Draft Dominoes: Holiday’s Blockbuster Return, Flagg Mania, and the Western Conference Arms Race

it is tuesday, you know what time it is. Front runner podcast collective is back on the air. I I am your humble host, vince, and today's pod is action packed. We got trades, we got draft stuff, bunch of draft items. Josh Crocky just said the most dumbest stuff I've ever heard on a microphone and we're going to drop that for you as well. I really hope it wasn't some sort of ai like deep fake video deal, but no, it came from a um trusted, trusted person in the media. So therefore, we know that this is legitimate.

But before we get there, we are going to have an audience, uh, appreciation moment, and the reason why we are doing this is because I am always very, um, appreciative and astonished by the, the people who listen to this podcast, um and I and I say that because you are talking to a microphone you don't know who you're reaching, you have no idea about some of the folks that might be, uh, partaking in the pot, but when I look at my list of countries, and what have you? When I see that bolivia has joined the group, bangladesh has joined the group, india is in there, and then you talk about, like, some of the cities that you see, and what have you? Um, we had talked about houston joining last time. Liverpool, england of all places, like they're joint, they're listening to the podcast. So again, we say this every single time we have not spent $1 in advertising the podcast. We have not, like, tried to boost up on Google and say, you know, get us to more people. We've not boosted a tweet or anything like that. So every time we get a new country, every time we get a new city and we see who's representing for us, it is just astonishing and we just want to say thank you. We want to say thank you for listening to us. We want to say thank you for being a friend telling a friend about the podcast. We want to continue to grow our numbers. The numbers are getting better and better. I am thrilled with what we see and, to tell you truth, somebody hit us up either on on Twitter or on Blue Sky. My Twitter account is at FrontRunnerPC. The producer is at Rhea, underscore Funch, frpc. Let us know if the blog is helping the second screen experience. We've gotten a lot of good, positive feedback from it, but I wonder if people are actually using it as a um template to go ahead and listen to the pod and also be able to have something to read and go along with it. But we put a lot of work into both, so we appreciate you to look at it, download the pod, send hey, listen five stars comments, anything that you have we will go ahead and use. So, with that being said, again heartfelt appreciation for you guys, heartfelt appreciation for just the growing numbers up for the podcast. So, thank you so much.

Now, with that being said, we got a lot to get to. Trades are going everywhere. The first one that we need to talk about is the Boston Celtics trade that went down. Did anybody catch this? We got Drew Holiday going back to Portland yeah, I said back to Portland, we'll talk about that in a second and we got Anthony Simons going to the city of Beantown. He is joining a legacy of guards like Dennis Johnson, danny Ainge, you know, rajon Rondo, ray Allen, and now Anthony Simons is going to Boston. So, graz Stevens, he is a genius, this dude. Okay so, and we'll get to the Portland part of this in a second, but let's talk about the cap management. Boston escapes $104 million over the next three years. Okay, now, they only cleared $4.7 million this season because of what anthony simon's contract is, but still that they still saved him 40 million dollars on the tax. That's how far over they are in the tax man. But you are getting off.

35 year old, drew holiday. You got a 26 year old guard who averages more than 20 points a game. Now I don't know if he's a lead guard or not. I, as far as what I have seen, I don't think he is a lead guard. I think what anthony simons is is a guy who can help you distribute the basketball. I think he's a type of guy that, um, he kind of reminds me of a cj mccollum, but with a better jump shot, a more reliable jump shot. And that's funny. That cj mccollum is what anthony simons took over for, and now we also have the news about cj mccollum coming up and later in the podcast.

But you're sitting there and you're going hold on. The celtics just got nine years younger in the backcourt. Now we can, we can deliberate whether they got better and we will momentarily, but you did get nine years younger. Answer this question for me Boston Celtics fans how did you end up with two second-round picks out of the deal? So you trade Drew Holiday who, let's be honest, he might have lost a step this last past season. He might have lost a step this last past season. You know, getting 35, being a point of attack guard, defensive minded guard, and you get the younger person in this deal. And then you get the two second round draft choices. This is amazing work by Brad Stevens, this is amazing work by thead stevens, this is amazing work by the entire boston celtics franchise. And also, you save money. Here's what they're getting in simons they're getting an expiring 27.7 million dollars, meaning that boston either gets cap flexibility next summer or they reroute him in a future deal, either throughout the the summer or through the season. Remember we have a trade deadline that comes up in february of 2026. Mark your calendars now.

Okay, now here's the other thing. You knew something was going to happen with the Celtics because of everybody will talk about the Tatum injury. Let me just give you this right now I don't care if Tatum blew out his Achilles. I don't care if Tatum didn't blow out his Achilles. I don't care if he wentilles. I don't care if he went on vacation. I don't care if he decided that he was like sleeping beauty and he was just basically awaiting a princess to kiss him and wake him up. I don't care about any of that. The Boston Celtics were going to make some deals this off season, like it or not, whether they made the championship, or whether they made the Eastern Conference Finals, or whatever the case may be, boston was going to Pair down payroll this offseason. Do not let anybody else Tell you anything different Because, like we have said for two years, these aprons, Especially the second apron, are absolutely punitive.

People have called it a hard cap. That is exactly what it is, because it just restrains you from doing all sorts of things that you want to do, do like we talk about. When you are in that second apron, you have no um way to use your mid-level exception. So for teams who are really good, who are usually drafting late in the draft process, or if they don't have picks or whatever, this was another way for them to acquire talent and get somebody in making like 15 million to 16 million a year, and usually when you're on a good team, it's really easy to give that coin up to a player who is chasing a ring. Well, with the second acorn, you don't have that capability anymore. They've taken that away from you because they're saying we are not going to allow these teams to just spend and spend and spend and then not have any repercussions. We need to make sure that the middle of the country and some of these smaller market teams can compete.

Okc just won the championship, right. Jason Tatum has an unfortunate Achilles injury, which basically just gives them so much runway to go ahead and start paring down the payroll, and I believe there are more trades coming out of boston. This is this is the first of at least a couple. I know people have heard about the porzingis rumors out there. Those are true, but I will say this we still are not at the draft. They have a 52 million dollar player in jalen brown, and I'm gonna tell you right now that I would look for fireworks come tomorrow. I'm not saying he is going to get traded and that is not what I'm saying. What I am saying is that there have been discussions. How do we pay? There are so many ways To get to where you want to go With this thing. Brad Stevens being such a smart guy, he will get them there. So the easiest way to go and the most, I would say, the least painful way to go Is that you get off Porzingis' contract, who's also an aspiring contract as well. Right, you keep Jalen and then you keep him moving. You hope that when Jason Tatum comes back in the 2026-2027 season you can pair the two, jalen Brown and Jason Tatum, back together and you still have a pretty good team. Or you could reimagine your franchise. Right now and I'm telling you, those discussions are going on and this is the first part of it so Simons is a scoring guard.

Simons is a scoring guard. He averaged 19.3 points a game on a kind of a middling Portland Trailblazers team last year. He shot 38.1% from three, which is low for him. He's usually a 40% three-point shooter, shot creator, off-ball weapon, no doubt. Now his beat his defensive like he's a defensive liability. On the other hand, now you hope that Boston can make up for that with all the talented defensive players that they have. Or here's another way of looking at it is he a placeholder or a trade ship? We know that he's not a foundational piece. That's the one thing we do know. Here's a note from serea sire simon's expiring deal is brad's get out of jail free card flexibility for days. Either he's in green next summer or he's traded. He's trade fodder at the deadline. No truer words have been said. This is boston playing the cba chess war. Simon's contract helps them pivot.

It's not a talent upgrade, it's a cap recalibration. I want people to understand that this is not a talent play. We didn't just go hey, we got nine years younger and this dude is going to be part of our future for the foreseeable future. No, this is a cap recalibration for the Celtics. They understand the assignment gap year OK. Gap year Post title pre Tatum return gap year post title pre Tatum return gap year. You're not going anywhere without Tatum anyway. Let's. Let's be honest.

I love Jalen Brown. You can tell me everything you want about Derek White and how awesome he is, he is, he's all those things that you say, but this team is going absolutely nowhere without Jason Tatum. Okay, like we can say that he's top seven. He's never going to get to top four of the NBA hierarchy or whatever, but he's still a legitimate top seven player and as a top seven player, this is a guy who stirs the drink for the Celtics. And as a top seven player, this is the guy who stirs the drink for the Celtics. And if you think they're going to have this overwhelming success next year off the backs of Jalen Brown and Derek White and whoever is left on this team. I know my guy, peyton Pritchard, is probably really pissed off right now. He's like, oh, I was going to start, check that that you're not going to start. Anthony simons has taken your spot. So you wonder if this is just the first of multiple moves by the celtics. Now, from the blazers perspective, this is what they've done.

Now you want to talk about defensive identity just by taking that one person out of the lineup. Think about what they can put together now. Drew Holiday, who is, like I said, he's long in the tooth but he's still a really good defender. Denny Abdiah showed up last year for the Portland Trailblazers. He had a fantastic year. He also was instrumental on the defensive end.

And then our guy Tusami Kamara. He is awesome. You know what kind of defender he is. You know what kind of two-way ability he has. He's a true 3 and D guy. 6'8", 213 pounds, pounds, shoots the three ball at a really respectable level. A lot of teams want uh kamara in a real way. Portland is like what y'all giving up? What y'all giving up to get him. By the way he was, he was part of the deandre ayton deal, so think about that phoenix, phoenix suns fans, when your owner, matt ishby, is out here drunk making deals or whatever. He sent tumani kamara to the trailblazers as part of that DeAndre Ayton deal. You wish you had Kamara back now, don't you? And then also there is the rookie. Well, he's not a rookie. Now he's entering his second season.

Donovan Klingin, out of UConn. He had a really good rookie year, up and down with the injuries. As far as that's concerned, I don't think he was truly 100% healthy. Good rookie year, up and down with the injuries. As far as that's concerned. I don't think he was truly 100% healthy the entire year. But when he was on the court he was filthy as a defender, good, rugged rebounder. He rolled to the rim hard. He did make short rolls and passes out of that situation very well. I loved all the things that Donovan Klingin did last year.

Now the leadership vacuum that Simon leaves, because remember he was kind of like the longest tenured trailblazer. You know I don't. If you want to, I mean if you want to talk about our guy, you know jeremy grant, I mean, I guess. But having drew holiday there, you know who is vocal, because simons wasn't a vocal leader. Holiday is a culture setter. He's a mentor for scoot henderson and you know I have not traded any of my Scoot Henderson stock. If Scoot takes a leap, drew's mentorship will be all of what. That 35 million dollars that you are paying our guy Drew Holiday. It'll be worth every penny, if not.

Portland just overplayed for good vibes in a great locker room but he is critical to scoops development. I think this guy is going to be able to really, because here's the other thing with drew holiday he's played the point guard role so even, and he's played it probably the way that Scoop would play it. So personally, I think this is a good fit and a good mentorship for our guy Scoop. Also, this frees up shots for Shaden Sharp. That was the key to this whole deal is that we needed to get. We need to get opportunities for our guy Shaden Sharp. They wanted to be a more serious team this year and they have done that.

Now there is this timeline discrepancy, with Drew being basically 35, and you know Scoot is out here all of 21, and the rest of the cats are like around 20 as well, except for, like denny abdia, the three years 104 million dollars that is owed to drew holiday. I mean, damn why the portland trailblazers didn't get something back in this deal. So you're taking on basically. So you're taking on basically $35 million a year for a guy who's 35 years of age and you're giving up draft compensation to the Boston Celtics. Again, bravo to our guy Brad Stevens.

Bra-freaking-o. I'll tell you what you might have lostason tatum, you might have some some cap issues that you need to deal with, but you know what you do got. You got a big brain on brad. Brad stevens, that is. And as long as he's still in the building, everything is peachy king. You know, I'm saying for sure now a scoot drew holiday backcourt, maybe cramp unless scoop takes a major step.

But I do see this as a positive for the trailblazers. I think anytime that you can get serious people in the building, high character people in the building, is always good for the young players to be able to see. I don't know if jeremy grant is providing that type of energy right now. I think he's just here for the cash and here to get his shots. I don't know if he's really thinking about hey, let's help the young fellas along, let's get them acclimated, let's get them ready for when we are good. Then they'll understand like what it takes, what we need to sacrifice to get to that next level. But drew holiday is that guy and I think he can bring that to the portland trailblazers.

And um trevor lane said something really interesting. He said, hey, now we got 14 teams in the west who are trying to get into the playoffs or the play-in. The west is still stacked, the west is still stacked. Oh, and then kevin durant didn't leave the west. He did not leave the West. He did not leave the West, he stayed in. It Went to Houston. We got Drew Holiday. Now in Portland, the West is absolutely stacked. That's all you need to know. So what does this all mean For Boston? It means it was a smart move, but it was a sobering move. So they can get their cap situation under control, because the cap constraints are absolutely terrifying when you're in that second apron. This preserves them to have future flexibility because again, you can either reroute our guy anthony simons later in a deal or b you can just let him go at the end of the year and all that money comes off the books for portland. This is a play of hey. We gotta make sure that shayden sharp is who we think he is and the only way he was going to be able to do that and get that developmental push that you're looking for is to get anthony simons out of the building. No disrespect to anthony simons whatsoever, but he was stymieing. He was stymieing development through school and through shade and sharp. So, having drew, he understands his role, he understands what he has been brought there to do and I think that he will do it very admirably to do his job. So that's kind of what we are looking at with this trade Now.

Trailblazer fans, boston Celtics fans, it's time for y'all to chime in. How do you feel about this trade In Boston? Do you feel this is the first of many? Do you think that brad stevens remakes the whole team and by the time you get to training camp in september, you, you're gonna need a program. You're gonna need, like, uh, some name tags hi, my name is whatever. And for the trailblazers, do you feel like joe cronian has helped you in this situation? Because I will say this remember, drew holiday was in milwaukee a couple. What was it like? Yeah, a couple years ago this was the Dame trade, right, damian Lillard till Milwaukee, drew holiday to Portland and then drew holiday, got rerouted, like really quickly to Boston. He turns around, wins a championship, plays another year, got the injury, the tatum, and then he gets traded back to portland and, through all of this, brad stevens wins both times in the deal.

This gives me hope for the lakers, because people have been telling me that we cannot trade with the dallas mavericks, even though the dallas mavericks have a bunch of centers they got a bunch of big wings and stuff like that and people say, well, you're not going to be able to trade with Dallas anymore Because you got Luka and you won that trade so Like. You abused Dallas so badly in that trade that they're not going to trade with you anymore. Well, hell, I just saw Drew Holiday leave Portland to go to Boston and then Boston trade him back to Portland after two years and they got the better of the deal twice. So that gives me hope that the Lakers can do something awesome.

Now, speaking of the Mavericks, the Mavericks did something kind of sneaky good, but it left me with a lot of questions. So last night, daniel gafford sign is going to sign his extension. His extension is three years, 54 million. He got one year left on his deal right now, the 2025-2026 season, which is 14.4. So our guy is going to be making a little bit more coin than he was after this year. And here's the best part about this deal. One we know Anthony Davis, and Anthony Davis does not want to play the five, and with Derek Lively and Daniel Gafford still in uniform for the Dallas Mavericks which, hey, that was not on my bingo card this year but with both of them on the team, and you got a pretty good deal for what Daniel Gafford is, our guy is solidified at the four. Now I don't know how it's going to all work with Cooper Flagg coming in there, but we will find out. We will find out.

Now this locks up Daniel Gafford to the 2028-2029 season. And here's the best part You're getting all of the prime Daniel Gafford years in Dallas because when the deal ends he'll be 30 years old. So you're getting year 27, you're getting year 28 and you're getting year 29 of Daniel Gafford. So you're gonna have nothing but outstanding, devastating blocks. You're gonna have a ton of just man rebounds and you're gonna have some dunks that are so filthy that the people mama that when they get dunked on, they mama ain't gonna want to call them. Okay, their mama gonna be like listen. I changed my number, my new number. Who this? I don't know who you are because you got dunked on last night. I saw that on instagram. I saw that on youtube reels. I saw that on tiktok. You got dunked on. So you need to change your last name because I am going to absolutely deny you as a son.

Here's what they're getting or keeping in gafford. You know the rebounding, you know the rim running, you know the rim protection. Here's the other thing. He's elite at the rim 70.9 field goal percentage. Okay, from january 15th to february, 10th rim protection. You ask 3.2 blocks per game over that period.

Vertical elite athlete, high motor, very excited about being in dallas. He was even more excited when luca was there. I wonder if he'll be as excited with Cooper Flagg there. We'll see. He thrives in drop coverage or as a secondary rim protector. He is not a on-ball rim protector. He's more of a weak side rim protector, which is weird if you're playing with Anthony Davis. But Anthony Davis can be a point of attack defender, so therefore they can kind of muddle the role roles of what they do.

Now here's the other part. Daniel gafford is a low usage guy. Okay, he is here for lobs, he is here for putbacks. He is for. He is here for offensive rebounds and then putting the ball back in the hole, but he is not here to sit there and go. Hey, I need to get 18 to 20 touches a game. He is not anthony davis, he just is happy to be there, happy to understand his role, and he does it as well as he possibly can. He's one of the better.

Um, what I would consider if you're talking about, like underneath the like, joel and bees and nicola yokages of the world, things of that nature right, having a daniel gafford is absolutely. If you can't have one of the elite, elite centers in the league, having a Daniel Gafford or a Daniel Gafford type is amazing to have, because you know you're not having to share the sugar with him. He'll go get his out the mud. What does this do for Dallas? Well, cost certainty is always a great thing, right? $18 million annual average uh salary, love it.

And this is a strong rate for a starting caliber center who's a rim protector in a rising cap environment. He also provides some depth behind lively jr. Locking in gaffer gives them flexibility. You can start him, bring lively off the bench or vice versa. The other thing that you have with derrick, with gaffer lively jr was hurt last year. He was hurt his rookie year. Anthony dav Davis is a injury waiting to happen, so having Daniel Gafford on the squad is kind of like insurance in case shit happens.

We got this other dude who's gonna give us rim protection, rebounding interior toughness. Who's going to give us rim protection, rebounding Interior toughness. He's going to give us that rim protection that we need. This is another dude Just to have on the bench or starting for you, and he understands that role, which is fantastic, because the one thing that we're going to talk about later With the draft Is can these young guys Understand their role?

Because you know what? Well, a lot of people don't understand about these draft picks and we're gonna get into it with ace bailey is that you can't always be the number one option, right? I understand that you were probably the the dude at your college, or you were at the dude at your college, or you were the dude at your high school, but you're stepping into the NBA and it is very rare that they just turn the keys over to you Now. Cooper Flagg will be afforded that opportunity, no doubt because he's the number one overall draft pick. Maybe Dylan Harper will be afforded that opportunity where he goes. But after that it's going to be like you're going to have to work for it. If you want to be like the number one guy on the team, you're going to work for it. They're not just going to hand it to you. So those are things to keep keep a watch out on now.

Potential risks with this situation is this Daniel Gafford did have a right knee sprain last season. He has had a history of lower body tweaks, but nothing serious. One of the questions that I had through this process was the overlapping. If you have Derek.

Lively. You're going to have Cooper Flagg and you have Anthony Davis. Do you need Daniel Gafford? The other thing is that offensively he needs you to get him the ball, and what I mean by that is that he has no offensive creation for himself at all, no self-creation at all. For Daniel Gafford Rim runner, pick and roll, he's attacking the rim. He can't get into a dribble package and get to the rim. That is not his deal. So you got to have some on-ball creators for our guy daniel gafford, kind of like luca right, luca was that guy. Oh, they, they traded him. That's right. Okay, now this is a cost control archetype to secure the extension for dallas. Gafford's vertical spacing and rim deterrence as a player is a perfect complement to the young og cooper flag who is coming into the league as of tomorrow, and we can't wait flag's versatile game, along with anthony davis's physicality and also another vertical uh spacer as well, in the rising cap of 18 million a year for a playoff caliber starting center and the market is value for sure.

The biggest question about dallas is this is can? They saw the backcourt issue with kyrie uh still uh rehabbing through his acl. Now that's going to be tough. They think they'll have, uh, kyrie back by april. I will say this first of all one kyrie is a little bit up there in age. The other thing is this is that usually when you come back from an ACL tear, it's not the first initial when you come back, it's the year after. So if I was Dallas, maybe I sit, especially with Kyrie being in his mid-30s now, sit especially with Kyrie being in his mid-30s now, I possibly would just kind of go like, hey, man, you sit out the whole year, we'll see you back in September of 2026 and get ready for the 2026-2027 year. But there's still guards out there so you can can get them and actual, if you need to, you can trade Gafford for a guard easy. We talked about all of the issues and what have you.

So let's go ahead and get to the other big situation that happened before we got on this mic. Cj McCollum Boy oh boy. Cj mccullum boy oh boy. I mean I know there's a certain somebody who works for the ringer who has been trying to trade cj mccullum for years, years now, and it's come to fruition. Cj mccullum has been traded from the new orleansicans To the Washington Wizards. You ask yourself what did they get back in return. Not only did CJ McCollum go to the Wizards, kelly Olenek also went to the Wizards. What did the Washington Wizards give up? They gave up Jordan Poole To the Pelicans, and I don't understand this trade at all. So let's get into it. Let's break it down real quick. What do the Wizards get in CJ McCollum One?

This is a veteran guard 32, 33 years of age now 12 seasons in the league, good shooter, elite off-ball gravity, 21.1 points a game, 4.1 assists and almost four rebounds. Now his career shooting percentage Is about 44%. His career 3 point percentage Is 37.3%. He is an okay defender. He has limitations Because of his size. He's going to 2 guard his whole life. As far as his NBA career is concerned, he's a decent person. As far as steals are concerned, he doesn't average one, but a little close to one a game. He does read passing lanes very well and if he's surrounded by the right team, he can definitely help you. Now his IQ and coachability is going to be off the charts. This is the type of vet you want on your team. You're not going to hear a bunch of moaning and complaining from CJ McCollum. He is going to connect with your young players and he is going to show them the ways of the world in the NBA. This is exactly the type of guy you want around your young, young talent. So the Alex Sars of the world, the Bob Carrington's of the world, the Bilal Koulibaly's of the world is going to be such an intrinsic value to have CJ McCollum on this team wearing a Wizards uniform.

What do you get with Kelly Olenek? Well, you help Alex Saar. You help him because he is what alex wants to be. He's a 611 stretch, full, uh stretch, big 3 and d4 spacer, solid finisher in the paint. He'll, you know his cutting ability is pretty good, his role fit. He's going to back up alexar, add some spacing to the bench units and he was salary filler to balance the books, to make this trade work. And also he's going to bring some locker room continuity some of the things that jordan pool doesn't do, and this is why I did not understand this trade. Okay, so I don't mind that jordan pool is being traded from the Wizards. It's where he went to.

So, unless they're rerouting him, or here's the other part, what do you do with DeJounte Murray? Are you done because he had the? He had the knee injury early in the season. Are you done with him? Because they're about the same age? I think that DeJounte is maybe two years older than Jordan Poole Because Jordan Poole is 26. Now Jordan Poole in Washington had just carte blanche to shoot the ball. He averaged 20.5 points a game, four and a half assists, three rebounds and he shot 43.2 percent from the field in total and he shot 37.8 percent from three uh in last year.

I am really confused about this particular player in new orleans. I don't know what to tell you on that one. Is he a really good offensive player? Yes, he is. His instincts, his iq, the live dribble creation, strong clutch volume scorer. He took a record-breaking 224 three-point attempts 224 three-point attempts.

When Jordan Poole wants to, he can play some defense 1.3 steals a game. His defensive metrics are going to be completely underwhelming, but he is serviceable because he's six foot three and when he is engaged he can be a. I wouldn't call him a uh. He's a net neutral defender, maybe slightly below net neutral, and that's when he's engaged. When he is just what he was doing in washington these last couple years, that was not engagement. So he was absolutely abysmal on the defensive end the last couple years. He will absolutely drive you crazy, because he will get stuck looking at the ball, his man will get behind him and then there's an easy layup or dunk. This reminds me a lot of D'Angelo Russell, a lot of D'Angelo Russell, coachability and growth. He's resilient.

Uh, he lost his starter role. Uh, demanded, demanded a longer leash, and responded. He had a strong. He had a strong relationship with his coach, uh, keith, and he did supposedly mentor the rookies, but he mentored the rookies because he was getting shots up. You know what I'm saying. He was getting shots up and you're now about to enter a team where Zion Williamson is there, trey Murphy III is there. So you are now the third option, maybe on a new orleans pelicans team. Now new orleans also got back sadiq bay.

Uh. Six foot eight, 216 pound, two-way wing. Um. We haven't seen a lot of the three and D possibilities with him as of yet, but he does bring positional versatility. He has an advanced cut rate. Also, he can be a defensive communicator. When engaged he does add some rotational spacing and the defensive IQ that we just talked about. Now he can get buckets. He would be great coming off the bench, which that's probably what his role would be when you have Zion Williamson and Trey Murphy III already in the fold.

I, like the Sadiq Bey of this deal, I'm still really concerned about what the pelicans are doing with jordan pool and dejonte murray. I think there's going to have to be some sort of reckoning there, and joe dumars is pulling the trigger now, so I think there is going to be a rebrand of this team. I don't know necessarily whether j Poole is the long-term stay or is it. Dejounte Murray is the long-term stay. The jury's still out. We will have to see. We might not have to see long, though, because the draft is tomorrow. Day one of the draft is tomorrow.

We front-runner podcast collective is after the draft and after we look at all the picks and then we start giving our grades and stuff like that. We will be back on the air tomorrow. So if you got three pods last week, you can three more this week. Happy days for you, happy days for us. We love to pod and we love to talk hoops. So therefore, this is all all love from us.

Now let's get to the, the value assessments of this actual deal. The pelicans they did get somebody who is going to fit that Zion role. This is another guy who can space, a floor. Give Zion a little more space as well. Dejounte Murray is not as good a three-point shooter as Jordan Poole.

Now, where DeJounte Murray does lap, jordan Poole is on the defensive end, because when DeJounte Murray is engaged he is a far superior defensive player than Jordan Poole. Like let's make no mistake about this, jordan Poole is more of an offensive guy than he is a defensive guy, and when I said that he's like a slightly below, below, a net neutral defender when engaged, I am not wrong. In that situation, his talent is what he can do for you on the other side of the court, on the offensive side. That is where he makes his money. I can shoot the ball makes his money. I can shoot the ball. I don't mind taking late clock uh shots. I don't mind taking shots that are contested. There's not a shot that I've never seen that I didn't like.

He has gone to the cam thomas school of shot taking. More is better, which will be so different for him in new orleans because he will not have that same uh opportunity that he did in washington. Remember this dude was? This dude was actually shooing away steph curry when he was in Golden State, like Steph would come and try to get the ball, he wave him away like no, no, I got it, don't worry, I'm about to take this dude off the dribble. So does he have a rational confidence? Yes, he does. Now this is what I will say.

If they are planning to move on from DeJounte Murray, this is the type of team that personally, could absorb a Jordan Poole, if you're just hoping that his offense is going to be able to carry you a little bit and again he's going to be the third option, not the first option. So maybe we get better shot selection and things of that nature, because he will have a more finite role than he did in other places. If that's the case and you go ahead and you move DeJounte Murray when you have Trey Murphy III, you have Herb Jones, you have Zion Williamson and Yves Misi played absolutely, absolutely incredible for the pelicans last year as a young big. He came in as a rookie and really solidified that center position and he just kept his growth. His growth was, uh, amazing from game five to game 35. There was just a complete jump and then, as we went on into the second half of the season, he's me see really look good for the pelicans. They might have found something with that young big man and I think you're just scratching the surface with him and if I'm not mistaken, he's 20. So we got a lot of growth. We got a lot of runway with our guy.

Ease me see, but if you were going to keep jordan pool and he was going to be the primary guy, you know about this trade. As far as that's concerned, I think, with the defensive talent that you have around him, I think it'll go very, very well. So if you need offense and cap flexibility, pool he definitely gives you that. Trading away mccollum, you lose a little leadership, but you're hoping that you're now you're young guys who are starting to enter their mid-20s is going to be able to provide that leadership. A la zion williamson, a la trey mur, trey Murphy III.

What McCollum brings to the Wizards is he brings a grown-up. You know Alex Sarr needs a grown-up, bub Carrington needs a grown-up. Bilal Kulibale needs somebody to basically have him run in the right direction. And what I mean by that is listen. Bilal Kulibaly is learning how to play the game of basketball. He's super athletic. There's a lot of glimpses and flashes of high, high defensive IQ from that kid. But I think a guy like CJ McCollum will be able to even help enhance that even more and bring some other things out of him that we have not necessarily seen so far in his two years in the league.

So where do we go from here? Well, before we get up out of here, we got to talk about the draft, which is tomorrow night, and I cannot wait. Cougar flag is obviously the centerpiece of what is going down tomorrow night. He will be the number one overall selected dude. There are not going to be any surprises whatsoever. I don't think Adam Silver will. I don't think Dallas will be on the clock very long. I think they will get that card in immediately and then have cooper flag as the number one overall pick for the dallas mavericks and we can start the cooper flag era.

He has the highest floor of anybody in this draft. He has impact and I mean significant impact on both ends of the court, on the defensive end and on the offensive end. He's a versatile. He's a versatile guy. He can be on ball or off ball doesn't make a difference to him, and his game is scalable. What I mean by that is that we saw that cooper fly used a lot of pick and roll at duke and what you saw from game six to game 24 is a complete different approach. You also saw just just A more of an ease, like okay, I've gotten all the answers to the test, I've done my prep work, I've done my study and now I'm ready to Go ahead and take this test.

This dude right here Works extremely hard, he loves To work and I know everybody like, oh well, you're gonna start saying he's a gym rat and all that. No, no, no, this is a different type of white kid. Okay, this is a different one. He a elite athlete. Elite anticipation, competitive, competitive drive, high motor, no coaching issues whatsoever. He got that dog in him. You know what I'm saying Best in class as far as advanced defensive intensification and decision making, a true connector, and he has the possibility Of being able to Guard 2 through 5. 2 through 5. He hustles, he makes his teammates better, he wants to connect with his teammates. Everybody will love him. Cougar flag is that dude now at number two? There is no question. Everybody wants to sit here and say there is a question. There's no question.

Dylan Harper is going to go to the San Antonio Spurs. Okay, the 6'5 guard out of Rutgers is going to go there. He's a lefty combo guard. He dictates pace. He has a high floor, his star upside for sure. What he does better than anything else is that he is super strong for his age and he orchestrates with poise and high level um control. Now his two-way ability. He's more of an offensive first player. His defensive uh, his defense needs work, but his size and his strength are going to serve him well as he starts to understand what he needs to do on the defensive end and how he needs to cut off angles and things of that nature. Now his awareness is off the charts. He has advanced playmaking and scoring instincts and his decision making is bar none. He's going to a lot of dimes.

There's gonna be a lot of people excited in san antonio. When we will be excited. Stefan castle will be excited. Hell, even our guy, uh, sohan, will be excited. I know that your point guard experiment is now by the wayside with Dylan Harper in tow, but that dude is going to bring some stability to that offense and instead of the offense looking stuck half the time last year, I think with Dylan Harper on that team you're going to get better run offense more often than not. So now we've talked about what Philadelphia is going to do.

A lot of people have talked about Ace Bailey. He was the third overall selection throughout the draft process and now you're starting to get word that that will not be the case and we'll get to him in a second and why that is word that there that will not be the case and we'll get to him in a second and why that is. But I would say if I was the philadelphia 76ers, a lot of people have pretty much mocked vj edgecone, the baylor wing or guard um, who is from jamaica, super explosive athlete, high motor. Uh, he is primarily a two, three wing, plug it, plug and play type role guy. He's an energizer. He finds his awareness is developing. He's he's a developing creator, but he understands his role. He projects as an elite 3 and d guy and what we're hoping for is that there's going to be some second sign, initiation that comes along with him. His instincts are like I rely on my athleticism. He's never out of a play, he doesn't give up on plays, which is great and he's super coachable, fearless and attacking the rim, competitive as all get out. He didn't want to lose anything at baylor. I don't care if it was cornhole, I don't care if it was beer pong, I don't care if it was just shooting like, uh, balled up paper into a paper, into a wastebasket. He did not want to lose at anything. I like those type of kids.

Now I will say this if I was philly, I would try to move down. Personally, I would. And you say, well, vince, all the cherry high-end prospects are towards the top of the draft. Well, I'm looking at Philadelphia and I'm going like where what do I actually need? Do I need Vijay Edgecombe? Not saying, not saying you don't, but I'm also not saying you do. Do they need, like, a con canupa? Or they need a trey johnson? What do they need now? If you really want to call it a day, make a trade with the, either the washington wizards or the Pelicans, and see what you want to do with Kalman Maliwak, because I'm gonna tell you right now. If you are waiting on Joel Embiid to get healthy at 32 years of age, with the long history of lower limb injuries, good luck to you. Good luck Our guy Con Canupo. Looks like he's going to be the fourth overall pick so far and you know how much this podcast loves Con Canupo. Trey Johnson's kind of moved up.

The Texas Guard 6'5", real crafty bucket getter. As far as that's concerned, I think where the draft is kind of starting at is like 6. What does the Wizards do? Do they get the center out of Duke Mollewak? Are they a candidate for Ace Bailey? I've heard people say and let's talk about Ace Bailey now, let's talk about him as a player. Before we talk about person, we'll talk about all the other stuff that's going on with him. We're going to talk about player itself first and foremost.

They sold us a bill of goods that this dude was 6'10, 6'11 and he was gonna be able to be able to switch like five through two, not exactly. He's six foot seven and like a half. He's 203 pounds. So he's light. Uh, he is 18 as of now. He'll be 19 when the season starts.

His wingspan is still incredible, is seven foot one. He has a max vert of 34 and a half inches and the dude is a bucket. He gets buckets. I like mid-range, I like three-point shots, I like to drive to the hole, I like to get buckets. That is what ace bailey does. He is a shot making wing elite, scoring upside, and he is developing as a creator. And when I say, developing as a creator it's more for developing for others. He can create for himself. He got a lot of tunnel vision when it comes to others, but he can get buckets. He's a volume scorer. He's aggressive but streaky.

Now the two-way ability, I've not seen it as much. I know people say well, you know, he was injured, it was all the stuff that going on with ruckers. They didn't have enough talent around him and dylan harper. Here's the thing defensive is effort. Okay, it is literally effort. You gotta want to do it and he has not shown the I don't know disposition would be the right word to want to play defense.

Now. He's raw. He's tunnel vision as a scorer. Uh, passing and shot selection are are wild swings at this point. Sometimes you'll go oh, that's a good shot. Yeah, you, you go ahead and take that. And then there's a lot of times where you go no, no, no, no, no, and then it's like it goes in. You go okay, there's a lot of that with him. Now let's talk about the off, the off stuff.

He's not a bad dude. From all the reports I've gotten from him is that his teammates love him. He does think a lot of himself. He thinks he is really great. I'm not saying that's a bad thing, I'm just saying that's what he thinks. He wants to go to a place where he's the man. He struggled sharing the sugar with Dylan Harper last year. Now, on the other side, dylan didn't have that problem with him. He did have that problem with Dylan. It wasn't like they weren't friends or anything like that, it was just it was hard for them to coexist and become this cohesive like two, like uh, double-headed, like offensive juggernaut. You're gonna have to learn how to do that, my man. You're gonna have to learn how to get along with folks and share the sugar.

His instincts he loves bright lights, he loves the big moments, but he is a streaky shooter. He can shoot you into games and he can shoot you out of games. Does he wants to be coached? Yes, he does. Does he? Does he have the ability to prove improve over year after year? Yes, he does.

The concerns that I have are his handle, because he's a high dribbler. His strength, because he's 203 pounds at 6'8", so real light in the ass. Shot selection needs work. He loves a lot of shots, all types of shots. It's not really a shot that he would turn down. He's an equal opportunity shooter and defense. Well, as you get stronger. And also, here's the thing ace needs to move his feet. You can't just save it all for the offensive end. My guy, you got to play some defense too. You know what I'm saying. Now he has star upside. No doubt he's a tough shot maker, for sure, but he's absolutely raw. He needs um to get some strength on him. He is a classic tools bet, but I'm telling you, right now, there's a lot of things in there that just have to be smoothed out with him. But a lot of people are high on him. I don't know, I'm I'm on the lower end when it comes to ace bailey. There are other people I like better. I think that the other thing now is, too, is where. What does phoenix do at 10, now that they got their pick off the Kevin Durant trade? What do they do at 10 now? Right now, carter Bryant is uh mocked for them.

The six foot seven, uh, freshman out of Arizona who plays sparingly for that team, only scoring 6.5 points a game, four rebounds. But he was doing it in a, in a, in a bench role. Basically, he's right now. He is athletic, he's a versatile defender. He can cut when he wants to move and his spot up shooting is pretty good. He is excellent as an off-ball mover, plays his role and he adapts to the team needs. He's kind of like a um swiss army knife type guy. He's still developing when it comes to his on-ball creation. Off-ball awareness is super strong. He finds open spots, he makes hustle plays, but also he was able to do that because he was only playing like about 16 minutes a game at arizona. So I wonder, as you put more minutes on him, does that same? Uh, ferocity of cutting and moving, does it stay the same when you're doing it on both sides of the court?

Now the concerns for our guy carter is that his handle needs work. Playmaking he needs to see the floor better and here's the thing he needs to grow as a self-creator. You know he's spoon-fed a lot at this point in time and if he's going to Phoenix, phoenix really doesn't have the guards to spoon-feed him. Now Devin Booker as a kind of a de facto point guard, okay, but he's not excellent at getting high-level reads off. He can make the right pass at the right time, but I would never call Devin Booker this high-level offensive initiator for everybody on the team. He can get buckets for him.

Now, a guy that I do want to talk about before we get up out of here. Has anybody seen? Oh my God. Okay, so Yohan Berenger is a guy who could be drafted in the lottery or he could be drafted like in the mid kind of like mid 20s of the first round. A couple things I want to talk about with this kid One the measurables are off the charts.

He's like 6'10", 6'11", 230 pounds, but he is 7'5", wingspan and he is all of 18 years of age Okay, all of 18 years of age. Now he's raw and toolsy. He began playing basketball late, but he has elite length and agility for his size real defensive versatility for the modern schemes. Agility for his size Real defensive versatility for the modern schemes and could anchor, drop or switch and recover Whatever style you want to play with him. Now he has some offensive limitations. No doubt he cannot shoot. He can't post up because he's light right now. He's a low field passer, whatever that was, but he does rim roll. He does rim roll, which is great. Problem is, there's a lot to be desired when it comes to his Offensive Tool set.

The developmental bet on him Is that he's going to have to add strength without losing mobility. Um, his fundamentals will need work, positioning he relies on his athleticism way too much. He needs to like, understand, like lanes, and he needs to understand like uh, cutting off angles and what have you. Those will come with time. Remember, he is 18 years of age and this is the most 18 years of age thing I heard.

So the kid right now plays for a team in germany. It's called uh. Sedita vita olympia. Right, they are in the finals in the German League. Where's Johan Berenger at right now? He's coming to New York City for the draft. Your team is in the finals. You just left your squad. You play this whole year, the whole year, and my man was like you know what? It's been real cool playing with y'all, but I am going to get my face on tv when I get drafted in the nba.

Now I understand, listen, I think luca didn't. Did luca come over? Because he was. He was in the finals in the euro league at that point. Yeah, I don't think luca came over. There's been a bunch of dudes that were in that situation, that were in that situation.

But for you to leave your team as they're playing in the finals, that just tells me a lot about, like, your development as a person and how young you are, because you wanted, you wanted to be in the mix. That's what it all, what it came down to be. And I've talked to some scouts and they they've kind of done some side eye type situations when it comes to that. Now I know my young people out there are going like what's the big deal? You know he was leaving them anyway, whatever. That is not how you go about taking care of your business. Now I know I know the young people out there they ghost people. There's a lot of that type Quiet quitting, whatever it is. But If you played the whole entire season and then you're in the finals with your team and they're kind of dependent on you Not dependent on you, but you're playing a specific role for that team and you just say I'm going to go, I know we got some really important games coming up, but you know I got this ticket. It's not refundable. I want to go partake in the draft. We'll see where our guy, johan Beringer, goes in the draft tomorrow.

Another guy that I love and he's not getting a lot of love is Thomas Sorber, the center out of Georgetown, who is approximately approximately six foot ten. I think he's a little bit shade under that, but he has a seven six wingspan and to me, for somebody this young, he's a true big. He's an old school modern hybrid. He has a massive frame. He got soft hands. He's got great touch around the rim. He's a smart passer for his age. This dude is 19, okay underrated iq. Real effort plays from this cat right here. He's not a switch guy. He is bad, best as a paint protector, like drop coverage, what have you? Excellent defend, uh, defensive on off impact. Uh. I don't know if he can ever be like a switchy dude, but I know that the defensive awareness, iq and motor are excellent and he is definitely coachable.

I think this dude has real upside. I'm really high on him and we're going to talk about another guy who I'm really high on and I think he might. I don't know where he's going to go, and Thomas Sorbo is kind of the same thing too. And Thomas Sorbo is kind of the same thing too. He can go anywhere from 12 to 24. And I think if he goes 24, or whatever the case may be, that's going to be a huge mistake. There's going to be probably about 20 teams that said, oh, we could have used that cap. There's going to be teams that had multiple draft picks that didn't draft him with the first pick, teams that had multiple draft picks that didn't draft him with the first pick. Get the the first guy and then they'll get this and it'll kind of save the draft for them. That's how big I am on thomas sorber. I don't think he's gonna ever be a switchy dude, but if you're talking about defending the rim, if you're talking about physical presence, you're talking about rebounding for your position, you're talking about eating boards or whatever, thomas Ower is your guy. I think he will be a really good player for a really long period of time. Do I think he'll be an all-star? I don't know, but I do know that you can put him in your starting lineup in a couple years and we'll see how he plays out for like the next nine.

Now, speaking of another guy that I really, really like and one of the reasons I love him is his measurables are off the chart but as a person, as a basketball iq, as whatever you would think you would want out of a player, this is it for me. This is my guy. I get one every single year. Every single year I get one. Desmond bain was one of my dudes and we see how that's turned out. There's some others that have been my guy, but this year the guy that I'm really in love with Is Cedric Coward Out of Washington State, and you'll go Well, vince, why do you love him?

He only plays six games at Washington State and then he plays some d3 uh. He play at a lower level uh division one in eastern Washington. Why do you love this kid so much? I'm glad you asked that question. He's 6'6, he's 213. He has a 7 foot 3 wingspan. That's not enough for you. Check this out. He has a 38 and a half vertical jump. Oh, you say Well, he's played a long time in college basketball, vince. He's still only 21 years of age. He has 17.7 points a game. He rebounds like a mother, seven reboundsa game, 3.7 assists and he shot 40 from three.

This is my dude, huge upside late bloomer. He did play three uh division three at willamette, dominated. Then he went to eastern washington, dominated there, and then he went to uh, followed his coach to washington state and then he played six games and in those six games he dominated. But then he got hurt games and in those six games he dominated. But then he got hurt. He had a shoulder injury. Now the shoulder is good to go, but this is all of what the scouts have been talking about. Nba size already.

Growth mindset the one thing that everybody loves about him is that he's a leader by example. He can lead with his voice voice but as far as a citizen as a citizen he is excellent. This is man. You can put him on the front cover of your program tomorrow and you will never have to worry about this kid you won't have to worry about. Is he gonna fall in love with instagram? If he gonna fall in love with the big lights and whatever.

This dude loves to work, knows his role elite team defender and he definitely got that dog in him. He will shoot 38 from three for show. He's got great catch and shoot uh talents. He got some movement equity the only thing that you can sit there and go like well, where's the? Where's the downside on him? If you want to nitpick and say, well, he didn't play high level basketball for long, you can definitely say that 100.

I then turn back to you and go. John morant played for murray state and also, if I'm not mistaken, damian lillard played for weber state and cj mccullum played for lehigh. Just because you play a small time school doesn't mean that you are not a big time player, and Cedric Howard is that I am. So, on this kid, I think his awareness is off the charts. I think his coachability is off the charts. I think his iq is fantastic. I think he's a strong two-way player and I think that he will definitely give all the max effort. I can see this dude starting for a team by maybe what halfway in through through the regular season. I love this kid so much. Love this kid.

A couple of the guys that I want to talk about before we get up out of here um, another guy who's kind of fluctuated in the draft now I think he will be a lottery pick is casper, is yaka chunas, out of illinois. He's a serving kid. He's six foot five, 205. He is only 19 years of age. Wingspan is six foot eight, has a max bird of 35. This is respectable. What makes him so good is this is that he can score. He does rebound. Uh, he didn't shoot the three ball as well as you thought he might and you would think his assist to turnover ratio would be better. But let me kind of explain what it was. He's an off guard. He's secondary, he's a secondary ball handler next to a primary creator. He's a capable shooter.

The one thing that uh yakutunas does is that he is creative with his passing. Uh, his, his, he's. He's a flashy passer and your teammates must be ready to catch the ball because he will hit you in the face. There are passes that he makes that you sit there and you go. What the hell? I don't even know how he saw that Right. I don't know how he saw that, but Guess what he did. He can get Balls through angles that you just don't even understand. This is, I don't know Some of the passes are too daring for me but just the thought process that you could try to make that pass. He has such good passing vision that he just takes it for granted. He does have decision making lapses under pressure, but I think that will be fixed depending on where he goes. I think his basketball iq is off the charts. I think his teammates have to catch up. He has to play in a real kind of a beautiful game type of atmosphere, like I would love to see him on a team like gun state or oklahoma city. Um, maybe what um atl Atlanta is building as well, with Quinn Snyder down there. They like the beautiful game a little bit.

A Will Hardy team in Utah Sounds good to me, with Casper's Yaka Chunas in tow. I love that for him. He's a toolsy wing with a lot of upside as a combo guard. He needs pro strength, I will say that. So you need to get a good program with strength and conditioning for him. His coach will have to limit his turnovers Because, like I said, he's a daring passer he could develop into like a Goran Drogic, or he could be more of a Spencer Dinwiddie type. Connector Road clarity will be key for him. Don't ask him to run the show early, because I told you there's gonna be balls that end up in the third row or whatever, because he's gonna make some no look passes that his teammates are definitely not looking for at all, but he's gonna make him. He is definitely gonna make him.

Um, and before we get up out here is there a couple guys. Oh, the one other guy I want to talk about before we get up out here, and this is has a lot to do with development, and sometimes are you seeing the field or are you just looking at the stats? The guy that I want to bring up is liam mcneely, out of yukon. Now, the reason why I want to bring him up is because he is going to go lower than he probably should. But the reason for that is is that he played extremely out of position last year. He was the primary uh point guard last year because of injuries at uconn, he had to basically be the offense initiator for the huskies last year.

Liam liam mcneely is six foot seven, 215 pounds. He's just a tad under 20 years of age at this point. He has a six foot nine wingspan which is respectable 36 and a half vertical Now. He averaged 14 and a half points a game last year. He averaged six rebounds a game last year and if you rebound in college you'll rebound in the pros. It is a absolute scientific fact that that is true. Now he shot 31.7 percent from three, but he shot 86.6 percent of his free throws and I will tell you that the three point percentage has a lot to do with the injury health of yConn. Some of the players that they thought were going to hit didn't hit and there was a lot put on McNeely's plate. That probably shouldn't have been there now.

What I love about him is this he's an excellent mover. He relocates, he cuts and he never stands still. So if he's off ball and you're not watching him, he's going to get open and then he's going to absolutely murder you. Uh, he's more of an offensive fit now. His defense is below average. But I will say this he has a good frame and he has a good size to him and he understands angles. He will not be out of place like. He will not just miss assignments just because now he'll get confused every once in a while. But as far as him not knowing where to be, that is not the case. That is not the case whatsoever.

I believe that he's a quick processor, smart within the offensive scheme. I think he has a completely great basketball iq. High on offense, he makes quick, connective reads. If he's not the primary ball handler, he does find open spots. He leverages uh with. He can leverage his non-athleticism with emotion, because he's always moving off ball. As far as being coachable, he you will have buy-in with him. He will fit into the team concept and he's not iso driven.

It's not all about me, it's not all about what I can do all about me. It's not all about what I can do, it's about t creation off the bounce is average and he has average lateral quickness. But again, I think a lot of that has to do with not allowing him to be the uh, the primary offensive creator. If he is a secondary creator, I think you will have no problems whatsoever, do I think he can start in this league? I think he can. I'm not saying that he is. You're going to stick him right in there right away. That is not what you're doing. You know you got to earn it. Let him earn it. Whatever. He will be a star in his role. He knows how to play basketball. For sure he spaces the floor. I think the three-point shooting will absolutely shock everyone because they'll be like oh, he only shot 32 last year. No, no, don't worry about that, because he's gonna light it up. He's gonna light it up when he gets to the nba because he's gonna get more spacing than he's ever seen, especially if he goes to the right team, especially if he goes to the right team.

I really want him to go to the Magic. I would love to see with Jalen Suggs and also who they just get. They just got somebody. Who am I? I'm drawing a blank right now, but they just got a guard. So I love Liam McNeely as basically the takeover for Jet Howard, who could not find a slot with the Orlando Magic. His shooting supposedly was supposed to be good. We never saw it. But Liam McNeely, I think can play the game of basketball and I think he could definitely help Orlando if he went there. I mean, there's other teams he could definitely go to, he would help them. But I just, if you want to say where's the perfect role for him, especially with what they got on the squad so far, I love Orlando for him. I think he'd be an absolute fit right there and I think that he would really love uh playing with franz wagner and paulo van carroll 100. So there is that. Now.

Another guy who's gonna make some money, but basically through the defensive side of the ball, is with quick hitters. Adieu thiero out of arkansas. Six foot seven, 218 pounds. He is a wing. He is not a three and d wing. He is more of a d than he is three and d. Uh, he did not shoot the three ball well at all, but I'm gonna tell you right, he can just take the basketball from people. His basketball IQ is on the defensive side of the ball. He understands the game. He's a slasher, but he is going to give max effort on the defensive side of the ball. He will rebound, he will make steals, he will deflect passes. He'll do a lot of things for you. He's a big body plus athlete that you just you just fall in love with. So if you got the offensive uh shell or the umbrella and you can take on a guy who doesn't have a ton of like offensive upside, because he will, if you get him out on the open floor, absolutely spectacular. If you are asking him to be your dude in a half court offense and hey, I want to stick you in the corner and have you shoot the ball, no, now could he be in the dunker spot and create havoc there. Yes, 100. So he is that type of dude.

Now. Everybody knows my love for rashir fleming. Everybody knows this. He's another one of my guys, so I'm really looking forward to seeing where he goes. They so far they got him like towards the end of the first round. Sometimes I've seen him mocked like early second. But I'm gonna tell you, whoever gets this kid at six foot nine, 232 pounds.

Now here's the best part about Rashir Fleming. I don't know if I've made this case before, but I'm gonna make this now. He is 20, he's not even 21. He's played three full years of college basketball and every year he's just being productive 15 points a game, eight and a half rebounds, 39 percent from three one and a half blocks a game. He's going to play defense, he's going to space the floor and you are never going to have to ask him for effort. Never would you have to ask him for effort. He knows where his spots are. He's not a creator, but I will tell you this if you ask him to knock down a shot he showed he sure the hell he can't do. He brings a lot of energy. He's going to rebound for his position for sure, and I cannot wait to see where he ends up.

I wish the Lakers had a first round draft pick, because I would be all in on Rashear Fleming as a Laker for sure. But whoever gets him is going to get a really quality player towards the back end of the first round. Personally, if he ends up in the second round, it's going to be an absolute steal of a pick. Absolute steal of a pick. So that is our kind of little like hey, here's some guys that you want to think about, here's some things, here's some guys that you want to think about, here's some things. Now, once we get through the first round tomorrow, myself, soraya, will have looked at all the picks, will looked at all the trades that have gone down, and then we will get on the airwaves and then kind of assess what we saw out of the first round and what to expect In the second, and who's left, who got, who got Absolutely railroaded and is still left in the second round, because you know, there's always a couple guys that drop and you sit there and go Damn, he dropped, oh, he's still available. I can't believe it and we'll be here for it. So keep this in mind.

Tuesday is the regular schedule. That's today. Tomorrow, after the dust clears, after round one is over, soraya and I Will turn on the mic, we will turn on the camera and we will get busy Assess, busy assessing round one for you guys. So keep it locked here with front runner podcast collective, because we are going to bring nothing but draft heat for you. Trust and believe that. So for serea, I am vince. We also want to thank our girl, maya, who has joined the squad. Thank you, maya, for all that you do. My guy, vince, thank you for all that you do. And Team FRPC is starting to load up. We are starting to get a little bit larger, the production will get a little bit better, and we are just so grateful we are starting to get a little bit larger, the production will get a little bit better, and we are just so grateful that you guys are here with us on our journey.

So, with that being said, the best part of you is you Surround yourself with people who are supportive of you, who love you Genuinely, who give you words of affirmation, and, you know, keep your spirits up when things are not going correct, you know not going right.

Um, if you have people like that in your life, though, make sure that you acknowledge them, appreciate them for, um, picking you up, because life is hard, man, it just is.

And if you got good people around you that really want the best for you, give them a hug, send them a text, say hey, let's grab some lunch, or, whatever the case may be, facetime them, and if you're doing all that, that means you are a well rounded individual, and this is why you're listening to the Front Runner Podcast Collective in the first place. We are for the well-rounded individuals, right, we're also here for the draft sickos and the people who just love ball, but it's cool if you got some real like strong family ties and stuff like that. So, with that being said, we're going to get up out of here again. We will have a special recording tomorrow after the first round and then we will lead into friday, because we will have a pod on friday and that will just cover the entire draft, all the trades that went down, because, you believe you me, there'll be more trades that go down. I'm looking at my phone now and making sure that nothing has gone down, as of yet nothing has.

But I'm always omnipresent, looking for him. I'm always looking at shams and saying, shams, do you got anything for me? He says, nah, player, I ain't got nothing for you right now. And I was like, damn, all right, all right, so we up out of here. Y'all be easy. We will see you tomorrow night after round one. Deuces.