Who Would You Trade Straight Up for the Hawks #1 Pick? | The Bill Simmons Podcast

Who Would You Trade Straight Up for the Hawks #1 Pick? | The Bill Simmons Podcast

Atlanta’s number one pick you texted this to me and we thought it’ be a fun segment who would you trade straight up for Atlanta’s number one pick it has to be a realistic trade it has to be a trade that you could make work fairly easily under the salary cap um and it’s specific class of guys but we did not compare notes and I’m going to be interested to see if our notes are aligned what I thought we would do is let’s [ __ ] it we haven’t done a draft in like four weeks let’s do straight up for Atlanta’s number one pick draft what’s your F I’ll let you go first what’s your favorite name give me one Jaylen Brown come on [Laughter] stop you’re ridiculous go what’s your favorite name uh I just wanted just because I was very upset about the title of your most recent episode I was like when are we get into the 12 burning offseason questions with you CR and Rob I didn’t it was a bad title was sometimes I have good title sometimes not as good yeah it was a little misleading I was like we’re in minute 47 of jayen brown where the [ __ ] are the questions all right uh Aaron Gordon Aaron Gordon wow okay make the case ah well his value is less away should I say son’s joic s yic he’s two different guys like the funniest thing about him being traded for Orlando is when he was in the trade market I go you know I know what everybody kind of thinks of him but like there’s a reason this hasn’t really worked out for a while then he goes plays in Denver he’s a completely different guy then I saw people being like huh Orlando how do you let this guy go like well then just just scream you don’t watch then just just say you don’t watch it’s completely different so Denver probably says no because it doesn’t even make any sense right unless they wanted to reset the salary stuff but Gordon’s just such a perfect Baseline fit for everything they do so I’m not even saying that I was doing I was try TR like just trying to think of like player value level well you know what I like you know what I like about that his salary is not that expensive he’s 22.8 next year so that with the with Atlanta’s weird team like they have capella expiring at 20 so you so they would be able to just easily make that roster move and add the number one pick to it and then Denver could flip capella or it could be bogdanovich bogdanovich in number one pick for Anon Gordon which then seems like too much I like that one all right here’s my first choice Trey Murphy and I think the Pelicans say no uh unless they wanted kinging and just said okay post balance unit we have a better big option maybe defensively well you do you just do I mean he’s a b junus is a Bruiser and actually stretches SE for a little bit but you could see some stuff in OKC where you thought B is getting all these rebounds but Willie Green still wanted to play small with Nance yeah so you’re like okay well what does that tell you so would you rather have Trey Murphy than any player in this draft yeah see this is really what the exercise is yes this is why we’re doing it I think I would rather have Trey Murphy than any player of the draft I love Trey Murphy yeah I’m say I’m goingon to say I’d rather have Trey Murphy just because I can’t wait to see what this year looks like with Trey Murphy and that’s an easy trade because he’s still on a rookie you know he’s making like four million Year all right you go does Utah say no to Atlanta if they asked for Larry Markin yes it’s not I think you would have to throw in I think you’d have to throw in Murray with the number one pick to get Utah to even consider that one I think he’s too good all right I’m gonna go let’s stay with the Pelicans herb Jones straight up for the number one pick little harder because he just signed an extension would you rather have Jones than every player in this draft yeah we just have to have fun with it uh I love herb Jones but I would say based on like the upside part of it if you just hammered the work a week in and go hey we actually think like SAR we think reash you probably would do it if you were the Pelicans the reason I the Pelicans came to mind first is because those two guys together with Zion and with Brandon Ingram and it’s just clearly some now it seems like they’re gonna trade Brandon Ingram um but it just feels like one of those guys is Expendable if they wanted to create a different type of team who knows if they do you go next you think RJ Barrett would get it done no I don’t I don’t Atlanta would say Atlanta would say no I don’t I think Toronto would have to throw in Grady dick as well just to even even get Atlanta that Tang up he you got an all rookie vote um I have a good one is gonna be mad I love how stupid this is it’s it’s great C is gonna be mad France Vagner that’s ridiculous at least with Utah and Lowry you go okay okay let’s just start it and there’s a guy we actually like fron is it’s not saying like fron is so much better than Lowry but fron makes so much more sense for what Orlando is doing that’s that’s a sirudi should be upset by that I think I agree with you I’m just we’re drafting names you go I have like five more names just FYI Mitchell Robinson yeah I think that’s a no from Atlanta 50 a year i’ just rather take Clingan and get him on a rookie contract for four years and have that wouldn’t you yeah look I’m trying to I’m trying to nail the target here kasan Wallace I think OKC would be okay with that they would trade kasan Wallace for the number one pick in the draft you think yeah I think they would that would I I I’m 5050 on it I think you make a case either way I don’t I actually don’t think Atlanta would do it because they’re like well why why do we need a guard we have Trey young and uh and uh Murray all right you go next cam Whitmore I don’t think he’s enough I don’t think so too small sample size what about Keegan Murray Oh I thought of a lot of Kings would sabonis get it done would Sacramento say yes oh now the Kings fans are gonna be mad at you oh this is all sabonis is too good for the number one pick Keim Murray is right around the right side but they he either signed an extension or he’s about to but the the real exercise here is all the players were muring would they go first in the draft you don’t have to worry about the contract yet we it I think we’re a year away from it though yeah but it’s not like impending here um I only have one more does Tyler hero get it done he does not not after watching what the Celtics did to him in the playoffs Austin Reeves is a no but I just wanted to mention him so he didn’t feel left out wait so if you were Atlanta and the Lakers are offered Reeves you would say yes no it’s a no I’m saying no all right I thought I didn’t know if we getting the no from the Lakers side or not I subscribe to the Joe house theory in this draft which is if you’re in the top two you can think it overthink it do whatever you want but both of those Yukon guys are going to be I think really safe bets to be good good NBA players at the very least on rookie contracts for the next four years so unless I can Trump that I’m keeping the pick I had a my favorite fake trade with this pick or actually doesn’t involve the pick but involves the Hawks is Bridges with Ben Simmons no uh Mel Bridges and Ben Simmons expiring for Trey and Capell is expiring and then the Hawks take Reed Shepard with the first pick is the most fun version of a hawk situation and then they would have Reed dejonte Murray they’d have Mel Bridges they’d have Hunter like I would just like the framework of it better and then Brooklyn could build around Trey you’ve been really good on the Trey destinations for different motivations Where Brooklyn is like okay here’s your star put him on the side of Barclays Nick K or Trey young is here so you would do that though you would trade Trey in the pieces it would take for Bridges as those being the two Folk Point yeah because capella whatever he’s an expiring and he’s probably overpaid as a center at this point so basically it’s I’m turning Bridges at 25 billion I’m getting that instead of Trey at 40 and then I’m bringing back Ben Simmons to Atlanta where you know his career unraveled maybe seeing if I can unlock it bring him back it’s like when the person in the horror movie goes back to the house where all the bad things happen maybe they can uh unlock some demons Jared Allen was the only other name I had I only had Beal because it doesn’t make any sense for the Atlanta thing but no because Jared’s 20 million and kaminga is 8 million that’s another one I guess you could technically say like would kaminga go number one in this well if we start doing the salary stuff it’s it makes all this a lot more challenging I’m just trying to think of like one GM calls the other here’s the framework of it are you interested who hangs up and it felt like a lot of these were Hang-Ups the Trey Murphy one’s really ridiculous it feels like kingan’s the guy he makes the most sense if they’re not going to blow up their team in any real way and there hasn’t been any real trade Buzz yet about either guy now they have a semi- new regime and maybe some stuff’s quiet we’ve seen trades happen with no buzz before but um I don’t understand if they keep the pick why it wouldn’t be CL [Music] only that well honestly from an offensive standpoint again I we don’t know what the rest of the pieces are going to be here but I mean kingan on Trey lobs if Trey is still there it’s going to be awesome maybe they feel like kingan as you’ve had a diminishing capella conu who I like but do they look at kingan as somebody who’s going to be that much better as a security blanket from the blown perimeter stuff that Atlanta is always likely to give up yeah with this current back court because it wasn’t like dejonte was locking anybody up either but true do they think kingan I mean Quin Snider at one point I remember it was just an awful Hawks loss the defense was atrocious and I instead of like going into the next game I go I’m gonna stay here with the Hawks postgame presser and Snyder just looked like a defeated man on that night I’m not saying for like the season but on that night and it’s all out there you could watch it if you actually care uh which I wouldn’t expect any body would care enough to watch it but he was just like we I’m paraphrasing it but we’re just so bad on the perimeter so maybe they look at klling and saying like SAR is still so raw um and apparently like SAR this is the funny thing I think with SAR and the way his guys are handling it he still hasn’t worked out as of today I believe with Atlanta and I wonder if they look at it going like no we want you to go to because there’s no one else there to take shots so even if you aren’t good you’re going to get two years worth of shots and two years worth of stats and nothing else is going to be in your way where Clingan is a better basketball fit and sard to washhington is a better career fit to get whether you know look maybe he will end up being good and all this be justified or maybe he’ll just get a bunch of opportunities and put up some stats and and make second Team all rookie and we still don’t even know if he’s any good because there aren’t that many other options in Washington although I still wonder Clingan feels like when you talk to other teams I hear kinging at won with Atlanta more than anybody else right now okay which is not s and SAR at Washington seems to be consensus at this point which is crazy it feels like consensus without any certainty though like there’s different stuff that you’ll hear before the draft with with Lottery guys are like hey who’s the most rumored guy to go wear or like what are you hearing the most of and SAR feels like more of an assumption just kind of the default guy to go if kingan goes one where like with Reed Shepard and Houston that one feels like there’s real momentum the be examples shared where you’re like okay well that seems very specific where the Saran never feels specific it just feels like everybody’s just saying the same thing as everybody else the chalk version of this tra seems to be kingan SAR Shephard at three and then the Spurs somehow get ret at four yeah and I think a marab for them I think modest to try at five is pretty consistent but what you just laid out with match I say of all the different things that I’ve talked with people about I’ll like kind of just what what what names am I hearing at the same spot over and over and over again and that’s how the five have played out in most conversations if I was Atlanta I would trade with San Antonio and try to flip spots with them and try to uh try to go back from one to four pick up something extra doesn’t have to be spectacular and um I feel like I get at four because I don’t think I don’t think two or three has taken them Houston’s going to take Shephard the Spurs if they moved up who do you think is on the Spurs board as the number one guy if you’re trying to build a team around wemy and you’re sitting there going [ __ ] somebody might take us be take him before us at four should we just move up to one it won’t even cost that much to try to get him because you could say it’s it’s getting another French Wing now they also have a bunch of wings already on their team but but Reed Shepard and you laid out the case for him last week is the by far the most fun fit next to wimy for a variety of reasons and and part of me wonders would they just trade up because everybody thinks Houston like Shephard at three maybe maybe you trade up from four to one give up something extra not number eight but some one of those other picks they have and just grab Shephard at one so who’s on their board you think it feels like rea yeah but then sometimes I watch him and I think Salon might be as good as he is I’ve I’ve done a double zag on uh Reet now now I’m kind of back in on him a little bit all right he’s like he’s 610 I like his stroke he’s athletic I like some of his fist pumps on the YouTube clip I mean I can’t tell you how great F great fist general of a draft fan I’ve been this year I’m not going to pretend to be an expert just like eye test stuff I’m watching I’m like ah this kid I could see it but I think this whole point of this draft in the top five is anybody who like I am positive 100% this guy is gonna be this like this is not the draft for that there’s a lot of like I can see it ah yeah maybe it’s like it’s that so it’s like whatever you’re yeah maybe however strongly you feel about the yeah maybe that’s maybe you should take SAR for me is like smoking cigarettes like if I don’t have anything to do I’ll just be like let me watch some SAR I go let’s go another I keep waiting to see something else and that’s the lesson is that this is what it is this is what it is and for a guy his size to carry it as well as he does and his end to endend stuff like he had a turnover somebody blocked his shot the ball was turned over he grabbed in the paint and he went Coast to Coast he crossed over a guy at half court he had an N1 in the paint and he was like Jesus the pick and pop stuff the shot out of his hands like it looks there’s a lot there but there’s also WIS men will always haunt me and that as I watched him I go the best stuff is right the best stuff is really really good but you know right here when he has no instincts and it’s not fluid and he’s thinking about what he’s supposed to do it looks awful and this is what big guy busts look like and I went ah we’ll just go with we’ll go with that he’s so young and we only get to see the three games and it was a massive whiff so when I look at SAR I know why you could fall in love with him but I kept hoping to see like something else or something else like and I go no this is the whole point this is the whole point of this year um I want to ask question wait big last thing on big guys they’re so hard when the case is always like oh man he’s only 19 that’s what I felt for with wisman oh man imagine four years from now and you just don’t know like sometimes they’re just big and raw athletic at 19 and then they’re 22 and guess what they still are big and raw athletic and they don’t have real basketball instincts so I I’ve just like given up I to me it’s like quarterbacks trying to figure out like Michael penx sure maybe I you know the centers are too hard yeah I mean wisman when he wasn’t thinking like there would be possessions where he’d get the ball and he would just instinctively go into this amazing like jump shot like he he jab dribble you and then go L and I was like what is this like this isn’t it looks so good out of his hands and I went okay this is like the best version of this is is all of these things but again if it doesn’t get any better you’re right about the quarterback thing but I was thinking about that with Brady’s interview with Colin cardd so cardd which I could tell what cardd was doing he was trying to try to get Brady to share some of those moments with belich where he be butting heads that we’ve all read about okay and Brady because he’s been doing this such a long time completely flips it and talks about how great belich was on a Saturday all right and Brady continues to give this awesome answer and by the way like all the stuff that we’ve seen with Greg Olsen and how great he’s been and how like this is such a weird situation because olsson’s like the best doing it and now he’s going to get replaced I didn’t know if Brady was just the star attraction that networks absolutely love and love bringing up to upfronts and it’s like we’ve got Brady I don’t even care what the [ __ ] number is but some of the stuff that Brady’s doing is he’s sharing these stories in the media I’m like he might actually like this guy might be awesome at this so we’ll see but are you are you on Brady’s actually gonna be good on TV Island because I was think I was looking I was on red fin the other day looking at houses I agree with you he’s way more candid than I was ever expecting I think he might be awesome okay he was so good with cow her so back to the evaluation thing and it dawned on me listening to his answer I I never read talk about this because I talk about quarterback valuation too much on my podcast but Brady then goes further into depth he goes what I liked about Saturdays it’s like we’d install okay and there’s a 100 play calls and there’s all these different things and be like okay well this play no matter what happens like if they bring a safety down then we’re done and he goes and a lot of coaches you just be like hey tip your cap to them they won and he’s like I would never want to give it away so I’d be like no we need a call we needed to he say rape or whatever and he was sharing all these things he’s like when we see this and we do the install and the walkthrough and all the different things like if that’s something that we’re seeing that they do they can blow up this one play call that we have designed for this Sunday why are we going to let them get one why are we giving one away just based on a look that we don’t have any kind of counter for so I want a counter that is the quarterback position and we never talk about that ever when we’re talking about quarterbacks being drafted one because we don’t have access to understanding how these kids operate or if this is even something they’re capable of or they’ve ever been questioned with but we spend all this time talking about quarterbacks and evaluation when really all the things that we’re prioritizing have nothing to do with the guys that are actually successful on Sundays and Brady like shared with us another example of why he’s the greatest and what the great ones do in their preparation recognition all these different things and we’re still we’re still sitting here in 2024 talking about [ __ ] arm strength Charisma intelligence and and competitiveness it’s those three traits that’s it if you have those three and you’re physically good you don’t even have to be great be physically good but if you have those other three and that’s that’s what it is over and over again I feel like we’re starting to figure out quarterbacks more and more as it goes because we’ve been spend so much time talking about it I still don’t feel that confident about it when we get to like that penx B knck level I’m just like but like you know Joe burrow that was a pretty safe bet the stuff you read about Mahomes after the fact it was like this guy’s [ __ ] [ __ ] animal you know more it’s it’s knowing the person you know there’s this joke about how like banking is infested with lacrosse players and it’s like well one of the things that people want Finance is guys that are like insanely competitive yeah Grant I’ve got some lacrosse buddies that I would not say were super dialed in throughout the entire season but there were others that were just maniacs and I’d be like do you know there’s no League after this really like I know there’s like two but there’s not especially back when I was I’m not talking about like the league options now for cross but there’s something to the now in basketball no one is tasked with the quarterback job I don’t know that even the best basketball players have to dissect what a quarterback has to do so we can still go back to physical traits and there’s just different guys I think the point guard position I think resembles it a little bit like when you can see how somebody the the way they can lead a team and understand the rhythm of a game I think is something you could see at the college level when I look at centers and the reason I like clinging I don’t know I don’t know if I’ll ever make an All-Star team but he does two things that I know work in the NBA he protects the rim and he can he can dunk those La passes we know that works he’s really good at both of those things so for me the room for error with him is the slimmest whereas I look at SAR and I’m like man we’ve seen that feel before but we’ve also been wrong on those guys right like could he be siraka is that possible could he be like a a a better rebounding version of siraka I don’t know he’ll spread the four like Serge eventually did we didn’t know Serge was gonna shoot threes when he came in the league he was just like kind of Runner dunker guy I didn’t think Rudy could walk when he got drafted okay right Clint capella I was like I don’t know like I don’t know what this is and it’s also for some of these bigs especially now guys that can’t stretch the floor it’s like you have to have a willing guard you got to have somebody who wants you involved in some of this stuff like Clint capella living with Harden during those years that was an awesome version of Clint capella yeah because it’s like switch contest try to run guys off drop coverage all this stuff like you’re G to be moving around a ton and then on offense you’re going to be eating for free all the time because Harden was so good at catching the defenders in between decisions and the second you showed what you were going to do to harden he would burn you and Trey is great at that so if tre’s still there it’s clinging and I think you said that picks makes sense with Trey yeah and I think you said something that was really good there too and it’s kind of like the old bich things was talking to little Pats here is just stop telling me what these guys can’t do tell me what they can do and to for kingan there’s nothing to suggest that all of a sudden he’s gonna start shooting threes in three years and well maybe like maybe we should stop asking for that all the time yeah quickly I want to ask you I I know I have to ask you something does Castle to the Spurs make sense not for the team they have but it feels like a very Spurs pick like they I could see them taking him at four and just being like oh yeah of course of course they were gonna take him right but I just there’s part of me after the soan point guard experiment where I’m like are you gonna kind of try to do a version of this again right just try to do a better version of it with somebody who actually can play point guard a tiny bit see I I just like I like him more than any any Wing that they have other than soan so I really like Castle I at least know what he is you know and with the with the with the floorer whatever he is is still somebody that can be in the league and be in the top seven on a playoff team I think um can I give you best situation match for every lottery pick I want you to give them to me kingan I had Atlanta but I also think he’d be really fun on Memphis and on Charlotte and on OKC I actually had him on the most teams where like oh that would be fun if he was on that team is there any other kinging team you would have Memphis Yeah Shephard Houston and San Antonio seemed fun to me for him anybody else Celtics we have Pritchard we don’t need him we have the king of the half Court five step half court shots pton Pritchard special teamer Castle San Antonio I think he’d be a good Detroit good Wing right with with Cunningham and jayen and he’s like their wing who can play guard I mean I don’t love the Detroit team but I I actually think he’d play and fit in there why are you making Thompson if you wanted to go small yeah probably playing him at the four yeah I don’t hate it I just really want to see a non Williams Jaden Ivy Kade Cunningham season I’m looking forward to it well obviously Detroit is too since they spent $65 million to take a look at it SAR is basically for me Washington or bust It’s the funniest outcome it’s going to be hilarious for house um I like that he’s going number two there’s a couple guys in this draft where it’s like it’s actually better that you’re not going first because I think re re is like that too him going first makes me nervous for him because I think when you go first first there’s this inherent pressure that comes with that if you’re not good right away or if you have a bad game people like that [ __ ] guy went first it’s tough It’s really hard it’s it’s if you’re not like a finished product that’s why kingan at least could go first and be like oh yeah okay I get it but uh I think SAR Washington I can’t think of another team other than maybe Charlotte for him yeah that feels like if San Antonio takes him you go oh like if he were to fall and you go oh my God San Antonio got this guy he was supposed to go number one where granted he’s not going to last till six but if Charlotte takes him like prepared for anything with this draft though like remember 2013 norleans fell to what six New Orleans was number one the whole process and then all of a sudden was dropping like a stone and we didn’t know what was going on uh Reay people SP Spurs is the best fit for him for a variety of reasons Charlotte would be kind of fun too and then who’s your favorite connect team uh I would love to I don’t think he’s gonna I think his range is 789 Portland San Antonio Memphis I would love to see him on a good team right away like the more I watch Dalton the more I’m like I know he’s older and he would have been great in the Last Dance because the last dance is basically everybody just got taller yeah but connect when you go through his entire story you’re like and then he grew another three inches and then he grew five inches and then all of a sudden like he’s a stud yeah I I don’t really know what you would say like where are the limitations for him so Port you by the way to add on that if he came to the right team I think he’s a good Rookie of the Year bet I could see him coming in and immediately scoring first of all because he’s 24 years old but if it was a team that actually gave him the ball and ran some plays for him I think I I just think from a shooting standpoint I think he could produce immediately he’s AOW and it it’s it’s unbelievable watching his misses how many times you’re like I can’t believe that didn’t go down like there’s some of these guys man like the down like I always joked about how like I wanted to write a book like the five ways Michael Jordan ruined the NBA and I’m kidding I don’t really mean it but it was a generation of players that just thought as long as I take the last second shot and everybody knows that I have that in me doesn’t matter if it goes in or not I just got to make sure I take it because that’s what MJ would do yeah I think Steph is especially when you’re prepping for the draft you go what who told you that was a good shot so like when I put down jacobe Walters fit I put the Memphis hustle and he thinks he might be Kobe and I knew it was bad who knows he’s a young guy Baylor freshman he has some incredible shot making but he has some of the worst shot decisions like since Jaden Hardy but Hardy in a limited situation with Dallas they go he’s a sick athlete he’s got the body for it can Reign him in here a little bit rational confidence guy yeah and and jacobe has some of that in him right now because I when I did the tape for him I think the third first thing I wrote down was you’re not going to like this guy and then I just watched like the rest of it um you know I think the teren Shannon thing is really interesting because you want to talk about like wings that can act like there’s a difference like Cody Williams I think has an idea of what he wants to do but it seems like he doesn’t really know what he’s doing half the time on some of these drives all right uh Walter fits into that category um I think Castle even has a little of that when I watched Shannon just decide he’s going to go like there’s another level of of [ __ ] to his game where it’s it’s not the adventure it is for some of these other guys like some of these guys are like Cody Williams is a high-profile kid I think the highest rated recruit that ever went to Colorado um he’s he’s jaylen’s brother obviously and he’s this big long and he’s supposed to kind of be a shooter and a driver and all these things but man hey a lot of this ends up with you taking 15 foot turnarounds after you try to back a guy out back a guy down in a clear out on one side for like five seconds and it leads to this turnaround that everybody wants you to take everybody wants you to take that shot because it’s so freaking hard I don’t think he would fall to OKC at 12 but I wonder if they’d feel like they were trip deined yeah Jay dubs Jay will and Cody if your brother’s falling does your team have to take them if you’re the number two priority on your or maybe number three I promise you Sam uh will do we’ll do whatever he wants to do and not pick butt that off [Music]

The Ringer’s Bill Simmons is joined by Ryen Russillo to have a draft of the players they would “straight up” trade for the Hawks #1 draft pick.

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