Portland Trail Blazers vs Atlanta Hawks Recap and Highlights | Blazers Uprise Postgame Show

Portland Trail Blazers vs Atlanta Hawks Recap and Highlights | Blazers Uprise Postgame Show

E got it’s beginning to look a lot like last year every game I watch go for got all all what’s going on everybody Welcome in to the Blazers uprise postgame show presented by bet us and mantis sleep mask today the Blazers lose in Atlanta to the Hawks 120 to

106 but despite the loss impressive performances from a couple of blazers most notably Delano Banton and tamman Kamar we’re going to talk about them was this banton’s best game of his career let me know in the chat if you think so cuz this was a very impressive

Performance from him we’re also going to unveil our latest big boards today 1 through 30 I got Eric’s 1 through 30 I got my 1 through 30 and we’re going to talk about a couple of prospects especially with March Madness underway and sweet 16 is tomorrow later on in

This uh stream we’ll pick a few sweet 16 spreads via bet us and if you want to get in on the sweet 16 make sure to use that bet us Link at the top of the description box below to sign up for bet us it helps out the channel and then if

You use promo code join 125 you get 31 125% deposit bonuses up to 2500 if you deposit 100 they’ll give you $125 that’s $1 125% shout out to bet us for sponsoring the stream we got Eric in here and this game was uh was something man I mean multiple Blazers struggled

Scoot Henderson had an awful first half in his homec coming luckily cleaned it up a little bit in the second half um you had a uh a team that shot the ball well the Blazers did uh 45% from three is phenomenal for this unit and over 50%

From the field you would think they would be able to put up more than 106 on the board but when you only get to the line 10 times and only make six of those free throws only get six offensive rebounds and turn over the ball 18 times

You’re uh it doesn’t really matter if you shoot the ball too well because uh you’re giving it up a little too much you’re not get into the line you’re not getting Second Chances and that was basically the difference in this game because shooting wise the Blazers were

On par with the Lana but they got to the free throw line a lot more 20 times made 16 of those free throws couple less turnovers they turned over the ball 16 times that’s how they were able to put 120 up on the board but uh some impressive performances Eric from a few

Young Blazers which was good to see uh what are your thoughts on this game and uh I guess we’ll start off with Delano Banton and your thoughts on him yeah Banton was uh really good tonight obviously scoring 31 um thought he did a really nice job at times of making the

The right pass um which is something we’ve been asking for him to do um he does have still several moments I mean on a tanking team this doesn’t really matter but he does have he’ll make a shot and all of a sudden it’s like heat check like you know you know he’s going

To shoot the next couple times he touches the ball like I said it’s fine right now it’s just you know in the framework of a team next year that is hoping to maybe do some things um you can’t really be doing that if you’re a if you’re a quality rotation player but

Yeah other than that it’s uh it’s hard to complain about anything he did he’s shooting the three well he’s dunking on fools um and uh yeah uh just been really impressive uh especially tonight yeah most complete game from him uh when he has hot scoring nights I’ve wanted to

See him pass the ball a little bit more he still got up shots still put up 23 shots but he was efficient and he made the right pass more often than he has in some of his previous high-scoring performances and that’s all you can ask from him uh that’s what I’ve been asking

For from him because he’s showcasing that he can score the ball and I think he can be efficient when he just makes the right play and I think tonight is a perfect example of that you know he had a he had a lob to wreath earlier in this game that I thought um

Signified how he played tonight where he drives two people rotate over to him and instead of trying to force up a layup on a double team he lobs it across to wreath who gets an alleyoop layan uh near the end of the second quarter and that’s the type of play where Banton

When he’s been drawing multiple Defenders he’s been forcing up shots on his drives and and not making the simple play and his uh efficiency has suffered from it he’s been shooting the ball poorly from two because of it in some games and then I mean it’s just not the

Right play and he has guys that are open and he’s 6′ n he can make a number of passes and you know he’ll have flashes where he showcases that he can see the floor too I I think he’s fully capable of it and tonight you saw those flashes

Pan out you saw him with uh with a number of assists there in the third quarter uh pushing the ball up in train transtion I think he’s a guy that’s uh key behind getting a little bit more Pace behind this Blazer team because he can be a threaten transition um and he’s

Shown a little bit of a willingness to push the ball at times and really happy with how complete this game was for him because you know I’ve been I’ve been satisfied with his scoring I’ve been impressed with his three-point shooting I didn’t expect him to shoot so well and

Tonight uh 5 for 11 from three start 5 for9 missed a couple shots there late but 5 for 11 from three take that from him it’s just been the efficiency from two being able to to actually drive and finish more shots and then just make the right play and it’s interesting Eric

Because you know’s he is doing this for a tanking Blazers team but it looks like something that is sustainable as long as he makes the right decisions as long as he um makes the right pass hopefully that three-point shot remains at the level it’s it’s been at because that

Obviously would be the one question mark going into next year but I I think the the thing I’m thinking about with him when I watch him is does he look the same way with a much better team around him where he’s more of a complimentary

Piece and how many shots does he take is he able to get the same offensive Rhythm on less shots there’s I think questions about how effective he is on a on a serious team compared to a team that’s tanking in March but uh phenomenal stuff right now for sure yeah bit that’s why

It’ll be interesting to see if they do bring sharp back which it looks like they’re going to play him the last few games of the Season or at least a couple games before the season’s over um if there’s a game from here until the end of the season where scoot sharp and

Anthony all play um like how does Banton fit into that I’ll be watching to see what he does um your graphic actually says nine rebounds but it was nine assists he had tonight yeah nine assists yeah but uh so I didn’t want to Short change him there but um I think that’s

The key to me is it’s not necessarily being a team player when you’re passing the ball in those situations it’s that your efficiency will improve because you’re you’re taking less bad shots and you’re forcing less shots and you’re getting quality shots for others uh so the offensive efficiency as a whole

Improves because he’s so good at getting into that area um and then uh his efficiency from two will jump up too and if you can combine that with even somewhat mid respectible three-point shooting like in the mid-30 percentile then uh you have the qual a really quality player on a really cheap

Contract next year yeah it’s going to be interesting to see how the rotation shakes out but I’m mean like there’s no way the Blazers keep Malcolm brogen right we said that going into the deadline but now it’s like you got a backup 69ine guard who actually provides a little something

Different at that position and is he a mentor though Tori is he a mentor though do we need mentorship did did Banton need me I mean banton’s doing pretty good with no mentorship right now but SC is so I don’t really know the equation there and how that all balances out you

Don’t understand Tori it’s because he was on teams like Toronto and and Boston with no mentorship and then he came here and has Malcolm Bron and that’s why he’s playing good phenomenal troll job right Malcolm’s a reason band’s good right something like that something like that shout out TR um right now real

Quick side note and this is important for the tank race the Rockets are down one in OKC with 33 seconds left maybe I’ll do some live commentary for the end of this because this matters in terms of the Warriors pick the Warriors won today if they lost today with a Houston win

Their pick actually would have went from 13 to 12 so with the Warriors win the Rockets are trying to come back um from this deficit in the final 30 seconds so that uh they can remain a half game back of Golden State if the Rockets lose this

Game they will be one and a half games back at Golden State they’re taking on the thunder in OKC right now unfortunately it’s Thunder ball but with four and a half on the shot clock giddy going to inbound to I believe Kendrick Williams with an insane fade away it’s an

Airball amen Thompson kicks it to Jaylen green he’s going to drive kick out wide open three for Jabari Smith is good Eric so Rockets are up two be interesting to Hornets won tonight yeah Hornets won tonight the Thunder don’t call a timeout they’re going to have Jaylen Williams

Drive and missed the layup and he thought he got fouled Thunder players are pissed and they they have to foul so Rockets up two 9 seconds left heading to the free throw line for two free throws so it looks like this could be you know outside of the Warriors win a pretty

Good tank day for the Blazers with the Hornets winning and the Blazers are only one win away from them the Hornets finally won when the Blazers lost and I mean this is a bad Hawks team that the Blazers just got blown out against there’s a decent chance the

Blazers might not win another game the rest of the year uh so blers have a legitimate chance to move up to Fourth and if the Rockets can pull out this game The Warriors pick still has a legitimate chance to move up to 12 we’ll take a look at the tank race later uh

Unfortunately they have a men Thompson at the line and he missed the first free throw Eric it’s all right he’s got the second one yeah we’ll see if you got the good old announcers Jinx here but 11 games today phenomenal action there and I’m going to update

This headline amen second free throw you did not jinx him Eric it’s good oh no I had confidence in my guy your guy that’s my guy I was teasing no I’ve always like to that’s that’s the funny part is uh we had those Brandon Miller versus amen

Discussions but I like amen too it’s not like I didn’t like him as a prospect I like him more sure okay I I’ll give you that um yeah Jonathan ever says Spurs winning too that’s not out of the question because they’ been winning games man yeah they beat the Suns without

Wambi so interesting stuff here Blazers do they really have a chance at well they’d only be two games on the Wind colum behind us if they win this right yeah we probably do have to win or lose every game the rest of the year but

Yeah I me I could see him going like three and seven and us going one and one and nine or so Josh giddy in this game hit a shot where he was sitting on the floor in the in the pain that’s crazy I saw he tried to help

Jabari Smith up and Dylan Brooks like shoved him out of the way man Dylan Brooks is too extra sometimes like that scuffle they got in when D rozan just decked whoever it was that’s when you want a teammate a veteran teammate standing up for a young

Guy but too often it’s just too too much from Dylan Brooks man why you shoving a dude for trying to trying to help a dude up that’s good sports [ __ ] why are you shoving I don’t get it I don’t get it so thund go ahead in terms of the warriors

Uh I don’t know how many someone in chat probably knows thunder thunder inbound uh nine seconds left and then we’ll touch upon that they get it into jdub and they intentionally foul so what were you saying oh uh Draymond got two technicals and was ejected um I don’t know where he stands

In terms of technical fouls but that might be another suspension um he also had a questionable uh thing where he kind of take a swing SL push someone on Patty Mills yeah in their last game so um yeah that was the foul to give for Houston

They’re going to inbound it to Jay duub he’s going to get up a pullup three and hit it with 4.7 remaining Houston does have two timeouts and they’re going to call one of them so they got a chance tie game 4.7 on the clock J big time three we need a Jabari

Smith gamewinner like against us in summer league I would love that I would love that Jabari Smith just hit a clutch three I got the graphic updated cool um so timeout here only reason we’re commentating this game is because it’s relevant for the Warriors pick that the Blazers are getting from the Warriors

Unfortunately OKC hits that shot Houston right now a game behind Golden State if they win they’re only a half game if they lose they’re a game and a half so hopefully Houston can come through here and hit a gamewinner to extend their winning streak to 10 kind of crazy

Talking about the Rockets Eric having a potentially 10 game winning streak and this would be an impressive win on the road in OKC um I don’t know what the injury situation is there cuz I don’t see any sgaa or chat on the floor at that final

Possession so are they all are they both out SGA was out of this game Chad left the game I don’t know if he fouled out or got hurt or what but he he left uh oh fou out yeah yeah I know he played but he left a game in the fourth quarter fou

Out with nine minutes left um and this game is also uh kind of fascinating from OKC’s perspective we got the inbound here Afraid of anybody no you shouldn’t be but it was it see like ever since ever since 2019 Eric cuz you remember in 2019 there’s a lot of Blazer fans that were pissed that the Blazers had that like 25o comeback led by infy Simons and scaler and Gary

Trent Jr you know antson Trent uh rookie year because if the Blazers lost that game they would have faced the Utah Jazz who had played the Blazers well like the previous two years and if they won they going to play play the Thunder so a lot

Of people were rooting for a loss in that game and I didn’t agree with that I woned OKC because I didn’t believe Russell Westbrook could uh was a good postseason player as we saw pan out but but so we win that game a lot of Blazer

Fans were mad about that and I was saying like we’re the three seed we should not be scared between playing Utah and OKC they’re both good solid teams but if we’re legitimate then we’re we can’t be scared to face okay see and and then what happened in the playoffs

We win in five games we beat them in five games Dame dominates them and ever since then I’m like you know what if you’re if you’re a team with home court advantage you should not worry too much about who you’re going to face in the first round um I’d rather I’d rather

Face Golden State if I’m OKC because you got to believe you can beat him and will beat him and then have that homecourt Advantage all the way through the Western Conference but that’s just how I look at things with teams well they’d have if they were number one they’d have

The yeah home court no matter what yeah I’m a big fan um it with OKC in OKC situation or the Blazer situation you talked about I don’t like like messing with Karma at all in those situations I feel like anytime you kind of lose on purpose or try to get a

Matchup you want it doesn’t really work out well for you yeah uh speaking matchups we want Blazers Hawks um Banton phenomenal game complete Game he’s just on a roll he’s playing with a different level of confidence he’s getting an opportunity and he’s flourishing with it it’s just it’s going to be different

When he’s not playing on a tanking team I Eric at this point I assume he’s going to have a rotation spot next year uh Rockets three out of the OT break that’s great um I assume Bon’s going to have a rotation spot I don’t really know who

Plays and who doesn’t play because you got the three guards you got Banton and Kamar is the threes right now and then you got Jeremy Grant at the four and you know backup for we we still have a draft pick at the top of the draft and then

Centers you got Aon Williams wreath like the odd man out this off season in my opinion is obviously obviously uh matis thy shout out to Dylan Brooks I was just hating on him and he just splashed a three so rockus up six um hate does wonders just like

Aon explained on that one postgame show um but matis thall is obviously the odd man out with the way banton’s playing right yeah well draft picks too that could factor in yeah I mean the problem is if you draft a three I could see that that small

Forward not playing at the start of the next year if it’s like a Cody Williams Eric Banton is kind of like Cody Williams in a way yeah if he shouldn’t the three yeah um Banton with the way banton’s playing right now I would expect him going into next season to get

Minutes over Cody Williams even if we draft him at you know three four whatever you got Kamar playing great and then you got the three guards how does that shake out minutes wise obviously you get Brogden out of here but you don’t even got playing time for thel it’s almost like you have

Your point guard shooting guard small forward position set because it always makes sense to have five players playing those three positions unless you got somebody playing both the three and the four and those five players right now to me seem like Simons Sharp scoot Kamar and Banton that’s what I expect going into

Next year with the way banton’s playing right now I expect him to be that fifth guy yeah I’m really hoping that they see the light and trade jemy I doubt it but do you would you be okay with playing Kamar or Banton at a power forward

Spot I’m fine with Kamar I don’t like playing Bon I think playing him at either forward position kind of takes away a little bit of his Advantage with the size yeah like I know he’s big enough to play that position but the whole point is having that size as a

Guard is an advantage when you start playing forward more often um then you’re not bigger than any or most of your matchups so um but yeah I uh I completely agree with what Jonathan ever says in chat this is exactly why they need to swing completely for upside

That’s 100% accurate because you don’t need it doesn’t matter like if they don’t figure it out right away next year right yeah U they need to hopefully hit on the best player eventually from that draft even if it takes a couple years not the guy who can help them win games

Next year or be a part of the rotation next year it’s okay to be patient and as we’re seeing with um t or not Tani uh Ryan repair who we’ll talk about in a little bit I mean Tori like what if he’s good enough to be like in in this

Conversation next year too you know what I mean like I don’t think that’s out of the realm of possibility with the the flashers he’s shown um having a whole offseason to work on some of the things he needs to work on and just some of the the passing and instincts and and length

That he has um I mean this guy could factor in sooner than later as well yeah I just I don’t I don’t think they have the minutes to go around no now we’re all the Blazers are always hurt so I I expect him to be kind of the Sixth Man

In that equation like the sixth point guard shooting guard small forward tie perimeter player whatever you want to call it um and that’s not taking into a like you got six of those guys at those three positions that you could make a case could play next year potentially

Ruper I think is the sixth best but he’s shown some good things in the games that he’s been playing um off season under his belt I fully agree with you he could be a guy that could factor in that’s six guys that’s not counting thel that’s not counting Brogden that’s not counting if

The Blazers use um a lottery pick one of their two on somebody that can play the small forward spot so it’s just interesting how that has shaken out in that way um Banton is somebody that I mean he looks like a really good role player right now and the Blazers traded

Nothing for him that’s why in the Blazers position you a don’t draft for role players and B you don’t trade first round picks you don’t trade the Warriors pick for a role player because you can find role players for cheaper and especially in Portland’s position that’s the beauty of a rebuild

Is you have minutes to give to a guy like Banton and see if he can flourish where he hasn’t really shown a ton in previous stops so you can get him really really cheap and then you get great return on value Banton already looks like he’s given the Blazers phenomenal

Return on value given that they gave up the what the worst of two top 55 protected second round picks and this dude is dropping 31- n on 13 for 23 shooting he has what five straight games of isn’t it like five straight games of at least 20 points or something like

That this point let me look at his game log he’s just putting together a phenomenal stretch so that’s why you got for upside and that’s why it shouldn’t be settling for trading a even if it’s a late Lottery Pick and a questionable draft they should not trade that pick

For a role player because you can find role players right now they got a compliment of role players across this team that maybe aren’t good enough role players to make this a winning team but give it another year or so give it another two years I fully believe the Blazers won’t have a

Problem in terms of some of their complimentary pieces especially seeing the way Kamar has played lately like he’s reminded me more and more of Maurice harkas but I think he can be I think he can be better than Maurice harkas Eric I think he can be a better

Shooter a more consistent shooter um and then defensively like just he has some phenomenal moments on the defensive end so Maurice harkas was a very key role player in a team that made a Western Conference Finals the whole thing is who’s going to be that star who’s going to be that Superstar

Who’s going to be that leader hopefully if somebody on this roster might not be the players have to swing for that as much as possible to give themselves a good of good enough chance to get a superstar that is literally the whole thing with the rebuild now if you

Accumulate assets trade Jeremy Grant Malcolm Brogden for picks maybe in the future they have enough assets to trade for that superstar in case they can’t draft one of them that’s why I’m in favor of taking a step back to put themselves in a position to either draft that star or

Uh trade for that star in the future because in terms of some of the role players they got I think they’re going to be just fine um Bon is the type of guy if he’s playing like this I would have loved to have had him on a number

Of Damen Lillard Leed teams I would have loved to have Kamar on a number of Damen Lillard Le teams and uh it’s it’s phenomenal value the Blazers got Kamar is kind of a Thro in in the eighton trade he was drafted with a pick in the

50s and then Banton the Blazers traded a top 55 protected second so you know it’s kind of working around the fringes of a roster and finding a way to uh get two big forwards that can probably play a role for a winning team going forward and that’s something

That Neil o didn’t do good enough in the past so really just these two guys especially Banton and Kamar are making me less and less worried about bench spots or Ro role players and more and more focused on how in the world does this team get its star of the future if

It’s not already on the roster yeah and worst case scenario Banton has more value right now than a top 55 protected second so even if you don’t have minutes for him and need to move him whether that’s this summer you decide you know you just don’t have the

Minutes for him and and want to move on or U you know sometime next year um I think it’s it’s pretty obvious now you could at least get a second or two for him right and so in just a few months you that’s that’s how you

Become a a competent front office is you make trades like this and then get their value up and then sell when that’s High um or you know they’re good enough to be part of your core um so either way I think it’s it’s really positive and uh I

Don’t know if I’m not saying they well trade or whatever or anything um and then yeah I wanted to ask what anything we said has to do with us admitting we have no faith in Simons I mean that’s just silly um Simons I don’t have faith

In him being the guy that can lead a team to a championship as the number one guy but there’s only like 10 to 15 guys in the league that are capable of that right like you got to be a top 10 to 15 player just because I don’t think Simons

Will end up being a top 10 to 15 player in the league doesn’t mean I have no faith in him I think Simons could be good enough to be the number two on a team that contends um if I’m being optimistic if he’s the number three I think he’s a phenomenal phenomenal

Number three phenomenal number three so I’m not confident the Blazers have that future top 10 to 15 player on this roster that doesn’t mean the complete opposite that I have zero faith in Simons um it’s just there’s there’s number ones there’s number twos there’s number threes there’s complimentary role

Players glue gu that fill certain roles that you need on the team both offensively and defensively I’m confident that this team is is has found some guys that can fill that last thing okay it’s just about finding that eventual top 10 to 15 player that future

Superstar um and when I say you know talking about hypothetically trading a Jeremy Grant or Malcolm brogon for picks in order to trade for a star in the future I don’t mean this off season or or even next off seon ultimately if the Blazers don’t have that future top 10 to

15 player on their team right now they’re probably going to find out two to three years from now they’re probably going to have a good feeling for what scoot’s going to be for what Sharp’s going to be like two to three years from now that’s when you want to have enough

Assets where if you’re not confident in those guys being a superstar being a top 10 to 15 player you can put Assets in play to go find that guy and then those guys can be a complimentary piece maybe you include one of them in the trade or

So forth you give yourselves the option you kind of HED your Bets with some of the young players on this roster in terms of finding that Superstar but it’s you know we had the Superstar for years without good complimentary pieces without a good enough number two right

And now it’s I think a little bit different in terms of you can have some hope that some of these guys can uh be complimentary yeah um yeah see here’s the thing okay every single championship team with maybe one or two exceptions in the history of the

NBA has had like a a superstar basically or a player that was one of the best players that season um and so it’s not it’s not a knock on Anthony Simons to say that if he’s your best player you either have to have multiple other Hall of Famers on your team like

The the the Detroit Pistons in 2004 or you’re probably not winning a championship right um so you You’ have to have like the perfect lineup and even then I’m not sure if that’s the case and uh like this is something we’ve always we’ve said all along uh so I don’t know

Why this is surprising but um yeah it’s just but go back through all the Champions they all have pretty much a superstar on the team yeah um okay Taylor uh Jesus so comment two number two or number three that don’t play defense well usually won’t work Michael Porter trash can doesn’t play

Any defense he just won a championship as the number three that dude doesn’t play defense people said jokic doesn’t play defense people say Jamal Murray doesn’t play defense I think Jamal Murray’s defense has gotten noticeably better since he came into the league all three of those guys have had defensive

Questions during their career They just won a freaking Championship like not every player has to be some phenomenal defensive piece and Taylor says well there’s a difference between what ant is on defense and great Tori bro ant is not so bad and I don’t think any player is so

Bad where if you had enough offense and defense around them and they was as good offensively as a is that you’re not going to be able to contend like that’s not a deal breaker Taylor says at least mpj has real good length but he’s a small forward that can’t move he’s a

Small forward that can’t move like we’re talking about a guard here with Simons I mean come on like it’s that’s what the complimentary pieces are for that’s where you hope that you know your number one is a two-way guy right but I mean so Milwaukee can’t contend at all

Because Dame you know defense this and that what are we saying it’s just trying to Discount what ant can be to a winning team that’s what other pieces are for ant I don’t think is so bad that he’s a deal breaker defensively I think that’s an OV exaggeration current scoot is probably a

Deal breaker ay I think he at least is competent enough on that end that where if the defense was really good around him and the other players were really good on defense I don’t think it would be an issue yeah absolutely like it’s it’s all about complimentary

Pieces and this is where somebody like Kamar comes in if you didn’t have a Kamar for the long term that’s a role you have to fill guy with two-way potential athlete big can defend multiple positions can defend guys at the point of attack there was multiple times where an Atlanta Hawk tried to

Drive tonight and toan Kamar just stonewalled them stonewalled them Eric he had a phenomenal block on Bruno Fernando I think it was that got called a foul but I thought it was clean I thought he got ball um number of impressive defensive plays he’s starting to shoot the three ball consistently

Well and he’s starting to like finish a little bit more and it reminds me of a rich man’s Maurice Harless he had that BAS line cut and dunk mhm we saw Maurice harus in the past make that cut all the time and offensive rebounding Maurice haras was a good offensive rebounder

That’s something Tani’s been doing a lot of tamman has a potential to fill that role and then some and that team did make a Western Conference Finals with a backourt of dam and CJ McCollum now you don’t want to have necessar Curry yeah you don’t want to necessarily have that

Undersized of a back court but they were able to make a Western Conference Finals so going forward it’s not necessarily that like one guy is the problem if you have too many small guards playing at once that can’t you know play defense at a high level then

Yeah you’re going to run into some issues that complimentary pieces can’t fully make up for but if you’re just talking about one guy it’s never one guy that makes or breaks a defense unless maybe you’re you’re wemi but even with wemi and how good he’s been defensively

This year year that San Antonio SPS defense still sucks so that’s where you got to have the right pieces and you got to have cohesive pieces that fit to make up a team and you know be able to throw out different lineups I think baton being a 69 guard that can handle pass

Create gives the Blazers uh multiple lineup options with that because you can go big with him you can go small and have multiple ball handlers on the court if you play him at a forward spot if he’s a guard that’s a pretty big lineup cuz you got 69ine

Guard so you all of a sudden you have multiple lineups that you can put out there depending on the situation and that is an advantage to have especially in a playoff series when you’re going to have to find ways to match up with certain styles of basketball and certain

Adjustments that the opposing team makes so the Blazers are on their way to having a good collection of complimentary pieces right now it just comes down to finding that star and if you find that star and you run it with ant right maybe sharp becomes that star maybe sharp

Becomes a top 10 player in your back court of the future is ant and sharp okay if they got good defensive pieces around them and then that’s struggling defensively and it’s still not good enough defensively to win a championship then you look at exploring okay what do

We do now because we’ve got a top 10 to 15 player that we feel like is good enough to lead us to a championship our offense is really really good but defensively we’re lagging behind and why is that okay is it because a plus sharp isn’t good enough defensively if Sharp’s

A top 10 to 15 player then at that point that’s when you look to trade ant for somebody that’s more complimentary I guess if you feel like you can remain just as good or close to as good offensively and take a jump defensively that’s when you evaluate that sitting

Here you know a couple people in chat um acting like Simons is a deal breaker is is just some of the AY Simons hate that I’ve talked about where people just want to doubt him and discredit him and Taylor says if you’re going to have

A small guard who is negative 1 D you got to put the right piece around it okay once again we talked about this on a previous post game if Anthony Simons is the point guard he is not a small guard he is normal point guard size like

Like he’s not small he’s only small if you’re playing Scoot and Anthony together um which might be the case if they’re completely locked into Scoot and um you know hopefully we’re talking about a different scoot so this might be a different conversation um you know in a future year uh

But if you have that lineup that Tori just talked about it’s not undersized having ant at a point guard and it’s a lot easier to hide or make one guard um you know not have to get hunted as much it’s a lot easier than having two guards get hunted the whole time

Yeah and and so that that will probably have to be a decision at some point but right now if they had to make that decision this summer I don’t know how anyone can say they’d be confident choosing scoot over ay at this point um and that has no nothing to do with not

Being patient with scoot or anything like that but if we have to make that decision this summer I think it’s pretty easy if we have to make it if we have plenty of time which we do uh you that’ll work itself out in future years and who cares if our defense isn’t great

In the next year or two yeah absolutely talk a little bit about Kamar his performance s seven for n from the field uh shoots the ball well in this one three for four from behind the arc his shot is looking real good right now yeah and we talked about this on the

Last show uh we wanted to or I wanted to see him grab the rebound and go a little bit more he did that a couple times in this game and um so that that was good to to push the tempo and also to use that length on the

The Fast Break um but I love you talked about that Baseline cut um I love slashing Kamar like he yeah he’s so good if he catches the ball like with a head of steam and a open lay into the basket I wish he would just do it like every

Freaking play but also his three-point shots improved so I don’t mind if it’s not there him you know fading back out to the free throw line and and getting or the three-point line and and getting an outlet pass or a kickout pass there um just uh his shot looks great his

Slashing looks good his defense is good there’s not much to be upset with Kamar about right now yeah uh this he’s kind of the guy that’s I mean I guess you could say Banton but the rookie we were hoping would break out during this tanking stretch was scoot

Henderson and it instead it’s actually tman Kamara we saw it last year Shaden sharp right he he broke out looked phenomenal during this tanking stretch and everybody’s just sitting there open scoot looks the same way of course but it’s tomani man um last four games he

Has 11 16 12 and 17 okay during that stretch 5 for 11 from the field 6 for 11 from the field four for9 from the field seven for n from the field doing it efficiently one for four from three two for four from three one for three from

Three three for four from three so during this four game stretch he is seven for um seven for 15 from three and it’s funny because we talked about how he had like a 20 game stretch where he was shooting um something like 45% from three if I recall correctly somewhere in

That range and then he had a he had a couple of games uh earlier in March where he you know 0 for one for three 0 for one one for three one for five and it’s like okay is he going to regress back to struggling to shoot the ball and since

Then he is eight for 15 or eight for 16 um so phenomenal man I mean this is the type of shooting we’ve been hoping for from other players on this team at least with the consistency and and he’s just been a consistent shooter he shot 50% from three in February he’s shooting

40.6% from three in March that’s a pretty decent sample size like we talked about n little a little bit last stream and how he was like inconsistent from month to month did nir little ever have two straight months where he shot above 40% from three with some sort of volume right like it’s

Promising it’s a very promising sign the way he’s shooting the ball right now because then it just makes the rest of his his game easier offensively and then he can fit like a glue guy yep uh just very impressive and this is something I think you had the same

Narrative um but my whole thing about this season was find out who who your players are moving forward and the more information you can find out the better and I think think uh Kamar has definitely solidified him solidified himself over these over this last

Stretch to um I think you can look at it next season that he’s definitely part of the rotation and um like a valuable rotation player moving forward um starting next year and that’s good that we know that already yeah 100% I mean I think there’s a good chance that he

Could be the starting three uh once again next year um he if not he’s a very valuable piece Off the Bench I mean I guarantee you Phoenix wish they had him right now yeah who knows if he would have gotten enough playing time over the year

To be playing like this at the end of the year that’s the thing it’s situationally based but this is the type of guy like he could be getting minutes on a better team right now with the defense with the shooting with I mean he’s been flashing a little bit of

Playmaking recently and that the playmaking if he’s creating for others that’s just extra like that’s just phenomenal you don’t expect a guy like him in his role to be a to be a playmaker to be a Creator right Maurice haras was never that so if he’s providing a little bit of that being

Able to play in the flow put the ball on the floor and then just like make the simple play then then he fits in even better then he’s an even better glue guy then he’s a Do-it all type of guy right so you know I’m not putting any

Expectations in terms of him as a Creator but it does seem like he’s getting a little bit more comfortable off the bounce it does seem like he’s seeing the game a little bit faster which is a great sign so he earlier in the year he pushed to that rookie wall

Too yeah yeah like before February you can make a case that he was just a just a complete negative offensively since then I think he’s been a complete positive so love Kamar man love what he’s providing love how hard he plays um and he he’s definitely becoming more and more of a

Core piece of this rebuild I think yeah Matt says to be honest it was pretty clear he was better than any of our young forwards uh all year um yeah and who said that before the season both Tori and I yeah said he was going to be the

Best of our young forwards yeah we already knew that heading into the season it’s just nice that he’s I mean we we needed him to shoot the three and he’s improved that I think his his shot looks better throughout the year and uh you know defensively I don’t

Think you’re going to ask much more from a rookie than he’s given us this year um short of being wemy you know um but yeah so I I don’t I don’t know what point you’re trying to make Matt but I mean we’ve been on that train since the trade

Yeah yeah we’ve been saying it all all year all year like the the two young guys I like Eric that I’ve said I like basically all year other than you know sharp scoop whatever like in term in terms of players that aren’t guards the two young guys I’ve liked all year Kamar and

Ruper and that’s because I like their physical tools that’s because I like their motor defensively and they have defensive potential mhm and then they also both seem like they work their ass off we hear about it with repair right um but they just they play the game the

Right way like they know how to play Within the flow of the offense and it’s a little tougher when you’re not shooting shots cuz then guys can leave you and then you catch the ball and you know you got to let it got to let it fly right

But those two have become the best Shooters out of our young Wings SL forwards and the you know the four guys it’s Kamar it’s repair it’s shabari Walker and it’s Chris Murray those two guys are better Shooters than Jabari Walker and Chris Murray right now I feel very comfortably

Very comfortable saying that but a guy like repair let’s kind of segue this to him how many assists did he have tonight let me pull back up the box score rupair in this game played 39 minutes didn’t shoot the ball too well two for six one

For three from three so little bit of an inefficient night he still needs to work on things driv into the room he still needs to get stronger like he has very clear-cut things to work on to become a more efficient player more efficient slasher right but he like moves decently he just he

Loses balance too much right and he may still be getting used to his body because apparently he grew within the past year but in this game Eric uh five assists one turnover and some of his assists are are impressive passes it’s not like he’s making like super Advanced

Reads but he sees the game quick he sees the game at an NBA speed which didn’t didn’t really expect that out of him like always knew he could pass and show flashes like that but I thought the game would move too fast for him to make some of the plays he did

Tonight where he puts the ball on the floor and then the the Split Second the defense shifts he’s immediately zipping the ball to the guy that they’re shifting off of yeah and that’s just perfect play in the flow of an offense that moves the ball type of stuff mhm he

He can handle a little bit I mean the the playmaking stuff with him is a legitimate skill a legitimate skill right now he needs to get better uh slashing to the rim and I still don’t know how consistent of a three-point shooter he’s going to be um that has

Regressed a little bit since his shot shooting earlier in the season but he’s still shooting above 40% from three which is great right it’s just how can he become a better finisher you know get to the free throw line more that type of stuff but for where he’s at being only

19 years old doesn’t turn 20 until after the season May 31st the offensive stuff is further along than I thought and he has a good complement of skills that he should be a guy that really fits in the flow of an offense and provid provides a

Lot of defensive value much in the same way Ryan repair does or much in the same way tan Kamar does yeah I I will say in terms of the game slowing down for him I still think he’s having issues knowing when the lane is there to attack and when to pull back

Or pass so that’s something he definitely needs to work on so I don’t know if the game’s completely slowed down for him in that regard yet he sees he sees the next pass quicker than opportunities to attack right he he drives with the mindset to make the next

Pass but I’d rather have that than the opposite way exactly exactly because he I feel like he kind of knows his limitations which a lot of young guys come into the league and they don’t understand their limitations right and I think part of becoming a good role

Player is knowing who you are and knowing what you’re good at knowing what you’re not good at and being willing to do the things that you can provide a team to be a good role player because any body can come in and find a way to

Chuck in Chuck up 20 shots if they’re playing 40 minutes right like it’s not hard to Chuck up shots if you’re not a good enough scorer you’re going to go five for 20 right but shooting the ball is in today’s NBA is something that even a guy like repair

If he wanted two hunt shots could fight away in a game like this where he Place 39 minutes to shoot the ball 15 to 20 times but he shoots the ball six times half of them are threes he goes two for six gets the line once and then just

Makes the next play makes the right play and that’s key for a young player to embrace that and he Embraces that and it seems like he knows his limitations a little bit so he doesn’t Force things and with how hard he works I’m sure with him knowing what he needs to get better

At he’s going to work his ass off on that and that’s what excites me about him absolutely and yeah to further that point you know we’ve seen him drive in and then have to take like a really tough shot where he’s like fading away or or but he can get those shots off

Because he’s so long so he could shoot like 15 times if he wanted to especially playing 39 minutes um so I completely agree that it was nice to see him just play Within the flow and do a good job of passing the ball cuz uh that’s something that we’ talked about with

Multiple players uh just making the right pass making the right read and the more players that do it it just seems like the better better it is for our long-term success yep absolutely um speaking about other starters Chris Murray was kind of invisible today he did have four assists

No turnovers so I’ll give him credit for that but 0 for one from three in 22 minutes 0 for three from the field um we have a donation about Chris Murray oh yeah shout out to Christopher Aquino sorry if I messed up the name $2 donation from Christopher says for Tori

I love the Chris Murray pick thank you I love your donation more than I love the Chris Murray pick so I appreciate it I appreciate it I’m I’m disappointed that Chris had a couple games where it looked like okay maybe he’s finding a shot and then since then offensively it’s just been basically

Nothing yeah he had a couple nice passes to DW in this game so do like that um only took one three so to your point about not forcing shots at least he didn’t do that even though he missed all three of his um he didn’t shoot a bunch

Like he could have or has done in previous games um so yeah there were some good things from him but yeah overall you’d like your starter to play a little better than he did tonight yeah he he passes the ball quick um he had a nice pocket pass to wreath

Which was cool to see him run a pick a roll and throw a good pocket pass uh um I am getting a little a little tired of the drives where he like almost turns his back to the rim and just like basically is driving trying to find somebody just to give the ball

To do you know what I’m talking about yeah yeah like a lot of times he drives he’s not even looking towards the rim and it’s not like uh okay he’s going to like look away from the rim look off a Defender to create a lane to attack it’s

Like a he looks like somebody that wants to get rid of the ball when he puts the ball on the floor a lot of times like I want him to to change the way he drives a little bit he had a shot in this game where

He uh let me let me play back the clip so I can summarize it right where he like changed he did a c like crossover between the legs didn’t have a chance of beating BD donovic off the dribble bogdanovich was kind of fading but like Murray’s not a not really a mid-range

Pull-up shooter so he drives into Murray or drives into bonovich does a spin move does a little leftand Hook from like seven feet and it was kind of like that is part of my problem I feel like Chris Murray is going to have against better defenses is if he’s not shooting the

Three ball you can kind of back off him a little bit and he’s not going to be able to beat a lot of guys off the dribble this game you know he he made good in the flow plays good in the flow passes which is great end of the day

There was a couple times where it was like man he why didn’t he shoot the ball right like is his confidence finally waning like it just didn’t really make sense to me and he only shoots one three in 22 minutes that was kind of strange yeah kind of a forgettable game from

Him yeah um still you know could be a uh a rotation piece going forward maybe he’s the backup for next year he’s going to have to improve that shot very simple I think he plays in summer league probably and it’ll be interesting to see how he looks in summer league

This next year’s summer league team should be interesting because you’d expect ruper to play you’d expect Chris Murray to play Shoot there’s a chance scoot could play yeah maybe because Javari Smith played some games last summer league and he had a better the third pick than scoot his

Head Jaden Ivy played yeah so and then whoever we draft could be very fun CH play too was a rookie yeah so well he wasn’t technically he got injured and then I mean he played the summer league before so it was it was the second year of

Summer League yeah yeah still you know with it being him he didn’t play the year before yeah but a lot of those second year second year guys are let’s just put it as what 2022 draft guys played or is that 2023 draft that’s 2023 draft um so summer league could be

Interesting could be fun um Raymond says no sound how I maybe unmute unmute us unmute us Raven um but let’s talk about Scoot and then we’ll get into bet us for a sec and then we’ll get into other other things tank of on big board that sort of stuff I don’t know if

You saw it tor but I do have a sharp update I want to read off here too sure let’s do that now what’s what’s the update I’ve not seen uh Trailblazers PR shortly after the game Shaden sharp has been recalled by the Portland Trailblazers sharp participated in non-

Contct and conditioning drills with the remix he’ll be evaluated over the next week as he joins the team on the current road trip yeah so he could be back maybe April third against Charlotte which is a game the Blazers need to lose yeah um I I don’t like the idea of bringing him

Back I do want to see him play but yeah I don’t think I should be this year yeah I feel like I feel like the people that want to bring him back it’s more so for their own reasons as a fan like I don’t want to call it selfish

But what’s playing the final week of the season going to do for him I I don’t know the thing is is watching scoot makes me want to bring back sharp a little less right now Eric because I feel like scoot isn’t playing with quite the same burst and athleticism that he was before

He missed time with that core stength brain and I wonder if he’s maybe maybe he’s not hurting but maybe he’s not 100% because like he missed in the past couple of games he’s missed a couple of dunks and his first step just did not look like his normal First Step today

Especially in the first half he did pull it together in the second half was a little bit more uh opportunistic um didn’t really Force as much but is it just me or does he seem to be a little less than 100% athletically right now I mean I don’t know if he’s I mean

He’s shown a couple of flashes of being that but I mean we’ve talked all a year chony has as well about like where’s this athleticism you’re supposed to have um so I think it’s more to me it’s hard to tell if it’s just he just hasn’t

Shown much this year or if it’s really an injury when he got like an open Lane and could dunk the ball he would dunk the ball though yeah but like he’s he is kind of clumsy sometimes so like um the one tonight where he misses the dunk

Like he just like he mistimed his jump and or like got caught I think between laying it in or dunking it or something I don’t know but um yeah yeah I don’t know I don’t I don’t know if I’ve necessarily seen a huge difference in in athleticism ISM because I don’t think

There’s been more than maybe 10 to 20 times this year where you’ve been like okay there’s that athleticism you know yeah I mean that’s the only thing I I worry about with rushing a guy like sharb back is I mean they’re not going to rush him back

If he’s probably not going to be at risk of reinjuring if they play them I would like to trust them that much okay go ahead there was a play last game where I thought it looked like scoot it was kind of early in last game he was

Holding his groin area um I forgot who it was that I mentioned that about earlier in the season too um but like it looked like he maybe was uh not comfortable or something but then he ended up playing the rest of the game I don’t know if uh if he was just

At this point just trying to like not show that he’s injured or anything like maybe that’s it he’s just trying to tough it out and make it through the season which is probably bad if that’s the case long term yeah I mean he needs to he needs to rest for like a

Month after the season I think at least a month like that it can’t be 90% that has to get to 100% And also it might be good for him after a tough rookie season to like reset mentally uh because here’s the thing with him in terms of the way I evaluate

Him nothing that happens the rest of the year is going to make me any lower on him okay of course we hope that he breaks out and looks like a star the final 10 games of the season because then all of a sudden we’re going to be a lot more

Excited going into the off season and headed into the future and that’s what we want to see right we want to see him look like a star we want to see him look like the prospect we drafted him to be but given this injury and given that he struggled his entire rookie season

Outside of a stretch right before he got injured there’s really nothing he can do to make me worry about him anymore um and a part of that is given his struggles I just want to see what he looks like after an off season to work on what he’s struggling

On and until I give him that chance I’m not going to sit here and take every struggle if he struggles for a half and freak out about it I just don’t think that’s super logical because he’s had struggles this year he obviously needs time to work on things he needs an

Offseason to work on things supposedly has a really good work ethic so at that point every time he struggles I’m just going to sit back and wait to give him the chance of an entire off season to work on things Tor if let’s just say you’re right and that injury is causing a

Little bit of the issues we talking about right now would you preemptively just get the surgery as soon as the season’s over or would you just try to rest up I’d get the surgery now yeah because I don’t know how productive NBA reps are going to be at

This point when he’s gotten minutes all year if he’s not 100% if he’s 100% I think the rest of the season could be good NBA reps NBA experience but if he’s battling his own body right battling his own health on top of battling the struggles he’s battled with all year I don’t think

He’s going to grow from that that’s where I’m just down to get it now call it a wrap for the season get back as soon as possible and if he get you know if he can then be healthy by I don’t know June July and start working on stuff and drilling

Stuff and then maybe play Summer League maybe summer League’s go for him and then July August September he can work on things I think that would be more beneficial than taking away that time to get him NBA reps now if he’s not 100% yeah I am getting a little sick of like the

Well Daren Fox did this in his R here and so like that like I I feel like we’re putting that’s like I don’t know like we’re setting it up to be like he has to be the best case scenario you know and I mean I think it’s more so to get people

To calm down when they freak out every time he struggles M because there’s a lot of people that freak out every time he struggles like he’s going he’s going to continue to have struggles like especially if he’s not 100% and give him an offseason to work on

Things at least before we start coming to some of the conclusions that people are already come to right I so I think that’s the whole point about the dear and fox thing right after his rookie year if overreacted we would have came to those same conclusions about him so

Let’s just pause pump the brakes a little bit and relax yeah do you um do you think like I mean you’ve played with a lot of different typ of players not to like equate it to us or whatever but like um do you if you have a teammate

That you always have to like be reminding who they have or where to go on defense or like what defense you’re in and all that kind of stuff while you’re playing and having to work like focus on your game as well do you think it’s like teachable for that person to learn

Or do you think it’s just always something that’s going to be kind of an issue with that type of player um if if you have to tell someone where to be as a teammate is it possible for them to learn I’m just saying like do you have

Confidence like like if you if you started playing with someone enough do you do you feel like they eventually get better at that or because in my experience most of those type of players you play with them for like 10 years and 10 like you’re 10 you’re still

Like having to tell them who they’re guarding on defense and stuff like yeah but I mean we’re talking about a pro here compared to yeah right I know yeah some that’s his job and he needs to work on it um yeah I full I fully think because you know people criticize Dame

For not knowing how to deal with a trap and all of a sudden he learned how to deal with a trap like like I think there is a lot of things that I mean I assume this question is related to scoot right yeah well before you answer my it’s more along the lines

Of can you be more than just a neutral Defender if you don’t have natural defensive instincts I guess I think you can learn how I think defensive instincts is maybe OV exaggerated as a thing in general mhm um I think you can learn situational awareness right um especially as you get more experience

Get further into your career you’re going to see things faster because a a lot of it in the NBA is pattern recognition right at some point you make the same rotation so many times that you’re going to make it quicker at some point you’re supposed to help in

Certain situations so many times you’re going to help quicker and you’re going to help better right and at some point you’ve seen You’ defended against a play that’s been run so many times you can start to anticipate it and anticipate what it’s looking for right you defend

Horns so many times you defend certain variations of horns so many times you’re going to start to recognize those variations quicker and that’s where somebody that as that as a rookie doesn’t have good defensive instincts is what people would call it I think some of it is they

Just haven’t had enough experience to recognize things quick enough to look like they have good defensive instincts yeah that’s why I guy like Kamar who like recognizes things so quickly he hasn’t seen this stuff he’s a rookie that’s when it’s really impressive but in terms of somebody that

Struggles as a rookie I tend to give them a little bit of a pass because I think part of it is just gaining that experience being put in these situations over and over and over again where you’re able to know what to do quicker and you’re able to learn from mistakes

Etc yeah well so from my observations and I’m I fully admit I am more focused on scoot on defense than anything else right now I’m I just I well I want I want to I want to see what he’s doing like I want to I want to like

Like I’m trying to get in his mindset and so what I’m seeing is well I mean besides the he got didn’t get back on transition let he was first one back and then still let someone get behind him and didn’t didn’t get back all the way but

Um on a normal play when he’s getting back he does one of two things he either just goes and finds his guy and ignores anything else that’s happening or he’ll run to like the free throw line area and then try to find where his guy

Is and then like a lot of times then it’s too late and so like I just I feel like he just like it’s all like something he’s like obviously if it becomes a thing where he’s not thinking about it that’s where the instincts come

In um it it’ll be fine but I just I feel like he just just like he gave up a three-point shot because he literally just ran back and instead of running to the to the guy who was right next to him he just ran into an area where there was

No one and then turned around like to look for his guy or whatever who shot that who shot that three I think it was a deante Murray one um early or late in the game it was in the first half because the hws were going that way on the TV got you

Okay I’m gon try and find the play that you’re I think it was I think it was maybe after scoot missed his three um in the on on the top um and so Tyler James says Dame kind of does that too so what Dame and we

Pointed this out last year like all last year what Dame was taught to do four years was to always just run back and guard the guy in the corner on defense so he would always get just run back to the corner um and so I think that’s a

Little bit different I mean it’s still not ideal obviously in a good defensive system um but D Dame too often tries to pass off guys with the ball when he should just pick up ball right right so but that’s part of like you hide a guy

For so long and they’re like okay well somebody else needs to take the ball it kind of cultivates that mindset yeah that’s that’s a bit good way of explaining it so um he still looking for it yeah I can’t really find the play you’re talking about it wasn’t after a Miss three and

It was a made three you said right I don’t I don’t remember if it was made or not um it might have been a missed one but it was like a open three who gave up yeah um it just jte Murray has shot it pretty Sure he check 83 so yeah I mean there was a play where scoot was kind of the last Defender running down the middle of the Court there was like somebody Rim running in the middle of the court that he was shading over towards and then they

Skipped it to Murray but I don’t think it was like a terrible contest and it was a Miss um so I don’t I don’t know I’ve looked at all M’s 3es I can’t find it that’s fine though um maybe it was this one no it wasn’t

That one either yeah I don’t know anyway um I think this reminding me of our drop coverage yeah like scoot transition defense is rough I if he’s still having this problem at the same with the same extent next year then I think we got to worry

About it mhm but that’s just where you hope that he improves um I think this team might have a little bit of a communication issue though like how often do you see guys like pointing in transition for somebody to pick up like a runner somebody to pick up ball I

Feel like this team doesn’t talk enough yeah and they talked about a little bit in the preseason they got a lot of quiet guys especially when you’re playing with a lot of young guys I do think that could be part of it but he does seem to to zone out a little bit

Defending in transition and that’s something that definitely needs to be fixed yeah anyone else you want to talk about from this team I will say the the day they had Chris Murray miked up I was impressed with with just how often he was communicating and that might have

Been just cuz he was wearing a microphone that day but M him up he he did talk a lot more than it seems like the communication is on TV but yeah I don’t know yep um anybody else you want to talk about from this team not really you

Don’t want to talk about Justin manah Ashton Hain or Moses Brown not really you want to talk about Moses Brown going one for five from the free throw line so baj played at the end yeah he’s obviously active yeah uh he’s not hurt like the he was active but not really

Active like gruper a couple weeks ago yeah all right why why would you play Moses Brown over Ivan baji right now like what are we doing doesn’t make sense like just get B some minutes and see if he can learn you know like Moses Brown is not going to be

On this team next year he better not be II might be on a two way next year maybe yeah I mean I maybe they aren’t thinking he’s going to be back either but still though like there’s a there’s there’s a greater like there Moses Brown not is

Not gonna be back on this team next year IBU baji maybe just for that alone and E buaji is younger so you just play him it’s very simple like Moses Brown isn’t giving you anything okay he’s three for five and 12 minutes but dude’s dude’s a Breck from the free

Throw line I mean it his free throw might be the ugliest free throw form in the entire league disgusting one handed it’s it’s awful it’s awful so I don’t understand it at all I would love to see baji play more when he played he had some good moments defensively and I

Still feel like you can explore what you have there especially I think this team is moving the ball well they had 35 assists on 43 field goals like he’s he’s as much of a lob Target as Moses Brown is I feel like we didn’t give that enough love 35

Assists on 43 field goals Eric I like the way this team is moving the ball at least very nice tonight unfortun it was everyone it wasn’t just like one person yeah unfortunately they struggle taking care of it when they move the ball like this because they’re young but I’ll live

With that I’ll live with 18 turnovers if they’re trying to move the ball trying to play off each other and they have a game like this where they have 35 assists that might be the most assist we’ve had in the game all year long it’s got to be up there it’s got to

Be 35 assists there’s games where we don’t make 35 shots so well the other thing with baji too is there’s actually been some games where he’s like legitimately scared people around the rim and cause some wild shots or some misses or whatever even without blocking it with his length I know Moses

Can do that a little bit too but like B’s problem is he got foul happy a lot like these minutes would help him maybe learn to not foul and go straight up and stuff like that so I don’t I don’t know man but the passing was good yeah absolutely um

Anyway ton T you want to do tank ofon first I don’t care I thought I thought T would lead into the big boards but I don’t care either way we’ll do the people want the big boards we’ll take a couple questions then we’ll do bet us then we’ll do ton then we’ll

Do then we’ll do um big boards we got a lot to get to anyway um take a couple questions first because I got to set that up real quick Mad Mobile says Moses Brown is amazing free throw shooter his follow through is completely his hitch is wild bro wild

Stuff Alex wol says would you consider trading down at all why we have four picks we have picks in multiple different ranges if anything we need to consolidate the picks not to move up not down so no what is the best flavor of Jolly Rancher that’s quite the question um I

Don’t eat Jolly Ranchers I’m not a Jolly Rancher guy but you’ve had them right yeah I don’t remember what any of them tastes like yeah Green Apple’s good I’m I know a lot of people are going to think this is disgusting but uh I’m a grape guy I like grapes grape get too

Much hate grape anything gets too much hate I don’t understand it cuz like grape gatorade’s pretty good I feel like people don’t like grape Gatorade though I’m eating some right now that’s why I asked I’m a blue Jolly Rancher man interesting Alex and mass say green apple let’s give Moses credit he has

Improved his free throw shooting from 35% in college to 54% in the NBA hey that’s a 20% Improvement that’s pretty good Eric yeah goodan Evers I completely agree with that as well said the banana Laffy Taffy gets way too much hate I agree with that I’ve always liked the banana candy flavor

That everybody hates banana runs are good I like banana Eric yeah anyway um before we get into tank ofon sweet 16 tomorrow I’m looking forward to it Eric tomorrow and Friday luckily my Gonzaga Bulldogs don’t play until Friday I can kind of enjoy the action before stressing about it you

Know but you have a Blazer game coinciding wait oh yeah we play at Miami at 5 when does Gonzaga play CU I ain’t watching the Blazer game if Gonzaga is playing s 16 like there’s there’s priorities here I might be really pissed off on that postgame show cuz they are playing Purdue Gonzaga

Tips off 439 and the Blazers tip off like 510 so that game will be over so I’ll be able to do a postgame show but I’m not watching the Blazers lose to Miami because now Miami will finally play their players against Golden State they rested all their guys so Golden

State could get a win just so they could screw us over luckily I never did say um Houston won that game so Houston wins San Antonio wins Charlotte wins if only Golden State could have lost today it would have been an amazing tanking day bll Bulls won yeah Hawks won Hawks aren’t

Catching the Warriors though Hawks suck but I mean that that win over lost one was pretty impressive so we’ll take a look at tangon in a second but first we got to give a shout out to our sponsor bet us favorite Sportsbook and Casino Live betting and Race book we’re celebrating

30 years with a historic offer a 125% sign up bonus on your first three deposits plus 10% gamblers Insurance get started today bet us where the game begins all right so we got sweet 16 spreads that we’re going to take a look at right here um simply got to go to the

Left section basketball and we got March Madness right there so we got eight spread lines me and Eric have been doing this through the tournament it’s been fun Illinois is one and a half Point underdogs against Iowa State Eric I love Illinois I was second guessing them in

My bracket I I initially had him go into the championship and then I switched to Auburn which was a failure on my part um so should have kept Illinois I think they take care of business against Iowa state but I think this is going to be a

Phenomenal game uh this is going to be a heavyweight fight these are two really good teams yeah absolutely I’ll I’ll have some fun and pick Iowa State then if you’re on Illinois all right just to go against me he’s let’s go head to head Connecticut for my boy Tom

Fisher yeah your guy Tom hey Iowa State wins by one all right I’m with Tom but I’m going to Illinois uh Yukon rematch of the championship this is going to be a fun game just for that reason Yukon 11o favorites yukon’s looked as dominant as ever this tournament but San Diego

State like if you’re ever going to be playing with something extra in March Madness they’re going against the team that beat him in the championship I expect them to keep it a little bit closer than this so I’m gonna take San Diego State and the points said it last game I’m going to

Say it again until Connecticut does not blow a team out I’m just going to continue to take them so give me Connecticut minus whatever the spread is yeah yeah I mean that might be a wise bet for you guys to get in with that 125% bonus the three that bet us is

Offering you just keep rolling with Connecticut I can’t argue with that I do think San Diego State is going to be as motivated as ever although if you’re not as motivated as ever playing in March Madness then there might be something wrong with you you got North Carolina 4

And a half Point favorites against Alabama I’m going to take North Carolina I don’t like Alabama at all um that game against Grand Canyon was a lot of fun I don’t trust them uh give me give me North Carolina yeah I’ve been down on Bama all year haven’t given them any credit

Uh screw it I I just think they they come up with this surprise someone’s got to make an upset right so I’ll take bama you’re going against me on everything let’s go all we got Arizona Clemson Arizona 7 and a half Point favorites um Clemson’s look good man Clemson’s

Look good and I still don’t trust Arizona I still think Arizona is can’t be they’re not consistent enough to keep going on a run I think Clemson has a legitimate chance to win this game so I’m gonna take Clemson in the points well then good no I I like

Clemson too I’m not just going opposite to you I I do like Clemson to keep it close as well bummer looking forward that been fun like every game all right well here we go then Gonzaga five and a half Point underdogs against Purdue Gonzaga played

Purdue earlier in the year and we in the game until like the final 10 minutes Gonzaga is a better team than they were then so give me Gonzaga and five and a half points um yeah I think this is where I’m sorry Tori I’m going to take Purdue I

Think uh hater they’re going to have trouble with Ed in this one and uh The second round and they almost lost to him as was OT you know give me Marquette they’re just they’re just noticeably better than NC State kch is back he’s playing well so give me them yeah they might have a little bit of trouble with Burns um yeah I agree I’m gonna take Marquette

As well and then Houston Duke Houston almost had one of the most epic March Madness collapses in the round of 32 their four-point favor against Duke Duke dominated wait Taylor had like the worst game ever yeah which I thought Houston would do a good job shutting him down

But they still almost lost the game that was phenomenal called that they came back from like down 12 with a minute and 20 seconds left and tied it going into OT it was a fun game Houston won uh I’m gonna take Houston here though like I think they’re better than

Duke they’ve been struggling a little bit lately and Duke just played a really good game I just think I don’t know I think a little soft and Houston plays really good defensively they’ll get up in you um they’ll play physical I just think it’s a bad match up for Duke I like

Houston yeah I also like Houston I I want to pick Duke here but I just have a feeling when you have a really good shooting game it’s hard to then like duplicate McCain hitting 83es again you know so um I just think they’re G to have a little bit tougher time against

Houston than they did in last game and uh and yeah ultimately meet their demise yep um so anyway we’ll see how we did we still need to look back at PRI prior streams but it’ll be a little easier to keep track of the uh the sweet 16 here

We’ll see how we did uh we have that stream on Friday which is going to be during uh some of those games so uh you know we can talk about that a little bit then but if you guys want to get in on any of these lines if you want to ride

The Yukon dominance streak uh they just been blowing teams out of the water lately you can get in on this action sign up link in the description box below promo code join 125 for three 125% deposit bonuses uh on your first three deposits up to $2500 on BET us where the game begins

Shout out to them for sponsoring the post game stream also love that graphic they got there little something orange in the in the top left cuz this graphic was too too red Eric too red oh you got the orange too and I got like off orange creamsicle

Orange so we’re kind of kind of fitting the vibe here uh let’s do tangon you guys have been waiting for it let’s tank ofon big boards let’s do It gotta love the no that plays every time I load it um anyway uh Portland we actually have some stuff to talk about because Charlotte who did they beat tonight uh Cleveland sorry Alex thank you Alex thanks to your Cavs for losing to Charlotte somehow I don’t

Know how that happened but uh that’s phenomenal we are tied in Lost column they’re one win away from us we’re half a game out of fourth best dos Eric we’re two games out of third Let’s Go San Antonio four and six one two in a

Row we might be able to get third best odds honestly which is crazy that would be phenomenal I couldn’t imagine having third best thoughts let’s get it I’m sorry I forgot who this was in chat so I can’t give you credit but I saw someone comment earlier if there’s one thing the Blazers

Know how to do it’s lose in March and April yep yep as evident by this and this the last team we beat was when we played the Hawks at home I was at that game Eric you know what’s funny is is like Jonathan ever says it was him

I’ll give him credit so in terms of Blazer schedule right they they beat Milwaukee they beat Memphis twice Toronto then Atlanta I was at the Milwaukee and Atlanta games I guess if I go to games they win although I was at the OKC game but they almost won that if

You remember that was against the health yok SE team so they played really well that game so I need to not go to a game for the rest of the year luckily we only have three more home games that I won’t be going to so I guess I just Inspire

Them you know I I Inspire Aon by haon and I Inspire the team by showing up in the arena and changing the aura changing the air in that Arena so uh cuz since that game man l l l bunch of L’s and Miami Orlando that Charlotte game Eric I

Am going to be rooting so hard for a loss in that game this game is the tanking Super Bowl for us biggest game of the year you guys thought it was when Dame returned with Milwaukee you thought it you thought this was the biggest game

Of the year if you want to say that’s the biggest game of the year we got the outcome we wanted right cuz people wanted to show Dame that we could still win games here in Portland without them but this game the result we need is

An is an L so hopefully we win this tanking Super Bowl by losing to the Hornets on the third and we set it up multiple games in advance when Anthony doesn’t play that day that it won’t be weird yeah exactly so smart move by the Blazers but we might have to come up

With a little injury for Banton that we need to make up because he’s playing great uh and then we got we got Washington in the game after Eric like Washington’s been playing better though the final five games of this Houston that game could be huge for them catching Golden State we play Golden

State if we GNA if we’re going to win one game the rest of the Year I hope it’s Thursday April 11th against Golden State this is a really interesting schedule for draft pick purposes the rest of the year yep these last five games are tough though and you got Miami Orlando like

Other than Charlotte and Washington it’s all playoff or playin teams it’s all above 500 teams the rest of the way Y which is good thing for the Blazers is we try and tank our way to Glory also some we really haven’t talked about so Atlanta and Chicago even if

They finish Below Golden State if they somehow make the playoffs that would push a team with a a better record than Golden State down to 14 and they would Le frog them into the 15th spot so uh we if they don’t up passing them in the

Standings we need to rout like heck for uh hopefully Atlanta to to win two playing games and um move up into that 15th spot which would bump Golden State down automatically it’ especially be funny if it came out the expense of Miami right um but yeah basically one of

The nine or 10 seeds in the East is going to be in the the final playe game for the e seed so uh if they win that game Golden State moves up to 12 so there is a decent chance they could move up to 12 if Houston passes Golden State

Then there’s a legitimate then they’re going to be 12th with a legitimate chance at 11th MH so if if Houston can pass Golden State if Golden State ends up 11th in the west we could have the 11th pick there which would be great you know uh

Given how this looked if that pick can move up to 11th um and then maybe it’s more likely Cronin fall falls in love with the prospect I don’t even care who just fall with somebody so you don’t trade the pck for a freaking role player anyway uh David asks if we tie

With Charlotte or someone else how the odds determined so they just split it evenly between the two teams that are tied in the cases where there’s like an odd number of uh lottery numbers for those two teams there would be a coin flip to determine who got that extra

One uh number combination so like let’s say there’s like a thousand combinations right now if we have a 10.2% chance of moving up yeah uh we’d have 102 of those thousand or whatever um combinations and so on so that if we’re tired with someone else uh it would just split that yeah

Basically Charlotte has 125 combinations we have 105 so we’d have each have 115 in this scenario yeah I believe um out of a thousand so anyway let’s simulate this thing scroll up and wish for luck let me try and scroll it a little more smoothly at 14 is New Orleans at 13

Is Portland via the Golden State Warriors at 12 is ok CVA Houston at 11 is Chicago 10 is Atlanta we got Utah at nine so far it’s chalky at 8 is is Houston via Brooklyn at seven is Memphis it’s straight chalk good so far at six is the Charlotte Hornets meaning the

Portland Trail Blazers have moved up into the top four again meaning we should not pass them Detroit should be next right Detroit should always be next but instead it’s the San Antonio Spurs San Antonio so third and fourth fall down we got Portland Toronto it’s always Toronto Washington and

Detroit MH can we finally get a number one pick Eric I feel like we keep moving up into the top four and we can’t get a number one pick so hopefully hopefully this time we can finally get a freaking number one pick I feel like we’re due at four is no no

Anyway um at three is Washington at two is Toronto at one is Detroit good for Detroit they finally got yeah I’m happy for Detroit but I’m sad for ourselves yeah I mean at least we moved up one spot but oh man Eric like hey buellis is probably there at

Four and that’s who I it for yeah that’s what I want it for we got Carson in here he’s loving the soundboard what’s up Carson always good to have you in here um let’s just uh reveal our latest top 10 and then we’ll go to 11 to 20 then we’ll go to 21

To 30 we got a giant big board reveal for you today let’s hop straight into that Eric here is latest big board so there’s somebody missing that’s been in your top 10 and that is oric chomi if you want to speak on him yeah I just decided until he declares for the draft

To remove him just to make my rankings a little cleaner there in the at the top um so I just took him off my board I will add him back in if he uh declares for the draft um but uh as of right now um it’s he’s going to play in the

Hoop Summit on April 13th here in Portland uh so uh we have a chance to go watch him in person along with the Cooper flag is uh he’d be playing against and uh uh Ace Bailey um I don’t know how to say his name kamak uh the big 72 Center Mok yeah Mok

Yeah uh something like that yeah he’s going to Duke next year with flag uh he is also going to be there um and so uh yeah that’s that’s going to be an awesome game I’m I’m going to try my best to make it there um and uh Scout

Orrick in person uh but uh yeah they also have some sort of Showcase from the African Academy that he’s participating in after that um so I think how he the feedback he gets from those two events will go a long way to determining whether or not he comes over

This year or not but until he does I’m just going to pretend like he’s going to go to college yeah so I do the same thing I also removed him from my board um Matt Cardell says no ret is this the first time you’ve heard us talk about

Reet no so Eric hasm at seven I moved him down a little bit more I’ll talk about him when I get to him but I’ve talked about him a ton and how I’m not high on him um I like buellis a lot and the more I think about buellis this game

The more I feel like he’s being discounted a little too much by people that have him eighth ninth 10th he’s a 610 forward he was a good shooter before this past year has struggled with the NBA three-point line in the G League shooting the three ball

Right but he was known as a shooter coming into the G League of KN and I believe in his creation upside I believe in his ability to handle the ball to read defense to um do things with his life dribble and I think it’s it’s easier to bet on him becoming a shooter

With that creation ability than it is betting on a guy like Zachary Reet to become a creator with his shooting ability right I think it’s much safer to bet on Buell becoming a shooter I don’t trust I guess I’ll talk about re a little bit now I don’t trust reet’s

Upside at all as a Creator I just don’t think he’s going to be somebody that’s going to do a whole lot off the dribble I think with his size and skill and he’s like fluid I guess like he can he’s coordinated he’ll be able to do things

Here or there off the dribble maybe attack gaps or whatever but I I don’t think Reese is ever going to be a guy where you put the ball in his hands and he’s going to go make a play he’s going to create at the end of a shot clock

He’s going to take over a game that’s why I don’t have Reet as high as consensus uh I am lower on Reay for those reasons and I like some of these prospects in this top 10 more than consensus I guess and that’s why I’ve bumped ret down my

Board um Tyler James says Tor you kind of weren’t super high on him not long ago I thought in terms of Ms I just stopped overthinking him because as a shooter he comes in he doesn’t shoot the ball super well and the game I watched he was just kind of like disappeared

And he is prone to maybe disappearing for stretches but at the end of the day at the top of the draft are swinging for upside and he certainly has arguably the in my opinion the second highest upside out of anyone in this draft class I

Think SAR has the most um and he has some things that you could put stock in him having a decent chance to reach that upside and that is the way he can handle the ball the way he can move off the dribble so that’s why I moved him up to number

Two yeah um in case you missed it too uh I not you but chat uh so Matas called out Rish in a recent interview said that he would absolutely work out against him for NBA teams and wants to play him one-on-one to show that he’s a better

Player than him um yeah I that alone that kind of mindset in an era where more often than not these guys will refuse to work out with any other players or against anyone that’s good or whatever um that kind of attitude I think goes a long way in showing me what

Type of um person and and competitor someone is um and I think it killed him being on such a insanely crappy team this year and uh yeah yeah um I I just thought that was cool of him and so U yeah I’ve been kind of teetering on him

As well um but um yeah he certainly has some question marks but I mean everybody in this draft class has question marks at the end of the day you’re drafting the top I’d rather swing on greater upside than Zachary ret at a certain point like hypothetically if the

Warriors moved up to four and were still trying to comp compete with that core like ret would be a pretty solid pick for them I think he would fit in really really well and if it’s a team trying to win that needs a piece right away right

Memphis is another team where in the top 10 I don’t hate Ray as a pick as a pick for Memphis a lot of this is context dependent based on teams my big board I feel like is just an average out of everything and in terms of the top 10

Most teams in the top 10 should in my opinion be swinging for upside therefore my top 10 is mostly based on prospects that I feel have a certain level of upside and then as we get later on to my big board then it’s a mix right um

Because you get more teams that are looking for win now players but you still get teams that are looking for upside just like the Blazers should be doing with the Golden State Warriors pick even if it’s in the late teens if they play their way into the playoffs

And go on a run here so that’s the way I view my big board um nothing else changed too much I dropped read Shepard down a little bit I go back and forth on him but he could be the the best shooter in the league someday and in a draft

Class like this it’s it’s tough for me to move them much lower than that um yeah is there any other prospects here you want to talk about uh well Taylor says do you just believe in his creation more than Tor or Val is shooting more just curious why

He’s higher for you I’m assuming you’re talking about R Rish uh I I do like his size I think he shown me some things on defense um that I think make him maybe at least a neutral to above slightly above average Defender possibly um I

Just I like taking a chance on a guy with that size and potential shooting if he can be a little more consistent with it um but yeah I mean obviously I’m still at seven is lower than consensus as well on him so um it’s not like I’m

Like super high on him because I I I have him lower than consensus too just not it’s far down as Tory does yeah yeah um Castle I he’s struggled a little bit to shoot recently I still just like his tools and his feel um Kier me and Eric

Both a little higher than him on consensus I bump Salon up two spots just because like he is an there go Tor good job he’s he’s just such a he’s he’s just so raw man like it’s it’s tough it’s tough he could be a steal like I would rather

The Blazers I was just thinking about it in terms of the Blazers and I would probably rather have the Blazers take him than ruche yeah so um a lot of teams in the top 10 are probably going to be in the same mode as the Blazers mhm so but

They’re going to value Reet more it sounds like teams love Reet apparently um so you know that’s just kind of how I viewed it like d connect I’m not any lower on him but he’s little lower upside than the guys above him a little bit more NBA ready as well being an

Older Prospect so that’s why he’s lost in at 10 yeah um this draft is very difficult with that like I whenever I’m you know thinking about changing my big board I’m always is like how much do should I factor in age cuz like certain players will get to that

Are older that I think would be perfect for winning teams but like rebuilding teams shouldn’t touch them so it’s hard to like know where to put him on draft boards yeah uh anyway like me and Eric are both lower on topit Eric has top pitch at 10 I’ll reveal the next slide I

Have topage at 12 um ree a 11 topage 12 not much has changed for the rest of that not much has changed for you either so I guess feel free to ask us questions about any prospects on this slide I guess we’ll talk about the new guys uh

To our top 20 I’ll start with mine I think T I think tyan Grant Foster is going to be a good good NBA player I think he’s going to be good he’s 24 years of years of age he had a scare where he collapsed at halime of

The first game a couple years ago when he was playing for depal had a medical scare um got cleared from it like he basically missed two seasons got cleared from it this past season and dominated for GR Canyon who made it to the round of 32 was in a competitive game against

Alabama he just has a phenomenal first step Eric for a guy that’s he looks like a legit 67 that’s what He’s listed at he looks like a legit 67 he can handle the ball he can uh you know has shown flashes of hit and threes off the dribble he shot 33% that’s something

That has to improve a little bit more but it’s close enough where he’s strong he’s Shifty he drives hard he has a very quick first step I just think he’s going to be able to get Buckets um at a small forward position at 6′ s uh so I really

Like his game and it’s tough because he is 24 but I do think he has a little bit of upside that archetype does maybe he’s going to be slept on a little bit too much because of his age in a draft with no sure things beyond the lottery I mean

Even in the lottery so uh I really like him yeah I outside of obviously the last two games I just don’t feel confident enough in just those two games so want to do a little deeper dive before I put him like in a first round scenario also

He’s not on he’s still not on fanso I know you told me to write him in but uh yeah just didn’t didn’t bother with that yet but yeah definitely someone that could help uh a winning team and I just I do like the those kind of guys who

Have the ability to take over games and uh that’s something that you can’t teach like they they shine in big moments and things like that and even if like Tommy says this is his first year shooting well um he did put it team on his back

And and uh should have maybe carried him to the Sweet 16 but um yeah I I like players like that so I don’t mind you putting them up that high yeah it’s one of those things where he has a lot of tools Beyond just shooting and he only

Shot 33% from three right so that is a question mark but you can develop shooting more so than you can develop the first step that he has right if you could develop his first step I would love to take Chris Murray and give Chris Murray Grant Foster’s first step you

Know what I mean like he in in playing against Alabama was what I was looking forward to as well um he’s just big and strong and quick like moves well can decelerate well like a lot of those movement pattern things with the ball handling with a six foot S I think he’s

A legit 67 Wing is very intriguing to me and that archetype is the that I like uh so I I’m definitely ranking him here and there’s there’s a couple of draft guys that also have him first round I don’t really care about consensus but there’s a couple

Guys I really pay attention to one is Rafael Barlo he said he has a first round grade on him um I tweeted out something about having a first round grade on uh Grant Foster and hoop in elect like the Tweet so um you know he’s the guy that puts together really good

Scouting videos and I don’t know where he’s going to have them on his latest big board uh I know he had him late second on his last one I think he’s going to bump him up I’m not sure where but you know it’s it’s it’s kind of

Where I think consensus will Trend more towards him being a a late first round pick and we’re just early on it right now what is that noise what noise I’m playing with my headphones maybe that was it no it’s outside here outside of your house I if that’s thunder or

Earthquake it’s like it’s like loud rumbling noise lightning radar I’ll look up a lightning radar I know we had Thunder here earlier yeah there’s no Thunder where on map um anyways uh sorry what what you say did you ask me something um oh I was just saying like that’s the

Archetype I like movement patterns you know like just just oh oh I was saying like Rafael Baro has a yeah yeah I heard that all that stuff like basically my point is with them is like I think we’re I think consensus will Trend towards him

Being a late first round pick and a guy that could climb up to 19 kind of like P jsky you know psky at this time last year was a second round pick and then climbed his way all the way up to 19 ironically here but I think we’re just

Yeah hawz like I think we’re just early in terms of like I think at least me I’m early in terms of having a first- round great on him I think consensus will Trend towards that yeah uh for me uh so obviously Reed Shepard 11 is probably popping out at a

Lot of people I I like Reed Shepard I just the top 10 I like more than him um but I do I don’t know if I think he might be a little bit of a tweener um and I mean combo guards can succeed in the NBA so I don’t think

That’s an issue or anything but I don’t know if he’s as Dynamic enough with the ball to be a point guard and I don’t know if he’s big enough to be a shooting guard so might be kind of stuck in that little a little bit of a range where he

I don’t know I I just I still really like him a lot it’s just I like the top 10 more yeah I’m shying less and less away from that archetype given the talent offensive talent that is coming in at yeah front Court spots because then you can play a

Guy like him at the point guard spot but he doesn’t have to handle all the point guard duties right and I mean really in today’s day and age like what really is a point guard you just need somebody to bring the ball up the court and then you

Can initiate offense most of the time it’s going to end up in your best player’s hands anyway and he’s going to be a guy that is going to be a great fit next to better players as such a phenomenal shooter and I think when you

Can shoot that well too it makes it less of a problem um because teams teams aren’t going to leave them um and you know if if if he’s he probably is never going to be the best player on a playoff team mhm but I think he could be maybe

The third like a really good third option as a guy that can score a little bit with the ball in his hands but then play off of your number one and your number two and be a phenomenal floor spacer and just make teams pay for a split second laps where they forget

About him um and then you know he’s averaging four or five assists a game so I think he can be a bit of a secondary playmaker so that’s that’s where I have him a little higher I mean this didn’t affect my range obviously because he was

Right here um on my last board but um I don’t know you just see some of those guys like him in the tournament kind of uh just Wither in that those key moments down the stretch of a game Throw he threw a couple of bad passes and um

Like I said it didn’t really affect my stock on him but um just it’s hard to judge a freshman you know first and all that kind of stuff versus 24 yearolds like Grand you know like it’s so trying to weigh all these things together but well my thing is is Calipari Kentucky guards

Always do that yeah and then they always come into the NBA and they’re great you know I mean they always play better in the NBA than under Calipari so there’s just so many of them this year I know which this is going to be a phenomenal

Case to either make or break that case yeah yeah like are they all good or so this is a phenomenal year just to find that out and then down at the end of my uh teens to 201 18 1920 um I saw Taylor asked me why I’m higher than

Consistent on Justin Edwards now I we talked about this uh last time but um I just feel like it’s a bit of a Jesus man I don’t know if you can hear that but it’s like so loud outside um the uh I feel like he was like a top

Five pick and then people just like dropped him way into the second round and he was like became an afterthought and I think he’s somewhere in between those two um he did show me a lot defensively and then with Salis McCain and Edwards it’s shooting man uh I I just I I’m really

Valuing uh players who can space the floor and knock down that three and just be a serious threat that you have to account for on offense and I think all three of those guys fit that mold U regardless of size so um none of them have the ball handling that Reed Shepard

Has that’s why Shepard’s so much higher than the three of them but um I I think uh uh I just I like all three of their ability to shoot the ball and uh Justin Edwards obviously being the biggest of the three um and playing more of a premium position at the wing

Um that’s it’s hard for me not to have him any lower than this yeah um Shephard the ball handling also I think defensively he can yeah compared to McCain Salis might be a better Defender than both um Salis is really good defensively but I mean the thing is is

Both those guys were really really good Shooters uh this past season and Reed Shepard was still noticeably better as a shooter that’s how good re Shepard was 52% from behind the arc is absolutely insane so um that’s why Shepard is definitely highering them McCain is more

Of a tweener because I don’t think he can handle the ball and create for others anywhere near as well as Reed Shepard can um and he’s 63 maybe NBA measurement 6’2 uh so that’s where on a team like Orlando he’d be great you got bigger Playmakers but on a team that needed

Like a legitimate point guard ball handler um You probably would view him as a bench shooter in that on that type of Team kind of like a Seth Curry role like Seth Curry had behind Damon CJ back when he played for Portland but I do like McCain I uh I bumped clinging up

He’s been playing better I don’t think he has much upside Beyond being a role player but I think he’s going to be a role player just because he’s going to be a good enough rim protector and um do have a little bit worry a little bit of

Concern in terms of foot speed and if teams can make him defend space can they take advantage of him but I do think he’s big enough where he can give gaps and still bother shots and be a a really good drop big man uh I don’t know how

Well he’s going to be executing other types of schemes but uh I do have him at 18 and then that’s a good segue Eric because you have him at uh 21 so yeah and I have McCain at 21 so couple of guys we’ve kind of added to our top

20ish clinging to McCain um I like McCain for his shooting he can get hot in a hurry defensively competes at least um so I think you know if he’s forced to play the two next to a a small one does he work I don’t know uh I don’t know if

He can defend the two at the NBA level but I think he can definitely defend the point guard spot um but do you have any thoughts on kinging yeah I mean same thing we’ve said about him all along in my opinion I he’s skilled um very very useful in college

Where you can camp in the paint um how well will he do getting hunted on pick and rolls same problem I have with Zack Edy um it’s just it’s tough to Envision him being okay on the perimeter um but I mean if the rules change obviously um it it will change things

But um in terms of of him man I like I I think he’s a decent enough passer um I just I don’t think a lot of his post moves will work that well in the NBA against NBA big big men but um yeah so I I think he’ll be fine uh

Especially R protection if he’s not um drawn out of the paint too often but uh yeah um just real solid Center I think if if you get him in the in this range of 21 where I have him I think you’re getting a steal at that yeah depends on

Team um for sure should be probably to a winning team uh that needs center help like he would make a lot sense in maybe Golden State to help out their defense as a guy that can contribute right away um so so I basically all these players on this

Scene I’ve had other than Tristan D Sila I have coming in at 30 I think he’s one slot ahead of Johnny Fury I I like I like to Silva as a guy that’s NBA ready that I feel like has a higher floor than Fury and I’m not super bullish on Fury’s

Upside which is why I put D Silva one spot ahead because D Silva can pass the ball a little bit can shoot the ball a little bit he’s just very solid and I think he’ll be a good bench piece that um can maybe be a little like Chris

Murrish in a way but you can have more faith in his shot um because he’ll make the smart play defensively I don’t know if he’s quite going to be quite as good as Chris Murray you know like I think he’s maybe a little bit worse but I

Think he’s somebody that can just be well-rounded and space the floor and playing the flow of an offense and make the right pass so uh he was impressive down the stretch of the season for Colorado as well yeah I like the Silva I have him just outside my first round yeah so you

Have uh Tristan Newton at 24 yes that’s who I wanted to talk about tonight um this this is my new guy Tori um and uh I know he’s probably not going to go in the first round um and uh yeah but I mean if you get this guy in the second

Round um he’s a little bit older too this is where I said I I struggle with the um the age stuff you know uh but okay so not the greatest shooter he shooting some like 32% y this year from three um and he his age is an issue but outside of that

This dude just makes winning plays he does everything he’s a good Defender he passes the ball well he’s 6’4 65 and can handle the ball like a point guard uh run the offense um gets to the free throw line a decent amount his free throw rate is really good um he’s

Rebounds really well for a guard uh like this you look at the box score of every game and it’s just like he’s just puts monster numbers and uh and I think players like him that just know how to play the game the right way and I think it’s a major contribution to what

Yukon’s done the last two years and if you’re sitting there in the 20s you’re obviously unless you traded for the pick um you’re a good team and I think U much like your love for uh Andre Jackson last year uh I just think Tristan Newton is some kind

Of glue doit all type of player uh that I think will Thrive at any level or any like type of competition so I think he’ll he’ll make a pretty easy transition into the NBA yeah I dude I don’t know what to think of him because I have watched him watched a lot of

Yukon this year obviously with them being dominant them having Stefon castle and there’s times where looks really really good and then there’s times where he just can’t make a shot um and if he if he can shoot the three ball a little better I would definitely have him in my first round

Um I don’t really shame on any draft boards it’s weird yeah I’ve seen him in second rounds it’ll be interesting to see what he measures I think he has the question of like what exactly is his role if he struggles to shoot the three but he can definitely

Play yeah I don’t really know he had a game earlier this season 10 points 16 rebounds 10 assists so he rebounds the ball well passes the ball well I don’t know how I feel about him so yeah I do I do see why somebody would have him where you have him though um

Because when he’s on when he’s hitting shots he’s really impressive yeah and he’s probably that why that team is so good so I’ll definitely look into him a little bit more you might be able to convince me to put him in my first round but the thing is like the players I have

In this range like I don’t hate Fury that much I like a lot of players in this range like I have I have filipowski 27 I don’t like where filipowski is projected which is L Lotto I think that’s way too high but at this point in the draft I do understand taking a

Chance on what he can do um I got donon Holmes here I’ve liked Jamir Watkins for a while a visich I think has you know a level of upside I go back and forth on WE exactly to slot him in given that he wasn’t given a chance to prove much at Kentucky

Um I like the more like right now I feel like maybe I should put a up the board there’s just players in front of him that I like I like Justin Edwards for some of the reasons you said I like donon Holmes the one thing that concerns

Me about donon Holmes is um if he’s too I feel like he might actually be a little too undersized at the center spot in the NBA uh I know we had this conversation earlier and I said I wasn’t really concerned about that but uh watching some of the tape just him on

The boards and getting out muscled a little bit is a bit of a concern for me um against some of the the bigger teams that he’s played this year in the what do they play The American or is it the Atlantic 10 it’s the Atlantic 10 huh um

That conference isn’t super big that’s the conference with VCU Duan um right Temple uh yeah yeah I mix up the American and the Atlantic 10 all the time but he’s skilled I just want those skills at a center spot with with him um kware motor but he’s talented and legitimate s feet tall

So a lot of prospects in this range that’s why I say like people can’t just say the draft sucks through and through because I think you’re getting good return on value in this range with these picks like I think a number of these players could be very solid NBA

Contributors and you know I have Fury down into the second I think he could be a solid NBA contributor as a shooter the problem I have with Fury Eric is just I don’t buy his creation at all the thing is though and this is something that I was

Thinking about when I didn’t have Fury in my top 30 what is truly the difference between reiche and fury where they should be this far apart on my big board yeah I think re is a little I he just seems a little bigger which is important when you’re

Talking about I don’t want to have a I mean PA here’s the thing though Fury is listed as 69 he’s not 69ine there’s no way I don’t know like if they come out with equal measurements yeah should they not be close together on a big board uh

Maybe yeah maybe that’s that’s the thing that I’m struggling with is like if Fury was consensus top three right now and Reet was where FY is I would probably have them closer which is like okay that means that consensus is affecting my big board which I’m trying

For it not to but this is the type of stuff I think about when I’m trying not to be affected by consensus like what is the huge difference between them like I think R is a little a little bit better but they’re kind of similar Fury was not as highly thought of coming

To the season and hasn’t had as many I mean he had that stretch a couple months ago where he went from being not even on draft Radars to you know kind of like your tyan Grant Foster um you know jumping up there into the first round um but he kind of fell off

Again that so it’s like I don’t know with FY it’s a little bit of a small sample size where ret has been a little bit um better and then also uh also I think uh um I don’t know I I’m still kind of questioning Fury’s defense if if it

Could be that good yeah um Reay shot the ball better this year than Fury Fury shooting kind of regressed at the end of the year a little bit fell down to 35% you can make the case that Reet is a noticeably better shooter and the stats do back that up but free throw

Percentage is something that you can use to project NBA three-point shooting Fury shot 76% Reet only shot 69% and Reet wasn’t known as a lights out shooter before this past year yeah so I could see a world where those guys are very similar as NBA three-point Shooters MH and have

Similar size and really aren’t all that much different I think re is the better Prospect but when we’re we’re talking about ret consensus top three player and fury like consensus you know 15 to 25 should the Gap really be that big and that’s where drafting Reet top three I don’t like that because

I feel like you can get maybe a little lesser version but someone similar much later in the draft with a guy like Johnny Fury and I’d rather take a chance on prospects with a combination of tools that you can’t find later on in the draft

Yeah I don’t know if you watch him play I just it just seems like I mean it’s kind of a cop out answer but it seems like re has just has a better chance of being a better overall player if they both reach close to their their ceilings

But um but I can definitely see what you’re saying yeah so that’s the thing I struggle with with Ray with Fury oh by the way you mentioned free throw shooting I just want to say one other thing um so Newton is a career 83% free throw shooter too so maybe maybe

He’s a better shooter than that too I don’t I will say I like using that more with younger prospects yeah compared to guys that like have a fiveyear sample size of struggling to shoot the three ball well in college um but I mean if Newton can shoot he’s a

He’s probably a first round Prospect so if you have faith in him being able to shoot the three ball well enough I fully understand and agree with having a first round grade on him I just I don’t know if I have faith in it I mean I’m hopeful

He can shoot better than he’s shot but I think when you get to the freear line and can still put up uh decent amount of points on decent efficiency it’s not great efficiency but it’s it’s okay um I I feel like you can still find ways to contribute whereas

Some people it’s like completely dependent on if they can hit a three or not like Chris Murray right like we we’re we’re only talking about him positively if he starts hitting the three you know in the next couple years so um yeah whereas Newton I think can

Impact the game in so many other ways yeah so these are the conversations we have to have over the next uh two and a half months well three months draft in three months basically lotteries in like one and a half months yeah I hate this

Draft after like 45 but at the same time there’s so many players after 45 that are going to go higher than 45 so like a lot of these guys like Tristan Newton for example might be like the 50th pick or whatever and so like that’s great

Value there you know well how much of it is like guys that you still maybe need to scout more because I know how much of however you say his name do it pom D however I probably butchered his name but how much of him have you seen well I

Need to I need to go back in because um there was one of the uh what is it draft ceilings or what what is that called No Ceilings yeah one of those guys said that he he asked the question like what on your boards what guys are a lot closer uh

Then the consensus is on him or something and so you would say like furan re right yeah that’s exactly what you were talking about yeah and he said uh pet and uh salon and I was like get the freck out of here dude like so I didn’t I didn’t

Back into him but um so I I noticed him like on draft boards um a few months ago or whatever or this is heading into the season and I watched a bunch of videos on him and stuff and I just I did not see it with him like I did not really

Get it so I kind of followed his season from the peripheral but I was not really super high on him other than like a second round flyer type guy that you could have an international stash on yeah but um I’m not set in stone on that yet I feel like there’s multiple guys

Past 45 that have a chance I feel like it’s it doesn’t really fall off there and I there’s a lot of guys I don’t really like that much but yeah but like Coleman Hawkins in that range gets interesting because I see something talking about the Coleman Hawkins hate is

Olympic that’s Tyler man do you do you not like Coleman Hawkins at all I I mean he’s okay I I just yeah he’s he’s like legit 69 can handle the ball a little bit can pass a little bit M shot the ball I think let me pull up

His stats shot the ball decently this year 38% 80% from the free throw line um has some really impressive moments attacking off the dribble the problem is he’s way too inconsistent for a guy that’s 22 um and he gets a bit erratic this year he improved that

Though he only averaged 1.6 turnovers a game like averaged over a block one and a half steals right that type type of prospect is interesting past 45 like I would absolutely take a flare on him past 45 I maybe even take a fler on him

Before 45 um so like a guy like him um a guy I’d take a fler on Trenton flowers past 45 he’d be an interesting guy to take a flower on um if you really want a shooter like pton Sam for I think will be a fringe rotation shooter

Um as a guy that’s 67 and shoots a really good three ball and shoots over 90% from the free throw line and averaged almost three assists a game like that’s a guy that should be able to give himself a chance at being a role player in the league

Um there’s guys there’s guys there that I I feel like there will be a couple of guys past 45 that end up being solid role players in the league for sure I know Terence Shannon probably makes this a little I don’t know like he scores so

Much that maybe this is a little unfair to Coleman Hawkins but I feel like everything you said about him and his size his age his abilities shoots 38% from three which is is pretty good like why like I I look at his game logs and stuff and and watch him play

And he doesn’t do much he doesn’t take over games he doesn’t like well watch well I know I know but I’m saying like he just like to me he should be dominating college right now this year and I don’t feel like he’s gotten any better really since like two years ago

Like I I feel like he’s just kind of well that’s why like and if he’s I feel like he’s only good because of his size like he has he doesn’t really use it well in my opinion yeah I mean that’s why he not a first round Prospect but I do think that combination

Of traits at that size is something intriguing when you’re just taking Flyers past 45 right like I wouldn’t view him as somebody that’s not intriguing at that range like I think he’s intriguing at that range because you have multiple skills in a 69ine forward that normally you wouldn’t find

In a player in that range and he’s the type of guy where like five years down the line if he’s I could see him being a really good role player and looking back like looking back at his game coming into the draft and being like man why

Was he somebody that was projected below 45 given this combination of traits that he had like that combination of traits like should have gone much higher in a weak draft so that’s where um I think he’s intriguing at that range CU I think there’s a a decent chance that he could

Give you positive return on investment whereas other guys you know I’m not super enamored by I get it like his physical tools are intriguing yeah um like like I’d rather have him than a PJ Hall type for sure yeah yeah but um you know KJ Simpson impressive

Lately uh we didn’t have almana on our boards like maybe at that range you know like I I think it’s I think it’s I think it’s deep there’s still some guys that I haven’t looked at but I feel like as I dive into more tape like

I’ll I’ll be happy with the entirety of the second round yeah but I kind of always am I feel but a lot of those guys have higher than 45 on your board though is what I’m saying right yeah yeah yeah um cuz I love my top 45 and then but

Like the last 15 is like I’m just like yeah I think there’s going to be multiple guys in your last 15 that you’re uh about that I like yeah maybe who are you the most H about that’s on my top 30 uh you probably have to put it back

Up I assume it’s somebody 21 to 30 unless it’s uh tyion Grant Foster um yeah I don’t really have a problem with your top 30 yeah I was just wondering who your least favorite out of all that is I go back to your team one I uh

I’m not as high on you on Jaylen Tyson yeah you don’t have him top 30 I have you yeah I mean he’s fine I just yeah he’s not your least favorite player in my top 30 though right probably not least favorite I’m just saying someone that like he’s one

Of the only ones that I wouldn’t I mean his French first round grade for I I think it’s pretty close but not Lottery lottery but you’re you’re pretty high on him I mean he basically was like a point forward for them this year without much talent without much spacing and it’s Shifty and

Compass make reads like that’s what I look for so I uh you know he needs to measure big enough to play the three I think to return Lottery value like late Lottery value but um he just looks looks good with a ball in his hands and then can

Shoot a can shoot the three so yeah I could see him you know defensively maybe has a couple questions but he has an NBA body um so maybe he’s an off the ball Guy where the ball handling doesn’t translate and he’s just kind of simple a

More simplistic version of what he is in college but I just like the upside of what he can do with the ball in his hands for sure um so that’s why he’s my guy but uh Jamir Watkins where do you have him uh I think somewhere in the 30s yeah

Yeah because right now my my second round sleepers although Jaylen Tyson is like rose a little bit my my non-consensus first round guys that I have as sleepers are Jaylen Tyson jir Watkins tyan Grant Foster those are my three guys right now I yeah measurements are

GNA play a key role here yep 100% can’t wait to see him gonna be fun man I don’t know what to do about teren Shannon I just I’m just GNA keep him off my board yeah he so good though freak man if without the allegations at this

Point Eric I would probably have a late Lottery grade on him yeah I yeah yeah just plays is so powerful um he plays like an NBA player playing against college kids see like they’re not they have differences but Terence Shannon is almost going to

Be 24 when on draft night and the way he drives is kind of similar to Grant Foster yeah the power the first step how strong they they take the ball to the Rim some of the ball handling ability uh Terence Shannon I think is a little better

Shooter and I think he’s just a little just a little yeah just a little better yeah and he’s doing it against he’s doing it against like big 10 teams consistently so Shannon uh doesn’t he have he still has a rape trial coming up in May or something yeah

I mean I mean he he could he could be a fringe Star level scorer he averages almost nine free throw attempts a game yeah like he he’s gonna be able to get to the line in the NBA um that what game was that that he had like 30 something

Was that in the Big 10 tournament he just freaking took over the game and dominated like he just looked like a man amongst boys up there but he had 40 against Nebraska yeah I think that was it 11 for 22 5 for 9 from 3 13 for 16 from the free throw line

Then he went in the championship 8 for 15 against Wisconsin had 34 points on 15 shots cuz he’s 15 for 17 at the free throw line um yeah that dude lives at the line loses of the free throw line um so we’ll see what his legal thing is

I don’t know man so I just keep him off my board for that reason yeah I just have him down there at the end yeah the 8S Chi because I searched chomi um well I put Chi then decided like forget to put him back on eventually but yeah yeah for sure for

Sure um anyway yeah this draft is interesting man that’s our updated big board so we probably won’t do it again until maybe the end of the season and then um well probably do it a couple more times before the draft combine before the lottery and we’ll start doing

Mock drafts in the offseason and should be fun yeah anything else for the stream that you want to touch upon no thanks every for watching we’ll have uh blaz prise live tomorrow afternoon and then uh postgame show after the game on Friday against Miami Heat yep looking

Forward to it uh appreciate you guys hanging out with us appreciate bet us for sponsoring the postgame stream remember if you want to get in on sweet 16 action tomorrow spread lines um money lines over unders whatever you want make sure you use bet us sign up link in the

Description box below promo code join 125 for three deposit bonuses of 125% it helps out the channel uh so shout out to them for sponsoring the postgame stream looking forward to college basketball tomorrow as the sweet 16 is underway and looking forward to seeing if my picks are better than

Yours yeah because I I can’t pick NBA games lately Eric so I might as well try College yeah because NBA’s been a little rough anyway thank you guys for hanging out with us appreciate yall we’ll catch you on the next stream which is tomorrow because we get to pick more games how

Many games do we have tomorrow Eric I do not know have not looked that up I will look it up right now tomorrow there is is there any point to do we got two games tomorrow oh okay I don’t know I’ll be fine with skipping March Madness when does March

Madness start I mean I’m down to just before the first game’s at 409 so 3:30 to 409 I guess is our stream tomorrow picks against the spread uh maybe we can just take questions on tomorrow’s Blazers supress live because uh you know we always like to interact with you guys

And I feel like on a lot of streams lately we maybe haven’t been as interactive as we normally are so M if you guys want to ask us questions tune in to our second Channel link description for that and uh join us tomorrow approximately 3:30 to 3:45 going live sometime between then for

Blazers uprise live and with that being said we’re out of here we will catch you in the next one until then as always peace out go Blazers

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