Next on the Drive, Tim McMahon dropping dimes for your NBA daily assists.
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Day two NBA Free Agency.
Nothing today regarding the Utah Jazz, at least officially, but my goodness, a lot of movement, a lot of movement. Our next guest joins us on a weekly basis Who Collective ESPN Our Guide Tim McMahon, Tim, Happy Tuesday, man.
How are we doing.
All right? How about you?
We're good, We're good. I guess we found out where the market is for Colin Sexton is yeah.
Yeah. That I would say was a rather underwhelming trade for the Jazz, having to give up the second round pick along with Colin Seconton to get a big man who's bounced around to leave less than ideal. But I do think that it accomplishes a couple of goals for the Jazz, and that would be one to open up minutes for their young guards and two to put a products on the floor next year that's going to protect their top eight protected pick.
And in addition they essentially waved Jordan Clarkson. It was technically a buyout, and the buyout saved the Jazz a little bit of cash. And then Jordan, according to you guys over at ESPN, plans to sign with the Knicks when he clears waivers. And for the past couple of years, everybody around here loves him, as you know, but he's just not the player that he was when he won six Man of the Year under Quinn because where none of us are as young as we used to be.
So your thoughts on the decision to move on from Jordan Clarkson, Yeah.
And look, man, you know Clarkson had to basically sit out last season. Yeah, I think that it was the right thing to do to let him get to a competitive situation. Clearly, if there was a robust trademarkt for him, he would have been gone already. So instead of letting that drag out, they let him go before free agencing got started, and he found a home in New York. And it's the first clutch client to go to the Knicks in quite some time. Honestly, if there's a surprise involved,
it's if the Knicks took on a clutch client. But hopefully Clarkson can go there, and obviously I'll have a limited role off the bench, butit hopefully can give him a little jolt of some offense off the bench. And it's a good situation for all involved. But him sticking around in Utah for another years didn't make sense for anybody.
You have an accurate frame of reference.
You know.
It's interesting because Jordan is the longest tenured jazz man and the only holdover from the Dennis Lindsay when Snyder group, and it seems like throughout this four year pivot rebuild, you know, wins and losses, it's the worst that it's ever been around here. He's kind of been the locker room vibe guy. It feels like a lot of people are actually pretty sad to see him go. Do you have any context or frame of reference for what he's meant to that organization?
I mean, finally, somebody who's interacted with Jordan Clarkson who doesn't like the guy, Sure, yeah, you know, like I mean, he's just he vibes is the right word. And he's also part of the one of the funnier Will Hardy stories that I can recall, and that's you know, Will Hardy comes in. Obviously it's his first head coaching job, and he's got some base schools that he wants to instill, and one of those rules is no jewelry a practice.
And then Jordan Clarkson shows up and he's got diamonds embedded in his teeth, and you know, Will had to kind of think about that and it's like, is that jewelry? Is that a violation of the rule, And then he just decided not to enforce no jewelry practice real quite as hard.
Yeah, And it's it's just been interesting to see, you know, the social reaction and talk to a lot of people that kind of felt like this was the end of an era because he was the only holdover. But it's been a minute since we've had you on, so we get to talk to you about a couple of different jazz topics that have already gone down, and that is, namely, Ace Bailey was the selection at five and you know a lot of reporting and I certainly can't coroborate any
of it that maybe Ace's camp did not prefer. Utah, there was a and we had your buddy Tim Bontemps on yesterday, so we unpacked this stuff. There was a report from Tim and others at ESPN that his camp had told somebody in the top five not to draft him. Clearly it wasn't the Jazz. I thought, Brad, actually, we'll
get to wal Clayton Junior in a minute. But Austin ainge, you know, you know, I kind of like, I don't know if this is the dynamic, but whether or not East wanted to be here, Austin just said, well, we think you're the best player, so we're taking you. He reported on time, he could not have been better for the pressure, and he is ready to go. So your thoughts on the Jazz taking at five, I mean.
Listen, the indications certainly were that he would prefer to go to Washington. He he did not send out the message that he was he was good, was going to Utah. I think the communication after the pick was very spotty, to put it politely, for a little bit there. But to your point, he showed up, he showed up ready to work, and it seems to me that he's gotten over wanting to kind of choose his destination in the draft, which is just not the way the draft works. He's
going to get plenty like listen. If he wants to be a star, he's going to have that opportunity in Utah. There's going to be plenty of opportunity for him, you know, to get shots, to have the ball in his hands, you know, to be developed, and so you know, life could be a lot worse. I think this is actually a really good situation for him, and you know he's not. He didn't show up pouting. He didn't show up whining
and crying or anything of that. Like I said, seems like whatever disappointment there might have been on his end, he got over it. And he showed up ready to go to work and ready to be a pro. And that's all he can ask. You know. I think at some point he's going to have to really consider who he's listening to for advice and what their credentials are. It's it's very easy to be a teenage kid and had the wrong people in your ear and get steered
down the wrong path. So hopefully he's going to be able to evaluate that and make some clear headed decisions about what voices he's valuing that are in his ear and move forward. But hey, showed up ready to go to work and looking forward to seeing him and sat Lake City somebody.
Yeah, good point about the reps.
And I've been very adamant to remind the listeners that this is an eighteen year old young man who is surrounded by people who appear to have never done this job before, so they're also learning on the fly. One follow up, have you been able to kind of learn the reasoning that he canceled all of his workouts? I mean, typically your antenna goes up and you think, Okay, he's been promised, and then he cancels Philly and you're like, wait,
he hasn't been promised at one or two. So maybe Washington did have their eyes on him, and maybe they take him at six if the Jazz don't take him at five. But have you been able to learn why he's canceled all of his workouts?
I don't have direct information that I can tell you. The belief throughout the league is that he wanted to go to Washington, and Washington wanted him to go there, gotcha, So you know, take that for what it's worth. Like I said, I can't sit here and tell you absolutely positively that's one hundred percent true. I can just tell you that's what people around the league believe to be true.
So I'm a little conflicted here because if walk and by the way, it's Walt, he told us as an introductory press conference, it's not Walter.
He wants us to call him Walt, So I'll call him what he wants us to call him.
Like if Austin Ainge and the Jazz staff identified him as their guy, go get him.
I have no issue with it.
Then you think, okay, you traded twenty one and three second rounders to only move up three spots, which is not nothing. But again, if he's the guy, go get him, right, So your thoughts on the trade they executed to go draft Wall Clayton Junior.
Yeah, I mean, if they're right, you're not gonna worry about the second round picks down the road. And they really like this guy, and you know, I mean it's funny because in a lot of ways, he's the polar opposite of Ace Bailey in terms of a prospect. You know, Ace Bailey is all about roth talent and potential, and he was this, you know, like five star recruit coming out,
was pegged as a top lottery pick. You know, when he's sixteen years old and all those kinds of things where old Walt, you know, he's a guy who he went to Sienna and he got screamed at by a Patino for a couple of years. Came off the benches freshman year. You know, I had to earn a starting
spot there. Patino leaves, transfers to Florida. You know, four year guy, a total winner in college where obviously you know, Rutgers with with Bailey and Harper didn't win last year, won a championship at Florida, you know, comes comes to Utah obviously much more mature, you know what I mean, just older, more mature, more experience, an adult, a proven winner who doesn't necessarily have that jump off the page, you know, the measurables, the athleticism, all that kind of thing.
But there's there are you know, I've seen him compared to Brunson. Not not identical as players, certainly, but in terms of some of the background stuff, very similar.
All right, I'm not going to ask you about spehe Makay Luke's contract being picked up, So let's move over to what could be next for the Jazz And the one name that I think everybody's honed in on now is John Collins with a twenty six point five million dollar expiring deal. It was not expiring last year, it is now. And you know, there's an argument to be made that the season he had last year may have been his best as a pro, or maybe second to the season he had before he's got his big contract.
And I don't know, Tim.
I feel like every time I pull up some sort of rumor site or see a tweet regarding the Jazz potential next move, it lands on John any inside on what could be next there.
Well, he is certainly available in the trade market, but so was Collin Sexton. Obviously Clarkson was for a while. I don't know that he would be a buyout candidate, but you know, it would make sense if there's nothing that is appealing in the trade market. I did, and you know, look could be traded. I don't think you're going to get a significant hole in return. If that was okay, she probably would have already had happened, or
it would have happened midway through last season. But you know, certainly, I think we all understand that where the Jazz are and they're rebuild, where Collins is in his career, that Collins being in Utah this year probably isn't in anybody's best interest.
Well said, all right, we can move off the jazz. Let's talk about some Western Conference teams that have really, in my estimation, done an excellent job of I don't know, closing the gap between themselves and Okay, so you're just taking a step forward. So I'm just going to ask you about a team and I just want your thoughts. Let's start with the Houston Rockets.
Yeah, obviously starting with a KD trade that that was a big swing, a win now move that that's a move you make that said, hey, we're serious about contending right now. They were able to do it without really shortening their runaway all you know, Jamn Green got moved in the trade, but he's probably fourth, fifth, sixth in terms of the young guys that were most important the future of the franchise. And then I'll be honest with that,
the Capella thing kind of caught me off guard. They want to be able to have two bigs available at all times, and obviously Steven Madison to miss some time. Finney Smith. Though, here's the thing. The Rockets both went out and drastically upgraded the go to guy they got a Hall of Fame go to guy, and they also leaned into the style of play that they want that big, just nasty, rough, physical defense, rebound and all that kind
of stuff, bringing in Phinney Smith, bringing in Capella. So I think they're the second best team in the Western Conference.
That's actually where I was gonna ask you, because Vegas has them as two now.
But you answered it.
So let's move on and let me let me ask you about what the Nuggets are doing and just coming across the wires. They've added another rotational piece. And I don't know that I'm a huge Tim Hardaway junior guy, but you could do worse for like your ninth or tenth man. But what do you make of the way they've gone about their off season so far?
Yeah? I really liked what they did in terms of like the short term with Michael Porter junior, trading him for Cam Johnson. Now, but twenty thirty two pick could end up being a steep price. That's a steep price after Jokers prime. To me, you got a comfortable player, it's not an upgrade, probably a more versatile, well rounded player, and you saved a ton of money, which created flexibility and then you know, I thought they might just try to dust the tax, but they brought him. You know
Valu Tunas today. You know Hardley's a minimum guy, but you know Bruce Brown coming back to the minimum. I mean those are between Valentunas, Bruce Brown and Hardaway. Those are three proven bets for the bench. And if you know, if one of the young guys like plays Hardway have a spot in rotation, great, but if not, you know, the volume movement shooters around jokers not a bad thing to have, all right.
Not a jazz story, but a local story is Dame Lillard players played his college ball up north of Weaver State, and you know, when you see the news, the optics are like, wait, how do you cut Dame Lillard?
How do you cut Damian Lillard?
Like?
And then optically, that's not a great look for who Dame is historically is a Hall of Fame player. But he will get his money and he will decide where the either the final or the next stands of his NBA career will take place. As a result of the deal that Milwaukee made to stretch him, they bring in Miles Turner, which is an interesting dynamic because, as you know, the Bucks and the Pacers aren't necessarily the best of friends. So what do you make of how Milwaukee went about this.
Massive blow to the Indiana Pacers. Obviously, I get the fit of Turner with the honest Turner, basically a younger Springer version of Brook Lopez. I understand like the logic behind the wave and stretch with Dame. He's going to miss all next season. You don't know what he's going to be when he comes back. Tell like, who that man paying a guy one hundred and thirteen million dollars to go away? That's who. That's tough. And basically the
Dame trade ended up being a disaster for Milwaukee. You know, they're still out draft capital in the future. It didn't produce a single Playoff series victory, and now he's on their books for the next five years at twenty two and a half million per I get it. I don't think that bringing them Miles Turner just vaults the Bucks in the contender status and he, like is Kevin Porter junior starting point guard? They still got something to figure
out there. I'm not sure what that answer is going to be, but they're going to need a better answer than that, And as far as Dan goes like, it's you know, it's a little smudge on his resume, but if he never scores another point, he's a Hall of Famer, and for him, he gets his money. And it's not like he wanted to be in Milwaukee. He'd made the best of a situation he did not want to be in.
So now he gets to choose his next spot, and he gets to choose, you know, probably does he want to sign with somebody this year in a two year deal and rehab under their watch, or does he want to kind of play it out, rehab on his own and be able to evaluate the situation. You know, maybe he's in late this season or next summer. So my understanding is Dame is not heartbroken about this development.
Only because I've been asked ten times today and I believe the answer is emphatically no, because I don't think it makes sense for either side. But every time anybody with a local tie who is good becomes available, a lot of people out here says, Okay, the jaz should go get him. There's not anything that makes sense about Dame Lillard to the Jazz, right.
The Jazz just bought out Jordan Clarks and then traded Colin Section for I'm not very good player to open up minutes for these young guards that they've drafted. And yeah, I mean that really doesn't First of all, forget about it making sense for the Jazz. How does that make sense for Damian Lillard. It doesn't like there's one thing he really wants to do that's won a championship at
this point in his career. And I don't think coming to Utah as they're in a rebuild would be a very good route to that.
I just needed the Tim mcman approval for my opinion, so I appreciate that. You know, a couple of weeks ago, maybe a month ago, we were discussing just the potential of Collin Sexton to Dallas because they needed a guard while Kyrie got healthy. Well, they went a different direction. The Angelo Russell was the decision. And it's not a bad value play, you know, because he's not going to be a long term answer. But I'm going to find
this team really interesting this year. So I will ask you about what this transaction says to you and what you're expecting from the MAVs this year.
Yeah, and I think with Sexton is look, the Hornets had a salary of that size. They did not mind at all parting with the Maddens. Wanted to keep all the guys who were at that sort of a number. So that's where that got u. You a wonky and Dan Tel Russell. Look, Dangel on a MAX that he's been on is a disaster. I mean, it's a terrible value tax payer mid level. Okay, you know he's a flawed player. He's not really a point guard. He's more
of a league guard. They're going to give Cooper Flag every opportunity to prove that he can handle a lot of the point duties as a rookie. And you know, basically, Daniel Russell his jobs to come in to get buckets in the starting lineups the first half the season and then hopefully transition to a six man role when Kyrie comes back. You know, it's it is a little tough to make the Mantra Defense Wings championships kind of your
repeat line as a general manager. And then your most significant move of the off season, aside from drafting he a defending number one overall, is signing D'Angel Russell. But again, this is a team that they needed shooting, They needed playmaking. You know, they need a guy who can create his own shot, and Deangel Russell can do all those things that they at a price point where you're not going
to get at all. You know, if he was a really good defender, he wouldn't be available at that price point.
I'm going to ask you about Lebron because I feel obligated, But it's just kind of a weird story to understand as far as how this thing is playing out. He picked up his option fifty two point six, but he's also monitoring what the Lakers do, contemplating his future. According to several reports, I just feel like Lebron will be playing for the Lakers next year next to Luka Doncic, but they've got work to do via free agency that they have not come close to being able to execute.
I don't know how much of this is new ownership, but what's the what's the take on the Lebron Lakers stuff?
Well, and Rich Paul went on the record with a bear like subject to interpretation type of statement, but you know, essentially indicating them, Hey, Lebron's opting in for the money and we'll figure out if he really wants to be there.
But they understand, crazing the guy making fifty two point six million dollars to his preferred destination is not easy, or in a lot of situations is not even really possible, but in part because if you're going to trade a guy at that salary, a lot of guys gonna have to come back, and then it might not be a
situation you want to be a part of anymore. There are people around the league who are like, is Lebron trying to bully his way to a buyout from the Lakers, And if you're sitting in rob to Lincoln jingie Bus's chair, the answer to that is just sorry, No, we're paying the fifty two point six million dollars. You'll be playing basketball for the Los Angeles Lakers this year, really looking forward to it, and that we're doing our best upgrade the Ross. Sure, i'll see you when training camp starts.
Yeah, that's kind of how I read it as well.
All right, before I say you lose, you know, it was interesting because Quinn had Nikill Alexander Walker here and didn't play him, and it felt like when he had opportunities, like Quinn just preferred Royce and I wasn't you know, I wasn't entirely on board with it, but Quinn's the coach and he knows more than I do. Well, he'll have another opportunity to get to know him a little bit and maybe it'll work out differently because he had
a great stretch in Minnesota. Luke Canard, in addition to Kristaps porzingis the East is wide open and the Atlanta Hawks might have something to say about it.
I'll be honest with you, I had completely forgotten that Quinn very briefly had Nikhil Alexander Walker in Utah. That
is interesting. I'm totally forgot about that. Obviously, Royce O'Neill was a proven commodity with somebody who'd earned Quinn's trust, and the circumstances are much different because Alexander Walker has proved himself as a high level role player, not just a three and D guy, but a guy who can you know, make some plays off the dribble, you know, initiate, facilitate some and clearly was quite valued by the Atlanta Hawks. I mean, you know, he's coming in six two million
over four years, and I agree with you. I think the Hawks have had a heck of a summer in a wide open Eastern Conference. I think they are the most improved team. I think they've positioned themselves to, you know, potentially have home court advantage in the first round. And you know, you know, we can talk about the Knicks and the and the Calves. Is the favorites in the East going in the next year, but it's wide open
and the Hawks are one of the teams. I think it positioned themselves to be in the mix.
Damn, you're the man. Keep up the great work. It's been a fun couple of days. Have a good week and on chat soon appreciate you. Brother McMahon covers the NBA for ESPN and he is their jazz guy. When the Jazz are in a different spot than they are right now, how we just how about we just say it like that.