The Bill Simmons Podcast - NBA Draftapalooza, Part 3: GSW Goes Young, Spurs Go Loco + Rest of Lottery With Ryen Russillo and Kevin O’Connor

Episode Date: July 30, 2021

The Ringer’s Bill Simmons is joined by Ryen Russillo and Kevin O’Connor to discuss picks 7 through 15 of the NBA draft in real time! Host: Bill Simmons Guests: Ryen Russillo and Kevin O’Connor Producer: Kyle Crichton Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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learn more about the resources and helplines available and listen to the end of the episode for additional details. You must be 21 plus and present in select states. Gambling problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit RG-Help.com. Part three. Draft of Palooza 2021. Ryan Rossell is here.

Kevin O'Connor is here as well. We're about to get into it. First, our friends from Pearl jam. One more time. All right, guys. As we picked up, the Warriors took Jonathan Kaminga with the seventh pick in the NBA draft. I was not expecting this.

I got to be honest. I thought it was going to be book night. Book night. The book night fall has now begun. Rosillo, you heard word that Kaminga was possibly the pick. This actually makes me think that they have a trade coming because it doesn't make sense to me how you're going to try to win the title next year, but also have Wiseman and Kaminga. You think this is a trade asset or do they actually like him?

I do think they like him. I heard yesterday he was the pick. I didn't tell you because I didn't trust you. You could have told me. I could have bet on it. You could have given me a tip. Jesus. I'm totally messing with you. But again, as I say that

out loud, I'm not going to sit here and tell you that they're not trading it. The sense I got as we got closer and we just shared this all in green room to be repetitive for those people that are nice enough to join us. It felt kind of like, you know what, like this guy's got a real chance here. And that's what he is. I mean, he's the biggest ceiling, lowest floor guy there is. And it depends on which game, which clip you watch. The high school stuff's better than the G League stuff because there's a lot of G League stuff in there that wasn't great.

So it was tough to figure out, but he's 6'8", he's 18. KOC, what's he going to look like in a Blazers uniform with Wiseman and the 14th pick in Wiggins next year? What do you think? Maybe in Warriors dreams would that happen. But for Kaminga here, in Golden State, assuming he stays

and we don't see a trade, I wonder how much he can contribute early on. Is there a role for him? for Kaminga here in golden state, assuming he stays and we don't see a trade. I wonder how much he can contribute early on. Is there a role for him, you know, coming off the bench, shooting threes up the catch, attacking closeouts,

you know, playing hard on defense. What is the role for Kaminga for him to be a contributing player in a playoff situation? Is that, is that a realistic thing to expect from him during his rookie season? Well, listen, when you, when you draft a guy with the only lottery pick you're going to have for the next five years,

whose biggest issue was he had major competitiveness problems, and now you're putting him on a famous franchise with a couple of the most famous players ever, and Draymond Green, who's a maniac. I have some reservations. I'm a little worried. I don't think this was the right team for him. I am just terrified of people who have competitiveness issues.

And this was the main thing with him. People would watch him. Russo, you watch more G League than anyone I know last year. You would watch Kaminga and you'd just be like, why doesn't this guy give a shit? There's scouts at these games.

This game's being televised. Why doesn't this guy care? Now, you could have said the these games. This game's being televised. Why doesn't this guy care? Now, you could have said the same thing two years ago about Lomelo, and it was fine. But it still worries me. I'm sorry. Yeah, the Lomelo thing,

I wish you and I had figured out. And I was guilty because I think I was bringing it up, was that he didn't respect anyone in Australia. Like, he was just like, whatever. And then as soon as he got to the NBA, it was like, okay, I actually respect my teammates a little bit more, least based on his decision making all that kind of

stuff but comingo was in the g league and if you watch au stuff au guys that are like six eight that beat the hell out of everyone and score relentlessly because they're six eight and he wasn't really dribbling past guys he was bodying them but then he'd have these moments where it's like 15 foot baseline turnaround you're like oh my god like that looked great look right out of his hands clean you know it's it wasn't clunky at all and he was handling the ball all the time at this size like that was the stuff that you got excited about what i couldn't understand in the g league part of it like you know how when you're in a pickup game and it's it's like eight six and the other team

breaks out and you think like okay i, I'm just going to save myself here and not get back across the court, and I'll save it for the next possession. He was doing this in G League games. So I never could quite understand the passiveness, and I would point to Jarrett Jack joining us. When I asked him about Jalen Green, and then I asked him about Kaminga,

his reaction was very different. His body language, his face, he was talking about Jalen Green in a way that he wasn't talking about Kaminga. His reaction was very different. His body language, his face. It just, he was talking about Jalen Green in a way that he wasn't talking about Kaminga. And I thought that was telling. But what do you think, KSA? No, I agree completely with Ryan and listening to that pod. Like, I didn't watch the pod, but listening to it, it was alarming how much he just heat praise onto Jalen Green. And with Kaminga, it was a real basic answer.

You know, oh, he's 6'8", he's long, definitely has potential, but it wasn't a full-on endorsement. And so for Golden State here, maybe there's been growth since the G League season. Maybe this is just a shot. They're trying to go for a home run here on a guy who obviously has that upside. But Orlando took Franz Wagner with the eighth pick and that was somebody that we heard a lot of you know noise about throughout the week that could have been the guy at seven for the Warriors and Wagner has a game that's more built to contribute right away and so Orlando is instead getting that guy who seems ready to come in right away get stops on defense shoot spot up threes make the right play I question if the Warriors will regret this

at some point over the course of the season when they're looking at Wagner contributing for Orlando if Kaminga has a bunch of issues as a rookie, much like James Wiseman did last year. I personally would have taken Wagner. I think he made more sense for them, and I think he's a safer pick than Kaminga, and I think there's a chance.

Based on, I've loved the NBA draft since the mid 1970s. He fits a lot of red flag profiles that just make me nervous. And maybe going to the Warriors would be the greatest thing that ever happened to him. But watching, so Franz Wagner just got picked watching on the telecast now. If you're Orlando, what an unbelievable turn of events. You're thinking like, oh my God, we're going to, we'll just take the best two guys available. Maybe it's Barnes and Kaminga.

And now you've got Jalen Suggs and Wagner. Guaranteed. Who's doing draft grades for us on the ringer this year? Is that? I got him going

on the draft guide. You got him going? God, look at, can't see you're doing 19 things. So impressive. This is a guaranteed A or a plus for

the orlando magic yeah and vogner i like it yeah i mean this this is outstanding for them two of the smartest players gonna go in the lottery arguably the smartest players in terms of their basketball sense their awareness ability to make decisions on both ends of the court guys who are reliable that like i mean it's too bad for ste Clifford that he's gone. He would have loved these rookies. These are the type of rookies Clifford might actually give some minutes to. There's a lot of stuff going on, including Magic Johnson has tweeted

about the Russell Westbrook trade. He said, with Westbrook joining LeBron and AD, the Lakers now have their version of the big three. All we need is a couple of shooters. We'd be tough to beat. And then followed that up with Russell Westbrook is the most electric player in the NBA today

and the Staples Center will be on fire next season. Three flames, Priscilla. It's a three flame tweet for Magic. Three flames? That's a lot of depth, though. That's a lot of depth. That's why the big three. Yeah, the big three thing was never going to happen.

You know what I like about Franz, though, is he's, without sounding like I'm profiling here, he's a better playmaking, worse shooting Laurie Markkinen. And he improved the three-point shooting, you know, 31% last year, 34% this year, which is always kind of the first thing we're thinking about with any perimeter guy. But he led the team in steals. He was second in blocks. His help defense is actually his instincts on help are terrific. And the other thing I liked about him is, you know, he's a younger player. He's got a lot of handle to him. You know what I mean? You're not going to have him sit there initiating the offense, but if he gets stuck with the ball, he can get himself out of trouble. He would get caught kind of in traffic.

You know, he'd be at the elbow. He'd maybe be in the paint. And where everybody else is just spazzing and trying to get a foul or get the shot up before it's blocked, he could kind of stop and wait for somebody else to make a cut. He was really comfortable in tight quarters.

And for a young player that has all these kind of skills, he just has a lot of different skills. And people would say, maybe the draft starts for him at four, which I thought, look, four is high. He was never actually linked to any teams that high. This is around his range. I also think it was why Golden State was interested too. There's a lot to him as a player. If he turns into a better shooter and keeps improving that, then you may have really hit on something. I wish Golden State had taken him, but I really feel in my bones that this is some sort of trade looming.

Kamika makes no sense. Zero for next year's team. All we've heard is that they want to get guys that they can win with next year. On top of it, it's a $30 million luxury tax thing for him. It just doesn't make sense to me. Okay, but let me ask you this. That's what everybody said on the outside. And I know that's probably what Steve Kerr would want. But if you look at davion mitchell who i think we all like and you go okay but with this team are we drafting a backup point guard for the next few years or could we hit on something with kaminga wagner wagner is the one okay if you're trying to win next year i think it's if it's between wagner and kaminga and i'm keeping the pick i'm taking wagner like i think you have to

factor in at least a little bit that I have Curry and Klay Thompson and Draymond and Wiggins. I'm in the West. Oh, KOC just said Mitchell to the Kings, apparently, on Twitter. Yep. Woj and Shams both reported Mitchell to the Kings, which now you have De'Aaron Fox, Tyrese Halliburton. Buddy Heald hasn't been traded yet.

And now you're adding Davion Mitchell, a six-foot guard, into that rotation. I'm intrigued here. Are they thinking like a three-headed monster with Fox, Halliburton, and Mitchell? Or are they thinking, you know, is this a trade? Or are they thinking down the line, maybe they're flipping one of those guys for a bigger player? Maybe they can bring Isaiah Cannon back. Or Isaiah Thomas. I have a couple takes. He's looking for a job. One is, bring Isaiah Cannon back. Or Isaiah Thomas. I have a couple takes. He's looking for a job.

KOC is tweeting. He's doing draft grades and he's in this podcast green room with us. It's the most impressive thing I've seen from not just a Ringer employee, I think a Grant Lane employee. You're doing five things at once. Your generation is amazing. Second,

I really like Davion Mitchell this is a terrible pick I don't think you should draft based on who's on your roster but at the same time you have to draft a little bit based on who's your roster they already have two point guards the fuck is Davion Mitchell going to do in this team that makes no sense to me unless there's a trade

fit matters because that's how players can develop in the best possible way like you don't necessarily draft because of guys you have or make decisions because of that but it directly affects how our player develops and what opportunities they receive yeah no kidding you know if you're the third point guard on a team you're not going to have the ball that much and you're not going to be doing any of the stuff you're good at. It doesn't make sense to me. Here's the thing though. I like this and that's because I'm not a big De'Aaron Fox

fan. And to me, I'm thinking, I'm already thinking, if I'm Montee McNair, I'm like, what can I get for De'Aaron Fox? Why not? Simmons? Could this be the team? That was actually offered. That was offered years ago.

By who? De'Aaron Fox or Simmons. I forget who turned it down. I think Sacramento did. Yeah. I think I would do that. KSA, you and I are a little bit similar on De'Aaron Fox. Really like him on paper, but don't

really love him, and I'm not sure he's a guy who could be a top three guy on a finals team, which is what all the decisions should be based on. He's too inefficient in the half court, too streaky as a shooter. Look, I mean, he's a downhill guy. He's exciting. He's fast. He's speedy.

But I'm not sure you can become a championship team, as you said, with De'Aaron Fox. Whereas with Halliburton, I think all three of us love that guy. Who doesn't love Tyrese Halliburton? With Mitchell, if the shot translates, if he continues shooting at a high level like he did as a junior, because prior to that, he didn't. That was his first year shooting the hell out of the ball. If that translates to the early part of the season,

I mean, look, I know Fox is good, but I'd be thinking about flipping him for something that's a better fit with Mitchell and Halliburton in that backcourt. I like it for Sacramento. I like it if there's a better fit with Mitchell and Halliburton in that backcourt. I like it for Sacramento. I like it if there's a trade coming. And I really like Davion Mitchell. I hate the fit right now, and it makes no sense to me.

And I think you're putting... What was that year when Phoenix had all the point guards at the same time? They're like, watch this. This is going to work. And it was just a disaster. And then they ended up trading Isaiah Thomas for $0.50 a dollar.

I don't think you can have a glut of point guards. So they're going to have to figure it out. I feel like Rosillo might be higher on this than we are. No, but you guys are trading everybody. Like everybody, every soon as the pick comes in, you guys are like, all right, what do you think? What do you think this means? Well, they have three point guards. How are they going to play Halliburton, Fox, and Mitchell

at the same time? It's impossible. I like Mitchell. I like the Villanova game. It was always the thing when I was watching it in the moment. I remember tweeting about it being like, hey, when we're doing this draft thing months from now, let's not forget this moment

where he completely took that game over. The shooting thing's a little bit of a concern because when he was at Auburn, 29%, then 32%, then it jumps up to 45%. Some teams are a little scared off on that as well because his free throws are in the 60s. And he didn't measure very well. And he's older.

But as far as the fit for Sacramento, I'm not going to disagree with you guys on that one. I'm not. I just, I don't quite get it. Well, can we go backwards? How about if it's just Halliburton, Mitchell, and whatever they got in a Fox trade? As a Halliburton, Mitchell, as a backcourt, I do really like that.

I just don't know how Deere and Fox that fits in. It kind of breaks my brain. Meanwhile, KOC also breaking my brain because he's doing his draft grades as he's doing this pot. You're the star of this draft. I thought Woj was the star of this draft. It's KOC. I don't know how you're doing it.

Some of the grades were with Matt Dollinger doing great work. Like 10 of grades based off range. Don't let us behind the curtain, KFC. But I am on Slack while we're recording this. I hope that's okay. That's great. I think Fox gets traded.

I really do. I don't think he stays, though. Do you think the Warriors would do Kaminga next year's first for Wagner? Wait, what? I see what you did there. That was the classic, Priscilla. A, trying to figure out if we were all paying attention, and B,

trying to be a little bit of a dick. Yeah, fair. can i say something positive though about mitchell in the guard problem that we that i'm not i'm not disagreeing with you on any of that all right yeah but i spent a lot of time watching butler again the last day or two and it wasn't just how much fun butler was or how fun mitchell it was how fun those two guys were together the unselfishness with all the perimeter guys, specifically those two, and even the LKT, they are so complimentary as guards. And I, there was one play where, where Butler, Butler had Timmy in Gonzaga in the championship

game. He had him in a switch and that's something they were looking to do. And he goes back to Davion and Davion's like, man you still got fucking Timmy on you like go back to work and then Butler just takes Timmy off the dribble and then passed to somebody else and it led to a bucket and I'm just telling you like it was really really cool digging into all of those games and catching back up on Baylor and seeing how they now I'm not telling you this is a perfect plan but I'm telling you he at least goes into the situation understanding how to play with other

guards that are really good, which is not the case for a lot of guys that play the position that can put up buckets. I like Halbert and Mitchell as a start. Did they bring back Rashawn Holmes? We'll see. We just had another pick. Zaire Williams. Oh, there you go. Number 10 to

Memphis, who traded up from 17 to 10, took on the Bledsoe-Adams contracts, got rid of our guy Jonas. KOC, couldn't they have just gotten him at 17 or am I crazy? I mean, it's very possible they could have. I don't love this pick for the Grizzlies. And this is the first pick that they've made

during their new era with Zach Kleiman that I haven't liked. I liked everything they've done up until this one. Zaire Williams, positionally, he works with Ja Morant. He works with Jaren's Action Junior because he's 6'8". He's a silky, smooth ball handler, has the ability to create his own shot. But man, this dude is so raw. He's incredibly raw, and he's one of those guys where if he doesn't improve his jump shot,

you have concerns about how valuable he can really be. Even though he's aware and plays fairly hard on defense, he still needs to improve fundamentally, still needs to get stronger. So for Memphis, I think this is another indication, just like with the Pelicans trade, that they are probably taking a slight step back and focusing on development rather than trying to be like the Kings and just pushing for a playoff spot. I think for Memphis, this is at least an indication of that because Williams isn't necessarily ready to contribute yet. It could work out great down the line, but I don't love the pick right now when they, I think they could have gotten him at 17.

Who do we think they should have taken here? I actually made the case for him either the last two podcasts ago about how he had this bad season during this COVID season. And he was a guy who was like the fifth best prospect heading into college. And then everybody was kind of off him. Now it's back on. I thought like 17, 19 range seemed a little low for him. But 10 seems too high. Who should they have taken, Rosillo? Well, Book it's back on. I thought like 17, 19 range seemed a little low for him, but 10 seems

too high. Who should they have taken Rosillo? Well, Booknight's still there. And I know that it doesn't seem to make any sense because you already have Dylan Brooks. And by the way, we're starting to get to the point where some of these teams where there's going to be a pick where there's already somebody playing, if not multiple guys. But I think Booknight's shot creation, handle, drive, fight, all that stuff. I know he didn't shoot it as well. He shot it better last year. You'd love to see it go in with Booknight more. We'll get to it because I have to imagine he's going to go here soon.

But Zyre just didn't do it for me, man. He didn't. There's people that swear by him in high school. They will point to the fact he went through a lot at Stanford this year, but just on the floor, he's not awful. It's just that the start would look good. Like whatever his decision was, you'd be like, oh, here we go.

And then it always ended bad. It was the weirdest thing. And then he fell in love with step backs. And then it started to feel a little AAU-ish. And some of these kids that score like crazy at the AAU level, I used Perry Jones as the example. Remember him?

He was like the number one guy, went to Baylor, ended up the bend of the first round, Oklahoma City out of the league immediately. Some of these guys are so big that they don't actually develop other stuff to their game. And I think Zyre has the foundation of something possibly being there. I'm just saying, if you focus on the Stanford part of it, it wasn't, they must've gone through all the high school stuff and talked to everybody and felt like, Hey, what we saw at Stanford isn't who this kid is. And that's fine, but it wasn't great there. I like KFC's point about Memphis, maybe resetting a little bit because you're in the West, you're not winning the title there

anyway. So why not, you know, try to get a full year, Jaron Jackson, play some of the young guys that picked all that stuff. I don't love the pick. What's interesting is Booknight, who now has fallen too far, but the next team up is Charlotte. And the last thing Charlotte needs is like a scoring guard who's like a scoring combo guard. They have a whole team of scoring combo guards.

And I don't really see them taking him either. So he might fall to San Antonio at 12, who I would assume would scoop him up. What do you think, KFC? It's possible, though. Charlotte, San Antonio, and Indiana, all three of them have been teams that OKC, New York, Atlanta

have tried to trade up with. So not saying we'll see a deal here, but it's at least a possibility because Booknight is somebody that I can see. So somebody moving up to 11 for Booknight. Including OKC because if they were really thinking about him at 6, why wouldn't you try to package 16 and 18 to move up and get him at 11 if you actually do indeed want him

and he was not a smokescreen? Well, maybe the Spurs should move up. It would seem like he's somebody that could help them too. This is, I always say this, this is the greatest thing that could happen to Booknight, right? He thought he was going five, six, or seven. We're now at pick 11. He might not even go there.

This is chip on the shoulder potential. I think he's fallen too far. So I think you're right. I think your instincts are right, KFC. I think somebody zooms up here. I wonder if the Knicks... I know they've been thrown around

the 19 and 21 all over the place, but I wonder if Booknight's somebody they would try to just move up and get. You'd have to throw in something else beside 19 and 21 because they tried to get to 14, 15 with 19, 21, and that wasn't enough. Yeah, and it didn't work. And then what if... I just thought of what if he... Golden State at 14 is another one.

Could he fall all the way down to there? I assume the Spurs wouldn't take him. Spurs would take him. The Spurs, we still got Sangoon on there. We still got Kispert there. Keon Johnson is now one of the best available on

the ESPN thing, but he's been falling now for a couple weeks. He was getting penciled in at six at the best part of the process for him. I think most... Woj is hinting that Charlotte's taking Book Night. Wow. Book Night, LaMelo. So, apparently,

LaMelo, Book Night, Rogier, and I guess you let Devante Graham go at this point, and Monk? How do you let Monk go? Isn't he restricted? Like he could get signed. I mean, he's... You're right.

I mean, maybe this is my chance to have him come to the Celtics. What's your original pronunciation of Monk, Bill? Monk? Monk. I called him Monk

for three years. I still might call him Monk a little bit later. I'm a fan of it. Bill's playing hurt here and he's doing an unbelievable job by the way the point guard skills are on full display the instincts are just taking well speaking of

point guards how about lamello and book night as a backcourt i'm thought this is delightful what a great what a great combo roger you're coming off the bench sorry give me ksc give me the the the good and the bad from gms on book night, and then maybe I'll give you some. So with book night, I mean, on court, it's like you alluded to earlier, Ryan, the jump shot. Shot 30% from three, and people have been fooled, bamboozled by good draft workouts in the past. We've seen guys shoot the lights out,

and then it falls apart over the course of the regular season. So with book night, Ikas i mean from what i understand he shot the ball really really well and in the clips we've seen that were tweeted out and everything it looks smooth and there's reason to believe that it could be better he has good touch near the paint you know he has shoots over 80 from the line but he's shot only 30 from three and he was very streaky from mid-range as well so that that's really the main negative that i hear about him i mean people talk about his defense he had an injury in high school but i don't think people question too much other than the jump shot and you know maybe some of the playmaking can he adapt there but you're drafting him to be a

scorer anyway that's what you want him to be. So the balance could work with Amelo. Why are you hearing more concerns about him, Ryan? I like his parents. I just want to point that out. I thought they looked like good people. Noted. I'm just trying to get something productive out of it. 15 minutes when everybody's parents came on the stage.

I like the parent deal out there, man. That was great. We got brothers and sisters all over the place. There it is. Book night to Charlotte. An old school New York point guard. I mean, a New York guard. Like say, that UConn team was not good.

All right? They were not good. And they went four and four without him. He had an elbow injury. So that means that a not very good team went 11 and four with him in the lineup. And if you could see the 30% number, where it was 35% on two and a half threes this freshman year,

a lot of it was him getting shut off and then coming back and curling through everybody and then getting another handoff. And it's like, hey, there's seven seconds left on the shot clock. Like, get us out of this shit. And so I think that impacts the number. I really do. And I have not seen a ball handler.

This was very rare because I was like, wait, is this real? You know how anybody who's right or left handed, you can be really balanced, but there's always a preference you're going to want to get back to. His left hand when he went left-hand was absolutely crazy. He didn't have to go back to his right. He was totally comfortable, full drive, in traffic, against, beating defenders, not two dribbles, then I get back to my right. He was always totally cool going left, and I think some of it has to do

with shot selection and shots he was forced into because that was not a very good UConn team. He seemed bummed out. I don't know whether he was overwhelmed with emotion or he was just surprised that he fell to 11 and bummed out that he ended up on a team with seven guards.

I'm leaning toward the bummed out. Should he be though? Playing with LaMelo, doesn't this seem like a good balance on paper? Because now, you know, any passing playmaking concerns about Booknight are alleviated when that's LaMelo's primary responsibility.

This is one of my favorite things, KOC. When the guy who's kind of built like the point guard, but he's not an actual point guard, is teamed with the tall guy who is the point guard, and you can kind of have this weird Jedi mind trick thing where it makes sense defensively. Well, nothing will Lamella make sense defensively.

Yeah. So it's easier to hide Lamella now a defense. Definitely. I mean, like there's still lingering concerns about the fit, but on paper and three, four years with these guys could be together. I mean,

it's going to be even more fun to watch. Terry Rozier is like, settle down, everybody. This is still my team. It's like when John Lucas and Derrick Rose went out and it's like, I fucking got this. This episode is brought to you by Movember. The mustache is back with a vengeance. Look at Travis Kelsey. Before he rocked that Super Bowl ring, he rocked that super soup strainer. Grow a mustache for Movember. You'll do great things too. You won't win the Super Bowl, but your fundraising will support

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Just search Movember. San Antonio's up. Has anybody fallen or is now where, even though the order was kind of fucked up, now we're kind of where we thought we would be because Sangoon is still there. Duarte is lingering. Kispert, we're in Kispert range. Moses Moody, I thought we would be because Sengun is still there. Duarte is lingering. Kispert, we're in Kispert range. Moses Moody, I guess, would be the one that people thought had a chance to be top 11.

He's falling a tad. I think Moses would go here, would be my guess. What do you guys think? Sengun's a real possibility here. I've heard the Spurs connected to him at certain points throughout the pre-draft process. But with San Antonio, who freaking knows? They always surprise you on draft night.

But Shang-Goon, top player remaining on my big board. I love him in San Antonio. His playmaking, what he could bring there. I think they could turn him into something pretty special in that Spursian system. Doesn't work for Team USA, but still in San Antonio. I'd love to see Shang-Goon plugged in there. Pops, I had an incredible bottle of Syrah from Turkey a couple years ago. but still in San Antonio. I'd love to see Sengun plugged in there. Pop's like,

I had an incredible bottle of Syrah from Turkey a couple years ago. That's my contribution to this draft. Pop might have completely checked out. I'm actually concerned. I'm concerned about Team USA. I'm just concerned in general. Anyway, what were you going to say, Russel? I just wonder if we're doing

a little Spurs thing where we're like big Turkish guy, Sengun. Put in the card. This might be the least inspiring roster asset-wise in the NBA to San Antonio. We did this. Remember we did the top twos?

You were taking three and four from other teams before you took San Antonio. Yes, I absolutely was. Top two for sure. They're near the bottom for top two. They are bottom. They have a bunch of guys for the three, four, five, six slots. Definitely six.

They need their one. Definitely six. They have a ton of great sixth options. That's what's so remarkable about them like even being in the mix a little bit the last couple years and you go and this is by the way we were doing this without demar de rosen being on the team like we were like okay he's he's not well we know he's leaving yeah right yeah all right so the next couple picks we've san antonio indiana who everybody seems to think that picks for sale or for trade. Yep.

Golden State, 14. And then the Wizards at 15. And that's when we're going to end part three of the podcast because we got to see who the Wizards are going to take. All right, Bill, if I ask you this, though, and you start going through, Spurs, forget need at this point. Like Duarte, who you can love

and anybody that watched him loved him. Can't take him here. But it doesn't make any sense here where it makes sense for the teams behind them a little bit. Same thing with Trey Murphy, Virginia. As we start to get in the mid-teens is where he's going to probably be going.

But that's what's so funny about the San Antonio thing. It's like you might as well just close your eyes as hard as you can. Oh, Russillo, you're going to have a stroke. Garuba? It's Shams and Woj saying it's

Josh Primo at number 12. Oh my God. That is a shocker. A shocker. That's a terrible pick. The first truly awful pick of the draft. Another three or four. There's truly awful pick of the draft. Another three or four.

There's a trend here for San Antonio. Not a number one or two necessarily. With Primo. I violently oppose this pick. Yeah. I know you already did it on your podcast, but do your 35 second Josh Primo material. I'll give him this.

He will not step on a court and think there's anyone better than him. He has Dion Waiters attitude on steroids. He just can't score like Dion Waiters. He measured out six, five, six, nine plus wingspan freshman. And he shot at 38% from threes. And he has like one moment every game where you're like, I can't believe his body control and that kind of thing.

However, if you talk to people, I talked to an SEC coach that was like, what's wrong with you guys doing these mock drafts? I was like, well, I'm not in charge of all the mock drafts. I'm actually getting a text from this coach right now. I'm not going to read it. But this coach was like,

he's not a top 10 player in the SEC. He goes, he's not a top 10 player in the SEC. Excuse me. He goes, he's not a top 20 player in the SEC. So he probably didn't like this pick. The text I got did confirm that you would be accurate. So the Warriors, who is left on the board now for the Warriors? Duarte, Kispert. And Sengun.

Yeah, we got Sengoon, Cam Thomas, Trey Murphy, Moses Booty, Garuba, Kispert, Kai Jones, Duarte. Weez Camp is still available? Listen, I'm happy for all guys drafted in the first round. Kudos to

Josh Primo, but this is a pick that I think they will probably regret. Look, I'm telling you, for years, anytime they took a guy, like I didn't like Lonnie Walker, right? And then they took him, and I go, I guess I'm wrong. It's the Spurs. Yeah. At some point, it ends.

But there's something to be asked of San Antonio and be like, are they actually just terrible at this now? Wait a second. Hold on. I didn't realize he averaged 8.1 points a game last year. My bad. I'm back in on this pick. Oh, yeah. Don't look at the stats. He's 8 a game. 8 a game in the SEC. I didn't realize he averaged 8.1 points a game last year. My bad. I'm back in on this pick.

Oh, yeah. Don't look at the stats. He's 8 a game. 8 a game in the SEC. I didn't realize. He had a PER of 13 in college. So, Indiana, this is a great spot for them, though. Because Kispert would be the hilarious pick and the most Indiana pick possible. Sangoon, I think, probably is the upside pick. Oh, you have Duarte to Indy, KFC? Yeah, Woj tweeted out. We got Chris Duarte to Indiana with the 13th pick.

I wonder if that's a pick for 19 and 21 to the Knicks. It could be. We'll see. Let's flag. Let's play our flag It could be. We'll see. Let's flag. Let's play our flag on that one. We'll see there. But like, it's amazing that with back to back picks, you have Josh Primo, 18 years old, averages eight points as a freshman, super raw player where like the only NBA skill that

you know for sure he has is a shooting ability. Yeah. Like he needs to develop as a ball handler and needs develop as a defender even though he plays hard like there's an ability there for him but he's raw and then the next pick you have a guy who's six years older and chris duarte total opposite end of the spectrum ready to come in and play right away it's just dramatically different you know types of prospects here all in the same draft because with duarte if it whether any and Indiana keeps him or not, this is a guy 24 years old.

There's not a lot of upside with him. Like there is with Primo. But there's a lot of certainty that he can come in and contribute and help your team right away. So I'm curious to see if they keep him. Yeah, I wish he was on the Celtics. I just think he's absolutely a rotation player right away. That's a great point.

When Indiana plays San Antonio, you think Duarte will have a little extra for Primo? Put that Primo guy in who got picked one pick before me. Primo's not even going to be in the game. So Indiana now, let's say they... Yeah, that's true. It'll be an exhibition game. Brogdon, Duarte, Aaron Holiday's still on that

team. TJ Warren's still on that team. Sabonis, Miles Turner. Who else am I missing? And that was a team we all thought underachieved last year. Because TJ McConnell's out. Oh, and McDermott. But McDermott, they can re-sign.

I thought that team underachieved and had a terrible coach, so maybe they fixed that. Carlisle's in there. Well, they were hurt, too. And they had injuries. Yeah, COVID season, the whole thing. So, I don't know. Like that pick. Duarte. That was another guy who

went under. In the gambling unders, Duarte was another one. There was a lot of action under. They had to move it a couple times, and it still ended up going under. Booknight was the one that everybody... He moved from like 10 to 6.5, and it still went over. All right, so now we have the Warriors.

Is this Kispert range? We're in Kispert range for sure. We're right there at Kispert range for them or Moses Moody I mean Moses Moody, Trey Murphy I wonder if they would even consider a Cam Thomas or a Shen Goon here

a lot of different ways they could go two projects I think I'm going to have a harder time buying into but I still think we need to always remind ourselves that like sometimes you just do your board, you rank the players, and you're like, this guy's the best prospect,

and we think this is the ceiling, and we're not going to freak out about it, and we're still going to be pretty good if we have our backcourt back, and with Draymond and another year of Wiseman. So if we think Garuba or we think Sangoon projects to be the best player, we're just going to go ahead and do it.

However, I did think seven would impact 14 a little bit, so maybe it's Trey Murphy. Are you sold on Kispert, KFC? Sold in what way? As like a rotation player or sold in as like a guy who's closing for you in a playoff situation? What's the most likely

role for him? I think he can be a rotation player. Tau waiver? No, I think he can be a rotation player i'm a waiver no i think he can be better than that i think this bumper he can be better than that bill because kispert the shooting ability it's not just that like he can drive a little bit for you he can pass off the bounce you know within the flow of the offense and he plays really freaking hard on defense is he a guy that's like in their last two minutes, game seven of the Eastern Conference Finals?

That's a question I have. That's a question, but I do think he can be a contributing player over the course of the regular season and at worst come off your bench. I like him as a rotation guy, and I think it mattered that he was consistent at Gonzaga. That team

had a pretty big spotlight on him as the undefeated thing kept going. And he was just 20 points a game and he made, what, like 44% of his threes? The Baylor game was alarming. Because athletically, it just didn't seem like he could hang. But, you know, he might have gotten nervous.

Just might not have been his day. Who knows? He had a bad tournament. I mean, no, it wasn't just one game, man. I looked at some of his splits, and when they were beating the piss out of everybody in those lesser league games, you could see.

Like, you can actually look at some of the splits and see it declining a little bit. I think when you see him at his best, curling off a screen and catching it, not even like, I mean, sometimes like curls for a two, catch one motion, up six, seven, six, eight, his vert. It's awesome. I think the fact that he's lasted

this long, I think there's some concern about... It's the Baylor game. That was alarming. Would Moses Moody make sense here? I think for what they need and the kind of guy that... You disagree? No, I'm just talking...

You want to talk about bad tournament. I mean, Moody looked lost, but then he has the excuse of this being his first year. Yeah, he's 19 years old, right? Yeah. Isn't Kispert 22? I think he is. Before we know about the pick,

we're talking about wings for the golden state warriors. They, you know, with their topic, they go with one with Kaminga. Is there any reason for them to look at somebody like cam Thomas at a, you know, scoring off the bench,

some depth, some shot creation behind Steph. Is there any reason for a guy like that at this pick? Cause that's, that's what's on my mind. Like which way do they go more wings and defense defense, 3 and D, or a shot creator? Or, how about this? If Kamingo was a pick for a trade

and this next pick is a pick for a trade, who is the trade asset that would make the most sense in this spot? Well, according to Woj, it's Moses Moody. So they went two projects. Sengoon would have been the most fun Warriors pick, just throwing him all the weird shit he does

in that Warriors team. They never could have done it. Yeah, Moody, if you're doing a trade package and it's Kaminka, Moody, James Wiseman, and Wiggins, plus another first rounder and a pick swap, you could probably get, I don't know, is there a better offer for Bradley Beal? Who's topping that?

Unless Simmons is involved. Yeah, unless it's like it's a young all-star caliber player. Ben Simmons, a Jalen Brown type. Golden State definitely. And because it's the West, if Washington cares about sending him to the other conference, that's a reason for them as well.

I mean, they're definitely stockpiling some talented young players. Wiseman, Moody, Kaminga. If they want to throw in as many picks in the future as they wanted to, I mean, they definitely seem like they could be gearing up for that. And these guys, Moody and Kaminga,

you know, maybe they go out there and get you some minutes throughout the course of the season unless that guy becomes available. Ryan, you mentioned Moody's struggles during the tournament. You and I don't seem to be as high on him as NBA draft Twitter is. No, because he shoots. Look, he's 6'6".

He's long as hell. He shot at 38%. He made his free throws. He even grabbed you a few boards. He's not going to pass. And he has some of those hard dribble to the elbow, between the legs, step back. You're like, what the hell was that?

This kid's a freshman? He'll have some NBA-level type offensive finishing moves off the jump. And you're like, okay, this is really exciting. But then when you go through the NCAA tournament games, Baylor, 2-10, 0-4 on three. He had 11 points. Against Oral Roberts, he went 4-20, 0-3 from three. He ended up getting a bunch of free throws.

So the free throw thing might make you feel better about it. I just thought he played a little soft. I just thought he did. And if you're saying, you know, it's the same thing we said before. When you're raw, when you make mistakes and you're young, you're raw. When you look soft and you're young, it means that you you look soft and you're young it means that you're you're just young and you're a little overwhelmed by the entire thing i didn't love it though i mean singoon doesn't make any sense for them because now you're drafting another center you're worried about playing defensively in games

you're trying to win so that wasn't going to make any sense murphy is a little bit more polished uh depends if you think he can do anything other than just shoot and with moody you probably feel like there's a little bit more there to him but this this is kind of playing out a little because moody was man he was like at seven he was six seven eight and in that kind of range and i was like you know i just think there's other guys you like ahead of him but back to the beal point none of this means anything like they could have just do the wizards go holy shit they got cominga and moody so now we're in because Beal still has to demand that it happens before we can even talk about this stuff.

Yeah, I wonder how this stuff works. If you've kind of wink-wink agreed on parameters, are you getting inputted off from the team you might trade to? Who knows? I'll tell you this. Kaminga and Moses Moody are not going to help the Warriors win the title next year, which was one of the premises for this draft,

if you were thinking about, all right, can they get two guys who can play for them next year? The answer seems to be no. I don't think either of these guys can play. The idea that Kaminga would be on the floor to close out important games the end of next season for playoff seating purposes,

that seems very unlikely. And same thing for Moses Moody, who could be 19 years old in the corner in Game 4 of the Western Semifinals. I don't see it. Honestly, that one makes more sense as unlikely than

Kaminga. Right. Because at least you can hide him in the corner. There's definitely a higher chance than with Kaminga. What would be at least you can hide him in the corner. There's definitely a higher chance than with Kaminga. What would be the funniest? This will be the last pick for part three of the pod. What would be the funniest Wizards pick here? To trade up for

Primo? I guess we're never topping the Spurs taking Primo. We're just not. What happened to the Spurs? What happened to that team? It'd be like Belichick not being able to get a wide receiver for a bunch of years. Oh my God. Too soon.

I think it could be, you think it could be Murphy? For the Wiz? Well, they don't need another wing though. Don't they need some sort of point guard? Who is the highest realistic point guard? Sharif Cooper maybe? Look, all those SEC guys are dealer's choice on that one. Sharif Cooper does his one thing better than everybody else,

and he does the other thing worse than everybody else. Jaden Springer is probably just steadier. Cam Thomas, I mean, he's just not that interested in playing with other people. I mean, his range is incredible. All right. Kispert. Oh, yeah.

He's still there. Interesting. Makes some sense. I mean... So how many wings are we up to for the Wizards now? Kuzma, KCP, Abdi Jah, Rui. Who's the other guy they got in the trade? That's my dog drinks water next to me.

Montrez. No, they got another wing. KCP. KCP. Kuzma. Yeah. Man. They reset them all, I think.

Yeah. I mean, Kispert. Got a shooter for Bradley Beal. I mean, Woj tweeted it earlier tonight that they're making this deal involving Russell Westbrook trying to build around Bradley Beal. Oh, they have Bertons too.

That was the guy we missed. Yep. Is Smith, though, is Smith not likely to return? That's tough. Rough news. I just got a text from a GM. Yeah.

Do you think Yellowstone season four will hold up? I think, yeah. I think they had a lot of time to think about what to do. He said I could use that. Okay. Woj said,

Washington wants more shooting around Bradley Beal. Corey Kispert, the top draft board at number 15. Well, they spent $80 million on Bertons last summer. That seemed like that would have qualified for more shooting.

We will see what happens. This is the end of part three. This is going to be the end of Green Room. And we're going to come back with a part four, Winners and Losers, after the first round. Just before we go, biggest surprise

for you guys? Primo. No doubt about it. For me, it's Kaminga. I know Rosillo had inside info, but I was still surprised by that one. I assumed it was going to be Book Night. I do trust you. I don't like the face that I, when I said that,

I was trying to. No, that hurt my feelings. I don't think I'll remember it for the rest of my life. I saw it on your face and I regret part three. That'd have been nice to get a tip. All right.

Part four coming after the draft. We're going to tape it and put it up, but you can hear the part one, part two, part three. Thanks to everybody in Green Room. Hope you enjoyed it. Thanks to KFC. Thanks to Rassel. This podcast was produced by the one, the only, Kyle Creighton.

And we'll be back with part four in a little bit. On the wayside I don't have On the wayside