1 00:00:03,399 --> 00:00:06,679 Hello, everyone, and welcome to the latest episode of Heart. Was not 2 00:00:06,759 --> 00:00:10,880 because this is Adam from Well Here. It's my fantastic and perpetually exhausted co 3 00:00:11,000 --> 00:00:15,199 host Jan tra Valley. And the reason for the perpetual exhaustion, of course, 4 00:00:15,240 --> 00:00:19,280 is because he's working so tirelessly to deliver everyone with such great envy day 5 00:00:19,320 --> 00:00:24,199 content and going above and beyond on all fronts. So after that compliment to 6 00:00:24,280 --> 00:00:27,719 kick things off, Dan, how's it going, I'm doing even better. 7 00:00:27,760 --> 00:00:31,480 I told you I was very exhausted before this podcast. I'm inhaling caffeine right 8 00:00:31,480 --> 00:00:34,880 now. But that compliment is it's my lifeblood at the moment, So thank 9 00:00:34,920 --> 00:00:38,719 you so much. And I'm also it was game toward reinvigoration. So you 10 00:00:38,759 --> 00:00:42,679 were also telling me before we started about how you were quote tweeting a bunch 11 00:00:42,679 --> 00:00:45,840 of fuckheads on the NBA math account. We're adding you and so I've been 12 00:00:45,880 --> 00:00:49,359 reading them and I'm actually I did not use those words. Just to be 13 00:00:49,439 --> 00:00:53,439 clear, I'm the only one who like curses to like the stupid extent here 14 00:00:53,439 --> 00:00:56,119 because I can't stop myself. I don't know why I'm like this anyway, 15 00:00:57,039 --> 00:01:00,520 I'm just smiling reading some of these things made me even more happier. So 16 00:01:00,520 --> 00:01:04,439 so how are you? I'm just you're literally fueling my existence at the moment. 17 00:01:04,439 --> 00:01:08,120 How does that make you feel? It feels great, and you know 18 00:01:08,200 --> 00:01:11,239 the thing is like I'm used to that though, like that's a pretty typical 19 00:01:11,760 --> 00:01:15,359 state of existence here, so it's not new, but it still feels great. 20 00:01:17,319 --> 00:01:19,239 Seth fair? I think that's more than fair. How are you? 21 00:01:19,359 --> 00:01:23,560 On a on a relatively general level, I'm good, I'm good. I 22 00:01:25,159 --> 00:01:29,400 got to go snowboarding yesterday. I'm so sore from all of that. That 23 00:01:29,519 --> 00:01:33,439 is a tough activity if you haven't done it in like three years. Every 24 00:01:33,439 --> 00:01:37,120 part of me, every part of me hurts right now. I can only 25 00:01:37,159 --> 00:01:40,480 imagine I've snow tubed, but I've never done skiing or snowboard. I feel 26 00:01:40,480 --> 00:01:42,840 like that's not quite as physically demanding, but it still sounds fun. Yeah 27 00:01:42,920 --> 00:01:48,000 you fall still so, but yeah, I learned. I learned the danger 28 00:01:48,040 --> 00:01:52,239 because I'm like still a relatively novice snowboarder. Like I can I can hold 29 00:01:52,280 --> 00:01:55,920 my own and like make it down some of the like the Black Diamond runs, 30 00:01:56,000 --> 00:02:00,159 but if there are moguls, I'm in big trouble. And apparently if 31 00:02:00,159 --> 00:02:02,680 there's really deep powder. I'm also in trouble. So I was going down 32 00:02:02,719 --> 00:02:07,159 like one run right under his stee lift and the ground just kind of like 33 00:02:07,200 --> 00:02:09,039 went out from under me like a foot and a half of deep powder, 34 00:02:09,280 --> 00:02:12,439 and I was like trying to wrench my way out of it, and like 35 00:02:12,719 --> 00:02:16,639 could definitely feel my abs just stretching way too much as I'm like laying there 36 00:02:16,680 --> 00:02:21,360 in agony with people passing above me and like laughing at me. It was 37 00:02:21,400 --> 00:02:24,840 a great experience. Oddly enough, as we're recording this podcast or anyone's watching 38 00:02:24,840 --> 00:02:28,960 on YouTube, I don't even see Adam's face. He's just shirtless with his 39 00:02:29,080 --> 00:02:31,719 abs in front of the camera because they're so stredded after his snowboarding event. 40 00:02:31,759 --> 00:02:37,639 All the ways. Subscribe to the Hardwoo Knocks YouTube channel. You know no 41 00:02:37,680 --> 00:02:42,000 one wants to see that. Please do subscribe, rate and review Hardware Knocks 42 00:02:42,039 --> 00:02:45,080 forever you get your podcast, YouTube, Spotify, iTunes, and if you 43 00:02:45,080 --> 00:02:47,960 don't use those iTunes places, please rate us and review us anyway that helps 44 00:02:49,039 --> 00:02:52,000 us to use those numbers and make sure you're downloding every episode. How's that 45 00:02:52,039 --> 00:02:53,680 for a nice little segue, Adam, You want to hear Mark talk about 46 00:02:53,680 --> 00:02:59,319 Adam's abs. If you subscribe to Hardwood Knocks on YouTube and on every other 47 00:02:59,360 --> 00:03:04,560 platform, I promise I won't show you my sorry excuse for apps. And 48 00:03:05,520 --> 00:03:07,240 on top of that, because I also think that's a lie, I won't 49 00:03:07,280 --> 00:03:10,120 guarantee anything on this podcast. We don't know what could happen if we record 50 00:03:10,199 --> 00:03:14,000 late in that podcast, so don't hold yourself to that. We will start 51 00:03:14,000 --> 00:03:16,840 a discord channel if we get multiple ratings off this episode, and we get 52 00:03:16,879 --> 00:03:21,840 multiple ratings off pretty much every episode lately, so give us multiple ratings and 53 00:03:21,840 --> 00:03:23,639 we'll start a discord channel, so you could stop. You know, I'm 54 00:03:23,680 --> 00:03:28,759 having these great discussions in dms, and it's a DM that inspired the subject 55 00:03:28,800 --> 00:03:30,800 of this entire podcast. We could have them as a group, you could 56 00:03:30,840 --> 00:03:34,439 have them with each other, and so we're gonna do that anyway. But 57 00:03:34,879 --> 00:03:38,080 just another incentive for you guys to rate, review and subscribe to us where 58 00:03:38,080 --> 00:03:40,560 we get your podcasts. So before we get into the heart of this podcast, 59 00:03:40,560 --> 00:03:43,400 which you can tell from the title, I do think we have to 60 00:03:43,439 --> 00:03:46,240 note that it was announced by the NETS that Kevin Durant has a sprained left 61 00:03:46,800 --> 00:03:52,479 MCL and they did not in the announcement really give a hint at a timetable. 62 00:03:52,520 --> 00:03:55,080 They just decided to leak that to Woach and he said that if they're 63 00:03:55,120 --> 00:03:59,360 optimistic, he could be back between four to six weeks, which would be 64 00:03:59,360 --> 00:04:01,639 about February twenty fourth. I think I saw floating around out there. I 65 00:04:01,800 --> 00:04:04,159 really quickly before I throw at you, I looked at their schedule. They 66 00:04:04,159 --> 00:04:09,479 play a bunch of road games during this stretch, so it'll be Kyrie and 67 00:04:09,639 --> 00:04:12,680 James Harden. But I think the two things to note before throwing it to 68 00:04:12,719 --> 00:04:17,000 you is Kevin Durant sprained his left MCL with the Warriors, so this is 69 00:04:17,040 --> 00:04:19,560 like this has happened before with him, which would leave me leave. They'll 70 00:04:19,560 --> 00:04:24,439 be extra cautious. And if you're just interested in how the Nets affaired with 71 00:04:24,519 --> 00:04:27,439 Kevin Durant off the floor of this season, there's still a plus five points 72 00:04:27,720 --> 00:04:30,279 per one hundred possessions when James Harden plays without him. So I don't think 73 00:04:30,279 --> 00:04:33,199 this sinks their season by any stretch. They've always just been a team that 74 00:04:33,399 --> 00:04:38,000 if they're healthy by the playoffs. We have to see how this Kyrie irving 75 00:04:38,240 --> 00:04:43,560 in constant play thing goes. But this is probably given what it could have 76 00:04:43,560 --> 00:04:46,680 been. I suppose that they are worst. There are worst case scenarios, 77 00:04:46,879 --> 00:04:53,199 I guess would be my thoughts on it. It's never good news when a 78 00:04:53,279 --> 00:04:56,759 star player is injured, but I think this is like as close to good 79 00:04:56,800 --> 00:05:00,040 news with an injury of this magnitude as you're going to find. Because James 80 00:05:00,040 --> 00:05:03,519 Harden, maybe sneakily, maybe not so sneakily, has been playing much better 81 00:05:03,519 --> 00:05:08,199 basketball of late, you know, kind of working himself into the periphery of 82 00:05:08,279 --> 00:05:13,759 award conversations. Yet again, like the Basketball Reference VP award track, perhaps 83 00:05:14,240 --> 00:05:17,600 the Basketball Reference model like actually has him in the top ten for MVP candidates, 84 00:05:17,600 --> 00:05:23,040 as does the RPR predictor that we use at NBA Math. So giving 85 00:05:23,120 --> 00:05:27,560 him a chance to continue that upward trajectory is a good thing. Giving Kyrie 86 00:05:27,600 --> 00:05:32,399 Irving more touches as he reincorporates himself into the Brooklyn Nets Roca rotation on the 87 00:05:32,480 --> 00:05:36,959 road is a good thing. And ultimately, like those three are talented enough 88 00:05:38,079 --> 00:05:41,879 that there doesn't need to be that much of an integration period for the three 89 00:05:41,920 --> 00:05:46,480 of them operating in conjunction. So as long as Durant can come back healthy 90 00:05:46,680 --> 00:05:49,680 from this experience, it's going to be fine. They're twelve games above five 91 00:05:49,759 --> 00:05:54,199 hundred as we're recording this, there the number two seed in the Eastern Conference, 92 00:05:54,199 --> 00:05:58,279 trailing only the Chicago Bulls. Like that, this is not time to 93 00:05:58,360 --> 00:06:01,839 even think about moving close to the case over the panic button now. Obviously, 94 00:06:01,879 --> 00:06:04,199 we want Durant to be healthy, to be back in action as soon 95 00:06:04,240 --> 00:06:11,240 as possible. He's recovered successfully from an achilles tear to play MVP caliber basketball. 96 00:06:11,240 --> 00:06:14,600 He's going to be fine. I'm with you. And look, Kevin 97 00:06:14,680 --> 00:06:17,720 Durant's MCL sacrificed itself so that they can get a low enough playoff seed that 98 00:06:17,800 --> 00:06:21,360 Kyrie Irving can play in four games of every single playoff series. If you 99 00:06:21,439 --> 00:06:25,279 go down the Galaxy brain thinking right there, you want to talk about the 100 00:06:25,399 --> 00:06:29,199 MVP right now, Kevin Durant really just sacrificing himself on those levels. I 101 00:06:29,199 --> 00:06:31,480 will say this made me think, and I kind of thought about with the 102 00:06:31,519 --> 00:06:35,439 Kyrie Irving stuff and James Harden not signing his extension at some point, I 103 00:06:35,480 --> 00:06:38,680 know you forced away at our Houston, but it seemed like you might have 104 00:06:38,720 --> 00:06:43,759 preferred Philadelphia. You're looking at like Durant's injury history now is like what is 105 00:06:43,759 --> 00:06:46,639 going to be the state of Is Kyrieving gonna be a part time player next 106 00:06:46,639 --> 00:06:48,800 season? I'm assuming the mandates will be lifted eventually, but will they this 107 00:06:48,920 --> 00:06:53,040 fun We might have like eight different variants by that point that are raging through 108 00:06:53,360 --> 00:06:57,079 the United States. Oh, please, don't say that. I don't want 109 00:06:57,079 --> 00:07:00,240 that to be don't speak it into existence. Take it back. Well, 110 00:07:00,240 --> 00:07:04,120 like James Harden has to be looking at this in this situation, just really 111 00:07:04,199 --> 00:07:08,439 it's probably a little bit more fragile than he signed up for. And I'm 112 00:07:08,480 --> 00:07:12,439 just curious whether he's going to take more free agency meetings than we expect. 113 00:07:12,519 --> 00:07:15,560 That Just it made me think about that. It's not fair. I wouldn't 114 00:07:15,560 --> 00:07:19,560 predict it, but just between the Kyrie Irving part time availability and you know 115 00:07:19,639 --> 00:07:23,560 Kevin Kevin Hamm was half the season last year, by the way, and 116 00:07:23,560 --> 00:07:26,000 I know it was probably out of an abundance of precaution for the most part 117 00:07:26,000 --> 00:07:29,879 when you look back at what happened to him. But you know, to 118 00:07:30,040 --> 00:07:33,120 just foove your thought if anyone wanted just an incoherent, least bisy take from 119 00:07:33,120 --> 00:07:39,040 this podcast, I do think that this is an interesting reinforcement of the one 120 00:07:39,160 --> 00:07:46,480 knock against Brooklyn status as legitimate championship contenders because we know about these injury concerns. 121 00:07:46,519 --> 00:07:49,519 Harden has dealt with plenty of them and has typically tended to wear down 122 00:07:49,639 --> 00:07:55,600 later in seasons because of the high burden that he shoulders throughout a regular season 123 00:07:55,639 --> 00:07:58,439 where he's a little more tired, it's a little more difficult for him to 124 00:07:58,480 --> 00:08:01,199 get to the foul line to gain step ration on defenders in the playoffs. 125 00:08:01,279 --> 00:08:05,920 We know about Kyrie Irving's injury history and now the fact that he can't play 126 00:08:05,959 --> 00:08:09,160 home games, which may or may not change at any point in the future, 127 00:08:09,160 --> 00:08:13,360 and we also know that Durant has gone through his fair share of injuries. 128 00:08:13,360 --> 00:08:18,360 And the biggest knock against this Net squad is what happens if one of 129 00:08:18,360 --> 00:08:22,199 those worst case scenarios comes true during the playoffs. Because if you do lose 130 00:08:22,279 --> 00:08:26,120 any of those three in a postseason setting, you're not going to be an 131 00:08:26,120 --> 00:08:31,759 overwhelming favorite. You're just not. And this is just a reinforcement that it 132 00:08:31,800 --> 00:08:35,080 can happen. I guess the flip upside of that, or the flip side 133 00:08:35,120 --> 00:08:39,799 of that would be you came like an inch away of beating the Bucks without 134 00:08:39,840 --> 00:08:43,919 Kyrie Irving. It's literally a shoe size away. I will say, though, 135 00:08:45,120 --> 00:08:50,519 and this is not Kyrie Irving at full strength and full availability is a 136 00:08:50,559 --> 00:08:54,200 fantastic NBA player. I don't think you can lose Kevin Duran or James Harden 137 00:08:54,200 --> 00:08:58,159 and have those same type of chances against the Bucks or agreed and even heat 138 00:08:58,240 --> 00:09:03,000 for that. On the bright side, NETS fans get to watch Dayron Sharp 139 00:09:03,120 --> 00:09:05,519 just body guys on nightly, but he might have just bodied someone while we're 140 00:09:05,600 --> 00:09:09,320 talking about this. So the actual podcast, though, are you ready to 141 00:09:09,320 --> 00:09:11,879 get into it? I'm excited for this one, but also a little scared 142 00:09:11,960 --> 00:09:16,279 because it took me so long to think about this. I know you thought 143 00:09:16,320 --> 00:09:20,879 a lot about it, so let's get into it. This hat tip to 144 00:09:20,159 --> 00:09:24,000 Charles, who asked this in a DM. He wanted to be a mail 145 00:09:24,039 --> 00:09:26,840 bad question, but I DM Charles and said this is going to be an 146 00:09:26,960 --> 00:09:31,720 entire podcast because it was a fascinating question. He asked if we could rate 147 00:09:31,080 --> 00:09:35,440 the top ten under twenty five NBA players in terms of their career outlook, 148 00:09:35,720 --> 00:09:43,159 So not what's happening this season, just we're taking these guys as if we're 149 00:09:43,240 --> 00:09:46,960 ranking these guys and we're going to have them for the rest of their career, 150 00:09:46,480 --> 00:09:50,240 and Adam put a special spin on it, which I'll let him explain. 151 00:09:50,879 --> 00:09:54,879 But the exercise itself was fascinating because I think I want to make it 152 00:09:54,879 --> 00:10:00,919 clear while this is this is a click baity concept that I love the way 153 00:10:01,120 --> 00:10:05,080 I took shots with some of the younger guys because I do think that this 154 00:10:05,399 --> 00:10:09,360 type of exercise warrants it. So I'm not trying to be inflammatory by putting 155 00:10:09,399 --> 00:10:13,799 a rookie from this season in number like place X is my point. I 156 00:10:13,799 --> 00:10:18,559 just want to get out in front of that before anybody gets really mad and 157 00:10:18,639 --> 00:10:24,559 calls any of the takes that follow hereafter agregious. This is agonizingly difficult. 158 00:10:24,639 --> 00:10:31,080 I texted Dan at like eleven am this morning that I was losing sleep over 159 00:10:31,120 --> 00:10:33,519 my rankings, you know, even though it was the middle of the day. 160 00:10:33,879 --> 00:10:39,480 It's just it's impossible to narrow down the list of under twenty five players, 161 00:10:39,480 --> 00:10:43,559 which we defined as players currently in or not yet to their age twenty 162 00:10:43,600 --> 00:10:46,639 four seasons, just to have some consistency there. But it is so difficult 163 00:10:48,120 --> 00:10:50,039 to narrow this down. I think I have twenty nine names written down as 164 00:10:50,080 --> 00:10:56,279 like legitimate candidates for top ten spots or honorable mentioned spots. Dan has even 165 00:10:56,279 --> 00:10:58,799 more. I think you ended up like ranking your like top fifty or something. 166 00:11:00,320 --> 00:11:03,639 Did It seems like a huge number. But even at number fifty, 167 00:11:03,639 --> 00:11:07,039 we're talking about high quality basketball players. Who was number fifty out of curiosity? 168 00:11:07,519 --> 00:11:11,159 So this comes to the caveat that At some point I just stopped and 169 00:11:11,399 --> 00:11:13,799 was just like, Okay, I don't even what am I doing right now, 170 00:11:13,840 --> 00:11:18,120 but number fifty as of right now, because it went, it went 171 00:11:18,200 --> 00:11:22,480 more than fifty d But my number fifty guys Obie Topping at the moment who 172 00:11:22,559 --> 00:11:28,200 Knicks fans back? I take it back that it drives up way quicker than 173 00:11:28,320 --> 00:11:33,600 number fifty. Yeah, and so Nick fans might disagree because a lot of 174 00:11:33,679 --> 00:11:37,000 Knicks fans don't wouldn't trade Obi Topping for d Aaron Fox, which is bends 175 00:11:37,039 --> 00:11:41,200 my brain. Let's not get into that, please, So do you want 176 00:11:41,240 --> 00:11:45,399 to talk about I think we should clarify a lot of Knicks fans in Dan's 177 00:11:45,440 --> 00:11:48,080 mentions, they weren't even in my mentions. It's just because I follow a 178 00:11:48,120 --> 00:11:52,039 bunch of Knicks like people and it was retweeted onto my feed. They just 179 00:11:52,159 --> 00:11:56,720 think that the Aaron Fox is bad, and I'm here to tell you this 180 00:11:56,799 --> 00:12:00,720 has been one of the most disappointing seasons of the Aaron Fox's career. He 181 00:12:00,799 --> 00:12:05,039 has still been better. If you could get this type of year from Emmanuel 182 00:12:05,120 --> 00:12:07,440 Quickly like that is going to probably be a manual Quickly's peak, and I 183 00:12:07,440 --> 00:12:11,960 don't think that he's ever going to be that level of good. So the 184 00:12:11,000 --> 00:12:15,200 downhill pressure he sucks on defense this year, I'm gonna He's played a little 185 00:12:15,200 --> 00:12:18,639 bit better lately, but I just want to let everybody know the armbox is 186 00:12:18,639 --> 00:12:20,360 still good. Don't put me in a position where I have to start defending 187 00:12:20,399 --> 00:12:24,480 all these Kings players aside from Rashawn Holmes and Tyres Alibert, and I'm exhausted. 188 00:12:26,720 --> 00:12:28,840 So the twist that we're putting on this is we're going to treat it 189 00:12:28,200 --> 00:12:33,000 as like a pseudo fantasy draft, where rather than just sharing our top ten, 190 00:12:33,720 --> 00:12:39,519 we do want to alternate and use a snake draft order. So whoever 191 00:12:39,600 --> 00:12:41,159 has the number one pick, the next person's going to get the number two 192 00:12:41,159 --> 00:12:45,120 and three, and then person one gets four and five, so on and 193 00:12:45,159 --> 00:12:48,480 so forth until we get through ten. And then we do want you to 194 00:12:48,559 --> 00:12:52,960 tell us whose team you think has the better players. We're not considering positions, 195 00:12:52,960 --> 00:12:56,080 we're not considering fit. We are solely looking to have the most long 196 00:12:56,200 --> 00:13:01,519 term talent on our team. So to determine who goes first, I'm gonna 197 00:13:01,519 --> 00:13:03,679 have Dan close his eyes and guess whether I'm holding up a one or two. 198 00:13:03,720 --> 00:13:07,799 If he gets it correct, then he gets the number one pick. 199 00:13:07,840 --> 00:13:09,120 If he doesn't, I get the number one pick. So go ahead and 200 00:13:09,159 --> 00:13:11,519 close your eyes down. I was actually just gonna give you the number one 201 00:13:11,519 --> 00:13:15,320 pick because this was your idea. Oh, we're doing this anyway for the 202 00:13:15,360 --> 00:13:18,279 YouTube. Okay, eyes closed? All right? What number? What am 203 00:13:18,279 --> 00:13:22,799 I picking? Between one and one or two? Two? All right? 204 00:13:22,840 --> 00:13:24,840 You get the number one pick. I'm still holding it up so you can 205 00:13:24,919 --> 00:13:28,039 verify. This is great because I post it. I'm posting the entire episode 206 00:13:28,039 --> 00:13:31,159 of this on YouTube because there's no point in breaking it up into segments when 207 00:13:31,200 --> 00:13:35,919 they're all entangled. Just so shout out to YouTuber's watching this right now. 208 00:13:35,679 --> 00:13:39,000 So we're probably gonna forget the snake order at some point because we're doing this 209 00:13:39,080 --> 00:13:41,679 on the fly. So here we go. Yeah, I'm gonna be trusting 210 00:13:41,679 --> 00:13:46,840 you that you won't because I asked you how the fuck will I'll write down 211 00:13:46,960 --> 00:13:52,519 some some notes here just to remember who has which pick, So this doesn't 212 00:13:52,519 --> 00:13:54,879 count as the intro. By the way, I know we had a comment 213 00:13:54,919 --> 00:13:56,320 and I've tried to focus on a short of the intros. This is criteria, 214 00:13:56,360 --> 00:14:00,279 and we talked about Kevin Durant already, so please don't tell we have 215 00:14:00,360 --> 00:14:03,440 like an eighteen minute intro. I'm gonna take I'm gonna take Luka Donte with 216 00:14:03,440 --> 00:14:09,679 the number one pick. I think there's been some talk about whether others could 217 00:14:09,679 --> 00:14:11,799 be better than him. There's been a lot of job Moran over Luca Dontech 218 00:14:13,000 --> 00:14:16,000 like talk. Don't buy into it just because this has not been Luca's best 219 00:14:16,039 --> 00:14:22,600 season, but he has had to uplift offenses that have such marginal talent where 220 00:14:22,639 --> 00:14:28,159 you just don't have. You know, Kristaps Porzingis is your primary big isn't 221 00:14:28,200 --> 00:14:31,919 a great roller, and so the manis wana player, separate roller with him? 222 00:14:31,919 --> 00:14:33,960 He probably does. Luca definitely does impact the pace at which Dallas is 223 00:14:33,960 --> 00:14:39,159 playing, but like they haven't had a legitimate, real secondary shot creator around 224 00:14:39,240 --> 00:14:41,720 him. Jalen Brunson this season has been fantastic, but all in all the 225 00:14:41,759 --> 00:14:46,960 seasons prior looking at the performances he's had in the playoffs against the Clippers, 226 00:14:46,000 --> 00:14:50,720 the past two years, he has been He has been great, and this 227 00:14:50,759 --> 00:14:54,440 is someone who remains transcendent at basketball. And when you look at the level 228 00:14:54,440 --> 00:14:58,440 of difficulty on his shots, even when he's getting into the lane and stuff, 229 00:14:58,000 --> 00:15:03,600 I still think for the most part, he's beyond compare to where there's 230 00:15:03,679 --> 00:15:09,759 probably to me a fairly sizable gap between him and then what the number two 231 00:15:09,799 --> 00:15:13,039 player on this list will be long term. And that's not insulted. I 232 00:15:13,080 --> 00:15:16,240 just think he's he's that freaking good, and yes, this is If he 233 00:15:16,279 --> 00:15:20,559 doesn't get any better from here, then yes, that would be disappointing. 234 00:15:20,559 --> 00:15:22,080 But I don't know why this is his age twenty two season. I don't 235 00:15:22,120 --> 00:15:24,519 know why we would just expect that, oh, this is as good as 236 00:15:24,600 --> 00:15:31,159 Luca Dontch is ever gonna be. Luca was also number one on my draft 237 00:15:31,159 --> 00:15:35,399 board. But I think the only part I disagree with is that there is 238 00:15:35,440 --> 00:15:39,080 a big gap between him and everyone else, and I'm not quite sure about 239 00:15:39,399 --> 00:15:43,600 sizable. Fairly sizable, I'll twist it, however, I need to hear. 240 00:15:43,799 --> 00:15:48,480 I don't know how strongly I believe in that part now, just because 241 00:15:48,519 --> 00:15:54,039 of the growth we've seen from the other primary contenders for the top spot, 242 00:15:54,399 --> 00:15:58,399 coupled with the growth we haven't seen this season, where yes, he's in 243 00:15:58,440 --> 00:16:03,360 his age twenty two season, and it is still one possible that his ceiling 244 00:16:03,480 --> 00:16:07,000 is just unfathomable because we've never seen such a young player excel to such an 245 00:16:07,039 --> 00:16:12,080 extent this early in a career. We don't know what kind of ceiling he 246 00:16:12,120 --> 00:16:18,519 could push toward if he resumes that upward trajectory. But because there has been 247 00:16:18,559 --> 00:16:22,600 that plateau in the season, albeit for reasons that could be beyond his control, 248 00:16:22,080 --> 00:16:29,039 I just don't know that I have confidence as much confidence in the resumption 249 00:16:29,200 --> 00:16:36,159 of that trajectory. That's fair. That's fairly size That's a fairly sizeable take. 250 00:16:37,960 --> 00:16:44,120 Okay, I'll take it. But so I guess my top pick, 251 00:16:44,159 --> 00:16:48,720 and this is probably the biggest debate I had internally was between two and three. 252 00:16:49,120 --> 00:16:53,279 So technically I don't even have to answer it now because they're both going 253 00:16:53,320 --> 00:16:56,879 to be on my team, but I'll answer it anyway because I did end 254 00:16:56,919 --> 00:17:03,840 up with John Morant in my second spot. What he's done for the Memphis 255 00:17:03,919 --> 00:17:07,599 Grizzlies this season has been nothing short of astounding. We've there's a lot of 256 00:17:07,640 --> 00:17:12,240 debate right now about where he belongs in the MVP discussion, and I think 257 00:17:12,279 --> 00:17:17,640 that some of the negativity in that discussion stems from the fact that the Grizzlies 258 00:17:17,680 --> 00:17:23,559 were so successful while he was out injured. But to exactly the discussion is 259 00:17:23,599 --> 00:17:29,079 about where he fits into the MVP packing order, not whether he belongs in 260 00:17:29,160 --> 00:17:33,119 it. It's already so clear what he brings to the Memphis organization, just 261 00:17:33,599 --> 00:17:37,640 with the attitude on the court, with the production, with the ability to 262 00:17:37,680 --> 00:17:44,240 get to the rim against absolutely any defender, with the athleticism that allows him 263 00:17:44,319 --> 00:17:48,359 to put up these ridiculous highlight real blocks and transition where he pins the ball 264 00:17:48,440 --> 00:17:53,240 to palfway up the backboard the top of the square with two hands than just 265 00:17:53,319 --> 00:18:00,319 this superhero looking play that should not be physically possible. The pressure that he 266 00:18:00,400 --> 00:18:03,240 puts on teams really on both ends of the floor right now, maybe not 267 00:18:03,279 --> 00:18:07,680 necessarily defensively within the half court set, but certainly as a transition defender, 268 00:18:07,839 --> 00:18:12,359 as a situational defender, and then as either a cutter or a primary ball 269 00:18:12,359 --> 00:18:18,640 handler. He's warping other teams to fit what he wants to do right now. 270 00:18:18,200 --> 00:18:21,720 You know, we can. We can talk about the magnitude of his 271 00:18:21,799 --> 00:18:26,640 scoring volume, the quality of his passes, which are at a higher level 272 00:18:26,680 --> 00:18:29,720 than they've been at any point in his career. But I think just the 273 00:18:29,759 --> 00:18:33,079 amount of scheming that has to be done to account for him right now that 274 00:18:33,200 --> 00:18:38,000 just doesn't even matter, has allowed for this transcendent growth where I did have 275 00:18:38,119 --> 00:18:42,039 to think about whether I want a Jar or Luca as my number one. 276 00:18:44,279 --> 00:18:48,000 I think it's I think it's fair to think about it, but I've given 277 00:18:48,039 --> 00:18:53,359 the body of work that Luca has done with a less let's say, aggregative 278 00:18:53,640 --> 00:18:59,480 with less aggregative talent around him. Has Luca ever had a teammate have as 279 00:18:59,480 --> 00:19:03,000 good of a season as Desmond Baine is having right now, or as Jaren 280 00:19:03,079 --> 00:19:07,839 Jackson Jr. It's just the supporting cast and something because you keep not wanting 281 00:19:07,839 --> 00:19:11,279 to give Chris stops porzingis this season any credit like he has really good. 282 00:19:11,559 --> 00:19:15,400 He's had higher peak moments than some of Jos's teammates, But it doesn't even 283 00:19:15,400 --> 00:19:18,200 matter because the Grizzlies are just so much deeper than the Mavericks of Everest, 284 00:19:18,079 --> 00:19:21,599 Like if we're talking about Baine vers Chris stops this season, Like, I 285 00:19:21,599 --> 00:19:26,680 think that's a conversation. Who would you rather have long term Baine? Yeah, 286 00:19:26,720 --> 00:19:32,519 there's absolutely, but not fair. So it wasn't It just wasn't a 287 00:19:32,519 --> 00:19:36,200 hard decision for me to make. I'm open. I'm more open to the 288 00:19:36,240 --> 00:19:38,440 idea I probably would have said. I mean, there are probably a few 289 00:19:38,440 --> 00:19:41,599 there are a few players on the swift where you could say, if everything 290 00:19:41,680 --> 00:19:45,640 hits right, Davey could be better than Don Chich. I do recognize that 291 00:19:45,680 --> 00:19:49,559 I didn't have John Morant in that tier of player until this season because I 292 00:19:49,599 --> 00:19:53,960 was just questions about any scoring at different levels. And I think he's even 293 00:19:55,039 --> 00:19:56,519 proven. I was probably underrating him as a playmaker. Just he's one of 294 00:19:56,559 --> 00:20:00,960 the He might be the single best decision maker after leaving his feet that the 295 00:20:00,039 --> 00:20:03,519 NBA has who He was my number two as well, and we also we 296 00:20:03,599 --> 00:20:06,720 had the same top three. So why don't you tell us who we did 297 00:20:06,720 --> 00:20:10,640 have the same three? Yeah, my number three was Trey Young. And 298 00:20:11,440 --> 00:20:15,880 the easy knock here is the defense or the lack thereof, which is a 299 00:20:15,960 --> 00:20:18,799 legitimate qualm. It is why he is not number two here or even number 300 00:20:18,839 --> 00:20:22,200 one, because his offense is that good, but his defense is that bad. 301 00:20:22,680 --> 00:20:27,920 But we have to focus on just how good the offense is. And 302 00:20:29,000 --> 00:20:33,880 you can try to knock Trey Young down a few pegs by pointing to the 303 00:20:33,960 --> 00:20:37,119 lack of quality the Atlanta Hawks record, but that team has, much like 304 00:20:37,119 --> 00:20:41,400 a lot of other organizations this season, has gone through so much turmoil in 305 00:20:41,480 --> 00:20:45,960 terms of available personnel, in terms of cohesion, and beyond that, coaching 306 00:20:45,039 --> 00:20:51,640 where it is no longer playing a system that is designed for its personnel on 307 00:20:51,680 --> 00:20:55,599 a nightly basis, or so it seems. But Young has been impervious to 308 00:20:55,640 --> 00:21:00,440 a lot of that as an individual performer because he is so ridiculously talented at 309 00:21:00,440 --> 00:21:03,680 creating not just looks for himself, but also looks for his teammates. He 310 00:21:04,240 --> 00:21:10,799 can score from anywhere on the court, which really doesn't feel even remotely hyperbolic 311 00:21:10,880 --> 00:21:15,160 based on the number of logo threes he's let fly, based on the fact 312 00:21:15,160 --> 00:21:18,960 that he's finishing exactly sixty percent of his attempts within three feet this season, 313 00:21:19,160 --> 00:21:23,079 which is a new career high. He has taken the NBA rule changes in 314 00:21:23,200 --> 00:21:29,279 stride because he was one of the primary perpetrators that led to those new foul 315 00:21:29,319 --> 00:21:33,079 calling rules that were implemented this season, and he's adjusted in a beneficial way. 316 00:21:33,119 --> 00:21:37,799 He's become a better interior score because he's looking to score rather than to 317 00:21:37,880 --> 00:21:44,680 draw contact, and he's doing that while continuing to put defenders in one of 318 00:21:44,759 --> 00:21:48,200 the NBA's toughest pickles to deal with. If Trey Young is driving with an 319 00:21:48,240 --> 00:21:52,039 athletic rolling in alongside him, what is a defense supposed to do? Because 320 00:21:52,079 --> 00:21:55,880 he can hit a floater, he can finish around the basket, he can 321 00:21:55,880 --> 00:21:57,839 throw a great allue pass, he can throw a great law pass, he 322 00:21:57,880 --> 00:22:03,039 can put it between defenders with a pocket pass like he has every single tool 323 00:22:03,119 --> 00:22:07,440 in his arsenal and the most important set for an NBA half court offense. 324 00:22:07,720 --> 00:22:11,480 He elevates everyone around him, even if that hasn't resulted in wins. And 325 00:22:11,559 --> 00:22:15,400 while the defense is bad, we have to remember that point guard defense is 326 00:22:15,400 --> 00:22:19,279 the least important of any type of defense in the NBA. So, yeah, 327 00:22:19,319 --> 00:22:22,839 he's really bad at containing opposing point guards. Guess what, so are 328 00:22:22,880 --> 00:22:26,319 a lot of other point guards. He doesn't have the personnel around him to 329 00:22:26,359 --> 00:22:30,519 account for that. Right now, with Clint Capella either out of the lineup 330 00:22:30,599 --> 00:22:33,640 or hobbled for much of the season. He hasn't had that reliable second line 331 00:22:33,640 --> 00:22:37,640 of defense that he had last season in the year before that. But just 332 00:22:37,720 --> 00:22:44,720 the sheer magnitude of the offensive burden he carries so successfully makes him an unquestioned 333 00:22:44,720 --> 00:22:48,400 superstar who is still in the conversation to be the number one player in this 334 00:22:48,480 --> 00:22:52,960 exercise. And I will back up everything you said looking at the scope of 335 00:22:53,000 --> 00:22:56,799 his role, this is the most it's a combined stat. This is one 336 00:22:56,839 --> 00:23:00,640 of the most absurd stats. It's definitely a volume thing. It speaks to 337 00:23:00,640 --> 00:23:03,680 the severity of his role right now and the Hawks's dependence on Trey Young. 338 00:23:04,000 --> 00:23:07,400 He is first in the entire NBA and assist thrown at the rim. And 339 00:23:07,480 --> 00:23:10,880 yes, I know you play with John Collins like the compelling a little bit 340 00:23:10,880 --> 00:23:15,200 of on Yaka Kongu. That's still flipping impressive. He is fifth in three 341 00:23:15,240 --> 00:23:18,480 point assists this season, so he's in the top five of both of those. 342 00:23:18,920 --> 00:23:23,200 This is also upsurd. When you look at the players who've generated the 343 00:23:23,240 --> 00:23:27,839 most points off unassisted threes, he is first in that. When you look 344 00:23:27,839 --> 00:23:33,599 at the players who've generated the most points of unassisted twos. He's third in 345 00:23:33,640 --> 00:23:37,960 that. That is a mind melting number. And the fact that the Hawks 346 00:23:38,000 --> 00:23:44,559 aren't worse is really just because of him. Like they would be, they 347 00:23:44,559 --> 00:23:48,000 wouldn't be in a position to where we could think about to save their season 348 00:23:48,359 --> 00:23:52,720 if Trey Young wasn't exactly this great. If you just chop it down ten 349 00:23:52,880 --> 00:23:56,160 fifteen percent, the hawk we're probably talking about, the Hawks is just like 350 00:23:56,200 --> 00:23:59,519 one of the all time one hit wonders right now or something wild along those 351 00:23:59,599 --> 00:24:03,200 lines. So I echo everything you said, and I think you know insofar 352 00:24:03,279 --> 00:24:06,680 as I do think this exercise was tough, but it felt like the top 353 00:24:06,759 --> 00:24:11,160 three we're really easy to cobble together. Jaw, Luca and Say made that 354 00:24:11,240 --> 00:24:15,160 really easy for me. The top three players not necessarily the top three order 355 00:24:15,359 --> 00:24:18,079 because I don't feel great about having John Morant ahead of Trey Young. No, 356 00:24:18,160 --> 00:24:22,039 I don't either, But I do think Jaw has shown since he's come 357 00:24:22,079 --> 00:24:25,519 back from his left knees brain there's been a lot more defensive effort there, 358 00:24:25,960 --> 00:24:27,799 and I don't I just don't know how much to like when you look at 359 00:24:27,880 --> 00:24:30,920 Luca's defense, What would Luca look like on defense if he was as small 360 00:24:30,960 --> 00:24:34,880 as Tray Young because Luca has not been one of these worst defenders. But 361 00:24:34,880 --> 00:24:37,519 a lot of that has to do with like size and girth, and it's 362 00:24:37,519 --> 00:24:41,079 how do you use I don't know how much credence I give to that just 363 00:24:41,119 --> 00:24:44,400 because we can't change that fact. But I'm like, what, how good 364 00:24:44,440 --> 00:24:48,160 would Trey Young be on defense if he had Luca's size? Like it's an 365 00:24:48,279 --> 00:24:51,480 interesting thought exercise, but how much impact does it have? Well, I'm 366 00:24:51,519 --> 00:24:55,039 just saying, how do we hold that against Trey Young? Where I feel 367 00:24:55,079 --> 00:24:57,640 like a lot of his defensive stuff is physical limitations, although he is unless 368 00:24:57,640 --> 00:25:03,279 you can find a place to stash him. I guess maybe it's semantics, 369 00:25:03,359 --> 00:25:06,920 but to me, it's like, I don't hold that against Trey Young, 370 00:25:06,960 --> 00:25:11,279 but you have to hold it against him in this exercise. Fair enough, 371 00:25:11,240 --> 00:25:15,279 let me get to my player. This is number four and I'm still thinking 372 00:25:15,279 --> 00:25:18,480 about changing this. As we said say this, I can't go with who 373 00:25:18,480 --> 00:25:23,119 I think I want to go with just because I don't I factored in like 374 00:25:23,240 --> 00:25:27,759 injuries to this because that's going to be part of the career. I'm gonna 375 00:25:27,799 --> 00:25:33,000 go with LaMelo. I really do think he still needs to get so he 376 00:25:33,160 --> 00:25:36,920 was number four in my list. I thought about changing him for players will 377 00:25:36,960 --> 00:25:41,640 discuss now. He needs to get stronger, so that'll help him on defense 378 00:25:41,720 --> 00:25:45,480 as a better finisher. I think he can already just as big enough to 379 00:25:45,720 --> 00:25:51,359 disrupt certain possessions on defense when he is like in position and not being bodied 380 00:25:51,400 --> 00:25:55,880 as much. So I have hope that of all the players we just talked 381 00:25:55,880 --> 00:25:59,559 about, of these four my guests would be LaMelo ends up having the best 382 00:25:59,559 --> 00:26:03,960 defensive career. Is what I'm getting at. What he's already been able to 383 00:26:03,000 --> 00:26:07,880 shown is just like a shooter as a transcendent passer, I think that's someone 384 00:26:07,920 --> 00:26:11,359 who's going to uplift guys even when he's not scoring. I think he's going 385 00:26:11,400 --> 00:26:17,559 to be someone that other players really want to join up with and play with, 386 00:26:18,279 --> 00:26:22,680 and I do think that's an important part of this. I understand that 387 00:26:22,720 --> 00:26:26,799 there might be players that are going to have, you know, gaudier numbers, 388 00:26:26,799 --> 00:26:29,200 but this could end up being someone who's a triple double machine, which 389 00:26:29,240 --> 00:26:32,400 I don't know how much that actually matters because of how we wait rebounding. 390 00:26:32,440 --> 00:26:37,240 Now, he's just he's so he's such a visionary on the offensive end, 391 00:26:37,319 --> 00:26:42,599 and he can singlehandedly just dictate the pace of not his team, but the 392 00:26:42,759 --> 00:26:47,079 entire game, because the Hornets want to play at warp speed. But like 393 00:26:47,160 --> 00:26:52,839 Lamello in the half court is still absolutely terrifying. And there are certain players 394 00:26:52,880 --> 00:26:56,720 that you can't say that about, where they're able to shift gears so seamlessly. 395 00:26:56,720 --> 00:27:00,839 And I'm saying all this about LaMelo knowing that I think he has so 396 00:27:00,920 --> 00:27:03,640 much room to grow, which is why I was I don't even think the 397 00:27:03,680 --> 00:27:07,359 word is brazen here. I don't think this is like a brash selection. 398 00:27:07,440 --> 00:27:11,480 But that's why I was relatively comfortable throwing him into that top five conversation when 399 00:27:11,519 --> 00:27:15,759 there are so many options to put here. I think this season, in 400 00:27:15,759 --> 00:27:22,759 particular, we're starting to see more of that preternatural vision show up on the 401 00:27:22,759 --> 00:27:26,680 defensive end as well, where even as a rookie he was a threat to 402 00:27:26,920 --> 00:27:30,880 produce steels, but it felt like that was more a byproduct of excessive gambling, 403 00:27:32,319 --> 00:27:36,839 and this year it's more a byproduct of him having really quick hands and 404 00:27:36,960 --> 00:27:41,200 really quick instincts and having a better read on what the opposition is doing. 405 00:27:41,680 --> 00:27:47,240 He like I think the highlight sequence against the Orlando Magic the other night, 406 00:27:47,519 --> 00:27:52,079 where he made a three, celebrated it from the left wing, ran back, 407 00:27:52,599 --> 00:27:56,119 then from the same wing on the other side, he deflected a pass, 408 00:27:56,759 --> 00:28:00,119 stole the ball, went between the legs him through an alley to Miles 409 00:28:00,119 --> 00:28:06,480 Purchase like that was a sequence that I saw everywhere on Twitter because of the 410 00:28:06,519 --> 00:28:11,519 book end place and because of the sheer audacity to go between the legs in 411 00:28:11,599 --> 00:28:17,119 a relatively close game. But the anticipation that led to that steel and fast 412 00:28:17,160 --> 00:28:21,839 break opportunity in the first place got completely glossed over, where even if it 413 00:28:21,880 --> 00:28:25,319 looks like a simple play, to have a read on what the offense is 414 00:28:25,319 --> 00:28:30,079 doing and be able to anticipate the pass and make contact with the ball in 415 00:28:30,119 --> 00:28:34,240 a way that leads to a breakout opportunity, that's impressive for a second year 416 00:28:34,240 --> 00:28:37,680 player who is not primarily known for his defense, And to me, it 417 00:28:37,720 --> 00:28:41,160 helps justify this pick. I had LaMelo at nine, so he was within 418 00:28:41,240 --> 00:28:45,279 my top ten. I didn't have him quite this high, but I do 419 00:28:45,440 --> 00:28:48,000 think if you believe in that defensive growth, that this is totally justifiable. 420 00:28:48,440 --> 00:28:52,000 I'm also sort of just banking on we see a better version of looking at 421 00:28:52,039 --> 00:28:56,200 how even Trey and Jah have grown as finishers, and I do recognize that 422 00:28:56,599 --> 00:29:00,119 both of them were a lot better finishing than LaMelo is. Right now, 423 00:29:00,160 --> 00:29:03,079 when we're talking about this stage, that stage of their careers, I'm saying 424 00:29:03,119 --> 00:29:07,599 like it's years and years ago. They're just like a year and two years 425 00:29:07,680 --> 00:29:11,480 ahead of him, respectively or whatever. Maybe trays three at this point. 426 00:29:11,559 --> 00:29:17,880 No, he's only two years right, whos he is flash married with substance, 427 00:29:18,160 --> 00:29:22,839 And maybe I am overweighting like the pageantry of his game. Am I 428 00:29:22,920 --> 00:29:26,079 becoming one of the first people. But I'm banking on the fact that we're 429 00:29:26,119 --> 00:29:30,920 going to see someone who gets better as a score when he's going downhill and 430 00:29:30,079 --> 00:29:34,200 is just among the trees. And also I think he's going to be you 431 00:29:34,200 --> 00:29:37,119 know, we'll talk, let's see who you name first, but like, 432 00:29:37,119 --> 00:29:40,960 there's a chance he could be the most impactful defender among the players that are 433 00:29:41,279 --> 00:29:44,519 in the top five or whatever. So I don't I forget who you can 434 00:29:44,559 --> 00:29:47,720 have fit. But that's it. You don't get to find out until you've 435 00:29:47,720 --> 00:29:49,839 made your choice at number five. Oh I'm five, So I'm gonna let 436 00:29:49,880 --> 00:29:53,519 you know right now that will not be the most impactful defender in the top 437 00:29:53,559 --> 00:29:59,519 five because Bam Adebayo is fifth for me. I thought about putting him lower 438 00:30:00,119 --> 00:30:03,640 because I don't know that Bam is wired to dominate in the same vein as 439 00:30:03,799 --> 00:30:08,079 other players on the offensive side of the ball, and I would question if 440 00:30:08,079 --> 00:30:11,440 you ever have to run your offense entirely through him when you have a Kyle 441 00:30:11,440 --> 00:30:15,319 Lowry, a Jimmy Butler, a Tyler Hero. There are stuff that you 442 00:30:15,319 --> 00:30:18,720 can do with Bam, and he's going to run fast breaks. I think 443 00:30:18,759 --> 00:30:22,960 the context of his roles a lot different if you remove talent from that. 444 00:30:23,000 --> 00:30:25,960 You could say that about a lot of other guys, but I don't view 445 00:30:26,000 --> 00:30:29,759 him as a Don chich Morant young even LaMelo, who could eventually or right 446 00:30:29,799 --> 00:30:33,119 now prop up an entire offense that he said he is one of the best 447 00:30:33,119 --> 00:30:37,519 passing big men in the league, the fact that he can lead fast breaks, 448 00:30:37,559 --> 00:30:40,559 the fact that you can run things through him in the half court, 449 00:30:40,920 --> 00:30:45,119 on top of the fact that he is one like one of, if not 450 00:30:45,160 --> 00:30:47,920 the most matchup proof big in the league. And it depends on how you 451 00:30:48,240 --> 00:30:51,759 define big. Jannis exists. Yes, I'm very full aware of that. 452 00:30:52,240 --> 00:30:56,720 I thought that I was comfortable doing this. He's also shown like he's older 453 00:30:56,960 --> 00:31:00,400 he's this is age twenty four seasons, so he just barely early. He 454 00:31:00,440 --> 00:31:03,680 made the cut for us just by that. We're talking about someone who's, 455 00:31:03,759 --> 00:31:06,799 you know, an established All Star at this point too, which made me 456 00:31:06,839 --> 00:31:10,440 comfortable putting him ahead of guys i'd injury questions about, or we're talking about 457 00:31:10,480 --> 00:31:15,000 younger players with even less experience. So this, to me might have actually 458 00:31:15,000 --> 00:31:18,680 been my bigger dice roll than the little mellow one. I still don't dig 459 00:31:18,839 --> 00:31:22,119 with that for what it's worth, I will say though, we also I 460 00:31:22,160 --> 00:31:25,680 can say all these things about him in the offense and how he looked before 461 00:31:25,680 --> 00:31:29,839 this season in the non Jimmy Butler minutes. We don't know what the show 462 00:31:29,880 --> 00:31:32,559 looks like if it's Bams to run, because it's never been that, just 463 00:31:32,720 --> 00:31:34,519 in full and maybe it never needs to be like that because of the way 464 00:31:34,519 --> 00:31:38,039 that big big men are viewed. But he's just he's grown a lot on 465 00:31:38,079 --> 00:31:41,119 that side of the floor too, when you look at how much better he 466 00:31:41,200 --> 00:31:45,920 navigates the half court without the ball from now to like the first two years 467 00:31:45,960 --> 00:31:49,319 of his career, fantastic. And then there's he does have like the little 468 00:31:49,359 --> 00:31:52,759 mid range game, not to the point where I'd be like, this is 469 00:31:52,839 --> 00:31:56,960 Kevin Durant Chris Paul level lethal, But that is an option there now and 470 00:31:56,000 --> 00:32:00,079 it wasn't two years ago. So this is someone who has improved a great 471 00:32:00,119 --> 00:32:05,119 deal. And maybe he's someone then that would be left off a lot of 472 00:32:05,160 --> 00:32:10,440 other people's top ten. But I envisioned not He was a pretty insofar as 473 00:32:10,480 --> 00:32:13,799 I considered other guys at this part. He was one of the guys I 474 00:32:13,799 --> 00:32:15,880 looked at right away and knew that he was going to be in my top 475 00:32:15,920 --> 00:32:20,480 ten, and he checked it at number five. He also was number five 476 00:32:20,559 --> 00:32:25,319 for me. I've said it before. I think in the preseason before this 477 00:32:25,359 --> 00:32:30,799 season that there are only a select few number of players who I think have 478 00:32:32,000 --> 00:32:37,799 a realistic shot to be viewed as the best player in basketball in the next 479 00:32:37,839 --> 00:32:42,079 few seasons, and I would include bam Adebayo in that group. A lot 480 00:32:42,119 --> 00:32:45,599 has to go right. I don't think it's particularly likely, but I do 481 00:32:45,799 --> 00:32:51,720 see a somewhat realistic path to that happening, because on offense, he can 482 00:32:51,799 --> 00:32:57,160 completely control a game without even attempting to score. The screens that he sets, 483 00:32:57,160 --> 00:33:01,759 the passing that he brings from the five fluidity with which he operates away 484 00:33:01,799 --> 00:33:07,359 from the ball in a way that draws defensive attention even if he's not ever 485 00:33:07,400 --> 00:33:10,079 going to touch the basketball. And then you throw on top of that the 486 00:33:10,160 --> 00:33:15,400 scoring ability, where we do see the skill and finesse to score on the 487 00:33:15,440 --> 00:33:21,000 interior, the athleticism to finish over the top of other players, the shooting 488 00:33:21,000 --> 00:33:24,880 ability to start increasing his shooting range more and more and stretching out of defense. 489 00:33:25,240 --> 00:33:29,279 And that's before we even mentioned the defense, where he is a defensive 490 00:33:29,319 --> 00:33:34,960 Player of the Year caliber stopper who fits perfectly into the modern variety of basketball 491 00:33:35,279 --> 00:33:38,920 because he can reasonably switch to cover a player of any kind of role. 492 00:33:39,240 --> 00:33:43,680 He is the complete package, even if he is not a guy that's going 493 00:33:43,759 --> 00:33:46,480 to score thirty points a game, but just the diversity of the ways he 494 00:33:46,519 --> 00:33:52,400 can impact a game positively, I think there's a legitimate chance, even if 495 00:33:52,400 --> 00:33:55,160 it isn't a likely chance, that he could be the best basketball player in 496 00:33:55,160 --> 00:33:59,640 the world three years from now. Yeah. I mean, if you just 497 00:33:59,759 --> 00:34:01,680 look at the physical tools that he has, so if you can envision him 498 00:34:01,720 --> 00:34:06,599 incorporating that and other stuff, there's I remember you saying that, and I 499 00:34:06,640 --> 00:34:09,920 thought it was I think that's still fairly spicy but it's not like, you 500 00:34:09,960 --> 00:34:13,679 know, it's not the dumbest thing you've ever said. This isn't he wouldn't 501 00:34:13,679 --> 00:34:15,360 be the best player in the league, you know, if there were eighteen 502 00:34:15,400 --> 00:34:17,880 injury replacements. First, like, that's not what Adam is saying here, 503 00:34:17,960 --> 00:34:22,039 so I and the other thing is just like this isn't really what you said. 504 00:34:22,039 --> 00:34:25,039 But the two things I marvel at with him, I don't like Biggs 505 00:34:25,079 --> 00:34:29,400 aren't supposed to have feet as quick as he does slab or like that's not 506 00:34:29,440 --> 00:34:31,039 that shouldn't be a thing. And I'm trying to think, maybe this isn't 507 00:34:31,079 --> 00:34:35,119 hot because I don't even think there's another big man that comes to mind for 508 00:34:35,239 --> 00:34:37,920 me. Is there anyone aside from yokich as a big man. Let's say 509 00:34:37,920 --> 00:34:43,639 a four or five or whatever that's throws like better lead passes than bam Adebayo 510 00:34:43,800 --> 00:34:47,159 Right now, if you want to get really spicy, you could say say 511 00:34:47,159 --> 00:34:53,400 like Changon. That would be I mean, he's Jangoon has been good. 512 00:34:53,920 --> 00:34:57,880 He was in my top fifty if anybody cared about he did not come anywhere 513 00:34:57,920 --> 00:35:00,760 near the top ten, but he wasn't my top fIF I guess that, 514 00:35:00,800 --> 00:35:04,800 But that would be I think it's Bam. Then if that's the first name 515 00:35:04,840 --> 00:35:06,679 that came to your mind, I was like, that's not usual. I 516 00:35:06,760 --> 00:35:09,559 get the worthwhile ranking when you're looking at Biggs and like even talented passing Biggs, 517 00:35:09,599 --> 00:35:14,360 because I'm trying to think of like any centers or like even I mean, 518 00:35:14,440 --> 00:35:19,320 like Mason Plumley, like guys like that who are good passers, like 519 00:35:19,400 --> 00:35:24,599 legitimately good passers and triple double threats, but none who incorporate that while being 520 00:35:24,880 --> 00:35:30,320 so damn good in every other area. It's not Assan white Side. That's 521 00:35:30,360 --> 00:35:34,840 constellation anym we know for it is not Hassan white Side, who is number 522 00:35:34,880 --> 00:35:38,440 six for you. The number six pick is the number four player on my 523 00:35:38,519 --> 00:35:44,079 board, and that is Evan Mobley. I view Mobley a lot like I 524 00:35:44,199 --> 00:35:49,880 view Bam, just as a guy who can reasonably impact the game in every 525 00:35:49,920 --> 00:35:53,039 single area, and we're already seeing that. As a rookie on a competitive 526 00:35:53,079 --> 00:35:58,159 Cleveland Cavaliers team were at the time of recording this, He's averaging fifteen points, 527 00:35:58,199 --> 00:36:00,239 eight rebounds, two point seven assists, point eight steals, one point 528 00:36:00,320 --> 00:36:04,960 seven blocks, only one point nine turnovers per game. He's making more than 529 00:36:05,000 --> 00:36:08,159 half the shots he's showing some flashes of three point shooting ability. He can 530 00:36:08,159 --> 00:36:13,920 get to the free throw line, and he's also another game changing defender who 531 00:36:13,960 --> 00:36:17,760 can stifle out almost any set within the half court. If you switch him 532 00:36:17,800 --> 00:36:22,000 on to an attack guard, he can stick with him. If he finds 533 00:36:22,039 --> 00:36:25,719 himself in the post against a physical big, he can stick with him. 534 00:36:25,760 --> 00:36:31,199 And we're still not seeing him fully tap into his arsenal because this is a 535 00:36:31,239 --> 00:36:36,880 big seven footer who moves kind of like Kevin Durant at times with just that 536 00:36:37,000 --> 00:36:43,119 fluidity, that grace, and he hasn't yet understood how he can harness his 537 00:36:43,239 --> 00:36:47,239 size and his physicality on the offensive end. And when that happens, the 538 00:36:47,280 --> 00:36:50,280 sky is going to be the limit for him. As a score. He's 539 00:36:50,280 --> 00:36:54,480 another guy who I'm not sure I know what his ceiling is going to be, 540 00:36:54,480 --> 00:36:59,760 because he could legitimately be a thirty point a game scorer who is also 541 00:36:59,840 --> 00:37:02,400 in the defensive Player of the Year race, and that still might be selling 542 00:37:02,480 --> 00:37:07,519 him short because he's just that good. I don't know where I would go 543 00:37:07,639 --> 00:37:09,519 in the Rookie of the Year race right now between him and Scotty Barnes, 544 00:37:09,960 --> 00:37:15,840 but I do have Mobley as my number one long term outlook from this class 545 00:37:15,199 --> 00:37:19,960 with room to spare. I just I think he is that good and then 546 00:37:20,119 --> 00:37:23,119 some yeah, he'll probably end up sewing up Rookie of the Year. I 547 00:37:23,159 --> 00:37:27,360 think just because as the Raptors get healthier, like we've seen Scotty Barnes play 548 00:37:27,360 --> 00:37:29,760 a little bit differently on offense, which is ultimately the best version. He's 549 00:37:29,800 --> 00:37:35,239 also not totally healthy with the natnanitis. So Evan Mobley was number nine on 550 00:37:35,280 --> 00:37:37,679 my list. I do have I want to compliment him first because he has 551 00:37:37,719 --> 00:37:44,000 done such a good job on offense still when he cannot be your primary big 552 00:37:44,079 --> 00:37:45,920 because that's Jared Allen's role. So like him ducking in from the corners, 553 00:37:45,960 --> 00:37:50,119 knowing how to move without the ball. He's shooting over fifty percent on hook 554 00:37:50,159 --> 00:37:52,280 shots this year, like he showing the moves in the post. He's shown 555 00:37:52,280 --> 00:37:54,519 the ability to put the ball off the dribball. I think I just struggled 556 00:37:54,559 --> 00:37:59,400 to envision what he'll look like in a higher volume role, especially if you're 557 00:37:59,400 --> 00:38:00,679 going to continue to use him like this. Is he ever going to have 558 00:38:00,760 --> 00:38:05,880 that opportunity. Maybe I'm not being inventive enough, just because this is someone 559 00:38:05,920 --> 00:38:08,079 who is fewer than fifty games into his NBA career, and so I fully 560 00:38:08,119 --> 00:38:12,719 recognize that. And the thing you mentioned about the Kevin Durant fluidity, even 561 00:38:12,719 --> 00:38:15,519 if people think that's over the top, Like this is someone who is moving 562 00:38:15,559 --> 00:38:17,519 better with the ball in his hands. It feels like than Kevin Garnett did. 563 00:38:19,039 --> 00:38:22,239 I wasn't old enough to remember like prime Kevin Garnett when they were using 564 00:38:22,280 --> 00:38:24,159 him as a three, So maybe I'm off there, Like that is the 565 00:38:24,280 --> 00:38:28,840 level of quickness and just dexterity, feels like he has the ball in his 566 00:38:28,880 --> 00:38:32,000 hands, and so that's someone who can turn into an offensive lightning rod in 567 00:38:32,039 --> 00:38:37,079 addition to being defensive Player of the Year caliber. Like that's what you would 568 00:38:37,119 --> 00:38:42,280 have to put his outlook near right now, just based off an all defensive 569 00:38:42,280 --> 00:38:45,800 threat right now, which isn't supposed to happen for much less a rookie big 570 00:38:45,800 --> 00:38:51,800 man. So I that was the one that was tough for me. It 571 00:38:51,880 --> 00:38:54,000 was I went back and forth on Evan Mobley. I think if i'm I 572 00:38:54,079 --> 00:38:59,000 might just have a lack of vision for him on offense though, and that 573 00:38:59,119 --> 00:39:01,039 might be a flaw of I might be, you know, just I haven't 574 00:39:01,039 --> 00:39:05,360 seen the way the Cavaliers are playing this season like you're running it through Darius 575 00:39:05,400 --> 00:39:07,119 Garland of Jared Allen being the primary community in the fact that Molby's been able 576 00:39:07,159 --> 00:39:10,400 to show things when he can't be your primary big all the time on offense, 577 00:39:12,039 --> 00:39:15,559 and just I mean even the way he's a good passer too. And 578 00:39:15,760 --> 00:39:20,960 the other thing is is like the way he communicates on offense is really effective. 579 00:39:21,079 --> 00:39:23,159 It seems like as well when you watch the calf So look, if 580 00:39:23,199 --> 00:39:25,400 you made the top ten of this list, I'm just gonna say that should 581 00:39:25,400 --> 00:39:30,159 be a compliment. But also the other reason he's here is because ultimately I 582 00:39:30,199 --> 00:39:32,360 am I do think someone else in the draft class is going to have a 583 00:39:32,840 --> 00:39:37,760 better career. Still, Evan Mobley's fantastic. It wouldn't shock me if he 584 00:39:37,880 --> 00:39:40,599 ends up being like way better than I'm even giving him credit for Right now. 585 00:39:42,400 --> 00:39:46,079 I'm so high on him that I was probably closer to moving him into 586 00:39:46,079 --> 00:39:50,559 the top three than out of the top four. What you have to take 587 00:39:50,559 --> 00:39:52,880 swit, Like I said, you probably should take swings like that in this 588 00:39:52,920 --> 00:39:55,360 exercise, because would you have him trying to think of like John Morant would 589 00:39:55,400 --> 00:40:00,000 be a perfect example, is where would he have landed in this exercise during 590 00:40:00,119 --> 00:40:02,519 his rookie season as good as John Morand was, and look where he is 591 00:40:02,599 --> 00:40:06,320 now. Probably not the play. Yeah, yeah, so I do think 592 00:40:06,320 --> 00:40:10,880 it's worth or at least swings along those lines are warranted. I feel like 593 00:40:12,199 --> 00:40:15,280 the other thing with MOBILEI before I move on to my number seven pick, 594 00:40:15,800 --> 00:40:21,719 is I feel like you could tune into any ten minute stretch of Mobile playing 595 00:40:21,719 --> 00:40:25,639 basketball and come away with the impression that he's the game changing force who's going 596 00:40:25,719 --> 00:40:30,960 to be relevant in award conversations forever. And I don't know how frequently you 597 00:40:30,960 --> 00:40:35,719 can do that with a rookie because there are such high highs and such low 598 00:40:35,760 --> 00:40:40,519 lows. The lows for him just haven't been sustained. There's never been a 599 00:40:40,559 --> 00:40:44,719 full game where it looks like he's totally overmatched. Maybe he's struggling with his 600 00:40:44,800 --> 00:40:49,239 shot, maybe he's struggling to check one specific matchup, but he's finding a 601 00:40:49,239 --> 00:40:52,639 way to contribute positively every time he's on the court. Which how many rookies 602 00:40:52,639 --> 00:40:58,559 can you say that about? Probably more than I would expect this season, 603 00:40:58,599 --> 00:41:00,440 to be honest with you, But that's not you could generally say about rookies. 604 00:41:00,639 --> 00:41:04,800 Yeah, for sure, this year's class is weird because there is so 605 00:41:04,880 --> 00:41:08,000 much talent said at four, right, I did have Mobile at four, 606 00:41:08,079 --> 00:41:10,320 it's funny, and I had him at nine, and then you had the 607 00:41:10,360 --> 00:41:14,760 mellow at nine. Coact like we kind of just flip flap those but anyway, 608 00:41:14,880 --> 00:41:20,920 please carry on. Number seven was probably my numbers. So this is 609 00:41:20,920 --> 00:41:22,800 the seventh pick, but he was number six on my big board here. 610 00:41:23,079 --> 00:41:28,159 I think he was the single hardest player to rank because he hasn't played a 611 00:41:28,199 --> 00:41:32,480 minute this season and at Zion Williamson. It's easy to forget about him right 612 00:41:32,519 --> 00:41:37,280 now because it feels like the only time he's in the news is either alleged 613 00:41:37,320 --> 00:41:43,440 discontent with the New Orleans Pelicans or an injury update that pushes his timetable further 614 00:41:43,519 --> 00:41:49,320 back. This guy doesn't turn twenty two until July, and before all of 615 00:41:49,320 --> 00:41:52,840 this foot trouble, he was coming off a season where in sixty one games 616 00:41:52,840 --> 00:41:55,800 he averaged twenty seven point seven point two rebounds three point seven assists. He 617 00:41:55,800 --> 00:42:00,440 was starting to tap into some whatever position you want to call him, but 618 00:42:00,480 --> 00:42:05,280 with a point tacked on to the front of it, role where he was 619 00:42:05,320 --> 00:42:10,159 the primary ballhandler and pick and roll situations in transition, and it was unstoppable 620 00:42:10,400 --> 00:42:15,519 because defenses could not keep him away from the basket no matter what they did, 621 00:42:15,559 --> 00:42:19,559 and he was starting to show a better grasp of passing out of that 622 00:42:20,119 --> 00:42:25,800 situation as well, where he was just this unstoppable offensive force who very much 623 00:42:25,840 --> 00:42:30,880 seemed like he was going to be a yearly factor in the MVP conversation. 624 00:42:30,400 --> 00:42:35,800 And now all of a sudden, we're talking about a guy who isn't yet 625 00:42:35,840 --> 00:42:38,639 twenty two and is dealing with some chronic injury issues, maybe with some motivation 626 00:42:38,719 --> 00:42:43,719 issues. We've all seen the stories about how he may have fallen asleep during 627 00:42:44,039 --> 00:42:46,320 New Orleans team meetings, how he may already want out and forcing his way 628 00:42:46,320 --> 00:42:51,719 to a different organization, how he has shown up out of shape and hasn't 629 00:42:51,800 --> 00:42:54,480 kept himself in that peak physical condition that he needs to be in in order 630 00:42:54,519 --> 00:43:00,119 to dominate. So how do you square those factors together so to meet This 631 00:43:00,239 --> 00:43:04,159 was the point in the draft where, following Evan Mobley and bam on a 632 00:43:04,199 --> 00:43:07,079 bio for me, I was willing to take that flyer because this pick could 633 00:43:07,079 --> 00:43:14,079 age terribly where he might not be a relevant NBA player for too long. 634 00:43:14,119 --> 00:43:17,639 If these injuries and trends continue like he has not gotten on the floor this 635 00:43:17,639 --> 00:43:22,079 season, and it's not the first time he's dealt with a major injury. 636 00:43:22,119 --> 00:43:28,039 But if he does, even at fifty percent, he is a dominant force 637 00:43:28,119 --> 00:43:30,920 the likes of which we have not really seen because there is no comparison for 638 00:43:31,000 --> 00:43:37,559 him. There is no comparison for his frame, which is approximated at ginormous 639 00:43:37,599 --> 00:43:45,199 in every way and high flying athletic ability and skill. He could very well 640 00:43:45,199 --> 00:43:47,400 be number one on this list if he's healthy, and if he stays healthy 641 00:43:47,440 --> 00:43:51,280 and if he's motivated, and he could also be out of the top fifty. 642 00:43:51,679 --> 00:43:54,119 So I'm willing to take that chance here. He's kind of like if 643 00:43:54,199 --> 00:44:00,199 early era Lakers Shack could run your offense from the point of attack, might 644 00:44:00,239 --> 00:44:04,480 be the best way to find him, because which is unfathomable just because he's 645 00:44:04,280 --> 00:44:08,480 like two thousand one Lakers Shack might be the most dominant player in NBA history. 646 00:44:08,599 --> 00:44:12,519 Yeah, because he wasn't. He's clearly not as chiseled as Orlando Magic 647 00:44:12,639 --> 00:44:15,000 error Shacks. I'm not eracing that shock. You want go back and watch 648 00:44:15,079 --> 00:44:20,000 Orlando Magic Shack highlights. He was usually in the brake sometimes too. That's 649 00:44:20,000 --> 00:44:22,119 fair too. So man, is he a shorter version of or he's thicker 650 00:44:22,159 --> 00:44:24,039 than that though, which is why I compared in the Lakers one. My 651 00:44:24,199 --> 00:44:30,280 Zion is thicker than a shack. But yeah, I had him, so 652 00:44:30,360 --> 00:44:32,239 he was your number six guy. He was my number six guy, and 653 00:44:32,239 --> 00:44:37,639 I'm drafting him a number seven he was. He was my number six guys 654 00:44:37,679 --> 00:44:39,079 well, And I think, look, the other thing you could factor into 655 00:44:39,280 --> 00:44:45,639 is, even if he's not injured, what does the late middle to late 656 00:44:45,679 --> 00:44:50,079 stages of his career then look like, because there have been people who floated. 657 00:44:50,400 --> 00:44:53,599 Since he's such an anomaly and his game is prided on this just like 658 00:44:54,440 --> 00:45:00,280 galactic unnatural burst, could he peter out sort of quit like similar to the 659 00:45:00,440 --> 00:45:04,400 not I don't want to, but like Andre Drummond, think about how like 660 00:45:04,519 --> 00:45:07,360 shortened his prime became and I don't he was. They're not the same players, 661 00:45:07,400 --> 00:45:13,480 but their games were so tried it on physical tools. My pushback there 662 00:45:13,480 --> 00:45:17,360 would be that it felt more like the NBA moved beyond Drummonds skill set, 663 00:45:19,440 --> 00:45:22,639 just like looking at him, it just feels like he can't move the same 664 00:45:22,679 --> 00:45:25,840 ways. But anyway, regardless though, because of what Zion is doing. 665 00:45:27,119 --> 00:45:31,639 Do you trust him to have more craft? And I think he would need 666 00:45:31,679 --> 00:45:34,679 an outside game like this can't I don't want to. I don't want to 667 00:45:34,719 --> 00:45:36,920 say he's the big It seems reductive to be like, is this going to 668 00:45:36,960 --> 00:45:38,719 be a tale of Russell Westbrook or something? But just like, if he 669 00:45:38,800 --> 00:45:45,000 doesn't have the physical explosive advantage, what does that player look like? All 670 00:45:45,000 --> 00:45:47,519 of that being said, this is someone right now flying up and down the 671 00:45:47,559 --> 00:45:51,800 court and can finish in a variety of ways and can also just run your 672 00:45:51,840 --> 00:45:54,400 offense in the half court, as we saw with New Orleans through the latter 673 00:45:54,480 --> 00:45:59,079 half, latter two thirds whatever it was of last season. And so his 674 00:45:59,199 --> 00:46:02,679 ceiling on this is is one. He might also have a lower floor than 675 00:46:02,719 --> 00:46:07,599 where we both put him, which was at number six. So he might 676 00:46:07,679 --> 00:46:10,440 have the highest variance of outcomes. And let's say the non rookie is just 677 00:46:10,480 --> 00:46:15,280 because they're so tough to but he has a high variant outcome, he could 678 00:46:15,800 --> 00:46:17,119 This is someone who could just be one of the most dominant players of all 679 00:46:17,159 --> 00:46:21,239 time, though if he stays healthy that is not that's not even close to 680 00:46:21,239 --> 00:46:23,320 a stretch. To say the other point, I think we need to make 681 00:46:23,360 --> 00:46:29,639 here is that we haven't mentioned his defense to this point because it hasn't really 682 00:46:29,679 --> 00:46:34,559 existed much. So that's a legitimate knock against him beyond the injury and motivation 683 00:46:34,639 --> 00:46:39,199 concerns. But he's already been so valuable even while being a total negative on 684 00:46:39,239 --> 00:46:44,199 defense, a total non factor on defense. What if that changes because he 685 00:46:45,719 --> 00:46:50,800 has the physical profile where you can carve out a serious and substantial, impactful 686 00:46:50,840 --> 00:46:54,679 defensive role for him. Yeah, even if he just did stuff like remembering 687 00:46:54,719 --> 00:46:59,039 where or stop flying asleep on corner three point shooters, that would just help 688 00:46:59,639 --> 00:47:02,280 make a big difference. So we both had him in the same spot, 689 00:47:02,360 --> 00:47:06,840 and he was the number seven pick. So my number seven ranked player who 690 00:47:06,880 --> 00:47:10,360 was going eighth overall is Jason Tatum. And I thought longer about this than 691 00:47:10,400 --> 00:47:15,920 I initially believed I had to. He is having a down year, but 692 00:47:15,000 --> 00:47:20,559 let me contextualize this down year. His down year is still average twenty five 693 00:47:20,599 --> 00:47:23,400 point five points, three point eight assists, shooting forty seven point six percent 694 00:47:23,480 --> 00:47:27,559 on twos, and we all hate his two point selection shot slash for the 695 00:47:27,599 --> 00:47:30,639 most part, and thirty two point seven percent on threes is by far and 696 00:47:30,679 --> 00:47:35,079 away the lowest mark of his career, and when you're looking at someone who 697 00:47:35,199 --> 00:47:40,000 his first four seasons shot thirty nine point six percent from downtown, I'm gonna 698 00:47:40,000 --> 00:47:45,719 go ahead and call this an outlier just in the wrong direction. His shot 699 00:47:45,719 --> 00:47:51,360 difficulty is at once necessary and also self inflicted, because when you look at 700 00:47:51,400 --> 00:47:53,039 the tough mid Rangers or even sign him, the way he bails out of 701 00:47:53,039 --> 00:47:57,559 his drives some when he really does get to the rim, though, you 702 00:47:57,639 --> 00:48:00,760 start to envision him being like this five top ten player in the league. 703 00:48:00,880 --> 00:48:06,039 He will He has a perpetual All NBA case over the past few years. 704 00:48:06,559 --> 00:48:10,679 And whether if you don't think that he can ever be your best playmaker, 705 00:48:10,920 --> 00:48:14,840 I probably think we're at the point where it's just we need to assume that 706 00:48:15,519 --> 00:48:16,960 we can say that about a lot of the other guys that are going to 707 00:48:17,000 --> 00:48:20,920 appear in this list, beam Adebayo being one, I don't think he should 708 00:48:20,960 --> 00:48:24,320 be the person who's necessarily running your offense. So if you still have someone 709 00:48:24,360 --> 00:48:29,119 who can be your number two passer in addition or your number one score, 710 00:48:29,400 --> 00:48:32,239 who can funnel the offense through and crunch time, who can hit again, 711 00:48:32,360 --> 00:48:36,719 I know this season's been different, but can hit these just wildly difficult side 712 00:48:36,760 --> 00:48:39,960 step threes more consistently to this point than Luca doncich has. By the way, 713 00:48:40,079 --> 00:48:44,280 when you're looking at his step the different variations of the shop, you 714 00:48:44,320 --> 00:48:47,400 get the gist there. And he's also I don't know if it's I don't 715 00:48:47,400 --> 00:48:51,840 know if I should call him underrated on defense or is he just like slept 716 00:48:51,840 --> 00:48:54,239 On on defense. He's good on defense, and it's not someone that you 717 00:48:54,280 --> 00:48:58,880 would trust to lock down the other team's best player one on one. When 718 00:48:58,880 --> 00:49:01,239 you're the Celtics, specifically, you're going to give that responsibility to Marcus Smart. 719 00:49:01,239 --> 00:49:04,800 You're more likely to give it to a Jalen Brown. I still think 720 00:49:04,840 --> 00:49:07,280 Jayson Tatmum is probably one of the best off ball defenders in the league, 721 00:49:07,320 --> 00:49:10,719 and on a different team maybe he'd be saddled with more responsibility and show things 722 00:49:10,719 --> 00:49:15,480 that we haven't seen from him yet. And just knowing like he is the 723 00:49:15,599 --> 00:49:17,880 archetype of player you want six eight, play the two, three or four 724 00:49:19,159 --> 00:49:23,920 like just essentially positionless at those spots. I feel like we've now veered too 725 00:49:23,960 --> 00:49:27,519 much towards yet. I want to say, right flat, I think this 726 00:49:27,599 --> 00:49:30,639 is the best way his season he's probably been. I think there's like this 727 00:49:30,760 --> 00:49:35,280 Raptors Celtics rivally on Twitter. I think Pascal Siakam this season has been better 728 00:49:35,320 --> 00:49:38,119 than Jayson Tatum this season. But when we're talking long term, I think 729 00:49:38,159 --> 00:49:43,039 Jayson Tatum is still going to regularly be one of the most valuable players in 730 00:49:43,079 --> 00:49:47,000 the league, perennial All MBA case and like if that's if that doesn't put 731 00:49:47,039 --> 00:49:51,440 you in the top ten of this exercise because even looking at my number, 732 00:49:51,639 --> 00:49:54,119 I won't spoil him, but my number eleven guy, my number twelve guy, 733 00:49:54,320 --> 00:49:59,239 my number thirteen guy, I wouldn't say that about any of them. 734 00:49:59,280 --> 00:50:04,440 I wouldn't come host to say they'll be a perennial All NBA candidate. It's 735 00:50:04,480 --> 00:50:07,360 amazing how much we're in lockstep in this exercise because Tatum was also my number 736 00:50:07,400 --> 00:50:14,320 seven and we did not sink on these beforehand. I think what's changed my 737 00:50:14,440 --> 00:50:19,360 perception of Tatum this season is I'm not sure how much I believe in like 738 00:50:19,400 --> 00:50:23,519 the MVP conversation ceiling for him at this point. But if this is the 739 00:50:23,599 --> 00:50:29,360 floor for him, it's a pretty damn good floor because he is still in 740 00:50:29,400 --> 00:50:34,159 the All Star mix. While having an aberration of a poor shooting season, 741 00:50:34,599 --> 00:50:37,840 because he's still playing high quality defense, as you mentioned, particularly in off 742 00:50:37,840 --> 00:50:45,679 ball situations, and given this roster construction in Boston, where the Celtics themselves 743 00:50:45,679 --> 00:50:50,679 have admitted that they are often operating without much shooting on the court, it 744 00:50:50,840 --> 00:50:54,159 shouldn't be surprising that he's been the subject of so much defensive attention that it's 745 00:50:54,159 --> 00:50:59,679 making it harder for him to score efficiently as he has in past seasons. 746 00:50:59,719 --> 00:51:01,880 I think, you know, we we've talked about Zion, We've talked about 747 00:51:01,880 --> 00:51:07,599 Mobili, We've talked about dam Adabaio and Lamello Paul. I think Tatum is 748 00:51:07,239 --> 00:51:12,760 a safer bet to have more All Star appearances than those guys because they have 749 00:51:12,920 --> 00:51:15,599 more variants than he's going to have. I think all of them have higher 750 00:51:15,599 --> 00:51:19,519 ceilings than him at this point, which is why they went earlier in this 751 00:51:19,599 --> 00:51:24,079 exercise. But Tatum is as weird as it is to say about him now. 752 00:51:24,519 --> 00:51:30,360 He is the high floor lower ceiling selection in this exercise, and this 753 00:51:30,400 --> 00:51:34,559 is a totally valid spot for him to go. And the other thing. 754 00:51:34,840 --> 00:51:37,639 But I will say about his passing, I do think it's probably a little 755 00:51:37,639 --> 00:51:40,440 bit better than advertised. Over the past two years I think he's showing the 756 00:51:40,480 --> 00:51:45,000 ability and a half court to make more complicated passes. And one of the 757 00:51:45,000 --> 00:51:47,599 bigger differences this year is Boston not hitting shots. If you want to get 758 00:51:47,639 --> 00:51:51,440 into the quality of his passes this season, I'm not dug dug deep enough 759 00:51:51,440 --> 00:51:55,199 into that, but he's averaging eight point five potential assists per game against eight 760 00:51:55,280 --> 00:51:59,840 point one eight point one this year versus eight point five last year in locks. 761 00:52:00,239 --> 00:52:02,880 The big difference here, Teammates shot fifty point nine percent off his passes 762 00:52:02,960 --> 00:52:07,639 last year. They're shooting forty three point six percent this season. How responsible 763 00:52:07,719 --> 00:52:09,519 is that for him? I have not How responsible is he for that, 764 00:52:09,679 --> 00:52:13,880 if at all, I haven't dug into it, but that is a huge 765 00:52:14,280 --> 00:52:17,719 drop, and so I think it's easily explained away by the personnel and the 766 00:52:17,800 --> 00:52:21,719 system. You know, we knew that Brad Stevens was a high end coach. 767 00:52:21,960 --> 00:52:27,280 Emaudoca hasn't shown the same creativity drawing up sets that maximize Boston's personnel, 768 00:52:27,599 --> 00:52:30,000 and some of the leading personnel have not been available. You know, Jaylen 769 00:52:30,039 --> 00:52:34,239 Brown has not always been on the court with Jason Tatum this season, and 770 00:52:34,400 --> 00:52:38,119 there are a lot of options off the bench who are score first, but 771 00:52:38,400 --> 00:52:43,840 only off the bounce kind of scorers. So I think it's easy to explain 772 00:52:43,880 --> 00:52:47,079 away this as a byproduct of what's around him. The other thing I'll say 773 00:52:47,119 --> 00:52:52,920 is this is just to the Ebadoca point. Just watching there's like two Celtics 774 00:52:52,960 --> 00:52:54,400 crunch tine games or something I was watching, and then you have Grant Williams 775 00:52:54,440 --> 00:52:58,480 and Josh Richardson. But I think it probably been there two best shooters this 776 00:52:58,559 --> 00:53:00,800 season from beyond the art. Both of them are on the bench. It's 777 00:53:00,800 --> 00:53:04,119 like, we need to give we I'm not a Selfistan Clint Way, the 778 00:53:04,119 --> 00:53:07,480 selfist, need to give Jason Tatum and just in general their half court offense 779 00:53:07,559 --> 00:53:09,920 more room to breathe. And they don't have enough knockdown shooters to do that, 780 00:53:09,960 --> 00:53:14,440 and they're not really playing the ones that they have in the moment. 781 00:53:14,440 --> 00:53:15,719 I know you have players in theory you're supposed to better, but at some 782 00:53:15,719 --> 00:53:20,920 point it has to become about like the dynamics of how your offense is being 783 00:53:21,000 --> 00:53:23,960 run right there with you. You also have the nine pick. Though I 784 00:53:24,000 --> 00:53:28,800 have the nine pick. He is my a ranked player on this This is 785 00:53:28,840 --> 00:53:31,719 my swing. This is my biggest wing I have Scottie Barnes. I think 786 00:53:31,719 --> 00:53:36,440 he's going to be the best player from his draft class. Watching him with 787 00:53:36,480 --> 00:53:43,199 the Raptors this season, he has shown brilliant hints of doing pretty much everything. 788 00:53:43,559 --> 00:53:45,360 When he experiments with taking jumpers off the dribble, No, they're not 789 00:53:45,400 --> 00:53:50,159 going into a high clip. He is. I think he's already even you 790 00:53:50,239 --> 00:53:52,800 look at his three point percentage, but you kind of look at some of 791 00:53:52,800 --> 00:53:55,880 the splits this season. He's going to be an okay three point shooter off 792 00:53:55,880 --> 00:54:00,480 the catch. His ability to make passes right now, both on them and 793 00:54:00,599 --> 00:54:04,440 from standstills, His ability to use his body to get through the lane and 794 00:54:04,480 --> 00:54:07,880 to navigate traffic, he probably is gonna I shouldn't say probably. I think 795 00:54:07,880 --> 00:54:12,079 he's gonna end up having a much better handle than a Pascal Siakam type Biggish 796 00:54:12,440 --> 00:54:15,400 whatever player. I do know they play different roles, but they're pretty close 797 00:54:15,639 --> 00:54:19,599 in size. It's just not as loose, and I think you see more 798 00:54:19,639 --> 00:54:22,960 of a tightness and a craftness there when you're looking at the way he dribbles. 799 00:54:22,079 --> 00:54:24,960 And this is someone who's already made just a bunch of high level plays 800 00:54:25,000 --> 00:54:28,920 on the defensive end. Who is gonna if he's not your best defender, 801 00:54:28,920 --> 00:54:31,679 He's at least someone that you could move up and down the assignment spectrum without 802 00:54:31,719 --> 00:54:37,519 worrying about him torpedoing your defense or looking overmatch. And I'm saying this about 803 00:54:37,599 --> 00:54:43,039 someone that I don't know that he's mastered any one thing this season, but 804 00:54:43,280 --> 00:54:47,480 his finishing is like his finishing in between, like from further away from the 805 00:54:47,480 --> 00:54:50,719 basket than I would have thought, is much better than I would have expected. 806 00:54:50,920 --> 00:54:55,119 But this might just be one of the single best all round players in 807 00:54:55,199 --> 00:54:59,360 the NBA one day, and it was hard for me to leave him off 808 00:54:59,719 --> 00:55:02,960 the top ten by doing that, and so he ended up. You know, 809 00:55:04,000 --> 00:55:06,920 I have him higher than Evin Mobley because I do think when I watched 810 00:55:06,960 --> 00:55:12,280 the way he plays, I think he winds up having a substantially bigger role 811 00:55:12,599 --> 00:55:15,519 on the offensive end one day than a Nevin Mobley does. We'll see whether 812 00:55:15,559 --> 00:55:19,679 I'm right or wrong. But Scotty Barnes, he has a real chance as 813 00:55:19,679 --> 00:55:22,199 of right now to beat Devin Mobley. Is Rookie of the Year based off 814 00:55:22,199 --> 00:55:23,360 what I've seen of the Raptors lately, and this is the best version of 815 00:55:23,360 --> 00:55:27,960 themselves because Scottie Barnes is still new looking at their personnel, I think Evin 816 00:55:28,000 --> 00:55:32,239 Mobley probably has a better chance overall, but like I am seeing so much 817 00:55:34,039 --> 00:55:39,320 brilliant high end flashes from every area of Scottie Barnes's game, where no, 818 00:55:39,400 --> 00:55:45,280 he's not the dominant defender that Mobiley is right now, but he's also doing 819 00:55:45,320 --> 00:55:49,400 things on offense in general that Mobiley either is an allowed to do or can't 820 00:55:49,400 --> 00:55:52,280 do at the moment. And it was just tough for me to not make 821 00:55:52,320 --> 00:55:54,559 this little dice roll. And I don't even think it's like an egregious dice 822 00:55:54,639 --> 00:55:58,039 roll, because I'm sure you have him in your top twelve or thirteen. 823 00:55:59,519 --> 00:56:02,760 I didn't rank beyond ten. I do have Scottie Barnes as one of my 824 00:56:02,840 --> 00:56:07,719 five leading honorable mentions, but I did not rank within that group that said 825 00:56:08,360 --> 00:56:12,840 he would have to be at lead. The highest he could be for me 826 00:56:12,880 --> 00:56:16,920 would be number twelve, because I do have him with the third highest ceiling 827 00:56:17,480 --> 00:56:22,559 in this draft class behind Evan Mobley for obvious reasons since I've gone over them 828 00:56:22,599 --> 00:56:27,159 and Kaid Cunningham, who has not been as good as Scottie Barnes that is 829 00:56:27,199 --> 00:56:30,559 beyond debate during their rookie seasons. But I just I see the intelligence that 830 00:56:30,840 --> 00:56:36,440 Cunningham plays with as a primary ball handler, the angles he's already taking, 831 00:56:36,800 --> 00:56:39,840 the passing ability that he has, the smoothness to his game, and I 832 00:56:39,920 --> 00:56:45,000 still have him a little bit ahead in that long term conversation. So Kaid 833 00:56:45,039 --> 00:56:50,440 Cunningham is another one of my five leading honorable mentions, and since he would 834 00:56:50,440 --> 00:56:53,000 be just ahead of Barnes for me, Barnes at best here would be number 835 00:56:53,000 --> 00:56:55,480 twelve. But again, like, that's not an insult to him, because 836 00:56:55,480 --> 00:57:01,119 I fully agree with everything you just said, and his potential is unbelievable and 837 00:57:01,159 --> 00:57:05,679 Toronto has a true gem in him and will for a long time to come, 838 00:57:05,719 --> 00:57:09,000 and he very reasonably could be included as he is here in one of 839 00:57:09,039 --> 00:57:15,639 the ten featured spots. So I in no way disagree or hate on this 840 00:57:15,679 --> 00:57:19,480 pick, even if he's not in my top ten. I like it more 841 00:57:19,480 --> 00:57:22,599 so to you. Putting Evan Mobley at number four this early is what I 842 00:57:22,639 --> 00:57:27,480 didn't swing. Yeah, that's a swing. So I'll close it out with 843 00:57:27,559 --> 00:57:30,599 the number ten pick here, and I'm gonna go with Shay Gil just Alexander, 844 00:57:30,679 --> 00:57:37,719 because I think we sometimes forget about players in his situation where he is 845 00:57:37,920 --> 00:57:44,239 so obviously a game changing force. He really benefited from the year spent alongside 846 00:57:44,280 --> 00:57:46,920 Chris Paul where the game was just able to slow down for him. He 847 00:57:47,000 --> 00:57:52,840 was able he learned how to manipulate defenses to his advantage. He has every 848 00:57:52,960 --> 00:57:55,400 skill in the book. He's not having the greatest season right now, but 849 00:57:55,800 --> 00:58:01,079 that's such a testament to the lack of quality around him, because the Thunder 850 00:58:01,519 --> 00:58:06,960 are just shamelessly giving so much run to so many young players and seeing what 851 00:58:07,000 --> 00:58:10,280 they have, you know, as as good as someone like Josh Giddy is, 852 00:58:10,320 --> 00:58:14,599 who I did have listed, though not in my leading Honorable Men, 853 00:58:14,880 --> 00:58:19,440 as a player who deserves some consideration, there's there's still there's still some up 854 00:58:19,480 --> 00:58:22,360 and down nature to his game, and they're trying to find out what they 855 00:58:22,400 --> 00:58:25,440 have in Pokashevski and so many other young guys, and still seeing if Darius 856 00:58:25,480 --> 00:58:30,880 Basley deserves more run and lou Dort has, you know, warts of his 857 00:58:30,960 --> 00:58:36,239 own. So for guiltis Alexander to be shouldering the load of a clear number 858 00:58:36,280 --> 00:58:39,639 one with that around him, it's understandable that his shooting percentages has suffered, 859 00:58:39,639 --> 00:58:43,679 that he's turning the ball over a little more frequently, and that shouldn't take 860 00:58:43,719 --> 00:58:47,920 away from the fact that he is a potential MVP threat down the road as 861 00:58:47,920 --> 00:58:52,159 the Thunder put better pieces around him, or he's playing basketball in a different 862 00:58:52,159 --> 00:58:53,760 location. He is. He is that good, and I know how much 863 00:58:53,760 --> 00:58:57,119 you love him too, so I know that you're not going to hate on 864 00:58:57,119 --> 00:58:59,599 this pick at all. He was my note. He was actually listened at 865 00:58:59,639 --> 00:59:02,559 number eight for me, so I'm as a general manager of this fake team 866 00:59:02,559 --> 00:59:06,159 that doesn't even have to play together, I'm thrilled to get him at number 867 00:59:06,199 --> 00:59:08,559 ten. He was your eighth, number eight guy. He was number eight 868 00:59:08,599 --> 00:59:12,880 for me, so he's my number eleven guy. He just missed the top 869 00:59:13,440 --> 00:59:16,239 ten. And I recognize we you know, I'm on the same page with 870 00:59:16,280 --> 00:59:20,480 you with what he's done on offense and this season specifically, like you can't 871 00:59:21,039 --> 00:59:24,960 measure you just can't measure him in raw efficiency because of the difficulty inherent of 872 00:59:25,000 --> 00:59:30,000 his role. But then also just like his higher quality looks are like probably 873 00:59:30,039 --> 00:59:32,360 just so much lower quality than a lot of the other guys. I haven't 874 00:59:32,400 --> 00:59:36,320 seen it from him on defense since his rookie year, really, and I 875 00:59:36,360 --> 00:59:37,440 don't know if that was because he was on a good Clipper team, and 876 00:59:37,480 --> 00:59:40,079 maybe he was it was easier for that. I don't want to say cover 877 00:59:40,159 --> 00:59:43,559 up, like I don't remember him being. The past two years have been 878 00:59:43,559 --> 00:59:45,199 a little bit disappointing. From watching him defensively, I thought, this is 879 00:59:45,239 --> 00:59:47,800 gonna be someone who could defend from like the point of attack and basically go 880 00:59:47,880 --> 00:59:51,360 up against one through three's, and I just haven't seen it. Is he 881 00:59:51,440 --> 00:59:53,559 doing too much on offense? Is he just not as good? He's just 882 00:59:53,639 --> 00:59:58,280 stiffer on defense than I thought he was gonna be after watching him really as 883 00:59:58,320 --> 01:00:00,599 a rookie when he was with Clippers. That I remember, and that's why 884 01:00:00,760 --> 01:00:04,960 I nudged him out because I was trying to split hairs somewhere. But he 885 01:00:05,079 --> 01:00:07,199 is. He's clearly in the top ten consideration and he by the way, 886 01:00:07,239 --> 01:00:10,480 the only reason he was bumped out is because we did not sink while we 887 01:00:10,480 --> 01:00:15,199 were doing their list. I didn't have in my top ten. Obviously. 888 01:00:15,239 --> 01:00:19,280 I know it's not on my top fifty because I forgot about him since he 889 01:00:19,320 --> 01:00:22,679 hasn't played this season. That was a narrow that Adam caught, and I 890 01:00:22,719 --> 01:00:27,480 caught that he left Michael Porter Junior off his Spoilerler Michael Porter didn't even come 891 01:00:27,480 --> 01:00:30,360 close to the top ten of my list. I am though about injury red 892 01:00:30,360 --> 01:00:36,480 flags, My fucking god. So I do want to run through because we 893 01:00:36,519 --> 01:00:38,760 were each going to have a player who was in our top ten but has 894 01:00:38,840 --> 01:00:42,840 not been brought up to this point. So I want to run through who 895 01:00:42,920 --> 01:00:45,760 that is for me, my leading honorable mentions, and then just the other 896 01:00:45,880 --> 01:00:49,400 names that I considered, which is a long list and still not a complete 897 01:00:49,400 --> 01:00:52,519 list, because I think that there are so many players who belong in this 898 01:00:52,559 --> 01:00:54,880 conversation that we have to at least mention their names and give them some love. 899 01:00:55,360 --> 01:00:58,239 So do you want me to run through mine and then you can go 900 01:00:58,239 --> 01:01:04,599 through yours? Yeah. So my number ten was Anthony Edwards. Just the 901 01:01:04,639 --> 01:01:07,920 growth that he's already shown from the beginning of his career. He's obviously a 902 01:01:07,920 --> 01:01:14,280 gifted scorer with just jaw dropping athleticism, but the growth that he's shown as 903 01:01:14,320 --> 01:01:16,800 an off ball mover, as a shooter, as a passer, as a 904 01:01:16,880 --> 01:01:21,719 defender who has a little bit more situational awareness than he did early in his 905 01:01:21,800 --> 01:01:24,559 rookie year. The talent is so clearly there, and I think if he 906 01:01:24,679 --> 01:01:30,800 was given the opportunity to be a true number one on a team without Karl 907 01:01:30,840 --> 01:01:36,760 Anthony Towns, without D'Angelo Russell. The numbers he put up this early in 908 01:01:36,800 --> 01:01:40,440 his career would be unfathomable. So I wanted to give him the love of 909 01:01:40,440 --> 01:01:43,960 being in the top ten. And I thought he was gonna end up on 910 01:01:44,000 --> 01:01:46,519 my team because I thought we were gonna be in total lockstep for the top 911 01:01:46,599 --> 01:01:52,079 ten. But he, I guess, goes undrafted here and I was gonna 912 01:01:52,079 --> 01:01:54,960 say, let me, I should say where he was online was twelve, 913 01:01:55,079 --> 01:02:00,719 right behind Shay. I just I think I'm waiting to see like or methodicalness 914 01:02:00,880 --> 01:02:05,920 from him on offense and like part of the then particularly explosives, part of 915 01:02:05,960 --> 01:02:08,880 his charm. And then my number ten guy was was Kade who I put 916 01:02:08,960 --> 01:02:13,079 him there and didn't slingshot him above a Mobley Barnes because I do question whether 917 01:02:13,079 --> 01:02:15,079 he's ever going to be a dominant player in every one area, but I 918 01:02:15,079 --> 01:02:19,199 think he's been. If people haven't watched enough of the Pistons or Kade this 919 01:02:19,280 --> 01:02:22,800 year, Kate Cunningham has been really, really good and he's one I don't 920 01:02:22,800 --> 01:02:27,679 want to wish this upon Mobley or Barns, but he's like one. If 921 01:02:27,679 --> 01:02:30,159 they miss a couple of weeks here, he might enter the Rookie of the 922 01:02:30,199 --> 01:02:32,159 Year, that's how good he's been. And he might finish third on the 923 01:02:32,199 --> 01:02:36,840 ballot as it is. I know Shane Goon and Franz Wagner and Christa Wardey 924 01:02:36,840 --> 01:02:39,159 exist, but Ky Cunningham is going to get a lot of top three consideration 925 01:02:39,760 --> 01:02:45,599 for sure. My other honorable mentions, aside from Scotty Barnes and Kate Cunningham, 926 01:02:45,639 --> 01:02:50,079 who we've already talked about, Darius Garland. I'm not quite sure what 927 01:02:50,119 --> 01:02:52,960 the ceiling looks like, how much he's going to evolve beyond the player he 928 01:02:52,039 --> 01:02:57,760 is right now, but the passing acumen, the additional scoring ability we're seeing 929 01:02:57,800 --> 01:03:00,599 this season made him a legitimate threat to enter my top ten. I don't 930 01:03:00,639 --> 01:03:06,360 want to forget about Jamal Murray because he does still qualify from an age perspective 931 01:03:06,360 --> 01:03:08,599 here. He hasn't returned from his torn acl for the Denver Nuggets yet, 932 01:03:08,760 --> 01:03:15,679 but just a seminal scoring talent with so much offensive swagger who elevates the Nuggets 933 01:03:15,719 --> 01:03:21,440 to another level because of his well rounded offensive ability. And then Tyrese Haliburton 934 01:03:21,760 --> 01:03:24,760 was the other of my leading honorable mentions the all around game. We saw 935 01:03:24,760 --> 01:03:29,440 that as a rookie. This year, we're seeing him flash more spurts of 936 01:03:29,519 --> 01:03:34,199 excellence as a lead ball handler who is initiating offense. I didn't really know 937 01:03:34,280 --> 01:03:37,599 if he had that kind of juice to his game. He does. He 938 01:03:37,719 --> 01:03:40,519 is going to be in the All Star conversation in the Western Conference even without 939 01:03:40,559 --> 01:03:46,400 injury replacements in perpetuity one hundred percent deserves some consideration here. And then the 940 01:03:46,440 --> 01:03:50,440 other names that I had written down, and I'll give the caveat that I 941 01:03:50,480 --> 01:03:53,920 did not write every name that I gave any consideration to, like Jalen Green 942 01:03:53,920 --> 01:03:59,239 and Jalen Suggs, Franz Wagner, rookies who we just haven't seen enough from. 943 01:03:59,400 --> 01:04:02,000 They deserve merit even if I didn't list them here, because I still 944 01:04:02,000 --> 01:04:04,840 have to mention Jaren Jackson Junior. And these are not in order, Jaren 945 01:04:04,920 --> 01:04:08,559 Jackson Junior, Dear and Fox, DeAndre, Aden, Desmond, Bane, 946 01:04:08,559 --> 01:04:11,760 Tyler, Hero, Brandon Ingram, John Collins, Jared Allen, o g 947 01:04:11,920 --> 01:04:14,840 Na Noby, Miles Bridges, Lonzo Ball, Josh Giddy, R. J. 948 01:04:14,960 --> 01:04:17,760 Barrett, and Michael Porter Junior. Just there's so much under twenty five 949 01:04:17,840 --> 01:04:23,199 talent in the NBA, which is why this whole exercise was such an agonizingly 950 01:04:23,280 --> 01:04:26,760 difficult one, because like, I feel terrible that Dear and Fox, that 951 01:04:26,840 --> 01:04:31,239 DeAndre Ayden, maybe even Tyler Hero aren't even in my honorable mentions. I'm 952 01:04:31,239 --> 01:04:36,119 gonna I don't feel terrible about anything. There's talent, and these are rankings. 953 01:04:36,559 --> 01:04:39,639 I know a lot of people do tears, and maybe those are fine, 954 01:04:39,639 --> 01:04:41,840 but like you would have to cut off people from it in general, 955 01:04:41,840 --> 01:04:43,760 I don't feel bad about this at all. If I'm wrong, I'm wrong. 956 01:04:43,800 --> 01:04:45,760 I'm trying to give honest opinions here, though, So we did we 957 01:04:45,800 --> 01:04:47,599 differ that. I don't feel bad about my list at all. It was 958 01:04:47,639 --> 01:04:50,280 hard and it made me want to play, and it's just way more heartless 959 01:04:50,320 --> 01:04:53,920 than me. Yeah, that that too, we had. I can't do 960 01:04:53,920 --> 01:04:56,880 that because I don't have any hair left. So there's another difference. I 961 01:04:57,039 --> 01:04:59,480 was good, he actually did you actually did pull your hair out? That's 962 01:04:59,480 --> 01:05:02,639 why. Yeah, I wanted to interject, but forgot to. I think 963 01:05:02,639 --> 01:05:08,320 we had the same top fifteen players because I had Shay at number eleven, 964 01:05:08,559 --> 01:05:13,000 Edwards at twelve, Jamal Murray at thirteen, Darius Garland at fourteen and Tyres 965 01:05:13,000 --> 01:05:19,480 halbertn at fifteen. Og was the toughest player lead out of the top fifteen. 966 01:05:19,599 --> 01:05:24,239 For me, I think we've now seen with It's cool that he can 967 01:05:24,320 --> 01:05:28,320 hit like these like slow, deliberate off the dribble threes. But the Raptors 968 01:05:28,360 --> 01:05:30,239 are clearly going to be best when he is their third or fourth option, 969 01:05:30,760 --> 01:05:33,199 when they don't need to do a bunch of complicated stuff on offense. So 970 01:05:33,239 --> 01:05:38,320 I might be out on the idea that like og Ana Noby can do a 971 01:05:38,360 --> 01:05:41,320 lot more on offense and that's not look I I have him at sixteen, 972 01:05:41,360 --> 01:05:43,639 so like I have him ahead of the Aaron Fox right now, who I'm 973 01:05:43,639 --> 01:05:46,159 in love with, and Fox was actually much lower than that. But so 974 01:05:46,800 --> 01:05:49,079 yeah, there's just there's a lot of talent. Like I said, I 975 01:05:49,119 --> 01:05:51,840 don't feel bad about the way the list shook out. I did include one 976 01:05:51,840 --> 01:05:55,400 of the I don't know if you mentioned Jonathan Cominga, I think is a 977 01:05:55,480 --> 01:05:58,760 name that needs to be put him here because he's just and the other one 978 01:05:58,840 --> 01:06:00,599 is like James Wiseman, I need and give a little bit of consideration too, 979 01:06:00,639 --> 01:06:03,480 which is kind of never even crossed my mind until he said his name 980 01:06:03,559 --> 01:06:08,159 right now he was on my top sixty names or whatever it was. But 981 01:06:08,239 --> 01:06:11,960 I also didn't like at that point, I wasn't going I ranked them, 982 01:06:12,000 --> 01:06:14,360 but I was ranking them as I went along, So I probably forgot some 983 01:06:14,400 --> 01:06:17,079 people point though, Like I think, if we do this next year, 984 01:06:17,119 --> 01:06:20,320 which I maybe we should, and I have my spreadsheet saved with both of 985 01:06:20,320 --> 01:06:25,400 our rankings, so we can take a look at how our top fifteen basically 986 01:06:25,440 --> 01:06:30,639 shook out, I could see him as being a name that's like in here 987 01:06:30,679 --> 01:06:32,239 that wouldn't even be close to here right now because he just hasn't have enough 988 01:06:32,239 --> 01:06:35,199 playing time. And I think, you know, Michael Porter Junior might be 989 01:06:35,239 --> 01:06:38,880 there too, because he's the type of person that if he was healthy and 990 01:06:38,920 --> 01:06:42,760 it's just like exploding. And look, even if the Aaron Fox was playing 991 01:06:42,800 --> 01:06:45,079 like where he was last, well, he'll he'll graduated from He's probably in 992 01:06:45,119 --> 01:06:47,840 the top ten if that's the case, right, he won't be next season 993 01:06:47,840 --> 01:06:50,360 because that'll be his age twenty five season, but this will be fun to 994 01:06:50,440 --> 01:06:54,840 revisit. And so they're all I mean, like you could I have Gary 995 01:06:54,880 --> 01:06:58,480 Trent Junior's sucking on here like Desmond Vane. We didn't talk about there. 996 01:06:58,719 --> 01:07:03,280 There's just why you're Austin right, And Denny Avvia like that's someone that I 997 01:07:03,320 --> 01:07:05,880 could just see, like, I don't know if he'll get to the I 998 01:07:05,880 --> 01:07:10,199 could see him entering the periphery of it, like my top fifteen. So 999 01:07:10,679 --> 01:07:15,159 there's I'm currently pulling an Adam with all star selections right now. I'm saying 1000 01:07:15,199 --> 01:07:17,639 top fifteen. I went top fifteen deep in the rankings here, so let's 1001 01:07:17,760 --> 01:07:23,400 run. Let me run through these really quickly, and then I'll name which 1002 01:07:23,400 --> 01:07:26,000 five I ended up with. So I can't time stamp if people just want 1003 01:07:26,000 --> 01:07:29,280 to skip to see what our teams were. But my top fifteen in this 1004 01:07:29,360 --> 01:07:35,000 exact order were Luca Jah, Trey LaMelo, bam Zion, Jason Tatum, 1005 01:07:35,079 --> 01:07:41,440 Scottie Barnes, Evan Mobley, Kaide Cunningham, Shaye Gilges, Alexander Anthony Edwards, 1006 01:07:41,519 --> 01:07:45,639 Jamal Murray, Darius Garland, and Tyrese Haliburton. My team in this 1007 01:07:45,880 --> 01:07:51,480 draft ended up being Luca LaMelo, Ball bam Adebayo, Jason Tatum, Scottie 1008 01:07:51,480 --> 01:07:55,920 Barnes. And I'm gonna be honest, we didn't draft for fit. That's 1009 01:07:55,960 --> 01:08:00,519 like not that's like a fair roster like you think you fits a little better 1010 01:08:00,519 --> 01:08:03,639 than mine if we were including that, I actually don't have my top fifteen 1011 01:08:03,719 --> 01:08:08,639 ridden out anymore because I was deleting them as your top fifteen. Okay, 1012 01:08:09,000 --> 01:08:13,480 go for it. So you had Luca one, Jaw two, Trey three, 1013 01:08:15,000 --> 01:08:17,319 Your fourth was Evan Mobley, Your fifth was Bamata Bio, six was 1014 01:08:17,399 --> 01:08:24,600 Zion Williamson, seven was Jason Tatum, eight was Shay Gilgist Alexander, your 1015 01:08:24,760 --> 01:08:30,600 nine was LaMelo Ball and your ten was Anthony Edwards. Was for you, 1016 01:08:30,880 --> 01:08:33,680 Wow, you love Kay Conningham off your list? Yeah, he was my 1017 01:08:33,920 --> 01:08:38,239 number one among the honorable mentions, and I wanted so badly to get him 1018 01:08:38,239 --> 01:08:42,880 in there, but I could not elevate him over Edwards because ultimately Edwards has 1019 01:08:43,039 --> 01:08:45,920 shown it and Cunningham hasn't yet. It's been an up and down rookie season 1020 01:08:45,960 --> 01:08:48,760 and even the ops have not matched what Everwards has done yet. And this 1021 01:08:48,840 --> 01:08:53,039 is you didn't rank them, but you had the same like you had kid 1022 01:08:53,239 --> 01:08:57,800 in there, your Jamal Murray, Darius Garland, Tyrese Haliburton, and Scott 1023 01:08:58,000 --> 01:09:00,640 Barnes Gotty Barnes. So we had the same top fifth team, which actually 1024 01:09:00,640 --> 01:09:02,680 really funny because I think you could have made a case or at least like 1025 01:09:02,680 --> 01:09:05,319 another five or six names to be different. It is fascinated that it were 1026 01:09:05,319 --> 01:09:08,680 worked out that way. But my team ended up being John Moran, Trey 1027 01:09:08,760 --> 01:09:13,399 Young, Evan Mobley, Zion Williamson, and Shay Gil Shay Gil just Alexander. 1028 01:09:13,399 --> 01:09:15,439 And if you think that SGA could play the three, then this might 1029 01:09:15,439 --> 01:09:20,800 work too. Yeah. I mean, look the way that Evan Mobley has 1030 01:09:20,800 --> 01:09:24,439 played this season, I won't rule anything out. He could play with Zion, 1031 01:09:24,600 --> 01:09:28,199 That's fine, just go ahead and do it. So sure, this 1032 01:09:28,279 --> 01:09:30,840 was when we want we do want to run a poll on this. We're 1033 01:09:30,840 --> 01:09:33,359 gonna wait a few days just to not spoil it too much for people. 1034 01:09:33,399 --> 01:09:38,520 But we're gonna have to be careful how we frame the poll question because fit 1035 01:09:38,640 --> 01:09:43,880 didn't matter, current level doesn't matter except how it informs us about the future. 1036 01:09:44,359 --> 01:09:45,720 So I can see like, we're gonna have to be careful here so 1037 01:09:45,720 --> 01:09:48,399 we don't get any any votes. They are like, yeah, like we 1038 01:09:48,640 --> 01:09:53,680 add up drafted three point guards. Yeah, you could also just if you 1039 01:09:53,720 --> 01:09:56,560 finish off your top fifteen list with those five players, we could just ask 1040 01:09:56,600 --> 01:09:59,760 who had the better top fift team ranking. Maybe they were so similar that 1041 01:10:00,279 --> 01:10:02,760 it would be negligible with the fact that they're all the same, but I 1042 01:10:02,800 --> 01:10:05,279 was gonna say they're all the same players, so it would work. You're 1043 01:10:05,279 --> 01:10:08,800 gonna have to figure out how to frame this because I didn't even understand the 1044 01:10:08,800 --> 01:10:12,960 point of the draft aspect of this exercise, so that's going to fall on 1045 01:10:13,039 --> 01:10:16,560 you. Yeah, just something different, that's the whole point. This was 1046 01:10:16,600 --> 01:10:19,159 fun, though. If you've made it this far and you have not rate, 1047 01:10:19,199 --> 01:10:23,239 reviewed, or subscribe to us wherever you get your podcast, please do 1048 01:10:23,279 --> 01:10:25,399 all of those things. If this is your first time listening to us, 1049 01:10:25,760 --> 01:10:30,840 consider throwing us that permanent subscription, Rate review, and us on iTunes even 1050 01:10:30,880 --> 01:10:32,000 if you don't use it, because those numbers help us out a ton. 1051 01:10:32,079 --> 01:10:34,760 The reviews as well. The ratings help, but when you rate and review, 1052 01:10:35,279 --> 01:10:38,199 it helps a ton. And if you rate and review, we are 1053 01:10:38,239 --> 01:10:41,520 more likely to start a discord channel. Follow us on YouTube, YouTube dot 1054 01:10:41,520 --> 01:10:44,720 com search Hardwin Knox. We will come up. We are on Instagram at 1055 01:10:44,720 --> 01:10:48,279 Hardwood Underscore Knox. We are on Twitter at Hardwood Knox. Adam is on 1056 01:10:48,319 --> 01:10:53,760 Twitter at from a zero nine. Following a math at NBA underscore math. 1057 01:10:53,880 --> 01:10:58,560 I'm at dan FA Valley FA v A L. Until next time, we 1058 01:10:58,720 --> 01:11:01,600 leave you the shout out to the one, the only. He did make 1059 01:11:01,880 --> 01:11:04,920 the top sixteen on my list. He was the first honorable mention outside of 1060 01:11:04,920 --> 01:11:06,880 the top fifteen. Frankielkeenam