Danny Ainge Fleeces Cavs, Broncos Extend Wilson, Patriots Head to South Beach | Breaking Brad Ep. 18

Welcome to Breaking Brad, cooking up only the hottest of takes for you this evening. Of all the teams one would expect to make a blockbuster move, few had the Cleveland Cavaliers at the top of their list. But that’s exactly what is happening. According to Shams of The Athletic, Cleveland is trading Collin Sexton, Lauri Markkanen, Ochai Agbaji and three first-round draft picks, along with two pick swaps, to the Utah Jazz in exchange for Donovan Mitchell. And while it will be exciting to see MItchell play in Cleveland with a young, talented roster, this trade got me thinking,

Danny Ainge is at it again. Yes, if you’re unfamiliar, Danny Ainge, the former GM of the Boston Celtics who traded away Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett for multiple high-value draft picks that ultimately turned into Boston’s current, championship-contending roster, just did basically the exact same thing in Utah. Ainge is blowing the whole thing up, stacking future draft picks, and ensuring Utah remains a successful organization for years to come. Mind you, Ainge also recently brought in four additional first-round draft picks when he traded Rudy Gobert to the Minnesota Timberwolves. So, when all is said and done, in

these two trades alone, Danny Ainge has brought in seven unprotected first round draft picks, and three first round pick swaps. And by

the way, Sexton, Markkanen and Agbaji, are all decent players. Not going to make up for the loss of Donovan Mitchell and Rudy Gobert, but a few years down the road, Utah will be filled with talent and the Jazz will be contending for a championship. Overall, the Jazz could have as many as 15 first round draft picks through 2029. They have three next year alone. And if the Cavs struggle at all from 2025 through

2029, those are going to be high-value lottery picks. The future is bright in Salt Lake. I don’t know how Danny got away with this again. Cavs fans have reason to be excited in the short-term, but they got absolutely fleeced in this deal. They traded away their future, and for what? To be the fifth best team in the Eastern Conference? Darius Garland is good, they have a strong starting lineup, Kevin Love is coming off the bench in all likelihood, but is that team beating Boston, Milwaukee or Philadelphia? I don’t think so. And another thing to keep

in mind. I did a story on this yesterday. LeBron James wants to play with both his sons Bronny, who will enter the league in a couple years, and Bryce two years after that. He was quoted in Sports Illustrated saying: “I’d definitely be looking at who got first-round picks in 2024, 2025, things of that nature; 2026, ‘27. I pay attention to that type of stuff.” I would have never envisioned LeBron in Utah, but the chances of that happening just went up significantly. Good for Danny Ainge, that man’s still got it. And happy for the Cavs, they’ll

do very well in jersey sales over the next two years. Okay, moving on. Today, the Denver Broncos just made a significant step to ensure they have a real starting quarterback for years to come, after many failures since Peyton Manning. The Broncos have extended Russell Wilson’s contract five seasons, at $245 million, with $165 million of that guaranteed. That means Wilson could remain in Denver through the 2028-29 NFL season, although there is a potential out in 2026, which I would not expect him to take. That means when Wilson is set to become an unrestricted free agent in

2029, he’ll be 41 years old. As much as I like Russell Wilson, who would be near the top of my list of quarterbacks to build a team around, he’s not Tom Brady. He’s a mobile, dual-threat quarterback, who’s taken lots of hits behind poor offensive lines over the years. And that might improve this year – Denver’s offensive line ranks 16th in the league, according to Pro Football Focus, so right in the middle of the pack. But how is Russ going to be playing four-five years from now? I have no doubt he’ll put in the effort and

take care of himself, but will his body hold up. He’s going to need to become a strict pocket passer, in my opinion. This is a real gamble by the Broncos organization, which I kind of understand. It’s been failure after failure finding a quarterback. Drew Lock wasn’t the guy, and if you remove Peyton Manning out of the equation, they haven’t had a top quarterback since John Elway. And no, Jay Cutler, Jake Plummer and Brian Griese don’t count. Look, WIlson is a future Hall of Famer, he never missed a game his first nine seasons in the league.

Still played 14 of 17 last year, despite a broken finger. But, and this is a fascinating statistic from Mike DeCourcy of Sporting News: Russell Wilson has been sacked more than 35 times in all but two of his 10 years as a starter in Seattle. Tom Brady, by comparison, that’s only happened twice in his entire career. I could be wrong, but we’ll see how he holds up. Okay, final story of the day. The New England Patriots will be taking their talents to South Beach well in advance of their Week 1 opener against the Miami Dolphins. As

we’ve seen in years past, when the Patriots go down to Miami, particularly early in the season, the blistering heat and humidity often takes a toll. In fact, since 2013, all those trips with Tom Brady and Super Bowl-champion teams, New England is just 2-7 at Miami. Yes, two wins in their last nine trips. And most of those were not very good Dolphins teams. So, in an effort to acclimate the Patriots to a difficult environment, against what could potentially be a very good Miami Dolphins team, they will travel south on Tuesday, five days ahead of their first

game. Now, this won’t be the first time the Pats have dealt with the heat over the last few weeks. There was a fairly bad heat wave in Foxboro where temperatures reached the high-90s during Training Camp. The Patriots also just returned from a week-long trip to Las Vegas, where they practiced in similar temperatures with the Raiders before their final preseason matchup. But the cliche rings tried and true, it’s not the heat, it’s the humidity that will likely be an issue in Miami, in the thick of hurricane season. There’s always a chance of rain and thunder showers.

But with all these trips, heading out to Las Vegas, a week of practice in Miami, the Pats will likely have another extended trip later in the season when they take on Arizona and Vegas back-to-back; this provides a real opportunity to build team chemistry – which they really need. At the very least, the offensive line needs that time to build trust and communication, with some of these zone run concepts they’ve struggled with all Training Camp. I’m chalking this one up as a loss. I refused to bet on the Patriots in Miami even when Tom Brady was

there, and their 2-7 record there over the last nine seasons shows why. That said, if they’re able to go down to Miami, with all the hype of adding Tyreek Hill, and DeVante Parker goes off against his former team, that would be one hell of a way to start a season that most Pats fans are very worried about. Okay, that’s it. I’ve got a fantasy football draft to join. If you’re drafting these next few days, be sure to check out my recent video “Best Fantasy Football Draft Tips for the 2022 NFL Season,” which includes advice on

how to draft players for consistency – there’s nothing worse than a fantasy team that doesn’t show up. Be sure to like and subscribe. Will be back next week. Until then, this is Breaking Brad.

%d bloggers like this: