- 2 days ago
Seth and Sean assess if they'd essentially leverage the Rockets' future for Giannis based on some concerns outlined in Shams Charania's piece about him.
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00:00This behind-the-scenes story, this is a really, really, I feel like, well-sourced story set that Shams did.
00:05Shams Sharanya of ESPN talking about the behind-the-scenes.
00:10And why are we talking about this with Giannis?
00:11Well, I think there's a lot of Rocket fans that want the Rockets.
00:15Maybe not now that they're on a winning streak, but when the Rockets were playing super bad,
00:21I think people were more in on potentially shaking it up and doing a Giannis Attenecompo trade.
00:25This behind-the-scenes stuff in this story is really interesting about just how broken the relationship is
00:31between Giannis and Milwaukee to where it feels inevitable that they're going to move him in the offseason.
00:35I had forgotten that Jimmy Haslam is one of the owners of the Milwaukee Bucks,
00:39which, if we're localizing this, does make, I think, Houston fans, you know,
00:45like it's just kind of funny probably because he's the owner of the Browns also.
00:49It's yet another Houston-Cleveland trade scenario almost.
00:52Yeah, yeah, yeah, except Milwaukee here with Giannis.
00:55But, yeah, Houston-Browns.
00:56It will lump it into the many trades and transactions between the Browns and the Texans.
01:01Yeah, Jimmy Haslam is involved.
01:03The Bucks had talked to a bunch of teams before the trade deadline last year.
01:06Their asking price was too high for some of them.
01:08I think we know that.
01:09I thought it was interesting.
01:10They listed a bunch of teams that were suitors for Giannis at the trade deadline, Seth.
01:14The Heat, the Warriors, the Timberwolves, Cavs, Sixers.
01:17No mention of the Rockets anywhere in the article.
01:20Anywhere.
01:20So, I thought that was interesting, maybe indicating that the Rockets just,
01:24they're as in on their young core as a lot of Rocket fans are right now,
01:29are in on that young core.
01:30That they would, you know, that maybe they didn't even call the Bucks
01:33or didn't take the Bucks phone calls.
01:35Yeah, I think that's the sum total of it.
01:39And it's a lot easier to say this and believe it now after this.
01:42What are they up to on the win streak?
01:43Is it nine?
01:44Seven.
01:44Seven.
01:45Seven.
01:46In the midst of a seven-game win streak that, oh, okay, yeah,
01:49these guys are playing a lot more like the young core we fell in love with.
01:52Yep.
01:54So, there's that.
01:55Doc Rivers apparently had a team meeting about a month ago
01:58and had a Google Me moment with his team where they had been playing really poorly.
02:03And he was like, hey, I've had a lot of success in this league.
02:06I've taken teams to the championship that weren't forecasted to win the championship.
02:11Okay, he's taken one team to the championship that had Kevin Garnett,
02:14Paul Pierce, and Ray Allen.
02:15I think a lot of people were in on that Celtics team.
02:17But whatever.
02:18So, he had a Google Me moment.
02:19Doc Rivers has completely turned off this team.
02:21There's a lot of things going on in that building right there.
02:24The part I want to get to is after reading this article,
02:28would I mortgage the future of the Rockets for this guy?
02:31Yes or no?
02:32And there were one, two, three, there were six things in this article, Seth,
02:37that had me going either one way or the other on it, on Giannis.
02:41And help me hash this out here.
02:43I think you and I are on the same side of this thing.
02:46I have the first one, this first factoid, as a big no for trading for Giannis.
02:52I had not realized just how injured this guy has been
02:55when they go through the chronology of just this season alone.
02:59Yeah.
03:00He's had five different injuries this season,
03:03and they've been nagging old guy soft tissue injuries.
03:07He's played 36 games this season.
03:10Maybe a couple more now recently.
03:12But he's going to end up not having played half the season
03:14when it's all said and done.
03:16So, I didn't realize just how injured this guy is.
03:18That part is a big no for me right now.
03:20Yeah, that's a no.
03:21And especially with one other aging superstar on the roster already.
03:27It's a lot to give up any part of your young core for a guy that's been this injured
03:33and is now on the wrong side of 30.
03:35Yep.
03:35Yeah.
03:36Next one.
03:37Big no.
03:38Giannis and his agents seem very high maintenance.
03:42And if you're quitting on your team, like, he's essentially quitting on the Milwaukee Bucks.
03:46Like, he's like, I want out of here.
03:48We stink now.
03:49He's not the first to do it, obviously.
03:51It is a bit of a turnoff to me when it's the city you want a championship with.
03:54They've given you every big contract extension, you know, 2020 and 2023.
03:59Maybe some promises were made behind the scenes that I'm not privy to.
04:04That's just kind of a turnoff to me.
04:06And then people are going to say, well, Kevin Durant has done that multiple times and you
04:09root for him.
04:10Yeah, he had to win me over.
04:11So, Giannis would at the very least have to win me over.
04:13I'm just, I'm turned off by that kind of thing.
04:15Like, guys, as soon as your team sucks, I'm out of here.
04:18Yeah, that's where I wonder, too.
04:20It'd be interesting to get the local perspective more so on that.
04:23Because I think the PR on Giannis has always been really good in terms of what type of
04:27person he is and everything.
04:29And I'm inclined to more think that, hey, this guy doesn't want to, this guy doesn't
04:33want to end up being on five different NBA teams.
04:36If he comes to Houston, he's part of a competitive team.
04:38I would be more optimistic than you on that front.
04:41Okay.
04:41So, I disagree with you on, I agree with you on the first one, the injuries.
04:44I disagree with you on this one.
04:45Okay, next one.
04:46This is a no for me as well.
04:48One source said inside the building, quote, it feels like a funeral in the building.
04:52So, do I want to put my team, or do I want to gut my team for the high maintenance
04:58general
04:59manager of a funeral parlor, which is what Giannis is to me.
05:03He's basically, he's a mortician right now.
05:07Well, he's turned it into a funeral because he's leaving, the same way a household might
05:11be, let's say, let's say you were a, let's say you were an NFL nugget hussy, and all
05:17of a sudden, you, you, you, some, something came up that basically was the end of your
05:23marriage, and you leave.
05:25It's going to be, it's going to be pretty dismal in there for a while.
05:28It's true.
05:29No, yeah, I'm doing a hypothetical with Schefter.
05:31Let's say you find Schefter, Schefter was canoodling with Vrabel, and you find out that,
05:36okay, his marriage is going to be bust, it's going to be like a funeral in that household
05:40for a while, but he can go and find love with Vrabel, and it doesn't mean their relationship
05:44is going to be shot.
05:45So, you don't hold this against Giannis.
05:47I almost, yeah, I almost, you know what, I do hold it against him as, I, as a grumpy
05:52old man, don't like the way guys just decide to pick up an R-U-N-N-O-F-T
05:57whenever they
05:58want now, and yet, I get it and understand that's the way of the world these days, so I tie
06:04it in with, I'm okay with that part of it.
06:06Okay, okay, I'm going to skip ahead here.
06:08I'll skip back to one that's a big no for me, but this one, along those same lines, he
06:12was not playing in a game they played against Chicago.
06:15This was, I believe, the game where Rivers gave the Google Me speech before, back on
06:20March 1st.
06:22Giannis left the game at halftime, and they had a players-only meeting after that game, and
06:29he left the game at halftime and wasn't there, like, he just left the arena at halftime
06:32of the game.
06:32He wasn't there for the players-only meeting after the game.
06:35Hmm.
06:36I don't know about that.
06:37On the bench to start the game, left at halftime, and just didn't stay, like, he just bailed.
06:42Yeah, I don't know about that one.
06:43Yeah, that's a no for me, man.
06:44Like, at least stick around for the players-only meeting.
06:47All right, here's...
06:47By the way, the Google Me that Doc Rivers had suggested, the first championship in 2008,
06:56that preseason, the Celtics had been fourth favorite to win the championship in the preseason.
07:02He said teams that hadn't, didn't have a chance?
07:04Is that what he said?
07:05Yeah, yeah, yeah.
07:05Teams, yeah, that's what he said.
07:08That's the only team he's ever led to a championship.
07:10Other than that, he's best known for blowing three-to-one leads, like he's dishing out M&Ms
07:14on Halloween.
07:16All right, this is a big F-no for me, which, again, if you're just tuning in or just getting
07:19your car, ESPN, Shamsharanya has a long piece on behind-the-scenes with Giannis in Milwaukee,
07:26and there's a lot of stuff in here that is a little scary if the Rockets were to trade
07:30for him.
07:31This is a huge F-no for me.
07:33He's eligible early next year for a four-year, $275 million contract.
07:41Oh!
07:42NBA money is so stupid these days.
07:46That's $70 million a year!
07:48Yeah.
07:48For a guy who's injured all the time.
07:50No, that's the aging, injured player who's going to deplete your younger core, but also
07:58just either be too expensive or just be gone within a couple years.
08:03It's just, it's not, the juice isn't worth the squeeze for me right now.
08:07No, the only yes that I have for Giannis in trading for him is it does seem like he wants
08:12to get on the court.
08:13Like, that's the big issue between the Bucs and Giannis right now is they want to sit him
08:18because they're trying to lose games and get ping-pong balls.
08:20He wants to play, and to the point where the two sides have very differing stories of what's
08:28going on behind the scenes, to where the NBA may come down hard on the Bucs about tanking.
08:33So I respect that, that he does want to play, he doesn't want to be load managed, he's competitive,
08:37he wants to get out there.
08:38I think part of it is he wants to play with his Nepo baby brothers that are on the team
08:42too.
08:43There's that sentimental part of it.
08:44But that part I respect, that he, you know, he's not just shutting it down for the season.
08:48So where have we arrived with Giannis?
08:50It sounds like I'm more...
08:51I'm going to say, no, you've swayed me.
08:53Okay.
08:53And I wasn't, I was kind of almost on the fence.
08:56I mean, it's, I, if we go back and do this exercise three weeks ago.
09:00Yeah.
09:00Does, are you, do you have the exact same opinion?
09:04No.
09:04Before the Rockets started just playing a better version of basketball?
09:07No, more on the fence.
09:08You know, when I came in here, when I came in here angry after that, they blew the overtime
09:13game to the Timberwolves.
09:14Yeah.
09:14My feeling was, I don't care about you guys.
09:17Do whatever the hell you want.
09:18Trade for Giannis.
09:19Don't trade for Giannis.
09:20Wake me up when you're good again.
09:22You know, like last night was the kind of game that I feared they weren't going to be capable
09:27of pulling off, which is, all right, they started off with bad energy, or at least the Suns
09:32had better energy and everything else early in the game.
09:35They get down to a double digit deficit early.
09:38And, but now they have answers and it doesn't, and they did end up, look, they, they got the
09:44most second chance points they've had all season.
09:46So a lot of last year's team with the offensive rebounding and everything was, was in effect,
09:52but they also are running an actual offense.
09:54So it doesn't just have to feel like you have to be bailed out by a flurry of threes or
09:59something
10:00and just good old fashioned, dumb luck.
10:02They played their way back into that game and won it.
10:05And I don't, I don't think they would have done that all that often in the first two
10:08thirds of the season.
10:09No.
10:09And the bench gave them some juice last night, which we have not seen recently.
10:13Tar Eason had a really good game last night.
10:15Now he didn't hit any three pointers, but he was, he made all his other shots.
10:19He had 12 points.
10:20He, you know, he had a bunch of rebounds in the game.
10:23He had three steals.
10:23He was a plus 29, you know, which I know plus minus in a single game can be a little
10:28misleading.
10:29Sometimes he's plus 29 in a game.
10:31You won by 14.
10:32So with Tar Eason on the floor, good things were happening last night.
10:35So, yeah.
10:35Okay.
10:36Which have they played well enough to reverse some of our various strongest takes about
10:40the Rockets early in the season.
10:42Let me ask you this.
10:43Okay.
10:44Have you softened at all after this stretch of play by the Rockets?
10:50Have you softened at all Fred Van Vliet, basically calling the Spurs?
10:55No, no.
10:56That was dumb.
10:57That was dumb then.
10:58And it, and it, and cause the Spurs have done nothing but win since he's, they lost
11:02to Denver last Saturday.
11:04And other than that, they just went and they're destroying team.
11:06No, that was now, now when he's dealing with a rib issue right now, I I'm anxious to see
11:12if that's something that they're just being cautious about.
11:14He didn't play the other night.
11:15Yeah.
11:16I'm anxious to see if that's something they're just being cautious about, or if that's something
11:19that he's going to be dealing with.
11:21They play the blazer.
11:22I'm looking at the TV screen.
11:23They play the blazers on ESPN tonight.
11:25So, so we'll see, but no, that was, that was stupid to say that was dumb for Fred to say
11:30that I thought at the time.
11:32And I'm not saying he's a dumb person.
11:33I'm saying it was a dumb thing to say.
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