Nick would be ‘stunned’ if the Heat win a title with Giannis, Can the Celtics run it back? | FTF

We start with the blockbuster trade.The Bucs.I'm gonna go ahead and call him the greatest player in franchise history.He's not the greatest player ever to wear a uniform of the Bucs, but he is the greatest player in franchise history.To the Miami Heat.Miami's title odds jumped from 9th to 5th after the news.

The Heat now have the third best odds to win the East, behind the Celtics, who didn't land Giannis, and the Knicks, who literally just had a parade.And by the way, the Celtics still have better odds than the Knicks, which means the disrespect to the Knicks just continues.Here are the notable players currently on the Heat roster.Now keep in mind, Norm Powell is a free agent.Wiggins has an option.So the only of these guys that they have locked under contract are Janis Bam, Portis Jovic, and Davion Mitchell.

We expect that Wiggins will be back.Norm Powell, I thought, was going to be back.But Wendy this morning was like, don't expect him back unless he takes a big discount.

Well, to your point, what teams have the cap room?I mean, if you're him, did you just take them?Well, he'd be nice there.

He'd be nice in a lot of places.And he might still have a house in Los Angeles.He used to play for the Clippers.

They might be able to do a sign -in trade, though.Get something back for Powell.It's possible.

And it should be noted that this trade is not going to be finalized until July 6.So there could be other small permutations on it for whatever.It's worth through but that's the roster as it presently stands.Essentially.

Can Giannis contend in Miami that group could contend in the Eastern Conference, but they don't have the depth.All right, and and to your point, I think they'll have Andrew Wiggins, but if they don't have Norman Powell and I said last hour, I'm going to be talking about him like he's Kawhi Leonard.He I I can't overemphasize how important he is to this roster this year.right?He was a first -time All -Star this year, averaged 22 points a game.Now, he's 33 years old.

He's no spring chicken, but they need a perimeter player who can shoot the three.I know Wiggins can shoot it, but Powell also can create offense for others and himself.Right now, outside of him, there's nobody on that roster that does that.Giannis is a straight -line driver and a great passer, but they need a perimeter guy that can do some stuff.And that's why if they lose doing pile, I really think it's going to be tough for them this year.So look, I, I don't think they are one of the top teams in the East.

They have a great organization.They've got great leadership.Eric Sposter is a very good coach, but this group, it's the fit too.And when you were talking about like top 75 player, top 30 player, top 10 player and all that, To me, it's more the fit.Like, your two best players don't shoot the three.Bam shoots it, but poorly.

Bam shoots it, doesn't shoot it well.Poorly, 32 % last year.Giannis doesn't shoot it.And then your point guard, Davion Mitchell, is ideally a backup.Like, this is not a well -put -together roster as it is right now.And so they have a lot of work to do.

And the problem, Danny, is that while they've got work to do.And you, you said, okay, neck, it won't be this season.It'll be next season.Giannis is 31 and 14th year in the league and been injury prone for the last few seasons.They need to try to win now.

Well, obviously you cannot win.If Giannis is hurt.We just saw that in Milwaukee, right?So like, yes, no, no question.This is a gamble, a trading for Giannis with his injury history.

Let's say Giannis has a fully healthy season for the sake of this game.

right?Exactly.Like so this team this year.I do not think is realistic to say that they are a contender as presently constituted and because of taking on more money in this deal than went out.They are capped at the first apron.So they have very limited flexibility for this year, but I also and you guys seem to disagree with this.

I do not want to underestimate the appeal and attraction for a player or players in the future to try to maneuver their way to Miami to play with Bam, who is very popular in the league, to play with Giannis, who is beloved in the league.I mean, they might be the best defense in the Eastern Conference this year.I think their defense is going to be great.Defensively, they're going to be a great team.Because Mitchell is a very good defense player.

Wiggins is a lost athlete.Hero was one of their worst defenders, and he's gone.

I don't think they're going to be a better defensive team than Oklahoma City or San Antonio, but I do think that they should be the best defensive team in the East.And you have two all -star to all -NBA caliber players in Bam and Giannis.Arguably the best coach in the league in Spolster, who always gets guys to overperform.And a great general manager and the appeal of Pat Riley, who generally speaking gets his man.And again, this year, I'm aware of the ramifications and the difficulties of maneuvering there for this year.But as things open up and they get more flexibility and the cap goes up, I am not going to rule out the possibility that two and three years from now, there is another major piece that ends up in Miami.

Three years?I mean, yeah.

But that's what they're doing.Giannis is going to sign a three -year contract.

Well, Giannis is 34.

33 34 yeah, he's gonna sign a three -year 200 and something million dollar contract extension soon He is going the only reason he wanted to go to Miami or Boston was like those were places He was willing to extend this isn'ta one year proposition.

No it's not.How many more.Listen it has been a couple of years since Giannis was just as far as how the season went a legitimate MVP candidate.Let and now it's the last year.

We can say it's just because he was he hasn't made an all -defensive team in four.

You know, he's not the same defender.He wants was but he's still last year when he played his numbers are unbelievable offensive engine.He's a unique offensive engine.It doesn't shoot at all, but that's fine.How many more years do you guys think Giannis has as an, you know, top five player in the league.I called him top six earlier because I want to argue with people but the in that I would say Your best case scenario on that is three more years.

I think that's I think that's your best case scenario, but you're saying that's when they're going to get there, right?

That's my two and three, two year and three years from now and best as a top five guy.Yeah, Giannis is going to be a great player for a while.

I'm going to be free agency.Is it what it used to be?

Yeah.No, I know that's evidenced by the Minnesota, Brooklyn, Brooklyn, Chicago.Yeah, I mean, so I so I my answer to this is just flatly.No, But I mean, more people can contend in the NBA than ever.We've seen that.The Knicks kind of 52 wins and end up winning the title.

The Knicks have pieces that fit together.

The Jimmy Butler teams that went to the finals, the Pacers team last year.I don't believe that we're in an era of basketball where only two to four teams can win a title.OK, hold on.I don't want to be argumentative.

You definitely do believe that you think that like you definitely think there's um that that everyone is chasing one or two super teams and the Knicks maybe just got hot and won but you think but you your standard is can you beat theor can you beat the Spurs?And I, and I think you should add the Knicks to that group.And I think if there's any team in the East that has earned a benefit of the doubt organizationally over the last decade, it is not Miami.It is Boston.And what I am saying is those four teams I just listed, all four of them would not be like, Oh my God, what if we can't retain Norman Powell?

And that's what we're saying Miami is like I don't know that Norman Powell would start for the Knicks.Now is he better than Josh Hart.Sure.But as far as like what the fit of what they're trying to do.The.And so I I am I mean I probably don't have the emotional attachment to be honest that you do from your family's fandom and from you going to games to see him play Milwaukee being close Chicago.

But I have I've gotten in years ago big arguments with brew.Not big arguments, but I've been a big Giannis advocate.I didn't care that he can't shoot.He can average 30 and scored 50 in the finals.Who cares where it comes from?All of that.

I think a couple of things are at play here.I think we are on the downslope of Giannis' career.I'm not saying it is a steep downslope, but I think that the peak Giannis was pretty clearly a few years ago, and it's gotten either through availability or whatever other reason, just erosion of skill, he's not quite as good.So there's one thing.The other thing is, I am not as certain that Pat Riley is going to wave his magic wand and make a contender.Pat Riley getting Alonzo Mourning was great.

It was 30 years ago.Getting Shaquille O 'Neal was awesome. It was 25 years ago. He did not get LeBron. Like LeBron, you give him credit, that's fine.He made a good pitch.He made a good pitch.but like LeBron and Bosh and Wade got together wanted to go there since then.It has not been a litany of massive successes.

His big coup was getting Jimmy Butler, which then soured at the end and those teams overachieved.Thanks to I think they're they have great player development.They're undrafted guys, all those things around the edges and suppose a great coach, but I do not look at the heat as anywhere close.Like I think there are.Four teams in the West I'd rather be and four teams in the East I'd rather be flatly.That's more than a quarter of the league.

So I just don't know.And they have now traded away.their draft picks and their future flexibility.I don't know how they get from here to there.And the answer can't be, as I've seen bandied about somewhere, I bet you can get John Morant.Like, that's not.

.That doesn't..They're going to be a great defensive team that makes very little sense on offense.It's why as a basketball fan, I'm disappointed.he's there instead of Boston because I think in Boston and I'm no Celtics fan.

I think in Boston, he could contend for championships.I upcoming season like and and going forward.

You don't you don't think that the he wanted to go to the East the East with all seriously all due respects to the Knicks.The East is still the easier path to the finals, right?Everybody here agrees with that agree.Sure.Okay.And the best player in the Eastern Conference.

It's been Giannis for since LeBron left.What is that?So what?But I mean, hold on the supporting cast that he has in Miami is now better than the supporting cast that he had in Milwaukee.

The supporting cast he has in Miami is Bam Adebayo and a great coach.

And a great defensive point guard and Andrew Wiggins who shot 40 something percent from three last year.But they need more shooting than Andrew Wiggins.No question.This team, as presently constituted today on, what day is it?The 23rd.On June 23rd, is not winning a title.

We are all in agreement on that.You just seem so confident they're going to be able to build a team around that.

Before we move on, let me just ask this to the group.Pretend you're a gambler for a moment.You can pick either of these things and you win money if you're right.Option one, Giannis with the heat win a championship.Option two, Giannis with the heat never make a conference finals.I think it is..

.I think option two is far more likely.And that's why I'm bummed out.Because if you gave me that same option, had they done, had he kind of nudged his way more towards Boston, it would have been like, of course they're making conference finals.Like it's an impossibility that Giannis and Tatum are not deep into the playoffs.And then we'll see, maybe the most likely option is C, you know, don't win a title, but make conference finals.

But with the heat, I would be stunned if they win a title and I would not be stunned if next year they are the seven seed.I would not be stunned by that.

Yeah, I want to see what kind of to your point what their roster ends up looking like but as is currently constructed again, they will be phenomenal defensively offensively.They're going to be an experiment.

All right quickly.Let's go to the team that didn't get Giannis.The Celtics.They were going to send Jalen Brown in two first round picks, but don't you dare ask for Baylor Shireman.Hugo Gonzalez at his four points a game.Untouchable.

Didn't come to fruition.Jalen's future is now up in the air.Brew, can the Celtics just run it back?

and look I if I'm running the Celtics, I am looking at what I can get for Jalen Brown because I do think in the ideal world they can make a great trade for him and improve their team, but I am not giving him away.I am not man.It's out there.We were shopping him.We were about to trade him.He's going to be mad.

We can't bring him back in the building.No way.I'm thinking that If I don't get the trade I like, I am bringing Jalen Brown back.If it takes a heart to heart, man to man, let's put it all on the table, then we'll do so.We're all adults in here, but they are contenders.no question they are contenders next year as currently constructed.

And so I'm not going to mess that up just because I'm worried about his hurt feelings.So I would, like I said, I'm looking, if I can get a good deal, I'll do it.But I am not like, there's no way I can bring him and Jason Tatum back together and all that.No.

Jalen Brown will be on Twitch at some point in the next 36 hours, and I'm wondering if you'll change your tune on that.I hear you on the man -to -man, heart -to -heart conversation, and it sounds good, but I have a very hard time seeing him put that uniform on again, and I don't know what the trade will be.I just know that a dozen teams are gonna make offers.

So why do you see, have a, well, that's good if teams come after him and all that, and I do think they will, but Look, we talked about it with Lamar with the Ravens when he said he wanted out and some thought there's no way he could go back there.He's back there.LeBron and Dan Gilbert.LeBron went back to play for Dan Gilbert.These are adults and your feelings get hurt, but sometimes you move on as a professional.But do you think they should?

No, I think if they can get a deal, a better deal.that they think makes them better.I'm doing it.I'm with you on that.I'm just saying I'm not like I can't bring Jalen back.

And that's why it'll be different than the young you three years of contractual control.He's younger.He's healthier.He's a two.He's a two -way player.And I do think you could honestly open up a bidding war and say, here's our deadline, whether it's opening day or whatever you wanted it to be and say make us your best offer.

And I honestly think a third of the league would make offers.

I think it's on the board that we do a segment this summer of showing what the Bucs got for Giannis and what the Celtics got for Jalen Brown.And we debate who got the better return.I think that's on the board.I think now the fact that the Celtics offer Jalen plus two firsts and Milwaukee turned it down.That implies that you know the belief there is that Giannis has more value, but I don't leverage that.Yeah.

Agreed.I so I just I think that because of the age durability, I think easier fit on roster contractual control all of that.I think that if Jalen Brown is available and he clearly is available then I think the Celtics could get a massive return for him.And the question, because I just keep going back to Brad Stevens end of your press conference when he was like, and I wish you would have told me this before I picked them to win the championship.He's like, when you really looked at it, we weren't that close like that.We, you know, we, we struggled against the best teams.

We weren't where we needed to be.And he, he does not feel like they can run it back.So even if Bruce, right, that it's less about Jalen Brown's emotional, you know, hurt feelings or whatever, and more about just the actual ex's nose of contention, I think the Celtics are going to look massively different next year, and I think Jalen Brown will be somewhere else.