Are SGA & Oklahoma City Thunder Primed for NBA Finals Run Next Season? NBA Reactions | Buckets

Are SGA & Oklahoma City Thunder Primed for NBA Finals Run Next Season? NBA Reactions | Buckets

welcome to buckets brought to you by bet MGM the king of sports books my name is Matt Moore I’m the senior NBA riter for the Action Network and this is your NBA free agency react podcast if you’re interested in more detailed breakdown of the Paul George to the Philadelphia 76ers move we’ll talk about that today but if you’re interested more on that we do have an emergency episode up for with Brandon Anderson and Brian FCA you can check that out in your feed right now everything we talk about today can be found in the award-winning Action Network app you can track your it’s the best way for you to follow where the money’s coming in on I’ve got lots of plays on the WNBA because my model’s been killing it and so I decided to stop trying to pick out plays because every time I pick one it’s the wrong one so I’m just playing them all because I’m actually doing really well on the model so I’ve just gone that way you can follow those picks as well as guys like Jim Turvy Maria Marino you can get uh Joe deera J Money all of our usual contributors in the Action Network app check out youtube.com theaction network best way for you to support this show you can catch all sorts of great stuff on there we’re going to be doing buckets live throughout the summer we’ll have reactions on this podcast by the way to Summer League we’ll do offseason shows and then guess what like we have like three weeks and then we’re gonna be back into doing win totals I’m not even kidding you like I’m already plotting out with Brandon doing win totals and WS for August we’ll be right back into it because the guess what the NBA off season it’s not completely over but it’s a lot over a lot of things happened in the first 24 hours uh between Sunday and Monday that wrapped up a lot of the free agency stuff we’ve already seen trades to talk about it with me making his buckets debut is Braxton Reynolds he’s a writer for the Action Network he’s really impressed me with his analysis he’s got detailed stuff up on offseason stuff he’s been really keen on this stuff Braxton thanks for coming on welcome to buckets man yeah good to be here thanks for having me uh the biggest thing that I I actually the biggest reason I wanted to have Brax on was not only because he’s got a really good sense of cap stuff and of looking at Big Picture stuff when the Bulls let Caruso go he was like well they’re obviously going young and he gave them like a passing grade which again I will say Braxton we all agree you’re insane but still the big thing here was that Braxton what he did do is he was like well they’re clearly going young and I was like Braxton let me tell you young man about Jerry reinsdorf and the Bulls and how they will never give up the playoff Revenue well guess what here we are on Monday demara Rosen is likely not going to be a Chicago Bull they’re letting him walk they’re gonna move Zack LaVine they’re GNA figure out a way probably may not take make take till like the deadline to get off of vu’s money but they’re going to clear this thing and they’re actually going young even after signing Patrick Williams to a a reasonable but Hefty extension uh signing Jaylen Smith like they’re going through a youth movement braxon nailed that was very impressed with Braxton for doing that but we’re not going to talk about that because well the Bulls are garbage and if I want to talk about how the Bulls are Garbage I’d have Brandon on Braxton let’s start here um we already heard from the guys this morning on the Paul George trade but I did want to kind of get your reaction so before before this happened the Sixers were 10 to one at B MGM king of sports sports books to win the NBA title they have since moved to eight to one we’ve seen their obviously all the correlated Futures as well drop do you agree with kind of there’s a not a huge movement here like it’s a movement but it’s not a huge movement here it’s only a percent a couple percentage points do you agree with where the Sixers are now being priced in the market I mean I think they should be around 10 to one still I’m kind of concerned about the defensive guard situation I mean you need a guy next to Maxi who can really defend the point of attack I’m not sure they really do that at a high level right now they lost Batum they lost guys that kind of glue guys that pass well and move the ball I think that the passing is lowkey kind of an issue for them I think that outside of embiid it could get a little dicey for just connect passing for them so I’m kind of concerned about that injuries we know embiid has a history Paul George who knows I mean he had knee injuries in the past it could pop up anytime Max is clean that’s good for them but injuries and defense I’m kind of concerned for them compared to other teams like OKC Boston I think around 8 to1 10 to1 it’s a fair range one thing I think is interesting they were plus 550 to win the Atlantic division yesterday and with Nicks obviously haven’t gained a lot of steam after trading for male Bridges uh those odds are currently off the market at bet MGM but when we look at kind of around the market and we look at the various options that are out there it is kind of interesting to see um in the market right now there is a plus 340 so Sixers have jumped ahead of the Knicks which you would kind of expect they get Paul George big name uh they do retain obviously they extend Maxi they do have embiid they get back Kelly ubam I thought was a really affordable deal the passing I think is an interesting one because Michael Conor um who’s a Sixers writer also had this kind of thought that the passing is is kind of a gap there I’ll just say this I think Paul George is a much better passer than kind of he’s shown the last couple of years with the Clippers in part with if you have an offensive system that’s basically like hey these are our sets and this is what we run unless Kawai wants the ball in which case we’ll just give Kawai the ball and then he’s gonna just like isolate and be kawhai and you guys can all just stand around and watch him um when you have that kind of a system it tends to break things I think we’re actually going to see a little bit better structure here because one of the things that nurse really did was he brought more structure for Joel to be like hey we’re going to build in more sequences when they double you for you to have outlets for you to actually make these reads and embiid really thrived in that and so did Maxi they built more mechanisms in and I think PG is a really good passer he’s got a Sidewinder pass out of a pull-up jumper that’s my favorite of his where he’s at like he is killer with it finding Cutters kicking to Corners it’s like one of his pet little passes that he’s really good with and he doesn’t Telegraph it very much um the Sixers at plus 340 Nick’s at Plus 350 which to me makes a lot of sense given the loss of Isaiah hardenstein kind of how this roster it basically this is priced as hey the Sixers and Knicks are pretty even the Sixers have embid we’ll give them a 10-cent bump here I think when we look at the division the biggest thing here is the Celtics are now down to minus 160 and that that’s that’s a that’s a pretty good bargain here now we we’ve been talking a lot about this with the the guys at Action Network about how you don’t want to you only want to take long shots right now because you can get them later I will just say that like I think that we’re dealing with the immediate bump in the division Market in particular of okay so Sixers title odds go up so the division odds have to go up as well the Knicks get male Bridges so they’re more likely to win the title so the division odds have to go up this Celtics team even with ap probably being out to start the season this is still probably I think should probably be a minus 200 given that this was a 60 plus win team last year they’re so consistent if they were a more uneven team I wouldn’t feel this way but I do think I’m actually going to bet Celtics minus 160 to win the division in July because I love tying my money up for a full calendar year on a minus 160 price but I genuinely do think that this is too much of an overreaction specifically in the division Market not the title Market but the division Market here on the Boston Celtics yeah I think that if it was Tatum and Brown from maybe two years ago I would agree that they’re too inconsistent but they’ve grown I mean they’ve shown a lot of things about raising floors at this point I trust him even if kp’s out so I think that maybe like minus 190 is a fair price to me so I would take that right now too I think that it’s a little inflated for Philly based on just big name signings on the other side of this obviously is the fact that the Los Angeles Clippers you know lost Paul George um they do not replace him they had drik Jones Jr on a pretty a good deal good value deal they bring back Nick Batum who was with the Sixers not surprising the Batum was like yeah I think I’ll keep making millions and live in LA that sounds like a pretty good deal to me so he goes back there yesterday the division prices at bmgm where Suns plus 260 Clippers plus 300 Lakers plus 350 again B MGM these are off the market when we’re recording but in the market you can find now Suns plus 235 Lakers plus 300 Clippers 425 the now clay Thompson L Golden State Warriors who are trying to get a deal together for Lorie marinin but that’s a long shot at plus 450 Kings plus 475 you know we’re betting podcast we can talk all kind of about this um I’ve heard Clippers fans have kind of surprised me by being like yeah Paul George was a disappointment here and I’m like Paul George like held you up like he was the guy that actually played when Kawai was out all of that time and when PG was out it was like yeah he had like a random fracture or a random strain versus like the same problem over and over and over again I’m a PG guy I I will admit that I’m in the bag for him I did have a huge feature on him a couple years ago I love his game but the biggest thing here is just like this Pacific Division is now really shaky from start to finish suns have done nothing to really reshape their team they added Mason plumbley they’re maybe going to get Chris dun they added Colin Gillespie from the Nuggets that’s a choice um the Lakers didn’t whiffed on Klay Thompson they don’t get him sounds like LeBron’s going to take the max they’re still the possibility of DeMar rosen I will like them less if that happens Clippers plus 425 Warriors plus 450 I I’ll give my thoughts in a minute what’s kind of your reaction to the Pacific Division and the aftermath of that in this market when we look at this yeah well first thing on the Paul George thing you know the last time they were all healthy in a playoff series for Kawaii and PG was the bubble and PG was not good in the bubble objectively so I think fans are kind of remembering the last time they played together and PG was bad PG was really good in 2021 and he’s had some good runs recently but you know because the team didn’t go anywhere because kawhai was hurt I think they kind of resort to that kind of bad memory of PG in the bubble for a price I think Sacramento is what I would take out of those teams thank you I think that there’s a move to be made Ingram LaVine they’re going to do something in my opinion I don’t know what it’s going to be but something pretty big I like the team too you know Fox sabonis they got monk back on a great deal Devin Carter gives them a lot I think that you have Keon Ellis and Carter they can be that defensive guy that can hit threes occasionally create next to Fox next to monk I like their backcourt depth there you know they’re one move away from being the favorites in my opinion in that division they get Ingram for Barnes herder picks they could be really scary so plus 475 I think you said that’s a great price to me I would take that yeah like this kind of fits the model of what we’re looking for on Long Shots right is like going into the offseason especially this is a nice point I think a price point in the market where okay we know the Lakers are not getting Klay Thompson we know the Warriors are not going to keep Klay Thompson we know that they lost Chris Paul again Warriors might make a move and grab lri marinan I will just say like if that happen guess what we’re going to be right back on here being like I think it’s the Kings because we always want to fade these big moves but the Suns haven’t done anything to improve themselves the Suns finished three games above the Kings last season now do I have concerns about the Kings from a a championship contention standpoint obviously like I just I love sabonis is game I love watching him but I can’t get around when I do the analysis of man they get killed in his minutes in the playoff environment but this is a regular season bet and the kings were within range like there was a point where it was Clippers and then Kings and Suns trailing and the Suns made a run during the toughest part of their schedule got things together and like they deserve credit for that and the Suns I think deserve to be favorites here I’m not disputing that the Suns deserve to be favorites more is that that I don’t think there’s any reason to have the Kings Behind the Lakers Clippers and Warriors here now from a power rating perspective I’m GNA like the Lakers I’m actually hoping they don’t get to marar rozan and that they just go into the season and there’s nothing but bad vibes and then I can get an even better price on them because like based off my power rating which builds off of last season’s performance and then adjusts manually for these free agency moves I’m I’m just gonna like the Lakers I just know I am I’m gonna be on buckets in September being like you know who’s really good and then hate myself when I have to watch Anthony Davis uh limp off again because there’s no way he’s getting through two seasons healthy but I agree with you here I think Kings plus 475 is maybe the best division future in the market right now overall if not for the Oklahoma City Thunder the Thunder grab Isaiah hartenstein on a three-year big money deal which by the way just kind of like this one slips out from Stefan Stephan Bondi from the post oh yeah only the first two years of the deal are guaranteed I was on the phone with an executive on Sunday night and I was like I can’t believe that the Thunder are probably going to get hartenstein and he just like went off he was was just like he gets Caruso without giving up a pick he’s going to get hartenstein because he’s got all this money you know that he’s gonna be figure out a way to avoid the second apron when it comes time like it is extremely frustrating trying to compete with Sam prey night after like literally guy said this he’s like I like our team better than theirs because he always you know Everyone likes their team but it was just really funny listening to the frustration about what Sam prey was able to pull off here uh if you missed it within the span of a week Sam prey got Alex Kusa and Isaiah hartenstein two names that are not going to be they’re not going to lead the uh SEO segments on Google for if you search for NBA they’re not going to be the the top listings on free agency news but what they are are that is two players in the top five of defensive EPM a metric I trust more than almost any other it’s not you can’t trust anyone metric on defense but I trust it more top five those top nine in BPM if you’re like Brandon Anderson prefer that metric and if you just want to boil it down of voracious demon of a a perimeter defender in Caruso who shot 40% from three and one of the League’s best rebounders and Isaiah hartenstein who when he was on the floor every single player that tried to test him failed not every single time but at a large degree he’s extremely maneuverable you can switch with him and guess what because of the makeup of the team if they need to put Chet hren at five they can still do it their bench unit is going to be like is very possible going to be like Cas Wallace Isaiah Joe and Alex Caruso that’s a nightmare that’s before you add in all this other Talent so what do we do with the price Championship I think we can wait on there’s there’s reasons to wait on that for a number of reasons though I do think that they’re probably going to be my best bet when we get there but in this market guess what the nuggets are still getting the Lion Share of the credit nuggets plus 170 Thunder plus 175 wolves plus 210 I can’t go on here and be like you should fade all these big name moves and then be like you should definitely chase them with the Thunder but I’m going to anyway I I just think the Thunder have categorically leveled up big time so let me ask you what is the when you look at this roster from start to finish for OKC what do these moves really do for them for competing and improving on what was already the number one team in the west last season yeah well basically it kind of allowed them to match up with certain teams they couldn’t before so Lively and Gafford were big problems for them in the playoffs goar would be a big problem so he gives him size he gives him passing a lot of feel a lot of playmaking which pry loves in his players you know he wants guys to make decisions on the court and that’s hartenstein he can do that so I like it from you know a team buing versatility perspective which is what they always value it kind of almost completes them I think they need another forward I think that they need to slide Jaylen to small forward and get like a Dorian FY Smith maybe a Haywood High Smith with their exception still left around eight million that could be a good move but they have all the pieces to contend I think that Caruso is maybe the best off ball Chaser in the NBA I’m not sure this’s a better one you have Dort Wallace and then you have demons on the back end like you said so the defense should be there they have shooting they have creation I think I would take him actually at title I think I disagree with you because plus 850 I don’t think that’s getting any longer they’re going to start out strong they have you know a lot of depth so injury Insurance that’s kind of where odds jump a little bit if you get an injury they go a little longer that’s not going to be the case for OKC unless a shay injury happens I think that it’s only going to get worse so I would buy in right now this Market’s interesting so at one book uh there is a plus the Thunder are tied with Denver for the Western Conference title so there’s actually been a little bit of movement you can see on OKC in the bigger playoff Futures than there’s been in these division markets which to me is like that makes sense if you’re going to bet something you’re going to go for something long like a title move here um it’s gonna be I think the only reason I’m a little hesitant on the title they still are young they’ll be more experienced than they were this year and that certainly helps and I think they could have made the Conference Finals like I I’ve ranted about this like I just think like PJ Washington shoots normal and if or or if the Thunder shoot normal like just normal shooting from OKC and I think that they’ve Advanced the Conference Finals and I think they would have been live versus the wolves and I like the way they match up with Denver quite honestly like I like that matchup quite a bit there’s still enough from the perspective of you would have a good ticket to hedge against but I’m probably still gonna like Boston if we if we like Boston to come out of the East then I think it will be open but most of the Eastern Conference teams I like their matchups with OKC and that’s way down the line where if I get a division price I’m still going to be able to kind of build a position I think in season because I think the nuggets are still going to win a lot of games and as long as the Nuggets win a lot of games you’re going to have an opportunity to bet again on OKC and Minnesota which is what I did last year is I just kept building on all the I was like I do not think that Denver is winning the division now needed the Spurs game to happen got a little lucky right but in the end like KC went out for me and I thought that that and that was a good pickup but I just I like the idea of buying a lot into OKC’s regular season performance because they’s still a team on that track where they’re not going to start being like okay regular season isn’t that important we need to save some stuff for the playoffs they’re still going to try and figure out how good they are they’re still pushing and when you’re young in that kind of role like you’re able to go for things like 60 wins so I’m going to play all overs on their win total I think for sure because I just think their upside is huge now the downside of all this is they were extremely healthy last season young team should be healthy because it’s younger guys but that to me is like the only kind of caution flag there is they were one of the healthiest teams if that backs off at all if they have if Shay picks up some stuff especially after playing for Team Canada that’s a little bit of a concern for me but that’s where I wind up still on I think I like the regular season upside but maybe that’s a reason to go in on the title right is hey if they’re injured they’ll still be live in the playoffs versus the regular season they might slump a little bit with those injuries yeah you probably honestly can’t even go wrong with win total or division or NBA final probably all good bets at this point F them all F them all uh Dallas Mavericks land Klay Thompson on a really reasonable deal um it’s pretty impressive that they got this deal I will also say that who knows on the numbers right like you hear Whispers I’ll just say that like the numbers I heard bandied about on Sunday afternoon and going into Monday morning before he signed with Dallas were higher than what he signed for which tells me he probably left a little money on the table to go compete for a title with the Mavericks which I think is twofold one he gets to compete for another championship and two if he wins a title he gets to rub that in the warriors’s face because that guy is pretty pissed off and I don’t blame him um look resident Dallas Maverick skeptic here uh they got better better on paper my only problem is is if you look back at the run that they had and you go how did they make it to the Conference Finals well they made trades at the deadline and they got together that’s the word special which is can be annoying and overused in sports but it was like this is a special group having a special year Well you change that drick Jones Jr is now gone Josh Green is now gone not Josh wasn’t a huge part of the rotation you got better on paper like adding Klay Thompson Naj Marshall that’s an upgrade over thj Josh Green even DJJ no question however it does change the equation now you’re not as defense oriented now your perimeter defense is still kind of questionable because clay really struggled the Mavericks were plus 105 to win the division and to win the title they’s still 11 to one to win the title plus 500 to win the West what you read on the Mavericks and how the markets reacted yeah I think that I’m going to wait on them I think you’re going to get a better price in a bit clay look the offense is could to be good but Luca and Clay on the court at the same time we saw how Boston kind of hunted them there’s teams that can really destroy them for doing that I think that the defense is going to be a big concern Marshall is more versatile than Derrick Jones Jr I would say but he’s a worst point of attack Defender which is what they need so I’m really concerned about that loss too I think the defense it’s just going to hold him back I don’t trust against some teams like Boston or OKC I think Denver would beat them I think joic is too much of a problem for them he can just outplay Gafford Lively is not strong enough yet for joic he might get there um but I don’t think he’s ready for it right now so I’m kind of fading Dallas at the moment I think that the price of clay is just it’s too inflated I think it’s a big name signing but it doesn’t back up the odds change yeah I just don’t think that that that movement was necessarily On Target when we kind of look at um yesterday the Mavericks were plus 130 to win the division now it’s already down to plus 105 25 cent move based off of Klay Thompson Naji Marshall I don’t I don’t know if I can get there and again that doesn’t mean that the Mavericks shouldn’t be the favorites I think they should be they’re defending Western Conference Champion Luca I think is going to win MVP he going to gun for it totally understand that uh but I think you should probably take your pick between the Grizzlies plus 250 I’m going to probably ride with the Pelicans like I’m probably going to bet the pels uh I will like as kind of a to tail this into some rumor stuff the Pelicans have worked on a number of things I am still reticent to say that Brandon Ingram will be traded and that’s probably going to be like this is the tough part there’s a lot of conversation about Brandon Ingram being dealt there were conversations with the Hawks that’s now pretty much over because they went ahead and did the dejon Murray deal uh elsewise but there’s conversations with Ingram with the Kings I’ve heard conversations about a three- team deal that includes that if they move Ingram pretty much regardless of what they would get back I would love the Pelicans and I don’t but the key is based off of what I’ve heard I don’t think the price goes anywhere like it sounds like it’s going to be at best tree as like a lateral move I don’t they’re not getting a player that it’s going to be like oh they got this guy so we got to upgrade them that’s not what this sounds like so I actually think I can wait make sure that Ingram’s not on the team and then bet them it’s not that I think Brandon Ingram’s bad it’s that I would prefer dejonte Murray Zion Williamson the young Wings herb Jones Trey Murphy that be the core and then bet on that group after a deal but I also think that versus sometimes when I’m like well I want to get ahead of this trade I don’t think this price will move so I think I’m going to wait on Pelicans but Pelicans to win the division plus 340 I think is going to have a lot of value yeah I think that their big man rotation is nonexistent right now yep um you know who knows if the Rook is going to be ready to start or even play minutes at all so it kind of depends on the return it’s definitely a wait for me if they get like a Wendell Carter Jr or someone like that I think that the odds won’t change like you said and it’ll definitely be a good bet because that team when they’re healthy and together they’re very dangerous they compliment Each Other Well Zion with spacing Deonte can finally you know get a shot off and provide some scoring that the pels kind of lacked they didn’t really have that offensive juice per se so I think that waiting but taking based on the Ingram return would be a good idea for that division so one more here I’m gonna be when win totals come out I’ve already kind of decided like I’ve been it’s been rolling around my head the last day I’m gonna I’m going to be a Pistons buyer this year I’ve sold them the last two years and I think that this is a buy spot on the Pistons JB bicker staff not a coach that’s going to get people excited but he did a really great job in Cleveland even before Donovan Mitchell arose arrived um they resigned K to an extension the Tobias Harris deal is one of these very typical deals where Twitter like mocks it like oh my God what are you doing when it’s like what what did you think that Detroit was going to have to pay for to get anybody like you have to pay veterans a lot of money hey do you want to come to an objectively unfun Market on a terrible team to watch over a bunch of kids and teach them how to play NBA basketball how does that sound do you want to take a discount no like you have to pay premium you have to pay the the small Market attacks Tobias is a really good veteran he’s an experienced player it gives him a guy that K can kick to regardless of how what his playoffs look like he will hit shots and honestly I pay attention a lot to like a lot of Sixers guys look better when they leave for whatever reason so I actually think that when I don’t want them on division obviously I don’t want him on any sort of future it’s out now I kind of think I’m gonna be a byow buyer on the Detroit Pistons this year your logic’s probably right but I just can’t back the Pistons I mean Cade has no spacing around him outside of Harris and if you give a slasher no spacing there’s not much to do for him I think he had the second worst Rim shot quality of the 500 whatever NBA players there are so I don’t know I think that’s I’m going to pass on that because the Pistons to me they’re just a train wreck at the moment and I kind of want to see how he implements his schemes too that could be um you know worth monitoring for sure uh let’s talk about some rumors that are still out there and then we’ll we’ll finish up with the Lakers so one thing that’s being kicked around is Lori Markin so after the Warriors this is this is what’s tough I want to write all the the Warriors are like I want to burn them for this off season uh after talking so much for years is we’re so light years we’re so far ahead of everybody else and now it’s like Steph’s still pretty good man and you are just selling on his final years um because it was so apparent they wanted to get out of the luxury tax they just wanted to to get out of the repeater and save money however like they’ve been linked by Brian windhorse and I’ve heard the same like they’re one of the teams that’s trying to pry Lori Markin and out of Utah now I will make a blanket statement trying to get Lori Marg out of Utah is going to take an unfathomable deal because they wanted to trade Rudy goar they needed to trade Rudy gobear and he still got five first for it that’s what Danny a does is pull blood from Stone and it’s going to be a real pain trying to get him out of there like you’re not it’s them being open to marinin is not they’re looking to trade Lori marinin this happens routinely when a player is up for extension teams are like we’re going to explore absolutely every option is it better for us to take the deal that’s in front of us or to pay him and if they come out of that and they realize none of these deals are good enough they’re just going to extend them they’ll give him the money he wants because you’d rather have him and then trade him later than lose him that said the Warriors are in a position where they do have some assets to deal uh if the warriors were to trade for Lori marinan how much of a needle mover for everything we’ve talked about here would that be for you yeah I mean I still I still buy OKC over them I would still take Minnesota I think Dallas and Denver they’d probably be fifth on my ranking I think that they still need defensive juice Melton was a good signing but they need a bit more and their Center rotation I don’t know if I trust Jackson Davis against these bigs in the Western Conference so he’s a great fit marinin you know he’s been one of the leaders in points per touch in the NBA for the last two years he’s very good next to Curry Draymond would be very good kicking out to those two so I do think they become a good team I don’t think they’re a championship contender in that top tier with those teams I think that they would still need to make another move kaminga could be a guy that could be dealt if he’s not in the deal maybe Moody but they would have some options to upgrade I think I would need to see more of what they can get maybe a center I think could push him over the top into that kind of tier is there any team that you can think of that would be like the ideal for Lori marinan OKC for sure 100% he you know he addresses everything from defense to rebounding to shooting off ball he doesn’t need the ball to dominate I think that that him at the four with Jaylen Chad SGA Caruso God that’s probably a better starting five than Boston and I I didn’t think that would be possible this year I’m trying to think what they would have to give up in that deal well it be Dort Dort May Jen and then all the Clippers picks probably be gone they would have to give Denver picks and then maybe Wallace I think they keep him but it would be they saw the bridges trade basically and said that’s what I want times like one and a half yep Cas Wallace is a pretty good chip though that’s a really good chip because the thing with him is when he when he started off shooting hot we were like okay all right I guess like K’s a shooter now but then when he showed the defensive stuff that he did that’s when I was like God okay like I guess it’s just like going to be this way with everybody that OKC drafts where they’re just way better they’re like one level above everywhere that we draft and yeah like those Clippers picks have to be extremely valuable like they just have to be super valuable um with where the Clippers are kind of headed um long term even after signing James Harden to an extension after kawhai like I just don’t know if this is sustainable so yeah uh it’d be really interesting to see but the only my only pullback on the Lori thing with OKC is this is the same problem that Denver ran into you got to pay him the extension you’re gonna have to give jayb and chat their deals you can’t have that many big deals on the roster you just can’t because the repeater the the one the repeater is much more of a concern for Kay Bennett and OKC than it is for for OKC’s ownership group I should say than it is for Denver’s regardless of the fact that Denver is owned by someone who definitely likes to like prefers for things to come out with a profit um I just don’t know that the second apron is going to allow for that type of move for OKC where right now they’re set up to be like we can just kind of transition and then build behind the markting move might address some of those things immediately and maybe that’s worth it but it would have to have pretty big ramifications long term because of that second apron yeah I think that if they go for marketing they basically sell themselves on a two-year window of the best roster in basketball and then they probably trade Markin in the summer of what would be 27 or 26 in two years so I think that would probably be the case okay last thing here let’s talk about the Lakers because God knows can’t have an NBA podcast that talking about the Lakers uh Lebron offers to take a discount and then they don’t do anything and he says about that which is his right we’ll see if he takes less money for them to get Demar D rozan I don’t think that shifts things for me so here I kind of mentioned this earlier this is what’s tough for me okay is my model basically spits out hey the Lakers are actually a really good team and if you look at their Advanced metrics last year you can kind of get there where you’re like you know what they probably are a little bit better than their record but I am just on the where I’m at I’m like LeBron’s gonna be 40 I can’t believe ad is gonna have another year where he plays 70 plus games they still haven’t found anybody to take DLo still they didn’t reshape the roster they didn’t add anybody in the draft sorry to the younger James I don’t have like a I don’t have any real reason to upgrade them I can maybe hold them steady off of the last year’s power rating because they’re basically the same Squad but this is a pretty devastating Blow from a perception standpoint and again like this is why like I thought LeBron probably should have bolted is they’ve made it clear they were trying to the the Lakers are trying to go to Middle this where they keep LeBron without giving him the power that he wants they get like okay we’ll hire your coach and we’ll draft your kid and we’ll give you the big money contract but we’re not going to liquidate the Future assets that are going to be there after you in order to improve this team and they swung out on the one guy that they may have tried to get in Klay Thompson I’m surprised LeBron’s not more pissed but the reality is is like he likes living in LA and if he’s gonna play in LA he’s only gonna play for the Lakers because playing for the Lakers is quote unquote cool um how do we bet it though that’s my question here is like what do we do with the Lakers from a betting perspective is this a win total under when that comes out like how do we approach betting the Lakers given what’s happened to them yeah they did not address they did not find a big man to play with ad they didn’t find three and D guys which we know that’s the formula with LeBron and AD it’s get a center that can play with them and get three and D guards and some wings they didn’t do any of that I don’t like their roster makeup at all and then if Davis is one injury away from what a lottery team for the Lakers so I don’t like their win total for me I think that would fade it Go the under depending on what they said it at obviously but I’m leaning that way I’m not touching Lakers championship Lakers division winner Lakers conference winner I’m fully fading them I don’t think the roster is optimal and then you factor in age injuries it’s not good to me I would fade the Lakers yeah I think my big kind of take away there is okay if we if I don’t like the Suns and I don’t and I don’t like the Warriors I don’t and I don’t like the Clippers and I don’t and I don’t like the Lakers and I don’t and the kings are fine but I don’t trust them in the playoffs then that means that the other divisions have to have value in the division to win the championship we bet this with Joe deera and we did Atlantic and and Northwest and obviously Atlantic hit we had a really good chance of getting two teams in the finals from from each um Southwest divisions plus 650 in the market that one’s interesting to me because you’re buying low on Grizzlies pelicans and you’re getting the Mavericks defending champ defending Conference champions you’re get the Mavericks uh and you’re you’re getting the Mavericks the Pelicans and and The Grizzlies that’s and plus Rockets thrown in and something wild happens so that one I like quite a bit Northwest division plus 255 not bad because we both like OKC and you get Denver and Minnesota in that group too that’s not bad um either one of those I think actually has value that’s the best way I think to fade the Pacific Division that’s Brax and Reynolds you can catch him in the Action Network app it on Twitter writing stories daily he’s doing great analysis my thanks Braxton for stopping by we’ll be back later in the week we’ll cover whatever else comes up in free agency we’ll have you set on all of the things going on with the summer games we will cover all the things in the NBA as it continues to revolve and then we’ll head through the offseason with some special episodes as well my thanks to David pay our producer Hutton Jackson the video crew getting this up on youtube.com theaction network we’ll see you guys again next time till then let’s get Buckets

Action Network Senior NBA writer Matt Moore is joined by analyst Braxton Reynolds to discuss all the free agency moves from this NBA off season. They discuss the breaking news of Paul George’s free agency decision to leave the Los Angeles Clippers, if the Dallas Mavericks improved by signing Klay Thompson, and if now is the Thunder’s time to win a championship. All this and more on Buckets presented by BetMGM.

Click here for more NBA picks: https://bit.ly/NBAAction

Subscribe to the Buckets podcast: https://www.actionnetwork.com/podcasts/buckets

00:00 – Introduction
2:54 – Paul George Reaction/76ers Futures Odds
6:12 – Atlantic Division Odds
7:47 – Pacific Division Odds
13:00 – Northwest Division Odds
20:12 – Klay Thompson/Dallas Mavericks
21:43 – Southwest Division Odds
25:50 – Detroit Pistons
27:46 – More Free Agency Rumors
33:33 – Los Angeles Lakers

#nba #nbapicks #basketball

Get our free mobile app: https://myaction.app/youtube
https://www.actionnetwork.com/

@actionnetworkhq

http://instagram.com/actionnetworkhq
Tweets by ActionNetworkHQ

Individuals must be 21+ to participate in sports betting and iGaming in the U.S. Please gamble responsibly. If you or someone you know has a gambling problem and wants help, call 1-800 GAMBLER in the U.S. or visit: https://www.actionnetwork.com/general/responsible-gambling.

In Massachusetts, please call 1-800-327-5050 or visit gamblinghelplinema.org for 24/7 support. LiveChat with a GameSense Advisor at GameSenseMA.com or call 1-800-GAM-1234.

#AuthorBrandonAnderson #AuthorBryanFonseca #BlueWireVideo