The Bill Simmons Podcast - NBA Draftapalooza Part 4: Winners & Losers With Kevin O’Connor and Ryen Russillo

Episode Date: June 24, 2022

The Ringer’s Bill Simmons is joined by Ryen Russillo and Kevin O’Connor to discuss winners and losers from the 2022 NBA draft. Host: Bill Simmons Guests: Kevin O’Connor and Ryen Russillo Producer: Kyle Crichton Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Coming up, it's one of my favorite days of the year. It's the NBA draft. I love it so much that we are going to do a four-part draft-a-palooza extravaganza. This is part four, and it's all next. We're headed to the finish line. It's the Bill Simmons podcast presented by FanDuel. Football is in full action.

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is the light beer with all the great beer tastes we like. 90 calories per 355 mil can. So why not grab some Miller Lites today? Your game time tastes like Miller time. Must be legal drinking age. We're also brought to you by the Ringer Podcast Network, where you can check out the rewatchables. We just put up the untouchables, me and Chris Ryan. New Prestige TV podcast as well that I was on. We did The Old Man with me and Sean Fennessey

and Joanna Robinson for the first couple episodes. Third episode is up now on FX and on Hulu. Coming up on this one, it is Winners and Losers. As you know, we did three parts already. We did a pre-draft pod. We did the first 15 picks in part two and part three. And we took a little breath, and now we're going to do Winners and Losers.

This is part four. NBA Draft at Palooza. Me, Ryan Russillo, Kevin O'Connor. First, Pearl Jam. All right, taping this. It is 8.40, 8 p.m. PT, Thursday night. Just watched about 40 picks of the draft. My wife brought home Burger Lounge. I had a milkshake.

I am feeling frisky, guys. We're into winners and losers. Ryan Marcello is here. Kevin O'Connor is here. Since we ended on part three with a lot of confusion about what the Knicks were up to, and then that confusion continued. It persisted. I spent 20 minutes on trying to figure out what the fuck was going on, and nobody actually had it.

So then I felt better, and now we know. But God, was that annoying. Sorry. I don't know. Yeah, we live in this world where we're getting the picks like 10 minutes before they're on the telecast. And yet there's this trade with multiple first rounders and we have no idea what's going on. And then they're trading more picks. And it turns out they, they basically traded the 11th pick for three protected first rounders, which I didn't necessarily mind,

but it's just, we'll, we'll start with them. We're going to do winners and losers. They have such a bad off season last year that then they have to trade Kemba Walker with a pick just to create more cap space so they can dive back into free agency. KFC,

did we underestimate how bad that Nickicks free agency was last year? Because, man, did they screw it up. Yeah, I mean, it's not over yet. We'll see what they can flip Fournier into, but it's not looking pretty at all. And I think with those trades tonight, I'd consider them a loser. I'm disappointed.

I thought there was good players available for them at 11. And I know they give up just Kemba and four seconds to get those three future firsts. But it's not like any of those future firsts are projecting to be as high as 11. Those are probably picks outside the lottery for that matter. Well, the one good pick was the Denver pick. The protections kept lowering until like 2027 or something. But that was the pick they gave to Charlotte. So they didn't even get that. They got

a protected Detroit and a protected Washington. It just didn't seem great. Yeah, I think with the Knicks here, is their goal, is it simply to open up cap space? Yeah. I think it is. Is it Brunson? It's Jalen Brunson or it's Kyrie Irving, but I mean, everybody's

seen the Jalen Brunson thing coming for a while. So you remember that Mavs game when Worldwide West was in the front row? They just hired Jalen Brunson's dad as an assistant coach. That's one of Worldwide West's best friends. He's known Jalen Brunson since he was a baby.

And it just seems like it's heading this way. I guess the thing that surprises me is he was a big part of a team that made the conference finals. I don't know. It's not like it's like a ton more money to leave that situation and go to New York.

I'm just, I'm surprised by that unless he just feels like it's not fun to play with Luka. I don't get it. I'm just happy that one of these relationship hires looks like it may work out because they're old for like

five or six years on this. It's like, oh no, we're going to have this agent guy. He's going to be pulling the strings. And now we're going to hire this guy, whatever. It works in college on the recruiting trail more. I like Brunson. I think we all like Brunson. I love seeing him bounce back in the playoffs.

But I don't know what it is. I thought as the stakes raised, I still think there's like a bit of a limitation. Like he's not. I don't know if it's the catch and shoot stuff. I don't even know what the numbers would be but it looked like he wasn't maybe as like multi-dimensional with the basketball even though you know he cooked utah and he can score so i'm not i wouldn't even knock like hey man you know you want to spend your money on him now you have two drivers where he and rj can kind of play off of each other you know i'm not really not i just that it's one of those

things where i know what the numbers are on on the overall traditional stuff but i there were just and RJ can kind of play off of each other. You know, I'm not really not, I just that it's one of those things where I know what the numbers are on the overall traditional stuff, but there were just moments and I don't know if I'm on my own on this one in that series against Golden State where I felt like, oh wait, maybe he, like maybe he's not just a straight catch and shoot guy.

Like he has to dance with it a little bit more. So there you go. Well, and also like if you're going to do all this maneuvering to try to create a cap space for somebody, to me, that's got to be an all-NBA guy or close. And I don't see a world where he's, I don't know, one of the best eight-point cards in the league. I really like Jalen Brunson,

but I thought he was in a nice spot with Dallas. He's not your savior. Where are you going if you have Jalen Brunson and Randall and Toppen? He's a nice player. Well, you're right. I mean, you're being too nice about this. How many times have you done top 20 and top 30? Have you ever put

Jalen Brunson in the others and then gone, I didn't make it. I don't even write it down. Yeah. What do you think, KFC? Where do you have him? I mean, he's fine. He's a good player. He's a good player. He averaged 21 and 7 when Luka was out during the season, 22 and 5 during the postseason. he's a good player

it's just you guys are right he's not a top 30 guy he's not a top 40 guy he's not a top 50 guy for that matter and so he's going to be getting paid 25 possibly 25 plus million dollars with the Knicks and I think for them look with Brunson adding him he gives

you a stabilizer and so I interviewed him in Dallas during the postseason, and he said something interesting. We haven't run an article on him yet, but he said something kind of like he caught himself when he said it. And I asked him about his evolving role with Dallas. And he said, I've been working at this in case someday I have higher usage. And he's like, well, he stops himself.

And he's like, well, I mean, like in the context of needing to fill in for Luca sometimes, you know, and sometimes him playing off me. And he kind of caught himself when he said that. And it makes sense considering his role with Dallas. But I wonder for him, you said, does he not like playing with Luca? Maybe he just wants to be the full-time point guard and be someone who averages 22 points,

seven assists throughout the entire season. And for the Knicks, he might not be your star player, but I do think he can be one of those guys on a winning team, just like we saw with Dallas. He's still a really good player. We can't forget that no matter what the Knicks end up paying him. I have him 52nd on the unreleased trade value list. You really put some work into this.

I really did. have him 52nd on the unreleased trade value list. You really put some work into this. I was on planes for two straight months going to soccer games. But when that contract goes to 26, 27 million a year, it's going to be a little different. Swinging it toward the Knicks, though, and the Knicks fan base, and I have a lot of Knicks fans in my life.

The Knicks fans are freaking out tonight. I think that there was a lot of instability and unhappiness and dysfunction and just in general, a horrible century, really dating back from the 2000 playoffs on. And it seemed like

at least there was a semblance of stability coming when they made the playoffs, Randall Blossom, the whole thing. Within a year, it feels like they're back to just kind of being the semi-dysfunctional Knicks. Now they're trying to, basically, it's Jalen Brunson, Kyrie, or Bust, which is a weird place to be. I'm just like, if you want to create cap space, KFC, can't you just stretch the Kemba thing? He only had like one year left at 9 million. Can't you just stretch it over five years and create the space that way?

Why do I have to give up the 11th pick? Like, that was a really good pick. Rosillo loves Dang. Like, Dang might be an All-NBA guy someday down the road. Who knows? I mean, I think for them, it's also not just about the cap space.

It's also about the first-round picks they got. It does give them more flexibility for future trades to have all of those. Maybe. I don't know. It wasn't just about dumping a $9 million expiring. It wasn't just about that. I get it, but they got three

non-lottery picks basically for a pick that in a draft that I think the three of us thought was pretty deep, at least at the top half. It's just it goes back to when the teams make the mistake and then they make the second mistake trying to make up for the first mistake, which is a little where the Kings were like. I have them, not to start with two losers, but I think we have to make the Kings losers as well. The fact that that Ivy pick, I think was pretty coveted and they just turned in a Keegan Murray and nothing else. And they had two months to figure this out. I'm sure they got

a ton of approaches. And we were talking about at the time, none of us liked it in the time. The more we get away from it, I'm just like, wow, the Kings, they did it again. Would you have taken John Collins and 16 for it though? No. I just don't know what the acceptable offer was though. At least from the stuff I've heard. Collins is owed $102 million over the next four years. I think he's

really talented. I don't always love him. I thought he had moments this year when he actually played. It was better. Maybe there's a chance it's still a younger guy. He does something maybe away from Trey. It's a little easier for him. He mentioned some frustration with that in the past. So, but the next thing, I almost feel like it's incomplete though, because I know you're

probably done with it. I just had like one, like no one's ever going to enjoy this. You know, you throw on your Larry Johnson jersey, you know, two or three low on brows in you, you know, and then you trade out of a real high profile like prospect with gang who i like who i also understand like i'm not going to be shocked if usman jang it's like oh what happened to that guy oh he's he's in he's at acb now you know like it happens uh so that's not fun and so then nobody really knows what it's like wait we got all these protected when for next year and then on top of that you're're like, wait, what happened?

Like we could have had Dern or we didn't really. And this is a three team thing, but we moved off of Kemba. But we had to add something to that. That went on for such a long time with that confusion. I don't blame anyone for being bummed out, but that's not really what this is about. And you're also talking about a head coach in Tibbs who's probably psyched they don't have a first round rookie. Right.

Yeah, you're right. I just it just seems to me like they're all over the place. I still don't understand what was happening last year when they lost in five to the Hawks and they acted like, let's say, throw the confetti. Let's go. We have it. Foundation is in place. And it just, that was a very fluky.

It was a very fluky thing. They play. It was, it felt like they played harder than everybody their defense was tuned up and honestly randall was a really really good player that year as you alluded to in an earlier part the randall new york dynamic needs to be figured out because that story was kind of under the radar because no one cared about the knicks towards the end that was really salty watching some of those games yeah he's so pissed at the home crowd and they were pissed back at him. That has to be fixed somehow.

I don't know if that can be fixed in a city like that. It's supposed to be the same way. Like, oh, you pissed this for an entire year? We're going to be pissed at you right back. Especially with the money he makes. He's going to be making $100 million over the next four years. I think it could have been worse. Imagine if he had the year he had

and waited it out. He actually took the earlier deal on that one. Turned out to be the right decision for him, not the Knicks. Yeah, totally. Remember a year ago we were talking, well, maybe a year and a month ago, we were talking about

the New York basketball scene. It was back. The Nets were fun. The arrow was pointing up for the Nets. Let's go. And now the Nets are in complete shambles. I'm sure you guys have been on a few texts about that. And the Nets, I guess, are putting their hopes on either Brunson

or Kyrie, which is pretty sad on paper. Did you get any Nets info, KOC, since the last time we talked? No, nothing tonight. No. I heard they offered Durant to Sacramento for the Ivy pick at four and Sacramento said no. Come on.

I can't confirm it, so don't aggregate that. Sacramento ends up with Keegan Murray. Perfectly fine player. And I guess they're going to be rolling going forward with Sabonis and Barnes, Keegan Murray, Mitchell,

Fox. What is that in the West KFC? Possibly a play-in team? Maybe. Maybe not. I mean, it depends on De'Aaron Fox. If De'Aaron Fox can continue ascending, I mean, he closed the year great after the Halliburton trade. I'm not the biggest Fox fan, but you can't deny the fact

he was averaging a very efficient 28 points per game after that Halliburton deal was made. So with him and Sabonis, and now you get Keegan Murray in there, there are going to be more moves to try to build this out than may be a play-in team. I mean, congrats. They want to break their playoff streak. They might be able to accomplish that, getting in as a seven or eight seed,

but there's no way in hell this team is going to be a six seed. And I, in some ways, I get the organization's objectives to try to start winning, try to get into the postseason, and yet drafting Murray, getting some of these average,

solid level players, that just keeps them in the middle still. I just don't feel like the Kings move this forward at all tonight and I'm not sure what they can do this offseason to make them a serious playoff team that's not just a first round doormat but here here's what upsets me about not taking Ivy

and I don't have none of us have all the details and I had heard and we already knew a lot of it because it became public but there was no cooperation from the Ivy part of it he didn't want to go to Sacramento no interview yep a lot of it because it became public, but there was no cooperation from the Ivy part of it. He didn't want to go to Sacramento. No interview. A lot of guys don't want to go to Sacramento. You don't have the medicals.

You don't have the interview. You can't even sit the guy down. It's the fourth pick. It's not the 12th. And you're like, all right. But whatever you think about Fox and Ivy playing together, which I think we'd all agree that could become problematic, the most frustrating thing about Sacramento was that Fox didn't feel like he could trust

anybody else. Like the end of those games, Bill, and you would text me and be like, hey, Sacramento's in a tight one, two minutes to go. Let's watch what Fox does. And it felt like, you know, I don't know if it switched towards the end when he became more efficient. But man, I think Kings fans would just go, yeah, man. And just think if you had like another dynamic score who could do it on his own.

But, you know, I'm sure we'll find out more information about it. But if you don't have any intel whatsoever on that pick that's that important, I also think it's a front office that has to look at their owner and go like, are we okay with this? And the owner might say no. Well, if I was the czar of the draft and I I could have helped. Or maybe like a conciliary or... Wasn't he asking you to apply for that? Well, what was the lady from Scandal, the fixer, Kerry Washington? If I was the fixer of this draft, I just would have gotten the Kings and the Knicks into a room together and tried to figure out a Fox trade. Like, come on, guys, let's just figure this out.

Fox to the Knicks. They'll give you the 11. They'll throw in something else. The Kings can start with ivy and whoever they don't want to start over though i know but this is why they've been so weird at the deadline like harrison barnes everybody's like right remember that he was untouchable yeah because they wanted to make the playing game picks for him have you guys heard anything about the the aaron fox trade market because i it's quiet you know the conversations i've had Fox trade market? It's quiet, you know, the conversations I've had. I don't think there's a lot of

teams that would have interest in him. The Knicks make sense, like you said on paper, but I haven't heard about any teams that are trying to do cartwheels to go get to Aaron Fox. Well, that's the defense for not taking IVF forward. The league is so loaded at point guard that if you have somebody who's pretty

expensive, you know, two-thirds of the league is just like, no, no, we're set. That's what makes the Brunson thing so interesting. The Knicks, like, moving heaven and earth just to try to open up a cap space to get Jalen Brunson,

who I'm not even sure, you know, can make an all-star team. One more loser, since we're just on the subject. Look, they ended up with Palo Orlando. I continue to think it's bizarre how they handled it. I don't understand why the secrecy when you have the first pick. I don't think they knew. I really don't think they knew until they didn't know. I think Weltman had said right after they won the lottery, he said, I know who I picked today. That may have been true that day,

but I don't know that they all were signed off on the same guy up until recently. I'm not saying day of, but. Well, think about that. Have you heard of a situation like that, KFC? Somebody winning the lottery and then not realizing two months or six weeks later who they're going to take? I still think it was all about the public negotiations. I think they wanted Houston to try to move up and make some over-the-top offer. That's my impression.

But that might be wrong too. It might have all been strategic. By the way, if there was ever going to be a draft where you're going to change your mind, I've changed my mind and I don't even do this. I've changed my mind five times. Did you do this. That's right. I've changed my mind five times. Did you see, I did a tweet about

the draft where I changed my mind the most times and I think it was the 1995 draft where Joe Smith went first and Rasheed's in there and Stackhouse and McDyess and KG was fifth. And I think that was

the personal record for me. Do you have, KFC, you have a record for most times you change your mind on a number one pick? I wish it was the personal record for me. Do you have, KFC, you have a record for most times you change your mind on a number one pick? I wish it was the Killian Hayes draft. That's a tough one. People loved your spirit, though.

I'm telling you. You might not be out of that, though. Yeah. I actually think you impress some people long-term. They're like, fuck it, do it. And you did it. Russo, do you have a draft where you flip-flopped the most? Well, the Anthony Bennett one was definitely tough because i was yeah that was like i was like there was no number of pick

no i kind of landed on oladipo because i just might as well give me the athlete you know but like you're talking zeller and i was like would i do this um that that the kg1 you know because back then and you and i were texting about this like a high school kid you want to talk about people being mad at young entitled people every you could have done a talk show with four old white men saying who's this kid think he is and everyone would have said what a great show right like in 1995 i remember mad dog russo because i would religiously listen to the fan i'd probably be back for the summer, you know, working construction, eating subs, listening to Little Mike and the Dog. And Mad Dog was incensed about the idea of KG being drafted that he proposed that he should only play in home games and not travel on the road.

And then he was like one of the best anchors of a team you could ever see. So that one, I think this is like even I'll, like I flirted with Mobley last year. You and I were, I was like, man, I think I might go Mobley one. I think I might go Mobley one. And then I just kept thinking about the way the game is played and that you need a Cade before you need a Mobley. So I kind of landed back on Cade. This is definitely up there for the amount of times I've changed my mind.

You know, I'm glad you brought up Mobley and Cade. But because I'm about to get into in a second, this episode of the Bill Simmons Podcast brought to you by State Farm. People assume that certain prospects in the draft are going to play one role. Then they surprise everyone by being an all-around contributor

pulling up shots from anywhere and also being a lockdown defender. In terms of surprises, Mobley turned out to be this possible generational guy, right? My question for you, KOC and Ryan Rosillo, would you take Mobley and Cade over anyone who just got drafted in the 2022 draft? KOC, you go first.

Do Mobley and Cade go 1-2 in this draft? I'd say so. Cade showed so much as a rookie and factoring that in what we already saw, the shot creation, the scoring, and then with Mobley, I mean, could you be any better as a defensive rookie thanoring that in what we already saw the shot creation the scoring and then with Mobley I mean how could you be any better as a defensive rookie than what we saw from Mobley I don't think so what do you have Rossello you think they go one and two I mean

it's it's unfair but because of that it's not even a discussion for me like me getting you to that's why when a guy plays five or six years and he gets traded for the eighth pick and people were like why would you do that you know and I'm like well all right at least i know what this guy looks like and how he competes and what his numbers are for six years actually playing this real because like until you actually know no no like i i hate to be we all like this draft a lot but the math unless this is an outlier tells us over 50 of these guys are going to do shit and if you look at the recent top 10 picks as much as you know i think i get, I'm probably a little bit more positive about younger people and I don't want to

trash them. This is an unbelievable run of top 10 picks being on a new team by year three. Jared Culver? Would you have Scotty Barnes over anyone we saw tonight get drafted? God, I love him, but I still think I would want the just

raw scoring ability of Paolo. But I don't know. I'd have to think about it because Paolo isn't the defender Scotty Barnes is. He wasn't what Scotty was in college. I think you've got to take Scotty over all of them. Over all of them. That's right. What about Jalen?

Well, that was my next question. Jalen Green, would he be over everyone in this draft? Yeah, I'd take Jalen Green first in this draft. We saw it. He averaged 20 plus points second half of the season, looked at more control

of the game. I think with somebody like him, like Ryan said, we've seen it. There's evidence of it. So it's hard to take any of the maybes in the draft

over someone that's proven. Rusillo, Austin Reeves, would you take him over everyone in this draft or no? What kind of system are you running? Is it five out or is it? I would stop at the green one. I would take Palo before I would take Green. Okay, interesting.

I think I would too, because I think it's a little harder to find somebody with size who can score. I would actually have Jabari over Jalen Greene too. And you could talk me into Jabari versus Scotty Barnes. We'll know a lot more next year. I guess the big picture point of this is the 2021 draft was incredible. We didn't mention Giddy. We didn't mention Franz Wagner. We didn't mention my guy, Herb Jones. That draft is great. I think this draft has a chance to be good too. It's like people that assume

they can't afford great insurance, but then they discover that State Farm has surprisingly great rates, just like that 2021 draft was great. Like a good neighbor, State Farm is there. Get a quote today. This episode is brought to you by Movember. The mustache is back with a vengeance.

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How about Detroit? A little foundation here all of a sudden. Cade, Ivy, Duren, Sadiq Bae, some cap space, DeAndre Ayton maybe? Mikhail Brzezinski? Brze, maybe? Mikael Brugge? Brugge, maybe? Brugge's medicals? Porchita? Furchita?

But Detroit was great. I also love when Woj does the tweet congratulating the Detroit GM. What's it, Troy Weaver? Troy Weaver pulled this off. It's like, what did he pull off? He was picking fifth, and he fell to the fifth five spot. If he didn't take him, he would have gotten fired. Didn't he congratulate Arne Tellem on there?

Didn't it mention Troy Weaver though? I love... No, I think he did. Or one of the tweets I did. I love when the GMs get congratulated for people falling into their lap. It's one of my favorite draft jerseys. There's a lot of water carrying lately,

which I'm always surprised by. But regardless, Detroit sucks for a couple years, and now they have the foundation. You know, I like what they have, especially if they can nail the free agency thing. Let's talk Cade Ivey quickly, KOC. Do you see Ivey starting? How do you see that going?

How does it unfold? Yeah, I see him starting. But regardless, coming off the bench as a sixth man or starting with Cade, those guys are going to play a lot together. A lot of pick and roll. I'm excited to see Cade playing with a... I mean, as much as I wish Killian Hayes was great, with a point guard who we know is a downhill attacker,

you're going to see Cade Cunningham, I think, really develop off ball and Jalen Duran, or if they sign Aiton, whoever it might be. This is going to be a heavy pick-and-roll team. And never mind Sadiq Bey as well in this unit. Pistons have something nice. Is this the best-fitting young team in the NBA in terms of how the pieces all fit together

with what they have? I'd still say they need the one rebounder guy. Yeah, I mean, they would say Isaiah Stewart, but I think he's a backup, even though I like him. I think he's like an eighth or a ninth man, but I do think he could be on a really good team. I think what's interesting to them about, for me, is that usually when the teams have the two guards in back-to-back lotteries, it's usually kind of an awkward fit. You end up with a Sexton Garland type of situation where it's like, I like these guys individually. I'm not sure I like them together. I think in this case, I like the fit. And if you're making somebody in a lab or so to play with Cade,

we probably have a lot of the characteristics Ivy has, right? Yeah, you probably want a little higher level of shooting because I would say even though the numbers maybe aren't as bad as the shot looks, that's part of it. But look, if he's an acceptable shooter with the dynamic driving ability, when you watch Ivy,

my favorite thing to do to watch with Ivy is him without the basketball cutting off the ball. It's hilarious. I mean, he's got this other gear. It's stupid. I actually think depending on who he's defending, he actually shows competitiveness. I think other times he got a little bored, he got a little upright, and maybe he would give up something that he just wouldn't think he would give up physically. So yes, if we were doing in a lab, it would be a little better shooting. But this is somebody that's, you know, they don't make a lot of people that can move the way he does that also are

really good at basketball. I do think he kind of fits into that top category. Nobody's Westbrook prime Westbrook, but you know, similar mom too. I thought the mom interview was really, I was ready to hire her for the winner. She's good.

Would you have Kelsey? I was just going to say similar for Cade. I mean, you know he can move off ball. He's smart, but he shot only 32% on catch-and-shoot threes last year. So you need Ivy and or Cade to get better at shooting off the catch. And Sadiq, who was below 40% on the season.

He was 38% from three last year. He took a dip. Some of the metrics took a dip. He played more. I have a hard time believing he's as bad of a shooter for his career as he was this past season. Well, you know, we have rebuilding with the draft and it's not just the team. Sometimes it's members of the media like Rosillo. As Chris Paul nears the finish line here, the torch has to be passed to somebody.

Cade, a lot of people have been talking about Cade might be the next guy for you. For me? A lot of buzz. Yeah, a lot of buzz for you. You need a new guy. Who's going to be your new guy? Chris has, what, two years left? Yeah, I mean, I think everybody knows

that my Steph love isn't exactly that far off from the Chris Paul thing. It's just a different journey for us. That's a different, that's a much easier, more stable relationship. No stress at all. The Chris one though, you need somebody that you can both love and be defensive of. Yeah, but it has to be somebody that's amazing that everybody shits on.

So it's a hard lane to fill. Yeah, that's going to be tough. Who are the other candidates for that? How about a late, late pickup with James Harden? That's never happening. Yeah, that's going to be tough. Who are the other candidates for that? How about a late, late pickup with James Harden? That's never happening. Yeah, that's not happening. When he retires, I don't have to watch it anymore. I'll probably have a small party.

Invite only. Well, congrats to Detroit. I don't know if this is a winner or a loser, but I thought the Melton trade that Philly made was pretty interesting. I'm not even sure how they did it because they're over the cap and he makes $8 million a year.

I assume Danny Green's going to be in it somehow. I think Hollinger said something about there has to be another piece of this because then Danny Green's thing is guaranteed after, I think, what, July 1? Right. So it has to be basically right now. Green is in the deal.

Oh, well, there you go. Problem solved. I like Melton. Yeah, I do too. And my guess would be with Memphis trading up to get LaRavia from Wake. Shout out to Indiana State. OG. But they probably go, hey, we have 12 guys under contract.

We don't need two more first rounders. And we get another need our two first and then David Roddy to make it three. So we'll go get the guy we like more than everybody else. And then we're paying them what we're paying them. The Danny Green thing's non-guaranteed. So we're saving a little bit of money there too. But I would tell you, Melton, once you actually paid attention, because he was very easy to lose track of with that memphis team yeah he is a really versatile nice player and i think it's actually a really nice fit for philadelphia what i didn't get koc is it seems like tyus jones is going to leave right somebody's going to sign him and for hc and i just assumed melton was going to be

the protection for that but now they might not have either guy they took kennedy with like i think the 39th pick, but I can't imagine they think he's going to be the backup point guard as a rookie. What do you make of all of it? I wouldn't want Tyus Jones back or Memphis. I'd rather have other ball handlers who can play alongside John Morant, whereas with Jones and

Morant, it's two smaller guys. That's probably unsustainable in the postseason. Kennedy Chandler, if he's able to develop, they got him at the 38th pick. He can be in that role during the NBA regular season. But during the playoffs, I mean, LaRavia can handle the ball for you. At 6'6", he has size. I think the guys that they got, Zach Kleinman, their general manager,

it's a trend now of him trading up to get the prospects that he desires. And so, I mean, whether you like those prospects or not, his hit rate's getting pretty high. And the David Roddy pick at number 23 that came as a surprise to me. A lot of people had him mid-second round around the NBA, getting him at 23. It's like a Cole Strange pick.

Yeah, 6'4". He's like, wait, he's going now? 260 pounds. Weird body all-star in this draft. Analytics love him. Love him. Love him in the regular season. I watched him in the draft. I'm excited. Analytics love him. Love him. Love him in the regular season. I watched him in the combine. It was not the right setting for David Roddy.

So I wouldn't hold any of that against him. Do we, by the way, do we all agree we like Tyus Jones or are we saying you don't like him or you don't like him

next to Ja? I don't like him next to Ja, but I like Tyus Jones. Yes, I do. I like Tyus Jones too. I just, I think he's going to get paid. I think he's going to be

the $10 million guy in free agency. It's funny when there's a barrel-chested guy in the draft, it just feels like Memphisus Jones too. I just, I think he's going to get paid. I think he's gonna be the $10 million guy in free agency. It's funny when there's a barrel chest, the guy in the draft, it just feels like Memphis has dibs. They're just coming in. Wait, you're a six foot six guy.

You're built like an Oak tree. You're coming here. This is the team for you. I, uh, I have Memphis as a winner in the sense of they go toe-to-toe against Daryl. And I like when the Memphis, the smart team du jour, and then Daryl, the entrenched smart GM.

And sometimes you just got to dabble. It's like in boxing when the two really good middleweights, like, fuck it, let's fight each other. So I like that they had a trade. I'll be interested to see who wins down the road. Boy, Daryl hates the first rounders, man. I was looking back.

I was looking at poison pill stuff today and it was, remember the Jeremy Lin, Omer Asik deals? And I was like, wait, he got off. Remember, it was like, how is he going to get off these? And he ended up, there was two firsts. One was Larry Nance Jr. and the other one ended up being Sam Decker so it was like okay you know you still had to move these assets but I remember one of the few times Daryl complimented me on something we were doing that show together

in Vegas and he was like your whole first round thing like because I just started being like who cares like oh shit I lost 23 and 27 and I grabbed a good rotation player has been in the league four or five years, you know? Well, the thing is it could go too far. If you read Arnavitz's piece on ESPN about Phoenix and how they treat the draft, which was one of the funniest things I read all year where it's basically a

piece making it seem like, I don't know. It made it seem a little like they were ahead of the game or this was like this new frontier Phoenix was exploring and like they were kind of savvy in a way. And then there's one paragraph near the end where it's just like, of course it doesn't always work out with Jalen Smith. They didn't mention Halliburton in the piece. And it's like, so you're telling me the team that spends no time on the draft at all also happened to be the team that took jaylen smith over haliburton and jaylen smith lasted two years a move that probably cost them the you know potentially the title and maybe the

making the finals this year how is kind of thrown in near the end the saddest part about haliburton is that he's exactly what phoenix would need to lessen the burden on a chris paul because he could play all these you can play them together um you could let him run you could cut down Chris Paul's minutes all these different things I read that piece I thought it was really well done because I always like if you're trying to search for something but then a lot of times the conclusion is there isn't necessarily this perfect path because it doesn't work that way but when Jones said that we like a small scouting department because of the way it works you like you can't read that and be serious like right you like a small scouting department because of the way it works you like you can't

read that and be serious like right you like a small scouting department because our owner's cheap it's not a strategy right and god doesn't want to pay for scouts you know as much as everybody dumps on the guy why i defend him like there's one dude that turned this whole thing around yeah right what do you think of that piece kscFC? It was cool. I mean, it was interesting to read. I'm not sure how much I buy what they're saying on the record about not caring about the drafts personally. Me neither.

I thought the timing was exceptional of like two years after this really traumatic Halliburton. Just that whole way that goes and then someone's like, hey, this ESPN reporter wants to do a piece on your draft process. You're like, cool. Bring him in.

Maybe that's what they were doing. That's how they just process it. They're like, we're not even bummed out about listening out on Halliburton and not picking up a third-year option of a lottery pick because we don't even care. Yeah. A top 10 pick. That decision is still weird

looking back, taking Jalen Smith. Do you want, like now that we know everything with Aiton, with him entering free agency, possibly leaving, do you think their mindset was drafting their Aiton replacement for this year? Knowing that Chris Paul would last? I think that piece

taught me that they don't put a lot of thought into the draft. And if anything, we saw today like Dern went, what, 13? I just think this was the year, and we predicted it on a previous pod, this was the year that the wings just became more important than every other position by far. And teams are more likely to take the sixth best wing than the first best rim runner because they know when wings are more important. So Phoenix just kind of missed the boat. Speaking of,

uh, speaking of teams that took wings Indy, we talked about them a little earlier with that, that Hal Burton, Matherin, Duarte, Brogdon. I don't know what they're building,

but I think it's a team I want to watch on League Pass at least a couple times, see what's going on there. What did you think about Indiana Day KFC? Brogdon probably gets traded. They drafted Emhardt out against Aga at the second round as well. Kind of a similar profile as a player as Brogdon. So I'd expect a Brogdon trade at some point.

But I love the Matherin pick. Matherin, Halliburton, the way those two guys are going to be able to coexist. It's like we just talked about Cade and Ivy and how those guys will work and the upside of that. I think for Matherin and Halliburton, the cohesion between them will be more obvious early on. Well, can you play those two and Duarte together

and go a little small ball? Yeah, Matherin's assist rate doubled from his first year to his second year. I mean, the crazy thing is, I really liked Daniel Terry, the Bulls pick from Arizona. Every time I'd watch Matherin, I'd go, wait, why isn't Terry a little bit more of a prospect, at least in the rankings?

And KOC, I think you'd agree, he was slowly working himself up, but this felt kind of like his ceiling of where he could go with Chicago. And the only thing holding him back really was the shooting, but the size and his playmaking. But then I kind of liked the way he and Mather worked together. And I also think there's a personality fit there where Halliburton, it's not like I'm in there all the time. I've never been and met the guy, but the way he carries himself, he seems to be an easy guy to get along with. Maybe defaults to friendly first. I don't know. Matherin looks like a fucking killer. And that might be a really good dynamic of two young guys where it's like, all right,

if you want to be the alpha and stick your chest out and be a tough guy, which is what Matherin is, I don't need to prove to you that I'm also that guy because I'm just such a good player. I don't know. There's just a freedom and an easiness to Halliburton, whether it's whenever I've heard him talk and when I watch him play basketball, that I think is really easy to get along with. I think you're right, Ryan. I think with Halliburton, he's also, from what I understand, a more talkative one in

locker room, bus rides, and all that. Whereas I've heard some NBA people tell me Matherin, loud on the court, very emotional on the court, but quiet in other settings. So, I mean, the personality fit can work on the court and off the court too. Nephew Kyle's like that too. Another

winner, Houston, they get Jabari at three, who is my favorite player in the draft. I announced that earlier in part one. I officially put my cards in the Jabari picnic basket. You still have them one? I still have them one. Still my guy. So now they have a couple guys I really like.

Jabari, my guy Jalen Green, our guy Sengun, Sengun. Still got to figure out how to pronounce it. Sengun. Sengun, Shengun. Still got to figure out how to pronounce it. Shengun. Shengun. Ty, Ty. I'm the only one in on Ty, Ty. I really have to make up with H-Town

because I'm going to like this Rockets team and they just need to get over it. We just got to heal. We just need to heal our pain. They're still mad that I was dissing the hardened trade. By the way, I still don't like the hardened trade. I'm still on the record. I want to get at least one asset back versus a bunch of picks. Hold my fingers, something goes wrong. Now, ironically, something might have gone wrong and those picks might come around and be great for them. But I still don't love that trade for

what Harden's stature was at the time, but it looks like it might have worked out. Have you changed your mind on that trade, Rosillo? Well, I have to say yes, because the fact that this could happen to a franchise twice in 10 years... And I sent out a tweet congratulating Bobby Marks. The guy busts his ass. He's terrific. He's exactly what you need on this kind of broadcast.

And it was funny, because then it's like, oh, wasn't that guy because of the picks? And you're like, what do you mean? The Russian dude who made jet ski videos that promised a championship within three years? That's what they were dealing with. And the Celtics fleeced him, Ainge fleeced him, took advantage of it. You should be able to go back to your owner saying we shouldn't be doing all this stuff. And so there was a real weird desperation and it goes down as this horrible, horrible trade. You lose Tatum, you lose Brown, you know, the whole point.

We've been over this. I can't believe it could possibly happen again. I can't. And that's why... I don't think it happens again though because... Maybe, but the... Because they're not going to bottom out in the same way.

That Nets thing was different because Prokhorov's like, do everything you can to build a team. Then a year later, he's like, cut costs. And they were like, well, wait a second. And he just didn't care. He was a freaking maniac. The Nets, Joe Sy's not going to do that.

If they're going to get rid of assets, he's going to want assets back. He's not going to be like, okay, cool. So we're going to suck and have no first round picks for five years? No, I think back to the original point, if I still looked at it at the time, if I'm trading Harden, I wanted some kind of piece back on top of all of the other picks. And I think that GMs love announcing

all of these picks. It also gets, it also like, it's a really, you know, never underestimate self-preservation with these jobs. Hey, instead of taking a player back, I just take back more picks. And then you can't really judge me because I'm losing. Remember they included a 21 pick swap?

That one drove me so crazy because you were like, oh, so we've got a pick swap here just in case this record switches here. And it was only, I think, like imagine being on the other side of that with Brooklyn going, fine, you can have a pick swap that is a zero percent chance of happening yeah you can you go ahead you can and then it's like man we potentially got this many picks because i think i think there are teams i think there are certain gms that love announcing this stuff like i used to always joke i wish there was a third round so that some writer could give hanky credit for having 12 third round picks right well the thing is they have a i think they they have a pick swap in 23. And I'd be surprised if Brooklyn had a worse record than Houston. So really, it comes down to the guy they took last year, Garuba. This year, who'd they take 17? They took Eason? Eason, yep. Yeah. All right. So there's two. The swap next year is not going to come into play. So now it's 24 and 26 and the pick swaps in 25 and 27, but I'm just not buying that Brooklyn's

going backwards. I still think if they trade KD, they're getting players back. It's a draft five years from now. And that pick could come up and there could be the next Cade Cunningham and you're going to go, oh my God. And that didn't feel as realistic 24 hours ago. It's a good point. Same thing as, I mean, we've seen this in a couple other trades, like the Drew Holiday trade. It's like, oh, the Milwaukee, five years from now, they'll still have Giannis. Well, maybe they won't. You know, who knows? But I still, I want to get one asset back if I'm trading a guy

who at the time we really valued. Also, it seems like with Philly, it seems like they are proceeding toward building around Harden and Embiid and Maxey. Right? That was my takeaway from today, which means Harden's going to get three years? What are you hearing, KFC?

Four years? I had heard Borey's going to get three years? What are you hearing, KFC? Four years? I had heard Maury's preference is a three-year deal. It should be a one-year deal. Seriously? His preference? One plus one. Regardless, for Houston, when you think two years ago, or less than two years ago, they're in this situation

where their franchise guys just openly quit on them. To come out of this with Jalen Green and Jabari Smith in less than two years, it's just a great outcome. Not to mention Shangoon, but to just, this is the best version of,

oh, all right, well then we'll bottom out. It's hard to bottom out better than this, right? We've seen bottoming out, but not where it just results in two potential All-NBA guys. I think both those guys have potential. This team is going to have so much shooting with those two guys.

I love the match. Rockets fans are understandably disappointed after hyping themselves up over Ben Carrow. I love Ben Carrow. He's first on my board. But Jabari Smith comes in a knockdown shooter. He comes in as a guy who is a multi-positional defender.

Picking roles with Jalen Green, it's going to be exciting with those two guys playing together because they can both play. I mean, Jalen Green is so good off ball. He said to you, Bill,

he's working on his playmaking this offseason, wants to make that corner three-point pass and all that. I mean, Jabari Smith, it's hard to find a better target than him in the draft. And then even with Eason

getting him at 17, I know you don't love him, Ryan, but I think like fit-wise, next to Jabari Smith, next to Jalen Green, some of the defense he can provide and a little bit of shot creation. I just think there's a lot of ways

that they're going to be able to run their offense through these different types of players that as a young team give them different looks in the half court. I'm excited for them. I'm excited to watch them, and I like the Green-Jabari thing. Do you think they need a point guard, Priscilla? I mean, like a real point guard?

Or do you think they can patch it together? Well, yes, is the simple answer with that. Because, I mean, Porter Jr. is not afraid to do his own thing, and I think this is still part of the learning process of Jalen Green. But, you know, I don't know. These teams, man, they don't seem to be in a hurry to give the ball to the guy that's not as good of a scoring threat. So it just doesn't seem like that's the way the league is going, even though I would argue there are even times the Celtics in the finals would be like, it'd be just nice to have like a steadying presence right now to let their scorers' lives be a little bit easier.

But that's just not really what it is. I think we've seen a massive shift. We've talked about this. It's usage rates a ton that the profile seems to be make sure the best player has the ball as much as possible. And I don't know that you want to take this out of his hands. And it actually, Jabari, I would think after what he played through in his first year, where as good as he was and the numbers he put up, I mean, real significant stretches, six-something minutes, seven, eight minutes in big games, and he's just not even getting any looks.

It's just not going to happen to him, even without a traditional point. Malcolm Brogdon? I wouldn't. He's just hurt so much today. Tyus Jones for agency? Tyus fits the bill. Yeah, I like Tyus Jones there. That'd be a good fit.

And they did get Ty Ty Washington. You know, good to give him reps. Is he a point though? Because you do want to talk about Jabari and the point guard situation, which I've said far too many times. But, you know, Wheeler for Kentucky, man. 5'9", can't shoot transfer.

He wasn't afraid to kind of put a wrench in the works. So when I, when I watch tie tie, like for me watching tie tie, I'll, I just kept being like, okay, what am I missing?

What am I missing? And I go, maybe I should just stop. Maybe I have my answer already. You know, is he, is he really that great athletically? I know he's a big time high school recruit, uh, where he got got picked is fine. I take a swing at the end of the first round,

he hit that higher profile high school kid. It was a messy, weird year with Kentucky. He got hurt in the middle of it, didn't he? I don't mind taking a swing at it because of who he was supposed to be, but I'm just not quite sure what he is. If he's a point guard at that size, okay, maybe, but I don't know it was weird kentucky was weird this year kentucky prospects are always so hard to to watch i mean like even even devin booker never running pick and roll for that team and with ty ty he you know he broke at one point john wall's assist record with that 17 assist game he had uh i believe it was against georgia if i remember correctly um but i mean you know i think he can run point i i believe in him

as a point. I probably think that's his better role long term for the NBA. I'm in on Ty Ty. Oh, the Cavs took Mobley's brother. Are they going with the Thanasis signing to make sure Mobley's... I like it. Take the brother. All it does is increase

your ads. The Celtics took J.D. Davison, guard from Alabama oh wow he's a fiery player Bill you're going to love him good is he going to be afraid to shoot in a must win game 6 I wouldn't describe him as afraid of anything okay good

okay one more one more thing before we go one more winner loser the what OKC did I was thinking about it after we did part 3 Okay, one more thing before we go. One more winner-loser. What OKC did. I was thinking about it after we did part three. And one more winner for me than you guys, any leftovers. So OKC's stockpiling all these picks, right?

Everybody's making fun of them, including me. Like, what are you gonna do with all these picks? Presti's just waiting for the moment when he could just kind of throw the three quarters at somebody for a $2 bill, which is kind of what happened tonight. He gets this number 11 pick for three picks that just weren't going to be in the lottery in any circumstances, right? What does he care? He's got 20 more picks. The Knicks were in a situation where they're trying to create cap space, whatever. But this is why I guess you get all these picks waiting for this moment.

So it'll be interesting to see if it works out or not. They took Chet Holmgren. They took Dang. They took Jalen Williams. They have so many picks. They took a second Jalen Williams. They're just like doubling the names of guys they have on the team. They're going to have two Jalen Williams now.

They're going to have double the names of different people. But I really like what they got going. And they still, as we covered in part three, they still have a chance for French Bic because it's not like this team's going to be too good. But I really like that they did. Winner for me, KOC. I'd say they're the winner of the draft.

I love what they did. Chet Holmgren at two, as we talked about earlier. Jang the upside. Jalen Williams at the 12th pick three indeed guy with upside and then even Jalen Williams you know out of Arkansas in the second round I like Jalen Williams he's a good player

six nine he does all the dirty work that dude hustles his ass off he's you know takes charges he's gonna be one of those guys that leads the league and charges you know per minute if you care about that type of stuff. He just needs to extend his range, and he's going to be in the NBA for 10 years. Biggest winner of the day for you, Rosillo?

It's a winner-loser. Winner Orlando Magic. They took the best player in the draft. Loser Orlando Magic fans that are somehow bummed out by this development because they mentally married themselves to the idea of one of the other guys. Nobody's ever had the first pick and felt conflicted about it before. Dude, it's insane.

Even Cleveland, when they took Anthony Bennett, they were mostly bummed out because they knew like, uh-oh. I have one last nugget. Yeah. Because he was one of my least favorite players that I watched, and he went to one of my favorite

organizations and that's Patrick Baldwin going to Golden State at number 28. It might be entirely unfair to look at this snapshot of a weird ass season for Patrick Baldwin and say this is who he is. If you want to say at 28 when he was the

profile of what he was coming out. If I look at here again, I mean, Patrick Baldwin was a five-star number eight overall in his class. I thought he was fifth. Well, he might have been. Depending on, there's three recruiting services we look at. I just pulled up the most convenient one. So I was sitting there and no one told me this, but I go, wait, this is a thing with them. This is a thing.

Pedigree picks? Yeah, so if you go back like Looney, he had this weird hip thing because he grew too fast. He was a five-star, the 10th overall player in his class coming out. Barnes was a five-star. Granted, that was a higher pick, so it'd make a little bit more sense, but he was number two, number one in some rankings. Poole was a four-star.

Damian Jones, four-star. Jacoby Evans, four-star. But Kaminga was a five-star. He was third overall. Moody was a four-star. He was 56 overall. Nico Mannion was a five-star. He was the 12th rated player in his class, and I'll admit I loved watching his high school showcase stuff

because I loved the way he played the game. Wasn't going to translate. They have Looney, five-star., five-star Kaminga, Nico. I mean, Wiseman is the number two overall pick. We get it. That was going to happen anyway. But it appears with Baldwin, they're following a pattern that they've hit on in multiple years. They're like, okay, we're not even worried about what we just saw.

It's 28. We just won a title. Maybe we get lucky. Sometimes it works. It's worked, I would say, in the success rate of where it's worked more than it hasn't. If you think the Ming is going to be good. I feel like Danny Ainge was one of the first ones I remember doing this. The Avery Bradley.

Avery Bradley. Avery Bradley. And a couple times they were going pedigree over. It makes sense, right? You think these people are under 21 years old. They can have a weird six months. Their life can go sideways. They might have some injury. They might make the wrong college decision. And we saw it with Zyra Williams last year. That was a good example, right? Nobody was happy with his college year, but then

now you watch them on Memphis and he's great. So yeah, the pedigree picks, I'm in on those. But then how does that explain Jaden Hardy going to 37? Technically that would be the same kind of strategy, right? And yet none of us like that pick. I like that pick. I like Hardy. Yeah, second

round, fine. 37? Yeah, but I would say I think there are more excuses for how bad baldwin's season was as opposed to just hardy when he played you're like what are you doing like yeah yeah like why is it that you don't see about the game but the pedigree thing with age is a good call because i think that definitely was the case and you know look we didn't have utah with a pick tonight unless they did they trade for one. I don't I didn't

I was a little upset to not see my guy Hugo Besson undrafted. See what happens. A lot of teams are laughing at me about him, but I'll be curious to see if age. I don't know. I'd imagine age is going to do with the way age wants to do it, but he was never a big international guy. Yeah, KFC

give me another winner or another loser for you tonight. I mean, just one thing on Baldwin. Yeah. You like the pick, to be clear, right, Ryan? For the Warriors? Well, the Warriors took him, so I assume I'm wrong. Yeah. Yeah.

I mean, yeah, I just think it's the best basketball situation for him. If he went 14th, I don't care who. If Golden State took him at 14th, I'd be like, you can't. There's still better players there. But 28th, the track record of where these picks actually end up, how many of these guys don't even get a whiff

of like a fourth-year guarantee, I have no problem with it. But it does seem to be something that that organization buys into. I like the pick too. By the way, Ty Ty was another pedigree guy. I think he was like 11th or 12th in those rankings. Three in a row. Three in way, Ty Ty was another pedigree guy. I think he was like 11th or 12th in those rankings.

Three in a row. Three in a row. It was Patrick Baldwin, Ty Ty Washington and Peyton Watson. Three in a row. Three top high school prospects who struggled. Well, Ty Ty was okay but Christian Coloco is the guy that comes to mind to me for answering your question, Bill. 33rd pick to the Raptors.

Coloco, late bloomer in Arizona. Really, really good defensive player great shop locker very active on that and show some defensive versatility as well I think with him the at rim finishing you're going to get that there's a little bit of potential for him to be like a better version of a Chris

Boucher for Raptors fans you know seeing him extend his range behind the line like he did at Arizona, progressively shooting more mid-range jumpers. I think Coloco could go down as one of the steals of the early second round. So before we bring Cerruti in to do some perk comps

and then finish the pod, to recap, the Knicks are still a mess. The Kings are still a mess. OKC is still smart. Sucking for two to three years still works, apparently. The Kings are still a mess. OKC is still smart. Sucking for two to three years still works, apparently. I think that's back in. The two to three year suck plan, still in vogue.

Florida is still our weirdest state. Even when they have a team with the number one pick in the draft, it still gets weird. Florida just, yeah. We didn't talk about this. Just quickly, New Orleans just fucking loaded. Jesus. Not to mention they have all these Laker picks coming. You could argue, if we were doing a what franchise is in the best asset situation draft,

New Orleans is like maybe Sunday night, Rosillo? Hugo went 58. Oh, there you go. Last pick of the draft. Man, the Pacers.ers well unless they traded it let's double check here I think Buck's got him well if he'll even better he'll probably win a ring

if Drew gets hurt slide him right in alright let's bring in Cerruti let's do the perk comps then we'll get out of here yeah so this one was all over the place tonight All right, let's bring in Cerruti. Let's do the perk comps, then we'll get out of here. Yeah, so this one was all over the place tonight. I'll just start with the first one. He had Paulo.

I talked about this before. He compared him to Michael Beasley and Ben Simmons, which I went back and listened to the tape because I'm like, I need to hear this in context, right? Like, was there something I was missing? He did say he liked the skill set of Michael Beasley and the passing ability of Ben Simmons. So I'll give him some credit there. Like, he tried like the skill set of Michael Beasley and the passing ability of Ben Simmons. So I'll give him some credit there. He tried to save it.

But anytime you're comparing the number one pick in the draft to two basically complete disasters, I don't know if I hate it or I just love the hell out of it, if I respect the hell out of it. Yeah, that's solid. Okay, what else do we have? He's a completely different player offensively than Michael Beasley. Yeah.

Other than that. Other than that. Other than that, everything's great. Chet, he said it was if Giannis and Porzingis had a baby. People like that one a lot. That'd be a huge story. That'd be weird. It'd be a big deal. I don't know if we have the science yet for that.

Jabari was KD. And then he also threw in Sharif Abdul-Rahim. I don't mind that one. I think he kind of saved it because the KD one is obviously like a pretty natural one, but yeah, I kind of like that. It can a little spicy. This is the one where everyone's like this is a layup, but they don't like it. He compared Javid

Jaden Ivey to jaw. I mean, I guess the athleticism it just seems kind of like too easy of a comp like again. I hate I'll live with that one because it's actually not it's yeah he's got that straight up and down although jaw going up and down is probably unlike anything i've ever seen in my life it's like comparing another canyon to the grand canyon but i'm okay the mississippi that reminds me of the tames yeah um he had math around i said this one before

og and ob but he also said uh manager nobly so like you know we're throwing a white guy in there all right there you go i love the cross if you can do you know christian brown's a bit like stromal swift i'm like i don't care how bad it is i just respect the fuck out of it like i was hoping we were gonna say but like

jovich reminds me of a taller jeremy lynn and i'd be like oh my god you're my hero all right two more real quick uh keegan he But like Jovich reminds me of a taller Jeremy Lin. And I'd be like, oh, my God. You're my hero. All right. Two more real quick. Keegan, he had Siakam, which I think I think he actually had that comp, too. So maybe he's not terrible.

And then the last one, this one, he was getting a lot of flack for Jalen Duren. He compared him to Bam, which I mean, Bam is, you know, like a Swiss army knife of just like jack of all trades. Incredible passer. Good defensive guy like Bam. Isn't the isn't the compare for Jalen? He's more of like a dwight howard light isn't he i gotta tell you i don't hate that one either i don't either wow perk the redemption story let's go yeah i mean that turned around there was another college guy who had keegan murray as boris dia where i was like did you ever watch early boris early boris diaw was a fantastic player the passing at his size i don't know that there'll ever be another guy who plays like or early

boris diaw or retired boris diaw and then rejuvenated unretired boris diaw um which is always you know now i always have this french rejuvenation clause that if you're younger and you're french and you look like you're washed, I hold out hope for you after Batum and Boris. But Keegan is not Boris Dia. I got one more really quickly. I forgot about this one because this actually took place over Twitter. I guess he compared

Trevor Keels to Desmond Bain, and Desmond Bain straight up tweeted, me and Trevor Keels got similar games? And he and Perk went back and forth on Twitter about that for a while. Oh, no. Fran, for sure, I love that. Fran was not excited. Hey, look, Fran.

By the way, Fran, I'll let you know. The comp I was most jealous of, old friend Danny Chow. Our guy. KC, you remember Danny Chow? Of course. I love Danny. He said, a couple days ago, actually, because he added to the tweet. He said that Keegan Murray is basically Antoine Jamison and thus destined to go number four

parentheses, then get traded. I really like the Antoine Jamison comparison for Keegan Murray. I thought that was strong. Danny Chow knows his drafts. Jamison's more athletic coming out at this stage uh i don't think there'd be any debate on that but approach offensively all the things that he does for you not bad yeah and like a 18 and 8 yeah kind of guy i actually don't want it you know i hate it so much because i have a hard time with it i just always feel like no no that's not this or it's not perfect

enough it's not aligned enough so probably I shouldn't give anybody shit about it because I don't like doing them. I don't mind the Jabari Durant, at least mentioning there's a whiff of Durant. Whiff of Durant, maybe even a strong scent of Durant, but you can't actually compare, I don't think, anyone to Durant. I mean, he's one of the all-time unicorns we've ever had. So Rudy, before we go, how are you feeling about Paolo five hours later? I had an hour-plus long conversation with our friend Kevin Clark. And I don't think either of us came out of that conversation feeling much better, to be honest with you. It's just, he really wanted, I think he really wanted Jabari.

I think I had talked myself into it being Jabari, so the surprise factor is still there. But, you know, again, if they took the best guy in the draft and that's who they had number one on their board, whether or not he wanted to be there or not. You take that guy every single time. I'm a little bit worried they wouldn't even bring him in for it. We kind of talked about the thing, too, that you talked about. Why? Why did they get so cute with keeping everything so close to the vest? They had the number one pick. Like, it just it just seemed odd.

Like they like they like the fact that they were like that nobody knew what was going on. They had the number one pick. It just seemed odd. They liked the fact that nobody knew what was going on. They weren't trading arms for hostages. Open the Washington Post and find out or something. I don't know why you guys are so hung up on that. I just don't. Why do they have to tell us they had the decision done earlier? What if there was a potential trade?

What if they actually changed their minds a bunch? Like we mentioned at the very beginning of this thing. This is the kind of draft you would change your mind. You're so mad about this, Rudy. I can't wait to do the open tomorrow with you. This is like NBA GMs. They're just like us. They change their mind.

I do have a Mo Bamba update, though. This is important. We can cut this. The Magic Equipment Manager tweeted out a video of him creating the Paulo Bonchero jersey, and it's number five, which is Mo Bamba's jersey. And then he later tweeted that Mo was going to be changing his number this year, and that tweet has since been deleted. There's something going on there.

Something's happening. Oh, no. That wasn't very surprising. All kinds of drama. Maybe we could have the team that does the F1 show on Netflix follow the magic around next season could the Wagner brothers Cole Anthony

thinks he's one of the best players in the league Paolo Fultz Jonathan Isaac book tour guy let's go Jonathan Isaac

trying to get to 30 games I could have seen Cole Anthony doing a Twan when they drafted Paul Pierce and Antoine was like he'd be good

off the bench. I could see Cole being like, oh, 6'10 off the bench, second unit, he can run that. Welcome to my team, Cole Anthony tweets to Pella. All right, this is it. We did a lot of content today.

I appreciate it. Thanks to Rossello and KFC for sticking around. Thanks to Saruti. Thanks to Dylan sticking around. Thanks to Saruti. Thanks to Dylan Berkey. Thanks to Kyle Creighton for producing this. We'll be back on Sunday. What do you think, Rosillo?

Asset draft on Sunday? What do you want to do? Best franchise with your favorite assets? Let's do, you want to do NBA futures and pick who from three years from now you'd want to be? Yeah, we'll do something. We'll play some sort of fun game. We'll get ready for free agency,

and who knows what will have happened with the Brooklyn Nets at that point. Thanks for listening. Enjoy the rest of the day, and we'll see you on Sunday. I don't have.