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Chapter 1: What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
Spiving Ruins Emergency Edition. You know how we do. We're supposed to record tomorrow. Now we're recording today because Minnesota Timberwolves decided to trade for LaMelo Ball. Yeah, you heard that right. Yes, I did. That was for effect. The Minnesota Timberwolves traded for LaMelo Ball. Why did they do that? We're going to get into the why and all of those things with myself and Howard Beck.
Chapter 2: Why was LaMelo Ball traded to Minnesota?
And then we're going to talk about just the hubris of NBA pre-agency, the Austin Reeves deal. Where's Jalen Brown going to go? All the other things that have permeated throughout the league over the last week since we last recorded. Yeah, really, really fun episode. We're trying to figure this out. I'm still just perplexed at Minnesota.
They're just decision-making skills over the last five years. Where's Ant going to go? It's going to happen. I feel for all my partners on the shores of Lake Minnetonka. All right. Enough of the intro. Cliff, Victoria, play the theme music. What's poppin'? Real ones. Logan Murdoch here. Howdy motherfuckin' back there.
We planned to pot on Friday morning, but the Minnesota Timberwolves had other plans for us. The Minnesota Timberwolves just traded for LaMelo Ball, and I will get to the trade package, but I can only describe it as something you do when you are drunk at 2 in the morning playing 2K and just say, fuck it. With that being said, these are the terms of the deal.
The Hornets will send LaMelo Ball and Josh Green to Minnesota in exchange for Nas Reed, an unprotected first-round pick in 2033, three first-round pick swaps in 2028, 2029, and 2030, and three second-round picks in 2029, 2032, and 2033. Um, now this has also been like a fire set, a part of a fire sale and reinvention that the Timberwolves have been doing.
They just basically dumped, um, Julius Randall to Brooklyn for some scraps. And now they are reshaping their roster around Anthony Edwards and all world talent and Lamella ball and all world rollercoaster. Um, throughout his career. I know how I feel about the deal, Howard. The deal looks crazy on its face, and I think it's going to look even crazier when the season starts.
There's so many ways we can go here, but first off, let's just think, what is your first thoughts on the deal? Is it about what I think, or are you a little bit more optimistic for it?
My first thought is that this is the worst possible day for us not to have the president of the LaMelo Ball fan club, Raja Bell, on this show.
Where are you, Raja? We need you right now. He's on the road to Atlanta right now. He's on the road to Atlanta.
There will be no one here to defend LaMelo's honor if it's necessary. It may not be necessary. We'll see where this goes. I have no idea where this is going because we're just doing this on the fly. I've had very little time to process this in my own head. I mean, my first reaction was simply, obviously, holy shit.
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Chapter 3: What were the terms of the LaMelo Ball trade deal?
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I'll tell you what, just from an observer standpoint from 3,000 miles away, I can tell you why Charlotte did the deal. Charlotte saw what happened in Orlando to end the season and saw that there was a ceiling on that team. And then all of a sudden, they get a call from Minnesota saying, hey, we're going to give you all these picks for LaMelo, who kind of...
There's been a hot and cold relationship with LaMelo, to even say it lightly, even this season, as they have been successful. And even this success that he had in the play-in game against Miami, we talked about that right after, right? The highs and lows of that, and they're...
I honestly don't think that that is sustainable for a team that is trying to ascend in the way that the Hornets are trying to ascend. And, you know, there were rumblings in the beginning of the season about what Melo may be wanting out. And, you know, just the back and forth and the clashing between those two entities and a new coaching staff that wants to make its imprint.
I could definitely see the team just being like, let's just get this problem off of our hands. And not to mention, like, LaMelo has a crazy contract. You're locked in with three more years with him if you're Minnesota, right? If something goes bad, this could go really, really bad. And we'll talk about the ramifications of that in a second. But from strictly a Charlotte standpoint, Howard...
I see why they would do this. They're not all in on him. And they have proven that they are not in on LaMelo Ball. And you give me a boatload of picks to get him. And you get to give me off of that contract for a guy that probably fits better in our roster.
And we could help build the team or even could continue to build the team around Conker Nipple and Brandon Miller and guys that we actually think are going to be long-term guys. Hell yeah, I'll do it. Like I see, you can make a case if you're Charlotte, like this is the deal that we should do at this particular time.
Well, and they also acquired Kobe White earlier this year, and they're now going to be locking him up. So you could see they set themselves up for this. They brought in a guy who initially was there to supplement the backcourt and their depth, and now they can just plug him in as the new starter in LaMelo's place. Now, Kobe White is not LaMelo Ball for good and bad, I suppose.
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Chapter 4: What does this trade mean for the Minnesota Timberwolves?
We've got a newish, again, newish coach, newish front office, newish ownership group. And they have now decided we have the core of a great identity going forward with Brandon Miller and Conknipple. We don't need to ride the LaMelo Ball roller coaster, as you put it earlier, anymore. And Minnesota... Look, back-to-back conference finals, and then they backslide just a little bit this season.
They traded Kapp because of second apron concerns. They would have kept him in perpetuity, I think, but that was a deal they had to make and to try to give themselves some depth as well, getting Randle and DiVincenzo. Now no Randle. Now no Nas Reid. They're basically just deciding, this is it now. Rudy Gobert is our defense. Wait, hold on, hold on, hold on.
Can we, can we just like bask in what this, what you just said? The, this is it move is trading all of our picks for lamello ball.
Let me back.
All right. Let me hold on on the picks thing.
Let me, let me just hold up on the picks thing for a second here, because the full package of picks is, It's one unprotected pick in 2033, which is a lot of years in the future. The three first round swaps in 28, 29, and 30, swaps only matter...
If you're worse than the team you traded the swap to, are the Minnesota Timberwolves going to be worse and therefore higher in the draft order than the Charlotte Hornets? There's a chance.
There's a chance right now with the current makeup.
There's always a chance, Logan, for sure. But I think Minnesota is betting on Ant Edwards and Lomelo Ball and whoever's around them, Gobert for now, he's getting up there in years. being better for the next few seasons, right? 2030 is four years out. So we have the 26, 27 season to burn first, but three more seasons after that, are you better than the Charlotte Hornets during that span of time?
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Chapter 5: How does LaMelo Ball's addition impact the Timberwolves' roster?
Wait, Dylan Harper, with everything we saw over the summer, he's looking at Phil like, oh, wait, I get LaBella Ball on a switch? And I get to go to the cup on him? Oh, cool. Awesome. Second point is you're right. LaMelo Ball has all of the talents. He can pass the ball. He can score. But you know what he's yet to prove? That he can do that on a high level in the postseason.
He's never done it before. So and that's what they need right now. Right. There's other people that could have that they could have. Jalen Brown is sitting right there.
Well, to that point, John Krasinski has reported, the great John Krasinski from the athletic longtime beat writer covering the Timberwolves. God. He noted they poked around on Jalen Brown, but the asking price was going to be a lot higher. And again, the price for LaMelo Ball just now really wasn't that high.
The potential price, to your point about the swaps, is there in the catastrophic scenario. But they didn't really have to send out much. Nas Reid, you sent out one rotation guy, one unprotected first round pick, and then a bunch of swaps and second rounders. It's not that big of an investment. I admire Tim Connolly's ambition here. The guy is not afraid to swing for the fences.
He got crushed over the Rudy Gobert deal. And all these years later, I think it looks pretty damn good. They did go to back-to-back conference finals. This has been their most successful three, four-year run in franchise history. You can't argue with that part of it.
If I were a Timberwolves fan, I think this would be one of those trust the Connelly process kind of things where it's like, all right, I'm skeptical. I'm worried. I don't like losing Nas Reed, but this team has made some pretty good bets.
Yeah, I don't know about that one, Champ. I'm in some group chats with a lot of Timberwolves fans. They are not taking that route. I'll tell you that right now. But let's stick on the ownership for a second. We talk about new ownerships in both places, right? And I think you're starting to see a smart way to go about it with new ownership in Charlotte, right?
Just be patient, get assets from other people. And then you see the Timberwolves who historically like... In a perfect world, especially if you see the new apron coming, especially when they traded for Rudy Gobert, because that was right after the Warriors title, where there was such a backlash on teams that went over the salary cap and didn't go through the draft.
And then that summer, you trade all of your draft picks for Rudy Gobert. In a perfect world, if you have an Anthony Edwards draft, or that type of top pick, you want to build gradually. You want to build through other means, through the draft, keep it cheap, and then have to pay on the back end, just like Oklahoma City did, just like how San Antonio is doing right now.
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Chapter 6: What are the implications of Austin Reaves' max contract extension?
And he's still capable of making you, you know, whether it's elite, just slightly sub elite. He is that anchor. And Anthony Edwards is your offensive anchor. but Anthony Edwards can't do it alone. And finding other shot creators or guys who can create and score at a super high level is not that easy either, Logan.
And they weren't going to do it through the draft once you start winning 49 games a season. And besides that, the draft picks were all out the window. So where else were you going to go? Where else were you going to get it? And the system is so tight now that every move you make, it used to be like you maybe could add somebody without giving up a ton.
Once you've hit a certain level in this league now, you can't get without giving. And it gets harder and harder. And so then you have deals like this one where effectively the bulk of the outgoing assets are swaps because they don't even have picks to trade. I think in Minnesota, you've got an ownership group that really wants to put its stamp on things. They're new.
There's a swagger there because A-Rod is A-Rod, right? How many people even know that Mark Laurie is the other owner? Because Alex Rodriguez just casts such a huge- That's by design, by the way.
That's by design.
Which is fine. But most fans can't name most NBA owners. But it's hard to miss that Alex Rodriguez is one of the owners of the Minnesota Timberwolves. Um, there's a swagger there. There's an Anthony Davis swagger that, or Anthony Davis, Anthony Edwards swagger that was already built into this team. Like you can't, you, first of all, you can't afford to sit still.
Um, and in the Hornets case, it's just different. The Hornets are on a different timeline. They're just now starting to figure out who they are. That group, I think has actually done a really smart, methodical job of, they didn't come in guns blazing. They came in and held onto LaMelo Ball for the first couple of years and assessed where he was at, what they were getting out of Brandon Miller.
Again, new front office, new coach. all within the last couple of years. And then they finally hit this summer where they realized, okay, we've had a little bit of a breakthrough here, but it was like a breakthrough that fizzled really quickly. Is this really our core going forward?
We know enough about LaMelo Ball now to decide, is this the guy that we want to keep building around or is there a better path? And that may have to do with both the cap and LaMelo Ball's makeup. And they clearly decided, and this is what would worry me if I were a Minnesota Timberwolves fan or the Timberwolves themselves,
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Chapter 7: Is the Lakers' decision to extend Austin Reaves justified?
And for them to give up on him this easily and timing is everything for them to give up on him right at the precipice as they're supposed to have success tells you a lot about how Charlotte thinks about him. And again, that's why I'm just so skeptical on the deal on Minnesota. It's like, yeah, you do have to pivot, but like you have to have a balance of being patient and getting the right guy.
Um, when, if you're Minnesota and I'm just not convinced this is the right guy, right? Like there's also a world where you can do nothing and go to the second round again with the team that you currently have. Right. Um, and have a full training camp with DeSumo, right? Maybe be better off that way, still have a balance of size and scoring.
DeSumo showed he could score in a postseason setting and continue to try to build off of that. I just don't think LaMelo is the guy to help you get over the hump in the Western Conference, considering what you had to give up, right? Like, Nasri's a really good basketball player, right? You still have to compete with... I don't think that we saw what happened.
The conference finals of the Western Conference showed us the high-level basketball it's going to take to get out of the West. I don't think that this move necessarily puts Minnesota in the conversation for to get into that level of basketball. I don't think that they're that good of a team anymore. I really don't. I think this was a level of subtraction.
I don't think that they're... I wouldn't do that for them. And I know it's one player. I will. And, you know, we have a running gag here that if I'm wrong, we apologize. And maybe I'll apologize later if I'm wrong. But right now, as I sit, I don't think they're a better basketball team with LaMelo Ball on it. I'm sorry. I simply don't think so.
Raj is not even on this call and he's already mad at you. I can feel it. He's going to be madder at you than me for once. Um, I mean, listen to the point, the Hornets in the lamello ball era, and he was, he's been hurt a lot and that's part of it too, but Hey, that's also a concern. Um, 44 wins last year. Cool. Great. Awesome. They finally hit mediocre. Before that, 19 wins, 21, 27, 43.
Like, this has not been a stellar team. And you can say some of that is LaMelo being hurt. You can say some of that is supporting cast. But a great player is supposed to elevate everybody.
I do think on that note, by the way, one thing that concerned me on the, again, back to the Timberwolves side of this, John Krasinski had a blind quote from a Wolves source on social media this morning saying, this is a Wolves source on the edition of LaMelo Ball, quote, he's going to make everybody better. That was the thing that was missing.
That could be read as an indictment of your current superstar, by the way, that Anthony Edwards was not making everybody better. Now, Anthony Edwards is more of a just pure scorer, not a playmaker. I think he is a solid playmaker, but if you're... If you say that that's the thing that was missing, there's a way to read that that's not flattering toward Anthony Edwards.
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Chapter 8: What is the current situation with Jaylen Brown's future?
In every metric, I think they've regressed. I'm sorry. I really do. They've regressed in terms of the size on their roster, the adults in their locker room, and from a defensive standpoint, I think they'd be really good in the Eastern Conference. I'm out on this trade. I'm sorry. We'll see what else happens. They do have two adult free agents.
If they re-sign Mike Conley and Kyle Anderson, does that satisfy your concern for adults?
It depends on if LaMelo respects him, which I don't know if he will. I don't know that answer. But... That was another thing that was a hindrance for him actually being a franchise player in Charlotte. He wasn't the adult in the room. No. And you're expecting him ā you're paying him like the adult in the room in Minnesota. And I just ā we've seen this already happen before.
Like the proof is in the pudding. I get the age and everything like that, but, you know. I'm low on this trade. I'm sorry. Every time I think about it, I just do not think this is a good trade whatsoever. I'm sorry.
Yeah. My last thought on it, and not to be too glib about this, but seriously, I hope this deal includes a stipulation that LaMelo has to get a driver in Minneapolis.
Real quick aside, that's a thing though, man. These dudes got so much money.
Speaking to the immaturity part of this, that's a serious thing.
I don't know why they don't get drivers. But the thing is, we're having all these question marks that we didn't have with previous rosters. That's why it takes ā you can't just see, oh, the numbers. Oh, he scores well. He's great. He's all these things. You have to go in totality when you bring a guy into your locker room. For sure.
And I don't ā I think that from what we've seen with the Timberwolves and Connelly and just an overall ā the overall direction of where they're going and the moves that they make, It's all off of emotion. It's all off of, oh, let's do this. Let's do this. Oh, this looks cool. Okay, let's get this done. There's not a plan. There's not a real plan. And so sorry, Minnesota Timberwolves fans.
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