Lakers & Cavaliers coaching searches + future planning for playoff teams | The Hoop Collective

Lakers & Cavaliers coaching searches + future planning for playoff teams | The Hoop Collective

hello welcome to the hoop Collective podcast we talk about the NBA which we are doing on Sunday evening in a reasonable hour a life Grand joining us from New York City although he was in Boston the last couple of days talking to the Celtics ahead of the NBA Finals is Tim bontemps today I was at the uh the Caitlyn Clark Show at barklay Center where the fever had a rather rough second night of a back to back against the Liberty didn’t go great well this is not a WNBA show we talk about the NBA but um boy are they dragging the fever around the country I am glad they have the charter and I don’t know if this is a typical WNBA Schedule I apologize but my God like she’s on each Coast like every two days well the the today’s game for the fever was the 11th game they’ve played this season in 20 days the aces the defending champs have played six so they uh their SK the schedule’s a little compacted because there’s a break for the uh Olympics later this year but they’ve had a they’ve had a very rough go of it they’ve also had to play a lot of really good teams and they looked like it because she looked very tired today I get it I get it joining us from Dallas Texas where it took him two days to get get there from uh from Minneapolis after the Mavericks closed out on Thursday night and uh unfortunately more storms hit tonight B McMahon howy Partners sorry to delay things I did have some unplanned manual labor but hey when you live in Texas you probably got a neighbor with a chainsaw and Mike down the street came through for me we got it done licky split as they say all right very good well it’s not licky split till the start of the NBA Finals that will obviously be days from now and uh we will have a lot of discussion about the finals coming up both before and during slight change to the podcast schedule this week by the way uh we are now going to be doing podcasts that uh run on the day of each NBA game NBA Finals game that is so that means that uh we will have our next podcast on Thursday the day of game one so podcast note um but meantime there’s been a lot of stuff that’s happened in the NBA over the last month that we haven’t gotten a chance to talk too much about there’s been um a lot of transactions in the coaching ranks and some non-transaction in the coaching ranks that’s where we’re going to start uh today um we are now uh what six weeks off the end of the regular season um and about five weeks since the Lakers uh got swept out of the four and a half weeks since the Lakers got swept out of the first round they do not have a head coach yet um everybody who there’s a there’s a very strong attempt maybe I’m giving away my feelings by saying attempt there’s a very strong message coming out that the Lakers are still very still early in their process that there’s still steps to be done and that uh they’re being very thorough and there’s nothing to see here and don’t worry about that probably gon have to wait till after the finals probably um and so I will report that that is what I am being told by multiple people and Adrien W jari has reported the same thing that um we’re not at the checking uh the boxes or you know dotting the eyes teas whatever that this is still very much of a process still very up in the air um and then there is information other out there otherwise involving JJ reic um I will just be sit here and I will tell you that my information on this is scattered I have some people saying this is JJ reck’s job that I trust and I have some people saying that this is a process that is not complete I suspect I know something but I am just going to tell you that uh it is it is it is a multiple there’s multiple streams of information uh James bgo has had multiple meetings with the Lakers I do think that he is a viable candidate for sure but I think JJ reck is a very strong candidate um and he also is calling the finals for our Network on ABC and ESPN so it is what it is um the Lakers knew for quite some time that they were going to probably change their coach um Rob pinka had a long time to evaluate what his situation and his candidates were and so wherever they are in their process um there’s no choice for them to have been put a lot of thought into this I don’t think that they’ve got the most ideal set of candidates they may dream of when replacing a head coach who’s been successful uh but I also think that they have a pretty good idea what they’re doing Bon Temps yeah I I think you you know that certainly seems that way and look I mean like we’ve talked about before this Laker job is a very difficult job I mean you could argue it there’s there’s a decent argue to be made it’s the worst job in the league right now when you look at the combination of what the I’m I see your face McMahon what I mean by that obviously there are worse jobs like Brian Brian Keefe is now the full-time coach of the Wizards obviously the Wizards have a lot less Talent than the Lakers but when you’re looking at the intersection of Talent on the roster realistic expectations for what the job should be from a win loss standpoint and expectations externally and potentially internally of what the job should be it’s not a great cross-section if you’re taking over the Lakers job where I mean look at Darin ham he got to the Conference Finals one year where I think it’s safe to say that was an overachievement they then are the seven seed the next year they lose in a competitive sweep but they lost as 2-7 in the first round it’s not like they were it’s not like they got swept by a lower seed than them and then you get run out of town to be replaced and it’s hard for me to look at that situation and say the Lakers are going to be dramatically better next year than that and the expectation is they’re going to be competing for the Western Conference Championship to go to the NBA finals that kind of stuff so whoever ends up with that job I say Godspeed because I think the expectations placed on whoever gets it are not going to be realistic and that’s going to be difficult for whoever walks into it to live up to well basically what you’re saying is there is decent talent but not top end of The League Talent when you look at the evaluate the whole roster obviously they’ve got LeBron they’ve got ad but there you don’t have Contender level Talent with the Lakers and you don’t necessarily have a route to really upgrade the roster but they’re you’re pretty much stepping into the most dramatic franchise in the NBA and the most pressure-packed job in the NBA and obviously the number one thing you have to have to have any hope of uh success slash I shouldn’t say success longevity in that role is a good relationship with the Stars and you know JJ reick and LeBron have great chemistry on the podcast that’s a good place to start and but look one cand they would have loved to have available to them is Jason kid who does have a great relationship with LeBron dating back to their days on Team USA and obviously was a an assistant on that staff and the Mavericks were like oh no no no no no they were planning on giving Jay kid an extension this summer soon as that Lakers job came up they got that extension done real quick uh between the first and second round so obviously he is uh he’s not leaving Dallas for anywhere same for tyou who’s got a beautiful new $14 million a year deal hey it’s hard out bid Steve Balmer if there is not any kind of cap involved that’s for sure yeah um I here’s the thing I think there is something to be said for Darvin ham I think how do I want to say this without causing an issue I think Darin ham did a very good job I think that if you were standing on the outside with the clipboard you could present a case that that that you could do a better one and I’m sure that JJ reck going over the X’s and O’s on this podcast with LeBron and whatever he said to the Lakers in his interview I’m sure he was very impressive because JJ can be very impressive um there’s no doubt that he may be able to tactically make a difference there um it doesn’t change the fact however that the Lakers had a a deficiency in defense um particularly a deficiency on the defensive wing and before JJ or anybody else can can be can can sell me on the idea that they’re going to dramatically improve they’ve got to sell me on the idea that the roster is going to improve on the W in in in in you know on the wing and also you know probably which by the way is the place everybody in the league is trying to add Talent absolutely athletic defensive Wing talent and I’ll just say to go back to my original Point what is what is going to constitute a successful job being done by whoever is hired into this job well apparently not getting to the Western Conference Finals in the first year I mean that’s what I that’s what I’m saying like I just that like obviously there’s plenty of talent there but you look at the competition in the west you look at what the Lakers have and you look at what the expectations are going to be just based off of because again Brian I mean you could say that about Darin ham I guess I don’t really see any reason to think they should have been any better than they were like I mean they were dis wanted not to get out of the first round but they weren’t alone in that and you know you can make an argument that like the Suns had a better roster I mean it’s a debate it’s not a like a guaranteed Surefire thing but like you can make you can make that argu you can make the argument Darvin took some tactical hits particularly in that series with the Nuggets where they were out where they were in the lead at the half of every game and got outplayed in they were playing against Nicole yic and Jamal Murray understand I’m not like defending that position I’m just saying if you were on the outside you could come in with the game film and I’m not saying that’s what JJ did about the what about game film and to colic running past ad and LeBron to the bucket for a layup in the fourth quarter like what are we doing dham lost his job because his Stars sto believing in him so forget if you on the outside LeBron could make that case ad could make that case and if they’re making that case you’re doomed I just go back to I will ask the question again for the panel what will constitute a successful job being done by this person whoever it is that steps into this job Banner 18 winning a title Banner 18 with an asteris because that end season tournament didn’t didn’t do it either yeah Frank boo won a title and was out within three years I mean again like agree man listen I I don’t have an answer for you I could I could make up an answer but I don’t have it I mean Bogle back it’s just it’s an incredibly difficult it’s an incredibly difficult job with very little upside in my opinion based off of what people are going to look at it compared to what’s realistic about what you can accomplish in that job I guess what I think we could say is the same could have been said about the Mavericks at the beginning of the Season yeah listen and J kid’s job security was uncertain for much of the Season uh really until the final quarter season kick when suddenly the Mavericks morphed into a team that looked like a contender and obviously had followed through on that um now again Jak kid like going into the playoffs Jak kid’s it wasn’t coaching for his job at that point I mean he he had solidified himself and but again it does get back to Jak kid’s done a very good job this season as that coach and I don’t want to at all minimize the job that Jason and his staff have done from a from Nex as and O standpoint and from a figuring out the rotation and how the pieces fit and all that the most important thing that J kid has is what darham lacked relationships with the Stars Luca loves playing for him Kyrie loves playing for him those guys respond to him those guys lead for him those guys are willing to do you know dirty work for him that maybe they weren’t well certainly they weren’t willing to do under previous coaches Kyrie elswhere LCA uh in Dallas the most important thing in NBA coaching is relationship with the starters because listen all these guy you don’t get to be a head coach in the NBA and don’t know anything about X’s and O’s I’m not saying some aren’t better than others but it’s not as important as being able to get your stars to buy in and Lead guys to also buy in well You’ just made the case for JJ reck right there you’ve just made the case well it’s it’s interesting you bring up Dallas because I do think if you want to run the the counterfactual to my position on the Lakers it is that a year ago we were sitting here saying where’s Dallas gonna go what are they goingon to do they finish 11th in the west we were saying that in February buddy yes but but but to Tim’s point if you look over the last year they hit on a lottery pick they get Derek Jones as a minimum free agent who the Lakers and many other teams could have signed they trade obviously the Grant Williams deal didn’t work but they pivot quickly and they get PJ Washington which works out great all of a sudden you have and they get Daniel Gafford all of a sudden you’ve completely reassembled the roster around your two stars and it looks a lot different now I would argue that for example the Lakers had the 17th pick in last year’s draft and they drafted Jaylen H chino from Indiana who was a non-factor all year and they have the 17th pick again because New Orleans deferred it to next year New Orleans betting on getting a better pick and a better draft next year than the 17th pick this year I think that was New Orleans I mean this wasn’t a surprised move but New Orleans went through the same arithmetic you just did with the head coaching higher and said I don’t see how they’re going to improve so we’ll take next year right they’ll they’re taking the the upside play that in a better draft at least from the outside looking in that they’ll get a better pick than 17 and in a better draft we’ll see if they’re right maybe they’ll end up with the 25th pick like what happened with Dallas this year but again you can say sure you could have the Dallas thing happen however I think we all agree as good a job as Nico Harrison did and as great a job as Jason kid and his staff did like they’ve done a tremendous job turning this thing around a they were in the playin mix in February and March before they had the tremendous end of the season and B we’re talking about like hitting five different transactions right and like having them all land right so you have very little margin of error in in these situations and the Mavericks had one big whiff on Grant Williams that they they were able to f and like the 2030 swap of the Spurs was a sunken cost at that point but they had a home run with the the lottery pick that they tank to keep which can the Lakers get a similar type of player at 17 in a much weaker draft I doubt it they had the best minimum signing arguably and I would argue of the Year dant TX had played a lot in the playoffs but he really helped them the C the the Lakers could have used donante txon yeah he really helped him as a Bargain Basement signing as well and then both the trades that they made those guys have made significant impacts I mean so basically you had to go five to six from the floor with with a couple of Threes I mean you gota you got to draw an inside straight but I mean again if you’re a Laker fan you’re probably yelling at you’re yelling at the the phone saying hey like why couldn’t the Lakers do that sure they might be able to do that but it’s asking a lot and it goes back to the same point that as of today right now the the the expectations do not line up with where the current the problem is is that the Lakers fans and maybe even the Lakers front office might feel that they need that they don’t need to hit all those buttons they need a star player they need to get Trey young they need to get whomever well and and and that’s possible and then you know you have to wonder about the depth and the fit yeah because we’ve seen we’ve seen depth and fit become major problems with that very Fran and then the one thing that we should understand now is that adding a star to the mix is not an easy transition and it’s something that’s going to take time it took time with Luca and Kyrie although really that was more about getting the roster right but again that gets back to when you make that kind of a deal for a star you’re going to be given up depth right and then you got to figure out how everything fits so yeah look we didn’t see the Lakers uh we didn’t see the Lakers making them run to the Western Conference Finals last season certainly it’s possible um you know it’s funny because I was I was saying something like man it’s pretty unusual for uh for a team to go from the lottery to the finals except for it’s happened like now three or four out of the last five or six years so you know my point being in today’s NBA you know you can you can jump up jump down season to season um especially in the west yeah especially in the west but the other thing is like LeBron was healthy as healthy as he’s been for a long long time ad for a long long time now hey maybe Christian Wood will stay healthy next year and that’ll be the the little sprinkle of magic dust the Lakers need all right well just one just one final thing I want to we’ve talked about the JJ reic LeBron podcast and LeBron said something interesting on the subject of team building on a recent episode of the Pod that I just wanted to say quote the complimentary guys are ultimately the ones who will help you win the championship for sure my first year in Miami we had yeah we had a big three everybody said it was a super team but we had to build our team around minimum I I know just let me finish that includes him but we had to build our team around minimum contract guys which was still okay but we didn’t fill out the complimentary guys enough we didn’t have enough complimentary guys to make it all work period end quote and when you look at the current environment with the new CBA it’s going to be very very difficult especially if you have three stars on your team to have anything more than minimum players around it perfect example what we saw in Phoenix and by the way that was not nearly good enough so it’s just a reminder if you’re going the third star route if you’re the Lakers it’s going to get expensive really fast and it’s going to be very very very difficult to have a full compliment of players around them to get where you want to go all right so another job well the only other job that’s open besides the Lakers right now is the Cavs now that the Wizards Cavs Corner sponsored by coaching search firms yeah um Cavs corner is uh busy right now because um they are uh not only dealing with the coaching search which is in full effect at the moment but also obviously getting ready for um the Donovan Mitchell contract extension pitch which will be coming up after the finals at some point um there’s the new r it’s the night of the final game of the finals is when that’s eligible to be negotiated right or offer I should say yeah and I’m not sure if it’s going to be one of these things where uh you’re standing on Donovan’s doorstep pitching him which is you know what teams have done on July 1 in the past with their own no but you could but you could show up the next day right and it also depends on what what you know Donovan may not want to see them the day after but the the the key thing about this is the finals could potentially go until what June 2 June 23rd J is June 26th right so and seventh right and I and I’m not necessarily saying that like if Donovan let them know he wasn’t going to extend that they would oh let’s go trade him in the next four days um but generally that was the opening of trade season and if you’re potentially not going to have your franchise player under contract for multiple years that is the beginning of of uh of action um but let’s get to the coaching standpoint there’s a whole bunch of names from the uh that have been mentioned or are sort of that the Cavs are going to talk to some of them are very recognizable James bgo as we said Kenny ainson who is you know the lead assistant in Golden State got the Charlotte job two years ago and then withdrew um Terry stot uh Dave Jer who was actually a consultant for their organization earlier this season and then left to go be an assistant uh with Doc Rivers when he got the Milwaukee job um there’s a number of those guys and all of them are going to talk to the Cavs the belief uh from the people I’ve talked to is that Kenny ainson and James bergo are near the lead it is not a surprise because JB bicker staff was sort of a older style defensive based coach you typically will go the other direction when you change coaches um both Atkinson and and bgo are known more for offense bgo ALS or Atkinson also known for development although the Cavs are in need more of uh action today than they are of development although Evan Moy is a different conversation so bont temps um this is an extremely important hire um there’s been a lot of angst and hand ringing in Cleveland over Donovan Mitchell’s role in the coaching situation and I have been exasperated talking on Cleveland radio and then getting aggregated by this situation either you understand or you don’t you obviously respect what a star player is comfortable with in a coaching situation whether it’s removing a head coach or whether it’s hiring a head coach I get that what people want is that they want to know does the player get to pick the coach no the player doesn’t usually get to pick the coach yes the player gets to have a an influence on on on it no the player doesn’t sit in on the interviews yes the player’s feelings are taken into account there’s Shades of Gray and Nuance in there and of course the Cavs are going to respect that of course part of the reason why JB bicker staff was let go was because his relationship with Donovan Mitchell wasn’t ideal of course the new coach his appeal to Donovan Mitchell would be taken under under advisement and the conversations would be had between the organizations and Donovan Mitchell but I can’t help you if you can’t understand the Nuance like that in 2024 um the bottom line is Donovan Mitchell has got to feel good about the new coach at the end of the finals so that when they present him with the contract that that’s a factor in it and whatever the Cavs need to do to make Donovan Mitchell feel comfortable about that they’re gonna do okay and so yeah go ahead McMahon what did you say before about what the most important job for a coach in today’s NBA is the relationship with stars you’re not going to hire a coach particularly if you’re trying to keep a player in your on your team and in your organization who is eligible for an extension this Summer that if he doesn’t sign I think we all agree the most likely outcome is that the Cavs will end up trading Donovan Mitchell because it’s very hard to see them losing a guy they traded 100 things for for nothing in a year potentially right you’re not you’re not not saying he’s GNA be traded but it’s obviously it’s the most likely outcome here is extend or trade so if you’re going to if you’re going to have a guy in that position obviously whoever you hire as coach you’re going to talk to Donovan Mitchell and say hey what do you think of these candidates what do you think of who we might hire what would you like to see in the coach doesn’t mean Donovan Mitchell comes in and says I’m hiring you you have to hire this guy or you have to hire this guy or whatever but obviously they’re going to have he’s going to have a say and what they do because he is the center of what they’re doing just like when Milwaukee hired a coach H honest Koopa was involved just like the Lakers whether they’ll say it or not obviously will ask LeBron James and Anthony Davis their opinion about whoever they talk to just like this happens all over the place I mean look when the M they did not make the hire that Luca donic would have if he was just doing it himself he would have hired Jamal Mosley who obviously has gone on to prove that he’s a heck of a head coach in Orlando but Mosley was Luca’s guy they had an extremely strong relationship uh Mark cub and his advisory committee at the time for whatever reason decided that they weren’t going to go Jal Mosley but you know they made sure that Luca was okay with the hiring of Jason kid and and you know three years in a Western Conference Finals appearance and a finals appearance you know they they obviously feel pretty good about that just the the sandwich in the middle didn’t taste too great but um you know and like the Cavaliers they’re going to interview Johnny Bryant who has a great relationship with Donovan Mitchell going back to you know the first several years of Donovan’s career being his you know the the coach who worked with him on a day-to-day basis um these this is like obvious things that you do while you’re trying to keep a superstar happy and in Donovan’s case uh on your roster or a star I you know I think it’s going on might be a bit strong for Donovan but I think right what I think is going on is this the fans in Cleveland want to be assured that the coach who’s picked will guarantee Donovan is day so they are on edge uh does he get to pick the coach because if he gets to pick the coach that means like three days later he’s gonna sign right right and then the organization is on edge because they hear people talking about Donovan’s influenced and they’re like hey we’re not letting Donovan pick the coach you know so you know because they’re defensive everybody’s talking around the issue because um when it gets boiled down to a sentence everybody gets their backs up everybody gets all defensive um and so it’s going to be neither Donovan isn’t gonna hem himself in he’s not gonna say if you hire this coach I’m gonna sign why would he do that even if he intends to sign and the Cavs are not going to say that he has an influence why would they because then if it goes sideways then it’s you know like that was a big problem with with Milwaukee Milwaukee had to play defense on giannis’s role on Adrien Griffin you think the Cavs saw that and we like let’s do that too we love the way that worked out yeah let’s put let’s put the face of our franchise in position to get all the blame yes here’s look here’s the deal with the Cavs okay this whole search comes down to two things one obviously the coach has to be somebody Donovan Mitchell is cool with working with we all have agreed on that the other thing whether it’s Kenny or James bgo or Johnny Bryan or Chris Quinn who Adrian has said has gotten permission to you whoever is the coach they have to come in and they have to here’s my plan to develop Evan Moi as an offensive player up a level or two or more th those are the two things you got to do you got to show you got to show you can work with Donovan Mitchell that he’s gonna want to work with you and say hey here’s how we’re GNA get Evan Moy from where he is right now how we can get him into being an All-Star caliber offensive player at a big I got an idea a suggest what you got and I’m I’m asking to be interviewed for the job although I’m not sure if Donovan I think you’d be disqualified trade Jared Allen and play Evan Mobley at his natural position of Center where he is a very good offensive Center well listen I would say that’s the solution I would say I would say even if you say you want to do that that you still Evan Mobley still needs to get significantly better as an offensive player for the Cavs to become a legitimate Championship caliber team so whatever whether Jared Allen’s there or not that is that has to be part of the discussion is how can I take Evan Moy from where he is now to what he could potentially be because look in that series with Jared Allen out against the Celtics he had moments where he did some really good things on offense but the Cavs also the past couple years if you want to point to another thing beyond the relationship part where I would say JB bicker staff and his staff did not do a good enough job was Evan Moy was not given enough opportunities to expand his offensive game and to do what to shoot threes that he can’t make well he can’t he actually can make them but but it’s also not just stand there and shoot the ball like you could run pick and rolls with Evan Moy you could do a lot of different like he’s a very talented guy who has a varied skill set you could do aot things him handling or him setting the screen well I would say both but certainly with him handling you could do some of that and they did none of it good hands they they it’s I’m not saying you run it a thousand times a game I think he’s a very good offensive Center but like let’s stop he’s actually not very good that’s the the problem but He’s got potential he’s got was shooting around him he he’s pretty good as a power forward who needs to be able to shoot he’s not well okay but again this is my this is what I’m saying whoever the coach is going to be that’s if I’m if I’m interviewing them after they get the job my first question is what are you going to do with Donovan Mitchell do you think he’s going to be on the team my second question is going to be what your plan for Evan Moy tell me how you’re going to get Evan Moy from A to B Because if you’re taking that job with the Cavs and you want to make the Cavs into a team that is a legitimate Conference Finals team which that’s sort of my Baseline right if you’re if you’re a team that’s expects to get to the Conference Finals or thinks you have a real shot to get to the Conference Finals that’s a team that’s got a chance to win a title you get in the final four who knows what’s going to happen to do that Evan Mo’s got to level up and so that to me whoever takes the job those are those are the two things you have to answer and look to Che your point McMahon maybe he is just a good role Center and that’s what he becomes that’s fine I think for them to become a legitimate Championship caliber team he’s got to be more than that I think the Cavs think he could be more than that and whoever the coach is going to be they’ve got to say here’s how I can make him into more than that more than what he has shown so far I think he’s more just like a screen Lop threat guy like I think he can be a really nice playmaker out of the short role he does have a good passing feel I just think the idea that Evan Mobley has to be a primary scorer like maybe he’s you know maybe he’s just not maybe that’s not what he’s destined to become I think here’s the thing the coach is going to get hired in the next two weeks because the finals are going to be potentially over in the next two weeks and very quickly after that we’re going to know whether Donovan Mitchell is going to be on the market or not the Cavs believe he is not going to be on the market he’s gonna resign what’s gonna happen if Donovan Mitchell is not on the market that’s right then it will be what happens as a Fallout of Donovan Mitchell extending other potential star players former Allstars on the market and that’s why all of this stuff matters you skipped past the obvious immediate question in Cleveland I know and we’re gonna get to we’ll get to Darius scarland when the time comes but despite what Kobe Alman has said Kobe Alman the gentleman the team president came out and said I don’t want to trade anybody he made those statements we’ll see what happens after Donovan makes his decision but the chances are that there’s going to be a significant player available whether or not the cows want to say so or not right now and that’s why this higher makes makes it important with whether Donovan resigns or not all right I know it sounds a little bit old now but we really haven’t gotten into it at all that the Phoenix Suns and one of the um higher Stakes uh maneuvers of the offseason uh fire Frank vogle with one year into a five-year contract and hire Mike buholzer um on a big gigantic long-term deal uh he cries or you know tears up I should say at the press conference because he’s from uh Arizona and has long dream of coaching the Suns and uh you know he has no doubt his track record has significantly improved every single team he’s been the coach of well the the two teams he’s been the coach of you know Atlanta dramatically got better Milwaukee dramatically got better ended up winning the championship I can see why you hire Mike buholzer and believe that it’s a impact hire um that said they could have hired him a year ago and did not so um uh so here we are um bud is got the task of figuring out how to work those three stars together with a limited ability to have his front office around him improve the roster so bontemps um obviously he’s probably the top free agent on the market the top coaching free agent on the market uh they ate a lot of money on on vogle and paid him a lot of money they’re being as aggressive as they can coaching wise um I will go back to what you said about the Lakers I was a big believer in that this Phoenix roster could work I believed in it all the way until I watched it and they actually got quite a bit of reps together I know there’s the the crutch that they didn’t I actually think they kind of did and they definitely did they just weren and I was I was just a little bit worried that there isn’t an easy answer here so but Bud believes there is and they believe that bud can do it look here’s the best argument for Mike buen holer to be able to have the kind of success they hope for in this job what did people think of Brook is a defensive player when he signed with the Bucks not one and he became a guy who was a cons consistent Defensive Player of the Year candidate and totally revitalized his career after washing out with the remember he played for the Lakers did not go well he signed there for the room exception a couple or the biannual exception couple million for but it was like it was $2.5 Million wow that’s a amazing thing and he and he totally Chang the Bucks Chang his career and again that was because Mike buher put him in the optimal position to succeed now it’s easier said than done to go find another Brook Lopez maybe he could do the same with Yousef nurkic I’m not super confident about that based off nerk skill set he’s not Brook Lopez he’s not the same size as Brook Lopez he’s not doesn’t have the same defensive characteristics that Brook Lopez at least had the ability to do when put in the right system um way Lopez does space the floor the way Brook Lopez does I mean he really was a perfect fit for the way broad wants to play but when you’re talking about a team that to go back to what we talked about the very beginning with the Lakers they have the three stars they have no flexibility to really change the roster it’s going to be a bunch of minimum players around them you’re gonna have to have a coach they’re going to resign Royce O’Neal that’s going to get done that’s fine but they I’m just saying you’re most of the roster is going to be minimum players again just like last year more than half is going to be minimum salary players so if you’re if you’re building your team that way you need to have a coach that has a system that can maximize the abilities of players who don’t have a ton of ability to begin with OR can make more create more value out of players that aren’t supposed to have that level of value in the first place that is where bud can help them I also think there’s a chance he can help their offense a little bit which despite having those guys would get fog down at times would get a little clunky at times um I thought Frank Bogle did frankly as good a job as you could reasonably hope for from a defensive standpoint I mean they were a top half of the league defensive team with not a lot of defensive Talent um but yeah the the BET here is that bud who’s easily was the best coach on the market and has consistently been one of the best coaches in the league over 82 games and you know for my criticisms of him in the playoffs he has also won a bunch of playoff games won a title with Milwaukee that he’s going to be able to maximize the back half of this roster and give them more value than they had and that’s what they’re gonna have to bank on and again like the the crazy thing is you look at the West like we talked about a little bit before there’s there’s 13 teams next year that are going to go into the season expecting to make the playoffs you want to say San Antonio isn’t going to expect to make the playoffs then maybe it’s 12 but Portland we’ll see how aggressive they are summer ask Victor if he thinks he’s make the playoffs Portland and Utah we can put over here they’re not going to be in the mix to make the playoffs every other team with a possible exception of San Antonio is going to say we should make the playoffs so it’s a minimum 80% of the conference and it might be 13 or 15 teams so it it is going to be hellacious on a nightly basis and climbing up the standings is not going to be easy for anybody that’s exactly it and like if you if you want to put on your little purple and orange glasses you can say well H 26 and 15 when when their big three play together you know I mean that’s something to believe really easy math that’s a 52- win paase okay and I would say sure but then they were 0 and four in the playoffs and they were all healthy and they also won 49 games it’s not like they won 45 and so like I don’t think there’s any question that the Suns can be a good team I just I think figuring out how they can be good enough to be a threat in a western conference where the number one seed was the youngest number one seed ever and has multiple ways that they could add a significant piece or pieces if s preo chooses to do in Oklahoma City this summer you the number two seed was the defending Champions and you know their starting FES not going anywhere and they’re hoping that that some of their young guys can take a step forward next season number three seed the timber wolves I think we might touch on them later if they keep that roster together you know Anthony Edwards is ascending and and you know they’ve got pieces around them uh you know the Mavericks led by a 25y old and the only the only core guy that they have that’s older than 27 uh that well Maxi but Kyrie is the only heavy minute guy they have that’s older than 27 you know they their MVP candidate is 25 and arguably their I’m not going to say dere CL was their second most important player because it is Kyrie but their third most important player turned 20 during the season so I just Nam four teams that I it’s going to be tough whether you’re the Suns the Lakers or whoever to Leap Frog them I think you can expect Memphis to be back in the mix if if jaw’s healthy um you know again Houston Sacramento New Orleans the Warriors I mean the Warriors won 46 games with Draymond Green missing a ton for suspension if he just doesn’t get suspended they probably win several more games yeah and it’s going to be brutal you mentioned the impact that butd has had defensively but I agree I think they overachieved defensively I think vogle did a great job so do I think they were 12 or 13 13th I think yeah they’re 13th so we’ll see and look honestly let’s just call it like it is we keep saying three stars there’s two stars there and then a very good third player who’s paid like a superstar well and this goes back to the same thing under the new rules like in the old system before the last 18 months happened or 12 months I guess because the CBA got agreed to last spring you could go in you could be in a situation Phoenix was in with an owner who’s willing to spend money as we’ve seen and you could buy your way out of mistakes you could C you could put together uh Yousef nurkic and Grayson Allen and Bryce O’Neal and go for a $4 million player and just like add add more talent that way or just do stuff you get sign more players with the tax mle you could do stuff like that to just add to your team if you were willing to just spend money you can’t do that anymore you’re very limited in what you can do once you get to a certain point and that’s why again you look at this Suns team they are who they are you mentioned Royce O’Neal fans might go who really cares about Royce O’Neal they have to sign Royce O’Neal because they they have no ability to replace Roy O’Neal they had to extend Grayson Allen they have no way to replace Grayson Allen they have to have these guys on their team because that’s it there are no choices there are no other things they can do and that’s going to be the same thing for the Clippers as they look at what they’re doing this summer we’re going to talk about Minnesota you look at the nuggets with their situations with uh kcp going to be a free agent like for a lot of these teams they’re going to come up to this second apron and Beyond it they’re not going to have any options on where to go and so for a team like Phoenix that’s where if you’re betting on bud it’s hey we can give him some minimum guys that fit he thinks fit his system and he can make them into five seven 10 12 million do players and that can give us the depth that we don’t have otherwise because if that doesn’t really work out that way we’re going to be talking the same thing about the Suns a year from now like you said McMahon a good team that is somewhere in the middle 5 to 8 to n in the west and maybe can win around but probably can’t all right so a bunch of the coaches in the Western Conference are taken care of or or having who don’t have a job so you think about it uh Sacramento just extended Mike Brown after all that saber rattling he gets extended uh multiple years Steve Kerr extended during the season Ty Lou just extended Sun just tired Bud Jason kid extended during the season um uh Michael Malone extended during the season I would not be surprised if Chris Finch is uh going to be extended before next season and uh it do there’s no problem there um I’m probably even forgetting one Tomo should be done soon with an extension yeah but he’s in the East but so this is we just talk about the west but one of the biggest things that’s going on in the west right now with um in terms of contracts is Believe It or Not A Team president and that’s Tim Connelly Tim Connelly is highly sought after and he has an out clause in his contract because uh Mark Lori and Alex Rodriguez the two guys who basically made the hire to bring him in two years ago because they didn’t close by by the end of this season he has I I’m not sure if it’s 10 days or it’s a number of days but the end of the uh wolv season to opt out of his contract and with no penalty like he can go anywhere and become a free agent and I’m telling you if Tim Connelly was a free agent it would not surprise me maybe not the day he became a free agent it would not surprise me if the team either fired their leite executive or brought Tim conell in as their lead executive instantly because of how what level of value he has after building the nuggets and building the Wolves they got to get that taken care of before you look at how they fit their roster together before you look at how they’re gonna deal with the luxury tax Tim connell’s contract has got to get worked out in the next week to 10 days and bontemps it’s it’s a it’s an undiscussed storyline he doesn’t want to discuss it a lot he was professional about it talking about at the end of the season uh but obviously this is a a big thing in the NBA right now well Tim’s a pro and has been around for a long time so he knows how to handle these things but look here’s the bottom line Tim Connell is a great executive he obviously turned the Wolves into a western conference finalist uh 20 years after they won a playoff series the only other time in franchise history they win two series again they get to the Conference Finals they’ve got Anthony Edwards one of the rising stars in the league I’d be stunned if Tim connell’s going anywhere I suspect he’s going to get a very large raise and this is what was thought in Denver too and how he went well whether it’s whether it’s Glen Taylor or A-Rod who I I enjoyed seeing him pump his fist on the the sidelines over and over again throughout the Conference Finals uh whoever is right in the check at the moment as they figure out what’s going on with their situation I suspect that Tim Connelly is going to remain With The Wolves for a whole lot of money you like those those that fist pumping huh it Hey listen he he was right right in the camera shot a lot of the time he was well well positioned to be having a lot of camera time and he took advantage of he’s good at that and you know after a win he he’s really good at getting right next to Anthony Edwards He’s a strong fist pumper an outstanding Clapper um not so good of a saver apparently or the deal power he also had power all fields and a great arm a Rod’s a big dude by the way I don’t know if you guys have been around him I covered him a little bit long long time ago when he was with the Yankees he is a he’s like an NFL tight end size dude he’s a big guy let’s get into more analysis of a-rod’s athletic Hey listen but listen yes there’s the Conley thing and then like who’s paying the bills are you gonna pay the luxury tax like for a team that has a 22-year-old ascending Superstar a guy roughly the same age and Jane McDaniels who’s a perfect complimentary piece next to him you know just made a huge trade to go get uh goar went to the Western Conference Finals in the second year CAD adapted to being the number two offensive option Conley’s kind of running the show you got his extension done like dude they’ve got so much going for them and it’s such a mess by the way Kyle Anderson free agent to be was at was actually actually saw him in the building tonight in Barclays for uh fever Liberty back in uh the tri state area one of the best nicknames in the NBA slow you’ve got cat hoping that he gets to stay in Minnesota I thought that was a fascinating answer well he made it clear during his exit interview and kind of the feeling I get is it might depend on how things go in the courtroom or you know however this thing ends up getting played out there’s certain there’s a perception and it’s also based on the reality of they had to scr to couch cushions to come up with the money to put on the table for the team but there’s definitely a perception that if A-Rod and Lori get the team then payroll is getting slashed that there’s a fear I I let me just say this I don’t believe it’s gonna get slashed I believe if they get the team by the Fall which I am skeptical of for various reasons but um if they get the team by the Fall I don’t think that they’re cracking this team in pieces to save money I think they would because one thing about the team is they have instantaneous Equity they could borrow against it like that there’s a couple things really quick on this the first is a year after going into 25 26 Rudy goar is a player option if he Ops out of that deal and signs a longer term deal that starts at a lower number resolves a lot of their issues now Nas Reed also has a player option for that year he could be potentially getting a raise we’ll see what happens with him I would say he’s gonna get number there’s two there’s two other things with this too starting at 2526 there’s a massive new TV deal kicking in the salary cap is going to go up very rapidly you can find it’s been pretty flat for a while that’s why a lot of these teams are in this crunch you if you position yourself right you can grow out of things pretty quick final thing expansion is on the horizon Adam Silver said repeatedly getting the CBA done getting the TV deal done then we’re going to think about expansion they add a couple expansion teams for Hefty expansion fees that’s a lot of money to every team in the league and it’s coming fairly soon I would expect so you put all that together if you’re a team like the Wolves that’s had no success for all this time the the relief on that is coming pretty quick and you should be able to get there without having to tear the team apart I do not think they would tear the team apart however I do think that there there’s a possibility that if the ownership change took place that Carl towns’ role would be re-evaluated well they’d also have to find a home for Carl which might not be so easy to find either just because of the money he be evaluated there’s a possibility that they’d put him on the trade block I’m just trying to Ro’s already been reevaluated I know what do say I’m just trying to be careful well let us also and the other thing about Carl Carl had and Carl had a very good year he fit into a role really well there he had some big moments in the playoffs like he he did some really good things I would just point to what’s happened with the Trey young situation in Atlanta with Zack LaVine in Chicago a lot of these other places again to go back to repeat the same point with the new CBA and these aprons that are in place big money contracts like this are not easily moved even if you want the player on your team because it totally uh limits you in what you can do so even if the woles say hey we really want to trade Carl we really want to change our books around it’s not a guarantee to me that there’s going to be a Suitor sitting there saying we will take on this Carl town which is why I believe he’s not going anywhere because trading him and and getting equal return is going to be next to impossible so also the time to trade him would have been last year when you were trade him at 37 million and not 49 million right so but uh that will be the wolf situation will probably be dealt with with this ownership situation it’s just it’s not going to be on everyone else’s timeline in July but they still got an Edwards he’s under long-term contract and I like their chances with him under long-term contract yeah bonm you’ve been in Boston the last couple of days um the most uh interesting thing I think ahead of Thursday is Chris absb zingis availability and you were there to see it what uh can you tell us yeah Friday practice opened up he was getting some shots up moving around without any issue Saturday it wasn’t didn’t sound like it was the hardest practice but he practiced fully did everything with the team um next availability for the the Celtics is on Tuesday I think we could hear from Chris as porzingis for the first time that would be five weeks after his calf strain in game four of the first round against the Miami Heat I think there’s it certainly looks pretty good for Chris ASP porzingis to play against his old team in game one of the NBA Finals I think there’s a decent chance he’ll be able to play Heavy minutes in game one of the NBA finals um so that’s more me reading the Tea Leaves of the amount of time he’s been out and the way he’s moving around and if he could play 25 30 minutes a game in this series I think it is a extremely important thing for Boston and it to me only makes them more of a favorite to get four more wins and get the 18 Championship Banner McMahon when was the last when when did that trade actually go down the porzingis trade was that two and a half years ago yep that was uh yeah that was 20 February February 22 Yeah because then they went to the Western Conference Final uh that year and and look it was a straight up salary dump the Mavericks threw in a second round pick to make it happen and took back two contracts that the Wizards are trying to get rid of well you were saying to us on the group chat the other day that two and a half years later poringa still has not played in Dallas still has not played in Dallas and look the Wizards didn’t come through that year then he missed the Wizards trip last season the the Celtics trip this season he has played uh a couple times against the Mavs actually played very well against the Mavs in Boston this year and you know it’s very interest just the whole thing of porzingis coming back from an injury to face the Mavs and the finals is a pretty wild storyline and then one thing that’s he’s such a key to them playing not that Horford can’t shoot the three but porzingis is a different level of three-point shooter and certainly can shoot it from a different depth which matters a ton in terms of spacing and it’s just it’s really interesting because they’re playing that that five out style that you know carlile’s Mavs one of the first teams to really kind of dive all the way in on that and porzingis really resisted being that uh complimentary spacers too strong but you know secondary option spacer he really resisted that role in Dallas he’s bought in all the way in Boston and then when there are switches he’s now one of the best in the league at punishing them in the post whereas in Dallas you know the whole Rick rant was based on strong statistical evidence that the post up to KP was a terrible play and the thing it might be most important for him is the fact that to coming back is that he is a better rim protector than Al Horford where the Celtics have struggled at times in the playoffs without well goar is a great rim protector and the Lively Gafford combination still got those lobs off so I’m not going to say the poringa being in there is going to shut him down but obviously if Al Horford is your starter and you have the opportunity to bring in porzingis that’s something that you want to see happen and that will be something we talk about a lot in the next two weeks uh just a reminder we will be joining you on Thursday is our next pod the day of we’ll have a special guest uh as we always do on our our game day uh finals pods until then thank you very much for listening and watching The Hoop Collective thank you to Jackson and Adrian our producers thank you to Bon Temps thank you to mcmah we’ll talk to you soon adios amigos

Lakers & Cavaliers coaching searches + future planning for playoff teams | The Hoop Collective

Brian Windhorst is joined by ESPN’s Tim Bontemps and Tim MacMahon to talk the Lakers’ coaching search, the future for the Cavaliers with Donovan Mitchell & the coaching situation, the Suns’ challenge for Mike Budenholzer going forward, some drama for the Timberwolves and a key injury update for the Celtics.

0:00 Intro
2:38 Lakers’ coaching search
19:25 Future of the Cavs
32:55 Can Mike Budenholzer fix the Suns?
42:57 Potential drama brewing in Minnesota
51:38 Porzingis injury update
55:03 Thanks for watching

#ESPN #NBA

☑️ Subscribe to ESPN+: https://plus.espn.com/​​​​​
📱Get the ESPN App: http://www.espn.com/espn/apps/espn​​​​​
🏀 Subscribe to NBA on ESPN on YouTube: http://bit.ly/2yxs3Og​​​​​
☑️Subscribe to ESPN on YouTube: http://es.pn/SUBSCRIBEtoYOUTUBE​​​​​
☑️Watch ESPN on YouTube TV: http://es.pn/YouTubeTV​​