2024 NBA Draft Preview, No. 1 UNCERTAINTY & Giddey Trade Reaction | The Hoop Collective

2024 NBA Draft Preview, No. 1 UNCERTAINTY & Giddey Trade Reaction | The Hoop Collective

hello and welcome to the hoop Collective podcast we talk about the NBA which we are doing on Sunday evening joining me is the man of the week we’re so lucky he got a few minutes of his time before it gets uh crazy our draft analyst and the founder of Draft Express which is Still Remains uh legendary in the NBA Jonathan gavone that Brian how are you I’m probably a little bit more well- rested than you um now I’m trying to cram I’m like uh I’m like an exam week trying to cram on all the draft stuff that you’ve been working on endlessly for 12 months um so I’m going to yield to your expertise here but so thank you for Lending it um so it’s not every some years we have this question three days before the draft but we have it this year wasn’t the case last year right out of the gate we still don’t know who the number one pick is going to be for the Atlanta Hawks now there’s a bunch of different reasons for that the quality of the draft is a factor the nature of the Hawks situation is a factor uh ranking the top prospects as a factor where are you at uh Jonathan and and who would you take if you were the Hawks well we’ve had Zachary rashay number one for pretty much the entire cycle and that’s who most of the NBA expects to ultimately be picked one either by Atlanta or if there’s some kind of trade maybe with San Antonio you know which I’m not sure how likely that is but if that did happen I believe that Ray would be the target most of the NBA teams that I talk to have re Shay at number one on their board but not all some of them have Alex SAR there but I think Reay is probably the guy for either of those teams ret is like a combo forward um a uh a wing a talented Wing um I’ve had him described to me as uh he’s a safe pick at number one um why would you have why do you have him number one and why would the Hawks want him number one do you think well he’s a safe pick because every team in the NBA is looking for a 6 foot n 6 foot1 Wing who can make shots guard multiple positions and has a great feel for the game that just knows how to play basketball and knows how to play with other good players now is he’s probably not the type of ball handler shot Creator pick and roll one-on-one guy that you would normally expect to see at the top of this draft but I think that there are some comparisons to be drawn with someone like Brandon Miller for example who went to in last year’s draft who also was heavily criticized for his you know shot creation ability he shot only 48% for two last year he really struggled around the rim uh you know not a lot I mean not a lot of dunks uh Ray is almost probably twice as many dunks I believe as Brandon Miller a year ago R sh is also much younger than Brandon Miller um you know he’s about a year and a half younger at the same stage and so there’s a lot of upside with this kid because you look at the frame I mean he’s really well proportioned he’s going to fill out significantly and you just look at the fact that the level competition that he’s played at this year his team made the championship game of of the Euro Cup uh which is a high level of competition they yeah for Borg which is not known as a Powerhouse exactly I mean he helped them have the best season that they’ve ever had and they also made the semifinals of the French league playoffs where they lost to Monaco who had the second best record in the in the Euro league and he had his best games of the season in the playoffs when it mattered most even though you he was playing you know 70th Plus game of the year which is you know for the way that they travel me that’s like two College seasons in one a lot of you know NBA teams are concerned about when there’s kind of a thing like a rookie wall that rookies hit in the NBA about Midway through the NBA season you know ret he’s not going to have that because he’s already played you know with you know very poor uh travel the way that they travel in Europe is you know commercial flights and it’s so um you know so his team Borg had the number one defense in the Euro Cup this year they had the number one defense in the French league and he was by far their most their best defender he was their most impactful Defender he’s the guy that they put on point guards you know when when they needed to get a stop Mike James uh you know the Euro League’s leading score Reet was the guy that they went to he could also slide to guard forwards he can guard power forwards he switches on to everybody you know usually 18y olds in Europe they’re really bad Defenders I mean 18 year olds in college are bad Defenders so for re should to already be that far ahead of the game on that end of the floor that really bodess well for him that tells you a lot about his competitiveness but it really tells you a lot about his feel for the game because he’s always in the right spots on both ends of the floor the game comes really easy for him touch passes you know cutting uh he just I mean he comes from a really strong background his father was a was a very high player in France he you know grew up around the sport from a very young age his sister was MVP of the under 16 European Championship last summer so I mean this the you know basketball it’s in his blood I mean this is what he was born to do and he just made a a huge jump this year from last year I mean we were together in France uh you know about a year and a half ago in January went to spend time with Victor and his family we we did a feature for sports for sports center and we were fortunate enough to be there uh watching Zachary roset play against Bilal kabali um you know which was an awesome game Ros was playing point guard and so we really got to see a little bit more of his game as a passer which I think we’re you know you’re talking people that are watching him here in a workout now they’re saying I didn’t realize this guy could handle like this I didn’t realize he could pass like that he’s so good in pick and roll he you know he makes reads and it’s like yeah his feel for the game is Elite his job at Borg you know Borg was an incredible defensive team they were not a very good offensive team they were a team that basically played Without a point guard and so he you know they lived off their defense and his job was really to park in the corner you know handle it in transition push off attack Closeouts uh cut just really filling all the blanks do what you know most 18y olds do at that level of Europe which just you know wait for people to create shots for you but I do think that once he gets into the NBA as he gets more comfortable we’re going to see a lot more to his game because he can really pass he average five assists per game last year in the ESP League which is not a great league but all the top players in France have come through there and so the fact that he can make those kind of reads he can make passes out a pick and row just the fact that he knows how to play I mean that’s what everybody in the NBA is looking for size feel and shooting and enri Shay ticks all those boxes and that’s why he’s a safe pick in many ways like you said so what I remember about that night is when he saw you he sort of noticed that you were there there was not that many people in the building and he saw I told them in event said hey we’re coming and I’m bringing a lot of GMS so you you better play you know like he had the option of not playing because he also played in the following game you know like it’s weird to play in two games in in in one day but I kind of request in I said hey we’re all coming MSU Jer is here Bryson Grim the San Antonio Spurs by the way were sitting there on the Baseline three people watch Victor obviously but they showed up early and they saw re and that maybe where that the whole thing started about you know why he’s number one on their board was he played an amazing game and so did belal by the way it was it was a wonderful game B had like 25 yeah he was great that game um I want to talk a little bit about alexar also French but he played in Australia this year sort of a is calling him a stretch five fair is that a is he a stretch five yeah he’s a I mean in his he would love to be a stretch big you know he does a lot more than that there’s a lot more to his game I mean I think you look at like a jiren Jackson or a Kristof porzingis I mean that’s how I think he wants to play you know a five out offense pushing off the defensive glass making passes out of short rows attacking from the mid post finishing out of pick and rolls offensive rebounds and spot of Threes I mean he didn’t make his threes at a at a very high level this year I think about 26% but he made them you know for a 7 foot one guy with a 75 wingspan who runs the floor like a guard that’s a pretty good place to start you know I mean I don’t know if you’d agree with that but a scout told me like a bigger Nas Reed I guess the role yes you know I don’t really see the comp personally but I understand I understand the the comparison so here’s what’s fascinating about him he um he doesn’t really seem like he wants to play for the Hawks even though that would be the number one pick he has elected not to come work out for them uh and it makes you wonder what would Happ now the Hawks what the Hawks have said privately is they did meet with him at the combine they’ve done their whole batch of research on they’ve seen him play they’ve they’ve they have his they have his Medicals they have his testing um they have talked to people as coaches they’ve done their full due diligence they say they would still take him um and that he’s he’s a under consideration for the number one pick along with r and maybe another player or two this naturally people think about Eli Manning here the idea that you don’t want to be the number one pick um what is your handicapping of that SAR may want to gear himself to the number two pick which is uh the Washington Wizards I’ve been told that it’s not so much that Alex SAR doesn’t want to play for Atlanta as much as he prefers to play for the Washington Wizards maybe that’s a you know semantics it’s a pol polite way of saying it but like when you look at the Washington Wizards depth chart and you compare it to the Atlanta Hawks dep chart with jayen Johnson at the four Ono kongu Clint capella DeAndre Hunter maybe sliding to the four I understand their point of view where they’re where they’re looking at the the Wizards depth chart and they’re saying Marvin baggley ran Holmes Kyle kosma you know at the four who you know he probably views himself as more of a three he so I mean Alex SAR probably looks at that and says I think the opportunity there for minutes and to play a really featured role is really attractive you know and like we can get into all this cool Bali another French player to be as sort of grow together you know and so and we can talk about all the situation in Atlanta with Trey young and dejonte Murray and all the drama that’s around there and like maybe that’s not a situation that is that attractive to to to a young player I you know a lot of players tried to avoid the Hawks last year and so it’s not you know I mean it’s not like a huge amount of money difference like a million dollars or something like that in the first year so um if just a lot of people want craw overg glass to be the number one overall pick because you’re the number one overall pick for the rest of your life and in this case it sounds like you know he was agents don’t think about it this way they’re thinking about the second contract and they’re thinking about where is the place that I can go and in four years from now get a Max extension and you know they’re probably looking at with the Wizards and saying who are their Max guys you know I mean the the Hawks are kind of in cap hell right now they’ve got a lot of cleaning to do yeah plus they got to sign Jaylen John extend Jaylen Johnson this summer exactly who’s their starting format you know like and so I think alexar it wants to be a guy that can play both of those spots the four and the five and so you know with Jaylen Johnson I mean you’re probably locking yourself more into being the starting five with Ono kongu the backup and I mean I just think that everything around the Hawks and general is just not as clean as as as a wizard situation okay so probably going to be Rish aay and SAR or SAR and Rish aay um there’s some mystery out there as to whether the Hawks would consider Donovan kingan at number one they are known to like him from what I understand I really don’t think the Hawks are taking kingan if if they could if they stay at one I think if they traded back I think kingan would be a would be a certainly an interesting player for them I would be surprised even though I know that people are keeping an eye out there and but a lot of people think that the draft could start at three and one of the reasons I think one of the reasons that that is an interesting spot is that’s where Houston is we’re going to talk with Tim Bon Simpson Tim McMahon a little bit about Houston’s other offseason that’s going on but Jonathan this number three pick has been dangled out there as available um and Houston may end up keeping it but um there’s a reason why and what is that reason and I know you have Reed Shepard there out of Kentucky uh one of the best Shooters in the draft but what do you see as as that spot in the draft and why it’s so pivotal well from the the first moment that Houston moved up and got the number three pick you already started hearing trade rumors around this pick because you know it’s very obvious that the Houston Rockets are in win now mode they hired a coach and EM udoka who you know you you hire a guy like that to to be competitive and so you know they have a lot of young players on their roster right now they just drafted a man Thompson and cam Whitmore a lot of you know they have tar een and Jaylen green and Al shenon it’s a very young team and so in that situation I think probably their preference it feels like would be to get another star especially a star on the wing and so is it someone like Jimmy Butler Mel Bridges Brandon Ingram isn’t Marcus smartt we’re hearing all this talk about nine and smart for three it it seems pretty obvious that if the right offer came along the Houston Rockets would be very happy to move the pick but it has to be the right offer off because there is value for this pick and I mean I think a lot of the people that want to move up to three the reason is for Donovan kingan number three player on our big board so it makes a lot of sense why everybody is looking at the number three pick as a place to possibly go get him I mean the draft really starts here like you said if kingan goes three it changes the complexion of the entire draft if Houston stands Pat it feels like Reed Shepard is the guy which you know moves Clingan to four maybe even all the way down to seven depending on how things play out so like you said the draft in many ways starts here at three yeah and and so kingan is people like kingan because they saw how terrific he was in the uh in the NC tournament obviously he’s been a big factor in the last two titles at at Yukon he did have a foot injury during this last season um whenever you hear spig seven-footer and foot injury that’s obviously something to pause about is that concern at all with these teams Jonathan not that I’ve heard from the Medicals you know teams are still meeting with doctors getting all the medical information but like I haven’t heard anything about any major red flags with any of the guys in the draft which is really good news you know like usually there’s at least one or two guys who you know you hear that they have something in their medical that’s going to cause them to drop sometimes dramatically I don’t think there’s anybody in this draft that is like that from from what I’ve been told thus far we’re still doing research on that front Shephard is is one of the guys who’s risen on your mocks throughout the uh the process um great shooter and even though he’s smaller he like 61 and a half I think give or take and bare feet he’s not regarded from what I understand as a you know you see a guy like this you think well you know maybe not great shooter maybe not a great defender but his steel rate is crazy um he does make defensive plays he’s obviously going to be limited because he’s not 68 but this is a guy who who’s pretty interesting why is he risen up and why would the Houston or somebody else think about taking him in the top five it’s the same thing like we said with ret the NBA is looking for shooting they’re looking for feel and they’re looking for guys that know how to play with other good players and Reed Shepard ticks all those boxes he’s the best shooter in this draft he made 52% of his threes no first round pick has done that since Glenn rice in 1989 wow uh and he’s versatile with the way he shoots it he can shoot make pull-ups he can shoot coming off screens he’s got a very good feeli out of pick and roll he’s not maybe as aggressive or prolific a shot Creator as a lot of us sometimes hoped um he’s such an unselfish player he wants to get every people involved so much he at times had the breaks on at Kentucky which makes sense I mean he came off the bench people looked at him they said well you’re a you’re a legacy recruit a lot of people didn’t even think he was going to play his first year so for for us to be even having this conversation about him as the number three pick in the draft just shows you you know how far this guy has come and you know how many just the it’s just the wiring that is really special to a lot of people just the way that he um you know carries himself on and off the court just the you know the the confidence that he plays with uh you know Reed Shepard is going to be a big time player in the NBA even though like you said he’s only around six fo three in shoes oh six’ three in shoes okay well 61 and a half Bary the same thing yeah okay so one more guy I’m going to ask you about before we let you go do your other work Zack Ed uh National Player of the Year put up enormous numbers if this was um 1995 2007 1986 he probably is the number one pick in the draft would you would you agree with that and I know that he got invited to the Green Room uh and he passed he’s not going to go um what do you think is you know this is a guy who a lot of people will be familiar with sort of a player from a different era classic uh you know post big very talented but but not in Vogue what is what is zachi ‘s is he gonna hear his name called on on dra on night one oh 100% I mean I think he’s going in the top 20 he could go as high as nine to Memphis I mean Memphis you what we talked about with the clinging segment you hear them a lot moving up possibly if they don’t move up they need a center in the worst way and Zack Edy is clearly the second best center in this draft after Clingan I look at him and I say what if uh Jonas Valen chunis was six inches taller that’s what Zach six inches taller my God yeah he’s seven foot4 he’s seven five in shoes um you know 71 Wings spin 9 foot7 standing reach he dunks without jumping um he plays incredibly hard he’s physical he’s competitive he draws fouls at a ridiculous rate he offens the rebounds at a ridiculous late he’s the best screener in this draft which counts for a ton in today’s NBA with you know the way that everybody plays picking role to have a guy like that who gets you open every time and then just sucks in the defense because you could throw the ball anywhere you want and Zack Edie will go catch it he’s got incredible hands and then he just you know everything’s a dunk I mean led the NC and dunks by a mile because I mean it’s I mean he barely needs to jump he has to jump three inches to dunk yeah exactly so and then you know the rebounding he improved incredibly on the defensive end he’s really hard to shoot over because he plays so hard and he’s so freaking long and he’s really improved this technique people talk about him they say he’s a finished product whatever we need to remember when he’s been playing basketball for six years this guy was a baseball player he was a hockey player was everything but basketball he’s still I mean he’s gotten better and better every year his conditioning has improved he was playing 40 minutes a game in the NCA tournament he never came off the flooor and so I just think when you put him in a smaller role in the NBA where he can actually go out and foul people which he was not allowed to do it Purdue he’s gonna be he’s GNA be awesome I think he’s a starting center in the NBA that’s fascinating that’s one of my most fascinating players uh in the draft all right gavone has a ton of coverage on espn.com ESPN plus he’ll be all over all the shows he’s going to be on the draft show on uh Wednesday night and on Thursday night which is where we’re they’re going to be going to be really leaned on I think when uh we are some of those second round picks thank you Jonathan for your time and good luck getting some sleep this week thank you Brian okay thanks again to Jonathan gavone Now The Boys Are Back joining me from New York City we’ll be covering the draft in a couple of days Tim bnps hello everybody got your uh you also have to go to Brooklyn for one of your favorite nights of the year bonts I am all set to go to Brooklyn sight of many memorable nights including when uh the Celtic made the trade that set up the 2024 title in 2013 when they traded Paul pier and Kevin Garnett to the Nets and I watched Bobby marks among the whole Cadre of Nets front office people walk by me uh walking out of the loading dock at barklay Center it was also the night where the Hawks made a deal with the Mavericks to move a couple of spots in the draft and acquire Luca donic who now resides dur no no that was that was not that was that was five years later and not part of either of the drafts that we’re talking about but yeah but it was also excuse me it was in Brooklyn I I suppose the draft was in Brooklyn yes but it was not well you said the of like did did it not go down on draft night it did you just made it seem like it was part of the same trade big manah and I have heard it the same way that to be fair to me let the man cook joining us from Dallas Texas where Luca plays in the wi the winter now he’s I’m sure in Europe is B mcmah howdy Partners look the Mavs aren’t even giving us fajitas for the first round since they don’t have a pick on the couch wow that’s rough they got all this extra money from the uh the run of the finals too disappointing no no I’m I’m hoping that uh the second round they they will welcome us to facility for the second round I’m hoping the fajitas will be waiting all right well we heard we heard from Rich Paul uh by our guy Jonathan gavone that uh Nico Harrison would just love to have bronny James at 58 so maybe they’ll he’ll be sitting there at 58 and the Mavs can have a big party for Ronnie and I would love to have a webcam a live cam on McMahon’s face if the Maverick’s draft bronny James just to see like his face is real I want what’s wrong with that it’ be good for business I mean it’ be good for business I would more time at home with the IT department that’s a win uh I would say I’d be spending probably a lot of nights in Frisco Texas where the Texas Legends play and I actually don’t think you would be a lot of nights all right um the draft will be the draft we are going to come on uh and record a pod with these gents after the draft on Wednesday night that we’ll post on Thursday a little bit out of our rotation this week but just to be advised um for the time being I want to talk about some uh transactions we’re in the heavy transaction season who knows what will happen even by the time this podcast is uh running um but I want to talk about the Houston Rockets So I talked to gavone about um how the draft in someways basically starts at 3 um the Rockets are very active in trade talks now look every single year you hear about teams often in the top five but certainly in the top 10 that are quote unquote active and you hear about three or four or five different trade permutations um and it’s like wow what deal are they going to do and then they’re on the clock and Adam Silver comes out and announces their pick and they hold on to the player so I certainly am not going to sit here and tell you that anything is guaranteed that said um mcmah the Rockets are being active and it looks in in the conversations that I’ve heard about that they’re looking to you know move out of three and and maybe even stay in the in the high in the lottery um but but no matter what they do they are looking to acquire a veteran player that is going to immediately help them now which do we call it phase three McMahon is that what the Rockets are doing here we we did talk about this in March when the Rockets were playing really well uh and one thing we discuss then is this is a team that has put together a collection of good young talent that isn’t necessarily eager to add another young player to the mix um you know or or at least isn’t prioritizing adding more youth to the mix that if there’s something that makes sense they would look to get more of a win now type of player um that doesn’t mean they won’t stay at three and pick but they’re certainly exploring what the alternatives are if there’s value there that’s something that I think they will would pounce on and when we talked about it in March you know you thought they’d be that pick would land somewhere later in the lottery right 8 N1 obviously the the Ping PA pingpong balls bounced Brooklyn’s way which benefited the rockets and here they are with the number three pick and I think that that you really will know the value of number three after you see what the Hawks do at number one if it’s not Donovan kinging number one then I think the anticipation is he will be available at 3 and there’s going to be uh multiple suitors for that pick and you know one team that has been uh that’s come up a lot has been the Memphis Grizzlies who they have the number nine pick uh they certainly have a glaring need at Center to be able to pair Donovan kingan with uh jiren Jackson Jr in the front Court would be awfully appealing I believe for the Grizzlies yeah one of the things about the Grizzlies is that they routinely like they fall in love with players in the draft and they routinely try to move up to get them and the player that people in the league believe they’ve fallen in love with this is not telling any super secrets like report colon me loves Donovan kingan winhurst colon Memphis loves Donovan kingan I don’t think it’s a it’s a secret that they have an interest in that that that appears to be the guy that they love and they’re not going to be able to get him probably at number nine so if it’s not number three I wouldn’t be surprised if they’re talking to other teams about moving up as as well but there there is a player on the Grizzlies roster who Oka has a history with and a fondness for and you know the one of the things is out there in terms of possibilities would be Marcus Smart Moving to Houston but that that’s the kind of that’s the kind of thing I think the Rockets are exploring um you know if it’s if they’re going to be moving so somebody who’s part of their young Corp now it would be it would have to be for a you know a lead dog type of player like I don’t know what what your latest Intel is on Donovan Mitchell but if he wasn’t going to extend with Cleveland the Rockets would absolutely be interested in him but they’re not going to move one of their uh you know one of their young core guys just for a a lateral move or an incremental move that would have to be for more of a a big swing one of the other things about about Houston real quick is that Houston’s cap space uh or Houston’s cap position uh fluctuates uh a little bit because they’ve got 25 million in non-guaranteed contracts um and so uh you know kind of the bigger ones uh being um but Jeff Green and Jo landale I think um and so they’re they’re free agent strategy May hinge a little bit on what they can trade for in and around the draft they don’t have a ton of cap space though either way I think it’s more just what do they whether they decide to say maybe use the full mid level or guarantee those guys potentially have them to package together to make a trade because they they’ve got 131 million guaranteed salary Cap’s going to be in the low on 40s so they’d have to do a lot of maneuvering around to have real substantial that’s true but if they trade out of number three um they would potentially create some more and then they have the non- guarantees but you’re generally right buns well the guaranteed the guaranteed money is separate from the from that but regardless um if I was Houston I would hang on to third pick I would draft Reed Shepard that’s what I would do I would love to fit long-term of Reed Shepard and aen Thompson in the back court in Houston with with Jabari Smith with alar Shen and I would I would roll forward with that but if they can they certainly have been aggressive it it seems in trying to move into phase three as McMahon has been laying out for a couple years now they have this step-by-step plan they certainly made good strides under Oka and they are going to be one of the teams to watch over the next month to see just how aggressive they are because I think there will be opportunities for them to do stuff and it’s going to be interesting to see how much they want to push the pedal down and try to take a real substantial step forward what as we’ve talked talked about many times as a brutally difficult Western Conference well you mentioned a in Thompson first and I I think that’s the right thing to do there despite the fact that obviously alaran shenon has put up near All-Star type of numbers Jaylen green has had you know stretches where he looked like a star uh Jabari Smith Jr you know another guy who was a a top three pick but amen Thompson’s the guy who you know when I was talking to people with the Rockets uh late in the season you know after the season he’s the young player they’re most excited about um you said back court I don’t the one of the things that’s most exciting about alen Thompson is he’s not there’s he doesn’t necessarily play a position he guards every position and then offensively it’s that’s where it gets a little interesting with him playmaking skills ball handling skills but when he really thrived the Rockets this season was after shenon got hurt and Jabari Smith Jr was playing the five defensively but their their role man offensively was Aman Thompson so very interesting player they are extremely high on him I do think he is absolutely uh the epitome of an Oka guy which means a stud Defender you know a kind of a a gritty guy who’s going to make his mark on that end the floor first and foremost um but an interesting fit offensively and obviously you know hurt a lot as a rookie just scratching the surface of his potential yeah so one of the things about Houston is um sort of just their their centers in general so um don’t forget they’ve got Stephen Adams on their roster yes um they traded for him last year and obviously he’s had that terrible knee situation I I don’t know what to expect from him but you know he’s a guy who is a udoka player who I’m sure you know there would be interest in in uh well well listen this this goes back to where they’re at between Stephen Adams Jaylen green they’ve got all these other 25 million non- guarantees like they could get to $40 million in salary pretty quick to make a swing for a star so like they’ve got a lot of avenues to put a lot of money together really quick and if they’re going to be aggressive like this there will be opportunities for them to make a big swing if they want and that’s where the question becomes just how aggressive are they going to be and who exactly becomes available for them to go after as like you mentioned Donovan Mitchell I don’t think that is gonna come into play for anybody but whether it’s him or somebody else that comes online Houston is a desirable place to be they’ve got an interesting young Team guys like e adoka there there’s a lot of things there that will jump the Rockets up near the front of the line if somebody comes available and they want to really go after them you mention that draft night in Brooklyn when the Celtics the core of the Celtics Championship was built the other thing the Rockets really have going for them right now is that Brooklyn draft Capital moving forward starting with that number three overall pick they still owe a pick and a swap for the you know bust of a Russell Westbrook deal it’s one of the 8,000 picks that uh that Sam prey’s holding that the Bulls couldn’t get a single one of but uh sorry that we’ll get we’ll get that but the point being the Rockets have ammunition to be aggressive in the trade market um that doesn’t mean they’re desperate you know here here we got to get rid of it but if opportunity arises and they are searching for opportunity they can bounce yeah I just think Houston is one of the more fascinating teams over the next couple of weeks that doesn’t usually come into the headline you know when you think about the teams we’re all paying attention to it’s like oh what’s what’s going to do you know for example um what’s Orlando going to do but Houston’s very active the other thing before we move on McMahon they have two rookie extension candidates here that are interesting so they had a good draft the night they picked uh Jaylen green and alarin shenon got shenon on a draft night trade they moved uh moved around and got him from Oklahoma City both of them are eligible for extensions both of them High stats production players both of them big uh factors in their um their turnaround last year what do you think happens with those guys um shenon is on a really good contract right now for his production because he was drafted I think 17 um Jaylen green obviously was the number two pick so that’s also a big decision for the Rockets this summer and also whether they want to keep those guys and also pay them uh because they’re going to be very expensive uh after next season yeah I think those are interesting scenarios um I don’t have a great feel for like what the likelihood of either one of those guys getting an extension would be um you know Jaylen green is very interesting because he really finished the season strong but for most of the last year he didn’t have a very good year and there was a lot of times where he he wasn’t playing down the stretch of games or even entire fourth quarters and you know then you get in the conversation of does he fit the you know into the mold of uh what Oka wants and like you know this team is going to be built in the vision of you know Oka obviously aligned with Rafel Stone but uh so I’m not quite sure that you know I I I said back in March I don’t think both of those guys are going to be long-term fits in other words I don’t think they will have the two of them maybe it’s one or the other maybe it’s neither I don’t think both will be there and shenon is another fascinating case because great numbers you know borderline Allstar uh case they did play their best basketball when he you know after he got hurt I don’t think it’s fair just to call that cause and effect but there are some fit things like if it if he’s on the floor it’s something that consider if he comes to the table and says I’d like a Max contract please right if he’s on the floor you have to run the offense through him and build the defense to protect him if he’s you know and and when they when when he got hurt Jabari Smith Jr I don’t think you want him playing full-time Center but certainly he showed the ability to do that in stretches I mentioned Thompson you know playing the five offensively as a role man um again I I I think those are going to be interesting situations to keep an eye on look look apparent Shang has a lot of comparisons in in a lot of ways to deas sabonis right who we’ve talked about a lot and is a very good player but if he’s one of your key players you have a bit of a ceiling on what your team can be we’ll see if changon could be a better defensive you know bigger better defensive fit long term but that’s something to think about as for Jaylen green he’s essentially had one really good month in his career he was incredible in the month of March he has not been very good otherwise he’s a 42% shooter from the field he’s a 33% shooter from three he’s a volume scorer do really guard it’s not somebody I’m super excited to give a lot of money to long term and again for if you look at if somebody’s having a great March and like the Rockets had a great March a lot of times you got a lot of teams that aren’t all that interested in winning or a lot of teams that are getting ready for the playoffs so that could be a little bit of Fool’s goal so I would not be rushing to give Jaylen green a ton of money right now and I suspect of the two of them if I had to guess I would guess that he is the one who is not extended but very interesting situation to watch okay we had a big trade a couple days ago um I think it was a big trade uh it’s one of those things that uh could get forgotten in the when a wave of transactions we’re going to have here but Oklahoma City wasn’t I don’t think this trade’s gonna be getting forgotten anytime soon not by us it won’t be because we talked about Josh giddy a lot of times and look they traded for Alex giso with the bulls you know this bontemp said many times um that Josh kidy needs to be coming off the bench I said on a number of occasions that historically Sam pry trades uh players he doesn’t want to extend um it doesn’t happen every time but he has a history of where you know they get to their third year and he’s not crazy about the extension option and he trades them James Harden is classic case number one of that and McMahon has written a lot about the Thunder and when a push came to shove the thunder came to Josh Giddy and this is the explanation given by Sam prey himself one of the more wild releases by the way there was a lot of funny things about this I already cracked up about the bulls not getting a single pick not in the second round but this was also hilarious go on yes you want me to read the do you want me to read the release no let’s just paraphrase it because it’s long-winded um basically Sam pry said they came to Josh Giddy and said they were probably gonna have to come off the bench which of course they did because his skill set doesn’t really fit with their starters and they yanked him for the last couple games of the play yes actions over words you know clearly um and Josh you know was one sentence as we laid out to Josh how he could lean into his strengths and ultimately optimize our current roster in Talent it was hard for him to Envision this is about him coming off the bench and conversations turned him inquiring about potential opportunities elsewhere that is a very colorful way of saying Josh giddy was asked to come off the bench and Josh giddy asked to be traded and therefore was traded the Bulls for Alex gusa and and my thing my thing is this like who gives a flip whether the Josh giddy wanted to be traded you do backflips and I mean go streaking through the quad and celebration of the opportunity to trade for one of the most valued role players in the league for a guy who didn’t fit and was do an extension are you kidding me I don’t care if Josh giddy is singing the Oklahoma musical Oklahom and Bing we don’t we don’t need that ever to happen again well he already looks like Timmy Timothy shalam if he could sing my God his career in Hollywood that is that is true I cannot I cannot sing I don’t care if he’s singing the musical and waving the state flag and you know rolling in a covered freaking wagon you trade this as soon as you can so who cares if he requested a trade it was the strangest like go out of your way to explain oh he requested a trade dude you just robbed the Bulls blind you don’t have to tell us you were like pushed into it take a Victory lap here’s what I want to know I want to know what else and I don’t have the answer I want to know what other options there were for Alex guso on the table for the Bulls well I’m just gonna I feel pretty confident that there were plenty of them and look this is the Bulls who are in a pretty rough spot as we’ve talked about a lot the Bulls just made huge bet on Josh Giddy and Urus kishis and his front office I mean remember go back to the end of the regular season Urus gets up there after they lose to the heat in the 89 game and he announces to the world we got to add 10 wins that’s what we got to do going into next season now this to me is not a move that’s going to add wins for the Bulls now maybe you can Envision in the long term and there are some people who would argue this I’ve talked to some a couple Scouts who at least think that they would bet on giddy he’s a he’s got tremendous basketball IQ he can move the ball obiously got the B he’s a young guy he he’s been productive you put the ball in his hands he’s going to put up stats however for me as we’ve talked about a bunch if you’re a non-fender and a non-shooter the the bar for you to have the ball in your hands it’s very high and the one good thing the Bulls really had going for them last year Demar rosen’s great he’s in his mid-30s the one really good thing they had going for them is the Emergen Kobe white into a really good young player he’s who played point guard got better as a passor had a terrific year now you bring in Josh giddy who now you’re neither one of them is guarding anybody and now you’re moving Kobe white off the ball to play Josh giddy on the ball and presumably pay Josh giddy because you trade for him as he’s about to get extended I don’t like this move really at all for Chicago and from the Oklahoma City side by the way shout out to our guy Teddy tuon who listens to the Pod I heard he got big award at camp this week one of the many exciting things happened in OKC that wasn’t release that got C was it wasn’t in the release but it was released to me uh exclusive info and uh look for the Thunder they moved out a guy who as you laid out we all said for months they were eventually goingon to have to bench and they benched in the playoffs and they replaced him with a guy who could close for them in the playoffs like that it’s an unequivocal win for the thund think perimeter def for the the Thunder when they’re beyond and beyond that the other thing is as McMahon pointed out they gave up no picks and they didn’t really impact their space so they a couple of million but they’ve still got not even a million a million and a half they hard Capa themselves a little bit but they’re still way under the tax under the cap that’s could be a problem and they have the ability to go into the off season with every move available to them that they had before so it’s a massive win for them and it’s a huge gamble by the Bulls on a guy who I think it’s fair to say it’s a pretty specious bet ask going to work out so as far as the gamble they obviously intend to extend him right they didn’t trade Alex kuso have to yeah I mean you’re if you’re Josh giddy’s agent you’re coming to the table saying hey man you just traded a a super valuable guy a lot of guys a lot of teams wanted this guy you clearly are valuing him highly let’s pay him like a starting level guard which is a ton of money he gets the ball in a whole bunch of bucks you know like that’s just the way it is and and look giddy if he has the ball in his hands surrounded by shooting there is definitely you know potential for him to be a useful player um the question is does he driveing any winning way to say an All-Star I you know I think that’s being a little bit Pleasant um but put he will put up stats but will he put up wins also for being real honest like he’s not the headliner in this deal Alex Caruso going a contender is the headline of this is a move where Oklahoma City number youngest number one seed in the history of the uh of the league you know in the Western Conference playoffs gave the Mavericks the toughest fight uh you know went to six got knocked out in the second round and this is a okay hey we’re moving this thing forward the window is open now this is a win now you know win for the yeah you assume he gets an extension win for the next you know this is an aggressive move to open up that’s that is one thing you know they do have to extend them to make this worthwhile um okay I’m pretty confident that will happen he’s obviously he’s obviously getting extended by the thund and you talk about the perimeter defense Dort Caruso Cas Wallace as an elite Defender if if you’ve got jayen Williams well and I was going to say I think one thing that might have happened to jayen Williams in that second round series against the Mavericks one when giddy was on the floor the Mavericks were able to pack the paint and that cut off driving Lanes two Jaylen Williams was the primary defender on Kyrie Irving that’s a lot to ask clearly and he’s clearly gassed right that’s a lot to ask for guys also got to be your number two offensive Creator now they can have Jaylen Williams take the third toughest perimeter assignment or you know or whatever the case may be there are no defensive weaknesses I you know I’m looking at K Caruso with that starting five I think the other thing this could potentially do and again this is just an evaluation not like uh sourced information just an evaluation if there is a swing for the fences kind of deal that’s available and would make sense for the Thunder to get say you know a modern power forward who would be a phenomenal fit there I think Lou Dort could be moved now in a home run kind of a deal because you would still have one of the elite perimeter defenders in the league plus case and Wallace again I’m not saying they would shop L Dort by any stretch of the imagination I’m not saying they don’t absolutely love and adore the guy I’m just saying if there is something that came up now because look if you’re talking to the Thunder and you’ve got a star player it’s not just going to be about picks you want somebody come in and and help you compete now it gives them optionality yes yeah I think the thing about Caruso that is so remarkable defensively is not only is he a terrific Defender man man you know just guards his guy got good size good ability to move he makes defensive plays the guy blocks shots and get steal and he fits right in with their entire defensive ethos which is they have a smaller team as we’ve talked about a lot until they get some more size that fits in with the style of play that they have they’re going to play the same way which is generating a ton of turnovers and creating havoc and Alex is a perfect fit for that and began his career with the blue back in the day and like you know fit right yes I mean he fits right in with everything they’re trying to do and I do think we should you have to guard him when he stands outside the three-point line I think he was actually a Tulsa 66er it was oky blue I BL okay take take it all back there’s a picture when you see the picture him during his blue days you understand why he committed to the full bald look Bon Temps before we go here you had something else you want to say about the Bulls yeah I mean obviously Caruso is the better player in the trade and there’s a reason why basically the entire NBA was going why did the Bulls only get Josh kiddy back for Alex Caruso but again to go back to what we talked about earlier the Bulls are in a summer where they have a lot of pressure on them and they have set an expectation that they’re going to take a step forward or attempt to and I think by making this trade and not if this I would not call this necessarily a forward looking trade because you’re trading for this guy to plug him right in and play him to me this is the start of what could be a pretty active few weeks in Chicago a team that as we’ve talked about hasn’t been very active for a long time and they’ve got Patrick Williams as a restricted free agent they’ve got DeMar rosen who’s an unrestricted free agent they you know this is not a team that to me looks like it’s going to be in the top six or even eight in the East and so so very interested over the next two to three weeks to see where the Bulls land because they got a lot of holes to fill and I don’t think this Josh gidy move filled any of so there sort of this Carousel of two guards that is out there uh with Paul George being at the headline Malik monk was one of them Malik monk already came off the board stayed in sack for a little bit less money than people thought but you have you have kavus cwell Pope who’s expect to opt out of his contract you have Demar de rozan and you have um who am I forgetting I’m not sure can’t get inside your mind anyway uh what oh Klay Thompson hello so when you see what happens with so you see what’s gonna happen with uh probably Paul George first and then you’re going to start to see some dominoes come in whether clay because you’ve got some teams out there that are going to be looking those types of players Philadelphia with cap space Orlando with cap space and Chicago is in a situation here where if the carousel Falls in a certain way all of a sudden Demar D rozan might be sitting there with options multiple options other than Chicago with with where he might be getting a real offer with the team that’s more ready to win well and also D rozan and giddy is a weird fit because d rozen’s a Ballin hand type of player who’s certainly not a spacer he does not like shooting the three I absolutely agree and just the age difference the problem with d rozan the Bulls still owe the Spurs a protective first round pick for the D rozan signing trade it’s like man that’s tough but the D rozan giddy fit is weird like you said he he he he’s going to have options I don’t know it’s hard to it’s hard to wrap your head around what direction the Bulls are heading here that’s what makes them they’re on the they’re on the mediocrity treadmill they’ve been on it for a while the whole but the fact but it they they I mean look and the other thing too you know what you can’t do is play Kobe White Josh Giddy and Zack LaVine together so to me this also signals that one way or the other Zack LaVine is going to be out of Chicago I don’t know what that’s going to look like a year and a half too late well like a lot of things that’s the other Carousel the other Carousel is guys on big contracts that their teams may want to move on from that don’t have a good home in part because of Trey young I would put on this list potentially Brandon Ingram on this list because I think I don’t think he I don’t I don’t think there’s gonna be you know yeah Jeremy Grant J Zack LaVine I talked to some Executives who think at some point they might just start to get traded for each other because their teams to move on Bobby marks and I have a piece on the aprons coming out earlier this week that will’ll get into a lot of that and you mentioned Malik monk obviously signing with Sacramento big to get him done four-year deal by $80 million is the max he could sign for on the early bird exception clearly a guy who’s playing next to his best friend that he played with in Chicago likes playing for Mike Brown has a big role with the Kings signed up there long term would not Shock would not Shock me if we saw see a similar thing happen in New York with a hardenstein who can sign for the max he could sign for under the early bird with the Knicks is a little bit less than the bleck monk deal but similar thing has found a home seems very happy there has a big role there Nicks can pay him as much up to a certain point wouldn’t shock me if a similar thing happens there because he’s a guy that like Malik monk people said well could he maybe go out in the market and get more money elsewhere we’ll see what happens there but I feel like that could be a sign of things to come other plac well the next time we talk we’re going to have seen a lot of transactions happen in the NBA we’ll have a lot to talk about you can stick with us and we’ll break it all down here at the hoop Collective thank you so much so Jonathan gavon who joined us earlier thanks to Jackson and Adrian our producers and obviously always thank you to McMahon and bontemps and thank you for watching and listening we’ll be talking to you soon AOS Amigos

Brian Windhorst is joined by Jonathan Givony to preview what we need to know ahead of the NBA Draft this week. Then, ESPN’s Tim Bontemps and Tim MacMahon talk why we need to pay more attention to Houston before breaking down the Josh Giddey trade and if OKC has vaulted into title contention.
0:00 Intro
1:50 Uncertain No. 1 Pick In Draft 
9:13 Potential Of Alex Sarr
12:28 Why Do People Feel Like The Draft Starts at 3?
18:00 When Will Zach Edey Be Selected?
21:08 Why Houston Is In An Interesting Position
38:00 Reaction To Thunder Trading For Caruso
53:08 Thanks For Watching!

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