Sitting in the maple leaf lounge at pearson us departures and Nick Nurse is here. Guessing he's off to Philly. If he shows up at a press conference in jeans and a baby blue sports coat he hasn't changed since this morning.

Where, exactly, is the free-agency and trade market for Russell? I just don’t see it.

The Lakers don’t have a lot of leverage. Scouring the league, how many other teams would use Russell as a starter? If we’re being generous, maybe 10. But that’s with most of those teams starting another point guard (and those backcourts having serious defensive concerns). More realistically, it’s more like a few teams. Are any of those clamoring to pay Russell more than $20 million annually.

https://theathletic.com/4562442/2023/05/31/lebron-james-retire-lakers-free-agency/?source=user_shared_article

I think whatever they do is going to happen while they’re on the clock. It’s not impossible that they keep the pick and draft somebody while also keeping Dame. I think it’s very unlikely that’s the way it works out... Everybody’s in lock step that they need to get more of a veteran roster and win-now type of guys around Dame

With the situation being what it is was a huge win to move into the top three. I think they’re in pretty good shape to get somebody.

I think it’s more likely that they trade the pick than they keep it. I think more draft evaluators that you talk to, and it’s not a 100 percent consensus, but the majority of people you talk to like Henderson more than Miller. This is also why Charlotte moving to No. 2 is significant because the rumor at the combine is that they really like Miller and feel like he’ll be a better long-term fit with LaMelo Ball.

I think they’d look more in the frontcourt. Siakam’s situation in Toronto is interesting because they’ve got a timeline demographic there with Scottie Barnes, who’s really young and just scratching the surface, and they’ve essentially made him untouchable in trade talks.

A name I’ve seen thrown out there as a Portland possible target is Anunoby. They like him, and they had pretty serious talks with Toronto around draft time about him, but they decided not to give up the seventh pick last year for Anunoby. I don’t see a world where a year later, they give up a third pick for him.

https://hoopshype.com/lists/blazers-rumors-damian-lillard-jerami-grant-free-agency-anfernee-simons-draft-trades/

Anyone else wondering if Aaron Gordon is going to continue his beef with the GROAT?

"It sounds like that team doesn't really know what they want to do. I think that's a genuine thing that we've seen reported. From conversations I've had there's people in that front office that want to go full rebuild. There's people who want to maintain status-quo and continue trying to building up from here. There's differing philosophies."

https://open.spotify.com/episode/1HgWXE4tRUuARI7B99b4pW

~56:00 min mark

Woj: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2hhoy7I4vN4 - In the first 3 minutes Woj talks about how Giannis really liked Griffin and Jon Horst went into the hiring process paying more attention to assistant coach's around the league and his past relationship with Griffin played apart in hiring him.

Shams: https://twitter.com/FanDuelTV/status/1663552794425692166 - Shams details how Bucks FO, ownership and especially Giannis wanted Adrian Griffin and no-one else.

Zach Lowe and Kevin Pelton: https://open.spotify.com/episode/4gulbjY4IMQeGCwIqxxOQe?si=ca00e91fa82e4d71 (56:00 mark) - Lowe specifically says "beat out Nick Nurse and Kenny Atkinson" to Pelton. He also says they have a lot of faith in Griffin and that is why they felt comfortable with taking a chance on a first year head coach.

Do you put him in your top 5 Raptor of all time? I would. Lowry, VC, Kawhi, Spicy Pascal, and Andrea Bargnani...NAHH Demar or Chris Bosh.

I wonder if they already knew he was gone and did this as a goodbye? Either way I love how wholesome this is.

I wasn’t sure when I listened earlier whether it was a slip but someone in Phili picked up on it and posted on SM.