← Brian Windhorst & The Hoop Collective
Brian Windhorst & The Hoop Collective
NBA Draft Round 1 Reaction
00:51:31
Hoop Collective: NBA Draft Round 1 Reaction - Who Had The Best Night?
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- [00:01]
Brian Windhorst
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- [00:20]
Tim Bontemps
Hello and welcome to HOOPP Collective Podcast. We talk about the NBA, which we are doing just after midnight on Thursday morning, just after the conclusion of the NBA draft, at least the first round. Joining us from the Barclays center, where all the action went down is Tim Bontemps.
- [00:39]
Brian Windhorst
It's too bad it wasn't the end of the draft.
- [00:41]
Tim Bontemps
Yeah, tomorrow will be great. Second round. I'll be there. You can watch it on espn. Joining us from the Dallas Mavericks practice facility. I don't know if they have a name for that facility, if that's just what it's called. Where Cooper Flag was drafted Tonight is Ben McMahon.
- [00:55]
Ben McMahon
Howdy partners. I do believe there's a title sponsor, but I can't think of it off the top of my head.
- [01:00]
Tim Bontemps
All right. I am in Bristol, my annual one night only visit to Bristol for the draft. And lovely. I mean, the Jack's one of the Jackson studios. He just goes from studio to studio and this is one of his, one of his spots. So I don't know. Bon Temps. The, the, the, the, the. What I'll remember about this draft, my honest assessment was Danny Wolf's brother ugly crying at the end of the night.
- [01:27]
Ben McMahon
It's a tough one.
- [01:28]
Tim Bontemps
It's one of my favorite moments. Oh, my God, I loved it. And also Walter Clayton Jr's daughter who stole the show. I just, I just love the family shots. I, I honestly, I can't get enough. I, I wish there was a feed that we had of just the family. We could just watch the families. But this draft was defined by just a couple of picks, in my view. Obviously there'll be guys who over the next couple of years will evaluate. We're not going to know. Ton Bon Thomps. The moment of this draft for me, and correct me if you think I'm wrong, was when the Jazz decided to draft Ace Bailey. That was the key moment in the draft and the swing moment in the draft. And we'll see what happens with Vijay Edgecombe and we can talk about that and we'll see with some of the trades that were made in the draft. But to me, I thought the Jazz sort of really nobody during the days I was talking to executives, there wasn't a good feel for what the Jazz was going to do. They take Ace Bailey.
- [02:25]
Brian Windhorst
Yeah. I mean, look the first four picks of the draft were pretty set in stone without trades. Cooper Flagg was obviously going first to Dallas, a pick that was faded, apparently, including in the lottery. Get to that quote later from Nico Harrison. Then Dylan Harper was going to go second to the San Antonio Spurs. BJ Edgecomb, I think, really ever since the Sixers got the third pick, I always sort of expected he would be the selection there. Jonathan Cavone, our guy, had him mocked there. Then Con Knippel, the Duke guard was always Jonathan's had him mocked to Charlotte for a while. And the real intrigue around the league was what would Austin Ainge do with the fifth pick in the draft, his first draft coming over from the Celtics. You talked to people around the league the past few days, at least for me. I don't know about you guys. Nobody knew what Utah was going to do with that pick. And obviously there was a lot of intrigue around Ace Bailey, who the general consensus around the league was after not having any workouts with any teams, he's the only American prospect who didn't work out with anybody. The widespread expectation was that he was hoping to get to the Washington Wizards at six and the Jazz never getting him in the building, never getting a chance to look at him. Obviously played all these games last year for Rutgers, decided to take him with the fifth pick. That was a big swing by Austin Ainge in his first draft. Obviously, Ace Bailey is a pretty polarizing prospect. He's got a of ton, ton of upside. He's also raw. He's got a lot of work to do with Will Hardy, friend of the pod. But I think it's a really good situation for him to land in. It's a place where there's not going to be a lot of pressure on him. They're obviously going to have a lot of room for him to develop and grow. He's got a great coach, great setup there. But that certainly was a curveball at the top of the draft. And it set off a chain reaction over the next 10 or 12 picks where there was a lot of picks that went away from the consensus and made for a fairly interesting middle of the draft. Even if there wasn't any of the kind of veteran salary moves across the board that we really expected going into it.
- [04:28]
Ben McMahon
Yeah, and I get it from Utah's perspective, like, okay, you didn't want to work out here. You know, it was pretty clear that he didn't want to land in Utah. But guess what? You're going to be with the Utah Jazz. What Are you going to do. You're not going to collect a check? Like you're going to get there. They're going to put a lot of effort into his development. There is going to be opera. I mean, if the guy wants the ball in his hands a lot right away, I think there's certainly going to be that opportunity there. And look, man, the Jazz are, you know, depending on how you want to define it, a few years into a rebuild and they have not hit on a single high ceiling draft pick. They've been in the lottery. What is this? Is this their third straight year? Maybe four? Whatever. How many straight years They've been twice at nine, right?
- [05:15]
Brian Windhorst
And then this is for nine and ten. They got Taylor Hendricks, they got Cody Williams, Jalen Williams brother, right. And now this pick. Right?
- [05:23]
Ben McMahon
And there's not a guy who's screaming like high upside of, of their lottery pick so far. So this is the guy that I think had the highest upside of that pick and it's, it's a boom or bust. I mean, he did not have a very impressive year of Rutgers, but that size, that athleticism, you know, the shot making ability, like he does have big time, big time scoring potential. And outside of Larry Markin, that's just not something that they have on the, on the Jazz roster right now. So I get swinging big when you're drafting fifth overall in Utah, especially when.
- [06:03]
Brian Windhorst
They were the team with the worst record in the league and had very bad lottery luck and ended up with the fifth pick and they got a guy who all season long was projected to be in the top three. Like, you know, that if you would have said in January that the Jazz are going to end up with Ace Bailey, they probably would have thought they were going to get the third pick in the draft. So to get him at five, if you're Utah, got to feel good about the swing. Plus they got Walter Clayton Jr. Later in the draft who had a really nice season at Florida and I'm a big fan of. And I think he's got a chance to potentially be a Jalen Brunson type guy. Maybe not as good as Jalen Brunson, but a guy who won an NCAA title in college and, you know, came on and got drafted and he's got a chance to, I think immediately emerge as a guy with a big voice in Utah's locker room.
- [06:51]
Ben McMahon
Yeah, that's interesting. I'm sorry. It's interesting also because they've drafted Keonte George and then Isaiah Collier in, in, in back to back first rounds. But you know those guys are not Austin ains draft picks exactly right.
- [07:07]
Tim Bontemps
They drafted, they really liked Walter Clayton because they drafted up three spots to get him paid three second round picks to swap 21 for 18. There was some chatter as I talked to some teams today about Washington and Charlotte potentially swapping picks of 4 and 6. But the thing was is for Charlotte to do that they had to make sure Con caniple would be there at six. That was their guy all along. And nobody knew what Utah was doing. You know, during the day people were like, what's Utah doing? What's he. People are asking me, I'm like, I don't know. I wish I could tell you. I don't know. So the Utah Jazz did a nice job of holding their cards close to the vest. If, if you know, Washington had known that their, their guy was Bailey, maybe, maybe they would have been aggressive to try to trape in front of him. I'm not sure, you know Washington, I haven't seen their quotes from anything yet. But I'm sure they'll say very nice things about Trey Johnson and you know he's an excellent shooter and everybody can use shooting. So he was a guy that went right after. But yeah, so. So we'll see what they. With Ace Bailey, he said all the right things. You know, he said he didn't know that Utah wanted. I mean it was a surprise to.
- [08:22]
Ben McMahon
Well, when they asked you to work out, that was showing interest Ace. But whatever dude, hey he, he got drafted by him. If he's goes there and he's a pro, then nobody's going to end up caring about the kind of weird pre draft process with him.
- [08:38]
Tim Bontemps
Also after the draft, just a few minutes ago our time here, Austin Ange was getting his press conference and he denied that the Jazz had had any discussions with the Celtics about Jaylen Brown. That was one of the.
- [08:51]
Brian Windhorst
By the way that, that just didn't make any sense from the beginning to me.
- [08:57]
Tim Bontemps
Well, Jaylen Brown going to San Antonio for the rights to Dylan Harper and some San Antonio stuff, I would not have done it. But at least that like you could see why that maybe have been a conversation depending on how much you like Dylan Harper. You know, I think the thing about Jaylen Brown and you know I am very skeptical that they would trade him but if you're coming up with a reason why they would break them up, it's the question about whether you can feel the competitive roster in 2025 or in the case of not getting tatum back in 2026 with two guys that make combined over 110 million.
- [09:41]
Brian Windhorst
Look, if the Celtics are going to trade Jaylen Brown or Derrick White, they were going to have to get a ton back in a trade. If they had gotten a ton back in a trade for either of them, I think they'd have thought hard about it and potentially done it. But it was going to have to be a really high bar. And I, you know, I just didn't. Here's two things I would say. One, there was a lot of chatter, as you mentioned, about Utah. That trade never made sense on either side. Two, if you look at Brad Stevens history with the Celtics, pretty much every trade he's made has come out of left field and people haven't seen it coming. So if with. With as much chatter as there was, there was chatter too about San Antonio also. I didn't really think a lot of that either for the same reason that the Celtics have typically under him, operated pretty quietly and gotten stuff done. And with that much noise out there, it felt like sort of typical pre draft chatter. And turned out that's what it was.
- [10:35]
Tim Bontemps
Yeah. So let's discuss the Pelicans draft. So the Pelicans came into the night with the picks number 7 and 23. And yesterday we talked about on the pod, traded for Jordan Pool, traded C.J. mcCollum for Jordan Pool. There's some other guys in the, in the draft, Kelly Olenek, etc. But basically that was the trade. So they, they have the seventh pick. There was some belief that they wanted to draft a big but.
- [11:11]
Brian Windhorst
Well, the talk was they wanted to draft Derrick Queen. It was known around the league that Troy Weaver, who is from the dmv was a big fan of Derek Queen.
- [11:21]
Tim Bontemps
Who Troy Weaver is their number two to Joe Dumars. Just to be correct.
- [11:24]
Brian Windhorst
Used to be the Pistons GM has been with the Thunder. I don't think he's their senior vice president of bass operations, something like that. So that was. That was what. Yes, as Jackson chimes in, he recruited Carmelo Anthony to Syracuse. He was. That was. The belief was that they liked him. And there was some thought even as the seventh pick was on the board tonight that they would draft Derrick Queen seventh overall.
- [11:51]
Ben McMahon
Yeah. And instead they gave up potentially an even higher pick in next year's draft to do it.
- [11:57]
Brian Windhorst
Well, I thought Brian was going to talk about the seventh pick. I was sitting. Just stared at me.
- [12:02]
Ben McMahon
No. So seventh pick, they draft Jeremiah Fears.
- [12:05]
Brian Windhorst
Who is a very explosive guard out of Oklahoma. Got pretty high upside.
- [12:10]
Ben McMahon
It's a, it's a Big time upside swing, extremely young. One of these kids who reclassified, he's a one and done. You know, you're not gonna look at his numbers from OU and be real impressed. Just honestly, like he was an inefficient shoot first guard but you know, there's some talent there. Again, it's, it's an upside swing, honestly, kind of profiles pretty similarly I think to, to Jordan Pool who they just traded for. And then, I mean honestly, man, they better be right on Derek Queen because they gave up the 23rd pick and then to move up 10 spots, they gave up unprotected, the best of their pick or Milwaukee's next year. And like fellas, I don't know how you can look at New Orleans right now and look around the Western Conference right now, dejounte Murray's out at least most of next season and sit there and assess that and think that it's going to be anything but likely a single digit lottery pick.
- [13:18]
Brian Windhorst
I mean look, it's, it's a hell of a, it's a hell of a first day running a draft for Auntie Sal and the Hawks, I mean to get earlier this week they make the Porzingis deal, which we talked about, pretty good value play for them. They use a 22nd pick to get off Terrence Mann and get Kristas Porzingis. Tonight they draft Asen Newell at 23, who's a pretty interesting young player. He was projected to potentially go a good amount higher than that with the pick they got in that trade and they get an extremely high value pick next year. Obviously we'll see what happens with Milwaukee, but there's certainly some downside potential with that Bucks pick. Upside potential in terms of it being in the lottery. And yeah, there were, there was a lot of comments flooding into my phone about that trade and about the upside Atlanta got in it. Like, look, people thought that the, nobody really thought the Detroit Pistons pick was going to convey this year and the Pistons pick was going to be 17th. Who knows, maybe the Pelicans will have a great year, maybe the Bucks will have a great year and it'll be worse, but it's a pretty good chance that the Hawks are getting a better pick than 13 next year in the draft while keeping a pick in this year's draft to move back. I mean it's pretty, pretty awesome work all around. And like you said, Derek Queen had better be good because that's a hell of a price to pay to get them.
- [14:37]
Tim Bontemps
Yeah, so the Celtics, sorry, the Hawks had two pretty good Days in terms of value. You know, what they gave up to get Porzingis. Um, it's pretty good. I also want to talk about what happened with the 11th pick. But, but by the way, the, the there. I think the Suns probably felt pretty good depending on what you felt about common Malu Watch.
- [15:05]
Brian Windhorst
There seemed to be a weird, it was a weird night for the Suns.
- [15:08]
Tim Bontemps
Okay.
- [15:09]
Ben McMahon
So I, I get it. They felt like, hey, we stunk at center for, you know, honestly since they gave up Ayton who they didn't want to go forward with and now they've got a, you know, they've got at least center depth and with really high upside with Mayuak and, And honestly, there's still some upside there with, with Mark Williams.
- [15:33]
Tim Bontemps
Okay, so. Yes.
- [15:34]
Brian Windhorst
I don't know.
- [15:35]
Tim Bontemps
So here. So let me just. Okay. So that the 10th pick the Suns drafted Command Maluac. Who I'm not sure I wasn't obsessively reading mock drafts. I don't know how many. I think a lot of mock drafts had him going before 10.
- [15:50]
Brian Windhorst
Yeah, yeah. That was probably the bottom end of his range for sure.
- [15:54]
Tim Bontemps
Before the draft. Gavoni, I saw an interview with Gavoni and Gavoni said if the Suns could get malu watch at 10, it would be a great night for them. But, and I, you guys know, I am not going to sit here and pretend that I can evaluate players.
- [16:11]
Brian Windhorst
However, he is a Brian discovery though. He is a Brian discovery.
- [16:15]
Tim Bontemps
You know, whatever. I hope for the South Sudan, I hope for the best for him. I'm not, you know, convinced he's going hall of Fame, but he's very much still a developmental player.
- [16:25]
Ben McMahon
Sure. He's not, he's a big, he's a big seven footer, like long and big shoulder, like a big, big frame, some athleticism, hands. He's a project.
- [16:37]
Tim Bontemps
Yeah. I mean he's not going to come in and, and be your starting center from day one.
- [16:42]
Ben McMahon
No, Mark Williams will be.
- [16:44]
Tim Bontemps
Right. So I, I saw people were like acting like this was. Well, just hold on before you say anything, but I think, I think people were acting like this was the.
- [16:53]
Brian Windhorst
Don't say anything.
- [16:54]
Tim Bontemps
The Wolves drafting Ricky Rubio and Johnny Flynn and back to back picks like they were like wait a minute, why would you draft a center? He just traded for one. They, they made the, you know, Shams broke the news within minutes of them drafting it. I don't have a problem with them going out and acquiring a center.
- [17:13]
Brian Windhorst
I have a.
- [17:13]
Ben McMahon
Well, I have a Bon Tims doesn't like Mark Williams. Okay, we got it.
- [17:17]
Tim Bontemps
Let me finish, let me finish.
- [17:20]
Brian Windhorst
Oh, that's not really it either.
- [17:21]
Tim Bontemps
We can debate about whether or not Mark Williams was worth two first round picks because that's what they paid for him. Now granted, one of the picks was the 29th pick in this draft and.
- [17:31]
Ben McMahon
They anticipate be late too, but who knows 2020.
- [17:34]
Brian Windhorst
They also, they also have barely any assets like that. That's the thing. It's like you trade, you like model a good swing at 10. Like he's a, he's a high upside swing. That's fine. Like that's a good look at the future to do that. To then turn around and trade for Mark Williams on top of it for all the other problems they have with their roster. I don't know. It just for all the things the Suns need to do now. Look, maybe this is some recognition that the Suns just aren't. Maybe they've realized they are what they are, but for as limited a resource as they have, I thought it was curious that they used all of them on two centers and now they, they're more or less out picks and I don't know, weird team.
- [18:23]
Ben McMahon
And they made a trade for a center with Charlotte actually last year in Nick Richards. So they've got great, they traded a bunch of picks.
- [18:30]
Brian Windhorst
They traded a bunch of picks on that trade too.
- [18:31]
Ben McMahon
Yeah, they've got great depth at center and great depth at shooting guard. Their, their centers and their shooting guards can play three on three.
- [18:38]
Brian Windhorst
I mean that's the thing. They could have just had Nick Rich. To your point, Brian, if you don't feel like Milo can start right away, you could have just started Nick Richards like and not invested these other assets in another center. It's not that Mark Williams stinks. I just, the price is just it's an odd move to make at the same time, both of those trades for everything else they've got going on, they still don't have a point guard. They still have hardly any front court depth. To Tim's point, they have a ton of shooting guards. They have to try to move some of them.
- [19:07]
Ben McMahon
I. I don't know.
- [19:09]
Brian Windhorst
This is weird.
- [19:10]
Ben McMahon
More Hoop Collective Podcast after this shop.
- [19:14]
Unknown
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- [20:15]
Brian Windhorst
I think you're on.
- [20:16]
Unknown
Mute Workday is starting to sound the same.
- [20:19]
Tim Bontemps
I think you're on mute.
- [20:21]
Unknown
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- [20:48]
Tim Bontemps
To Brian Gregory he's not allowed to talk about the KD trade yet, I guess.
- [20:55]
Brian Windhorst
Well, I was laughing because our guy Jared Bourget tweeted we should be hearing from Brian Gregory here shortly. Not sure how much you'll be able to talk about the Katie trade, Jalen Green, Dylan Brooks, Kyle Malwak or Mark Williams, though since none of those deals are official yet. I was like, what is he going to talk about? The sun coming up.
- [21:12]
Tim Bontemps
I noticed. I'm not sure if the league they have going on. I'm not sure if the league gave him a break because I did notice that in the photos after the initial photos that Mali was wearing a son's hat.
- [21:24]
Brian Windhorst
Like, well, they changed the rules this year, I think. And so they just started. They just started. Basically the second the pick was made, the next time he'd come back up, he'd say this, this trade happened and they would immediately switch it to the new team instead of in the past where you would like pretend the whole day that it was the old team. So I do think that the whole circuit they did he did it with some stuff.
- [21:48]
Tim Bontemps
Well, they let. Well, Brian Gregory talked about Malu Watch even though that Durant trade isn't done. So I don't know if he was given permission to do it or whatever.
- [21:56]
Brian Windhorst
Well, the league, that's what I mean. The league announced all those traded picks so you could talk about them.
- [22:00]
Tim Bontemps
Okay. Well anyway, okay, so we'll see about that. But you know, we'll see if Mark Williams passes his physical. I guess that should be some drama. But he didn't talk about that. Okay. All right. The 11th pick. There was some interesting things that happened there. That pick was originally belonged by the Trailblazers. Now we talked about yesterday, we were a little surprised that the Trailblazers traded in, in their situation. They did that. They traded for Drew Holiday. So when I heard that the Blazers made a deal with Memphis, I was like, I wonder what's in this draft in this trade? Because Memphis has, you know, the Desmond Bain trade was, you know, going backwards a little bit, whatever, you know, a pick based trade. And you know, we talked about Portland. Maybe they're like, you know, trying to level up and, you know, trying to make it a little bit more attractive for Drew Holiday to be there. And I was like, today, did they acquire a, did the Trail Boys acquire like some veteran players or player for this pick? I was certainly, I was on the edge of my seat to see that. And then, and then it became clear that it was just a pick trade and they were, they were swapping picks with the Grizzlies, who were at 16. And then I, you know, was interested because the Grizzlies, their front office, Zach Kleiman and his staff have a history of doing very well on draft night. They don't bet a thousand. They've had guys that haven't worked out, but they've had some really good guys who worked out, especially guys they've traded up for.
- [23:38]
Brian Windhorst
They also have an issue being very aggressive about players they like.
- [23:41]
Tim Bontemps
Yeah.
- [23:42]
Ben McMahon
Zaire Williams being a notable exception when Trey Murphy was that pick. But. Yes.
- [23:46]
Brian Windhorst
Well, when they traded up on draft night to get them too, did they.
- [23:49]
Tim Bontemps
Trade up for Jake Laravia? I can't, no.
- [23:52]
Ben McMahon
I don't remember that well.
- [23:53]
Tim Bontemps
Anyway, so they've trained up to trick, said Cedric Cowardly, who was a trendy pick. He, he played, I think at three different colleges.
- [24:07]
Ben McMahon
He started off at a D3.
- [24:09]
Tim Bontemps
Yeah.
- [24:09]
Ben McMahon
Went to Eastern Washington, was really good there, transferred to Washington State. The Eastern Washington coach who was kind enough to send me free a free shirt when I was in my gear collecting phase, went to Washington State. Coward went with him, had a shoulder injury, only played six games, got in the transfer port Portal, signed with Duke but stayed in the draft. And now he's with the Memphis Grizzlies. But six, five and change seven like two wingspan, you know, long, athletic, three and D type. This is the guy who, you know, kind of profiles is the kind of guy they want to put around Ja and Jaren Jackson Jr. And you know, they, they really had similar, you know, kind of profiles a little bit similarly to God, why am I blanking on my guy's name? Who's going to be their starter? Took Marcus Smart's job was Jalen Wells. Thank you. Who.
- [25:09]
Tim Bontemps
Also from Washington State.
- [25:11]
Ben McMahon
Also from Washington State after starting off at a D2. So, you know, kind of similar stories there. And you know, they want these long, athletic, really good defensive wings around these guys and clearly targeted Cedric Coward and moved up to get him and gave up one of the 28 first one of the. The 2028 first they got in that package for Desmond Bain from Orlando.
- [25:36]
Tim Bontemps
Okay, so like, like, mostly most. Go ahead.
- [25:39]
Brian Windhorst
No, I was just going to say I, I know that Memphis, I mean, obviously they traded up for him, but Memphis was excited about that. I mean, they, they thought they needed another big wing after that trade. And I mean, they're certainly hopeful that he can be that kind of player for them.
- [25:51]
Ben McMahon
More Hoop Collective podcast after this With.
- [25:55]
Unknown
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- [26:13]
Tim Bontemps
You can Venmo this or you can Venmo that. You can Venmo this or you can Venmo that.
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- [26:26]
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- [27:18]
Go to your happy price price line.
- [27:26]
Tim Bontemps
All right. We'll see what happens with him. I wish him a great career. Okay. The 16th pick that they got that, that was switched. The Grizzlies had the 16th pick traded up for 11. So that meant the Blazers drafted at six at 16. And then we had truly one of the moments of the draft because the Grizzlies drafted. Is it not Hanson Yang? Why does it say Yang Hansen all these places?
- [27:56]
Ben McMahon
Yeah, there's some confusion on which is the first name, which is the last name. I've seen it. I've seen it both ways. So.
- [28:04]
Tim Bontemps
All right, I think it's Hanson Yang. And if I'm wrong, feel free to chastise me.
- [28:08]
Brian Windhorst
Our, our system has it as Yang Hans.
- [28:11]
Ben McMahon
Okay, so it's one or the other.
- [28:13]
Tim Bontemps
Anyway, he's a seven foot one.
- [28:15]
Ben McMahon
Let's just go one name. We're going to call him Yang.
- [28:17]
Tim Bontemps
Okay. He's a 7 foot 1 prospect from China. Now I have to say there was probably quite a few people in the NBA. This is the. It's been. Has there been a first round? I haven't looked at our notes. Has there been a first round Chinese pick since, you know, Yi Yi Jiang Leon?
- [28:35]
Brian Windhorst
I don't. I don't know.
- [28:37]
Tim Bontemps
It's been a long time since there's been a first round Chinese pick.
- [28:39]
Brian Windhorst
Okay, do you want me to just read Jeremy wu's analysis of it because.
- [28:44]
Tim Bontemps
Yeah, go ahead.
- [28:46]
Brian Windhorst
It's hard to imagine a more surprising pick coming in the first round. The Trailblazers moved back from 11 and took a huge swing on Hanson. He's arguably the most gifted Chinese prospect to come along in some time, but also a player nobody around the NBA was readily expecting to go this high in the draft. Yang is a gifted offensive player plus passer for his position who was one of the standouts at the NBA combine playing his way into the early second round of our projections. But for him to hear his name called this early by a team that already has a young center in Donovan Clingan is a fascinating decision by Portland. The fit question doesn't make a ton of sense at face value pointed the fact that the Blazers must be major believers in Yang's ability and their ability to develop him. How this move plays out. We want to draft most fascinating long term subplots. My favorite moment of the draft was I was standing with Kirk Berger One of the lawyers from the union watching the draft and Bowen, one of our great producers who runs our international group, hustled over to the cameras and had them point up into the stands because he was sitting halfway up the stands because he was not supposed. He was not in the green room. He's not expected to be drafted. He just happened to be there and everybody was like, where's the camera going? And it was pointing up to this seven footer in the crowd and completely out of left field pick. And I was dumbfounded by the Blazers doing this. I mean, to go from trading for Drew Holiday on Monday to drafting a project center when they drafted a center with the seventh overall pick in last year's draft. And by the way, they still have DeAndre Ayton on the team and Robert Williams. And Robert Williams. I, I give up on what Portland is doing.
- [30:35]
Tim Bontemps
Well, that's not going to matter because I don't think this guy's going to play that much this year.
- [30:38]
Brian Windhorst
But I mean.
- [30:43]
Tim Bontemps
It'S, it's, it's.
- [30:44]
Ben McMahon
So they made a real aggressive, expensive win. Now move with Jrue Holiday and then they drafted a project in the first round. I mean, I guess, I don't know.
- [30:54]
Tim Bontemps
Let'S find a draft a project. But there was just a real surprise that he was drafted this high. So this high.
- [31:01]
Brian Windhorst
He's a, he's a center on a team that's already got a long term. You would think long term answer at center. I mean, Don McLean, when he was able to get on the court, especially the second half of the year, like, I think it's gonna be a good player. Yeah. I mean that's a, that was a wild booth.
- [31:16]
Ben McMahon
Completely interesting.
- [31:18]
Brian Windhorst
Certainly was.
- [31:18]
Tim Bontemps
Yeah. Okay. Was there any other. You know, I think there's. So, I think there's. Again, I'm not. You guys know that I don't analyze the, I don't have the bandwidth to analyze these guys. I, the people that I was with tonight, the numbers on the board guys here in Bristol, they were very excited about the spurs getting Carter Bryant the defensive three and well, I guess he's three and D wing out of Arizona and felt that was really quality for them that with that pick that they got it with was a Hawks pick that they got for Dejounte Murray, but they thought that Carter Bryant was good value alongside Dylan Harper. I don't know. I haven't asked enough of people yet, but I like that pick for them.
- [32:02]
Brian Windhorst
And Carter Bryant should be a nice fit long term with Victor Wembanyama and Darren Fox and the other pieces the spurs have. He fits pretty well as another 3 and D wing Kyle Murray. Boyles going to Toronto was interesting. He was a super highly rated analytics guy, big time. You know, some comparisons to Draymond Green, some questions about his shooting but, and obviously it's ironic he's going to Toronto because they have a lot of questions about shooting across the board. But he's got a chance to be an impact defensive player. He's an interesting fit. We talked about the Clayton pick earlier. I mean mentioned the ace of Newell pick that I liked for Atlanta, getting him at 23. Kasparis Chiconius who played at Illinois was supposed to be a lottery pick. He ends up falling to 20. Not sure.
- [32:48]
Ben McMahon
Bon Tim just want to show off that he could pronounce that name.
- [32:50]
Brian Windhorst
Oh, I, I did. I asked several people to figure out how to say it today because I didn't know, but he was projected to go as high as maybe 10 or 11 or so, but he'd end up getting him at 20.
- [33:02]
Tim Bontemps
Okay, let's talk about the Nets.
- [33:04]
Brian Windhorst
I was just going to say the other super interesting thing in the draft was the Nets came into the day with five first round picks and the big question was what are the Nets going to do? Like the two questions this morning were what is Utah doing at 5 and what are the Nets doing? Because the nets had these five picks, eight and then 19 and four, three picks in the 20s and was were they going to take five picks? They were indicating in the morning they might take all five players. People thought they'd probably try to move up in some form and they end up taking five guys and they were sort of all over the place with the picks that they made.
- [33:46]
Tim Bontemps
So I have to say it's such an outlandish thing to do to draft five first round picks and keep all of them. I don't even know how to react.
- [33:56]
Ben McMahon
I'll just tell you this. You're not going to want to see the Long Island Nets in the G League next year.
- [34:00]
Brian Windhorst
I mean I think all those guys could be playing for the new for the Brooklyn Nets because they are just about, I mean, Ben Serif. I mean, I guess maybe he might stay over, but they, they had a roster that was pretty devoid of long term pieces anyway. And I suspect they're all going to be playing for Jordi Fernandez and the Nets next season.
- [34:24]
Tim Bontemps
Well, and maybe two of them will turn out to be all Stars. I don't know. I have just. This strategy is so unusual. I don't even Know what to make. Maybe it's mad genius, maybe it's insane. Like I don't, I don't know. You know, historically picks in the mid to late twenties are not that desirable because you have to guarantee them two years and almost everybody you're going to take for at least three. And if you draft a guy in the high 30s, you don't have to pay him as much. You don't have to guarantee him as long. Picks in the late 20s are usually not that valuable. But they were very happy to have all these picks in the twenties. So I, I'm. And, and there was. The Kings traded in. Not surprisingly, the Thunder had two picks tonight and they traded one of them. They traded one of them to the Kings because they can't take, you know, all these players on.
- [35:18]
Brian Windhorst
They have a, they have a full 15 man roster. So they drafted Sorber from Georgetown who I think he's also represented by Bill Duffy's agency. The same group that represents Jalen Williams and Chad Holmgren. They were pretty excited tonight. They had four picks in the top 15 with Sorber being the 15th one. He could be an interesting long term fit next to Chad, could potentially replace Isaiah Hartenstein.
- [35:41]
Tim Bontemps
But well that, you know that that's the thing. Like the Thunder aren't sure they're gonna be able to keep their role players in another two years and one of the first guys up that they're gonna have to worry about is Hartenstein. But that's a discussion for a different day.
- [35:55]
Brian Windhorst
Well, but I just mean like they. He'll probably spend the year with the blue and he could maybe be in their rotation the year after that. But they had this second pick in the second in the first round at 24. There was a lot of chatter that maybe Oklahoma City would move up in the draft to go get somebody. They wind up staying at 15 and then they do this trade with Sacramento where Sacramento gives up a top 16 protected pick in 2027. That becomes seconds if it doesn't convey.
- [36:23]
Tim Bontemps
Right. But my point is they were forget about Oklahoma City for a second. My point is that there were teams trying to move in to the 20s.
- [36:31]
Brian Windhorst
Yeah.
- [36:32]
Tim Bontemps
And the Nets still held all of them. That's my point.
- [36:35]
Brian Windhorst
Well, they had a pretty empty roster. So now they have a roster full of first round picks.
- [36:40]
Tim Bontemps
Okay.
- [36:40]
Brian Windhorst
A lot of I would have done it this way but that, you know, if there was a team that could roster five first round picks. It's this net state.
- [36:48]
Tim Bontemps
Yeah, well, I mean listen, they're cheap labor for a few years. Maybe they'll pile them all together and trade them for a star in 18 months. What do I know?
- [36:55]
Ben McMahon
Also, perhaps they will help them be in position to draft a star next season.
- [37:01]
Brian Windhorst
That's also my point. I think they're going to be. I think they'll be very helpful on that front.
- [37:06]
Tim Bontemps
While we're talking about the Nets, can I ask, what do you think they're doing with Cam Thomas?
- [37:10]
Brian Windhorst
I would assume Cam Thomas winds up being resigned. He's restricted free agent this summer. I would not be very excited about paying Cam Thomas. He's a pretty divisive player. He obviously had. He obviously can really score it. I'm sure he wants a good amount of money. He's repp by Alex Eratzis from Octagon, now exchange agents a couple times. I'll be curious to see what they do. I would not be rushing to give him a huge contract and it wouldn't stun me if he stays on the qualifying offer or if he. He takes his qualifying.
- [37:45]
Tim Bontemps
Yeah, that. That's what I. Well, maybe not even the qualifying offer, but maybe like a. A short deal, very short deal.
- [37:51]
Brian Windhorst
That could be something. I don't. I wouldn't expect it to be the same amount of money, but if it's something along the lines of what happened with Jalen Green, couple year deal to give him money. But I. Yeah, I don't. I don't know. I mean, right now the Nets only have a couple guys on the books for next summer. They have a ton of cap space in the summer of 26, and that's why they still have Nick Claxton and Cam Johnson on the team. Two guys that wouldn't stun me if they ended up elsewhere at some point in the next 12 months.
- [38:20]
Ben McMahon
And they have a ton of cap space right now, and it's not like there's a whole lot else out there in terms of cap space. And certainly seems likely that they will rent some of that cap space out and try to collect some more assets.
- [38:34]
Tim Bontemps
So, McMahon, I have two things for you before we wrap up.
- [38:37]
Ben McMahon
Great.
- [38:38]
Tim Bontemps
1. Well, first off, I appreciated ESPN. Every time the Nets made a pick, we showed the draft room at the facility and they were all clapping. Every single.
- [38:51]
Ben McMahon
Happy with everyone.
- [38:52]
Tim Bontemps
Every pick, they were clapping. Maybe it was on a loop. I wasn't watching close enough.
- [38:56]
Brian Windhorst
Imagine if they went to him and they looked bad.
- [38:59]
Tim Bontemps
Imagine if they went to him and like the tables were turned over and there were papers on the floor and there were two guys fighting. Okay, first off, I have a question. McMahon when they showed the Mavericks draft room tonight, they had name tags, they had placards for all their people there.
- [39:15]
Brian Windhorst
That's.
- [39:15]
Ben McMahon
Yeah. Very helpful.
- [39:16]
Brian Windhorst
That's a normal thing.
- [39:18]
Tim Bontemps
It is. Okay. The second thing is I heard that there was a lot of booing of Nick. They drafted Cooper Fleck.
- [39:26]
Ben McMahon
Well, no. So here's the deal. They had, and I wasn't there. I was the Mavs draft rooms at the practice facility, the little post draft press conferences here. But they had a deal at the arena and people went over there. So there's like 5, 000 fans. And you know, some folks from the broadcast team were kind of emceeing the thing, and Mark Aguirre, the only previous number one overall pick in franchise history, actually teared up. Kind of a reconciliation type of moment. But they showed. I think they showed like they flashed to our broadcast and that showed Nico. And a Fire Nico chant broke out.
- [40:08]
Tim Bontemps
Well, they didn't know it was Nico, but there's a placard right in front of him.
- [40:12]
Ben McMahon
Oh, yeah. And then that reminded him. But listen, and it's interesting. And Nico was asked about the angst that's been. I would say.
- [40:25]
Brian Windhorst
Let me read your tweet first this. Because we need to talk about this.
- [40:28]
Ben McMahon
Hold on. Well, let's talk about the Fire Nico thing. I was curious if the Cooper Flag era beginning would kind of ease the public angst directed at Nico, the public venom. This is an indication that probably will not, but I'm just telling you, like during Cooper Flags, like NBA debut or they're going to be Fire Nico chants like, I don't know, man. I really don't know. Nico was asked about that and he's basically said something along the lines of he hopes so and just mentioned something about how, you know, people seem to be really excited about this number one overall pick. But again, there's not a whole lot of folks that I can win popularity contest with in the city of Dallas, but Nico's one I like my odds against.
- [41:27]
Brian Windhorst
Still, what we need to. We need to read this tweet, please. Nico Harrison on the Mavs winning the lottery and the right to draft Cooper flag despite 1.8% odds. Quote, Fortune favors the bold. So exciting things fell our way. Are we seriously trying to say that by trading Anthony Davis a, quote, bold move. It was a bold move for Anthony Davis, for Luka Docic, I'll give you that. That because of that you were handed Cooper Flag. Is this really what we're trying.
- [41:58]
Tim Bontemps
Sounds like exactly what he's saying.
- [41:59]
Ben McMahon
I mean, I mean, makes perfect sense to me.
- [42:02]
Tim Bontemps
This is.
- [42:03]
Brian Windhorst
This is ridiculous. The amount of people I've had to say to over the past couple of months that the NBA draft lottery is not rigged, which, by the way, it's not rigged. This guy getting up here and going, oh, yeah, well, this is, this is exactly how it was meant to be. We did raid our star guard, blew his knee out. We end up with the number one pick. It's all exactly how it's supposed to be.
- [42:27]
Tim Bontemps
I mean, yeah, the Kyrie Irving knee injury undercuts their fortune. Favors and AD got hurt literally two.
- [42:36]
Ben McMahon
And a half quarters into his debut. It was like the half season from hell. But the half season from hell did result in them falling backwards into a generational talent.
- [42:48]
Brian Windhorst
Now, that part is true.
- [42:50]
Ben McMahon
Okay, but what do you want? It was, it was a cringy comment. It was. But what do you want to go to say, like, holy crap, I got.
- [42:58]
Brian Windhorst
Bailed out, but not say, not say that I made this trade and so therefore we were gifted. Cooper flagged. That's not what you say.
- [43:09]
Ben McMahon
So here, here was the.
- [43:11]
Brian Windhorst
Anything else but that.
- [43:12]
Ben McMahon
Here, here's the stuff about the fan venom. Let me ask, with everything the organization has been through over the last few months, the frustration from the fans, how much do you see the addition of Cooper flag to the organization helping try to get that goodwill back with the Dallas Mavericks fans? He said, yeah, I think it's been great. I mean, I've seen the fans react to that since the number one pick, and it feels like they're feeling really good and optimistic about the future. And someone said piggybacking off that. Are you hopeful, optimistic that by drafting Cooper, some of the anger that had been directed at you personally will subside now? He said, I'm hoping so. Now I'm assuming so a little bit maybe. So listen, like I, I listen, listen. I don't know that Nico's going to be sitting in his seat again. I think he'll probably be in the tunnel. He's not going to be popular. But at a certain point, do you got to kind of flip the page and they're going to sell a lot of those number 32 jerseys.
- [44:14]
Tim Bontemps
Yeah, that was good. I like that. I like that. They announced, they put out the press release five seconds after he got drafted, announcing he had was picking number 32 or wearing number 32. And they unveiled the jersey at the draft, which I like, and they unveiled the jersey at the arena and had him for sale.
- [44:34]
Ben McMahon
I walked out with those things. I like it and again, like, hey, man, the Luca trade, we've gone over the thousand times. I think it was flawed decision. I think it was an insane decision, but he ain't coming back to Dallas. It's done. You're getting Cooper flag in here. It's a team that's going to have a chance to be competitive next year and it really bails them out long term. If this kid is what everybody thinks he is, it really bails them out of what would have been a dark, dark time after this little mini window closes.
- [45:12]
Tim Bontemps
All right, well, there's more draft coming tomorrow. There also should be. There's. There's definitely some active trade talks that weren't involving picks and we'll see. You know, we was chasing a few today. I think we're going to see some more player movement before the end of the week, especially once the. It clears that there's not going to be picks involved in some of these trades. I don't think there's any, like, you know, mega stars being traded, but I don't know. But there's definitely some more action coming, so we'll. We'll keep an eye on it and we'll talk about it. All right, thank you to Jackson, our producer, who also helped produce tonight's show here in Bristol. Thank you, McMahon. Thank you to Bonte. Oh, one more thing.
- [45:56]
Ben McMahon
Oh.
- [45:58]
Tim Bontemps
I don't know if it'll be in time for people who are listening to this pod, but tomorrow, okay, Tomorrow we have this very special edition of first take with McMahon and Bontemps.
- [46:10]
Ben McMahon
Yeah, the TWT edition.
- [46:12]
Tim Bontemps
This is going to be spectacular.
- [46:14]
Ben McMahon
Well, they. I'm telling you, they said Wendy's. Wendy's Bolton.
- [46:19]
Brian Windhorst
There's going to be all sorts of things to do to discuss on the show.
- [46:21]
Ben McMahon
Yeah, this is like a two for one trade. It's like Luca Luka's leaving and I'm Anthony Davis and Bon Tims is Max Christie coming in to replace him.
- [46:31]
Tim Bontemps
Listen, listen. This is awesome. I love it. I hope you guys enjoy it. Make us at the HOOP collective who know about your ridiculous nature. The two of you make us proud.
- [46:46]
Ben McMahon
I don't think it's Bontemps. D bud. It's mine.
- [46:49]
Tim Bontemps
I know, but it's not so much. I know Bontemps has been on. It's more about you guys doing it together.
- [46:54]
Ben McMahon
Yeah, that's the downside.
- [46:57]
Tim Bontemps
It's going to be great. I'm looking very much looking forward to it. It's a great time in the schedule. A day after the draft before free agency, you guys are going to have topics. Don't do anything to embarrass us, but definitely make us proud.
- [47:13]
Ben McMahon
Have I ever embarrassed you?
- [47:16]
Tim Bontemps
You embarrassed yourself a few times. Don't be afraid to show them who you are. I say that with all the right. All the right meaning.
- [47:29]
Ben McMahon
Thanks, Coach.
- [47:31]
Tim Bontemps
I'm your cheerleader. I'm not your coach.
- [47:35]
Ben McMahon
Every cheerleader I had was a lot better looking.
- [47:38]
Tim Bontemps
All right. Thank you to Bon temps. Thank you, McMahon. Thank you for listening and watching Hoop Collective. Talk to you next week.
- [47:44]
Ben McMahon
Adios, amigos.
- [48:00]
Unknown
In 1979, the first words spoken on ESPN weren't just an announcement. If you're a fan, they were a sports prophecy.
- [48:09]
Tim Bontemps
What you'll see in the next minutes.
- [48:11]
Ben McMahon
Hours and days to follow.
- [48:13]
Brian Windhorst
Glad you're with us tonight.
- [48:14]
Ben McMahon
May convince you you've gone to sports heaven. And right now you're standing on the edge of tomorrow.
- [48:23]
Unknown
This fall, the next era of ESPN begins.
- [48:27]
Sports forever.