ESPN fired Zach Lowe, about the best guy (in terms of content, and, like, being a decent human) in the NBA circle. Boo!
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Itās a camp body.
Itās almost like ESPN has been focused on shows with people yelling on TV for the last decade and not written content!
Everyone wants to hear Kendrick Perkins instead.
Oddly within that decade they signed him to a multimillion dollar contract!
Add Zach did go on TV regularly, just on the NBA Today, which is not yelly (and heās not a yeller anyway).
I just like the guy!
I mean, sure, but ESPNās identtiy has changed a lot since Grantland, since when Grantland left, since when he re-upped sometime after thatā¦ Either way, the logic about using money when you have a lot of it and then cutting people when you need more of it is usually very different.
Yeah, and clearly thatās what they wanted to try. He also just wasnāt very good on TV which Iām sure played into it.
I love Zach Lowe, but ESPN has been trending in other directions for a long time.
I think he probably has the opportunity to land somewhere better that will let him do more stuff heās excited about FWIW.
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Hahahaha this tweet is dead on.
The Ringer makes sense, they obviously have lots of money, and he has some fealty to Simmons I guess.
The Athletic also makes a ton of sense. Iād be way more excited about getting the most out of Zach Lowe at either of those spots compared to if he went to NBC or Amazon or something with an eye on TV.
I could see the independent/substack thing, but I donāt really think he needs to go that way even if he could.
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Based only on vibes I get the impression that his column and podcast are more important to him than tv hits
Sounds like a potential podcast guest to me! 
The Villanova mafia never took off
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I actually really like this for both teams.
Iād argue the Nova crew did take off though. They had a great year last year. They overachieved for a team of their talent level on an individual basis imo.
But this works really well for both teams. Randle pairs well with Gobert and Donte gives the Wolves time for Dillingham to develop. Shannon and him could work really well as a duo of combo guards. Then they add a first from the Pistons.
One of those trades where everyone wins.
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Edit: for some reason I thought Bridges was traded last deadline not in the off-season.
lol I think this is an every team loses
Minnesota wonāt score this year - they were bad last year and going from one of the three best offensive bigs who fits anywhere offensively.
Randle needs space for his dribble self creation stuff to work, and this team has none, outside Donte. Donte is a good shooter but heās just one guy. Tbis trade takes them out of title contention, full stop.
The Knicks raised their ceiling and have a good top six, but they donāt have a team. Who can run offense here when Brunson is hurt of needs to sit? Who plays when OG misses 35 games? Who else plays center here?
I lean slightly more to saying Minnesota won because they got out of the second apron and Towns is overpaid? Like part of this trade is financial, not on court
Oh also is t it established that Thibs and KAT dislike each other?
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??? Minnesota has shooting besides Donte? Conley, Naz and Ant all made over 2 3s/game on volume with good percentages. NAW can shoot too.
I was never of the belief that a Gobert/KAT front court could lead you to a title. They can beat a lot of teams, but eventually you run into teams that can exploit that big, slow lineup. They got dominated against Dallas and Dallas wasnāt even a great team. I think Minnesota has just as much of a title chance now as they did pre-trade.
And the issues that you point out for the Knicks are valid, but they still existed pre-trade. KAT raises the ceiling. That starting lineup when healthy is almost as good as any in the league.
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Itās an icky trade on both sides imo
Nova brotherhood is real and they got too cute trying to break it up
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23rd of 30 team in 3pa
So no they donāt
Donte was their backup PG when Brunson sat, so thatās a new problem.
I think Randle will be actively bad
Thatās less me thinking he is bad than thinking playing next to Gobert while Jaden McDaniels stands in a corner being kind of ignored wonāt be very favorable to him
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Yeah I donāt understand this trade on the Knicks side. I feel like if half their roster wasnāt crippled last playoffs, they could have taken out Boston and win a title. Assuming they were healthy next playoffs, would likely be much of the same so, why do this trade? I know they lost Hartenstein but still, just why?