The Ringer NBA Show - Ep. 15: 2016 NBA Draft Lottery Picks and Late-First-Round Selections

Episode Date: June 17, 2016

The Ringer's Danny Chau and Jonathan Tjarks on prospects slated to go in the top 10, and some prospects who may find themselves being selected later in the first round. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Today's podcast is brought to you by the new HBO series Any Given Wednesday with Bill Simmons. The new show will feature intimate conversations with compelling guests from the worlds of pop culture, sports, entertainment, the arts, and technology. Any Given Wednesday with Bill Simmons will also feature field segments with Simmons's signature commentary on current events. Make sure to watch Any Given Wednesday with Bill Simmons premiering Wednesday, June 22nd, at 10 p.m. on HBO. We're also brought to you by our new website, Theringer.com, presented by, By Miller Light, go now and check out the latest in pop culture, sports, and tech at the ringer.com. Hello and welcome to another draft edition of the ringer NBA show. My name is Danny Chow, and joining me as always is Ringer NBA writer Jonathan Charks.

Charks, how's it going? Good, but how you doing? Pretty good. I have a question for you. All right. So if you were to take 100 three-pointers in front of draft evaluators, how many do you think you'd make? I don't shoot threes. I'm like Ben Simmons.

I took out of my game a few years ago. But I'll tell you who would make a lot of three-points in a room? Randy Foy. He'd probably make like 75 at least. So you're saying he would be worse than Jamal Murray, who made 79. Oh, oh. Well, I guess so. I mean, for whatever that's worth, he's got him by four three-pointers.

Yeah, just to add some background, there was a tweet that had surfaced from Jeff Goodman of ESPN saying that, I think last week, Jamal Murray shot 70. out of 100, three-pointers in front of draft evaluators, and then a couple days later, Buddy Heald shot 85 out of 100. So that got Twitter in quite an uproar. Yeah, it's one of those things. Like, if you covered MBA team, they make a ton of threes. Like, these professional shooters, they can all make just, you know, 80, whatever, and 100. It's what else they can do that really counts. Right. And since we covered a lot of deeper cuts in the last podcast, we wanted

to kind of circle back and spend more time with some of the remaining prospects in the top 10, and a couple prospects who might find themselves selected in the late lottery or mid-first round. I guess we should start with Buddy Heald and Jamal Murray. I think we've talked a lot about them in previous podcasts, but I think this is a good way to kind of seal our final opinions on them. For me, just to be clear, I don't think Heald or Murray are bad players. It's just, it's really hard to project these guys as stars at the next level, given their limitations. And that's kind of why I wouldn't pick them in the top five.

Like, I can see a team like New Orleans who are, you know, desperate for a name brand recognition type of guy or an instant contributor off the bench to jump at Heald or Murray. But if you have the infrastructure to really work on a guy with potential, I think you definitely take a swing for the fences. Yeah, I mean, I feel. like in general, in the draft, going for name brand or instant profit value is going to lead you in the trouble a lot of the times. Danny, here's my question to you. Like, how would you compare these guys to Nick Stouskas, like in terms of their overall as prospects?

The one thing about Nick Stouskis that interested me in the 2014 draft was that he showed the ability to really distribute the ball and work as a second facilitator on a second facilitator on a. team. I don't necessarily see too much of that with either of Heald or Murray. I know this is something that can be developed over time, but as far as what they've shown in the last season, at least in that aspect, Nick Stouskas was more favorable or at least more versatile, in my opinion. I was surprised, like, you watched more like the high school stuff, but wasn't Murray supposed to be like a point guard, combo guard guy coming into school? I was thinking he'd be getting way more

just with you was like a two-point guard system, but it didn't turn out that way at all. Yeah, it really didn't. And that was something that surprised me, too. I'm trying to think of a guy who I would want these two to mold their games after, and the guy who comes to mind is JJ Reddick. You know, he's not necessarily someone who you want creating off the dribble too much, but Reddick is really, really good at making quick reads, whether to shoot or pass the second he gets the ball. He's not really a traditional creator with the ball in his hands, he's able to create, you know, opportunities by being active and by moving without the ball,

forcing defenders to move away from the action. And I feel like if Heald or Murray embrace that kind of play, it would really take advantage of what they do well. I think the key with the Reddick comp and, like, you look at Reddick's career, is he really turned himself into a good defensive player. It took him, like, three or four years under SVG, where he didn't play at all, basically, in those first few years in Orlando. He remade his body, he remade his game, and he became a good defensive player.

And for me, it's like, even the best shooters, if they don't play defense, there's only so much use to have, especially on the perimeter. Like, you got like Reddick, Clay Thompson, West Matthews, all these like pure shooting guys, they also guard pretty well. And that's my big question with both Murray and Heald is how much are these guys really going to guard? Like Meert, like Heel, I think, is a better athlete. he just didn't guard much because he played with one with Isaiah Cousins. And Cousins kind of got the tougher defensive matchup on the Premier OU. Murray, man, I don't know that he's ever going to guard. I remember I broke down the film of him.

He was playing Tim Quarterman at LSU. And Tim Quarterman, like, is he even a top 100 guy on Draft Express? He might be. I don't know. He's a fringe NBA guy, whatever. And he just went right around Murray. And I'm watching this tape like, this guy cannot stay in front of him whatsoever. It was kind of shocking, honestly.

The one thing that you have to look at Murray is he was just a freshman, so there is time for him to kind of learn the schemes and really follow a coach's game plan. But yeah, from what I saw in Kentucky, that definitely wasn't a big priority in his game. Yeah, I remember watching, or that Duke, the first game of the year, Duke, Kentucky, I think that was the first game. And there was like, oh, you know, Murray and Briscoe. And I'm thinking, oh, I'm going to watch, you know, John Ball and Eric Bledsoe. And it was like, well, maybe if Wall and Blitzso had cement shoes when playing Quicksand, that was what it kind of looked like. Right.

Like, those guys could barely get above the rim. They were, like, trying all kinds of crazy layups because they really couldn't play above the rim at all. It was just like, man, you're not even that big either. Like, Murray is, let's see, what's his? He's like 6'5. Yes, I got him here at 6-4-2-10, 6-6 wing span on Draft Express. Yeah. So, like, here's the way to look at it.

Like, let's say I saw one of the mocks, they had Buddy Heald going to Denver. And actually, quite a few mocks have had Buddy Heel going to Denver. But I look at it like this. Like, is Buddy a better basketball player than Gary Harris? I'm not sure that he is. Gary Harris is a much better athlete and a much better defensive player. So, like, if I'm Mike Malone, am I benching a two-year veteran for a rookie who doesn't play defense? Probably not.

And then it's like, if Buddy Heel is not a starting two guard for Denver, he's a backup two guard, but he can't play point. He's not very versatile. he's not big enough to be a three and it's like, did I just draft a 10 minute a game backup two guard with a seven pick in the draft? I can get that guy in the second round. It's all about like finding roles for these guys and that's what I worry about with Murray and Heald

is there's only very few roles that can be really good players at. They're not very multidimensional. And speaking along the lines of perimeter players who will need to adjust to new roles in the new level, I'm wondering about Jalen Brown and his potential. Like, I personally love him. It's largely a physique thing for me. He's got, you know, a strong body.

He has an excellent physique. There's no doubt about that. He's not quite as strong as Stanley Johnson was last year, but he's absolutely the superior athlete. You know, 6-7 with a 7-foot wingspan. He's a guy who can be sculpted, you know, watching him on drives. I loved the way he was able to kind of navigate through the defense using his hips to kind of direct himself, finding those slashing angles.

I don't think he's the most dynamic player at this point as far as making place for others, but it helps that he has that innate driving ability. And also just the idea of seeing the floor and facilitating is a skill that can be developed over time as the game starts to get less frantic for these young guys. My question to you is on a scale of Dwight Howard in 2004, trying to show teams that he could shoot a mid-range jumper to buddy here, shooting 85% from 3. How worried are you about his lack of range on his jumper?

I'm pretty worried about it. The only thing I would say, because I'm looking at the numbers, he was 29% from the 3-point line, and then maybe more worrisome, he's 65% from the free throw line. For a perimeter player, that's not great. To be fair, he took a lot of awful shots, but so that made his percentage just go down, And Cal's offense was really, it's hard to watch at times.

So, like, Cal, what can he talk about with Cal? Cal was starting Tyrone Wallace, 6-6, like an MCW, non-shooting point guard, Jalen Brown, a 6-7, non-shooting three. Ivan Rab, a non-shooting four. Cameron Rooks, a non-shooting five. So there's no space on the floor, and Brown's going one on three, like a madman a lot of times. And, like, to me, I feel like with Brown, it's, can he be in a more wide-open system, he has to have shooters around him. If he's going to be the shooter, you're in trouble.

Maybe if there's space for him for him to drive, he could show more than he should at Cal. So do you project him as a three or a four going forward? I kind of look at him a little bit like Harry Barnes. Like I think he could be an I three, like, but as a small ball four, he's really big and fast. He's got long arms. He can switch screens. Like to me, that's where he could be a really good player in the NBA is a small ball four. That's why I feel like he has the most range of any player in the lottery because he plays as a three and a conventional system. Like, let's say he was in Memphis. I think he'd be pretty bad player, no space. Right. But like, let me see Jalen Brown in New Orleans playing as a four next to Anthony Davis. That could be something legit

right there. I think what we're learning the season and what we're continuing to learn through the playoffs is, is how we're going to reckon with the idea of what a big man is. Um, Like, what does it mean to be a five in the league anymore? Like, how do we project players like Jakub Pertil out of Utah? You know, he's a guy who maybe more so than Murray being considered a top three prospect. He's the one guy in this top ten discussion where I'm just completely baffled by. For example, this is a little bit of a tangent, but when I'm eating at a restaurant, the worst thing I can do is the worst thing I could possibly say is that it was fine. Like, I'd rather have a horrible meal and have a story to tell about it than leaving, you know, feeling nothing.

And that's kind of how I feel about Yacapurtle. Like, he's fine. Hmm. Personally, I want to eat good food. I'm paying big money at a restaurant. I don't need this story. Like, let me, you know, come on. What's to say?

The food sucked. I was pissed. Like, not a very good story. I don't know. Some of my favorite childhood memories have been from eating at hometown buffet or Denny's, like, really late at night. I don't know. It's something about... First off, the food of Denny's is amazing.

So I don't know where you're going off this tangent. Let's do that on the table right now. This is not a sponsored segment guys. No, that's just real talk right there. Okay, so where we're... So I'm a Pertil, right? Yeah. That's where I'm talking about right now.

Okay. Man, I don't want to be a hater, but... Yeah, you do. Let it out. Yeah, I do. After that game against the bonus in the tournament, I was like, man, this kind doesn't got too much. I mean, I'm not seen a seven-foot center get bullied like that in an NCAA

tournament game in a long time. I mean, that was a TKO. Like, Pertl was asking to leave the game because he was getting whipped so bad by Savonis. Like, I couldn't believe it. I thought it'd be like, I was like, oh, man, this could be the game with tournament. Two like elites, seven footers going head to head, blah, blah, blah.

And no, just a complete TKO. And my thing with Pertil, I'll start with this. He was in the perfect system at Utah to do what he could do. Like, they played in great space. They had a great point guards. They had shooting at a stretch four. They threw him the ball inside all the time. He was in the perfect spot to put up big numbers.

But if you look at his actual physical tools, they're really not exceptional. He's 71, 240, 72 wingspan. So he's like average size center, kind of average size arms. He's not super fast. He's not super strong. He doesn't shoot us out of 10 feet. He's a good passer. He's a post score.

But the thing about is, if you're a post score, that's purely about physical ability, scoring in the post. That's about me being bigger, stronger, and faster. ass than you. And if I'm not those things, I'm going to push off my block. And that's what happened to Perlin's sub bonus. Right. Like, you look at his schedule and the, uh, over the course of the season, like, if Perlin played a good big man all year, he basically beat up bunch of the nobodies. And he played a one good player in tournament and he got killed. To me, he's like Tyler. That's, that's who he is to me. That's, that's a good comparison, actually. So, wait, you have Subonis ranked higher than him, correct? Oh, easily. Not even close. Now I'm like a Subonis outlier. I think I'm like the

biggest Sabonis fan out there. Right. So what exactly is it that that really gets Sabonis to that level for you? Because for me, I like him, but you could say a lot of the same critiques that you had for Perthel for Sabonis. He's, you know, not too tall for his position. His length is actually below average for his position. Yeah. I worry about his wingspan when it comes to doing hook shots. One of the things I noticed with Sabonis at Gonzaga was that he loved to take that hookshot down the middle. And I wonder if he's going to be able to create the same kind of separation he was able to in college in the NBA. Yeah, I think the main thing with Sabonis, he's a much better athlete than Pertle. And he's much stronger.

So, like, I think he'll survive doing the thing. And even though he's not like, and he's a more versatile player, he's a fantastic passer. And I think he's an underrated shooter. I think he can add it to his game. He didn't shoot much in college. But I think I have more faith in his jumper than Pertil's jumper. And I got to see him actually at SMU live. And man, he is, even though he's not like a Marcus Chris, like jump up the gym athlete,

for the stuff he does, he's a fantastic athlete. He has a high basketball IQ, and he's at an elite motor. Like, to me, I think he can switch screens in the NBA. Yeah. I think he can crush rebounds. He can facilitate offense. And he can get points. He can kind of sneak his way in the NBA.

the points. The big thing for him is going to be that jumper because you're right, he has T-Rex arms. If he had like long arms, he'd be a top three pick to me. But with a T-Rex arms, he needs a 20-foot jumper, open the rest of his game. And I just feel like a lot of it, too, is Sabona's he's playing with Wilcher, playing with Karnowski. He's not getting the ball very much against Zagg until the very end of his last season. So he don't get the chance to show his offensive game. And like, to me, he's one of the safest picks in this draft. He's a really good athlete, really high motor, really high beatball IQ. So like, I was, I'm doing a bit on Marcus Chris, and I'm watching this Gonzaga, Washington game, and Sabonis just demolished him.

Like, that was his worst in Perl. Like, Chris fell down in 15 minutes, because Sabonis just stuck his butt at him, put him under the basket, and scored him like four straight times. Yeah, he, they had to pull Chris from the game. Like, get out of here, dude. He's not quite, you know, the basketball genius that his father was, but it's clear that Arvita Sabonis taught him well, and it's clear that he knows how to play the game. He has a great touch. His spin moves are incredibly crisp. I love watching him play. It's just I wonder how much of that is going to be able to translate. Pertil and Sabonis kind of fill one similar space in the modern big man spectrum, if you will. On the other end is Henry Ellison. Ellinson is an interesting case. I think

his offensive skill set is kind of undeniable. Like, he runs the floor pretty well for his size, despite looking like he has ankle weights on. Yeah, like he doesn't move well, but he moves. It's weird how he moves. It's really bizarre. It's really weird. And, you know, he's shown the potential to be a solid three-point shooter

despite not having great percentages at Marquette. It's funny because he moves well and he's shown the ability to kind of handle the ball of the court. I don't know how much, like, that's going to mean in the NBA, but he can do that, I guess. But again, like, who the hell is he going to defend at the next level? Yeah, that's probably the guy I am like most just kind of in the air about. I go back and forth with him all the time.

You know his older brother is like an Olympic high jumper or something? Really? Yeah, like while the guy he got into Marquette, Wally Ellison, he's like an NCAA champion of the high jump. Interesting. So maybe if Henry can like cut some more weight. And he's a little like, he's kind of like that Midwestern like Kevin Love, you know, big bonedness. Right.

Like he probably got chocolate milk as a kid or something like that. So if he could just like sculpt his body, maybe cut like 10 pounds, because he's freaking huge. Like he's 7 foot 240. He's as big as perusal. And he has a perimeter game. It's pretty like, I don't know. I mean, at the worst, he's probably a stretch five, right?

Off the bench, maybe. I don't know. It's like Ellinson would have been a unicorn prospect if he came into the draft, like maybe four years ago, but I'm not really sure what his ideal fit is with the NBA, because you want a guy who's going to be able to defend, and I don't know where he fits in on that end of the ball. I mean, I think he has to be like on the pick and roll of playback center. He has, because he blocked a little bit of shots last year, not a great ton, but more

than like a shooting specialist would block, because he's got, you know, 7-2 wingspan. See, he blocked 1.5 a game. That's not awful. I think you have to be like Whatever it's not Not traving the pick and roll But playing back at 10 feet And putting his hands straight in the air

Kind of guy Right Maybe you could like survive at that I mean I think you want to put him A lot of athletes around them for sure Like maybe Like let's like the bucks

Put him in the Gregman Rome roll With like MCW And I don't know Have speed in front of him And let him kind of like Hang back and guard the post Yeah it'll be all about a fit for him I'd imagine

I wonder if there's going to be any kind of ripple effect with how the perception of love has kind of changed. And if that, you know, affects him at all. I don't really think it should. But you never know how these things go as far as talent evaluation. I got the fit for maybe 12 to Utah play with, you know. Oh, okay. They started at Trey Lyles. They do kind of the same thing.

Right. But like I would think like next to a Gobert type, something like that. And I guess she wouldn't let him just Rudy Gobert, I guess. I don't know. Yeah. Or next to Anthony Davis. Because, like, Davis got that unicorn game where you can scarred fours and block shots. Like, the actual unicorn game.

Yeah. That's a thing about Anthony Davis, though, right? Like, everybody is good as to Anthony Davis. The Pelicans don't want to mess this draft up, man. They need to do a good job drafting this year. They messed up a lot. Like, don't draft one of these two guards. Draft a big next to Anthony Davis and get something going.

Come on. So another highly regarded freshman. heading into the NCAA season was Scowel LeBicier. One of your favorites, man. Oh, yeah, who didn't like Scal? I mean, those rebounding numbers speak for themselves. I have a prediction. I'm pretty sure he's going to go to the Toronto Raptors at number nine.

Interesting. Just gamble? Yeah, like, you know, Bianbo's probably gone. They're going to need someone to fill that void. You know, I think if Kentucky fans thought they were getting, you know, a second coming of Willie Collie Stein or, Carl Anthony Towns realized pretty quickly that he wasn't going to be that guy. But I can totally understand teams talking themselves into him.

He is the rough outline of a productive player. That's probably a good way to say it. Yeah. Like, you know, he basically started playing actual organized basketball the year before Biombo was drafted. So, you know, there's a lot of room for him to grow. So like five years ago? Yeah.

He started playing basketball, like, for real, in 2010, and Beyond was drafted 2011. There's plenty of things he can improve on. The one thing about Scala was kind of surprised by, like, he's not a bad athlete, but I was kind of expecting a better athlete than what I saw in Kentucky. Like, he's not, I'm not going to say he's not slow, but I wouldn't say he's, like, super fast either. Or, like, like, I would expect him, like, a Marcus Chris level athlete when he were, like, Hyped up Scala for the year started, and obviously he's not that.

Yeah, I feel like his recruiting rank definitely up to his athletic perception. Mm-hmm. Yeah. How about like, how about Bebe and O'Gera? I don't know. I think Bebe is actually a pretty good rebounder. I mean, that's the thing about drafting Scal. Is he better than Bebe?

I don't know that he is. I think Scal definitely projects to be a better shooter. He's got the jump. Yeah, he definitely has a better touch around the basket. I think Bebe is pretty much limited to, offensive rebounds, putbacks and stuff like that. I mean, he's very good at it, but...

Yeah, I guess Scowl's like pick and pop five block shots. Like, he's not... He's an NBA player for sure. I'm trying to find a calm for him. I don't know. He's so skinny. Like, has he going to be any weight?

I don't know if his frame going to support too much more weight. That's what I worry about it with him. With Porzinga showing that, you know, it's never too late for any of these guys to put on weight. I'm of the opinion that, you know, if you have an underdeveloped frame,

you probably should have an underdeveloped frame because you're a pretty young human being. Well, but KP's really tough. He's a tough guy from the streets of Latvia, you know, Eastern Europe. I mean, Scowl got pushed around a lot last year. The dude's from Haiti. He's seen quite a bit of stuff. That's true.

I shouldn't brought out the Eastern Europe stuff, but just on the court, you got pushed around a lot. Yeah. K.P. don't get pushed around. He'll fight back. So, yeah, I mean, that pretty much wraps up the guys that we were thinking of in the, in the lottery discussion, but there are two guys kind of on the outside are looking in that we're pretty high on, I would say.

One being Wade Baldwin, your boy. Ooh, that's my boy, no doubt. What's your scouting report on him? I love Wade Baldwin, man. I feel like, what I like about him is his, like, I'm all about versatility with these guys. I look at Wade Baldwin, he can do a lot of things on the court. So if you draft him, you can move him different roles on your team. He can still help your team.

It's like the opposite of heeled Murray Like Baldwin first off He's got 611 wingspan Which is just like unreal for a point guard And yeah to keep in mind he's 63 Yeah it's freakish I gotta see him live Against Baylor and he

That fool's got an NBA body Like you were saying oh these guys are really young They shouldn't have like great physiques Wade Baldwin is like Jalen Brown almost That dude is a bit like a freaking tank Yeah And he's 6 4 611 wingspan And he plays defense too

a lot of these guys you say, man, if they like work at defense, they get in better shape, they remove their games around and you make all excuses. Like, White Baldwin plays defense right now. He gets steals. He gets in your face. And I just feel like he was put in a bad spot because Vanderbilt, he was the guy on offense. And when he gets the NBA, he can be like one of the guys. Right.

He's not going to be asked to like take 20 shots a game, hold the ball the entire game. He's a 41% three-point shooter, five assists. the game. So he can be a secondary playmaker, a good three-point shooter. So he gives you, like, like, let's say how many threes you think he can make an empty gym, Wade Baldwin? 70? So, yeah, let's say he gives you like 80% of Murray and healed shooting. But he gives you, like, two times their defense, two times their playmaking, and the versatility. He could probably guard three spots in the NBA with that wingspan. Oh, yeah, absolutely. Maybe even fours and He could switch screens.

You can go ahead and post this guy up like it's nothing. He can switch screens. Like, Baldwin's a guy who can play for the Warriors right now. To me, I would probably take him, of all the perimeter players in this draft, I mean, honestly, no, Chris Dunn's really good. Behind Chris Dunn, I might take Baldwin after Chris Dunn, with the perimeter players, the guards at least. It's kind of an interesting point that you bring up, that he's kind of what a modern point guard can look like. You know, he's not a guy that necessarily needs to pound the ball. to be effective.

As you were saying, you know, you need your point guards to be able to be as versatile as your big men. And he's a guy who could shoot threes. He's a guy who could defend multiple positions. He has the length and the hand size of a center. So that's really easy to do. The thing I wonder about him is he's going to have the ability at the next level to kind of break a defense down off the dribble.

He seemed kind of most comfortable with straight line drives. Honestly, he seems like a pretty safe pick. I think you brought up a certain template of a guy. he can be like a George Hill type player. Yeah. I think that's about right. Because like, I remember I was talking someone about Eulus,

and they're like, man, he's a great point guard, he says everybody up. And that's great. Like in the NBA, my wings do that. My wings run point. My wings are everybody up.

Like, I need my point guards to help my wings as much as anything on defense. Like, like, let's say the pay, let's see, where's he going right now?

They've gone to the jazz. Like right now, they've been going 12 with the jazz. He'd be perfect there off Hayward. and all those guys back on up X them. Like Baldwin, you can pretty much, that's the thing about Baldwin is almost any team in the top 15. He's going to help them.

He's a 3-and-D guy who plays defense, shoots, and passes the ball. So, like, I'll just slot him into roles really easily at different spots. Whereas so many of these other guys we talked about, it's like you've got to find the perfect spot from to succeed. And I'm just not even sure they're worth moving your team around to do that. Yeah, and so there's this other guy who is outside the line. lot of consensus right now. He's looking in. He's also a guy who, you know, projects to be a guy who can be kind of versatile on at multiple positions. It's Torian Green from Baylor. Tori and Prince.

Sorry, Tori, oh my God. Was that the old Florida point? Yeah, he was the old Florida point guard. So, fifth wheel. Yeah. So the guy who projects to be, you know, a guy who can play the three or four, Torian Prince from Baylor. He's, he's a guy with, you know, prototypical. size for the three position. I think he has like a 611 wing span at 6.8. He's strong. You know, he's able to comfortably shoot from three on the catch and shoot. And that's pretty important for a guy who projects to be a tweener. I think he's stronger than he is faster explosive. So I wonder if his role's going to skew more towards being a four in the future. I don't know. You live in big 12 countries, so you caught a lot more of prints than I did.

what stands out to you for Prince? Yeah, I mean, the big thing, of court, like, if you haven't watched Baylor, they play this really goofy zone most of the time. So you don't really get to see Tori and Prince, like, guard one-on-one very often. So it's kind of an unknown. Like, I was so bummed. I went to the Baylor-O-U game, and, like, heels walking three, just shooting 30-footers. It's like, let Prince guard this guy, and let's play basketball.

Right. But Scott Drew's got him playing this weird hybrid zone, trapping guys, and this whatever. So that's, it's like drafting Syracuse guys. never 100% sure they can play defense. You're kind of like hoping they play defense by the physical tools. And like he had a good year this year. He was forced to kind of be more of a main creator. He wasn't great at it, but I think it'll do good for the growth of his game, that he had

to be the man for a year. He had to, like, create shots for their guys sometimes. Baylor kind of fell apart getting into the season. I will say I've heard some whispers about kind of just Prince. He was, he got in that fight with Reefat. Rico Gallagher is the tournament, custom out, national TV. I don't think it's a big deal, but that is out there. So that might be why he's not the top 15 type player.

But I think he's also like Baldwin. It's like he's 6-8, multiple positions, three-point shooter. It just eats to sloppem the roles. Right. And that's the thing with all these guys. It isn't so much like, how good were you in college. It's how many roles can you play in the NBA? And how fast do you play them?

Because there isn't much patience anymore for these guys. You've got two, three years tops that is on to the next one. And I think Prince is a pretty safe pick no matter where he goes. Like what I say is a good college player is Buddy Heald? No. Buddy Heel was a better college player. But that don't mean really anything in the NBA level, necessarily. Do you have a comp for Prince?

Because I think the hair makes it kind of convenient to say Damari Carroll, but I kind of see some Marvin Williams in his game. Yeah, I don't know if he has Damari's ball skills. or, I mean, I guess that's unfair. Mara's not a great handler. Yeah, like, he just sort of really, he's like the most exactly thing. When you think a three, four, come before he shoots three's in defense.

I don't know. Yeah, I think he's a safe pick, that's for sure. Look, if he gives halftime interviews, like the one he did after the game in Yale. Oh, that was great. That was great. Look, I hope he becomes a superstar, so we get to hear him every single game. Like, he has incredible sarcasm. Yeah, that rebound thing was really funny.

I forgot about that. I think that's all we have for now. Check back next week where we'll break down some international prospects you'll need to know in the upcoming draft, which is, oh my God, it's about a week away. Yeah, life comes fast, man. Yeah. All right. Thanks so much, Charks.

Thanks, Danny. See you guys next week for more draft talk.