Ballin' On A Budget Podcast

Speaker 1 0:04
Welcome to balling on a budget, where we talk about sports under price, we got Jordan, Nick Alonzo and me, Marcellus. Let's start the show you.

Speaker 1 0:20
All right, everyone, welcome to ball. And on the budget, I'm here with one of our CO hosts, Nicholas, Garcia. Man, how's it going? Nick I'm doing pretty good. How you doing? Marcelos, man, I'm going, I'm doing all right. Man, so for NBA? Man, there's a lot of crazy trades that was happening this week, man, this past week, and one of those trades just happened to be our favorite team, the Lakers, you know, when they traded Anthony Davis for Luca, I know you're a big fan. We're not a, not a big fan, but like, you know, you recognize Lucas game. So give me your thoughts on how good that trade was.

Speaker 2 0:52
Yeah, you know, I think, uh, initially, you know, obviously everyone at shock. I think we're a week into this trade. So, you know, I think it it settled down a little more. But I think, I think this trade sets us up for the future, hopefully. And you know, I was seeing, I was watching a couple podcasts in with some NBA players had to say about the trade, and most of them said the same thing, that everyone's feeling like, this is like a ridiculous trade. It shouldn't have happened. But some also said that there's probably something that Dallas is staff knows that. We don't know. But, you know, hopefully not, hopefully LeBron could get him right, mentor him. And, you know, it'll, it'll set us up pretty good. We got two dominant players. You know, one game in we were already playing good without ad and just to see us continuing to play good scoring, I think it's it just needs to continue, like, we can't stop scoring all of a sudden and just have like, you know, ruling playing off, or especially Reeves. Now, Reeves has to play, you know, his role now, more than ever since we gave a D away. You know, the scoring has to stay consistent for sure. What do you think about it? Um,

Speaker 1 1:59
the way I think about it is, um, at first I was a little hesitant, because I did see, like, you know, our other coach, Alonzo, said, um, you know, we lost one of our, you know, best players. And obviously it was, he was a powerful but he was our big man, and we traded him for Luca. Which is which? Luca is not a bad player, but I see what Zoe was saying about, like, the fit for the team, and like how we still need that big man piece, you know, the guard you know taller players, you know guard bigs like yokich and all that, yeah. But I feel like, um, it's a good trade. You know, Luca. Look, who wasn't doing bad for his, um, his first game I saw him, he was loving being on the Lakers that pass. He threw the Lebron man. That was a that was amazing moment. But what do we feel about the, you know, the other side of the trade? What do we feel about how 80 is going to the mass, and what he brings to the mass?

Speaker 2 2:51
I feel like, with Nico Harrison, and you know what he said about defense and how he feels, you know, defenseman championship is right and the move is right on paper that team is, is how a team is supposed to be built. You know, got Kyrie running the one, clay at the two. They got Christy as well. You know, that's a lot of people are saying. And in, you know us as Lakers fans, we see, we see how much he balls, we see how good of a PC is. Then they added a D at the four, which is a position he's been wanting to play. And they already had, you know, good, big pieces. So on paper, it makes sense. But, you know, they're getting the ad experience that we unfortunately got, which is a injured on and off ad, and I think he's out for a month, supposedly, yeah, and that's just, it's just unfortunate timing. With 30 games left in the season. That means they're gonna have to figure it out. I mean, he, they figured out that game. He was ball in the first half. He he bought the whole game. I think he, he had 20 something, and I think 16 rebounds, he did pretty good. But you know, it just sucks that he got injured. And I think, I think the other bigs got injured too, so it's not looking too good for Dave. What do you think?

Speaker 1 4:01
Yeah, I feel like, um, I feel like, even without ad, I feel like they're still a good team. Because remember, this is a team that went to the to the um, to the finals, even though that was with Luca. We also got other pieces, like Kyrie guy for lively, we got all those, you know, key role players. But I feel like, you know, before the injury, I feel like, even if they have, if they don't have AD, they're still a good team. But like with AD, that just adds so much more to their to their um, to their team, that can possibly push them, you know, push them to go to the playoffs, you know, maybe even Western Conference. But like, you know, but we do have a history, you know, being a liquor fan. We do know a history of 80, you know, getting injured out of nowhere, but it all depends when he comes back. You know, when it becomes back in time. You know, for the important games, but you know for now, we just got to see how. You know, the season runs his course with that, with that side, for the mass.

Speaker 2 4:57
Yeah, I definitely agree. I think the mask. Can't go far, but it's just about their timeline. You know what? I mean, they they got to think that their players, I mean, let's be real. It's not, it's not 2017 2018 you know, this isn't the same Kyrie Irving and Anthony Davis, although they're still serviceable in any franchise. Would be, you know, more than better off with them. It's just they got to think of their timeline and how long they have to win. So I think they could figure it out in the next, you know, this year, the next two, three years, you know, but the Western Conference is going to get more competitive, especially with Luca being on the Lakers. And, you know, Lakers timeline is shifting as well. We went from having the kind of because this is how I feel, and this goes back on the trade, I feel like it already wasn't working out for us. Like, let's be real. We haven't. We made it to the Western Conference Final, right? We against the nuggets, right? If I'm not mistaken, yeah, Western Conference, yeah, we, you know, and we've been this, playing Team that, and that's all we've been, that's, that's been our ceiling, to be honest, and this just wasn't working out. And with this Luca trade, that that that puts us on a different trajectory, that puts us on a timeline where we could build around Luca and not have to worry about, like, all right, well, we gotta transition from Brian and whatever. Now it's no, that's Lucas team. Now, you know, honestly, and I think, I think bronze okay with that. Hopefully, um, he's getting older, 40 years old. And I, and I mentioned this to you, I think, I think bronze going to take that back seat with Luca. I think we're going to see him take that, uh, that Westbrook role that he has with the nuggets, in the sense that he's going to be utilizing what he does best, maximizing it in his role. You know what I mean, and then, and he still scores effortlessly. So yeah, that's not gonna get taken away. It's just gonna make LeBron just drop way easier, while giving Luca the the keys to the franchise, which we've been trying to do to ad, but he's just, it just didn't seem like it was working out. You know what

Speaker 1 6:58
I mean? Yeah, I agree. Because, um, you know those times we did go to the Western Conference, it was both times, I guess, I guess the nuggets, the first time we didn't even win a game. I feel like we got four old, and then the next time we managed to get one game. But, you know, they we still get four one so it felt like that. We was always in the same place, always going to the play in and then going to the Western Conference, and eventually losing, you know, to the to the same team. So I agree, I agree. We definitely need to change, but, you know, we'll see how we see how to look at trade goes. And there's another trade that didn't happen, you know, I know you know what I'm talking about, the Mark Williams trade for the center. I know you were talking about how you wanted to keep connect, but like, how do you feel that the trade got blocked. You know, how? What is your take on that?

Speaker 2 7:43
You know, I'm a firm believer that everything happens for a reason. And I, you know, I mentioned this to you and to our other hosts, I think that we probably, and it's a good thing as well. Like, I would say I'm wrong in this, because Reeves has been following for us. And I'm glad we didn't give him away, because that would be like a, that'd be a betrothed Reeves, you know what I mean? And I hope, oh, nothing changes. And I hope he stays in that, you know, like he stays a component of the Lakers. But I thought, I thought I'd trade deadline. It'd be more like we need a big and luckily, we got um something. I'm forgetting his Latin. I'm forgetting his name, but I know we just signed a big um, seven foot big, from the King. I think he just played with the Kings, forgetting his name. But I want I said, I think we could have gotten a better big for Reeves. You know what I mean. And we ended up trading connect a young, a young piece, you know, three point shooter. He was bombing the beginning of season, kind of had a slump, but I think it's good that we got him back. And it sucks because I saw a report that said that he told JJ Redick that he needs time to adjust, which is natural, like, that's kind of like an awkward, awkward position to be put in. But I think if he's a professional, and I'm not just saying this because it's, you know, we're fans, and it's our team, yeah, but with a franchise like the Lakers, like, that's he was gonna go to the horn, it's like, not that that's bad or anything, but you you're not gonna be in like, you're not set up over there the Lakers. We, we struggle to find a three point shooter. We, we've been looking for one for the past four season five season. That's why buddy healed was always, you know, rumored to be a Laker. Now that we found one, we went and traded him away for a piece that could be good. And that sucks, that you know, his health was a problem, but at least we avoided that issue, and we didn't end up like the Mavs and got it, you know, a fragile piece,

Speaker 1 9:45
yeah, because I feel like, um, you know, when, when looking at that, you know, my take on it, you know, um, when I, when I first heard that trade with Mark Williams, I was kind of low key happy in the way. Is, like, it was finally, you know, because we know, we've been saying this for years, like, we need, like, a big because, you know, 80 likes to play power for we need another big so he can move into that, that four row. But, um, I kind of, I kind of, you know, it is what it is. So, like, you know, if we, if we get to keep dog and connect, because, you know, the dawn Connect is probably one of our best three point shooters, or most, you know, consistent on a team, as far as you know, the Lakers go. But, yeah. Man, like, yeah. You know, it is what it is. Man, we get to keep Dawn connect in, uh, Cam Redis, that's, that's what we got to do. But there's another, there was another trade, you know that that had me going crazy. But Nick, you wasn't, you wasn't feeling it, you know, it was the Jimmy Butler trade to the Warriors. I'm saying, Yeah, okay, I have two takes on this, right? Two takes we can go back to, like the old Jimmy, right? The Jimmy that you know, always goes to the Easter conference finals. That takes his team to the finals. You know, I'm saying that finals against the Denver Nuggets. He doesn't always win, but he takes his team. It was that one team with Miami full of undrafted players take it all the way to the finals. That's That's unheard of, you know. But then again, warriors, you know, to trade a guy like Andrew rip, Andrew Wiggins, that fits that team perfectly. You know, Warriors is all about, like, how to how the player fix the team. I don't know if, if Jimmy can, you know, correlate with Draymond and curry, but, you know, it'll be good thing. It would be good to see if that's even possible. You know, because if they can correlate, I'm telling you bros, they going to be a threat. But what's your thoughts on it? Nick, no,

Speaker 2 11:40
I didn't want to say you were completely right. It's, it looks like it's been working out for them so far as Jimmy's been able to adjust. I thought, I thought Jimmy wouldn't be able to adjust, and that'd be like a weird fit, because I think Stephen Curry even said it in a con, in a press conference, that they're completely different players, and they are completely different players, not to say that they're batting all like, I mean, obviously Stephen Curry is Stephen Curry. He's obviously better than Jimmy Butler, but I don't know, it just seemed like a weird fit. But, you know, the more, the more I think about it, and I see them play together, it makes sense. You know, they have, they're making it work. You know, they're two vets that that want to win Jimmy, obviously, he hasn't won one one, yet he's been kind of like the Niners, to be honest. You know what I mean? Like, he's been, he's been close so many times, but he just, he can't get it, you know what I mean? And and like you said, he's done it himself, and now it's time for him to have someone as reliable as him in the playoffs. And I think it's just with the Warriors, it'd be a case of how they get it done in the playoffs, right? And it's same thing for us. It's the same thing for us, like, we still gotta figure it out. We just got Luca doncic. Like, we don't have a we don't have a big and I have, I, you know, I've thoughts about that, in the sense that, you know, Jackson Hayes has been stepping up, but like, the way we've been playing, we've been like scoring a lot and, and that's, that's just how we have to continue playing unfortunately. And I say unfortunately because, like, you know it, there comes nights where you're not gonna shoot the best, you know what I mean. But hopefully, hopefully we could get that on lock and, and, you know, just keep this, like, momentum that we have going, but, um, but, yeah, back to the Warriors. I think, I think, I think they'll figure it out. I feel like that was, uh, I mean, you know, Jimmy wanted out. They got him out, and they got him to at least a playoff contending team,

Speaker 1 13:35
yeah, for sure. Um, it was this three team trade that, um, that was kind of like mind boggling to me. It was the Spurs, it was the kings and it was the bulls, all right, so we're gonna break this down, all right. So how do we feel about Darren Fox going to the Spurs?

Speaker 2 13:52
That's a, that's a pretty good move, man, I would say, I would like to say I was thinking about this the other day, but this is kind of like a, like a new I mean, it's an obvious statement, but it's kind of like a new era in the NBA. Like, I don't remember the Spurs being good since I was little, since I was a little kid. Um, I think, I think I went to Miami the year that, uh, did they play the heat in the finals?

Speaker 1 14:19
Yeah, they had a little run. They had that little run with, uh, Tim Duncan, Tony Parker and Oakley, but after that, yeah, the Spurs have been out the playoff contention. Yeah.

Speaker 2 14:30
So I feel like we, we're seeing kind of like a resurgent, like a new, new era. The NBA Lakers got their next franchise player, you know, look at Dachis, but the Spurs also, they're setting themselves up for a great future. And I think, I think they're freaking it out. Victor wembanyama is like, I mean, he's the next, he's the next. I hate to say this, this is kind of a whole saying, bro. I feel like it's not a bull saying. At the same time, he's the next facing League, like he it's probably not gonna be Luca when he could do. Everything like that? Yeah, nah, I don't know. And it's great to see the franchise listen to him, and because I'm sure, yeah, I'm sure he had a saying this and and it's great to see Sacramento do service to deer and Fox, because I remember seeing reports saying that he wanted to go play with Wendy and stuff, and they got it done for him. And I feel like, that's great. What do you think?

Speaker 1 15:23
I feel like, yeah, bro, it was, it was a good trade because, you know, you know, before the season started, they got CP three, and that's like, to me, he's like, like, the best person that can help wimpy to like, in terms of, like, learning about the league, and, like, you know, doing what you do throughout the league. And then they got deer and Fox, which, you know, fits perfectly, because I feel like throughout the years, the Spurs have been trying to, like, you know, rebuild and find that that good player to build around. And I think wimpy is like, that player, you know, to build a future on.

Speaker 2 15:56
No, definitely, yeah, alright. But like,

Speaker 1 16:00
let's see, what do we think about the the Kings trade? Obviously, they got Zach Levine and like a couple, like, first round, second round picks. But how do you feel about that trade? I

Speaker 2 16:10
just want to say I don't know what the Sacramento Kings are doing. That's kind of like they have something going on and they're making some questionable moves. I don't know they, they're a they're professionals. They know what they're doing, obviously. But, I mean, it was time for the bulls to move on from Zach COVID. You know what I mean? And it's a good thing that that they did, um, not to say Sacramento is bad. They have good pieces, but that's just kind of like there wasn't an issue. What was going with, what was going on there, what they what they had, I mean, I don't know, I don't know they're shooting right now, but I think they were, like, they just make they were just balling, like, a couple years ago, and I know they fired the head coach. Yeah,

Speaker 1 16:53
they found I fired Mike Brown, which is kind of like, it didn't make sense, because the year before you won coach of the year. So, you know, that was kind of unexpected, but I guess they trying to rebuild. I don't know why they would rebuild, but, you know, maybe they see something we don't, you know.

Speaker 2 17:09
Yeah, they, I don't know. They got some questionable things going on over there, but, you know, they got Zack Levine, a pretty good player. He's, you know, serviceable player. They have chemistry together, him and DeRozan, so at least it's not like they're getting a player that's unfamiliar with the player, like, you know, with the whole team, like he like, that's a pretty big piece, because it's just DeMar DeRozan. You know what? I mean, that's second in command, so No, at least they're in sync, and then it makes things a little easier for the rest of the team, I'm sure. Yeah,

Speaker 1 17:44
like, um, and then we're gonna go to the last trade, which is Chicago Bulls. They didn't get, like, they didn't get a big player, but they got good role players. They got Zach Collins, Trey Jones and Kevin herder. How do you feel, like, are those good, good fits for the Chicago Bulls? Or do you like disagree with that trade?

Speaker 2 18:01
Uh, no, I feel like it was time for them to move on from Jacqueline. You know what? I mean, I would have liked it. I would have liked if they move on from russevich as well. Um, kind of sucks to see a player like that just kind of waste the end of his career because he's still a serviceable big I feel, um, kind of just waste the end of his career on a team that's that has to rebuild. I don't know what Chicago's been doing that's kind of like a, like, mysterious ass franchise, like, like, I don't, I don't know why they don't just like tank and just pry again already. But I feel like, you know, this is a good this is good acquisition for them, because now at least they have players like herder vs that could kind of mentor the younger guys and show them the way, just like there's a team that's doing it right now, I'm forget, just like the jazz, just like the jazz are doing. I was, I was listening to the commentary, and the guys in the booth are talking about how the jazz are. You know, they have a mixture of younger and older guys, but that's for a reason to develop the younger guys and teach them. And, you know, those vet guys are important. So maybe that's what Chicago has going on. What do you think?

Speaker 1 19:10
Yeah, I feel like, um, yeah. I think it was time to move on from Zach Levine. If you really want the um, you know, the team to grow, you know, get a couple good role players and, like, you know, do what the Spurs do. Just keep, you know, keep drafting, keep drafting up. Try to find that, that one rookie that that you think that would, you know, you can build off of and have the role players kind of chip in, definitely. But, like, yeah, man. Like, you know, some of these trades, I do, I do see the vision, but some of them is kind of, you know, I'm saying kind of off the top, but yeah, like, it was one more trade. It was one more trade we were going to talk about. It was the Kai Kuzma trade for Chris Middleton. I was, like, that was crazy. Like, what are your thoughts on that? Because I got some, you know,

Speaker 2 19:57
I think of, I. You know, that's another, like, mysterious trade, like, I don't know what was going on there. Chris Middleton is obviously a great player. Sucks to see what the, you know, that's, that's an example that's like, if we traded Reeves, like, I like, okay. Like, I don't. Like, okay, Milwaukee, yeah, the look, we're Lakers fans. We drafted Kyle. Who's we know, how it is with Kyle coosman, so I'm excited to see how he's in the play, hopefully, for his sake, you know, he's gotten better and mature. Is a player, and I'm sure he has in Washington. I'm sure, you know, he's learned a few things. But, man, I remember I personally, I did not like Cozumel when we traded for Anthony Davis in 2018, 2019, I'm forgetting the year when we included Brandon Ingram. I was so upset, because originally I had read the report and they said they wanted coolsmen. And the Lakers were like, No, we need Kuzma. You could have Brandon in, which is like,

Unknown Speaker 21:04
yeah, no, yeah, I remember that, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 2 21:06
And Kuzma is a mysterious ass player. You don't know what you're gonna get at him. I don't know, but I, like I said, I haven't watched him, but that's just based off the years that I saw him with the Lakers. You know what? I mean, yeah, but, um, sucks to see Chris Middleton done like that, but at least he gets to be around a rebuilding team. You know what? I mean?

Speaker 1 21:25
Yeah, I feel like, um, if I feel like, oh, just trading like a player like Chris Middleton is kind of like unnecessary, you know, and trade like so much in in first round draft picks for uh, Kyle Kuzma, like I said, it's like one of those trades that maybe they see something we don't maybe, maybe Kuzma is a good fit, but I just don't see it as of right now. But maybe, you know, he'll surprise surprises in the long run. But Kuzma is one of those players obviously, um, you know, we all, we obviously had, you know, it was one time we had Lonzo ball, we had Brandon Ingram, we had Kyle Cougar, we had all them on the same team. And obviously, when we finally trade them, they finally blossom and become great players, you know I'm saying, and just like, just like Brandon anchor, I mean, he just got traded. He got traded to the Raptor, so just got an extension as well. Yeah, he just got an extension. So we'll see. We'll see what he does there. But, yeah, man, yeah. Man, like the trades has been crazy, man, so

Speaker 2 22:24
yeah, you know, things definitely got shaken up. But I think, you know, hopefully, hopefully, the best from it. But it was pretty deadline. I feel like each team probably improved in a way, like there was no bad trades. I mean, other than the, and that's questionable. Other than the LUCA ad one, there was no like crazy, like, whoa, they got JIT. You know what I mean? But I mean, we'll see what that Luca ad one, and I think we'll be able to say if it was a bad trade or not in like, three to four years, 10 Max, 10 Max, to see how Lucas career pans out. You know what I mean? Yeah,

Speaker 1 23:00
man, it's just it, you know, we're narrowing down to the end of the season, and we'll see which trade makes the bigger run. You know, I'm saying so, man, I just wanted to thank you know, Mr. Jason, for letting me use this space, you know, to talk about, you know, sports with y'all. And I want to thank Nick for my co host, Nick for, you know, coming on this and talking about his take on taking on basketball.

Unknown Speaker 23:21
Thank you. Thank you for having

Speaker 1 23:25
all right, man. Well, this is balling on the budget, and I'm out. We'll see y'all thank you guys for watching the episode. If you want to learn more, go to my Instagram, Marcel Davis, underscore, or find the show on Instagram at balling on the budget you.