The Bill Simmons Podcast - Part 2: The 2023 NBA Expansion Draft with Ryen Russillo

Episode Date: August 7, 2023

In Part 2 of a two-part podcast, The Ringer’s Bill Simmons is joined by Ryen Russillo for an NBA expansion team draft. With two new franchises likely coming in the next few years, the guys determine which players the current teams would protect and then each draft for the two new franchises. Host: Bill Simmons Guest: Ryen Russillo Producer: Isaiah Blakely and Steve Ceruti Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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two of the podcast, me and Ryan Russillo. This is an evergreen idea that we could not wait to do for a couple of years now. And then this seemed like the perfect time because the NBA is just dead from a storyline standpoint. So why not have an expansion draft, like an actual expansion draft? Oh yeah. And don't think we didn't land the plane because we did. It's next. First, our friends from ProJab. All right, this is the all-time evergreen podcast segment. Ryan Rosillo is here. We never finished our, we never did our farewell summer pod. Usually we pod all the way through like mid-July,

then we have one last pod, we do some stupid shit, and then we disappear. You go to your podcast, we go into football season, you come back in February. So we're coming back and we're doing a really dumb gimmick that people are probably going to get mad that we're doing, cause it both doesn't make sense, but it's going to be super fun. And I promise everyone will enjoy it. Here's the premise for Scylla.

We're pretending that tomorrow the NBA decides, holy shit, they're ready to pay so much money for these Seattle and Vegas expansion teams. We're just going to shoehorn these teams in right now. We're going to usher them in. We're going to have an expansion draft. They're offering us $6 billion for Vegas and $7 billion for Seattle,

but it has to be right now. We're just taking the money, expansion draft. Everybody can protect up to eight people. Rookies are eligible and we're off. So what did you learn from the rules for the old expansion drafts? Right. So the last time we did this was Charlotte when the owner named the team after himself. Because I remember I talked to a guy who interviewed and was like you know you're dealing with a pretty aggressive owner when the nickname is the bobcats and he names the team after himself so yeah um that's 2004 right so that took place june 22nd it was two days before the nba draft so what the league would never do is what we're doing now and let you manipulate your roster in advance of who you had to protect and who you weren't going to protect. So back then

you had to protect eight players. Even if you didn't have eight players on a contract, you had to make one player eligible. So that's not really going to apply to us here because we're already through the off season. So the most famous version of that was in 89 because they always try to do it for draft and free agency. Detroit wins the title. They have the parade. And at the parade, Rick Mahorn finds out he hasn't been protected in the expansion draft and he's going to Minnesota as the first pick. And the reason they do that is because they want everything settled before draft free agency.

If you did it this way, the way we're doing it, people would just wait to sign free agents. They would wait till after the draft. So we're cheating and we know we're cheating, but I swear this is going to be fun. And here we go. Right. So you can select, you know, again, I checked with the league, some people that worked with the league on this, when the Bobcats did this, they took like 19 players. I think we should probably do 15 maybe each because we're doing two different teams because there was only one team then it wasn't like some TV show. So I imagine you and I are going to pick one of the teams and then go back and forth. Well, we'll do that. You can only pick

one player from each team because I think that is a rule. That is a rule, right? You can only take one player from each team. The way the cap numbers work, you have to be at 66 percent of the cap so if it's 136 million it's 89.7 million but to just spare us all the math adding up i'd imagine if i were running a team and doing this i would come in way under the cap carry that over the year trade for somebody's bad contract absorb it to try to add some other kind of asset um that's an important note because that means like let's say we say Minnesota is going to leave Gobert unprotected, which they won't,

but let's just say they did. And you can't basically in an expansion draft with the way the capitals are, we take D'Angelo, Russell, Rudy Gobert and take like five $30 million guys because you have like a 90 million max. That's it.

So you're going to go like, you're going to bottom feed. You're going to take younger guys, cheap guys, and maybe like one or two more expensive guys that you feel like you can trade. There's also other stuff that we're not going to get too adventurous with where Phoenix asked Charlotte to take to Heidi white and they gave him 3 million in a future first of the day, uh, clear cap space, which obviously led to Phoenix kind of turning some of their stuff around having extra cap space. When you go back and look at the Bobcats expansion from 04, like just so you know, the warning when we put these teams together and you go, are you serious? Dude, this was this and this was only one team.

Give us the top 10 from 04. Lonnie Baxter, J.R. Bremer, Gerald Wallace was like an incredible pick uh right gerald wallace i would die for gerald wallace right now in what we're about to do well i remember early basketball internet it was like whoa gerald wallace they got him but i mean, look, compared to Samar Slay, Jeff Trebinger, Lauren Woods, Mr. Summer League, Richie Fromm. I mean, Jamal Sampson. You know what's interesting about this though? In 2004, which I think was the most talent deficient season in the history of the league, or it's way up there. In that run, the NBA teams. I remember doing a trade value column that year. I'm like,

Oh my God, this guy's number 28. The league is so much deeper now. And that's one of the things. That's why we thought this would be a fun exercise because we'll go through 10 of that. We're not going to read every, all a keepers from every team,

but there's 10 teams that would have real decisions. If there was an expansion draft. And as you said, part of the chicanery with this is like Golden State leaves Clay Thompson unprotected, but don't take them. We'll give you our first in 2026. So there's like expansion kind of paying the team off not to take a guy stuff. But if there were two teams in the expansion draft, it gets a little more interesting with Seattle and Vegas, which is the reason we're doing this is because this is going to happen.

This will, this will now happen in the next, I've been talking about it on this pod for three years, but it's going to happen now in the next two to three years, they're going to get the media red steel done. They're going to figure out exactly how much money is coming in and then they're going to do expansion. And Silver's even admitting it admitting it publicly now yeah you were on this very early so a tip of the cap well there were a lot of breadcrumbs sitting there so let's go through the 10 teams where they have to protect eight and the exercise of what would they do because i don't think people realize that there's a whole generation of fans who don't remember how fun the 1990 or 1989 expansion draft was when the teams were pretty deep back then.

Detroit had to leave Rick Mahorn. He was a really important member of a championship team. They had to leave him unprotected. So in no particular order, Jeff Supan, Memphis, who would protect Morant and Triple J and Bane and Smart.

Probably Kennard, Adams, Clark, and Zaire Williams would be my eight guesses. But then I'm leaving Laravia, Roddy, Conchar, Tillman, Aldama, Lofton. They'd have... Somebody would be one of the first five picks from that. So do you agree with the eight? Do you think they would leave Steven Adams unprotected? Because I feel like he would get taken. Yeah, so I'm looking at your list here.

I had Adams protected as well. So I did the same thing. I went through every team and tried to come up with the eight. I think the real discussion after, so Jod, Triple J, Smart, Kennard, Adams,ams clark bain so we all agree on those that eighth spot there is either laravia zire williams or aldama and i'd imagine any one of those three would be one of the earlier picks i mean aldama actually played real minutes for him is there a possible brandon clark coming off the achilles injury? We leave him unprotected. He's going to have an extension coming up anyway,

or he already signed the extension. Yeah, he might. I actually think they might leave him unprotected coming off an injury. That's the other game of this. Yeah. When we look at some of the other teams, like I think there'll be certain teams that would look at the expansions

going. They're not going to take on this contract. So we can keep this guy exposed and then keep somebody else. Like the Lakers have a weird one there. Yeah. I think, I think Minnesota actually, even though you touched on the Gobert thing, like we'll get back to when we come up with a little bit later, but do you feel like Aldama because he was getting real minutes or is it because it's LaRavia and they go, okay,

we just took this guy. They clearly liked him a lot. A lot of teams in the draft seem to like him. Because if I'm an expansion team, you know, or if I'm running one of the current teams and thinking about the expansion team, like who, who do they want? They probably want younger guys that got lost in a rotation shuffle. Right.

And then that's what I would do. I would stockpile my team with younger guys that I kind of liked before the draft that may have got lost in some kind of rotation battle. Didn't get a real opportunity. Al Dhamma, it almost feels like he would be protected because they were playing him real minutes over the other guys. Yeah, maybe they leave Brandon Clark. So he's at $12.5 million this year coming off the injury. I think they probably leave him unprotected you'd probably keep one of the cheap guys.

Like, Laravia's on the cheap contract. Conchar is four years, $9 million, basically. It kicks up to $6 million next year. Maybe they'd keep him and they'd expose Clark. All right. I think they'd expose Conchar. So you think they'd expose Clark and keep Aldama? Let's say that that just for fun we'll leave clark available because he'd be a fun possible pick all right uh next team my aldama pick

oh you had you had his scouts out of well you know look it's slim pickings here once you get a few picks in you could say it was before it even starts. New Orleans has Ingram and Zion, Herb Jones, Dyson Daniels, Valanchunas, McCollum, Murphy, and Hawkins, who they just picked. And I think those would be the eight. So now if you're an expansion team, you're looking at Alvarado, Kira Lewis, who couldn't be more available, and Nance. Alvarado and Nance are like real expansion guys. You agree with that list? I do for the most part, except for I think the exercise should just keep the rookies that were just drafted ineligible for any of this so they don't count towards protected okay i think that's smarter just because this would never happen like you wouldn't be taking like for teams that took three guys and now all

of a sudden two of them are exposed like that doesn't yeah you're probably right all right so let's make that part of the exercise. Like Hawkins is protected because he's a rookie, but he doesn't take up one of the eight spots. Is that cool? Yeah. So would you say Alvarado? No. Or Nance would be unprotected?

So after Murphy, because we agree on the first seven and we may agree on this, it's a Nance, Najee or EJ lydell decision i think it's nance i think they keep nance so because they're they're trying to compete they need zion insurance i think just dance is the best asset all right all right so that means that means that Kyra Lewis, Zeller, Najee Marshall, Alvarado, Liddell, all unprotected. Yep. Golden State. So this becomes a little less fun if we're saying rookies aren't eligible, but still we have.

I just don't know if there's, I just don't know it's fair to do it that way. No, I think you're right. I'm with you. So we have Curry green Wiggins, Looney, coming good Moody as six. And then there's two spots left for clay Thompson.

Who's making 40 million this year, Chris Paul making 30 or Gary Payton. Who's on like the 9 million a year contract. Which two do you think they keep? It's a really tough one. I don't think it is at all. There's no way they'd leave Clay exposed one year expiring. Just run it back.

See what happens. So you think it's Clay and CP and they'd leave Peyton exposed? I left Moody exposed instead of Peyton. Really? Yeah. But, you know, we could, maybe we'll have to keep track of like, if we think it's a tie.

Well, we have to figure this out now for the draft. Can I make the case for leaving Clay exposed? Sure, go ahead. You could only spend $89 million total in the expansion draft. And he's making 43 this year. So a team that would take Clay, expansion team, it's half your cap.

So you have for the other 14 guys, you only now have 44 million to spend. And maybe they float them. Like we're going to leave clay exposed. We'll give you a second round pick in 27. And then if they take him, what are they going to do with Clay? Like it's going to be hard to trade him. He's making so much money. I think he, like I just think Peyton would be grabbed or Moody, like Moody,

they would be like delighted. Like, oh my God, we got Moses Moody's on rookie contracts. It's amazing. I don't think you can leave him exposed. Like if we were in a room for six hours, the outcome would be, let's leave Clay exposed.

They're not going to take him. And if they think about taking him, we'll float him a pick. They could trade him, though. You just completely diminished the idea that, all right, you take him. And I know this all sounds ridiculous, but if you're starting an expansion roster, there's a bunch of guys I don't want that are going to be exposed. I don't want someone coming in here that's a shithead, right? Yeah. Christian Wood would not be my starting center on this team, right?

So if I could actually, despite the cap rule, get Clay, and you might be right, you might be right. I may defer to you, but let me talk it all out and say, bring somebody in who's won, gets it, plays the right way, personality, checks every single box. Put them on the poster. Everybody else that's going to be here, we're going to actually have a real guy, which is unheard of in the expansion trap. So can we take enough guys on rookie deals to fill out the rest of the cap? Because there may not be the other 10 or $20 million guys that we even want. If they're exposed, why are they even exposed? I think it'd be really scary to do that for a Golden State team that thinks, hey, if we run this back and everybody's healthy, we still have a chance to come out of the West.

So it would be, you know, maybe you figure out something ahead of time. I'm glad we talked it out. You're right. I don't think they'd ever leave him unprotected. It's too risky. So they'd have to leave Peyton available then. I don't think they would leave Moody because I think he would be one of the first picks in the draft. So you think you would, if you're in the room with Golden State, you're done leaving, you're arguing, your final call is expose Gary Payton, protect Moody. Yes.

Lakers. This is probably easy. Oh, I guess if the rookie. It isn't. If JHS is not available, so their seven would be LeBron, AD, Reeves, Rui, Vincent, Vanderbilt. And then there's two spots left for Torian Prince, who I think we both love for that team.

I can't wait to see him on a good team, even if it is the Lakers, so I hate. Then you got Russell and Hayes. You got Reddish. And then you have Max Christie, who's only 20 years old and everybody really likes him. And I think if all the guys I listed, I think Christie would be the one that just immediately got taken. So you almost might have to keep him. I can't, we're going to come off as like the biggest max Christie guys here for a couple of minutes. I would, this is, this actually isn't easy for the Lakers because the reason you probably did

the D'Angelo Russell deal, which is 17.3 million this year, and then a player option for 19 million is they need that for a trade. Yeah. But well, combined with Rui, it equals Kyrie, which is the all time red flag math.

You just add up the contracts. It's like, Oh, that's almost exactly Kyrie's number. Cool. So they all love Christy out here, right? You've probably heard the same stuff. He's good. Yeah.

No, I think they think he's a real guy. So would you expose, like the expose, the leaving Clay unprotected argument is different than the D'Angelo Russell one. Because I think I'd feel better about like, I don't think they're different than the D'Angelo Russell one. Because I think I'd feel better about like, I don't think they're going to take D'Angelo Russell and then have him be the point guy for the team. Like the stuff that you're supposed to do right. And then D'Angelo Russell's running your basketball team. I think it's well established how I feel about that.

But then can you tell LeBron like, hey, we exposed our best trade ship for Max Christie? It's a really tough one because they signed that Russell deal specifically to trade him in February. And I think even Russell, he waved stuff. He was just like, dude, here's an extra 7 million. You're a trade asset for us this year. It's more money than you're going to make. And he was like, great. And maybe you'll keep me. So if you expose him, I do agree that he would probably get picked. But I don't want to lose Christie. So I guess the question for me is,

do you value Prince more than Russell on a team that's trying to win? I think they need Prince. I think he's going to be really important for them this year. So you're saying, all right, so then give me the two or the three that you're protecting if you're the Lakers between Prince, Christie, and Russell.

Prince and Christie for me. So you'd leave Russell exposed? I would. I'm okay with it because I wasn't even like nuts about signing him anyway. And I'm only doing it to trade him. And now I lose the possibility to trade him. You only are keeping him if you if you know you have a trade in february and maybe they do or maybe they think

they have a chance so then at that point i guess you leave prince exposed and he can always you could always trade rui you know if it was a guy you really liked and you're trying to figure out how to get the contracts and they've got a couple of the minimums with british and jackson hayes all right so what's our final answer see the audience is enjoying this they're like man i didn't think this was going to be fun but now i'm involved in a christy versus prince argument this is great this is actually i think it should be like pick up hoops where every other call that's debated is just all turned. Like, all right, we got the last one. You get this one.

It's the only way to be efficient instead of watching arguments while guys smoke cigarettes for 10 minutes. So I push back so hard on the Clay thing. You can be the tiebreaker on this one. Then I get the next one. I'm going to leave Russell exposed. All right, Detroit.

They're keeping Cade, the Thompson twin, Ivy. I think they keep Wiseman. Stewart, they just signed. Jalen Duren. And after that, I don't know. Oh, Monty Morris I had just because I think he's a trade asset. I think they keep him. So maybe that's seven.

So I had one spot left for Bagley and Burks and Killian Hayes, who they've been trying to trade for two months. So I'm guessing they're going to expose him. Burks is an expiring. Detroit could also do the thing where they just protect seven and they're like, have at it. No, I don't think they would do that. Because did you mention Livers?

I think they like him. Okay. So we'll make Livers the eighth. That's easy. All right. That's good. The next Brunson, Randall, Barrett, Josh Hart, Mitchell Robinson, DDV, Quickly. And then that last spot comes down to Grimes, Hartenstein, or McBride. And I had Grimes down on the initial list, but if you want to make the Hartenstein case, I'm here for it because I think he gets picked in five seconds. Yeah, I protected Hartenstein.

All right. But they're in a spot. They're going to lose somebody in this, whether it's Grimes, Miles McBride, Jericho Sims. I imagine Fournier is not going to be in demand. Fournier available. Yeah, but it's Randall Brunson, RJ, Mitchell Robinson, Hart, DiVincenzo, Quickly, and Harnstein. Oklahoma City is the most screwed in this gimmick.

I thought they were going to be way worse off than they were, but go ahead. Oh, I guess if you say- You got to take out- Yeah. You got to take out Wallace. What about this Michich? Michich? Michich?

Yeah, they're protecting him. This point guard? Yeah, I think they would protect him. I think they- But we're saying they have to protect him. He's not like a typical rookie. Yes, yes. Because they brought him over.

Okay. So we got SGA, Giddy, Chet Holmgren, Jalen and Jalen, Dort, Micic, and then that eighth spot comes down to Williams, Poku, Diang. Oh, it'd probably be Mann, Garuba they like, and Isaiah Joe. I'm guessing it's Mann. I don't know. What do you think? I'll let you defer.

You watched more OKC than I did this year. I'm probably a little still too a little still too high on usman yang but i don't think that they would leave him unprotected they took him that high yeah you know he was he was somebody that you know you thought wow as he put it together his last year in the australian league you could see that he was doing some things so he really fits fits their profile. So I just don't think he would be left unprotected. So it's SGA, Dorichet, Giddey, both Williams, Jang, and Micic. So that means it's Bertans, who's got a big number, Oladipo, Kenrich Williams, Garuba, who I loved reading. Some of the stuff with Hoops Hype, not always my favorite, but when you get a nugget like Danilo Gallinari telling some international newspaper that he's going to circle every Celtics date.

I love that. And you're like, what the fuck? Why are you mad at the Celtics? And then there was another moment where Garuba was telling people that he was like, you know, I just was, I was in a bad spot previously. And they were like, all right, yeah, no problem. So anyway, I had Isaiah Joe available. Yep, got him tipped.

So Poku's available. Okay, say we'll have a top four pick in this draft. Poku could be the face of a franchise. Just put him right in the poster. Put him on the billboards in the back. Three more teams. Atlanta. I guess if we're saying rookies are not eligible,

then Kobe cannot be picked. But it's Young, Murray, Okongwu, Griffin, Capella, Hunter, Bogdanovich. And then that eighth spot is either Sadiq Bae or Jalen Johnson. I'll let you pick. I put Bae down to be protected, but it'd be tough. I didn't like Jalen Johnson out of Duke. I thought there were still moments in the playoffs where he looked pretty scared, but when the moments were good, there was some really good stuff there.

So he would be picked if he's left unprotected. He's a nice pick. I I think Bay wins that tiebreaker. Sacramento has a seven of Fox, Sabonis, Keegan Murray, Herter, Monk, Harrison Barnes. So they just brought back and Davion Mitchell. And that eighth spot is between Bezenkov, Lyles, Duarte. It seems like they like Besinkov, so I'm assuming that would be the guy they protected, right? They were all excited about bringing him over. Yeah, he's a big dude. The three-point shooting's been pretty solid.

And I think he falls into the Mischich category here. Last team is Utah. Wait, wait, wait. So unprotected for Sacramento would be who? Lyles, Duarte, Alex Lenn, Nerland Snowected for Sacramento would be who? Lyles Duarte, Alex Lenn, New Orleans Noel, Kessler Edwards? Yes. Okay. Utah is tough because it's got Markkinen, Kessler, Clarkson. Oh, I guess George doesn't count. Okay. And neither does Hendricks. So therefore would be Markk Marketing, Kessler, Clarkson, and Agbaje.

And then we'd have to go Collins, Sexton, Olenek. I guess it's not as tough if we're taking rookies. Horton, Tucker. Okay. All right. They're unprotected just to be at year seven. Chris Dunn, Shamanich. Horton, Tucker.

Yeah, you learned a lot from LeBron. They can do that whole thing. All right. We're going to take a break and then we're going to do the draft. But before we take a break, do you want to be Seattle or do you want to be Vegas in this expansion draft? I would love to be Seattle. I fought hard for them in 2007 and 08, and I'm happy to hand Vegas to you. I'll take Vegas, but you have way more of a history of Vegas than I do, but I, you want Seattle. I'm happy to defer. That's fine. I'll take Vegas. You push for Seattle. I do have a yellow Sonics t-shirt though. That's kicking around somewhere. It's amazing what t-shirts you discover when you move. All right. Coming back the draft. This episode is brought to you by my old friend miller light i've been a big fan of miller light man since since college days when i was allowed to have beer i think nephew kyle is a fan too

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All right, it's time. It's the 2023 expansion draft own way. Do great things figured it out a while ago. Okay. Do you have a name? Wait, wait. Do you have a team name? We're the Seattle Supersonics. We're back. You're right.

You're right. What are you going to be? Has anyone ever had an emotion? The Vegas Regrets? The Vegas Regrets. The Vegas Regrets? Right. And their mascot's just a guy with short sleeve, button down, balding, bags under his eyes, reading a credit card statement.

I love the Vegas Regrets. That's funny. He just goes around, high fives kids, hugs them. It's just so good to see you again. I would buy a Vegas Regrets basketball t-shirt right now. All right. The Vegas Regrets are on the clock with the first pick. Who do you have?

I almost didn't want the first pick. I'll take the first pick if you don't want it. I'll take it. No, this is history. I'm going to take Quentin Grimes. Okay. Quentin Grimes off the board. How do you feel about that?

Good contract. What is he? What's he at? Good contract. He's still on a rookie deal. Yeah. Good asset. Can probably flip him. So if you, would your expansion strategy be assets you can flip or guys you can build around or both? Cause I would be in the assets. Like if I would just emulate what Presti would do in this situation, I think Presti would just be, I want assets. I want picks. I'll take guys you don't want.

Give me a pick back. All that stuff. I would be down for all of it, but I don't know that I'm going to completely tell you my strategy here on draft day. Very fair. Very fair. That's what Costner would do. Do you like how I tried to get you to tell me my strategy here on draft day. Very fair. Very fair. That's what Costner would do. Do you like how I tried to get you to tell me your strategy?

It's very Danny Ainge of you. Seattle Supersonics on the clock. This is already tough. I don't like the board. Dude, you are not going to like the board. Ask ringer to not do a breakout graphic of our expansion draft teams. Cause no, one's going to go through the exercise.

There's just going to look and be like, are you serious? These teams are terrible. And we're breaking the rules where we're doing it after the off season. I can't wait. I can't wait until like, I can't wait for your pick right now. I'm going to take Ken Rich Williams.

Okay. See, he's off the board. What's his salary? Four years, 27 million, basically six a year, 29 years old.

I feel like I could flip them. Who do you got? All right. So did we say Jalen Johnson's available then? Yes. All right. I'll take Jalen Johnson. Jalen Johnson. Nice pick. I'm going to take Xavier Tillman. Great value. Like my team already. Get some NBA players. So you have Quentin Grimes, Jalen Johnson. I have Ken, Ken Rich Williams and Xavier Tillman.

Okay. So. That means. Ken Rick Williams or Ken Rich Williams. I always screw this up with Ken Rich. Yeah. I got it. You almost want it to be Ken Rick because, but yeah,

Ken. Okay. I don't think anybody does. So here's, here's what's interesting because it's a two team draft. Does that mean I can't take another Nick? No. Does that mean you can take a Nick?

Nope. Once a team loses a guy, they're out of the draft. All right. I was almost going to. If there was no rule like that, I may have gone three or four Knicks just to get started. Sims to McBride to Grimes down the lane. They lost their guy. Okay.

So what did we land on with Memphis? we'll see wait they just you took just took xavier tillman so because you took tillman i can't take aldama or lauravia the body no can't do it just the other expansion room is motherfucking you right now they're like seriously of all the memphis options that's what you went with and now none of those guys are available we're gonna take Tillman to lunch tomorrow and be like, look, man, our whole offense is pick and pop with you, baby. You are a 2010 guy. This is happening.

Okay. I got to go back to my larger board here. I was thinking about taking Thanasis for the Lakers or Heat. You like that? Too soon I couldn't believe Miami didn't Give him Like 5 million a year The full mid-level?

Yeah, the full mid-level for like 4 years Or they would have been when they did it. I don't know the latest numbers. Okay. All right. I'm on the clock. Turning into the Vikings here. I know. Well, because we kind of left a few things. So does that mean Gary Payton was our option for Golden State?

Yeah. You can take him right now. See you on the Vegas Regrets. All right. I know what I wanted to do. I figured you would go wing heavy. No, I still have a theory that's still in play here. It doesn't matter. It's just that Xavier Tillman thing sort of fucked me a little bit here.

So you're taking Gary Payton? Well, I'm going to need somebody that I know can play, which, you know, even though my team's going to stink, I'll take Gary Payton because that way, at least contractually, it's not that big of a deal. I don't love him away from Golden State necessarily, but

I'll take him just because I think there's a good chance that somebody else will want him if he stays healthy. So there you go. I'm going to take Jose Alvarado. You can have him. You know why? You just did it again. You ruined all the other Pelicans options because you're taking the –

You know what I'm doing? I'm building a culture, Rosillo. Guys, guys from overachieving winning programs alvarado you know who's gonna love alvarado my fans in seattle we are screaming at you in our draft room wow who would you have taken okay but just to back up here of the final new orleans options All right. We said Nance would be protected. Yeah. And then that left Kyra Lewis, Najee, Alvarado, and EJ Liddell. And you decided to take Alvarado. And now I can't take any of the other guys.

You cannot. Sorry. Kyra Lewis, man. Kyra Lewis has been available for a year and a half. He's been hurt. He's out of the rotation. You can trade for him right now. I guarantee the Vegas regrets could acquire him for a second round pick.

Yeah, but I'd rather just not had to go through the negotiation stuff. That's all. All right. Now, who else would you? I can't believe you did back-to-back teams where you fucked it up for me. You should have taken guys from those teams. D'Lo staring at you now. That's the antithesis of what I would want to do.

So is Sam Houser. Kevin Porter Jr. Probably wouldn't do it, but I think he'd be protected anyway. His contract's really weird anyway with the staggered guarantees. I actually had – oh, I guess we didn't do Houston. There's a Porter versus Jock Landau versus Tate. Which one of those guys becomes protected? I thought they would be Porter unprotected.

I mean, he's got a weird contract where you can kind of get out of it at the end of the year anyway. But why would that team want Porter? If I'm a new expansion team, I'm not giving Kevin Porter Jr. the basketball and saying, it's yours. This is your team.

You're our number one option. Even though he's really talented, I just wouldn't want to do it. Let's double check here with Houston then. ball and saying it's yours this is your team you're our number one option i just even though he's really talented i just wouldn't want to do it let's double check here with houston then uh because we didn't go through it well houston has van bleet jabari thompson whitmore jalen green sangoon and uh eason as the guaranteed seven And then that eight spot is either Porter, Landell, or you could take your guy, Jeff Green. Culture? No doubt. No doubt.

I protected Tate and left Landell, Holiday, and Green unprotected. Okay. Let's say that then. I can't take Tate because I love myself some Jay Sean Tate probably too much. Yeah, you're right. They would protect him. He's got a good contract there. I'm going to hold off on that, and I'm going to go ahead and take Rubio.

Rubio? Rubio. Interesting. What's his money? Two years left, 12 and a half million this year, and then it's 10 plus million guaranteed. So I'm already on the books for a little bit more than I thought I would be this soon into it. That's fine. But if we go through Cleveland, it's Garland, it's Mitchell, it's Allen, it's Mobley, Lavert protected, Struess protected, Okoro protected, and I protected Niang. Right. I just think there's worse teammates you could have for a younger group. But the thing is about culture and all this stuff, all of these guys are going to be replaced in three years.

Right. So what are you really building? You're selling uniforms and, you know, hopefully some tickets. So for, for Dallas, if, uh, if lively can't be protected, Kleber would be their eighth guy and they would have Luca Kyrie, Grant Williams, Hardy, Kleber. Kleber's definitely protected. Josh Green, Curry, and Omax. So that means Dwight Powell's available.

Just wanted to mention that. Right, but Omax is on the rookie thing. Oh, I guess Omax. So that Dwight Powell wouldn't be available then. So that Dallas becomes harder then. Okay, but here's what I did. I'll run through it quick luca kyrie harway jr grant williams who's loving it already kleber josh green without question i can't believe seth curry gets a one year four million dollar deal with the second year not guaranteed in today's nba but that's

that's what happened that was awesome and then i think they'd protect jaden Hardy over JaVale, Rashawn Holmes, Powell, and Exum. I agree. So for Orlando, Powell, Franz, Black. Oh, Black's not. That screwed up my board. So Anthony. All right. So they don't really have anybody.

Orlando was a little easier than I thought it would be, too. Do you want me to run through what I have for Orlando? Who'd you have for Toronto? Because Toronto is Siakam, Barnes, Inanobi, Pirtle, Boucher, Precious, Coloco, and either Trent, Schroeder, McDaniels, or Flynn is the eighth. Probably Flynn would be the eighth, right? I don't know. It's Siakam, Pirtle, OG, Trent, Barnes, Schroeder, Precious, Boucher. Boucher. I don't know why.

So do you have Trent as a protected for them? I do. You don't like the contract? You think they'd leave it? Well, if Trent's the one who's protected, then- That would leave Thaddeus Young, a.k.a. Thaddeus Johnson, which I found on Basketball Reference. Had never heard that.

Otto Porter, Jalen McDaniels, who disappeared for the Sixers. Malachi Flynn, aka Malichi Flynn on one NBA league pass broadcast this year. Garrett Temple, Jeff Doughton, Koloko. You know what? I'm going to take Jalen McDaniels. I think he was on a bad team in Charlotte, gets traded to Philly mid-season, gets thrown into the fire. Is not ready to play in some of those games because he doesn't have the experience.

And now is a distressed asset. And we're going to rebuild him here in Seattle. So that's my eighth pick. So I have Kenridge Williams, Tillman, Alvarado, Jalen McDaniels. And the Vegas regrets are on the clock. Okay, give me Duarte. I was looking at him. That's a good pick.

You know, he was out of the rotation. He had some injuries, obviously, as well. But I fucking loved his draft stuff, man. And he shot, I think, like 39% his rookie year. And there were different people kind of involved with it. So, meaning the guard rotation with the pacers. And it just was, between his injuries and the lack of minutes and everything i don't know that his numbers last year reflect who he actually is so i'll take a shooter a detroit guy needs to go i like the pick a detroit guy needs to go here and it's between

bagley and burks and killing hayes it can finally can finally happen for you, man. You and Bags. It's not going to be Bags. I'm going to take a flyer on Killian Hayes. You're laughing. The history of that guy with this company is like, there's nothing. He had a couple moments last year where I was like, all right. Did he? Yeah.

Yeah. A couple of moments. Okay. Give me a moment. Give me a Killian Hayes moment where you said, I see it. I test flick it around on league pass. Like, all right. I liked it. I liked how he ran that high screen there.

I'm just betting on pedigree. Lottery pick. They take a point guard like a year later. Weird situation. Lots of players. They had 40 big guys. Give them a whirl in Seattle. You're on the clock. Okay.

I can't believe we didn't take Poku. I kind of regret that now. Well, wait a minute. Has anybody been taken? No, I took an OKC guy. They're off the table. You took all the Sacramento guys. Oh, that's right.

Because you also took Trey Mann out of the mix and Poku. This is an unbelievable run of you eliminated all the good players from OKC, Memphis, and New Orleans. You took the Knicks. I was ready to take Hartenstein. Hartenstein. All right. Who do you got? We're now in D-low range, just for the record.

Fair. Fair. hart and stein all right who do you got we're now in d low range just for the record fair fair um i'll do this because at least i know he can play and the the number still isn't that bad uh give me dwight powell yep i like it so what i've done is i have like 30 million in three guys good value uh not even not even i'm like like 30 million in three guys. Good value. Not even, not even. I'm like 25 million with the three guys. And then, you know, I have room to work here because I still want to come in under the cap. And if I don't trade for anybody, all these guys get raises. They get expansion into the year checks.

I am going to go with the guy that I've liked for a while. He's still on a rookie deal. I think he's got some talent. His name is Zeke Nagy and all the, uh, all the nuggets are now off the board. That's fine. We can, we can, we can adjust. You like Zeke? I don't hate him. Yeah. I think he's, uh, you know, Malone's not going to play a lot of younger guys. They didn't need to. The rotation got even shorter. That's why I think it's kind of interesting that, you know, Booth takes three rookies in and they're all talk about like, hey, we love these guys that can all play. They can they can do all these different things and they're they're more seasoned.

And that's what we like here in Denver. And then I'm like, I can't wait to watch all of them never play. Like, you know, can we go over the denver question though because i think this is a good way to break up this part of the draft would you never had yokage murray gordon porter kcp braun and i had holiday as their seventh because they seem like they wanted to play christian bronze another offseason pronunciation i don't blame you did i say braun or brown you said braun i meant brown yeah everybody did but would you leave porter jr unprotected with four years and 150 million left fully guaranteed i can't it's a good question i did think about it but you can't because you have this window

with yokich where you have the window with Jokic where you have the best part in the world in his prime and Porter had really good moments in the playoffs. You probably can't because then again, it comes down to like, okay, cool. It's off the books and his back and the medical concerns and all that. But then what? Now, what are we doing? And you just want a title.

So I think you're right on that one. I do like how to take like i don't know if his contract is as bad anymore when we see some of these numbers coming in it's 33 30 36 38 40 in the last year for the next four it's look not great i'm not celebrating it but when you see jaylen going to be at 70 in year five, I just don't think those numbers are that daunting. Fair. We're going to see some crazy contracts. Who do you have next? We've each taken six people.

I'm going to start digging into my old... I know I don't have to worry about it. Give me Josh Minot. Who do you want? Josh Minot. You all right? I don't know who that is. He's the incredibly, incredibly skinny dude

that has all sorts of skills. He's on Timberwolves. I guess I could have taken him a little bit later. I think this is another good segue. I never saw him play one minute of basketball last year. You didn't see him in the Summer League at all? No. Oh, okay. Yeah, alright. Look, there's just something about him.

Now, you know, we're letting some of the area scouts get more influence here, going what if? What if this guy put it together? I don't think it's a certainty they would leave that they would protect Rudy Gobert. This is really, this is exciting right now for me. This is going to be the most exciting pick of the draft. This will be the breakout. Okay. But can we touch on, on the

Rudy thing for a second? Do you think whether you lead them out, right? You and I would, but I don't think they can. That might be the right answer. You can't because then it's like you're just admitting we've made the most damaging trade of the last 25 years. I also have a zag. I'm glad you're sitting down. They probably did the best job against Denver last year in the playoffs out of

the four teams. Like they gave those big guys, nobody gave Jokic like a shitload of trouble, but he kind of had to work the hardest against them. And I have to go through Jokic to win the title. And I want size. I want big dudes and Minnesota has him and Nas and towns. And I don't know, you can talk yourself into it if that's the team you have to go through do you see this stuff where he was shooting threes in the summer there was a video honestly i would like all summer content of big guys doing shit they'll never ever do in a game i would like to be blocked from all of it moving forward

don't go to Hoopside then. And I know 12 year olds run a lot of these breakout accounts, but you know, seeing a seven footer at LA fitness pull up from NBA three after going between his legs, we'll never do it in an NBA game and then being like this dude's been put in the work this summer. You're like, all right, cool. Anyway, if Minnesota had a tougher decision for the eighth guy to be protected, I think it'd be a real conversation. Go Bears 41 million, 44 million, player option for 47 million.

He'll be 33 in his last year. Probably pick that one up. So that would leave you with Cat Conley, Edwards Nasreed, Kyle Anderson, Alexander Walker, Jaden McDaniels. And then you'd have Shake and Minot covered there. Or you could go Wendell Moore if you liked him. That would have to be like a camp thing where they're around him all the time. They're like, oh, we don't want to leave this guy. But you're probably right.

So I'm not going to spend any more time on it, that they would feel like they couldn't do it. Because there's also the part, like imagine today's world, today's generation of NBA players, like his documentary starts 10 years from now, and I'd be like, they left me exposed in the 2023 draft underrated the steph curry story he was the sixth pick of the draft this is like one of the most famous college players the last 15 years nobody believed in me

lebron i'm not even supposed to be here dude you're you're you're fucking six nine and you move like no one we've ever seen. Yeah. You're the biggest short thing that's come into the league since I've been alive. My next pick is going to surprise you, stun you. I know what it is. Oh my God. Okay. Let's God. Okay. Let's go through Brooklyn.

So you're right. He's unprotected in this exercise. So Bridges, Bridges, Cam Johnson, Claxton, Finney Smith, own Hill,

whatever they're late, whoever they sharp, Cam Thomas, whoever, but they're leaving Ben Simmons unprotected, hoping somebody takes him. And he's definitely unprotected, hoping somebody takes him. And he's definitely unprotected. And guess what? I just took him. We're bringing him to Seattle.

We're going to introduce him to Gus Williams, all the Sonics fans. We're going to rebuild you, Ben Simmons. You're going to be the face of our franchise. And also I got to spend $89 million. I need one expensive guy. So why not? There we go. Are you serious? Are you doing this for the video? I am not doing it for the video. I think if I'm an expansion team, what's the worst thing that could happen? I want to be bad anyway, right? I want to be bad. I want to have a bottom five team. I want to take flyers on guys who have talent. I want to take assets that I feel like I can flip and I want to have a certain identity. And with Simmons, is there a 5% chance he might put it back together? He's like 25. Like this is over. This there's other than cocaine stories and you stories and shit like that. There's no version of this ever in the history of the league where somebody just completely lost at it, like age 24, who was an

all NBA guy. And I know the odds are against it, but if I'm an expansion team, what do I care? I'll roll the dice with Ben Simmons. But I would tell the Nets, I'll take Ben Simmons, but I would tell the Nets, like, I'll take Ben Simmons, but can I get a first in like 2029 or, you know, float me three seconds down the road or something. I would try to get something from them, but I would, I would want him in this. Wow. I would want you to just, you would never have taken no way. No way. I don't want him around. I don't want to see his videos being posted. Speaking of videos in the off season and then not playing like his whole the jj reddick podcast episode alone would make me not take him i here's the thing about football players and basketball players when they hit their late 20s there is a lot of track record of guys either figuring out, maturing, just kind of putting

shit together. And maybe it happens with him. I think it's worth the gamble. All right, you're up. The Vegas regrets. You just took a guy that I've literally never heard of and I follow basketball for a living. I wasn't on the Minnesota Summer League scene this year. I was really doubling down on that one.

I'm just trying to go for it. Like, I have a list of players. Like, hey, I always kind of liked that guy. What happened to him? Kyra Lewis. He would have been on the Vegas Regrets. He didn't take fucking Alvarado. Give me Daylon Terry, Chicago Bulls.

I like that one. I just always liked his game. Yeah, that's a good one. I had him. He was probably my next pick. He was on his game. Yeah. That's a good one. I had him. He was probably my next pick. He was on your radar? Yeah. You're not seeing the Alvarado thing.

I'm an expansion team. I need somebody that's going to go to the fucking malls in Seattle with my jersey on and throw little balls out to people. Who's going to do interviews? Who's going to be just like the fan favorite immediately? Especially if I have Ben Simmons on my team. I like the fan favorite immediately, especially if I have Ben Simmons on my team, I need a fan favorite. Right. The Alvarado pick now makes way more sense. Cause you, thank you. You're trying to like counter whatever vibes you have him wearing

civvies game 41. Um, I need a shooter who has trade value and it's Sam Hazard time I knew that was the biggest lock I can't believe it took so long I almost took him two rounds ago but I knew I could get him right around here cheap contract he's played in some games

sneaky decent defender he's gotten better every year. And I look forward to seeing Ben Simmons find him in the corner for corner threes. So I have Kenridge Williams, Tillman, Alvarado, McDaniels, Killing Hayes, Zeke Nagy, Ben Simmons, and Sam Houser. That's a pretty good basketball team. You have Quentin Grimes,alen johnson gary payton ricky rubio chris duarte dwight powell the minnesota summer league legend and down and dalen terry how many you want to go here do you want to go 12 15. we're drafting one from every

team we have not had a laker yet no we haven't and i'm i'm gonna i'm gonna just let you know even though my approach would tell you that cam reddish you're like hey what happened to that guy maybe no we're good not gonna happen um it's funny that we argued for five minutes about whether they would leave d low unprotected and we've just taken 16 players and he hasn't been picked yet you knew i wasn't taking i'm not i know i can just get him later i'm excited about it you could take them 16 um should we talk about miami and the reason i bring this up is for one specific reason all right so my protecteds i have butler bam hero caleb martin jovich who's apparently fucking awesome actually that's kind of a liller joke um but i like jovich before the draft i like jovich

too he's i don't think he should be the centerpiece of a Dame Lillard trade, but I like him. That's kind of a joke. That's kind of a joke. They actually have to kind of protect Lowry, right? To keep the money for potential trade. The thing is, yeah, they do. I had them leaving Kevin Love and Highsmith unprotected. Okay, so if Highsmith is unprotected, I'm taking them right now.

The problem is if it's Butler, Bam, Martin, Hero, Jovich, Duncan Robinson, Kyle Lowry, there's still an eight spot for them and they probably protect Highsmith or Love, right? So we have to decide what makes more sense for them. I had Highsmith protected. Like I worked it to go, all right, this is another one of the Miami heat culture development guys. And if I think there's somebody who I liked some of his minutes and I liked a lot of Highsmith's minutes last year. You and I both liked him. Yeah. So then he's protected. We can't manipulate. Like I had a moment late last night where I was like, just fucking get Precious Achua unprotected and get your dude. And then I was like, no, I can't break the rules of the game. I had him unprotected

because I thought we were counting rookies, but since we aren't, I think he has to be protected. They don't have enough guys. So it's probably Kevin Love for that team. Yeah. And it's not a ton of money, so we'll be okay.

What about Jonathan Isaac for Orlando? Oh. So I'm not taking him yet. Fultz, Carter Jr. He's 100% available. I think he is too because it's Fultz, Carter Jr., Paolo, Franz, Suggs, Cole Anthony. I think they would just, you know, even though he's probably been available for a while, Kiki, Ingles, then the two rookies that would leave Batazi, Harris, Isaac. I don't think they would protect Ingles than the two rookies that would leave Batazi, Harris, Isaac.

I don't think they would protect Ingles personally. And I think they would protect Mo Wagner over Ingles. Cause he's his brother. Yeah. Okay. And Caleb Houston, AKA two years ago, Jet Howard. Uh, so I don't, I don't think he's, he It's kind of slim pickings on Orlando. You're looking at Gary Harris, basically.

It is funny that there were a few teams that when I did the exercise, I went, ah, you know what? This isn't actually as challenging as I thought. Okay, let me ask you this one then. Yeah. Because I would have done this already had I not lost track of it. The Pacers, Bruce Brown, Turner, Heald, McConnell, Mather, and Toppen, Halliburton, Nembhardt.

Is it McConnell available instead of Nembhardt and Isaiah Jackson? I think what it is is it's a Jalen Smith, Nawara, Isaiah Jackson, Nembhardt. It's like a weird thing, but Nembhardt was like playing real minutes for him. No, Nembhardt has to be protected. To me, it's between McConnell and Toppin. And I think they protect McConnell because I think he has real value. So you're telling me Isaiah Jackson's unprotected?

I think Toppin is too. I think both of those guys are. We probably should discuss this earlier. Oh, yeah. There's a few guys. No, because I had Walker down. So Toppin or Isaiah Jackson, oh yeah you know i had a few guys no because i had walker down so toppen or isaiah jackson pick one to put two that they would protect between those two probably toppen right because they

traded for him yeah so then give me isaiah jackson yeah you got it that's a good pick i just didn't think because one time when i went through it, I was like, how did I leave Nembhardt unprotected? Because then I thought they'll protect Miles Bridges and Hayward. That's six. Nick Richards is seven. So then it's either Booknight or Kai Jones. They'd protect Kai Jones over Booknight. So Booknight's available. I'm not excited about that.

That's probably going to be the last team. I am going to take one of the clippers i'm gonna take bones island no kidding yeah i want a documentary about your team on the road so who did you leave because it's pg kawaii powell zubach um it's like him or but Marcus Morris or did you leave Westbrook unprotected um I had him protected I think yeah I protected him too yeah I don't think that's that there's any debate there KJ Martin I had them protected and then it's between like Morris, Batum, Plumlee, Bones, Boston, and Covington for the last spot.

I assume they would protect Plumlee cause they need them. Right. Yeah. That's that's, I came down to Bones and Plumlee for me as well. So I'll let you go ahead and take Bones. Great. Who do you got? Let's get the pickings are getting slim. They are each have nine players. No Laker, no Utah Jazz person has been taken yet. Yeah, you know what?

Give me Shamanich from Utah. Yep. What'd your scouts like about him? His diet. Dedicated at an early age. And he picked up garbage once at a practice. After. His diet, dedicated at an early age. And he picked up garbage once at a practice after, and he played in the game. And then it got done, and he walked around and picked up a bunch of garbage.

And they're like, this guy is the making of franchise kind of guy. It's interesting. They're probably rooting for somebody to take Horton Tucker in this would be my guess. They maybe even could have floated, probably gotten a protected first in 2038 to take Horton Tucker from them. Man, really slim pickings now. I, this is going to get really hard here at the end because if we're only going,

every team has to lose somebody. I need some size and a clubhouse guy after my last two picks or two of my last three picks. I'm going to take Robin Lopez. Cheap, backup, big guy. He's been in some big games. Yeah, but I don't know. I feel like i can throw him out there milwaukee's was easy milwaukee's was super easy unprotected crowder robin lopez beasley yeah nasus aj green i'm not yeah i'm not taking anything i think they protect bochamp

oh i forgot i could have taken thanasis you could You could have. We'll allow it for the sake of content. Oh, I'm changing my pick. I didn't have him written down. I'm taking Thanasis. And then I get to be in every, who knows, Giannis. I get to be in all those stories. Thanks for the assist. Okay.

Jay Scrubb not available after the hauser pick that was a lot later than i thought it would be now we should be just looking at the teams that we haven't picked from yet and it gets a little tough here do i do it he's kind of expensive you gotta spend some money give me jacques landell i like it i love that guy i was gonna take him and i thought we already had taken a houston guy did we we could this this mistake is definitely coming so no i don't think we ended up taking one that's a good pick like that one um no we mentioned it because you were like are you gonna going to take Jeff Green? And I held off.

I know that sucks. It sucks to do that to Jeff Green. Although Landell's contract, four years, $32 million through 28 to 31. Can I ask you a Phoenix question? So if it's KD, Booker, Aiton, Beal, and Gordon as the top five protected, and then the next three come from Okoji, Metu, Watanabe, Bates-Diop, Bol Bol, and Goodwin. They're probably protecting Bol Bol, right?

I don't have them protected. I have Damian Lee and Metu protected after the first six. I want Watanabe. Can I have him? Yeah, yeah, I had him protected. All right, I like Watanabe. Another shooter for him? Yeah. I had him on protected. I like Watanabe. Another shooter for me.

You do the shooter. Ben Simmons. So many shooters around him for him to find. Wait. Where are your shooters again? I have Tillman. I have Hauser. I have Watanabe.

I like it. Got some good chemistry with the Nassus. Jose Alvarado. What do you think Washington would do? They can't trade for Poole and leave him unprotected, right? No. No. The question for me is would they leave Johnny Davis unprotected?

Because I have them with Poole, Kuzma, Tyus Jones, Avdija, and – Kispert. Kispert. So that's five. I had Anthony Gill protected. And then they have Davis, Ray Gafford, Patrick Baldwin, and Shamit. Shamit wants to be on your team. You got money to spend?

Yeah. The Johnny Davis – if they wanted to protect Johnny, it might come down to a Patrick Baldwin Jr. Johnny Davis decision. That could be the eighth protected. I actually think it's the same thing as we talked about before. They would have to protect Johnny Davis because... Different front office, though. It's not like Winger took him. It's too embarrassing.

Well, this isn't i mean there's there's a certain level of factoring that in but not when you didn't take the guy but you gotta you gotta take the vegas regrets have to take him i think if he's available he was like this ninth pick in the draft speaking of regrets right yeah give me koloko are we cool with that? Yeah. Because wait, we didn't take anyone from Toronto yet, correct? No, we made him available and that's a good pick. We just went through it.

Okay. I got the Arizona teammates here. Obviously, I love that team. I just didn't end up with Matherin. Right now, I'm on the phone with Dallas trying to see if they'll give me a future first for Rashawn Holmes for me to take on, but I took Powell already. Oh, good point. Um, did we say Nurkic is unprotected?

He's definitely unprotected. We can go through it if you want. I don't think there's any possible way. I'm going to take them. I have some, I think I have some money to spend. So if I have Simmons at 30, what do I have Simmons at? 40, 38. Oh, maybe I don't have money for, I don't think I have money for Hauser that are for Nurkic then. He's at 37 this year. Nurkic is at 18. Yeah. I don't have the money for him sorry nurkic um yeah the nurkic the nurkic deal is just it's painful so it wasn't even a question of of him being protected or not for portland i had lillard grant

simon sharp nas little bible i even had like i ran out of guys to even pick. And then they've got three rookies on it. So Keon Johnson, Jabari, I protected those guys. And then I left Nurkic unprotected because it's 17, 18, and 19. I'm going to take Kevin Love from Miami. We almost have to go back now and figure out which teams still haven't had somebody taken from them. Maybe we just take, should we just take 12 and call it a day? 12 each? I love that idea. Just call it quits. So no Lakers got taken.

You want to take, we'll take two more. You want to take, take a Laker. Jackson Hayes? Nobody took Jackson Hayes. We should probably grab, somebody should take Jackson Hayes. Do you know I was in Watts this weekend for a celebrity basketball game and Dwight Howard was there and played in it? What? Yeah.

Jackson Hayes was there too. So you don't want Jackson Hayes? Verbum Dei. No, he looked skinny to me. I'm not taking Reddish. I'm not taking Jackson. I'm not taking a Laker. Fuck you, man.

Okay. You want Corkmaz? Finish it off? We didn't take a sixer either. philly deal is i don't want any of their unprotected i mean maybe i guess i could take could i take daniel house jr take them all right let's do it and then did we say johnny davis is unprotected or not? I don't know that we landed on an answer for it. I'm going to take them. All right.

Yeah. We'll say they protected Paul. Just for the content. All right. So final teams, the Vegas regrets, Quentin Grimes, Jalen Johnson, Gary Payton,

Ricky Rubio, Chris Duarte, Dwight Powell, Minnesota Summer League hero, Daylon Terry, Chris Duarte, Dwight Powell, Minnesota Summer League hero, Daylon Terry, Isaiah Jackson, Simancic, Jock Landell, Coloco, House. I took Kenridge Williams, Xavier Tillman, Jose Alvarado, Jalen McDaniels, Killian Hayes, Zeke Nagy, Ben Simmons, Sam Houser, Bones Highland, The Nossus, Watanabe, Kevin Love, Johnny Davis. Let's bring Cerruti in, who was just watching this wondering what the fuck was going on.

Cerruti, what team did you like more just off the cuff? The Seattle Supersonics or the Vegas Regrets? Which team do I think can win double-digit wins in their first season? Can I pick neither? I mean, I really like the Quentin. I think Quentin Grimes is the best guy, and obviously he's the first pick. I don't really love either team. I love that Bill was like, yeah, we're building culture here in Seattle. And then he picked Ben Simmons.

Like, we're getting Alvarado. We're bringing a bunch of culture guys in. Then a couple picks later, you took Ben Simmons. So on that alone, I think I have to side with Reinstein. Listen, when you have a great culture, you can afford one wild card. Take a couple mistakes. Bring the one wild card in. Yeah.

If we're talking about taking a couple wild cards, though, I was surprised. I actually, I would have, I mean, I'm probably in the minority here. No magic player is taken. I would have protected Isaac. I just think he's still valuable. Yeah, yeah, you do. If you're going to take Ben Simmons, at least, like, Isaac.

I don't think you can take both. Can you take both? Maybe not both, but I just feel like the guy's a good defensive player at a bare minimum. I don't know. I know he likes to write books and stuff. His contract's totally different now, too. Like, the eligibility of what he – all right.

It's basically one year, I think. I don't know. I think he's right. Did we take a pacer? Yeah, I took Isaiah Jackson. Oh, yeah, yeah. Okay. Yeah, I think you're right. So you don't think Ben Simmons would get drafted in this sorority I actually agree with you I think I would take him

but I'm also not I wouldn't say I'm building for culture and then and then take him but I think yeah why not take a flyer who cares like what's the worst that could happen he just sits out for the next four years like it's not like you're going to be that good soon. Do you agree with us that neither of us took D'Angelo Russell? Do you think that was just some D'Lo bias or do you think. It's not D'Lo bias. It's D'Lo reality. Like, what are you talking about?

Cause I had the killing Hayes spot where it was basically killing Hayes or D'Lo. I can't have both. And I just was like, I'd rather take a flyer on killing Hayes. He's 22 makes one third of the money. I guess I'd want to just was like, I'd rather take a flyer on Killian Hayes. He's 22, makes one third of the money. I guess I'd want to know, can I flip him in a couple months? Yeah, if that's the case, then I would have definitely taken D'Angelo over Killian Hayes. But if I'm talking about guys that

actually just want to play and see if I could build something, yeah, I'm not taking D'Angelo Russell. D'Angelo Russell, Kevin Porter Jr., any of those guys, you mentioned Christian Wood, like, no, they're hard passes. Yeah, right. Because, I mean, D'Angelo russell kevin porter jr any of those guys you mentioned christian wood like no they're hard passes yeah right because i mean d'angelo is arguably more talented than every single guy we just talked about right now i'm texting all the information reporters being like don't be surprised if yannis considers seattle in two years he's always loved the pacific northwest he's very comfortable there he went there a a couple of years ago. He loves it. One of the bad aggregator sites has a quote, the fish is amazing, the gnosis.

Had no idea salmon could be this good. It would have been funny if the Vegas regrets just took all clutch clients. That was another thing we could have done. Yeah, I could have taken Nurkic. Is Nurkic a clutch guy? Yeah. It was one of the more surprising things when I was going through the

contracts last night, I was like, Oh, Nurkic. I, uh, both teams are going to be terrible. Yeah.

My hope was that a young guy that got lost in the shuffle, as I've stated twice already, but that was, that was what we were saying in our draft room. We were putting together our list. We're like, let's give ourselves multiple chances at a couple guys that maybe have fallen through the cracks we liked before the draft. for Oklahoma City, Aldama, LaRavia from Memphis taking Xavier Tillman, and then the Alvarado one's even worse because Kyra, EJ, maybe even Najee Marshall. You could have Kyra right now. Just go trade for him.

Yeah, but for the exercise of all the things that you had here, I can't believe what you did with your first three picks. I can't believe it. I can't wait for Alvarado to tweet at you in like three days with an eyeball emoji. Guess some people aren't in yet. Something like that. I don't know. I guess I still have some work left.

My guess is this expansion draft isn't going to get to him. That's just a guess. All right. This was fun. Rosillo, good to see you. We have no other NBA news to talk about because nothing's happening, but you can check out his podcast. We're going to be doing the NBA Over-Unders with House in probably first, second week

of October on this podcast. And you have some live shows down the road that we're going to talk, talk about at some point, can we promote any of those yet or no, we can't. Yeah. I think, I think we can do the Ole Miss. We're going to be LSU Ole Miss. Van and I are going to do a show together before the game. Uh, I think Friday night before the game. And near end of September, right? Yeah. And then I'm going to do something locally here in Manhattan beach, which we think is pretty much done.

And then I think there's an F1 deal potentially in Vegas. So excited. Yeah. Preston Pyshko Van wants to go to Baton Rouge with you and do a live pod. And he says there will be people there waiting for it. So just don't let that happen. Trey Lockerbie I like going to Baton Rouge as much as anywhere

in the fall. I just don't really like working once I get there. Preston Pyshko Yeah. No, I got you. Baton Rouge as much as anywhere in the fall. I just don't really like working once I get there. So we'll see. Um, so Rudy, thanks for Scylla. That was fun. Enjoy the Vegas regrets. Can't wait for the merch. All right. That's it for the podcast. Thanks to Priscilla. Thanks to Isaiah Blakely. Thanks to Steve. So Rudy, don't forget about destination NBA, a G league odyssey premiering on Prime Video, available to stream on Tuesday, August 8th, 303 Watchables movie coming tomorrow night, National Lampoon's Vacation. And I am going to be gone for the next two weeks coming back Sunday,

August 20th, that night, and we are back. At that point, you got me for the next 10 and a half months. So I'm going to keep doing some NFL prep work. I'm going to keep throwing myself into a bunch of different things, getting ready for the football season, for the basketball season, for everything else. We have a lot of great things coming on the ringer side. And that's that. I will see you in two weeks. on the wayside. I'm a bruised son, never lost it. I don't have... or text next step to 53342 Arizona, 888-789-7777, or visit ccpg.org slash chat in Connecticut,

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