Atlanta Hawks: 2024 NBA Draft, Alex Sarr, Donovan Clingan, No. 1 pick with Bryce Simon (Part 1)

Atlanta Hawks: 2024 NBA Draft, Alex Sarr, Donovan Clingan, No. 1 pick with Bryce Simon (Part 1)

on today’s show I am joined by Bryce Simon of Motor City Hoops as well as the game theory podcast to talk all about the 2024 NBA draft and of course the Hawks sitting at the top of that class this is part one of two it’s coming to you right now you are locked on Hawks your daily Atlanta Hawks podcast part of the locked on podcast Network your team every day [Music] Hello friends welcome to episode 1722 of the lon Hawks podcast I am your host Brad Roland coming to you just before Memorial Day weekend here in Atlanta and today’s podcast we’ll be diving into the NBA draft my friend Bryce Simon of Motor City Hoops who also appears regularly on the game theory podcast alongside my guy Sam bassini talking all things NBA draft on today’s podcast and I also want to encourage you to top of the podcast to make us your first listen each and every day check us out anywhere you might find your podcast and search lock on Hawks on YouTube or apple Spotify we’re also on overcast Etc and uh I definitely want to thank you for listening to the podcast as I always do and also remind you at the top of this show this actually be part one of two with Bryce and myself we’ll have plenty of NBA draft talks so stay tuned for part two should be available in your podcast feed of choice right away after you listen to part one so that’s the disclaimer without any further delay here we go myself and Bryce in the NBA draft I am joined Now by Bryce Simon Bryce how are you what’s up Brad how are you doing I’m good I appreciate you doing this uh it’s it’s TI the season I know you’re very busy uh both with pistons coverage and also dealing with our mutual friend Sam who who works you to the Bone these three these three hour live streams man you guys get going on those things um yeah I mean I’m I’m not sure I realized what I was signing up for was some of this stuff I was like okay hour and a half once a week now it’s turned into two three times a week I thought it was just going to be NBA draft we actually talk way more General NBA than what I anticipated so um it’s kept me on my toes I enjoy it I’m I’m honored that he asked me to replace Adam whenever that all happened but it’s uh it’s a lot of work that is that’s definitely part of it yeah I give Sam grief every once in a while about just how long some of the shows are just I I like it but I have just to pull the curtain back a little bit these lockon podcasts they don’t let us go super long like if if we do we have to chop up into into parts and do all that stuff so it’s uh it’s just the opposite experience everybody’s doing their own thing I I record I haven’t as much recently because things got busy but I did a lot with over on locked on Pistons who does an awesome job and I’m pretty sure the locked on people I’m I will be shocked if they don’t say something like don’t bring that guy back on cuz I’m pretty sure every time I recorded with coup they were like 30 minutes 40 minutes max and we’d be at like 50 or something like that so yeah I I basically plan to just do two-part episodes now like whenever I have guests on I just go like I’m like we’re gonna go an hour I know we’re gonna go an hour if we if we don’t it’s fine but if we don’t it is what it is anyway I’ll stop rambling we’ll talk about the draft obviously the Hawks number one pick that changed things a lot for me um you’ve had you know not necessarily cover the Hawks every day but you cover the draft all the time it’s been a week plus since this since they won the lottery it was not a team that anybody expected to win the lottery right they were 3% chance um we all know kind of the deal with this draft in general about this it’s kind of not it’s pretty wide open we’ll say at least compared to some other drafts did that change at all for you knowing that the Hawks have that pick or is like are you narrowing your scope at all given that given the given that slot for them no I don’t think much changed for me in terms of who I have as the number one prospect on my board and I feel pretty confident that that’s who the number one player in the draft is right now I I think for the Hawks it comes down to what their plans are with some of their roster I think that’s where the Hawks makes this really really interesting because there are some guys that you could take it number one and what does that mean for other people on the roster right so we’ll talk about all these guys but if they draft alexar what does that mean for capella what does that mean for a Kong Wu if they know they’re going to move on from Trey or dejon do you look at one of these guards you know Stefan Castle’s been saying I’m a point guard as we go through this process nicoa topic is one of my top two or three players on the board they have some interesting Wings in Atlanta that’s another thing I want to get your perspective on as we talk through this how do they feel about the Kobe buffkin and the a AJ Griffins and what’s sadique Bay’s future coming off the ACL so all of those different things play into that and it’s important in this draft because there isn’t this tier is very wide open Brad and it’s not it’s not Victor no better what regardless of what your roster says yeah for sure and I was honestly preparing to do more of the like you know what does this mean for X player stuff when they were picking 10 you know I went you know and had this month of like all right they’re gonna pick in probably 10 or 11 we’ll see if it goes maybe they’ll jump in maybe they’ll jump in the top four them even when they there was that two minutes where they got in the top four I’m thinking all right three or four one of those things I’m like oh they got won interesting um so yeah it’s they have a lot of a lot of dominoes and very few sacred cows I guess the way you put that like on this roster I think until I hear otherwise Trey is still in that category but they could they could move on from Trey we we don’t know the answer to that I think Jaylen Johnson’s the only guy that’s written like highlighter like he’s not going anywhere anytime soon on the whole roster which is that’s just a different place to be for a team that you know while the Hawks weren’t great the last couple years they’re in a much better roster spot than most of these teams that pick number one overall they have a lot more guys that they like and they’ve been trying to win the last couple years so it adds a lot of uh uncertainty I think is the way to put it um more more often than not and you didn’t even mention like this is it’s a very long list this is kind of an unfair question to you but I’ve been trying to tell Hawks fans who have I think not everyone has settled on on alexar who we’ll get into in a second but the consensus I would say among on Hawks fans is like just take alexar and that’s I’m not saying that’s wrong I am just trying to say hey guys it’s really early in the process even as you and I talk it’s we’re still a month plus from from the draft and this is a team that was not prepared to win the lottery I mean that sounds more derogatory than I mean it but you know what I mean like yeah sure L fields had that look in his eye like whoa I wasn’t supposed to be here at the end of the lottery so I’ve been just trying to say guys like don’t get married to one player because this is a front office that’s doesn’t have a long track record of what they want I I don’t have the best read on them still and they could take six seven eight guy I mean how this is probably again unfair how big of a range would it be for the Hawks to announce their pick in a month and you not fall out of your chair you know what I mean like how many guys would it be I think I think it would go to six so I’ll give the names that for just my personal board and this will change for others Alex SAR nicoa topic Zachary Reese Ron Holland Steph Castle Donovan kingan I even have guys like Dalton connect Reed Shepard Matas bazis for some people you could throw in Cody Williams and Rob Dillingham I don’t look at like conect Shephard buellis as potential number one picks I think they’re in a relatively same tier but those guys are more you know like for the Pistons now connect is a guy that’s in play at five I think if the Pistons had number one I don’t think he’s in play there and that’s because at one at the end of the day if I’m gonna take like a wing a true Wing I’m taking Reet over adult and connect or Matas Bellis or something like that so I only really need one of those guys but you know if you told me the Hawks fell in love with kingan over Alex sa for whatever reason I wouldn’t agree with it but I would understand it topic listen a month or so ago I think I did a mock where the Pistons had the number one pick I took Zachary ruchet over Alexa at the time re was shooting like 43 44 something percent from three it’s taed off but he’s still right about 40% and just had a 28 point Outburst in the playoffs so if you told me the Hawks front office fell in love with Reay and his next to jayen Johnson that wouldn’t surprise me oh for sure I I think that that’s about that’s about what I think too as far as Rangers concerned and it will it would shock me a little if they went in the Reed Shepard Rob Dillingham Direction just give what given where they are you this this roster even if you say they’re gonna trade Trey I’ll be surprised if they trade Trey and deante I think that they and if you’re gonna draft Rob Dillingham it’s kind of has to be his his show at number one overall Reed is a different category altogether but he feels like a I mean this in the best possible way he’s a supporting player he’s not he’s not going to be a primary I don’t think on a on a good team maybe I’ll be wrong I’m be wrong I I agree with that I don’t see Reed as like a primary on ball guy or like the upside of that type of player where I think like with Rob Dillingham yeah like that’s swing for the if the if Atlanta really wants to rebuild Trey you know Trey dejonte you really believe in Rob dillingh Han give him the ball and and go with it from there F show is brought to you by LinkedIn jobs where you’re hiring for a small business you want to find quality professionals that are right for the roles you have available and that’s why LinkedIn jobs is a fantastic option for you they have the tools that you’re looking forward to find the right professional for team they help you to do it faster and they help you to do it for free I’ve been hunt I’m really been on the hunt for people to hire in my day job for several times in the past for years now and folks look jobs have been huge making the entire process easier and much more efficient for me then with small businesses are off wearing a ton of different hats you might not have the time or resources that you need to perfectly hire someone and they are not just another job board though LinkedIn jobs they have Network than one billion professionals it makes it the best possible place to find someone to hire it gives you access to professionals that you can’t find anywhere else and they do it all making the process easy and intuitive for you hiring is so much easier when you have that many qualified candidates available for your roles so easy in fact that 86% of businesses get a qualified candidate within 24 hours they’re also finding and ways to make the process easier for you at LinkedIn jobs and two and a half million small businesses use LinkedIn jobs for hiring purposes post your job for free by going to linkedin.com loock onba that is linkedin.com SL lot on NBA ter apply so you gave your list of six I the only other guy that I’ve been trying to I think Maas might be seven he’s the one for me where like I and again this is not Hawks Intel yet because we’re so early but um I’ve seen PE you know people that I trust have him in that top three range something like that or you might see him at 10 I’m I’m not the range is wide on almost all of these guys other than Mayar everybody else’s range is like pretty wide y but he’s the other guy that I might throw in there like I wouldn’t be terribly shocked if they was like he seems like kind of a coin cider player like I think that that kind of stuff too I mean ret versus versus modes is a pretty interesting uh one two combination so that’s lots of Preamble but I think we’re on the same page there I think we’re also on the same page with number one overall but I don’t want to assume that I think from listening to you with Sam but let’s just start here who do you have at the top of your board right now and and is is that same player that the Hawks should take because that’s not always the same in this draft no it’s definitely not the same I would say for the majority of teams you know there’s 30 teams in the league you know I’m sure I could find a handful where I would say you know what like topic makes more sense or Reay makes more sense or something like that um but Alex SAR has essentially been at the top of my board throughout this entire process as I’ve really gotten into it I’ll tell you Brad when I first started doing my surface level stuff back you know um almost 11 10 11 months ago whenever last year’s draft was over I started looking at this year’s class SAR was the guy that jumped off the page to me immediately I was like why are people not talking about this kid more and people the the consistency and some of that but the flashes were incredible this is the archetype of big that you need in this era of the NBA and for those who don’t know alexar played in the overtime Elite program but really the two players we knew coming out of that last year were the twins the only people you know really talked about were AAR and a Min so a lot of people actually Dillingham played in the OT as well Tyler Smith another guy plays for the ignite this year so SAR goes over to the NBL plays with Perth you know a team a professional League you know historic franchise over there doesn’t play a ton of minutes but is impactful in the minutes he has and so he’s been on my top of my board through most of the process Rees aay was right there as I just mentioned earlier but right now SAR is ahead of everybody else and even for the Atlanta Hawks assuming Brad that they’re willing to move on from Clint capella there’s a market for Clint or you know I want the minutes to be there I guess is my point yeah and there’s this interesting thing about Clint and even even Ana who is this smaller guy but he’s a center they view him as a center he’s he’s flashed to the four a little bit alongside compell but that was almost more out of necessity and I know you know I’m sure you’re not surprised but uh there’s always people that think that always want to put him at the four because he because of just the height it’s just simply as he’s 68 and it’s like well he’s a four well no he’s actually a five but they have these two guys and it’s been this back and forth for I don’t want to say four years but it we’re getting up to three years now of the a versus capella thing and then you throw in this guy in SAR who there’s a split there too of like is he a center is he a four is he both that’s another conversation to be had but you’re right I I think that independent of where they draft are they already had this decision to make it Center they were already doing that anyway and then now you throw this and then also Kling and same thing although klling would be even more of a decision because klling is just just a center whereas SAR is a little bit more versatile um what stands out to you as like why you have him Above the Rest like skill-wise um I know obviously his calling card is probably his his length and defensive versatility and all that stuff but what what sort of is your favorite stuff about about alexar so I I want to be clear about something when we talk about this class and I’m sure all of your listeners know this is quote unquote a weak class I’m sure they’ve already all been told of all the years to get the number one pick to go from number 10 this is the wrong year to do it like I get all of that and I think where that is the most true is at the top unfortunately is there is no Victor there’s no Kade Cunningham from a few years ago when the Pistons like there may be the level of player but right now as Prospect uh s Vini talks about it all the time he has no tier one or tier two prospects in this class right now so when we’re talking about alexar and any of these other guys we get into you have to understand there’s going to be flaws like there’s going to be more than he he may not quote unquote look like a number one pick but with SAR why I have just kept him above others for the most part is the archetype as I mentioned earlier you talk about a seven-footer with versatility athleticism Mobility covers ground defensively and I think he’s going to be able to really do that from day one and then on the other end and this is where the flashes come in a potential guy that can space the floor stretch it attack a close out those type of things I kind of comp him to Evan Moy right now in terms of now MO is obviously way better but in terms of Mo is this really good impactful Defender a little bit is he a four is he a five and the offensive game leaves a little bit to be desired at times as opposed to chat holgren who we know is at least going to space the floor on the offensive end or Victor who’s just another category but I think for me Brad it truly is just kind of the archetype and my belief that if you can get that archetype of big that is a cheat code in today’s NBA almost every team other than what the Nuggets who have joic are looking for this type of big to you know put on their team and it just opens up so many things yeah and this is a this is a Hawks team that and at number one overall I know we all talked about this to some degree but you kind of just take the best player but it also fitwise I mean you don’t want to draft for fit number one overall it’s more of a tiebreaker it’s like if you have these guys ready to close the fit matters more um but obviously this is a team that’s been defensively starved for a few years now and he wouldn’t fix all of that by himself but you mentioned Mo that’s been a popular comparison I definitely see that too um adding that kind of Defender to the mix here especially honestly if even more so if going to build with Trey in my opinion you want that guy that can do so many different things for you whether whether he becomes the full-time five anchor or if he’s playing next to a center sometimes no matter what that is having a Defender like that especially when you already have Jaylen Johnson who’s got this range and you can start picturing these lineups where you’re you’re suddenly huge in the front court if you want to be and length but also not just big to be big big and versatile big and athletic big and rangy it’s something the Hawks haven’t had in a long long time like they don’t they’ve never really had that so I’ve been trying to push back a little bit just like not to gas him up too much you know what I mean I I wantan if they end up taking him it’s like I don’t want people to think he’s going to be coming in as Evan Moy because that’s not at least you know year three year four evermy but I kind of see that as the pathway I guess the other side we have to say is like why isn’t he a tier one or tier two guy in Sam’s parl or whatever because of what you just said that player you just described sounds awesome so what what is the what is the risk there for someone who hasn’t seen him play a lot I mean at the end of the day he still has to get stronger he doesn’t necessarily rebound the heck out of the ball on the defensive end and a lot of the offensive stuff is theoretical as opposed to practical or consistent and that’s one reason why I am much higher not I don’t say I am higher on him than a lot of people just in terms of overall as a prospect most people have him number one but like I’m a little bit more sold on it because I’m buying the offensive skill and like it it is but I will admit it’s flashes like there’s it’s like man that was smooth that looked really good the jumper looked good there you know all of those things and here’s the other thing he needs the skill level to come because he isn’t like I’m sure Hawks fans will think oh well he’ll you know he can replace capella as this pick and roll lob threat that’s not what Alex Shar does best he’s not the most Twitchy Rim gravity type of player and so if he doesn’t develop the jump shot where he can pick and pop ghost and pop those type of things well then he’s not going to be elite like Derek Lively coming in and catching all of these lobs and those type of things so he’s a guy that needs that skill to hit for him to be an overall two-way player yeah something I was gonna ask you is like what if it doesn’t work kind of thing like certain certain aspects of you know I tend to be a practical person which some people think is being negative that’s not really the case but it’s like all right so thought process is like okay they they take alexr how doesn’t it work and you mentioned the rebounding that’s my Prim defensively that’s about the only thing I’m worried about at least the close only thing I’m worried about is defensively if he’s going to be your Center you’re going to need some help on the glass I think at least at least early in his career Mo isn’t a great to the moob comp not a great rebounder either same same sort of thing now Jaylen Johnson awesome rebounder that definitely helps um that’s kind of in the theory of the Johnson to Kongo front Court to not go super deep in the hawk stuff but kongu has similar issues as a defensive rebounder to SAR um but offensively that is where I’m my concern probably is is what does the primary role look like on offense especially if he’s not playing Center if he’s playing Center I agree with you I I don’t love the just pure like especially on a team with Trey young let’s say there’s been a lot of line it up and play picking role with Trey young tons of lobs he’s arguably the best lob thrower in the league like a lot of that stuff even get dating back to Dwayne Deadman and Alex Len and Damen Jones like guys who are not great players Trey made look good doing that s doesn’t really do as much of that and then if you’re playing more at the four does the skill stuff really have to pop at that point because because that way you’re playing him next to theoretically yeah maybe you find a perfect center next to him maybe it’s a Kong W whatever you want to say you’re suddenly you need you need shooting you need something else to go well for you if he’s not playing Center fulltime and and that’s why every one of these guys we’re going to talk about over the next how many ever minutes we’re going to come up with flaws that people are going to go oh man well that makes me a little bit nervous where it’s either going to be floor spacing or feel for the game or defense you know every single one of these guys and people well that’s every class like we didn’t have these type of concerns with Victor you know I mean listen like all three guys in last year’s class would be the top three prospects like when I look at this class I’ve said for a few months now if you took even the average of what a top three guys in a class would look like and put them at the top of this class like if you bumped everybody down three spots everybody would love this class so much more like all like if if you’re talking about alexar at 4 people are ecstatic you’re talking about like what let’s see I have Dalton connect at seven who has major defensive issues he’s older those type of things but if you’re talking about him at 10 a guy who just got crazy buckets in the SEC you’re like okay I can live with that this class just doesn’t have those guys at the top and so I think if I’m the Hawks I’m just taking the upside on the archetype of a guy who just completely changes things if he does space the floor because then you can play him at the four or five and I will say when we did our immediate mock Sam loves the idea of aong wo and alexar playing together at times actually yeah I I do too the only question I have there is and immediately I got a wave as you might imagine of people asking me can the Hawks play Jaylen Johnson Alex SAR and a Kong wo together sure and my answer was yes but is that a primary look that you want to go to I don’t know because I think of jayen as as more of a four he can play he can probably play some three in the future all that stuff and I’m not gonna make you go into super super Hawks land on the show but that’s more of a look than like a every down starting lineup for forever kind of thing for me anyway but you’re right I do think that to Sam’s Point and your point like I think a Kong next to saw especially early in his career having a guy who has a skill level at Center not a big stiff not I you know I’m actually very high on capella compared to everybody else I’m sure Hawks fans are laughing as they hear this but capella is not the center you would want next alexar playing the four that’s not that’s not because the skill level there the the lack of spacing all those things um and one of the big decisions I mean you know I don’t think you have to believe that SAR is a center to draft him number one but I’d like to know what the Hawks think of him as a you positions are overrated sometimes but especially that one you kind of need to be confident in your evaluation like can he be maybe in two years three years our full-time five or are we signing up for this full-time thing of him being more of the hybrid big and there’s nothing wrong with that but you it’s team building wise you kind of you kind of have to have a pretty good idea about that no because if he is the guy you’re going to build around with whoever whether it’s jante or Trey and then I’m with you on Jaylen Johnson I thought he had an incredible year he was so much fun to watch and they love him yeah as they should yeah is if if you think that’s gonna be your fiveman and he doesn’t rebound very well well then you got to build out like you know somebody I think it was it’s wiers say like a one31 kind of that’s his Cavs thing that he always roster construction thing so let’s say it’s Trey jaylen’s one of the three and then SAR well two of those other three guys if sar’s not going to defensive rebound they need to rebound also because Trey’s not going to go rebound you just said Jaylen does but if SAR doesn’t do it at a great level like I’ll be Brad Oklahoma City Thunder have to figure this out like that’s they have a very similar thing in terms of the one31 stuff with SGA they got the three Wings guard you know however you want to classify him and then Chad well Chad’s not an elite rebounder so you got to get Elite rebounding from those wings forwards whatever you want to refer to him as and so the Hawks would have to know that and get the right guys in place at their wing forward positions Today’s Show is brought to you by the folks that better help and we care around things that create stress whether it’s big or small in our lives when we keep things bottle up actually starts to affect us negatively therapy is a safe space to get things off your chest and also figure out how the work through things whatever that happens to be weighing you down at that point in time therapy is helpful for everybody you actually learn positive coping skills it help you better actually set boundaries for yourself therapy also empowers you to be the best version of yourself it’s not just for people that actually have major trauma in their lives I know I have my own stresses that comes to work in future Etc we can also benefit from getting things off our chest with the folks at better help your thing about starting therapy at any point get better help a try it’s entirely online it’s design to be flexible and convenient to your schedule better help it’s even Ser your schedule all the way through which is huge if trying to navigate a time crunch like I often am all you have to do is f out a brief questionnaire to get mat license therapist you can switch therapist at any time for no additional charge get it off your chest right now with the folks at betterhelp and the place to go is betterhelp.com loton MBA 10% off your first month with betterhelp the place to go once again is betterhelp that’s better HP betterhelp.com lockon NBA I do want to make sure we get to other guys so we’ll do that now we’ll probably come back to S at some point um I’ve actually gotten a lot this is not where I was planning to go but I’ve gotten a lot of questions in the last few days in particular about Donovan kingan and okay he is also a big um there’s a split on him I think that I’m sure you noticed as much as I did uh around the time of the NCA tournament he went from being kind of in that eight to 10 range for a lot of people to that like two to four range for a lot of people and he played very well he he was awesome there he is a much more traditional Prospect he’s a he’s a centeron um defensively monster all that stuff um but I this again this just just people just ask me questions like can would the Hawks do this and I won’t say them I won’t say no to that but it’s a very different evaluation than alexar you know they’re both bigs they’re very very different players and I wonder if you think like he would look in at a place number one overall because I think in a regular class he probably would but in this draft all the things we already said it’s pretty open like is that a reasonable consideration and what do you make of Donan CL I mean I I guess so I it’s hard for me to say no because I think there’s a world where these two guys go one two like if you told me that SAR goes one and the Wizards take klling in two I would not be shocked um kingan more went from end of the lottery to middle of the lottery for me and part of the incaa tournament run was the minutes one of the first thing I have in my notes on his Scout is as a as a freshman people loved him but he didn’t play a ton of minutes because they had Adama sonogo and then he comes back this year there’s an injury preseason they kind of slowly ramp him up and I wanted to see him play Big minutes and how effective he could be in big minutes so he would be interesting for the Hawks because I don’t think you like plug him into a starting lineup day one that’s where he doesn’t look like a number one pick or maybe even the number seven overall pick you know like you get a little bit later into the lottery and you don’t expect a guy to start from day one I just even if you start I don’t think he’s playing more than 20 24 minutes which is fine for a rookie like that’s okay but I don’t think he’s holding up for more than that really good defensive prospect I think one thing and I don’t know like how I’m not a hawks expert I obviously watch games but you know Trey Young’s getting doubled Donovan kingan is a guy that can pass like I think it’s one of the more underrated aspects of his game so if defenses are putting two on Trey and Donovan needs to short roll and then make the reads out of that he’s not putting it on the deck or shooting it or anything like that but I think he can make the necessary reads Yeah clean just to peel the Hur back like when the Hawks were tracking toward that late Lottery range he was really prominent on my board for that’s one of the reasons because number one defensive anchor of the future and the passing because especially under Snyder they have asked their bigs and capella was not it’s not his natural tendency he’s got better at this but like Place him from the elbows make some reads clink could already do that stuff he also played I wonder what you make of this he also played in this system that Yukon that’s just beautiful right like oh yeah they run great stuff and his numbers are incred like you look at his Synergy stats like his numbers are really really really good on offense in a way that I won’t say it’s surprising to me but it’s like okay at first blush you don’t think of him as this awesome offensive Prospect but you look at the numbers it’s like wow this is painting a pretty impressive picture but how much of that is Yukon like how much of that is Yukon being awesome around him having shooting everywhere all that stuff too because I think defensively we could talk about that too that’s a little bit more projectable and people kind of more G on the defense is like being pretty awesome and he’s obviously he’s the standing reach is massive like he’s got he’s outlier tools wise sizewise but offensively like that’s where I think you kind of tease it out but if they draft number one people are G be like this is the number one pick offensively at times which is I’m not saying that’s wrong but it’s more of a functionality versus like a star upside thing potentially yeah like I don’t know what the offensive role ends up being outside of he’s going to be a really good offensive rebounder he’s going to pick and roll catch lobs play finish run in straight line and transition all of those things but like honestly like now he is a couple years younger than Zack Ed yeah you know like if if you want a guy that you’re going to throw it to in the post and run offense through there like Ed’s probably shown more as an ability to do that than what kingan has so far in terms of just straight catching the post and go get a bucket again I don’t think that’s going to be the role of either of those guys so at the end of the day with kingan it’s just not the upside of SAR in terms of I don’t know maybe people behind the scenes like I I I don’t have the Intel and the communication with people like like Sam quite honestly so I don’t know if people think he’s going to shoot if he’s shot well in workouts behind the scenes and those type of things there’s nothing I’ve seen up to this point I know I I will be honest here’s something that frustrates me I don’t like when people use Brook Lopez as a comp for Bigs that have never shot to eventually shoot someday like to me Brook Lopez is the outlier not the rule and so I think we can get ourselves in trouble when we go oh well Brook Lopez learned to shoot so maybe that’s something clinging can do and then he’s a you know yeah well yeah why do we think that and listen I don’t know why Brook Lopez was able to figure it out if somebody could tell me that I would love to hear the answer but I don’t have anything right now that says kingan’s gonna be able to shoot 35 36% from three at some point in his career that is one of those behind the scenes things that you kind of hear whisper like hey might be able to shoot it I’m like okay well if we yeah I’d love to know so we are in agreement there 100% about like what that actually might look like and we don’t have to go super deep but defensively the question is basically not is he a good Defender an anchor prospect it’s like what does the s look like CU like one of the arguments that I’ve heard made and I actually think it might make some sense is that if you think he’s like an all defensive category future Prospect then number one looks a lot more reasonable right especially especially in this class but if he’s I don’t want to I heard I heard a comparison that was actually not they were not trying to be a negative comparison but it was like What if he’s a zubach okay he’s like a really good play he’s he’s a good starting in the NBA yeah but like if that guy goes number one overall your fan base is not going to be happy with that that doesn’t that’s not what matters but you know what I mean like there’s there’s draft it’s better than drafting Anthony Bennett though well no we agree and that’s the thing I I’m always someone that argues for floor mattering more than people might think it does especially at non- number one overall pick but you know how it is like number one overall pick Is this different category people get judged differently and I’m not saying that you have to factor that in but I guess I’m Al I’m also asking you like what do you think of defensive production because if if he’s Rudy goar then yeah it’s easier s yeah I don’t know that he’s goar but I mean I think there’s like all defensive upside and again like I don’t want anybody to take that as like I’m saying that’s what he’s gonna be upside not projection upside if I thought he was all defensive like that’s what he was gonna be I would have him as the number one Prospect in this class like there’s a reason that Alex SAR is number one on my board and Donovan kingan is number six and you know for me obviously you do your D due diligence right you Scout all of these players you bring them all in because if even if you’re not going to draft them this year you want to have the Intel for down the road right whenever they flame out or they’re on the trademark you know whatever you want to have some Intel on him but there’s a reason that I have SAR ahead and some of it’s the offensive upside but also like defensively I don’t know that there’s clingan’s much bigger just like more physical I also say like they played him at the level at times in Connecticut just reading through some of my notes here and like they I I thought he held up well I didn’t love seeing him do it but here’s because I think what people will do like I’m sure you’ve had like what’s the difference between you know Donovan kingan and Zack EDI well the first thing is a couple years the biggest thing to me though is the movement ability and listen like Zack e has done incredible for himself he’s gonna be a first round pick I never would have imagined that so like shout out him cing in to me I don’t think I think I don’t care what the combine numbers say when you watch a game to me klling in definitely moves better than Zack Ed agreed no we definitely agree there and uh every once in a while I get the outl people that in fact I know somebody I I won’t even name the outlet somebody said it on the air like right after the lottery like the hwks should take Zack Ed and I’m like I don’t I like Zack Ed he’s a generational college player I would I would not be very happy with that if I was if I was a Hawks fan um but no I like clinging too I feels like more in the fan base even but you know nationally he’s just constantly I think W mentioned him on a very short list of guys he was like I think the Hawks are considered these it was like four players long and he was one of them I was like okay um and you know that’s and that’s probably Intel I don’t think W is making an analysis of not so I just was intrigued by all that he he’s Rising I I’m generally am wary of the guys who seem to rise during the tournament as a general rule but he was already there um I also saw him play in the final four both games in person and it’s like it was what I thought it’s what I thought was gonna I’m not saying it changed my opinion of him but it was what I thought it was gonna happen he looked good to me you know I will say the thing with kingan that’s a little different than others is kingan came into the year as one of these like Lottery level players and then the injury the lack of minutes some of that stuff and I think what happened was people wanted to see it like I referenced it earlier I wanted to see a big minutes game excuse me you wanted to see you know that’s the thing with Ed too like some games you’re like I can’t take anything from this the biggest player on the other team six but eight like he’s doing anything he wants to do yeah they have no chance and so watching him against Edy watching some of the recovery stuff off the ball like those movements so I think it was just more getting getting more data with Donovan kingan is what helped him throughout the tournament as opposed to oh my gosh he was incredible we didn’t know it we’re going to wait these games more than we wait other games it it wasn’t that as much as we still for me I still needed some more data points to work with and figure some things out Tristan D Silva is another guy that I don’t think he needed the data points I think he just needed a little bit of the exposure because Cody Williams got all the love for Colorado and then KJ Simpson was you know if you look at the stats maybe their best player and the Silva was incredible in some of those tournament games and it just it gave you a chance to watch some more because quite honestly even for someone like me I’m trying to watch NBA games every night and I’m trying to track players in college basketball NBL overseas and eventually like you some I don’t want to say they slip through the cracks but you lose track of them a little bit and so it’s just a refresher like oh my gosh he really does this well or does that well all right that is all for part one of this two-part episode with myself and Bryce Simon but we do have part two coming to you available right now and podcast feed of choosing please subscribe to this podcast Apple Spotify YouTube Etc please follow the show on Twitter at lockon Hawks follow me there as well at BTR Rolland I also share some content regularly about the Hawks and Braves at patreon.com BTR Rolland so stay tuned for all of that thank you for listening as always everybody and we’ll see you all for part two next time

Brad Rowland (@BTRowland) hosts episode No. 1722 of the Locked on Hawks podcast, and he is joined by Bryce Simon (@MotorCityHoops, Game Theory Podcast) for Part 1 of a 2-part discussion. The show touches on the Atlanta Hawks NBA Draft options for the No. 1 pick, including Alex Sarr, Donovan Clingan, Zaccharie Risacher, Matas Buzelis, Ron Holland, Stephon Castle, and more.

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