October 23, 2024 • 46 mins
Welcome to The Sports Cave with Biggest Puma, your ultimate destination for in-depth sports analysis and passionate commentary, hosted by the one and only Sam Freas. Broadcasting live from the east side of San Antonio, Sam brings you the latest and greatest in the world of sports, with a special focus on basketball as the NBA season kicks off.
In this episode, Sam dives into:
In this episode, Sam dives into:
- NBA Season Opener Highlights: Relive the excitement of the Celtics’ dominant performance as they raise their 18th championship banner and set a new record with 29 three-pointers. Discover why Sam believes the Celtics are in prime position to repeat their championship success.
- LeBron and Bronny’s Historic Game: Witness history as LeBron James and his son Bronny become the first father-son duo to play in an NBA game together. Sam shares his thoughts on this monumental moment and its implications for the Lakers’ season.
- Spurs Season Preview: Get ready for the Spurs’ opening night with Sam’s detailed analysis of the team’s prospects. From Victor Wembanyama’s MVP potential to the crucial questions surrounding the roster, find out what to expect from San Antonio this season.
- College Football Recap: Celebrate Sam Houston State’s bowl eligibility and catch up on the latest college football action, including UTEP’s tough loss to LA Tech.
- NFL Headlines: Stay updated with the latest NFL news, including the Chiefs’ trade for DeAndre Hopkins and the ongoing injury concerns for the Cowboys.
- Champions League Soccer: Enjoy a roundup of the latest Champions League results, featuring standout performances from Barcelona and Liverpool.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:08):
Light the Beam.
Speaker 2 (00:09):
Welcome into the Wednesday edition of the Sports Cave with
Biggest Puma. I am your host, Sam Freeze. If you
want to reach out to the program, you can find
me on x at Biggest Puma, on Instagram Biggest Dot Puma.
Broadcasting live to tape once again in my humble abode
on the east side of San Antonio where we find
(00:30):
ourselves only one more sleep till Spurs Opening Night, a
lot of basketball to get to on the show today,
going to break down some of my conference predictions, look
at some of the player award odds as they stand
right now, as well as some contract extensions that were
(00:50):
given out recently, and of course some assorted Spurs thoughts.
As we get ready for the season to open tomorrow night.
It is the first full league past night of the
NBA season. Few things I look forward to more than
Wednesday night League pass because usually that's the night where
nothing else is going on, especially after the World Series
(01:13):
wraps up. It'll be a lot of hockey and a
lot of basketball on Wednesday nights.
Speaker 1 (01:18):
Although I should remind you we are in day twenty one.
Speaker 2 (01:21):
Fifty five straight days of football, so there will be
football on tonight to distract you from the first full
slate of NBA games, but it's one of the good
Lord created multiple screens if you did miss any of
the episodes from earlier this week Monday, we talked a
Cowboys free, stress free weekend of football of NFL Football
(01:43):
recapped Week seven across the league, and then yesterday went
and dove back into the college football weekend as well,
So go back listen to those if you haven't already,
if you feel so inclined. But as always, we start
with what I watched last night, And as I mentioned,
and it was a split screen night, had the NBA
(02:04):
TNT doubleheader on the main TV, had some college football
going on the tablet where shout out to sam Houston State.
They have reached Bowl eligibility now and only their second
year of full Division One membership. It wasn't pretty, trust me,
it was real sicko territory football. They beat FIU the
(02:27):
Fighting pit Bulls ten to seven to get to Bowl eligibility.
But if you go back to last year, you know
Sam Houston State now six and two on the season
this year. You combine the way they closed out the
season last year and they're now nine and three in
their last twelve games. Again quite the accomplishment for a
(02:47):
team only in year two of full Division One eligibility.
Things weren't all good for Texas teams last night. Despite
the UTEP staff looking really sharp wearing their Texas High
School Coaches Association hats, all of them on the sideline,
they end up losing fourteen to ten to law Tech.
(03:09):
UTEP did get a win last week or a couple
weeks ago to break that long winless streak, but unfortunately
couldn't keep the momentum rolling last night against law Tech.
I mentioned that was on the tablet the main screen
was you already know it was absolutely locked into TNT
the first edition of Inside the NBA of the Year,
(03:32):
potentially their last year of doing that show. And a
nice doubleheader to open the season. You know, two really
good matchups with all four teams having expectations to play
postseason basketball.
Speaker 1 (03:46):
Obviously.
Speaker 2 (03:47):
Starting with the early game, the Celtics raised their eighteenth
championship banner and looked every bit the team that won
that championship last year. They looked like they just stepped
off the court of an NBA Finals game and turn
around and started the season with that same rhythm. They
were absolutely clicking on all cylinders last night against the
(04:09):
poor Nicks having to face that juggernaut. Usually teams sometimes,
you know, when they raised the banner on Opening night,
there's a bit of an emotional let down. There's a
lull and energy through all of the process of the ceremonies,
everything that went into it. Throughout the day, the Celtics
(04:29):
showed none of that, which leads me to believe they
are absolutely in prime position to potentially repeat this year.
Speaker 1 (04:37):
We'll talk about a lot more.
Speaker 2 (04:39):
Of playoff predictions when we get into our main segment,
but I mentioned firing on all cylinders to the tune
of twenty nine three pointers made, which ended up tying
the record. It got comical late watching the Scrubs try
to break the record after Missoula pushed all of the
or pulled all of the starters out of the game.
(05:01):
But at the point when they hit their twenty ninth
three pointer, you might be saying to yourself, well, that's
just the modern NBA. That's it's this volume, just chunk threes,
regardless of offensive set, no ball, no. The Celtics were
moving the ball so well that they were getting wide
open looks. At three, they were giving up layups to
(05:24):
take wide open threes to the tune of shooting twenty
nine for forty eight. When they hit that twenty ninth three,
that's a clip of sixty percent, And of course that
is absolutely unsustainable throughout the entire season, but through three quarters,
(05:45):
almost three and a half quarters, to hit sixty percent
on Opening night behind the arc, you're going to blow
out whatever team you're playing, no matter how good they
expect to be, and that they being the Knicks last night.
I think this is less of an indictment on the
Knicks and more a praise of the Celtics offense last night.
(06:07):
The Knicks are obviously introducing a lot of new pieces
to that team that made the deep run last year,
and it showed on Opening Night. You know, kat Karl
Anthony Towns making his Knicks debut, he only plays twenty
three minutes, twelve point seven boards. I think you can
expect to get more out of him once he gets
(06:29):
more comfortable with his teammates, with his surroundings there in
New York, especially considering he didn't have a full offseason
with his new teammates that trade, you know, coming down
right at the beginning of training camp. But I say
it was more about the Celtics last night. You know,
despite the comical last eight and a half minutes of
(06:50):
that game, where as I said, you know, bench warmers
were throwing up air balls trying to break the record.
Before all of that, we got a masterclass of a
game from Jason Tatum thirty seven points, extremely efficient, fourteen
of eighteen, shooting eight of eleven from three, and more importantly,
(07:10):
or more impressively, he had ten of the Celtics thirty
three assists last night. As a team, they had thirty
three assists and only three turnovers. So going back to
you know, talking about it's not just guys in isolation
jacking shots up. The Celtics are playing really, really good
basketball on Night one of the NBA season, which should
(07:34):
scare the hell out of the rest of the league
right now. And then in the nightcap, history was made.
Lebron joined Vince Carter as the only two players to
ever play twenty two seasons in the NBA and also
a rookie made his appearance for the Lakers as well,
And don't hit me with the oh, but it was
(07:55):
cool to get to see it if it was any
other player. Besides, it wouldn't have happened last night. But
of course, Lebron and Bronni make NBA history. They check
in together with four minutes remaining in the second quarter
of that game last night, becoming the first father son
duo to ever play in an NBA game together.
Speaker 1 (08:17):
It was so ridiculous.
Speaker 2 (08:19):
Even the Griffies were on hand to watch it as
guests of Nike. You had Ken Griffy Senior and Junior
in attendance to see history being made. I want to
be the guy that comes on and says, you know,
actually it was kind of cool to see, which, Okay,
I guess sure it was. But I can't stop thinking
about everything we bitch about Jerry Jones making it a
(08:42):
pr marketing machine instead of focusing on winning. That's exactly
what the Lakers did last night to keep consistency here.
If I was a Lakers fan, I would much prefer
that roster spot being used on someone that might actually
help them win games, especially considering they're going to be
(09:03):
fighting just to get a play in spot this year
and it's not like there's a lot of future development
hopes for Bronnie. I mean at best, he probably tops
out as an NBA role player off the bench.
Speaker 1 (09:16):
So special moment.
Speaker 2 (09:19):
Sure did we know this was going to happen back
at the NBA Draft when they gave Bronni one of
the most expensive contracts for a second round pick. Ever, Yes,
we knew this moment was coming. And I guess the
best thing I can say about it is JJ Reddick
got it out of the way early. Hopefully now Bronny
goes to the G League and actually gets some focus
(09:41):
development time outside of the spotlight of his dad, and
maybe his dad and the rest of the NBA caliber
talent on that roster can now focus on winning basketball games.
Speaker 1 (09:53):
Like they did last night.
Speaker 2 (09:55):
It was a historic night for lebron and Bronni, a
historic night for JJ Reddick. He gets his first win
as an NBA head coach. Lakers win that game one
ten to one oh three over the t Wolves and
similar story to the Knicks, because the t Wolves were
the team that made those trades with the Knicks, the
(10:15):
t Wolves were integrating some of their own new guys
into the team as well. Julius Randall has a bit
of a disappointing debut, I think as he even admitted
after the game the offensive numbers were fine, but the
defensive lapses are where he's going to struggle. I think
fitting into that Minnesota mindset and mentality and how they play,
(10:38):
you know, a very physical defense first type of basketball.
Randall ends up going for sixteen points, nine rebounds, and
Devincenzo added ten as well off the bench, another new
edition from the Knicks. But the story in that game
was Anthony Davis's dominant performance. He finishes with thirty six
points sixteen rebounds, was just all over the place defensively,
(11:02):
and a lot of those mental laps on the defensive
end for Julius Randall were at the hands of Anthony Davis.
And that's what the Lakers are going to need all season.
If they're going to have any chance of climbing potentially
out of any of the play in spots, or hell,
even just securing a play in spot, they're going to
(11:23):
need that version of Anthony Davis or something really close
night in and night out. And of course, if he's healthy,
that doesn't seem like such a tall task, but that's
a big if with AD's injury history. But for one
night at least, the Lakers can claim to be top
of the Western Conference. Really, I was waiting for that
(11:45):
game to end just so we could get to the
first edition of Inside the NBA in what could be,
unfortunately the last year of that show. As crazy as
that sounds, it was good to see the gang all
back together. They were live on location there in Boston
for the banner ceremony.
Speaker 1 (12:05):
They were set up outside.
Speaker 2 (12:07):
And really I just kept waiting to get to the
stat of the night because I thought we were gonna
get who he played for. But it turns out we're
gonna get that tomorrow night, which, if you're anything like me,
every single NBA opening week I look forward to hear
Chuck absolutely bomb trying to guess where guys play now
(12:27):
going into this season. Usually he's nowhere close to correct
on any of them. So I do look forward to
that tomorrow night, not as much as I look forward
to Spurs MAVs in the first game of that doubleheader,
but it should be a good way to end the
night tomorrow, And then quickly here before we jump into
some NFL headlines and then get into our main segment
(12:49):
of NBA talk, we did have some more Champions League
soccer this afternoon, led by another impressive hat trick performance
from one of the Spanish giants, Rafina. It was Vinnie
Junior yesterday and now earlier today Raffina gets a hat
trick for Barsa as they completely dismantle Byron win that
(13:12):
game four to one. It was a crazy first half
before Barcelona really took control. And thinking back to yesterday
with Vinnie Junior's hat trick for Real and now Rafena's
hat trick for Barsa, El Classico this year has the
potential to be something truly truly magical elsewhere. And now
(13:33):
the battle of Jurgen Klop. We had Liverpool over Red Bull.
Lipzig won nothing if you missed the news obviously, Jurgen
Klop stepped down from Liverpool manager after last season. Well
he now has been hired basically as the head of
all football operations for Red Bull, which includes the clubs
they own. But Liverpool gets the last laugh there. French
(13:56):
outfit Little ends up getting the three to one victory
over Atletico. I saw Asletico went up early and then
Lil charged back and then rounded out here Man City
blew out Sparta five nothing only up one nothing for
a long part A long portion of that game end
up piling on the goals. Late inter Milan survives one
(14:18):
nothing over a Swiss team young boys Leverkusen m Bress
tie one to one, and Dutch outfit fainn Rude ends
up beating Benfica three to one. So there were some
surprising results, I would say from today's action across the pond.
But like yesterday, enough of that, let's talk real football.
(14:39):
We do have some NFL headlines to get to. Still
haven't gotten any clear injury updates from the Cowboys yet.
Of course, their mash unit is longer, just as longer
longer than most teams right now, so I would hope
to get some updates so we can talk about them
on tomorrow's NFL Previews You episode. But elsewhere across the league,
(15:04):
we did have the Chiefs swinging for a trade. Obviously,
they have been talk about mass units their wide receiver corps.
Most of their offensive weapons not named Mahomes or Kelsey
have been banged up this year or are already out
for the rest of the year. They're nearing a trade
for Titans wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins, a longtime Texans receiver,
(15:27):
short time Cardinals receiver, and the only reason I'm bringing
this up because the DeAndre Hopkins of this year is
obviously not the one that most people have memories of,
which is why it drives me even more insane. The
Chiefs are only giving up a fifth round pick for
this version of DeAndre Hopkins.
Speaker 1 (15:50):
Again, I'll go back to it.
Speaker 2 (15:52):
That's the same exact thing, same exact compensation the Cowboys
got for Amari Cooper two and a half years ago.
Speaker 1 (16:01):
That trade was awful, Like it.
Speaker 2 (16:04):
Cannot be stated enough, and anytime there is a reminder
of it, it will be mentioned. Unfortunately, we did have
some other Cowboys news that was all over the place.
I'm not going to spend a lot of time on it,
but ESPN did release a really long, well written article
describing basically just the circus atmosphere at the Star at
(16:29):
the Cowboys training camp, specifically when it comes to how
Jerry allows access, allows the fans to have access that
no other organization in the league allows. There the only
team that offers tours of their actual training facility, even
the Packers, who use Lambeau as their training facility. They
(16:51):
do stadium tours, but absolutely restrict any kind of fan
access to where the players are actually trying to, you know,
conduct business. Yeah, the Cowboys, as we already know this.
This article honestly didn't tell me anything new except for
the fact that it did provide some actual revenue numbers
(17:12):
on how much money those tours generate, because again, Jerry
Jones doesn't give a damn about winning football games. He
cares about being front and center in the media every day,
and he cares about making money. And I would argue
in that order, he is so vain and so ego
(17:33):
maniacal that he wants to be talked about first and
then he wants to make money. Winning can come along
if it does, but that's not the priority. Every year
they sell five hundred thousand tickets to these tours between
the stadium and the Star. That generates nearly ten million
dollars in revenue for him. So yeah, the article had
(17:57):
quotes from former players like Tony Paul talking about how
he's in a better emotional place, mental place now that
he can just focus on football with the Titans. It's
a lot of what we heard Dalton Schultz say last
year when he left to go to the Texans, and
he talked about, you know, fans tapping on the glass
like their zoo animals as they did their tour of
(18:19):
the training facilities while he's in there trying to do
his daily workout. These really aren't new things that were
learning through this article. Although another new thing I did
learn through this article you can pay ninety dollars to
get the tour of the Star that also includes a
Q and A with hologram Ai Jerry Jones. Again, he
(18:43):
doesn't give a damn about winning football games. He's got
holograms of himself that you can pay ninety dollars to
talk to. It's ridiculous, it's embarrassing. We've spent enough time
on it. Let's talk about something that's going to put
me in a good mood, and that is the return
of NBA basketball into our collective lives, where last night
(19:04):
we already had one of the most awkward sponsorship live
reads we might hear all season.
Speaker 3 (19:12):
Four time Defensive Player of the Year matching Mutumbo and Wallace.
Of course, the NBA world just had a tough loss
with the kimby Mutumbo's pass. NBA on TNT brought to
you by the Kia Tell You're Right X Line. Kia
the official automotive partner of the NBA. Yeah, that was
(19:35):
terrible news in regards to the Kenby, who has been
such an ambassador of the game. In addition to his
Hall of Fame career, he just meant so much to
the game of basketball. Ah.
Speaker 2 (19:45):
Yet another not so subtle reminder that nothing can get
in the way of corporate sponsorship money, not even stan
Van Gundy's heartfelt remembrance of one of the league's all
time greatest players that just recently passed.
Speaker 1 (19:59):
No.
Speaker 2 (20:00):
So we've got to make sure we get that keya money,
and we got to get it right now this moment.
Speaker 1 (20:05):
Sorry, Stan, hold that thought.
Speaker 2 (20:08):
Sometimes the corporate capitalism that we deal with is absolutely nauseating.
I'm not saying I want it another way or im
proposing any alternative, but you gotta admit that was a
bad look last night. But it did give us some
audio gold to kick off the NBA season.
Speaker 1 (20:26):
And with that as the.
Speaker 2 (20:27):
Launch pad, let's talk some basketball because I got some
spurs thoughts before we jump into some of the recent
contract extensions that have been announced, and I want to
look over some of the player award odds as well,
even throw my conference predictions out at the end.
Speaker 1 (20:45):
If we have enough time.
Speaker 2 (20:46):
I'm trying not to get too long winded with these episodes,
but there's just too much sports, well not too much.
There is so much to cover right now. So we'll
start with some Spurs thoughts. And I just keep coming
back to the phrase more questions than answers. That's kind
of how I'm viewing this Spur season. There's still more
(21:07):
questions than answers on this roster right now. You know, obviously,
the questions of who is going to be the big
piece they swing for eventually with all of these future assets.
We'll leave that for another day because I don't think
you're going to see that big swing any at any
point during the season. At the earliest it would be
(21:30):
the off season. And I still think they want to
see how those draft picks are going to fall, because
you want as many draft picks as possible in this
loaded class come next summer. So just looking at the
questions specifically on the roster, obviously they're the only question
with Wimby is will he stay healthy. So far, so
good on that front, especially watching him play an entire
(21:53):
summer of basketball with Team France at the Olympics.
Speaker 1 (21:57):
All good so far. We'll talk about.
Speaker 2 (22:00):
Wimby more when we get into the player Award odds.
The other question, can Devin Vessel stay healthy? He's going
to miss at least the first five games of this season.
Will that be the five games that determine whether the
Spurs make a play in spot or not. Is Jeremy
Sohan the power forward that you want to pair next
(22:22):
to Wimby for the next decade or at least minimum
for the next six years, because he's due for an
extension next year. What exactly is Steph Castle's ceiling when
it comes to potential? Does he have superstar potential? Is
that your guy that could bloom into the robin to
Wimby's batman? Does he have all star potential where he's
(22:45):
more of the third option and you're still missing that
solid number two piece to pair in between Wimby and Castle?
Are there any other players on this roster that could
be role players on a contender? These are the questions
that I'll be watching for answers as the season goes along,
which is why I keep falling back on the phrase
(23:07):
more questions than answers, because I'm not sure I have.
Speaker 1 (23:11):
Any good answers for you.
Speaker 2 (23:12):
Those are just the questions that come to mind when
I think about what I'm going to be looking for
night in and night out as we watch the Spurs
team this season. I think best case scenario, Wemby's top
three in MVP voting wins Defensive Player of the Year,
Devin Vessel comes back and plays ninety five percent of
(23:35):
the games after missing the first five. Steph Castle shows
that he's got at least a shade of superstar potential
and wins Rookie of the Year, and the combination of
those three guys leading the roster at the top end
carries the Spurs to a play in game. If you
listen to my over Unders episode from last week, you'll
(23:58):
know I'm not as high on the prospects of that
best case scenario actually playing out. I don't think they're
going to be absolute twenty win bottom dwellers like they
were last year. The veterans on this team now with
CP three Harrison Barnes obviously another year of Wemby's development.
I just think there's too much talent on the roster
(24:19):
now to win anything less than thirty games. But I
still think they are a substantial step behind the teams
that will be fighting for play in spots. And again,
I know that's hard for a lot of people to hear,
but the Western Conference is just so stacked and so deep,
where potentially the ninth and tenth seed will be teams
(24:43):
that are led by Lebron and Steph Curry, and it
just feels like the Spurs still are clearly a step
behind even where the fading Lakers and Warriors are at
this point, and really a step behind where the Rockets are.
After their rebuild on the fly last year almost carried
(25:04):
them to a play in spot, They're going to be
hungry to try to get past one of those fading
stars this year themselves. And I think that's what it
boils down to for the Spurs. Are the Spurs better
than the Clippers, the Rockets, the Warriors, or the Lakers,
because I think those are the last four teams that
will be fighting for that play in spot, And while
(25:27):
I think San Antonio might end up with a better
record than the Clippers, I think those other three teams
are still a little bit ahead of where San Antonio is.
And again, that's fine right now when you look at
all the future assets the Spurs have, they're just biting
their time as some of these aging superstars phase out
(25:47):
of the Western Conference and you know, their teams go
through rebuilds of their own, like the Spurs are now
emerging from. So the future is incredibly, incredibly bright. But
we might still be watching one more season of NBA
basketball that doesn't feature the Spurs in the playoffs or
even a play in appearance. But again, that doesn't mean
(26:10):
there's not meaningful questions that need to be answered throughout
the course of this season.
Speaker 1 (26:16):
Playoffs are not. So I'm excited.
Speaker 2 (26:19):
I mean, call me crazy, but I was excited two
years ago, the year before they got Wmby for the
bottoming out, to see if there was were any pieces
on the roster pre Wimby that could carry over when
it does come time to contend. I was, obviously, as
everybody else was excited last year to watch Wemby's rookie year.
(26:42):
Now we're getting to the point of the rebuild where
these questions need to be answered now because the Spurs
need to know exactly what they have now currently and
what they need to go out and acquire to turn
this thing back into a perennial championship contender. They've already
done the hardest part. The hardest thing to do in
(27:02):
the NBA is get your Wemby, to get your Luca,
to get your hell Jason Tatum, you're Jokic, you'r whoever
your ant man. They've done the hard part. They have
the guy that potentially is better than all of those
names listed after him. Now they've got to do the
team building strategically without pushing all the chips into the
(27:25):
middle of the table too early, especially when you remember
the fact that Wemby's still only twenty years old, and
that feels like a perfect time to mention. Wimby has
the eighth best odds for MVP this year right now. Again,
a bunch of those names I just listed are the
guys ahead of him in MVP odds in his second
(27:47):
year in the league. Real quickly best odds one through
seven all the way to Wimby, Luca number one, SGA two,
Jokic three, and all three of those are basic toss
up between all have about the same odds. Then there's
a big gap down to Jannis at four Anthony Edwards.
(28:08):
Both him and Yannis have the same odds, and then
right there group still next to them is Jason Tatum,
who if he does what he did last night regularly
over the course of this year, he might be the
best money right now if you were looking to pick
somebody outside of that top three. And then Jalen Brunton
(28:31):
is seventh, and then there's our guy Wemby at eighth. Surprisingly,
John Morant is ninth with the Jaw comeback Tour, but
there's a huge gap between Wemby at eight and Jaw
at nine. Wemby is plus two thousand odds. If you're
into that kind of thing. So again, I repeat, not
that you need to hear it again. They've done the
(28:53):
hard part. They have a twenty year old who has
the eighth best odds to win League MVP in his
year two season. Now it's about forming the rest of
that roster. And the rest of that roster does include
Steph Castle and his potential. As we mentioned earlier, he
is right now he has the fifth best odds to
(29:14):
win Rookie of the Year, surprisingly, or maybe not so
surprisingly because just of how much playing time he's going
to get in Memphis. Zach Edy is the leader in
odds right now at plus two ninety and it's really
not close. Risha Cher the number one pick with the Hawks,
(29:34):
the Frenchman. He's the second best odds at plus seven
point fifty, so a huge gap between Edie and number two.
And then Reed Shepherd, who kind of seems like the
national media's darling when it comes to picking Rookie of
the Year. He's third, and then Alexander Sar and Steph
Castle are actually tied for fourth best odds to win
(29:55):
Rookie of the Year. I mean looking at all these guys, Obviously,
Reed Shepherd's going to play a crucial role on that
Rockets team as they push for a play in spot.
Zach Edy is going to be asked to do a
lot for a Memphis team that looks to climb back
into the fifty win upper echelon of the Western Conference
(30:16):
where they were before Jah Morant suspension. And we know
how much playing time Stephan Castle is gonna hopefully get
here with the Spurs. So good money on Castle, good value.
But I do think it's going to be hard to
overcome Edie and Shepherd if they are both contributing to
(30:36):
playoff teams and then rounding it out, the defensive Player
of the Year odds are ridiculously one sided. One sided
in Wimby's favor he has he is such a favorite.
He has minus one fifty odds and the next closest
player is at plus eleven hundred. Surprisingly, that next closest
(30:57):
player is Chet Holmgren, not your reigning Defensive Player of
the Year, Rudy Gobert. Gobert is all the way down
to six best odds. He's even behind Anthony Davis, who's fifth.
So everyone across the league is expecting Wimby to get
Defensive Player of the Year. I think everyone acknowledges that
he should have won it last year, especially when you
(31:19):
saw Gobert get played off the court in a playoff
series the way Luca did to him in the Western
Conference finals. And then lastly, Wimby's also the favorite for
most improved Player. But I'm not of the thought that
most improved player, in my mind, is someone that either
comes out of nowhere and shows massive improvement, or someone
(31:43):
who was a fringe All Star that becomes a true superstar, or.
Speaker 1 (31:48):
A guy that was a role player and becomes an
All Star.
Speaker 2 (31:51):
I feel like we already Wimby's improvement is just going
to be more playing time. I mean, yeah, he's going
to get better at a lot of things as the
years go by. But it just feels kind of wrong
to give a Most Improved Player to a guy that
also potentially could finish top three and MVP votes when
(32:14):
we know how much of a uber prospect he was
coming into the NBA. It just doesn't feel like that's
necessarily the right application for that specific award, especially when
you look at the other names on the list. I mean,
Wemby's number one, but then it's Josh Giddy, Jalen Williams
(32:35):
with a thunder, Jonathan kaminga with the Warriors, a Jalen
Johnson who just signed a huge contract extension that we'll
talk about here in a minute, so that one feels,
you know, obviously, MVP is the first personal priority, Defensive
Player of the Year is the second. I'm not sure
most improved player is cracking the list of priorities, and
(32:58):
of course Wimby's list of priorities are all team priorities,
but winning some MVPs and Defensive Player of the years
would also be nice as that contributes to the team's success.
I mentioned Jalen Johnson's contract extension there, he wasn't the
only one among that group that got extended. It wasn't
(33:19):
just rookie contract extensions that we saw announced. Over the
last week or so, we saw some veterans get extended
with playoff teams as crucial parts of said playoff teams.
Starting with just yesterday, right before the game tipped off,
a word started to leak out that Rudy Gobert was
taking a bit of a pay cut. He's re signing
(33:43):
for a three year, one hundred and ten million dollar extension. Again,
Rudy Gobert helps you win games in the regular season,
but he can absolutely be played off the court by
a ball dominant pick and roll maestro like Luca, like SGA,
like Jamal Murray. Although Denver wasn't able to get past
(34:06):
him last year in the playoffs, I think that had
more to do with Kat honestly than Gobert, which is
why I'm so down on Minnesota this year, replacing Kat
with Julius Randall putting all the pressure on go Beart
on the defensive end. But for the money, it's a
deal that I absolutely would have done if I'm the
t Wolves mentioned the Nuggets there. They also locked one
(34:27):
of their veteran starters down for a multi year extension.
Aaron Gordon takes another bit of a pay cut and
signs a three year, one hundred and three and a
half million dollar extension. It involved him opting into a
player option and then getting the extension, or declining a
player option and then getting the extension. But basically, Denver
(34:49):
keeps the core together and I think Denver's prime for
a you can't say a bounce back year because they
were one game away from being the number one seed
in the WORL last year. Complements of that lost to
the Spurs in the final week of the season. Denver
I think is going to make a deep playoff run again.
(35:10):
As we'll talk about here in a second. The Rockets
locked down a couple of their young core pieces. Shingoon
signs a massive deal five years, one hundred and eighty
five million. I think he's worth every penny of that.
In fact, they probably need to revolve things around him
more than they already do. And then Jalen Green also
(35:31):
signs an extension, which was pretty surprising. It didn't seem
like they were going to get anything done with his camp.
He ends up signing a creatively designed three year, one
hundred and six million dollar extension, So the Rockets are
locked into what they are trying to make this play
in push obviously spent big last year in free agency,
(35:52):
now this year, spend big on retaining some of that
young talent, hoping that another year of continuity together gets
them over that hump of finally getting back to a
playoff spot. And now to the portion where it's some
questionable business. Mentioned Jalen Johnson. He signs a huge deal
for what he's shown so far in the league. He
(36:14):
re signs with the Hawks for five years, one hundred
and fifty million, and he's he's a really good player.
Speaker 1 (36:21):
I liked him at Duke.
Speaker 2 (36:22):
He's shown flashes with that Hawks team, but there's still
a long way to go in his game to justify
a thirty million.
Speaker 1 (36:30):
Dollar a year salary.
Speaker 2 (36:32):
And I know the NBA is so inflated now where
good role players make eleven, twelve million, sixteen million dollars.
You know, I make fun of the Hartenstein deal that
he just signed with the Thunder for a guy that
averaged nine to seven last year. So Jalen Johnson thirty
million seems like a lot right now. They're obviously betting
(36:54):
on his potential, and then the other one that jumps out,
Jalen sugg Signs a five year, one hundred and fifty
million dollar contract of his own to stay with the
Magic And I love Jalen Suggs. I loved him at Gonzaga.
I love what he provides to that Magic team. But
thirty million dollars for a guy that has such offensive
(37:17):
limitations in his game and doesn't show a whole lot
of potential signs of development on the offensive side. Jalen
Suggs is one of the best on ball defender, one
of the best guard defenders in the entire league, and
that's the majority of what that value is based on.
Speaker 1 (37:36):
But just the way the league is.
Speaker 2 (37:37):
Played now, that's a lot of money, especially for a
team that just got off the Marco Folts money now,
to turn around and give that to Jalen Suggs. I
understand the logic, but that one could be an anchor
for a while if it turns bad, if he doesn't
show any other signs of development. In a few more
(38:00):
here quickly, Trey Murphy the third ends up signing four years,
one hundred and twelve million dollars to stay with the
Pelicans again. A playoff team retaining young talent might be
a little high, but again, a very defensive forward, defensive
minded forward, guard, swing man, exactly what you need on
(38:23):
your roster to win in the NBA, but a lot
of money to commit to him. Also, Murphy can knock
down threes, which the three and D the coveted three
and D player in the modern NBA. Another playoff team
retaining young talent, MAVs keep Jaden Hardy at an insanely
valuable or low value number three years, only eighteen million,
(38:48):
six million dollars a year for a guy that has
shown you already he can provide something off the bench
on a championship contender that is insanely insanely good value.
On the other side of that coin, Corey Kispert resigns
four years fifty four million.
Speaker 1 (39:06):
Dollars with the Wizards.
Speaker 2 (39:08):
I like the player, but what he brings to a team,
his shooting, his offensive ability. Not sure the Wizards are
going to end up seeing his true value in that contract,
just because they're such a bad team and he doesn't
create a lot of that offense on his own. He's
reliant on having good players around him that lead to
(39:31):
those open shots, and then lastly, Warriors couldn't come to
an agreement with Jonathan Kaminga, but they do get a
deal done with Moses Moody three years, thirty seven and
a half mil. A lot of questions with that Warriors roster,
and it feels like they're going into this season hoping
they can get some answers at least by the midway point,
(39:52):
because I'm not even sure Steve Kerr knows what his
best starting five is right now. So I hope all
of that on track talk and numbers tuck didn't give
you all tired head to the point of tuning out.
But to be honest, the business side of pro sports
is my favorite side. I am the geek that loves
(40:14):
the number crunching, that loves the roster construction, the strategy
that goes into acquiring talent, the you know, trade deadlines.
I live for transferred days, transferred deadlines, and soccer you
know NFL draft Like. I'm much more a fan of
the action off the court, off the field. Obviously, I
(40:37):
still watch all of the action on the court. On
the field, hell, I'm about to go watch a quad
box of NBA League Pass Wednesday Night Basketball, so I
appreciate you sticking with me as we get down into
some of the contractual weeds as it relates to the
NBA this year. We'll close out today with a quick
(41:00):
playoff prediction. I do think the Celtics are in the
best position to repeat, but I felt almost exactly similar
about the nuggets chances of repeating last year.
Speaker 1 (41:12):
I mean, a team that.
Speaker 2 (41:14):
Looks so good, so in tune, all complimentary pieces that
fit well together, all locked down to contracts that are
going to keep them together for multiple years, but the
playoffs are such a crapshoot, asked Denver fans last year
losing in the second round. I don't think the East
is as tough of a gauntlet as Denver had to
(41:37):
go through in the West last year, which is kind
of why I default to the Celtics making a return
trip to the Finals. There's way more drama in the West,
way more teams that I think actually have I mean, hell,
I think there's six teams that legitimately have a claim
(41:57):
to make a finals appearance this year in the West,
well five legitimately, maybe a six depending on what Memphis
does in this bounce back year, because they were a
upper echelon team with Jaw two years ago winning fifty
plus games. But the East is way more top heavy dominant.
There's I don't think there's nearly as many teams that
(42:21):
truly are NBA Final ready, are contenders to topple the Celtics,
you know, really in the East. I mean the list
is Boston, New York, Milwaukee, maybe Philadelphia, but they've already
got their own injury concerns. EMBIID is always an injury concern. Now,
(42:42):
Paul George is going to miss the beginning of the year,
and they're also going to do a lot of load
management where they try to keep both of those guys
from playing in any back to backs throughout the year,
of which I think if you're a new team trying
to build new chemistry, that it's really hard to just
not have the games together when you're intentionally sitting guys out.
(43:06):
You know, load management with the Spurs worked because those
guys had such good chemistry. You could sit games, allow
the young guys to try to develop some new skills,
to flourish, to potentially develop role players that then would
compliment the Big Three. The Big three already had enough
years of playing together that there was chemistry that was
(43:29):
never going away.
Speaker 1 (43:30):
Philly doesn't have.
Speaker 2 (43:31):
That obviously with Paul George just coming over this year,
and probably, you know, Maxi and Embiid might never have
it just because of Embiid's availability.
Speaker 1 (43:42):
Issues due to injury.
Speaker 2 (43:43):
So I don't really consider They're definitely the fourth of
the four in the East that I could see climbing
out of the Eastern Conference bracket and make a finals appearance.
So give me the Celtics in the East and in
the West, give me a return of the Nuggets. I
am high on the Nuggets this year. Last time I checked.
(44:06):
They still have the best player in the world in Jokich.
They still have a damn good coach and Mike Malone
who holds those players accountable, and that means a lot,
I think in the modern NBA. To be such a
hard nosed guy and still get that accountability from the
modern athlete, I think that speaks a lot to Mike Malone.
(44:30):
Just love the way they handle their business, getting Aaron
Gordon locked up. The real question with them is how
healthy is Jamal Murray? How healthy can Jamal Murray stay
and what will he have left in the tank come playoffs?
Because he was out of gas last year against Minnesota,
and when he's out of gas, it makes life really
(44:53):
hard on a seven footer like Jokic who's reliant on
that point guard. I mean, hell, just look at the
Spurs last year. How many times was Wemby open where
an average to above average point guard would have gotten
him the ball in a scoring position. Obviously, Jokic needs
that same distribution from a point guard as Wimby, and
(45:15):
it is just a matter of will Jamal Murray be
there to give it to him in the playoffs. I'm
betting on yes, give me Celtic's Nuggets in the final,
and Denver returns to the top of the NBA mountain
as NBA champions come next summer.
Speaker 1 (45:33):
So there it is your.
Speaker 2 (45:34):
Official NBA preview, as only the Sports Cave can give
it to you. Tonight obviously already said going to watch
a lot of league pass, But if you are a
true college football Siko shout out Siko's community. It is
day twenty one of fifty five straight days of football,
(45:55):
and tonight we got Liberty, the absolute polar opposites here.
Undefeated Liberty plays winless Kennesaw State and then mid Tennessee
State at Jacksonville State as well. Let's go Kinnesau get
that first win. As always, y'all, I appreciate.
Speaker 1 (46:14):
You riding along.
Speaker 2 (46:15):
Tomorrow will preview the upcoming NFL week ahead of us.
Hopefully we get some more Cowboys news, some injury news
we can update, we can discuss as we prepare for
the Cowboys trip to play the forty nine ers on
Sunday Night football.
Speaker 1 (46:31):
That'll do it, y'all. Be safe, We'll talk to you tomorrow.
Speaker 3 (46:35):
Kid.
Speaker 1 (46:35):
What do we say about drugs? Gosh yeah,
Light the Beam.
Speaker 2 (00:09):
Welcome into the Wednesday edition of the Sports Cave with
Biggest Puma. I am your host, Sam Freeze. If you
want to reach out to the program, you can find
me on x at Biggest Puma, on Instagram Biggest Dot Puma.
Broadcasting live to tape once again in my humble abode
on the east side of San Antonio where we find
(00:30):
ourselves only one more sleep till Spurs Opening Night, a
lot of basketball to get to on the show today,
going to break down some of my conference predictions, look
at some of the player award odds as they stand
right now, as well as some contract extensions that were
(00:50):
given out recently, and of course some assorted Spurs thoughts.
As we get ready for the season to open tomorrow night.
It is the first full league past night of the
NBA season. Few things I look forward to more than
Wednesday night League pass because usually that's the night where
nothing else is going on, especially after the World Series
(01:13):
wraps up. It'll be a lot of hockey and a
lot of basketball on Wednesday nights.
Speaker 1 (01:18):
Although I should remind you we are in day twenty one.
Speaker 2 (01:21):
Fifty five straight days of football, so there will be
football on tonight to distract you from the first full
slate of NBA games, but it's one of the good
Lord created multiple screens if you did miss any of
the episodes from earlier this week Monday, we talked a
Cowboys free, stress free weekend of football of NFL Football
(01:43):
recapped Week seven across the league, and then yesterday went
and dove back into the college football weekend as well,
So go back listen to those if you haven't already,
if you feel so inclined. But as always, we start
with what I watched last night, And as I mentioned,
and it was a split screen night, had the NBA
(02:04):
TNT doubleheader on the main TV, had some college football
going on the tablet where shout out to sam Houston State.
They have reached Bowl eligibility now and only their second
year of full Division One membership. It wasn't pretty, trust me,
it was real sicko territory football. They beat FIU the
(02:27):
Fighting pit Bulls ten to seven to get to Bowl eligibility.
But if you go back to last year, you know
Sam Houston State now six and two on the season
this year. You combine the way they closed out the
season last year and they're now nine and three in
their last twelve games. Again quite the accomplishment for a
(02:47):
team only in year two of full Division One eligibility.
Things weren't all good for Texas teams last night. Despite
the UTEP staff looking really sharp wearing their Texas High
School Coaches Association hats, all of them on the sideline,
they end up losing fourteen to ten to law Tech.
(03:09):
UTEP did get a win last week or a couple
weeks ago to break that long winless streak, but unfortunately
couldn't keep the momentum rolling last night against law Tech.
I mentioned that was on the tablet the main screen
was you already know it was absolutely locked into TNT
the first edition of Inside the NBA of the Year,
(03:32):
potentially their last year of doing that show. And a
nice doubleheader to open the season. You know, two really
good matchups with all four teams having expectations to play
postseason basketball.
Speaker 1 (03:46):
Obviously.
Speaker 2 (03:47):
Starting with the early game, the Celtics raised their eighteenth
championship banner and looked every bit the team that won
that championship last year. They looked like they just stepped
off the court of an NBA Finals game and turn
around and started the season with that same rhythm. They
were absolutely clicking on all cylinders last night against the
(04:09):
poor Nicks having to face that juggernaut. Usually teams sometimes,
you know, when they raised the banner on Opening night,
there's a bit of an emotional let down. There's a
lull and energy through all of the process of the ceremonies,
everything that went into it. Throughout the day, the Celtics
(04:29):
showed none of that, which leads me to believe they
are absolutely in prime position to potentially repeat this year.
Speaker 1 (04:37):
We'll talk about a lot more.
Speaker 2 (04:39):
Of playoff predictions when we get into our main segment,
but I mentioned firing on all cylinders to the tune
of twenty nine three pointers made, which ended up tying
the record. It got comical late watching the Scrubs try
to break the record after Missoula pushed all of the
or pulled all of the starters out of the game.
(05:01):
But at the point when they hit their twenty ninth
three pointer, you might be saying to yourself, well, that's
just the modern NBA. That's it's this volume, just chunk threes,
regardless of offensive set, no ball, no. The Celtics were
moving the ball so well that they were getting wide
open looks. At three, they were giving up layups to
(05:24):
take wide open threes to the tune of shooting twenty
nine for forty eight. When they hit that twenty ninth three,
that's a clip of sixty percent, And of course that
is absolutely unsustainable throughout the entire season, but through three quarters,
(05:45):
almost three and a half quarters, to hit sixty percent
on Opening night behind the arc, you're going to blow
out whatever team you're playing, no matter how good they
expect to be, and that they being the Knicks last night.
I think this is less of an indictment on the
Knicks and more a praise of the Celtics offense last night.
(06:07):
The Knicks are obviously introducing a lot of new pieces
to that team that made the deep run last year,
and it showed on Opening Night. You know, kat Karl
Anthony Towns making his Knicks debut, he only plays twenty
three minutes, twelve point seven boards. I think you can
expect to get more out of him once he gets
(06:29):
more comfortable with his teammates, with his surroundings there in
New York, especially considering he didn't have a full offseason
with his new teammates that trade, you know, coming down
right at the beginning of training camp. But I say
it was more about the Celtics last night. You know,
despite the comical last eight and a half minutes of
(06:50):
that game, where as I said, you know, bench warmers
were throwing up air balls trying to break the record.
Before all of that, we got a masterclass of a
game from Jason Tatum thirty seven points, extremely efficient, fourteen
of eighteen, shooting eight of eleven from three, and more importantly,
(07:10):
or more impressively, he had ten of the Celtics thirty
three assists last night. As a team, they had thirty
three assists and only three turnovers. So going back to
you know, talking about it's not just guys in isolation
jacking shots up. The Celtics are playing really, really good
basketball on Night one of the NBA season, which should
(07:34):
scare the hell out of the rest of the league
right now. And then in the nightcap, history was made.
Lebron joined Vince Carter as the only two players to
ever play twenty two seasons in the NBA and also
a rookie made his appearance for the Lakers as well,
And don't hit me with the oh, but it was
(07:55):
cool to get to see it if it was any
other player. Besides, it wouldn't have happened last night. But
of course, Lebron and Bronni make NBA history. They check
in together with four minutes remaining in the second quarter
of that game last night, becoming the first father son
duo to ever play in an NBA game together.
Speaker 1 (08:17):
It was so ridiculous.
Speaker 2 (08:19):
Even the Griffies were on hand to watch it as
guests of Nike. You had Ken Griffy Senior and Junior
in attendance to see history being made. I want to
be the guy that comes on and says, you know,
actually it was kind of cool to see, which, Okay,
I guess sure it was. But I can't stop thinking
about everything we bitch about Jerry Jones making it a
(08:42):
pr marketing machine instead of focusing on winning. That's exactly
what the Lakers did last night to keep consistency here.
If I was a Lakers fan, I would much prefer
that roster spot being used on someone that might actually
help them win games, especially considering they're going to be
(09:03):
fighting just to get a play in spot this year
and it's not like there's a lot of future development
hopes for Bronnie. I mean at best, he probably tops
out as an NBA role player off the bench.
Speaker 1 (09:16):
So special moment.
Speaker 2 (09:19):
Sure did we know this was going to happen back
at the NBA Draft when they gave Bronni one of
the most expensive contracts for a second round pick. Ever, Yes,
we knew this moment was coming. And I guess the
best thing I can say about it is JJ Reddick
got it out of the way early. Hopefully now Bronny
goes to the G League and actually gets some focus
(09:41):
development time outside of the spotlight of his dad, and
maybe his dad and the rest of the NBA caliber
talent on that roster can now focus on winning basketball games.
Speaker 1 (09:53):
Like they did last night.
Speaker 2 (09:55):
It was a historic night for lebron and Bronni, a
historic night for JJ Reddick. He gets his first win
as an NBA head coach. Lakers win that game one
ten to one oh three over the t Wolves and
similar story to the Knicks, because the t Wolves were
the team that made those trades with the Knicks, the
(10:15):
t Wolves were integrating some of their own new guys
into the team as well. Julius Randall has a bit
of a disappointing debut, I think as he even admitted
after the game the offensive numbers were fine, but the
defensive lapses are where he's going to struggle. I think
fitting into that Minnesota mindset and mentality and how they play,
(10:38):
you know, a very physical defense first type of basketball.
Randall ends up going for sixteen points, nine rebounds, and
Devincenzo added ten as well off the bench, another new
edition from the Knicks. But the story in that game
was Anthony Davis's dominant performance. He finishes with thirty six
points sixteen rebounds, was just all over the place defensively,
(11:02):
and a lot of those mental laps on the defensive
end for Julius Randall were at the hands of Anthony Davis.
And that's what the Lakers are going to need all season.
If they're going to have any chance of climbing potentially
out of any of the play in spots, or hell,
even just securing a play in spot, they're going to
(11:23):
need that version of Anthony Davis or something really close
night in and night out. And of course, if he's healthy,
that doesn't seem like such a tall task, but that's
a big if with AD's injury history. But for one
night at least, the Lakers can claim to be top
of the Western Conference. Really, I was waiting for that
(11:45):
game to end just so we could get to the
first edition of Inside the NBA in what could be,
unfortunately the last year of that show. As crazy as
that sounds, it was good to see the gang all
back together. They were live on location there in Boston
for the banner ceremony.
Speaker 1 (12:05):
They were set up outside.
Speaker 2 (12:07):
And really I just kept waiting to get to the
stat of the night because I thought we were gonna
get who he played for. But it turns out we're
gonna get that tomorrow night, which, if you're anything like me,
every single NBA opening week I look forward to hear
Chuck absolutely bomb trying to guess where guys play now
(12:27):
going into this season. Usually he's nowhere close to correct
on any of them. So I do look forward to
that tomorrow night, not as much as I look forward
to Spurs MAVs in the first game of that doubleheader,
but it should be a good way to end the
night tomorrow, And then quickly here before we jump into
some NFL headlines and then get into our main segment
(12:49):
of NBA talk, we did have some more Champions League
soccer this afternoon, led by another impressive hat trick performance
from one of the Spanish giants, Rafina. It was Vinnie
Junior yesterday and now earlier today Raffina gets a hat
trick for Barsa as they completely dismantle Byron win that
(13:12):
game four to one. It was a crazy first half
before Barcelona really took control. And thinking back to yesterday
with Vinnie Junior's hat trick for Real and now Rafena's
hat trick for Barsa, El Classico this year has the
potential to be something truly truly magical elsewhere. And now
(13:33):
the battle of Jurgen Klop. We had Liverpool over Red Bull.
Lipzig won nothing if you missed the news obviously, Jurgen
Klop stepped down from Liverpool manager after last season. Well
he now has been hired basically as the head of
all football operations for Red Bull, which includes the clubs
they own. But Liverpool gets the last laugh there. French
(13:56):
outfit Little ends up getting the three to one victory
over Atletico. I saw Asletico went up early and then
Lil charged back and then rounded out here Man City
blew out Sparta five nothing only up one nothing for
a long part A long portion of that game end
up piling on the goals. Late inter Milan survives one
(14:18):
nothing over a Swiss team young boys Leverkusen m Bress
tie one to one, and Dutch outfit fainn Rude ends
up beating Benfica three to one. So there were some
surprising results, I would say from today's action across the pond.
But like yesterday, enough of that, let's talk real football.
(14:39):
We do have some NFL headlines to get to. Still
haven't gotten any clear injury updates from the Cowboys yet.
Of course, their mash unit is longer, just as longer
longer than most teams right now, so I would hope
to get some updates so we can talk about them
on tomorrow's NFL Previews You episode. But elsewhere across the league,
(15:04):
we did have the Chiefs swinging for a trade. Obviously,
they have been talk about mass units their wide receiver corps.
Most of their offensive weapons not named Mahomes or Kelsey
have been banged up this year or are already out
for the rest of the year. They're nearing a trade
for Titans wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins, a longtime Texans receiver,
(15:27):
short time Cardinals receiver, and the only reason I'm bringing
this up because the DeAndre Hopkins of this year is
obviously not the one that most people have memories of,
which is why it drives me even more insane. The
Chiefs are only giving up a fifth round pick for
this version of DeAndre Hopkins.
Speaker 1 (15:50):
Again, I'll go back to it.
Speaker 2 (15:52):
That's the same exact thing, same exact compensation the Cowboys
got for Amari Cooper two and a half years ago.
Speaker 1 (16:01):
That trade was awful, Like it.
Speaker 2 (16:04):
Cannot be stated enough, and anytime there is a reminder
of it, it will be mentioned. Unfortunately, we did have
some other Cowboys news that was all over the place.
I'm not going to spend a lot of time on it,
but ESPN did release a really long, well written article
describing basically just the circus atmosphere at the Star at
(16:29):
the Cowboys training camp, specifically when it comes to how
Jerry allows access, allows the fans to have access that
no other organization in the league allows. There the only
team that offers tours of their actual training facility, even
the Packers, who use Lambeau as their training facility. They
(16:51):
do stadium tours, but absolutely restrict any kind of fan
access to where the players are actually trying to, you know,
conduct business. Yeah, the Cowboys, as we already know this.
This article honestly didn't tell me anything new except for
the fact that it did provide some actual revenue numbers
(17:12):
on how much money those tours generate, because again, Jerry
Jones doesn't give a damn about winning football games. He
cares about being front and center in the media every day,
and he cares about making money. And I would argue
in that order, he is so vain and so ego
(17:33):
maniacal that he wants to be talked about first and
then he wants to make money. Winning can come along
if it does, but that's not the priority. Every year
they sell five hundred thousand tickets to these tours between
the stadium and the Star. That generates nearly ten million
dollars in revenue for him. So yeah, the article had
(17:57):
quotes from former players like Tony Paul talking about how
he's in a better emotional place, mental place now that
he can just focus on football with the Titans. It's
a lot of what we heard Dalton Schultz say last
year when he left to go to the Texans, and
he talked about, you know, fans tapping on the glass
like their zoo animals as they did their tour of
(18:19):
the training facilities while he's in there trying to do
his daily workout. These really aren't new things that were
learning through this article. Although another new thing I did
learn through this article you can pay ninety dollars to
get the tour of the Star that also includes a
Q and A with hologram Ai Jerry Jones. Again, he
(18:43):
doesn't give a damn about winning football games. He's got
holograms of himself that you can pay ninety dollars to
talk to. It's ridiculous, it's embarrassing. We've spent enough time
on it. Let's talk about something that's going to put
me in a good mood, and that is the return
of NBA basketball into our collective lives, where last night
(19:04):
we already had one of the most awkward sponsorship live
reads we might hear all season.
Speaker 3 (19:12):
Four time Defensive Player of the Year matching Mutumbo and Wallace.
Of course, the NBA world just had a tough loss
with the kimby Mutumbo's pass. NBA on TNT brought to
you by the Kia Tell You're Right X Line. Kia
the official automotive partner of the NBA. Yeah, that was
(19:35):
terrible news in regards to the Kenby, who has been
such an ambassador of the game. In addition to his
Hall of Fame career, he just meant so much to
the game of basketball. Ah.
Speaker 2 (19:45):
Yet another not so subtle reminder that nothing can get
in the way of corporate sponsorship money, not even stan
Van Gundy's heartfelt remembrance of one of the league's all
time greatest players that just recently passed.
Speaker 1 (19:59):
No.
Speaker 2 (20:00):
So we've got to make sure we get that keya money,
and we got to get it right now this moment.
Speaker 1 (20:05):
Sorry, Stan, hold that thought.
Speaker 2 (20:08):
Sometimes the corporate capitalism that we deal with is absolutely nauseating.
I'm not saying I want it another way or im
proposing any alternative, but you gotta admit that was a
bad look last night. But it did give us some
audio gold to kick off the NBA season.
Speaker 1 (20:26):
And with that as the.
Speaker 2 (20:27):
Launch pad, let's talk some basketball because I got some
spurs thoughts before we jump into some of the recent
contract extensions that have been announced, and I want to
look over some of the player award odds as well,
even throw my conference predictions out at the end.
Speaker 1 (20:45):
If we have enough time.
Speaker 2 (20:46):
I'm trying not to get too long winded with these episodes,
but there's just too much sports, well not too much.
There is so much to cover right now. So we'll
start with some Spurs thoughts. And I just keep coming
back to the phrase more questions than answers. That's kind
of how I'm viewing this Spur season. There's still more
(21:07):
questions than answers on this roster right now. You know, obviously,
the questions of who is going to be the big
piece they swing for eventually with all of these future assets.
We'll leave that for another day because I don't think
you're going to see that big swing any at any
point during the season. At the earliest it would be
(21:30):
the off season. And I still think they want to
see how those draft picks are going to fall, because
you want as many draft picks as possible in this
loaded class come next summer. So just looking at the
questions specifically on the roster, obviously they're the only question
with Wimby is will he stay healthy. So far, so
good on that front, especially watching him play an entire
(21:53):
summer of basketball with Team France at the Olympics.
Speaker 1 (21:57):
All good so far. We'll talk about.
Speaker 2 (22:00):
Wimby more when we get into the player Award odds.
The other question, can Devin Vessel stay healthy? He's going
to miss at least the first five games of this season.
Will that be the five games that determine whether the
Spurs make a play in spot or not. Is Jeremy
Sohan the power forward that you want to pair next
(22:22):
to Wimby for the next decade or at least minimum
for the next six years, because he's due for an
extension next year. What exactly is Steph Castle's ceiling when
it comes to potential? Does he have superstar potential? Is
that your guy that could bloom into the robin to
Wimby's batman? Does he have all star potential where he's
(22:45):
more of the third option and you're still missing that
solid number two piece to pair in between Wimby and Castle?
Are there any other players on this roster that could
be role players on a contender? These are the questions
that I'll be watching for answers as the season goes along,
which is why I keep falling back on the phrase
(23:07):
more questions than answers, because I'm not sure I have.
Speaker 1 (23:11):
Any good answers for you.
Speaker 2 (23:12):
Those are just the questions that come to mind when
I think about what I'm going to be looking for
night in and night out as we watch the Spurs
team this season. I think best case scenario, Wemby's top
three in MVP voting wins Defensive Player of the Year,
Devin Vessel comes back and plays ninety five percent of
(23:35):
the games after missing the first five. Steph Castle shows
that he's got at least a shade of superstar potential
and wins Rookie of the Year, and the combination of
those three guys leading the roster at the top end
carries the Spurs to a play in game. If you
listen to my over Unders episode from last week, you'll
(23:58):
know I'm not as high on the prospects of that
best case scenario actually playing out. I don't think they're
going to be absolute twenty win bottom dwellers like they
were last year. The veterans on this team now with
CP three Harrison Barnes obviously another year of Wemby's development.
I just think there's too much talent on the roster
(24:19):
now to win anything less than thirty games. But I
still think they are a substantial step behind the teams
that will be fighting for play in spots. And again,
I know that's hard for a lot of people to hear,
but the Western Conference is just so stacked and so deep,
where potentially the ninth and tenth seed will be teams
(24:43):
that are led by Lebron and Steph Curry, and it
just feels like the Spurs still are clearly a step
behind even where the fading Lakers and Warriors are at
this point, and really a step behind where the Rockets are.
After their rebuild on the fly last year almost carried
(25:04):
them to a play in spot, They're going to be
hungry to try to get past one of those fading
stars this year themselves. And I think that's what it
boils down to for the Spurs. Are the Spurs better
than the Clippers, the Rockets, the Warriors, or the Lakers,
because I think those are the last four teams that
will be fighting for that play in spot, And while
(25:27):
I think San Antonio might end up with a better
record than the Clippers, I think those other three teams
are still a little bit ahead of where San Antonio is.
And again, that's fine right now when you look at
all the future assets the Spurs have, they're just biting
their time as some of these aging superstars phase out
(25:47):
of the Western Conference and you know, their teams go
through rebuilds of their own, like the Spurs are now
emerging from. So the future is incredibly, incredibly bright. But
we might still be watching one more season of NBA
basketball that doesn't feature the Spurs in the playoffs or
even a play in appearance. But again, that doesn't mean
(26:10):
there's not meaningful questions that need to be answered throughout
the course of this season.
Speaker 1 (26:16):
Playoffs are not. So I'm excited.
Speaker 2 (26:19):
I mean, call me crazy, but I was excited two
years ago, the year before they got Wmby for the
bottoming out, to see if there was were any pieces
on the roster pre Wimby that could carry over when
it does come time to contend. I was, obviously, as
everybody else was excited last year to watch Wemby's rookie year.
(26:42):
Now we're getting to the point of the rebuild where
these questions need to be answered now because the Spurs
need to know exactly what they have now currently and
what they need to go out and acquire to turn
this thing back into a perennial championship contender. They've already
done the hardest part. The hardest thing to do in
(27:02):
the NBA is get your Wemby, to get your Luca,
to get your hell Jason Tatum, you're Jokic, you'r whoever
your ant man. They've done the hard part. They have
the guy that potentially is better than all of those
names listed after him. Now they've got to do the
team building strategically without pushing all the chips into the
(27:25):
middle of the table too early, especially when you remember
the fact that Wemby's still only twenty years old, and
that feels like a perfect time to mention. Wimby has
the eighth best odds for MVP this year right now. Again,
a bunch of those names I just listed are the
guys ahead of him in MVP odds in his second
(27:47):
year in the league. Real quickly best odds one through
seven all the way to Wimby, Luca number one, SGA two,
Jokic three, and all three of those are basic toss
up between all have about the same odds. Then there's
a big gap down to Jannis at four Anthony Edwards.
(28:08):
Both him and Yannis have the same odds, and then
right there group still next to them is Jason Tatum,
who if he does what he did last night regularly
over the course of this year, he might be the
best money right now if you were looking to pick
somebody outside of that top three. And then Jalen Brunton
(28:31):
is seventh, and then there's our guy Wemby at eighth. Surprisingly,
John Morant is ninth with the Jaw comeback Tour, but
there's a huge gap between Wemby at eight and Jaw
at nine. Wemby is plus two thousand odds. If you're
into that kind of thing. So again, I repeat, not
that you need to hear it again. They've done the
(28:53):
hard part. They have a twenty year old who has
the eighth best odds to win League MVP in his
year two season. Now it's about forming the rest of
that roster. And the rest of that roster does include
Steph Castle and his potential. As we mentioned earlier, he
is right now he has the fifth best odds to
(29:14):
win Rookie of the Year, surprisingly, or maybe not so
surprisingly because just of how much playing time he's going
to get in Memphis. Zach Edy is the leader in
odds right now at plus two ninety and it's really
not close. Risha Cher the number one pick with the Hawks,
(29:34):
the Frenchman. He's the second best odds at plus seven
point fifty, so a huge gap between Edie and number two.
And then Reed Shepherd, who kind of seems like the
national media's darling when it comes to picking Rookie of
the Year. He's third, and then Alexander Sar and Steph
Castle are actually tied for fourth best odds to win
(29:55):
Rookie of the Year. I mean looking at all these guys, Obviously,
Reed Shepherd's going to play a crucial role on that
Rockets team as they push for a play in spot.
Zach Edy is going to be asked to do a
lot for a Memphis team that looks to climb back
into the fifty win upper echelon of the Western Conference
(30:16):
where they were before Jah Morant suspension. And we know
how much playing time Stephan Castle is gonna hopefully get
here with the Spurs. So good money on Castle, good value.
But I do think it's going to be hard to
overcome Edie and Shepherd if they are both contributing to
(30:36):
playoff teams and then rounding it out, the defensive Player
of the Year odds are ridiculously one sided. One sided
in Wimby's favor he has he is such a favorite.
He has minus one fifty odds and the next closest
player is at plus eleven hundred. Surprisingly, that next closest
(30:57):
player is Chet Holmgren, not your reigning Defensive Player of
the Year, Rudy Gobert. Gobert is all the way down
to six best odds. He's even behind Anthony Davis, who's fifth.
So everyone across the league is expecting Wimby to get
Defensive Player of the Year. I think everyone acknowledges that
he should have won it last year, especially when you
(31:19):
saw Gobert get played off the court in a playoff
series the way Luca did to him in the Western
Conference finals. And then lastly, Wimby's also the favorite for
most improved Player. But I'm not of the thought that
most improved player, in my mind, is someone that either
comes out of nowhere and shows massive improvement, or someone
(31:43):
who was a fringe All Star that becomes a true superstar, or.
Speaker 1 (31:48):
A guy that was a role player and becomes an
All Star.
Speaker 2 (31:51):
I feel like we already Wimby's improvement is just going
to be more playing time. I mean, yeah, he's going
to get better at a lot of things as the
years go by. But it just feels kind of wrong
to give a Most Improved Player to a guy that
also potentially could finish top three and MVP votes when
(32:14):
we know how much of a uber prospect he was
coming into the NBA. It just doesn't feel like that's
necessarily the right application for that specific award, especially when
you look at the other names on the list. I mean,
Wemby's number one, but then it's Josh Giddy, Jalen Williams
(32:35):
with a thunder, Jonathan kaminga with the Warriors, a Jalen
Johnson who just signed a huge contract extension that we'll
talk about here in a minute, so that one feels,
you know, obviously, MVP is the first personal priority, Defensive
Player of the Year is the second. I'm not sure
most improved player is cracking the list of priorities, and
(32:58):
of course Wimby's list of priorities are all team priorities,
but winning some MVPs and Defensive Player of the years
would also be nice as that contributes to the team's success.
I mentioned Jalen Johnson's contract extension there, he wasn't the
only one among that group that got extended. It wasn't
(33:19):
just rookie contract extensions that we saw announced. Over the
last week or so, we saw some veterans get extended
with playoff teams as crucial parts of said playoff teams.
Starting with just yesterday, right before the game tipped off,
a word started to leak out that Rudy Gobert was
taking a bit of a pay cut. He's re signing
(33:43):
for a three year, one hundred and ten million dollar extension. Again,
Rudy Gobert helps you win games in the regular season,
but he can absolutely be played off the court by
a ball dominant pick and roll maestro like Luca, like SGA,
like Jamal Murray. Although Denver wasn't able to get past
(34:06):
him last year in the playoffs, I think that had
more to do with Kat honestly than Gobert, which is
why I'm so down on Minnesota this year, replacing Kat
with Julius Randall putting all the pressure on go Beart
on the defensive end. But for the money, it's a
deal that I absolutely would have done if I'm the
t Wolves mentioned the Nuggets there. They also locked one
(34:27):
of their veteran starters down for a multi year extension.
Aaron Gordon takes another bit of a pay cut and
signs a three year, one hundred and three and a
half million dollar extension. It involved him opting into a
player option and then getting the extension, or declining a
player option and then getting the extension. But basically, Denver
(34:49):
keeps the core together and I think Denver's prime for
a you can't say a bounce back year because they
were one game away from being the number one seed
in the WORL last year. Complements of that lost to
the Spurs in the final week of the season. Denver
I think is going to make a deep playoff run again.
(35:10):
As we'll talk about here in a second. The Rockets
locked down a couple of their young core pieces. Shingoon
signs a massive deal five years, one hundred and eighty
five million. I think he's worth every penny of that.
In fact, they probably need to revolve things around him
more than they already do. And then Jalen Green also
(35:31):
signs an extension, which was pretty surprising. It didn't seem
like they were going to get anything done with his camp.
He ends up signing a creatively designed three year, one
hundred and six million dollar extension, So the Rockets are
locked into what they are trying to make this play
in push obviously spent big last year in free agency,
(35:52):
now this year, spend big on retaining some of that
young talent, hoping that another year of continuity together gets
them over that hump of finally getting back to a
playoff spot. And now to the portion where it's some
questionable business. Mentioned Jalen Johnson. He signs a huge deal
for what he's shown so far in the league. He
(36:14):
re signs with the Hawks for five years, one hundred
and fifty million, and he's he's a really good player.
Speaker 1 (36:21):
I liked him at Duke.
Speaker 2 (36:22):
He's shown flashes with that Hawks team, but there's still
a long way to go in his game to justify
a thirty million.
Speaker 1 (36:30):
Dollar a year salary.
Speaker 2 (36:32):
And I know the NBA is so inflated now where
good role players make eleven, twelve million, sixteen million dollars.
You know, I make fun of the Hartenstein deal that
he just signed with the Thunder for a guy that
averaged nine to seven last year. So Jalen Johnson thirty
million seems like a lot right now. They're obviously betting
(36:54):
on his potential, and then the other one that jumps out,
Jalen sugg Signs a five year, one hundred and fifty
million dollar contract of his own to stay with the
Magic And I love Jalen Suggs. I loved him at Gonzaga.
I love what he provides to that Magic team. But
thirty million dollars for a guy that has such offensive
(37:17):
limitations in his game and doesn't show a whole lot
of potential signs of development on the offensive side. Jalen
Suggs is one of the best on ball defender, one
of the best guard defenders in the entire league, and
that's the majority of what that value is based on.
Speaker 1 (37:36):
But just the way the league is.
Speaker 2 (37:37):
Played now, that's a lot of money, especially for a
team that just got off the Marco Folts money now,
to turn around and give that to Jalen Suggs. I
understand the logic, but that one could be an anchor
for a while if it turns bad, if he doesn't
show any other signs of development. In a few more
(38:00):
here quickly, Trey Murphy the third ends up signing four years,
one hundred and twelve million dollars to stay with the
Pelicans again. A playoff team retaining young talent might be
a little high, but again, a very defensive forward, defensive
minded forward, guard, swing man, exactly what you need on
(38:23):
your roster to win in the NBA, but a lot
of money to commit to him. Also, Murphy can knock
down threes, which the three and D the coveted three
and D player in the modern NBA. Another playoff team
retaining young talent, MAVs keep Jaden Hardy at an insanely
valuable or low value number three years, only eighteen million,
(38:48):
six million dollars a year for a guy that has
shown you already he can provide something off the bench
on a championship contender that is insanely insanely good value.
On the other side of that coin, Corey Kispert resigns
four years fifty four million.
Speaker 1 (39:06):
Dollars with the Wizards.
Speaker 2 (39:08):
I like the player, but what he brings to a team,
his shooting, his offensive ability. Not sure the Wizards are
going to end up seeing his true value in that contract,
just because they're such a bad team and he doesn't
create a lot of that offense on his own. He's
reliant on having good players around him that lead to
(39:31):
those open shots, and then lastly, Warriors couldn't come to
an agreement with Jonathan Kaminga, but they do get a
deal done with Moses Moody three years, thirty seven and
a half mil. A lot of questions with that Warriors roster,
and it feels like they're going into this season hoping
they can get some answers at least by the midway point,
(39:52):
because I'm not even sure Steve Kerr knows what his
best starting five is right now. So I hope all
of that on track talk and numbers tuck didn't give
you all tired head to the point of tuning out.
But to be honest, the business side of pro sports
is my favorite side. I am the geek that loves
(40:14):
the number crunching, that loves the roster construction, the strategy
that goes into acquiring talent, the you know, trade deadlines.
I live for transferred days, transferred deadlines, and soccer you
know NFL draft Like. I'm much more a fan of
the action off the court, off the field. Obviously, I
(40:37):
still watch all of the action on the court. On
the field, hell, I'm about to go watch a quad
box of NBA League Pass Wednesday Night Basketball, so I
appreciate you sticking with me as we get down into
some of the contractual weeds as it relates to the
NBA this year. We'll close out today with a quick
(41:00):
playoff prediction. I do think the Celtics are in the
best position to repeat, but I felt almost exactly similar
about the nuggets chances of repeating last year.
Speaker 1 (41:12):
I mean, a team that.
Speaker 2 (41:14):
Looks so good, so in tune, all complimentary pieces that
fit well together, all locked down to contracts that are
going to keep them together for multiple years, but the
playoffs are such a crapshoot, asked Denver fans last year
losing in the second round. I don't think the East
is as tough of a gauntlet as Denver had to
(41:37):
go through in the West last year, which is kind
of why I default to the Celtics making a return
trip to the Finals. There's way more drama in the West,
way more teams that I think actually have I mean, hell,
I think there's six teams that legitimately have a claim
(41:57):
to make a finals appearance this year in the West,
well five legitimately, maybe a six depending on what Memphis
does in this bounce back year, because they were a
upper echelon team with Jaw two years ago winning fifty
plus games. But the East is way more top heavy dominant.
There's I don't think there's nearly as many teams that
(42:21):
truly are NBA Final ready, are contenders to topple the Celtics,
you know, really in the East. I mean the list
is Boston, New York, Milwaukee, maybe Philadelphia, but they've already
got their own injury concerns. EMBIID is always an injury concern. Now,
(42:42):
Paul George is going to miss the beginning of the year,
and they're also going to do a lot of load
management where they try to keep both of those guys
from playing in any back to backs throughout the year,
of which I think if you're a new team trying
to build new chemistry, that it's really hard to just
not have the games together when you're intentionally sitting guys out.
(43:06):
You know, load management with the Spurs worked because those
guys had such good chemistry. You could sit games, allow
the young guys to try to develop some new skills,
to flourish, to potentially develop role players that then would
compliment the Big Three. The Big three already had enough
years of playing together that there was chemistry that was
(43:29):
never going away.
Speaker 1 (43:30):
Philly doesn't have.
Speaker 2 (43:31):
That obviously with Paul George just coming over this year,
and probably, you know, Maxi and Embiid might never have
it just because of Embiid's availability.
Speaker 1 (43:42):
Issues due to injury.
Speaker 2 (43:43):
So I don't really consider They're definitely the fourth of
the four in the East that I could see climbing
out of the Eastern Conference bracket and make a finals appearance.
So give me the Celtics in the East and in
the West, give me a return of the Nuggets. I
am high on the Nuggets this year. Last time I checked.
(44:06):
They still have the best player in the world in Jokich.
They still have a damn good coach and Mike Malone
who holds those players accountable, and that means a lot,
I think in the modern NBA. To be such a
hard nosed guy and still get that accountability from the
modern athlete, I think that speaks a lot to Mike Malone.
(44:30):
Just love the way they handle their business, getting Aaron
Gordon locked up. The real question with them is how
healthy is Jamal Murray? How healthy can Jamal Murray stay
and what will he have left in the tank come playoffs?
Because he was out of gas last year against Minnesota,
and when he's out of gas, it makes life really
(44:53):
hard on a seven footer like Jokic who's reliant on
that point guard. I mean, hell, just look at the
Spurs last year. How many times was Wemby open where
an average to above average point guard would have gotten
him the ball in a scoring position. Obviously, Jokic needs
that same distribution from a point guard as Wimby, and
(45:15):
it is just a matter of will Jamal Murray be
there to give it to him in the playoffs. I'm
betting on yes, give me Celtic's Nuggets in the final,
and Denver returns to the top of the NBA mountain
as NBA champions come next summer.
Speaker 1 (45:33):
So there it is your.
Speaker 2 (45:34):
Official NBA preview, as only the Sports Cave can give
it to you. Tonight obviously already said going to watch
a lot of league pass, But if you are a
true college football Siko shout out Siko's community. It is
day twenty one of fifty five straight days of football,
(45:55):
and tonight we got Liberty, the absolute polar opposites here.
Undefeated Liberty plays winless Kennesaw State and then mid Tennessee
State at Jacksonville State as well. Let's go Kinnesau get
that first win. As always, y'all, I appreciate.
Speaker 1 (46:14):
You riding along.
Speaker 2 (46:15):
Tomorrow will preview the upcoming NFL week ahead of us.
Hopefully we get some more Cowboys news, some injury news
we can update, we can discuss as we prepare for
the Cowboys trip to play the forty nine ers on
Sunday Night football.
Speaker 1 (46:31):
That'll do it, y'all. Be safe, We'll talk to you tomorrow.
Speaker 3 (46:35):
Kid.
Speaker 1 (46:35):
What do we say about drugs? Gosh yeah,
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