Kyle Boone: Utah Jazz will have multiple options with the fifth pick the NBA Draft & former BYU g…

Kyle Boone: Utah Jazz will have multiple options with the fifth pick the NBA Draft & former BYU g…

We are going to talk some NBA draft basketball with Kyle Boone, NBA draft and college basketball writer for CBS Sports. Kyle, good morning. Good morning. Good morning. Excited to talk some NBA draft with you. Yeah. And how about this, man? I just called up CBS Sports. You can’t say hot off the presses, but I guess hot posted on the internet. Yeah, of course. Yeah, every everything is live on the internet. Absolutely. It’s it’s a it’s a new school. It’s a new world. Absolutely. Yeah. So, this thing was posted like within the last 10 minutes if I’m correct. Right. I don’t know. Did Did my mock draft go live just now? Yeah. Okay then. Yes. You’re breaking news to me. This is new. I I filed it uh yesterday, so I was expecting it to go live at some point. Yeah. Uh yeah. So, hot off of the internet presses. My mockdraft is now live on CBSports.com. And no surprise, obviously Cooper Flag won and Dylan Harper, you posted a thing and I watched Dylan Harper play a bunch this year because obviously we knew that the Jazz were going to stink and so at the time we had visions of grander of them getting a top three pick and Dylan Harper was going to be in there and then it doesn’t work out. and you posted a video on Chicago and the guys were shooting at the basket and I was trying to count and it looked like his his three-pointer was going in the most of all that little vignette that you posted. Um, so he’s got a jump shot and you know he’s very dynamic. We’ll see what he does on obviously I think he goes second. Um, Ace Bailey I’ve heard a lot of uh conflicting information. I heard the Jazz may not be as high. Not that they would maybe not have a chance, but do you how sure are you that he would go three? Because I’ve heard some conflicting information about him. You know, he’s not as big as he appeared or they listed or whatever things along those lines. Yeah. No, I I think it’s an interesting case with Ace Bailey, right? Because at the top of the draft, uh Cooper Flag’s range is going number one or going number one. Dylan Harper’s range going number two or going number two. Uh, I think it gets interesting at number three. Uh, not only because Ace Bailey is a polarizing prospect, but also because the 76ers are picking at number three. So, I I think it’s interesting in that Bailey could, you know, potentially uh slide a little bit farther than maybe people expect. And he’s certainly an an interesting test case because the idea of him and what he showed at his one season at Ruters, it’s pretty awesome. you know, he’s 6’8. He’s got a really smooth jumper. Uh, you know, I think in in a best case scenario, he’s some sort of like Tracy McGrady light, which is just an amazing shooter who’s super graceful, can get his shot at any point. The questions around him, I think, are fairly valid, though. If you if you watch uh you know some of his defensive tape last season, there were some times where his effort um was maybe not up to par and and up to standards of what I think will be successful in the NBA. You know, the the assist rate is pretty low uh when you’re comparing him to guys like VJ Echum. It was half of the assist rate of VJ Edgeum, for example. And so, you know, there’s there’s a lot of uh hero ball, I think, involved in his game. I think he can be a successful NBA player. Uh, and I think there’s a lot of star potential there. But I also think too just because of some of the red flags that, you know, I think he may be more likely to bust too than some of the other top prospects. So, it’s a matter I think if you’re an NBA team and you’re staking your future to a decision like this, how much risk are you willing to tolerate? Because, you know, at number three, he could end up being the best player in this class. Uh, but at number three, he could also end up being, you know, one of the more fatal busts in this class. And I I think that that’s something that NBA teams will be having to keep in mind. Yeah, that makes it fun for us as consumers of the draft. Kyle B, NBA draft and college basketball writer for CBS Sports joining us. Now, I’ll throw uh three proposals with that third pick with Philadelphia. So, they had three options. One to be traded, two to take him, uh three to take somebody else. Obviously, those are the three that I think you can put on the board right now. What do you think is the most likely? I think most likely right now they stick and they pick Ace Bailey. Uh, you know, it’s one of those things where, you know, you go back a couple years, I I I think you just take the best available talent, the guy who’s the highest rated player on your board, and assuming Flag’s off the board, assuming Harper’s off the board, I think Bailey still is the guy at number three that most NBA teams view in this class. If you start reaching for fit over talent, that’s how you end up drafting a Marvin Bagley III over a Luca Don things like that where it just, you know, it’s like, man, in hindsight or even in the immediate aftermath of that, it’s like that was just not a good decision. I I think that’s where you get into a pickle. You know, I think there’s guys who could end up being a better fit for Philly. Come on. Malawatch who’s a sevenfooter from Duke would make a lot of sense on that roster. VJ Edgeum who’s a shooting guard I think would make a lot of sense with his athleticism, his defensive tools. But I think Ace Bailey just with his size and shooting ability, you hope that it fits and and is successful at the NBA level. Philly has some really nice pieces already with, you know, Tyrese Maxi, Joel Embiid’s obviously still there and you’ve got Jared McCain who was a hit last year in the lottery. So yeah, I I think most likely right now uh we have five weeks into the draft. We’ll see what happens. Maybe things can change and a lot of things do change uh during this period. But yeah, I I think Philly just sticks and pick the best player and that would be Ace Bailey for me. So then Charlotte gets to choose who they want basically in a sense that we got the top three and then it really gets interesting at that point. Right? So in a sense you can say Charlotte has the first pick of the rest of the guys, right? the way I look at it because we’ve been talking about these other three all season for months on end here. So, picking fourth, Charlotte has the edge and so you got Edgecomb, you got Trey Johnson, I think you got Canipple. Uh I know a couple guys here locally like Fierce, the uh point guard out of your way. I believe you’re an Oklahoma guy and he played at OU. Uh I I latch on latched on uh earlier in the season. Uh Joonus, the kid out of Illinois. I may not be saying it right, but uh you know, no, you nailed it. Yeah, I love him. He’s got a big body. He’s got an NBA body today. And so they’re going to have the first pick there. You go with Edgecomb, I think. And I don’t know this. There’s a couple things that I’ve heard coming out of Jazz Camp. This is this is sort of me piecing stuff together. So, it’s not something that I’ve heard for sure, but I think and it’s underlined the think by 10 times that they may like Trey Johnson more than Edgecomb. You’ve got Edgecomb going forth. So, I assume you think that that’s what Charlotte’s going to do. I don’t know necessarily that you think Edgecomb is a better player compared to Johnson, but just handicap that fourth and fifth pick as we see it because that impacts the Jazz obviously at four and then they pick five. Yeah, I you know I think that’s an interesting part of the draft because I think you know it’s it’s pretty likely actually if you look at the betting betting odds of the betting markets it’s flag Harper Bailey 123. Uh Charlotte at number four is really interesting because they have LaMelo Ballal who’s a a dominant on ball player. Uh he needs the ball in his hands. They’ve got Brandon Miller who is, you know, I think a pretty big hit and someone who I think is going to be a foundational piece for them and he’s a big wing uh can can shoot it and really fill it. I think the the overlap in talent and the skill set between Brandon Miller and Trey Johnson is is in part why I project VJ Edge to go to Charlotte. Uh because I think Trey Johnson and Brandon Miller are alike in many ways, just big flamethrowers who can really score it at a high level. Um you know, and I think probably VJam and Trey Johnson, not a big difference in uh total grade for me, or at least how I view them right now. So, you know, I think if you’re just picking tiebreers, you pick the player with the best fit. So, for me, that’s Edgecom to Charlotte. And then things get interesting because obviously at number five the Jazz would have their pick between you know a Trey Johnson who a lot of people view as a potential top three player in this class. Coniple who would be really interesting. Obviously Jazz fans probably would have been a little bit more fired up for another Duke white boy. Uh but Coniple is definitely an interesting one. Um you’ve got you know some other guys in this range. Casper Jaconis who you mentioned a big point guard from Illinois. And you know, I I think I would take Coniple. And I know it maybe isn’t a terribly exciting prospect for the Jazz necessarily, but I think the best standstill shooter in this draft. He was, you know, 90 plus percentile shooter last season on jump shots, on catch and shoots, on dribble jumpers. I mean, he is a versatile shooter who was really the robin to Cooper Flags Batman last season. And Duke won 35 games. That was obviously cuz Cooper Flag was awesome, but Coniple was really awesome. Last season as a teenager, as a oneanddone freshman, and I think there’s a really, really high chance that he’s a highlevel starter, borderline all-star for a really long time. There’s a really high floor for Khan Canipple, and I don’t think there’s a very good chance that he busts. Now, I don’t I don’t know if he’s necessarily like a surefire fire all-star, but I think he’s gonna contribute to winning basketball. I think there’s a lot of traits there that project at a high level. So, you know, I think if I’m the Jazz, I’d be thrilled if I ended up with Coniple at number five or even Trey Johnson at number five. Obviously, Duke, we watch them a lot, particularly with Flag and over 30 years worth of watching college hoop. You you see Duke all the time. So, it seems like you know those guys a little more intimately. Uh I know, you know, I watch Texas uh uh to a degree. I have a wooden award vote, so I feel like I need to pay attention to what’s going on there. Uh I like Trey Johnson. If the Jazz got Trey Johnson, you know, I want a Cooper flag. Obviously, it’s better to talk about winning basketball here than it is losing basketball in the winter. Uh thank goodness for the money that BYU is throwing out. We’ll get to that in a second. Uh, but I I I think this Trey Johnson, he could be somebody. Oh. Oh, certainly he could be someone. Absolutely. I I mean, you talk about guys who have star power in this class, the list is actually pretty short. Uh, you know, I think once you get past the big three, and you could make a real case that Trey Johnson should be included among that top group because he is an absolute flamethrower. Uh he averaged 19.9 points per game last season. That was most among all freshmen at the division one level. That was better than Cooper Flag and Ace Bailey and Dylan Harper, guys who we view as top three players in this class and the best prospects in this class. Uh he made more three-pointers among all freshman last season at the division one level uh did Trey Johnson. And so like his his scoring ability, his shooting ability has translated a really high level from high school to college. that was what most people expected. And also talking to NBA people uh in Chicago last week and almost at the combine, the feeling around him is that, you know, I think a lot of people put him in a corner or some sort of box that he’s just this shooter. Um but he was a really good playmaker last season at Texas and that that was something that we really did not see uh when he was a prep player at the high school level. So I think there’s a lot of untapped potential, too. He’s not just a guy who’s going to go and create a bucket, although he can absolutely do that, but he’s a he’s a guy who’s a winning player who can be a playmaker and be a facilitator and isn’t just a guy who is a who is a black hole on an offense, right? Who’s, you know, he gets the ball and he’s he’s definitely shooting it. I think he’s a guy who, again, we talk about winning basketball. I think he’s someone who can do a lot of different things. He has really good size. I think his defense will translate just because of his length. And yeah, like I I think there’s a reason that most people view him as a top five prospect. That’s why I have him as a top five prospect is there’s a there’s a whole lot to like uh when you’re talking about Trey Johnson from Texas. Kyle Boon, NBA draft and college basketball writer for CBS Sports joining us. He just they just posted he wrote it up and it was posted within like 15 minutes ago. Just go to cbsports.com. You can see it there. His mock draft uh fresh as it could possibly be. the latest projections from CBS Sports. For me right now, if all things stayed the same and it doesn’t get crazy and probably will, but just assuming for argument sake that the draft stays the order in which we anticipate, if I’m the Jazz, I would be happier, if I’m a Jazz fan, I’d be happy with Trey Johnson and then my other guy because they got the 21st pick. I don’t know that it’ll be available, but they can maybe been able maybe able to maneuver a little bit at 21 or if they can move up the two or three spots. I like the McNeely kid out of Connecticut. Respond to that. Oh yeah, absolutely. Um, yeah, McNeely is a guy who’s, you know, former five-star recruit. He played at Mont Verde at in high school next to Cooper Flag, next to Derek Queen, next to a lot of guys in this class who are projected lottery picks. and he went to Yukon last year and Yukon really did not have a true like lead guard, playmaker, facilitator. He played a little bit out of position. Um, and I think that hurt his his counting numbers, his statistics overall, but at one point in the season, people viewed him as a clear top 10 player in this class. His shooting numbers trailed off uh during the the season. I think that was in part because he had a a high ankle sprain. He missed uh several weeks during the season recovering from that and wasn’t really the same player after that. The three-point shooting numbers just above 30%. So, I think there’s some room for improvement. But I think if you put Dan Hurley, the Yukon coach, into a teenager’s body and asked him to be a college basketball player and an NBA prospect, you would get Liam McNeely. just like a very very fiery lacks no confidence type prospect who is going to do anything to win. He does all of the little things so so well defensively. He gives great energy. Uh he he’s super enthusiastic on the floor and you know I think someone who can just be a winning player and a complimentary player at a really high level. So yeah at 21 like I’d be shocked a little bit if he fell there. I think I see him going kind of in that range pretty consistently now in mock drafts, but I think that would be tremendous value for Liam McNeely, who again I think mo most people as recently as like eight weeks ago would pretty widely viewed as a lottery picked in in this year’s NBA draft. Before we let you go, Kyle, we’ve got a hit on Yayor Denim. You’ve got him going 10th to the Rockets. I also saw that you thought he could be the next Willie Gold to be an NB or an NFL wide receiver and with the Bears and you made a joke about that because he wore number 80 during the combine. Uh he’s a polarizing dude too. I I think that the way I looked at it, he comes over from Spain via Russia. You got a new coach. Everything was brand new at BYU last year. So it took a lot a while for them to find their gear and they kicked it in a little later than uh maybe thought we all thought but still they got it and for BYU in first season get the sweet 16 is a nice accomplishment. I think this guy whatever we saw in his one year in college in five years six seven years is going to be dramatically different. I’m high on the kid. How about you? Yeah I am too. I am too. I’m projected a number 10 in in my latest mock draft. As you mentioned, he’s a guy who’s I’ve consistently ranked on my own big board as a top 10 prospect. And I think there’s a wide range of views from the NBA on Demon because, you know, there’s some questions about his shot, uh, if it will translate to the NBA level. And then I think there’s some questions about his defense, not only because, uh, some of the things we saw at BYU, but also because, frankly, we didn’t see a ton from him at BYU. BYU played a lot of zone defense last season. And so it’s hard to view him in the context that we saw last season and project it to the NBA level, but you know, I think he’s to me clearly the best prospect in terms of just pure passing ability and live dribble passing in this year’s class. And if you have someone who is the best at any particular skill, I I I am always willing to take a chance on that. And you know, when he you’re talking about someone who’s 6’9 who can see over a defense and and play making pass the way that he does, I I think it’s just an exceptional tool uh that that is in your tool to build around for the future. I know there’s some questions about him. He’s not a perfect prospect. No one’s a perfect prospect besides maybe Cooper Flag in this class. Uh but yeah, I I agree. I think in a few years once you start to add some some meat to his frame, once he starts building some strength and growing confidence with his shot, um we we’ll look back in a few years and and I really believe Demen will end up being uh one of the steels from this draft particularly because you know my my colleague Adam Finkelestein at CBS Sports had him projected uh as somewhere in the 20s in his latest mock draft. I I think that would be just insane value. I can’t imagine he slips that far. Um, but yeah, I I think just given the questions and given the range in his his draft stock right now, I’m buying stock in Jay Gordon and uh I think a lot of NBA teams are pretty thrilled uh about the prospect of potentially getting him at a discount. Kyle, we really appreciate your time. You g information and great insight. Thanks a lot. Yeah, good talking with you. Okay, that’s Kyle Boon, NBA draft and college basketball writer for CBS Sports. We got Lock coming in at coming on at 9:05. Tim Lome at the top of the hour. We’ll get to that, man. Jagor Denim, the Jazz draft’s only five weeks away. We talked a lot of football yesterday with BYU and Utah. Today, some basketball for sure. Stay with us. 975 the KSL Sports Zone.

CBS Sports NBA and College Basketball analyst Kyle Boone joined PK to talk about the 2025 NBA Draft and examine what the options may be for the Utah Jazz and what he makes of former BYU Cougars guard Egor Demin’s prospects are.