New York In A Brunson State Of Mind

Welcome To FRPC

New York. You waited fifty-three years for this, and it finally happened. About that for a second. The sacrifice that it takes in an NBA championship. Go. What's good everybody? Welcome to Frontrunner Podcast Collective. This is where we talk like friends, argue like cousins, and still walk out smarter than we came in. Convinced, I am your host, your occasional hoop therapist, and your absolutely favorite bad influence when it comes to completely reckless NBA overreactions, that low key make perfect sense. We are setting the table. We're getting all the film room observations, grown conversations about how players, coaches, and front office are actually moving in this time continuum that we call hoop life. The blank checks, the contracts, the locker room rumors, the PR spin with the actual verify receipts. We're bringing you the jokes, the advanced math, and the exact barbershop ammo. You need to take back straight to your group chest and completely nuke the argument. Numbers and a point of view. This is your spot. Let's go.

Brunson Takes Less To Win

We are going to do the New York Spurs an autopsy on what happened. But we're going to celebrate the New York Knicks for a second. Okay, and how we're going to do that is one one way and one way only. We're going to start from the beginning. New York sits on top of the basketball world because of one man who chose a ring over the back. Jalen Brunson. Remember that he signed the contract for four years, 104 million. Then he took an extension for four years, 156 million. But he left 113 million dollars on the table for roster flexibility that built the championship core around him. So the New York Knicks, after 53 years of walking through the desert, made it out and made it out with the Larry O'Brien trophy. Now if you ask anybody, if you ask anybody who works around this business who is really in tune with what's going on, you ask them about any all NBA player taking less money. Not not just a haircut, not just uh, you know, a slight underpay. We're talking about a lot of money. We're talking about a hundred over a hundred million dollars. The answer in the modern era is zero. They kept Hart, which they traded for him in 2023, the deadline. They got Bridges. What New York said about the picks now? Eft and picks, that's what they say. They get Mikhail Bridges from Brooklyn. They gave up a bunch of first round picks. And then they went out and got Carl Anthony Towns. And the reason why I want to bring up that situation is this. The forgotten villainovanick, shouts out to our guy, Dante DiVincenzo, who's going through his Achilles injury and what have you. Well, he was basically the uh the casualty of war to bring in the absolute peace that they needed to allow Jalen Brunson to be able to probe the paint like he does, be able to go ahead and put on his myriad of moves and allow him to just do magic in the paint. Because of Carl Anthony Towns' spacing capabilities, the New York Knicks are a championship team at this present time. It all flows back to Jalen Brunson, who was the finals MVP. Make no mistake about it. We live in an era where you can say that the little guy can't win a championship. Well, if the team

The Finals MVP Masterclass

is built around him specifically, it's curtailed to him and to him only, you can win. So there is a pathway for the small guard to win. But Jalen Brunson's numbers in the finals was ridiculous. 32.6 points a game, 4.2 rebounds, 4.6 assists. In the game 5 clincher, my man scored 45 points. I repeat, 45 points. 45, by the way, of the 94. So it wasn't just 45, and they put up 136. No, no, no. They needed every point that he could score. He shot over 50% in that game, 14 of 27 from the field. But what my wife will love more than anything on this planet. Free throws in her mind are free. 13 of 15 from the free throw line. He scored 15 of his team's final push in the fourth quarter. In game five. They trailed by 10, by the way. And we'll get into that because that's a that's an overlapping narrative that continued to happen during this series. Tieding NBA record for points by a rogue player in a series clinching game. He was beaten down very badly. He hobbled off the court after landing on Wimby's foot in the third quarter, which was clearly a landing zone violation. And we'll get to Wimby a little bit later as we talk about the San Antonio Spurs. History will tell us that guards, especially small guards, don't win in the NBA. But our guy standing at, they list him as 6'2. We know he's not 6'2. He's probably more like 5'11, 6 feet at the most. But he's one of four players in NBA history to win a finals MVP. That height or shorter. He joins a list of Isaiah Thomas of the Detroit Pistons back in the day, the Bad Boys. Tony Parker of the San Antonio Spurs. And Stephen Curry. You might have heard of him, right? The most dangerous shooter in all of the NBA. The greatest shooter in NBA history. That guy. Coach Mike Brown said this. Everybody kind of mentions his name in passing. They do not seriously enough, but he's a freaking one A. He's a he's an MVP candidate all the time. And um Brunson said this. I put in the time and the effort to be the best player I can be for this team and for this organization. And that's another running narrative with Jalen Brunson, is that he was uh He was so humble through the whole situation. He never got up, he never got down, uh when the we had interviews and what what have you. He seemed very poised in every aspect of the situation, which is not lost on me. It's one of those things that you sit here, you think about, and you go, look at the other side, and we'll get there. Trust me, we'll get there. If you're tuning in to hear what happened to San Antonio, we will get to the mess a little bit later. Shout out to Leon Rose, the next president, who came over as an agent. He was an agent, he was a top agent at CAA. He had uh he decided to go ahead and do the agent to front office move, which sometimes works, sometimes it doesn't. Leon Rose never talks to the media. Like never. He's been there six years. I think he's put out a couple statements, but Leon Rose getting in front of Mike just doesn't happen. But shouts out to him because he constructed this team around Jalen Brunson. He was Brunson's agent before taking over the GM job. He's Jalen's godfather, by the way. Rick Brunson, his dad, which was another uh storyline in this NBA finals. He obviously was on the coaching staff, and he was, you know, played for the Knicks in 1999, which was their last finals appearance, which is crazy. I walked right to to half court and shook Mick Johnson's hand and then turned around, and my dad was there, and it felt emotional from that point on. Words from Jalen Brunson. Now we can talk about the Nova Knicks, but Josh Hart's contributions, Mikel Bridges' contributions, cannot be overlooked. They all obviously played together, they

How The Nova Knicks Fit

won national titles together. I cannot believe it. How many times have you played like 2K and you had your favorite college team, right? And you tried to piece together some of the dudes that came out of that college and and and tried to put like a good team together. I know I have done it. For Shilly as an all-star, it's incredible the testament of the coach's impact. And we're talking about one Jay Wright, who deserves a lot of credit. Jay Wright, if you think about it, he was ahead of the curve in college. He was doing five out spacing when uh that was not cool in college, and now it's just basically adjusted to Jalen Brunson's kind of rhythm and what have you, and this is why this team at this specific moment is the NBA champions. It's because of all the minute details that they put together. Yes, Mikel Bridges did cost a lot of first round picks. Yes, they did make a bold move with Carl Anthony Towns. Yes, they did splice together having Josh Hart on the team, but it's still the others. You know, it's still Mitchell Robinson, which we'll get to. He had an incredible offensive rebound to basically seal that deal. But I do want to hit you with a couple things. We did tell you that it was 53 years ago.

What 53 Years Really Meant

Let me give you a couple things that were going on at that time. The Knicks had obviously Walt Frazier and Willis Reed. If you are a New York Knicks fan, you know all about these gentlemen. But for the for the people out there and for the young people out there who do not know Walt Frazier and Willis Reed, these were the cornerstones of that championship team. Walt Frazier was the coolest dude walking Fifth Avenue at that time period. The median household income in 1973 was $10,500. Today, the median income is $90,000. Zach Harper from The Athletic ranked this particular victory as the fourth all-time scorch drought behind the Cubs, the Red Sox of 86 years, the curse of the Bambino, and the 52-year drought that the Cleveland Cavaliers had. Fat Joe said this. I've seen Hasidic Jews break dancing with black kids outside the stadium. This is the greatest unification of New York City you've ever seen since 9-11. They outscored their opponents by 273 points during that streak. That's an average playoff margin of victory of 14.9, which is the NBA record. And I'm just gonna say this close with the Knicks Jalen Brunson leaving that money on the table. You can sit here and say, you know, that's that's the cause and effect and what have you. All that it's not just the money that was left on the table for me. It's just him. It's just what will it take for us to win? Let's do that. What do I need to do for my team to get over the hump? I'll do that. Do I need to defer to Carl Anthony Town so he feels like he's part of this team? Well, I'll do that. When Mikhail Bridges was struggling with his confidence in the in in the season, and when, you know, there were rumors and there was whispers about, well, maybe we need to trade Mikhail Bridges, you know, at the end of the year, because obviously it's not working. Did Jalen Brunson take a step back? Yeah. Did we see more offensive versatility from Mikhail Bridges and then regain his confidence? Yeah. The money that he left on the table was excellent, and it did it did help spur them holding and hoisting the Larry O'Brien trophy. But it's all his sacrifices, it's all his leadership, it's his stoic behavior during press conferences and post-game interviews with Lisa Salters that we sit here and we go, Wow, man, this dude is Stone Cold Killer. So here's to the group that won the NBA championships, the 2026 New York Knicks. I mean, the the absolute picture out in in New York City when they won was absolute euphoria. As a Lakers fan and somebody who has tasted the victories and had them in abundance in my time of being on this planet, seeing New York City lit up like that is great for basketball. It is great for basketball. I think what Jalen Brunson did is a blueprint for your whoever, your superstar, your son, you know, your offensive son or whatever the case may be on your team to sit there and go, hey, listen, I could take every last dollar. Or, hey, if I take 10 million less, is there any does that help us? Maybe you don't have to take, you know, $113 million off a four-year contract. Maybe you don't have to do that. Maybe there's a way of you doing this, and you know, you're only taking like eight million and it impacts them from being over the salary cap or the first apron or whatever the case may be. Maybe it gets you a you know a tax-exempt mid-level person, somebody worth like six, seven million dollars, and they are the rebounder that you need or the guard that puts pressure on the ball that you need. Doesn't have to be a ton of money to build you a championship team. It's just the minute little details that Jalen Brunson puts in every single day to make himself the best player he can possibly be and lead the New York Knicks to this level, which is the championship level. This road is not for everybody, and I don't think we'll start seeing this. This is not a trend that I think we will see in the NBA. But I think there should be some players who think about this more than they do now. I would say that.

Spurs Autopsy Starts With Wemby

Alright, let's get to the San Antonio Spurs. The Spurs have better players, the Knicks had a better team. That's the whole story. Now, Wimby, let's get to it right now. Careers high across the board, 25 points, 11 rebounds, 3.1 blocks. He led the league in blocks third consecutive year. MVP voting. This man had a game in the Western Conference Finals where he scored 41 points, 24 rebounds, and 5 blocks in a double overtime thriller against the Oklahoma City Thunder. He wiped tears of joy away after winning game seven against OKC, which we thought at that present time was going that that matchup was basically going to solve who was going to win the NBA Finals because we thought the winner was coming out of the West. And I'm not going to get up here after the fact and tell you I thought differently. No, I didn't. I thought the winner of OKC and San Antonio were going to be the winners of the NBA Finals. I was proven wrong because sometimes a team that is cohesive, a team that knows who they are and what their responsibilities are and where they stand on the team is better than a bunch of guys who are just trying to figure it out. And I don't mean that as shake. I mean that as something that this is something that the San Antonio Spurs can learn from. Game five, when we had 19 points, 14 rebounds, five blocks, but he missed two critical free throws because he was just gassed. He played 44 minutes in game four. And he was visibly exhausted in the fourth quarter per Jarrett Weiss of the Athletic. After the finals, he said this it's not painful. I'm not running away from that. I'm using that to fuel me. During the series, personally, I I think I could have been better in recovering from high of the uh conference finals. I'm 22 years old. This is my first finals appearance. Hey, is there any question? Will Victor Winbayama be back to the finals? No. Now you can tell me all the things because I hear it, I've heard it already. We have no idea when he's gonna get back to the finals. And could it take him a couple years? Absolutely. Could because OKC still is that team, and we we're not we're not going to shortchange the champs from last year. They were missing Jalen Williams, they were missing AJ Mitchell, who became a very critical part to their team. There are tweaks that they can make to their team to make them more formidable. And do they have the ammunition to do it? You are absolutely right. They do. They have the they have all the ammunition. They need to get themselves back to the NBA finals. So OKC and San Antonio are two teams that I will say right now, you know, we can go ahead and do early overreaction. Do I think that San Antonio and OKC are two teams that are absolute contenders next year? You can bet your ass on that. But Victor Winwayama will be back. How the Knicks ward him now two ways. Cat Towns just being a five out shooting destroyed the Spurs and their drop scheme. Whimeby couldn't stay at the rim where he was a where there is a legitimate three-point threat at center position, pulling him out. He was out here guarding guards. He was out here guarding wings. Shit, he was out here guarding the popcorn vendor. The dude that was bringing the beer, he was blocking shit, he was blocking beers to patrons along the way. There's nothing that Victor Wingbayama didn't do to try to bring his team to a championship. But the veer switches, Brunson getting downhill fast enough to force Wimby to switch onto him, sending Fox or Harper onto Kat. And basically he was just gassed. I want to bring this up. 434 in game four. He floats back into the paint. This is Wimby. Way out of position. It appears to forget Ananobi is behind him. OG drills a three. At 130 left. He couldn't rotate across the paint to contest the crucial Brunson floater because his legs were gone. The Spurs tried to zone in the third and went back to man in crunch time. The Knicks broke them in both ways. The Spurs were and how they lost this their processes. Cause in the first quarter, they came out like a house on fire. In every game. Brunson did that. It was just the eroding of the leads. The eroding of the confidence of the San Antonio Spurs that we saw every single game. Did you think I was going to come on here and tell you that San Antonio is this team that is so screwed up and whatever? No, we're not going to overreact like that. The future of the NBA is Winwayama, but there are some developments that need to happen. He needs two moves, go to moves, before next season. Cannot get worn down by spacing and physicality that he can't solve. My man needs like a Dirk Novinsky 17-foot fadeaway. Remember, this dude, they say he's 7 foot 4. This dude's like 7'6. We know this. Something without explosion eliminates physical mismatches and what have you. The 22-year-old Frenchman who can already do what Wingley does doesn't need to be taught basketball. He needs to be taught counters. That brings me to my next thing. They signed you to a four-year $229 million extension after being traded from the Sacramento Kings. Okay? Media hundreds and podcasters were calling for Dylan Harper to start games four and five. Because we got tired of seeing Fox make critical blunder. Um one in specific with 10 seconds left to go in game four. He tried to lay it up instead of dribbling out and drawing a foul. What a grave error that was.

Fox Vs Harper And Castle Future

And now for the Harper Castle of it all. I'm gonna say this right now. I'm not gonna get hyperbolic about this because I what I watched the tape again, and my first thought was Harper's ready. Give him the keys to the castle. No, that pun was not, you know, because castle's there too. But what I will say is this they do need a veteran guard. But I don't know if you need a veteran guard that's gonna be making 50 million. You need a guard that's gonna cancel, uh, coun uh counsel these two guys, Dylan Harper and Stefan Castle. Are they ready to run NBA offensive at this point in time? I don't think so, but I do think they're close. They need an OG guard that will be more than willing to share the knowledge, more than willing to share the sugar, more than willing to give them like little nuances and little cheat codes to the game that will help them immensely through their processes at this point in time. Dylan Harper had 25 points in game five. This dude is 20 years old. The same night that De'Aaron Fox is struggling from the field 3 of 15, Dylan Harper is getting to the paint at will. Game four, this dude didn't even touch the ball for the last 10 minutes of the game, which is absolutely criminal. If De'Aaron Fox is the point guard that is like in tune with his team, right? Because that's what I think of a point guard. A league guard will go, you know what? Dylan Harper hasn't touched the ball in a minute. Let me make sure he gets the feel, make sure that he gets a good shot. Get him coming down off a pin down and getting downhill into the paint. Oh, Stefan Castle has to touch the ball in a minute. Let me get him a nice little easy little mid-range. Let's do some spang, pick, and roll, and get him into that mid-range and see if he can go ahead and knock down a shot. By the way, I have a 7 foot six absolute alien at center. Let me make sure that he's touching the ball consistently. De'Aaron Fox was a grown-up on that team. He's 29 years of age. Yes, he's been in Sacramento, so that might have stunned his growth as a quintessential league guard because just the processes in Sacramento have been toxic and have been like just dumbfounding for a long period of time. But I expected more from De'Aaron Fox. I expected that he would be the calming influence on a team that was absolutely think about this. Think about this. Other than De'Aaron Fox in the starting lineup, and then also including Dylan Harper. None of them dudes can rent a car. Not one of those dudes can rent a car on their own. You gotta be 25 to do that. Dylan Harper dropped 25 in the closeout game. The media wanted him to start games four and five. Alright, well, exec we told you, said they will go ahead take De'Aaron Fox off the hand if you give me three first-round draft picks. Do I think that Fox cost Victor a championship? No, but he wasn't helpful. He was not helpful. Do the Squares need to build around Harper and Castle and allow their developmental runway to flourish? Yeah, but I do think with a caveat, they need to see if they can figure out a way to get a point guard or league guard that can help those two guys grow. Because you could stick you could stick Stefan Castle at the three, Dylan Harker at the two, and then mix and match, and allow those guys to touch the ball and have times and spurts where they are actually the uh the lead guard. But they definitely need an OG point guard that has like the Jedi mind tricks and what have you. When we need a DM Fox next to him to win, or does he need space to let him in the next generation breathe? It's a $229 million question, actually. Y'all discussing your group chats about that situation. Alright, now we need to get to the next segment, and I'm super hyped about this segment.

Giannis Trade Offers And Leverage

We call this segment the full court press. We need to get ourselves ready and understand that now that the championship is over, it is time to worry about trades and reckless speculation about what's going on. But we got real, real news and notes. And just because I'm that guy, I'm gonna give them to you. So, let's start with Giannis because that's where we need to start with. Milwaukee ownership wants a decision before the 23rd and 24th of the draft. That means they want to trade him. Bill Simmons said that the Celtics made a firm offer in the last past week, scaring the whole entire NBA world. Both Miami and Boston reportedly have made firm offers in front of the Bucks before the NBA draft. Now the Miami package, everybody's heard it, is Tyler Hero, Khalel Ware, Jaime Hawkes Jr., the 13th pick, and plus unprotected first in 2026, 2029, and 2030. Giannis reportedly is focused on Miami, on Miami personally, but I think that he would prefer to be in Boston because Boston, even if they do give up what they want to give up, which is Jalen Brown, plus picks, plus role players, i.e. Sam Hauser or Peyton Pritchard, they would still be better left as far as the cover being knocked bare to go ahead and get him to contendership, which that's what he wants. The critical problem with Jalen Brown being moved is this. Jalen Brown makes $57.1 million. Giannis makes $54.1 million. Cap matching is a big issue, so it will take a third team to go ahead and get that done. Milwaukee reportedly has zero interest in keeping Jalen Brown. They are in a full rebuild, folks. Get ready for long winners and get ready for Milwaukee Brewers baseball in the spring. Y'all need to talk about the Green Bay Packers up there, and y'all also need to talk about the Milwaukee Bucks. I mean, Milwaukee Brewers up there. Because right now, you guys are not going to be winning a lot. Let's keep that in mind. The other team that we heard about is the Atlanta Hawks. And they hold favorable swaps rights on Milwaukee's 2026 and 2027 first-round picks. And they are per they are positioned to benefit regardless of which direction this goes. The potential role that Atlanta be playing is being the facilitator in a three-team deal, structuring sending Jalen Brown to the Atlanta Hawks, and Atlanta sending assets to Milwaukee. He's being courted by Miami, Boston. Some people say still Golden State. Some people still say there's another Dark Horse team in there. And I'm not just talking about Minnesota. I'm talking about there's another Dark Horse team in there. As far as we will have more information on that on Friday. But both these teams have monster packages. But here's the question that nobody's asking out loud. If the best package wins, so Miami wins, if a person if it's a personal choice wins, Giannis is already in Boston. Can Miami up their offer? Is there a third team that can get involved and make this happen for them? Is Cortland the piece that Miami needs to get this taken care of? Does somehow, and actually here's the thing. For my Lakers fans out there, I want you to listen closely. If Miami wins this and Giannis goes to Miami, we're involved. The Lakers are involved. And it's not a three-team trade, it's a four-team trade. The Lakers get Khalel Ware in this deal. Milwaukee would end up with some of their picks back from Portland, who who own some of their picks, and a Laker pick. Probably something like 2031 or 2033. But that's just a little, you know, food for thought. So you know what's going on. Now, let's get to the other angles of this deal. Alright. We got a Clipper situation growing. Perkant Afstaff. Giannis to Boston. Jalen Browns to the Clippers for the number five overall pick in this year's draft. Tim Milwaukee. So the Clippers want a taste of this. The Clippers acquired the number five pick from the Indiana Pacers in the Zubach deal in the last uh trade deadline. This structure solves Boston's problem. Milwaukee doesn't want Brown, so LA absorbs him. Camp mechanics are still the sticking point because of the fact that the Brown contract is a little bit more than the Giannis contract, but if the Clippers got involved, Cristo Changel is fixed. Now, the Kawhi factor and all this, we still waiting on um news on the circumvention of the cap regarding Kawhi Leonard. So I wonder how that's gonna work. I wonder. We will see. We will see. So if Jalen Brown lands in La La Land and not to the Lakers, which we don't have enough to get him, uh, because we definitely don't have a number five overall pick in this year's draft, which is absolutely stocked, and we'll get to it in a second. But is the pick because it's not in the top four, is that pick tantalizing enough to get the Clippers over the hump to be in this deal? I don't think so. I think the Clippers holding the the number five pick in a loaded draft is a key piece to unlocking a lot of deals. Just not necessarily the Giannis deal. I can understand the Clippers moving on from that pick, maybe getting more picks back, because people want to be in this draft instead of other drafts. But I wouldn't I wouldn't take this deal if I was the Bucks. We're gonna talk a lot about a lot of teams coming up, but before we get to the draft, I want to talk about one other thing.

Nets Offer Reaves And LeBron Agency

I knew this day was coming. I I knew it was coming. So the Brooklyn Nets have made an offer to Austin Reeves. So it's uh four years, $178.5 million dollars. Brooklyn is ready to max out Reeves and create real leverage when it comes to pushing the Lakers to do something. And the time is coming. So here we are. Now, with all that being said, we gotta talk about LeBron. So LeBron is wanting his money. Or he'll go and play for the Warriors. Or we just stop this. We can just stop the drama. Hey man, if you want to play for us, cool. If you don't want to play for us, that's cool too. The thing about it is is that LeBron is forty-one, he'll be forty-two early in the season next year, uh, towards the end of 2026, so the lucka era is here. I mean w we're not gonna sugarcoat the whole situation. And it sure it and the thing that is is bothering me is this, is that you live in Los Angeles, your family is entrenched in Los Angeles. Could you easily move back to Cleveland? Yeah, you could. Do you want to? No, you don't. Do you want to take a flight from San Francisco to LA to see your kid and your wife, or whatever? Man, I I guess you could do that. It's not far. Is Bronny going with you? Because that's gonna take a trade. And Golden State's gonna have to give up a real asset to take on Bronny. So with all the breadcombs that are leading to this situation, I think what LeBron really wants is the one thing that the Lakers don't want to give him is that he wants agency in what the Lakers are gonna do if. He takes less money. But the last time he had agency in what the Lakers were going to do was Russell Westbrook. And we know how that all turned out. So pardon the Lakers. Pardon Rob Kalinka for being a little bit skittish. Also, under new management, under new ownership. So guess what? Guess who guess whose job, you know, is on the line. Would you want to give autonomy to your second best player? Or with all reports being said, they want to build around Luca. So of course, it's what Luca needs and what Luca wants. And that's not a bad thing. Because when it's built around him right, he got to the NBA finals. And he was a scary dude. He was just scary. So I don't believe that LeBron wants to leave. I don't believe that when push comes to shove, this dude's gonna get max money. It's hard for me to really stomach that situation. I understand that he's worth a lot of money. I understand that he's worth a lot of money to this franchise once he decides that he wants to retire. I get all of that. But you're not willing to take a pay cut at this advanced age. You can sit there and say, hey, back in the day, I'm not taking a pay cut because you were the sun in the s in the solar system. Right? But now your piece. Now are you an integral piece? Yeah, I will give you that. You averaged 20 points a game, six reruns, six assists last year. You did work as as a 41 year old. But to sit here and talk about how you need agency and what's going on and how it's gonna work for you when you have a 27-year-old Luka Doncic who just came off averaging over 30 points a game last year. That's a little far-fetched for me to believe. We are going to pivot to the draft.

Draft Preview And Prospect Tiers

And what we're gonna do is we're gonna talk about players right now, and then we're gonna do a really big draft situation on Friday and next Tuesday before the NBA draft. So we're gonna have wall-to-wall draft coverage in the next two pods, but this is a little taste to whet your appetite for what's to come. And I can't wait to get into it, so let's do it.

AJ DeBanza Upside And Red Flags

We are going to start off with right now, because I took a composite of what's going on with all the rumors that are going on around here. And AJ DuGansta is the number one pick in the draft as of right now. So, what do you get with AJ DuBanster? I'm sure you've heard all the stuff, but let's give it to you anyway, because people like height, people like wingspan, people like standing reach, they want to know the numbers, so we'll give it to you. AJ Dubanster is six foot eight and a half, two hundred and seventeen pounds. He's uh has a seven foot and a half wingspan. He's the best combination of upside and floor in this class. Our guy Sam Vicini has him as his number one overall dude in the draft. One of only two players in college basketball history with 25 points, 50% field goal percentage, and average eight plus free throw attempts a game. Michael Beasley was the other guy. And that dude was a problem. Couldn't get it together in the pros, but absolute beast in college. The numbers go as such is scary. 25 and a half points a game, almost seven rebounds, and almost four assists. Now shooting percentage was 51% from the field, 33% from three, and 77% from the free throw line. There's a lot to him, and this is the thing that I want to get to, is that he shot 46.9% on mid-range jumper. He shot 50.7% from 10 to 18 feet. That's NBA starter level production. And then the thing that we just talked about is is the foul drawing. He was he did this in the under 19 uh international games where the U.S. won the gold medals. This dude was constantly getting to the free throw line. And I'm not talking about flopping, I'm not talking about exaggerating, I'm talking about sheer speed and power getting to the rim, and you had no other choice but to foul this dude. He's a rare wing at any level. Now, they'll there will need to be some passing growth when it comes to it, and he did do that throughout the season. He was a four and a half assist guy in his final ten games. So you can see that he went, you know, he still he steadily went up and up throughout the his collegiate uh one year in college, so that's good. Some of the concerns about our guy. Three-point shooting, thirty-six percent is uh thirty-three point one percent at college. He was uh only thirty point one percent in catch-and-shoot situations, so there is some growth that needs to happen there. His handle is a little loose uh versus chest to chest defenders. He doesn't always separate beyond a contested pull-up. His defensive anticipation uh for the athletic profile that he has, he only averaged 1.1 steals and 0.3 blocks for his physical tools. That doesn't even seem right. Just my opinion, and my opinion only from watching the tape. So he's gonna have to get better with his anticipation, he's gonna have to get better uh with his reads off rotation off ball. Vicinny says that his floor is Jalen Brown uh Jalen Brown's pre-breakout, uh 22 points per game score a switchable on defense, messy off-ball, still borderline, all-star value. His ceiling is all NBA MVP track wing. So all those things are in there. Here's what I'm gonna say is that um he's he's a guy that I think wants to be great. He's gonna put the work in. I'm really shaky on just the rotations off ball. Now, I think that once he gets into an NBA program and they say, okay, this is the this is the defensive game plan, and these are the principles to the defense that we want to play, and then you can allow the athleticism to kind of just play out. I think this will get better. But the 0.3 blocks per game for somebody as athletic as AJ DeBansta is absolutely baffling to me, and I don't understand it. I don't. So, what do I think of AJ DeBansta? Uh, if you pull up one of the most statistically dominant freshmen seasons that we've ever seen in college basketball, looks great. But when you start poking at the numbers and when you start trying to figure out who he is and what he is, there is a lot of room to grow. Now, that could also sound devastating. That could also sound very scary as far as what he could be, and I think that at some point he'll get to certain levels, but I wonder about the defensive end. I wonder does that all come around? Because some players just don't have the aptitude for some reason to play defense compared to their athleticism, and he might be one of those guys. That doesn't make him a bad player, it doesn't make him not an all-star, it doesn't make him not an all-NBA player. What it makes him is that you're gonna have to put some pieces around him on the defensive side of the ball. We're doing it for Jalen Brunson. I guess we can do it for AJ DeBanster if he's scoring high 20s or low 30s. Because he does have that capability. He has the capability of scoring 30 points a game. Just due to his free throw attempts that he's gonna have. Now, let's move on to the most polarizing guy in this draft to me.

Darren Peterson Talent With Risk

And people will sit here and say, oh well Vince, you're being a curmudgeon, oh Vince, you're being old, but before you before you jump on me, let's give you the scoop on Darren Peterson. Our guy is standing at 6 foot 4 and a half inches, 6 uh 9, almost 6 foot 10 wingspan, and he has a standard reach of 8 feet 7 inches. Now, there's no doubt that this dude can be an elite shooter with all NBA scoring guard upside, a la Donovan Mitchell on the attacking style. The Kansas Tate was a absolute it was breathtakingly uh scary because it just did not look like the same dude in high school. It was it was like I don't even know who that dude is, type of situation. Now, the numbers at Kansas 20.2 points a game, 4.2 assists, uh, yeah, 4. Yeah, 4.2 rebounds a game, and 1.6 assists a game. On 44, 38, 83 splits, he was 47.7% on catch and shoot threes at Kansas on four attempts while drawing the toughest defender every single night. He was forty-two percent on pull-up threes at prolific high school on five attempts per game. The floater gain was at 41% on two attempts per game per synergy. His mid-rate his mid-range growth was 42.9 at Kansas versus 26 to 37% in his high school in AAU settings. He was an active defender, but here's the concerns. They kind of said that he was a lead guard, but that really collapsed at Kansas. Now, we're gonna talk about the injuries and and what have you in the sp in the spacing role a little bit later on down the line. His limited rim pressure was also alarming. Under two and a half ram attempts per game, for somebody as dynamically athletic as Darren Peterson is, it was alarming to see his athleticism just get sapped. Just it looked like literally like old school Space Jams when the monsters took the NBA powers from all the NBA All-Stars in Space Jam. I was like, I don't even know who this dude is. What is going on? Now, durability and availability was a problem all year. If it wasn't the hamstring, it was the quad. If it wasn't the quad, it was an angle sprain. If it wasn't an angle sprain, it was the flu. There was all types of situations where Darren Peterson could not be on the court. Now, character due diligence. I'm gonna uh shout out our girl Kristen Peak, who is one of the best in the game. She's a tier one when it comes to uh knowing these guys and knowing following them around high schools and going to gyms and being at gyms at 6:30 in the morning and talking to AAU coaches, talking to high school coaches, and talking to the college people. But Kristen Peake says this his aloofness has come up in team uh draft meetings, he's a projected top three. Um, but the guy in high school is more of who Darren Peterser is, and she says that his competitiveness and his will to win is something that was that was always on display in high school, and she doesn't doubt that that's who the guy really is, and this was just a weird year at Kansas. Kristen Peak, she is good. We love her uh analysis and we love what she does. Keep on doing your thing. Now, here's my here's my deal. Peterson is camp reportedly says they're only working out for the Washington Wizards. Note to Utah, Memphis, and Chicago. That means you will be drastic drafting him without hosting him. The Harden Kawhi precedent stars who are drafted by teams. Um, and I'm I'm taking a little uh give me a little wee leeway on the analogy here. There's a lot of times where teams draft a guy and they never see him. They never have him in the building and whatever the case may be. Usually it's not with one of the top three or four picks. Usually it's with somebody set ranked is is selected 17th overall. Usually it's somebody picked 25th overall, something like that. But it's never the guy who's drafted in the top three, especially in a stack draft where we're talking about supposedly generational talents and things of that nature. So I'm I want to go ahead and give you that overall view before I get into this. He's saying basically non-Washington teams taking Peterson top three uh are making a talent bet and uh a disengagement and risk bet uh simultaneously. Here's my thing whether the Kansas deal was a real injury, low management, or the creatine defense that uh Derren Peterson or Derek Peterson's camp wants to give you, he was being paid to play at Kansas. He was paid to his star level, he was paid to his what they envisioned him to be at Kansas, he was paid to lead a Kansas team to the Final Four and what have you. But that did not happen, and then here's the thing that I want to go ahead and close this out with. If you are a president or a vice clerk president of player personnel, and you're holding a top three pick, and your investigator, your investigators are telling you the aloofness keeps coming up in team meetings, how do you sell this to your owner on this kit? The talent is undeniable. I will sit here and say, hey, if Kristen Peake is telling me that the high school tape is more like what the guy is gonna end up being, I believe that. But can you really risk taking a guy sight unseen, never having him in the building? And I want to bring this up because people say it doesn't matter, it does matter. We're talking about Utah and Memphis here. Okay, we're not talking about Los Angeles, and I know people are saying, oh well, of course you're gonna shine up Los Angeles because that's where you're from and you like the Lakers and blah blah blah. No, no, no, hold on. If this was Portland, this would be a problem. If this was Indiana, this would be a problem. You know, another like uh, you know, me shit, maybe even San Antonio. Now they got Wendy, but it's different now. But if it was just San Antonio, and there are no shades to these cities and these basketball hotbeds, but we all know that free agency does not come around for places like this. Free agency doesn't land a generational talent like LeBron or Lucas not going to Portland. He's not going to Utah. He's not gonna be spending his basketball season in Memphis, no shade to those areas, no shade to those franchises. You know and I know that free agency is not your back. It is draft and development. But can you really stake your reputation to a guy who was getting paid at Kansas, played only 20 games, took himself out of games regularly, and also took himself before games out of the game with big opponents, like prime time games and what have you. He was getting paid to play at Kansas. You're gonna pay him in the NBA. My thing is this what happens if something goes wrong in that NBA city that's not New York, that's not Miami, that's not like Dallas, Texas, that's not like Houston, that's not like Atlanta. I'm gonna I'm gonna leave LA out of it, okay? I'm gonna leave LA out. How about, you know, if it's not San Francisco, if it's a place like Indiana, if it's a place like Memphis and Utah, who do have the picks behind the Washington Wizards, and I find it interesting that the only place that he will visit, the only place that he will work out at is in DC. Which is a major metropolitan. Movers and shakers are all around that place. I'm sorry, Memphis, I'm sorry, Utah. It is what it is, it will just be really hard for me. I don't deny the talent, I don't think that he's a bad guy, but there are questions to me, and I might be all by myself on this, and this kid could come into the league and be awesome, and you could tell me about Ace Bailey not wanting to go to Utah, and he was in he wanted to go to Washington and was completely obliterated that he didn't, and then he played well in Utah. It all worked out. That's great. That's great, but we know they not they're not all built that way. So again, buyer beware when it comes to Darren Peterson. Now let's get to Cameron Boozer.

Cameron Boozer The Safe Star Bet

Cameron Boozer is pretty close to a can't fail offensive prospect. The only reason he's not number one is his skill set profiles as a number two type of star. That's what our guy Sam Vincend uh said. First player in college history, any class to average 22 points a game, 10 rebounds, four assists on 55% field goal percentage, over 20 plus games per sports reference. Yes, sir. Our guy was sick with it. He was absolutely sick. This dude was a bucket, and it was just instant offense. 22.5 points a game, 10 rebounds, 10.2 rebounds. He also was basically like the point guard. 4.1 assists on 55.6% shooting overall from the field. But here's the other thing. He shot 39.1% from three. He shot 79% free throws on the defense. The rerun rate jumped from 2.8 to 5 on offense with him on the floor. The uh shooting breakout 39.1% from three at Duke, 38.2 on catch and shoot, 42.6% on pull-up. As a senior, high school senior, in real volume, you know, he shot he shot real he shot it really well there too. He's just been this guy all his life. Hit as a passer, again, with consistent as he can absolutely be. And there's the best part. He was almost 2 to 1 on assist to turnover rate. Reads, rotations, hits the extra pass. He's looking for a great shot, not a good shot. He's a team defender, 1.4 stills a game, uh, and one uh or 0.6 blocks at Duke. Now in high school, he had 1.5 stills a game and 1.4 blocks in his high school, but he was physically more dominant than everybody in high school, so it's kind of take those with a grain of salt. I think he's closer to the college numbers. But the one thing that I want to say about this, about caller uh about Cam Boozer is this the 10.2 rebounds for me is the biggest thing. Because if you can rebound in college, you can rebound in the pros. It's effort. That's what it is. And here's the thing that's gonna play wherever he goes. This dude is going to rebound. Is he gonna score? I think the scoring will won 100% come. But he's gonna rebound at a high level. And if you don't think that's important, I give to you the San Antonio Spurs who lost four games and one in the finals. You gotta rebound at a high rate. It's just a thing. I didn't make the rules, it just is what it is. The concerns is his limited vertical explosiveness. Not much pop off of one or two feet. Uh 25-26 was his uh worst finishing uh season statistically. He struggled against length. See the Virginia tape when he went against on on USO. He's stiffer in the hips versus uh guards and wings in space. So he's gonna have to be like a team uh he's gonna have to be a team defensive type of guy, center field type of dude playing free safety. People say that he doesn't have self-creation or uh his shake is limited. I think that's because that he put on like 15 to 20 more pounds uh as he got to college. If he goes down back to about 230, I think you'll see some of the wiggle and some of the athleticism and some of the flexibility come back to him. So it will really depend on what the team thinks and what have you. They might allow him to play at 250 this year, and then make the decision on what he could and should be in the following years. I'm gonna say something, and it might sound hyperbolic. Boozer is Jokic Light. He he might be a tier below that, but the offensive hub, the multi-time, all NBA production potential, if the defense defensive fit resolves itself, he did everything at Duke. Point guard, best remounder, clutch basket, made the right pass, always had a timely score when the other team was on a run. He was an absolute leader. Yes, they didn't win the the tournament, but he took him as far as he could. He took him as far as he could. So Gameron Boozer to me might have the highest floor of anyone in this draft. Percentage says he's a can't fail offensive prospect. He's historically efficient. He passes, he rebounds, he shoots. The knock on him is that he won't blow past people athletically. I again still push back on that because it's not that he is out of shape at 250. This dude is built and get some of that get some of that um explosiveness explosiveness back, yeah. I think so. I think he could do that. Now he might have the not have the the basta upside or the Peterson ceiling. But if you take Boozer, you're gonna sleep well at night. Because of his floor. You know what you're gonna get. Yeah, he might not ever reach the heights of Debasta, or he might not reach the ceiling of what Darren Peterson can be, because there are things out there about Darren Peterson that people are saying that Peterson is Kobe Bryant-esque. I don't think you should ever use that unless you are absolutely sure. Cause Kobe Bryant was a maniacal worker. Kobe Bryant didn't want to miss games. This dude walked off the court after he tore his Achilles. He walked off the court under his own power. He didn't have two dudes helping him to the locker room. That dude walked off the court like he was taking a Sunday stroll with a torn Achilles. Now, it was is he a legend? Yes. But Peterson only played 20 games at Kansas, so I don't want to hear about his Kobe S type situation. I don't want to hear it. Here's what I'm gonna say about uh Caleb Wilson, and then uh we're gonna close this out.

Caleb Wilson The Bigger Swing

I like Caleb Wilson. I think obviously because of the injury, we didn't get to see the whole the whole situation with him. But I do have some questions, but the numbers were uh astounding. He averaged damn near 20 points a game. He also was a high rebounder guy. He was nine and a half boards, 2.7 assists, on 57.8% field goal percentage, but that was all basically close to the rim. He shot it at 68.2% at the rim. My man had 66 scintillating dunks, second in the country, first among major, high major freshmen. He averaged 2.8 offensive rebounds a game as a non-center. His relentless glass pursuit was absolutely astounding. I loved it. He was second behind AJ DeBanza in free throw attempts per game at 7.5 as a freshman in the country. His athletic tools speak for themselves. 1.4 steals a game and uh 1.5 blocks. He was absolutely explosive on rotations on the weak side. Here is my pushback. His jumper at this point in time is theoretical. He only had 27 attempts from three offseason. He hit 25%, 26% of those. He only shot 31.5% on all his jumpers per synergy. His free throw shooting was only 71.3, and that's the one of the biggest indicators on whether you think that his three-point shot will come around. It's usually if they're shooting a low percentage from three-point land and they're shooting like 80% from the free throw line. You're like, you know what? It's just mechanics. The touches there, it's just mechanics. But the 71.3% does not leave me warm and fuzzy on the inside. The mechanics are hitchy. That's the only way I can put it. There's a pause at the top, and his leg kick from momentum needs a full season of a shooting rebuild. But there's no question about if this dude is gonna bang the boards, get off of the rebounds, and put backs. Now, he did this at 6'9, 210 pounds at college. Um, if he's gonna do this in the pro game, uh his athleticism is gonna have to play and play up because there are gonna be more physical dudes out there that he's gonna play with. Now, they talk about his defense, and I will say this. I thought in the open court or in the perimeter, his hips looked really tight. And his turn and chase and pick and roll coverage Um showed that his hips were tight because he never really he didn't get back to his um his assignment, which is a big rolling to the rim. The other thing I will say is this is that if he was on the weak side and he saw somebody coming down the lane, he was gonna get you. He was gonna either deter the shot, block the shot, or put you so off balance that you definitely weren't gonna make that shot. Is he athlete is he worth the top four pick? Yeah, absolutely. But this is a bigger bet than the surface numbers suggest. You're betting on the work ethic and you're working, you're betting on the offensive polish that is to come, not the production you already seen. Because here's the thing: if he can't space the floor, then he is a in the not a corner, he's not he's in the dunker squat the whole time. And if you don't have a stretch big, which there aren't a lot of those out there, this is not the guy for you, unless he can improve the three-point shot. So that's the case on our guy, Caleb Wilson.

Share The Pod And Final Message

And with that going on, we're gonna close this out. And um, what I want to say to everybody out there is this is that uh we talked our talk, we emptied our clip. If if if I if the if frpc is your spot, do us a favor. Share this episode with one of your friends in your group chat who needs to hear it the most. Pull up on us at X. That's at Frontrunner PC, that's at socially underscore FRPC, that's where the rest of the gang hangs out, and then hit us up on YouTube. A YouTube channel is at FRPC Vince. Cause there will be clips from this podcast up on there uh within the next two days. Now, before we get out of here, I want to say this. Um we haven't been on the air for a while, and one of the reasons we haven't been on the air for a while is that addiction takes a toll on people, and uh unfortunately we have somebody in our midst. I'm still sober, I'm still clean for nine years. Thank God it's it's all God, I don't have nothing to do with it. I just get up every day and try to do the best I can. But uh it took a toll, and uh we're trying to get this person help, and they just seem to not want it. So my wife was going through it. I'm glad to be back. I think that from here on out you will get this twice a week. I am sure that, and we are going to put the best product out there that the NBA podcast world has ever seen. So I want to say this to you guys. I mean this every time I say it. The best part of you is still you, not your win-loss record, not your timeline, not your algorithm, just you. Surround yourself with people who actually give you light. The ones who bring the insight, the joy, and real accountability. That's your max deal. Appreciate them out loud. Don't wait on a later that nobody has promised you. We're your whoop family here at FRPC. We're going to get loud, we're going to be wrong sometimes, and we're going to come back and own it. But we are always respecting your brain because anybody can yell a take, but very few actually can defend a thought. Until the next episode, keep your mind sharp, your heart open, and your circle tight. Protect your peace like cap space and never waste it on bad basketball or bad energy. We are FRPC, and we're out.