Summer League Standouts and the Shifting Lakers Dynasty

it's friday, you know what time it is. Frontrunner podcast collective is back on the air. I am your humble host, vince, and on today's podcast we will be discussing Luka news. Luka Doncic has some big news that's coming down the pipe. We will get into it. And how it affects the Lakers now and how it affects the Lakers the next, how many years we'll find out. We tease it. We're not going to give it to you for free. Then we're also going to have some summer league observations. We're going to talk about some of the big names and some of the names that stood out, not just Cooper Flagg, not just Dylan Harper. You know how we do it. We go deep into the crates, not just dylan harper. You know how we do it. We go deep into the crates, make sure that you hit all of the prospects that did real well, and then we are going to end on, now that we have turned the page, now that we have talked about the 2025 draft class and these guys that were prospects before, we will focus in on the 2026 prospects. So nba never sleeps. You know how we do it. I never sleep and we're gonna get get into it.

So, with that being said, let's get into some other things that we need to discuss before we get into the pod. One again heartfelt thanks, heartfelt gratitude, heartfelt, just astonishment on the numbers that you guys are providing for us Internationally. We do well, you know, we just do well. I don't know why it works, I don't know how it works, it just does. We are building on that. We had just a influx downloads from the country of China, specifically Hong Kong, and so much so that our folks in Deutschland or how we would say it, in America because we have to bastardize everything Germany have been overtaken. The Chinese have taken over. They are like the number one international spot for this podcast and we are grateful. You know what that means. Germany, you gotta step up. England, by way of London, by way of Sussex, is also starting to creep up there as well. So we are truly grateful to our international fans. I also want to give a big shout out to the United States of America, because y'all do it big for us. Daily, people are downloading and consuming the podcast, which is great. We are appreciative. So, with that being said again, be a friend, tell a friend about the podcast. We do this tuesdays and feel good fridays, and if there's something that breaks, that we need to go ahead and discuss before or in between tuesday and friday or after or what have you guess what emergency pod will happen? But right now, no need for emergency pod. It's just summertime, everybody's starting to chill. I mean, we still got a couple restrictive reagents out there that don't have homes. We might have to do like a sarah mclaughlin, you know, spca spot, get some real sad music and start talking about can we find homes for jonathan kaminga, quentin grimes and also josh giddy? It's becoming an epidemic at this point.

I don't know why these guys, who are very, very talented, do not have deals. I know it's a money thing, it's a contractual thing, but at some point somebody has to bite the bullet and say, hey, listen, this has gone on for too long. Our staffs are still in town. They're not getting the, the vacation that they thought they were going to get. You know, I'm saying there are a lot of teams that have done their work and it's time to chill. You know, it's time to go to parts unknown. Go ahead and take that vacation that you sorely, sorely, have been wanting to take, but for a chosen few you can't do that because guess what we got, we still got deals to make.

So I'm looking at golden state, I'm looking at chicago and I'm looking at philadelphia and trying to figure out what's going on there now. Also, with that, there might be some sign and trade situations from these deals. I am telling you right now, from what I have been able to gather, it looks like golden state might be holding on to jonathan kaminga, and if you would have told me that four weeks ago, I would have been like there's no way he's coming back to San Francisco. But now, because they cannot agree on what his value actually is, they're so far apart. It's just making it incredibly hard to get a deal done and then also trade him. Golden State does not like the offers that they're getting from Sacramento and they do not like the offers that they're getting from Sacramento and they do not like the offers that they're getting from Phoenix Both teams desperate for wing talent, especially of the caliber that Jonathan Kamiga is.

And then the big thing with Josh Giddey. I think we talked about it when we did this whole thing On the restrictive free agents and if you have not heard that podcast, go back into the crates, go back into the archive pods it is there. We did a whole thing on it. We broke down every restrictive free agent and we talked about what was going on with them. And it stays the same with chicago. Basically, it's a money issue and they don't want to pay josh giddy anything close to what he's asking for now. You know, maybe they want to see it for another year, what have you. But I can understand that Giddy wanting some longevity. You know I need to have some years booked in to this deal. This one year deal crap is not working for me. So lots of work to be done in the NBA and we will stay on top of it, for you, no doubt.

And now we can get to the Luka news, because we do have some situations going on where there will be a signing. So let's get into it In Los Angeles. It has been real raw and rugged, and what I mean by that is that we've been glued to every breadcrumb, to every rumor, the body language, the experts trying to decode what is next for luca and the lakers. And now we got answers. All signs say that luca is not just leaning towards the lakers, he's in On the purple and gold this week. We have found out Through our channels, through our source, says that there's a, there's a contract for coming. And not only Is there a contract for coming, it's going to happen on the First day that it can actually happen.

Remember all the conjecture about is Luka going to sign? Did the Lakers do enough for him to want to sign on the dotted line? And the speculation was that he was going to sign for like two years and then opt out because at that point in time Because the way the cbs set up he would be able to maximize his dollars and become a what they call a 35 against the cap. That's your max extension for your true superstars, they get 35% or whatever the cap is. Now I have heard through the grapevine and through contacts and what have you, that Luka Doncic is not just signing an extension, it looks like he's going to sign an extension that is going to be four years and it the dollar amount is approximately 229 million dollars of a commitment to lucas. So you're looking at about 56 56 mil annual close, just slightly under. But yeah, our guy is not just signing for two years, he's signing for four.

And now I don't know how all the particular language is going to be. Is it going to be three years and then I opt out or whatever, but if he's signed him for more than two years, you can look at it this way, and this way only, he's becoming a true partner with the Lakers, something that we sorely did not have with LeBron James. With LeBron, it seemed to be adversarial from time to time. He always has this thought of keeping the franchise on his toes by signing short-term deals. So then that gives him flexibility to get out if he's not really liking what he's seeing, and also getting himself into a situation where, hey, I am lebron james, damn it. I am the all-time leading scorer of the nba and I want to have as much success as I possibly can. Damn your picks, damn your future endeavors. What about now? What about today? Now, it has worked for LeBron for a long period of time.

We talked about this before, but I will reiterate for you. It's a new day here in los angeles, it's a new day in the la la, and now that luca donchess, who is 26 years of age, that's probably where we're gonna put all our eggs in that basket. Rob palenka, genie bus and the whole brain trust of the lakers has said okay, we need to pivot towards luca and what he needs and how to get all of these things for him. Not necessarily, priority number one is lebron james. And as much as I want to sit here and say, hey, kind of foul, how you doing our guy, this is just business, it's how it works. I'm saying, if you are bringing in somebody who is literally 15 years the junior of lebron james and you're wondering how much tire, how much tread is left on those tires, when is the end game coming? Because we're closer to the end game than we are to the start. Obviously let's not get it twisted, and now we must pivot towards our youthful superstar, our youthful megastar in luka donchik's.

Now, since the blockbuster trade in February, the narrative has always been about fit. Can the Lakers fill in the pieces around Luka? Can he mesh with the roster? Can the Lakers actually build around his game? But what we've learned is that this is bigger than the trade. It's about buying, about a superstar deciding that this los angeles is his city, this is a franchise that he wants to plant his flag in, and this is where we take the next steps.

We go back a little bit. This is not just on the court. The real story is that the electrifying this fan base is not just coming from all the slick passes and the 40-point games that Luka can score. It may be making Dallas fans a little salty in what's happening off the court. So let's get to that. Here's what matters. In July, luka is set to well, we'll say tentatively, is set to sign a four-year deal worth $229 million.

Now, as far as the opt-ins and opt-outs, we have no idea, but it does sound like it's going to be a presidential term for our guy. Now that is franchise certainty. You know who really likes that rob kalinka. He's like damn, my job is safe yet again, and nothing better than job security. Rob, don't get too comfortable in that seat with Mark Walter as the new owner. I'm letting you know right now, my guy, your room is about to get filled with real smart people. So keep that in mind.

You know what this signals, also to the front office and then to the locker room and to every free agent in the league. It says that we're not renting a house in Brentwood. No, we're building a home in Los Angeles. You can put this guy on every billboard. You can put him on every Laker-based commercial. What have you? And Luka is here. There's a ripple effect With locking up Luka. If you're getting buy in from him, you're also going to get buy in From the people that he recruited the DeAndre Ayton's of the world, the Marcus Smart's of the world, the pieces that he Openly recruited To bring into the fold of los angeles and to become a lager and wear and don that purple and gold. None of this matters unless the on-court production matches the check. You know I'm saying and how does that? How does this happen?

We're going to talk about the biggest off-court headline of the summer. Luka Doncic, by multiple reports, has shed 35 pounds as he preps for EuroLeague or not EuroLeague the international play that basically kind of gets you set up for the Olympics. He's going to be over there starting august 4th. But if my man has lost 35 pounds, that means he is around 235 pounds because dallas because they were so salty they sounded like a jilted lover they were putting out reports that Luka Doncic was around 270 pounds. Now I don't know if that's 100% true, but if my man is shed 35 pounds and he was around 270, that puts him at 235. And I will tell you right now that is the least he has weighed since his second season in the NBA.

Remember the precocious little 18-year-old that walked into the league and said I'm here to take over and we thought that was cute. Then my man got a hold of some sweet tea, he got a hold of beer, he got a hold of all kinds of things and kind of ballooned up. You know what I'm saying. But it didn't hurt the game. It did not hurt the game. He was still putting up 34, 9 and 8. Nobody talks about that. Nobody talks about the year. He was healthy. Last year he was in Dallas, and I'm not talking about the half year, I'm talking about the full year when they went to the NBA finals. Right, they go on the to the NBA finals.

Off Lucas, back off his talent. He's putting up 34, 9 and 8, whatever his weight was, whatever the conjecture was, whatever the ill will that was going on in dallas and, trust me, we'll get more into it as we go along. Looka time in dallas. You can call it controversial, adversarial, you can call it. He felt like he was not being heard. The dallas mavericks let people go that luca trusted. By the way, those people are now back, since he's with the lakers, like his publicist is entrenched with the lakers as far as that's concerned. So the stories kept surfacing about coaches, execs, even teammates, pushing him to drop weight in dallas.

But as much as Luka dominated, as brilliant as he was with the ball, the whispers about his fitness never went away. I mean, everybody remembers Tim McMahon specifically talking about reports. And where was it coming from? It had to be coming from the front office. Oh, we want Luca to be in better shape. We want Luca to be in better shape. It's all about conditioning with Luca. It's all about this with Luca, the calf injury was a direct correlation to the weight that he had put on. These are all things that came from the Mavericks front office or someone in that organization. That's where we got the claim that he was 270 pounds around the trade. That's a number that made a lot of GMs nervous, but in one in particular, nico Harrison, especially for a franchise player that was expected to get that super, super max, because if he stays in Dallas, the money that he's getting with the Lakers would be crazy, dwarf by the money he would have been able to achieve in Dallas. You're talking about the difference of making like 56 million to like 70 million. I mean, if you playing with dude's money, you know he gonna be salty about that.

Let's be honest, this wasn't just a dallas storyline. It was a league-wide conversation a year after luca was showing these mvp flashes of talent With showing these MVP flashes of talent. But by midseason the talk will turn To his wind, his legs, his willingness to dig in. You talked about they talked about his effort on the defensive end. I get all that and, yes, we want Luka to be able to move the feet, move the puppies, so to speak. But at the end of the day, again, 34, 9 and 8 I'm going to continue to repeat those numbers for you. So dallas brought dallas brass can implore him.

But as far as him wanting to lose weight, if he lost trust in you and he's hearing all these things that's coming out about him and it can only be disseminating From one place he just said screw you, I'm going to do what I want to do. You know what I'm saying. I'm going to do me. I'm going to put up these points. I'm going to go about my business business the way I need to go about my business now. I'm not saying he did it the right way, I'm just saying this what he felt at the time.

Now we're seeing a version of luca that's lighter, more explosive and, by all accounts, hungrier than ever. And I'm talking about hungrier on the court, not off the court. Okay, don't don't put the fat jokes in there. Leave that alone. It's not about the number on the scale. It's about the commitment behind it. Luca is showing up 35 pounds thinner, hitting that weight room. That's showing buy-in to all his teammates. That's showing buy-in to the potential free agents that might be coming and to the guys who just got here for the first time. You hear strength coaches talking about luca as a pace setter. Instead of a project, he's working with his own group that he was denied in Dallas.

Let's not get it twisted. There was people that just got picked off Randomly and they seem to be all the Potter and Lucas little inner circle. So let's pivot to the Los Angeles Lakers Championship window, shall we? You just got a 26 yearyear-old generational superstar. Now, again, we talked about LeBron being 41, and where does it all end? And how does it end? We don't know. We know that LeBron is great, hard to deal with, but great Can give you a lot. But we are at the point where we got to start making decisions based on what the next four to five years is going to look like, instead of one year right now.

And you were in that situation perpetually for like the last four years, because the one talk that we had about lebron and then you kind of package ad involved in that is that once lebron left, it was kind of like, do you trade ad for to start the rebuilding process? To start the rebuilding process, get picks, you know, or get young players, what have you? It was never like we're gonna build this team around ad. It was. We're gonna pivot off of ad to start building the core of our nucleus for when a new superstar is able to come.

The partnership between ad and lebron as long as they were both here, yes, it was fruitful, but it was met with a bunch of injuries. It was met with, you know. Is ad gonna be able to stay healthy? How long can we depend on LeBron? It was always built on something, and usually it was built on something that involved a question If Luka is going to be 235 pounds, a lot of questions go away. And then now what you're talking about is two things. And then now what you're talking about is two things A new city, a new standard and a new challenge that Luka is going to attack with full vigor and an open heart.

Soraya has a note All that noise out of Dallas during February when these this trade came about, it just looks like sour grapes. There's a real regret that the breakthrough didn't happen in a mavericks jersey, all you think. But the lakers, they find a way. So not only do they get it, did they trade for an mvp? Do they get it? Did they trade for MVP? You might have unlocked the most dedicated version of Luka Doncic that the NBA, nba world has ever seen. Can't wait for October. Boy, cannot wait. It's gonna be cold-blooded. So, at the end of the day, luka is now the franchise dude.

Now the extension that we were talking about, where it looks like it's going to be a four-year deal. The extension brings a lot of stability. The body transformation brings hope and the entire league is watching to see if the Lakers truly build a window that can last, and I think they can. I think it's really easy to build around Luka. You got to get dudes who can go out and guard other dudes. You need a rim protector, but you also need somebody who's a live threat. I think they have those things now. Maybe not at the extent of what you would Absolute like. This is not the zenith of what you could actually get for Luka To surround him, but you start to see the semblance of what they're trying to do. Marcus Smart Now I don't know if he's going to be a point of attack defender, but he is definitely the best perimeter defender that we that we've had in quite some time. Think Avery Bradley back in 2020 season. So we're looking at what five years at that point. So that's kind of what we're looking at right now.

So, as laker fans lake show nate, lake show laker nation what say you? Hit us up on twitter at frontrunner pc, or hit up the producer at rare underscore, fudge frpc. If lucas's transformation is real, we are in for a absolute treat. Dude, we thought the passes and scoring last year was good. You imagine what this dude is going to be able to do with 35 less pounds. It's going to be crazy. Somebody must have clued him in on Kale. With 35 less pounds. It's going to be crazy. Somebody must have Clued him in on kale and juicing Not like steroids, I'm talking about juicing, like you know, getting juice. I'm so excited man, so excited for Luka. Can't wait for October to get here. And, speaking of that, there are other franchises who are also waiting for October to come, and one does reside in Dallas, because here's the one thing. They might have stepped in it with the Luka trade, but here's the deal. They did recover nicely.

Cooper Flagg is a Dallas Maverick. So what we're going to do is we're going to break down some of the standout performances that came from Summer League and we're also going to talk about the spotlight guys. We're going to talk about Cooper Flagg, dylan, going to talk about cooper flag, dylan harper and con canipple and the rest, and then we're going to tell you about some guys who stepped up, showed out in their summer league and, uh, some guys who might have struggled as well. So we're going to give you our summer league observations and we're going to start in dallas. We're gonna start in Dallas. We're gonna start with Cooper Flatt.

Now, flag only played two games in the summer league, but the Mavericks gave him the keys, and the reason for that is because, with Kyrie Irvin sideline for most of the year, recovering from an ACL injury, coach Jason Kidd wanted to see Flagg run the offense. He wanted to have the ball in his hands Now after a rough opener against the Lakers y'all remember that 5-21 my man shot. Oh, you knew, and he even said it after that game. He was like this is the worst game I ever played. Did my guy make adjustments? You bet your ass he did Second game. He dropped 31. I ever played. Did my guy make adjustments? You bet your ass he did Second game. He dropped 31. Had complete command of the offense and showed that I can be an on ball initiator. He showed on ball creation that you would want to see From him. The Mavericks shut him down Right after Said we've seen enough. We know what we got. So, dallas fans, feel good about the transfer of power. Feel good about Cooper Flagg being your guy. Feel good about the great American.

White Hope Is back and he's back in big d. They were throwing out words like point forward. We know what kind of difference play make, what kind of real defensive playmaker he is. He still is going to need to work on his outside shot, but the IQ is so advanced for his age. It was really scary to see this dude is legitimate. I'm gonna cosign all of it and right now it's not. It's not what he's, what he's not going to be able to do. What it is is okay. What's the level of the ball handling? Can it get to? What are we actually talking about? Is he going to hit all the? Is he going to hit the zenith on all the levels? Because if he does, we are talking about somebody who is going to win league mvps. There is no doubt that this dude is going to be a defensive um, all defensive player. I don't know about a defensive player of the year unless the league just gets win by yama fatigue, but cooper flag is going to be a generational defender in this league, not a question in my mind.

Let's move along to the spurs. Surprise, right, they get the second overall pick. They picked Dylan Harper out of Rutgers, who's a big guard, played a bunch of clutch moments, but I will tell you this the efficiency, the turnovers, it left a little bit to be desired. But here's the thing he was playing with guys that I mean. No offense to a lot of the guys that were on the team. This is not NBA standard Of team.

Your summer league is you're looking for? Basically, you're looking for Jewels and a bunch of Dirt and underneath rock. That's what you're looking for. You're hoping that one of these guys can shine and be able to make your team and kind of just fill out your roster. So harper was playing not with the most talent in the whole wide world and his on-ball creativity, which did flash a lot of his creative reads often was met with slow reactions from teammates leading to turnovers. But you saw the vision, you saw the intent. The flashes were there of an advanced creator on ball. No doubt the shooting. Here's another young guy. You're talking about 19 years of age. The shot wasn't consistent, but I didn't think it would be. I think as he goes along, it'll get better and better. I think they do have a really good player in Dylan Harper.

We're going to go down to our guy, conn Knipple. Now, the Hornets did draft him. Remember what we told you when the draft was coming around? Conn Knipple was our guy. This was our, you know the 2025 version of Desmond Bain. We shouted out Desmond Bain from the top. Out, desmond Bain From the top of the mountains. You know what I'm saying. We let you know that Desmond Bain was going to be a real player. And we said Basically the same thing about Conn Knipple. And boy Did he show out In Summer League. He was an all Summer League Second team. You know that FRc has to certify him.

Knipple shot it well. I thought that was going, definitely going to happen, but more importantly, he didn't get torched defensively. You can already see how cleanly his movement shooting is and the pairing of our guy Caniple Lomelo and Brandon Miller Hornets fans. Coach T, tony, we got to get you on. I know you hearing this, we're going to have to get you on to represent Charlotte in a real way. So you know I'm going to be looking for you. I'll be DMing you soon. But for the other Hortons fans, this is the role player, this is a I wouldn't even call him a role player, I call him like an executive role player that you needed for a long period of time and I think, with the type of guys that you have around him, it spells nothing but success for our guys in Charlotte. Knipple is the definition of what I call playoff glue A movement shooter that you are not afraid to allow him to go to dance with the devils that are going to be on that perimeter.

Okay, he is going to get called out, he's going to be picked on, but just kind of like sam hauser and some of the other guys that are in the league that that's for some reason they get picked on. Max Drews is one of those guys and what tends to happen? You go ahead and you try to continue to pick on him and it's not working. Not saying that he's a lockdown defender or anything like that. Is he gonna get beat by our? I'm not saying that he's a lockdown defender or anything like that. Is he going to get beat by our better wings and better guards out there? 100%, conn Canipaul is not that guy. But if he can just stay in front most of the time and they will start, it'll be deterred. You won't sit there and pick on him as much if he continues to play at this kind of level and play with this kind of veracity some of his pillar tags that he has feel of the game 100. He has two-way iq and coachability. So all the things you would want.

Now, another guy who was in summer league that I greatly anticipated when I wanted to see him play was Vijay Edgecombe, and Vijay was exactly who we thought. He was a bouncy, defensive weapon, an uber athlete. The jumper looked better in summer league than I thought it might, but the release is still slow. He's gonna have to work on that situation. That'll be a swing skill, but everything else seems NBA ready. He looked, he looks like a elite slasher defender. Point of attack gets to the line and if the jumper sticks, watch out. Watch out, because this dude is one of those superior athletes. Superior athletes now I don't know if I want to put him in the anthony edwards, asar thompson, ahman thompson level, yet I want to see more out of him.

But I will say this is that he has the ability to kind of surprise you, and what I mean by that is that there were a couple dunks where you sit there and be like wait, what happened? What? What just happened? Oh, no, no, no, run that back, run that back. We need to see that. He gives you that level, he gives you that. You see, that's the type of verbiage that is coming out of your mouth when vj edgebe is on your television.

Another guy who we were greatly anticipating and I'm sure Utah was greatly anticipating, especially the first couple days out After the draft, or what have you when you start to hear rhetoric about him not reporting to Utah Was Ace Bailey, the switchable wing that shows flashes on both ends, that needs to build consistency in every aspect of his game. But I will say this the length is there. If he can get into the passing lanes and create the disruption that he should be able to do and create the disruption that he should be able to do, and it will just come down to his effort level. Now I will say in Summer League we saw that effort, we saw a lot of grittiness from him that sometimes did not show up, I will say, being honest, it didn't show up at Rutgers.

It made me question oh, do we have a diva on our hands? Do we have somebody who's a little aloof when it comes to the defensive end of the ball and then I'm going to be locked in on the offensive side of the ball. But if he's able to use some of these gifts that he's absolutely been given, we have a really, really all-around effective player in ace bailey. He's young. Okay, he is young, young-minded, precocious kid. It might take a second, but we are expecting good things out of ace bailey. And then, really, what's going to make him get to that next, that that next level, is, what kind of defender can he be? Is he a guy who can stay on the court? Is he a guy who cares? Is he a guy that looks out the scouting court, looks at the video, starts to pick up tendencies and what have you? If he does those things, the 20 some odd points he wants to score a night are going to come very easily. Because you're going to get a bunch of time on the court, my guy, and also because you are a trusted person on this squad, the opportunities will just come. So let's move along to washington now.

A lot of times when we talk about washington, there's a lot of snickering going along, going on, there's a lot of sarcasm going on. But I actually have legitimate, legitimate praise to say about the Washington Wizards today. Trey Johnson out of Texas, sniper out of Texas. I will say this and it did suck for Washington to have one of the worst records in the NBA. And then, because the way the draft lottery falls, they had the sixth overall pick. But where they, where they pick, wasn't where they wanted to pick. But I will tell you that trey johnson could be the best bucket getter since bradley bill. He looked right at home, on and off ball, finding cre crevices, using screens and getting to his shot, which is all butter. You know what I'm saying Now. He's still skinny, but he competed on the defensive end. He has a high ceiling and the floor. That should get him real minutes Early.

He's an efficient scorer. He has an NBA ready made shot. He has some. He has some volume on his shot too. Now His ability to guard, his ability to want to guard, because he's slight. It will take a lot of effort for him early on in his career, but if he competes on the defensive end, there's enough playmaking for him to stay on the floor. He is a score first dude. He will have to develop the two way capabilities and some of the consistencies he needs. Out of that. He will have to develop the two-way capabilities and some of the consistencies he needs. Out of that on the defensive end. And some of it is going to come with getting into the weight room and just getting stronger and basically developing Because, remember, these are all like 19-year-old kids. Cooper is 18 years old Now. He's built different Because he's 6'9", 220 pounds already, which is crazy. But kids like Trey Johnson are going to take some time.

He's automatically, to me, the best offensive player that the Washington Wizards has as far as the young guys are concerned Now I'm not talking about the guys they got as far as the young guys are concerned. Now, I'm not talking about the guys they got as far as the vets are concerned, like the CJ McCollums of the world, whatever the case may be. No, that's not what I'm talking about. I'm not CJ McCollum. Who am I thinking of? Who's over there? They got a couple vets over there, but as far as the young guys are concerned, he is the one. Bilal Kulibaly is a guy who will definitely be a star in his role type of guy, but if you're looking at him as one of your top three people, that does not. That does not lend itself to success. Now Alex R book is still out on him. We'll see how he grows as a player. We'll see how it all kind of flows out, but as far as somebody who can get you a bucket right now, trey johnson is that guy. So kudos to the brain trust of the washington wizards and we love what they've done. Now we're going to talk about some other guys, and I want to talk about some guys who had really interesting summer leagues and it's not your traditional lottery picks and things of that nature.

Neek Clifford, who was drafted by the Sacramento Kings. He looks like a Josh Hart clone Rebounding, quick decisions, defense, no ego, just a glue guy. Could potentially be a playoff connector. I like this kid a lot. I liked him coming out of draft so it was good to see him do the things that we thought he could do, the things that we were like damn, that looks like it translates.

I remember having a conversation with serea about neek clifford and I was saying I don't know where he's gonna go, but if he goes to the right team he can make an immediate impact. And these are the reasons why I said he gets after it. On the defensive end he's. He does rebound and he rebounds well for his size, because he's not a big dude. He's like six, five, six, six at the best, but he's gonna make the right pass. He's pretty quick. When it comes to that, he's a team first guy, whatever you need coach type of dude. I always thought that dee clifford was going to be one of those cats that, if went to the right situation which here's the one thing in sacramento, you could talk about what they've done over the last couple years and it has been god awful, but the one thing that we can say is that he should get a lot of opportunities to be able to circumvent some of his skills that are not manifesting with some of the players that they already have on the team. So I don't know if this is the absolute correct role for him, but what I will say is that he's going to get plenty of opportunities in sacramento and I do not believe that he will squander any of these opportunities.

Another guy that showed out during summer league is brooks barzing barzinger 21 steals. I'll say that again 21 steals in 8 games. If he shoots league average, this dude is going to be a rotational wing for a contender. And who got him? Whose team was he on? Oh, that would be your reigning defending NBA champions, your Oklahoma City Thunder. So let me get this straight. Let's wrap our dome pieces around this fact. Oklahoma City deploys banshees such as Lou Dort, alex Caruso and an emerging Cason, wallace. Alex Caruso and our emerging case in Wallace and now this do, this do just shows up on the scene and he's getting 21 steals in eight games. That's damn near three steals a game. That is crazy work.

If this dude is gonna have defensive engagement in anticipation at the level that he showed at summer league, it's going to be real easy for oklahoma city to flip either caruso or lou dort for for draft picks, or I don't think they'll flip him for a player because they keep drafting people and keep on uh discovering people like brooks, uh barnizer. I don't know, I don't know how they do it. I do know this we talk about. We sing the praises of sam prestey all the damn time, but I want to sing the praises of his scouts. Obviously he gives them the marching orders to go out and do what they do, but for them to really just continue to eye the talent, identify it and say, hey, we can put that, implement that into our system. And he's going to defend, like some of the other guys that we have on this team that are standout defenders, such as lou dort and alex caruso. That's ridiculous. It is absolutely ridiculous that this is going on.

Also want to give a shout out? The Hornets are doing real big things. Let's give a shout out to uh Ryan Kalkbrenner. He had himself a nice little summer league. Okay, rim deterrence, which was one of the questions that we had about him 10 block shots. He had a couple threes. You know what I'm saying, and he's seven feet tall, so stretch five. What's up, baby? You know what I'm saying. But you got stretch five in the second round.

And here's the best part, without a ton of competition on the roster, because some of the trades that basically charlotte traded all their bigs to phoenix right, mark williams is there, nick richards is there and now our guy, ryan cockbrenner, is basically almost standing alone as the, as the lethal big of the Charlotte Hornets. They got a couple other bigs. I'm just saying that as far as high profile guys, guys that we saw in March Madness, who gave us a lot of memories, and things of that nature. To see Ryan Cogburn be able to do his thing and see it translate warmed my heart a little bit. And again, if the rim protection is real and I don't have any doubt to, I don't have any uh inclination to doubt this with the defensive awareness and also the shot he should be able to lend himself to plus 20 minutes right off the bat, there's nothing but air and opportunity between him and those 20 minutes that I'm talking about. So if he continues this in training camp and what have you? You see this in the preseason games in training camp, and what have you, you see this in the preseason games, we might have a guy who's gonna, uh, play a lot of extensive minutes in this in the city of charlotte. So we look out for that. We looking out for that.

How about our guy jameer watkins? Also a wizards, drafty, high motor, disruptive defenders, ton of steals, ton of blocks and basically with him it's, it's the shot. If the shot comes along, he turns into herb jones, like I know that's high praise, but that's what I see. He's got long arms, real quiet, lunch pail type dude. He goes and just does his business and guess what? He seems to really enjoy playing defense. He seems to really kind of his. Whatever his kicks are, whatever his fetishes are, one of them is playing defense and also making you feel like you can't get shots off. So look for our guy jameer walkins.

Now we're going to hit a couple dudes that struggled during the summer league and we're going to get into a little bit and talk about what, what they need to do to kind of turn this around. The first one is Nolan Traore, who was drafted by the Brooklyn Nets. Now, nolan Traore, some of these struggles are not new to our guy. Okay, he shot just 29.2 overall and he was one of eight. From three. He had zero steals or blocks in 72 major in 72 minutes, which is a major flag for a guard or a wing in a defensive role. You got to think about this again. When we talk about summer league, it's the draftees from this draft and maybe last year's draft. Right, like we said with Cooper Flagg, he played in two games and then they were like we've seen all we needed to see. This dude is super awesome, we don't need to see anything more. We're going to go ahead and stamp that dude as the next dude and we can go ahead and get up out of here. Listen, cooper, we're going to show you some places in Dallas where you can live and get you all set up and get you comfy, cozy for when basketball comes around again.

The opposite of that is the other guys, because remember in the summer league, yeah, you got your draft, you got your draft picks, but then you got guys who are fringe nba players or not even fringe nba players. They might just be like fringe g league players. These might be guys that might be jettisoned overseas to parts unknown I'm not talking about like the french leagues and the um, the, the spain leagues or anything like that, which are the higher level leagues. I'm talking about like israel, I'm talking about like turkey, I'm talking about germany. I'm talking about leagues like that. Those are lower level leagues.

Nolan Traore, to not have not one steal, not one block show, did either hey, you didn't want to play any defense, or you were absolutely physically outmatched. And that scares me a lot when it comes to Nolan Traore, because that was not part of his reputation coming into the draft and this is not what the international scouts were talking about. By the way, quick aside, I want to shout out Jonathan, jonathan Govoni, who just left ESPN. If you read on his Instagram as of yesterday, he said that ESPN and himself were not in alignment about his value and that they were going to go ahead and terminate his contract. As far as that's concerned, contract as far as that's concerned.

Now, jonathan Gavone has already said that he is continuing to scout, continuing to unearth these international talents and also give us a kind of a brighter picture of what the draft is supposed to look like for us. This man does a lot of tireless work out there for us. So then, when the draft comes along, I don't feel like I'm a complete freaking idiot when I talk about these guys. You know I do my work, no doubt, for you, but I listen to smart people and jonathan gavoni is one of those smart people that we listen to, so we want to send our well wishes on his future endeavors. And, jonathan, espn lost a good one man. Your, your passion, your drive for this is is apparent.

And ESPN dropping the ball and letting Jonathan Cavani go. Hey, I'm not gonna say it's a mistake. All I'm gonna say is that he's gonna be a hard act to replace, a very hard act to replace. So, again, with nolan traore, to see this, to see what went on with him low impact, he didn't shoot the ball. Well, he, he's a point guard. We're gonna need him to play some defense and we're gonna need him to spray the ball out to shooters. We didn't see any of that. And, by the way, if you can't shoot yourself, you can't get on the court, my man. So I don't know what this is gonna look like. My man needs to get in the gym. He needs to be putting up a thousand shots. Okay, you need to uh, work on your, your slide step, my guy. Okay.

Oh, here's the other best part. Assist to turnover ratio eight to seven, uninspiring for a primary ball handler. So you didn't take care of the ball and you didn't cause havoc on the other end. So you didn't take care of the ball and you didn't cause havoc on the other end. Thank God Brooklyn had like a thousand picks in the first round, right? So if one doesn't pan out, hopefully the other four can do something.

Now our guy, carter Bryant, also had a dismal summer league. He only made 28% of his 50 shot attempts and he was 25 percent from three. He had 18 turnovers. As an off ball player that's unusually high. And despite the defensive activity, the 10 blocks my boy got after it when it came to people coming into that paint. You come into that paint, you enter at your own risk. Because he got after it. He had 10 blocks in six games. So that's a highlight for my guy.

The offense, though see the defense, we knew was going to translate. We always had a question about the offense, and the offense was rough sledding for our guy. How do you get rotational minutes if you're basically an absolute zero on the offensive end? We can't see your defensive gifts if you can't put the ball in the hole on the offensive end. All right, now do I think this is going to hold no.

Carter ryan is like 19 years of age. He's still slight things of that nature. I think they can knock him off his line very easily. He will get stronger and this will turn around. My thing is this Is that I thought at 6 foot 8. It was going to be real hard for people to kind of mess with his shot and it didn't seem to be the case. And again, he made 28% of his shots and he shot 50. He shot the shot 50 times. He was getting them up and then he shot 25% from three. All bad numbers. And then the 18 turnovers is absolutely ridiculous for somebody who is not a primary initiator of the basketball. I felt bad for him really did.

Another guy who struggled a little bit was a Noah a sing way, the French kid from who played I think he played in the German League last year. He was drafted by the Chicago Bulls. Zero assists, seven turnovers in the opener. He got ducked on so bad by our guy Johnny Furphy. It broke SportsCenter bro. He missed the last game with a quad injury.

Pathway to minutes right now looks murky due to the roster logjam because remember, we got patrick williams still there, or the ghost of patrick williams or the corpse of patrick williams, however you want to put it. Patrick williams is still in the building in chicago, which is it's unfathomable man. It really is. Then you got josh giddy. Even though he's not signed, we do expect josh giddy to be in chicago when the season starts. Our guy mattis buzellas is there.

You know we got some wings, so there's not a lot of pressure on noah singway, but I wanted him to be able to at least at least provide the energy in the defensive disruption. So then we could take Patrick Williams and then put him in parts unknown, because that was a waste of money. Four years, 90 million dollars, and we've not seen any real substantial growth from our guy patrick williams. He is the absolute poster child for when I talk about wings that are athletic and then we believe that the shot will come around. You know how out I am on that. You know how extremely out I am on dudes that are, oh, the shot will come around. You know he's so athletic, he's this. He's that patrick does not rebound the ball. Well, there's's not a lot of steals, there's not a lot of blocks, he doesn't seem to be a connector and I was hoping for a single way to kind of eat into those minutes. He has a long, long way to go before he's able to do that. I just hope and pray that it's not Patrick Williams Part 2. I just hope and pray that it's not Patrick Williams Part 2. Patrick Williams Part 2, electric Boogaloo does not sound excellent to me.

It sounds like a nightmare that I cannot get out of. Effort is an absolute concern. Ball security is another absolute concern. Positional fit is unclear. Because here's the thing if you can't shoot it and you're an energy big and I'm not seeing the energy on that defensive end, you're not becoming a disruptor on that defensive end. How am I gonna put you on the court?

All right, let's turn our attention to Jeremiah Fears, shall we? I thought this was going to be an issue because Fears is small. He's not just small in stature, he's also small in girth. I think they listed him at like 175 pounds. I think he's closer to like 163. Personally production issues.

He shot the ball. 40% from the field. Hey, hey, listen, I ain't going to worry about that. I will not worry about the 40% from the field. You want better, but I'm not going to worry about that. What I will worry about Is this 18 of 22. Missed, not 18 of 22. Made. 18 of 22 missed. 18 to 22 made. 18 to 22. Missed from three-point land.

Now you want to hear some real bad numbers for somebody who is a point guard. 13 to 25 that was his assist to turnover ratio. So my man was basically one to two in his assist to turnover ratio. It's supposed to be the other way around. It's supposed to be 25 assists and 13 turnovers, not 13 assists and 25 turnovers. Now again, it's summer league.

Some of the guys that he's playing with are not going to be nba players this year, the next year or maybe never, but you hope to have seen better consistency of taking care of the ball, because not some of these were passes to maybe a guy who wasn't looking the right way or whatever. But some of this was like I dribbled it off my leg and it went out of bounds. Some of this was travels. Some of this was like I stepped on the baseline, or whatever the case may be, when I was trying to shoot my three Like. These are mistakes. These are mental mistakes that you're making, not what other people are making. So I was really concerned about this situation.

The good thing for our guy Jeremiah Fears is that you got jordan hawkins down there. Uh, our guy dejonte murray will be healthy at some point in the year. Uh, then you got jose alvarado, you know. So it's not like they're leaning completely on our dude jeremiah fears. But Jeremiah Fears was supposed to be the equivalent excitement of Rob Dillingham last year, and remember how that went. And Rob Dillingham had a great summer league. Right, he had a really outstanding summer league. There was some standout moments for our guy, but this was not good and this puts you way behind. So I hope through the summer, through film study, through, you know, countless drills that my guy is going to do most definitely, that the numbers that we see in summer league are indicative of what we're gonna see in the preseason from Jeremiah fierce.

There's some developmental red flags that we need to talk about. Decision-making under pressure is an absolute concern. Struggle to run an offense as a lead guard we talked about that. The 13 to 13 assists to 25 turnovers is not good. The shooting and efficiency nowhere near nba ready. That's the problem. That's the real problem. Okay, that's the one that will keep you off the court. I mean, mean, this is just not great.

There was one game where he shot the ball. He missed 16 out of 21 shots, so he was 5 of 21. He missed he shot 1 of 7 from 3. And he has 6 fouls and 3 turnovers and 0 assists in one game. You trying to do too much. You're trying to prove way too much. You didn't even consider your teammates. Thank god for jordan cool being in new orleans. Boy, we will see.

Next guy on this list is Hugo Gonzalez. He was the late first round pick by the Boston Celtics 30% on 43 shot attempts Not great. Also, he's supposed to be a wizard with the basketball. 11 assists, 13 turnovers Not as bad as Jeremiah Fierce, but still not great. Struggled, especially when given ball screens creation reps. He didn't convert at all. As far as that, his offensive efficiency was was dreadful. He didn't impact the game as a primary or secondary ball handler. He struggled with ball security and finishing at the rim. He blocked four shots. So he did show some defensive chops but overall he didn't stand out on either end, offensively out of sync and he looked like an unclear fit in the half court. Decision-making lagged and he looked like he was two beats off at all times. That's what I got from watching his summer league tape.

The shooting variance, the turnover trouble all need major work. Right now, there's no immediate role for our guy. The great thing about it is he's going to the celtics, where the expectations are low this year just because of the fact that jason tatum is out with an achilles tear, tear. Say that three times fast and also say this we got a lot of these in the league right now and we're talking about under 30 year old dudes. With these, jason tatum, I think, was 27, terry's halliburton is 25. This is real young to be having these old man injuries.

Just saying, all, right, now we are going to turn to a happier time. We are going to talk about something that a lot of people want to talk about, and you know what that is. We talked about the 2025 draft class, but we gotta get you ready for 2026. And you say, vince, these guys haven't even hit college yet. They haven't even reported to their international teams. I understand that it is time to turn the page. We are going into the 2026 nba draft and some of these prospects. We talked about the 2025 rookies first time seeing them never. Summer league steps, crossovers, blown layups, wild crowds, crowds and coaches yelling next play.

Now we got to flip the script. Now we got to start talking about this 2026 draft class and why it matters and why these early evaluations matter. Because we're building kind of a portfolio, we're building a dossier. That's what we're doing and we're doing it together. So again, if you're out there watching tape and you see some things on some of the people that we're going to talk about, hit us up. Frontrunnerpc on twitter. Also rea, underscore, fudge, frpc that's the handles that you can get us at. You know saying, if you got some tape on, like one of these guys, like darren peterson, uh, cameron boozer, aj de bansta y'all know these kids. Whatever you can vouch for leadership, things of that nature, we'll put you on. We'll see what's up.

But we're about to get into it and I guess we need to start with the, the number one overall consensus guy right now, the guy who is stirring the drink, the guy who is leading the 2026 class to higher heights and he will be playing his basketball at the university of kansas rock chalk jayhawks, okay, and that is none other than darren peterson. Every gym has a guy who walks in and knows immediately he's the best scorer in the building, and that is darren. His game pops off the screen buckets from all three levels. He has a slippery handle Allah, donovan Mitchell mold. But the real question is, he'll walk in 20 piece or does he make everyone better? He figures to be on balance all the time and when you're looking for the face of a franchise, this might be your guy.

So we talked about some of the superlatives of our guy, darren Peterson. We're going to talk a little bit more His scoring. He's a tremendous shot maker and a scorer. Advanced, handle and polish for his age Keep in mind, he's 18. Now, versatility he can play on and off ball. He changes pace pretty well and he can pick his spots, his shooting projects on all three levels off the dribble and catch A neat understanding of space and timing, mature for his age. He's a highly competitive dude. Highly competitive dude and he's a plus rebounder for somebody 6'5". A couple things to work on and this is something that you're gonna see with a lot of these kids is this is that shit, you're the. You're the dude that is like the best on your team, okay. So sometimes these other things get spotty.

Playmaking growth he needs to continue to develop as a primary creator, creating for others as well as himself. He can get his shot off on anyone. Okay, it's what you can do for the others who might need your help, need your assistance to get their shot off. Hopefully he can work on that shot selection and consistency. I don't worry about this when, when we're talking about 18 year old, honestly, because they believe they can just hit any shot. Oh, logo For sure, with three dudes in my face, absolutely Watch this go down. Team offense integration Adapting from primary scorer to orchestrator of the offense sometimes is a struggle for him. This is something that we're going to hopefully see out of kansas. That grow, that has to grow.

Okay, um, who was the dude that we saw in this last, in this last piece? You know who we were talking about. Like that, we were talking about trey johnson. Like that, he showed out at summer league that he can be an on-ball guy or a secondary creator or what have you. So this, these things are not knocks. These are things that even darren will tell you. These are things I need to work on now.

The other thing is will he be able to, when he does, do the step up from high school to college? Will he be able to handle the physicality and having older players lean on him. Bottom line is this peterson projects as a top tier nba ready guard prospect who whose ability to score and create at all three levels for himself is well beyond his years. His physicality and his mentally mature outlook Can fill either Back or spot. For sure he can be a two guard or one and he should be An instant impact player for Kansas. I can't wait to see this kid On ESPN. He has a real upside for high level starting or franchise cornerstone if the claim making comes to bear. No major red flags so far that we can see early favorite to be the number one overall pick in next year's draft.

Now we need to move on to the, to the eight million dollar man. Yes, I did say eight million dollars. This is what byu gave aj the bastard to come play college ball. That gave that dude eight million dollars to play basketball at the mormon school. Man, I'm telling you those, uh, those missions, they going on, they providing fruit boy. You got eight million dollars to give to AJ the bastard man. I'll take 200,000. All right, I'll go to Costa Rica and you know, turn some bucks on what. Let's do it. Let's get into a little bit.

Aj de bansta. Obviously, six foot, nine wing, he will be taking his talents to byu. He will be going to provo. Now, traditionally byu is a football school, but with aj de bansta getting there, we gonna be talking about hoops. Baby, right now we looking at a a young paul george. You know i'mops baby. Right now we looking at a young Paul George. You know I'm saying that's what we looking at.

Big time score, big time shot maker can create and hit mid-range jumpers at will. By the way, I saw him in the under 18 internationals. This dude can. I'm not saying he a foul merchant. What I will say is this he can garner contact and then get that shot off and create foul shot opportunities and something that my wife absolutely love. If you get to the free throw line, those are free and you should throw them into the bucket and guess what he does. He does do that. He shoots at an 82 percent clip from the free throw line. That's really good for somebody, his age, versatility, scores from mid post, out of ball screens and in isolation. He is a mismatch nightmare. He can shoot over guards. So as far as shot creation, you don't have to worry about that. He's gonna blow by bigs because he's six foot nine, damn near six foot ten.

Now. Defensive tools, switchable defender when engaged. Again, when you're this talented and you're when you are a person that has to produce on the offensive end as much as he does, I will tell you it is one of those things. The defense is the last thing to come like. Listen, I put all my effort into the offensive end. Y'all gonna have to pick me up on the defensive end. Well, now he's in college, he's gonna have to play some damn defense if he wants to be a top tier pick in the next year's draft.

Consistently. Consistency is a a trouble area for aj. The best. He needs to be fully engaged to assert his presence in every game. Now, when he was in the internationals, this dude was everywhere. This dude was get. He was not. Was he calling for the ball? He just go up and get it. He demanded like give me the wall. All right, now everybody spread out. I'm gonna go ahead and take this dude off the dribble. It's gonna be crazy.

He's a polish as a playmaker not yet. He's not yet a proven playmaker for anybody but himself. This sounds like ace bailey. That's who this? Sounds like Ace Bailey, that's who this sounds like. He's a scorer for himself. Strength and physicality. He may need to continue to develop a little slight you know what I'm saying not too much slight, but he is a little slight to really maximize what he's going to be at the NBA level. He's going to have to get stronger, for sure.

But we're talking about 18-year-old kids, right? This is what we do. 18-year-old kids are not going to just walk in looking like Rocky Balboa, you know, in his workout montage or whatever the case may be. All right, he's coming in, he's 18. He probably doesn't know what to eat. He probably just eating. I don't know, you know, I don't know what this particular 18 year old eats, but it's probably not all great. He's gonna star everywhere. He's gone.

Okay so, to play with others, to be able to engage with others, to be able to say, okay, I got to shine my game, but I got to do it in a place where it draws the attention and then kick out to my other dudes instead of taking the shot. That is something he's going to have to learn. That is something he's gonna have to learn. Now, I don't know. Byu was the proper place to do this. That. I hope byu got some other dudes that can command the ball, where he can sit there and respect those kids, because we gonna need to see him get off ball, because the first time that he gets blitzed in the nba atmosphere, oh, he going to lose his damn mind. He's going to lose it. He's going to be like man. How am I going to be able to get shots off if y'all going to attack me every single time? Dog, that's not our problem. If you don't, if you're dumb enough not to pass it to your teammate and then reroute yourself to another area, that's on you.

Devanissa is the prototype for modern scoring wing, with elite physical tools and shot creation. He can generate his own offense from nearly anywhere on the floor and he has the frame to be a two-way difference maker. He hasn't. He hasn't been able to do that yet, but he does have the frame to be a two-way difference maker. His ultimate value hinges on staying consistent and engaged. Again that pops up. Again. It's like you sometimes. You see it, and it's usually with the uber talented dudes. Sometimes they get bored. I noticed that and it's weird because it's like you tell me you want to be great, but I'm seeing these mental lapses in your game a lot where the dude that you was guarding gets behind you, easy layup and rewinding back the other way.

Nba teams are going to want to see more consistency out of his defense and a sustained motor and playmaking growth. When he plays at byu, a major swing factor will be uh, put it together for 30 plus games and truly anchor a lineup or remain flash only player. You don't want to be that. Let's get to our guy, cameron Boozer. Now, cameron Boozer, I'm going to tell you right now polished, poised pedigree. This is Boozer.

First of all, he is the son of Carlos Boozer. First of all, he is the son of Carlos Boozer, former NBA player. He looks like a four year NBA vet now fundamentally sound, rebounded machine, stretches the floor always in the right spot, like Vince. This sounds too good to be true. Well, damn, if you always been exposed to NBA players because your daddy was an NBA player. Guess what you are going to pick up things, and this kid did. He's the most polished player in the class. He impacts the game in multiple ways. He can dominate the post in high school Rapid improvement on his perimeter shot. He handles the ball extremely well. For somebody who's a four. He has change of pace, change of direction to create his own shot. He's a reliable shooter from distance and off the catch, viable as a legit three-point threat. He is a monster rebounder.

This dude is elite rebounder at both ends, not just on the defensive end but also on the offensive end. Bro, he's a sharp defender. His IQ is high. He's always in the right spot we talked about that. But he's highly engaged in fundamentally sound elite basketball IQ. His feel is off the charts. Why do always? Why is it always Duke who gets these dudes, doesn't some of all this stuff that I'm talking about right now? Does this sound like somebody that we just talked about, cooper flat, oh, experienced or or extreme high IQ, good feel for the game, sharp defender, always knows where to be. Elite basketball IQ differentiator on both ends of the court. This sounds like Cooper Flatt.

Now he does have some things to work on. He's not completely perfect. Nobody is right Pull-up shooting. He needs to develop a comfort and a consistency on his pull-up shooting. Okay, um, his sitting questions is whether he can create efficiently off the bounce at the nba level. He may not be a elite nba level vertical athlete compared to apex wings like aj devanster. So his balance is not as high as like aj devanster. Like aj devanster gets like off the court in a real way, but positionally, defensively wise, positionally uh, getting those rerounds wise. That all translates and it usually goes with you to every level that you go to. He will need to prove that he can finish at the cup NBA length and athletes on the perimeter might give him some trouble, but I don't think it will. I don't see any major red flags when it comes to this kid. Boozer again is going to do crazy skilled, crazy IQ off the charts. It will be adding creation to his game. It will be talking about that pull-up shooting game and it will be finishing at the rim. We will see how the verticality hurts him or helps him in the end.

I look at this dude and go guess what? Congratulations on picking, congratulations on Cameron Boozer, because now you got a pro for 12 to 14 years. Amen. We're going to hit a couple more dudes, but I wanted to give you kind of a feel for what we were talking about when it came to some of these prospects. The one, let's see, who is it that I want to hit before we get up out of here. Oh yeah, let's hit this. Okay.

So dyson daniels right, dyson daniels burst onto the scene last year by averaging three steals a game. Well, guess what? There's a carbon copy of him in melbourne, australia, where he's from. In Melbourne, australia, where he's from, his name is Dash Daniels. And you say, well damn, that sounds like Dyson Daniels. That's because it's his brother, his 18-year-old brother, who's 6'6". Dyson is 6'7". Dash's calling card is his tenacious on-ball defense. He's relentless, pressuring ball handers. Who does that sound like Dyson Daniels? Quick feet, strong hands and a real knack for forcing mistakes. Who does this sound like Dyson Daniels?

Now disruptive play, awarded defensive MVP at the 2025 Basketball Without Borders, he's already built a reputation as a game-changing defensively, frequently blowing up actions and bothering scorers with his intensity and his ability to get into your kitchen, so to speak. He plays with a non-stop motor on the defensive end. He stays engaged and he's also vocal. He's active when it comes to help situations. Wow, he's 18 and he's doing this. Crazy physical tools good size, six foot, six right. Uses his length and anticipation to contest shots and create deflections. Oh my god, he's a carbon copy of his brother. He's just a carbon copy things that he needs to work on. He's still rounding out his offensive game. This sounds just like his brother as well. He needs to keep refining his shot and become more confident as a scorer Ball screen play Not yet a primary initiator, still learning how to operate as a creator out of pick and roll and make advanced passing reads.

But it's something that you know. He's a tireless worker. He's relentless at getting better. He's relentless at um, getting better. The next major step for him is developing a reliable three-point shot. To keep defenses honest, I agree with that. You must add some polish. As a secondary playmaker, he's never going. I don't think he's ever going to be an on-ball initiator at really all. I think he can be a secondary creator for you, um.

So if for some reason, you are the let's say, let's just take his brother, for instance right, he's played with trey young. Trey young can get into the middle of the paint anytime he wants. Then the defensive collapse. Right, you shoot it out to the corner. Now, if you have somebody blitz you out to the corner, can you pump, fake and then go and then, in a sense, you turn the blender on on the defense. Right, you make a quick pass and now you know they're two steps behind, and things of that nature. Those are the type of things that we want to see out of dash daniels this upcoming season.

Now, if the jumper doesn't ever come around which that's to me, that's the whole calling card of this situation if the jumper doesn't come around, I don't know how much time he gonna get on an nba court, much time he gonna get on an NBA court. But here's the thing I will say all signs point to a committed competitor. So you know what he's gonna do. I am going to work at this until my damn knees fall off so I can get better.

Dash Daniels is already covering out his name for himself as a premier defensive guard in his age group, with the pedigree and motor to be a difference maker from day one, while his offensive skills still developing, especially as a shooter and a playmaker. His ability to lock down opposing ball handlers and energize his team with defense will translate to any level. If he, if the jump shot comes online, he could mirror his brother as a high level nba role player. There aren't any major flags when it comes to my guy, dash daniels, but I will tell you this the jumper has to come along, it has to um, it's the only thing that's going to keep him from getting to the levels of where he could possibly be, because right now on a lot of the um draft charts and things that nature, they have him like 20th overall and I think he's going to be more of a lottery pick when this is all said and done. I am not committing to saying he's one of my guys as of yet, because I definitely need to see it, uh, on a higher level and I think we're going to see that this year. So we'll see how it all goes. But dash daniels is somebody that I'm keeping my eye out on and yeah, man, this is just a little taste of what the 2026 nba draft is looking like, and what we're committing to you is that we will have probably a 30, 30 plus dual I wouldn't say mock draft, but kind of like a scouting report on these cats.

Come um the I would say third week, by the third week of September, I will have my situation all squared away. So look for that on the blog, which is what y'all know what it is. You know how we get down. Go to it. It'll be in the notes here when we uh close out. So look in the notes and it'll be there and you'll we'll see our previous draft situation. You'll see all our uh blogs that are up there. They're utilized as secondary, um kind of like second screen experience for the podcast, so I do implore you to go check those out. By the way, hit me up on twitter or also on blue sky at frontrunnerpc. Oh, on both counts, uh, and let me know how much of the blog is being utilized with along with the podcast. I'll be very interested to hear about that. So it is friday. I'm gonna get the hell up out of here.

I'd like to thank my staff, maya. I would like to thank uh serea. I would like to thank the rest of the crew for doing what they do, because we do it twice a week for you tuesday and feel, feel good friday and we talk hoops, we talk draft, we talk prospects, we talk front office, we talk about all aspects of the nba, and we love to do it and, again, we are grateful for the support that we get from our audience members. Thank you for downloading the podcast. It means so much to us. You are building the culture that we're trying to set. You guys are setting the tone. You guys are being a friend and telling a friend about the podcast, and I cannot be more grateful to you.

So, with that being said, the best part of you is you make sure that you surround yourself with supportive people, that is, looking out for your best interests, that they're exhibiting behaviors like you know what. What you're trying to do is excellent. Let me help you out here. Whatever the case may be, if, for some reason, you have a bunch of support in your corner, make sure to acknowledge these people. Appreciate them for all that they do for you. Right, send them a text, facetime them. Go grab a beer if that's what you're inclined to do.

I am an alcoholic, so I cannot do these things. Okay, I can go have iced tea with you, but I can't have no, I can't have alcohol. All right, I'm funny and crazy without any of that. Could you imagine me on that? It's crazy. Don't do it. I can't do it. Um, but go out or just send a text. Hey, man, just thinking of you. Or hey, girl, what's up? Just thinking of you. Thank you for all that you do, so I can do what I can do, you know, because by acknowledging those who are exhibiting those behaviors, it makes this world a better place and that's what we're trying to do. So you guys, go out and have a great weekend. We will be back on this feed on tuesday, unless some news breaks, some real big news, and some, you know, big trade happens. You know we gonna turn these mics on again, all right. So for vince, that is me, and for serea, front runner, podcast collective is signing off deuces.