Who’s the Top Pick? Plus, Giannis Trade and Most Interesting Offseasons.

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"With Visa Click to Pay." "Einfach by the next checkout out. Come on up on the Zacklow Show. It's Friday. This is going to get traded probably at some point.

We don't know when. And just screw it. Let's do a podcast anyway and make it all draft. Jonathan Gavoni from draft express. The best in the business.

He knows everything that's going on. He's seen all these players from when they were little pups learning how to play basketball at high level. He gives us all the latest on. Who is Washington taking it number one?

Is it actually going to be Darren Peterson? Does anybody actually know? What are the ripple effects of that pick going down to two, three, four, and then the Marass from five to 18 teams trying to trade up, trade down, trade in, trade out all these guards who are the clippers taking.

What are the nets going to do?

They just took a billion guards.

Are they going to trade down the Kings?

“Do they really want a cuff of that badly that they're going to trade up?”

The Hawks and eight is their pick and play. The Warriors pick and play. The Thunder have two picks. The Grizzlies have two picks in the top 18. What are all those teams going to do?

We get into all of it. I've actually watched some college basketball in the last few days. I'm learning a little bit. We talk about some of my hot takes from those and just sort of everything that's going to happen in the draft.

And yes, we talk Janas, the latest on Janas, do we still expect to trade before the draft and then some final stakes that I don't like. And my most interesting offseason teams that aren't at the top of the draft or in the Janas vortex, just other teams I'm watching that's all coming up on the Zack low show. Welcome to the Zack low show.

It's Friday morning. I wasn't actually going to do a show today because we're all on Janas spot. You could get traded at any time. But you know what? Screw it.

I'm not letting this hold up my business. The draft is in what four days or something crazy like that. There's a lot of intrigue. There's a lot of movement. Let's just have fun if Janas gets traded tonight.

We'll do another part. Janas think of only draft express just one of one in terms of draft intel and analysis. How are you doing? I'm doing great. Zach.

How are you? I'm good. I'm good. I'm on Janas spot. As the whole league is.

We all have been. It's been a while now, Zack. Can we give us? Yeah. I've waited so long for this to happen.

I'm like the old lady in Titanic at this point.

“A mad will you be if it doesn't happen on draft night?”

No. I don't get mad. I don't get mad because one of the things I've realized in my old age of doing this job is I can't control these things. I can't like I can't they're not going to happen conveniently to my podcast or personal

schedule. I can't control how long series go in the playoffs and how much I have to travel and who place it. You just have to just let it happen. Just got to let it happen to you.

Look, I have a busy-- this is the most suboptimal possible sequence of events. So normally the draft is on its Thursday. Thursday Friday has been the cadence of the draft forever.

So I'm going to reveal this as a first as a scoop on the Zack low show.

Several months ago, the New York Met's approached me about a number of things. So I do this Met's Corner segment on the podcast that they have like, because I'm just a crazy fan. Hey, among the things is like, would you want to throw out the first pitch on June 22nd? And I was like, Hell yeah, June 22nd, Monday before the draft a little bit of a hot zone,

but it'll be fine. It'll be great. And then, low and behold, we can time that to stay overnight as a family in Queens, fly out the next day to Toronto to watch Croatia play in the World Cup. Probably two days before the draft were getting in the hot zone, but he knows, well, whatever.

Like, it's World Cup. And now, that's the night before the draft will be throwing out the first pitch at city field, whether preventing the weather doesn't look great, because I'm freaking cursed in the Met's or cursed. And then I'm flying to Toronto.

He could get traded while I'm screaming in what is now a must-win game after a disappointing first game for Quatini. And you know what, Quatini? There's just nothing I can do about it, because these are going to get traded or he's not, but will I get angry?

No, I will say before we get into the draft draft.

I want to use that language, getting traded before the draft.

“I think everyone kind of wants us to happen.”

My favorite bit of reporting in the last week has been sources say Milwaukee does a love Miami's offer. Really? Is that a revelation? Because if they love Miami's offer, I think he'd be on Miami and would have been on

Miami like two months ago. Miami is in it, right? I think Boston is in it to some degree, the degree I'm not entirely sure what it is, but they're in it. I wouldn't even rule out like a mystery team, still kind of lurking on the fringes.

And obviously all of this is a lot of it. Anyways, contingent on where Janis is going to be willing to indicate that he will sign an extension in October. I still think it happens before the draft.

If only because, you know, Milwaukee will want a first round pick and the draft.

A lot of teams, you can probably speak to this are trying to get an extra bite at the apple and like the middle of the lottery because people just love this draft. And they'll want to, you know, they'll want to have control of another pick, but it wouldn't shock me if it goes past the draft, but I would still bet on it happening before the draft. What about you?

Yeah, I mean, I'm thinking back to the trade deadline when we all thought Janis was going to be traded and then he wasn't, and yeah, I followed up with some of the teams that were involved in, and they said, listen, they played this brilliantly. They wanted to see everybody's best offer. They made us all feel like this is happening.

Any second now, you better get your best offer in. They waited till the very last second, and they kind of dangled them in front of our faces. And then they pulled the rug out, and now they know what our best offer is. And now they're going to do this again, you know, and so we're going to, you know, they're going to take this on to the clock and I mean, like, is it going to, is it going to happen

here, like, you know, with the 13th pick or whatever, that like, that's when Janis gets he has traded. I'm not sure, but they obviously, like, this is a big move for them, and you want to get to do this one. So they're going to take their sweet time with it.

“Yeah, I think what's happening here is very simple.”

The draft is still four days away. My amy's offer is what it is. We can assume it's a combination of Tyler Hero, uh, uh, filler salary attached to decent intriguing young players. I would guess.

Go out further, no, like they could like sweeten the pie. Well, this is what I'm saying, like we, we know there's a, there's an offer like that with picks and number 13, and they can trade more future picks on top of that. I'm sure Milwaukee's like, cool, that's our floor, like, we're going to sniff around, and at the very least, or we're going to act like we're sniffing around or both, and hope to

get one more extra thing out of you. And by the way, uh, a couple other notes on this, the rose year thing falling away as salary filler for Miami is a really, is a really big deal because it, it actually strengthens their offer and weakens their ability to not strengthen their own offer in a lot of ways. And there are still, I think mechanisms where I think Hero has to be in the trade.

And I actually think Milwaukee, I've heard Milwaukee could flip Hero for a decent, like, more

draft equity so that they can frame this as like we get, you know, five first round picks

in the deal or something like that.

“I don't, I'm not going to speculate on where, but I think there are going to be deals available”

for Hero if that's the way Milwaukee wants to go. And I do think Miami has constructions of the trade where Wiggins, and they have a team option on him, hers at a flare option, I can't remember, it's some kind of option. And, um, and Norm Powell, who's an unrestricted free agent, they have his burglars, right? Our both still on the heat.

I think that's like their ideal scenarios, at least keep those two mid-sized to semi-high salaries on the team as talent, as players around Bam, and Yana, and whatever is left over. They're still the safe bet, but I, I'm prepared for anything, and I'm also prepared. I'm also prepared.

I, I, I, I, I want to jinx myself. Good morning. I'm going from the mound at City Field. I'm not doing the thing that Josh Hart and Jill and Brunson did where they, now they have to worry about injuring themselves, but they went from in front of the mound.

Most, I went to my local high school through the tarp off the mound and practiced from the mound, because I'm, I'm going to try. I'm going to try to do it. Why not? It's not.

I'm never going to do this again.

I'm going to go out swinging. Hope you do a better job than our boy Victor did. Dude, there's been some bad, uh, first pitches in the history of first pitches. And now, here's what I don't need, but it's not pretty low for you. Here's what I don't need from my friends and family.

I don't need people sending me 50 cent and gale king and everyone who fucked up the first pitch. I don't need it in my head. All right. Just like stop doing that.

It's not helpful. Um, any, any parting thoughts on the honest thing? Um, I don't know. I hope it happens. You know, I'm betting on.

I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I imagine it's going to end up being Miami, you know, like just because they, they've, they've, really want them and, uh, I've got three honest wants to be. And he's got a big say on this, you know, and so if you're going to give up all of that,

And so that's, it feels like they're, you know, that's where we're all kind of expecting

to end up. And that's that's my guess where the, where this goes. Uh, okay. Let's start at the top of the draft where Washington controls the process. Um, now there's all this reporting, Mark Stein reported that Washington is uncertain

is debating between Peterson and DeBança. Um, Jeremy Wu, your old colleague at ESPN just changed his mock draft 15 minutes ago to put Peterson at number one over DeBança. I've, again, I will say this. It's not like Washington's front office is going to be like, hey, Zack, just so you know,

we're taking play or X. So everyone is playing a guessing game to the point that I talked to a high-powered agent last night who just flatly said, oh, they're taking DeBança, ignore everything else. And then all this other reporting comes out and I've heard some of it too that Peterson's back on the board who knows, I don't think there's going to be a trade.

“I've, right now, I think the top four teams are going to stay the top four teams.”

You have been consistent that you think Peterson is the best guy in the draft. Do you still think Peterson is the best guy in the draft? And what's your best read, whatever you can share about Washington's intentions as we approach the weekend? I mean, I've been hearing Peterson at one from the very start, you know, like, so I was just,

you know, I came on the show the night that day after the lottery. And I was like, why was the whole lottery show about agent DeBança? You know, like I, I struggled with that. You did, and he's, it's not, he's, it's not Cooper flag. It's not Victor Wimbanyama.

It's not any kind of home run where they're just like taking age of DeBança and brought to the race. You know, like, it's a real conversation here. Do I know who they're taking? No, have I done a lot of work on it?

Also, no, you know, like I don't miss those days of, you know, having to call every agent, call every team. What have you heard and trying to track down, trying to figure out who's lying and how best to put their life in, you know, like, who picked him up and, you know, like, Washington, they're very secretive and for a good reason, but I would think that they,

you know, it's a real debate for them and you can't fuck this up, and this is exactly what I said, you know, like a month ago, you only get one chance at this and, and nobody's going to care that, you know, agent DeBança was the safe guy and, and if Darren Peterson is the best player, then this is going to be a stain on your record, you know, for the rest of your career.

“So you better make the right choice, and, you know, I think it's Peterson, you, you know,”

reasonable minds can disagree and you could tell me that agent DeBança is the most talented guy and, and he has a very strong argument. Agent DeBança is going to be a very good MBA player, so I can't wait to see how it all plays out. It's so much more fun when we don't know who the number one pick is.

And you remember this, you know, crazy, jabari Smith, Pablo Bancaro, chat home grin, I mean,

the Orlando magic never brought Pablo Bancaro in for a workout, you know, me, that's,

I remember going to Michael, and now we're before the drafts in Mike, who are they taking and he said, I don't know man, you know, like there was a last minute zoom, then, you know, and to, to not bring a guy in for the number one pick that just shows you like, they really, really struggled with this and they, and they had a tough choice to make. You know, turns out they probably should have taken chat, but, you know, I'm out of the

playoff's might, you know, I was going to say to my most recent memories of chat are him falling over trying to dribble baseline and dropping the ball a lot. But, yeah, I think that if you get the overall, you know, body of work, you know, we're all prisoners of the moment here, but like chat home, we're going to help them win an MBA championship last year and, you know, he, his role was a little bit different, you know,

like his job was to draw a victor out of the paint.

“He didn't do that very successfully, but, so, you know, I think, I'm, I'm hearing Peterson,”

but, you know, I haven't done as much work as I usually do on this kind of stuff. So we'll see how it plays out. Here's, here's, first of all, I completely agree with you. I had Kyle Mann on a few days ago, and I threw out the comp to the bank hero Smith home grand draft of, like, the last minute flip flops, the odds change, like Jabari Smith is

number one for a long time. He ends up getting picked third, which turns out to be the appropriate order of selections and, in that regard, I, I don't think Washington is trading the pick. I don't think to the best of my knowledge that they know with certainty right now who they are taking.

I think they're leaning one way and I don't know which way it is. And I don't think anybody really knows as that conversation with that agent, I mentioned last night, it's like, oh, yeah, for sure they're taking this guy, I'm like, okay, so here's

what I'll, here's what I'll have you do.

Because the finals ended relatively early, I've actually treated myself to some college basketball. Like I watched some full games and like, I can't, there's no way that I can cram, right? I can't cram from a year of not really watching college basketball because I watched two or three NBA games tonight, but I'm like, let me get more of a taste of some of these

guys. And it has been so much fun because I know that I can't make up for lost time.

that I really like Brandon Buries or Braden Buries, I'm saying their names wrong. That's how late I am into the game.

“And Peterson, I think was coming off some missed time in that game was super quiet in the”

first half. And I'm texting scouts like, I'm watching this game, like Peterson's doing nothing,

Buries is amazing, like, well, my God, and then in the second half, all of a sudden,

Peterson has 22 points. Fran Fashill is losing his mind on commentary about how good Peterson is. And then all my scouts like, look, if you really want to see Peterson, you got to watch this high school game, which I did a little bit of, you got to watch this game against bailer and this game against whoever and I'm like, man, it's got to be so, you really have

to see the full body of work, obviously, to make an informed decision. I can't do that. But I will say this, Peterson is what six, six, six, six, with shoes to be answers, like six, nine, six, eight, six, nine, with shoes. Peterson had this wildly strange college season. I will say you probably heard this, too, that although there is some, there is a great deal

of skepticism about the public creatine explanation for the cramping. All the medicals, all the testing, everybody has seen that every team is satisfied that they've seen everything they need to see and that Peterson's medicals are fine. And there is no issue here to be worried about whatever happened happened. Nobody's really worried about it.

So aside from that, make the case for me that the smaller guy with the more strange college season, better high school season probably, but more strange college season is actually the right guy for the wizards and ignore fit. Like let's just pretend the wizards are a blank slate, which they're not, but make the case.

“Yeah, I think that Darren Peterson is going to end up being the engine of an NBA team.”

I think he's a six, six version of Damian Lullard.

And so that player, that we saw in high school, that can change speeds with incredible

force, get paint touches, finish with both hands, pass off the live dribble, make shots from anywhere on the court. That isn't all NBA player, and that's the guy that you can win a championship with. Aged a bunch of, it's going to be a 25 point per game score in the NBA. He's an incredible talent in his own right.

I'm just not sure that he's somebody that you can win a championship with. You know, with a high style play, really ball dominant, mid range, boy ball, tunnel vision, you know, inattentive at times, defensively, I'm worried about that. Now Darren Peterson, there was a lot of chill there this season, and we didn't see that extra gear that was so tantalizing in high school, where he's just, you know, playing off

that right hand that has been just blowing by people and finishing above the rim. We saw that in really small doses this year, but it wasn't as consistently as we saw

Aged a bunch of, Aged a bunch of has this incredible will to score this like insatiable hunger

to put the ball in the basket that I missed from Darren Peterson, like I was really disappointed in the way that that he went out, you know, that last game again, St. John's OK at 21 points, so Darren Peterson, but down the stretch, it's like, man, go take the ball from Melbourne, Cancel, Council, and go win this game. He was really like playing the three, it was all these bad shots from Tray White and Melbourne Council. We're like, okay, some of that is on the coaching

staff. They were kind of unrecognizable, you know, like with terms of like what you normally expect to see from Kansas, you know, Bill South was obviously, you know, he wasn't healthy this year, and so I wonder, like, if we saw the best version of Darren Peterson, like, what I could not let go of what I saw, you know, the whole weekend Brooklyn and McDonald's on their game, every practice, every scrimmage to game, you know, that whole season and prolific prep that

incredible game against, you know, it debons that, you know, where he drew, the guy averaged 30 points to game, seven assists, you know, he would make incredible shots all year in high school

“when we're talking about. And, you know, that, that really is stuck with me, and that's why Peterson”

has been number one of my board all year, and from what we're hearing, you know, like that version of him, it's been all full display, you know, in the pre-graph process, in workouts, in our life, playing against NBA players every day, and people are saying like, this guy is going to be a superstar in the NBA, and I'm sure if, if, if that's what people, what Washington saw in their private

I want to reiterate this, the jazz were not surprised that they are apparently to this point, not going to get a private workout from Darren Peterson, and I don't think they really care. I don't think that's going to influence who they pick or not. Do you, was, was what I said about

“the health checking out, okay, with teams have you heard that, that same thing, or am I wrong on that?”

No, I've heard the same thing, and it was obvious also just like watching him this year, Kansas said like, he was not himself, like it was not the same close. There was like a tentative

quality to him where it's like instead of just, you know, blowing past people with that incredible

change of speed, that incredible force, it was a lot of mid-range pull ups instead, and I'm like, just from the very first game, I was like, this is not the exact same guy that I saw, you know, like he's obviously not comfortable, you know, was it the hamstring? I don't know, you know, like, but, and so yes, I mean, that, I mean, that all checks out, it checks out from what we hear, check out the medical checks out in the film, and so like I know what I saw, like there is another

gear there for Darren Peterson that we didn't see consistently this year at Kansas. You could make the argument that if they just love both the bands and Petersen equally,

“that tie would go to fit, and I think Peterson is, is a little bit of a smoother fit, depending”

a little bit on Tray Young, right? Like, this Tray Young thing is a little bit strange that he opted out of, that it's already being reported that he is, I think is, it's admitted to late, late June

deadline, opting out of 49 million next year. It could be as simple as, this is pre-arranged,

and he's going to opt out and resign for three years, whatever, with a starting salary that's a little lower, a little, whatever, a little different that there's some reason why he opted out instead of opt in and extend. It could also be that his agents know he has a max somewhere, and I don't know where that would be. I've heard conflicting, I've heard both accounts potentially being true, and so if he has a max somewhere, he has a max somewhere, they know he's going to opt out,

and the wizards are going to have some work to do to bring them back, but given, I mean, I guess they both fit very well. The wizards have a lot of wing and big guys. I don't know how important Anthony Davis is going to be to their long term future, Davis, Sard, etc., Kishan,

George, Kulabali, and all that. Maybe not under that really matters, but that's an interesting

one to me. And I'm looking at the ringer, our big board, Kyle Man just updated his, and he has camp loser at one. And I will say, you may have seen this on Instagram, they pulled this out. I fell in love with camp loser watching a couple of full-dude games and some other clips of him. I just think he's awesome. I think he's going to be a very good NBA player, and I think I should have been clear about this. Again, I know nothing, right, compared to the draft mix.

I don't even loving what I saw from camp loser and what a genius IQ processor playing from a step ahead, the passing, the versatility, the shooting, running, pick and roll, screening, and pick and roll, all that stuff, using angles, like a little bit of yoke itchy stuff in his game, not to compliment all just a little bit of that. I still don't think based on, again, my limited viewing, that how much I love him. I still don't think I would take him number one,

because these two guys have such crazy superstar upside in terms of like engines on offense, that I'm not sure a loser is quite that. I could be wrong, but I am prepared for like, I'm prepared for anything in the draft. Like, I'm prepared for the 2% possibility that Washington is decided, fuck it, we're taking camp loser number one, or the whatever percent possibility that Utah is like, oh, the bands have fell to us. Guess what, we're taking Peter's

in, are we're taking, we're taking booze or number two, like, I'm prepared for anything, and I think Memphis and Chicago are sitting there being like, like, hey, man, we're cool. Like, whatever, whatever, we're thrilled with these top four guys, but it's interesting that Kyle

“move booze or up to number one. But that's, that's what I stand for, not as mock, right?”

So that's why it's, it's his big board, not a mock, I think. But I would be surprised if it's not one of the of the bands that Peter's in at one, I would be very surprised. Yeah, and me too, yeah, for sure. You can, you can make arguments for both of them, and this tray thing is a little weird. I would still bet on tray being back with the wizards, but who the hell knows? And then the draft really begins at at five with all of these guards, and, you know, Clippers, Brooklyn, Sacramento,

Atlanta at eight is super interesting. Dallas at nine is super interesting. Milwaukee, Golden State, Oklahoma City, and I've heard, I don't know if you've heard this, I've heard New Orleans

doubt. I don't know who it is, but, you know, there's just so much intrigue with the Clippers have Garland, how much is that going to impact their selection? Then that's just drafted a whole bunch of point guards, how much is that going to impact what they're going to do? You've probably heard these rumblings that like, is Brooklyn going to trade down into the range where there's like more wing guides available, pick up an asset, they don't want one of these guards. I don't know,

Sacramento, although this noise about like they love eight cuffs, Scott Perry, coach, they cuffs that, or they're going to trade up with the Clippers to get to make sure they get eight cuffs. I actually, I would bet against that based on what I've heard, but again, the Intel is all over the place. I don't think Sacramento is like, a cuff for bus or trading up. We're going to do something reckless. My read on them is best I can get it, and it may be wrong. I want to be clear,

is that they're going to be cool with whatever falls to them, but that could be the that could be wrong, too. But like what just in that range, what's most interesting to you, whether it's trade up, trade down, trade out, a particular player that's floating around that range, kind of wildly varying degrees, like what's interesting to you? I think it's the Clippers, you know, I mean, it's such a tough decision for them. I mean, they they made this huge gamble,

trading zoo bots for the pick, they won on lottery night, you know, they have the pick now,

it's an incredible win for them, but now you got to pick the right guy, you know, and like,

and it's not like they're ready to take a guy and then continue to rebuild her for three years. So I mean, like, they've got a team that is built to win now. And so, but at the same, so do you a lot of these guards, you don't really fit with Garland, and so, you know, A-Coff, you know, even McKell Brown defensively, it's not a, it's not a great fit, but like you don't draft for fit at this point in the draft. You want to, in five years from now, you want to be able to say,

“I got the best player at this, at the spot that I was drafting at. And so that's what makes this”

such a tough decision. And so I'm sure that, you know, they're fielding on these calls and, you know, what? I don't, I mean, you said earlier that you think that like there's so much, so many teams want to trade into this range or so much, you know, I mean, I would, I would think that like, it's kind of a normal draft here, this five to 10 range, you know, like, and so I think even below, I think even below that, and I think part of that is because people think golden states pick

at 11, might be in play and the, and the thunder pick at 12 might be in play because they have two, two of the top 17. And then 15 to 18 is four straight teams, Chicago, Memphis, Oklahoma, City, Charlotte, who they have traded for that pick. They're not the original owners of that pick. So I just think there's a lot of like, there's a lot of thinking some of those picks could be available

for various questions. And there always is, I mean, like, there's always a huge amount of movement,

you know, like, especially in that 15 to 30 range, I mean, we'll probably see like half of those

“picks trader. There's always like, I mean, I think it's the status like 8 to 10 picks move hands,”

like the week of the draft, you know, or like, including the night of the draft. And so, yeah, there's going to be a ton of movement. And, you know, the draft is like, it's the best conduit for making moves and for preparing yourself for a free agency and attaching, you know, picks with contracts to to get off stuff and clean your books and all that. So yeah, it's, I mean, it's much bigger than the draft. I think it's probably less about like pure excitement about

the players in this range, you know, especially like in that 15 to 25 range. And more about like, we've got to do something, you know, like, and this is a great opportunity that the whole league is open for business. And let's just go make some shit happen right now. Let's take a quick break.

And then we'll talk more about this sort of intriguing morale in the middle of the first round.

And the most interesting thing about season teams, because they obviously fell again in the lottery. They drafted a bunch of guards last year. They have this Mike Goporten Jr. expiring contract

“that I think would be really interesting. They've got a lot of them. They've got a bunch of guards last year.”

They have this Mike Goporten Jr. expiring contract that I think would be one of them. They've got a bunch of guards last year. They have this Mike Goporten Jr. expiring contract that I think would be a pretty valuable trade chip. They also just have to decide in this new lottery world. Do we like, they don't control their pick next year, which gives them like a bizarre incentive to actually, in some cases, be in the relegations own, like be so bad that you're one of the three

worst teams in the league, because then you can't have your pick, be number one and have it.

the Nick's just won the championship. And we're like our afterthought status has been

underlined, like, and highlighted more than it will ever be. We have to get some juice in the arena. So I don't know what they're going to do with this pick. And I don't even know, like,

“what have you heard about just their general, like, is this trade down stuff for a wing real?”

Like, what do you think is going to happen there? And I think they need to show improvement this year. Like, I think that they need to start winning games and make some strides, because next year's draft is shitty. And like you said, they don't control their pick. And so there's no, like, pot of gold at the end of the rainbow anymore. You know, like, you've got it. You've got to get going here. And it's unfortunate that, like,

these last few drafts that they've slipped. And they don't get the pick from the pre-mote talent.

And that really, and that makes me think that they're not going to trade down even further. You know, like, you're at six. There's these, you know, four to five guys who are going to be there. You got to go and pick the best one. You know, like, in regardless of position, I don't think that then Seraph, you know, like, is, you know, or no one's for all right. Like, these guys can't be factors in your decision-making process. Like, they're, I'll go step further.

“Like, I think Darious Garland is good enough to be a factor in your thinking if you're the”

clippers, but I don't think it should be anything close to like a determining factor. Darious Garland was a nice, bi-low emergency play. What it was clear that Harden wanted out and was

not going to be a part of the long-term future of the franchise. That was a nice pivot for them.

He's a very good player. He's made an all-star team. He's had a ton of health issues. He really just barely played for the clippers and played pretty well. But like, he is not, if I'm the clippers, and I love a cuff, or I love one of these smaller guards, McHale Brown, who I didn't love on film, by the way. And not the bigger guards, like, wacklers, a little taller, wackler, by the way, there's a little taller buries, plays a little

both way. If I, if I love who I love, like, Darious Garland is not stopping me from taking that guy, and I'm just going to figure out the rest later. He has two years left on his contracts. I think he's not a five-year deal with them, but I'm sorry. Continue about Brooklyn. Yeah. No, so I mean, I, I'm with you at the same same concept, you know, applies to the clippers

“that it applies to to the nets, you know, like you, you need to go and get the best guy here. And so,”

and trading down, like, planting on this is not really a solution. So, if, if you've got to figure out who's going to be the best player of three years from the promise that like, none of these guys are really going to help you win next year. Like, Darious, I'll take off, definitely not, you know, Kingston Fleming's Keaton Wawgler, Neda Met. Well, I like Kingston Fleming's, he's clever. I, I don't, he's pretty small, but he's clever. And he competes on defense. I don't know what

he's going to be in the end yet. I don't know, but, you know, history tells you that, like, point guards who are 19 years old don't help you win in our liking. So, that, that's kind of put some in a tough spot because, you know, you, you need to get better, but it's not, it's probably not going to happen for you from these from this crop of guys from five to ten. But then you're hoping that they show enough excitement as the year moves on to buy you more time to continue to

build and, you know, use your cap room and use New York City and use the microporter, you know, trade ship and it's not, it's not an easy situation there. I'll tell you that. Give me one guy who's rising and one guy who's falling as we approach drafted. Yeah, I think that it's probably less about like the workouts, the measurements, the combine, all that and more about like what we just saw in the playoffs, you know, and so I think with that in mind, I think the big,

you know, like the playoffs help the bigs. I mean, it's been a couple of years now where we're seeing like big men, really matter, rebound matters, rim protection matters, you can play two bigs together, you need that physicality in the front court and so like I got like like Morris Johnson for example, you know, like he's, he's, he's, he's showed that he can play both spots, you can play the four, you can pay the five, you know, he's shot it, you know, decently and workout, he's 20 years old,

great interviews, you know, seven three-wing spin, that, you know, that level of physicality, you know, that that's impressive, you know, like in Hanna Steinbach, the same thing, you know, like really good measurements, you know, he's over six eleven and into seven two-wing spin, has shown the ability to space the floor, can pass it some great offensive rebound or strong, physical tough, you know, like that translates to today's NBA, is he going to be a star?

No, could he be a real useful piece for, you know, any team in that eight to 14 range? Yes,

do we see like in a dimara, you know, like does he climb up the board on draft nine and up at six seven, you know, like that range, I mean, like, wow, I've heard that's, I've heard like eight

nine, like that range is not like outrageously unlikely, like it's unlikely, but you're not the first

person to throw numbers like that about a dimara. I mean, he's so intriguing, you know, nine, nine, standing reach, you know, the passing ability, the room protection, he's so skilled, the crafty, he's got great footwork, he's got great hands, you know, the question is, you know, is he going to be able to shoot eventually? I mean, he shot 59% from the free throw line in college, which probably not going to happen anytime soon, but we saw that, you know, earlier on in his career, and so if he

can do all that stuff at seven, four, you know, he's only 20, he's been in college for three, but he's only 21 years old, there's still some upside there to tap into. I mean, that's,

those are the guys that I got my eye on on draft night, you know, like those bigs to see, like,

do any of them, do any of them climb into the lottery? Where does Yaxo lend the board end up? You know, like there's kind of like this sense out there that like, you know, turning 24 in September, he's just too old, he is what he is, you know, the analytics, they don't like the older guys, there's been a ton of guys over the years, he had poutos and Wesley Johnson, who, you know, would like, got drafted really high at, you know, at 23 and ended up fusting. And so, but Yaxo,

led the board, you know, he's 610, he can handle he can pass, he can shoot, he's built for the modern game, he played small forward for a national championship team, you can slide him to the four,

he's big enough to play the five, you know, like he was super efficient, he can do a lot of

different things, so I'm just really interested to see where does Yaxo end up, you know, some people say like the interviews, the background, people kind of wonder, you know, like, how serious is he, and I've heard that heard the maturity, I've heard the maturity, I'm sorry, I'm going to be like for him,

“and so that's going to be a very interesting one for me. Honestly, again, I know nothing compared”

to you and everyone else, I watched some land aboard tape and was like, he's not going to be a bus, like, I don't know exactly what he's going to be, but he's not going to be a bus. I liked all three of the Michigan guys quite a bit, give me, give me one faller before we take another quick break. Probably Jayden Quentin's, you know, like it's just, you know, there was, he started the year top 10 on pretty much everybody's board, he was, you know, the youngest player in college basketball

as a freshman at Arizona State, he had an awesome year just blocking everything and, you know, as a 17 year old and, you know, he barely played this year, he played four games, he didn't look right, there's some concerns there about the medical, you know, he's still only 18 years old, that if it feels like a Robert Williams type situation where he might end up sliding into the mid 20s,

“but somebody's going to pound sound him, one of these really good teams and I think they're going”

to end up being really, really happy with him because like, you know, you can't teach 610, 75 wingspan, you know, that versatility defensively, there's a lot to work with there, you know, like you think about like the spurs at 20, like, it's a pretty interesting guy to pair with someone like Victor and so I'm really interested to see where this Jayden Quentin's end up on draft night. It's funny how some of those like fallers that fall and then a team pounces on them, especially

if it's a smart team, it's like, oh my god, what is, what a great shot in the dark, you know, this guy fell to them and like the good number one guy coming to my mind is how excited everyone was for Cam Whitmore on the rockets and that, like sometimes they fall and it's like, oh, that's why they fell. The guy I've heard is, and we don't need to believe this is co-op heat just because of concerns over his jump shot, but let's take, let's take quick break and then we'll talk

really quickly, uh, some more offseason stuff. All right, let's wrap up by just I wanted to go through like interesting offseason teams that are not in the honest vortex and not in like the top five of

“the draft vortex with one exception that I'll get to admit this. Just because I think they deserve”

mention, um, I mentioned Atlanta at number eight. I think that's a pretty interesting. I think they're a very interesting team for a lot of reasons. They could open up cap space. They have CJ McCollum's free agency that could vaporize some of that cap space. They have Jonathan Commingos team option that they could do a number of different things with including trade them if they wanted to. Um, and they have this number eight pick and it's from New Orleans, uh, and it didn't end up as as sexy a pick

almost no until it all. I wonder if that pick is going to be available in some form for a veteran

and I keep coming back to I'm shocked at how much I hear Tray Murphy's name in the rumor mill.

“I think that's partly uh, like I don't think he would he would be adverse to a trade out of New”

Orleans. If I'm New Orleans, I'm like, I say, actually, a good player. I'd like to have a good player in a good contract on my team. He'd be a great fit in pretty much anywhere and I look at a team like the warriors. I don't think 11 is going to get it done for Tray Murphy and they have difficulty matching salaries and doing all sorts of other things and they like most Moody's hurt and Jimmy Butler's hurt. I wonder if eight could start the process of a Tray Murphy deal to

Atlanta? I think Chicago also deserves a little mention in the trade because of Bryson Graham in whatever happens with Tray Murphy, but I think Atlanta's sneakiness thing. Anything you want

to say on them? On Atlanta? Um, yeah, I mean, there's always guards there and they played without

a traditional point guard since trading Tray young. So they do they continue along those lines and just have this like super size, you know, big time defensive lineup or do they go with, you know, just having all those guys give you the ability to go draft a Darious Acca for a McElbrow to a great point or a Wagler or something like that because you can instillate them a lot better than on most NBA teams and even if you're bringing that guy off the bench, that's okay. I mean,

he comes in and he's, you know, he's a spark plug as a rookie and it just eases the transition so much for a rookie like that to have those kind of defenders and veterans around you.

“Detroit, speaking of Tray Murphy, I think they're going to do something interesting this summer.”

I don't know if it's going to be as a draft, I don't know if it's going to be in for agency, I don't know if it's going to be a trade. They can also open up a decent amount of cap space. They've been mentioned as like a potential Austin Reeves landing spot. They'd have to do a lot of work to open up Austin Reeves level cap space. Uh, it's not impossible. Uh, I just think, you know,

they had a, they had a rough first round series. They win a seven game second round series.

They lose it laid bare what they're missing, which is outside shooting around and and secondary creation around their sort of centerpiece players. And I think they look at the east is like, okay, like we learned what we're missing, we're, we're going to do something interesting that they didn't do it to trade that line where they just sort of did the fringy Kevin Hurder thing. I think there's a lot of interest around the league in Isaiah Stewart who has a handy salary

for trade purposes. Based on based on just putting dots together, Dubai's Harris is a free agent. He's a veteran leader on their team. I'm sure there's mutual interest in a deal being done there, but we'll see what other alternatives the Pistons have. I just think the Pistons are going to do something by their standards a little splashy. That's all. I don't even know where they're, they even have a pick in the, I don't think they have a pick in the strategy. I don't know,

21, 20 from from that swap. That's right. That swap with Minnesota. They go up to 21. So that's

“like not an uninteresting spot for them to be in. I just think I think they had it with the Pistons.”

Tyler hero sweepstakes if they want to, you know, make a big offer for trade Murphy, you know, like what does Dallas do with Kyrie, you know, marketing, and obviously that's going to take a lot to to get him, but like they need shooting and this is the perfect moment for them to, to go all in with their pieces and, you know, like they don't probably need a Sartamson and Ron Holland, like how well do those guys as they do? They don't all compliment, keep coming in, keep coming in,

needs a little bit more space to breathe. We saw, you know, in the playoffs and so any of those guys who could really, really shoot and take some pressure off of Cade would make a lot of sense, and they're people aren't just going to give them away, but like they have the ability to go make a move here because their books are pretty clean and they have their picks going forward. So, you know, why not go make an aggressive move if you're to the trip, Pistons.

The time is now, the East is wide open. Other teams that are interesting. Toronto. Well, no, I'm just going to fill these in somewhat interesting. Well, what to make the case for filling being on this list? Well, you know, brand new president and Mike Gansy to clean slate for him. He could take this a lot of different directions, you know, like if he wants to go to ownership and say, let's blow this thing up, you know, like let's start over,

like get rid of your unbeat, let's do whatever we can to get off of Paul George. Let's start over, let's build around V.J. Edge Come, you know, and Tyre's Maxi. I mean, that you can make a case that that might be the move. And if there's any time to do that, it's at the very beginning of this new transition into a brand new front office. Now, I mean, what are they going to get back? I mean, getting off Paul George, like good luck with that. But, um, it's good. I mean, it's it's a thought to

at the trodder, someone like that, it's like, we need another guy, you know, like to put next

“to Cade, those are two guys that, you know, like are proven, you know, players in the NBA.”

Colye, interesting fit in Detroit. No clue what's going to happen with him. Obviously, we're all waiting for Walk Till, Lipton, Rosen and Kat's, by the way, the law firm, congratulations. It's just world record, billable hours on this aspiration to you on interview me, I'll come in for a couple hours. I don't know anything, but like if you just need to get your billables up, I'll put on a suit, I'll walk into your office, so I'll get someone to film it, we'll have a great time. Um, I'll just,

I'll plead the fifth. I've never pleaded the fifth before for any reason. I'd love to go and

plead the fifth. It would be a lot of fun. Um, uh, Toronto, 19, number 19 pick. I just mentioned them because they are, they're, they're good, and there was some proof of concept in them being a good team. Scotty Barnes had an amazing playoffs. I don't know that there are any any better than good, and they just have a lot of contracts, and they have all their picks and swaps under control.

“I don't, I don't expect anything dramatic from them. But I'm just interested to see sort of,”

you know, also OG and Adobe became a hero for another team, and there's that whole other story line. But um, I'm just interested to see what they do. Indiana, like everyone forgot about the Pacers, then they trade it for zoo bots, Alliberton presumably will be healthy coming off the shingles thing and everything else. They're, they're like, they ran rough shot over the Eastern conference, like yesterday, basically. So they're a thing in that regard, and they're also interesting.

I'm going to read you all the players who are extension eligible for the Pacers. Pascal Siakum, Tyrese, Haliburton, Abitizubach, Andrew Nemhart, Obi-Topen, Jaris Walker, Ben Shepherd, and Johnny Furfi, are all eligible for extensions. That's just a crazy amount of guys, including two max guys in Haliburton and Siakum that are eligible for extensions. They have multiple years left on their deal. Haliburton has three. Siakum, I do it. Just a lot of interesting pivot points

for the Pacers. I have no idea what they're going to do. Obviously, they are heartbroken having lost their pick in just who could have possibly seen a coming Jonathan. We talked about this the luck of the draw. Um, and who else do I have on my list? Oh, they're in the top five. So they kind of like violate my rule of I don't want it to. I just think I'm very excited to watch Memphis next year because they're good. They they move up in the lottery and they're gifted this

this third pick. Everyone thinks they want booze or whatever. Whoever they get is going to be very good. Because they're really they're they're two keeper keepers and they have this marrant situation and need to resolve our coward who's just really good and can play with pretty much anybody. Like a wing who can shoot three is a handle the ball. Like it just anybody. An ED for 11 games last year was like fucking Godzilla and then they're just didn't play at all because of these ankle injuries.

He'll come back presumably. Uh, Ty Jerome was a monster for 15 games and then he didn't play it all with ED. They get this number three pick. I just I'm interested. I just can't wait to watch them play.

“I think they're going to be fun. Uh, dude, dude, dude, dude. Is the blues are always accurate to you?”

Oh, him and Zach eat together. That's like straight out of the 80s. Like they're just going to do it. Ryan people to a pulp inside would be like post up after post up after post up. They're going to be in the bonus 90 seconds into the game and it's going to be awesome to watch. And so, you know,

what do they do a job? How does he fit into all of that? I'm not sure. But, um, Memphis is always

entertaining and so it'll be interesting to see what they do. I mean, they're always very aggressive on draft night. So, do they, you know, do they do? I mean, they've got the picks. And so they have 16 as well, right? Like what are they going to do with 16 teams? Or I think teams are calling in that range. Like trying to get in and they could also just be like, we'll take, you know, I mean, then it starts or somebody like that who the hell knows. Just draft co-op eating and just go

all in on, you know, post up guys. You know, put him at the three and just smash people with death. All game long. Uh, one more team. Uh, I just I, it's just they're not that interesting. But they are people have kind of stopped talking about Minnesota. Um, because they have faded out of the honest

discourse. And I never really figured out how they were going to get in on the honest discourse.

And who the hell knows if they're still secretly in it or not? I still think they watch those conference finals and send to themselves. Like we're, we're pretty good. Those two teams are only going to get better. And is probably going to look around and be like, we need a little more juice here on the ball. Even Chancel is going to miss the, at least most of the season if not all of it next year. Um, Randall had another bad playoffs. They don't have a ton of tools, although they

get another pick that they can trade it when the calendar flips over. We just know Tim Connelly is adventurous and not afraid to push a lot of chips in, not afraid to shake up his team. I just don't like, I don't know how tradable their big salaries are. I don't know, like, someone like Go Bears

that degree. I just, I never, I always keep half an eye on Minnesota. I don't know if you've

heard anything, but I will, I always just keep half an eye. I don't know how they're going to pivot, but I expect something unexpected from Minnesota. Yeah. I mean, Tim Connelly, like he said, like, he's a, he's a deal maker. And so, I mean, if there's, if there's a trade to be made out there, if there's an opportunity to get in on like a three team trade or something like that, it'll be right in the mix there. I mean, they've got their team. And I mean, Anthony Edwards is still

only 24 years old. There's probably another gear he can still get to, you know, like, Jeremy Davis is 25. So it's not like they need to, you know, blow up the whole thing here. I mean, they had a pretty good year. They made the semis of Western Convince five. So like there, they're, I don't see them, you know, drastically changing anything. And is there something along the margins that could they pick up on their ball handler? I mean, that's probably what they're

“going to end up doing. I want to conclude by calling out what I think is the”

lamest and fake boldest trade a take of in the media right now. The lamest and fake but fakeest boldest. I don't know how to exactly say it. But I hate this take. I've seen a lot of people make it already. And they, they pound their fist like it's like it's a really bold take. And the take is, well, the next feel good story. They're not going to repeat next year. Point it in the books. The next are going to repeat. This is one and done.

The league is going to figure that out. Like, great story. How we're off for New York, how we're off for Jalen Brunson. It is the lamest possible take to make four days after an insane championship run where they went 16 and three in the playoffs. And the reason I say fake boldest is like, oh, we've had eight straight new champions. You're think it's like a big statement to come out and be like, I don't think the Nixon are going to repeat. It's like the safest fake

boldest take possible. It's to take your most likely to be proven right with because you said it right in the aftermath. I told you they weren't going to repeat. Yeah, no kidding. It's very unlikely

“that they repeat. It's very unlikely that anyone repeats. I will also say I think because of how”

unusual Brunson is as a number one star and how just unusual their season was in terms of like pretty good 53 win team, 16 and three joggernaught in the playoffs. I think people are sleeping a little bit on the 16 and three part. Like, that's not a small sample size. And I know they didn't have to play Boston. What's Boston going to look like next year? Do we know? Do we know for sure? Like, they were did not play great in the postseason. I know they didn't have to play Oklahoma City. Obviously,

like, I would have picked Oklahoma City at full health to beat the next in the finals. I think they would walk in as my favorites next year. We don't know how the offseason is going to shake out for any of these teams, including the spurs who beat Oklahoma City. Like Indiana, Zubats is an interesting new piece. We'll see Detroit again. We'll see what they do in the offseason Cleveland in New York just threw them out of the playoffs. Like they were a freaking pile like garbage going

into a dumpster on the side of the road, Philadelphia and Orlando, New Coach and Miami. We don't know who's going to be on their team as a yannis is a nigh on us. What's left over? Like, I just wouldn't sleep on the possibilities that the nicks are in the finals again next year. And if you're

“in the finals, you got a chance. So I think that take is both just so obvious as to be like wildly”

fake bold. And also, I think kind of underestimate the next night's. I've heard it a lot. I've seen it a lot. I think it's just almost like a waste of airspace done and a podcast. And he thought, I would love to see the nicks back in the finals. I'm at living New York. I'm in Harlem. Like, we had a watch party in front of my house, every game. My kids are coming home from school, talking about basketball, asking about asking questions. Have you ever met this guy? You ever met that guy?

My kids never showed the slightest bit of interest in what I do for a living until the nicks

these finals all their friends at school started talking about basketball and all that. So I'm like, that was fun. Let's do that again. I'll tell you, I'll say this again. I grew up hating the nicks. I am not an X-Fan. I don't know. I have no emotions toward any team. I'm spock as Bill calls me. I do love New York City. I've lived there for almost, I did live there for almost 20 years. It's my favorite place in the world. I've already done this. I don't want to belabor it. I mentioned

when I said that a few days ago that Empire State of mind was my wife and my wedding song. When we got married. And I'm like, I got a little, I'm a pretty controlled guy. But when Alicia Keys performed and Oselbrotto and Tat are like popping and bouncing to Empire State of mind and she's like in the nicks. I got a little emotional yesterday. And

like there's two million people there. You can see all the way down the streets and it's just

endless seas of people. I was watching on TV. There was no way in hell. I was actually going to go

Jonathan. I'm not a, I'm not, when she got up there and started belting out, Leia, put a hand up

“for the big city. I was a little emotional. Okay. So maybe that's why I don't like this take.”

I'm a little emotional about New York City right now. It was a fun run. And I would love to do it again. Jonathan Gavoni, draft express, follow him on X, follow him on Instagram. Where else can they follow you?

Tiktok, I guess. Tiktok, all right. I don't know what's going on. I've never walked in once to

“Tiktok, but allegedly we are on Tiktok and we have like 250,000 followers. So we have the same”

relationship with Tiktok. I have a Tiktok count. No idea what's going on. No, no clue. I don't want to do your Tiktok for you. You're missing out. Yeah. I don't know what's happening on Tiktok. You're the best. Nobody knows the draft better than you. Stay tuned to everything. He tweets, says does in the next four days. Gavoni, thanks for some of your time. I'll see you down the road, buddy. Thanks. Great to be with you. All right. That's it. Everybody enjoy the weekend. It could be a

newsy weekend. Thank you to Jonathan Gavoni of draft express. He's incomparable. Thank you as usual

to Jonathan Mike and Billy on production. And thanks as always to you all for listening to

and/or watching, the Zach Losha will be back next week. Kind of TBD, depending a little bit on news and by crazy travel events schedule that I have coming up. But stick with us. If anything happens, we will be here. The draft is on Tuesday. So something is going to happen while Croatia is playing Panama. And I'm in the stands in Toronto. God help us all. Thank you all for listening. See you soon. 21 over in President's like states for Kansas and affiliation with Kansas star casino,

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