Minnesota Timberwolves (LaMelo) Ball Out with Blockbuster Trade

Lance Roberson begins the No Harm No Foul journey with episode 1. He discusses Dallas Mavericks Dereck Lively II's injury update, the Lamelo Ball trade to the Minnesota Timberwolves, and other notable NBA topics.

Transcript

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No harm, no foul, no harm, no foul, no, no, welcome to the No Harm No Foul Podcast.

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I'm Lance Robertson, the host and founder of the show, built to counter the phoniness of the sports media industry. But most importantly, we do this for the fans, the people who deserve the truth. I just want to thank everybody for joining me today. It's been a crazy ride to get to this point. Again, I really appreciate anyone that's sacrificing their time as you could be doing anything else. And again, we are thankful here at No Harm No Foul. So without a further ado, let's get into the very first segment of the inaugural episode of No Harm No Foul. It's called the Layup Line, where we take one of the bigger headlines of the week and just go through multiple bullet points of said headline. Given my proximity to the Dallas Mavericks, given I covered them for quite a while extensively holding media credentials for multiple sites. I think it's very important that we talk about Derek Lively, the would-be starting center for the Dallas Mavericks. Recently he held a press conference in which he stated there is no return timetable. Last season he only played seven games, and then he had to uh go out with an ankle injury. Over the last two seasons, he's only played 43 games. Given his size, his young age, and his injury history, you can theorize how long he has left in the league, albeit that might not be fair. I mean, he's only 22. It's not like he's 29 or 30, as those uh injuries at that age will definitely, for lack of a better term, cripple a player's chances of furthering their uh playing time in the league. However, having such injuries at a young age and they're kind of the same injuries to the same foot, it doesn't really help optics much with Derek Lively. Um, again, who's only played 43 games over the last two seasons. There is one quote that stands out to me. Well, I at least I should say a paragraph that stands out to me in his press conference. So Lively said, I'm just waiting to see if my foot is good. Even when it's good, I have to wait even more to make sure I don't have to deal with this again. I'm not going to rush back. Don't worry about it. I'm not, I'm, pardon me, I have to take the things the public has said about me. I'm brittle in all that, he says. But whenever I come back, don't forget who I am. Now, when he says, don't forget who I am, this is the same rookie that anchored a defense for a team that made the NBA finals for the Dallas Mavericks in 2024. Now, he wasn't an all-NBA player or an all-star. However, a rookie center to make such an impact speaks to his potential of what he could be for the Mavericks, especially as they're moving on with Cooper Flag instead of Luka Doncic. And also he has a duke ties with Cooper Flagg. However, at this point, it's all hypothetical and not actual with Derek Lively. And it's important to point out this is now a new regime, a new front office, which didn't draft Derek Lively in the first place. Now, this is not to say that new Mavericks team president, Massai Ujiri, and uh GM Mike Smith is looking to trade Derek Lively, but in light of the dark cloud around Lively's potential return to the Mavericks, and being that he himself said there's no timetable, it's kind of hard to imagine the Mavericks going through another season of Lively not playing. This is all speculation, of course, but the Mavericks they don't have a draft pick this year. They don't own it unless it falls in the top two uh of the NBA uh lottery, which given the new lottery system, which we can go into detail later, that might not really benefit the Mavs this season. And with Daniel Gafford on the team as of now, the Mavericks drafting Merez Johnson Jr. from Michigan, a potential center for the future for the Mavs. Lively's the fans' emotional connection to Lively not might not withstand the reality, the dark reality of Lively's current placement on a team. You know, he's only 22, he's already been through so much in his life, he's lost his mother, he's lost his father, and now him going through this in the NBA. Um of all of all young professionals, I think Lively can weather the storm here, but that doesn't change the fact that the Mavs might just have to move on from lively and maybe lively experience success on another team. Um and sadly, this makes me uh evoke the name of a certain person that's considered a curse to the Dallas Mavericks um fan base, but also the city of Dallas at large. Nico Harrison. You can't help but wonder what would happen to Lively if Nicole Harrison didn't essentially hire, well not even essentially, didn't hire the folks that he did in the medical staff and the training staff, uh, one of whom uh pardon me, I'm gonna look it up, Belton, the former NFL fullback, who didn't have the proper certifications to hold his position in the training staff, who was the main person stating that Lively was not hurt. Right before Lively was doing some pretty hard uh workouts pregame, and I'm forgetting which team that team it was against uh uh for the 2024-2005 season, but lively was it looked like he was gonna play. He was, I believe he was probable to play. And I remember watching pregame, he was doing a lot of hard physical workouts like on the court to prep for the game, just for the announcers of the Mavs to announce minutes like before the game, hey, lively is a late scratch, he's not gonna play. And it turns out he had a fracture when that same team that Nico Harrison hired that got rid of Casey Smith, who was the guy that ended up going and winning an NBA championship for the New York Knicks, which he's since, you know, rubbed Nico Harrison's face in it, saying that they weren't elite and they they weren't, you know, championship material training staff. Well, Felton swore to the point that Mavericks HR had to get involved because there was a shouting match between him and another staffer uh because the other staffer uh went and said that you know this is not right. You know, lively is hurt more than you think. Well, Belton didn't think so. And Lively ended up doing all these physical workouts and almost played, and it turns out he had a fracture in his ankle, not a sprain. Well, I don't want to sit here and blame one person for another person's misfortunes, but frankly, you have to. Harrison, there's a huge reason why Lively is going through all this. And I know it's easy to point at you know, Harrison as he is, the easiest punching bag of the Dallas Mavericks franchise history. Um but it's just the truth. No harm, no foul. You know, I'm not here saying anything grotesque about Harrison as some Mavericks fans did in the past at different uh public venues of which Harrison was uh enjoying. But Harrison has a terrible track record of making terrible decisions, and this is not even mentioning the Luca Donish trade. You know, and lively went through all that all because of one guy who hired people with no experience, more importantly, no certification to hold such a position that so many other people could have held with the certification. But Nico Harrison knew it all. It was either him or the highway. And for that, lively suffered. And it's sad to see. Um, again, I'm not gonna say that Lively needs to retire or it's too late for him because you know, an ankle injury with modern medicine, you think that he can recover from it. But at his size and having all these injuries that at this age, you can't help but wonder what's gonna happen with Derek Lively now. Um, and again, the Mavs drafted a potential starting center for a reason. They know stuff that we don't know. The fact that Derek Lively had to hold a press conference after the playoffs, right before the offseason was to occur, is curious to say the least. You know, I think they're prepping the fan base for some more dark news. I mean, the fact that Derek Lively has multiple surgeries on his foot, including uh last year, where he got bones, uh bone spurs removed from his foot, you know, it is to the point of significant concern for Lively's future with the Mavericks. He can definitely very well go experience health in another team, but given what the Mavericks have done since the NBA draft, I think they're prepping, I think they're prepping the league and the city for a potential Derek Lively trade. And you know what? If that ends with Lively experiencing success elsewhere, I think Mavericks fans would would take solace in that just because of the character that he displayed, even in his darkest times, as he's saying, like he said in that quote that I said earlier, he's hearing what people are saying about him, how he's brittle and how he's injury prone. This is eating him, obviously. So for him to sit there and and and open up at such a young age to millions of people that don't even know him, like that speaks to his character. That speaks to how much he cares about what's going on in his life and on the court as a professional. So don't be shocked if he's not on the team by the NBA, or I should say, on the Dallas Mavericks by the uh by the end of the NBA trade deadline in 2027. But yes, um moving along, a huge trade happened uh over the weekend in which saw Lamella Ball traded to the Minnesota Timberwolves. Um this is gonna be a flagship segment, of course, sharing the name, same namesake of the show, No Harm or Foul. So I think it's quite apparent how this goes. We're gonna name, we're gonna talk about the subject, and it's either gonna be no harm or it's a foul with my uh opinion here. So Lamela Ball is the wrong point guard to pair with Minnesota Timberwood superstar Anthony Edwards. That's where we're gonna go here. So let's look at the facts. Lamella Ball is injury prone, okay? And Anthony Edwards is not necessarily injury prone, but he just missed the all-NBA consideration because of the new rule in which the uh player has to play at least 65 games to be considered for such an award or uh mention. But, anyways, Lamella Ball has only played 303 games out of a possible 492 since coming into the league for the 2020-2021 season. Just missing the COVID year where it would have made sense for him to miss a chunk of games. Um, Lamelo averaged below 54% true shooting, which is below the league average of a point guard. Uh, for the 2025-2026 season, the league average was 50% true shooting. Okay, so that's another thing. Also, the Hornets defense, although it's not going to be confused with the world beater, uh, was a plus 4.9 when Lamella Ball was on the bench. Okay, so that's another point. Lamella Ball has never even made a playoff appearance in the Eastern Conference. Okay? The Eastern Conference is not necessarily made of the world beaters in the lower tier playoff seeds. The Miami Heat, which of course famously made the NBA finals after participating in the play-in, is the only team that has even sniffed the second round being in such a placement. Okay, the Orlando Magic last year were close to beating the Detroit Pistons in the first round after participating in the NBA um play-in tournament. However, they didn't finish the job, right? So that's almost doesn't count. And then again, despite Lamella Ball's flashy demeanor on and off the court, you know, his numbers are are pretty good uh pretty good, but at the same time, he's not a winning player, okay? Not at any level of basketball. And I know he's young. I he he might be only 25 years old, so this is not to say he's not gonna win with the Minnesota Timberwolves, but if you expect Lamello Ball to lead the Timberwolves, or not even lead, but to be the starting point guard of a Timberwolves team that reaches the NBA finals in a in a conference in which features the San Antonio Spurs, the Oklahoma City Thunder, among other borderline great teams, then I think you're just being too optimistic. And again, ball being in Charlotte with the Hornets, that's not necessarily a winning team, even before him. However, he is supposed to be the superstar. He's getting paid as such. And this next thing, it doesn't necessarily mean that ball is a losing player, but only to have one all-star appearance at an Eastern Conference is quite concerning. I mean, the Eastern Conference, yes, has some talent, but it's not as low as uh, pardon me, the Western Conference, especially when it comes to a point guard position. Okay. Only one all-star appearance. Again, it doesn't mean he's not a good player, but he's not an elite player, and he's not a winning player. He's a talented player. Okay. But you could be a talented player and still be a losing one. And just because the the Timberwolves are probably gonna win 50 plus games this season, those are some negatives. Now, of course, here's some positives. We're not biased here at the No Harm, No Foul podcast. So we got to make sure that we show some love to LaMelo Ball when necessary. At least when it comes to his addition to the Timberwolves. So ball shot diet could be improved playing with Anthony Edwards. Obviously, ball had to do a lot of things for the Timberwolves because although Con Kanipple was a at times great shooter, even though he faltered heavily uh in the playing, NBA playing process and down the stretch of the of the season, ball didn't really have that many creators uh next to him. Okay. So obviously with Anthony Edwards next to him and and Jaden McDaniels and things like that, or players like that, Ball will find success. Okay, that's that's that's neither here nor there. Hell, he might even make an all-star team, especially if the Wovs are going to be winning games, you know. But will that be enough, you know, on the other end? Because he's not a good defensive player. Yes, he's not a small point guard, but he doesn't have the good instincts. You saw in the playing game, yes, the Hornets won their playing game. Um, their first playing game, anyways, I'm sorry. But I mean, this is the guy that in a span of like the last 40 seconds, he turns the ball over. He makes a stupid foul, fouls at the three-point line. Yes, he hits potentially the game-winning layup. But it's like one step forward and three steps back with uh LaMelo ball. So that's my worry for the young point guard in the Western conference, mind you. Um so again, no harm or foul. LaMelo ball is a wrong point guard to pair alongside Anthony Edwards. Ultimately, I don't think it's a foul. I think it's no harm. Of course, he could do that and prove me wrong, and I will say, hey, I'm wrong. That's fine. Like here, no harm, no foul. We're not gonna double down if we're wrong. We're gonna say we're wrong because again, it's uncompromised, it's unbiased, it's just the truth. Uh, of course, we're gonna have strong opinions here. We're passionate about the sport, and that's fine. But again, until he changes history, we're just gonna go by what history has showcased for Lamella Ball. But maybe, hey, maybe having Anthony Edwards and LaMelo Ball, two quite somewhat problematic players in the league, maybe they can combine together and make a fun concoction that, you know, makes for another Western Commons Finals appearance. All right, moving on, y'all. Segment three. This is gonna be called our beat rider segment. And of course, this is one of the segments that we might do every week. We might not do every week. We're gonna see how it goes, um, see what the feedback is. My guy Scott behind the board. Uh, he is very, very uh adequate or great, I should say, sorry, adequate's not even selling it right. Very great at knowing what is good and what is not in terms of segments, as he's done a lot of stuff that maybe you'll find out about soon, especially if you're a wrestling fan. But anyways, I digress. Sorry, Scott, I just want to show you some love um here at No Harm, No Foul. But yes, so this beat rider segment, me being that I used to be a former beat rider for uh Athlon Sports for the Dallas Mavericks, I want to show love to the beat riders. A lot of times the national reporters they get all the headlines, and and hey, sometimes, and I'm not saying this happens all the time, but sometimes they don't credit the beat riders properly. So I'm gonna do that when I can. Uh so this segment starts with uh talking about Eric Nim of the Athletic. Uh, he's covered uh the Milwaukee Bucks for quite some time, I believe eight years for the athletic. Um he highlights Giannis Ante Tokupo and what he learned uh during his time covering uh the former Milwaukee Bucks superstar, the superstar that's that earned the Milwaukee Bucks their second championship in over 50 years, the first being uh Lua Cindor, aka Karim Adul Jabbar, 50 something years ago. Okay, so I just wanted to highlight a few things, but first, let's talk about Giannis's exit from the Milwaukee Bucks. Uh, firstly, yes, it was problematic. It was a little undoing of the good faith in which he earned from the Milwaukee fan base. However, you can't take away what the man did for and to the Milwaukee Bucks. Okay, he's he morphed a otherwise boring franchise that hasn't done much outside of when George Carl was there and Ray Allen was there, right? Um, and he also had pool, okay? And he got his brothers, okay, multiple brothers, NBA contracts. And, you know, we make a big deal about LeBron James, one of the greatest players of all time, getting Bronny James on the Lakers. But I mean, Giannis, he got multiple brothers. Others on the payroll, and you could argue that they might be less talented than Bronny James. I'm not here to argue that today. That's that's not really what I care about. Uh part of me that's uh you probably hear my dog barking in the background. Waffles, say hello to everybody. I know home, no foul. No? Okay, you're done. Cool. Uh, anyways, yeah, um, but yeah, Giannis is loyal to his fans and his family. And that's uh as much as Nem uh said in this piece, uh, quote, it became apparent that he was fiercely passionate about two things, family and basketball. And he would do just about anything to uh for those two things, end quote. Uh so this brings me, his passion brings me to the 2021 NBA Finals, in which game six, he had one of the craziest closeout games. I believe he scored over 50 points, double double, you know. He had a leg injury that year, that playoff season, and it was suspected he might miss the NBA Finals, which obviously would have launched the Phoenix Suns and given Chris Ball his his sole NBA championship, you know, if Giannis didn't play. But Giannis was so tough that he played through a knee injury that most players probably would have been like, yeah, I'm good. I'm gonna sit out, I'm gonna worry about my own health. But instead, Giannis sacrificed his body for his team. Uh so again, no matter how you look at his exit from the team, you gotta respect what he did for such a small market franchise. He gave them relevancy, he won them a championship, okay? That's something that some teams don't experience ever. And he did that for them. Uh another quote, and this to me really speaks to Giannis as he is very transparent with a lot of things. Now, maybe this past um this past season, he took the LeBron James playbook of kind of being wishy-washy and not exactly straightforward about what he wants, more so using the media to push his vision. However, overall, like when he talked about the quote of, well, Michael Jordan didn't win all those years, besides the one he won six rings, are those seasons failures. Whether you believe in that statement or not, it is pretty compelling. And it made for great conversation, like more than 24 hours after he said it uh in the playoffs a couple years ago. Uh so Nem said of Giannis, he is very human in that way, and he lets people in in a way that other people don't, end quote. And that's saying something. A lot of times these players they have brands, you know, they speak a certain way, they act a certain way, they talk a certain way, they move a certain way. And Giannis is pretty authentic. I mean, this is the same guy that when he was first coming into the league, he talked about smoothies, you know, because he's, you know, uh uh lived in Greece for all those years. Or uh lived in, yes, lived in Greece for all those years, and you know, he's sort of a different culture. And then when he came to America, he just thought smoothies were so cool, and it was just funny because yes, that was younger, naive Giannis talking about things like that, but it's still to open up and make himself vulnerable is a very human trait. And unfortunately, a lot of superstars are like that. Um they're not accessible, especially in the day and age of Twitch and well not Twitch, but you know, the day and age of players not talking to the media because they have Twitch, right? Why why do they need to talk to the media and expound on things when they can do that on their own time, on their own platform, platforms and make extra money, you know, instead of going to the media and giving them these morsels of truth and vulnerability to sell these things. Um it's awesome, honestly. And it's just this guy was all NBA, you know, two-time MVP. And then even when he didn't win MVP, he finished in the top five, top three a couple of other times. So even when he wasn't winning MVPs, he was still in the conversation. And to be honest, I don't know when the next time the Bucs are gonna have such a player. And, you know, you can say whatever you want about the the haul they got for from the Miami Heat. I mean, from a draft pick standpoint, it seems great. Um, but also you could argue that the Bucs probably would have been better off just taking Jalen Brown and flipping him for more picks. But again, that's neither here nor there. That's not what we're here to talk about today. We're really here just to highlight um Eric Nim's piece for the athletic. Um, that guy, I've I I mean, I follow him on Twitter or X, whatever you want to call it now, and he is pretty honest. Uh he's not brutally honest, but he's honest about the Bucks, and he covered the Giannis saga quite extensively, and even just his X's and O's, and again, the human nature of the game that he uh covered during Giannis's time deserves respect and uh admiration and what have you. So let's highlight Eric Nim. I'm gonna give everybody uh give him a nice standing ovation for that piece. Um, again, here at no harm, no foul. We're not just gonna be brutally honest. We're just gonna be honest and at the same time, we're gonna give flowers as well. I mean, this is not a show to poo-poo the NBA. I love the NBA. Uh, and this is one of those instances where the NBA gave us a great story in Giannis onto the Kumpo. So again, hats off to his time in Milwaukee, but now he's gonna be in Miami. We'll see how they do. I'm sure we'll talk about it in the near future. Um, lastly, this uh segment came from uh from Scott. He definitely told me to go with this one, and I think it makes sense, especially this show's gonna be very opinionated, and this segment makes so much sense. We're gonna go with prediction of the week, and as we began it, we're gonna end it talking about the Dallas Mavericks. Uh, so there's been a lot of hoopla over the Mavericks, especially since Masayu Jerry uh joined a team as uh team president. What is to do with all these players that necessarily don't fit with Cooper Flag's timeline? It's not that they're super old, but for one, they're on not hefty contracts, but they could be using these contracts to get draft picks for which they don't own any more of their own, or at least they don't control them until 2031. So at this juncture, it's best for the Dallas Mavericks to trade for assets by using role players. Okay. Um, they don't want to be the bottom of the barrel, but at the same time, like, what's the point of paying all these players just for them to be maybe mediocre? So a team or a player that's been in a lot of trade discourse, even like the last two seasons, is Daniel Gafford. So Daniel Gafford, he was a part of the front court, uh, which saw the Dallas Mavericks go to the NBA Finals of 2024. Um he's only 27. His deal is reasonable. Hold on, let me let me uh let me pull up his contract. Sorry, y'all. I just want to make sure we get this right. You know, we don't want to take shortcuts here at no harm, no foul. So let's go ahead and pull this up and we will get to you. So Daniel Gaffer's contract, he has three years left, 54 million. Now, that's not necessarily a bad contract given some other ones that are in the league. However, with Morez Johnson Jr. being on the team now and possibly uh Derek Lively coming back, and he will be up for a uh contract and restrictive free agency uh this summer, why keep Daniel Gafford? Okay, when there's a lot of other teams, especially teams that are looking to strive in the playoffs, they have some assets for the Mavs. So I think I predict the Mavericks will trade Daniel Gafford. Now, will that happen during free agency or before training camp? Or will that happen in on the NBA in the NBA tread deadline? Well, to me, I think if the Mavericks could have traded Gafford, they would have. So I think the Mavericks will trade Daniel Gafford by minimum at the 2027 NBA tread deadline. Now, if the Lakers strike out, which they have already striked out on Isaiah Hartenstein, which they were supposedly looking to sign, Oklahoma City Thunder has since uh re-signed him to a three-year deal, which less than 100 mil, okay, which is great. Um, honestly, I mean, I was not expecting that. I thought they would have to put up a little bit more money, but I digress. Anyways, I envision the Lakers trading for uh Daniel Gafford. And take people gonna be like, well, what can the Lakers realistically give the Mavericks? You know, obviously they're not gonna trade LeBron James, Luca back, of course not. Why would they do that? I mean, they're not as stupid as Nico Harrison. Um, or you know, Austin Reeves, but what else do they have? Like, they really don't have much. However, they do have an available 2031 first-round draft pick. And as I said, the Mavericks don't own or control any of their draft picks until 2031. So that would give them the Lakers 2029 and 2031 draft pick. Now, if you're to believe the reporting surrounding Luka Doncic, it's that the Lakers are on the clock because his he's up for free NC in a few years. He signed a three-year extension, but he's up for free NC in a few years. Who's to say that the Lakers are even good in 2029 and 2031? And also, um, and also the Lakers could very well could very well trade some bad contracts like Jared Vanderbilt and maybe one other player to get to the contract number for Daniel Gaffer. Now, I believe the Mavericks are hardcapped, so they I don't think they can I think they have to do a trade in a certain way because of course now the new CBA is terrible with how they can make trades. It's really not fun for a podcast such as this. But anyways, I really see I really see the Mavericks trading Daniel Gaffer to the to the Lakers because the Lakers don't have much leeway now. And, you know, they haven't necessarily re-signed LeBron James yet, but I'm sure that they will because now there's rumors of, you know, the Warriors signing LeBron James and trading for Anthony Davis. I don't think the Lakers will let that happen. For us as Bismus that front office has been outside of lucking into Luka Doncic, I don't think they will let LeBron James leave for nothing. So I think they will trade for Daniel Gaffer to entice LeBron James to stay with Luka Doncic, one of the best players in the world, and a nice, you know, second to third option in Austin Reeves, and it will make sense. Um, but again, it's just a prediction. It may or may not happen. But here at No Harm, No Foul, we don't take half measures, we take full swings. So I will put on the line that minimum by minimum of the 2027 NBA treadline, Daniel Gafford will be a Los Angeles Lakers. However, I will not be shocked if it happens this summer. All right, y'all. Well, that is the end of this week's uh episode. Thank you again for joining us. I hope you enjoyed your time with us. Uh again, we appreciate y'all's time. As I know, there's a lot of other shows to watch, a lot of other podcasts for which you can listen. But here at No Harm No Foul, we look to come up with fun ideas. Of course, there will be guests in the near future, but I just want us to get to know each other before that happens. Um, but yes, we'll talk next week. I'm sure there's gonna be plenty to talk about. As I mentioned, the the LeBron James to the Warriors. That alone has enough light that we could probably talk about that for three weeks. But again, truth seekers, no harm, no foul is a place for uncompromise analysis of commentary. See us next week. Follow me on Twitter, follow me on YouTube. Please subscribe to either. We appreciate that. See y'all again next week. Thank you.

SPEAKER_01 35:49

No harm, no foul. No harm, no foul, no tell it like the red.