David Locke: Tre Johnson has tantalizing skillsets for the Utah Jazz to consider drafting in an o…
All right, welcome back in. Joining us now, David Lock. DJ’s off. Tim Lome sitting in. Mr. Lockman, man. Good morning. How the heck are you? Well, I better now because I’m talking to Patrick Kinahan. That means it’s complete week. Things don’t get much better than that. And I’m not going to comment on whether I think that Tim Lome is an upgrade from the great David James or not, but it’s awfully nice to talk to Tim Lome also. How are you Timmy? What’s up, my friend? I I was just talking about the detail with which DJ goes into on stories. I’m not quite that detailed. Um but but we’re having a good time. So I actually need to know something. Okay? Because I’m I’m going to I’m going to reveal the hidden secret of my interviews. Okay? So the reason I usually come on the show is because DJ Patrick Kennahan can have breakfast throughout the morning because DJ never shuts up and he tells a long story and so PK can just eat during the show. It’s not a problem. But my role is so that DJ can have breakfast. Oh, there you go. I come on the show, talk for so long every single time that then DJ can have breakfast. So, I need to know, Timmy, have you had breakfast yet today? Um, I’ve got my Diet Coke right here, but more importantly, I’m just excited. I haven’t heard your voice on the air for a while. So, you know, this makes this is comfortable. I got headphones on. Diet Coke to my left and you in my ears. Okay. I do do a podcast every day if you really miss me, but that’s okay. No, I’m saying to be able to interact. I can’t You can’t talk back to me there. I’ve been wanting to text you. Have you watched Trey Johnson? I have. And what do you think? I’m kind of in. I am kind of in, too. Me, too. Yeah, I really like him. Um, what’s not to like, right? Yeah. And I don’t actually understand the criticisms. That’s what I really like. What are they? What have you heard? So, the criticisms are obviously doesn’t play defense because he’s 18 years old. Okay, great. I’ve yet to like you know there’s Right. Who has um right why would he right then he’s a ball hog but I don’t see that at all and that he doesn’t get to the rim and frankly I kind of see that a little bit but boy his teammates suck. Yeah. Spacing was not a thing. Right. Right. Yeah. And so I’ve seen him get to the rim when he can and I’ve seen him finish both right and left and then I I’d be curious your thoughts on this one, Tim, because sometimes I think I an individual play can like overly excite me. So there’s a play Oh, shoot. What game? I’ve watched like five games. Maybe against Yukon. Did they play Yukon? Yeah, cuz I think I was watching Liam McN also. So he grabs a rebound, which he doesn’t do very often. Again though, I don’t think that’s him. I think that’s their system. Um, and he takes two dribbles out and throws an underhand right hand like bowling ball like motion pass to a streaking big man 45 ft up the floor and hits him on the spot. And to me, right, but to me like how many like to me that just tells me one that he thought about it, two that he had enough conf like his his mind was like, “Oh, I’ll just do it this way.” Like I think those plays matter. Am I overplaying that? Because it’s it’s not to me that it’s a highlight. It’s that it’s there’s a uniqueness to to what your skill set has to be that you actually did that. Well, and that’s what we look for and see on a nightly basis in the league are guys doing those types of things. And I I think one of the harder things to do, like you said, is to like watching Isaiah Collier’s film last year, for instance. Um, you know, I had in my mind based on looking at numbers, knowing USC that year being a disappointment, you know, I went in with with this idea that, okay, you can’t shoot, can’t do this, can’t do that. And I watched the film and the stuff stood out to me that you just talked about. You got to this is not all done in a vacuum. Um, and you’re trying to translate with impeccable spacing, with elite athletes around him running the floor. What kind of plays can this guy make? And I think you’ve hit that one on the head. What um the he’s low on steals, rebounds, and some of those, so it just looks like he’s just shooting. But I also thought that they were pretty on the offensive glass, he never crashed. He always went back. And on the defensive glass, I wasn’t sure when where he was supposed to be getting his rebounds. So any do you have buy that as a criticism? Yeah, I mean, but you you could say that about so many guys. Um, you know, again, I think at this stage, you’re looking for somebody that can I mean, I love the fact that he can light it up. He led the SEC in scoring. Um, and his length, you know, he’s 66. 66, but like a 610 wingspan with the afro, right? With the wing. No, I said wingspan. Okay. This isn’t Fletch. Okay. Uh, Bradley Beal, what comp? Yeah. What do you think, Tim? He’s not that big, is he? Who are you saying that’s how he plays? Beal or Johnson isn’t as big. Is Beal as big as Johnson? I don’t think so. I thought so. I thought they measured pretty close to the same. You know who he kind of reminds me of is a Cam Thomas. Well, so that’s the criticism on him, right? Right. I think Cam Cam Thomas is thicker. Yeah, he’s thicker. I’m just saying the ability to score the ball. I mean, there’s lots of parts of Cam of Cam Thomas’s game I like. And again, part part of his deal is he’s he’s damned by his situation, right? Yeah. We’re going to criticize Cam Thomas for being too much of a ball hog on a terrible team and score 25 a game. Like, okay. Like, I just don’t think there’s some guys that can score 25 a game. I think this kid can score 25 a game, right? He’ll score 20 a game, which is really hard to do. He’ll score. You think he’ll score 20 a game when third year in the league? Maybe second. Maybe first if he’s drafted by the Jazz. Well, they got to take him then. Like if he if he plays for us next year and various roster changes happen there are, you know, we’ll score 95 points every game. Promise. The way the work world works. Someone’s got to do them. That’s right. Then they they absolutely have to take him. You like him better than Edgecom or you don’t think Edgecom will be available? I have not watched enough of Edgecomb. Um, so I’m that’s my next project. By then, as of right now, I like Trey Johnson more than Edgecom, but you know, I also have a tendency to really really like guys that can shoot the basketball. I will say David was on um the first year I did the draft coverage. was the doiier. And going into it, Dave and I always talked the week before and we had to reveal our guy. And David was he was pretty hellbent on Desmond Bane, but if there was a second, it was uh our guy that’s killing it for Minnesota, McDaniel. Jade Jade McDaniel. McDaniels. So, those were his two. And I was pretty set on Bane. Um, both of you guys were more right than the guy making a decision, unfortunately. I mean, that’s no knock on this guy making a decision cuz nobody makes No, it’s hard. It’s hard. It’s hard to do, right? Right. And I mean, when you’re drafting 27, 28, 29, sometimes you just seem to find a guy you think will be able to play 15, 20 minutes a night, and you would have thought that would do. Hey, what’s your take on um Canipple because I really like him too. So, I just watched him um I just watched a lot of him. So, I’m actually going to go to he actually ran a decent amount of pick and roll. Duke, but the player he reminds me a little bit of in the question of whether he could be this player, I don’t know, is Devin Devin Booker out of Kentucky. Not Devin Booker, Phoenix Suns, but Devin Booker out of Kentucky. So Devin Booker out of Kentucky was a really good player. He ran 14 pick and rolls I think the entire year. So you had to project everything about Devin Booker as though he was going to do something totally different than what he did in college. So, in my opinion, if Canipple is going to be really good, he’s going to have to be probably one of your primary ball handlers, be running pick and roll at 66, seeing the floor, and doing all that kind of stuff. And he with Cooper Flag and Proctor and everyone else, they they didn’t he didn’t get to do that. He actually ran I think about 70. So, it’s not as severe as book Devin Booker situation, but that’s what I see on Caniples. Okay. Yeah, I got he can shoot it. I’m not sure I bought his his drive game is he comes to two feet, he pump fakes you, moves you around, and then puts the ball off the glass usually to score. I’m not convinced that’s still going to work. So, I think I’m a little nervous he could become very perimeter uh focused and I don’t I don’t know that I think he can play a pick and roll game where he’s getting on top of the cup. And then the second question I have on him, the best shooter in the draft, right? And I mean that’s just Yeah, I pushed back a little bit on that. He shot 40% from three and Johnson shot 397 and Johnson clearly had to be much more of a defensive focus by the opposition than Canippo was. Yeah. Yeah. That’s I mean I think that’s the thing on Trey Johnson that jumps out to me more than anything else. And I watched I think I’ve watched five Trey Johnson games. One of them was super early. Two Oklahoma Texas games, the Connecticut game and they played Georgia. I watched that but I can’t remember what game that other game. And like in the third game of the year, the commentators are like, “Okay, well, the defensive focus is on Trey Johnson.” Like he’s 18 years old. The defensive focus is on I agree with you, PK. Like I think that’s the separator right there is that this kid was the number one person on the game plan to start the the the whole entire time. Um the um the other one on Canipple is I did in every game I watched of Duke, which is three, I saw him get beat at some point super badly on a dribble move, something of that sort. He generally seemed fine defensively, but they had also had Malawich and Cooper flag behind him, right? And so I’m a little wondering what happens to him on an NBA floor with a little bit more space of whether or not he gets exposed defensively. Um, and like let’s just say it also there’s just every stereotype about a white kid coming out of the draft, you like those are all in your head too, right? Like with TJ Leaf with TJ Leaf and every other, you know, really good white kid that comes in and supposed to top 10 pick and then doesn’t Doug McDermott and then they’re just okay. like uh Jimmer Fet like it’s like the you know the American the American white kid is a hard is a hard question I had a coach tell me the American white shooter is the most overrated player in the draft every year. Right. Right. I got a name for you. By the way, I don’t I don’t love the 66 or 65 66 wingspan either. Yeah. Right. That coupled with the struggle to move your feet is not a not a good combo. Yeah, I don’t think I could do I think he’ll be a fine FL. All right, so actually let’s just say this. This is the biggest problem I have in all draft analyses ever. In fact, I was literally just on the phone this week with locked on NBA big board, which is our podcast for locked on on the draft, and I finally just told him like, I can’t handle this anymore. 50% of the players after like the eighth ninth week of the draft don’t make it. Let’s stop talking about everyone’s awesome. They are all awesome, but they’re about to move from a world in which there’s 300 division one teams and like so let’s say there’s five good players on every team. You’re one of 1500 and you’re trying to move into the realm of being one of 200. Like this is the steepest jump they’ll take in their basketball career. And it’s brutal and incredibly difficult. And guys throw up on themselves all the time doing it. So like as like with I if we’re if we’re talking about these guys honestly and saying like yeah there’s a real chance that Khan Kiple gets in the NBA and has no chance. That’s the truth. That’s not being critical or or or you know like saying he’s not very good. He’s jumping from one of the top 1500 players in Kite, one of the top 2,000 to one of the top like 200. It’s a massive jump. Right. So like there’s no bigger when we talk, right? Like so there’s a chance like okay let’s go to Trey Johnson for a second. Here’s the number that should concern you on Trey Johnson. He shot 40% from three in college on the NBL. Isn’t that what it’s called? I think on the high school thing. Yeah. He shot like 34. Like okay which sample size is real? Because if Trey Johnson turns out to not be a 37 38% three-point shooter, he doesn’t do enough other things, right? And it’s so interesting. I think the point you made about because I was listening on the way in, I I was, you know, fashionably late. The show started at 6:00. I was here at 8. Uh but so on my drive up I listened to PK and he was talking with a draft analyst uh from CBS and he was talking about you know basically with the Jazz you know take the you take the best player available and the crazy part in this is I’m looking back just after you said how uncertain this is. Uh I I just pulled up randomly the 2020 draft and at number two in that draft you have James Wiseman. Oh, but everybody thought he was amazing at this point. At five, you have a Cororo. Who who who you kind? Yeah, right. Can’t shoot. At six, you have a Gono. Seven, Killian Hayes. Can’t play at all out of the league. Um, and I’m skipping like you got Hallebertton at 12. I mean, Hallebertton at 12. That worked well. N Smith at 14, which was another that’s working. That’s another age, you know, right? Find but also worth noting that worked on second team, right? Yeah. Yeah. Uh Pachefsky was 17. That’s a town in southern Idaho. N numbers, darling. By the way, uh Sadique Bay 19. Yeah. My point is that’s one draft we just went through and there’s a bunch of guys that five years removed, their names aren’t even around. R.J. Hampton. I mean, it’s crazy, right? And and and that’s the thing I think you have to be really honest about this draft analysis is like when you’re sitting around talking about RJ Hampton at that point, everyone talks about is great. Okay. But there’s a the it’s more likely that these players we’re talking about are not going to be rotation players. Top five, top five were into a different route. Those guys all almost all end up playing like one out of I think there the rate on bust on top five players is one out of 10 bust. So every other year that’s wild. But like but like hey now let me just say this. This is I think the most important thing. A year ago we were doing this and I liked Cody Williams a lot and Cody Williams just had arguably the worst NBA season maybe that a player’s had in 20 years. I don’t know. I’ve been as excited like you and I were when that thing fell and it was we were both pretty darn I’m with you guys. So I DJ I identified him in November, right? So the only thing I would say that’s very different about scouting this year compared and so like Tom can connect versus Cody Williams and some of these on Cody Williams, if you actually go back to our conversations a year ago, the two plays that I like talked about the most on Cody Williams were actually both turnovers. There are both plays where like he burst through two defenders, got through and then was off balance and did something. One pass went up into the third row and the other one he threw a wild that draft was so poor that you were literally like scouring for like little tiny flashes of pieces that makes you think that maybe they’d be okay one day, right? So I literally watched Cody Williams and saw those two. Those were unique to most players I saw in the drafts because most guys couldn’t shoot, couldn’t do a bunch of other things were so glaring. Watching this year is totally different than that. The kid Will Riley out of Illinois might be really good. We get him at 21. Danny Wolf out of Michigan is interesting. I would actually to the Jazz credit I think he’s Kyle Filipowski light and he’s going to go like 17 in this draft and flip you know went 32 and I wouldn’t I think Kyle Filipowski is better than Danny Wolf. Danny Wolf’s really interesting though. He’s a sevenfooter that can handle he can do all sorts of really interesting things. He has no verticality. He can’t stretch out. He might not be able to play at all um by the time he gets to league because he can’t defend and he can’t do various things. He’s really a three in a body that’s going to make him try to play a four or five. He might not be able to do it, which is exactly what Philowski is. Um, but so I would just say this draft is so much better when I watch players like Liam Mclly out of Connecticut. H, but like there’s more there than most of the guys I watched last year. Like this draft is just so much better. Well, I’m going to still hold the Jazz accountable because they went all these trades with the picks and they lost on purpose to get these picks. So now they’ve got to come through. Even if the draft picks aren’t that good historically, it doesn’t matter. The Jazz still need to get get good players because that’s the way they’ve chosen to rebuild. Yeah. No, there’s no question. I mean that I’m not like um Right. And you’ve got to you’re going to probably have three top five range picks here coming up in the next three years. You got to hit on two of them. Okay. Like you don’t have a choice. You have to hit you have to hit on two of Yeah, I agree. And so this is the first one. Um Timmy, what’s your quick thought on Edgecom? You probably watched him more than I have. Uh I really like his burst. Um I you know the game that I watched him I watched him live in Provo against uh BYU and just the way he moves, his ability to um you know create his own shot. He’s got good vision, good IQ. I like him. If anything, maybe a teeny bit small. I’m a little bit nervous about smaller guards nowadays. Um, y but uh but I like what I see from a skill standpoint and also from a you know just a basketball field standpoint. What pos is he a one or a two? I think he does not matter. I I don’t with him I don’t think it matters. I mean he kind of shared duty uh with with the guy in at Baylor, Robert Wright the third. It’s not a cougar. Yeah. Um so they kind of he he he by the way I hope the other Cougars don’t want the ball. Robert likes to shoot. The bantam might. I don’t know. I’m just Saunders might. I don’t know. Maybe. It’s the He gets a he gets watch watch three Baylor games. It’s like Yeah, but he can shoot. Yes. Very good player. Coach Coach Rose used to tell me I would he I would bring a guy to him and he’d say, “Timmy, can he shoot?” And I would say, “Yeah, coach, he can shoot.” And he said, “Okay, I everybody can shoot. Can he make?” Is he a maker, not a shooter? I want a maker. Right. Right’s a maker. Yeah, right’s a maker. David, this has been fun. Thank you. Yeah. All right. Wait a sec. Victor Oladipo. He’s not at the draftable. I think he’s on the outside on VJ Edgecom. Yeah. Yeah. There’s some That’s a That’s a good call. Okay. All right. Hey, we appreciate it. We’ll talk to you next week. Okay. See you guys. All right. That’s the lock, man. I take Old Depot comp right now. Sign me up. I know he’s had some injuries and all that stuff, but aside from that, but but we’ve we came out of this feeling really good about Trey Johnson. Yeah. I Are you ready to say that yet? Not yet, but I’m growing I’m drawing closer. We shall see. Okay. We’re going to give away tickets to Hardy right now. Free tickets. Caller 12 801575 zone. That’s 575-9663. win a pair of tickets to see Hardy on the Jim Bob World Tour and that’s next Thursday at the Utah First Credit Union Amphitheater. So get in line, start calling 801575 zone 5759666. We’ll have more of this talk. Stay with us coming up next. 975 the KSL Sports Zone.
David Locke joined PK and Tim LaComb for his weekly visit to talk about the NBA Draft prospects the Utah Jazz may have an option to select.
