What's Wright - Nick Wright reacts to NBA Draft, Cooper Flagg-Mavericks, Dylan Harper-Spurs, Ace Bailey falling?

Nick Wright reacts to the NBA Draft featuring Duke's Cooper Flagg, Rutgers' Dylan Harper, and Baylor's V.J. Edgecombe. How will Cooper Flagg fit in alongside Anthony Davis and Kyrie Irving with the Dallas Mavericks? Would Dylan Harper help elevate Victor Wembanyama, De'Aaron Fox, and the San Antonio Spurs in a loaded Western Conference? Nick breaks it all down on draft night! #Volume

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome in What's Right with Nick Wright. This episode of
What Dry with Nick Grid is brought to you by
boost Mobile. This is episode three forty four. It is
also our first ever live coverage of the NBA Draft episode,
which is a fun little piece of this that we
are doing here. I it's gonna be there's gonna be

(00:22):
a lot of moving pieces. I don't know if I'm
supposed to right now, I'm seeing what looks like an
Excel spreadsheet at least in what my return is. I'm
not sure if that's what our YouTube audience is seeing.
That'd be fine if they are. And now I'm seeing
our boost Mobile read that's fine too. We're gonna figure
this out as we go along. But there we go.

(00:44):
Now we're back. Like rate subscribe review. I have a
couple rules about podcasting, and one of them is if
I'm doing a podcast after six pm, I'm drinking while
we're doing it. So I have a nice glass of
uh what is this, Oh, a nice glass of Barolo
Chill just right that I will be sipping on as
we go through at least the first ten picks, probably

(01:08):
the entirety of the lottery. And again, appreciate our friends
at boost Mobile for getting this going for us, which
is a really cool fun thing that we're able to do.
And this is an odd draft in this not odd,
but what is unique is there is no intrigue whatsoever
about who the Dallas Mavericks are taking. They are on

(01:29):
the clock, we know, and we can spend the first
really ten minutes of today's show talking about what the
first and second picks mean for the Mavericks and the
Spurs because we know definitively who the first and second
picks of this draft will be. Number one will be
Cooper flag Number to the Dallas Mavericks, not even Nico

(01:50):
Harrison's gonna screw that up. Number two will be Dylan
Harper to the San Antonio Spurs. And then it gets interesting.
Will Philadelphia take VJ Edge That's where my money would
be at right now. Will they say we don't care
that Ace Bailey doesn't want to come here, We're taking him.
Will they actually use the number three pick as a

(02:14):
carrot to get off the Paul George contract and kind
of remake their team that way? The draft here starts
at pick three, but everybody knows that. And with three
and a half minutes left on the clock. The MAVs
are clapping. Here's one interesting MAVs point I would like
to make. If you have been watching the NBA news
of late, the MAVs are losing a lot of assistant coaches,

(02:38):
reportedly either not renewing contracts or not coming to a
contract agreement. And I say that to say this, I
am still I still have a few chips on the
roulette table on the spot of Jason Kidd is going
to be the coach of the Knicks next year. I

(02:59):
still feel like that is a simmering potential story until
the Knicks hire a new head coach, or until Jason
Kidd gets what ima Udoka got after the Knicks tried
to flirt with him, which is a contract extension. I'm
gonna consider it certainly possible that this ends up being uh,

(03:21):
that he still ends up being the Knicks head coach.
And the pick is in. It has not yet been announced.
We know it's gonna be Cooper Flag and Bron came
out and said, you know, he has the benefit of
walking into a situation with Hall of famers, which is
I mean, Lebron was talking about it as if it's

(03:43):
a positive. I know there are some Ace Bailey doesn't
want to go to a situation where he is, you
know where he's gonna be anything other than the number
one option. In Ace Bailey's defense, you look at Reed
Shepherd last year, the third pick of last year's draft.
That was a team that was trying to win, that

(04:04):
was ready to win, and the guy really couldn't get
off the bench. Cooper Flag would not be in that
situation anywhere. He's a good enough prospect and good enough player,
he'd be playing for anybody. And to Lebron's point, there
haven't been many number one overall picks that were drafted

(04:25):
by teams that had minted, no doubt Hall of famers.
But when it's happened, it's worked out pretty brilliantly. When
you have in nineteen eighty Magic gets drafted to the Lakers,
they already have a team and are a team, they
already have Kareem. They win the title that year. Oddly,

(04:47):
James Worthy also drafted by the Lakers. They win more
titles a team, and those are number one picks a game.
Drafted by the Rockets. Ralph Sampson wasn't yet a Hall
of Famer, but he was a great player, and within
two years they make the NBA Finals. Shack goes to Orlando.

(05:07):
The very next year, they have the number one pick again,
they trade that number one pick for I think pick
four and Chris Weber for Penny. They're in the finals.
Within two years, the San Antonio Spurs draft Duncan when
they already have Robinson, they're within the finals in two
years now. I do not think the MAVs are going

(05:29):
to be a finals team with Cooper Flag. But what
I do think is definitely true is this team neck
not this coming year, but the year after this. And
this is a huge if. If they're healthy, could be

(05:50):
a legitimate I would say fringe contender, not top line contender.
But when we go in the twenty six twenty seventh season,
if Kyrie is healthy they just resigned him, Ad is
still a d and Cooper Flag in year two with

(06:12):
those other pieces around him, that's a team that should
be able to do some damage in the Western Conference playoffs.
Now some folks are trying to use that as a
way to reverse engineer. Almost credit to Nico Harrison, when

(06:32):
this was not his plan at all. He did not
trade Luka Ancic because he wanted to or expected them
to fall into the lottery or them to end up
with Cooper Flag. He did it because he thought they
could contend. Right now now, for MAVs fans, it's a

(06:52):
happy accident. It is certainly not something that validates that
trade Luca decision for Niko, So it certainly might make
it feel less bad for the fans that pick is
in and that pick, as everyone expected, the least surprise imaginable.
That pick, of course is Cooper Flag. So Cooper Flag

(07:15):
goes number one overall, and we know Dylan Harper is
going to go number two overall. I want to spend
a little more time on Cooper Flag here. This, by
the way, is the second time in history MAVs history,
they have had the number one overall pick. In nineteen
eighty one they got they drafted Mark Aguire. This is,

(07:36):
they hope, the second time in franchise history they end
up coming out of the draft with the no doubt
best player of that draft. That happened once before when
they went into the draft with the fifth pick and
ended up trading up to three four. Of course Luke
Adncic And this is at the moment their only pick

(07:57):
in this year's draft, and so I I am and
spurs are on the clock and we will get to
them in a moment. I want, like for the listener
or the viewer on YouTube or the listener on the
podcast to right now, I want to go through some

(08:19):
other number one overall picks and I want you to
like determine in your head if Cooper Flag has this
level of career, is that a six? Did he meet
expectations or fail to meet expectations? Because my worry for
any of these number one overall picks that have been

(08:41):
the way two of the last three have been wildly hyped.
And I'm not saying it's unjust by the way the hype.
I'm not saying it's incorrect the hype, but so wildly
hyped is are we setting them up to be Hall
of famers and somehow still be disappointments? And by that

(09:02):
I mean I said this on the show today, like
if Cooper Flag has Chris Weber's career and they're not
the same player, obviously they do have some similarities, really
good passers, similar size, I think people would be like, oh,
he didn't really pan out the way we had hoped.

(09:26):
But Chris Webber's a Hall of Fame player. He was
a great player for ten plus years as a number
one overall pick, even though it took his career a
little bit of time to get going, maybe the way
people had hoped. I when we look at the last
handful of number one overall picks, like, do we expect

(09:49):
Cooper Flag to have a better career than we currently
expect Anthony Edwards to have? Anthony Edwards is multiple time
All NBA at twenty three years old, has been in
back to back conference finals. Is you know, face of
the league adjacent conversation and it feels like people and

(10:09):
now listen, maybe Cooper Flagg is going to outshine those guys.
But where are we What is meeting expectations for Cooper Flag?
Does he have to one day be in the discussion
for best player in the league? If that's the expectation,

(10:32):
I don't. I think he comes up short on that.
As far as the guys who number one overall picks consensus,
no doubt guys over the last post Lebron that I thought, Yeah,
I think one day they'll be the best player in
the league. The Anthony Davis is the first one that

(10:57):
comes to mind Zion, I felt that way about that
appears to be a huge miss. And while I wasn't
ready to say Wimby was, you know, his floor was
a chem Olajuan. I did think that Wimby, and I
do think Wimby's you know, has the potential to one
day be the best player in the league. But there

(11:19):
have not been any other number one like and that
is he is considered, you know, not in line of
the prospect of Wimby and Lebron, but that very next
level and and so and I'm not mentioning Durant, even
though I did think Durant had the potential to be

(11:41):
exactly what he was, because he wasn't the consensus number
one pick. I I worry a bit that whenever we
level set for a guy ten time All Star, seven
time All NBA, two time third place league MVP finish

(12:08):
and second best player on a champion one time that
career as wow, kind of disappointed. That always worries me
across the board. That always worries me unless I look
at you as a just transcendent, holy shit force of nature, which,

(12:33):
by the way, since Lebron, I have felt there's really
only been three and again, people will say, Nick, you
didn't think that about Wimby. My Wimby skepticism was about
his rookie year. Would he play enough games to win
Rookie of the Year and is he going to be
in the goat conversation. It was not that this guy

(12:54):
wasn't going to be a world changer, but it was
ad Zion and Wimby. And I still feel like, man,
the Zion thing, who's the last number one overall pick
out of Duke is such a sad missed you know
what if career that we're going down the wrong path

(13:16):
on all right, the second pick is in. This is
an obvious one. It is Dylan Harper. It is San
Antonio Spurs. And now this is a very interesting team
to talk about for different reasons, which is, first of all,
is Dylan Harper going to grow old with Wimby in

(13:38):
the NBA? Or is Dylan Harper going to be the
prized asset that the San Antonio Spurs use in order
to get Giannis or the next superstar player that comes available.
And there's a lot of Dylan Harper's stuff that I

(14:01):
find interesting. These draft shows we got, you know, we've
got to move fast. On it. So maybe, well, if
we hit a lull, which I doubt we will. And
there is a very interesting is the NBA about to
become in ten years? Are thirty five percent of players

(14:22):
in the NBA going to be sons or nephews of
NBA players Because Dylan Harper obviously is Ron Harper's kid.
Used he is one of the first like super blue
chip prospects to be the son of a guy we
all remembered. Obviously, I say one of the first steph was,

(14:44):
and there are others, but it is happening more and more.
Jay Caspy and Kang just wrote a really interesting article
on that, by the way, But set that aside. The
other thing that I think is smart for the Spurs
is that they do not care that they already have
Dylan Fox and they have Stefan Castle. This Dylan Harper

(15:09):
was clearly and unequivocally the second best player in this draft.
And when you have this unicorn of an asset in Wimby,
you're not drafting for team need right now. You are
drafting for best players possible and to figure out, you know,

(15:34):
figure out as you go. So what does it mean
for Fox? What does it mean for Castle, what does
it mean for Harper? Because again, maybe Harper and Wimby
grow old together. Maybe this is their version of SGA
and Chet or SGA and JDub. I say check because
he's second pick like Chet or maybe Dylan Harper is

(15:58):
the best piece of team, either at this year's deadline
or in next year's next year's off season trades to
get a superstar.

Speaker 2 (16:09):
There.

Speaker 1 (16:11):
We already had somebody check in from Italy, and then
we have TJ's sports queens rights. What wine are you drinking? Honestly,
I don't know. It's some wine from Italy. I'm not sure.
I am a what I would call I have turned
into a low upper class wine snop. So I have

(16:36):
some friends, some of which I was actually with this weekend,
that were in uh for some of the events in
New York this weekend, who have there. They have a
lot of money, and they regularly drink like, you know,
wine that thousands of dollars a bottle. I don't when

(16:59):
those I don't even I might like have like a
glass or taste it, but I feel like that level
of wine is wasted on me. But I'm a big
fan of like a good I don't know at the store,
like sixty to one hundred and fifty dollars bottle of wine,
which again is like expensive, but wine can go, you know,
the upper bounds of that are boundless. So so it's some,

(17:22):
you know, it's some I think nice. I think some
people think very nice, and some people are like, I
can't believe you drink that Italian wine? Uh to the
Robert asked, do you think the Thunder able to trade
into the top ten or the Nets into the top five? I?

(17:43):
I I yet certainly both teams are able to. Now
will it be worth the I mean the Nets have
five picks, including the eighth pick. The Thunder have what
do they have? Fourteen, twenty two something else? And there

(18:04):
so there are there's I don't know why am I sorry?
My phone keeps ringing. They certainly can, there is no
doubt that they can. Would it be smart, would it
be the right way to do it? Would it be pragmatic?
It depends on what the price is. But I right

(18:27):
now we'll come back to the spurs. I right now
want to focus on this pivot point of the draft,
because the pivot point of the draft right now is Philadelphia.
I don't know, and some of our producers, you know,
if because I'm obviously not able to monitor Twitter, I

(18:48):
don't mind if you know. I don't want to necessarily
spoil picks, but if there's news about, you know, movement
or reports on whatever it is, I'll take it. My
guess is they take Edgecomb, and I think the consensuses
agree with me that Edgecomb out of Baylor is the
move here. And I think that Conk Nipple is interesting.

(19:14):
I think Trey Johnson is interesting, but I think the
answer is Edgecomb. I have thought ever since it seemed
like Ace Bailey was not interested and they maybe weren't
super interested in him, it has seemed pretty clear that
this was going to be Edgecomb, and we'll find out

(19:34):
momentarily if it is. I the Sixers are such an
interesting team right now because one of the things that
was lost in their terrible season was that Tyrese Maxi
was coming off his you know, Superstar blow up if

(19:57):
you will, Superstars too Strong, but for in Superstar in
twenty twenty four. That twenty twenty four season, Tyrese Maxi
averaged twenty six points six assists a game. In that postseason,
he played forty five minutes a night. He averaged in

(20:17):
last year's first round thirty points per game, and in
one of those games I think I might have been
the game I was at. He had damn near a
fifty piece in their overtime win in New York. I
went to two games that series. I think I went
to that win, but I also went to a game
in Philadelphia. And then this year he averaged twenty six

(20:42):
again and nobody cared because the team was no good
and that pick is in and it is in fact
VJ Edgecombe to Philadelphia. So here's the reason I mention
any of that. MAXI is a really good player. Jared
McCain was the favorite in my eyes for Rookie of

(21:03):
the Year last year. But despite what I can, you know,
I could do without some of the I'm gonna sound
like such an old man, some of the ticktocking. But
he was awesome as a rookie, A nice surprise. I
thought he was, you know, as a just outside the
lottery pick. I thought he was really good and fun

(21:26):
and interesting last year. But then he gets hurt. Paul
George's career goes totally sideways, at least for a year,
and Embeid. They're talking about breaking his hip to fix
his knee. Doesn't sound good to me. With that said,
if Paul George can just bounce back a bit, if
Embiid can be healthy, if Maxie can stay Maxie, and

(21:49):
if Jared McCain go back to being Jared McCain and
you had this kid Edgecomb, Like, can that team win
the East? I don't know, Like, have you looked at
the East recently? Don't forget they have? If they potentially
are gonna bring him back, which I imagine they would. Quentin

(22:10):
Grimes like, and I understand, I know I am, you know,
probably biased towards Daryl Morey because he's my pal, But
I trust Daryl Moray to fill out the roster around him.
Daniel our great producer who I probably unfairly maligned on
the pod yesterday. Sorry about that. Daniel says, does embiad

(22:33):
need to make it out around two? Of course he does.
And Simmons makes the point a lot and he's not wrong, Like,
can you at this point trust Joelle? Like when you
think about the NBA Playoffs? I said this to Wilds
and Brew. The NBA Playoffs ended Sunday night and went Monday,

(22:58):
I said to Wilds and Brew, I'm like, man, the
think about how long ago we were talking about JJ
Reddick playing all five starters for the entire second half.
That feels like that was a year ago. That was
during these playoffs. And so the reason I mentioned that is,

(23:23):
can you realistically see em Bed making it through those
four rounds when we've never really seen him make it
through two full rounds fully healthy? And the answer to
that question is probably not. But is it definitely not

(23:45):
in this year's East, I don't know. All right, Before
we get to the Charlotte Hornets, one last point on
what is will become the story of the draft, and
the Hornet's got a few minutes left to make their pick.
I would I would imagine, and I promise I you know,

(24:07):
I am not if somebody is tipping picks, I'm unaware
of it. So this is just guessing. I know, if
Jordan was there, they would be taking Conkinipple. I could
see Charlotte saying screw it, we're gonna take the most
talented guy and take Ace Bailey. I'm a Malawac fan.

(24:33):
This is probably I don't know, I don't know who
it is. The options are Bailey, Trey Johnson, Conkinnipple, Fears,
or Malawac. I'll tell you another guy who I if
I were. If I were Brooklyn at eight and this
player was available, I would be taking Derrek Queen. I

(24:59):
like Derrek Quinn, and I think Derrek Queen could be,
outside of Bailey and Flag, the best player in this draft.
So the reporting is the Pelicans and the Wizards are
trying to trade up to four. See and I would
have to imagine, so listen, if they are trying to

(25:20):
trade up to four, I would think that is for
Ace Bailey. I would and if that's the case, if
one of these teams is I'm looking, I'm now realizing
I can just look at my phone to see if
there's news on here. Dallas fans were chanting fire Nico

(25:40):
at the Mavericks draft watch party. That, by the way,
because Bruce said on the show today that Cooper Flag
being awesome might take some of the sting out of
this for Nico, and I just totally disagree with that.
I think Dallas fans are never gonna forgive Nico for that,
and I don't think they're gonna give him credit for
lo fucking into Cooper flag. But if the if Ace

(26:07):
does go four and it ends up being you know,
he maybe at most cost himself one draft spot, but
it's because he wants to go somewhere he can be
a featured part of the offense and you know, build
immediately towards the second contract. Then you can't say definitively

(26:29):
that he played this wrong, even if he turned some
people off. Now, if he falls all the way to eight,
it's a different situation. But the Hornets are on the clock,
it looks like they are making the pick now. One
of the weird things about the NBA draft, unlike the
NFL draft, is what you absolutely never see on the

(26:51):
NFL draft is a team picks a player and then
post pick trades the player. I've never understood. Sorry, I
gotta fix. I know he's been running the whole show.
You never see a team pick a player in the
NFL draft and then an hour later later trade him.
In the NBA, this happens pretty often. Guy does the hat,

(27:15):
does the whole thing, and then finds out ten picks
later that he is in fact going somewhere else. So
if the Pelicans and the Wizards were trying to trade
up to get the fourth pick. I would imagine that
even if they the Hornets end up making this pick,

(27:37):
maybe it could be on the move. But I'm really
curious who this is gonna be. You would have to
imagine because they have LaMelo there that Fears and Trey
Johnson are incredibly unlikely they have. They have two early

(28:00):
second round picks as well. They are also, you know,
in the process of turning the page from Jordan's horrific
draft history, and the safest pick is probably Conker Nipple.
The highest upside pick is probably Ace Bailey. And this

(28:21):
is not a team that I know. I said there.
You know, they probably think they can't take Johnson or
Fears because they have LaMelo. They should not be worried
about need at all. This is a team that needs everything,
and this is a team that I think if they
could find a way to turn the page from LaMelo

(28:45):
and get cool stuff back for him, I don't think
that necessarily would be a problem, but it's definitely not
something they want to do. But this pick is in
Adam Silver is walking to the podium, and it is
in fact Conknipple. I think that's the right pick. It's

(29:07):
I think that he is a guy who's draft stock
really shot up in the last year. I don't think
going into listen, I'm not a huge NBA mock draft
guy the way I am NFL, but I don't think
a year out mock many of them had Conk Nipple

(29:28):
being the fourth player taken. But I think I thought
he was awesome at Duke. I think that he played
a style of basketball that is going to fit in
great with the modern NBA. And I think he is

(29:49):
as maybe not the upside, certainly not the upside of
Ace and maybe not even the upside of Trey or
in my opinion, Derek Queen, but a absolutely as clean
of a prospect as you can get, and I think
it's the right pick. I think the Hornets need solid,

(30:10):
serious NBA players, and he strikes me as a guy
that checks those boxes. By the way, this show is
possible tonight thanks to our friends at boost Mobile. So
I want to tell you guys about our friends at
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(30:32):
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Setup theme may apply, requires credit qualification, ID verification and

(31:17):
activation on a sixty dollars plan. Taxes, extra five G
speeds not available in all areas. All right, I let
me real quick. I am going to retweet the link
to this so people can if they want to check
us out on YouTube, they can do that. I'm gonna

(31:38):
see if I can. Sometimes they'll like try to there
we go and let me also quote tweet it live
now on YouTube. Come join? Uh? So this is and
again I am not and I have never pretended to be.
I do try to be a uh a NFL draft expert.

(32:05):
I don't think. I don't try to be an NBA
draft expert. So this is maybe just you know, I
don't want to say dumb luck or just following the
people who are experts. The first four picks have gone
the way if I were running those Let me put
it like this, if I were running those four teams

(32:26):
the way I would have done it. Now, the first
two everyone would have done, and the third I think
most people would have done. But this is where this
is where I might differ in that I do not
think that at five, Utah is going to take Derrick Queen.

(32:47):
I do think if I were Utah at five, I
would take Derrick Queen and listen, Utah at some point,
I have to decide whether or not they want to
win basketball games, and it is in my interest is

(33:09):
someone that will root for the Lakers as long as
Lebron's there to have them sell off Walker Kessler and
you know, continue to be unseerious. But the Jazz, the
Jazz striving to be bad every year post Donovan and Rudy,

(33:30):
I think is disheartening and them intentionally getting rid of
or wanting to get rid of any of their quality
players and the guys who end up turning into quality
players kind of putting them on ice as they go
from thirty seven wins to thirty one wins to seventeen wins.

(33:53):
Is I think Jazz fans deserve better and I just
don't see it coming to an end any time soon.
And when you look at the team, there are there
are two guys in Marketing and Walker Kessler that you're like, Okay,
I unequivocally definitely want to be, you know, in in

(34:18):
that in their business as far as the moving forward,
and one of those guys might be gone this offseason
they last year. You know, I'm not talking about the
guys they've just now drafted the last year, in the
year before, but as far as guys that are either
veterans like market In or assumed to be veteran like

(34:41):
Walker Kessler, and I don't think they're good enough obviously
yet to win or compete at a high level. But
if you this year again trade away one of your
better players and it seems like both of them in

(35:03):
Marketing and Walker Kessler, are available, what are you doing?
Especially when I think the draft gods have you know,
they slapped your wrist this year by having you fall
to five, and so I'm very interested in who they
end up picking. I think that they won't have I

(35:28):
don't think they're gonna have the guts is the wrong word.
I don't think they're gonna roll the dice on Bailey
because he made for reasons that I'm not entirely sure on,
except for maybe he just doesn't want to live there,
because they every other thing. If you want to be featured,
if you want to have a place where they'll run

(35:50):
the offense through you, all that. I think Will Hardy's
a fine coach, that makes a lot of sense. And
so oh, they do take him. They do take Ace Valley,
and now I'm watching for his reaction. So that is

(36:12):
a that's a gutsy move by Danny Ainge that I
will give credit for. I didn't think. I thought that
maybe he was gonna be able to force his way
to Washington or Brooklyn, his preferred destinations. And now, by

(36:36):
the way, we haven't had we haven't had any trades,
and we need to remember trades absolutely do happen in
the NBA draft. And by the way, one of the
reasons we're doing this live is so we can answer
your guys questions. And so you guys, can you know,
put those in the chat right now if you'd like,

(36:59):
and we'll get to him where you can. I think
that's the right play. I think if you're Utah, you
simply it's the gutsiest play for sure. Of the guys
on the board, he has the highest upside, the only
guy who I think, and again I'm higher on this
guy than most I guess has similar upside as Derek Queen.

(37:22):
And he made it very clear he wants to be featured.
He wants to be the centerpiece of an offense. It's
why he had no interest in Philadelphia. Well, lucky you
man in Utah, you will be now I do. I
am hesitant on at this point in the draft talking

(37:43):
about fits for almost any of these guys, because I
would imagine some of at least one of these guys
is going to be traded to another team in the
next thirty minutes. That's what draft's history has told us.
Thus how far it hasn't happened. And so now all right,
So now let's reset, because listen, I'll be interested to

(38:07):
see who Ace Bailey ends up being. He was supposed
to be going into this year the second pick of
this year's draft. His teammate Dylan Harper snagged that spot
for him. He then kind of orchestrated his own ineligibility
almost from being the third pick. He ends up falling
only to number five. But now so we are now

(38:31):
at flag one obvious Dylan Harper too obvious VJ. Edgecombe
three less obvious but likely uh Conkininpple four, and then
Ace Bailey goes five to Utah. And so now the
question that I think is most somebody asks, is there

(38:51):
a chance they trade Bailey tonight? That's what I'm talking about. Absolutely.
I mean, if you guys have watched the NBA draft
throughout your lives, Guys do whole interviews wearing the hat
talking about how excited they are. There was the kid
who was it his mom worked for the Sixers? Was

(39:12):
it Mikhale Bridges whose mom worked for the Sixers? He
got drafted by the Sixers. He was all excited and happy,
and then he got traded to the Suns. And and
so yeah, certainly Bailey getting traded tonight's on the board.
Any of anybody really other than Flagg and Harper getting

(39:34):
traded tonight or on the board. But in the meantime,
as the broadcast goes to commercial, let's just reset for
a second on who might attempt to move up? So
the top guys on the board if we just go

(39:55):
by consensus big board standards really or Trey Johnson in
the Guard out of Texas, Jeremiah Fears the Guard out
of Oklahoma, who I know from just listening to guys
who have been covering the draft really year round, is
a guy that some teams are absolutely in love with.

(40:19):
And that a guy that I think some teams might
if he slips a bit, try to move up and
snag Malawak, who I floated out there would is there
a team would the Lakers consider trading Austin Reeves straight

(40:39):
up for Malawak? For the pick for Malawak? Derek Queen,
who I like a lot, and that's kind of the
and the other guy that I guess people really know
is Carter Bryant. But there are most people have said
there's a very, you know, firm top eight. I feel

(41:01):
there's a firm top nine because I like Queen. And
then it gets a little trickier. Then we get to
a bunch of European guys and guys that we're gonna
spend less time on at least here, Is there a player?

(41:21):
Or more accurately, yeah, is there a Do the Brooklyn
Nets now look at it and say we have eight, nineteen,
twenty two, twenty six, twenty seven, and thirty six. That's
obviously an absurdity. We obviously cannot draft six players tonight.

(41:42):
We can't certainly can't draft five first rounders with guaranteed contracts.
Does Brooklyn have a guy they really want? And do
they package eight and twenty to move up two spots
with Washington? Does Oklahoma City look at Malawak and just

(42:15):
with their kind of you know, ten thousand year vision
and say, all right, we are likely in two years
not gonna have Hartenstein on this team anymore. Would we
like to have a guy who can catch Lob's defensive

(42:39):
minded big man to back up Chet? And is it
worth using some of our far you know, almost superfluous
draft capital to move up from fifteen to try to
snag him if he drops? Like? Those are those are

(43:02):
now the questions I think teams are going to be asking.
And I have been shocked, And I'll get to listener
questions in a second, I shocked is maybe too strong. Uh?
I have been. I'm surprised we've had no trades. It
felt to me like this was going and not only

(43:22):
trades of picks for picks, but potentially trades of veteran players,
you know, being involved in draft day trades, which we
have seen in the past. But five picks in there
have been none. Uh. Andrew asked, do you really think

(43:43):
the Jazz aren't trying to win or is the West
just that tough? No, man, if you the Jazz, I'm
pretty sure got fined for not trying to win last year.
The sixth pick is in Adam Silver's at the podium,
and in his trade, Johnson goes to the Washington Wizards.

(44:04):
So the consensus mock mocks, by the way, are they
had one through four exactly right. NBA dot Com actually
published the consensus mock and they had Tray five A six.
It ends up Ace five Tray six and so what

(44:24):
does oh and Jonathan Givoni, that's a useful note, says
the Utah Jazz are keeping Ace Bailey. Okay, So whenever
you've got to send that tweet out, By the way,
that kind of verifies, at least to me, validates for
me at least my instincts that it was. Some people

(44:46):
were curious, are they drafting him to keep him or
drafting him to trade him? So the Wizards have another
first rounder they have picked eighteen. They also, of course
traded away Oran Poole. Uh yesterday or the day before yesterday.
The day's all run together. Trey Johnson out of Texas,

(45:08):
the SEC Freshman of the Year, and he goes to
Washington and instantly, I mean becomes I mean, are they
gonna ask now that Jordan Pool's gone, They're gonna ask
him to be their number one score? Maybe the producers

(45:30):
say thoughts on the shorts for Trey Johnson. I guess
I didn't see if he wore a suit with shorts.
That's not really my style, but I've got to see
it in order to actually respond to it. Let's k
twenty two m ask who trades for Deer and Fox.
Ain't room for all them guards in San Antonio? Uh No,
there's certainly there is room net right now. There certainly

(45:51):
is Like you can have remember Oklahoma City the one
year had shrewder Sga and Chris Paul Like you can
have three quality guards that you for the time being,
at least I don't, and so I think San Antonio
is just trying to keep all of their options open.

(46:13):
Nathan asking any team truly draft into being championship caliber tonight, Well, sure,
if we're if we're not talking about next year's championship.
Fact of the matter is, in the NBA, rookies don't
help you win titles like Daniel's Nuggets did it with
Christian Brown having a small, small, small role. But rookies

(46:36):
don't help you win titles in this league. They just
never have. I shouldn't say never. Obviously magic did, but
historically that that's not where it goes. But yeah, teams
can certainly. Oh I'm looking at the picture now. Oh
that's a fine look. Listen. I I'm just gonna sound
like an old man. I'm not gonna you know, the

(46:59):
fashions change over the years. It's a fine look. I'm
not even gonna venture into it. Uh So one flag,
two Harper to San Antonio, three, Edge Comb to Philadelphia,
four Canipple to the Hornets, five Ace Bailey to the
Jazz and six Uh just happened, my goodness? Uh, Trey Johnson,

(47:24):
sorry to the Wizards, And now the Pelican's on the clock,
and I am unstunned at this point. Now we've had
no trades, and I also wonder if Brooklyn like Brooklyn.
At some point, Brooklyn's gotta figure out what the hell
they're gonna do with these picks. You can't draft five

(47:44):
first rounders. You literally don't have the roster spots for him,
like I don't. I'm sure their plan is to package
some together, but you're not gonna It's pretty clear you're
not packaging anything together to move up from eight. So
maybe you're thinking you'd put nineteen and twenty two together

(48:05):
and that moves you up to I don't know what's
that worth fifteen. I'm really not certain. All right, So
now we're on New Orleans, which just New Orleans just
acquired Jordan Poole in a move. I don't totally understand
the Pelicans right now. They're kind of cap sheet, so

(48:28):
to speak, which also can be a de facto depth chart.
They just got Pool and Sadiq Bay, They obviously have Zion,
They have Dejonte Murray coming off in Achilles, and then
they have two guys that I like, and I think
everybody likes and Trey Murphy and he and Herb Jones,

(48:52):
Alvarado's fine, and then young player Jordan Hawkins. Uh I
I would imagine, well, I don't know. Maybe the answer
here is they go Malawac. I think Derek Queen and

(49:14):
Zion together is a bit of a curious fit. I
would have said Jeremiah Fears if they hadn't just traded,
if they hadn't just traded for Jordan Poole. So I

(49:36):
think the smart pick would be Malwac. I think the
consensus pick here is Fears, And maybe they don't care
they traded for Jordan Poole. Maybe it's like, no, you know,
Jordan Poole should not dictate our draft plans, which I
agree with. But you still just traded for a guy

(49:58):
who's third million this year and thirty four million next year.
And if they do well, we should be able to
Let's just find out here in a second exactly who
they are picking, because it will obviously greatly inform for Brooklyn.

(50:20):
If if they go Fears, then I think Brooklyn is
in a really interesting spot, and I'll explain why in
a second. But is the is Adam Silver gonna walk
to the podium and the producers ask our Pool and
Zion one of the most fun league pass teams. Maybe,

(50:43):
I mean is certainly if Shackton a fool's gonna exist,
You're you're gonna get some fun out of it. And
for the handful of games Zion's fully healthy and awesome,
you'll get something out of it. I just don't look
at them as neither one has taken their career super seriously.
Jeremiah Fears is the pick. So New Orleans does take

(51:05):
Jeremiah Fears, and so that is that is a hell
of a chain. I like that. So New Orleans next
year is gonna trot out. It'll be Fears, Jordan Poole
as you're starting back court, Zion, Trey Murphy as you're

(51:31):
starting front court. I don't know who you're starting. Sinner
is going to be, and then Herb Jones. I guess
Herb or Trey Murphy alongside Zion, and then Dejonta Murray
when he comes back from his achilles. I don't understand
the Pelicans. And again that's nothing against Fears. Fears fine player.

(51:53):
I the at one point last year it looked like
he might you know, finish top three in the Wooden Award.
It's nothing against fears. I guess there's not a lot
of players that I thought would have made a ton
of sense thereof than Malawac. But all right, so here
is what I was saying about the Nets that I
think is interesting. So if you are the Brooklyn Nets

(52:18):
now and you know that a team like the Lakers
would probably pay a little more than they should for
Nick Claxton, does that inform at all your opinion on

(52:41):
whether or not you want to just seamlessly draft Claxton's
replacement in Malawak and with the plans of having a
higher upside in my opinion, defensive minded center. You can
catch lobs and not that Clason's got a bad contract.

(53:01):
It makes twenty five to twenty three twenty and and
whether it's the Lakers or someone else, Claxon has some
value or do you is your plan if you're Brooklyn
that you are going to you know, you obviously are
going to package some of those other picks. You have to.

(53:23):
I know, I keep saying there's going to be trades.
There has to be trades. At some point, package some
of those other picks to move up to where you
have the eighth pick and then also have like the
tenth or the eleventh pick, and you want to take
Derreck Queen. Now, I I think Derek Queen has if

(53:47):
I were how about this? This is a fun game.
Guys most likely in this draft to at one point
in their career show up on someone's MVP ballot. Number
one with a bullet is obviously flag. Number two I

(54:12):
think is pretty obviously Harper. I think number three is
Derek Queen. Now that also might be top ten picks,
you know, most likely to be traded before the end
of their rookie contract. Maybe Queen's also that. But if
I'm Brooklyn, for me, the talent and upside of Queen

(54:38):
is impossible to pass up unless I already know I'm
trading Claxton. And I feel like, you know what, even
if even if I am trading Claxton, I probably shouldn't
be drafting for this year anyway. I still think you
probably take Queen. But I could totally see them going

(54:59):
mall lock here and then signaling to the entire league.
Nick Claxton is available, and for Brooklyn, their best the
what Brooklyn has going for it is their future draft picks. Really,
so Brooklyn after this year they have they have all

(55:25):
these picks this year, and then in twenty seven they
have a Knicks first. In twenty seven they have a
Philly first. They have their own obviously that year in
twenty six they have their own, and then whore what's
the other? I thought they had one really juicy first
round pick. Oh, maybe it's just they got all their

(55:46):
own picks back. And then there's they they are one
of the teams that is involved in like a seven
way pick swap in twenty twenty nine that I just
can't quite figure out. But so that's what now. I
remember Brooklyn got their own draft picks back, which was
very important for them after they didn't have those, which

(56:07):
kind of allowed them to reset everything they were doing.
All Right, the nets are celebrating. I wonder what they're celebrating.
Maybe they're just celebrating that they made their pick. Are
we gonna get any trades tonight? I'll be honest, And
I appreciate my friends at boost Mobile for setting this
up and for us doing this today, and I enjoy

(56:28):
doing it. But I thought one of the reasons I
was excited to do it was because I thought it
would be live reacting to a bunch of trades. There
have been none, and the Nets draft room, I don't.
It seems to me like they are reacting to uh

(56:48):
making a pick. So maybe there's still no trades. Kin
asks no concern about Queen's motor. No, there are concerns.
That's why I said, I think he is a you know,
low floor, high ceiling guy, maybe the low floor high
ceiling guy of this draft. But it's still it's still

(57:09):
to me if you're the Nets worth a dice roll
because you need you need a high ceiling player. And
as much as I like Malawak Malawac, you know exactly
what he's going to be. He is not going to
be a high ceiling player. He is going to be
a very useful player. And the hope is that he

(57:31):
can be like a better version of Clint Capella, which
is again a very useful player, and we'll have a
long career in this league, but no chance of being
a star. Wow, I'm just looking at the screen. It
says Jay Billis is five best available and Queen's not

(57:54):
even one of them. So maybe I'm just way out
to lunch on Queen. But I love him. All right,
I'm very fascinated by him. To me this, this is
either if I'm running Brooklyn, it's either Queen or Malawoc

(58:16):
and Adam Silver is going to it's Egor Dimon. I
gotta tell you that one I didn't see coming. That
is the guard out of BYU. Where So so let

(58:38):
me or I'm pronouncing his name wrong, Yegor Denham. My apologies.
Adam Lefgo just texts me demean my guy. So that
was and I'm trying. I'm this is the first pick
that is I think far outside the consensus. Now again

(59:03):
I don't think that that is a negative necessarily, but
ESPN's final mock had Yegor going thirteenth. The Ringers final
mock didn't have him in the lottery. The Athletics final

(59:23):
mock didn't have him in the lottery. Yeah who sports
is didn't? Bleacher Reports didn't? Is that right? Let me
just I mean that's what it seemed the I'm looking
So who did, NET Scouts did, and CBS sports is

(59:49):
Gary Parrish, my old buddy, and they all had him
at thirteen. So let me this. I'm doing this on
the fly. I apologize. See what his consensus spot was
and again that's not everything, but it is. This is
the first reach is too strong. But this is the

(01:00:12):
first one that is kind of off the board from
where we had seen it before. So the ESPN, which
who is it for? ESPN? I want to be fair here.
Who wrote this? Oh? This is Gavoni? So Gavoni? Who

(01:00:33):
is the best at this? I think Gavoni had him
going thirteenth, so not a huge reach. And it's so funny,
he writes, Let me pull this up real quick. I
apologize there it is. Deman Is another player has been
tough to pin down in terms of his landing spot.

(01:00:55):
He got that exactly right. Having worked out for the
vast majority of franchises inside the top teams believe he's
a possibility for Toronto, Portland and Chicago as well. Good
for you, Gavoni, as well as a sleeper target for Brooklyn.
But it's possible to slip past that, at which point
there's a best available case for a club such as

(01:01:16):
the Hawks. Simply take a swing, okay, And then he
writes at his size, Demon's potential versatility as a perimeter
playmaker stands out in the context of this class. The
development of his jump or something he has worked on
to showcase in private is one of the more pivotal
swings for any prospect. Oh and that wasn't Cavoni, that
was Wu. But this is Wu. In Cavoni's article, my

(01:01:38):
apologies want to give credit words due, Jeremy Wu wrote
that section of it. So that is that is a
a surprising one to me. Caavoni, who lives and breathes this,
you know, probably not as surprised as he says. A

(01:01:58):
potential sleeper, but still he was considered, you know, a
guy that might fall out of the lottery and obviously didn't.
Before we get to the Toronto Raptors pick, which is
not yet in let me remind you, guys, hotels in
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Speaker 1 (01:03:49):
All right, so Raptors are on the clock. The Raptors
are another team that and I said this on the
TV show today, and I know I'm not the only one.
I'm a little confused at what the Raptors playing is

(01:04:09):
Like the Raptors were mentioned as a team. It's like,
oh man, could the Raptors be interested in Kevin Durant.
It's like, what why the Raptors during the year go
get brandon Ingram a move that I didn't totally understand.

(01:04:35):
I feel like there is at this point, Messi has
to feel a real pressure, even though he won the
championship in twenty nineteen, to put a real product back
on the floor. I also feel like, and again I'm
gonna sound like a broken record about my guys, and

(01:04:58):
not the my guys, but about these two players. But
Toronto's got a long history of being good with NBA
international players. They also, when you already have Scottie Barnes
are obviously trying to establish something of a physical defensive identity.
But when you already have Barnes and you already have

(01:05:19):
Ingram and you already have Barrett. Does uh what you
McCall it? Does, Derek Queen make a lot of sense?
So is this where Malawat goes like it? You feel
like he's probably becomes their day one starting center. And

(01:05:46):
I also am just really curious. What. Oh man, it
looked like some one of these guys girlfriends whoever they
just showed on the broadcast, looked like his girlfriend was crying,
like nobody has fallen too far yet. And maybe I
maybe I don't want to use Uh they're showing Colin
Murray boils from South Carolina. Maybe she wasn't crying. Maybe

(01:06:08):
I just glanced at it wrong, but she looks when
I saw, she looked very upset. Like nobody's having an
Aaron Rodgers style drop right now. Nobody should be upset.
Everybody'd be very happy, uh with it, with how this
is gone. No, there's nobody that was expected to go
top five that's still on the board, and still we're
only on the ninth pick. We're on the ninth pick

(01:06:28):
and we have, by the way, salmon got in the trade,
which if it sounds like I'm annoyed by it. I
guess I am a little annoyed by it because I
expected there to be like some insane action which just
hasn't happened. Now. It's great for these kids, but I
don't know, I expected there to be wild trades up
to this point. Colin Murray, oh maybe is that oh man? So?

(01:06:55):
Colin Murray Boyles so was just so? Is that? Aw man?
Is that why the girlfriend? I feel bad speculating about this,
but is that why she was so? Was she crying
tears of happiness because he just got the text? Who's

(01:07:16):
being drafted? Or was she crying? Is she sad because
he's good? I mean, he's going to Canada. I don't know.
That's a really weird one. I don't know why that.
The person sitting next one would have been upset. I
am and if anybody, by the way, the if any

(01:07:39):
of our producers, if they have we have audio, they
have audio on the actual broadcast, and like it's not
like the broadcast is gonna tell me anything about that,
So I I don't I don't know. That was a
weird one because I couldn't figure out why she was sad.
But then the guy just got drafted and so obviously
he knew, you know, a minute before or so, that

(01:08:01):
he was gonna be drafted. I also fact check me
on this. Is he is Colin Murray Boyles. Is he
the first two year player to be drafted? Is he
the first non freshman to be drafted? Am I forgetting somebody?

(01:08:27):
I think he is? Check this for producers if you
guys don't mind check that for me. I think he.
I think he's the first non freshman to be drafted,
which is kind of a sign of where we're at
in the NBA and the college basketball. And again it's

(01:08:48):
not even a value judgment, but the first eight picks
of the draft, we're all one and done player so far.
It also makes him that's so funny. Let me see
exactly how old he is. It also makes him the
oldest player drafted, and he is. That's unbelievable. He turned

(01:09:14):
twenty two weeks ago. He's the So he's the oldest.
He's the first twenty year old that's been drafted. He
is also the only two year college player who was drafted.
He is. If you're interested in his numbers. Last year
at South Carolina, he was sixteen and eighth and super

(01:09:39):
efficient and his freshman year. You know, was a good
player ten and six last year even better sixteen and eight.
Why is this girl so sad they're showing her more?
I am flummixed by that. That is the biggest surprise
of the night. Oh, I have a trade? Finally, what

(01:10:04):
is hull? Wait a second, here, do we have a trade? Okay?
So this is okay. The broadcast is being that's you
know what, I'm gonna go ahead and say that's a
bad editorial decision. I apologize to the audience because it

(01:10:25):
says I'm looking down at the at the ESPN broadcast
and it says number picking number ten Houston with the
Rockets logo, and then it says proposed trade with the Suns.
And I guess this is because that trade technically can't

(01:10:47):
take place yet. And so maybe it's this isn't an
ESPN thing, Maybe it's an NBA thing where technically this
is the Rockets pick. Technically the Rockets will be making
this pick, but in reality, this is the Sun's making
this pick. All right, So this if there is an again,

(01:11:09):
if he doesn't get picked here, I'll stop bringing him up.
But if if this isn't Maluwak. Then I don't know
what the hell's going on. If there's ever been a
team that needs some semblance of reliable rim protection more
than a team that's gonna trot out there Booker Bradley Beal,

(01:11:33):
Jalen Green, and it has no bigs to speak of
at all, and does not need a guy like Queen
who's going to want you know, I would think a
fair amount of shots and to run the show this,
I would think. Now again, never doubt the power of

(01:11:54):
Mattishbia to Mattishbia situation. But this has to be Malawac
and they have to be thrilled that he fell to
here like this is a guy that they will ask
to be as a rookie, a suit their starting center

(01:12:15):
from day one. And if they end up, I mean,
who else could They're not gonna take Queen that I'm
very very comfortable in. You can't take another guard, So
you can't take the Illinois kid, You're I don't think
Ishbia is gonna let him take an international player that

(01:12:39):
he didn't see and so and I mean, you could
take Carter Bryant. I suppose who's another guy that would
greatly improve your defense. But I would imagine that this
is madawock and it's so weird that they're putting all

(01:13:04):
rockets that the NBA makes at the draft then put
rockets logos and all this rocket stuff up there when
we all know this is not the Rockets pick. But
I suppose it is what it is. And I'm also
you know, you guys know this. I am not a

(01:13:27):
I don't feel a lot of obligations to the audience
except for honesty. I am not gonna pretend if this
ends up being that Noah Singway, any of the international guys,
I'm not gonna pretend I know anything about them. I
have not been uh, I have not been on the

(01:13:49):
international beat sort of speak. All right, hold on, so
let's see so we I see this right now, we
do have a trade. The whole Hornets are trading center
Mark Williams to the Phoenix Suns for the twenty ninth pick,
that and a twenty twenty nine first round pick. So

(01:14:14):
hold on, hold on a second, What the hell pick
did the Suns just trade? All right, first of all,
let's do this. Now we have some action boys. All right,
this is the Rockets pick, but it's actually the Sun's pick.
The Rockets pick, which is actually the Sun's pick. It
it is Malawak and he is sobbing and that is

(01:14:34):
a great scene. This kid from South Sudan, what a story.
So happy for him. I was just saying, how Phoenix
has to get some type of defensive big Did they
just draft one and trade for one? I don't actually
hate that, but I don't know how they're allowed to
trade their twenty twenty ninth pick. So I've got to

(01:14:57):
look this up. So the Sun's what in twenty twenty seven,
I guess they have a swamp, so that's fine. In
twenty twenty eight they have their own. In twenty twenty nine,
oh they have a swamp. Okay, So one of the

(01:15:21):
only draft picks that they are allowed to trade they
just traded for Mark Williams. So gosh, this is put
in the doc. What the original Mark Williams trade was,
if you would guys, it was Dalton connect and a first.

(01:15:41):
I believe they end up getting the twenty ninth pick
of the draft, which Phoenix had from some other trade,
and a twenty twenty nine first. All right, where I
will give the Sun's even though I do not think

(01:16:02):
they are going to be good at all? All right,
So the initial trade was Dalton Connect, Cam Reddish, a
twenty thirty swap, and an unprotected twenty thirty one first
The new trade is the twenty ninth pick of this

(01:16:23):
year's draft and a first rounder in twenty twenty nine, uh,
which is here. It is the least favorable of Cleveland, Utah,
and Minnesota's first round picks. So yeah, if you're the
if you're Charlotte, you're a little more than a little annoyed.

(01:16:46):
This is not nearly the same package the Lakers were
gonna give you. The Lakers were giving you Dalton Connect,
who was a top what was he the nineteenth pick
last year, the eighteenth pick something like that, an unprotected
twenty thirty one, and a swap in twenty thirty. Instead
you are getting the twenty ninth pick and the worst

(01:17:10):
of Cleveland, Utah, and Minnesota's twenty twenty nine picks. So
that's not great. Now, what I will say is the
Suns all of a sudden have two like and Dalton
Knack was seventeen thick. The Suns all of a sudden
do have now real depth at center, and they you know,

(01:17:34):
Mark Williams is an injury risk, and so I don't
I don't hate that trade for Phoenix. Fair is fair
the twenty ninth pick and a crummy first rounder in
twenty twenty nine, like a guaranteed to be crummy first rounder,
because again you take Cleveland, Utah and Minnesota's first and

(01:17:57):
it's the worst of those three is what they're getting.
I think it's a good trade by Phoenix, and now
they do have their center position taking care of it.
I still don't know who there are point guards going
to be, but that's not bad. By the way. Something
else I want to do for you to do with
my friends at boost Mobile Instant Boost brought to you

(01:18:19):
by boost Mobile. So the teams that I think thus
far through the first ten picks got the biggest boost
of the draft. I'm you know what, after spending so
much time kind of making fun of the Phoenix Suns
for how they were run, I think that was a
good little ninety seconds for them. I think getting Malawak,

(01:18:43):
who is a player I like a lot, obviously, I've
been talking about him for a half hour, and getting
Mark Williams and the tenth pick on Malawauc makes a
ton of sense. The twenty ninth pick this year. I mean,
I know it's a first rounder, but not really, it's
kind of a second rounder. And then what is guaranteed

(01:19:06):
to be a pick somewhere in the twenties in twenty
twenty nine. I think that's a really good I think that.
And by the way, you now have forty eight minutes
of defensive and lob catching center play next year when
you had zero minutes of it last year. That will
make a tangible difference for them. So I do like that. Now,

(01:19:30):
is it enough for them to make the playoffs in
the West? I do not think so, but it is.
I still think that is a really useful I think
that's a really useful maneuver for them. Say that again, Daniel,

(01:19:54):
we have a trade coming in. I didn't hear you.
I apologize. Oh, Memphis is trading up with the Blazers.
I'll get to that in a second once we get
those details, but first let me finish up Instant Boost
brought to you by boost Mobile. The to me the
other two obvious ones, the Phoenix one's less obvious, the

(01:20:15):
obviously the Spurs. Adding Dylan Harper is a super impactful addition,
and you either because he gets to pair with wimby
long term, or because sorry, there's a fly in here
I'm trying to catch, or because they will use him
in a huge future trade and Flag listen, Flag's gonna

(01:20:38):
get to run the offense in Dallas while Kyrie's out
and see if you can keep him in the playoff hunt.
So Dallas and San Antonio, we knew we're gonna get
an instant boost boost. I do like what Phoenix did
standing Pad at ten getting Malawac and I think getting
a good deal on Mark Williams. So that was the

(01:21:00):
instant boost presented by boost Mobile. So here is the
Portland Trailblazers are drafting and trading Cedric Coward. So the
Portland Trailblazers at eleven are going to go ahead and

(01:21:22):
draft Cedric Coward, who was a guy who was kind
of on the fringes of the consensus mock drafts in
the lottery. Well he wasn't, I shouldn't say on the
fringes of the consensus. He was outside of the lottery
in the consensus mocks, but just barely. He was projected

(01:21:46):
to go fifteen sixteen. Memphis trades and goes up and
gets him. I am very curious and once we have it,
what the details of that trade are? Guy? What is
I mean? He'll probably be the oldest player taken in

(01:22:08):
this draft. He's a senior and that is almost unheard
of in the lottery these days. And he was at
Washington State after I think starting he went to three
schools only one. That's an interesting profile on him. So

(01:22:30):
he went to Wilmington I think went to Eastern Washington.
One year at Washington State and only played six games,
I believe due to injury, and he ends up going
not only in the lottery, but Memphis wanted him enough
and was worried enough he wasn't gonna be there they
traded up for him. And it does not appear there's

(01:22:53):
any details yet. Memphis was sitting at sixteen, so I
would imagine you know that that was the key part
of that trade. I know that he that excuse me,
coward was considered its strong biggest strength, pardon me, was

(01:23:16):
athleticism and a potential three and D guy. I don't
think many people thought he was going to be a
lottery pick. I will say it is kind of nice
to see a four year college player and a guy
who was. I'm gonna look it up. I don't think
he uh was he even rated. I'm gonna look, I'm

(01:23:41):
looking up his rivals ranking. Uh So that's that's so
a guy who had to go to a small school
and didn't have like that, to me, is a pretty
cool story for him to end up being drafted where

(01:24:05):
he was. The Grizzlies are sending the sixteenth pick, a
twenty twenty eight first round pick via Orlando, and I
mean that's a lot and two seconds. So I mean
they loved him pretty clearly, and that is, I you know,

(01:24:27):
a pretty aggressive move for a guy that I think
a lot of people thought was would have been there
when they were drafting. And so he he had a

(01:24:50):
really good combine going into the comp because he had
you have producers can check me on this. I think
he was. What I remember is that he was gonna
go play at Duke because he was gonna be his
fourth school and he was gonna what I don't even
remember what I read about it, but it was that

(01:25:12):
he had gone from like D three to small D
one to big D one and then he was gonna
end up at Duke over the course, and then he
crushed at the combine so much, he's just like, you
know what, screw it, I'm staying in the draft. And
now he ends up being a lottery pick, and so

(01:25:33):
that is quite the price the Grizzlies paid. That's an
interesting one. Like I don't again, I don't mind being aggressive,
and I don't mind uh moving up to get a
guy you've got to have. I just I don't think

(01:25:55):
a lot of people thought you needed to move that
far up to get that player. And I also think
that that Orlando first round pick, like maybe it's all
good in Orlando and that it all works out well
with Bain and they are, you know, one of the

(01:26:19):
next really good Eastern Conference teams. But I don't know
that that one that feels like a rash move by Memphis.
So I find that I find that interesting. The Bulls
are on the clock. We've got two more picks we're
gonna be doing. We'll do the Hawks in the Spurs,

(01:26:41):
And I'm telling you right now, I'm gonna be bummed
out if my guy Derek Queen doesn't get drafted during
the lottery and the the Bulls are on the clock.
There are reports that they're taking you know what, I

(01:27:02):
don't even want to say who the reports are that
they're taking. We'll find out when everyone finds out. I
haven't spoiled any picks yet. I just saw in the
doc who they're you know what the reports are. I'll
wait and see on it. The Bulls are another team that,
aside from Kobe White being fun and being good, you

(01:27:23):
wonder what exactly the plan ever is with them, other
than they are hoping every year to win more than
thirty six games in less than forty six games, and
they seem to be very very adept at accomplishing exactly that.
And they are I'm trying to see if there's more

(01:27:44):
details on any or if there's any more trades. I'm
not seeing any more trades at the moment. Oh, there
is a trade hold on, all right. Well then since
there's a trade for thirteen, all right, I'm gonna spoil
the Bulls pick real quick. It would appear the Bulls
are taking the French kid Noah a singue, A singue,

(01:28:04):
I apologize if I'm saying your name wrong, young man,
that's who they're taking, and the Atlanta Hawk a singe.
The Atlanta Hawks are trading the number thirteen pick to
New Orleans Pelicans. Wow? Wait this is this right? Hold

(01:28:25):
on this tweet? This post has been deleted. I'm taking
a screenshot of the shams because i want to see
what they're actually trading it for. All right, let me okay,
so is this post still up? The Hawks are trading
the thirteenth pick in the draft to the Pelicans for
the twenty third pick and an unprotected twenty twenty six

(01:28:50):
first which will be the most favorable of New Orleans
and Milwaukee. Hold did New Orleans just earmuffs kids? New
Orleans just fucking traded away their next year's first round

(01:29:13):
pick unprotected to move up from twenty three to thirteen.
That might be the most reckless draft day trade I've
seen in five years, with absolutely no due respect. Who
the hell does New Orleans think they are? What is

(01:29:36):
New Orleans doing trading away? If Shams is? If that again?
I am base? I am trusting Shams implicitly. Noah Singue,
whose name I'm mispronouncing, is the twelfth pick and now
at thirteen again, I'm gonna read this exactly. The Atlanta

(01:30:01):
Hawks are trading the number thirteen pick of the draft
to New Orleans for the number twenty three, pick okay,
thirteen for twenty three got it, and an unprotected twenty
twenty six first, which will be the most favorable of
New Orleans and Milwaukee. Sources tell ESPN, All right, now, listen,

(01:30:27):
Even if this is to take my guy that I
have been begging someone to take for thirty minutes, Derek Queen,
this is one of the most reckless trades I can
possibly imagine. Also, of all the places I would be
nervous about derreck Queen, going New Orleans is high on

(01:30:48):
the list. Now I have no idea who they're taking here.
We're gonna find out in a minute. But you cannot
if you're New Orleans trade away next year's forund pick unprotected.
You could be terrible, Like I know you don't want
to think you can be terrible, but you absolutely could

(01:31:10):
be terrible. You Zion is a risk every year. Dejonte
Murray will be coming off an Achilles? And when do when?
When do we expect de Jonta Murray? Do we even
and when I say coming off an Achilles, like, are

(01:31:30):
we even sure de Jonta Murray will be coming off anything? Uh? Like?
When do we think we're going to be seeing de
Jonte Murray. Maybe not next year? He could he I
mean he could miss the season. You have, Jordan Poole.
I how can you possibly trade away your unprotected first

(01:31:57):
round pick next year? Atlanta? Great job? This is the
credit words do man. That is a hell of a
job by Atlanta. You move back ten spots and you
get a lottery ticket for next year. Like, who's here's

(01:32:20):
a fun exercise? Whose unprotected first round picks for next
season are more valuable than New Orleans? Like? Who are
the teams that we feel like are have a better
chance to just bottom out than New Orleans? Utah for sure, Washington, Charlotte,

(01:32:46):
that's the list. New Orleans won twenty one games last year?
What are they thinking? I'm maybe I shouldn't be as
stunned by this, h but I am. This is one

(01:33:11):
of what a baffling baffling? Who? Who is hold on
Pelicans GM? Hold on the Atlanta Hawks? Oh? My goodness?
Is it Dumars? Hold on a second? Here is the

(01:33:36):
so the Atlanta Hawks? How about this? The Atlanta Hawks
and new general manager on Cisala are finalizing deals to
hire New Orleans Pelicans GM Brian Graham as the team's
senior vice president of basketball operations. So hold on, the
Hawks hired away a Pelicans guy. I was gonna say,
if the Pelicans had just hired away a Hawks guy

(01:33:57):
and then they just gave the Hawks this deal, this
guy was gonna call for an investigation. But this is
Joe Dumars. Oh my god, Joe Dumars. Oh no, this
is Joe Dumars's first big move. This is gonna be

(01:34:21):
the new two Phones meme. I maybe I don't want
to be overreacting. And by the way, the it was
I it is Derek Queen, and I like Queen. I
don't I his fit next to Zion. I'm not sure
about it, but I was advocating that the Pelicans could

(01:34:43):
have taken Derek Queen with the seventh pick, so there's
nothing wrong with that. But they might have just traded
the number one pick of next year's draft to move
up from twenty three to thirteen. How do you not
get a protection on it? And by the way, here's

(01:35:05):
the other thing on that, Just to be totally clear
and fair about what they traded. It's Milwaukee or New Orleans,
the best of those, So it's even if New Orleans like, no,

(01:35:29):
it's not gonna problem because we're gonna be good. We
know we're gonna be good. What if Milwaukee trades Giannis
or he gets injured and they're terrible, then that pick goes.
I'm glad we stayed on through the lottery. This is

(01:35:50):
I could do an hour on this move. Zach Lowe
just tweeted out a picture of the Pelican in the hospital.
Oh my goodness, hold on, I have to We're gonna

(01:36:10):
stay on a little bit longer. Currently having a conniption
about what the Pelicans just did. Come join me. Uh okay,
so I we're gonna spend a few minutes. Congratulations to

(01:36:32):
Derek Queen. I actually think he's gonna be good. I
think that's a fun pick. I and the Spurs and
this will be this will be perfect. We can while
while we really just react to what the Pelicans did.
We'll find out who the Spurs and the thundertake at

(01:36:52):
fourteen and fifteen and then we'll be out of here.
And by the way, the the Nets still have all
their picks, and the nets haven't moved up, and the
nets right now we're on track to draft five guys
in the first round, which seems like that's probably not

(01:37:12):
a sustainable thing, but whatever. So I want this to
be very clear. New Orleans, which won twenty one games
this year, which has not had a resoundingly excellent season

(01:37:42):
since Anthony Davis was there. Their closest thing to a
successful season in the last seven years was two years
ago when they won four forty nine games snuck in

(01:38:03):
as the eight seed. Forty nine games is not sneaking in,
that's good, and got absolutely lambassed in Round one four
h last year. They took those forty nine wins clearly
they thought we could be good, and despite that, they
won twenty one games. Okay, Zion is obviously a huge

(01:38:32):
question mark. They also just traded for Jordan Poole, who
calling him a question mark I think is fair at
the very least, though, what they had was their own
first round pick next year, which could be important because

(01:38:56):
to Jonta Murray, someone they in theory were relying on,
could miss most of the year, if not all of
the year, with a torn achilles They they also had
the option to swap that pick with Milwaukee, which, and

(01:39:17):
this is why swaps are interesting, that was I think
that's the last piece of the Drew Holiday to Milwaukee trade,
and that you know, if Milwaukee trades Yannis, or if
something were to happen to Yannis, maybe that ends up

(01:39:37):
being a super valuable swap. Not likely, but possible to
give that up to move up, Tint, And you can't
be like we thought this was a once in a
generation player. You could have taken this guy an hour ago.

(01:39:59):
You draft the Fears, which again I'm fine with that,
and I like Derek Queen, but to trade away your
own unprotected pick next year, slash Milwaukee's unprotected pick next
year to move from twenty three to thirteen is insanity.

(01:40:28):
I would say that has a thirty percent chance, thirty
five percent chance of being a top five pick, and
a seventy percent chance of being a top ten pick

(01:40:48):
that you just traded away. I am flabbergasted by that.
The Spurs just took a fellow who didn't wear a
shirt the draft, did wear a sweet jacket. Though Carter Bryant,
who I mean, is very spursy. He is he is

(01:41:10):
the guy who fell the furthest if you will, compared
to the consensus mock draft, so like by some people's metric,
he you know, they just got the best value there.
But Carter Bran out of Arizona is the final pick

(01:41:32):
of the lottery. So the Spurs add Dylan Harper and
they add Carter Bryant, who is I think the question
mark on him is is he going to be a
big time offensive player? Can he be a big time
offensive player? But people like the measurables athleticism and they
like the defense. And so now we sit on Oklahoma

(01:41:57):
City and then we'll ra this up. But I can't
I apologize. I can't get over what the Pelicans did.
The producers are asking me who could Oklahoma City draft
to help them repeat? I don't want I'm not trying

(01:42:19):
to be dismissive. Whomever Oklahoma City drafts this year will
not help them repeat next year. Like that, Oklahoma City
is too good and too deep for anybody who's there
at fifteen to be in their rotation next year. The
rookie who will help them next year is their draft
pick from last year. In topicch and so this is

(01:42:39):
where I will admit my own ignorance. I don't know
the international guys, but where Oklahoma City has a huge
benefit is if there's a guy who you know there's
questions when will he come over? Will he come over?
But he's super talented. That's a guy Oklahoma City can

(01:43:00):
pick and just stash like they they're not gonna have
enough roster spots, especially because they didn't package anything to
trade up. So Oklahoma City can do whatever they want.
They can take project guys, they can do anything. And
Presty's gonna be drafting guys who he thinks can help
them in twenty twenty eight, not necessarily guys who's gonna

(01:43:20):
be helping them in twenty twenty six, and will find
out who that is in just a moment. I just
and also, man, Atlanta's had a decent few days now,
So hold on, what did you guys just put in

(01:43:42):
the let me see this real quick. The oh, these
are extra details on the Hornets trade. Okay, so the
twenty twenty nine first rounder, we knew this is the
least favorable of Cleveland, Utah and Minnesota. We knew that.
And then Bobby Mark says, as part of the trade,

(01:44:02):
Charlotte is acquiring Vasila Je Michic. Okay, I don't care
about that. That's I mean, I appreciate you guys giving
it to me. But I don't I don't have anything
to add to that. The the the point that I
was trying to make there, I'm trying to remember. Sorry,

(01:44:23):
I apologize. Was on Oklahoma City. Oh no is Atlanta.
I was talking about Atlanta. I think Atlanta is an
interesting team next year now in this East. I've never
been a huge Tray young guy, but he does have
to his credit playoff experience. I do really like Jalen Johnson,

(01:44:48):
who I think is going. I think Jalen Johnson's a
good player. I think Jalen Johnson, you know, it hurt
them last year that Jalen Johnson uh got injured. I
think that he is somebody like that surprised me at

(01:45:10):
how good he was two years ago and last year
before he got hurt proved it wasn't a fluke. And
so Trey's Tray is. It's not like Trey is not
a useful player. He obviously is. He has some limitations,
but Jalen Johnson's good. Resa Scha was the number one

(01:45:33):
pick of the draft a year ago, so they obviously
that's an important piece for them. Dyson Daniels is just
definitively a really good player now like an awesome defensive
player and a good player Chris STAPs in a contract

(01:45:54):
year if he's healthy, I think could be good for them.
And now you also have waiting for you in a year.
And if you're a Hawks fan, you have this kind
of fuck. You get to root for your team while
also just rooting for either the Bucks or the Pelicans

(01:46:18):
to stink, and you have this kind of double interest
next season. And so I like these moves the Hawks
have made. I gotta give you know, credit where it's due.
And you know, I mean, I've got to think that

(01:46:41):
who's picking sorry, I had it up, who was picking twelve?
I can't. I mean, maybe the Bulls turn. The Bulls
are maybe I know the Spurs. I am certain the
Spurs are like, oh my god, we were a pick

(01:47:03):
away from being offered an unprotected Pelicans pick. Oh like
the everyone sitting around Atlanta's draft position has to be like,
how did we not get that phone call? I am
I'm stunned the Pelicans would do that. And I mean

(01:47:24):
that is that is a potentially instantly uh disqualifying move
by Joe Dumars. It's just truly baffling. So I would
like to adjust or not adjust, Paul, I'm doing an

(01:47:49):
extra or I'm adding something to our instant boost thanks
to boost Mobile, the instant boost brought to me by
boost Mobile. Another team that got one of the biggest
boosts this draft, the Atlanta Hawks and their fans for

(01:48:09):
how much more fun next year will now be because
no matter how good, mediocre or bad you are, you
have two teams you get to just root against next
season in the Bucks and the Pelicans, and just for
one of them to be bad, and all of a
sudden that be how you get the kid out of

(01:48:32):
BYU or somehow get the number one pick of the draft,
like what an I thought we were gonna have like
the Lakers, you know, trade Austin Reeves moving to the
top ten. I thought the Pelican I'm sorry, the thunder
who are picking right now, might package them stuff to
move up. I thought there was a chance maybe that

(01:48:56):
Paul George in the third pick went somewhere. We got
none of that. Instead, we end up with the New
Orleans Pelicans making a twenty three to thirteen trade that
I'll simply never forget, and Oklahoma City, with the first

(01:49:16):
pick outside of the lottery, takes Thomas Sorber Freshman Center
out of Georgetown. I'll be honest that if you an
hour ago, I said, could I see Oklahoma City if
Malawoc starts dropping, moving up to get him, because in

(01:49:38):
a couple of years Hartenstein's probably not there and they
need a guy who can be chats back up, who's
ready to play by then they end up getting Malawac.
Thomas Sorber fills that role. So it does seem like
we were kind of of like mind there all right.
Thank you to boost Mobile. Thank you a ton to

(01:49:59):
the guy at Blue Duck and Volume. We thought this
might go an hour, It went two hours. For staying
up late and working late. Thank you to all of
you for watching. Thank you to this glass of red
wine that helped us through it all. You guys, NBA Draft,
first ever live draft show. Enjoyed it. See you guys. Oh,

(01:50:20):
tomorrow morning, we're doing a show. See you guys then,
what's right