'The Hoop Collective': Episodes of Brian Windhorst's NBA podcast
Here are the top highlights from Brian Windhorst's "The Hoop Collective" podcast, from breaking news to the latest intel and reaction from around the NBA.
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"The Hoop Collective" podcast, hosted by ESPN's Brian Windhorst, releases episodes every Monday, Wednesday and Friday during the NBA season. Windhorst and his guests break down what's happening on and off the court, evaluating the trends you need to know and examining the latest news from across the NBA.
Listen to 'The Hoop Collective': ESPN | Spotify | YouTube | Apple | Amazon | iHeartMedia | TuneIn
Latest episodes: July 8 | July 6 | July 3 | July 1 | June 29
July 8: Huge announcement, Mitchell extension and Stevens talks Brown trade
Brian is joined by ESPN's Tim MacMahon to congratulate special guest Tim Bontemps on his new role with the Atlanta Hawks and thank him for his years of dedication to the podcast. They the duo breaks down the Donovan Mitchell extension, including whether it makes sense for the Cavaliers and if it will impact their pursuit of LeBron James. They then move on to react to Brad Stevens' Jaylen Brown news conference and the rationale being presented before closing on Summer League performances and what they're looking forward to in Las Vegas this week.
Topics:
0:43: A special goodbye to Tim Bontemps 17:23: Donovan Mitchell inks huge extension with Cleveland 27:45: How will this contract be viewed around the league? 28:52: Reaction to Brad Stevens' Celtics news conference 40:11: Darryn Peterson's extraordinarily impressive debut for Jazz 47:38: Big Peterson-AJ Dybantsa matchup set for Thursday 54:28: Shoutout to Kyle Lowry on his retirement 55:18: One last "Hoop Collective" thank you to Bontemps
MacMahon on how the league is viewing Mitchell's deal: "He's an All-NBA player. In one sense, him committing to four years is a major win. But we just saw how rough the market was for Jaylen Brown, in large part because of how much salary he made....
"One of the GMs basically said, 'In terms of this kind of money, you've got to be a generational talent.' And, you know, this guy didn't think Jaylen Brown was close to that, but he essentially said, 'Yeah, when you get into the $70 million range, which is obviously where this is, there might only be a couple players in the league that are worth that kind of money.'
"And so there is a major risk involved here, especially when you've got Evan Mobley making $50-plus [million] a year."
MacMahon on how the Mitchell deal impacts the LeBron pursuit: "And look, the challenge really is: (1) How much luxury tax is Dan Gilbert going to be willing to pay as you're building out this roster? And then, 2) just the handcuffs that come in place with a contract this big on your books as you build out the roster.
"And they've been one of, if not the most expensive teams in the league. I mean, one way you can really get around some of these things is if you sign a perennial All-Star to a minimum contract, which the Cavaliers might have a chance to do. That helps manage the books when the team gets really expensive. But I think that's probably going to be a once in a-lifetime opportunity."
MacMahon on Peterson's Summer League performance: "I'm sitting down with the scouts and I'm watching the games with grizzled scouts, with guys who've been in the league for 20, 25, 30 years. They're raving about [Peterson]. They're telling me they think he has scoring-leader type of potential. They're raving about the way that he's directing traffic, the reads that he's making, the poise he's playing with, the passes that he's making.
"And honestly, like the scoring thing, that's not a surprise because that's the stuff you heard the most about -- his potential just to be an extremely explosive scorer. He had a 12-assist, two-turnover performance against the Grizzlies and he's being guarded a lot by Cedric Coward. It was a really strong summer league lineup that the Grizzlies are throwing out there with Cedric Coward and [Cam] Boozer. Coward's a very good wing defender already in the NBA. And Peterson was completely unbothered by that.
"Twenty-five points on 15 shots, like I said, 12 assists and a lot of the assists are where he's manipulating the defense and making the reads, and he's making tough passes that, as the guys said, only the really good players can make that read and that pass, and he did it on multiple occasions."
July 6: Key factors in LeBron James' free agency and early standouts in summer league
Brian is joined by ESPN's Tim MacMahon and Bobby Marks to cover the latest on LeBron James' free agency, including what could be factors in his decision, what teams make the most sense and what his internal team is potentially suggesting. They then move on to a few standout players from the NBA summer league thus far before closing on some major extension talks around the league.
Topics:
2:40 Latest updates on potential LeBron destinations 5:14: Has the modern CBA impacted player movement? 12:13: Analyzing where LeBron stands in his free agency 21:05: What teams have a real chance at landing LeBron? 32:25: Potential ties for LeBron to the Denver Nuggets 36:21: Interesting Knicks comment from Rich Paul on LeBron 38:10: Will LeBron's decision shift the power in the NBA again? 41:11: Biggest early NBA summer league takeaways 44:18: Darryn Peterson and the Jazz: one of NBA's most interesting teams 48:36: Underrated NBA summer league standouts so far 51:34: Key extensions to watch from 2023 draft class
Windhorst's update on LeBron: "The last I heard was that the teams had not heard anything. The teams that were interested in LeBron, they had made contact and they hadn't heard anything. They're like, 'Well, we don't know what to make of it.'
"And this is what happened with the previous LeBron free agency when he switched teams. They didn't know, LeBron called in and was basically like, 'Yep, I'm coming.' And they're like, 'Oh, OK.' It wasn't like maybe they felt good. Like they said, 'Oh, I think the vibe is good.' But the Heat didn't know he was coming. The Cavs didn't know he was coming back.
"You want to know how I know they didn't know? Because they were about 10 minutes away from offering Gordon Hayward a max contract offer sheet. He was in the building in Cleveland. And when Mark Termini, one of LeBron's agents, found out that Gordon Hayward was in Cleveland, he called them up and he was like, 'What are you doing? Why are you spending your cap space?'"
MacMahon on LeBron's ties to the Nuggets: "Part of the whole LeBron-to-Denver thing, obviously, Joker is reason No. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7. But Josh Kroenke, who I believe his official title is chairman, but he's the day-to-day ownership presence, has a relationship with LeBron. They do stuff like hang out on yachts together, as friends tend to do.
"And another tie is Jared Dudley, who is on the front of the Nuggets bench as an assistant coach. He's a guy who's got a good relationship with LeBron, was a vet on that Lakers championship team. So there's some ties there."
MacMahon on who has stood out early in summer league: [Cameron Boozer's] vision is incredible. Like, he had four assists, but that does not even come close to explaining how great of a passing performance he had.
"His ability to create advantages, whether it's off the dribble or with power in the post, whatever combination, he sees the floor three steps ahead, plays the chess game of seeing the floor and then at that size just makes any pass he wants. He's an incredible power-point forward. Fun to watch."
July 3: Why Did The Jaylen Brown Trade Happen Now?
Brian is joined by ESPN's Vincent Goodwill and Tim MacMahon to cover the ripple effects of the blockbuster Jaylen Brown trade and why the Boston Celtics felt like they needed to make this deal now. They then move on to the Los Angeles Lakers adding Walker Kessler and whether the return was too high to improve the Lakers' roster around Luka Doncic. The trio closes on how much better Brown makes the 76ers and whether Philadelphia could be a potential home for LeBron James.
Topics:
1:45: NBA still trying to make sense of the Brown trade 14:38: Why did this Brown trade have to happen now? 16:00: Can Kessler elevate the Lakers' ceiling? 31:57: Windy Storytime: A wild time in free agency 36:14: Was the price too high on the Kessler trade? 40:28: Breaking down 76ers roster outlook with Brown 51:15: 76ers need to at least make a phone call for LeBron 53:58: Not sure what the approach is for the Pistons
MacMahon on why the Brown deal happened: "I had a primary decision maker for another team in the league say if you make $60 million, this is what you're worth in a trade. If he made $40 [million], every single team in the league would have been lining up for Jaylen.
"It reached a point where, for whatever reasons, the Boston Celtics believed they needed to move on from Jaylen Brown. I don't even want to get into the blame game on that, but they reached that point where they believed they needed to move on from Jaylen Brown. I'm pretty sure they reached that point before they put him in a in an offer for Giannis [Antetokounmpo].
"And then after that, they just had to find the best deal. I think that there's plenty of room to criticize the approach that the Celtics took in terms of they went out swinging for sky-high value. They went out trying to trade Jaylen Brown at the value of the sixth-most valuable player in the league, which is what he was in the MVP voting, when the league does not perceive him to be sixth-best player league -- in terms of the people who are making decisions on the trade. In part because of his contract and then, this is such a hot button issue, but the advanced analytics are not favorable to Jaylen Brown."
Goodwill on if the Lakers gave up too much for Kessler: "They don't have the breathing room [now], and the draft picks usually are your breathing room to get: A) cheap talent year over year to wind up augmenting your players being on big time salaries, to cost control all of that; B) being able to put a draft pick in a trade at the deadline if you need to.
"They don't have any of those any of those mechanisms right now. You look at, are they athletic enough? No, aside from Walker Kessler, who's clearly an above average athlete playing center. But do you have enough athleticism around this ballclub to make you a better perimeter defensive team? Because if you're not, it doesn't matter that you get Walker Kessler at the rim.
"If everybody's on a freeway down there, you're going to get this guy in foul trouble and or put him in so many damn collisions and pick-and-rolls that he can't cover all that space. A GM told me, 'Is Rob Pelinka trying to get fired?' That's what a GM asked me yesterday."
MacMahon on Detroit's lack of activity in the offseason: "Like Norm Powell, if they would've signed Norm Powell, I'd be sitting here saying, 'Hey, man, that's a really, really great fit for Detroit.' He's not a superstar, but he's an All-Star who fits.
"Can you trade for Tyler Herro? Can you pull off something in the trade market with the flexibility and the picks that you have? They've got to find something because bringing back a team that feels like it hit its head on the ceiling in the second round last year after barely getting out of the first round, that that's a tough look, man."
July 1: EMERGENCY REACTION: Boston trades Jaylen Brown to Philadelphia
Brian is joined by ESPN's Tim MacMahon and Bobby Marks to breakdown the blockbuster Jaylen Brown trade between the Boston Celtics and Philadelphia 76ers, including why the Celtics would make this trade now, how big of a win the trade is for the 76ers and what the rest of the league is saying about the deal.
Topics:
00:16: Trade reaction 02:20: How did this trade happen between Boston and Philadelphia 17:35: The trade has given the 76ers life this season 20:50: Why this trade is so shocking around the league
Windhorst on the league reaction to the trade: "The league speculation -- it's not reporting, but I don't dispute it -- is that this was a trade that was made under duress. This was not a trade that you would make in a clinical setting. There's no deadline. Didn't have to do it by the end of July 1. You wouldn't do this trade under these circumstances if everything was equal.... Something wasn't equal.
"We'll see what gets said about it, but that's been the multiple person reaction from the executives. I was actually on the phone with a general manager who was driving and I knew [the deal] was coming. I just didn't know the terms. And when I saw the terms, I read them to him and he was shocked and said, 'Thank God I'm at a stoplight.'"
MacMahon's reaction to the Celtics taking this deal now: "You can criticize the process, the approach that the Celtics took here, and you damn sure can criticize the results, but this was the best offer that they had on the table. And it wasn't for a lack of hunting, of searching or looking.
"Now, why didn't they pile more on to their offer to try to get Giannis [Antetokounmpo]? I believe what happened was they decided we're trading Jaylen Brown and then they tried to get Giannis and they got caught without contingency plans.
"The one thing I'll be honest about here: I don't understand why they took this offer now. Training camp doesn't start next week. Like, this seems to me to be an offer you take in late August or September because you feel like, well crap, I got to take the best thing on the table and there's not much good there."
July 1: LeBron's best landing spots, reaction to blockbuster Kawhi trade
Brian is joined by ESPN's Tim MacMahon and Bobby Marks to break down an eventful first day of NBA free agency. First the trio talks about LeBron James' departure from the Lakers and which teams might make the most sense for him this season. Then, they pivot to a discussion over what the Lakers can do now to build a contender for Luka Doncic in L.A. in the near future.
Next, the guys talk about the Raptors' blockbuster trade for Kawhi Leonard, including whether this move makes Toronto a legitimate contender in the Eastern Conference. Finally, they examine why the Clippers are a very interesting team to follow after this move and a big change for the NBA Cup Final.
Topics:
1:22: LeBron not returning to the Lakers this season 7:39: Which landing spot is the best for LeBron? 17:08: A potential outlier team for LeBron 20:04: What do the Lakers do with LeBron not returning? 32:27: Raptors bring back Kawhi in trade with Clippers 41:42: A potentially fruitful pivot executed by Clippers 47:31: Could Nikola Jokic be looking to move soon? 49:06: Due diligence was done by the Raptors on Kawhi 52:18: NBA Cup Final officially moving to Hinkle Fieldhouse
MacMahon on LeBron's final chapter: "If it's just about maximizing the chance to win a championship, then he's going back home, right? I think that the Cavaliers would have the best chance if James Harden becomes their fourth-best player. That to me is their best chance. It's also the best storybook ending if this is indeed the last year. You know, the place obviously where it all started, where he delivered the first championship in 50-whatever years in the city's pro sports history. That's the storybook ending."
Windhorst and MacMahon on a wild-card team for LeBron:
Windhorst: "I have long believed that if there was an outlier team for LeBron, if he was willing to take some exception, it's Denver. if you noticed, during the year this year, he was overly effusive with Jokic."
MacMahon: "It'd be the two most brilliant basketball minds in the league joining forces, and they're complementary, where him and Luka was kind of a 'Who's got the ball in his hands?' Joker's all about having a guy who can run pick and roll either way."
Windhorst on whether the Aspiration investigation impacted the Kawhi trade: "Before they entered into this, Toronto and the Clippers, I believe, checked with the league office to make sure that there wouldn't be a holdup based on this Aspiration investigation."
June 29: EMERGENCY REACTION: Memphis Trades Ja Morant To Portland
Brian is joined by ESPN's Tim MacMahon to react to Ja Morant being traded from Memphis to the Blazers in exchange for Jerami Grant and Kris Murray. The guys break down whether this was a good deal for Memphis, why it represents an interesting swing for Portland, and what the end of the Ja era means for the Grizzlies moving forward.
Windhorst on the Morant deal: "They're able to get out of Ja Morant and give him a fresh start without having to incentivize anything. So I think all things considered, I think the parties are probably happy to have this behind them."
MacMahon on what Morant has left: "Dude still looks pretty damn athletic for me. And I think the way that he was dumped in Memphis, if that ain't motivation, I don't know what is. So, I do anticipate there will be a very motivated Ja Morant.... I'm curious to see, can Ja kind of be a reclamation success story?"
