The Ringer NBA Show - The White American Draft | Group Chat

Episode Date: March 10, 2025

Justin and Wos are joined by producer Isaiah Blakely, who is filling in for Rob this week, for the second edition of the White American Draft. This time, each person is allowed two European players. The guys fill out a 10-man rotation and discuss each pick. Hosts: Justin Verrier and Wosny Lambre Guest: Isaiah Blakely Producers: Isaiah Blakely and Ben Cruz Social: Keith Fujimoto The Ringer is committed to responsible gaming. Please visit www.rg-help.com to learn more about the resources and helplines available. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hello and welcome to group chat. I am Justin Verrier and joining me, as always, Big Wise. We don't have Rob Mahoney on today's pod. I believe he's doing what, like a boy meets world watchalong series. Is that what he's prepping for? Him and Minkis, you know? I'm pretty sure he's out there being an intrepid reporter for the editorial side, just inside of the ringer.com. You know what I mean? we're all one one group here you know one crew uh no i think he actually had a wedding to get to a monday oh yes wedding early day wedding so no no rob today but we have in his stead an expert in the

field that we were about to embark upon that's right our producer producer jose what's up Isaiah what's up what's up excited uh feeling for opta a huge yes yes so we are doing a follow-up to last year's gang buster live show podcast, the great white American draft, or maybe I shouldn't call the great white American draft, just the white American draft. They're great at my eyes. Thank you. We appreciate that. Isaiah, you are now based in Boston. And so we felt like you would have the requisite expertise to participate. Yeah, a lot of guys from Boston on the big board. So, yeah, I think I'm... Yes.

Yes. That's right. And we should know up front, this is not a Celtic City, like, a plug of any sort. We are not affiliated with that documentary. It just so happens that there are a lot of white guys from Boston. And so Isaiah is going to fill in from Rob here. Was, this is your great event of the year. This is one of your banner construction.

So how do you feel about doing this yet again? I'm happy. And the reason why you say that just for listeners who don't understand is that I have this theory that the NBA would just be way more popular if we had good white guys. Better white guys, I should say. And so I'm always on the lookout for the next great,

truly transcendent white player in the mold of Larry Bird and Havletcheck. Notice all these guys are Celtics. And, well, Jerry West, you know, of yesteryear. Like, I'm always on the lookout for the next great white player. And so this is something of great interest

to me. Because I don't, I have and I think it's messed up that a 65% white country would want to see white hoopers. I don't think there's anything wrong with that. Well, I mean, we are on the precipice of a new dawn in that regard because Cooper Flagg will be joining the NBA next year. Do you already have your scouts out there, or is he just surefire going to be at the top of this draft next year?

100% he's going to be at the top of the draft. I tend to not pay attention to this draft board stuff. until June literally on a normal basis, but because Cooper Flagg had so much buzz as an AAU guy, high school guy, I was like, oh, I wonder if he's going to go to Duke and actually fulfill that. By all indications,

he's exceeded all expectations and looks like legitimately the next great NBA players. So it's really exciting. Yeah. We're on the dawn of a new era, I guess. Or at least when it comes to this bat shit insane project that we're embarking upon for the second. time for whatever reason. But I'm excited, if only because I think it does speak to the lack of depth

of this type of player, I guess we'd say. I feel like I'm just tripping over landmines here, but we'll just get into it. This year we'll do it a little bit differently. I think because there's not, as was kind of alluded to, a lot of heft at the top of the draft, not a lot of all-star players these days. And so Rob actually suggested we do things a little differently this year. in addition to drafting only white American NBA players, we each get two European white players, almost in the same way that the EuroLeague does by naturalizing just players from abroad.

They get two spots for players who just aren't citizens of that country. And so, yes. And I think this is important, too, to get just only kind of serious here in that I think the white European, I think the reason why we have a dearth of white American players in the NBA, and I have done no peer-reviewed research on this guys, but I think there's just a general sense out in our country that basketball is a quote-unquote black sport.

So I think a lot of white guys that would be perfectly good athletes and become perfectly good NBA players of being like, I'd rather not play basketball because that's considered to be what black people do or whatever. And so because of that, we've seen artificial depression of great white players in the NBA. But what I would say is that we look at our European white brethren as proof that this doesn't have to be the case. Like, white American men, look at your European counterparts and understand that there's greatness within you. Embrace it and become our next great NBA players, guys. That's my spiel to the white American male community.

fellas he's got to click that's that's that's so nice and I agree with waz and have no notes um all right why don't we get into the draft year Isaiah do you have the order for us yeah I'm gonna I'm gonna spin it live let's see spinning first up Justin's you you are first pick I love this. I love this. Yeah, who's your first pick, Justin? Oh, did we say we're only allowed to pick two euros

because like at a certain point we wanted to highlight some of the great white American plays. If we allow euros, like, quite frankly, these guys are going to be pretty down the list. Yes. Our fellow countrymen. And so we've limited ourselves to two euros per team. I think we should talk about it at a certain point when we, We picked the first American player, like how many other euros would have gone before we

actually got to that player. I also think it's a little bit of strategy up top just in the way that you use your two Euro players. I would agree. Who's going to go number two? Wazz is two. Okay. So unfortunately, Isaiah gets the third spot in a draft.

I thought about this. Nicoliochich and Luca Donjich. I'll put my pick up for trade if anyone wants to put an offer out there. No, we're not trading. We want to hear you say who you're not. number one pick is justin i think i think there's only one choice here and it's not deni abdi as much as i'd like to add him to my team uh i think it is nikola yokic the not forerunner uh for mvp anymore because after sunday's game shay gildjus alexander had that big old win against

the denver nuggets bright and early in the morning unfortunately yokech is 30 20 20 20 game just kind of got pushed aside because it happened earlier in the weekend but i think We're not doing contracts. We're not doing like who you're building from this point forward. It's just we're just drafted in teams. And so Yokic clear and inarguable number one pick in this draft. Yeah, I don't think we need to even harp on this. Like it's obvious that he's the best player in the league of all backgrounds.

And so the idea that he wouldn't be number one here is crazy. So it makes sense. My number two is going to be just as obvious. it's Luca Donchich. Luca to Don, Huka Donchich. Still one of the best players, top 10, top five players in the league.

Didn't look it against Boston. I'll tell you that freaking much. I know. He looked like a pumpkin against Al Horford. But still my number one pick here today. Well, how are you feeling about Luca right now? Because as you mentioned,

we saw the Lakers go against the Celtics. LeBron going to be out for at least one to two weeks. I don't know what to think of that injury because he says one to two weeks, but it seems like it might have been more serious when it first got started, talked about. They don't have a center. Jackson Hayes isn't playing tonight. So it's going to look pretty dire for a couple,

maybe rest of the season run here. What do you think? I think Luca, again, I noted to you guys even early on in the trade in our little group chat that he just doesn't look quick. He's not. And again, in the best of times,

It's not like he's out, you know, quicking people with an insane first step. It's his pace. It's his changing pace to sort of start and stop. But he's getting by people all the time. And when you're Lucas size and you have his footwork, you get a guy, even out Horford on your hip. You get any kind of angle on him. It's over, right? Like that's what we've seen when Luca was right in the past.

And since he's come back for the Lakers, it's been all jump shots. You can look up his paint scoring. It's not there. Like he's not getting to the cup. He's making, you know, his nice turnaround, uh, sort of dirk-ish foul line shot where he kind of elbows the guy, turns around, does the one-legged fade away, which is really good at.

Obviously he has the step back three. But he's not supplementing that with getting to the cup, getting guys on his hip, getting to the line. Hasn't been doing that since he came back. And Boston, I think quite smartly was like, look, we're sending minimal help. You got to beat the guy that's in front of you. And he just straight up could not do that yesterday.

Or Saturday, whenever it was. And so, yeah, I think you should be worried about Lucas mobility, man, on the ball against bigger guys and beating switches going forward. If you're the Lakers, it's just most teams just aren't as defensively talented as Boston is. And you don't really have to worry about it as much. But it was a glaring weakness on Saturday for me. No one also takes it as personally is Jalen Brown. back cover. He seemed like he's on another level in that game. So many times. Like,

embarrassing this kid. But there was a, there was a sizzle reel that someone put out about Luca a couple of years ago. Might have even have been last year or the year before that where he was not only getting to the rim, but also dunking on people. And I was like, oh shit. I forgot that he still has it in his bag just because we've seen pretty much all this season. He's been dealing with the train. And so, and now he's dealing with what seems to be a back issue. He was grimacing before the game. That's always never a good sign. So it might be a slog for the rest of the season.

And honestly, this is what we kind of expected when he first got traded there. I think when you saw the combination of him and LeBron in practice, everyone started to get wild fantasies about what they could do this season. I still think that they could be pretty good in the playoffs. Watching that Celtics game, it reminded me that, like, I actually think their deficiencies will be exposed more in the playoffs because of their lack of death, because their lack of center rotation and also the defense. I think you started to see some of the seams in that game where it's just like, oh, you really have to try as hard as humanly possible in order to make this work. But they have been trying of late. And that's why they've been so good defensively. But also, I think a lot of their strengths are going to be highlighted in a playoff series.

And so it's kind of a big give and take. But, like, LeBron is now her. And now Luca, I don't know if they'll get 100% Luca this season. And it's something we have to factor in when we're talking about the Western Conference race. It's almost like Miko Harrison had a point to all the freaking armed. GMs out there. This guy, look, he's, no, I'm not saying

he's right. I'm not saying that. I'm just saying he's not a complete and other cycle of information. Idiot. He's not a complete and utter idiot for his thoughts on moving off from Luca. And again, like, we got to talk about the Celtics here.

And I know we're getting away from the draft, but it matters. Like, it's not just that they have defensive talent. It's not that they have a, just have a collective IQ. All of these guys are not just athletically gifted, physically imposing defenders. These guys are smart defenders, nowhere to be at all times.

Three, they're combining that with a freaking continuity and a cohesion that's just like, bro, like this is just the exact worst recipe for somebody who's not completely dialed in and locked in and filling 100%. And I would say that there's not a team in the NBA that can get within 80% of what they're. the Celtics can do when they're at their best defensively. Like, that's just my opinion.

So it's not something to panic about, but goddamn, you got to hate that Celtics matchup for the Lakers, man. I was watching Al Horford guarding Luca in that game. I'm like, it's been like a decade since he's played in Atlanta. Like, that was the heyday of Al Horford making All-Star games regularly, that the whatever 60 win-hawks team where they ran a play in the All-Star game and everyone's like, this is the magic of team success and having a lock solid starting five. just watching him be able to move with Luke and I obviously Luke was a little hobbled so Al can use his heft a little bit more.

But the fact that he's still doing this at his age is absolutely incredible. Part of the reason why I was a little bit not down on the Celtics, but I thought that they could be beaten in this year's title races because Christops, again, injured. And so what was going to happen with Al eventually he was going to fall off. But the fact that he's playing at this level, I mean, it's tough to really pick against him at this point. even though as we're recording this, the calves look absolutely incredible. They're winning 14 in a row. But the Celtics just have another level.

And like even Derek White in that game was getting picked on by LeBron James. I don't know if a lot of teams have a guy like LeBron James, including in the Eastern Conference in order to do that in order to take advantage of White's size. And so, yeah, I felt really good about the Celtics coming out of that game. I did not feel as good about JJ Reddick's light mustache. I don't know if you guys saw this. Yeah, he's coming for your crown. Yeah, I thought about you when I saw it. He seems like he seems like he's trying to pilot something.

And I just want to say I see him. The moustachioed just around the council has had a meeting. And I don't feel good about his candidacy. He's not allowed in the mustache crew. He seems to be waging a cold war against you through the media, through his TV appearances at every single turn. And I personally am here for all of it. I might have to go with the soul patch,

just the counter. All right, why don't we get to number three? Who do you like at number three? Yeah, so three feels easy to me. That's Franz Wagner. Sure. By far the next best guy on the board. So you didn't Hammond Hall, you didn't think to yourself,

ah, like there's somebody else I can take here, no. No, especially because the wing position is pretty dark, mistraft. It's pretty dark. Ironically, pretty dark, yes. Yeah. And so I just think, like, not always see the best player, but he's by far to best wing. And so, yeah, that's where I have to go.

And then I get pick four as well. Yes. Yeah, I think we got to do snake draft because third pick was tough. This is where, like, I, like, definitely him in and hawn a little bit. I think I got to go best available, though. Actually, yeah, fine. I'm taking Chad Holmes. Okay.

Wow. Yeah. there's there's guards that I don't think will be there by my next pick but I think Chet's the best guy available. I like that. How does it feel to have Chet flying off the board? It's tough for me because I thought he might go with the better Euro here. That's right. But I understand if you want some better roster balance.

speaking of Luca and the Mavericks, the roster imbalance over there. I understand the chat pick. Is it my turn to pick? Yep. Since Justin went first. I'm going to go with Lowry Markinen. He's going to be my second pick,

All-Star last year. A bit of a step back this year, but I think it's been by design by the jazz, to be quite honest with you. I think this guy's got, is legit. I think he's a legitimate high level winning player. What he does on the perimeter at his size

is crazy. And he's not some minus defender, man. Like, this guy will get after you on defense. I'm not saying he's like, you know, Andre Carolenko or something like that harking back to one of the great white euros of yesteryear. But he's not a complete zero on defense. And what he did, he's so dynamic offensively and you can easily play him

around, you know, a Luca Donchich, a high possession soaking up kind of wingplay. And he just fits in so seamlessly to that. So Larry Markening is my second pick here. Okay. I like that pick, especially as a compliment to Luca, because Shangoon is still on the board. And so for me, to have Yokic and to have baby Yokic would not work. And so it not only is a good pick, I think, but I also think it makes it more complicated for me down here and even maybe even Isaiah because Franz is good of a creator he is the shot is still coming along. There aren't a lot of shooters surprisingly enough

on this Euroboard. No. Which in years past I think it was just having abundance. For two questions, just rules. We should have got this out of the way at the top, but just rules-based questions. One, Josh Giddy as an Australian, is a white euro, right?

Yeah, I think so. He's not an accent. We got to give him that. Okay. There were a couple guys I was curious about, actually. And so bonus, we counted him as American because of Rob last year, but like, he's a euro, right?

I think you made that decision last year. That was your call, actually, yeah. I think he's born in the state, I believe, right? He is born in the States. You know what? He's born in America. Okay. And I think, I think legal precedents suggest that we have to now make an American this year.

Are there any other guys on the fence here? I'll be honest. Sam Alito over here. Yesterday I found myself Googling is X player white more than I really wish I had. Yeah. But there's a couple of these guys that I was just going to try to sneak on in. And if anybody questioned it, we do the research on live on air. But yeah, there's a couple of guys where, you know, are we?

doing uh what's the what's the what's the kid was dread scott the the the the fucking uh dropping a bucket i forget which case it was where it's just like even if you're one eighth negro you can't count as white so we'll see how that goes going forward all right i'll let you guys set the roll on that one um man this is a tough pick because i think the depth that i mean the depth that i'm American big is pretty shallow, but a lot of those guys aren't going to work next to Yokish. And so to have any sort of like front core combination at the top of the draft would be hard for me to choose. I'm going to go, oh, man. He said, oh, man.

This is really tough. I'm going to go American and I'm going to go with Tyler Hero just to. dip into the to the top of the wing situation. Okay. I need a guy who could shoot playing off of off of Yokic. And I get another pick right after this, right? Yeah. I'm going twice.

Oh, this is beautiful. I'm actually going to go. I'm just going to take the entire top of my wing board here. I'm going to also go with Austin Reeves. No way. Wow. I thought I'd get one of those guys. That's crazy.

Wow. That's tough. I think it falls off pretty markedly right after there. and so to get the two, probably only two white American creators to play off of Yokish, I'm feeling good about my team. Yeah, I was going to take them at four.

I was going to take one of them at four. That's what I was thinking about because I knew the fall off is steep. Okay. Hmm. So is it my turn now? It is. You're in the middle.

Okay. Hmm. Hmm. I've got, see, that's the thing when you have Luca, you've got ball handling. you've got distribution. Now I need some.

Oh, I know what I'm doing. Okay, I need some defense up here. I'm going to go with Caruso. Caruso. Okay. Wow. Caruso. That's pretty high for a guy who might be shooting 30% from the floor this year.

It doesn't matter. Doesn't matter. Okay. All his shots will be wide ass open. And I can live with that. I just watch the Denver game. It's like, if he makes one or three, that's good. It's fine.

Of completely nobody. near you wide open shots we just asked one of three brother and that's fine so yeah caruso gonna shore up my back court and wing defense and so i like i like having caruso here okay i like that pick not worried about the big man position at all um yeah this is me a tough spot i really wanted a guard uh uh i guess i'm gonna have to go i think i'm gonna go double big here and go Schengun. I think that makes sense.

Had he used your euro yet? The second euro, yeah. The second euro, yeah. So I think I think I'm going Schengu for that. So Chet and Shangoon in France is my front court. I think that can work. Wow. I think it can work.

Yeah, I think it can work. And I think, I think, I'm going to get my guy. I think I'm getting preacher. Pay, pay, Pritchie. Yeah. That is smart. smart, smart pickup. Okay.

What, what, what, what it's like the vibe for Pritcher right now in Boston? Is he like, is he on part with like Tatum

in terms of celebrities? I think the statues, yeah, got to be on the way. I think, um, okay. Especially,

like, I have a friend who was at the game when he dropped 40, like, just absurd. Um, and like, the idea that they traded smart and this guy was able to just fill in

and be just way better is not something I think anybody saw coming. Um, It's crazy. And so he's been one of the best players on the team this year. He's been unbelievable. So what's like the celebrity Boston rankings if we were to do them right now? Is it Tom Brady, Jason Tatum, Peyton Pritchard? Yeah, it's probably about right.

You might mixing a brewing maybe. Oh, Marcheon's now gone. And so probably Poshnach's probably in there. But yeah, that's about it. Derek White is pretty damn famous as well. Really? He's like insanely loved. tier, yeah. He's like most people's like

they're like not Tatemore Brown favorite player is Derek White. Yeah. So it's, it would be Celtics over Patriots right now. Even like Drake May is just too anonymous right now. But the Patriots are like horrible. Yeah, the problem is

the Patriots are terrible. Yeah, Drake May is not even like mediocre. But yeah, they're just terrible. Drake May is very well loved because he's, he actually looks like he'll be good. But like so he's come off the title. They're just definitely higher up. Payton Pritchard is just the perfect.

And, like, he's just a cocky little shit, man. Yeah, he's incredible. Incredible. Scalibrily. He could walk in the city and not really get noticed, though. Like, he's a 6'1 white guy. I think I just saw him walking to the store right now. I could have.

Who knows? Yeah, you wouldn't be able to tell. Yeah, he couldn't tell. Just be another homie from Southie. Literally, yeah. Scalabrini said, like, he's pretty sure that Peyton Pritchard thinks within himself that he's better than Steph Curry. Like, that's how he can.

He carries himself. That's his attitude that he brings to the game. That he's just like nobody fucking with him. Watch the Tatum buzzer beat or dunk at the end of the half. Tatum has already beat his guy to the room. And Peyton is just jumping up and down, screaming for the basketball at the 3.4-line. Like, he 100%.

100%. He probably thinks he's right on the second. He guys insane. It's great. Love that. One of the best parts about the journey is when an underdog takes down a powerhouse. And right now, those upsets can get even better

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Wise, you're up with your fourth pick. I'm going defense again. Defense again. I got Luca Donchich. I need defenders around what he's doing on the ball. Three and D type of guys. And that's why I'm getting the great Christian Brown. Almost called him Braun.

I know he changed his name. But Christian Brown to the team. to the team. I'm loving this team, by the way. So I have to point out here that we have gone basically through four rounds at this point. I still have to make my fourth pick. We have not picked a

bonus a bonus. In part because I think tactically he wouldn't fit on my team and I also think he's now tough to fit onto Isaiah's team and I think Wazz just that has a full no-go zone on him. I like centers that can actually help me on defense.

I get it. He's a He's a fucking dynamite rebounder, you know, and he deserves credit for that for being his size and being that good at rebounding. But my center has to contribute to my defense, period. It's not, like, I get it. Like, he plays his ass off. He plays really hard.

He seems like a great freaking guy, you know. And I bet you all of his teammates love him, but like, no, not for me. Not my type of center. Make big men big again. I also think this speaks to perhaps the problem with trading him because it sounds like the way the kings are going. Allegedly he's going to talk with the organization about his future there. But I do wonder like he seems like the perfect type of player the Kings need because he will get them into the play and mix as long as he's going to be there.

If not in contention so long as he's there. And I think there's a value to that for a franchise that missed 17 playoffs in a row. whatever the hell it was that they have a respectable team out there. But to me, like, when I look at the centers that are still on the board for me, this guy's, no, he doesn't rate for me. No, I need defense. Yeah. So I think it's going to be tough to even try to move on for him.

I'm just looking at teams across the league. You really have to orient everything you're doing around bringing out the best. And which to the king's credit they did, right? They got rid of Halliburn, which ultimately proved to be a mistake. But they brought out the best in Subonis by playing him at center, and basically punting defense. And they got to the point where they were in the first round series, where they were threatening the warriors.

But I just don't know where he goes from here. Like I was thinking about it in terms of the trailblazers who probably won't be in the mix for a big draft pick in this common draft, maybe not even the top 10 the way they're playing right now. They actually played the pistons pretty well last night. And it's like, okay, if you can't draft a star, you got to trade your picks for one, right? And I think the bonus considering the history with Arvetus, like, oh, maybe he would make

some sense, but like trying to glom him on to a roster, which doesn't have the shooting first and foremost, but then you also have to punt your defense, and then you're also just, like, aspiring to the playing. It's just, he's a tough one. And so I personally can't pick him unless I'm going to bring him off the bench with Yokic already in-house. And so, man, I don't know where he's going to go here. And we're going to want to show him at the four.

Yeah, I just didn't want to play him at the four. I just would have preferred Chen going at the four over, over him, if I was being honest. I had Larry at my four, four, man. So it's tough. Yeah. So I'm at a position now where you guys have both drafted your two euros. So Waz has Luca and Lowry.

Isaiah has Franz and Schengun, which means I don't actually have to pick a euro until the end of the draft. And so I am in the catbird seat where I could basically wait to pick either. I would say it's Christops or Denny would be my two picks. I think Josh Gidea, a guy from Australia being naturalized as a euro also has to be there. just giving my love for him. And I think Christops can conceivably play the four next to Yolkich.

They go double big. Yeah. They can go double big. He could stretch. I don't love the injury history. And so that would be a concern. I don't know how many times they would be able to be in the same court together. But I'll get that later.

So next picks, I'm going to go, let's see here. I'm going to go with Pajemski. I like that big. Despite Steve Kerr's ire, I feel like we bring him in house, get him under the Yokic wing, and all of a sudden he'll be a little bit more in line. Maybe he won't be doing too many steff sort of things out there on the court.

And then after that, again, the wing depth is quite, quite dire at this point. I'll go Dante Divengenzo just to keep loading up on shooters. That's good. Dante I definitely considered above Christian Brown just because he has more juice on the ball,

like way more juice on the ball. But Christian Brown is a more tenacious defender, way more athletic. And so, yeah, I'm a defensive-minded, hard-nosed, blue-collar kind of guy. And so I had to get Christian Brown on my team, but Dante definitely thought about him. All right, well, is you up with your,

what is this, your... Yeah, I'm going to finally take a center here. Okay. And Walker Kessler as my big. He's going to be my center. So you're loading up on on jazz players right now. How do you feel about that?

There are two like players that I actually like. Yeah. I'm happy to do that. Following Danny Angel's lead. I like these two guys. One of the great proprietors of the great American, great white American

in the NBA right now. I mean, he's one of the pioneers. You got to think, like, he was Peyton Pritchard in the freaking 80s. Do you feel me? On those Celtics teams. And so, like, he was a mad person. People don't, like, because he played on the Sons after that. And that's, like, my first memories of Danny Ains was him as a Sons player. But then, you know, you go back and you learn about, like, the role that he played on the 80s Celtics.

And it's like, oh, the guy, like cursing out Pat Riley talking shit to Pat Riley. out in the press or whatever, like, this all makes a lot of sense. All right, Isaiah, you're up with your number fifth. Yeah, so it's thin. I need like a two or a three. I'm going to have to go Grayson Allen. Yeah. He's one of the best guys.

I don't have a Euro. Yeah, I don't have a Euro. Like, I would go bogey, but I don't have a Euro. So, uh, Grayson is really in the, uh, he's from the Joe Harris. school of like shoots close to 50% from three. We all go wild about how good of a shooter he is. And then he gets a little bit back down to earth. Then we're in the 40s like, you know,

dip him below right around the 40 mark. Then it's like, oh, what else can this guy do? Oh, he can't play defense. It's like, oh, yeah, it doesn't really pass the ball that well. It's just like, oh, okay, no. He feels like he's having a Joe Harris season for the sons right now. I think he gets asked to do too much on the defense event is why he's like,

he like has to be like their best. perimeter guy, which is absurd. Yeah, and so I'm, like, I mean, my two guards are Pritchard and Grayson. It's not like tremendous point of attack. But they'll play hard and got Chad at the rim. So I'm hoping that that covers it up. And Franz is solid. So I think it'll, I think it'll be okay. Okay. But I like the shooting. Because I think he'll get wide open looks. We've each done five picks right now. Isaiah has Franz, Chet, Shet, Shengoon, Peyton, Pritchard, and Grace and Allen. Was has Luca, Lowry Markinen, Alex Caruso, Christian Brown, Walker Kessler. I have Yokic, Tyler Hero, Austin Reeves, Brandon Prasemski, and Dante DiVincenzo.

So we have our starting fives in theory. Obviously, we can supplement them with these next couple picks. I feel like we have to do full rotation. I think we have to go 10 deep in this. Sure. We might be scraping. I think I got 10 days. Do we?

My board was top 30. Yeah, I think. There's a modern mention. I got so. But we're getting. Yeah, we're getting down to the bone here, but there's still some good NBA players left for this list. For sure. There's going to be a real dog fight for Sam Hauser in like the ninth and ten rounds.

I think it might be sooner for B&O. Yeah, I think it might be. Isaiah, why don't you go with your sixth pick? Yeah, let's see. Six pick off the bench. I think I'll go. Sabonis is American? Cool.

Subonis is American. Officially. Oh, yeah. All right. Yeah, I'll grab the bonus, then, yeah. And so, okay, yeah, that's an excellent, excellent pick. Shut out, King's fans. Yeah, not that the starters are rounded out.

So are you bringing him off the bench in this construction? Yeah, he's not going to love that, but yeah. Yeah. He's coming off the bench, yeah. That's an excellent bench pick. So it's my turn here? Yes, you're in the middle. Is Ty Jerome White?

No, actually. He's not. He's not. In fact, he's one of the people that I did research in advance of this draft. Is he mixed race? Yeah. I believe so. Racial, yeah.

And I think we should not talk about this any further. So, in the Blake Griffin category then for me. Technically. He is a Hardenstein category. I think this is how I am. Yeah, this is easy then. Because I have no fucking shooting on my team. I got to go Sam Houser here.

I knew he had to go sooner. No, no, I have to because he is still fits in with my defensive credo. You can't just isolate on Sam Houser and then you're going to destroy him. That's not going to happen. And so, look, not calling the guy Scotty Pippen, but the shooting, the defense can mix and match him in my starting lineup if I want to get to take Caruso out or Christian Brown out or crunch time lineups if I need just a little bit more shooting off the bench. yeah, Sam Houser, come on down. Come home to Papa. Where's, okay, since we're talking about Celtics hierarchy,

where's Sam Houser, Isaiah, in the ranks? Sam's an interesting one because he was really rough at the start of the year. So I think, like, his credibility took a hit, but he's definitely, like, back up. But definitely not in that, like, elite tier of guys in Boston for sure. But, like, definitely well-lides. Yeah, definitely well-liked. liked for sure, though.

Okay. All right. So I'm up with my sixth pick. Again, I do not need to take a European because I can just wait on that for my last pick, which gives me a nice little advantage here. There's not a single euro on this. Let's stop for maybe Chris Stapps that I'm just like, oh, I would love to have them on my team.

I think he's a couple. Yeah, I think there's a couple that I like, but I'm not like, oh, no. Right. I would definitely be getting. But silly Meitchitch won't be on my team. Oh, no. I might have to take him just for the posterity sake. Yeah.

I'll be honest. I'm going to keep looking at the wing department. And I'm going to go with Gray's Dick. Ooh. Okay. Who might have gone a little under the Raider here. I honestly think he would have maybe been a better shooter than your guy Hauser out there. Obviously hasn't had the same.

I don't know about all that. But sure. Half. Well, he's a better prospect, I would say. Yes, he's definitely a better prospect.

He's got more ball skills. He's, yeah, he's definitely a more rounded player, let's say. Definitely, definitely hasn't had the same

second half. I think that a lot of people were expected just because he popped off earlier in the season. Him and RJ Barrett had a nice thing going. It looked like he was going to be more than just a shooter, which I think people were excited about,

also pretty long. And the Dick Joe, just write themselves at that point. But I like him because I'm basically just adding as many shooters as humanly possible. Maybe not necessarily defense. I do think I could use some defense on this team. But shooting around Yokich, I think, is just going to be a formula that leads us to the best offense of these three teams.

And I don't have a center or at the very least someone who could back up Yokic at this point. So I'm going to dip into the center mix finally here. And I'm going to go with Donovan. I knew he was my guy. Portland. I knew, yeah, I knew a Portland guy.

Portland brother. Portland brother. My, my Yukon brother. I got to say, I've been digging him earlier this season because he'd put on a little bit of weight this season. And it was pretty noticeable and it was affecting some of his movements.

I saw him last night before the Pistons game. He's noticeably cut some weight. And he's moving a lot better as a result of that. He still can't play like just a full allotment of minutes. They were in a pretty tight one last night against the piston. and Chauncey still leaned on Jabari Walker and Dwap Reith in that game, including Dwight brief who missed like seven threes. That could have easily got them back in that.

But I just like the potential giant shot blocker. And he's the classic, like if he plays 18 minutes behind Yokish, we could finally soak up some of those non-yokish minutes and have at least to be a net neutral on that end. So I like the pick. Is it my turn? You're up. Yep.

Corey Kisper, Eastern Washington's own, is off of my board. It's a tough one. Again, size, shooting 37% from three, you know, just a little bit of physicality there. I know he's basically an anonymous NBA player because he's played on a horrible team. Basically, since he's been drafted, but the guy can't hoop. And theoretically, I probably should have picked him over Sam Houser, but, you know, I'm a, I'm a, I'm a, I'm a, slut for the big teams in the NBA. And so I picked Hauser.

But yeah, Cory Kisper, coming off of my board. Okay. I'm liking my wing rotation here, y'all. Yeah, so you have Caruso, Brown, and Kisper. Oh, and Hauser. And Hauser. Don't forget Hauser, brother. Please don't.

Please don't forget. A lot of hard nose. A lot of great point of the attack guys. We are scrappy as all hell. You don't want to go to a back alley with my. team, brother. That's right. Isaiah, who do you have? I'm going to go upside. This guy

was born in America. Ritas, Bezellis. Okay. Wasn't even on my board. I completely forgot about him. I like this guy. Lucky, lucky we... He's lucky to court saved his birthright citizenship. Or else he would have been out of here. Yeah, he's played like

pretty well lately, especially since I traded Levine. So I think coming off the bench is going to be good. And then my scouts overlooked him. I didn't even have him on my board because I just took last year's list and just added the guys I know who have coming to the league since. Yeah, I was scouring every team. So can I tell you how I did my big board?

Yeah, this is good. Yeah. ESPN.com roster page for each team. They have a picture next to each guy's name. And so I'm just scrolling like, nope, nope, no, no, no, no. Oh, there's, oh, damn. So literal racial profiling. Yes. You did you just got to run this track.

I'm like a state trooper on the highway. I just got to see a skin color go by me and I just snap them up. Yeah. Okay. So Bezellas flew under the radar. I do like him as a long-term. prospect. Uh, and then another prospect.

I'll take Reed Shepard. Ah. That hurt me. I thought I was going to get Reed. He is. I forgot about him. Just saw him again and said, yeah, that's my guy. Yeah.

Wow, this draft class just loaded. Okay. American whites. Yeah. And I don't think it's a coincidence that this draft class widely regarded is one of the worst in recent memory. They work hard though. All right.

I like those upside picks. Those are good. Ooh, it's my turn here. Oh, I know what I'm taking. I'm taking T.J. McConnell. Yeah. I do that be your guy. I actually need some,

some ball handling outside of Luca Donchich. And T.J. McConnell can provide that change of pace. Again, grit, hard-nosed. He might be the last one. He might be the last ball handler. Like, who's a man. No, this is one more quasi-handler up there. You don't want to trust him full time, but he's still there.

Okay. Okay. So TJ was what won you the draft in Indianapolis. Well, I mean, hometown, you know, that was home cooking for sure. But you were the only one I have to give you credit for noticing that and pouncing upon it, where we were all just like deep in the weeds where it's just like, fucking, you got to play the crowd. Like, dude, this and that. We were live show news where you were.

You got to make the people have. Well, happy. All right. So how many plays do I have? One, two, three, four, five, six, seven. Okay. All right. So you're at eight.

So we only have, you guys only have two more. I have three more here. I am going to go with Max Truce because, come on. Come on. I thought you was going with him the last pick, but that was smart. Got to get Max Trues. I'll be honest. My defense is looking quite ragged at this point.

And so if Shreuth might have to, if not start, then be my six. man or the guy we turned to in crunch time because we'll need somebody to play nominal four for this team. I guess at this point it's between him and Grady Dick, or we'll just go four wings and say fucking Yokin.

You gotta spread the ball around. Yeah. And I'm just gonna keep loading up on shooters here and this most recent draft class and another white American from this. I got to go Dallon Connect. Yeah. Steal him from wise

before he gets them back. He was, he was, yeah, he was definitely somebody I was looking at. Not sure he's like really acquitted himself totally, but like, I mean, especially considering his age, I think people were expecting him to make more of an instant impact. But good shooter, I do think he will be really good at a bench roll. So I like him. If anything, he might be playing 40 minutes tonight with all the injuries the Lakers have. Yeah. Okay, that hurt me.

I'm going to get a center with my very last pick. So here, I can be a little bit more freaky with it. I definitely need a third ball handler. I don't want to be like the Knicks where I'm just relying on, you know, Deuce McBride who can't dribble for shit. And campaign who's just like, bro, you don't want to really do that. All right. So I need a third ball handler who is respectable.

and I'm going with Luke Kinnard. Yeah, I was talking about. Luke Kinnard to me is the last credible ball handler on the list. Like literally. Still a good shooter. Still a good shooter. The defense has gotten better since the days where he was in the bottom three in the NBA and defense. That's true.

Still not what you want, but I admire the improvement, the self-improvement. So Luke Kinnard, come on down is my third ball handler. In a lot of days, he's probably going to handle over, T.J. If we're being real. But in the playoffs, I can prioritize. Do I want more defense? Do I want more shooting? Do I want more, you know, go the other team in the technical fouls?

You know, it just depends on what I need in any given individual matchup. And so, yeah, Luke Kinnard, come on down. Optionality is what you're saying. Yeah, and there's no way Zay picks three centers here, obviously. So I got, still got backup centers left. In the whole thing. You have your last two picks here. Yeah.

Yeah, I think I'm good at the big man position with Chet, Shangoon, Sabonis. That's a great, great big rotation. So I'm probably, I probably need another wing. It's getting pretty dire. It's not great. They're not necessarily what I love here.

I'll take Dean Wade. Okay. Like, it's not really what I want. That's certainly what he can shoot it. He's good size. He can play to four. So you like him more than Sam Meryl from the Cavs collection of White Shrine? I actually forgot about Meryl.

I actually forgot about Meryl. Oh, there you go. I'm not going to take him. But I did forget about him, actually. And my last pick, I could do a fun one or I could do somebody who would actually play. I don't know. This is your team, man. Yeah, I think

I think I'll do a fun one. I'll take MacKlawn. Not on my board. Not on my board either. Does he qualify? Are you doing two-way spots? Yeah. If not, I'll take E.J. Green, but, like, yeah, I think McClum.

You stick that guy in the five dunk contests in a row. I'm sorry, he has to at least qualify at this point. Give me a break. Well, your other, you were suggesting. A.J. Green might be your other one. He's definitely someone out there. Milk Jordan. Just looked at AJ Green for sure. He dropped like

50 on my school and I saw him in college and was like, huh, that guy seems really freaking good. And then he got to him him like, I see. I get it now. He's wasn't in a lot of way. He came into the Bonnies? Yeah, it was bad. It was crazy. In college, he's dropped 50 on St. Bonavich. Something like that. At least 40, it was crazy.

What would you have to say about that? Is he upset? I should text him and see. It probably wasn't happy, but I sure was. Yeah, it was a tough one. This is pre his GM range. Yeah, it is. Okay, my last pick is going to be a big. Okay.

I'm looking at either Cornett, J. Huff, or Luca Garza. Garza is American, right? Yeah, I think so. I can double you. I think so. Why don't you check, Isaiah? I'm looking right now. Let's see.

Look at Garza. He's born in D.C. Okay. Born in America. Born in the USA. Yeah, American and Bosnian. So, yeah, I think you're good. Okay.

But wait, so, but we decided last draft that Hakez is not, right? Hawkes is, despite being an L.A. kid. But he's born in L.A., right? But he's Mexican. I don't know. Which born in L.A. Deep in the weeds into this. By our rule.

I think Hawkes should have been available. But I believe we ruled him out last draft. And so we don't have to. Yeah, I didn't even think about him. Yeah. Bro. He's definitely American. I don't know.

What are we doing with this? I'm going to go. Yeah, I got to keep the theme of defense alive. Luke Cornett. Okay. When protecting big, back up big, off the bench. Um, legendary Nick. Huh?

Legendary Nick. Legendary Nick. Once a Nick. Oh, he's a Nick. That's right. I'll be honest. Cornet, that's my squad. I'm stunned that he plays such a pivotal role for such a good team.

Like, obviously when he gets out on the court in playoff situations, it's not ideal. But the fact that, like, he could hold his own in these regular season games, he could basically spot for whatever Porzingis isn't there. Like, he's like a solid. solid as good player. And I'm just like, he's become very solid. Yeah, he used to stink.

But now he's like, he's a great screener. He's a really good pastor from like the free to online spot. Like he makes quick decisions there. And like he rebounds pretty decent and like can block a shot. That's all it takes is the third big. He's a body.

Yeah, literally. And listen, people mocked when they, he did the cornet contest. I see a lot of guys in the league doing it. They can out to. I seen like Evan Mowbly can't get out to a shoot.

all of a sudden jumping up in the pink trying to do that. I don't know if it works at all, but that is a signature moment for Lucerne and so I'm excited for him. I have the last pick in the draft. I still have one European slot right now. And so I could probably talk through some of the options. Christops, I think, is probably the best player on the board. A little bit worried about the fit issues.

I think Yokic of all people could probably make that work. Easily. Porzingis is just a shooter. I think Denny Avdia is pretty interesting. not only because of my Portland bias, but I also think he's the type of versatile in-between player that Yokic can just breathe another level two in his career. And I've watched him.

I think he's actually been quite good. He's a top 100 player on the ringers rankings right now, in part because he does this wild thing where he just has no brakes, drives into the rim as if he's just ready to run into the crowd. And because of that reckless abandon, I think a lot of good things happen. The defense collapses and he hits guys on the kickouts there. So I really liked Denny.

Vucevich has to be on the list here. Josh Giddy, as we mentioned, also has to be here. But I'm pretty deep in the back. He's not on my list. He didn't make my list. Zubach definitely needs to be on the list. Zoo has to be up there as well. That's a good one.

I put Yovich up there, although I knew he wasn't going to be nobody's top too. I forgot about you. I forgot about him, actually. I'm going to go with Aviya just because I like the potential there. I know I'll probably. No Chris Stabs. Yeah, I think I think crazy.

The unicorn. This man was the unicorn. Yo, I remember we used to fight about him and Carl Towns. It was like a five-year fight with him and Carl Towns. And now it's just like, I don't know, everybody's just kind of accepted that they're both their own player. Have their strengths and their weaknesses and have just moved on. I think he might have been the original unicorn. like when Bill started talking about this and we started writing articles about this.

I think he was the poster child for unicorns. It's just funny. Like now everybody coming into the league has a three-point shot if you're that big, being first and foremost the prime example of that. So you're right. But I feel bad about it. But I also think Obdia can start in a way that puts Yokic at his natural position, keeps him at center,

allows him to still be big while the rest of the perimeter defenders do their thing. So just to go through the teams in totality right here, My team is Nicola Yokic, Tyler Hero, Austin Reeves, Brandon Pajamsky, Dante Divencenzhenzo, on the bench, Grady Dick, Donovan Klingin, Max Shrews, Dalton, Kinnett, and Deni Obdia, who will probably start. So just the fact of that. And there was his team, Luca Donchich, Lori Caruso, Christian Brown, Walker Kessler, Sam Houser, Corey Kisper, T.J. McConnell, Luke Conard, and Luke Cornett. That's a squad, boy. A squad. I don't know. Not a lot of athleticism, I would say, and that's good. They can guard. We can guard, bro.

The shooting is head. You have a vision. Oh, the garden. I see the identity. I see the identity. Isaiah is Franz Wagner, Chet Holmgren, Alpern Schengoon, Peyton, Patent Pritchard, Grayson Allen, DeMontas, a sixth round draft pig. Feeling good about that one?

Mattis Bezellis. Reed Shepard, two good recent rookies back to back, Dean Wade, and Mac McLung, who at the very least will get you another dunk contest. Our vibes got here. Our vibes got here. Those are the

teams. Maybe we put this up to a vote for some of the social media people to see who won this. I'll be honest, I feel fucking good. I also think I got Yokage, which is like a massive advantage in this case. But then I corner the market on guys who could actually dribble pass and shoot.

And so I feel like, I feel pretty good about that. Yeah, my team is heavily dependent upon Luca Donch's calf muscle not snapping in half. That is for sure. It is heliocentric as all fuck. But shit, man, he's 25 years old. And that's going to be his job on this team. Isaiah, how are you feeling? I like my team, especially like at the third pick.

I think I'm not getting a top five player in the NBA. But I think I ended up with a good team. Yeah, I think I ended up with a good team, though. I think Chet's got to come in ready to work. Yeah, he's got to work. Shoulder a burden. Yeah, defensively, it's not going to be ideal, I don't think. Because my guards are like 6-2.

But I think I've got enough shooting. I think I got some athletes off the bench and like Subonis, I think is just going to be an unbelievable six-man. I just think he's going to come in and dominate second units. Yes. And I think I have plenty of playmaking.

Like, I think guys are going to get open shots. I don't think there's this, I don't think I have a single guy who can't pass. So, I was, I was saying maybe Grayson can't pass. Yeah, don't rely on that.

He can't pass. I came into the draft thinking that Chet was going to be the swing player in this because I think he's very clearly the best white American player. And so whomever was going to jump ahead and get him before they dipped into their second euro, I think was going to have a major advantage. And part because he's also one of the few players on this board in the front court who could meld with a lot of the bigger players that we have here. And so if I have Yokic,

I want Chet first and foremost to be that nice front core kind of balance. And so getting him and then Shengoon, I thought was was pretty inspired. So those are the teams. And look, we took this semi seriously, but I would encourage our listeners while they're listening to this pod to also have the Hulk Hogan theme song music coming in Dananan, dan, dan, dan, dan, dan, I am a real

American fight for the rights of every man. You got to be playing that while you listen to this podcast, man. Or at least have it on in the background, just to look at Hogan, ripping his t-shirt off and being a real American. I think that's the drop for next year. We used Eminem for the live one. I think it's

Was singing. I am a real American. I'll cut that idea. If we aren't fired before then. All right. Why don't we wrap it there? Isaiah, thank you for joining us for part two of the American draft. Exciting. I was excited to do it. It was great. Yes. Thank you to Isaiah also on production. And thank you to Ben Cruz on the video side of things.

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