We talk wall to wall NBA Draft talk. Every pick and every team. We couldn't even put chapters in because it made the show notes too long! It's jam pack podcast! Bronny, Filipowski, and Durisic oh my!
[00:00:13] It's Thursday, you know what time it is. Front Runner Podcast Collective is back on the air. I am your humble host, Vince, and we are here to talk about the first round and second round of the 2024 NBA Draft.
[00:00:30] And we're going to give you our thoughts on what we saw over the last two days and what this kind of maybe sets up for some of these franchises. But before we do all that, let's hit the socials.
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[00:01:11] So, with that being said, let's move on to the YouTube page. The YouTube page will have clips from this podcast. Usually it will also have like a stat, some other quotes or anecdotes that didn't make the podcast.
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[00:01:58] Record numbers is been great. I can't tell you how not just pleased but just astonished through the whole process. So, thank you guys. And now we can get into the podcast, get into the draft. So, what we're going to do is we're going to look at franchises.
[00:02:19] We're going to kind of break down what they were either trying to accomplish or what we heard going in and what have you. So, these are the type of things that we're going to do for some of these draft picks.
[00:02:39] And also hopefully make you laugh through the whole process. So, here we go. Now, the Clippers only had one draft pick. It was in the second round.
[00:02:54] But I think the reason why I want to bring up the Clippers first is because we're talking about a panoramic view of basketball usually. And we always talk about front offices and what they can do.
[00:03:11] You know, J.J. Reddick said something in his press conference about winning in the margins. And Lawrence Frank and his staff which took some hits over like the last couple of years as far as just knowledge, just leaving the building. But they picked up Cam Christie from Minnesota.
[00:03:37] Now, this is Max Christie's brother. So now you have Max Christie on one side for the Lakers and you have Cam Christie on the other side. So, spicy reunions. I want to see what the Thanksgiving's look like.
[00:03:56] You know, I want to know who gets the biggest turkey leg. Who gets the first scoop of mama's dressing. I need to know. Now, does it matter who wins the games up until Thanksgiving? Like how does it work? Do they have their own in-season Christie tournament?
[00:04:18] I don't know. But it's a good pick. What I do want to say is that he's 6'5". He has some player creation skills that need to be developed. But the shot is there and the body is there.
[00:04:38] If you look at his brother, he's basically shaped just like his brother. So you can see that he'll be able to put on weight pretty easily if Max Christie did.
[00:04:51] So I think this is a knock it out of the park pick for the Clippers to be honest with you. Kudos to Lawrence Frank. I'm always finding these guys. Always trying to find on-ball creation. It's very big in the Clippers organization.
[00:05:10] They're always looking for that guy and they want somebody with some on-ball juice. And Cam Christie can provide that. So, the one thing we do know is that the Clippers have a lot going on. Right? So, we'll get to all of it.
[00:05:28] Couple things that we need to know is that Paul George still hasn't signed a contract. James Harden still hasn't signed a contract. So, that's kind of where we are with the Clippers. Now we're going to move along to the Golden State Warriors.
[00:05:45] The Golden State Warriors also had a second round pick. And this is, I will tell you, I don't think this guy is going to even come over. This was Quinton Post. He was a power forward at Boston College. He was like seven footer. Shot threes.
[00:06:06] He is a, what can I call it? He shoots threes. But there's no movement on the three-point shooting. It is stationary. Okay? So, he's not a movement three shooter. He's very stiff as a prospect.
[00:06:28] But when you're talking about in the 50s what do you expect out of a prospect? And that will lead us to some stuff that we'll talk about later. But Quinton Post did rebound at a high level in the ACC. Even though he's kind of skinny.
[00:06:47] He does put his face in there and grab rebounds and what have you. The one thing that I would tell you is that I would not think that this guy would make the roster at all for Golden State
[00:07:05] and with all the other issues that are going on in Golden State with the roster either reconstruction or holding everything together. This guy is the least of their worries. So Quinton Post, it's been really nice. You got the hat.
[00:07:22] You're going to get a little change because you're a second round pick. But G League mostly maybe. Santa Cruz Warriors. Now we go to the Dallas Mavericks. Now Dallas, Niko Harrison is their player personnel guy.
[00:07:45] And the one thing with Dallas and I think they saw it with their NBA's final run is that they need en bois creation more. Now the guy they took was Melva Anjinka out of France. He's Slender Kid 6768. He's more of a draft and stash player.
[00:08:17] He needs a lot more time to develop. The body needs to develop. He's just not ready to play in the NBA right now. I know this sounds terrible to the first three picks. We haven't gotten into anything but these are second round picks.
[00:08:37] So we're not getting to the real core of the guys yet. But he's an intriguing prospect because he's shown flashes of upside on his en bois creation. His ability to attack the rim and people say that the shot is fluid.
[00:08:59] So personally my thoughts on him is that he's not going to be anything right now. He's still learning how to play the game. Let him stay overseas. Get a little more seasoning than maybe in a couple years as the body develops because he's 18 for real.
[00:09:24] So I would think personally let's go ahead and get the body developed. And then let's see what we have in a couple years. So that is what's going on with Dallas.
[00:09:37] We'll see what they can do in the off season in NBA free agency that's coming up on Sunday. Now okay well let's talk about the Milwaukee Bucks real quick. They had a pick in the first round last evening which we'll see two nights ago.
[00:09:59] So on Wednesday night in the first round they picked a kid out of, well he's an American kid. But he played in the NBL for Illawarra and his name is AJ Johnson. Now high school, 6'5".
[00:10:21] I don't know if you want to call him point guard but he had the ball in his hands. A lot of creation, a lot of creativity, bounce, fluidity, all of these things.
[00:10:34] You watch the tape from the Australian Basketball League you don't get to see any of these things. He was timid on the court, not like scared but just very uncertain about what he wanted to do. I don't think the game was too fast.
[00:10:53] I think sometimes these young guys get pushed in a certain direction. And I'm not saying this is AJ Johnson per se. But I've heard the stories. Young guys get pushed in a certain direction.
[00:11:08] They're clearly not mature enough to handle going overseas and dealing with grown men who've been doing this for 5 or 6 years and they're 21. So it can be a big adjustment. Now he struggled mightily. He only had like 7 minutes on the court, like 2.9 points a game.
[00:11:39] It was very little impact. There was almost nothing to take away from the tape in Australia. But what I will say about AJ Johnson is that if you go back and look at the high school tape, The high school tape shows a lot of... Like second...
[00:12:03] You want to know... He seemed like 3 seconds ahead of what was going on. He could anticipate passes, he can get deflections. Once the ball was in jeopardy or the ball carrier was in jeopardy as far as certain... Or the ball handler, I'm so sorry. It's late now.
[00:12:30] Once the ball handler was in jeopardy either because of time constraint or they were mishandling the ball, AJ Johnson was like a piranha. Get on him. So he was very alert about tendencies and situations and what have you. So there is some talent there.
[00:12:53] They did pick him in the first round. Now here's my question to the Milwaukee Bucks. Bucks organization. John Horace. The whole crew. Doc Rivers is your coach. Giannis Antetokounmpo is your star. Chris Middleton is your aging star, kind of aging out of his prime.
[00:13:18] And then you have Dane who is a otherworldly talent who has some off the court issues, personal issues that he went through last year. Plus he was by all accounts not in great shape because he was really not working out before the trade
[00:13:38] because he didn't want to get injured prior to anything happening. So I don't understand the pick for this because this is an upside pick. This is somebody we are not going to see for a couple years.
[00:13:53] There's no way that this dude can hit the court next year and impact your team in any sort of additive way at all. So I honestly, I understand here's what they will say. I can hear the press conference now.
[00:14:12] They will say this is an upside swing for the fences. And look how good it worked when we did it for Giannis. Now, that is all well and good. I believe every word you just said there. Here's the problem.
[00:14:32] When you had Giannis and you took the upside play, you were nowhere near championship level contender. That is where you are now. That's the hemisphere that you sold to Giannis and Dame is that you are a championship contender now. When you pick AJ Johnson, it doesn't scream.
[00:15:02] We're a championship contender now. Now, this screams like, hey, what happens if Giannis gets upset by Game 60 and he starts to want to reevaluate his situation here in Milwaukee? We've got to have some things in the cupboard that have a possibility of being dynamic.
[00:15:25] Now, they'll never say that in a press conference, but that's what that's what Vince is here for. That's what I'm here for. For you, the Milwaukee Bucks fans.
[00:15:37] So if you didn't understand the pick, you can bet your ass I didn't understand the pick because it didn't make any sense to the timeline that is going on right now. So you guys and the fear of the deer, Posse, we all in the same boat.
[00:15:58] I didn't understand the pick. We're going to move on to the Denver Nuggets because the Denver Nuggets did some smart things and then they did some highly questionable things. There's there is there's something afoot in the Rocky Mountains. But first, let's get to the draft.
[00:16:23] Doron Holmes. I'm going to tell you right now, I love this kid. I saw games at Dayton. This dude was doing everything he I mean, hand he can handle the ball a little bit. He kind of reminds me a little bit like Nas Reed.
[00:16:42] He can give you some defense. He's a tenacious rebounder. He's a tenacious rebounder. A lot of energy can switch. I think sometimes he's a little like overzealous and gets out of position and then he's able to get back door.
[00:17:00] What I think if he was reined in, this is like we're just tweaking here at this point.
[00:17:08] But to get Doron Holmes where Denver got him, I mean, I can't I can't imagine six foot nine two thirty five can back up Yelkage can spare Aaron Gordon at the fourth spot and does shoot the ball enough on the outside.
[00:17:29] I actually believe in the shot to the point where this is another huge weapon for Nikola Yelkage. Now, I told you that the Denver Nuggets were doing some highly questionable things during the press conference after Doron Holmes where it was selected by the Denver Nuggets.
[00:17:55] Calvin Boo came out and talked to the reporters. And this is what he said. I'm going to paraphrase. He said, you know, you know, good team sometimes they lose their fourth and fifth starter. You know, this is just a reality of the NBA.
[00:18:18] We have to continue to develop talent and replenish stars or players that we're not able to retain through the free agency process. This is what Calvin Boo basically said.
[00:18:36] Then he goes out and basically jettisons off Reggie Jackson, who was really your only like vet that you had on the bench that was worth anything. And there are rumors that KCP is not long for Denver as well.
[00:18:52] Now, all of this we're going to talk about it on Sunday. But I'm also giving our Nuggets fans a little primer, a little taste, a little sweetener to what's going to happen on Sunday.
[00:19:04] But I don't like the words that is coming out of Calvin Boo's mouth right now. But excuse me. He did tell us this. This was the plan the whole time.
[00:19:21] Like, you know, it's that old saying when somebody shows you who they are, you might you might need to start believing them. He said that when they drafted Strother Pickett last year, that you've got to start replenishing the young.
[00:19:40] You've got to start stacking the covers and we believe in our development. We believe that Christian Brown is going to turn into a good player and we believe that we can develop Julian Strother Pickett. And now they got Doron Holmes.
[00:19:59] Great thing with Doron Holmes is that he's an older rookie. You're looking at 22 year old. So this is not going to be a kid that it's going to be so wide eyed, whatever the case may be.
[00:20:11] He's going to come in with his lunch pill, hard hat, do his job, go home, play some video games, maybe eat some Cheerios and call it a night. So I love the pick for Denver. But Denver, just let you know we have a date on Sunday.
[00:20:30] We have a date. OK, let's move on to the Cleveland Cavaliers. Cleveland Cavaliers with the 20 overall selection, they took Jalen Tyson. The I don't even know you want to I don't think he's a wing. People have called him a wing. He's 6'6".
[00:20:52] He is to me like a combo guard. He kind of reminds me of Tariq Evans a little bit, but he has a little more on ball juice. He seems to care about the game very much. He is decently impressive on the defensive end.
[00:21:09] He definitely knows how to attack close. I mean not like close out on guys on three point shooters. He definitely understands his assignment. You're going to older player who's mature and he can knock down three point shot. You're going to hear a lot of this.
[00:21:26] You're going to hear a lot of 6'6", 6'7", 6'8", 6'9". Guys who can knock down shots from the outside. This is going to be a theme.
[00:21:40] But Jalen Tyson is one of those guys and Cleveland at 20 getting him when there were a couple other people on the board that people were kind of like, well, what about this? And what about this? I heard Isaiah Collier's name who we'll talk about a little bit later.
[00:21:59] You also got to understand where Cleveland is at, right? Cleveland is trying to get into that upper echelon of contention in the Eastern Conference. So yeah, well, a young guy would be awesome. We got Evan Mobley that we still need to develop.
[00:22:17] We need to squeeze every ounce of blood out of that stone. Derris Garland went through a really rough period last year with the broken jaw and then losing 20 pounds and then having to play through that situation. So did we disrupt that development?
[00:22:43] So a guy who's a little bit older who can kind of just plug and play. I get it. I'm on Cleveland side with this one. I think that Jalen Tyson was a good pick.
[00:22:56] And if he can provide any help off the bench, if he could take away minutes from Isaac O'Coro, that would be great. That'll be fantastic. If I don't ever see. Listen. I understand that O'Coro is a good defender. I get it.
[00:23:13] But my man is brutal when it comes to three point shot. I know it's improved. I know it has, but I never have any confidence that that shot is going in when he shoots it. So we'll see how it all goes.
[00:23:29] Oh, Cleveland, you got some big decisions coming up too, right? Donovan Mitchell. Big old contract. Maybe. Maybe not. We'll see big things going on in Cleveland. Now, the Miami Heat. Pat Riley is a absolute genius.
[00:23:56] He's one of these guys where when he takes somebody almost go like it's the heat. It is the heat. It will work because it's the heat. We're going to test the heat. Well, we're going to test that theory.
[00:24:13] We are going to test the theory to its fullest limit because the Miami Heat with the 15th overall, they selected Kalel Ware out of Indiana. Now, he had a phenomenal sophomore season. Scored like 16 points a game, 10 rebounds, averaged like 2-3 assists, blocked a couple of shots.
[00:24:39] Now, here's the one thing that I will tell you that I've talked to scouts. I've talked to a couple of people in Oregon. Kalel Ware's...there's an underlier theory going on with him when you talk to people. It is like, does he like basketball?
[00:25:09] The other thing is that he averaged 16 points, 10 rebounds, and almost two blocks. I can tell you that there were times where I really wanted to see more effort. There just seemed to be...there seems to be so much more there.
[00:25:28] And my man has just stuck it in cruise control and he's like, at this level, I'm damn near a lottery pick. I'm going to get paid irregardless. So, this is it. Now, we all know where he's going. We all know what the Miami Heat are all about.
[00:25:53] We know what the conditioning situation is like. We know about the coaching. We know about the attention to detail. We know about the culture. And when I say that, I'm not talking about the fans and the propaganda when they say heat culture. I'm talking about Eudonnis Haslam. Okay.
[00:26:16] All their player development people, the assistant coaches, and Eric Sqloster. That dude can't come in and start Cadillac-ing in Miami. Remember also Jimmy Butler's on this team and Bam Adebayo's on his team. If this dude shows any hint of soft, they're going to kill him.
[00:26:50] So, I believe with the Miami Heat, they took Jaime Hicazla Jr. last year. I thought that was a perfect heat player. If this kid pays off, you got a seven-footer who can stroke it from the outside. He can absolutely shoot it from the outside.
[00:27:10] And when he is engaged, he can be a really good rim protector. And I'm not talking about just blocking shots. I'm talking about he can be a guy. Once your guy gets embarrassed by him, he will never go back in the lane.
[00:27:30] Because I saw him do this to a couple of Wisconsin guys when watching the tape. So, I'm going to lean on heat culture and player development and how people are molded down there. But Kaleo Ware is going to test this theory.
[00:27:56] Alright, let's move on to the Sacramento Kings. I have personally been extremely hard on the Sacramento Kings. One, I have a couple friends who are Sacramento Kings fans. And sometimes, I know they think I'm annoying, but I think they're terribly annoying sometimes.
[00:28:21] But I will say this, the Devin Carter Pig at 13. I will say this now. I will say this until the cows come home. This guy is going to play 10 years in the league.
[00:28:40] No doubt about it, he is going to do everything that he can to maximize every ounce of his ability that he could possibly get out of himself. Devin Carter went to Providence. He's a 6'2 guard. Here's a crazy stat. My man average, 8.7 rebounds a game.
[00:29:07] No, check down. Sorry, 9.7 rebounds a game. Okay? That's what my 6'2 point guard was doing at Providence. Now this is the Big East. This is the Yukons of the world, right? The Villanovas and all of that. Creightons. All of that. Devin Carter, he can shoot it.
[00:29:35] He can defend. He has long arms. He's like a 6'2, but he has like a 6'9, 6'10 wingspan. He loves playing defense. He loves it. He wrecked people in the creed draft workouts. There were just people who would be like, I'll cancel.
[00:29:57] Oh, Devin Carter is going to be there? No, I'm cool. I don't want to deal with that. So what was said about a person like this last year was Jaime Highkess Jr. He was the guy who was killing everybody in the creed draft workouts.
[00:30:14] Devin Carter got that distinction this year. And I'm going to tell you right now, this is a camp miss dude. He will play in the league a long time. I don't know if he'll ever be a star, but how about like Derrick White Light?
[00:30:30] If he turns into Derrick White Light, would you be offended Sacramento? I would hope not. The other thing is this. This is the other thing that I love about Monty Morris. He traded away Davion Mitchell like right away.
[00:30:48] Like okay, day two of the draft, second round. We got to get off Davion Mitchell. So he traded Shasha Bezankov and Davion Mitchell to the Toronto Raptors. And got the other McDaniels, not the one in Minnesota, Toronto. So he opened up a squad for Derrick Devin Carter.
[00:31:15] I think this is a knock it out the park A plus. You can't get any better. So at 13 Sacramento did Yellman's work. Now here's the thing. Note to all my Light the Beam posse out there. Don't trade this one. See Tyrese Halliburton, you let him go.
[00:31:39] Don't trade this one. Oh, Sunday. Sacramento. We need to talk about Dearon Fox. He said some real interesting things over like the last week or so. That you guys might need to kind of perk up the ears and start thinking about some stuff.
[00:31:54] But they knocked it out the park with this pick. We're going to move along to the Portland Trail Blazers now. How do I want to start this? Okay, this was, the draft was weird.
[00:32:15] And I guess when I get to the Lakers, we can talk about how weird it got. But the draft was weird. Donovan Klingon who was, he was rumored to go to Atlanta. He was rumored to go to Memphis.
[00:32:32] There was rumors about if Houston was going to do something with Alper and Shangoon. Which I never believed any of these rumors by the way. The Memphis stuff was real.
[00:32:47] Whatever Atlanta was planning, which I'm trying to get some sort of answer to what the hell they were doing. But the Klingon rumors to Atlanta were real too. But he ends up in Portland and sliding all the way to seven.
[00:33:06] So it was really interesting how it all worked out. So Portland Trail Blazers get the big man from UConn. Seven foot two, 280 pounds, shot blocker, rim roller. Also very nice offensive awareness on the short roll as a passer. He did a lot of that at UConn.
[00:33:31] He was able to spray it out to shooters. He was able to spray it out to our hit cutters. He is a, he's not ever going to be a star. But he will star in his role and he will enjoy every second of it.
[00:33:50] This guy enjoys the process. He works hard all the damn time. He has really good hands so that's a good thing. And he's pretty athletic so the lobs will be plentiful for Anthony Simons, Shaden Sharp, and Scoot Henderson to throw.
[00:34:09] Because Klingon will help Scoot no doubt about it. I'll tell you why because he sets screens with a purpose. Okay, he doesn't set screens like oh let me just kind of move in the way and then quickly get out the way.
[00:34:28] No, he's setting it and he's a redwood and he just stands there. And I think there's some sort of enjoyment from the little guy bouncing off of him because he didn't catch it right away. Or somebody didn't speak up on the pick. But he really enjoys it.
[00:34:49] But here's my problem with the Portland Trail Blazers right now. Now obviously we're in the early stages of what is going on in free agency, no doubt, right? But when you draft Donovan Klingon and you have already on the roster a 30 million dollar center in DeAndre Ayton.
[00:35:13] It just, I know you can't come out and tell us what your plans are. I know that. But I wish somebody would have sent up with a smoke signal saying hey we have a plan.
[00:35:32] Because there's no way you can go into the season with your number seven overall pick who is going to do everything in his power to empower your young wings and your guards. If you watch any UConn basketball game, this was a giving player all the way.
[00:35:58] Dan Hurley talks about this kid with nothing but superlatives. He will give you every ounce of himself. Portland will love him. I just don't understand DeAndre Ayton still being there.
[00:36:14] And also remember, Rob Williams who you got from the Boston Celtics in the infamous Drew Holiday trade last year. He's still on the roster too. So you got what, a former number one overall pick in Ayton. You got a guy who went to a finals in Robert Williams.
[00:36:39] I think Robert Williams is making like 15 million too which is great. So you got 45 million already in salaries for a center so something needs to change in Portland. Did not understand that whole situation. So now we move along to the Charlotte Hornets. The Charlotte Hornets picked six.
[00:37:10] I told you it was funky in this draft. There was a lot of stuff going on. Because who they picked in the first round was Tichon Salon. He is the French wing. He played overseas last year. He's six foot nine. He's 18 years old. He's super young.
[00:37:32] But here's the thing. He is an absolute beast. This dude plays hard. He plays physical. I'm worried about the shot. But his catch and shoot numbers were really good. So I'm less worried there.
[00:37:57] But this is a guy who honestly I think is kind of like a tone setter. So he can kind of be the enforcer for Brandon Miller and Lamello Ball.
[00:38:14] And if you're starting to get serious, somebody like this who can switch, who plays the passing lanes, who loves to rebound, set screens, pick and pop guy. His handle? Not great.
[00:38:34] Just so you know he is not going to be somebody that is going to have on ball creation. But the great thing is that you got Brandon Miller and you also have Lamello Ball. So as far as on ball creation, he doesn't need to do any of that.
[00:38:51] But the one thing that he can do if Lamello Ball is not going to really give full maximum effort on the defensive end. Here's a guy who will. Okay, and here's a guy who will switch on the smaller guards and eat them up. So I like the pick.
[00:39:12] It was weird because I was wondering if they would do something a little bit different. And try to grab somebody who really has some on ball juice and just really kind of create a chaotic kind of offensive picture for the defense next year when you play Charlotte.
[00:39:35] But maybe Charlotte just saw something in their team and they said, you know what we need? Yeah, I understand that it'd be nice to score like 130 points. You know, be real cool. If we had somebody who really cared on the defensive end.
[00:39:52] Who wants to do all the little things and that's what they saw in Salon and he's young and he's moldable. And I think that's what Charles Lee is looking for. And keep in mind, that's the new coach down there in Charlotte. He was part of the Celtic staff.
[00:40:11] So he saw the Jalen Brown and Jason Tate of thing up close. And maybe he's looking and saying, hey, we got LaMelo who's six seven six eight. We got Brandon Miller who's six eight six nine. Now we bring another kid in here who's six eight six nine.
[00:40:30] Long wingspan. He wants to play some defense. These two dudes like to shoot it. He doesn't care. He just pick up the scraps and just play defense in a perfect world. That sounds great. So we hope that that what's happens for the Charlie Hornets.
[00:40:46] They need some good news. Also, LaMelo ball needs to stay healthy now. OK, I guess shots out to Nico Miotelo Houston Rockets up now. We'll talk about Reed Shepard. I love this kid. This is my I always have one. I always have one in the in the draft.
[00:41:16] Desmond Bain was my guy a couple of years back. But this year, Reed Shepard is my guy. This is the one that I believe like I told you about Devon Carter. But this one, this is the one I think can go up two levels. Right.
[00:41:38] This is the one I believe that, you know, when we looked at Desmond Bain, everybody's like, oh, well, what is he? Is he a shooter? Whatever. And we see what Desmond Bain is now. Right. I think Reed Shepard can be excellent.
[00:41:53] And I think that there's a there's a culture shift happening in Houston. It started happening last year. I think you'll start to see. I think this draft indicated to me that, OK, this is the type of guy we want. Right. This is he's a giving passer.
[00:42:22] We can talk the shooting that everybody will tell you about is real. He was like in the 99 percentile off like catch a shoot. His off pick and roll, he was like 96 percentile. He shot 52 percent from three last year, but he only shot the paw 3.5 attempts.
[00:42:50] So that volume is going to go up in the NBA one. But the one thing that this dude does do is read shepherd looks for his teammates. He sets screens. He moves without the ball.
[00:43:05] He can be on ball, but he's perfectly comfortable being off ball, making cuts and getting open. The shooting is so real to me that I think that I think Houston wants to go in a different direction soon. I think we'll start to see that.
[00:43:31] I don't know if it will happen this free agency. I know there's a lot of people in that building who are absolutely raving about the development path of Ammon Thompson. That was the one guy that just everybody dag it.
[00:43:51] He this guy, this guy right here, he you know, we are so excited about him. We're so excited. We're so excited. And I think when you get really shepherd now, even Thompson can play multiple positions and things of that nature.
[00:44:09] And right now you have Fred Van Bleed and you have Dillon Brooks. But there's going to come a day when those go those guys are gone or trades happen or whatever the case may be.
[00:44:19] And when you have a back quarter, Jalen Green, who did show some flashes in March, some people will say those flashes happen in March. And some people say, no, this is the turning point of Jalen Green.
[00:44:35] Irregardless, if you have Reed Shepherd as one of the ball handlers out there with Ammon Thompson who could play the three or the four. That's how versatile he is. Along with Jabari Smith Jr. and Alcran Shangoon. You got the makings of a really good team.
[00:44:56] But I really like to pick Reed Shepherd out of Kentucky. Absolutely can shoot it. And I think it's slam dunk pick for the Houston Rockets. So I really hope they find a way innovative ways to use him this upcoming year.
[00:45:13] Now we move on to the reigning NBA champions. The Boston Celtics. All right. Can somebody explain to me how the Boston Celtics pick 30th and probably gets the third best, second best shooter in the draft? Because right behind Reed Shepherd is Baylor Shireman, the guard out of Creighton.
[00:45:53] 6'6", 212 pounds, ring-bounds the ball for his position very well. Shot creation not just for himself but for others. He can shoot it. I mean this dude can shoot the rock. So Boston got another dribble pass and shoot guy. I mean it's what size.
[00:46:26] So basically if you didn't like the minutes that Peyton Pritchard got last year or in the finals that just passed. Now you have a 6'6 option that can do those things as well.
[00:46:40] Now he doesn't have the wiggle that Peyton Pritchard has but he also has 5' on Peyton Pritchard as well. And that boy can shoot that thing. If he comes off a pinned out screen it is done.
[00:46:54] If he has a sliver of daylight it's going up and it's going to go in. And we don't even need to talk about just catch and shoot threes if they're wide open. That's nonsense.
[00:47:09] So Billy Shireman went in the first round to the Wausau Celtics the 30th overall pick. I was really mad. I'm not going to lie. I was really upset. I was like oh the Rich Get Richer that's great. That's fantastic. Speaking of the Rich Get Richer.
[00:47:33] I say that in being facetious a little bit but shouts out to our guy Matt Espia because he's going to stay rich. He just feels rich so shouts out to him. But the Phoenix Suns they drafted in the first round 28th overall.
[00:47:56] Ryan Dunne he is an electrifying defender. And a lot of people believe that he can play small ball center in the NBA. He's 6'8". He has a really long wingspan like 7'2". He's switchboard defender. He's an absolute nightmare. Virginia who doesn't score points.
[00:48:27] This dude right here was like yo if you guys score 36 we can win. That's what kind of defender he was. He just seemed to be all over the place. And if he got on one of your guards and got him close to the out of bounds area.
[00:48:48] He was just going to crowd him and just engulf him. There were so many turnovers that he just kind of created just by his presence. Just his presence being there and just making the guy feel him. And then the Suns to also Aguadero.
[00:49:10] He's a power forward out of Marquette. So basically you doubled up down here is the thing with Aguadero. Aguadero can actually shoot it a little bit. But he doesn't have any rim protection whatsoever. So if you kind of pair these two guys in your rotation of 9 or whatever.
[00:49:29] These are your front court rotation options off the bench or whatever. They could pair and tandem together pretty seamlessly. Now again Ryan Dunn is 6'8". They say he can play center in the NBA? I don't know. Now there's not a lot of huge centers in the NBA.
[00:49:52] But we got a couple this year. We got one last year. So there are a couple giants out there. And you don't want to be playing Ryan Dunn like 25 minutes at the center position. So maybe he can give you like 10 spot minutes at the center position.
[00:50:11] And then the rest of his time is at a backup power forward roll. And now they had traded their 22nd overall pick to Denver. So Denver could get their guy. I think if I was them I would have probably wanted Doron Holmes personally. But they made the choice.
[00:50:34] I think they're just going for its quantity instead of quality. They just need bodies so they were just trying to get able bodies in there. Alright so we move on to the New Orleans Pelicans. New Orleans Pelicans first round. They pick the center out of Baylor Ease Meesee.
[00:50:57] He is an absolute specimen. 7'1". 7'8". Wingspan. What is it? 8'8". Like standard reach. He's nuts. Super long. Super tall. Here's the one thing about Ease Meesee. The athleticism is off the charts. He can block shots. He can rebound. He can do all these things.
[00:51:24] Moves his feet very well. The motor is not there all the time. His want to like... If Ease Meesee had Ryan Dunn's heart that was drafted by Phoenix. I know we're talking about the Pelicans. But if Ryan Dunn's heart could be placed into Ease Meesee.
[00:51:48] This dude would be unstoppable. He'd just be crazy how good this kid would be. But if all the glimpses that we see hit. You're going to have an outstanding rim runner. Ferocious dunks. He's going to get fouled. He's not a great foul shooter.
[00:52:12] He doesn't shoot it from the outside. He does provide rim protection. You just have to coax it out of him. And I wonder and I wonder and I wonder.
[00:52:24] And the reason why I say this is that Ease Meesee to me is one of those guys who needs motivation. Zion Williamson has been there for five years. And we've been looking for a motivated Zion Williamson.
[00:52:40] I don't know if this is the correct environment for Ease Meesee to fulfill all his potential. You know, like if he goes to Miami. It might work out better because they're going to demand more. That's just how they are. That's their outfit. That's how they run it.
[00:53:04] If Ease Meesee goes to New York. Tom Thibodeau demands defense and demands effort. Or you don't play. You know what have we been talking about with Zion all these years? Dedication. Are you going to dedicate yourself? Habits. It's never been about his talent.
[00:53:30] It's never been because every time he's on the floor it's great. He does something so spectacular that we go, oh my God, I've never seen that before. But yet and still. You know what I'm saying?
[00:53:44] Yet and still we have these situations where when the rocket is just about to take off. There's an injury. And when I see a guy like this who kind of needs to be pushed. And when he was at Baylor he was definitely getting pushed.
[00:54:02] Their coach at Baylor does a good job. Scott Drew does a good job. But now I wonder what that's going to look like in New Orleans. So that's the only question I have with that.
[00:54:14] So I like to see what this breakfast club looks like with Yves Meesey and Zion Williamson. And sleepy-eyed Brandon Ingram for however long Brandon Ingram is going to be there. That's something that we got to talk about all Sunday.
[00:54:30] How long is Brandon Ingram going to be a New Orleans Pelican? My guess is not very long. Okay, we get to... Here we go. This is the one I wanted to get to. Alright, so the Memphis Grizzlies.
[00:54:48] We talked earlier on this podcast how Memphis was looking at Donovan Klingon. They were trying to move up. I can tell you right now. Memphis tried three different ways to get up. They tried all sorts of ways to get in and around. Number five, they offered Detroit stuff.
[00:55:15] Detroit said, nah, we're not doing that. And proceeded to pick. So armed with this information, at number nine, the Memphis Grizzlies take the John Wooden Award winner. The 7'4", 299 pound Zach Eaddy out of Purdue. And, woo! This is a...
[00:55:50] Hey, here's the thing that I will say about Eaddy. I know Memphis fans are upset about it early. Here's what I'll say. He was great at Purdue. I don't know if he's going to move his feet well enough. People say he will. I don't see it.
[00:56:20] Offensively, he can help you. He'll get people in foul trouble. He does shoot free throws very well. He has excellent hands. Anything that gets close to him, he will catch. He is a great rebounder. Offensively, he's a great rebounder and on the defensive boards.
[00:56:47] So you're going to get a lot of second chance opportunities. That's great for the scramble drill with John Morant. And here is the thing that Zach Eaddy is going to do. He is going to set bone crushing screens. And he really enjoys it.
[00:57:10] Here's another big guy who really likes being big. Like, he really enjoys being big. He plays big. He don't care. It's just how it is. But Zach Eaddy was the ninth overall selection to the Memphis Grizzlies.
[00:57:30] They also drafted Jalen Wells in the second round as a power forward out of Washington State. I don't see it with Jalen, honestly, to tell you the truth. It's more of a spot-up shooter. I just, I don't know.
[00:57:47] He will have to be able to put it on the... I don't know if he can dribble. I don't know. He doesn't give you anything on the offensive creation, self-creation situation. It's just stand in the corner, I guess. Shoot threes. You know.
[00:58:09] And then they took Cam Spencer out of Yukon. And I'm going to tell you this. The kid doesn't have anything that stands out athletically to you. The kid doesn't look like much. What I will tell you this is that he just wins.
[00:58:29] He plays winning basketball, makes winning plays. That's what he does. He just wins. So I think Cam Spencer will find his way in this league somehow some way. Our guys out of Indiana, they got shooting. They in the second round, it was all second round.
[00:58:51] So they got our guy out of Kansas, Johnny Furphy. He is Australian. He is 6'8". He is a tall drink of water because he's only a hundred and like 85 pounds at 6'8". So the people of Indianapolis, you need to show him St. Elmo's right away. Okay?
[00:59:19] Get this guy a steak or two. Oh, the shrimp cocktail of course. I know. Your boy knows about St. Elmo's and the shrimp cocktail. He knows. Alright. I think that Johnny Furphy, he can turn into a good wing. He's going to need time.
[00:59:43] He's going to need to put on some weight obviously. He can shoot it. He can shoot it from in the catch shoot. He can shoot it off the pick and roll.
[00:59:53] As far as starting to stand in the corner, he can get it off the bounce and shoot it. As far as I'm concerned, I like this pick. Personally, especially where you got him, I thought he was a first round draft pick.
[01:00:05] He ends up sliding to the second round and I think you have a consistent three point shooter for a lot of years. And here's the best part. He has a high release on his three point shot, S6-8.
[01:00:21] So he's going to be able to get it off on people. And then Indiana takes just high character dudes. They took the other guard from UConn, Tristan Newton. Here is a combo guard. When he's shooting it well, it's going in.
[01:00:40] I mean, he goes on these incredibly high streaks with his shooting. But when the Fossig is turned off, that's it. It is barren. Desert. So there are streaks where it's six out of seven and then there are streaks where it's one out of 19. I don't know.
[01:01:07] I don't know. But he was a part of two national championship teams at UConn. And he was instrumental in bringing along a young Stefan Castle, who we'll talk about later in this podcast. Then we get to the Utah Jazz.
[01:01:28] They had a very interesting draft, I will tell you. First off, they draft Cody Williams. Cody Williams is the brother of Jalen Williams of the Oklahoma City Thunder. Cody Williams played at Colorado. He is an electric athlete. He didn't shoot it well at Colorado.
[01:02:01] There were streaks where he did. He did provide some defense, some rim protection. He gets into the pass of length. He has extremely long arms. He's more of a senior league player than his brother. His brother has more broad shoulders than he does.
[01:02:19] But he gets to the basket. It's going to be whether the shot comes along. There were flashes at Colorado. It wasn't consistent. But you bet on the kid, you bet on the pedigree, you bet on the genes, right? Because his brother plays in the NBA.
[01:02:40] And he's starting to put together a pretty solid career. Now, they also got Isaiah Collier. Now, this is the kid that was at USC with LeBron James Jr. He was the big stout combo guard. They listed him at 6'5". He's 6'3". But he is all a 2'05". Okay?
[01:03:07] Power guard can create shots for himself and others. A lot of turnovers at USC. I wonder if that was just the system and just the chaotic nature of what was going on there. Because his high school tape shows a really expert floor general type of vibe.
[01:03:33] Who can also get his shot. So, I like Danny Ainge always going for the high rank 5-star dude. And he did it with Isaiah Collier. And then at pick 32, so the second pick of the second round. They picked Kyle Filipowski out of Duke, the center.
[01:03:59] He's kind of a stretch big. He shoots it from the outside. He can move his feet. He provides some rim protection. But he can slide his feet. That's the big thing with him. Now, Kyle Filipowski had a weird draft.
[01:04:19] And I started to kind of check in on this like last night, earlier today. I was trying to figure out why Kyle Filipowski lasted so long. Because he is a legit 7 footer. He is a legit stroke from the outside. He can shoot the 3'.
[01:04:42] It is not like a theoretical deal whatsoever. No, he can shoot it. He can put it on the floor and get to his squad a little bit too. So he has some offensive creation. I didn't understand why he was falling. I talked to a lot of people.
[01:05:03] And you know that NBA talent evaluators were concerned that Kyle Filipowski, who went to Duke, who is like 21 years old, has a 25 year old girlfriend. They were really legitimately caught up with that. I throw it out there. You guys do. You know what?
[01:05:35] No, no I'm not going to do it this time. This time I'm going to ask the question. What the hell is going on? Honestly, really for real. Like why does it matter? Who he dates? Like he's not dating some 80 year old woman. He's dating a 25 year old lady.
[01:05:58] I didn't get it. I still don't get it. Hit me up on Twitter or X at FrontRunnerPC if you get it. But yeah, he slid out of the first round because I kid you not,
[01:06:16] one of the major concerns, one of the things that pushed him out of the first round was that he dates a 25 year old. Okay. Alright. Now, the Philadelphia 76ers had themselves a draft.
[01:06:34] I didn't know what Darryl Moore is going to do with the offseason as far as the Paul George thing and salary cap money that they have and all this other stuff. But I can tell you one thing. Boy, did they nail the draft.
[01:06:52] Jared McCain, the 6'3 shooting guard or commonwealth guard, however you want to look at him, out of Duke is one of the best shooters in this draft. He shot it at 41.8% from three last year. He is a long-range bomber. He can shoot it from 30 feet.
[01:07:14] He can pull from 27 feet with ease. He is a sniper. He got some wiggle, offensive creation. He can be a second-side creator if you need him to be. Here's the one thing. He is 6'2", 6'3". You also got Tyrese Maxey who is on the smaller side.
[01:07:33] So Jared McCain is definitely coming off the bench. But having somebody like Jared McCain to back up Tyrese Maxey, I love this pick. Love this pick a lot. And then they followed it up with getting a damn boner out of UCLA.
[01:07:53] The Power 4, 6'9", 243 pounds, rim runner, rim protector, slides his feet on defense, physical screener, super athletic, super agile. He's a complete athlete. He's a complete pest on defense. He is going to be absolutely loved.
[01:08:17] And if you are not satisfied with Paul Reed's defense behind Joel Embiid in the NBA playoffs, you will love a damn boner because all he wants to do is rebound, dunk, block shots, and dance. That's it. That's all he wants to do.
[01:08:43] So the 76ers had an awesome draft. I like both their picks. I think they are going to be additive to what they are trying to do in the city of brotherly love. Now, the Knicks had a very interesting and exciting and busy three or four days.
[01:09:09] So a couple days leading up to the draft and then the draft. They took the French kid, they took the French kid Pacquem D'Alier. He might... D'Alier is 18 years old. He is all of 6'8", for real. He's never going to play for Timbs this year at all.
[01:09:33] But this kid loves to play defense. He is so feisty. Scouts believe in the shot. They believe that it will come around. But this dude is not going to play for like a couple years. And I get it and I understand why.
[01:09:52] Here's the thing that I'll say about this. People say, well, why do you get somebody like this? Okay. They just got Mikael Bridges, right? They just gave us some draft picks, a bunch of them. All the way out to 31. We also understand that. You got Jaylen Brunson.
[01:10:11] You got the Nova Knicks. So you got your core. That's all like 27 years age, right? They're all 27 around that age. And you can hopefully expect, right? That for five years this core should be good. That doesn't get you to 31, but that gets you a lot closer to 31.
[01:10:39] And now more picks come about, whatever. But Dadié is a swing for the defense type of pick. Because if the athletic traits are off the charts, there's some ball handling ability that is there. He has to tighten up his dribble. The shot doesn't look broken.
[01:11:00] It's just like you need reps. And also because he's slight of build, you know, you're just not garnering enough energy from your legs to shoot the shot. So I think just with maturation, he's going to get better with that. But defensive wise, his wingspan, he's like 7'4 wingspan.
[01:11:23] This kid is, if it does pay out, if it does work, I like these type of swings from teams that are saying, hey, we don't need this kid to really do anything for us this year. We just develop in this.
[01:11:40] And he gets to go ahead and scrimmage with Mikhail Bridges, OG Ananovi, Julius Randall, every game or every practice. This is who he gets to go up against. If he wants to get extra work in him, Mikhail Bridges is a worker.
[01:11:59] I mean, could you have found a clone for Pacquiao D'Adiea? No, you couldn't have. This is it. Then I like the Tyler Koelich pick. He's a scrappy point guard out of Marquette. He shoots it at a pretty decent clip. He's a floor general.
[01:12:22] He's kind of like in that TJ McConnell area, but maybe Don is fast. But his shot is way better than TJ McConnell's. And he also shoots it more regularly than TJ. But if he can, I mean, here's the thing.
[01:12:40] The Knicks are so deep now that I don't see any of these kids playing. Not one of them. So I mean, they got Kevin McKellar from Kansas. I have no idea if he's going to play at all on this team just because Tiz doesn't play rookies.
[01:12:58] He just doesn't play them. So we'll move along to Toronto. Toronto picked up with the number 19 overall pick. They picked up Jacoby Walter. Jacoby Walter was a kid from Baylor who looked like he was going to be a lottery pick early.
[01:13:16] People were like, oh, Vince, you're going to love him. I was like, no, I don't. I do not. I do not love this kid. No, just... There were things I liked. There were things I didn't like. I didn't... I don't know if I believe in the shooting.
[01:13:31] People tell me I should. He definitely can get to the rim. He can get there off the bounce on his own. He can create for others. He's a good rebounder. He is a willing defender. He gambles a lot. So he leaves his defense on an island sometimes.
[01:13:54] I don't like that. But if the shooting comes around at 6'5", you got yourself a player. And then in the second round, they did something intriguing because Toronto always does something intriguing. They picked up the power forward from San Francisco, Jonathan Mogwold.
[01:14:17] Jonathan Mogwold, I like this pick because it's weird. He's like 6'6". But he has a 7'4", 7'3", wingspan. It's like crazy. Super physical, ease the rebounds, passes out of the short roll, can give you some dribble handoff capability, but just wants to block shots, eat rebounds, and party.
[01:14:45] I don't know about the party part, but I definitely know he likes to eat rebounds, block shots, set screens, and just basically be a menace on defense. That's what he likes to do. We got to get this kid some hobbies, I tell you. I swear to God.
[01:15:04] Alright, and then we get to the San Antonio Squares. And the San Antonio Squares, with their first pick, which was the fourth overall, they picked up the electric uber-athletic Stephon Castell, the shooting guard out of Yukon. Now, we said on this podcast previously,
[01:15:29] Castell's management was telling everybody who would listen, he's a point guard, that's what he is, he creates for others. I think I gave you the numbers before. The 73 opportunities that Stephon Castell had to be on ball as the primary initiator, he shot it 59 times.
[01:15:52] So, I don't know if he's really looking for others when he's on ball, but they are saying that that skill set is there. But here's the thing, defensively wise, this kid is awesome. He is a super athlete. The shot has to come. It has to.
[01:16:13] For all of this to work, it has to come. And that was a problem when you took him at four. If you took him at eight, I would have been like, alright dog, we're doing it right, right now. But you took him at four, and I was like,
[01:16:31] I like him a lot though, I do. Here's the thing, Stephon Castell will work his butt off to get better. You will never have to worry about Stephon Castell not working. He was a McDonald's All-American, he wanted to go to UConn,
[01:16:49] he knew what that program was all about, he knew that you had to work every single day, and now he's going to be a San Antonio Spur. So if this kid turns out to be Kawhi Leonard, I would not be surprised. I'm not saying he's going to,
[01:17:06] I'm just saying I wouldn't be surprised if he did. And then we'll see what they'll do in the free agency. They did pick up Harrison Ingram in the second round, solid dude, he could shoot it from the outside, provide some defensive switchability,
[01:17:24] he's a grown-up, you know, solid pro. I like the size that he has, I think he can give you some winning death. And then the Oklahoma City Thunder, let's talk about them real quick. I really like their draft because Presti is just ridiculous at what he does.
[01:17:47] He picks at 12, he gets Nikola Tokich. Now, Nikola Tokich is a phenomenal guard. His passing is next level. He has extraordinary vision. He can get passes between players that you don't think he can get it past. He sees the game two, three steps ahead. Now, here's the thing.
[01:18:21] He wasn't athletic before. Now he has a partially torn ACL. It's going to take some time for him to recover. You can't speed him up. Who does that sound like? Once he gets going downhill, you're at his mercy. Who does that sound like?
[01:18:44] And the shot, which I believe in, there's certain scouts who don't believe in it, that's going to be your choice, but if he just is Ricky Rubio for your second unit, that's going to be fun. I'm going to say that right now.
[01:19:04] And then they picked up Dylan Jones out of Weber State. He's like 6'6", 6'5", 6'6", like 220 pounds. He rebounds well. He shoots it. I like him a lot. I thought they would go a different route there, but I understand the pick because they like guys like this.
[01:19:30] They like guys who can get it out the mud. He did. He basically turned himself into an NBA player. And yeah, I mean they just pick up. Now I don't know how many roster slots they have open right now,
[01:19:44] but yeah, Nikola Tavich, he can sit out the whole year and just get super healthy and come back next year and basically have like a Chet Holmgren light effect on the Oklahoma City Thunder. All right, let's talk about Minnesota Tim Warrows real quick. They made a trade.
[01:20:06] They traded like their 2030, 2030, 2030 and 2031 pick to move up to the A squad to select Kentucky guard Robert Dillingham. Now there are varying opinions about Rob Dillingham. I believe in this kid. You just got to have defense around him. He will be opportunist, opportunist on steals.
[01:20:37] He will put ball pressure on as much as he can. He's 164 pounds. That's a problem. He's also six foot one, but he can jump out the building. He is quicker than I mean speed is just so ridiculous. He passes ball well. He shoots it at a high level.
[01:21:01] I love the speed. I love the ability to just basically stock one a dime and change directions. Rob Dillingham is a player. I think he has huge upside. He definitely has to get stronger, but this is Mike Colley Jr. replacement.
[01:21:18] This is what he is and he'll have time to grow, get stronger and learn from somebody like Mike Colley Jr. I like this pick a lot. And then later in the first round, they picked Terrence Shannon Jr. out of Illinois
[01:21:33] who went through Texas Tech and a couple other places or whatever. If you get Terrence Shannon Jr. when his head is on straight, you get a really good ball player, a really good offensive ball player who can give you something on the defensive side.
[01:21:55] When you don't get a fully engaged Terrence Shannon Jr., you see a lot of blow-bys, you see just back cuts, you see him follow up with his jump shot, you'll see some early shots taken or some shots taken early in shot clock. So there's a lot to like
[01:22:19] and there's some things where you go, man is he filling it today? And will he know if he's not right, he'll just stop shooting? He's not a selfish player either. I want to get that out the way too. It's just that sometimes it's on and sometimes it's not.
[01:22:46] Okay, Detroit Pistons. I want to talk about them too. I want to say Detroit towards the last one because I'm going to say the Lakers for the last. Okay, let's get to Atlanta real quick. Atlanta obviously had the number one overall pick.
[01:23:01] They smoke screened, smoke screened, smoke screened, Donovan Klingon, Alex Sarr, trade the pick. There was all this out there, but at the end of the day they ended up picking Zachary Roussache out of France, another French born player in the draft. La revolution is going on here.
[01:23:27] Six foot nine, 205 pounds. He is a lengthy defensive versatile player. This is a guy at the age of 19 who understands defensive spatial awareness. He can guard two players at the same time. I saw it on tape many, many times how he was able to guard
[01:23:54] short corner and be able to provide some rim kind of like, no, you can't come to the rim. You can't get to this paint because I'm going to be here for you. He moves his feet very well, has great instincts for deflections and steals. He also blocks shots.
[01:24:14] He loves weak side protection when it comes to that. And he can shoot it. He can shoot it. If you are getting into the lane like Trey Young and Zachary Roussache is standing in the corner, it's probably going down. I believe in this shot.
[01:24:35] Now scouts, some scouts will tell you they believe in it. Some scouts will tell you they don't. And here's the thing. He was the number one overall pick and you're saying he's a catch and shoot 3 and D guy
[01:24:50] where he's not really providing me any on ball offensive creation. Why would I pick a guy like this? I'll tell you why. You got Jalen Johnson. You have no idea what you're doing with Clint Capella and Akangu. I think Akangu is the center of the future.
[01:25:10] You don't know what you're doing with your two guards. Here's a guy that fits Jalen Johnson. Here's a guy who fits Trey Young if you so desire to keep him. Here's a guy who fits DeJante Murray who is the least likely of the guys this day,
[01:25:28] but he fits him as well. So Zachary Roussache might not have the crazy upside, but he's like a Lego piece. You just snap him in because he's going to find his space to shoot the ball. He's going to provide good energy and good principles on defense
[01:25:51] and be able to probably provide you with like 4 or 5 extra opportunities on the offensive side. He can take the ball off the glass and get it to the rim himself even though he's not a great offensive initiator like in the half court.
[01:26:09] He can definitely take it off the rim and then take it down the court. And at 6'9", he can still hit an open man and things of that nature. He's not an instinctive passer, but he does know like
[01:26:22] okay I've had the ball, two dribbles, I'm supposed to get rid of it. And he finds the open man. So he has that capability. Now in the second round I'm also very excited. They also picked up Nikola Durasich from Belgium. This kid is a 6'7".
[01:26:41] Flamethrower loves to shoot it. Has offensive creativity coming just oozing out of him. Pretty confident kid. I like him a lot. I think that Atlanta ended up doing really well if you didn't know what direction you were going to go in
[01:27:04] because you don't know if some of these trades are going to happen. This is one of those where you sit there and you go well four years from now you'll go how was Zachary Rizashe the number one overall pick? I can see that happening.
[01:27:27] But again, if you start the draft off at like you take the first nine picks off the board and you started with number ten and Zachary Rizashe was on the board you would have no problem with this pick whatsoever.
[01:27:44] It's just because he has the number one overall selection attached to his name. Something that I've talked to my wife about plenty of times I don't know if I've ever mentioned it on the podcast I was like you take the title away from anybody
[01:28:04] I don't care if it's a mother, a sister, a father, a brother aunt, friend, whatever, wife, husband, significant other whatever it is you take the title away from them and they were speaking to you in a certain way
[01:28:20] and then you said okay and then I said okay that's a stranger talking to you that way how would you take that? Oh no they can't talk to me that way. Well that's the point. Just because he has the number one overall selection
[01:28:34] doesn't mean that he's going to be this generational talent that's gonna lead you to the promised land. Is he gonna help you? Can he be additive to winning? Yes! Can he be on the court in crunch time minutes in a playoff game? Probably.
[01:28:59] Can he be a top five guy on your team? He can't be a top five guy in the league. I'm not gonna even put that thing on him. Can he be a top five rotation guy? I believe so.
[01:29:12] So I think they got a good shooter, a good defender, a solid guy. He's gonna handle his role expertly and I think with where they were and what they were able to do not able to trade down this is what you got to solid do.
[01:29:41] That's what it is. You got a solid dude. And the duracist pick is the high upside pick. That's the pick that you sit there and go, man if this pans out this is gonna be awesome because he can provide all the things that you want out of trade.
[01:29:56] Just getting the ball, sharing the ball, shooting the ball with some dynamicism. We'll see how it all plays out. But he's an interesting prospect especially in the second round. Now we're gonna get to the Washington Wizards. They selected the guy who was supposedly supposed to be
[01:30:16] the number one overall selection in Alex Sarr. Alex Sarr, French kid, went and played in Australia, seven foot one. He fancies himself as a stretch big. He shoots it at 29% from three. But the shot is fluid. He is a athlete. But when I look at Alex Sarr,
[01:30:45] I see somebody where... How can I put this? Okay, when he has a plan and he knows exactly what he wants to do, it looks awesome. If he says, I'm gonna take this ball off the board and I'm gonna take it all the way down the court
[01:31:04] and I'm gonna dunk it, he can... If he doesn't think about it, he could just do it. But the problem is when he gets the ball and he turns around, it's almost like he's mapping out the defense
[01:31:21] and then he's trying to figure out what he wants to do. There's like a slow down process in the head somehow. I don't know how to explain it. And it just doesn't work a lot. But he can shoot it. He's big. He's a loud threat.
[01:31:40] He is a rim protector. Um... The instincts are gonna need to come along for it all to work. Maybe you can pull two or three things out of there and say, hey, just focus on these two or three things
[01:31:58] and you can make a lot of money in this league. The thing is that Alex Sargbaleez thinks of him, fancies himself as a number one option. So we'll see how this all plays out. Now their second pick in the first round is Carl Carrington,
[01:32:14] Bob Carrington out of Pittsburgh, the 6'5 point guard. He is really good. He's also very slight because he had a growth spurt. Um... He's gonna need to put on some weight. I love the game. I love the offensive creativity that he has.
[01:32:34] I love that he shares the ball. I love that he gets off the ball too. He gets off the ball like he'll get it, get it out of half court, and he'll kick it ahead to like a shooter to see if somebody's sleeping
[01:32:50] and his shooter can get a shot up real quick. He does not need to hold on and pound the rock for 22 seconds. The shot, I thought early on this season worked. As the season went on, it seemed to get flat.
[01:33:07] I wonder if it was just that he was just fatigued because he's just not physically strong. So I think this is a really good pick for Washington. You just need to get more talent so it doesn't matter personally. Uh, uh, Ka'Shaun George out of Miami or Florida.
[01:33:26] Six foot eight dude. Um... Point guard skills as a wing. Offensive creator. The shot needs to come along, but it's a good upside play for Washington. And now we're gonna talk about the Detroit Pistons because here's the thing with the Detroit Pistons is that
[01:33:55] they took Ron Holland with the fifth overall pick. Ron Holland is a six foot nine, uber athlete. He can rebound, he can block shots, he can create somewhat. Uh, he has some, he has vision. Here's the one thing about Ron Holland. Ron Holland cannot shoot. Um, I...
[01:34:26] He is the... I said it before, he's the exact player that I just... I just have struck out on so many times that I'm almost not willing to give. Even though I love the kid, I love the work ethic,
[01:34:44] I don't know if the shot will ever come together. I just do not know. And it feels... Now, I'm gonna say this because it's a new regime. So obviously they're trying to untangle all of what happened before them. But man, the perception doesn't look good
[01:35:10] when you have a team of nine shooters and then you get a fifth overall selection. And there's some dudes on the board at this point. Dalton Connect would've been early, but I understood it, right? There was some other dudes. I mean there's these guys on the...
[01:35:31] on the board that you just thought that maybe this might be the way of going. And they went with Ron Holland. And when you pair him with Osor Thompson and you pair him with Cade Cunningham and you pair him with Jay Nivy,
[01:35:52] all of these dudes can't shoot yet. And now you just added another guy who can't shoot. So I hope in the free agent market, Detroit gets super busy. Now their second selection in the second round, the 37th overall, was Bobby Klantman, the Swedish kid.
[01:36:12] He's 6'9", with a 7-foot wingspan. He can shoot a little bit. He can rebound. He can play make a little bit in like the short roll type thing. He does provide some getting to the hole and then being able to kick it out to shooters.
[01:36:38] He's an interesting prospect with the 37th overall selection. And it's just unfortunate that when you look at him, it's just like right now, man, it's like all these things I want to do with you to try to see what you could do. It's just no spacing whatsoever.
[01:37:01] So I just don't understand what Detroit did. Like it's almost like did you not look at your roster? Or did you look at your roster and say, all these dudes are not going to be here. The rebuild starts all over right now.
[01:37:17] And I don't think that Trajan Langdon has the heart to tell Detroit fans that, hey, we're literally starting all over again. But it kind of looked like that when you took Ron Harlan. Okay, let's go back to my team. Yeah, we saved them for last.
[01:37:39] And there's a good reason why. Because I, for the first time, in a long period of time, was excited about the Lakers draft with the number 17 overall selection. They selected Dalton Connect out of Tennessee. Dalton I thought was going to go like top eight. You know?
[01:38:05] At least anywhere between like eight to 13. I didn't think he would make it out of the lottery. But here's a kid who went to junior college, went to a small school in Missouri State, I think or something like that, and then went to Tennessee to the SEC,
[01:38:26] one of the best conference in the country. And all he did would be the leading scorer in the Southeastern Conference. He also averaged five rebounds a game, a couple assists, and he has a little like, how can I put this?
[01:38:44] He got a little, how the scott put it to me, he got a little shit to his game. That's how the scott put it to me. So he's super confident. He has been the number one option everywhere he's went, and he's been able to get his shot off.
[01:38:59] He has different angles he can get the shot off at. If you give him a sliver of just daylight is going up, he believes it's going in. He shoots it at 40% and it's volume. Volume. Like, I'm getting up a bunch of these tonight, my guy.
[01:39:21] So, Dalton Connect, 17th overall selection. I love that pick. And then the Lakers pick, Bronny James with the 55th overall selection of the second round in the NBA draft. Now, it's over. Right? It's over. LeBron James' son is in the league. LeBron cultivated this situation.
[01:39:48] He helped us along, and now it's here. Here's what we know. He's 6 foot 1. We think the shot is good, but we don't know if the shot is good yet. We have not seen enough consistency out of LeBron James Jr. to know if the shot is consistent.
[01:40:10] Here's what we do know. His basketball IQ is off the charts. Obviously, DNA doesn't fall far from the tree. He can be a connector. The scouts tell me that the dribble package is not as tight as it needs to be. That's a worry soon.
[01:40:29] He's stout, because even though he might be 6 foot 2, he's 205. He's a stout kid. He can stand up. So defensively, I worry about him in one way because he is 6 foot 2, and he could get engulfed by screens, but in another way, he's strong, and he's quick, and he's athletic,
[01:40:53] and he's explosive. And let's just see at this point. Does JJ have a plan? I hope so. Are there going to be young kids on that team that might be resentful of LeBron James Jr. and whatever development path that the Lakers have set forth for him? Maybe.
[01:41:19] Here's what I do know. The all-time leading scorer of the NBA, who, when the Lakers were down and out as a franchise and no free agents would come here, the soon-to-be all-time leading scorer at the time decided to come to the Lakers.
[01:41:42] And one thing LeBron has done in every stop that he's had, he has delivered a championship. He's like, hey, listen, I am going to be a complete pain in the ass to you as long as my tenure here with your team is, because I expect excellence.
[01:42:02] I expect greatness. And you should want that too, because that's what I'm about. Guess what? This is what you do if you're the Lakers and we know Jeannie Buss' history. This is what you do. You placate to your stars. You make sure your stars feel special.
[01:42:25] You make sure your stars feel like they are heard, they are seen, and everything. That is what Jeannie Buss, that is her philosophy, that it was her dad's philosophy. She did it with Kobe, and she damn sure going to do it with LeBron James.
[01:42:42] So everybody get on board with the LeBron James Jr. hype train that's about to leave the station. Okay? And also, keep in mind, this dude is probably not going to play not one minute of NBA basketball this year, because yo, we got a G League.
[01:43:04] Your ass is going down to it. Now if the shot gets really consistent and he hitting it at like a 40% clip and it's looking super, super wet, then maybe we see some minutes for LeBron James Jr. But I want to see the dribble get tighter.
[01:43:23] I want to see like a dribble package back. I want to see like the defensive instincts get sharper. I want to see all the things before I put this dude on the court, that's for sure. That is 100% for sure. But LeBron James Jr. is now in the NBA,
[01:43:44] and you know what that means. June 29th comes, and LeBron James can opt out of his deal, or opt in, or sign a three year deal for a crot load of money, which is $162 million over three years. So I think he'll take door number three personally,
[01:44:06] because he likes money. One, he wants to own a NBA franchise. Two, and then number three, LeBron James has given a lot of economic stimulus to the NBA. I know people don't want to hear that. I know people are like, oh, LeBron James is lame,
[01:44:29] and he's this and he's that, but here's what we do know about LeBron James. He is profitable. Okay? He is super profitable. It don't matter what you think about LeBron James. The NBA thinks this about LeBron James. He's profitable.
[01:44:52] And if we can do LeBron a solid by getting his son in the league, hey, we did it. And you can chastise us, you can criticize us all you want. It's here, and there's nothing we can do about it. So there it is.
[01:45:12] Now, what I do want to say is that we've been going a long time. I'm sorry we did a whole bunch of draft stuff. Thank you guys for sticking in with us. I hope you enjoyed it. Again, be a friend, tell a friend about the podcast.
[01:45:28] You know how we get down. This is an independent podcast. Not one single dollar is going towards advertising. So it's all you. So whatever we do as far as downloads, it's because I'm awesome and you like it. And then you tell your friends about it.
[01:45:47] Or the other thing is that God is completely awesome. And he is. And I'm blessed. So either way, I win. And thank you guys so much. So with that being said, surround yourself with people who is just going to enhance your life.
[01:46:07] Please don't keep people around you who are going to diminish your light or bring you down in any way or any fashion. Go out there and do some good in the world. And we'll see you back on this feed. I guarantee you on Sunday because guess what?
[01:46:23] Hell will be raining down on us because NBA free agency will start and it will start out hot. So see you on the next one. See you on the feed Sunday. Peace. Get some sleep, sickos.