Joel Embiid’s Return, Future For PG & Donovan Mitchell + T-Wolves Ownership 🏀 | The Hoop Collective

Joel Embiid’s Return, Future For PG & Donovan Mitchell + T-Wolves Ownership 🏀 | The Hoop Collective

Hello welcome to the hoop Collective podcast we talk about the NBA which we are doing on Thursday afternoon joining us from New York city where it’s opening day in baseball and another exciting season for the New York Mets Tim bontemps it’s the one hat I have in my

House somewhere in it and it’s 48 degrees and raining on what was supposed to be opening day so March 28th inly not baseball season in New York City McMahon Texas is only big enough for one of us I’m in Texas right now the University of Texas at Austin that means

You had to get out joining us from Oklahoma City getting out of my way Ben McMahon howy Partners just across the Red River here hey if we’re talking about baseball those shout out Texas Rangers defending World Series champions first time I’ve ever been able to say that

That’s true I would not have remembered who the Champions were you would have had to have reminded me so um uh and yes and also shout out to the uh University of Texas here and the uh momes business school who’s hosting me today and letting me you uh do my our podcast from

Here all right University of Texas will be getting a significant chunk of my money starting next fall congratulations to your daughter who’s G to be a longhorn that’s right it’s uh it’s a it’s a chamber of commerce Department of admissions day here in Austin today it’s about 78

Degrees there’s not a cloud in the sky and campus is very alive I’ll just leave it at that um that’s right hook them horns all right uh so we had some interesting news that you delivered um yesterday Bon Temps when you were at the 76ers Clippers game which was not sure

It was kind of a pillow fight but the Sixers uh or this Clippers really needed that win um and they got it and it was another messy referee situation but beyond that you have some we have some long awaited Joel embiid updates and um why don’t you tell us what that is and

What it all means hold on real quick you said pillow fight in the first image that popped my mind was feathers flying while Kelly UB just bashes all the referees over oh my God that was that was yes Kelly UB after the game whole bunch of bees fly

It was like um what was that movie Half Baked does anybody know what movie I’m talking about Jackson halfed I’m familiar with the exact scene here well you know these gentlemen decide to go into business um selling marijuana it’s a Dave Chappelle movie Jackson that’s unacceptable you haven’t seen it uh and

He quit this one guy quits his fast food job and he goes and he says bleep you bleep you bleep you you’re cool bleep you I’m out none of them were cool last night to UB Jackson making us fall feel old saying that he was one when this came

Out go change your diaper anyway uh Kelly UB unhappy with the officiating over the last minute of the game and as was Nick nurse Hey Kevin Kevin Scott and his twang did acknowledge that they blew the call it should have been a foul yeah you can update on us on that bontemps

Real quick but but UB was like you’re a be you’re a be you’re a bee your mama’s a bee your Grandmama’s a bee I tell you what you can’t bring the family members into it and and he can’t bring mothers or grandmother then then he came in then

He came into the locker room apologized for his conduct said he tries to be better than that and then said yeah but they were calling it different ways at each end so it was it was an adventure I will say this as a man who monitors the

Uh the size of referees around the league I ain’t calling Eric dalen to be you can argue with D could post your backside up Eric Dal played tight end at the University of Minnesota he ain’t nobody’s B well the funniest thing of all about everything that happened last

Night in or Wednesday night in this game was the alleged hostile return of James Harden by the second quarter was completely forgotten about and by the end of the game it was literally the last thing anybody was thinking about period just Harden afterwards pretending like he didn’t understand why he was getting

Boo it was it was a very James Harden it was a very James Harden he did play a good game and they needed it a good game he I would say he was fine well considering the way they’ been playing recently that was a good game sure it

Was good by their recent standards to barely beat this wheezing Sixers team which cannot score without chel and beid however there you gobiid is going to Cleveland he’s going to Toronto on this road trip this weekend uh Nick nurse continues to say there is no timeline

For when Joel embiid is going to play I believe that is because Joel embiid is going to walk in one day and do this and then he’s going to play and so no one really knows when that’s going to be um but it’s clearly going to be very soon

And he practiced today um nurse said last night there’s a very good likelihood that NB will be back for the end of the regular season I think he had a pretty good sense that it was better than a very good likelihood and assuming there’s no setbacks which obviously

Could always happen embiid who looks saw him for a minute in the locker room last night looks very good looks ready to go we’ll see when he decides to be ready to go certainly for the Sixers who have been playing better lately even though the winds haven’t come they’ve been guarding really well

They’ve just when they’ve struggled in games like they played competitively with the Lakers and lost and play competitively with the Clippers and lost they’ve just run out of gas offensively certainly adding 30 points a game could really change that pretty dramatically and Diesel baby and when you look at the

Bottom of the Eastern Conference right now Philly obviously really would have loved to have that win last night would have been in a tide in the Lost column with Indiana for sixth who they don’t have the tiebreaker with but they play Miami who they’re currently in a battle

For seventh with next Thursday in Miami we’ll see if emb’s playing by then um we’ll see later today what the injury report says about tomorrow um though I I doubt he plays in this game Friday but embiid’s on his way back and for all these teams at the bottom

Gives Philly a chance to maybe get to six get out of the playing if he’s able to play and be healthy and play real minutes and for the teams at the Top If you look at a first round Series against a healthy Joel embiid that’s a lot more difficult than

A typical 6 seven8 seed that you’re going to get well this is kind of on schedule right bontemps like when I mean obviously nobody wanted to get tied any any timetable but they pretty much thought that around the beginning of April if there was no setbacks and seven

Weeks this week from the procedure surgery whatever you want to say that he had on his knee and it’s about eight weeks since he got hurt so yeah I mean it’s right around roughly the timeline you would expect and now he’s got three weeks to get ready for the playing and

The playoffs and look we know that embiid is fragile we know that his knees are fragile his feet are fragile but there are plenty of examples both in the NBA and in other sports where a player gets part of his meniscus trimmed which is clearly what happened here I know

That they were afraid to say the word surgery there was about procedures and whatnot he had surgery very very likely had his meniscus minorly trimmed which is worrisome longterm but short-term enables a quicker recovery and I have not seen Mr embiid play recently but if I was a 76ers fan I

Would be optimistic that things are going well because he’s hitting it on schedule and I would believe that he could relatively pick up where he left off you know I there’s Rhythm issues there’s conditioning issues and whatever um the 76ers aren’t out of anything they’re going to have their hands full

If they play the Celtics but they would have had their hands full if they played the Celtics with embiid playing 75 games and um and I think embiid said when he talked to you to you and some other media a few weeks ago and I know this is

What a star player would say but he said I don’t care what our seed is just get me in and if he’s able to come back here as you’ve said and play some games and be a differen maker in some games he can help them get into that top six and

Avoid the playing I think that’s absolutely doable so I actually even if yeah even if he’s back by next Tuesday when they play at home against Oklahoma City they have one backto back left if he plays every game after that besides the back to back which you’d assume he’d

Probably miss one of those games that gives him six games to get ready for the playoffs and if they get out of the plane it gives them a full week of practice to ramp up if they don’t there’s another game or two before they play in the playoffs but that that’s a

Decent amount of time for him to get his legs under him not saying it’s ideal circumstances but it’s not like he walking back in the first game of the playoffs without playing you know sort of like the situation Carl towns is probably going to have to do where if

He’s able to come back it’s going to be sometime during the actual playoffs you’re talking about three weeks to get ready for the playoffs and again this is a guy and Joel embiid who when I sat down with him in December we’ve talked about it literally for years now he and

I the thing he has always wanted is to get to the playoffs healthy and feeling good ready to go and he is not had an opportunity to do that yet and obviously it would have been better if he was scoring 35 points a game the last couple months and healthy because it’s super

Fun to watch him play but if he is feeling good now and he gets through the next couple weeks without any setbacks and he gets to the start of the playoffs healthy then he’s got a chance to answer a lot of the questions that have lingered around him over his playoff

Performances in the past and like you said especially if they can avoid the e seed like they played Milwaukee in the first round they’re not going to be scared they play the Knicks they’re not going to be scared they play the Cavs or the the the magic they’re not going to

Be scared like they’re certainly going to think they can beat any of those teams and we’ll see if they can I listen obviously this is a hell of a lot better than him not being able to come back at all it’s it’s a long long way from the

Worst case scenario but saying that he can maybe pick up where he left off that is insanely optimistic I’m not saying he’s walk it game I think it’s reasonably optimistic holy crap dude pick up where he left off he left off scoring at a historic Pace literally only Wilt in him had scored

More points per minute he left off at an MVP level to come back from procedure oper whatever you want to call it and think you’re going to just slide right back into that man that’s putting a I don’t think he’s going to I think his minutes

Are going to be kept down I don’t expect him to have the same scoring numbers but I I’ve seen players recover from this surgery and he wouldn’t be doing this unless he felt good about it I look I I I I agree with that but typically

When guys come back not only is there a ramp up process but man how many times have you seen a guy coming off of the surgery even if it’s something like those was offseason they had to recover where you know the first month or so of

The season they get off to a slow start I just if this is still a really really tough situation for Joel embiid it’s a tough situation because the East is very it’s going to be a hard Road for them but if I was a sixer fan I’d be

Optimistic about the but about the embiid that I was getting back that’s what I’m saying because I’m saying I’ve seen guys come off this injury and be able to bounce back well and look the other thing is too let’s be honest we’re talking about a guy who’s used to coming

Off injuries this is not somebody who does not have experience ramping up from unfortunately he’s got a lot of experience ramping up from injuries and this is a this is going to be a loaded comparison I will say that before I say it but I went and looked it up when

Michael Jordan messed up his navicular bone in 8 the 85 86 season he came back in mid March about a month before the playoffs started and he had a very very very gradual ramp up minutes but then he played around 30 minutes by the end of

The regular season and then when he got to the playoffs he was playing 50 minutes a game and scoring 60 points in playoff games against the 86 Celtics I’m not I think that’s I think that’s a fair comparison because Jordan came back ramped up and got swept by the Celtics I

Think that’s a very fair comparison well I’m just I’m just saying he I think when you’re you’re if he’s able to come back in the next week you’re talking about having six seven eight games in a whole week if they get out of the playin to

Get himself ready to go for the first round and by the way the first round also takes a month so let’s put it this way let’s put it this way McMahon I feel better about embiid coming back and being able to contribute than I do Julius Randall because I’ve been around

For a while and I’ve seen guys come off with shoulder injuries and I’ve seen guys come off of meniscus trims that’s all I’m saying I I just if comes back and doesn’t play at an MVP level in the playoffs look there there’s going to be a lot of well he’s not

Played an MVP level in the playoffs when full part of it I just I just I think we’ve got to be fair to this guy and understand what a challenging situation this is to me I think this is a free role for embiid because if like there

Nobody’s going to criticize him if he doesn’t come back and average I mean I shouldn’t say that I’m sure some people will critize criis reasonable people are not going to criticize him if he comes back and is not averaging 37 points a game in 35 minutes right but if he is

Able to be healthy and come back and play great it’s an opportunity for him to address some of the main criticisms that have been leveled at him which is that his playoff performances have not measured up to his regular season performances doesn’t mean he will but

It’s he’s he’s got an opportunity to do that as opposed to having another season end early with injury and there’s enough time before the end of the regular season that I think as Brian said I do think there’s a reasonable outlook for him to have time

To ramp up and be at least ready to be something close to what he normally would be for the playoffs also I think just in general it’s a free roll season for the 76ers because when they made the Harden trade they position themselves to really make a big acquisition going into

Next season there’s pressure on Daryl m in that front office to to use that cap space and the assets that they have those draft picks to really add to this roster um one thing I’m GNA get your opinion on Bon Temps so um Joel embiid is actually contract extension eligible

This summer um extensions of the new thing in the NBA I think it’s going to be rare that we see um free agents get to or stars get to free agency if they do get to free agency I think it’ll be because they’re on contracts that are outrageously

Undervaluing them like a guy signs um a his first big contract and he way outplays it um and he yeah like du McBride Allstar guard for the Knicks they could start call million a year we should calling him Trace McBride because he HS six threes in the first quarter um

On Wednesday Wednesday night um anyway he sarcas about the allstar part just so people don’t freak out but he’s playing emid has three years left on his contract and normally you would never get to a you’d never really have a conversation about an extension in that zone however he is eligible for a

Contract extension and considering everything uh and by the way it’s humongous numbers um it would be two year according to Bobby marks it would be two years and 129 million and again it would be for years a 65 million a year it’s just for for people at home 64

And a half I should be to be clear it’s a lot of money and it’s to start in 20 in 20 I’m said 19 2027 so like it’s not a it’s not like if the Sixers are like hey let’s just take a a breath and wait on that and like you

Know it’s not one of these situations where if he doesn’t extend or they don’t offer whatever it’s like oh my gosh however if you ask me if I would like to add $130 million to my contract years for and five from now I might like to have that conversation especially if I’ve got

A history of knee injuries it you can move the comma a little bit from me and I’ll pounce on it a lot of bit I was gonna say a lot of bit so like I just want to bring up I’m not asking you to say what you’ve heard unless you have

Heard something I just want to put that on the old on the old radar well here’s what I will say I have not asked anyone with the Sixers or Joel himself about extending I will go back to what I said before about Joel embiid walking in and

Giving the thumbs up and then playing I suspect if Joel embiid walked into Daryl Mor’s office said I would like $129 million I suspect he would 28.9 I suspect I suspect that would be given to him if he asked for it I don’t then to be clear I have not talked to

Anybody I do not know but I think if Joel wanted that extension I would guess it would get done listen we’re we’re not that far removed from vultures around the league circling waiting for embiid to ask out so yeah it would make sense for the

Sixers to to pounce on that um by the way is Paul George going to be an exception to your rule of stars not hitting free agency maybe so Paul George has a option in his contract um this summer he doesn’t necessarily have to be a a free agent but um considering everything I

Think his preference is to get a new deal uh kawhai Leonard got a new deal um I was there in LA the day it was done and Kawai came in after the game and um talked about uh his new contract and said sort of maybe flippantly isn’t the

Word but sort of nonchalantly said yeah you know uh James and Paul are going to resign too and I was like oh that’s interesting because I think the question was asked did you communicate with Paul and James before you did this extension and we’ve talked about this the it’s a

Very healthy extension it’s three years and over 150 million but it was not the Max and it’s actually a mild it was like like a couple million dollars when you’re making $50 million a year you know going down $2 million isn’t you know worth um you know sounding alarms

However he did take a mild pay cut and uh so that set the standard for what those negotiations would be and naturally the media asked if he had discussed with those two guys because Paul George had aligned his contracts with uh kawhai in the past and Kawai

Said um we’re all three going to sign back maybe that wasn’t the exact quotes but that’s that is a factual representation of what he said right and I know that my uh um eyebrow went up I was like oh okay and now they can’t sign to an extension during the season um

That’s not permitted by his style of contract so that’s not surprised nothing’s happened there but it’s now been three months give or take and there’s been no agreement on Paul George and the word in the NBA is that they’re apart that’s not like let’s have a big problem

They’re apart and want to remind people Kawai signed for less than the Max and less than Max years so that’s right ma less than Max if you want to guess where there could be some potential friction I don’t think it’s hard to guess where there could be some

Potential friction on a Paul George negotiation right and and he can extend his contract all the way through June 30th and then on June 30th can pick up the option for next year um and then negotiate a contract extension later like uh but he does have the option of

Turning down that extension and becoming an unrestricted free agent and there are a couple of teams that would have the 50ish million doll needed um to offer him a Max and one of those teams assuming that they say goodbye to their other free agents assuming they say goodbye to Buddy healed assuming

They say goodbye to Tobias Harris which I think that they would in this situation they the 76ers could open the space for Paul George um I think the league believes that Paul George wants to remain a Clipper um and there would be concern in the league um about recruiting Paul

George especially if you had to give away players to open up space if you were simply being the stalking horse um uh we’ve seen this before uh in the NBA one time that comes to mind I think the Phoenix Suns thought they were they had

A real shot to sign Blake Griffin um I can’t remember the players they moved on from it wasn’t like Hall of Famers um and then Blake canceled the meeting and resigned with the clippers because once he got legitimate interest from another team the Clippers turned around and gave

Them the money it’s a different front office but um so I just thought I I think that’s something that is interesting to talk about whether it actually play out that way I don’t know my uh you know informed speculation is that eventually Paul will agree to a a deal with the Clippers

It may not be for the full Max but it may be for more than what the Clippers have been offering that would be my my my irresponsible speculation we love that is that darl Moore is gonna have all the information he needs to have before making any decisions on whether

To wave farewell to Tobias Harris and Buddy he oh no oh no no no excuse me sir excuse me sir in the James hardens negotiation situation having been penalized to second draft pick for tampering the year before Daryl M declared all rules will be followed and listen James hard he was

Hooked up to a uh to a polygraph at the time that thing was just steady Edy yeah it no darl M told James Harden we not going to be able to offer you a contract until uh you know July 1st or June 30th at six o’clock which is why he picked up

The option which started this whole process so I assume that Mr myy will follow the same rules when it comes to any sort of negotiations with any player and not even begin to discuss with Buddy hee or Tobias Harris anything before June 1st at 601 rather significant one rather

Significant difference here which is that James Harden had one Suitor and Paul George has multiple suitors well I’m obviously being I know you are just saying I’m sure Adam Silver had a Stern discussion with Daryl M and threaten take away another second round pick if he doesn’t stay on the straight and

Narrow yeah the the Knicks are still recovering from the second round pick they lost from the tampering on Jaylen Brunson that was a tough one those those Knuckles are still raw from the slap League the league gave them um all right um speaking of uh interesting contract extension dudes um Friday when the

Sixers play in Cleveland with or without MB they will uh the expected return of Donovan Mitchell from dealing with his nasal fracture and knee soreness um is expected the Cavs had a brutal loss to the Charlotte Hornets on Wednesday night where um I think they scored Four Points

In the last seven minutes but I’m not sure they got even a good shot in the last four minutes of that game um and we have an interesting interview today from Dan Gilbert now Dan Gilbert unfortun the Cavs owner Dan Gilbert unfortunately suffered a stroke in

2019 um he has given very few interviews ever since um maybe one or two he spoken publicly a few times but where he actually takes questions it’s very rare um he has very much unfortunately he’s been away from the team a little bit more last year

Because his son Nick was ailing um from uh condition he had that that caused him to unfortunately grow numerous tumors in his body and he passed away last year they dedicated the season uh the Cavs have to Nick uh actually DED they dedicated last season to him and this

Year they retired his bow tie because he was the famously was on stage wearing the bow tie when the Cavs won the draft lotteries um but Dan has been more around the Cavs this year um and he gave an interview uh to the Associated Press the reason he gave the interview is

Because Detroit is hosting the NFL draft in a couple of weeks and he has uh one of the biggest real estate real estate uh owners in Detroit and one of the city’s biggest benefactors is a big part of that he gave the unview to Larry leer the Associated Press out of Detroit and

He was asked about Donovan Mitchell and his about the possibility of him signing a contract extension this summer and Dan Gilbert said quote we’ve been talking to him for the last couple of years about extending this contract we think he will extend I think if you listen to him talk

He loves the city he loves the situation in Cleveland because our player players are very young and we’re just kind of putting the core together that clearly that he’s clearly the biggest part of um that is the Donovan Mitchell uh contract extension has been a little bit

Of a third rail Topic in Cleveland throughout the year uh Donovan has not really discussed it at all EX after the early part in the season which is where he basically said Cleveland’s wonderful and I look forward to being here and let’s concentrate on the season um well

I would there’s reason to ask him about it again if the man who owns the team is on the record and that will be interesting because uh maybe Donovan will say yep I’m looking forward to that day can’t wait what do they want at add four

Years let’s do her up uh maybe he’s gonna say that and maybe it’ll be wonderful and maybe he’s going to be non-committal well and and I I know you I mentioned those vultures that were circling the embiid situation they’re still circling the Donovan Mitchell situation now that doesn’t mean that he

Won’t sign the extension just like it you know it obviously didn’t mean that uh things weren’t going to work out with embiid in Philadelphia I mean these teams the anytime there’s a star who might uh end up on the trade market these teams have to do their due

Diligence you know um but he donm when you talking to teams who are are hopeful to be in that market uh Donovan Mitchell is one of the first names to come up these days yeah I mean look that’s certainly true it’s been the case the whole time

And you know I do think as we have talked about on here before I do think things have trended in a good direction for Cleveland as far as keeping him this year it I think the still the same challenges that existed when the Knicks were not super aggressive or as

Aggressive as they could have been about trading for Donovan Mitchell a couple years ago still exist the fit of him and Jaylen Brunson while both terrific players is a bit clunky in terms of trying to build a championship level team and the Knicks have Jaylen Brunson

On their team already and so they don’t necessarily need to go get donov V bitchell and exhaust their trade assets when they can wait for something else and you know you look around and there’s not necessarily an obvious landing spot for him to go now that all being said I

Would say this there will be no shortage of teams that would be interested in in being yes but I’m what I’m saying is from a place that he’s necessarily going to want to be longer term in terms of having the assets trade for him and him ending up there we’ll see what happens

But what I was going to say was we have a long way to go as far as how the story of the Cav season is written and as you mentioned Brian they have really scuffled lately really since the allstar break in general when Donovan started missing games they’ve had several rough

Losses this lost last Wednesday night to Charlotte Chief among them and let’s see where they finish if they end up winning a playoff series or two making the Conference Finals something they haven’t done in a long time then that’s going to be one ending if they get another if

They have another five game exit in the first round to the Knicks or the Sixers or the magic or the pace or whoever they play that’s going to feel a lot differently so like it often is in these situations I think they’re in a pretty good place right now but let’s see on

April 28th where things sit and I think we’ll have a much better idea of whether Dan Gilbert’s prophecy is going to come true or not yeah so Donovan is Savvy and smart he is represented by a Savvy and smart agent who works for a powerful Savvy and smart agency and I expect them

To handle this savy and smartly and not lock themselves into anything and not do anything that could be reputation damaging um Donan is very good at saying a lot of words that don’t answer questions sometimes Donovan is Savvy he extracted himself from Utah and no one blames him for it no one blames

Him for it so uh not and honestly I don’t like hey I don’t blame Superstars or you know all stars if you if you want to say he’s not quite at that level I don’t I don’t blame these guys for uh determining that another situation is for trying to get

Themselves to a a better situation for sure like it as a fan but like right just like you don’t blame a team when you make a trade that you know a guy who had been a a loyal member of the franchise and you know you mentioned

It earlier G I think about Blake Griffin all the time with this stuff when fans get when fans go crazy about players change the teams I just say Blake Griffin very happily resigned with the clip yes he got paid a lot of money be very happily resigned with the Clippers

Clipper for life all that stuff six months later he was playing for the Pistons yeah when they recruited him back when they did like their presentation to him they like I don’t know if they actually hung his retired jersey in the rafters or they like mocked up I believe they

Did believe they had stuff saying Clipper for life I believe is what they did I could be wrong about that well whatever it was anyway he was reborn again in Detroit he like left uh nine fig or eight figures on the table to get out of

Detroit with I mean with all due respect to everybody um but you know look it’s not just the Stars I think about a guy like Dorian finny Smith who got less than he probably could have got in free agency when he signed an extension he

Was very happy to be in Dallas was a great franchise guy Lov idea of playing with Luca exactly and fil was Mutual but when it came time to uh you know try to find a co-star for Luca Dorian finy Smith had to be in a deal he didn’t see

The first year the end of the first year of that extension and off he went to Brooklyn it’s it’s a tough business they’re all rewarded very for it like and look like maybe we get to July and Donovan extends and the Cavs go do their other business maybe we get to July and

Donovan doesn’t extend and then what happens uh do the Cavs hang on to him and see what happens because he can extend throughout all next season he’s actually got a player option after next year um so he’s protected in in in in a case of injury

But he’s he’s a good enough player where he can be hurt and he’s still gonna get a big understand I understand I’m just pointing that out but my point is like if he doesn’t extend it doesn’t necessarily mean that the Cavs would trade him but that would be The Prudent

Thing to do so just Gilbert is on the record of saying it we’ll see what Donovan says he’s I assume going to be speaking to the media coming back from the injury on Friday so we will see about that um speaking about uh agreements we had the breakdown of an

Agreement in the NBA on Thursday where Glenn Taylor the longtime owner I believe since 904 of the Minnesota Timberwolves put out a statement that um the contra ual obligations than selling the team to Mark Lori I guess and A-Rod Mark Lori is um uh he’s he’s gonna be the Govern he

Would have be he would have been the governor so he Rob’s making appearances at card shows to uh to try to get fees to help the deal go through you know I’m just a believer in not taking the pr of it the governor is Mark Lori the governor of the Mavericks is Patrick

Dumont okay so anyway that ground real going forward um he said that the the agreement wasn’t met by the deadline and the sale is to use a Mark or to use a Mel proov the sale is hereby cancelled um and the team’s no longer for sale and I look forward to moving

Forward with Mark Lori and Alex Rodriguez as the partners now I do not know what is going to happen with this situation what I do know is this um an owner is the owner of the team until he sells the team and the NBA says that person is the new governor it

Doesn’t matter what you say in a public release it doesn’t matter what a bank statement says it doesn’t matter what’s in an escrow account it doesn’t matter what a contract says it all you’re not the owner until the NBA votes on it and the other owner signs the paperwork and

I assume when the money transfers but okay those two things have to happen the NBA did not approve because it didn’t get to that point and Glen Taylor is not signing off the reason this other than you know doing business studies and Intrigue here the reason this is

Important and the reason we’re going to talk about it right now is what it means for the Timberwolves now the reason this is fascinating is because as we’ve talked about repeatedly the Timberwolves are headed for a financial cliff when Anthony Edwards Jaden McDaniels new contracts come on Mike Conley’s contract renewal

Comes on and Carl towns’ contract goes from Max to supermax which is like 12 or 13 million of a million dollar increase they are already into the second apron of spending for next year for a team that has spent I think into the tax just a couple of million dollars in the

History of the organization I think just once in the last 20 years and they’ve got Kyle Anderson going in a free agency he’s a key Reserve Monty Morris who they just traded for a key Reserve going into free agency Jordan mlin who not as key after the Monty Morris deal but still a

Guy who contributes going into free agency and uh the response from Mark Lori and Alex Rodriguez in their statement basically they I’m not going to read the whole thing the first part of it’s basically calling BS and then they say Glen Taylor’s statement is an unfortunate case of sellers remorse that

Is shortsighted and disruptive to the team and the fans during his historic winning season so they’re basically trying to say Glen Taylor you’re messing things up for everybody we’re just trying to help this you know help position this team to to keep on rolling but man it was always going to be a

Potential Penny pinion situation no matter who was calling the shots but now is this chaos and all these billable hours being racked up hey I’m married to a lawyer there buddy watch it yeah listen I’m married to a lawyer who’s does a lot of m&a work so you just better watch your

Mouth I don’t know what m&a means Minnesota I well the a stands for acquisition which there was not one merges AC acquisition so so speaking of speaking of the money do Bobby marks as always is on top of all this stuff so the last time the Wolves paid the tax

Was 2020 they paid $497,000 in tax payments Glen Taylor has played paid the tax for times in 20 years for a total of $25 million as of right now the Minnesota Timberwolves have under contract nine players for next season their current luxury tax bill as of right now is $27

Million and that’s before they fill out the rest of the roster even with minimum players let alone keeping Kyle Anderson who’s a really important player keeping Monty Morris who they as you said just traded for and is a good backup point guard keeping Jordan mcclaughlin doing anything else at all anything over the

Minimum and even if they sign six minimum guys you’re probably adding 10 20 30 Milli they’re compelled to sign like at least four guys at the minimum well they have to get up to 13 14 players eventually you’re talking minimum an extra 2030 million of tax by

The time you add in minimum players right so they’re looking at you know over 50 million in tax for a guy that’s paid 25 forever now one thing I will say is this he he did and I’m not again I don’t know what’s in the agreement and I

Don’t know what they said to each other so I’m not going to try to guess that I will say this this was not a surprise to the league that this stale didn’t go through um not not just because Glen Taylor has been known to change his mind

He’s done this I don’t think he’s ever gotten this far down but he’s done this a couple of other times there been several several times when he has talked about selling the team and has not right but one of the things that’s important here is that he actually has

Already sold 40% of the team to Mark Lori he owns 40% of the team that’s important for two reasons oh boy one he’s already received that was for a $1.5 billion do valuation now you can check my math here bonds but I believe 40% of 1.500 million 600 million so that

Means that $600 million have come into Glen Taylor’s coffers all right secondly it means that if the team loses money he now has a partner that would be responsible for 40% of it now there’s all kinds of different things and I don’t know what’s in their agreement um

If a team needs to typically again not necessarily the Timberwolves but typically in a situation where a team needs to do a Cash Call in other words go out to their owners and say hey we need money for operating expenses and you know teams can borrow money um against with the League’s credit

Facility that is they’re allowed you know there’s a line of credit I don’t know where the Wolves line of credit is maybe they can just borrow it maybe they’ve got money in the bank they can cover it but if they are you know they you know if let’s say they lose a million

Dollars and Glen Taylor needs a million to fill that Gap in theory Mark Lorry would owe 400,000 of it you know for every million and if you don’t pay you lose Equity that’s typically the way it goes so you could argue that Glen Taylor has done here and by the way he wouldn’t

Have got $600 million for the 40% of the team if it didn’t come along what what did I say unless they thought they were getting the rest exactly so so the one of the things that I’m sure you know he is just without trying to get myself

Into out of into Waters I don’t understand he is $600 million richer owns the rest of the team outright and has a partner on on the hook for 40% of the losses that he didn’t have years I think the bigger thing to talk about is not these

Minations I think the bigger thing that because we don’t know how this stuff’s going to play out right could go any direction Lori Lori could say I want you to you have to buy back by what I paid you whatever there whatever doesn’t matter I there will be lawyers and I

Think are lawyers there already are lawers the biggest thing the biggest thing to think about I think if you’re a wolves fan or if you’re an NBA fan it’s like like we we’ve talked about Minnesota All Season as both having this awesome season Ant-Man has really ascended the superstardom they’re

Playing great without towns they’re hanging in there at the top of the West it’s been awesome and they’ve got this thing hanging over them this Summer as to what this team is going to look like and now as you said before man mcmah the the thing to think about is this chaos

That’s clearly coming because whatever happens here this isn’t over now I’m not saying Glen Taylor’s going to have to give up the team but there’s there’s going to be things going on from this going forward and I think the concern you need to have if you’re a Minnesota

Fan is that if you have to deal with all this all these massive Financial questions and the ownership of the team becomes paralyzed in some legal fight what does that mean for the team in general are they allowed to spend money on players are they allowed to do stuff

Do they have to save money like who knows what it’s going to be and and how much does uh do the playoff results influence all that there there’s definitely kind of a everybody’s guessing but there’s definitely a belief around the league of hey the the Wolves

G to have to make a a a somewhat of a playoff run to justify the expenses of keeping this team together no matter how the whole ownership mess ends up you know being resolved um and then you know you get into like look Tim Connelly I would think he’s at least

Gotten a feel for what’s the potential market value if he has to uh cut salary for a guy like cat I think honestly jadeen McDaniels probably would be a lot easier to trade just actually I think Naas if they just if they had to

Slice off a piece to to to to not not break up their core they could trade Naz Reed into someone’s space the flip side of that though is that’s cutting the least salary among those three and they don’t want to trade any of these guys they’re all good

Players I think he makes about I I don’t want to imply that they would literally have to like rip off all stars but if they have if they if they cut if they traded Naas Reed it would save them tens of millions sure and I wouldn’t get him

Out of the tax but but but you know obviously if you’re in that locker room you’re like hey man we’ve got a a real Contender now they haven’t proven the playoffs they a contender but those guys in that locker room feel like we are a real Contender we want to keep this

Thing together does that kind of pressure have any kind of impact now the I don’t think it’s gonna have any impact on the face of their franchise because I don’t think ant spends a whole lot of time do you think ant knows basics of the second

Apron I think a gives a flying flip about any of that stuff he’ll care when he sees what the roster looks like by the way talking about going I don’t think we’ve calculated a makes all NBA he gets 40 million more not in one when an makes allba he’s

Making all way this the way this has gone the way this has gone he’s definitely making I think there’s a there I think they both will make it I think there’s a better chance tyres Alberton doesn’t make it than a at this point is absolutely an all player it is

Not especially with the guys who are not going to be eligible I mean he’s CLE going be to 15 guys having interviewed ant a few dozen times I can predict this is what this is I predict this is what’ll happen hey Aunt I don’t know if you heard but the all NBA teams

Came out you’re on the second team and you just guaranteed yourself an extra 40 million dope that’s what he’s going to say speaking of speaking of quotes I thought this from John krinski straight from Glen Taylor was rather Illuminating uh well we’re just saying we had a

Contract with you guys you’ve had your time and this is the end of the contract and we’re just kind of we’re just going to kind of go back on running the way running the way we’ve been run and then he further said he’s not going to put

The team back on the market I just think we’ve built this team we’ve got the players now and it appears to me that we should have a very positive run for a number of years and I want to be part of that I don’t blame him he’s he’s in his

80s and this is the best team he’s had in 25 years like well I don’t I mean listen I want to be part of it hey are you willing to pay what it takes to keep it together that’s that would that would be the nice next question and look at

The end of the day also it needs to be pointed out Mark Lori and A-Rod or Mark Lori however you want to phrase it they were trying to buy an NBA team on layaway it is not a surprise a weird situation been created in chaos Jimmy

Hlam agrees I think it was like three four or three fiveon valuation with to buy out the Bucks bought it out bought it out quick was was that layway I could that check clears by the NBA approved you know I believe I wrote the story in March and

He was sitting there for playoff games Jimmy H that’s the way the the is supposed to go uh by the way Rudy goar is also eligible for a contract extension this summer and and also just another quick by the way uh nobody’s complaining about the gobear deal in

Minnesota anymore oh I got this figured out you know what I can get this figured out in five minutes oh here we go I don’t know just have Glen Taylor call Mark Lori and say we’ll just call you team proprietor and everything will work out everything be fine I think everything

Will be happy I Itor Dallas install a tning bed at the facility and Alex Rodriguez will be happy because these poor poor Timber fans are having the best season maybe the franchise ever had and it’s just been mired and non-stop talk about salary stuff I do want to

Again emphasize it’s been awesome the way they have responded to the town’s injury and the fact that we’ve because we just spent a whole bunch of time the other day talking about this Clippers team imploding they looked horrendous last night I know they won they they

Would not have beat most NBA teams in the way they played in Wednesday’s game and the wolves have not only kep up with Pace but they’re tied for second and a half game out of first and are going to be a top three team and I think it’s

Been awesome the way they’ve recovered from that can I say what I when in talking to people and when I watch The W wolves I’m able to penetrate League passes defenses and I’m able to watch the Wolves when Wendy Wendy splits the double team and gets Lane on the Sleep

The Sleep updates have been replaced with League Pass Updates this is the day I could watch the Thunder or the Nuggets or the wolves they do their jobs Tim Connelly has built this roster too deep has done his job when you watch them play they handle their business on

Defense they rotate they help each other they guard the man in front of them goar does his job McDaniels does his job Carl towns when he was out there he is he has taken a step back to yield to Anthony Edwards how many times you

Going to see a guy in his mid 20s on a super max even if a is more talented willing to step back to and doing and he’s being richly rewarded but doing his job ant does his job does his job ant does his job which requires putting a

Cape on but he wears that Cape quite well this when you watch them playing defense they they’re tough they are fun to watch play D Man together they you know they just do their jobs I respect somebody does their job last year was not a fun year in

Minnesota I mean the goar deal looked terrible he felt all that weight on his shoulders literally in the regular season finale as they’re fighting for seeding goar punches Kyle Anderson in the chest on the sideline Jaden McDaniels punches the freaking break his hand on the wall breaks his hand I mean

They were a cluster flip last year had the an had the thing in Denver through the chair had that whole incident to my gosh I forgot about that I’m not around the team on a regular basis but I’ve been around them some Wendy you’ve been

Around them some this year it is such a joyous happy atmosphere those guy I mean it is a fun locker room it is a fun team they play Daft Punk in the postgame locker room ant is a joy to be around a joy um I can’t wait for America you know

He’ll face some pressure as he gets up I can’t wait for America to get to know him more he is the way I this is way I felt about johnar too I thought watching J was was I remember talking to people in ja’s second year going you guys have

Absolutely drafted a treasure Hold On Tight there’s there’s an electricity about those two guys when they’re cooking like that block that aun had like the dunks he has I mean he just there’s there’s some special stuff that he does that makes makes it look and listen jaw stuff went sideways outside

Of the facility ja as a teammate ja in a lock room jaw on a basketball court has consistently been a joy uh hopefully he’s got past the the other stuff and he’ll get healthy and we’ll get back to being all that stuff next year but and look ant’s not perfect there’s certainly

Some maturity no IE I don’t want I don’t just because he’s a joy to be around doesn’t mean he always makes the greatest decision but is is in terms of what they have going basketball-wise it’s been a lot of fun in Minnesota unfortunately there’s a lot

Of mess when you get up to the the billionaires non-b billionaires since they couldn’t afford to freaking buy the team well and it is a bit of a credit to them that the reason we are talking about it so much is because a they are

So good and B we are talking about like very significant players here like it’s it’s a credit to them that this has been such a topic for us on the Pod because it is one of going to be one of the dominant stories of the offseason no

Matter what the offseason looks like or what the postseason looks like I mean it’s going to be a huge it’s going to be a huge story regardless of how this ownership thing plays out all right before we go down here in the South Texas air McMahon I know we’re technically you’re

In Central Texas I know we’re in Spurs country here the Spurs played a couple of joh claim Austin spur played a couple of games by the way I was talking to some people here apparently last year when they came to Moody to is it Moody Coliseum or Moody Arena um for their

First games they were like they were like sort of glorified preseason games yeah this year when the Nuggets came in and then uh they played the Nets and that game went overtime um the atmosphere was totally electric might have had something to do with a certain tall Frenchman a draw anyway what I’m

Saying here is uh in I would say this is sort of southern Texas but you’re the Texan okay I’m not gonna fight you on that uh well it is Southern I mean yes it is Southern Texas Austin right now but anyways let’s not have a Texas whatever geography fine anyway there’s

Excitement about the Houston Rockets yes uh who won their 10th consecutive game uh Wednesday night they had some Fortune smile on them they were catching the thunder on the second night of a back-to-back uh and Shay gilders Alexander took the night off with a quad injury however they won in Oklahoma J

Took most of the night off they only played 18 minutes before fouling out fouled out obviously they had a role in that chat was awful but they had a rle in that the game still went to overtime time however the Rockets were victorious and Jaylen green 37

Morey and some big time plays and really Thomson holy smokes yep should have won the game in regulation uh jayen had a shot at the butt well also Thompson had a rookie moment where he’s supposed to take the foul up three and he botched it but listen it’s been a favorable stretch of

Schedule blah blah blah the Houston freaking rocket have won 10 straight games the last time they had a double figure winning streak James Harden was in in route to winning his first MVP and they were in a 65 win season yeah it was in 2018 but it seems

Like a million years ago and man there is a ton of excitement and and look the jayen green thing there I would describe it as like optimism because he’s had stretches before but he hadn’t had a stretch quite like this and like last night the shot making and he was he was

Lighting up Lou Dort and it’s not like Lou had a bad defensive night Jaylen green was just making shots and making plays but you ask e may adoka about Jaylen green he doesn’t he doesn’t talk about the fact this guy’s putting up 30 per game over a 10 game winning streak

He doesn’t talk about the scoring he talks about the progress he’s made as a Defender as a rebounder he had 10 rebounds again last night as a facilitator you know making the right reads he had seven assists last night um I think four of those were in the last

Were in OT in the last minute uh or so of the fourth quarter so there’s certainly optimism that a 22y old who’s had a rocky roller coaster career but was the number two overall pick is turning a corner but the guy they’re most excited about is amen Thompson I mean I don’t want

To I’ll just say this the Rockets believe and have data to back up that he can be the best non-big defender in the NBA really soon I I get a little nervous when I hear the Rockets have data to okay I’m just telling you heard data a shot away he’s a jump

Shot away from being a a an Allstar for sure and possibly higher than that and and and he might not need a jump shot but right now he’s got to be I’m a huge am man Thompson fan he’s got to become somewhat of a jump shooter to be to to

Truly become that level player I’m not saying he can’t be effective and be good but I mean what’s he shooting from three like 10 11 for 50% or something last night 15 uh what it’s really interesting now and we’re going to get to a big picture fit question here here it’s

Really interesting now he’s playing Center offensively and him and Dylan Brooks are their defensive Stoppers so like last night he’s playing Center offensively and he’s guarding Jaylen Williams who with Jay out was obviously actually it was a great opportunity for Jaylen in that game they played him like as the

Center of the offense down the stretch and he made several clutch plays including a three that forced overtime yeah yeah it was actually a nice moment for Jaylen just to to flex his muscles a little bit but this is Rockets conversation but but he all it wasn’t an

Efficient night he he he struggled uh yeah but I’m just talking about that they can go to him at the end of a game and he can he can get a poop for him absolutely I also want to say something about Rafel Stone he hired a coach and then went out

And acquired players that exactly fit with the way that coach wants to coach and that seems like it would be be basic we don’t see that all the time we see front offices and coaches on different pages routinely and Dylan Brooks who by the way including the last the last few

Years in Houston but go on Dylan dropped two three-pointers on the on the Thunder’s head to start overtime which basically gave the separation to win ala feeds from jayen Green when they decided we can’t just let this guy beat us so I no matter what the Rockets become I

Respect saying this is our plan phase two and executing it now whether phase three is going to be able to happen that’s another story but uh by the way Oka should be on some ballots for Coach of the Year well especially they keep winning and they steal a playing spot I

Think he has to be um fellas they’re trying to fast forward to phase three and it is going to be a fascinating summer now this there there are questions about hey how much of Jaylen green taking off is about the floor opening up because everything’s not running through alar and

Shenon let me be very very very very very clear about that those questions I’m hearing from people from other teams who are looking at the rockets and evaluating the Rockets I’m not hearing those internally from people with the Rockets I’m just saying though there there are those questions there are questions

About wow almond Thompson’s really thriving in this role how does that work the Hawks are defending ever since Trey young got hurt there you go um I mean it’s it’s it sometimes stuff like this happens so I I and shenon had a great year it might not be over we’ll see how

That plays out in terms of his recovery in terms hey Trey may not be over they just gave an update where he’s moving on to recovery well there you go I’m just saying there are questions about you know how exactly do all these pieces that are thriving right now fit with

Shenon as a centerpiece and look there were questions about shenon as a fit going into this season that’s why they ended up getting ditched at the altar by Brook Lopez they thought they had Brook Lopez signed they moved money they salary dumped some stuff to Atlanta because they thought they had that deal

Done and then shenon ends up having a a a great year um but there’s still questions as far as like how does that fit you know he made do is a defense first coach um and then I I’ll just tell you this when we talk about vulture

Circling some of those vultures have uh have Rockets gear on because they absolutely want to take a big big swing in the trade market sooner than later and they’re they’ve got a ton of young Talent on this roster obviously you know I don’t know if both shenon and green are are

Going to going to be here long term my guess and I emphasize guess is that one or the other would end up getting moved at some point for them when they take their big swing but they have unprotected Brooklyn picks this year in 26 and an unprotected swap next year

They’ve got that as the draft Capital ammo and then a lot of you know intriguing young Talent uh on the roster if there are stars that that emerge on the trade market I believe the Rockets are going to take swings and they have enough to get to take one big swing couple

Things I understand the Rockets are playing great they deserve credit uh they have beaten the Blazers Kings Spurs Wizards Cavs that Donovan Mitchell Wizards Bulls Jazz Blazers and the thunder without Shay yes so they have had an extraordinarily soft schedule not diminishing what jayen green has done he

Was not a good NBA player for most of his career to this point and now he’s been incredible for he just been I don’t about not good he just was under he’s been generally a bad player and it’s been he’s been very very not good he’s been inconsistent best and he has had

Stretches where he sizzles as a score typically tends to happen right around this time of year this is the first time he has had a stretch of allaround Brilliance no question he’s been awesome he’s been awesome but this this again gets into a situation where we we talk a

Lot about teams where you get into a very dangerous spot when you’re in the Arc of a building team and I will point to Trey Young and the Atlanta Hawks now it’s a little different circumstance because they got to the Conference Finals but they have that breakthrough

Year they get to the Conference Finals people there get excited oh we have arrived we’re going to go make a swing to take a step forward they trade a ton of assets for Deon Murray a player that didn’t really move the needle for them they slide right back down and then they

Are now stuck in neutral they’re out Assets in the future now we’re talking about do they do something with the trar jant Murray what do they do and now they’re stuck right for a for a Rockets team with a ton of young Talent am men Thompson by the way eight for 55 from

Three like I love him as a player but that he’s just got to become better to really take a huge step as a player but anyway they are in a position where I understand the excitement about trying to take more steps forward but we have talked about this before there are 13

Teams that are going to go into next season in the Western Conference believing they should be in the playoffs so it’s going to be hard no matter what the Rockets do to take a big step forward and this I think the the where they got to be careful is not saying hey

We had this great run down the season season whether they get to 10th or 11th we got all this excitement let’s go get an impact player and become a Seven seed or six seed or five seed next year and end up being in 12th again and looking

Around going oh no what happened it’s just it’s just a they’ve got a I think you they just got to be really careful because they got a lot of exciting young players when you talked about Jabari Smith who’s been terrific he had a three that I thought might win the game but you

Know and he had another clutch three and overtime and he’s been he’s been good playing Center defensively and he’s basically been a floor spacing Center since uh shenon went out and with again Thompson being this lock down Wing Defender who plays the five on offense that’s been a really nice fit they they

Also cam Whitmore has been out during the stretch he is a six foot7 big bodied explosive bucket getting machine um tar E’s missed almost the whole season another really good player like him they’ve got a lot of they’ve got some big time young talent and I’ll say this obviously look they’re not like

Right now Brooklyn’s eighth in the in the lottery odds so they’re you’re looking at a pick in that eight range for them and then they give up their pick unless it lands in the top four to to Oklahoma City I’m I’m not saying that they wouldn’t take a player at a they’re not

Going to just give the pick away but they’ve got a lot of young Talent they’re preference would be to to add a you know to take a swing with that draft Capital instead of continue adding young Talent uh all right before we uh shut her down just one quick thing

Congratulations to Drew Joyce who has been named the head coach officially at Duane oh he has been oh good we talked we talked about it last week he did listen to the podcast after this after he was hoping to be working U on the sweet 16 you jinxed them apparently I didn’t

Um we don’t for other A10 schools on this pod but that’s fine he got theesome kones Factor player of uh what like of March 2003 or something 2000 March March 2000 there you go it’s a super cool it’s a super cool story though and it it’s uh I’m glad I

Honestly didn’t see that it happen yet that’s awesome that he’s getting that job he deserves it with the way they’ve um built that program past several years under Keith damr so good for good for Drew all right so thank you for uh thank you to first off thank you to Jackson

Thank you to McMahon thank you to bontemps thank you for listening and watching with hoop Collective and we’ll talk to you next week adios amigos

Joel Embiid’s Return, Future For PG & Donovan Mitchell + T-Wolves Ownership 🏀 | The Hoop Collective

Brian Windhorst is joined by ESPN’s Tim Bontemps and Tim MacMahon to talk the latest updates on the impending return of Joel Embiid, Paul George’s future with the Clippers, Dan Gilbert’s interesting comments on Donovan Mitchell’s future in Cleveland, the state of the Minnesota Timberwolves ownership and the Rockets staying hot.

0:00 Intro
1:47 Embiid Return Update
18:49 Clippers Negotiate With Paul George
24:48 Gilbert On Mitchell’s Future In Cleveland
34:11 State Of The Timberwolves
53:58 Rockets Stay Hot
1:06:03 Thanks For Watching!

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