Raptors Draft Steals – Scouting Carter Bryant, Nolan Traore, and Egor Demin

Raptors Draft Steals – Scouting Carter Bryant, Nolan Traore, and Egor Demin

Hey everybody, welcome to yet another episode of the pull-up tray podcast co-hosted by myself Samson Folk and joined of course co-hosted on the other side by Travon Heath the Trey that pulls up. We are here in full draft formation I think after the after we did the we did the live episode and yes the Raptors dropped to ninth and yes per Doug Smith’s reporting they were one number away from number one and number and one number away from number two but you know what all’s fair in Ernston Young you know it just it is what it is man Trey how you doing a couple days away from our heartbreak we were very dramatic We were I think we’re dramatic men in general though to be honest. That’s true. I agree. Regardless of what was going to happen, that reaction, good or bad, probably was going to. I I’m good. Like Messiah like said it best like number nine’s a lucky number for the Raptors. Every single time they’ve picked, it’s created Hall of Fame production for this franchise. So what’s a fourth time to be honest? So I guess you’re the extension obviously is that Yaka Purle is turned into Kawawaii. I love it. Exactly. Yeah. Okay. And then you got it back too. Oh man. Yeah. Well, I mean, so anyway, I know you weren’t a fan of that trade. I know damn well. But so for people who don’t know, uh although most people listening will, the ninth pick has this is the fourth time the Raptors will be choosing at number nine. Provided they don’t trade it up or back or anything like that. They selected for the first time Tracy McGrady, pretty fantastic player, although we did not get to see that with the Raptors necessarily. Then Demard Rosen, then Yaka Purle, these are all very at like the floor of this pick is quite good. They’ve really knocked out of the park. And when we look at perhaps like Dear Rose and Tracy McGrady, like Tracy Hall of Fame, Dear I believe will end up in the Hall of Fame. He’ll end up being like a top 15 score by the time he’s hangs him up. And Yakob is obviously, you know, a very strong center in this podcast. And we have lots of podcasts to go. We have a month and a half before we get there. That’s how many episodes, Prey? That’s like six episodes. Six. Yeah. We’ve we’ve already talked probably about like 12 prospects maybe. Maybe maybe 12 15 and we have to expand it now because the Raptor fell. But so on the docket for today, the ever rising, very popular highlight scout of Carter Bryant out of Arizona, Jaor Demond. I learned that it’s Jaor. That’s how they were saying on on Brigham Young’s broadcast. So Jaor and I was like wondering before I started looking like is this demon like is because you know that’s the everyone’s like he’s a demon. I thought wow he would get some buzz off of that. and then also uh Nolan Trayor. And these are three very unique prospects. All of them all of them have holes in their games, but all of them represent I think a lot of uh I I would say probably like a lot of upside in certain respects. So Trey, I I guess like do you have an order of where those guys rank in your favorites before we dig into I guess Carter first? Yeah, I would say Trayor, Carter, and then Demond for sure. Yeah, Deon is huge. We we’ll we’ll talk about him more at the back end, but there is like he he controls him. We’ll leave for for the back end, but I think for me it’s probably Carter, Trayor, Demon. Now, I am in on Carter Bryant. Like, I’m really big in on him. And uh Trayor I also really like I think he’s the best point guard. I like him better than Jaku. I like him better than Fears. I think he’s the best point guard outside of Harper in the draft. And I obviously like him more than Demond. Uh so we have some guys to talk about. I will start out with Carter Bryant. So we’ll we’ll do the numbers quickly just so everybody is aware of them. So Carter Bryant, he comes in at like he’s between 215 225. Uh he measured at like there’s been reports of fluctuating but at the at the draft he comes in at 215 pounds 611.75 wingspan very close to 7 feet 8 foot 10 standing reach he he’s a big boy he’s like 6’8 he’s he’s quite he’s quite large he is uber athletic he is a very he’s not just a two-foot jump big mover he’s a coordinated athletic adaptable mover He jumps off of both feet. He’s tremendously skilled. And I think after watching the mechanics, and I’ve watched every single jump shot he made this past season, I think he’ll be one of the best shooters in the draft. Despite only having three attempts per game at Arizona, despite only scoring, and here’s the kicker, six six and a half points per game. I think that Carter Bryant will be one of the best shooters coming out of this draft. Maybe not immediately, but I believe by year four that will be like a real thing. So, the stats, six and a half points, four rebounds, one assist, one steal, one block, 46, 37,69 splits for 59% true shooting. He only played 19 minutes per game. So, the stock numbers are insane for less than half the game. The rest of this stuff is whatever. Carter Bryant, tell me what you think. How do I fall off? I’ve never seen you I’ve never seen you so excited about a prospect. This is insane. Okay. I I like Carter Bryant. I think I think it’s funny because Yeah. temper me. Temper me. Um I’ve been asking for the Raptors like to address like their size at the wing all season because they’ve been bullied by teams, especially like the really good playoff teams. They have that really big defender that that can still move and mobilize around the court, but allows them to play with size and play with length. You see a team like OKC, one of the best defenses we’ve seen in the last five years, you still can’t stop Aaron Gordon because he’s a a larger man than the rest of the people on the court. OG and Anobi the same thing. Even if you consider him to be limited in certain aspects, like his size and his strength allows him to create in the playoffs and become a higher I hate the word playoff riser, but be his offense is far more valuable in that context because the playoffs are more physical. Big boys get to do things easier. They just do. It’s a fact. And Carter Bryan’s one of one of those guys like he does all the simple things at a really high rate. And I probably the question for me is like are you letting go of upside for like for a particular archetype? But like as a player I think his defense is really really good at the point of attack he’s able to utilize his size and length to cover really good ground and then also keep the ball handler from from the rim. He’s a once he puts his like his hands on you, especially like some of those smaller guards in college, they have a really hard time getting getting to the rim. He fights through screens well. He operates well as a a low man. He got tons of blocks as as a low man because of his athleticism and and coordination. And I think his athleticism pops both horizontally and vertically. Yeah. Which which is the sign of a really good defender. like OG Anobi for example can operate as a big because because of his his leaping ability whereas like some guys like a male Bridges very good athlete horizontally and that’s why he defends usually smaller guards. Um, I think there’s there’s flashes offensively, like decision-m, although his assist numbers aren’t the greatest, like he makes really good decisions. He moves the ball fairly well, and like as a as a play finisher, he was able to score the rim really well, hit hit his threes at a really high clip for for a college player. And you see that the feel is there. Although like his cutting was fairly limited from the things that I’ve watched, he’s able to actually get into space, score the basketball really well, and with a more open floor, like those cutting opportunities will will be more apparent, and he’ll be able to score in in those like functionalities, too. I I think the the holes are obviously limited stuff um as a creator. No iso possessions at all in his time at at Arizona. Um there were some flashes of of his shot within the mid-range, but um most of his drives are him attacking off of closeouts. So you’re you’re drafting someone who’s operating in a very specific role in a specific lane. That could be important. It is important, but the the upside of potentially getting a high level starter or score, I I’m unsure if that’s there. It’s so what you say about like no isolation. It’s true. Uh synergy does not have him logged as having a single isolation possession. When you look at even like in some of the moves that preempt his pull up, even like his his he or his in-n-out dribble, these are they look very elementary. Like it just it is not an expanded part of his game. It’s and and cutting like he does cut a decent amount of time. It represents a decent chunk of his scoring, but it’s still not that much relative to what like a a mover and an athlete cap with his capabilities should be doing. I think that he doesn’t necessarily uh recognize all the times when he should be cutting. Arizona runs like they have some automatics they run for him out of the corner which is like if a team is playing ice pick and roll defense against Arizona the their big drops out of it. you pop the pass over top cuz then you’re playing four on three and they’ll have one of the guards set like you know a a pin in basically going basically like a screen just for him to come corner catch a lob like he has some scripted actions that he’s going to cut out of but as far as like interpretive play I think there’s so much meat on the bone for him considering the type of athlete that he is that there’s just a lot he can do there defensively too I don’t Uh, I don’t know. Like I don’t think his positioning is incredibly strong or anything like that. I think he still like quite often makes mistakes on defense. He’s young. He’s a freshman. Yeah. I just his athleticism turn over both like hips. Take the big step to get back into the lane. Go meet guys at the rim. Bigs, smalls, wings. Good luck trying to win the aerial battle with him. He he comes away as the champ of that matchup quite often. And uh the steels are also there too because he has the functionality of like the the foot speed and like all that kind of stuff of like a a two, but he’s going to be able to play in spaces with the size of quite a large three or even a small four. And so he’s eating up gobs of space on the court. And obviously at the collegiate level, he closes space extremely fast. some of those like on the one hand his offense should be able to translate much better than just six and a half points we’re seeing uh but his defense might there might be a few more holes in it at the NBA level he might be a little bit more picked on for you know not being able to identify things but on the whole I think because I do believe he’ll end up this is a hot take I understand but I do believe he’ll end up being one of the best shooters in the draft that for me with his athleticism makes him just like immediately he could go top 10 for me which is why the Raptors could take him and I would be like hell yes let’s see what happens even though there is you know Scotty Ingram Mo whoever happens like at the back end like in the second round but I just I think he would especially like the Raptors run a ton of offense where they need to weaponize guys off ball they’ve brought in Ingram to help do some of the on ball stuff. I think it would be such a perfect opportunity for Carter Bryant because he gets to eat in all of the easy offball stuff. He’d be willing to move. I think he’s going to be a dynamite shooter. Guys like Scotty, he still wants on ball possessions. He’s going to get them. Brandon definitely is going to get them. Quickly definitely is going to get them. Carter could be brought along quite slowly and just grind in the summers and be like a guy who pops year three, the big wing year three season. And I think you could really like one of those guys who scores like 10 points per game despite scoring six in their rookie year of college, right? Just there’s opportunity there. I like him a lot, dude. I mean, that’s evident. You’re you’re beaming. Um, no, I I I definitely I definitely see that. I think there’s there’s there’s definitely some that you there’s some there’s more stuff that you’ll see in in probably the NBA than you’ll see on like a a more closed floor in college. like he should be able to attack a lot of his closeouts or off the catch and like utilize his strength because he he was one of like the bigger wings in in the draft and for his age and probably will get better as he he ages as well and that will help probably tip the scale in terms of like some of the skills that he has and how he’ll be able to stay on the floor. Well, I don’t think to to really support your point there, he took I think like he has 87 spot up possessions, which close out attacks come out of spot-up possessions typically. 87 shots, 82 of them were from three. He’s he’s not threatening downhill off of close outs. Yeah, exactly. And I do think he’s going to be a really good shooter. And that’s probably like these wings you usually find like once every few years that kind of fit like the the box of actually being able to to score and defend it at really high level. It’s it’s why you can trade OGN and it’ll be for uh two really good players because they’re very rare type guys. Um I I actually did like some of the mid-range stuff. They ran a lot of actions where he would catch and pop. He would pop around the free throw line extended and he was able to score out of out of those looks which bodess well to his touch as well. Zone busters as well. Flashing middle. Exactly. So like he he did he did some of that stuff and that’s probably where the upside stuff comes in cuz like even even a guy like Aaron Gordon was able to extend his his range to to some degree and still offer a little bit of creation in between and that’s where he’s probably going to need to get towards. It’s it’s a fine pick at nine. You just have to accept that it’s a pick to support this current core of Ingram and Scotty and you’re not shooting for the stars in terms of like this guy is going to be an all-star. His handle is a long ways away. Yeah. And you just how you could be an all-star without a handle or some freakish defensive instincts. I don’t know. Right. It would be really tough. There are a lot of wings like Michael Porter Jr. will never be an all-star and he shoots the hell out of the basketball, but he just and obviously his back injuries over his career has sapped a lot of what might have been good elsewhere. Ojanobi will never be an all-star despite being so good, but like handle limitations, they limit as we all know like the Raptors star who is an all-star has handle limitations and it affects everything he does. What I think is really for the final note on Carter here, what I think is really important is that because the Raptors have been talking to guys like Queen, they’ve talked to, you know, CMB, they’ve talked to Fierce, they’ve been talking to guys, they get more access than we do. Obviously, they get to talk to these guys. They can run Carter through some like bring him in and run run him through some like small side games and see how he reads things. introduce like a new play type to him and see how quickly he figures it out because so much of like if you bring up Aaron Gordon, another incredibly athletic Arizona forward, his ability to read and use his mo motion and his willingness to go up against contact at the rim are all only valuable because he makes those reads. And it’s harder. If you introduce him to new like concepts and he picks them up quickly, then I think that would be an incredible indicator for what he can do at the next level. As you mentioned, we’re not going to talk about a lot because there’s not a lot of volume here, but there’s some really strong passing reads on his tape as well. Yeah. So, the maybe you get some indication about like are you a workhorse? Does that mean the handle can come around year four or something like that? Year three, it becomes something that he gets better at. Maybe that’s on the table. Are you a guy who picks things up quickly? Are you mapping the court pretty well? Do you know where you’re going to step into to threaten things? You know, I’m covering the Pacers right now, and the Pacers are probably the best team in the NBA currently, given their talent level at positioning players on the floor and having their players move and support each other out of it. It’s an important factor of beating game. that kind of stuff that could really sell the Raptors because like Kevin Knox is a guy, right? It’s like everything looked the way it was supposed to and it just didn’t happen because you just couldn’t read the game. Mathin on the Pacers, supremely skilled, very physical, comfortable, athletic, does not read the floor well enough, has these big struggles to implement himself. that interview and the workouts might loom really large for Carter Bryant. At least that’s my takeaway. But the the stuff on tape, although sparse, is incredible. Like it’s Yeah. He’s got it. I was going to like it. Next up is of course Nolan Trayor. However, I do want to revisit something quickly just to keep us on. We have like uh the podcast is a living analysis of ours, right? Like we can update it as we see fit. We started this at the back end of February talking about we’re months away from that now. When I got I’ll say quickly as we I got introduced to fears, I was like there’s a lot of stuff that pops. The more I watched the fears, I was like I started the doubts started creeping in, which is why I think Trayor is my favorite guard outside my favorite point guard outside of Harper. And I think I’m out. I think I’m out years now. Okay. If he’s there at nine, I there’s enough other guys who I like who I think would probably be there. Guys like Carter, guys like CMBB. If one of if both those guys go before nine I that’s crazy I think. Yeah. So I I would not want fear. That’s crazy. So if you like that many guys then you’re com then you’re comfortable with like a trade back then I would assume. Yeah. Well I mean those are so hard because it’s like you have to gauge the temperature of the whole league and and some people have successfully done it of course. Like the Celtics going back from one to three is like well we only have to know what two teams are going to do. Yeah. But you go back from 9 to 15, it’s like I don’t know how the hell to navigate that. But uh there’s guys I know we’ve talked about before. We both really love him. Yakel. Mhm. There’s like there was the famous one, right, where it was, you know, during the the Tari E and Jeremy Sohan draft, it was like, why would I draft Sohan in the lottery when I can get Tar East way later? And Tari E became, you know, a better player. Yeah. At least so far. Uh but yeah, updating the Fierce take from my end. Where are you on fierce still? Pretty hard. I I haven’t I haven’t changed like the combine numbers look look good for me. He he has a requisite length where like his finishing I think will improve and like the the flaws that that he does have like like the finishing at the rim obviously is concerning. He you for a point guard you need to be able to finish at a really high clip. I I think I also consider like the context he was in like Oklahoma. no business making that that making the tournament and he still was able to generate great offense in within that context. So, it should expand on a on a better NBA floor. Whether he’s a fit for the Raptors though, I do have concerns cuz I think he will need ball screens and tons of it to really operate on the floor and do that and that’s not what the Raptors do. his his biggest thing was pick and roll possessions, which he created great offense, and a credit to him because it’s not like Oklahoma is incredibly talented. Um, but he created great offense um with with ball screens. Also, I will update as well, the Mwatch agility numbers came in because I know this I knew this was a back and forth between at least myself and some of the some of the commenters was about his foot speed. My contention was that Match once he gathers his feet and gets to start taking those big steps, then he covers a lot of ground, but that his foot speed was rather slow. He tested basically the exact same as the man they called an ogre, Donovan Klingan. Donovan Klingan, they said this guy was slow as hell. And Mwatch had the same agility time. Now you you could start doing the thing where you’re like, he’s tanking the combine to get to the Raptors. he’s got the, you know, maybe something like that. But the testing match because I know that Raptors fans are obviously very excited about him. I see his name mentioned all the time. Uh Mwatch this podcast I think as you said it’s like you said can’t miss. He’s going to be an NBA player. He’s going to be level big. The question just is like at nine I don’t know. Is he my favorite at nine? No. But we will do deeper dives on these guys. I mean it it will merit revisiting Malwatch and Fears in the future. Now Nolan Trayor. Uh I led for Carter Bryant. I would you lead for Nolan because you this is the ones you suggested. You are the French whisperer. You you you plucked Bal from pick 43 and placed him at seven. The pull-up trade stamp dude. Just uh ch changed his life. Made him a lottery pick. moved the whole leak. Um, actually, wait, I’ll give I’ll give the numbers quick. So, he’s born May, he’s 18. May uh May 28th, 2006, he turns 19 right away. I think that’s how the numbers work. Uh, he’s French. He is 6’5, 175 lbs. I think he looks a little bit thicker than that, quite frankly. I don’t know when this this measurement came in. He hasn’t been measured. He’s not at the combine, so we don’t get this stuff. It would probably be Hoopy Hoop Summit and he would be 17 at the time. Yeah, he looks a lot thicker than 175 to me. But he does look like a 6’5. I don’t think he’s bigger than 6’5. Like even if that might be a juice number at the time that may now be true, but uh he he plays for San Quinton, which is the French league is a good league. He he’s playing he’s playing better he’s playing against better players than college athletes are. Agreed. Uh his stats this season, 10.9 points per game, 1.7 rebounds, 5.1 assists,.7 steals, 2 and a half turnovers. The shot making is a big rub against him. 37.4 field goal percentage, 29.6 three-point percentage. Uh there we go. That’s kind of what we’re looking at. Yeah, it he Trayor is a player that I’m like very high on and what probably one of the reasons why I wouldn’t trade back like in terms of the in terms of thought of trading back. It’s it’s really hard to feel feel as though like you’re this Nostradamus that you can game the system and get better players later in the draft. Like the Raptors have attempted to already do this and it failed miserably. It it didn’t work out obviously, but like Trayor I would I would take at nine. I think in terms of like um operating pick pick and roll ball handling situations, he is he is excellent at that. I think his burst is probably second to fierce in terms of those situations. But he he’s above average. He gets to the rim fairly well. He can change speeds and do that. And I think what was the most impressive of his tape is that he takes care of the basketball in a in a men’s league. Yes. And that’s a huge bonus. Yeah. It’s it’s typically when you see guys in those situations, they’re they’re losing on strength to grown men. They’re sometimes losing on sometimes athleticism, too. And he popped out as being overly athletic. And while not having the strength, he was still able to muscle and we and weave his way to the rim and also m just make um really good decisions with the basketball. So that should hold up into the in the NBA. Um the shot making is going to be the swing skill for him. like it’s improved over the last like few weeks as I’ i’ve watched and that’s where he he’s looked like, hey, this guy could be like a top five pick with the level when his shot is actually falling because he’s able to get into the middle of the floor nearly every single possession and he draws to consistently when he’s going to the rim which is a huge it’s one of the the largest indicators like for a guard and whether they’re going to have success like Emanuel quickly the reason why you trade for Brandon Ingram is that he struggled getting to the middle one because of strength, another because of burst, and then like the floater didn’t obviously work out in the way that we wanted. But if you’re able to get in the middle of the floor, finish, and also make decisions out of playmaking um making playmaking decisions out of that those spots, you become dangerous. And that’s how you you see teams overload on you. And that makes everything easier on the court for every other player on on the floor. And like Trayori does that, which is a really really good sign. um the finishing isn’t where you want it to be and I attribute that to him playing against grown men and like having a a strength deficiency, but he gets to the rim fairly fairly well and doesn’t necessarily shy away from contact, which is really really good to see. I I think I’m a believer in the shot and I think it can can get good. He he creates and gets to his spots fairly well. And I think that is a harder skill to actually like to actually gauge for and whether that can happen. If that holds up in the NBA, I think he’ll be able to hit enough shots where he can be an impact player and he could be a player at like nine where in a reddraft he’s a top a top five pick because he does the hard things really really well. There’s a So, yeah, as as you point out, huge thing here is he shot like 33% on a a large diet of floaters and he also shot like 27% on his pull-up threes. He he shot 40% on catch and chew threes for what? I’m also up his his jumper up top is pretty clean to me. Down low, I think like there’s probably an NBA team helps him sort that out. Uh but contending he shot 60% at the rim and contending with those professional bigs and the fact that like we see it when NBA players go overseas. It’s like it’s more physical. It’s like certain things are harder do to do at the Fibo level than they are at the NBA level. You have to play with more control because this it’s just less uh rewarding to play wild. it’s more rewarding to play composed and and conservative. And that is where Trayori definitely like the fact that he gets so many pick and roll possessions, the fact that San Quentin does play like a professional style offense, you get to see him in these tough positions against grown men and you do see that 2:1 assist to turnover ratio. You do see that he can create looks out of this kind of stuff, right? As a point guard, I think he’s quite a strong prospect and I think he has the size to be a good size point guard. I believe in the shot going forward. It’s just like 37% is really tough from the field. However, in a bigger floor kind of working to control the middle of the floor, which I think he’ll be able to someday, do you start to look at like he can turn some of those floaters at the, you know, international competition into more layups and also playing with maybe some bigs who provide a guy like Yaka Purle, for example, does his repertoire as a pocket passer and like a, you know, a pace controller help him there? that kind of stuff. It It’s It’s a pretty big deal. Um it’s We’ll see, man. Like I like him quite a bit. It’s shotmaking looms large though, which happens a lot of the time with guys from overseas. It’s like you have to admit to yourself like who faces better defenses, you know, Trayor or Fierce. Yeah. It’s like, well, Trayor does, but you also have to be like, well, Fears is much more explosive. like Trayor, I like it, but it’s it’s second rate to Fears. And so, who’s going to punch a gap? Probably Fierce, but who’s going to create a gap at the NBA level? Trayor maybe will be better at setting it up. It’s you like you never know. And also, Fears ostensively is like a better shooter by the numbers, too. Yeah. It’s just you have to start going like headtohead with some of this stuff, too. But Trayore I like a lot. Yeah. And he he fits the Raptor style of play because he he’ll run tons of get actions off the ball. Weave his way downhill and the Raptors do that tons. Like RJ Barrett made makes a living off of doing that stuff. He he can both be your pick and roll ball handler and operate off the ball especially if the shot is actually falling be because the eur the Raptor style is is very European and in the way that they approach things. And so the obvious like fit is there offensively and I think his feel is is there as well in terms of being able to like get into get into actual space and his pacing. His pacing is is very strong. I think it’s on par with Dylan Harper’s honestly w with getting to the floor operating as as the pick and p ball handler and then although a lot of those shots do end up as as floaters he is is still putting pressure and taxing the defense and and having to wait on him handling the ball all the time which is really hard for for point guards especially at the NBA level to slow themselves down in order to to get your get your big man going downhill. have the defense worry about that twoon-one and and make plays from there. And like I could see him like next year like beating out Jamal for minutes and working with Yakaba like on on the bench and on a bench lineup and and doing well. The the pace is a good point and this is where I have to talk about a limitation a little bit. He’s well behind like pace similar to Harper. He’s well behind in the handle though. Like that’s what that’s what makes Harper so special is Harper can go he can go quite a few different speeds and he has a lot in his toolkit. It helps him navigate like incredibly tight college spaces. Uh Trayori though I yeah like I believe in the foundation of it. The thing that makes me wonder is if that handle doesn’t come all the way around and you have to start looking at him like could you be a two could you play maybe like two guards on the four at once? I’m not certain of that. And that’s also but that represents like that’s why another tick in his favor relative to somebody like Fierce that’s a tick in Jaku’s favor, right? That’s that’ll be a tick in Demond’s favor is like if you want multiple ball handlers on the floor, these guys potentially could grow into somebody you play at the two and Trayor, I think there’s potential for it. I just don’t know if it’s super likely. I do I do wonder about the two guard stuff especially since the def where do you sit on his defense I guess is the defense isn’t good. It’s with European tape like it’s hard to gauge because especially as a guard and being 18 years old like he’s dying on every ball screen because there’s a a 35year-old man that smokes like an Australian bastard of a man. He smokes eight cigarettes a day. He’s he’s blowing him up on tons of plays. And like even when he he he moves well, like he doesn’t have the strength to hold up on drives. He’s getting blown up as as guys are getting getting downhill. I do think he he has like some offball instincts and he creates like some plays in in that sort of sense, but like the defensive tape is tough, but it’s not like Fears is any any better at that stuff. Yeah. And like truthfully, it’s not just about Fierce and like I keep making that comparison. It’s not just about them head-to-head, but yeah. Uh I like this is not a super strong point guard draft. I don’t think a lot of the guys who like Demond had a lot of buzz coming out of Real Madrid and then taking the NIL bag to BYU and then the his shot making did not hold up. Uh the the playmaking is obviously really high level. We’ll we’ll get to him soon. But also like Trayore is like he was a lot more disappointing at the start of his season in France than people expected. So his dipped a little bit like he was talked about like maybe he could be top five at the start of the season. Uh and Fierce definitely like he gave him I I don’t I didn’t hear anything about Fierce prior. Yeah, he came out. He came out of nowhere. He wasn’t one of the names you hear, but he isn’t like a lights out prospect by any means. And then Harper at the top obviously is extremely strong, but this is like a shooting guards draft. Mhm. And that’s where I think I know Demen, we’ll go to him now. He was listed as the highest I don’t know if he’s the high like the tallest guard they’ve ever measured or if it was point guard. I like I’m not exactly sure how they phrased it, but we’ll do his measurements. Like Eigor De Jagor Demen came in at 68 and a quarter without shoes. Without shoes. Yeah. The big boy. Yeah. Uh his wingspan is is 610 and a quarter. So it’s it’s marginally positive. It’s nothing crazy. Uh Jacobe Walter has like a 610 and a quarter wingspan, I’m pretty sure, at at 6’4. Uh and Demon’s standing reach is 89 and a half. So, he was listed as the tallest point guard or shooting guard ever measured at the combine. I know that’s true. I don’t know if that’s like being aggregated wrong. I know it’s true for point guard at least. I’m not sure if it’s for shooting guard as well, but he’s huge. He is, however, 199 pounds. He’s pretty slight. Pretty slight. Uh the numbers 10.6 points per game, five and a uh five and a half assists, 3.9 rebounds. Uh 41.2% 2% from the field, 27.3% from three. A lot of room for improvement. I guess the quick thing I do I I believe in his jumper. Every every pro every prospect we talked about uh today I believe in the jumper. Uh Demen I think he just has to like connect his lower half to his upper half. It’s kind of truncated sometimes. Go ahead. That’s what I wrote that very upright like ball handler. Yeah. Which makes it tough. And but that’s the thing too is like Dem and I believe in the shooting, but do I believe in the athleticism? Like he plays with control? He certainly does. I think he’s he’s stronger in the middle of the four than than Trayor is. I think he’s stronger in the middle four than Fierce is. I think he’s I think he’s quite strong in the middle of the four. uh against college is he commanded that part of the floor and he’s very comfortable with his pickups. He’s very comfortable with a live dribble. He keeps it alive like he’s looking to make plays. The thing that really held him back obviously is his shooting and and the finishing and it’s just like not everything can be craft and like ooh in the middle of the four like there’s got to be a little bit of punch there. You know what I mean? Yeah. That that’s that’s like one of the biggest takeaways from like the playoffs. Like Ty Jerome, bless his heart, like really turned around his career. But like you you you can’t you you can’t craft and wiggle your way to the rim. Like guys are fighting over screens. They’re they’re going to contest. You can’t twerk in the lane, buddy. It’s not allowed. Like that type of play style is hard to really do in the playoffs. Like Luca Donis does it really well, but he he also is like humongous for his size and he can he can throw it just as as much as like people take it. Um but I think with um wait as a quick as a quick note too like when sorry when I’m highlighting Demon’s finishing the finishing is well enough on its own when he gets there. I’m uh I’m more hesitant about the volume I should say. It’s he’s very selective driver. That’s that’s fair. Um, I think with with Deon I’m probably lower on than Consensus. Um, I do think he’s actually one of the best passers in in the draft. I’m not convinced that he’s a guard though. One just just because of like the limited handle like very upright ball handler. a a lot a lot of his possessions is a high a high pick and roll so he can get downhill get get wind and then make decisions because of that high pickup point where he he where he dribbles and then also like as an athlete I don’t I don’t see it popping at the NBA level if it’s average I think he he has a chance to to be successful but I think and especially during his conference play when they played Baylor and that that was their the inlection point like, “Oh, this guy could be a top five pick.” Mhm. He could not. BJ Edgecom is a high plane, obviously. But you saw the level, you saw the athletic difference. And Baylor really bothered him and he he got to a point where he he was getting his pick and roll ball handling possessions, but he’s then once he gets to the middle floor has to pick up the ball because he can’t get any further because he’s facing really good athletes. And in the NBA, all of those guys are really good athletes. So, if he’s at a point where he’s picking up the ball in a lot of these possessions, he either a is going to have to have really really exceptional touch from from short mid-range or his floater or he expands out his range for like from three and becomes a wing. I think that is more likely. I think he has a chance to to probably do that and then run side pick and roll ball handling possessions because I don’t see him getting down to the floor like being able being able to absorb contact. He shied away from that quite a lot at at at the college level. And as a as a highlevel point guard, you need you need to do be able to do some of those things. Like if he shoots like he can overcome a lot of like Tyrese Hallebertton overcame everything every limitation that he had because he’s one of the best shooters we’ve ever seen and he can get to the rim at will. it it’s hard for me to say that Aigor Demond Gore Deon is is going to do those things. He also like Tyrese gets lower than he’s older. He’s been able to work on it. But Deon, the thing that the potential that I see is like maybe he become becomes like a really good pull-up shooter or something like that because he I don’t know if you noticed this too, he is a cheater when he dribbles. He palms the hell out of it. like he slings and plays with it, which is a really good indicator for me cuz nobody calls that. Like nobody is going to call that, so you may as well do it. And you really can like cheat. Like the guards who do it, like you’ve you’ve had this before, but when you go play like a college guard at pickup, they’ll do it all the live long day and you’re like, “Damn, nobody.” And what are you going to say? Like don’t do that. And that’s what every everyone does. Like the further you go up, the more people are going to have the ability and the hand size to manipulate with the live ball vault to like balance on that knife’s edge of like carry not carry. Demen does that. And that also opens up like a lot of opportunity for him to manipulate pickup points. Yeah. With a pull and to get people to bite so that he can take his slower feet and his larger size into the lane where he can do damage. Uh that is something that I think is a huge huge thing for him. Although when I say I believe in the shot, I definitely believe in it as like a catch and shoot option and like a lower end pull-up option. But as far as like a high volume pull-up guy, I’m not certain of that. And yeah, and defensively there’s a huge problem. If he is a wing, then it’s like he’s probably going to have a tough time. Whereas, if he’s a guard, at least what you can do is position him as like, okay, maybe he doesn’t guard point guards. We put him on the weakest wing, the weakest player, two through four on the other end. And maybe even in some cases, you could throw him on a five, right? Uh, and you could hide him. But if he’s starting out like, I can’t guard wings, I can’t guard guards, I can’t do any of it, then it’s like maybe it gets a little bit difficult. Yeah, that that makes it tough. I I think for me personally, he’s on like my do not draft list, at least for nine. It it’s it’s tough to fit him in like within the the context of the team. Like you really have to have a plan for him and be able to like stomach some of some of the minutes that he has cuz if you’re committed to him being a point guard, like NBA’s are going to a guy with a high pickup point like that, NBA teams are going to try to trap trap him and make him pick up the ball or try to or try to create turnovers in in that sense. Let’s some of the stuff shed at practice. He’s going to try and pluck him every time down the court. Yeah, every single time. And that that makes it hard. And I think his upside is like being a point guard, being able to get downhill, being a creator, and and manifesting really really good offense. I I just have a hard time because the the burst isn’t necessarily there and he doesn’t have the the same size of some of those slower guys that’s still able to get to the far like Luca Donic for example have requisite size that can still bully their way to to those points. He doesn’t have the the same size or the same like strength to to get to some of those spots. Um, I think a lot of the the like live ball stuff is him being able to see over the defense and then make plays in that sort of sense, but like it’s it’s not 2016. Like teams are zoning up that that weak side and that and they create tons of tons of turnovers. So like being able to be a highle skip passer I don’t think is as valuable as it was like six I maybe even like two years ago. and and like even even if like let’s say like what is the what is the advantage of a of a big playmaker? Obviously, it’s the ability to see over the defense, which elevates you obviously with the skip pass, reading the weak side zone/ the lowman, the tagger, like depends on how the defense is guarding it or if they play super aggressive on you to see over the top and make direct reads to your big for four-on-ree situations. Like, that’s really valuable. But I don’t think he has he’ll have enough pop on ball to generate like these aggressive coverages. I think what is likely is that he could end up being a guy who gets a wide variety of players switched out on him and that you know it just he has to move the ball on like there’s a real potential for that and uh yeah cuz you have to provide danger like Tyrese Hallebertton the fact that we talked about his athletic limitations the fact that like in game five he just shredded guys out on the perimeter with his jumper Jared Allen a side step three over him after the Pacers ran three actions in a row to bring the Cavs bigs out and and when they flatten out like Tyrese has been working on his pickup points and Tyrese does get lower and is like a little bit more explosive that he can pick up and go directly to the front of the rim. But Tyrese is all NBA player. He’s older. It’s just Demen makes me worry about a lot of things and but there’s there’s stuff to like because of course there is but it I worry I worry. Yeah. I I think he’s one of the guys where like I think it would have been better for him to stay in school honestly and and get more get more reps going downhill going against defenses because like in in college like he’s the the opposing like big is probably the same size as him even maybe like a little smaller. Yeah. So like he would have had more opportunity to to gain to to get more reps at trying to be like that downhill threat at the NBA like it’s an athletic sevenfooter which which is going to be like a big steep and big jump in terms of like athleticism from what he played at BYU and then also size. So he doesn’t have the necessarily like same advantages. I think like even in like a tradeback scenario, you can you can maybe win yourself over on like we’re gonna throw him in the G. This is a project pick and we’re going to allow him to try to be this downhill threat for 50 games in the G and see what he can do. Yeah, I’m not uh like it just this is how it is is you can definitely hear it in in our coverage is like some guys and this is how it is for NBA teams. Yeah, this is how it is for scouts. This is how it is for guys who do this for podcast. This is just like some guys you just watch and you’re likem I don’t I don’t think so. Maybe and he could prove us wrong 100%. But I don’t I don’t particularly see it with Demen and it sounds like you don’t either. But of course, like we we have a diversity of thought here. Jeremiah Fierce is a good example of that. Uh is there anybody else are there names like not for this podcast but guys that we should be looking forward to? cuz obviously I don’t know if you noticed but when it was announced that Dallas had the first pick, do you remember the conversation we were having? You had just challenged my idea that CMB could score and I was ramping up to make my case. I was ramping up to make my case and then S said Dallas and then obviously we had to react to that. You and I have to like we have to have a real meat and potato CMBB versus queen argument. I think we do. I I I think that’s I think that’s necessary. Yep. Oh god. Yeah. Also, they’re second round guys. I’ll say like I I that front of mind coming into this was focus on the Raptors who could have potentially had one of their highest picks ever. It didn’t turn out that way, but we have to like there’s guys like Noah, we’ve talked about Asa Newell who I it wouldn’t be my selection at nine, I don’t think. We’ve talked about we have guys who we have to talk about still, but Yel early second rounder if he were there. Holy. Oh, yeah. And I I really you’re you’re shedding tears. It’s it’s one of the reasons why like uh and I don’t think he’ll he’ll be able to shoot like Carter Bryant, but like you could make up especially the play finishing and defensive impact. you can you can make it up in the aggregate in in the second round or even like trading up like the Raptors have like a gluttony of of players like now where like if they like a guy like you can you can trade up in in the the 20s and maybe if they decide like oh they don’t want to resign because of like their cap constraints you can strap him and someone else and like a good team is going would probably trade for for him at 21 and then you can that’s a good point and you can go get Yak so you can go get a player that you really really like and covet and balance out your capab like they’re really positioned well to like get a couple guys that they really like. Yeah, that’s a good point. I think like Ochai maybe it wouldn’t be maybe it wouldn’t be on his own but if there’s a team that’s like between like n like 19 and 25 that’s like we want a ninth man like for the regular season and potentially the playoffs and Oiabi is that guy you package Oi plus your second and may maybe you’re there you know like it’s I guess it’s It’s literally the same as the uh Thaad Young trade basically is the Raptors there. Yeah, there’s definitely potential for something like that. Uh even that we don’t have to walk through all of them, but there’s quite a few players on the Raptors roster who could go like that they’re not married to a vast array of them. So there’s there’s potential here for sure. Yeah. So they’re overall like after the the pain and sadness of of seeing Dallas prosper like I I think they’ll be able to get two really good players and like even at nine like appears like Derek Queen like doesn’t like taxes but like if he falls he falls to nine that was as good as like for me person if we we jumped up to four or five honestly. So well Brandon Ingram has that Bernie sticker on his phone. Maybe he can maybe he’ll have some maybe he’ll be like, “Let me put you on game, young.” Yeah. Something like that. I Yeah, Derek. He He’s a cool player. Yes. I’m definitely not I’m definitely not all the way in that you are, but you there. You can’t sit and be like, “Ah, he’s all right.” It’s like, “No, he’s cool. He’s definitely cool.” He he was a player like if I’m in the Raptors room like I’m banging the table and and and and trying and trying to pick him. Um I think what was interesting actually coming out of the combine they um Jeremiah Fears was interviewed and he said the Raptors are looking for very specific things. What do you think those things are? I think what I that says to me Yeah. is that the Raptors were poking holes in fears game and doing so politically like we’re looking for this this this they’re tell they’re basically highlighting that kind of stuff is my that’s what I think I also know that the Raptors like there was fears and Jaku are very different players and I know that the Raptors were like in on Jaku and they were like what so maybe it’s something like that Yeah, I would be surprised if the Raptors took Fierce. I I would be surprised. Yeah. Offensive fit like it it’s it’s a challenge because the Raptors don’t defensive fit as well. I mean, yeah, he’s not a good defender. Um because you have to invest in like being like a heavy pick and roll ball handling team like in the traditional sense. And the Raptors like don’t play in the traditional sense. But can a team with the worst ball, with the worst dribble penetration in the NBA stick their nose up at Jeremiah Fear? I don’t think so. You have to be so out on Emanuel quickly to to start have a wandering eye for Jeremiah Fierce, I think. Do do you know what I mean? Like cuz you can’t you can’t play those guys together. Yeah. And because one quickly doesn’t play well enough off ball. maybe he’ll at 26 years old he’ll start to change that but he just flat out does not and like while fears as a prospect there’s things you can dream on it’s like well quickly has a bunch of he has skill set to make things happen on ball it just hasn’t he hasn’t read the floor well enough but it’s like you if I’m the Raptors and I’m thinking like okay Jeremiah Fears versus Emanuel Quickley I have to go with Quickley because I traded for that guy and I paid that guy and I have to believe in something, you know. Yeah, it’s tough. You already paid him, but like has has Emanuel quickly like earned that earned that favor from from Messiah Juri? Like they can’t someone similar? Messiah offers no favors. It’s a good It’s a good point there. like Ma like Mobo had a worse year than Messiah was expecting and Messiah was like he was so in on Jacobe the way he talked about him but he was at his you know his last availability like kind of and we’ll see about Mo like he had in one year had already gone from we’re so excited to get this guy with the 31st overall pick to like we’ll see because Mo did disappoint you know offensively which we got a little bit of pullback for talking about Uh that was I can’t remember if it’s the top voted comment but it was saying you know they couldn’t believe that we talked about like the things that are necessary in the playoffs without bringing up what mobile provides. And while that is true like mobile is that stuff mobile was also what we talked about which is you can’t have a guy who can’t do anything offensively on the floor. You just can’t Yeah. you it it just Mo isn’t even in the discussion until he improves at things offensively like and I hope he does because again mobile guy you know people poke fun at me all year. People poke fun me all year because I was like mobile I like him but he really before we even begin to think about him playing in like a hot and heavy playoff series is like things have to happen offensively like he he would crater an like a playoffense right now would absolutely just tear it apart. So that that’s why although we’ve talked about all the things that you know mobile is good at and I’m excited for what it potentially could be. But it’s got to happen, man. We got to see it. But yeah, Messiah has no loyalty and and you’re not supposed to necessarily. Yeah. And the Raptors are in a spot where they they let me rephrase. They might not have too many good players, but they have a lot of players that you want to see play. And Yep. Like that’s a great turn of phrase, by the way. And so like they’re in a position like to outside of like obviously they do make make a decision on like their their core guys, but even like the guys on the bench, you can package a couple of those guys and fit certain archetypes or certain type of players you guys you want to see or move up in the draft. like they have so much flexibility heading in into this draft and like forming the team how they want to or even heading into into the deadline. So like I I don’t think it they’re they’ll even feel the need to to make any favors. Like if you if you draft Yakol at 39, you’re not saying how are him and mobile ever going to play together? Like one of those guys are going to beat out the other and the other guy is probably not a bad thing. Yeah, it’s not it’s not a bad thing. I mean, and like not making it with the Raptors is not a death sentence. Yep. Because guys have gone on from the Raptors to other things. It guys, we talked about Ty Jerome, like he he lost money this playoff series, but he’s still going to get paid. You know, Isaiah Joe bounced around, found a spot. Jaylen Williams, he probably got drafted to the perfect team, the with the Y, bigger Jaylen Williams. Like, yeah, I think there’s a lot of NBA teams that he wouldn’t have made sense for, but he makes sense on he was playing in the fourth quarter of a game five against the Nuggets and that’s a guy who’s extremely limited, but like it made sense and it makes sense. I mean, Brandon Carlson is on that team for Christ sake. Like Brandon Carlson is out there, dude. So, yeah, but the Raptors is like you just got to figure out who works for you. And even that that relates to like again this is a big time Grady podcast. We like Grady a lot, but Grady has more of the buzz. If the Raptors decide, and whether it’s right or wrong, if you’re a team or an office that says like, “We actually really believe in Jacob’s offensive upside,” then then it would make sense to move off of Grady probably. Yeah. Now, if you don’t believe in Jacob’s offensive upside that much, then it makes quite a lot of sense to keep Grady and play those two guys together. But it’s like you have to you’re always trying to capitalize on like who’s popular around the league who has good pub. Is Grady seen as like an upand cominging scoreer around the league? Is Jacobe Jacobe probably is hardly even seen around the league at this point? Like it’s always matching that stuff up. Is quickly seen as better than RJ right now. What is the in-house thoughts on that? The how the team fits together. Like there’s a million things. It’s not an easy job. It is handsomely paid though and that’s why that’s why we critique it. Uh that feels like uh a draft podcast. Yeah. Yeah. It’s honestly going from from from potentially number one to nine probably is better for us. There’s more guys for us to talk about. We we have the whole we have the entire draft now that we we can look at. And I was like there’s a few second round guys that I’m going to start looking in into. And like looking through the comments like a ton of people were asking for us to to look at Rashier Fleming. So that’s probably one of the next guys we should look. He and uh he and Carter occupy occupy some similar things. I think exactly also uh Theo we talked about uh Adu Theoro he could be a second round option as well. I don’t really know how his I think at the time I said I expected him to to test out better in the combine and maybe rise up a little bit which is still very much in play but like that’s another guy to think about uh for second rounders but yeah and also like realistic like we were very dramatic for the draft combine it it’s certainly it was good tele it was good podcast watching but truthfully like the Raptors had 0% chance to jump to five or six y They were more than likely going to be at seven or eight and the draft is quite frankly extremely flat five through 12. Yeah% nine and seven like would it have been great to make that leap into the top four? Obviously yes. Is it heartbreaking that they were one number off of the top two picks? Yeah. It’s a gut punch. It is what it is. But nine is not disastrous relative to seven. It was just I was so pissed that Dallas jumped. I was like, “No way it’s these bastards get.” Anyway, the NBA is more scripted than WWE. I’ll tell you that. And and next week, actually, we have to you and I will have to um you got to teach me something else about wrestling. M that was I think Caitlyn and I are going to have Blake on the podcast to explain Tyrese versus Jaylen in the ring for a a fun little thing. Yes. And uh but I need you to to teach me some other things too so we can we can keep up with it. Especially since we’re learning it’s just two scripted sports. So in the comments if there’s any specific your favorite wrestling moment I will I will reenact this for Samson. Excellent. All right. Uh, anything you want to say before we get out of here? Like like Messiah said, like we’re we’re gonna we’re gonna be fine. Number nine is going to bring us doing a lot of consoling the last few years, man. He’s been he he has said trust me on a lot of things, man. We’re going to be fine. Every time we’ve gotten this pick, Hall of Fame stuff has happened. So, I I expect nothing less. All right, everybody. Thank you so much for tuning in. I forgot to say like, comment, subscribe at the top. If you’re if you’re listening now, please do so. It helps the podcast a bunch. Uh thanks for tuning in with us whether you got into this in the morning or at night. From myself and Trey, have a blessed day and goodbye.

Samson Folk & Trevon Heath discuss the latest in the Raptors realm, and dive deep on some draft prospects.

0:00 – Introductions

0:55 – The Raptors history with the 9th pick

2:30 – Introducing the prospects

4:05 – Carter Bryant

18:38 – Revisiting Fears & Maluach

22:46 – Nolan Traore

34:50 – Egor Demin

47:25 – Potential CMB / Queen Bowl

48:10 – 2nd round + Potential trades

51:22 – Fears v Quickley + Masai

55:30 – Tre’s great turn of phrase

59:18 – The lottery is alright

1:00:15 – More Tre wrestling on the horizon

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