NBA Prospects Breakdown & Lakers Front Office Turmoil: In-Depth Analysis

[00:00:11] [SPEAKER_00]: It's Monday, you know what time it is. Front Runner Podcast Collective is back on the air.

[00:00:16] [SPEAKER_00]: I am your humble host, Vince, and thank you for joining us today. We have a jam-packed show

[00:00:23] [SPEAKER_00]: for you. Can't wait to get to it. We're going to be talking a lot about NBA Prospects for the

[00:00:29] [SPEAKER_00]: 2025 draft, and we got a couple of news and notes that we want to pass along to you.

[00:00:35] [SPEAKER_00]: But before all that, let's hit the socials. X, follow us on X at Front Runner PC,

[00:00:43] [SPEAKER_00]: and also follow the producers at Rea underscore punch FRPC. That would be greatly appreciated.

[00:00:54] [SPEAKER_00]: The numbers are growing, so thank you so much for that. We've seen a really huge increase in

[00:01:00] [SPEAKER_00]: the last three months in participation and also following us on Twitter, so we do appreciate that.

[00:01:09] [SPEAKER_00]: Thank you so much. The next thing is that we have our YouTube channel. The YouTube channel has

[00:01:17] [SPEAKER_00]: Rea Shepherd videos. We have a couple of Zach Levine videos out there that are

[00:01:23] [SPEAKER_00]: definitely worth seeing and have some interesting questions along the way in them.

[00:01:30] [SPEAKER_00]: Check that out. It's at Front Runner Podcast Collective on YouTube.

[00:01:37] [SPEAKER_00]: And then the last thing, we are in the month of August. We are off to a good start,

[00:01:43] [SPEAKER_00]: but we all know what the goal is. We got to beat the last previous month, which was our record

[00:01:52] [SPEAKER_00]: this month. It needs to be better. Personally, I would love to have it by August 25th,

[00:02:00] [SPEAKER_00]: which is the birthday, so we are re-interrating that peer pressure, all that sort of thing,

[00:02:06] [SPEAKER_00]: whatever. Hey, use what you have. But be a friend, tell a friend about the podcast.

[00:02:14] [SPEAKER_00]: Make sure to follow us. Make sure to comment and if you can, leave a five star rating. That

[00:02:21] [SPEAKER_00]: either Apple or Spotify or whoever you use as your podcast provider. So go ahead and do that as well.

[00:02:30] [SPEAKER_00]: We appreciate all the downloads. We see you guys. We think that there might be, maybe in the month

[00:02:38] [SPEAKER_00]: of September, we can bring back the PowerPoll and see what changes have come up through

[00:02:48] [SPEAKER_00]: the last couple of months. We've been kind of kicking around that idea as well. So

[00:02:54] [SPEAKER_00]: we can basically get to the podcast, but before we do that, Soraya and Funch are talking about

[00:03:05] [SPEAKER_00]: doing what they call corner threes with the producers. They are thinking about doing it on

[00:03:12] [SPEAKER_00]: the, on the website as kind of a blog feature as far as that's concerned.

[00:03:18] [SPEAKER_00]: Somebody came up with the idea of maybe like a cartoonist getting involved or whatever. So I'm

[00:03:27] [SPEAKER_00]: throwing it out there to the universe. My email address is frontrunnerpc.com. So if

[00:03:41] [SPEAKER_00]: you're a cartoonist and maybe you want to collaborate with us, just put it out there.

[00:03:51] [SPEAKER_00]: So they're daring the dream and I want to help them with the dream as well. So somebody help

[00:03:58] [SPEAKER_00]: us out. We'll see what goes on from there. But I think the blog is going to come around

[00:04:02] [SPEAKER_00]: August 25th. That's what they've said. And we are pretty excited about that as well. So

[00:04:08] [SPEAKER_00]: stay tuned and we'll have more information on the website and what have you. So let's get into the

[00:04:15] [SPEAKER_00]: show, shall we? And where we're going to start is a place I want to shout out Anthony Irwin.

[00:04:26] [SPEAKER_00]: Anthony Irwin is a, first of all, he is a, he's been a long time

[00:04:33] [SPEAKER_00]: um, follower of the Lakers, uh, boots on the ground, press pass inside, insider basically

[00:04:46] [SPEAKER_00]: with the Lakers. Lots of great information with Anthony Irwin. Please follow him on Twitter. It's

[00:04:52] [SPEAKER_00]: a great follow if you are a Laker fan. Now something that we said on our podcast, I want

[00:05:00] [SPEAKER_00]: to say three weeks ago, we specified that there was an Eastern conference executive that had said that

[00:05:09] [SPEAKER_00]: you know it's a tough look in Los Angeles right now. It's kind of embarrassing. They're kind of a

[00:05:17] [SPEAKER_00]: laughing stock of the leak. So I want to read you something. Great peace by Anthony Irwin.

[00:05:24] [SPEAKER_00]: Um, it's at Lakers daily. So go get that blog. You can probably get it on Anthony's

[00:05:33] [SPEAKER_00]: Twitter page as well. But um, I want to get to the part where, so he talks about the offseason

[00:05:45] [SPEAKER_00]: and how lackluster or non-existent in his bin. So let me read you this from his

[00:05:53] [SPEAKER_00]: blog. Well, on a macro level, the Lakers organization is plagued still by the fallout

[00:06:00] [SPEAKER_00]: out of the failed Russell Westbrook trade as an organization is painfully aware that

[00:06:07] [SPEAKER_00]: another misstep that of that magnitude would absolutely close their title window. It would

[00:06:16] [SPEAKER_00]: also force Jeannie bus. And in making structural changes absolutely does not want to make as a result

[00:06:26] [SPEAKER_00]: the franchise is paralyzed on every major decision sources say the Lakers were ready

[00:06:34] [SPEAKER_00]: to fire ham as soon as last season ended it wound up taking a week to make that decision

[00:06:41] [SPEAKER_00]: hiring ham replacement took almost two months and sources close to the Lakers say

[00:06:48] [SPEAKER_00]: reddit was the choice from a vast majority of that time outside of the wild weekend that was

[00:06:58] [SPEAKER_00]: the Dan Hurley situation. Now we spoke about that as well. I told you that I thought it might

[00:07:03] [SPEAKER_00]: have been a smoke screen now Anthony Irwin. Um, I still think it's a smoke screen personally

[00:07:11] [SPEAKER_00]: I do know that there were people in the Lakers organization that did have questions about JJ

[00:07:16] [SPEAKER_00]: Reddick and being a first time head coach. And this kind of high level high, um,

[00:07:26] [SPEAKER_00]: what am I trying to say is I mean later franchise is one of the most prestigious

[00:07:32] [SPEAKER_00]: franchises in the NBA we all know that so it was kind of a real interesting situation

[00:07:40] [SPEAKER_00]: which I'm all aboard the JJ Reddick train. I told you that from the beginning but there were people

[00:07:47] [SPEAKER_00]: in that organization questioning it along comes Dan Hurley. Now remember the hand wringing and

[00:07:55] [SPEAKER_00]: what goes on with that and then also they made ultimately the failed offer which was the

[00:08:02] [SPEAKER_00]: same offer that Kentucky made Dan Hurley. So without all that being said, um, Hurley leaked kind of

[00:08:18] [SPEAKER_00]: offer it would have taken to hire him Eastern Conference Executive said they knew what it

[00:08:25] [SPEAKER_00]: was going to take and they still came well below that line if you do that and you're sure

[00:08:32] [SPEAKER_00]: that ever really wanted to hire him in the first place so JJ was always the guy. You know this goes

[00:08:40] [SPEAKER_00]: along with what we were talking about we believed here at Front Runner Podcast Collective that Dan

[00:08:46] [SPEAKER_00]: Hurley was a smoke screen. Um, go back and listen to the archive pods you know we have receipts

[00:08:53] [SPEAKER_00]: for these things. The reason why I do bring these up and people say well why do you bring

[00:08:59] [SPEAKER_00]: these up this is old stuff. We are new we struggle for legitimacy so when things like this pop up

[00:09:11] [SPEAKER_00]: and we tell you about them and in three to four weeks later there's a whole story corroborating

[00:09:18] [SPEAKER_00]: what we've told you the reason why we pointed out is because we need these small wins

[00:09:24] [SPEAKER_00]: and we need these big wins so we can get better and get bigger because the trust of the audience

[00:09:31] [SPEAKER_00]: is the most important thing to me. This is why we work so hard this is why I want to thank my

[00:09:38] [SPEAKER_00]: staff who has come in and allowed me to have even more robust conversations with some some

[00:09:46] [SPEAKER_00]: executives in the league with some player development people assistant coaches and

[00:09:51] [SPEAKER_00]: and other sources or what have you so I want to thank my my staff and I want to thank my wife

[00:09:58] [SPEAKER_00]: for allowing me to be able to do this on this level for you. So now the story goes on to talk about

[00:10:07] [SPEAKER_00]: so it doesn't just finish there we also had brought up a point that Eastern Conference

[00:10:13] [SPEAKER_00]: executive told us that it's basically a shit show and it's been embarrassing um

[00:10:19] [SPEAKER_00]: because they don't know who to deal with when they're talking to the Lakers are we dealing with

[00:10:24] [SPEAKER_00]: Polinka are we dealing with Kurt Rambis and Linda Rambis are we dealing with uh Jeannie Buss

[00:10:31] [SPEAKER_00]: who is actually in charge who's making who's pulling lever on this decision.

[00:10:39] [SPEAKER_00]: So this is another Eastern Conference executive uh Rob is a smart dude

[00:10:45] [SPEAKER_00]: um actually this is a Western Conference scout Rob is smart dude in the halls of the

[00:10:54] [SPEAKER_00]: Thompson Mac Center you aren't going to get fired for decisions you don't make if you if you involve

[00:11:02] [SPEAKER_00]: your bosses in those decisions that in those decisions you're that much safer. So basically

[00:11:11] [SPEAKER_00]: it's when they talk about the collaborative effort

[00:11:17] [SPEAKER_00]: with the Lakers it's almost like a

[00:11:22] [SPEAKER_00]: it's almost like a mini football basically you have a bunch of people in there and they all seem

[00:11:30] [SPEAKER_00]: to have equal weight in the decision-making process um that's a huge problem when things are moving quickly

[00:11:42] [SPEAKER_00]: especially when you're talking about free agency especially when you're talking about

[00:11:48] [SPEAKER_00]: things changing on the dime and players becoming available to you at a you know

[00:11:55] [SPEAKER_00]: a more reasonable price which we saw a lot of free agents go off the board that we were like

[00:12:01] [SPEAKER_00]: hmm that that guy would be nice for the Lakers and you know the Gary trans the Gary Trent Juniors

[00:12:07] [SPEAKER_00]: of the world right um Jonas Valentunus was a head scratcher and now there's a report there

[00:12:14] [SPEAKER_00]: there's a really good chance that the Lakers will trade for Jonas Valentunus in December

[00:12:21] [SPEAKER_00]: or after as soon as the ink dries on the contract and you can go ahead and you're eligible to be moved

[00:12:29] [SPEAKER_00]: after December 15th which brings me to a point if you're going to get him in December why don't

[00:12:36] [SPEAKER_00]: you just get him in now and you don't have to worry about this awkward period and where do

[00:12:45] [SPEAKER_00]: you fit and the adjustment and whatever the case may be now we reported on this podcast that Jonas

[00:12:52] [SPEAKER_00]: wanted to start and maybe that was the reason why but we also said that the Lakers had moved any of

[00:12:59] [SPEAKER_00]: their um I would say lower level contracts the camera right ish contract the Jackson Hayes contract

[00:13:07] [SPEAKER_00]: um and to a lesser extent who's the other guy that I'm thinking of that's on a on a minimal deal

[00:13:18] [SPEAKER_00]: I'm thinking oh Christian Wood so you got those three guys on minimal contracts and none of them

[00:13:27] [SPEAKER_00]: have been moved yet you know Lakers have seen a bunch of free agents come off the board I mentioned

[00:13:33] [SPEAKER_00]: the Gary Trent Jr. Jonas Valentunus there's been several others that have kind of come off the

[00:13:39] [SPEAKER_00]: board for prices Dary Jones Jr. signed for a very um interesting price as far as this concern

[00:13:49] [SPEAKER_00]: so there's been a lot of movement that you can say well would they have fit the Lakers

[00:13:59] [SPEAKER_00]: perfectly well no but what they have been additive to what the Lakers are trying to do

[00:14:06] [SPEAKER_00]: yes that is true so all that to be being said is that so

[00:14:16] [SPEAKER_00]: we go back to this article that Anthony Irwin um wrote another major factor in the Lakers

[00:14:25] [SPEAKER_00]: stagnant summer a league that is that feels it can take advantage of what it considers a in-app

[00:14:33] [SPEAKER_00]: and desperate organization okay so multiple executive scouts have kind of chimed in on

[00:14:50] [SPEAKER_00]: what's going on here and you know your your stagnation or your lack of involvement in free agency

[00:15:03] [SPEAKER_00]: you can say two things right well we tried or it was difficult that was the rhetoric coming

[00:15:10] [SPEAKER_00]: out of Laker camp or you can say that we are in over our head nobody wants to say that you

[00:15:19] [SPEAKER_00]: can't be front facing and say that and especially as prestigious as a team or a franchise as the Lakers

[00:15:31] [SPEAKER_00]: they can't say something like that but we can you know it's not it's not speculation anymore

[00:15:42] [SPEAKER_00]: this is not teams wishing they could be the Lakers you know there are teams that are in

[00:15:53] [SPEAKER_00]: way worse markets that are saying oh no we are way more comfortable being us than wanting to be them

[00:16:05] [SPEAKER_00]: now you can talk about prior success and all that and scoreboard and whatever

[00:16:10] [SPEAKER_00]: but we're talking about right now whose position to be successful whose position to be in a situation

[00:16:18] [SPEAKER_00]: to be in the mix for a title contention you can unequivocally say right now that the Lakers are

[00:16:24] [SPEAKER_00]: not in that position whether it's due to being absolutely paralyzed by analysis or the ghosts of

[00:16:41] [SPEAKER_00]: prior trades pass i.e. Russell Westbrook whatever the reason is we have thought we have seen a summer go by

[00:16:52] [SPEAKER_00]: and the only thing that has happened is that the Lakers have signed their two draft picks

[00:16:59] [SPEAKER_00]: you can't talk about title contention you can't talk about how close you are

[00:17:04] [SPEAKER_00]: without making moves that are going to fix some of what else you could because here's the thing

[00:17:13] [SPEAKER_00]: it's not Anthony Davis it's not LeBron James hell it's not even D'Angelo Russell or Austin Reeves

[00:17:20] [SPEAKER_00]: at this point it's what you have behind them and what's behind them you don't have enough

[00:17:31] [SPEAKER_00]: talent on the bench you don't have enough fire power on the bench you don't have enough size on

[00:17:37] [SPEAKER_00]: the bench and you don't have enough versatility on the bench so if you have an injury you are screwed

[00:17:45] [SPEAKER_00]: you paint it yourself into a corner now albeit we have said also on this podcast that maybe

[00:17:52] [SPEAKER_00]: this has been the strategy all along maybe ralph Alinka has quietly said with the Russell Westbrook

[00:18:02] [SPEAKER_00]: trade we throw up the white flag we're gonna kind of try to pseudo compete but we're not giving any

[00:18:10] [SPEAKER_00]: of our assets away and we're gonna go ahead and we're gonna press forward and we're gonna get

[00:18:16] [SPEAKER_00]: through this contract which makes no sense by obviously resigning him so i know how idiotic

[00:18:24] [SPEAKER_00]: all this sounds i'm just trying to give them the benefit of the doubt because that is what

[00:18:30] [SPEAKER_00]: they're gonna spend to us that's what they're gonna spend to leger fans is that we are in the mix

[00:18:38] [SPEAKER_00]: we are close we are a player away no not really because we're looking at the bench and we got

[00:18:48] [SPEAKER_00]: a bunch of question marks albeit gay vinson could come back and have a hell of a year and that

[00:18:54] [SPEAKER_00]: could be a question answered max christie also could answer a question for us who's going to

[00:19:04] [SPEAKER_00]: answer the question as far as bigger wing depth who's the answer to LeBron rory hachamara jerry

[00:19:18] [SPEAKER_00]: van der will or somebody who is not on the roster who is also gonna provide minutes off the bench

[00:19:31] [SPEAKER_00]: to relieve anthony davis who had his most healthy season he's had in a leger uniform

[00:19:40] [SPEAKER_00]: the year prior did you think that he is going to be able to mirror that type of production this year

[00:19:51] [SPEAKER_00]: gonna be hard for me to believe that one so again there's a lot of questions that they have not

[00:19:57] [SPEAKER_00]: answered times running out but the great thing about it is it leads us right into our second

[00:20:04] [SPEAKER_00]: thing and then we'll get to our prospects august 6 this coming we talked about this at

[00:20:10] [SPEAKER_00]: nauseam but it looks like that neither lorry marketing is going to sign a contract so this

[00:20:19] [SPEAKER_00]: is what sources are saying this all is very fluid right now so keep in mind tomorrow's the day

[00:20:28] [SPEAKER_00]: we'll find out whether there's going to be an extension with utah jasks all star forward

[00:20:33] [SPEAKER_00]: lorry marketing or if he's going to play under the same contract and play it out and be a free agent

[00:20:41] [SPEAKER_00]: or he's going to get traded this is fascinating to watch because there are other move there are

[00:20:49] [SPEAKER_00]: other moves that are kind of waiting for this particular situation to clear itself up there's

[00:20:56] [SPEAKER_00]: Jeremy Grant out there there are the wings in Brooklyn there's the grand and ingram conundrum in

[00:21:07] [SPEAKER_00]: New Orleans so there's a lot still to be answered and unfortunately the linchpin to this whole thing

[00:21:16] [SPEAKER_00]: is lorry marketing but it looks like it's coming to a head tomorrow and the sources are saying

[00:21:23] [SPEAKER_00]: they haven't been able to hammer out a deal as of yet we could come back onto this feed on

[00:21:29] [SPEAKER_00]: wednesday and it could all be kumbaya and there's a long-term extension for lorry marketing i know

[00:21:37] [SPEAKER_00]: that his wife loves it there i do also have heard that lorry has lorry marketing has a

[00:21:45] [SPEAKER_00]: a desire to win that's kind of hard because utah is trying to tank so we're in a really difficult

[00:21:55] [SPEAKER_00]: situation there but it's all going to come to a head tomorrow and i think the flood lake the

[00:22:01] [SPEAKER_00]: flood gates will open at that point in time now with all that being said what is the end

[00:22:10] [SPEAKER_00]: game with the lakers the end game with the lakers is this is that again our sourcing is good

[00:22:20] [SPEAKER_00]: we had this story like three four weeks ago please go back and listen to the archive pot

[00:22:26] [SPEAKER_00]: so receipts are there we're very confident in our reporting and then here's the other thing

[00:22:32] [SPEAKER_00]: um we're finding out that yeah there was a difference in Dr. Jerry bus being the owner of the lakers

[00:22:43] [SPEAKER_00]: being forward thinking not being tentative not being afraid to make a mistake or

[00:22:51] [SPEAKER_00]: if a mistake was made remedy the mistake now i also understand that there are more

[00:23:02] [SPEAKER_00]: obstacles in the way of being able to untie a knot that you created

[00:23:10] [SPEAKER_00]: now than there was when dr. Jerry bus was running the lakers but scared money don't make money

[00:23:19] [SPEAKER_00]: and right now i see a a franchise who has marquee talent but doesn't have the foundation

[00:23:32] [SPEAKER_00]: around it to really kick that marquee talent into overdrive so i think we're going to have

[00:23:39] [SPEAKER_00]: another tough year unless there's a unless there's a trade that i'm not seeing at this present time so

[00:23:48] [SPEAKER_00]: unfortunately i know you're gonna listen to trevor lane and you're gonna listen to the

[00:23:54] [SPEAKER_00]: camman niskey brothers and they're excellent at what they do and they can paint a picture for

[00:23:59] [SPEAKER_00]: you that if we get this and if this happens and this happens then the lakers can be right in it

[00:24:08] [SPEAKER_00]: i could 100 spend you a story like that but i choose not to waste your time

[00:24:18] [SPEAKER_00]: i choose not to pander to my audience i choose to look at laker fans and go hey i'm with you

[00:24:27] [SPEAKER_00]: this is hard 40 years of being a fan but as an analyst i'm gonna sit here and tell you that right

[00:24:34] [SPEAKER_00]: now the lakers are are trying to rebuild we gotta hope that dalton connect is a dude

[00:24:40] [SPEAKER_00]: we better start hoping for max christie to to take a leap we better hope that jaylin hood

[00:24:47] [SPEAKER_00]: shafino is a guy once um not injured he turns into a real player and that's how we build up

[00:24:56] [SPEAKER_00]: our young core our young depth and then possible trade pieces down the road because right now

[00:25:03] [SPEAKER_00]: it doesn't look like the lakers have any appetite to go out and make moves because they are still scared

[00:25:11] [SPEAKER_00]: of the disastrous move they made with russell westbrook so there that is so we can move on to

[00:25:20] [SPEAKER_00]: happier happier times here we are doing our nba draft prospects of 2025 and we started off with some guys

[00:25:34] [SPEAKER_00]: in our last pod so go check that out and then we're going to hit you with some some some guys

[00:25:42] [SPEAKER_00]: in in this cross break in the second section you're going to get some top guys but we also

[00:25:47] [SPEAKER_00]: can get some guys mixed in there that are a little bit further down in the draft so i'm going to start

[00:25:54] [SPEAKER_00]: off with like a little bit more of a obscure guy and i want to thank the producers for putting these

[00:26:03] [SPEAKER_00]: tremendous notes together for me as i scroll down and i'm almost losing my voice and you

[00:26:12] [SPEAKER_00]: know i know you guys can hear it don't worry we'll get it back by wednesday trust me all right so i

[00:26:19] [SPEAKER_00]: want to start off with uh isaiah evans and the reason why i want to start off with isaiah evans

[00:26:24] [SPEAKER_00]: is because who his high profile teammate is this upcoming year isaiah evans is going to get a lot

[00:26:34] [SPEAKER_00]: of tv time because he plays with kuker flag okay so at duke he is a he's going to be a guard at duke

[00:26:44] [SPEAKER_00]: so let me give you his uh measureables he's uh six six he's 175 so he's thin that's to say the least

[00:26:54] [SPEAKER_00]: let me take a sip of water all right so this is a little buy on him uh he's known for his

[00:27:10] [SPEAKER_00]: length and his scoring ability uh he's going to be a stand that he's was a standout high school player

[00:27:17] [SPEAKER_00]: mcdallin's all-american he averaged 18 points in high school 44 from the field 36 percent

[00:27:28] [SPEAKER_00]: three point percentage in high school 4.7 rebounds and three assists all right

[00:27:35] [SPEAKER_00]: um we have a couple of notes on him evans has the upside of brandon ingram with a floor of tj

[00:27:46] [SPEAKER_00]: warn he plays hard through contact which is a positive sign for his development this is

[00:27:51] [SPEAKER_00]: what one nba scout has said to me um evans is a serious upside uh swing he could go several

[00:27:59] [SPEAKER_00]: different directions this year at duke here's the things here's the thing with evans all right

[00:28:07] [SPEAKER_00]: he is um an effective scorer he's a tough shot maker now here's the thing he's a tough shot maker in

[00:28:13] [SPEAKER_00]: high school okay we're about to go up another level we're about to play acc basketball in a second

[00:28:22] [SPEAKER_00]: and we'll see if that tough shot making translate against like north carolina

[00:28:29] [SPEAKER_00]: and clinton and wake forest and syracuse you know and so on now he is long um now we don't have a

[00:28:41] [SPEAKER_00]: wingspan on him as of yet but if they're saying he's branding ingram that means he's a pretty good

[00:28:49] [SPEAKER_00]: wingspan so i'm saying if he's six six and they're saying brandon ingram wingspan he might be

[00:28:55] [SPEAKER_00]: close to seven feet but we don't have that so we're that's just spec spec looks that little

[00:29:02] [SPEAKER_00]: this is speculation now he does pass the ball very well now this is a difference

[00:29:09] [SPEAKER_00]: and ingram this kid actually has vision core vision on the floor um is able to get chris

[00:29:17] [SPEAKER_00]: past two his teammates and he seems to hit them right in the money spot where they can just go up

[00:29:23] [SPEAKER_00]: and pull the trigger um defense he has the size and the potential to be good but he's very slight

[00:29:34] [SPEAKER_00]: so physical physicality is going to cause him issues early on obviously with more

[00:29:41] [SPEAKER_00]: weight development and working out some of these things are going to kind of take care of themselves

[00:29:48] [SPEAKER_00]: um you know some of the weaknesses he's going to need to get stronger he's also 17 years old so

[00:29:56] [SPEAKER_00]: he's going to need to be more consistent well that's also going to come with his strength

[00:30:01] [SPEAKER_00]: because some of his field goal percentage woes even though it was decent for high school

[00:30:08] [SPEAKER_00]: was just basically physicality knocked him off his path when trying to make a layup

[00:30:15] [SPEAKER_00]: or go for a dunk or what have you so as he gets stronger some of these situations will

[00:30:22] [SPEAKER_00]: take care of themselves um and then one there was one note that physicality is something that

[00:30:32] [SPEAKER_00]: he's going to have to also uh be more comfortable with uh there was one scout that said he kind

[00:30:39] [SPEAKER_00]: of shied away from it a little bit and you know kind of gave him the ick a little bit

[00:30:45] [SPEAKER_00]: so here is the scouts expectations of our young mr evans who will be playing with a

[00:30:52] [SPEAKER_00]: cooper flag at duke uh scouts are looking for evans to demonstrate consistent scoring and defensive

[00:30:59] [SPEAKER_00]: capabilities adding strength and maintaining his effectiveness against stronger competition

[00:31:06] [SPEAKER_00]: will be crucial for his draft prospects so i think what you're looking at is a lot of people worried

[00:31:19] [SPEAKER_00]: about the physicality with isaia evans i understand that situation um and he is going to have a lot

[00:31:26] [SPEAKER_00]: to prove when it comes to that but i do think that the actual physical skills the actual

[00:31:34] [SPEAKER_00]: mental part of the game is there and i can't wait to see the two-man game between isaia evans

[00:31:42] [SPEAKER_00]: and one cooper flag at duke so we've got a lot to look forward to in november we're getting height

[00:31:50] [SPEAKER_00]: for college basketball and you know you know who i'm all about ucla so now let's go to our next

[00:31:59] [SPEAKER_00]: guy um his this okay it's uh igor demin he is a forward wing who will be playing for

[00:32:10] [SPEAKER_00]: byu next year he is litho wynion he stands six eight he's about 190 pounds what they say about

[00:32:21] [SPEAKER_00]: him is that he has exceptional playmaking ability um his he's recognized for his vision

[00:32:28] [SPEAKER_00]: and his passing skills uh his stats 15.7 points a game last year 43 percent from the field he only

[00:32:37] [SPEAKER_00]: shot it at 27 percent from three he averaged almost six rebounds a game at 5.8 and he averaged

[00:32:46] [SPEAKER_00]: four and a half assists a game here what some of the uh scouts and they're saying about him

[00:32:52] [SPEAKER_00]: uh denim handles the ball uh well for a size he can break down the defense and make plays for others

[00:33:02] [SPEAKER_00]: with his vision and his passing ability that was an nba scout he has extreme create he's

[00:33:09] [SPEAKER_00]: extremely creative guard with good footwork and good handle and he has a high level feel for

[00:33:17] [SPEAKER_00]: the game and this is um from our guy uh sam vasenny so of the athletic so good work by sam

[00:33:25] [SPEAKER_00]: he hasn't really got eye for the foreign guys and um you know this is one of those guys who

[00:33:32] [SPEAKER_00]: is going to be super skilled he's gonna know how to play the game and if he's able to be kind of

[00:33:40] [SPEAKER_00]: um youth as a chess piece on defense and more of a ro a roamer instead of like i need to be this

[00:33:50] [SPEAKER_00]: on-ball demon type of guy you might have even more success with him um on the defense side of the

[00:33:58] [SPEAKER_00]: ball i don't think he uh right now has a full speed to stay in front of like our uber athletic

[00:34:06] [SPEAKER_00]: wings that we have here in america but his smarts and his angle uh the way he will take the angle

[00:34:15] [SPEAKER_00]: will be able to help him in his being able to stay on the score on the on the court

[00:34:21] [SPEAKER_00]: and not be able to get scored on so and also he's super big he's six eight you know it's not

[00:34:28] [SPEAKER_00]: a six six guy and there's a difference i know those that seems like really petty two inches

[00:34:34] [SPEAKER_00]: those two inches matter now um strength obviously size skill you're getting this because he's from

[00:34:44] [SPEAKER_00]: lithuania excellent playing making ability vision he strong rebounder creativity and then it's going

[00:34:51] [SPEAKER_00]: to be basically will the three-point shot come together will the lateral quickness

[00:34:59] [SPEAKER_00]: hold him back from really reaching uh you know the zine of his potential

[00:35:06] [SPEAKER_00]: and then physicality he'll obviously at six eight one ninety need to bulk up now here is the scouts

[00:35:13] [SPEAKER_00]: expectations for egor uh denim next year scouts are wanting to see improvement in the shooting

[00:35:22] [SPEAKER_00]: percentages particularly from beyond the art the 27 percent not great um and then hands defense's

[00:35:31] [SPEAKER_00]: abilities his performance in pick and roll situations and the ability to handle physicality

[00:35:38] [SPEAKER_00]: will be critical to his draft evaluation it's when we're talking about young guys and we're

[00:35:46] [SPEAKER_00]: talking about guys who are under 20 they're almost going to have i wouldn't say all the time i would

[00:35:53] [SPEAKER_00]: say probably about 80 percent of time most of them gonna have the same thing physicality is going to

[00:35:59] [SPEAKER_00]: be an issue uh are they going to be able to shoot it consistent consistently enough and here's the

[00:36:08] [SPEAKER_00]: like the tiny tiny rumor that that people don't talk about these kids are like 17 18 years old sometimes

[00:36:17] [SPEAKER_00]: 19 right here's the thing a consistent jump shot takes time takes rhythm it takes honing hours years

[00:36:33] [SPEAKER_00]: of practice to find like that that perfect snap of the wrist that that perfect where

[00:36:39] [SPEAKER_00]: where you're going to release the ball it's almost like a dance you know with yourself

[00:36:47] [SPEAKER_00]: and i think we're hard on these kids saying hey you got to find this today you got to find this

[00:36:52] [SPEAKER_00]: today this has to happen you know but he does have good touch he has good feel and he has enough

[00:37:02] [SPEAKER_00]: other things that will allow him to continue to play in the league or continue to play basketball

[00:37:08] [SPEAKER_00]: at byu which will allow him to at some point get into the league he might end up being one of the guys

[00:37:15] [SPEAKER_00]: that uh we talked about it in the last pod um but he might then it might be one of those guys that

[00:37:23] [SPEAKER_00]: goes into the draft gets evaluated they'll tell him where he where they think he'll end up

[00:37:30] [SPEAKER_00]: and they'll give him tips and things say hey if you work on these things these are the things

[00:37:36] [SPEAKER_00]: that kind of held you back and then he'll re-enter not this 2025 draft with 2026 draft

[00:37:45] [SPEAKER_00]: he could be one of those guys but he has a chance to be a really good collegiate player

[00:37:52] [SPEAKER_00]: it's going to be fun to watch and if the passing skills of what i think is going to be

[00:37:57] [SPEAKER_00]: i think he has a chance to be very special and we might see some real cool stuff out of

[00:38:03] [SPEAKER_00]: Igor Denham out of byu this year let's move on to our next guy shall we and that would be

[00:38:14] [SPEAKER_00]: yes trey johnson so trey johnson is a dynamic guard coming out of texas go look at the youtube clips

[00:38:22] [SPEAKER_00]: trey johnson is a mcdonald's all-american and any chance that he gets to dunk on somebody

[00:38:29] [SPEAKER_00]: he will known for his scoring ability and his versatility in the court he is going to stand

[00:38:37] [SPEAKER_00]: out player in high school circuit and is expected to make a significant impact in college so he will be

[00:38:44] [SPEAKER_00]: playing at the university of texas in austin he is 6-6 he is 185 he scored 20 points in

[00:38:53] [SPEAKER_00]: high school shot 47 percent from the field he also shot 38 percent from three which for high school

[00:39:02] [SPEAKER_00]: player that's awesome 5.2 rebounds and 3.1 assists here are some of the superlatives johnson is a

[00:39:14] [SPEAKER_00]: dynamic guard who is effective at either guard position he does a he does a good job using

[00:39:22] [SPEAKER_00]: his size and skill and link to take advantage of all his opponents that was by NBA scout trey johnson is

[00:39:32] [SPEAKER_00]: this from okay yeah thank you seraya for this one trey johnson is a bucket getter he's one of the

[00:39:44] [SPEAKER_00]: best ones in the 2024 recruiting class confident uh thread off ball who consistently attacks the

[00:39:53] [SPEAKER_00]: basket so i mean he has great cutting ability um he has good timing as well the one thing that you

[00:40:03] [SPEAKER_00]: see with him is that there's a it's not just athleticism there's a thinking to him he's not

[00:40:10] [SPEAKER_00]: just gonna oh i'm gonna show you all of my stuff right now no i'll wait till the third quarter

[00:40:16] [SPEAKER_00]: i might not pull out anything into this you know to the second you know to basically the

[00:40:21] [SPEAKER_00]: second stanza which is third and fourth quarter so um there's a lot to like about trey johnson

[00:40:28] [SPEAKER_00]: here are some of the strength he's effective from all three levels

[00:40:37] [SPEAKER_00]: on the court so at the basket mid range has a midi and a floater and in his three point shot

[00:40:49] [SPEAKER_00]: at the high school level i mean 38 percent is nothing to sneeze at he has he has a ton of

[00:40:56] [SPEAKER_00]: versatility he can play right now three positions in the NBA i'm not quite sure about the fourth

[00:41:04] [SPEAKER_00]: one um he has really good playmaking for somebody who can get his own shot off uh does include his

[00:41:14] [SPEAKER_00]: teammates is not a black hole when it comes to pass and walk weaknesses needs to show more

[00:41:24] [SPEAKER_00]: commitment and consistency on the defensive end needs to add bulk to handle physical defenders

[00:41:32] [SPEAKER_00]: um and they say that he's not like a top tier explosive athlete okay i'll agree with that

[00:41:45] [SPEAKER_00]: but his skill or his micro skills or whatever you want to call them i see this guy get wide open

[00:41:54] [SPEAKER_00]: step back threes i see this guy make people look stupid getting to the mid-race now albeit

[00:42:03] [SPEAKER_00]: it's high school competition but i've seen it with a couple high level competitions that he was in

[00:42:09] [SPEAKER_00]: so i'm looking forward to seeing what trey johnson does and uh we can move on to our last guy

[00:42:17] [SPEAKER_00]: which is a high profile guy keep on sneaking these in here and i love it okay this is the last

[00:42:24] [SPEAKER_00]: guy that we're going to talk about today dylan harper dylan harper is a mcdonald's all-american

[00:42:34] [SPEAKER_00]: he's going to play for ruckers uh him and ace bailey will be teaming together and we will be talking

[00:42:43] [SPEAKER_00]: about ace bailey on wednesday pot you know i want to talk about ace with lori marketing

[00:42:51] [SPEAKER_00]: kind of i want to tie those two in so dylan harper is going to be taking his talents to the

[00:42:58] [SPEAKER_00]: state school of new jersey um i'm not particularly fond of ruckers um go hall

[00:43:06] [SPEAKER_00]: that's where my allegiance lies known for his excellent fundamentals his poise uh on on game day

[00:43:15] [SPEAKER_00]: he is the son of former NBA player ron harper he has shown significant promise as a top guard

[00:43:23] [SPEAKER_00]: in the 2025 draft class uh dylan is six for five he is 195 again we talked about

[00:43:34] [SPEAKER_00]: so he averaged 18.5 points a game he shot 45 percent from the field he also shot

[00:43:42] [SPEAKER_00]: 35 percent from three-point range which is not bad he averaged six point he averaged six rebounds

[00:43:50] [SPEAKER_00]: a game and four points to assist a game now here are some of the uh superlatives that we've gotten

[00:43:57] [SPEAKER_00]: from scouts harper was a versatile scoring guard as you'll find in a high school basketball

[00:44:06] [SPEAKER_00]: setting his fundamentals are off the charge great and he has remarkable amount of poise

[00:44:13] [SPEAKER_00]: for a teenager this is from our guy sam viscini dylan harper plays with effective pace and poise

[00:44:22] [SPEAKER_00]: he's tremendous in putting defenders in jail in the ball screens and keeping them on his back hip

[00:44:28] [SPEAKER_00]: for his size and this is from the anonymous nba scout but really he he gave me some real good

[00:44:36] [SPEAKER_00]: information on dylan um he can he has he has versatility on both ends of the ball

[00:44:47] [SPEAKER_00]: he's he's a three level scorer uh and he has a polished mid-range game as of right now

[00:44:55] [SPEAKER_00]: uh he's an excellent rebounder which six rebounds a game at uh six foot five and one ninety five is

[00:45:01] [SPEAKER_00]: pretty damn good and then honestly the the basketball iq being the son of a former

[00:45:09] [SPEAKER_00]: longtime nba player a player that won championships round harper won championships with the lepers

[00:45:17] [SPEAKER_00]: and won championships with the chicago bulls so this kid got to see all of that

[00:45:22] [SPEAKER_00]: um and be able to pick the brain of his dad um really you know the things that he needs to work

[00:45:33] [SPEAKER_00]: on is make sure that the the shooting his shooting motion is consistent i think the feet sometimes

[00:45:40] [SPEAKER_00]: are not squared i think the shoulders aren't squared sometimes um but i think it just comes with

[00:45:50] [SPEAKER_00]: the consistency of finding the rhythm of his jump shot and i think the one thing that we can

[00:45:57] [SPEAKER_00]: know about dylan um harper is this if the jump shot is not working he's not gonna force it

[00:46:06] [SPEAKER_00]: he's gonna go okay that's not falling let me get into my mid-range and then i can go back

[00:46:11] [SPEAKER_00]: out to the three-point shot he's not gonna go over 12 from three and say okay well we just had an off

[00:46:20] [SPEAKER_00]: game no there's gonna be a lot of additive situations when it comes to dylan harper he's

[00:46:27] [SPEAKER_00]: going to help you with rebounding he's going to help you on defense he's going to help you

[00:46:30] [SPEAKER_00]: roam on defense he's going to be able to uh put people in pick and roll situations and have

[00:46:37] [SPEAKER_00]: an ace bailey as a um as a tandem teammate i mean they're picking roll game i can't wait to see it

[00:46:45] [SPEAKER_00]: even though it's going to be for the scarlet knights um but i'm a fan of dylan harper

[00:46:53] [SPEAKER_00]: i can't wait to see him i can't wait to see the just the exploration of his game going to college

[00:47:02] [SPEAKER_00]: because i think a lot of the stuff that he was doing in high school was like more next level anyway

[00:47:09] [SPEAKER_00]: to see it now in college with uh people his age also maybe people who are uh physically

[00:47:17] [SPEAKER_00]: more mature i want to see how that plays out uh i have no doubt that he has several several

[00:47:28] [SPEAKER_00]: translatable skills this is a high lottery pick dude this is not a guy that we're gonna have to worry

[00:47:33] [SPEAKER_00]: about where you know if he's gonna fall out of like the top 20 or no we're not gonna have to worry

[00:47:40] [SPEAKER_00]: about that with uh dylan harper so really excited to see what he's going to be about and also

[00:47:48] [SPEAKER_00]: really excited to do the initial evaluation of ace bailey that will come up on the feed

[00:47:54] [SPEAKER_00]: on wednesday so keep it locked here at frontrunner podcast collective for that

[00:48:01] [SPEAKER_00]: so with that being said we can get up out of here so um two things um

[00:48:08] [SPEAKER_00]: i don't think anything will break tonight you know as far as news on lorry marketing

[00:48:14] [SPEAKER_00]: things of that nature but if they do we'll be right on it and you'll have it but we'll

[00:48:21] [SPEAKER_00]: be back on this feed on wednesday um thank you to my producers bunch of fun chan's sirea for what

[00:48:27] [SPEAKER_00]: they've done today and what they continue to do so we can continue to bring you podcast

[00:48:33] [SPEAKER_00]: monday wednesday and friday and then with that being said we're gonna we're gonna wait to give

[00:48:43] [SPEAKER_00]: you a little help with the with the be a friend tell a friend you know saying because we got

[00:48:50] [SPEAKER_00]: we got really worked off this we want to make sure that we are providing great solutions for you so

[00:48:56] [SPEAKER_00]: stay tuned for wednesday's podcast because we're gonna have something for you all right and with

[00:49:01] [SPEAKER_00]: that being said the best part of you is you make sure that the people surrounding you are just

[00:49:07] [SPEAKER_00]: brightening your light the people that are uh diminishing your light please don't keep them

[00:49:14] [SPEAKER_00]: around or have a conversation with them and see if you can bring them back into the fold all

[00:49:19] [SPEAKER_00]: the other thing is do goodness world and we'll see you back on this feed on wednesday y'all stay easy

[00:49:26] [SPEAKER_00]: peace