Speaker 1: You're tuned into Heat Check with Triste Quick.
Speaker 2: On this bonus episode of the Heat Check, we're getting
Speaker 2: you ready for draft tonight with even more draft experts.
Speaker 2: We've got two heavy hitters here combined into one interviews
Speaker 2: Raffi Obarlow from Locked on NBA Big Board, who I
Speaker 2: subscribe to, who I listen to all year.
Speaker 3: I'm super excited to have him on.
Speaker 2: And then we have another big heavy hitter in the athletics,
Speaker 2: NBA draft expert, Sam Veseni. He joined me and my
Speaker 2: co host Ryan Horvaught on bet MGM tonight, so I
Speaker 2: wanted to give this information to you as well. Really
Speaker 2: great insight, it's super hard to find this close to
Speaker 2: draft time. Super excited about having them on and providing
Speaker 2: that insight to you.
Speaker 3: So let's go, Nick drop that motherfucking beat that should
Speaker 3: be Rihanna.
Speaker 4: You want to talk some NBA draft I do?
Speaker 5: I think you do.
Speaker 3: With our man Rafael Barlow.
Speaker 5: Let's do that right now.
Speaker 4: Rafael, thanks so much for joining us.
Speaker 1: Mit, how are you tonight doing? Good man? It's a
Speaker 1: busy time of year, but it's a good time.
Speaker 2: I am so happy and excited to have you on.
Speaker 2: Thank you for making it work. I know that you're
Speaker 2: doing a bunch of different things. I need first and
Speaker 2: foremost to get your perspective on whether there's a real
Speaker 2: smoke screen going on in Charlotte, Because last year, Adrian
Speaker 2: war Janowski put out the day before the draft and
Speaker 2: the morning of the draft that the Magic We're definitely
Speaker 2: taking Jabari Smith, that all signs pointed to him, and
Speaker 2: then an hour before the draft things changed very quickly.
Speaker 3: And he had to backpedal.
Speaker 2: Is there a possibility that's what's happening this year with Charlotte.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's always a possibility. And the funny thing about that,
Speaker 1: I spoke to Caylo Bank Caro's mom and dad this
Speaker 1: morning at the official NBA hotel, and then I happened
Speaker 1: to introduce them to Brandon Miller's agent, and they just
Speaker 1: kind of had a little joking side conversation about it
Speaker 1: and how at one point it looked like it was
Speaker 1: you know, right now it's looked like it's trending towards
Speaker 1: Brandon Miller, but you just never know until the last minute.
Speaker 1: And follow dad I mentioned it was probably like thirty
Speaker 1: minutes before the draft that they knew Polo was going
Speaker 1: number one, So it could be smoke screen, but it
Speaker 1: could definitely change over the next I guess twenty four
Speaker 1: hours or a little less than that.
Speaker 2: So to you, Raphael, if you were to be a
Speaker 2: betting man, would you still take Brandon Miller.
Speaker 1: To go to Yeah? I would. I think Charlotte is
Speaker 1: comfortable with Miller because he's more so a plug and
Speaker 1: play guy. You can put him next to LaMelo Ball
Speaker 1: and while a school it wouldn't be a perfect fit.
Speaker 1: Although some people may think that he's the more talented player,
Speaker 1: but I think Brandon Miller is the easier fit and
Speaker 1: more versatility, and he's a better shooter, which is one
Speaker 1: of the scoots biggest question marks.
Speaker 5: Yeah, you look at the third overall pick, any chance
Speaker 5: anybody other than Scoot then would go third overall? And
Speaker 5: how do you think a possible fit with him and
Speaker 5: Dame on the floor would look.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I'm not a big fan of that fit, and
Speaker 1: it could definitely cause a domino effect with Portland, but
Speaker 1: I do think there is a chance. I wouldn't bet
Speaker 1: on it, but I think there's a chance that, you know,
Speaker 1: Portland could really take a long, hard look at i'man
Speaker 1: Thompson also, so it'd be interesting. Just a few months back,
Speaker 1: we thought School was a lock to go number two,
Speaker 1: and now there's a chance, slim chance, but there is
Speaker 1: a chance that he could fall to number four.
Speaker 2: You know, one of the biggest risers in this draft
Speaker 2: Raphael is Kobe Bufkin. I love him, I love his size,
Speaker 2: I love his versatility. A bunch of teams have needs
Speaker 2: that he would fit very easily in.
Speaker 3: Where do you see.
Speaker 2: Him landing, Like what would be his floor and what
Speaker 2: would be his ceiling in terms of like positional draft,
Speaker 2: and what do you think explains his rapid rise up
Speaker 2: the board?
Speaker 1: Interesting. I had a conversation with his mom earlier today
Speaker 1: and we just kind of talked about how he started
Speaker 1: school early, and so he's really the same age as
Speaker 1: a lot of the freshmen. He's actually younger than his
Speaker 1: teammate Jed Howard. So I think teams are starting to
Speaker 1: take that into account that he is the same age
Speaker 1: as his peers, his freshman peers, but he has two
Speaker 1: years of experience and if he came into this season
Speaker 1: with all the hype that some of the other freshmen had,
Speaker 1: then he would be right up there. And that mixed
Speaker 1: to be a lottery pick, which I think he is now,
Speaker 1: but he just didn't have that same buzz coming into
Speaker 1: the season. I think his floor might be Atlanta, and
Speaker 1: I've heard from multiple people that he is the type
Speaker 1: of guy that Sam Presty loves to have. But the
Speaker 1: big concern there is like where is their minutes in Okay? See,
Speaker 1: they just have a lot of guards there.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 2: A quick follow up though, do you think there's a
Speaker 2: possibility maybe that Washington would take him at eight or
Speaker 2: do you think that they're going to go with a
Speaker 2: playmaking guard like Anthony Black.
Speaker 1: I think it's a possible ability that they could take
Speaker 1: him at age, but right now it seems like Anthony
Speaker 1: Black is a favorite to go number eight to Washington.
Speaker 1: But I mean Washington could end up making some trades
Speaker 1: or some move also, so you just never know. I mean,
Speaker 1: I think this is going to be a wild and
Speaker 1: crazy night tomorrow. And it's interesting because this was a
Speaker 1: draft that people thought was really really strong coming in.
Speaker 1: But how often do you see a class that is
Speaker 1: considered really strong. And you can say almost all the
Speaker 1: teams in the top ken outside of San Antonio are
Speaker 1: rumored to be looking to possibly move to pick or
Speaker 1: trade up or trade down?
Speaker 5: You think Detroit tries to move the fifth overall pick.
Speaker 5: I feel like they would want to. And also, you know,
Speaker 5: who do you think the favorite should be to go
Speaker 5: fifth overall? Because for me, that's when the draft really begins,
Speaker 5: because I wanted it to be Cam Whitmore really bad.
Speaker 5: I got him plus four hundred. He was really chalky.
Speaker 5: Now doesn't look like that's going to happen. It looks
Speaker 5: like it's between Thompson and probably Jeris Walker. What do
Speaker 5: you think happens at five overall?
Speaker 3: Though?
Speaker 1: You know, I don't know if the camp with more
Speaker 1: stuff is small screen, Like they talked about some injuries,
Speaker 1: but he had an injured thumb, Like it's not like
Speaker 1: it's a knee or back.
Speaker 3: So I have.
Speaker 1: Somebody say that it might be smoke strings there. I
Speaker 1: was still taking them at number five. I mean, I
Speaker 1: would even take Cam at number four. If Houston brings
Speaker 1: James Harden along, I just don't think hardened and and
Speaker 1: Thompson would would be the best. It would be the
Speaker 1: best fit. But no, I think it's I think it's
Speaker 1: smoked Spring. I think he's still in the mix at
Speaker 1: five The Jars, Walker talk is interesting because Detroit their
Speaker 1: roster is already unbalanced as is I mean, of course
Speaker 1: they can make some moves, but adding another four five
Speaker 1: to Detroit's roster would be very interesting.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 3: I was wondering that too.
Speaker 2: And you know, Troy Weaver said in his recent pressors
Speaker 2: that their entire goal is to swing for the fences.
Speaker 2: If you're swinging for the fences in your Detroit, who
Speaker 2: do you think has the highest upside at five?
Speaker 1: Maybe Thompson nor I mean, I would say cam wickmore,
Speaker 1: but maybe a sre time. They could even swing for
Speaker 1: defenses with Taylor Hendrick. Taylor reminds me of Jabari Smith
Speaker 1: in the sense, and Javari was a guy everybody thought
Speaker 1: was going to go number one three hundred and sixty
Speaker 1: five days ago. So it's going to be a crazy night.
Speaker 1: But I think that Detroit is probably gonna ling with
Speaker 1: with more. That would be my guess.
Speaker 5: What do you think it's a good fit for a
Speaker 5: guy like Jordan Hawkins or even a guy like Grady Dick,
Speaker 5: two of the better shooters in the draft. Where do
Speaker 5: you see them going a little bit higher and maybe
Speaker 5: falling a little bit later in the first round.
Speaker 1: I think I think one will go in the lottery,
Speaker 1: maybe both. I mean, you look at Orlando at eleven
Speaker 1: and Toronto at thirteen. Both of those teams really really
Speaker 1: neat shooting, I really need shooting. Orlando was one of
Speaker 1: the worst teams in the league in three point shooting,
Speaker 1: and then Toronto has a bunch of wings but not
Speaker 1: a lot of wings back in space the floor. So
Speaker 1: I would say I think Grady goes to Orlando, and
Speaker 1: then I would say Jordan Hawkins could go as high
Speaker 1: as thirteen to Toronto. I don't know if he gets
Speaker 1: past the Lakers at seventeen.
Speaker 2: Interesting, I'm curious your perspective, which player do you think
Speaker 2: Raphael fall outside the lottery but you think ends up
Speaker 2: being the best NBA player long term in that non
Speaker 2: lottery slot.
Speaker 1: You know it could be. That's a tough question because
Speaker 1: a guy like Nick Smith could fall outside of the lottery.
Speaker 1: I think there's a small chance Kante George could fall
Speaker 1: outside the lottery. But the guy that I'm high on
Speaker 1: I think is going to fall in the late first
Speaker 1: round is Gigi Jackson. And I think as far as
Speaker 1: his talent wise, he's a top ten talent, but he's
Speaker 1: just young. He reclassified up and he's started the season
Speaker 1: off at seventeen. He's only eighteen now, he's only eligible
Speaker 1: to be in his draft by fourteen days. And to
Speaker 1: put into perspective, if Kobe Buffkin try to enter the
Speaker 1: draft last year, he wouldn't have even been mentioned just
Speaker 1: because he started off. You know, he was a young freshman,
Speaker 1: wasn't the most productive, while Gigi was productive as a freshman,
Speaker 1: averaged fifteen points per game, and teams are a little
Speaker 1: worried about his age. So imagine how I see it is.
Speaker 1: Imagine if he comes back next year as an eighteen
Speaker 1: year old sophomore, and I think he will be the
Speaker 1: number one pick in the twenty twenty four draft. So
Speaker 1: and he was the number one player in his high
Speaker 1: school class before he reclassified up. So one hand, some
Speaker 1: people feel like trying to get to the NBA earlier
Speaker 1: was a mistake and may have cost him a lot
Speaker 1: of money on the front end. But a team could
Speaker 1: draft him in the late first round, maybe even mid
Speaker 1: first round, developing for a year and just you can
Speaker 1: end with one of the better players in this class.
Speaker 2: Oh that's fascinating, great answer. I like you love Billa
Speaker 2: Coola Bali. He's been rumored to go to OKAC. You
Speaker 2: mentioned big question mark around OKAC is just who's getting
Speaker 2: the minutes? What do you think their draft strategy is
Speaker 2: going to be? We have about a minute.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I've heard multiple people say Sam Presty, the general managers,
Speaker 1: wants to collect the most talent. And it's kind of
Speaker 1: concerning for some agents because they're like, you know, is
Speaker 1: there a guaranteed roster spot as far not roster spot,
Speaker 1: but it's a guaranteed minutes behind all the young guys
Speaker 1: that they already have. But I think Blaw is going
Speaker 1: to be gone. I would bet that he's gone before
Speaker 1: the better pick.
Speaker 3: You think you'll go nine to the Jazz.
Speaker 1: I heard nine, but I heard it could be higher.
Speaker 2: Wow, wait really quickly, about ten to fifteen seconds?
Speaker 3: What do you think the fastest bilaal could go?
Speaker 1: I don't know. I was trying to ask even but
Speaker 1: I just heard a smirk and they said nine. He
Speaker 1: might be gone by nine.
Speaker 4: Wow.
Speaker 1: From multiple people got to look at the draft.
Speaker 3: Positions, Yeah, we really do. That's interesting stuff.
Speaker 5: Rafael Borlo, thanks so much man, NBA big Board. Check
Speaker 5: him out NBA big board dot com thanks so much, man,
Speaker 5: enjoy the draft.
Speaker 1: Smorrow night, no problem, Thank you guys having me on.
Speaker 3: Thanks.
Speaker 2: Got to subscribe to his substack and his substack.
Speaker 3: The guys that I have on this draft show, I
Speaker 3: buy their stuff. I think that they're really good.
Speaker 2: I spend my own money on Raphael, I spend my
Speaker 2: money on The Athletic and Sam Bessini's coming on. I
Speaker 2: spend the money on Sean Hiken. If you're good enough
Speaker 2: and you've got a substack. Mark Stein, who won't come
Speaker 2: on the show because he's too bougie. Now he's got
Speaker 2: too much stuff going on. I don't think he likes
Speaker 2: doing hits. But I pay for his stuff.
Speaker 3: I pay for like eight guys, and we've had some
Speaker 3: of them.
Speaker 4: On the Good news though, we're gonna get a little
Speaker 4: bit smarter about the NBA Draft. We're gonna do that
Speaker 4: right now.
Speaker 5: With Sam Passini.
Speaker 4: He writes about basketball.
Speaker 5: He covers the NBA for The Athletic, the NBA Draft,
Speaker 5: as well being the host of Game Theory. Sam so
Speaker 5: much for thanks so much for joining us, man. I
Speaker 5: know it's a busy week for you.
Speaker 6: Yeah, how's going, guys, We're good.
Speaker 2: Thanks so much for coming on I've been just hopelessly
Speaker 2: digging through every iteration of your mock draft because I
Speaker 2: feel like that's where the insight lies. I do kind
Speaker 2: of want to get your thoughts overall on a team
Speaker 2: that's been very perplexing for me, just at the tail
Speaker 2: end of the lottery, which is Toronto, Like what direction
Speaker 2: are they going?
Speaker 3: I feel like there's been kind of some smoke screens.
Speaker 2: I don't think they've been publicizing who they've had work out.
Speaker 2: Maybe some people think that they offered a promise to
Speaker 2: Kobe Buffkin, Like what's the deal there.
Speaker 6: Yeah, I don't have a great feel for Toronto, to
Speaker 6: be honest. Similarly to you, sources around the league don't
Speaker 6: have a great feel for Toronto right now. I think
Speaker 6: that they are focusing a lot of their energy in
Speaker 6: the backcourt at the very least, that seems to be
Speaker 6: an overriding sentiment. And I think that if Kobe Buffkin
Speaker 6: was to get to thirteen, that makes a lot of sense,
Speaker 6: right A guy that is a well round prospect who
Speaker 6: can defend, you can really finish in the basket, you
Speaker 6: can shoot. They have a lot of different potential iterations
Speaker 6: of what their backcourt could look like so, Buffkin does
Speaker 6: make a lot of sense for them at the very least,
Speaker 6: But Toronto is one of the tougher teams to figure
Speaker 6: out right now. I think that because they have so
Speaker 6: many balls in the air in terms of free agency,
Speaker 6: and because there are so many teams in front of
Speaker 6: them that could make decisions, it is a little bit
Speaker 6: difficult to get a feel for them. For sure.
Speaker 5: We saw the market just completely flip right now to
Speaker 5: go second overall. Brandon Miller's minus five point fifty. You
Speaker 5: were getting plus one fifteen when we got off the
Speaker 5: air last night. Yeah, yes, you're a third overall pick.
Speaker 5: Now Scoot Henderson's minus four to fifty.
Speaker 4: Is that what you have?
Speaker 5: I know you updated your mock about two hours ago.
Speaker 5: Is that the way that you see it playing out
Speaker 5: the first three picks tomorrow night?
Speaker 4: Yeah?
Speaker 6: So look I have Brandon Miller at too.
Speaker 3: Okay.
Speaker 6: I think that it's very clear the markets are playing
Speaker 6: defense right now after what happened last season at number one.
Speaker 6: You look at like the hold in terms of the
Speaker 6: difference between what your price is on Brandon Miller versus
Speaker 6: what your price is on Scoot Henderson, and it just
Speaker 6: is so abundantly obvious that markets are trying to be
Speaker 6: a bit reactive to what is happening in terms of
Speaker 6: the information game when things get reported, because obviously the
Speaker 6: market flipped last night immediately when Adrian Molchinarowski went on
Speaker 6: ESPN and said that Brandon Miller is currently in line
Speaker 6: or on track to be the number two overall pick. Look,
Speaker 6: all of my information is that Charlotte certainly did not
Speaker 6: make the pick up until this week. Whether or not
Speaker 6: they have made that pick is unclear to me. In
Speaker 6: terms of Scoot Henderson and Brandon Miller. I think Mitch
Speaker 6: Kupcheck literally had a press conference earlier today where he
Speaker 6: said we hadn't like officially one hundred percent decided, and
Speaker 6: we won't decide until tomorrow. So how much of this
Speaker 6: is smoke screens? How much of this is real fake?
Speaker 6: What I do know is that Charlotte undertakes a very
Speaker 6: deliberate process in terms of all of their draft decisions.
Speaker 6: Mitch cup Check is a guy that generally cares a
Speaker 6: lot about the idea of the in person workout. And
Speaker 6: this is also an organization going through an ownership change.
Speaker 6: And while the Hornets can say till they're blue in
Speaker 6: the face that this is Mitch Kupcheck and Michael Jordan,
Speaker 6: like they're the main decision makers here. I do find
Speaker 6: it hard to believe that, like the new ownership that's
Speaker 6: taking over on July first, would in Habits stay here.
Speaker 6: So I'm just a little bit confused about the overall
Speaker 6: tenor of the reporting on this. Frankly, I find it
Speaker 6: a bit odd that it's always seemed like a Leon
Speaker 6: or Brandon Miller Lean from day one post lottery. It
Speaker 6: just hasn't been my impression. But at the end of
Speaker 6: the day, I think that, you know, it's a fifty
Speaker 6: to fifty choice and I don't know the way it'll
Speaker 6: go down. Like, I wouldn't recommend anybody better on this
Speaker 6: market right now, given how strong thehold is.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I agree.
Speaker 2: Another market that I feel like is very interesting in
Speaker 2: a team that I'm not really sure.
Speaker 3: What they're going to do.
Speaker 2: Troy Weaver said that they're going to take a big swing.
Speaker 2: They don't have a lot of He doesn't want a bunch,
Speaker 2: he doesn't want singles. He says he's going for the
Speaker 2: home run, which means the player with.
Speaker 3: The biggest upside.
Speaker 2: To me, that feels like a Thompson twin to you,
Speaker 2: what does that mean?
Speaker 5: To me?
Speaker 6: It would be Cam Whitmore, but I've gotten mixed stuff
Speaker 6: on whether or not Cam Whitmore is the guy there.
Speaker 6: I certainly have a Sar Thompson there right now, and
Speaker 6: you know wrote on Monday that I think of Sar
Speaker 6: Thompson is very clearly in the mix at number five
Speaker 6: at this point. Kim Whitmore of the you know, connections
Speaker 6: to Troy Weaver myriad he played on Team Mellow. Troy
Speaker 6: Weaver recruited Carmelo Anthony to go to Syracuse back in
Speaker 6: two thousand and two, and you know, he certainly will
Speaker 6: have as good of intel on Kim Whitmore as anybody.
Speaker 6: And there's also the Thompson twins. And Kevin Ollie was
Speaker 6: heavily involved in the Detroit coaching search in large part
Speaker 6: because of a long standing relationship with Troy Weaver. And
Speaker 6: Kevin Ollie is the head coach or was the head
Speaker 6: coach certainly at Overtime Elite, and you know, you would
Speaker 6: think that the intel is going to be strong there
Speaker 6: both ways. The other name I've gotten there is Jaris Walker.
Speaker 6: A pretty real amount I think Detroit has done a
Speaker 6: better job than anybody in the league at smoke screening.
Speaker 6: Though this year. I was having this conversation last night
Speaker 6: with my editor and he asked me to like rank
Speaker 6: the teams in terms of, like the how impressive they've
Speaker 6: been in their smoke screening. I think Detroit is probably
Speaker 6: number one because I've gotten everything across the board when
Speaker 6: it comes to them.
Speaker 3: Yeah, another team famous for smoke screening.
Speaker 2: Deception, keeping you out, freezing you out, but making hell
Speaker 2: of draft picks and roster accumulation in general.
Speaker 3: Is okay, See, like what is their strategy.
Speaker 2: I've heard they might go after a Kobe Buffkin or
Speaker 2: a blau Cool of Bali, But then you're talking about,
Speaker 2: like how do those minutes get distributed?
Speaker 6: Yeah, the funniest thing is that, you know, in that
Speaker 6: conversation with my editor, my number two pick was Oklahoma
Speaker 6: City in terms of the smoke screen So you're one
Speaker 6: hundred percent right there, Trista. It's funny. Typically with Oklahoma City,
Speaker 6: you actually do have like a feel like we kind
Speaker 6: of knew last year that it was gonna be chet
Speaker 6: Holm Grin. There were rumors ahead of the draft last
Speaker 6: two years ago or three years ago. I guess maybe
Speaker 6: that it was gonna be Alexey Pokoshewski that they really wanted.
Speaker 6: They've let loose promises on campaign and Mitch McGarry before
Speaker 6: and this year, I think that they just decided to
Speaker 6: flood the zone with information coming from every single direction,
Speaker 6: and I've gotten six different names. I've gotten trade up,
Speaker 6: I've gotten trade down. I think that Cobe. The names
Speaker 6: that are most consistent for me are Kobe Buffkin, Derek Lively,
Speaker 6: and Blacool Labali. There Sam Presty went to France last
Speaker 6: week to go see Blocoolabali. Kobe Buffkin just makes a
Speaker 6: lot of sense for them in terms of a well
Speaker 6: rounded player that they tend to value, also as younger
Speaker 6: than guys like Jet Howard and Jarris Walker despite being
Speaker 6: a sophomore. And then Lively is the name that doesn't
Speaker 6: totally fit there because they tend to really like guys
Speaker 6: that can dribble, pass, shoot at the center position. Lively
Speaker 6: is more of just like a defensive savant on that
Speaker 6: end that doesn't really do that. So, you know, I
Speaker 6: think cool Ball Liam Buffkin are probably the two names
Speaker 6: that I feel best about right now. But again, Oklahoma
Speaker 6: City has done a great job flooding the zone this year.
Speaker 5: Sam, Where do you think Haimi Hawkwiz ends up winding up?
Speaker 5: I'm looking at his draft position right now, twenty four
Speaker 5: and a half, and I've heard some reports that he
Speaker 5: might go a little bit earlier than many expect. He's
Speaker 5: going to be in the green room. It looks like
Speaker 5: where do you think he ends up? Do you think
Speaker 5: he goes before pick twenty five?
Speaker 6: Under under Jimi Hakkas. I've heard anywhere from eighteen to
Speaker 6: twenty three. Maybe he gets to twenty five, like I think,
Speaker 6: pretty good shot he goes under that draft range. I've
Speaker 6: heard teams like Miami really like him. I think that
Speaker 6: Golden State really likes him, and I've heard the Nets
Speaker 6: also quite like him. And then on top of it,
Speaker 6: I've heard Portland quite likes them. So you're looking at
Speaker 6: all of those teams in that range there, it makes
Speaker 6: me think that it's more likely than not he will
Speaker 6: be taken there. I don't know that that's a sure
Speaker 6: thing necessarily, but I feel pretty good about it. That's
Speaker 6: one of the better, to be honest, that's one of
Speaker 6: the better like betting lines I've heard for betters in
Speaker 6: this market this year.
Speaker 2: What do you think Orlando does, Because it's very clear
Speaker 2: that they need shooting. I've heard commentary around that they
Speaker 2: love their backcourt, but everything that I've seen tells me
Speaker 2: that they can't. Like obviously, there's going to be guards
Speaker 2: there like Anthony Black at six, some reaches maybe for
Speaker 2: like a guy like Grady Dick. Like, if you were
Speaker 2: to say what they do at six and eleven, what
Speaker 2: do you think.
Speaker 3: Is most likely?
Speaker 6: Yeah, six, I think it'll probably I've heard a little
Speaker 6: bit of Taylor Hendrix. I've heard a little bit of
Speaker 6: Anthony Black. I've heard a little bit of Cam Whitmore,
Speaker 6: and I've heard a little bit of who was the
Speaker 6: fourth I think that might be it to be honest
Speaker 6: right now, but I think that they're looking on the
Speaker 6: wing and potentially in the backcourt at Anthony Black. I
Speaker 6: do think they like Anthony Black, another non shooter in
Speaker 6: organization that pretty desperately needs shooting. I think that they
Speaker 6: are kind of well positioned to potentially move up and
Speaker 6: down the board if they want to, just given the
Speaker 6: fact that they have six and eleven. There are teams
Speaker 6: I think, like Utah that could very well decide that
Speaker 6: they want to spike up the board in order to
Speaker 6: get the player that they want, as opposed to risking
Speaker 6: that somebody like in Nsar Thompson Anthony Black doesn't get
Speaker 6: all the way down to number nine. That's the biggest
Speaker 6: thing right now with these markets. I think that with
Speaker 6: how much movement there is potentially in that six through
Speaker 6: nine range five through nine range, including Detroit, it's very
Speaker 6: difficult to get a read on who's actually going to
Speaker 6: be making those picks right now, which is why I'm
Speaker 6: a little bit hesitant on anything in that range when
Speaker 6: it comes to the markets, because these teams all have
Speaker 6: certain leans, and if you change the team who's involved,
Speaker 6: they might have different leans, and that gets a little
Speaker 6: bit complicated when trying to bet on these markets.
Speaker 3: Do you think Lively ends up a top ten pick
Speaker 3: or do you think he slides out a little bit.
Speaker 6: I think his range starts at ten, and I think
Speaker 6: that's a very real distinct possibility. The problem with that,
Speaker 6: again is that Dallas's pick has been known to be
Speaker 6: on the market now for quite a while, and I
Speaker 6: think they're going to take it down to Draft Knight
Speaker 6: and decide what the best deal is, or they're going
Speaker 6: to take it down to draft Knight and decide maybe,
Speaker 6: you know, if Taylor Hendricks falls, maybe they do love
Speaker 6: Derek Lively make a decision at number ten on what
Speaker 6: to do. I think that, you know, if they do
Speaker 6: move that pick. The three names that I've heard the
Speaker 6: most in terms of teams potentially trying to come up
Speaker 6: and get are Derek Lively, Ballall Kulibali, and Kobe Buffkin.
Speaker 6: Because other teams believe that those three names are likely
Speaker 6: to go somewhere eleven to fourteen. So I think there
Speaker 6: is a pretty real chance that, you know, a team
Speaker 6: could move up for Lively at ten, or Dallas could
Speaker 6: take him at ten, but I think his rain starts
Speaker 6: at ten is where I'm at right now.
Speaker 3: Interesting.
Speaker 2: What player do you think will fall out of the
Speaker 2: light lottery or maybe two three players that you think
Speaker 2: end up having really promising, impactful NBA careers.
Speaker 6: Yeah, Hawkes is one. I really like Hi may Hawk
Speaker 6: as quite a bit. I think that everything that Christian
Speaker 6: Brown brought to the table this year for Denver, that's
Speaker 6: exactly who Hi may Hawk as is. He's tough, he's
Speaker 6: just a grinder. He's gonna absolutely be somebody that sticks.
Speaker 6: Is a role player for a long long time. You know,
Speaker 6: I think that somebody like Leonard Miller is my upside
Speaker 6: swing in this class. You know, He's six foot ten,
Speaker 6: can dribble past, shoot a little bit, has great touch,
Speaker 6: was dominant in the G League at the end of
Speaker 6: the year, average like twenty and thirteen and almost three
Speaker 6: assists over the course of his last twelve or so games.
Speaker 6: Really really impressive player who has not played a ton
Speaker 6: of high level basketball competition at this point. So for
Speaker 6: him to be as effective as he was at that level,
Speaker 6: I think that bodes well for him long term in
Speaker 6: terms of his development. And I'll give you a third name.
Speaker 6: I think that somebody you know, like at Jordan Hawkins
Speaker 6: is a real chance just due to the shooting, he
Speaker 6: has a chance to go fourteen maybe, I think, but
Speaker 6: his shooting ability is just absolutely insane. His ability to
Speaker 6: sprint off of screening actions and set his feet, it's
Speaker 6: just unbelievable.
Speaker 5: What ranger, What do you think would be a good
Speaker 5: fit for Nick Smith junior? Because you're talking about a
Speaker 5: guy that was the number one overall recruit in twenty
Speaker 5: twenty two, and now we're talking more about Anthony Black,
Speaker 5: where do you think he ends up? What do you
Speaker 5: think would be a good.
Speaker 3: Fit for him?
Speaker 6: Yeah? What is Nick Smith's over under right now?
Speaker 3: Do you guys have one seventeen?
Speaker 6: Yeah, I think there's I think there's a chance he
Speaker 6: goes there, but I think there's a much greater chance
Speaker 6: he goes over that. The only two teams I've kind
Speaker 6: of heard are like maybe fifteen and seventeen. Potentially the
Speaker 6: rest of the landing spots seem to be after seventeen
Speaker 6: at this point. Yeah, in terms of a good fit,
Speaker 6: it's just gonna have to be that's really willing to
Speaker 6: be patient with him as he continues to grow and
Speaker 6: mature and develop defensively. More than anything, it's going to
Speaker 6: have to be a coaching staff in an organization that
Speaker 6: is going to be willing to go through some real
Speaker 6: growing pains on that end of the court. And he
Speaker 6: has to improve with ball in his hand. His hands
Speaker 6: a little bit loose right now, and he needs to
Speaker 6: become a little bit more functional in terms of his
Speaker 6: strength to be able to deal with bumps and contact
Speaker 6: on the perimeter, to be able to take the most
Speaker 6: advantage of his scoring ability.
Speaker 5: Sam, thanks so much, man join the draft tomorrow night.
Speaker 6: Yeah, thanks guys anytime.
Speaker 3: Thanks for coming on.
Speaker 5: Sam Vassini does work over at the Athletic. I'm looking
Speaker 5: at it right now.
Speaker 3: More.
Speaker 5: He's got one hundred and eighty pages right now for
Speaker 5: the twenty twenty three NBA Draft Guide, over one hundred
Speaker 5: and thirty thousand words. And he just said two hours ago.
Speaker 3: I know I read the whole thing.
Speaker 5: So here's what happened. Why I got all excited. So
Speaker 5: Haimi haak As, his draft position was twenty four and
Speaker 5: a half to go under, was actually plus one ten
Speaker 5: five and a half hours ago. Uh, Sam, two hours ago,
Speaker 5: Uh put out that report that it looks like, well
Speaker 5: he's going to the green room and that you know,
Speaker 5: people are falling in love with him. Now for him
Speaker 5: to go underpick twenty three and a half, it's minus
Speaker 5: three fifty. So that's why I was like, hey, can
Speaker 5: you do this for me really quick? I didn't get
Speaker 5: to it in time. I'm not gonna do that. That's
Speaker 5: too big of a rest.
Speaker 3: How fat How where was it when we asked?
Speaker 5: It was before we asked. I didn't look a guy
Speaker 5: because I thought it was still plus one ten. It
Speaker 5: was plus ten under twenty four and a half. Now
Speaker 5: it's twenty three and a half minus three fifty to
Speaker 5: the under. I mean shop around for best place.
Speaker 3: Sampasini is really freaking good.
Speaker 5: He's the man.
Speaker 3: That's all the time that we have for this bonus episode.
Speaker 2: Many thanks to Raffie al Barlow and Sam Veseni and
Speaker 2: my bid MGM Tonight Night co host Ryan Horvaught and
Speaker 2: producer Scott Lynn. The NBA Draft is to night, so
Speaker 2: check the feed. There's gonna be a bonus episode reaction
Speaker 2: after the draft and more bonus episodes to go. Do
Speaker 2: not forget to download, subscribe, Please tell your friends, every
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Speaker 3: We will see you right after the draft