The Knicks Strike Back: Game 5 Domination and Draft Guard Analysis

it's friday. You know what time it is. Front runner podcast collective is back on the air. I am your humble host, vince, and on today's pod we will be breaking down game 5. What happened? Where did the Indiana offense go? Was there a freaky Friday situation? That happened? We will get into all of it.

The other thing that we need to talk about is now that OKC has moved on to the NBA Finals, and we will have a lot of time to discuss what it's going to look like when the Finals do come around, when this series in the Eastern Conference is finally over. So we don't really need to talk about OKC that much. But who we do need to talk about is the Minnesotanesota timberwolves and what they are going to do, and this is going to be kind of a sneak peek into what summer looks like for you and for me as we go through and do the division by division breakdown of some of these teams and what to look for come the off season. But we did promise draft talk, we promised breakdowns and what have you? We will actually have that for you. We are doing guards today, so if you're looking for dylan harper, you will come to the right place. If you're looking for jeremiah fears, you will come to the right place. If you are looking for our guy out of florida with one of the sweetest jump shots on the face of the planet, you'll come to the right place. Plus, we got some other guys who, uh, might be cracking rotations here and there and what we think of them. So that's all coming up on the pod today.

So, with that being said, I just want to take this time to tell all of the audience out there how much we appreciate you. Man. It is ridiculous. We got downloads from grenada grenada of all places. We also got downloads from riyadh, saudi arabia. Yes, we have hit there too. So when I say that we are global, ladies and gentlemen, we are global. I love it. Thank you so much. It's because of you.

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We start at madison Garden. This is where we need to start Game 5. Flip the whole damn script. Two nights earlier, indy Halliburton looked like the best guard on the floor, but back in MSG he just got erased. Or, as my guy Matt Hardy would say, he got deleted. He got deleted. Shoutsouts out to Matt and Jeff Hardy TNA, you know saying WWE legends, the Hardy boys, you know, if you know. You know, meanwhile, jalen Brunson, whose game four was very quiet. He reminded everyone why the knicks he is the alpha of this team, so it was truly opposite day in msg. We gonna break it all down for you, let's get to it.

Hallowburton stats for game five were absolutely ugly eight points on two of seven, shooting two of seven. We will get to that in one second. He also shot um over two from three point, land four assists, and he was a negative 23 in his box plus minus. He played 31 minutes and 34 seconds, didn't have a turnover, though, which is what he does. So let's start with Halliburton.

What happened? What happened in game five? Let's look at it. He wasn't cold. He wasn't out of rhythm. He was basically hounded from the time he got onto the MSG floor to the time he left MSG floor. There was a concerted effort in making sure that he was very uncomfortable with the ball, not trying to deny him the ball. All of those things came. Halliburton only had one assist in the first half, despite being Indiana's lead guard. Nick sent multiple looks at him OG Hart, mikael Bridges, a lot of people, even Cat. What is Cat doing on him? You know, and we'll get to Cat in a second.

Brunson hedging screens and what have you? He didn't register a single field goal in the first quarter, going 0 for 2. It's wild Game 4, he danced into looks. In this one he couldn't initiate at all. The Knicks made him play east west instead of downhill and I believe that this is something that the Knicks can duplicate. Now. You gotta want this, you gotta have the energy to do this, and if they don't come out with the same effort, they come out with the same energy that they did in game five or game six in game bridge field house. This is gonna be a wrap, but we'll get to that momentarily. Now. We told you it was kind of like a freaky friday opposite day at msg. So brunson jailing brunson.

The other knicks who had a very quiet game four, exploded onto the scene yet again. 32 points on a very efficient 12 of 18 from the field. He also shot it four of seven from three-point land and he was a plus 18 in box, plus minus in 33 minutes and 40 seconds of play. Why is this important? Now, the contrast with brunson this wasn't just a bounce back, this was a master control 14 first quarter points, efficient, confident and it was a balanced shot diet. Here's a note from my girl, saraya jaylen brunson scored 14 of the knicks total 27 points in the first quarter. So he had over half of the next points. So that's awesome. I love that. I like seeing that. It's pretty cool. They went six.

He went six and nine in the first quarter, including two threes. He set the tone by attacking miles turner in drop coverage. Yeah, he was ugly, he was getting downhill and he was making it happen. He was touching the paint a lot, which is critical for what the knicks need to do, because of the fact that they do not allow a lot of on-ball initiation by others. And I think even um. Was it, uh, one of the van gundy brothers? Not jeff, what is it? Oh god, I can't remember his name anyways, oh yeah, svg.

So we got some analysis from the tnt crew as far as that's concerned, but before we get there, it was not about the scoring. For Jalen Brunson, here's a big deal. He only had one turnover all game. Handling the ball is his primary situation. He was the one, the conductor, controlling the train, controlling the orchestra, however you want to put it. We usually use that terminology for our guy Halliburton, but Brunson, it was apropos that he actually did this. He only had one turnover and it wasn't just scoring, it was poise. Brunson played like someone who knew exactly what the defense wanted to give him and he tried to take every inch from them. And he did. He imposed his will onto this game very early. He imprinted himself onto this game very early and you got to do that in a must-win situation.

Let's be clear the garden mattered last night. It erupted, it was lit. You saw all the stars out. You know I'm saying you saw spike lee. You saw timothy chalamet looking, looking. You know just superstar written all over him. Miles teller was there, which was kind of crazy. You know saying he was out there in the, in the seats. We had a lot of people out there. Ben stiller was there. Now will ben stiller go back for game six? I don't know. We will see Indiana never led in this game. Another key point Nick's biggest lead was 22. The Pacers never tied the game once. New York scored 60 points in the paint compared to the Pacers' 34. There it is. That physical edge broke Indy's interior trust. The Knicks had 13 second chance points off, 11 offensive rebounds. The hustle at MSG was appreciated. Josh Hart was in the middle of that. Yet again, we will get to some of his accolades and what he did in some of the next segments going on.

But the swing game from the swing, from game four to game five. It wasn't just the emotional um switch in going from game field, field house to mG, it wasn't just that. Ryan Rosillo says this all the time and I want to give him credit for this. He says you can't fake desperate, you cannot fake desperation. And In the Knicks desperation it was structural. The Knicks trapped early, showed help, late Play, played vertical with Mitchell Robinson and here's the best part, and these are the notes from Soraya the Pacers had 19 turnovers which led to 20 Knick points.

Indiana shot 44.6% effective field goal percentage and they went 10 of 30 from deep. Brunson and towns carry their, their team, uh, 22 of 38. High efficiency on high volume from those two and again they win the game. They get it three, two and I don't think that this was just a win. I think this could be like a referendum on just effort on the defensive end, the attention, the detail, and I think the knicks finally understand what it takes from them to win the game.

Now, I'm not saying necessarily that they're going to be able to pull this off In game 6. As we talk this through, I will give you my opinion On what's going to happen. But I did see, okay, there is a plan, there's an actual philosophy On slowing down the Indiana Pacers, and I will say this indiana did their job in helping that along too. They didn't push the pace as much as they should. I thought that once they got punched in the mouth and they knew that new york wasn't just gonna just bend and fold for them and allow them back into this game, I think you saw a team that said, well, we'll just get ready for game six, not saying they truly packed it in, but I will say you saw the energy level go a little bit further down. So so let's talk about one of the adjustments that has made a big dividend for the knicks, and that's the dual twin towers. Look that they're using this felt like a throwback for show.

The knicks played two bigs, real bigs. Uh. Mitchell robertson and carl anthony towns were out there. Uh, now carl anthony towns because of his shooting. Uh prowess and his acumen allows mitchell robertson just to hang out in the dunker spot and play that four, four out one end and give them enough spacing to be able to do what they need to do. Then on the defensive end, you got a true rim protector. You got a true guy who has some girth in there, who wants to rebound. Uh, cat does too. Don't not trying to not trying to hate on cat right now, but of the two we definitely understand that mitchell robertson is the more physical. We got some cat. We got some classic, uh, carl anthony towns last night too.

Now the offense was beautiful. Cat, like old Cat, reared his ugly head. There were some fouls that he. There were some fouls by Carl Anthony Towns that just made you scratch your damn head. Like what are you doing? Like it was completely a push-off, completely. It wasn't even even like trying to be hid, anything like that. And then you put your palms out to the sky Like what I do, bro? We just saw you push somebody, like legitimately, like extend your arms and push somebody Again. We made this point About them being outscored 60-34 in the paint, indiana.

That wasn't just guard penetration, that was Towns ducking in. That was Mitchell Robinson cleaning up. Also, it was Carl Anthony Towns going to the hole repeatedly Punishing Miles Turner, punishing Pascal Siakam, just blowing by them like they weren't even there. The Knicks won the second chance points 13-7. They also pulled down 11 offensive rebounds. Robinson himself had 4 offensive boards in under 20 minutes. The Indiana Pacers themselves had two blocks as a team total.

So you can see that there was a team that had a lot more energy and a lot more at stake, and you saw a team that was like well, if we don't win this one, we can go home. Well, if we don't win this one, we can go home. Different mentality between OKC and the Indiana Pacers now. Albeit, okc was playing their game, their game five, at home, and the Indiana Pacers were playing theirs on the road. So there's a big difference there as well, and you knew that Madison Square Garden was going to supply the energy that the Knicks needed, and especially Carl Anthony Towns, who finished the game with 24 points, 13 rebounds. He was a plus 26 in the box, plus minus in 30 minutes.

But then you get into those two moments every game that remind you who he is. The fourth foul that happened with five minutes and nine seconds left to go in the third quarter on a moving I mean just moving screen at the top of the arc. He just pushes, pushes. This dude like I'm, like what? Okay, I do, I just didn't understand it. I just didn't understand what he was doing there.

And then he was asked by charles barkley and shaquille o'Neal after the game, during the uh, post-game show on TNT one of the best out there, you know that and he was like I know, I know I made stupid fouls. He's aware of it. He just can't stop himself. He needs to go to a rehab program for that. Telling you straight up, somebody needs to take that guy in and take him to some sort of thing called like passages or something like that and see if they can get him to fix the the stupid foul situation that he got going on. It's crazy.

He did finish the game with four fouls, so there was that. It didn't cost them this time. But you can't shake off the feeling that if this game was tighter, mitchell Robinson is in the game, affecting the game, impacting it, and then Rick Carlisle goes to the hack of Robinson to get him off the court because he was so dominant on the defensive end and grabbing rebounds. You had to get rid of him. So here's where, if the lead wasn't as big and robust as it was, the Knicks would have been in real, real trouble If, for some reason, the Indiana Pacers were able to come back and make that a game. So that's the thing with Cat that we got to continue to monitor Is that he gives you a bunch of points. He gives you the spacing you need. He gives you rebounding points. He gives you the spacing you need.

He gives you rebounding, but there's going to be three to four sequences in a game where you are just going to go no no, no, no, no, no, no.

Don't do it, don't do it, don't. Ah, this is what minnesota fans has been dealing with for a long period of time, and now this is what the. This is what the Knicks have inherited from Carl Anthony Towns. There's just four plays. A game where it is absolutely incredible that this man is like what are you thinking about right now? Just tell me what you're thinking about now. Let's flip it to Mitchell Robinson, because he was kind of like an unsung hero of this game, even though he only played 20 minutes. He had no turnovers, he had a steal, he had a block and he altered probably a half a dozen shots. Mitchell Robinson also had a positive 12 box plus or minus in his shifts and you could tell that nobody wanted any parts of him in that lane Tyrese, halliburton, pascal Siakam. It didn't make a difference, we live in a five out league, but this was a game where going to the hole was prevalent. I mean, you saw some just carl anthony town. Lumbering to the hole was like looking like at a truck with like a one tire being flatter than the rest of them. It just just looked wonky, but he made it work. He made it work, which was good.

Turner, miles Turner Took five threes. He made one. He never punished switches at the top Like Carl Anthony Towns did. So If the formula holds Pain domination by Cat Staying disciplined, mitch rotation Rotating clean New York Knicks might have a chance in game 6. Like I said, this is a repeatable situation, what they were able to do. Now here's the other thing Aaron Neesmith has an ankle injury and he only played 15 minutes in this game. Now I'm not saying he would have had the prerequisite energy to be able to play the physical style defense, but I will say this Brunson was absolutely thrilled as soon as Aaron Neesmith was out the game. He was like oh, I can go cook. Now I can get it, because Andrew Nembhard does not bother him, tyrese Halliburton doesn't bother him, tj McConnell doesn't bother him, so it's only Neesmith that really gives him any kind of pause. So if that's going to be the case and we got to see, game 6 happens on Saturday, which is tomorrow we will have to see how much Aaron Neesmith plays. We will have to see how much he can actually guard Brunson. And also, they need his outside shooting. They need his outside shooting. They need his outside shooting because they were 10 of 30, again from the land of three.

Now I want to talk about what kept the, the Indiana Pacers, from scoring like a historically low amount of points. Benedict Mathering came alive. He had a bunch of energy. He had glass work you know what I'm saying. He was the bench igniter and he gave them a good 6 minute stretch where he looked like a damn near like a six man of the year candidate. He put up 23 points in 24 minutes. He was 9 of 9. From the free throw line and he hit his threes, which is excellent, and he was always attacking the paint. He entered the game with 339 in the first quarter and by the mid second quarter he had already scored 10 points and he had drawn three shooting fouls. Pacers cut the 15 point deficit down to five in his shift to five. In his shift he had nine rebounding include. He had nine rebounds, including three uncontested pulls against Mather and produce real juice off the bench.

And this wasn't garbage time. It was when Indy needed him most. He cut double digit deficits down to single digits. He was there for extended runs and he was really the only one Playing with any kind of Sense of urgency when it comes to this game whatsoever. He was the only one that was like hey, let's knock them out and get a bunch of rest. The rest of the that was like hey, let's knock them out and get a bunch of rest. The rest of the team was like new york's bench didn't just match the energy, it absorbed it.

Hart, mcbride, um, obviously the delon wr Wright minutes worked out. They got some precious 2-1 minutes that they desperately needed. Hart logged 10 rebounds, 4 assists. He did not sit the entire second half. Mcbride also scored 11 points. So it was what it needed to be. Now we will get to what we need to get to.

Why'd this happen? What, what? What went on? Why was this a 111 94 victory for the Knicks? What could they build off of this? What can they take with them in this situation? We will find out. We already talked about the Knicks paint points that they scored, which were 60. So obviously playing a more physical downhill style suits them. It's one of those things that. Can it be repeated? Yes, will it be hard to repeat on the road? Yes, but it can be done Now you have to commit to it. You have to commit to it Now.

Towns and Robinson bent the floor in different ways. Towns was obviously the floor spacer that they needed, but the physical presence down low of mitchell rogerson even though he's not this huge point getter or whatever, he kept balls alive. There were second chances because of him and just because of his physical presence in that paint just made it a lot more difficult. On the Indiana Pacers Now Towns, he finished through contact when he drove. Indiana had no deterrent, had no deterrent. They will have to be more aggressive because when you only score 34 points in the paint, especially as a team that wants to get out and run and push the lock down the court, to only have 34 points in the paint is terrible. It's not great. So the effort from the indiana pacers we know they're going to come with the requisite amount of energy and also kind of like fear of let's not let this go to a game seven, because we all know what we think is going to happen if it gets to a game seven. It ain't good for indiana.

I know that the margins in this game became messages again. Indiana was sloppy 19 turnovers. We talked about this. The other thing is that they gave up points um of their own structure. These weren't late clock chucks or anything like that. It was just it wasn't the crispest offense. They just couldn't get a rhythm going, they couldn't establish anything and it just looked like they were out of sorts. Hart and Brunson punished lazy passes. The Knicks protected the ball well. Now they had stretches where they did not. There was a stretch in the third quarter where it got weird for a second. Not the game got close or anything like that, it was just it got weird because both teams were throwing the ball all over the court and not valuing the basketball whatsoever. Okc would have had a field day with these people Because they would have been like, oh my god, they're not valuing basketball. We'll just have like 30 steals and it'll be great.

The rebounding wasn't as bad as it looked. It was 45 to 40. So you say, where was, where was some of the hidden numbers at? Well, here it is. It's the 11 offensive rebounds by the New York Knicks, you know. And then the 13 second chance points off of those. So I look at that type of situation and go, hmm, there it is. Then you got Carl Anthony, townony towns get 13 rebounds. Good, you got heart added 10. It's just absolutely a complete hustle, dude, no matter what the effective field goal percentage for the knicks in this game was 52.2 percent.

Now, that's not like just completely fantastic or anything like that. Well, what it is? It just tells you what you're looking at as far as, like, execution of offense and what were some of the principles. You know, was Mitchell Robertson following, you know, jalen Brunson when he went to the hole so then he can clean up on dunks or, you know, tip the ball out to three point shooters who were waiting, you know, in the wings? These are all things we saw in this game. Brunson shot mix of floaters, pull-ups and d3s, forced rotations. Every time he got the, he got the indiana paces into a, no question about it. And this is what you need to see, because here's the thing Quiet as kept, the Knicks did not shoot it from deep. Did not shoot it from deep Great, they were only 8 of 29. But their shot selection was precise and again, the second chance rebounds. That was absolutely killer to them.

One team came in with an energized belief and the other team came in with let's hope, and then that hope shortly dissipated and then it was like well, we're gonna pack this in for game six, so indiana can tell us all what they want about, they play hard and all this other stuff. We saw that on the tape that you kind of shut it down and I don't blame you. I understand, I get it. Let's go home and let's try to see if we can figure it out here. Only problem is is that you only get a finite, you know, time to go ahead and put a team away. And if you give the knicks and you give that fan base any oxygen to breathe and they can breathe like belief into this, into this group of knicks leaf, into this, into this group of Knicks, boy man, you do not want a game seven at MSG. I mean, I know the NBA wants a game seven at MSG, but I'm thinking the, the fine, fine folks of the of Indianapolis, indiana, do not want a game seven in Madison Square Garden.

This is a great note by Soraya. If Indy wants to win, they got to contest, without fouling, 30 shots to 51 shots Between the two teams. So Indy had 30 shots at the rim, the Knicks had 51 of their shots at the rim. Ball security is non-negotiable for the Indiana Pacers. You got to take care of the ball, you know. You got to take care of the basketball and does Matherin get a longer run in game six now that he's produced? He seemed to have the energy, he seemed to have the want. I wonder if it will manifest itself in extra time come game six.

As far as New York is concerned, they gotta clean up the fouling, the 23 personal fouls. They gave the Indiana Pacers 29 free throw attempts. That has to stop. Carl Anthony Towns can't be fouling like stupid things, just doing stupid fouls. You know what I'm saying. You can't do it. If you're gonna foul, foul and you know with intention. You know somebody's going up for a basket and you don't want them to have a free. You know just a free basket or whatever case may be, put them on the line. But the just fouling somebody coming through the lane and just pushing them off their thing and literally extending your arms to the fullest extent when it makes it so easy for the referee to call this foul. You know what I'm saying. You just can't do that. Keep up the defensive verticality. That's where Mitchell Robinson comes into play and the rest of the boys, og Ananobi, mikael Bridges and things of that nature. Towns is peaking, brunson is seeking doubles, hart is holding connective tissue together. Those three guys need to continue to play the way they are playing.

The Knicks do have a formula to win in Indiana. The problem is is that can you execute it? Can you slow Indiana down just enough for them to have to think about their offense and get them in a in a half court deal? Because as soon as the ball starts moving around, as soon as the movement, as soon as the, the cutting is instinctual and it's crisp again, the knicks are in trouble. What does this say about what game six is going to look like? I have no idea. No, that's not true. I do have a kind of an idea and we're going to get to it right now.

The Knicks squad just authored a blueprint at Madison Square Garden Verticality, tempo, tempo and defensive body blows and the other. The pacers team needs its speed. They need to go ahead and throttle it up. They need to play with pace. They need to get that ball out of the hoop and going right down the court and they need to get down there in like four seconds. You know to run the offense.

This is a chess board before the first move. For the knicks. It's about discovering something new. It's about discipline. It's about repetition under pressure. Brunson play style in game five tied, just tilted Indiana's defensive map. Forced reactive coverages, especially in transition. The paint touches absolutely astronomical. Can they keep it up in game 6? I don't know. Those are the things that you have to do if you want to continue to win. You have to put pressure on this defense of Indiana. You know what I'm saying. You got to make sure that Andrew Namhard stays in the gallows. He's been really less effective the last three games.

Look at the numbers. If the Knicks don't foul and play with physicality and play with intentionality on defense, they can get this to a game seven and go to new york city and play that game seven. If they are slow on rotations, if they're a split second late, the pacers are going to have a field day with the New York Knicks. And it really just comes down to how much energy and how much do you want to give at this present time. Do you have it in your reserves to give? Because if you do, the Pacers have shown themselves to be excellent. When the offense is beautiful, when the ball is moving, the cuts are being made and everything like that, as soon as the game is muddied up, they don't like it, they don't care for it. And Halliburton and Nembhard struggled with on-ball pressures. They had few clean half-court initiations, cue up the 19 turnovers.

Game 6 isn't just about scheme, it's about the emotional first six minutes. Can the Knicks hold off that wave? Because Indiana exploded in game four early at home and got the crowd super into it. They were confident and then they basically walked the Knicks down for a win. In game five, new York Oakland would have tended to run and never look back. So you can see the absolute differences. It was opposite day at msg freaky friday, however you want to put it, but opposite day sounds good to me.

Indiana thrives on pace and without clean outlook actions or turnovers, their engine stalls. And then you look at a team like the knicks and then that team, right there, they, they thrive in chaos, they thrive in the mud, they want to play in that style. And how much more physical impact can josh hart and mitchell robertson make? They have been the unsung heroes of this team. They've been basically the glue, the connective glue that's held it together when it could just have fallen apart so easily. For God's sake, for the love of all things holy, can Carl Anthony Towne stay on the damn court, not getting foul trouble, not create fouls 40 feet away from the hoop, or dumb fouls where you just sit there and just push a dude straight onto the ground like you cannot do these things in game six.

Game six is a mirror. It's not just about the talent, it's about the preparation that you put in. Can tibbs or rick carlisle make the adjustments that need to be made, and will their teams adhere to those adjustments? Will the pacers rediscover their system or simply hope for energy? Whichever coach or whichever star or whichever bench unit solved the rhythm first, they'll earn what is, what could be happening. Game six could be the end of the series, or or we could be going on to game 7. I don't know. I love the way Halliburton and their offenses run.

My whole thing is that once you get punched in the mouth, what's the game plan then? And I want to see that. Definitely you can still play your beauty, your beautiful basketball, your movement, all those type of things, but we're going to need you to get dirty a little bit. We're going to need you to go into that lane and, yeah, you might take some hacks, you might take some fouls, you might take some physicality, but we kind of need you to go to the lane if you want to win and not push this and extend this to a game seven. Now we need to move on, because we're going to talk a little bit about okc, but not much the reason why, and kudos to OKC for making the NBA Finals. I am thrilled that this team is there, but we literally have until next Thursday to talk about them. But I do want to say this I think about how you felt watching Shea Gilgis Alexander for the first time Not the MVP of today, for the first time, not the MVP of today when I'm talking about the Kentucky SGA.

The quiet, glove, fit, didn't even start the season and now he's a top five guy with the patience of a monk and the kill switch of a lion. Shea, shea was actually. Shea was dominant in that game and J-Dub was too, and it was all the depth issues that you know and love and understand. It was all the things that you could possibly want and OKC had. So we kept on saying it. They had all the answers to all the questions that Minnesota could throw at them, and then they threw questions back at Minnesota that they had no answers for. So what is this going to be about. Well, this is going to be a quick sneak peek into where the Timberwolves are now Not open for debate as far as what they have looming during the offseason. And could there be a way to augment this team to get Anthony Edwards, maybe another guy to help him? So buckle up, let's get to it.

124-94 in a closeout game, game 5 against OKC I mean, you know you're down 65-32 at halftime. What do you expect? The loss was traumatic for Minnesota and Minnesota sports fans. Traumatic for Minnesota and Minnesota sports fans. It was a just a dominant, dominant victory by the OKC Thunder. They have 14 turnovers and they were just never in this game. They were just completely absent. The effort from their star player or from their secondary people or whatever. They were listless and it was apparent. So let's get to it. Two straight Western Conference Finals, that's the bar, and the bar matters.

This is a quote from Chris from Finch, their coach at Minnesota. He says I'm proud of our guys and our organization. You know the Conley, finch Edwards synergy rarely seen in Minnesota basketball history. So that's a good look there. Edwards is 23. He says so that's a good look there, edwards is 23. He says I'll get to do this a whole bunch of times. Don't count your chickens before it's hatched. My guy I'm sure Kevin Garnett thought the same thing and it just never happened. It just never happened.

I will say this for him I don't know what that was in game five, I have no idea, but you can see just the energy just go down. It's as soon as a couple of his guys hit didn't hit shots like, his aggressiveness started to wane. And that is something that you just can't have happened, especially if you're the leader of this team, especially if you think you are one of those top echelon guys. You know we talk about the six or seven that really make a difference in this league. If they went from one team to another, you're instantly like your fortunes have changed instantly, on a dime. He is one of you know. Ant Edwards is one of those guys. I will not take that away from him, but the effort that you show In these games Is monumentally important Because your team will follow you Wherever you go If you give them a reason to. He did not do that. So what is going to happen now? Let's talk about what did happen.

Go-garrett at times was unplayable on offense. Okc punished every possession he was involved in. Finch was outmaneuvered, dagnall had counters, the Wolves did not, randall faded, no one outside of Edwards created anything and when your playoff hinges on one guy and the hope of Randall gets hot, you're already playing with tremendous fire and you're just hoping not to get burnt. Yeah, minnesota lost the game, but they also. They didn't look like minnesota. It was almost like the monsters that took the souls of nba players and replaced it with whatever. These were just shells of themselves. It was a one, two, three. Cancun type situation, no doubt for the minnesota timberwolves in game. In game five, they were not happy to be there, not happy at all.

So this summer there are some choices to be made. Let's talk about them. Let's get right into it. Julius randall is the first one. There's a player option for 31 million dollars.

A lot of people think this is the one where you know we let them walk, get a little more like cat relief, whatever the case may be. Or do you turn julius randall into hey, we're gonna sign and trade you, hopefully with that. And here's the here's the thing with that. If you look at julius randall and you look at, like tobias harris of last year, we would both. We would say that julius randall is a more talented player than tob Tobias Harris. But if you're a team that has struggled like the Detroit Pistons of two years ago and then this year they made the playoffs, if you're a team that has, you know, been maligned in that way, a Julius Randle is a floor raiser and A Julius Randle is a floor raiser and, given where he is in his career, I wonder if he would be able to find that in himself, that he would be a floor raiser and help a team that maybe had needed help on learning how to win as far as that's concerned and he can still get you buckets and he can still get you rebounds and play that special style that he does play.

My thing is is that can the timberwolves turn him into a return on investment and get something back for him, or do they let him walk completely and it's just the penance that you have to basically swallow your medicine at this point for better days down the road? Minnesota timberwolves fans. Wolves hashtag wolves back family. Hit me up on twitter at frontrunnerpc or at our producer at rea underscore funch frpc. We would love to hear from you on your thoughts on julius randall. Is he a just let him go, or do we sign and trade him and get pieces back that will help us? If not, well, hopefully this upcoming season coming up now.

Naz read is a different story. Naz read, he's a great value for today. Um, he's he's likely to opt out of his contract. Um, I would wonder as far as what I think the Minnesota Timberwolves will try to match anything that is out there on him. As far as that's concerned, I'll be interested to see what happens with that, because I think he's a piece that you gotta keep. Gotta keep him.

Nikhil Alexander Walker is one that is absolutely intriguing, because I think minnesota can only pay him up to like eight million dollars just due to the contract structure and, with that being said, he's going to get way more on the open market. People have said like hey, that could be 15 to 17 for that guy. I'm like damn, for real. Like yeah, yeah, he played himself into it. I'm like wow, okay, small sample size albeit, but I believe in you know who's telling me this information. So, with that being said, it looked like nikhil alexander walker is going to be on the move, on the move.

So if you are a minnesota timberwolves fan, how would you like to see this offseason go? Uh, who would you like to see them keep? Who would you like to see them use, as you know, trade fodder or what have you? Uh, I would be interested to hear your thoughts on that, and whoever has some of the best thoughts ie takes will end up on the show I don't know. Tell you, it's be awesome. We want feedback from you Now.

Anthony Edwards has proven that he is the guy, but right now he's carrying too much. Mike Conley turns 38 next season. You can't rely on him to generate primary offense or guard elite ones in playoff series. That's just too hard to ask. You're not beating elite West teams with a 38-year-old Mike Conley as your backcourt mate to Anthony Edwards. I think that's a hard ask. I think you've got to keep Dante DiVincenzo. You've got to keep Dante DiVincenzo. You got to keep him there.

I like keeping Nasri, but is there any way that you can turn Julius Randle into something? Maybe there's a trade, you know, there's a trade exception and a player or whatever and maybe a pick coming back. I don't know, but there has to be some team out there that has some money or whatever that would just say, hey, we'll be open to dealing with you and getting a guy that we wanted to acquire anyway, and you know what do you want. So there's something there julius randall did play well enough where you could go into the offseason thinking like I could turn this into something. Now it doesn't have to necessarily meet the whole entire 31 million. You know, if you can get one guy and he's like 15 to 17 million or whatever you'd say like 14 million dollars off your salary cap, that's fantastic. You done well. You know now you can get picks on top of that. You're doing super well, doing great.

Now what happened if you took julius randallall and Conley's expiring contract and maybe use one of the picks that you have, like the 2027 pick? What could you get yourself into then? Because here's the main thing that needs to be taken away from the Minnesota Timberwolves and their experience this year Ant is an absolute supernova, just destroyer of worlds type of individual. You're good there. You got a lot of really interesting pieces. The problem is is that you need a little more diversity on the offense, ie a good point guard that can score and create, create for others in himself, or you need another dynamic wing to go with jayden mcdaniels. Now the, the wings are harder to come by, you know, um, just depending on what you're trying to do.

But if there was something where you could run out julius randall, mike colleen that's about 42 million dollars, you know could that get you into something that you would be more than ecstatic about. But I would say personally, if you could like split it up into two and hopefully save some money in the in the meantime, that would be probably best way of doing it. Is there some sort of orlando magic trade? Now I don't know if Orlando will want somebody super old like Mike Conley. No disrespect to Mike, you know he a young man at heart, but in basketball terminology he is old, right, I don't think I'm saying anything that's out of turn there. Is there a backup role for him? Is there like a Phoenix situation where you know there's, you know, kevin Durant coming to Minnesota for Mike Conley and Julius Randle yeah, throwing a young guy for that? I think our guy, kevin, is making like $48,000, something like that. So maybe that might be something you can look into.

With the cap and the constrictions that they have there, there has to be some sort of like creative ways that they can think about this and I think, with knowing that the ownership group is locked in now and knowing that there's probably a good chance that you're going to be able to keep Tim Conley, because A-Rod and Lori are the ones that brought him in In the first place. So I hope that this just creates an opportunity for Ant Edwards to continue to compete, to continue to bang on the door at an NBA title. So we're looking forward to what they're going to be able to do in the offseason. I personally think that there's something where you could do something with Conley's contract and you could do something with Julius Randle's contract. Now you probably need to involve Julius in some way and where he wanted to go. But also you know, hey, this team's going to pay you, they're going to do this, they're going to do that. You know, let's see. So I hope that that is the case, because I don't think you're going to get a tyus jones or monte morris and it's gonna completely revolutionize your team. You gotta get a real dude to help anthony edwards, a real guy, score some points that people have some fear into. We shall see.

The great thing about Minnesota Is that they're not building anymore, it's finishing. They have a superstar, they have the infrastructure, but if they want to matter, in May and into June, they got to sharpen the margins margins. Conley is a guide, edwards is a rocket and you need someone who can fly with them this summer. Is there? Is that their co-pilot out there can? Does he get found? Or is this the same story that gets replayed one year later? Could be, but that's the case of it. That's what they're looking at. So it is a feel good friday.

Right, we did say that we were going to talk about nba draft. We said that we were going to give you some love on the nba draft. We said that we were gonna give you some love on the nba draft. We do not shirk our responsibilities. We are great when it comes to that. We want to help out. We want to be ninjas. Let's do it. Let's talk about the guards. So I have four tiers, uh, guards. We're going to talk about all of them. There's going to be somebody who overlaps with the wings in here, but I'm going to give that a guard spin to it and tell you why we put them in anyway. So let's get to it. Let's start off with the first guard that should be coming off the board in the 2025 NBA draft that happens on June 25th and that is none other than Rutgers freshman guard, dylan Harper.

Dylan Harper, if he had a theme song, it would be something, something just spicy. At Rutgers he wasn't just the initiator, he was in total control. He'd been defensive with intention and not speed. There's a quiet confidence that he uses in his angles of attacking defenders and his handle is not flashy, but it is surgical. And here's a note from Soraya Harper averaged 5.4 assists with a 2.8 to 1 assist to turnover ratio. I love that Without NBA spacing. He also shot 68% at the rim. Most of it was self-created, mm-mm-mm.

The questions about him? They're fair. His pull-up has a hitch in it. His isolation pop is an elite, but there there is a just a way about him. He looked how can I put this? He looks like a supersized Jalen Brunson. He knows how to play the game. Hardware. When you want to teach an organization how to think about the game, the best version of him is Jalen Brunson, with 15 extra pounds and probably about six inches. The Spurs, the Raptors, are teams that would love to have him, but the Spurs are going to get him because they got the number two overall pick.

Does this still mean Giannis is coming to San Antonio? Will it be onto to come throw in Gotham? Will it be onto to come throw in the Bay? We'll get to this a little bit later, but I thought I'd just throw that out there. That's our onto toumpo minute for the san antonio squirts. At least the squirts aren't as as uh thirsty as another uh franchise out there. Oh my god, I know it's a different sport, but has anybody been paying attention to what the hell has been going on in pitts, pittsburgh, about the Steelers? They out here like singing like 90s R&B songs and shit. They sound like like color me bad. Out here just crying for Aaron Rodgers. You don't see San Antonio worried about that. They got Wimby. You know they got the number two overall pick. You know I'm saying they got some stuff, so they are not out here crying for anta tacungo.

The second guard on my list might be a little more controversial. It is the guard out of texas, trey johnson. Now here's the thing that I want to say about trey johnson. Trey johnson moves like someone who always gets told you got the green light. He's a shooter, most definitely, but it's the type of shooter that changes the court geometry. The handle is more functional than it is. Dazzling, I will say that, but it gets him to his spots. And it is dazzling, I will say that, but it gets him to his spots. And those spots they're deep, they're varied and they're very unpredictable. Sarray's note His shot chart from this past year Looks like A Jackson Pollock painting, but 39.7 from three on high volume equals real gravity. There ain't truer words being said right there. And if harper is the conductor or if he's like basically the person that just is the puppet master of the offense, johnson is a soloist.

The fear with trey is his shot selection, not just what he takes, but when he takes them. It is very reminiscent of d'angelo russell, very reminiscent, but if he can scale into his, if he could scale his game into a rhythm based system, or is he Jamal Crawford with more shoulders? I don't know. Here's what I do know, because Soraya makes me smarter every single day. Here is the one of the best stats about this kid only 80 rim attempts in 33 games. That's less than 2.5 a game. He settles for the jumper by default. He's going to have to vary his attack when he comes into the league. No doubt he is going to have to vary that attack because if they know you're just gonna shoot from outside, oh my god, trust and believe and that's where the defense will attack you. Now, if you believe in the spacing johnson's ready-made scoring release valve, he's hero with more iso, uh creation. Give him a second side role. He might cook year one, but he gonna have to get to the hole. He gonna have to get to the hole.

Now, speaking of somebody getting to the hole, vj edge comb was in our wing uh draft preview, but I also wanted to put him here, and the reason why, obviously, is because he's six foot four, six foot five with a six foot ten wingspan. He is a 41 inch vertical. He is a legit two-way frame. But the most important thing is is that he can, he? I don't know if he's capable of being a nba lead guard. I'm not sure. There were flashes last year and most drop heads will sell you that edge comb is, is a slasher. But watch two quarters of tape. It is different. He's a defender.

First, big shoulders, angry, closeout, relentless second efforts. What excites me is this he's developing the scoring in reverse. Most kids are taught to shoot before they know how to, uh, how to flight, uh, fight, through a screen. Vj is the and, yeah, his handle is raw, his reads can lag, but if he ever gets even league average on his pull up he becomes Anthony Edwards light, because he's so phenomenally physically gifted and he plays defense with a conscience. If the handle gets tighter, if the decision maker is gets a little bit better.

If he gets on ball reps, if he's with a team that allows him to fail, dude, by year three, this could be a real problem what this kid can do, because he got some serious ups and he does kind of remind me a little bit of ant, not like listen, you gotta squint real hard to see it, because ant comes in just just bravado, just like yo, dude, I can do anything. He really does believe that. He really believes that he can do anything. He really does believe that he really believes that he can do anything. Vj doesn't have that type of you know confidence, but it's more stoic, it's brewing underneath the surface. He does believe that he is best player in this draft, no doubt, and that's with Cooper Flagg in it. So keep that in mind. Bj Edgecombe is one of them dudes and I think he's gonna get it. I just want to know that he gets the. He gets the opportunity to get on ball and let's see what happens.

Now I will say this about the three guys that we just talked about Harper, depending on what happens in San Antonio and who's there, who's not there, will depend on how much time and reps he gets. Trey might end up starting off the bench or whatever the case may be, but he could be a starter by years in just depending on what he's able to do on the defensive end. And also, will he be able to change his not his shot diet, but maybe kind of calibrate his shot diet where he's not taking like early shot clock situations where nobody's down on the other end of the court to rebound for him? Check this out this is from Soraya Development timeline reality check Average all-star guards take 2.8 years to hit their full starter role.

What you see in October isn't what you'll see in year three, and there is. That's the rub, because we're going to see, because this is the hardest league in the world for a guard to come into. It's very rare that a guard comes in and goes, yep, I'm here. It's very rare that a guard comes in and goes, yep, I'm here, it's time for me to start taking over, start doing all the things I know how to do and bust people's ass and all this sort of thing and whatever.

It is not so easy to do in the NBA. There's so much nuance to it. You got to get others involved. You got to make sure you're doing the things you need to do. You got to play defense. You got to make sure you're doing the things you need to do. You got to play defense. You got to be extension of the coach on the floor. There's so much that goes on and these kids heads are spinning out of control. And let's also talk about the quiet thing that we don't talk about out loud.

College coaches now are not into developing players like they used to. They are coming into a system, fitting into a system that the coach is set up and then they're moving that player along to the pros or whatever the case may be. The days of saying, okay, we, we're going to start working on your jump shot and by year two, your jump shot is going to be crispy. Nope, that is now safe for the league. You got to have a good shooting coach. You got to have a good like structure. You got to get, have a good plan to put in place for this young man, because they are not getting these type of tutelages in the college system whatsoever. So keep those in mind. So if a guy like dylan harper or trey johnson or even vj escombe comes out the gate and they come out the gate slow it's not time to give up on them, it's not time to worry about it.

And the reason why we can say this with a lot of confidence is I submit to you kobe white. Kobe white came out of college. We thought, oh man, this is lightning in the bottle. He's definitely gonna hit blah, blah, blah. We go through three years and we don't know, we have no clue. Then he kind of turns it on the fourth year and then this year it looked incredible. So sometimes development is not linear, sometimes development is very up and down and it's varied on where you go, how you're, how you're nurtured and what kind of opportunities you get. So keep those things in mind when we're talking about draft prospects.

Now the second tier, guards. Tier two is where the real draft work lives. These aren't clean evaluations. These are bets on vision. These are guards who need time, um system and trust. But if they hit man, they hit big. Usually and here's a note from our girl historically over half the all-star guards came from outside the top seven pick. Tier two isn't a drop-off, it's a developmental runway. And let's get into the development.

And the first guy that we want to talk about is casperis yakuchunas. Now he is the freshman a la illinois. He is a wizard with the basketball and you're going to love him if God, if Halliburton was the guy in Severance played by Adam Scott. His game is all tempo. He doesn't race you, he guides you Right. He averaged over 6 assists. He only had 2.6 turnovers a game, so it was like a little bit over 2 to 1 ratio. His eyes stay 2 passes ahead. He doesn't need to score 18 a night to dominate a possession.

Yaki tunas is layered Pat pass, fakes mid pick and roll like he's been watching Ginobili tape on slow motion since birth like through osmosis. Now the downside to him is that you can. You know his name is yakuchunis. So what do you think is the downside to him? Well, we don't know if he has like real legit explosivity. He can't break you down without a screen and he is the second highest turnover rate among high pick and roll usage guards, but the feel is rare. So think of this Tomas Sadoransky's floor, kobe White's presence If this hits, you, got a Halliburton light. With European discipline.

He fits into systems that have, like dual distribution handlers the Houston's, the San Antonio's, the Utah's of the world, I think, before, whatever Sacramento had going on. I don't know what their philosophy is now with the new coaching regime and what have you. But Yaka Chunas is a wizard with the basketball and I also think that what you saw with some of the turnovers that he had is the teammates that he played with. You know, some of these dudes aren't going to be as clean of a prospect that you're dealing with too, you know. So you're kind of codependent on the team that you're with, and he didn't have a bunch of like jump sick athletes, jump out the building athletes, like if Yonkichunas was down in Houston or whatever the case may be, oh my God, the things that he would have been able to do with those cats would have been phenomenal. But he was in Illinois, so there was a little bit lack of talent there, that you know. There were probably passes that were a little more advanced for the type of teammates that he had. Let's just put it that way, with the type of teammates that he had. Let's just put it that way.

Now here's one of my favorite dudes in the draft, not because it's like my favorite guy, but it's his talent and his tape intrigues me so much, and this is Jeremiah Fears. Jeremiah Fears was getting crazy buzz early on. There was talks of like top 10 potential things of that nature figures, plays like he's seen the lane before and you blink. The first step nuclear rim pressure, best in class. His usage he's a usage leader for the season, freshman at oklahoma, pulling every string with confidence. But his biggest strength is also his biggest flaw. He plays fast and sometimes he plays reckless. Fears only shot 28.4% from deep. The footwork is there, the timing spotty, still foul drawing looks jaw adjacent when he's going downhill, and that's pretty. Now he matures and the shot comes around.

This could be De'Aaron Fox. This could be what we thought Dennis Smith Jr was going to be. So what's the play here? Draft him to a franchise that is less full, then catch him, like in Washington, toronto, somewhere that he knows that there's a second contract will be might be the real win, because you might not be able to see what you're going to need to be able to see for a couple years. Strength is going to come into play, decision making is going to come into play. Are you going to be able to value the basketball, those type of things? Because if he gets it, this could be special. This could be special.

Now, speaking of special, we go to our guy from byu edgar denham, igor Denim. This is like a giddy type sort of, but there's some shit to him I like this kid. Denim isn't your typical off ball connector, he's a primary guy. Uh, he won't just shoot, and that's the gamble. He throws darts with either hand. He plays angles like yokich in slow motion, but his three-point percentage under 19, it's not just bad, it's, it's almost undraftable.

And you're saying, well, why is he a person that you are very interested in? Because even though he can't separate off the bounce, he plays too upright. He anticipates everything Like, oh, he has answers for you. This is what makes him draftable. You can't teach his IQ. If he learns to shoot or even just finish through contact, he becomes point turkalu and point guard. Yeah, point turkalu he do. You know what I'm saying. This is like a okc wet dream. Come to life. Dallas would love this guy. Cleveland would love this guy. Teams with structure who the pass first, low ego creators? For sure he needs a good shot, doctor. Somebody needs to get him a good shot, doctor. Okay, I'm letting you know right now the shot isn't, is not broken, but damn sure it don't look great. He gonna need to get some stuff fixed and just all taken care of. Just saying the next group is tier three. Now tier three is your.

You know, only six percent of college tournament stars play more than 18 minutes per game in their rookie season. The leap from guy to to the guy, to a guy to a guy is is real. It's gonna be challenging, but there's a couple guys in here that we need to talk about. And the first guy that we need to talk about is America's Darling, the guy who caught caught, captured the imagination of everybody in the tournament, and that's walter clayton jr of florida. Uh, he can run all day like steph curry, off screens, off horns, off in corners. He lives in motion. He shot over 42 percent from three last season and he's not just a catch and shoot dude, he's a relocation deep bombs, quick fire and this is a gravity guy. He's only one of three guards in this class to shoot over 40 percent from deep on six plus attempts and generate more points off screens Than on ball. That is fantastic. So he understands system. He understands like okay, this is what we do, whatever pick and roll. You can see a lot of inverted pick and rolls with him. The one thing that you know about Walter Clayton Jr is this Is that, yes, he can shoot shoot from like regular platform but he can shoot off platform. We saw it all through the tournament. All through the tournament.

This dude is a big shot maker, not just a big shot taker. No, he's a big shot her, because a lot of them go in. He reminds me of makhmud adul raouf, which you might know him as chris jackson. He played for ellen, he played for lsu, uh, he also played for denver in the nba or whatever. But go look up some like YouTube, chris Jackson a la Mahmoud Abdul Raouf film and tell me if this ain't Now.

Here's the thing. The handle is different, okay, but I'm talking about the shot making. Okay, shot making for our guy Walsh Clayton Jr is awesome. I think he does have a chance of making it. Look for teams like Milwaukee, denver, phoenix, who need instant offense. That would be the type of situation where I could see him going to Now.

We need to talk about our guy Nolan Traore, and I was high on him early because I love the feel. But, man, you got to shoot it better, my guy, you got to shoot it better for me to really feel you Okay. But the flashes, oh the flashes, the tight pick and roll reads, the left to right burst, the natural rim pressure he puts on. It's like a mixtape, but occasionally he thinks like a veteran. But here's the problem only 30 percent from three, only 30 percent from three. He created 1.07 points per possession in pick and roll, though. That's top 5 among Euro under 19 guards. Pretty sweet. The catch is he's 19. And he plays like it. He leaves his feet too early, he gambles on defense and can't guard without fouling yet. But you're drafting instincts, you're drafting possibility, you're drafting to put him in the G League and then hopefully he will learn some things by year three. Hopefully.

Our guy Cam Jones from Marquette, 6'5 guard. He was built to score in punches. This is definitely a dude that I can see being part of. Like a rotation, an 8 man rotation. He can help you. You don't teach his shot diet, you barely survive it. His confidence could power a small city. In college he was the guy In the NBA You're the bench guy who comes in, changes momentum and then sits back down. He shot 35.5% From deep On 8 attempts. 60. Of his makes were unassisted Pure self-creation. Let you know what Marquette was all about last year.

Nba guys love Cam if they can accept the. You're not the starter life. Think Cam Thomas. Think Microwave Vinny. Think less twitchy Gordon Clarkson. He can win you On Tuesday night in February. But will he play defense? Will he rotate? That's the contract test. I think he is going to be able to play in the league for a long period of time. It will be. Can he just adjust to his new surroundings and what his position on the team will be? So role acceptance will be key for my guy. So role acceptance will be key for my guy. And that's the hardest part of the league is you go from 24 shots a night to eight when your job is to take the right shot, not just a shot.

Clayton, treyory and cam johnson three very different types of guards, but the challenge is still the same. Shrink the ego, expand the efficiency and you have a chance to make it in this league. I think walter he can play 15 minutes off the bench for our playoff team right now, maybe even more in April. Nolan Traore is basically two years away from being viable and I think that Cam Jones I think Cam Jones is one of those guys that could really be like like an Austin Reeves type. He could really surprise us. I think that he has a chance of making it in the league if he understands what he kind of needs to do. Now we get to the end of this, which is great because these are the true dart throws. But there's some guards in here that I really like and I want to spotlight them Before we get up out of here.

And you know Tyrese Cracker of Duke. He played a long time at Duke and here's the thing Duke's offense rating jumped 7.2 points when proctor was on the floor this season. That just tells you. All you need to know about this kid is that he can help you. He can help you if he gets into the right situation. He can help you because he's 6'5. He's kind of skinny. Whatever case would be like 185 pounds, but the shot is for real. Is 100 for real? I think it just depends on where he goes can he get to the right spot. But I love tyrese, I love tyrese cracker. I think he can definitely play in this league. And that also goes for our guy hunter salis out of wake forest, hunter salis, and that also goes for our guy Hunter Salas out of Wake Forest. Hunter Salas has that March hero energy. He'll score you 14 in a quarter, clapping your face on the next possession.

There's a lot of confidence in him. He's not cocky but he's certain he can get downhill. He doesn't just try to score, he expects get downhill. He doesn't just try to score, he expects to score. He put up 23 against Duke, he put up 25 against Florida, so against real NBA caliber defenders, and he wasn't scared of the moment at all. He competes on both sides, both ends. He has enough left to finish through contact and he doesn't get lost off ball. If he tightens up the jumper he's going to be a rotation guy.

I would love for him to be a Laker, but Memphis, portland, boston. I would not want him to be a Laker, but Memphis, portland, boston. I would not want him to go to Boston. But they could use a guy like this. It all makes sense. He's the kind of guy who starts as a matchup problem and grows into a guy who you can trust on both sides of the court. Now Chaz Lanier of the court. Now chas lanier of the tennessee volunteers. Here's a guy whose shooting is not theoretical. This dude's jumper already league ready 44 percent from three nba range for show, deep relocation chops for show. And here's the stat that's theaya pulled up. This is the one that I want to give her the most credit for and shout out to Soraya I got something to say, but let me give you this, let me give you this stat only seven guards in his class scored more points off screens than Lanier. That's real spacing value. And again I say this Soraya man, the amount of work that we put into these pods and people have asked well, why doesn't Soraya talk on the mic?

One Soraya has told me this, so I'm not speaking for her on this. One she exactly said this to me. She likes to keep her anonymity. Two, the other thing is is that she came from a different genre. You know saying she did like uh, you know she did stuff like the true crime stories and things of that nature. So she's getting her feet wet, but she really loves basketball and she's really getting into it and she loves just the deep research of all of it, but she is not gonna get on this mic and then have y'all clown her. She's like no, no, no, I'm going to get these. Takes off in a controlled environment and keep them guessing. So there it is. You heard it from the woman or you heard it from me, but those are her words.

Now, the best part of Chastelnear is this he doesn't need the ball. He doesn't want the ball. He wants to space, catch, fire and run back on D. This dude is a sniper of the highest order. Golden State, phoenix, okc Lakers, sacramento Clippers any Eastern Conference team like Detroit would love to have him. Now the next two guys are Javon Small and Ryan Nembhard.

The ISO pocket knife deal is javon smalls. He lives in the crevices of the shot clock. He's got a mid clock juice, late clock, calm, he's a. He has a go-to floater. That feels like something he has had since the 10th grade. What I love about him is that he's not selfish. He just knows how to get to his spots, use his shoulders like a vet, slows down in the lane like he's baiting you and then, boom there, it is shot up, it's gonna be great. He had a 2.3 to 1 assist to turnover ratio on a bottom tier offense. He's making good decisions under pressure, without stars around him. He's gonna get you buckets. He'll get your offense into rhythm. He is your second unit point guard when the starters need to rest, especially in places like utah, chicago or san antonio.

Now ryan nimhard is the brother of andrew nimhard. He is the mini maestro that we all come to love. He is special because he is so solid. He gets you in the sets, he hits the extra pass and every coach on earth will love him by day three of training camp and here's the stat that Sarea has 3.9 assists, 1.1 turnovers per game, so damn near. 4 to 1 assist to turnover ratio. That's assist of grain With two feet on the ground. This dude is instant offense for you. This is Tyus Jonesones, reincarnated, but smaller, like a pocket tyus jones, and if he doesn't get swallowed up by the defense, he can probably have like an eight year career in the nba. That's just my thoughts on it. You know saying I just I don't know tell you what. That's my thoughts on him.

These guards won't move the needle on the draft board, but they will make good teams better, and that's what we want, right? That's all we want from the fourth tier guys Fit, trust and IQ. One of them, one of them will be a starter at some point, maybe. Maybe somebody gets hurt, whatever the case may be, someone will get picked while there's a Taco Bell add-on, and then we'll be looking back and be like he went behind this dude, this dude, this dude and this dude. So we've gone through all the four tiers Guards who could leave, franchises, guards who might sneak into lineups, scorers, shooters, connectors and creators.

And now we zoom out. Let's talk about what it really is. The draft isn't just scouting. It is a this basically architecture, a this basically architecture. You're not just picking stats, you're you're drafting for futures. You're drafting for what could be. You're asking what this guy could become. And are we the ones who can get them there? And every person who makes draft evaluations are certain they have the elixir to fix whatever else.

This, this kid, what I will always say this development is not linear at all. There's a lot of up and downs and also we have no idea what's in this person's heart, what's in this person's mind, whatever the case may be. So when we are looking at a guy and going, well, it's just not working out, it's just not working out. Again, I bring your attention to guards like kobe white. I bring your attention to other guards that he'll come on you, you know, after a while. As far as that's concerned, remember, there was a real debate about Steph Curry and Monte Ellis. Could you imagine that Now? I know this is a long time ago for some of y'all, but there was a real debate, like year three of Steph Curry. Was Steph Curry, was Steph Curry going to stay or was Monte Ellis going to stay? So there's a lot of people giving up on guards very quickly.

And then you, if you hold on to your patience, if you can hold your water for just a little bit longer, you get blessed with some, with some, with some crazy stuff. You know, see steph curry, see steph curry. With that being said, I think we can get out of here. We can go ahead and tell y'all we love y'all. You know. Thank you for your help, thank you for your support. Please be a friend, tell a friend about the podcast.

Also, there will be a blog, which is the second side experience that I always talk about on these podcasts. Keep that in mind as well. Go to dot podcast page, dot io. Go up to the right hand side corner. There's three. There's like three little lines. Hit that, click on that. There's a drop down menu blog. The first blog on there should be the blog that's attached to this podcast, right for the second screen experience. So we want to make sure y'all get on that for sure.

So, without further ado, you guys have a tremendous, you know, friday and then have a tremendous weekend and, with that being said, the best part of you is you make sure that you are surrounding yourself with people who are exhibiting behaviors that are supportive to you, that uplift you, that take care of you when you're down, that are reassuring you. That you know, sometimes this is just a season and things happen for a reason. You know I'm saying, and then, if you have people like that in your life, make sure to always acknowledge them, appreciate those who are giving that kind of love, make sure that you're texting them, make sure you're calling them or facetiming them or whatever. Go out for lunch, whatever. Do that, because when you are having support that is backed by love, it just hits different, and if it's hitting different for you, you know what I'm saying. That's great, that's all love. So, with that being said, we up out of here, thanks to saraya, thanks to everybody, you on this channel on tuesday deuces.