Jared Weiss of The Athletic came on the pod to preview the Boston Celtics first round matchup with the Indiana Pacers. The Celtics finished the season 49-33 which fell short of expectations coming into the season. Still, the Celtics have a chance to make some noise in the postseason.

We spoke about Marcus Smart’s injury and its impact on Boston’s playoff hopes, Jaylen Brown as a replacement, Gordon Hayward’s effectiveness and the Kyrie Irving situation throughout the season.

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Back in the summer of 2003, the Minnesota Timberwolves made a splash on the trade market, acquiring veterans Sam Cassell and Latrell Sprewell. The two players formed a powerful trio with Kevin Garnett and won 58 games during the 2003-04 season. Garnett won MVP and Minnesota won their first playoff series in franchise history on their way to a Conference Finals appearance.

Though the Wolves brought back the same cast for the 2004-05 season, the team fell apart. Coach Flip Saunders was fired and the team missed the playoffs. I had Steve Aschburner from NBA.com on to talk about that successful team and their quick rise and fall.

Steve covered the Wolves for the Star Tribune and was there for all of those big moments in that one great season.

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The Indiana Pacers have been one of the pleasant surprises of the NBA season. Despite losing All-Star Victor Oladipo, Indiana’s still in position to have homecourt advantage in the opening round of the playoffs.

I had Scott Agness on to talk about Indiana’s surprising season, the Myles Turner, Domantas Sabonis conundrum, the solid bench play this season and the expectations for the team heading into the playoffs.

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The Memphis Grizzlies are on a brand new journey after trading away part fo their DNA in center Marc Gasol. The trade happened a couple of weeks ago, but I had Daily Memphian Grizzlies columnist, writer and editor Chris Herrington on to discuss all things Grizzlies.

We discussed Gasol’s relationship with Memphis and how it differentiates with the Grizzlies franchise. We also spoke about the bitterness involved in the trade, owing a pick to the Boston Celtics, what Jaren Jackson, Jr.’s future looks like, what’s going to happen to Mike Conley and what direction the Grizzlies are headed in.

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The 2019 trade deadline is a wrap and the NBA Trades Podcast deadline discussion is done. I had the bro Anthony Canton on to discuss the arms race brewing in the Eastern Conference. The Toronto Raptors, Milwaukee Bucks and Philadelphia 76ers all made huge deals to bolster their rotations and the Boston Celtics are in the race as well. 

We broke down the deals including Milwaukee’s addition of Nikola Mirotic, Toronto’s acquisition of Marc Gasol and Philly’s move to add Tobias Harris. We spoke about the risk Philly took, as well as the league-shifting decisions coming soon in the Anthony Davis sweepstakes. Also included was the buyout market and winners and losers of the deadline.

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Back in 2004, the Atlanta Hawks were a pretty bad team. With a heavy payroll and a team fading out of any playoff chances, the Hawks made the move to deal Shareef Abdur-Rahim and Theo Ratliff to the Portland Trail Blazers for Rasheed Wallace. The move freed up cap space for the Hawks in the future, but the Hawks had bigger plans, dealing Wallace 10 days later to the Detroit Pistons.

I had Michael Lee on the podcast to talk this remarkable moment. Mike covered the Hawks as a beat writer for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. He was there when the Hawks made the two trades and saw Wallace’s only game in a Hawks uniform against the New Jersey Nets.

For this podcast, Mike and I discussed the two Wallace trades, those 2003-04 Hawks that committed to tanking, his start in journalism, his passion for art, and some of the interesting cast of characters from that Hawks team. This included Terry Stotts, Jason Terry, Stephen Jackson, Boris Diaw and more. 

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The 25-year anniversary of the 1994 Houston Rockets championship squad is descending upon us, and it made sense to have the original architect of that team on. Steve Patterson got his start in sports at an early age when his father Ray Patterson was president of the Milwaukee Bucks.

Steve went on to work with his dad in Houston during the 1980s. Steve worked in various departments, working in the legal field with contracts, working with the marketing department and more. He helped install a ticketing computer system for the Rockets and also helped bring the All-Star Game to Houston.

Steve took the position of general manager (youngest in the NBA) in 1989 with the Rockets. He was responsible for acquiring guards Vernon Maxwell and Kenny Smith. Patterson also drafted Robert Horry and Sam Cassell. Of the 11 players that played in the NBA Finals, seven were acquired by the Rockets with Patterson acquiring them as Houston’s lead decision maker.

In this episode, Steve and I discussed the trades and transactions he made to build the Rockets around Hakeem Olajuwon, a contractual feud with Olajuwon and how that played out, and what it was like to see the Rockets win a title the year after he had been let go by new owner Les Alexander.

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When it comes to interesting NBA players of all-time, Tom McMillen takes the cake. The former 11-year veteran came on the NBA Trades Podcast to discuss his playing career and more.

From Mansfield, Pennsylvania, McMillen became one of the most sought after players in high school. He was on the cover of Sports Illustrated as the best high school player in America. After choosing Maryland, McMillen became a three-time All American and a Rhodes Scholar. He went on to study at Oxford and graduated as a Rhodes Scholar.

During the podcast, we spoke about McMillen’s upbringing, the groundswell of interest in him after the SI feature, going to Maryland and playing for Lefty Driesell. We also spoke about him balancing his academic career with a professional basketball playing career, having to travel and play basketball in Italy while studying to be a Rhodes Scholar.

Other conversations include the 1972 Olympics situation where the USA basketball team he was on lost to the Soviet Union after the referees manipulated the ending of the game, his 11-year run in the NBA, running for the House of Reps while still playing in the NBA, and the first political trade that he was a part of.

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With the new year of 2019, comes the interesting NBA Trade Deadline on the horizon. I had Anthony Canton on to discuss trades we want to see happen at the deadline.

Using the ESPN trade machine and Real GM’s future draft pick status page, Anthony and I went back and forth with three trade proposals each. We covered big stars like Anthony Davis and Bradley Beal. Also brought up, was Enes Kanter, the Orlando Magic, roster and Kemba Walker.

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The NBA Trades podcast made its triumphant return on NBA media day. I had the bro Anthony Canton on to discuss the Jimmy Butler trade rumors and what Butler and the Timberwolves can both do from this point. We also spoke about trades that happened this summer including the Kawhi Leonard trade and Dwight Howard.

We also went through some surprises we’re expecting this season. Check it out!

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