The Wembanyama experience, potential lottery teams, Draymond x Poole & MORE | The Hoop Collective

Hello and welcome to the Hoop Collective podcast, we talk about the NBA, which we will do on Thursday afternoon, joining me from New York City, just returning from Philadelphia where he saw the 76ers and the Cavs play on Wednesday night . Tim Bontops, hey guys, Bob try. I had a great moment here because after years away from his second home in the NBA, uh Road, Ben McMahon is back in Oklahoma City, hello, Partners back in Bricktown, honey, the pink parrot will be, I mean, it will be a spectacle worth seeing after the game. Tonight I can promise you that you will always be a married man, since he has been a married man, he has calmed down, but this is a setback, listen, let's not exaggerate it too much because I want to continue being a married man and and and uh, Miss Maria is an avid listener so I'm going to be on my best behavior with the pink bear who will be a sight to see tonight well he's back he's going to see the Adelaide 36ers uh he's playing the set of Thunder Fresh Off for there man talk to the five stars the coach the CEO God I love that MBL has good access Adelaide is 1-0 against NBA

teams

this year at least up to this point we'll see what happens with the thunder tonight um they have their season their team Seasons their their season is already underway in Australia, they took a leave of absence from their season to come there, their official MBL season if theirs had not started, they played some exhibitions, the rest of the league is in march and then these guys will fly, fly.

Back home planning to kick some

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ass Fresh off yelling at the Suns Yeah, I'll tell you how glad I am that the Suns aren't hungover from that Game 7 humiliation. I mean, they were able to stay within striking distance. I was never able to make that run against those 36ers. The 36ers are mathematically speaking, not even half the team that the 76ers are, but they were

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than enough for the Suns. Well, the Suns played their second preseason game on Wednesday night and LeBron scored, let me. Look, I think he scored 23 points in 14 minutes, uh, if you can't stop Craig Randall II, I don't like your odds against LeBron, 23 points in 17 minutes in that one and that was another loss for the Suns, they came too.

In one of the last quarters of that game, but they lost and then, and then, LeBron said he was going to buy his kids and move them to Las Vegas. Am I getting my wires crossed a little? I don't think you believe it at all. You're right in that story, the Sun actually won that game, they came back in the fourth quarter but effectively lost it, they also had a couple of injuries, we'll talk about that maybe later, okay, but let's talk about another import and not . The Australians this week has been dominated by the show that Victor Wembanyama put on in Las Vegas, now he and his team, the Metropolitan 92, are the Metropolitan 92 or simply Metropolitan 92.

I don't know, I'm going to call them. The 92 have to move on from the 36ers and focus on the 92. We have those 92 that are mathematically, they are just 92 metropolitan. I know I like 92 better, but anyway, how do you say 92 in French? Call your friend Rudy. "By the way, can I point out that next summer um as a couple it won't actually be next summer, but two summers in Paris, the French will have Victor beat Benyama and Rudy Gobert and maybe Joel Embiid, well, we'll see ". I'll see but I'll really mention the American citizen Joel embiid hmm interesting interesting too and beat an American now uh I might need it against Victory Cameroon yeah okay uh women Yama so that game was so important for a prospect, I think since 2003 it was actually December 2002, so for 20 years almost LeBron played a game on ESPN2, remember that?

I also remember my last year in high school very well. So he played it cool actually the year before Hella went. Fast forward a year, that's right, and that was also a classic game that, um, Oak Hill and a soft LeBron was like 36 and Melo was 34, something like that, it was a great performance, but LeBron hadn't been on the cover of Sports Illustrated. yet, and we didn't have the young star awareness like we have now, yeah, when Yama has been on our radars for 18 months and now on a lot more people's radars, so I said I guessed LeBron's performance that night .

Just to remember it a little bit, it was on ESPN2, it was a big deal, Dick Vitale, um, and Bill Walton called the game, they came to Cleveland to call the game and LeBron was great, I don't remember his stats, but they, but he was Great Oak Hill, they were number one in the country at the time, they weren't as good as the year before when they had Carmelo, but LeBron put the highlights in that game that was shown on TV for the next six months. the coverage was a pretty solid or complete game story, it was general coverage of that game, okay and I've argued that he made $50 million that night and he might have even made more in terms of a shoe deal because yeah, because there is a lot at stake. getting it escalated dramatically and ended up being an all out war between Reebok, Adidas and Nike and while there would have been competition to get it before that, obviously, after America really knew who it was and getting it became a big deal, I mean, "I've written a lot about this and I won't detail it, but I'll just say that the day after Nike announced it had acquired LeBron and Reebok, who were thought to be buying it, didn't Reebok's stock drop and they had to make a statement to his shareholders to try to keep the stock from going down, so that was what was at stake at the time and LeBron's performance in that game poured gasoline and now I'm going to compare him to wembayama, who was even better than LeBron. in that game against better competition.

To my knowledge there were no future top 10 picks on the opposite side of the old pill, there certainly were in this case and he was facing some men. Frankly who also plays for the ignite and what I mean I've seen highlights of him before and I was talking to some Scouts afterwards and they said look he doesn't always throw the ball that well but I mean no one in the world . he always shoots hi right now, he is still playing again today as we are about to record this, it is in the afternoon, he will play in a few minutes here, so I don't know what he will do in this game when you listen.

In this podcast, The Bond Temps, you were in a game during that time. I think you went back and saw it. He had seven threes and hit it five different ways, not to mention the incredible size of him. It was such an impactful performance in this type of situation from 20 years ago when I saw LeBron do it and I think we have the level of excitement that we had for LeBron 20 years ago, yeah, I mean, I think the best thing is that we haven't even mentioned the name Scoot Henderson, which I think we need. Well, we need him now because he's going to be the second pick in the draft.

Now there will be ridiculous discussions about whether Victor will be the first pick in the draft and there will be all kinds of nonsense about it. next, I don't think there will be fabricated arguments, there won't really be arguments about whether he'll be the first pick in the draft, it doesn't matter, fabricated arguments like when you argued against Jokish's MVP a couple of years ago, that Las guy things continue, come on, bonus tips. I'll pass on that pitch. I'm not going to take the bait. But listen, the bat is on his shoulder. This game for me.

I mean, you talk about that Lebron game. I remember, I would remember it was my high school, I mean, I remember when I was in it, it was a big deal, but I think the closest comparison to this game is almost when Shaq played Christian Laettner 10 years earlier because, like Scoot Anderson, era He's amazing at this game and likes to book the role of a multi-year All-Star level Park big point guard, a 6'4 big kid who can do a lot of things and also looks tank worthy, yeah, as if it were. He may be a stud, but he pales in comparison.

I've seen players like Scoot Henderson before. I had never really seen a player like Victor. I mean, he has a chance to be a Derrick Rose, like one of those types of players, which he is a. Excellent player, but like you said, this kid is seven years old. Victor wins. Over there he has seven four. he's got crazy length and athleticism, he's flying around and he just destroys weakside guys. He's long and fast enough that he can hold himself in space a little bit, like you look at him and he's like a guy created from 2K.

He does the combination of things that he does to the point where we haven't seen players like him. I mean, he's the size of guys like Ralph Sampson, Bill Walton and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, and he handles the ball and walks up. to the court like he missed it from 23 feet to the right and he did it from the logo, he can dribble from the logo at level four and even more than that, to me it's even more like we've seen guys like you, Chris. Hasbrose Angus can really shoot like a big guy, you know, Biao could shoot from three point range really well like a big guy, he's a fantastic shooter, the difference with this kid is he does it out of motion like he does, you already know. coming off screens like a guard like that is what separates him for me from everyone else because he can handle it a little bit, but the versatility with the shot like we've never seen anyone play like that and he's 17, I mean, it's just it's amazing how good the other thing is before you go Bob McMahon from what I understand and talking to people and what I've observed, he's really very super competitive and that's important because sometimes you get players that are really very tall people who play basketball because they are very very tall and do not necessarily have the build of what would be a great player, do they not have the competitive juice?

They do not have the desire to have it. there and they fight, they don't have the desire to work on their games, um, it's something that happens, you know, you see it with football players too, some guy who plays offensive line because he's huge or someone who is very fast. and they don't really want to play football, it looks like, I know it sounds very basic, it looks like they want to be great at basketball and that's an important thing, an important box that you have to check when you look at them. his composition is also good, forward McMahon, yes, and I thought about the composition for him.

Jonathan Javoni, I thought he had it done. Rudy Gobert on the defensive end and a seven-foot-four Durant-type creature on the offensive end, I mean the way he drives. the way he shoots, the step backs, I mean if he can shoot, he looked like Durant in that first game. I mean, we're talking, we don't know what he's going to do in this game that's about to be played, but he sure shot the ball like Durant in that game, yeah, and you know the other highlights that you see from him, like he's a type, as if there were a mid-distance game, it's not just the three, as if they were things from the dribble.

You know the pivot's fades, all kinds of things, and you know he didn't play for France or Eurobasket, but obviously the French national team coaches, the head coach, he's the head coach of the 92 that I hired. this year with the arrival of Victor, um, but like some of the assistant coaches, you know, I talked to those guys when we were in German and I just asked them about this guy and they all raved about him from a character. point of view an intellectual point of view like the only question mark about this guy is with that framework that lane you know he's going to have already had some health things like he can be long lasting he can stay healthy but they say this kid is extremely not just competitive but a super smart guy apparently as you know, you throw some Legos in front of this kid and he's like building skyscrapers. um, you know, like a lot of kids, he plays videos, but his friends will get video games that they plan for a couple. months and then he'll pick it up and just master it, you know, he has this kind of genius level thing, apparently it's like, you know, give him a Rubik's cube and you know, six seconds later, all the colors are lined up that way . from uh, you know, I don't even know what that kind of ability to think and put puzzles together is called, other than the fact that he's six feet tall, he's a ridiculously fluid athlete, like the absolute floor for this guy is Chris . porzingis statistics.

That's the absolute floor, he's a much more fluid athlete, although Porzingis doesn't have that movement, that ability to change direction when dribbling, uh, and you know, that kind of thing that Victor does and I mean, it's crazy. He was so good in that game that Scoot Henderson was absolutely electrifying. His team won the game and everyone can talk about these seven-foot-four guys, what are you supposed to say? Oh, also, yeah, I'll just say there was a couple of years ago. a guy was picked second after a guy everyone was fawning over as the first pick and it worked out pretty well for Memphis.

I don't say that to say that Victor isn't going to be amazing, he will be, just for McMahon. Point like all we saw of fucking Henderson was what you want to see like this gameto this game on Tuesday? Personally, I don't think that's the case because for me what would cause that to change is that if you add equipment, we weren't going to fail and today we're going to try to tank again. I think you're going to see an absolutely atrocious sequel because let's be honest, the Blazers last year, uh, I come back like always, that's always happened, yeah, no, it's the first time we're starting to see. guys called up from the G League specifically because it sucked because not calling up guys that averaged 26 a game in the G League, not calling up guys that were where you know, but I think what we're talking about, we want to take a look at these guys specifically to lose.

I think Thunder summoned his like. The seventh- and eighth-best players in the G League never practice again with the team they played a combined 87 minutes with. These are

teams

that are going to trade, there are more good teams and, therefore, more good players, and if three or four teams in January decide to go to the rep. maybe it's two teams, but this is my best player and he's going to be available, so if you're a team like the Lakers, if you're the Los Angeles Lakers and you're sitting here and doing well, I really don't. I don't like any of these, yeah. , maybe they will trade LeBron in January, yes I know they can't trade them.

LeBron has a, I know it was a joke, it was a joke like they were fans, but if you're the Lakers and you're sitting here going well, we have this possible lukewarm trade with the Pacers and we have a possible lukewarm trade with the Jazz, why? Why don't you wait until mid-season, when there could be a couple of teams? that's like you know what we're going to do you know we're going to trade we're going to back off we're going to be okay maybe it's a classic Bond Temps tank but I think it's going to be higher quality equipment uh Well, that's where I'm going to disagree because, Again, if we have to look at this from the team incentives we're talking about, all the teams that are in the playing mix for different reasons are going to want to be in the player mix, even though these guys are at the top of the

lottery

, I'm not improving your own rule, they won't want to be in this because they'll see that no, no, no, no, no, that's it, but you're not taking my point, look at the teams of the that we're talking about, teams like Washington Sacramento, the Knicks, the Bulls, these teams that we think are going to be in the tournament mix, all of those.

The teams have only given signs that they want to be competitive. Everything they've done in the last three years is a game changer, but my point is that nothing those teams have done in the last few years would indicate that's what they're going to do regardless. It has not been available, yes, but it is not like that. Scott Henderson has been asked. These teams have had opportunities in the past to try to go the other direction and every time they haven't done it and everything they've done this offseason. has indicated that they're not going to do that and it's not like people again, like people in the league, yeah, the owners would have seen that video, the teams that run the people that run these teams knew that these guys were coming, It's not like Victorious, you have to sell your owner, yes.

My point, though, is that it's too late for that for those times it's not no, you're not going to have to, no, it's not through trading through you know, mysterious ailments like the season doesn't start, is not too much. late by the way Arkansas just had their pro day and you know they have this loaded recruiting class led by Nick Smith who is also projected to be in the top five. I ran into a scout today at 36 or shot, he said he came from the Arkansas pro day and he said there were 29 to 30 teams there, so I think this was the team that wasn't there, uh, the Timberwolves, hmm they don't have a first round pick I guess not yeah 29-30 but apparently like Nick Smith I think Gavone has him four in the mock draft and then uh there's another kid who's supposed to be like maybe a

lottery

, probably a first round pick for sure, but my point is that it's not just Victor and Scoot, this is a loaded draft and when we talk about tanking, obviously the main motivation is Victor Scoot, but I tell you that the teams are fighting for the floor, oh, the lottery odds are even, yes, but if you have the worst record, you are guaranteed a top five. pick if you're number two, you're guaranteed top six, that's if Adam Silver cares about the palooza tank and trying to get rid of it, flattening the lottery results was a start, you have to play the lottery, you can't give the teams a guaranteed floor or are you going to make them continue, okay I don't disagree with that but we are getting too far off topic, okay I also think this is strange.

I'm also going to end this. I think it's a very strange conversation to have this whole conversation that we just had when we literally go into the season with more teams trying to win than in the last decade again, Bond's temps, that's why this is

potential

ly a game changer. because there will be teams that will be overseas that will be like this guy, the word is being used

potential

ly. It's giving them a lot of extra juice. I hate to break it to you, but that's our job, our job is. to talk about the potential, yeah, I think we just hit 80 of this podcast, it's potentially yes, otherwise why are we doing it?

Hey, how are we doing? Trying to get a mute button on bond temps. Have we had any success in that search? Okay, it's trivia time, which means it's time for Bond temps to happen. Now we can't silence them. The foreigner has to make you smile. It's the sound of another sale on Shopify, the all-in-one commerce platform to start managing and growing your business. Shopify gives entrepreneurs its resources once reserved for large companies, so startups and established businesses alike can sell everywhere, synchronize online and in-person sales, and stay informed effortlessly. Scaling your business is a journey of infinite possibilities.

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right now shopify.com alright, we've talked a lot about the Kings, a team that will try to make the plan even though they probably shouldn't and should be trying to get a Victor since they let Luca through a couple of years ago.

As a team that has had the longest playoff drought in the NBA. Semi-related statistic, there is a team that has been in the bottom 10 in offensive efficiency for the last 10. years 10 years who is it in years in a row that's impressive is Orlando is Orlando God I'm so good at this yeah because they failed the plows and they're our team today so I thought I've only seen Orlando in Memphis and I'll get there, I'll see them again tomorrow night, um, yeah, yeah, and look, they recruited Apollo to be an offensive focal point. I think with him and Franz Wagner they have at least two guys to build around.

Unfortunately they gave Franz the night off in Memphis they decided to start a second center next to Paulo de Wagner Franz Wagner has at least one ankle problem or suffered in the Eurocup that's why I think that's why I didn't play yes, yes, um, but uh. that's our team, we're talking about what's happening this week in Orlando, so before we pitch, why would they do that? Very strange, why would you do that? Orlando, um McMahon, you saw it the other night, um, the Apollo gang, Caro's first game like uh, Orlando Magic at least the preseason and it was difficult because obviously, although Mo Bamba is a good three-point shooter for a big , they had two greats with him, they had Paulo playing in three and they see that Paulo Franz is like that. interchangeable play makes the forwards score so it's very hard to judge anything until you see those two guys together, plus Paulo, welcome to the NBA, was poor spacing and Dylan Brooks, you know, breathing everything in his grill, scratching them, nudging them and just.

You know, it was, it wasn't very fun for Mr. Mancaro in his first taste of real NBA action in the NBA preseason, but still, it was certainly a little tougher than what he faced in the league. Vegas summer, but you know, I really look at that team, they have several interesting young players, but there are only two guys that I would be safe betting on right now and again, it's Franz and Paulo um Jalen Suggs, last year it was a lost year. For him, as a rookie, he missed a lot of time due to injury and he, you know, I'm not too sure.

I think he could be one of those point guards that if you don't have a lot of shooting around him. It's going to be a real struggle, they like, Markel Fultz, he's out with a toe injury right now, he'll be out for a while, you know, bomb shows flashes, certainly, makes some shots defensively and blocks some . The shots on the bumper truck are pretty impressive, but it's been pretty unpredictable, you know, I think it's not to risk saying, uh, they very well could be in that Victor Scoot Derby, um, it's going to be, it's going to be. a fight this year Well, I mean they will be a team that will be there by default, but I think we will briefly return to the tank discussion.

Orlando is kind of the epitome of that on both sides. Go back to 2005. You know, they got the number one pick a few times, obviously they got Shaq, they got Chris Webber's check, they made him Penny and then they got Dwight Howard, but since they traded Dwight Howard, that's when that streak of being in the bottom 10 in The league and the offense started, yes, they made a couple of brief playoff appearances where they were eliminated in the first round, yes, but they have been completely irrelevant for a decade and a lot of that was who won 25 games trying to get lucky in the lottery and finish.

The second time, finishing fifth and getting Mario Hazoni instead of Chris Espos. I guess another time, like you know they're kind of an example of the idea of ​​going through the draft, it's great, yeah, but if you don't get the right players. doesn't quite work, you could be stuck in a ditch for a long time, well, they get Jonathan Isaac and they don't know when he's going to get back on the field. Jonathan Isaac heard his, I think it was his left. ACL, but he tore his ACL on New Year's Day 2020. He played so well in the bubble that the last injury he had was he came back and played in the bubble and I saw him get hurt, it was a game where I was in the bubble. and he hasn't played since Oh, I thought I thought I forgot he played in the book the air conditioning broke in the bubble he got hurt he hurt his knee in the bubble he did whatever it was he got hurt before he got back in the bubble and then had a devastating knee injury and then strained his hamstring earlier this year and the only one so far so he will play at some point this season so let me get my take on Frank's assessment of the magic what are you watching. the magic because you're watching friends Wagner you can watch Mo vogner if you want but you should really watch Franz Wagner all three um and you're watching Ben Caro I think there's a question mark over Jalen Suggs we'll see Looking at those two guys and you're thinking about the lottery, you're thinking yeah, they could have a top five pick again and they have the Bulls pick and the Bulls are in a worrying place, maybe they'll beat it, maybe Lonzo will come back. maybe Patrick Williams is a difference-maker, that's what you're seeing, if you're the magic, you're saying, okay, we've got these two young guys that we really like and potentially, depending on what happens with Flea , with the Bulls, two good ones. looking at potentially such loaded picks yeah and by the way Franz is the first pick they got from the Bulls so the trade is already straight if it was just hey we're giving up the Fitch coupon we're getting sheets they.

I would have made that deal on a heart and Wendell Carter, who is pretty good by the way, yeah, Wendell Carter, so it's like they have Carter, they have Mo bomb like they have a lot of guys that are NBA, they are Young Players of the NBA, I just don't know if they're like this is a team that could make trades, so in my opinion they have a couple of guys that will be trade targets, although they were trade targets last year, so one is Terence Ross . who's a potentially electric off the bench score, um, he's been, we're going to be traded for like a year and a half,but he hasn't been traded, this is the last year of his contract, uh, and Gary Harris, who they extended last year.

He hasn't been the same player the last two years, but he could potentially be an interesting player and be a trade and maybe even Mo Bamba, who they're not going to extend and could be an interesting player through a trade, so again I think. If you go to the Amway Center, you go there and expect the power to look cool. Wagner will look great and have a competitive loss. I think they'll get a lot of that this year and they like those two. Guys, you know that gives you hope for the future, but you definitely need to know that you need at least one more centerpiece because again you know you're talking about Isaac and bomb um and uh and Suggs, I mean, those are the top five picks. . that you are not, are central pieces.

I don't know, not well. I don't know if we know about Subs yet. I was really impressed with Suggs at Gonzaga. I thought he had great makeup and so did I. I'm definitely going to keep an eye on him, he might be included, but the reality is the magic, you're going to get it in the teeth, the Eastern Conference, you know, the game you were at last night. Bond's temps, as an example, he went to see the Cavs and the Sixers play on Wednesday now um Evan Mobley didn't play, he has a sprained ankle like Garland and uh Garland and Donovan Mitchell were pretty good in that game, all four guards in that game James Harden Tyrese Maxi Darius Carl and Donovan Mitchell did a great job scoring and it's not a great job keeping Crossroad from scoring, they all look great, that's totally fine.

What I mean is it's going to be an average night in the Eastern Conference for a safe defense this year, it says for the fourth year in a row those guys are going to Wow there will be wars in the Eastern Conference well look even last night I was in MSG to watch the Knicks play the Pistons. Another team like the Orlando Knicks is going to be pretty good. Jalen Brunson is going to make a big difference there for the Knicks. They're not going to win 50 games or anything, but they're going to be a competitive and tough team to play against every night.

The Knicks, the Knicks, will be hard to beat in the outfield, yes, they are good enough to win. I have a good record at home and those teams have to get in there, so if you're Orlando, I'm sorry, you're going to bite your teeth, the East is too deep too, um and uh, and that's fine for Orlando. and I would just say you know guys like Wendell Carter. Those guys won't be on the same timeline since you know the two potential draft picks they have this year plus the other guys they have, so I wouldn't do it.

You'll be surprised if he's available at some point too, so if there's any situation like Oklahoma City a couple of years ago when in heaven, Scotty Barnes, Kate Cunningham draft, Oklahoma City had a chance to have the first pick . at the fifth pick and they ended up with the sixth pick and Orlando could have the first pick at the fifth pick and/or they could end up with the Bulls pick, if the Bulls make the playoffs they won't be in the lottery. or if the Bulls jump into the top four, it could be like what happened with the Rockets and they get a great player and they don't lose their pick, so they are one of the teams that on lottery night you mentioned, those teams that potentially having another team's number one pick, Brian, like the magic could be a team that's sitting there thinking we could get two picks in the top seven and eight in a loaded draft or we could finish outside the top four and thinking about what might have been right, but But the best chance you have is to give yourself the best chance to get one of those top picks and that's what they're going to do, okay, before we go, I wanted to briefly touch on the back and forth. reported return on the Warriors. practice earlier this week between Draymond Green and Jordan Poole and this is the fourth.

I'd like to have an exchange with Bond's temps by that definition. I think we know that there are altercations that happen in practice and in the locker room routinely, this one became public, whatever happens there, we'll see in the future when this podcast comes out, you know they could have talked about it and changed the dynamic, but let me say this at this particular moment in the NBA calendar there are always a handful of guys, maybe it's three, maybe it's seven, maybe it's two, that this is one of the most important days of their lives. and Jordan Pool is one of them right now.

Jordan Poole is negotiating with the Warriors over generational family wealth. Did you see that hero contract from Tyler? I'm sure he did it, he certainly saw it, so he's certainly negotiating a nine-figure contract, maybe they'll get a deal, maybe they won't. I'll look down, you predict. you, me, broke there for a second, I think they'll come to a deal between now and the deadline, okay, Jordan's group will be extended, okay, Tyler Hero got four years and 130 million. I think 120 of them are guaranteed and the incentives are. I would do it. I say it's highly unlikely, so I think what you're looking at is that the Jordan group deal will be a base of over 120 million guaranteed.

It's interesting that you say that because you know you've been telling me for a year that Tyler's Hero is overrated by me and yet when he gets it you know it's 20 million a year or 30 million a year uh you know that It won't be 40 million a year, it's basically what you are. saying well, I don't think he's going to win the Defensive Player of the Year award, that's one of the incentives. I think I don't think he's going to win the MVP and that's another incentive, so wow, I'd say it's unlikely that they will. They're unlikely, believe me, that's cool, uh, that's cool, that's a big deal for him, he's guaranteed 120 million, so the point is if you're like Cam Johnson, another guy, Cam Johnson got hurt Wednesday night. night, you know, I don't.

I think Cam Johnson is going to get that amount of money, but, you know, and as I've covered players over the years in this situation, I can say that some players have handled it very well, and you know they know they're going to get paid and they're calm about it, other players, as you can imagine, it drives them a little bit crazy because their whole life they've been working to get to this moment to get this contract, you know, the first big contract and in the case of Jordan Poole, who was a late first round pick um uh, you know, he, you know he has more money than me, but he, you know, Steph Curry probably makes in about four games what Jordan Poole makes for the year, maybe five um uh, so you know about the contract.

Even if the player gets the contract, sometimes even new money is a thing, so I'll just say that when a player who is in contract negotiations like this gets involved in something like this, I always wonder what the dynamics of that are going to be. So that's my takeaway from that and the other thing is Jordan Poole, let's say, probably gets his extension, who else on that list wants an extension right now, it would be a certain Draymond Green and Andrew Wiggins, but particularly a certain Draymond Green. and I think one of the biggest question marks about the Warriors this year is: how are they going to handle all of these potential extensions?

If there will be friction, is there going to be drama? Well, it seems dramatic, well, and you know, I think the athletic reported that one of the instigators here was Poole talking about how much money he's going to have and Draymond now Draymond has that money. you know, Draymond wants more Draymond has made more than 100 million if you know, but everyone wants more, but if a guy who is right like Bontemp said that they, you know, I think Bontemps is not guessing, that's my no, just me . No, I would say that if you look at it, I think that logically it makes sense for them to reach an agreement.

Jordan Pool was selected 25th overall. He hasn't made much money and the Warriors have to lock him up. I can't if they let him if they can't let him get restricted free agency and they'll deal with Max's offer sheets and stuff next summer, like me. I think it makes sense for everyone to do well, so whatever, but anyway. I think Athletic was reporting that Poole was talking about what he was going to spend his new money on and that may have instigated it and if your Draymond can be it and you and you know Draymond came out and said he's not going to get the extension, whatever the conversations they've had, they must have, that doesn't mean he's excited about it, right, and um, so if a guy is talking about that about his new money and you know you didn't get the money, maybe That's a problem, but again, it all goes back to what's going on these days when these contracts are out there, um, another thing, another thing to talk about when it comes to the Warriors and the money, it's going to be a very interesting 12 months for the Warriors . because I think we're getting to the point where Joe Laka has reached the breaking point in terms of dollars spent and it's not that he's crying about the Warriors, they're doing very well, but there will be. to McMahon's point about Andrew Wiggins about Draymond, this group situation, you have Klay Thompson making a ton of money, still, decisions will have to be made, you have James Wiseman who will have a big number next year as a player option fourth year I'm sure they'll pick it up, but for a long time the Warriors have kept their guys paying everyone, keeping everyone around and between the CBA talks this year, if something changes with the luxury tax, what happens is something from this.

The extension discussions where these numbers end up could be the first time we see the Warriors really start to make some financial decisions and it will be fascinating to me to see what that looks like for sure, I mean, when you look at what their commitments are. I mean Wiseman's salary next year goes up three million dollars, so you could say he's okay, he goes up three million dollars, which could cost them just Wiseman's raise. Forget about Steph Curry's rise. Steph Curry is worth every penny times two, Wiseman alone. Getting the increase in the tax on repeaters could cost them $15 million.

I was going to say no is twice when you get to a yes and if you just say remove it from the list it could save you 50 or 60 million. dollars, so you know every dollar can like the same thing with this group's negotiations, just when Tyler Hero gets that extension, they probably end up paying him more than they planned or wanted to like every dollar they're actually spending your accounts like that, but I'll just say the way you handle this, look at the hangover effect of what happened. What's going on with DeAndre Ayton right now? Ayton received the money from him but there is still a hangover.

Remember Hayward that I don't. I didn't think there was a hangover, remember, remember Gordon Hayward, the way it developed they made him go out and get an offer sheet, for sure, and that set the stage for him to walk on it for three years. later, yeah, well, that's the thing when you let guys get a restricted free agent even though the Pacers, for whatever reason, didn't put up a player option or didn't put any bells and whistles on that offer sheet , usually even if you stay with a guy. He's going to be on a contract that's worse than the one you could have signed him to.

One thing is a player option, so leaving after three years instead of four. That's one thing for a guy. It's one thing for you to reach an agreement. agreeing with a guy to keep him on your team is another thing to say hey, we want you to go get your money somewhere else and then we'll keep you anyway, yeah, squeeze, you're going to have to squeeze for every dollar. There are like everything else, they are negotiations and you know, to your point, out of eight and there are persistent things that come out of them sometimes and well, you know and you see what the only good things about this are in any subject you know, Draymond or Wiggins . or the group goes back to Pat Riley's Mantra, which I'm not necessarily on Riley's side, the disease that Riley talks about the most, you know, is something that drags down the possibility of teams winning to have formed dynasties because after the success.

There's this, everyone wants more and by the way, unless they did an extension with Steve Curran, they haven't announced it. I think Kerr, I think he last got an extension like three years ago, I think it's about time Steve Kerr got uh, watch out, yeah, what's that? I just said, you never know what happens with those things too, like Greg Popovich. I don't think an extension has been announced in about 10 years, so yeah, they stopped announcing them with Eric Spoelstra years ago, yeah, so it's hard to tell if Steve is awake or not, but sure, okay, thanks Melissa Collective podcast, thanks to the Bond workers, thanks to McMahon, thanks to Jackson and Bruce, our producers, we'll talk to you next week.