Thunder acquire Alex Caruso from Bulls in exchange for Josh Giddey | NBA | UNDISPUTED

they won the trade, if you want to call it that, but I don't think Chicago lost the trade. I think this was one of those good trades for both teams. Josh Gidy isn't going to have that much of an impact, certainly not. immediately in Chicago as we expect Caruso to have an OKC, but you just pointed out that Josh is 21 years old, he has a lot of room to develop, he will have a better chance to do so in Chicago, it is on his schedule and for the good of Chicago. He will help them move the ball much better than they saw last season.

You know he's great with assists and they've obviously been one of the best teams to have the most unassisted baskets in the NBA. There are many places. he can make an impact, so again, I don't think Chicago lost this trade, but let's talk about who won in terms of the idea of ​​Alex Caruso in Oklahoma City. It's so dangerous that it's just another Sam Presty move that you have to sit back and wait for. applaud because this wasn't a team that couldn't defend before having L dor, they had great team defense, but now it will just be teeth on every opponent.

I want to read you some statistics here, Oklahoma City now. has two of the top three players in total steals from last season, so the two guys who stole the two of the top three players who stole the ball the most also had the top two now with Caruso and L Dort, who They defended All Stars more. Last season, the guys who got the toughest assignments were the two guys on their team now, which is awesome, you've got guys that can do that. They also have, by the way, Kasan Wallace, who is a great defender on the ball.

The problem with Kus, somewhat for the Bulls, has been that he was due a big extension. Oklahoma City has the money and the space to do it, so it's kind of a perfect deal with Sam. I do not expect. To be done I think he will now have to get a little stronger on the other side of the ball. I also hope that maybe it strengthens the central position. Chad Hren is fabulous, but he's not the most physical. What about that? I mean, they can and by the way, there was a great photo. I'm not sure he's capable of getting stronger.

Go ahead, I don't know if you saw Victor Weany post a photo of him now muscular and compare it to the state of him. so it can happen, but um, but yeah, I think this is another thing where you had a team that finished number one in the west and now has that playoff experience that we always say you have to go through it to get over it and all that. . Those things that they have now they have Alex Guso, which makes their defense feel like one of the bravest in the NBA and he's not done so this team continues to get better and when we talk about the Lakers, when we talk. about the Timberwolves, when we talk about Denver, you have to remember that the competition is going to get tougher because teams like Oklahoma City are going to be better, you know what this move is.

Skip, it's a Boston Celtic move, believe it or not, it's Drew's vacation. Type move is a is a this is what they did to get over the hurdle we need to be able to do the same kind of things agreed upon look at the deal it's like Rachel was saying it's not like Chicago lost the trade and it's not like all of a sudden OKC oh god mine, they run away from them, it works, it probably will work for both of them, you get a 21 year old who can eventually become a key piece for Chicago, where you have a 30 year old who is growing in age. you know, you say, okay, his contract, he wants an extension, he's getting close, they got about 30 million more dollars, they can spend it on OKC.

The best thing about OKC is that they didn't have to give up anything, it's just a straight trade, they got everything. their 10,000 draft picks still in their back pocket to do whatever they need to do with them now you have a guy she was talking about Rachel was talking about an NBA defensive player okay you understand you have a guy at 43% shooting three so now it becomes a three and D just this year his percentage has gone up to 43% it's not his career just this year he has improved so now you have a little bit of three and D now too as Rachel spoke.

If you look, this is where Drew's vacation situation comes into play. If you look at the conference, they have to go through Murray's in Denver, they have to go through Lucas in Dallas, they have to go through Curry's and Ant. -Man, it's just a long list of players they have to watch in order to defend. He has to be able to fight through the pick and roll. He can do the same type of things that Drew Holiday brought to Boston. The Celtics don't say they're going to win a championship like the Celtics, but they were the number one team in the conference.

He also has championship experience, but he's also a veteran who brings some championship experience to that young locker room. Now Boston had Al Harford, which he was. an old guy but he didn't win championships and those guys had been there but hadn't gotten over the hump, but it's almost like they were doing the right thing to get OKC over the hump. I don't think OC KC are going to win a championship next year, no you don't have to stretch your imagination, but they will be in the mix and this is just a piece that helps them add another piece to the puzzle of a team that was already That close, you never know.

What could happen? Thanks, so you won't remember this, but on Tuesday, after the Finals were over, our last topic on the show was which Western Conference team the Boston Celtics are playing in next year's Finals and I went to the Oklahoma City Thunder just because knew. Sam Presty had all kinds of space and ammunition to do this and that in the off-season and this was this when I heard this last night I said home run bingo, thank God, here it comes, that's exactly the first piece of the championship. enigma that that was missing here and okay, I'm from there, but I never could, I couldn't hug the Westbrook Durant, James Harden Thunder, who were at each other's throats right away and it just wasn't adorable.

To me, this team was very adorable this year because they loved each other and you're right, they were very close and Kyrie said after that series that this is the hardest series I've ever been in and he's been in a lot of things. series in his career, now I could say that the Finals were the hardest, but the point is that they were really good this year, they probably surprised themselves, they won more games than anyone in the Western Conference who saw it coming and Caruso had some history. he briefly played for what is called the oklahoma city blue dagnal's g league team the coach now of the senior team the actual team when he was a g league coach

alex

played briefly for him so you know they have some connection at that moment.

To your point, Alex Cruso is coming off his best year yet, he shot 41% from three and made the NBA's second team in defense after making the first team a year ago. Well, you can't, I can't word it better, we all know that. How hard it is because it started in the closing game that you covered in the bubble in which they finally defeated and eliminated Jimmy Butler on the Miami Heat. Alex Cruso started that game and played 33 minutes for the champion Los Angeles Lakers and made himself known. like the K show here in Los Angeles and I don't know if they loved it, but a lot of Lakers fans, of course, did.

I thought he was actually potentially coming back here over the last week because there were some rumors that he might be on the Block and the Lakers might be interesting, okay, I mean, it's almost like they shouldn't have traded him in the first place, Kean, that's true , I'm not in the front office yeah ok but I love your point it's not that Chicago lost the trade it's just that Oklahoma City got the best because it's a p he'll be more valuable to them than I think Josh giddy will ever be for Chicago but that's just me I'll be OB from a monetary standpoint Chicago with him and the money more OKC is further along than Chicago Chicago doesn't beat any damn Boston that's just Josh giddy measures 6'8 tall, don't forget, and Josh giddy is in some pretty tall company because at 21 he has the fourth most triple doubles at that age Magic is up there, Luca and Ben Simmons are just ahead of him, but my point is he has 11 triple doubles so he can play and he was their forward for this team and yet he had an issue off the court and they got over it and it was resolved and they benched him a little bit in the playoffs.

Did they bench him? I mean, they benched him a lot because they lost confidence in him and you could see what really bothered me as a fan of that team. He started to lose confidence in himself and his points completely dropped in the playoffs because he averaged 147 and six in his career and he had a year two years ago when he scored 178 and six, that's really good, then in the playoffs fell. at 94 and two because he fell out of the rotation, almost not out of the rotation, but he fell out of the starting lineup, so the point is that he was expendable at the time because of everything I was sure he was and I'm sure .

I'm sure you're thinking we just stole Alex Guso because he's 30, but can he play during it? I don't know, four or five good years. Surely he can. No, I just know he's 30, but I'm just trying to think he's a young, he's a young NBA 30, although because he hasn't played since he was 18 in the NBA, he's a young NBA 30, so he probably be more like he's 25 and 30 isn't that old in the NBA anymore, no, no, no, it's not what it used to be, yeah, so to your other point, do they need a hit? Do they need an executor?

They need a really physical, unpleasant internal presence because Chad can't do that, but everyone does it with everyone. He does, but they missed it because Chad was getting hit, punched, pushed and thrown, and he's a bean stick and I don't know if his metabolism will allow him to develop much. I hope, I hope. I'm wrong but he doesn't have to gain muscle you have to gain strength yeah his problem is they could just move him it's almost like he doesn't remember how bad it was but it could have been Dallas but we could go we want you stay here Lively would just move him and move him, everyone go here, but whatever he does in terms of development, he needs more size in the west right now.

This is a long and big conference. This is who he is. dominating that conference right now, so if you were going to compete and get a decent seed and therefore a good run in the playoffs, you need to have more than Chad Hongren and that's not a knock on Chad Hongren, it's just something they need. Sam Presy knows this and he has many more assets than the Lakers. He goes back to the fact that JJ will do well if the Lakers can improve his roster. I suppose they will improve their squad, but they will compete with teams. like Oklahoma City for some of the best guys and Oklahoma City has the assets, yeah, I don't even know where to find a big one.

I have no idea where to find one, well Sam Presty will find one, believe me, they are all great, all of them. The frontline bigs are their guys so I don't know who is buried on the bench somewhere, they are definitely players, especially in that position, that if they are put in a better situation they succeed, we see that all the time it is a position that really Fit is a huge factor, unless you're talking about Shaquille O'Neal or someone like that, but generally that's a question about fit with the bigs. I noticed this morning that B Bow is an unrestricted free agent, but now you have a higher one. he chats well and he wants to shoot three, so he's fine, B wants to be there in the half court, but he has potential for me, yes, but he wants to shoot, he wants to be there on the three-point line.

In some ways, Chad really wants Chad to handle the ball more because he's a very tone-deaf passer, so they want him to be a little bit higher when starting the offense, so physical presence is needed, but they still won the West in the regular season and me. Don't think it's a small achievement for me to win 57 games, because you have to be defeated. I know you can say that no one took it seriously and next year they will take it much more seriously. Well, I didn't say it. that Paul said maybe Paul said that yeah I didn't say that okay Paul said that on the duck boat yeah probably not I'm probably sure he's there as we speak as he's probably finding his seat on the duck boat right now, can you? find the duck boat that would be a question too thanks for watching Undisputed fans.

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