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Speaker 1: to Who's Tonight presented by FanDuel here at the volume.
Speaker 1: Happy Thursday. Everybody, congrats on almost making it to the weekend.
Speaker 1: We're gonna be covering the NBA Draft tonight. Stick around
Speaker 1: for the second half of the show. I'm gonna be
Speaker 1: giving you guys my five biggest takeaways from tonight's NBA Draft.
Speaker 1: But I want to talk about some trades and some
Speaker 1: trade rumors here at the start of the show. I
Speaker 1: want to talk a little bit about a little bit
Speaker 1: about this Katie Kyrie report that came out today. I
Speaker 1: want to talk a little bit about Jeremy Grant going
Speaker 1: to the Portland's Trailblazers. A couple of quick notes before
Speaker 1: we get started. If you guys could like this video
Speaker 1: and please subscribe to the Volumes YouTube channel so you
Speaker 1: don't miss any more of our content. If you guys
Speaker 1: can follow me on Twitter and underscore Jason lt so
Speaker 1: you guys can get the announcements for the show, as
Speaker 1: well as any video content that I released. And last
Speaker 1: but not least, if you missed one of these shows
Speaker 1: for whatever reason and you want to catch it but
Speaker 1: you can't get back to YouTube, go to our podcast feed,
Speaker 1: which for the time being is under Lakers Tonight, usually
Speaker 1: about an hour after the YouTube video goes live. You
Speaker 1: can find it in podcast form there. But the theme
Speaker 1: for tonight's show is about acknowledging reality, and I think
Speaker 1: it factors in for all the teams involved in the
Speaker 1: trades that we're going to discuss tonight. You know, I
Speaker 1: talked about this in our season wrap up show, but
Speaker 1: the Lakers and the Nets are not close to being
Speaker 1: a top tier contender if everything goes absolutely perfectly for
Speaker 1: them in their off seasons. In terms of moves on
Speaker 1: the periphery, they're just simply not going to be as
Speaker 1: deep with talent as teams like the Clippers, or like
Speaker 1: the Celtics, or like the Bucks, or like the Warriors.
Speaker 1: Those are the teams that I think I'm gonna have
Speaker 1: in my top tier of contenders going into next season,
Speaker 1: obviously right now, not knowing what other moves are going
Speaker 1: to take place, but those teams are just better than
Speaker 1: you right now, which means in order for you to win,
Speaker 1: you need things to break right for you. You need
Speaker 1: someone to get hurt, you need some sort of playoff
Speaker 1: path that involves one of them getting upset. You need
Speaker 1: things to break your way if you're Brooklyn or the
Speaker 1: Lakers in order for you to win the title. I
Speaker 1: would argue even more so for Brooklyn than it is
Speaker 1: for the Lakers, because at least with the Lakers you
Speaker 1: got Anthony Davis and Lebron So if Anthony Davis, for
Speaker 1: whatever reason, manages to regain his form from the bubble
Speaker 1: when he was a top five NBA player, the Lakers
Speaker 1: will have two of the top five players in the NBA.
Speaker 1: So even though they might not have the depth of
Speaker 1: the top teams, they might have the two best players
Speaker 1: on the floor in many of their matchups. Brooklyn. Let's
Speaker 1: say Kyrie Irving and Ben Simmons are healthy, what's Kyrie
Speaker 1: the or eighteenth best player in the league? Are we ever?
Speaker 1: If we're being generous and then Ben Simmons maybe maybe,
Speaker 1: And I feel like I'm being really nice to both
Speaker 1: of those guys there. The reality is it's Kevin Durant
Speaker 1: and not a whole lot else. And I'm not a
Speaker 1: big purgatory guy. You're gonna We're gonna get to that
Speaker 1: a little bit later tonight with the New York Knicks.
Speaker 1: I'm a big believer in pushing your chips to the
Speaker 1: middle of the table. I believe in trying to win
Speaker 1: the NBA Championship, and that signing up for first and
Speaker 1: second round exits, I just don't really see the point
Speaker 1: to it if your goal is to get the trophy.
Speaker 1: And so it's important for the nets in the Lakers
Speaker 1: and the Blazers too when we get to them to
Speaker 1: acknowledge the reality of their situation, which is that they
Speaker 1: are not good enough. So then there you have to
Speaker 1: make a decision about where you move from there. Acknowledging
Speaker 1: it is the first step. It's like Russell Westbrook. There's
Speaker 1: a reason why he never became a great shooter, never
Speaker 1: became a great defensive player, never became a great finisher.
Speaker 1: It's because up here he thinks he's great at those
Speaker 1: things even though he's not so because he never acknowledged
Speaker 1: that reality. He never did the work to rectify those issues. You,
Speaker 1: the Nets and the Lakers have to acknowledge their shortcomings
Speaker 1: right now, and once they do that, they can start
Speaker 1: to accept reality and move on. So obviously, the Nets,
Speaker 1: for good reason, don't want to sign Kyrie Irving to
Speaker 1: a five year max. Don't blame them. He was incredibly
Speaker 1: unreliable over the last couple of years. You know, this
Speaker 1: is what happens when you go into business with your friends.
Speaker 1: Instead of going into business with the guys that are
Speaker 1: actually the best people to go into business with, you
Speaker 1: end up with a guy who's a very good friend
Speaker 1: of yours, who's a flake. And that's what happened to
Speaker 1: k D with this Kyrie Irving partnership. But if they're
Speaker 1: gonna let him go, Kyrie Irving is absolutely willing to leave.
Speaker 1: Kyrie Irving has a massive ego, a big enough ego
Speaker 1: after everything that happened over the last couple of years
Speaker 1: to say things like this is a great partnership I've
Speaker 1: got going on with Joe and and with with Kadi,
Speaker 1: and we're gonna build this thing together. Actually, no, that's
Speaker 1: not how anybody else saw it, except for you, because
Speaker 1: you didn't have the self awareness to understand that you
Speaker 1: did a lot of self sabotage to that team. But
Speaker 1: there's a reason why they want him to go, and
Speaker 1: he's absolutely willing to leave. So if he leaves now
Speaker 1: you're even more behind the eight ball in terms of
Speaker 1: talent with Kevin Durant. So absolutely he should request a trade.
Speaker 1: And that got reported today that Katie would be contemplating
Speaker 1: his future with the team should they not come to
Speaker 1: terms with Kyrie Irving. So at this point, if you're
Speaker 1: the Nets and you acknowledge the simple reality that Katie
Speaker 1: and Kyrie are not enough even with Ben Simmons, and
Speaker 1: that Kyrie is in all likelihood either going to have
Speaker 1: to be overpaid or walk, then this is over. This
Speaker 1: championship window you had is over looking at the Lakers.
Speaker 1: It's not over, but it looks dire, and so I
Speaker 1: see an interesting partnership there. Now this is a trade
Speaker 1: idea that I got earlier today, and it's extreme long shot,
Speaker 1: but I actually think it makes sense for both teams.
Speaker 1: For starters. It's incredibly uncommon to be able to actually
Speaker 1: get a star player in return for a star in
Speaker 1: a trade. It's usually a very flawed star guy like
Speaker 1: Ben Simmons, who's got obviously mental health concerns, he's got
Speaker 1: physical health concerns, and he's got I don't know what
Speaker 1: to do with the basketball in my hands on offense,
Speaker 1: and the playoffs concerns. Right, he's got all three of
Speaker 1: those issues. That's why he was the guy you got
Speaker 1: in return for James Harden. Almost every NBA superstar trade
Speaker 1: resorts to lots of draft picks, lots of young players,
Speaker 1: or flawed big contracts that can operate a salary filler. Right, Well,
Speaker 1: the Lakers have the opportunity to actually offer a legitimate
Speaker 1: star in return. And this is where this is where
Speaker 1: it's gonna get a little crazy. But I want you
Speaker 1: guys to hear me out, because the Lakers got to
Speaker 1: acknowledge reality to their reality is that Anthony Davis is
Speaker 1: not a guy that you want to use as a
Speaker 1: franchise cornerstone. There are some You know, there are some
Speaker 1: people that have have been very defensive of Anthony Davis
Speaker 1: and point out things like the injuries. And don't get
Speaker 1: me wrong, he's had a bad luck stretch with injuries
Speaker 1: over the last couple of years. But it's not all
Speaker 1: you know, bad luck injuries like landing on a guy's foot,
Speaker 1: like what happened to him towards the end of the season.
Speaker 1: It's a lot of like his groin failed him. It's
Speaker 1: a lot of like his achilles failed him, his wrist
Speaker 1: failed him. He falls down a lot for whatever reason,
Speaker 1: he's obsessed with just any time any sort of contact
Speaker 1: comes near him, he's going to go down to the ground.
Speaker 1: It's a lot of He put on a lot of
Speaker 1: extra weight, so he's nowhere near is quick. He doesn't
Speaker 1: have the he doesn't have the durability, doesn't have the uh,
Speaker 1: he doesn't have the stamina that he used to have.
Speaker 1: He's not the same type of athlete that he was
Speaker 1: in And you know, there's lots of intel from not
Speaker 1: just from Lebron but from from anybody who's been paying
Speaker 1: attention that he comes into camp out of shape. He
Speaker 1: goes several months over the summer not doing anything, which
Speaker 1: which I understand not every person is so obsessed with
Speaker 1: basketball that they play every day of their lives. But
Speaker 1: it's not exactly. It's it's one thing if you're taking
Speaker 1: a couple of months off from April to June, but
Speaker 1: then you come into camp in shape that April to
Speaker 1: June not doing anything. Thing starts to be a little
Speaker 1: bit concerning when you've come into camp two years in
Speaker 1: a row out of shape for a franchise cornerstone. You
Speaker 1: want a guy who absolutely is in love with the
Speaker 1: game of basketball that doesn't want distance from it. You
Speaker 1: want a guy that consistently takes his job so seriously
Speaker 1: that if he ever doesn't reach his personal ceiling, it's
Speaker 1: because of things outside of his control. No one would
Speaker 1: blame him for stepping on a guy's foot and spraining
Speaker 1: his ankle, if he came into camp in shape, No
Speaker 1: one would blame him for those things. If he took
Speaker 1: the game more seriously, if it looked as though he
Speaker 1: was still as bought in as he used to be
Speaker 1: when he was younger. And so I think I think
Speaker 1: Lebron knows it, and I think the Lakers know it.
Speaker 1: I don't know if they've actually come to terms with
Speaker 1: that if it's just something that they know on the
Speaker 1: inside that they won't admit to themselves. But Anthony Davis
Speaker 1: is not the guy you want, is your franchise cornerstone,
Speaker 1: and he's, as Colin has pointed out on his show
Speaker 1: several times, he's aging faster than he should. So what
Speaker 1: if for Brooklyn you had the opportunity to get a
Speaker 1: real bona fe I'd star in return for Kadi and Kyrie.
Speaker 1: I would. If I was the Lakers, I'd call up Brooklyn.
Speaker 1: I'd be like, you can have Anthony Davis, you can
Speaker 1: have Russell Westbrook. You can have the first round pick,
Speaker 1: first round pick. We're recording this while the second round
Speaker 1: is still happening, but the Lakers have the thirty one
Speaker 1: overall pick in the second round tonight, which effectively amounts
Speaker 1: to a late first round pick probably going to be
Speaker 1: a good chance to be a quality basketball player. You
Speaker 1: throw that whoever that player is, whoever that pick is
Speaker 1: in as well, and you just say, we'll take back
Speaker 1: Kyrie and Kevin Durant. We take care of your Kyrie
Speaker 1: Irving problem. We take care of your Kevin Durant problem.
Speaker 1: You get a chance to rebuild. You want to use
Speaker 1: Russ to sell tickets, great. You want to send him home,
Speaker 1: that's great. You want to find a third team to
Speaker 1: do something else with him, that's great. But at least
Speaker 1: you get a foundational piece and Anthony Davis coming back,
Speaker 1: which is better than you're gonna get from the vast
Speaker 1: majority of superstar trades out there. And you're getting two
Speaker 1: legit first round picks and one pick that essentially amounts
Speaker 1: to a late first round pick. It makes sense for
Speaker 1: the Lakers because Anthony Davis isn't your guy. Lebron's in
Speaker 1: his twentieth season. You need to go to win now approach,
Speaker 1: and you get off of Russell Westbrook. Makes sense for
Speaker 1: the Nets because you're not winning with Kadi, without Kyrie,
Speaker 1: or with Katie and Kyrie and Ben Simmons. You're just
Speaker 1: not gonna get it done. Not in the East. That's
Speaker 1: as deep as they are, not with teams like Miami
Speaker 1: and Boston and Milwaukee in the in the conference, you're
Speaker 1: just not good enough except for reality. Understand it's time
Speaker 1: to reset. The Lakers are just not good enough. Understand reality,
Speaker 1: it's time to reset. It's one of those It's an
Speaker 1: interesting partnership there. I don't know if it would end
Speaker 1: up being enough. Maybe you gotta throw in at Kendrick
Speaker 1: nun I'm not sure what what all all the little
Speaker 1: details surrounding that trade would look like, but the foundational
Speaker 1: structure of it would be Anthony Davison Russ plus whatever
Speaker 1: assets you can scrounge up for Kevin Durant, the real
Speaker 1: piece coming back from Brooklyn and Kyrie Irving, the guy
Speaker 1: that Brooklyn doesn't even really want a sign for the
Speaker 1: number he wants anyway. And then from there, I actually
Speaker 1: love the basketball fit for the Lakers. Yeah, obviously you've
Speaker 1: got to find athleticism in the front court to help
Speaker 1: compensate for Lebron and Kevin Durant and their age and
Speaker 1: and their their their unwillingness to buy in on defense
Speaker 1: all the time. But they instantly become one of the
Speaker 1: most intriguing offensive teams in the league. We already know
Speaker 1: what the KD Lebron partnership. Excuse me, the Kyrie Lebron
Speaker 1: partnership looks like. We already know what the Kyrie Katie
Speaker 1: partnership looks like. Very good offensive partnership. You know, Lebron
Speaker 1: brings that high level playmaking and game management that Katie
Speaker 1: and Kyrie struggle with, and Katie and Kyrie bring in
Speaker 1: that high level shop making that Lebron struggles with from
Speaker 1: time to time, right especially as he's starting to age.
Speaker 1: I think it makes sense for both sides. Now beyond that,
Speaker 1: if I was running Brooklyn and you wanted to commit
Speaker 1: to this, I would resign Kyrie Kyrie to whatever I would.
Speaker 1: If you want to negotiate down on specific terms, that's fine,
Speaker 1: but just signed Kyrie because at the very least, if
Speaker 1: things do go south before the trade deadline and you
Speaker 1: decide never mind, I don't want to do this, you
Speaker 1: can at least use Kyrie as an asset to try
Speaker 1: to get something in return. But at the very least,
Speaker 1: you can't let him go for nothing. That would be
Speaker 1: the absolute disaster outcome for Brooklyn. You either need to
Speaker 1: sign Kyrie or you need to trade him. No matter what.
Speaker 1: You can't let a player like that go for absolutely nothing.
Speaker 1: And if you're the Lakers, I mean, the Russell Westbrook
Speaker 1: trade was already going to be a disaster if you
Speaker 1: could pull somebody back the caliber of a Kyrie Irving,
Speaker 1: even if you just tried to focus on that move
Speaker 1: as a one for one if you needed to include assets.
Speaker 1: I like that one as well. I mean, it's it's
Speaker 1: hard to say exactly how this thing ends out because
Speaker 1: so much of this feels like gamesmanship from Kyrie and
Speaker 1: from Katie trying to leverage the Nets into getting a contract.
Speaker 1: But I think I think there's an interesting opportunity for
Speaker 1: two misery Loves Company type of trade, for two teams
Speaker 1: to kind of reset and to potentially make the Brooklyn
Speaker 1: kind of reset for a potential run for the future,
Speaker 1: and the lay Kers to go all in for right now. Last,
Speaker 1: but not least, I wanted to talk about this Jeremy
Speaker 1: Grant trade to the Portland Trailblazers. You know, Damian Lillard.
Speaker 1: There's a gap between him and stuff, and it's not
Speaker 1: in the way that you would think, because in terms
Speaker 1: of on ball ability, Dame is every bit as good
Speaker 1: as Steph. You can shoot the ball off the dribble
Speaker 1: nearly as well. He's a little bit more athletics, you
Speaker 1: can get better separation from time to time. He's got
Speaker 1: a nasty step back game, but Steph has n't beat
Speaker 1: everywhere else on the floor. Feel for the game movement
Speaker 1: without the basketball. Steve Kurt did an interview was zach
Speaker 1: Loow the other day, and it was so interesting to
Speaker 1: hear Steve Kurt talk about how he attributes Steph off.
Speaker 1: Steph's off ball success to the reps he got at
Speaker 1: Davidson not being the point guard but being basically an
Speaker 1: off ball player, that they'd run off the screens NonStop
Speaker 1: and try to run things for him. That kind of
Speaker 1: that kind of practice that Steff got there is one
Speaker 1: of its amounted to one of the biggest things that
Speaker 1: differentiates him from the from his peers at his position.
Speaker 1: Dame Lillard is not interested in moving without the basketball.
Speaker 1: Dame Liard Lillard is not interested in competing on defense
Speaker 1: the way that Steph does. Those two specific details are
Speaker 1: what allows Steph to be a super duperstar, while Dame
Speaker 1: is something less than that, but portantly needed to acknowledge
Speaker 1: their reality as well. Going with offense and shooting around
Speaker 1: Dame was not working. Going with very versatile bigs that
Speaker 1: are offensive oriented like Nurkics or uh C J McCollum
Speaker 1: on the wing as that as that backup scoring option
Speaker 1: with you know, underqualified three and d guys on the wing.
Speaker 1: It just wasn't cutting it. It wasn't getting the job done.
Speaker 1: I love the idea of going all in on the
Speaker 1: defensive end with Dame going the route of trying to
Speaker 1: surround him with athletes trying to put him in. If
Speaker 1: there's some intel out there that they might be targeting
Speaker 1: O Ganna Nobe from the raptors, I think that would
Speaker 1: be a fantastic move. If you could get O Gianna
Speaker 1: Noby next to Jeremy Grant, next to Dame Lillard, there's
Speaker 1: less pressure on Dame to be the dominant defensive player
Speaker 1: that you hope from the guard position when you've got
Speaker 1: guys like that cleaning up messes behind him. You know,
Speaker 1: there was intel from last year when the Jeremy Grant
Speaker 1: trade rumors were going around that he was gonna want
Speaker 1: a bigger role, that he wanted a contract extension. This
Speaker 1: is that perfect opportunity and the modern NBA, the number
Speaker 1: two gets lots of shots. So makes sense for Jeremy
Speaker 1: Grant to go into Portland and basically fill the CJ.
Speaker 1: McCollum role as a guy who's gonna get plenty of
Speaker 1: opportunity with the basketball in his hands to create and
Speaker 1: Jeremy Grants, a great defensive player that can clean up
Speaker 1: messages as a health defender and contain on the ball.
Speaker 1: They need one more move, They need to go after
Speaker 1: a guy like o g and then from there you
Speaker 1: need to fill it out with more role players. But
Speaker 1: I thought it was a really smart move from Portland's.
Speaker 1: The way you were building was not working. It was
Speaker 1: time to try something different. And the idea of going
Speaker 1: with athleticism and defense around Dame, to me, is something
Speaker 1: to haven't successfully been able to put the other yet,
Speaker 1: and it's a proven successful method in the n b
Speaker 1: A and it might be something that gets a rejuvenated Dame,
Speaker 1: who at the peak of his powers is a bona
Speaker 1: fide top ten NBA player, and I'd love to see
Speaker 1: him get the opportunity to play with the type of
Speaker 1: athleticism he needs to succeed at this level. Al Right,
Speaker 1: here we go. Top five things that I learned from
Speaker 1: tonight's NBA draft. Number one, The Orlando Magic did the
Speaker 1: right thing. I have no idea what all the smoke
Speaker 1: screen was about. There obviously is some sort of perceived
Speaker 1: value in doing that sort of thing, because you see
Speaker 1: teams do it every year. I don't really understand. I
Speaker 1: feel like I feel like it's all just about chaos. Uh.
Speaker 1: That said, I thought the Magic made the right decision
Speaker 1: taking Palo. I really like Jabari Smith. I think he's
Speaker 1: gonna be a deeply impactful NBA basketball player, arguably the
Speaker 1: most immediately impactful out of those top three guys, because already,
Speaker 1: right away he has two elite NBA skills perimeter shooting
Speaker 1: and wing defense right so, right away, he's going to
Speaker 1: be impactful at the NBA level, probably more so. Like
Speaker 1: he's the kind of guy that in terms of winning impact,
Speaker 1: maybe not statistically, but in terms of winning impact. And
Speaker 1: in his rookie year, he's probably gonna be better than
Speaker 1: Palo and probably better than Chet. But he's got so
Speaker 1: far to go and the other elements of his offensive
Speaker 1: game to reach a star ceiling that I thought he
Speaker 1: was a clear third prospect in this draft. Yes, he's
Speaker 1: a knockdown three point shooter right now, but doesn't get
Speaker 1: great separation from defensive players right now, doesn't have good
Speaker 1: control over the basketball, doesn't see the floor very well,
Speaker 1: and it's pretty much jump shot heavy right now. He
Speaker 1: doesn't have that like versatile finishing package. Which I'm gonna
Speaker 1: talk about just a second here with Palo, So I
Speaker 1: mean I I didn't even understand why, what would have
Speaker 1: led the magic to believe that was the right guy?
Speaker 1: And more importantly, I always love this like this like
Speaker 1: last day type of mind changing thing. There's no way
Speaker 1: in the world any of these teams didn't know exactly
Speaker 1: who they were taking or have an exact land based
Speaker 1: on who was available coming into today. It's all just
Speaker 1: a big smoke screen. It was all really, really strange.
Speaker 1: I've talked a lot about Paulo with Carson yesterday, so
Speaker 1: we'll go too deep into it. But to me, he
Speaker 1: reminds me of Carmelo Anthony in terms of his potential ceiling.
Speaker 1: Carmelo is way more fluid from the perimeter at this
Speaker 1: point in his career than Paulo was, but a lot
Speaker 1: of the other elements of his game it reminds me
Speaker 1: very like his. His fluidity in terms of his face
Speaker 1: up game, and all of his moves and counter moves
Speaker 1: in the mid to short range remind me of Carmela.
Speaker 1: He's got the turnaround jump shot over both shoulders, He's
Speaker 1: got the step back jump shot going both ways. He's
Speaker 1: got all of the push shots and floaters and hook
Speaker 1: shots and things in the lane that you have to
Speaker 1: have to score with seis mismatches, which he's gonna have
Speaker 1: a lot of them. He's got a seven one and
Speaker 1: a half wingspan, six ft ten, he's got he's already
Speaker 1: got the physical tools, so to be able to have
Speaker 1: that face up, that back to the basket type of
Speaker 1: stuff at his age, it projects well if he can
Speaker 1: add the perimeter game for him to have defend just
Speaker 1: have to play up on him, and then to be
Speaker 1: able to get consistent dribble penetration so that he can
Speaker 1: utilize that part of his game. Obviously, that's the ceiling,
Speaker 1: and with any one of these guys there's a certain
Speaker 1: amount of risk. But I really like to pick. I
Speaker 1: thought he was the clear best player in this draft.
Speaker 1: I thought he's the guy that has the most clear
Speaker 1: star potential and he could be a much better defensive
Speaker 1: player than Carmelo was because of his measurables. Also being
Speaker 1: on a team with Jonathan Isaac, dominant defensive player, one
Speaker 1: of the best defensive players in the league when he's healthy,
Speaker 1: and a guy like you know, Franz Wagner is another
Speaker 1: big wing who can guard multiple positions. He might have
Speaker 1: not have to take on an on ball roll against
Speaker 1: the dominant basketball player for a long time. He could
Speaker 1: be a health defender, a guy that can use his
Speaker 1: length and athleticism around the rim and help that team.
Speaker 1: Is starting to get really interesting too. Jalen Suggs Mark
Speaker 1: l Folts should be healthy this year. Jonathan Isaac sat
Speaker 1: out all of last year. He'll be back. Franz Wagner
Speaker 1: is like the ideal three and D type of role
Speaker 1: player that could put the ball on the floor and attack,
Speaker 1: close out some things along those lines. They just needed
Speaker 1: an alpha dog off of talent. That's what Palo is,
Speaker 1: So kudos of the Magic. I thought it was the
Speaker 1: right decision. Number two, It's time for the Oklahoma City
Speaker 1: Thunder to start trying to win. This has been a
Speaker 1: very impressive asset collection strategy from them over the last
Speaker 1: half decade. You could argue it's a more a more
Speaker 1: coherent version of the process that Philly ran. Obviously without
Speaker 1: the top end talent that Joel Embiid was, but they've
Speaker 1: got a lot of really talented basketball players now. They
Speaker 1: had three additional Top twelve picks today. Chat home Grin.
Speaker 1: Our guy Carson thinks is the best prospect in this draft.
Speaker 1: This kid Jang is really versatile forward from the NBA, NBL,
Speaker 1: really good passer. They have a lot of really good passers. Now.
Speaker 1: Check can put the ball on the floor and make
Speaker 1: plays for his teammates. S g. A can make plays
Speaker 1: out of pick and roll. Josh Giddy nice big, classic
Speaker 1: point forward type of prospect, and and Jaying's got that
Speaker 1: as well. But you've got all these players, it's time
Speaker 1: to stop collecting assets and to start trying to win
Speaker 1: basketball games. I would go to the Oklahoma City Dot
Speaker 1: Thunder route in a similar way to the to the
Speaker 1: to the way they picked up Erk Fisher and Kendrick
Speaker 1: Perkins and basically had those guys round out the youth
Speaker 1: with veteran savvy and championship experience. That's the route I
Speaker 1: would go with Okay See, and I'd start trying to
Speaker 1: put these guys in meaningful basketball games. Most importantly, guys,
Speaker 1: it's just hard to evaluate talent when they're playing in
Speaker 1: meaningless basketball games. How can you evaluate Kevin Porter Jr.
Speaker 1: Jalen Green with Houston when every night they're getting the
Speaker 1: other team's worst effort. At a certain point, you need
Speaker 1: to put these guys into some higher leverage situations to
Speaker 1: see what they're capable of playing against good NBA basketball
Speaker 1: teams with real steaks, And that to me would mean
Speaker 1: going for it and try to get a playing spot,
Speaker 1: get yourself into some high stakes environment and see what
Speaker 1: these guys are capable of. But I really like to
Speaker 1: pick like the rebuild. It's just time. Now, it's time.
Speaker 1: It's time to actually start trying to win it, win
Speaker 1: basketball games. Number three, the Kings pulled another Kings. I
Speaker 1: really like Keegan Murray and he's another guy like Jabari
Speaker 1: Smith that will immediately be able to help NBA basketball teams.
Speaker 1: I've said this, I said this yesterday when I was
Speaker 1: talking with Carson. I'm not sure I've ever seen a
Speaker 1: young wing player that's younger than twenty two that has
Speaker 1: the back to the basket game that he has that
Speaker 1: it's such a lost art in today's NBA and just
Speaker 1: overall in today's basketball culture. You still see it occasionally
Speaker 1: from big guys, but you just don't see perimeter players
Speaker 1: that have the ability that he has to position himself
Speaker 1: and to feel where the defender is and quick pivot
Speaker 1: both ways, hooks over both shoulders, floaters, things along those lines.
Speaker 1: He's got that and he's going to be an impactful
Speaker 1: basketball player right away. But there's a clearly defined ceiling
Speaker 1: with him because he just doesn't have anywhere near the
Speaker 1: first step. He needs to get separation against elite NBA
Speaker 1: defensive players, and Jade and Ivy was right there. I
Speaker 1: talked about this yesterday with Carson, but I'm not sure
Speaker 1: I've seen a hard with this type of power NBA
Speaker 1: athleticism since Dwyane Wade. We see a ton of freaky
Speaker 1: athletic wings come into the league. I mean the Shaden
Speaker 1: Sharp is a great example of this little more upright,
Speaker 1: little more tall, you know, that crazy vertical pop to
Speaker 1: where it just seems like his heads above the rim
Speaker 1: every single time. But then you see them play against
Speaker 1: a physical defensive player and they get bumped off of
Speaker 1: their spots and they struggle to leverage their physicality to
Speaker 1: get two different spots on the floor, and it effectively
Speaker 1: erases their athleticism. That's why we see so many freak
Speaker 1: athletes in the NBA that struggle to actually use that athleticism.
Speaker 1: Jada and Ivy's got that low center of gravity, and
Speaker 1: he could take those really long strides like like Dwyane
Speaker 1: Wade can't. I think it was Shack who used to
Speaker 1: say that that Dwyane Wade had the hamstrings of a god.
Speaker 1: And that's the athleticism always like manifests in different kinds
Speaker 1: of ways. It's not just vertical. Pop can be foot speed,
Speaker 1: it can be verticals or excuse me, linear speed. It
Speaker 1: can be long steps. The ability to take really long
Speaker 1: steps is super valuable in the NBA, A to get
Speaker 1: to get opportunities near the rim, to be able to
Speaker 1: evade help defenders and things along those lines. When you're
Speaker 1: on a line drive and a players on your hip,
Speaker 1: the ability to bounce that guy off so that you
Speaker 1: can keep going rather than him bouncing you off of
Speaker 1: your line. That's a different type of athleticism. And that's
Speaker 1: what I'm always referring to when I say low center
Speaker 1: of gravity. Jade and I view was right there. I
Speaker 1: thought he was clearly a better basketball player. Will he
Speaker 1: be able to help write this second? No, but you're
Speaker 1: the freaking kings Man. You're not actually winning NBA basketball
Speaker 1: games right now. There isn't some achievable like win now
Speaker 1: move for you. So I just didn't understand the thought
Speaker 1: process going after Keegan Murray, a really solid player that's
Speaker 1: going to immediately be able to help an NBA team
Speaker 1: that has a lower ceiling. You want to make that
Speaker 1: type of move when you have a little bit more
Speaker 1: of a win now potential, not when you're a team
Speaker 1: that's so far away the way the Kings are. Number four,
Speaker 1: the Knicks are going to sign themselves up for purgatory
Speaker 1: once again. So they traded their lottery pick today and
Speaker 1: KENBA for cap space and apparently if you factor in
Speaker 1: the Mitchell Robinson cap hold, it's gonna come out to
Speaker 1: about sixteen million a year. So the intel is, according
Speaker 1: to Mark Stein, that they're gonna throw basically a four year,
Speaker 1: sixty four million dollar contract at Jalen Brunson and try
Speaker 1: to steal him away from the Dallas Mavericks. Here's the issue.
Speaker 1: Is Jalen Brunson a top ten NBA guard. No Is
Speaker 1: Julius Randall a top ten NBA forward. No. So in
Speaker 1: your rush to regain relevance, you are going to sign
Speaker 1: yourself up for extended purgatory any playoff series that you
Speaker 1: happen to find yourself in. Your team is gonna have
Speaker 1: the lesser guard, and your team is gonna have the
Speaker 1: lesser forward. I really like Jalen Brunson. I really like
Speaker 1: Julius Randall. Both of those guys should be twos and threes.
Speaker 1: Neither of them are qualified to be a number one.
Speaker 1: And you are the New York Knicks. You're not a
Speaker 1: team that's going to struggle with free agent signings. If
Speaker 1: you can just demonstrate competence, you will be able to,
Speaker 1: one day soon enough, bring a mega star. If you
Speaker 1: have the class of the cat, flexibility and you just
Speaker 1: demonstrate some competence, keep your head coach for a while,
Speaker 1: develop some young basketball players. Accumulate assets. That's how the
Speaker 1: Lakers ended up getting Anthony Davis. Just accumulate the assets.
Speaker 1: We talked about this after the NBA Finals. But eight
Speaker 1: of the last eleven NBA championships have gone to Steph
Speaker 1: Curry and Lebron James. Who won the other three Kawhi
Speaker 1: Leonard and Janice So you're not winning unless you've got
Speaker 1: the guy. So if you don't, if you either need
Speaker 1: to have the guy or be working to getting the guy,
Speaker 1: signing yourself up to make things more difficult for you
Speaker 1: to get the guy. Is what I don't understand. Now, Again,
Speaker 1: the when we're looking at this that it's on the
Speaker 1: surface makes them better, right. Jalen Brunson in a five
Speaker 1: out system with the Dallas Mavericks last year was relatively
Speaker 1: inconsistent but had some really big, really impactful playoff games.
Speaker 1: He's going to go in there and he's going to
Speaker 1: play really well, and the Nicks are gonna be better.
Speaker 1: They're gonna be in the playoffs and in the playoff
Speaker 1: picture in a way that they weren't last year. It
Speaker 1: all makes sense. But what I don't understand is that
Speaker 1: tying yourself into that type of contract with Jalen Brunson,
Speaker 1: which at the end of the day is going to
Speaker 1: be difficult to move because as good as he is,
Speaker 1: sixteen million dollars a years a lot of money. It.
Speaker 1: I just was confused by the strategy. Now, who knows
Speaker 1: they might internally they might be thinking, hey, we get
Speaker 1: Jalen Brunson, he's a mid level contract. Maybe we can
Speaker 1: package him with two or three of our young players
Speaker 1: and maybe get that star. All I'm saying is that
Speaker 1: better be the plan. The plan better not be let's
Speaker 1: see if Jalen Brunson and Julius Randall can get this done.
Speaker 1: It better be. We plan on moving these guys to
Speaker 1: get the star and the last, but not least, the
Speaker 1: Pistons got lucky. Jade and Ivy should not have been
Speaker 1: there at number five, and he was thanks to the
Speaker 1: Keegan Murray pick. Who again, I like Keegan Murray, I
Speaker 1: just thought it was the wrong pick. You know, I
Speaker 1: think Jade and Ivy could I see him as the
Speaker 1: potential Jalen Brown two Kaid's Tatum. Now, obviously they're different,
Speaker 1: you know, Jade and Ivy shorter, different type of player.
Speaker 1: What I mean by that, though, is Kate is your
Speaker 1: finesse wing. He's that guy that's doing it with skill
Speaker 1: and change of pace and floor vision and game management,
Speaker 1: all those things that I value greatly from a perimeter initiator.
Speaker 1: But Kate is not a dominant athlete, and against the
Speaker 1: very best defenses, he might struggle from time to time
Speaker 1: to create his own shot even when he's in his prime.
Speaker 1: Jade and Ivy is never gonna have that problem. Like
Speaker 1: I said earlier, I think he's one of the best
Speaker 1: athletic prospects at the guard position since Dwayne Wade, and
Speaker 1: I think that having him there is the guy that
Speaker 1: can be the physical force to be reckoned with the
Speaker 1: guy that has unmatchable athleticism to give him the capability
Speaker 1: of creating shots. I think it's a great counter to
Speaker 1: Kate and Cake can kind of manage the flow of
Speaker 1: the game and be your perimeter initiator and Jay n
Speaker 1: Ivy can just be your tip of the spear. And
Speaker 1: it's a very similar to way, in a very similar
Speaker 1: way to what Jalen Brown was for the Celtics. They've
Speaker 1: got another really interesting young court. I like Saddeke Bay
Speaker 1: is another two way wing. This Jalen during kid that
Speaker 1: they drafted classic modern center. You know this is We've
Speaker 1: talked a lot about this, that plotting slow giant center
Speaker 1: just doesn't work in the NBA anymore. It needs to
Speaker 1: be an athlete. It's almost better for him to be
Speaker 1: six nine than it is for him to be seven foot.
Speaker 1: You need him to be able to get up and
Speaker 1: down the floor and transition. You need him to be
Speaker 1: able to be occasionally make guys work on perimeter switches,
Speaker 1: and it needs to be able to roll hard to
Speaker 1: the rim and contain in five out situations where he's
Speaker 1: got to cover a lot of ground. You need, no,
Speaker 1: you need mobility at the position. So I really like
Speaker 1: the jail and during pick and all of a sudden,
Speaker 1: the Pistons look like a very interesting basketball team. But yeah,
Speaker 1: those are my top five takeaways from this year's NBA Draft.
Speaker 1: I will be at NBA Summer League for that first
Speaker 1: weekend and I'm gonna get to see I think most
Speaker 1: of these guys, if not all of them play. We'll
Speaker 1: have well have all all sorts of content lined up
Speaker 1: for that weekend. I'm very, very excited. As always, I
Speaker 1: appreciate your guys support and I will see you next time.
Speaker 1: The volume