The Ringer NBA Show - Best NBA Draft Picks, Possible Busts, and More First-Round Reactions With Tate Frazier and J. Kyle Mann | The Ringer's NBA Draft Show

Episode Date: June 27, 2024

KOC, J. Kyle Mann, and Tate Frazier get together to react to the first round of the NBA draft! They start by diving into the odd Spurs-Timberwolves trade that will send prospect Rob Dillingham to Minnesota and two very future first-round picks back to San Antonio (01:35). Next, they discuss which selected prospects they think will bust (12:52), as well as their favorite team-player fits from the first round (26:58). Also, the guys briefly preview the second round and discuss some of their favorite prospects still left on the board (58:18). Check out KOC’s 2024 NBA Draft Guide for all the latest prospect rankings, draft grades, and more! Hosts: Kevin O’Connor and J. Kyle Mann Guest: Tate Frazier Associate Producer: Jessie Lopez Additional Production Support: Ben Cruz Social: Keith Fujimoto and Eduardo Ocampo Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

All right, what a first round of the 2024 NBA draft. I brought on Tate Frazier and Jake Almane to talk about every pick. We talked about all 30 players that were selected in the first round. Some conversations were brief. Some players only got to mention. Others we went super in-depth on. But all 30 picks were discussed. Hope you really enjoyed that.

We talked about the trades that happened, starting off with the Spurs and the Wolves, getting Rob Dillingham. We talked about players that we think had the biggest bust potential based off their new situations. we talked about the best player team fits as well and a bunch of other stuff that stood out to us throughout the night. All that is coming up next with Tate Frazier and Jay Kyle Mann. Favorite for the show, right, Jesse?

That's what a Chris Vernon line from Bill Walton. Chris Vernon is dead, by the way. He literally ex-communicadoed himself. He literally was like, if they take Edie, I kill myself, KOC. Well, let's start the show right there. We just finished watching the first round of the 2024 NBA draft. Verno's gone, I think.

Maybe he'll be back on Thursday night's mismatch where we recap the entire draft. But tonight, I'm here with Tate Frasier and Jake Hale, man. We're talking about the 2024 first round. Hawks took Zachary Riesisach with the number one pick. We had multiple trades. And I want to start out with one of those trades that happened on draft night because it was a big shocker to me. It was my biggest wow moment. of the knight, the Spurs.

They take Stefan Castle, Yukon Point Guard with the fourth pick, and then they're up at number eight, and they take Rob Dillingham, Kentucky Guard. You know him very well, Kyle Mann. But then they trade the eighth pick to the Timberwolves, not for a pick this year, not for a pick next year,

or the year after that. They don't get a pick until 2030, a top one protected swap in 2030, and then a 2031 unprotected. picked pick from the Minnesota Timberwolves who end up with Rob Dillingham. Tate, before we get to the Minnesota side of things of this trade, I'm shot that the Spurs did this. I'm still trying to figure it out.

Can you help me understand what the hell the Spurs are doing here? Because I like the Castle pick, but I don't like trading for a picket in 2030 and 2013 and I think you pointed this out on Twitter. I saw. I mean, at the end of the day, Anthony Edwards will be what, 29, 30 years old at that point when these picks come up. so that would be very confusing. I think the exciting part is that Rob Dillingham's a top 10 pick.

And I think that Rob Dillingham is a top 10 talent. I think Rob Dillingham arguably was a top five talent. But the way that he was being discussed before this draft, I mean, it felt like he was almost in free fall. Then all of a sudden you get the spurs up. I mean, as soon as the pick came in, I don't know about you guys, but I immediately,

you start thinking about Dillingham and Wimby. It felt like, you know, Dillingham was kind of politicking to play with Wemby, and it felt like this perfect match made in heaven. Then all of a sudden, and here come the Timberwolves, and here comes our boy Tim Connolly, who's like, you know what,

I need shot creation, and I need the best shot creator in this draft, and it is Rob Dillingham. So, I mean, I went from the whiplash of excitement with Wimby to the, oh man, Anthony Edwards, Rob Dillingham. I like that combination,

and it's good for American basketball. So, you know, there's a lot of whiplash going on, KFC. Yeah, I tweeted out after that pick was made, all caps, oh God, oh God, oh God, no punctuation. because which, you know, sounded a little orgasmic, I guess. I promised it didn't go that far. But I was really excited about the idea.

We all were excited. I think this was the prophecy was fulfilled where we were like that would be the most fun thing to see. They would have skyrocketed, I think, to the top of like league pass, any league pass ranking. I think Rob and Wimby would have been really fun. And then, but you combine it with Castle too. It would have been fun. But so I didn't even get a chance. Yeah, talking about WIPP.

I didn't even get a chance to celebrate it because we immediately go to him being in Minnesota, which it doesn't mean that there's no celebration there. You're just, you're kind of thinking about, okay, well, all right. I mean, I assume Minnesota who needed to get more dynamic. We saw that against Dallas. Interesting how the matchups played out in the playoffs. I don't think it's going to come in where it's just like, all right, Mike Conley, you know, out to pasture, here comes Rod Bellingham.

I think Dealingham is probably going to be, and you guys comment on this, tell me if you think I'm right or wrong here, I think he's probably, going to be in a pretty good situation where he's on a good team. They have crazy length. We saw how incredible and intense and long and ferocious that defense could get from Minnesota. Elite room protection back there.

You've got guys that can protect him, but also put him in situations to do what he does best, which is rock. Put the ball in the basket. And that's probably going to be with the second unit, I would assume. I mean, for the same reasons that I love the idea of Dillingham with the Spurs. I also love Dillingham

with the Timberwolves. He's protected by Rudy Gobert. They have size, McDaniels, cat. You know, you got Nas Reid as a backup. Like, they have so much size and versatility. Never mind, Anthony Edwards and McKill, Alexander Walker. Like, all the flaws of Dillingham are protected. And then he's enhanced

with those same exact pieces because you've got shooters, you get aunt as a go-to guy who's only getting better. Gober is a lob threat. So you have Conley, who's almost 40 years old at this point. So, yeah, I think you're right, Kyle. Dillingham backs up Conley at first. Maybe by January

February, February he's starting if his development is positive. Maybe it's not until year two, but at the least, him and Terrence Shannon, who the Wolf got with the 27th pick, Shannon, I had ranked 21 of my board out of Illinois. He's a senior 6-6-go-to score almost 24 years old. Clearly, Tim Conley's objective with trading for Dillingham and then selecting Shannon is to inject offense into their half court, these creators. So I love what the Minnesota Timberwolves did. But again, the flip side of it, though, San Antonio.

I love the Castle pick at 4. Castle makes a hell of a lot of sense for them because he's a great defensive player. He's versatile. You pair him with Victor Wen Benjamin, Yama. Those two are going to be really tough to score against. Offensively, Castle can do all the typical point guard stuff. He's a solid passer, solid creator. But he also does the dirty stuff.

He'll set screens. he'll cut. Tate, you saw him all year for Yukon. He can be in the dunker spot sometimes. He'll set screens off ball. So as Victor develops, Castle might be that, you know, kind of like Bruce Brown to Nicola Yokic, right, setting screens for Victor. So I like that pick for the Spurs, but I'm just, I'm perplexed with why they traded that eight pick for picks that don't come for another seven years from Minnesota, who, like you said, Tate, aunt's going to be 29 and 30 years old. Clearly, this is a bet from the spurs that the Timberwolves are going to implode, that Anthony Edwards will leave before the end of his contract, that those picks will be high-value selections,

that they'll be able to either use those picks down the line to bolster the team around Victor I, Byniama, who will be a supermax player by that point, or they use those picks in advance as high-value assets to improve the team around Victor. But my issue is, I'd rather have the player. I'd rather have the young guy right now developing with Victor. I think there was whether it was Dillingham at 8 or whether it was like Cody Williams or Devin Carter or Bob Carrington for that matter who went 14 to the Wizards or Connect who fell to the Lakers at 17. There's just so many guys that I'm like, oh, I'd be excited about that player as a developmental piece for the Spurs. Do you guys agree with me there that the Spurs might end up regretting this? I will say this about the Spurs.

I do think that they were going for the Frenchmen, and I do think that because the Charlotte Hornets decided to zag and take Salon, that threw them for a loop. I agree to you. When that happened, COC, I think that they decided this pick is not our pick anymore. It's for sale. And I think Tim Connolly saw that and was like, we need the best shot creator in the draft,

and he's still on the board at number eight. Oh, my God, let's go make a play for it. So I don't really, I understand kind of where the spurs are coming from. from you get Castle. I'm not even sure Castle was their number one guy. Maybe he was number two, number three. Shepard should have been number one on their board in my opinion. There you go. But these guys are off the board. So I just felt like maybe the Spurs picks were a little bit more reactive. I'm with you, though. When you looked at four and eight, we were very excited about what the Spurs could do and the combination and those two guys kind of coming in together.

So it does feel a little bit like a letdown that it's just one guy. But if you're going to get one guy, I think Castle is a great guy to get. And Dan Hurley said it, he's a six foot six Drew holiday. I think that's a great comp for him. So I like that shades of. You mentioned Salon Tate. You're Charlotte Hornets get him with the sixth pick on the draft preview show on Fandual TV and on the draft show feed here, the podcast

version. You said to me and Kyle man, how everybody's got it wrong. The Frenchman that's number one on your board is not Zachary Reseeche who went first to the Hawks. Me, not Alex basketball expert. I'm so locked in. Not Alex Sard of the Wizards number two.

Big roller version. But you said, Dijon Salon. number one pick on your French draft board rankings, Tate. So here you go. You got Salon. Your man. Did you know something? I didn't know anything other than the fact that I watched the tape. And by the tape, I mean YouTube highlights that were cut together by some 14-year-old.

So shout out to him for putting that together. It's got a career. To Jane Salon, he popped off the screen. And honestly, high motor is what I love, KOC. I love the high motor. I love how locked in he is. I love that he has this connective tissue with the French. They're saying it's the French Revolution.

He's played with the Riesis deschet before we get a little rivalry there with the Hawks. You know, we got our French guys. We got our top 10 lottery picks going at it in the future. So I'm excited about that. And honestly, I love his size. I love his versatility. And I love the fact that the Hornets were willing to take a chance on upside. This is a draft where you could take a big swing.

And everyone's saying, who is the Janus of this class? Why not the youngest guy in the draft who has the, the best frame in the draft. I'm going to go for him. So I like the Hornet's doing that at number six. It's fun. It's interesting. And honestly, people in Charlotte probably hated it because they're like, who's this French guy? What do you think about the fit with Brandon Miller,

La Mello Ball, Mark Williams, the rest of that horn, it's core, Kyle? Well, you got to assume, you got to kind of look at the future and try to assume or just make some kind of a guess about who's going to be there. You got to assume that Miles Bridges, I would guess, is probably not a part of the long-term build for a lot of different reasons. Tate pumped his fist, I guess, in celebration.

that but I was saying he's out. I was saying he's out. Oh, I thought you were pumping. Fisbub sounds very rude. I was just like he's out. Some people that might want him out of there just and celebrating it. But I think the size and the motor are things that you really need to put next to those two guys. Now, Brinney Miller's not small. La Mello Ball, deceptively, you know, I think you think you think of him as a small guy, but he's a pretty big guy. I think you need a lot of kind of switchability and you need activity. And the big thing around those guys is those, those are players who aren't big, like, containment defenders. I think if you get salon, you have somebody that's going to be able to develop into, like, a corrective piece, somebody that can recover and clean up messes. And then, you know, you kind of have a similar body type throughout this roster. I think it's built to play fast.

You got decent. Another thing, too, is that you've got, he's not a chef, as I've said before. He's somebody that, he's a patron who sits down and dines, and we have some guys who can prepare meals for him. So we have like two live dribble passers with Miller and Lamello, and I think that Salon is going to eat well next to those two guys. Assuming, I don't know, what do you think his minutes are going to look like in the first year, though? That's a question. I would just say that, yeah, I think he will get playing time.

I do think Bridges and the free agency will be fascinating, but that four spot would be open if Bridges does leave. So you talk about the lob threats that would be there. I think there would be plenty of lob threats for Salon, and hopefully he can kind of grow his game out from the rim and be a vertical threat. And I think that would be the ideal situation. And I honestly have no idea what this new regime does. I don't know what a new head coach, a new GM, a new ownership.

I don't know what the Hornets look like now. So, I mean, it is kind of trying to piece it all together. But I think this is a good step in the right direction. Let's talk about another Frenchman. Let's talk about the player. I don't know about each of us, but the player that I think is most likely to busts. that's Zachary Riesichet, number one to the Atlanta Hawks. This is a major risk in my opinion.

I had Risa Chay 11 on my board. I get it from an on-paper perspective in terms of he's 6'8. He's a very good defender. He shot almost 40% from three this past season playing in France. But with Risa Chay, my concerns for him at number one. When you're talking about the expectations of a number one pick, This past season, he shot 48% from 3 over his first 34 games, only 29% from 3 over his final 31 games. Over his previous three seasons playing overseas, he was at 32% from 3.

And he's also been a 70% or worse guy from the free throw line in all of those years. This past season, he was only 47% in the half court on layups. Below 50% is not good. He was only 38% on floaters this past season as well. that's according to the Synergy Sports. I'm just concerned if Riesh's shot is not for real, that the defense being good and the versatility that brings on defense is going to lead to him being like another one of those,

Cam Reddish, the Andre Hunter, underwhelming, you know, on-paper versatile fits next to Trey Young, but it ends up falling short. Kyle, I mean, like, do you agree that, like, Reese Sierre has the highest bust potential of all the picks in the first round this year, or would you say somebody else? Yeah, whenever they, showed the graphic of DeAndre Hunter, like right after they took him. I immediately was just like,

man, I'm just getting Barney vibes from this. Like it was, you know, that year where we, we just couldn't quite tell who to go with. That was more chasing a trend with Barney. But this, like, he, he has better feel, I think, than Cam Reddish or DeAndre Hunter. I will say, in the middle of the floor, I was trying to be careful to sort of not go too far with it. But, you know, he shot the ball on, let's see, on unguarded catch and shoots this year. He 81 attempts, 31.3, and then when he was guarded, 37.2. But as you mentioned, a lot of that can be, that's why you kind of have to dig in and look at the sample of, like, when did they make shots? Was it more heavy or weighted towards a certain part of the year?

I was trying to think of, like, you know, Davion Mitchell is an example of a guy who had a big spike. Granted, he's a little smaller and had other challenges. He's somebody that had a big spike and people really bought into it. Can you think of other wings at his size that we, like, are examples of us getting, like, four, by somebody with like a misleading sample off the top of your head, Kevin, you've been doing this a while. No, I mean, I think with Risa Shea, like, it's the, I look at it like at number one, though, at number one, a guy who barely did any shot creation, whether there's questions about the reliability of his jump shot, I think, you know, like, whether it's a Justice Winslow or Josh Jackson or all these

kind of wings and forwards over the years and like Aaron Gordon was another one of them, granted he's had a highly successful career or Stanley Johnson. been a lot of these guys where we say if they can shoot, Ries de Chay had more success this past Caste. He showed more than a lot of those different types of guys. But I mean, it was a 34-game sample. And other than that in his career, he's hovered around 30%.

And I just, I think for number one for the Hawks, he's the guy with the biggest bus potential. Who would you be your biggest bus potential guy this year in the draft tape? Well, just one thing to piggyback on Risa's Jay a little bit. I mean, the thing that scares me about him is he's not a spectacular athlete. And now he has a target on his back. He only averaged nine points a game. He weighs 195 pounds soaking wet.

I mean, these are all things that you're like, these would be the typical red flags to be like, why would this guy be the number one pick? But the good news is that the Atlanta draft room, Landry Fields, Kyle Corver, Quinn Snyder, they look pretty pumped to make the pick. So maybe they know something or see something that we don't, you know, understand, or see quite yet. So that might be encouraging. I was worried about the Atlanta fans.

there were two fans in the building of Brooklyn that had berets on. So they're willing to, you know, be excited about what's ahead. So I am a fan of all that. I mean, as far as like the bust in the first round, I don't, you know, know, know, if it would be considered a bust if you're a late first round guy. But I think, you know, I like him a lot. And I'm a college basketball guy. People forget this, even though my French connection is coming out more and more.

Dylan Jones at Weber State. I was pretty shocked that Dylan Jones came off the board before Isaiah Collier. And maybe that's my own reading too much into my own eye and what I see. But I just feel like it was not one to one. I like the physicality of Dylan Jones. I think he is a good player. I think he could translate. But what he did in his conference is something to admire.

But if there was someone that I forecast where I look up in a few years and I'm like, how did this guy go number whatever? I think that might be the name that comes to mind. But again, I've seen Dylan Jones play great. So I don't want to put too much on him. But, you know, Risa Shea would be my number one draft. here because he went number one and it's going to be a really tough climb for him but another name would be dylan jones for me i'll tell you what when it comes to the thunder i have a hard time

you know questioning sam preste i know he's had his misses he's taking risks you know usman jeng is not is not paned out in the nba yet poku hasn't he's willing to take swings and they you know they still got hope for poku i i'm not giving up i like poker too i like poker too i mean i think he's taking swings And even if this is a whiff for Dylan Jones, I appreciate the swing here. Like it kind of goes off for a lot of people had Dylan Jones as late second rounder or even undrafted. Then at the 12th pick, they got Nicola Topich, who, you know, he's going to be probably another red shirt rookie like Chet Holmgren because he has a partially torn ACL. Topich, he falls in a situation where he's got Chip England that's his shooting coach, Topich, an 80 plus percent guy from the free throw line in his overseas. season. Maybe he's a guy

that over a year of getting a red shirt year he comes back next year knocking down threes. Do you see that possible for him, Kyle? Yeah, well, I was going to say, people show you who they are. I know, have you guys ever heard that idiom? I mean, like, people really do show you who they are. And OKC continuously

shows us that they like guys who have size, switchability in size. I mean, granted Kaysen was a little smaller, but they like guys in that 6-3 to 6-7 range who see-2 really well and pass the ball, whether or not that means they're like a pick and roll wizard or whatever it is. A lot of the guys that come in aren't that.

Shea comes in as a primary score who can kind of get off the ball. Jalen Williams comes in as somebody that kind of grew into that as well. We see Topich, Topich and Dylan Jones have similar issues. That's the interesting thing. They both have good size. Dylan Jones, a little beefier is going to be able to contain a little bit better, but he's a guy who rebounds his position really well. The other thing, too, is steel rate.

Dylan Jones, this season, 97,000. percentile in the country and steel percentage, 3.2 percent. But if you want to be optimistic, you mentioned Topich's free throw percentage. Dylan Jones got to the 45.4 free throw attempt rate this year, and he shot 84 and a half percent from the line. So there is optimism. I talked about how I thought Topich's rhythm was an indicator to me that he could become a better shooter. They keep drafting these guys. When you think they've had enough, they haven't. They just keep taking them. They totally bucked what we thought they might try to do in this draft and they just keep piling up these assets.

Kyle, who would be your number one bust potential pick in this year's draft so far? Let me pull up my handy dandy here. My handy dandy bust notebook. Yeah, my notes that are in front of me here, I have two that concern me.

I'll go with the first one that I think just based on the situation. Bozellis at the Bulls, I feel like. Boozealous. I worry. I spent some time watching his shooting today just to sort of circle back. I don't know if you guys did any kind of circling back today to just think about strong opinions you had.

Muzellis, I like his feel like the way he moves. I like his size, obviously. I like his personality. I do believe him when he says he's going to work. But if you look at the context with the Bulls, I worry that it's going to put a stress on him. They just committed to Josh Giddy that all indicators are that he's going to do that. Tate, I might hurt your heart here. but like Kobe White had a great resurgence,

return, he kind of returned to what we thought he might be coming out of high school, handle improved, started getting to the spots where we knew he could score from. But if you've got Giddy, if you decide to keep Patrick Williams long-term and Boozell's shot doesn't improve, I kind of just worry, I worry about that situation for him. I don't know if you guys share those worries at all. Don't worry because Pat Williams is coming to the Hornets. So, you know, that will not be a concern very soon. and I think it will all be figured out.

But Bozellis, I mean, he was very emotional. I mean, probably the most emotional of anyone throughout the night, his brother as well. And he obviously is going to Chicago. He is a Chicago kid. The guy that drafts him is Lithuanian. So there's a lot of connective tissue there between him and the Chicago Bulls. I hope that they let him develop and kind of, you know,

we're going to give you the keys eventually. But for now, just, you know, kind of keep it bay. And maybe that's the best way to do it. Maybe send him to the Windy City Bulls and let him be a G-League stuff. or something like that he played the G league last year you think he gets the keys on this team at any point you can sell you can you can you can dangle the keys it doesn't mean he's going to get the keys but you can jingle the keys and say maybe one day you can get him right now Kobe white has the card let Kobe drive you had another one Kyle who's who's your other guy

because bozellis is an intriguing one for i think you detailed the answers uh yeah that detailed your thoughts well there like i think the i think with bozellas the feel good story of it is you know nice thing, right? All of that's good at all. But the giddy Buzellas fit is not perfect. And for Buzellas, I wish he ended up somewhere else for his hopes in the near future. And so much, so much a player success is about team environment as well. You know what he said, KFC. Thank you to everyone who doubted me. So we all sit here. We are doubting him. We are doing exactly what Monis Buzellis wants. And we're free and the fine. I'm just going to be his Aria Stark. I happy to be a part of it. But, you know, I don't even know if it's doubting Buzellus.

zealous as much as like, man, I don't love the situation for him, you know? That's the way I look at it. It's like, I don't love the bull situation for him specifically, especially, well, this is also the challenge of fitting around Giddy. This is why O'KC was like, yeah, we'll trade, you know, 21, 22 year old up-and-coming player for 30-year-old, often injured Alex Caruso, because the fit is tough with Giddy. So, I mean, I think it's just the best player available pick for the Bulls, and I would have done the same thing at 11 if I were then. but Kyle, who was the other one you mentioned? I worry, if they don't do anything,

I don't understand the Pistons Ron Holland pick. I understand taking talent there. To me, Trayson Langdon is like underrated one of the like sneaky, like brilliant guys in basketball right now. And I think people are going to figure that out. So to me that, I mean, like mathematics major at Duke, like dude is brilliant. I think people are going to start to see that.

But to me, that makes me feel like they're going to make moves because you think of, I've had to, study this just because I've watched the piston so much, which, you know, they can attest as like getting a full body tattoo for several hours. Like watching the play, it can be tough. But like, if you've got a primary who struggled to shoot the ball in pick and roll as a pull-up player, Cade, and you surround him with like lacking shooters, like, I just don't, I don't understand how you're going to have Aassar out there and Duren and Ron Holland and continue to put that kind of pressure on Cade. To me, that surely is an indicator that.

that they're going to continue making moves because spatially you're just doubling down on making this hard on Cade's development, in my opinion. And it was reported that Langdon was trying to take calls about Clingin, right? There was some smoke that he may just take Clingin or the pistons may take Clingin and kind of, you know, dangle him for some, you know, the Blazers or the Grizzlies to trade up. They couldn't get the trade done in time. I thought Boozellis was a Langdon type player with the upside. But I do think that someone in-house there, you know, whether it's, you know, at the top

with ownership or something, they're probably like, we need to know this guy's going to be able to play ASAP. And Ron Holland, he plays hard. I mean, he makes mistakes. He can be a little bit wacky, but everyone says he's quote unquote wise beyond his years. So maybe they're thinking he has a veteran mindset and he can plug and play for now. And I do think that they're going to make some moves and they're going to try to figure out,

you know, some pieces around Cade. But, you know, LinkedIn is a smart dude, like you said, and they're going to really reshape that roster. And I don't know who the voice is in Detroit now. but obviously, you know, they think that they can make it work with Holland. And there is upside. I can't tell our boss, Bill Simmons keeps one day, he's like, I love Ron Holland. The next day he's like, I don't like the pick.

But he said it was more about the fit. So maybe we blame the fit. I think the fit for the pistons is a little awkward because of all the non-shooters, as you guys mentioned. But for Ron Holland, it's a perfect fit. And the reason why is because a team without a head coach has one of the best assistants already in the league. And that's Fred Vincent. They hired friend Vincent.

he's the guy who is really the architect behind improving Lonzo Ball shot, behind improving Herb Jones's shot that when he was in New Orleans, and they hired him away even before hiring a new head coach to replace Monty Williams. So for Ron Holland and for Osar Thompson and for all the young guys on that Pistons team, Fred Vincent is the guy right now. He's the best shooting coach in the league. He's exceeded Chip England in recent years. So I think for Ron Holland, this is a dream fit, but for the Pistons,

obviously, you need some of these guys to actually work out as shooters. So those are some of the guys that we think could be most likely to be busts. Let's talk about our best or favorite player team fits that happen in the first round.

We each chose a few of them. Tate, Kyle, which one of you guys want to go first with your best team player fit? I'll start with the Kings. I've been kind of like looking for an opportunity for them to improve their defense at without compromising some of the way that they play offensively.

That's hard to do. That's why those players are so valuable. I think Devin Carter is an awesome pick there. I think he's somebody that's going to give them some switchability, some energy. He catches lobs. I think that it'll take some pressure, give him some time. This was true of Keegan, too, where you know, you had offensive things that were in place, and Keegan could kind of do the things that he did well and grow on his own timeline.

And I think Carter's going to give that to the Kings. I love that pick for them. Tate, who do you got? I think my big winner of the night, obviously the Washington Wizards, Bubb Carrington, a lottery pick, a lottery talent. They get him, the youngest domestic player in this draft, and a guy that I think that they can plug and play there in Washington, can run the pick and roll,

also willing to go to the G League and develop and eventually be one of those guys. We talked about the keys. I think he eventually could get the keys here, and there were a lot of teams that had Bub a whole lot higher than maybe many people suspected. and the fact that, you know, they made this trade, they made this move to go and get Bob Carrington. That was a big signal.

And then on the back end to be able to get, you know, Kishan George out of Miami. I just like what the Wizards did. I like that fit. And I'm excited to see what Bob could do. And shout out to Coach Cable. He was there in the building. A lot of college coaches fighting for TV time tonight. Coach Cable, he got some lottery time with Bob Carrington.

So that was good. There was a lot of competition with the coaches today. Oh, yeah. Hurley was dominating. Hurley. He was in a shot with Calington. with Castle and Klingin. You got to sit down at the desk.

Got the Spurs hat on. Wizards get Carrington at 14. They get Keishan and George at 24. They trade it up with the Knicks to get that pick, 26 and 51 to get 24. And then Kyle, and number two, we got to mention they take Alex Saar. Yeah. With the second pick, a near seven foot forward out of France and superversal defender, you know, developing on offense.

What do you think about the SAR choice for the Wizards at two as well? I think the Wizards have done a good, it's interesting that they were so active on a night like this when, and I said this before the draft too, that like whenever there are clear-cut stars, I feel like people, it can make it a little easier, but whenever there aren't clear-cut stars,

the teams that have really strong philosophies and move and evaluate really well have a huge advantage. And, you know, so if you're looking at this draft, I think the Wizards did a good job of eating their vegetables and getting the fun stuff, like thinking about a Carrington and Akishon, and Akishan George.

George just needs, they're similar guys, very skinny, dribble pull-up guys. Carrington's a little bit better passer at this point, but if George can, like I said, develop his lower body, get a little bit stronger, get lower to the ground. I think he'll end up being somebody that could evolve into a playmaker. But I think Sarr, you get the switchability. You think about putting him next to Bilal-Kulbali. And I think you have two guys who could be a really nasty, you know, I know we think of Sarr as more of a bigger anchor-type guy.

I think he could evolve into like a tough assignment, sort of like big forward defensive player. I think he has that kind of potential at his size, which is what makes him special. I'm going to go with Ryan Dunn to the Phoenix Suns with the 28th pick. They made a trade with Denver for number 22. The nuggets, everybody knew that they wanted Dayron Holmes. They trade multiple seconds to get up and get him.

And the Suns, 28, they get done. And Dunn, I had him as a kind of a late riser. Like Kyle, you mentioned earlier, kind of like day of draft, in a week before the draft, who were the guys that you kind of reevaluate? And you're like, okay, I'm too low on this guy. And I had Ryan Dunn at 14 on my board in January, and like somehow he just slips down into the 30s. And I boosted him back up to 16 over this past week because I just think Ryan Dunn, potential all-world defender, one of the best defensive players we've seen in years, 7 foot two wingspan, 6 foot 6.

so he fits that scheme with their versatility, can play a little small with him. He had 36 dunks this past season for Virginia. He's a lob guy. He can cut to the rim. You can use him as a screener. And if the shot develops, if that ends up working out with Phoenix,

I think he's going to be a good player at a minimum, but if the shot works out, he has a chance to be really one of the steals of the draft. So I think the worst case Ryan Dunn is a great fit for the Suns and maybe he ends up to be much, much more than that if that shot actually works out. He is oppressive on the ball. Gardy so big and physical can contain penetration.

But like you said, he's an eraser too. He's probably the best shot blocker at his position. Gosh, I'm trying to think back of somebody who's been better. You said in the last little while, but I think that he's an interesting fit with the perimeter orientation that they have. He's going to be able to take tough assignments away from KD, potentially, away from Beale or Booker potentially. And he's somebody that, you know, if you can somehow get a five that can space,

it affords you. And that was where I was thinking with Denver, where I was like, okay, you got a five who's spatially so smart. That was kind of the thing that pushed him down on my board was the fit is so conditional. But, yeah, I mean, he's an impressive, impressive defender. Longer wingspan than LeBron. That was my favorite nugget from the night talking about Ryan Dunn. He can guard one through four.

And it steals and blocks. I mean, that's really what he does. You know, if you try to figure out, like, what does Ryan Dunn do in a basketball court? Well, he gets steals, he gets blocks, and he just makes things happens. And his brother is an MLB player. I love baseball players that play basketball. I just have a soft spot for him. I think they have great hand-eye coordination.

And Ryan Dunn, being a first-round pick, it does feel like that's a good one for the sons. Who else you got tape? Next one for me, I think this is just because he's such a steal. 29th pick, Isaiah Collier. He was the number one player in his high school class. I think that the attention that Brani kind of brought to USC and the fact that they were so bad, he got injured. I mean, there was just so much, so many eyeballs

and so much criticism on USC. And I feel like, you know, Isaiah Collier was kind of like secondary, you know, associated with some of that stuff. And it really knocked him down a peg. And if you look at Utah, if you're a Danny Aange disciple, I think tonight is a big win for you. You get Cody Williams, who's Mr. Upside. I think he's one of those guys where we could look back at this draft

and say, how did he not go top five? You have Isaiah Collier, who's a guy that I think that he's fired up about falling this far in the draft. I mean, he looked like when he did finally get picked, he was, you know, he had to kind of control how affected he was by the moment. He's going to be a guy who learns from these great guards. I know he already has great guards around him, trying to mentor him, Baron Davis, you know, BJ Armstrong, Rod Strickland, right? You got these point guards that are of that kind of fraternity that want to give him game. He's kind of a throwback in that sense, a true point. I think he's going to get there to Utah.

They're going to give him a chance to grow into that role. And I wouldn't be shocked if he ends up being a starter, a point guard in this league and someone to be reckoned with. So I just think that that is a really good pick up there at 29. And again, big win for Danny Aange. I like the pick for Danny Ains there. I mean, you get a young guy in Cody Williams with the 10th pick, Isaiah Collier at 29.

It could be a potential steal. I mean, I think if you, you know, ask anybody before the season, what went wrong with Isaiah Collier to fall? the way to number 29. USC stunk and Isaiah Collier was not great, but I don't think he was so terrible that, you know, you would have still expected him to fall all the way to number 29,

but I do think that speaks to the quality of role players, you know, that went ahead of him. I mean, like the Silva to the magic at 18, you know, a guy like Tyson to the Cavs at 20 or, or Misi at 21 to the Pelicans or Holmes to the Nuggets at 22, like a lot of like good role players.

And then, you know, these raw point guard ends up falling all the way to 29. So I like that choice a lot, Tate, even like if it doesn't work out, you know, for him in his career, I think it makes a lot of sense for both sides. Kyle, who else you got is your favorite team player fits? I'm a believer in high RSEI at that spot, and that's a great value. He's somebody, and I think especially when Utah chooses to go small,

Collier, just let him do what he does best, get it off the rim, blitz it and go. It doesn't matter if you're a home run pastor like Jay Billis was saying, you got all those shooters around you, which has kind of been their philosophy lately. I'll pick a couple obvious ones here. I mean, like, I think Jared McCain is just a perfect 76er. I think he's going to be somebody that's going to be, like, as a culture fit, obviously, that stuff is all obvious.

I can't wait to see the Instagram reels of that whole team painting their nails and things like that. But I think he's somebody that we were joking about this over text that he just fits everywhere. I mean, in transition, he was just a killer from three, 56.6% from trans, from, from, three in transition. He rebounds as well, really spot really well for his size. The fit with Max, you wonder, you know, you wish he was a little bit bigger, you know, maybe he'll back up Maxey for a while. I don't know if you guys think he'll be moving into the starting lineup in his first year. But I think when you get a movement shooter like that, he does a lot of the things that Healed does, I think. And he'll be able, and he has more playmaking upside, in my opinion,

than Heal does, which is not hard to do, but he healed. I think that's a lot. I think that's a good one, Kyle. I mean, McCain, dribble handoffs with Joe on the unbeat as well. Like, that's going to work great. Like, the back core fit with Maxie and McCain, those guys are going to be so fun together. I mean, they're both such a lot of smiles. A lot of smiles between those two guys.

Oh, so many smiles. It's going to be a really fun Sixers team, depending on everything else they do. I mean, they don't have much else on their roster at this time. So we'll see what they actually end up doing. But I like that fit for them. The one pick that came, I'm going to go with actually the

picks the game on both ends of that 16 pick with the Sixers taking McCain. Kelle Ware, to the heat at number 15, I think this is an ideal fit for Kellelewere in the sense that there's been questions about effort and motor in the past, so you go to heat culture. They got it on the court in the arena. So you go there, you're sharing a front court with Bam out of Bio,

Bam, who started shooting threes to finish the season, Ware, who shot over 40% from three this past season in Indiana, you could have one of those teams that has defensive versatility and size and can space out with five players if where indeed continues shooting well and if Bam continues extending his range, which I believe in. So for both those sides, I love the pick. They just need to find a point guard who can throw lobs. That's the key for the heat. And then at 17, Dalton Connect going through the Lakers out of Tennessee, fifth year senior transfers there. We've talked about him a ton all year tape.

connect. He got better defensively over the course of the season, but forget about the defense. Now you're paired with J.J. Reddick, who Rob Polinka joked after the pick that he immediately started drawing up plays on the whiteboard. I don't know if he was joking. He might have been serious that J.J. Redick was starting to do that. What a perfect coach to have Dalton connect the guy who thrived this past season off of screens and handoffs and movement actions. We can run some pick and roll for you. I'm in love with the connect to the Lakers, but that's one of my favorites and the entire first round. What do you think, Tate? Yeah, well, it's, you know, when Steve Kerr got and Clay Thompson, he's like, this is my dream because this is what I wish I could have done as a

player. I wish that I had this kind of green light and I want to watch these players have this. I think JJ Reddick probably had that same sort of feeling with Daught and Connect. He sees a great shooter on the board who's also old enough to get the respect of that locker room and the people in that locker room knows how to play basketball, a guy who wasn't recruited, a guy who went the hardest route to the top, also went to a school with Rick Barnes who said you're going to play defense and they had their pickers throughout the season and had their back and force. But I do think that Connect is better for it. I like that he had the DK chain on. I think it feels like a guy who can handle the LA spotlight a little bit.

I am fingers crossed knocking on wood that the Lakers don't move him because I think if he does come to the Lakers, he will be one of those guys who can play. And just thinking about, I don't know what the nickname is, but Austin Reeves and Dalton Connect together out here in Los Angeles, just splashing threes. That sounds like a whole lot of fun to me, so I like to fit a lot. I think, you know, they did mention that JJ was drawing up specifically pin downs for Connect. And I think that's something for people, maybe for Lakers fans, JJ, big watch guy, big movement shooter, obsessive shooter. There's a lot of like kind of obsessive kind of qualities to JJ, which makes you think you might be a good coach. But I want like Lakers fans listening to this

that maybe don't have any clue really about this guy, he has an edge. He's not a typical and shoot like run around screens guy he did do that a lot at tennessee but this is a guy who like can catch from deep i saw him do this multiple times at my expense in many cases he can power up and shoot with great touch even in like multiple rhythms some guys can like run to a spot and shoot or they're they're only good at a couple different types of shots connect is very dynamic in the way that he gets his and he's not a guy that you can just run off the line and turn him into like a paper Meshay driver. He has mid-range game. He has game at the rim. I think he's going to get a lot of confidence from playing next to LeBron. I think it's probably a really good, it's a good thing that he fell to

the Lakers. So he's going to have space to do what he does well. And I think he's going to surprise Lakers fans who maybe you're thinking this guy, like, is this the next, you know, Grayson Allen? No, he's better than that. On behalf of our boss, Bill Simmons, which one of you guys want to talk about Baylor Shireman to the Celtics? Well, shout out to Baylor Shireman, because Baylor Shireman is a guy who I think he's a fan of the ringer at large. So we consider him a friend of the program at large. And Baylor Shireman's game, I mean, you watch what he does. He does everything.

And that's what the Celtics do. They just have five tool guys who can do pass, shoot, dribble, get their own shot. And Baylor Shireman can do all that. He's a great pick and roll player. He's a great shooter. Shooting translates. I think it will translate with Baylor Shireman. And I joked about him wearing his headband.

He said he's not going to do that in the NBA. but I feel like in Boston, they will let him wear his headband and they will promote it. So I assume we will get headband Baylor at some point. But he pops if you watch the tape. If you watch him in person, you can come away with the confidence that he exudes. And he just knows how to play basketball. He's a pure player. And I think in Boston's system, they're going to fall in love with him.

He's going to fall in love with Boston. And Donovan Klingan's going to be jealous because he wants to play for the Celtics so bad. I can just see it in his eyes. He had a fist bump. He did too much. During the out of silver announcement. I don't think I don't think. I want to comment on the crowd here in a minute,

but like Shireman did just tack on to this, that like crazy volume, crazy efficiency. He has audacity out the yin-yang. If you think about the way Sam Houser touches it, you know, no dip, it's going up.

Shireman is exactly like that. Prior to getting to Creighton, he was more of a pick and roll player, I think that's the thing that's going to get underrated is like he's a second side guy who can make a lot of passes. But he shot 56, 0.5% on pick and roll 3s this year.

His volume was one of the highest in the country and his efficiency. He was enabled and he delivered on that enablement. So I was just going to say that cracked me up. And then the sound that I don't know if you want to talk about Zach Edie, but the sound that the crowd made when Zach Edie got picked, somebody was like, oh, it sounded like a boo. It wasn't a boo. It was like a, oh, like there was this weird befuddlement sound.

They just saw Chris Vernon pass out. It was a reaction. I'm pretty sure that's what it was. I do want to talk about Zach Edy because he's on my list of perfect fits. I think E.D. to the Grizzlies, Verno and I on our June 3rd episode of the mismatch way earlier this month,

Verno's like, you know, if the Grizzlies take, Zach Ety and nine, you'll never see me again. And here we are. That's what they end up doing with the ninth pick. I was laughing my ass off. Like the crowd had this,

ooh, I was just cracking out laughing when I got the notification on my phone that had happened. Because I think for Chris Vernon and all Grizzly's fans, who might be skeptical of it, you're going to find out soon why this is perfect, because Zach Edy goes from Braden Smith to John Morant, throwing lobs for him,

create an easy shot opportunities at the rim. He's going to vacuum rebounds in that offense, following John, those drives to the rim, helping inside on cuts. Jaron Jackson Jr. is going to help protect him on defense and enhance him on defense because Eadie, look, dude, I think he is going to be a better defensive player in the NBA that he was in college in part because of the way he was coached.

They couldn't let him get into foul trouble with only five files in college. He wasn't a guy that they asked to contest every shot at the rim, but his sheer size is turned, and now he's going to be empowered for that Grizzlies team, and he's going to be supported by a bunch of good perimeter players and especially Jaron Jackson Jr. With his size of versatility. So I think for Eadie, he couldn't have asked for a better fit of, I think, anybody. in the draft. And for the Grizzlies, this fills a need after they lost Stephen Adam. So I'm, I'm excited for that. And like you said at the top of our cold open here, we're no longer with

Chris Vernon. But I think he's going to come back to life tape. I hope so. I mean, I'm praying for him. I will say, Zach Eady, I'm happy because this is a guy who won back-to-back wooden awards, who was the best player in college basketball, who took his team to a national championship game and was incredible in that game. I mean, it was not Zach Eadie's fault that Purdue did not win the national championship. They just played a team who had a lot more talent and played at a higher level as far as that talent and maximized it. So it's not Zach Gide's fault. The see him go top 10 is great. I think he's going to be beloved in Memphis very soon. As much as they may groan and moan, eventually they're going to fall in love with him. He's going to be kind of their side show.

And let's be honest, John Moran needs a challenge to get engaged. And John Moran's going to walk into the gym. He's going to see a guy that's seven foot three. And he's going to say, I need to dunk on this guy. So every single day, John Moran is. We'll be working on dunking on a 7 foot 3 man. Well, yes, that's true. There is a fine line. They need to sit him down. Now, Ja, you can't.

You get one a day. But I like to sit. I think it's good. Hopefully, John takes it easy and practices and saves up for the games. But with Memphis, there was all the rumors leading up to the draft about them trading up for Klingin. Kyle, do you think Memphis should have been more aggressive in trading up? up for Klingan rather than letting him fall to seven to Portland rather

than staying at 9 and just taking Edy there. It depends on how big you think the distance is between them. I mean, I think they played it right. Klingin is going to be a good defensive player. There's a world where Eadie their outcomes are pretty close to each

other. Do you guys think that that's fair? I mean, and also, you know, Klingan, the health thing is a big risk, whereas Eadie has repeatedly proven that he is the Iron Man. Like, for his size, which is really remarkable. Typically, guys, his size have, you know, foot problems or whatever it is, and it be as productive and as he has been over the past, and he's gotten a lot better over the past years. Yeah, I think I would have felt comfortable staying put in just getting Eadie there as a heavy quotes consolation prize there, rather than move in heaven and earth for Klingon. And now for Portland at number seven, Klingin ends up falling there. They already have DeAndre Aiton.

They have Rob Williams. Both of those guys have two years remaining on their contracts. I would think Portland selecting Donovan Klingan means they're going to move DeAndre Ait and or Robert Williams, possibly even this summer. I think you can at least try to make it work going into the season, see how it goes with two bigs, with Aiton maybe as a perimeter guy. But offensively, like you've got to have some space, unless Aiton's going to start. shooting threes after, you know, 10 years of trying to do so. And unless Klingin, you know,

figured it out throughout the pre-draft process when he didn't in high school, like you need to create space for Scoot Henderson. You've got to create space for, you know, Shaden Sharp and these other young Blazers players that need to be in a good developmental situation. So to me, I think Joe Crone and the Blazers GM needs to be working fast

to trade Aiton. And, you know, the issue is, like, for his big contract, $30 plus million dollars, a team better be feeling really, really good about what he did to end the season with Portland when he was really good. And games didn't matter, but he was great, you know, ever since February on. So, I mean, what do you think, Tate?

Like, does Portland selecting Klingin mean that we could have some moves here from that side? I just want to say, I'm a big fan of Donovan Klingin. I just want to get that out, like, on the front end of this. But when I see Portland drafting a big man with foot problems, I get a chill down my spine. And I say, oh, my God, you mentioned the bus notebook. I mean, that would be a recipe for a disaster situation. but I do think that Klingin has a great mentality. And DeAndre Aden, maybe not so much, just based on what we've seen, just dating back to college and what he's done in his pro career.

And if he does get moved, this would be his third team. And that's usually third time to charm. You know what I mean? If it's going to work, it's going to happen with that third team at the last case, best case scenario, Julius Randall, an example of that in New York. But, you know, I just think that with Klingin, if they can get him in there, they can clear the space for him to be the starting franchise center and put him on the time. timeline with scoot. That would be great. That would be encouraging for Portland. But it does seem like it could get a little bit messy as they get them in. But, you know, I hope, hopefully they can clear it so he can have the runway to be their franchise guy. There's a few players we haven't mentioned even in passing. Just want to mention them real quick. Pacom, the DA went to the Knicks with the 25th pick. Another player did not know what to do. He was broken. is that?

I think the DA has a chance to be really good. He's a project. And for the Knicks, you know, you just got Mikkel Bridges, you re-sign O.G. And O.G. and O. but you got a lot of guys who are going to be playing already. I think the DA is going to be like a worthy developmental project for them. AJ Johnson to the Bucks, that surprised me.

Jacobi Walter to the Raptors at number 19. He fell there. I had him top five before the season. He did not have a great year at Baylor, but ends up falling 19 to the Raptors. But of those three, I think AJ Johnson to the buck shocked me most. Because Kyle, the bucks are a team that wants to contend for the finals. They want to contend for the NBA finals. They want to win it all with Yonis.

And then you take AJ Johnson, who didn't play a lot this past season in Australia, and he didn't play all that well when he did play. And even though he had a good week at the NBA draft combine, he shot below 30% for this past season. He averaged three points per game. he was not good at 19 years old. I'm just shocked that the Bucks took such a developmental piece with their first round pick with so many good quality role players on the table.

Yeah, I thought that they would be going for plug and play. Honestly, I thought that this might be an opportunity to take a Dylan Jones or to take a cough, cough, Kevin McCuller. I just thought that that would be somebody, these guys that are going to be just off the assembly line and ready to go in. And AJ Johnson shows the, it was a value play, somebody that has had a week, couple years. He moves really well. He just looked out of rhythm and out of sorts a lot of the time, took weird shots a lot even in the time that he did play with Iliwara. So yeah, it doesn't make a ton of sense to me either. So it makes me wonder if maybe there's another move to happen. But, you know,

also the draft, I have old draft brain right now because I'm used to this all being over in one night and tomorrow they might answer that question and just know that they could get some of the guys that we're talking about tomorrow, whereas an AJ is somebody that they can make a play for now and maybe stash him and have that just on the burner for later. Tate, he averaged 2.9 points per game in Australia last year. That graphic made me laugh out loud. Yeah. Why are the bucks taking a guy who averaged 2.9 points per game in Australia this past season? I don't get it. Like, why don't you want to win with the honest? Why don't you take Baylor

Shireman? Why don't, why don't you take one of these guys who's ready? I'm just, I'm confused. Baylor Shireman, T.J. Shannon, Ryan Dunn. I feel like those are the names Kevin McCuller, like you said, Harrison Ingram. These are the names that you're thinking where they're older, they're more mature, they know how to play basketball. We can put them into the system. Hopefully they can be a piece for us. This feels like a project. And I mean, AJ Johnson's two years away from being a competent player, probably two years away from actually being an impactful player. I do see the vision, though. I like AJ Johnson. I see the size. I see the ball handling. I mean, Jalen Green standing there with him. He's like, I've been working. with his kids since he was 13, 14 years old. He puts in the work. Everybody says he's great in the gym. He loves to go to the gym and workout. So, I mean, I see the vision for the bucks, but like you said, the timeline doesn't make sense unless the bucks know something that we don't know, which is that they're planning for, you know, a future that might be a little different than what we may see right now. Maybe this window with Janus and Dame and Doc is more volatile and it's more of a two to three year window than it is, you know, four to seven year window or something like that. I don't

know, but AJ Johnson would fit a different timeline, and maybe they're taking him for someone else's timeline, but it didn't make a whole lot of sense in the moment, even though AJ John, I mean, he's sitting in the crowd just like watching the draft. He walks down. Bold choice. Like, oh, yeah. Hey, I'm glad I came.

They do have 33. That's another thing. So they might just turn around and take who we're thinking of. So I think that's very, I'll be very shocked if they don't do that. Yeah, maybe the bucks, what they're doing is they're taking their swing at 23 and then in the second round like you said kyle that that's where they just end up

taking the more certain piece um you know with that said i i think you know taking two certain pieces would have made a hell of a lot more sense than yeah i agree there's there's one name we haven't even mentioned once he was the best dress of the night he is one of the smallest players of the night he's reed shepherd oh you think he's best dressed kevin i'm i'm curious about this up front what would you like about it because it's pretty simple is that totally sarcastic oh I did not detect your sarcasm I thought he was dead serious I mean I like I like an olive suit it was not it was a nice color but he's like he's dressed for like a you know an interview you know to work for the NBA not not to play in the league he wants to work for

Adam silver but read shepherd number three to the Rockets I love this choice for Houston he was number one on my board that we've talked all about. Everybody knows what a knockdown shooter he is. But for Houston specifically, there's been rumors for weeks that they wanted him at three. They end up getting him. I just think he makes perfect sense as a help in the short term as a shooter. They needed shooting. They were not a great shooting team this past season. He makes sense as a long-term fit. Fred Van Bleeitz only get two years left on his contract. In a few years from now, maybe it's a Reed Shepherd, Amman Thompson, Backcourt. Those two guys running together. And with Reed Shepard, all the talk about the negatives with him is one of two things.

Small on defense and can he be a primary creator on offense? The first one, the size on defense, I don't think that matters as much with Houston, with all the length and versatility that they have, whether it's on Tomlin Thompson, Jabari Smith, Tari Isan. I think they have a lot of guys that can help compensate for that. And then offensively, it's very clear to me that Houston isn't going to be like the James Hardin Rockets. They're building a team that's going to have. sources of creation all around the floor.

And Reed Shepherd will be one of four or one of five creators on the floor all at once. They do that with Shengoon now at the five. They're going to do it with Amen Thompson. They do it with Jalen Green. There's different places that's going to come from. And now Reed Shepherd is going to be one of those connective pieces who, sometimes he leads, but sometimes he takes a back seat and works more of his shooter off ball.

I think for Shepard, this is a dream scenario. and for Houston, they got the number one pick on my board, and I'm very happy with the fit there. Yeah, it's the thing that we saw coming, and it delivered, and I think it's going to be awesome. I think the transition stuff, you could just go compartment by compartment here. You talked about modes of offense all over the floor. I mean, however Houston wants to play,

they've got those big athletes that are basically the size of jumbo-wide receivers that are going to be running in transition. Reed's probably the best over-the-top transition passer in the draft. I think you think about running him off ball because he can hit threes every which way. You add in his little connective lob passes or skip passes. And I think that he is going to be protected. And he's going to be able to space. If you assume that Shingoon is your primary hub, you move, you orbit him around there.

And it takes some of the pressure of him being like a primary, primary creator, which I don't think he's totally ready for yet. But I think that, like, you know, Amin Thompson has a chance to be one of the best perimeter defenders in the league. I think that that is very, very possible, generationally special even is on the table for him. And I think that Reed is a great compliment for him. So you got protection for him defensively too. While he still needs to improve,

but they have a lot of pieces, I think, to support and prop him up. Yeah, it was also cool to see Jalen Green there dapping him up after he got drafted. It was also his mom's birthday. He had 75 people there, his family. So, I mean, he is a true Kentuckian, and I love to see it. I loved his enthusiasm. him. I loved how excited he is. And I also love that he and Donovan Mitchell have this great friendship. I just feel like Reed fits in with the NBA world. You know what I mean? And I think

his teammates are going to love him. It's going to give some monster vibes where he's the Muxy Boggs of this team where he's going to look really little because of the length of this team. But he's going to be a menace, especially on the defensive end, stealing the basketball. I think he'll make an impact defensively, even though everyone's talking about him getting targeted. I think he will be able to handle it because he's a smart basketball player and he'll be able to make up for it. So I love the pick for Reed. I love the fit for Reed. And I like the Houston of those top four teams we talked about it. Their trajectory for what the future looks like is very high. And I think Reed's going to be a part of that. So it's exciting.

I mean, you mentioned how they're from Kentucky Tate. Those are some heavy accents on his parents. Are you jealous of that, Kyle? I can turn mine on and off. Mine's not as thick as Stacy Shepard. So she has an impressive one from Marvel, you know, I was like, damn. How about Stacy catching the first pitch of the Mets game? I mean, I'm like, Stacey's a stunt. She's a badass. Yeah, Reed threw a burner down there. I mean, this is just an athletic family, and they seem to get it, and, you know,

Reed is going to buy in, he's going to do the dirty work, he's going to be at the gym. You're not going to have to convince him to do this stuff, and I think he's going to fit in with that culture that EMA has, because that's how EMA wants it to be, so it'll be good. Let's do a quick little second round preview. Most listeners are going to want to hear about the first round, not a lot of time to listen to this before the second round, but a couple of the names that are of the top of my board and during the second round, Bobby Clintman, Tyler Colick, point guard out of Marquette, Johnny Furphy, you know, out of Kansas, a lot of people thought he might be a top 20 pick after he declared for the draft. Jonathan Mogbo, out of San Francisco,

a Dem Bono out of UCLA, good center, versatile piece there, Tyler Smith, Kyle Philiboskey, Kevin McCuller, your guy, Kyle, Larson from Arizona, Arizona, KJ Simpson, Tate, who's one of your kind of favorite second round picks right now that's remaining on your board? I'm a big fan of Nicola Jurisich. He's out there, he's available.

You love those internationals. I love Jurisich. I do love Bono. You mentioned him, Harrison Ingram. I think Kyle Philopowski, if he went to any other Blue Blood, we'd be talking a whole lot more about him free falling in the draft and we'd be talking about their coach. Like, if this was John Cali Perry's guy who

was supposed to be a surefire first round, pick last year, went back to school to be a top 10, top five pick, and now it's out of the entire first round. There would be a conversation about it. Who answers for that? Who answers for that? Well, just saying, it is very strange to me how that works, but Philopowski would obviously be someone who was a first round talent that you could get in the second round.

So I do have to give him credit as an option. Tritton Flowers is another name, an NBL guy that I think has a lot of upside and a lot of talent that would be out there that you could get in the second round. And Jalen Wells, a guy who has my heart, one of the one of my, one of my, one of my, favorite shooters in this class. So, I mean, I think there's still a lot of talent on the board, but one of those guys is going to lose their spot to Brony James. So, you know, pour one out for them. I was making fun of Rich. I was making fun of Rich Paul Tate. That was my who answers for that. Yeah, just looking down through my list, I mean, you name some of the ones that I, that I was excited

to see if they would go in the second round. Some of the ones that are still on the board here that I think are interesting. Enrique Freeman is a backup big that I like a lot. I'm just trying to rattle names that we haven't said yet. I was going to ask you guys, I mean, is there a world in your all's opinion where a Dimbona ends up being a better player than Eve Missy? I mean, is that possible?

It feels possible to me. I feel like he's a little underrated. You know, Zion Pullen is a second rounder that, you know, I think Kevin, we both like. He's a really dynamic, well-rounded player. Hope he goes to Indiana as like a T. I had him to Indiana

and my mock. I just had to put Poland in there because I've liked him too much. I don't know if he ends up getting drafted, but he had to work out with the Pacers that I know of. So Indiana has a T.J. McConnell replacement after he moves on with his contract coming after two years. That's sacrilegious. Don't you

dare they can never replace DJ. It's an absurd proposition. I don't know, nobody to replace T.J. I'm sorry, Indiana. Sorry, T.J. McConnell. Your family as well. And then, you know, Tyler, there's a lot of, depending on where you want to go.

Reese Beekman is a solid player. Tristan Newton is another guy who played winning basketball. You know, we can just rattle our guy, Quentin Pose, who I don't expect since he's got a cement feet, but he can shoot the shit out of the ball. So there's a lot. It's a lot more experienced crowd, a lot of, a lot of 23-year-olds in this range,

but they're going to be ready to go. Well, guys, we hit every player, at least briefly. I mean, we didn't talk in depth about a, we didn't mention him, as a guy earlier, as a good, you know, role player drafted. We mentioned everybody at least once. Every first round pick was mentioned at least once. Very proud of us.

I'm happy we did that. Kyle, Tate, that was a fun first round. Yeah. Got some trades, got some surprises, got some wows, got some shocking picks. I'm excited for tomorrow night. Do you guys feel good about the two-night draft, or are you just ready for round two right now? I just think we should do an over-under on how many times, like, where does Brony James fit in on this team? and they do that from pick 31 all the way up until 55.

I think that is going to be the broadcast, and I'm excited to see what that looks like. You might be right. I could see them doing that. I mean, really, starting at 31 with Toronto. Raptors. It's going to happen right away. Yeah, Maasai loves Brani.

Everybody knows this. This was put out to the world. Maasai does love Brani. So that's where it starts. So I'm excited to see what the coverage looks like tomorrow night. That'll be fun. Well, Kyle. Well, I'll tell you guys.

Have a good rest of your night. And talk to you on Thursday. after day two, night two, of the NBA draft. Let's do it again. See you. Thank you to Jesse Lopez for producing today's episode of the Ringers NBA Draft Show. Please be sure to subscribe.

We'll talk to you on Thursday night.