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The Charlotte Hornets finalizing a trade to send PJ Washington to the Dallas Mavericks for Grant Williams, Seth Curry, and a first round draft pick according to Adrian Wojnarzki's sources. Brian Geisinger, my man at BGeist underscore bird, Pac Pride 24-7 Sports, Buzzfeed Podcast.

We got it all covered. So let's start with the breaking news, Mr. Geisinger. What are your thoughts on the, I thought PJ was going to be here. What are your thoughts on trading PJ Washington and what do they get? Yeah, well, first off, if Kadell, with the thing you guys were talking about, Kadell, wouldn't be the first time he's covered for a billionaire.

So there's that. But no, you know, PJ was in an interesting place on the roster because they clearly have like a young group of talented players with LaMelo, Brandon Miller, Mark Williams, Nick Smith Jr. And then they had sort of like a cast of older guys that were potentially tradeable pieces, Terry Rozier, Gordon Hayward, who are both gone now. You know, we'll see what happens with Miles Bridges. And then PJ was sort of in between that. Like he's still in his like early to mid 20s, former first round pick, good player, very useful, could do a lot of things. And they resigned them last summer to a pretty like a pretty good contract, actually, one that clearly had a decent amount of trade value because they were able to get a first round pick out of it, lightly protected first round pick in 2027. And then Greg Williams, who was like, you know, Dallas's big off season signing last summer as well, who's sort of struggled the last couple of months.

That's a good start to the maps. But, you know, it's like, I was a big fan of PJ. I think he's a really good player. I am excited to see him play with Luca and I hope he gets a chance to show what he can do in the post-season because I think he has a game that's made for being on the floor in the post-season. The Hornets, they bring a couple of hometown guys back in the steel too, with Steph Curry and Grant Williams, both from Charlotte. Look, finally, Curry will play in Charlotte. That's great. I don't hate this because I think both Curry and Grant Williams, if you are a good team, I think both of those guys are super useful as depth players, occasional starters.

I really do. If you have a good team, a playoff team, I think those guys can be valuable pieces of it. And they're probably like a couple of years away from that, but Williams is young enough that he could be a part of the build going forward with him or like, because he has a couple of years left on this contract, like they could look to flip Grant Williams for something else. Another draft taken in a season or two.

So like, that's the other way to do this. And I just got to say, like these kinds of transactions for the Hornets like are, look, this has been a terrible season. It's been a bad run the last couple of years, but like, these are the kind of like, sort of, uh, forward thinking, you know, move a player to get a, to get a pick that we've seen with Rosie or Peter Washington. Now we'll see what the final terms of the, uh, Gordon Hayward to Oklahoma city deal look like, but these are kind of some of the transactions I've been wanting to see from the organization for years now that we're sort of like looking beyond the scope of the, of the current season and sort of planning to build around, uh, young, even get some, uh, you know, net positive for Sean picks in the door. Uh, one more thing about the Hornets before we turn our focus to NC state, the, um, uh, Miles bridges who had a monster night, even in a loss, the, uh, I think last night, uh, they, he basically said, I'm not going anywhere. I'm going to veto any trade. So, uh, the Hornets retain his bird rights, which basically means they can pay him more and give him more years, I guess, than anybody else. Uh, but this basically is paving the way for a sign and trade in the off season or are the, is bridges going to be part of the core of this team going forward? Yeah. Well, like, this is tough because there's like a difference between what I want and what, you know, what could happen, which is like, I mean, I, I, I don't want, you know, mostly just to be on the Hornets anymore.

I'm still sort of like odd occasionally that he's playing basketball currently based on what based on what he did in his personal life. Yes. Yes. Correct.

Um, on multiple occasions, multiple reports. Um, but yeah, no, I think it does. It's like you looking at this in terms of, you know, basketball terms like, yeah, I think it does go up for a sign and trade. And it's a process that, uh, collect sports in which Paul will have a lot of, uh, say over as they did, uh, with, uh, with them basically saying they would shut down any trade for bridges at the deadline this year. Um, they're able to do that because bridges is playing on a, on a qualifying offer. Um, it would have lost his bird rights in trade. So that that's sort of like one of the protections that the, uh, the league has in for certain players, I suppose. And, uh, this clears the way to that.

And I'm hopeful that that's the case because I really think the points need to shift the culture there. Um, they built around Brandon Miller, Mark Williams, the middle ball. And I don't think you can do that if this guy is still there. So I would just like for him to be away from the team that I personally, Brian Geisinger is joining us here on the Adam Gold show Buzzbeat podcast.

Uh, you could see him, uh, on pack prides, uh, post-game podcasts often. Um, so let me get to last night's loss to pit, which was disappointing. Kevin Keats was adamant that it was about free throw shooting. Uh, my pushback is yeah, partly, maybe 25% free throw shooting. I think it was more about allowing a couple of offensive rebounds late, maybe missing a couple of defensive assignments late. And the truth is you really only have one reliable perimeter offensive player in DJ horn. Uh, I think it was more about other things than it was about free throw shooting. How did you see last night? Yeah, I guess in a vacuum last night could be about free throw shooting, but I think we have these, we have these conversations with, with state a lot, right?

So it's like, you can't just, it's not just one thing. And, uh, if you sort of stretch it out over the course of, uh, the first season and you just got a team that's limited in what it can do offensively and to keep one of its better defense or one of its better offensive players in the court and DJ burns, like they're a little compromised defensively with that. Um, big, yeah. Gillen Lowe is a nice freshman guard, but he goes off and has a huge game for pit last night. He's given a lot. Like he gave Duke trouble a couple of weeks ago, too. He's nice, but just people brought in two really good freshmen guards this season with, with Bob Carrington and Joe.

Um, so yeah, I don't know. Like, I think it has to do with the fact that this is an offense that just has, doesn't have that high of a ceiling and they tried to hang their hat on the defensive side of the court this season, but it's hard for them to sort of like always find the right mix of personnel without, uh, also been sacrificing something on offense. So it's just like, it is hard for them, I think, to consistently string together, complimentary basketball and play like strong two way games. And it's good to, I think you agree with me on that. Like, I like them. It's got, like, they've got serious players on that roster and people's a great coach. So like in a vacuum again, no shame losing the pit either necessarily.

It's just like, it's hard to ignore the context, which just feels like sort of a lost season. You've despite the conference record in front of how many, a couple of thousand people last night. So, um, like I think Kevin Keats is a good coach. I think he's done some nice things at state, but, uh, you know, they're just, it's, it's not looking, it's not like in a great healthy spot at the moment.

Um, in terms of like where the, where the roster is and where it could be, uh, you know, in a few short months, which is like sort of what matters most, I think. No, there's no question. I know he was asked about the NCAA tournament. He didn't really answer the question last night about can they still get it?

Um, you know, he sort of brushed it off and talked about, you know, bigger picture things, even though that's the bigger picture issue for certainly for fans. Um, but yeah, I mean, look, they, they probably have to win six of their remaining eight games. They got to win three of their remaining five games on the road and all three at home. Um, and they can win these games at home. Uh, but ultimately finding wins at, uh, at Carolina, at Clemson, at wake at Florida state, it means just not going to be easy to find a lot of wins there.

Uh, and yeah, I do. I wish DJ burns had had a, if he had last season, this season, I think maybe NC state would have been in a better position. I don't think I'm wrong in thinking that he has taken a significant step back. I don't care what the numbers say, um, a significant step back. I don't think his conditioning is the same as it won last year, as it was last year.

And he wasn't exactly Dwayne Johnson last year. I'll just, uh, I'll leave it at that, but I didn't even bring it up before when Victoria asked me about is Kevin Keats on the hot seat, which I think the answer is yes, that unless Carolina's in the building or Duke's in the building and there'll be there at the end of February, like it's half empty. Yeah. I mean, PNC arena can't be, we can't only have 10,000 people in there for a, for a basketball game. They have a great home court environment when there are, you know, 15 to 18,000 people in the seats. I think that's a big deal. Let me get over to Duke with you real quick.

Brian Geisinger, uh, at big guys, underscore bird. So Duke didn't shoot it well last night, but I appreciated the approach of driving as well as they did 38 points in the paint. I thought their defense was good. Of course, it's, you know, you're grading on a curve because Notre Dame is a terrible offensive team, but is it fair for me to still be concerned because there's something up with Kyle Philip asking, you know, I lost one was not like a super, like encouraging performance from Duke. I mean, I guess you don't take any, uh, you know, any ACC wins for granted. Like they all count the same, right? I mean, that's not entirely true, but, uh, in terms of the win-loss column, I guess they do.

Yes. Um, I don't think if you want to, like, look at the glass half full approach, it's like, do you think still win despite having a, a, you know, uh, by his standards, like a mock rate, pal, fill a pocket game. And yet, despite that, like, despite him not being at an eating or close to his best last night, Duke was still plus 19 with Silopasco on the court. And he almost had a double double.

Like he's that productive and talented, uh, of a player. I really would. I mean, like it's easy for me to say, uh, as someone who would especially, you know, looking back with someone who had had like a, a bit of a, could be a high-tech when I'll play basketball, but like, I would love for him to just like, stop focusing on the rest. Like he had, I would, that came in last night. Um, the amount of like conversations he had with like John Gaffney, you know, during timeouts and some of that is like good back and forth and good transparency. You know, why, why did you call this?

Why did I get whistled for this? But I just would like, if he can just focus on the game, like in most, in most matches, he's the best player on the court and he's a total match-up breaker. Like he's tough to tough to handle. I had, I thought Notre Dame did a good job against him last night. Like when you, when you caught the ball in the short roll, um, you know, Duke's been able to, you know, for two seals now, it's really like eat off that eat off flip, making passes and finishes in the shorts, but in the short space and short role, none of that was there last night. Um, but yeah, so I would just say like, they've got a lot of basketball left to be played.

And if you do like the good version of, of, uh, of Kyle Zalpowski, then Duke is awesome. Like their head getting, if not better than any, any team in the, in the league where they're right there with Carolina, I suppose. So my thought would be like, he's got to get even a cold streak with, with a shot, but I would also just from like the mental standpoint, um, I know teams are going at him. Teams are very physical with him. They're trying to get him in foul trouble. It's gotta be frustrating, but he's got to find some way to sort of like block that out because he's too good and too important for this team.

Yeah. I just watching last night, it just seemed like nothing was coming easy for Philipowski. And I really thought in the, uh, in the game against Carolina last weekend, uh, I, I didn't think Carolina would be able to guard him with Baycott. Uh, that Philipowski when, uh, when Baycott was on him, he would take Baycott away from the basket and it would be able to drive past him and force help and all of that. And he wasn't able to do that. Philipowski. I mean, did they double him?

Sure. Did he take Baycott inside? But Armando was able to handle him one-on-one and make it and make life difficult. I really thought it was going to have to be the other way that was going to be Harrison Ingram that was ultimately going to guard, uh, Philipowski because he's a more fluid athlete, but they didn't need Carolina. Didn't need to make that adjustment because Philipowski again, nothing came easy for him. And it's been that way. Maybe since the game at Pitt, when he careered, Oh, it was like four for four from three point range. And it was a run where he was like eight for his last 10.

Uh, but they do Duke has to get a better version of him. I actually inquired as to whether or not he was hurt because it did look like he wasn't moving the same way. Uh, they say banged up. Yeah. Hurt. No.

Yeah. I mean, I think that it is probably something to consider with slip, like this season at Duke and going beyond, like he's obviously like a high usage player and like a very, he's a big time play finisher that he can really score and stuff like that. But the things that he does best are like, it's that size, but like it just is how skilled he is like the passing ability to make plays in space to handle.

And so I do sort of think like, you know, when he, if, and you know, when he transitions to the NBA, I still like him quite a bit as a, uh, a draft prospect, like he will be someone that comes in and like amplifies an offense, right. By being, giving them some spaces and passes and shooting the pro court and just asking him to do that. Plus also like anchor their defense, um, guard a ton of ball screens every game.

It also be like a low post, a low post play finisher screen, roll dive finisher, a pick and pop shooter. Like he's just, he has to do a lot on both sides of the court and like the team is designed to be set up that way. Um, but I do sort of think that like, it's sort of asking him to, it's sort of asking him to do something that like occasionally takes him away from doing what he does best, which is sort of like, I think like give an offense flow and help get guys open with his ability to like pass from the high post.

And they ripped their best last night. It was, you know, flip at the elbow or flip above the break. And they're running flare screens for Jared McCain and, you know, Mark Mitchell's flipping this, you know, same as flare screens, McCain's getting a three or Mark Mitchell slipping and dive into the room for a dunk or he's getting fouled. And like, that's when they're at, that's like when they're at their best, not when they're just trying to like throw the tip, flip in the post and like see what he sees, you know, what offers he can generate.

Um, and the big thing, like I tweeted this out, like she took four pick and pop threes in the UNC game, Goldie missed all four of them, but they were all wide open, wide open, like little to no contest whatsoever. And like, that's the thing. Like if he makes two of those, that game is totally different. And who knows, like maybe if he makes all of those, that geeks out Hubert Davis and therefore he says like, we need to be able to switch these screens. And that's the case. And you do end up with Harrison Ingram on Kyle, so he can switch the screens or whatever.

Um, but that didn't happen. Like they gave him those looks and he just couldn't knock them down. And like, when they rematched in a couple of weeks, like we'll see, cause those looks will probably be there again, against UNC scheme. Well, you're saying, I think Brian Geisinger is that it all looks different when the ball goes through the hoop.

Uh, basketball can be such a simple game. Uh, Brian Geisinger at B guys underscore bird, 24 seven sports pack pride, uh, Busbee podcast. Uh, we talked, we, we talked all the ball. Uh, my man, I'll talk to you next week. I appreciate it. Yeah. You guys, uh, enjoy the games this weekend.

Absolutely. We got chief serve 49ers. Uh, I'm going to go Kansas city. Uh, my mom's boyfriend, Kim, big, big Kansas city fan.

So I've, I've like sort of de facto become a, uh, Casey fan, uh, the last decade or so. Very nice. Yeah. I'll go, I'll go Kansas city. All right.

Scientific way of selecting the Superbowl. I appreciate it. It's just as good as, uh, you know, I like the color.

I like the color yellow. Yeah. Why not?

Why not? Thanks, man. I'll talk to you later. Brian Geisinger here. You too. Uh, on the Adam gold show.