The Ringer NBA Show - Breaking Down the Long-Awaited Debut of Victor Wembanyama | Group Chat

Episode Date: July 8, 2023

Justin and Wos are joined by The Ringer’s J. Kyle Mann live on the concourse of the Thomas & Mack Center to discuss Victor Wembanyama’s debut and debate what he needs to do to adjust to the NBA level. They then discuss Brandon Miller’s performance and what the future holds for the Hornets. Also, the guys dig into other players they are looking forward to seeing during Summer League. Hosts: Justin Verrier, Wosny Lambre, and J. Kyle Mann Producer: Jessie Lopez Additional Production Supervision: Benjamin Cruz Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

You may find this hard to believe, but 60 songs that explain the 90s. America's favorite poorly named music podcast is back. With 30 more songs than 120 songs total. I'm your host, Rob Harvilla, here to bring you more shrewd musical analysis, poignant nostalgic reveries, crude personal anecdotes, and rad special guests, all with even less restraint than usual. Join us once more on 60 Saws that Explain the 90s every Wednesday on. Spotify.

With some professional ad head to Sets on Kyle Man, Big Wads, what's up, guys? I'm good, man. I'm happy to be here.

What about you? Kyle, you're good. I'm feeling good, man. I get a little extra boost from meaningless basketball. I don't know. There's something about it

that just gets me feeling light and breezy. We're in Vegas, you know, it's smaltzy. Maybe I'll be a little smaltzy. I don't know. I'm feeling good, though. But the audience can't see there

is there's a little jig. I was shoulder shrugging, you know. Not that anyone wants the TV dance. So, Was, how many podcasts have we recorded sitting in the same clothes from our apartments? And now we are in this gorgeous studio

on the concourse of Thomas and Mac Center right after the debut of Victor Webbenyama. Yeah, it's pretty cool, man. The NBA has completely blown out this event. Just looking at Media Row, honestly. I can remember coming to Subcommittee as early as four years ago where even on a night like tonight, that thing would be half empty.

That thing was full to the brim. The lower bowl had absolutely no seats, and that was for the Scoot game, even before the Wimbunyama, Brandon Miller game. So just to see all the enthusiasm and how crazy people are going for this, it's nuts, honestly. Yeah, I mean, you and I were talking about over the sort of, I feel like Summer League, I was joking with Tate,

about if you go back and watch like Kevin Durant's, Summer League highlights. They looked like he was in like a single-A high school gym. And they're wearing like practice pennies. They're like mesh. And then you kind of chart the progression of it. I think you can sort of see a ripple effect that goes beyond Summer League that I've said that even goes to like YBL, which continues to go.

Like, you know, Summer League is featured on the app. You know, it's packed. You couldn't even walk through the concourse. Like it's so packed. Guys, the event was sold out tonight. That's a thing that happened. The resale tickets going for in the hundreds. Dude.

I actually want to ask you guys this. Are you surprised? I'm going to ask Waz this. Because you've been a bit of a Wembe skeptic. Of course. It's healthy, though. I'm not going to furrow my brow. I think that's good science.

We need Waz's. I didn't realize he would draw this sort of crowd and have this sort of celebrity. I knew he would be billed as this great prospect, but he seems to have the hype of, not even a Zion, but even like maybe a LeBron. Yeah, no, it does really feel like that because the way that people were waiting with bated breath

for him to make one shot or even take a shot, it's pretty crazy. But I think that's indicative of the team he surrounded himself with. Obviously, you can never discount Nike's impact on the hype machine and this kind of thing. And so, yeah, people are excited about this guy. He's gotten a ton of media coverage, and coverage that isn't just, oh, wow,

there's going to be a great player from France coming to the NBA. Like, no, this is the best sports prospect since Jesse Owens, right? And so people are excited about it. Yeah, they are. We were talking about where this fits in like the hierarchy of like electric summer league moments.

You know, I wasn't in the building for the earthquake game, the Zion game. I was there. Yeah. I've heard people say that. Watching it on TV, you could kind of pick it up on that. Lonzo took it to another level, that class. Lonzo's electricity.

The fact that he was playing for the Lakers, obviously, a big difference there. But Wimmy, when he came into the arena, I felt a little something. That's amazing. You could feel it just felt like the gravity, the energy. The spirit was moving wise. It's just kind of like a church service where you're like, yeah, we're rolling here. But the game, you know, it wasn't quite the same thing as the Metro ignite scrimmage from October, which was balls to the wall insane.

This one didn't quite live up to that. Yeah, I think I'm glad you guys mentioned Lanzo because I think that's sort of the line of demarcation for the modern Summer League because that Lanzo game was in the Cox Gym, Cox Pavilion. And I think that's the moment when the people who run Summer League were like,

okay, this is much bigger than it used to be. And so, yeah, now that would never happen these days. But yeah, the game was the game. It's a Summer League game. The guys who he's playing with, These aren't seasoned professionals, right? Like, most of these guys are probably going to end up in Turkey or Uzbekistan next year. And no delegation to those leagues.

Turkish League. Right? There's no hate to those leagues. I want to know that the Turks kicked the crap out of us in U-19 the other day, so we can't make fun of the Turks. No, we won't make fun at least. Right. Right, I was super locked into that. I knew you're all over there.

But I think the playing atmosphere of Summer League is always going to be a lot of very disjointed. especially for guys who weren't guards or wings. So you can't expect Wemby to come out there and just be getting these beautiful pocket passes on his picking rolls or his picking pops. Like, this is what it's like in Summer League for Biggs. So I don't think anybody should have been very surprised that he didn't come out and just dominate and play like Kareem today.

He wasn't going to go down there and just like steal. You know, he wasn't going to bully baskets because he just doesn't play that way. Right. That's not his game. Coming into that game, you were looking at that matchup of Brandon Miller and Wembe And it was like, these are both pretty skinny. You know, they both do similar things.

Just one is a lot taller than the other. It's just so twice of a human. We went into that game and I was, I told a friend I was in with, I was like, well, I know Brandon Miller is going to try to go off whether or not he does. You know, so it was going to be just sort of a feast or fame and jump shot kind of a thing. And, you know, maybe had some moments where his defensive presence, I thought, was solid. He did get yammed on one good time. But Brandon Miller did make him fall with a crossover.

Yeah. But he also blocked Miller. shot at the three point line, which is what he could be doing a lot in the NBA. Nine points, eight rebounds, five blocks, two assists, two turnovers, two for 13 from the floor, one from six from three point line. I think the thing that struck me the most was I was looking to see how much of his off the dribble game would translate to the NBA, but specifically how much they would let him play like that.

And it seemed like if they're going to play, go through Wembe, they're going to let him be Wemby. And Kyle, do you think that sort of style of play? is what he is going to have to do to succeed in the NBA, or is he going to have to learn how to be a, like a traditional big man first and then do that stuff on the side? Situational. I don't think that he's going to live with the ball in his hands full time. I think he's going to have little compartments of his game,

like every great player. I personally think we're going to see the pick and pop stuff. He didn't shoot it well tonight. I think he's going to be a decent rim roller. I think eventually the best thing for him might end up being like a slot operator like KD, except, you know, where he doesn't have to go, because there were a couple different times where they were, you know, Charlotte, which is not a good defensive team,

not a good, not a good basketball team, even by summer league standards. You're going to watch it. Mitch Cupcheck's probably like walking right behind us. Yeah, my eyes were bleeding. I kept dabbing them during the game. And,

but I kept a handkerchief just for that for the Hornets games. But no, I think eventually the thing that'll make sense for me is that like, let him operate in that Dirk KD area because he's so big. And I really do think the passing is going to come along, he can pass over the top of those lanes. And I think that's going to be a good, that's going to be a great, I don't know, what do you all think is going to be the main operating area for him?

I don't know. To me, he's going to be more of an AD finishing type, right? Be a devastating screener and his role game is going to be tough. Because guess what, when you try to switch a guy on a Wembeen Yamma picking roll and it's a six two guy, that's not, like, that's not going to work for you when they throw that lob pass up. That's file after file. And I think he's going to eventually develop a nice catch and shoot,

pick and pop thing. I don't know that I think he's ever going to be some on-ball demon. I don't see that for him. Dremont definitely does not see that for him. I saw that clip with Dreyman. I'm going to get into that guy. Dudes are going to get under him. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

And again, but I don't think he needs to become some incredible one-on-one low-post beast or one-on-one face-up killer to do that. I don't think he needs to eat that way primarily to become. I'm a great player because as you said, he's probably going to become a definitional, generational, generational defensive player. So if he can become a very high-end offensive big and be that level on defense, this is Hall of Fame stuff. This is like, you know, so I wouldn't be too bad about that. But I will say this for last because I was talking to some of my friends who are like, they're

not casual NBA fans. These are guys that like have league pass or watching it every single night. And these guys are like, yeah, he's going to drop like 15, 16 a game next year. I'm like, guys, this is the NBA. Like, that's not going to happen. Not on the Spurs. I think on a different type of team that would just allow him to come out and play Wembee Ball, he might be able to do that on inefficiency.

But I don't think the Spurs are going to ask him to start playing and developing terrible habits just so he could score, you know? Yeah. He's probably going to walk into maybe the Block's record next year by simply parking himself in front of the hoop. What I thought was interesting, though, is it seemed like a lot of what he had success with in this game was him dribbling into a post-up and who's physical enough that he can create some space for himself and then finish with his giant go-go-gadgett arms. Is that possible against an NBA defender like a Dremont or someone who's stout enough

that's able to, like, at the very least, know the angles going into that? Or is that Summer League mirage? I think it's funny you mentioned AD because I think a lot about, you know, I got a, we had unique looks at, early in his career. You know, I got to see him in Kentucky up close, very invested in everything that happened with him. You got to see him in New Orleans. There was a little bit of like, just the bag of bones just kind of like coming at you constantly, not, not, just not relenting at all, like playing through the contact in a way. Chad has some of that too. Wimby displays, and I've said this in different places, but like he displays that physicality where he can

take a hit and still finish with touch, whereas like he doesn't, he doesn't like wilt and fall back. Like I just, and I think early on in his career, we're going to see a lot of that. I mean, we're going to see, it's going to be, it's going to be like baby, baby horse. Like, you know, baby deer. Like, he's going to be, he's going to be awkward. 15 to 16. Was that their optimistic projection or was that? Optimist.

Yeah. They were just like, he's going to fall into 16 points of game in the NBA. This is what people think about Wemby that like against NBA, half court offenses. He's just going to easily and efficiently drop 16 points a game. I mean, if he shoots as many threes, is he probably will. Yeah. He'll probably get 15 a game from that.

I'm skeptical. Okay. Well, it's funny because Baby Deer was what Kenny Payne, I believe, called young Anthony Davis at Kentucky. Subconsciously got that one there. Yeah, yeah. It's, I don't know. I mean, early on, I don't know.

He's going to have some moments where he's going to fall and we think he's dead. There's going to be like, there's going to be stuff like that. Sure. But I think the thing that I think is valid, valid concern is tonight. as a microcosm of the conversation going forward, which is like if he's just going to be that, if he's just going to be somebody that looks like a shooter as a hypothetical shooter and he's inefficient,

it's like, I don't know. Is he at that point, is he like at peak form, like a Porzingis type, who also is just a higher level defender on the other end? That's still an amazing player. If you think about like defensive anchors who are also offensive primary options, flat out, bar none, there just aren't many of those guys,

like historically. They're just on. Yeah. And again, we got to keep this in perspective. The guy's 19 years old. By the time he's 24, 25, we're going to be talking about a completely transformed player on both offense and defense, to be quite honest. I think he'll be a lot. Because you mentioned AD.

Like, AD is somebody who now plays with a lot of physicality and it's actually strong. When you see him horsing guys. Big shoulders. Big shoulders. When you see him horsing guys on the offensive rebounds against certain matches, these are things AD was not. doing very early on his career. He plays very physically now. And I think Wenbiyama could do that, but at 7.5, right?

And that's a hard thing to stop. There'll be an interesting case study for how teams approach building up a modern big, right? Because A.D. famously was sent into the post with John Calipari, which he did to Biggs all the time. And he was often derided for that Calipari was because then Kat and Ad eventually just explored the wonders of their body and they became all these like versatile Bigs, right? it seems like we're past that,

but how much does Wemby need that as a foundation before he goes on and does this other stuff? Or couldn't he do the other stuff and then build that other stuff from behind? What Kyle thinks? I mean, in terms of like a back-to-the-basket game, I mean, I could see you see baby hooks. I guess it's a matter of him just rim pressure, flat out, rim pressure.

Like, how often is he going to be able to just take, like, Euro to the... Like, I wonder about his center of gravity in that situation. In that situation, you wonder if he's... he ends up being like a boarzingus again, like somebody who just is playing with his back to the basket. He can shoot over people. Maybe if he gets a step on somebody, he goes all the way of the rim,

but I just don't expect him to be like constantly living around the basket. A, because not many players do that today, period. It's like Yokic and B. Right. And that's why I'm less concerned about a quote-unquote post game or bag. Can you force smaller guys, much smaller guys, to foul you when you're down there? To me, if he can draw fouls against smaller bodies when they try to switch a 6-6-7 rangey guy onto him,

if he can make them pay where it's like, I'm close enough and I'm so easily able to get off a touch shot over you that you have to file me to stop it, that's enough. I don't expect him to be Yokeachin and be, he doesn't need to do that in today's game. He can play with talented enough, you know, ball handling guys that will get him the ball in good positions. To me, it's the poor Zingis.

Poor Zingas comes up a lot for me because of what happened in Dallas and why they traded him was that at certain points Patrick Beverly was able to guard him on key possessions and key switches in the playoffs, right? He wasn't a guy that could draw to and he wasn't a guy that could punish a smaller guy. And so if your second guy can't even do that, Luca sets you up beautifully six feet from the basket with Pat Bed on you and you don't finish you draw a foul. That becomes problematic. I think he's going to be able to pass that poor Zingis threshold. Even when you hear about people who are optimistic about Porzingis in Boston next year,

they cite his numbers drawn foul close to the basket this year. Those advanced matches and say, well, actually, he was killing switches this year, right? And so I think to me that's going to be the ultimate indicator, more so than being some dream shake machine. Like, come on. I feel like the more we're going on here, we're using our hands more on the desk, just really exploring the space, just like our friend Webbenyama. So Brandon Miller also played in this game.

I don't know if you guys caught that. This was one. My boy. Is that your guy? That's my guy. Okay. Because he's the only got it I watched. So a lot of fouls in his previous summer league experience.

That's all I took away from it. And this one, Kyle, what did you think about Miller? What do you think about him just overall stepping into a pretty interesting situation, Charlotte? It set itself up. I mean, I was a believer. I kind of had him. I'd scoot move just. ahead of him at the very end there for me.

They were pretty interchangeable for me. I just watched a video yesterday, by the way. Beautifully done. Well, I was going to wait before I said that. He said he watched it. I was like. He stared right into your eyes when he said that too. That was beautiful.

Thank you, Was. I appreciate it. No, I mean, I still, I have a lot of confidence in him as like a, the big thing for him is that, you know, he's six nine. He could fluidly handle the ball and he has a really fluid, dribble to shoot, dribble to pass motion. And the guys that can do that at his age in the world. old at that level. There just aren't that many of them.

So I think you automatically admit, and I think it's going to translate. He's on a team. I still don't know about Charlotte taking him that fit there. I'm sure Portland is rejoicing and really elated that they did take him there. He's a guy that eventually, the question for him was the rim pressure.

Like, it's similar to Wimby. Like, can he get to the basket? But the difference is between him and a guy like Jabari Smith is that he can really handle the ball. He's way ahead of him as a ball handler. Can get really, his Ben with his dribble is really low to the ground. And he has a lot of passing upside. The thing is, like tonight, it was going to be ugly just because this Hornets team, like I said,

is just so weirdly put together. And I think it's going to look better with better athletes and more structure around him. Because going wild, it's just going to lend itself to being ugly if he's not hitting shots. Because he's not a guy who gets the rim constantly. What's funny about that, though, is most of Charlotte's Summer League team is 13. Well, that's the unfortunate part. I'm a team that's built through the draft here. But yeah, 16 and 11 were the numbers.

I should probably stop even reading the numbers because they're useless. Yeah, I mean, to me watching it, everything that Cal said, I agree with, especially the handle part. He has some wiggle, some shake, and presence with the ball in his hand. At his size, that's incredible. And he looks so comfortable, so fluid, just dribbling into his pull-up, which, look, if this guy's going to become a pull-up assassin, all bets are off. But like if he can become a catch and shoot, 37, 38, 39% on catching shoots, that's an incredible player for his size.

And again, you guys mentioned already what he's able to do with the past is just crazy. I just love his ball skills at his size, his feel for the game. And I know I've been dissing Jabari Smith for like a year now. But again, it's Jabari Smith with field, honestly. Yeah. This summer league is the on ball lab. That's what I would say. So if it's good, don't overreact.

If it's bad, don't overreact. That's the thing. Some of these guys here are just getting empty reps. Commend them for doing it. If it looks bad, say, okay, we'll keep that in mind, but don't write them off. So I feel like that's the thing with Miller. But with the Hornets, he's going to be, he's going to work in like a catch, maybe flow into another action, maybe catch and shoot, maybe catch an attack. Like, he's not going to be all eyes on Miller all the time.

He's going to be playing with another incredible passer, which I think will play to his strength. It will help a lot. Yeah, he won't be going against set defenses constantly. He's going to be kind of going when things are in the flow. And yeah, that'll work. There was one particular play that I loved. Wembe was guarding him out at the three point line. He calls for a screen.

He's like, you know what? They just switched this. I'd rather attack this guy. He attacked him and got found. I'm like, that's NBA basketball right there. You know? And so this is exciting to see this guy his first time on this stage and able to display his field. and even at this early stage,

his understanding of the game. So I know you said don't get over excited about on-ball performance at Summer League. Can I please? What's coming next? Please get excited about Scoot Henderson. Yes. On the ball.

Immediately seemed like he belonged to. Yeah. You cook because I was traveling. I was like literally got off the plane and came here. So I want to hear your perspective. If there is a Portland real estate agent listening to this podcast right now, just let me know because I would like to be

part of this. I would like to be on the ground floor of the Scoot experience. I love Damien Liller. I want to see both of them together. I hope they play one game, even if it is a preseason game. But good Lord, Scoot Henderson, looks like he was blowing. Unfortunately, he had a shoulder injury in this one. But just dribbling right into traffic, like finishing over guys. I mean, Kyle made the point here where this was essentially a cheap league

night game. I mean, it was probably, he went out there and was probably like, oh, yeah, I've played all these fools. Making the right pass. Like physical and a lot of. a way that like the two other guys we mentioned aren't yet. Yeah. Not necessarily their fault, but like this guy is, I think he's going to be something.

He looked nice. I think what was, again, for me, some of that stuff, the finishing with touch around the basket, learning how to draw contact on your finishes, Dame Lillard being one of the best examples of that. Very early on in his career, he was not good at drawing contact when he got all the way to the cup and earning free throws. He had to learn how to do that. That comes with time.

But this dude setting up his driving kicks, pass it early and all point. Like his actual drawing two, drawing three within the paint, spraying out the shooters, that's the kind of stuff that makes me wet, just a very weird. Did not see that coming.

So, yeah, I mean, I made this point in the video. Go, go watch it. On the reader.com. The point I'm getting ready to make, but not the point. point you made, which was great. I was going to say that, like, to piggyback off of that, the thing about Scoot is that, like, he's not virtuosic in the way that some of the, like,

the super manipulative passes that we've gotten to the game right. Like, he's not on that level, but he's very attuned to it for a guy who grew up score first, grew up playing off of the ball. So I think he's ahead of the game in the way that he thinks it. So, like, if you look, if you watch him, he's very eager to figure this out. And for somebody who, this is kind of key thing for me is just that like for for an athlete of his caliber to be at that point of self-awareness at 19 is really unusual and it's interesting to see him in this setting um i'm curious to go back and watch it with a with a closer keener eye um he just he keeps the simple thing simple he gets in the lane and he makes a simple read he and that you know that'll be a great

foundation for him to continue to build on as he gets the line as he you know i think it'll be a okay the spot-up shooting thing is a question we'll see Go ahead. Why? No, I want to ask you something because, again, you're somebody who's watched so much more of this guy than either me or Justin have. When you say the caliber athlete he is,

are we talking about Westbrook, Derek Rose-level detonation, or maybe a smidge under that? I don't think that he has the twitch, like, punchy twitch that, like, a Westbrook or a Rose have. I think that he kind of comes zero to 60 a little faster, but his 60 is as fast as anybody once he gets moving. You know, like we said, I, I guesstimated that he has nine and a half inch hands. He might have 10 inch hands.

He has a Rondo E type, like, wingspan to hands. But he's powerful. So he's a cross section. I compared him to like, he has sort of that switchy. I've seen some better Davis in the video. Yeah. Davis is a little more big booty barrier type power guard. Steve Francis was the one that came to mind for me.

Because I have memories of watching him at like Maryland, like how powerful and quick he was. as an athlete. And could just get up off the ground so fast. Donovan Mitchell is another one too. As another guy who came in the league who grew up and off guard, who shot the ball, who wasn't a pure one. Even coming into the draft, I kept hearing people talk about him, like, this is a one. And they were taking him by that expectation.

I was just like, Sue's not a one. I was an idiot. I was wrong. But I mean, Scudis has a similar trajectory to how his career could go. And the astuteness, I think that's a key part, man. It's thinkers, thinkers. That's, I think it's an underrated thing with prospects. That's what I say about Waz all the time.

Thinkers. What did you think, Kyle, about all the talk when I came with Scoot versus Miller about their fit around Mello specifically? Because that seemed to be a dividing point. This is one of my things. Please, take it away. I think Charlotte, should I come strong? Yes. I think Charlotte made a mistake.

You blew it! I think, Mitch, if you're in the bathroom over there. I think, I think Lamello and Scoot would have been an incredible fit. together, maybe because Lamello's so big, you know. Scoot has to take an interest in garden the ball. That's a thing. He was very inattentive at times. He was lackadaisical at times in the G league.

I kept hearing people praise his defense. I was like, he literally was like a predatory cat just lazing around. And if he saw something he wanted to run down, he would occasionally. But a lot of the time, it's like when you go to the zoo, you're like, move, do something. That's kind of the way Scoot was on defense. But I think that they would have been an incredible fit just because Scoot defers. And I think it would have, it would have put Lamello in a good situation because I think Scoot could have become the personality of that franchise.

And they need that. They haven't had that. When was the last time Charlotte had a personality? Like a player that you were like, Charlotte's come to town. Wait, does Lamello not have enough personality for you? He does, but I feel like, I feel like Lamello is like, he's sort of doing his own thing within his orbit.

It's not like he is injecting his personality within the team structure. in the way that, say, you know, Steph Curry does with his selflessness, honestly. It's a lot of flash, but maybe not enough, like charisma or whatever. And I don't want to sort of damn him

with this comparison, but it's like a Trey Young type of situation where his individual brilliance is there, but he's not infusing his personality into what the team does as a concept. What is the Trey Young imprint on the hall? There's been an imprint. Well, yeah, the coach is.

I would take it a step further, too, and just say it, too, that, like, the one caveat I would add is that, like, the ball moves through Lamello a lot more than it does through Trey. That was, but I don't think Lamello is as capable of having a high floor as a primary as Trey is, like in a playoff series. Got you. You know, just my opinion. Yeah, I've never, I think that's been the ultimate test is can Lamello ever become a one-on-one killer? I haven't seen proof of it, right, where he takes a guy to the rack and he puts him on his back and gets a foul. Or, you know, he gets to a spot, creates incredible separation, rises and fires. And it's like pure how other guys are able to do it.

We've never seen any proof that he could be that one-on-one guys. Just he's got brilliance in the pick-and-roll. But in the playoffs, we know that can be limited, you know, when it's just that. Steph Curry, you know, you name all the guys that are great pick-and-roll operators. When you try to deploy a different kind of defense to sort of stop with that action, they find different ways to kill you. Lamello Ball is not proven to be the kind of guy that could do that yet. It's here three. What is the zag on Lamello that's been happening?

He was amazing just last year. And I feel like... Oh, yeah. People are out on him. I was arguing with people on Twitter. I was like, y'all are out of your mind. Like, it's the injury I think gave credence to whatever people already thought about him. And so if you had a negative opinion of him,

the injury almost opened the floodgate to be like, ah, scrawny guy just like isn't getting it done. I think when he had the right players around him, when he had Gordon Hayward Health, and when Miles Bridges was actually on the team, like he was the cerebral connector for those guys. That's what he is. Yeah, I think that is his primary role.

And like, if you're saying, like, well, adding scoop may have disrupted that, okay, I don't have an educated enough opinion. But, like, I still think he could be very, very good. I'm in no, I'm not trying to say I'm out on him as a player, just as the sort of franchise fulcrum, right? But a guy who 6-7 passes like he does shoots 38% from 3 on volume. This is pull-ups and spot-ups. This is not the kind of guy you just discount and say,

oh, I don't tease that good. That's crazy news. Yeah, I said I think he's one of the best live dribble creators in the world, like 99th percentile. And I had people come back and they were like, if he's a pro basketball player, he's done an episode. I was like, professional players, Twitter asses. That would never happen on threads.

Don't make me circle back. No, I mean, he just with a live dribble. I think there's some similarity here with like guys that get off the ball fast, which I, this is my favorite type of basketball. This is the best, this is the type of basketball. My dad grew up pushing on me and saying this is the correct way to do things. The Jordan area kind of perverted it a little bit for a while there,

going after your own egg. I understand, or your own nut. Lamello, I think, would maybe work better in, I'd say it, you know, not to ding the Warriors for screwing up by not taking him. They did. Spoiler work. He would work better, I think, in like an elbow, you know, moving off the ball. But because he is a thinner guy like you were talking about in the pick and roll stuff.

It's like, there were people that were criticizing him and being like, what is this guy in a winning environment? And I said, that's crazy. People said the exact same stuff about Yokic and Steph. Similar players of like high feel, high creativity, finesse. not a like ram you in the, well, I take the Yokic Rams you in the basket. But similar guys, you know, I don't know. Maybe I feel like that's probably the most likely winning scenario for Lamello is in a system like that. Justin, we just got breaking news.

The James Wiseman Max extension is not coming this summer, unfortunately. I'm still a believer. Like some of his classmates. I'm still a believer. I mean, he didn't make it necessarily work in Detroit. And that might be like the lowest rung you could hold on to in the NBA at this point. I'm looking at Jack from the Titanic here. This guy is crazy.

Mufasa Klawn on the... I'll say this. I think the immediate max for the summer for Lamello was a bit surprising. But, I mean, that's contract not going to look at the road at the cap getting to $200 million damn near within the very near future. Like, it's just not that crazy of a deal. And he's kind of... He's proven that he's worth... that, honestly. He's going to be

a plus level NBA starter. It is what it is, you know? Marketability-wise, he absolutely functions in the way that I was talking about. Like, all the kids here at Summer League, they have Lamello jerseys on? He's very popular on that front. But on the basketball front, not to beat a dead

horse here, but I just thought Scoot would have been a nice balance for him in that way. One of the ugliest shoes I've ever seen in basketball history, worse than the Dada spinners and all this other stuff. It's not my favorite. It's not my favorite. And yet the kids love it. Father of a child, what is with kids in the vibrant colors?

I pick all my son's stuff. So we haven't reached that point. I really impose all my taste on him. So I don't know, he's wearing blazers short. Like a good dad should. Jordan threes, you know, things like that. Charks always teased me that like all my son's stuff was like offensive players. He's like, your son's not going to guard anybody.

I was like, have you seen me? You're damn right. He's not going to guard anybody. No. You don't get paid for defense. Jabari Parker once said that. He is now. I believe on the bucks

the summer league team. Oh, my Lord. Unbelievable. No, yeah, I don't, I don't mind the pooh. Like, I've liked a lot of Puma's stuff. This is your lane. Why is he asking me? I'm not crazy about, no, it's because you have to buy

sneakers for kids. That's why. Me and, me and Justin are terrible. Terrible easy killer. Easy killer. We'll take that combo off air. But, you know, I like the Pumas, man. They're fine.

It's not something that I personally want to go out and buy for myself. but when I see him, I'm not completely repulsed by him. All right. I'm not completely repulsed. Endorsement. Just do it. A couple more days of Summer League here. Who are you excited to see?

Are there any prospects that we should be looking out for? We saw him in Thompson against Scoot today. It did okay. I don't think he jumped off the page. Is there anyone you're like going into this event being like, I got to see that guy? I'm excited to see the Thompson twins go head to head. I mean, we saw a little bit of the,

that Houston game we should mention was incredible earlier. that like pass. I don't even did you did you get to get a look at that past? I saw it. I don't even know how that pass made it over the top to to Javari Smith. That was a good one. I'm really enjoying watch. I like watching the year two guys like I like watching them come to the lab and like the guys that are willing to do it. I've really enjoyed watching Keegan Murray get out there and imposes will. He looks like a guy who got serious minutes on a playoff team. Sure that wasn't Chris Murray? I can't be sure. I can't be sure. It's uncanny. Like obviously it is. But like. Is it Justin? When you see him, you're like, oh, my God, twins look alike.

Yeah. Well, there's a guy playing in this game that I think, I don't, I've had my sort of reservations about him, like, what he's going to do eventually. But the Warriors picked both of their picks, I thought were very warriorsy, getting back to their identity. Meaning they're not going to work? In recent years, that's the case. To clarify, well, just feel guys.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Pajimski is a guy who played for Santa Clara last year, transfer from Illinois. He's a lefty. He's really smooth, really fluid, on and off the ball. quickly, can pass it, really quick shooter, creative. And Trace Jackson Davis is another guy, Indiana guy, a Dollinger boy. Those two guys are fun. I mean, there's a bunch more.

I can't think I've off top of my head, but just that's a few. Yeah. Well, no, I got nothing. No prospects off the court, you want to discuss? No, I mean, like I said, I like the second year guys, like Kyle said, but for the guys that aren't doing well. It's like, oh, boy, this is getting mad. The clock might be ticking on this one.

Because, yeah, generally speaking, if a guy's pretty good, good. That second year guy comes in here and he kicks butt, right? It takes names. So, you know, I'll be looking out for that for sure. Because, again, these are guys that have actually watched who before. And so I have a frame of reference and it's not just like you're being blinded by the Summer League light of trash. But tune in to ESPN, folks. This stuff is pretty fun. Before we go, I feel like we should do like a not top 10 or just like kick it to someone back in the booth. Who's in the booth?

All right. That's it for us. Thank you to Kyle for joining us on set here. Shout out to our brother Rob Mahoney, man. Feel better soon, brother. Mahoney. All right. Thank you to Ben Cruz.

Thank you to the millions of people who are on production here today. We'll be back next week. We'll be on one thing. So we'll see you.