The Miami Heat just shook the East with a Giannis Antetokounmpo trade...

Welcome to Pensar Basketball, a 2 a.m. live because the news broke a few hours ago. The Miami Heat are making a blockbuster trade and rare among trades that are of this variety. It does not involve any other teams. It is a straight swap between the Miami Heat and the Milwaukee Bucks in exchange for a hall. A hall, an absolute hall. And we'll talk about the hall in this deal.

The Miami Heat do get their superstar player, Giannis Antompo, who by most accounts is still a top four, top three player in the NBA when healthy. And we're going to talk about a lot of things in this live rather quickly and rather succinctly because I realize this is a late live and some people are going to catch us in the morning. We're going to talk about whether the Bucks got the appropriate hall for Giannis. We're going to talk about what this means for the Boston Celtics, who were obviously in the running up until late, but apparently the deal got hung up because they they refused to budge on what the Bucks wanted back. Allegedly, the hangup was ironically Baylor Shyman and Hugo Gonzalez. Uh, these were the ancillary pieces. The Miami Heat also were holding out. They did not want to include Kasparakon in this deal. I'm pretty sure if they had it their way, they did not want to include this many picks. But this is what a superstar went for. It is a mega hall. It includes a lot of very serviceable players. So, let's just read out the deal. The deal is as follows.

The Miami Heat are sending this is this is a mouthful. Tyler Hero, who is from Milwaukee, Kel Wear, who is the 15th overall pick, Himea Hakees Jr., who by many accounts was the sixman of the year last year. Kasparus Yakuchonis who played sparingly for the Heat, but I'll I'll make a case that he's actually a very good young player and a very underrated asset in this deal. Three first round picks, including the 13th pick in tomorrow's in today's draft. Wow, it's officially June 23rd. And two unprotected first [clears throat] round picks, including 2031 and 2033. And also it includes a pick swap in 2030. [snorts] So basically that's an entire roster. I mean if we're being honest in exchange the Miami Heat get their superstar and they also get a filler salary to make deal make the deal work in Bobby Portoris.

We're going to talk about a few things. Number one we're going to talk about what this means for the Miami Heat. Uh according to Vegas they are third right now in the in the Eastern Conference in terms of Eastern Conference finalist odds. The Raptors are 11th. That sucks. Uh but the Miami Heat have vaulted up those standings. They they were not. They do have a little bit of money to negotiate with uh with Norman Pal for a free agent extension. They now have a clear pathway for Norman Pal to play with Tyler Herro now out. The Miami Heat are going to have to rebuild using a lot of minimum salaries. and South Beach plus Giannis plus an plus an opportunity to play seems like something that the Miami Heat can use. We're going to talk about whether or not the Miami Heat pay overpaid. I I suspect they did. We're also going to talk, as I mentioned, about the Boston Celtics. We're going to talk about what this does for the Eastern Conference, and we'll talk about what this kind of sets the tone for because, you know, the first big trade, there's a lot of trades that kind of, you know, went off. Uh, there's a lot of extensions that have gone off. Iodumu just got extended. Uh, Julius Randle just got traded. This is crazy. Like that, you know, this stuff happening, you know, 24 20 uh 28 hours before the draft. Usually, you would expect this stuff to happen on draft night, but teams are being proactive.

So, first let's talk about the main thing is did the Miami Heat overpay. My immediate thought is yes. Obviously, you know, let's let's look at some of the players that they got back and also I'll I'll make a case for why that is. So the four players coming back are KL Wear, Himeh Hawake Jr., Tyler Hero, and Kasparus Yakonis. The best asset here is probably Tyler Hero. Well, he's the best player by far. He's the best player in this bunch. He's a proven commodity, a borderline all-star type of player when he's going right. But he is, you know, he is extension eligible right now. And if you look at his contract right now, he is he has one year left at 33 million and the team that was going to trade for him was going to have to extend him. Allegedly, that extension number, according to Tyler Hero's camp, starts at around $40 million. If the Miami Heat didn't want to pay Tyler Herro $40 million, they basically just dumped a player that they didn't want to pay and they got. So, that softens the blow of some of those picks.

The other part of this deal is obviously there's three mystery bag players. You don't really know what these players are, what they'll become. Kel seems to be the most talented of the three youngsters. He is a seven-footer with legit stretch stretch ability. You know, he has good defensive upside having 6.2 win shares. Just the analytics darling that he is. But Eric Sper sometimes struggled to play him. there was a reluctance to sometimes play him with Bam Adabio. And you know, a lot of people were calling for Ko to play. So maybe Ko will have a new start in Milwaukee and he'll blossom into an all-star. I I I certainly don't think he doesn't have the talent to do it. I do wonder, however, does this mean that Miles Turner potentially could be on the move. Haime Hawz, this is a you know, this is a guy who's closer to 30 than 20. Something that my friend said to me today, you know, in regards to this trade, he's like, "Oh, Himez is closer to 30 than 20." I mean, [ __ ] I'm I'm closer to I'm closer to 60 than I am to zero. So, I don't know. I I don't know how I feel about the Haka's inclusion in this. I mean, he's extension eligible really soon as well. He's probably going to be a mid-level type of guy. Kasparus Yakuchon to me is is the diamond in the rough here. And if this pops, you know, if you know, again, he shot 40% from three last year. He had a 61.4% true shooting. And again, he only played around thousand minutes, but he was used sparingly. And I think a lot of what I saw with him pre-draft in Illinois showed up at the NBA level. And if we're being honest, Raptor fans, Kasparakonis as a rookie put up a better season than any season of Grady Dick's career. So just in case you are sitting there wondering what's Grady Dick worth, uh, he could be the eighth most important player in a trade.

The hall here and the value for the Bucks is really the future pieces that they're getting which is specifically that 2031 and 2033 uh you know unprotected firsts those could be very very valuable especially because this uh odds freezing or odds flattening is only a three-year trial and this will expire in 2029 and the Miami Heat will now own uh will owe their picks. 2030 will be a swap. You know, that could be a nothing burger. Both teams could be pretty bad at that point. Presumably, the Miami Heat might be better than the than the Bucks, at which point the swap is somewhat negated and doesn't make any sense. But in 2031, Giannis will be very old. In 2033, Giannis might be retired. And at that point, I think the Bucks are hoping that that asset is worth a lot. Now, I will say the Miami Heat are always a free agent destination. This is a team that at least under Pat Riley has never been truly awful. So if the odds flatten out again, what did the Miami Heat really give up for Giannis Antmpo? In the worst case scenario, they gave up the first overall pick in 2033. In the best case scenario, they gave up a 13th overall pick in a pretty loaded draft this year, which they could have desperately used. They gave up Tyler Herro, who they didn't really want to pay. They they gave up Kaware who they presumably didn't want to pay because he's going to be extension eligible next summer. Haime Hakez who maybe they didn't want to pay and Kasparakon who they believed in enough to spend like the 19th or 20th pick on him last year. So it feels like a whole bunch of you know dimes to make a dollar.

The real reason that I think the Miami Heat overpaid is because I don't think they have enough to compete with Giannis. I think the teams that have given deep runs in the Eastern Conference recently have shown us that consistently it takes a lot more than your top five, top six players to make a deep run in the playoffs. One injury to Giannis and the whole thing falls apart. He's been injured repeatedly over the last few years in the playoffs specifically. And Bam Adabio and Giannis Antarmpo is a little bit of a clunky fit. I mean, it's not a bad fit because, you know, Bam did stretch it out for three. And I understand, you know, at least in theory, that Bam Adabio could become more of a three-point shooter. I mean, [ __ ] he scored 83 points last year, right? Like, I mean, a lot of threes. So, Bam is going to have to become much more of a three-point shooter in order for this to work. Giannis is obviously and Giannis and Bam in my opinion probably create the best front court in the Eastern Conference. So Norman Pal being back there, DaVon Mitchell giving you some stable guard play. If you can get like some smart signings, I'm talking like a Tim Hardaway Jr., Malik Beasley, like we're talking like minimum guys or fringe minimum guys, mid-level guys, and maybe find something in the undrafted heap. Maybe you can put something together and then maybe there's an Andrew Wiggins trade that you can break this apart. But right now as it stands, it's Andrew Wiggins, Bobby Portoris, Giannis Andre Kmpo, and Bam Adabio as a front court. That's a pretty damn good front court. I'm not going to lie. That's a really good front court. I just think you don't have enough depth. You don't have enough continuity. It's very rare for a team to assemble, you know, to to trade for a star and then just immediately be ready to contend. It usually takes a couple of years. Look at what happened with Jaylen Brunson. It took a couple years to build that program up. Look at what happened with Pascal Seakum and Tyresese Hallebertton and those guys like you know again you build up some continuity. The Heat just gutted their entire team and how they function and now they're going to be playing Giannis Ball and I just don't think that Giannis ball you know is going to get you through the Eastern Conference.

Does this immediately make the Heat a lot more scary as a playoff threat? Of course this is a team that can win a round against anybody including the Boston Celtics and including you know the New York Knicks because when you have the best player you can do that. But can you sustain four rounds? Can you go through OKC or San Antonio in the finals? Can you go through the gauntlet of Eastern Conference teams and make it through four rounds and win 16 games? I just don't think that one guy can do that for you. And you know, unless that one guy is Michael Jordan in his prime. And there's real concern, real concern that Giannis might be past his best basketball. And and I mean genuinely speaking, like he's shown growth as a mid-range scorer. There's like more refinement in his game. There is the potential that maybe you know in a new situation removed from the shackles of the drama in Miami. This could be a situation where Giannis has a career year, you know, Giannis has a revitalized year. Giannis wins MVP. It It's not He's talented enough to do anything, right?

Let's talk about what this means for the Boston Celtics. This is awkward. This is the third or fourth or fifth or seventh or ninth or tenth 11th star that Jaylen Brown has been rumored to be traded for and nearly been traded for and then been rejected. It's it's kind of just depressing at this point. If you're Jaylen Brown's camp, like you hear it and these are confirmed rumors from like the top news breakers like Sham Shirani. This is not like some random guy on Reddit saying like, "Oh, the Boston Celtics are like, no, this is the Boston Celtics coming out and saying, yeah, we offered Jaylen Brown and two first round picks and they said, no, if you're Boston, I understand why you want to get off of Jaylen Brown. He is overpaid. I think he's massively overrated. And I do think that sometimes when a player scores 25 to 28 points and his team is successful, he gets a lot of undue credit for that success. I think Jaylen Brown was very good this past year. I think he was a top 12, top 13, top 15 player. He's by far the best player that they were getting back in a Giannis trade because the Raptors certainly weren't offering Scotty Barnes and the Knicks weren't offering Jaylen Brunson and Carlton Towns. So, you know, or OG and an Obi. So, you know, it just it felt like the best deal in my opinion for for Milwaukee probably was with the Portland Trailblazers to get some of their own picks back. But they, you know, it's it's worth noting that Miami bent backwards to accommodate Giannis multiple times. The Damen Lillard trade shipped half their, you know, future cap uh future draft assets to uh to the Portland Trailblazers. Then the subsequent Damen Lillard waving, which they're still paying Damen Lillard in order to make room for Miles Turner. Now Miles Turner might be a salary pump and dump where he's going to go for very little value because everyone knows that you don't really you don't really have a place for him and you don't really need him at this point. I mean granted the Miami, you know, the Milwaukee Bucks have no incentive to be bad over the next couple of years. they really don't have an incentive to go out and be super bad because the the league has taken away the the reward system for being super bad. And if you're going to be in a small market and you don't really have an incentive to be bad and you end up with 12 13 wins, you might just you might just lose the franchise. So, I understand from their perspective that if there was a suitor out there like the Portland Trailblazers that were offering you a whole bunch of nothing and Jeremy Grant and like five first round picks, you might be thinking to yourself, honestly, having our own picks back doesn't even help us as much as getting like good young talent in the door. So, I think the Bucks are going to have to, you know, really, really invest in developing Hakez and Kel Wear and Ya, uh, you know, Yakuchonis and whoever they pick at 13th, which, you know, hopefully could be a really good player tomorrow tonight. And I just think from the from the Boston side, it's just now it's just awkward. You know, you were trying to trade Jaylen Brown. He just came off a career year. He got MVP votes. you know, he was he was borderline first team allNBA this year and he carried the squad without without Tatum and it's just like once again it's Jaylen Brown getting shipped. So, it's it's bad. It's really bad. You know, it it's a little bit like when you when you date this girl and you dump her because you think you could do better, and then you go out into the dating world, you go on five dates, you get rejected, you get no call backs, and then you got to phone her back and be like, "Yo, Bethany, I thought I could do better than you, but I really miss your pancakes." That's that's kind of where we're at right now with Jaylen Brown. They're going to miss his pancakes. Uh, pause. That's weird. Okay. So, I don't know. It's just a strange situation. You know, the Boston Celtics prohibitively are favored to come out of the East next year whether they made this Giannis trade or not. I think making the Giannis trade and actually getting Giannis next to Tatum would have absolutely changed the trajectory of that team. Like, pairing those two would have been incredible. Tatum and and and Giannis are such a smooth basketball fit. So much better than Bam Adabio. And I I honestly think Tatum is going to make a full recovery. He's still super young coming off that Achilles tear and he works really hard. So, you know, if he makes the full comeback, um I think Boston probably should if Baylor if I find out that Baylor Shyman is what held this deal up, I'm going to be really mad, you know, from a Boston Celtics perspective.

Talking about what this means for the East. I mean, let's take a look at, you know, the the odds the odds makers. So, just to just put this up here one sec. Um, so these are the updated odds as it pertains to the Eastern Conference finalist uh per bet MGM. So the Celtics are favored to come out of the East marginally over the Knicks. It's a hair, you know, by a hair. The Miami Heat are third, Pistons fourth, Pacers fifth, Cavaliers sixth, Sixers seventh, a distant seventh, uh just behind them, uh the Hawks eighth, Magic 9th, Hornets 10th, Raptors 11th. This is how odds makers and the same people who thought the Raptors were going to win 37 games are responding to the Raptors winning 46 games this past year. It feels perhaps that uh Bethany is the new Karen Felicia. Bethany is a seven you want back. Make it a meme. So, the funny thing is we actually have a Karen in this in this community. And we have a Felicia. We don't have a Bethany. So, I feel like Bethany needs to be my go-to call back. So, for sure, uh Bethany, I don't know if she's a seven. She might be a six, but she's she, you know, she's a comfortable six. She she's a she's a she's a Miami 6, but she's a Milwaukee eight. You know what I mean? Okay. So, and if you've ever been to Milwaukee, you know exactly what I mean.

What does this mean for the East? I think the Heat are being severely overrated here. I think this is projecting a lot of the ancillary pieces working out. Giannis being healthy for at least 70 games. Giannis and Bam working out. Norman Pal not regressing. He's not a spring chicken anymore. I think being slept on here is probably the Cleveland Cavaliers, the Toronto Raptors, the Orlando Magic, the Atlanta Hawks. You know, the Hawks have just added Aaron Wiggins for nothing. I don't know why they're so low, right? They added Aaron Wiggins for nothing. That front office has shown competence. They have the eighth overall pick tomorrow. They might trade it. You know, they might trade it to move back or they might draft like a really good player like Michaelel Brown or, you know, Kingston Flemings there. So, again, I think the Hawks are primed to take a mega step forward and I don't know if anyone's really paying attention to it right now, but Jaylen Johnson was awesome. They might still get something really good for Jonathan Kaminga. They have had, you know, they've managed their cap space and kept their p kept their powder clean a lot better than the Raptors have. Uh, the Nets definitively are going to be pretty bad, but Julius Randle and, you know, Michael Porter Jr., this will not be the easiest win in the world anymore. You know what I mean? This is a team you can lose to the Wizards. Trey Young plus AJ Debasa plus a whole bunch of athletic wings plus you know thirdyear Alex Sar plus Anthony Davis plus whatever they get I weirdly think they're being slept on too. So from the perspective of the Eastern Conference if you are the Orlando Magic, Toronto Raptors, Philadelphia 76ers, Charlotte Hornets, I think you're very much on the bubble of playing territory. Not the worst thing in the world, but also maybe not the best time to go allin if you're thinking about it right now. I think what's cool is the future of the East is getting a little bit clearer because a lot of the good teams are really getting old. Miami is old and they don't have the cl they don't have the cap flexibility. They won't have the cap flexibility and they won't have the draft capital to shift on a dime. So, right around 2028, 2029 when Giannis is completely exiting his prime, there could be an opening there. The New York Knicks are in the same boat. Most of their good players are close to 30. So, again, these are big markets that have shown in the past an ability to retool under competent management. And frankly, I think in the case of the Boston Celtics, Miami Heat, and uh New York Knicks, you could argue they have been just as wellrun, if not better run, than the Raptors in recent years. The Pistons, the Raptors, I think those two teams and the Atlanta Hawks and Magic and Hornets and and Wizards, frankly, represent a young uprising. So, I think the if the goal for the Raptors is to separate yourself from the bunch, I think that's going to be virtually impossible. You are not going to clear a level this off season. It's just not going to happen. You don't have the pieces. You're not willing to move, you know, three, four first round picks for your big Desmond Bane trade. And the team that moved for Desmond Bane isn't much further ahead than you right now. So, I think right now the Raptors have, I think, a pretty good reason to be patient and I think that extends, you know, to the 20, you know, to the to the pick tomorrow at 19. I think you can be patient with that pick. I don't think you need to panic and draft necessarily a senior unless, I don't know, a certain senior from Iowa is on the board, in which case take him and run. But I don't think the Raptors need to do any panicky moves, right? Like there's there's some people saying like, "Oh, trade the 19th pick, trade a future pick and get off Yaka Purle contract." My question is why? What are you doing with that money? In all honesty, what are you doing with that money? If you're not paying Yaka Purle, what are you doing with that money? Are you saving it? Are or are you going to make a trade for Miles Turner, which I don't even think is worth that swap between those two players is not worth two first round picks or even one one first round pick. I'm good rolling with Yaka Purle. Trust me, you like Miles Turner because you don't watch Miles Turner. If Miles Turner is cool and probably a much better fit next to Scotty and if the Ma if the Milwaukee Bucks called me tomorrow and said, "Hey, we'll give you Miles Turner for Yaka Purle." I'd say sign me up. But adding picks to this feels very dumb. So, the Raptors are doing things the right way. I think you know in the Eastern Conference contending for the East became a lot harder. The Raptors pushed the Cleveland Cavaliers to seven games. Right now, I think the East has taken a drastic step up. Like, number one, there will be no easy wins in the Eastern Conference this year. Not one single team of these 15 teams is an easy win. Last year, there were four easy wins almost every night. You you can go beat the crap out of the Pacers, beat the crap out of the Wizards, you know, uh beat the crap out of the Nets. You just don't have that now. You don't have that anymore. You You just don't have those teams. So, the Toronto Raptors had an infamously horrible record against top end competition last year. They went 0 for five against the Knicks. Uh they went 0 for three or 0 for four against the Boston Celtics. Like they were winless against the top top teams. So, this year I think that's going to get exposed, right? And you could find yourself in a very very big hole very quickly if you're the Raptors. You could be 2 and 10 to start the season very quickly if your schedule breaks the wrong way. And let's just not even pretend the West isn't getting better, too. Like, definitely there are teams in the Western Conference that are young upand cominging talents like the San Antonio Spurs are now full-blown powerhouse, right? You're going to have you're going to have some teams that are probably going to be a little bit worse. I think it's possible the Clippers take a bit of a step back. It's possible the Denver Nuggets are not nearly as dominant. It's definitely possible that the mil, you know, the Minnesota Timberwolves are are just feeling the the cap crunch. The Bulls, [clears throat] by the way, alongside being able to add the fourth overall pick, they just added Nick Claxton for nothing. Just I just want to put that on your mind right now, you know. So now you have Josh Giddy, you know, you have a bunch of guards around him. You have Montasalis, Cale Caleb Wilson, and Nick Claxton. That's not an easy win anymore. That's just not an easy win anymore.

So, you know, in terms of does does this change the East? Yeah, in in some fundamental ways, it does. Number one, it stops this trade stops a true powerhouse in the Eastern Conference, which would have been the Giannis Tatum Celtics. I think if Giannis and Tatum end up on the Celtics, I'm pretty much conceding that the East is going through Boston for the next two to three years. Like, that's just that would have been a nightmare if you're a Raptor fan. The second thing it does is I think it kind of sets Milwaukee up to not be terrible. You know, weirdly enough, the third thing it does as it pertains to the Raptors is it pushes Giannis into a better situation within your conference. See, if Giannis had gone to Portland, that would have been great because not only did the Heat not get better, but the Bucks get worse. So, in a sense, if you're always thinking about wins [clears throat] in terms of the Raptors perspective, because you're a Raptors fan if you're watching this podcast, more than likely at 235, like a sicko, you're probably a Raptor fan. If you look at it from the perspective of East versus West, power balance, which conference wins more games, etc. Giannis going from Milwaukee to the Miami Heat puts more wins in the Eastern Conference. That Heat team is probably going to win 47 to 50 games this year. They're probably going to beat a lot of Western Conference teams. I look at teams like Houston as maybe potentially having, you know, potentially taking a step back. I could look at Phoenix taking a step back. This could be, and again, this is totally, you know, crazy, you know, to think about. The Utah Jazz could could leapfrog next year. The Memphis Grizzlies could be the second worst team in the league next year. It's possible that the East East is better than the West next year. It's possible. It's so possible. And we are coming right off of a season where the East was supposed to be decidedly worse and the team from the Eastern Conference won the NBA championship. So, you know, the the power balance in the Eastern Conference that has been there for years, I think is slowly shifting as more and more lottery picks, you know, hit in the Eastern Conference. and the first overall pick this year, a generational talent perhaps in AJ Devonsa ends up going to the Wizards. The Dallas Mavericks fall apart. They trade uh Anthony Davis to the to the Eastern Conference. So, you know, if a you know, the AD trade could swing a lot of things, too. So, I'm looking at the East right now and I'm honestly saying best case scenario for the Raptors is probably seven seed. Last year, if you remember, I was pretty optimistic the Raptors would near win nearly 50 games. This year, honestly, even with modest improvement, I'm thinking it's probably closer to 42 wins. And the cool thing about this from the Raptors perspective is if you fall just outside the playoffs, like let's just say hypothetically you don't hit the 42 game mark, what if you hit the 38 game mark and you get bounced in the plan, you could win the first overall pick with zero restrictions. I know that the 2027 draft isn't exactly as highly touted as the 2026 draft, but it's not like the 2024 draft. Like, there's still really, really, really good top end talent in that draft. So, I don't think it's the worst thing for the Raptors to take a step back, especially when thinking about like the RJ Barrett trade. You know, if the Raptors are looking to trade RJ Barrett, if the Raptors are looking to trade Brandon Ingram, I think you have a really great core piece in Scotty Barnes. I think you have a really great core piece in Colin Murray Boils. That guy is 24 years old, soon to be 25. Colin Murray Boils is 21. He just turned 21. I don't think it's the worst thing in the world to let these guys just be 20 20 21 and just find those small pieces to work around them. again, you know, with the 19th overall pick tonight. If you pick a Chris Cak, which again is potentially possible given that Chris Cak just worked out for the Raptors two days ago, it's possible that that guy needs like 3, four years to to really be ready to to contribute. So, you know, Darko said it, progress is not linear, right? If you step from RJ Barrett to Jacobe Walter, it's one step back to take two steps forward. You know, if you're you're going to take lumps and bruises because Jacobe is younger and a lot less experienced and he's going to have to go through the bumps and bruises, but in the long run, you have a you have a you have a theoretical fit that's better. And look, Raptor fans for years have wished for the Raptors to get like real high upside lottery talent. Next year might be the year to do it. Now, I'm certainly not suggesting tank, but I'm definitely definitely suggesting don't go allin with the East looking the way it does right now because it does not feel like there's any move that the Raptors can currently make that vaults them past some of the teams that are currently ahead of them. [clears throat] James Walsh said, "Who wants BI too soft?" Um, so following this season, provided Brandon Ingram is going to opt into his player option, which again, he may follow the Trey Young route. So Brandon Ingram could certainly go the Trey Young route where he just says, "You know what? I'll opt out of my player option if you give me a three-year, I don't know, 90 million, hundred million dollar deal." Uh, it's kind of what they did with Yaka Purle as well. Yaka Purle opts into his player option, so they give him an extension. It's a weird thing. So, if the Raptors are married to Ingram long term, I think it's probably going to bite you in the ass. Quite frankly, I think it's probably good enough. Uh, I think the playoffs exposed quite a bit. I think the regular season clutch performances exposed quite a bit. I think it's okay to I think it's okay to try things and realize that it didn't go the way I wanted it to go and it's okay to move on. Like I I think that's okay. Um Ingram, Barrett, Quickly, Purle, any of them could go and if it brings you back and expiring, I'm totally cool with it. I think there's real value in building things the right way. I think there's a real value in organically finding the pieces that really fit around your star player. I understand in theory why every one of those players could in theory fit around a star player. And if Scotty does take that big jump, like you know, if he's just who he is, like we we had an we had a podcast earlier with Mike Roach where we asked if Scotty if playoff Scotty was a mirage. If Scotty in the playoffs is any indication of the player you're about to see for the rest of for the rest of his career, if this is just a stepping stone to him just becoming a 25 10 and seven type of superstar night in night out, if he's going to be that type of player and if Colin Marie Bo is taking a jump up, I'll put I'll put the Raptors on the same level as the Miami Heat and the Detroit Pistons next year. I think Detroit is going to take a big step back from 60 wins. um they're not just going to run through the East, especially if they're trading Isaiah Stewart, but the Raptors have to be mindful that any move right now cannot be, oh, we won 46 games, we need to build on that. I I genuinely don't care. You can be a better team this year. It's a Here here's a funny thing. It is perfectly possible for the Raptors to be a much better team this year and win fewer games. It's perfectly possible for the Toronto Raptors to be a significantly better team and win 42 games this year. Uh, has Penn commented on Trey's contract? I have, but it's possible if you're not following me on X, you did not see it. I think the Trey Young contract is ridiculous. Uh, Steph Noah has a um contract tracker on how much players are actually worth. Trey is overpaid on that deal by about $90 million. It is ridiculous. Minecraft motivation said, "Love listening to lay pods. When I get rock on, I can work on I can do." Dope. R.J. isn't walking yet. Still had a year. Yeah, I would argue you need to make a decision on on RJ Barrett before like you I mean honestly at this point you should have made the decision already, but I think the decision has to be made tomorrow. Like you need to know 100%. Because if RJ Barrett and his contract extension potentially looming are the reason you cannot resign Mam Mukllis, I think that's that's that's a ridiculous thing. like you found a diamond in the rough in Sandro Mella losing him for nothing to potentially then dump RJ like two months later I think just makes no sense. So right now with Kel Wear in Miami, I wonder and and this is this this might sound crazy if the Raptors go guard tomorrow at the draft, which you know, again, I feel very strongly that Bennis is very high on the Toronto Raptors board. I' I've felt that way the entire draft cycle. We'll see if he actually is. Would you deal an RJ Barrett for a Moss Turner? Does that deal tickle your fancy a little bit? Right. It gives the It gives the Heat something. It gives the Raptors something. And it gives the Raptor something they don't they really don't have, which is an actual stretch bake who can block shots. So, you know, even if it included a couple of second round additions, I think the fit next to Scotty works so much better. [snorts] See, I'm just not getting as high on Cameron Carr as some of you guys are. I just I can't I can't get myself there. I I realized, you know, I did a podcast yesterday with Sheep Seats and he has him like a top seven, top eight grade. I can't get there, man. If he pops and turns into an all-star, I'll I'll I'll I'll eat the humble pie for sure. Miles Turner is a negative contract, though. Just a good archetype. I think Miles next to Scotty, it synergizes very well. So, unless of course you believe that the guy is over the hill, injury-prone, or simply just not serious about basketball anymore, I I just don't I don't see it. RJ and Grady for Turner and AJ Green. Well, Grady is a negative asset at this point. AJ Green is a significantly positive asset, so I don't think that's going to work. I am not a hero fan either. If we can get a pick in this draft for him, I will take it. Um, I don't know if you're getting a pick for Tyler Hero. Oh, wow. Yeah, Eddie Jones was so much better than Cameron Carr, dude. Um, I guess Turner won't turn us into a championship contender. We should focus on picks. only trade picks for championship contention or young players. Yeah, again, I'm not suggesting trading first round picks uh with RJ Barrett, but I think R.J. gives the Miami Heat aer that they just don't have, right? Like right now, they have a shooter and an offball wing scorer and maybe the pairing of Haime Hawz, Kyle Koosma, and RJ Barrett is just nasty. Especially if they're bringing back Gary Trent Jr. Like that's Yeah. Can we fire up the trade machine, run some trade scenarios? No, man. I think it's late. I I appreciate I appreciate the sentiment, but I think that would just be somewhat useless conjecture at this point, to be honest. Um, but yeah, like I I think I think the the idea of trading RJ and getting back a stretch big like a Jaylen Smith or a Miles Turner kind of makes sense for this team. Pen, do you think Dallas trade down with the Bucks and Thunder or trade up with the Clippers? Not familiar with how Messiah operates? Well, Messiah operates in the we take a video of me trying to trade up, don't trade up, and then when the player I wanted to trade up for becomes amazing, we release the video. That That's how Messiah operates. Uh, Bass Basal, dude. Yeah, speaking of ball, been watching a lot of FIFA lately. Have you Have y'all been watching the World Cup? Man, Algeria Jordan was wild. Dope. Yes, I have seen him. Um, a pick for RJ, not Hero. Yeah, I don't think you're getting a pick for RJ Barrett either, dude. Unless the team is very desperate. Now again, in terms of RJ landing spots, Dallas might be a weirdly like synergistic fit, but I think I want spacing around Cooper Flag. He's not necessarily the strongest um strongest shooter. Shooting seems to be the great equalizer, which is why I'm so resistant to trading a, you know, to drafting a player to tonight that doesn't shoot. Shooting seems to be the thing that like keeps your value up because teams can always find value for guys who can shoot. Kasparus, Yakuchonz, Tyler Herro, you see you see the trend. Miami had bet that guys ke those three guys who can shoot. You know what I mean? So, ironically, what's what's really funny about this and and in genuine genuinely thinking about this, the players that the Miami Heat traded for Giannis are exactly the players I wanted next to Giannis. The Milwaukee Bucks right now have the perfect team for Giannis, but they no longer have Giannis. Isn't Isn't that a [ __ ] Isn't that funny how that worked out? You got Kalawware. You got Haime Hakez, which I like next to Giannis, you know, offball wing, little mid-range scorer. You got Tyler Herro, which I think would have been a really good fit next to Giannis. You got Kasparus Kachonis, great fit next to Giannis. Koware, great fit next to Giannis. Like, what the That's funny. That's funny. Uh Darren Peterson is better than AJ. I disagree, but I certainly have come around to feeling that the gap is not as big as I initially thought it was. Uh, that's largely because AJ was disappointing this year, not because Darren wasn't disappointing. Speaking of Cooper though, thoughts on PC video, Dylan Harper over Cooper. Yo, shout outs to my guy Jay, man. He he had some cojones to uh to pick Dylan Harper over Cooper flag. And I'll be honest with you, I get it. I totally get it. Dylan Harper is such a special guard. I think people see Cooper flag because he's a year younger than Dylan and because he, you know, had 50 point games that he's somehow in a different class. He's not in a different class. They're in the same tier. They're in the exact same tier. Okay, this is like debating Jordan versus Hakee for the first two years. Like for the first two years, that was a legit debate. After four years, it wasn't a debate anymore. But for the first two to three years, Michael Jordan was the losing selfish scorer who couldn't get by. Okay. And Hakee was the dream the dream center that you you know pick that you tank for. So you know again you know revise history all you want but but yeah like there is a really good chance that Dylan Harper has a better career. That's not shade on Cooper flag but like what Dylan can do is ridiculous. like he for the second half of the season from the All-Star break onward, Dylan Harper was a top 25 player in the NBA, Cooper Flag was borderline top 30 as well. So it it's close. Yeah, that's going to be really funny. When Alex Antmpo and Dan Theas Antmpo check into work tomorrow, [laughter] I guarantee you their keys will not work. I guarantee you their keys will not work. And you know what? It's funny because something tells me those guys are going to end up in Miami. Spurs will trade Fox to get Dylan starting. I mean, they should. They really should. Uh there's a bunch of guards, you know, who might be available at some point. Formerly all-star guards, John Morant, Kyrie Irving, Darren Fox. of the three, if the Raptors actually really, really desperately want to climb into the Miami tier, the Detroit tier, I don't want to say the Boston tier because you're not going to get there, but um the Sixers, Cavaliers tier, if I think the deal is obvious, a healthy Kyrie Irving gets you there. A Kyrie Irving for Emanuel Quickley swap gets you there. Now again, I have no idea how Mike Schmidt and the new, you know, regime over in uh in Dallas feel about Emanuel Quickley or how they feel about Kyrie Irving. But if Messiah Yujuri is still warm on the idea, like I mean this is a guy who traded his beloved son OG Anobi in order to get Emanuel Quickley into Toronto and he tried to pair him next to a jumbo creator and a jumbo wing like Scotty Barnes. Well, in theory, Scotty Barnes and Cooper Flag have a lot in common. So would Messiah then want some of the pieces that he put around Scotty to now be around Cooper in Dallas? So that's my thinking in terms of RJ Barrett, Emanuel Quickley, Yakoba Purle having possible possible homes in Dallas. For Dallas's side, they have a bunch of players that I really like. Naji Marshall, Kyrie Irving, Derek Lively, Daniel Gaffford. There's a lot of really cool pieces there, and I I think they all work next to Scotty just as well, if not better, than they work next to Cooper Flag, since Scotty's a better player right now. Um, who do you think is the best synergistic fit with Cooper in this draft outside of the top four? That's a good question. The best synergistic fit with Cooper flag. Adara. Nope. Probably Darius Auff. I mean, just speaking purely from from an offensive perspective, Darius Auff. Uh, apart from Darius Akuff, a hypothetically fully realized, well coached version of Muel Brown would be great. Apart from that, Katon Ller could be very interesting. I could I could see those two working really well together. And finally, beyond that, Christian Anderson would be really great next to next to Cooper. I also think Benis would be wonderful next to Cooper flag. So yeah, there's a lot of options. It feels like Ibuka Aorei is too shaky and too ball dominant to be next to Cooper flag, but that could also work as well. Cooper's not a difficult player to build around. It's a very selfless guy, very easy to build around. Dallas signing Dusty May likely to pick one of the Michigan prospects. Um, I wouldn't read too much into that. I think if nothing else, this means Dallas has better intel on Ada and uh, you know, Yakel Landerberg. But Yel and and Cooper don't fit really well together. There there's like I mean, honestly, if Yel plays the four and Cooper plays the three, I I could see it, you know, but I don't I don't I I wouldn't I wouldn't make that connection. I wouldn't say like, oh, they, you know, they they signed the coach. I think they just like the coach. If I'm being honest, I do not like the moves that Dallas has made. I I don't like the the I mean, if there's a part of me that feels like the best of Messiah Jury's brain is behind him, Mike Schmidt and Dusty May is probably like a really good indication that that is true. a die will go to the Hawks after they just signed CJ. I actually believe that that I feel that there's more smoke to that for sure. Yeah, that so another wrinkle of this is um the owner of the Milwaukee Bucks also owns uh the cle uh you know he owns things like the Cleveland Browns. Is that correct? And he went through a star trade demand and so they just went through two star trade demands including Giannis who quietly requested to

be traded. And so I can understand from their perspective, maybe prioritizing, you know, this package of poo poo platter package from Miami as opposed to trading for another mega personality like Jaylen Brown.

Um, but I really do wonder what this says about the value of Jaylen Brown. You know, every team has rejected packages around Jaylen Brown. Every single team, the team that employs him has tried to trade him almost every offseason, like clockwork. And it's never worked, right?

Uh, David C saying, "Bucks having a fire sale. We getting monster." I don't know if they're having a fire sale, dude. They don't have an incentive to be really bad over the next few years. But it's interesting.

My So the additional, the final thing I'll say is Milwaukee does have now two lottery picks in this draft, and they could move up. If they could move up, if they could package 10 and 13, it would be very interesting if they could get high enough to pick Mel Brown because, I'm being honest, Tyler Herro is not selling tickets. That's just not exciting at all for me. They don't have anybody that screams future franchise player on that team. And it's very difficult to sell tickets, uh, to sell tickets when you don't have a definitive guy. When you just have this collection of good shooters who are kind of okay third, fourth, fifth options, you kind of end up in the same place that Portland was in a few years ago, uh, where you just don't have a franchise player. I understand, you know, um, not every team is going to have one, but you need to have like the hope of one, I feel, right?

The Bucks might trade up for Native A. They don't have to trade up for him. They have the 10th pick and now they have the 13th pick. They already have the 10th pick. If I'm not mistaken, I believe they've already promised a men. So, like I don't, I don't think Nate Ament is a a franchise cornerstone star. Let's just be real about that, right? I don't think that's it. But if Nate Ament is what you're selling Bucks fans on, like this is the franchise of the future, like Nate Ament, he's going to become Kevin Durant for us. Cool. I I doubt that works. I doubt that works. He is going to be like the third or fourth best wing on that team on opening night. He might be the fifth best wing on opening night. Right. Like, exactly. I think you already have native. His name is Kyle Kuzma. Here's a thought. Okay, you know what, Nadem? I am going to fire up the trade machine because I do have a trade that I want to pitch y'all just to see what you think of it. Okay, just humor me for a second here. Okay, team one Raptors. I don't even know if they're going to have this updated with all the players on the Bucks yet. Do they have it? Damn it, they don't. Okay, but that doesn't matter for my for my intents and purposes. It doesn't matter. Would you trade Brandon Ingram to the Milwaukee Bucks for Miles Turner and Kyle Kosma? Would you do this deal? Koozma is an expiring contract. It opens up an avenue for you to pay RJ Barrett if you feel so inclined. Miles Turner is slightly overpaid. Do you do this deal? Let me know in the comments after the video. I I hate Koozma as well, but Koozma plus RJ Bear is $50 million in expiring contracts. Dude, you could really, really use some pieces around that. I wonder if I would do this deal with one Whoa. No. Oh, wait. I I read Jacobe. I'm [ __ ] crazy. I read Jacobe and I nearly lost my mind. Dude, you you understand like how much I love Jacobe Walter right now. Um, you said Yakob. I read Jacobe. I lost my mind. It is 3:00 a.m. Uh, Giannis will stay quiet now in Miami. He has to deal with Riley. He'll be happy with no state taxes. You know what I call going from Milwaukee, Wisconsin to Miami, Florida? I call it a life upgrade. Call that a life upgrade. Swap 19 for 13 as well. And I do this. Yep. Ingram and two firsts for Jaylen Brown. It doesn't work with the cap. You would need you would need to add more salary. Joe Brown makes a lot of money, dude. What do you think about Yakob and BI and 28 first for AD? I would do it. Pennate's trading Scotty Barnes for Wimby or Ant? Yeah, this is this is more of a this is not a player evaluation thing. I know WBY is worth a lot more than Scotty Barnes. This is more of a I will never ever ever ever be captured on camera saying I would trade Scotty Barnes for anything. You could say WBY plus 45 first round picks and I would still say no because I don't trade Scotty Barnes. Not in hypothetical reality, not in reality reality. We don't trade Scotty Barnes, okay? On this channel, there are no Scotty Barnes trades. It's never happened. It's never going to happen. There's no entertainment for it. You know why? Because there's so many Raptors content creators who've been caught with their pants down saying, "Well, I'd trade Scotty for Giannis. I'd trade Scotty for Durant. I'd trade Scotty for Daniel Lillard." And they all look like idiots now. So, you know what? I'm not doing it. When Scotty wins league MVP, I don't want someone digging up like Pensor Basketball Chart to trade him for Wimby and 14 first round picks. No, it ain't going to happen.

Would [clears throat] the Celtics be better with OG or Jaylen Brown? Jaylen Brown. Yeah. I mean, as high as I am on OG and Obi, Jaylen Brown's a better player, better creator, and in that in that offense, I think Jaylen Brown does a lot more. However, contractwise, I like OG's contract better. Um, 36 million instead of 56 million is massively like in OG's favor.

Yeah, everybody mad now. We got the freak. I told folks what it was going to be. Now they mad. Stay mad. We ain't finished to be continued by Miami. Yeah, I mean, you know, good luck on the minimum signings and stuff. I mean, I'm not even trying to hate the Miami Heat got better, uh, here and they traded a whole bunch of pieces that either they did not want to pay, did not want to extend, or didn't care about. But don't be surprised, man, if in 2028 or 2029 you're dumping Giannis over to LA. You don't have a championship. You never got a championship out of it. You never got a finals out of it. And you know, again, Giannis is young enough right now at 31, 32 years old that this could still be like another strong three, four years. But I wouldn't say they got fleeced, but they overpaid. They definitely overpaid. And they know they overpaid, man. They know they overpaid. For weeks, for weeks, their offer was KL Wear, Haime Hawkins, Tyler Herro, two first round picks. Not only did they add a pick swap, they added an extra pick and Kusparakon and a second round pick. They added a lot of sweeteners just to get this deal over the finish line because I genuinely think Milwaukee was willing to just play this out with Giannis. Just be like, "Okay, [ __ ] it. You're not giving us what we want. We're going to stand pat with Giannis. We're just going to play this out." But, you know, I don't think teams called Milwaukee's bluff. Like, there's a really good chance Giannis doesn't resign with them in a couple of years. So, you know, the clock was ticking. Miami wanted to get one more prime year of Giannis. What is the harm in, you know, doing it right now? I don't know. Who did you bid against? You were bidding against Jaylen Brown and two first round picks. I'll be honest with you, and I said this during the live with Mike Roach as well. I don't think Milwaukee wanted Jaylen Brown. I don't think Milwaukee wanted Jaylen Brown. I don't think they wanted him at all. I think they they would have taken Tatum happily, but they did not want Jaylen Brown. And Boston was only offering Jaylen Brown. So to me, Miami kind of the reason that I think Miami overpaid is because they didn't have another bidder, right? Again, I can't say this for sure, but there's a chance that you hold out on Kasparus Yakuchonis and you lose this deal. You lose it. Milwaukee says, "Fuck you." And they just walk away from the table. There's also a chance that you keep Kasparus and one of those picks off the table and they come to you before the draft tomorrow and say, "Fuck it. We'll do it." Because they don't want Jaylen Brown. I'm telling you with full conviction. I had it on record from somebody like two weeks ago. Milwaukee does not want Jaylen Brown. This entire deal contingent on a third team willing to take Jaylen Brown. And that team would then give the value to the Bucks. So Giannis wanted to Boston, cool. Giannis was okay with Miami. Cool. That part of the story checks out. But Jaylen Brown going to Milwaukee was never going to happen. That was never going to happen. So, you know, take that with a grain of salt. I'm not Sham Shirani. I'm not, you know, Chad Ford. I'm not necessarily that connected, but I'm connected enough to know that the Milwaukee Bucks did not want Jaylen Brown. Okay. So for me, unless there was a third team dangling all these offers, all the all the assets, because ultimately it doesn't matter, you know, where Jaylen Brown goes from the Milwaukee side, it's what are you getting for Giannis? Who is the third team that is paying this boatload? Consider this. Is what Milwaukee just got for for Giannis what a team would have paid for Jaylen Brown? That's the equation that you need to think about. And two first round picks because what Boston wasn't willing to add was two first round picks going to Milwaukee. Jaylen Brown going to a third team. And that third team would then give Milwaukee all of the, you know, ancillary pieces that they need. Who is that third team though? Was it New Orleans with Trey Murphy and potentially more Herb Jones and stuff? I'm not sure that beats the Miami offer to be honest with you. You know, maybe marginally. Was it the Lakers? They don't have the pieces. Was it the Clippers? I don't think so. Who was it? Who was the silent Jaylen Brown suitor? Uh, Val the Goat said, "Hug Gonzalez is so overrated." You're overrated. Huger Gonzalez is perfectly fine. I would have thought it might have been Portland. So why is Portland pairing why would Portland pair Giannis and sorry Jaylen Brown with Denny Aia? Unless Denny Aia is the one going the going the other way to Milwaukee. I just don't get it personally. Uh, the reason that Portland would be involved in any sense would be because they own Milwaukee's future picks. But once again, with Milwaukee being such an inept organization, I'm not so quick if I'm Portland to move off those picks either. I'm just like, "Hey, man. I kind of hold your balls by the future." It's kind of funny, you know, how how this deal has worked out. Portland now holds Milwaukee's balls for the next four four years. After that period of time is over, Milwaukee now holds Miami's balls. It's It's interesting. But you know, you know what team that holds their own balls? The Toronto Raptors. And I like that. I appreciate that. And let us hope that that stays the case. Unless, of course, a superstar is available for trade.

Would I trade RJ Bear and Emanuel Quickley for Jaylen Brown? Yeah, in a heartbeat. Of course I would. I don't even like Jaylen Brown. And I would trade those two in a heartbeat. I'd drive them to the Pearson airport myself. I'd pack their bags. But that deal ain't happening because the Boston Celtics are not [ __ ] crazy.

Um, Yak plus RJ for Sabonis and Malik Monk. Does that work capwise? If so, that is a massive um swing on upside there. But once again, Sabonis is a I think Sabonis is a bad idea. I think Sabonis is exactly the type of move that kind of landlocks you into a play style that doesn't really functionally work around Scotty. Is he a potentially viable stretch big who can rebound? Sure. Sure. But I've never seen enough volume from Sabonis and he's been really unhealthy the last couple of years. I just don't get it. I don't see it.

Um, Kaminga, I remain somewhat optimistic about Jonathan Kaminga's future, but time is really running running out for him to figure out how to play basketball. Honestly, with all the Chris Cak um stuff out in the ether today regarding the Raptors, I'm just reminded that sometimes his decision-m is very, very stupid. And I'm also reminded that I really genuinely hate stupid basketball players. So, players who don't know how to play the game are usually the ones that really grind my gears a lot. But that being said, I listened to a 30-minute podcast with Chris Cak. And you know, I'd encourage anyone to go and listen to it. Just go search for Chris Cynak interview. It's one of the first uh results that pops up. He did one like I think 10 days ago. It's a refreshing look into uh some of the things that he thinks about, some of the things that he wants to do, things that he's aware of. He said that his low block rate at Houston was a result of Calvin Samson saying that basically, you know, we need you to rebound the basketball. He talked about, you know, big hopes and goals. He talked about wanting to play against Anthony Davis and Jiannis Antmpo. Now Jiannis Antmpo and Anthony Daves will both be in the Eastern Conference. Will Chris Cak accomplish those two goals playing against Anthony Davis and Jiannis Koopo wearing a Raptors jersey? Nah, maybe Chris Cak is too risky. Passing on him is very risky too, man. Um, it's a little bit Maris Chris, you know, it's a little bit like that. It's a little bit like uh Tyrus Thomas, if people, you know, OG draft people remember those guys, those evaluations. When a guy is so athletic that it just pops off the page when he's so skilled and the production doesn't match, you need a very conclusive, definitive answer that you can sleep with at night as to why the production did not match. You can't just guess it. You can't just estimate. You have to know. You have to 100% know, okay, it was because of this, this, this, right?

Uh, do you like Phylon if he drops? I'm not a big Learon Phylon guy. I'm not going to be mad if the Raptors draft Leberon Phylon. I'll totally understand it. I get it, right? But if the Raptors pass on Bennett Sters tomorrow, I'll be very surprised. I'll be very surprised if they pass on Benz plus Christ for somebody who's not those two guys. I'll be very, very surprised.

Um, I'm gonna work on uh I was supposed to re So, I'm behind on on content. Two things. Number one, I was supposed to release my final big board. The draft is today. I probably need to release that big board, but I do have the panel at 11:00 a.m. tomorrow. So, I'm running out of time a little bit at this point. I just kept, you know, moving some pieces around, adding this, adding that, and I'm just like, my god, I've run out of time. Been watching way too much World Cup. The second thing is I do owe you guys a members live. we didn't do one on Sunday. I'm aware of it. Believe me, I'm a I'm a very guilt conscious person. So, when I when I miss something, I'm very very aware of it. So, um I figured what we could do is in lieu of a Sunday members live, what we can do is tomorrow when the Raptors do draft who I think they're going to draft, what we can do is on Wednesday morning, we can do a membersonly video session for that player. I think that would be pretty cool.

Uh, Canada's killing it in the World Cup. Absolutely. I have not watched them play yet, but I'm going to I'm going to watch them the next time they're on for sure. I've been watching a lot of World Cup, man. It's been like dominating my entire like perspective and psyche. Like, it's just been dominating my entire life at this point. Like, yeah. Yeah. I I didn't do it I I didn't do uh I didn't do a live for for the Giannis trade right away because I was still reeling off of that comeback um between uh Jordan. So, [clears throat] I don't care about theorized drafts right now. It happens in 12 hours. I'm looking forward to hearing about what's drafted. What happens will happen. We're done scouting talk. As fans, I do not care. I hear you. Um, I do think it's a big board is not theorized mock drafts, though. A big board is a definitive grade on who should be where on the Raptors and something that hopefully if you trust my evaluation, something you can cross off as the players, you know, go. It's also something that I'll be using during the draft. So, it is worthwhile to to create one that I am fully locked in on. The problem with big boards right now is my evaluation literally changes every day. This is this might sound weird and it might sound a little finicky, but I genuinely think that the process of putting together a board is something that you should do over about six to seven months so that you have time to let it breathe. I think it's it's like a cake, you know, you can't keep you can't bake a cake in 4 minutes, right? The problem this year is my my catchup scouting was so late that by the time I started putting together a board, it was already June. That's when I put together my first board. Last year it was like way earlier. I think it was like April, you know, when I put together my first board and then in May I got to adjust and then June I got to put out a final one. That felt a little bit more secure. So I had time to like sort of [ __ ] test my own thoughts. So at this point I think maybe there's a part of me that's just very very afraid of being wrong, you know. Um, I certainly don't want a Grady Dick repeat necessarily where the player I have 18th or 19th on my board goes 13th to the Raptors. And you know, I don't want a case where I have Zubie Edgeor 31. I don't, by the way, but if I did and he goes to the Raptors at 19 and suddenly I'm very low on Zubie Edgeor. It's not that I necessarily care too much what people think. It's just I care about being right about things, too. And I I do want I do want my board to reflect what I genuinely think the Raptors will think. It's just been very hard to peg down what the Raptors think because I'm operating with a completely new front office. [clears throat]

I'm a big Learon Phylon fan. I'll be happy if the Raptors take any of St. Anderson or Phylon. It's possible you'll be very disappointed on draft night when they take a big and they don't take any of those guys. But yeah, I'm I'd be very very thrilled with Bennetts. I'd be somewhat cool with Lucro Corey. I do I still have not gotten myself to be super high on Christian Anderson. And because I'm not super high on Christian Anderson and the guy who picked all of You know, it's interesting. Um I was not right at all about the Raptors board last year. I figured they would have Carter Bryant over um Colin Murray Boros. They obviously had Colin Murray Boros a lot a lot higher than Carter. Carter didn't even work out for the Raptors. So looking at it that way, the one guy who was pretty right about the Raptor draft board last year was Cheap Seats, right? He had Colin Mary Boles, Elijah Martin, Chucky Heppern as all really high grades. So given that Cameron Carr is probably the guy that the Raptors want, right? Because that's the guy that he's super high on. Now, it's possible that this front office under Bobby Webster minus Messiah Juri ranks these draft prospects very differently, but I'm settling in around Cameron Card around the 18th pick in this draft. So, if the Raptors pick him a 19th, I'm not going to be upset at all.

Anyways, enough of this. Enough of the Giannis talk. And thank you so much for the two members live members chat here. I'm going to try to get some sleep. We have a panel. I have a doctor's appointment at 9:00 a.m. and then I have a panel meeting at 10:00 a.m. which I don't even think we're going to be able to make both. And then I have the panel at 11 and we're going to be talking about the trade on Players Choice. Uh, shout outs to the people in this community who watch that show too. Uh, and then 2:00 p.m. we get off the panel and then hopefully somewhere between 2 and 5:00 p.m. I can release my big board and then we will have you covered for the NBA draft tomorrow starting at 6:30. 6:00 6:30 is when we'll go live and hopefully the internet is stable for the full four hours. Okay. It'll be a call-in show. You can call in. I'll uh Yeah.

Houston, Reed Shepard, Tari East, Josh Shaki, and Dorian Finny Smith for Jaylen Brown. Um, the Celtics hang up and laugh in your face. Uh, that is a ridiculously insulting offer. Um, but by the way, I like all four of those players, so it's kind of funny that I'm saying that. Maybe they won't laugh in your face. [snorts]

Mexico is a host as well, by the way. Absolutely. Mexico, Canada, and United States. Dope. Um, I don't know what that means. Okay, I'll talk to you'all later. Have a good night. Peace.