What's Next For the Clippers, Raptors and Kawhi?

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1:00Coke all for just $9. Limited time only, promotion pricing may be lower than meal pricing. Bada Bada Bada Bada Coming up on Lockdown NBA Daily, the NBA laid the hammer on the clippers after concluding its Co.I. investigation. Did Adam Silver get it right or did he go too far? Plus, what happens next for the clippers and Co.I. Leonard? Lockdown NBA Daily starts now. You are Lockdown NBA. Your Daily NBA Podcast. Part of the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every day. All right, welcome back to Lockdown NBA Daily. I'm Wes Goldberg, that's Matt Moore and Hayes. Have a great show for you today because we finally have the punishments on the clippers, why Leonard sort of, and everything that's gone on with this investigation into whether or not the clippers circumvented the cap to get co-why Leonard so many years ago, we have

2:02the punishments that include five future first-round draft picks, a fine of $30 million, and a year-long suspension of owner Steve Balmer. In a statement, the NBA said that a near-year-long investigation, quote, found a pattern of misconduct and multiple significant rules violations by the clippers organization, a prior offender of the salary cap circumvention rules. And quote, as a result, the clippers are going to four-fit first-round picks in 2029, 2030, 2031, 2032, and 2033, we mentioned the $30 million fine. Balmer will be suspended from the team for a year, as well as a couple of other front-office executives. As for Co.I. Leonard, we'll not be suspended, but we'll be fined a $700,000 fine. Guys, we've been waiting a year for the league to come down on this with a punishment. It seems like most people view this as a severe penalty for the clippers. We're going to talk about what comes next for the clippers and the Raptors and Co.I. Leonard here in a second. But let's start with the big question, Hayes. Did the league get it right? Yeah, we talked about the importance.

3:03You cannot allow salary cap circumventure. You can't even allow the thought of it to make it seem like you can get away from it and walk away clean. So it's a severe, definitely severe. The five first-round picks for a team that's headed into rebuild is detrimental like hell. They're going to get a couple first-round picks back once the choir. Leonard Trey goes through, but I think that they got it right in this one. Maybe you could say Co.I. should have faced some type of suspension. He probably walks away the cleanest from this, but I think that it's warranted across the board. We have 10 minutes in this segment. And so I will say, yes, they got it right. The actual answer is way more complicated because you have to spread this out into the question of, do you care more about rules violation? Do you care more about the stupidity involved in being this brazen to get this caught? Do you care more about the ramifications and harm that were caused by the actions? Okay?

4:04This is not legal proceeding, right? This is a lead matter. And what we wind up here is this idea of like, this is sports and sports are fair. And I find that to be an incredibly naive position. I just find that to be an incredibly naive position. No one else is doing this. I find that to be a hilariously naive position. And I can't sit here and be like, here's all the evidence that I have. I've just, I've been around the league for 20 years. I've been alive on this earth for 44. I don't know how you look at the state of this world. I don't know how you look at the state of business and really believe, really believe that this is an isolated incident. They really believe that they are the only ones that would do this. Robertson, Uncle Dennis is the only one brazen enough to do it in the sloppy and ham-handed way that he did, which forced the clippers into this position. This is the result of the player empowerment era because the clippers were literally like we have to keep Kauai Leonard happy. The biggest mistake the clippers made in all of this, all of this was believing in Kauai Leonard and being willing to put up with Uncle Dennis as a result.

5:06That was the biggest thing that they did wrong here in my mind. If you ask me, does the punishment fit the crime? Yes from the standpoint of violating the CBA, getting caught violating the CBA is like the biggest sin that you can do. It takes away the fairness, quote, unquote, of this sport. So I'm fine with the punishment. I don't have any objections to that. This is pretty evident from the first public or a report. I find the entire conversation about this to be pretty hilarious. I guess the, I would argue that maybe the real sin is a breach of trust with NBA fans. And, you know, Matt, I agree with you. This is happening in more places than we know. The problem is that we don't see it. And for a casual fan that sees something like this, a star player getting paid even more money under the table, that does eat at the trust of a fan base that, you know, the NBA is rigged or these guys are making more money anyway or whatever it is.

6:06That was the ultimate thing that I think Adam Silver and the league needed to try to find a counter against and making this as big a punishment enough to be at least convincing to a fan to say, see how much we punished them. No team will ever do this again. Although we all hear kind of know how things really work, but that's not really the point I don't think. So like I really want to, if we got a few minutes, I want to dive into this because the harm is the part that I keep coming back to. The harm shouldn't impact the punishment. This is like a simple legal proceeding. You did X therefore you suffer Y and like no one's debating that. But I do want to ask you, Hayes, from West standpoint, because if you asked me like, what was the harm? Here was the harm. Uh, the broke ass owners that didn't want to pay the luxury tax didn't get as much revenue sharing that they would have paid otherwise on the money that cool. Like that money should have been taxed on Kauai so that they could have gotten more revenue sharing that they would not have put back into their teams or, you know, helped the fans in any way. They just would have increased their coffers.

7:08But like I want to ask you, Hayes, like that's my opinion. What do you think is the harm that was caused by this towards competitive balance and fans? Like how did the fans suffer from what the Clippers did? Well, I mean, now the Clippers fans are going to suffer because the teams are getting penalized by first round picks and that's true. Like so it's that part of it. But I do think like, like we can talk about the competitive advantage and all that type of stuff. But the simple fact is that the team broke the rules like fans. I don't know. Fans are really the ones that suffered from that the most as much as like you said, the owners, the rules were broken. That's the way that I look at it. The rules were broken. They got caught. Now to say that it doesn't happen. We all know there are other owners that do break rules, but they were stupid enough to get caught. Yeah. So like I'm way more the problem with this is like there's very like open and shut elements of this. And my brain immediately kind of skips over those where I was like, yeah, they broke the rules and this is what happens. I do think it's really interesting the reaction and the attitudes about this because it does get into the questions of like, what do you really care about?

8:09And if you ask me an owner that privately funded an arena and like, I've been looking into this stuff. Everyone else takes tax breaks. Balmer paid for everything within to it. They got almost no tax breaks or public funding, almost zero. Does that does all of the stuff for the fans, right? What pays more money to try and keep Koli Leonard happy because he thinks he can win a championship with him. Now that was dumb, but it was at least honorable. And in doing so, this is kind of what happens. And so like, Wes, I want to bring it back to you because you were the one that kind of brought this is like, how do you feel like the fans of either the NBA, like actually a pretty good argument here is that the biggest harm was given to Clippers fans that by engaging this, this behavior, they put Clippers fans at risk of having to suffer the next 10 years of this franchise with what they're facing. Like that might be like the best argument I can find. But can you give me an argument for how the fans of other franchises suffer because of

9:12Balmer's actions? Suffer is I think the wrong word, right? Because I don't really think the NBA cares whether or not fans are suffering. Nope. I think the NBA cares whether or not the fans are engaged with the sport and paying money to engage with the sport. And I do the NBA has to worry about does everybody think this is happening all the time, which most people do, but they can't do it so brazenly. Yeah. To say like, oh, is any of this real? Is LeBron James getting paid under the table? Is Steph Curry getting paid under the table? Is all of this just fake? They have to make this look like such a novel thing. And by the way, this in particular instance and how dumb the clippers were about it was novel clearly, but they have to make it look like such a rare thing that it deserves such heavy punishment. And that's what I don't care about the owners to your point. I don't care about the players. They're also rich in millionaire. I really don't care about the players. I don't care about the owners. I care about the fans. That's who I care about. And I think a casual fan can look at this and just be like the integrity of the league

10:15and all that stuff. And frankly, I don't know that this really fixes it, but I don't know that there was another thing that you couldn't not do this to. And I said this at the very beginning, if you find if you conclude that the clippers circumvented the salary cap, which by the way, they actually never said that they did, but they just heavily implied it in these in this 35 page report. But if you concluded that they've circumvented the cap, there is no punishment too hard. I firmly believe that. There was no and you could you just you what you couldn't do is a slap on the wrist because that would have been weak sauce. But there was no punishment too hard to me. Okay. Well, I want to go. I want to test that. I want to force bomber to sell with that have been appropriate. Yes. Okay. If they have forced bomber to sell and ban Lawrence Frank for life, that have been appropriate. If they had suspended and ban co-I Leonard for life. Yep. Okay. At least you're consistent on this that there actually is no boundaries. I won't go as far there with you. I'm not going to object to this punishment because I'm just like again, I'm very much like you play stupid games, you win stupid prizes.

11:16That's it. I don't really have anything more here is like I'm not going to be like, oh man, the clippers should not be punished that much when it's like, you know, again, I just want us to be very honest about what we're talking about here, which is we're talking about perception and we're talking about getting caught. Like that's what everyone can get his dad at. He was like, oh, but they were just so brazen and dumb about it. I was like, so you don't actually care what they did. You just don't you just want them to be polite about it, which I find fascinating. Am I right on that, Hayes? I want to make sure I'm right on this. Last word on this, Hayes, go ahead. Yeah. I mean, I think you make solid points there. I don't know if I fully agree, but you make you're making good points. Let's talk about the clippers part of this because some people are calling this the death penalty to the LA clippers, but is there still a way that they can rebuild post-coiliner no, blowing the hospital up behind them and walking away like the Joker? We're going to talk about that next. Today's episode of Locked on NBA Daily is brought to you by Fandall.

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13:22Extra value meals are back. Get a big something extra. With a Big Mac or 10 piece McNuggets, fries and a medium coke all for just $9. Limited time only, promotion pricing may be lower than meal pricing. Ba da ba ba ba. Welcome back to Lockdown NBA Daily. The best way to support the show, subscribe on YouTube. We are Monday to Friday at 1pm Eastern. Wherever you get your podcasts. I want to talk about the Clippers part of this. A lot of people are calling this basically a death penalty for the Clippers. Let's get to what happens next. Here's more from Lockdown Clippers. Kawai Leonard is legacy in time with the Clippers. Has now been cemented as the worst it has ever happened to us. You might be wondering, Dime, please say it ain't so. Please say there's some way we can get out of this that we didn't do it. We're going to challenge it. The Clippers have already come out and said and written a letter to Adam Silver that they're going to take every single legal action possible. They might try to sue the lead, but listen, Clipper Nation.

14:24I'm just being honest here. Very disturbing to hear the kind of stuff that Balmer, Gillian Zucker and Lawrence Frank were doing and how they came to the conclusions that we were guilty. There's just so much evidence there. It's really unfortunate because it looked like we were just about to enter a new era with optimism, replenishing draft capital with these trades, one for Yvita Zubots and the other for Kawai. Now we're losing five first round picks. The Dimes point there. They were just coming out of, they had just gotten done paying off the credit card for a Kawai Leonard. Five more first round picks. The stench of all of this. Multiple people who are playing important roles in your front office suspended for a long time. Do you believe that this is a death penalty for the Clippers? Muted. It wasn't me. It was me this time.

15:24He heard me now. All right, my bad. I don't even remember muting. But no, I mean, in the short term, yeah, it's a short term death penalty because like the way that they're going to have to rebuild now is going to be detrimental, but they're going to get some first round picks back in the Kuala Leonard trade. Players like Brandon Ninger, Darious Garland, even Rihatch Moore and others that you can try to move if you want to try to replenish some picks as well by the trade deadline. So there's still a way out of it if they're smart, but this is about as close to death penalty as you can get for an NBA team, I would say. Yeah, they're screwed. Yeah. Like, because like here's the problem is that the picks now are like the only way for you to be able to facilitate any meaningful move. You can make moves on the margins. It's possible. I got on my rule now. Like what you have to kind of target now is you're going to have to kind of look at teams at young players on rookie scale or first contracts that their teams don't understand

16:25how good they are. Like they need Tyree's Hall of Burton wheels, which I've talked consistently about as like the big inequity in this league is that you have to find those guys because they can't use first round picks now to liquidate any sort of deal. They can't go out there. I'm trying to think of like a good situation here. I'm like, who's like a good, who's like a soup and let's let's let's do and okay. Sorry, Minnesota fans. I hope he stays there forever. But let's say it's like I want to like I want out. I want to go play for a contender and what that actually means is I want to go play for a big coastal team where I can, you know, have a pool and live by the ocean. And like the clippers are on the list, they can't offer Minnesota anything close to compensation now. They don't have access to anything to open up those deals. So the clippers are going to have to build this entirely organically without picks, which means like signing free agents and hoping they develop. They'll probably have years where they're competitive, but this, it's not just that

17:27it eliminates the pipeline of talent. It eliminates the ability to liquidate any lubricate any sort of significant deal. They can't do anything of consequence because every team is going to be like, you don't have any picks. They're screwed. The only other options that they have to is that if they can clear their books, they can just make huge offers and restricted free agents for the next handful of years. Yeah, that's me. That's why I can't quite get to death penalty. This is bad. It's bad. It's not quite like ending the SMU football team, right? First of all, it's only five years only, but you still have the other avenues. You can still technically trade for players. You can still technically sign free agents. And by the way, you're in Los Angeles, right? The last time the league found a punisher team like this and took away the draft picks was when they did it with Minnesota 25 years ago, whatever that was. They took five first round picks away from Minnesota for the Joe Smith thing. By the way, they ended up giving them two picks back, I guess, for good behavior.

18:28If that's, if I'm the clippers right now, that's what I'm trying to do. Can we get a couple of these back in a couple of years for good behavior? But you know, you still have a pick in 2027? I think you owe your pick or I think it's like some sort of weird swap situation in 2028. And then the restriction or now, and then you start losing picks in 2029 through 2033. So, and then you get a couple of those Toronto picks back. So you're going to have draft picks. So it's not like you don't have any. You just can't trade them anymore to both of you guys' point because of the Steppian rules. And you're still in Los Angeles. Like I said before, I was late and do before. Like there's one thing when it was Minnesota and they got rid of the draft picks and like nobody actually ever wants to sign in Minnesota. Players are going to still want to sign in Los Angeles if they want to live in Los Angeles. Now, it's not going to be the best players. You're not going to build a title team, but you also don't necessarily need to be horrible. You could probably put a decent team out there right now, I think, in the short term. Wes, I would counter this with this requires for something good to ever happen to the clippers.

19:28Great point. And just like, look at this man. They suffered through 20 years of server. Sterling. Sterling. Sterling, I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I get them confused. 40 years of Sterling. Who, by the way, fun, fun note. So look up who got Sterling into the league. That was Dr. Jerry Bus. Good for you. They suffered through all of this. They, he finally gets out. They get the dream owner and they saddle up with Kauai Leonard who does all of this to them and then escapes into Toronto where he'll probably contend for a title next season. It's, I mean, it is really incredible. Like the clippers fans are joe of the NBA. Like they just suffer and that's all they ever get is suffering. Hayes, is there another franchise that suffers more than clippers fans in the NBA? Tough one. No, I don't think so. No. No, I don't even think it's close. And like, this is why I don't really enjoy the way that people are like clowning.

20:30It's just like guys, you're like, I haven't taken a shot at the clippers this whole show. This has been a perfect example for me to, for the opportunity for me. Yeah, that's a really good point. If anybody was going to mock that it was going to be Hayes, David Hayes is like, oh, you can pour like that's that's rough. And like that's how it is. This is what I think sucks about it is like, I'll just say, look at their former co-tenants and some of the stuff that's going on with that team. There's some of the various things they've gone on. And it's just amazing that the clippers wind up being the one to suffer. And again, a lot of this gets into, do you believe that this thing is commonplace or not? And I've talked to people that are like, like firmly, no, it is not. People act, they do not allow this in the league. And for me, I'm just like, I have been to an NBA arena and see who sits court side before the game and talks. Sorry, I don't believe it. That's just me. Hayes, what can, let's, one calendar year.

21:33If you were to put a one year plan together for the clippers to try to build a basketball team and kind of try to come out of this, what would be on that list of things that they should be doing? Take bets on young players who have kind of fallen out with their teams. That's really the only path here. You do have picks for the next couple of years, but you better hope that Keaton Wagler is a star to like you better. A lot of pressure on you better hope that he turns into an absolute star. Because if he does not, it's going to be a very dark decade for clippers for him. I mean, they'll probably find someone, right? Like teams do this all the time where it's like a second rounder or, you know, an undrafted guy or just like a free agent that they sign turns into like, we see this all the time that guys do this. And like, the heater actually really great at like making them look like that and then they go to other teams and they're terrible. It's just like, I don't know who you're banking on here, you know, and it just, that guy's

22:38probably not on the roster unless it's Wagler. It can only be Wagler. Yeah, I mean, he's on the upside, right? So maybe you start exploring, okay, can we flip a Derek Jones Jr. A Lopez, a Max Truce or something for some second? You got to flip everybody and try to get the picks as you, there's many picks as you can. And I think create some salary cap space and just try to be a player and free agency next year for people who are going to play. Somebody suggested this to me last night. I'll give him Adam Mara's over at DMBR has said this that he thinks the clubers are going to be the worst team in the league next season. And the reason he said that is he's basically like, they don't have their picks, so they have no reason to avoid the relegation zone. And it's just got to be entirely about development and trying to put together some sort of like future opportunity, which I think is kind of interesting. But I'm also kind of like looking at this. I'm like, I don't know, man, they get a lot of really good players like Garland's good and Hachemor is good and Derek Jones Jr. and Chris Don and Brandon Ingram and Brooke Lopez, well, Brandon Ingram, if you talk yourself into that and those kind of things.

23:40So it's like, I don't know how bad they're going to be next season. It depends on if they sort of blow it up between now and the trade deadline, right? You start flipping on these guys for whatever you can get. Let's talk about the Raptors and Kauai Leonard. What comes next for them in particular? Plus, Amin Thompson signed a huge extension. We do have to talk about that as we get to a bit of news. All of that coming up next here on Locked On NBA Daily. Labor Day savings are happening now at the Home Depot with select appliances starting at $399. Plus, save up to an extra $1,000 and get free delivery on appliance purchases of $998 or more. Upgrade your kitchen with a Samsung refrigerator featuring zero clearance. Designed for all spaces with special hinges and slim doors for a seamless look. Right now at great prices at the Home Depot you can save on top brand appliances built to elevate your kitchen. Shop Labor Day savings at the Home Depot today. Off of valid august 27th through September 16th, US only sees store online for details. The King is the Lord. From focus features and be a claim director of Jason Bourne. The King says work harder, you work harder.

24:43Starring Andrew Garfield. Do it, sir! We're giving you an hit off! In a land of kings, one man will defy an empire. There will be no peace until we are free. Ignite a revolution. 10,000 rebels converge on London. Based on the true story behind the legend of Robin Hood. We rule ourselves, man. The uprising. Ridaar. Under 17 enemy without parat. Only impetus this Thursday. Discovered at Dolby Cinema. All right, guys. I do want to get to a couple of other things here. But we talked about Balmer, the Clippers, the Punishment from the NBA, all of this stuff. But what happens next for the rappers in Kauai Leonard? It sounds like this trade is going to go through Kauai and his non-apology statement said basically, I'm looking forward to playing for Toronto next year. Let me just ask you, hey, if you're the Raptors right now, do you feel as good about the trade now as you did when you initially made it kind of seeing everything that's happened so far? Yeah, I mean, they knew there was the aspiration deals out there and stuff like that before

25:43they made the trade. So like, you're still getting the talent back. The talent in Kauai Leonard, whatever, if you were positive about that, you're still positive about it. You, there's no harm. No found. There's nothing that's coming negative against your franchise forward. So yeah, you still feel great about it. You're getting the player that you have fond memories of. There's nostalgia play, but also we can still help this team make the next step. You don't have to worry about Uncle Dennis. This is amazing. You get Kauai Leonard without having to put up with the most annoying part of Kauai Leonard. That's a good point too. Well, he's at the end of his career. So he's less likely to be, I think he's so far away from San Diego. He can't just helicopter down. He's not going to have days where he's like, I don't know. I just want to hang out with the family today, which like I think that happened a lot with the clippers. Like there was, there was lots of reports that the clippers did not know Kauai was showing up for practice or not. Like they would know if he showed up. And I just think that's going to be different because he's going to have anything else to do. And I think that Kauai, I do kind of wonder if this is going to be a moment for Kauai at a different age in his career, a different time in his life for him to really kind of reevaluate and be like, I don't want to be remembered as that.

26:43That's not what I don't want to be remembered as the injury riddle guy who destroyed the clippers franchise. I want to be remembered as the guy that won the titles with Toronto. And so he helps them contend again. That's how he will be remembered. Like he'll still be like, he's a first ballot hall of fame or no question. So it's like he gets to kind of rehab is he gets to not $700,000 is a lot of money. My life would be over if I owed $700,000, $700,000, right? That's not that's nothing for him. And he suffers no real consequences. So he walks like West set. He walks away from the explosion like Joker and gets to walk into Toronto and be a hero. It's such a great ending for Kauai Leonard. What a feel good experience. For now, we'll see what happens when he spends a little bit more time with those Toronto fans because most fans tend to not like Kauai Leonard as much when he leaves when he first gets there other than Toronto fans. But yeah, I mean, the obvious thing is great, great deal for the Raptors, right?

27:45Kauai Leonard doesn't have to be suspended. It's very little, you know, he's paying $700,000 back, which is essentially for tickets and some jet plane rides and things like that. So yeah, I think that's what happens with the Raptors is they continue on with their business and try to contend in the Eastern Conference. Let's see how much time we have left here. All right, let's do the, let's just do the amount. I'm in Thompson extension because I do think we answered most of the Kauai Leonard Clipper stuff now. It's a, I'm in Thompson extension just before we started recording. The news came down five years, $208 million, rookie scale extension haze, your thoughts on the deal. Oh, great deal for him in Thompson. I mean, he gets paid. It does put more pressure on him to make, make another step. But I think last year, you average what over 18 points for game, you still there probably one of their best two way players, the best two way player on that team. And he's not done developing yet. So they're only paying him for what his value is now to the team, but also what he still can become great deal for him in Thompson. Matt, I totally agree with his.

28:45I just think I think it's going to be amazing. There's a lot of stuff that indicates his playmaking is the biggest thing he's going to be capable of. Like, this is why I think people get lost on when they're criticizing the the overall game is like, he makes plays on defense and he makes plays on offense. He gets into the paint and he's able to pass finish and draw fouls and though he's only going to get better in those capacities. But for the sake of our conversation, haze, I will ask you, he shot 22% from three last season. What does he have to get to at some point over the course of this contract in order to not have it be a disappointing deal? I mean, I don't, at this point, I think you're looking at a minute, how he impacts the game without necessarily being a three point shooter. I don't think he ever has to be like a 36% three point shooter. He can get to, if he can get to 33% 34% on, on even decent value, it makes it more than enough. I think for a man, it's more about the playmaking. It's more about the defense. It's more about how he plays in transition, how he changes the pace of the game than I'm really worried at this point about him becoming a three point shooter. Yeah, I totally get that perspective. But even then you kind of admit that he's still going to get to 3334%, which is a 6%

29:49jump over his career high, which was last the 2020 for 25 when he shot 28%. And that kind of tells you about where guards are at. You don't have to be a great three point shooter. You can't be a zero. This is like a big deal. It's like, for a men Thompson, not to be Dyson Daniels, he's got to get that number up to 34% because there's just going to be a floor here. I don't want there to be. I wish that wasn't true, but I do think it's true in the NBA that if you just, if you are zero on shooting, they're just going to leave you open in these playoff series and you're going to get skimmed into oblivion, you're too good to take off the floor and you're not good enough at this particular skill to keep on the court. It creates an untenable playoff position if you can. See, and I think that a man can overcome that with his defense and his room pressure. I'm not denying that, but I think that he may be able to, because even if I'll say this, even if a man never becomes a great three point shooter, you still can't completely sag off on him at the three point line because he does have such a quick first step in athleticism. You still have to guard him for the drive. You have to.

30:50Yeah. Getting that head of steam up. Yeah. I'm being able to load up and then get into the pan because he is like, I mean, his athleticism is absolutely unreal. Like he is the reason that gap between him and his brother is why he's always been considered the better prospect than the SAR. Like, I think at this point, like a lot of people would actually like, I would say a SAR is probably technically like from a, I mean, that very literally technically in terms of technique better than a man on the perimeter, but a man's athleticism is so transcendent that I think it raises the level. His shooting numbers are slightly better than a SAR Thompson's shooting numbers as well. There's like a better free throw shooting numbers with a man that indicate that he might have a higher ceiling. A SAR Thompson just feels like broken as a shooter. I think there's like no hope for him as an outside shooter. With a man, there's some signs that it's a little bit better. His Houston does a great job of putting them in the dunker spot. I mean, his room finishing numbers are like, I mean, like they're seven footer levels of finish. He's 76% in the restricted area last year. I mean, he's crazy. Does have an interesting little float game a little bit beyond that, but the three point

31:54shot needs to come around at some point for him. I also just wonder, okay, so this is from Keith Smith, who does a great job breaking down the salary cap stuff. It's average annual value of about $44 million. That comes out to less than 25% of the cat max. So Houston has done a nice job of getting their young players to sign at something slightly less than the absolute max that they can sign off these rookie contracts. So Raphael Stone kind of continues that trend here going forward. But I do think from N Thompson to really blossom in Houston. I almost wonder if he needs to almost develop this like Dreymon green type two man game, where Steph is handling all of this. And then Dreymon was handing all the other stuff. But I just don't know who that other guy is in Houston. So I almost wonder if this is more of a rocket's problem than an Omen Thompson problem. I do think that because of his talent, he can reach this level. But if they're going to maximize on men Thompson, I kind of other questions with the roster. But that's maybe a question for a couple years from now. Well, I got a good comp though. What have reached Shepherd is Nash and the men Thompson is Matrix.

32:58I don't think he's ever like reach up is not showing himself to be the pastor. The Nash was. Yeah, but this is like I'm talking about from an evolutionary perspective in the NBA where it's less about passing and creating for others and more about shoe be hoops. Like just pull up and show each. Or does do the things that Omen Thompson doesn't and Omen does the things that reach Shepherd doesn't. But in order for that to happen, they have to actually play reach. Right. But I do kind of wonder like if read Shepherd is your lone defensive weak point. Yeah, I think you're in a pretty good spot. People are going to go like no, no, no, no, no, no, you can defend with Alperin, Shen, you just going to put him in certain situations. You can't drop with them. That's the key. You can't play drop with Alperin, Shen, and that the problem is that with read shepherd, they have to play drop. So read's going to get better at being able to hold up defensively. If read can get better at holding up defensively, which is a big is I think they might be okay. That's going to do it for us today. If you like what you heard today, you can subscribe to lock down NBA daily wherever you get your podcasts. Also follow us on YouTube. Thank you, Matt Hays for their expertise every day. Thank you for making the Lockdown podcast network your first listen.

34:01We'll see you back here tomorrow for more locked on NBA daily. CBS Sunday, September 13th, the new season of 60 minutes begins. Okay, let's go. Every second a story unfolds. This is one of the great mysteries of human nature. Every minute a new question. We were buying access to the president every week a deeper understanding. When we take the field, the expectations are to win. It's time. We're preparing to go out on this grade for the new season. It was gunfight. All the way out 60 minutes CBS Sunday, September 13th and streaming on Paramount Plus. So if you've ever furnished a restaurant, hotel or an office, you know the drill. Five vendors, five invoices, five delivery windows. But there's a better way to do this. Creighton Barrel contract is a business to business program that covers three brands. Creighton Barrel, CB2 and Creighton kids with one account, one order, one delivery. They've got durable plates and glasses.

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