NBA Lottery Hate Draft + Playoff Round Up | Slam N Jam

Summary

The Athletic NBA Daily: Slam N Jam

Episode: NBA Lottery Hate Draft + Playoff Roundup

Date: May 9, 2026
Hosts: Andrew Schlecht, Alex Spears
Guest: Bryce Simon (of Game Theory Podcast & Pistons Pulse Podcast)

---

Episode Overview

This episode of Slam N Jam delivers a lively mix of NBA playoff breakdowns, draft chatter ahead of the lottery, and a signature trivia duel. The discussion opens with an in-depth analysis of each ongoing playoff series—focusing on big tactical questions and breakout stars—before shifting to a tongue-in-cheek "Hate Draft" of which NBA lottery teams would cause the most uproar if they won the #1 pick. Andrew and Alex pepper draft expert Bryce Simon with targeted questions on the 2026 class, recent prospect news, and the shifting landscape of NBA talent evaluation. The tone blends passionate basketball nerdery with banter and warmth, perfect for fans who want informed discussion laced with humor.

---

Playoff Roundup: Series-by-Series Breakdown

Cavaliers–Pistons Series

Timestamp: 04:02–09:07

• Cavs Offense Struggles:
  • The Cavs faltered offensively, notably with James Harden, who Bryce says has had “one good quarter in eight quarters of this series” (05:17).
  • Cade Cunningham and Asar Thompson have provided Detroit “two quality perimeter defenders on the court at all times,” making life hard for Cleveland’s guards.
  • The loss of Sam Merrill’s shooting due to injury “has not been discussed…that is a real floor spacer and shot maker for them” (05:43).
• Asar Thompson’s Playoff Impact:
  • Asar is a defensive revelation—Bryce calls him “the best perimeter defender in the NBA” (08:20).
  • Offensively, Asar isn’t a liability as long as he excels in transition, cutting, and rebounding.

Notable Quote:

“He pushes pace in transition…You have to be good at the other things…he’s not limiting [the offense].” – Bryce Simon (07:43)

---

Thunder–Lakers Series

Timestamp: 09:07–14:00

• Lakers' Defensive Strategy on SGA:
  • L.A. has blitzed Shai Gilgeous-Alexander with aggressive traps and help, something that’s “as successful as they could make it, given their roster,” but OKC’s depth and versatility have responded well.
• Thunder’s Role Players Rise:
  • A.J. Mitchell and rookie Jared McCain’s emergence has mitigated the loss of Jalen Williams.
  • Chet Holmgren described as having “an insane efficiency playoffs…not even series, just playoffs right now” (10:42).
• Big Picture:
  • Other teams aren’t likely to use L.A.’s heavy trapping approach due to personnel differences.
  • The Thunder’s cohesion and depth are “really impressive…they don’t seem to be missing a beat without their second best player” (13:15).

Notable Quote:

“There’s not a whole lot of ball stoppers on that team…unless you just catch them on a really cold night, I don’t know that it’s going to be a great strategy.” – Bryce Simon (10:55)

---

Knicks–Sixers Series

Timestamp: 14:00–17:21

• Knicks Improvement vs. Last Year:
  • Team continues to build off last year’s playoff struggles; Bryce focuses on “letting the offense run through [Karl-Anthony] Towns to start games makes Brunson’s life easier” (15:29).
  • New contributors like Deuce McBride and Landry Shamet noted for valuable minutes in OG Anunoby’s absence. Knicks enjoying franchise-record playoff win streak.

Notable Quote:

“Let Jalen Brunson go crazy…let him be the closer. But…they had to go through early struggles to find their groove.” – Bryce Simon (16:28)

---

Spurs–Wolves Series

Timestamp: 17:30–22:24

• Wembanyama’s Breakout Performance:
  • 39 points on 18 shots + 15 rebounds, 5 blocks in Game 3.
  • Early attacking at the rim set the tone; later unleashed “ridiculous midrange jumper and a flare screen three” (18:43).
  • Talk about his unique reverse dunks: “just look different from any reverse dunk you’ve ever seen…so uniquely Wemby” (20:13).
• Wemby’s Evolving Game:
  • Emphasis on his new “one-hand Jokic stuff…playing volleyball with himself…adding efficiency” (20:28).
• Nas Reid’s Impact for Wolves:
  • Highlighted for creation and defense: “He seems to have found a flow offensively, not just scoring but also his creation” (21:47).

Memorable Moment:

“He literally kind of played volleyball with himself tonight. He like tipped it with his left to his right and then almost finished it with his right hand…” – Bryce Simon (20:28)

---

NBA Draft & Lottery Segment

The “Lottery Hate Draft”

Timestamp: 24:22–48:33

• Premise:
  • Hosts and Bryce draft teams whose “winning the lottery” would most enrage NBA fans.
  • Top picks:
    • 1️⃣ Oklahoma City Thunder (they’re too loaded already; fit issues for a top rookie major subplot)
    • 2️⃣ Dallas Mavericks (back-to-back lottery wins unthinkable; “especially right before they do the lottery reform” – 32:42)
    • 3️⃣ Warriors and 4️⃣ Heat (recent dominance, good teams, or “luck” would stir the pot)
    • Other teams debated: Bulls (“you don’t get rewarded for tanking for only one year!”), Pacers (“sleeping giant” if they get a top pick), Jazz (face of tanking discourse).
• Big Picture:
  • Conversation highlights fan paranoia, team-building intrigue, and the looming impact of the incoming rookie class on already potent lineups.
  • Fun digression: “You blew your chance at two timelines, you don’t get to do this again!” – Andrew (33:18)

---

Draft Class & Prospect Insights

On Darren Peterson’s Health Article

Timestamp: 49:18–51:09

• Peterson’s struggles now explained by high-dose creatine; Bryce finds the transparency helpful and validating:

  “Why didn’t you just tell us? …I almost felt for him, like I envisioned myself in what he explained and where I had been at the brink of exertion” (49:58).

• On positional future: “Wouldn’t be fully comfortable drafting him solely as a point guard…his comp is more of a Devin Booker, Jamal Murray type” (51:09).

Ranking the Point Guards & Best Fits

Timestamp: 52:48–55:56

• Bryce’s PG Ranking:
  • 1. Darius Acuff (“so talented offensively”), 2. Flemings, 3. Wagler, 4. Brown, 5. Filon.
• Mavs as a landing spot: “Acuff would be fun…he could operate with the ball in his hands…” (54:44)
• Unlikely for a point guard to jump into the top four—Bryce notes a clear tier break after Caleb Wilson, Cam Boozer, Darren Peterson.

On Nate Amen vs. Zacharie Risacher

Timestamp: 57:00–59:00

• Amen compared often to Risacher: “He has really good secondary skills…his primary skill needs to be knocking down shots…was under 40% and 33% from the three-point line” (57:21).
• Key question: Can Amen fill out his frame and defend at NBA level?

Measurement and Combine Watch

Timestamp: 59:09–60:59

• Names to watch: Tyler Tanner (undersized PG), Morez Johnson Jr. (“If he comes in way smaller…could be an issue for being an undersized five”), Cameron Carr (athletic wing).
• For light guards: “The more I watch the NBA…the more I realize you have to match physicality.” – Bryce (60:59)
• Chet Holmgren as the exception that proves the rule that thin players struggle to hold up.

Potential Risers (Post-Lottery/Combine)

Timestamp: 63:00–64:52

• Bryce’s favorites for a rise:
  • Cameron Carr (“insane athlete”)
  • Terrace Reed Jr. (from Connecticut, after a big NCAA run)
  • Abuka Okorie (Stanford freshman)
  • Alan Graves (Santa Clara)
• Warns many top underclassmen will likely return to college due to NIL.

Notable Quote:

“While we already saw one of the lowest early entry numbers…I think people need to prepare for a lot of these guys to go back [to school].” - Bryce (64:19)

---

Trivia Segment

Timestamp: 64:52-End

• Signature segment with playoff and NBA history questions; bragging rights at stake.
• Sample questions:
  • “Which NBA franchises have never won a Game 7?” (Charlotte Hornets, Pelicans, Grizzlies—66:53)
  • “Who has the most steals in this year's playoffs?” (Marcus Smart—79:16)
  • “Three NBA franchises blown two 3–1 leads...who are they?” (Clippers, Suns, Sixers—75:03)
• Bryce narrowly defeats Andrew in a hard-fought contest.

---

Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On the Thunder landing the #1 pick:

  “It would be so funny, folks.” – Andrew (27:10)

• On Asar Thompson’s defense:

  “I'm comfortable saying he's the best perimeter defender in the NBA.” – Bryce (08:20)

• On what’s most exciting about the lottery:

  “I think it’s the number one story on Sunday: what happens with that Pacers pick.” – Alex Spears (39:44)

---

Key Timestamps (Summary Table)

| Segment | Timestamp | |-------------------------------------- |--------------------| | Playoff Series: Cavs–Pistons | 04:02–09:07 | | Thunder–Lakers Series | 09:07–14:00 | | Knicks–Sixers Series | 14:00–17:21 | | Spurs–Wolves/Wemby Discussion | 17:30–22:24 | | Lottery Hate Draft | 24:22–48:33 | | Draft Class/Rankings/Prospects | 49:18–64:52 | | Trivia | 64:52–End |

---

Closing & Recommendations

The episode wraps with friendly sign-offs, a recommendation to check out Bryce Simon’s Pistons Pulse and Game Theory podcasts for further draft deep-dives, and lots of anticipation for the draft lottery and ensuing mock drafts:

“Tune in to that [Game Theory mock draft], because that’s when mock draft season really starts.” – Alex Spears (86:11)

---

For more high-level NBA breakdowns, prospect insights, and top-tier hoops banter, subscribe to The Athletic NBA Daily and keep tabs on the upcoming draft drama!

Transcript

[Commercial Announcer]

Now more people than ever can bring in their bill for a better deal at Verizon. Got AT&T or T Mobile. We got you Xfinity or Spectrum. You too. So tell your friends, your family, your quirky neighbor Jeff. Grab your megaphone and yell it from the rooftop. Get a better deal at Verizon because chances are anyone in shouting distance is included. Bring in your at&t t Mobile, Xfinity or Spectrum bill and we'll give you a better deal on the best network Come by Verizon today. Best Network based on RootMetric's best overall mobile network performance US 2nd/2025 all rights reserved. Must provide recent consumer mobile bill in the name of the person redeeming the deal. Additional terms, conditions and restrictions apply.

[Bryce Simon]

Still waiting Again. That's time you will never get back. Save time and money with stamps.com over 4 million businesses have skipped the line with stamps.com. join them to save up to 90%

[Alex Spears]

off carrier rates from your computer or phone right now. Print postage for certified mail, registered mail

[Bryce Simon]

and packages in seconds. Then schedule a pickup right from your home or office for a limited time. Go to stamps.com and use code podcast for a free welcome gift. Taxes and fees apply.

[Andrew]

Men's Wearhouse helps you love the way you look. No matter if it's a formal occasion or a more casual thing. Job interview, tea time, high school reunion, wedding, courtside seats or just a neighborhood party where you want people to say man, he looks impressive. If you're a man with something, anything on the books, Men's Wearhouse has the clothes, shoes and accessories that make you look and feel good. Their in store experts will help you find the right look while their on site tailors will ensure you've got the right fit. Men's Wearhouse love the way you look. Welcome to the Saturday slam and jam here on the Athletic NBA Daily. On today's show we're talking to Bryce Simon about the NBA playoffs and the lottery. Plus we'll do some trivia. With me, as always, is my good friend Alex Spears. Alex, what's up?

[Alex Spears]

Good evening, Andrew.

[Andrew]

Good evening. We're. We are recording this after the San Antonio spurs defeated the Minnesota Timberwolves. And our special guest, a a guest that Alex and I determined is like the most perfect guest to talk both playoffs and lottery is our friend Bryce Simon. Bryce, welcome to the show.

[Bryce Simon]

What's up guys? No, that's. Yeah, I, I guess I don't know how many people cover the NBA at large in the NBA draft. I don't want to Say as well as I do because I don't know if I do it well or not, but I at least try to do both.

[Andrew]

Come on, Bryce.

[Alex Spears]

I think you're a five tool player yet again. We can add trivia onto that.

[Bryce Simon]

That's a baseball reference.

[Alex Spears]

Tools that.

[Bryce Simon]

Well, no. So we're definitely down to 4 max. Because trivia is not my thing. We all know this. As always, I like to just note that I have no idea, I do idea what I'm going to do Saturday morning for my workout now that I don't have the slamming jam to listen to. So this is always the worst part of me coming on and recording with guys is then I have to find something else in the queue to listen.

[Alex Spears]

Do you never listen to your own pods? You never throw in a Game Theory?

[Bryce Simon]

Never. No, no, no, no. So the other early on I did because I would have a lot of ums and now I can pick up on them. I know I say like too much and those type of things, but I hate the sound of my own voice. The other day my students found it and they were playing it in class and I legitimately yelled at them to turn it off because I didn't want to hear myself talk anymore. So

[Andrew]

that rules. That is amazing. Okay, so we're gonna go through each playoff series. We're gonna ask you one question. Well, actually we have, we have two for the Cleveland Detroit series. Because you're an expert there. Because not only are in the game theory podcast, but you also host a podcast called the Pistons Pulse podcast. And it's, it's a great show. I've been on it before and I listen to it regularly and you should too. So let's, let's talk about that series first. In the regular sleep. In the regular season, Cleveland had a top 10 offense for cleaning the glass and were ranked 6 in half court offense. In game two, the cap scored 84.4 points per 100 possessions in the half court and only took 6 shots in the restricted area. The Cavs have been much better at home in the playoffs, but besides just playing at home, is there anything you think the Cavs should be trying offensively to find more success against this Pistons defense?

[Bryce Simon]

I mean, I think the easy answer here is James Harden just has to be better. Right? This is a lot of the concerns with that trade and I don't know, we had this conversation on the Pistons Pulse the other day on where this Cleveland team would be if they didn't make the trade. And I know Darius Garland was healthy by the end of the season for the Clippers, and I don't know that was. It'd be a fun conversation at the end of the year. Whenever. That's. Whenever the season ends for Cleveland. But right now, you know, Donovan Mitchell had a pretty good game, and James Harden has had one good quarter in eight quarters of this series. And I think the biggest thing for Detroit right now is I'm gonna give Cade Cunningham a lot of credit. They have two quality perimeter defenders on the court at all times, and that includes in the starting lineup. Assar Thompson is going to take one of those guys, and Cade has been able to take the other matchup while two of them are on the court. And then obviously, Cleveland staggers their minutes a lot, and then Detroit can come off the bench with a Ron Holland, a Caris Lavert, you know, just, you know, Danish Jenkins does some of that stuff. So I think the story for me is Detroit has just been able to match those two guys on the perimeter enough to make their lives hard. And James Harden hasn't been able to really handle that yet. And then also, Cleveland just hasn't shot the three ball. Well, guys, and I don't mean to oversimplify it, but they. They didn't shoot it great through those first two games, and so we'll see how they shoot it at home. The loss of Sam Merrill is something that has not been discussed, I think, by most people. He. I think it was a hamstring like four or five minutes into game one. And that changes some things for them as well. Like that is a real floor spacer and shot maker for them. I anticipate we see a pretty good offensive effort from Cleveland on Saturday afternoon. But I obviously give a ton of credit to the Detroit defense.

[Alex Spears]

So every year there's these conversations about player archetypes that do better or worse in the playoffs. In recent years, there's been this focus on how difficult it can be for an offensively limited defense. First player to succeed in the playoffs. Now, Asar Thompson is the type of player who might typically fall into that bucket, but he's clearly been able to find success in these playoffs. What have you thought? Obviously, he's been great defensively, but what have you thought about his offensive contributions so far in these playoffs?

[Bryce Simon]

You know what's funny, guys, is Detroit's really breaking the trend of having two non floor spacers, right? Like, not to him and Jalen Dern. It's not like one of them is a bad shooter or one of them is going through a shooting slump. Or those guys are non shooters like whatsoever. The funny thing is the Saar almost hit into the shot clock or maybe in the third quarter three the other night, but it was after the buzzer. So I think with the SAR one he pushes pace in transition. So I think that is one thing. If you are this arc type of player that can't space the floor and shoot the ball whatsoever, you have to be good at the other things. You have to be able to push in transition and break down the defense and then spray it out to shooters. You, you have to be able to finish out of the dunker spot or attack the offensive rebounds. And with his athleticism that's something he's capable of doing. So when he gets forgotten on the offensive end, he can cut on the baseline, he can go attack an offensive rebound. And so he's been able to. I wouldn't say he's contributing a ton to the offense, but he's not limiting it. And I think that's what's most important for that type of player because the defensive impact is just as good as it gets. I feel pretty comfortable saying he's the best perimeter defender in the NBA. I'm sure some people will disagree, but I feel pretty confident with that. And his defense does translate so much to offense. Now to your point though, Alex, we have seen JB not trust him in clutch time in game one. He didn't play down the stretch, Danish Jenkins did. And so you do see them have to make concessions and decisions because of his offensive limitations throughout a game.

[Andrew]

Let's move on to the Thunder Lakers series. The big story so far in this series has been the Lakers aggressive defensive schemes against Shea. On one hand, he's had two of his least productive games this season with a season high seven turnovers in game one. And then on the other hand, OKC has won both games by 18 points. So first question, do you think the Lakers defensive strategy has been successful enough to continue doing it for the rest of the series? And then the second question, do you think the other team should try to like replicate what the Lakers are doing in rounds to come?

[Bryce Simon]

So I'm take the second one first. I would say no, I don't think. I don't think Minnesota or San Antonio would use this strategy. Not to the extent that LA is simply because those teams have good on ball primary defenders that they can at least tell themselves can go in and guard Shay. Right. San Antonio has a couple different guys they can try including you know, rookie Carter Bryant. That would be a lot of fun if we end up getting that series, obviously Steph Castle in the starting lineup, Minnesota with Jaden McDaniels. You know, if Anthony Edwards is fully healthy by that point, he played a bunch of minutes tonight, so I assume he would be, he could take some, you know, minutes. Not a ton of Matt time, but some of that. Even Eastern Conference. If it's Detroit coming out of the east, we just mentioned a sar. If it's the Knicks, it's, you know, hopefully OG would be healthy by then. He could take that. LA doesn't have that guy. You know, I know Marcus Smart was that guy at one point, but I don't think he's that guy now. And so I think this is probably LA thinking this is their best chance. The issue is Oklahoma City just there's too much other talent on the roster. I think. Again, when you talk about underrated storylines, AJ Mitchell, right, like you guys know this better than me, but to me that's without J Dub him being able to do what he does off the dribble, make the mid range jumpers get to the rim and then Chad is having an insane efficiency playoffs. Not even series, just playoffs right now. Hartenstein's ability to pass, there's just not a whole lot of ball stoppers on that team and unless you just catch them on a really, really cold three point shooting night, I don't know that it's going to be a great strategy. So I mean what is the great strategy against Oklahoma City? Right? They're a great team for a reason. I don't blame JJ Redick for going to it, but I don't know that it's going to work and I don't think teams moving forward will probably use it because I think they, they will think they have individual defenders to take on that matchup.

[Alex Spears]

Yeah, it's been interesting to watch because like I, I've never seen Shay, or at least this season have not seen Shay look like this in back to back games and so like clearly something is working and, and you do start to see. I, I, I felt like they've been getting better at playing out of the double as, as you know, the, the quarters have gone on. So I, I, I kind of, I agree with you. I, I totally get it from LA's point. I respect it and I really am impressed that they have, they came into this series with a very clear defensive strategy and it's hard to say that it's working because yes, they have won both games by 18 points but I don't necessarily think it's their fault. I don't think it's the fault of the game plan. Like, I, I, I do, I do give some credit to J.J. redick.

[Bryce Simon]

Yeah, I mean, we've seen J.J. do this a little bit. Like, he, I, I think J.J. is a, a good coach. Like, he's a smart coach. He, he, I think he can come up with, you know, these game plans and these strategies and, and all of that. And yeah, again, I don't blame him because I don't know, who, who are you gonna say? I'm gonna put this guy on Shea, and that's gonna really slow him down. If we just put him on an island, maybe we see some tweaks with it or something like that. But I just, I mean, I think LA is a little bit outmatched in this series. You know, I felt that way going in. My guess is they get one in la and then Oklahoma City will close it out in five. And I do just want to say how impressive this is for the Thunder. You know, we talk about all these teams and injuries and health. You know, seems like almost every team has had to deal with it to some extent, and they don't seem to be missing a beat without their second best player or what was their second best player last year? Maybe, you know, based on games played in minutes this year, maybe everybody would say Chet is this year just because J Dub's been unhealthy. But it's really impressive what, what they're doing. And again, I can't shout out A.J. mitchell, let alone Jared McCain. Right. Like, that's the other aspect of it is the floor spacing and the shooting that they can have on the court. Whenever you want to try to defend shades.

[Alex Spears]

Two guys who did not contribute really to the playoff run last year. I mean, obviously Jared McCain didn't, but, you know, AJ Mitchell wasn't playing a lot back then, and they don't win that game. I really don't think they win that game, too, without those two guys. Okay, agreed. Knicks, Philly. This, this is the series closest to being over. The knicks went up 3.0 Sixers gave him a good fight for a lot of the game, but the Knicks eventually pulled away. They won Game 3 without OG Anunoby, who's out with a hamstring injury. If they sweep the series on Sunday, here's a stat for you, folks. It will be seven straight playoff victories, which will be a franchise record. Now, that's pretty good for the Knicks. They've been around a long time. If you don't know Now, Bryce, last year you were obviously locked into the Pistons Knicks series in the first round of the playoffs. In what ways do you think that this Knicks team is improved from last year's version?

[Bryce Simon]

I mean, to be quite frank, I think they went through some of the same struggles as what we saw last year. I think Knicks fans would agree to this. I think hopefully I don't make any of them mad, but I've had them, fans tell me before that the series against the Pistons last year kind of propelled them into the run they ended up making. And I realized they don't, you know, they made it to the Eastern Conference finals and then ended up losing. But it was almost like they needed to go through that struggle in a series like that to, I guess find themselves or, I don't know, whatever cliche you want to use. I feel like Atlanta did that to them. Right? I mean, that's what's kind of fun about the playoffs. You think about some of these teams where they were a week ago, 10 days ago, you know, Detroit was down 3:1, the Knicks were down 2:1. And we were all, I remember us leading game theory with what is wrong with Jalen Brunson, essentially, and we kind of critiqued his defense. But my bigger point was Jaylen Brunson has to give up the ball. And I know that sounds crazy, right, because Jaylen Brunson is an all NBA player. That's absolutely incredible. But I think you see when Carl Anthony Towns is allowed to let the offense run through him to start games, not only how it benefits the offense, but how it benefits other players on the floor and how it benefits him on the defensive end. It to me, not only is he talented enough to do it, but it gets Mikel Bridges a little bit more involved because he's such a good off the ball mover. It makes Brunson's life a little bit easier to start a game. And it gets Carl Anthony Towns into the game. And so now his rebounding is better, his defensive energy is better and he's good at it. Guys, like, he's a really, really good passer. I don't know how many assists he ended up with tonight, but the other night I was looking at it and through the first three games of the playoffs, he was averaging like four assists or something like that. He was almost up to eight going into tonight's game. And so I think they found that in terms of their offense and then, yeah, in clutch time. Let Jalen Brunson go crazy, right? Like, let him do his thing. Let him be the closer. But I think that that is one thing that they had to go through early in the playoffs and it seems like they've locked in on it and then they're getting great energy from their bench players. You mentioned OG's out. They put Deuce McBride into the starting lineup. Landry Shammik comes in and gives them great energy and great production tonight off the bench. And so they're, they're finding those guys to do those things for him, which I think you have to have throughout

[Alex Spears]

a playoff Town's had seven assists tonight, so he's still doing it game after game.

[Bryce Simon]

There you go.

[Alex Spears]

Yeah.

[Bryce Simon]

Yep.

[Andrew]

Let's move on to our final series. Spurs Wolves. Wimby finally got it going offensively in game three of the Wolves series, scoring 39 points and only 18 shots to go along with 15 boards, five blocks. Just like video game numbers here. What was the difference offensively for Wimy in game three compared to the first two games?

[Bryce Simon]

Man, you, he really got it going tonight. So I thought, you know, game one, Timberwolves come out and kind of surprise everybody. I don't know me, I don't know if they surprised you guys.

[Andrew]

Yeah, definitely surprised me. Yeah.

[Bryce Simon]

And I think, I think game two was the most obvious result that you could imagine. You know, they, they San Antonio drops one at home and okay, they're going to come back in game two ready to go. Maybe Minnesota has a little bit of a letdown because you stole one on the road, you're feeling good about yourselves and all of that. So tonight was one of those. I felt like we got each team like, I don't know, I don't want to say their best, but we got each team kind of where what you would expect. Anthony Edwards had a good game tonight, you know, was back in the starting lineup. But when Benyama was just able to get his offensive game going and what I liked about started off at the rim early in the game they were getting him lobs at the rim, he was getting play finishes at the rim and then throughout the game it seemed like then he pushed things away to his mid range into his three pointer and then he kind of closed this thing out with a couple sick jump shots. He had a ridiculous mid range jumper and then he hits a flare like he's running off a flare screen at the top of the key and is able to catch, set his feet and knock down the three pointer. So I thought his balance was very good tonight in terms of, okay, I'm going to start out going to the paint or anytime Gobert wasn't in the game, he would go to the paint and just how he strategically attacked Minnesota defensively, depending on who was in the game and who was not. And I think that's always what's exciting about these series as well, and especially for somebody like Wim Benyama going through his first playoffs is how does he learn and grow throughout a series against a Minnesota team that can cause him some issues in terms of Go Bear or you put Jade McDaniels on him or the different types of matchups. So I was really impressed with his process, I guess, in terms of where he started attacking and then how he let it progress throughout.

[Alex Spears]

Yeah, you brought up the way he got to the rim at the beginning. I don't know if it's like his signature move, but his. Would you call them reverse dunks? I guess they just are reverse dunks.

[Bryce Simon]

Oh yeah, it's the Mason Plumlee, right? Poor Mason Plumlee is getting it taken away by Victor.

[Alex Spears]

They just look different from any reverse dunk you've ever seen. There's just something so uniquely Wimby about them. I. I just really enjoy them because.

[Andrew]

Yeah, it looks like somebody on a mini and there. Yeah.

[Bryce Simon]

The other thing he's starting to do.

[Alex Spears]

Oh, go ahead.

[Bryce Simon]

Oh, sorry, Alex. Is he's starting to do a lot of the. Yo. I call it the yic like one hand stuff where Jokic, I think more than any player I watch will like grab a rebound and outlet with one hand or grab a rebound. And when Benyama had a. He literally kind of played volleyball with himself tonight. He like tipped it with his left to his right and then like almost finished it with his right hand. Never, never putting both hands on the basketball. You can just see him consistently adding efficiency to his offensive game, which is kind of scary. But those are the things that I always like to see because you always know that he's trying to bring something else. And recently I've noticed the one hand stuff him trying to do. Just like putting one hand on the ball off a catcher, off a rebound.

[Alex Spears]

I. I love this Wolves team.

[Andrew]

I don't want to.

[Alex Spears]

I don't want to move on. Before we at least mention this will seem specifically, I wanted to mention that play that Nas Reed had against Steph Castle where he poked the ball away, Steph got it back and then Nas blocked him and then tipped the block to a teammate. I just thought that was just an incredible sequence from Naz Reed.

[Bryce Simon]

I thought Nas Reed's been good in this year. I thought he was good again, really good tonight. I mean, I think at one point Finch went to, I think he played, was doing a little offense, defense, and eventually I think he saw that they were just gonna have to score. And so he went to Nas and Julius Randle together. But I mean, he was playing Nas over Julius with Gobert, you know, late in the game for a little bit. But for whatever reason, he seems to, I don't want to say give San Antonio issues. I think that's a little extreme. But he seems to have found a flow offensively, not just his scoring, but also his creation. He's just, he's a very unique player in terms of his size and skill set. And I feel like we've seen that play out a little bit in this series against the sports.

[Alex Spears]

Okay, Andrew, do we need to take a break?

[Andrew]

I think we should. Let's take a break. And we come back, we're going to talk about the NBA draft and the lottery. Drop by gnc where new happens first and GNC cuts through the noise to find you what actually works. You'll find the best products from the latest launches, trends and innovations in wellness and performance, all handpicked by experts at gnc. Get a sneak peek at the newest formulas, flavors and brands coming soon to gnc. From trending ingredients to breakthrough formulas, the drop by GNC keeps you in the know and on top of your goals. New drops launch regularly, so there's always something exciting to discover. Hola,

[Commercial Announcer]

Thank you for calling the Bombas comfort line. Bombas make socks, slippers, tees and underwear made with the Highest quality materials. Press 1 for comfortable, 2 for style, 3 for a donation. You chose Style. Bombas is style's for whatever you enjoy. You can run in Bombas, lounge in Bombas, dress them up, dress them down, but always give back in Bombas because with every item purchased, another is donated Bombas comfort. Worth calling for. Go to bombas.com audio and use code audio for 20% off your first purchase. That's B O M-B-A-S.com and use code audio.

[Andrew]

And we're back after that quick break. Let's lead into the lottery. Out you fire away. First question about the draft lottery or these are draft questions.

[Alex Spears]

Well, before we get to that. Well, first of all, do folks notice the way Andrew says Lakers? But he's also started applying it to lottery. It's spreading to more L words.

[Andrew]

Anything that begins with L lottery I

[Alex Spears]

have doing that now. We do. We do have some questions prepared for Bryce regarding the draft lottery, which is going to be on Sunday in the middle of the day. Mother's Day.

[Andrew]

On Mother's Day. What is happening? You know what I think? I think there's some funny business happening and the league is trying to sneak it in. They're trying to sneak it in.

[Alex Spears]

I'm right with you. I think they're trying to get all these moms into the NBA draft lottery. They're trying to attract a new group of fans into the NBA. Is that what you're saying?

[Andrew]

No, I think they are. They are waiting for the moment. Like, what's the day where people feel most obligated to not watch television about sports? It's like Mother's Day because it can like, okay, they're probably going to be at lunch or they're going to be out on a family walk or something. No one's going to watch it. And we're going to just sneak in some funny business here. This is the frozen envelope. I don't know who it's going to be, but it's going to be. There's going to be some funny business happening on Mother's Day.

[Alex Spears]

Okay, before we get to these questions, I did have a draft I wanted to do, but Andrew, I will tell you, it's not letting me share. It's not letting me share my screen. So we're going to have to do this from memory. Can you do that? Can you all bring up Tankathon?

[Bryce Simon]

I got already up on a tab, so yes.

[Alex Spears]

Okay, so we're going to draft. Good, Good. We're going to draft teams that are in the lottery. So there's 14 teams. We're going to draft 12 of them. And it's going to be based on. We're drafting teams that we think the average NBA fan would be most upset if they jumped up and got the number one pick. Now, I think there's a Victor Wembanyama level prospect in this draft. Okay. I think there's an obvious number one. So I'm going to go ahead and give myself the number one pick because it's so easy. And that is, of course, Oklahoma City. I mean, coming off that Lakers game where I mean, the people were fired up on social media, the Lakers were fired up on the court. Imagine following that up with OKC jumping up and getting the number one.

[Andrew]

It would be so funny. It's, it's. It would be so funny, folks.

[Alex Spears]

Yeah, it'd be terrible for you if you're not OKC fan. But you got to admit, it'd be a little funny. It'd be a little funny.

[Andrew]

What? What, are we going to be mad at somebody for planning? Like, oh, man, I hate this team for doing proper planning?

[Alex Spears]

Yes.

[Bryce Simon]

I think, I think it would just be chaos for the roster is kind of what I would have fun with. Like, okay.

[Alex Spears]

Oh, you would flip it on us. You say this is actually a bad.

[Andrew]

You think this is gonna be good, however.

[Bryce Simon]

Oh, yeah. You think getting AJ Duponts is a good thing? Well, let me flip this real. No, I just think it'd be like, okay, well, how are you. How is this going to play out if you add one of these guys? No, I do not think it will be a bad thing.

[Alex Spears]

It could screw up everything.

[Andrew]

Yeah, it could screw up everything.

[Bryce Simon]

Too much talent. Too much talent.

[Andrew]

There is like the. I would say, I always say this. It would be crazy if they want it, but there is like this element of when you're drafted in the top four, there's like, certain expectations for, like, minutes and touches and like, who these guys are. There's like, all these guys have, like, pretty big camps behind them and people that have certain expectations for, like, what their numbers could be and all this stuff. You're bringing them into a team that is fully established. Like, they have. They have a rotation, they have a process, they have a way that they work. And a player like that entering into that team, while obviously it wouldn't. That'd be amazing for the Oklahoma City Thunder, but it, it would be really interesting. It would take a particular personality, I think, for it to actually work, because I do think a lot of guys that are the number one pick, they want a chance to be rookie of the year, they probably wouldn't get that opportunity in Oklahoma City. And so I just think that it is. It would. It would be fascinating to see one, who they chose and then two, like, how that player handled playing with this particular team. I just think it would be pretty fascinating to see because we've seen it not go so well even in. In Detroit. Not that like, Darko was going to be like some great player if he's drafted by some other team. Like, Darko is drafted, like, at the top of the draft to a very good team and they won the championship that year, but Darko was pretty much a non factor for them and really never developed. And who knows, like, maybe he never develops into the player people thought he would be, but it was. It was pretty difficult for him. And he's like, even, you know, been pretty honest about his, like, mental struggles. And so I just like, wonder and I know the Thunder almost above any team, would, like, take this selection seriously on who the player is as a person. But I think that that, to me, would be, like, super fascinating because it's not like you just get to just add somebody, like, on top of what they have. Like, you have to make room for somebody like that. And, like, how. How they did that would be pretty fascinating.

[Bryce Simon]

Well, they're already in that situation, right? Like, just with roster spots in general, which is kind of crazy. The other thing is. And I mean, listen, they'll figure it out, because to your point about planning, if I always talk about. If you go to the spotrack and look at the cap sheet, they always have a bunch of red compared to other teams, which represents club options. But if they did jump in the lottery, that would add seven or eight million dollars to the salary cap next year, which we know the Oklahoma City is at least entering the realm of, hey, we have to start thinking about this stuff because all three of those guys are, you know, getting into their rookie extensions. Again. It's. I'm not literally trying to make the pitch that this would be a bad thing for the Oklahoma City Thunder, but it would make for actual interesting conversations in terms of including who would the pick be. I'm sure we're going to talk about this a little bit, but I think him, as much as anybody could have, like, who. Who's the best fit of those top four, who do we think would fit in the best with the team? Maybe as much as any other team can have that discussion. So.

[Alex Spears]

Okay, that's enough on okc. This is a draft about people eventually getting mad. Not trying to make them actively mad during this podcast by talking about, okay, so, Bryce, you get to go second. Who would fans be second most mad about?

[Bryce Simon]

I. I think Dallas. Right. Like, Dallas, after jumping all the way up last year and getting the number one pick back to back, I. I think. Yeah, I think getting back to back in quality drafts, like, good drafts, I think. I think everybody was okay with it. I think they got less last year because people felt bad for him after the Luca trade. And I think. But now seeing how good Cooper is going to be, then also adding in one of these guys, maybe if they jump into, like, the top four, I don't think people will be upset. But if it's all the way to number one, again, I think people would be upset.

[Alex Spears]

And you got the good vibes of Masai coming in. You got Mike Schmitz there now.

[Bryce Simon]

Schmidt's. Yeah.

[Alex Spears]

Are they. Are they overpowered? If they Got the number one pick. It's too much. I agree. People would get pretty angry if Dallas got back to back, especially right before they do the lottery form where that will not be possible ever again. At least for the next three years. Okay, Andrew, you have back to back picks. Okay. I know one of the teams. There's, I feel like, actually, I feel like there's two obvious ones. Andrew.

[Andrew]

There's two obvious ones.

[Bryce Simon]

Yeah, Yeah. I, I, I hope you don't take one of the two, because I, I only have two more answers I feel great about.

[Andrew]

I think I'd be pretty annoyed if the warriors won the lottery.

[Alex Spears]

Yes.

[Bryce Simon]

That's one of them.

[Alex Spears]

That is one of them.

[Andrew]

Yeah. I mean, like, they've been extremely fortunate for so long, even though they've been so bad for.

[Alex Spears]

I mean, it's been four years since they won the title and they've been a playing team, if not all, all those seasons. The majority of those seasons. But I still feel like there's still a hangover from the Katy warriors where people would still be pissed. The warriors jumped up.

[Andrew]

Absolutely. And also, like, they've had their chance at, like the number two pick and like that eighth pick. And, you know, you blew it. You blew your chance at two timelines. You don't get to, you don't get to do this again. Sorry, sorry, sorry. Warriors. And then I think the other one I would be annoyed with is the Miami Heat.

[Bryce Simon]

There you go.

[Alex Spears]

Those are, those are my two picks.

[Andrew]

Yeah, same.

[Alex Spears]

Yeah, yeah.

[Andrew]

That. You know what? You're going to get somebody Miami. Like, let's not, let's, let's.

[Alex Spears]

You say that, but I feel like we've been saying that for like half a decade now.

[Andrew]

You know what? I, we all still believe that it's possible. Okay. South. It's South Beach. All you have to do is hop on a boat with somebody from the organization and they'll, they'll show you the world.

[Alex Spears]

It's like, nice.

[Andrew]

It's, it's gotta be. It's gotta be so nice.

[Alex Spears]

So, yeah, I definitely agree. Those, those top four, those are like. I feel like there's a tear break. Definitely a tear break right now. Yeah. So, Bryce, you have pick five.

[Bryce Simon]

So I'm going to go Chicago. Just in. My pitch here is you just decided to do it the right way and rebuild. You don't get rewarded in year one. You have to tank for a year. And I know that, I know that's blasphemy. I understand it. And this isn't ever going to happen again. I get it. I know tanking is solved, but you. You. They don't get to choose one time hire a new gm, and then that GM gets to get the number one pick.

[Andrew]

So you want them to suffer more.

[Bryce Simon]

Yeah, they need one year. After the 15 years of mediocrity and the awful. They're going to trade players at the deadline because it would be the right decision, but then they don't and make me look like an idiot because they just stayed pat. So, yes, yes.

[Alex Spears]

I love the idea that the Bulls fans listening to this and the podcaster from the rival team and their division is like, yeah, you guys haven't suffered enough. Maybe, maybe, just maybe, maybe one more year. Maybe one more year and then we can talk.

[Andrew]

You need to acquire a few more players from the Kings first. Okay.

[Bryce Simon]

You know what's funny is, like, I don't have enough fandom to even think about that angle, but I'm sure there's people that are assuming that that's where that answer came from was like, oh, the Pistons.

[Alex Spears]

You think they might think that because there's literally a Detroit Pistons logo hanging behind you.

[Bryce Simon]

I mean. Okay, so here's the thing, Alex. I. I get paid to talk about the Pistons. Like, I have to, like, play into it to some extent, so. But it's not like I grew up wearing, you know, whatever. I didn't grow. I'm from Kansas, so I swear that the Central Division rivalry did not come into play.

[Alex Spears]

Were you a Jayhawk fan?

[Bryce Simon]

There's a lot of great.

[Alex Spears]

Was that your best.

[Bryce Simon]

Was that. My real fandom lies in Kansas Jayhawk basketball and Kansas City Chief football, and there truly isn't any. And that in the Kansas Jayhawk basketball is kind of gone since I. Yeah, this is going to sound very arrogant, but since I played Division 1 basketball, like, you kind of lose that a little bit.

[Alex Spears]

Oh, I feel the same way.

[Bryce Simon]

So the only.

[Andrew]

Yeah, I can't get into church league like I used to.

[Bryce Simon]

The. The only true fandom I have is Kansas City Chief Football. Like, that's the only. That's the only team that can invoke an emotional response from a game from me.

[Alex Spears]

I would love to see that. I would love to see that.

[Bryce Simon]

No, no, you wouldn't.

[Alex Spears]

I thought about texting you after the Eagles beat them in the. I thought about asking Andrew for your phone number to text you after the super bowl,

[Bryce Simon]

but I didn't. That.

[Andrew]

That.

[Bryce Simon]

That. That. That could have been bad for our friendship.

[Alex Spears]

Okay, next pick. I'm going indie. Like, everyone loves indie. Everyone loved Indy. Last year, everyone.

[Bryce Simon]

Yeah, yeah.

[Alex Spears]

But now I think those same people are looking at Indy like, oh, man, this is a sleeping giant. They're definitely waking up next year. They're going to destroy my favorite team and they're going to get a number one pick. Like, this is more fear based hate. Like, we just, we can't let this happen because if, if Indy gets the number one pick, I mean, they really could build something very scary for all those teams in the east that have been, you know, looking at these Eastern Conference, like, oh, it's pretty wide open right now. Oh, we could, we could, we, we could make the finals. It might look totally different next year if Indy comes back healthy with a number one pick. So I have them as my second pick.

[Bryce Simon]

That's a good call.

[Andrew]

I think that's a good one too, because their pick could go away very easily. And I know, I think that it's coin flip that it's, it's kind of scary because if they ended up getting like one of these top picks, that's huge for them. But if they lose it, like it's, you get, you still get the 2031 pick. That's great. But it would be huge for them, like if they got, if Cam Boozer was just suddenly on that team or if they had Darren Peterson suddenly on that team or Caleb Wilson, like, it would just be like they could be set for a while if they got one of those guys. And it's funny because even if they got like pick five or pick six, if they still had, if they didn't have those protections there, I think one of those players will help them a lot too. But the fact that it just goes away is like really fascinating. And so there's like these like alternate realities with the Pacers that, yeah, I do think that it's, it's fair to pick them.

[Alex Spears]

Yeah, I think it's the number one story on Sunday. What happens with that pick. I think that's the most exciting thing. Second most exciting thing is which of these bad teams is going to get screwed. So I'm going to go with my next pick now. We're dipping in now. It's getting juicy. I'm taking the Utah Jazz.

[Andrew]

Oh.

[Alex Spears]

Through, through. I believe, like no real fault of their own. All these teams were tanking, but I feel like they became the face of tanking this year. And I wouldn't be mad, I would be happy. I would be overjoyed for the Jazz. Good for them. But I feel like a lot of NBA fans who are anti Tanking would see this as like the final thing just to get under their skin about tanking. The fact that in the last year of tanking, the worst tanker, even though they weren't the worst tanker, they weren't the worst team, but they got the number one pick. I feel like that would really rile some folks up. Not as much as first. That was, that was your next. Oh, do you feel like there's a tear break? Are we to another tear break?

[Bryce Simon]

Yeah, no, no, another.

[Alex Spears]

Okay.

[Bryce Simon]

Utah and Sacramento. We're going to be my next ones.

[Alex Spears]

Oh, you're taking Sacramento. This is your pick. You can have Sacramento. Sacramento's on the board.

[Bryce Simon]

You did. Oh, no, no, sorry, I didn't mean that. I was Indiana and Utah.

[Alex Spears]

Oh, okay. Okay.

[Bryce Simon]

Yeah, yeah.

[Alex Spears]

These fans are like, what do we do?

[Bryce Simon]

I was. No, that's my thing is like, I think Washington, Brooklyn, Sacramento, like none of.

[Alex Spears]

Now you're kind of having to make up stuff.

[Bryce Simon]

Yeah.

[Alex Spears]

Can you find some hate, Bryce?

[Bryce Simon]

No. Okay, so let's lean into that. Okay, I will lean into my Detroit Pistons air quotes fandom. The Charlotte Hornets. Because if the Charlotte Hornets got a got this number one pick, you talk about like a sleeping giant in the Indiana Pacers, imagine adding one of those guys to what Charlotte already had this year and that team becomes even more fun.

[Alex Spears]

So real quick, sidebar. Who would you draft number one?

[Andrew]

If I'm glad you're asking. I was going to ask.

[Bryce Simon]

Oh, I have A.J. devon.

[Alex Spears]

Okay.

[Bryce Simon]

So I want to be very clear that I don't have him, like, in this overwhelming tier above the other three, essentially. I would just, I would take AJ Devonta number one if I was all 30 NBA teams.

[Alex Spears]

Oh, okay.

[Bryce Simon]

So, like, I don't think he's like, unbelievably above those guys, but he's enough for me that I would, I would. I don't think that there's a team I haven't workshopped all 30, I guess, but I don't think that there's a team I would not take him number one for, so.

[Alex Spears]

Okay.

[Bryce Simon]

Okay. And then I, I, I don't have any surprises in terms of, you know, my top four or whatever. I have the same top four as most people, so.

[Alex Spears]

Well, that's, that was an interesting pick because I actually thought Charlotte might last all the way. I do agree with your, your sleeping giant argument. I just don't know if NBA fans, they would clue into it immediately. It would be like the midpoint of next season. They were like, damn it, can't believe the Horns Got the number one pick. This. This is bad.

[Bryce Simon]

I, I. And, like, in God's honest truth, like, I love watching that team. Like, they were one of my favorite teams to watch this year. So, like, there's not actual any hate. I know them in Detroit had their thing or whatever. And, you know, at one point, it was a little annoying hearing everybody pick Charlotte to upset Detroit in the first round of the playoffs and all of that. But I did really enjoy and I thought LaMelo had an incredible season. I truly did.

[Alex Spears]

Andrew, who's your next pick? Pick nine.

[Bryce Simon]

He has to pick twice.

[Alex Spears]

Oh, yeah, you do?

[Andrew]

I think I will take the Kings.

[Bryce Simon]

Yeah.

[Alex Spears]

Why?

[Andrew]

Just let me explain. Let me explain why.

[Alex Spears]

Because mad at the Kings.

[Andrew]

I, I'm not mad at Kings fans at all. I just think that people would be like, God, they're going to screw this up somehow. Like, one of these guys that in the top four that we think is going to be incredible will not be incredible in the NBA. They're gonna pluck that guy out and they're gonna just ruin him, waste his career. It's gonna end up being just a mess. Some somehow. It's gonna be a mess, okay? Like, this is just how the Kings do things. They're not going to do their due diligence. It's gonna be a disaster. This is like, why? Why do we allow this to happen?

[Alex Spears]

You know, hearing that as a fan is way worse than, like, the league rigged it for you. Just hearing like, you're going to ruin this player over and over again.

[Andrew]

Yeah, that's.

[Alex Spears]

That's way worse. Yeah, that's honestly mean. Mean. It is working out.

[Andrew]

I would like for it to work out. I think they have a great arena. They got the beam, they got deuce and Mo. Okay, great. There's a lot to like.

[Alex Spears]

Hey, have you ever seen those? I wish I knew their name. The Kings pod on Instagram.

[Andrew]

The Kings pod. The guys that make up the songs.

[Alex Spears]

Yeah, those guys are great.

[Andrew]

They're so funny. Like, they've got. They have it all. Except for a good team. Okay.

[Alex Spears]

Yes. They have everything you could want, everything

[Andrew]

a fan base could want, except for a good basketball team. Okay.

[Alex Spears]

Okay. Andrew, who are you taking next? Final round.

[Andrew]

Final round.

[Alex Spears]

There'll be two teams left over, and those will be the two most lovable teams.

[Andrew]

Okay, I'll take Washington. Just because they had a disgusting year. And, you know, it's another one of those, like, similar, I guess, to Utah, where it's like, yeah, these, these guys tanked so badly all season. They don't deserve it. Also, like, somehow Trey Young and Anthony Davis are on this team. Like, what is that? Like, what's happening there? No, thank you.

[Bryce Simon]

A sneaky, sneaky part of the NBA off season is what happens with those guys contracts this offseason. Like, I am fascinated to see what ends up happening with those guys contracts, but.

[Alex Spears]

Well, we were talking to Sean Hyken about the Blazers potentially going, like, you know, looking for a big name, and we're all immediately thinking of Giannis, but then you start thinking of it more and you're like, oh, was that about Anthony Davis?

[Andrew]

Yeah.

[Alex Spears]

Like, what is actually going to happen?

[Andrew]

Right. Yeah, yeah. I don't know. So, yeah, okay. I wouldn't be mad, but I could see myself being a little annoyed.

[Alex Spears]

Bryce, who is your final pick?

[Bryce Simon]

I'm gonna go Atlanta, but I don't think people are going to be mad at Atlanta. They're actually going to be mad at Atlanta via the New Orleans Pelicans, for making that trade and allowing Atlanta to get this pick. And so Atlanta is going to take, like, the. The. The disdain from everything surrounding what happened with that trade and the process and all of that. And again, an Atlanta team that I kind of like. And you add a number one pick. And here's the other thing. With Atlanta, they just had a number one pick now. Different draft and different level of prospects, and. But they. They had their chance with the number one pick. And so I could see people not loving it if they end up winning the lottery. Also, the secondary aspect of this in the world, where Milwaukee actually ends up with the number two pick, I think people would hate that. Like, they would be. So I don't think people realize that Milwaukee has their own pick here or, like, has a pick still in this draft sometimes.

[Andrew]

Yeah, right.

[Bryce Simon]

And could be as high as number two. Like, I think the odds on that, I'm sure, are not very high, but it's at least possible.

[Andrew]

Yeah, I would have probably picked them higher if they had the ability to get the number one pick. I would have picked them correct earlier.

[Alex Spears]

Yeah, Yeah, I guess that's true. I kind of forgot about that aspect. Kind of excluded from the list. You can't really pick them correct.

[Bryce Simon]

Yeah, they're going to have. Milwaukee will have a lottery pick, but there's zero percent chance it'll be the number one pick.

[Alex Spears]

Yeah. Okay. Well, then I guess my final decision then is between Memphis and Brooklyn, and I'm going to go Memphis, leaving Brooklyn as the most lovable team. My thinking here is that if Brooklyn had. Had A better draft last year, maybe we'd feel differently. But I feel like the way their draft went, we're like, you know, there, there's some players, I mean, I really like Danny Wolfe, but there's not like a clear, like, clear future all star on that team that you can maybe

[Bryce Simon]

if they had six first round picks, Al, maybe six first round picks, if they'd had one more, somebody would be talking about.

[Alex Spears]

But I don't think people would be that mad if Brooklyn got the number one overall pick. And this is also a East versus west thing, like a number one pick going to a Western Conference team versus an Eastern Conference team. I think Brooklyn would. It would result in the least amount of negative energy out there. So congratulations to the Nets. Do you think this will predict anything? Wouldn't that be cool if they won and we could go back to this. You could do a little clip, Andrew.

[Andrew]

A 15 minute clip. All right, let's jump into a 15 minute clip. That's what they call them.

[Alex Spears]

Let's jump into our lottery questions. So Ramona Shelburne wrote an article for ESPN this week about Darren Peterson. Peterson detailing his health issues during his freshman season at Kansas, which are now thought to be a result of high dose creatine. At the end of that article, first of all, when I heard that, did you feel this way, Bryce? Like a sense of relief? Like that. That explanation actually made a ton of sense to me when I read it.

[Bryce Simon]

So yeah. Yes. My initial reaction was, why did his people not just tell us this? Because I'll be honest, guys. And like, I didn't. I just saw like the quotes on Twitter, like, people posting it. Like, I almost felt for him. Like I envisioned myself in what he explained and where I had been at the brink of exertion whenever I played and how scary that can be. And then understanding why as soon as he felt like he was starting to get a cramp in a game, he asked to come out of the game.

[Alex Spears]

Right, right, right.

[Bryce Simon]

I will give him the benefit of the doubt that this is all true. And if so, then I fully understand why he was freaked out a little bit and why things went down the way they did. So my biggest question was, why didn't you just tell us? Like, just. I think people would have understood, you know, as opposed to all of the stuff that ended up going on with it.

[Alex Spears]

So at the end of the article, though, Pearson talks about how he believes point guard is his best position and how playing off ball so much at Kansas was more about trying to find ways to Help him be effective without exerting too much. What are your current thoughts about his abilities as a lead ball handler and playmaker since that wasn't a big part of his game at Kansas? Are you still confident? Based on the high school tape?

[Bryce Simon]

I think less than, like, even maybe Sam is, because I understand what he's saying. There is still just a level of we didn't see it. We did not see him play that role at all at Kansas. And so that does give me a little bit of pause. Even though I watched the high school film and saw him operate ball screens and manipulate defense, play under control, play with good pace, you know, be a. You know, play with a great demeanor. Like, all of those things. We've seen high school kids be really good and then go to college and not be able to play in the same role or do the same things. Right. And I'm not saying he couldn't have. We just didn't see it. And so while I believe he's probably a better pastor and creator than what we saw at Kansas, I'm not. I wouldn't be fully comfortable drafting him solely as a point guard if I was an NBA team. I think I've always said his comp is more of a Devin Booker, Jamal Murray type of player anyway, which I think can be a very valuable player. And. Yeah, but they're not, like, they're not the cades that are going and getting you 8, 9, 10 assists a game or something, like. And again, that's okay. And his jumper is incredible, so I think it's going to be fine. But it was an interesting quote for him. And I wonder, you know, maybe I end up being wrong here, but I think for my evaluation, I'm still kind of comfortable with where I'm at as kind of that more scoring archetype.

[Alex Spears]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Andrew]

That's why I think the Pacers would be such, like, a great landing spot for him.

[Bryce Simon]

Sure, yeah. Playoff Tyrese.

[Andrew]

Yeah, it'd be amazing. So everyone is focused on the top four. But one of, like, the really interesting things about this draft is the number of point guards available in the lottery. If Kingston, Fleming, Skeet and Wagler, Darius Acuff, Michael Brown, LeBaron, Filon. For teams interested in a point guard, how would you personally rank those five? And do you have any, like, favorite team fits for any of these guys?

[Bryce Simon]

So right now I would have Acuff, Flemings, Wagler, Brown and then Phylon, in. In that order. A little bit of tear breaks there as well. Acuff is so talented offensively. I'm a little concerned about the defense and, you know, the size, but just an incredible. I think the thing with Acuff was he showed he could really pass. I don't need to go through all of these guys, but I will say one thing that I think Acuff, Wagler, Brown, Phylon in particular, all have. I don't know. I believe in as much with Flemings is those guys can play off the ball a little bit. And so while you're drafting them to be primary creators, I think that they do in each of them in a little bit of a different way, do have a skill sets or potential to also play off of other creators. And, you know, if you have a big guy that you want to run your offense through or whatever. So I think that that helps kind of insulate them a little bit in terms of, you know, what their floor is or whatever in terms of great fits.

[Alex Spears]

Like, what about the Mavs? Because that's the one I'm interested in because they're kind of in that zone. If they don't jump up, they could potentially take a point guard, even though Kyrie's coming back for the future. Do you like any of those five guys in particular for the Mavs?

[Bryce Simon]

Yeah, like, I think a cuff would be fun there. And again, I think to my point is he could kind of operate with the ball in his hands for them, but then also whenever you want to put the ball in Cooper Flag's hands, he showed an ability to knock down shots off the ball and play off the ball where he's going to fit in fine in regards to that. And then theoretically, you insulate him defensively with a Cooper Flag and then the bigs, you know, assuming they're still going to be there and all of that. So I. I think this draft is so fascinating after the top four because I personally find it hard to believe we're going to see five or six straight guards or point guards go off the board. And so my question is more so who is the wing forward big that jumps up into that top 10, right? Is it Yaxel Lindenberg? Is it? You know, I see a lot of Adai Mara recently. Is it Nate? Amen. Just because, you know, of how young he is and the tools or whatever. Like, I. I just don't know that. I just don't know that those guards are going to go off the board in that order, one after another after the top four. I may be wrong, but I find that hard to believe.

[Andrew]

Yeah. So you is There is there a chance that, that like Acuff jumps into the top four? Like, I don't how the draft order goes?

[Bryce Simon]

I don't think so. I guess we'll see after Sunday how it shakes out. If I can find a path to that for me. No. I know we joke about tears, but I do think it's important on draft boards. Like, I have a pretty clear tier break between Caleb Wilson and then any of those guards. Acuff is the number five player on my board. But like there's essentially what a tear break means for me, especially at the top of the draft is. Again, no matter who ends up at number four, I'm taking whichever one of those four is left. No matter what my roster says. Like, I am taking one of those guys. Like, I feel strongly enough about Caleb Wilson, Cam Boozer, Darren Peterson over even, you know, Acuff at 5 or Wagler or Flemings that I'm, I'm. No matter what, I'm taking one of those guys. That, that's how I feel right now.

[Alex Spears]

You mentioned Nate Amen, and he seems to be one of the more polarizing players among prospects that are expected to go in the lottery. And the concerns with him seem to be driven in part by a very frequent comp to Zachary Recesse. It's. So how would you compare and contrast them as prospects?

[Bryce Simon]

No, I mean it's, it's not an unfair comp. I mean, you get it a lot. And so I think the thing with Ament is he has really good secondary skills for someone his size. So he does a nice job. Like with the, with the, he's, he's skilled. Like he can dribble, he can pass, he can do all those things. But really his primary skill needs to be knocking down shots, right? Like just be a big time shot maker, you know, almost a little bit more in the Jabari Smith Jr role. The problem was he was under 40% and 33% from the three point line this last season. But I do think he knows how to cut and he understands those things. How's he going to finish at the rim? And here's another thing with a lot of these guys is how are they going to fill out their frames? I mean, that's a part of these guards as well. Like Keaton Wagler, I think is going to be really good, but he's going to struggle if he doesn't fill out, you know, until he fills out his frame. Amen's the same way. He's going to have to be able to do that and I think he's a guy defensively that I think he's going to be able to disrupt or have the potential to be a disruptor. But you know, was he able to hold up at the cutoff point and hold his ground whenever he gets to those spots against big physical NBA players? So I'm very intrigued by him. I do think the recesse things are probably fair because there are a lot of the same concerns with what we've now seen from him in the NBA.

[Andrew]

So let's, let's think ahead to the combine. Are there any players that you are particularly interested in finding out what their measurements are?

[Bryce Simon]

Okay, so I usually reserve this for the bigs. I think some guard. So like, okay, so like a cheat code one here is Tyler Tanner. I don't know how familiar you guys are with him. The point guard out of Vanderbilt. That's quite small, but very, very, very good. I think most people assume he'll go back to college because Nil pays a lot of money and as maybe the best point guard in college basketball next year, he's going to make a boatload. I think a big guy would be Morez Johnson Jr. From Michigan. I think Isaiah Stewart, for people that mold that type of big. And the argument I've made is like Isaiah Stewart's barely making it work at his size with his wingspan and all of that. And so if Mrez comes in way smaller than that, I think that that could be an issue for him, you know, being a undersized five, you know, so what the standing reach ends up being and those type of things. I will tell you one player I'm really interested is Cameron Carr. Cameron Carr is a insane athlete. And so I'm really interested to see kind of what combine numbers he puts up, what his wingspan is, what his vertical jump is, some of those things. I think he's a guy that has a chance to, to rise throughout the process as a guy. I, an underclassman that I assume will end up staying in the class.

[Alex Spears]

How worried do you get about lighter weight guards? Like, I know, like LeBaron Filon. Last year at the combine was like 175 pounds or something. And it seems like he's. He's put on a little bit of weight. But how important is that to you?

[Bryce Simon]

Yeah, no, I think it's very important. It's one reason why while Acuff wasn't a good defender in college, just his frame gives me hope that he'll be able to hold up better than maybe what people would think and so, again, I think Wagler falls into that. I think Mikel Brown falls into that. Phylon. I. Guys, lebaron Filon might be my favorite player in the class. Like, I love watching that kid play basketball. Like, he just has a certain cadence with the way he plays and the. The way he moves and the fluidity. And he came back and he shot the ball better this year. But I do. The more I watch the NBA and the more I watch NBA playoffs, you. There's a physicality that you have to be able to match, especially on the defensive end or offensive players are going to play right through your chest, and that's going to be an issue. I'll give you another example. I think Adai Mara is really good, and I know people have gotten very excited about him. I can show you a lot of clips where college players are playing through his chest in the paint, and I'm a little bit nervous about his practical play. String, think about Chet Holmgren, right? Chet doesn't look like he should hold up practically. Yeah, but he does. He. He takes so much contact with his chest and he's able to hold his ground for whatever reason. I don't. I don't understand the biomechanics of Chet Holmgren. I truly don't. But, like, it. It doesn't make sense. He shouldn't hold up the way he does, truly.

[Andrew]

Yeah.

[Bryce Simon]

But Adai Mara is a little bit of the opposite. Like, he's a big, tall dude, but he's not super skinny. But there are times where he does. So those are the things that I know that took your question a little bit further than what you asked, Alex. But that weight, I think, does play into that. And there's some wings as well, like, I can give you. Cameron Carr is another one of those guys that's a little skinnier. Isaiah Evans out of Duke is another one of those guys. So there are definitely some guys where these numbers are going to be quite interesting.

[Alex Spears]

Okay, final question. We always have some risers during the period between the lottery and the draft. Do you have any favorites? I think you actually mentioned Carr for this, but do you have any other favorites that you might think make a big impression of the combine or workouts and could boost their draft stock?

[Bryce Simon]

So I'll just go players. I'm kind of higher on that. You know, maybe we'll go ahead and rise. So Cameron Carr is one of them. Terrace Reed Jr. Out of Connecticut is a player I'm higher on than others. He's coming off a big NCAA tournament run. I think a name that will be interesting to track is Abuka Okorie. At Stanford, he was a freshman. You know, for all of the great freshmen in college basketball, he was as good as any of them. And he played at Stanford last year. And so those are a few names. Alan Graves is a very popular name for people. He was a freshman that actually came off the bench for Santa Clara, funny enough. But I think what I also want to highlight is a lot of these guys are going to go back, and so I think people need to prepare themselves for that. While we already saw one of the lowest early entry numbers that we've seen.

[Alex Spears]

Yeah.

[Bryce Simon]

There's also still a lot of money for these guys to go back to college. And if they aren't getting first round guarantees on the. By the 24th, I believe it is. I have that for sure. Which 27th. Excuse me, 27th. These guys are going to go back. So I think that's honestly the biggest thing I'm interested to track is how many of them end up going back to school and how many actually stay in the. In the class.

[Alex Spears]

All right, Bryce, you've made it.

[Andrew]

All right, Bryce, wait.

[Bryce Simon]

I thought we were going to talk 2027 draft instead of trivia. Is that what we. I've been. I've been. I've been grinding 2027 draft film. You guys don't want to talk about Tyron Stokes or Caleb Hole or anything like that.

[Alex Spears]

Well, lucky for you, all my trivia questions are about the 2027 class.

[Andrew]

No, they're not. Oh, be so bad. I would have no chance. I have no chance.

[Alex Spears]

I think Bryce. Bryce would win. What if Bryce paid me off to do that just to get a win? Okay, you've played this before. Playoffs edition. Eight questions, all about the playoffs. Bryce, give me number one.

[Bryce Simon]

I did so good at this the other day. I was on my walk and I was listening. I knew the Donovan Kling. An answer like I was proud of myself.

[Andrew]

Nice.

[Bryce Simon]

Yeah. So. Which means I'll score zero points today. Number three. Allen Iverson.

[Alex Spears]

Question number three. That is true. We had three game sevens this past week. There are three NBA franchises that have never won a game seven. How many can you name? You could get three points here. One point per correct answer. Only three NBA franchises that have never won a game seven. Few different ways to think about this.

[Andrew]

Wow.

[Bryce Simon]

What I like about this question is I'm not even gonna feel bad whenever I get it wrong. And unless you say something that makes me. Because I'm like. I'm just like I don't. I don't think that I should know this, I guess is my point. Like, I. I only get mad whenever. So are you gonna tell me I should know this? Like, don't make this worse for me.

[Alex Spears]

No, you shouldn't know it. But I'm just saying you could make an educated guess. You know you can.

[Bryce Simon]

No, no, no.

[Andrew]

I'm.

[Alex Spears]

And I'm gonna.

[Bryce Simon]

I'm gonna try to.

[Alex Spears]

Okay. I hope you will.

[Bryce Simon]

Now I'm overthinking it though.

[Andrew]

Okay.

[Alex Spears]

I.

[Bryce Simon]

The Washington Wizards were the first name that came to mind that. So I'll just go with that.

[Alex Spears]

Wrong. Andrew.

[Bryce Simon]

Okay, great.

[Andrew]

That. Have never won a Game seven.

[Alex Spears]

Never won one. I believe if I remember correct from Wikipedia, every franchise is played in a Game seven.

[Andrew]

Nice. Okay.

[Alex Spears]

At least one.

[Andrew]

At least one. How about the Clippers?

[Alex Spears]

Nope. Okay. The one I thought you maybe should get would be Charlotte Hornets. You know.

[Andrew]

Okay.

[Alex Spears]

Just because. Not a ton of playoff appearances.

[Andrew]

Yeah.

[Alex Spears]

Similarly, New Orleans Pelicans.

[Bryce Simon]

That was gonna.

[Alex Spears]

They did. They did get to that one. Remember that one against the Spurs? And then Memphis. Memphis.

[Andrew]

Oh, Memphis has never won a Game seven. Wow.

[Alex Spears]

That was the more interesting that.

[Bryce Simon]

Yeah, I would not have guessed them. I actually did consider New Orleans, so.

[Alex Spears]

Okay. No points though. Andrew, board is yours.

[Andrew]

Number one question.

[Alex Spears]

Number one, listen to this question. Victor Wembanyama had 12 blocks in game one against Minnesota this past week, an NBA playoffs record. Now in the first round, he also had a seven block game. There are nine active players other than Wemby who have had at least seven blocks in a playoff game. And we're going to name them all. So these are active players. Have had a seven plus block game in the playoffs. Andrew. Where.

[Andrew]

Wow.

[Alex Spears]

Start.

[Andrew]

Rudy Gobert.

[Alex Spears]

Good guess. He has done it. Rudy Gobert. Bryce

[Bryce Simon]

previously mentioned. Anthony Davis.

[Alex Spears]

AD has done it. Andrew.

[Andrew]

Oh my gosh. Triple.

[Alex Spears]

Jaren jackson jr. Has done it.

[Andrew]

Yes.

[Alex Spears]

Bryce.

[Bryce Simon]

Draymond.

[Alex Spears]

Draymond Green has done it.

[Andrew]

Wow.

[Alex Spears]

So it's the names you would think, right? You know, it's not that hard.

[Andrew]

Joel.

[Alex Spears]

Joel Embiid has not done it.

[Andrew]

Andrew. Man.

[Alex Spears]

Bryce. Did you have any other names you were thinking of?

[Bryce Simon]

The only other name I could think of was Brooke Lopez.

[Alex Spears]

He's also on the list. There should be another name though, that you can think of because it sounded very targeted. It is. It is extremely.

[Bryce Simon]

Oh, Isaiah Stewart. Oh, my gosh.

[Alex Spears]

Yeah, he had these two in this year's. In this year's playoffs. But you still get.

[Bryce Simon]

Oh, you. You're def. I love you know what I Love listening to you guys. Is when Andrew says answers that make you really mad because he's not saying the obvious answers that he should be saying. Yeah, you were totally just doing that to me, weren't you? Like Bryce. Why are you not saying? The low hanging fruit of Isaiah Stewart.

[Alex Spears]

You guys are great though. Brook Lopez. I was on the list. The other names, Time Lord, Robert Williams.

[Andrew]

Oh, dang it.

[Alex Spears]

Luke Cornet and Zach Edie. Which that had to have happened last year in the OKC series. And I don't remember it. But that's impressive.

[Andrew]

I do not recall that at all.

[Alex Spears]

I do not recall. Okay, Bryce, you're on the board. You're up 10 and the board is yours.

[Bryce Simon]

Two.

[Alex Spears]

Question number two. In game two of the Spurs Wolves series, San Antonio won by 38 points. That is the worst playoff loss in Wolves playoff history. Now the previous record was a 30 point loss to the Lakers in 2003. Name two Wolves that played in that game other than KG and Wally Zerbiak. So you get one point per correct answer. You just have to name two players who played for the Wolves in the 2003 playoff game against the Lakers other than kg and wale.

[Andrew]

Wow.

[Bryce Simon]

2003.

[Alex Spears]

2003. You're a freshman in high school, I think.

[Bryce Simon]

Sophomore.

[Alex Spears]

Okay, I was close.

[Bryce Simon]

So the only name that's coming up right now is because of the Kawhi thing actually is Joe Smith.

[Alex Spears]

Joe Smith. That is correct for one point.

[Andrew]

Nice playing that game.

[Alex Spears]

Can you think of another Wolf?

[Bryce Simon]

Wolf.

[Alex Spears]

You think of another Wolf?

[Bryce Simon]

Wolf. That's a tough one. No, that's. That was the only one I could. No, I'll let Andrew take. Take a shot.

[Alex Spears]

Andrew, you got a name. Locked and loaded.

[Andrew]

Yeah. This is around the time where me and our. Our buddy L Man's younger brother, me and Chad Stevens would play NBA live against each other and get so mad at each other playing. He's El Man's little brother.

[Alex Spears]

And you played as the Wolves.

[Andrew]

And he would always be the Wolves. He would always be the Wolves. Rashad Starovich was on that team.

[Alex Spears]

Yes. How many can you name, Andrew?

[Andrew]

I think Troy Hudson was also on that team.

[Alex Spears]

I love Troy Hudson.

[Andrew]

Yeah, he was cool.

[Alex Spears]

He was good.

[Andrew]

I think Rod Strickland was also on that team.

[Alex Spears]

Yeah, Rod Strickland was. There's a name near and dear to your heart, Andrew. Like current. Current world, current life.

[Andrew]

Oh, really?

[Alex Spears]

Someone that you see in person a lot.

[Andrew]

Yeah, someone that I see in person a lot.

[Alex Spears]

Other names. Anthony Peeler, Kendall Gill, Mark Jackson, Gary Trent, Lauren woods and current Thunder assistant coach Mike Wilkes.

[Andrew]

Oh, Mike Wilkes was on that team?

[Alex Spears]

Yeah.

[Andrew]

That's cool.

[Bryce Simon]

I was going to say Terrell Brandon, but I don't think. He must have not been. He must have been right before or something like that.

[Alex Spears]

Yeah. Or didn't play in the game. That's possible. Although a lot of guys play in this game because they lost by 30. Okay.

[Bryce Simon]

So much.

[Alex Spears]

Andrew, board is yours.

[Andrew]

I will take number four.

[Alex Spears]

Question number four. With their seven game. With their game seven loss, Orlando has now blown two, three one leads in their franchise's history. There are three other franchises that have blown two, three one leads in the playoffs. How many can you name one point per correct answer.

[Andrew]

That have blown two, three one leads?

[Alex Spears]

Yes. So of course Orlando did it with Doc Rivers back in the day and then they just did it with Detroit.

[Andrew]

Yeah.

[Alex Spears]

Yeah.

[Andrew]

Oh, gosh.

[Alex Spears]

Oh, gosh.

[Andrew]

Has Philly done it? It feels like something Philly would have done.

[Alex Spears]

Wow. Okay. They have, but it was like a long time ago.

[Andrew]

Okay, that is correct. Okay, I'll take the point.

[Alex Spears]

Can you name either of the other two?

[Andrew]

Let's see. Other three. One.

[Alex Spears]

So you just picked Philly just purely based on vibes?

[Andrew]

100%. No. No knowledge whatsoever. Purely based on the tragedy that has occurred for that fan base? Yes. That's. That's sad. That's sad.

[Alex Spears]

That's sad.

[Andrew]

How about Golden State?

[Alex Spears]

Golden State has not. Yeah. The two years that Philly did it was 1981 and 1968.

[Andrew]

I was thinking of that 68 Philly team,

[Alex Spears]

both to the Celtics. Okay, Bryce, you got any guesses?

[Bryce Simon]

The only franchise I can think of to go with this is the Clippers.

[Alex Spears]

Well, I was really worried that I had given it away by even mentioning Doc Rivers name because, yes, it is the Clippers.

[Andrew]

Okay. I thought about the Clippers too. Dang it.

[Alex Spears]

Yeah. Do you want to throw out another franchise just in case you could get it?

[Bryce Simon]

No, like that was.

[Alex Spears]

Well, you just throw out one. Maybe you'll get it. You just throw at any team. What if you got it?

[Bryce Simon]

I mean. So I assume Andrew's warriors guess was that was a pretty infamous 3:1. So the Thunder, because I know that they did it once.

[Alex Spears]

That is true. They did once. Thanks for bringing it up. No, it was the Phoenix Suns. The Phoenix Suns.

[Andrew]

Oh, okay.

[Alex Spears]

Did it in 1970 and 1995. Okay, Bryce, board is yours.

[Bryce Simon]

Is five still there? I can't see.

[Alex Spears]

Yeah, five still there. Who has the most steals in this year's playoffs so far? Hopefully someone didn't have like a ten steel game tonight. I don't think anyone did, but

[Andrew]

because

[Alex Spears]

I did this this morning. Most steals in this year's playoffs so far.

[Bryce Simon]

I was just looking all this stuff up the other day just for fun.

[Alex Spears]

Were you. Were you doing your own.

[Bryce Simon]

No, like I was wasting time. It's like, hey, I'll put out some cool stats on Twitter for people. Like, I just. Just to see, like, who was. It was. It's kind of fun just to see who leads different, you know, statistical categories or whatever. So the blocks per game one was fun because it was Stewart and like Luke Cornett, each playing less than 18 minutes a game were like second and fifth or something. I don't think this is right and I don't think you would have asked this question.

[Alex Spears]

Okay.

[Bryce Simon]

Assar.

[Alex Spears]

No. Although I do think he might have been second. I'll check. I'll check. While Andrew's guessing his.

[Bryce Simon]

His stats is like the rebound stills and blocks, not total steals. Yeah.

[Alex Spears]

Gosh dang it, Andrew, you got any guesses?

[Andrew]

I. I have heard nothing because I'm trying to. I was trying to respond to a message about the editing of this. This current show. So what. Tell me the. Tell me the question again.

[Alex Spears]

Okay. Oh, actually, hold on, hold on just a second. How many steals did a Sar. Thomps. Oh, wait, they didn't play tonight. Never mind. Okay. Because by the way, he's only two behind the leader. He is second. Okay. It's Andrew. It's. The question is who has the most steals in this year's playoffs so far.

[Andrew]

Oh, okay. Oh, gosh. The most steals.

[Alex Spears]

And Asar is number two.

[Bryce Simon]

Is.

[Andrew]

Is it. Is it. Is it Marcus Smart? Who?

[Alex Spears]

It is Marcus Smart. And that ties the game up three to three. Wow.

[Andrew]

He's also played in a lot of. He's also played in a lot of games. Marcus.

[Bryce Simon]

That. Yeah, that's true.

[Andrew]

So it's a maniac. He's been a maniac. He's been pretty good.

[Bryce Simon]

Yeah.

[Alex Spears]

Andrew, board is yours.

[Bryce Simon]

Six.

[Alex Spears]

Six. There are 16 active players who have scored at least 2,000 career points in the playoffs. Only three of those 16 are still playing in this year's playoffs. Now, one is obviously LeBron James. Who are the other two? So these are active players still in the playoffs who have at least 2,000 career points in the playoffs.

[Andrew]

James harden.

[Alex Spears]

Yes. One point. Playoff p. It is playoff P. Andrew gets both points.

[Andrew]

Nice.

[Alex Spears]

Nice going to Bryce. Two questions remain.

[Bryce Simon]

Seven. Sorry. Seven.

[Alex Spears]

There are 29 players who have taken at least one. Three in this year's playoffs. But haven't made one. Name two of those players. So there's 29 of these guys. They've taken at least one three in the playoffs, but they haven't made Sar Thompson. That is correct. So close to not being correct though, because he didn't.

[Bryce Simon]

He's only taken one.

[Alex Spears]

Right. Well, that. But also he made that one that was. They called off.

[Bryce Simon]

Oh, oh, I see what you're saying.

[Andrew]

Yeah, yeah.

[Alex Spears]

Can you get another one to tie up the game? Going into the final question,

[Bryce Simon]

That one was a little easy. The next one is not. You know what, I'm gonna stay. I'm just gonna homer this one and say Paul Reed.

[Alex Spears]

Oh, that is correct. He's on the list. That means we have a tie game.

[Bryce Simon]

He came in one of those games and immediately took a corner three. And so I know he took at least one.

[Alex Spears]

Yeah. The only other one that I thought you all might have remembered was Rudy Gobert. Just because he took that three in the Denver series.

[Andrew]

Oh, yeah.

[Alex Spears]

That felt like a heat check. Even though he hadn't like taken a three before. But it was just like, what is Rudy doing? I'm not going to name everyone. There's a lot of guys. Okay, so that brings us to the final question. Is currently tied 5. 5. So whoever gets this final question wins the week. The Knicks are the first team in NBA history to win three consecutive playoff games by 25 plus points. So this goes back to the Hawks series. Three in a row. 25 plus points. What was Jalen Brunson's total plus minus in those three games? Okay, total plus, minus of those three games combined. Andrew, you get to choose who answers first. So you can make Bryce answer first and then you go higher, lower, or you can answer first and then Bryce will go higher, lower, and this will decide the week.

[Andrew]

Oh, my gosh. Okay, that's crazy. That's a crazy question. So. Okay, so I got a. Get my bearings about me. Okay, plus, plus.

[Alex Spears]

Good start.

[Andrew]

73.

[Alex Spears]

All right, Bryce, Andrew set the bar. So this is 73.

[Bryce Simon]

This is the. What games is this again?

[Alex Spears]

So this would have been game six of the Hawks series and then the first two games of the Sixers series. Wait, that can't be right. It would have been.

[Bryce Simon]

Hold on.

[Alex Spears]

Would have been game five and six of the Hawks series in game one

[Bryce Simon]

and then game one of the Sixers where they blew them out by third. So all their blow. They're 35 point blowout. Okay.

[Alex Spears]

Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes.

[Bryce Simon]

And Andrew said What?

[Alex Spears]

Andrew said 73 plus 73.

[Bryce Simon]

I'll go over.

[Alex Spears]

Correct answer is plus 91. Which means Bryce wins the week. Six to five. Congratulations, Bryce. Wasn't it worth it staying up this late to get a win? Now Andrew has to go to bed at 1am all set. Bad.

[Andrew]

Oh no.

[Bryce Simon]

As much of a competitor as I am, I don't even feel good about it. Like, Andrew's one of my favorite people in the world.

[Alex Spears]

Destroy.

[Bryce Simon]

Like, if I beaten Sam, if I had beaten Sam, I'd be like, I'd be doing a dance, singing a song, doing something, celebrating. I would have already tweeted it out like. But with Andrew, I'm just like, yeah, okay, that was fun.

[Alex Spears]

That was, that was a hard fought battle back.

[Andrew]

That was, that was a good one. That was a really good one. Okay, go listen to the Pistons Pulse because everybody listens to Game Theory already. Listen, let's, let's promote the Pistons Pulse. It's a good, it's a good podcast and then also Game Theory as well. And then the Game Theory substack as well. If you want extra draft content, it's, it's, it's Yalls time. We got the, we got the draft lottery Sunday and then you're gonna want to catch up because listen, if you're listening to this right now, you probably don't know a lot about these guys and that's okay to admit. And if you don't know a lot about them, Game Theory podcast is the way to go. Bryce, anything else you want to promote before we get out of here year?

[Bryce Simon]

I mean the only thing I'll say is I have 21 of my best game series video breakdowns on prospects in the class and then I'll do more once we find out who's going to be in the class or not. Like so Those are like 8 to 12 minute like just quick hitters over what a prospect did in their best game this last year in college basketball. So lots of good stuff over there. And we will have a mock draft on Sunday after the lottery on the Game Theory podcast.

[Andrew]

So

[Bryce Simon]

tune into that.

[Alex Spears]

I'm this. Because that's when mock draft season really starts. These ones where yeah, you know, do the spin and you kind of make it up. No, I want the real thing which we are going to get starting on Sunday.

[Andrew]

I want the real thing.

[Bryce Simon]

And to your guys's point, like it starts with the, the Pacers pick because that, that does.

[Andrew]

Yeah.

[Bryce Simon]

And where the Hawks one ends up and all of that. So it is kind of fun to do them once you realize where the teams are going to be.

[Andrew]

Yeah, yeah, I can't wait. Hey, leave us a five star review on Apple Podcasts. We'll read it on the show. Just like this one from Knicks fan number 37. I love the show. Also, I think the magic could get buddy healed for shooting. Thanks. You guys are a great pod. This next one is from Al Alpac Nose Ball. The Josh Robbins hate will not Low star reviews are for low star people. Keep it up. This is Josh Robbins supporter shout out to Josh Robbins.

[Alex Spears]

That was Josh Robbins writing, writing in.

[Bryce Simon]

Josh, I had a panic attack again. I was, this is all truth. I was, I was on a walk whenever you were reading the Josh Robbins comments to Josh Robbins Robbins on the pod and I was like, I really hope Alex doesn't do that for me because I don't have thick enough skin to do that. I, I purposely do not read the YouTube comments and stuff like that. So to be clear, Josh, to Josh Robbins for taking that to be clear.

[Alex Spears]

Yeah, I did. I didn't do that. I didn't go search out negative comments about our guests to read.

[Andrew]

No,

[Bryce Simon]

I was able, I caught that eventually because at first I was like this is, this is an interesting tactic by.

[Andrew]

This is a weird approach for a host. Last one, Billy Iverson. Slammin Jam equals the best pod. Great Saturday basketball show. The two guests this week were excellent. The hosts prepare ahead and make their guests shine. Thank you so much much for that. Leave us a a five star review and we'll read on. The pod would appreciate it. Okay, we'll be back next Saturday. Probably talking draft. Probably talking about the draft. Okay. It's going to be great. We appreciate you guys listening. We'll talk to you guys again next Saturday.

[Bryce Simon]

Yeah.

[Commercial Announcer]

Now more people than ever can bring in their bill for a better deal at Verizon. Got AT&T or T Mobile. We got you Xfinity or Spectrum. You too. So tell your friends, your family, your quirky neighbor, Jeff, grab your megaphone and yell it from the rooftop. Get a better deal at Verizon because chances are anyone in shouting distance is included. Bring in your at&t t Mobile, Xfinity or Spectrum bill and we'll give you you a better deal on the best network. Come by Verizon today. Best Network based on RootMetrics Best Overall Mobile Network Performance US 2nd Half 2025 all rights reserved. Must provide recent consumer mobile bill in the name of the person redeeming the deal. Additional terms, conditions and restrictions apply. Marketers, you know that feeling when your creative clicks when that social post sends engagement through the roof. When your outside of the box campaign hits ROI Positive When a personalized homepage turns prospects into customers, it's utter marketing bliss. Contentful helps you create tailored omnichannel experiences without working overtime. No stress, no limits, only possibilities. Get the [e-mail] real winning means showing

[Alex Spears]

up stronger, faster, better than before. The Drop by GNC cuts through the noise, bringing you the best new innovations in performance and nutrition. From strength and recovery to endurance and focus, you're always leveling up. The Drop by GNC what's new? What works? What's next?