The Ringer NBA Show - The Hottest Team in the NBA Right Now Is … the Spurs?! | The Mismatch

Episode Date: March 19, 2019

Another home victory against the Golden State Warriors marks an impressive nine-game winning streak for the San Antonio Spurs (6:46). Plus: previewing regular-season awards (32:55) and NBA prospects to look forward to in March Madness (43:59). Hosts: Chris Vernon, Kevin O’Connor Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hey guys, it's Liz Kelly and welcome to the Ringer Podcast Network. March Madness tips off on Thursday and to get your bracket set, make sure you listen and subscribe to our college basketball experts on OneShining podcast with Mark Titus and Tate Fraser. Also on Monday, be sure to watch the guys on their live selection show, recapping the seatings from Selection Sunday and previewing the top matchups to look forward to. You can check out the show on YouTube and listen to One Shining podcast on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. Welcome to The Ringer NBA show. I'm Chris Vernon. And joining me as he does every Tuesday from the Ringer.com is Kevin O'Connor,

aka Kevin O'Bomber, aka Kevin O'Conflict, aka Kevin O'Candyland, aka Kevin O'Concert, aka Mr. Ice Cream Man. I guess you saw that photo, didn't you, Chris? Oh, did I ever? Yeah. I saw the photo. And I don't know if you saw this. I will retweet it later.

after the show. But one of our listeners compiled every AKA I have ever given you and made a YouTube video of it. It is incredible. I could not believe it when I saw it. Joe Spinoza. Joe Spinoza. I believe that's how you pronounce his last name, put that together. And I have not listened to the whole thing yet. But I think it's like 17 minutes long or something like that. He went back and cut the beginning of every podcast we've ever done. It's insanity. Pretty unbelievable. And now the next additional will be your little ice cream comment because of me eating a pint of ice cream at 1130 p.m. last Friday night.

I was feeling it. And I saw somebody gave you Kevin O. Cookies and Cream. But you then replied that that did not apply. In fact, you were. It does not. Unbelievably, you know what? Would I never guessed this? You were eating vanilla.

It was great, man. It was delicious. You would have been happy eating French vanilla too as well, Chris. You are vanilla. It was wonderful. Oh, please. Please. I'm criticized for being nuanced sometimes.

If anything, I'm like strawberry mixed with chocolate cookies and cream. There you go. At least you, Chris, as well. It wasn't like a, you know, a child's ice cream or something, right? I was just glad that I didn't see that you put gummed. bears or sour worms or something like that on it, right? Not that I just bought that pint of French vanilla ice cream and just devoured that whole thing. Before my friend had his scoop, I ate too fast.

That's another story for another day, though. Did you get as emotional eating that pint of ice cream as you did watching Isaiah Thomas's tribute video last night? Neither got me very emotional. I think the ice cream just made me feel very good. The Isaiah moment last night, it's bittersweet in some ways because here's this guy that just two years ago was having one of the funnest, most remarkable seasons that, you know, I've personally seen in a long time just because of his height and the things he was doing on the court. And here he is two years later and he's a guy who might not even get a contract this summer. So it was bittersweet more than anything else with IT.

Oh, well, I'm glad that you brought that up. Well, first things first, I thought the tribute video was awesome, and the ovation that he got in Boston is unbelievable. You were there at the time, so you can speak to this better than I can. But when I watched that video, and more importantly, that ovation that he got last night, I think it takes you back to this moment in time where he was so insanely beloved. Would you say outside of maybe Brady at the time? I'm not sure there was a Red Sock that would have been in that pantheon. I feel like he took over the city in terms of popular athletes.

And obviously that is a great city to be a popular athlete in. Yeah, I mean, I think with Isaiah, it's just the heart he played with. Again, that's what makes it so sad now is that he just doesn't have the physical capabilities to do that. But besides Alan Iverson, we've never seen in basketball a guy that small do the things that he did. never mind the fact that that king in the fourth nickname was rightfully earned. You know, I tweeted out the article yesterday that I wrote after his 53 point performance in the playoffs against the Wizards. And that was the loudest arena that I've ever been in.

It felt like a rock concert that night. It was an emotional game. Like, that was part of it too because, you know, sister had passed away the month before. And he had the procedure a couple days prior to that. Like, nobody could have seen that come except for maybe him. And, yeah, that was just a really special. night. Well, the crazy thing is that particular season at the time I saw him drop, I believe it was a career high, 44 was his career high at the time. And I saw him do that in Memphis and take over

the fourth quarter like I've never seen somebody take over a fourth quarter. I mean, it was crazy. I mean, I don't want that season to get lost of time averaging almost 30 points a game. And every night, it seemed like he was delivering in the fourth quarters. It was obviously a season a moment of time but i do you said who knows if he'll get another contract how about this i don't know if you saw this on uh i happen to just catch it on a house of highlights their instagram feed there were these two boston fans yesterday young guys that ran up to isaiah thomas and we're getting a picture with him i guess early in the day and you can hear their conversation and they were like hey we really miss you fourth quarters haven't been the same since you know blah blah blah right

and you know what Isaiah Thomas says to them, I'll be back. Who knows, man. Who knows? Maybe he'll be a spark plug off the bench or something like that. But just to echo something we've discussed before, Chris, with the don't take LeBron James for granted. Don't take Isaiah Thomas for granted either.

Yeah, right. Well, he went from a guy who had one of the greatest offensive seasons in NBA history, literally, one of the greatest offensive seasons in NBA history. That was one of the greatest offensive seasons in NBA history. That was one of the greatest high volume scoring season, one of the most efficient high volume scoring seasons ever. And then off the map within a year's time. It is one of those that you never know.

But anyway, there was a great tribute last night. In terms of other things that happened around the league, the biggest was going to be the spurs playing against the Warriors because the Spurs were going to be hosting the Warriors. And in fact, they were able to come up with a win, 111 to 105. The reason this one was so intriguing is because we thought for a decent amount of time that they might be the team, and they still might be the team that ends up playing against the Warriors in the playoffs. Instead, they are now, by virtue of winning last night, they've moved up to the five seed. And this stuff is changing dramatically every day. They're the five seed and we'll be playing against Portland, Oklahoma City, right behind them. So they'd be six. Houston would be catching Oklahoma City in the first round, not the matchup you want if you're the Rockets. And then going down further the list, obviously you'd have jazz nuggets and as of now the Clippers.

We know it's going to be those eight teams because the Kings are now six games back. So they have fallen completely out of the playoff race. So we know the eight teams. It's just a matter of what slot they are going to be in. and we've got around 12 games left for most of these teams. And so with 12 games left, a lot can be decided. You know, you are one, two or three game win streak from being somewhere radically different and or a losing streak. But let's talk about the spurs who have now moved to 42 and 29.

They were 33 and 29. And now they have won nine straight games. Do you think this is a team that is like they've finally just gotten it together? They're finally playing how they can. And that this is one of those teams that, you know, as they are steamrolling towards this playoff race and who knows what kind of seed they're going to get when it's all said and done, that this spurs team is a different team than what we were accustomed to throughout the season, which was one hovering around 500. And in fact, they are going to be something to be reckoned with. What do you think?

well i think you look at this recent stretch chris some of the wins they have had against detroit who's been good lately okayc Denver Milwaukee Portland and then golden state last night the running theme for them has just been their improved defense and and we saw that last night more than anything else right and so i think when you consider how the game changes in the postseason san antonio's defense they are just defending at a high level right now with just timely rotations with communication and with effort. I mean, DeMardo Rosen is having the best defensive season of his entire career right now. And it's like you're a golden rule. Like don't play bad players. Just play good guys.

Like the spurs don't have any bad players on their entire roster. They just have a lot of high effort, smart players on their team. So in that sense, Spurs definitely look like a threat to at least be a tough out, right? Like if they end up getting the four or five seed and they win that, it's funny to think about like golden state can end up potentially facing okayc in the first round who would be really tough because of their defense as well and then getting san antonio in round two so it might not be an easy path for golden state to get to the finals depending on how it won't be easy no matter what but it could be especially difficult depending on how things could shake out but i think last night's game chris that san antonio defense was really good i know

i know clay said like san antonio's defense didn't do anything but yeah they did because they were contesting everything. Well, and one thing I'll say, there are two things that are of extreme importance. One of which is they are a team that if they can get up to that four seed, Portland's got a hang on for dear life. They are a team, at least the regular season has taught us, that home court advantage is so much more important than any of these other teams. Rarely have I ever seen this where a team is 29 and 7 at home.

They've only lost seven games on their home court the entire year. That is the second best record at home in the Western Conference second to only Denver, who would be a game ahead. They are 30 and six. So they're 29 and 7 on their home floor. They are not like a 500 team like Denver is away from home. They are a losing team. Nine games under 500 on the road.

13 and 22, 13 and 22 this year. away from home, which is unbelievable. Like everybody else that's in the playoff race is either a little bit over 500 or they are 500. In fact, I know I take that back. Portland is one game under 500. Everybody else is over 500. Every playoff team in terms of on the road. Now, it might be a slight over 500.

And then with Golden State, they're 23 and 12 on the road. They've been as good away from home as they have been. at home virtually. But yeah, everybody else in the playoff race, they've got a winning record on the road, whereas San Antonio's got a 13 and 22 record on the road. So I look at it and I say, all right, they're five right now.

They're a game and a half back from Portland. If they get home court advantage, it seems at least from the regular season that it would be much more extreme than anybody else because these other teams are proven they can win on the road. Yet San Antonio, I don't get it, man. I don't get it. You can write it off to just a veteran team that I don't know.

I really don't know. It's one thing to not have a great record, but that's a bad record. Yeah, you know, and I think you look back at this past month in February, they had that long road trip at the end of the first half before the All-Star break, and then they had it coming out of it as well. And they lost seven of those eight games. The only win being a one-point win at Memphis. So they barely won that game as well.

But I do wonder, like, it's obviously like the larger sample size matters, but this team has gone through different ebbs and flows over the course of the year. Their defense was incredible at the start of the season. And then it kind of fizzled towards the middle of the season where they did lose a lot of those road games. And right now it's surging. It may, and maybe it goes back down again. But I do think what we've seen recently with this team is that they're just defending overall as one total unit. They're not individual players right now. They are one complete unit.

The spurs have been for so many years. And I think that bodes well for them to match up, especially if they get a higher seat. Like if they end up facing, if they slide down to the eight seat and face Golden State in the first round, like you're picking Golden State. But other than that, they have shown in the past that they can neutralize the Houston Rockets pick and roll. They can defend different styles. They can play big against Yokuch if they need to. They can play small against teams that they need to as well. They can play different ways.

And I think with this team more than anything else, like there was one play last night that I think really just illustrated how well they're defending as a team. And it was like with two minutes, 20 seconds or two minutes, 30 seconds left in the fourth quarter where Draymond ended up missing a wide open three-pointer. But like what preceded that was the spurs neutralizing a step pick and roll, a boget roll to the rim, and then a swing past the clay.

But what happened was they were helping off Drey. Raymond the entire time. That's how they got the ball out of thefts hands. That's how they stopped Bogot from getting a dunk. And because they had Aldridge helping off on the Bogot role, DeMardo Rosen was able to get back to Clay Thompson in time to prevent an open three point shot. And that's what led to the Dremont three. They were willing to give that. So this is a team that's communicating, playing with effort, and just perfectly switching and rotating on the defensive end of the floor. And that was really like the only open shot Golden State got that entire quarter besides when Katie faked a dribble handoff and then cut back door against Rudy Gay.

But other than that, this team was contesting everything against Golden State. And Golden State was not coasting in last night's game either. So I think projecting forward with this San Antonio Spurs team, Chris, I feel confident that maybe they don't win a series because the West is tough, but they're going to be a team that's going to require a team to go six or seven games with the level of defense they're playing. and on top of that, with the amount of development they've gotten on the offensive end of the floor from a guy like Derek White who has been really, really good for them.

Well, they have real guys coming off their bench last night. And I think that obviously their starting lineup is not nearly as talented and nobody's is as the Warriors. But what I think we're getting used to when we're watching the Warriors is when they bring off their bench, there's nobody that really scares you that comes off their bench. Whereas last night, San Antonio, they bring off Rudy Gives. game, he gets 17, and they bring off Patty Mills, who's been there forever, and he gets you 10, and Bell and Ellie get you nine. I mean, they've got guys that you can count on being productive, real players that have got a lot of logged games that when they come

into the game, those guys could all probably start for teams throughout the NBA. I'm not sure that that is true of almost any of the warriors. Honestly, like Bell, McKinney, Loney, Livingston cook, I'm not sure any of those guys are starters on any other team. No, I mean, that's one of the big problems with Golden State now is their lack of depth. It's just not as strong as it once was before. And granted, Iguodala wasn't playing in last night's game. Like, that kind of illustrates the issue is Iguodala, A, is not as good as what he once was before. And B, when he's not in there, they don't really have that guy coming off their bench that can make a

significant impact. Yeah. Well, and obviously they'll shorten the rotation by the time it comes to the playoffs. But the Spurs are super interesting because they are, they're firing off here at the end. I mean, you see, you watch a lot of these games and there's so many that just feel like, all right, all of these teams just want to get to the end. This is the ultimate dog days until they can get to the playoffs. And so I don't want to draw all that much out of so much it happens. Obviously, you see it come across the board and you see the heat going and beating the thunder last night.

You've got these matchups of the lottery teams and you never know who's going to play that night. But one other that was significant amongst teams that are expected to do very well in the playoffs or at least have high seeds was the Nuggets and the Nuggets and the Nuggets went to Boston last night. And it's a tie game going into the fourth quarter and they end up winning the fourth quarter 30. 24 to 25. Usually if you've been in that kind of a game with the Celtics over the course of the last couple of years, the Celtics are coming away the victor. But instead, despite Kyrie's 30 points, the Nuggets, I think very impressive win to go win on the road in Boston last night.

For sure. And it's almost like we just talked about with San Antonio. Denver has so many options on their roster. The amount of development that's occurred from Morris and Beasley coming off their bench, Plumley, obviously, Nicola Yokic is one of the best pastures in the league, regardless of position, but Plumley, in his

own right, is a good playmaking center. Torrey Craig is a good defensive player. Hernan Gomez isn't playing. Liles didn't play last night. Vanderbilt their rookie is a great rebounder already. Isaiah Thomas, who we just mentioned, he's not able to even get on the floor besides seven minutes last night because the game is

in Boston. And never mind how great they're starting five is. This Nuggets team is a team is a team that it has depth, it has versatility to play different styles depending on what the game demands. And they just have a lot of good players. Nicola Yokich, man, like last night's game, he can give you what the team needs, him more than anybody else. He has those games where he scores like 10 points, but he has games where he can knock down shots and generate shots for you, either as a score or as a playmaker. And he did that at the end of last night, hitting a couple of big threes to extend the lead for the nuggets. All right, Kim, we'll get right back to

First want to remind everybody today's show of the mismatch is brought to you by Draft Kings. Did you know you could fill out a tourney bracket at Draft Kings this year? Draft Kings, the leader in daily fantasy sports, has a totally free bracket with tens of thousands of dollars up for grabs. Everyone fills out a bracket during the tournament. Might as well do it on an award-winning app with tons of free prizes. For the first time ever, Draft Kings is offering a bracket battle promotion with $64,000 in prices. I worry greatly about them being the terrible three-point shooting team, but I'm going to have a very tough time seeing Zion getting knocked out.

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if they've got five consecutive triple doubles, it's a huge story, right? I was what you were going to say. I was like, wait, what's not what I was expecting. All right, anybody else gets five consecutive triple doubles? And it is a massive story. And I think there are a lot of people that are listening to this being like, wait, what?

Alfred Payton has five consecutive. It's a damnedest thing, right? Like, who's even thinking about Alfred Payton, right? And there it is this game against the Mavericks. And the reason I'm bringing this up is because obviously that kid's been injured this year. This is a magic cast off. I swear, if Alfred Payton becomes a star like Oladipo became a star, I mean, you got to be kidding me. Right.

They might have hit. If this guy ends up becoming a star, it's going to be the damnedest thing for the magic. to look up and realize they had drafted Victor Oladipo and they had drafted Elford Payton. Like, weirdly they had hit in the draft and then gave these guys up. But there he is last night, 19.1, 11, assist, 10 rebounds for Elford Payton, who, I mean, this year had a pretty damn good year. And here we are at the end of the season. And he's got five consecutive triple doubles, including like big ones, 14, 16, and 12, 16,

16 and 13. Like, what is going on here? Should I start marking down? Alfred Payton is somebody who I really need to pay attention to? Well, two things. A, he leads the league and assists since the All-Star break, Chris. So he is having that post-break surge heading into his free agency this summer. But I will say this.

These triple doubles, as nice as the raw numbers are, he's still not scoring super efficiently. You know, he has a 54.4.4 true shooting percentage. at 48.4 effective field goal percentage over the stretch. So it's not like he's lighting it up as a scorer. But what he is doing is passing the ball very well, and he's giving effort on the boards. I think with Peyton, it's not like he hasn't shown that he could do these in spurts before.

I believe it was in the 16, 17, or 17, 18 season, or maybe both for that matter, where he had a stretch similar to this where maybe it wasn't consecutive triple doubles, but he was putting out big numbers and showing what a lot of people, thought he was coming out of college as a lottery pick. He's drafted 10th in I believe 2014 with Elfer Peyton, man, he's shown these flashes before, but I wouldn't read too

much into it at all. He's still doing it, like you mentioned, the doldrums of the season. And he's one of those guys just giving effort towards the end of the year at a time where a lot of guys are just looking forward to the summer. But at the least, I think he's at least showing what he can do when he puts out full effort, especially the rebounding aspect. He's virtually doubling his rebounding right now. That's nice to see from him. Yeah, it's still pretty impressive to get five consecutive triple doubles. That is not seen very often. He's always been able to pass the ball, though.

I mean, like, Peyton's had that ability going back to college. So, I mean, like, that's a little less surprising to me. A part of it is just opportunity with him, but only 25 years old. Maybe like if the Grizzlies trade Mike Conley this summer, Peyton's a guy to bring in on a cheap contract to see what he's got for you. Well, when they were doing the ceiling thing with him, it was always Rondo. and it's not. Like, right?

I mean, you do see those are the kind of Rondo things that were taking place. And the kid's just 25. I mean, you might end up being something, you know? How many times have I talked to you about this? These point guards, you never know. It is years down there. People don't remember, but Mike Conley was not good for his first four years, right? It's years five and six that he's coming into his own.

Kyle Lowry didn't make an All-Star team until late in his career. There's a lot of these guys that play that point guard position that it may end up being passed their first contract before you see what they end up really becoming. And I don't know. I haven't seen him enough to know what Peyton is going to become. I'm just saying he wouldn't be the first guy that you look up and teams have lost patience with him. And then he ends up turning into something radically different than what he was or what we thought he was at the beginning of his career. I don't think it's like Alfred Payton was knocking on the door

of playing in the CBA. It's all like he was at that low level. He's a guy who's still going to be in the league as a serviceable backup point guard. I still don't view him any differently other than that as somebody who... You think that's his destiny. You think his destiny is to be a really good backup point guard.

Yeah. And that's coming from somebody that liked him a lot in the draft. I think I had him ranked 12th or 13th in the 14th drafts. I think the main thing that I'm a little surprised about is that over the years, his defense has not been quite as good as it was at the college level. In college, he was a consistently a high effort defender. And part of that was the level of competition.

But one thing he always gave was intense effort. And maybe part of that is like the circumstances he's been part of Orlando, Phoenix, New Orleans, not all like having horrible seasons, but he's never been on a good contending team. Maybe it's been his environment. I don't know. I would be curious to see him in a role where he's not, he's always been a starter too, for the most part. I would like to see him in a role where he can come off the bench on a winning team

and get back to what he was in college and defending a high level, where he did defend and he did rebound. He's a great what if, because as you were talking about him, he's been all these rat teams. What if he's a spur? You know what if they get him with their shooting coach? And what if they get him within that system, which he looks like the kind of guy that would fit within something like that,

that maybe it's all different. You know, so much of these guys' success and failure can be dependent upon how they fit and who they get drafted by. But I haven't given up on him completely, and he's obviously had a good little run. For what's worth with him? His rookie year, Magic won 25 games, had two head coaches. They won 35 games the second season, 29 games, his third season. And then he got traded from Orlando to Phoenix, his fourth season.

So I'm like losing count right here, but I believe he's had a, different coach every single season of his NBA career, and he's never been on a winner either. I believe that's the case. Vaughn, Borago, Skiles, Vogel, then he got traded to Phoenix, and then he signed with New Orleans this soft season. So I pretty sure a different coach every year of his career. That's crazy. So we certainly wanted to highlight him because five consecutive triple doubles is quite the accomplishment. In terms of games that are going on tonight, let's quickly talk about the NBA watch of the night. It is the Lakers at the Bucks on NBA TV at 8 p.m.

Eastern time, which would have been, I'm certain, that we would have circled this a few months ago as a monster game down the stretch. Instead, by virtue of what is happening with the Lakers, it is not necessarily a monster game, yet it will feature Yannis, who all eyes are on, because he might very well be the MVP. We're going to be talking about if any of the awards can be decided in these last 12 games in a moment. But Lakers Bucks tonight, NBA TV at 8 p.m. What intrigues you? I think more than anything else, Chris, it's the poetic aspect of this game where here we have Yana Sensenacumpo, who is possibly the MVP leading the one-seated bucks into the postseason

where they could make a finals run, maybe win the finals with Janus. And then here we have LeBron James, who is going to miss the postseason for the first time since his second season in the league, the 0405 season, for the first time since then. And he's looking older.

He got blocked the other night by Mario Hizonia. His first step has gotten progressively slower and slower each year. And maybe LeBron comes back next season, and he is back to the all-time, level LeBron that we've seen before and not the he's still an incredible player to be clear but slightly less than that this season with the Lakers it feels like it could be a year where the torch is passed for the face of the league depending on the heights Yonis reaches in the postseason because that's really where legends are made is in the playoffs and Yannis still needs to show that he can

lead a team to the finals in the postseason like LeBron did even before those heat and calves super teams but right now tonight it just feels like a matchup of the old and LeBron and then the new with Yana Senta Cumpo. Kevin, if I've said it once, I've said it a thousand times. Do not take Mario Hizonea for granted. Of course. Do not take Mario Hizoni for granted. That player, the intensity he plays with, the athleticism, the shot making, Chris.

What a player. Has anybody ever stared down people more when they make a significant play? I mean, this guy does nothing all the time. He is just a pile of nothing 90% of the time. And then he makes the most spectacular plays and just like bird dogs it like he's like he's just like king of the ranch. I've never seen anything like it. This guy does nothing. And then he makes like the most spectacular play you've ever seen when it matters most.

And then he just stares people down like, yeah, don't try to block me or don't drive on me. Like who do you think you all? You know what I mean? Like the level of confidence that this guy exudes when he does something is the funniest thing to be ever, seriously. Hisonia not being a star player is really one of the saddest stories of the league. Because his own year was just like this when he was playing for Real Madrid and the Croatian national team as well overseas. Like this cockiness, this attitude was there. The only difference is it was paired with production as a young player coming off the bench for Real Madrid.

That should make me laugh so hard, Kevin, when he was like, he had this look of like disgust, like, how dare you try to drive on me? Like, come on, man. Your team is 14 and 57. You're 14 and 57. And you're disgusted that LeBron would try to drive on you for the game with it. Here's the open. So in 2050, I wrote an article for SB Nation when I used to write for that site back then.

And there's a headline article with a headline, Mario Hizonia is the cockiest NBA draft prospect in years. And the opening lines of that article, it sounds so ridiculous now, but it's funny in hindsight. These are the opening lines. Mario Hizonia is the one who knocks. If you watch Breaking Bad, you'll recall Walter White saying that to proclaim his dominance as a drug kingpin.

Hisonia wouldn't bat at eyelash to do the same and establish his supremacy as a basketball warlord. That has not panned out at all for his own. Yeah. It's very sad. It's very sad. He's a regular Walt Whitman. You send that one to the basketball Hall of Fame.

Yeah. We'll put that on his plaque. Do you call him a warlock? What'd you call him a war? No, no, it was a, Hisonia wouldn't bat an eyelash to do the same and establish his supremacy as a basketball warlord. Oh, warlord. Oh, I like warlord.

You should have added the article for him. We didn't know each other at a basketball warlock. Anyway, Azonia's got nothing to do with, he is a basketball warlock. He's got nothing to do with tonight. Lakers bucks tonight, NBA TV, 8 p.m.

Eastern time. And remember, if you want to watch every NBA game, subscribe to NBA League Pass on NBA. Or from your preferred video provider. All right, Kevin. So as I mentioned, we got about 12 games left in the season. We just talked about Janice as the presumptive MVP.

I kind of feel like that one has already been decided in terms of awards. Do you think any of – I do. I do. I don't think there's anything that can happen in the last 12 games. I don't. They would decide it. I don't know.

I mean, I guess if they lost every game, if they lost the last 12 games and they end up 52 and 30, I suppose. But I don't see that coming. I mean, he is going to be on a team. that wins over 60 games. So he's going to be the best player on a team that wins over 60 games and he's going to have an unbelievable season

when you're looking at his, you know, those stats that you love, effective field goal percentage, true shooting percentage, all that stuff. I agree. I would vote for Janus today as well. I do just wonder, though, I mean, is there anything James Hardin can do over the final stretch for voters to give him their vote?

I mean, it's not like it's totally decided. No, he would have to have Chris Paul not play. And for Hardin, and continue carrying the team. Yeah. Yeah, where he's going 35 plus every single night. But that's not in the cards, you know? I do think, though, there will be some voters who look at Hardin's numbers, 36 points per game with high efficiency.

In addition to what he does as a passer and a rebounder, I do think there are going to be a lot of voters who do give Hardin, who Hardin will be their selection. I would vote for Janus, especially for his two-way play. Like, Janus, it's not just the offense. He's also an elite, versatile defender. Hardiman's been better than he has been in the past on defense, but Janus is on another level on that end of the floor.

Yeah, and Janice also, when we're talking about, when we look back in time and we think about this season, the buck surging to where they have been towards the bottom of the playoff race in the Eastern Conference. And they surge all the way to the very top, where they have been downright dominant. all year long and are going to end up with over 60 wins. Like I think the best player on a team like that,

that's going to be the story of the season when we look back at it. I also think that if that does take place, that I think his coach has probably got it in the bag, don't you think? I would think so. I mean, there's a lot of good candidates for coach of the year. Nate McMillan, who I believe we may have talked about either you and I last Tuesday

or we talked about it on Friday's Corner 3, me and Danny Chow. But there's a handful of candidates for Coach of the Year as well. Michael Malone with the Denver Nuggets should be another candidate as well. The amount of games that Denver Nuggets team has won with the amount of injuries they have faced is pretty remarkable. But I do think ultimately Mike Boodenholzer with the systematic changes they made on both ends of the floor probably does have that award locked up, like you said. And probably a sweep when my best friend John Horst, the general manager. Yeah, you're BFF, man.

My best friend John Horst, the... Your soulmate. Yeah, my soulmate that I met at the All-Star game. John Horst, he could win executive of the year. Defensive player of the year, this is an interesting one because it has always been, we're always dealing with the same guys, Kauai Leonard, Rudy Gobert, Dremont Green. Who do you think pushes this year?

Is there somebody that you think should be getting? defensive player of the year consideration because I don't think this one has not gotten nearly as much talk as the rest of the awards which is why I'm bringing it up I'd be interested in seeing I'm going to look this up right now defensive real plus minus say whatever you want about that the tops are and it usually favors the big guys oh it's Ed Davis Ed Davis give it to my boy Eddie D say whatever you want about it I love Edda Davis I don't Rudy Gobert is actually second second on that Geez, I haven't heard Nirkich get any real love for this award. Paul George, maybe. People talked about him throughout this year, but I mean, after the injury, he's died down a little bit.

I don't know. Janice? I think he could win MVP and defensive player of the year. That would be insane. I think Janus is a guy who should be in the conversation. And forward and forth, I'm not ready to say who should win yet. I know. I think that's one thing.

There's still time to be determined. I think Rudy O'Bare, of course. How about Miles Turner? That's a good one. Yeah, I think Miles Turner should be in the conversation for all defensive team. But like Danny made the comment last week, that Turner probably just hasn't played enough minutes. He averages about 28 or 29 minutes per game. So with Turner, he's playing elite level defense, but he's not doing it over 32, 33, 34 minutes per game.

Like Rudy Gobert, another guy who, again, is having a tremendous defensive season. He's playing 32 minutes per game. I think Gober is one of the same. surprise me if Gobert ends up winning sort of as like the default option when voters cast their ballots because Draymond Green has been good but not quite at the same level as in the past because he's also saving it for big games and saving it for the postseason. But Gobert is a guy who's been bringing it every night since Utah fixed their defense in December.

I can't do it. I can't do it. I just witnessed a week ago in person. Balanchunis busted his ass every single time. I mean, that's the argument against him. No, he murdered the guy. And it was just clear out one-on-one, and Valentin has just killed him. Now, he's good weak side and all that kind of stuff.

But I saw a real center go right at him one-on-one for an entire night and just murdered the guy. I mean, it was terrible. Again, it's a one-game sample size. But when I saw him right in front of my face, I was like, geez, Louise, defense a player of the year. I don't know about this because he's getting his ass kicked. Bad, bad, bad. He didn't look like he wanted any part of it. Maybe I just caught him on an off night.

But that's an interesting one because I think it's all up in the air. A couple of weeks ago, I said that I thought that Trey Young could maybe take a run, not win the award, but he could take a run at Luca because he was putting up huge stats. I saw last night, the kind of stats he's putting up as a guard in terms of accumulative stats. You know, he's right up there with a bunch of guys that have won that award before. In fact, all the other guys that have put up his kind of numbers when you're talking about Alan Iverson, Damon Stodomar was on that list, a few others. It had all been rookies of the year. So he is having a great, great rookie season.

But it feels like the Luca stuff had been determined many months ago. And obviously Luca was amazing last night. I don't think the last 12 games could change that. I think it'll be Luca. And then I think overwhelmingly second place will be Trey Young. and then I think there's probably a huge drop. I don't know if anybody else would get a vote for first or second place, do you think? It's pretty weird how, like, DeAndre Aiton has had a really good statistical season for the Phoenix Suns.

But because of Luca, because of Trey Young and just the unusually great rookie seasons that they're having on the offensive end of the floor, I think Aiton's been weirdly overlooked. But he's made progress each month as a defensive player, and he's also been super efficient as a score. and rebounded the ball at a high level as well. So in a normal season, I think we'd be looking at Aiton like, wow, could he be the next NBA's great big man? But instead, he's just sort of been overlooked. And maybe that's not such a bad thing for him personally to not have that pressure in those expectations. But it's just weird, like as a total NBA collective that that hasn't been discussed quite as much because of these unordinary performances we've had from Young and Luca.

But no, like, it's not even a discussion, Chris. Luke is going to be rookie of the year and probably unanimously too. You and I are on the same page on virtually all of these. I don't think that the last 12 games are going to decide them. I think Janice gets it. I think Budenholzer gets it. I think Luca gets it. We're up in the air on defensive player of the year.

Your guess is as good as mine. And then six men of the year, that is the most unanimous of all. I mean, that one's not even like, there's nothing that can happen. Lou Williams has got that thing on lock. Maybe for eternity, for that matter. But, I mean, nobody's even in the discussion with him as far as I'm concerned. No, it's not even close. Yeah.

So I think pretty much everything's decided with 12 games left to go in the season. All right, we're going to take a quick break when we come back. NCAA tournament is this week, as is a very important edition of the Ringer NBA draft guide, which Kevin Cole has been working on very, very hard. We'll talk about that on the other side. Today's episode of The Mismatch is brought to you by Chegg Study. Whether you need textbook solutions or expert Q&A, there's no better tool to help you ace your class than Chegg's study. Need expert help right away?

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Dating is more fun when you do it with friends. Download ship for free at get shipped. com slash NBA and start today. That's get shipped.com slash NBA. All right, Kevin, so we are all going to be watching the NCAA tournament coming on this week and obviously for ardent NBA fans, we are looking towards the prospects in the draft. Boy, Zion really looked hobbled last week coming back for Duke, huh? I mean, come on, bitch.

I swear to God, I said this to my son. I was watching the game. I was like, I said, William, this is like if you took Blake Griffin and just threw him in a college game right now. Like, this is what would happen. This is ridiculous. He is so much better than everybody else. This is absurd. Fort Worth, his numbers were 27 points per game on 33 for 43 shooting total with 10 rebounds, 2.3 steals, 1.3 blocks per game.

just absolutely insane. And the best play of those three games stripes in the ACC tournament probably was a pass that he had to Tray Jones in transition. That's just that fastball bounce pass he had. We don't have to, when we talk about things that have already been decided,

Zions has already been decided. I am fascinated with the other two and possibly three. And I say this because it happened with the older brother, Tyos Jones. And so who knows, depending on what Trey Jones could do in this NCAA tournament. But it feels like Barrett probably solidified.

It'd be shocking to anybody if he didn't go in the top three to five at the latest. But Reddish and Jones, I do think that they could alter their draft stock. And obviously, in the case of Jones, possibly a great deal if he decides not to be a multi-year player at Duke. So I want your thoughts on Reddish and Jones and what we should be looking for in the NCAA tournament as Duke is one of the prohibited favorites to be in the final four if not win the national title. Well, I think with Cam Rudish, I want to be sitting on my couch and I want to look at the screen and be like, oh, there's Cam Reddish because over the ACC tournament and the past few weeks, the whole season for that matter, too often you're like, is Cam Rudish in the game? like you don't even he's not even a factor he's just he's not even in your mind because he's been so irrelevant oftentimes i mean he was just not good these past couple of games and he was not good when zion was out either that was a time for him to step up and elevate his play with more

touches more shots and he didn't reddish too often he just fades and this was an issue for him at high school but in high school he was still a high level player um and who was able to show it consistently. So with Reddish, like, I just want to see this guy show up and hit shots when he has the opportunity and play defense at a high level. Reddish to me, it's like some of the comparisons we have for him in the NBA draft guy. Like, there's shades of Paul George with like his size and shot making ability and his length. Like I compare him to Richard Lewis. Maybe just he's like a big spot up shooter. But it's also possible he's like just a bigger version of Ben McLemore where like he shows all these flashes of what he can be as a score and as a defender, but he just never is

able to put it all together for his lack of feel of the game, for not having the right mindset, because he has all the physical gifts, but I'm not sure he just has the discipline and the feel that is required to excel at a high level. So for me, it's like, just show up, show up and show who you are as a player more than anything else, because too often it's like he's not even out there. It feels like across the board. Most everybody's got Zion Barrett and the kid from Murray State, John Morant, who we're going to get to see in the NCAA tournament. Also, you and I spoke on this briefly last week,

which is four feels kind of up for grabs. There are those that like Cam Reddish. There's those that like the Culver kid, Jerich Culver at Texas Tech, DeAndre Hunter. There's a bunch of different guys. I think once you get to four, it's kind of undecided. there's certainly not a unanimous top four. It might be undecided top three for that matter.

Like after Zion, like there, I mean, there's a chance. We talked about this briefly last week. And I, I wouldn't rule out Darius Garland, the point guard from Vanderbilt rising up.

I just wouldn't. He's a really good point guard. He's a shot making point guard. It just wouldn't surprise me if he's somebody who, if a team falls in love with him, he would slip into the two or three spot. It just wouldn't stun me. That's all.

He's one that we're not getting to see. And we haven't got to see. You're not going to see him. Well, we also haven't gotten to see it, right, because the kid got injured this year. So his sample size is much less than everybody else, which many times can be super helpful, right? We didn't see him have a one for 13, right, in a big SEC tournament game or something. And so sometimes that can play to your benefit. I will tell you, usually you're looking towards all the best teams, Duke, Kentucky, Kansas, all these teams that are typically there at the top and they've got the best draft prospects.

I went to the SEC tournament last weekend and got to see these teams in person, a couple of them. And I saw that Kentucky team play in person. And I'll tell you, Kevin, I didn't love any of them on the next level. I mean, the Harrow kid can shoot the hell out of the ball. But in terms of, and I know that there's been Washington stuff out there. You know, Montgomery was a big time high school player. He was top 10. But the game I saw him, he only played 10 minutes in the game.

There was the Bama game, actually, that I was. I saw him, but I wasn't, I wasn't crazy for the first time, and maybe I don't know how long, maybe, I don't know, a decade. I watched that Kentucky team and didn't think, oh, God, like, I see him fitting in perfectly on the next level. It was quite strange, honestly. Did you see the Kentucky Tennessee game live? No, so I was going, I did not go as a media member.

I went as a fan. So I had to buy tickets to, I bought the day before. So I saw Kentucky Bama and then I saw Tennessee. versus Mississippi State. Those were the games that I were at. And so the tournament was in Nashville, and Nashville is very, very close to Kentucky. So Kentucky fans took over that whole arena

outside of the Tennessee fans that could get tickets. And then you have a smattering of the other, whatever, 12 fan bases, but not many of any. Pretty well Kentucky takes over that arena. And it was expensive as hell to get in that thing. But I was taking my son, and we wanted to go because the games, we were going there for spring break

on a mini vacation, and the tournament was going on, so we drove over to the arena to go to it. And so, you know what? I actually probably paid more attention to this game than I have. Many that I have been as a media member,

because you end up on your computer, on your phone half the time, you know, during timeouts and then you missed up. Like, I was just watching the game the whole time. And you're working. You're working,

like you have halftime show and post game responsibilities that you need to prep for too. you roll with the Grizzlies. Yeah. Yeah, when I'm at those games. And so this one I just got to watch and enjoy. And I mean, Kentucky ran all over Alabama, but I just, I don't know, man. I'm not crazy about any of their guys on the next level.

Are you? Me neither. I think PJ Washington's intriguing. He'll be in the launch version of the draft guide, which I think he'll have 15 profiles to start. PJ Washington's interesting. Like, that guy can score. He's extended his range on his jumper.

He can shoot the third. three, he's mobile. I think with him, the motor isn't there, the explosiveness isn't there. He's intriguing, but I don't love him as a player. To me, like in that weekend of games, it's almost the Tennessee players that are a bit more interesting. Grant Williams for Tennessee. You saw him, and you said against Mississippi State. That guy has great feel, doesn't he? Kev, I'll tell you this. You know, I mean, you know the kind of players I love. Oh, God, I love Admiral Schofield. I mean, I can't love him. Oh, he is my kind of guy.

You know what I mean? Foxhole, like when the going gets tough, this is a guy I want on my team. Like, he can shoot it out to three. He had honestly one of the greatest dunks I've ever seen in person, including NBA. Oh, that was dope. That was dope. The reason that was so crazy, I didn't know the guy could do it. I had no idea Schofield could drive to the basket and hammer on somebody. But yeah, and he's tougher his nails.

I love him. Yeah. Also, it's like his name. Adwill. Oh, it's the best. It's such a great name. I can see him in big playoff games when the, you know, Tennessee gets in these big games.

And him and Williams, I've said this many times throughout the year, they're built for it. Now, they got ran out against the team that just was seeing dead red in Auburn in that SEC championship. But I don't want to be in a close game against Tennessee down the stretch because Because Schofield and Williams, they are rough now.

And obviously they took care of business. They were down eight against Kentucky late, late, and came back and got them to win and probably treated that game like they had just won the title when they beat Kentucky. It was that big of a deal. And obviously, we're flat as hell against Auburn. But I like both those guys.

I do. I do like those Tennessee players, both of them. Also, I realize, like, I'm about to sound very superficial because we have not talked about Schofield's game, we're just talking about his name and now his looks. he also looks like he has the body of Bo Jackson except he's 6 foot 6 instead of 6 foot 1 like

he's just got the perfect name the perfect look and also like you mentioned the perfect game to be a a loved player on NBA Twitter NBA NBA Reddit and for whatever team is drafted onto I hope I hope he's a success in the NBA I do yeah and I don't know what the I don't know what the ceiling is

but I mean here's a little preview you know I'll write that article again of my guys that won't suck he falls into the category He dribbles past shoots. He does that. He's skilled and he plays, you know, like it's his last game on Earth. So I'm down with those kind of guys. But anyway, yeah, I got to see those guys in person.

Other ones that I am intrigued by. And this one may be the most. So I went back and I wrote down the 24-7 composite recruiting rankings last year, right? Which usually are rather indicative of who ends up being the best players and who ends up being in the lottery. It's not the end-all be-all, but there are several times that down the road, even guys that didn't have good years in their one year in college, that maybe their high school career could have been a better sign of what they, and when they're playing in these all-star games and they're playing against, you know, on these team U.S.As and everything, maybe that's a little more indicative than the 30-game sample we get from them in college. That being said, I think this is a little bit interesting. Here were the top 10 going into last year. Number one, R.J. Barrett, number two, Cam Reddish.

Number three, Nassir Little, four, bowl, bowl, five, Zion Williamson. And then six through ten were Charles Bassie, who played not on TV all year. So in their own Western Kentucky. Romeo Langford at Indiana was seventh. Anthony Simons, who's obviously already in the NBA, was eight. E.J. Montgomery from Kentucky 9 and Quentin Grimes from Kansas 10, I want to ask you about that guy who I named third, who was ranked even ahead of Zion Williamson on the composite rankings. And that is Nassir Little. I know he's going to be part of this draft guide. We have seen him high this year in these different projections and these different mocks.

It's usually a veteran-laden team now, these North Carolina teams. There have been some of the big games that they've played where you haven't seen much of him. kind of the Roy Williams thing like it was with the aforementioned Ed Davis or Brandon Wright once upon a time. And there have, of course, been others that maybe they didn't play, you know, tons of minutes as freshmen. But the kid was, I mean, obviously, you look at those numbers. The numbers are crazy. He was third. He was ranked the third best player in this class going into this year.

Tell me about Nasir Little. Well, here's how I would describe the near Nasir Little experience. for a UNC fan. And I am not a UNC fan. Talk to Tate Fraser for a better idea of the frustration. But I was at a bar last Friday watching that UNC Duke game with my friend from back home watching the end of UNC Duke. And I was sitting next to a UNC fan who was just like mumbling and grumbling underneath

its breath like, come on, Nas. Nas, Nassir, come on. Oh, what are you doing, Nassir? Like almost every two minutes, just frustrating groans of agony about Nassir Little. Because you look at Little as a player out of high school with his frame and his body, he has like the ideal physical dimensions of a guy who's going to play elite defense across five positions on the defensive end of the floor. But he can't even do that at the college level because he's just flaky. He loses focus. He doesn't have discipline.

And on the offensive end of the floor, that translates as well. Like he just doesn't look like he knows what he's doing on that end. he's a guy who should be a versatile defender who defends each position at a high level and on offense is a guy that should be able to do multiple things for you like as a spot up shooter he should be a quality player with his solid form at least and he should be a guy who can run a little bit of pick and roll with you because his handle isn't bad by any means he just he just has not put anything together more than anything else he's just a frustration because of the talent that he just that he just has just seems to ooze physically and flash in sparts. But more than anything else, he's just frustrating, endlessly frustrating, because he just doesn't seem to have that feel for the game on offense, and he definitely doesn't have it on defense either. To me, I'm not sure where I'd feel comfortable drafting him, because even though he does have that potential when he's still a young player, I just don't see the feel for the game. And that's one of the hardest things for any player

to learn. All right, let me ask you about the guy that is fourth. So earlier in reference to Darius, Garland, I said sometimes the best thing to have is lack of sample size, right? The less we know about you, the better we think you can be because we don't get to see, you know, you fail or have these really bad games generally. Though the sample size has been small, that does not appear to be the case with Bowl Bowl, who I thought in at least the highlight packages I saw early in the season was absolutely spectacular. And yet I'm looking and keeping up with these mock drafts and what people are writing about him. And he has just tumbled down. And it's like he has gotten more and more beat up. You know, he didn't play all that much. And now

in between injury concern and then this whole, does he really love basketball, does he care about basketball? Is he just playing basketball because he's tall kind of stuff? Like, it feels like he has gotten beat to hell in terms of the draft and has, you know, had this precipitous fall. What you think? Well, it's the inverse for Garland. For Garland, the injury as of now is viewed as more of a flukey thing. Whereas with Bull, the concern all along with his just incredibly narrow frame, just you know, beanpole, lower body, thin waist, he just has a very unusual body at being seven foot two is unusual, but being as skinny as he is at that height leaves him prone for injury. And the fact that he did have that injury so early in the season is scary. So,

I'm not sure it's as much about his game or the questions about his mentality. Like, that's all a factor. But the fact is, is that he's somebody where he has those questions on top of medical concern moving forward. There's just an endless list of question marks with him. And with this year's draft, it's just going to be fascinating to see where bowl, bowl gets selected, or Nassir Little gets selected. When is the point where teams are willing to just say, screw it?

We're going to take a risk on a guy that had these issues at the college level, but they have shown enough potential that we're going to take them now. To me, it might not be until the back of the lottery. Oh, I think it could be even earlier than what we expect for certain given. I don't know, man. I think this NCAA tournament could change this draft dramatically. I think unlike maybe some years in the past, if you get these guys that make a run, you know what I mean?

All it would take is Nassir Little having 23 and 12 in a final four game. All it would take is DeAndre Hunter putting together four crazy games for Virginia or Jared Culver leading Texas Tech to a final four. Or Grant Williams for Tennessee. That's right. No, I think any of them that got on a big run, I do think it could change dramatically. And we have seen it in the past where guys have dramatically improved their draft stock because of being on the stage and in the high level. leverage games and performing in said high leverage games. And when you talk about some of the guys that you talked about, like, these are guys

that are very highly ranked, Kev, Nasir Little, the way you talked about Cam Reddish, when you're talking to me about feel for the game and you're talking about effort and this guy, like, you can have that shit. I ain't got no time for that, right? And so I want to ask you about three other guys, who that's not the case for, but I think are intriguing because I think there's one side that says, yeah, that guy has star potential and another side that says, that guy's got you to be a really good player,

like a role player for a long time in the NBA. And so let me ask you about Culver, D'Andre Hunter, Brandon Clark. These are great players on great teams. Which of those or any of those do you think has real star potential? Do you think any of those three do?

I mean, like there's always, an outside shot with these type of guys. I would listen to Friday's ringer NBA show. Danny Chow had a really good monologue on Brandon Clark and his game. Just an overall, overall good player. I would project those three guys more so as just likely good players. DeAndre Hunter's especially intriguing because his ball handling is improved pretty quickly. And I wonder if that progress continues for him. And he's also a versatile defender with size and, you know, a smart player off ball. He shows good instincts on the defensive end.

Offensally, he's a bit slow sometimes. Like he is literally slow with his movements and with his jump shot release. And then like he sometimes he misses open passes as like he's sort of a ball stopper. So like those are questions with him, but like he's a good player. And like maybe if those issues get resolved, he can reach a higher level. and then with Culver, that guy can just get buckets for you. They're all likely good players. I wouldn't say star potential for any of them.

Why is there one that stands out to you? You know, I keep hearing about, and you and I texted about this Brandon Clark kid at Gonzaga. And the thing is, what I gather is if somebody kid can't shoot, but if you could teach him how to shoot and he could add that to his game, you know, it's kind of like if you could make Jordan Bell a guy that could knock down 20 footers or maybe even stretch it out further. But you can't, right? That's not what he does. If you could, now you've got something special, like really, really special on your hands. And certainly, at the very least, you know he's good at everything else besides that. So the Clark one kind of intrigues me.

I'm not sure the other two are good enough athletes. Hunter feels a little, you know, McKell Bridges-y, you're right? Like, fantastic, really like him. You know, when you were talking about slow movements, I mean, listen, his jump shot was slow enough getting off that I mean Zion was in the damn lane and blocked a three yeah

that's like the image that's the image that comes to mind with him and like that only happened because Zion is Zion right but in the NBA the way that would manifest negatively for him in the NBA is closing out

he's not able to release his shot as quickly against other long athletic defenders where even if he doesn't get blocked the shot is disturbed enough that hinders his shooting percentages to a point where he is not a plus shooter, but a slightly minus shooter. I will say it's very encouraging that the majority of these guys, and I was obviously very glad that Morant was able to win that OVC championship,

so they didn't even have to worry. Yeah, and now he's a good first round matchup against Marcus Howard, too. That'll be fine. Well, you mentioned that, you mentioned that, you know, Garland from Vanderbilt is not going to be there, but generally these guys, we're going to get to see almost all of them in the NCAA tournament.

You know, we've really got Garland and Langford from Indiana. And I guess if you want to throw in Jackson Hayes from Texas, as guys that are, most have them in the lottery, as guys in the lottery, but we're not going to get to see in the NCAA tournament. But the majority of the guys we are.

And I do think that it's, a lot of these guys are one, game, one huge game on a big stage or a run for their team in the tournament from flying up these boards. Yeah, you know, I think the one thing we're going to see for people that are that are better just starting watching college basketball this month, which, you know, a lot of people tune in in March. It's the best time of the season. It's one of the funnest events of the year, March Madness. I think the one thing people will learn with this year's draft is, yes, it's top heavy because of Zion Williamson. And yes, it's weaker than past years.

last two years had some just tremendous depth of talent in the draft lottery. This year is not the case. It levels out pretty quickly. But with that said, what you're going to see is like there's a lot of guys that project as good role players. And we've talked about a handful of them today. And there's other guys like Talon Horton Tucker who, you know, is worth a gamble in the middle of the first round, someone like Cameron Johnson for UNC who can stroke threes as

a senior. There's going to be guys that you're like, oh, they're going to be good players in the NBA. Mattis Thibel from Washington, elite defensive player. There's good role players. And the question is just going to be, how many stars are they're going to be? And there might not be many. But there's probably going to be a surprise like there is every year.

Yeah, sure. No, we are what, like I've been talking about. Like if Hachamura from Gonzaga ends up looking like the best player by a wide margin, you know, when they run through that region for Gonzaga or Brandon Clark for that matter, then the opinion's going to change. And he can fly up these boards. if that kid that I talked to you about from Kentucky,

if that Harrow kid is banging down threes every single round throughout this thing, then he gets this, you know, Stousk-esque bump, right? If he's there. Yeah, if he's there at the end.

You know, I mean, we see it all the time. And, like, you also see the value in having shooters with size in today's, like, you know,

we mentioned the Clippers brief earlier, like Landry Shamit going from Philadelphia to the L.A. Clippers, rookie with his shot making a significant impact early on. There's value in having a shot. That's for sure. Kevin, draft guide comes out on the ringer.com tomorrow, which is Wednesday, right?

I believe so. I have not heard, but I believe it's supposed to be tomorrow. So I'm looking forward to that. And that's the early version. We'll be doing updates leading up to the draft to get up to 60 profiles. This is basically just 15 guys to watch and March Madness.

Perfect. Then everybody can just keep, pressing refresh until it pops up. Yeah, NBA draft. Dot the ringer.com is where it will be. Perfect. Thanks to everybody for checking out another edition of The Ringer NBA show.

Go give us a rating and review on iTunes, five stars, five stars. It really helps. And we will talk to you next week.