The Best of The Dan Patrick Show

Summary

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The Dan Patrick Show – Best Of (June 22, 2026)

Overview of Main Theme

This episode features a blend of sports insight, personal storytelling, and expert analysis. Host Dan Patrick welcomes Seton O’Connor for a lively discussion about Team USA’s soccer performance and soccer’s changing landscape. Veteran broadcaster Chris Fowler shares a deeply personal story about rediscovering his late father through audio tapes, linking sports with themes of grief and healing. The episode then turns to NBA Draft coverage with Jay Bilis, providing in-depth analysis and anecdotes about the upcoming draft and key storylines like the future of Giannis Antetokounmpo.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Team USA Soccer and World Cup Expansion

Guests: Seton O’Connor (Former Danette, Digital Presence Ambassador)

• Team USA’s Performance
  • Seton emphasizes that recent U.S. teams have struggled generating offense, but this year’s squad is “pouring in goals”—it’s not just about winning, but how they’re winning (02:47).
    • “It’s not that they're winning, it's the way they're winning... That's what I think has everybody so excited.” (Seton O’Connor, 02:47)
  • Being undefeated isn’t just expected, it’s notable how they’ve handled it: “They did what they’re supposed to do, and that’s surprising.” (03:10)
• Squad Management & Christian Pulisic
  • Dan asks how to manage minutes for star player Christian Pulisic with bigger matches ahead.
  • Seton: “He’s our most dynamic player... you absolutely need him healthy and playing well.” (04:02)
• World Cup Expansion: 32 to 48 Teams
  • Debate on expanding the field, with Seton noting that soccer is “a game of opinions”—while purists are skeptical, the expanded tournament brings exciting new stories.
    • “The thing about soccer is it's a game of opinions... I look, I like the storylines that come out of letting more teams in.” (05:00)
  • Acknowledges that blowouts happen, but “there have been a lot of really cool stories happening this year.”
• Tournament Finances
  • Prize money increases as teams advance, similar to March Madness: “It’s pretty typical, I think. And, you know, that stuff means a lot to soccer federations.” (05:48)
• Realistic Hopes for Team USA
  • Seton is cautiously optimistic: “I like our chances, actually, more than I ever have before, by far. But there are some teams that are just absolute monsters.”
  • Names France as “insane this year,” highlighting stars like Kylian Mbappé, Michael Olise (Bayern Munich), and Ryan Turke (Manchester City).
    • “If Neymar is Kyrie Irving, then Ryan Turkey is like Jason Williams. He’s like white chocolate. He’s just an—he’s an absolute magician on the ball.” (06:11)

[02:42–08:48]

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2. Messi vs. Ronaldo: The GOAT Debate

Dan Patrick & Seton O’Connor

• Dan asks if the Messi-Ronaldo rivalry has been settled.
• Seton: Messi’s World Cup win and success in the U.S. cements his status, while Ronaldo’s decline in visibility hurts his legacy.
  • “The fact that Messi came and played well, one, he won the World Cup last time... that put him by far over Ronaldo... Messi, his game is still so good...I think that's what Messi still does really, really well. And I don't know that that's Ronaldo's game.” (08:08)

[07:28–08:48]

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3. Chris Fowler’s Personal Story: Rediscovering His Father

Guest: Chris Fowler (ESPN Broadcaster)

• Chris opens up about finding old tapes his father recorded before dying of cancer in the 1970s, and the emotional journey of listening to them decades later (13:18).
  • “I heard a voice that I barely recognized...narrating his days as a cancer patient, hoping they would make a book out of it.” (Chris Fowler, 13:51)
• Original purpose: His father wanted to document daily life with terminal illness at a time when few shared such experiences.
  • “He was talking about that in the tapes and also talking about stuff that he had learned through this cancer journey when your time is short.” (15:50)
• The tapes included revelations about depression and suicidal thoughts never discussed with family.
  • Chris and his brother found closure and clarity, learning more about their father as a professional and a person.
    • “He talked about suicidal thoughts and wondering how many pills he would have to take to end it to get out of the suffering he was going through. We had never heard any. We had no idea.” (16:48)
• Reflections on Grief:
  • “So many people deal with grief. It’s the thing that we all have in common as humans...sometimes making these discoveries, opening painful wounds can really be powerful and really be helpful.” (18:37)
• Realization: Parents and children aren’t always perfectly aligned, and that’s okay.
  • “My dad was not a perfect person. And so the feature tended to focus on the things that I loved about him...There were a lot of things, as I heard the tapes, that I realized we’re not alike in a lot of ways. And that’s okay.” (18:37)
• Dan and Chris share how losing their fathers young shaped their outlook on life.
  • Chris: “Savor the simple things, the small connection, beautiful sunrise, throttle back. Put aside the petty BS about jealousies and people that you resent. That stuff, in the end, is so unimportant.” (21:24)
• Final takeaways: “It’s never too late to melt the ice, you know, and be a little bit vulnerable and put yourself out there because people do connect and they do get something out of it.” (22:43)

[13:18–22:54]

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4. NBA Draft Preview & Insights

Guest: Jay Bilis (ESPN Analyst)
[Conversation via Pre-recorded Segment]

• Dan and Jay break down the logic of a player (Darren Peterson) only working out for the expected #1 pick team (27:41).
  • Jay: “We've seen it in the past...like when John Elway, Eli Manning, others have tried to, quote, unquote, manipulate the draft in their favor...He's not trying to avoid anybody.” (27:41)
• Evaluating the Draft Class
  • This year’s draft depth is notable: “This draft is the deepest of quality talents that I can recall...” (29:22)
  • Names at the top: Darren Peterson, AJ DeVonts, and Cameron Boozer—three justifiable #1 picks.
    • “Boozer, I think, is the best pure basketball player in this draft.” (29:22)
  • Up to seven players who could end up the best in class—unprecedented, according to Jay.
• Surprises & Draft-Altering Picks
  • Key decisions expected from pick #4 onwards, especially by Chicago (likely targeting Caleb Wilson).
  • “There were nine freshmen this year that had 40 or more in a game. That's, that's never happened in my, in my lifetime.” (31:12)
• Specific Player Evaluations
  • Cup Junior: “First SEC player since Pete Maravich to lead the league at scoring and assists...tough as nails. He played through injury throughout the whole year, never tapped out.” (32:53)
• Player Health Concerns
  • Addressed worries about Peterson’s cramping: The issue diminished by season’s end.
• Giannis Antetokounmpo Trade Rumors
  • Jay downplays the drama, awaiting concrete resolution: “Just tell me when it’s done...This saga’s been going on for a long time, but...everybody’s got to get the best deal.” (35:52)
• Nostalgia and Draft Memories
  • Jay and Dan reminisce about iconic draft moments and honest, emotional reactions on-air.
    • “When the Knicks took Ronaldo Balkman...I lost my mind. I'm like, what are you doing?...Just because I think that, why am I getting mad?” (37:20)
    • “I love the honest reaction, though, because not every draft pick is a great draft pick.” (Dan Patrick, 38:15)

[26:41–39:59]

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Seton O’Connor on U.S. Soccer:
  • “This team has always had...trouble generating offense, but this team is sort of pouring in goals and it’s the way they’re manufacturing the goals...That’s what I think has everybody so excited.” (02:47)
• Chris Fowler on Hearing His Dad’s Tapes:
  • “I heard a voice that I barely recognized...narrating his days as a cancer patient...I played it, Dan, and I kind of put it away because it was uncomfortable too.” (13:51)
• Chris Fowler on Lessons from Grief:
  • “Savor the simple things... Put aside the petty BS about jealousies...That stuff, in the end, is so unimportant.” (21:24)
• Jay Bilis on the NBA Draft Class:
  • “There are three players and arguably more that you could justify as the number one overall selection...” (29:22)
• Jay Bilis, Draft Surprises:
  • “There were nine freshmen this year that had 40 or more in a game. That’s never happened in my, in my lifetime.” (31:12)

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• Team USA Soccer & Christian Pulisic: 02:42–08:48
• Messi versus Ronaldo: 07:28–08:48
• Chris Fowler on His Father’s Tapes & Grief: 13:18–22:54
• NBA Draft Deep Dive with Jay Bilis: 26:41–39:59

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Tone & Closing

Throughout the episode, Dan’s signature blend of wit, insight, and empathy is evident. The episode moves seamlessly between sports analysis and deeper human themes, offering both entertaining and poignant moments for listeners—whether they’re passionate about soccer, basketball, or simply looking for stories of resilience and connection.

Transcript

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[Seton O'Connor]

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[Fox Sports Radio Announcer]

Let's move forward from there.

[Seton O'Connor]

NBC News reporting for America.

[Dan Patrick]

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[Fox Sports Radio Announcer]

You are listening to the Dan Patrick show on Fox Sports Radio.

[Dan Patrick]

Hey, is Seton o', Connor, former Danette Digital Presence Ambassador, commenting on the comments? Influencer Die hard for athletic fan and chairman of Hartford Visitation Bureau. Look who's here. It's Seton o'. Connor.

[Seton O'Connor]

Yay.

[Dan Patrick]

Usa.

[Seton O'Connor]

Usa.

[Dan Patrick]

Yeah. Hey, great to see you here.

[Seton O'Connor]

Good to see you buddy.

[Dan Patrick]

What is making Team USA this team different than previous teams in your opinion?

[Seton O'Connor]

You know, I think it's the. It's not that they're winning, it's the way they're winning. You know, this team has always had, or at least recently had some trouble generating offense, but this team is sort of pouring in goals and it's the way they're manufacturing the goals that. That's what I think has everybody so excited. Not just. Just that they're winning, but the way that they're winning.

[Dan Patrick]

How surprised are you that they're undefeated, that they won both of these?

[Seton O'Connor]

You know, it's one of those things where it's like they did what they're supposed to do, and that's surprising, you know, to go into this last game with Turkey A and not have to absolutely win this or come away with the three points in order to advance and to just know that we can coast through this one. You can rest some players, everybody can get healthy. You don't have to worry about yellow cards against a team like Turkey, who. I'm really surprised at how poorly they performed, but not having to get through them to advance is fantastic.

[Dan Patrick]

And Christian Pulisic is still on the sidelines there. We saw him in the first match, but now you get more breathing room for him. And if you. I mean, you're going to need him. But I'm just curious of how you kind of divvy out playing time for somebody like that that you do need, but you need him, you know, for a bigger picture here.

[Seton O'Connor]

Yeah, he's. He's an incredibly important player. He's like our most dynamic player. He's won on the biggest stages possible. To have an American winning Champions League, you know, like he did with Chelsea, it's really incredible. So, yeah, he's. He's just a crucial piece, and even though this is maybe one of our deepest teams that we've had recently, you still don't want to get too far down into that depth chart. If we want to have a real chance to. To move on and say advance through 32 to the round 16 and get to the quarterfinals, you absolutely need him healthy and playing well.

[Dan Patrick]

We're talking to Se Oconor, former Danette, but also a diehard Hartford athletic fan and digital presence ambassador to the show. Also, you start to look at, I don't know if there was an outcry when we went from 38 two countries to 48 like we've done with March Madness. We did, you know, we're doing with college football. Did the purists get upset that we're letting too many countries into the World Cup?

[Seton O'Connor]

Oh, definitely. I wouldn't really consider myself a purist, necessarily, but lots of. You know, the thing about soccer is it's a game of opinions. Everyone has an opinion on everything, and everybody else is always wrong because you're right. And so I look, I like the storylines that come out of letting more teams in. I understand that, you know, watching, say, France beat up on somebody important, 12 goals isn't really that much fun, but there have been a lot of really cool stories happening this year. So I think the tournament's been a ton of fun, and it means so much to countries that don't typically get to play in the World cup that I'm all for that.

[Dan Patrick]

How do they dispense money if you advance? Like, is it like March Madness, where you got a certain amount for each win?

[Seton O'Connor]

Yeah, yeah, I think it's. It's. I think it's probably pretty comparable to how money is dispersed like that. The further you advance, the more money you would win. It's pretty typical, I think. And, you know, that stuff means a lot to soccer federations, you know, all over the world.

[Dan Patrick]

How does this all play out? Like, should our hopes be higher? Should they be elevated?

[Seton O'Connor]

You know, I. I think yes, actually. I think that we should be going into this, especially the way, sort of the group stages is falling. I think that the team looks good enough to beat some real heavy hitters that maybe before we could. And I think we could beat Belgium, should we meet them coming up. But then at the same time, you know, you might run into an Ecuador team that is, like, surprisingly great, too. So I like our chances, actually, more than I ever have before, by far. But there are some teams that are just absolute monsters. Like, France is just insane this year. They. They have. I mean, aside from Kylian Mbappe, Michael Elise might be one of the best players in the world right now. Most people really don't haven't heard of him. He plays for Bayern Munich. And they have this other dude, Ryan Turke, who. Ryan Turkey plays for Manchester City. He's like, you know, if Neymar is Kyrie Irving, then Ryan Turkey is like Jason Williams. He's like white chocolate. He's just an. He's an absolute magician on the ball. I don't know how the US Would stack up against them. Spain is really good. Argentina is great. Germany. I think that we could hold our own against Germany. So once you start getting into that round, then you're looking at, you know, advancing pretty far, I think.

[Dan Patrick]

I asked Rebecca Low this last week, do Messi and Ronaldo kind of Messi gets a hat trick. It felt like Ronaldo wanted to score and maybe to the detriment of his team. But, you know, we're, we're kind of seeing the end of Ronaldo, it feels like, at this level, and understandably so at 41. But Rebecca Lowe said Messi knows he's the Goat. Ronaldo calls himself the Goat. But is this a, has this been a fair fight? Like they have had reason for each other to call themselves the Goat or be referred to as, you know, I

[Seton O'Connor]

think the fact that Messi came and played well, one, he won the World cup last time, which is obviously massive, that put him by far over Ronaldo. I think that he came to play in the United States, too, which is helping his perception a lot, versus Ronaldo, who, you know, at least for a U.S. audience, kind of disappeared for the last couple of years. He hasn't really been visible at all. So I think that hurts him a little bit too. Messi, his game is still so good, I think, because Dan, you know, you always talk about in basketball how players play the angles, and I think that's what Messi still does really, really well. And I don't know that that's Ronaldo's game.

[Dan Patrick]

Great to see you. We'll talk to you soon. Thank you for soccer. Breakdown in three, two, one. Thank you, Seaton.

[Seton O'Connor]

See you, buddy.

[Dan Patrick]

Seton o', Connor, former Danette Digital presence ambassador. He loves the Hartford Athletic and nobody is more welcoming with the Hartford Visitation bureau than Seton o'. Connor.

[Fox Sports Radio Announcer]

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[Dan Patrick]

Chris Fowler shared a deeply personal story about discovering audio tapes recording recorded before his father died of cancer. And he shared this last night. The mothership did a wonderful job with this last night. And man, I've known you a long time and I I was really surprised you opened yourself up to this sharing a pretty incredible journey. How did you come to that point where you you say to your wife or your brother, I'm going to share this with America.

[Chris Fowler]

I was pretty surprised too. Dan. It's unlike me as you as you just alluded to, to open up like this and be this vulnerable. This is about a year in the works. We found the tapes actually about five or six years ago cleaning out my my mom's very cluttered basement. She was a pack rat and saved everything and thank God she did. But she also never made us aware that these tapes in my dad's voice existed for a long time. So my brother finds them. I was sort of reluctant to play him. I don't know how others would react. But I hadn't spent four decades wishing I could hear my dad or wanting to connect with him. The longing had pretty much faded away. He died when I was 16, right, and I had moved on. But finding the tapes opened up a whole bunch of stuff because I heard a voice that I barely recognized A manner of speaking that was really strange. He's very dramatic. It sounded like Olivier or sort of John Gielgud, you know, talking into this little cassette recorder, narrating his days as a cancer patient, hoping they would make a book out of it. And he was a theater guy, theater director, a former actor, so this is normal for him. But it was very strange for me to hear. And I played it, Dan, and I kind of put it away because it was uncomfortable too. It brings up a lot of stuff that I had probably suppressed for a long, long time. And so it wasn't an easy decision to even pull, play all the tapes and then much less go out there and, and, and put them out publicly. I will tell you this. It was a very surreal experience to sit in this couch right there and watch my Dad's face on SportsCenter. It was the least sports oriented guy in the world. Neither of my parents cared about sports. ESPN didn't exist. When he recorded those tapes. And I'm watching his face on SportsCenter, it was. It was bizarre, but. But also made me feel really good.

[Dan Patrick]

What was the original purpose of these tapes from your dad?

[Chris Fowler]

To chronicle what his days were like as a cancer patient back in the 70s? Not that many people talked about it.

[Fox Sports Radio Announcer]

Right.

[Chris Fowler]

I mean, it wasn't. We didn't have so many people sharing their journey, letting us know what each day was like, what chemo felt like, what radiation felt like. And he was talking about that in the tapes and also talking about stuff that he had learned through this cancer journey when your time is short. And that's what's such a mind warp of this, though, Dan. I'm listening to tapes recorded by him when he's 15 years younger than I am. When I'm hearing. If I'd heard those tapes as a college kid or if his death had been a recent event, it would have been very, very different. But now I'm listening to him and thinking that at this point in my life, I've lived longer than he did by a lot, by 15 years or so. And I think I've learned a thing or two that he didn't know when he was recording these tapes. So it was a weird role reversal that way.

[Dan Patrick]

How, how much contact did you have, your dad, leading up to his cancer diagnosis?

[Chris Fowler]

Oh, we were very close as a family. I mean, we, we were pulled apart. He was sent to Colorado for cancer treatment. We still lived in State College, Pennsylvania. And in those days, there were no smartphones, There was no FaceTime, no emails.

[Fox Sports Radio Announcer]

Right.

[Chris Fowler]

You Just had that phone on the wall of the kitchen with a really long cord. And once a week we'd hear his voice and he'd talk about what he was going through or not. He kept a lot of stuff from us. So we were sort of in the dark what his days were like. And that's what was weird to hear these tapes because my brother and I, when we sat there and listened in my house up in the mountains and he talked about deep, dark stuff. It's in the piece. He talked about suicidal thoughts and wondering how many pills he would have to take to end it to get out of the suffering he was going through. We had never heard any. We had no idea. We had never been clued in to how deep and dark that was. So that was just another aspect of it. That's why we got emotional hearing the tapes to hear about the pain he was in. But it really helped us. I wouldn't say closure, but gain some clarity. I really Dan. Not just the tapes we heard. I went on a shoot talking to people that he had taught as a theater professor and actors who had worked with him. Hearing about sides of him that I never knew. He kept a lot of that stuff at work. And when he came home. This job is intense and he was very focused on it and driven and perfectionist. And he didn't share a lot of that stuff, those sides of him with us. And so to hear about that and how excellent he was at his job and how people took lessons from him. They're now in their 70s and they still use them in their lives 50 years later. I was. That made me proud, man. It's pretty powerful.

[Dan Patrick]

What do you want people or what do you hope that they'll take from this

[Chris Fowler]

that it's never too late to try to discover about a parent. You lost young And I was lucky to find the tapes. I'm going to talk to Anderson Cooper later this week. He went through something like that. And you hear the stories of people when you put something like this out there. And people sharing their stories in the comments feed is really powerful. So many people deal with grief. It's the thing that we all have in common as humans. Right. How we handle it is a personal thing. But there are some common threads to all of our grief. And I think that sometimes making these discoveries, opening painful wounds can really be powerful and really be helpful. And I think also too this is not. My dad was not a perfect person. And so the feature tend to focus on the things that I loved about him and that he Connected with us for. There were a lot of things, as I heard the tapes that I realized were not alike in a lot of ways. And that's okay. I mean, you know, he's. He always craved the spotlight, wanted to be a star. It was important to him. Acceptance. He cared a lot about whether what others thought of him and his plays. That's really not me in a lot of ways. But it makes you sort of wonder a lot of things I did inherit from him that I'm very proud of. But we were also really different people. So had I had a relationship with him as an adult, how would that have gone?

[Dan Patrick]

Yeah.

[Chris Fowler]

Would we have been buddies or would we have clashed? Those are unknowable things, but it's kind of been interesting to kind of explore it.

[Dan Patrick]

Yeah, I. I've mentioned on the show my dad was 54 when he died, and he died of lung cancer. He. He was going through cobalt treatments, chemo. They gave him six months to live. He died six months to the day, in fact, when Jimmy V was dying, when, you know, when he was there in Bristol, I remember telling him that I didn't want to get close to him because I didn't want to go through that again. And he. He said, tell me about your dad. And I told him. He said, how long did they give him to live? I said, six months. How long did he live? Six months. And he was crestfallen. And that's when he had the famous line to me, when he said, when I die, put a goddamn good picture above your shoulder when you do that story on SportsCenter. And I was like, any. You know, I told him, and I. I felt bad. I couldn't go through that again. I could not go through that again of losing somebody. And I. I had to. Last day, he was there. I apologize to him. But, you know, you start to. I miss my dad. And it's. You know, I was 25 when he died. Like, you were 16. I mean, still.

[Chris Fowler]

I mean, but early 50s, man. It's way too soon. My dad didn't even make it to 50. And I. That. That has shaped my life. I don't know if it shaped how you live yours, but what I talk about in the piece a little bit at the end is it what he figured out late in life, when he was running at the time is, hey, we're guaranteed nothing. Savor the simple things, the small connection, beautiful sunrise, throttle back. Put aside the petty BS about jealousies and.

[Dan Patrick]

And.

[Chris Fowler]

And people that you resent. That that stuff, in the end, is so unimportant. I don't know if that shaped you. It certainly has been one of the formative experiences of my life, watching my dad die young.

[Dan Patrick]

Yeah, My brothers and I would celebrate once we got past the age of 54, like we had a big celebration. But, you know, I, I know you're doing other things sports wise. It just doesn't feel right to be talking about Wimbledon coverage and we can do that another time. But thank you for sharing, Chris. I, I mean it. I, I was, when I saw that you were doing the story, I read about the story and I go, of all people, I, I mean, it's great you did it because you don't know how this impacts other people, which is sometimes the beauty of this. It's not why you're doing it, but the fallout could be that people reconnect in some way.

[Chris Fowler]

That's very kind of you say that. I guess that's another takeaway. It's never too late to melt the ice, you know, and be a little bit vulnerable and put yourself out there because people do connect and they do get something out of it.

[Dan Patrick]

Thank you, Chris.

[Chris Fowler]

Appreciate it, man.

[Dan Patrick]

That's Chris Fowler.

[Fox Sports Radio Announcer]

The Mothership Fox Sports Radio has the best sports talk lineup in the nation. Catch all of our [e-mail] and within the iHeartRadio app. Search FSR to listen live eczema is

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[Dan Patrick]

hey everyone, it's Cal Penn. I'm the host of Irsay, The Audible

[Fox Sports Radio Announcer]

and iHeart Audiobook Club. This week on the podcast, I am

[Dan Patrick]

sitting down with Ray Porter, the narrator

[Fox Sports Radio Announcer]

of Andy Weir's audiobook project Hail Mary

[Dan Patrick]

Massive sci fi adventure about survival and science and what happens when you wake

[Fox Sports Radio Announcer]

up alone, very far from Earth.

[Chris Fowler]

I really had to make a decision because I caught myself getting that frog in my throat and starting to get teary as I'm narrating some of these sections and it's like, okay, yo yo yo, is this indulgent?

[Jay Bilis]

And I really thought about it.

[Dan Patrick]

I was like, no.

[Jay Bilis]

At this point it would kind of be betraying the trust the the author and the listener have in telling this story if I don't go through it. But there's places in this book that

[Chris Fowler]

that deeply, emotionally affected me.

[Jay Bilis]

And I left it on the mic.

[Chris Fowler]

That's great because it served the story. People will say like, oh my God,

[Jay Bilis]

I cried at the end.

[Chris Fowler]

It's like, yeah, dude, me too.

[Dan Patrick]

Listen to Hearsay, the Audible and iHeart

[Fox Sports Radio Announcer]

audiobook club on the iHeartradio app or

[Dan Patrick]

wherever you get your podcasts. We spoke to Jay Bilis before the show because Jay had some things going on. He's part of the ESPN's draft coverage and there's some topics that have emerged. There's a report by ESPN's Pete Thammel that Dusty May is leaving the University of Michigan to take the Dallas Mavericks job and that Shams is reporting that Giannis is expected to be traded prior to the draft tomorrow night. I didn't get a chance to talk in specifics to Jay Billis about those. The Dusty May thing is just happening an hour ago and we do talk about Giannis a little bit here as well. So I talked to Jay and we started out talking about Darren Peterson. He's not the favorite to go to the Wizards. They have the number one pick, but he didn't work out for anybody, any other team. So I asked Jay to help me understand the logic of Darren Peterson.

[NBA Draft Analyst]

I don't know if there, there is a logical explanation for the public on that one. We've seen it in the past

[Chris Fowler]

when,

[NBA Draft Analyst]

you know, it might be just to project that, hey, I'm the best player and, and I should be going number one. It is not going to deter any team from taking him. Like, nobody's going to go, hey, he didn't work out for us. We're not, that's not going to happen. I mean, if you recall player from Rutgers last year, Ace Bailey did that. Utah took him to number five drive. So it's not, it's not like, it's not the usual thing, but it's not horribly unusual that, that this kind of thing would happen. And it, it's a little bit different. But, you know, like when John Elway, Eli Manning, others have tried to, quote, unquote, manipulate the draft in their favor. Maybe people didn't like it at the time, but they looked back on it and, and thought, hey, maybe that was a smart thing to do. He's not trying to avoid anybody. It sounds more to me like he's projecting, like, look, I'm not going to work out for you anyway. There's no reason for me to kick the tires of the local restaurants. I think I'm the best player and and whatever happens, happens.

[Dan Patrick]

How do you gauge ceiling and floor? Like Debanza? To me, it still has, like, he's unfinished. But I loved his attitude. I mean, he played. He was there, played hard. Peterson, of course, had the creatine issue. And can he hold up for 82 games if you can't hold up for 30? So I don't know. If you look and you go, that guy, to me, could be. Have a higher ceiling than anybody else in the draft. Does somebody stand out?

[NBA Draft Analyst]

Well, there are a lot of players in this draft that stand out, and that's what. One of the things that makes this draft so compelling. Like. Like, I don't. I don't know how you do it, Dan, in all your years, but, I mean, I don't have a list of the best drafts. Like, okay, this is the second best draft I've ever been a part of. Like, oh, three is kind of hard to turn away from with LeBron, Carmelo Bosch, Wade, all that stuff. But this draft is the deepest of quality talents that I can recall, and my memory is pretty good. But one of the best things about it is at the top, there are three players and arguably more that you could justify as the number one overall selection, you know, with. With Darren Peterson, AJ DeVonts of BYU, and Cameron Boozer of Duke, who was the national player of the year. And so Peterson's the most talented in my view. Devonsa looked like. Looks like he was built in a lab to play in the NBA. And I don't think any of these guys are, you know, you'll miss on. It's just a question of what's best, you know, who's the best for you and what's best overall. And then Boozer, I think, is the best pure basketball player in this draft. But I've never been a part of a draft, you know, with espn, where I heard more people say about more players, like, it might be seven guys I've heard say he could wind up being the best player in this draft. I've never been a part of a draft where that's been said about as many guys in a single draft as this one. And I don't think it's going to go the way it's been slotted. I mean, I think we're going to see some surprises, and they'll probably be some trades because this is the draft you want to be in.

[Dan Patrick]

Okay, give me the team that you think changes the draft.

[NBA Draft Analyst]

Changes the draft. I mean, you know, the real decisions are going to start probably at 4. I mean, the decisions up top are really important. And I do think this draft will probably be the same as any other. That will look back on this in five years and you'll, you know, say we should have done it this way. There's never been a draft. Like I was, I was doing some stuff the other day. I just decided to take the 15 all NBA players this year and look back at where they were drafted. I mean, Shay Gilgis Alexander was drafted 11th in 2018 when he came out. And like hands up all those during that draft that said he's a future MVP. And you know, Brunson was taken 33rd. Jokic, first team multiple times, three time MVP was 41st in the draft. That means teams, a number of teams had two chances to take him and didn't do it. And so it's not an exact science, but you know, I think Chicago at number four. Everybody seems to think that, or most people seem to think that that's going to be Caleb Wilson of, of North Carolina. But then there's a parade of guards and whether, and it's kind of like, who do you like best? Because it's hard to differentiate and say, well, this guy's clearly better than the other guy. You know, Mike L. Brown of Louisville and Braden Buries of Arizona. You know, Keaton Wagler of Illinois, who had 49 in a game this year. There were nine freshmen this year that had 40 or more in a game. That's, that's never happened in my, in my lifetime.

[Dan Patrick]

And then you got a cup, junior,

[NBA Draft Analyst]

right who I left out, who. A lot of people say he could wind up being the best player in the draft. First, first SEC player since Pete Maravich to lead the league at scoring and assists. I mean, it's like trying to guard a bowling ball coming down the alley at you. And he's, he's an amazing scorer. His defense was questionable, but he couldn't afford to foul out. You know, they had to keep him on the floor. And if I were him, I probably would have done the same thing. But he's tough as nails. He played through injury throughout the whole year, never tapped out. You know, there are a bunch of guys that, that you're, you don't have a lot of questions about the only, you know, some of the questions are like, there's this lingering thing in your mind about Peterson because of the cramping issue. And, but it was solved by the

[Fox Sports Radio Announcer]

end of the year.

[NBA Draft Analyst]

Like, by the end, I think it was the last eight or nine games, whatever it was, he averaged 32 minutes a game, that, that was not an issue. And if anybody questions it, like, go back and watch the BYU at Kansas game where he had 18 points in the first half, he was 6 of 8, had three steals. There was no question who the best player on the floor was. And the cramping thing started at the start of the second half and he didn't play in the second half. He played, you know, a few possessions and then he came out and didn't come back in. One of the questions I asked of myself at the time, because there was, there was not much information, we weren't being told much. And in the absence of information, people speculate, in my view. So I was thinking, all right, what, what player that is on his way to 30 plus maybe 40 in a game of that magnitude is just going to tap out because he doesn't feel like. I, I just don't believe that. And I've sat down with the, with the young man, he's quiet. But there were none of these questions when he was in high school. Nobody questioned his competitiveness. And, and throughout the season, up until later on, after the cramping thing became an issue, it seemed like most people were gone. Peterson's the number one guy, period. And, and one last thing, Dan. So if you do, like, there's always that lingering thing in the back of your mind because we didn't see him the way we wanted to see him and we didn't see what we saw in high school and certainly the frequency of play. But so if you say, you know, you're not going to take him one, you know, kind of unreliable, what. But you'll take him at two, like, to me that doesn't make sense. Now, if you think is better and you're risk averse or whatever, that's fine, but at 2, at 3, I don't, I don't kind of get that logic.

[Dan Patrick]

Well, that's like NFL teams, they're going to take Brendan Sorsby off their board. But we understand why you might do this instead of, you know, something like this situation. We're talking to Jay Billis. He'll be on the call. Draft coverage tomorrow. They started 7 Eastern on the mothership in ABC. How much of an impact does Giannis's future have on this draft?

[NBA Draft Analyst]

Quite a bit. It's taken up a lot of oxygen in the NBA off season and a lot of discussion. And I don't mean to be dismissive of it, because I'm not, but there's a part of me that right now is Saying, just tell me when it's done. Like, I, I get. I don't need the updates. When it's done, let me know. Because this saga's been going on for a long time. But, you know, I don't blame. I don't blame anybody. That's the way these things go, and everybody's got to get the best deal. But I, I don't. I don't know if it's going to happen before the draft takes place. Like, there was a. What I would call an artificial time limit put on it by ownership in Milwaukee, but it seems like it's going to get done. I just don't know when.

[Dan Patrick]

Have fun tomorrow night. Always great to catch up with you, Jay.

[NBA Draft Analyst]

It's never fun without you, Dan. That was my favorite draft. When you were going back and forth with David Star.

[Dan Patrick]

Oh, man, it was awesome. But, you know, I didn't Stephen A. Smith tap out of that draft because he didn't understand what Portland was doing. And he said, I'm done. Like, he stopped talking because he was upset with what the Trailblazers were doing. At least that's what I remember. I'm like, you're paid to talk here. You're not a fan where I'm going to turn off the tv. I just remember he kind of threw a fit because he didn't understand what the Blazers were doing.

[NBA Draft Analyst]

Yeah, we were, we were a little more out there back in the day. Like, I lost my mind a few times in different drafts, and I look back on it going, what was I upset over? It wasn't my team. Like, when, when the Knicks took Ronaldo Balkman, I think it was number 21. And right now, Rondo was still on the board. I, I lost my mind. I'm like, what are you doing? I mean, you can put Ronaldo Bachmann in the second round. Like, Rajan Rondo's still on the board, and he's the, Like, Sebastian Telfair got drafted ahead of him. I go, rondo's better. And I'm like, just because I think that, why am I getting mad? So I've gotta, I've got to soften things. But the ever was. I thought Bill Simmons. When Anthony Bennett was taken number one by Cleveland that year. I don't remember what year it was, but, but he, he, he, he lost his mind. It was fantastic. But, yeah, we're a little more circumspect right now.

[Dan Patrick]

I love the honest reaction, though, because not every draft pick is a great draft pick. And this usually, this bothers Me, with the NFL coverage, it feels like, oh, that's, oh, they got something. You know, they had needs and they got that guy. There are times when you go, man, I, I know it's your biggest moment getting drafted, but they're just certain picks where you go, I don't get what you're doing. And I never understood Anthony Bennett. I, I, Jay, I, I remember watching him and I didn't know who the best player on the floor was. When I was watching you and lv and that's you. That's hard to do if you're going to be the number one pick. And I'm watching you play and I don't realize you're supposed to be the best player.

[NBA Draft Analyst]

Yeah, it might not have been the best year in the draft, so, yeah, we weren't expecting that as a surprise. I mean, but what I was kind of talking about is, is, you know, like, there was one year, I don't remember the year, but a player from BYU named Rafael Arugo got drafted. I think number eight. And I did not think he was an NBA player. And if that happened now, where I felt that way, I think I would have made the point calmly instead of making it the. It's a volume. I did like, you know, it's like almost like I was insulted. That was certainly the wrong way to do it.

[Dan Patrick]

Yeah, I remember. I was like, oladipo might be the best player. I remember arguing with Chris Maddox. I said, oladipo is a better player than Anthony Bennett. Not that he's that much better, but I know that he's better than him. But that's the. I love the honest reaction. Not quite Bill Simmons reaction, but still, it's pretty entertaining. All right, great to talk to you, bud. Have fun.

[NBA Draft Analyst]

Great to be with you, brother.

[Dan Patrick]

Thank you.

[Jay Bilis]

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[Chris Fowler]

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