Does DeMar DeRozan make the Sacramento Kings a contender? | ALL NBA Podcast

Does DeMar DeRozan make the Sacramento Kings a contender? | ALL NBA Podcast

[Music] [Applause] [Music] what is up everybody Welcome to the all NBA show part of the All City Podcast Network I’m your host Adam mes I’m joined by my steam colleague Tim legler legs how did your fourth go fourth was great man we had family in town filling up my house most my wife’s family mostly so a lot of beach days great weather at the Jersey Shore so we at the beach pretty much every day some some good meals good times man I love it’s one of my favorite uh weekends of the year without question same for me I wasn’t at the beach but I was at the lake um so same thing man out in the sun rejuvenated and excited for what is now Summer League week we’ll both be down in summer league over the weekend next week’s show will feature us talking about who stood out to us in Las Vegas leg is gonna be on the call for a lot of those games so uh it should be good I’m pretty excited for it on today’s show we’re going to continue talking about free agency because since the last time we talked there have been a couple important moves including the Sacramento Kings Landing deard de Rosen very interesting pickup it was not one that was on my radar coming into it we’re going to talk about what that means does it make them true contenders now did it move them up a tier we’re also going to talk about Caleb Martin going to Philadelphia buddy healed Golden State fron Vagner signs a Max Dario sarch goes to Denver and then later on in the show we’ll talk about the Olympic groups which are now set after the qualifiers are over who got in and which group looks like it’ll be the most tough but first let’s start with deard de rosan and we have our graphic here for the deal that went down he leaves the Chicago Bulls very weird off season for the Chicago Bulls um in a three- team deal that will’ll see the Chicago Bulls get Duarte and two second round picks as well as some cash the Spurs pick up Harrison Barnes and a 2031 pick Swap and then of course the Sacramento Kings receed demard Rosen so the Sacramento Kings have been in the stage legs for the last couple years where they’re on the doorstep of title contention I don’t think they would consider them true title contenders they were on the fringes Harrison Barnes to Demar D rozan that’s an upgrade is it a good fit I I think it is uh because I think what they were getting offensively Adam was capped out at what you were seeing between dearen Fox and sabonis I just you know sabonis has some offensive limitations in his game as great a player as he is and and you know he nobody works harder um he’s a great passer a phenomenal rebounder but his scoring has a cap on it and I think we’ve seen it and it’s not enough what that team has even with the strides that Keegan Murray made a year ago as you could see it’s just not enough in the Western Conference this is a totally different caliber offensive player they’re adding to the mix now you know he’s up there a little bit he turns 35 in about a month but still put up great numbers this year 24 points a game in Chicago um the guy is just a a you know we call these guys professional scorers I don’t really like to term that much I think it applies perfectly to demaro rosan he gets his number man and he gets it every night and he gets it one way or another whether it’s making a bunch of mid-rangers or getting to the line 10 12 times on a given night he will get to his number almost every night um and so now I think for Sacramento this is a significant step forward on a team two years ago number three seed in the western conference right and we knew that that was a little bit skewed because they were healthy all year and nobody else was and they took advantage of that last year they came back to the pack a little bit as the the West improved but still firmly in the mix and a threat in the west like they’re they’re they’re a solid playoff team and now DeMar rosen to me gives them reason to think they can challenge for the top four in the Western Conference and and I think they’re probably right because he’s just such a consistent pencil it in production guy and it’s so much better than what they had at this at that spot and I think now their offense is just a much more diverse in the ways that they can score and the ways that they can beat you so I love this move for Sacramento I love what you said in the beginning you didn’t see it come neither did I this one caught me completely off guard I I did not hear anything about this prior to really the news getting release so credit the Kings they got it done he met with Mike Brown I have a lot of faith in Mike Brown and I like this team a lot more than I did before this trade it I’m curious to see this the pecking order and not even the pecking order because I think we kind of know who the guys are on the team but more how do you fit people in because dearen Fox is clearly the centerpiece of the team you play through Damonte sabonis a lot he’s like the fulcrum dearen fox has been the star how do you see demaro Rosen because he’s a guy that traditionally has been more of a you give him the ball and let him operate from his spots so how do you blend that high post action with with sabonis and fox that Twan game with the ISO game of demaro Rosen they’ve gota they’ve got to restructure their offense to a certain degree you can’t have DeMar rosen out there kind of spotting up standing around waiting for dearon Fox and sabonis to run their Action Now DeMar rosen is a really good dribble handoff player in terms of receiving dribble handoff so right there there’s gonna be stuff where you can run it twice on the same possession you know you come down you run some Fox and sabonis action the ball ends up back in the hands of sabonis a lot of times out of that action at the top of the key and then he will run quickly do a dribble hand off on the opposite side of the floor sabonis probably next to joic I don’t know I don’t know the numbers on this I might be making this up but it seems to me it’s the second most usage rate with the dho behind behind yic anybody in NBA so if you can run both of those multiple of Tribble handoffs in the same possession and the second time you’re handing the ball off to guy like Tomar Rosen who really knows how to come off those screens tight now he’s not using it as much to create offense for other people as he is for himself but that’s going to be a major part of their offense but I also think obviously if you got dear Rosen on team you got to have more primary usage with getting the ball to him to start the possession in specific spots what this might do also is create other opportunities for sabonis on the offensive glass because DeMar rosen is going to get his share of double teams when he starts to back guys into that middle area the floor he gets hit with late double teams all the time if that ball comes out and a shots taken and you’re in rotation mode against sabonis good luck trying to get a body on him to keep him off the glass so that could be another way if you cut back a little bit of the usage rate for sabonis initially because you got the Rosen there’s other ways for him to go be effective and go get the basketball I think Mike Brown is good at adjusting to his Personnel I think it’s one of his strengths and one of the thoughts from when he took over from Alvin Gentry I thought that they added a lot of off-ball stuff for guys like Kevin herder now that Keegan Murray is there things for him so I actually have faith that Mike Brown will be a good coach at doing this exact thing like okay on the Fly we’re gonna have to make some adjustments here but the big question now is like how good is this team they retain Malik monk I was worried they were goingon to lose him in the off season I actually thought he was G to be you know out the door they retain him you still have Keon Ellis who I like a lot um Keegan Murray who was one of your guys that you were very interested to see which way he goes so actually before we ask how good they are let me ask the Keegan part he was on this climb becoming a player that was okay maybe there’s more to the G his game do you feel like this halts it at all does he now take a lesser role in the offense and maybe he TRS out I think so but I do think he’s got areas of improvement with his catch and shoot three still to come and that could be more opportunities there and if you know if if the shot quality is better because of the amount of attention now that you’ve got to give other people you know you see him have an incredible year shooting the basketball because the looks are going to be cleaner so maybe he’s got a little bit more uh Reliance on the three-point shot solely uh than he did before but look there what are you gonna do demaro Rosen is a better player and he’s got he he plays a certain way so when you’ve got four deep in terms of your top guys one of those guys is going to have to do a lot more catch and shoot and that in this case is going to have to be Keegan Murray right so how good do you think they are now now that you see this move like are you elevating them up a tier are they where do you slot them in in the west I’m saying this man like there are I guess you’d say depending how you look at this three or four teams clearly better and I don’t even know if the fourth team you would even go necessarily go there but I think we’re going to agree just going into the season based on what happened last year any addition or subtractions do the math on it these teams are going to be better on paper going in Oklahoma City we agree with that right yep 100% I think they’re the best team by far Minnesota okay Dallas okay Denver yeah that’s it you you you can’t tell me that you can’t make a c first of all you might even get Sacramento even in that Dall Denver mix in terms of regular season wins man it’s not going to shock me I mean Denver’s got Denver’s got some stuff to prove this year in my opinion so let’s let’s see I mean I I I said I was thought this was more than a one championship team but you know last year losing the way that they did it you know you and you now you’ve got to continue to reinvent yourself you lose kcp you got to figure out where those where that contribution is coming from that level defense that that level three-point shooter where’s it coming from we don’t know if that’s going to be Christian Brown yet if he can step up and fill that role so Denver has something to prove I think we ac we expect Oklahoma City Minnesota and Dallas are still ascending we’re not sure yet about Denver yeah so that leaves the next tier of teams Beyond those teams you’re talking Clippers Phoenix Phoenix yeah New Orleans the Lakers Warriors like these are the next group of teams so for me absolutely you could say Sacramento is right there four five mix that’s where they are in the regular season I I mean I I don’t know that there’s anybody else outside those those teams I mentioned that you’d say oh yeah they’re better going in going in I I I’m not saying that about Phoenix I’m certainly not saying that about Clippers they took a step back Clearly Now Phoenix might be better with Mike buher and we’ll see but there’s no reason to think based just on what you saw last year oh yeah they’re GNA figure it out this year they had a lot of they had a lot of deficiencies on that team so let’s see but clearly Oklahoma City Minnesota and Dallas I think and then Denver would probably be half a notch above where I think the Kings can finish but I think in that four five range that’s their ceiling I think the other thing about Sacramento is all of their key guys including Damonte sabonis should be better next season than they were last season or at the very least the same they’re all guys who are ascending dearen Fox is even still ascending as a player Keegan Murray and Kevin her are definitely ascending his players Malik monk ascending so you talk about just naturally I mean there is always the risk of staleness in a team you know there is an expiration date on every team no matter how good they are so you worry about that but adding D rozan all of those guys should be better and we think D rozan is better than Harrison Barn so I look at this and I go they’ve been a good team they’ve been on the doorstep this there’s reason to hope that one it’s a great culture fit demard Rosen has always been well-liked by his teammates you know he cares about the right things he’s going to go into a team that I think has a lot of guys that care about the right things and want to win and are hungry to win so I think it’s a good culture fit I think you have you can buy that these guys all have a little bit more in them that they can show and I like it I think the kings are interesting I probably agree with you about where they’re at they’re in that Phoenix tier of teams and probably the Clippers and by the and by the way I’m seeing some comments over here so we should address it because I’ve seen multiple people mention it the Grizzlies um I hear you I they won 27 games I understand they were decimated by injuries they didn’t have John Mor I get it but look John Mor’s gotten himself into some situations on off the court on the court with injuries because the way he plays is is a little bit reckless in the way that he attacks at his body weight with the with the amount of time he spends in the air and how little he weighs doesn’t take a lot of contact to send johnar flying it doesn’t take a lot of contact for johnar to land in awkward spots and so he’s always going to be to me susceptible to injuries and he’s also well we got to find out make sure he’s got his act cleaned up off the court with some of the stuff that has gone on with him now I’m not going to automatically just go say yep let’s go pencil them in for 55 wins I don’t know give me time you might be right talent-wise and on paper they should be a team that were is very interesting next year and is somewhere in the mix in that middle pack you know anywhere from three to six that’s where they should be let’s see it first I got to see that first you know let’s get to Christmas the Grizzlies before I before I know what that’s going to look like but you can at least assume that they have a chance to be good and I think that’s part of that’s part of the talent to do it without a doubt no doubt about and that Kings Clippers Suns they’re in that mix with those teams I don’t I’m not gonna think they’re going to be as good as Oklahoma City or Minnesota or in my view Dallas and probably Denver yeah I think those are the top four teams in the Western Conference and I don’t know what Memphis would do to change my mind about that right yeah the other piece of the real quick just quickly the Spurs picking up Harrison Barnes plus a 2031 pick squat with Chicago you know the the Spurs did not go all in we talked about maybe they go all in this off season um they get Chris Paul you now have Harrison Barnes these are at Le veteran players that know how to play and they kind of went half in I think they’re going to be better next year but what do you kind of make of what we see of the Spurs so far and their decision to kind of be like hey we’re going to slow play this and what do you think a Harrison Barnes there yeah I think they’re definitely slow playing it but I think it’s interesting the guys they’ve added are almost guys now the next step forward for this team this organization and Victor wanyama is the is that like that next level of professionalism and maturity and IQ and all that because that’s what they brought in Harris ofv and Chris Paul that’s not gonna move the needle a ton in terms of like win totals particularly Chris Paul but the impact he could have on wembanyama and understanding the game better and also the impact he could have on Stefan Castle their first round pick right who’s you know who’s gonna be a major piece for them going forward that’s why you bring in Chris Paul that’s why you bring in Harrison Barn so I think they’re they’re they’re kind of continuing to shape this thing but clearly not trying to accelerate the process at all in terms of win total we’re GNA talk about him here in a little bit but wanyama in his exhibition games leading up to the Olympics has looked pretty good so he might be continuing this trend and uh I’m excited to watch him here in just two weeks at the Olympics all right let’s take our first break on the other side we’re going to run through quickly a handful of other deals that happened last week there haven’t been a ton of major deals but there were a couple minor ones that might really impact especially one in Philadelphia that I know legs is pretty high on so we’ll talk about those on the other side but first it is summertime time to check out Shady Rays get ready for the season with quality Shades built to last our friends at Shady Rays have you covered with premium polarized Shades that won’t break the bake 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one word a CI Ty y just go to indeed.com allity right now and support our show by saying you heard about indeed on this very podcast indeed.com allity terms and conditions applied need to hire you need indeed all right back here segment two of the all-nba show so the deal that might have flown a little bit under the radar one of my favorite role players in the league Caleb Martin finds a deal in Philadelphia four years $32 million deal seems like really good value for what he contributes to the team and that gives you a third wing uh Defender behind Kelly UB and Paul George now Caleb Martin Wing defense is one of the most important ingredients in today’s NBA they have three guys that are really good at it what do you make of that move legs love it love it for Philly didn’t cost them a ton uh he also gives them a toughness you know that I think they need a defensive toughness it’ll be interesting to see uh what they end up doing in terms of lineup they want to play you know I saw you know reports out there they’re goingon to play small and you play Paul George Caleb Martin and beid Maxi UB that’s an interesting team that’s a lot that’s a lot of Firepower that’s a lot of scoring uh potentially and and you that’s pretty good defensively because even UB can defend you know that’s tyres Maxi is the only weak link defensively really with that group but you’ve got you would have three Wings on the court at all times now maybe they go a little bit bigger Caleb Martin comes off the bench I’m not sure um clearly or UB does maybe maybe you bring UB Off the Bench you go Paul George Caleb Martin um you know that mix with maxi and beid figure out who the fifth is gonna be but one of those guys you know getting back would be great getting back UB and cayb Martin and adding cayb Martin that’s huge man I like Philadelphia on paper going in going into the season how can you not like them so it’s they’re so much so much more interesting as a threat than they were I think going into last year and you know what the best thing to come out of last season was the emergence of Tyrese Maxi is a legitimate Bonafide star caliber talent in this league and now you go out at Paul George resign U bring and Caleb Martin man we didn’t know what their team was going to look like uh a few weeks ago right they had no roster really they had two guys under contract they still they still have a lot of spots to fill you do they still have spots to fill because they only have couple guys penciled in right now like for bench production um but I love this signing I I think he this is a guy that loves to play defense I think he’s gonna people are gonna really respond to him in Philadelphia he’s not afraid uh he’s gonna he’s gonna be there and he’s gonna show up and play tough and he’s G to be a little bit of that Wing enforcer type guy Philadelphia fans are going to react well to Caleb Martin and Caleb Martin’s a good enough shooter like he’s not a strong shooter but he’s good enough that you’re not going to get away with just not guarding him and I think that’s the key same with Kelly UB like they’re good enough and if you look offensively at that starting lineup or projected starting lineup Tyrese Maxi Kelly UB Paul George Caleb Martin Joel embid those are all guys that know what they’re doing offensively to where you’re they’re not just zeros that you can leave off and then defensively you’re right Maxi is the weak link there but those other guys are great defensively like Elite defensively so to me they have a great Playoff lineup the big question is of course going to be the health of Paul George and Joel because they are thin at the moment and as much as I like Kelly UB and Caleb Martin they work because you have Paul George and Joel em beat around you have the offense you take one of those guys out even for a game and I think they’re gonna really struggle so to me that it’s kind of the story of the 76ers all along but I think this year their best five is probably the best five they’ve had in the the Joel embiid era in my opinion I just think it’s a really smart connected uh starting five yeah and I liked it’s funny I feel like we keep saying it and moving the needle forward and I like last year’s team the best um you know up until this point right now I like last year’s team the best at that point in Jo bid’s career going in and you know things happen throughout the year this team is definitely the best team Joel embiid has had since he’s been with the Philadelphia 76ers and it’s almost like you’re at a point now you still have the Boston Celtics in your conference but anything short of a Conference Final appearance against the Boston Celtics like if that’s not your max out that’s not your ceiling this will be a disappointment when it’s all said and done you can’t add Paul George and have basically almost three quarters of a billion dollars tied up in three players and not expect to go to the Conference finals against Boston no I don’t know that people are gonna expect who knows what they look like if they have an incredible year and guys stay healthy that it might you might get to that point year some people might pick them to beat Boston at that point that’s months months down the road but at least projecting you got to say yes absolutely the floor is Conference Final you can’t be another second round exit if you’re the Philadelphia 76ers Golden State at his buddy Hill they had a weird offseason so first of all they’re part of a six team trade we don’t even have a Graphic for the Buddy Hill deal because it’s like 40 pieces in the NBA moving somehow every trade combined into one trade to make this deal work but buddy Hils going to Golden State DeAnthony Melton is also there they of course got Kyle Anderson so buddy Hill as a Klay Thompson replacement seems to make a little bit of sense um what do what do you make of the status of their roster now yeah I mean I don’t know man you know you got you had De Anthony Melton and Buddy hee and it’s just like they’re small they’re just small like you know what I mean it’s and I I understand you had to replace Klay Thompson shooting and they try to do that with Buddy heel and DeAnthony Melton’s only 26 years old and you know he guards pretty well and he’s he’s turning himself in a pretty consistent three-point shooter I don’t know that that does much for me in my overall the Golden State Warriors I you know how how how can you think that man I’m expecting another great year out of Curry I kind of know what Draymond Green is at this point in his career but what I said to you earlier um about the Warriors a couple weeks ago was is there another big step for kaminga that to me is kind of what this whole season is going to be about for them I’m not going to be surprised by anything else I don’t think Brandon psky has like this four gears more like you know Brandon psky is gonna be a really good player in this league he’s gonna be a really solid player Brandon PK’s I don’t think ever G to be a guy that’s gonna be like 18 20 points a game I don’t think that’s gonna happen so he’s like a he’s like a really smart piece very versatile combo guard facilitates really well can can can shoot threes he’s an Energizer I kind of know what he is I feel like I kaminga because he’s so athletic he and and he’s got good size I feel like there’s still things he could add with his handle with his mid-range like there’s other ways for a guy like that with that kind of size and talent athletic ability to to to add a step or two um can he do it and if he does not saying they’re going to challenge anybody but that to me will make their season a lot more interesting because these pieces to me they’re just like plug and play more smaller guys they’ve had they’ve had they’ve had guys like this and now they’re just that’s it they’re replacing these guys right they had Chris Paul there they had Dante dienzo there they had Klay Thompson there and you replace them with other guys the same size right and so the qu you know will they be more consistent will they be better we’ll see remains to be seen but I don’t think they did anything dramatically to improve their team and most of their Improvement is going to come from Andrew Wiggins returning to the form that he exhibited in the postseason run when they won a championship or and or kaminga continuing to evolve into a player that adds things to his game that that now he goes from whatever he average this year you know can you take that to 22 23 a game by because you get to the line more you’ve got a better mid-range more consistent with your three I think he’s got the talent to do it let’s see how hard he grinds it this summer and just how the pieces fit even next year what the opportunity is for him because that’s one of the questions when I look at the roster I don’t I don’t even know if it’s designed for him to be honest with you for him to break out that’s one of the questions I have um another move that I’m very interested in Orlando Magic offered fron Wagner a Max uh contract extension um fron Vagner is my guy the Orlando Magic are my team B Palo ban Carol be a Max guy I think in today’s NBA you’re not going to see a lot of teams go with three Maxes and as much as I love fron Vagner is fron Vagner Pao banero the two Maxes you have on a team if you think you’re going to build a title Contender and do you like that deal for Vagner probably the answer to your question is probably not I like Vagner a lot if Vagner was your third best player I really like that team yeah that’s you know you know you got you got they’re the only team in the league whose top two scores were 610 and up and Vagner is a better player than I thought at the NBA level I’ll be the first to admit it and I said that beginning of the year last year you got off to that great start I didn’t know if that you know I was like what am I watching in right now he’s he was like their end of game ISO player and I was like well that’s not good enough for the magic turns out he’s better than I thought um and Banker is the real deal I mean that guy that guy’s a stud he’s he’s a franchise type player but you think if you’re to your point if you’re gonna have two Maxes you almost feel like that other Max needs to be more of a one two or a one two three type player right that a guy that has all kinds of Versatility and quickness with his handle um deep three-point range all more explosive I think than fron Vagner but you and I have talked about this many times sometimes Adam when you have the guy already inh house and your certain organizations you what you view as a Max is different than the rest of the league yeah because you you can’t take a step back by not doing that right because they’re not gonna get big- time free agents you know I’m talking about like really gamechanging type free agents they top tier your top four five guys every summer that are free agents that you know their track record is not getting those guys so they as an organization and if that’s the case you got to reward the guys you already have in house and that’s what they did and I get why they make the move and he’s a very good player but if I’m answering your question literally probably not good enough if that is your second Max and this is my fear for Orlando cuz I love this team and I think that they probably have two more years of climbing you know where they’re they get better over next year they’ll be better than they were this year and the year after that I think is another year they they stand to get better but when you talk about the Arc of a young team a young core that stays together and grows into a champion this one feels to me like there will be a ceiling on it and I hope I’m wrong because I love watching him play so much but that’s exactly right that two forwards as sort of your two Max guys is a tough formula as great as those two guys are and as great as they fit together um we’ll just have to see how that plays out the last one I have for you is Denver signing Dario sarich um they give him a two-year 10 .6 million contract here there is a player option on the second year of that deal Dario sarich is one of these players to me legs that on in the right environment and in the right style of play I think he’s a phenomenal player needs to be kind of a fulcrum a guy you play through he’s a great passer he smart he’s unselfish he does a lot of things but in the wrong system if you just put him in the corner and ask him to be a stretch shooter he’s not a great player he he that’s not a great use of his talents so do you like his fit in Denver is that a place that you think is going to get the most from him I like that I like this location landing spot for Dario sarch more than any other landing spot in the NBA um because of the way they play you just described it he he is a great dribble handoff screener yeah um and reading out of that where to go because he can pop out of that and shoot threes fairly effectively he’s a phenomenal passer so when you’re talking about some of the action that Denver runs where you see joic at the top and he’s and he’s running some of that dribble hand off but then can read a back cut on the fly if a guy reads that and makes you’ve seen yic do that a million times Sage can make that pass sarich is gonna be reading the same things joic can he’s incredibly smart I mean he’s not it doesn’t do much for you it doesn’t elevate your athleticism overall collectively as a team that’s for sure but that’s not who he is it’s not what he’s been and so when you look around the league at teams that run systems Taylor Made to a guy’s skill set he found it and so I think he’s going to be a very valuable player for them you know I really like this pickup didn’t cost you much and he Blends right in from day one you know there’s a lot thrown at you when you play in that type of system in terms of your reads and now I think they’re going to be more comfortable because he can play the four and back up Aaron Gordon at times because he can spot up and make some Corner shots at a higher rate than Aaron Gordon can from behind the three-point line he’s not going to do the slashing stuff as well but he can also back up joic at Center and run a lot of the same action because he can make the same reads and deliver the basketball in the same way that joic can so I think he is absolutely suited for the way Denver runs their offense and this is a nice role player 15 to you know 23 minutes on a given night I I really like this pick up for the Nuggets I agree with you that he can be a great you know now yo goes to the bench he comes in you can run the same system and have similar Effectiveness as the second unit so I think that part’s good but I have a philosophical question do you think it’s important do you think it’s better for teams to have a bench lineup that matches the style of their starting lineup or do you think it is better more often to have a bench lineup That is a curveball a counter to the typical style that a team plays it’s good question I don’t think it’s I don’t think it’s a blanket statement in general it just depends for some situations it works to have a different level of whatever speed the defensive pressure out of that second group like just to mix things up when they come in the game get you out of a slow start a lot of nights you know the bench come in and energize you so sometimes that works for teams um sometimes in a situation like this I mean to find a player that is this smart and capable yeah with his reads and playmaking very hard to find because otherwise you just would probably have another dude that screens and Dives at The Rim all night if you’re backing up because that’s what most of the centers look like in this league or or they or they just strictly shoot threes s can do more than that man he’s really good with the ball in his hands like and so I I think that’s probably why he was attractive to them like this is nice because we we don’t have to we don’t have to cater anything to him he’s gonna be able to fit into what we do yeah all right let’s take our final break on the other side I want to talk about what something I’m very excited about the Olympics the Olympic pool play has been set the group stages have been set and there’s one group that is a killer all four teams in the group are absolutely good we’ll get to that on the other side and give our early impression about the Olympics but first let me tell you guys about fitbod what are your workout Essentials for me headphones for sure I’ve got a foam roller that I always use older I get I have to stretch for like 15 minutes before I start working out I got a water bottle I’ve got a stretch band but whether you’re a season gym goer like myself or maybe you’re just starting your fitness journey like legs the essential workout you really need is fitbod it’s a fitness app that customizes each workout based B 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to tell you guys about better help when life goes so fast it’s important to take a minute to celebrate your wins and to make some adjustments for the rest of your your year therapy can help you take St stock of your progress and set achievement goals for your next six months so whether you’re trying to switch careers maybe you have a big life decision coming up and you just want to talk to somebody that’s experienced and can maybe help you think about things differently you want to give better help a try it’s entirely online designed to be convenient flexible and suited to your personal schedule just fill out a brief questionnaire to get matched with a licensed therapist but here’s the kick you can switch therapists anytime for no additional charge so if you get somebody you get paired with somebody and it’s you know you you’re not necessarily vibing with them for whatever very reason you can switch no charge no hassle just using the app you can switch and they’ll pair you with somebody else so take a moment visit betterhelp.com allba today to get 10% off of your first month that’s betterhelp.com MBA all right legs final segment here of the allba show if you guys are watching live hit that like button for us if you’re watching a little bit later be sure to subscribe so you don’t miss out we got shows coming up next week talking about the standouts that we’ll see up close and personal in Las Vegas for summer league and then of course the Olympics after that which I’m very excited to cover some of these big games and speaking of the Olympics we have group play officially set after last week’s qualifiers group a Australia Greece Canada and Spain Greece made it in in the qualifiers behind a heroic effort from Janis satena kmo uh beating Croatia in in that a very uh highly contested game Group B featur France and Germany as well as Japan and Brazil Group C Serbia and the us along with South Sudan and Puerto Rico who made it into the qualifiers also sort of an upset beating Lithuania uh behind Jose Alvarado having a pretty great performance group a though legs Canada tons of NBA players Spain always a great program a couple NBA players Greece has Yan and Australia is like uh a bunch of great role players from the from the NBA that’s the group of death I look at that one and I go I don’t know who’s coming out of that one because all of them have a chance or have a case they can make yeah that’s that’s just Murderers Row man that I mean I was looking up their rosters yesterday Australia has 10 NBA I’m sorry Canada has 10 NBA players and good on 10 only two of those guys by the way are in their 30s Kelly alen and Josh po the only two guys in their 30s they have eight players in their 20s that are in the NBA currently and a lot of guys that you’ve heard of a lot of guys pieces y exactly man and and Australia has eight NBA players so those two teams alone there’s 18 then Greece has eight eight an tupos on the team like it’s like the whole clan tpos make up the gree team but you have jannis so he makes up for a lot no matter if those guys are in the NBA or not and Spain is like the Spurs Spain is the Spurs of of the uh International play they’re just always good doesn’t matter who’s on the team they play a smart brand of basketball and they’re good no doubt man that’s that’s that is monstrous uh that’s gonna be a really brutal pool to and I don’t know man like I like Canada to win that pool uh and I think Canada I think Canada at some point they they’re going to give the USA all they can handle yeah if they should match up if they should match up if you look at group uh Group B I think there’s a clear top two in this one I mean that group so it’s funny that you look at group a and say okay every game is a challenge then you go over there Japan not going to be much of a challenge Brazil shocks some people to get in but I think that they’re clearly below Germany who by the way is coming off of a World Cup gold and France who in this last week of exhibition games you see what it looks like when you put Rudy goar Victor wanyama on the court together and you say there’s no defensive three seconds and by the way no goal tending so you can just knock the ball off the rim I actually legs look at France and I go I think there’s a case they’re not well-rounded in their back court but I think there’s a strong case that they’re going to be the toughest defensive team in this tournament by a mile because of those two guys two of the best Rim protectors and they just get to park out in the paint and actually kulab Bal and Neil Aina are both really good perimeter Defenders so you got a couple of and they’re both long you got two long guards that can harass and guard and contest in the perimeter and you’re funneling him in to go Baron wiama that’s not going to be fun that’s not going to be fun for any team to have to figure out how to score on I France to me is my sleeper pick like if you want to go I mean look Team USA is unbelievable we’ll talk about them in a second but France to me is the team that I think you know you’re getting a different wiim Bama than even a year ago we saw his rise over the course of this last season and with the rules in FBA and the defensive players around him I don’t know if they can score but I think they’re going to hold even the best offensive teams to a really low number um and if you go over to group C us and Serbia should be favored in that one but Puerto Rico you know I’ve watched a lot of international basketball the little guards that play Speedy that they could get hot from three which Jose Alvarado can you never would look at that and say it was Jose Alvarado gonna outplay nikic bogdon bogdanovich and all the NBA players on team Serbia but I look at that and I go it’s upset potential that’s the making of an upset for international play tiny little guard that super Speedy who can hit threes nothing to lose I look at that one and go I think I know who comes out of that group but Puerto Rico could play spoiler yeah I I I like I hear what you’re saying I like them too man it’s it’s a level of annoyance that they give you yeah with their with their speed and their just like relentlessness that can can can be a factor and look there’s a lot of pressure in this when and you’ve seen it time and time again particularly when it comes to Team USA if they don’t put a team Away by like middle of the third quarter it starts to get tight man you feel the weight of it even though by now we understand the gap’s not as big and we’ve lost games in these competitions so it’s not like this shocking thing anymore when we when we would lose a game and it was like oh my goodness 1988 you know not winning the gold medal and that led to the Dream Team you know they’re like okay is this how it’s gonna go then we’re going to go ahead and show you what it looks like when we send our best guys um so you know we’ve lost games since we started sending Pros it’s not shocking anymore but the pressure is still there you don’t especially this group of guy like you don’t want to be that group that doesn’t come home with the gold medal so if you’re in a tight game mid third quarter against some team that’s going to make their you know make their year because that’s one thing about these these International competitions man I just feel like it’s so much more meaningful to the other teams in terms of like I just feel like it does because you know the NBA guys are like and look I understand there’s these NBA players on these other teams as well but there’s a sense of national pride with this stuff that comes with those teams I think that’s that’s lacking a little bit with us when it comes to the Olympics um with with this Superstar lineup we put out there with the amount of money that these guys have made throughout their careers and pretty much have all cemented these guys are all going through the Hall of Fame and you know are they’re Champions already a lot of these guys so it’s like it you have to have a state of Readiness to participate in this and if you’re not there and some team that you’re supposed to beat is hanging with you and you’re three quarters into the game man it’s a lot of pressure a lot of pressure on the shot making in the fourth quarter so I I look forward to it this is gonna be very fascinating competition um but that group group a I think you’re right that’s gonna be some Wars coming out of there yeah let’s talk about by the way real quick real quick I just oh yeah well if you’re going to go Team USA I got a I got I got a point about Team USA I didn’t know if we were finishing up but go ahead I want to talk about Team USA here because they have so many great players on that they face the challenge that every of these you know Olympic super teams faces which is how do you play What’s the style of play and I look at this and I go there’s so many great players who’s going to be the guy that is sort of the guy everybody goes to in big moments is there an early candidate that you think is going to be that guy there’s so many options so many but you have to kind of know I feel like knowing who the guy is is part of what’s important it’s a good question man I mean it’s not going to be I don’t think it’s gonna be Anthony Edward’s the way that it was last summer I don’t do well he he had a very interesting quote on day one of camp where he said I’m not here to fit in or something to the extent of those guys have to fit into playing around me which I just thought oh my God here we go I mean listen you still have Kevin Durant on the team yeah who can get his you know he can get a bucket against any anybody on Earth at any given time uh you still have him right uh Curry that’s more like a lot of times off Ball action yeah but you talking about on Ball action I mean you could it could be KD it could be Jason Tatum it could be Anthony Edwards LeBron James I mean how about LeBron James you know yeah I I Envision LeBron in this situation being more of a table setter than anything yeah but I just mean more like this was the thing about when Kobe was there in 2008 is that it kind of became like everybody looked at him whenever there was a pressure moment and there weren’t many but it was like okay what do we do here you know you go to him and I just wonder if there’s going to be that sense of hey who’s our guy that just takes the leadership it doesn’t even have to be the shot but the leadership on it I think that’s gonna be I think that’s Kevin Durant and LeBron James on this team okay I think those are the two guys that carry that sort of profile with them at all times who they are yeah that’s my opinion I I think I think that’s what it’ll be but I got who do you think’s GNA be the odd man out for playing time man that’s a good question I don’t it happens it happens every single Olympics yeah can’t play all these guys yeah do you think it’ll be halberton probably honest Kawai oh kawai’s an interesting one is Kawai gonna play he’s the he’s the one know he’s gonna play we’ll have to wait and see who actually that making the roster here but um kawhai I think halberton for sure you know it’s a good experience for him but he’s the guy that you look at and say okay he’s on the come up you know that’s a guy that probably needs a little bit more the guy I’m curious I was kind of curious your take on was Joel embiid because Joel embiid might be the best scorer on the team and he’s so dominant in the way that he scores but I also just wonder where he fits into the dynamic of it like is he a guy you start playing through usually in international competition you’re not just throwing it to a guy in the post you’re usually doing some other stuff so I’m curious how he fits into this team I think that’d be a mistake in international competition to play that way personally I think that’d be a mistake to play that way I think they probably would regret that he can obviously score on anybody but I agree with you if if you be make him a focal point when he’s on the court I think that’s gonna that’s gonna bog down the way you should be playing right with this with these kind of guys it’s got to be read and react with this kind of offensive Talent less so kind of waiting for somebody to draw action and then kick out and play out of that I think that you could get yourself some trouble playing that way yeah did you have another candidate for who you think’s the odd man out I think it’s I think it’s would not Shock me if it was Albert you know some of these guys they go through it for the first time too and there’s just how like with all these other guys we’re talking about that are like they’re they’re ball dominant scorers first unless unless you know he’s just a guy all he’s tried to do is push pace and get assists yeah like that’s all he’s out there to do is make sure the pace gets pushed maybe they utilize him for that I I think though there are so many guys that get their hands on the ball are going to attack immediately and and go in scorer mode you know halberton to me could be the guy that could get lost in the shuffle a little bit on this team who’s the wildest guy that could be lost to the shuffle again there not that they’re not going to play it’s just that you usually have a top six guys and then you have some other guys who just fill in and I’m looking at it is it possible Steph Curry gets pushed aside you have already have a ton of three-point Shooters and some of which like Jason Tatum are two-way players so is do you need Steph’s shooting less than you typically do on on a roster where you you I don’t know man the only thing about that is has Curry played on an Olympic team before I believe so I think he was on the quote unquote B Team back in 2020 I think it was okay but I’d have to look it up or 20 2012 one of those ones that’s a good question man and how much you know to what extent are some of these guys have been around forever their upper 30s are they going to want to really you know are they going to defer to some of the younger guys a little bit just because you know they’re like past that point man they want to be part of this they want to win a gold medal they certainly wanna or am I dead wrong is it the opposite that those guys still want to say you know what remember who we are and what better way what better way to like sort of stamp the end of your careers or the you know nearing the end of your careers than to go out and be spectacular these older guys the Durants the LeBron’s the Curry’s the Kaw of the world like guys that have done all that they’ve done in this league um all Champions all winners multiple times go out there and really kind of cement like okay this just so everybody can remember us like this is something we’re gonna do historic on this team I could be wrong could be I think I they could go either way and it wouldn’t surprise me it’s wild when you look at how stacked this roster is when you just go through it that somebody like a Drew holiday a Devin Booker Anthony Edwards Jason Tatum those are guys that are probably not like top three four guys they might still play a lot of minutes but you look at it and go those guys might be the seven eight n 10th Man on this roster and those guys are all super St you know what’s interesting there’s a point over here talking about Booker you know and I see somebody made a point I think it’s a pretty good one if you think about it Booker is like the guy you look at and say there’s nothing that Booker does better than everybody else on the team yeah and I feel like I feel like I could almost say that about every guy yeah right I doist and say well this guy is the best on the team best on the planet maybe at this at this at this go right on down the roster with Booker I don’t know that I feel that way so somebody said with Booker it’s a little bit redundant of what you have ahead of him so maybe he’s the guy that gets lost in the shuffle a little bit I that’s not a bad point man what a crazy roster it actually is going to be an interesting Dynamic to kind of watch play out because there are so many good players let’s let’s be honest I don’t think Team USA can lose unless they don’t come together like unless they don’t form a team but just on Talent the talent is overwhelming as overwhelming as any of the teams of the last 12 years or whatever it’s been 15 years talent-wise but the question with Team USA is always how do they come together do they figure out an identity do they pull in the same direction and I’m excited we’ll start seeing it as soon as tomorrow as they start this exhibition schedule which I’m excited to watch and follow along they’ll even be playing team candada go ahead and hit that outro music for us Emma let’s get out of here for today legs we’re off to Vegas I’m looking forward to it man yeah man looking forward to it legs and I have never met we will meet this weekend though down in Vegas so it’ll be incredible and we’ll get to watch some hopefully some interesting Hoops along the way and we’ll be back next week of the show talking about the players that stood out um so set your reminders be sure to subscribe and all that hit that like button on the way out everybody we’ll see you next week [Music] [Applause] we all C like the May

The addition of DeMar DeRozan should make the Kings a true contender in the Western Conference, as he will form a Big Three with De’Aaron Fox and Domantas Sabonis. During the 2023-24 season, DeRozan averaged 24.0 points, 5.3 assists, and 4.3 rebounds in 79 regular-season games. The question remains whether his presence can elevate the team to contender status. Additionally, we will review all other moves made during Free Agency.

Join Tim Legler and Adam Mares on today’s ALL NBA Podcast!

00:00 – Intro
02:09 – DeMar DeRozan trade to the Sacramento Kings
05:14 – How does DeRozan fit with the Kings?
09:09 – Where do the Kings fall in the West after this move?
14:50 – Harrison Barns to Spurs
18:20 – Caleb Martin to 76ers
23:22 – Buddy Heild to Golden Sate Warriors
26:40 – Does Franz Wagner deserve the max?
29:26 – Dario Saric to Denver Nuggets
32:01 – Denvers Bench line up
36:14 – Olympic group stages set

An ALLCITY Network Production

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