Speaker 1: The volume.
Speaker 2: Get ready for a night full of big fights and
Speaker 2: big action. It's UFC three to ozho three and it
Speaker 2: can be even bigger. Jump in on all the action
Speaker 2: at DraftKings Sportsbook, the official sports betting partner of the UFC,
Speaker 2: it's super easy for first timers to get started. Try
Speaker 2: betting on something simple like picking a fighter to win.
Speaker 2: Go to the DraftKings Sportsbook app, select your fighter, and
Speaker 2: place your first bet. It's that simple. The light heavyweight
Speaker 2: title is on the line in the main event, but
Speaker 2: there are so many more amazing matchups happening in Vegas.
Speaker 2: And speaking of amazing, if you're new to DraftKings, listen up.
Speaker 2: New customers. Bet five dollars to get one fifty in
Speaker 2: bonus bets. Instantly download the DraftKings Sportsbook app now and
Speaker 2: use code coops that's hops, that's code hoops for new
Speaker 2: customers to get one hundred and fifty dollars in bonus bets.
Speaker 2: When you bet just five bucks, get that big fight
Speaker 2: feel only on DraftKings. DraftKings the Crown is yours gambling
Speaker 2: problem called one eight hundred Gambler or in West Virginia,
Speaker 2: visit www dot one eight hundred gambler dot net. In
Speaker 2: New York, call eight seven seven eight hope and why,
Speaker 2: or text hope and why to four six seven three
Speaker 2: sixty nine. In Connecticut, help us available for problem gambling
Speaker 2: call eight eight eight seven eight nine seven seven seven
Speaker 2: seven or visit CCPG dot org. Please play responsibly on
Speaker 2: behalf of Boothill Casino and Resort in Kansas twenty one plus.
Speaker 2: Age varies by jurisdiction. Bonus bets expire one hundred and
Speaker 2: sixty eight hours after issuance. Deposit and eligibility restrictions apply.
Speaker 2: See terms eligibility and Responsible gaming Resources at DKG dot
Speaker 2: co slash MMA. All right, welcome to hoops tonight. You're
Speaker 2: at the volume. Happy Monday, everybody. Hope all of you
Speaker 2: guys had a great weekend. Well, it is time to
Speaker 2: shift our attention towards the NBA Draft, and we have
Speaker 2: a very special guest today to get that process started.
Speaker 2: We have Damien Wilkins, who is the general manager and
Speaker 2: head of basketball over at the Overtime Elite, and he
Speaker 2: also I'd be remiss if I didn't say, is also
Speaker 2: a veteran of over five hundred NBA games. We have
Speaker 2: two overtime Elite prospects that are projected to go in
Speaker 2: the lottery, as well as a third who is expected
Speaker 2: to go in the late first round. And so we're
Speaker 2: going to dive into those guys, talk a little bit
Speaker 2: about Overtime Elite in general and their role that they
Speaker 2: play in basketball development. I'm very excited. It's going to
Speaker 2: be a fun one. So, Damien, I was talking to
Speaker 2: you before we went live here. So most of my
Speaker 2: listeners know that we don't focus a ton on the
Speaker 2: draft until the week of and we focus primarily just
Speaker 2: on the NBA kind of flow of the season, and
Speaker 2: so I don't think a ton of people are super
Speaker 2: aware of the spot that Overtime Elite fills in this space.
Speaker 2: And last year with the Thompson Twins, suddenly you guys
Speaker 2: came to the forefront with these two awesome lottery prospects
Speaker 2: that both project to be longtime pros that have enormously
Speaker 2: high ceilings. So tell us a little bit of out
Speaker 2: overtime Elite in the space that it fills in basketball development.
Speaker 3: Oh man, So for us, like overtime Elite is pretty
Speaker 3: much defined as a developmental program, a very accelerated development program.
Speaker 1: You know, we have.
Speaker 3: We started out in year one with three teams in
Speaker 3: our league, and then we went from year one to
Speaker 3: year two and had six teams, and we just finished
Speaker 3: year three, season three and we had eight teams in
Speaker 3: our league. So we've grown every year that we've been
Speaker 3: apart of been in this space. But for us, in
Speaker 3: our hub in Atlanta, we have three teams. City Reapers,
Speaker 3: RWE and the Cold Hearts are the name of our teams,
Speaker 3: our brands.
Speaker 1: That's in house.
Speaker 3: We have five other teams outside of our market outside
Speaker 3: of our Atlanta market, one in New York, one in Arizona,
Speaker 3: one in California, and two in North Carolina.
Speaker 1: Which make up our eight team league.
Speaker 3: Within our hub here in Atlanta, our three teams and
Speaker 3: thirty three players that are here on campus in Atlanta.
Speaker 3: Everything we do here is customizable, from the academic piece
Speaker 3: to the strength and condition and piece, to the social
Speaker 3: branding and marketing piece into the on court player development stuff.
Speaker 3: It is customized to each individual player's needs and based
Speaker 3: on their strengths and weaknesses.
Speaker 1: Where they are.
Speaker 3: We meet our guys where they are the minute they
Speaker 3: walk into the door, and we try to create in
Speaker 3: them when they leave to be what we call an ote.
Speaker 1: Guide, and that's what that entails.
Speaker 3: Is basically, we've already we've leveled them up from a
Speaker 3: branding standpoint, right, We've got them tons of followers and
Speaker 3: marketing and all of that stuff.
Speaker 1: Right.
Speaker 3: We've built their bodies up as much as we can
Speaker 3: build them up based on their baseline when they were here,
Speaker 3: and we've turned them into exceptional basketball players on the
Speaker 3: court through our training and development program. Again that's customizable
Speaker 3: to them. But more importantly, we try to send them
Speaker 3: out of here professional and successful people which are much
Speaker 3: more confident than they were when they came in here,
Speaker 3: much more real round, well rounded when they came in here,
Speaker 3: and just someone that can contribute to any organization, sports
Speaker 3: or otherwise once they lead. That is our ultimate goal,
Speaker 3: you know, so far from a basketball and development standpoint,
Speaker 3: I think we've done that. Everything we do here again,
Speaker 3: it is you know, individualized for each guy that we
Speaker 3: have here, and we spend a lot of time on
Speaker 3: the court. We have about three and a half to
Speaker 3: four hours of academics every day and then the rest
Speaker 3: of the time you're doing some type of training on
Speaker 3: the court. If you're not doing any social or marketing
Speaker 3: or branding things. So our guys days are full, and
Speaker 3: it's challenging.
Speaker 1: It's an iron, rub and iron environment.
Speaker 3: You know, You've got a lot of guys that come
Speaker 3: here from their you know, respective high schools, and they
Speaker 3: come into this environment and they're no longer the best
Speaker 3: player in the building anymore. You know, you're standing next
Speaker 3: to and competing with or against someone next to you
Speaker 3: every day that's either better than you or just as good.
Speaker 3: And you know, we put our guys through extensive just
Speaker 3: basketball training, all the things to help them become the
Speaker 3: most professional that they can become.
Speaker 2: Yeah, you know, I've been really impressed, and I think
Speaker 2: that there's no way to look at it as anything
Speaker 2: other than an overwhelming success when you see how these
Speaker 2: guys immediately translate into other environments, Like the Thompson twins
Speaker 2: both come in and like just immediately buy into the
Speaker 2: team concept, play their role, behave like professionals. Like even
Speaker 2: like Rob Dillingham just going into Kentucky and immediately becoming
Speaker 2: one of the best pick and role players in the country.
Speaker 2: You know, Alex going over to the NBL and just
Speaker 2: immediately functioning as a professional. And I think that that
Speaker 2: speaks very highly to just the type of preparation you
Speaker 2: were putting those guys through. You know, I was listening
Speaker 2: to a podcast you did earlier this year with Kevin O'Connor,
Speaker 2: and I remember you were talking a lot about the
Speaker 2: weight room, and like, how much this is kind of
Speaker 2: a little bit of a detour here, but how much
Speaker 2: do you think the weight room factors in in young
Speaker 2: player development? I find it to be super under emphasized
Speaker 2: around the country, and I think that, like I think
Speaker 2: you can tell just by your guys's prospects coming out,
Speaker 2: they're more developed in that regard. You have to be
Speaker 2: strong to play against grown men. Is that something you
Speaker 2: guys emphasize heavily?
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, we focus a lot on it.
Speaker 3: Our guys lift, They lift four times a week, sometimes
Speaker 3: five times a week, and sometimes guys live twice a day,
Speaker 3: you know, depending on their needs. We try to stress
Speaker 3: that A lot a lot of guys come in here
Speaker 3: very foreign to the weight room. You know, those old
Speaker 3: myths that people talk about how weights throw your shot
Speaker 3: off and all of that crap.
Speaker 1: Like coming here with all of those those excuses.
Speaker 3: But we have a bunch of professionals in our training
Speaker 3: on our training staff that know better, and then we
Speaker 3: have people that have you know, professional and high level
Speaker 3: basketball experience that can speak to those things and have
Speaker 3: these guys like call Bs on a lot of that stuff.
Speaker 3: So we have a heavy emphasis on the weight room
Speaker 3: and getting stronger and understanding that this is a grime man,
Speaker 3: and like your body has to be mature and develop,
Speaker 3: and then it's injury prevention, right like, because just having
Speaker 3: a strong body helps all of those things. So there's
Speaker 3: a heavy emphasis on strength and conditioning in our program
Speaker 3: and our guys in the weight room every day.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I got lucky because I was super skinny and
Speaker 2: I had a stress fracture in my foot between my
Speaker 2: first two seasons, and so for two months I had
Speaker 2: no choice but to just lift, and I put on
Speaker 2: like twenty pounds of muscle. And when I went into
Speaker 2: the next season, I was like, oh my god, everything
Speaker 2: is so much easier. Like it's crazy how much that
Speaker 2: goes under the radar. I think it's such an important
Speaker 2: part of development. So one last thing before we start
Speaker 2: getting into the players, like talk a little bit about
Speaker 2: the other benefits you provide for the players. Because I
Speaker 2: was doing some research and it seems like you guys
Speaker 2: have things set up where they can, like we saw
Speaker 2: with Rob Dillingham, go to college if they're not ready
Speaker 2: to do something professionally right away, or they have like
Speaker 2: scholarship programs available for players who don't decide to go professional.
Speaker 2: Talk about that a little bit.
Speaker 3: Well, we in year one, our only option was to
Speaker 3: provide guys with what we call professional contracts. And obviously
Speaker 3: at that time in IO wasn't as prevalent or even
Speaker 3: really talked about as much. I don't even think it
Speaker 3: was a thing. And you know, but those guys had
Speaker 3: to give up their college eligibility in order for.
Speaker 1: That to happen.
Speaker 3: After that year one, we were able to work with
Speaker 3: the NCAA and come up with a scholarship option for
Speaker 3: our guys. And now we steer guys pretty much away
Speaker 3: from the pro contract thing. We want to provide optionality.
Speaker 3: I think that's how biggest advantage that we have. And
Speaker 3: then some guys, you know, they still come in and
Speaker 3: bet on themselves and selves and it's hard for us
Speaker 3: to argue with that.
Speaker 1: It's hard for us to say no, don't do that.
Speaker 3: I mean, if that's what they want to do, that
Speaker 3: they've discussed with their family, agents, advisors and all of
Speaker 3: those things. Then who are we just stand in the
Speaker 3: way of that. But you know, obviously there's rules right
Speaker 3: for the CBA to collective bargains agreeing.
Speaker 1: So a guy can come here like Sayer Rob.
Speaker 3: Dillingham his senior year, he could have stayed if he
Speaker 3: wanted to done a postgrad year here and then gone
Speaker 3: to the draft after that, because that's just what the
Speaker 3: rules are. We have that option for our guys. And
Speaker 3: some guys that did a post grad year here and
Speaker 3: still went to college, they just wanted to be better
Speaker 3: prepared for that. A prime example of that would be
Speaker 3: Trey Parker who just went to North Carolina State. So
Speaker 3: we provide optionality for our guys. A guy like Alex
Speaker 3: Aar and Tyler Smith and he Dona Monza. Those guys
Speaker 3: came here on professional contracts, graduated, stayed here and then
Speaker 3: went on to play in the G League for a
Speaker 3: year to better prepare for what they're getting ready for now.
Speaker 3: So there's a lot of different and Alex are again
Speaker 3: he went to PURT playing Australia from here. So I
Speaker 3: think for us, the flexibility and optionality again is something
Speaker 3: that is that gives us a huge advantage in any
Speaker 3: other place, anywhere else in this.
Speaker 2: Space vital because this is the range of age, like
Speaker 2: between sixteen and twenty, that's the range where basketball players
Speaker 2: entire destiny is, like you never know what's going to happen,
Speaker 2: so much can change in a year, you know, and
Speaker 2: like you can go from being a guy who's a
Speaker 2: fringe prospect to a bona fide lottery prospect or vice versa.
Speaker 2: So it makes sense to have that flexibility there for them.
Speaker 2: So all right, let's get into let's get into Alex
Speaker 2: ar and Rob Dillingham, Tyler Smith, three really fun prospect
Speaker 2: prospects in this year's draft. So Alex Aar is in
Speaker 2: contention for the number one overall pick. Why do you
Speaker 2: think he's deserving of that spot?
Speaker 1: Well, a couple of reasons.
Speaker 3: Number one, I'll just say it, I think he's the
Speaker 3: best prospect in the draft. His size, his versatility, just
Speaker 3: the things he can do on both sides of the basketball.
Speaker 3: And you know, the biggest thing I'd say is that
Speaker 3: he has all the things that where the NBA is
Speaker 3: trending right like he has that when min Yama Porzingi's
Speaker 3: you know, type of game in that it's super versatile.
Speaker 3: He has size, he can step out and shoot the three,
Speaker 3: he can stretch the floor, he can run the floor,
Speaker 3: he can post up. He's long, so he can defend
Speaker 3: the rim. I just think he has all the tools
Speaker 3: to be that. I think he is like the best
Speaker 3: prospect in the draft and probably the person that has
Speaker 3: the brightest future in the highest ceiling.
Speaker 1: Rob.
Speaker 3: You know, I know you're not getting in the Rob yet,
Speaker 3: but I think Rob is probably the best score and
Speaker 3: probably well not even probably, I would I would adamantly
Speaker 3: say he's the best. He's the most confident player in
Speaker 3: the draft, a guy that can just score from anywhere
Speaker 3: on the court and literally has the shortest term memory
Speaker 3: of anyone that I've ever met in my life missing
Speaker 3: the shot and there's almost like forgot about it. So though,
Speaker 3: you know, those two guys in particular, just I don't
Speaker 3: bring a ton of value to any organization that's going
Speaker 3: to pick them. But Alex is, to me, without question,
Speaker 3: that consensus number one pick, and I think he's the
Speaker 3: best player in the draft.
Speaker 2: Well, defensively, he's already awesome, and he projects to defend
Speaker 2: really well in a bunch of key NBA coverages, and
Speaker 2: as we know, like the ability to guard and pick
Speaker 2: and roll is like absolutely vital in the NBA, just
Speaker 2: because the level of guard play that we see. But
Speaker 2: what's fascinating to me is there's so much discussion around
Speaker 2: him on the offensive end, and like whether or not
Speaker 2: he's going to be able to develop into what a
Speaker 2: good enough offensive player to be able to play the
Speaker 2: four potentially if that's what he has to play, depending
Speaker 2: on what kind of team he ends up with. I
Speaker 2: am more optimistic with him mainly just because, like you mentioned,
Speaker 2: the direction of the game is going, like so many
Speaker 2: more of these teams are running five out offense and
Speaker 2: in the five out system, like ball handling, shooting just
Speaker 2: in general, like the ability to read and react and
Speaker 2: just to to oversimplify it, to walk and shoot gum
Speaker 2: as a big is like so important in the modern
Speaker 2: NBA because you're operating in space so much more, the
Speaker 2: balls in your hands so much more, and so like
Speaker 2: I actually view him as the kind of like quintessential
Speaker 2: modern NBA five out big in the sense that he's
Speaker 2: comfortable with the ball in his hands, he can run, dribble, handoffs,
Speaker 2: he can keep it if he if it's the read there,
Speaker 2: if his big guy's showing on the other end of
Speaker 2: the DHO, he can keep the ball and go to
Speaker 2: the basket. I think I liked some of the reps
Speaker 2: he was getting in the NBL too, with Bryce Cotton
Speaker 2: and getting short roll reps and making passing reads out
Speaker 2: of that. Like to me like the offensive development piece
Speaker 2: will come down to his shooting. But also it seems
Speaker 2: to me by the numbers that he's been making year
Speaker 2: over year improvements. So talk a little bit about Alex's work,
Speaker 2: ethic and how and the stuff he's putting in behind
Speaker 2: the scenes to improve as a shooter.
Speaker 3: Yeah, he came here as a very young, skinny kid.
Speaker 3: Once he got here with us and year one that
Speaker 3: we were here, and it was just like you could
Speaker 3: see that he had all the talent. They had, the tools,
Speaker 3: he had, the foundation. It was there and his brother,
Speaker 3: I think, Olivier, I think you can credit a lot of.
Speaker 1: You know, what he is, what he does on the.
Speaker 3: Court, those his demeanor, his his work, credit a lot
Speaker 3: of that to him as well having him in his life.
Speaker 3: But Alex had all the tools already. It was just
Speaker 3: a matter of maturing from a physical standpoint, because you
Speaker 3: knew that he would play three, four, maybe some five,
Speaker 3: depending on you know, the team he went to, uh,
Speaker 3: you know, the offense, the schemes, all of those things.
Speaker 3: So he knew he had to get better and stronger.
Speaker 3: So he started lifting twice a day. And then you
Speaker 3: can tell throughout the season and throughout the time that
Speaker 3: he was Once his body started to develop a little
Speaker 3: more and he started to get stronger than his aggression
Speaker 3: level got better, right, He started to attack the basketball,
Speaker 3: He started to average more rebounds, he started to post
Speaker 3: up a lot more. He started to be way more
Speaker 3: physical on the just just the offensive end of the floor.
Speaker 1: He was always good defensively. He was always could move
Speaker 1: his feet.
Speaker 3: In fact, we would put him on you know, the
Speaker 3: Thompson Twins during you know, the times that they played
Speaker 3: each other, even in the finals. You know that the
Speaker 3: year he was here, he was the guy that took
Speaker 3: on that matchup and did a great job at it.
Speaker 3: So defensively, he was never really lacking. It was just
Speaker 3: he just needed, you know, to get more physical, and
Speaker 3: I think he did that once he started to lift
Speaker 3: a little bit more and put his body, you know,
Speaker 3: through the test of just trying to build that strength.
Speaker 3: You know, one of the best decisions that he made,
Speaker 3: quite frankly, was to go and test those things out
Speaker 3: in Perth in Australia because it was something that he
Speaker 3: probably felt like he needed.
Speaker 1: And there's not a lot of us that would disagree
Speaker 1: with that.
Speaker 3: Like he wanted to see how ready that he could be,
Speaker 3: and we were bringing in much younger guys.
Speaker 1: The year after that that that he left, so for.
Speaker 3: A lot of reasons, it made sense, right And then
Speaker 3: I think he went there and still was able to
Speaker 3: play extremely well, play extremely hard. You know, the physicality
Speaker 3: caught up, the weight room stuff started to catch up
Speaker 3: to him, and then like that was one of those tests,
Speaker 3: to be honest with you, were like he knew that
Speaker 3: he had to be physically strong to play with those
Speaker 3: guys at their aggression level. So he met them there
Speaker 3: and now you know, he's just going to continue to
Speaker 3: work that way because he's just a workhorse. He comes
Speaker 3: from a great family. You know, he appreciates every opportunity
Speaker 3: to get better. You can throw constructive criticism his way
Speaker 3: and it's never going to be something that he's going
Speaker 3: to be upset with he takes it well and he
Speaker 3: just he's a He's a tremendous kid. So I think
Speaker 3: he's just gonna be a great asset to anyone who
Speaker 3: picks him to be honest.
Speaker 2: Yeah, not to harp on the weight room thing, but
Speaker 2: there's another element to it too. It's like confidence, like
Speaker 2: when you've been lifting and you walk in the gym,
Speaker 2: you're like, yeah, I'm big, Like I can hang with
Speaker 2: these guys. You know, like I could see that that's
Speaker 2: what causes him to be more aggressive because it's like
Speaker 2: you just you just feel like a bigger, stronger man.
Speaker 2: It gives you the confidence to do that sort of thing. Yeah,
Speaker 2: the offensive development piece is going to be interesting because
Speaker 2: like what would be really fascinating is if he did
Speaker 2: end up functioning more as a wing, like as a four,
Speaker 2: and you put him next to more of like a
Speaker 2: bruising center. Then like if it not only in switching
Speaker 2: schemes where he's guarding guys on the perimeter. And I'm
Speaker 2: glad you pointed out that him getting reps against the
Speaker 2: Thompson Twins, because that's kind of the exciting thing with
Speaker 2: him is like he can really slide his feet he
Speaker 2: could slide his feat well and he's got good instincts
Speaker 2: and he can obviously contest really well with his length.
Speaker 2: But like putting him next to a big, bigger center too,
Speaker 2: Like you can imagine him kind of functioning as the
Speaker 2: low man and an NBA defense working along the baseline,
Speaker 2: like grabbing defensive rebounds, helping him pick and roll, closing
Speaker 2: out the shooters in the corner. Like that's a new
Speaker 2: thing we've seen in the NBA. Giannis has been doing
Speaker 2: this for the Bucks forever. It's like that defender that
Speaker 2: can like that can block shots at the rim, but
Speaker 2: also like get to the corner and kind of be
Speaker 2: in two places at once. It allows you to load
Speaker 2: up the strong side without leaving anything open. It's such
Speaker 2: a valuable archetype of player, and that's kind of what
Speaker 2: I see him being. But let's let's get Let's get
Speaker 2: one last thing with Alex card before we move on.
Speaker 2: Do you like his fit with Trey Young, Like if
Speaker 2: Atlanta were to keep the number one overall pick and
Speaker 2: take him, do you think he fits out well there
Speaker 2: with him functioning more as like a pick and roll.
Speaker 3: Big Yeah, I do. I like him functioning with Trey's
Speaker 3: a great pick and roll player. So to put a
Speaker 3: guy like Alex Saar with his versatility, being able to
Speaker 3: stretch the floor, being able to roll if that pick
Speaker 3: and roll is switched somehow from whoever's guarden trade, it
Speaker 3: just creates so many mismatch on opportunity, right, And then
Speaker 3: you know, having a guy like Clint Capella down there
Speaker 3: to protect the rim, only to have Alex Sar also
Speaker 3: helping you protect the rim, and that's just it's a
Speaker 3: lot of rim protection and the pain for them for
Speaker 3: a team that's not very very, very good on the
Speaker 3: perimeter defensively, right, And I think that's just valuable. But
Speaker 3: him and Trey Young together, like again, I think it's
Speaker 3: just it speaks to the versatility of what you can
Speaker 3: do with that pick and roll, all the creativity that
Speaker 3: you can have off of that pick and roll, off
Speaker 3: Alex is popping, if Trey is dragging his man out
Speaker 3: of Alex rowling, that they decide to switch, because so
Speaker 3: many teams switch pick and rolls, now someone's going to
Speaker 3: have to help. So I just think with Alex's versatility
Speaker 3: on the offensive end and the things that he's going
Speaker 3: to become, what he's going to become offensively because you
Speaker 3: can see it even when in women Yama, when he
Speaker 3: like from game one to Game eighty two was a
Speaker 3: total different Victor offensively, right, Like it was just a
Speaker 3: matter of reps and confidence and just getting to know
Speaker 3: the layer of the land in the NBA game. And
Speaker 3: I think that is what Alex can be.
Speaker 2: I think there's some cor Larry's two with Victor play
Speaker 2: in a year professionally against men and coming over and
Speaker 2: the same sort of thing with Alex that I think
Speaker 2: will help. Let's move on to Rob so has this
Speaker 2: super successful season at Kentucky. Like, I don't think people
Speaker 2: realize like how rare it is to have a guard
Speaker 2: be as efficient as he wasn't pick and roll, like,
Speaker 2: especially at the college level, because there's a lot of
Speaker 2: volume scoring guards at that level, but they're usually not
Speaker 2: super efficient. But like, he just had an awesome season
Speaker 2: at Kentucky. So, tell us a little bit about your
Speaker 2: experience with Rob Dealingham and like, were you surprised by
Speaker 2: his success at Kentucky at all?
Speaker 3: No, I was the biggest thing that surprised me was
Speaker 3: how well he accepted his role coming off the bench.
Speaker 3: Oh and and you know, I'm I think Cal Party
Speaker 3: that was a genius by him to bring him off
Speaker 3: the bench and allow Rob to be Rob.
Speaker 1: You know, he's not a guy.
Speaker 3: That he probably thought that like, he couldn't put him
Speaker 3: in the starting lineup with all of that, right, and
Speaker 3: he still be able to be him. But having a
Speaker 3: guy like Rob be your first player off the bench,
Speaker 3: that just it makes your team deeper, right, and you
Speaker 3: know him and Ree Sheppard running that second second unit.
Speaker 3: It's just it may be lethal actually surprising that they didn't,
Speaker 3: you know, go further in the tournament.
Speaker 1: That's a whole nother story.
Speaker 2: But dude from Oakland hitting all those threes.
Speaker 3: I think he I think he was great. I think
Speaker 3: when he came here, I don't know if Rob would
Speaker 3: have accepted that role as well as he did had
Speaker 3: he not come to Ote first, Like I just I
Speaker 3: just don't know if.
Speaker 1: He would have.
Speaker 3: He may have, but I don't I don't think he
Speaker 3: would have. And I think that speaks to the development
Speaker 3: piece that we do here. And it's like we were
Speaker 3: able to show Rob and kind of tame like the
Speaker 3: inefficiency right and help him to be more efficient. And
Speaker 3: then I think once he saw that, and once he
Speaker 3: start believing that, then he just became a different animal.
Speaker 1: Because you get a guy with that talent.
Speaker 3: That type of confidence, that type of shot making ability
Speaker 3: to also now be efficient in that, then it just
Speaker 3: makes you that much more dangerous. And I think that's
Speaker 3: what he turned into at Kentucky. And then, like I
Speaker 3: said earlier, he's probably the most confident player right now
Speaker 3: in the draft, Like Rob probably feels like he's you know,
Speaker 3: I'm sure he feels like he should go number one, right.
Speaker 1: That wouldn't not surprise me at all. So I'm very
Speaker 1: happy and excited for him to.
Speaker 2: Yeah, the role that he had at Kentucky is interesting
Speaker 2: to me because ironically, the player that he reminds me
Speaker 2: the most of when I watch him is Malik Monk
Speaker 2: in the sense that is like it's a lot of
Speaker 2: like start stop quickness, like really quick first step, deceptively
Speaker 2: super explosive too. He's that doesn't quite have the length
Speaker 2: that Malik had, but his play style kind of reminds
Speaker 2: me a lot of him. And and we've seen Malik
Speaker 2: turn into a super useful NBA player in a role
Speaker 2: in Sacramento where he kind of functions as the sixth man,
Speaker 2: but then will also close games of most of the time,
Speaker 2: just simply because like that dual dribble penetration of of
Speaker 2: dearon Fox and him just kind of makes everything work.
Speaker 2: And I mean, we've seen there's no shame in that
Speaker 2: type of role. I mean, just and his deal is
Speaker 2: is viewed generally as a discount around the league, and
Speaker 2: it's twenty million a year, you know what I mean.
Speaker 2: So like that, there's there's real value in that type
Speaker 2: of player. I think. I think one of the things too,
Speaker 2: is just that I think there's it's rare to find
Speaker 2: a combination of real downhill like beat people off the
Speaker 2: dribble quickness and lethal pull up shooting. Like most of
Speaker 2: the time you find one or the other, like this
Speaker 2: dude's a great pull up shooter, but just can't really
Speaker 2: beat people off the dribble, or this guy's great beating
Speaker 2: people off the dribble, but he's gotta suspect jump shot.
Speaker 2: And so that combination, I think those two things together
Speaker 2: are are gonna be really valuable. And then also like
Speaker 2: he was one of the deadliest spot up players in
Speaker 2: the league last year, like that that guy attacking closeouts,
Speaker 2: hitting threes off to move off to catch, Like he
Speaker 2: just has a real like kind of microwave offensive potential.
Speaker 2: And so let's just put it this way. Do you
Speaker 2: see his role in the NBA as being like a
Speaker 2: Malik Monk kind of like hybrid sixth man, fifth closer,
Speaker 2: or do you do you think he has the potential
Speaker 2: to play like a bigger role is more of like
Speaker 2: a starting point guard for an NBA team.
Speaker 3: I think that depends on what team he goes to, right, Like,
Speaker 3: It's just I've been hearing a lot about the Spurs
Speaker 3: and and and that thing. You know, they have some
Speaker 3: really good guards already there from what I watched this season.
Speaker 3: But I think also Great Popovich would be tremendous for
Speaker 3: Rob right because of his basketball mind and expertise and
Speaker 3: just not overall dollars of the game.
Speaker 1: I think Rob is more like you said that Malague.
Speaker 3: Monk, you know, lou Will Jamal Crawford type of guy
Speaker 3: who can be your immediate six man, like a fifth starter,
Speaker 3: you know, a a sixth starter rather and then like
Speaker 3: someone that can be in the game in the fourth
Speaker 3: quarter to help close. Like he's just that good offensively.
Speaker 3: I mean, you can't leave him open. You know, he's
Speaker 3: not a liability on the offense. You know, he plays
Speaker 3: out of pick and roll, he can handle the ball
Speaker 3: with when the team is pressing up the court.
Speaker 1: He makes free throws late in the game. I mean,
Speaker 1: I wouldn't have.
Speaker 3: Him on the bench in the fourth quarter, like if
Speaker 3: I was coaching the team, Like he certainly would be
Speaker 3: a valuable asset to any team that.
Speaker 1: He goes to.
Speaker 3: But certainly that six man role, and and and again,
Speaker 3: that sixth starter is someone to me who that's him,
Speaker 3: That's who he is.
Speaker 2: Well, and to your point, there's a reason why you
Speaker 2: do that. It's it's because at the beginning of the game,
Speaker 2: when let's say, like for let's just take the Kings
Speaker 2: for example, like they're flowing through Sabonis and Fox and
Speaker 2: you know, Keegan Murray and Kevin Herder and like the
Speaker 2: generally speaking, it makes sense for Malik to come in
Speaker 2: with that second unit and now he's running the show
Speaker 2: and he's being super aggressive, and then you can make
Speaker 2: a call at the end of the game if it
Speaker 2: makes sense for him to be out there like that.
Speaker 2: That legitimately is a very common NBA role at this point,
Speaker 2: Like how you start a game and how you finish
Speaker 2: a game are very different things. As far as the
Speaker 2: Spurs fit goes, I find it super fascinating just because
Speaker 2: like so like the downside, there's a couple downsides with Rob, right,
Speaker 2: it's he's a little undersized, and then there's the talk
Speaker 2: about his playmaking, which I want to get to in
Speaker 2: a minute, but with his size. One of the things
Speaker 2: with the NBA now is like a lot of the
Speaker 2: defensive guard position is about chasing over the top of
Speaker 2: screens and kind of just being a pest, which I
Speaker 2: actually think he can do pretty well. And what's fascinating
Speaker 2: about him with with when bin Yama is like to
Speaker 2: your point, like when you have that kind of length
Speaker 2: on the backside, it's like you were talking about the Hawks,
Speaker 2: like they have this weak perimitive personnel, but they've got
Speaker 2: what if they had like a too big look with
Speaker 2: all the size on the backside, Like I think, I
Speaker 2: think that a guy like Victor winbin Yama would give
Speaker 2: Rob Dillingham the best opportunity to be a functional defender.
Speaker 2: Because everyone talks about defense on an island. It's not
Speaker 2: on an island. It's a five man job. And so
Speaker 2: if you can create a role for him within a
Speaker 2: five man defensive job, he can be successful. So do
Speaker 2: you agree with me, do you think that Rob could
Speaker 2: be a sex a successful defender at the NBA level?
Speaker 1: I do.
Speaker 3: I mean, like, listen, he's gonna be tested, right because
Speaker 3: every everyone is, especially a guy that's that's that that
Speaker 3: with his size or lack thereof, like, he's.
Speaker 1: Gonna be tested.
Speaker 3: He's gonna have to guard some of the most skilled
Speaker 3: guards in the league, you know, because that's just what
Speaker 3: he's going to fall into. And even if they're not
Speaker 3: some of the top guards in the league, Like there's
Speaker 3: not a guy in the NBA that playing major minutes.
Speaker 1: It's just a bad player.
Speaker 3: Have to guard somebody like and even if even if
Speaker 3: even if you're not even assigned to guard a guy
Speaker 3: that gets the ball a lot, or a guy that's
Speaker 3: known to make plays. For instance, if he's guarden one
Speaker 3: night he has a guard, they put him on PJ.
Speaker 3: Tucker to try to quote unquote hide him. And that's
Speaker 3: no knock on PJ. They just people just don't run
Speaker 3: plays for PJ. Right, So if you put him on,
Speaker 3: say a PJ. Tucker, like those guards are gonna find you.
Speaker 3: That coach for that team is gonna find you. They're
Speaker 3: gonna run some sets to have PJ come set a
Speaker 3: screen to make you switch on to you know, a
Speaker 3: ball handling, you know, premier showcase guard.
Speaker 1: Like that's just what it is. Is.
Speaker 3: However, if you have a guy like women Yana behind
Speaker 3: you at the rim, like you have more confidence in
Speaker 3: your ability to be able to just kind of pressure
Speaker 3: the ball a little bit more knowing that he's your
Speaker 3: security blanket, you know. And besides that, since we're talking Spurs,
Speaker 3: like the Spurs have never been a horrible defensive team,
Speaker 3: like they they play defense. The foundation of what they're
Speaker 3: done and what they have been successful at is defense
Speaker 3: in Baltimore, and so those two, you know, that's if
Speaker 3: all those things are working well together, Like, he's not
Speaker 3: gonna be a guy that just constantly getting picked on.
Speaker 1: And even if he is.
Speaker 3: Again, like you have a seven foot whatever unicorn standing
Speaker 3: behind you at the rim, who who loves blocking shots
Speaker 3: so and not many people challenge him.
Speaker 1: We saw that last year.
Speaker 3: So guys almost have a layup and just decided, now
Speaker 3: I'm gonna just dribble this back out on the other side,
Speaker 3: so I think he'll be fine in that system. I
Speaker 3: think he'll be fine in any system. But I do
Speaker 3: believe the team that drafts him has to have some
Speaker 3: type of, you know, solid defensive foundation already, some guys
Speaker 3: who can guard hands, some rim protection, because you're gonna
Speaker 3: ask him to handle the ball a lot, you know,
Speaker 3: and make plays offensively, you know. And he's not the
Speaker 3: greatest defensive in the player in the world, but I
Speaker 3: think he's he's good enough to be able to guard
Speaker 3: guys in space and keep guys in front of him
Speaker 3: for you know, more than three to four seconds.
Speaker 2: He's active, and he's quick, and so like there's the
Speaker 2: ball pressure element, like when you when you when you're
Speaker 2: pressure in the ball, the risk is dribble penetration, right,
Speaker 2: but when you have victor behind you, you can kind
Speaker 2: of account for that. And then the other thing too,
Speaker 2: is like their scheme set up for this sort of thing,
Speaker 2: like they couldn't do it with Luca. I found this
Speaker 2: fascinating in the in the MAVs playoff run, because like
Speaker 2: they couldn't hedge and recover with Luca because Luca was
Speaker 2: too slow, right, So like the shooter would just get
Speaker 2: open in that sort of action, right, So like, especially
Speaker 2: in the Boston series, they were just cooking Luca by
Speaker 2: putting him in space. But like Rob is fast, So
Speaker 2: like Rob could throw a hedge and get back to
Speaker 2: a shooter and throw a good clothes out, you know
Speaker 2: what I mean. So like his quickness in his activity
Speaker 2: I think will will allow him to be a functioning part. Again,
Speaker 2: like to your point, never going to be like a lockdown,
Speaker 2: you know, Premiere, Like that's his job is to be
Speaker 2: a defensive player. No, But like can he be a
Speaker 2: functioning part of an NBA defense? I think he's capable
Speaker 2: of it. It's just gonna be a question of whether
Speaker 2: or not can build that out. So last piece before
Speaker 2: we move on to Tyler Smith. The second big kind
Speaker 2: of like criticism with Rob was just his willingness to
Speaker 2: function as a playmaker. And we saw a big leap
Speaker 2: in that department as he went to Kentucky. Just his
Speaker 2: willingness to put to make reads in ball screens, into
Speaker 2: trust his teammates and things like that. How was that
Speaker 2: part of his development when he was with Overtime Elite.
Speaker 1: I mean, listen, there, some guys aren't built to pass.
Speaker 2: That's the truth.
Speaker 3: Like I mean, like, like you don't Rob Dillingham in
Speaker 3: to lead your team and assists, Like that's just that's
Speaker 3: just not who he is.
Speaker 1: You know my.
Speaker 3: Uncle, you know, right, Dominique Wilkins, he wasn't. They didn't
Speaker 3: pay him to pass, like they didn't pay Michael Jordan
Speaker 3: to lead the team and assists. It's just some guys
Speaker 3: that just like even you you take even a elikue monk,
Speaker 3: like he didn't. He's not getting a new seventy eight
Speaker 3: million dollar contract right now because of his passion ability.
Speaker 3: And I think like what we do too often is
Speaker 3: we try to find things that we can criticize people
Speaker 3: on and say, well, we want he's not a he's
Speaker 3: not a playmaker.
Speaker 1: He doesn't.
Speaker 3: He doesn't get enough assists. But Rob makes the right
Speaker 3: plays for Robin's also, like everyone knows who Rob is.
Speaker 1: He's a scoring guard, you know. I mean I don't,
Speaker 1: I didn't.
Speaker 3: I haven't checked stats recently, But I don't know if
Speaker 3: Steph Curry leaves the Golden State and assists and you know,
Speaker 3: he's still a hell of a playmaker, right, I think
Speaker 3: it's ray mind if anyone, Like I don't know for sure,
Speaker 3: but I'd have to check it, but I mean, it's
Speaker 3: just some guys.
Speaker 1: Who, like you have to live with who they are.
Speaker 3: And hope that they get better as time goes on
Speaker 3: at things that you want them to get better at.
Speaker 3: Robins is going to always make the right play, But
Speaker 3: Robin's also to be the first option in Rob's mind,
Speaker 3: like he's.
Speaker 1: Coming off a screen looking to score.
Speaker 3: And if you work with any trainers or basketball be
Speaker 3: talked to any basketball players anywhere, Like the first thing
Speaker 3: that people tell you in a pick and roll is, hey,
Speaker 3: you're the first option. They go under that screen, that's
Speaker 3: a shot they get trailing your screen, get downhill and
Speaker 3: get to the basket if someone steps up past. Like,
Speaker 3: mind you just in that thing that I just described
Speaker 3: to you, the third thing I said was past you
Speaker 3: know what? So like, it's not a lot of like
Speaker 3: Rob is gonna be Rob. Rob is gonna make the
Speaker 3: right play. He's gonna always read, make the right read,
Speaker 3: and if someone is open, he's gonna give him the ball.
Speaker 3: But in Rob's mind, and I think in anyone who
Speaker 3: anyone who drafts him knows that in his mind, he's
Speaker 3: the first option when he has the ball because that's
Speaker 3: what you bring U Rob Dillingham in for. That's what
Speaker 3: you bring a Jamal Crawford to your team for it.
Speaker 3: That's what you bring a lot will to your team for.
Speaker 3: Not them say that those guys don't ever pass ball,
Speaker 3: because they did. However, they passed the ball when they
Speaker 3: drew two people on them, right, like like you're supposed to.
Speaker 3: You've done your job. I have two people on the ball,
Speaker 3: now I can pass it. I did my job.
Speaker 1: If it's me and you and I'm coaching, I like
Speaker 1: all three of those guys that I just main to
Speaker 1: take the shot or to make the play.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I have one hundred percent agree with you. Like
Speaker 2: if your score or your score, that's that is an
Speaker 2: important archetype of NBA player. Like I don't want Kevin
Speaker 2: Durant to just go out there and try to be Lebron.
Speaker 2: I don't want him to do that.
Speaker 1: I want him to go out there.
Speaker 2: And shoot the damn basketball right and like, like, honestly,
Speaker 2: the way you put it is perfect. It's more about
Speaker 2: just making reads in the sense that like one of
Speaker 2: the most common coverages we're seeing in the NBA now
Speaker 2: is that high drop coverage where they bring the big
Speaker 2: up to the level and they bring the low man over,
Speaker 2: and so there's either a pocket pass or a skip pass.
Speaker 2: And as long as he can get good at making
Speaker 2: that specific read, then he can function and pick and
Speaker 2: roll and find openings for himself. But THEO is like,
Speaker 2: if you shoot forty four percent from three and you
Speaker 2: get a look at it, we want you shooting the
Speaker 2: damn ball. We want you shooting because that's worth more
Speaker 2: points than us to driving and kicking to a lesser shooter,
Speaker 2: like and that that you need that alpha dog confidence,
Speaker 2: you need that unwavering faith in your game, and like, yeah,
Speaker 2: I agree with you. There's a there's a mandatory minimum
Speaker 2: amount of like being able to make the reads that
Speaker 2: you have to have. But I want to score to
Speaker 2: be a score, all right, So we're gonna we're gonna
Speaker 2: move on to Tyler Smith. I find him to be
Speaker 2: a super fascinating player because he's kind of like a
Speaker 2: tweener in the sense that he's like he's kind of
Speaker 2: like a little bit of an undersized big but he's
Speaker 2: kind of like a bigger forward. But I he's got
Speaker 2: like some legit face up games. He's good at, like
Speaker 2: like understanding angles and the pivots to get like easy
Speaker 2: hook shots and little finger rolls around the bass kind
Speaker 2: of kind of reminds me of some of your face
Speaker 2: up game back when you were playing too. To be honest,
Speaker 2: but like, I find him to be a fascinating player
Speaker 2: because in the modern NBA, like we talked about earlier,
Speaker 2: you kind of have these two bigs that are fromntioning
Speaker 2: is dribble handoff guys on both sides of the four.
Speaker 2: You get a lot of switches, and having a big
Speaker 2: guy that can like take a smaller player down to
Speaker 2: the block and get a bucket is actually a huge
Speaker 2: advantage in order to like it's a coverage beater. It's
Speaker 2: a if you in a switch, if you have the
Speaker 2: small guy guard go on to the screen, or you
Speaker 2: need him to go get a bucket. And so tell
Speaker 2: us a little bit about Tyler Smith and how you
Speaker 2: see him functioning as an NBA player.
Speaker 3: I think Tyler can be just as good as Michael
Speaker 3: Porter Jr. And I think he's a guy that can
Speaker 3: play some small ball four. I think he can play
Speaker 3: the three, and I also think depending on the matchup
Speaker 3: that you can put him at too. He can handle
Speaker 3: the ball. He can shoot the ball again. He's a
Speaker 3: versatile guy who's just super long. He shoots the ball
Speaker 3: at a hot clip, and he can make plays when
Speaker 3: he has the ball, like he rebounds and pushes, you know.
Speaker 1: Not you can't just leave.
Speaker 3: Him open to to, you know, to force him to misshots.
Speaker 3: He's not going to do that very often. I thought
Speaker 3: he's out the ball very well Big Nite on he
Speaker 3: shot the ball extremely well and finished up here shooting
Speaker 3: the ball very well before he left. But Tyler just
Speaker 3: continues to get better. He's one of those guys too
Speaker 3: that needed the weight room, and you can tell now
Speaker 3: that since he's been getting in and out of the
Speaker 3: weight rooms, his game is just kind of starting to
Speaker 3: blossom a little bit and he's starting to find his
Speaker 3: aggression level. Speaking of Sacramento, like that's the team I
Speaker 3: like him to go to because I would love to
Speaker 3: see him playing with those guys and and maybe him
Speaker 3: sometime at the four with Sabonus at the Vibe. You know,
Speaker 3: you got a guy who can bring those fours out
Speaker 3: of the paint, but also athletic enough to run with
Speaker 3: that team. Or you can bring him into the second
Speaker 3: unit with a Eligue Monk and have him in elite
Speaker 3: kind of just be the premier guys in that within
Speaker 3: that offense. Like he's just a cerebral, versatile guy who
Speaker 3: really is like a plug and play type of player
Speaker 3: because he just has all the those things. He's a
Speaker 3: jack of so many trades, and I don't I'm super
Speaker 3: excited to see where he goes and lands because I
Speaker 3: think he's one of the guys that I will call
Speaker 3: the sleeper in the draft.
Speaker 2: Well, that's the fun part about going in the late
Speaker 2: first round is you're going to go to a more
Speaker 2: developed team, like and you're gonna be given a small
Speaker 2: role that you can achieve in. It's it's it's always
Speaker 2: more fun to see that the draft prospects that kind
Speaker 2: of get an opportunity to go somewhere where they're on
Speaker 2: national TV more often and they're playing in bigger games,
Speaker 2: and that's how you get you know, Keegan Murray and
Speaker 2: and those guys getting those opportunities.
Speaker 1: Yeah, speaking.
Speaker 3: Like, I think this draft is full of those type
Speaker 3: of guys. The Keegan Murray's, the Jaden you know McDaniels,
Speaker 3: the PJ. Washington's of the world, the Derrick Whites, the
Speaker 3: Drew Hollidays, like guys that can come in and like
Speaker 3: the Medy and you know, guys who can help you
Speaker 3: win big games, not just regular season games, but will
Speaker 3: help you win big games. Like you saw that like
Speaker 3: this these playoffs that would be just witnessed was it
Speaker 3: was old players galore, like a lot of the stars
Speaker 3: they showed up. But like really, like those guys are
Speaker 3: just named the guys that was like helping teams win,
Speaker 3: you know, big games. And I think that's what this
Speaker 3: draft has a lot of. And I think that's what
Speaker 3: in particular that Tyler Smith can be.
Speaker 2: Yeah, this this draft doesn't have the major splashy like,
Speaker 2: oh my gosh, that's one of the greatest prospects in
Speaker 2: the history of basketball type of thing going on. But
Speaker 2: to your point, like those those fringe guys, those guys
Speaker 2: that just are really high level role players, they almost
Speaker 2: always end up being swing factors, Like we see playoff
Speaker 2: series swing on the third or fourth best player on
Speaker 2: the team all the time. You know what I mean,
Speaker 2: It's it's just so vitally important. I mean, you mentioned
Speaker 2: Michael Porter Junior earlier. I root for the Lakers. I
Speaker 2: got sick of watching him make every damn shot. He
Speaker 2: took that damn series of the first round right up.
Speaker 1: Why did so many people hate when he makes shots?
Speaker 2: Oh my gosh, man, I was so annoyed when he
Speaker 2: was missing against Minnesota. So I thought it was fascinating
Speaker 2: because when I was watching the film on Tyler Smith,
Speaker 2: he did he was getting pushed off his spot a
Speaker 2: little bit. So he's been putting in a lot of
Speaker 2: work behind the scenes to bulk up.
Speaker 1: Yes, he has has been in the weight room a
Speaker 1: lot of things.
Speaker 3: That's been one of his biggest emphasis over the summer,
Speaker 3: and I know it was when in his last year here,
Speaker 3: you know, trying to be stronger, getting stronger, being able
Speaker 3: to not being pushed off his spot when he's attacked
Speaker 3: the basket, not being bumped off his drive, things of
Speaker 3: that nature. Because he's gonna have to be a guy
Speaker 3: who can score at four levels with his size, his versatility,
Speaker 3: his footwork and handle. He's a guy that like they're
Speaker 3: gonna rely on him. I believe people are going to
Speaker 3: rely on him and asks of him to be able
Speaker 3: to be a guy that can score the rim, scored
Speaker 3: the free throw line, scoring the mid ranging post, and
Speaker 3: then a shoot three. So the weight room is going
Speaker 3: to be very vital to his development. I continue telling
Speaker 3: him that I hope he's listening.
Speaker 1: I heard you. For his sake. I think he'll get it.
Speaker 2: I believe so as well. And again, like his his
Speaker 2: his archetype, which is kind of like that matchup attacking
Speaker 2: forward that can also shoot the ball, I think is
Speaker 2: one of the most valuable archetypes that we see around
Speaker 2: the league right now. And I think that there's a
Speaker 2: lot of opportunity for guys like him to make good
Speaker 2: money in the league if they put the work in
Speaker 2: behind the scenes. All right, before we get out of here,
Speaker 2: I had talked to you before we started the show.
Speaker 2: This is something that's been really fascinating to me over
Speaker 2: the course the last couple of years. And you are
Speaker 2: very deeply entrenched in player development here in the US,
Speaker 2: and obviously you've worked with players from overseas as well.
Speaker 2: But as we know, if we were ranking the top
Speaker 2: players in the league right now, you're probably going Jokic one.
Speaker 2: You're probably putting Luca up there, You're putting Giannis up there,
Speaker 2: You're putting like the American guys that are up there
Speaker 2: are like Tatum, You know, Anthony Edwards is on the rise,
Speaker 2: but I'm not sure he's there yet. And then there's
Speaker 2: this KD, Lebron Steph group which is kind of tailing out.
Speaker 2: So let me just let's let's start here. Actually, do
Speaker 2: you do you agree that the majority of the top
Speaker 2: players in the league are from overseas or do you
Speaker 2: think the American players are underrated right now?
Speaker 1: That's a really good question.
Speaker 3: I mean, just if I think about, like who I
Speaker 3: think the top players in the NBA are right now,
Speaker 3: I mean, to me, Luca Is is arguably the best
Speaker 3: player in the league, right like Joka follows by, you know,
Speaker 3: i'd say Joka, but like that's two guys, you know.
Speaker 3: And then like in no particular order, I gotta throw
Speaker 3: Jaylen Brown in there, Anthony Edwards in there, I gotta
Speaker 3: throw Lebron and they I gotta throw Stephan there. I
Speaker 3: gotta throw KD in there, I gotta Devin Booker in there.
Speaker 3: I gotta you know, throw I mean, shoot, you got
Speaker 3: Yannis too, I mean, but he's not even like I mean,
Speaker 3: I just I still think.
Speaker 1: You gotta go through us. But I do believe.
Speaker 3: That, you know, international basketball players have gotten exponentially better,
Speaker 3: and quite frankly, like that has a lot to do
Speaker 3: with how they've come up. Like Luca ben has been
Speaker 3: a pro since he was fourteen, you know, and you
Speaker 3: know he's been playing with grown men, you know, since
Speaker 3: he was you know, before he could drive. And that
Speaker 3: system that that that ecosystem that they're in and and
Speaker 3: and the way that they go about doing it, it's
Speaker 3: similar to how we do things here at OTE.
Speaker 1: It's basketball, basketball, basketball and everything else. You know.
Speaker 3: That's not to mention, that's not to say that all
Speaker 3: the things that everything else are less important, right because
Speaker 3: academics are important, right, Like those things are important.
Speaker 1: However, it's like let's be efficient with it. And I
Speaker 1: think that's what we've done.
Speaker 3: We kind of you know, copy that model in a sense, right,
Speaker 3: Like they're like, let's just cut out all the fluff,
Speaker 3: focus on the most important things that are that everything else.
Speaker 1: But focus on basketball.
Speaker 3: You go to a regular high school here in America,
Speaker 3: as you know, it's like you're in school for eight
Speaker 3: hours a day. You're sitting in classes, and half of
Speaker 3: those classes you're not even gonna need or use the
Speaker 3: stuff from it, right, That's the first thing. And then
Speaker 3: you know, you get out of school and you can't
Speaker 3: use the gym because the volleyball team is it's their season,
Speaker 3: you know, or wrestling or you know, cheerleading or whatever
Speaker 3: the case may be. So you don't have access to
Speaker 3: a gym. And by the time you do get access
Speaker 3: to a gym, your brain is fried. And so it's
Speaker 3: the mind in your body is just tired, so you
Speaker 3: don't you may not work as hard that day as
Speaker 3: you would in a normal day.
Speaker 1: Where you have access to a gym.
Speaker 3: Us we give our guys access us to a gym
Speaker 3: until about midnight, and their focus is on basketball player development,
Speaker 3: getting bigger, getting stronger, getting faster, all of those things.
Speaker 1: Most of their day that's taken up of those things.
Speaker 3: So I think that international players, I don't think it's
Speaker 3: that they just it's just more talent over there there.
Speaker 3: It is a lot of talent internationally, and I respect
Speaker 3: and appreciate that talent. But I also think they just
Speaker 3: have a system that's caught up to us now because
Speaker 3: they like that system. Now you're starting to see that
Speaker 3: that system has worked. Right, Like Luca at fourteen wouldn't
Speaker 3: have been Luca who he is now.
Speaker 1: Him at fourteen.
Speaker 3: He just stayed in that type of system every day
Speaker 3: those years prior to coming over here, and you're just
Speaker 3: seeing the I guess, the benefits of that work that
Speaker 3: he put in back then. Right, Like he was built
Speaker 3: to play professional basketball. He was prepared for it at
Speaker 3: such a young age. And I think that's the model
Speaker 3: that we're using. We're preparing our guys to be leaps
Speaker 3: and bounds above the rest of the guys that's coming
Speaker 3: in even in college, Like you get twenty hours a
Speaker 3: week or something like that prior to the season start.
Speaker 3: We have no cap on, you know, the work or
Speaker 3: the time that our guys can put in in our building. Right,
Speaker 3: Like you can go it's like you're at twenty hours
Speaker 3: by Wednesday, you know what I mean. So it's like
Speaker 3: it's just a matter of the time that you get
Speaker 3: to put in. Those guys aren't internationally just born right
Speaker 3: Luka Donchets.
Speaker 1: They worked that. They work to become that.
Speaker 3: Like obviously, yeah, God sprinkled a little extra on him.
Speaker 1: They worked to be that. Can you imagine Anthony Edwards.
Speaker 3: In HOTE system from the time that he was a freshman,
Speaker 3: I mean, he was already a monster as a high
Speaker 3: school player, whole body developed, super athletics, strong, super talented.
Speaker 3: But you take all of that and you give our
Speaker 3: system to that, and you mix his skill level with that,
Speaker 3: I mean he would be leaps and bounds above how
Speaker 3: good he is right now. So I just think it's
Speaker 3: a matter of accessibility, and I think it's a matter
Speaker 3: of just the opportunity and the time that you have
Speaker 3: to work on your game. But the international game is
Speaker 3: certainly on the way. I looked at the teams they
Speaker 3: showed the graphic ESPN show the graphic of the teams
Speaker 3: on social media, like the Olympic teams, and like, it's
Speaker 3: so many NBA guys on different Olympic teams that it's like, shit,
Speaker 3: like this is gonna be. It's gonna be, it's gonna
Speaker 3: be tough, you know, Olympic run for our for our team.
Speaker 3: But then I look at our.
Speaker 2: Team and I'm like, our team is ridiculous.
Speaker 3: The USA team is stacked, so it's like you have
Speaker 3: to be all twelve of those guys, you know, whereas
Speaker 3: Canada has three guys from the NBA, Like, of course
Speaker 3: they probably have some other guys that are just are good.
Speaker 3: I'm sure, but you know, in terms of pinnacle of basketball,
Speaker 3: they have, you know, I think it's three guys like
Speaker 3: you know, yeah, Shaye, you gotta Jamal Murray, Paul Murray,
Speaker 3: you have RJ.
Speaker 2: Barrett, Dylks, I think that Brooks.
Speaker 1: You know, four guys, Dylan Brooks.
Speaker 3: So that's four guys right who one of them is
Speaker 3: want and a half superstars. You have Shae who come
Speaker 3: on his way to being that, and then you know
Speaker 3: Jamal Jamal Murray who is missed the playoffs. You know,
Speaker 3: those are the two guys. They're they're NBA role players
Speaker 3: and I have a ton of respect for both of
Speaker 3: their games.
Speaker 1: But like our team.
Speaker 3: Has twelve legitimate stars, you know what I mean, It's
Speaker 3: like that's gonna be hard to be So I think
Speaker 3: we we we're certainly right there, and I think I
Speaker 3: think still in the conversations as the best. But the
Speaker 3: international guys was certainly, you know, neck and neck with us,
Speaker 3: and they figured out the platform to be able to
Speaker 3: get themselves and make themselves, you know, extremely prepared for
Speaker 3: NBA basketball.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think the I think there's still a massive
Speaker 2: gap between the US and all of the other countries individually,
Speaker 2: but I do think you could say us versus the
Speaker 2: world has gotten close, if not the world has taken
Speaker 2: over because of those.
Speaker 1: Times that gap business wide anymore.
Speaker 2: Yeah, And I'm actually really glad I asked you because
Speaker 2: you brought up something that I hadn't even thought about,
Speaker 2: which is just like availability of resources. Because I coach
Speaker 2: at the high school level here in Tucson, getting the
Speaker 2: gym is such a pain in the ass, Like just
Speaker 2: getting access to the gym is such a pain, and
Speaker 2: like most of the time I have to go up
Speaker 2: there super early in the morning and ask the kids
Speaker 2: to come in before school to get extra skill reps
Speaker 2: in because you're fighting with the volleyball team or or
Speaker 2: whoever it is. That's even the football team now in Arizona.
Speaker 2: Because it's so hot here in Arizona, the football team
Speaker 2: will use the gym for their walk through. I'm like,
Speaker 2: what are we even doing here? These are basketball courts. Like,
Speaker 2: so it's there's definitely something to be said about Luca
Speaker 2: from age fourteen being in a professional program and just
Speaker 2: like learning how to play as a professional through that
Speaker 2: entire process, and it just accelerates the entire thing. And
Speaker 2: I mean to put it even further, like I agree
Speaker 2: with you in the sense that I think the US
Speaker 2: is bad and hopefully over time Elite will help address
Speaker 2: this problem. But like we're bad at like identifying who
Speaker 2: our prodigies are and like pulling them out of that
Speaker 2: stupid high school system and putting them into a more
Speaker 2: defined professional basketball type of system. Because that's the thing.
Speaker 3: Too, not about the prospect here overseas internationally, it's about
Speaker 3: the prospect, and it's about what's best for the prospect.
Speaker 1: Here, it's about what's best.
Speaker 3: For the agent, the parent, the advisor, the coach, and
Speaker 3: everyone that's around them right internationally is selfless.
Speaker 1: They're like, no, go represent us right here.
Speaker 3: We're like, no, I have to keep you with me
Speaker 3: so I can get something out of that, like and
Speaker 3: and too often that's I think that's what we do.
Speaker 3: Like it's teams that we tried to schedule to play
Speaker 3: us here at OTE that won't play us because their
Speaker 3: coaches are saying to us, we can't bring our players
Speaker 3: in you guys building, because they're gonna like it too
Speaker 3: much and then we'll lose them. Well, you want the player,
Speaker 3: what what is it, Matt? But it is better for
Speaker 3: the kid exactly because I think I feel like if
Speaker 3: Duke called said coach and said, hey, we have a
Speaker 3: head coaching job for you right now, you can be
Speaker 3: the head coach of Duke University, that coach wouldn't hesitate
Speaker 3: to take that deal or take that offer. But that's
Speaker 3: the thing we we We we act like as if
Speaker 3: we own players here, like like, no, it's my player,
Speaker 3: so he has to do everything with me so I
Speaker 3: can get something out of it, as opposed to like
Speaker 3: Lucas Slovenia, They're like, no, go represent us, Go be
Speaker 3: the best player in the NBA. Go compete for that,
Speaker 3: so we can be proud of that, right Like, And
Speaker 3: it's it's that that's a that's a large piece to
Speaker 3: it that I just never will be able to wrap
Speaker 3: my hands around my son, for instance, right he's just
Speaker 3: turned sixteen years old.
Speaker 1: The freshman he was.
Speaker 3: He's here at OTE and just finished up his first
Speaker 3: year here though Toe and ended up being a starter
Speaker 3: for half the season and all of the playoffs. Youngest
Speaker 3: guy we've ever had start in Ote. Like I could
Speaker 3: have easily been like, no, I want you to stay
Speaker 3: in normal high school and be the man and get
Speaker 3: all this notoriety and attention and all of that, but
Speaker 3: like no, like let's let's delay all that. Do what's
Speaker 3: best for you now. So then by the time, like
Speaker 3: you can, you will get exponentially better here competing against
Speaker 3: these guys every day, and then by the time you're
Speaker 3: a senior, you know, the show could be yours. So
Speaker 3: like that's the selflessness, right, It's like give up, give
Speaker 3: up that instant thing with that big fish, small pond mentality,
Speaker 3: and go be a part of something bigger that can
Speaker 3: help you in turn be a whole.
Speaker 1: Lot more better.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and you got to learn how to play with
Speaker 2: and against really good basketball players, and so like putting
Speaker 2: them in an environment like that, that's the advantage with
Speaker 2: Luca going and playing with pros at fourteen, like because
Speaker 2: if you had to for me, like, I find it
Speaker 2: fascinating because I think our skill development in the US
Speaker 2: is great, Like we are obsessed with skill development. We
Speaker 2: produce so many guys who can dribble and shoot at
Speaker 2: a high level, but I think the ability to play
Speaker 2: with people is lacking a little bit in our American
Speaker 2: basketball player development because of that, Like guys run off
Speaker 2: to their AAU team and average thirty five points a
Speaker 2: game on twenty five shots a game, and they don't
Speaker 2: know how to play alongside other really good players like
Speaker 2: you have to. You have to be able to function
Speaker 2: next to good players, because that's what Division one basketball
Speaker 2: is like. That is what playing overseas is like. That
Speaker 2: is what playing in the NBA is like. And I
Speaker 2: could I could sit here and complain about AAU basketball
Speaker 2: and different things like that all day long, but I'm
Speaker 2: gonna I'm gonna save your time. Uh, Damien, I sincerely
Speaker 2: appreciate you taking the time to come hang out with
Speaker 2: us for a little bit. Is there anything else you
Speaker 2: wanted to shout out before we got out of here today?
Speaker 3: No, just man, just excited for our guys alumni. That's
Speaker 3: in a couple of days. I'm just super excited for
Speaker 3: those guys and and and and looking forward to seeing
Speaker 3: you know, where they go, you know, and how well
Speaker 3: and just ready to go.
Speaker 2: Yeah, we're gonna know a lot more here in a
Speaker 2: couple of days. It's I can't believe it's right around
Speaker 2: the corner. Feels like the finals. Just end it all right,
Speaker 2: That's all we have for today, Damian, thanks again for
Speaker 2: coming to hang out. That's all we got. Guys. We're
Speaker 2: gonna be back tomorrow morning with Sam Bassini from The
Speaker 2: Athletic to look at the rest of the first round
Speaker 2: of the NBA Draft. I will see you guys.
Speaker 1: Then the volume