The Ryen Russillo Podcast - NBA Draft Recap! Miller Over Scoot and Best/Worst Picks With Sam Vecenie, Plus Chris Paul to the Warriors

Episode Date: June 23, 2023

Russillo shares his thoughts on the Trailblazers landing Scoot Henderson with the third overall pick, teams drafting for need, Chris Paul being traded to the Warriors, and ESPN's draft coverage (0:35). Then Ryen is joined by The Athletic's Sam Vecenie to discuss Brandon Miller being drafted second overall to the Hornets over Scoot, the Thompson twins going fourth and fifth overall, and Cam Whitmore's drastic slide to 20th, as well as their least favorite picks, first round sleepers, and more (18:01). Finally, Ryen recaps the NYC live show before answering some listener-submitted Life Advice questions (1:02:48). Host: Ryen Russillo Guest: Sam Vecenie Producers: Kyle Crichton and Steve Ceruti Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

today's podcast we've recapped the draft with sam bassini his thoughts at the top cam whitmore's fall what was orlando doing some of our favorite picks what's up with this pajemski guy um and then i'm going to touch on some of the need stuff, Portland not being able to pull off a deal, which I kind of understand. Chris Paul, the Warriors and coverage. Life advice follows. This episode is brought to you by Uber Eats. Winter is here, so be prepared and get almost anything delivered with Uber Eats. What do I mean by almost anything? Well, you can't get a ski slope, but dish soap, definitely doable. What do I mean by almost anything? Well, you can't get a ski slope, but dish soap,

definitely doable. Sunshine, that's no. A bottle of wine, yeah. And a snow day, again, no. But blueberry muffins with the delicious crumb topping, total yes. Get almost, almost anything delivered with Uber Eats. Order now. Alcohol and select markets. Product availability may vary by region. See app for details. Before we have San Vecino on to kind of go through a little bit more of the details of all the stuff last night, I wanted to hit on a bunch of different points recapping the draft. So let's go. The first thing that I think was important was what was Portland going to do? Once we saw that Miller was going to Charlotte at two and then Scoot is available there at three. Again, I would have taken Scoot two.

We'll see how it plays out. This is where the Lillard updates. I don't know that they're interesting anymore. I'm officially tapped out on all of them. I think a lot of it's strategy. Hey, plant this, have this message get out there, see what the reaction to this message will be, and just all this kind of back and forth. for your fans when you're like, oh, I would go here or I wouldn't go here on an IG live. And like, look, you can think it's super casual and you're just hanging out, but you're the one deciding to broadcast it, right? So I'm not necessarily like knocking them, but you have to kind of understand how emotionally invested millions of fans are that are going to be like, all right, every day we got to get updates on this stuff. So they don't trade the number three pick for a guy that can immediately make that impact.

What you'd hope is if your ownership, which is a little strange right now there anyway, and a new front office that's been overhauled with there's some carryover, but other newer people in there, that you would at least have Lillard involved in the conversation so that he understands or he has realistic expectations on what it is that you're able to do with that number three pick because that trade where hey it's the number three for this ready-made star you know all-star seems high but lower than all-star guy or borderline all-star not perennial all-star is that trade even available that trade doesn't really happen in this league all that much it has to be somebody that maybe made an all-star team a couple years ago has been hurt has a terrible contract and then you're like, do I actually want to trade

the number three pick in Scoot Henderson for that kind of player? So if you're going to Lillard and you're talking it out, you're like, hey, these are the calls that we made. And these are the people that said no. And these are the offers that we were made. And these are the things that we said no. And I'm not listing them as if I know, but just hypotheticals. Bill and I had talked about the Jalen Brown situation, whereas what would you do something and then probably number three for Jalen Brown, because whatever you think about him, he's in his mid-20s and he's got a lot of good years left, and it completely solves part of Portland's problem because it feels like Lillard would still like to be able to stay

there because it's his franchise. That's a no, though, from Boston. Zion is likely a no, though, from Boston. Zion is likely a no from Portland. How does Lillard feel about that? Is Brandon Ingram enough straight up? For three, it feels like he's enough. He has his own availability

issues, but he was really good this year, man. Really good. Maybe you go, all right, that's good. But maybe if you're the front office, you're like, we just don't think that dude plays enough. So even if we're explaining this stuff to Lillard, and then he says, yeah, go ahead and do that, and then we don't,

then that makes it even worse, which is why some GMs just don't talk to these guys about anything. But I think Lillard, you kind of wanted to get on the same page with him. You know, Zach Levine, is that something that you would do if you were Portland? Or would Lillard be like, nah, I don't really trust that something that you would do if you were Portland? Or would Lillard be like, nah, I don't really trust that guy late. Like he's another scoring guy who's a little bit bigger, but there's just not enough defense in there. And we already have that issue. So on top of however you feel listening to this, and I don't have any information on how Lillard, the front office would feel about any of those guys, but I can probably guess like who would

say no in those scenarios. The other problem that have like say the paul george thing that was rumored right up until the draft yesterday would number three and some combination of things get you paul george well what are the clippers motivated to do it feels like they're going to try one more time with this group kawaii looks so good against ph. It's like, is it worth it? A little similar to what you're hearing out of New Orleans. It's like, okay, one more shot at this with Zion because he is still young. They have the control, and they'll probably be able to trade him

even if he gets hurt again. How different is that price if he's hurt before the trade deadline in February of 24 than the price that it is right now when he only played 29 games? Maybe the price isn't even all that much. right now when he only played 29 games. Maybe the price isn't even all that much. They might as well just run it back and knowing how important Zion is to the business of Pelicans basketball in that city because whatever you think of him, he's still a star. For the same reason why the last two Nike stores that I've gone to in Chicago and then in

New York, when I was there for the live show and I would stop by, I tried on a pair of Lowe's being like, could I play in these? And I was I was like probably not that's not what you're interested in what you are interested in is I'd ask the guys to be like how did the jaws do Chicago they were like sold out immediately all right more stuff has happened in New York like how did the jaws dude like we can't even keep him in here um that's kind of Zion although his shoe apparently isn't doing as well that's kind of what Zion is to the city of New Orleans, despite the fact the guy's only played like 100 plus games since he was drafted. So if you're Portland and you're trying to do any of these things,

they also have a real limitation on what they can do with some of the contractual stuff. They just don't actually have a lot of contracts in there that they could trade. And so if you were going to do, okay, number three, in there that they could trade. And so if you were going to do, okay, number three, Simons and Nurkic for Paul George, which would work, the Clippers are like, wait, so even if we like Simons, we're getting three years and 77 million, and then it's the Nurkic three years at 55 million, which would just horrify everybody. So they may have just taken scoop, and it may be the best thing that could ever happen to them. But you'd have to think that Simons is on the way out. Speaking of rumored

moves and contracts, by the way, I just was always very curious who would want to get into the Mo Bamba Malik Beasley $28 million game. I never quite understood that. Granted, Mo's deal is non-guaranteed on June 29th if you don't want to pick that up. And then it's a team option on Malik Beasley, $16.5 million. But that those contracts were thought to actually be something that you weren't going to pick up just for the 17th pick that was going to get you something that was a rotational addition

to whatever this Lakers roster will look like at the start of next year. I never quite got that. Look, we just went through the number three pick and what that may or may not get you. $28 million of Beasley and Moe that you don't even want on your books for 17. What are you sending out that's immediately getting 25 plus minutes for the lakers next season don't know all right next thing that i want to talk about we already went over the portland part of like the need thing and it certainly wasn't a need but it's scoot

staring you in the face at number three you're not passing on that i've been on this for a bit but the bad teams have talent and the bad teams have stockpiled so much talent in a very short amount of time. They're still trying to figure out who they have from some of these lottery picks. And it felt like a very need-based draft, which is one of the things I don't like when teams do. basketball teams, football teams, it's almost by the book. It's so much more draft by need in the first round of the NFL than I think we realize at times. Basketball, it's not really been that way. It felt that way last night. Some of these may feel a bit like a stretch. Scoot, because LaMelo's already there, taking Brandon Miller,

that could just be a straight-up preference on the player too, not necessarily a need thing. With Houston, Amand Thompson, that could be just straight up, hey, this guy's a sick athlete. It also could be, hey, he's the guy that can pass of the two.

We don't have a ton of passers, so let's do that. Detroit already has their backcourt, so you wouldn't have expected a guard to go there. Assar's considered more of the shooter, certainly plays off the ball more of the two twins. Then you have Orlando, where there may not have been shooting here unless they wanted

Taylor Hendricks at six. Maybe it's a Fultz replacement with Anthony Black eventually. But then they went, decided to go shooting later on, which I just didn't understand with the Jed Howard pick whatsoever. And with Cam Whitmore falling that we're going to talk more with Sam Vecini about here a little bit later on. It reminded me a bit of when the Clippers took Shea Gilders, Alexander, that pick worked. And then Jerome Robinson from BC, that pick did not work.

And they passed on Michael Porter Jr. And and you're kind of like you know what if you get two picks there maybe you take a shot at it so i was wondering maybe if if orlando would have thought about cam more at 11 there but they might have just been horrified by the interview and the medicals like it appeared so many other teams were uh washington has no concerns about needs or fit because they need it all. Although Jordan Poole, how many shots? Over or under 21 shots a game next year for Jordan Poole. I can't wait to see it.

Obviously, Wimbanyama, even though you have Zach Collins in place, that one made sense already. Utah, I thought Taylor actually fit a need for them. It felt like they wanted a guard. I wonder if they had offered nine and 16 for six to Orlando for Anthony Black, because that was one of the things that you heard before the draft about Utah. Look, they need a guard. They need to figure it out. Black might be the guy there, but once he's off the board at six, was there anything else there guard-wise that they felt valuable enough? Obviously, the Taylor thing makes sense there,

but then that's why they went guard at 16, because at that point it felt like, hey, look, who's the next guard? So no cam there was a little surprising. So the point is you keep running through it, and you're like, you know what? It felt like a lot of neat stuff, even with Hawkins at 14. Okay, last couple things. Chris Paul, the Warriors.

Yes, I'm excited, but to be honest, the funny thing about it, he is not even close to being what that system is. The way he plays is not what they do. So what does that mean? That means he is going to have to adjust. He's going to have to adjust in a way where, look, with Houston, he had to play off the ball a little bit more. He also, when he was with Oklahoma City, the funny thing with that series was against Houston, there were a lot of spots, a lot of big possessions, where it felt like he had to kind of like, all right, now give me the ball back, because I just don't think the other younger guys at that time were ready even for that first round situation. It felt like they were

just uncomfortable in that moment. And clearly, Paul had been around long enough to do it. I like that it gives him a chance at a ring. I also wonder with his contract and how it's going to work out. It appears he saved himself $15 million by landing at Golden State because the reports are they're going to see how it goes this year. I wonder if that makes him available for something later on. So I'm not saying we're not getting the jersey, but from just a basketball standpoint, even though just my personal preference of liking certain teams

and not liking other ones, liking players, not liking other ones, it's hilarious for me. I can't believe he's on the Warriors, but I'm also smart enough to know the things I love about the way they play. And then knowing how he plays, it's actually not a fit. And he's going to have to adapt because they're not going to adapt. And I think he's smart enough to figure it out. I think he's smart enough and competitive enough to figure it out. Let's end with the coverage of the draft. This is not an ESPN thing. It's an NBA thing really more than

anything else. By the mid-20s, I do this for a living and I'm lost. I'm lost on the broadcast. There has to be a better way to do this. We can't keep doing this. The second round is a fucking free-for-all.

All right? Nobody knows what's going on. Nobody knows who the picks are. I start having to go back online. And I don't know if there's a way where you lean on Woj more or you have a Bobby Marks working with Woj trying to make sure all that traffic is coming through

so everything's good. And then just put up the goddamn graphic and give the guy the right hat and I know the the resistance to it has been in the past like oh well you know we have to wait until some of these things are official and we you know kind of have to go by the book because if not it could be confusing it's like well more confusing than what it is right now it's it's not this isn't about the coverage you know i'm gonna get a couple different things here like i think i think there's a lot of interviews and unfortunately in that moment you know the interviews can be very similar because it's just like hey you just got drafted like how do you feel or whatever and it's for a lot of people these families it's just like, hey, you just got drafted. How do you feel or whatever? And for a lot of people, these families, it's the first time they've ever sat down in front of a

camera. Not the kid, but the parents. So that's something that's going to make you a little nervous. I think ESPN specifically is probably looking at the coverage as more of a celebration, celebration for all of these guys getting drafted, fulfilling a lifelong dream at this point, really special stuff, and telling their story if i don't know any of this but like if the producers are thinking like hey what do we want to draft to be like what do we want this show to be hey let's let's celebrate tonight it's a celebration of these guys like with the big intros and the families and all that kind of stuff like this is i can see the changes as somebody that was in that building for five years doing the draft, granted for radio, but, you know, seeing how it all plays

out, that's, that's kind of what it feels like. You know, the NFL draft years ago, I remember it was getting really weird, not that long ago. And they pivoted from that where it was like, Hey, did anybody die? You're like, what? Like, I'm just, I'm tight end. I'm like, yeah, but did anybody die? Like a pet even, can we tell that story? Do you have a high school buddy? Kind of sucks. You know, anything we can do that's super, like, just going to bum everybody out. And then it was like, NFL was like this massive downer for the entire draft. Just like, what the fuck are you guys doing? Like, why is it every story with this? So that's certainly not what we had last time. with this so that's certainly not what we had last time um but it felt like more of a celebration than it is the conversation because then i'm thinking like okay well is this a mistake that you can make in the past where i think we all do that are super into sports but like is this broadcast actually not for you are you looking at this as somebody that wants something very specific that wants all the stuff because you put so much time into this and think about it all the time and you love the draft so much. I was like, you know what? It's a Thursday

night, the start of summer. This show is supposed to be for me. This show is supposed to be for everybody that's listening to this podcast right now because I don't know who is watching outside of the lottery that's just like, oh, hey, the draft is on. So it should be hardcore. the lottery that's just like, oh, hey, the draft is on. So it should be hardcore. It should be about an NBA discussion, I think, at times about what's going on with their roster. How do you think this fits in? But there's a lot of moving pieces and then trying to get all the interviews in and everything else. And then on top of not knowing where any of the picks are. And I'm not even saying like, hey, I want more negativity because it's very clear that that is not part of the presentation.

I'm not sure what to do with that. I remember when I was younger on the radio, again, Van Pelt reference, but I'd be like, hey, this guy sucks. Be some college kid, college quarterback, or some other kids are getting ready for the tournament. I'm in my early 30s. I'm like, this guy blows, dude. What are you talking about? You know? And Scott would be like really hesitant. And then he'd even said at one point, like, you know, I'm just not, I'm not here like dump on college kids. And I thought it was weird. And then guess what? I got older. And then I was like, you know what? I kind of completely get where he's coming from. So I'm not saying like when a pick gets picked and somebody on the table thinks it's a reach, you'd be like, oh my god, that team's stupid.

Are they drunk? Whoa, call somebody there. That's not what I'm asking for, but it's kind of funny that Scott was one of the first people I've ever worked with that said that to me and made me think about it, and even then I disagreed with him, and it wasn't until I got older that I was like, okay,

I can see where his head is coming from. I know that I'm still like, I'm a little hesitant now, as I just said. But the weird thing is, is as soon as they put on that NBA uniform, I'll go into next year doing the pod being like, I think this guy might suck. I'll go into next year doing the pod being like, I think this guy might suck. And he's like five months older. Right. And you can say, well, now he's a professional. Now he's this. Now he's doing that. I don't know.

Like, it's kind of weird. Like, you're so hesitant to be negative about it. And I certainly understand it much more now than I did when I was younger, which I think is pretty predictable. But, you know But that transition to becoming a professional has kind of already happened. A lot of these dudes, these guys getting drafted are already getting paid on the NIL stuff. So it's not ripping kids, right? It's not because I don't think you're ever going to get that. But I feel like the conversation, there's just another level that I want it to be at. And really the most important thing is making it a little easier to follow. And the NBA has to get with their partners to make that happen.

Because when that second round stuff started going on, I was like, I have no idea where this guy is going and who actually just picked him. And that's bad because I tend to pay attention to the NBA a little bit. that's bad because I tend to pay attention to the NBA a little bit. We didn't get to talk to him before the draft, but this is great. We get to talk to him hours after the draft from the athletic. One of the best guys going, love his work. Sam Vecini, who joins us, who again, going through all of his draft guide stuff. One of my favorite things right away was like, wait a minute.

This guy has Brandon Miller fourth. I'm like, we do not see that very often. But we're going to get into all that stuff. So what's going on, man? Thanks for doing this. Yeah, of course. It's great. I'm super excited to be here.

It's, you know, 1030 in the PM. I've been up for 20 hours, I think, at this point and still rolling. I'm starting to write about the 2024 draft. So this is where we're at in my life. All right. Well, you're going to, you're not going to need a ton of time to write about the top of that draft, at least right now you're out. So, uh, okay. Let's after Wimbanyama, uh, there was all sorts of back and forth between the Scoot and the Brandon Miller thing. Charlotte goes with Miller. It obviously fits more of a positional need, some concern probably about Scoot, but I'm with you as I went through it. And look, when Miller's cooking and you're watching him, it's hard to go, hey, wait, I like somebody else more than this

guy. But yeah, that's kind of where I landed with Scoot, despite some of the concerns you could have there. So explain to me kind of the evaluation part of it for you and then ultimately why you think that happened. So the evaluation piece of it is pretty easy for me. I think Scoot is one of the more dynamic guards and lead ball handlers that I've evaluated and I've been doing this for nearly a decade. He is an elite level athlete. He is incredibly explosive. He's strong as hell, has enormous hands. I think that when you watch him play basketball, the dynamism stands out, right? He is capable of breaking guys down off the bounce. You put him in ball screens, he can keep guys on his hip. He is a genuine three-level player. I know that he shot 32.4%

from three this season, whatever the number was. I think that's going to come along. He's a good mid-range shooter. Before his ankle injury this year, shot 40% from the mid-range. That's a good number for a teenager for the most part that's taking highly contested mid-range jumpers. Great finisher around the basket, has a real finishing, I'll steal a term from Kyle Mann here at The Ringer, has great finishing vocabulary in terms of being able to score with his inside hand on the left side of the rim, being able to go into guys' bodies. I think there's a number of weird arguments that people made against Scoot throughout this process offensively that were strange. And then you compare him to Brandon Miller. And I think Brandon Miller is a great prospect.

I don't mean to denigrate him in any way. He just strikes me as a guy that is going to be best as a secondary scorer. That's not a bad thing. Chris Middleton, I define as a secondary scorer, right? A guy that plays off of a number one star better than he is as a number one himself. Middleton has a real three-level scoring game or at least two-level scoring game from mid-range and from three.

I think Miller probably will have that two-level scoring game from the mid-range and from three. We didn't get to see the mid-range game much this year, but he has it. In high school, he was known more as a mid-range gunner. The issue for me is that he is not all that dynamic athletically,

doesn't have a great first step, doesn't have a lot of pop vertically. You look at his finishing numbers this year at the basket and half court settings, he made about 39.3% of his shots at the rim and half court settings. And that is a highly concerning number. I don't know if you remember the Jalen Brown Cal year, Ryan, with Ivan Rabb and Kingsley Okoro as the setters that they played next to him. He still shot 45% at the basket in half court settings. So it was drastically better than Brandon Miller playing in an Alabama scheme that is renowned for floor spacing. So I'm just a little bit worried about the overall game.

I think he's a fine defender. I don't think he's a standout defender. So I just think Scoot's a more dynamic player. Okay. Look, I totally agree on the Scoot part of it. I guess I could still... You know, the weird thing is you've had these teams, not so much Charlotte, but it's something I touched on in the open when I was thinking about it last night is that you have these bad teams, right, at the top of the lottery.

But they've consistently added so much talent in a very short amount of time that it felt a far more need driven emphasis on what they were doing in the draft. more need driven emphasis on what they were doing in the draft. So if Charlotte's looking at it going, we think it's really close, then Scoot and Lomelo, you know, maybe that's the tiebreaker to go in the Miller direction, but you have an ownership change and you have all these different things going on. So I just, I feel like Scoot's one of those guys that comes in and you go, okay, there's just, I'm kind of with you. Like, it's not about the numbers that comes in and you go okay there's just i'm kind of with you like it's not about the numbers it's not about us getting into the middle space it's not even just about his anticipation it's it's all of these things where i'm like there's just a little there's like this other level of the shit that he does out there where i'm like i'd have a hard time passing

on that and it's even beyond that you talk talk to people with the G League Ignite, they will tell you that like this dude is a culture driver unto himself. Like he's about all the right shit. He is about all the right things that you want from a leader of a franchise. I don't mean to say that Brandon Miller is a bad kid by any stretch. Like he's, everyone will tell you he's like a really, really nice kid and like a really good dude by all stretch. Like he went through a, you know, a thing that happened in Alabama with a firearm in his car, but you know, I don't want to speak more about it because this isn't my podcast. I don't want to get the Ryan Russillo show and any sort of legal kerfuffles but it is a situation where he's just not that kind of culture driver necessarily scoot is a

culture unto himself and miller's just like a good intel guy and there's a difference there i think all right so then the thompsons end up going uh I watched so much overtime elite that I'm good for a little while. And I'm sorry. Like, I know I need to be better at it, but I kept watching them over and over and over again. And I'd be like, I still don't know how I feel. And the only way I felt was like, I was like, whatever conclusion I come to on these guys, I'm just convinced I'm going to be wrong. Because if I go all in, I'm going to be like, why would you go all in on them? There's clear flaws. And then the other side of it's like, if you dismiss them, you're going to be wrong. It's

like, how could you dismiss them? Because the athleticism is real. And it is a little bit more than just big, powerful athletic going up against other inferior prospects, whether skill or physically, it's clear they've lived a certain way about just having this massive advantage, but there's a little bit more playmaking. There is a little bit more stuff in there. I just had a very, very hard time with both of them. I don't blame either team here deciding to go, let's just take a swing at one of these guys, even if there's probably two dudes I like better than both of them. Yeah. Ahmed is the more interesting one to me personally because I think he's a little bit twitchier athletically.

I think he drives transition play at a better level. And I think his passing ability is genuinely special. When I watch him pass the ball, it's truly, I think he is the best passer in this class when you watch him. He hits unique angles. He has that ability that like, J in this class when you watch him. He hits unique angles. He has that ability that like, you know, Jalen Williams, when you watch him this past year with Oklahoma City, he'd throw these like weird like wraparound passes, like literally

around people's bodies because he has that seven foot two wingspan that just allows him more ability to just like move around players, right? in a way that other people can't. Just physical tools. The Thompsons have those physical tools, particularly in men. He'll throw... The velocity on his passes, I feel like it's higher than anybody I've seen in a little while. He whips that thing out to the corner when he has to.

And then he'll throw a beautiful lob to his brother, cutting from the baseline. I think he's an outstanding player. He jumpstops eight feet, it feels like. He's not quite like John Morant athletically, I think, but he's also six foot seven almost in shoes. And

it's pretty damn close functionally, I think. He's a different dude. Assar, I'm a little bit more worriedally. I think like it it's, he's a different dude. A SAR I'm a little bit more worried about. I think a SAR is like a good athlete. Like he's, he's a top 30 athlete in the NBA from day one, probably.

And whereas a man is probably a top five athlete in the NBA from day one. And the guys who are top 30 athletes need to be able to shoot. And I think a SAR is still working through the jumper in a real tangible way. Yeah, I don't know. I think Amon's shot is so messed up, though, even compared to Asar's. Yeah, I agree. The bigger thing for me isn't even the shooting from three. It's the fact that Am man doesn't have the mid range

game. Like the guy that I think about him in comparison to is Russell Westbrook more than anybody else. Russ has like that, like stockier build where he can just like bully into guys. And a man doesn't quite have that yet. He's a little like elongated comparatively being six foot seven, but he's that force of nature athletically. Right. And what Russ always had, we can talk shit about Russ's shooting as much as we want. He always had that jump stop, like mid range, you know, shot off the glass or had like a little way to get to like a little floater or something like that. And then doesn't really have that yet. So I don't, I don't know what the counter is other than him driving to the rim and passing right now is what worries me.

So Anthony Black goes six to Orlando. You know, the biggest thing about him is you go, okay, man, it feels like he can fit in a bunch of different spots. He's six, seven. You know, they used him primarily in pick and roll as the ball handler. The synergy numbers on that are pretty good. Everything else is fairly the iso stuff although there isn't really a ton of his usage on isos and sometimes i think isolations are tracked a little bit too strictly where a screen is then labeled an iso even though the screen turns into just blatantly an iso um so the numbers

aren't great there and and i think that's kind of where it scares you because you're like okay he's not a great shooter um i don't know that he's athletic enough to be breaking down guys in the nba but everybody loves the size they love the defense to play against yukon where they're down like 30 and he hits a three and then he jumps the inbound pass and goes like right up and scores a layup, and then gets right back into a defensive stance. I'll admit, I fall in love with that shit because that tells me in 10 seconds what you're made of.

But again, that doesn't mean anything if you can't shoot and do these other things. And I feel like Orlando kind of felt like, hey, it's this plug-and-play guy because they're not taking it out of Paolo's hands, they're not taking it out of Franz's hands. But then it's like, like okay but black off the ball isn't necessarily a great idea either i know that everybody loves them they love all the intangible stuff but the size is gonna have to

like the game is gonna have to catch up with that size i understand what the idea of him is but it does scare me a little bit it scares me a little bit too i mean it ticks all of the classic orlando boxes like enormous positional size great uh at basketball iq right uh good defender you know great kid like everybody really likes anthony black as a human being it It just ticks the Jeff Weltman boxes to a tee. I don't know if he's going to be better than Markel Fultz next year, frankly. Markel's pretty good at this point. He's a starting caliber NBA point guard. I'd be surprised.

It also speaks to Fultz being one of the more misunderstood players probably in the entire league, too. How good he was to close the second half of the season. For Black to step right in this quickly and be better than him, that would be surprising. I think that'd be like stunning to me. But what I will say is I don't think we saw the best of Anthony Black this year. The best moments for him came in Maui, where he averaged like 22 points and four and a half rebounds and four and a half assists. And I think the big things that are worth noting there are twofold. First, Nick Smith was not playing. And I felt like they never got the balance right

between Nick Smith and Anthony Black in terms of who was going to dominate the ball and who wasn't. The second piece of it is Trevon Brazil got hurt, I believe last day of November, early December, something like that. And Trevon Brazil is super valuable because he is a floor spacing five man. He was able to pick and pop. He was able to clear the lane out. So when you watch them play in Maui, he's picking and popping. Anthony Black looks like he actually has some juice athletically because he's driving to the lane and the lane's pretty open and he's able to get all the way to the rim. I think that once Anthony Black gets the NBA, we're going to see a little bit more athletic juice, which is going to be helpful because he's

going to have a better space floor. That Arkansas team in general last year, I think they took fewer attempts from behind the three-point line per field goal attempt than all but like 12 teams in all of college basketball, and they shot 31% on them. Teams just packed the paint against them and tried to make their life miserable. I think Anthony Black's an underrated athlete nationally. I think he's a real athlete. I'm a believer, but if I was Orlando, I would want a guard who could shoot at the end of the day. I have Markel Fultz. I think there's significant overlap between Anthony Black and Markel Fultz. Yeah. And then you've got the Jalen Suggs piece of it. I think the Cole Anthony piece of it would tell you, I mean, it feels like he's been available,

not necessarily Miles Turner level available or John Collins, who I think should be the number one pick and most available there. Again, I get it. Makes sense. Everybody loves him. You're right. Arkansas was basically three different versions of themselves this year. And the Nick Smith back and forth was probably not a lot of fun to deal with down there and trying to make sure you're keeping him happy. And then is he going to come back? And it's miscredited. He actually did come back. And it depends on what you believe on how the whole thing is handled.

But towards the end on some some of those drives, no, as we both sort of knowingly laugh, towards the end, you're right. On the drives of black, like the ones that frustrated me, I'd be like, dude, you're just kind of like going into a million guys here and you're just throwing it up at the rim. There was a lot of guys. This class was really very strange. Even there was a little Kulib class was really very strange like even there

was a little cool of bali there was definitely some repair where some guys i've been like when you get into the paint what do you think you're allowed to do you just like like it was horseshoes and no matter what you you were allowed to just throw it at the rim i wouldn't say black was as bad as some of the repair stuff that i saw uh on. But all right, so let's stay... Real quick, on that, the guy that drove me most crazy with that was Jairus Walker. Jairus Walker would short roll

and catch, and you're just like, dude, you are six foot fucking eight. You have a seven foot two wingspan. You're 250 pounds. Go dunk on somebody. And he'd just take this little push shot take this little floater and i'd be like come on like go dunk on these dudes like you can do this you do it sometimes yeah right you do it sometimes um a guy who does not have any problem dunking on people is cam

whitmore and when i saw your draft rankings the final ones come out and you had them three i was like you know first of all i love and we are all too married to whatever subconsciously influences us uh maybe in no in no form other than more so than the nba draft because you know you just start being like can i do this can i do this like this doesn't nobody else is doing this like i don't have this. Meanwhile, you just should. You should be challenging the mocks more and more because we never learn our lesson every single year. But then Cam falls and he doesn't just fall, he falls to 20, which is why I think teams with multiple firsts, all these teams that were controlling all of these picks, whether it be this year into the future, there's a point where

I just go, Hey, I don't care what the medical says. Like I'm probably going to take you knowing I have a 50, 50 shot at best that I'm getting a rotation guy once we're outside of the lottery. So what did you think of his fall and then ultimately his spot at Houston? Yeah. So a few different things. So people probably want to know why, right? First and foremost, a combination of factors. I don't really want to go into why, like what the actual like medical concerns were necessarily, because I've gotten a few different things. Frankly, I don't know entirely what the exact issues are beyond body parts, but I will say that there was a concern in that regard. Well, I talked to,

I think, seven or eight teams about it just to try and get a feel for it. And I believe that one was like, how could it not at least impact it on some level? Three said wouldn't impact our decision to take him or not without giving away whether or not we like him or not as a player. And then four others said that it would impact. So when you get that kind of mix, I'm just like, okay, I don't really feel comfortable reporting this ahead of time because so many teams try and like use these medicals, the smoke screens to try and shoot guys down boards. Right. And the other piece of it with Whitmore is what Adrian Wojnarowski said on the broadcast is true. His pre-draft process was not ideal in terms of workouts.

Kim Whitmore is generally like a low key guy and his face, like he just, he's not like smiling a lot. He just is kind of out there, right? And I think that teams got the impression that maybe he is just kind of there and not really active and engaged in things. And that's, as far as I know, once you get him going and once he's in games,

that's not really the case. Like he's pretty competitive, like in those settings. So I look at all of that. And I look at the fact that this dude is like, except for like his hip flexibility, like he's pretty square as an athlete, just in terms of like being 230 pounds, like it's hard for him to like turn his hips in like a real substantial way. Outside of i think p3 said this publicly they certainly told me it privately uh he's the closest athlete in their database to anthony edwards in terms of just like explosiveness power everything that goes into that and those guys don't really fail just like straight up they don't like i think the floor is higher than what people think. Maybe it's not if the medical is more serious than what, you know, I'm envisioning it is,

but those guys don't fail, especially when he projects, I think reasonably well as a shooter. And he actually defended on the ball pretty well off the ball. It was a mess because he missed the preseason with the thumb injury and everything. Uh, I will note like the public injuries or the tibia that he broke as a freshman in high school. And he had the thumb injury and everything. I will note like the public injuries or the tibia that he broke as a freshman in high school. And he had the thumb injury this year and he had an ankle injury, I think as a senior in high school. So yeah,

I mean, I think that teams overthink this stuff. I really do. We just watched Michael Porter who had a terrible medical free draft, supposedly falls from number four to six, all the way down to 14, and misses the entire year last year, essentially, and then comes back this year and is the starting power forward, whatever you want to call him, on an NBA champion.

I think teams overthink this stuff all the time, and it drives me nuts. Yeah, because the day of, you know, yeah because the day of you know i don't really you know it's just in the annual bullshitting sessions that we all have that are a lot of fun you know it's one of the best parts of the lead up to the draft and then you were hearing more about the medical and there were definitely a couple teams teams were like, no way. And I was like, really? And then other teams were like, yeah, some stuff. But it also depends on how much you trust the people that you're talking to. But, you know, you're doing it long enough.

You kind of know who messes with people and who doesn't. And it felt like they were like, to your point, just there was teams that were like, it's not, you know, it's not like we're not taking them or, you know, but then when you always think about being in that room and jobs on the line, like that's a pretty substantial tiebreaker, right? It's a pretty substantial tiebreaker if you think the two players, but then it starts getting to the point where like, well, there's no way there's a tie anymore. Like after this pick, this isn't a tie. And the funny thing about watching him is that he was so dominant on these drives, and yet it was so predictable, and he was still this dominant. I know.

I was like, wait, he's doing the same thing every time. He's trying to baseline rip every time. And they still can't stop it. And I think the NBA would add a little bit of resistance to this thing that he was doing, but it was a combination of his athleticism and his power, but his determination. And then even when he would get cut off, he'd be like,

oh, you think you're in position to stop this? You're actually not going to do that either. And then I think, I don't know if it was you where I'd read it or if I was looking it up, like the shooting splits, that he's a much better shooter when he's not trying to create off the dribble the shots that he probably isn't going to be allowed to take as an nba player early on he's much better at the ones that he would be asked to take is just kind of a bit more floor spacing so even though i would say i don't think he's as good of a shooter as he may think he is because of some of the stuff that he tried to do. And maybe the probing dribble stuff isn't necessarily there

that he's a, he's a predetermined dribbler. Like once he knows he's going, it's enough, it's far, it's, it's more than adequate, um, to get to his spot and all those things. But like those things, I actually think are all positives in a way because the shooting splits on, on some of the more freelancing stuff shows that, well, look, he's probably not going to be doing a ton of that early on. I love it for Houston. It's funny, when he was intro'd even last night,

his stoic face to the point where he looked like he was already mad before the draft had even started, I actually love that shit. I love it. I wonder what he said. I just,

I have no idea what could have. Well, and we were talking it out. I just think there was a point where I go, okay, this is getting ridiculous. Unless, you know, who knows?

Maybe we have more information two weeks from now, but you're like, I would just to keep going. Like, I'm glad you said that about Michael Porter jr. Cause there were teams that were like, absolutely not. And he still went as high as he did.

So go ahead. No, and it's bizarre. Like, let's just point to Utah. Let's just like call out the Jazz, right? So the Jazz take Taylor Hendricks. I would have taken Cam Whitmore, but I think Taylor Hendricks is like a totally defensible pick there. They take Keontae George at 16 over Cam Whitmore. And it's just like, okay, Cam Whitmore is enormous. He does a lot of the

same stuff. Like it's a lot of the same flaws, like from a basketball, like feel for the game perspective is Keontae George. He's just enormous and way more athletic and longer and more physical. and way more athletic and longer and more physical. And like, I just don't get it. I frankly do not understand how you can come to that conclusion. And then, oh, by the way, at 28, you then take a guy that has significant medical concerns in Bryce Sensabaugh, where again, this is public, so I feel comfortable talking about it. You know, he's talked about the fact that he had two meniscus surgeries in high school

and that's why he ended up hurtling down boards. So it's just like, okay, you're willing to take a medical here. You're not willing to take a medical here, despite the talent, like drastically overriding the concern. And it just becomes abundantly clear where they were just like, riding the concern and it just becomes abundantly clear where they were just like no way like we're not taking this guy and that's final and that's just like it's not unfathomable to me but it it doesn't make a lot of sense either i love the taylor pick for utah at nine uh just because you're looking at the front line and then you worried like with hendrix i'm like look i really like him okay but when you run yourself through the exercise to kind of argue against yourself you're like if this guy is a

complete non-factor because he floats and it doesn't really happen he doesn't make enough shots are you going to be shocked you know that you fell in love with the 6'9 guy that could shoot and some of the off-ball cuts and the positional defense stuff I'm like yeah you know like at this point you're doing it long enough. Would I be shocked if Taylor Hendricks doesn't turn out to be a real contributor? No, I don't think I would be. But at nine, and the fact that they have Markkinen who can create and Kessler who can make up for whatever defensive stuff,

I really like that fit. But it also felt like Utah desperately needed a guard. But Keontae at 16 over Cam, I'm a little surprised. I think that's kind of a very Ainge pick although you know I think Zanuck is not getting nearly enough credit for like the day-to-day part of our Utah stuff so maybe you know when he was sitting there I was like man that's kind of an Ainge type of thing to do there the one that I think is is more egregious is Jed Howard at 11 it's my least favorite pick of the lottery it's arguably my least favorite pick of the lottery. It's arguably my least favorite pick of the first round. And knowing if you're Orlando and it's like, Hey, why don't we just do this at 11?

You know, like if you're going to do jet Howard at 11, because you think you need shooting so badly, then just take Jordan Hawkins even higher than, you know, what the mocks had had him when he was in the twenties and why I think new Orleans was smart smart to take him at 14 so just go in any direction you want to off of that yeah no so it was funny i was talking to somebody about jet howard and they mentioned that they had been told jet like shot the piss out of the ball in orlando in a workout and i was like okay interesting uh they're just they're just gonna take grady dick right like if they want a floor spacer, that's just what they're going to do. Maybe they'll take Jordan Hawkins, I guess. But no, they really did that. court, they were, I think like two points better than their opposition, maybe three points better in their opposition per a hundred possessions. Uh, when he was off the court, I think there were like 10 and a half points better per a hundred possessions than their opposition.

Uh, the negative, like seven, you know, net rating differential, I think was the worst of any first round pick this year, uh, that went Kobe Buffkin for, you know, situational, same situation, both went to Michigan, both played on the same team. Kobe Buffkin's differential was like plus 21. They were like a plus 11 when he was on the court and they were a minus 10 when he was off the court. I can't really get taking Jet Howard over Kobe Buffkin, just having watched them play on the same team and knowing that Kobe Buffkin is, I think, like two weeks younger than

Jet Howard as well. It's just a strange, strange pick. Look, I mean, if you were set on taking a shooter, I guess that there's not an enormous difference between him and Grady Dick. It's not like a completely unreasonable pick, right? But I don't like it. I would have gone myriad different directions. Yeah, I feel like Dick... You're trying to say this without saying the Dick pick just didn't do anything, right? Yeah, it's a little bit tough't do anything right yeah right right right

little fat joe shout out to fat joe i like dick from kansas um you know grady's not a great ball handler so whenever you're thinking about okay what can we get out of this perimeter player and grady dick's off-ball cutting is terrific. The way he can shoot it off the catch or reposition himself. I know we all hate mid-range now, but he's really, really good at that stuff. The hustle plays, that border on spaz plays. There's a couple times with him, I'm like, man, is he high energy?

Is he just a spaz right now? Then after I saw his TikTok video last night, I think I have my answer. But having pointed out whatever you think or agree, disagree with, what I think are kind of the Grady Dick limitations there, because he tested really well on all the athletic stuff. There's stuff there where it was like, remember he was kind of in that seven to eight range.

And you're like, man, that feels a little high, but it's like, is it that high really in this draft? To go no no we're gonna go jet howard over it like i just i don't think jet can do anything with the ball all right they tried a few times i don't know why they would even bother but they would do something where they'd be like you know let's give you a dribble handoff let's run you a high pick and roll and i think actually the efficiency numbers on some of this stuff are higher than maybe you would think but there's times like i don't think i ever saw him really turn the corner on anybody yeah yeah that's yeah that's the big thing i agree yeah and i'm not even getting into his defense so it was just

really surprising that one that was yeah the thing is is that when you watch them they ran all those like crazy like pistol and zoom actions right where hunter would catch the ball at the you know elbow or at the on the wing and then they'd have jet fly up from the corner and take like a dribble handoff and hunter dickinson's a really good screener and would get him that little bit of separation and then they'd be able to recover back onto him because he doesn't have any burst right i i you know i don't mean to be rude but i think that playing for his dad really helped him and i don't mean this is a like nepotism thing although like maybe i do a little bit like i think that juwan Howard, just a really good like NBA style coach that decided to position his son in NBA style sets that would accentuate his gifts. And I wonder if that's kind of what happened here.

And is he going to get to do that all the time in the NBA or is he just going to space in the corner? I don't know. Well, the reason I'm laughing is that it's exactly what I thought when I was doing his tape, because I was like, why would they even bother doing this with him? And it was like, Hey, let's see, maybe we can show him turning the corner on like a high ball screen. And then it was like, no, not really. And I know, look, I go through everybody's possession stuff to find your points per shot. Just like you do. You kind of search through it, look through it all. One of my favorite Jordan Hawkins thing was, is that his points per shot against contested

shots was like 1.33. It was 0.2 better than unguarded shots. And when I watched Hawkins, I'm like, he works so hard to keep, he plays like the Warriors. He keeps playing into the end of the shot clock. If the first thing, the second thing is done, he'll go to a third thing. I actually think he mixes it up a little bit more when he's around the rim for a guy that's not as big as some of the other ideal perimeter players. There'll be stuff he'd be doing in there.

I'm like, look at this dude. He's going in there to fight, so that tells me a little bit more about where his head is at. But when I would watch Michigan run some of the offense, I would go i are they doing this just to show that like hey look we did like a couple things here with jet that were opposite uh or just different adding to the rest of his offensive repertoire the thing that i thought was really weird was that hunter was so good in the post on those catches and that you'd see college teams sell out hard double, you know, a lot of old school guys make sense. There'd be these cutting lanes for the perimeter guys and they didn't cut.

Yeah. There was a lot of stuff. And maybe they just, maybe the idea was that jet don't ever cut, give us that spacing. Don't ever do any of this stuff. But I thought there were like very op, uh,

obvious moments there where it's like hunters on the baseline seal with like a hard double you could just cut to the paint and live that way for a little bit but i i had to have been the rule was that they just wanted to make sure they kept the spacing on the other side because hunter is a really good passer out of it i thought too yeah or even if you're, you're cutting potentially to draw a different help defender, right? So that Hunter can then kick it out to the top of the key if that help defender commits, right? So you bring up Jordan Hawkins as well. Jordan Hawkins this year shot 42.4% off of screens. So purely off of movement from three, like that is just a ridiculous number. It's 47.1% from three off of spot ups.

Like, so basically standing still, I think he's the best shooter in the draft class. Like I think that Hawkins is absurd. I worry a little bit about the frame, which is why I ended up with them like 16, 18, wherever I did. Like I worry about him being able to stay on the court, uh, in an NBA playoff game, but the shooting is outrageous. He is, he's an obscene shooter. Give me a, give me one of your favorite picks.

Second half of the round. Jaime Jaquez. Uh, I ranked Jaime Jaquez at 23 on the draft guide and I'm too low. Like I, I love everything about that dude physical did you have did you have him there because of a promise rumor no i had him there because he's been like one of my favorite players in college for the last like three years uh i mocked him i mocked him 18 to miami but like on my personal board i had him at 23 and i think i wish i ranked him six spots higher like he is he is so tough.

So like I was, I was talking to somebody on a different show I did and they were at the regional of the NCAA tournament two years ago, a year ago, two years ago, whatever. It was the year that Hawkeyes had like busted up ankles the whole year. He plays like 39 minutes, both of those games. He plays like 39 minutes, both of those games. And at the end of the game, the second game, his teammates literally have to like carry this dude up the dais to be able to like get him up to the press conference because his ankle, like he just like couldn't move his ankles at that point. and that's how tough he is. Like I can't imagine somebody fitting heat culture better than what Jaime Hawkes does. I think he's going to shoot it at some point to time, all defense defender in the PAC 12. That was redundant,

but whatever, like he is really, really just knows how to play basketball. Like he has the Christian Brown gene of just knowing how to play basketball and that's valuable. Anything else in the second half? Anything else in the second half? I mean, look, Ryan, we could just feel like we've done most of the lottery, you know?

Yeah. Yeah. Like anything else in the second half? I mean, look, so did you, here's a good one. Did you like Brandon Pajemski as a prospect? Late to the party, he's at the combine, sitting with somebody in the front office, and he was like, watch this dude.

He's like, he's really good. And again, you know, like, we're just conditioned a certain way of watching basketball this long. It's going to take a little bit longer to buy into Pajemski. At one point, I thought he was trying to destroy his draft stock by having braids. So I was like, wow, you're really... but then you go back and you dig into it and the combine can be tough like i my favorite thing about the combine is kind of just seeing some of the physical stuff

like christian brown's a great example like watching him the combine i was like holy shit this guy like stands out physically stands out athletically like with another group that's a much higher level than just the average college game that you're tuning into and so i go back he's mr wisconsin he goes to illinois he barely plays which you know if you're an illinois fan you're like wait what just happened with this guy and then he goes to santa clara and it felt like he was up for every big moment some of the shots you're like wait you know it's a bit like when trey young started really trying to increase his range where you're like, wait, is that even a good shot? You're like, no, not really. But you need to look at the numbers, although they've dipped a bit for Trey.

You're like, wait, those go in enough. And then you look at Brzezinski's numbers and you're like, what the hell was that? And you're like, oh, it went in. And it doesn't feel like it's as forced because the numbers are so good. And then whether you think he's a one or you think he's a two, which I discussed in the open, the rebounding numbers for him, not just at Santa Clara this year, but going all the way back to high school

where this guy rebounded like he just rebounds and you would never think it by just doing the blink snapshot of him. So I had heard the Warriors thing, thing i don't know two weeks ago maybe or something it didn't seem to be much of a secret because so many people had them there in the mock uh i i yeah i mean i mean at 19 why not yeah the three names i'd heard for pajamski were the warriors the nets and the uh there was a third one, if I can remember. I can't remember off the top of my head. But there were three teams, basically, that I heard from Pajamski.

For the Warriors, the two I heard were Hawkeyes, if he falls, and Pajamski. And Hawkeyes ends up not falling. And I'll start with this, because I ended up with Pajemski like in the 40s. I don't think he's going to really have much of a chance to defend. And that's worrisome. But if I was Golden State and I was drafting for that scheme, which is ball movement centric, super high basketball IQ, great shooting, great floor spacing, guys that can come off of screens and knock down shots. I would have unequivocally had Pajemski as a first round pick. And I completely get it. You know what I mean? Like I'm there. Two things, really three things that worry me. So

eight foot standing reach, which given the fact that he's like kind of boxy and like doesn't move super well laterally, in my opinion, doesn't like flip his hip super well. I think he's really going to struggle to defend. Like, I think he is a worse athlete than Luke Kennard and he's like a little bit shorter than Luke Kennard. And we watched Luke Kennard in the playoffs every year. And we're like, this isn't going to work. Right. Um, the piece of that, that's the antithesis of that is that Pajemski is like a fucking crazy competitor. Like he is a dude out there. He is playing his ass off. He's going nuts. The second thing that worries me is the fact that if you look at his numbers in the six tier A games, according to Ken Palm, that Pajemski played this year,

had just a 53.8 true shooting percentage, saw his rebounding rate and assist rate drop by 25%. And then in the five games he played against top 50 Ken Palm defenses, he averaged just 13.2 points and 5.2 rebounds. And again, I'd be willing to overlook that on some level, but the history of these guys that transfer up or transfer down, I'm sorry, transfer from high major to mid-major. There's like none of it, man. Like you go through the history outside of Gonzaga, there are only five down transfers that have been selected going back to like the 2011 NBA draft, like the season that they down-transferred. And look, none of these guys are equivalent. Like Cody Martin went from playing for Mark Gottfried to playing for Eric Musselman, right?

Like down-transferred from NC State to Nevada. I understand that shift if I'm Cody Martin, to be honest. Malachi Flynn and Xavier Thames are two others. They went from Washington State, worst team in the Pac-12, to San Diego State, just made the national championship game. Better program, frankly. Damian Dotson is the fourth one. Damian Dotson had a sexual assault allegation and was dismissed from Oregon and then landed

at Houston. And the fifth one, which is like the closest to being applicable is Shimmy Ojale, who went from Duke to SMU. The thing about Shimmy is though that like he led SMU to a 30 and five record. They were like a top 15 team. They were like unbelievable that season. And Santa Clara was just good, good right so this is essentially a situation without a precedent what we just saw with brandon pajamski and i'm like pretty i don't know what to do with that at the end of the day it feels like given the lower numbers against good competition and given the lack of history on these guys i I kind of feel like he might've been feasting on lower competition on some

level a little bit. Maybe he's not, you know, everyone points to the combine game, but do you know he did in the combine game? Like, do you remember the second combine game? Uh,

I don't, I don't remember the, I don't, he, did he miss a ton of shots? No, you're, you're don't remember is the right answer

because he ended up with like two points or something and like didn't even take a ton of shots like he was basically invisible out there so yeah we often put so much stock into these first combine games where it's the first thing that we see and olivier maxson's prosper shuts it down or the funnier one is an idea that I've heard from smart people. Let's go with. What if you do the Andrew Nembhard where you, you know, maybe say that you have a calf injury for game one. And then you get everybody in the second game coming off of a back to back in game two. And you play super well.

I know. I know. off of a back-to-back in game two and you play super well i know i know like it's it's like the tristan thing where he hit a couple jumpers and he pulls out of the combine yeah and then it was like oh man this guy might go late first like at work and then he doesn't and he still went late he still it felt like he went even later than people thought he was going to go. Honestly, that dude can legitimately shoot. He is a terrific shooter, but obviously there's some other holes in this game. All right. Well, we'll see, man.

We'll see. A few years from now, some guys will be overseas that we liked, and a few guys that we didn't like are getting second contracts. That is the game. Did you watch any Tariq bibirovich rusillo no i saw your tweet about it and i didn't feel bad about not watching any bibirovich i just you know there's a certain point like i didn't even do anything last night for the draft so there's a certain amount of work that i was going to put into it

knowing i was like this is all just a hobby now at this point yeah so uh yeah last night was weird it was like the first draft that I haven't done anything since 2007 so uh I yeah once I once I kind of knew that there was going to be a cap on how many dudes I was going to write a report up for. How was not having to do something for the draft? It sounds kind of, kind of nice. I fucking hated it. Did you really? Yeah.

Yeah. I didn't realize how much I was going to hate it until it happened. You wanted to be involved in the action? It just doesn't make any, you know, uh, it's my favorite day of the year. And I was like,

wait, so I guess, uh, and I'm in a hotel room at home. So I was like, all right. It was very weird. It was very weird. It was a very weird experience.

So you're on the island that you're from? Yeah. And the funny thing is, too, is that I had people from high school hitting me up going, I heard you're here. We're down the street at these bars. And I'm like, yeah, we still haven't gotten to Sunogo yet, so I can't go anywhere.

Not that I would have. I mean mean I'm taping this in the morning I'll be back in LA tonight I just was like I'm not I would never go out on the NBA draft night I was there until the very end the 58th I wish we didn't have tampering charges I wanted to go 59 and 60 so well look

I know you got to shut it down you had a long run your work is terrific I always appreciate these visits and I know you got to shut it down. You've had a long run. Your work is terrific. I always appreciate these visits, and I know we'll have you on again, all right? Yeah, anytime, man. Great to talk. You want details? Fine. I drive a Ferrari 355 Cabriolet.

What's up? I have a ridiculous house in the South Fork. I have every toy you could possibly imagine. And best of all, kids, I am liquid. So, now you know what's possible. Let me tell you what's required. Life advice is lifeadvicerr at gmail.com. We are all split up again here.

We could probably do a little. I want to do maybe at the end of it. I don't know. We could do it here at the beginning. We probably do a little, I want to do maybe at the end of it. I don't know. We could do it here at the beginning. We do it at the end, whatever the boys want to do here, recap in the live show. There's just a couple of things that I want to be able to say,

but I do it now. I can do it after the life advice. Just do it now. Why not? People want to hear it. Kyle, what's going on? You back in Poughkeepsie?

No, back in Los Angeles. What can you do? We can't all get what we want all the time. Oh, that's right. That's, that's going on? Are you back in Poughkeepsie? No, back in Los Angeles. What can you do? We can't all get what we want all the time. Oh, that's right. That's the LA. It's the LA spot. My bad. You sound not thrilled to be back in LA. Well, I mean, it's okay. It is what it is.

Like I said, you can't do everything you want all the time. You can't have pizza three meals a day, and I understand that. But it's just been a couple rough days, the travel day. And then there was the trade on my night flight. And I didn't have any service on the plane. And the plane lands. And Bill's like, when are you back? And I'm like, I just landed.

He goes, good, we're doing a podcast. So we did that. And then yesterday was like a long day. And goes, good, we're doing a podcast. So we did that. And then yesterday was a long day. And then here we are at five in the morning. So I'm just sorry if I don't sound super thrilled. But I was telling Steve, this is the end of the NBA fucking my shit up for the summer. So I'm really happy.

Like I said, I think Kevin Durant fucked up my 4th of July once or twice. But we're getting to the end of that. And I'll be much more chipper in the coming days. be like i said you know i think kevin kevin durant fucked up my fourth of july once or twice but uh you know once we're getting to the end of that and and i'll i'll be much more chipper in the coming days good call that's right you're back in l.a so that means you started at five something a.m this in this day so yeah you're actually doing way better than i thought uh if you want to put it that way all right uh recapping the live show there's just a story that i want to be able to tell we were trying to get chris paul on the show for well over a year. Allison Turner, who works with us, who is no offense to anybody else that I've worked with that's booked guests, she's the best booker I've ever worked with. I'd argue she's as good of a booker as I've ever seen do this job. not just that she does it well. It's that she cares so much about everybody else's products and that she doesn't just go like, hey, what do you want to do Tuesday? Hey, what do you want to

do Thursday? She's like, do you think you would want to do this? Let's map it out. Who are the whales? Who are the five people you've always wanted more than anything? I think she's got me three of them. And I'd said, I'd really like to do this sit down with Chris Paul, but I wasn't sure how I want to do the interview. So over a year ago, she's like, would you fly here to go do this? I'm in touch with these people. And I was like, yes, I would, even though I don't really fly very often to go do interviews for the show. It's just not really something that we do. Then when we were in Phoenix for the Super Bowl, it's like, will you stay in Phoenix a couple extra days to like go to his house? There's a chance you could maybe do that. And I'm like, I'll absolutely do that. Hang out Scottsdale,

me and Homa playing the front nine maybe. So no problem. I can do all those things. None of them happen. And she'd still be working on it. There's times where I'll tell Allison, don't bother anymore. Did this person blow you off? Did this person do this? There's only so much energy that I want you to use on something like this because then it becomes like just pointless. Then we hear about the book coming out. There was a proposal to do another interview. I don't know if we'll ever tell that story. It was not something that I wanted to do. I don't know. Maybe we'll tell that story one day. So it didn't look like it was going to happen. And then it was like, wait, he's actually in New York promoting the book during your live show. And I was like, okay, what's the realistic

chances of him coming by and doing that? Do they quite understand it? Do they get how big the show's got? Do they understand how much I like Chris Paul? And then it's like, there's the handlers, there's the managers, there's the agents, there's a lot of people involved with it. And it didn't feel like there was enough people on chris paul's side that like truly understood how it would go down and in fact it's in front of a live show you know small theater and grammy scene everything but like it's gonna it's going especially because we had kept it a secret like it's gonna go really well like it's going to get like who knows the interview could have gone sideways but um then we get a yes we're told it's going to happen on tuesday

night we're told that it's going to happen in a certain time frame we're good to go then he gets traded like two days after we get the confirmation and i was like are we still getting them because that's usually a pretty good excuse they're like i'm out they're like it's you're good you're good so we're at grammar. We do sound check at like five or something. The whole gang's there. I go down to one of the green rooms to kind of just look at some notes, bullet point some of the opening stuff that I wanted to do, which went way longer than I normally would have done it. Because right before I'm about to go on stage, one of the staff comes down and is like, hey, Chris Paul

has a book signing in New Jersey that they forgot about so he's going to be late. I was like, well, when's he done? They're like, he hasn't started yet. I was like, so let me just get this straight. We're supposed to take the stage here at like 7 something and then

Chris Paul's on his way to New Jersey right now and he has to do a book signing and it's going to be an hour and then he's going to come back from the book signing and then come into the city again and then come here and do this i'm like i just saw this guy in gma he's been on everything that's another thing too is it's like hey when are we getting him i don't want to get him after 20 other shows have him and it actually ended up happening i did get him after pretty much everybody else but that had more to do with i think the live show timing of it all which isn't normally something i want to do so i just looked at i think it was elizabeth

who was working on a show elizabeth's does such a good job on the on the road stuff i'm like we're not gonna get him are we she's like ah well they said they said it would happen at that point i think somebody was lying to me knowing that how I would get. I guess there was a proposal to be like, they asked if he could do it on Zoom, but nobody told me that until later. You can't do a live show with Chris Paul on a laptop, even though I think we tried to do it with Danny Cannell on FaceTime because it was just going to be funny. FaceTime because it was just going to be funny. So all of these things are happening as I take the stage going, all right, we're going to have to stretch it. We're going to have to figure it out. And then I was like, what's the new window? And it's like, should be a little after eight, eight, little after eight rolls around, you know, Kyle, Steve and I are all out there. And then eight 30 comes around and I'm like looking, cause I don't have my phone with me. I'm just going like, what's going to to happen and then i remember specifically looking at my watch at 8 50 going all right look nobody in the audience

knows that we didn't get chris paul we never said that we were getting him it was a fun night if you like the show and you know whatever you get to see everybody do the meet and greet thing you know it's not the worst time but there's no like huge. And so I actually go off the stage as you guys are talking during the Q&A to check with Elizabeth. And I'm like, what's going on? And they're like, he's blocks away. It's going to happen. And I was like, all right. I'll believe it when I see it.

I go, I sit back down. And then I peer out to the side. He's standing in the entrance stairwell to the stage. And then he comes out. And that was the big surprise. And obviously, I really standing in the entrance stairwell to the stage and then he comes out and that was the big surprise and obviously I really loved doing the interview and I was trying to figure out a different way to do it but look, the point is none of this happens without

Allison Turner, none of it she's the best, so she doesn't know I'm doing this so I'm thanking her because she would just be like I can't believe you did that, but we did it anyway, from your perspective guys I think I was actually i always get so nervous i take like a million shits in like the three hours before the show and and i gotta be honest we flipped the show no i'm not trying to like you know impress anybody with that but i think

i just thought you know i always get nervous it's just like you take the edge out it's just like a but yeah it was uh shits for nerves and and boo for courage. But we flipped the show and it was just like, because you had got out there to start your thing. And then they were like, all right, so we're pushed like 30 minutes. And then we just did our pictures thing early. So it just really took the pressure off. That's like Steve and I were just kind of out there like props for like 30 minutes before the show started. And that really like it was a last minute pivot, but it really did wonders for my nerves. Yeah. So it was nice to just be out there was like the first time

anybody sees us is like when we're on the stage. So that was pretty cool. Yeah, so we were this is probably like an hour before the show. And Elizabeth, who you mentioned does all of our events. It was incredible. I see like a look on her face. And she's calling me over when I'm talking to a couple people. And I'm like, guys, not good. And she gives me the news and she's like, yeah, you know, Chris's people basically said that he's like an hour late. And the first thing that goes through my mind, I was never I don't know. I always thought they would try to do it just because, I mean, you know, we did buy 320 something books for Chris. So they're pretty pot tied.

I feel like to not show up would be a bold move. But, you know, it's like it's like okay you tell it's like yeah i'm gonna be five minutes late but you're actually like you know 15 20 minutes late like the oh we're not at the light you're in bed yeah is it gonna be 90 minutes is it so i'm sitting there going oh man uh like how bad is it gonna be and the cool thing was is what kyle said is like we just kind of went in the crowd started shooting the shit with people and then by that time it was like seven 3745 already. And nobody cared.

That was the cool thing about the audience. Like the audience was incredible. Um, shout out to everybody that was there. I apologize to everybody who like hit, I'm sure all you guys up on DMs too, because we just didn't have enough tickets. It sold out in like four hours,

five hours. And we just, we, Elizabeth told us at one point we had negative 14 tickets to the show. So, um, so shout out to the audience. Cause not,

not one time during that entire period where they restless and they didn't know that Chris Paul was even coming. I had a couple of guys, you know, it's being like, can I guess the guests? I'm like, yeah,

sure. And then, you know, it was like, Oh, is it JL and Brunson? Is it somebody guests, JJ Reddick,

which we were supposed to have originally. So shout out to JJ for, uh, for not being able to do it. Cause that's how we ended up getting Chris Paul, but nobody actually guessed Chris Paul, which is surprising because he was in New York for like two, three straight days. He's been all over the place.

And he was like your number one guy. So I say all that just to say that the crowd was incredible. There was no restlessness. It probably helped that there were a couple bars and everybody was pretty lubricated. But yeah, incredible time. Yeah, that's the thing is the crowd erupts.

Like, you know, even being on stage i was like whoa and then i deserve some shit i've been getting a little heat for i think the third or fourth back tap yeah there's a lot of embrace on the initial embrace and you know look i could take it criticism is fair it's accurate it's. But he's whispering to me. He's not letting go yet. And he's like, I wasn't going to let you down. He goes, I'm so sorry for being late. He's like, I knew the deal. He's like, I had to make this happen.

Like, you know, we're going to make. And so I was like, OK. And I just kept reflexively. I just kept tapping because he just kept talking. He wasn't saying, please let me go. Okay. No, and you got to go back to the film. You got to go back to the film and get better.

You got to get better in those spots. So I've watched the film. I've looked over a few times. I'll tell you this, though. I was like, if you don't nail this initial bro hug, you know, dap, side hug, like if you don't nail that in front hug, dap, side hug, if you don't nail that in front of this audience, it's going to be the worst.

I think I respond to pressure well. Because as he came up on the stage, I was like, you have to nail this. You have to nail this embrace. I'll take the shit for the back taps that were excessive, but let's not forget about the front part of it. Don't get don't get pissed about missing a free throw up for an overtime when i got i scored you 50 to get to

overtime i'm glad you got that off your chest saru's like dude i don't even know if i like you now after that analogy now well the funny thing is when kyle and i left the stage the first person we saw was chris too yeah i just was like what the fuck is up man he was like uh who's this guy talking to me i just i totally forgot he was gonna be there he apologized he's like i'm so sorry i'm like dude you're here it's fine get out there man the crowd's gonna be fucking obsessed this is gonna be awesome and it was and another like cool little anecdote is off to the side i was standing next to chris's wife the entire time during the entire interview.

And you could just like, you had a couple questions that you asked. You can tell, like based on the intel that you were asking and you were trying to pry, I could tell that

there was some truth behind what you were saying based on what her reaction was. So I think you asked about joining Mello and the Knicks at some point in his career. And she's like nodding and laughing the whole time. There were a couple times where you know you just you had her like

kind of reacting to what questions you were asking and then afterwards her and the crew were basically like that was the best interview we did out of all the ones that we did in this you know the the book tour which you know is a testament to you a testament to the crowd the vibes of that entire thing so um yeah they were they were really pumped with how, you know, I mean, again, Chris walked on stage and the entire audience is chanting CP3

and asking him, please come to the Knicks, please come to the Knicks. Like, how could he not be pumped in that situation? But it was really awesome to see like his team

and his wife specifically were like, this was the best one we've done. Number one, number one. What's up? All right.

Well, cool. I just wanted to share that stuff with uh the audience everybody was there everybody was happy yeah i was really you could feel it you could feel it now it's fired up man shout out to the crowd really quick uh this was the first time my wife actually kind of knew what i did everybody scored major points with the wife she's you know her family's like what does he do you know and there's he's like oh he does like podcasts and stuff so thank you guys for making me look really cool scored major points with the wife she's you know her family's like what does he do you know and there's he's like oh he does like podcasts and stuff so thank you guys for making me look really

cool scored major points with the wife for that one so uh thank you everybody i got to apologize to kyle's wife too because i left her charger in the damn room like an idiot and i feel bad kyle walks up to me at the bar afterwards and it's like any chance that you were able to uh bring that charger back and i was like fuck this is my first impression with kyle's wife and i blew it god damn it i didn't have the heart to tell her either she was such a lightweight and somebody stole my mcsorley shirts from that fucking green room i mean now this is this is two shows uh in a row i think that uh shit's gone missing in the green room so i don't know what's going on if there's like a bandit following us around but you know those those shirts were that was a big deal mcsorley's was great and um and they're just gone so i'm just gonna have to bring like a little safe with me

on the next one yeah so wait somebody stole your mcsorley t-shirts two of them yeah i got one for her and me and she was like the bar yeah yeah the bar not not true yes great bar by the way uh all right well let's keep this momentum going here for Kyle because we had a lot of stuff here going on with Kyle there was somebody requesting that you be on Cameo have you thought about that

Kyle I personally Spotify side business I don't think I could do that not allowed to I'd have to get an approval but I feel like you can definitely do that sure this is probably more of a request than a question

guys 511205 I feel like I can't be the only one who wishes Kyle was on cameo I'm prepping for my buddy Jake's bachelor party in Savannah Savannah great spot

and thought what better way would there be to get the boys fired up for a big night out than a toast from kyle to kick things off i don't think there is a better way to do that uh i won't go on because they dm me 500 times and annoyed the shit out of me and then i said i would do them for free on instagram and that's pretty much doesn't return on that isn't all that great yeah uh to be honest with you i look there's some money out there i can know somebody who did that hey that the text me or the

hey call me thing that you see in famous people's bios somebody i know made 75 grand one year doing that i mean i thought it was like the weirdest fucking thing ever it's like this weird number that connects you so they don't actually get your number right and then you're facetiming with some dude being like hey granted i think women more likely to make 75k a year on that one than me um but yeah so i don't know kyle maybe we just maybe we say you're not on it wink right i don't want to get you fired though either so i don't get you an alias probably wouldn't get fired but um yeah i mean they also like the fighting the price thing you know like i talked with like titus and tate about this years ago and they were just laughing at different guys

prices like you know i don't want to be laughed at for my price i don't want to do it for a bad price but then you don't want to like overshoot and then it's like look at this asshole thinks he's worth 200 bucks so i don't i don't know i mean we could maybe if we workshopped the price it came up with something we're all happy honestly all right first of all i could do an hour-long pod on pricing for cameo because you don't even know who's on there you do enough searching you're like holy shit this guy's on here and it's like he's doing 75 when i first looked at it and it's like really funny because you have to think, I don't want to be priced less than that person. Right. But then it's like, what price is too high for my ego?

I think I saw somebody from ESPN that had a higher cameo fee than Emmett Smith. And then immediately I was like, I already knew that guy was an asshole. Right. Exactly. I just went, that doesn't make any sense. And then I saw a girl who's like the sweetest person ever. And she had like a $9 cameo fee. And it was like, well, you're too nice.

Wait, are you too nice? There was like one dude who was like a thousand bucks. And you're just like, what are you doing? How could you ever do that? So the pricing, I could do a whole pot on it. I love it. I think you're a man of the people. I think you're a man of the people.

You're not giving it away, but you want to make sure it's affordable for everybody, like a good cooler. Pack of smokes, maybe like something like that. Pack of smokes in New York, 20 bucks for a short one. Is it? Is it $20 for a pack of cigarettes? Yeah, near the theater it was. It was 19. But the first night when I stayed out until 5 in the fucking morning,

I got them for like $11. And my buddy was like, that's great. I'm going to have to mark that down. That place does $11. They're from Virginia, though. The stamp was on the bottom still. So we had a 5 a.m.-er in there? Yeah, the night before.

I mean, that's why when we were hanging out, I even left before you did. I didn't do that to mindfuck you. I just wasn't doing so well. I really shouldn't have stayed out so late the night before. Yeah, but I don't know. I mean, if I were 29 and I didn't have to host the show and my buddies were in town.

There was also a fight though, right? Wasn't there another fight? Yeah, I wasn't going to bring it up to that. NYC guys fought each other on the street at like four 30 in the morning. Um, I met, I met one of them. There's a nice guy.

Yeah. Yeah. Yep. Um, I don't know what the, it would just started unfolding before me and I was so tired and it was just, there was, there was punches,

there was some connections and then they went their separate ways. So I don't know. That was stupid. And that, that was that, that hour I was like, why am I even out at four 30 in the morning? What the fuck? I don't know. That was stupid. It was at that hour. I was like, why am I even out at 4.30 in the morning? What the fuck?

I don't know where I'm going. My phone's dead. So I just kind of had to wait out this fight. And then, you know, it was a super sloppy 4 a.m. fight too. But, you know, I don't know. They're still not talking as of now. We'll see. Yeah, I would say, like, I wish your friends stopped fighting each other.

But you guys are all in your 20s. So I'm not going to judge any of it. I mean, thanks. I'm just not. Uh, yeah. Cause we did hang out.

That's the other part of it too. I ran to Gramercy tavern to eat after the theater show. Cause I love the food and I missed the window and they were like, you never canceled your reservation. I'm like, sorry, I was on stage interviewing a hall of famer, Chris Paul ever heard of them.. I'm like, sorry, I was on stage interviewing a Hall of Famer,

Chris Paul, ever heard of him? And they were like, cool, we're still charging you for your missed reservation. So I was like, all right. And then they did, which was very nice. But then I was like, all right, I got to make it over to this place in the village to eat because I know they're still open. But that's my other favorite spot, which is a lot closer to my hotel than where you guys were hanging out, the Globe. And so I didn't-

You definitely had some thoughts. Yeah, I knew there was no way you guys thought hanging out the globe and so i definitely had some thoughts yeah i didn't i knew there was no way you guys thought i was coming back and then after i ate i even went back to my room and i was like don't even remotely get comfortable throwing a hat and get right back in the lift and then go see those guys just so that you were like wait you didn't hang out because i didn't hang out the night before the show after we got dinner together we did get dinner though that was we did get dinner we were on our fucking run that week yeah this was i told because we had a reservation uh with some friends one of our old friends michelle smallman was there elizabeth a bunch of other people my sisters were there kyle his wife and i told elizabeth who like plans all the stuff for us I was like I'll invite Ryan but there's no

way he's coming and when you said you were coming out to dinner I was like wow Ryan's coming this is unbelievable he's like this is a bunch of strangers at a restaurant he doesn't even know like who is this guy I don't even know he told me supposedly Ryan's coming though he didn't say yeah and Ryan's coming he's like supposedly yeah it's coming I could just I could just hear the air quotes in the text yeah look I didn't want to eat there. I wanted to go to Little Italy, which is right next to Chinatown. And then once I saw kind of how it was being set up and I looked at the menu and the ordering situation and a lazy Susan, I turned to Saruti. I go, just a heads up.

I despise family style. I hate it. I think it's the dumbest thing ever. I hate it. I hate it so much. I was like, just so I'm going to order my own thing. And I don't like like if you love family style great but don't get mad at me if you want to do family style do it

but don't get mad at me for going i want what i want and i want my specific thing and then we did family style and i was like motherfucker and then i i just was like what happened to the thing that i wanted to order which wasn't even out there and then i was like like, what happened to the thing that I wanted to order, which wasn't even out there? And then I was like, I'm just going to order on my own. And then Saruti's guy, who was terrific, by the way, so I don't want him to hear this, but now you're going to hear it and know that I just hate family style because it just fucks everything up. It's not efficient. No one could really be truthful with their opinions either. It's like, hey, do you like this? Yeah, nobody wants to be the outside. No, I don't want to eat that. They're like, yeah, sure. So then you end up ordering so much food for the

table we have so much leftovers uh i also you don't you don't eat shrimp apparently is that a thing no i i have but i i like it as a shrimp cocktail i don't love i don't like that guy yeah because the dumplings the pork dumplings were insane and then i was like what's this and your guy i don't want to call him out here yeah he's like yeah it's pork too i was like what's this and your guy i don't want to call him out here yeah he's like yeah it's pork too i was like really how is it pork too i was like it looks completely different he was like now it's pork and so when you go into the pork dumpling that i'd already had and then i was like so this is just what like a different wrap other cheaper one yeah like i i went in going there's no way this is also pork it's not also pork and uh it was not it was something else

like yeah he had a tone he was like this is shrimp just yeah yeah yeah i was like just before you tell the rest of the table it's pork it is it was you were right but that's all right that guy was great time that guy was great so i just i don't want him to think all right uh that's a lot of recapping here so let's get to a couple life advice we'll make quicker headline is brick guy is alive just want to put everyone's mind at ease Mike finally messaged back a week later here was his response not sure

how to take the emoji I'm assuming the trip did not go well he hasn't replied to my follow up I attached a gif of him rolling down the road in his van for your viewing pleasure I also moved a new place backyard patio photo attached. I somewhat regret getting rid of the bricks.

Think I could have used them. Maybe I'll ask Mike if I can buy them back. So he goes, I'm there. And there was a frown emoji. Well, it sounds like it was a rough go and mission accomplished. And then he said,

make it in one piece. No response. Holy shit. This guy sent me the video of this van leaving. It's like an F1 car. Yeah. Bumpers tracking.

And looking at this guy's backyard, he completely screwed up giving these bricks away. So, all right. The brick story is over. And it sounded like he took a year off his life with his worrying about this man. So, maybe just hang out at the bricks next time. Yeah.

Okay. All right. This one's for Kyle. 26 male. Major city cop is Steveve novak minus the shooting i like that one just a quick one but kyle's mentioned in the past he's enjoyed going to bars solo would you guys mind sharing some insights on the right way to do this for someone who only goes to bars with friends congrats on the friends dude the hell um yeah i i mean i kind of i i roll in i space out you know if there's

people at the bar already i mean if they're if there's if it's just me me and the bartender will just you know i'll make sure he's like not a guy who doesn't want to talk to anybody like not a not a guy who probably shouldn't be a bartender and if he's a normal guy me and him will just chat till somebody comes in but normally if i'm going myself, I'll give myself like two or three seats from somebody. Like, it's not just like one, I'll give myself like two or three seat buffer and, um, you know, talk to the bartender usually. And then that, that kind of opens up a thing for somebody on this side. If, if we want to get like a three person conversation going and, you know, you give, give enough space

where you don't look like I'm sitting as close to you as I can without being right next to you, but also like a little amount of space where you guys, you know, like a conversation could happen. Usually do a nice tip right off the bat. If it's, you know, a solo bar just to see like, what is it like when I'm treated well here, if this is my new place. And that's kind of it. And then, you know, maybe inquire about the music situation if there's a juke just to see like what is it like when i'm treated well here if this is my new place um and that's kind of it and then you know maybe inquire about the music situation if there's a jukebox or something like that so um that's it that's really it a lot of booze helps right because then you're just like hey i mean granted everybody else has to be kind of like within your parameters you know all in kind of the wild card standings uh you can't just go in there hot and then have everybody be like on

beer one and be like what's going on with you guys this is a submarine thing huh you know so you can't yeah you got to kind of like map it out a little bit more it also really depends on like where you are I used to always feel terrible for women that went to bars solo like that would go early you know when we would be bartending the different places that i work and then it was like you know somebody remotely attracted goes to a bar sits down by herself and then it's like the guy's like oh my god she's by herself she's by herself she's definitely yeah she's not even talking anymore i'm like i have to go talk to her like the Like the level,

the level of self-confidence that goes through the roof when an attractive woman is at a bar by herself, like that guy now becomes fucking Captain America, you know, when he's like early Chris Evans

in the movie. So anything else? I'll usually, I'll usually wait for somebody to ask me a question before I really open up. Like if nobody's like, what's your story? I'm not going to be like, oh, yeah. So anyway, it's just the traffic's been crazy.

I've been in town for just a couple. I'm not going to open up unless somebody asked me the initial question too. I'm not just going to start like fucking pull the ripcord. Like here's everything about me. Now let's talk about weather. So I'll also wait for somebody to give me an in before i start really talking to somebody probably not surprising but i don't believe i've ever just gone to a bar by myself and sat there uh so they've been early for a meeting or something now maybe well yeah maybe but i haven't gone to a bar just to like hang out

at a bar by myself all right you know like if i'm gonna do that i, I'm just going to go down to my basement, put games on or something. I also don't really like talking to strangers. So like I'm not looking to really make friends or whatever. So I don't know. I'm not like the most social guy in that situation. So it's probably not for me. Nothing against anybody who is. Kyle, I'm happy for you, dude.

But no, it's not not really my thing. I like that you guys keep saying that. Thanks. Well, it's all right. Listen, it is what it is. The last couple years like just just so there's nothing wrong with that like the uh like that seinfeld episode it's like everyone thinks we're gay not that there's anything wrong with that yeah so uh glad

there's nothing wrong with that you keep doing you pal thanks guy did i get did you say you were early for a meeting yeah well i'm just saying you've never been early for a meeting? Yeah. Well, I'm just saying, you've never been early for something? You're like, all right, And then go drink? Well, a drink. Is that really drinking? Not if you're an oasis. We got another hot guy checking in, but I'm almost like 99% sure this one's fake.

I don't even think the pictures are real. AI? I think it's... Kidding. but I'm almost like 99% sure this one's fake. I don't even think the pictures are real. AI. I think it's... Kidding. No. Okay. Here we go. 59165, not in great shape.

Subject line is frosted tips at 20. 20? How old is he now? I'm a 20-year-old guy beginning my second week as a summer analyst at a high-power consulting firm in Chicago. The job has been great so far. I learned a ton. I like the other kids in my analyst class, and the bosses have been super helpful in getting me to speed up as I'm a year younger than my counterparts. About a month ago, I decided to frost my hair and love the decision as it added an element of mystery and Timberlake-esque bravado

that my persona needed. I'm a guy who likes to change things up. No wonder this guy's kicking ass in a year ahead of the game at this analyst job. I'd hire him just on that last sentence. Not for this show, but you get the point. Now that I'm in this whole finance deal,

I regret dyeing my hair and want to go back to my long brown hair. See images attached. How can I do this without a stark change that all these new people at work, who I've made an impression on already, without them noticing? Do I just rip the bandaid off?

Curious if Ryan or Kyle ever went through this phase of life. Massive fan, but Ryan peaked at CP3. Okay. All downhill from here. Yeah. These tips are frosted. Is the frosted tips thing in 2023? I always think about it like you know

Gacy Timberlake or like Mark McGrath like the real like 90s early 2000s look which was terrible is it the same one now yeah yeah yeah but there's something there's something that's okay about it I don't know like he's in a full-blown Jokic jersey in this

picture with no shirt on underneath it so he's he's full-blown tank at the game. And the tips are like they're not... Alright, Mark McGrath peak Timberlake no. No. So it's a little more tasteful.

Yeah, it looks like... Honestly, dude I don't even know if you needed our help other than you just like to change it up and there's the picture of him with the brown hair here i think look i would go if you seriously want to do it right because it might be a weird real guy it's just tougher to do this as a guy like a girl you can do different things hey look at this some have advantages some disadvantages right but like there's one advantage that you have where if you're

a girl and you just go in straight new haircut like it's kind of like hey cool i'm trying this out i went with jennifer hanniston nobody's everyone's like wow i love that for you right right right if i all of a sudden just started rocking lego hair the reddits would explode yeah it's like you know i'm gonna try out bangs yeah it's a little bang i'm gonna part it down the middle i'm gonna go a little alex p keaton you know what's up just want just wanted to change it up respect that nope all right so for this guy go to a stylist you're in a major city explain Explain your situation. And I say there's probably like a two to three week ease back in. I actually think you could do it because it's not peak Timberlake.

It's not Herbstreet late 90s game day. You're good. It's not that aggressive. But I would consult with a stylist. Tell this person. I mean, you're great at your analyst job right so tell this person what you want to do because if you think this is going to be a hard right turn that the people around the office like has anybody in the office mentioned the frosted tips has anybody said anything to you because they are subtle they're tastefully

done i'd even argue in the picture that we have here. Rudy, though, you will change your style like that. You're the rare guy that can do it. I respect as a guy who gets bored with his style, I completely relate to this guy. Some things I've liked, some things I haven't. I know people liked the bun back in the day.

I liked it. I don't know if I'd ever go back to it. We talked about it on the pod. I've wanted to bleach my hair for a while. I'm still kind of kicking around whether or not I should do it or not this summer. Frosted tips was one of those things, though, where I remember I wanted to get my tips frosted when I was in middle school and my mom was like, no. And now to this day, I'm like, thank you, mom, for actually putting your foot down because it just isn't a good look. I'm sorry. But my thing always with the hair stuff is you could always just buzz it off. So why don't you just get a haircut like instead of just dyeing it back whatever just just just cut the the the tips off and then you're fine it's not that big of a deal i don't it seems like

an easy solution you're saying cut your tip just cut the tips off yeah yeah if you're a big change it up guy just you know go go summer it's warm out right chicago just go go a little shorter yeah you're buzz cut guy for a couple months i'm sending you the picture right now by the way boys the other thing i was thinking is like what kind of places it's like a new age place where you know helps to look a little look a little different you know like are the days of... Let me see. Wait, what is that? That's the guy? Yeah, the guy in the middle.

Not the guy with the gray hair to the left. Yeah, yeah. It's like too nice. You know, his hair is too perfect. I don't want to bum him out here, but he's rocking a pretty high forehead for 20 oh man

I'm going to leave that alone he's got nice hair though yeah but you know or I don't know if you're if you can own your shit why can't you just be like if you're like oh it's such a drastic change you could be like oh you know I made a finals bet or something,

or I made a, you know, this was, I wasn't expecting to have, you know, this collide with my job or something. Honestly, sorry to put, like, if you tell work, like, what happened to your hair? Be like, oh, I made a finals bet, and I ended up losing, and I had to slowly transition out of my frosted tips

because I lost. No, like, no. I'd have way more questions about that no it explains the frosted tips like why you even have them like you'd be like i just you know i had to get rid of it that is a good point though that is a good point because i've always thought you know if i worked in finance or whatever would i have taken all of like the the what i've grown out the bone would i've dyed my hair would i want to bleach my hair whatever the answer is probably no like working it from home and podcasting your basement like you can kind of try some stuff out you you have like a you know

kind of like a i'm sure he wears a suit tie to work and stuff like that it's a little bit more of an official job people are going to judge you you ask like are people talking about it people are definitely talking about at the office which is fine people talk about everything it might not be a bad thing but you probably can take less risks at your job so yeah i don't know like i don't think it looks egregious i'm looking at it right now it is nice it's i wouldn't do that but i think that the simple answer should happen to me though looks good on you dude but uh personally i wouldn't it really it's it's not aggressive enough that i think it's the hard right turn that he thinks it is. Okay. And seriously, I bet you could just do like a little coloring in a, you know, in a week, like a light chestnut.

Maybe there's some shampoo for it, but that's why I was talking, saying like better talk to somebody that knows what they're doing. And even if they're not getting a dye job at a salon, make sure you don't like completely screw it up and go the other way. And then I would say another week and a half from that, you probably get a little trim, whatever. You'd probably be in good shape. And I don't think people would notice. Honestly, you'd be shocked at what people do and do not notice.

not notice and you having a slightly browner hair deal on the bangs uh i don't i don't think it's gonna i don't think the markets are gonna fall apart is my point i can't believe you said that forehead comment now i can't stop staring at it you showed a lot of it for doing for a dude with an internship it's not that bad it's not that bad i'm just not that bad. I'm just, you know, it's just, you might want to start thinking about bangs. Yeah. I mean, also, it's a little long for, you know, entering into July. You could definitely knock it down a couple inches if you want. And by the way, some people with big foreheads, they just maintain the same forehead depth. It doesn't mean it's receding.

Right. It's always been like that. It's what's going on. It looks like the dad and the brother have solid brow lines. So, you know, I'm not saying it as a warning, but you may not want a tuft. You may not want the bouffant

look all the time. All right. That's enough. Thank you to Kyle. Thank you to Steve. Happy draft. 364 days to go until the next one. The Ryan Rosillo Podcast.

Ringers.com. Thank you.