The Kevin Sheehan Show - Skins' Players in Top 100 and Is Leonsis Telling Truth?

Episode Date: June 19, 2019

Kevin opens with a Len Bias remembrance before turning to a list of the Top 100 NFL Players that surprisingly doesn't include the highest paid safety in the league, Landon Collins. Ben Standig/NBC Sports Washington joined the show to talk about Ted Leonsis' comments regarding reports the Wizards pursued Masai Ujiri. He also had his NBA Mock Draft. <p> </p><p>Learn more about your ad choices. Visit <a href="https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices">podcastchoices.com/adchoices</a></p> Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

You want it. You need it. It's what everyone's talking about. The Kevin Sheehan Show. Now here's Kevin. All right. I am here. Aaron's here. This show is presented by Window Nation. If you're in the market for Windows, call 86690 Nation or go to Window Nation.com and tell them that we told you to call. Lots of wizard stuff with Ben Standing coming up. We'll get to the Nats and we'll get to a list of the top 100 players in the NFL and where the Redskins rank. on that particular list. But I start with this. It's June 19th. And whenever it's June 19th, and I know that it's June 19th, it brings back the memory of one thing.

I and many others remember what happened on June 19th, 1986, 33 years ago today. It was Len Bias' death from cocaine intoxication. It was one of the saddest days I can ever remember,

and it was the most impactful athlete death of my lifetime, I believe. It came two nights after he was selected by the Celtics at number two overall in the NBA draft. And Len Bias, the death, was as much because of what he looked like as what he was on the basketball court. He was a strapping 6-8 specimen of a human being. Anyone that saw him play,

you were struck by the body that he had. He was chiseled from stone. He appeared to be unbreakable. And it was that as much as it was, again, the greatness that he was as a basketball player that he had as a basketball player on the court. It was the look of him, the physical freak that he was, that made his death at 22 years old. So shocking.

How could somebody that looked like Len Bias die from cocaine use? Remember, it was the height of the 80s. It was the height of cocaine. Kane being everywhere. I went to Maryland. I was on that campus. I was in bars. I was at parties, dorm rooms, apartments around campus. It was everywhere. Even if you didn't use it, it was everywhere. Len Byes died from it, him. It wasn't possible. It didn't seem possible. His shocking death and everything that happened as a result of his death, it's hard to forget. You know, Aaron, you weren't alive for this, right? No, three months later. Three months later you were born? Really? So you're

born in September of 1986? Yes. God, you're young. It was a national story, a national obsession it became. A few weeks after his death, the U.S. House of Representatives began writing anti-drug legislation as a direct result of his death. The Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1986, which was signed into law by President Reagan in October of 86 came and was inspired by Len Bias' death, it made the consequences for distributing drugs that caused someone to die much more severe, like life sentences for people who distributed drugs if a death resulted from the use of those drugs. Those provisions were often referred to as the Len Bias law. It was that height of the war on drugs, Nancy Reagan's War on

Drugs, just say no. Stiffer penalties, mandatory minimum sentences for drug offenses, mostly inspired by the death of Len Bias. It also launched, and I didn't know this, it launched the initiative of drug-free

zones for schools. Len Bias, you have to understand the time. He was larger than life. College basketball was super popular in the 80s, much more so, than it really is today. It was college basketball, the regular season, the tournament, it was big time. It was more popular in the 80s than the NBA was. It wasn't close, really. And he was the

reigning two-time ACC player of the year and a first team All-American. The country, not just the D.C. area or ACC country, the United States was shocked by his death. It was a huge national story and the country's leaders reacted with action. The fallout at Maryland was unbelievable. It was basically over for the athletic department. Bias, it was found out that bias was 21 credits short of graduating despite having been at Maryland for four full years. Remember, back then, you stayed four years more times than not, no matter how great you were. He would have been a top five pick after his sophomore year and he stayed for his junior and senior years. His final semester, he earned no academic credits. He failed three courses. He withdrew from two others. And this

prompted a free fall of high profile people in the athletic department, namely Lefty Drizell, who was forced to resign 17 years head coach of being the head coach there, was forced to resign, in part because the state's attorney at the time stated that in the hours following bias's death, Lefty told players to go to his room and remove any drugs from his room. This was later found to be false, but this was part of the narrative then. And people were looking for the fall guy. And Lefty became the fall guy in the bias death. In my view unfairly so.

Bias, by the way, the greatest player in the history of Maryland basketball, for me. Juan Dixon won a title, but Bias is still the number one player in Maryland basketball, in my view. He was a physical freak. He was a competitive badass. He had the smoothest jump shot you'd ever seen. He could jump out of the gym. He dunked so violently that he became a highlight reel. for anybody doing sports anywhere in this country. He had his head often above the rim. You rarely saw that back then. You saw it with Dominique Wilkins,

and Leonard was the next of that generation. He was dunking with his head level to the rim as hard as he could on people. His steel and backwards dunk in the Carolina game in February of 1986 in the Dean Dome led Maryland's upset of then number one North Carolina. it was Dean Smith's first loss in that building. He went for 35, 11 rebounds, and four blocks in one of the most memorable Maryland wins of all time, and one of the greatest performances of his career. Lefty always referred to Len Byest as Leonard.

Leonard. And he called him a warrior. After that game, he said, Leonard was a warrior. He took Kenny Smith shot Leighton overtime and threw it. And that was game over. People don't remember this. That game is a memorable game in the history of Maryland basketball. Maryland would beat Carolina two weeks later in the ACC tournament again,

when Carolina may have been like the number three or number four team in the country at that point. And Maryland entered the 1986 NCAA tournament as a hot team as one of those trendy picks to get to the final four. Bias was the two-time player of the year, first team All-American. People thought that he was good enough to strap that team to his back and carry it to the final four. They had beaten Carolina twice over the final month of the season. And in the final game of his career, which turned out to be one of his better games of his career, against UNLV in the second round, Maryland was favored as the five-seat over the four-seat. They were a two-point favorite in that game to beat UNLV in advance to what would have been,

their third straight Sweet 16 during the Bias era. He went for 31 points, 12 rebounds. Maryland was 11 down early in the second half. They came back, they took an eight-point lead, but they couldn't hold on, and UNLV won the game. And it was devastating when they lost that game, Aaron. You remember the Michigan State Vasquez game, and that's one of the all-time hurts as a Maryland fan,

because it ended so suddenly. and the path was there for them to get to the final four if they won the game. And a big part of it was that was it for Vasquez. That was it for his career. And when they lost a UNLV in a game that they seemed to be headed towards a win, they were up eight midway through the second half, and they would have played Auburn in the Sweet 16, and they would have been favored more likely than not in that game.

They would have had a legit shot to work their way towards the final four, which by the way would have been huge to see Bias continue to play but as a Maryland basketball fan you thought that this may have been the shot for Lefty too because there were so many previous opportunities came up short but it was a devastating loss it just I'll never forget the way I felt when that game ended it was a major gut punch the season was over biases career was over and it seemed to end so suddenly and so short of what the potential was that year. Pretty much like his life, actually, which ended way too soon. We missed out on what I think would have been an incredible pro career.

He looked apart. He was a fierce competitor. He was going to be on a marquee team, the Celtics with Larry Bird and McCale and Parrish and DJ and Aange. Beyond what he was going to like that, be as an individual player, he would have also had his greatness wrapped up into the fabric of a marquee franchise, the Boston Celtics. Many say that he was Jordan. I never felt that way. I always felt that he was Dominique, that he was Dominique Wilkins. He was not a two-guard.

He was a small forward who could have been moved to the power forward or the four at times. Michael Jordan was a true two-guard, shooting guard. Len Byas was 6-8 was a small forward, really in a power forward's body. He would have been a highlight real guy, like Jordan was, and like Dominique Wilkins was. He always reminded me more of Dominique Wilkins than Michael Jordan. He would have scored 20 plus a game. He would have rebounded. He would have blocked shots, and he would have been, you know, he would have created, you know,

two to three plays every night that would have been breathtaking that you would have seen on every sports cast. you know, after the game. But all of that is just projecting because we never got the chance to see it. 33 years ago. It's amazing that his career today would have been 15 to 20 years completed at this point. I mean, if he were still alive today, his NBA career would have been over 15 to 20 years ago. That's crazy the way time flies. So anyway, there was a lot of Wizards news since yesterday's show, and as I mentioned, and Ben Standing's going to join us shortly to discuss all of it. Needless to say, from my standpoint,

Ted Leonis's statement to the Washington Post that the reports of the team's interest in Masai Ujiri, the Toronto GM, Ted said are simply not true. That's very hard to believe for a lot of reasons. Look, he talked about this being the best available job in all of sports. Yet here we are one day from the NBA draft and less than two weeks away from free agency, and they don't have a GM. So the logical answer, come on, is that they were waiting on Ujiri, and he didn't want the job. So we'll get to all of this with Ben in a few minutes, and then Ben will also share with us some of his mock draft. Remember, he finished first in a national NFL mock draft contest, and he's in one, I believe, with his NBA mock draft.

So he will join us shortly. The Nats got rained out again last night. I don't know. It seemed to me like they could have played the game last night. I mean, it looks like it was pouring at the stadium every time they cut to it. Did it? Okay. It didn't really rain much in, you know, in Rockville.

But apparently at the same, every time I was looking at the videos and stuff, it looked like it was pouring there. Well, I mean, this series has now been shortened at least by one game. There's a scheduled double header today, then they'll play the last game tomorrow. The game that was rained out last night has been rescheduled for September at some point. But there's rain in the forecast all day today and tonight and tomorrow. You know, here's the thing. I've heard a lot of conversation.

I sat in with Tony this morning too. And, you know, there's been a lot of conversation about how you avoid this. And should places that are real humid that have all of these showers and thunderstorm issues all the time during summer, should they have maybe a retractable roof so you don't miss out on these opportunities. Don't they always play pretty much every game? By the time we get to the end of September and the end of the regular season, they've played 161 or 162 of them pretty much every year. Sure.

So they'll figure out a way to get these games in, I'm guessing. They'll get it in, but double-headers, you lose revenue, etc. That's true. That's a fair point. Although, God, I mean, double-headers. I remember the first double header I ever went to, Aaron. The Oakland Athletics, the Oakland A's, at the Baltimore Orioles at Memorial Stadium. My father took me to a double header at Memorial Stadium.

And the double headers back then were not, you know, day night. They were, the first game started at 530. To admit two games for one admission. Yeah, and it was a true double header. Yes. Back to back, you know, games. And, God, I mean. I missed those.

I missed the scheduled double hudders. Yeah, that was a big deal. I remember it being a big deal going to a double header. All right, quick word about window nation, and then I'll get to a story that ranks the top 100 NFL players and tell you where some of the Redskins came in. But first, let me talk about Wind Donation. If you're thinking about Windows,

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Tell them that I told you to call. You can also set up a free in-home estimate at windownation.com. All right. I found this, you know, and I talk about this all the time, about all the different, you know, NFL made-up stories that people have to come up with this time of year, because the NFL is still king and providing NFL content is still so important for any sports website. If you go on to ESPN or CBS Sports or SI.com or any of them, there's just constant creativity when it comes to, you know, doing an NFL segment. like today on ESPN.com, ranking the 25 biggest position upgrades of the 2019 season. You can just find second-year wide receiver breakout candidates. That's one of the topics. Well, I found this on CBSSports.com.

And by the way, I haven't been a massive fan of this guy over the years. It's not that I don't like him. I just haven't always felt like whatever he's written or said is connected with me. me, but Pete Priscoe has been a long-time NFL writer and with CBS sports for several years now. And he came out yesterday with his list of the top 100 NFL players of 2019. Now, NFL.com will start this process when, Aaron, next month. Usually they do their countdown of the top 100. Yeah.

And they do it, you know, in increments of 10 over like 10 weeks leading up to the regular season. I think that's the way they've done it in the past. So Pete Priscoe put his out, I guess, in advance of this. Top 100 players of 2019. Aaron Donald, by the way, is his number one player in the league. Patrick Mahomes, number two, Aaron Rogers 3, Von Miller, 4, Kaleel Mack 5. Then comes Brady, Julio Jones, DeAndre Hopkins, Bobby Wagner, J.J. Watt. There's your top 10.

So, you know, this was one of the things I was looking through earlier this morning. and I'm looking going through the whole countdown, and I'm looking for, all right, Brandon Sheriff's got to be in here. It's Trent Williams in here? Maybe John Allen's going to make this. Well, certainly Landon Collins is going to make this list. He just got the biggest deal in the history of the league for safety.

Not one Redskin is in Pete Priscoe's top 100. So take it for what it's worth. It's one guy's opinion. I'll be interested to see because the NFL.com list is a players list. the players vote on that list. I believe that's accurate. I'm pretty sure that when we've done this and talked about that list on NFL.com, NFL Network,

it's always been a player-voted list. This one is one guy's opinion. You know, Pete Priscoe, CBSSports.com. It doesn't have one redskin in the top 100 in the NFL. The names I just mentioned, Landon Collins, Trent Williams, Brandon Sheriff, I would have thought would have had a shot to be in it. Trent Williams has certainly been on this list

on the NFL.com list for many years in a row. Ryan Kerrigan's made the list before. Now, he did have a list of sort of others receiving votes or as he calls it, just missed list. And on that list, Trent Williams was there and John Allen was there. But still no landing Collins on that list. In the top 100, tell me how many safeties are on that list, Aaron.

I believe it was seven. Are there seven safeties better than the highest paid safety in the NFL at this point? According to him. According to him there are. So let's go through the safeties that he's got on this particular list. The first one he has, I think is Jamal Adams at number 36. Yeah. All right?

So Jamal Adams is a hell of a player. Harrison Smith from the Vikings is 44 on this. list. Harrison Smith is a really good player. Is he better than landing Collins? I don't know. Derwin James should have been the Redskins pick a year ago. He's on this list after his sensational rookie season at 47. I would say that he is better than Landon Collins. The next player on the list is Kevin Byard in Tennessee. Is he better than Landon Collins? I don't think so. Next up on this list, I'm getting, trust me, I'm not actually legitimately upset. Eddie Jackson would be next. Eddie Jackson's on the list at 67. And then you

have Eric Weddle. I like Eric Weddle, but the Ravens didn't like them enough to keep them. And Eric Weddle now is what, 34 years old? He's getting up there. Um, so where was Weddle? What was he, where did he come in number wise? Wettle was 76. Wettle was 76. Okay. So I think that's your six that were on the list of 100. And then on the just missed list, he had Earl Thomas, who's a Raven now, and he had Devin McCordy, and he had

Malcolm Jenkins, and he had John Johnson, the Ram safety. So he's got 10 safeties ranked ahead of Landon Collins, maybe more. I would have thought that Landon Collins would have been on this list. I'm surprised he didn't at least make the

others receiving votes. I'm very surprised by that. I'm not truly, it's one person's opinion. I'm not worked up about it, but I do think that it speaks to this larger point, and that is the expectations of this Redskin team for 2019. Somebody sent me something where somebody predicted the Redskins would go 2 and 14. Did you see this yesterday? No.

I don't know if it was somebody of, you know, somebody noteworthy, but I don't know if they're a 2 and 14 team. I think that the number is right in Vegas at 6.5. I think that's a good over-under number for this team. But I personally think that Landon Collins is a top 100 player and a top five, certainly safety in the NFL, and he doesn't have them in the top 10 safeties in the league. And I would hope that this time next year,

like if we're being, you know, if we think that they've done well drafting here recently, and making moves in this particular off-season, then next year, the list should have John Allen on it. It should have Landon Collins on it. It should have Brandon Sheriff on it. I hope it has Montez sweat on it.

You saw a couple of second-year players on this list. Maybe, hey, Jordan Reed stays healthy. Maybe he makes his way back to a list like this. Trent Williams reports he makes his way back to a list like this. The Redskins do have players with enough talent to eventually make this kind of list. That's the one good thing. you know, that you can say about this football team,

especially as it relates to the defense. They've got some talent. They've got players that you could see being on a top 100 list. John Allen, Duran Payne, uh, Landing Collins, Montez Sweat, and then offensively,

Trent Williams, Jordan Reed, Brandon Cher, for all potential guys that could land on that list next year. Hopefully, this time next year, I'm telling you about Pete Priscoe's top 100 breakdown, his list and all of those Redskins are on it. That means they would have had a really good year. The Redskins really are not getting any, any respect. They are an afterthought for virtually everybody outside of this town. And that's why they didn't end up on Hard Knocks. The Raiders are a much more interesting story than the Redskins right now. I could see though, I could see defensively

some of those names making their way onto a list like that. a year from now. And I'm surprised, genuinely surprised, that Landon Collins isn't on that list right now. I think he is, again, for those of you that say I'm always negative, I liked the signing of Landon Collins. I did say that it was expensive, but I liked it. I thought it was a good signing for this team. It was a need. He's a quality guy by all accounts. He's been boasting a ton since he signed with the Redskins and telling everybody about how great he's going to be and how great the team's going to be. I don't like that part of it, but he is, by all accounts, a first-rate locker room guy and a really good player. And I think we saw how good he can be

in his first few years in New York. All right, let's bring in Ben Standing, who writes for NBC Sports Washington and was the NFL mock draft champion back in April. He's got his NBA mock draft ready to go. We're going to go through that. But, of course, he's been covering the Wizards for years for a lot of different outlets, including his own. And I want to start there with, you know, where they are on this GM search. And the story this morning in the post with Ted's, you know, a statement.

I mean, Ted made a statement about the comments and the, I'm sorry, the stories and rumors regarding Maasai Ujiri. and he said any reports that we have interest in Masay Ujiri as a candidate are simply not true, and we've never planned in any way to ask for permission to speak to him during our process. Do you believe him? Well, since I was one of the people that put this out there, and I think I first mentioned a potential wizard's Masayu Jiri connection on April 30th, I guess I have to say I don't fully in the sense that I've been reporting this.

So I don't have any reason to go against what I was told throughout these weeks. And then at the end, a few days ago, reported the idea of this potentially big offer. And Adrian Wynchonowski from ESPN and also the athletic have essentially said the same thing. Here's my thing. Let's just take the owner at his word. You know, great. He said there's never been any interest. Well, then what are we doing?

This is my question. Because, fine, they fired Erie Grunfeld on April 6th. seconds, a decision that people had no real issue with. He'd been there for 16 years. The Wizards were coming off of four seasons, et cetera. Then they immediately hire an outside consultant to presumably bring in other candidates to meet for the job. They interviewed a few people, including Troy Weaver and Danny Ferry twice, along with the interim head Tommy Shepard. But that was like six weeks ago. Then a couple weeks later, they met with Denver president of basketball ops, Tim Connolly. He decided to stay with. They made him an offer. And he decided to.

to stay with the nuggets. No harm, no foul, and kudos to the wizard for going aggressively after a guy who's like an up-and-coming front office executive. But that's been nearly a month ago. Now, I haven't been had an issue at all with the wizard's waiting, right? I don't have, I mean, look, the last guy was there for 16 years, waiting a few extra weeks is not to be that big of a deal. But the question would be, what was the plan? And it seemed as if the plan was to wait out somebody who was still a plan, whose team was still going, i.e. Masai, and Jerry. That would make some logical sense. Ignore the fact whether it would be a long shot to even get

him. But okay, fine, you're waiting. But now the owner says, no, no, no, that wasn't the case. Well, great, then what is the case? Then what are you waiting for? He also said in the same statement to the Washington Post that he wasn't going to make any front office changes until

after the start of agency. Well, when did that? Why are we just learning this now? Why did we find this out several weeks ago? I was told by agents leading into the pre-draft process that they wouldn't send their clients to Washington for workouts because they didn't know who was making the decision. Don't we think that that would have been clarified by

if he had made this statement several weeks ago? If nothing has changed in the recent days or weeks, what's the issue? If his real plan was to wait, to be patient, to potentially punt this off season, why didn't you just say that up front if that was the plan? But he didn't until just yesterday after these Messiah,

Jiri reports became incredibly front and center after, you know, it wodes threw it out there. So, I don't know. To me, the whole thing is very curious. I've given them the benefit of the doubt in terms of waiting. Like I said, I don't have an issue with it per se, but it's becoming harder and harder to see what the plan is. And that's why, to me, just feels like there's nothing,

there's even more uncertainty now than there was previously. Yeah, let's not forget that he called this the best available or open job in all of sports, one that, you know, would be, would create, you know, a lot of interest from a lot of high quality people. And to your point, they haven't even brought in that many of those. This is pretty transparent to me. You know, it's a conversation that we've had.

You reported, you know, we got the Wojbom, the night that the Raptors won the title. There's too much smoke around this and too much that makes sense that he's been waiting all along to make a move for somebody in the NBA finals. and that somebody, you know, I think is Messiah Ujiri. I agree with you. And I just wonder, Tommy's position is that perhaps with the reporting that came out quickly after the NBA finals on Thursday night had finished, that perhaps he was slapped down a little bit and threatened with tampering charges.

Do you think that there's potential truth in that? Well, I mean, I don't know this based on my own. reporting, so I can't say definitively, if you just want to throw out, well, what are the potential logical explanations for this? I mean, certainly something like that would make sense. It's also possible that they have already found out that Messiah Ujiri ultimately doesn't want to. Right. What doesn't want this? And this is a way to save face. I mean, from what I've gathered, part of the issue is the wizards, you know, don't want to look like they struck out for a second time, having already offered to Tim Connolly. Now, the very first

report that I put out there in April was not about the wizard's interest in it, and it was about his interest in Washington, D.C., meaning that there, yes, there's an NBA team in this city, but also for his outside interest, political interest, what have you, that D.C. would be a bigger platform than Toronto, and that would be a potentially appealing to him, also his wife, with the high school in the area, and so on. So, you know, to me, similar to Tim Connolly, who was from this area, the idea of this being an interesting job, to me seems pretty clear. But look, he won an NBA title.

That could easily change a person's opinions. There's a lot of emotions to go into that. So I wouldn't begrudget it if one day Ujuri thought, hey, I would be interested in this, and then says, oh, man, I can't leave this. Even if Kauai Leonard leaves Toronto, I feel pretty good. That's right. By the way, what you just said, there's a lot of logic in that, in that Ted waited this out.

He wanted Ujiri, didn't necessarily think that Ujiri and the Raptors would win the title and he'd have to wait so long, but that there was, at least on Ted's part, some sense that Ujiri might be interested in this. And he was holding out hope that he could really hit a home run with the hire. But the further they went and the fact that they actually won it all perhaps resulted in Ujiri not being interested in the job and wanting to stay in Toronto.

That makes sense to me. Yeah, and that does make sense. And I guess my question is, look, I am not, Kevin, I'm not a breaking news. I'm not a guy who runs a billion-dollar corporation, and I don't know what the pressures are to dealing with that, and then you have all this PR stuff that you need to deal with and work around, and that's all real stuff.

But I just don't quite understand the song and dance. You know, it's no harm, no foul to show interest and to make an aggressive move. The wizard stood pat for years, and people couldn't understand. Why are they staying with Ernie Grunfeld? Great. So now they're taking big swings.

Do we really, like, I mean, honestly, What's the issue? An owner went to hire the best he possibly could. He said the best people would potentially get this or be interested in this. Having conversations and having people say, look, I appreciate it, but this isn't the right time for me, is not a crime. So I don't get why we can't just say that this was happening. Now, granted, he maybe can't say until Toronto gives permission and maybe Toronto never does. And then he has to say, well, we hope to talk to him.

That didn't work out. So now we're going to go figure something else out, but we have confidence. I don't know. I don't get why we can't just say that. This is why. This is why, in my view. Ted loves to talk about patience and poise and, you know, and perseverance and being, you know, pursuing this in a very business-oriented way, you know, with, you know, a plan and a rollout schedule and things to knock off one at a time, you know, a real, you know, diligence involved in this because, you know, he feels this is what you have to do. And he's smarter than most people in his own mind. And he is

because he was a founder of AOL, which he actually wasn't a founder of AOL, but he was an instrumental part of AOL's growth. And he's always had this, this patience, this composure, this, you know, this restraint on, on being impulsive. And by the way, it's been convenient. to be that way because the football owner in town's always been so impulsive and it hasn't worked out. So he's been the opposite of that. And this stoicism sort of attached to it, you know, in the way he speaks, in the way he presents. If it results in him not looking smart, well, this pains him more than anything else. So you had to have a conclusion here when you didn't get you jerry for him that said, well, we weren't interested.

you, Jiri. We're continuing to be patient. We're going to approach this the way we approach everything by not being impulsive, to think through every possibility to make sure, as he said, I intend to create a leadership team when it feels exactly right and is in alignment with our findings and our final developed specifications. You know, it's like these, these, you know, long phrased answers to things, he can't come out on the other end looking like somebody completely stiffed him or somebody said, I'm not in on what you're creating, especially after he called it the best available open job in sports. This is why we have, I think, the answer we have today, because if the answer was we were interested and it's just not going to work out,

he looks bad and doesn't look like the smartest guy in the room. I mean, look, I can't sit here and a few things you just said, and I totally, you know, I mean, I get it. And this is sort of to my point of just sort of saying, let's just take him for his word that the Messiah stuff. We all got it wrong, hypothetically. Woge got it wrong. David Aldridge, Fred Katz, myself, we all got it wrong. Well, then, okay, but then what has been happening for the last month? Right.

Since Tim Connolly. I mean, the entire NBA is available to his time. to speak with as far as I know or anybody has reported, they haven't met with any actual candidates. Other candidates who were thought to be brought in, you know, got signed up by other places. What's the holdup? And like I said, why not make this point a month ago, hey, we really are being serious. We really are going to take our time. And we're going to let Tommy Shepherd run the draft and run for agency.

We're confident that he can get the job done. Ultimately, we may decide he's the guy. but just say that. But since they didn't say that, and again, these other reports have come out, it's just confusing as to what the plan was. And that's the point, like for me, like, again,

I don't have an issue with the waiting. And look, ultimately, depending on who they hire, it may be great. Waiting may have been the exact same thing in a couple years from now, three years, whatever. We may all look back and think, wow, remember when we were all freaking out that the Wizards didn't have a GM?

But right now, as we sit here today, it's just hard to figure this out. And mind you, it isn't just the draft. Like that's just one pick. Tommy Shepherd can make that call. There is a lot to discuss this off season. They only have like five guys under contract right now.

Are they keeping Bradley Biel? Are they trading Bradley Biel? Which of their own free agents do they want to retain? We'll let go. What outside free agents are they interested in? Are they signing guys to make a playoff push next year? Or are they taking this year as sort of a, well, we'll get, we'll fix things up year. We'll take our time, sign guys to one or two year deals of the most.

will be patient with John Wall coming off his injury and set ourselves up for an interesting 2020 summer. I'm sure they've had these discussions, but it's hard to know what's the plan. And by the way, is Tommy Shepherd just the interim for the whole year? If that's the case, how does that shape his decision-making throughout this process? Is he try to win and press, you know, where is he in this? And I think Tommy's a good guy. I'm cool from based on everything I know and talk to people if he gets the job.

but even that is the interim tag to me seems like a weird way to go for the year I would give him the job flat out but that would be me look his plan was to have somebody the fact that he doesn't means now he's trying to explain to everybody that his plan was never to necessarily have somebody at this point and with respect to shepherd one of his quotes one of his long-winded quotes was quote as i have said we will likely use many hands make light work as a mantra as we seek to establish a new organizational construct that is in line with what the future of the NBA will look like, creating a shared platform on health sciences, data analytics, venue management, skills training, et cetera, for all of our basketball franchises. Closed quote. When you talked about this being, when he talked about this being the best open job in

sports, that is not in alignment with that quote. the many hands make light work, quote. So look, he's shifting the goal line right now, which is fine, and maybe it'll work out for him. But to your point, we're probably at this point going to get Tommy Shepard's influence, along with Scott Brooks's influence, I don't know, maybe Zach's influence, in a draft that takes place Thursday night, in a decision about Bradley Beale and potential free agents,

and rounding out a roster that basically, as you said, is one-third filled with respect to actual players under contract? Yeah, no, I mean, there's a lot in play. And, you know, like I said, I mean, not to keep repeating myself, but waiting to me is not the issue. Just what's the plan? And, you know, it's just hard to know. And the interesting also thing, I guess, is he came out as hard as he did to say that there was no, that there's never been any interest in going to, you jiri. I mean, one possible scenario here, again, at this point I'm just speculating,

but look, besides here, he's got a big question for himself, is Kauai Leonard staying in Toronto? If Kauai Leonard stays in Toronto, nobody would of course he's going to stay, logically. Why wouldn't you? You've got a chance to run back. Golden State looks to be a shell of itself

after the Durant and Clay Thompson injuries. Toronto would argue be the favorite to win the NBA title. So of course he would stay. And he needs to know, though if Kauai is going to stay. And we can debate whether Kauai, people just assume he's leaving. But if he wants to wait, that's fine.

But if Kauai leaves and Maasai at that point, it's like, okay, now I am open to looking else for. Well, Ted has now come out and stated, the owner has stated, that they have never shown any interest in hiring him. So now what? If this actually were to come up, we're going backwards. So I don't know. It's just confusing.

Maybe there's like, you know, fifth level test happening above. my head that I can't see, but just based on the simple logic, it's just hard to figure out right now what the plan is. I mean, like you said, I get what, I get what you're saying, you're right, but it's just like I'm trying to hear the words, trying to, you know, not interpret my own assumptions into it, and it's just hard to figure out what the actual plan is based on the words and actions coming out of there. All right. Two other things to get to, or one thing to get to, and then your mock draft. The Wojnerowski report about Beal, which came out, I guess, very, very late last night early this morning. He tweeted out, everybody in the league has tried to get

at Bradley Beale. They are not trading him. He's eligible for a three-year, $111 million extension later in July right now. I'm told it's the team's intention to offer that up to him and try and keep moving forward with Beale. What are you hearing as it relates to Bradley Beal? I can't say I've heard anything that definitive, but logically, that certainly makes sense. me my point throughout this. So part of, I would not trade Bradley Biel if I could avoid it, right? He's got two years left on his contract.

In NBA terms, 26 million a year is a pretty good bargain for a player of his level. Crazy. And he's an ascending talent, two-time All-Star, and look, the Wizards have nothing else right now

with John Wall injured. The owner has stated last, in January, that this team will never, ever tank. I don't think rebuilding means tanking, but if you trade Bradley Biel, then you're from a perception angle, you're veering closer to tanking than you're not.

So, okay, so you want to keep Bradley Beale. The problem is, what if Bradley Beal ultimately decides he doesn't want to stay here? Now, if he doesn't have to make, nobody has to make that decision anytime soon, but one way to sort of test those waters is to offer him an extension. And if he says no, maybe that doesn't mean he won't eventually sign one. Maybe he needs to see more from this organization. But at the same point, if he says yes, then you have a lot more clarity as to what your future holds. And so to me, look, the money is crazy.

The Wizards would have a ton of money. invested in him and Wall, but that's where they're at at this point. So I wouldn't have an issue if they did offer him the extension. They arguably probably should, but it will at least give him some clarity if he actually, depending on what his answer is, especially, well, obviously yes, but even if he says no, they at that point maybe do have to look at more at trade possibilities because if next year is effectively a lost season, then you'd only have one year left on Beale. So if you're going to trade him at that point, you're going to get less at value than you would now. So I would do my best to keep him, but I do think the extension talk helps clarify the situation.

Look, at the very least, they should be trying to evaluate the deals that could potentially be out there. I think it would be irresponsible not to do that. There could be a blockbuster deal and offer that you can't turn down. Let's assume that they move forward with Beale on the roster. Even without a true general manager in place, do you think they will be? aggressive trying to fill the auto porter slot or I guess it's the Jabari Parker spot and try to make a move or three in free agency. So what about Al Horford?

Oh, no. I don't want another wild finish, Kevin. I can't I can't handle that. Well, so here's the thing on this one, right? The owner has made it clear in the past, or at least we can sort of interpret this based on his comments that making the playoff from a revenue standpoint is important, right? get those home playoff games are a big deal. So making, I mean, that's why it feels like the Wizards sort of didn't fully

punt last year. They kept Trevor using Jeff Green because they still had an outside hope of making the playoffs. Obviously, it didn't work out. I think it's important to remember. In the 35 games after John Wall was ruled out for the season, the Wizards were one game under 500 despite the fact that the wall was out, Marquis was out. Marquis was hurt.

They in that stretch traded away Otto Porter. But with Bradley Bill in the lead and the sort of Mollicoo around him, they hung there. So you could hypothetically believe that if the Wizards are effectively brought back the same team, you know, resign Thomas, Brian, Keith, Thomas Satteransky, you know, maybe Jeff Green, you know, you draft this guy at nine, add somebody else, you know, that maybe Dwight Howard, or whatever you think of him could be back, you know, that that team gets you in the mix for the eight seed. I'm not saying that they should or they should do that, but maybe. I don't know if that's what they want to do, though. To me, the plan would be, I don't sign anybody to more than a

one or two-year contract. So in the worst-case scenario that Beal leaves when his contract is up, I'm not having to weigh that out to start over again. I think if you do short-term deals and you look ahead to next year, again, I'm not saying this team competes with Golden State or whoever the title contender is, but you would have Bradley Beale, probably a three-time All-Star. You have John Wall coming off his injury and you hope he's close to 100% or 90% or whatever. You have Troy Brown.

You have the ninth pick this year. You have another lottery pick next year. and you have a clean ledger sheet because Jan Mahemi and Dwight Howard are off the books. That's not a bad starting point considering where things are at now. That, to me, is the angle that I would go towards, but I don't know what they're going to do. Again, not having a permanent front office leader, kind of, it makes it hard to understand what the plan is because we're really not hearing about it. We only just heard yesterday that they weren't even making changes, let alone what their pursuit is. So I don't know what they want to do, but I would be patience.

We'll see if they are. All right, let's talk about the draft, which is tomorrow night. The Wizards have the ninth overall pick. First of all, do you expect them, do you think there's any chance that they, I mean, we've just talked about Beal. The only chance to move up would be to package Beal in a deal. So let's just for the purposes of this, this conversation about the draft, just assume they stay at nine. Who's there for them at nine? Who's still there? And what do you think they'll do? So it feels like you look at all the mock drafts out there. And it feels like, you look at all the mock drafts out there. And it feels like, Like everybody, they order maybe slightly different, but you see the same names in the one to eight slots. The one guy who maybe slips back is Cam Redid from Duke, which, you know, he's just a polarizing prospect that the athletic traits are tantalizing. But there's a lot of questions about his motor, his desire. He shot less than 40% from the field last year from two-point range or two-point chats. So there's a lot of concern, but I don't know.

I feel like it's almost obligatory that the Wizards would have to pick him if he's there. But if he's not there, to me, there's a lot of guys you could look at. Again, this is a draft where every prospect I bring up to any person around the league, they say, yeah, this guy's got this, but there's always the immediate downside concerns with basically all these candidates. I'm guessing something of an educated guess, but mostly just sort of my own gut instinct that it's between the 18-year-old French kid, Seikou Dumoya. I hope I'm saying his name right.

He's the youngest player in this draft. He's incredibly athletic. He's 6-9. He can guard 1 to 4. He's not going to help the Wizards next year, but his sort of combination of defense, versatility, skills, athleticism, sort of is going where the NBA is trending

with all the switching and ability to play in the open court. I think he's interesting. Then there's also Ruri Hachamora, the power forward from Gonzaga. Again, one of these guys who some people really love and think is worthy of a top 10 pick. Other people don't think he should be. picked in the top 20, but he's a guy who's played three years of Gonzaga. He's athletic. He's solid.

He can make some outside shots. I think he gives you sort of like a steady piece. There's not maybe a ton of upside, but he's a guy like for a wizard's team that just does not have a great baseline right now. I think he maybe helps shore that up. Those would be two guys, I think, to look at, you know, certainly there's North Carolina's Mr. Little, a small forward who he's got a little too maybe Kelly Ubraish in him for me. In other words, great athlete, bad instincts kind of kind of guy. Some people like Jackson Hayes, the Springy Center from Texas. So those are a couple names to consider, but I've got Dumboya as the guy for me right now that if I had to pick, and I really don't want to. But if I had to guess, he's where I put in my money.

All right. Youngest player in the draft 18, he's like 6'9, long arm, the whole thing, but, you know, definitely a future play, as all of these guys are. After the top three in your mock draft of Williamson, Morant, and Barrett to New Orleans, Memphis, and New York. Who did you have fourth overall? Because this is really where, you know, all of the mock drafts start to take different turns, really, you know, starting at number four through, you know, really the rest of the first round. And it's not unusual. A lot of people calling this been, you know, a top three, top heavy draft, and that's it.

Who did you have at number four, which would go to New Orleans? at this point because of the Anthony Davis trade. Well, I think if you went to, you know, if you're listening to this podcast shortly after Kevin posts, I'm going to assume that the website will say that I have Texas Tech wing, Jared Culver, going to the Pelicans at four. That said, I think by the time I get to the final, final mock draft ahead of Thursday, I'm probably going to switch it to Vanderbilt, Point Guard, Darius Garland.

Not that I'm like, look, Darius Garland played five games in Vanderbilt. then he got hurt. So there's almost no footage to really look at, but you just talk to people around the league. And he seems like of any of these guys, he seems to be the one that generates the most enthusiasm. And in a year, which everybody seems to be just so down on this, I'm not going to discount that. So I've got Garland going four with DeAndre Hunter from Virginia going to Cleveland at five, and I don't know how much further you want me to go, but that's what I've got for the top five. And the Wizards in this draft have just one pick, their first rounder. They do not have a second round pick.

Well, many teams like the Hawks have, I think, five, six picks or more. I think Philly has a bunch of picks as well in this draft. I think the Wizards may buy, I mean, the sense I've had throughout this is that the Wizards are interested in buying into the second round. They should be. They need bodies. Right, right. And so again, this is one of those things where, you know, if there was a little more clarification, it would be maybe easier to project, but I think that's a possibility for them.

And it is a way to get cheap talent that helps from a salary cap perspective. Despite the fact that Wizards don't have a lot of guys on the roster, they really don't have much salary cap space to work with because of the contract that they have on the book. So going with a second round pick not only is it good for the future, but also helps the current salary cap model. All right. Give me a guy that you really love in this draft, say after, you know, a projected top, you know, six, seven, and a guy that you think's going to go in that in that, you know, top 10 range that

you think would be a mistake. Boy, honestly, it's been a struggle to find a guy that I really, that I really feel good about them. I mean, normally this isn't that complicated. I'll go, Kevin, honestly, I don't like anybody. I guess I'm intrigued a little bit by Jackson Hayes. He's got a long way to go. The fact that he doesn't have a shot outside of 15 feet in the modern NBA is a little

scary and he's definitely people use the soft term for sure but like you see some instincts he's really good at the pick and roll as the finisher at the rim and look you know we've seen clincapella you know have a good career with with the rockets

being that type of player and so I think in the right situation I think Jackson has in time not immediately but in time could be a pretty interesting presence he's long in the shop locker I think the most polarizing player in this draft but it's not Cam Reddy It's got to be bowl, ball.

There are people who think he is a top five talent in this league. At 7.3, he can shoot the lights out from three. His athleticism, he's far more fluid than you would imagine, considering he's like all arms and legs, literally. But there's just so many concerns. He missed most last year with a foot injury. There are questions about his motivation. He's only 208 pounds.

At least that's what he tested or weighed in at the combine. That's not going to work against grown men in the foot. the NBA. But because this draft is so uncertain, it feels like I can imagine a team taking a risk on him somewhere in the top 15 and ultimately regretting it. Yet I really sit here would struggle to blame them because his potential is probably significantly higher than others in that spot. So even if the risk is too much, he might be worth it at a certain point. Last one. Will Bruno Fernando go in the first round? I currently have him going 30.

So I guess I'm saying yes, but he's leaning over the, he's leaning over the edge. There were some people who thought, and look, the thing with this draft again, it's very much an eye of the beholder draft. I have him at 30. Like, for example, I was told that Daniel Gafford, the center from Arkansas who I actually have going 31. Somebody told me he has a promise for a team in the 17 to 23 range. Now, me having them at 31 is significantly higher than what ESPN ranks him at and so on.

Am I being lied to? Sure, why not? But this is that time of the year. But this is very much an eye of the beholder of draft. And I did have one team also sort of talk gaffer up a bit more. So I'm just mentioning in terms of Fernando, just because I and others seem to have him in that general 30 range, doesn't mean there's not a team who is far more interested in him up because he's a mobile big man who's got a little bit of an outside shot. I could see it, but for now I have him as the very last pick in the first round.

And that would be Milwaukee's pick. I lied. One last question. Is there a contest? Can you win something? Can you be, can you accept a ton of praise from people all over the country for winning an NBA mock draft the way you did for your NFL mock draft or not? I'm just putting my entry into the Sheean pool and hoping that I'm the only one. That might be the only way I'm winning this year. This is far more difficult than the NFL draft, I promise.

Well, we're giving out Georgetown cupcakes to the winner of our mock draft. So at least you'd get something that you might enjoy other than just national attention, which you certainly had back in April for having the most successful and accurate NFL mock draft of anybody in the country. But I didn't have a full stomach, though, after that. I was not given a cupcake, so this is a much better deal. I'm in. You know, the NBA draft is not the NFL draft. It's not even close to it in terms of the impact that it has and et cetera. And it really is to me even more guesswork than the NFL draft is. And I hope that the wizards are thinking not in terms of where their pick, you know, comes in via all of the mock drafts. You know, I mean, part of me thinks they're looking through a bunch of mock drafts to help them, you know, narrow down the list of people they can pick.

There are players in this draft that I've seen mocked in the early second round that I think are going to be better than some of the guys taken in the top 12, top 14, which by the way often happens, almost always happens. But I hope that they're able to get somebody that can help them. Thank you for this. I know you've got to run, but follow Ben on Twitter at Ben Standig. NBC Sports Washington's got his, I think it's updated because they do have Jared Culver as your number four overall pick.

So if that's your update, it's up there right now on NBCSports.com and just follow that for Ben's mock draft. Thanks, man. Appreciate it. Yeah, man. All right, thanks to Ben for joining us. Quick word about launch workplaces in Bethesda. If you live in the Bethesda Chevy Chase, Upper Northwest D.C. area and you're looking for new office space, consider launch workplaces in Bethesda.

They have affordable private office solutions so you can get work done. It's a beautiful new space, provides fully furnished offices, conference rooms, co-working desks, high-speed internet, complimentary drinks, and free parking and plenty of it. You can get more work done today by moving your office to launch workplaces. They've got locations all around town. You can find out about those at launchworkplaces.com, but you can call 240, 86714, mention my name, and get a free two-day trial at their Bethesda location.

Don't forget if you're listening to us on iTunes or anything Apple to rate us and review us. Also subscribe. That helps us. It doesn't cost you anything. It's free. And mention to people that were available on our website, the kevin-sheanshow.com, if they can't figure out iTunes, Stitcher, Spotify, Google Play, tune in, and all of the other podcast platforms that you can get this show on. A couple of things to finish up the show. Max Scherzer broke his nose in batting practice, you know, practicing buntz yesterday,

but says he will pitch tonight if they actually have a game. I would expect that he would pitch. I hope he doesn't have a Rip Hamilton-style mask on, although that would probably suit him well. That'd be real. I think you're wrong. I hope that happens. Yeah, actually, I'm starting to think about it. That would make him awfully intimidating, and he's already intimidating to begin with.

There's also breaking NBA news just since the conversation with Ben, and that is that Memphis is trading Mike Conley to Utah for a package that includes Grayson Allen, Jay Crowder, and Kyle Corver, and their 2019 number 23 pick overall, and a future first round pick. I'm a big Mike Conley fan, and I actually think, obviously, they're trading him because they're going to draft John Moran tomorrow night.

But I think a Utah team with Donovan Mitchell and with Mike Conley in the back court, they've been playing Rubio. Rubio's now starting to get up there. I mean, he's probably approaching his 10th year in the league. It was 2009. It was 2009. So he's probably got nine years in the league.

That particular back court to me is really intriguing. Mike Conley can just flat out play and he plays in a winning way. I've always enjoyed watching him play. And really, the teams that he played on with Gasol in particular, Mark Gasol, I thought were pretty good teams, a couple of those teams. I'm really surprised that that's all Memphis could get from Mike Conley. It seems like a lot. I mean, it's a lot of pieces, but how valuable are each of the pieces? Well, what were you going to get back from Utah. You weren't going to get Mitchell. But did you have to work with? You weren't going to get Rudy Gabbard. Did you have to work with Utah? Like no one else would have given up more?

No, that's a fair point. Look, I think, first of all, Jay Crowder is a good player. You know, Kyle Corver is obviously, you know, at this point, I don't know, is he, is he 40 yet? He's probably approaching 40 years old. It's coming up on 40 years old. Grayson Allen, what did he really do in his in his first year. I didn't, not a lot, right? Average a couple of minutes a night, a couple of points maybe a night, but you might like his potential there. I think Jay Crowder and the picks are the value in this deal, right? What am I missing? That would be it. I mean, that would be it, and I just don't think that's that much. What was Conley's contract situation? That I don't know. I'd have to look up his contract and see if there, you know,

maybe there wasn't a market. Yeah. But you would think that some of these teams as they're, you know, starting to reorganize would have been more interested in Connolly than that, but maybe not. Yeah, perhaps. All right, that's it for the day. Tommy will be with me tomorrow. I'll do a, you know, a more in-depth draft preview.

I'm going to give you the players. I like the players I don't like specifically for the Wizards at number nine. And hopefully the Nats played two games today, right? Yeah, that'd be nice. It looks good right now or 45 minutes. away and there's actual sun out. So hopefully they'll get at least one. And then I can't wait tomorrow to hear Tommy's take on the umpires criticizing baseball players. Did see that? I didn't see that. You didn't tell me about that. Oh yeah. So save it for Tommy. Tommy will, I think we'll have a good take.

All right. We'll do that tomorrow. Thanks to Ben Standing for being on the show today. Thanks to Aaron for producing it. Back tomorrow.