And now the low post. Welcome to the low post podcast on a beautiful Friday morning on the East Coast where it's time to talk about the stretch run at the bottom and the upcoming draft lottery, which we're only two and a half months away from a draft lottery that could change the whole landscape of the league. And there are four teams that have really separated themselves at the bottom. Congratulations to those four teams for really separating themselves at the bottom from everybody else.
And nobody knows the draft better than world traveler in gyms that like Adam Sandler is in with Bull Bond at the beginning of hustle. Jonathan Gavoni, how are you, sir? I'm great, Zach. How are you?
What was the last country you were in? France, you know, which makes a lot of sense. Right? I spent a week with Brian Windhorst in Paris.
We were working on a story which some people read last week. And there's a lot more coming. Also a TV feature. So we got a lot of great content on Victor.
Got us from a lot of time with him, with his family. It was amazing. You know what? Let's just start there.
I was going to start with the Messonet Land. I don't want to talk about the Messonet Land right now. We can do that later. Oh, cuck calling around.
What did you learn about Wemba Niyama? Your story posted last week. I read it. You know, I think the general for those who don't have insight or didn't read it.
It was free. I think it was free. Well, then you have no excuse. People read, reading.
It's fundamental. I think the general takeaway I got is someone who's never interacted with him before. I know his agents a little bit was the idea that he is really trying to close off his circle, focus on basketball, focus on playing for a team that is really built around just preparing him for the NBA. It happens to be winning anyway, turning down a lot of financial opportunities, out of sponsorship opportunities.
And I think the takeaway was supposed to be, I think, this guy's a serious basketball player who's taken as very seriously, who's trying to prepare his mind, his body, sleeping 11 hours a night, which makes me so jealous whenever I read about people who are told to sleep 11 hours a night, preparing himself in a very serious way for the NBA. Did any of that surprise you? What else did you learn about this V-NOM, the most important prospect since LeBron, probably, that you didn't know, and maybe didn't even make the story when you went to France? Yeah, well, he's been very sheltered from a very early Asian, and that's by design.
His parents are not huge fans of all the attention that he's receiving, especially now. They've vented to us pretty well about just how hard it is for him to leave his house and how intrusive people are. They're so rude. Everyone wants to take selfies with him.
But if victory actually loves it, but he's open to it, I just want to struck me about him as how interesting of a person he is. He's kind of like an old soul in a lot of ways. He's into classical music. He likes drawing.
He's into poetry, he loves art. And he's got a real plan in his mind for how things are going to go for him in the NBA. And I know his agents, they make suggestions, and they have advice, but even the day he's his own man. And you don't really see that a lot from a 19-year-old.
But at the same time, they've done a great job with positioning him and managing him and making sure that every aspect of his life is taken care of, and that he, like you said, can really fully focus on basketball and being the best basketball player that he can be. And just with the physical therapist that works with him on a day-to-day basis twice a day sometimes, and all the work that he's putting on his body, I think that he's probably the most micromanaged prospect that I've seen. He's basically in the NBA already, even though he's in France. And he's living that lifestyle, not just like the glitz and the glamour, but just in terms of how serious he is about his craft and how much they're focused on making sure that he has the best chance possible to be one of the best players of all time, which that's their goal.
They'll tell you that straight up. In watching the Little Live Watch of him, games, highlights, I'm almost more excited about the defense than the offense. This guy is blocking shots out of nowhere. And not doing crazy out of rotation things to do it.
And it just looks ridiculous. And I think he's going to walk in the league and be a very good player right away, which is rare. And watching him and talking to NBA people who have watched them a lot, what's changed about his game in the last four or five months? Is there any area that he's gotten better at, noticeably that you hear people talking about?
I asked Victor the same question, because a lot of the criticism that you heard about him earlier in his career, people would say he's not aggressive, and he needs to get tougher. And you hear that a lot about young Big Men, especially really skinny ones. He had a tendency to kind of float from the 3.9 to the 3.9, not box out, not rebound, just settle for jumpers and kind of fade in and out of games sometimes. You watch him like at this, he had this next generation tournament that he played in two years ago.
And he put up great numbers. He's always going to put up great numbers. But he didn't really dominate the game the way that you expected. And then comes these g-league ignite games in October.
And it was like, holy cow, I haven't seen a more aggressive player in my life. I mean, he just came out to dominate. He was asserting himself on both ends of the floor. There's really no questions anymore about the aggressiveness, the toughness.
He's really grown into that. And Victor would say that he needs to be put in that situation where he's being utilized to be aggressive and given that freedom and that he hasn't always had that opportunity at different points in his career to really express himself and bring that out of him in terms of being a guy who is given the freedom to create his own shot, to shoot off the dribble, to pass off a live dribble, and to do all those things. And so that's part of it. It's a situation that he's been put in, which is an absolute perfect situation for him, hand-picked coach, hand-picked roster.
The whole show is about him. But he's taken that and shown that he can win. I mean, they're in second place in France right now. He's far and away.
The leading candidate for MVP is leading the league and scoring and rebounds and blocks. And he's doing it in a very efficient way. So, and there's still so much room to grow there, not just physically, but also with his passing ability, his ability to use his left hand. He's not a finished product by any means.
So that's what's exciting, because you talk to him off the court and you're like, this guy is incredibly intelligent. And then you watch him play and you're like, holy cow, this guy is not only incredibly gifted town wise, but he's so smart. He's feel for the game is off the charts. And when you talk about defensively, that's where it really shows up to most right now.
Is there any concern that front office evaluators have about him other than the concern that they have about everybody who's 7, 4, 7, 5, and tall and sometimes skinny with which is health and feet and all that? Is that the only concern that there is? I mean, have you found anyone who's like, I think he's just gonna be good or just like, I'm kinda lukewarm on Vic. There's nobody like that, right?
There's nobody like that. He is one of the best prospects we've ever seen. Every person that you talk to feels the same way, just walking around the gym after those jiggling night games, you can see the smile on the faces of these really bad teams. They were like, oh my God, this is an easy one.
At some point, halfway through the game, usually I sit there, I'm taking really meticulous notes on my laptop, I'm locked in, I'm every possession, I'm evaluated, at some point I just close the laptop and I'm like, there's nothing else to see here. Let me just enjoy the show. I mean, it's so much fun. And they love easy ones because easy ones are the ones that are risk-free from a job security standpoint, from a public perception standpoint.
Like if something bad happens to Wumbanyama in five years, no one is ever gonna criticize you for picking him first. And I remember when the Hawks did the Luca trade, where they traded down out of the Luca pick and got the camera at the pick that became camera at the show, was a lottery pick from Dallas. I remember saying the next day, I almost admire the guts that Travis Slink, Schlenken, I think the ownership of the Hawks was involved in that too, heavily, heavily wanted Trey. Because you can get fired for passing out Luca Dancic.
That can get you fired. You never get fired for taking, just sitting there and taking Luca Dancic. That's like an easy one, you never get fired for that. And I remember saying at the time, let's just see how the trade plays out because they move down a couple of slots, they got a player we all agree is good.
I think Trey has made an all NBA team already. And let's see where this other pick ends up and who they use it on. Well, it ended up on number 10 and it ended up on Cam Red, issue is on his third team in a year and a half and put up some empty numbers last night for the Portland, Tarmac team, the Tarmac remains in the Blazers. And Travis Slink stepped down, slash was pushed out, slash is a fake advisor now for the Hawks.
And they are in disarray, they fired their coach out of, not nowhere because there had been rumblings about the Nate McMillan trade relationships since the mysterious miss shoot around. And the communication gaps that existed there. And but I think a lot of people within that team, players, coaches, staff were blindsided by 23 games to go. At the end of the All-Star break, we're pulling the trigger now on this.
And I think Quinn Snider would be a really interesting hire for them, we can talk about that later, but like, safe choices, people like safe choices. People don't like Durant Odin. Durant Odin's a risky one. That's a risky one.
John Hollinger, our old colleague wrote a piece this week about, and I don't follow this like you do, and he does, about how there's suddenly a huge gap between perception of when Manyama and Scoot and then everybody else in the draft. That wasn't the case at the beginning of the season. This was the draft, it's like, oh, if we get like the sixth pick or the third pick or the third pick to Thompson Twins, this and that, like, we're all gonna be, obviously we all want one or two, but those are all gonna be really good players. Is that, do you agree, have you heard the same, or is this still like a really good draft one to whatever?
I disagree. I mean, I think that a year ago, you know, people looked at it as, you know, really like a two-player draft. It was Victor and then Scoot and then a big gap after that. And I don't think anything has really changed.
I mean, there were a lot of questions in my mind a year ago about, you know, who's the number one prospect in college, you know, like, which is, that's a really weird question to ask. You know, you don't normally, you know, you know. And so I think that, yeah, some of the guys in the mid-lottery are confusing and they're not all having the kind of year that you would want and in this random Miller situation, Alabama is a complete mess. But that's normal, honestly, like, I feel like every draft is like that.
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It's all the ESPN all in one place. Sign up or activate now. All right, let's talk about how the draft is shaping up. We know who the bottom four teams are going to be.
There's like a 10-game gap between them and everybody else. Houston, San Antonio, who's lost 15 games around. It's hard to lose 15 games in a row in the NBA. Charlotte and Detroit, who lost Kate Cunningham very early in the season, barely played.
Those teams are all 13 and 45, 14 and 46. No one can catch them. Like, there is no species of tanking that exists for pick a team that's above them in the standings. They are un-catchable.
Those are going to be the four worst teams in the league. The only suspense is which one of them will be fourth and have slightly less chance of getting the number one pick. The first three all have a 14% chance of getting the number one pick. I do think it will be interesting to see and the blazers' tarmac experience kind of alerted people to this.
Like, five is very much in reach for a whole bunch of teams if Orlando and Indiana, who are currently tied in the lost column for that five spot, continue to try to win. And Orlando, by all accounts, is going to continue to try to win the escaped to Pistons or the Pistons escaped with a loss. I'm not sure which is the appropriate way to frame it last night. You look at a team like the Bulls, who are 26 and 33.
They're like a fake injury and a losing streak away from having a much better chance of keeping their top four protected pick that they owe the magic, then I think people realize. And I just think there could be some jostling for that. I mean, you look at that fifth spot. You have a 10 and a half percent chance of the number one pick and a 10 and a half percent chance of the number two pick and a 10 and a half percent chance of three and four.
You have like a 42% chance at a top four pick. That's a valuable, valuable slot. But we all know who the big four are. And I asked you as a thought exercise and I did the same to rank if you could be the GM of one of them starting now or of any of them starting now with all the assets that they have, with the players that they have, the contracts that they have starting from this day forward going into this lottery.
So you don't know where you're gonna finish. You could finish one, you could finish two, you could get one, but yeah, you could get a Thompson's one, you could get lucky, you could get unlucky, you could pick seventh of Detroit, Charlotte, Houston, San Antonio. I will let you go first. Who is the one of those four that you would most like to be the GM of?
So first of all, I mean, it's a complicated question because there's so many factors that go into this into like how attractive a situation is for an MBA team and a lot of it is out of their control. You know, you look at ownership, you look at location, you look at their history, you look at how much can you sell agents and players and what you've done in the past but for me, looking at those four teams, I think you need to look at San Antonio first when you blend all those things together. I think if you went to Victor when Banyamas camped right now and you gave him troops there, and you said pick your ideal landing spot from those four, I'm sure it would be the Spurs over those other teams, especially if the other kind of attractive situations, the Toronto is in Oklahoma City, that doesn't look like it's realistic as things currently stand but like you said, it's close there between Orlando, at 35 losses and Toronto have 31, that's not a big gap. Toronto is the, would be picking 12th right now.
Obviously we don't know what to play and all that. So, but going back to the Spurs, I really like what they're building. I think Jogermi Sohan is an absolute stud. Schmitz was super high on him and he absolutely nailed that one.
He's going to be so good. He was just seeing him in the rising stars and I did this rookie power ranking thing before, before the rising stars and I watched him kind of unleashed in this tank of thong situation that they're currently in where they're letting him play point guard and he's got all this freedom to do whatever he wants. And by the way, he only plays every other game. Like they don't play, it's like every Spurs game, it's like, who's out now?
This guy's out there starting up like meeting this time. Yeah, he had a back injury or whatever. But I mean, he's a really, really exciting talent to me. And then he's got an incredible personality on top of that.
He's the kind of guy that you want in your organization. He's something that you want to build on, build around. And then you've got, you know, Calvin Johnson, Devin Vassal, Malekai Branagh, those are some interesting wings, you know? And so like you get Victor and then, you know, a point guard to go along with that.
Obviously it's easier said than done, but you've got something pretty interesting brewing and they've got this culture of, you know, having won not that long ago and, you know, you're in Texas, there's no income tax, whatever, you know, there's, they got some things, pretty nice weather. You've got some things going for them. It's not going to be the most attractive of a free agent destination. I think Houston probably have the four is maybe the most attractive.
And then two, I go, Well, hold on, let me stop you on first. Okay, go for it. So if you could guarantee me now that I'm the Spurs and I get one of the first two picks, I don't even need to get number one. I think they would vault to number one on my rankings.
Right. Which is a great fit there too. So either one of them is amazing for San Antonio. Now I only have a 27.4% chance of getting one of the first two picks currently where I am now in the standings.
And if I keep losing every single game, that will say what my odds are. So I can't, I can't enranking them today bank on a 27.5% chance. So I had the Spurs third on my list. And you mentioned the free agent destination thing.
Houston has that advantage over them. I think Houston has the one player of all the current young players that has the best chance of being like a star star. And that's Jalen Green. And I know everyone's like off of Jalen Green.
He's had a super disappointing second year. That place is a freaking tire fire. And poor Steven Silas, I think, is going to probably not be the coach next year. Seems like he's going to be the fall guy for basically playing a college team every single night.
Totally disorganized. He's shooting, Deongering, shooting has been disappointing. His defense has been disappointing. I still think the potential of popping into a star is higher for him than for Vacell or Sohan or Branum.
And Detroit I had above San Antonio. I'm not going to say where yet. Just because I feel like in Cunningham, they have of all of these guys the closest thing currently to a surefire all star player who I feel like his game translates to real competitive high level NBA basketball. Now if he's healthy and I've heard the shin rehab stuff is going really well for him and their expectations are for him to be fine, but on San Antonio, I love the sell.
Sheldon Johnson is fine. Like it's fine. I'm not as high on Sheldon Johnson. A lot of people are his contract though.
That thing declines. He's making $17.5 million in 26, 27. That's going to be a really good contract. Sohan I love.
I love Sohan. I'm all in on Sohan. He does everything I like about. He passes.
He cuts. He's a good defensive player. He's got a little iso post up bully ball to him against seismic matches that he's been able to show. Tell me about Branum because Branum has had a really nice last month has a gorgeous old school mid-range game starting to shoot the three a little better.
What was the book on him? He's a six five kind of combo guard. They're playing about the point. Sometimes I would trade Jones whatever trade Jones has been lately.
I can't even remember. What was the book on Branum coming out because he has outperformed his draft slot considerably and looks more like a potential core player for them than I thought he would be at this time of year. So he wasn't really considered like a one and done guy coming into the year. I think he was, you know, he was a four star recruiter.
I think he was ranked around 30 or something like that, you know, like in his high school class. He didn't like the world on fire to start the season at Ohio State. He was coming off the bench and you know, and then he was playing this complimentary role. But as the year moved on and they got into big 10 play, he became the guy for them.
He was playing 36 to 38 minutes. He had a phenomenal game in the NCAA tournament against Villanova. They ran their entire offense through him. And that's very rare for a freshman, especially a guy who isn't this five star recruit, McDonald's American, who everybody was really excited about from day one.
So a little bit similar to the season he's having now, he got off to a slow start in San Antonio. When you look at the him like the month of February, I just looked at this 19 points a game, 41% for three, 59 for two, you know, the flashes are just really, really high level. You know, this guy, he's a Hooper. I mean, he's not really like, he's not an athlete.
He doesn't have like, you know, the best body that you'll find. I remember watching him, he did a pro day with like a one on zero at Chicago. And he was probably the most underwhelming from all the pro days because it was very low energy and he didn't make shots. He looked kind of scared.
And I remember like talking to all these gyms, they're like, man, it's about, look, I'm like, dude, this is not a pro day guy. This is a five on five player. Put him in a gym with, you know, he should be playing in the combine because that's where people are going to see his value. I mean, this guy, he's built for the modern NBA.
He can go get his own shot. He's tremendous in the mid range. You know, he's got his dynamic shot, making ability, but he can also, you know, he can do stuff inside the arc too. And he's super young on top of that.
You know, six, 10 wings fans. So you can guard threes, but he's got guard skills. So I mean, I think the guy is tremendous. Yeah, I've really liked what I've seen.
He has a weird kind of start and stop rhythm to his game, which, you know, that can cut both ways. Like the ability to change pace between dribbles is really important. He can do the thing where he kind of gets his defender on his hip and keeps probing. On the other hand, he's, he sometimes I want him to go a little faster.
Like it's very, very slow and you want a little more oomph. That's where the athleticism comes in. I'm not sure it can take time for teammates to get used to that kind of rhythm from a guy who has the ball to know when to move and when to flare out for three and when to cut. So hand the same thing.
So hand at the beginning, he was just cutting all over the place, cutting in the way, cutting screwing up their spacing. But that's fine. That's like young player stuff. All of these guys, I think, are going to be very, could be very good complimentary players.
But so has a chance to be like an A plus plus media, actually 20 a game this season, shooting 40% from three and taking tough shots and making them. So he has maybe a ceiling that's even higher than that. But they are more in search of the sort of straw that stirs the drink player, I think, than some of these other teams. And that's when if you plop women, Yama or scoot into this, they rock it, not up the lead yet, but they're a long term trajectory rocker.
So by the way, sneaky amount of of draft equity. Like, I think we know about the Hawks pick. They have a Charlotte pick that came in the Dejante Murray trade. That's OK.
It's like lottery protected. So they won't get it for a while. They have the Raptors pick one to six protected in 2024, 2025, 2026 from Pertile. Probably get that next year.
The Raptors, I think of signal they want to continue to be pretty good. That could be an OK pick. Hawks unprotected 2025. Hawks unprotected swap 2026.
Hawks unprotected 2027. Chicago top 10 protected starting in 2025 and then top eight top eight from Durozen. That could be an OK pick Boston top one protected swap rights all the way out in 2028. They have more stuff.
They're not on the like when people start listing all the teams who own all the extra pics, it's like you told Oklahoma City Houston, Brooklyn. Now, like they have a sneaky amount of stuff. Um, I just I just don't know, like what are their current players? We'll see they get in the draft has like star star, star potential.
Um, but I don't mind you ranking on number one. And I think if they get lucky in the lottery, they would they would potentially be number one of these teams. They have the interesting stuff going on competence. I think is important word that you got to talk about, you know, like when you're talking about the worst teams in the league and it's a it's a situation that, you know, like people know these guys at the front office and they trust them and they trust their situation and a lot of agents like they don't like like a lot of these, they don't want their pliers going to these places and San Antonio, they're fine with it.
Interesting. Um, they did well into the John Tae Murray trade. I keep going back to the Hawks because they've been in the news obviously this week. If Quinn Snyder gets that job, that's going to be really interesting because someone needs to go in there and deal with the Trey young situation.
Like he's got to move off the ball a little bit. You can't trade all this stuff for Dejonta Murray and just have him spotting up around Trey young pick and rolls just waiting for his turn when Trey young decides to pass. You've got to get someone who makes him buy into that to setting screens a little bit to not being the worst defensive player in the entire league. And Quinn Snyder had a really interesting tenure in Utah where he started off in like this beautiful machine of like equal opportunity.
Offens balls moving all around Joe Ingles has it. Then this guy has it. And the longer he stayed there, the more it became a more simple offense built around Donovan Mitchell pick and rolls than anything else. And I just be interested to see what he goes in there and does if he gets that job.
I think he's an amazing coach. Like if they can hire Quinn Snyder, they should absolutely hire Quinn Snyder. He would be amazing. He brings accountability.
He brings gravitas. He brings experience strategically. He is like one of these maniac geniuses that you will have to have in your team. If that situation is it just has something great since they made the conference finals two years ago.
Their current starting five has actually been really good all year, but they've got guys in and out of the lineup. And now that's a good transition into Detroit actually because they made a trade with the Pistons to get to get to big Bay. You had Pistons number two of these of these of these four four teams. I think we're both going to have the same one and last.
But to sell me on Detroit at number two. I just look at what they have in terms of the high and talent. I like the Pistons the most from those four. I think Jayden Ivy is going to be a star, you know, just the strides that he's made this year with his pull up jumper.
I mean, so impressive. He made five threes yesterday. I mean, I was considered the weakness in his game going in and because, you know, he's an incredible athlete. I mean, you just can't stay in front of him.
He gets anywhere he wants on the floor. He doesn't really know how to finish right now. That's, you know, that's the next step in his development. But if you have a guy that other teams cannot stay in front of him, I mean, that just makes everything so much easier.
You pair him with Kate Cunningham and with Jayden Duran, who I think is an absolute stud also the youngest player in the league has, you know, huge potential, defensively, great hands, you know, great finisher, you know, shows you some flashes of passing ability, you know, and so you have a really impressive core. And so you have a lot to build around there. I'm not sure if you know, again, free agents want to go there and all that, you know, but like I think they've done a really, really good job, you know, in the draft here that the last, especially last year, getting Ivy and Duran, in my opinion, both, they went lower than they should have went. Luke Warm take, I had Detroit number one out of these four teams, which is Luke Warm because preagents are not going to go there or you'll get the winner's curse free agents.
You'll get the free agents that you have to overpay for and, you know, maybe their deals don't age well, like, why is Marvin Bagley making $12 million? You have absolutely no idea. No one has any idea why they paid Marvin Bagley that contract. He never plays.
He's reportedly coming back soon. His fit on this team is like, I guess he just has to play the four all the time now because they just got another center in James Wiseman. But anyway, I had them and they have their net minus one first round pick. They owe a pick, I think to New York.
And so they don't have this bounty of extra stuff to go out and get theoretical star X in three years. I don't, I still have the number one because I have Cade, I have Ivy and I've Duran and I have the same odds right now as these other teams of getting women, Yama or scoot right now, today, February 24th, that 27 and a half percent chance plus that core, I'm ranking number one despite the lack of the picks. Ivy, the first two months of the season, as somebody who doesn't watch college basketball much, I was so disappointed in Jaden Ivy. I was like, this is the guy that there's been all this, he's just out of control, he's taking horrible shots, he's flying around the court, his turnovers are just awful.
The last two months he has calmed down, playing at a better pace. His pull up looks good from two and three, he's got a floater. He's got a little like go to his left leaning floater that he draws fouls on all the time. He looks now like the player that everyone told me he was during.
Go ahead. I just Jaden Ivy, you're six foot four, you've long arms, you've got incredible body, you're one of the best athletes in the NBA. You can't be the worst defender in the NBA. Bend your knees, try because like he really, that's always been the knock on him.
It's like, is he going to guard, you know, like that was the question at Purdue? And that's the one disappointment that I have with him is that like the lack of intensity I get, like they're trying to lose every game, nobody cares, you know, like, but that's the one thing that I want to see him work on next year. I totally agree. He runs into picks, he gets lost in rotation.
You can see him like swiveling around like in rotation, like where am I supposed to go the corner of the wing? This is a big player development summer for the Pistons and a big player development test for the Pistons and their coaching staff. And because I think they need to get him in the lab and not work on the cool stuff. They need to work on like the passing reads and slowing down and the nitty gritty of defense with him.
Duren is already number six in offensive rebounding in the league. He has a second and a third jump that like you blink and he's already jumped four times defensively. He's going to be fine. He has all the tools.
He's going to be quick enough to switch, which is what they want him to do. Eventually he can drop. He can protect the rim. He's shown a little bit of a face up game every now and then when he gets a chance, those three and Kate, I'm just like, I'm a kid believer.
I just, I just remain skeptical that of this Isaiah Stewart power forward thing. I just don't know that he's going to be dynamic enough on offense to make that work with Duren at the five and him at the four or wise minute at the five and him at the four. I just, I guess I'm skeptical of that. Um, I like, I, I, they're offense makes more sense when Bull Donavich or livers is a pretty good player is at the four.
I think that's a, that's a question mark for me of, of, of how do they fill that spot, which is why like the Bay, Sadiq Bay for James Wiseman was an interesting thing for them. I think Sadiq Bay is pretty good. I was disappointed with his play this year. His shooting has been, uh, his defense has been, uh, he hasn't really made the kind of like three and D and drive off the catch advancements that I wanted to see.
I don't know that I want James Wiseman over him though. I thought that was an interesting trade. What did you think of that? I had heard that he was asking for insane money with this upcoming summer.
That the, the feeling was that he was going to need like a DeAndre Hunter type contract in order to keep him. And so if that's the case, you know, like, to me, like he's closer to doing like a mid-level guy than like 20 plus million dollars per year. And so I don't know, do you fight it out in restricted free agency and say, Hey, go get an offer sheet, whatever, nobody's gonna offer him that kind of money. That's what restricted free agency is for.
That's why you have it. That's why the players hate it and act and fight against it in the CBA as they should. Yeah. I mean, you know, I think sometimes you, when you're in your team in that situation, you pick and choose your battles, especially when his agent represents K Cunningham.
You know, and so like sometimes you, he's okay. We'll help you guys out this time with trade. I'm, you know, get paid. How was that in the next one?
You know, like, I don't know for a fact that would happen, but that's, I'm guessing that that has something to do with it. What is Killion? Hey, he's going to be there was like a month in December or something when he started making some shots and it's like, all right, Killion, hey, maybe, maybe we all wrote him off too soon. I think like defensively, he really fights.
He's got good hands. He's got a great body type. He can get where he wants to go in the mid range, at least on offense, getting to the rim and shooting threes is a different story. Then, then that kind of faded.
He's coming off the bench for a second. Now he's back starting again. They're bringing Birx off the bench instead of starting him because it's full on tank time. He's still shooting 37%, 31% on threes, 41% on twos.
I think he's only 21. I remember the concern coming out of the draft among the Hayes skeptics was the hard and comparisons, all that. Like he doesn't have the explosiveness and the burst and the ability to get to the rim that James had or whoever, whatever lead ball handler we want to compare him to. And that has borne out to me.
Is he, what is he? Is he a core player? I mean, I, I've been cutting him. I've obviously just wave vaulted over him in the Pistons long term hierarchy.
What is he going to be? So I was a Killian Hayes hater in the draft. If you remember, I came on the podcast and I talked about why I thought the German league was the most overrated in Europe and why he's like picking on all these guys, that he's not he's doing things in there over there that's not realistic. And so I had a ranked as like a mid first guy.
And I was very surprised when they drafted him where they did, but actually going through, watching some Pistons games here lately. I was like, you know what? Killian Hayes is like, I mean, he's probably a backup, you know, but like he's six foot five. He's 21 years old.
He's got a really good feel for the game. You know, and so and he's guarding, you know, so that's a pretty good place to start. So I actually came away from that watching experience. We're like, you know what?
Killian Hayes, if you were like in a more competitive situation, people might look at him as like a guy that's kind of interesting. I think he's going to be kind of interesting. I just don't know how do you, how does he start anymore for them with Ivy? He doesn't need to start.
He's a very good backup, you know, like, I mean, you just got to forget about where you drafted him and just say like, now we've got this guy in the contract. He's the same age and much of our other young players and like, let's roll it, you know, because he's a super high character guy and he's a very hard worker. And so I think that you just, you know, he's not going to be what you thought he was, where you drafted him. But that doesn't matter because you have so many other high picks and say it's going to be fine.
You're not going to get every single draft, your great speaking of you have to forget where you're drafted him. They have James Wiseman on their team now. And they really went after James Wiseman. Like I've heard the same stuff about what the what contracts that he could be once, you know, 20 million for city Bay.
That's a lot. It's a lot of money for a guy who maybe you think is a good reserve when your team gets good. I mean, that's I think that's what you have to include the Pistons and thought is like, we don't think this guy's a long term starter for us. We used to talk to him up like that.
Don't think about anymore. Cause if you did think he was your long term tweener forward, three and D, 18, a game, 38% from three switch across all those, but you thought he was that player, you, you wouldn't trade him. You'd keep him and pay him with the underhundred makes or whatever, whatever comp you want to use. Instead, they have Wiseman who Duren Duren's already better than him and long term.
I don't like I would much rather have Duren. Why is one will show you some stuff for once in a while, but he's far away? I thought that was an interesting move. Um, and you know again, I'm ranking them one now just because we don't know how the lottery is going to unfold and they have the same odds as Houston San Antonio right now, Charlotte's and actually in the fourth best odds.
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Learn more about their customizable plans. Let's go up. I assume now we both had Houston. What where did I had Houston?
I had Houston second actually over the Spurs as again as of today. And I can't believe I'm saying that because they have been just utterly unwatchable for most of the year. But I think green has the perimeter superstar potential. Shenguin is the best player on the team already.
Shenguin is good. I am just I am a sucker for Taris and just I love everything about Taris and they will get free agents there. In fact, my fear is that they will get the wrong free agents there in some irrational exuberant slash panic about holy shit. We owe the thunder our pick top four protected, not just in 2024, but in 2026 because James Harden on his way out the door made us trade for Russell bus working.
We did it and we gave up Chris Wall in these pics. We have to get good. Maybe we should bring James Harden back. That seems like a horrible idea, but maybe we'll do it.
But they will get people there. They control all the Brooklyn Nets draft picks from 2024 to 2027 via picks and swaps. That's a good, I think, investment to be although the Nets have recovered well. And I think our signaling we're trying to do good.
It's been a disaster on the floor. They have no organizing principle on offense unless the ball is in Shenguin stands, in which case things start to make a little bit more sense and can they just give them the ball more. I don't understand why it's been almost a relief that Kevin Porter Jr. has been injured because they only have he just dribbles all the time and he's shot it pretty well.
He's averaging 19, 60 was one of the best catching shoe three pointers. Three point shooters in the league last year. You can't take catching shoes if you're dribbling all the time. But anyway, between Shenguin and Green and the picks, I actually almost had the number one despite the fact that they've just been so hard to watch.
I don't even I feel like a crazy person for being like still having some optimism about them. I mean, if you're being offered the GM job, you know, like there's some very attractive components to that job. It's, you know, it's the most attractive location of the four franchises we're talking about free agents, but actually you want to play there. It's a big city, no income tax.
I was surprised that you talked about Jim Green is like the, you know, like the most Shenguin to me, like is the one that I'm most excited about. I should have said this like I've talked about Shenguin a lot on this podcast. I am super high on Shenguin. He's been the best player on the team by far.
I guess I'm just thinking like it feels like you always need a perimeter guy who can get you like 25 and six like and maybe maybe you don't. If Shenguin is like, I don't even want I don't know what Shenguin is going to be, but I am Shenguin's really, really good. Yeah, I'm just, you know, I like you. I'm worried about you on green to be honest because I just haven't seen like any improvement with his decision making and his defense like since the end of the league, like you want to see guys.
He's got worse. He's got to be exactly. And so like, and that's where, you know, I'm worried about the trajectory that he's on. And but like if you're the, if you get the GM job tomorrow, you come in there, you fire the coach, you get rid of Kevin Porter and you know, you need to clean out.
Well, just not for saying you should just get out of the Kevin Porter business. If you're not guaranteed, not guaranteed contract, right? Like just cut him. That's it.
And you're sending a signal to the league. We're going to do things differently from here on out. You know, when you talk to people around the NBA about Houston, you just don't hear good things about their culture, you know, about their locker room. It's a you hear it's a circus.
It's like a complete circus. You talk to people that are on that team. They're like, we are a mess, you know. And so do people want to work with this organization?
You know, but like you could change that fairly quickly. I would think if you come in and you get rid of the bad apples and you change the coaching staff and all of a sudden you're Houston. You're the third biggest city in America. You know, like there is some there's a history here of you actually being good.
Like you said, you have picks, you have cap room. There are some things to work with. Shampoo is very interesting guy to build around. Then, you know, John Green is even if he's a six man, you know, like he's pretty freaking dynamic and explosive and his story and things are incredible.
So there's some things to work with and it's Houston for sure. This is a big summer for Raffell Stone and that front office because this is three straight years of being terrible and they don't seem to be getting as much of the Philly Oklahoma City pro clutching about, Oh my God, they're so bad. Whether they're trying to do the process, this is so bad for the NBA. Nobody seems to care that Houston is on their third straight year being terrible.
They do have all this cap space. They just need whether it's through a coaching staff, whether it's signing some mid career veterans who add some kind of organization to their team, they just can't play this way another season. They can't be this sort of just random awful on defense. I mean, awful transition defense, half court defense.
They have no idea what they're doing. And I understand they're super young. Young teams don't know what they're doing, but I don't know if it's the players, the coaches, all of it. They're not getting better.
They're getting worse and they free agency or whatever aside. They just need to they need to show progress is like in like actual basketball skills and not just dunks and cool highlights. It's a big summer. It's a big summer in that regard.
I may I I feel like I'm beginning to be a little bit lonely, not being super super nervous about Jabari Smith Jr. I've heard the word bust thrown around already about him and I get why 12.7 rebounds, 39% shooting, 30% from three. That was supposed to be the skill right away, right? Everything else would come later.
The jump shop would come now. I I don't know. Maybe I'm watching the wrong games. I can't watch every Houston game.
I don't find myself super worried about him. I actually think he might be pretty good. Where are you on him midway through two thirds of the way through year one? So I just did this rookie power rankings and I was like, Jabari Smith, I need to figure out.
And so I watched full games. I was like, show me the best games that he's played this year. And let me see him when he's playing at his absolute best. And I came away like very much about Jabari Smith.
Really? OK, tell me why. I just I don't know his feel for the game. It just isn't there, you know, and he's so upright.
He's so hunched over. He like, what is he, you know, like is he what is he is a fair is a fair question. A lot of shooter who plays really hard on defense, you know, like that's kind of. And like, so where is the pathway to being a star?
I mean, we thought that he was going to be this nuclear shooter who's just running off screens and, you know, handling it in the open floor and pulling up for threes. And maybe we'll still get that at some point because if that is really, really exciting. And but he hasn't made shots all year and like that inside the arc. And you want to go in and just like be encouraged by his defense.
But I'm like, man, he makes a lot of mistakes there too. I mean, he's still young, so he'll figure that out. And again, it's a dumpster fire of a team. So it's hard because, you know, when when you're not getting those easy looks, there's easy baskets, it's hard to get going.
And then he starts pressing and he's taking that shots and you know, he's having poor, taking horrible shots and she's young green. And it's depressing, I'm sure, you know, like putting on his pressure on himself. You know, he sees Pablo having this great year and I mean, Keegan Murray and Mathurin and you know, and so I'm sure that, you know, and he is like a very, very high character guy. And he is the youngest of, you know, the three guys that went in the top three.
So you have to give him time. But you know, patience is not a virtue for me. I'm Israeli, you know, you just see me drive. But I don't, you know, like it's just, you know, nothing that I saw, you know, like led me to be like, I got to put this guy in my top 10 and like, you know, he's going to figure it out.
Like listen, I mean, I could change my mind in a month from now. I mean, that's what we do, right? I'm a very picky driver, very demanding, high standards as a driver. When you are on the road, we are all part of a shared civilization.
We're all counting on each other. We're all counting each other to follow the rules. Don't just stop in the middle of an intersection. We're supposed to keep going and wave start waving people in.
That's not what we're supposed to do. Drive safely. But like when the light turns green, particularly if it's a light that's got a big line and like a limited green arrow, you got to go like go. Okay, we're all counting on your honker.
No, I don't honk because I just honking. I think I'm scarred from living in New York for 20 years. I just hate the sound of honking and car alarms and all of it. So I will just get cranky in my car and silently cranky and grumbling.
But like you got to go, man. Like you got we're all we're all part of the civilization. And don't you dare text. Don't text.
And in parking lots, parking with the moving to the suburbs has taught me parking lots are like the most dangerous places in the world, man. Parking lots. I'm more worried about getting people to run over and parking lots. And I am like anywhere.
Part people are just backing out. Anyway, it's a good transition into the hornets, actually, just disasters and accidents, but about on Houston on Smith. So I guess what I'm betting on is the character, the defense, the competitiveness, because he gets fired up in ways that I like the shooting. Most guys who are have reputations of shooters and they struggle early, they find their shot, they become shooters and that just I just can't imagine being a 19 year old off ball rookie trying to like get the ball on this team and do stuff with it.
And I've seen enough like pump and go left the hesitation dribble. Like there's enough. It's like once every two games, it's not a lot, but there's stuff in there under the hood that if people are selling their Jabari Smith junior stock already and calling him a bust, I'm going to buy it up. I'm not saying he's going to be a star.
Obviously like the Paolo Jabari fork in the road, what if was a grand slam home run for the magic and a big strikeout for Houston, not that they could have done much about it. But I still like what I see there. They just need, they just need someone to organize a team. And maybe it's as simple as just not having both border and green, not having both of them.
Maybe it's as simple as what you're saying. It's just like move on from Kevin Porter and get a traditional point guard. It's someone who can just get this team organized. Do we really need to talk about Charlotte?
He's going to be fine. You're right. But like what do you do in like Shanguin and him or the same position? No, like they play together.
Like are they, is Shanguin a five? Like who guards the five? Shanguin, well, maybe you, maybe you mess around with the match ups. Like maybe it just depends what kind of five you're dealing with.
And yeah, Shanguin's got to get stronger. He's got to get better defensively. You know, he's young and he's young and he's not a leaper and not a rim protector in the way you want. Not, no, not like Duren is going to be.
But the passing and the post game and the ability to initiate the offense is very, very rare. And the post game is like a little nastier, a little meaner and a little more physical than you think it's going to be for a second year player who's a passer who's a pass first player. He's kind of nasty in the post and got that push shot that push out. He's the new Rashaun home.
No, every Shaw, Holmes put shots, seem to go in every single time. That's being good. Now Charlotte. I just don't have a lot to say.
It's just, it's just the disaster. And of all these teams, nobody needs to get lucky in the lottery more than Charlotte. Um, I don't need to go through like 20 years of bad draft picks and just from, from Michael Kidd, Gilcrest, to James Booknite, who is, has a whole slew of off-court stuff going on and never plays. Um, Mark Williams is pretty good.
Like we've seen from Mark Williams, when Ella Ball's awesome. I haven't loved the Mela Ball's game this year though. All the coaches are loved. I'm a little ball they say is unselfish and works really hard and comes with a positive attitude and they've all like and it's a Crusty old school staff and they all love him.
So that means something to me And he's really really good and you can't teach the height in the passing He's been a little bit of a ball honk this year a little bit of a shot a little bit of a hagi hagi shooter PJ Washington's pretty good Didn't get to jail in McDaniel's trade. Just didn't get it. Like why would I don't understand they traded you I'm again knows for like a second round pick. I don't get it and the rationale is well I've had to choose between jail and McDaniel's and PJ Washington and free interesting why Against the freaking tax next year.
I'm not Why do I have to choose between two good young players? I'm the Charlotte Hornets. I should want all the good young players I just don't I don't get it. I don't get it.
I don't have a lot of I don't have a lot of draft picks Company I get the nuggets pick this season whoop-de-doo. I don't know. It's just not it's not great. I Think LaMello is a sleeping giant, you know I think that he's one of the most talented young guards in the NBA and I have been a little disappointed like you that They haven't pushed him to work on his deficiencies the way that I'd hope you know I tune in once in a while because I just love watching him play to me like one of the most fun guys to watch in the NBA And he's still coasting and you know showing up every other game is intensity isn't there And I get it.
It's hard, you know, like when you're such a bad team, you know But I I think LaMello surrounded with the right pieces and the right coaching staff and all that being pushed right way LaMello is you know, he's a top 20 player in the NBA. I hope nobody unearths this clip It must have been a year and a half ago. It was a long time ago in my defense It was a maybe two years ago on NBA today They did this with the thing that just a horrible thing where they make you do it either or and they put you on the spot You have to pick and it was right which they asked all of us Who do you want for the next ten years? LaMello ball or John Merant and I love John Merant love John Merant love the way he leads love the way he plays and I Sat there anguished on the screen.
I did this. I liked it. Oh, why are you guys doing this to me? And I looked and I said I can feel good about it.
I love John Merant but six eight six eight with the passing and the shooting I think I'm gonna take LaMello ball And I think three out of four or two out of four of us took LaMello obviously looks like a horrible take in retrospect horrible I got a text from I got some texts from people who are in Jaws circle I like you're insane you better hope he never sees this that on TV. I got some texts from very very good Players I got one of them was a WNBA player who was like I kind of agree with you It's LaMello. I mean like that's how high I am on just the height the size It's the size the ability to shoot off the dribble and the ability to make any pass on the floor because of your size is so rare That I didn't think it was crazy two years ago to choose him over my rant and I was super high on my rant already It looks dumb in retrospect, but that's how much hope I had for him. I just don't know what's going on I just have it's just not a he's 21 he's 21, you know like I mean there are Players who are gonna be many players are gonna drop it in this year's draft that are older than LaMello ball And they're just now starting to be a career So like the model has he has time to figure it out But I want to see him taking the next jump or like it's he's just out there doing like and it's hard to blame them Because what is supposed to do like Gordon Hayward plays half the games Terri was you're shooting 41% he's had a year.
Oh, hey John. John's shooting percentages kind of sneakily getting a little worrisome right now He's under 31% from three forty some forty nine. I think or maybe 51 from two. It's not great I think they're here nor there Charlotte's fourth their fourth whatever Tell me about Bronnie James because you did your 2024 mock draft today as well as you can imagine Haven't been don't have my finger on the pulse of the Lithuanian kid who's number one in your 2024 mock draft the headline though obviously was Bronnie James who?
You know everyone's been wondering if you can be a second-round pick is you gonna get drafted This is not two years ago Because he really gonna be a serious NBA prospect because of the murmuring's of not murmuring's LeBron is said it that he wants to play with the Sun Now he's a lottery pick in your draft Tell me how that happened and what the reaction you got from inside the league was above about people who've been tracking him for all these years Like you putting him that high First of all the context of this draft and I love Ronnie and I think he's gonna be really good So I'll stand behind that but you have to understand that this is the worst high school class We've seen in 20 years this up and so the 2024 job trade all your picks right now man because I don't I mean like It's really really depressing. It's too late. They're already traded exactly happen them and traded But you know you still have this offseason next year's deadline So like maybe if people just give him away, you know like cuz I wouldn't want to be drafting at the top of next year's draft Next year because like those guys nice players, you know like and so with the way I ranked it I was like let's talk about floors Okay, and that's why you know my best boots that was number one six ten point guard great feel for the game can dribble past and shoot You know like really smart off the ball defensively, you know kind of like a Franz Wagner type, you know like So great great not what you know, but I mean these 185 pounds, you know like any you know It's and there's no guarantees that he's gonna get there, you know, that's the archetype that we're talking about But it's not what you expect to find normally at one usually the top of the draft, you know, there's guys that like you know, it's it's Paulo It's Chet it's Anthony Edwards. It's one out of a ball, you know It's guys that you're like these guys are gonna be all stars, you know And so it doesn't always work out that way but the 20 and like you start going down the list and you're like man This guy hasn't got any better in 12 months this guy hasn't got any better in 18 months And these are like the top 10 recruits and so these guys who are not growing they're not evolving They're not changing and so the one guy that is improving every time I see him is Brian You know, I've been watching him since he was a freshman in high school.
He was short. He was skinny He didn't have any skill back then he wasn't even that athletic to be honest with you every time I watch him I'm like holy cow Brian. He has made another jump. He's now you see him.
He's six foot four. He's chisel He's got like this Marcus smart body and he's just like absolutely wrecks everybody on defense And on top of that, he's you know, he's really made strides with a jumper He's making like these deep pull up breeze now. He's a tremendous Connector and teammate and like he's a high floor guy, you know, like maybe I made the Compton D. Anthony Mellon people like well You don't take the Anthony Mountain at 10 Yeah, but if you read draft that draft, you know, like you know, like it's probably like a top 15 guy And so like when you're picking from really bad options I'll take Brian because and people are like, oh well, you're you're counting for the fact that you're gonna get LeBron with Ronnie I think I've had nothing to do with my decision I think Brian is really good and so the reaction that I got I was surprised a lot of people from the NBA They hit me they're like man.
I like Ronnie too I was hoping that he would stay underrated and that's the crazy part like like the son of the most famous player in NBA history Is underrated, you know, like and I think the big criticism people have it's like well How could he be ranked 28th in his high school class, but he's 10th on your board? It's like what dude, I don't do those high school rankings I mean those guys, you know, they get around every year we get it wrong every year So I'm not gonna be bound by the fact that just because he was ranked 35th two years ago You know, that's the hard part when you're making high school rankings like they don't like dropping guys, you know Like a guy starts at fifth when he's a high school sophomore They're not gonna drop him the 45th and so which is, you know, probably more realistic for where he should be and you know When Ronnie they had him at 50 and now he's kind of slowly creeping up I guarantee you when the next ranking come out everybody's gonna have him top 15 top 20 I mean, he's got a McDonald American who I invite he's at the Nike Hoops. I mean now USA basketball They might have 10 guys. Okay, like 12 guys You mean they don't mess around they're not after hype and so like they invited him because they thought he could help them win the game At the Nike Hoops Summit and and that's what he's gonna do in college You're gonna win you a lot of games and he's exactly the position that people are looking for, you know Josh Hart got traded for a first-round pick.
You know, like there's value into that type of player Marcus Martin was the sixth pick in the draft Exactly. I mean Marcus Martin was a better scorer probably at that age But Brandy has got a much better field in Marcus Martas, you know He's not this wild decision maker that Marcus was at that age But the guy's a winner, you know, I said like and I'll go to war with a guy like Ronnie And I'm also I'm projecting improvement here in the next 14 months I think Brandy James the trajectory that he's on he's gonna keep getting better and better and better and better He's gonna keep growing his body's gonna get bigger and bigger again more explosive He's and also he's got he's got the best jeans and he's got the best training and so like I've learned Those are the guys that you bet on it's it's the sons of the former NBA players their track record is just impeccable And so like I'll take a flyer on Ronnie James. I mean, I think the guy's tremendous I think it's cool and not surprising that LeBron's son has never been like out there chucking and trying to do fancy stuff that you're describing him as like a winner A glue guy defender good passer good vision all that I think that's very fitting It says a lot about LeBron by the way like that the way like it's like it's hard to raise kids especially imagine LeBron situation, you know Like where he's you know, so I was Brian and his wife clearly they did an incredible job because like he is the best Teammate, you know, like he's picking guys up, you know, like he's not about the hype. You know, he's always making the right play I mean like he's just a really good cool basketball player and that's hard.
That's hard to develop honestly Not breaking ground here, but the LeBron angle does make brownies draft process very very interesting Because whoever you are you give yourself a chance at LeBron I'd twilight LeBron and son playing together. You are the hottest ticket in the NBA immediately LeBron by the way is currently I would bring 30 points a game. He's still amazing Do people try to trade up for that pick to the Lakers try to trade up for that pick? You know, I mean like who knows what the possibilities are but that's that's a question for a different day I thought that was really interesting.
I gave you two quick questions to wrap the podcast on are you ready? Go for it. Sure question one forget the playoffs for a second next 20 games rest of the regular season Who has the most at stake or who's the most interesting to you? Who has the most at stake of the 30 teams?
I think it probably has to be the Lakers or the Warriors, but I'm gonna go with the Lakers here, you know Just because you know Russ is gone LeBron broke the record the circus is over that's no longer this cloud that's hovering over them They need to feed into every game and you know, they built a pretty deep hole for themselves You know like with you know the record right now and I was just looking at this earlier They have like the fourth hardest schedule in the NBA still remaining and you just wonder you know How many games are you gonna get out of LeBron and AD? You know like and so and they've already played now with this trade that a great try that line But they played most of their chips to rate, you know, so like they finished the season in a disappointing way You know, you just wonder what this offseason's gonna look like where do they turn to you know to change their outlook going into next year? Now, it's only been the pelicans Without Zion and I think without CJ too and the Warriors without Wiggins and Curry, but they've looked good The revamp team is look good. I think starting beasley and Vanderbilt as the sort of two left-over starters has been smart and played out well They're creeping up.
They're creeping up. I went off the beaten path a little bit in Minnesota 31 and 30 clinging tenaciously clinging to a play-in spot Traded all their picks for go-bear obviously Oh Utah and unprotected pick and I can tell you they are for sure losing sleep over the possibility of like What if what if we miss the playoffs? What if the lottery gods are cruel to us? What if?
What if and then the towns thing they've been about 500 without towns been out for a while Anthony Edwards is ascended to all-star status to steam you can he can say all the politely as many times He wants our team to me and Carl same team same thing Edward steam How does that fit work out? They have a very whenever he comes back though had very little time to see how he looks again with go-bear before the playoffs The play in the offseason whatever it ends up being I think they're under a lot of pressure to write to write that not write the ship But they get the ship searing in some waters that are just not 500 Last question is now include the playoffs and obviously we don't know exactly who's gonna make playoffs in either conference Which team has the most at stake in the playoffs? I mean a bunch of candidates here. I mean I can't wait for the playoffs I think it's gonna be amazing.
There's so many great storylines You look at Phoenix and the Clippers and Miami in the Knicks But probably number one on my list here is Philly because what happens if Philly loses in the first round of playoffs Or even if they make the conference semis and the end of season on kind of a disappointing note again James Harden cannot doubt of his contract this summer What does then be do if they if their season ends in disappointment and Harden is out the door? Where do they go from here? You nailed it? My my answer says sixers slash clips, but I went sixers I just feel like all the discussion about Philadelphia has been off a little bit this season at least in the national media I Understand the skepticism that they could ever beat me a walkie or boss in a playoff series believe me I understand I've seen James Harden in elimination against I get it I've seen Joellen beat underperforming the playoffs.
I got it. I get it They are loaded for bear like they have everything they need to take a real shot at one of those teams and And The other prong of it is exactly what you just said I just don't think people have realized the downside of what could happen here if they if they limp out with their tail between Their legs again in the second round or God forbid the first round I'm assuming they're gonna win their first round series Maybe that's dumb of me But if it's for one mil walkie and Harden is like well I just didn't get the ball shot one time in a second I bald and find me and he's a free agent and he can walk away And I can tell you right now Pick any pick pick a few teams that have a lot of draft picks and stuff to trade They all are wondering exactly the question you just asked the question I asked in my column today What does Joellen beat do in that case? But that's a story for another day John think of only you have your mock draft 2024 up You have a big article about women yama with Brian wind horse up, which is super fascinating What else we got coming next week? We got we got we got rookie power rankings right before the rising stars the ruffles rising stars sounds is it ruffles kia ruffles Ruffles just sounds funny to me like the fact that we have to call like welcome back to the ruffles celebrity game sponsored by ruffles What else we got coming up from you?
Nothing next week. Thanks for getting ready for a conference tournament the NCA tournament, you know It's all happening in March and so we're just we're watching the end of this conference some play the season and just trying to figure out Which it's gonna be a work in progress for the next four months Well your work is second to none. We're lucky to have you John think of only along with the rest of your day Thank you for getting us a little time. Thanks, Zach Soccer fans your chance to witness history is here.
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