Celtics Give Al Horford A New Deal, Lakers' Decision To Waive Matt Ryan, Khris Middleton's Return

Hello everyone Welcome to the NBA Head Office Show Happy December I don't know how we got here, but here we are or anyone who was resisting putting up Christmas decorations. I think now it's officially okay to do it because it's now, December 1st, we have some NBA issues to address. I'm Trevor Lane, you can find me on Twitter at Trevor underscore Lane accompanied by Keith Smith at Keith Smith NBA enjoying the warm weather there in Florida, not so much for me. but yeah, but Keith is nice and nice and warm in the Florida sun, yeah, it'll be in the 80s here, it's probably in the 80s right now as we're recording this, so yeah, we're still holding on to the tail. end of summer here it's December and it's still summer in Florida uh Keith, let's get into our first topic of the day and talk about your team, the Boston Celtics, giving Al Horford an extension, uh, what's going on here?

What does this extension mean for the Celtics is it a good move, all that, yeah, so Horford was in the last year of his four-year, $109 million a day contract, signed with Philadelphia in 2019, obviously, one year with Philadelphia He switched to Oklahoma City and played half a season for them. they shut him down, then they traded him to Boston and the bottom line was, hey, you take our bad contract, we'll take yours since they traded Kevin Walker, but now Horford played great last year helped get Boston to the finals and now they're going to Keep The Good Good Times Rolling, he was guaranteed 19.5 million of the 26.5 million he was going to earn this year and now they will be fully guaranteed.

That was going to happen anyway, we all knew it, but now it's going to add two years and 20 million and the funny thing was the reaction of some people I saw online initially, 20 million is too much for Al Horford, then people say no , it's 20 million total in two years and then all of a sudden people are like, "Oh, that's cool." I love it you know this is still really good and I think it's the right approach to take with this it's less than the mle it's 10 million a year for him so I think you know this is a really good solid

deal

for uh, Orford and the uh Celtics, I think you know they can keep a guy who's still going to be worth 10 million for the next two seasons after this one and if he plays like he does this year, he'll be worth a lot more than you know what Al Horford shoot from three? uh.

I happen to be watching him right now, so yeah, I know he's shooting 49 from three right now on 4.4 attempts per game, which is absolutely that's with a 047, uh mixed game. There, you know, 20 games into the season that can still have a pretty massive impact, you know, so yeah, he's playing very well, you know, it's 10 million dollars a year, I'm probably guessing that's probably it for him. . I'll probably retire at the end of that, he'll be 38 and he'll be 39 at the end of that extension, but I think this is a really solid job and another time Brad Stevens will block it, let's keep these guys under contract and let's keep this thing moving Yeah, I mean, look, that's the kind of contract that's also very mobile, if you ever decide to go that route, I don't think that's why the Celtics signed this contract.

I think they want to keep him, but just saying something should come out within a year, whatever it may be, that's the kind of

deal

you could make in a bigger trade and then do something with it, but like you said, I think it's a Pretty good bet in terms of whether it will

return

value. at that amount of dollars he's a below-mid-level exception deal, so he's essentially a below-league-average deal and he's an above-average big man in the NBA. Yes, I think it is, so I think you're getting value for that even allowing for the inevitable. decline that comes with age, so I really like the deal.

I think it makes a lot of sense, it keeps the team together and there's no problem with that, if it was 20 million a season then okay, that's not what happened here, yes, yes exactly. I thought they were going to settle somewhere in the 12 to 15 million range somewhere, I thought they could get to 45 million in three years, but most of last year it wasn't guaranteed, so Boston could get out of this very easily. We've seen a lot of extension contracts like that, boyan bogdanovic, for example, that was his two-year extension with the Pistons, it was mostly non-guaranteed in the second year of the extension, so we've seen that become something very popular that teams do. but according to Adam Himmelsbach of the Boston Globe, it's totally guaranteed that he'll get a trade bonus on top of that, so that's fine, but I guess this is just us clinching it, he's probably a starter right now.

At some point next year, maybe year two he moves into a backup role, he'll probably transition to a 15-20 minute a night guy, but you're fine behind Robert Williams on nights when Williams needs Sit down, you play with Horford some more and move on. I think these Celtics are well prepared and what's interesting is Brad Stevens' approach to building the roster, as you know, the leader of the team's front office has a coaching mentality of locking in guys that we like guys. that in shape and let's keep them and eliminate those questions, possible distractions, let's just go now, what we sometimes see coaches do win now moves, um, what would happen when they take over the responsibility of the front office? because that's the coach's mentality,

give

me everyone he can get right now. win games properly, but I think Stevens has made the

decision

that hey, we like what we have, we're going to lock it up and even though they have all these guys now signed long-term, because not only is Tatum in a long William is smart, uh.

Horford on an extension Jalen Brown has one year left but is eligible for an extension but there's no point if you want to read more about that just watch the track you can see I broke down everything why Jalen Brown should wait to sign an extension . uh, just because it doesn't make sense to him, but okay, Steven also traded for Derek White on a long-term deal. Malcolm Brogden on a long-term deal, obviously he wants continuity, you know, with the guys and he feels good about the guys he works with. has on the roster now so move on and I think it's a very smart move uh to avoid letting any kind of distraction creep in they have a pending free agent right now no that's Grant Williams and we'll see what that looks like. like I'm a restricted guy, this next song, yeah, I mean, everything has gone according to plan so far this season for the Boston Celtics and this is just another, another step in that direction where they're keeping this team together and they do the best.

The right thing here, I think with Al Horford, uh, let's jump to a former Celtic and now also a former Laker, uh, the Lakers greeted Matt Ryan before getting into the logistics of the move. Did you have any problems with the timing of this? came out, fell, was a little Frank Vogelesque, dropped it right after a big Lakers win over the Blazers, they feel good and then they announced they were going to say hello to Matt, I don't even know if he was out in the locker room when this came out , yeah that's the part I don't necessarily like, I don't mind doing it the same night or whatever, I just feel a little awkward when it's like a guy is still on the premises and he obviously went because he doesn't remember who was, but one of the reporters who covers the Lakers said that he spoke to him and said that Matt Ryan was aware of his release, but they didn't comment further, um, I mean. okay, no, I don't have a big problem with that, you know what the difference is between now or being woken up, you know, this morning at 9 a.m. and I told you you know, hey, we're saying hello to you and they're flying to Milwaukee this morning, yeah, that was awesome.

Now I would wonder if you have a plan for this place listed today tomorrow because I mean, I get it, you're going to save a little money here because you're going to bounce them off. It saves you some money and they're in the tax so I understand all the ramifications you know behind this but just

give

n his injury history I don't know if I'd really want to be in an open roster spot right now and you have a couple more wings that are out, uh, Troy Brown and Lonnie Walker. I know they're not considered long term things, but yes, but generally no, no problem with that, you could see the writing on the wall.

I had that fun start with the Lakers, where you know he made some shots in a couple of games and then you know he basically disappeared on film into the absolute depths of the rotation, so you have your two-way guys if you really need to draw people . top right and when I look at this people are quick to say oh why did the Lakers announce this right? Shams didn't do it. The question is: how did Sean achieve that? Was he from the Lakers? If that's the case, there's a lot of blame to go there, but was it from an agent?

Was it from someone else? You know, the Lakers didn't officially announce that they were letting him go. He came out of Sean Strania um and That's similar to what happened with Frank Vogel. The Lakers just won a game and finally felt good to finish the season and then he gets asked in the press if he got fired and then he has to deal with that situation. No, it's not a good look, but again, it wasn't the Lakers that announced that maybe it came from within the Lakers, but we don't know for sure, so that's a distinction to make, other than they're leaving. on a road trip, a six-game road trip, but word was that the reason they're doing this is so they can start exploring trades on December 15th.

I understand what you're saying, although is it that important? Don't bring him on this road trip and don't make him travel with equipment that's going to potentially leave you a little thin if you have injuries. I don't know if that's necessarily the right

decision

. By paying that salary for the entire time, you would also incur luxury tax penalties on that salary for the entire time, but to me, if you're the Lakers and you're one of the most valuable sports franchises in the world, that shouldn't Shouldn't be a factor in your decision making. It should be: can this player help the team or not?

Is this someone we might really need to include in a game? Maybe the answer was still no and the answer was simply, “you know what we are.” We're going to play Max Kirsty in front of them, we're going to play Montesano Anderson in front of him, whoever it is, although these other guys who are a little deep on the bench are going to get minutes anyway, so we don't really have a place. for them that could be the factor, it could be trying to give him more time to find a new destination, that could also be a factor, but in the end it seems like the Lakers are going to leave this spot open and then try to do something however possible. on December 15 maybe they already have something in mind, we don't know, yes, and they could, and the reality is that nothing will stop the Lakers or Matt Ryan if they get one game on this trip and sprain five ankles in the same game of saying: hey, can you come back? sure, yeah, you know, I mean, there's, you know, there's nothing stopping you from doing that, so that part is a little, you know, it's a little weird, you know you do it now.

I mean, I would have totally understood if this was like December 12 or 13 and I was like, I want to have the roster spot cleared, I want them to clear up the

waive

rs for when you know we're ready to make a move or something, but yeah , because I instantly saw the right thing at any time. team opens roster spot reunion speculation says oh, trade coming up? Are we going to hire someone? Do you know what we are doing? I don't think it's anything like that. I think it's just that we're not going to play against them, let's save. some money and you know, save it, you know, keep things moving, maybe I'm just a really bad traveler, maybe yeah, like I'm a terrible travel companion and the team is like, uh, you know, no we want to deal with it, maybe maybe it's maybe he's a great card player and he says oh, that could be money and they say oh, we can't allow this, we can't allow the guys on this long flight, you know, to lose. all their money to Matt Ryan and say, oh Okay, I guess we're out of luck and I was wrong.

I should have and I thank you, you know, for being a good guy, not correcting me. I forgot that Cole Swider is still injured, so he's not ready to play yet. It makes sense, sure, if it was like oh, you got the same thing as on a two-way contract as a shooter there, but yeah, I guess Matt Ryan is probably going back to Julie's Lakers team and that's where you know. they go from here, but we'll see if it's a bad sign for Matt Ryan if a team like the Lakers that needs to shoot so bad is greeting him like that or it's just a bad sign for the Lakers' decision. do, I don't know, yeah, I mean, it could go either way, I mean, they clearly couldn't find a way to get them on the court and sometimes you know if all you can do is shoot and teams don't trust on you to defend or defend yourself or do anything elsethat can be difficult um you know it's better to shoot at an absolute elite level elite elite uh if you're going to play and if he's not then he's not he is what he is.

Alright, some good news now confirmed. Chris Middleton will be back tomorrow, just in time to take over. My Lakers, I imagine they'll help him get back into the rotation, but it's important for the Milwaukee Bucks to get him back. We discussed it a little yesterday, but now we have confirmation that he will indeed make his debut in the season. tomorrow against the Lakers it's great to see the Bucks get back to full strength and then, or at least pretty close to that, and then they can go from there and develop some rhythm and get back to work with it.

I know I'm not supposed to disparage my Lakers at all, but this is also probably the type of game where they can afford to throw him into the rotation and be fine and not have to throw him right in the deep end and say yes, it's No. It's like it's Christmas Day against the Celtics and your Chris Middleton is making his debut and he's tasked with, you know, guarding Jason Tatum like a player or something or making some big plays down the stretch. This is a game where I think Box is going to be just fine with or without Chris Middleton and then that gives him a chance to come in, just get his legs under him, get the reps in and then go from there, yeah, exactly, I'm guessing it'll probably be 20 or 25 minutes a night, probably for the first time. a week or so for Chris Middleton and then eventually he'll get back to normal, you know, 30+ minutes and we'll see, I guess it's kind of like with the box idea, hey, let's try to get him back on his feet. full force of him by the time we get to the holidays at the beginning of the year, he'll be playing full load of him and we'll go from there.

Hey, other good news, we didn't put this in the show notes, but Orlando got a couple of Anthony's guards back, they both played, uh. Yesterday, Cole Anthony was on a 15-minute limit, a minute limit that is very, very low, and then he proceeded to commit three fouls like the first minute he was on the court and I love Jamal Mosley, he said, "Come on to play". because you're only playing with a minimum minutes limit anyway, so he looked good. Marco looked pretty good in his first action of the year, so you know that, in the grand scheme of things, this doesn't mean anything as far as hours wins and losses go for magic are already, you know, out of this.

I wrote for SB Nation, if anyone is interested, I checked out all the teams, uh, that are in the race for victim one, Benyama, we talked a little about that yesterday, but With Orlando the important thing is the rest of this season is to have to the healthy guys so we can start to see who fits, how they fit, who works, what your roster can be, uh, moving forward, because that's the important thing here, you have to start putting this. Put the pieces together as you prepare to eventually start winning games, absolutely, that will be key for Orlando, as well as a handful of other teams.

Keith, we went from a packed NBA slate last night to a game tonight, well, at least your Patriots are playing tonight, so it freezes a little, but um, but an NBA game, this is weird, to my fantasy team doesn't like Detroit and Dallas, yeah, it's not even the best game, but as someone astutely pointed out on Twitter last time, Detroit. He played in only one game, it was against the Orlando Magic in City Bay, uh, around the world. I think he scored 51 points, so you know who knows, maybe Luke made Luca put on a show or something, but I can say it with confidence.

I'll be watching the Patriots game probably in its entirety tonight, so Keith says crush the over at Sadiq Bay tonight, that's the prediction here, but yeah, it's just that the NBA doesn't want to deal with Thursday night football. night, but I I mean, it's over on Amazon Prime. I mean, yeah, it's a little strange, but Thursdays have been a little light. TNT does not have Thursday games. Right now all the TNT games are on Tuesdays so what you have is semi-light Tuesdays because we're trying to keep them pretty exclusive to TNT but that's turning into very light Thursdays now last week obviously no one played on Thursday because the NBA always takes Thanksgiving off, but yeah, you have this weird schedule, you have 13 games last night and I mean it's like 11 or 12 games on Saturday, so we're in these weird periods, which is also It's funny to me, although like this Sunday, I think, uh, no, I apologize, I was free, but there's a Sunday coming up where there's a lot. of games like afternoon games and it's like you're against the NFL on Sunday in the middle of the day, but like on a Thursday night it's like you can't have more than one game, I don't know, it's a little weird, I It seems a little strange.

I'll tell you that you know it's not. We have a shorter program today so I don't want to go on too much, but I think it's going to be really interesting and this is something. We'll talk more as we get closer to it. I'll be keeping an eye on what happens with the NFL numbers on Christmas Day. Is the NFL going? Hmm, we like this thing about playing at Christmas and not just sitting around. on NBA Day I think the NBA should be a little worried about what might happen. I completely agree. I think every time you see that Christmas falls on a Friday, Saturday, Sunday, maybe even a Monday, the NFL is going to load the schedule with games on Christmas.

I think if it's Tuesday Wednesday Thursday it gets a little difficult because that starts to get a lot of things out of control, but I think we'll see, you probably make it seem like a little bit, if it's Saturday or Sunday, it'll probably be a good full day of football for them because you'll also be free of college football by that time, the regular season will be over by them, um, but if it's Friday or Monday, I would. I won't be surprised if we see them do what they do on Thanksgiving, where they do the triple header in three games and then, you know, the NBA has some competition on the day that it's been for years and years and almost years. for themselves, it used to be the NFL, it was only really played, you know, once every five, six, seven years, on a weekend day, so yeah, kind of interesting, the latest, just scheduling, no .

Shams noted the league told teams. Yesterday he posted a tweet about what the start and end dates of the next season will be, so I think it was October 24th and then I want to say it was April 19th, but don't quote me and then look. his Twitter timeline, um, but he also said that, initially, the teams will be scheduled for 80 games, uh, because if, upon assuming the play, uh, you press don't play, but an in-season tournament is approved, there will be, you know, only 80 games scheduled and then. everything will be taken care of from there, um, after they are scheduled, so we'll see how it looks, but you know, there will be more changes to the NBA schedule, uh, just to clarify, she will receive on October 24th. the start date, April 14, would be the end of this, which is pretty normal, yeah, yeah, that's not a surprise, but it will be interesting to keep an eye on the 80th game with the seasonal tournament. today, be sure to subscribe to the NBA Front Office Show on our YouTube channel, of course, don't forget to follow us on Apple Podcast, Spotify, wherever you listen to podcasts until the next time everyone sees you and stay safe .