#thisleague UNCUT: Giannis Contract Extension Blockbuster

But all of that was upended and overshadowed sometime after the six PM buzzer for the Class of twenty twenty, when Yanis on Tetokumpo himself announced to the world that he has extended his contract with the Milwaukee Bucks. And as luck would have it, my good friend Chris Haynes was traveling to Milwaukee today. He is now safely in Milwaukee. He'll be covering Thursday nights Bucks season opener against the Drama. Leaden Philadelphia seventy six ers. Mister Haynes, how's Milwaukee treating

you so far? Not as well as it's treating Yannis. But you are there in the heart of the NBA news cauldron.

doing whatever it takes to compete for championships. The Bucks responded to those interviews by trading for Damian Lillard and now Gianni Santetokumpo, after telling us that he was going to most likely wait until after the season. Surprise surprise, he announced today that he's done his extension the max that he was eligible for. To do it by the Monday night deadline. He was facing three years a shade under one hundred and ninety million player option in twenty

twenty seven, twenty eight. But man, what what a win for the Bucks. I did my power rankings on Monday, my annual preseason rankings, and I've been doing this for more than twenty years. The Denver Nuggets have to be number one because they're the defending champs. That's just kind of a rule that I have adopted as the Committee of won That's the I always do it. Unless something crazy happens to the defending champions, some sort of roster or injury chaos, I always bestow that honor upon the

defending champs. I think that the Denver Nuggets deserves to start the season as the new number one. But the Milwaukee Bucks trading for Damian Lillard and then getting Yanis onto Tecumpo to sign a contract extension a year before he said he would, when a month ago there was all this perceived pressure on the Bucks that they better

do something to keep Giannus happy. Absolutely stunning turnaround. Yes, it costs the Bucks Drew Holliday, but what an offseason they've had to trade for Dame and get Giannis resigned. I mean, no matter what happens this season, the trade is a win. Trading for Damian Lillard convinced clearly convince Jiannis to do this now, I mean that's incredibleitible incredible month here for the for the Bucks.

sustain that. So I have to give props to John Horse ownership grew, uh, you know, going out and trading for Dame. You know, we're still you know, I'm still very interested in seeing how that's going to look in the regular season, you know, when those when this team gets a gets a decent amount of games under their belt, where Giannis and Dan could play with each other a

ton more, just to see what they can produce. But the Bucks, again, they did everything that they could do to try to convince Giannis that they're committed, that he doesn't have to go anywhere else. And still, you know, Yalla still get gives himself out getting that player option at the end, just to you know, see what these next couple of years are going to be like. But definitely a win win for the Bucks and a win

win for Giannis. You know, Jannis, he did he did say he wasn't going to do anything until after next season. But before that he said money is not important. A lot of fucking money is important. Now those are his exact words right there, and so I think, what is about sixty something million a year? I think this will qualify as a lot of fucking money.

Bucks have the higher ceiling. But as I've kind of been digesting everyone's preseason prognostication, all our colleagues around the league, I kind of feel like I'm in the minority. I feel like more people are picking Boston to win the East. And even though the Celtics have sacrificed depth by swapping out a quartette of familiar faces including Marcus Smart and Grant Williams, time Lord Malcolm Brogden, they turn those four

guys into Christops Porzingis and Drew Holliday. But like I said, when I listen to the punditry, it seems like a lot of people think, Okay, Boston has the best top six in the league, if that is such a thing, and that there is a sense that the Celtics are going to just be absolutely locked down on the defensive end, even though there will be concerns about can Porzingis stay healthy, Can Hal Horford at thirty seven, continue to play at

the level he's played. Are they big enough to handle what the Bucks can throw at them, what maybe Philadelphia can throw at them with Joe El Embiid. But you know, again, I kind of feel like the Celtics are a bit trendy or a pick, a bit more popular, a pick to get out of the East than the Bucks are.

I personally, yes, there's no question the Bucks have sacrificed a lot by giving up jew Holiday, and you know, their team is getting a little bit older, and there are concerns can they be as good defensively as they've been in the past without Holiday at the point of attack and with brook Lopez advancing in age, they can they still be dominant defensively. But my belief is that

the offensive ceiling they now have would Dame's. It was a trade they had to make offense half court offense specifically, that's been the issue for the Bucks in the playoffs when things haven't gone that well. But look, to me, there's a long winded way of saying. My reaction is really just what it was the last time. Honus extended. It's the closest thing to winning a championship that the Bucks can experience. They now have Giannis and Game on

similar contractual tracks. These guys are going to be together now, locked in for the next two to three seasons. And I mean the Bucks can't really ask for more.

be in that top six for Milwaukee. But it's it's back and forth. I don't know, it's it's tough, but yeah, I have my I have my concerns with both teams. When it comes to Boston, it's the depth, it's the size. When it comes to when it comes to Milwaukee. How long would it take for Dame and to jail, you know, to mix with this group. You know, Adrian Griffin new you know, new head coach, and then you know something we're gonna talk about before he'll losing the top assistant.

So I got concerns on both sides, But definitely, you know, Milwaukee and Boston already right now, I think those are two teams that we feel that they are at the top of the East.

gonna handle the uncertainty? And how long before he gets really frustrated? So a lot of questions about the Sixers too, But I think, yes, the Bucks and the Celtics. Despite whatever question marks you want to raise in either case, those two teams have clearly separated themselves from the rest of the East Pack, and the man sit down with Jannis and Dame not bad. Let's go to what we

thought we were going to be focusing on. Terry Stotts's abrupt departure has raised a lot of eyebrows around the league. Adrian Griffin is a first time head coach. You see this with any team that brings in a first time head coach, they always want at least one of the assistants to be a former NBA head coach. There was so much talk last season with Boston that Joe Mizzoula suffered from not having enough experience around him on his

bench after he abruptly replaced Ema Udoka. So the fact that the Bucks would want a Terry Statts, a former head coach, to be on Adrian Griffin's staff, that's a natural move. The way it's unraveled so quickly, Terry Stotts electing to walk away from the job less than a week before the season starts, how big a deal. Well, first of all, let's tell us what you know as far as what happened here, and how big a deal is this.

on this last part he was instructing. This is the last part we were talking about this, but you know, this is before Stotts resign and we were talking about just how comfortable Dame was and how he was instructing guys where to be. You know, he was just on top of that so much. So it's very surprising. It's

I think it's very significant. I do. But let's let's kind of you know, I've seen the reports out there, and for the most part, yeah, everything that's been reported about what happened the day before he resigned at shoot

around in Oklahoma City. You know, there there was a point that shoot around after shoot around when when there was a huddle, there was a huddle to end shoot around, and you know, they do the huddle and they break and then Terry Stotts afterwards he walked away, was walking away to watch film with Dame an Giannis and Griffin had already said before the break, before they broke out, coaches,

let's meet on the court afterwards. And so this that kind of aggravated Griffin because every other coach came and got it around him except Stott. Stotts went and went away, and then Stotts, I mean, excuse me, Griffin called for Stotts, and Stotts was like the way I was told Stotts was like it was a hand signal, like give me a minute, give me a minute. And then Griffin kind of you know, went off from there and uh, you know, he got loud and this caught the attention of the

whole team. But one thing I want to say to kind of shed a little bit light on it a little bit. So I was told Stott's approach Dame and Giannis before shoot around and told them, hey, after shoot around, come watch film with me. Let's watch film on my laptop and let's go over some pick and roll coverages. And so Dami Giannis knew to go to starts after

shooting around. But the issue was that as soon as you know, as soon as the shoot around was over, excuse me, shooting around was about to be over as Griffin gatthered the team to break, to break their huddle so they could end the practice. Right before the huddle break, Griffin told the coaches, Hey, after we break, everybody, let's

meet all the coaches, let's meet on the court. And so that's what that's why Damiannis, they went towards Stotts, and that's why Stotts left to go to the bench to watch film pick and roll film with Giannis and Dame uh So that that that was never relayed to Griffin, that he he had already told those two that he was going to watch film. Now, just because it wasn't relayed to him beforehand, it still doesn't justify stots leaving and not coming to you know, coming to center court

like Griffin instructed all his coaches to do. So there's there was still a there's still a role that stops Hadden and and kind of elevating that whole thing to the point where it was just a distraction that caught the attention of everybody. And so, uh, you know, I think you I think our guy Peter VESSI, uh, you sent me that tweet. Stein, you think about Stotts's role, Peter VESSI was, I mean, excuse me, coach Stotts was hired by John Horst, the general manager, and you know,

you start to think about what Stots really comfortable. Was he comfortable? Was he comfortable being an assistant to a rookie head coach? So another another another background too, Stein. I mean, I don't know if this has anything to do with it, but let's go back almost a decade ago, a little bit over a decade. I was covering the

Blazers when uh, they hired Stotts. But before they hired Stotts, they had four finalists and the fourth finalists I know, I remember three for sure, but it was Stott's, Steve Clifford and Adrian Griffin. Those were three of the four finalists. I want to say maybe Elston Turner was the fourth. But you know this goes all the way back back then, and you know Stott's got the job right there. So I don't know how comfortable I reached out to Stots.

You know, he'd you know, he didn't want to talk about it, and so I don't know if Stotts just wasn't really feeling it the way. The way it was explained to me, it was that it was just a bad fit. That's the way it was explained to me by somebody real deep into the situation. It really has to say so in the situation. So it just leads me to believe that maybe both sides just wasn't ready for that type of relationship.

good friend. You know, he tweeted out how you know, based on his information that Terry Stotts was appointed to the staff by John Horst rather than being directly chosen by Adrian Griffin. But again, that is not unusual. And because Adrian Griffin is a first time coach, I think any team that would be hiring him would want him to have a former head coach on the staff. And you remember, it was just a couple of weeks ago. I was saying, like, the Bucks coaching staff fascinated me

because Terry Stotts was a former Bucks head coach. Joe Prunty is a former Bucks interim head coach, and I was all jacked up for you, you too, on your first TNT assignment of the year, to put the put the full court press on your research department to find out has that ever happened? Because I can't remember it, I haven't been able to confirm it. Has an NBA coaching staff ever had two former head coaches in that

franchise on the bench as assistants. Later and now, of course that question no longer applies, it's no longer valid. But this there's no way this story is over. As euphoric as the Bucks must be as we speak, to know that Giannis has committed to a contract extension and that they've pulled off this trade for Damian Lillard, you know, there's there's questions that need to be answered. Are they going to stick with Terry Statts's offense even though he's not there? Are they going to try to find a

replacement for Terry Stotts. Are they going to try to find another former head coach to step in? And you know Terry Stotts, as you mentioned, having coached I mean, what was with Dane eight season, nine seasons together in Portland. Obviously that was you know, that was the comfort factor that Dame had going to a new team, a new conference, a new city, and now that's taken away. So how much will that factor? How how much will that affect

Dame's adjustment to this completely new situation. So a lot of questions this story again, we is we don't turn the page on this one, not quickly.

for opening night in Milwaukee. And let's be honest, I mean, he hasn't had the practice time anyway. I doubt even if he did all of a sudden join the team, he's not ready to play.

long you want to continue to keep this up. James Harden has made it clear he does not want to play for the Sixers. He's making it clear he does not, and I you know, you're putting the coat. You put Nick Nurse and the players into a situation that every day they have to answer about James Harden and they have no answers, and you know, they're handling, they're handling things the best that they can, but it's not fair to them. It's really not and poor, you know, Tyrese

Maxi Stein. I don't know if you caught Tyresee he said something. It was last week he said he believed No he said on the pod and I can't remember the pod. It might have been No. I think it was JJ Reddick's pod last week. JJ asked Tyrese about just how he's handling, you know, the James Harden debacle. You know, is it you know, is it tough for him and the team to have to go through this? And Tyree says something that was pretty sad, but he was like, I'm used to this, Like I dealt with

this with Ben Simmons. And I think he mentioned somebody else before that I can remember, but he was like, I'm just used to this. He's like, so this is like the norm for me. And uh he was like, so you know, if you if you compare to us, you know, other situations I guess it's not as worse, but you know this, this is the norm to me, and that's pretty sad for a player to to say something like that. I think it just shows you, Ah, it shows you what the the Sixers have been through

over the last few years. It's so I don't know, like I know, the Sixers have a hard stance on what they're trying to get. What's the latest time? What from what you're hearing it, what is it that the Sixers want in return for James Harden.

He's not going to rush into a trade. You know, the Sixers went a very respectable fifteen to nine last season when they didn't have James Harden, and a lot of it is because of the guy you just mentioned, Tyrese MAXI. You know he is you know, is this the year? You know, he's a most improved Player contender. He's an All Star contender, and so I think the Sixers, I think Darryl Moury is prepared to wait as long as it takes for a better trade offer to come along.

I think Nick Nurse you will hear Nick Nurse. I promise you will hear this. Since you're at this game. Nick Nurse will reference his past coaching in England and in the minor leagues and all the crazy curveballs that he was always fielding at those levels, and you know that prepared him to kind of deal with whatever happens now and he'll coach whoever's there. I'm sure that's what

Nick will say publicly. I mean, based on my latest information, the Clippers, you know, they will give up Norman Powell, Marcus Morris, maybe Brandon Boston, and then you know they've got to sort out the pick compensation. But that's to my knowledge. As far as the offer goes from the Clippers, they continue to say they are not going to trade Terrence Man. Philly wants Terrence Man because the Sixers believe that they can flip Terrence Man into compensation that helps

their down the road picture. And you know, it's just a matter of who is going to blink first? You know, does a slow start in Clipperland change the Clippers' stance? I mean, really the variable, you know, the variable that really could change things here, it's Joel emb At this point, the feeling is that Joel Embiid is going to go into this season with an open mind and a belief that the Sixers can continue to be competitive even without

James Harden. But how long that lasts? Joel Embiid has dealt with tons of turmoil, He's got he's got his MVP Award, but the pressure is on him now to win a championship? Is he Is he the one who's going to run out of patients? And if he does, how will that impact Philly's management stance? Can Darryl Morey convince Joe well Embiid, big fella, hang tight, stick with us. We are going to get a resolution here that benefits

you and the franchise above all. How long can Darryl Moorey keep selling that position?

he has an out. I think he has an out because he's dealt with so much that's beyond his control with management, with personnel. I don't know that the pressure is on him like the like pressure is maybe on somebody like Kevin Durant in Phoenix, you know, but definitely pressure because he's one of those top guys. But I just think that he's dealt with so much with that organization. You know, guys just there's just been too many distractions that I beat Ryan. Dangn I listen, I messed up,

So Stein, I have a joke. I had have messed up and did something. So, you know, I just sometimes I'm just competitive with the wrong thing. So you know, our great super producer Ryan, he'll always every five minutes he'll text us an update. And so the last couple of episodes, Stein I try to beat him in texting, like every five minutes. So I'm looking at the time as we're talking, and I try to beat him to a text to us every five minutes. So the last text he told us was it was we were twenty

five minutes in, and so I'm monitoring this. I'm like, I got this text ready, I'm about to put thirty minutes after five minutes his so five minutes come, I heard up and text it. But I text forty minutes instead of thirty minutes, and so it technically I was wrong, And uh, I guess I shouldn't be doing it. I shouldn't be doing two things at once. But I'm just competitive like that. Stile. I'm sorry, my apologies.

Now get to ask Amian Lillard what is the impact of Terry Stotts leaving and what kind of offense are the Buck's gonna run without Terry Stotts. You get to deal with all these questions on Tuesday, and that means that Thursday you can put your full focus on getting getting with the Sixers because I want I wish I was. I mean, look, I'm going. I am on my way

to San Antonio for the Victor Webman Yama Davis. I am super excited about that, but I'm not gonna lie to you Thursday, and I would love to walk into Sixers shoot around in Milwaukee and see what that scene is like in one of my favorite cities on the NBA map, and you you will get to go and do that for all of us.

Golden State. So but I'm happy. I'm happy to be here, man, I'm happy to get the NBA season to get it started. You know, I'm ready, like I'm a player starn I'm ready, man.

super team trio of Durant, Devin Booker, Bradley Beal. So I mean, that was have been that would have been a great gig. But I gotta be honest with you. There is so much news and so much going on with the Milwaukee Bucks and the visiting sixers that it is.

It ain't the worst thing for you to get in Milwaukee early, get to get to brew Town early, get your bearings, because there's there's gonna be a lot to put in by the time we do this we do by the time we meet up again for a podcast, your notebook should be bursting with material.

But one of the you know, when I when I first got to Dallas, the Mavericks were a laughing stock. They were the worst franchise in the NBA, and they you know, they were they were just they were only a few years removed from back to back eleven and thirteen win seasons. The Mavericks were still digging out of

that mess when I got to town. But the Dallas Morning News was really a state newspaper at the time, and if the Rockets were in the playoffs or the Spurs were in the playoffs and the Mavericks weren't, if you were the if you were part of the Dallas Morning News NBA team, you got to go. So I spent tons of time with you know, all of the Spurs playoff runs, I've covered them. So I've gone to San Antonio a bazillion times over the years. It is

one of my favorite cities. And you know, the very first NBA Summer League I covered was David Robinson just before he joined the Spurs. Was there for the whole Tim duncan era. And now the chance to go there Wednesday night and see the official start of the Victor Woman Yama era, I'm glad I'm still here for all this man us Old guys, it's nice to, it's nice to, it's nice to stick around.

part as well. You know, maybe a month ago, maybe even three weeks ago, you asked me who's my rookie of the year favorite, I'm probably telling you Scoot Henderson. Now I'm thinking Wimby's probably going to be the best in this class, but I'm thinking it's going to take him a year or so to have like a real impact. Nah, Nah, he's nah. This kid is ready. He's ready. Man, He's gonna like god Lee. I mean that we never see anything,

you know, It's that true. You know they we throw a unicorn around like it's nothing nowadays, Like you call every you know, you call anybody a unicorn who's a five star recruit. This kid, Wemby, is that that is what unicorn looks like. This kid can do it all. We've never seen anything like that.

is doing things already in the preseason. We have never seen a player of his size do the way he moves, the way he handles the shot blocking at the three point line, the court coverage defensively, and I actually I'm glad we got on this track to kind of end things because I need to make a very very important clarification on Victor Winmbinyama, because I have been making a mistake.

I've seen several of our colleagues making the same mistake. Yes, in the NBA, there is a sixty five game rule this season on major awards, but it is not applicable to all individual awards, and Rookie of the Year is not one of the awards that you have to play sixty five games games to qualify. And you know that

was again a mistake that I've made. I was saying, how you know a week ago I was saying, the only reason you wouldn't you wouldn't say Wemby is the Rookie of the Year favorite is if you don't think he's going to play sixty five games. But I have been corrected. He does not have to play sixty five games.

In the new CBA. There are only five awards that you have to play the sixty five to be eligible, and that's MVP, Defensive Player of the Year, All Defensive Team, Most Improved Player, and All NBA Rookie of the Year and the All Rookie Team. Those are not subject to the sixty five game minimum. So that makes it even more likely that Victor weh Minyama is going to be the Rookie of the Year because he does not have to play sixty five games. And I do think the

Spurs are going to be very judicious with him. I don't think they're making an all out charge to try to make the playoffs in year one with Wemby, but uh yeah, some something crazy would have to happen for him not to win Rookie of the Year.

Antonio Museum of Art, serves absolutely scrumptious trout. You would never think this is not you know, San Antonio is known for tex mex You would not think, Hey, I'm gonna go to San Antonio and get amazing gourmet pizza and trout. But there you go. Well, someday, someday, if we're in the same city, if we're there together, I will take you.

but we got to. We gotta get a stop over there for sure. Okay, we're going to end it right there. And usually Stein is the one that closes our podcast. You know, I'd never like to take people's roles. I like to allow them to do their job and I want them to flourish and I want them to feel

supported whenever they do it. But I have to do it this time because as we were going off about our food ventures and our favorite pizza, and Stein was talking about trout in San Antonio and pizza and San Antonio, his audio just went out. So I can see Stein on my end, and I see his lips moving, but nothing's coming out, so he has no audio. So that's why I'm stepping in and closing this bad boy out. So I appreciate you guys listening to this League Uncut

with Stein and myself. I'm going to be here again. I'm here in Milwaukee. I got Thursday night's game between the Bucks and Sixers, and I would have sat down with Beiannis and Dame for T and T. Stein is off to San Antonio to see win Biyama to see what the frenzy is about. And we'll be back with you guys later this week. So appreciate you guys, have a great week, and I'm saying it for Stein. Thank you for listening. Appreciate you guys, subscribe all that stuff. Thank you, bye bye.