The Brief Case, Episode 95: All-Rookie Snubs, More Mock Drafts And Conference Finals Time
[Music] hey Rip City this is Anthony SS and it’s time to open the briefcase with Casey Hodo greetings pleasure fans and welcome to the briefcase episode 95 of the briefcase I am your host Casey holdall and we are still in the quiet days of the NBA off season the draft lottery is over the NBA Playoffs have reached the Conference Finals but draft workouts haven’t started just yet so things are still pretty quiet in terms of NBA offseason action that’s probably going to change here pretty soon NBA draft workouts will probably start happening here within the next week or so so once that happens obviously a lot more to cover here in Rip City but until then a few things to get to on this edition of the briefcase all right first up the NBA released their all rookie teams on Monday and the Trailblazers despite having five rookies had no players on the NBA’s all rookie teams Blazers made history by having a five rookie starting lineup but making history doesn’t get you on the all NBA teams I guess first team went to Spurs Victor wanyama Oklahoma City’s Chad hren Charlotte’s Brandon Miller Miami’s haime hakz and Golden State’s Brandon pinski I think I got that right second team drick Lively of the Dallas Mavericks Emon Thompson of the Houston Rockets keonte George of the Utah Jazz Cas Wallace of the Oklahoma City Thunder and GG Jackson of the Memphis Grizzlies so no Trailblazers on the rookie teams though scoot Henderson did get close he finished third in the also receiving votes getting one first team vote and 31 second team votes also toan Kamara and duop R both received two second team votes as well while it’s always nice to be recognized for the work you’ve put in you remember who was on the all rookie team last year or the year before that or the year before that probably not I know I don’t I think scoot had a pretty good case I think you could have put him on second team but also I couldn’t tell you who to take off the second team either so I think you just got to let it ride not that it matters anyways because they didn’t ask us so it’s happening one way or another but either way no Trailblazers on the rookie teams Blazers with four picks this year not saying they’re necessarily going to use all four picks but if they do use those four picks having four new rookies next season perhaps they make one of the all Rook teams at that point but again who really even cares except for those players which if you won that’s fantastic you should be happy about it if you didn’t win shouldn’t bother you much keep it moving that’s what the money is for also real quickly they also released the all NBA Defensive teams on Tuesday no TR Blazers made that team either no T Blazers actually even got votes in the all defensive team voting so there you go which again when you finish third to last you can’t really expect to get any of those awards at the end of the season and speaking of rookies as we’re going to do all off season long or at least until the draft is held on June 26th and 27th this year with it being a two-day event which I’m going to keep saying it boo to the NBA draft being a two-day event it is not necessary but since it is T blazes have four picks we’re checking out the mock drafts that are being posted all off season long so Kevin oconor gets the honor today at the ringer has the Trailblazers taking Zachary risher 19-year-old 68 forward out of JL Borg in France who a lot of people have as maybe the top number one pick Kevin oconor in his mock draft from about a week and a half ago has the Blazers taking at seventh he writes that scoot Henderson strong close to the season should make the Blazers feel optimistic heading into the summer editorial note I believe they do feel optimistic heading into the summer by the way picking it back up now the priority is about finding the right fit next to their young point guard which is why reare whose name I’m probably getting wrong here sir I apologize is the choice here with his flashes of shot making at a high-end role player who could flourish with a small playmaking guard and then with the 14th pick Kevin oconor has a trouble as just taking jacobe Walter a 19-year-old 65 guard out of Baylor OK Conor writes with their second lottery pick the Blazers could roll with a player Like Walter who is projected far Higher by some T valuers including myself ahead of the college season Walter didn’t meet expectations but still flashed enticing saring upside that could be a great fit next to Henderson reer and sharp I mentioned on the last edition of the Blazers balcony with Brook Olen Dam that the players who play one year in college and don’t meet the expectations that people had for them in high school are always some of my most concerning players I don’t know anything about jacobe Walter so I wouldn’t lump him in there as well but just in general sometimes it feels like that’s guys who are more trying to prove that they were right in their evaluations and less about thinking that those players are actually going to be good players in the NBA either either way not saying that’s the case here I actually don’t know as I mentioned never seen this young man play but he is a 65 guard out of Bor 19 years old and according to Kevin oconor would be a good pick for the TR blazers at 14th then getting to the second round I probably should have mentioned this TR Blazers have the 7th 14th 34th and 40th picks in the 2024 NBA draft you probably already know that by now if you’re listening to this podcast you probably definitely know that but it’s always worth a reminder 74 3440 so with the 34th pick Kevin oconor has a tra bles taking Johnny Fury a 19-year-old 69 Ford out of Kansas Kevin o Conor writes Fury whose name I’m also probably getting wrong seems unlikely to stay in the is year’s draft class considering his Youth and raw skills but if he keeps his name in a young team like the Blazers could take a shot on him to develop him with scoot Henderson I did check this morning Johnny Fury has not taken himself out of the NBA draft yet and a matter of fact one of the links that I saw said he was unlikely to do that so it’s very possible that he will be in this draft we’ll have to wait and see and then with the 40th pick OK Conor has TR Blazer select Osho igodo a 21-year-old 611 Center out of Marquette Kevin oconor writes igodo could bring a different type of skill set to the front Court than anyone else on Portland’s roster including DeAndre Aton to Blazers have dual breath at backup center as well at least for right now they probably could use another Center so that’s an interesting pick there as well I would imagine that probably at some point in time in the second round I’m not saying they’re going to take all those picks as a matter of fact if there are four new workies on the team next year I’d be a little surprised by that granted some of those guys might end up on the g-league now that ders have a g-league team and particularly with this draft being what it is I think it’s very possible that some of those second round guys do end up in the g-league but either way I’d be rather surprised if the TR Blazers did have four rookies on the team next year but if they do they could probably use the backup center particularly if they’re going in the second round that seems to be where You’ probably look to fill some of the gaps that the triers might have going into next season first round probably more long term about what this team is going to be in three and four seasons from now and so you have plenty of time to get on your schedule the TR blers are hosting a draft party this year presented by Ticket Master which will be on June 26th 5:00 p.m. at motocenter it’s a free event though you should get tickets at trailers.com draft once again trailers is hosting a draft party at motac Center 5:00 June 26 go to trailers.com draft to get your tickets free tickets it’s just always good to know how many people generally are showing up so go there get tickets we’ll see you on June 26th all right that’s enough about the future so let’s go ahead and get to the present the NBA Playoffs have reached the Conference Finals portion it’s been a really good playoffs I feel like there’s there’ve been quite a few blowouts but it seems like the actual series kind of go back and forth which makes it feel like it hasn’t been as bad as some of the games have looked either way I’ve really been enjoying the NBA playoffs this year and part of that is because there’s so many new teams and so many new players that are finally getting an opportunity and that’s one of those things where you know like obviously LeBron is great he’s got a lot of fans Warrior is great tons of fans but the idea that we needed like an anchor for the NBA Playoffs of LeBron or a team like the Warriors I just never really felt that way I felt like you get more fans if there’s something new and interesting to watch and particularly once you get to like year 10 of like okay LeBron’s in the finals again or year five of okay the Warriors are running rough Shot Through The League again at a certain point you lose the Casual fans in that and yes casual fans are drawn to stars but they’re also drawn to interesting games and I think we’ve been seeing that quite a bit in this year’s playoffs once again a lot of the League’s up and cominging players getting a chance to shine and that’s going to be a great thing for the NBA going forward so here in the Western Conference the five-seed Dallas Mavericks going up against the three seed Minnesota temp wolves MZ beat the Thunder in six games thunder just is still a little bit too young for that team obviously had a ton of talent they’re going to grow they might be the team that ends up running rough shot over the league for the next five seasons but not there just yet Kyrie and Luca too much to overcome particularly when those role players guys like PJ Washington Derrick Lively are playing well and then Timberwolves nuggets one of the better series I can remember in recent history Timberwolves win the first two games in Denver Denver wins next two games in Minnesota then it goes back and forth Timberwolves end up beating the nuggets in Denver in a game seven which should be very reminiscent to Trailblazer fans Portland Trailblazer did the exact same thing to advance to the Western Conference Finals despite the fact that the Nuggets were up by 20 versus the Timberwolves I think they were up by like 18 or 15 versus the Trailblazers back when Portland Advanced nuggets just looked too Gass at the end of the game you could tell in that fourth quarter they had nothing left Nicol yic a guy who I didn’t think could hit the wall or who I had never seen hit the wall definitely hit the wall in the fourth quarter of that game seven so no repeat Champs the three seed Minnesota timber wolves and Edwards taking over the league right now hosting the five seed Dallas Mavericks game one of that series is Wednesday 5:30 p.m. on TNT and then on the other side of the table you have the one-seed Boston Celtics going up against the six- seed Indiana Pacers Boston Celtics have had an absolute Cakewalk to the NBA finals Pacers haven’t had a cakewalk but they’ve played a bunch of really injured teams first they get the Milwaukee Bucks a team that’s incredibly injured they end up winning that series then they get the New York Knicks a team that gets more and more injured as that series goes on and advancing in that one as well I think he had give the Pacers the buck series I think they might have won that one either way probably not with Giannis if he’s healthy but if Dame is healthy if Middleton is healthy I still think there’s a chance that the Pacers get that series versus the Bucks I don’t think there’s any chance if the Knicks were as healthy as they were even at the start of that playoff series that the Pacers would have beat the Knicks you lose oan newbie Josh Hart basically can barely stand up on the court not going to happen at that point for the Knicks particularly when you’re playing for Tom timido a guy who likes to play guys a lot of minutes they should be playing a lot of minutes you have Mell Robinson go down during the series ogan anbi goes down during the series tried to play in that game seven looked incredibly injured no chance he was going to be able to play out there you could tell right away Josh Hart with an abdomen strain tried to get it out not as effective and then you also had Jaylen Brunson who after the game comes out he had a broken hand you add all that together and you include Julius Randall being out for the series as well going against Pacer team that’s playing some pretty good basketball right now but but if the Knicks stay healthy at least as healthy as they were going into that series I I think they do advance to face the Boston Celtics but that’s not the case so the Pacers getting their opportunity to go up against the Celtics a team that has not really had any kind of actual impediment so far in the NBA Playoffs yet so we’ll see if maybe the PAC are able to jump on them in game one or two considering the Celtics V have been sitting for about a week now I actually don’t expect that to happen I think the Celtics will probably take care of the Pacers fairly easily that Series starts Tuesday 5:00 p.m. on ESPN so once again to recap Timberwolves Mavs game one Wednesday 5:30 start time Celtics Pacers 500 p.m. start time on Tuesday and that is going to do it for this edition of the briefcase thank you so much for joining me as always once again go to tra bles.com draft to get your tickets for the Trailblazers draft party on the 26th 5:00 p.m. at Moda Center Trailblazers draft workout starting soon we’ll be covering those at practice facility and Beyond so go ahead and like And subscribe wherever get your podcast if you haven’t done that already I am Casey holdall we’ll talk to you later this week go Blazers [Music]
On this edition of The Brief Case podcast, Trail Blazers Insider Casey Holdahl discusses…
• The Trail Blazers getting shut out of All-Rookie Team honors despite having five first-year players
• Another round of mock drafts and who they have the Trail Blazers taking with the 7th, 14th, 34th and 40th picks in the upcoming NBA Draft
• A quick recap of the conference semifinals and looking forward to the conference finals starting this week
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