Northwest Reality Check

Summary:

A division built on contrasts just got even sharper. Utah is playing the long game with Walker Kessler’s restricted free agency and a clear signal to chase a true wing initiator in 2026. Portland turns back the clock in the best way—Jrue Holiday returns as a culture engine to guide Scoot Henderson and Shaedon Sharpe while Donovan Clingan and Yang Hansen learn big-man timing that actually fits their future. Minnesota leans into the Anthony Edwards era but runs into a familiar constraint: how far can you stretch a roster when creation, defense, and cap math all collide? Then Denver flips volatility for depth, shipping out MPJ and surrounding Nikola Jokic with low-usage snipers and connective tissue in Cam Johnson, Bruce Brown, Tim Hardaway Jr., and Jonas Valančiūnas. It’s the kind of rotation that protects leads and preserves Jokic’s legs for May.

And yes, we put the belt back on the champs. Oklahoma City looks terrifying in all the practical ways—SGA in his peak, Jalen Williams healthy, Chet spacing the floor, Hartenstein adding heft, and a bench where Cason Wallace and Aaron Wiggins could start elsewhere. Add Caruso and Dort hounding guards and you get a defensive ceiling that travels, plus an offense built on paint touches, fouls, and smart spacing. Denver feels like the cleanest challenger with a real bench and simpler roles, but OKC still has room to grow while stacking wins.

We cut through the noise to map the actual pressure points: who gets paid and when, who mentors whom, which lineups survive non-star minutes, and where the next leap really comes from. If you want clear, no‑fluff answers on the Northwest Division’s stakes, this one’s for you. Subscribe, share with a hoops‑obsessed friend, and tell us: who owns the Northwest this year?

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Transcript

Opening, Community Shout‑outs, Housekeeping

SPEAKER_00 0:13

It is we're recording this on Monday. This is for Tuesday. You know what time it is. Front Runner Podcast Collective is back on the air. I am your humble host, Vince, and on today's podcast. We will be going over some of the good questions that are going to kind of permeate our brains for the NBA's Northwest Division. So that's Utah, Denver, Oklahoma City, Portland, and Minnesota. And we will be talking about every last one of those teams and uh maybe a player and a question. We're gonna you know, gonna tie it in with a question because we love to do that here on the program. With that being said, couple things that we need to get to. One, you gotta join us on X. Uh, that is front at front runner PC. Also, it's our producer at Rea underscore funch, and that's spelled F-U-N-C-H, and then F R P C the call letters of the podcast. So, yeah, those are very important. If for some reason you want to get like even more intimate with us, send us an email at FrPC Vince at gmail.com. More than happy to answer those. Uh, and we are grateful to our loyal listeners. And by the way, if you are not a member that has understood also what we're doing on the the blog site, as far as that's concerned, I want to bring your attention to frpc.podcast podcast page dot io, and then you want to go to the blog section, and it's basically like a second screen interaction with the podcast. So if you want to follow along, there are different things that are in that that not in the podcast, but it all ties together, like the stats and and some of the numbers that we're run will also end up being in there. We'll give you a little bit about our thoughts that go along with it. So make sure that you're going to FRPC podcast hit blog section. The latest blog will be tied to the podcast that is up at that point in time. Now, if you want to go to earlier blogs, it goes to earlier podcasts. So I do also recommend that you can see how smart we are. Do a lot of work to bring you these podcasts. Uh, we read a lot, read the athletic, we read Yahoo, sports, NBA. We you we reread some of the uh the local papers to make sure that we're staying on top of these teams as far as certain and I have a programming note with that being said, we just did a podcast about the Southwest division, and we were talking about not knowing whether Trey Murphy the third would be available in the first part of the season. He is because he was playing preseason basketball and he looked glorious, he looked magnificent, and if you know this program, if you know this podcast, you know how much I love Trey Murphy the third for the new New Orleans Pelicans. That is a legit dude, and I'm hoping for nothing but complete health, also peace of mind this year, and that he's able to be free to hoop. Nothing would please me more than Trey Murphy the third going off scoring like 22 points a game, getting like seven, eight rebounds, giving like four assists a game, and becoming the stud that we know he can be. So we're looking forward to that. Now, we need to get on with the program. Saraya is here, she's on the silent onesie two, she will be dropping in her notes from time to time on this podcast. I will read those notes to you. You know, we have a shy producer, and that's all there is to it. No shaming here. Without further ado, let's get to the podcast. And we're gonna start in Utah, we're gonna start in Salt Lake City, and I am excited about talking about the jazz. You could say, Well, Vince, why are you excited about a team that you know for sure is tanky? Know for sure is trying to get AJ DeBanster, know for sure they're trying to get one of the blue trip prospects in the 2026 NBA draft. Well, first of all, sometimes taking can be entertaining, but we also have some questions that we gotta ask the Utah Jazz front office. The Utah Jazz are telling you exactly who they are this season. You know, we talked about uh the tanking that is going to go ahead and go forth, they let go of Colin Sexton, um, they let go of the Jordan Clarkson. Anybody who was a veteran on that team that could possibly help win them games, they let them all go. We're gonna have nothing but young bucks. I am sure that Ace Bailey and his uh apprehension of living in Salt Lake is gonna be on full display and he's gonna get a lot of shots because we need to get him a lot of shots because the tank is on. But the one person that I'm very worried about in Salt Lake City is Walker Kessler. No rookie scale extension for Walker Kessler per the athletic reporting by Tony Jones, which means restricted free agency next summer, a tidy 14.9 million dollar cap hold and a maximum flexibility to swing at the board in 2026. You know what Danny Ainge and Austin Ainge are thinking of. If you're hearing we're open for business and maybe we don't, there's a star at the bottom. If you're hearing the right thing, if somebody's gonna help us win, we gotta get them out of here right now for sure. Utah believes it can both showcase Kessler's value and keep optionality. The hold lets them shop before they pay. Per the article by Tony Jones in The Athletic. Now, here's the thing: I know here in Los Angeles we have had a hard on for Walker Kessler for what a year and a half at least. We've heard Walker Kessler's name bandied about in trades. Ainge, and before Austin got there, Ainge put a super high price tag on Walker Kessler. He was like, basically, if I can fleece you, 100%. The Lakers pulled the wool over Danny Ainge's eyes last year by not telling him what the second part of the trade was that turned in to be Luka Doncic. But we've been warning Walker Kessler here in Los Angeles for a couple years. Uh people like Trevor Lane, people like uh Yovan Buha, whose Buha's blog is blowing up. He is the former athletic writer, beat writer for the Lakers, and now he has his own podcast, some other like writing work as far as that's concerned. We love Yovan Buha, we love the content that he brings. We always feel that we are smarter for it. If you are somebody who is a Lakers fan, gives this to us like very nice, neat package, as far as that's concerned. I love that, and I always feel like I'm not having smoke blown up my ass when I listen to Yo Von Booha. Uh DeAndre Ayton, first couple games, and I'm going, man, the hands don't look great. The hands do not look fantastic. I would love to get my hands on a Walker Kessler. Now, let's get to Walker Kessler. Kessler's profile is clean. He's a young, elite rim protector, vertical spacing, efficient finisher last year, over 58 games. He was roughly 11.1 points per game, 12.2 rebounds a game, and 2.4 blocks a game. He also shot 66% from the field, because usually those are put bats and dunks and lobs. Now that's at a 30-minute a game clip. Could you imagine if this dude was playing 35 minutes a game? The counting stats will just pop, his price tag would also go, it would escalate very quickly. The stakes are not is is Kessler good. There, what version of Utah are we building for 2026? The Jazz have his bird, right? So here's the thing: even though he's a restricted free agent, he can go out, somebody can go ahead and match that contract, and he is a Utah Jazz. The one thing that you want to do in this day and age, and it's hard to kind of do this now, but you don't want to overpay your center, and a lot of people say, Well, Vince, what are you talking about? If this dude is as good as you say he is, you should pay him what he's worth. Yeah, well, there is a definition on what he's worth. If your big man can't shoot from outside, if your big man is an elite, what they consider elite, elite big man, those guys are getting like 40 plus. Anthony Davis is a high volume person. Now, is he worth the money that he's getting paid? Some would say yes, some would say no. He's gotten a championship under his belt, so some people say that's good money well spent. Walker Kessler is a log threat. Walker Kessler can block shots. He is a very rugged rebounder. These are all things that are very important, and also these are all things that are very valuable to a franchise building towards a championship, a championship future. But the problem is that you can't pay everybody. The NFL is the quarterback, it's the wide receiver, is your left tackle, it's your defensive end, edge rusher, it is your cornerback. Those are the premium positions in the National Football League, and you got the same situation in the NBA, and the people that you want to pay are the on-ball initiators, the wings, those are the guys that you want to pay. Now, if there are centers that have been or bigs that are around the league, that have gotten like the max contract, as far as that's concerned. Look at Nikola Jokic. The reason why Nikola Jokic is a max player is because, yes, he's an MVP multiple. Okay, but what makes him so special is the ability to shoot from the outside and the ability to run an offense. There is not one chance that when you give the ball to Nikola Jokic, your team is not going to get a good offensive possession. He finds open cutters, he finds space for himself, he can get his own shot off anytime he wants. Sometimes the game looks very boring to him, and all that dude wants to do is go and play with his horses, be elite on the basketball court and then play with his horses. That's it. That's all he wants to do. But he's elite. Okay, the Minnesota Timberwolves, who we'll be talking about later, they have an issue because they have Rudy Gobert. Rudy Gobert is not worth the contract that he is getting paid because he's a log threat and a rim protector. He doesn't have the ability to run an offense, he doesn't have the ability to stretch the floor and open up the uh the the area in the paint for cutters and for people who want to drive. He can be a liability on offense. So, with all of that being said, Walker Kessler can want big time money, but I'm trying to tell you, Utah is trying to keep that dude under 25 million. They would love for this dude to come back this year and say, Hey, I really want to be in Utah, pay me about 22 million, and we can wrap this up. They be like, Cool, we got our due. Danny Ainge does who he feels that can will be future pieces to a championship team right now. Now they might manifest themselves throughout this year. I'm still very high on Keontae George. Um, you know my love for Taylor Hendrix. Love that kid. Um, I know a lot of people are probably out on our guy, Jalen Williams' brother, Cody Williams, as far as that's concerned. I don't know, but I will say this Walker Kessler is one of those dudes that will be able to help a team down the road. Whether it's the Lakers, Utah, uh, somebody else, he will be that guy that will be super helpful down the road. A team that I would love for him to go to, if it's not the Lakers, is the New York Knicks. And the reason why I say that is because the fact that you got Kat, and Kat can um play the four. He's played the four before in Minnesota. Now they want to run a five out offense. I definitely understand that, but could you imagine a big like Walker Kessler in Madison Square Garden providing all the rim protection that you would need, and then cat can be a weak side rim protector? Because I think we are getting the most mature cat, Carl Anthony Townsend we ever got, and I think Walker Kessler is one of those dudes that can really help out. Now, another team that could use a Walker Kessler. I mean, there's plenty of teams, but I'm talking about like your teams that really have like championship aspirations. Um Golden State. I know they got Al Horford, I know they do, but you imagine if they had like a Walker Kessler, it would change their offense as well, but it might be well worth it because you cannot win without a premium big that can guard the rim. And say what you want about Al Horford. I love him, he's 40 years old, and at some point the wheels do fall off. So Raya just dropped this in the chat. Utah's internal calculus is adding one high-end initiator, Keekin Kessler, equals identity clarity, adding that initiator requires flexibility first. So, I mean, this is pretty much what like talent evaluators are saying, and people around the league are saying, they are looking for a high level, high-leverage initiator, a wing position guy who is going to be really productive on the offense and and kind of super supercharge that offense, and they don't know if they have that person in the building. Now, this also flies into the ointment as far as what uh Laurie Marketing is gonna do. Lori Marking has been languishing in Utah for the last what is it three years now, and he got paid last year, which is great. But I wonder if that dude is going to be a leveraged piece, and we'll get to him in a second. Now on the floor, Kessler's value spikes against teams that live at the rim, you know, fall uh smaller fives versus the Lakers, his links disrupts, LeBron's driving kick and tags. Um well now DeAndre Ayton, as far as certain, but he was given fits to our guy AD when he was there, as far as that's concerned. Okay C the back line insurance when Shay is driving into the paint, getting two feet into the paint is necessary, and then but there's a trade-off. If Laurie Marketing is your first option, and you're grooming Keontae George and Isaiah Collier to be your engines, you can Ainge teams historically simplify rim run, screen, rebound, block shots. Think of Kendrick Perkins, keep the offense uncluttered for the initiators. Yes, if you want Keontae George to live in the paint, Walker Kessler is a disruption to that whole situation. No doubt. Now, narrative-wise, this becomes the jazz slow playing the to strike season. If they were winning too much, they they'll congratulate themselves if they lose into top five of the 2026 NBA draft, they will absolutely congratulate themselves for sure, because that is up that is the main goal, keep the main thing the main thing, and Walker Kessler and Laurie Marketing are two guys that might help might defeat that purpose, and we don't want that. Utah wants to tank, make no mistake about it. Extending Kessler today inflates next summer cap math with first year salary limiting Utah's ability to chase a wing creator or weaponize the space and trades, letting the clock run keeps the 14.9 cap hold placeholder. Then you can sign other stuff, then go over the cap to resign using bird rights. You could do that now. Also, the practical market check bigs get paid in tiers. We just talked about this. This is what one executive told me switchable unicorns, offensive hubs, or elite rim guides who scale. Kessler is the third in that category with some mobility upside if external markets heat. Say a team like the Los Angeles Lakers kicks the tires, his restrictive free agency allows Utah matching power. We have already talked about that. But these are the things that you know front offices and people who work in league have kind of let me know. These are my notes, so therefore, this is what I'm going over. From product standpoint, you balance gate ratings with competitive timelines, Salt Lake City will show up for an honest team with an identity. If the vision is 2026-2027, then the business can live with the 2025-2026 volatil volatility. You risk positioning the well, the players want to feel chosen, not hedged. The center market may be cool, but shot blocking seven-footers with touch and a motor, they're never cheap. Swings, outcomes. You imagine like if Kessler lives at 2.5 plus blocks a game, anchors a top 10 defense, uh, top 10 rim um rim defense, and flashes some short roll passing. You imagine what that his number is going to be in July. Somebody is gonna take a chance on Walker Kessler in this refriger in this restricted free agency period next year. I don't know who it's gonna be, but again, the question with Kessler is always going to be he is a rim-running big, he doesn't provide any kind of stretch ability that would allow your primary on ball initiators to be able to get into the paint freely because if he's in the dunker spot, that center is going to be hedging towards the paint and cutting off some of the angles for your high-leverage uh wings or on ball initiators, and that's something that you don't want. So, what everybody's looking for is what San Antonio and a couple other people have. You want to have the ability for your seven-footer or your seven-plus foot guy to stand at the perimeter and be a threat where people are very worried if this dude is gonna take a shot. Nikola Jokic is not the best rim protector on the face of the planet, but you know what he is, he's a big body who is physical, he doesn't let you just get in there and just score at will on him, but he does allow some dunks, he does allow some things, but what he also is able to do is on the offensive end where he's so brilliant, he's able to run the offense from the perimeter, allow the cutters like Peyton Watson and Christian Brown and things of that nature, and oh, by the way, they got Bruce Brown, and we'll talk about him a little bit later because they're in this podcast, but that's the type of guy that you want on your team in today's NBA. The Jazz reportedly met with Kessler multiple times in the summer, they tabled any any form or offer, so this isn't a cold silence, this is basically a rebuff trade overtures for the last two years because they know what they got in him. When Kessler plays 30 minutes, the team's defense stabilizes when he sits, the paint becomes a turnstile because they don't have another guy like him. Even if Utah finishes in the bottom five, that rim deterrence accelerates the next step once you add a real primary. Think Cody Williams, think Keontae George, Bryce Sandoval, Taylor Hendrix. They're all getting reps behind a reliable back line. The philosophical Danny Ainge is already telegraphed his next move. He moved off of Rudy Gobert in part because the number got uncomfortable for the build. He doesn't want to overpay Walker Kessler, he doesn't want to be the one that gives him that big contract as far as discerned, and then you know, look at what Minnesota's going through, and we're gonna talk about them a little bit later. You know, they had to re-jigger their whole team, and we're still wondering if they're kind of one piece away, and we'll get if Keontae pops as a pick and roll handler and marketing stays healthy, they'll flirt with the Tennessee because marketing is that good. Kessler averages 2.4 to 2.8 blocks a game since he's been in the league. Efficiency stays high, his restricted free agency chess match is incoming. So we can't wait till next July to see what happens. But when will Utah shut him down? Cause the Jazz either draft a top five initiator, think like Cameron Boozer or Darren Peterson or AJ Devasta, think of those type of guys, and that's the type of person they're looking for. You can't get that if you're winning 25 to 30 games. Can't do it now. The draft situation as far as the leveling of the playing field, you don't have to be your top one to four anymore to make sure you're guaranteed in those spots because we've seen people get pushed out of there several times in the last couple years. My thing is that Utah got pushed out this last year, and this is why they're double dipping into the draft lottery again. It's because they want to make sure that they get a couple more bites at this apple when they are talking about somebody who is a high-leverage wing, on ball threat, super productive, offensive dude, a Cameron Boozer for this team would be amazing. AJ Devansta, because he's in Utah and things of that nature, playing for BYU, also would be amazing. That place would be on fire. Could you imagine Utah ends up with like the number anywhere between one to three, and they somehow get AJ DeBanster to come to Salt Lake City? You know how crazy that would be. What does this do for our guy, Walker Kessler? Absolutely nothing. What does this do for the fans? This gives them hope for the future. But what it's gonna do for this year, you're gonna see some games where Lori Marketing is sitting out with a hangnail. Is your hamstring type? Walker Kessler, how many games is he gonna miss even though he might not have a real injury? We don't know, but I will say this is that the Jazz will do what they need to do. If you're Austin Ainge and Danny Ainge, would you would you extend Walker Kessler right now? You know, yeah, if you got a team-friendly deal, maybe, but they're probably gonna go ahead and ride the cat pull, maximize optionality next July, and then match it later. That's probably what they're gonna end up doing. I do not think they're gonna lose the asset for anything for nothing. They're not gonna be um some of these other teams that we've seen over like the last couple years, or they're going to get a pat'sy, and Danny Ainge is always looking for that pat seat. If they can get that, then they'll be really good to go. We're gonna move along to Portland because Portland, who they got some stuff going on, and we gotta ask some questions. Portland has kind of gone back to the future. Drew Holiday is in the building, you know what I'm saying? So Portland's season is going to look a lot like a couple years ago before the start of the season. And what do you mean by this, Vince? Remember, Scoot Henderson gets drafted, and Damian Lillard was there, and then Damian Lillard wasn't there, and Drew Holiday was there for a second, and then he wasn't there because he got traded to the Celtics. Well, guess what? It's 2025, and we got Damian Lillard back in Portland, we got Drew Holiday back in Portland, Doc Brown firing up the DeLorean, because we are going back to the future. Scoot Henderson's coming out party, might have to slow down on that because he has a hamstring tear, so it's gonna take him a little while to get back. Now, Damian Lillard is there for vibes right now. He's rehabbing an Achilles tear that happened late last season, so we don't know if he's going to suit up this year at all, but you do get Drew Holliday back. Now, Drew Holiday was sent to Boston, he won a championship, and now he's being sent back from Boston to. Portland and Anthony Simon goes to the Celtics. So, yes, Drew Holliday is in Portland again. Good vet. Unlike that short live time in 2023 where he was just stopover, the veteran is expected to stay and stay and steady the ship and provide mentorship for Shaden Sharp and Scoot Henderson, mostly Scoot Henderson. Holiday in Portland is a human time machine, but he lets Sharp and Scoot get NBA like a close doctrine in how to run teams, how to set up defenders, also how to play defense, and you hope that his mentorship is going to really pay off this season. I'm looking forward to it. So Scoot Henderson was supposed to basically take this team by storm. Now he was shelved until he might be shelved till late November because of the the tear. Now he already missed 36 games his first two years combined. Add in the developmental importance of year three, and you can see why Portland's front office is nervous. Enter Drew Holiday, he's 35 years old on a contract that doesn't screen long term, but he fits perfectly. Elite defensive IQ, high IQ initiator, respected voice, and also he can stand next to Shane Sharp, say, Here, young fella, let me show you some things that you need to learn as far as professionalism, how to take care of your body, all these type of things. This is gonna be great. Portland isn't chasing wins, but they are chasing habits. And I think Damian Lillard, who is one of the hardest working guys who's ever donned a trailblazers uniform, just a vet and a grate, and then you have Drew Holiday, who is exemplified professionalism wherever he's gone, whether it was Philadelphia, New Orleans, whether it was Milwaukee, where he also got a championship, and then also in Boston. This dude knows how to win. He does all the little things that you really would like your guy making 30 some odd million dollars to do. This is one of those guys that you sit there and you go, Hey, I'm glad to pay this guy this money so he can show the young fellas how to get it done. The other thing that we need to talk about with the Portland Trailblazers is that they are free of DeAndre Aiden. I know Portland's excited about it. I'm gonna take a sip of coffee. And why is Portland willing to buy out DeAndre Aiden? Well, when you have names like Donovan Klingen, who won a national championship in Yukon, and then you got uh Yang Hansun from China, are two massive individuals, both seven-footers, both needing minutes and reps, and also being able to play alongside a Drew Holiday, where pick and roll action and lobs are going to be at a premium. You definitely want these young kids to get all the developmental runway that they can possibly get. With DeAndre Aiden no longer there, they can do that. They both are different. Donna McClingen is more of a rim runner, and he's a rim protector. Now, I will tell you, I know a little about Jan Hassan, but I'll know this: he is a facilitator of offense, good passer, hits cutters, hits the open man, knows how to use his body to set screens, things of that nature. Uh, has a really intricate little post bag as far as moves is concerned. I don't think how they're being perfected at all, but I don't know how many games that Portland will win this year. I don't know if they're I know they're trying to win, but I think this is all about having the guys learn. Uh and he's still one of the Lee's best corner of attack defenders, and he's teaching by example, like literally out there giving it to him, giving them the these jewels of knowledge that he can give them. Where whether that's bumping cutters or hitting the weak side corner or calmly getting Portland into their sets, this is mentorship you can measure. Scoot is going to be the primary beneficiary of this situation as soon as the hamstrings heal. Now, sharp himself, he's also gonna have somebody who's steady, like hopefully that'll free him less on ball. Not saying that you want him completely on off ball, but less on ball where he's not the primary initiator, he can fall into a position because let's face it, Anthony Simons is a very good basketball player. The one thing with Anthony Simons is that he's gonna look for his shot first, where Drew Holiday can share the sugar, he can get you into sets, and then Shaden Sharp can do what he does best, which is cut and move without the basketball, reset up, and then go ahead and knock down dagger threes or attack the rim with reckless abandoned. That is what we're looking for this year. And if you think that Chauncey Bills isn't happy to have like a Drew Holiday, one player said, Man, if Drew had been feeding me early in my career, my bag would have opened up way faster. So think about that. Now the twin towers situation that's a that's a conversation that's super wild. But when you have Donovan Klingon and 7'2, Taylor May for rim protecting role, and then you got Young Hassan who's raw but intriguing, he gives them some vague yokishes, or if you want to say our guy uh Alcorin Sangoon, he gives those vibes off. And if you can get anything from Robert Williams, you have a three-headed monster at center that not a lot of teams can touch. If Donovan Klingon is gonna be what he was in Yukon, and obviously being young, whatever case may be, it's gonna take some time. But I believe in Donovan Klingon. You can tell me, hey, Drew Holiday is uh 35 years old, he has heavy mileage on him, he's a shorter guard, whatever case may be. We don't know how long he's going to be able to do this. And you can argue that those 30 minutes should belong to Scoot or even maybe some more on ball reps for Shaden Sharp, but you know what? When you have somebody like Drew Holliday on your team, and if you don't overuse him and put him in good positions, these kids can learn a lot from this guy. I I'm a big proponent of a good vet who still got some game left in the tank. I've always thought that we did a completely disservice to you know, I talked about it a couple years ago on my podcast. Like our guy Austin Rivers, I'm not saying he's the greatest basketball player on the face of the planet, but somebody 6'4 still can hit a jumper, understands that he has to play team defense, understands that he's not the number one option on the court. There should be a role for him. Now he wasn't the defender that Drew Holiday is, and obviously Drew Holiday has a pedigree of two championships, so that also keeps him in the lead longer. He also can defend up too. He has a strong base on him, so he's able to stand up six foot seven, six foot eight dudes on a regular basis. Austin's not that type of guy, but I'm always pro I have a vet completely overtake the rookies or the young players, but having a vet that can show if they're willing to be tutored or mentored underneath a vet like Drew Holiday, and I don't think with his personality, I don't think anybody in that locker room will have a problem with Drew Holliday. He's a galvanizer of people, and I think he's just gonna be completely additive to what they're trying to do in Portland. I think Scoot will benefit from it, I think Shaden Sharp will benefit from it, and any other guards that they have right now will benefit from this situation. I think Drew has already sat with Scoot in workouts, they've already he's already given feedback on ball, talking about ball security and how important it is, modeled spacing and decision making. See uh Jeremy Grant for that type of situation. You don't have to worry about Drew Holiday, he's gonna understand his role and be flourishing in that role. He has a guaranteed role with Portland. I like I said, it's gonna help the young cats, and I can't wait to see it. Now you just gotta hope for the bigs to also take a lead. Donovan Klingon, he's going into his third year, so I can't wait to see what he's doing, and then yeah, what Young Hassan can bring to this team is going to be uh very intriguing to me. Speaking of intriguing, let's get to the Minnesota Timberwolves, shall we? I'm excited. Anytime you can talk about the Minnesota Timberwolves and now year six of Anthony Edwards era, it is here, folks. And here's the thing that dude's still what 24. The tools in the shed are absolutely filthy as far as what Anthony Edwards is bringing to the game. You know what he worked on this year? Last year he worked on his threes, right? And he shot hit more threes than anybody in the NBA last year. He's working on those fadeaway 17-footers that Kovey used to hit, that uh Michael Jordan used to hit. If this is gonna be part of his game, this dude is definitely gonna hit 50 points multiple times this year for sure. Now, for the rest of his team, got a lot of questions. And you're like, Vance, you hating. No, I am not. Let's start here with two straight trips to the Western Conference Finals, it's been a real golden age for the Timberwolves. I want fans of the Timberwolves to understand that I love your squad, I love Anthony Edwards, I think he's so box office. I want to see him be able to hit that next level and get to these finals and be on that stage. So if you think that I'm hating on your team, I am not, but I do have some real questions about roster construction, also what do you have in the cupboard to fulfill a need that you possibly may have? These are things that we're gonna go over in the next 10 to 15 minutes, so buckle up for that when you think about it, and you have questions about the cap and the CVA, and this is what we were talking about with Walker Kessler, and this is what the reality is for the Minnesota Timberwolves. Identity isn't a question anymore, it's about bandwidth. How far can you stretch with no picks and no splash trades? Good question. John Krasinski of the Athletic framed it perfectly. This isn't the Wolves of the 2010s dysfunction. New ownership is here. Hallelujah, hallelujah. Mark Laurie and Alex Rodriguez stabilize the vibe. Tim Conley is a absolute beast when it comes to player evaluation, and he knows when to pull the trigger and be bold on a trade. Chris Finch, say what you want about Finch. This is the one thing that I will say is that until Finch got there, and I didn't like how the Timberwolves went on their coaching search when they hired Finch. But Finch has proven himself to be a respected operator of the baseline, you know what I'm saying? Like he is there bringing nothing but heat, he has gotten the absolute best out of Anthony Edwards, which it's gotta be hard to rein in somebody of Anthony Edwards elk, and I'm not saying that he's a hard person to coach or anything like that, but you don't want to restrict him a lot, but you also want to rein in in just a tag where it's like, hey man, you got these other dudes on the team, and they gotta follow you, and sometimes you gotta share the sugar, even though you think the shot that you're about to take is the best shot that can possibly be taken in that situation. You gotta pick and choose your moments to go ahead and dominate, and then you gotta pick and choose your moments to go ahead and kind of play the back role and let everybody else cook while you sip on a martini. These are the type of things that he's trying to teach Chris Finch is trying to teach Anthony Edwards, and Anthony Edwards is doing a bang up job of these type of things. Now, the one thing I will say about the Minnesota Timberwolves, I love a lot of their roster. I am a Jaden McDaniels fan. Nas Reed is a folk hero in Minnesota. Mike Conley is long in the tooth. Rudy Gogar has been a rim protecting god ever since he got into the league, but he is now 32, 33 years of age. Julius Randle, first part of the season, we were kind of going like this dude is about he's about to get traded. He's about to get traded. We can't wait. What are they gonna get for him? Blah blah blah. Guess what? They kept him. Julius Randle was a absolute um menace to the Lakers. I know that felt good for Julius being a former Laker and just doing the Lakers dirty in the postseason. Must admit felt great for Julius, and Julius provides something that the Timberwolves desperately need right now. Another on ball initiator, somebody who gets purposeful paint touches all the time and is able to kick it out the shooters. Which then holds the question. Rudy Gobert, as much as we love him as far as a rim protector, what he gives you offensively, can you get it from somebody else making you know almost 30 less million dollars? You might not be able to get the elite rim protection, you might not necessarily get the rebounding or whatever the case may be in the money. He's won a bunch of defensive player of the year awards, but I wonder if his that contract that he is currently on is that just an albatross around the neck of Tim Connolly. Now, Tim Connolly did trade for him. Tim Connolly thought that bringing somebody in like Rudy Gobert could kind of just put everybody else in their place. You know, okay, this dude is gonna be this, and here's the other thing. You probably didn't think Anthony Edwards was going to be this good, this fast. He is on the Luka Doncic train of development, okay. He's fast tracked himself because he's a competitive SOB. Anything that he is not good at, he will get good at. This dude said, I need to shoot the three ball better. Last year, he made the most threes in the NBA. This year, this dude talking about I'm gonna have a post-up game, I'm gonna have a mid-range game. You're gonna see 15-foot, 17-foot fadeaways from me that are going in. Uh KD does, they got an absolute killer in Anthony Edwards. It's just now can you put the team around him? And this then falls on people like Rob Dillingham, who let's face it, he was lighting the ass last year. He is very skinny, he's still very skinny, but he's lightning quick, and can he get back to being the on-ball menace that he was when he was at Kentucky? Can the jump shot be favorable enough where it keeps him on the court? Will he utilize his speed for steals and on ball pressure? So then people won't just continue to pick at him on pick and roll and get him on like a bigger wing, and then he has no shot. Then you got Terrence Shannon Jr. Who also was like a revelation during the summer league. He also played a vital part in the playoff series. He was a guy who could get you double-digit points and things of that nature, run some offense from time to time. We like Tanner Shannon Jr., we like his uh Moxie, but my whole thing is that it's different when Mikhil Alexander Walker is no longer in the building, and whatever you get from Yohan Berenger this year is a positive, it's just a plus plus. Keep in mind, he's 18. Ton of upside, great set of veterans that he can learn from with Nas Reed, Julius Randle, and Rudy Gobert. Rudy Gogler and Jan Berenger are countrymen, they will have a lot to say to each other. I hope that Bernanger is just picking the brain of Rudy Gobert, and I hope that Rudy embraces his role as kind of like a mentor and kind of raising this young pup to be kind of elk that Rudy has been throughout his entire career, whether it was with the Utah Jazz or also the Minnesota Timberwolves. That's what your hope is. Randall and DiVincenzo came over in the Carl Anthony Towns trade. They did it for whatever reason you want to put, but we all know it was for financial reasons because they was kissing up against that second apron. So Carl Anthony Towns goes, Julius Randle comes in, Dante DiVincenzo comes in, and you're gonna need that dude. He played well last year for you, not as well as he did in New York, I would say, personally. What you hope for is that he gets more and comfortable with the system, he's able to find his kind of niche, and then be ready to go. Now, the one thing that we will talk about is the second acronym last year meant shackles, you know, no aggregation, no signing trades, frozen picks were at risk by uh sliding under into the first egg burn under that uh 207.8 million, the wolves are unlocked. The ability to aggregate contracts within 110%, use a small smaller MLE, which is 5.7, avoiding 3 in 5 year frozen pick penalty, that was massive. So you can say what you want to say, but that was an accounting decision that Tim Conley made, and he did it with the blessing of new ownership, and probably also Glenn Taylor, because Glenn Taylor don't like paying money, but Glenn Taylor is no longer the owner of the team, so we don't have to worry about it. We got new governors in town. What you did though when you moved towns and his$53 million contract that would have locked him in the cement, and you turned it into Randall and Dante Divincenzo, it lets you breathe a little bit. You also have Gogera with a 40 plus million dollar contract, and that's the one you gotta really think about that because here's the thing Mike Connolly is 38 years old in October, he's still the trusted starter. Dilling him while electric and slippery is still raw. Dante DiVincenzo can toggle roles, but he's not like okay, this is our starting point guard. Y'all sign Bones Highland. Now, Bones Highland hasn't seen a shot that he did not like, and Bones also needs to understand that this is Anthony Edwards' team. Bones has a tendency to to wave off like legitimate number ones. He did it with the Clippers, he's done it with the Denver Nuggets, he thought his role should have been expanded in Denver. They let him go so early. McDaniels to me is the one. If for some reason you thought, hey, is there any way that we can raise his offensive ceiling? Because he got some game and he's long as hell. Another guy that they're looking forward to sure up some of the minutes that Nikhil Alexander Walker left when he walked out the door is Terence Shannon Jr. Now he's not the defender, the on ball, like havoc maker that Nikhil Alexander Walker is, but maybe with Jalen Clark, you kind of ease some of that. Two years removed from Achilles' injury. We should be starting to see the best of Jalen Clark. I love to win Minnesota if he can get some burn. But Terrence Shannon Jr. is gonna also have to replace that offensive situation. Jalen Clark needs to just be healthy and do what he did when he was at UCLA. Now, behind Rudy Gobert is a wasteland. No disrespect to Nas Reed, he's taking over more for the cat role than he is for 7 for Rudy Gobert. It's like I provide the outside shooting, I do some rebounding, I'm an okay rim protector, but I'm not that's not my whole get down. But if you need a bucket, I am that dude. Now they're hoping that developing Baron Jay, maybe Rocco Zakarski turns into something. Just to be a ring protector this year. I don't know. He's thin, he's young, it might take a couple years for that to develop. How do you get a backup big and not put any pressure on Johan Berenger? If there's anybody that I would trust to be able to kind of figure this puzzle out, Tim Conley is up there. There's a lot of people who are you'd be scared for them to be in that position, but Tim Conley is not one of them. He doesn't force a trade, he doesn't stay so inactive where the trade value of the person is coming gone. He seems to understand and then strike while the iron's high, and he when he does strike, it's usually right. I wouldn't say all the time, the hit rate is not 100%, but I think he has a high hit rate, and I think this is exactly the dude that you want running the team steering the ship and getting you whatever the next phase is. Tim Conley running this team, Anthony Edwards still the guy, Chris Finch is the coach. I mean, the arrow's still pointing up for Minnesota, it's just can you find viable scoring outside of Anthony Edwards? That's gonna be my question. McDaniels had multiple 20 plus point games in the playoffs. This is why I think he's the guy that you're thinking about, and Nas Reed also can handle some of that burden too. But the one thing about it is that they still have Nas Reed coming off the bench because of Julius Randle. So is Julius Randle a guy at some point going to be the kind of the trade assets that get you the two guys that you need, and then Nas Reed kind of steps into that role. Who knows? Does McDaniel step make an even bigger leap in his offensive development? Those are the questions that we have, and I don't know if the answers are on the roster at this point in time. Now, if you're telling me that Rob Dillingham is going to be electric and he's gonna be able to stay on the floor because he's not getting absolutely murdered and pick and roll by a six foot seven wing, then cheers to you, you know what I'm saying? Cheers to you right now. But I have a hard time thinking that they're gonna tell me, hey, what about Terrence Shannon Jr.? Well, there's another guy. But Terrence Shannon Jr. to say this is 12-13 points a game, that seems like a big ask. A big ask. But we will see. These are the things that I'm looking for for the first 25 games of the season with the Minnesota Timberwolves. I still think that Ant is gonna be absolutely spectacular. I think there's levels to this, and he has a couple more levels on his uh Pixer Upper that he's trying to build as far as he's building himself into like a mega mega star, but it will be the others that truly write the script for what the Minnesota Timberwolves season will ultimately be. Speaking of getting help for your superstar, we move to the Denver Nuggets, and the Denver Nuggets last year. Let's let's talk about this a little bit, right? So the Nuggets fire Michael Malone, they bring in Dave Adleman, who was there on the staff. Okay, one of the things that Michael Malone was mad about was like we lost Bruce Brown Jr., we lost Contavious Caldwell Pope. We did not replace those guys, and remember, Calvin Booth was the executive who was saying, well, we gotta use the young talent, kind of sprinkle them in, and get them time on the court, so then they can go ahead and take over those roles that we are left. So this is kind of like the same situation that Minnesota is in right now. We're asking young people to take over the roles of like Nikhil Alexander Walker, you know, who's gonna make up some of this scoring punch that we lost in Denver. They tried this for a couple years, it did not work. So, what did they do? They did what any good team would do. They traded Michael Porter Jr. And they traded him to the Brooklyn Nets, and they brought back Cameron Johnson. Cam Johnson is now a Denver Nugget, and you go, well, Vince, isn't Michael Porter Jr. better than Cameron Johnson? I don't know about that. I really don't. Is he taller? Does he have offensive weaponry that is his size and what have you? 100%. But you were always worried about MPJ's back. He's had surgery on it. Definitely not the athlete he was when he was like coming out of high school, where he was like the number one prospect coming out of high school, whatever the case may be, over the last couple years. Because one of the things I remember when distinctly when the Nuggets won the championship, I was like, So, when does Michael Porter Jr. ask for a bigger role on the team? And he never did, to his credit, but I always wondered about that. In comes Cameron Johnson, and Cameron Johnson. Johnson can do the role of what Michael Porter Jr. did. And he'll probably do it at a better level as far as the defense is concerned and also rebounding is concerned. Because he doesn't have some of the issues that limit Michael Porter Jr. Well, not only did they bring in Cameron Johnson, so Tim Hardaway Jr. in a real backup five for and Valachunas really flirted with going back to Europe. I don't know what the Denver Brass told him. I don't know what Nicola Jokic told him. I have no idea. But he's in the fold. And I'm gonna tell you right now, the experiment of Zeke Najee is over. Now I know Zeke is still on the squad, but I've been waiting for that dude to get burned for like three years. It never happened, it never happened under Michael Malone, and now we got Jonas Valentunas in the building. So Michael Porter Jr. turns into Cameron Johnson, Bruce Brown Jr., and Tim Hardaway Jr. and also Jonas Valentunas. I think personally, if you can get a four for one swap, and that's basically what it was. Michael Porter Jr.'s death as far as being a Nugget, Berth, Cameron Johnson, Bruce Brown coming back into the fold, Tim Hardaway, and also Jonas Valentunas. And now you got a bench. And this is what the Denver Nugg needed last year. This is what Michael Malone was crying about for like the last two years. 2023, Michael Porter Jr. catch and shoot numbers, three-point numbers. And 2025, Cam Johnson catch and shoot three-point numbers, are basically the same thing. MPJ is a better shooter than Cam Johnson. Okay. I think it's so razor thin between the two. And I think just the upside of the defense and like Cam Johnson is not gonna have some of the mental mistakes that Michael Porter Jr. inevitably had every season. He inevitably lost like his assignment on the defensive end, and now that dude is at the rim getting an easy layup. Michael Malone was always trying to get that dude to rebound because he was 6'11. Now Cam Johnson is not going to rebound at the Michael Porter Jr. level, but he will rebound and he understands his assignments. Denver's new front office wanted optionality, shorter money on wings, more lineup knobs, and few if it hits bets. And they bought wiggle room around Jokic and Murray. And you can't ask for anything more. And now David Adleman is in the post-Michael Malone era. It started in May 22nd, 2025. The swap of Michael Hoarder Jr. lowers the risk of variance. Kim is a low-usage high gravity shooter. You where does that fit? You play with Nikola Jokic and you give him a low-usage type of dude who is a catch and shoot monster. I think it'll work. Now, if Jamal Murray can be who he has been, this takes pressure off of Peyton Watson, Christian Brown, and Julius Strother. What you hope is that Christian Brown continues to flourish. What you hope is that Bruce Brown takes Peyton Watson underneath his wing. And what you hope is Junior gets taken underneath the wing of Jamal Murray and also Tim Hardaway Jr. And you know, learn something. Now you will put these guys in more low-leverage situations. They're not asked to carry the offense when Nicola Jokic is off the floor. Does this put Denver where they need to be? Well, I think they're gonna be a hell of a lot scarier with those guys. You're not depending on Peyton Watson to start hitting his jump shot. Remember last couple years when it was like, well, Peyton Watson hits the three ball better than this offense could really take off. You know who's gonna love this? Nikola Jokic. Because Nikola Jokic is a pass first type dude. Now, can he get you 25 or 30? 100%. Can he put up a 40 point 20 rebound uh triple double? Yes, he could, but he wants to pass, and now with these type of weapons around him who know how to move without the basketball, who are real smart cerebral players, and understand their role as complementary pieces to a elite offensive weapon in Nicola Jokic, I think it's going to be box office, and I think this team can really challenge the Oklahoma City Thunder for supremacy in the West. You know, I know people will sit here and be like, Vince, you really you really hyping up Denver. Well, Nicola Jokic's whatever we want to talk about is this. He's still the baddest man on the face of the planet, he's still the best basketball player on the face of the planet. Now, Shea Gil's Alexander won that MVP award last year. No doubt. I don't have any begrudgements to that situation whatsoever. But what I will say is that even with a diminished team, they pushed Denver pushed Oklahoma City as far as any other team in the postseason last year, and this is without the bench that they are going to currently have going into this season. What are some of the things that we're looking for? I bet you Denver's bench net rating climbs into the black this year. I bet you it's better. The whole Denver gets up by 18, and then Jokic goes out for two minutes, and then they're only up by three, and so the bench is like a as a negative 15. Those days are over, so that means that big leads can stay around, a little more rest for my guy Jokic, which we definitely need that. The Brown Watson Strader situation where they had playoff rotations is going to be replaced with the Cam, the Cam Johnson, the Bruce Brown, Tim Hardaway collection, right? And yes, Brown is a starter. Christian Brown is no doubt is a starter 100%. So you're gonna see a lineup with Murray, you're gonna see a lineup with Christian Brown, you're gonna see a lineup with uh Cameron Johnson, Aaron Gordon, and Nicola Jokic, and then coming off the bench, you'll have Tim Hardaway Jr., you have Bruce Brown, you know, you have Strouder, Strouder, and then you'll have Peyton Watson, and also our guy uh Jonas Valentunas. And here's the wild card. Last year's first round pick, Daron Holmes, second. He had the injury. Now you might get a guy who you can now build. Here's a guy who can really like ease his way back in, and maybe you can groom this guy, and he can become really something by year's end. Who knows? Because they were real high on him when they drafted him last year, and then injury just took him out on a real level. You ask me, do I think that the Denver Nuggets are a legitimate threat to the Oklahoma City Thunder? Yes, 100%. But does that mean they will beat the Oklahoma City Thunder? The jury is still out, and you know why? Let's get into it. Oklahoma City is your defending reigning NBA champions, they have the Larry O'Brien in their custody at this point, and now comes this. A dynasty powered by Steph, KD, Clay, and the others. Now you enter Shea Gildas Alexander fresh off of MVP regular season and a finals MVP. This dude was exactly what we thought he was, and now he's hitting that magical age of 27. The crime of your career. So this mid-range getting fouled assassin, who is a 30 point per game, plus point per game guy, rerouund dude, assist due, two plus steal a game getting due is now hitting his crime where the physical and the mental match up with one another, scary times on the planes. Now, also leading to the Oklahoma City success is Jalen Williams, and you say, Well, Jalen Williams kind of had like a whole home playoff. What do you say to that, Vince? And I'll tell you exactly what I say to that. Do we all know that Jalen Williams was dealing with a wrist injury for four months and played right through it? Let's also know this is that that team won 68 games last year. Okay, this is not a cute young team, just kind of precocious, and we're just filling each other out and all this. No, this is a team that was dominant last year. This is a team that had one of the best uh historic net rating, 10 plus 10 plus on that net net rating. Okay, they have one of the youngest rotations in the league, and then oh, by the way, Hongren only played half the season. Hartenstein missed a chunk of the year last year as well, and it didn't even matter. Now, Vegas still hung the over-under at 62 and a half. I'm gonna tell you right now, they might go over that again. Now, you can tell me the West is better and all this other stuff, but I just told you that Jalen Williams, super young. Guess what? Doesn't have a broken wrist anymore. Shea Gilges Alexander just turned, he's gonna be in his 27th year on this planet. This is the prime of his career, and this dude is already Dope. You might get a whole season out of Chet Hongren. Remember, they also got Alex Caruso last year, and then Isaiah Hartenstein. You could tell me that the Denver Nuggets are better, but you still gotta deal with Dort and Caruso, Caruso on Murray, and then Hongren just sitting there like, what is Aaron Gordon gonna do? What he gonna do with me? Cause that's a competent 7 foot 1, 7 foot 2 string bean type of dude. That dude got a lot of swag, and guess what? If he's healthy, he's gonna take another lead. Minnesota, another contender to what OKC currently holds. Well, when you can throw bodies like Dort, you can throw bodies like um Kasen Wallace, Caruso, oh, we can go bigger if we need to. We put Jalen Williams on him, J Dub. That team is stacked. Oklahoma City is exactly the team that you can sit here and confidently say, Hey, this team definitely has a chance to repeat. Now, we could have said that about the Celtics last year and what have you, but we did have questions about how the Celtics were built. We had questions on this whole deal of let's shoot a bunch of threes, let's try to blow people out the building, and whatever. Now, did they play good defense? Yes, they did. But this team has staying power because everybody on the team except for maybe Dort, Hartenstein, and Caruso, all have other levels to their play that they have not reached yet. Kasen Wallace would be starting for other teams, mind you, Kasen Wallace is a assassin. This dude could definitely run a squad, and he is coming off the bench for the Oklahoma City Thunder. So I will respect this team as much as I did last year. We gave the MVP two years ago, our MVP to Shea Gilges Alexander two years ago. So this is how much respect we have for Shea Gilges Alexander. Now you tell me they got a title under their belt, Shea Gilgis Alexander could be better. Imagine that. Think about that. Oh, I'm playing more free because I already got a championship, and I'm playing more free because I already got an MVP under my belt. I'm playing more free because the fact that I'm gonna finals MVP. Chet Homgren believes that he is just as good as Wendy. Think about that, and then again, here's the best part. Not only do they have those dudes, not only do they have Casey Wallace, right? Not only is Caruso there, Nicola Topic, who didn't play last year, is a 6'6 wizard on ball creator, who, if his jump shot comes around, here's another dude. Do they need another guy? No, they don't. You can tell me about Cooper Flag and how good he is, and you can tell me, oh, he got dropped into a playoff team, and they're gonna make a run, and you can tell me about Steph and Jimmy Butler, and you can tell me about the additions of uh Al Horford and what have you. You can tell me that the Clippers are deep, you can tell me that the Lakers have Luca and LeBron, and you know I love the Lakers, that's my squad, or whatever, you can tell me about Houston, you can tell me about Denver, and Denver really to me is the team that I'm got my eye on would be the closest thing to contending to the Oklahoma City Thunder. But if this team, if the Oklahoma City Thunder, and Mark Dagnot is one of them coaches that will somehow keep his keep his team's eye on the prize, right? He's not a dude that's just gonna sit there and be like, you know what, we want a championship, we can chill, whatever the case may be. He might tell these guys like, hey, 70 wins is possible. Do y'all want to go for it? Or hey, there hasn't been a back-to-back champion since 2017, it's our time to go ahead and do that. And he puts that carrot out in front of this very young team that kind of has a swagger about them that belies their age, and then also they're extremely close as a team. And I'm not just talking about the everybody does the interview type situation, I'm talking about how they share the sugar with the basketball, they share the credit when it comes to who wins and how they win and what happens when they win and things of that nature. And think about this. Jalen Williams had a wrist injury that nobody knew about for four months. No one said anything, nothing got out of that building. Nothing. Chet Homegren comes off a broken hip, and he's got Isaiah Hartenstein and the others to help him. Shea Gilders Alexander checks out the game, and here comes Casey Wallace to go ahead and put more on ball pressure to the guard of the uh opposition, and then Jalen Williams is going to be healthy. This team is stocked, and they're scary as hell. This is the monster that was waiting underneath your bed. This is the monster that we talked about two years ago, and we said they had a big three in Shea Gilges, Alexander, Jalen Williams, and Chet Hongren. This is the monster that we told you was coming. Now they're here. And who's gonna put pressure on them? Here's the thing that people talk about in private. Here's the things that people talk about in the shadows, and they whisper it. They're not gonna put pressure on themselves, they're in Oklahoma City, they're not in Miami, they're not in New York, they're not in Los Angeles, they're not in San Francisco, they're not in Houston. Now, ESPN might finally get a hold of Oklahoma City Thunder games, and then you know, we talk about Oklahoma City Thunder all day, every day with ESPN. But you know and I know that they are gonna talk about the Lakers. You know, and I know they're gonna talk about the New York Knicks, you know, and I know they're gonna talk about Steph and what he got going on in San Francisco, and you know who's gonna be overlooked yet again? The defending reigning NBA champions are gonna be overlooked again with all this damn talent. So you say 62 and a half wins. I say put him up. Chess rim deterrence. He had Oklahoma City top three. SGA's clutch usage was absurd. He shot 55% in the final minutes of closing games. Hongren's facing allows them to have five out when they take Hartenstein off the court. Jalen Williams defense allows him to slide to the four or to the or to the three or uh wherever the hell he wants to play. And again, they have Nikola Topic as well, who is going to see the court this season. So here's another high-leverage number one, uh not number one pick, but first round pick who has a lot of talent, he has a lot of fundamentals, who plays the game the right way, and he's gonna fit into a system that Mark Dagnall and Sam Chresty have put together, and that machine is going to continue to roll. So, do I think that Oklahoma City has a better than average chance to make the finals and then go ahead and win the finals again? You bet your ass I do. Denver right now is the only team that can scare the shit out of Oklahoma City. And if Oklahoma City does not have what pilot is of me, and they're still um celebrating the the fruits of we less disease of me, more fruits of we this leads to a second championship across the plains of Oklahoma. The Oklahoma City Thunder have the best shot of any team since the Golden State Warriors to win back-to-back championships, and that's not hyperbole, that's not hey, let me get a lot of views on YouTube or Twitter or whatever the case may be. That's just cold hard facts, and you can chalk that up right now. Now, I don't have to make decisions right now. We're gonna do our predictions towards um I think next week. Next week we will be doing those, but I do want to tell you that I love this Oklahoma City Thunder team. I've loved them for like the last couple years. I love that they give of themselves to the game and they respect the grind. I we gotta celebrate this. We gotta celebrate it. Yes, I know I'm a Lakers fan, I will always be a Lakers fan, but how do you not celebrate greatness? How do you not celebrate a team that definitely takes care of the little things and handles all the big things with nothing but coys in class? And their leader is a soft-spoken, absolute assassin. Shea Gilders Alexander is here, folks, and he's here for as long as he wants to be here. And again, I say this with humility, and I say this with reverence. Jalen Williams has more levels to get to. Isaiah Hartenstein was the piece that they needed, they needed a big body uh big to handle all the bigs that they have in the league. You're not gonna stop Nicola Jokic, you're not gonna stop some of these other dudes as far as that's concerned. You just need to simply slow them down. You need to just simply say, hey, can you be a little less efficient than you normally are? And there will be hockey waves of substitutions in Oklahoma City this year again. Because they're that deep. Aaron Wiggins is a bench player who probably could start for a team. We talked, we gave you so much love about Casey Wallace. I didn't even talk about Aaron Wiggins. By the way, that's probably who Nicole Topic is gonna be trying to get steal time from. Think about that. Your number one draft pick from a couple years ago is trying to steal time from the guy who in some circles was thought of as maybe an outside sixth man of the year candidate, and he wasn't even the sixth man. Casey Wallace was the sixth man. This team is extremely deep, it's extremely talented, and oh, by the way, their first round pick is following in the footsteps of Nicola Topic. So he's not gonna play this year coming up. You won't you won't see Thomas Sorber this year. You won't see him because he got ACL tear, get well, my guy. I thought when they got him in the first round, I was like, oh my god, they got the steal of the draft. They basically got the Eric Parent to Isaiah Hartenstein, and they didn't have to move up, they didn't have to do anything, they just got him. So Thomas Sorber is going to rehab, be with this juggernaut of a team, and then next year he'll make his debut. Stronger, understanding of the system, understanding his role in that system. If they choose to move from Isaiah Hartenstein and go with the cheaper version, guess what? Nobody's gonna blink an eye. It's crazy, it's crazy to me. But I'm gonna tell you right now, I love all of what OKC is and all of what OKC has built, and I don't see them letting up anytime soon. I look forward to seeing what they're able to do this year. So, with that being said, that is our preview of the Northwest Division. I want to thank my producer Saraya. Thank you so much for what you do. Uh, I want to thank her contributor, Maya. Thank her for what she does. As far as that's concerned, she does so much for us, you don't even know. Because when you get this vlog later, you're gonna be like, damn, this is what's going down for sure. Now, with that being said, we're gonna get up out of here. We will be back on Friday. Yes, indeed, we will be back on Friday, and that will be with the Pacific Division preview. We'll see how it all goes. Maybe there's a one-part, two-part deal in there. I don't know. We'll figure it out, me and the producers of this show. So, with that being said, know this the best part of you is you surround yourself with supportive people who really speak into your day-to-day life and speak nothing but uh affirmations and uh positivity, okay, because enough negativity that surrounds this world. Number two, if you have people in your life that is doing that for you, that's providing that type of energy and synergy to you, make sure you appreciate and acknowledge those people because I'm gonna tell you right now, if you have people like that in your life, they are worth their weight in gold. For sure. Send them a text, send them a FaceTime, take them off for coffee, let them know you appreciate them, acknowledge these people, and go ahead and uh keep your group as tight as it can be. And if you got that going on, you know that you are an awesome individual, you know that this particular podcast always has a seat for you. So Front Runner Podcast Collective is on the air. We are backing business, baby. Um the last podcast, I gave you the reason why we had a little hiatus. I will I was completely under the uh I'm dealing with right now, but it's a lot better than it was. So I want to thank my wife and and basically just some people who kind of gave us some alternative medicines and how to how to get rid of some infection that I have in my calf. So, with that all being said, guys, I'm up out of here. Y'all enjoy your day. Deuces oostas, and we will see you down the road.