Jason Timpf reacts to Round 1 of the NBA Draft featuring Zach Edey joining Ja Morant and the Memphis Grizzlies, Dalton Knecht falling to LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers, and Anthony Edwards' Minnesota Timberwolves trading up for Kentucky's Rob Dillingham. Jason also shares his thoughts on the Top 5 selections including Zaccharie Risacher going to the Atlanta Hawks with the No. 1 overall pick, Alex Sarr heading to the Wizards at No. 2, and Reed Sheppard joining a young Houston Rockets team.
6:00 - 1. Hawks: Zaccharie Risacher
8:00 - 2. Wizards: Alex Sarr
10:00 - 3. Rockets: Reed Sheppard
12:00 - 4. Spurs: Stephon Castle
13:30 - 5. Pistons: Ron Holland II
15:45 - Why Kel'el Ware fits with Heat
24:00 - Timberwolves trade for Rob Dillingham
29:00- Grizzlies draft Zach Edey
33:30 - Lakers steal Dalton Knecht
(Timestamps may vary based on advertisements.)
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co slash MMA. All right, welcome to Hoops tonight. You're
at the volume. Happy Thursday, everybody, hope all if you
(01:48):
guys are having a great end to your week. Well,
the NBA Draft started last night with the first round.
We had a couple of interesting trades. Obviously, we're going
to get into the guys at the top of the draft.
Are going to kind of bounce around the first draft
and hit a bunch of the top storylines. You guys
know the drip before we get started. Subscribed to the
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Hoops tonight, and then keep dropping mail back questions in
the YouTube comments so we can keep hitting them throughout
the end of this week and into next week. All right,
let's talk some basketball. So to give you guys an
idea of the kind of outline today, I'm gonna briefly
hit on each of the top five picks, and then
i'm gonna hit some of the bigger stories in the
(02:30):
first round. So Minnesota getting Rob Dillingham by trading up
into that San Antonio Spurs spot. That was super interesting
to me, kind of like an aggressive move from Minnesota
to address the specific needs. So we're gonna get into
that a little bit, and how he fits the Grizzlies
getting Zach Edy, which I thought was really interesting. We're
going to talk about whether or not Zach Edy can
(02:51):
play in the NBA. Well, I think kind of that
debate is silly, and we're gonna get into his specific
fit with Memphis and why I actually think that's the
perfect spot for him to start. One of my favorite
picks out the Eastern Conference, khalil Ware going to Miami,
a guy who brings kind of like a rim protection
and a floor spacing element, and we're talking about him.
And then lastly, a guy who was projected by most
(03:12):
to be a top ten pick, Dalton connect falls to
the Los Angeles Lakers. We're gonna talk a little bit
about him at the end of the show, all right,
So we're gonna start with the top five. So Zachary
usas Takes goes to Atlanta at number one, And this
guy's just a quintessential off ball role players six ' nine,
He's rangey. Off ball defense are really good, kind of
(03:33):
like making reads from that low man position, whether it's
jumping passing lanes, whether it's bothering role men in pick
and roll, covering ground on the weak side to shooters
in rotation. Remember this is something that we've seen become
immensely valuable over the course of the last few years
in the NBA. This is that ground coverage concept that
we've been talking about. Right, So elite players require aggressive coverages.
(03:57):
Right when you throw aggressive coverages, you leave week side
two on ones typically right, And so having guys that can,
you know, if there's a pass to the wing, who
can close out to the passing lane in between the
wing and corner shooter and effectively kind of be in
multiple places at once. Guys who can win contested rebound
battles with their length. Guys who can you know when
(04:19):
you have to bring your rim protector up to the
level of the screen and there's a lob threat rolling
down the lane. A guy who can bother lob passes.
That type of like off ball rangeness and length is
super valuable, right, And then he brings a little bit
of the same kind of offensive capability on the other
end of the floor, right, Like he was streaky, but
this kid can shoot, And I actually think his game
(04:41):
compliments Jalen Johnson pretty well. Like Jalen brings the more athletic,
kind of like downhill type of feel, right, whereas like Rasachez,
he's got the length, but he's more of like a
finesse type of player, good at attacking close outs, better
shooter at this point. So like, I kind of think
that they represent an interesting three to four type of
pairing for Atlanta to evaluate over the course of the
(05:03):
next few years. Now everything for Atlanta comes down to
what they're willing to do with Trey Young and what
they're willing to do with de John Tay Murray. Are
they going to keep Clint Capella? How does DeAndre Hunter
fit into this? Now that you have your three and
four kind of lined up in terms of the future,
so it's really hard to get a read for what
Atlanta is going to look like next year, But at
least at the three and four, Zachary Resache and Jalen
(05:25):
Johnson represent an interesting kind of future core to keep
an eye on. Alex Sar to Washington right. Alexar played
in Perth last year, played alongside a Tucson guy again
named Bryce Cotton, who a guy that I've played a
lot with when back when he used to live here
and brings a lot of intriguing skills, a lot of upside.
(05:46):
But the exciting thing with Alex Sar is he's one
of the higher floor guys in this draft because he's
just already an excellent defender. He's especially in pick and roll.
He's just got a bunch of versatility in the way
that he can guard. Like to throw him in a
deep drop he's got the length to bother stuff at
the rim. He's very good. I'd argue it's like one
of his strengths being aggressive in ball screen coverages with
(06:06):
his length on the ball handler, although he can sometimes
get burned on the backside as a result. He's a
guy that can switch and guard perimeter players in space.
So like immediately he represents kind of like a foundational
piece for a defense right now. The offensive end is
where his potential upside is. Like, did a lot of
work in Perth's five out system as like a dribble
(06:27):
handoff kind of folk rum, right Like, He's a guy
who would kind of dribble at guys coming out of
the corner and they'd either come off of him for
handoff or cut back door. He just was good at
kind of making those reads. He has some improvement to
make in terms of like actually setting solid screens, but
that'll come in time, especially as he gets bigger. Got
a lot of aggressive coverages towards Bryce Cotton, so he
(06:47):
got some work in the short role where he made
good reads to guys cutting along the baseline and kick
out passes to shooters in the corner. I think that
he just kind of has the potential to be that
type of five out big that we talk so much
much about on the show where I think the future
of NBA offense is heading anyway. So it's a high
floor pick a guy that has a lot of offensive
(07:09):
upside that may or may not be realized. Really just
comes down to how well his jump shot develops over
the years, right, But I like it. It's like a good
ballscreen Folkrum to pair with Jordan Poole and a defensive foundation,
you can get a better look at how Jordan Poole
fits into your team's future. Looking forward, I like to
pick Alex Start to Washington at three. Reed Shepherd to
(07:29):
the Rockets. Just a ready made role player. He's one
of the best shooting prospects in this draft, if not
the best. He's really good at operating with an advantage.
This is when Reid was at his like the most
fun to watch, right, like, whether it was kind of
in the open floor when things are chaotic, or whether
he's attacking a closeout or kind of functioning in the
offense when he has an advantage. He's just a really
good ball handler and has a really good feel for
(07:51):
like reading what where defenders are leaning and hitting them
with counter moves, and then he's just got all the footwork.
Literally looks like he's the kind of guy that you'd
see in like a skill development video, Like he can
take off left right, he could take off right left,
he could take off off the hop, off the hop,
like he can do all of these different footwork things
to get different kind of releases from different angles as
(08:14):
a shop maker, and so he'll immediately be a really
good connective piece for Houston. He's like he just is
gonna be a guy that kind of makes things work
better offensively, especially on a team like Houston that has
a lot of raw talent. He's kind of more of
a finished product that will help it like tie it
all together. Does he have the upside as some of
these other guys in Houston, but he should be able
(08:35):
to immediately come in and help and immediately come in
and be that type of connective piece, especially for a
team in Houston that, as we know, especially from the Intel,
wants to be good sooner than later, like they want
to be in the mix in the West sooner than later.
Good defender as well, always in the right place. Doesn't
have great physical tools, a little short, little uh doesn't
have a ton of length, but he does his job.
(08:55):
He is always in the right place. Like I said,
he competes on the ball fights over screen. One of
the things that stood out to me on film when
I was watching him was he's really good at attacking
the dribble pocket after chasing over the top of the screen.
Got a lot of steals this year where he would
chase from behind and just swipe at the basketball and
he'd generate transition opportunities that way. And so again, I
(09:15):
like to fit with Houston as basically a guy that
can kind of just immediately slot in and help kind
of grease the wheels, so to speak, offensively, while also
being a functional piece of their defense. And like we
talked about earlier, there's lots of intel that the Rockets
could potentially be gearing up for star trade at some
point before the deadline, and he just represents another asset
(09:36):
that you could potentially use in a situation like that.
Number four, The Spurs drafts to Fon Castle. Sefon Castle
was one of my favorite guys to watch when we
were doing our draft pet prep. He's just a classic
big guard, right, kind of slow, methodical, doesn't have a
super quick first step. Not a guy who's looking to
shoot a ton from the perimeter. He's just trying to
kind of get into that short to mid range where
(09:58):
he's got every count, remove, every float, every hook, every
short jump shot in the book, and he's just super
comfortable operating in that area. He has got a lot
of like that kind of like Shae Yelders Alexander kind
of crafty stuff within that like ten to fifteen foot range.
Not as good as shooter as Shay, And that obviously
is gonna be the huge swing factor for Steph's career,
(10:20):
right like if he if he's gonna be anything more
than than what he's projected to be at this point,
he's got to become a more functional shooter from the perimeter.
But the big thing that I like about Stefan Castle
is he just has a great feel for the game.
He's really good at playing alongside other good basketball players.
He's not a guy that's going to disrupt the flow
of an offense. He kind of it's kind of like
(10:41):
we were talking about with Reed Shepherd. He greases the wheels,
so to speak. And so we know this is a
Spurs team that desperately needs more feel around Victor wembin Yama, right,
Like guys who know how to play with other good
basketball players, Right, So this was a really good step
in the right direction to pair him with Victor wembin Yama.
Number five, our last pick in the top five, Ron
Holland going to the Detroit Pistons, kind of another high motor,
(11:04):
athletic wing with a lot of upside that hasn't really
come together in terms of his skill development. So you're
betting in the long run that you pair him with
sar Thompson and you basically just have these layers of
wing athleticism to complement Kay Cunningham on the margins, right,
And this is just kind of the direction we're seeing
the game going. We've seen multiple different types of teams
win recently, right, Like Boston wins with all this wing
(11:25):
talent and driving and kicking. Denver wins with this like
interior frontline presence and over the top shot making with
Jamal Murray, and Golden State wins with five out motion
and the best pull up shooting guard in the history
of basketball. Right. So, like they're all very different types
of teams, but in general, if you were like asking
what the single most effective form of modern basketball right now,
it's rangy wing athleticism that can drive and kick. And specifically,
(11:49):
if there's one offensive skill that Ron Holland's already pretty
good at, it's driving closedouts. And so I think that's
kind of the angle that they're looking at here, is
benefiting off of the attention that Kaid Cunningham draws and
his ability to generate those types of close out opportunities. Again,
a lot of the downside of the pessimism surrounding Ron Holland,
as he just struggled a lot on the ball with
G League Ignite last year. But G League Ignite was
(12:11):
a total shit show. And I'm gonna say the same
thing I said about McHale Bridges last night, Like they're
just reps. No one's drafting Ron Holland to be this
dominant on ball creator. It's not even something that Detroit
needs in the long run, considering they're kind of built
around this Caid Cunningham, Jade and Ivy kind of shot
creation foundation, right, So, like what you really need is
him to be a functional off ball offensive player, and
(12:33):
those reps on the ball, they make it easier, Like
It's like one of those things where you're trying to
learn how to make these reads when you're not very
good at it against loaded up defense, and then what
happens is you slide into a smaller role. You're constantly
playing with an advantage, and then suddenly that just kind
of becomes a little easier because you've practiced doing a
much much harder version of that. And specifically for teams
(12:56):
like Detroit that are just so far away from contention,
I like that on wings with upside because they're the
riskier ones, but they're the ones that have potential to
pan out to guys that can be profoundly impactful, especially
in the later rounds of the NBA Playoffs. One other
pick I wanted to shout out before we get into
some of the bigger stories was a Khalil Ware going
to the Miami Heat. I really like this pick on
(13:16):
a bunch of different levels. First of all, like this
concept of like layering layers of athleticism on your frontline essentially,
like instead of viewing Bam necessarily as just a five,
Like what does it look like if you put him
alongside another freaky athlete to kind of like layer that athleticism.
This is a thing we saw a bunch around the
league this year. This is a thing we saw with
(13:36):
Minnesota that led to a lot of success against Denver.
Denver won last year with a massive center as well
as this massive forward that has Bam at a biotype
of size and Aaron Gordon at the four right, and
so like, I like the idea of if you're struggling
with ball handling and you can't find ball handling that
meets that kind of meshes with what your ultimate goal
is as a team. I like the idea of finding
(13:58):
functional tools that can help immediately. And Khalil Ware can shoot,
which is an interesting kind of pairing with Bam and
a bio if he operates more as a Gerbil handoff
folkrum and operates more close to the rim, and then
he brings just that height, athleticism, vertical spacing piece. And
so I just thought that was a really interesting fit
for Miami. And one of the things too, is like
the rub on khalil where is he can struggle with physicality, right,
(14:21):
Like he's just not a very tough type of big right,
And like, give me that in Miami system, if over
anywhere else in terms of a system that breeds toughness.
That's gonna get him in the weight room, that's gonna
have him in the peak version of himself physically, that's
gonna hold him accountable, that's gonna be that's gonna give
him tough love. I think like that's the kind of
(14:42):
thing like a lot of times you have to you
have to find a way to drive that toughness out
of them and and and kind of like get them
to fight where they can struggle to fight sometimes. And
so I kind of like the culture of Miami as
a foundation to help khalil Ware get going. And once again,
like that's just kind of if you're it's an side
pick in the sense that if you're dreaming about what
the modern NBA center looks like, it's the ability to
(15:05):
stretch the floor shot over forty percent from three last year.
I'll be it on really low volume. It's the ability
to stretch the floor and the ability to protect the
rim with real vertical presence on the other end of
the floor. But it also brings that vertical spacing on
the offensive end. So I like that pick for Miami.
So the three biggest stories that I thought were interesting
in terms of like interesting aggressive moves. It had to
(15:28):
do with three All three of them kind of had
to do with bizarre circumstances. Right, So the Timberwolves get
Rob Dillingham, we're going to talk about that just had
to do with the trading up right. This is a
team that was in the conference finals last year that
managed to get a top ten pick via giving future
draft compensation. Then we have Zach Edy going to Memphis.
This is a pick that was available to Memphis because
(15:50):
of the fact that they had this really bad season
because John Morant was out, because Marcus Smart was hurt
so much. So we have a really good team that
drafted towards the top, a really good team that traded
towards the top. And then Dalton Connect, a top ten
prospect by most by most of the people that I
trust covering the draft, Dalton Connect was one of the
top ten prospects, falls all the way to seventeen to
(16:12):
the Los Angeles Lakers. So those are the three kind
of bigger picture storylines that we're going to hit here
in the next couple of minutes.
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Speaker 2 (17:18):
Let's start with the Timberwolves getting Rob dealing it So.
I look at Rob as kind of like a smaller
version of Malife Monk. He was an overtime elite guy,
and he transferred to Kentucky and was immediately one of
the best shot creators in the country. He was eighty
seven percentile among pick and roll players at high volume.
He's already a really good pull up shooter. He's got
a deadly floater. He shot fifty three percent on them
(17:39):
this year at Kentucky, he made some strides as a playmaker.
That was his biggest weakness when he was with Overtime Eleade,
basically just dribbling up the floor and shooting every single time.
And you know, we talked to Damian Wilkins on Monday
and he made some good points about the fact that,
like that's what he does, and you want to lean
into that. But the growth is a playmaker is important
because if you want to be a sixth man who
(17:59):
just comes off the mention shoots every time, sure, but
if you want to be a functional part who plays
significant rotation minutes on a great team, you're gonna have
to be able to play alongside other good basketball players.
And he did make some strides in that area of
the game at Kentucky. Super explosive off the balance, he
has good start stop quickness, a deadly like left handed
high hesitation dribble where he'll like come to a complete
stop and then shoot out of a cannon. Can really
(18:21):
beat people off the dribble. But the big thing that's
exciting to me as far as the fit with Minnesota
he is a straight up deadly off ball shooter. He
shot fifty percent field goal percentage on unguarded jump shots
this year. That came out to one point four to
eight points per shot forty eight percent overall field goal
percentage on catch and shoot jump shots, regardless of whether
(18:41):
or not they were guarded. He was a ninety seventh
percentile spot at player. He got one point three points
per possession. Those are like Michael Porter junior type of numbers, right.
So the biggest weakness with Rob is that he's small, right,
and that can obviously cost some issues for him defensively.
But he does play hard and he does compete. He's
got a good motor. Like Minnesota makes a ton of
(19:01):
sense for me in terms of a fit for Rob,
because if you had to construct a team that would
allow him to have an achievable defensive role, it would
be on a team like this that has multiple elite
perimeter defenders and an elite rim protector. Because what that
means is Rob is most likely gonna be on a
movement shooter like any sort of on ball dribble creator.
(19:21):
You're gonna put Anton, You're gonna put Jaden McDaniels on Right,
you're gonna ask Rob Dillingham to guard a shooter who's
either operating on the weak side or maybe occasionally coming
off of some screening actions. That's an achievable role for him, right,
And then like, yeah, he's gonna be attacked in some
ball screen situations where they bring his man up into
the screen, but he's quick enough to throw a hedge
(19:43):
and recover again. Like that was the thing what cause
issues for Luca in the finals was he's not fast
enough to hedge and recover, so he basically has no
choice but to guard, and he can't guard, and so
it became an issue as Boston continued to get dribble
penetration on him, Like that, when it comes to weak defenders,
you just have to have the ability to to do
something in terms of the game plan, And as long
as he can chase shooters around and as long as
(20:04):
he can functionally hedge and recover to protect himself from
getting attacked and switches, I think he can. I think
it can work. Not to mention in terms of in
his lock and trail situations, he's gonna be in a
pretty good spot from the standpoint of having Rudy Gobert
behind him, and just the overall amount of length athleticism
behind him to kind of anchor him on that end
of the floor. And again he competes, and he competes,
(20:25):
and he's got the quickness. Those are things that I
think make it doable. Things I like, he's just an
absolute flamethrower off ball score And after what we saw
happened to Minnesota in the Dallas series, where Dallas just
loads up the strong side and just any of those
swing passes in Nikkeiele, Alexander Walker, Jaden McDaniels or Kyle Anderson,
whoever they're just wasn't enough off ball scoring pop to
(20:48):
make Dallas pay for loading up the strong side, right,
especially with Rudy Gobert, who can really cause problems for
the offense with his inability to catch and finish in
traffic around the basket.
Speaker 1 (20:58):
Right.
Speaker 2 (20:58):
So, like Minnesota is uniquely set up to benefit from
Rob Dillingham's strengths while also covering for Rob Dillingham's weaknesses,
and then in addition to that, he fits a positional need.
Mike Conley's thirty six years old. He's going to start
this year. He's going to be their primary guy in
that position, but he can help Rob as a mentor.
If Conley has to sit out games, he can slide
(21:20):
into that role in overtime. If he shows the ability
to compete defensively and shows that his scoring, his flamethrower
scoring can help in that back court, that could be
his spot to take. My one concern, he's not a
natural playmaker. He's getting better at it, but it's not
a natural thing for him. And I don't love the
idea of having your backcourt be two ball handlers that
(21:40):
both aren't great passers, right, And it's getting better, but
that's not his natural strength either. And I would argue
that overall ball movement in that five man grouping from
Minnesota is one of their biggest weaknesses offensively, right, That's
how you beat teams that load up the strong side.
We talked about this a lot yesterday when we were
kind of breaking down some of the five outs, Like
(22:00):
you need to get the ball side to side. If
like imagine it like this, if you have the three
point line and everyone's loaded up on the strong side,
you need to get the ball to the other side,
so that defense has to shift and with multiple side
to side shifts. That's where you can find cracks in
the defense that you can take advantage of, and you're
just not gonna get those opportunities unless you have a
certain amount of playmaking on the floor. So that's my
(22:22):
one concern. But that's another thing that like, if rob
can get better at it in the long run, especially
under Mike Conley's tutelage, it makes a lot of sense.
And I do like the off ball scoring piece and
ants development as a playmaker will help a lot in
that regard as well. Okay, the Grizzlies and Zach Edy,
I want to look at this from two angles. First,
I want to talk about Zach Edy kind of in
(22:43):
a vacuum as an NBA player, and then we'll talk
about his fit and Memphis. Can Zach Edy play in
the NBA. That's the big debate that everyone's been talking
about over the last few weeks, and it's a lot
of like radical like he's gonna be awesome or he's
not gonna be able to play at all. And to me,
the answer is really simple. He'll certainly be able to
play in some matchups when he can run drop coverage
(23:04):
on defense, meaning against teams that can't really force him
to guard in space and teams that can't run him
off the floor in transition. When he's in those situations,
he won't just be playable. He'll be good because he's
huge and he's a smart basketball player who knows how
to use his size. On offense, he'll set great screens
and he'll roll into the lane for deep seals and
buckets around the rim. And on defense, he's going to
(23:26):
protect the paint and clean up the defensive glass. He
is a functional big man when he's able to be
close to the rim and when he can't be capitalized
on in space, right, But he's definitely going to struggle
against the pace and space type of teams that can
run him up and down the floor and force him
to guard on the perimeter. But this is something that
Memphis is set up to deal with. Memphis can function
(23:47):
as a team with Jaron Jackson at the five and
with Jared Jackson at the four, right, especially with the
rise of GG Jackson, who I really like is a
forward that can shoot the ball. That you put next
to Jaron Jackson in their smaller looks, actually see it
all look work together, right, Like here's Memphis in a
matchup against Minnesota, a team that you can load up
the strong side against, and you're not as worried about
(24:09):
Rudy Gobert forcing Edy to guard in space or Minnesota
like just kind of running up and down the floor
in transition. Right, Like, in those situations, load you go big.
It's Edie at the five, it's Jared Jackson at the four,
operating as the low man. You can allow Edy to
be aggressive on the ball handler and use his length
to kind of swarm there. Jared Jackson's running that back line,
(24:32):
you have Gg Jackson as another layer of athleticism on
the wing. Or maybe it's maybe you can go smaller
with that group and have Smart Baane and John Moriant
out there. But if you're playing against the Golden State
Warriors or the Indiana Pacers, a team that's really going
to like force Edie to cover a ton of ground
and really kind of expose some of his quickness issues,
(24:52):
that's where it might make more sense to take him
out of the lineup, go with Jared Jackson at the five,
Gg Jackson at the four, with Smart Pain and John Moran. Right, Like,
the idea here is is like Edie is only going
to be functional in the NBA in certain types of situations.
But those specific types of situations are the only situations
that Memphis is really looking at to use Edi anyway.
(25:14):
And so the fit makes a ton of sense. When
Memphis can load up the strong side and keep Edie
by the rim, he's their big look. When they can't,
they have Jaron Jackson in his ability to play at
the five, and they can put a lineup out there
with Jared Jackson, GG Jackson, Bain Smart and John Morant
where they just have a ton of perimeter speed, the
ability to contain on the ball, of plenty of offensive
(25:37):
skill in spacing right. So like it makes a ton
of sense, And like I actually think Memphis is gonna
be a dominant regular season team next year. Like I
think they're gonna be right back in that I wouldn't
be surprised at all if Memphis got a top four
seed next year. So, like, Edie's gonna have a small
and achievable role alongside good role players. I love the fit.
I'm excited to watch Edie play in Memphis. And then, lastly,
(25:59):
before we get out of here, the Lakers getting Dalton connect.
So Dalton was by most of the people that I
trust ranked as a top ten prospect in this class.
He does not represent something that the Lakers specifically need,
right Like, if I was listing the things that the
Lakers need, I would put it down to three specific
types of players. I think that they I think Austin
(26:19):
at the one is perfect, or Austin at the two
is perfect, however you want to call it one two
doesn't really matter to me on this particular team because
they run five out and everyone operates with the ball,
so it's more like backcourt, right I like Austin as
one of the backcourt guys. I like Lebron at the
four and ad at the five. I think those are
all guys that are good enough to win a championship
in those roles. The problem is they were running d
(26:40):
Lo and D'Angelo Russell and Ruya Chimura at the two
and the three. Delo was redundant with Austin and that
forced Austin to be your primary point of attack defender,
and Ruy was redundant with Lebron, which forced Ruy to
chase Michael Porter Junior around screens, which literally was one
of the things that got them beat against Denver as
RUI just kept losing it right, especially when they shifted
(27:01):
back to Anthony Davis on Nicole Jokic. So like, as
far as the Lakers go, there are three players that
I think they need. They need a guard to put
next to Austin who is an athlete, a guard who
can beat people off the dribble, and guard on the perimeter.
It needs to be a starting caliber, two way athletic guard.
Right at the three, they need a guy who is
(27:23):
the opposite of Lebron. Instead of a big, bruising forward
that functions more as a low man, they need a slender,
more athletic forward that is quick and can work on
the perimeter, that can guard people over the top of screens,
guard rangey, athletic scoring wings. They need athletes at the
two and three that actually function in those positions. And
then lastly, they need a five that will allow them
(27:46):
to function defensively when Anthony Davis is off the floor.
They got very lucky this season with Anthony Davis staying healthy,
but chances are he's going to miss fifteen to twenty
games this year, and if you're going to contend in
those situations, you got to have a better center. So
they need three players. They need a athlete two that
can play both ends, and athlete three that can play
both ends to starting caliber players. And then they need
(28:06):
a bench big that can actually function as the foundation
of a defense when Anthony Davis is off the floor.
Those are the three biggest needs. Dalton Connect does not
fit into that. That said, at seventeen, he was the
best player available and he will immediately be able to
hate help the Lakers as a weapon for them off
(28:27):
the bench. To quote I'm going to start before we
get into Dalton Dalton's evaluation, I'm gonna share just a
quote from Sam Vessini's Draft guide. He straight up said
Dalton's the best off ball scorer in this class that
is immediately functional within the Lakers offense, especially when you
don't need him to be on the ball. The rub
with Dalton Connect was like against super elite defenses that
(28:50):
had tons of length and athleticism, he struggled to create
on the ball. So the question is will he be
able to create on the ball in the NBA, And
who knows, We'll find out in the next few years.
But the Lakers don't need him to right away. What
the Lakers need him to do is come into the
game off the bench and be an effective part of
their five out offense. And Dalton is going to be
(29:10):
excellent at that right away. First of all, he has
an extended track record of being a great shooter consistently
throughout his career at the in the Big Sky at
Tennessee in Juco. This dude can just knock down three
point shots. Last year at Tennessee he shot forty two
percent on catch and shoot jump shots one point twenty
four points per shot. Unguarded, he shot forty seven percent
(29:34):
field goal percentage one point three to eight points per shot.
Just a deadly shooter. He can knock him down on
the move, he can knock him down off the dribble,
he can knock him down in spot up situations. He
was a deadly close out attacker as well. He converted
He converted spot up possessions at one point two to
two points per possession. That's in the ninety fourth percentile.
(29:55):
So just a deadly off ball score. But the big
thing that I'm excited about is he brings a train
transition athleticism piece which is gonna function really well with
a Lakers team that loves to push, especially like Lebron
loves to throw those kick ahead passes. Lebron loves it
when athletes run on the wing. He's gonna throw those
kick aheads, and Dalton's gonna get those opportunities to kind
(30:15):
of snake two on ones or attack one on one
in transition and uses athleticism towards the rim. The other
thing that really excited me as I watched Dalton film
over the last week. He's a really good cutter. Tennessee
would run a lot of like weak side action where
there'd be like two or three guys weaving around screens
and then he would just slip and cut to the basket.
(30:36):
Hit him with the bounce pass. He can quickly pop
off of two feet and dunk in traffic. He caught
a lot of bodies this year on cuts towards the rim.
And so when I think about a five out offense,
and I think about, you know, JJ Reddick implementing three
man action, or while Austin Lebron are running ball screens,
you're gonna have weak side action with Dalton connect and
Anthony Davis and whoever it is that's out there on
(31:00):
the weak side. He's going to get lots of opportunities
to cut along the baseline and to cut from the slot.
That's a team that's gonna be able to capitalize on that.
Austin and Lebron are gonna hit him on a ton
of those cuts, and he's gonna do a lot of
finishing around the rim. So like the offensive fit with
the Lakers is absolute chew in perfect He is a
proven shooter right away who can shoot it from deep
(31:23):
and can shoot it in every single possible way. That
is gonna fit immediately, and he can make good reads
as a cutter off the ball in the five out system.
The concern was his on ball decision making. Is he
too much of a score? Can he reid defenses that
don't matter. He can figure that out in the long
run if he needs to. But within this Lakers team,
(31:44):
similar to what I said about Minnesota with Rob Dillingham,
they are set up to accentuate his strengths and to
hide his weaknesses at this point. Now, the defensive end,
that's the major concern with Dalton connect a couple of
different things. First of all, he does have the athletic tools.
He's about six five and a half without shoes, on.
He's got a six to ten wing span, excellent frame,
(32:06):
excellent athlete. Right, So now there's some questions about his
lateral quickness, but he actually tested okay on that at
the combine, So like he's got the tools to be
a functional defender, he just wasn't good at it. He
struggles to contain on the ball, was inattentive off the ball.
Those were issues for Dalton, right. Those are the things
(32:26):
he's gonna have to figure out if he wants to
be more than just a bench role player for the Lakers. Right.
But again, in this situation, especially when he's gonna have
opportunities alongside Anthony Davis who can clean up a lot
of mistakes, he's gonna have time to try to figure
it out. And again, I don't view Dalton as the
shoe in too. I don't think, like who knows, maybe
Dalton does earn the starting spot. I doubt it though,
(32:49):
Like I don't view Dalton as a starting two or
three for this Laker team. I view him as an immediate,
ready made role player off the bench on the wing.
And so to me, like I get way more concern
learn about like the defensive upside and what he's capable
of for those two and three that I talked about
in terms of who's gonna close games for the Lakers
in big moments, And yeah, if Dalton's gonna be that,
(33:11):
he's gonna have to make massive improvements defensively. But I'm
not as worried about it in terms of the fit
for the Lakers because I view him as more of
a bench weapon, right and that'll be the thing Dalton competes.
Dalton has the tool. So Dalton is capable of being
a quality NBA defender, at least a functional NBA defender.
He's just gonna have to put in the work. And
(33:31):
that's the big question mark. Every player in this draft
has question marks. That's Dalton's question mark. He's gonna have
to figure out how to compete on the defensive end
at the NBA level, all right. So that's just like
an instant reaction to the first round of the draft.
We're gonna have a bunch of draft content coming out
over the next week. I want to do some film
stuff on some specific players, Like I'll put some film
(33:53):
together on Rob Dillingham, and I'll put some film together
on Dalton connect and we'll do some some videos like that.
We're also gonna be doing a mail bag tomorrow, so
make sure you guys drop. I think that's most likely
gonna be. Tomorrow's show is just some We're gonna do
some film sessions on a couple of guys, and then
we're gonna do a mail bag at the end, so
drop your mail bag questions and the YouTube comments. We'll
(34:13):
get to them tomorrow. As always, as sincerely appreciate you
guys for supporting me in the show. We'll see you guys.
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See terms eligibility and responsible gaming resources at DKG dot
co slash MMA. All right, welcome to Hoops tonight. You're
at the volume. Happy Thursday, everybody, hope all if you
(01:48):
guys are having a great end to your week. Well,
the NBA Draft started last night with the first round.
We had a couple of interesting trades. Obviously, we're going
to get into the guys at the top of the draft.
Are going to kind of bounce around the first draft
and hit a bunch of the top storylines. You guys
know the drip before we get started. Subscribed to the
Hoops to Night YouTube channels. You don't miss any more
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(02:09):
lt so you guys don't miss SHO announcements. Don't forget
about our podcast feed wherever you get your podcast under
Hoops tonight, and then keep dropping mail back questions in
the YouTube comments so we can keep hitting them throughout
the end of this week and into next week. All right,
let's talk some basketball. So to give you guys an
idea of the kind of outline today, I'm gonna briefly
hit on each of the top five picks, and then
i'm gonna hit some of the bigger stories in the
(02:30):
first round. So Minnesota getting Rob Dillingham by trading up
into that San Antonio Spurs spot. That was super interesting
to me, kind of like an aggressive move from Minnesota
to address the specific needs. So we're gonna get into
that a little bit, and how he fits the Grizzlies
getting Zach Edy, which I thought was really interesting. We're
going to talk about whether or not Zach Edy can
(02:51):
play in the NBA. Well, I think kind of that
debate is silly, and we're gonna get into his specific
fit with Memphis and why I actually think that's the
perfect spot for him to start. One of my favorite
picks out the Eastern Conference, khalil Ware going to Miami,
a guy who brings kind of like a rim protection
and a floor spacing element, and we're talking about him.
And then lastly, a guy who was projected by most
(03:12):
to be a top ten pick, Dalton connect falls to
the Los Angeles Lakers. We're gonna talk a little bit
about him at the end of the show, all right,
So we're gonna start with the top five. So Zachary
usas Takes goes to Atlanta at number one, And this
guy's just a quintessential off ball role players six ' nine,
He's rangey. Off ball defense are really good, kind of
(03:33):
like making reads from that low man position, whether it's
jumping passing lanes, whether it's bothering role men in pick
and roll, covering ground on the weak side to shooters
in rotation. Remember this is something that we've seen become
immensely valuable over the course of the last few years
in the NBA. This is that ground coverage concept that
we've been talking about. Right, So elite players require aggressive coverages.
(03:57):
Right when you throw aggressive coverages, you leave week side
two on ones typically right, And so having guys that can,
you know, if there's a pass to the wing, who
can close out to the passing lane in between the
wing and corner shooter and effectively kind of be in
multiple places at once. Guys who can win contested rebound
battles with their length. Guys who can you know when
(04:19):
you have to bring your rim protector up to the
level of the screen and there's a lob threat rolling
down the lane. A guy who can bother lob passes.
That type of like off ball rangeness and length is
super valuable, right, And then he brings a little bit
of the same kind of offensive capability on the other
end of the floor, right, Like he was streaky, but
this kid can shoot, And I actually think his game
(04:41):
compliments Jalen Johnson pretty well. Like Jalen brings the more athletic,
kind of like downhill type of feel, right, whereas like Rasachez,
he's got the length, but he's more of like a
finesse type of player, good at attacking close outs, better
shooter at this point. So like, I kind of think
that they represent an interesting three to four type of
pairing for Atlanta to evaluate over the course of the
(05:03):
next few years. Now everything for Atlanta comes down to
what they're willing to do with Trey Young and what
they're willing to do with de John Tay Murray. Are
they going to keep Clint Capella? How does DeAndre Hunter
fit into this? Now that you have your three and
four kind of lined up in terms of the future,
so it's really hard to get a read for what
Atlanta is going to look like next year, But at
least at the three and four, Zachary Resache and Jalen
(05:25):
Johnson represent an interesting kind of future core to keep
an eye on. Alex Sar to Washington right. Alexar played
in Perth last year, played alongside a Tucson guy again
named Bryce Cotton, who a guy that I've played a
lot with when back when he used to live here
and brings a lot of intriguing skills, a lot of upside.
(05:46):
But the exciting thing with Alex Sar is he's one
of the higher floor guys in this draft because he's
just already an excellent defender. He's especially in pick and roll.
He's just got a bunch of versatility in the way
that he can guard. Like to throw him in a
deep drop he's got the length to bother stuff at
the rim. He's very good. I'd argue it's like one
of his strengths being aggressive in ball screen coverages with
(06:06):
his length on the ball handler, although he can sometimes
get burned on the backside as a result. He's a
guy that can switch and guard perimeter players in space.
So like immediately he represents kind of like a foundational
piece for a defense right now. The offensive end is
where his potential upside is. Like, did a lot of
work in Perth's five out system as like a dribble
(06:27):
handoff kind of folk rum, right Like, He's a guy
who would kind of dribble at guys coming out of
the corner and they'd either come off of him for
handoff or cut back door. He just was good at
kind of making those reads. He has some improvement to
make in terms of like actually setting solid screens, but
that'll come in time, especially as he gets bigger. Got
a lot of aggressive coverages towards Bryce Cotton, so he
(06:47):
got some work in the short role where he made
good reads to guys cutting along the baseline and kick
out passes to shooters in the corner. I think that
he just kind of has the potential to be that
type of five out big that we talk so much
much about on the show where I think the future
of NBA offense is heading anyway. So it's a high
floor pick a guy that has a lot of offensive
(07:09):
upside that may or may not be realized. Really just
comes down to how well his jump shot develops over
the years, right, But I like it. It's like a good
ballscreen Folkrum to pair with Jordan Poole and a defensive foundation,
you can get a better look at how Jordan Poole
fits into your team's future. Looking forward, I like to
pick Alex Start to Washington at three. Reed Shepherd to
(07:29):
the Rockets. Just a ready made role player. He's one
of the best shooting prospects in this draft, if not
the best. He's really good at operating with an advantage.
This is when Reid was at his like the most
fun to watch, right, like, whether it was kind of
in the open floor when things are chaotic, or whether
he's attacking a closeout or kind of functioning in the
offense when he has an advantage. He's just a really
good ball handler and has a really good feel for
(07:51):
like reading what where defenders are leaning and hitting them
with counter moves, and then he's just got all the footwork.
Literally looks like he's the kind of guy that you'd
see in like a skill development video, Like he can
take off left right, he could take off right left,
he could take off off the hop, off the hop,
like he can do all of these different footwork things
to get different kind of releases from different angles as
(08:14):
a shop maker, and so he'll immediately be a really
good connective piece for Houston. He's like he just is
gonna be a guy that kind of makes things work
better offensively, especially on a team like Houston that has
a lot of raw talent. He's kind of more of
a finished product that will help it like tie it
all together. Does he have the upside as some of
these other guys in Houston, but he should be able
(08:35):
to immediately come in and help and immediately come in
and be that type of connective piece, especially for a
team in Houston that, as we know, especially from the Intel,
wants to be good sooner than later, like they want
to be in the mix in the West sooner than later.
Good defender as well, always in the right place. Doesn't
have great physical tools, a little short, little uh doesn't
have a ton of length, but he does his job.
(08:55):
He is always in the right place. Like I said,
he competes on the ball fights over screen. One of
the things that stood out to me on film when
I was watching him was he's really good at attacking
the dribble pocket after chasing over the top of the screen.
Got a lot of steals this year where he would
chase from behind and just swipe at the basketball and
he'd generate transition opportunities that way. And so again, I
(09:15):
like to fit with Houston as basically a guy that
can kind of just immediately slot in and help kind
of grease the wheels, so to speak, offensively, while also
being a functional piece of their defense. And like we
talked about earlier, there's lots of intel that the Rockets
could potentially be gearing up for star trade at some
point before the deadline, and he just represents another asset
(09:36):
that you could potentially use in a situation like that.
Number four, The Spurs drafts to Fon Castle. Sefon Castle
was one of my favorite guys to watch when we
were doing our draft pet prep. He's just a classic
big guard, right, kind of slow, methodical, doesn't have a
super quick first step. Not a guy who's looking to
shoot a ton from the perimeter. He's just trying to
kind of get into that short to mid range where
(09:58):
he's got every count, remove, every float, every hook, every
short jump shot in the book, and he's just super
comfortable operating in that area. He has got a lot
of like that kind of like Shae Yelders Alexander kind
of crafty stuff within that like ten to fifteen foot range.
Not as good as shooter as Shay, And that obviously
is gonna be the huge swing factor for Steph's career,
(10:20):
right like if he if he's gonna be anything more
than than what he's projected to be at this point,
he's got to become a more functional shooter from the perimeter.
But the big thing that I like about Stefan Castle
is he just has a great feel for the game.
He's really good at playing alongside other good basketball players.
He's not a guy that's going to disrupt the flow
of an offense. He kind of it's kind of like
(10:41):
we were talking about with Reed Shepherd. He greases the wheels,
so to speak. And so we know this is a
Spurs team that desperately needs more feel around Victor wembin Yama, right,
Like guys who know how to play with other good
basketball players, Right, So this was a really good step
in the right direction to pair him with Victor wembin Yama.
Number five, our last pick in the top five, Ron
Holland going to the Detroit Pistons, kind of another high motor,
(11:04):
athletic wing with a lot of upside that hasn't really
come together in terms of his skill development. So you're
betting in the long run that you pair him with
sar Thompson and you basically just have these layers of
wing athleticism to complement Kay Cunningham on the margins, right,
And this is just kind of the direction we're seeing
the game going. We've seen multiple different types of teams
win recently, right, Like Boston wins with all this wing
(11:25):
talent and driving and kicking. Denver wins with this like
interior frontline presence and over the top shot making with
Jamal Murray, and Golden State wins with five out motion
and the best pull up shooting guard in the history
of basketball. Right. So, like they're all very different types
of teams, but in general, if you were like asking
what the single most effective form of modern basketball right now,
it's rangy wing athleticism that can drive and kick. And specifically,
(11:49):
if there's one offensive skill that Ron Holland's already pretty
good at, it's driving closedouts. And so I think that's
kind of the angle that they're looking at here, is
benefiting off of the attention that Kaid Cunningham draws and
his ability to generate those types of close out opportunities. Again,
a lot of the downside of the pessimism surrounding Ron Holland,
as he just struggled a lot on the ball with
G League Ignite last year. But G League Ignite was
(12:11):
a total shit show. And I'm gonna say the same
thing I said about McHale Bridges last night, Like they're
just reps. No one's drafting Ron Holland to be this
dominant on ball creator. It's not even something that Detroit
needs in the long run, considering they're kind of built
around this Caid Cunningham, Jade and Ivy kind of shot
creation foundation, right, So, like what you really need is
him to be a functional off ball offensive player, and
(12:33):
those reps on the ball, they make it easier, Like
It's like one of those things where you're trying to
learn how to make these reads when you're not very
good at it against loaded up defense, and then what
happens is you slide into a smaller role. You're constantly
playing with an advantage, and then suddenly that just kind
of becomes a little easier because you've practiced doing a
much much harder version of that. And specifically for teams
(12:56):
like Detroit that are just so far away from contention,
I like that on wings with upside because they're the
riskier ones, but they're the ones that have potential to
pan out to guys that can be profoundly impactful, especially
in the later rounds of the NBA Playoffs. One other
pick I wanted to shout out before we get into
some of the bigger stories was a Khalil Ware going
to the Miami Heat. I really like this pick on
(13:16):
a bunch of different levels. First of all, like this
concept of like layering layers of athleticism on your frontline essentially,
like instead of viewing Bam necessarily as just a five,
Like what does it look like if you put him
alongside another freaky athlete to kind of like layer that athleticism.
This is a thing we saw a bunch around the
league this year. This is a thing we saw with
(13:36):
Minnesota that led to a lot of success against Denver.
Denver won last year with a massive center as well
as this massive forward that has Bam at a biotype
of size and Aaron Gordon at the four right, and
so like, I like the idea of if you're struggling
with ball handling and you can't find ball handling that
meets that kind of meshes with what your ultimate goal
is as a team. I like the idea of finding
(13:58):
functional tools that can help immediately. And Khalil Ware can shoot,
which is an interesting kind of pairing with Bam and
a bio if he operates more as a Gerbil handoff
folkrum and operates more close to the rim, and then
he brings just that height, athleticism, vertical spacing piece. And
so I just thought that was a really interesting fit
for Miami. And one of the things too, is like
the rub on khalil where is he can struggle with physicality, right,
(14:21):
Like he's just not a very tough type of big right,
And like, give me that in Miami system, if over
anywhere else in terms of a system that breeds toughness.
That's gonna get him in the weight room, that's gonna
have him in the peak version of himself physically, that's
gonna hold him accountable, that's gonna be that's gonna give
him tough love. I think like that's the kind of
(14:42):
thing like a lot of times you have to you
have to find a way to drive that toughness out
of them and and and kind of like get them
to fight where they can struggle to fight sometimes. And
so I kind of like the culture of Miami as
a foundation to help khalil Ware get going. And once again,
like that's just kind of if you're it's an side
pick in the sense that if you're dreaming about what
the modern NBA center looks like, it's the ability to
(15:05):
stretch the floor shot over forty percent from three last year.
I'll be it on really low volume. It's the ability
to stretch the floor and the ability to protect the
rim with real vertical presence on the other end of
the floor. But it also brings that vertical spacing on
the offensive end. So I like that pick for Miami.
So the three biggest stories that I thought were interesting
in terms of like interesting aggressive moves. It had to
(15:28):
do with three All three of them kind of had
to do with bizarre circumstances. Right, So the Timberwolves get
Rob Dillingham, we're going to talk about that just had
to do with the trading up right. This is a
team that was in the conference finals last year that
managed to get a top ten pick via giving future
draft compensation. Then we have Zach Edy going to Memphis.
This is a pick that was available to Memphis because
(15:50):
of the fact that they had this really bad season
because John Morant was out, because Marcus Smart was hurt
so much. So we have a really good team that
drafted towards the top, a really good team that traded
towards the top. And then Dalton Connect, a top ten
prospect by most by most of the people that I
trust covering the draft, Dalton Connect was one of the
top ten prospects, falls all the way to seventeen to
(16:12):
the Los Angeles Lakers. So those are the three kind
of bigger picture storylines that we're going to hit here
in the next couple of minutes.
Speaker 1 (16:20):
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Speaker 2 (17:18):
Let's start with the Timberwolves getting Rob dealing it So.
I look at Rob as kind of like a smaller
version of Malife Monk. He was an overtime elite guy,
and he transferred to Kentucky and was immediately one of
the best shot creators in the country. He was eighty
seven percentile among pick and roll players at high volume.
He's already a really good pull up shooter. He's got
a deadly floater. He shot fifty three percent on them
(17:39):
this year at Kentucky, he made some strides as a playmaker.
That was his biggest weakness when he was with Overtime Eleade,
basically just dribbling up the floor and shooting every single time.
And you know, we talked to Damian Wilkins on Monday
and he made some good points about the fact that,
like that's what he does, and you want to lean
into that. But the growth is a playmaker is important
because if you want to be a sixth man who
(17:59):
just comes off the mention shoots every time, sure, but
if you want to be a functional part who plays
significant rotation minutes on a great team, you're gonna have
to be able to play alongside other good basketball players.
And he did make some strides in that area of
the game at Kentucky. Super explosive off the balance, he
has good start stop quickness, a deadly like left handed
high hesitation dribble where he'll like come to a complete
stop and then shoot out of a cannon. Can really
(18:21):
beat people off the dribble. But the big thing that's
exciting to me as far as the fit with Minnesota
he is a straight up deadly off ball shooter. He
shot fifty percent field goal percentage on unguarded jump shots
this year. That came out to one point four to
eight points per shot forty eight percent overall field goal
percentage on catch and shoot jump shots, regardless of whether
(18:41):
or not they were guarded. He was a ninety seventh
percentile spot at player. He got one point three points
per possession. Those are like Michael Porter junior type of numbers, right.
So the biggest weakness with Rob is that he's small, right,
and that can obviously cost some issues for him defensively.
But he does play hard and he does compete. He's
got a good motor. Like Minnesota makes a ton of
(19:01):
sense for me in terms of a fit for Rob,
because if you had to construct a team that would
allow him to have an achievable defensive role, it would
be on a team like this that has multiple elite
perimeter defenders and an elite rim protector. Because what that
means is Rob is most likely gonna be on a
movement shooter like any sort of on ball dribble creator.
(19:21):
You're gonna put Anton, You're gonna put Jaden McDaniels on Right,
you're gonna ask Rob Dillingham to guard a shooter who's
either operating on the weak side or maybe occasionally coming
off of some screening actions. That's an achievable role for him, right,
And then like, yeah, he's gonna be attacked in some
ball screen situations where they bring his man up into
the screen, but he's quick enough to throw a hedge
(19:43):
and recover again. Like that was the thing what cause
issues for Luca in the finals was he's not fast
enough to hedge and recover, so he basically has no
choice but to guard, and he can't guard, and so
it became an issue as Boston continued to get dribble
penetration on him, Like that, when it comes to weak defenders,
you just have to have the ability to to do
something in terms of the game plan, And as long
as he can chase shooters around and as long as
(20:04):
he can functionally hedge and recover to protect himself from
getting attacked and switches, I think he can. I think
it can work. Not to mention in terms of in
his lock and trail situations, he's gonna be in a
pretty good spot from the standpoint of having Rudy Gobert
behind him, and just the overall amount of length athleticism
behind him to kind of anchor him on that end
of the floor. And again he competes, and he competes,
(20:25):
and he's got the quickness. Those are things that I
think make it doable. Things I like, he's just an
absolute flamethrower off ball score And after what we saw
happened to Minnesota in the Dallas series, where Dallas just
loads up the strong side and just any of those
swing passes in Nikkeiele, Alexander Walker, Jaden McDaniels or Kyle Anderson,
whoever they're just wasn't enough off ball scoring pop to
(20:48):
make Dallas pay for loading up the strong side, right,
especially with Rudy Gobert, who can really cause problems for
the offense with his inability to catch and finish in
traffic around the basket.
Speaker 1 (20:58):
Right.
Speaker 2 (20:58):
So, like Minnesota is uniquely set up to benefit from
Rob Dillingham's strengths while also covering for Rob Dillingham's weaknesses,
and then in addition to that, he fits a positional need.
Mike Conley's thirty six years old. He's going to start
this year. He's going to be their primary guy in
that position, but he can help Rob as a mentor.
If Conley has to sit out games, he can slide
(21:20):
into that role in overtime. If he shows the ability
to compete defensively and shows that his scoring, his flamethrower
scoring can help in that back court, that could be
his spot to take. My one concern, he's not a
natural playmaker. He's getting better at it, but it's not
a natural thing for him. And I don't love the
idea of having your backcourt be two ball handlers that
(21:40):
both aren't great passers, right, And it's getting better, but
that's not his natural strength either. And I would argue
that overall ball movement in that five man grouping from
Minnesota is one of their biggest weaknesses offensively, right, That's
how you beat teams that load up the strong side.
We talked about this a lot yesterday when we were
kind of breaking down some of the five outs, Like
(22:00):
you need to get the ball side to side. If
like imagine it like this, if you have the three
point line and everyone's loaded up on the strong side,
you need to get the ball to the other side,
so that defense has to shift and with multiple side
to side shifts. That's where you can find cracks in
the defense that you can take advantage of, and you're
just not gonna get those opportunities unless you have a
certain amount of playmaking on the floor. So that's my
(22:22):
one concern. But that's another thing that like, if rob
can get better at it in the long run, especially
under Mike Conley's tutelage, it makes a lot of sense.
And I do like the off ball scoring piece and
ants development as a playmaker will help a lot in
that regard as well. Okay, the Grizzlies and Zach Edy,
I want to look at this from two angles. First,
I want to talk about Zach Edy kind of in
(22:43):
a vacuum as an NBA player, and then we'll talk
about his fit and Memphis. Can Zach Edy play in
the NBA. That's the big debate that everyone's been talking
about over the last few weeks, and it's a lot
of like radical like he's gonna be awesome or he's
not gonna be able to play at all. And to me,
the answer is really simple. He'll certainly be able to
play in some matchups when he can run drop coverage
(23:04):
on defense, meaning against teams that can't really force him
to guard in space and teams that can't run him
off the floor in transition. When he's in those situations,
he won't just be playable. He'll be good because he's
huge and he's a smart basketball player who knows how
to use his size. On offense, he'll set great screens
and he'll roll into the lane for deep seals and
buckets around the rim. And on defense, he's going to
(23:26):
protect the paint and clean up the defensive glass. He
is a functional big man when he's able to be
close to the rim and when he can't be capitalized
on in space, right, But he's definitely going to struggle
against the pace and space type of teams that can
run him up and down the floor and force him
to guard on the perimeter. But this is something that
Memphis is set up to deal with. Memphis can function
(23:47):
as a team with Jaron Jackson at the five and
with Jared Jackson at the four, right, especially with the
rise of GG Jackson, who I really like is a
forward that can shoot the ball. That you put next
to Jaron Jackson in their smaller looks, actually see it
all look work together, right, Like here's Memphis in a
matchup against Minnesota, a team that you can load up
the strong side against, and you're not as worried about
(24:09):
Rudy Gobert forcing Edy to guard in space or Minnesota
like just kind of running up and down the floor
in transition. Right, Like, in those situations, load you go big.
It's Edie at the five, it's Jared Jackson at the four,
operating as the low man. You can allow Edy to
be aggressive on the ball handler and use his length
to kind of swarm there. Jared Jackson's running that back line,
(24:32):
you have Gg Jackson as another layer of athleticism on
the wing. Or maybe it's maybe you can go smaller
with that group and have Smart Baane and John Moriant
out there. But if you're playing against the Golden State
Warriors or the Indiana Pacers, a team that's really going
to like force Edie to cover a ton of ground
and really kind of expose some of his quickness issues,
(24:52):
that's where it might make more sense to take him
out of the lineup, go with Jared Jackson at the five,
Gg Jackson at the four, with Smart Pain and John Moran. Right, Like,
the idea here is is like Edie is only going
to be functional in the NBA in certain types of situations.
But those specific types of situations are the only situations
that Memphis is really looking at to use Edi anyway.
(25:14):
And so the fit makes a ton of sense. When
Memphis can load up the strong side and keep Edie
by the rim, he's their big look. When they can't,
they have Jaron Jackson in his ability to play at
the five, and they can put a lineup out there
with Jared Jackson, GG Jackson, Bain Smart and John Morant
where they just have a ton of perimeter speed, the
ability to contain on the ball, of plenty of offensive
(25:37):
skill in spacing right. So like it makes a ton
of sense, And like I actually think Memphis is gonna
be a dominant regular season team next year. Like I
think they're gonna be right back in that I wouldn't
be surprised at all if Memphis got a top four
seed next year. So, like, Edie's gonna have a small
and achievable role alongside good role players. I love the fit.
I'm excited to watch Edie play in Memphis. And then, lastly,
(25:59):
before we get out of here, the Lakers getting Dalton connect.
So Dalton was by most of the people that I
trust ranked as a top ten prospect in this class.
He does not represent something that the Lakers specifically need,
right Like, if I was listing the things that the
Lakers need, I would put it down to three specific
types of players. I think that they I think Austin
(26:19):
at the one is perfect, or Austin at the two
is perfect, however you want to call it one two
doesn't really matter to me on this particular team because
they run five out and everyone operates with the ball,
so it's more like backcourt, right I like Austin as
one of the backcourt guys. I like Lebron at the
four and ad at the five. I think those are
all guys that are good enough to win a championship
in those roles. The problem is they were running d
(26:40):
Lo and D'Angelo Russell and Ruya Chimura at the two
and the three. Delo was redundant with Austin and that
forced Austin to be your primary point of attack defender,
and Ruy was redundant with Lebron, which forced Ruy to
chase Michael Porter Junior around screens, which literally was one
of the things that got them beat against Denver as
RUI just kept losing it right, especially when they shifted
(27:01):
back to Anthony Davis on Nicole Jokic. So like, as
far as the Lakers go, there are three players that
I think they need. They need a guard to put
next to Austin who is an athlete, a guard who
can beat people off the dribble, and guard on the perimeter.
It needs to be a starting caliber, two way athletic guard.
Right at the three, they need a guy who is
(27:23):
the opposite of Lebron. Instead of a big, bruising forward
that functions more as a low man, they need a slender,
more athletic forward that is quick and can work on
the perimeter, that can guard people over the top of screens,
guard rangey, athletic scoring wings. They need athletes at the
two and three that actually function in those positions. And
then lastly, they need a five that will allow them
(27:46):
to function defensively when Anthony Davis is off the floor.
They got very lucky this season with Anthony Davis staying healthy,
but chances are he's going to miss fifteen to twenty
games this year, and if you're going to contend in
those situations, you got to have a better center. So
they need three players. They need a athlete two that
can play both ends, and athlete three that can play
both ends to starting caliber players. And then they need
(28:06):
a bench big that can actually function as the foundation
of a defense when Anthony Davis is off the floor.
Those are the three biggest needs. Dalton Connect does not
fit into that. That said, at seventeen, he was the
best player available and he will immediately be able to
hate help the Lakers as a weapon for them off
(28:27):
the bench. To quote I'm going to start before we
get into Dalton Dalton's evaluation, I'm gonna share just a
quote from Sam Vessini's Draft guide. He straight up said
Dalton's the best off ball scorer in this class that
is immediately functional within the Lakers offense, especially when you
don't need him to be on the ball. The rub
with Dalton Connect was like against super elite defenses that
(28:50):
had tons of length and athleticism, he struggled to create
on the ball. So the question is will he be
able to create on the ball in the NBA, And
who knows, We'll find out in the next few years.
But the Lakers don't need him to right away. What
the Lakers need him to do is come into the
game off the bench and be an effective part of
their five out offense. And Dalton is going to be
(29:10):
excellent at that right away. First of all, he has
an extended track record of being a great shooter consistently
throughout his career at the in the Big Sky at
Tennessee in Juco. This dude can just knock down three
point shots. Last year at Tennessee he shot forty two
percent on catch and shoot jump shots one point twenty
four points per shot. Unguarded, he shot forty seven percent
(29:34):
field goal percentage one point three to eight points per shot.
Just a deadly shooter. He can knock him down on
the move, he can knock him down off the dribble,
he can knock him down in spot up situations. He
was a deadly close out attacker as well. He converted
He converted spot up possessions at one point two to
two points per possession. That's in the ninety fourth percentile.
(29:55):
So just a deadly off ball score. But the big
thing that I'm excited about is he brings a train
transition athleticism piece which is gonna function really well with
a Lakers team that loves to push, especially like Lebron
loves to throw those kick ahead passes. Lebron loves it
when athletes run on the wing. He's gonna throw those
kick aheads, and Dalton's gonna get those opportunities to kind
(30:15):
of snake two on ones or attack one on one
in transition and uses athleticism towards the rim. The other
thing that really excited me as I watched Dalton film
over the last week. He's a really good cutter. Tennessee
would run a lot of like weak side action where
there'd be like two or three guys weaving around screens
and then he would just slip and cut to the basket.
(30:36):
Hit him with the bounce pass. He can quickly pop
off of two feet and dunk in traffic. He caught
a lot of bodies this year on cuts towards the rim.
And so when I think about a five out offense,
and I think about, you know, JJ Reddick implementing three
man action, or while Austin Lebron are running ball screens,
you're gonna have weak side action with Dalton connect and
Anthony Davis and whoever it is that's out there on
(31:00):
the weak side. He's going to get lots of opportunities
to cut along the baseline and to cut from the slot.
That's a team that's gonna be able to capitalize on that.
Austin and Lebron are gonna hit him on a ton
of those cuts, and he's gonna do a lot of
finishing around the rim. So like the offensive fit with
the Lakers is absolute chew in perfect He is a
proven shooter right away who can shoot it from deep
(31:23):
and can shoot it in every single possible way. That
is gonna fit immediately, and he can make good reads
as a cutter off the ball in the five out system.
The concern was his on ball decision making. Is he
too much of a score? Can he reid defenses that
don't matter. He can figure that out in the long
run if he needs to. But within this Lakers team,
(31:44):
similar to what I said about Minnesota with Rob Dillingham,
they are set up to accentuate his strengths and to
hide his weaknesses at this point. Now, the defensive end,
that's the major concern with Dalton connect a couple of
different things. First of all, he does have the athletic tools.
He's about six five and a half without shoes, on.
He's got a six to ten wing span, excellent frame,
(32:06):
excellent athlete. Right, So now there's some questions about his
lateral quickness, but he actually tested okay on that at
the combine, So like he's got the tools to be
a functional defender, he just wasn't good at it. He
struggles to contain on the ball, was inattentive off the ball.
Those were issues for Dalton, right. Those are the things
(32:26):
he's gonna have to figure out if he wants to
be more than just a bench role player for the Lakers. Right.
But again, in this situation, especially when he's gonna have
opportunities alongside Anthony Davis who can clean up a lot
of mistakes, he's gonna have time to try to figure
it out. And again, I don't view Dalton as the
shoe in too. I don't think, like who knows, maybe
Dalton does earn the starting spot. I doubt it though,
(32:49):
Like I don't view Dalton as a starting two or
three for this Laker team. I view him as an immediate,
ready made role player off the bench on the wing.
And so to me, like I get way more concern
learn about like the defensive upside and what he's capable
of for those two and three that I talked about
in terms of who's gonna close games for the Lakers
in big moments, And yeah, if Dalton's gonna be that,
(33:11):
he's gonna have to make massive improvements defensively. But I'm
not as worried about it in terms of the fit
for the Lakers because I view him as more of
a bench weapon, right and that'll be the thing Dalton competes.
Dalton has the tool. So Dalton is capable of being
a quality NBA defender, at least a functional NBA defender.
He's just gonna have to put in the work. And
(33:31):
that's the big question mark. Every player in this draft
has question marks. That's Dalton's question mark. He's gonna have
to figure out how to compete on the defensive end
at the NBA level, all right. So that's just like
an instant reaction to the first round of the draft.
We're gonna have a bunch of draft content coming out
over the next week. I want to do some film
stuff on some specific players, Like I'll put some film
(33:53):
together on Rob Dillingham, and I'll put some film together
on Dalton connect and we'll do some some videos like that.
We're also gonna be doing a mail bag tomorrow, so
make sure you guys drop. I think that's most likely
gonna be. Tomorrow's show is just some We're gonna do
some film sessions on a couple of guys, and then
we're gonna do a mail bag at the end, so
drop your mail bag questions and the YouTube comments. We'll
(34:13):
get to them tomorrow. As always, as sincerely appreciate you
guys for supporting me in the show. We'll see you guys.
Speaker 1 (34:18):
Then the volume
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