The Ringer NBA Show - NBA Draft Mailbag Special | The Corner 3

Episode Date: May 27, 2019

With the NBA Finals still on hold, we convene our NBA draft experts to open up the mailbag and answer some of your pressing questions about the top prospects as we approach the 2019 NBA draft. From Zion Williamson and RJ Barrett to Ty Jerome and Matisse Thybulle, we break down our thoughts on top prospects and role players who might be available for late-round steals. Hosts: Kevin O’Connor, Jonathan Tjarks, Danny Chau Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Welcome to The Ringer Podcast Network. I'm Liz Kelly. Fresh off of Talk the Thrones, the Ringer is introducing a new live Twitter after show covering season two of HBO's Big Little Lies. Immediately after each episode, the Ringer's Amanda Dobbins and ESPN's Mina Kimes will be going live to give their initial reactions and break down everything we saw in the episode. And to kick us off, there will be a special season two preview airing on Friday, June 7th at 12 p.m. Pacific. So join Amanda and Mina for Big Little Live every Sunday on Twitter. Welcome to the Ringer NBA show. This is The Corner 3. My name's Kevin O'Connor, and I am stoked to be joined live in person here in beautiful Los Angeles

with Ringer Associate Editor Danny Chowell and Ringer staff writer Jonathan Charks. I'm here. I'm getting goosebumps hearing us in person. I always get over the microphones. I know. It feels so good to be here together in person. This is our first one in person during the entire season, right? Since the draft, I think.

Since last year, I believe. There's a post-draft pod that we did last year. year. And today... So you look great, by the way. Taking care of yourself, I can tell, man. It's looking good. It's great to see in the flesh.

LA is treating them very well. I did cut a couple of pounds, but I do love my ringer shirt that I'm wearing. Today, you guys submitted your questions through Twitter for a special NBA draft exclusive mailbag edition of the Corner 3. So we're going to start off with a question from Valmitten Fung. What a name. Where does the consensus top three in this draft, Zion Williamson, Jiamerant, and RJ Barrett compared to the past two draft classes.

So that's 2018, Aiton, Bagley, Donchich, and then 2017, Fultz, Ball, Tatum. And then he also followed up if he could construct a three-year big board, wherever they stack up. So I guess starting generally, Danny, how does this top three compare to these past two drafts? I mean, 2018 is clearly a number one for me, but what do you do with Zion, who is probably the best freshman we've ever seen? How does that wait?

That to me is like the first question. Really, it's Luca versus Zion, right? That's the first question. As the best prospect of the past three years. I think for me, you know, if you're going by your evaluations heading into the draft, I would rank them like this. And this is, again, heading into the draft. So I would have Donchurch 1, Zion 2, Fultz 3, Tatum 4, 8 and 5, Barrett 6,

Morant 7, ball 8, bagley 9. That's the way I would have ranked these guys based on evaluations heading into the draft. And obviously now, Fultz would be 9th. if you're taking these guys from where they're at now in their careers. But I don't love Barrett or Morant. I think they're good prospects, but I don't value them nearly as much as that AdFaults, who looked the part as a two-way, long, big guard

who could create off the dribble for you and play make and defend multiple positions. I don't value either of them as much as Tatum, who looked like a go-to-scorer potential. Granted that year we had different opinions on him, but even at this point it's undecided with him, but I think the go-to scoring potential was higher. Then with Aiton, again, a guy super efficient near the rim who projected potentially as a good defender

and he made great progress as a rookie, as we saw. Barrett with his inefficiencies as a score and his poor decision-making and Morant with his really frail, thin frame, an iffy jumper. I would just slot those two guys behind Fultz Tatum, Aiton. That doesn't mean they're not poor prospects. They just have some flaws that do stick out, Danny. Yeah, but I mean, really, like,

I think we're kind of burying the lead here. Like, where do you stand on the Donchich Zion debate? How close is it for you? I think when you consider the importance of the three-point shot in today's league and shot creation from the perimeter, I think that's where I give Donchurch, not a big lead, but a noticeable difference. Like, if this is a Kentucky Derby, like, what is like a two-length lead?

I like it. I like it. Kentucky Derby talk. It's not like a photo finish, but, you know, it's close. And I ask where I'm at with Donchich, where just his playmaking ability and his shooting ability, as you've seen all season charts, that gives me an edge over Zion, who is more just like the freakish athlete, who's going to be a great defender, rim runner, and he can handle the ball too. But I just think Donchich, for today's league with his permanent skills is a little bit more important. Yeah, I mean, I feel like if you look at the floor, like Lucas floor is like that shot creator. Like he's basically that hard and stuff kind of player where he creates a bunch of threes for himself, a bunch of threes for his teammates, that kind of play.

supercharges in offense. Zion, I wonder, like, do you think the LeBron thing is crazy? Just the comparison. Yeah. I do, sort of. I think even LeBron in high school, remember watching him playing on ESPN

and, like, his junior and senior year of high school, like, he didn't have a great jumper, but he could create off the dribble from the perimeter. And with Zion, look, Zion's a tremendous prospect. One of the best prospects that we've seen in our lifetime, but there's still the concern with his shock. creation ability. He's very left-hand dominant. He doesn't have a jumper off the dribble.

And those are skills that to reach that LeBron level, you have to have that. But I think that given the way that we see the league now and given the way that like positionless basketball has kind of taken over in kind of mainstream consciousness and the way that most people conceive of the league, the idea of Zion playing center sooner than later kind of intrigues me in terms of those kind of. deficiencies in his game not necessarily meaning as much as they might have when LeBron

started out. I think Zion might have enough skills to kind of offset that. So I go back do you remember this game, the Pittsburgh game, when Trey Jones got hurt and Zion ran point? I remember watching that game. He had seven assists and I was like, oh my God.

This is happening. And then after that he goes back to power forward. He's playing off the ball. I looked at his numbers. So this is a very small sample. size. Okay, but who cares. Who cares about a pick and roll ball handling? You know what his percentile was in the pick and roll as a ball handler?

In the college basketball? 99%. Oh, interesting. I mean, so, I mean, him as a role man, often he rolled in college, he never rolled. He never rolled. He wasn't even on the leaderboards. And I think that's like there's always going to be the Zion LeBron comparison because just their freakish

athleticism and just their body size and everything else. And also there are games though. That's the thing. It's like, he's not a playmaker like LeBron's level. But he's still for his size and for his position, somebody who, like, we talk about this all the time, whether he's the guy handling the ball in the pick and roll or the guy who's on the short roll,

he can do the Draymond Green thing where he can put the ball in his hands or have him screening and rolling and then just creating against the defense and devastating them with his either lob dunk ability, his ability to finish with finesse, or his ability to just to find and locate an open shooter. Like, he didn't have great spacing at Duke.

And like you said, he didn't have the opportunity to always do that. But in the NBA, he's going to have chance to do that. And that's like the difference between him and Luca Donchard's where Luke is going to be that ball dominant force.

Zion is a little bit more offensive versatility, I think, besides the fact his shot off the catch still is, we'll see what level he reaches. So then my question is if Zion can become a Draymond Green like player

and possibly even like do that better given his physical like superiority, is that, let's say Zion gets paired with a Steph Light, who can do approximately what Steph has. See, that's why the Atlanta thing.

I was so upset. Oh, my, can you imagine? That would have been a tremendous fifth. Now, would, would, what, who would be more valuable in that situation? Like, Zion with that or Luca without a Dramon-A-D-M-on-esque? The idea is Luca is that Steph-Light guy, but he's six-seven. Right. Just a big one.

See, to me, like, I guess big picture to me, I think Luke and Zion, I put as their own tier. Oh, yeah. I think behind them. And I think I, once you're three, four, five, I could see you could throw Tray Young in there. Not pre-draft, looking at him now. I think you throw a Jared Jackson in there. I think it's really about that. SGA, Mitchell.

There's a handful of guys that, like, if you're evaluating based off today, like, from ranking people from today forward, obviously, Fultz isn't even in the conversation. Sadly, very sad story. Lonzo Ball has probably been knocked down a bit, too. I still believe in Lonzo. I think you guys to help. I do, too. I really like Lonzo. And with these rankings, I had a hard time between Morant and Ball.

I gave Morant an edge over him because of the sheer athleticism. I think ball's a bit better as a playmaker. He's so much bigger. He's bigger. And that's one of the concerns for me with Morant's in this draft where he's going to be a good player. Anytime you playmate at his level, like you're not going to fail. You're just not going to fail. Basketball IQ.

Exactly. He's going to be an NBA player for 10 plus years assuming good health. The question will be is like what happens with his jump shot? How much does he improve defensively? because the effort was not there at Murray State the body's not there for the NBA level but when he tried he was solid enough like any point car can be

if we're talking about like him and Lonzo Ball Lonzo Ball's defense was never really brought up in his college days. He was like active but on the ball there were very different players really yeah yeah total opposite ends of this question okay so like how about this I wonder with me like to me I look at RJ I see a guy to me is number nine

on this list like I'm really low on RJ am I too low on him Yeah, I believe so. And that'll bring us into our next question because this relates directly to RJ because not all of us have Zion, Jha, and RJ Barrett in our top three. And Daniel Tap asked, how much stock do you put in Brennan Clark having the second best box plus minus since 2010 behind Zion Williamson? And I have RJ ranked second on my board. You guys have Zion 1, both of you.

And Danny, you have Jared Culver, two, and then Jahn 3. RJ you have fifth behind Brandon Clark who's fourth and then Charks you have Zion first, Brandon Clark second I went full hipster at that one And then Jha third and then you have RJ all the way back I was throwing darts our big boards are going to continue Changing over the weeks

We're recording this on May 22nd and it's going to air Sometime whenever you're hearing it next week From the time we're recording but like from where we're at now Based on our evaluations the question was about Brandon Clark and we'll touch on the analytics in a second with BPM But I guess I guess regarding RJ, I have him second, fifth, seventh for you, Danny, seventh for you Charks.

Where are you guys at with him to have them at that point in the drafts? I just don't really believe in him as a primary kind of ball handling big wing. I don't believe in his finishing ability. Like everything that you see his game kind of pointing towards, I don't really see him having the ability to do it very well at the NBA level. level. Like, I think he'll be a solid player. He just has the build. He has, he has the body forward. He has the requisite athleticism. But I don't see him having the kind of special touch that's required for him to be the kind of bully ball wing that he purports to be.

Yeah, I feel like he's not that athletic either. Like, he's a good athlete, but in terms of what you were saying, yeah. In space. In terms of like the way he plays, he kind of relies on being the best athlete on the floor all the time. And I feel like RJ is good, but like he can be good somewhere else and someone else's team. I wouldn't want to deal with it, honestly. So in other words, what happens in the NFL draft and the NBA draft is a lot of teams will just have rankings of guys that they'll take. Like, there might be a team that does not even have RJ on their board because they're just like, we're not going to take him. We're just not going to bother investing in him. He can be somebody else's problem to deal with.

Now, obviously, that happens really in the NFL draft, fourth, fifth, sixth round, where you just have maybe 150 guys on your board. In the NBA draft, maybe you only have four. in your board. But like regarding like lottery picks for you having him at that point, he's just not a guy you would want to invest in then because of those flaws. I just feel like RJ needs a ball on his hands. And I'm not sure he's worth the investment of having the ball on his hands. I just, I don't really believe in his jumper, really. And I just to me, see, for me, like I think with him 18 years old, 6-7, strong body, and he has been great at every level. Like he had a really good year at Duke. He did not meet expectations. And he had some.

really like annoyingly frustrating turnovers and decisions that he made on the floor. And like, I think a lot of the focus with RJ was on those. It's just annoying mistakes. Like it's a pain in the ass to watch him sometimes. But he also had moments where like this dude at 6'7 was just whipping the ball around the floor. He can kick out threes after driving with a clogged lane. And projecting him forward, I sort of look at him as like a big guard, like a big point guard more than a wing.

I think if RJ with his ball handling ability as a passer, I think that's going to develop for him over time with more spacing, I think his at-room finishing should improve. I think also when it comes to his shooting, I have concerns about his jumper as well as anybody will. He shot only 66% from the free throw line, 31% from three. He wasn't shy about it. He was not, no.

And the thing is with him, though, is like he is at least a shot creator. He is somebody who can create shots for you. And look, I think compared to Brandon Clark, who, I have ranked 10th. I love Brandon Clark. I thought 10 was high for him, but apparently not compared to you guys. I just think with Brandon Clark.

No way. So, sky's the limit. Clark, Clark, to me, is more like a super role player where, and like this is when I touch on draft philosophy here. Yeah. Where Brandon Clark,

to me, is the guy who, he is somebody that you can plug and play into any type of situation. And he's somebody who can use as a role man, somebody who's supremely athletic, who's like a good passer for his position. But he's also like,

23 years old and I think there's upside for him to be better than he was in college at Gonzaga. However, I just would have a hard time ranking ahead of R.J. Barrett, who's five years younger, a far better shot creator, a far better playmaker with these like supreme potential star skills. Like there's a there's a superstar path for R.J. Barrett. There's not for me with Brandon Clark. Okay. So, for me, I guess like when I look at Brandon Clark, obviously two is high. This is me throwing darts. I look at two things. To me, like he and my, me of Sean Marion. That's the kind of guy I'm seeing him as. And here's where, like, it's so totally gamble. I look at his shot at San Jose State. Like, if you go and look at his

shot at San Jose State, he is literally like the worst shooter of all time. One of the worst looking strokes I've ever seen. It's like it was all over his head. I don't even know what's happening. It was gross. It's like a rocket launcher. Gross. Looks like my jump shot. Yeah. He lets you want a shooting special. I mean, well, that's why I'm good at analyzing jump shots. Unless you were a quarter three guy. I know a bad jumper when I see it. Trust me. I do. Trust me. So he went from that. And he went from that. And he he goes to Gonzaga, he rebuilds his shot, he's pretty much money from 15 feet now. So I'm looking at that trajectory.

I look at his touch around the rim, and I'm gambling that he's going to become a good shooter, which is, I admit, I will recognize as a complete gamble, it might not happen. But see, I look at it like RJ has a path of superstardom. I feel like he has a path to be Demard de Rosen. That to me is like, okay, that's who he could be. And I'd rather have a super role player like a Sean Marion kind of guy. To me, that's more valuable than Demard de Rosen, honestly. I think it's fair.

Yeah, I mean, I feel like the points of comparison for Brandon Clark are Sean Marion, Pascal Seacum. Like, you can see a little bit of like Andre Carolinko even. He's just a beautiful, like stunning athlete to watch. His defensive instincts are topped here. And as you were saying, like, he has playmaking chops off the dribble. Like, if he can take the ball down the floor and he can, you know, find the open man. And I just think with all of that, with, you know, what we've been talking about with guys who can create like Draymond in the short role and everything, there's a lot of value to be had in, you know, a defensive star. I will admit the wingspan thing really hurt my heart.

Sure. When he came in at 6'8, that was really disappointing. Let's give us a little background on Brandon Clark there. So Brandon Clark, he's 6'8 and his wingspan is identical, 6'8. Yeah, it's very sad. Very sad. And for him, he was a junior at Gonzaga, so he's going to be. 23 years old as a rookie, average 17 points, 9 rebounds, 2 assists,

27% from 3, 70% from the free throw line, three blocks per game. And I think with the wingspan thing, it's interesting because it's like, obviously that's not ideal for a guy's 6-8 to have a 6-8 wingspan. When he's somebody you would project as like a small ball, five type is a 4-type. You want him playing in the front court.

But he's lean. He's not exactly, he's not long, obviously. but what he is, as you said, Danny, just a bouncy athlete. And he plays his ass off. Like, that dude plays constantly hard. He's a pretty smart player. I like that combination of athletic ability and basketball IQ.

To me, he's like a 6-8 Zeyersmith. Same kind of typeish. And Zyri-Smith was 6-4 and he got drafted in the lottery. Yeah. And that's where with Brandon Clark, to me, he's like a no-doubt lottery pick. Just no doubt about it in this year's class. And no doubt top-10 pick. And part of me feels 10's a little bit low.

but I just I mean it's definitely reasonable my ranking is very reasonable I know I just have a hard time I'm like I'm trying to understand like why over RG like I understand like the philosophy behind drafting a super role player but I think

with RJ he's somebody where so many of those flaws were just put under a microscope this year at Duke I guess this guy's succeeded every level for team Canada beating team USA before college like he has had a lot lot of success throughout his basketball life, playing with more spacing in the NBA, I think with RJ when he's putting an effort on defense, with his playmaking with space, and just developing overtime as someone, again, who's only 18 years old.

Like Brandon Clark at 18 would not be the number two pick. For sure. Like RJ Barrett at 22, 23 projecting ahead. He just, that, like, we're talking about competing with Brandon Clark and how hard he plays. RJ plays his ass off too. Like, he plays really hard. Okay, so here's what I'm looking at with RJ. So I'm looking at like these teams in the lottery, right?

I feel like you put RJ in a team. He's not going to play in New York, right? New York will have no time for that. They have Kyrie and Katie. That's not going to happen. Can you imagine Kyrie and RJ? Like, that's like Tatum times 20. Imagine if Tatum couldn't shoot.

Right? And Kyrie is like, oh, bro, like you move the ball. So LA, that's not going to happen, right? LeBron. And you look at it like, if he goes to Cleveland, I guarantee him and Colin Sexton have issues. If he goes to Phoenix, when he play out Devon Bucker, I don't think so. If he goes to Chicago. Markanin, Porter, Levine.

You don't want to play with him. I think it can work with Evan Booker. I feel like Booker's like, gave me the ball. And I think I'm like, I think with Booker like he's became that, but still like at his core, he's still a guy who can run off screens spot up. Is that real, that feels like a demotion though? Yeah. I mean, for Booker, he's like, I'm the guy. What if it's an upgrade?

And I mean to have more on his plate, more, more offensive responsibility off the ball, not less demand on the ball. I think RJ is somebody who can alleviate some of that pressure on him. Look, Booker is a dude who comes from a very specific school of thought, the Kobe school of thought. I don't really don't. Devin Booker is not playing a slothal to RJBarr. That's just not going to happen. Devin Booker was not this guy in college, though.

But he's this guy now. But he is this guy now. How much money does he make? Max contract? Devin Booker said after last season, not this season. After last season, he was like, I don't ever want to miss the playoffs again. And letting R.J. run, he'll get into the playoffs. That means a five-year rebuild.

I mean, this is also theoretical because the odds are RJ won't even fall to the next. I think what will happen is he'll get picked up three and he'll be traded somewhere else. By his worry with RJ, I worry, he has to be the man. I feel like wherever he goes, whatever team he's on, the players that are on this team now will be better than him. They don't want to deal with it. And he can't be awful because he can't shoot. So I feel like he's just going to be a chemistry problem wherever he goes. I don't know. I think RJ's won at every little. Okay, so like let's say the Knicks, where would you want to go? If like the Knicks trade this pick, right? Who makes the most sense for RJ? What's the best fit for him in the NBA? You can

Take a second. I mean, I like him. I like him for the Knicks. With Katie and Kyrie? You think that would work? Yeah, I don't even know if they're going to keep him. They might flip him. But, like, I don't mind him with KD.

With Kyrie, after what happened in Boston this year. Didn't we just watch this whole show? I don't mind, like, a high-upside player growing with Kinex. You think he said to grow with Kyrie? Like, that's not going to happen. Oh, so, but you're assuming, like, he's just not going to have a very, like, he's not going to have a starring role, so he's just going to be, like, another guy. Like, a guy, you bring him off the benchry.

Yeah. He's going to get his shots if he comes off the bench or not. Like, he's going to get his shots. I'll tell you that. And that's the one thing with RJ. Sometimes I question how much of it is basketball IQ and some of those poor decisions that he makes? And how much of it is just like, I get it mine. Okay, I got a good RJ story.

I was just telling him about this. So, what's your RJ story? Team Canada, it was always RJ and this guy, Simi Shatoo, Vanderbilt, freshman. He'll be in this draft, probably a late second round pick. And they were always kind of arguing, like, whose team is this? Like, is my team is your team? And it was like his constant back and forth. And what turned out, so right before they won the gold medal in Canada,

Shihu quit the team. He's like, RJ, you suck. I can't deal with this anymore. You're not that good. I should be the man. And now he's gotten like this rep in the end being like, oh, Simi Shih Tzu's an idiot. He's like an egomaniac. He can't handle a role in his team.

Maybe Shih Tzu is like three steps ahead. He's like, I know this guy isn't very good. He's going to kill the team. I feel like if Zion told Arjave. But he didn't. That's true. He won the gold medal. Yeah, they won the gold medal.

But I'm saying like, imagine. As a Duke, if I had told RJ, that's say, RJ, you're not that good, take a back seat. They've been a better team. RJ is good, though. He's been good at every level. He was good at Duke. Also, you know what's fun? You know what's fun about that, though?

We could say the exact same thing he wanted every single level with Julio Ocalfour. Every single level. He was a champion at every single level of basketball. And he looked the part of an NBA player. You know, he had all the requisite skills. Wing Julele Ocifah for is what I'm saying, I guess. I understand. I don't see him in New York.

I'm trying to find a team that makes sense for RJ. Even like Cleveland, here he goes to Colin Sexton. I think with like the Okafore, winning in every little, winning a level is sort of a fallacy. Like to say that, you know, it is.

You would just say that. I know, I know, I admit that. I admit, I'm pulling these cards out for my support of Marj. But again, like, I think the real argument, again, is like with the skills,

the shot creation ability, the effort, I know what didn't happen on defense for him this year because the offensive load, but like the effort level the intensity, the work ethic off the court, everything you hear about how hard he works. He does work hard. The amount of resources Team Canada has put into him medically, skill-wise, everything, health, nutrition.

Like, he has a lot behind him to succeed. It's less that for me. It's more just the natural, like, level of touch and just his spatial kind of awareness for me. He doesn't have great touch at all. He doesn't have great touch. And that's kind of really important for me, especially when he's not as good of an athlete as he was at the college level. and so when he's trying to finish over guys, he's not going to be able to

with as much regularity as he did in college. And he didn't really finish with too much regularity given his physical attributes in college anyway. So I think that's kind of more where I'm leaning with... You guys are with a semi-shoot-2

on RJ Barrett and I am with a... Actually, I'll say one more thing. One thing I've heard, I've heard, like, RJ wants to be the best player of all time, which is like such a scary thing to hear about a guy wasn't that good. It's like... John Moran-Col.

himself a point god. Confidence can be a good or bad thing. I mean, I don't mind Ja talking like that. I mean, look, we... Charles was great. Charks, we've been wrong on this. We've been on the wrong side of history with Jason Tatum.

Have we know? Isn't it changing? We're relitigating. We should probably go on before we talk about Tatein for their hours. You guys are with Simi Shatu, and I am not. Speaking about late round gems, we were asked by many, many people

about who are some potential steals in this year's draft. Charks, Simi is one of the guys that you have highlighted as a potential steal in this draft. Who is he? And what is it about his game

that makes him a potential steal? Okay, so he was a five-star freshman forward at Vanderbilt. Basically, his season got sunk. He's playing with Darius Garland. Garland tears his knees out for the year. Five games in. Yeah, and then Vanderbilt had enough talent.

Their coach got fired. I look at, I look at like a five-star guy like that shit too is very athletic. He's very raw. But to me, he's a guy like, if he goes to league for two years, years, works on his jumper, works on his feel for the game. His athletic ability and his skill set to me is very interesting.

He's a 6-10 dude who can bring the ball down the floor. That's automatically very, very, you know, attractive. And he was playing on a torn ACL right after 20 ACL. So, I mean, I don't know. He's very raw. He'd probably bust out of the league, but he's a guy, I think, worth a shot in the second round. How about you, Danny?

I'm going with a guy who probably most people I haven't heard of. A guy named Alon Smileyjik. Alon Smileyjeeke. I'll not you take that name. Yeah. So he was drafted fourth overall in the G-League draft last year, 19 years old, plays for the Santa Cruz Warriors in the G-League. And there's been a lot of talk over the past couple months about how the warriors are

basically trying to hide him from the rest of the league by putting him in this G-League. They didn't send him to the showcase to the G-League showcase. So none of the other teams really got to see what he did. He's this 6-10, really skilled guy. He can bring the ball up the floor. he has a lot of like, DeMarcus Cousins-y, like, oh, I'm going to bring the ball before

and I'm going to, like, hoist the three type of thing. He played third division Serbian ball before playing in the G-League. So this dude's basically an unknown player. He hadn't played in any, like, high-level competition before that, but he's been killing it in the G-League. He's a cool story at the very least

in terms of the way the Warriors are using the G-Lie to hide a guy. It's a pretty interesting story, no matter what happens with him, just the way the league could move forward as a developmental tool, I think. The guy who stands out to me is Dayquan Jeffreys. He's a guy everyone's talking about.

He's got a lot of buzz. From Tulsa. He's a 6'5, near 7 foot wingspan, wing forward type. I think when you're looking, Hugh and I talked about this in our NBA Slack recently charts, like finding other PJ Tucker's. I think it's easier to have been done to find guys who can do that because of the mentality.

But from the body and from the game, Jeffries is the type of strong-bodied wing who can play big. and he's an intense defender. He's someone who plays hard, somebody who's a smart player and makes good decisions on the floor. And he hits spot-up threes at an above average to good rate.

He shot 37% from three this year, 76 from the line. And those aren't great numbers necessarily, but it's solid enough. And I think his shot is projectable enough where he can be a good shooter and a versatile defender. And what more could you want in today's league?

Were you at the Combine KFC? I've heard he was one of the Big Rizers at the Combine. Yeah, he had a good combine. Yeah, I like, Jeffries a lot. I think he's somebody, to me, I haven't ranked 29th. Ooh, I like that. Nice. I think he should be a first round pick. And like, this is the type of thing with the draft. It's like everything we're talking about, like I just said with Jeffries, it's like, that sounds like a guy who should be a lottery

pick, especially this year with like a week of class and a lot of guys with questions. And one of the guys who has a lot of questions is Bull Bowl. And we were asked by a couple different people about him, Nickety Nick and Slow Bamba, who said, which is actually a great nickname for Bull Bowl. That's fantastic. Sounds like the name of my band. I'm going to start. How high could Bull, Bull, go, charts? I mean, first, are we doctors? Like, I don't know.

Right? Like, what's up with his foot? You mean, like, he has serious health issues, serious medical red flags. And that's, like, the number one thing boring this game is, like, well, how healthy is? Yeah, I don't know.

I'm not a doctor. Yeah, I think with Bull Bull, like, that's the only question, really, is with the health. I think with his game, there's every player has holes. Every player has questions with him, like his frail frame,

like, how much can he actually defend stronger, his center of gravity is so high. He has such long legs. Yeah, it's all legs, all arms. I mean, his wingspans tremendous. It's seven foot seven. Seven foot seven.

And he can stroke threes. Yeah, 50% from three in the small sample size at Oregon. How much shots, Annie? I don't know. Like 10. Yeah, I mean, look, he played, it was 25 shots. He played like 10 games. Yeah.

But, yeah, like. He can shoot, though. Like, it's like, he's not going to shoot 50%, He can really stroke it. He has a touch on floaters on layups. He can shoot. There's no doubt about that. He's going to at least be an above average good shooter.

It's really funny. If you watch some of his high school highlight mixes, he does a lot of bringing the ball up the floor. He has a little tricky, like, ball handling maneuvers. They won't amount to anything in the NBA, but it's just like he has confidence. I mean, it's very thought makerish, right?

The high school video thing. Right. Yeah. But he's just, he's really slow. There's not a lot of like lateral. or even like up and down and I worry about him defending a lot of space as you mentioned the high center of gravity

is just like really skinny legs I just don't see him defending effectively on the post against bigger guys or even against like big wings for that matter yeah but you look at a guy who's 7 4 7 4 right he's listed 7 2 and a half I feel like he's 107 with a 9 8 standing reach

and who shoots 3 is at 50% some team will probably look at that and be like hey if we're going to swing for the fences, let's swing for the fences. I mean, the role is there no matter what, Ben Shooter. If he can say hell, which is the thing. I mean, seven two guys don't say healthy to begin with. You're having a broken foot.

I mean, I think the difference between him and Michael Porter last year is I remember when I interviewed Tim Conley for the Nuggets article I wrote this year, he said with Porter, the only question was health. Like, that's it. The game was there. But with Bull Bull Bull, it's not just health. It's a question about work ethic as well. Yeah, I mean, the difference is Por is incredible actually.

Well, yeah. I know that, of course. But like, with Bull, it's also work ethic. and scouts have long questioned how hard he actually works, how much he actually loves the game. So it's like you have durability concerns and work ethic concerns. I would be not surprised if he went top 10

because of the sheer talent level. Somebody maybe falls in love with him, but I wouldn't take him top 10. I have him ranked 20th on my board. Charks, you have him 21st, and Danny, you have him 14th. I think 14th, 15th is fair. Late lotto, mid-first, for someone just to take a swing on him.

You know, it's kind of funny. I feel like if, when I don't have I taken Mo Bamba, he's a perfect Orlando pick, isn't he? Yeah, right. Super tall, long guy shooting. Let's go back to the Combine real quick. We have a question from Hunter. Who is the biggest stock riser from the NBA Combine? Well, I'll give a shout out to Nick Claxton, the Georgia Big Man.

He was kind of off-threatter all season. I know nothing about him, honestly. And then as his name come up there, I went back, I was, oh, they played Texas. They played Jackson Hayes. So I watched that game, like, Claxton is just more skilled than Jackson. Hayes, in my opinion. He'd got point guard. I feel like, I'm not really arguable, right?

In terms of like his basketball skill level is just higher right now. He's a good athlete. You've got size. Like, this guy, I think will stick in this draft because his, his theoretical skill set is pretty intriguing. Claxton, seven foot tall, seven foot three wingspan, average 13 points last season, nine rebounds, two assists, only 28% from three, only 64% from the line. With him, it's like, like you said, Charks, he's skilled.

They have Capell had handles. What if Quipel had handles? What if Quintapel had handles? He ran point for Georgia's offense a lot of the time. Like, he ran pick and roll as a near seven-foot player. And I think with that skill set, again, like, to me, he's a first-round talent. It's still decided if he'll actually stay in the draft or not. But I think with the combine he had where he showed off his versatility, switching screens,

defending guards and wings. And that was, like, the cool thing about the combine is you were required to switch all screens on the ball. Oh, that's a good. No, that's awesome. So it's like with Claxton, he, you know, he looked great. He looked good defensively. And if you're looking for a guy in today's league, that's what you want a big to do,

is to be comfortable defending on the perimeter. And Claxton, the question will be with him is, like, what level of his shot really reach? How reliable will he be defending on, how reliable will he be shooting from the perimeter when he's off the ball? And also, like, he's still pretty thin. So, like, how will he handle the Embedes, the Yokic types of bigs of the world?

But, like, to me, he's a no-brainer first-rounder. In terms of, like, the combine measurement numbers, though, Like, I understand all of the kind of sadness that Brandon Clark didn't really have too great of a measurement in terms of, like, his anthropomorphic numbers. But, man, his lane agility, it's faster than Drew Holidays. It's faster than John Walls. And this dude's going to be playing small ball five. Clark? Yeah.

Yeah. Was it faster than Taco Fall? Nice. It better be. It'd better be. Taco Fall to me is the number one prospect. Well, we had someone. on their staff who will not be named

when our Slack was talking as a first round pick, right? We'll say who it was. Someone who will not be named. Also, before I forget, I went by look at it. I got to give him to talk to my guy Ben Ruma at the Stepion.

He has like Nick Claxton like takes for days. They're really well written. One more, Nick Claxon checked that out. He's a pretty interesting guy. Is Claxton like a lotto pick for him? I think so. I think, but he was saying

he might go back to school because he has Tom Queen of Georgia now and they have like a top two class coming in. Edwards is coming there. So like he comes back with a really stacked team, maybe actually is a lottery pick because his team is really good next year. Because one of the things, I guess, is worth pointing out, like, honestly, where there's,

what, 65 Power 5 conference teams, if you're a guy who's on a big recruit and you aren't a bad Power 5 team, no one's really watching you. I was sort of like these NBA scouts. Like, we don't have time to watch, like, Georgia and, like, Clemson. Like, these teams aren't very good. It's hard to watch during the season. So a guy that can go under the whole season and no one talk about it. I think Claxton brings us to a good question from Andrew Del Toro, who asked,

which guys have a chance to someday guard Janus, relatively speaking? relatively is the key word there. We're recording this on Wednesday the 22nd. Right now, the Raptors and Bucks are tied two to two to two to two to in the series. And by the time you hear this, we'll know who is representing the Eastern Conference in the finals. If it's the Bucks,

I mean, the conversation is even more timely because in the draft, you need to think about who your opponents are going to be. Who are the teams that you have to beat in order to get to the NBA finals? And for the foreseeable future, Yianna Senta Kumpo and the Bucks, whether or not they make it, are going to be one of those teams that you have to beat to get to where you want to get to where you want to get.

So back to the question for him, Andrew, Danny, are there any prospects, whether it's lotto guys, late first guys, second around guys,

stand out as players who are potential Yannas containers, not stopers, you can't stop them, but guys who you can at least put on them

and feel comfortable about. If you're thinking about it, Zion. Right, it has to be. Because, look, you talk about the type of player

you want guarding Zion. You want a wide body, you want a big body who can take up a lot of space that doesn't allow Yonis to kind of do that whole whoop-de-do Euro step. He can't

get around Zion. Zion's, he's a tank. Zion also has the vertical ability to challenge him up top. He's not tall, he might not be tall enough to do it all the time, but he definitely has the strength to at least hold his own. I mean, that's as good as

you can ask for, right? Yeah, I mean, you have to have a combination of strength and agility and also like the mindset to lock in and defend him. Zion clearly projects as one of those guys. I think staying in the lottery, DeAndre Hunter is another one that maybe you could put him on Janus. And I mean, Hunter, I have my concerns about him laterally. I'm not quite sure he's the defender that he's made out to be.

But I think, again, he has the combination of strength and at least mindset to be a guy that you could put on Janus long term. I think worth pointing out was Zion. So one thing that's been out there lately, it's like, oh, if he goes to the world and she's just Julius Randall. Changing Zion Julius Randall, what are the many differences? So in college, Randall average, I'm looking at the numbers, 0.5 steals a game, 0.8 blocks again. He's a loser on defense in college. In college, Zion average 2.1 steals the game, 1.8 blocks.

That's like triple and quadruple the difference. Like Zion's defensive ability has been very underplay because of his offense, but like this guy makes to be a very, very, very good defensive player. I remember that year you wrote an article on SB Nation about Julius Randall, like the wingspan problem, I think, about Julius Randall. on that year on Celtics blog, I wrote an article about Randall's defense, like looking specifically at his defensive issues,

like the focus problems, the just like his inability to read the floor as well as the short wingspan. It's like I have Randall, like we have Randall as a comparison for Zion like shades of because of the offense. Yeah. And like the size.

Yeah. It's like not a knock. And the fact that's actually kind of a compliment because Randall's turned into a good player. But like as you said, sharks, the defensive end of the floor it's just on a, it's a different end of the spectrum. Randall was an absolute loser

on defense in college. Just, I hated watching him. I couldn't stand watching him when he was in college, but Zion projects to somebody who has a chance to be a lane to be a Draymond-esque, versatile guy who can protect the rim for you, who can switch screens for you when

he has the intensity, he has the tools for Zion, it's going to be about like, where does his mind go? Like, how much does, because Draymond is a basketball genius. And you also wish Zion had a longer wingspan, but he makes up for it with his athleticism, with his athleticism and his timing. Also, KOC, we're getting old, man, talking about these guys from five, six years ago.

We wrote about them too, man. We're getting up there. And I think, you know, there's a handful of other guys, just like scrolling through the draft guide, just going through. I think Brennan Clark, even though he's a little lean, he's somebody that makes sense. PJ Washington, who we'll talk about in a minute, is somebody with his size and mobility makes a little bit sense. Nick Claxton, who we just talked about, somebody you could.

put on him for these, like, bigger guys. And in terms of wings, the guy we mentioned earlier, Dekwon Jeffries makes sense, Nassir Little from North Carolina, who struggled, but again, long-term he has the strong body and the theoretical defense. You look... We're talking about Janus here. This is getting ridiculous.

None of these guys. I mean, you need a big body guy. I mean, not all these guys are going to pan out, but a handful of them could make... I mean, at that point, let's talk about, like, Taylor & Horton Tucker, who has a 7-1-7-2 wing span at 6. six two or six four. I mean like the number of guys in the guys can guard him probably.

There's not many. I mean the point is is like guys you can at least as Andrew Delfore asked guys who can guard you know relatively speaking. Like you gotta put a body on them. Sure. Okay. Somebody that you can at least put a body on.

Let's move on to a question from creepy Chris. Hello. Is this Chris Vernon by the way? Are you sticking into questions here over now? Which of Kentucky's three projected first rounders do you see having the most impactful professional career? let's go through the three of those guys, starting with Kelden Johnson, who was probably the most hyped prospect heading into the season.

I guess he was, yeah, sure. Certainly the biggest freshman that they had. Yeah, they got it down here recruiting wise, though. So with Kelton Johnson, what do you like about his game? Okay, so Kellyn Johnson's a generic 3-and-D template, 6-6, reasonably athletic, decent jump shot, very competitive. Very competitive. He's so hard.

I remember he was the one guy in that Duke game when they, in the opening night, when they got crushed, where he was still playing. Everybody else Lyon took their soul. They were like, oh, my God. But Johnson was still playing. He's a very competitive kid. But I don't think he's very skilled. I don't think he's very big.

We're that athletic. I mean, to me, just kind of a guy. It's like he tries hard, but his feet don't move that fast. They don't move that fast. You definitely don't want him dribbling. Yeah, I'm not a big thing. He's a guy. I remember ranked 32.

Tyler Hero, Danny. Guy who you would hope to kind of become a guy who can create out of pick and rolls, can hit shots, hit difficult three-point shots. shots. I'm not really sure where I am with him. Like, given all of my hype and love for Kevin Herder, I'm like, I'm always looking for another. Yeah, Herder's huge compared to Hero.

Hero's like 6-4, 6-5? He has a negative wingspan. Yeah. So, you're always kind of looking for the next, but I don't know if that's a guy. This is probably very lazy, but like, you know, Luke Conard, right? I just worry about him on the wrong team. Will he just be a bench guy because he doesn't play defense, right? That's my concern.

And the guy that we all mutually agree based off our rankings is the best of the three Kentucky prospects is PJ Washington. This past season, he improved his three-point shot after testing the waters last year, shot 42% from three, still only 66% of the line. But at 6-8 with a 7-2 wingspan, he projects somebody who can be a versatile defender. He's super mobile, quick-laterally. He's a good passer for his position. He improved his shot. He's a good finisher out on the rim, even though he's not like a lob guy. he's a good finisher.

And I think with him, there's like up and down effort at Kentucky. And for me, that's like the one hesitation I have with him. But we all view him as a mid-first round pick. I think you have him highest of the three of us charts. I wonder if I'm too low. I have him,

eight or something. Double check that. Nine. Nine. You have him nine. I wonder if that's too low. I feel like I can just see like a Paul, David West,

Paul Milsap-ish kind of game. I mean, like I think his basketball IQ is fairly high for a guy with his kind of skill set. in his passing. And I really wonder if he's going to be a top five player in this draft, and it's all said, none. Yeah, I mean, I think with PJ Washington,

he's one of those guys were, like, years from now we could look at it and be like, man, how do he fall so far? Like, he has obvious skills that makes sense in today's league, especially with the spacing and the passing on offense, and then with the size and potential versatility on defense, he's just, like, that's what you want. You can kind of get lost with him not necessarily having a standout skill, but he was just one of the most productive players in college basketball.

I guess the concern would be if he goes somewhere, he has to play the four. They got a bunch of fives. Not a great shooter. He's not playing off the ball. Then what is his role? I think that'd be the concern. I think that brings us to a good question from Ghost Jacobs, who asked,

do you have any tips on how to get a deeper knowledge of the game and how to apply it while watching game? What do you pay attention to? It reminded me of an article I wrote in 2016 where I talked to Mike Schmitz, my friend from Draft Express, who now works for ESPN. Here she's a name dropping over here. And then Josh. This is the name drop second part of the second. And then Josh Riddell, who works for DS. And then a couple of like anonymous NBA people for that as well.

And so that article's titled, How to Scout College Hoops from your couch. So just like put that into Google. That was a good article. And, you know, there's some good feedback from Schmitz who I think is unbelievable. He's been, by the way, just like, as an aside, Mike Schmitz. A star on the ESPN. Like, I'll tell you what. He's on TV now, man.

Like watching the Combine is like there's prospects who impress. You like, click, claxon looks good. Like, oh, man, like, looks great on defending on the perimeter. Then you see Mike Schmitz. Okay. Dude, like he is a natural on TV. TV. I'm very impressed by Mike Schmit's going from the KOC shout-up segment.

All right, we get it. He's your friend. It's cool. Like the biggest riser of the NBA combine was Mike Schmitz. That's all I'm trying to say. Somebody tag him in so you can see KRC butting him like this. Anyway, so I think really one of the main takeaways in that article, Schmidt said, like, he uses like, this spotlighting

where like you're like just focusing on one guy and that's what I did a lot with Julius Randall that year. I'm just watching him the entire game. What he's looking at on the defensive end of the floor, how much he's ball watching, missing backdoor cuts and things like that. But more than anything else, like the big takeaway from that article for me is,

again, with PJ Washington, like you really have to understand the NBA. Like if you're scouting the draft, you can't just watch the draft. You have to really understand what is needed in the NBA, what is valued in the NBA. The game changes fast these days.

Quickly. And you can project ahead sometimes, too. And with PJ Washington, he's somebody that has skills that are extremely valuable in today's league. I think actually, I really agree with you in terms of spotlighting. To me what I like to do, like when I'm watching a guy,

I'm going to spotly watch him for like two or three games. But then you have to watch his team. You have to watch, okay, who were his four teams on the floor? What are the lineups being used in? What's his role on the team? So once you know who he is, then you have to say, how is his coach using him? Because I think that's where scouting comes very important, right?

Because these numbers are only reflecting their role on the team. And with so many his guys, like, okay, what's his role in his college team? Now, what's the role in the NBA? And that's really where the scouting comes into play. because the numbers only say how he's being used. And let's be honest,

most college coaches aren't NBA-minded. They're going to win games now. They're not trying to maximize these guys' skill sets. Sometimes these college coaches want to slow a guy down keeping the school extra year.

It happens all the time. And also, like, the games, the rules are different. Yeah, like your zone defense is prevalent in college basketball in ways that it's not in the NBA because of the lack of a three-second violation. Not to mention,

the three-point line is shorter as well, which makes a difference in spacing. Oh, yeah. And like your teammate, are so much less talented, so there's less space generally to move around. It's a different game, and I think that's one of the challenges

this as well with, like, even scouting internationally. But your point about that is important because even though you might be spotlighting, you know, and watching one guy specifically, it's about, like, little things that happen afterwards from his teammates,

how he interacts with his role in the team is a team that, like, values cutting, and, like, you don't have to understand the system, too, because it's like some teams may not want guys cutting. Some teams cut a lot. Yeah. It's little things like that where every system is different. And that's where I have a,

I have a bit of a hard time personally with, like, numbers for college because, like, it's such a small sample of only 30 games for a lot of these one and done guys. I just, I, like, obviously it's important. Analytics are important. But with college, like, for me, it's like, it has to be, context matters more than anything with the system, with the lineups, with everything else that directly affects said numbers, as you said, I would say with numbers for me, what I really, looking back on it, like the number, like the free throw shooting.

I look back at Fultz and Lanzo in that year, and I wish I had paying more interested in free throw shooting numbers. Because those numbers said these guys are not elite shooters. They're shooting threes in college really well. I test looks great, but those numbers are saying underlying numbers are saying, watch out. Even then, the I test was not very good at Lanzo. But like Fultz was like a 65% free throw shooter. And that's one of the stats I do. Like a lot is just simple free throw percentage.

I mean, it's very right. It is what it is. It has been proven to be more accurate at projecting future three-point percentage than three-point percentage in college itself, probably because of the sample size. That's usually larger for free-throw percentage. That brings us a good question to, from Mandela. What is a better situation for a young prospect to go into? A contending team where he gets to learn from experience vets or a rebuilding team with no pressure where he can play through his mistakes. I don't think there's a black and white answer.

Yeah. It's just everything that you would mention in the previous question. like context matters, everything, fit matters, you know, the style of play matters. There,

I mean, there are so many guys who have gotten lost on contending teams and to never be seen from again, who probably could have been NBA players on, you know,

bad teams. And then guys who are just waiting for that right situation where they can be surrounded by proven players who can fit them its role.

I think we're seeing this right now with Al McKinney with the Golden State Warriors, somebody who, if he's thrown into the fire in a different situation, he may be asked to do too much. Maybe is not asked to do anything that works for his specific role with Golden State,

spotting it from three, playing hard on defense, crashing the offensive boards. Simple game. Like, just do that and you're going to succeed within your role. I think every prospect's different. Every prospect, like there's different best fits for him in terms of situation. But ultimately, like, Charks, it's the type of thing where we've seen prospects fail just by falling in the wrong situation. And prospects look better because they fail into a good situation.

what's funny. I was thinking of was Josh Jackson. Do you remember when he was like, I want to play in Boston, I want to go somewhere I can be the man, blah, blah, blah. And now it's like, this guy probably to have a more disciplined instruction if he could give him, right? It's so hard to know every, I think there's, yeah, there's no black-in-lawed answers. Playing time's on everything. I was thinking about this

in regards to Matisse Thibel, the prospect from Washington, who had a tremendous college career defensively, who, you know, as a solid offensive player, like a three-and-e type of guy. For Thibble, to me, it's like, I'd love for him to lay. on a contending team.

He is because he held out of that combine. He got a promise for someone. So his agent's like, you know, I don't got time for this. I'm going where I want to put him. Because for Thibel, it's like if you go to a team where like it's bad structure, like there's no foundation, no system, there's nobody who can create shots for you. Like, you're going to be a zero in offense. And then your defense is not going to lead to winning if the rest of the team is in the

Yeah, because who cares, right? Exactly. What does it matter? I envision him being a Danny Green-esque player. And Danny Green was nobody on the calves. and became a huge somebody on the Spurs. I would say for sure, if you're an older college player, it makes more sense to go somewhere you can spend a small role.

Because I feel like these younger guys, a lot of times go to a team that's willing to win. It's like, we don't have time to develop you. Unless the situation, which brings us to another good question from, redonchish lists. I've heard redonculus. Shout out Dallas, I think. He says, is there another Landry Shaman in this draft?

I'm an older college guy who hits threes, good size. With Shaman, he's somebody who fell into a, good situation with the Sixers and then he fell into a good situation after being traded to the Clippers. Just a great example of somebody who situation played a role into his success as a second team all in the second team all rookie player. But if he fought went to a team that like sucked and had no structure and had no shot creator for him, the shots from three wouldn't be there. His improved defense wouldn't matter. Nobody would have recognized that and just wouldn't have led to winning. But sham it was somebody who fell into a good situation. So

Is there a guy that stands out to you, Charks, that could be a shamit-esque rookie who is late first, early second? Okay. Here's my guy. I really like Cam Johnson. Okay. It's the UNC guy. To me, like, that guy is a money shooter. Like, he's not just like he's a good shooter.

He's a knockdown, elite shooter. The numbers were I think he was like 97 percentile coming off screen shooting. That's a guy, he's six foot nine. He can stroke the heck out the basketball. He's pretty old. He's six percent from three this past season. Like, to me, like, you put a guy on a good team where he can play off someone. He can score a lot of points because he can, like, he can attack.

hack a three point line. He is a great shooter. He's got tons of size. You can't give him any space. I'm surprised he's solo, honest. I think he's going to be a pretty good NBA player. Yeah, he's good. I like him. I don't love him. I think he stands out as a, you know, definitely a potential steel type. I think Ty Jerome from

Virginia is somebody that makes a lot of sense to me as a potential steal. He can shoot, like, in any which way from off threes. I mean, Ty Jerome's footwork. He'll be interesting because like... I dream about Ty Jerome's footwork. It's, um... There's few players who have better footwork in this year's draft than Tide Row.

Yeah, it's just a real crime that he's so slow. Yeah, because like the extremes of him really fun to watch. Because that's a guy that's like if skill matters, like it'll be that. But if I think it matters at all, it's going to be tough. He's like the two extremes of athletic ability and skill. I mean, he has a T-Rex arm, six foot four wingspan, six five in shoes. I guess he has, like even compared to like Joe Harris. Like a UVGA, Joe Harris moves way better in time.

And he's also like a B3ROMB. And he's also like a beefy dude. Yeah. He is. He's strong. I think Ty Jerome is going to be a no doubt solid NBA player. In the draft guide, we have him prepared to a taller Jose Calderon, Malcolm Brogden, Grievous Vasquez. My buddy Eric Weiss compares him to a Tomas Satteransky type, like a better version of Satternski.

I feel like those guys are more fluid. Sateransky is a great athlete. Yeah, like Brevis also. Those are fluid players. They get where they want to go on the floor. I think Ty Jerome like borderline first round pick him. Also, you got any more shoutouts, KSie? You want to get out of here?

I mean, Eric Weiss is somebody that works in, like, NBA sleek circles. Yeah, we know who he is, but, you know, assume some shout-outs. I've met him. He asked him. He's like, how's Kevin doing in the ringer? He was very sweet. I was like, I was very impressed. Eric is, like, one of the smartest basketball minds that, like, I know.

I mean, if he got KOC as big break, he must be as pretty smart. His eye for talent must be very high. Eric's good. He knows hoops. How about you, Danny? Anybody send out? Yeah, my guy, Dylan Windler. Okay.

Oh, like that. Yeah, out of Belmont, 6-8, 200 pounds. he showed basically every three-point shot in the book during the NCAA tournament when he went off for like 30 some points. He had showed a little smooth stepback three is a career 40% three-point shooter in his four years at Belmont so you know he can stroke the ball.

Surprising like hops. He's not like the most athletic dude laterally, but like he can get up there. It's as some people might say he's sneaky athletic. Yeah, some people might say Yeah, I think Winler I have him ranked 27th And I want to rank him higher

I think with his skill level As a shooter I think he looks like a Boyon Bogdanovich type And with his high IQ and his size At 6-7 with a 6-10 wingspan And when I can get buckets So I don't see him as this guy Getting Bucket's NBA

I mean Borion is more He's developed into a ball handling type But I think with Wynlead though 22 years old He'll be 23 years a rookie Look man like he's He plays hard on defense See, I just wonder if you're going to be a shooting specialist.

I wonder if he plays enough defense. That's why I worry about what shooting. He plays hard, though, at least. Like, he's not a zero in there. I don't think he's a bad athlete by any means. I think Winnler projects as an NBA player because it's passing, because of his shooting. Again, like, he fits the criteria of that shamit type. High IQ guy who could shoot the hell out of the ball.

Older guy. Yeah. Older experience can come in and make a difference. One guy who comes to mind is somebody who is not ready to control. tribute at a high level is Cam Runnish. And we have a question from Graham Shaw, who said the draft lottery didn't go great for Atlanta, but is there a player where they're picking who could help cover up Trey Young on defense? And the guy that we all mutually agree makes a lot of sense for them. We have him going to Atlanta in our in our mock draft and the Ringer NBA draft guide is

Cam Rudish, freshman from Duke who disappointed this season playing behind Zion Williamson and R.J. Barrett. However, he does make sense as a fit next to Trey Young Charks. man, Cam Reddish, like, I think I'll have to move him up. He's just the skill level. I mean, he doesn't play basketball very well for the most part, but like, he can, this jump shot looks so good. He's so big. He moves so well for his size. Like, there's a lot to like, will he make it to eight? I wonder he's a guy going to work out or he gets to wow someone and goes to top six. I still, in my mind, he's going number four just because of the clutch connection. If they keep the pick, which seems unlikely, right? We'll see. I think with Reddish, you know, you know, you You and I, Danny, have him rank seventh. Charks, you have him 11. Yeah, I'll have him up higher. I just can't put him that level. His skills is too high.

I even want to have him higher than seven. Yeah, I mean, he could be, like, in terms of, like, the guy who's a sleeper in this draft, like, Kim Reddish's skill level is ridiculous. I'm going to end up having him above DeAndre Hunter, who I currently have ahead of Reddish. But I think with Reddish, like, if you're projecting him ahead, again, 19 years old, he'll be 20 as a rookie. So he's a little bit older as a freshman. But, again, like, the length, seven-foot wingspan, the defense that he played, very switchable.

on that end of the floor, strong body. So strong, yeah. He's just huge. He's just big. And I think with Reddish, the defense is there is a foundation for his future. The offense is on the floor. He didn't get to show it a lot

alongside RJ and Zion, but he can handle the ball. He can pass a little bit. He did it a lot in high school at lower levels. I think moving forward, he's at least somebody, because in today's league, it's important not just to be able to hit threes.

You need to be able to attack a close out. Yeah, put the ball on the floor for sure. You have to be able to make a pass off the dribble, find it with, you know, make that sense. second pass, hitting the paint, finding a shooter or a cutter. And Redis can do that. The question is going to be, everybody looked at him as a potential star.

That's going to be, that's going to have to have to do with how does his at-room finishing improve. It was terrible. Yeah, it's bad. Historically bad amongst NBA prospects. Very poor. And his shooting, like, ability, 33% from three this year, 77% of line. But that's high for a wing. Yeah, exactly.

I think he's going to at least be a good shooter. So Redish, to me, looks like a guy who is at least a three-endee type. a guy who can hit a ball. His floor is very high. Yeah. And we were talking about he has multiple outs. He could become like a Rashar Lewis type, right? A Rodney Hood type.

Like there's just a lot of things he can go to in his career. Yeah, I really like Reddish. And I think, again, sort of touching back on the RJ conversation, like the expectations were so high for him and he didn't meet them that it made him look worse than he actually did. Yeah. But at the same time, it's like when you're behind the top two recruits in the nation, it kind of almost insulates your draft stock.

There was no way he was ever going to drop past 10, even though he had a pretty miserable season. I mean, the concern is he's a six-aid, Ben McClure is a concern. I love that comp in the draft had for him. Did he be given that one? I love Ben McClure. I mean, he's the other guy.

You watch Ben McIthamor shoot you. Like, this guy is really talented. His shot looked like... Yeah, it looked like butter every single time, man. Another guy, Bobby Wagner, who's producing today's show, is just shouting at the top. his lungs in the corner of this room. Also just a Bill Simmons comparison.

Yes, is Jeff Green. Another guy who looks like a basketball player, right? I'll tell you what, though. Jeff Green, as much as I can't stand him as a player and as much as I'm disappointed that he's never reached his clear potential with his athleticism and ability on both ends of the floor and the fact he has never completely tried on defense.

And the fact that they've given him so many opportunities to play point guard. But Jeff Green still has had a long NBA career. And he has had a successful career, despite all the knocks and all the frustration, He's still in the league and still somebody who contributes, given that you still wish there was more that he could give. I mean, Jeff Green was in a game seven of conference finals and dang near swung that game. Yeah, exactly.

And how much money has a man? I'm Googling this right now. Hold on. $6 million. That's good, man. I think Reddish is somebody who could, if he has a Jeff Green as career. He's going to his play 15 years in the league, right? It's almost guaranteed.

You're going to be disappointed, but he's still going to be a successful player. We talked about him comparison to Rodney Hood a couple of pods ago, and like, I think it's going to be the same thing. And I'll have like one series where it's two points. Like this guy is terrible. Then I'll have like 15. It's like, what? That brings us right to a guy who we feel maybe has bus potential from. Mikey McCarthy, he says, which of the top, let's say 10 to 15 guys on each of our boards have the highest bust potential?

I mean, there's a lot in this draft. I mean, it goes about saying, yeah, there are. And it goes about saying that your 15th guy would be the guy with the most bus potential. But that's not necessarily true because in the draft, you might be willing to take a guy with a bit more risk than you would be, somebody who's more of a sure bet. If we were taking guys who were all sure bets, we'd have, you know, like I said,

Dayquan Jeffries, you'd have him ranked 11th or 12th, perhaps if you're feeling that confident in somebody like him. I think of my top 10 to 15 or so, I think based off where he's going to be drafted, Darius Garland just comes to mind. Why I say he's not going to be a bust,

because bust means you're out of the league. I think with Garland, I love him. I have him ranked sixth. I think his shock creation ability is tremendous. But I think there's a chance. He's a Jeff Teague. And he might be expecting him to be a lot more than that,

depending on where he's drafted. He might not even be Jeff Teague. He'd be great. That's a good player. I think just Garland, he was promised somewhere, it sounds like. We don't know where, but. He's been shut down, right? Yeah.

Expectations will be extremely high for him wherever he goes. So not quite a bust, but somebody who maybe doesn't meet expectations of the fan base that he goes to him. Okay, this is a little digression, but he's a clutch. sports guy. So he's been promised somewhere, sure, but Lebrano's where he's been promised, right? Obviously. I guess he was text Rich Paul. So the Lakers know he's... It's so weird, right? That's the weird situation, man. I'm sure Rich Paul will be happy to tell everybody. Yeah, who knows? He might. He'll tell Lebron. Yeah, I'll tell Lebron. I don't know. That's weird to me, but that's a digression.

I'm sure it'll leak eventually, just like the Chandler Hutchinson promise last year and going to the Chicago Bulls. I mean, how about you for Danny? Is there anybody like, maybe not a bus, but somebody that you're like, yeah, I wonder if he's going to meet expectations. I mean, just given the top five hype, like, or maybe not hype, but like the top five billing that he's been giving over the past few months, DeAndre Hunter,

might be a guy who could probably disappoint. Like, he has a very high floor as an NBA player. He's big, strong, can hit a three. You know, he projects to defend up to three, four positions. So yeah, yeah, I saw DeAndre Hunter, and then when I thought of him as Harrison Barnes, I cannot unsee that now. In terms of this guy is a good athlete,

not very functional on the court sometimes, very ball dominant, not a great ball mover, not a very rigid, yeah, very rigid player. That really worried me when I hurt, saw that come. Last question from J5. We need your guy's breakdown of Nikale Alexander Walker. He's a better shooter than his cousin, Shegilded is Alexander,

and he has a similar build. Projected in the mid-first round in most mock drafts. Chark said he would take SGA number two overall in this year's draft class. So why isn't NDAW, NAA, NAA, NAA, NAA? Nicky Alexander Walker. Didn't we have him in our top 10 and one of those mocks we did? I think I put it in there.

So why isn't he a lock for the top 10 in charts? Well, he doesn't have SGA's like suddenness. Like SGA gets where he wants to go on the core as like a first step. He's a primary in the NBA. N.A.W is never going to be that. But I do wonder, like, I look at N.A.W. And I look at his like floor and his skill set. Like, isn't there a chance he has a better career in Jerich Culver?

Because he has a more defined role, right? That's possible. I think one of the things with me with NAW. Should we something gna? I don't know how you say that. I like gna. I think we fell on something there. Nah.

Nah. I don't know. I'm kind of out on it. I'm kind of out of it. What was your snail mail? That was for Yokic. That was a good one. It didn't get the response.

Snail mail? That's really good. I don't heard that one. I think it's because. I came up with it. That's a good one. That was great. I wish that stuck.

But I'm with with, with N-A-W, I think the difference between him and SGA is like, he's a lot leaner, too. He doesn't have the same thickness on the defensive end of the floor. So he's going to be a solid defender, but I'm not sure he has quite the versatility on that end is SGA. And then as he said, Sharks, he can handle the ball, but he doesn't get where he wants, like SGA. He's a couple tiers beat.

He's a role player for him, yeah. I mean, I like him. He's a mid to late first round draft pick for me, but not somebody who's a lock in the top 10, but could exceed expectations. I do think I feel like with him, he's one of the safer because he hits the check marks. If he has acceptable athletic ability,

he can, like, shoot the ball acceptably well. He has no real defined holes in this game, no strengths here, but no holes. And he's a pretty smart player for a sister game this year. He's pretty good for a shooter. One guy I want to touch on before we end this podcast,

we didn't get a question about him, but Kobe White, Charks, you had him as somebody who could, there's like a blurb in the draft guy, like who he could be the potential best point guard in this draft. You have him ranked fourth in your board, freshman from North Carolina.

I guess I'm just curious. What is it that you'd love about his game? I think I look at him. my size, speed, shooting ability, scoring ability. I think he ran point. He didn't have a ton of assists, but he ran Roy Williams' offense as you're pretty well.

He pushed the ball every single time. He did his job super well. I don't know, but his passing. I mean, his defense isn't great. I just feel like I see Kobe Y. I think y'all were telling me this,

like I'm more athletic Jamal Murray. I feel like he can be that kind of player but with actual athletic ability. I don't like him as much as you do. Like he shot 35% or 30% from the line. He can definitely shoot. He has touch. But he has a lot.

low release. He doesn't create well off the dribble. He doesn't shoot well off the dribble, I should say. And I wonder with him, it's like, is he more of just a spot up guy, whereas Murray, I think, had that more of shot creation potential. Like, there's a, with Murray, like, the concern was different. Like, he had a slower first step. Like, how much speed, how much space could he generate? But with White, the speed's not a question. He's one of the fastest guys in the draft. He can handle the hell out of the ball. But, like, he has a really low release and he didn't shoot well. He got blocked a handful of times. To me, like, I think he needs to raise that release. And I've gotten burned with my rankings in the past

with guys that need to change their mechanics. So who are you thinking of in terms of with white? We have Jamal Murray as a comp for him. I mean like in terms of guys that you've been burned from like raising the shop. I mean like speaking specifically of the guys who need to change their mechanics. So I mean like Justice Wenzel is a different type of player

but he's somebody who needed to tweak his mechanics. And Winslow has panned out into a good player but I expected him to be a better shooter than he has turned into. And he's a solid shooter. but I thought like I had him ranked second or third at one point. And with Justice Wenzel, like that just not happened. Stanley Johnson, I'd not get burned with him, but he's another guy in that same draft class where it's like, oh, make a couple tweaks, you know, and he can become a good shooter.

But again, like I wonder with Kobe White, granted he has the touch, anytime you're talking about a guy that needs to change mechanics, it doesn't always happen. So with him, like he's going to be a solid player because of his passing ability, because of his athleticism, and because he can shoot, like off the catch. but I do question the extent of his upside. It definitely wouldn't surprise me if he's a guy on his second team or his third team. And that's what I could see a lot of these guys in this draft. I was looking at the other day, I was watching that Seku's like great, Dumbaya's great game. And right after I watched, I saw Frank was getting a new agent. I was like, oh yeah, 18-year-old European, very raw player, if he goes to a wrong team.

And then in two years, I'd be like, well, you're still only 20 years old. He's got skills. I could totally see Dubai. A lot of these guys, in two years, they don't pan out and they move somewhere else. This feels like very much a second draft kind of draft. Yeah, and Dubai, again, another one of those entreating guys, 6-8, 6-9 with strength ability to shoot off the dribble.

Had a huge game recently. He showed the flashes of what he could be. And I talked to an NBA guy recently who said to me, he saw him years ago when he was like 15 or 16 years old, and he thought he would develop until like a mellow-type player. And he has not turned it away. He's more like a, I mean, he looks like Siakum sometimes. We have him the Aminu Comp, right?

Yeah, we have Alphurukamino, Trevor Booker, and tranquilized Pascal Seattle. Because the effort's not always there. In Aminu, right, how many him does he be on, like five? Yeah, exactly. Like Toiske Dumbai being on his fourth team and figuring it out. I think we need for him like one more higher-end comp because the shooting, this shooting potential with him is very intriguing with his ball handling. But this draft overall, I think there's a lot of intriguing guys.

It's not a strong draft by any means, but there's a lot. lot of players in my mind who it's like when we redraft five years from now it's going to look like a strong class does that make any sense even though there's a lot of questions going in this is what I'm wondering though it's like if they're going to be good in six years does it really matter the team that drafts them because the odds of me that team in six years are pretty low right that's where I wonder

like how do you balance your board how do you balance you draft for it's like if Dubai is going to be good in 2025 does that really matter to most teams it probably not that's the part I struggle with sometimes it's all about draft philosophy yeah it's fun guys I was fun. I'm going to do this in person. That's great.

We can talk draft route, honestly. Like, this is crashing the surface of our draft takes. There's a lot of questions we had to delete and not have the ability to respond to. But maybe next time. We'll do another bed. Absolutely. That was fun. Yeah.

That was great. Thanks, Danny. Thanks, John. Yep. Bobby, shot I see you in person? Look at this guy over here. Hard to work. And thank you for listening to the Ringer NBA show.

Please give us a five-star rating on iTunes, a thumbs up on YouTube. Tell your friends about the pod. And check out our NBA finals coverage. Over on the ringer.com, we're going to have tons of stuff over there, as well as updates coming to the NBA draft guide, stuff on our YouTube channel, tons of videos coming out. So check all that out. Special shout out to Bobby Wagner for producing today's podcast. Thanks again for listening. Peace.