NBA Draft Reactions and Lots of Pelicans Jokes With Joe House and J. Kyle Mann | The Bill Simmons Podcast

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So after hours, I'll be the last one on Monday coming up on this podcast. Uh, Joe house and and Jake Kyle Mann are going to come on to recap the 2025 NBA Draft, which had the potential to be an A -plus and be incredible and have all kinds of comedy and craziness.

Pretty chalk for a while, and then it got goofy, and I can't wait to talk about it.

So it's all next. We're going to take a break.

We're going to bring in Pearl Jam, and then House, Jake Kyle Mann, NBA Draft coming up.

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We're live! Yeah! Joe House is here.

I'm Bill Simmons. We are live after pick 28 of the NBA draft. I waited to see who the Celtics were going to take.

They took a Yugo. Yugos were a car that we made fun of.

Now the Celtics have a pick that doesn't seem like it can shoot.

I didn't do a lot of Yugo studying.

Anyway, House, this was the Cooper flag draft. This was the San Antonio took Dylan Harper.

I really want to know how him and De 'Aaron Fox are going to coexist draft. this was the I can't wait to see what happens at three but I think it's going to be VJ Edgecombe draft and that's what happened this was the where the hell is Ace Bailey going draft where is where you came in your beloved Washington Wizards the former Bullets Ace Bailey seemed like he wanted to come either play for your team or Brooklyn you get a little Ace in your pocket and then Utah Utah, Danny Ainge, who's like, Ace doesn't want to play here.

He's literally announced he doesn't want to go to Utah.

Danny Ainge is like, I'm Danny Ainge.

I do whatever the hell I want.

He takes him, he grabs him from you.

Were you bummed? God damn it, Danny Ainge.

I mean, Bill Simmons, I was preparing to come on.

I was going to pop a bubble.

There was two scenarios under which I was I was going to pop a bottle and pop a bubble.

I was going to do both.

One was Malawatch. That was my preferred pick for Washington.

But over the course of today, I got so many incoming messages from folks in the know and around the team.

And, you know, this Ace Bailey thing is legit.

It's not a joke. It really could be him arriving in Washington and saying, wait a minute.

It's not often that Washington is on the receiving end of some, you know, whatever whatever misjudgments or whatever was driving the potential for Ace Bailey to drop a superstar by all regards in terms of this draft, this draft class.

Yes, the way that everybody was sizing this thing up, a top three selection by every single measure falling to six.

I got so excited. And then Danny Ainge did a Danny Ainge thing.

He just did the smart thing.

And that was it. You set up the right way to evaluate it, which was so often Washington is on the receiving end, dot, dot, dot.

And it's the receiving end, you get it rammed right in your rectum.

That's what happened.

Oh, no. Yet again. It was a rectum ramming.

I wouldn't go that far.

No, I mean, we're kind of prepared for this outcome because a lot of the chatter, ace was never a reality until the last 24 hours or so.

He became more tantalizing.

I know how disappointed you are.

You were more than tantalized.

I was tantalized. Like I said, I was ready to pop a bubble.

I mean, pop a bottle, both of them, right up until the...

I mean, I did have chills.

I will say, sitting in the moment, it's like, is this potentially a franchise -altering moment for me?

No, no, of course not.

Well, there were five legit ESPN Top 100 2024 recruiting class blue chippers in this draft, plus Knippel, who I think rose up and everybody loved him, too.

Sure. Um, Ace was the wild card. I read everything.

I sent you a long article that somebody wrote.

I think the Newark Star -Ledger had a feature.

I don't know what to make.

He, he's combining like 40 things.

We've been following basketball for so long.

40 red flags just strewn all over the place.

And yet he's just so talented.

And this is, you know, that we've seen these guys over and over again.

It's like the Michael Beasley syndrome where you, you, you just like, I know there's red flags here, but wow, is this guy talented.

And he ends up going second in the draft. Danny, knowing Utah has all of these draft picks, all of these pieces, and yet doesn't have like the guy you have to take a swing at some point.

And he's, they take a swing.

I think the thing with ACE, if you're taking them at five, worst case scenario, he's trade bait for a bigger trade, right?

If you're, if you're trying to get somebody awesome, that's a centerpiece kind of guy.

And that was why I thought I was really surprised.

I mean, we'll go into some of the stuff Brooklyn did, but you know, if, if Brooklyn, I think is one of the teams that would have a chance for Giannis down the road.

I just want somebody who can be at number eight, who can be in that Giannis trade and not take the, uh, the project from BYU who most people had in the 14 and 20 range.

We'll talk about them when Kyle Mann gets there.

Um, but I liked that.

I really thought that was the right pick from utah take the asset worry about it later what's he gonna do not play in the nba what's he gonna sit out it was also draft for need like they need that that dynamic uh playmaking they need you know that that backcourt help uh and pairing him with walter clayton i mean bobby marks couldn't contain he popped a bubble on tv ready to give uh utah the you know the the lead position in best draft uh through you know the the first 20 picks or so So well, that was nice that Clayton went 18 because normally in the history of the draft, that's the guy who usually

goes 33, 34. And we're like, all right, that's stupid.

Knipple's the guy who goes like 15th because they start talking themselves out of like his athleticism on defense.

It seems like people, for the most part, are getting better at where these guys would go.

And then the Nets are like, hold my beer.

And they start doing their stuff.

so. Well, now I'm interested in, you know, part of the quiet, you know, things that smart Utah does in the background is sign Will Hardy to an extension that goes through 2031.

Uh, and I want to see these kids with Will Hardy in this five out offense.

I want to sign a therapist for him now because Ace might be a handful.

Ace has like his support team.

There's like the agent who's who's not certified to be an agent.

Anytime you have an agent who's not actually certified to be the agent, I get nervous.

Is that the guy who wanted $100 to appear on television?

Was it that dude? There's some stories.

Allegations. Allegations have been made.

You know, people can always change their support team as they get older and more established.

Speaking of that, very quick aside, you know who changed his support team?

You heard this. Zion Williamson.

He did? New agent. Look up his new agent.

Did he hire a chef?

I mean, he doesn't need a chef.

They have Ozempic out there now.

We got to save New Orleans for Kyle.

I agree. We're just talking about representation.

When you and I go to dinner and there's some entree or something in the restaurant you have to try, and sometimes it'll be on the table with a bunch of different plates, and you're like, I'm not going to touch that yet.

I'm saving it. I'm going to have that, the potato Zograten, they're famous for it.

I'm not going to have it yet.

I'm going to wait. I'm going to eat all these other things.

That's New Orleans today.

Great. New Orleans is the potato Zograten.

It's the house specialty.

Don't eat it yet. It's over here.

I have it on the side of the table.

Then we'll get a big spoonful of it later.

But the Utah, Danny getting Ace Bailey with the fifth pick when it seemed like they had thrown their season away, right?

They're in this tank fest. comes down in the last day and then they drop all the way to five.

Your team drops all the way to six.

You guys still got blue -chip players.

Like Trey Johnson. I don't know what he is.

Ultimately, I was saying to Rosillo on Sunday, he's like the greatest version ever of like those Eddie Howe sharpshooter type guys.

He's way better than that, obviously.

You know, I'm not sure he'll be finishing around the rim that much for you.

And I don't know, I don't know where it goes, but I do think he's one of those.

You're texting your friends like, oh my God, Trey's getting hot.

Trey has eight threes in the second quarter.

He's one of those guys.

I hope that's true.

I mean, Washington finished almost 25 points behind Oklahoma City in net rating, which really seems almost impossible.

25 points? Yes. Washington was negative 12 -point -something, and Oklahoma City was positive 12 points, damn near 25 points behind.

Congratulations. That's great.

bottom four in in by almost all defensive metrics and bottom two and almost all offensive metrics so you take the best available uh and washington you know just bereft of any kind of threat on offense from uh both both both the two ball and the three ball so trey welcome your ability to shoot welcome how long is it going to be here are you laughing at least a year i'll be here a year Professional scorer.

I like him, and he's going to come in and be a good mentor to these kids.

I mean, the reason that I was bummed that Valantunas got traded, he was a good mentor to the kids.

CJ, you know, leader of the union guy.

He'll be a very good mentor.

Yeah, leader of the union.

Great CBA they pulled off there.

They gave the league a hard cap.

Nobody has any free agency money.

Nice job. Yeah, you have Marcus Smart, too.

I think it's funny that they're putting together together.

The 2017 Celtics, the team that broke your heart and Washington's last with Kelly Olenek.

Olenek and Marcus Smart.

Maybe we get Avery Bradley back.

You might, you might have it.

Uh, I like to trade Johnson picks.

So I'm going to start in order on the top and I'll really try to save New Orleans for when Kyle gets there.

But Dallas Cooper flag goes one.

They show the, the war room.

There are some great war room videos today.

none better than Brooklyn celebrating over and over again after they took yet another point guard to wild celebrations.

Um, but they, they showed Nico Harrison.

He looks like he's FaceTiming somebody and the whole war and he's just grinning like a madman.

And you think like, I know we've talked about this a million times, but they trade Luke at Donchage and it's the worst, craziest sports trade.

Uh, at least in this decade, it's one of the craziest NBA trades ever.

And they end up with Anthony Davis and Max Christie and a the 2029 first and Cooper flag.

And just fundamentally, it's a trade you would make.

I'm not saying it was their intention, but the way it worked out, like they showed all these Dallas fans going to watch the draft. Like the Dallas fans are now sucked back in.

The Cooper flag buzz is nuts.

And it's like all the stink from that trade is gone.

It's incredible. It's an incredible turn of events.

Not for me. So incredible that you had some suspicions of how incredible it was.

Yeah. It's not all washed away for me.

you used the word suck.

I could tell you right now well I won't say what I really think we're live save it for text save it for our text with Jacoby and Bruno which is on fire NC17 anyway so Dallas it all works out and they're doing great congratulations.

They're in a conference where there's some stinko teams that just seem like they're flailing Utah's not going to be good next year Sacramento doesn't know what the hell they are You know San Antonio by taking Harper And not kind of moving all in We'll see with Wemby but I don't think they're a guaranteed playoff team Phoenix who now has two centers We'll talk about that No they don't they have more than two They still have Nick Richards For some reason they decided to acquire The Charlotte Hornets entire Front court In less than six months Right.

Charlotte's just trying to get rid of their centers and Phoenix is like, we'll take them.

But there's my point is the West, which I think is deep at the top.

I do think there's some there's some room on the bottom half, maybe to maneuver around, which might be nice for for the Mavs. We'll see with Kyrie.

They sent Kyrie to a nice little extension.

They're talking about getting a point guard like a Dennis Schroeder, Chris Paul, stopgap guy until Kyrie can come back.

I heard Malcolm Brogdon and D 'Angelo Russell.

Those were the names that I saw hit the wire.

I liked the guys that you said better than either one of Brogdon or Russell.

D 'Angelo Russell? Like really?

I don't know who wrote that.

We're still going to do this?

No, I saw it too. I'm just like, that's your stopgap?

Why not just get Chris Paul?

Just tell him four months.

You can retire in February or we'll buy you out.

whatever team you want.

I'll tell you from the gambling odds perspective, I like the idea of where San Antonio's headed next season more than I like the idea of where Dallas is headed next season.

You mean just for pure over and unders for wins?

Yeah, and positioning for division and all that kind of stuff.

Let me have San Antonio.

I'm going to see if there's ways to bet on this.

I know that there are.

Conference odds. gods.

San Antonio, 17 to one, Dallas, 20 to one.

So your instincts were correct.

Do tell. Interesting.

See, I think San Antonio, if they don't do anything else, it's I think it's gonna be a little clumsy with all the guards.

Could be. It's a lot of guards who can't shoot.

It's a team that's going to take a little while to figure out what it is, but they also might be a trade team in January, February.

I'm more bullish on Dallas than you because I think flag can be impactful immediately as a all around guy.

I think he can play multiple positions, guard people, defend the rim.

I think there's a Gafford -Anthony Davis flag front line where they just sort of like, watch this.

That might actually be pretty interesting.

Name their best shot creator.

Name their best creator.

Kyrie Irving, who's working out every day, hoping to get his leg back to 100%.

By when? I mean, this is like the same enthusiasm.

Cooper flag point forward?

I'm going to go ahead and take a shot.

Like, it's the same enthusiasm I keep hearing for Stephon Diggs with the Patriots.

When is he going to play football?

You know, why are we talking about Kyrie Irving?

I'm just making a comparison.

Why don't you bring up Terry McLaurin?

He's got a giant contract.

I mean, he deserves it.

Do you know OKC is plus 130 to win the West next year?

That feels like a Mahomes MVP, like layaway bet.

I literally had this conversation on East Coast Bias with the guys this week.

The odds for them to win the title are plus 220, and that's too far.

But I am going to bet them at plus 130 because what if this is the best value on them that you're going to get the entire season if they come out?

It's the most corollary.

Yeah. Take them home as MVP odds right now at 5 -1.

It's the best odds you're getting.

It's possible. Well, the funny thing is Houston's 5 -1.

So Vegas got so excited by that Durant trade that I personally would not have Houston as the number two title team.

I agree. I understand the market.

They have not been through the wars yet.

Right. I understand the market and I understand why they are where they are, but I also want no part of betting on that.

Let's see it. Let me see it a little bit.

Now, you go through and I think Minnesota, who is 8 -1, probably has the second best odds.

There are Cooper flag odds, by the way.

For rookie of your stuff?

They have, will he record a triple -double at any game in 25 -26 is minus 1 ,15.

I think I would take that.

Minus? I'm not laying odds.

Triple -double is hard. They'll get one triple -double.

Are they going to make him point forward right away?

If we see that, if that's what they show us, if he's the creator, if he's the playmaker, they let him be the straw, then hopefully those odds will still be there and we'll jump on him in October.

All right. We tangented.

Dylan Harper goes second to San Antonio.

I still feel like there's a Darren Fox.

I'm not buying... I hope Darren Fox is renting.

I hope he's renting like Tony Parker's house.

I hope he didn't buy a house in San Antonio.

Wow. I just don't...

I think Dylan Harper's too good.

I don't... We've already seen Darren Fox try to juggle ball handling stuff with another really good guard. And his name was Tyrese Halliburton, who they traded after a season and a half.

I don't see those two together.

He's expiring this year.

Is that right? Well, but there was always...

People thought there was a wink -wink that they were going to take care of him after.

And maybe so, but as we sit here right now, it's not infeasible that he...

Well, they should trade him to Brooklyn because Brooklyn took three point guards and Danny Wolfe was a point center.

Maybe they'll want Theron Fox.

Trying to collect him.

I'm fine with San Antonio saying we don't know what we're doing yet.

We're going to just throw these dudes out and look at it.

But it was the right pick.

Did you know... When did you find out Ron Harper was his dad.

Oh, coming into the season.

Yeah. Like we knew ahead of time.

I felt like it was underplayed.

Like Ron Harper was a massive, massive part of a couple of MJ Bull's title teams. He's like when we were in college and he was initially on the Cavs and then was in the Danny Ferri trade, went to the Clippers and was just a really fun two guard and had a really really good career and it's just weird. I felt like they could have spent two minutes on that on the Draft Telecast instead of all the other dumb shit they did, which we'll talk about later.

I would have liked more of him with his brother Ron Harper Jr. I didn't forget about the dad.

There was a lot of Harper stuff.

I was in on any of the Harper subplots.

Alright, number three.

This is where the draft got interesting.

Not really that interesting interesting to me because I predicted this a long time ago, VJ Edgecomb going to affiliate.

Yeah. Just a classic, checked a lot of the Daryl boxes.

Maxi, Edgecomb, and McCain as a young up and coming arrow pointing up backcourt.

It's pretty nice. My question to you is, I thought that we might get some inkling of what direction Philadelphia might go in, in terms of solving their identity crisis.

And we did, we got nothing.

thing. We got them making the smart value pick, you know, the, the pure Darryl Morey pick, they still have an identity crisis that they, they need to solve for.

Right. I think they were open to every possible scenario with that pick and didn't get an offer that they loved and didn't see a reason to trade backwards to pick somebody.

Didn't see a veteran, any of that stuff.

I just think that it was what it was.

And then you take the best guy.

And I think I think that's the guy he Charlotte's taking him.

If he's at four Utah's taking him as if he's at five.

So you got to take him.

I wonder there's an identity thing, which I think you're alluding to with Philly, where you're on this weird and bead timetable where I have no idea where he's playing.

You're trying to contend.

You have Paul George, who's in his mid thirties now, who's at a weird point in his career.

You have some veterans.

And then you have this really young backcourt of guys other than Maxie, who haven't really been in big games yet or anything.

thing McCain was in high school one two three years two years ago three two and a half years ago and then you have lumbering Joel Embiid coming off eight surgeries walking it up playing not playing I just don't know what that team is house and I know when we're doing over -unders that's going to be one of the hardest ones to pick we don't know how many games Embiid's going to play Does he change his name to if Joel Embiid stays healthy?

Is it we're officially at that point?

Does he have to name change?

Well, the question I have, speaking of are we to this point, will the books even offer a number for Philadelphia?

Like a win total. Yeah, it feels like you just play the under.

Whatever it is, it could be 46.

It could be 36. It could be 29.

So what would you bet it at?

All right, let me, I'll throw a couple over -unders out.

so now we know who's on their team basically we'll see if they can bring back Grimes and I don't think they can bring back Yabasali 42 and a half would you go over or under you have to bet it the problem is they're in the east so you'd go under 42 and a half for the Sixers 42 and 40 I think I'd go under too It's a more likely scenario that Embiid has more injury problems and they decide to basically just go with the youth and, you know.

But they get the benefit of Charlotte, Brooklyn, and Washington still in the East, none of whom did anything to push themselves into any kind of contending position by way of this draft. and I can't imagine any of those three teams doing anything in free agency to tilt.

You don't think Brooklyn pushed themselves?

They got seven ball handlers.

They think the league next year is going to have multiple basketballs They're hoping they can play at Rucker.

That's where they push themselves.

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i don't really want to play in utah he's going for the talent you must have loved the fit of ace bailey going to utah yeah i think it i think it makes sense i mean he's he's he's somebody if he embraces playing this has always been the thing for me if he embraces life off ball in the the short term he's gonna make a lot of hay in that offense i think he makes a whole lot of sense so yeah i mean once he gets out there i mean i think that's kind of everybody's experience with utah as you hear things and everything and like i was joking with zach about like that place is changing i made a whole fucking

video about it about it is different than people think and you get out there and you hear weird things about the liquor laws it's like it's not that weird it's like it's a place that's really changing and uh yeah i mean they needed shooting and the fact that they They had access to him at that spot.

You get the upside of the star stuff.

And I think Will Hardy is going to be a great mentor for him.

I think Will Hardy has gotten to the point where he's earned that credibility where you think anybody is going to be better with him because he's such a good coach. They told Ace, like, Ace, if you don't think Salt Lake City is that much fun, you've got to watch the show on Hulu, The Moms of TikTok, whatever that show is.

Watch the Mormon Wives.

Just give this like five hours.

Fun city. Just for the record, I did not watch that.

House, you're missing out.

Edgecombe to Philly.

That was the most likely pick.

It does put the team on two separate timetables.

And my guess is like if McCain would be the greatest third guard possible, right?

He's probably severely overqualified as his career goes up and up to be a third guard. But you could also, you can do the Indiana thing, play three guards together.

I like the flexibility.

I just have no idea how that makes sense with Embiid was the other topic we talked about.

I get the sense that there is maybe more quiet sort of shifting of there are people who have quiet confidence that McCain could legitimately have a chance to be as good or better than Maxie.

I know that might seem crazy.

So I wouldn't be surprised if this if in the short term, I agree with you on that.

It makes it at first when I was thinking about Edgecombe and those two guys, I was just like, that's dissonant.

That kind of makes my head hurt.

I don't see how that's going to work.

Maybe they're a little small.

all but it's going to be six five i think if you take the pressure off of him to be a highly productive handler in the short term you can get some of the benefit of some of the things that he adds like the spacing and that you just unleash this crazy athlete where was it was it the clippers that unleashed like bled so with that team back in like 2010 and every once in a while you just do something crazy i think it's going to be a low stakes role like that for him you You evaluate how it plays out.

If McCain improves a whole lot, maybe you shift once this immediate title conversation is kind of simmered a little bit, and then you make a decision going forward, and then Edgecombe can be a big part of your thinking.

What? Did you just say immediate title conversation?

What title? Let me add a word. Hypothetical.

Yeah. Well, I don't even know if that goes far enough.

It was the on -paper title.

What title? It's the Saber metric if you put out a season He's not a computer title.

I know a title. The worst contract in the NBA title.

They have two of the top three.

That's a title. Bradley Beal's like, sorry, you're not grabbing the number one spot as long as I'm here.

The whole thing's named for him.

Yeah, we might have to do that with Waz next year is name it the Bradley Beal Memorial worst contract draft because I think it's the single worst one.

Conn Knipple goes to Charlotte at number four.

We could see this one coming for a while.

Kyle. Uh, perfect offensive fit.

We got to meet the five canipple brothers.

Enjoyed that. And, uh, as, as much as I am excited to watch this team on offense, there's going to be some trouble on defense guys.

This is not going to go great.

I don't know. The only problem on defense, on offense, when you're playing Charlotte is you have no idea who to hunt.

There's just too many options.

It's like paralyzing Kyle.

That could work to their advantage.

Yeah. They just, In their excitement, they get indecisive, and then Charlotte scores a bunch of points.

That's one philosophy, right?

I mean, you and I were joking earlier about...

I mean, hypothetically, who would you have to have at the four and five spot to make this a defense that could keep its head above water?

I think you'd have to have...

You'd have to have Anthony Davis.

You'd have to have...

I don't know, man. That's tough sledding.

There's going to be a lot of...

Who's playing center?

Who plays center for Charlotte?

They traded all of them.

They're all on Phoenix now.

I don't know, after Mark Williams, Charlotte was just aggressively trying to trade for him, and the Lakers backed out of his physical, even though they needed a center.

And now Charlotte is again shopping him in June.

I would just be really nervous acquiring Mark Williams. This team's just like, hey, how about Mark Williams?

Any interest? You like him?

And somehow they ended up getting, I think they got the 29th pick, and then a future first, which wasn't nearly as good as when New Orleans gave up.

but we're not ready to talk about that yet.

We will talk about this first New Orleans pick though.

Jeremiah Fears at number seven.

Where did you have, how high, Kyle, how much higher did you have Trey Johnson than Jeremiah Fears just in your head mentally from a ceiling standpoint?

If Trey Johnson goes 20 floors, how high were the, how many floors did the Jeremiah Fears building go?

I mean, this was one that I was off consensus on.

I mean, I had fears at 20 in our final big board, but it's a tricky conversation because on the one hand, I do acknowledge and see how, well, to answer your question.

I mean, I had Trey it for Trey Johnson for just because I thought the simple, like the simple propositions of him, even if his star upsides don't play out, this is a dude that you're just going to be able to throw like a freaking, like, you know, pinball around an offense and just make him run.

if he if he that's another guy if he dedicates himself to just being a marathon man in offense and just setting screens and running around it'll work but jeremiah fears um he definitely is like arguably the most like electric like you know ball handler in this class like he can get in the pain he's very smooth he has a nice gate to his game but the data just says i had this written down here um there are some sites that sort of compile uh statistics across all event types going back to like the earliest stuff that they've done.

And I was looking at fears and, you know, from sample to sample, you can kind of argue this way or that and be like with Liam McNeely, be like, I've seen him shoot the ball in the past. I don't trust this one with fears.

It's been pretty consistent.

He overall on their database is 28 .4%.

That goes back to 2021.

I feel like that's the type of shooter he is.

So if you're going to trust that that guy's going to be a load bearing decision maker, you're just already kind of encountering problems. And then you go ahead and combine that with the fact that he has a lot of defensive questions granted he's young he's got a lot to learn the combination of those two things just make me really queasy so i had a hard time going seven there i had a hard time thinking of reaching for him there i he's one of those guys that you're like i like him but not at that spot and that's kind of how i felt about him at seven that's how i felt joe house did the most homework

on him because he was worried the wizards were going going to take him at six.

How worried is that where you landed house?

Um, no, no, I, I, I wouldn't even really countenance that, that outcome.

Um, I, uh, didn't think he he's, he's, he's not very big and it doesn't make sense for Washington to have a not very big, uh, point guard six to, you know, barely not even one 80, um, six, two, and not a good three three point shooter seems like a recipe for disaster.

Like I, like who, who are the dudes that the, the smaller ball handling can't hit threes guards that you can even think of at this point.

And if you're going to be like that, you have to be like a really great two way player, which I don't think he is.

I, you know, he's 18.

He's a project who knows.

And when you read this stuff, but he's definitely, they made a point of saying this in the draft. He's one of those.

I'll remember every guy that got taken ahead of me.

It's one of those guys.

He played football and baseball all the way, I think, through high school.

He's a great athlete.

But the shooting makes me really nervous, though.

If it was the 13th pick, I get it.

But seventh in a draft that I think we all thought was pretty deep, that's a little scary.

Yeah, to be fair to him, that was 6 '2 1⁄2", barefooted.

He'll be 6 '4", functionally, on the court.

six okay five and a quarter wingspan um but he just yeah he's a good decision at maker at the when he sees like that first read when the defense is loaded to one side or another he's not a hog he'll get off the ball and he did lead a competent team in the toughest you know if you're gonna apologize for him he did lead a team to the tournament and had a good showing in in gaming at uconn on the first round um as as a young player so but the guys that i kind of pulled that statistically flagged as similar to him were uh Keontae George um hold your nose Killian Hayes um Jalen Green another his G

his G League sample was similar and then Jaden Ivey if you want to feel good if you want to say but he you know Jaden Ivey was different size just more the same type yeah so it's just kind of I'm with you it's I'm I'm a little concerned about him being like a heavy heavy decision maker for me I once we got out of the top six which I thought was pretty pretty established.

That was the tier. And then I thought fears was below.

The guy I liked the most was Malawatch. I just feel like he's not worried about him being in a competent NBA center who might actually be a lot better than that.

And that was the guy House wanted at six if Ace Bailey didn't drop there.

And he ends up falling all the way to 10.

And I'm writing down on my notes not to skip over brooklyn and toronto and eight nine but i'm writing down on my notes these are my notes in as it's happening ishbia exclamation point he's back green brooks and malliage for kd isn't bad that was my next note um oh wait they're also trading for mark williams why it all happened in like three minutes house i understand it's like oh wait what are you guys doing and they traded the 29th pick which they actually needed this year because it's not like they have a shitload of depth and then a 29 first that is not their own pick but I just don't understand why

you would have Mark Williams and Malawatch what's the point of having both of those guys has I don't know I have no idea they are different I mean they're both lob threats they're both limited offensive players the scheme versatility is the one thing that you can kind of twist because for now, Malawatch is a little heavier on drop coverage and, you know, Williams will give you a little bit more of that get out, sit down, switch a little bit and he's a little older and he'll be a little more ready in the short term because Malawatch is just so young.

You know, I mean, like he's a basketball.

So maybe he doesn't play for two years.

So that might be the thinking.

That'd be great. Devin Bilger would be 30 by that point.

Makes sense. We got years to burn, right?

Yeah, he's fine. He's not going anywhere.

He's committed to the team.

Um, we had a weird thing with that pick where.

They just can't get this right.

And I thought of a great suggestion when, because Houston trades that pick to Phoenix in the Durant trade.

We all know that's the trade.

They have to do the draft and then have Houston pick him because the trade can't be official until July 6th house.

Why can't they just say.

Houston has traded the number 10 pick to Phoenix for future considerations.

aspirations, Phoenix is now on the clock at 10 and just say way afterwards, here's what the trade is instead of doing this fucking charade with the Houston hat.

And, and then you're watching the draft and it's like Brooklyn's picking, but it's actually Memphis.

And now, now it's Memphis, but no, this is Portland's pick, but like, what are they doing?

How is this where we landed with the NBA draft?

One of our favorite nights?

Well, I want to go backwards one step, which is to complain in this direction.

Why is the draft tonight?

What possible explanation after the season ends on Sunday night?

Why isn't it at a minimum Thursday?

At a minimum. I don't know.

Like as we go into the weekend, as folks have discharged their weekly obligations and are ready to focus on the sporting world.

I got scared there for a second.

Discharged, yeah, I know.

I was worried. I got real tired up here.

that we're going to turn a neuromassage our first neuromassage show no no don't even ready for a draft party ready for a draft party on a thursday night let us catch our breath yeah i'm exhausted i mean i'm i'm not just i expect i wanted to be drunk i told simmons uh jkm that if we got either ace bailey or malwatch that i was gonna pop the bottle and be ready uh but since that didn't happen I'm honestly drunk on exhaustion because of you know going straight from the finals Sunday evening into Monday trying to process it but you're trying to process the the halliburton injury title couldn't even

crack open a light lager for Trey Johnson he doesn't what level of buzz I mean I agree that's at least like a nice heavy alcohol high that's a high noon that's a like a pineapple high noon house is he the best shooter you've had since you became the Wizards oh is there a better one Bradley Beal is a much better shooter Bradley could shoot his ass off he led the league in scoring is this is there was some I'm not talking score I'm not talking score I'm talking let me tell you your yeah shooter go back and look at the comps for Bradley Beal early Early in his career, he was on a Ray Allen arc.

I'm not kidding. Yeah, you're right.

2017 playoffs, he was really good.

Yeah, you're right.

Early, early. He didn't get to the Ray Allen, but I'm just saying, like, the comps were there for the quality of shooter.

This is before he racked up a body count of murdered Suns fans.

That's before he killed the fan base of a million Phoenix Suns lovers.

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Okay, the eighth and ninth pick.

So the draft's going great.

It's going chalk, basically.

I didn't really have a problem with any pick.

And I'm like, whoa, this is going to be a pretty boring podcast tonight.

Nobody's going to do anything stupid.

And then the dumb teams just come flying in.

It's like they arrived late It was like, wait, what's that?

I hear a horn Was that...

Oh, somebody's pulling the parking lot Oh, it's the dumb teams Hey, it's Brooklyn Hey, New Orleans We're here Sean Marks was like Oh, hold on, hold on He's driving in a Yugo It's definitely a trick horn of some kind, yeah And they take the BYU kid number 8 Who I thought was more likely he fell into the 20s Kyle Kyle like try to make the case here why you would take him at eight I'll say the positives um he is probably the most talented ball screen reader like reader of reads he he and creative passer manipulation wise like he can see he can see the first help defender he can see the second the in tertiary

whatever it is he can manipulate those things really really really well can make any pass with either hand and he's big um i mean i think he's the most creative passer in this draft um he's a smart kid i interviewed him on our show i was very impressed with how aware he was of his challenges which are um he has a high center of gravity he's very skinny um at this point he is not a threat to hit dribble play he back rimmed a huge percentage of his of his threes um i don't know if that's some kind of mechanical thing that they can figure out i'm not a shot doctor i know they work with a really smart

shot doctor we'll see uh but then i guess the other thing is that he wasn't great in the paint either and he's going to get attacked defensively people are going to play through his chest um but i mean the nets are interesting so you're saying can't really shoot he's going to get attacked defensively and also not really that good in the paint oh that's n2 skinny he is skinny i don't know how much stronger he'll sounds like a win but look Look, here's the thing.

The comps and JKM, you did the write -up for the ringer draft. These comps belong in the top 10 of a draft, of a draft. Sean Livingston and Josh Giddey, those are like, those are competent basketball players.

Shades of those guys.

The biggest bubble is Sean Livingston.

It's true, yeah, yeah.

I mean, Livingston.

Denny Hoppio was drafted by Washington.

Didn't you put Denny in this mix?

Denny was a top 10 pick.

Bite your tongue on Sean Livingston.

Pre -injury Sean Livingston was awesome.

He's outrageous. It's more late stage, like reform point guard. I can't be the primary guy.

Okay. Can I give you my comp?

I didn't release my player comps, but mine was Yaroslav Korolev.

The Clippers 2012 first rounder.

Had to watch him for a couple of years.

See, you guys didn't remember who it was.

Number 12 pick in the draft. Yeah.

It's like, oh, he does all that.

It's like, what does he do?

Yeah. I didn't like the pick at all.

Listen, I'm happy to be wrong.

I'm happy to, I'm sure if he's awesome, this could be cut out.

I'd be like, oh, you got one wrong.

I just, I, number eight, I just know it's a pure no. It was high.

I mean, it's an interesting theme.

I wrote about this in our grades that we put up that the Nets clearly were following a theme of rolling the dice on creators.

I don't think they expected Wolf to be there where he was, but they took Sirof, who has a similar profile, you know, a big.

but he's a little different.

He's a different side of the coin there where he's very...

I put this in the grades also.

He's one of the main guys in this class that fall under one of my favorite distinctions, which is he has some shit to him.

He's just an aggressive player.

That might give him a better chance to succeed than Yegor.

I don't know. I doubt it.

I just think if you shift Yegor to an off...

Because 46 % of his touches were pick and rolls this past year.

That is insanely high.

He had a huge demand on him to create for BYU.

And I think if you put him with other creators and he's shooting off the catch a little more, roaming in the seams of an offense with that passing ability, there are paths for it to work, I think.

Yeah, but it's an identity team.

They took three guards, because we didn't talk about the French kid at number 19, but they took three guards plus Danny Wolfe, who everybody's like, he's a point center.

He needs the ball to thrive.

So it's like, cool, you took a bunch of guys Guys who need the ball to have any sort of success at all.

Sounds like you did a, I just, I don't get the nets and I don't get the Sean Marks thing at all.

And I think he's probably a nice guy, but he's kept that job for a long time.

And I just don't, I don't get it.

I don't see it. I don't understand why you would want five first round picks in the same draft. We see teams do this all day.

How many house we're fucking old now.

How many times have we've seen a team put too many young guys together?

And then a year later, they're like, Hey, last year we had too many young guys.

We got to get some bets.

It was so stupid to have all those young guys.

I mean, I'm living through it right now.

We drafted three in the 2024 draft. Yeah, but you went and got Marcus Smart and Chris Middleton.

You got some adults to be near them.

Okay. All right. And crucially, bid adieu to Jordan Poole.

Wish the best of luck to Jordan Poole, who actually had a fine season last year.

You like Jordan Poole.

This is like the guy in college who's pretending he doesn't like the girl at the party that he keeps leaving.

You like Jordan Poole.

I intensely disliked him when he arrived.

But you ended up liking him.

They found a role for him.

He found a role for himself.

But we're not here to talk about the Washington West. I didn't like what the Nets did at all.

Toronto took Colin Murray -Boyles.

Leading Kendrick Perkins.

I didn't know which telecast to watch. It was like, do I take this samurai sword and jam it into my temple?

Or do I take this chainsaw and saw my leg off?

i just i just i couldn't figure it out um perk they took cal and murray boils and perk said they have the pieces and they could their top six team in the east and at that point i started looking for a third espn channel but there were only two covering the draft there wasn't a third one at least one that i couldn't find um but i didn't mind that pick and then malouac at 10 and then Then we had a trade and then the draft started getting really weird. Sedra Coward, Memphis moves up with Portland.

Malika calls him Colin Coward, which is exciting.

I thought Colin Coward got drafted for a second.

They basically traded the 16 and Orlando's 28 first to move up five spots.

Kyle, I didn't like this guy.

This was one of my guys that I was kind of out on because I felt I got this zag.

I have to, I can't go through the draft and just like every guy there's this one, I just didn't get.

But now Memphis traded up to get him.

And now I'm just going to assume I'm wrong.

Because Memphis is usually right with these guys.

These dudes they find, they just have too high of a success rate.

So I'm going to take the loss.

He hasn't even put an NBA game left. And I think I'm wrong.

Don't give up that easily.

Dig in a little bit at least. No, I'm not digging in.

Memphis has a way better track record. They like something.

I don't see it, but they see something.

What are you worried about?

out i mean can we just go itemize line by line here what do you what's your concern the so first of all he's well starts out what was he where did he go freshman year i'm trying i'm blanking i'm trying to remember willamette yeah and kind of worked his way up right and peaked this year i just didn't feel like the athleticism was there in a way that would would translate to the nba even though in college it looked fine um the stuff that like those type of guys who succeed i still feel like that you have to be at a certain really high level athletically to do all that stuff and he was like you could even

see in college it felt like he was pushing it so i don't know i might be wrong maybe memphis see some things that i didn't see what did you see uh the positivity that i would mix in is that i i think his frame which is like six five and a half you know we've said this over and over again because it's so damn impressive but seven two wingspan huge hands um he's built like a like he's built he's got a just capital t frame he's yeah enormous shoulders but i think that can lead people to think that he is and he's some kind of nuclear incendiary fly around pogo stick kind of athlete when really he's

more of a he is a good athlete you know i think he had like a 38 inch vert um but he has more like like punish you with with physicality in his game.

He's not as much of a he's I wouldn't worry about that because I think he's going to be a lot more of a punish you with technique and physique type player, because if you watch the way he developed, he's not like an like he's not an off the dribble creator quite yet, but he's a pretty decent passer.

But he would just punish dudes back to the basket, like put the shoulder into the guy.

I don't know if that works in the same way in the pros.

I don't think it works full time, but I think you're just kind of looking for creases and and wrinkles in your game that you can exploit in different situations.

I think he has a lot of them.

I mean, he was a catch -and -shoot player.

I have my ledger here.

He shot, we'll just say, a gigantic amount of catch -and -shoot threes across.

He was getting ready to ramp up and take a ton during this past year before he got hurt.

But he shot about 40 % catch -and -shoot.

So, if he punishes mismatches, don't put a smaller guard on him.

He's got a great mid -range game.

He's long and athletic around the rim.

I don't know. I like him.

I think he's going to be great with Jalen Wells there in that offense.

I want to take all those things and put them on Trey Johnson.

Then I would be so psyched with that.

Those attributes on Trey Johnson at the sixth pick.

That's I mean, the the combination.

First of all, Willamette, amazing Pino. But going from from from there to him landing in Memphis.

Yeah. You know what I'm saying?

JNBS, it shows that he's going to be competent on both ends because they don't typically draft. Yeah, Memphis has a type.

Yeah, and he's their type.

And that three -point shooting plus the physicality, that's the recipe for a top -10 guy.

So where you see him going 11 here, that's why he gets the nice B -plus grade from JKM.

I won't say what Joe House's type was, back in the day, pre -marriage, but Joe has had a type two.

He's much like Memphis.

A lot of Joe House dating and drinking talk.

I'm glad to be here.

Somebody breaks to the table.

Late night. We're live late night.

I'm admitting defeat.

How about this? I think Cedric Howard is going to be great on Memphis.

I don't want to take the loss on this.

This next pick, the Bulls took the 18 -year -old.

Say his name. I'm going to mess it up.

I'm not even going to attempt it.

It rhymes with dengue.

Senge is what I've heard. I was cracking up there.

Dengue fever. Priscilla was like dumping on him right before he got big.

And he walked out of his team.

Priscilla was killing him.

He said he quit on his Euro team.

But Chicago, it's a weird one.

This is the kind of draft pick like Sam Presti is allowed to do.

It's like, we're taking this kid.

He's 18. He's a million years away from being anything.

He's two years away from being two years away.

and I'm going to be here as the GM still when this happens.

I can't say the Chicago Bulls GM has been crushing it.

So by the time, even if this pick hits, I don't even know if he'll be the GM at that point.

But I thought this was really weird because we officially hit the point in this draft when I couldn't believe nobody had taken Derrick Queen.

It just felt like, okay, he shouldn't have fallen out of the top 11.

He's not going to go 12.

Now we're going to fall to 13.

hold that thought on derrick queen but i just like i i just would have taken derrick queen if i'm chicago i kind of like their team like they like they have vucevich on an expiring they don't really have any other big guy centers like he's this gifted offensive player that kind of fits in with the weird offense they have i think they need somebody like him i just would have taken him but what do you think about that pick kyle well speaking to what you're talking about there when you think of like an okc i mean i think you you're kind of implying that but and okay so he's been great at this with their

success they've been able to slow roll these guys in a way that makes sense it's sort of like um this comes to mind just because my son is doing it right now like swimming lessons there are a lot of ways to approach this it's like you can take it slow and get an instructor and you know move at their pace or you can just be one of those people who's just like throws your kid in the pool and says fucking figure it out buddy uh and that's kind of what i feel like is gonna happen here um but he's he's somebody that i i had a hard time I'm grading that one just because I'm like, mock boards always

inform grades. And I'm like, I've been skeptical of Asenge.

You know, I feel like he's an energy big who is sort of wearing a, I'm a big unrefined wing mask.

And I'm like, I don't really know that he's ever going to be efficient enough to justify being that type of player.

I would be a lot, I would feel a lot better if he were like, I'm dedicated to, of course, and you'd flip it and I'd say, oh, we can't shoot.

So it's kind of a, it's kind of a catch 22, but I don't know, man, That was one that I'm with you.

I didn't really understand.

I would probably reach for Queen there.

That was a look how smart we are.

This 12th pick who might not make it.

How's Queen is a DMV guy?

So the only thing and we'll get to Queen soon enough that I guess I could see if I'm looking at it trying to be glass half full for Chicago.

If they are going to be a rim running team, right?

If Buzalas and Giddy is playmaking, and this kid's just singularly get to the rim, get to the rim, get to the rim, then there's a kind of logic to it.

Okay. I'll accept that.

He fits in with their identity.

I just don't like the pick.

So I did like Derek Queen going to New Orleans in a trade at number 13.

And then we found out what the trade was.

This was when I lost my mind.

I think I blacked out.

I'm so glad the NBA can still give us these New Orleans trades up 10 spots so they can take Derek queen and they give up their unprotected 2026 first round pick swap that they have with Milwaukee, where they have the favorable, whatever the better pick is, they keep, they send that to Atlanta who had to be deliriously happy.

Like we only have to move down 10 spots and we get an unprotected.

This was one of the five dumbest trades of this decade.

I was speechless. I just can't believe it.

And who is it? It's our guy Joe Dumars, who was so bad in the first half of the 2010s.

I got so much column mileage from him.

He finally got bounced from the Pistons, never got another job, and then moved into the NBA.

And everybody in the NBA loved him.

And he's a great guy by all accounts.

And enough time passed that everybody forgot how bad of a GM he was down in it.

And now he just traded away their unprotected 2026 pick house.

They're in the West. What the fuck does he think is going to happen next year?

Is he thinking they're going to be a five seed?

What is he doing? The hilarious thing, and this is what we get to relish going forward, is they're doing some kind of their version of 3D chess here because I think Zion is moving on.

I think the point of Zion leaving CAA, going over to Bill Duffy, there's a trade demand coming.

Dara Queen fits a specific need, plays a specific role for them.

And they were just like, this is our plan.

We have a plan. We're going to acquire him.

And we can't, you know, let the possibility go that we don't get him for this role.

okay so you're saying they're trading their best player which will inevitably make next year's team worse and they're not going to have a pick after they trade that player that makes sense to you in a perceivably better draft from what we understand you would anticipate that any kind of zion trade would include picks i mean is that reasonable so your only defense of that trade is the hypothetical that zion might get traded which by the way would also then make them worse and they wouldn't have their pick i said it's their version of 3d chess it doesn't make any sense.

It's just Dumar's world.

This is one of those that Adam Silver, you could have talked me into him vetoing like they vetoed the Chris Paul trade.

That's how bad that trade was.

Kyle, would Atlanta have done that trade if it was a top four protected pick?

I'm going to say yes.

Top four protected.

Atlanta's like, we're still doing it.

Top seven protected?

I think they do that.

Probably. Unprotected, I can't even imagine.

They're showing all all these war rooms, they should have shown the Hawks war room as guys are taking their shirts off and fucking popping champagne on each other.

It was, it was probably like the city on the bus.

It was like the mushroom scene.

And this is the end where they're just like, oh nuts.

And I can't even imagine how deliriously happy they were.

And I really like where Atlanta was sitting before tonight.

And now they have this new Orleans pick.

They have a $25 million trade trade exception.

They added Porzingis.

Jalen Johnson's coming back.

They got Dyson Daniels and Trey Young and Risa Shea and Okongwu.

House, it's time to look at the conference odds.

Don't think that I have it already, but please.

Oh, you already did?

Of course. You cheated on me.

Of course. What the hell, House?

They're not in the top six.

33 -1 to win the East. That's a ticket.

That's in my portfolio.

We might be doing that later.

Bando Sportsbook. Yes, sir.

33 -1. What if they get DeMar DeRozan with that trade exception?

All they have to do is make it to the Eastern Conference.

They don't have to win for that ticket to have value.

You have an amazing edge with that 33 -1 sitting in your pocket.

That team. I still can't imagine one stop that they make.

Dyson Daniels is incredible.

I can't name one other player.

I mean, Johnson plays both ways for sure as well, but no Johnson and Daniels as their two defenders and then they'll they'll be able to do some other stuff Kyle we we were texting a lot about Derrick Queen during the season because he brings he brings some things to the table that I love there's some defensive stuff with him that is about as bad as it gets and it's going to be he's going to be one of those guys where I I do think it's a he's a ceiling basement guy but there's some really good offensive stuff the problem is some of the the ways you would use them on offense are very similar to

how like you would use say a zion williamson who's also just hypothetically yeah no idea how those two guys would play together makes no sense at all no they don't they they are they have mirroring uh issues for sure but he's he's he you're right i mean he's got a lot of things that you like i mean the connectivity of his passing i was saying on our on the draft show that in that 18 feet to the rim area uh he He roasts other bigs with his foot speed, with his balance.

He can contort. He just does some things that are odd for a player of his body type.

He's not super explosive.

You mentioned the defensive stuff.

I think a lot of that's controllable for him.

I mean, if you're banking on him ever being...

If you're banking on him being your rim protector, then you should just have to take a breathalyzer before you even are qualified to run a team because that was so obvious.

He doesn't have the size to be a rim protector.

sector he's more of a help defender and the big thing for him too is he has great hands he does have mobile hips even though he's not super fast um and he's a great defensive rebounder uh it's it's more of a play to play is he gonna mature to the point where he starts taking that personally because people have just said this about him relentlessly and i know this stuff's gotten back to him about uh on the defense of glass or just on the glass period it's like oh where's my man oh he just ran by me because i didn't touch him and he got an easy basket that happened over over again and just consistency

of effort because he can be, I think at least a neutral defender.

It's just, it's going to be up to him whether or not he takes that personally and cuts out the taking plays off and stuff like that.

He triggers a lot of my boxes because I like the creativity and offense is really special.

I don't like the work ethic part and the taking plays off and the defensive liability part.

Sam Bassini said something on Rossellos pod about how he's just been playing against men for the last couple years as a big guy and just is seasoned and that he thought he was actually a pretty good bet to be able to play faster than you think.

To me, it's amazing.

The Hawks fleeced them two summers in a row.

Two different front offices.

The DeJounte Murray trade was a fleecing and then this happens that is...

House They might have the championship Belt now A biggest mess of a team I think this is it I think giving away next year's first round Pick and making it unprotected I think they grabbed the belt I think Sacramento was like We just got it back What do you mean We just And they just took it back Like without blinking making i i it's very mentioned they're putting jeremiah fears and jordan pool together oh boy i thought that the wizards traded jeremiah pool away so that fears would fit better and then when they picked fears i was like oh i'm way off with my logic with this guy i thought that's

what they were doing house and trey murphy's got to be like why am i here what is this theme that that's exactly right this this is the most confounding team i i i was trying to come up with i mean Even Charlotte feels like it has a point It feels like it has a direction Phoenix is like in this conversation Gotta keep Phoenix I guess Phoenix does have Phoenix So I thought Sacramento took it back From Phoenix but you're right Phoenix still has it Sacramento made a good pick tonight When we get to it Maybe Sacramento is right in the ship a little bit But Sacramento turning Fox and Halliburton Into

Zach Levine that's like an old timer not to mention the bonus extension on that stuff but yeah you're right I think so Phoenix probably had it and then New Orleans just took it and New Orleans has had this belt I mean they're basically like the Russell Celtics with this belt they've had it nine different times over the course of since the mid 70s you have to remember how close the Pelicans were those turning the corner they've been close a couple it's like for five seconds yeah but but I mean they had a playing game against LeBron run.

And then that, and then the moment was over.

They were on a pace for over 50 wins just a year ago.

They got 40 first round picks for Anthony Davis.

I get it. I'm just saying they were, they won the lottery.

The problem I have with, uh, with Derek, with, with, with my, with my guy.

Is this a DMV thing?

Yeah. It's just a, it's, it's this, um, But maturity is still under development and you can eyeball, you can use your own eyeballs and look at his body type and reach a conclusion that maybe he hasn't maximized all that's available to him to turn himself into the kind of beast that he might be in terms of a physical specimen.

been it would be one thing he was going to new orleans where this is the point that's the point there's so much healthy food there and clean living well we just we they just lived through a guy who had a maturity issue and maybe an issue where he could maximize yeah so and if derrick is not 18 years old this is like it would be one thing to say yeah he's pudgy he's 18 or he's 19 or whatever he's pushing up he's closer to 21 than he is to 18 so you don't think he's He's on the VersaClimber at five in the morning, like LeBron.

Here's the thing. He can do that.

It's there. They have VersaClimbers.

They can get one down to New Orleans and he could become the beast that we're talking about.

He could make that commitment.

You know, he can get that challenge on the defensive end and become that guy.

I hope he does. It was great to have Maryland viable for a basketball season here most recently.

And it makes some noise in the tournament.

um i want the kid to succeed it feels like it's up to the kid joe dumars was so bad in detroit that i once wrote in a column that i wanted to sell joe dumars cap space cologne you only have to spray it once and then you can't get away from the smell for three to five years remember when he was handing out all those terrible contracts everyone forgets how bad joe dumars was uh 11 11 years, right?

Yeah, fortunately he has Sean Marks and some others.

I feel like we're almost like atrocious GM Summit territory.

Oh, no. You're going to fire him back up.

We're getting close.

Yeah, we almost have enough teams again.

House is giddy. Yeah, I'm trying to think of all the teams. We got Vivek.

We got Ishbia. We have New Orleans.

You got a lot of character voices to write to as well.

I think this is prime.

Yeah, I feel like Chicago could be in the running.

Chicago, Jerry Reinstorf never paid the luxury tax.

I will say on Queen one thing.

One apologetic thing I would say is that he, considering where he was like a couple of years ago, he has made progress.

Sure. He has worked on his body.

So I hope he continues that.

By the way, I like the value at 13.

Oh, yeah. That pick was top 10 protected.

I would have liked the trade.

But it's unprotected in a draft that everybody is saying is awesome.

It's insane. There's no counter argument.

That is an insane thing to do to do that.

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Um, so then of course the smart teams come up San Antonio and OKC at 14 and 15.

It's like, all right, here we go.

San Antonio is going to take Carter Bryant.

You're supposed to go like in the nine, 10 range.

He'll go 14. Nice pick.

They just hang out as everybody else fucks up.

OKC, they take Sorber from Georgetown.

Georgetown. Cool. He won't play for a year.

They'll let Hartenstein go.

All of a sudden, they'll be playing 20 minutes a game.

Know how that's gonna go.

Did you let you watch him at Georgetown House?

Decent amount. He's big.

He moves fine. His arms are up.

Yep, exactly right.

He's an arms up guy.

He's some footwork.

He'll play for them.

And then Portland takes Rosillo's guy, Yang Hansen.

That's Rosillo's guy?

Yeah. Rosillo loved him at the combine.

That was his guy. And he was our first guy from the stands.

And then just a couple more really quick.

Utah taking Multiplay.

Hold on. Are we not going to acknowledge that they massively reached for Hans and Yang?

I mean. Did they massively reach or was it the steal of the draft?

Time will tell, right?

I may live to be the fool on that.

7 '2 Chinese guy who can throw backdoor cuts and doesn't speak English.

I loved it. Did he work out against the chair?

No. He went to the NBA Combine and played everybody.

and really impressed everybody and actually increased his stock.

Who knows? We're at the point of the draft where it's done, but Yaka Shunis, who's just dropping now.

I'm so pissed about this.

And I'm watching going like, I'm rooting for the Celtics maybe to trade out because he was one of my favorite guys.

And I know he can't go by anybody, but as a pick and roll, using the pick and roll, and I just, that guy's an NBA player.

And you think the Nets are going to take him Because they took Yegor And it's like Well I might as well Take that guy too Maybe he'll go one for two But they take Traore I don't like the French guys In this draft I think we had a nice Little French run And now we're due For one of those Like off years For French guys And then Miami As usual Classic Just like Danny Granger Karan Butler Tyler Harrow You just go on through All the Kaleo Ware Kaleo Ware It just It just always happens For them And it happens again And Yaka Shun is false to them.

And I tweeted that I thought Sean Mark should be arrested and which I still kind of feel.

It's just bother. I think you shouldn't get that guy at 20.

How did they do it, Kyle?

Honestly, I don't have the intel on that yet, but I mean, it is crazy that he fell.

I mean, I think our final ranking was seven just because he's somebody that I think - He's a very smart player.

He's very young. He's got great size.

He's got a frame. He's going to be big and strong.

I don't think that he played a lot on ball at Illinois, and it got a little yackety -sacks at times because he had a wrist injury and people started blitzing him, and he was on not a super physical team.

So you start to see him get a little wasteful, but I think when you compress him and scale him down, which I think is what's going to happen, he's not going to scale up.

I think if you put him in that supportive role, he shoots it pretty decently well off the catch. And then he's one of those guys that I would say or just like a comma in a sentence on offense.

It's just like he's not a stopper.

He's not a period. He's just like, here's a comma that we keep moving.

Like, we're going towards getting a basket.

And I think that he's just going to be a nice bolstering secondary creator for them.

Yeah, it's a great pick.

He's a Daryl Morey model guy.

I figured out Daryl Morey's motto in like the early 2010s.

And he's a model guy.

He fills the box score.

He'll play for Miami.

I mean, he'll play 23 minutes a game next year and he'll get like 12 points, five assists, five rebounds, one steal.

Like he just, he's just going to be good.

It really is annoying to me.

And they're going to sign cominga or do some sort of sign and trade with him.

And guess what? He'll be good for them too.

And then all of a sudden I'll be like, Jesus Christ, we're back with the heat.

We thought we killed them.

We thought they were dead.

We thought we cut their head off house.

They're back. I took a look at their odds for the Eastern conference.

Ah, just because we're, we're sleeping.

Don't sleep. It's an insane number in view of, you know, they don't have a lot of talent.

They don't, they don't at the moment, but 50 to one that's, that's all.

That's what I'm saying.

Right. It's Miami. Somehow they keep showing up in the Eastern conference finals once every three years over the last, you know, 12 years or so.

I was wondering if, uh, cause they have Duncan Robinson.

He makes 19 million next year, but you can waive it and only pay nine.

And I was wondering if there was some sort of Celtics, Anthony Simons, Robinson coming back, and then they waive the thing, and that enables them to create more cash, and then they could pay Horford and Cornette.

But I feel like that Robinson contract is tradable, and they could actually get somebody for him from a team that needs to cut money.

I have my eye on it.

um that really made me mad kyle give me your favorite pick in the last 15 oh honestly it probably is clifford um honest like uh yes he's i like the fit with jace richardson in in orlando as well um he's he was lower on my board because of the issues the size issues and things like that but in that so clifford went to sacramento who lost the championship belt and made a good pick i had a clifford stat that i really liked hold on i pulled this up because As I was charting out, he's a guy who was in college.

Some of these guys, it's a newer phenomenon, but they're getting the opportunity to stay around and make money and get better.

And then it's that same concept again of scaling down.

This is a dude who I always just kind of keep an eye out on guys who see a huge uptick in responsibility and keep the boat steady.

Not only did he do that, pick and roll reps from his first senior year to his second senior year.

year. He had 48 in the first year and 139 in the following year.

And he upped his efficiency from 0 .56 to 1 .086.

So huge uptick. And he vastly improved his efficiency, which says to me that this is a guy who just has a skill building skill.

And he's somebody that shoots the ball really well.

He added a little bit of post game.

He's not going to be used to the extent that he was Was it Colorado State on some good teams?

But he's going to be a very capable catch -and -shoot spacer for them.

I love that pick. I think it's going to work.

I didn't allow myself to root for him to fall into the Celtics because I knew it wasn't realistic.

It was like Yaka Shunis.

But it was like in the back of my head as we went to the 20s and some of the teams did some stupid stuff.

And then it was just not going to happen.

I like that one as well.

So Danny Wolf house, did you crunch any Danny Wolf tape getting ready for the draft or not?

Really? This is somebody who became a, who became a, a cult figure of this draft. Jay Kyle recommended that I get into some, some Danny.

I didn't do it. I can assure you that, that a guy that I did not have on my radar or paying attention to was Riley.

I certainly didn't spend any time looking into Will Reilly as a as a potential guy that was going to land up with him at 21.

I know I'm I'm aware, but I honestly don't think that's a terrible pick again by by the Nets.

I actually think for 6 '10", 250, the playmaking capacity.

Late 20s, who cares?

Yeah, that's right.

I'm certain the late 20s.

I don't think it's that bad of a pick.

I'm glass half empty on him.

I just don't see it because I can't see the comp.

When we get to the 20s, I need you to have one elite skill.

skill. That's even why like Newell going to the Hawks.

Newell can't shoot, but he tries really hard and we've seen versions of him succeed.

These six foot eight long.

My whole life depends on this quarter.

The coach put me in for five minutes.

I'm just going to lose my mind.

I've seen that work.

Right. And sometimes it doesn't work like Jordan Walsh on the Celtics.

It hasn't worked. There's guys where it doesn't work, but there's a prototype for him.

And I sold Walsh to you.

So I regret that. I'm still pulling, I'm crossing my fingers that that one's going to come through.

He can't shoot at all.

He takes a thousand corner threes a day and they're still not going in.

So I guess the Danny Wolf thing, if you're going to say that's going to work, that would be, okay.

It's, it's a tall, he's a little Lori marketing -ish, marketing -ish with the ball.

And he, he's good. He can send him some picks and he can be a mismatch, but I just, I don't, I don't see how on a winning team that is somebody who could be out there.

He's a role player on a winning team.

I mean, right. Could he be like the ninth, 10th man?

I don't know. Is there anybody that didn't get drafted that you were shocked by Kyle?

Oh, geez. Because I really liked the St. Joe's kid and he didn't get drafted.

Yeah, that was, I'm under consensus on him.

Just cause I don't totally trust the shooting to translate.

He had a pretty good year this past year with prior years that didn't, didn't that that I thought more reflected on who he is as a shooter he kind of he shoots on the way down in a way that's written a really flat ball that I just worry about it going in and then you combine that with the fact that he is very yackety -sacks a close attacking closeouts like the dribble is high I don't trust in that you know it's going to limit him yeah I don't give the full report but I'm not big on him all right so house how we remember this draft um so close once again for the washington team i will say my favorite

pick of all not even no joke uh was walter clayton jr going to utah at that 18 pick because i think the combination of ace bailey and walter clayton jr i might let me ask you if i can have permission to do this um i'm not going to pay attention to my team this this upcoming season other than to check and sometimes to see how some of the rotations with the kids work out.

They're not going to win at all.

Utah might be on a different trajectory.

They might actually try a little bit this upcoming season because those two kids they acquired are so dynamic.

Am I permitted to have a Western Conference team that I pay attention to and kind of invest in?

No, no, no. I only have one team.

It's these guys. No, but I mean your league pass team.

Yeah, my league pass.

Yeah. Do I have permission for that?

Utah? Listen, both Roussel and I jumped on the Portland situation last year.

It was fun. It's like having an affair.

They were good, too.

You're just in a seedy hotel room.

You're in a Motel 6 with a West Coast League pass.

What did Kamara do to you?

It's a West Coast League pass team.

League pass affair.

Camera and scoop. It was fun.

And now they have Drew Holiday.

Now they have some better leadership.

I don't know Utah has so many guys, I can't figure out what that team is.

They're going to have Ace Bailey and Markerden and Sexton and Clarkson and Keontae Jordan.

You go through it, it's like all of these dudes want to take some shots and have the ball.

Asset, asset, asset.

Yeah, it's all these assets that they're collecting but for what?

For Zion Williamson?

What's the end game?

I don't think they know either, but I think they're just collecting assets.

I think my favorite thing was Danny Inge taking Ace Bailey and just showing everybody that, guess what?

It's called the draft. You don't get to decide where to go.

If you don't like it, go back in college.

Right? And that's it.

What was your favorite thing, Kyle?

My favorite pick? Your favorite anything from this draft?

I enjoy that there was somebody close enough to one of the broadcast cameras to very audibly yell rigged as the night started.

it i thought that was pretty funny um i wish it had been me ace ace well it might have been house right uh ace i'm not laughing at this but i mean he looked like he wanted to cry when when they were talking to him like i normally you saw him earlier in the broadcast and he's uh he's laughing and cutting up and a funny kid and then he's very obvious somber shift uh to him and you kept we kept waiting for maybe the other, the other shoe to drop on that.

But, um, yeah, the best one ever for that was Steve Francis.

That was when we peaked.

I don't remember that broadcast. It was at that draft. That was in Washington being Vancouver took him and he was so upset and he walked up on the stage and he did the handshake.

And then at one point, he just like looked up like just completely devastated.

and then I think he he never played a game for them I think he forced a trade out of there like he was that then they did the interview and he was just could not have been less well Steph made that made a face when the Warriors took him people forget about that he wanted to go to the Knicks Steph made a like he looked down and grimaced because he did not want to go to Golden State but not quite on that level of drama but yeah house did anything in this draft change from a gambling standpoint any decisions you're going to make when you're bored this summer now that we don't have basketball and we

don't have football for two more months?

Not really. I mean, we just went through a couple of the ones where there's sort of interesting futures where you might want to just have a ticket in your pocket.

So Atlanta 33 to one and then the Thunder plus 130.

I guess the last thing I'll say is I was worried all day that there was going to be like a blockbuster mega Celtics trade and all the people that cover the draft and you follow on Twitter, people do this every year.

it's like when there's some sort of big weather event coming and all the weather people on the TV are like don't leave your house this is going to be one of the worst hurricanes and then it turns out it's fine we do this with the NBA draft every year it's going to be crazy so many trades oh my god buckle up it's going to be and it never is and I did feel like I did feel deep down that that's how it was going to play out but I was worried with the Celtics that there's going to be some Jalen Brown trade out of nowhere.

There was enough smoke coming from different corners that I was on guard. Like I didn't do a long power walk to their house.

I stayed around the house.

I just didn't know it was going to happen.

I was on call. It's like a doctor.

You had to be tethered.

Yeah. I just kind of walked around my living room.

My dog stared at me.

Yeah. I don't think they're doing anything.

So I don't know. I don't know if we're getting another mega trade.

unless you're right about Zion.

Zion jazz thing. You really put something in my mind spinning with that one.

I mean, of course, going for Zion and adding an unhappy ace, I don't think that works.

So I don't know. Zion with ace.

Yeah, we'll see what happens.

All right. We're going to wrap it up here unless, House, you have any last thoughts.

I do not. No, no. House, you seem tired.

You seem emotionally spent.

I told you. I'm drunk on exhaustion because the NBA NBA just won't stop.

Let me have a break, NBA.

Enjoy yourself a little, House.

Your team is making good picks.

I think Trey Johnson's a good pick.

You seem resigned in a way that you should be happier.

I like it, too. I like where the Wizards are.

Okay. You haven't messed up in like two years.

Put that on a banner.

Hang that over my shoulder.

The Wizards haven't messed up in two years.

Listen. If I told you two years ago, two years from now, the Wizards will not have messed up for two years.

you would have taken that sure there's a giant chalkboard in the arena that says this many days since we screwed up yeah they should have like a scoreboard like a thing on the clock 867 days since our last stupid move yeah New Orleans would be zero days um alright Kyle Mann great to see you Kyle it's great to see you thanks to Kahl and Oswarte as well thanks to everybody who's on our YouTube stream I'm gonna be back Sunday with uh Russillo enjoy the rest of the week everybody must be 21 plus and president select states for Kansas and affiliation with Kansas star casino or 18 plus and president

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[NBA Draft 2025 Analysis: Surprises, Strategic Gambles, and Front Office Blunders]-[NBA Draft Reactions and Lots of Pelicans Jokes With Joe House and J. Kyle Mann]

📋 Summary

The 2025 NBA Draft: A Night of Strategic Shifts and Questionable Trades

The Ace Bailey Saga and Utah's Aggression

New Orleans and the 'Dumbest Trade' of the Decade

Identity Crises and Roster Construction

Bright Spots: Washington and Memphis

Final Reflections

🎯Key Sentences

📝Key Phrases

📖 Transcript