Tough Cover Show: NBA Mock Draft, NBA Finals, Phillies, and More - 06/07/25

Mark Henry Jr. and Sean Barnard start off this edition of the Tough Cover Show by doing an #NBA mock draft. In Hour 2, they talk #Phillies baseball and how the #Pacers stunned the #Thunder in Game 1 as we head into Game 2 of the #NBAFinals.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Number one on your car radio preset hand a new
and improved iHeart Radio app w D A S and
w D two seven three D Philadelphia is Fox Sports Radio.
The Gambler.

Speaker 2 (00:13):
There you want to talk right down to that and
a language that everybody here can easily understand.

Speaker 3 (00:41):
Doing the scene, the salty personnality. Hello and Kennedy, I'm the.

Speaker 4 (01:10):
Coach personality, the cost perennality, the Coltel personality.

Speaker 3 (01:28):
No thanks, sun only here.

Speaker 5 (01:48):
Hello and welcome to the Tough Cover Radio Show. I
am your host as always, Mark Jr. You can follow
me on Twitter at Mark Henry Jr n f L.

Speaker 6 (02:00):
And in the studio on the ones and twos, we've
got stunner cham Bernard with the shades on.

Speaker 5 (02:05):
What what are the shades on?

Speaker 1 (02:06):
For?

Speaker 5 (02:07):
What occasion?

Speaker 1 (02:07):
Here?

Speaker 5 (02:07):
Schaum Bernard.

Speaker 7 (02:08):
Yeah, I don't even know who sunglasses these are, but
they were left sitting right here in the studio, so
I figured I'd make a nice entrance here.

Speaker 8 (02:15):
I like it.

Speaker 7 (02:15):
I like it.

Speaker 5 (02:16):
Well, someone who.

Speaker 9 (02:18):
Love We got Mark on the audio, so we'll got
lost of it. There we go.

Speaker 6 (02:21):
Happened there, But someone who has certainly put their stunner
shades on and made an entrance is Tyrese Haliburton into
the NBA Finals. I guess not much of an entrance
for the first forty seven minutes and fifty seven seconds.
A little bit of an underwhelming game in Game one
for Halliburton, but obviously yet another incredible, huge clutch, big

(02:45):
balls shot from Tyrese Halliburton, who is just in my opinion,
on the clutchest run i've ever seen an NBA player
go on And we're gonna talk about that a ton
in the second hour. It feels like we're in the
middle a little bit on the on the Haliburton Pacers
thing happened two nights ago, so we're not reacting the
last night.

Speaker 5 (03:05):
And also games not today, so you know, the games all.

Speaker 9 (03:08):
The way pretty blame that it's not tonight.

Speaker 6 (03:12):
Yeah, it's stupid. There's no it's not like it's a
travel day. There's no there's no Stanley Cup on today, Like,
there's no reason for that to not be tonight.

Speaker 5 (03:22):
It's really stupid.

Speaker 6 (03:23):
I know that they want the Sunday eyeballs in the
middle of the day, but I really really wish that
that game was tonight, and for that reason, we're gonna
save that for the second hour. We've got a ton
to talk to when it gets to that. Cham Bernard
and I have been believing in this Pacers team longer
than most. I really do have to go back and
find the first time that I brought up them as

(03:45):
a team that I thought could take down Cleveland. Yeah,
because you you did think I was crazy at the time,
because you were. You were definitely loving the Calves, which
was they want a million games.

Speaker 5 (03:53):
Everybody was loving the Calves at the time.

Speaker 6 (03:57):
But the Pacers have been at tea that I've had
my eyes on since, you know, since I really think
that they picked up and I went back and found
a tweet. I think it's when they beat the crap
out of us. As by the way, the last couple
of years, the Pacers have always beat the crap out
of us.

Speaker 5 (04:12):
It feels like the way that they run, it just.

Speaker 6 (04:14):
Feels even when we were good, it feels like we've
had some rough, rough nights against Indiana. But I feel
like I had a tweet in December when they were
below five hundred where I was like, every time I
watch Indiana, they look like they should be a fifty
win team.

Speaker 5 (04:30):
And then when I don't watch them. They lose by
twenty every night.

Speaker 6 (04:33):
It made no sense to me, and it finally it
finally balanced out.

Speaker 5 (04:38):
But we're going to talk about that.

Speaker 6 (04:39):
Unfortunately, it's a Saturday, so what we know what happened
with the Phillis last night. It's the tradition of the
it's the tough cover tradition. Phillies are not allowed to
win on Fridays. But usually when I say that the
Phillies have won all week, it's a positive week, and
then Friday comes around and they lose.

Speaker 5 (04:56):
Right now, not a positive time, not a good time
at Phillies.

Speaker 7 (05:00):
And they gave us a nice walk off to, you know,
especially dig in the wound a little bit there for
they how they went down. But yeah, it's been some
ugly a little bit of an ugly time in Phillies Lands.
So excited to get into that in the second hour
as well.

Speaker 6 (05:12):
Yeah, it's definitely something we've got to talk about. I've
got some concerns and Bob Wlankle's got some really good
stuff on some of the outfield production, and I've got
something that I don't think nearly enough people are talking
about when it comes to this Phillies team and why
the offense is struggling, why the team is struggling, and
we're going to get into that. And it's a guy
that I really like, so I hate to fully turn

(05:34):
heel on him, but I think I'm that's gonna happen
in the second hour. But having said all of that,
real sports are going on, but we're talking about the
most important thing in our lives, which is the NBA Draft,
and what will be two and a half three weeks
away at this point from the draft. So I wanted
to just do an NBA mock draft where we played GM.

(05:57):
I'm not guessing what these guys are going to do.
I don't know what massa Usier he's going to do
at nine. The guys made no sense for three years
at this point. But I'm going to do what I
would do with each selection. So Sean and I are
going to alternate odds and evens. I'll start it out
not spending too much time. Dallas Mavericks take Cooper flag

(06:18):
they got. I can't believe they got this get out
of jail free card. I guess the interesting conversation here
is do you put any credence to the Jason Kidd
to New York rumers.

Speaker 7 (06:27):
I do not, to be honest, I think it's a
little bit of the Knicks just trying to be the
sexiest name on the market, trying to shoot their shot
get as many buzzworthy names in the mix here. I
ultimately don't think Jason Kidd is leaving Dallas, nor should he,
as you're now getting Cooper Flag and kind of have
this blank canvas and a pretty good roster if everything
does work out, even amid all the trading Luca and
everything else that has gone on behind the scenes. So yeah,

(06:49):
I do think Cooper Flag is the pick, and I
do think Jason Kidd will be his coach there.

Speaker 6 (06:53):
And then let's go to you for the number two
pick with the San Antonios burst.

Speaker 7 (06:57):
Yeah, another one that I think is the pretty clear
consensus here. I'm locking in Dylan Harper at two. I
will say if I was in the drivers the driver's
seat for the Spurs organization, I would really be making
a play at Yannis that I do think I want
to see it happen. That I want to see Wemby
and Giannis on the court together, A good luck scoring
on that team. And as much as Wenby is still
twenty one years old, very young. He's arrived, he's ready,

(07:18):
he's ready to compete. And I also think this Spurs
team kind of showed their hand a little bit trading
for Darren Fox this season that they're ready to win now.
But ultimately I do think Dylan Harper will be the selection.
I do think he's going to be a very nice player.

Speaker 6 (07:28):
We talked about this before. You cannot give up the
number two pick for anybody. I don't care if it's
be honest, if it's Kevin Durant. If you can go
and get Yannest without giving up Harper, if you can
do a Castle the Cell and some future picks package,
I'll listen. I still wouldn't cash all of the chips

(07:48):
in right right now.

Speaker 5 (07:49):
I just I don't.

Speaker 6 (07:51):
I this is such a different situation than we were
in yeah process. But there is a lot I think
a lot about the fact that the Sixers had to
compete so early because of how good Joel was right away.
And people don't want to hear this, but because how
good Ben Simmons was right away, and Ben Simmons never

(08:12):
played on a Sixer team that didn't like finish with
the top four seed in the play or maybe the
one year we didn't. But he made the playoffs every
single year, and it was usually a top four seed,
was a one seed once, was a two seed another time.
So I think there's a lot to say about the
fact that the Sixers had to kick it into.

Speaker 5 (08:31):
Overdrive right away. And I do wonder if this.

Speaker 6 (08:35):
If the the era, would have played out differently, if
you didn't have to go immediately, go get Jimmy Butler,
go immediately, go get Tobias Harris, even before that making
moves to accelerate the process, if they would have let
that play out a little longer, saved up the assets
until the exact right.

Speaker 5 (08:50):
Time, Maybe that's maybe that's different. Maybe, And honestly, this
is maybe a totally different situation with with Wemby and
maybe he's my moran who I named drop weekly.

Speaker 6 (09:02):
He thinks that they can win the title next year
if you get Kevin Durant. His whole thing is, don't
give up Harper, but give up whatever you need to
go get.

Speaker 5 (09:09):
He's not a big the Cell guy.

Speaker 6 (09:10):
Give up the I really like the Cell, but give
up those guys to go get Kevin Durant.

Speaker 5 (09:16):
He thinks they can win the title next year.

Speaker 6 (09:20):
I don't think that should be Like, I get that
that's maybe possible. I don't think you should be thinking
about winning a title next year, Victor Wembiniam was what
twenty one? I think you should be thinking about how
many titles you can win over the next ten years.

Speaker 9 (09:33):
Yes, I think that's true.

Speaker 7 (09:34):
The only like pushback that I would give there is
number one, like Wemby looks terrific, is twenty one years old,
very young. But there's also you never know what the
shelf life is for a player that is seven foot
five and has this unique body type. So I do
kind of believe in striking while the iron's hot and
he's clearly ready to content right now. And the other
part that I would say about the Sixers comparison, For sure,

(09:55):
they cashed in the chips too early, but I think
the bigger problem was who the chips were cashed in on.
Is not Janni Sante Tokumbo there, or is not Kevin Durant.
So I think it is a different ballgame when having
that kind of comparison there. But definitely a lot of
mistakes were made in the process.

Speaker 6 (10:10):
But I I come back to I sent you this
and I think that there is.

Speaker 5 (10:16):
A lot of.

Speaker 6 (10:18):
I've struggled to find this is a tangent here, but
the first two picks, I think it's worth a tangent.
I've struggled to hear a location for Kevin Durant that
I've been interested in, really, and we've talked about that
every place, like San Antonio. It's like that guy's so
old you really want to like make your timeline so
funky with you know, you have Harper and Wemby at

(10:39):
this young age, and then you add Durant to it.
I even Houston. It's like, I don't think the problem
in Houston is not enough wings.

Speaker 5 (10:46):
Like I I score.

Speaker 7 (10:48):
I would say getting a go to score, I think
is a fair way to look at it.

Speaker 5 (10:54):
I think it has to be a guard for Houston.
I'm stuck on that.

Speaker 6 (10:56):
I really think that the guy they have to eventually
cash in the chips and then the only name that
I can really think of is like Booker Jaw, But like,
I feel like it has to be and I don't
even know if Jaw's that guy anymore, right, but I.

Speaker 5 (11:09):
Think it really has to be like that dog guard.

Speaker 6 (11:13):
I think their problem is the Fred Van Vliet Jalen
Green combination when it comes to the playoffs, and I
know they have read Waiting, but I just haven't heard
that Kevin Durant spot. The one spot that I think
makes a lot of sense and it gets this team
out of trouble is the New York Knicks. I think
if you're the Knicks and you can get off of
this cat deal, that is clearly a problem with Jalen

(11:35):
and I don't think they can play together long term.
I mean, if you have Mkale and og as the
defensive pieces in between and that's still not working, Like
I think that's probably telling about how hard.

Speaker 5 (11:48):
Even Mitch when he's on the floor.

Speaker 6 (11:50):
I think it's telling how hard it is to make
that work at that point. So if the Knicks can
do a Cat for Kevin Durant type deal where I
don't know what.

Speaker 5 (12:00):
That exactly looks like.

Speaker 6 (12:02):
And the pushback I've gotten from Trill and from others
is that Kat steals crazy and nobody's gonna trade for
it is no is negative.

Speaker 5 (12:09):
Trade value, YadA, YadA, YadA.

Speaker 6 (12:12):
Who did Devin Booker play with in college and who's
one of his best friends?

Speaker 9 (12:16):
Yeah?

Speaker 7 (12:16):
No, totally fair and by the way Kat contract wouldn't
be the worst contract on that team there, So I
don't think Matt is gonna blinket that completely.

Speaker 9 (12:24):
That is one that sort of makes sense to me.

Speaker 7 (12:26):
The biggest advantage that like Houston will continue to have
is the draft pick aspect, the fact that they do
have possession of Phoenix picks. And I do think of
a strategic on the part of Houston, So I still
kind of side with like, you beggars can't be choosers
in the spot if you are the Rockets and trying
to take that next step and make that push. And
I do think that they really need like a clutch
time scoring guy, which Kevin Durank can absolutely be that.

(12:46):
But I don't love that either. I see kind of
the mindset why that's not perfect in your eyes for sure.

Speaker 6 (12:52):
And they're another team for me, Like I don't see
the need to put their timeline into hyper drive, like
Sheng Gun's so young. Obviously read Shepherd, we don't even
know if he's a part of their core.

Speaker 5 (13:03):
But I'm on Thompson so young.

Speaker 6 (13:05):
Even if you want to throw the guys Tari wit more,
the ancillary pieces in there, I they're another team I
don't think they necessarily need to go do it right now,
but yeah, And also the other twist on that if
Phoenix doesn't want to take on the cat deal and
they kind of just want to do picks and expirings,
the best cat fit in the NBA is next to

(13:29):
Wembin Yama. That's where his defense will not matter. He
can go be with which he is one of the
most talented offensive bigs of all time, and you can
go put him next to Wemby and say, well, it
won't matter if he's not that good at the four
on defense because Wemby cleans everything.

Speaker 5 (13:42):
Up behind him anyway.

Speaker 6 (13:44):
And that is and I don't think san Antonio has
to give up they'd have to give up.

Speaker 5 (13:48):
I think they really would only have to give up like.

Speaker 6 (13:51):
So hand Barns and expiring and like the fourteenth pick.
Maybe you give up like a protected future pick and
you keep Harper, fox Castle.

Speaker 5 (14:02):
The sell cat, and Wemby as your core.

Speaker 6 (14:06):
I think that is, and you keep all the future
you don't really like mortgage the future picks.

Speaker 5 (14:12):
Really, maybe you give up like a protected pick. But
I think that is a scary, scary.

Speaker 6 (14:19):
Core, and I poo pooed San Antonio being able to
compete and win the title next year. I don't know
if that Keith team can win the title, they can
compete and you know, be a fifty plus win team potentially.

Speaker 9 (14:29):
Yeah, for sure there and that is interesting. I'm very curious.

Speaker 7 (14:31):
I think San Antonio is like quietly the most interesting
team this entire offseason for what they can do and
how soon they want to contend, what decisions they want
to make with things. There a quick point about Houston again,
I don't think like necessarily the mindset is like flipping
it into win now mode and going to contend. I
almost think it's a little bit more of like we
need to weed out the guys that aren't a part
of our core to allow our core to grow. Like

(14:52):
if I'm in Thompson is the guy who I fully
believe in the conversation should be Does it stunt his
growth by having this many bodies around?

Speaker 9 (15:00):
Do you kind of need to narrow that? Like Reid Shepherd,
who we brought up.

Speaker 7 (15:02):
We barely saw him last year, and I really do
believe that in another situation another team, we could have
been talking about him as Rookie of the Year, like
that's how deep that roster is. So I think that's
kind of the window that I would view that from
their perspective. But yeah, I think a lot of the
conversations this offseason around the entire NBA will start with
what the San Antonio Spurs want to do.

Speaker 6 (15:20):
Yeah, every Shepherds know Jared McCain, But yeah, that's pretty good.

Speaker 5 (15:24):
I'm joking, but it's funny.

Speaker 6 (15:25):
I really I remember saying when they were coming out,
I was like, I don't understand why people are like
because I like both of them, but I was like,
I didn't understand why Reed Shepherd was being like a
top three pick and why Jared McCain was falling out
of the lottery.

Speaker 5 (15:37):
It made no sense to me. But let's move on.
Let's talk about the pick.

Speaker 6 (15:41):
We're all here for the number three pick, and I'm
just gonna I'll make the same pick Sean Wood. I'm
an Ace Bailey guy. We've talked about it ad nauseum
on this show. I almost like, don't want to go
into like crazy detail on it because we talked about
it so much.

Speaker 5 (15:53):
But my case is always he's averaged.

Speaker 6 (15:55):
He averaged twenty one and eight for his first twenty
one games on fifty one to thirty nine shooting. But
the part that I think gets forgotten more than anything
is what he does on defense. So many of these conversations,
so many of these comparisons, so many of these.

Speaker 5 (16:11):
You know, so much of the.

Speaker 6 (16:12):
Discourse around Ace, I think just completely ignores how good
he was on defense in one of the worst possible
situations I've ever seen a high level NBA prospect in
at the college level. Like, I think that what he
did on defense and the motor that he showed on defense,
and everything that Sean and others that have sources that

(16:35):
have been around him have shared about his work ethic
and his motor and what you can grab and tangibly
see on tape, I.

Speaker 5 (16:43):
Think all of that should nullify.

Speaker 6 (16:46):
Any of the voices of concerns speaking about how he's
talking to the media and the pr training and all
that stuff. Personally, I love it. I love how confident
this kid is. I think you need this kind of
confidence to be a dog scorer and to think, you know,
you kind of have to think you're better than everybody
else if you're gonna go and score the way he does.

(17:08):
And I but putting that all aside the concern that
he's not gonna shoot threes in the NBA.

Speaker 5 (17:16):
Everybody shoots more threes in the NBA.

Speaker 6 (17:18):
There's nobody who goes from shooting more like less threes
or more threes in college shooting less of them in
the NBA. Really just by the natural percentage of shots
that come from beyond the arc in college compared to
the association.

Speaker 5 (17:31):
And it's not like a shot like two threes a game.

Speaker 6 (17:33):
He shot five threes a game and it was like
more like five and a half over the first two
months of the year. So I have no doubt that
this guy's going to be a six to seven plus
three point per game like a tempt guy. So ACE,
I think, really is more of a prototypical three and
D guy that people are giving him credit for.

Speaker 5 (17:52):
People throw out the crazy as people.

Speaker 6 (17:54):
Which I know you had a comment in our group
chat about how crazy some of the ACE heads are.
I would personally argue that I think the people that are,
which is just as many.

Speaker 5 (18:03):
I think the people that are putting ACE.

Speaker 6 (18:05):
Outside their top ten and outside their top fifteen and
trying to make a statement and putting out these advanced
stats about how bad Ace was as if he wasn't
playing with the Piscataway Community College, and I just I
think that's crazier than the people who think, oh, Kevin
Durant Jason Tatum, even though I think that's crazy as well.
I think he's on the line of Jalen Brown ogn

(18:27):
Andobi McHale bridges somewhere in that vicinity. I think there's
from Jayden McDaniel's specifically on defense, from Covington specifically on defense,
but obviously I think higher offensive upside than both of
those guys. I get it, but I almost think I
over the last I'm talking in circles here, Over the

(18:48):
last couple of weeks, I've I feel like allowed a
lot more of like, yeah, well, I really like VJ,
and I really like Trey, and I really like Malawock,
and I'm more willing to listen on those guys and
picking one of those guys at three and now the
closer I'm getting again, I'm just like, if we pass
on this kid and he turns out to be what

(19:09):
I just maybe it's just the jal En og McHale
level of guy, I think we're gonna really feel stupid. Yeah,
because it should have been way more obvious than we're
making it.

Speaker 7 (19:19):
I think, And that specific thought has really like sunk
into my brain this week too. Of like if Ace
Bailey is tearing up the NBA for the next ten
years and the Sixers just didn't take them, like that's
gonna be brutal man, and I do think there's a
world where that happens. And I am an agreement, like,
I think he might be the most polarizing.

Speaker 9 (19:34):
Prospect I've ever seen.

Speaker 7 (19:35):
Like the array of opinions for people that think he's
straight up Kevin Knox versus Kevin Durant is pretty wild
to me.

Speaker 6 (19:41):
There's one name who you got one name that I
think is similar Brandon Miller.

Speaker 7 (19:46):
Okay, I don't think there was as many like super
anti Brandon Miller as there are Ace guys. There definitely
were the high end Miller guys who are talking like
he's the next big thing in the same way.

Speaker 9 (19:57):
And the other part is the Miller character concerned.

Speaker 7 (20:00):
This is probably what I would say attracted some of
the skepticism.

Speaker 6 (20:04):
Yes, yeah, that's the one guy had it was an
accessory to murder allegedly, so it's a little bit of
a different conversation, but I do, and maybe that's why
he didn't have as many support, Like he didn't have
the aceheads, like he didn't have the Miller killers out
there looking to defend his name on the timeline.

Speaker 5 (20:21):
But I I feel like there was just as much negativity.

Speaker 6 (20:26):
I actually feel like there's more people that so maybe
I guess Ace is more polarizing. I actually feel like
there was there's more people defending Ace than there were
with Miller, because I remember you were on the show
with me.

Speaker 5 (20:38):
I think by the time that draft.

Speaker 9 (20:39):
Happened, Yeah, yeah, definitely, yes, but those two.

Speaker 6 (20:42):
Years ago, right, So the Miller Scoot draft, I was
on an island when I liked Miller over Scoot, like
people did not think people thought I was crazy, And
I think so far that's very much by the way,
I don't know if we talked about this on this show,
Scoot Henderson, there was a lot of that buzz that
he like took depths this year and oh he's really improved.

(21:03):
Go look at his stats because they're like the exact
same thing that he did in his rookie year.

Speaker 5 (21:06):
It's pretty shocking.

Speaker 6 (21:07):
He had like a one month stretch where he shot
Will and then besides that, he was the same bad scoop.
But anyway, I think Brandon Miller a lot of the
way people are talking about Ason, the way they're picking
apart his game at age eighteen, and he's not a passer,
he's not a handler, all that stuff. It really does
remind me of Miller.

Speaker 7 (21:26):
Yeah, and they have some like similar, like fair critiques
like the finishing around the rim and things like that
that I think apply to both guys. And you've made
this point a ton which I think is very valid.
It's tough to look at a wing as a finished
product at eighteen, nineteen, twenty years old like these guys
when just looking at like the basketball arc type and
the developmental path that these guys take, it takes a
little bit for wings and like guards and big men

(21:47):
are typically more NBA ready, So you got to understand
that it's not gonna be a day one. This is
who Ace Bailey is, and that does apply to all
these players. That these guys at nineteen are not gonna
be who they are at twenty five or twenty eight
or when they hit their true athletic prime. There So
that and I also think for a specifically the sixers
to me, are a perfect.

Speaker 9 (22:03):
Environment for him that I think he needs. Structure.

Speaker 7 (22:05):
He needs like an assigned role, which he very clearly
did not have at Rutgers. And it's a very different
story if you're looking off Tyrese, Maxie and Paul George
versus his supporting cast at Rutgers.

Speaker 9 (22:15):
There.

Speaker 7 (22:15):
So if he approached it with the right mindset that
this is my role for now and I can continue
to add things on my plate, I think that is
the best pathway to him becoming the best version of himself.

Speaker 9 (22:23):
And I really hope it happens here in Philadelphia.

Speaker 6 (22:25):
I do too, And this kind of flies in the
face of everything I said. If he turns into the
guy and you pass on him, YadA a YadA, I
think it would be a.

Speaker 5 (22:34):
Tough structure for him in Charlotte, Utah.

Speaker 6 (22:36):
For Washington four five six, I think New Orleans you
can figure it out there potentially. But yeah, and by
the way, the Brandon Miller thing, I do think Brandon
Miller might be like one of my favorite comps for him.
But it's so hard to compare Brandon Miller to anybody
right now because he had his rookie season, he was
very good. Shot forty four percent from the field, thirty

(22:57):
seven percent from three on about six point seven threes. Like,
I think his rookie year is very similar to what
I could see Ace doing maybe year two, year three,
but ten. This year, Brandon Miller only played twenty seven games.
And do you know how many threes per game Brandon
Miller shot this year, Sean Bernard, was it like.

Speaker 9 (23:14):
Ten or something like that?

Speaker 5 (23:16):
Ten point nine? Wow? Three?

Speaker 9 (23:18):
Yeah, he got.

Speaker 6 (23:19):
Him up there, so his efficiency took a huge nose dive.
He shot forty percent from the field, thirty five percent
from three. I think his true shooting actually like stayed
the same, so just because of how many threes he took.
But yeah, it's hard to even compare anybody to him,
because I don't know if that's just like a small
sample size on a team that was so bad that
it's hard to even take anything away from.

Speaker 5 (23:40):
And but Brandon Miller's rookie like rookie.

Speaker 6 (23:44):
Brandon Miller is kind of what I see a sas
at least early in his career. Maybe not right away,
but I'll throw it over to you for the number
four pick. I think for us obviously, because we're Ace heads.
This is where the draft really starts.

Speaker 7 (23:56):
Yeah, And speaking of that same Charlotte Hornets team, with
the fourth pick, I'll be selecting VJ Edgecombe for them there.

Speaker 9 (24:02):
I think it's a pretty good spot for VJ. Too.

Speaker 7 (24:03):
Brings a little bit of a defensive mentality that can
compliment or benefit guys like LaMelo Ball and Brandon Miller
who's a fine defender in himself.

Speaker 9 (24:09):
But I think that adds.

Speaker 7 (24:10):
I also think it's going to be a really good
spot to add like a good character guy to that
organization there that by all accounts, VJ as stand up
of a on the human being side, as you will
find from a lot of these prospects here, and I
think that'd be very beneficial to a Hornets organization that
has its question marks there. If he can put the
handle together, man and really improve is like a pure
ball handler, this guy's the limit for him.

Speaker 9 (24:30):
I think VJ is awesome.

Speaker 7 (24:31):
I think he's going to be a high impact player
pretty much regardless of where he falls, and in the
spot I'm putting him with Charlotte.

Speaker 5 (24:38):
Throw it, Oh no, it's my pick actually now, so Utah.

Speaker 6 (24:41):
At the number five pick, VJ was on our board
not our top guy on our board though, because the
top guy on our board. We talked about it either
last week or two weeks ago where we did the
pie chart for who has the best chance to be
the best player in this draft.

Speaker 5 (24:58):
That's not Cooper Flagg. And to me, the guy with.

Speaker 6 (25:01):
The highest ceiling the highest upside is Trey Johnson. And
if you're in Utah, you need the guy with the
highest ceiling and the highest upside and the highest chance
of becoming the face of your franchise and the highest
chance of becoming that lead scorer and guard for your
team that you are desperately desperately craving. They are desperately
craving someone that wants the ball and someone that wants

(25:23):
to go score and get twenty plus per game. That's
not Jordan Clarkson, and it is I think a perfect fit.

Speaker 5 (25:31):
I think Utah should be praying for Trey. And I
know that there's gonna be.

Speaker 6 (25:36):
Some some pull for Danny Ainge to take that white guy,
to take Kannupple because I think his jersey goes double
platinum in Salt Lake City. But you have to go
make the Trey Johnson pick, and I think you can
make a similar case about VJ with the upside that
VJ has and that being a good spot for Utah

(25:59):
as well, but he's not the lead guard, lead scorer type.

Speaker 5 (26:03):
I think that trade can be so I love the
trade fit for Utah.

Speaker 7 (26:08):
Yeah, I love that if I was in that same spot,
that's the selection I'm making as well. I do think
they need a guy that could potentially be that like
superstar ticket in the same way, and Trey is the
best option for that. So that is the selection I
would have made as well for Utah. Do you think
that'd be a pretty awesome spot for Trey Johnson to
fall And kind of hope that's how things come together. Now,
I'll keep it moving and rolling to the six pick now,
which of course is owned by the Washington Wizards. This

(26:29):
is a player that I feel like the conversation has
turned a little bit. I guess he's fallen a little
more than I expected, and that's common miliwak here that
I do think that is my selection for the Washington Wizards.
I think he fits exactly what they're trying to build
as far as a defensive first mentality. Is a team
that you have the belil colobally's there that you have
all these guys, these long athletic wings that can be
your anchor for your defense for the next decade there.

(26:49):
And I do think the potential that he has has
not been acknowledged enough. I do buy into the touch
that he has from the field. I do think while
he will start as sort of this bare bone center
that is screening and rolling, catching, blocking shots and rebounding,
there is more to one than that, and I think
eventually he will grow into sort of like a fifteen
to twelve kind of player, which is I'm totally okay
without the Wizards, and I think that'd be a nice

(27:09):
foundational piece to add.

Speaker 6 (27:12):
Yeah, that's the That's the correct top six in my opinion.
To me, there's a big gap for me between that
top six and everybody else.

Speaker 5 (27:18):
I know that the.

Speaker 6 (27:19):
Guy I'm about to take for a lot of people
is in that top six clearly, and I think Sewn's
probably going to be surprised that I take him here.
But for New Orleans, I do think you could use
shooting on that team, especially if you know, if Zion
does become a player again on this team, who knows
of allegations for sure, so we'll see what happens.

Speaker 5 (27:40):
But New Orleans, I think you might.

Speaker 6 (27:45):
I'm usually of the mindset when you're up this high
in the draft, you've got to take swings and you've
got to try to go get upside. I think now
that we're at seven, now that that top six is gone,
I'm fine taking a guy who I'm pretty positive is
going to be at very least a rotation guy. I
think the I don't know the floor is Corey Kispert,

(28:05):
but I think it's close to it. And that's Conkonupple
from Duke for New Orleans at seven, and I think
he's probably going to be a Bogdanovic like mostly bogged On,
but I think that's probably where he ends up. I
think he's a more limited range of outcomes player, whereas
Trey Johnson I think could be out of a rotation

(28:26):
in a couple of years, or could be Devin Booker
in a couple of years, Whereas I think con pretty limited,
probably either going to be an eighth man or a
fourth starter, but really good shooter.

Speaker 7 (28:38):
Yeah, if New Orleans is in a fascinating spot as
an organization, it like if they were just fully healthy,
fully available, that's a good basketball team, but we haven't
seen it in years to this point, and it's been
really frustrating.

Speaker 6 (28:48):
The Zion they won like forty eight games like two
years ago, right or something like that.

Speaker 7 (28:54):
Think about Zion Williamson is about to enter his seventh
season in the NBA and we have not seen him
in a playoff game yet. That's really disapp man based
on all the expectations and everything there. But yeah, I
do like adding another duke product to that team, and
I do think con is probably the safest pick in
this I mean, Cooper Flag probably the safest pick, but
Con right in that same kind of a boat to
me there To keep it rolling with my selection here,
moving to the eighth pick with the Brooklyn Nets, I

(29:15):
know this is the guy that you're not particularly high on,
but I think this is the right swing for the
Nets to take, and that ultimately is Jeremiah Fears here.

Speaker 9 (29:22):
I like him.

Speaker 7 (29:23):
I think there's legitimate juice to him the way that
he can take guys off the dribble. He is young,
he does have a lot of growing to do as
far as his decision making process. The shooting touch isn't
there yet, but I believe in the guy I think
that there is. You take the growing pains early, and
when we flash forward to three or four years from now,
you can start to talk about him as a potential
back quart of the future type of guy. That's the
swing I'm taking if from the Nets, Yeah.

Speaker 6 (29:45):
I think for the Nets you have to take a swing.
That wouldn't be my swing. But like guys like Jase,
guys for sure, Fleming, I'm trying to think about like
Nie Clifford. I think, like those guys who I like
more than few, I understand why the Nets are maybe
not going to look at those types of guys who
maybe have more limited upsides than a guy like Fears,

(30:07):
who I think Trill has made some comparisons to College Maxie.

Speaker 5 (30:11):
What I would say about.

Speaker 6 (30:12):
Maxie is I think Maxi is like a one of
one Unicorn and his speed and quickness is just not
replicable by almost anybody in the planet, let alone his development.
I mean, I think his development as a shooter is
one of the more incredible things we've ever seen from
a guard in the NBA. Like to become I liked,

(30:34):
and you know me, like I usually don't like guards
that can't shoot obviously not a Fears guy. I liked
Maxie in the draft and I was like, this guy's
fast enough, this guy's quick enough. This guy's got a
good enough handle, and he's good enough of getting to
the rim and getting to the line that I don't
care that he can't shoot. And I thought he was
going to be a really good player even without shooting.
And then he became one of the best shooters in

(30:54):
the NBA. Yeah, maybe that's maybe.

Speaker 7 (30:56):
That's I mean, he's top five and three point percentage
two seasons in his career.

Speaker 9 (31:00):
Yeah, so yeah, I think that's fair.

Speaker 5 (31:02):
Yeah, it's unbelievable what he's done.

Speaker 6 (31:05):
But that brings us to Toronto at nine, And this
is the swing I would have taken with Brooklyn.

Speaker 5 (31:10):
And I know you're not as big on this guy,
but a.

Speaker 6 (31:13):
Guy who trilled my guy, trill bro dude is coming
around on Casparis yaka Shunas from Illinois for Toronto.

Speaker 5 (31:21):
And it's not a.

Speaker 6 (31:22):
Clean fit, I'll be honest, Like Toronto probably needs shooting.

Speaker 9 (31:25):
Neither is the roster as a whole. By the way,
nothing on the roster fits.

Speaker 5 (31:29):
That's my point, Like, just go take the guy who
has the best chance of you know, popping.

Speaker 6 (31:33):
And this is a guy who he averaged sixteen, six
and six on thirty four percent shooting from three and
really good shooting from the from the field for the
first twenty four games. Don't ask about after because he
shot eleven percent from three for the rest of the season.

Speaker 5 (31:46):
So I just think this is a guy who looked
like all everything.

Speaker 6 (31:51):
Of a top five prospect for the first seventy five
percent of the season and then the last quarter of
the season looked really bad. So I understand and if
there's some skepticism out there, but I do think there's
an upside, especially with his size as a guard.

Speaker 5 (32:06):
I think there's an upside with his creation.

Speaker 7 (32:08):
We do have some breaking Phillies news if you would
like a quick intermission. Yeah, yeah, Bryce Harper is placed
on the ten day IL and oh that's not good.

Speaker 9 (32:17):
Auto Camp has been caught up to the major leagues.

Speaker 5 (32:20):
Yeah that's terrible.

Speaker 7 (32:21):
Yeah, not great on the Bryce, But I do love
the Auto Camp is getting a chance there. So we
can dive deeper into that in the Phillies Hour here.
But I didn't want to put that on the on
the docket here, but keep it rolling with the tenth
pick Houston Rockets on the clock. I don't really know
what to do from the Rockets to perspective here, it's
kind of a tough spot.

Speaker 9 (32:38):
None of these guys are perfect.

Speaker 7 (32:39):
I don't like the Derek Queen selection because of how
similar he is to Shanoon Igor. Demon's a guy that
is very I don't know, all over the place and
how you view him. Ultimately, my decision here and the
guy that I'm taking, I think this is probably on
the higher end of where he goes. But Carter Bryant
out of Arizona will be my selection for the tenth
pick for the Houston Rockets.

Speaker 9 (32:56):
There. I like him a lot.

Speaker 7 (32:57):
I think he's pretty plug and play and a guy
that's one of the more bets in this draft here.
He's not probably the highest ceiling dude, but I do
see a very clear pathway to him being like a
high level NBA role player and maybe a little bit more.

Speaker 9 (33:08):
Than that for a long time.

Speaker 7 (33:09):
So Houston, they kind of have an abundance of goods
from a youth perspective at this point. I like throwing
him in this mix and whether he is a part
of their long term core. A guy who's eventually moved.
I think that's a safe pick to take it ten.
I do think there's some upside with him. Part of
it's just that we haven't seen a lot of them,
and if we see more of them, is there's some
untapped stuff we haven't seen.

Speaker 6 (33:28):
But Houston's so weird because it's like you can't really
take a guard I don't think because you literally couldn't
find time for Reach Shepherd last year.

Speaker 5 (33:39):
The wing it's so loaded. You have on Man, you
have Whitmore, you have Tar, you have Brooks.

Speaker 6 (33:44):
I think there's a name I'm forgetting not to mention
Jalen Green as a two but like I and then
you have Shangoon and Adams, so like you have the
two bigs, I think they should probably take a big
like there's not really one that I think.

Speaker 9 (33:59):
May makes a lot of sense at this yea, like
none of it. I love from but.

Speaker 6 (34:05):
Asa is not in my top thirty by the way.
Really we'll talk about that when it comes up. Yeah
I'm out, but yeah, I almost think Houston needs to
trade back or trade out and get a play like
there's just not it doesn't know, nothing makes sense for
me for this tenth pick for Houston and I don't know,
but eleven another team that I think is pretty similar,

(34:27):
Like I don't know what they're at.

Speaker 5 (34:29):
Eleven.

Speaker 6 (34:30):
You have Scoot, you have Simons you might be trading.
You have Shade on Sharp, So you have three guards,
none of them are like pure point guards. I'd say
you have multiple.

Speaker 5 (34:42):
Wings to you know out there, you have eating and
clinging as your bigs.

Speaker 6 (34:48):
I'd say you probably can't take a big if you're Portland.
It probably has to be a guarter, a wing, and
I'm gonna go with just the guy who I think
is the best player on the board, and it's a
guy who apparently they are in love with and have
worked out in Jace Richardson. So another guy who's not
a pure point guard. But I think you probably just
take the best player available here if you're Portland, especially
a team that kind of got back in the mix

(35:08):
of competing last year. I think Jase is a guy
who can help you compete right away. So I love
what he closed the year as. And the reason that
I kind of get annoyed with some of the Conkainippal
Jared McCain comparisons is because I think this is this
draft's chair at McCain.

Speaker 7 (35:22):
Yeah, I'm very curious to see where Jas ends up
falling in this draft that I do wish he was
a couple of inches bigger, and I do think that
would change his draft outlook by a pretty significant margin there.
I don't love the spot for him in Portland, but
I wouldn't mind them taking the swing if that's the
direction they end up going there. I do think he's
going to be pretty fascinating where he ultimately ends up
in the draft. To continue onto the twelfth pick, the
Chicago Bulls another team that I pretty much have no

(35:44):
idea what direction that they should go. They obviously made
the trade for Josh Giddy, who had some nice flashes
next year.

Speaker 9 (35:49):
I really do like Kobe White.

Speaker 7 (35:50):
They got some Even with really liking Kobe White, I
don't know if that duo works. And frankly, I think
Giddy's a pretty flawed basketball player as well.

Speaker 5 (35:57):
I'm full of human Yeah.

Speaker 7 (35:59):
Sure, out of another flawed basketball player to the mix here,
I'm taking Derek Queen for the Chicago Bulls.

Speaker 5 (36:04):
It makes sense.

Speaker 7 (36:05):
Yeah, I think that's the best direction then they can go.
I still have my doubts about Queen, and from an
NBA perspective, I think he's a little bit of a
tweener in the wrong way there that I don't think
he's probably gonna be able to guard on the perimeter.
He can't be a true big man really either. He
did measure better than I expected, but there's some fitness
questions there. He's just a strange basketball player. But ultimately
I do think he's a fine guy for Chicago to
take a chance on.

Speaker 9 (36:25):
They could do some pretty fun things.

Speaker 7 (36:27):
As far as his playmaking potential, I don't think he's
as good of a playmaker as he sometimes talked about,
but I do think that's the direction I'm going for Chicago.

Speaker 6 (36:36):
Yeah, I'm not a queen guy, and I knew you
weren't either, And I was like, I texted in the
Trill Discord that we were about to do this mock
and I was like, yeah, neither of us are queen guys.
So it might be bad for the graphic when he
goes like nineteen. So I'm glad you saved the graphic
a little bit. And I've actually said it's hard to
find a fit for Queen. Yeah, And part of it's
just because Chicago. Is there anything to fit with right?

(37:00):
The core is so I kind of do like the
idea of them taking upside swing on Queen because he
really is a good dribbler for his size. He's a
good post scorer, really good touch. Can you find another skill?
Can you either get better on defense as defending fours,
get better as a post defender, get better as a

(37:20):
shooter they probably or like be a full shng gun
type passer, which people throw that out there.

Speaker 5 (37:27):
He as one point seven assists for games.

Speaker 9 (37:29):
A negative assist to turnover.

Speaker 6 (37:31):
Yeah, I think the hub, the hub talk, cashtag, hug
talk is uh is too much.

Speaker 5 (37:38):
For for Derek Queen. I don't know where this hub
stuff is coming from.

Speaker 6 (37:42):
I've seen that word thrown around with him a lot,
and the shnggun comparison thron around with him a lot.

Speaker 5 (37:47):
And I'm like, have you watched Derek Queen? Like? And
I apparently he was really good at passing in high school?

Speaker 6 (37:52):
Guess what he probably was like way better than anybody
else on the floor at any point in high school.

Speaker 7 (37:57):
Like I so he actually I gave a speech at
this basketball junkies dinner.

Speaker 9 (38:03):
It was called over on Wednesday.

Speaker 7 (38:05):
There was a bunch of high school and college coaches
in the area, and Derrek Queen's former coach was there,
so I did get to talk to him a little bit.
I did tone down my Derek Queen concerns when having
that conversation. Kind of interesting. I didn't realize who was
a mont Verde guy that he started. He did one
year at like a public school, Saint Francis. I believe
it was our private school.

Speaker 9 (38:23):
I guess it was.

Speaker 7 (38:23):
But then he did do the transfer to mont Verd
barely played like, he didn't play a lot there, and
then that's kind of what led his route to Maryland.
He certainly maximized his I guess NBA potential and outlook
from the season that he had.

Speaker 9 (38:34):
So I'm not rooting against the kid.

Speaker 7 (38:35):
I don't have anything against him, but yeah, I certainly
have my doubts and do things. Some of the love
gets overstated. Well, he played with he played with Cooper Flack. Yeah, yeah,
that whole Liam McNeely, like the whole, like top starting
five of that high school was going to be drafted.

Speaker 5 (38:50):
That's crazy. It was awesome on that team as well.

Speaker 9 (38:53):
Yep, Yeah, there are a couple others too.

Speaker 5 (38:55):
That's crazy, that's insane.

Speaker 6 (38:57):
It's funny because Austin and Liam are like the two
guys did not make my top thirty who are like
solidly probably going to be drafted that high.

Speaker 5 (39:05):
But at number thirteen, Atlanta another.

Speaker 6 (39:08):
Team don't really know what they should do, but I'm
going to go with another wing for them, and I
think it's just because it's the best player on the board.

Speaker 5 (39:16):
It's a guy who I think has a lot of upside,
and it's Cedriac Coward. I'm going with Cedric Coward.

Speaker 6 (39:21):
I think this guy is awesome, and I wish he
would have played more than six games at Washington State
at the higher level than he did at Eastern Washington.
But this is also a guy who put up the
exact same stats in those six games, and he was
putting up at Eastern Washington shooting fifty five percent from
the field, creating for others, creating for himself, shooting threes,
getting to the line.

Speaker 5 (39:42):
I mean, this guy's got it all. There's a chance
this guy.

Speaker 6 (39:44):
Should be going like top seven, and I'm too low
on him at ten to be honest, So him going
at thirteen, I think it's a great dick.

Speaker 5 (39:52):
He seems to be the biggest riser of this entire process.

Speaker 9 (39:55):
Yeah, definitely there.

Speaker 7 (39:56):
I'm very curious where he ends up because this was
a dude that when we I started kind of diving
into the draft waters, it was like a fringe first
round pick, early second type of guy. I do think
that there is a fairly likely chance Toy ends a
lottery pick on draft night. And I'm a believer in
him as well from another dude that there's cool like
character aspect to him when you listen to the way
he talks, Like what of a genuine and like inquisitive

(40:17):
type of guy he is about getting better. There's this
cool little letter that I found out he wrote, like
in his recruiting profile that was addressed to college coaches.
It's just kind of like a why you should believe
in me? And it was just like a very cool
like understanding of himself. And he dove into like his past,
like his family, how his I think it was his
grandmother was an Olympic whatever, like ran through the whole

(40:37):
thing of like what a talented athlete that his whole
family is, and him as a person, how much he
wants it. It made me like appreciate him a little bit,
So shout out to Cedric Coward, guy that I will
be rooting for pretty much wherever he does fall.

Speaker 5 (40:49):
Absolutely I couldn't agree more.

Speaker 6 (40:50):
And by the way, he will be on the Thunder,
he will go fifteen to the Thunder, but in this
scenario he.

Speaker 5 (40:55):
Goes thirteen to the Hawks. Fourteen.

Speaker 7 (40:57):
Who you got San Antonio Spurs on the for the
fourteenth pick. Here a guy, another guy that I don't
particularly like, but I think does make sense in the spot,
Kylin Murray Boyles. I'm thrown down in San Antonio and
I wish he was a better shooter, if that's where
I get limited from the ceiling conversation. And he is
another guy that is brought up in like was in
a pretty tough situation as far as what he did
to play in in college and kind of the system

(41:18):
that was designed there. But I do think in San
Antonio he checks a lot of boxes. Webinyama is a
guy that can space the floor around him and it's
not gonna be as big of a concern.

Speaker 9 (41:25):
So the talent is what it's taking a chance on.
I'm giving him to the Spurs.

Speaker 6 (41:29):
Yeah, he's a guy that I'm not as high on
his most I still have him like eighteenth though, so
nothing crazy at this point at fifteen four, OKC, they're
going to take a swing on an eighteen year old.
They're gonna go with Will Riley, who closed the year
really strong. Not once he started getting minutes. Once he

(41:49):
started getting I think more of a role on the team.
There was some flu issues, casprismissed a little time, their
other top scorer, visiusmissed a little time. I think Will
Riley took kind of those steps forward. And of course
I can't find the stat that I want to right now,
but I know you're a Will Riley guy as well.

Speaker 7 (42:07):
I am, and also had a chance to talk to
his coach. I was unaware he's a Malvern kid. So yeah,
nothing but good things about him as far as a person,
a worker, all those things glowing reports about Will Riley there,
and I'm a believer in him from a talent perspective,
So like that selection, and I think he's a little
bit more of like a plug and play guy than
people have given him credit. I think from day one,
like you can find a role for this dude, and
a pretty clean archtype for what he can be at

(42:28):
the NBA level, So shout out Will Riley loved the pick.

Speaker 6 (42:32):
Yeah, he's got to improve on defense to play right away.
I think that's the concern that people are lobbing out there.
But I think the offensive package is ready to go.
He can play and step in right away. The stat
is over the last he really improved over the last

(42:52):
fifteen games when he was getting thirty one point three
minutes per game as opposed to like the twenty three
minutes per game twenty one minutes per game he was
getting to that, he's averaged sixteen five and three per
game while shooting it forty eight percent from the field,
thirty four percent from three on volume attempts eight and
seventy seven percent from the free throw line.

Speaker 5 (43:14):
Wow.

Speaker 6 (43:14):
So I think that growth that he showed towards the
end of the year is similar to Jase another guy
who showed that growth once he started getting more minutes,
and another guy Illinois. I know casparis kind of flies
in the face and proves this wrong. He was a
special prospect though Illinois not a team that gives a
lot of eighteen year olds. That coach Underwood doesn't give

(43:35):
a lot of eighteen year olds chances right away, you
kind of have to earn it, and that's kind of
what Will Riley did.

Speaker 9 (43:39):
Yeah, definitely there, so I like that selection. I'll keep
it moving.

Speaker 7 (43:43):
With the sixteenth pick here, the Orlando Magic back on
the clock here, I think they take a swing as well.
And this is a guy that I'm very curious to
see where he falls on Draft Day. Has certainly been
a riser. I believe our first international prospect that we
have here and that is Noah Essenq here very interesting,
like you see the archetype, crazy athletic, very fluid athletes,
real deal six foot nine and can move.

Speaker 9 (44:02):
He's playing like.

Speaker 7 (44:03):
One thing that I think very much works in the
international guy's favor is he's still playing active basketball right now.
You can still watch live game action and he's playing
quite well. So it would not shock me. The Thunder
team that I kind of have peg that I could
see taking a chance on him as well, but I'm
giving him to Orlando with the sixteenth pick here. I'm
starting to believe in the S and Q vision a
little bit.

Speaker 6 (44:23):
By the way, with essinga watch out for Watch Out
for Washington at six, Wow.

Speaker 5 (44:29):
I know that that sounds really high.

Speaker 6 (44:31):
A lot of similarities to cool A Ballet blal who
they took a couple of years ago. Watch Out for
Brooklyn at eight, Watch out for Toronto at nine.

Speaker 5 (44:41):
Singa goes to one of those three spots. Watch out. Wow,
all right, you heard for San Antonio at fourteen Frenchmen.

Speaker 7 (44:48):
Yeah, that makes a lot of sense there, So I'll
hand it back over to you. With the Timberwolves with
the seventeenth pick.

Speaker 6 (44:53):
Now, seventeenth pick, Minnesota, I can't believe there's a guy
on the board that I'm going to pass on again.

Speaker 5 (45:00):
With Jayden McDaniels, I don't think I can take Fleming.
I'm going to take a.

Speaker 6 (45:03):
Guard, and I know that they swung and missed on Dillingham.
It seems potentially like last year. But I think with
how old Conley is, do you desperately need a guard
to pair with ant long term? And I gotta go
with Walter Clayton Jr. I think what Walt did down
the stretch just shooting is real. We know that the

(45:24):
shooting's real. At the very least.

Speaker 5 (45:26):
You plug him next to Anthony Edwards and they're going
to take a million threes.

Speaker 6 (45:29):
So the defense has been fantastic. For Minnesota already, So
just plugging a guy who can shoot the way Walt does.
I think it makes a lot of sense. Jace would
be the perfect fit though, Yeah, definitely, and it is interesting.
I'm not selling all my dilling Ham stock just yet.
It certainly was not an ideal rookie season by any
means there, but he is still very young and a
lot going on there, so I'm giving Dillingham a little
bit longer leash. Would be interesting if they go Clayton,

(45:51):
that certainly would not be a great sign for Dillingham's future.
And the guy that you alluded to in the previous pick,
I'm not letting him get any farther.

Speaker 7 (45:57):
I'm throwing Rashier Fleming on this Washington. There's a team
with the eighteenth pick there. I think he fits exactly
the same vision that they're building towards long, defensive wings,
guys that can be disruptors. I think there's a really
clean fit for him with that exact archetype. Obviously Saint
Joe's kid here in Philadelphia. I'll be I like Fleming
a lot.

Speaker 9 (46:13):
I would not.

Speaker 7 (46:13):
I think he probably deserves to go a couple spots
higher than we have him in this but it doesn't
I don't know. It doesn't feel like the buzz that
he's gotten is matching his talent. But I'm taking Fleming
with the eighteenth pick here.

Speaker 6 (46:24):
And this, Yeah, Fleming should have went higher. I have
him eleventh, and it just didn't line up with the
team that that that I had on the board, that that.

Speaker 5 (46:33):
Made sense to take him. And here's where my struggle.

Speaker 6 (46:37):
Is because there's a guy who's clearly the best player
on my board, but I don't I don't know if
it makes a lot of sense for Brooklyn to take him.

Speaker 5 (46:46):
So I'm gonna go a little bit, a little bit
off the board here.

Speaker 6 (46:49):
I'm gonna go, hmmm, which way I should Let me
not waste time here.

Speaker 9 (46:55):
This is a bad radio.

Speaker 5 (46:57):
I'm gonna go with Thomas Serber. Love it, Brooklyn.

Speaker 6 (47:01):
He's younger, so he's got the upside. He's still kind
of a swing for Brooklyn. They can develop him as
opposed to a couple guys who are a little bit
more finished products.

Speaker 5 (47:11):
But I'll go with sor for here.

Speaker 9 (47:13):
Love it.

Speaker 7 (47:13):
Shout out Archbishop Ryan, another Philadelphia product, Thomas Orber right there,
and a guy that the intel in him seems to
be that smart teams like him quite a bit, so
like the sounds of that, and is a guy that
I will be buying some stock in as well. The
Miami Heat do not know if they fall in that
smart team's conversation or not, but they are on the clock.
With that twentieth pick, I'm throwing him Liam McNeely here,

(47:34):
a guy that has the pedigree. I know you're skeptical
of him, but I do think that he's got real
deal size. I see the skills are there. He's got
some growing to do, but I think for Miami they
pretty much have a blank slate for what their future is.
And I do think McNeil's a guy that you can
talk yourself into could be a potential building block if
things go correctly. I'm not that high on him, but
I think that's going to be the case. But I
think for the twentieth pick, you can sleep at night

(47:55):
pretty comfortably with that being the selection.

Speaker 6 (47:58):
At twenty one a guy that I'm sh you haven't
taken yet For Utah, I'm going with Neek Clifford, and
I think that was the best player available for me
for Brooklyn, And even though Utah is another team that
should just be looking at swings. They need creation, they
need guard play, they need people who can handle and
people who can take it for themselves. So you put

(48:19):
Niek and Trey next to each other, I think that's
more guard talent than they had all of last year.

Speaker 7 (48:24):
Yeah, no, that makes sense there. I do love Neek
Clifford Man. I do hope he goes higher than twenty one,
and think he probably will. In this We've had a
couple guys fall that just kind of hasn't aligned in
the same way.

Speaker 9 (48:34):
But that's the beauty of the draft. That's gonna happen
on draft night as well.

Speaker 7 (48:37):
So I'll keep it rolling and slide to the Hawks
with the twenty second pick, and I'm taking speaking of
taking swings, throw me Igor Demon as the guy here.
I don't like them to be honest as a respect,
I'm really not in on the guy, but like, yeah,
I have the talent is there. You can talk yourself
into them, and I think that's exactly what Atlanta should
be doing. Is this is a guy that, if things
break right, could be a potential like building block type

(48:59):
of player.

Speaker 9 (49:00):
I don't really see it. I don't like the shots selection.

Speaker 7 (49:02):
I think that he doesn't read the game particularly well,
but at the twenty second pick, you can talk yourself
into it and give him a chance.

Speaker 6 (49:09):
With Indiana on the board here at twenty three, I
think it's clear that they have a little bit of
a backup center issue. So I think that has to
be the pick here, and I'm going to go with
Maxim Reynod from Stanford, a guy who I've kind of
fallen in love with in this process. Is it Kayu
averaged twenty and eleven last year with a block and
a half per game. There's also some creation for others potential.

(49:34):
He can shoot it from three as well, and does
shoot it from three, It's not like he shoots a
pretty good amount of them, so this is a chance
that I'm too low on the sky. And if he
was eighteen nineteen, I think it's a different conversation. But
he is twenty two. I'm going to go with Raynod, Yeah.

Speaker 7 (49:49):
A guy that does seem to be climbing the board.
It's a little bit and the numbers speak for himself.
The talent is there, so I do like that, and
I think I'd be an interesting addition for Indiana. Obviously
they have quit quite a bit of death, got quite
a bit of depth already, So I don't think you're
making this like true, you know, win now pick Or
a guy that you're immediately planning on.

Speaker 9 (50:08):
But uh yeah, I like the direction there, and.

Speaker 6 (50:11):
Then I forgot that I was also up again right
here for the Oklahoma City Thunder, and hmmm, this is
a tough one. Egor is the guy who I think
that the Thunder are going to love. They loved Giddy clearly.

Speaker 7 (50:24):
I thought you're gonna take him with the jazz. By
the way, what I thought You're gonna take him with
the jazz?

Speaker 5 (50:29):
Pick Igor.

Speaker 6 (50:31):
Yeah, I'm not a big Egor guy, but I get it,
Like I know that like Trill and all of them
hate him and they like don't get how he's going high.

Speaker 5 (50:39):
I get it. He's a big guy who can dribble
and handle and create for others. So I do understand
the vision, but I'm not I'm not an Egor guy.
At twenty four for Oklahoma City, they took we took
Will Riley. First off, We're gonna come back with a guard.

(51:01):
We're gonna go Cam Jones.

Speaker 6 (51:03):
I'm from Marquette, who really weird case because he shot
incredibly well from three his whole career at Marquette, and
then this year shot thirty one percent and sixty four
percent from the free throw line. He's never shot it
well from the free throw line also, which so it
just depends what you think of the shooting.

Speaker 5 (51:19):
There's a lot else to like. I mean, per thirty
six he averaged six point three assists per game, only
two turnovers, with twenty and a half points per game,
still shot at forty eight percent from the field. He's
like the best player in the class at getting to
the whim. So there's a lot to like.

Speaker 6 (51:34):
About Cam Jones, and the Thunder probably aren't the team
that makes sense for him, because I do think there's
some plug and play with Cam Jones.

Speaker 9 (51:41):
But there you go, best player, bil, yeah, really good defender.

Speaker 7 (51:45):
I do think he does kind of fit the Thunder
identity with that, so I could see them taking that swing.

Speaker 9 (51:49):
I like Cam Jones quite a bit.

Speaker 7 (51:50):
He's a guy that if he'sn't on the board with
that thirty fifth pick, I would not mind taking a
swing from the Sixers perspective. But absolutely, yeah, we'll see
how that shakes out. I know you're not high on him,
but I'm not letting get any further. Ason Newell is
going to go off the board at the twenty fifth
pick to the magic here.

Speaker 9 (52:05):
The shooting is a little bit of an issue.

Speaker 7 (52:07):
He's also kind of kind of falls a little bit
into that Tweeter conversation. I think he probably projects a
four at the next level, but we'll see how it
shakes out. The talent and the pedigree is there for
the this late in the draft, at the twenty fifth
pick here, I'm totally fine with it.

Speaker 6 (52:20):
Yeah, at this point, it's it's absolutely fine. I don't
have anyone really left that I like all that much.
The last guy that I really have, like a true
first round great on doesn't even make sense here for Brooklyn,
but I'm going to take him anyway. Another big to
add with even though they just took Sorber, We're going
to come back and take Ryan Kalkbrenner, who was an

(52:41):
incredible rim protector while not fouling at all, and there
is some idea that he can stretch it out and
shoot it.

Speaker 5 (52:47):
So give me Kalkbrenner there at twenty seven.

Speaker 9 (52:51):
I like it.

Speaker 7 (52:51):
And then they have back to back twenty six and
twenty seven the nets here. Do you want me to
jump in on this next one?

Speaker 1 (52:57):
Yes?

Speaker 7 (52:57):
Yeah, perfect, So Kalkbrener off the board here you kind
of went with I would say a safer pick or
a guy that you know exactly what he is. I'm
gonna go to the opposite direction with this back to
back pick, and I'm taking Drake Palell out of unc here,
a guy that has gotten some buzz and seems to
be climbing a little bit.

Speaker 9 (53:12):
The pedigree is there.

Speaker 7 (53:13):
He has a dude who had a very weird freshman season,
but he entered as a very highly, highly believed in recruit.

Speaker 9 (53:19):
That was the case.

Speaker 7 (53:20):
I think that is the type of guy that you
should rest comfortably taking at this stage in the draft.
So Drake Pow will be getting off the board with
the twenty seventh pick from my perspective here and Mark
joins us, But again, I like.

Speaker 6 (53:31):
That pick for Drake pal Definitely a pick i'd be
looking at here for Phoenix with.

Speaker 5 (53:37):
This pick I'm gonna go with. I'm gonna go with
Hanson Yang. Give me Hanson Yang from China. I think
there's some some.

Speaker 6 (53:46):
People, there are some really smart people who like him
a lot. I'm not an international guy. Watch some Hanson Yang.

Speaker 5 (53:51):
Now I see the.

Speaker 7 (53:52):
Vision, I get it, and this is this is twenty
eight to the Celtics.

Speaker 5 (53:55):
Correct, Oh, I thought I was doing. I did Phoenix
twenty nine, and we can swap.

Speaker 7 (54:02):
I'll take I wasn't gonna take him anyway, So we'll
throw Hanson Yang twenty ninth to the Suns for the
twenty eight eighth pick. Another guy that I think probably
does not sneak into the first round, but I like
quite a bit. That's Adu Tierra, which I hope I'm
doing okay on pronunciation wise. We're in the tough name
section of this draft, but that's who I'm giving to
the Celtics there.

Speaker 9 (54:20):
I like him.

Speaker 7 (54:21):
I do think that he should sneak into the first round.
Really like his game overall. I think he's athletic, is
a little bit more NBA ready than has gotten the
credit for it. So I'll throw him with the twenty
eighth pick, and back to you for thirty and for
the last pick in the first round. Here we have
certainly dug through a lot of this. I'm gonna throw
Danny wolf In as the final selection of this first
round to the Clippers.

Speaker 9 (54:41):
Here.

Speaker 7 (54:42):
Very interesting to see where he goes. A unique basketball player.
I loved what Michigan did with the double seven foot
pick and roll kind of action that they did.

Speaker 1 (54:50):
Ran.

Speaker 7 (54:50):
He can space the floor, he can shoot it. His
positional fit will be interesting. But I'm totally fine. Thrown
him for the last pick in the first round.

Speaker 5 (54:57):
That is it.

Speaker 6 (54:58):
Good stuff NBA mock drov. We'll put it out there
on socials. That's what we would do if we were
the GM of all those teams. Tougher, tough year for
just a lot of teams that I don't know what
the vision is. I don't know what they're thinking. I
don't know what the plan is. But let's take a
break and on the other side, we're gonna talk all
things NBA Finals as well as what's going on in

(55:20):
Philly's land.

Speaker 5 (55:21):
So stay tuned to the Toughcover Radio Show.

Speaker 1 (55:23):
Number one on your car radio preset hand. The new
and improved Diehard Radio w D yes and WD two
seven three D Philadelphia is Fox Sports Radio the Gambling.

Speaker 5 (55:41):
No matter what you say, who would you do with
you bag?

Speaker 2 (55:49):
You said?

Speaker 5 (55:50):
Two two thousand and five? Okay, Hold I'll wait a minute.

Speaker 8 (55:53):
All good, just a week ago crew at my house
and we party every weekend.

Speaker 5 (55:57):
So on the radio, that's my favorite song.

Speaker 8 (56:00):
He bouncing around like I don't know, like I won't
be here off now the three is got no patience
because I'm not a do go Why.

Speaker 5 (56:06):
You Welcome back to the Tough Cover Radio Show.

Speaker 6 (56:10):
I am your host as always Mark every jr. Second
hour here on the Tough Radio Show, closing it down
on the Gambler twelve o'clock hour.

Speaker 5 (56:19):
We covered the NBA Draft in our first hour, gonna h.

Speaker 6 (56:24):
Ship years here over to the Phillies before we shifty
years back to the hardwood to talk.

Speaker 5 (56:30):
About the NBA Finals.

Speaker 6 (56:31):
But a lot to talk about when it comes to
the Phils. I guess they've now lost three in a row?

Speaker 5 (56:38):
Is it three in a row?

Speaker 9 (56:39):
Now?

Speaker 5 (56:40):
Uh?

Speaker 9 (56:40):
Is it four?

Speaker 7 (56:41):
So?

Speaker 5 (56:42):
Is it? Is it four?

Speaker 9 (56:43):
Let me look before I had in my head, let's check.

Speaker 5 (56:45):
The face one of the first game in Toronto.

Speaker 9 (56:50):
It is three three? You're right green row?

Speaker 5 (56:55):
Yeah?

Speaker 3 (56:56):
Uh.

Speaker 6 (56:56):
But and everybody's focused on the wrong things right now,
in my opinion, everybody's focused on and rightfully so a
little bit the Lozarto meltdown and whatever is going on
with him to completely change the player that we've seen
over the first couple of months.

Speaker 5 (57:13):
Here, everybody's focused on the bullpen. As always, nobody can
talk about anything but the bullpen. There are some talks
about the offense, and that is where the conversation, That
is where the concern that is where everything should be directed.

Speaker 6 (57:28):
I get that the bullpen isn't perfect. I got Jordan
Romanos stunk in the ninth last night. We got a
bullpen game yesterday where we only gave up five runs,
two of which came from a man named Alan Ranghill.

Speaker 7 (57:39):
So.

Speaker 5 (57:43):
Of them, yeah, I think it says something that we
had to use a guy like that for multiple lettings.

Speaker 6 (57:51):
That the bullpen's not deep enough, but most teams can't
really get through a bullpen game without using some shaky arms. Anyway,
I think bullpen games are one of the worst things
that have happened to the sport. Personally, that's another conversation.
There's no real way to stop it. But I can't
stand bullpen games and I think they kill you for
the next couple of days. Also, I do not understand

(58:12):
the strategy whatsoever, But anyway, we move on. I think
that the offense is a major problem. And if this
team flames out in the playoffs again, if this team
doesn't get to where we want them to go, it's
not gonna because of the bullpen. It's not going to
be because of halus Lozardo. It's not gonna because of

(58:34):
Aaron Nola. It's going to be because of this offense.
And there's a lot of I don't even know where
to start. I know where I'm going to start, I guess,
and it's the Bob Blinkle tweet.

Speaker 5 (58:43):
Bob Blinkel. We've got to get back on the show.

Speaker 6 (58:45):
It's been too long. The Philly center fielders this season too.
Twenty one batting average twenty fourth in baseball two ninety
five w WVP twenty first, three out of three, slug
twenty eighth, five ninety eight oh ps twenty seventh, zero
point zero for twenty fifth left fielders two h six,
batting average twenty six.

Speaker 5 (59:04):
Three ten obph twentieth.

Speaker 6 (59:07):
Three sixty eight, slugging twenty seconds, six seventy eight ops
twenty first negative zero point one f four twenty fourth
coming out of that slot. And I've been on this
for a while. Max Kepler cannot play any more games.
He is terrible. He's not a good fielder. He's been

(59:27):
terrible at the plate. He's worse against righties than he
is against lefties. Somehow, when he was brought here specifically
just to hit righties, it is infuriating.

Speaker 5 (59:36):
At least with centerfield.

Speaker 6 (59:38):
I can look at it and say, Marsh is just
a different person than he was before. And I understand
why we relied on him, because I would have relied
on him too. So it's not anybody's fault that this
is happening with Marsh. He's just not the same guy
that we've seen him when he was hitting you know,
upper eight hundreds ops for for stretches there last in

(01:00:00):
the last couple of years. But and then Rojas. We
know the deal with Rojas that he's a fielder. He's
not here to hit. Anything you get from him to
hit is positive, but lately he might as well go
up with the sword.

Speaker 5 (01:00:11):
He's got no chance at the plate right now.

Speaker 6 (01:00:15):
So you can't get that production out of centerfield and
left field when there's also other situations going on.

Speaker 5 (01:00:22):
Right If the rest of the lineup was perfect.

Speaker 6 (01:00:25):
Maybe it'd be fine, But when you have all these
other guys struggling I hate to start with this guy
because he's a bit guy, but a Mundo Sosa three
for his last thirty two look has.

Speaker 5 (01:00:38):
Looked horrible every time he gets put in.

Speaker 6 (01:00:40):
JT Realmuto hitting one seventy two with a four to sixty.

Speaker 5 (01:00:44):
Seven OPS over the last fifteen games.

Speaker 6 (01:00:48):
And then the one that I want to focus on
and the one that I think is hurting the team
the most currently.

Speaker 5 (01:00:54):
And I'm a Rob Thompson guy. I like Topper. I
think he's a good manager. This Bryson stot leadoff nonsense
is a joke. It's the first time I've ever joined
the mob against Rob Thompson, and I don't even think
the Mob is aware it's a problem because it's a

(01:01:15):
traditional lineup Bryson stop for him to lead off. Over
the last thirty games since April ended, we're not talking
like May first one. Bryce started hitting one ninety six
with a five eighteen OPS hitting leadoff for us most
of those games. That's that's that's a killer. That is

(01:01:36):
It's not like Kyle Schwerber hitting two twenty when he's
hitting eight p fifty ops. And it's a joke.

Speaker 7 (01:01:44):
Yeah, it's a joke, And really the only reason I
think it's still happening is you can't justify putting anyone
at the cleanup spot other than Schwarver at this point
that there is not enough power in this lineup, straight up?

Speaker 9 (01:01:53):
Got You're putting Cassidy at the leadoff?

Speaker 5 (01:01:57):
Oh no, it's got to be Nick at cup got it?

Speaker 9 (01:02:00):
Got it?

Speaker 5 (01:02:01):
Are you?

Speaker 7 (01:02:01):
Would you join the Trey Turner, who, to his credit,
is one of the guys pulling up his enditor holding
up his end of the bargain. From an offensive standpoint,
would Trey Turner be the fix?

Speaker 5 (01:02:10):
I honestly don't even care.

Speaker 6 (01:02:11):
Just Trey Kyle Bryce as the top three, whatever order
you want to give me. I'm of the opinion that
a baseball line I've been I bought MLB the Show
this week for fun fact, or last weekend. I flogged
about thirty to forty hours over.

Speaker 5 (01:02:27):
The last week on MLB the Show. I'm in like
year five of a Pirates franchise, did like four years
of a Phillies franchise. Insane stuff. But I'm of the
opinion that a baseball lineup should literally just be ranking
your best hitters, just rank them in order, and that
should be your lineup because the number one guess what,

(01:02:48):
the number one hitter gets to hit more than anybody else.

Speaker 7 (01:02:51):
Yeah, that is how that that works out there. So
that does make a little bit of sense there. But
I honestly think like to be a little bit fair
to Rob here, like you're just kind of covering holes
and you can't cover them all, Like you're kind of
shifting things around make up for other things and you
leave other things open, and that and the outfield stuff
the Kepler experiences especially frustrating. I mean, we've done this
centerfield dance for three seasons now with kind of the

(01:03:13):
Rojas and Marsh situation of like knowing what the deal
is that defensively like Rojas is at times necessary, but
you know what the end the deal is with the
bat there, and I think that is what it is.
To this point, Marsh has been disappointing. It feels so
much worse with the left field hole also being a thing,
and like, I don't I think this this next ten
day stretch from Otto Kemp is very important for him

(01:03:34):
for the team. If he proves himself, if he continues
slugging the way that he has at the minor league level,
and by the way playing third base today will be
interesting how that all plays out here. If Kent makes
a strong impression, I wonder if he becomes like a
real part of this team very quickly. The opportunity is
there for him, and I do think that they need
some sort of spark, some sort of mix up, some
sort of new blood, and at least this is a
chance to get.

Speaker 5 (01:03:53):
That he's playing third base today.

Speaker 6 (01:03:55):
They put that out, Yeah, interesting, interesting, I like that.
But yet to me, I've been a Bryson Stott guy
for a long time, and I actually, you know what,
I'm not even gonna say that.

Speaker 5 (01:04:08):
I would say that I'm the most objective guy in
the city on Bryson Stott.

Speaker 6 (01:04:13):
I'm not afraid to toop my own horn that way
because I liked Stott when he was a kid, and
even in twenty twenty two when he struggled.

Speaker 5 (01:04:19):
I remember bringing Bob on and.

Speaker 6 (01:04:21):
We talked about he looks like a ballplayer, he acts
like a ballplayer. He does these baseball instinct iq things
that he's clutched. He comes up in these big moments.
But then it got crazy where you know, it was
like oh, Utlely, like Utley and all these things, and
I rightfully called that out at the time that that

(01:04:42):
was ridiculous.

Speaker 5 (01:04:42):
But then.

Speaker 6 (01:04:44):
I I don't think people have adjusted to what he
is now, which is a six fifty ish ops guy,
which is well below the average.

Speaker 5 (01:04:56):
As a hitter, and he's an elite fielder.

Speaker 6 (01:04:58):
But how much does that matter at second If they
want to justify Scott as an elite fielder, put him
at shortstop and then at least the bat doesn't matter
as much and at least you're getting more value out
of the glove. Even though whatever it's such a I'm
at the point Bryson Stott is not a building block
going forward in my head, at the position second base

(01:05:21):
is a or shortstop if you're shifting tray is a
position where someone comes available.

Speaker 5 (01:05:27):
I am interested.

Speaker 9 (01:05:28):
Yeah, I have no problem with that outlook.

Speaker 7 (01:05:29):
I very much want to see him play shortstop, man,
like the Trey Turner stuff. And again, he's been incredible
at the plate, so I do have to give him that,
but he just bleeds runs. And like at shortstop, he
is the worst defensive shortstop in the MLB by a
pretty comfortable margin, and like, that's embarrassing, man. And when
you look at like all these counterstone or foundational parts
of this Phillies team. He's very clearly the worst defender

(01:05:50):
out of him, like by a comfortable margin there, and
you have him at what is arguably the most important
defensive position in baseball there at shortstop. You can make
a case for a couple other spots as well, but
that is like the leader of the infield there. That
in how it should be, and that's not the case
for this Phillies team. So I would love to at
least mix that up, throw Stott at shortstop, who from
day one will be miles more impactful than what we're

(01:06:11):
seeing from Turner defensively there.

Speaker 9 (01:06:12):
I don't think they do it.

Speaker 7 (01:06:13):
I think it's very like handshake deal that Trey Turner
is going to be the shortstop at least for this season,
which I absolutely hate there. I've seen the people pushing
for the center field option for Trey as well. I
definitely don't think that happens, at least not this season.
But it is really like that is bothersome to me.
That's the trade Turner thing that continues to rag on me.
You mentioned Lozardo there. What is your level of concern

(01:06:33):
with heysus?

Speaker 5 (01:06:38):
I don't know.

Speaker 6 (01:06:39):
Yeah, Mike, I can't really wrap my head around it.
I think he's probably either hurt or tipping pitches. But
it's probably not hurt because the lass as still there, right.
It makes me think he's tipping pitches like and the
way he's getting hit is just so shocking to see
after looking so good for so long, and the stuff
doesn't look that different, right, you think there's something going

(01:07:01):
on with tipping.

Speaker 7 (01:07:02):
It's very strange for sure, But my level is not zero,
like I mean, he's been smacked around these past two games.
I think it wouldn't be the worst idea to give
him a little phantom ill stretch and get his head straight.
Whatever the case may be, you can make the case
to give Mickabel a little bit more opportunity if that's
the the way you want to play it. There, with
Wheeler returning from paternity, Aaron Nola seeming like he's just

(01:07:22):
about ready to return to the rotation completely, they do
have bodies. That is the one strength that we can
point to to this Phillies team is they're starting pitching there.

Speaker 9 (01:07:29):
Everything else there's a ton of question marks right now.

Speaker 6 (01:07:32):
So that's why we had a bullpen game because Wheeler
had to be selfish and go have a kid.

Speaker 9 (01:07:37):
Do you see his TikTok? By the way, see.

Speaker 5 (01:07:39):
Incredible, I'm joking. By the way, good for Zach. Absolutely
stud never misses a day, so but I Zach is
sorely missed for sure after today. But yeah, I agree
with you, Phantom.

Speaker 6 (01:07:55):
I l's are we don't do them enough the rest
of the league, Like the Dodgers had like twenty five
pictures right now, there's so many teams that are just
like anything happens at all where a velocity ticks down
two miles per hour and they're like, all right.

Speaker 7 (01:08:08):
I l take fifteen off, Yeah, worry about it, take
a couple of days off.

Speaker 5 (01:08:12):
Yeah, it doesn't bother me.

Speaker 6 (01:08:13):
It's ten dayils two starts now, like it's not fifteen,
it's not three anymore.

Speaker 5 (01:08:18):
So yeah, whatever.

Speaker 6 (01:08:20):
But it does seem like, by the way, to talk
about pictures on the il Nola, it does seem like
might be there for a longer time than we expected,
which I actually I support.

Speaker 9 (01:08:32):
Yeah, I'm.

Speaker 6 (01:08:34):
Having a little bit of fear about the Nola contract
right now, and I think it's hard to revision his
history because if we didn't sign him. He would have
been in Atlanta, brave and in the middle of right
after twenty twenty three, after losing to Arizona two years
in a row of beating Atlanta. If you let him

(01:08:55):
walk to Atlanta without a replacement, that would have been
And even if you let him, well, even if you
replaced him, he still went to Atlanta.

Speaker 5 (01:09:04):
It's not like he went to Seattle.

Speaker 6 (01:09:05):
And it's just so you lost a guy, you have
to deal with him six times a year, probably, So
I think that's an important factor to that conversation that.

Speaker 5 (01:09:17):
Will always have. He's got a lot of money left
on that deal.

Speaker 6 (01:09:22):
And to his credit, nobody has been the workhorse across
Major League Baseball since twenty sixteen that Aaron Nola has.
And the negative to that is now he has nine
years of innings where he never took time off that
have all built up on that arm, and he never
threw hard anyway. So the idea that he was able

(01:09:46):
to cook at ninety five miles per hour, if he's
a ninety two to ninety three guy, that's an important
two or three ticks.

Speaker 5 (01:09:54):
Off of that. The margins or razor thin. So I
have real concerns about long term, whatever you can do.

Speaker 6 (01:10:02):
To incubate him basically and to get him right, whether
it's a surgery and he misses the year, because I think,
you know, if we ever had a year where you
could take a hit from a starting pitcher missing the
year and getting right for the rest of the contract,
it's this one, because you have enough pitching to do it.

Speaker 5 (01:10:21):
If that's what he has to do, that's what he
has to do.

Speaker 6 (01:10:23):
If you have to keep him out a couple months
and bring him back in September for the home stretch
to try to get him right before the playoffs.

Speaker 5 (01:10:30):
That's what we have to do. If he's back next week,
that's what we have to do. I'm willing to just
be like, I trust them to get Aaron Nola right.

Speaker 9 (01:10:38):
Yeah, I mean they have to.

Speaker 7 (01:10:39):
And that's like the interesting kind of double edged sword
of this is the pro and what Nola doesn't get
enough credit for is what an innings eater he's been
throughout his career. Is he's going to throw you two
hundred innings on a yearly basis, and that's pretty rare
in today's baseball to have that. On the downside of
that is he's thrown that many innings in his career
and there does come a point where what is the
damage on the arm? How long is this sustainable? And

(01:11:00):
it would be a pretty damning reality if we're facing
this in this early in the contract. There's a lot
more years and a lot more money connected to that,
and that would be a tough barrel to be looking down.
I think like ultimately you just throw them back into
rotation and see what happens from here that maybe that
this is all he needed a quick you know, fifteen
days off or whatever the case is, and then he
can return to the Aaronola that we know. The start

(01:11:20):
that really concerned me from him this year it was
like his third start of the season, I want to say,
where he was like grunting harder than I've ever seen
him before on the mound that you could hear it
through the TV and it's like, okay, like something like
he's really trying to get that extra mile proor too.
And he obviously started with a little bit slower velocity
this year and the numbers were getting back up there,
but it's just like that's not really the Aaronola that

(01:11:41):
we've come to know that He's never been a power pitcher.
It never will be like he's going to be a
control guy and pick his spots and all that type
of thing.

Speaker 9 (01:11:47):
But I don't know.

Speaker 7 (01:11:48):
It definitely is like something everyone should have their eye on,
and that would be a tough pill to swallow if
the arm is starting to go downhill right now.

Speaker 6 (01:11:56):
And all of a sudden, this guy who we all
assume would be the closer in October and we all
assume would be the lefty out of the pen, Ranger Swarez,
is our second best pitcher yet again, like oh here
we are again. Yeah, it's groundhog Day and Ranger Suarez
is not respected enough and underrated as a starting pitcher.
And that's a guy who should get one hundred million

(01:12:18):
dollars next offseason. I don't know what a Ranger contract
looks like in MLB the show. By the way, I
think it was three years sixty that he got from
Cleveland or so he went to Cleveland, and that's if
you got five years, that's one hundred.

Speaker 5 (01:12:31):
So I think that's probably the aav. It's probably like
twenty ish per year.

Speaker 6 (01:12:36):
We're not gonna pay it, and that's gonna suck when
we lose Ranger because we have all these arms, and
I know we have all these arms, but what will
we do right now if we didn't have Ranger, Like,
just think about removing I mean, we have Painter, I guess,
but I I we're gonna miss Ranger when he's gone.

Speaker 5 (01:12:54):
I don't have to tell you that.

Speaker 7 (01:12:55):
Yeah, no, I'm very much a Ranger guy on the
hill today. So hopefully you know, continues the positive trend there.
God a fun stat.

Speaker 6 (01:13:05):
My buddy is better the Year today, which I have
a Game of the Year today as well, but he
has a better the Year Ranger.

Speaker 5 (01:13:12):
I don't know what the number is. You can tell
me over on DraftKings if you want. I think it's
this over on Outs, it's probably between fifteen and a
half to seventeen and a half. I'd guess his take
is just that the bullpen is completely dead and buried,
and even if Ranger doesn't have a good start, Rob's
gonna kind of leave him out there to cook. Yeah,
and it's Pittsburgh, so he should work pretty quickly relatively.

(01:13:35):
Ranger works quick anyway, so I think that there's probably
some validity to that pick.

Speaker 7 (01:13:41):
Yeah, seventeen and a half at minus one ninety on DraftKings,
So I think, yeah, I think the books are seeing
it the same way with that one, but I still
think that's probably the way to approach it here. Yeah,
Ranger's gonna have to go deep today that they've burned
through a lot. This is back to back games where
they've kind of used up the entire bullpen here. So
it's not the best and that's already a pretty weak
unit from from the Phillies overall.

Speaker 9 (01:14:02):
But do like the mindset, what's his case?

Speaker 5 (01:14:05):
What's his strikeout prop? Today? Because you have to imagine
if he's in there longer and a.

Speaker 9 (01:14:10):
Half five and a half plus one ten on the over.

Speaker 5 (01:14:15):
We take a look here to give to people two
eight six six five. I would lean over there. I would.

Speaker 6 (01:14:23):
I mean, I know he just had a two strikeout
one against Milwaukee, but the three starts before that he
hit it.

Speaker 5 (01:14:28):
The one start before that he hit five. So yeah,
I would lean over there for Ranger.

Speaker 6 (01:14:35):
But real quick, my my best, by the way, am
I what's what's your take.

Speaker 5 (01:14:43):
On Sanchez lately?

Speaker 6 (01:14:46):
I've heard some concern from our friend Jack Fritz and
some other Phillies people that he hasn't looked He's I
think he's shown what a good picture he is in
these stretches. He hasn't been as dominant and get as
many whiffs on the change up in the off speed
as it feels like he has a lot of the time.

(01:15:09):
What's your take on Sanchez and is it fair to
say right now Rangers a our second best pitcher.

Speaker 7 (01:15:15):
Yeah, I do think that's fair to say about Ranger
and the Sanchez stuff. It does feel like the control
is not quite where it was last year, like it does.
I think he feels to me like he's missing his
spots a little bit more, and I think that's directly
related to not getting the whiffs and all that kind
of thing. He's not near the top of my list
of concerns with the Phillies pitching staff, which is a
little bit more indicative of the staff as a whole
than anything with Sanchez in particular. Here, I'm not panicked

(01:15:37):
about him. I'm not overall wired and think he'll be
he'll settle in, but certainly not like in the full
clear or feel awesome about how the season has gone
this far.

Speaker 5 (01:15:47):
Yeah.

Speaker 6 (01:15:47):
I three to one era, so still really really good.
But it doesn't look it doesn't look like Sanchi. It
doesn't look quite the same. But again, I do think
there is something to like the fact that he hasn't
had his best stuff and like Ranger, Like right, there's
times Ranger goes out and doesn't have his best stuff
and you see the line and it's like five or

(01:16:08):
six innings, eight or nine.

Speaker 5 (01:16:09):
Hits, there's only two or three runs.

Speaker 6 (01:16:11):
He's able to limit those those the damage and get
out of those jams, which is which is really big obviously,
because you're not always gonna have your your Zach Wheeler
top stuff.

Speaker 5 (01:16:23):
Every time out.

Speaker 6 (01:16:23):
But my game of the year today five unit play,
biggest bet of the MLB season so far, and I
am going with the New York Yankees money line minus
one oh eight at home.

Speaker 5 (01:16:39):
Against the Boston Red Socks, And I get it.

Speaker 6 (01:16:42):
Garrett Crochet pretty good, YadA, YadA, YadA. If you want
to pull up the AlSi Young odds while we're at it.
I'm curious where he's ad on there. I think he's
probably the favorite, unless I'm just completely whiffing of Max
Freed is probably the favorite. But Yankees have Yarbro on
the mound though, and Yarbro, while.

Speaker 5 (01:17:04):
Not Garrett Crochet.

Speaker 6 (01:17:07):
Over his last thirty innings, Ryan Yarbrough has been an
absolute dog. He has a one to seven ERA in
his last seven appearances over thirty innings, and since they've
shifted him to be a starter, he is hit there
four and one in games that he has started for

(01:17:29):
the Yankees. You look at the BVP numbers, Boston hits
like one forty three as a roster against Yarbrough as well,
the top guys on the roster haven't been hitting in
general and don't hit Yarbro. Well, I think this Boston
team is just so disappointing as well. They've they won
that game the other day by the grace of Craig Kimbrel,
but besides that, they've been melting down for a while.

Speaker 5 (01:17:52):
It feels like thirty and thirty five. So disappointing.

Speaker 6 (01:17:55):
And the fact that this is just a fat out
even line between the Yankees and the Red Sox.

Speaker 5 (01:17:59):
And I get it, like Croche as a one to
nine eighty RA, Yarbro was a two eighty RA and
I just laid out as a one to seventy ARRA
over his last seven appearances dating back to April. So
if we're saying that.

Speaker 6 (01:18:11):
The Red Sox have a even a nicely sized pitching advantage.
The Yankees are at home and are a far better team.
They're literally ten and a half games ahead of the
Red Sox. It's it's June seventh. I don't think this
should be minus one ten at all. This kind of
goes in the same bucket as when I always like

(01:18:32):
to take the Dodgers at plus money.

Speaker 5 (01:18:34):
But I don't get this. I think the Yankee should
be minus one sixty today.

Speaker 9 (01:18:38):
Yeah.

Speaker 7 (01:18:38):
And as far as the Cy Young odds, here Threek
Scuoble to favorite at minus one seventy out there in
the American Lely crochet is second at plus seven hundred,
Hunter Brown at plus seven to fifteen, then Max Free
to plus eight hundred the clear top four there.

Speaker 5 (01:18:51):
Wow, Freed that low. He's been unbelievable. FREEDO.

Speaker 6 (01:18:56):
I'm surprised that that's scooball rules school. Yeah, Freed's leading
is Freeda is the best dra Wow of all here. Yeah,
Fred does a one seven eight. Croschet A is a
one to nine eight. Scooble as a two to one six.
By the way, I'll just say this because uh Pat
Moran told me that he thinks, uh, he thinks Schooble's

(01:19:17):
the best picture in baseball.

Speaker 5 (01:19:20):
It's Paul Skins.

Speaker 6 (01:19:21):
I don't care what anybody tells me, Paul Skins is
still nasty or still better. I better era for Skins,
by the way, than Scooble, But I'm a Skeens guy.

Speaker 5 (01:19:30):
As the best picture in baseball? Where would you go
if I if I said Skins are Scoobale?

Speaker 7 (01:19:34):
I love both probably Skians. I still think it's Skeens,
but Schooble does shove man like he's he's a has
He's just gonna let it rip, it, let it fly.

Speaker 9 (01:19:42):
He's the man.

Speaker 7 (01:19:43):
So I like both of them. I hope desperately VC
Paul Skins play for legitimate contender at some point. It
probably won't be Pittsburgh. He's got to get out of
there at some point. I would love for them to
build around him and find some way. But it is
a real bummer to me how much he's being wasted
down there, by the way.

Speaker 6 (01:19:57):
While we're talking about guys who are having fantastic seasons
as pitchers, just a couple names, I didn't really even
realize how good these guys were having Chris Bubich in
Kansas City, good pitcher. I've always liked he was kind
of like a replacement level guy who you would pick
up off the free agency waiver wire and Fantasy Baseball
best dra in baseball at one four to three. He's

(01:20:19):
at twelve starts too, so a full complement of starts
UH one four three ra is unbelievable in seventy five innings.
And then Yuvaldi, who's a guy who's been around. He's
you know, he's always been a top twenty, top thirty pitcher.
He makes a lot of money, but he's got a
one UH one five to six with an eight one whip.
An eight one whip is a starter, which Scooball is

(01:20:40):
an eight two to his credit.

Speaker 5 (01:20:41):
Schemes at eight eight. But those guys have had unbelievable seasons.
But I don't know how this is happening because this
guy pitches in New York and this guy pitches on
the Mets. But I think CODEI Senga is the most
underrated like athlete in sports. Potentially, this guy is unbelievable.

(01:21:02):
Every time I watch him, he's lights out.

Speaker 6 (01:21:05):
And maybe that's partially because I think every time he
faces the Phillies, he like totally shuts us down what
it feels like. But when he came over in twenty
twenty three, he right away had a two nine to
eight ERA as a rookie four point five WAR as
a rookie of full complement. It starts twenty nine starts,
and then last year he gets hurt. I'll only had
one start, and then this year he comes back one

(01:21:28):
five nine ERA in twelve starts here. His strikeout rates
aren't as high as some of the other top guys
in baseball. I think he's every bit of like a
top five to ten pitcher in baseball, and nobody talks
about him even when when.

Speaker 5 (01:21:43):
He pitches for the Mets. He's not treated on the
gambling lines like an ace or a Scooble or a
Schemes or any I'm not saying you should be those guys,
but he's not treated respectfully by the gambling books. I
don't think they think he's as good. I'd have to
dive in.

Speaker 6 (01:21:57):
Maybe his expected numbers are worse than maybe he's getting
lucky so far this year.

Speaker 5 (01:22:02):
But and I hate to give credit like that to
a Met, but I think.

Speaker 6 (01:22:07):
All my things this offseason about how I kind of
all off seasons like I had, this Mets rotation is
not going to be good enough. To their credit, they've
found a lot of like Clay Holmes and.

Speaker 5 (01:22:19):
Some of these other guys have stepped up.

Speaker 6 (01:22:20):
I don't know how much I buy any of that,
but I did say, even when I was killing the
Mets pitching, Senga was underrated.

Speaker 5 (01:22:27):
I didn't know he was this. I didn't know he
was a one five v ra top of the line,
number one, no doubt guy in the rotation. I think
he is that, and that sucks to say, and it
sucks to realize. I think he's really really good. Don't
send that to powers.

Speaker 9 (01:22:42):
Yeah, I do like Sanga quite a bit.

Speaker 7 (01:22:44):
It is kind of weird that he doesn't get talked
about in that same way, and especially in the limelight
of New York like that.

Speaker 9 (01:22:49):
But yeah, he's the real deal.

Speaker 7 (01:22:51):
He's a guy that's gonna be a problem for the
Phillies for a while now. I do think it's probably
that injured year, which is why like the fact that
he did only have the one start last year and
then returned for the playoffs, by the way, and pitch
against the Phillies and.

Speaker 5 (01:23:01):
Yes, so shut us down.

Speaker 7 (01:23:03):
Yeah, but yeah, I mean it's disappointing that that's one
of their guys and will be for he's some pretty
young right.

Speaker 6 (01:23:09):
Yeah, yeah, he's definitely thirty two two. I'm wrong, I'm wrong,
he's older. So maybe that's part of it. Maybe that's
part of why why he's not talking about. But like
guys like Yamamoto and Sasaki have been talked about way more,
even though Sasaki hasn't been nearly as good, Yamamoto has
been awesome at least. But and then one last pitching
shout out while I'm just this was a random segment

(01:23:30):
here that we pulled up the stat thing and it
brought a bunch of thoughts to mine. One last pitching
shout out, and basically what I will say is this
is this is a fun, fun thing to bring up.
I'm gonna stick a fork in half of the end
half the National League sticking a fork and obviously the
Colorado Rockies, duh. Obviously, the Pittsburgh Pirates, duh. Obviously, the

(01:23:50):
Miami Marlins. Du Here's where it gets interesting. I'm sticking
a fork in Cincinnati. I don't see it. I don't
think this team is talented enough. There's no incident to
they're thirty and thirty three. I don't see it. Washington,
I feel the same way. I just still think there's
enough talent on the roster. They're young, they're they're good,
they're not good enough to make the playoffs. The two

(01:24:11):
controversial ones that I'm sticking a forkin sticking a fork
in the Atlanta Braves.

Speaker 5 (01:24:16):
Wow, I'm forking the Braves.

Speaker 6 (01:24:19):
I thought they'd be right back in this thing, but
they are a dumpster fire.

Speaker 5 (01:24:25):
I think they need to immediately fire Brian Snicker. A J.

Speaker 6 (01:24:29):
Smith Shalver when we played them, blew out his arm
and it took them two batters to realize it that
John Boy had a video where he was the pitcher
was motioning to the dugout to try to come out
of the game, and they must have thought he was
like trying to get out of the game because he
didn't want to pitch anymore stuff and they didn't come out.

Speaker 5 (01:24:44):
To get him. Bizarre malpractice.

Speaker 9 (01:24:47):
Like a J.

Speaker 5 (01:24:47):
Smith Schaffer should.

Speaker 6 (01:24:49):
Like sue the Braves, to be honest, but I think
they're they're done for.

Speaker 5 (01:24:55):
Sorry.

Speaker 6 (01:24:55):
Joe Tansey and the controversial one is a team that's
five hundred. The air is an The Diamondbacks lost Burns, Yeah,
Corbin Burns out.

Speaker 5 (01:25:04):
For the year. I am. I am done with Arizona.

Speaker 6 (01:25:09):
I don't think they have the pitching now without without
Burns and with the way that Gallon has looked so
far this year and fought, neither have been good at all.
So Arizona forking the Diamondbacks interesting.

Speaker 7 (01:25:22):
But I feel like it's pretty early declaration for all this.
But I'll give you props with it, so we'll see
what happens from here. The Braves still scare me a
little bit. I won't lie. I feel like they are
They've kind, They've got obviously the dreadful start to the season,
have woken up a little bit and are in the mix.

Speaker 9 (01:25:36):
I'm surprised to see you go that direction.

Speaker 6 (01:25:39):
All the teams I listed at least five games out
of the wildcard, okay, out of baseball, And I know
it's early, yeah, but they're at least five games out
of the Wildcard, and that leaves And part of this
is because I think the top five teams are are
all definitely gonna make it. Like I think there's no
doubt in my mind that the Mets, Cubs, Dodgers, Phillies,

(01:25:59):
and Padres by the way Padres minus one twenty to
make the playoffs.

Speaker 5 (01:26:03):
I saw that on DraftKings. I kind of like that.
I kind of think they're they're way better.

Speaker 6 (01:26:09):
They're a half game ahead of the Cardinals, they are
two games ahead of the Diamondbacks, and.

Speaker 5 (01:26:12):
They are at least four or they're at least five
games ahead of every team I just mentioned that. I'm forking.
I think they're way better.

Speaker 6 (01:26:22):
Than the Giants, Cardinals, and Brewers, and they're even you know,
they have a better record right now. I don't really
see a scenario where they missed the playoffs minus one twenty,
I think, obviously, do I want to bet a minus
one twenty and wait three and a half months to
cash it.

Speaker 5 (01:26:38):
Maybe not.

Speaker 6 (01:26:38):
But if you've got a lot of money sitting in
a sitting in a gambling account, I think it's a
good I think it's a good swing. So I think
that should be like minus two hundred, because just comparatively,
the Phillies.

Speaker 5 (01:26:47):
Are minus seven hundred.

Speaker 9 (01:26:49):
That's great.

Speaker 6 (01:26:49):
To make minus seven hundred to make the playoffs. We're
a half game ahead of the Padres.

Speaker 7 (01:26:54):
Yeah, not to put this out in the universe here,
but only two games out of being out of the wildcard.

Speaker 6 (01:27:00):
Yeah, well, yes, you're right, because the Cardinals are are Yeah,
you're right. So I don't think they're gonna miss the playoffs.
I I don't either take in the playoffs.

Speaker 5 (01:27:11):
N is too high, I think. But anyway, I'll fork
the al next week. We'll do a forking. I like it.

Speaker 6 (01:27:21):
But let's talk about the NBA Finals. Let's talk about
our man, Tyrese Halliburton, and I just I bet the
Pacers plus ten and a half and money line in
that game. I cannot believe they keep doing this.

Speaker 9 (01:27:41):
It is absurd.

Speaker 7 (01:27:42):
And I did the same sort of my my outlook
with Brace as I said, bet the money line both
these games in Oklahoma City.

Speaker 9 (01:27:47):
I think they win one of them.

Speaker 7 (01:27:48):
Made my life easier with them taking game one, because
I will not be doing that in game two whatsoever
they're I do think the thunder come storming back with
a little bit of a vengeance here. But we got
to give the flowers to this Pacers team.

Speaker 2 (01:27:58):
Man.

Speaker 7 (01:27:58):
They are more legitimate than anyone has given them credit
for quite some time now, and even as they keep
doing it. I still hear the comments like, is this
just you know the thunder store back and win four
in row, which could happen. I'm not taking her off
the table, but he got to give the Pacers credit
for going out there getting results. They just hang around, man,
They hang around and hang around and give themselves a
chance and then take it at the end. For Haliburton specifically,

(01:28:20):
he did not have a good game, but when it
comes down to the wire, when there is that one
shot on the line, he's a guy who wants to
take it. Rick Carlisle trusting him not to call time
out to allow them to play through and then just
another dagger. This has been a ridiculous playoff run for Haliburton.
Here some of just the signature moments from the Big
Balls dance that choke into doing this in opposing arenas.

(01:28:40):
He's a showman. I love that he steps to center stage.
I love that he hit that shot, and it's pretty
cool to watch a lot of people eat their words
about him.

Speaker 6 (01:28:48):
Yeah, I mean Domas stretched Nemhard was the guy who
was the lead guard. Yeah, he was the guy who
was playing point guard and Haliburton was drifting into the
focus but then when it was time that moment, no
time out, they get the rebound, which, by the way,
Indiana dominating the rebounding glass.

Speaker 5 (01:29:07):
I don't know the exact night fifteen rebounds.

Speaker 6 (01:29:11):
Yeah, and that's I think that's the difference in the game.
That Pascal Siakam offensive rebound and put back ended up
being huge.

Speaker 5 (01:29:19):
That that rebound they got.

Speaker 6 (01:29:22):
I think it was Nemhard or Nie Smith one and
nemharder Nie Smith got the rebound to pass it to
Haliburton and then go down the floor and make the
game winner, And that.

Speaker 5 (01:29:31):
Was a huge rebound. If ok see gets that offensive board,
which I think they were.

Speaker 6 (01:29:35):
I think if you go back and watch the replay,
saw someone tweeting about it, they were in position to
get that board and whoever came in and got it,
like helicoptered in there, and that was a man's rebound
and they took it. And without that rebound that it's
just that that team never stops fighting. That whole team.
Everybody has a moment at some point in this like

(01:29:55):
Obi Toppen was so bad early in the game and
then was amazing down the stretch, ye bang in threes
home and making plays on defense. They just have so
many options of guys that can get hot for quarters stretches.
And what that does is it means that you're very
rarely going to go on those twelve to oh sixteen

(01:30:17):
to ozero runs that the Thunder do against teams where
they totally shut you down. They get you in transition,
they turn you over, and they did turn Indiana over plenty,
but you're never able to fully keep them down offensively.

Speaker 7 (01:30:29):
And like they turn them over plenty, but Indiana was
not really punished by it. Like their transition defense was
awesome and getting back and preventing those easy chances there.
I was pretty surprised to see Oklahoma City put caseon
Wallis in the starting lineup and go away from the
double big with Hartenstein and Chat. Obviously we see the
rebounding numbers as a result. To me, that just feels
weird because I agree with like from a matchup perspective,

(01:30:49):
it makes more sense. But you're the Oklahoma City Thunder,
you're the heavy favorites, you're the sixty four win team here.
You play your brand of basketball and see if it
works if you have to adjust throughout a game, Like
I totally get it, but I didn't love that like
mentality going into it of like that adjustment right away there.
But give the Pacers the credit, man, They went out there,
they took it. They took the Thunder just best punch

(01:31:09):
for a good portion in that game, their only lead
with point three seconds left to go basketball rules, that
was an awesome game.

Speaker 6 (01:31:16):
Pacers are fifty three and twenty one in their last
seventy four games. They're playing at a sixty win pace
over the last seventy four games they started ten to
fifteen since then, completely different basketball team. That's right on
the level of everybody in the league. But you're absolutely right,
the Thunder have seventy six wins right now. You should

(01:31:37):
be adjusting your game plan for nobody right play your.

Speaker 5 (01:31:41):
My team is on the floor.

Speaker 6 (01:31:43):
Play your guys that you're gonna play, play them in
the exact same amount of minutes you've been playing them.

Speaker 5 (01:31:48):
It's absurd to me that they did that, And.

Speaker 6 (01:31:52):
I don't really understand why they thought the double big
lineup would be a problem.

Speaker 7 (01:31:56):
Now against at least try like at least see and
even like like AJ Mitchell played minutes like what are
we doing here? Like I get it? Like their defut. Yeah,
they're trying to they're doing too much. And I don't know.
I was like, shake Guild does Alexander. I've been very
complimentary of him. I still think he's an awesome player.
There's a little too much shake guildes Alexander going on

(01:32:17):
in that game. At thirty shots. I think he ended
with like it felt like a lot.

Speaker 5 (01:32:22):
Yeah, I don't think that's Shay's fault.

Speaker 6 (01:32:26):
I think he was taking what the defense gave him
and there was a good threat about it. How that's
kind of the Pacers game plan on defense when they
play really good players, just they kind of don't double.
They kind of let the lead guy get his while
kind of subtracting everything else. And I think there was
he had like twice as many shots as anyone, or

(01:32:46):
more than twice as many shots as anyone at halftime.
I think he might have had like eighteen shots at
halftime and nobody else had seven, and then he finishes
with thirty. Jalen did get up to nineteen, but Jalen
was bad. I mean, Jalen was six for nineteen. So
it's like, besides SGA, the team shot what twenty five
for sixty nine?

Speaker 9 (01:33:05):
H not good, like that's should have shot more.

Speaker 6 (01:33:09):
You should have shot forty times, Like I think if
he shot thirty five times, they probably would have won
the game.

Speaker 7 (01:33:14):
By the way, speaking of getting too cute, the benching
Chet thing is crazy to me too, Dude, play twenty
four minutes, Like what do we do it? He was
bad though, sure, but like he's still one of your guys.

Speaker 9 (01:33:26):
Here.

Speaker 7 (01:33:26):
You're in the NBA Finals. This is how you got here.
And yeah, he didn't play well. Six points and six
rebound shot two of nine from the field over.

Speaker 5 (01:33:32):
One flu was a plus on the plus finus.

Speaker 9 (01:33:35):
Yeah, if you're good. I don't know.

Speaker 7 (01:33:36):
I felt like they abandoned that too quick for me
that I wish they would have given a chance to
at least like working through it and given home Run
a chance. You got to get somebody outside of Shay
to just you know, deliver shots and scoring opportunities there.
Jalen Williams did not have enough. I would have rocked
with Chet a little bit longer.

Speaker 6 (01:33:54):
Yeah, I agree, And what I will say is I
think people should be concerned that you got a five
for nine from three from lou.

Speaker 7 (01:34:04):
Dorts some pretty bold shot attempts that he still hit two.

Speaker 6 (01:34:10):
You lost the game that Dort went crazy though, that's
I don't know if you're going to get that again.
And I felt like it's funny Caruso at eleven points,
three for eight, one for four. Every shot Cruso hit
felt like momentum breaking and like, oh my god, now
the thunder like going to cover this game and win
by eleven plus.

Speaker 5 (01:34:29):
Like he was.

Speaker 6 (01:34:30):
He was hitting shots that felt like backbreakers, at least
when he was hitting them. As apparently the entire police
and ambulance force goes by my apartment here.

Speaker 5 (01:34:39):
But game two you mentioned it.

Speaker 6 (01:34:43):
Obviously I would not be expecting a Pacers win here.
But is there any value on the spread. Can Indiana
keep it close? Or is this a hammer spot for
for Okay?

Speaker 7 (01:34:59):
See, yeah, it's tough count out the Pacers, but I
do think this is a hammer spot for Okay. See historically,
when teams that are the favorites lose game one at home,
that they come back to win on an average winning
margin of eleven points. There through this playoffs or through
these NBA playoffs, that the favorites when they lose game
one at home, the number has been twelve point one.
That they end up winning Game two, and that includes
the forty three point win the Thunder produced against the

(01:35:20):
Nuggets when a sort of similar situation like that's played out.
So that's pretty much my expectation for Game two is
I think the Thunder will learn their lesson that we
have to keep the foot on the gas for all
forty eight minutes until that very final buzzer sounds there.
I don't think it was a lack of effort thing
or anything like that in Game one, but I still
think like the youth does show up for this team
a little bit at times, and they weren't unable to
deliver that knockout punch to truly put the game away.

(01:35:43):
I think they're gonna be all balls to the walls,
full momentum, go from every single second, and probably leave
the starters in even if the game does get seemingly
out of reach.

Speaker 6 (01:35:52):
I have a take, and I actually hadn't planned this
about a bet for this game.

Speaker 5 (01:36:00):
We're gonna bet the under.

Speaker 9 (01:36:01):
Okay, interesting to.

Speaker 5 (01:36:03):
Twenty eight and a half.

Speaker 6 (01:36:05):
They hit two twenty one last game, and that's in
a close game that was you know, a lot of
scoring down the stretch. Why is there going to be
more points in this game in a blowout, that could
be like the last three minutes sitting on the ball.

Speaker 7 (01:36:20):
Potentially, I guess the case would be that Oklahoma City's
able to capitalize more off those turnovers in a way
that they weren't in Game one, that if they can
get out and run and transition. I also think Indiana
didn't really play at their pace, that it was kind
of slower across the board than I expected. Oklahoma City,
I thought, was like very deliberate in their offensive attack.
That there was a lot of kind of dribbled the
ball at the court. By the time you get settled,
there's like thirteen on the shot clock. So that's probably

(01:36:41):
the case for the over. But I don't mind your
approach at all. I think it is probably like the
defense of Oklahoma City. Oklahoma City thunder needs to be
the takeaway from game two if this is going to
go their direction. So I think that probably the way
that you get there or get to that number is
with the Pacers probably being held below one hundred in
this next game.

Speaker 6 (01:36:59):
I did there there's a number out there about Oklahoma
City Oklahoma City totals that are above a certain number
like go under every time.

Speaker 5 (01:37:13):
I'll have to find that and see if I can
retweet it. I can't find it right now, of course
it's from not It's either not coming up on my
search function or not someone I follow. But there's a
number out there that when Oklahoma City has a total
I think it's over to twenty five and a half,
that it's like really really profitable to bet the under.
So I'm gonna go with the under.

Speaker 6 (01:37:35):
I'm gonna taken under to twenty eight and a half,
probably wait until the game time because I don't think
that number goes down. It probably goes up. People bet
the over and out the under generally, so that is
going to do it. Here for the show, let's take
in early. Do we have Green Lesion Radio coming up
at one o'clock.

Speaker 9 (01:37:51):
Here we back over to you know satellite.

Speaker 6 (01:37:53):
Here back to the satellite, but gotta get you a
little extra time Sean Bernard before before DraftKings at one o'clock.
So thanks to everybody for tuning into the Tough Cover
radio show.

Speaker 5 (01:38:06):
I loved the mock draft in the first hour.

Speaker 6 (01:38:08):
It was a whole lot of fun and kind of
puts it into perspective out how hard you know, you think, guys,
you have guys ranked tenth and if they go seventeen,
so I'll probably criticize it after.

Speaker 5 (01:38:18):
On our show in the next day. But he went
like nineteenth on.

Speaker 7 (01:38:22):
This And I also think I feel this way every year.
But I certainly felt like this is we're going through
the picks. There hits like a mid stage of the
first round where it's like, all of a sudden, Okay,
well all the good guys that I really wanted are
off at this and that's where it gets tough for
teams trying to build rosters picking the second half of
the draft. And why does get so important to get
those sort of primetime picks where you're in a spot
to grab your guy.

Speaker 6 (01:38:43):
But every year in the NBA Draft there are guys
that fall Also true, we have no idea you're going
to fallow the way they do. Cam Whitmore, Tyreech, Maxi,
Jerry McCain, Desmond Dane. I remember felt like a big
faller at the time. I'm forgetting a tart. It was
a big follower than Cam Thomas, if you want to
throw him in. There a lot of big followers who

(01:39:05):
people thought were going to go lottery, fringe lottery and
then go late first round, so who knows, but that's it.
That's it for the Tough Car Radio Show. Thanks to
everybody for listening. You can follow me on Twitter at
markmry Junior, NFL. You can follow it Sewan on Twitter
at Shawn Underscore Bernard One tough cover country, that's right,