Speaker 1: You're tuned into Heat Check with Trista Quick.
Speaker 2: On this bonus episode of the Heat Check, We've got
Speaker 2: spoke Track's resident NBA insider Keith Smith on the show
Speaker 2: to give his incredible insight into all the news that's
Speaker 2: happening around the NBA Draft. And as always, Keith was amazing,
Speaker 2: always insightful, always plugged in. So let's not waste any time.
Speaker 2: Let's get right into it, Nick, Let's get it rolling
Speaker 2: and drop that motherfucking beat that should be Rihanna. We
Speaker 2: started out by asking Keith the big question that's on
Speaker 2: everybody's mind, who is going number two in the NBA Draft?
Speaker 1: Well, see, I mean, you know, I think Charlotte. It's
Speaker 1: very cliche to say the draft starts with that team,
Speaker 1: but in this case, it really is true. We all
Speaker 1: know Victor one Binanas going first, so that really means
Speaker 1: the draft is gonna start with Charlotte at too. And
Speaker 1: I think what Charlotte's trying to do to at least
Speaker 1: some extent, it's tell the New Orleans Pelicans, who are
Speaker 1: known to want Scoot Henderson that hey, if you want him,
Speaker 1: you get a trade up to two if you want
Speaker 1: to get him. You know, otherwise you're not getting them.
Speaker 1: You know, we'll we'll we'll take them and we'll move
Speaker 1: move along. And maybe that's the bluff. You know, we'll
Speaker 1: see all the mock drafts. The guys who do this
Speaker 1: for a living are still saying, for the most part,
Speaker 1: Brandon Miller goes number two. But but I think Scoot
Speaker 1: Henderson's in play, and I think you know, these late
Speaker 1: draft week workouts which both those guys are reported, we're
Speaker 1: going to go back into Charlotte to work out those
Speaker 1: can often swing things.
Speaker 2: Keith, I don't think Portland wants Brandon Miller me personally.
Speaker 2: They worked out Cam Whitmore before him. I think they
Speaker 2: would really like to not have to make that decision.
Speaker 2: Is there any possibility, given the fact that we're betting
Speaker 2: this NBA draft, is there any possibility that if Scoop
Speaker 2: goes to that Portland would go in a different direction
Speaker 2: than Brandon Miller.
Speaker 1: That'd be tough to see. I mean, there's guys, so
Speaker 1: my personal kind of board in my tears is Victor
Speaker 1: one Binyama so far ahead everybody, you can't even see him.
Speaker 2: Now.
Speaker 1: Thats Scoot Henderson all by himself in the next group.
Speaker 1: I think he's gonna be great. I think he'd be
Speaker 1: the number one pick in most drafts that you know,
Speaker 1: don't include a generational superstar. And then I've got Brandon Miller.
Speaker 1: I've cut you know, Cam Whitmore on level with him.
Speaker 1: I really like him quite a bit, you know. I
Speaker 1: like Jerras Walker out of Houston. I think he's gonna
Speaker 1: be really good. To the Thompson Twins, you know, I
Speaker 1: don't have I have Miller at the top of that group,
Speaker 1: but I don't separated. So I think Portland. If Scoot
Speaker 1: Henderson's not there, I think you probably see far more
Speaker 1: likely that they're on the phone saying, hey, wants to
Speaker 1: trade up. Who wants to get you know, Brandon Miller,
Speaker 1: who wants to go in a different direction here, and
Speaker 1: they try to get out of it. If Scoot's not
Speaker 1: sitting there at three, and if Scoot is sitting there
Speaker 1: at three, they may still be working the phone saying,
Speaker 1: all right, New Orleans, you want to come up. You
Speaker 1: know what it's gonna cost you to get up up
Speaker 1: here to number three.
Speaker 2: A lot of speculation on what potential draftees will move
Speaker 2: up the board. Keith gives us some great insight, and
Speaker 2: then we dive in and into what the Washington Wizards
Speaker 2: might be doing in this draft.
Speaker 1: Yeah, Kobe Bufkins drawn a lot of love this week.
Speaker 1: He's kind of that late riser right now. He was
Speaker 1: a kid who was you know, I would say a
Speaker 1: month or two ago, maybe pre combined, he was sitting
Speaker 1: in the late law late in the twenties. And now
Speaker 1: you know, we're starting to talk about you know, maybe
Speaker 1: he breaks in, you know, to the back half of
Speaker 1: the lottery, so probably not gonna get all the way
Speaker 1: into the top ten, you know. And then I think,
Speaker 1: if I remember right too, he's one of the kids
Speaker 1: who quit workouts with that generally means that there's a
Speaker 1: promise out there from somebody. So so we'll see what
Speaker 1: that looks like. But he's definitely a guy that some
Speaker 1: people have talked about coming up. You know, the board's
Speaker 1: pretty high.
Speaker 2: Obviously Wizards are rebuilding, They've blown it up. The ship
Speaker 2: is on fire. I'm really curious though, what direction they
Speaker 2: go with the point guard position. It seems like that's
Speaker 2: what they're going to do in terms of the draft.
Speaker 2: Like if you were to guess, maybe a playmaking point guard,
Speaker 2: like an Anthony Black if he's there, or maybe be
Speaker 2: a combo guard like an ASR. Thompson, or do you
Speaker 2: think that they take somebody who's more of a score
Speaker 2: first point guard, or like a defender like a Cason Wallace,
Speaker 2: or maybe even like greach for a Nick Smith.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think it's probably Anthony Black. I think he's
Speaker 1: kind of got the makings of everything you want in
Speaker 1: the modern point guard. He's got good size, he can score,
Speaker 1: he can really play make. I think he's a kid
Speaker 1: that they would see or we can really build around
Speaker 1: him moving forward. The other guys. That's not that Anthony
Speaker 1: Black is a perfect prospect by any means, but those
Speaker 1: other guys all have a ton of questions around them.
Speaker 1: I think maybe if I'm in Thompson somehow dropped to
Speaker 1: the Wizard, they'd probably be all over that. But but
Speaker 1: I think it's probably gonna be Anthony Black at that
Speaker 1: spot that's you know, reading most of the most of
Speaker 1: the mocks, and again, the people who are hyper focused
Speaker 1: on this stuff that that seems to be where most
Speaker 1: people are locking into. But maybe maybe there's a swerve
Speaker 1: that comes, but but that seems to be the direction
Speaker 1: that they're going and then we'll find out you did
Speaker 1: a part part or pair him with Monty Morris for
Speaker 1: for a year, or do they move Monty Morris in
Speaker 1: a separate deals they kind of kick off that full
Speaker 1: scale rebuild there in Washington.
Speaker 2: Yeah, quick follow up on that. Do you think that
Speaker 2: there's a possibility because I'm seeing in the news that
Speaker 2: the Spurs might try to move up to try to
Speaker 2: get Anthony Black as well, and I know that the
Speaker 2: Wizards probably want as many picks and young players as possible.
Speaker 2: Do you see that being a possibility some sort of
Speaker 2: trade on Draft Night with the Spurs and the Wizards.
Speaker 1: I mean, it could happen. I kind of you know
Speaker 1: a lot of times when you hear Spurs rumors, I
Speaker 1: kind of disregard them out of hands because nothing gets
Speaker 1: out of san Antonio, right. I think that's often coming
Speaker 1: from another team, you know, trying to you know, either
Speaker 1: use the Spurs as you know, kind of that cap
Speaker 1: space Bogey monster if it's an agent, or they're using
Speaker 1: them as you know, the the the uh you know
Speaker 1: idea of you know, all right, you know, hey, we're
Speaker 1: we're you know, we're we're in talks with san Antonio
Speaker 1: and they're trying to trade up, So if you want
Speaker 1: to get up here, you better better make that move.
Speaker 1: I think it's more likely, you know, you could see,
Speaker 1: you know, maybe a team team like Orlando try to
Speaker 1: move up a little bit, or or you know, Indiana
Speaker 1: could do that. They've got a bunch of Utah has
Speaker 1: a bunch of picks that they could go forward. I think,
Speaker 1: you know, some of these teams are looking at and saying, hey,
Speaker 1: having a whole bunch of picks is really nice. But
Speaker 1: what gets a struggle with Oklahoma City they're another team
Speaker 1: that's try to trade up. Is our finding out is
Speaker 1: it sounds good until you have to roster all these
Speaker 1: guys and you run out of roster spots pretty quick.
Speaker 2: Keith then digs into the Orlando Magic and what they
Speaker 2: might be up to in this draft, and then gives
Speaker 2: us a little insight into one of the most polarizing
Speaker 2: figures in the draft and Grady Dick very insightful stuff here.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think they'd love to move up if they could.
Speaker 1: The problem is you're talking putting six and eleven together
Speaker 1: and you're probably the heighst you're going to get it
Speaker 1: two picks, So unless you love whoever's there at four.
Speaker 1: I don't think that's going to be the direction it goes.
Speaker 1: I think they're probably more likely to just stampatt use
Speaker 1: both of their picks and and keep things moving, you know,
Speaker 1: shooting wise. Yeah, it's you know, with Orlando, what I
Speaker 1: always looked for is, you know, guys who are generally
Speaker 1: two way players, guys who can play both offense and defense,
Speaker 1: and guys who have you know, good athleticism and good size.
Speaker 1: That tends to be what they've prioritized. You'll keep an
Speaker 1: eye on Taylor Hendrix. Jeff Weltman Magic, you know, front
Speaker 1: office leader said today, you know he was raving about Hendrix.
Speaker 1: Now there's a local connection because he went to UCF
Speaker 1: here in Orlando, but you know that he was talking about,
Speaker 1: you know, what a great kid he was and a
Speaker 1: good workout that he had, and that's the kind of
Speaker 1: kid I think they could see, Hey, we plug him
Speaker 1: into a front court that features you know, Polo Bancaire
Speaker 1: and Franz Wagner. Yeah, we feel pretty good about that
Speaker 1: moving forward.
Speaker 2: Well, and they obviously need a point guard too, and
Speaker 2: I've seen Keith that they're getting mocked at. To get
Speaker 2: Grady Dick at eleven and that doesn't If they get
Speaker 2: Taylor Hendrix, that doesn't really solve their point guard issue.
Speaker 2: What do you think they do in terms of solving
Speaker 2: that need.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think they would push back, you know, relatively
Speaker 1: hard on that. They love Markel folks, Wow, Yeah, they
Speaker 1: think he is you know, he's figure stuff out, he's
Speaker 1: stayed generally healthy over the last year or so, and
Speaker 1: he's played really really well for them. They also really
Speaker 1: like Cole Anthony quite a bit too. So you know,
Speaker 1: there's not a prospect that I think screens that guy
Speaker 1: is gonna come in and be our starting point guards
Speaker 1: for the next you know, half decade or more. So,
Speaker 1: I think they're more likely to take you the best
Speaker 1: player available. You know, if that happens to be one
Speaker 1: of the guards, great. You know, if you know, if
Speaker 1: one of those really good guards that's in there at
Speaker 1: eleven and they feel like that's the guy for them,
Speaker 1: then they'll do that. I think they also know, hey,
Speaker 1: we've got twenty million dollars plus in cap space, and
Speaker 1: we've got a whole bunch of tradeable guys, whether it's
Speaker 1: through trade or through direct signing. We can always add
Speaker 1: another guard. If we need to that way. But they
Speaker 1: like their guard men there because they have not given
Speaker 1: up on Jalen saus either, who they they still feel like,
Speaker 1: you know, hey, if we can keep them on the floor.
Speaker 1: Every time he starts playing well, he picks up another
Speaker 1: injury and then it's back to square one. But if
Speaker 1: we could keep them on the floor, he's pretty good.
Speaker 1: They really like Garry Harris too, so I don't know
Speaker 1: that they're pushing. It's hard to add a guard to
Speaker 1: that group. There's a lot of outside people think.
Speaker 2: Just really quickly follow up on that. Do you think
Speaker 2: those Grady Dick rumors then are true? Because he's not
Speaker 2: a two way guy, he's probably slightly a defensive liability.
Speaker 1: Yeah, we'll see. I think, Hey, the challenge that I'm
Speaker 1: having a little bit with Grady Dick, I think his
Speaker 1: people look at it and they say, oh, white kid
Speaker 1: from Kansas, he must be just like Christian Brown, And
Speaker 1: they couldn't be more different as players. You know, Brown
Speaker 1: super athletic, he gets after and he hustles place defense
Speaker 1: really hard. I think Grady Dick's the kind of guy
Speaker 1: we'll find out in the NBA if you can kind
Speaker 1: of work with his defensive limitations front Bagner was a
Speaker 1: guy a lot of people are like, this guy's never
Speaker 1: going to hold up defensively, and he's been just fine,
Speaker 1: So you know, they feel like, hey, what he hads
Speaker 1: is shooting that we really do need on this roster,
Speaker 1: and we feel like we can make it work around
Speaker 1: our other guys who play defense. They'll go that direction.
Speaker 1: Pick to worry about it too much.
Speaker 2: Can't get Keith out of here without giving his opinion
Speaker 2: on the Bradley Beal to Phoenix trade. As a resident
Speaker 2: capologist at Spoke Trek, he of course had incredible insight
Speaker 2: into this wild best trade listen and learn.
Speaker 1: I don't I'm not as down on it as some
Speaker 1: folks were for either side. You know, I saw a
Speaker 1: lot of people, you know, saying Washington got nothing and
Speaker 1: they're killing them, and and I've seen a lot of
Speaker 1: people saying, you know what in the world at Phoenix doing,
Speaker 1: how are they going to build a roster? But I
Speaker 1: look at it, and Phoenix said, hey, was now or
Speaker 1: never to cash in on Chris Paul's contract. We next year,
Speaker 1: you know, when all the new salary cap rules come
Speaker 1: in play for the most expensive teams, they wouldn't have
Speaker 1: been able to do the trade like this. So they're
Speaker 1: looking at it and saying, all right, let's get it done.
Speaker 1: And if they feel like, you know what will blow
Speaker 1: past that, we'll fill out with resigning our own guys.
Speaker 1: We'll fill out with minimums. We feel like we can
Speaker 1: build a completely competitive team, you know, around that, maybe
Speaker 1: they trade DeAndre eight and then break him up into
Speaker 1: you know, two or three players they if they feel
Speaker 1: like that's the way we'll go. But I will be
Speaker 1: over under on games played where they all play in
Speaker 1: the same game. For Durant, Hooker and deal probably at
Speaker 1: like fifty I you know, those guys are all a
Speaker 1: good bet to miss sometime. It's gonna be a little
Speaker 1: bit bumpy at first. It always is with these super teams.
Speaker 1: I think people forget that that Heat team started out.
Speaker 1: I think it was ten and ten before they really
Speaker 1: figured stuff out. So you know, it takes a little
Speaker 1: while for that to come together. But I think it
Speaker 1: can work and be pretty good because the one thing
Speaker 1: with this group that is nice is all three of
Speaker 1: those guys have played with other star players before. All
Speaker 1: three of those guys can shoot, so they can play
Speaker 1: off the ball so that makes it a lot easier
Speaker 1: than some of these other constructions where it's been Yeah,
Speaker 1: I've always been the guy, so I need the ball,
Speaker 1: and I need to be the one who runs the
Speaker 1: show and does all those things, and or you know,
Speaker 1: one of the three guys can't really play away from
Speaker 1: the ball very effectively. So that changes the math on
Speaker 1: it quite a bit. In this case, the Suns don't
Speaker 1: have those problems. So I don't mind it at all
Speaker 1: for them, provided they can build, you know, some functional
Speaker 1: depth in there, because they're going to need it because
Speaker 1: you know, everybody's saying, who's going to soop these guys
Speaker 1: in the playoffs? Well the first eighty two pounds two
Speaker 1: and you got to get you know, you don't want
Speaker 1: to be going into the playoffs as you know, fourth
Speaker 1: or fifty, you know, and they're making your path a
Speaker 1: lot harder than it needs to be.
Speaker 2: Yeah, no doubt Keith. Obviously, Chris Paul still doesn't have
Speaker 2: a home. He's in Washington, won't play a game here.
Speaker 2: Warriors have been rumored to be trying to maybe make
Speaker 2: a move. Maybe Chris Paul has been rumored. What what
Speaker 2: do you think the Warriors do? Do you think they
Speaker 2: try to move up in this draft. Do you think
Speaker 2: they try to maybe trade trade for Chris Paul, move
Speaker 2: Jordan Poole and try to get another first round pick
Speaker 2: out of that? Like, what do you see happening with
Speaker 2: the Dubs?
Speaker 1: Yeah, that Chris Paul stuff is weird to me. I mean,
Speaker 1: I get it. I'm sure they'd love to have him,
Speaker 1: but you'd have to give up another guy who's, you know,
Speaker 1: a key rotation player for them, and you know, most
Speaker 1: likely that probably starts with Jordan Poole. And if I'm
Speaker 1: the wizard, I'm not sure, you know, after I just
Speaker 1: wiped out, you know, two hundred million for Bradley deal
Speaker 1: and I want to take on you know, one hundred
Speaker 1: and thirty million for Jordan Poole, I'm not sure that
Speaker 1: the direction they really want to go. So so I
Speaker 1: think you're in a spot there where that that just
Speaker 1: goesn't make a ton of sense to me. You'll where
Speaker 1: that that why that would come together? I think, you know,
Speaker 1: Chris Paul's probably he's probably gonna ultimately be headed to
Speaker 1: one of the two lakes, the Lakers after waiver, or
Speaker 1: you know, maybe he had to the Clippers if they
Speaker 1: you know, can put together a couple of expiring salaries
Speaker 1: and a draft pick or something for him to go
Speaker 1: back to the Warriors, though it sounds like they're you know,
Speaker 1: at least open to talking about trading Jonathan Kaminga with
Speaker 1: the idea of, you know, maybe Kaminga nineteen to move
Speaker 1: up for a player that they really liked in the draft.
Speaker 1: You know, well, we'll see that that's been kind of
Speaker 1: thrown out there. Kaminga through you know, some gas on
Speaker 1: that fire by saying, you know, hey, I'm gonna go
Speaker 1: on and workout tour this summer and show everybody what
Speaker 1: I can do, and you know, try to try to
Speaker 1: prove some people I can really play. And you know,
Speaker 1: that's generally not the kind of thing that has flown
Speaker 1: real well with the Warriors over these pastial decade or
Speaker 1: so since they've come to prominence. So yeah, I think
Speaker 1: they're going to be active trying to fill out their rotation,
Speaker 1: but for the most part, it's probably gonna be lifted.
Speaker 1: Draymond Green resigned, Let's try to sink his contract up
Speaker 1: with Stephan Curry. They'll probably spend Klay Thompson for a
Speaker 1: couple of years and then they'll just keep keep that
Speaker 1: thing moving as best they can over the next three seasons.
Speaker 2: Finally, I asked Keith, who will be the team to
Speaker 2: make the next big move? Great stuff as always.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think Miami may phil be. I think they're
Speaker 1: they're hoping and praying that something goes sideways with Damian
Speaker 1: Lillard in Portland and he wants out. That's, you know,
Speaker 1: very very clear, that's the direction they would love to go.
Speaker 1: But I think Portland's going to be aggressive. I don't
Speaker 1: think they're going to trade Damian Loward. I think they're
Speaker 1: probably gonna move three and other stuff and try to
Speaker 1: put a winner around game. Again, I feel very confident
Speaker 1: we won't see Damian Lillard in the number three pick
Speaker 1: on the same roster, at least not for very long.
Speaker 1: I think Toronto is going to do something. It feels
Speaker 1: like they've got to pick the direction. You can't just
Speaker 1: kind of keep floating around with what they've got. So
Speaker 1: that's where you know, those are the kind of teams
Speaker 1: that I'm looking at, and really think everybody else is
Speaker 1: looking at. One other. Thing that'll throw very quickly is
Speaker 1: a lot of people looking at and saying, hey, the
Speaker 1: sun's went all in and they're gonna blow right past
Speaker 1: the super tax line. Let's go.
Speaker 2: That's all the time that we have for this bonus
Speaker 2: episode of The Heat Check. Many thanks to Keith Smith.
Speaker 2: Follow them on Twitter at Keith Smith NBA. The interview
Speaker 2: was conducted on Ben MGM and Night. Many thanks so
Speaker 2: much co host Ryan Horvatt, who you can hear throughout
Speaker 2: these bonus episodes, and our producer Scott Linn. Do not
Speaker 2: forget to download, subscribe, tell all your friends every single
Speaker 2: damn one of them. More bonus episodes to come all
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