and Pascal Siakam has become a pretty good spot-up three-point shooter. Good enough. We'll see. But also, they're both very clever players in how they can sort of navigate those dead zones around the baseline and the middle of the paint. They're clever interior passers. They can play off of each other. They can run, you know, four or five pick-and-roll with Siakam and Zubats together. You can do all sorts of different things to sort of adapt to this new spacing reality. The other thing that, part of the rhythm that the Pacers had is they were regular season and playoffs, an absolutely crazy elite shooting team from all over the floor, just consistently outperforming their expected. Field goal percentage, because they were just a great, great shooting team that became even greater, particularly on threes in the playoffs. Part of that was from those kind of short mid-range spots, floater range, and in some cases, long twos. They were, like, unbelievable. Halliburton on floaters is 53%. Nemhard is 47%, and about that on long twos. Siakam is mid-to-high 40s. Zubats last year was 53% on short twos, like, outside the restricted area, but not long twos. That floater range. That was 99th percentile. That kind of cleverness with hook shots and flip shots and good interior passing, maybe combined with better defense and rebounding than Myles Turner gives you, you know, could maybe, and also, this team has been a horrible offensive rebounding team, partly by choice, right? Myles Turner's a spacing center, transition defense, all that. 29th last year, 29th the year before. Zoo can bring that. So, can they fit all that stuff in, but find that sort of just, you know, a little bit of the ball's moving, the ball's flowing, everybody knows where to be, that magic that only happens to certain special teams. That's my question. Okay. Anything else on Indiana? No, I'll just say, real quick, Zubats impacting the offensive glass is another thing, but I feel like having his body to set off ball screens can mitigate some of the spacing a little bit, wide pin downs, that sort of thing, where he's outside the paint, and he lets guys kind of attack it off the dribble. The Detroit. Pistons, ninth on offense, second on defense, still have not resigned. their starting center jill and duran i still expect that to be done i am not uh i will believe he'll take the qualifying offer and when i see it uh it's just you know you throw 200 million bucks in front of someone i don't think they're taking the qualifying offer but we'll see um i could have gone two different ways on this um but i will go with offensively one of these two things has to give and obviously part of this is linked to the lack of a proven secondary creator around kate cunningham that everyone is fixated on obviously they hope that duran and asar thompson can both grow a little bit as playmakers off screens off handoffs whatever but i think for this team to even maintain what it did last year not necessarily in terms of win totals but in like playoff equity we got the game seven in the second round right you can't be 20 third in turnover rate and kate is a big offender and 29th in three-point attempts like if those two things are in that area again combined with the fact that we'll see if their defense drops off at all without isaiah stewart and with more kind of shooters in the rotation isaiah joe is here herders back etc um we'll see if they can maintain their number two rated defense they had they allowed the lowest three-point field goal percentage in the league and the second lowest shooting percentage in the league and the second lowest shooting percentage in the league and the third lowest shooting percentage in the league and the second lowest shooting percentage in the league at the rim like can they maintain that that's a tall order but 23rd in turnovers 29th and threes i understand that kate is overburdened and the rest of the team is pretty young and that is a recipe for turnovers i understand that they're not a great they're not a good three-point shooting team they're not even a mediocre one and so and they want to own the paint and be tough and big and physical one of those two things has got to go up toward the average yeah this is very similar to my question which is where will they finish in three-point rate um last season as you said they were 29th and three-point rate they were 20th in non-garbage time three-point percentage so to be taken seriously as a contender i think you need to be a better shooting team and if you look at the actions that were made by the front office over the summer they would agree with that so you know they add isaiah joe who is one of the best movement shooters in basketball uh they add john collins who is um an excellent corner three-point shooter and actually pretty good non-corner last season i'm glad i'm glad you brought him up because tobias harris out john collins in is one of the sneaky interesting moves that any good team has made yeah uh in the offseason because i don't think john collins is regarded as like a winner around the nba i actually have been always higher on john collins than most people i i over index for sure on the hawks 2020 playoff run where i thought he just sort of dug in and decided okay maybe i want to be a 22 point a game score and catch lob dunks and maybe that's not my fate right now maybe i have to rebound and play defense and switch and do the dirty work and still get 14 a game i loved that player he's kind of been lost at sea in different places in the last three or four years i think thought he was going to start with the clippers and didn't end up starting uh all that much i i'm very curious to see how he does in detroit and would not be surprised if a month into the season they're like oh wow john collins is like one of the like bright spots of the offseason uh so far uh 100 agree with you i've also been higher on him throughout his career uh than most and i think he's a really good fit here and i think he's a a wonderful compliment offensively to kade cunningham and that he can space the floor and he's content doing so and he's also someone who can set a screen dive to the rim and space the floor vertically um and he's he's more dynamic than tobias harris in that way so i i think he's a really good fit offensively um but yeah so i just think like the three-point rate with him isaiah joe uh you know technically they have torian prince i think that was like a sneaky torian prince gary harris uh addition with caris lovert going out i don't think that a lot of people caught onto that one but that happened and those are spot-up three-point shooters i don't i think you're correct i don't think a lot of people caught onto that one if you go to a party this weekend i would not recommend starting a conversation with anybody about the gary harris caris lovert torian prince on that one yeah i think you'll get a lot of blank stares and if you do meet someone who's like i've been dying to talk about this for like the entire summer no one no one realizes caris lovert is on the bucks i think that person is needs to be institutionalized i agree with you um and it's probably me um uh they re-signed kevin herder uh who was banged up but is a a shooter um and dougan robinson is still around so i i think that they have they will be more committed to i mean just with isaiah joe and dougan robinson if you kind of obviously will have to stagger those guys but you'll always have like an elite uh movement shooter on the court i think that's really important um you know running the ghost screen actions that he was so successful with sga and okc so yeah i just think they need to shoot more threes and they've recognized that and um my other the other question is just like personnel wise are they going to make a big trade to to add that guy who can be the secondary ball handler they have all their picks they have some contracts that's the that's the other question but on the court with what we have it's three-point shooting and i enjoyed giovante green last year too he shot pretty well he jumped very well from the corners just again not on super high volume ron holland will be interesting to see if he is on the pistons in a year or if they pick up a lot of the time and if they pick up a lot of the time and if they are on the pistons in a year or if they pick up a lot of the time and if they pick up a lot of the pick up his options going forward i'm not convinced that that's a lock they're getting pretty expensive um yeah we'll see and paul reed will get to cook i think and what that means as far as john collins is a screen and dive guy we'll see but um you know i they're over under his 48 and a half they're still regarded as the top echelon team in the east by the odds i think that's fair the cleveland cavaliers i will let you lead off your big question for the cleveland perhaps more impactful trades of the offseason acquiring peyton watson in a three-team sign and trade that sent max truce a core player on their team over to the clippers um and some draft equity to the denver nuggets peyton watson the at least the idea is for him to be the sort of three and the stopper type that they've been trying to get for years and years cycling through deandre hunter etc um your big question for the cleveland cavaliers uh can harden mitchell watson mobley the best five-man unit in the nba is my question um not saying that that's going to happen but that's the question and wow as you as you said watson is on paper sort of the missing puzzle piece the two-way wing i think he's better guarding you know like point guards and that will alleviate a lot of the responsibility that would fall on james harden who cannot do that or donovan mitchell who probably does not want to do that um but he's just like a tenacious defender he shot 41 on a decent volume on threes last year and can do stuff you know attacking the rim with the ball in his hands that he showed he won player of the week in january obviously when yokich was hurt um and i'm just high on him i like him a lot i thought that that contract was fine that he got and i think that the nuggets will miss him um but i think like when i asked that question of you know can this be the best five-man unit a lot of that is because the depth on this team is low-key not looking great and i think that for this team to be the true you know contender that they they aspire to be they need to have like a really good like knockout punch from the jump and a good closing five and just something that they can rely upon and uh that's what they're clearly hoping for with this five-man unit and so that's that's the question for me so i'm just gonna pre-answer your question and say no it can't be the best five-man unit in the east because i just think i i think it'll be fine like i think it'll be fine i think it's tough a good lineup um i just watson plus two traditional big guys is going to be interesting like in traditional paintbound we'll see how how sort of wide mobile gets to develop his game we've been waiting on that yeah um it just i mean this team was a really good off they were six in offense last year and they got better with harden they were only 15th in defense and they got worse with harden which is exactly what you would expect so they're a good offensive team their big four last year harden mitchell and the two bigs was awesome in the regular season and minus four per 100 possessions in the playoffs and it just got clunky and i even asked a broader question than a broader version of the same question which is can they like figure out who should play with who and how often it just feels like the line up questions here are a little bit more fraught than they are with other contenders and more fraught than you would think given the raw talent in that starting five you talked about like are we all in on the two bigs playing together or are we going to be all in on staggering them which they've mostly been all in on that which makes sense and last year they settled on harden partnering with allen and mitchell partnering with mobley the harden allen combos were awesome in the playoffs the mitchell mobley combos were not good in the playoffs and part of that was i was kind of disappointed with donovan mitchell passing in the playoffs when it really got tough for them and then like if that lineup isn't great shakes you mentioned the bench like does sam merrill have to play more just to someone who really will shoot and doesn't need the ball and can he play with Mitchell and Harden and can the team survive on defense? Jalen Tyson to me is one of the big X factors in the league. I was kind of really pleased with his development last year as a shooter, as an all around player, maybe he's part of the answer. I just feel like maybe because of the personnel, the two traditional bigs together, Harden is such a ball dominant player next to another ball dominant player. I just feel like the combination stuff is a little more fraught with them. Good problems to have. But as you said, like their depth gets pretty thin, pretty fast. And so we'll see. Who does that leave us with? Oh boy. Okay. We're down to two teams, the Chicago Bulls and the Milwaukee Bucks. We will start with the Bulls. I don't know, man. Like new coach. So who knows what their offense looks like? Like, and they're, who knows what they believe in as, as a team, right? Last year, they played at a turbo fast pace. They took the second most shots at the rim, the eighth most threes and the fewest mid range shots. Michael Pina, they had the number one expected field goal percentage in the league because of their shot selection. They did not have the number one actual, but the worst than that. How does that identity shift with Tiago splitter with Norm Powell coming in with a kind of fun starting five, presumably of giddy Powell, Boos Ellis, Caleb Wilson, and Nick clacks. And that's kind of fun. I don't like, I think it seems going to be pretty bad. That's fine. I don't really even know what my big, I guess my big question, like if I really, what I really care about is how do giddy Wilson and Boos Ellis three bigger ball handlers or maybe want to be ball handlers, all of whom have at the very least something to prove as pull up jump shooters. All of whom fit well playing a pretty fast frantic pace. How, how is that all working in the half court? Who's got the ball who's setting screens, who's going where, what's the system that makes those three click together. I couldn't be more excited for Caleb Wilson, but I guess I'll settle on that is my big question. That's a good one. Mine is just, what can they get for Norm Powell? Wow. Just already jettisoning Powell off the team. I, the second he signed the contract, it's a two year, $44 million deal with a team option. It's pretty much the same contract that Bruce Brown jr. Signed in 2023. He was traded from the Indiana Pacers to the Raptors and the Pascal Siakam deal. The bulls aren't as far along, obviously as either of those two teams, but norm norm makes no sense in Chicago. He is 33 years old. I mean, his shooting makes sense, but he's 33 years old and they're rebuilding like by their new GM's own admission. They won't, they want to start at the bottom. They're not going to like, they want to be organic about building something sustainable. And so I just have a few fake norm Powell trades. Oh, by all means, let's hear them. I have not, I have not thought literally for one second about fake norm Powell trades, uh, in quite a long time. So I have nothing to contribute here. Okay, super. Um, so the first is a norm and Leonard Miller to the Orlando magic for Jalen Suggs. That's number one. Um, this is primarily a cost cutting move for Orlando and also a ability for Orlando to get more shooting in the door offensively. Um, don't, I don't love Powell plus pain, but it is a little duplicative. I agree. What am I getting out of that? If I'm the bulls, Jalen Suggs. Jalen Suggs. Yeah. So for 39 games a year, I get to have Jalen Suggs on my team. Okay. The intensity, the, the, the leadership. Um, I don't like the norm. I don't know. I'm not saying no. I'm just, that made me sick to my stomach a little bit. That's what we're, that's what we're going for here. Six of your stomach. Okay. Hopefully we get a little better. Um, with this one, norm Powell to the Pistons for Kevin Herter, Ron Holland and a first round pick. We're now getting, I like that. Obviously norm Powell was, I think a real candidate to sign with the Pistons. Um, Herter, Ron Holland. So second draft, Ron Holland and a first round pick. That's fair. That's fair. And I, that's fair for both teams. So this is an interesting one. Um, they just signed him semi-recently, but norm to Denver for Christian Brown. Okay. And it's basically, if you're the nuggets, you're trying to obviously get off that contract. You get a great shooter, someone who can work short term. And if you're the bulls, you're betting on Christian Brown, obviously, having a bounce back year, you don't really care too much about the contract because you're not really worried about money right now in terms of your timeline. And he's a good role player, young athletic who fits with your young nucleus. So those are my three little, uh, fake norm, Powell trades that I have for you. I'm going to say you're one for three, which you'd be, you'd be like, that's a pretty average Tony Gwynnear. That's a great batting average. Thank you. Wow. I just love it. I don't know. I don't want Norm Powell has 21 million this year and a team option for next year at 22 and a half. I'm not sure. I, I like Christian Brown. I think he will, uh, swing back up this year. And that contract will not look underwater as it does today or quite, quite to the degree that it's underwater. I just need a little something extra to take on that money. I understand that like the bulls have all the cap space they need going forward. It just sneaks up on you. And I'd just rather not have the downside scenario of like, I got this like $26 million contract is in my way or it's like awkward. I can't get, so I need, I need a little something extra. The Detroit one is, is, is, uh, is fun. That's enough talk about the bulls. By the way, I, as we're on the bulls, I will talk more about this when it's appropriate. Uh, Stacey King passed away this off season. Um, just an absolutely delightful dude. Um, interviewed him lots of times, including on this podcast, but also about the nineties bulls. What? My favorite sort of always made me laugh. Broadcasters was always super generous with his time and his personality. And I just, I haven't talked about it. I just like, I'm going to really miss Stacey King and, um, not like on the broadcast. Like I will miss him on the broadcast, but just like as a personality to run into around the NBA, uh, really, that really was a sad one. Um, okay. One more team. The Milwaukee bucks. What a team it is. Um, what a team it is. Uh, there's a lot of guys on the team. There's a lot of guys on the teams, a full team of guys. Um, there are no answer to Kumpos, uh, but there are a lot of guys I'll let, I'll let you go on this one. I have a feeling. I know what your question is going to be, but I'll let you go. I had two questions that I was trying to pick between, but I'll go with who is on this team after the trade deadline is, is my question. Um, you have Tyler hero, you have miles, Turner, you have Jaime Hawkins jr. You have Ryan Rollins. Uh, Cole where is probably not going anywhere. I would imagine, but he's technically someone who they could, that could be in that, on that list. Um, and you know, everybody else who you, there's just so many, every time you said this on a pod with Rob, just that there's a team of guys. And that's all I think about when I think about the Milwaukee bucks this season. Um, but they have, they have Braden berries who, um, could win rookie of the year, um, and was excellent in summer league. First team. Did he make first team? You have seven team is there a third team? I don't think there's a third team, unfortunately. Um, but he was first team, put some respect on that. And if he's a clear breakout building block, I think that that's a huge win for the bucks as they kind of transition into this post onto to Kumpo wasteland universe of theirs. Um, but yeah, I guess just, what are they going to do? What does the roster look like after the trade? The deadline versus before it is, is the big question for me. I will say, um, Taylor Jenkins has already proven in Memphis. Like he will get there and there will be a structure right away. And I mean like both organizationally around the office and you know, how buttoned up everything is, but also like on the court, he's going to look is presumably spent the whole summer looking at this roster. And as, as, as sort of, as fungible as it might end up being to your point, he's going to be like, all right, here's the guys that I got. Here are four things that we're going to do that are going to be just like non-negotiable in Memphis at times. A lot of that focused on the corner three on both ends of the floor. As someone who came from the Mike gluten holes or she, it could be defensive rebounding. It could be not fouling, but I can guarantee you this for as pretty bad as this team is going to be. And as tough of a watch as they might be on some nights, there's going to be stuff that they're good, like average to good at, because they just decide as a team, starting from their coach to be average or good at them. My big question was I count eight guards who have some degree of need for the basketball, Tyler hero, Braden Burries, Karis, LaBert, Ryan Rollins, Kevin Porter, Jr. Casper, as you could show on us. And then a little less so because they're shooters, AJ green, and the very high highly paid Gary Trent Jr. That's eight dudes. And we have not mentioned a, depending on how you want to classify Rollins, a traditional point guard, a power forward, a big man of any kind. We're already at eight dudes. So some of those guys are not going to play. I think Guzman Jang, who's not one of those types of players, he needs to play based on what he did last season. Jaquez, we haven't mentioned. Kuz, we haven't mentioned. We haven't mentioned either of the centers. Miles Turner is still here somehow. Petritis from the Dame stretch and Hail Mary signing of Miles Turner. And Kahlil Ware, who to me is either the most interesting or second most interesting behind Burry's long-term play on the team. I think they might start Ware and Turner together and see how that works. I don't know. But of all those eight guys, like, holy smokes, what a thing to sort out, especially when one of them, Tyler Hero, is an all-star and is up for an extension. I think he wants a whole lot of money for a whole lot of years. And so there's pressure on that decision right away. And maybe that's a trade. Maybe it's just we take it to free agency and you walk. Maybe it's a sign-in trade. I don't know what it is. If I were the Bucs, I don't think I would want to re-sign Tyler Hero to an extension at a dollar amount that he's going to accept right now. But that's just a lot of guards, man. Like, you want to see, like, I want to see, like, what does Yaka Chunas have? He's one of the prizes of that heat trade. I want to see him have the ball, like, a lot. And I'm not, like, there's a lot of guys who can't play if he's going to have the ball a lot. So I'm interested to see how that works. I liked Yaka Chunas last year. He shot well from three, throws over the head, crazy passes. I want to see more of him. Same. Yeah, this roster is just, like, it's, I don't, it's just so strange. It's just so strange. It's the kind of roster you have when you make a seismic trade and your team is, it's like a way station between team A with Giannis and team B, whatever comes next. You're in this sort of liminal state. Yeah. I like Ryan Rollins, though. I want to see what he can do this year or if he gets moved on to a greener pasture. That would be interesting. Like, I would just not, like, I'm starting the season. I'm not playing Levert. I'm not playing Trent despite the contract. I'm not playing Kevin Porter Jr. Like, those guys are just out of the rotation. Like, I just need to see these other guys play. And I can't see them play if you're playing the guys I mentioned. Particularly if I play Kevin Porter Jr., he's going to have the ball all the time. And, like, he's a productive offensive player. Fine. Like, I'm just not playing any of those guys right off the bat. I can't argue. I can't argue, Zach. Michael Pina, what do we got coming from you? What's your week like? It's Tuesday. What should we be on the lookout for at TheRinger.com? Pod-wise, column-wise? You've written a bunch of stuff I've read all summer. I was reading it over vacation. What are the Nuggets doing? Breakout intriguing players. What else we got? I think I'm doing an old-fashioned power ranking of the whole league for next week. So that's something for me to kind of ponder. And we'll be tiering the teams and everything. So that'll be fun to kind of get me ready for the upcoming season. That's awesome. All right. I look forward to it. I look forward to that. Power rankings are not easy. The competition for the – I think you should – have you thought about putting the Clippers last just to put them there? Just like this is the place you now belong, even though on paper they're not last? They could be a candidate. They're no Sacramento Kings. It's going to take a lot to get into that tier. But they'll be near the bottom for sure. Yeah, I think when I do this exercise for the Western Conference next year, I'm not quite sure. I'm not quite sure what my big question for the Kings is going to be. Obviously, if I'm being serious, it will be about Darius Acuff. Yeah. If I'm not being serious, it just might be why, why, how, where. Michael Pina, read his columns at TheRinger.com. Listen to him on The Ringer NBA show when he appears there. And here, too. Thanks for coming on The Zach Lowe Show, bud. Thanks, Zach. That's it for today's edition of The Zach Lowe Show. Thank you to Michael Pina. Thank you, as usual. To Mike, Billy, and Jonathan on production. And thanks, as always, to you all for listening to and or watching The Zach Lowe Show. The season is almost here. The preview content is going to keep coming fast and furious. And we'll be back on Thursday for another fun episode of The Zach Lowe Show. We'll see you then. 21 or over and president select states for Kansas in affiliation with Kansas Star Casino or 18 and over and president in D.C., Kentucky, or Wyoming gambling problem, call 1-800-GAMBLER or 1-800-MY-RESET. Call 1-800-GAMBLER. 888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org slash chat in Connecticut. Or is it mdgamblinghelp.org in Maryland? Hope is here. Visit gamblinghelplinema.org or call 800-327-5050 for 24-7 support in Massachusetts. Or call 1-877-8HOPENY or text HOPENY in New York. For Louisiana, call 1-877-770-7867. $5 drinks. $10 for $10 wings. Every Sunday, Monday, and Thursday. Only at Dave & Buster's. Now this is football. Other restrictions may apply. Visit daveandbusters.com for full terms and conditions. This episode is brought to you by ChatGPT. Hey, it's Bill Simmons from the Bill Simmons Podcast. Have you guys heard about ChatGPT work? It's the new way to use ChatGPT for bigger multi-step projects. And when you need more than just answers, give ChatGPT work access to your. apps and files, and it can create real work documents like spreadsheets, slides, and structured reports. Get started at ChatGPT.com by selecting Work Mode, available on Plus and Pro plans.