Speaker 1: So many mocks coming out this time of year, and
Speaker 1: recently the seventy Sixers associated with a handful of prospects
Speaker 1: hailing from the Big Ten conference. To sit through some
Speaker 1: of those names, we're gonna bring in Brandon Quinn. He
Speaker 1: covers the Michigan State Spartans and University of Michigan Wolverines.
Speaker 1: For the athletic detroits that chat in just a moment.
Speaker 1: We do this every episode. We're gonna do it again.
Speaker 1: This will be no difference. To subscribe to the podcast,
Speaker 1: we remind you you can head to a couple of
Speaker 1: different places iTunes, Google Play, Stitcher, type in Sixers podcast Network.
Speaker 1: You can also go to SoundCloud dot com, backslash sixers
Speaker 1: and that will take you to our feed. There are
Speaker 1: a handful of quality and intriguing players coming out of
Speaker 1: the Big Ten who just might be available for the
Speaker 1: seventy Sixers around any one of the six spots they
Speaker 1: pick at in the draft, should the Sixers ultimately hold
Speaker 1: on to those slots, and to give us some insights
Speaker 1: on what some of these Big Ten guys we're doing
Speaker 1: this past year, we're gonna welcome in a little slice
Speaker 1: of Delaware County who has since migrated out to the
Speaker 1: Great Midwest. Brandon Quinn from the Athletic Detroit's did to
Speaker 1: talk to you man. What's going on, Brian. It's great
Speaker 1: to hear your voice again, my friend. Well, we have
Speaker 1: to subject on some people to it. Unfortunately, they draw
Speaker 1: the short straw and your time is now. I felt
Speaker 1: like they're handful of guys, nominally from Michigan and Michigan State,
Speaker 1: the two teams that you cover, but also the Big
Speaker 1: Ten that are being linked with the Sixers in all
Speaker 1: the mock drafts that have been coming out as of late.
Speaker 1: And we're going to dive into that in a few minutes.
Speaker 1: But you've been doing some really good reporting on another
Speaker 1: story that I found pretty interesting, John Beeline and the
Speaker 1: connection to the Detroit Pistons head coaching position story bee Line,
Speaker 1: longtime head coach at Michigan. Just how close was that
Speaker 1: possibility from what you were reporting on It was so
Speaker 1: originally it was, you know, pretty pretty off the grid.
Speaker 1: You know, John was just kind of executing this thing
Speaker 1: by himself and no one really knew it was even happening.
Speaker 1: And then it was reported on Thursday, like around June
Speaker 1: one or something like that. And that he had had
Speaker 1: met with the Pistons, He had had an actual interview
Speaker 1: with the Pistons, And it was one of these very
Speaker 1: interesting situations in observing how people accept and listen to
Speaker 1: the news cycle because you know, as an outsider here,
Speaker 1: I have no emotions in it. It's you know, I'm covering.
Speaker 1: It's a coach at Michigan. I covered Michigan, so I'm
Speaker 1: in it and all this stuff. But at Michigan where
Speaker 1: John is now like reaching this legendary level, you know,
Speaker 1: two National Championship Games, appearances, all time winning as coach,
Speaker 1: the reaction was, you know, this isn't real. He's not
Speaker 1: going anywhere. This is fake news. This is it's a
Speaker 1: non story, and like, I hate to break it to
Speaker 1: people out here, but I mean it was very real.
Speaker 1: There was a very real interest on both sides. It
Speaker 1: never got to the point of an offer. But John
Speaker 1: withdrew his own name. He was not told to withdraw,
Speaker 1: you know, he backed out basically in the eleventh hour.
Speaker 1: I think the Pistons are going to wrap this thing
Speaker 1: up within the next day or two. Dwane Casey being
Speaker 1: probably the front runner, but yeah, he took his own
Speaker 1: name out and for various reasons that I've been told,
Speaker 1: But it was very legitimate and it would have been
Speaker 1: fascinating to see his style. But at sixty five years
Speaker 1: old to go be a first year NBA coach, I mean,
Speaker 1: it would have a would have made a for a
Speaker 1: heck of a story for sure, But no, it was
Speaker 1: it was legit, for sure. Both sides were very intrigued
Speaker 1: with the other. You probably have a better sense of this,
Speaker 1: but he seems like he's the type of guy that
Speaker 1: is respected amongst all coaching circles, let alone college. Also
Speaker 1: with the guys at the NBA level. I'm trying to think.
Speaker 1: I think Brett Brown even had him in for a
Speaker 1: visit during Sixers training camp a few years back. It
Speaker 1: seems like he's got connections and a lot of respect
Speaker 1: at all levels. Yeah, it's fairly common, and they at
Speaker 1: all levels is kind of the key because John, you know,
Speaker 1: John's coaching climb has gone from he started at high school,
Speaker 1: then went n AIA, then went Division two, then went
Speaker 1: Division one, low major, then mid major, then high major.
Speaker 1: Like he's been everywhere basically except the NBA. But yeah, no,
Speaker 1: he's highly respected. And the interesting thing with to get
Speaker 1: a little like inside Baseball into the coaching search here,
Speaker 1: the Pistons reached out to John before Ed Stefansky came
Speaker 1: on as senior advisor here, so like the wheels were
Speaker 1: in motion, and then Ed Stefansky came aboard to kind
Speaker 1: of oversee this this coaching search and the restructuring of
Speaker 1: the front office. And he was intrigued with John bee Line,
Speaker 1: because everyone's intrigued with John bee Line. You know, he
Speaker 1: has this very this very defined reputation in the game
Speaker 1: as someone who developed players, who sees the game at
Speaker 1: a different level, who is creative, adaptable, inventive. So that's
Speaker 1: kind of the the the onus for a lot of
Speaker 1: the interest in him and why I think everyone was
Speaker 1: so fascinated with what it would look like if he
Speaker 1: did it. But maybe we'll never know. He is staying
Speaker 1: in ann Arbor. So as we look at the upcoming draft,
Speaker 1: whether it's guys that John Beeline has coached or Tom
Speaker 1: Izzo has coached, or other coaches throughout the Big Ten Conference,
Speaker 1: are there handful players that you put on the Brandon
Speaker 1: Quinn big board for the Big Ten heading into the draft?
Speaker 1: Is likely prospects to hear their names called on June twenty. First, well,
Speaker 1: I mean the two teams that I cover, UM had
Speaker 1: a number of guys on the fence that ended up withdrawing.
Speaker 1: I think they made the right call at being troubles
Speaker 1: Matthews for Michigan, Nick Ward from Michigan State. But yeah,
Speaker 1: between UM, Moe Wagner at Michigan who is probably a
Speaker 1: late first round guy, UM, and then obviously at Michigan
Speaker 1: State to two lottery picks Miles Bridges, who I imagine
Speaker 1: Sixers fans are getting more and more familiar with, and
Speaker 1: Jaren Jackson, who I think will be a top five guy. Um.
Speaker 1: You know that the pro prospects that I had the
Speaker 1: ability to watch up close and personal this year, Uh,
Speaker 1: we're pretty great, um for a league that really doesn't
Speaker 1: produce that many UM, you know, surefire NBA guys anymore.
Speaker 1: It's it's very The Big Ten is certainly a league
Speaker 1: that you know, they lack kind of the influx of
Speaker 1: all Americans McDonald, All Americans every year, you know, the
Speaker 1: one and done guys. It's Arizona, Duke, Kentucky blah blah blah.
Speaker 1: The Big Tenders isn't getting them anymore. But there were
Speaker 1: guys that a guy cans to see. Kevin Herder is
Speaker 1: someone I was always fascinated with and to kind of
Speaker 1: see him really blossom from you know, a good freshman,
Speaker 1: like not a great freshman in the Big Ten, a
Speaker 1: good freshman in the Big Ten to a guy who
Speaker 1: they're talking about mid first round is fascinating and it shows.
Speaker 1: I think he's a he's a five tool player. He's
Speaker 1: can really do a lot of good things. But you know,
Speaker 1: that's probably it for the first round. Is that the
Speaker 1: three guys that I cover and Hurderum, I would think,
Speaker 1: But um, you know Kieta Bates Up really interesting player
Speaker 1: who I actually really like as an NBDA guy. I
Speaker 1: think he's got some old school game in him. Um
Speaker 1: that I don't know how how much how great it
Speaker 1: looks on film, but I just he's just one of
Speaker 1: those guys that you watch and I'm like, that dude
Speaker 1: knows how to play basketball. And I would put him
Speaker 1: on my team if I were a coach. Um. And
Speaker 1: then Tony Carr, who you guys are obviously familiar with,
Speaker 1: the Philly guy, Penn State guy, Um, he can get buckets.
Speaker 1: I think it's probably h I think He's a very
Speaker 1: draftable player, and I would affect him to be a
Speaker 1: mid late second round guy, probably along with Justin Jackson,
Speaker 1: another Maryland guy who is kind of one of these
Speaker 1: long life, interesting modern bigs who probably needs some work
Speaker 1: and some weight, but he's got all the pieces. That
Speaker 1: is certainly attractive. You mentioned Jaren Jackson probably going to
Speaker 1: be off the board by the time the Sixers go
Speaker 1: at ten should they stay there. So give me the
Speaker 1: slug to borrow some newspaper pilin. It's not actually talking
Speaker 1: about slugging Miles Bridges, but what's the slug on Miles
Speaker 1: Bridges from what you've seen over the last two years
Speaker 1: on Miles not Jared correct. Yeah, So Miles is a
Speaker 1: guy who is very interesting in that I'm still after
Speaker 1: watching him for two years, I'm not positive what heat
Speaker 1: is in the NBA. I'm not sure if he is
Speaker 1: kind of more of the the wing guy or maybe
Speaker 1: a three and D kind of a four man, you know,
Speaker 1: undersized four Draymond ish guy with maybe a little bit
Speaker 1: of a better three point shot. Um. You know, what
Speaker 1: Miles has going for him is absolute athleticism. Um. You know,
Speaker 1: I'm sure people have seen all the highlights of what
Speaker 1: he's done. He is six to seven, he has a
Speaker 1: pro ready body. He's a pro ready athlete. Um. He
Speaker 1: can you know, he can attack. He is one of
Speaker 1: these guys who attacks the rim with violence. Um. He plays,
Speaker 1: he plays above the rim um and just kind of
Speaker 1: is very strong, very powerful. Um. But he's only a
Speaker 1: good shooter. And I do think like for him to
Speaker 1: be a great NBA player, he fright needs to be
Speaker 1: a great shooter. If he were a great shooter, I
Speaker 1: think he could be like I see shades of Vince Carter. Right.
Speaker 1: He's not there yet, but you know, I'm talking this
Speaker 1: feeling of the ceiling, of the ceiling, right, if he
Speaker 1: became an elite shooter, that would kind of be. But
Speaker 1: I'm talking that level of athleticism, right, And he's got
Speaker 1: those shoulders and those arms, and he can he can
Speaker 1: do those kinds of things. So but at the same time,
Speaker 1: there's questions of his position. There are questions certainly about
Speaker 1: his ball handling. You know, he's never really done that
Speaker 1: much off the bounce. He didn't really do stuff in
Speaker 1: ball screens at Michigan State. Only late in his sophomore year.
Speaker 1: Did you even see kind of clear out stuff for
Speaker 1: him to do, and he had some success in it.
Speaker 1: I just wish I'd seen a lot more. So. He's
Speaker 1: one of these guys who, if you make that your
Speaker 1: list your pros and cons, I think by the end
Speaker 1: of it they might end on the same line. You know,
Speaker 1: you can keep going back and forth on him. But
Speaker 1: he's a fascinating clay. He's a very He's a good,
Speaker 1: good young man, you know, always pleasant to deal with.
Speaker 1: Was really good with the media, really good with the fans.
Speaker 1: You know, he came back. A lot of NBA guys
Speaker 1: I talked to were really high on the fact that
Speaker 1: he stayed another year because he wanted to develop more.
Speaker 1: They said that showed a lot about his character. And
Speaker 1: I agree. He's from Flint, you know, he's a hard dude.
Speaker 1: But yeah, I mean, I think it's a very interesting
Speaker 1: NBA prospect for sure. What were some of the items
Speaker 1: and you referenced sounded like a few of them, But
Speaker 1: what were some of the items as best that you
Speaker 1: can remember that we're on the to do list for
Speaker 1: him developmentally season one to season two, well, it was
Speaker 1: become more of a better three point shooter, even though
Speaker 1: he shot like over thirty five percent as a freshman,
Speaker 1: and I've actually thought, like, you know, that's an easy
Speaker 1: number to mess up the wrong way. You know, if
Speaker 1: if you go out and you want to become a
Speaker 1: if you want to take more threes, almost as a byproduct,
Speaker 1: your percentage is probably gone to drop, you know, unless
Speaker 1: you're a pretty high level shooter. But he basically stayed
Speaker 1: in the same area, but more so as a freshman,
Speaker 1: he played as a four, and then Tommy Zoe brought
Speaker 1: in Jaren Jackson junior, and then Michigan State also has
Speaker 1: Nick Wards, so m both intentionally and by necessity, Um,
Speaker 1: he went more to the three and played a little
Speaker 1: bit more as a perimeter guy, which a lot of
Speaker 1: NBA guys wanted to see. Um, that was the biggest thing.
Speaker 1: You know. He wanted to show more in ball handling,
Speaker 1: wanted to show more decision making, probably needed to be
Speaker 1: a better passer with the ball in his hands. Um,
Speaker 1: you know, these he just kind of needed to show
Speaker 1: himself as more of a well rounded athlete as opposed
Speaker 1: to a guy who can put up spot threes and
Speaker 1: dunk the ball. But he's he's a good rebounder. I
Speaker 1: probably wish he would have been a better offensive rebounder
Speaker 1: at times, but he's got a good motor, plays hard played.
Speaker 1: You know, did everything that that Tom Zoe asked of him,
Speaker 1: and it was a lot. But yeah, I mean in
Speaker 1: terms of improving those things year over year, those were
Speaker 1: the goals, and I would say, you know, did okay.
Speaker 1: I don't think anyone last year who would watched Miles
Speaker 1: Bridges said he's going to play himself into the top six, right,
Speaker 1: because just to the type of player he is. The
Speaker 1: only guys who are top five, six, seven picks now
Speaker 1: are these unicorns, right, guys like Jaren Jackson. Miles Bridges
Speaker 1: I did not think was going to play himself up
Speaker 1: that much higher. What I said, I said, the goal
Speaker 1: for him is going to stay, be to stay in
Speaker 1: the lottery, because all that really happens sometimes in your
Speaker 1: second year is you just get dissected more and more.
Speaker 1: But to his credit, for a guy who's not overly
Speaker 1: long and not overly big, he stayed where he is.
Speaker 1: You know, most people have him in that ten to
Speaker 1: fifteen range. So that's that's pretty good. It's it's I
Speaker 1: think that's as hard to do as playing yourself up
Speaker 1: sometimes we see the type of physical attributes that he has.
Speaker 1: What if people said about him and what have you
Speaker 1: observed defensively with what he brings to the court, because
Speaker 1: depending on how you slicier statistics and what you like
Speaker 1: to look at, his numbers there have graded out pretty
Speaker 1: well too. Yeah, he's strong enough to guard a guy
Speaker 1: with some size. That's why, you know. I think he
Speaker 1: could probably play a little bit as an undersized four
Speaker 1: in the league. And he is athletic enough and moves
Speaker 1: laterally well enough to to stay with someone on the
Speaker 1: perimeter if he's guarding someone a little bit smaller, so
Speaker 1: he can go multiple positions, which people like. And yeah,
Speaker 1: I don't see defense being an issue. I don't. I
Speaker 1: can't imagine anyone not drafting him because of defense or
Speaker 1: or dinging him because of defense. I think he's a
Speaker 1: guy who could probably play in a little bit higher
Speaker 1: level and might end I could certainly see him being
Speaker 1: someone who gets to the league and sees how playing
Speaker 1: time is allotted and realizes, you know, what he needs
Speaker 1: to do to get on the floor, and maybe specializing
Speaker 1: in that a little bit more so. Yeah, I think
Speaker 1: all those things. He certainly is a good defensive player
Speaker 1: who probably has a potential to be a really good
Speaker 1: defensive player. You mentioned earlier, the type of guy that
Speaker 1: he is dealing with the media well and handling himself,
Speaker 1: good with teammates. Any anecdotes that jump out in your
Speaker 1: mind just from covering him that stand out to portray
Speaker 1: the type of person and character he might have. Yeah,
Speaker 1: the one interesting thing was in the beginning of last year.
Speaker 1: This past season, Michigan State basically made him available for
Speaker 1: every media request that you could imagine. He had. One
Speaker 1: of my colleagues, Brian Hamilton from the athletics, spent that
Speaker 1: entire day with him, going to class and doing this
Speaker 1: and that and the other thing. He did every single
Speaker 1: TV shoot, he did, every magazine shoot, he did every interview,
Speaker 1: He did literally every last thing, to the point where
Speaker 1: kind of as a you know, observer of all of this.
Speaker 1: You know, at one point I pulled someone aside within
Speaker 1: the program and I said, he's either going to burn
Speaker 1: out or start to resent this. I have to imagine,
Speaker 1: you know, it's kind of human nature, and I've seen
Speaker 1: it happen to other guys. And the one the guy
Speaker 1: looked at me and just said, you know, he hasn't
Speaker 1: mentioned it. He hasn't said it once that you know,
Speaker 1: I'm not doing this today, right, I'm not talking to
Speaker 1: this guy. I'm not doing this radio interview. I'm not
Speaker 1: doing this press conference. He hadn't said it once. Like
Speaker 1: he did everything that Michigan State asked him to do
Speaker 1: in terms of being, you know, the basically the face
Speaker 1: of the program, the ambassador of the place. You know
Speaker 1: that is not named Tom Is though you know, he
Speaker 1: fulfilled everything that they wanted. And then later in the
Speaker 1: year and people remember he was named in that Yahoo
Speaker 1: report with that the whole what players received a couple
Speaker 1: of dollars from agents, whether it was you know, in
Speaker 1: his case literally a couple of dollars versus you know,
Speaker 1: guys getting fifty k and things like that. So he
Speaker 1: was named in that, and it was in season, and
Speaker 1: it was amid all this other stuff happening at Michigan State,
Speaker 1: which is a whole other story, but there were distractions
Speaker 1: all over the place. Then he gets named in this
Speaker 1: story him and his mother that his mother received a
Speaker 1: meal was bought for her by an agent, and whatever
Speaker 1: it was, it was something pretty minor, but if true,
Speaker 1: it was an NCAA violation and any game that he
Speaker 1: played would be vacated. And it was a very very
Speaker 1: serious story at a time for a team that was,
Speaker 1: you know, on the path to a potential one seat
Speaker 1: in the nca torn and Dana to being a two.
Speaker 1: And I thought then again, I said, okay, well this
Speaker 1: is it. This is gonna be the one where he
Speaker 1: finally snaps and says, you know, this is a bunch
Speaker 1: of bs. I didn't sign up for this. When I
Speaker 1: came back, and then Dada, and he handled it as
Speaker 1: well as you could hope for anyone to do it.
Speaker 1: He's the next game after the report dropped, Michigan State
Speaker 1: decided to play him, and they filed a paperwork with
Speaker 1: the NCAA and he was cleared and it was all good.
Speaker 1: But he sat in that locker room and answered every
Speaker 1: question that we had and we peppered him for ten minutes,
Speaker 1: and he sat there and he handled it without rolling
Speaker 1: his eyes, without snapping at anyone. He actually did better
Speaker 1: than Tom Izzo did that day because Tom got a
Speaker 1: couple of questions that he got fired up, and then
Speaker 1: his player sat there and uh ten fifteen minutes, answered
Speaker 1: every question and did did really really well and he's
Speaker 1: just a you know, he's a pretty cool customer. And um,
Speaker 1: I think he gets it. I think he understands fame.
Speaker 1: I think he understands his place in the world and
Speaker 1: knows how much is writing on him, both, you know,
Speaker 1: in terms of his own professional career and what it
Speaker 1: means to his family and Flint and you know, a
Speaker 1: lot of people who look up to him. He's been
Speaker 1: a very well known player basically since early high school.
Speaker 1: He was on list. He was on you know, YouTube
Speaker 1: videos dunking over people and stuff at a very young age.
Speaker 1: Like he knows what the spotlight looks like and he
Speaker 1: has always handled it really well. Now, I could make
Speaker 1: a really corny and bad reference about the Delaware Valley
Speaker 1: like the following, which are the bridges do you prefer?
Speaker 1: The Walt Whitman or the Ben Franklin. But I won't
Speaker 1: do that, and instead I'll just ask you simply on
Speaker 1: the surface, I would say the better question would be
Speaker 1: the mccale bridges or the Miles Bridges would be the
Speaker 1: more which bridge do you prefer? But I thank you
Speaker 1: for that. You took care of my next part of
Speaker 1: the phrase for me. Um oh, I'm sorry, no, no, no,
Speaker 1: I like that. That's good. Even in the passing of
Speaker 1: a few years and a geographical divide, there's still some
Speaker 1: chemistry and flow, which I like. I like that. Um.
Speaker 1: So yeah, before we talk about a particular team, which
Speaker 1: you can probably guess, I'll ask you to put in
Speaker 1: context for in just a second, but simply skill level
Speaker 1: overall package as an NBA prospect, Miles or McHale, who
Speaker 1: you saw in the championship game while covering at Michigan. Yeah, um,
Speaker 1: it's it's hard. Um. I feel like McHale is probably
Speaker 1: he's longer, right, I don't have the measurements, but he
Speaker 1: to me, he seems longer. UM and maybe a little
Speaker 1: bit of a higher skill set. Um. You know, he
Speaker 1: was one of the best outside shooting wings UM, probably
Speaker 1: in all of college basketball last year. Um. You know.
Speaker 1: I think he's more of a volume shooter, and I
Speaker 1: think that probably projects him a little bit more to
Speaker 1: the league than Miles UM and I think Bridges, I
Speaker 1: think Mark. I can't lose the last things. I think McHale, Um,
Speaker 1: it's probably just a little bit of a higher level athlete.
Speaker 1: I think he's probably a little bit more efficient um
Speaker 1: at a little higher skilled. You then say that he
Speaker 1: talking about McHale would then be a better fit for
Speaker 1: the seventy six ers, or does when you take that
Speaker 1: context into account, has that change your opinion at all?
Speaker 1: I think if McHale's there at ten and the Sixers
Speaker 1: don't take them, they are crazy. He looked pretty good
Speaker 1: this passion. It really is amazing just watching how far
Speaker 1: he came. I'm sure you probably kept tabs on him
Speaker 1: from AFAR even doing the work covering Michigan State and Michigan,
Speaker 1: but just the strides that he made, it's really interesting
Speaker 1: that it seems like overtime on the surface that Jay
Speaker 1: Wright and his coaching staff never made the deliberate attempt
Speaker 1: to get NBA prospects, just guys that were solid players
Speaker 1: who could develop over three or four years. But now
Speaker 1: here it's a situation where they've got four guys in
Speaker 1: the draft. Yeah. And you know, I kind of say
Speaker 1: Villanova and Jay Wright are basically Michigan with John Beeline
Speaker 1: in a very close way. It's almost like I'm watching
Speaker 1: that Villanova team last year. I'm like, this is a
Speaker 1: this is a John Beeline team that you just but
Speaker 1: you drop a hemy in it, like their their level
Speaker 1: of talent. You know, with Devicenzo coming off the bench,
Speaker 1: you're just like, well, this is just stupid. You know,
Speaker 1: they're so good. Um, and yeah, I mean it is
Speaker 1: in his player development, which is you know John Beline's
Speaker 1: Forte as well. Like there's a lot of parallels, except
Speaker 1: it's just you know, Jay is young. Jay's got a
Speaker 1: little Hollywood. Um, it's a it's a fascinating thing that
Speaker 1: they got rolling over there. I mean, it's super impressive.
Speaker 1: And it's for a guy who covered Villanova like I
Speaker 1: covered their O nine final four team, Um, to see
Speaker 1: it come full circle and it's it's just that same
Speaker 1: program just you know, but he's just got it home
Speaker 1: and now, Um, they are beyond impressive. And you know
Speaker 1: that's coming from a Saint Joe's grat so take it
Speaker 1: for you know, I mean everything I say. We had
Speaker 1: Joe Lenardi on UM on a previous podcast, and he
Speaker 1: too was effusive in his praise. So it really must
Speaker 1: be a transcendent type level that Villanova yeah gotten to
Speaker 1: these days. You're right, they are. I mean they are
Speaker 1: hard to dislike. You had you had high praise for
Speaker 1: Kevin Hurder Adam Maryland. Can you get into him a
Speaker 1: little bit more? Someone whose name seemed to attract more
Speaker 1: and more buzz, especially after the combine. He decided to
Speaker 1: stay in the draft, and now he's projected by some
Speaker 1: to go mid to back into the first round. Yeah.
Speaker 1: Really smart player. He's got good sides. I think he's
Speaker 1: probably about like six seven somewhere in there. But for
Speaker 1: a guy who can shoot at an extremely high level,
Speaker 1: I like his abilities to facilitate. You can play through him.
Speaker 1: He can do a lot of things. He's comfortable with
Speaker 1: the ball in his hands. On a team that struggled
Speaker 1: with some offense, sometimes he averaged like almost four assist
Speaker 1: a game, I think. And he's a guy who was
Speaker 1: also being counted on as a volume shooter and a
Speaker 1: volume scorer. Like that's pretty high level stuff. He's a
Speaker 1: guy who when he is it and just goes into
Speaker 1: a shooting motion, everything looks like it's going in right.
Speaker 1: He's one of these beautiful He's got this beautiful form,
Speaker 1: shoulder set or you know, his feet always in the
Speaker 1: same spot, his hands in the same spot, gets off
Speaker 1: just a beautiful spin on the ball. He's really he's really,
Speaker 1: really good. Um, I don't know what he is as
Speaker 1: a pro. I don't know how good he can be
Speaker 1: as a probe. Like I covered Nick Stauskis when he
Speaker 1: was at Michigan, and like I would say that Nick
Speaker 1: Stouskis showed a lot more at Michigan than Kevin Hrder
Speaker 1: did as a guy who was a three point shooter
Speaker 1: who can also facilitate offense and run some stuff through him.
Speaker 1: And we see how his he just never really quite
Speaker 1: got there as a pro Hurder. I don't know. I mean,
Speaker 1: can his can his defense keep him on the floor?
Speaker 1: You know how much? How how is he going to
Speaker 1: be able to get his shot off in the league?
Speaker 1: Those are the questions I have. But I like him.
Speaker 1: He's got a good size, good frame. You know, he's
Speaker 1: not by any means going to be scared. I think
Speaker 1: his potential is there for sure. It'll probably be how
Speaker 1: much he grows in the next And there's kind of
Speaker 1: first two years of his league in the league, I
Speaker 1: should say. I was looking at his bio on the
Speaker 1: Maryland website. Is it true that his nickname is the
Speaker 1: Red Momba? Is that something that's widespread in Big ten circles?
Speaker 1: I have not I have not heard that. I've not
Speaker 1: heard that. All right, that might be something, maybe that
Speaker 1: Maryland is perpetuating. Then last guy, I wanted you to
Speaker 1: delve a little bit deeper. Run Kay debates best player
Speaker 1: in the conference last year in terms of the hardware
Speaker 1: he took home. But someone who would seemed like benefited
Speaker 1: from a four year run, maybe three and a half
Speaker 1: year run, you could call it. At Ohio State. Yeah,
Speaker 1: a guy who always looked like he should be an
Speaker 1: absolute stud because he is crazy long. I think he
Speaker 1: measures like sixt eight something like that. But he's got
Speaker 1: this crazy wingspan, a crazy standing reach, all these things.
Speaker 1: Um that when you when you just saw him walk
Speaker 1: on a basketball court, you're like, well, that's the best
Speaker 1: player out there obviously, oh my god, you know. UM.
Speaker 1: But then he just took a while to develop UM.
Speaker 1: But he did, to his to his credit, UM to
Speaker 1: this year's being this guy who played with um an
Speaker 1: exceedingly high IQ on kind of what to do, where
Speaker 1: the ball needs to go, when to take over, when
Speaker 1: to delegate. Um. You know, he he took Ohio State,
Speaker 1: a team that was basically trashed the year before, to
Speaker 1: the point where it fired a Hall of Fame coach. Um,
Speaker 1: he took that team to the to the NCAA tournament.
Speaker 1: He had them ranked all year. Um, he was the
Speaker 1: best player in the league, and on a lot of
Speaker 1: days he was basically out there just taking teams on
Speaker 1: by himself. He is unafraid. He is physically elite, and
Speaker 1: like I said before, I don't when you watch him play,
Speaker 1: he's weird because it's he's got just he's got some
Speaker 1: old man in him. And I mean, I think he
Speaker 1: can play multiple positions. I think he can do a
Speaker 1: lot of things. I think he's a guy that if
Speaker 1: you put him around a lot of high level players,
Speaker 1: he helps you win games because you can put him
Speaker 1: in different spots and he's he just does good stuff
Speaker 1: in possessions, right, whether it's an extra pass, whether it's
Speaker 1: you know, a tip, whether whatever. He can get his
Speaker 1: hands on the ball, he can make things happen. I
Speaker 1: think he should be a higher, more highly regarded prospect
Speaker 1: than he than he is. But we'll see. I mean,
Speaker 1: people are certainly people who know a lot more than
Speaker 1: I do. But for me, the intangibles that I like
Speaker 1: and that I look for, and now I also see
Speaker 1: the game as a college writer and as a college fan.
Speaker 1: But I feel like most of those intangible intangibles still
Speaker 1: translate to the league, because you know, winning basketball is
Speaker 1: winning basketball. And I really like Bates Dio. Think he's
Speaker 1: a first or second round guy. Well, I mean I
Speaker 1: think he probably falls into the second. UM, I haven't
Speaker 1: seen um. I'm trying to think of any mocks that
Speaker 1: I've even seen him going in the first. UM, you'd
Speaker 1: probably know that better than me. But yeah, I don't
Speaker 1: think I have. UM. I think it's been mostly kind
Speaker 1: of middle, middle, second round, right, And he's a guy,
Speaker 1: like I don't know how he works out like he's
Speaker 1: I wouldn't be surprised if him if him in game
Speaker 1: is a lot more impressive than him in workouts, if
Speaker 1: that makes sense totally. You know, I can see him
Speaker 1: being one of those guys. But like, but at the
Speaker 1: same time, when you get in the late first round
Speaker 1: and you see guys who you might you might want
Speaker 1: to draft on more upside, you know, I could maybe
Speaker 1: see if it's him or like you know, Mitchell Robinson
Speaker 1: late in the first round, it you're probably gonna for
Speaker 1: Robinson because he's seven one, and you know, maybe he
Speaker 1: could be an All Star. Like, I don't know if
Speaker 1: faced Ups ever going to be an All Star, but
Speaker 1: I know he's gonna help teams win games. So it
Speaker 1: probably is a really depending on what a team is
Speaker 1: looking for at that spot late in the first round,
Speaker 1: but I would think him in the first round. But
Speaker 1: what do I know? I think you know a lot
Speaker 1: based on that conversation and the great stuff being posted
Speaker 1: on the Athletic Detroits. Brendon Quinn, the pride of Balakinwood
Speaker 1: Saint Joseph's University, now applying his great trade out in
Speaker 1: the state of Michigan. Thanks so much, man, Austin Brian,
Speaker 1: thanks for having me Brendon Quinn breaking down Miles Bridges
Speaker 1: and some of his draft bound Big ten Brethren. Brendon's
Speaker 1: on Twitter at bf Quinn with two ends. You can
Speaker 1: read all his stuff by subscribing to The Athletic he
Speaker 1: writes for The Athletic Detroits. Thanks to Brandon for taking
Speaker 1: the time to talk. Thanks to you for listening, and
Speaker 1: continue to check your feeds for more draft pots as
Speaker 1: we head towards June twenty first and draft. See him