The Mismatch - Memphis Trades Up to the Top 10, and Top Prospect Info

Episode Date: July 28, 2021

As the NBA draft nears, Chris Vernon and Kevin O'Connor talk about all of the big moves the top teams are looking to make, including Memphis making a big trade to move to the top 10 in picks (01:46). Also Chris talks about some inside info he's gathered on some of the top players to watch for and what some teams and execs think about them (30:58). Hosts: Chris Vernon and Kevin O'Connor Producer: Steve Ahlman Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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so you never miss an episode. Welcome to The Mismatch. I'm Chris Vernon and join a me as he does every Tuesday from The Ringer.com is Kevin O'Connor, aka Kevin O'Connor, A.K.K.A. Kevin O.C. Klamer, Kevin O. Kahneman, O. Kahneman O. Kavanaugh-Blesserian. And most importantly, Kevin O birthday.

Happy birthday to you. It is your birthday as we record on this Tuesday night. Is it not? It is. I'm 31 years old now. Chris, it's a great day now that I've heard your beautiful singing voice, Chris. You could sing. Let's go. You got some pipes, man. You do. Hey, look, are you of the age? Do you ask for anything for your birthday?

Did you get anything for your birthday? No. No? No. No. Just a nice card. That's all. That's all. Just time with my mom. That's all I asked for. Not even like a, oh, hell, I'd have sent you a Devin Booker jersey. That's sweet. Yeah. A shirt, right? A shirt jersey. Yeah, yeah, that's sweet. Yeah. It's like one of those. Give me a booker.

I'll take a booker, Chris. That'd be great. There you go. All right. It's on its way. Kevin, the NBA draft is almost upon us. By the time people listen to this podcast, we'll be one day away from the NBA draft. And we've had a little bit of action.

We had the Memphis Grizzlies trade to get into the top 10 yesterday. It was one of the oddest experiences I have ever had. because I was in a traitor Joe's yesterday afternoon, and I ran into a guy, as I was at the checkout, a guy came up to me, a very kind guy who listens to the pods and he says, he's a grizzly season ticket holder, he's a retired music teacher, he goes to the games of his wife, that's what they do. So he just wanted to talk about the team and the draft coming up or whatever. So I'm talking to him, and I was like, you know, I think they actually might do, there's a possibility they're going to be very active in all of this.

And I walked outside, I loaded in my groceries, I pulled my pocket out of my phone or my phone out of my pocket because I was going to listen to a podcast on the way home through my radio. I had 39 text messages. And I was like, what happened? Like this has been, it was 10 minutes, 10 minutes time. And I just happened to be in a store. And I'm like, what happened?

And the Wodge bomb hit. And of course, every friend, every media member I know everybody at the same time was texting me because Jonas Valchunis got traded yesterday. This was a out of nowhere deal. This was not rumored to be the case. There was some buzz out there that the Grizzlies could possibly move up in the draft. They might take on Eric Bledso's contract. in order to make that happen.

But when it all came together, including Stephen Adams, the 10th pick, the 40th pick, and the Grizzlies moving the 17th pick and Jonas Falunis to the Pelicans, I will tell you, I was absolutely stunned.

Took me a minute to process it. And almost immediately, I was even on a group text with you, so you know what I had to say? I was like, those are contracts. like this this feels like moves for moves because that does not make you better basketball wise. People around the NBA, average NBA fans may not know this.

Jonas Valentinus was the MVP of the Grizzlies last year. Make no mistake about that. He was the consistent best player on that team. I at one point called him the most underrated player in the league. the only people that really knew what was going on with him were like daily fantasy players who drafted him every night, right? They had the proper respect for him, but he was unbelievable. It obviously doesn't make you better basketball-wise on the surface. So then you ask yourself why.

And I guess on the surface you could say, well, that's the cost of moving up to 10. I don't buy that. I don't buy that that's the cost of moving up to 10. what I believe is that you acquired those players and contracts in order to do something else. But time will tell. You then reported that they want to move up from 10 even. There's a possibility. And who knows who that is for exactly?

There was all the rumblings yesterday that they moved up to 10 for Josh Giddy, the Australian tall playmaking wing. But apparently, like, they might want to move up and they could be looking at somebody like a Jonathan Cominga out of the G-League, 6-8 forward, or James Book Knight Guard out of Yukon, 6'5, really athletic. Could be anybody. I mean, like, it's not necessarily these two names, but for Memphis here, moving up to 10, to me, it's pretty clear you're willing to take on some money, and maybe you're taking

a slight step back this coming season in terms of the talent level because of how good Valentrunes was. Like you said, Chris, Valentrownus was really, really good last year for the Grizzlies. It's just, you know, John Morant rightfully gets all the attention and credit. But Valentruth is a really good player. So giving him up hurts. But moving up to 10 at least indicates that the Grizzlies, a team that you know this, has not missed. You guys haven't missed on draft picks.

There's got to be somebody at 10 or higher that they view as a must have player to pair with John Moran. So I'm looking forward to seeing what they end up doing. But they're certainly at least making calls to move up. as many teams are right now in the lottery. Well, what's super fascinating was one of the things that came out after the trade was, and I mean, this is clearly from, in my opinion, this is the Pelicans talking about the deal to reporters from their side was, you know, wanted somebody that could really, you know,

somebody that could stretch the floor for them at five. And I'm like, what are you talking about? like Jonas took like 50 threes all year Chris I tweeted this too I said Valentunoz can shoot threes I don't know like All I can do is speak for myself Maybe I should have put the word can in there

But he shot 50 Here's the thing though Chris like the Pelicans They tried getting Stephen Adams To extend his range to the corners They're gonna try to have Valentuna shoot more threes I'd be shocked beyond shocked If the Pelicans don't have shoot have Ballant shooters shooting a career high three-pointers.

He can do it. He just doesn't do it a lot. He takes about one a game the last two seasons. And that's not where he's at his best. It's the post, of course. By barge it. And I mean, he's a throwback player and he is an amazing rebounder. And he's tougher than nails.

He also does not help them on defense. No. He is the inferior defensive player to Adams. And that's a team that couldn't defend anybody. And so that's a little. curious. Now, maybe you can just score 150 every single night. And that will be their thing. But that was a team that had an outstanding offense and a horrendous defense. What if they flip them again? They could flip them again. We're talking about the Grizzlies maybe trying to move up from 10.

What if the pelicans are trying to angle for Miles Turner, who's been caught up on so many different trade conversations? What if it's something like that trading for Turner and going all in for Kyle Lari or another veteran point guard on the market who could become available? It's possible. I always thought that if Valatunis was elsewhere, that he would end up in New York, because he was, I mean,

look, when Yonis Valatunus signed his extension with the Grizzlies, his free agency extension, I mean, I was at Summer League, and he came in to do the show, and the people that were in the room were Yonis,

his wife, and Leon Rose. I mean, I mean, that was his guy. That was his agent. And so it stands to reason. He knows him better than anyone.

He knows how great he is. He's still at a great age. And I always kind of thought like, you know, of course, if you can have that guy, you know what you're, you know him better than anyone, right? And so I always kind of thought that the Knicks at some point would try to make a play for him. Just being that he was, he was a big client for Leon, right, prior to him taking over the Knicks. but I don't know. And you might be right. This might be a move for another move with them.

We'll see. Could be about more than just cap space. Yeah. And, you know, there's all kinds of things out there, right? Like, it was reported within 30 minutes by Chris Haynes. Eric Bloodsoe is not going to play in Memphis. Okay. So how does that happen?

That, to me, is not a buyout. Right? Like, that's not. you haven't had those discussions within 30 minutes. Well, let's see who his agent is. Oh, Rich Paul. Oh, okay. Right.

So all I'm saying is, Kev, if we're putting it together, you're not reporting that within 30 minutes and he's not going to Memphis if it's going to be a buyout because a buyout, I mean, the way teams do it, they say, well, look, you want to take a lot less? If you want to take a lot less, okay, we'll buy you out of this deal. but I just don't, I think that that's probably used as an asset for something else, right? Like what, and you just never know the way this stuff's going to play out. It seems crazy on the surface, but other teams buy out.

Like, so you think who's in those positions right now, Oklahoma City 6, right? So let's say the cost is they take it on and they buy them out because they don't care. They're in that business right now. But they make you give up another first round. pick or they make you give up a couple picks to move up to six. Yeah, we'll take that contract and we're going to add more to our war chest so that you can move up to where you want to get to because they're in, they're still in asset collection mode right now. And they're the kind of team that does take on those kind of contracts and then just get rid of the guy because that's,

you know, again, that's how they have every pick and every draft for the next 10 years. It's, feels like, you know, like there's going to come at that. Maybe Sam Presti's goal is to get every single pick in the draft for like two years in a row. What do you think they're actually trying to do this year? They have the sixth pick, the 16th pick, the 18th pick. We're hearing all this noise about potential trade ups, trade downs within the lottery with OKC. I mean, what do you think they're trying to do here? There's no way they just stay at six, right? There's no way. I don't think so. I don't think so. And so if you can't move up, then I think you get into,

I think it's very possible that they get into more asset collection. So like you even trading out, you're saying out of six or down, really? Yes. So like I reported Memphis, like who would Memphis trade up with? Maybe OKC at six. It could be. Like what if OKC is like the guy we want at six could be there at 10? Like no question.

I mean, it's very possible. Here's the other thing. Regarding Memphis and what they have with 10 and their ability to move up. So I said that I thought that those were very useful contracts. They are in, because as you mentioned, they've nailed the draft, they're in an interesting position where they have a lot of guys that you would not get value back for, right? You have guys that can play 30 minutes or 25 minutes for your team. that get paid $4 million or $3 million.

Well, you can't move them. You're not going to get value for that amount. But if I compare $4 million with $18 million, now all of a sudden I'm getting to where I can get some good players back in return. You know, they've got a bunch of these guys. They've got Grayson Allen. They've got De Anthony Melton.

They've got Desmond Bain. and they started Dylan Brooks at shooting guard. I mean, that's four shooting guards right there. And now you're trying to figure out how do I build around. They've got Tyos Jones. They've got Kyle Anderson, both totally useful veterans on good contracts also. I just think that they, I think there's a lot of moves that could be made. And I found it interesting that Jake Fisher, who originally reported on the Bledso deal,

he threw their name in as trying to get up to three. He threw their name in in the Cleveland thing. So like what's going on here? Right? How big are you trying to go? Because they have the opportunity to say if they want to throw 10 and a good young player along, well now all of a sudden, if that's the cost of moving up a couple spots,

or they now have some contracts that they can pair some guys with if they want to, if somebody says, hey, I'll take 10 and Brandon Clark. Like, I'm just saying, how about this, Chris? How about 10? This is me being, you know, hypothetical. All right. Not as something that could happen, just a hypothetical. 10 and Jaron Jackson Jr.

Plus one other pick for three to draft Evan Mobley. Would you do that? I think that they would be. Would you do it? You're, you're the GM. I would not do it. How come? Not for Evan Moble?

I would do it. I still believe in Jaron. I do too, but he fouls like five times a game. game. So yeah, but I mean, he's only he has played less games at John Moran. And I despite, despite playing one more season. Well, and I think right. And I think you're about to get him on a very reasonable contract. And he's only going to be 22 years old. He was the youngest player in his dress. Are you sure about that though, Chris, that it could be a reasonable contract? These guys that sometimes underwhelms still get $25 million a year. No, I think it'll be close to

the Isaac deal. Okay. That's fair. And I guess it all also depends on how he performs this coming season too because Jaron Jackson Jr. only 22 years old. It's had some injury issues. This could be his breakout year coming. Like that second sophomore year, 17, 18 points per game. He was terrific. I think they're building around those two guys. So I would be stunned. Unless you want Evan Mobley, it's kind of a move up in my opinion. I mean, everybody loves the guy that has no NBA games under his belt, right? For sure. I've seen Jared Jackson drop 30 something. Way better passer, way more season defender. I don't know if I've ever seen him drop if he's dropping 30 something in NBA games.

I mean, I've seen Jared Jackson do that. I guess it all ultimately depends on what options, what deals are available. We just don't know. Like the past 24 hours or so, like I had a mock post this morning. Yep. And it's like after writing and filing the mock, there's stuff that you hear that it's like, maybe I should tweak this or add this thing in there. like with Toronto and number four,

we've heard them connected to primarily Janeland Suggs out of Gonzaga. Really good guard would make all the sense in the world for Toronto. He like would remind Raptors fans so much of Kyle Lari with the winning type of player he is. But you also hear stuff about like Josh Giddy. You hear stuff about like a guy like even now today. I heard Jonathan Kaminga could be like their actual target

because you hear some stuff about Toronto wanting to either possibly trade down or at a second mid-lottery pick, kind of in that comminga range. So it's like, what exactly is going on here with these teams a lot? Like we just don't know exactly what's going to go on. There's so much good information out there. There's so much misinformation out there that comes from teams,

that comes from agents. It's hard to the site in between like what's real and what's not, what has a possibility of happening or what doesn't. Because this Grizzlies Pelicans deal, you know, just pops out of nowhere. That's the way a lot of deals happen. Just pops out of nowhere. You hear about it. You might hear about it for the first time 20 minutes before it happens or an hour before it happens. If that, just it's got it's it's it could be a wild draft night. It really could be.

Kevin, you get down to six and six is Oklahoma City. Unless they move up. They could move up. They could move down. Right. And then you get to seven and that's a big one. Golden state. That's a big one because I was talking to somebody today, and they said to me that's involved in the NBA that said, you think they pull off the Beal deal. No, not Golden State. Boston is the team that's a threat for Beal. I said, I said, what deal? And they said, it would be Wiseman Wiggins' picks, and hopefully they don't have to give up Jordan Poole.

And what they said to be, they said, if you're- Can't give up Jordan Poole, can't do it. Well, it's just another asset. He had a solid year, too. He did very well when he was given his opportunity last year. Oh, yeah. He put a pretty good numbers. Hell, I was at his career high game, so I have a high opinion of him.

But he, if you're, if you're Wes Unseld, that's a, you know, you look at that and you go, geez. I mean, would I rather have Andrew Wiggins, a couple of picks and James Wiseman and whatever, or run it back with what I'm going to have? I don't know. I'm just saying that's a real like, that's a lot of assets that you would attain. It is. The Wizards seem to be careful here because,

you know, even though Beal is only 28 years old, even though he has another year left on his contract, he can become a free agent in 12 months. And if you play this wrong here, that value is going to dip. He's going to gain more leverage in order to go to any team that he wants to. Whereas right now,

there's kind of a window that you can go to anybody. You can take the best offer right now. And it just so happens that the teams that would or could make the best offers are probably teams that he might be happy to go to. Like Golden State, why would he not be happy there? Compete for a championship with Steph Curry and Clay Thompson. That would be a ludicrous backcourt. Like that would be so freaking fun to watch.

He could be the guy that helps carry that roster in five years when he's only 33 and Steph and Claire in their late 30s. Like, it's a great situation. Boston, if they were willing to flip Janeland Brown, if they were. which maybe, who knows? We're talking about Bradley Beale, a guy who scored over 30 points per game two years in our own now. Jalen Brown's an outstanding player and he's younger,

but I would understand the logic in doing it. And Beal and Boston could get the opportunity to play with Jason Tatum, who he calls his little brother, one of his best friends. They've known each other since they were little kids, right? Those guys are legitimately tight. This isn't one of those fake NBA relationships. They are tight. So, you know, those teams, among others,

we could see somebody step up for Bradley Beal here. Would you give up Jalen to get Beal? Yeah, I would. I mean, I love Jalen. I love Jalen Brown. It depends on what else. It really depends on what else. I think Jalen Brown,

he's gotten better every year, and he has constantly proven that he can continue to get better. So maybe it would end up looking stupid in the end that you're trading a 25-year-old guy that turned into an all-star, 25-point-per-game score. But I really think with Bradley Beal, If you put him in a situation with the right talent around him, you're going to see special things. And with Jalen Brown, I'm not sure he can hit that threshold of being a 30 point per game guy who can playmate for you.

I view him more as that number two type of guy. And if you get Beale and Tatum together, you get two ones, in my opinion. It's fascinating because I do think that this is going to be extremely active. I do not think that this is pump fake stuff. I agree with you. I agree. You now have such a short amount of time to build these rosters, right? You're going to have this draft.

You're going to turn around. You're going to have Summer League. This is a very shortened off season. And so if you want to try to get your roster in order, I do think that, you know, usually there's a pretty long break and you got a lot of lag time to think about it. The draft's in June, usually. It's at the beginning of, or it's at the end of June. It's like the, whatever, the 20-somethingth of June.

and then you've got lag time, and then you've got free agency, and then you've got, you know, while summer league's going on. And then like, then you're building out your roster. Where is this? Bang, bang, back to back to back. Exactly. So I think a lot of those moves that might take place now you're involving the draft way more than ever before because it's all shortened.

And so I think that I think that you saw a sign of things to come when the Grizzlies and the Pelicans made that move. because I think you're going to see a lot of teams that are very active. Also, you have a lot of teams that you don't know what they want to do with those picks just because of who has them, right? We knew the Pelicans, they've got picks. How many young guys do they want to have on their roster, right? They've got picks.

Golden State. Do you want to add two more while you're right in the middle of Steph Curry and Draymond Greens, you know, like golden, the end of the golden years, as they say? and use those assets to try to win right now because you've got a short window. And so I would be stunned if Golden State ends up with just the seventh pick and whatever, the 14th pick overall. And I think that's so true all the way up and down. And you were talking about Toronto.

I mean, we're and and the whole Suggs thing. Now, look, I'm going to say this regarding Suggs. I feel like every single player around him has gotten talked up in this unbelievable way. Except for him. Except him. And he hasn't. And I think that is a huge mistake. He has had the lowest amount of PR. If you told me that Jalen Suggs ends up being the best player out of this draft,

that would not be shocking to me. Like, I think he is that awesome. And in fact, I would tell you, I am as convinced that he is going to be an outstanding NBA player as any of those guys. We know history tells us they're not all going to hit, right? Hope springs eternal when it comes to the draft. We look at the top 10 and it's hard to envision. these guys just not panning out. Always happens.

Always does. It always happens. At the time, I was at the last, I was at the NCAA tournament and I watch Derek Williams in person. If you told me the night that I got done watching him playing in the NCAA tournament, that Derek Williams was not going to have a good NBA career, I would have never believed you. Yeah. You didn't believe me on Marvin Bagley. No.

It's not done. It's not done. I reported today. We're not talking about, let's talk about Killian Hayes. I can't wait until Killian Hayes is an all-star. I can.

I can't wait. Where in Turkey? Playing with Singoon. I seem to have a thing for international players, don't I? You really do. I'll tell you this. All you nerds love Singoon.

I saw Pelton at him number one today. Kevin Pelton number one. Hollinger's gotten them number three. Oh, you nerds. You had a nerd, you guys had a nerd Zoom call, didn't you? Here's the thing. I've seen tweets,

you know, tweets that have said, I'm a numbers guy. I, like, lean too much on the analytics. I don't really look at the analytics with the draft, Chris. Like that much at all.

You don't? I mean, a little bit. Of course, you want to take in as much information as you can. You have conversations with people, but,

I mean, like me personally, I don't have the type of date that I can build out in the way that I would want to. So I look at the rankings of a Pelton of a Hollinger and I take that in and I think it's valuable, insanely valuable. But like in my own independent evaluation, it's very much leans toward the eye test. So it's like a lot of eye test people love Shengoon too. Like it's not just the numbers.

Nerds. No, it's no. Nerds rule the world. Nerds go to space. But like with Shengoon, like he is a legitimately talented player where you look at the numbers. or you're using the eye test. He's just a good prospect, period. So I think that's why you're seeing some top 10 hype for him.

That's why you're hanging about the Kings. That's why you're hearing about the Spurs. Some of these teams, even the Grizzlies might have some interest in him as well at the 10 spot if they were to stay there. I'd love to fit. I think you would fall in love with Shangu and Chris. I really do. I think you would fall in love with him pretty quickly.

You would love him. The only one I didn't ever fall in love with was to beat. I never fell in love with him. Yeah. Yeah, you didn't want him ever. I didn't want him. And you were right. They should have listened.

He came in the show the next day. And I said, look, man, I can't, I can't be, I was young. And I was like, I can't be a loudmouth on the radio every day. And I said, I did not want them to take you. When did you come in? And the next day after the draft. Oh, next day after draft. And I said, I said, I did not want them to take you.

And I hope you proved me wrong. And he, like, looked at me and he was like, look, man, everybody's entitled to their opinion and whatever. And I was like, oh, my God, we're dead. We are dead. We are dead. We are so dead. So dead.

This is hilarious. The three draft picks came into my studio. It was Hashimta beat, Damare Carroll, and Sam Young. Those are the three guys. And Sam Young and Damari Carroll were absolute dogs, as you know. right when they were in college and they were like, I mean, they're pit bull guys, right?

And you should have seen their faces when I'm sitting there saying, I did not want them to take you. They're like, God, damn. And DeBeat was like, oh, everybody's entitled their opinion and I'm just happy to be here. And I'm like, oh no.

Oh, no. You're telling the Thabit quote reminds me of the thing Jalen Sugg said earlier today. He said, you know, the ones who passed me up and take another prospect, it's going to come back to their detriment. you can look at my track record what I love done where I've been I've always won at the highest

level like he's saying teams are going to regret it already for passing on him and I thought he actually brought up a pretty interesting point that you know a couple of people from teams said to me over the recent months he's like I've never been a full time basketball player yet because he played football in high school he's a student in college he's like this is my first time to be a full time basketball player and work on my skills and I mean it's a fair point it's a fair there's only so much time in a day that you can dedicate, you know, on the court. Now he has all of it. He is a freakish athlete.

In the NCAA tournament, when he blocked that shot at the rib and then went the other way and through the full court bounce pass, that's like, I mean, that's next level, top 1% of athlete stuff. And I would encourage anybody because I am, I'm higher on Suggs than most people. And I know he's in the top five. but like he just has not gotten great PR at all of this. And I do think he's going to get passed up. I love him. And don't pull up highlights of basketball.

Go pull up his football highlights. Did you tell me you don't want this guy? Not only did he say, you know, you mentioned he played football. He didn't play football. He was an unbelievable quarterback. He could have went that path if he wanted to. Unbelievable. That is a.

athlete and, you know, you're a quarterback, you're a leader. End of story, right? And I also just want to interject and say this, Chris. I can understand there are probably some people listening to this podcast saying he's not an elite athlete. He's not a Zach Levine. Athleticism is more than leaping ability. Athleticism is like lateral movement.

Your ability to change directions. It's your body control. Like athleticism is so much more than that. And I thought Danny Chow, he had a great line on the ringer this week right now about Cade Cunningham. He said, we are now in an era that is beginning to understand how a player's elite perception and awareness can create as many avenues to success as elite athleticism can. I thought it was such a smart line in the context of Nicole Eokic, you know, and Luca and

Trey Young and Kate Cunningham as a prospect. And also Jalen Suggs, he has elite awareness and perception in addition to just whether it's Zach Levine athleticism or a different type of athleticism. he also has that to his game too. So I'm with you there, Chris. Jalen Suggs. I view him as a no fail prospect. Like he's going to be a success, period.

It's just a matter of what level player is he. Is he superstar, mega star, couple time all star or just a very, very, very good player who makes a winning impact. He's at least going to be the latter. I'm going to, I'm going to tell you what I've been told about a bunch of different guys.

Okay. Where they're going or what do you think about? No, no, no, no, no. just opinions about guys. I wrote down players and I wrote down notes from people within the NBA of what I've heard about them,

good or bad. And I think some of them are going to surprise you, okay? Franz Wagner, I was, I would say a little surprised at how much positive feedback I got. People like him.

They really like this guy. Have you, did you see he said he grew to almost 6 foot 11? Oh, is that right? I haven't been able to get that confirmed yet. They've been trying to. Really like him. I was waiting for somebody to, you know, bust him up, possibly. Nobody did.

No. I got all good feedback on Wagner. Book night, you know, this has been, nobody's helped themselves more throughout this entire draft process than book night. and to a man, every one of them said, look, that is a bona fide NBA scorer. That kid can score and that kid can score in the end. Everybody is convinced that kid is going to score in the NBA.

Book night. Like, yes. Yeah, he's going to score. Like pull up his Yukon highlights and imagine him doing that while shooting. threes. Like, that's what teams are seeing in workouts now with the development of his jump shot. They're like, okay, this guy's taking a leap since the end of the college season. He's not just a sub 30% three-point shooter anymore. And he loves the game and he works really hard to, you know,

he's just, he seems like a really good kid type of winning qualities you look for. Davey R. Mitchell, obviously, but most people say they, you know, they know why he's dropped that he is, he's small. He's small. But, They all say the same thing. He's a winner. Like, he's a dog. Coaches are going to love him, right? He's so athletic that he is going to be able to stay in front of people.

And he's got that tenacity, but they all think he was, he's hurt by the measurements. I mean, because he is little. I mean, that's little for six, you know, to show up six foot. You know what I mean? There's not a ton. right. Duarte, everybody says exactly what you would think, knows how to play. He's going to be able to contribute for anybody right immediately. One of them could be a warrior with the 14th pick. Like there's a lot of people who think Mitchell could slip to there. Oh, wow. That would be

impressive. Jared Butler, same thing, got good feedback on him. Everybody likes him. Everybody likes the other Baylor kid. A couple that I heard really good things. things about, because I'm going to be positive about this stuff. Trey Man, I heard good stuff on more than a few people that really like Trey Man. So that was a little interesting to me because he haven't heard much buzz about him at all. I think it's important we define a guy like him because people listening might not know who Trey Man is. Trey Man, sophomore out of Florida, 6'3, had a growth spurt after his freshman season.

He grew two inches. And that was kind of a game changer for him. He still needs to put on a lot of. wait, but I mean, he can shoot threes. He's, you know, good touch inside, good playmaking instincts. Late first round pick in all likelihood, but lots of like there. I could see him becoming a good player for a long time. Did not get that much bad feedback, except for obviously, I still haven't found anybody that goes crazy about comminga. It's the damnedest thing. I'm waiting for somebody. It's, I don't understand it. I was texting with an executive today about him because we were

talking about, like I mentioned earlier, maybe the Raptors really like him at four. and everything else is a smokescreen. Again, I'm just speculating here. Just as we were in the conversation. And he said to me, he's like, or like, is every team in the league duping us? You know, like negative comming of feedback. Yeah, I swear.

Every, every team. So this is what I did this time around this past week. I made sure that there were at least a few people that I talked to that I knew had absolutely zero connection and didn't even know other people that had told me different things. And I'm not kidding you. I heard different bad things.

Like, why? Maybe there's a big conspiracy going on. I don't know. But, like, I can't find it. I didn't get anything good back on Jalen Johnson either. Yeah, a lot of negative stuff out there about him, which is why you're seeing him potentially going in the 20s. But all it takes is one, Chris, you know, a big playmaking six foot 10 guy who could

theoretically defend across positions. I mean, there's a lot of talent there. If you want to take a risk on, you know, a raw player who left, you know, high school, his IMG, he left Duke. I mean, he's had an odd journey to the NBA draft at this point. But there's a heck of a lot of talent there. I mean, it's a crazy amount of talent. I'm going to shock you with one, Kev.

And I can't wait to hear what you. have to say about this. This is a guy that was high, pretty high. And now I feel like in a lot of mocks he's dropped. But when I called around and I asked people about him, I heard something about the kid that made me very interested. And that is Kai Jones. So I talked to somebody that was at one of his workouts.

and they said he went in there and motor did not stop. Like he went hard. And he's only been playing like five or six years. So he's raw. He's raw. 15 years old he started playing and he's only 20 years old now. Yeah, right. Raw player.

But they felt at least who I talked to, they said, that kid is hungry. Like they're not guys. And he said, playing hard. Now, the kid doesn't know, you're raw, he's raw. So you're going to have to work with him. Reading the floor on defense and offense passing, stuff like that. There's a lot of stuff you're not going to like.

And he fouls way too much. You got to get him to be able to guard without foul. Jaron Jackson, Jr. ask. Yeah. In terms of like what the league is now and a guy playing hard is a skill and there's not a lot of guys in the league. And I said, I've wondered, this is a conversation I have with the guy. I said, I've wondered if because the Mobamba thing hasn't worked out yet, because Jackson Hayes, like there's these Texas big men that have gone pretty high and it hasn't reaped great benefits yet, right? We'd argue.

But when he started talking about how hard this kid went and the motor and if you've got that, that's so useful in the NBA, you know what it made me think? of, I said, you know what? As soon as he started talking like that, I was like, hearing that. And this is a credit to the kid because when he is describing a big that just goes all the time, I thought of another Texas big man. And that's Jared Allen. Yep, Jared Allen. He's the one who's panned out. It's a talent, though. It's a talent to be able to play, you know, if you really go, if the ball comes off the rim and you go after it, right? And, the kids, you know, I think he's, he's not American born. He's from, I want to say, Bahamas.

Yep. Okay, Bahamas. But I don't know, man. It was just like, it did make me at least think more because I will say there is another person that told me that kid is either going to be awesome or he's not going to be in the league. Like there's really, he's not going to be okay. I mean, he could be okay.

he could always end up at Javel McGee. Like Javale McGee's had a really good career, been on championship teams. Oh my God. He's on team USA. Yeah. He's on team USA. Like he could always, he could always have a good career and be okay.

I think that's still a possibility. But like to your point, I mean, I have a hard time ranking him. I have him 17th to my board right now. And I feel like that could make me look really stupid because of all the talent that he has. Like he can shoot threes a little bit.

He shows handling ability. He's such a fluid athlete with the way he moves. that you could see him becoming one of those multi-positionable offenders that can comfortably switch onto guards and wings and be a shoplock around the room with his long wingspan. Like, it's so easy to see him becoming a star. But for all the reasons you're talking about, like, he doesn't read the floor well. He's super raw. He still needs to get way stronger. He, you know, falls for, you know, little fake moves by, by offensive players on offense.

He's hesitant to do certain things. He's indecisive. It's like there are so many negatives. But it depends, it depends so much. This is all about draft philosophy. Are you drafting for a guy that you know lacks elite upside, but you feel like it can be a very, very good player for you, a la like a Corey Kisbert or Chris Duarte,

who could be very good players, important players, and a championship team? Or are you going for the guy that might be on the back end of your bench, but could also be one of your premier starters? It's all about philosophy and approach with each individual team. Like, I mean, I wish I'm going to have to separate. big boards, you know, for whatever way you're leaning. Because Kai Jones would be a top six, seven pick on the one willing to take a risk.

It is fascinating, right? Because he feels to me, he feels like the perfect, like when it gets that I would be terrified to take him high. But when it gets to the certain point, we talked about that story a few weeks ago that Rosillo told me about talking to John Hammond about the honest thing. And it was like, it's 15. swing why not swing you know what I'm saying like there there comes a point in the draft

where to me it's worth the swing you know what I mean and he feels like one of those that just really fits into that exact mode I don't know what he's going to be but I will tell you that

when you start talking motor and you start talking a guy being really hungry and they said a shot look good it's smooth I'm with it you know what I mean I understand He doesn't know how to play.

He's very raw, whatever. But, I mean, there's a lot of the other stuff. If you go hard, that is a talent. There's not a ton of guys in the NBA that you can count on going hard all the time. Because you know, I love the kid last year who's, you know, he's going to go in the second round. Herb Jones out of Alabama. Oh, yeah, he's great, man. I love him.

But it's like a, you know, look, I just saw Bobby Portis matter. I just saw it. Bobby Portis goes. You know what I'm saying? Like sometimes you just need guys that you know they're going to, their heart. They're going to lay it out on the line. You ain't got to worry about them going after rebounds. You don't have to worry about them trying to make a play, trying to contest something at the rim, whatever.

They just go and they're not going to back down from people and they're ready to compete all the time. That's, you know, those kind of guys, I always, I always have a soft spot for them. I want to ask you about, because I'm going to, this is going to be interesting what I parlay this into. This is 24-7s composite rankings for high school going into last year. So these players would have been freshmen. Number one was Kate Cunningham. Number two was Jalen Green. Number three was Evan Mobley.

Number four was Jonathan Cominga. Number five was Brandon Boston. Is he in this draft? Yeah, second round picking all. It's interesting. Mm-hmm. Right? Because he was the fifth best player.

Like, you know, sometimes we do look back at this. Sometimes we look back at this and we say, you know what? They were, they peaked in high school or for whatever reason. They were so highly touted in high school. But, and there was a reason it didn't pan out in college. And sometimes we look and we say, we should have just written off their college experience. Like, because he played for so many years. I did that.

and I think it's going to work out for me. I did that with Cole Anthony. You remember last year. Now, I'm not going to ride for this guy. I don't know. But I do find it interesting that we're a year removed from him being considered the fifth best player in this whole class. Zaire Williams, Stanford was six. Scotty Barnes, Florida State was seven.

I mean, this stuff is matching up. Terrence Clark, insanely sad story, was eight. Nine was Greg Brown, Texas. 10 Musa Sisei, Memphis, who I saw in person. He just transferred to Oklahoma State. 11 was Jalen Suggs. And now I want to ask you about a couple of these guys. 12 was Josh Christopher.

Very highly recruited player. I mean, this was five star, five star, five star. Played at Arizona State for Danny Hurley, or for Bobby Hurley, rather. Feels like he's dropping. He was kind of solidly in all the first round mocks. and now I see him in a lot of second rounds. What do we think on Christopher?

He could slip in the late first, in all likelihood, in early second, maybe before pick 40, we see him selected. I mean, there's no doubt about what he can do. He could become a very good defensive player.

He's a shot maker, you know, a tough shot maker against, you know, tough defenses with Gans in his face and all that. It's some of the stuff we've talked about in regards to Kai Jones just as a guard, six,

six foot three in guard instead. Decision making, reading the floor, you know, what level can he be as a shooter? He has very, very streaky. It's just some concerns there in that, in those areas. But ultimately, Chris,

I want to be shocked if he's another one of those guys that does exceed his draft spot because of the talent level. We've seen it happen, but the concerns are legitimate. Okay. And so I went back and I looked at the year prior. So this would have been the Wiseman class, right? Jay's Wiseman, Anthony Edwards,

Col Anthony, R.J. Hampton, all those guys, right? And you scroll down Nico Mannion was in that class, Tyrese Maxi. I mean, a lot of these guys are already NBA guys, precious at Chua. And then I scrolled down and the 16th player on there, so was considered the 16th best player in the country. Is this Matthew hurt? It is not. Jeremiah.

And it is a guy that I looked and you and I talked about at the back end of the first round, two weeks ago. I looked at the one ESPN put out yesterday. They had him 58th. And that's the kid from Nova. Yep, Jeremiah Robinson. What's happened? Like similar to kind of Grant Williams

in the sense that, you know, undersized big. 6-8 teams worry again about the streakiness of his jump shot. He's not a great athlete. He's one of those guys. who's going to defend because he has great positioning and a great mind, a great brain. You know, he knows where to be.

So it's just little things like that. But I mean, I have him on my personal board. I think ranked like 40 or something like that, 42 or something like that. So he's dropped. I mean, it feels low for me. I'm just not sure who to move him above at this point. He's, I think he could be a good player. I think to me, I think it speaks to the depth of quality talent that could meet the needs

of specific teams. Like, I think this team is deep. those types of guys who if you want a small ball center, well, Jeremiah Robinson Earl is your guy. If you want a feisty defensive guard, well, Miles McBride out or West Virginia is your guy. Like there's different types of players for different types of teams. So when you said that about the undersized big and yet,

do you think he's, uh, the level of prospect of Pascal? See, another Dova. Oh, oh, Eric Pascal. Eric Pasco.

No, no, not see. Not see. Seeach. No, good grief. No, good grief. Good grief. No.

Not an all-star caliber player. I'm saying Eric Pascal, right? Because that's another Nova. It's another Nova guy from a couple years ago that maybe wasn't ideal. I'd say better. I'd say better. I mean, I think I had Pascal probably ranked around the same spot, like 44th, 45th, something along those lines that year in 2018, 2019.

But I think this year's class has more guys that I like than the 2019 class. classed it into the second round. It's fascinating because you look through this stuff and you look back and there is a pretty good track record of these guys that were elite level preps and how they play out. It's not the end all be all by any means. To wit, 24-7, their 23rd ranked prospect of that year,

lamello ball. Lamello. How's that working? That's something else. You know what I'm saying? You know, but I mean, a lot of them, it does in many cases mirror the draft, you know, And then you see these guys in there.

And so you see like a Jeremiah Robinson Earl or you see this year, the one is by a wide margin is Boston. He was ranked high everywhere. He's like sixth at ESPN. That's unbelievable. I mean, like just high everywhere. Yeah.

Does anybody have him as a first round pick? I haven't seen it. I don't think so. I haven't talked to an executive who's like head over heels for BJ Boston. So you remember a couple years ago, I did this with the guy. Who was it?

It was a Duke kid, very, very, very highly ranked in all those recruiting services. And I said, this is the guy. And it hasn't worked out. I'm saying here's the guy that everybody loved in high school. And we can decide whether or not we're going to write off the college year that was overwhelming or not, like I did with Cole Anthony. Oh, it was Trayvon DeVall. He was like, he's top 10.

player in the country. And had an overwhelming one year at Duke. I haven't, I don't, I have no idea where he is. Is he,

is he in the G League even? Or is he over, honestly. Like he was a top 10 high school player. Trayvon DeVall. You know, after playing, I mean,

shoot, went to Duke and most recently played for the Hamilton Honey Badgers. What? Who are the Hamilton Honey Badgers? In what? They play in the C.E.

B. the Canadian elite basketball league. Stop. That's where Trayvon Duvall played last season. I need a professional league. They went eight and three. That was their record.

They put 11 games. Yep. 11 games. You play more games at 24-7 fitness. I mean, I need a, I tell you this, though, I need a Hamilton Honey Badgers jersey.

I wonder if I'm going to search for them. Hamilton Honey Badgers. That's amazing. Chris, that's what I want for my birthday. Hamilton Honey Badgers. I'm going to get you. I wonder if they even have gear. Do they even have a website?

Yeah, they have a shop. I'm looking at their page right now as we record here. They have jerseys, headwear, hoodies, teas. Oh, I'm getting you. Now, can I buy a Trayvon Duval, Hamilton? It looks like they have nameless jerseys. I'm not sure if you can do custom. I'm sure maybe.

Oh, you can. Jersey personalization. Oh, you can do it. Let's go. Kevin O Badger. I'll put that on the back. Kevin O Badger. The Hamilton Honey,

but okay, so let's just say it hasn't worked out for him. You know what I mean? Wow. I did not expect the Trayvon Duvall mentioned to send us down this path. All I'm saying, I know. Oh my God.

How is he not playing in Europe or something? That's crazy. He's only 22 years old, man. PJ Tucker did it. Five years overseas. you never know. Yeah, I guess you never know. But I'm telling you that Trayvon Duvall,

we're not that far removed from him being one of the highest ranked players in the country. I can't remember what year that was. That wasn't Lonzo and Josh Jackson at all of them's year. I don't believe. Oh, here it is. 24-7 sport. This is 2017.

Number one, Marvin Bagley. Yeah. Number two, Michael Porter, Jr. Number three, Mo Bamba. Number four, D'Andre Aiton. Number five, Colin Sexton. Six, Trayvon Duvall, seven, Wendell Carter, eight, Jaron Jackson, Jr., nine, Mitchell Robinson.

Yeah. Ten. Hamadu Diallo, 11, Kevin Knox. I mean, then there's Troy Brown, PJ Washington, Lonnie Walker, Gary Trent, Jr. I mean, this thing is loaded. Pretty pretty good names there. 23 is Trey Young. Yeah, that's crazy. That's crazy. I mean, this class is 31, Shea Gilges Alexander. 31. 39, Daniel Gafford, 40, Nikiel Alexander Walker, 42, Kese Okapala. I mean, you You can go on and on.

Tuma O'Kiki, 47. I mean, you can go down this list. The top 50, hell, half of them are in the NBA. Xavier Tillman, I see it, the 80s. Your guy. And the guy that is ranked 6th is playing for the Hamilton Hellcats or Hamilton Honey Badgers. I'm scrolling down this list, Chris. Yeah.

I just have to point this out. There's a player in the draft this year who dominated college basketball the last two years, who might go undrafted. Luca Garza. Oh. And Luca Garza, leaving high school entering college, was ranked 93rd for RSCI rankings, which is an aggregate of all college rankings. And 93rd, will we see a repeat of history?

Garza, not a top 50 prospect entering college, goes on to become a national player of the year, outstanding player, right? He was outstanding at college. Now he's a late second at best. will he go on in the NBA to exceed expectations again? Will history repeat itself for him? I wonder.

I'm interested in him as a prospect. I'm betting against him with my ranking. I haven't ranked in the 50s, but there's something there. There's still something there. I talked to one guy in the NBA that said to me, I said,

let me ask you about Luca Garza. And this is the response. He goes, don't talk to me about Luca Garza. And I was like, why? And he's like, it's just a, it's a, it's a sore spot. And I was like, what do you mean? He's like, because our guys laugh at me, he goes, Luca Garza is a bucket.

Just give him the ball. And he says it worst, he's playing for our G-Leat team for like the next five years. You know what I mean? But Luca Garza is a bucket. Like the guy loves Luca. He's like, the guy just, give him the ball. And guy scores. end the story.

He's like, go put, go put on the film. This guy can score. And I was like, I was like, yeah, I understand how that feels like the kind of guy that if somebody really likes them, that other guys are like, bo, shut up. He is that type for sure. He's slow. Everybody's going to target him, you know. Can't move.

He's not going to stand the floor. But there's one guy in the room going, that dude is a bucket. Yeah. You know what I mean? Let him cook. Yeah. Yep. There's always that person with Luca Garza who's like, did you see him drop, you know, 35 points against Oregon? Did you see him drop, you know, 30 against Wisconsin? I mean, like, there's just like, they throw out these great games he had.

He's like, do you see the way he scores from everywhere on the court? He can shoot threes at over 40%. He can post up. He can play in the dunker spot and, you know, make his hands, catch tough. had balls, put the ball right out, back up onto the backboard and score, like his feel and touch. Kevin, hand-eye coordination. Yeah. Nothing would be funnier than him being awesome in the NBA. Yeah, I would love that. And the whole NBA missing.

Yeah. Like, what did you want? What do you want the guy to do? He just blistered everybody in college basketball. Like, he just one player of the year. Like, what do you want? And then everybody's like, yeah, I don't like this. I don't like that.

Like, I'm rooting for him to end up being good. Oh, I'm rooting for him too. It would be so funny, like, for everybody to pass on him and everybody to hate on him. And it's like, guess what? Look at Gar's is good. And it actually does translate. I would love it. I tell you this, I do not think he's like a stiff that if you threw the ball, he would just, like,

there's no question he could get buckets against a lot of guys in the NBA. BA. I mean, he's lost like 20, 20 pounds. Oh, is that right? Yeah, we'll see how that translates to on-court action. But, I mean, I'm intrigued. I'm intrigued by him for sure. No doubt about it. I got to, I do have one depressing thing. So about three weeks ago, I told you, I said, Kevin, you know, I love, love, love sucks. My list would not be huge of guys that I really love. But the guy I told you is my first love was Moses Moody. And that's, that's when he was like at 18 to 22 in most mocks.

Are you going to have to get in like that top eight to get Moses Moody now? Like he has flown up in all of these frigging mocks. Do you think that's a, you think that's real? Do you gather that teams are that high on him now? Yeah. I mean, like his stock is one of those players where it could be like seven,

eight. It could be 15, 16. I think it's somewhere in there. like the top end and the back end for him. And in my latest mock at the ringer, which you can find at NBA draft dot the ringer.com for top 70 scuddering reports and a full two round mock drafts. That was a great plug.

Unbelievable. Like one of your best. Thank you. You can find that I have Moses Moody on the Tuesday mock going to the Grizzlies with the 10th pick because in this mock, I went with Giddy for the seventh pick because I didn't want to put giddy at 10 because that's what everybody has today because that's what all the intel is. It was an exercise.

Like if Giddy goes seventh, which he could to the Warriors or somebody that trades into that, who would be the guy at 10? And with Memphis, they worked out Moody recently. I was told earlier this month, you know, we'll see if they stay at that 10 spot and if Wagner's not there or if Giddy's not there. Maybe Moody could be their guy. Would you be happy about that on Chris? You'd love it.

You'd love that. I covet. Yes. I love Moses Moody. Like this has all been these last couple days because I do think Memphis is going to make a lot of moves and build around Morant. So I'm buckled up for everything that can take place.

But John Hollinger, who actually used to be in the front office, he had something like he, I read his article on the athletic about the deal. And you know, and you'll laugh about this because it's a guy that I've coveted for a long time. He had in there as like, oh, yeah, well, the Bledso thing, maybe they could stretch him and it would be this, but that may hurt with the contracts as you're going to, you know, extend Jared Jackson, John Morant, or, you know, some kind of deal there with it. Like maybe, and the deal he put in there was Eric Bledso and John Conchar for Buddy Heald. and I was like, what?

What has happened with Buddy Heald's like stop? Like, what? No. Buddy Heald is one of the top five shooters on planet Earth. I like John Contra, but he's not that valuable in the trade. I was like, is this real life? Like, this can't be where like I know people are down on buddy. They shouldn't be down on buddy though.

I know. But buddy, like if buddy goes to the Lakers for Kyle Kuzma, They're going to have a guy who shoots like 44% off a screens, like 44% off of handoffs, 40% and spot up who can hit threes off the dribble at a really high rate too. LeBron James would have that guy as a teammate. Like Buddy Healdstock will skyrocket if he goes to the Lakers. I know. I don't understand like Eric Blanco and John Contra. What are we talking about?

Like what is the value for Buddy Hewold? Would you hear that? Would you hear that? in Hollinger's article. Interesting. I don't think it's that low. But maybe it is if the deal is actually Kuzma and like 20 second pick. That is pretty low, but I don't see blood cell level low. I mean, I like Buddy Healed, man. I think buddy healed. I did too. I think buddy healed. He's a winner, man. Like he's a winning player. Go back and watch him in Oklahoma. This guy like talking, what you just talking about Bobby Portis? Like he's better than Bobby Portis as a player,

he brings that same energy and heart and hustle and enthusiasm to the game. And if he goes to a winning team, like you're going to, you're going to see that all season long into the postseason. Two years ago, Sacramento's season was going the wrong direction, as was the case of any time. I could mention this in the last 15 years. And they played a game in Memphis and they canceled their shoot around. Buddy Healed was out on the court, drenched in sweat, just him. and a guy he brought out there to rebound for him and they might have like canceled their practice,

their shoot around, whatever is like a day off. And he was out there just shooting a million threes, just pouring with sweat. I mean, and I was like, give me that guy. Like, that's day off. And that's all I need to see, man. Like, he's the only one. Nobody else.

Nobody else with him. He's the only one out there. And he was just going to go. going to get up shots. End of story. And like a real full-on workout. Because it was like, it wasn't going to change his routine. And to see a guy out there pouring.

And again, that's something that nobody would have seen. I just happened to see it. Nobody would know that he's doing it. That's what you do when people aren't watching. He didn't post it on Instagram. Like, look at how hard I'm working. You know, that's just how he conducts himself. Oh, I've coveted him ever since.

I'm like, give me that guy. That's someone that that's hunger. You know what I mean? Somebody that cares. He's one of those guys, dude. And I hope he gets an opportunity to play for a winner, whether that's in Sacramento or somewhere else. We'll find out soon in the coming weeks.

Somewhere else. Look, I think this is going to be super fun, though, over the course of the next couple of days, because I do think there's going to be a lot of movement. I do. I think, and you might see some blockbusters. you think Beal gets moved? What do you think?

So last time we're going to talk before the draft. Yeah, I mean, I'd lean no on Bradley Beal. And with Ben Simmons, with Ben Simmons, it's really, really hard to tell right now because I saw Matt Moore over at the Action Network reported, you know, that the Sixers offered Simmons for Van Vleet, Ann and Obie, multiple picks, you know, a whole bunch

and Raptors say now. Like there's so much stuff floating out there right now about the Sixers having outrageous demands, like wanting four first-round draft picks and three-pick swaps and a young player from the Spurs, they say now. It's like all these deals you hear about is outrageous. Nobody would do it for Ben Simmons.

But that's Daryl-Mory philosophy, right? Like he does this a lot of the time around draft time is like he's asking for a lot for a little. Will he on draft night be reasonable? Maybe. Will he, is his intentions here to extend into the season, hoping the Blazers struggle and Damien Lillard becomes available

or Bradley Beal is like fully available at that point. Who really knows? We don't know. No executive knows. But we will find out Thursday night. If Ben Simmons gets dealt, it's because Darrell Moray dramatically lowered his asking price overnight or it's because a Beal Lillard type

were to become available. Not so much realistic Lillard, more realistic Bradley Beal. All right. How about of the three guys that we've been talking about the most. Do you think that the odds are decent that one of them gets moved during the course of this whole draft thing?

And that is Beal Simmons Lillard. And you could say, and or McCollum, you know what I'm saying? Like that Portland does something. We'll see. I mean, with Portland, it's hard to tell except for the fact that it seems unlikely Damien Lillard would get dealt.

Seems very unlikely. But would it be on common? It wouldn't be that crazy to think McCallum. Yeah, he's not the same level as those other guys. Maybe Ben Simmons, that could work. But with Bradley Beal and Ben Simmons, I don't know, man. Like everything you hear about the Sixers is that they want to trade Ben Simmons with more.

Like, their ideal is trading Ben Simmons with a lot of draft picks for Damien Lord or Bradley Beal. So I just, I mean, unless the pressure is so much from Ben, Simmons and clutch and ownership and Embed to make a move now that you have to do it. Mori's preference clearly is to wait there, which is why I'd lean towards the Bradley Beal side of things. I think with Bradley Beal, you know, after spending a couple of weeks with Team USA, getting recruited by other guys, obviously Jason Tatum leaving the shamrock emoji on the Instagram

post, that's not the only time they've talked about teaming up, you know? It's not the only time Bradley Beale has with his other teammates and other guys that weren't even there. I think with Bradley Beal with having one year left on his deal, Chris, that makes him automatically the guy that's most likely to get dealt because there's not only reason for him to want to leave, but there's reason for the Wizards to say, you know what, it's been an awesome run with you. Like, you have been, you know, an unbelievable player for this franchise, but now it's time for us to both move on. And for the Wizards, this could be that point.

All right. Last thing. This deals with the draft. Is it fair? If I told you that the only. thing worth being convinced about is Cade Cunningham going after is going number one and then everything after that is on the table. Would you buy that or do you think there are any other like guarantees? Like I mean, if if Jalen Sugs, Jalen Green, Evan Mowgli, like any of those guys,

right? Like I think it's just hard to imagine that the mock drafts that there are right now are going to replicate what it looks like even on Thursday night. Like this feels like one of those, I mean, nobody has Russell Westbrook going number four and then all of a sudden Russell Westbrook goes number four, right? You know what I'm saying? Like, I mean, there's a lot of stuff flowing out there.

I know. I mean, like, there's so much stuff flowing out there right now that it's like you don't know what to believe sometimes. In all seriousness, like there's a lot floating out there that's been reported and then hasn't been reported. All I would say is that like, there's a heck of,

of a lot of trade possibilities after number one. Like Houston wants to move up to one. Maybe they end up moving down. Maybe Cleveland could move down. Maybe Toronto could move up or down. Like there's all these teams are in flexible positions. And some of these deals might not manifest until hours before the drafts on Thursday night. And I mean, that could have to do with players too.

Like it could change things for a Simmons, a Beal. So I'm excited. I think like this could always end up. It could end up bombing and there won't be many. trades at all. But there's a real, it could be chaos in a very fun way for fans. I think it could be chaos. And I think back just even just a few years ago, which really altered the league and its future was that whole forever. Luka was logged at number one. And then most everybody kind of switched to Aiton. But then it was Aitin and Bagley. And then we

would have never guessed in a million years that Luca and Trey end up flipped for each other. And so it feels like that kind of thing now. Could be. Could be. Is a lot more possible. I can't wait. This is going to be fun. This is going to be a lot of fun because of the teams that have these certain picks.

And the fact that we are now, people are going to listen to this on Wednesday prior to Thursday, we still don't know. We had no idea what the hell is going to happen. And everybody's floating BS everywhere. Truly. And there's stars available. This could just change everything. Kevin, it is always a pleasure. We want to thank Steve Allman for filling in producing us this evening.

I hope you had a great birthday. And I know what's your plans for the draft? You're going to be on Green Room or are you going to be on pods or what? I believe I'll be on the Bill Simmons podcast that night. Not sure if it'll be live on Green Room or not, but either way, you'll be able to find that posted in parts on Bill Simmons podcast feed, I believe, that night. So, and then we don't have a show this Friday. I don't think, Chris.

No, because you're going to be doing it with Simmons. Yes. So doing it with Simmons Thursday night. Yeah, you're big time now. I'm small time. Yeah, well, and so Friday, Friday we don't have a show, but next week on Tuesday, we'll have a heck of a lot more to talk about besides the draft because it's going to be the Eva Free Agency. I know. Keep a lookout and then we're going to have Summer League. My God. Keep a lookout for, you'll get all of Kevin's draft reactions with Bill Simmons coming up on Thursday night and Friday morning. We will talk to you next week.