Locked On Jayhawks - Daily Podcast On Kansas Jayhawks Football & Basketball - Why Kansas Jayhawks Basketball Must Develop a 2025 1st Round NBA Draft Pick to Win a National Title

Starting point is 00:00:00 On today's Locked on Jayhawks, why Kansas must have a first-round draft pick in the 2025 NBA draft if they want to win the national title, and who would that even be? You are Locked on Jayhawks, your daily podcast on the Kansas Jayhawks. Part of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day. Hey, what's up? I'm Derek Johnson. You can give me a follow on Twitter at DJohnsonRadio, and you can find our show. It's called Locked On Jayhawks anywhere you get your podcast,

Starting point is 00:00:34 including on our YouTube page where you can like and subscribe to the show. Thank you to the everydayers tuning in to each and every show. Thank you for making Locked On Jayhawks your first listen every day. And on today's edition of LOJ, we're talking a little KU basketball with the importance of why Kansas needs a first round draft pick in the 2025 NBA draft. If they plan on winning the national title in 2025 and who would even be the candidates for KU at that point in time. Today's episode is brought to you by GameTime. Download the GameTime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDONCOLLEGE for $20 off your first purchase.

Starting point is 00:01:10 Terms apply with GameTime. So we're going to start into what is the importance of this because you might be wondering to yourself, okay, KU's playing college basketball. Why does it matter who gets drafted to the NBA? Those are different things. Those are different discussions. It's not, you know, John Calipari with all the NBA talent he has every year

Starting point is 00:01:27 doesn't necessarily breed the best teams. He hasn't made it to a second weekend in what, like five, six years, something like that, right? So what is the importance of this? And then we'll get into who those players could possibly even be for KU and what my pick is and why on this episode of the show. So why it's important. If you go back over past years, teams who have won the national championship each and every year, you have to go all the way

Starting point is 00:01:52 back to the 1986 to 1987 season. That's when Indiana, the Hoosiers and Bob Knight won the national championship. You have to go all the way back to then, 1987 Indiana, to find a team who won the national championship in college basketball who did not have a first-round pick in the subsequent NBA draft. This isn't just, oh, did you have eventually a first-round draft pick? It's a first-round draft pick in that very next first-round draft or NBA draft because it'd be one thing for Kansas, right? You win a title this year and then it's like in two years, Flory Padunga is a first round draft pick, but no, it's always every champion since that 1987 Indiana team has had a

Starting point is 00:02:35 first round draft pick in that very next upcoming NBA draft. And even then, which I mean just going back to 1987 on its own that's almost 40 years right that's what 37 years of national champions where that has been the case but even if we do look at that 1987 Indiana team Steve Alford was their highest picked player in the NBA draft that year there were less teams in the NBA at that point in time. Steve Alford went pick 26. At the time, that was a second round pick. So technically, they did not have a first round pick. But by today's standards of top 30, if you were to just rephrase this as not a first round pick, but needing a top 30 pick in the NBA draft, they would still apply because he was in the top 30. That would have been a first round pick in today's day and age. So if we go back further we go back to 1976 that is the year of the NBA-ABA merger so I guess you would say modern

Starting point is 00:03:32 basketball what it is closer to today every single national champion except that Indiana team in 1987 had at least one first round pick get drafted. So again, you're talking about if we're going back to 1976, that gives us just shy of 50 years of national champions, all of them except one had a first round pick. And that one exception still had a top 26 pick, a top 30 pick, which would today be a first round pick in the NBA draft. So point being, is there always a chance that a team could win a title and buck this trend? And that in today's day and age of NIL and, you know, players who would normally be second round picks or something like that, or maybe undrafted, but would go anyway, are coming back to school.

Starting point is 00:04:21 And so you end up with rosters that are filled more with these players. And because there are more transfer ups from, you you know the mid-major level where you can field a team of guys that are mid-major all-stars in a way that can still be really good college players but don't have the NBA draft pedigree and stuff like that like is there a chance that a team will buck this trend at some point in the next decade or so yeah absolutely it is but do you want to be the guy betting against 50 years worth of data you know what i mean like could it possibly happen yeah but like again it's like do you want to play the percentages because if you want to play the percentages kansas needs to have somebody who will be a first round pick in the nba draft now of course there's a bit uh

Starting point is 00:04:59 of two things kind of being related into all of this, right? If you win a national championship, you get more hype, you get more publicity, you get more positive, I don't know, news cycle, I guess you would say. And people just inherently give you, your team, your players a boost because it is objectively, it is harder to be a good player. It is harder to put up good production on a good team than it is for a bad team. It's harder to average 16 points per game on one of the 10 best teams in the country than it is to average 19 points per game on a 10 and 20 team. It just is. So inherently, if you win a national title, it's going to boost up your players' odds.

Starting point is 00:05:43 And there's part of that, too, where it's like you're trying to figure out as humans why did this team win the national title, it's going to boost up your players odds. And there's part of that too, where it's like, you're trying to figure out as humans, why did this team win the national title? And part of that circles back to, okay, it's because they have really good players. And so if they want a national title, it's probably because this player is really good. So I'm going to view it as like, they want a national title because they have this player who's then worth a first round draft pick. So inherently, if you do win a title, it boosts your odds. And plus to win a title, like said player, whatever it is, whoever you're talking about has to play well on the way to you winning that title, whether it's in the post season, whether it's in that championship game where you're on a very high stage, whether it's over

Starting point is 00:06:17 the course of the season, the combination, and you have to perform well in those highlight moments. So it is a little bit of a self-fulfilling prophecy from that perspective. Like Shabazz Napier, he was a small guard. He wouldn't have been a first round pick. There were seven seed in the tournament. If they lose in the first round, they lose in the second round. Shabazz Napier is not a first round draft pick. They end up winning the title and then he is. So I think there's probably sometimes you could point to it and say, okay, it took the national title run for us to look at this guy and say, yeah, you probably are first round pick good. And sometimes it does take that validation. Other times it's like, yeah, maybe they wouldn't have been, but that kind of fueled them to be so whether, you know,

Starting point is 00:06:58 it was deserving or not. So it can be a bit of a self-fulfilling prophecy, as I said, in that way. If you have more good players, if you have more guys who are threatening to be first round draft picks, and therefore you have more talent on your roster, that means you have the bones. It means you have the foundation to be a better team. Duh. So there's another part of it where it's like that, where it's like, well, if you win the title, you probably have a lot of good players and therefore you have a better chance of this happening. But still, if that's an indication of importance, it is an interesting question, I think, for a Kansas team this year that doesn't have an obvious pick for being a first round draft pick. Like you look at some of these other teams who are projected to be some of the best teams in the country this year,

Starting point is 00:07:41 you look at Duke and it's like, oh, you have Cooper Flagg and they'll probably have a couple other kids that are highly rated freshmen that are supposed to teams in the country this year. You look at Duke and it's like, oh, you have Cooper Flagg, and they'll probably have a couple other kids that are highly rated freshmen that are supposed to go in the first round. All the kids that John Calipari has at Arkansas, certainly that's going to be the case, right? I don't know who it would be in North Carolina. I don't know, maybe Elliott Cadeau, maybe the other freshmen that they have coming in who's possibly one and done

Starting point is 00:08:02 kind of on the wing at the guard position like they have guys. Point being, you look at a lot of these other teams and that is kind of the case. So you've got to have someone who has a shot. It doesn't necessarily right now, because we know things change all the time, right? Like,

Starting point is 00:08:16 Oh, Chad Baji wasn't seen as a first round draft pick coming back to his final year of school. He was though seen as somebody who was like, okay, he can be a second round pick. Right. So you at least gave yourself a shot where it's like if you come back and you ball out you can be a first round draft pick um and honestly like it's beneficial to have multiple again very duh moment here more talent and of course future draft picks like help too

Starting point is 00:08:40 but i'm just talking about this very next nba draft and so from that perspective you have to also be talking about guys that are um because those are the ones that are more indicative of the guys playing now impacting that anyway the guys who are going to be like your kind of starter level players uh for instance uh several weeks ago uh yukon 2024 yukon i should say had four draft picks with two in the lottery 2023 yukon had two picks and a first rounder, Jordan Hawkins. 2022, Kansas had Ocha Agbaje and Christian Brown. Both of them go in the first round. 2021, Baylor had two picks in the draft with Jared Butler and Davion Mitchell.

Starting point is 00:09:19 I know Mitchell was a lottery pick. I can't remember if Butler was late first round or went early second, but Mitchell was actually top 10. 2020, Kansas, which obviously that one didn't get a chance to win the title, but had they have, Kansas had Yudoka Azubuke go in the first round and had that team gotten the chance to actually win the title. I think Devon Dotson actually gets picked in that scenario, at least in the second round. And then 2019 Virginia, they had three picks in the draft. In fact fact this is interesting too as I'm going over the number of picks because it's not just every team since 1976

Starting point is 00:09:50 since the merger has had at least a top 30 pick in that subsequent NBA draft but if you go back to 1999 so the last 25 years the last time that a team didn't have at least two NBA draft picks. Now, this doesn't necessarily have to be first round pick, but so not only a first round pick, but at least a second pick that went in the second round. You have to go back to that 1999 season with UConn, who was kind of a surprise at that point when they won it. I believe that was the first time they won the title with Jim Calhoun, but Rip Hamilton was a top 10 pick still. So realistically, the conversation needs to be, does Kansas have a first round draft pick? And do they have at least another player who can be drafted?

Starting point is 00:10:32 And do they have that ability to do that? Or at least two players who can be on the fringe of doing that to where a run to winning a national title could boost them over the top. And of course, you can still have a successful season by making a Final Four, winning a Big 12 title, doing a lot of these other things, this and that. But Kansas, the ultimate goal is to win a national title. And whether it's a cause of it or a result of it, it's got to be a thing that happens if you're looking at past history for what needs to happen for Kansas.

Starting point is 00:11:00 Who would be the candidates? Who's my pick? We'll talk about that on Locked on Jayhawks. We are brought to you by GameTime with killer last-minute deals, all-in prices, views from receipt, and their lowest price guarantee. GameTime takes the guesswork out of buying MLB tickets or whatever you're looking to attend right now, comedy, music, theater, whether you're just planning ahead to, you know what, I might be wanting to go to some KU football or some Chiefs games,

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Starting point is 00:12:14 Thanks for joining us here on LockedOnJayhawks. Again, thank you to the everydayers tuning in to each and every show. Don't forget, we're going to have a Football Friday episode on tomorrow's show. We talked some football earlier this week, and if you are an everydayer, you know that already. But if you're looking for, you know, some information on some of KU's opponents this season, or you want to check out what's going on in the Big 12 or around the entire

Starting point is 00:12:32 scope of college football, or maybe just another sport, you can find that all across our Locked On podcast network. Okay. So it is vitally important, as we just kind of talked about, that Kansas has two draft picks on the team and one of them being a first round pick doesn't have to be predicted right now but they at least need to be on the fringe or have the possibility of turning into that by the end of the season I remember I think it was uh was Johnny Davis is that the right name from Wisconsin I don't remember

Starting point is 00:12:58 him ever popping up on draft boards then all of a sudden he's a lottery pick after just going off his like second year at Wisconsin so it is entirely is entirely possible to come out of nowhere a little bit. And we do see a couple of guys kind of do that each and every year. And it helps when you're a wing because that is more in vogue in the NBA than like a short guard. Nonetheless, who would be the candidates for KU? Well, let's start with who it's not, who we can kind of eliminate from this discussion. At this point, Hunter Dickinson is not going to be in this discussion. Hunter Dickinson has been a to be in this discussion. Hunter Dickinson

Starting point is 00:13:25 has been a multi-year All-American. You could talk about that, oh, but what if he's National Player of the Year this year? You could talk about what if he's Final Four MOP? It's not going to matter. The college production has been there. The college tape has been there. Maybe you could convince yourself if those things happen, he's National Player of the Year. He's Final Four MOP. Does he become a late second round pick at that point in time but he would not still be at kansas if there was that draft stock because again there's not that much of a difference in what hunter could possibly do this year versus what he has done kind of in the past so that would not be a candidate there i don't think kj adams would be a candidate here the shooting just isn't there for the nba game um i

Starting point is 00:14:02 don't think the you know the way that like, obviously Kansas and Bill Self has made that comparison of like KJ Adams. He's kind of our like Draymond Green. Draymond Green is yeah, he's only what, like six foot seven, something like that. But that dude has like a seven foot, it's insane. It's like seven foot two or something like that wingspan. KJ, I don't even know if he has a plus wingspan, to be honest. So there's a difference there. Draymond, even though he's not a good shooter, he can shoot at least a little bit. Like with KJ, it's not there. So I don't see really a world where KJ would end up being drafted. DeJuan Harris, kind of same thing there. Undersized point guard. What are you going to bring at the NBA level? I don't really see that

Starting point is 00:14:39 being the case. The Zeke Mayo one is interesting because if you were to come up at Kansas and let's say he starts this year and averages 14 points per game, that would certainly get on the radars of some scouts. Could he just be kind of an off-ball shooter for you, like extra ball handler that you have? But with some of the questions about the athleticism, the defense, and I don't know that he is going to be starting for the team, I don't think that would necessarily be the case. And then Shaquille Moore, undersized guard. I feel like that one's a little more self-explanatory, might be more of a role player this year for KU. So who does that leave for possibilities here? AJ Storr. I think AJ Storr would certainly make a lot of sense. As I talked about,

Starting point is 00:15:18 wings are in vogue in the NBA. In fact, ESPN has him going 54th. NBA Draft Room has his 60th. The Athletic has him 56th. So there's somebody who's being projected as being drafted, albeit a late draftee, but at least that gets you on the radars right now early in the season, where if you do improve on some of the things that maybe you have questions about, can you be a better rebounder? Can you be a better defender? Can you be a more efficient three-point shooter? That's how you boost up the stock in addition to being on a great team,

Starting point is 00:15:44 which Kansas is hoping to be this year. Flory Budunga would be a candidate here. So NBA Draft Room actually has him at 36th. I think this will be too early. In an ideal world, Hunter Dickinson is the equivalent of Adama Sanogo from a couple years UConn, and Flory Budunga is playing the Donovan Klingon role from two years ago, where he's coming off the bench and giving you anywhere from 10 to 15 minutes in a given game and he's he's so good that you know if Klingon would have gone pro after UConn's first title he still would have been a first round pick I don't know if he would have gone top you know seven in the NBA draft like he did but he still would have been a first round pick maybe that's something that can end up happen happening with Flory Badunga and he could threaten for. But it's also going to be tough because he's competing with Zach Clements

Starting point is 00:16:27 for a possibility of, what, a max of – I guess if Flory is that good making the Klingon roll, which, to be clear, Klingon is like, I don't know, seven, eight inches taller than Flory Badunga. And he could, at least like in practice, I know scouts were mentioning like he was like Drano from three, whereas with Flory, that's not his game. So there are differences there,

Starting point is 00:16:50 but point being that would be kind of the model you're looking for. Rylan Griffin is not somebody I've seen pop up on draft boards, but he's a good enough shooter. He's got wing length and a bit of ball handling abilities. So those catch the eye of NBA teams. If he can have more consistent defense, the three-point shooting looks really good again. And then again, maybe some of those rebounding numbers

Starting point is 00:17:08 go up a little bit. Maybe that gets on the radar. What about Rukis Passmore? Now this is one again, where it's kind of like with Floyd Badunga, is he going to have the big enough role? I think that can be accomplished a little bit more at the center position,

Starting point is 00:17:21 as I mentioned with kind of the Klingon role next to Sanogo. A little bit tougher when you're on the wing. You want to see those guys have that level of production, unless you're like Bronny James or Peyton Watson. But with Rakees Passmore, he's a really good athlete, can throw down really good dunks. What if he does end up playing 15 minutes a game? What if he shows some really good flashes? And then like in an NCAA tournament game, like has one game where he goes off off the bench, scores 12 points, hits a couple of threes, throws down a couple of big dunks. People are

Starting point is 00:17:54 like, you know what? I could see it. Let's, let's try to get this kid in the NBA draft. They draft a lot on, on future potential, right? That's why Furphy ended up entering the NBA draft. So I don't think that one would be like that insane. I do expect Passmore to be at KU a couple of years, but I also, I don't know that I would expect Passmore to be at KU for four years, right? I don't know. I think he could be that good of a player that he gets to leave early at some point. And then Zach Clements, dare I say, I mean, a former top 50 recruit. NBA teams love big men who can stretch the floor. Like what if Clements does beat out Flory Badunga and is playing, I don't know, 15 minutes a game where he's getting 10 minutes a game as the backup five. And he's playing five minutes a game as a four man, whether it's next to KJ Adams or next to Hunter Dickinson or whatever.

Starting point is 00:18:38 And he's hitting threes at the rate we all hoped he was when you heard about his recruiting prowess coming out of high school. He's hitting 38% from three, and the defense and the rebounding are a little bit better. Would that be unthinkable? I don't know. Probably wouldn't happen, but I guess it's not impossible either. So who would be my pick and why? How does it have to happen?

Starting point is 00:18:56 What does it have to look like for KU? That in a moment. We are brought to you by eBay Motors motors passion drive and patience the formula for winning championships is also what keeps your ride or die alive ebay motors has everything you need to maintain your vehicle and level it up to peak performance i'm talking superchargers roof racks exhaust kits led headlights and more whether you're into speed power or style ebay motors has you covered with over 122 million parts for your number one ride or die, you'll always find exactly what you're looking for. And with

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Starting point is 00:19:43 Eligible items only. Exclusions apply. eBay guaranteed fit. Only available to U.S. customers. Finishing things up. So KU needs a first-round pick. There were some of the candidates. Storr, Badunga, Griffin, Passmore, and Clements. My pick for the first-round guy would be AJ Storr.

Starting point is 00:20:01 Now, like I said, I think Flory Badunga would probably be the runner-up here, but I think there is a real path for this happening. If Storr can average 16, 17, 18 points per game, and the defense can be more consistent, and he can get the rebounding up to four and a half, five, five and a half rebounds per game, and the three-point shooting goes up from 31% to 35% on a little bit more volume, and you have this powerful athletic wing, which he already is, on a team that's winning a lot of games that will get a lot of attention, I think you will see that be the case with AJ Storr, that he could very well turn himself into a first-round pick

Starting point is 00:20:37 with the right individual and team success kind of put together. I don't think that is that crazy at all. I think Florio Badunga would have a chance to do it from the potential standpoint. But as much as that one, I think there's the avenue to it making sense. And we've seen it before. I mean, shoot, Sheck Diallo was like an early second round pick. Did he even go in the first? I thought it was like 35 or something like that.

Starting point is 00:21:00 I don't know. It might have been like 28. But he didn't really play much. So what if he ended up with that? What if like Storr ended up being a first round pick and then Flory ended up being picked like 45th, you know, coming out as a freshman who only played eight minutes per game. Like that's not that unthinkable, but honestly, like I do want to give some love to Ryland Griffin here because NBA teams love wings. They love guys who can

Starting point is 00:21:19 handle the ball a little bit. They love guys who can knock down threes and play defense. And I think Ryland Griffin's ideal role this season is going to be a big time three and D player. And so what happens if the three point shooting goes up even more than it was at Alabama? What if he goes up to like 44% from three? What if he's averaging 14 points per game and his defense, he's just this ultimate three and D player and you're on a winning team that is the makings of at least being drafted in the second round. So I think there is an avenue for Kansas getting to this point, because I do think Stor, Budunga are certainly on the radar for doing it. And then I think one of Griffin, Passmore, Clements would have a chance of maybe more so Griffin or Passmore becoming that other guy.

Starting point is 00:22:00 But it is kind of walking a tightrope because there isn't that obvious one. And there isn't somebody who's projected that right now, which does make this a little bit tougher and a little bit more unique of a conversation for KU. So we'll see what ends up happening and why, but certainly for Kansas to hit its ceiling and to be the best team possible, it would behoove them for AJ Storr to play that well where you're having those conversations. Is he a first round pick? And is he going to leave after his one year at Kansas instead of being at KU

Starting point is 00:22:25 for two? That'll do it for this episode of Locked on Jayhawks back tomorrow for football Friday. We're going to talk biggest strengths and weaknesses, questions about KU football in 2024 and the latest about some of the stuff that's been said around KU fall camp from Lance Leipold and company on Locked on Jayhawks. Make sure you subscribe to the show. Anywhere you get your podcast, including on our YouTube page. We'll see you next time with LOJ.

Locked On Jayhawks - Daily Podcast On Kansas Jayhawks Football & Basketball - Why Kansas Jayhawks Basketball Must Develop a 2025 1st Round NBA Draft Pick to Win a National Title

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