Speaker 1: If you're tuned into Heat Check with Trista Quick.
Speaker 2: On this bonus episode of the Heat Check, We've got
Speaker 2: a special guest today, Jeff Goodman, basketball analyst at Stadium,
Speaker 2: noted college hoops specialist. He dropped by the show BETMGM
Speaker 2: tonight broke down his favorite picks in the upcoming draft.
Speaker 2: Really really good stuff. As always, Jeff killed it. So
Speaker 2: let's get right into it and let's drop that beat.
Speaker 2: We start off by asking Jeff his general thoughts about
Speaker 2: the draft. They are funny, and then to break down
Speaker 2: the three, four, five, and six picks. Very fascinating to
Speaker 2: hear Jeff breakdown the players that he's been seeing since
Speaker 2: they were fourteen years old. What's up, Hub, It's time
Speaker 2: to talk to our favorite college basketball expert.
Speaker 1: I appreciate that, Trista.
Speaker 3: You know, if you're looking for rate info, Yeah, who's
Speaker 3: gonna take Like nobody knew.
Speaker 1: I mean these mock drafts. I tweeted it the other day.
Speaker 3: I'm like, I want to know because I've done them
Speaker 3: for years and I actually didn't do one this year
Speaker 3: because you can't, like, I know, I'm plugged in with
Speaker 3: all these NBA guys. They're still gonna gonna lie to you.
Speaker 3: They want certain things out there. Remember the Polo Jabari
Speaker 3: Smith thing last year on Wednesday and Thursday leading up
Speaker 3: to the draft, and what a mess that was for Betters.
Speaker 3: I mean that thing was out of control. I've never
Speaker 3: seen anything like it. I think we may get something
Speaker 3: similar with the number two pick this year. If Charlotte's smart,
Speaker 3: that's what they're doing. Find the media person who is
Speaker 3: dumb enough to put out.
Speaker 1: Whatever you tell them. That's what it's all about.
Speaker 2: Yeah, no doubt. I'm curious outside of the number two
Speaker 2: and number three pick. I'm really curious about sort of four, five,
Speaker 2: six and how much disparity there really is, in your
Speaker 2: opinion between the Thompson twins and Acer versus Cam Whitmore.
Speaker 2: Because I could see Cam Whitmore going four. I could
Speaker 2: see Portland maybe doing something really crazy because they worked
Speaker 2: him out. But like, in terms of what you see
Speaker 2: with your eyes and what you know about prospects and
Speaker 2: how they translate to the NBA, can you compare just
Speaker 2: the disparity between those three.
Speaker 3: It's hard because again us are and a man are
Speaker 3: freak athletes. We know that who have played in overtime elite,
Speaker 3: which you know, again, that's all they're doing. All they're
Speaker 3: doing is working on their game all year, right, and
Speaker 3: they're shooting. They've been there for two years now, two years.
Speaker 3: They came there as sub par shooters and they're going
Speaker 3: to lead there as sub par shooters. So that scares
Speaker 3: the hell out of me, to be honest. Where Cam Whitmore,
Speaker 3: he was hurt prior to the season at Villanova. He
Speaker 3: didn't shoot it great, but he had his moments where
Speaker 3: he shot it fairly well, I think. And the other
Speaker 3: part that scares me with the Thompsons wins, you know,
Speaker 3: I talked to Dave Lado, who coached him former college coach,
Speaker 3: and he said, these dudes, we have to like literally
Speaker 3: kick him out of the gym. They want to be
Speaker 3: in the gym all day, all night. That's all they
Speaker 3: care about. So that scares me too. They're in the
Speaker 3: gym all the time working on their shot and it's
Speaker 3: not gotten significantly better. Again, great athletes, but in this
Speaker 3: day and age, in this NBA, if you can't shoot,
Speaker 3: you better do something at an elite level besides.
Speaker 1: Run and jump up.
Speaker 2: Next, I had ask Jeff about the number two pick
Speaker 2: as well, then follow up with a breakdown on two
Speaker 2: high risk, high reward picks, Kentucky's case and Wallace in
Speaker 2: Arkansas's Nick Smith.
Speaker 3: Yeah, they're just completely different players, right. Scoot is kind
Speaker 3: of a Derrick Rose type of player. Big, strong, athletic,
Speaker 3: has a gear to him, can pass, can make people
Speaker 3: better within the G League last couple of years, Brandon
Speaker 3: Miller kind of the new Age, you know what everybody
Speaker 3: wants in the NBA, that multi dimensional, versatile forward who
Speaker 3: shot the hell out of it for the first two
Speaker 3: thirds of the season and then really struggled shooting the
Speaker 3: ball the last third of the year.
Speaker 1: And I don't care about the off the court stuff.
Speaker 1: I really don't.
Speaker 3: I don't think it's that I sat down with Brandon
Speaker 3: Miller for like an hour in Portland, Oregon, and spent
Speaker 3: an hour plus with his family. Seem like really really good,
Speaker 3: high character people. I know, you know, people are gonna
Speaker 3: push back on me for that with the incident, but
Speaker 3: I keep going back to, hey, listen, I'm not a
Speaker 3: gun owner, and if somebody said to me, you know what,
Speaker 3: I left my gun in the back seat.
Speaker 1: Of the car, what would you do.
Speaker 3: I get that gun the hell out of my back seat. However,
Speaker 3: whether it's throwing it in a ditch, whether it's getting
Speaker 3: it to the owner of the gun, but it's not
Speaker 3: staying in the back seat in my car. So again,
Speaker 3: I think we were quick to judge, or a lot
Speaker 3: of people were quick to judge Brandon Miller when I
Speaker 3: don't know if he got a fair shake and everything.
Speaker 3: Did he make a bad decision?
Speaker 1: Absolutely? Can he really play? Absolutely?
Speaker 2: Yeah. I'm really curious to Jeff about case and Wallace.
Speaker 2: It feels like, you know, Kentucky players at the NBA level,
Speaker 2: they just deliver and they're constantly undervalued in said draft.
Speaker 2: What can caseon Wallace be to you?
Speaker 1: No, I'm with you.
Speaker 3: I'm with you one hundred percent on this one. Trist
Speaker 3: I think he's terrific. He's just he's a bulldog guard
Speaker 3: is what he is. Number one, He's an elite defender.
Speaker 3: He plays so hard, so tough. In fact, like that's
Speaker 3: why he was injured a lot of this year. It
Speaker 3: was just he played, he went too hard. Where to
Speaker 3: me the other thing, not a great shooter came out
Speaker 3: of the gate, shot it better than we thought from three,
Speaker 3: But I thought he was a much better point guard
Speaker 3: in terms of running the team than I thought he
Speaker 3: was when I saw him in the AU Circut a
Speaker 3: couple of years ago. So I'm a big believer in
Speaker 3: Cason Wallace. You don't need listen, there aren't traditional point
Speaker 3: guards more anyway, we know that, like how many are there,
Speaker 3: they just don't really exist. Lonzo Ball might be like
Speaker 3: the last of the Mohegans, Like, honestly, who else, who
Speaker 3: else is there that really makes people better consistently anymore
Speaker 3: in the NBA, Like it's Lonzo and now obviously he's hurting.
Speaker 3: Who knows what he'll be in the future. So I
Speaker 3: think to me, Cason Wallace can be a really really
Speaker 3: good point guard in the NBA and a guy who's
Speaker 3: a two way player.
Speaker 2: Following back up on point guards, Nick Smith will be
Speaker 2: the first number one high school to college draft prospect
Speaker 2: to not be in the top five. He's now getting
Speaker 2: mocked around twenty twenty in the twenties, like, is there
Speaker 2: a possibility that you know, this is all smoking mirrors
Speaker 2: and maybe he'll move up in the draft because someone says, well,
Speaker 2: it was really his knee that blew up at Arkansas,
Speaker 2: or do you think he's like the fourth or fifth
Speaker 2: point guard taken, so I think.
Speaker 1: He's more of a two.
Speaker 3: First of all, we didn't really see him at Arkansas
Speaker 3: because he was hurt all year. Again, I saw him
Speaker 3: in AAU ball and I loved him. I thought he
Speaker 3: was a three level scorer, good size for the two.
Speaker 3: You know two garbegses six'. Five he just never showed
Speaker 3: any bursts this past year because he was hurt going
Speaker 3: into the. Year then he, remember he shut it, down
Speaker 3: went out To, california rehapped out. There arkansas didn't think
Speaker 3: he was ever going to come. Back he came, back
Speaker 3: WHICH i, thought honestly showed a lot about his. Character
Speaker 3: most guys would have shut it, down and instead he
Speaker 3: came back and. Finished he didn't finish, strong but he
Speaker 3: finished With arkansas and tried to help him win. AGAIN
Speaker 3: i think you're buying so low With Nick smith if
Speaker 3: you're getting him at anywhere between fifteen and, TWENTY i, love,
Speaker 3: love love that.
Speaker 2: Pick we then Asked jeff to break down three other
Speaker 2: fascinating Players Kobe, Buffkin Jordan, hawkins and one of them
Speaker 2: were polarizing high, end could be a top ten. Talent Grady.
Speaker 2: Dick once again The insight he's. Amazing jeff always blesses.
Speaker 2: Us so listen.
Speaker 1: CAREFULLY i, do because, again he shot it really.
Speaker 3: Well he didn't do anything in the first half of the,
Speaker 3: year really, struggled but second half of the year he was.
Speaker 3: Terrific he just fits what you want right, now and
Speaker 3: again in a wing, player right he can shoot, it
Speaker 3: he can get to the, basket he's, athletic got good
Speaker 3: size for his. Position SO i Think buffkins Wont and,
Speaker 3: honestly it's kind of what have you done for me? Lately,
Speaker 3: Right like people forget it doesn't matter what you did
Speaker 3: early in the. Year it matters kind of how you,
Speaker 3: progressed and sometimes you want those like lower expectations early
Speaker 3: and then you exceed rather than obviously the flip, side.
Speaker 1: What About Jordan hawkins so well in lack of ability to, Dribble,
Speaker 1: yeah he doesn't help.
Speaker 3: Helpful, yeah, also but what he can, Do like you,
Speaker 3: SAID i think he's the second best shooter in the.
Speaker 3: DRAFT i Think Grady dick is the best. Shooter he
Speaker 3: shot forty percent from three as a. Freshman hawkins was
Speaker 3: really good this, year but AGAIN i Think hawkins is
Speaker 3: more limited. Offensively Grady dick to, me deceptive, athlete great,
Speaker 3: size six.' eight so those two guys we talked about, it,
Speaker 3: earlier Right The thompson twins can't, Really shoot scoot can't,
Speaker 3: Really Shoot anthony black can't. Really shoot you got a
Speaker 3: lot of those guys that you were, talking about whitmore
Speaker 3: in that like four three to. Eight range can One
Speaker 3: Of grady Dick Or jordan hopkins move up because? Of,
Speaker 3: that right because of their ability to. SHOOT it i
Speaker 3: could see one of those guys being reaches and it
Speaker 3: Might Be. GRADY dick, I mean i, JUST again i
Speaker 3: think his potential because he's more than Just A. Kyle
Speaker 3: korver he is a guy who could put him the
Speaker 3: Floor some he's not a. LIABILITY defensively i think he's
Speaker 3: one of those guys that you put him with the
Speaker 3: right group man.
Speaker 1: And the other part. With him he can go over twelve,
Speaker 1: From three he's still gonna.
Speaker 3: Shoot it like he's just, like this like doesn't show,
Speaker 3: any emotion doesn't.
Speaker 1: Get.
Speaker 2: RATTLED yeah i was just about to ask you about
Speaker 2: THAT because i think in the beginning of the college
Speaker 2: basketball season, you said for sure. Lottery pick now do
Speaker 2: you think he's a top ten guy because his numbers
Speaker 2: ten and a Half and i've Even seen orlando may
Speaker 2: be reaching for him at six if they don't think
Speaker 2: that they can get him. At eleven and, then also
Speaker 2: what do you think his player comp upside?
Speaker 1: Would, BE yeah i could see. Him GOING like i
Speaker 1: said in the, FIRST ten i. Really could.
Speaker 3: You, KNOW again i just think teams value shooting so heavily,
Speaker 3: right now and they should when. You watch, you Know
Speaker 3: the nuggets win at all and They Got jamal murray
Speaker 3: who can.
Speaker 1: Shoot it And My.
Speaker 3: Keel porter's spacing the court even though he didn't make
Speaker 3: shouts for the first few games in. The series HIS
Speaker 3: comp i, MEAN again i think his Floor Is kyle
Speaker 3: KORP but i think he's better.
Speaker 1: Than that he's, YOU know jj.
Speaker 3: Reddick ish but again he's six.', eight guys yeah that's the.
Speaker 1: Thing about him, he's six. Eight two guards his.
Speaker 2: Ceiling is his Ceiling A Healthy. Michael, PORTER jr.
Speaker 1: Yeah i mean i'm Trying to think i've seen both. For,
Speaker 1: SO long, YEAH i mean i Actually. SHE liked, PORTER
Speaker 1: i Mean. I like grady the One thing with porter
Speaker 1: that always scares me every year. Is the injuries like
Speaker 1: he's just he made it. Through this year but the
Speaker 1: injuries always are going to. Be A Factor, with michael
Speaker 1: porter if he can get through you, know a Year
Speaker 1: you're like and, again they're similar and they.
Speaker 3: Can both be like. YOUR third guy. I don't think
Speaker 3: I Don't think grady dick can be. More than that
Speaker 3: but if you have two, Dudes Around him grady dick
Speaker 3: can be, that third guy and he just SPACES it
Speaker 3: and i actually think he might be able to put
Speaker 3: it on the Floor Better than.
Speaker 2: Michael porter junior who is the best BIG in. This
Speaker 2: nba draft It's Not. Named victor wanbiyama you will be.
Speaker 2: Stunned his answer. He Nailed.
Speaker 1: It, Derek LIVELY wow See I.
Speaker 2: Like.
Speaker 3: Derek lively again you GOT to remember i saw a
Speaker 3: lot of these GUYS in the au circuit where they're
Speaker 3: allowed to do more than they, were IN college And
Speaker 3: I saw derek.
Speaker 1: Lively making THREES.
Speaker 3: Guess so i Also Saw the duke carolina game at
Speaker 3: camera when he blocked. Like Every shot every baycot. Was
Speaker 3: swallowed Up everybody on carolina couldn't get. Their shot off
Speaker 3: he had like four points and ten blocks and altered
Speaker 3: about fifteen others and. Dominated the, game BUT again what
Speaker 3: I Saw of derek lively was somebody that can, make
Speaker 3: you know thirty three thirty five percent from three if he.
Speaker 3: Works AT it So i think lively he runs, like
Speaker 3: a deer he blocks, an altered, Shots long athletic he'll
Speaker 3: be able to put on some weight and again better
Speaker 3: offensively than people have.
Speaker 2: Seen, so far Yeah We saw walker kessler really light
Speaker 2: things up offensively in a way that. We didn't see
Speaker 2: Do You think derek lively could sneak into? The top
Speaker 2: ten it's plus two twenty, five for him and all
Speaker 2: the buzz is about him rising up. THE draft.
Speaker 1: BOARDS i. Do i do but again, we say that,
Speaker 1: and it's, like all right? Who's, gonna fall right that's.
Speaker 3: The, big thing right who you know are One of the?
Speaker 3: Thompson's gonna fall is the? Sarre gonna?
Speaker 1: Fall? That far?
Speaker 3: IS you know i, mean To Me like jaris walker
Speaker 3: is one. Of those guys maybe he falls a little
Speaker 3: bit because he doesn't do any. One thing spectacular he's a,
Speaker 3: very good athlete but not. An elite athlete he's, a
Speaker 3: good shooter not, a great shooter, very good, defender good
Speaker 3: passer he, does everything, well but like could he be
Speaker 3: that guy that kind of slips a little bit because
Speaker 3: you know some of these, other guys again like They
Speaker 3: Do want brady dick does one thing elite and the.
Speaker 3: Shoot the basketball you just don't find guys. At That
Speaker 3: size derek lively is kind of your your prototypical big
Speaker 3: that you, want, these days, right super athletics super long can.
Speaker 1: Run the court you know you, can play him you.
Speaker 1: Know you can.
Speaker 3: Honestly he can he can guard so many different positions
Speaker 3: and switch on so. Many, DIFFERENT players yeah i, Think, YOU.
Speaker 1: Know yeah i. COULD see it i. Could.
Speaker 2: See it guys that's all the time that we have
Speaker 2: for this bonus Episode Of. The heat check Many Thanks,
Speaker 2: to jeff goodman who is always great Follow him on
Speaker 2: Twitter And. At goodman hoops the interview as always CONDUCTED on.
Speaker 2: Bet mgm tonight many thanks to My Co host ryan
Speaker 2: horvalt you can hear throughout, the bonus episodes And My.
Speaker 2: Producer scott linn do not, forget, to, download subscribe like tell,
Speaker 2: all your friends rate review every single, one of them
Speaker 2: and follow us on social At this heat check And
Speaker 2: atris to, Crick on TikTok. Instagram and twitter we'll see,
Speaker 2: you next time and make sure. You stick around for
Speaker 2: more bonus, episodes to come the entire draft week