Night 1 draft recap: DAL, UTAH, SA, CHA winners; inside stories on some of the big picks and surprise selections

Summary

Eye On College Basketball Podcast: Night 1 Draft Recap – June 26, 2025

Hosts: Gary Parish and Matt Norlander
Episode Title: Night 1 Draft Recap: DAL, UTAH, SA, CHA Winners; Inside Stories on Some of the Big Picks and Surprise Selections

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Introduction

In the latest episode of CBS Sports' official college basketball podcast, Gary Parish and Matt Norlander delve into the thrills and surprises of the 2025 NBA Draft. Released on June 26, 2025, this episode offers a comprehensive analysis of the night’s key picks, team strategies, and unexpected turns that shaped the draft's outcome.

Top Draft Highlights

1. Utah Jazz Secures Ace Bailey and Walter Clayton Jr.

Gary Parish initiates the discussion by focusing on Utah Jazz’s bold moves. Utah clinched the 5th pick, selecting Ace Bailey, much to the surprise of many draft analysts. Despite projections placing Bailey outside the top five, the Jazz demonstrated unwavering conviction in their choice.

Gary Parish [05:32]: "Ace Bailey goes to Utah despite not working out there and, you know, allegedly trying to land and get himself to Washington or somewhere after that."

Matt Norlander expands on this, highlighting Utah’s strategic acquisition:

Matt Norlander [07:20]: "If you are convinced after years of evaluating him that he is the best prospect available, you do what Utah did. You take him, you hope he changes his tone very quickly and you get him to what will be his new home."

Additionally, Utah made a significant move by selecting Walter Clayton Jr. at pick 18, reinforcing their draft prowess and positioning themselves as one of the night's biggest winners.

2. San Antonio Spurs' Strategic Picks: Dylan Harper and Carter Bryant

San Antonio Spurs emerged as another major winner, securing Dylan Harper at the 2nd pick and Carter Bryant at the 14th. Harper's selection is likened to other historic second picks, bolstering the Spurs’ already formidable roster.

Matt Norlander [13:45]: "The Dylan Harper pick I think is a no brainer. That's a little bit like, you know, if you're the Grizzlies... you're taking John Morant two."

Gary Parish echoes this sentiment, emphasizing the synergy between Harper and existing Spurs stars like de'Aaron Fox and Stefan Castillo.

Gary Parish [08:15]: "They're going to end up having the second best player in this class... surrounded by role players that are ready to do anything for the team."

3. Brooklyn Nets’ Unexpected Strategy: Five First-Round Picks

One of the most talked-about moments of the draft was the Brooklyn Nets’ decision to retain all five of their first-round picks, selecting multiple shooters and projects.

Gary Parish [19:57]: "They are going to keep five first-round picks. That's the first time in the modern era they take Nolan Traoré at 19, Drake Powell at 22, Ben Sarof at 26, and Danny Wolf at 27."

Matt Norlander expresses skepticism about Brooklyn’s strategy, questioning the long-term viability of their selections focused on shooting abilities.

Matt Norlander [24:22]: "If you are a Brooklyn fan and you told me we had five first-round picks and these are the five players we came away with, I would not be happy."

Despite concerns, both hosts agree that Brooklyn’s gamble is intriguing and will be a focal point of future analyses.

4. Phoenix Suns’ Bold Choices: Colin Murray and Moloch Waite

Phoenix Suns made strategic additions by selecting Colin Murray at 9 and Moloch Waite at 10, addressing their need for versatile big men.

Gary Parish [26:00]: "Phoenix grabbed two big, physically imposing centers. And I think that's a move in the right direction."

Matt Norlander concurs, praising Phoenix for prioritizing positional needs in an evolving NBA landscape.

Matt Norlander [27:14]: "You need big men in the NBA almost regardless of how you think you're going to play. Phoenix grabbed two big, physically imposing centers. That's a move in the right direction."

5. Memphis Grizzlies and Cedric Coward’s Rise

Memphis Grizzlies selected Cedric Coward at 11, marking a significant rise for the player who previously had limited offers.

Gary Parish [29:43]: "He went 11th and he is going to Memphis. I think it's really awesome from a podcast perspective that I did this big old story on this guy and now he's going to be living in your city."

Matt Norlander highlights Coward’s potential impact on Memphis’ dynamic with stars like John Morant and Jaren Jackson Jr.

Matt Norlander [35:44]: "His camp was hopeful Memphis was going to take him at 16, but he goes 11th. Man, it is incredible."

Surprises and Underdogs

6. Derek Queen’s Controversial Selection by New Orleans Pelicans

New Orleans Pelicans selected Derek Queen at 13, a choice that sparked debate regarding his fit and potential conditioning issues.

Matt Norlander [35:44]: "This does not look like Jeremiah Fears independent of everything else that I'm saying. And I like their Queen independent of everything else that I'm saying. I don't know that I like them together on a team with Zion Williamson, fair."

7. Igor Demian’s Unexpected Pick by Brooklyn Nets at 8

A standout moment was Brooklyn Nets selecting Igor Demian at 8, a move that baffled many but showcased the team’s unique draft strategy.

Gary Parish [44:17]: "This is the most inexplicable draft pick of the entire evening. And again, it just kind of speaks a little bit to some of the hesitation with Portland."

Analysis of Draft Strategies

Both hosts dissect the varying strategies employed by different franchises:

• Utah Jazz’s Double Pick: Securing both Bailey and Clayton positions Utah as a dominant force with depth in their draft haul.

• San Antonio Spurs’ Focus on Core Talent: Harper and Bryant bolster the Spurs’ core, promising a blend of seasoned and youthful talent.

• Brooklyn Nets’ Shooter-Centric Approach: While unconventional, Brooklyn’s commitment to shooters indicates a long-term strategy focused on perimeter play.

• Phoenix Suns’ Positional Needs: Addressing big man roles ensures Phoenix remains competitive in both regular and postseason games.

Notable Quotes

• Gary Parish [05:32]: "There's nothing left to squeeze out of that sponge."

• Matt Norlander [07:20]: "Ask that question from a different direction. How do you not take him?"

• Gary Parish [08:15]: "They have picked two rookies that are arguably the two best hard shot makers in this draft."

• Matt Norlander [19:57]: "This is not what I would have wanted it. This is not what I would have done, but it is absolutely what I would have done if I had Ace Bailey as best prospect available at that point."

Conclusions: Winners and Potential Risks

Top Winners:

• Utah Jazz: Securing Ace Bailey and Walter Clayton Jr.
• San Antonio Spurs: Acquiring Dylan Harper and Carter Bryant.
• Memphis Grizzlies: Cedric Coward’s rise adds significant depth.

Potential Risks:

• Brooklyn Nets: Overreliance on shooters who may require extensive development.
• New Orleans Pelicans: Derek Queen’s fit and conditioning concerns could impact performance.

Final Thoughts

Gary Parish and Matt Norlander wrap up the episode by reflecting on the overall success of the draft night. While many picks aligned with expectations, several surprise selections like Igor Demian at 8 and Cedric Coward's leap to 11 underscore the unpredictable nature of the NBA Draft. The hosts emphasize the importance of observing how these picks will develop and integrate into their respective teams.

Gary Parish [65:09]: "San Antonio, Utah, Charlotte, those are my two biggest winners from Wednesday and we'll see what happens on Thursday."

As the draft progresses to the second round, anticipation builds around the remaining selections and their potential impact on the forthcoming NBA season.

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Stay Updated: For more detailed analysis and updates on the NBA Draft, subscribe to the Eye On College Basketball podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your favorite podcast platform.

Transcript

[Gary Parish]

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[Matt Norlander]

Hey there, it's Gary Parish. Welcome back to the CBS Sports I on College Basketball podcast where we sometimes discuss camel fighting, dodo birds and leaky black. Matt Norlander is here with me. If you're watching on YouTube, you know what to do to the like button shouts to Brandon Davies. And if you haven't yet subscribed to the CBS Sports college basketball YouTube channel, please also do that while you're here. Let's get into it. As you probably know, the 2025 NBA draft it got underway on Wednesday night. 30 picks were made. The first round is in the book. Matt Norlander, it's good to see you. We were both on television CBS Sports HQ throughout the night. You apparently had time to change out of your clothes. I did not. I'm still tied up.

[Gary Parish]

Yeah well to be fair we are now doing this well after 1am GB had to stay on the desk and record a number of segments. They cut me loose so I just did some tidying up. Got to change. Here we go. Appreciate everyone by the way that that watched. We actually had some pretty outstanding viewership from what I can tell on CBS Sports HQ and YouTube and then we got a number of comments just giving us some, some love for the coverage. So we genuinely appreciate it. We, we try and put out a product that's entertaining, informative, give you intel, good insight across the board. Thanks to everyone HQ to make it happen. We do this every year now we do this, this pod late night gp like if you're paying, if you're dialing into this show, be it on YouTube live after the fact, listening like there's just not a lot left to say about Cooper. Dallas, great stuff there. We knew it was going to happen. Dylan Harper going to San Antonio, not a surprise there. So I think you'd agree with me there's just, there's nothing left to squeeze out of that sponge. Like we'll see what their pro careers become and it's an amazing night for them unquestionably. But to me the biggest story, there's a couple of big plot points that we got to talk about on the show but I think Ace Bailey going to five to the Jazz and tied to that like Philly didn't make, didn't trade the pick. Couldn't trade the pick. They take Edgecombe the favorite to go in that spot. So Edgecombe goes there. Knipple the expected pick to go to Charlotte. He goes there. Although I will say that I got told like I think when they were around like pick 10 or 11 that Charlotte, Utah and Washington all got approached by a variety of different teams just trying to see if a last minute deal could come to be. Didn't happen. You normally don't get teams that have like top five picks trade out. Didn't go down. In the end, Ace Bailey goes to Utah despite not working out there and you know, allegedly trying to land and get himself to Washington or somewhere after that, Danny Ainge was not going to be. And Austin Ainge now who's running that, running that outfit there as well in the front office, we're gonna be told who they were gonna pick. So they take the guy that they, that they're most comfortable with. What were your thoughts on Ace Bailey ultimately landing there? Because the one intriguing thing to me is or two real quick, I just couldn't get myself to believe that Jeremiah Fears would go top five in this draft and he did not. And two, the like Ace Bailey, the Utah was the one that I just didn't hear discussed all that much. You heard plenty. Like, will Philly take him anyway? Will Charlotte take him? Is he gonna go to Washington? New Orleans wants him. Could he slip that far? Or ultimately would Brooklyn move up to try and get him? Utah, you have heard very little in Utah. Lo and behold, is the team that gets them.

[Matt Norlander]

So on our hour long pre draft show on CBS Sports hq, among the things we were asked is like a bold prediction heading into the night. And the thing that I submitted is that even though everybody at this point, including the betting markets, are projecting Ace Bailey to fall outside of the top five, I don't think he's going to fall out of the top five. Either somebody's going to take him despite him turning down a workout invitation, or somebody is going to move into the top five. But I don't believe Washington's just going to be able to sit there and get him at 6. So Utah pulls the trigger at 5 and that story is done. And I love it. Not because I'm certain it'll be the right pick, because the way the draft actually unfolded, if I were in charge, I would have taken Trey Johnson over Ace Bailey. I think Trey Johnson's a better prospect for a variety of different reasons, but I understand I'm in the minority, minority on that. So it's not what I would have done, but it is absolutely what I would have done if I had Ace Bailey as best prospect available at that point. Because imagine like just think through this from the other side. I think heading into this night, a lot of people are saying, well, how do you take him if he doesn't want to be there? How do you take him if he won't come work out with you? How do you take him if he'd never had lunch with you? Well, ask that question from a different direction. How do you not take him? If you are convinced after years of evaluating him that he is the best prospect available, you would pass on him.

[Gary Parish]

Why?

[Matt Norlander]

Because he hired inexperienced representation who has tried to manipulate the process of this entire thing. Because he's a teenager who thinks he doesn't want to be in Salt Lake City. Teenagers don't know where they want to live or what might be amazing once they get there. So if you have this grade on him and you are genuinely of the belief that this is the best player available, you do what Utah did. You take him, you hope he changes his tone very quickly and you get him to what will be his new home. And then you show him, regardless of what you thought you wanted to do as it pertains to starting your NBA career, we can make this your home. We can make this a good spot for you. We can convince you this can be a great spot for you. I don't know how it'll play out, but I like the way Utah handled the situation.

[Gary Parish]

So do I. We'll see how it plays out. Face Bailey plays one more time, one more time for the road. If Ace Bailey plays to his ceiling, his ceiling is going to be one of the three best players in this draft. And it really there is a scenario where he, if he is all the goods and some of the players picked ahead of him are not, he's the best player to come out of this draft. Not the most likely outcome, but it is one potential outcome on the table. Good on Utah for doing it and there's some real intrigue there. Let's just combo Utah real quick here because there's a couple other teams that have a very good case. Take Dallas out of it. They get Cooper flag, they win the draft and all that good stuff. I get that. But Utah getting Bailey at 5 and then they make their move to get Walter Clayton Jr. At 18. They traded into that spot. Washington wound up trading down a few spots from that. I believe we said it on the, on the, on the mock pod, if not talked about it like three times on Wednesday on HQ on a variety of spots there, including our draft show. I just gotten way too much intel from from too many NBA sources that said Walter Clayton Jr. Is not going to be there at like 21 or 22. Like he is rising. He is jumping high. He should be gone. Probably late teens. That is exactly what happened when he got selected. There are a number of players who had some really emotional responses. Liam McNeely, we'll get to him before the pods over. Clayton Come on. Malawatch was a river and it was amazing to see. Love those stories. We kind of highlight them every year and it never gets old. He's an incredible story to be able to have turned himself into a top 20 pick. I love it. And then if you're Utah, you really might have gotten the two guys who are most physically and mentally equipped to be able to handle tough NBA shot making. So regardless of what happens with Utah on, on Thursday, to get Bailey and to get Clayton I thought was massive. And I think that that the franchise is destined to be one of the three biggest winners from the 2025 NBA Draft.

[Matt Norlander]

Yeah, I'm a little more skeptical of Walter Clayton Jr. I think, than you or most. I'm not ruling anything out, if only because you'd be silly to be the draft analyst talking on video who is just speaking in absolutes a few hours after players were picked. That'll make you look real stupid down the road. On nights like the nights everybody's sure, or at least they talk like they're sure of what's smart and what's dumb. But the truth is, you know, you don't really. You don't really know for certain. So would I have moved up to take Walter Clayton Jr. In this way? No, I don't think so. But clearly they believed in him. And to your point, they have added two rookies that are arguably the two best hard shot makers in this draft. Obviously, there's different concerns for both of them. With Ace Bailey, it's okay. We know you can get the ball in the basket, but what else can you do? And how do you impact winning With Walter Clayton? It's all right. We know you can take tough shots and you're comfortable in uncomfortable situations, but you're also, you know, on the smaller side and how are you going to hold up? Neither one of these players are perfect prospects, but I do think they make for an interesting draft class.

[Gary Parish]

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[Matt Norlander]

If you don't mind me transitioning. Another franchise that I think did really well tonight is San Antonio. The Dylan Harper pick I think is a no brainer. That's a little bit like, you know, if you're the Grizzlies in whatever draft, Zion Williamson goes one, you're taking John Morant two. It's like you don't even really have to think about it. You just, you know who you're taking at number two. Dylan Harper was that guy in this draft. I think just about anybody was going to take him at number two, but they didn't match him with Carter Bryant at the 14th pick. I love you and I have talked about him a lot. I had him as a top 10 prospect in this draft and when you're a San Antonio franchise that already has your future mvp. All right, you got that guy. You've already got de' Aaron Fox, you've got the reigning rookie of the year. You add the second best prospect in this draft. I know some franchises out there at 14, 16, 19, they're still swinging trying to find their Shay, Gilgis, Alexander. But with San Antonio, sure, that'd be great. But if this thing is going to go a certain way, it's going to be Wimby and let's just say Stefan Castle, Dylan Harper, de' Aaron Fox, some combination of that. And surrounded by role players, surrounded by three and D people, keep the floor spaced on one end, switch everything on the other end. And Carter Bryant, in my opinion of the players who were available in this range, is clearly the best 3 and D prospect available. High character, great work ethic, good motor, all the measurable stuff. San Antonio, Oklahoma City seems to be on a different level right now in terms of just roster construction and where they're at for the future. But outside of the Thunder, I don't know that I'd want anybody's future more than I want the San Antonio spurs right now.

[Gary Parish]

So it's a great one too. I'll just pass along. I just found this to be some interesting feedback in the past few days. I just heard from NBA teams that were in no position to even be in top five, top six in this draft anyway. But I heard intriguing feedback about Harper and that it was just kind of as I just, you know, I'm reaching out to some, some are finding me. We're just talking about a variety of things and one front office person in particular brought this up and it was more along the lines of like okay, Flag is on his own tier, but like this idea that Dylan Harper has separated from Edgecom and Bailey and Knipple and Trey Johnson. Like why is that a thing? Like what I'm getting at is that he, well, he may well wind up and he was deservingly the second pick in the draft. I'm not saying he shouldn't have been that, but there is league wide from what I was feeding back on, there's just a little more like San Antonio might be the perfect place for him to go, but also is it the perfect place for him to go because of the, the situation he's going to go into? It's a really good franchise, but now he's going to be asked to participate in a specific role that he has not done for a very, very long time. And with the way that he's Wired. Is this the best place to give him the best chance of success? And just some interesting feedback from NBA people. I'm, I'm interested to see if that winds up bearing out or not. There was a couple of questions just about some of the pre draft stuff like he was going to be the number two guy. So I just, I heard feedback from a couple, a couple folks like you know, it wasn't, he wasn't registering the highest among the guys who were, you know, the biggest killers, the hardest workers, all that kind of stuff. So just a little feedback on that.

[Matt Norlander]

Gp that's totally reasonable perspective. I would counter it with this. Here's how I can prove to you. Not prove, that's the wrong verb. Here's how I can make up the case that Dylan Harper did separate from the Concan Nipples and the VJ Edge comes and the Ace Baileys and the Trey Johnsons because San Antonio took him even though he's not a great roster fit given what's already on the roster. Like there are some franchises that took players tonight and they fit perfectly for what it is they're trying to do going forward. They've got a jumbo guard in Stefan Castle. They've got a, a primary lead guard in De' Aaron Fox. They didn't really need to add another 6 foot 6 guard but they did it anyway. Why? I don't want to speak for the franchise but this is the answer because he's the second best prospect in this draft and we don't really care if he's a perfect fit for our roster. We just want the second best prospect in this draft. I think that combined with the reality that most people did have him labeled that way suggests that with all due respect to the people you were talking to, I think most did believe that Dylan Harper had separated from the pack even if not everybody did.

[Gary Parish]

Yes, for sure. What will be interesting last thing on Harper and Bailey and let's keep on touch on your San Antonio stuff and we'll keep it moving here. I am interested to see three years down the road, four years down the road, will their season at Rutgers have any sort of continuation in the NBA for either of these guys. You know, it is super weird that two top five picks were on a team that was not close to being good enough to make the NCAA tournament. Why you would be drafted, as we said on the show, is different from team related success but still just a little bit that came back with me and one of the other things with Harper is like did Bailey get most of the slack for this like it was Harper's team. He was running the offense like and he had some issues with, with, with illness and all that kind of stuff as well. Just intriguing to hear from some NBA folks on this. And there have been instances where highly drafted players were on bad teams with bad records and they didn't have good NBA careers. Despite that, there are a couple exceptions to the rule. Let's keep it moving. I do the Bryant pick falling to them is I don't think San Antonio thought he was going to be there. I, I don't think so others and for him to be drafted there, I think that is ideal for him and really good fit overall. Let's keep it moving. Trey Johnson goes six to Washington. I for me, Trey Johnson, I've said it on the show one more time. Number two only behind flag for me. I think he has the second best chance of having the second best career of anyone in this class. He goes six to Washington. I think he'll do well there and I think Washington in general has a good chance to, to really go somewhere with this franchise. Do you have any lingering thoughts on either him or fears at seven before we get to whatever the hell Brooklyn did on Wednesday night, I had Trey.

[Matt Norlander]

Johnson as a top three prospect in this draft. He would not have lasted to sixth if I would have been in charge of one of these franchises. So this isn't where I thought he was going. But once Ace Bailey is off the board for Washington for at least in my mind this was the obvious thing to do.

[Gary Parish]

Yeah, I was told that Washington. I don't have the details of what exactly it was, but Washington was involved in a legitimate trade talk that went up till, you know, two minutes, three minutes before the pick was made. It didn't happen. They keep Trey. All right, let's just talk Brooklyn overall because they take igor demon at eight. That is if you looked at a mock draft on December 15, entirely possible. There was no mock. And I do appreciate this. I like when teams are not going. This is a there. We have a few instances here on Wednesday night where you have teams quite clearly zacking against the pack. I appreciate that. Have some convictions in your big board. That being said, Devin wasn't projected as a top 10 pick. I don't believe anywhere. I actually, in particular, I was high on him. I think I might have mocked him and big boarded Demon higher than anyone of the, you know, five or six of us at CBS that did this. But they take the pick. What's intriguing about this is that I had an Eastern Conference GM text me 20 minutes before the draft started. I said, listen, will we see a trade in the top 10? If so, what team is going to instigate it? What's most likely? And this GM said Brooklyn and it'll try to move up to get Charlotte spot at 4. That didn't happen. Well, by, by nature of drafting Demon, it doesn't indicate that they were trying to do that at all. And in fact, I mean maybe they did try to move to 9, 10, 11 or 12 because they, maybe their intel suggested that maybe Toronto was sweet on, was sweet on Demon or maybe the Bulls were. I don't know. I don't think so. But they go, they go big there with a tall point guard who's an amazing passer, has such a long way to go with the shooting, but he's got some intriguing, some intriguing promise. And then elsewhere with Brooklyn, let's just talk, let's trust the Nets in general right now. I think Bill Simmons tweeted after the second pick that Sean Marks needs to be thrown in prison, which is crazy. But there were, there were like there were picks. Brooklyn first of all, I said it would be insanity. So I have to own up to this that Brooklyn would keep all five picks. No one I talked to in the past three days or in, you know, two plus days. They got the fifth pick at the, at the 11th hour, so to speak. Thought that Brooklyn would keep them all, but they are, they're going to keep five first round picks. That's the first time in the modern era they take Nolan Traore out of France at 19. They got Drake Powell in the, in the, in the swap with Atlanta. They get him at 22. They get Ben Sarof out of Israel at 26 and then they take Danny Wolf at 27. The commonality with all of these players is that they all have serious work to do to getting to be a reliable NBA shot maker. And in some of these cases like shot creators as well. So they're all projects. And the fact that you would have five picks and at no point would you have drafted just broadly speaking here Parrish, like you take Demon over Yaka Chonas or even like you dig Demon over Malawatch. Malawatch, right. A big who almost everyone mocked Malawatch to Brooklyn so that doesn't happen. Molo Watch weirdly falls to 10 by the way. Get to in a second. They take Traore at 19. When you could have had again, you still could have. Yakachona's falling is amazing. We do eventually Wolf Dropped more than they expected there. And they go after Powell, who did have real interest. You know, they swapped that pick with Atlanta. And I was told that at that point, Atlanta, Powell was on the very short list. So it's interesting that Brooklyn actually moved to get him when Atlanta was also, coincidentally enough, very interested in getting him and then that didn't wind up happening. Atlanta gets the local kid, so to speak. And Asa Newell, how do you encapsulate, how do you feel about what Brooklyn did here? Because we've literally never seen this and this feels like it has and I love Danny Wolf and he was underdraft in my opinion, but this feels like it has very ripe potential to go down as a, as a very bad draft and be this permanent example of this is why you would never want five first round picks and keep all five. Because look what Brooklyn did in 2025.

[Matt Norlander]

As always, you never know. We'll look back at some point in time and have a better grasp for whether this was a good night or bad night for the Brooklyn franchise. But in this moment, you know, we're talking about it in this moment. If I were a Brooklyn fan and you told me we had five first round picks and these are the five players we came away with, I would not be happy. This is not what I would have wanted it. You start, just think of it as scouting reports on each of these prospects and you got pros and cons on at least four of the five. As you indicated. Among the areas of concern would be shot making ability. Like basically every one of these guys is great positional size, interesting passer, but has never really shot it well from the perimeter. And that's got to get better. And I just don't love. In a time when perimeter shooting has quite literally never been more emphasized or important in the sport of basketball. I don't like adding a bunch of guys that among the first things you say about them is they got to become better shooters. Like, I've heard coaches talk about this all the time. How do you get a great shooting team, recruit great shooters? That's the easiest way. And this doesn't mean that the Nets will not be a great shooting team going forward, but they are not bringing established shooters or even reputable shooters into their franchise with this draft class.

[Gary Parish]

Yeah, it's, man, oh man, just. I love when the draft surprises, but this was genuinely surprising to me. Keeping all five in this five combo. It's wild. You know what else is wild? The worst team in the SEC had a top nine pick, Colin Murray. Boyles went to the Raptors. I'm a seller on him in general. He did have a moment that was then clarified. He got picked and he dropped an F bomb, but it was more like a F man. Like this actually happened. I can't believe it. It wasn't an F I gotta go to, but I know, I know social media had its fun with, with that, with a little bit there. He goes nine and then Molot falls to 10. He goes to Phoenix. Weird by the way, with that. Within minutes of each other. And I think this is what indicates like Phoenix, understandably so. Did not think Malawatch was going to be there for them at 10. They've got a big board. It's their pick and the highest ranked guy they have on their board is Malawatch. They go after him, but they pick up two Duke centers in literally a matter of moments between Mark Williams, who's only a few years into his career and then Moloch Williams obviously more, more advanced at this point in his career. So he'll, he'll be the starter. But Phoenix needed some bigs. This could really, if, if Malawatch can grow into an elite defender, that, that's going to be one hell of a guy that fell to him at 10.

[Matt Norlander]

Yeah. For a Phoenix franchise that hadn't done very many smart things lately, I feel like they, they, they, they did well in this night. I mean you had Mark Williams. I know the injury concerns like his physical got flagged and that's why he was still a member of the Charlotte franchise. And I know he's not perfect and there's some indications that Charlotte didn't want to have to pay him going forward. But like he did average 15 and 10 in the NBA as a 23 year old. That's not nothing. So you bring him to Phoenix presumably to be the starter and then you've got a teenage freak of nature who you can develop and hopefully really hit on that one. And I just know we've talked about this before. I think everything we're talking about we've talked about before. But the warriors kind of trick the league for a minute into thinking traditional centers are bad and you don't need them anymore. And let's just go small and spread everybody out and kill them. But we've gotten back away from that a little bit now. Oklahoma City starts two bigs. The Lakers tried to play small against Minnesota. Got destroyed by Rudy Gobert. You need big men in the NBA almost regardless of how you think you're going to play. You need people built like this on your roster to accomplish things in the postseason. And in one night Phoenix grabbed two big, physically imposing centers. And I think that's a move in the right direction.

[Gary Parish]

You would think. But there's a lot, lot of all right, what awaits here in Phoenix and what kind of operation they got going on with Ishba, new front office, all this kind of new coaching staff. We'll see. And they get rid of Durant, the whole deal. Let's get to, let's get to this one. Cedric Coward, so not going to tell a story again. I've told on HQ like five times, told on the pod, all that stuff. Please go find the story if you haven't gotten some good response to it. And, and, and by, and by the way on like a, on a personal note, like I don't write these stories because of this, but as a function of like doing these pre draft features that I do every year, you wind up hearing from people because it's a very revealing feature and people that are, you know, tasked with drafting these players, they want to get as much information as possible. And so it does seem like the story itself just only encourage Cowards rise into the lottery. In recent days, from what I was, from what I was told and what.

[Matt Norlander]

What happened, you got Cedric Coward drafted in the lottery.

[Gary Parish]

I'm not saying that. I'm saying wow. I'm saying the story probably didn't hurt. This dude went 11th.

[Matt Norlander]

I would like, I would like to give the credit to Cedric Coward, but if you want to take some of it, you can.

[Gary Parish]

I will take none of it. He went 11th and he is going to Memphis. I think it's really awesome from a podcast perspective that I did this big old story on this guy and now he's going to be living in your city. He goes 11th and Portland had, so Portland had the pick. Now there are a couple franchises and I'll say Portland is one of them that his representation did not want him to go to. Now there are different reasons why agents will not want their clients to play at different franchises. Those, those reasons can vary. But Portland, broadly speaking, just sharing this objectively because of what was told to me by multiple people, just it feels like a franchise right now that is near the bottom in the NBA in terms of the direction it's going, the competency, you know, at certain points within the, the front office structure, et cetera, et cetera. That's not my opinion, it's the opinions of others. But lo and behold, he gets taken 11th and Memphis takes him. Coward and his Camp were joyfully optimistic that Memphis in general, which initially had 16 going into the night, was going to be the lowest case scenario. Like Memphis was taking him at 16, if he was still there. But Chicago was interested, Atlanta was interested, San Antonio was interested in Oklahoma City, was definitely interested. And Instead he goes 11th. Man, it is incredible. You're. I assume at some point very soon you're going to have him on your show in Memphis. You will enjoy him. He is incredible. And in Memphis, fans, you, you just, you got just of what I've known from him, from talking to him to talking to people that have known him his entire life and just, you know, looking into him as a, as a player, a human over the past month or so, a little bit more than that. He seems to be like someone who is going to absolutely thrive in the culture at Memphis gp.

[Matt Norlander]

I can tell you the folks back home are excited. You know, Desmond Bain was a big part of that franchise. I don't think the fan base was eager to move him. But after stumbling to the finish line again and, you know, extended years of a John morant, Jaren Jackson Jr. Desmond Bain Core that hadn't accomplished much other than finishing second place in the West a few times. But once it got playoff basketball, there's just, there's the results aren't there. And so the front office, honestly, during exit interviews made it pretty clear they felt like they needed to shake something up, get a little uncomfortable. And the first big step in that was the Desmond Bain trade. Some people, I think, mistakenly thought that that was the beginning of a rebuild in Memphis. Next up, Jaren Jackson Jr. Next up, John Morant. Let's tear it down. But they were never going to do that. They do not want to do that. They want to still try to be good just with a different third best player. So they're going to go forward with John Morant and Jaren Jackson Jr. For better or worse. And the Desmond Bain trade helped give them the type of assets that made it possible to move up in a draft like this. And Zach Kleiman, the general manager there, has a history of, he moves up in drafts to get what he wants. He'll. He'll overpay in some people's eyes to move up spots if he believes this is the player I want to get in this moment. And they had clearly identified Cedric Coward that way. Obviously they were sitting there at 16, he was sitting there at 11, and they did not believe he was going to make it to 16. Let me stop here. He was not going to make he.

[Gary Parish]

Was not going based on what was, you know, kind of shared with me on background heading in. I just don't think he there was any chance he was making it to 16 and I think you know, you know, the GM well. I just, he carries a very quality reputation. I think he just successfully snuffed this out. And I'm actually supposed to get this isn't good for a podcast purpose. I'm supposed to get a little more of the story tomorrow once things settle a little bit about about what truly went on with with this movement here. But and one last thing for me on this and we keep moving. If you're, if you're coward in general, like it's, it's just unreal that you would go from having two Division 3 offers four years ago and then now you're the 11th pick in the draft. But to know that a franchise was like we're moving up five spots from the mid teens to make sure number 12 doesn't take you like you're already on a rocket and now this is going to send you into the ionosphere. That's, that's got to be so amazing for, for a player's confidence stepping into an NBA franchise for the first time.

[Mike]

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[Matt Norlander]

So it's the second straight year the Grizzlies have used a draft pick on a Washington State Husky.

[Gary Parish]

Yeah, that's true. Yeah, good call.

[Matt Norlander]

In the second straight year they have used a draft pick on somebody who started their career outside of Division 1 basketball. And I don't think this will be the case on opening night. And I'm not certain it'll be the case at any point next season. But if this thing goes the way you hope it goes when you move up into the top 11 to draft somebody, there is a scenario where a starting lineup for the Grizzlies someday could be John Morant, Jalen Wells, Cedric coward, Jaren Jackson Jr. And Zach Edie. A five player starting lineup featuring two Washington State Huskies that did not begin their career in Division 1 college basketball. That's pretty neat.

[Gary Parish]

And then even just with Morant needy, those were once like, you know, no star like Edie was ranked 400, 50th in his class and all that kind of stuff. That's pretty cool. All right, let's keep it moving here. Let's talk. Let's talk New Orleans, they take, they take Derek Queen by trading with Atlanta. So Atlanta bumped down and then Atlanta would wind up actually trading again there. Now Queen, I was told was very much like under consideration for New Orleans at 7, but ultimately they were not going to be able to justify taking him that high. But they did covet him. So the information that I was getting wound up being, being accurate there. But the Pelicans are coming under, I think, some scrutiny here and I understand why. Fears at 7, no one's going to really criticize you for. I just think that there is a chance that he doesn't hit and ultimately it just winds up being like you took a really undersized guard who doesn't defend and what is he, three, four, five years from now? Maybe he can become a very high level point guard in the NBA. I'm not saying he can't. I'm just, I'm a seller on him relative to most. If you listen to the pod, you're aware of that. Queen, meantime, could also be a player who does bust out. I don't think he will. He's very crafty, very smart, very talented, sees the floor well, good handle, really good feet. I think he's gonna, I think he should be able to develop into a really good rebounder. But objectively speaking, you know, fears could be fierce. Was a polarizing prospect. Some, some teams are not wouldn't have had him top 10. But he goes there and then you've got Queen who like New Orleans liked him. And there were a couple other teams that were in this realm that I think probably would have taken him. But there was mixed feedback on some of his team workouts and questions about conditioning. And I don't say this, like, jokingly or flippantly. Like, you see what Zion Williamson has up and down. And also, I'm dead. Like, this is, this is stuff that like, NBA people will talk about, like, just purely in business terms. But he is going to one of the best American food cities, the best one in the entire country. And you're worried about his physical conditioning, making sure that he keeps the weight off, gets more muscle tone. New Orleans is an incredible restaurant city. So, like, by bringing him there, Joe Dumars running the operation, there's just, I think in the wake of draft night here, there's some like, is this really going to work for New Orleans or is this going to be a spectacular flame out and they're going to be a franchise that's picking in the top five of the lottery more times than not over the next half decade? I don't know. I wrote a feature on Queen. I. I love his personality. I think he's got a great chance to succeed. I do genuinely wonder, not even just because of, like, you know, the great PO boys and getting anything like that. I'm talking about purely franchise stuff. I do wonder if this is a situation here with a player where certain franchises would have been a better fit to give him a better chance to have success. Could be wrong. I'm not saying it won't be New Orleans, but I do wonder if that kind of situation is on the board here with Queen, who went 13.

[Matt Norlander]

So I don't like this. It's not what I would have done. It doesn't mean that it's wrong, but it's not what I would have done. I would have taken Carter Bryant at 13. I think he's a better fit and a better prospect. So I would have taken Carter Bryant. He went one spot lower to the Spurs. So the spurs were waiting to get the guy that you could have taken. That means you probably messed up.

[Gary Parish]

In addition, sorry, just real quick, I didn't mention this. It's mentioned the chat. New Orleans gave up an unprotected pick for next year as well. So that's what really has people up in arms like, you did this for Queen. Like, he needs to be almost all star level good to justify it to begin with. And that obviously could be something of a long shot.

[Matt Norlander]

So I think they took the wrong player, period. But that's obviously debatable. I'm sure there are other people out there who had Derek Queen with a better grade than Carter Bryant. So that's fine. I'm not even arguing that. But basically every year since they drafted Zion Williamson, the prevailing thought going into a draft in New Orleans is if you're building around Zion Williamson, you need to add shooting. Just surround him with shooters. He needs space to play in. You need shooters to create that space for him. Like this isn't complicated stuff. Like the idea that Zion Williamson needs space to play in is not, you know, you don't have to be Tim Legler to understand that. All right, so are we still building around Zion Williamson? Because you just spent two lottery picks on non shooters. I mean, so obviously Zion. Google it. He's got some off court issues. This just makes me wonder. Even though they have consistently said our plan is still to build around Zion Williamson, I don't think the way they draft it is the way to build around Zion Williamson. And I don't want to get too cute with it either. But like, and I don't even think this should be a non starter, but there has to be somewhere in your head. We spent the number one pick on a draft on a guy who has conditioning problems and it has been a pain in our ass the entire time. Are we really about to spend a lottery pick on another guy that people are telling us has conditioning problems? Are we doing this again? I'm not saying I wouldn't do it for that reason, but I'm saying it would be in my head somewhere. Are we really going down this path again? As always, we'll see. But this does not look like. Like I like Jeremiah Fears independent of everything else that I'm saying. And I like their queen independent of everything else that I'm saying. I don't know that I like them together on a team with Zion Williamson fair.

[Gary Parish]

We talked about Brian at 14. Sorber goes 15 to OKC. You know, there's just not much to say about it. Like if he. Maybe this is another great get and we look up and he's a great producer but he's gonna. You would think he's going to get minimal minutes next season.

[Matt Norlander]

You won't even see him for two years and then there'll be a big that they can't afford and sure. And then Thomas Sorber steps into that. That is the. That's the next trick for Sam Presti. Once you pay Chet and Shay and Jalen and you can't pay these other role players because the second apron is a killer. Thomas Sorber has to be ready to step into a role. You. You ready for this? You might not even say his name or think of him for a year or two, but there will be a day where an Oklahoma City role player in the front court is moving on for some reason, and this will be the player that's supposed to step in and fill that Roy.

[Gary Parish]

And then we get to. We get to the 16th pick. We're not going to be breaking down tape here, folks. We're just going to talk about the reaction and the shock value here because in the trade with the Grizzlies, the Portland Trailblazers go back to 16, and they draft a super, super tall dude out of China, center Yong Hansen, who in our prospect rankings. And this is all credit to Kyle Boone because he was the one that responsible for the majority of this on the back end. He was 43rd. So this is a player who, if he had gone like 25, 26, 27, it's still a reach. But you're like, okay, like you're back in first round, maybe you really believe in it. This is just. You get one of these at the NBA level. Every so often, this feels more common in the NFL where you've got more positional needs. And sometimes there are big swings that are taken by franchises and it just kind of blows everyone away. This is astounding. And maybe it winds up being one of the most brilliant picks of 2025. I am open to that possibility, but this is the most inexplicable draft pick of the entire evening. And again, it just kind of speaks a little bit to some of the hesitation with Portland. You know, I just. I had a few folks tell me that, you know, there were certain agents that, that didn't send their players to Portland and didn't want to because they just didn't want to have that option be on the table. Here they are, and this guy, presumably this player would have taken by no other franchise. On Wednesday night, Portland opted to go with them at 16.

[Matt Norlander]

The biggest surprise of the first round, I think, by far. And yet I'm going to stop short of calling it inexplicable, because just think about this as a thought exercise in whatever draft Nicole Jokic was in, if he, like with the 16th pick, if.

[Gary Parish]

He had gone 16th, sure.

[Matt Norlander]

What would have been the reaction?

[Gary Parish]

Yeah. Oh, yeah. I mean, he was famously drafted during a Taco Bell commercial, the whole thing. Yes.

[Matt Norlander]

Everybody would have come back on TV and Adam Silver would have announced the pick, and everybody would have said what this guy doesn't show up in first round of mocks anywhere. Like he's supposed to go in the 40s or the 50s. What are they doing in Portland? And yet if we had to Revisit that in 10 years, you would look back on it and say that is maybe the greatest draft pick of all time. To take somebody nobody thought should go in the top 20, in the top 20 and then watch him turn into a three time MVP, that was amazing. You just don't know. Like Mark Gasol was picked 48th in a draft one year. If you would have asked me for my thoughts on him in that moment, even though I watched him play high school basketball in Memphis because his brother Powell played for the Grizzlies, I would have said I don't think he's ever going to be a relevant NBA player. He was the defensive player of the year. So I'm always going to be open minded about these things. I'm skeptical for all the obvious reasons. But just think of it from this perspective. You know, not everybody who runs an NBA franchise is good at it. But broadly speaking, these are not dumb people, you know, like they're not dumb people. And so if you work in that Portland front office, you know exactly what the reaction is going to be to this. You know, the whole world's going to scratch their head and ask what you're doing. My point is you've got to have a real conviction to do something like this. It is very easy to take Cooper flag number one. It is very easy to take Dylan Harper number two. It's pretty easy to take Ace Bailey number five. Even if he says he don't want to play for you. This is much harder to do because the whole world is going to call you stupid in real time. I'm not going to do it. But most people are going to call you an idiot for doing something like this. And if it doesn't work, you know, big questions start getting asked. So I like that part of it. I like that they had to feel really strongly about this to do it. And I'll be intrigued to see how it works out.

[Gary Parish]

Yeah. Yes, I am as well. Again, I appreciate when teams have real convictions and we get real time. Here's the moment. You got to make the pick and you see actual evidence of how teams as big boards cannot reflect broad group think when it comes to mock drafts. Portland's a clear example of that. We'll see if a relatively big gamble pays off. 17. Yawn. Berenger goes to Minnesota. He was a riser Some thought he was going to crack into the lottery. That did not happen. We talked about Clayton, 18. We talked about Traoreta Brooklyn at 19. Let's get to a really good bargain player. And as I go through what we talked about so far 1 through 20, I think Trey Johnson at 6 a really good bargain. Malawats may be borderline whether he qualifies or not. Brian at 14, he's in that conversation. But I don't think anyone, with the exception of like how big I am on, on Johnson, like if he really does wind up being like a top two player in the, in the class, him going six will be obviously a great deal. Casper Siakachonis going 20th, two of all of all teams. He goes to Miami. It really does feel like almost every year the Heat wind up drafting a player that should have gone many spots before that and just is a general fit at this point. It almost feels beyond rote. The issues with the turnovers and I get that entirely. He's got real size, incredible passing ability. I long ago talked myself into the, the vision that he is just going to be a player that grows into a very reliable NBA starter. And we'll look back at his college year at Illinois and be like, yeah, he actually had some interesting moments there and he had some like, hype and he went first, you know, top 20, first round and all that. But he wasn't this like, I think he will grow into that. I think he is going to be one of the 10 best players from this class. He drops all the way to 20. I sent a few texts on it. It was kind of inexplicable. I actually think it's a reflection of how flat the draft started to look. Basically around 15. And I'd say 15 to 24, pretty flat. And that's reflective of that. But the Heat man. Gp, how big are you on Yakuchonas? I know you like the pick because of the value, but pre draft, big board for you. Like, I had him top eight. I don't know if you were that high. Where was he for you? Big board. Not even mock like big board wise, where would you have ranked him?

[Matt Norlander]

Well, let's see exactly where I had him in my final mock draft, I had him at 12 going to the Chicago Bulls. So obviously I would have had him going higher than this. Probably much higher than this. I sent a couple of texts as well, you know, during the show because it felt like. And there's one of these every year, or it feels like there's one of these Every year.

[Gary Parish]

Last year it was Philip, which was even more drastic than this.

[Matt Norlander]

Yes.

[Gary Parish]

And then the year before Whitmore, who was like, thought, what GP may. Maybe. Maybe in top five convo. And he went like, 18th or 19th, I can't remember. Three years in a row we've had a big time drop.

[Matt Norlander]

And there's usually an explanation, like, you, you. You may not have it in real time, but then you start asking these questions and they're like, yeah, there's some injury stuff with Whitmore, or, yeah, did you read about Philipowski's girlfriend? Like, there's just. There's some stuff like. And you go, oh, okay. And so in that spirit, I start sending the text about Yakachonis, like, is there what is happening here? Because there's. Nobody expected this. And what I got back was, it's nothing like the Filipowski stuff or nothing like. It's just, this is what. This is the way one person put it, not a great athlete, didn't shoot it well at Illinois and turned it over a lot. So you, this is what the person told me. You like the idea of him. You like the idea of him, but the idea of him is not what he actually was, at least in his one year of college basketball. And this person told me, I think you guys have just been a little higher on him than most.

[Gary Parish]

Yeah, okay. And it could be fair. Maybe that winds up. Maybe he's just a Jag. You just never know. Maybe he plays himself out of league in five years. We don't know. But it seems like really, really good value there. Good on the Heat. Will Riley. So, interestingly enough, back to back a line. I will. Riley goes 21 to the, to. To Washington. It was the Jazz pick, and then that went over to. To Washington. Fine. I'm not. I'm not especially high on him. I feel like that's a little bit of a reach, but we'll see if it pays off. Interestingly enough, though, two Illinois players that weren't really next to each other in terms of big board wind up being squeezed back to back on draft night. We talked about Powell going to Brooklyn. Asa Newell goes 23 to Atlanta. I thought Atlanta was actually. So they traded. They swapped spots here again with Brooklyn for whatever reason. And I thought Newell was going to go the spot before, but he lines up, you know, staying local and going to the Hawks. I think it's relatively good value. I'll just. We'll roll this off three, four, five in a row. G.P. newell goes 23 to Atlanta. Nick Clifford gets traded to Sacramento. That was Oklahoma City's pick. No surprise there. A few people thought OKC was going to hold on to both picks there. So Clifford goes to Sacramento and then Jace Richardson goes 25 to the Magic. I said earlier on HQ that he was definitely viewed as a faller for a variety of reasons that wound up happening. Take whoever you want with any of those three players.

[Matt Norlander]

Jace Richardson falling this far, I guess wasn't a surprise, but I would have had him going higher than this. I know he's on the small side, like just without shoes, a little better than six foot. You know, that'd be tough if he were a primary lead guard. But he is mostly considered at this point in his life a combo guard. And so that's the best explanation for. Why did he slip all the way down to 25. It's that in a time where positional size is being emphasized, I mean, they really did it in Brooklyn. You might not like the draft, but they clearly valued positional size. This is a situation where you're not valuing positional size, but two things. The Magic are big just about everywhere else, so they're a big team. So you can put him on the court with big players and probably get away with it. And over the final 15 games of his season, because as you know, he wasn't a starter earlier in the year and then became a starter. And then Tom realized we got to keep him in that lineup and as a one of the centerpieces of this team. And that's where it sort of took off. He shot 42% from three. Orlando last season was the worst three point field goal percentage team in the NBA. Now they just added Desmond Bain, so that's going to help that. But they still needed to add shooting. And Jace Richardson adds somebody who can come in, play either guard, spot in spots, and also, you know, reliably knock down a shot.

[Gary Parish]

These three quick quickies on these three pillars. I think Newell can be like a top 20 rebounder in the NBA in time. I think that's actually good value for Atlanta. We'll. We'll see if he winds up being a guy who sticks. But, but I actually, I think that that pick right there makes sense. That's about the range that I thought he would go and he previously had some like end of lottery projections there. Nick Clifford. Hey, just love to see it, man. Colorado State stand up, you get it done, you go to Sacramento. Coincidentally enough, I talked to an NBA person earlier. No, it was not an NBA person. It was a college person earlier on Wednesday and they said he's got traits. Now he's like, they're not the same player, but a lot. Some of his traits remind me of Tyrese Halliburton, who coincidentally enough was drafted to Sacramento. Not gonna be Tyres Halliburton, don't get me wrong. But Clifford was so hot near the end of the season and he gets it done, gets drafted. I love seeing that. And then Richardson. I also think I just, I had two NBA teams. Tell me the, the fact that he had a hole in his knee that didn't get discovered until early part of his high school year. Had to have a bone graft put on. You know, there's just concerns with the medical on the knee are also why he dropped. And some probably thought that, that he might have been on the board to drop to the very end of the first round. But the Magic take him and we'll see if he can be a successful addition there. He's got to work on physicality bulking up, but I think he is just too good of a presence and smart not to stick in the NBA. I just wonder if he'll ever be a starting guard in the NBA. Saraf goes 26. Wolf goes 27. Three more players. Hugo Gonzalez goes to Boston at 28. It's about the range that he was projected to be at. Celtics got a super interesting situation. We're not going to break down on this podcast because we're not an NBA free agency, a roster breakdown podcast. But it is crazy interesting that a team that won the NBA championship a little more than 12 months ago now seems to have a roster that like, is fighting for a seven seed. It's just going to be. It'll be intriguing to see what happens there. And then final two picks. Liam McNeely goes to Charlotte after Phoenix traded out of that. And Janet Kona. Niederhauser, who we talked about on the mock draft with KB, he goes 30th.

[Matt Norlander]

That's.

[Gary Parish]

That's a Big Ten record, by the way. Big Ten had eight first round picks. Never had that many in one season. Good for him. They'll find you anywhere. A couple of examples of that in this, but McNeely falling to 29. I said this on our draft show. I don't get it. His camp was thinking like 20, 21 was his floor. I'd love to, I, I truly would love to like be able to check the scouting reports of teams that we're picking like Brooklyn 26 or 27, even, you know, Atlanta 23. Brooklyn again at 22. I understand why Miami goes Yakachonas Washington at at 21. Why did McNeely fall to 29? I Tim Fink said it on the, on the HQ Show GP he is an NBA player. Like at this point you are wanting to draft someone that barring the unthinkable, is just going to play at least two NBA contracts at least. And I think he has the mental makeup, I think he has the shooting capability. I think he has the adaptability to be at least a a net neutral defender for his size. Overall, really good passer, awesome teammate, doesn't stand down to a challenge. I think there's a very healthy chance that he is one of the 12 or so best players to come out of this draft a half decade from now. And I'm totally befuddled how he dropped a 29. It's. It's. I actually think it might be even more egregious than yakachona's dropping a 20.

[Matt Norlander]

So the order of the first 30 picks was maybe not exactly what anybody expected or predicted, but these are largely the players we thought would have their names called.

[Gary Parish]

I know. Yeah, I don't. No one was left in the green room. Right.

[Matt Norlander]

I don't believe anybody was left in.

[Gary Parish]

The greenhouser was the last one. Side note, I know they want to make all these dreams. There's just too many people in the green room. But do whatever. It's not the end of the world. But like you do chance someone going there and making it to Thursday and that's embarrassing as hell but they avoided it this year. But the more people you invite in the higher chance that you're gonna. That's gonna happen. That and the hat thing which is just beyond the fact that's ridiculous in 2025. It's just. And we again we talked about on the HQ show and then make your point. This is an all time moment memory. These are photographs that you will have blown up up to be, you know, 36 by 48 inches in the front foyer of whatever beautiful house that you're able to buy and give pictures to everyone, every relative that you know. And you're wearing the wrong freaking hat. Like get it together and fix it. It's not the biggest deal, but it also is kind of shitty. You're getting drafted in the NBA. You're going to go play with one franchise. Don't have the wrong hat up there and have it put it on to shake hands with Adam Silver, pose for the cameras, take all these pictures, do all these interviews and you're not wearing the right hat. It's 2025 NBA get it to hell together prediction.

[Matt Norlander]

They will get it to hell together before 2026. And they should have already done it. Like, this isn't like complicated. I mean, just, just, we just asked Shams, who is this guy actually going to be playing for? And then hand them that hat and we're done. It's pretty easy. And I don't care about all the protocols and that stuff. Just like, like, just, just make it sensible. Because to your point, Cedric Coward, on the night he became an important member of the Memphis Grizzlies, he has photographs wearing a Portland Trailblazers hat.

[Gary Parish]

He also, unfortunately, it was a gaffe, but he got called Colin Coward too.

[Matt Norlander]

So there's a whole lot of stuff going on. Yes, they've got to fix that. And here's why I know they're going to fix it by 2026. Because even though you and I have talked about this for years at 2 o' clock in the morning just like this, tonight, it really got taken to another level. I think everybody was talking about it tonight. I know Scott Van Pelt was talking about it on SportsCenter tonight. And the NBA is such a reactionary league. Like, people are like, why don't you have the Larry o' Brien trophy on the court next finals game? They've got the trophy on the court.

[Gary Parish]

Yeah.

[Matt Norlander]

Why don't you show the starting lineups and make it feel like a big deal next finals game? They're showing the starting lineup to make it. So they'll. They the same way they heard that. They'll hear this and this will be fixed by next year. And it needs to be because it's, it's, it's ridiculous.

[Gary Parish]

I cut off a point you were about to make on McNeely, I think, by the way. So sorry about that.

[Matt Norlander]

The point I was going to make is I'm just gonna, it's gonna come across as pat myself on the back a little bit. But I don't even mean it that way because I don't think this is that hard given the way that it, it played out the way just about every bracketologist is going to get 66 out of 68. I think just about any mock drafter is going to get about 26, 27, 28 of these players that went in the first round. Correct. Because in my final mock, the first 26 players I had mocked all got picked and I only missed on three, and they were the players that I had 27th, 29th and 30th. But 27 of the players who were picked tonight were in my final mock draft and I think you're going to find that with most of them. So again, did most people have Jaeger Dim going in the top 10? No. Liam McNeely falling all the way down to 29? No. But the players, the 30 players who were picked tonight, at least 27 of them were players. Just about everybody thought, we're going to be picked tonight.

[Gary Parish]

Yeah, I think. Yeah. And once we were getting to like, once McNeely went at 29, before we even knew Neuter House are going 30, I was like, for the most part, this is, this is broadly speaking with the what the projections had. That said, we've got round two Thursday. We're not going to do a reaction pot to that. Here are the best players available in my opinion. You've got Cam Jones, Marquette, Ryan Cockburner, Creighton, Noah Penda out of France. Got to be up there high. Maxime Reno from Stanford, Chaz Lanier, Tennessee, Rasheer Fleming, St. Joe's Kobe Braya, Kentucky, Tyrese Proctor, Duke Janibram, Auburn, and a dude Sierra from Arkansas. Those would be my best players on the board heading into Thursday. I think it's probably inevitable that I've got a couple of guys on that list that will still be there in the 40s. You get in the second round and there's a whole bunch of different reasons why guys go where they go. There's a lot of politicking once you get into the back half of the second round. There are agents that don't even want their guys drafted to begin with because they think they can maneuver different and better situations by having them not drafted. So keep that in mind as well. If there's a player that you really like and you think he's deserving to go and he's not picked, you know, in the final six, seven picks. Just know that sometimes it's actually for the best and it's not actually a reflection of whether they're not, you know, one of the 60 best prospects in this draft for you GP, who was your highest ranked player that didn't get picked and therefore your highest ranked guy on the board heading into Thursday night.

[Matt Norlander]

Richer fleming out of St. Joseph's I had him going 27th in my final mock. That makes him the highest projected player that was not selected. If you're curious, the three players that I had going in the first round who were not selected in the first round is Rasheer Fleming at 27 Maxim Reyno at 28 and Ryan Cockbrenner at 30. To be clear, I had those players going 27, 28 and 30. They were not picked. The players who were picked in the first round that I did not have going in the first round, that is Young, Hansen, Drake Powell.

[Gary Parish]

Yep.

[Matt Norlander]

And Hugo. No, I had Hugo Gonzalez. Oh, yeah. Yannick.

[Gary Parish]

Okay, it's late. We got to get out of here. But before we do, I'm sorry. Nada. Mike. Time. You get Knipple at 4 and then you get McNeely at 29 with the Hornets there. Knipple's camp was hopeful it would be Charlotte. I talked to his father earlier on Wednesday. They were hopeful, but they were in the dark. They truly did not have a real sense because Philly and not knowing what they were going to do really loomed heavy over that. Let's hear the. Let's hear the night of scouting report draft recap from Nada. What are you thinking on those Hornets, buddy?

[Matt Norlander]

I will say this.

[Mike]

If lamelo Ball plays 50 games, look like both of them are going to hit. Get multiple threes. I expect 35, 36, three point shooting. It's the one thing the Charlotte Hornets need more than anything else. They'll get two bigs with picks 33, 34. And I wasn't a fan of Kanipola initially, but I will say this. I understand the vision now. Now that you get two shooters.

[Gary Parish]

Okay, there we go. I think they're also really good additions to the locker room. Steering from a couple of NBA folks. It's not that I'm not saying that Charlotte has a bad locker room room. Just sounds like having a couple of guys that are just ultra tough, ready to do anything for the team, really good teammates step in there and there were plenty of guys that were qualified for this kind of role. It just seems like those are two guys that, that are ready to. To up the level there and that's pretty cool. And then by the way, both of them have a relationship with Flag. They were both teammates. Liam McNeely previously in high school and then Knipple obviously this past season at Duke. So that'll be pretty intriguing. Charlotte, Utah, those are my two biggest winners from, from Wednesday and we'll see what happens on Thursday.

[Matt Norlander]

If I had to pick a winner, I think I might go San Antonio, you get Dylan harper at number two. Then you had Carter Bryant with that second lottery pick. But fun night. Fun night. Now it's 2:20.

[Gary Parish]

Yeah. For everyone that had this early in the morning on Thursday, we love you we wanted to get you this recap right away before you prep for Thursday night's draft. It is late. Oh my gosh. We have been talking so much today. I'm actually. You might be able to hear it. The voice, it's fading on me. So let's. Let's call that a show.

[Matt Norlander]

Shouts to Devin Downey. Shouts to Chester, S.C. shouts to the legend Terry Teagle. Huck Larnell. Thank you guys once again for watching Listening to the Island College Basketball Podcast. If you're not subscribed, please go subscribe anyway. You subscribe to podcasts including Apple and Spotify. There are more of us than there are of them. That should be reflected in the comments. Please do that. We'll talk to you again real soon. Till then, take care.

[Nada]

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