📅 Published on: 2024-12-19 00:29:16
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In this edition of Game Theory, Sam Vecenie is joined by Bryce Simon to react to the NBA Cup final between the Bucks & Thunder …
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🕵️♂️ Transcript:
hello and welcome to the game theory podcast I’m your H Sam Vini I came in a little bit hot there unfortunately on the microphone and I could feel it we will be talking about the NBA Cup finals today some Milwaukee stuff some Oklahoma City stuff we will be talking about Zack LaVine trade rumors potentially to Denver as well as Denver potentially looking into some other names as well according to Ian Begley uh they’re also considering Brandon Ingram I guess uh and then finally we’ll do an NBA draft Q&A if you are watching this live or whenever please feel free to ask ask some questions and we will answer them but first let’s hit the [Music] music they do have a timeout decide not to use it down bang bang what’s this going to be are you kidding me hello and welcome to the game theory podcast I’m your but if you watch the tape what you will see completely orchestrated this game Bry what’s going on buddy what’s up Sam Hey listen I have no problem with us coming in hot with a lot of energy I also after our last recording you finally said Bryce why don’t you just look on the bottom of your bobble head I bet the company was smart enough to put their name on their product kind of like a Nike sign Oh wrong side kind of like a Nike sign and you know all of that stuff so this is my official campaign B bobbler should be the official bobblehead bobblehead maker of the NBA and if anybody from B boober is watching can we get sasini one of these because he deserves one oh my goodness I was I couldn’t I could believe that like you hadn’t done that yet I was like wait did he has he looked at the bottom like is that possible nope uh had it for had it for over a month didn’t even cross my mind yep you know sometimes that happens why would the company put their name on the product why why would they do that who’s to say really could could it help them you know get their name out there yeah could it help them get promoted on a podcast six weeks earlier if they had just put their put their name on their product oh my God uh okay so let’s start with the NBA Cup Final the Milwaukee Bucks defeated the Oklahoma City Thunder 97 to 81 Giannis with a completely dominant performance kind of like we predicted on Sunday going into Monday by the way this podcast is a day early Bryce has some things going on tomorrow night we decided to move it up a day and you’re traveling as well a little bit here coming up so kind Short Change kindergarten through second grade girls basketball in inner Squad scrimmage that’s going on on Thursday this is a big moment for our season that doesn’t have actual games this is uh the culmination of all of our practices and it’s going to be a treat I I’m I’m gonna have to have rany record some of this so I can post on Twitter for all of the people that watch Game Theory so they can enjoy I love it I absolutely love it uh getting to higher level basketball just one level higher though uh okay so did you find this game instructive Mor phield Milwaukee who by the way has now won 13 of 16 games has for my money the guy that I would consider the league MVP right now in Giannis at this point and you know a team that won a game now without Chris Middleton who did not play in that game last night as well or for Oklahoma City who struggled I think to create really anything effective offensively in all honesty I thought Milwaukee did a great job and also just had like kind of a poor shooting night even so with that I think Milwaukee’s defense did a great job of I agre limiting penetration and thus like reducing the number of kickout Threes that were possible I think that if you look at Oklahoma City’s shot quality from three I bet it would be lower than expected just in terms of contest rate do do you do you take more away from this for Milwaukee or for Oklahoma City so I think this may be because I wasn’t a huge believer in Milwaukee but I watched them last night and I went man this was really impressive and and this has to do again with per perception and where I think teams are at and I’ve come on here and said I thought Oklahoma city was the second best team in the league and what might win the most regular season all of that Milwaukee looked really good as you mentioned without Chris Middleton and Milwaukee looked like a team who’s kind of figured out who they are and we talk about roles all the time we talked about roles with the Cleveland Cavaliers and I feel like this Bucks team has figured out their role AJ Green has a real role on this team and does it very well I’ve mentioned multiple times now Sam they remind me a little bit of the Mavs of when their other guys quote unquote other guys make threes they’re pretty good and I realized they didn’t win this game with their offense but two of five from Prince three of six from Gary Trent Jr three of five from AJ Green Gary trint Jr’s buckets were big because it kept Oklahoma City at Bay in the fourth quarter and kept this thing from getting close at any point in the fourth quarter once the Bucks really took the lead my biggest takeaway for Oklahoma City was man it where’s the offense and we should point out they’re missing one of their three best players just like you could say the Bucks are and that guy’s really important and I think would have changed the defensive stuff I know we’re going to talk about matchups and what we agreed with and what we didn’t from dagnal but Chad opens up a lot offensively for them but I don’t know that he fixes what was the concern last night with some of the creation and some of that or do you think he does just because of his floor spacing it’s it’s really interesting I do think that he would help but I think that you would need to in order to get the most out of the spacing play him without hartenstein on the court yeah and hartenstein last night was not as critical as he could have been defensively uh but was still useful on the interior he need had like 16 points or something like that his floater was rolling in the way that it typically is I think that yeah yeah so so let’s talk about Milwaukee first to answer my question I I would say Milwaukee was more impressive to me than Oklahoma City was concerning Milwaukee just being able to go out and play through Giannis the Giannis and Dame Synergy I think is something that continues to build every single game that I watch Milwaukee it does feel like they are getting better and better at playing together more and more and I I did a video last night on Giannis just kind of breaking down what made him so special in that game and obviously we can talk about the body control we can talk about the shot creation the power the strength the physicality um the fact that he’s like the modern era Shack right like we can talk about all of that but more than anything to me I thought that his passing was spectacular last night he had a triple double 10 assists I think like 19 rebounds with his 26 points and I thought that he was really effective as an overall help Defender as well yeah yes being able to play off of guys like Alex Caruso being able to play off of guys like kenr Williams Milwaukee made the calculation that Oklahoma City didn’t in this game they decided okay we’re gonna put Giannis on either Lou Dort or one of their least imposing players and just let Giannis be a crazy help Defender and it really collapsed the paint for Oklahoma City is they tried to collapse the pain right it made it way harder it made it way more congested in there which to me was kind of the deciding factor in the game because on the other side Oklahoma City despite the fact that Giannis was just bludgeoning them and beating the [ __ ] out of them on the interior never switched to that I don’t remember a moment at least where they did where they played because you and I talked about this I would have come out with someone like Dort or Jaylen Williams on Giannis the other one of those two on Brook Lopez and then hartenstein on Andre Jackson Jr and let hartenstein be the help Defender and just let Andre Jackson Jr just roam free and do whatever he wants on offense and the fact that Oklahoma City and Mark dagnal and that coaching staff never did that really like there might have been a couple possessions where he got switched but it was never like a tried andrue strategy in that game it felt like to me where it felt specific where that was the plan was very surprising to me and ultimately I think it made it really difficult on both ends because on the defensive end you don’t have the rim protection you need because Giannis is just going to be able to go through uh jayen Williams they played Caruso on Giannis at times he just blowed blew through Caruso without any issue yeah um but also so on defense or I’m sorry when Oklahoma City’s on offense you if you are taking Jackson out of the game by not guarding him on offense and they decide that they have to make a change and take Jackson off of the Court you’re making life easier for Shay gilgas Alexander yeah I thought Shay like got to his mid-range spots for the most part but I didn’t think he got as close to the basket as he consistently did like does throughout the course of his career on top of that I thought Andre Jackson made him work on defense at the very least and we can talk about three-point variants they go five for 32 they definitely miss some open shots but I felt like more than anything the biggest issue was that Milwaukee decided to collapse the paint and make it so that they didn’t quite get as many drive and kick threes that were open as say Milwaukee did with what they were running the only time S I saw Hart end up being the Lowman help guy was if if uh Andre Jackson Jr was in the weak side corner and Lopez was on the weak side Wing SGA and Hart would switch responsibilities and SGA would get Hart as the low man but I only noticed it a couple times and that’s really easy for Milwaukee to get rid like they just put Brook Lopez at the top of the key or move him somewhere else where they can’t do that correct the other thing it does is it now makes it easier for Andre Jackson Jr to match up with SGA because there’s no crossmatch on either end of the floor like we we we highlight this stuff all the time so because sgaa is also guarding Andre Jackson Jr it’s easier for Andre Jackson Jr to keep track of him when a shot goes up as opposed to if somebody else was guarding him because naturally that’s who you end up closest to not all the time but just in general so I didn’t like that matchup it didn’t make sense to me that was SGA not when it’s Giannis right like not when you need someone that’s going to contest him at The Rim correct if it’s of a different team where SGA can Roam and jump a passing lane and read eyes and stuff like that then it makes more sense I didn’t think in this specific matchup that made as much sense with the matchups yeah I I totally agree with you do you think that this game said to Oklahoma City hey we might need another Creator or do you think it says to them let’s wait until cck gets back hopefully he gets back and changes things for us so this was the first time where I at least went man what is what is something that they could go get do they need a guy that can come in and really create because I think I’ve just defaulted to SGA is one of the five best players in the league and when he’s not in the game you give the ball to Jay dub or like we’ve seen AJ Mitchell do it we’ve talked about that but AJ Mitchell’s not going to do it as a rookie in the playoffs so I think it’s a real question that I assume down in OKC they’re talking about right now and having to figure out because it was an issue last night for them so I think where I’m at is I would like to see a little bit more of them playing like really good teams before I you know make a calculated statement one way or another they did just drop 70 in the second half on a Rockets defense that is absolutely outstanding uh they dropped 118 on Dallas’s defense they dropped 116 earlier this year uh on the road against Houston another good defense but they have had these weird like sub 100 you know 100ish games from time to time like 102 against Orlando 105 against the Spurs uh you know 99 against the Suns 104 against the Spurs right right they they do have these games occasionally where it feels like they don’t have enough on ball juice if Shay doesn’t have it I do wonder if it might be beneficial for them to go get like a highlevel backup guard potentially but like it it’s funny the one that just got traded is the first one that popped into my mind like that was the first name that I thought of like oh okay he could come in and do these things as you’re scouring names I do want to at least mention because I’m sure people are they went five of 32 overall from three Shay was two of nine I thought the three-point jumper looked a little like some it almost looked like he struggled I don’t know I I I gotta watch that jumper a little bit more from three because it’s so smooth from the mid-range but Jay duub was one of four my guy Isaiah Joe was one of six Dort who has shot the ball extremely well this year from three was 0 of four I thought kenrich Williams was not good at all last night and it that was the one of my biggest things is like okay this is chat minutes and any of those minutes Caruso’s 0 of two and Caruso sneakily has not shot the ball well from three he’s at 26% and then you know KAS didn’t make one AJ Mitchell 0 for two so if they make some of these threes it’s a little bit different I don’t want to take away from the Bucks defense though you mentioned it earlier so real quick like I do think the Bucks defense contributed to this I thought they defended well they disrupted I didn’t think Oklahoma City got in a great flow consistently on the offensive end yeah I’m really interested to see their their cap Situation’s weird without giving up any of their like really good players like they could theoretically do Aaron Wiggins who barely played last night bizar did you find that interesting yeah I was shocked yeah I thought they could use offensive juice and I know they kind of change up the start lineup I don’t watch enough games backto back for them do they just have a rotation of who they start between Wallace Wiggins and Joe that every couple games they trade them out or I was a little interested by that as well that KAS listen KAS almost changed that game I took a lot of like in-depth notes in in preparation for this and then kind of hoping it was like a really close game but the after the two technical free throws and the Dame three pointer I was like okay how did the Thunder respond here SGA got a mid-range pull up there was some back and forth it got down to eight and then Wallace had a huge offensive rebound that got SGA a three Wallace got a deflection that led to SGA transition free throws and then Wallace had a cut and floater that cut the lead to five like he made some really impactful plays but I was kind of surprised he didn’t start in this game because it just it continues to give matchup versatility and the other thing was if they’re going to be so scared of Isaiah Joe guarding people that they have to double every time as much as I love him that’s an issue like the Bucks got some good looks because the OKC felt like they had to go double even on Dame even when Joe was on Dame they felt the need to go double so like if they wanted to consolidate a little bit here right no not a lot but like if they wanted to not move L Dort lud D’s the easiest functionality I I don’t think they’re gonna move L Dort they could move after January 15 Aaron Wiggins and kenri Williams together and get like I don’t know probably a player worth like 20ish million something like that I don’t know how close they are to the hard cap necessarily but Aaron Wiggins and kenri Williams combine for right around 17 million in space right so if you wanted to combine those two maybe you can throw in like an Usman Jen get up to 22 million or something if you really wanted to go get somebody like this but you know there are a couple names on the market that make sense to me like I think cam Johnson would really help them right just from like hey let’s go get a Flatout [ __ ] lights out shooter to replace Isaiah Joe in the starting lineup right bigger dude better defensively we don’t have to hide him as much defensively but again like here’s the thing about them taking expensive deals that are long-term contracts though the cam Johnson deal has three years left in that third year cam Johnson making 20 plus million dollars is probably a problem for them assuming that they keep Shay because they will have Shay like a crazy Max number they will have Chad at a Max number and they will have jdub at a Max number at that point so it becomes complicated along with Lou dorts deal along with if they extend Caruso along with the hartenstein deal in the third year right if they keep him so financially they do have to at least be cognizant of who they acquire I do wonder if they would kind of limit themselves to somebody on a two-year deal as opposed to a three-year deal just because that lines up a little bit better financially for them long term but again like what what I’ll say here is like there are a few different Avenues they could go I think they could go get like a guard shot Creator I think they could go get a like just Flatout [ __ ] shooter right the other thing that I really felt in that game last night was without Chad on the court and even with Chad to an extent Chad will go up and get lobs and stuff but not quite to the same level they don’t have a lot of like vertical Rim running pressure sure right yeah yeah yeah and you see it with the fact that they don’t draw fouls right like they’re 28th in the league in free throw right yep I feel like they don’t have that guy who can be like a real downhill Rim presence good as hartenstein is and good as the hartenstein floater is that he’s making it like [ __ ] 60% now this year I do feel like not having that Rim like attack like you know Club to pull out of the bag is is it can be like that that vertical athleticism lacking that can be an issue for them at times all right let me throw out a couple names at you sure Anthony Simons is a guy we always bring up with stuff like this yeah I don’t like the contract at this point and I don’t think he fits them because he doesn’t defend so here’s two other names then both the Utah guys seon and Clarkson or Clarkson I’ve thought a lot about Colin seon for them yeah I respect the fact that Colin tries hard on defense like he gives effort he’s a competitor that I think that they would kind of vibe with a little bit I worry that he’s not big enough or long enough like I feel like what have we been saying about Oklahoma City now for years on end right in terms of what their player acquisition strategy is it is long super high feel super high skill right yep and sexon doesn’t really have the like super high feel he’s not a the the misnomer about Colin seon is that like he can be a selfish player I don’t think he’s selfish I just don’t think he has good Vision more than anything as a passer and he’s competitor but like he doesn’t tick the size box and he doesn’t really tick the like super high feeli box either for them so I don’t really think that that’s something they would do CA cam Johnson like somewhat makes sense for them to me because he ticks the like the size skill you know decent feel for the game button but I agree I just don’t think cam Johnson necessarily fits what we’re talking about in terms of another Creator like break down the off or break down the defense pressure the rim all of that stuff which is you know go get his own bucket if they needed it that type and what if what if they did Isaiah Joe kenri Williams and two first round picks for cam Johnson basically replace Isaiah Joe with bigger Isaiah Joe I mean you’re killing me with Isaiah Joe getting moved but um like I love Isaiah Joe he’s really good I I just am I’m trying to come up with you know potential answers on some level and maybe maybe it’s like their two worst first round picks or something like that yeah um but they like the the reason it has to be two first is because like the Nets don’t have to move cam Johnson like three years left on his deal and it’s like a pretty reasonable contract so I I’m interested to see kind of what the how they go about things yeah no I mean that’s what and we’re still talking about a team that is 20 20 and five the game didn’t even count for the record last night but if we’re going to talk about the NBA cup giving us a chance to look at a different level of basketball during the regular season I do think it’s okay for us to evaluate these a little bit deeper and it seemed like Milwaukee perhaps was able to find something that could be a potential issue for this team when the playoffs come especially for a team that’s looking to make a deep playoff run that’s ultimately it for me it’s that the standard for Oklahoma City is not like this this year to me the standard for Oklahoma city is we are trying to go win a title NBA teams that win a title tend to be pretty [ __ ] close to Perfect Right In some respect or they just have like some overwhelming Superstar power in some way right Oklahoma City is an unbelievable basketball team they continue to be like defense they allowed 97 points to Milwaukee last night defense was not the issue uh they are as good a defensive team given this era as I have watched in a long long long long long time and at the end of the day though the goal is to win a title for them they they have that they’ve earned that at this point to where that should be your standard it’s not a curse it’s a gift that they have earned that respect at this point but you know if you’re going to do that you probably like I I do want wonder if they need one more thing at the end of the day and I think there are a few different ways they can go about it no team is better equipped to go get that one more thing than the Oklahoma City Thunder that’s the thing they have a million picks here moving forward and it wouldn’t really hinder them the only thing is like would it hinder their cap flexibility long term and would they have to figure out future Solutions I mean that can just be future s presty problems too right yeah yep okay uh that’s all I’ve got on the NBA cup the Bucks look great I mean we talked about them a little bit here but you know I did a whole thing on the Bucks last night I don’t know that I need to shout out Doc Rivers I thought he out coached agal last night shout out Damen Lillard did an amazing uh amazing uh job playing second fiddle to Giannis last night shout out AJ Green and Andre Jackson Jr as well I think they played a critical role Brook Lopez’s uh ability to pull Isaiah hartstein away from the rim was enormous as you brought up earlier um they they look great right now you know they’ve won 13 of 16 and their roll on yeah I mean we talked about it and early on in the season it didn’t look as good but we talked about the minimum signings they made I mentioned Gary Trent Jr earlier I realized he’s still not shooting great overall from the field but he’s up to almost 40% from three and I think for what this team needs what they’ve kind of fallen into now if they can bring him in Off the Bench and he can make two or three threes and and provide floor spacing torian Prince is still shooting over 50% from three and AJ Green is really good Sam like I I had some notes in here on him where it’s like okay he’s like held up okay on SGA there he went for the shot fake but he stayed in front forces a tough Baseline fade away and then the confidence offensively with a jump shot is just ridiculous and you can see that they have confidence in him they hunt him out and seek him out as an offense to get him attempts so they found something there with AJ Green and I I again I feel like they found their role they found their rotation and and yeah it they they were really impressive a team that I don’t always enjoy aesthetically watching whatever I enjoyed watching the way they went about their business and J Giannis is I mean you said it h it’s funny sometimes when we’re on the same wavelength I was thinking last night like they’ve won enough games why is he not the MVP of the league with how many games they’ve won now and so at this point with the number he’s putting up and the way they’ve responded to the early struggles he’s been incredible yeah yeah I agree with you we got to shout out some of our good friends that sponsor the show first though shout out to the good folks over at prize pick prize pick is the best place to get real money Sports Action with over 10 million members and billions of dollars in awarded winnings prize picks has made daily fantasy sports accessible to 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Robin Hood gold provides the Privileges of the high net worth for any net worth for just $5 per month the new gold standard is here with Robin Hood gold sign up at robinhood.com Gold terms apply for product specific disclosures visit robinhood.com gold investing involves risk rate may change gold membership is offered by Robin Hood gold LLC okay second topic of the day we want to jump in and talk about the Zack LaVine situation with Denver situation seems right last night good friend of the program Tony Jones as well as Sam amck over at the athletic reported that with the NBA’s trade window opening this past weekend and with trade deadline less than two months away the nuggets are canvasing the league in support or in pursuit of a player that can offer significant help offensively as a result the nuggets have either expressed interest in or have had preliminary trade discussions on the following players Zack LaVine Jordan P Jordan Clarkson DeAndre Hunter Cam Johnson and Jonas Valen Junes League sources say the focus on LaVine in recent discussions is significant with the Nuggets interested in the 29-year-old who is averaging 21.7 points 4.4 rebounds and 4.2 assists per game this season Bryce what is your immediate thought on a Zack LaVine fit in Denver yeah so one Jonas valunas being on that list was an interesting little last name um I think that’s more a statement of Dario sarich not getting it done not getting it done no um yeah DeAndre Jordan getting all those minutes right now that that getting everything out of them that they can I like the idea um I’m I’m probably higher on Zack LaVine than most people are at this point I think he’s been really good this year Sam I know we’ve talked about it we we did the trade kind of before December 15th primer of of who we thought could be traded and make an impact the dude’s at 50 4380 right now and he’s creating a little bit he’s rebounding I went back through my notes every single game it says the same thing is I like his offensive process right now I don’t think he’s forcing things I think he’s letting the game come to him he can break down the defense but most importantly I’ve watched him go nuclear multiple times including six threes against a not worst team in the NBA Detroit Pistons and he just he can really score it’s so nice to be able to talk about him like they’re a competent basketball team and what other teams do what other teams do against them actually matters it’s like oh leavine hit 63’s on the Pistons it’s the pist like no it’s the 11 and 16 Pistons who beat the heat twice in overtime this year but like he I I don’t know maybe I’m maybe I’m falling for something I shouldn’t hear but I think he’s really good and I think he would be awesome playing off of jic like just playing off of the shot making the spacing The Cutting all of that I’m not saying he’s great defensively I would not say that but in their game against the Hornets he at least took the Brandon Miller matchup I I just I I love the idea now I know we have to like actually get into what the trade would be and that’s an entirely different conversation but the idea of Zack LaVine on the Nuggets playing off of jic is very intriguing to me so if we’re talking purely about a joic LaVine combination I love it I think it makes so much sense and I think those two would play off of each other incredibly well I also am somebody who thinks Zack LaVine has been pretty underrated really throughout the basically since he signed that extension right so I did trade deadline Big Board this week over at the athletic I had Zack LaVine at number two had him ahead of Cam Johnson had him ahead of Brandon Ingram for my money LaVine is the best player on this list other than Jimmy Butler he has been unbelievable like you said 22 50 43 80 I don’t love the decision making as a passer I still think that some of that stuff is there I think you see it particularly in end of game situations for Chicago where it does go a little bit herob Bali at times and there can be some contested shots and I I don’t think that Zach has the best Vision in the world again I don’t think he’s a selfish player I just don’t think he has great vision necessarily I also think the defense is a little bit of a misnomer with Zach like he’s actually pretty okay on the ball and has been for a few years now last last let’s throw away last year last year was like a total cluster [ __ ] and he had the knee injury and everything and barely played and I think when he played he was not awesome on defense but this year and the year before that I actually think the on ball defense has been pretty okay it’s that off the well he does tend to get lost a little bit and will like disengage a touch from time to time and can get beat that way a little bit so this is where I think that the structure of this has to kind of be discussed and come into play right LaVine makes $ 43.1 million over the next two years he will make $95 million I think it’s like 46 and then 49 basically really functionally the only way in season for Denver to do a Zack LaVine deal is by including Michael Porter Jr and I don’t think to me that’s almost solving one issue in terms of like shot creation and opening up another issue because to me so maybe I should mention this the reason that it can only be Michael Porter Jr I mean in theory or jic I guess but that’s obviously not happening the reason that it basically has to be Porter is because both Aaron Gordon and Jamal Murray cannot be traded due to their extensions they signed extensions in September and I think October respectively and because of that they are ineligible to be traded before the deadline that means that really their only functional way to make a move for Zack LaVine is with Michael Porter Jr and the money is easy you can do Michael Porter Jr and Zack LaVine or uh and Zeke Nai for Zack LaVine and the money matches up basically perfectly but I actually think that for what Denver needs and what Denver does defensively the Michael Porter Jr who is not some incredible Defender to be clear I think that his size though yeah makes him probably a little bit more functional defensively in playoff settings and also gives them a little bit more versatility on how they can maneuver around Christian Brown and Aaron Gordon particularly onto more difficult matchups like if you have Murray and LaVine out there it’s really hard against Oklahoma City for instance along with whoever their fifth starter will be it’s really hard to move Aaron Gordon up the lineup to guard sh at that point because then you’re creating like a bit of a front Court Gap right where then you have either LaVine or Murray probably guarding you know maybe it’s Christian Brown I guess right uh I guess they probably their fifth starter probably would be Christian Brown you would then have Christian Brown guarding Jaylen Williams and then what do you do with Chad at that point right so I don’t I I think that Porter gives Gordon real flexibility matchup wise defensively that Denver actually really needs so I personally don’t love the idea of moving Porter for LaVine I like the idea of something you said to me last night texting about this I like the idea of can you move Murray at some point like I like the idea of M like LaVine replacing Murray yeah but is Murray’s contract something that will be an asset in the summer I don’t really think so like I I’m I’m a little bit skeptical of that but I I don’t love Murray and LaVine together I love LaVine I think LaVine at this point frankly might be a better player than Murray so he un where I sit on it a little bit he has unquestionably been this year I I shouldn’t say I I hate I hate when people say un question I think he has been better than Jamal Murray this season just based off what I’ve watched based off how I’m worried about Jamal Murray’s ability to create separation and create a shot diet even if Zack LaVine takes really difficult shots his athleticism still allows him to get better and cleaner looks than what I think Murray does now there would be some creation questions that Murray has a little bit more than LaVine but right now LaVine is shooting way better from the field in from three than what Murray is the counter is Zack LaVine is 29 years old Murray’s only 27 both I think some have some some injury questions the other thing I’ll say on the Michael Porter Jr this is a team that is 24th in defensive rebound percentage you want to guess who their second best defensive rebounder is according to the numbers it’s Michael Porter Jr yeah like people may say Aaron Gordon the numbers Say by almost one and a half defensive rebounds per game it’s actually Michael Porter Jr and while LaVine is athletic that’s not something he does incredibly well he averages four but twoyear length and just kind of size argument that’s why I think it’s a little bit of a different conversation as well yeah the rebounding is a really good point as well um that makes a lot of a lot of sense to me too um if I was Denver so let’s kind of pivot here because the other name that Ian Begley brought up and I’ll bring that up um he brought up Brandon Ingram I I am why I’m like somewhat I’m somewhat more interested just due to the size but like Brandon is also a bad like Brandon’s a worse Defender than LaVine I think at this point if I’m being honest and this would be the same that a lot of like and you know part of what makes Porter work so well is that ability to play both on and off the ball um particularly off the ball part of why I like LaVine is that he’s capable of playing both on and off the ball Brandon Ingram doesn’t really play off the ball well so I feel like you’re just going to be putting the ball in his hands more so while I like the defense I think that the defensive like flexibility issues you know become a little bit easier to solve sure sure yeah I get that just the size I actually don’t think he’s a great joic fit at the end of the day yeah I mean again so now my my thing would be you’re taking your best three-point shooter off the team at least on volume Julian schler shooting it really well and Addie you know substituting him with Brandon Ingram where I like the idea of Brandon Ingram on some of these teams if I knew and I don’t know Brandon Ingram I don’t know what he wants or who he wants to be or how he wants to play but if he was more willing to take these catch and shoe off the ball and he is shooting the highest volume of three-point attempts of his career so far this year again another player we’re talking about here that has some injury concerns as well to go along with everything and on top of his you have a contract situation you have to figure out with him also like lavine’s contract isn’t great but you at least know exactly what you’re getting into with that so I don’t love the bi one as well unless you told me he was really going to buy into I I guess I just don’t Envision like bi cutting off the ball to the you know catching these back doors from joic and stuff like that maybe I’m short changing how good he could be off the ball um but I don’t love that I hope I’m not overvaluing Michael Porter Jr right now I think maybe if anything I’m overvaluing the importance of Michael Porter Jr to the nuggets and maybe maybe that’s a miscalculation on my part and kind of what he provides them and how he fits in all of this so is there a idea that you can think of to to me if I was Denver what I would be looking to do is to split the Michael Porter Jr deal into smaller pieces like a couple of like $5 million players as opposed to one $43 million player by also adding in the Nai deal is there anything you can think of that kind of works in that regard like one idea that I kind of thought of was is there a world where Atlanta would do something like Larry Nance Jr and DeAndre hunter hunter or something like that like with that with that track Hunter’s been awesome so then what so now you you replace mpj with Hunter and hope what you’ve seen from him scoring wise continues and then along with that you get this backup big that that you really really covet who like Larry n Jr would be so much fun playing off of joic too like yeah I real I realize that’s he well and now actually thinking about this a little bit smarter I guess if you’re doing Atlanta and sending Porter to Atlanta could you get Bogden bden and do the Serbia connection and get Porter which they want to go bigger and longer across the wings you could do basically like Dyson Porter riss aay Jaylen Johnson that would be aot acoss the wings I’m not gonna lie that would be fun like that’s that’s actually kind of interesting to me I’m point I’m in on that for Atlanta that would be fun uh it it kind of works for Denver too doesn’t it no I like it for Denver also because if I’m Denver then I’m taking a chance on DeAndre being this dude or even if you just get one like even if he just plays the rest of this year like the way how he’s playing right now and not he hasn’t been a bad player like don’t get me wrong he’s just shooting ridiculous right now but I mean he’s a career 37% three-point shooter it’s not like he’s been bad consistently 15 points a game and then you know bogdon is gonna play really well with Y yeah I this one’s interesting I I like this more than the other two things we’ve talked about I think it’s more realistic and I could see you could see Atlanta talking themselves into this right like the idea of another rangy Wing that really spaces the floor and makes sent like he does what those other two guys struggle with right now in in Zach and and even Jaylen as much as I love Jaylen you know like that’s a nice little fit for him in there yeah interesting okay I’m kind of works a little bit for atanta and so it’s it’s if you do Bogden it doesn’t work if you do DeAndre and Larry Nance I think it does work um you’d have to add in some money here or there basically from Atlanta to Denver in order to make you know this work for Bogden uh you know maybe it’s Kobe buffkin or something you know Denver takes a flyer on him but like if I’m if I’m Atlanta like I don’t know that I need Michael Porter that badly right but I actually do think there’s real Synergy between these two teams where maybe instead of Larry Nance maybe it’s a Kong wo right and that’s your backup big but I don’t think that really works because he can’t like I I don’t think he can play with joic like that doesn’t that doesn’t really track for me all that well defensively for that team but some something surrounding like one of DeAndre I mean look you could also just do like DeAndre and Bogden but that feels like a little bit too much for Porter to me but if you did Nance and then one of those two and then like one other thing or maybe you rope in a third team and you know figure all that out right that kind of that kind of tracks to me a little bit yeah so that’s what if I was Denver I’d want to try to find a way to get both so how do I sweeten it to get both yeah they just don’t have any sweeteners is the issue like you’d have to throw in one of Str Watson or whoever and at that point you’re you know taking away from your current rotation to add you know to your rotation right so yeah look I actually think an Atlanta thing makes more sense if I’m being honest like if you could do Porter for Bogden Nance and something else I think that that kind of works better I I like this idea for Denver to add like you say I I like the idea of moving on from Porter to split it into two pieces more than I do I think some of the other ones we’ve like just the LaVine the mill who are the other names uh not Miller Ingram Jordan pool who what were the other names in the Clarkson um it was LaVine P Clarkson DeAndre Hunter Cam Johnson yonas sty shuna okay yeah okay yeah I mean look like you there are way there are functional ways for them to go get like multiple of these guys I was trying to figure out like could you maybe do like DeAndre Hunter to Detroit Bogden to Denver you know Nance to Denver then like Detroit sends like a couple of things including like maybe fono to Denver in order to get DeAndre Hunter yeah I mean he would be a really nice piece for them right like that that kind of works so the Nuggets would have to send out like one of their you know jayen picket types to Detroit I think to make something like that work right I’m trying to mess around with it on mine to yeah I’m like trying to figure it out shout out to Keith Smith building out this uh SPO track uh deal here where there’s just quite a bit of functionality yeah in this I guess that you know maybe you could send Zeke Nagi to Detroit or something like that and try to make this work too but it it I’m like trying to think there’s got to be a three- team deal here somewhere where the Nuggets can get a few guys and Atlanta can get Michael Porter Jr given the reason that I think Atlanta would like Michael Porter Junior a just they’re everything that they’re doing right now team building wise say that they’re trying to put a bunch of big wings around Trey young number one I know you have ret I know you have Jaylen Johnson I think that Porter can just with those guys along with tyon Daniels you need across the two through four you need what 44 minutes every night so if you have those four guys for that amount of time and they’re all 26 and under like Porter is and uh like Trey is like that tracks for me that makes a ton of sense and that would be really fun um Denver would be getting would be splitting up its asset into multiple pieces which is what really needs right now and they’d probably have to rope in a third team to get a third piece just financially if you wanted to do it with Bogden um if not you could just do it with DeAndre but yeah to me like Atlanta with Michael Porter Jr makes a lot of sense and the other thing with Porter that we do have to talk about here just briefly is this is a guy that had a lot of injury questions coming into the NBA has missed the season due to a back injury I do wonder what the Medicals look like at the very least yeah so yes one shout out Keith Smith again spot track what I love is I don’t have to hit like submit on the trade like it just automatically updates and tells me whether things are successful or not and I don’t have to like go to a new page like that uh but yeah like I mean I was able to get it successful I Denver’s not getting enough here but by sending Porter to the Atlanta Hunter to Detroit Nance Jr and fonio to the nuggets and that worked I even added in Beasley just to see like if you added some money to Denver if it worked and that still worked so interesting there’s something that could work there yeah but it it just feels like there’s Synergy there between kind of all of those pieces unless maybe Atlanta’s just like we don’t want the injury risk that is Michael Porter Jr but I don’t know maybe Brooklyn as well with Porter because the thing that we always talk about with if you’re going to move cam Johnson right is having Shooters around young players is really important yeah at the end of the day having guys who can space the court for young guys to grow into their star power uh is essential and that might actually really help I think Brooklyn and help jump start things for them even though they’ll be paying Porter like significant money here for the next couple of years I can see it but to me for that to work they’d have to move cam Johnson elsewhere and be like just get getting a bunch of assets uh kind of across the board to do so yep okay Denver final point on this I like that they’re trying to do something yeah because it does feel like to me that they don’t have enough to win a title right now and again for them with jic the best player in the world you know him or Giannis whoever you want to say I think that their standard should absolutely be let’s go win a title at the end of the day absolutely I mean when you have joic you have to every year has to be that so I like this as well that that they’re willing to look at something because it doesn’t look like that’s where they’re at right now yep okay before we get into the NBA draft question and answer section this episode is brought to you by better help the holidays are here and there’s nothing better than spending time with your family while being cozy and watching a movie on the couch another way to bring yourself some comfort is with therapy therapy is a way to make sure that Comfort never goes away here’s a reminder to be good to yourself and keep that cozy feeling of the holidays year round I’m someone who’s absolutely gone to therapy in the past it really really helps it helps you understand yourself helps you you kind of learn what boundaries to put on your brain how to uh impact your mental health there are so many different ways that therapy can be beneficial to all of us really uh if 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tuger Houston sure JoJo tuger is insane that dud defensiv I don’t know yeah like I don’t know if he can offense but he’s he is the best defender in the country I feel like we had this conversation last year but yeah yeah like that we thought that the future was that he would be the best defender in the country I thought like maybe he would be a I thought he was three and done he had the foot injury last year and I thought that because of the foot injury he’d probably be a little bit um a little bit slower to devel this year what I meant is we had we were saying these same things about a different Prospect in last year’s class in Ryan dun Ryan Dunn yeah that’s true that’s true like I’m pretty sure and Ryan Dunn we said can he offense I don’t know but he’s awesome defensively and to me JoJo is kind of the guy that’s like man the defense is awesome the defense is insane like there’s a play against Alabama where I think I sent this to you where he like blocks a shot at The Rim kind of falls out of bounds a little bit Alabama like swings it around to Mark Sears on the left wing he’s coming from like the right side of the Court out of bounds somehow xes out all the way back to the three-point line on the opposite side of the court and blocks the shot yeah like ground we talk about ground coverage all the time I don’t think there’s anybody else in college basketball that can cover that kind of ground tuger is 6 foot eight he plays for Houston he has like a 7 foot6 Wings span and you feel it out there like you when you watch him you know that this is like one of the longest players college basketball he cannot offense right now like you bring up Ryan Dunn like I think Dunn had more perimeter skill than what tuger did last or does right now so that that is a real worry to me but to me like who’s the guy that I have the most fun watching I think tuger would be my answer right now yeah no he he is a lot of fun like I said siif creates so much separation I really enjoy him guys that I’m really enjoying evaluating and kind of trying to figure out watch their growth uh rer Fleming at St Joseph’s who kind of have a interesting match up tonight as he plays oh my bad my bad the next question okay there we go let’s just jump in from AA how do you feel on rasher Fleming and Drake Powell Christ I’ll give you the floor on rasher Fleming like I’ll just be straight up I think I’m alone in this I think rasher Fleming has a real chance to be a first round pick like I I think he has that kind what i r you’re in the the first round on the big board I did last like what okay my bad two or three weeks ago okay let me can I give the truth I try not to look at your stuff too much fa because because I don’t want us to be like okay we’re just gonna say all the same things yeah I I do sometimes but I lots of times it’s like just to see a few things and I I look at others people’s to like huh why do they have somebody so high why do they have somebody so low I better go watch but I don’t want to do too much of yourself it’s not like I don’t support you or the athletic whatever obviously I do so I didn’t I didn’t realize so I think richir fliming is really good and especially right now because he’s shooting the ball what I was gonna say was he plays my alma mater tonight American University so it’s going to be a little bit tough um like I hope he goes for 20 and 20 but uh hopefully the the squad can keep it close so I’m very high on rasher Fleming I think he has the wingspan he has the athleticism yeah like he’s he’s got a lot of tools he’s put some more of the other stuff together there’s still some things that have to come his clothes outs are quite poor right now he got to get better with it I say it nicely he has to be better consistently on the boards but I think he has a real chance in this draft to be a first round pick he’s more of a big right now than he is a wing I think and he has the athleticism I think to potentially shift to the wing eventually which is interesting to me given that he’s like 68 or whatever with like a 73 wingspan like if you could unleash him defensively on like real wings because he improves his balance and can scramble around defensively and do different things like that I’m like really interested yeah at that point like really really interested but right now like there’s a fine line in terms of like frame between Montes Herold and OG and anobi sure like if if you look at their measurements they’re actually not that different I think an anobi might be like an inch taller but like both 230 pounds you know 73 wingspans 67 to 68 like in that ballpark without shoes Fleming is like kind of in the middle of those two to me athletically where like has the explosive pop yes like as a leaper but like some of the balance stuff throws me off a little bit from time to time and I I don’t know what to do with it yet and I wonder like is that fixable like what is what’s doable there kind of I would agree with that like there’s definitely some things where at times it’s like he’s losing control of his body just a little bit but there’s also times where I think he’s losing control and then he’ll do something off the bounce offensively where I’m like okay there’s the skill level that is more than just like a forward SLB big type of player he can be this wingy uh archetype so I’m really intrigued uh the the A10 obviously put out a first- round pick last year that’s a good conference he’s going to get tested throughout the whole thing and so far he’s he’s really played well so I anticipate nothing but but him to continue to do the same uh really excited obviously obviously a big fan yeah and I’ll take Drake Powell here as of right now I don’t think Drake Powell’s a one and done yeah I’ll just flat out say it I don’t think he can offense at the level necessary yet uh over his last four games after that really fun like pseudo breakout against Michigan State where he had what is it uh 18 points in that overtime game and went seven of nine and four of six from three uh he had six points against Alabama a goose egg against Georgia Tekken 15 minutes seven points against Lal and then last night he played 13 against Florida and went one of five and had two points uh and then the games before that Michigan State game two points against Auburn six points against Dayton had two points in 20 minutes against Kansas I I just don’t think he’s a one and done based off of what I’ve seen I would just say where I have him on my board like I still have him on my board but a a freshman isn’t going to come out based on where I have him on my board or most freshman W it so I I’m with you I’m leaning towards him not being a oneandone at this point yeah I I would not have have him in my top 50 right now I do not have him in my top 50 so that’s kind of yeah okay Noah Casper any thoughts on learon phylon at Alabama Bryce yeah I wish okay um I love the low center of gravity has some twitch and athleticism uh at one point he was rebounding the ball really well still not bad yeah especially offensively one and a half um I liked a lot of things about him I wish he could shoot like that’s that’s my hang up right now with him offensively it’s a little show slow on the catch and shoot the percentages aren’t good right now the free throw percentage up to 74% three three point percentage hasn’t been great um defensively I think he still has some refining to do like physically tools but tools yeah and toolsy on like it was uh I watched the Purdue game and he was like guarding Braden Smith and the effort was awesome but you could tell like he just wasn’t quite as refined to navigate every ball screen and stuff like that and then yeah like physically he’s got to continue to to fill out his FR all of that but I’m intrigued I like him I also really like him I am like a little bit immune right now to Young point guards who really can’t shoot yeah I think it’s one of the hardest translations to make early in your career in the NBA especially ones that are like physically underdeveloped at this point I think that phon is almost certainly going to be one of the 30 best prospects in the 2025 NBA draft uh I think there’s pretty good chance he’s one of the 20 best prospects in the 2025 NBA draft I still kind of wonder if it would behoove him to return to Alabama actually for a year even if that’s true because the goal isn’t to just like get an NBA you know rookie scale first round contract the goal is to stick right and I do worry that he would be starting his clock in terms of his contract a little bit before he’s ready to play in the NBA uh he really can’t shoot right now like that that is the issue he’s shooting 24% from three uh doesn’t feel like he’s super confident taking them from three right now but I love the downhill pressure I love the aggression I love the athleticism I think he can pass the ball at a high level uh he’s he’s a real dude I just worry that the skill level maybe hasn’t caught up yet and it might behoove him to return for another year in order to just kind of start his career later especially like learon phon is a million-dollar player next year in college basketball like if he was to return there is like no no question like Alabama somewhere else I would hope he stays at Alabama because the scheme is perfect for him Mark series will be gone at that point like he he’s a million-dollar player in college basketball next year so like he doesn’t have to worry about money at that point I wonder if you know some of these kids like I feel the same way about Jeremiah fears right yeah I just wonder if particularly the smaller lead guards if it behooves them to stay in college and develop a little bit longer and thus like if I was on the team side like drafting them I would wonder if I could get them on the second go round as opposed to like having to draft them in the top 20 yeah and he we’ve talked about this with small guard like this is something you’ve talked about quite a bit we should also like he is shooting while the three-point percentage he is shooting 66% inside the three-point line his two-point percentage is really good I think his hesitation is legit I think he has good touch in the lane obviously if you’re shooting that inside the lane but yeah it’s one of those things you can get away with this a little bit more in college you get to the league you have to really be able to shoot it even as an on ball player especially out of ball screens and and those situations and it’s like okay well if it’s going to take you a little while are you better spending another year developing it in college so yeah okay from Jose Gonzalez is there a chance Trey Johnson could sneak into the top five also does he seem to be a better scorer than Ace Bailey I am not the biggest Trey Johnson guy I will say that um I would be interested to hear Bryce’s take though do wait did which part did you answer that he’s a better scorer than Ace Bailey um I didn’t answer either of those I just kind of said that uh I’m not necessarily the biggest uh Trey guy to be honest uh look I don’t really see a world where I have where I personally have Trey ahead of Cooper Dylan joerger yaka shones or Ace Bailey but I mean like another team like could could a different evaluator feel differently maybe but what do you think of Trey and then I’ll kind of talk about what some of my concerns are yeah I okay so I don’t think I would see him him getting into that top five either right now um he is a bucket getter his shot diet is you know we talk about Ace’s shot diet being difficult I think Trey’s shot diet is pretty difficult as well I love his ability to make shots but I worry about his ability to create easier looks and to me that’s a bigger issue for what are we going to call Trey Johnson 65 yeah probably something like that without shoes yeah and he is skin as well but listen he has the versatility he has the soft touch he can use the glass like he makes NBA buckets I’ve seen him like take up you know the moment of the game and isn’t all of that I’m a little nervous about like how athletic how Twitchy he is those type of things so I don’t see it getting into the top five and like I realize his percentages are better than Ace right now but just in terms of like Translating that to the NBA some of those size things worry me more with Tre so Trey had that crazy blistering start against Ohio State Houston Christian Chicago State and Mississippi Valley right shot like a billion percent from three made at least three threes in all of those games hit five threes in two of those games right uh over his last six games he’s averaging 17 and a half points on a 51.4 true shooting percentage shooting 41.5% from the field 31.6% from three 88.2% from the line but doesn’t really get to the line all that often because so much of it is pullup stuff uh that includes Syracuse St Joe’s NC State uh Yukon in that sample as well so decent teams there in terms of everything else really like I think Trey is a player that it’s weird we talked about like Colin seon earlier right and the fact that I don’t think he’s selfish I just think he doesn’t have great vision I actually think Trey has pretty decent Vision he just doesn’t use it all that often like when you watch him like you will see him make some interesting creative passes uh if he’s going downhill toward the rim like he’ll hit like a dump off from time to time that’s like pretty interesting but he just doesn’t utilize that enough and like going back to his time at link like going back to like the rest of his career to this point like he’s never really consistently utilized the passing in a way that makes me believe it will be utilized as he moves up levels and it gets harder right like it doesn’t get easier to make passing reads for your teammates um yeah defensively I actually think he knows where he has to be like he has like he helps the helper he consistently is in uh decent spots he’s just not disruptive at all defensively like you don’t feel him all that much so Trey’s a hard one for me Trey Trey is a very hard one for me because like I can pretty easily see a world where like Khan canle because Khan can really pass it and Khan is a much better Defender than what Trey Johnson is like if he starts to shoot it well which I think we all think KH will shoot it at some point like I could pretty easily see him jumping Trey just like same position same style player like kind of just a more well-rounded game at that point so I I look I have try ahead of him right now because he’s just been better this year than what Khan has but look I’ve traed like right around the 10 mark on my board right now I’m a little bit lower I think than what the consensus is but you know it’s because if the shot isn’t falling like he’s it’s hard for him to make an impact doesn’t get to the line not a super disruptive Defender and just like doesn’t pass all that often has a one to one turnover ratio these guys are kind of like it’s very Malik Beasley you know he’s a little bit more juice than what Beasley did off the bounce but like you have to have so much juice that you can be a number one or a number two or a number three three on an NBA team and that requires you to be one of the 70 best players in the world at some point it’s [ __ ] hard it’s a hard standard and if you don’t hit that standard like the floor bottoms out in a big way yeah so he’s he’s tricky to me he he is a he has to be like a cam johns or Cam Thomas level scorer and I I think cam is just a better scorer than he is if I’m being honest like I think cam separated better I think Cam’s like Cadence and uh footwork was better uh like I just think I trust Cam’s ability to separate more than Trey yeah I have Trey at 10 as well on my board right now so that’s again like he can really score it he’s made some big shots it’s really intriguing but I I think to get into the top five would I don’t know I’d have to see some of the defensive stuff or he all of a sudden starts putting the passing with the scoring to really feel like he’s like a number one option type of player two-way player something like that yeah um last question here from Dave mcnulla over on blue sky blue sky shout out Blue Sky for San Antonio’s potential Chicago pick supposing it conveys who do you like for them in that 10 to 14 zone so I picked this question in large part because I am interested in talking with you about that section of the draft okay uh so right now in that 10 to 14 section I have Trey Johnson I have KH canle I have Jace Richardson I have Derek Queen um it bottoms out in a big way for me after that I have like 15 16 guys that I have first round grades on right now not many beyond that how are you feeling about that area of the draft the 10 to 14 maybe even just like the late Lottery uh portion awful so I had this I was talking to a scout today and it’s like I feel like everybody’s you know raving about this draft and I’m like it’s driving me crazy it’s driving me it’s driving me insane this is a the top five is really good yes Cooper is there Dylan’s there I really like jger probably more than most people do and I really like casparus and Ace is a fascinating wild card to me that you know could be a star could be Michael Porter Jr you know whatever it is also Cooper is not like Victor as a prospect like he’s good but he’s not that good and after that like it it gets I don’t want to say dire but like it it it gets rough in a hurry so that that’s exactly what I told somebody today and here’s what I’ve realized is that people only judge drafts off the very top like off the you know last year was an awful draft because the guy wasn’t at the top and you know that’s fair but it was like okay well maybe there’s some guys down the line later in the first round that could still be interesting and then you know the draft you just mentioned was so I I’m struggling to fill out a first round we’ve talked about this you know like if if you get to my number 10 player last year which was Devin Carter and number 10 this year which is Trey Johnson I loved Devin Carter love Devin Carter so in that sense I don’t know that I think this year’s draft is that much better whenever you get to number 10 this year versus number 10 last year you know like so it’s I I hope people it’s a good opportunity to I think like maybe temper people’s expectations of like it’s not like it’s a loaded class of 30 first round talents and if you’re picking at the end of the lottery I’m not saying there won’t be a guy there right because Jared McCain went 16 to the Sixers so it’s like you know like you can obviously find guys um okay so the name what do we think San Antonio needs like I instantly look at their cap sheet real real quick here before we move on there like some of the names that I see people put there that I’m just like lower on right okay I’ve seen will Riley name put there will Riley you know is a guy that I’m again people got real excited about the shooting early on and I said like look I’ve seen him get smoldering hot and I’ve also seen him like Miss 10 in a row like pretty easily do you know what he’s made from three over the course of his last five games Bryce uh not yeah Will riy is not in my lottery I can say that that yeah pretty strongly will riy has made four for 26 of his last uh of his threes in the last five games and 0 of 12 in his last three yeah uh he is like decidedly a streaky shooter like I said coming into the year and he also doesn’t defend either so what do you do with that and to be honest with you Bryce like I still have him at the edge of the first round even because I can’t find 30 guys so like okay let let let me throw some name um yeah Noah essenay is a name he has been great recently in Germany but you know that’s the ballpark where I have them right now because I’m interested for sure what about common because I’ve even cooled way on common compared to where I had him at one point don’t don’t have him there you um what about Boogie um look it’s just small to H it’s hard to have a small player in that kind of Zone but you know I have Boogie as a first rounder for sure I I appreciate that he can at least like separate and create his own shot and I love that that dude seems really tough like plays bigger than his size I don’t think he’s six foot two if I’m being honest like we’ll see what he comes in at measurement wise but like the the Michigan game like he didn’t even shoot super well in the Michigan game but I thought he was really impressive in the Michigan game I like Boogie uh Colin Murray Bo in that range for me but like I don’t know what the position is if I’m being honest cariban good good player though I have caraban in that range and caraban hasn’t been great and then Hugo finally got some time two games ago played well played very well in this range too I do I liked that was a good game for me to watch in terms of understanding Hugo and getting excited about Hugo again that was he played well in that game uh couple names yeah so I have asce a little bit ahead of these guys yeah um and I have Liam mcney like in the top 10 I’m way too high on Liam McNelly so like obviously um the the other name that I’ll throw out there that I kind of dig and think is interesting is no aenda with Lem man um over in France where do you have him he keeps moving up my board I have him at 23 I like Noah Pinda yeah I think he’s good good you big body dude who knows how to play basketball like just really sharp like six foot s and 220 pounds 225 230 pounds whatever he is physical strong like I’ll in this draft like if he goes in the lottery it wouldn’t surprise me at this point but yeah starts for Lam man and has played well so it it’s I say this to say it’s really hard to find names right now outside of that top like 20 especially um in terms of San Antonio and this will be where you know maybe we call it because you have to get out of here in four minutes yeah uh San Antonio I like I kind of dig Jace Richardson if they’re just gonna go like you know hey let’s just get the guys who know how to play around Victor and let that rock that still seems super early to me for jce Richardson if they if they could get K canle like that’ be really fun I think just another shooter who knows how to play I think that would work well um how how do you feel about the Derek Queen Victor combo go crazy Derek Queen Jeremy Sohan Victor wanyama let’s fig figure it out let’s see seems like a terrible idea but I would like to see it like one of those things that I know in my brain it’s a real [ __ ] terrible idea but I I would love to see it on the court I mean siif is is this range right yeah for sure serif would make sense to me Liam would make sense to me um yeah like it it’s so let’s I assume most like the the go-to with with Vic is always shooting right and then you have Sohan who doesn’t really shoot it you have Castle now on the roster who’s G to be a player for him doesn’t shoot it great so who do who do you think is the best shooter let’s take Liam and can nipple off the board because those are the Trey Johnson’s in this range for me too so probably Trey Trey yeah um but like they’re three Shooters in this range for them by the way like they have their own pick in this range too potentially yeah true so like that’s a whole other thing uh if and look like I don’t think that frankly like I know shago right now is outside of the top 10 or like right on that borderline uh I don’t think that pick’s going to convey but I think San Antonio is probably gonna end up right in this like8 to 14 range anyway with their own pick so San Antonio should be watching these guys anyway yeah yep so yeah okay Bryce I don’t really have anything for like recommendation corner here uh this morning I I watched the Kieran culen Coleman uh Domingo actors on actors like interview where they interview each other and Kieran Culkin’s just delightful it’s like literally a buddy cop thing where Kieran culen is explaining like how he literally never wakes up at the same time every day and Coleman Domingo wakes up at like 4:30 in the morning every day and is like the most like you know regimented human being and Kieran Culkin’s like yeah I don’t do any of that [ __ ] like it’s incredible like their energies match really well and I found the whole thing just really really interesting because I think they’re both like incredible actors but I like I’m in the middle of reading this like weird book right now that you know maybe on Sunday I’ll let people know uh if it was good or not and then uh I haven’t watched any movies I might watch some movies eventually today now that we don’t have basketball I have nothing I watched the Yellowstone season finale and that’s been it yeah because I had already watched red one before the last recording yeah you’re you’re ready for the uh the rip and Kelly Riley spin-off I’m sure I I saw that that had been reported so um yeah we’ll see listen you know how many shows we’ve started and got like three episodes in and then finished and uh I’m sure kids hard yeah like you get a few free hours you lock into it you think you’re going to be able to finish it and then you end up never getting a few free hours again so and by the time you do you forgot everything and so you move on to something else all right Bryce tell the people where they can find your work tell the people what’s going on yeah at Motor City Hoops on Twitter and over on blue sky blue sky I wanted to try it because the way you did it was really cool there we go you do it way better um my accents only apply to names that we are talking about on the podcast shout out Igor demon and uh the Motor City hoop substack uh subscribe over there I talk about your favorite team when they play the Pistons if you want to read some of those Pistons plls podcast otherwise the nope Game Theory podcast with the S bassini go to the athletic keep me employed over there you’ll be able to R trade deadline Big Board uh did a breakdown on Giannis in the NBA Cup last night did a postgame Theory the night before with Cade Grady dick Isaiah hartenstein you’ll be able to see all of this uh over on the YouTube channel go subscribe to the YouTube channel game three podcast with Sam Vini go subscribe to all of the many social media platforms that are fearless leader and producer GMAC Andrew claudo curates X Instagram Blue Sky threads uh Tik Tok as well go do all of that until next time we’ll talk soon bye
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