Portland Trail Blazers 2025 NBA Draft Big Board
[Music] all right welcome back it’s been a year for Beers Blazers Basketball Galactica hey nice hey uh yeah back to talk about the draft that seems to be the only compelling thing in the last year uh even though we did I think the Blazers did have some interesting storylines but still nothing compelling enough to to hop on the mic hopefully this year but we’ve got two weeks until the NBA draft um so wanted to to look at the 2025 um so we’ll probably we’ll do some big board stuff today and then next week we’ll do kind of a mock draft where we switch off uh you know one two three four all the way through at least to the lottery and then maybe talk about post lottery um but first as is in the name um Ben welcome and and what kind of beers are you drinking recently oh yeah that’s uh it’s great to be back uh it’s been a little bit of a hiatus to to GMAC’s point here um but yeah we’re happy to be back and talking some hoops specifically today around the Blazers obviously and I think there’s a lot of um you know there’s some obviously interest as we approach the the NBA draft here coming up in a couple weeks and um yeah but I’m I’m I think I said probably echoed a similar sentiment on the a year ago but I’m just looking forward to the summer here in the in the Pacific Northwest always such a great you know great time to be in the Pacific Northwest we got great weather um and you know with that awesome weather and all the outdoor activities comes some good uh in my case Pzners and loggers i again if if folks watch the uh watched either or one of the few episodes last year you know that I’m uh I like a a lighter style beer especially this time of year so you know I’ll do I’ll do the occasional hazy but I I’m really into still just my my loggers PSNers my kulches um I like one of the ones I’ve had recently is like a Alamita Brewing they have um I think it’s called Ptown Pills or something just a good German style logger or German style pillser um nice light refreshing you know you know whatever you’re doing outdoors i just I like the fact Yeah ptown pills I think yeah yeah so uh yeah it’s good and almond too obviously PDX here so yeah I think that’s one of my my top ones i also have been playing a lot more golf recently so I enjoy a nice um you know like a Japanese style frame Japanese style logger um uh out on the golf course uh you know after after you know nine or 18 holes so anything light just seems refreshing and again just uh some good beers how about you GMAC what’s in what’s and I’m a big hazy Yeah that’s right guy but yeah you know not my favorite brewery because their IPAs have been lacking but I have been drinking a Frame Hazy IPA that’s just what it’s called i don’t have any cool name um uh it’s it’s been pretty good uh and then my staples Fort George uh the electric surfboard which is a double IPA not a hazy um has been really good um and actually I’m headed out to Fort George Brewery this weekend for a little Father’s Day i think I said that last year when we were doing one of these so we’ll see if there’s any new ones um that I try and and bring back and maybe on the next pod uh we can talk about it but let’s jump into basketball so we don’t waste everyone’s time that doesn’t drink um I’m going to go ahead so what we’re going to do is we each have done a big board um and it’s from the perspective of us not if we were the Blazers not what we think other teams would do in like you know for a mock draft we’re not we’re not putting that out we’re putting in players that we like and I think just naturally because we’re Blazers fans it probably will be a little Blazer centric so you know it’ll be from hey I probably wouldn’t take this guy as high as maybe another guy because I know what the roster is um and I know best fit is a thing i consider best fit making sure that you don’t have like four point guards because you can’t get them all on the floor at the same time type of thing um but yeah that’s that’s general logic that we’re going to go with um so let me and then we’ll do kind of a a confluence of both of ours a combination of both of our mocks or our big boards as we go through this so I will go ahead and share my screen okay there I can see it now gmac there we go and to make this a little bit better I will go full screen there we go perfect all right so yeah why don’t you start off i think we know who is number one on both of our boards it’s pretty consensus but uh Yeah walter Clayton Jr yep i champion whoever wins the championship has to That’s right that’s who you go with i mean yeah just one generational talent really like um super high floor super high ceiling pick there’s probably others um you’re going to go ahead and add him here without me even say the name but yeah it is capture the flag season cooper flag um just all around generational talent i think he’s obviously the consensus number one pick uh you you’ve known uh that I’ve been on the the flag train for a little while now like I think he reclassified um to gain eligibility and enter the NBA even earlier so obviously he was at Duke last year um he’s you know just over 18 now um so obviously just kind of the sky’s is the limit with him he’s really I would describe him as obviously you know as far as a generational talent goes I think even more so is just he’s kind of a renaissance type of player like he’s he just does a little bit of everything and he does a little bit of everything really well in a lot of cases yeah so averaged 198 and4 long season at Duke uh 4839 from 48 39 splits 39% from three that’s higher than I thought he would shoot um and then just his combine measurements you know 68 barefoot with a 7 foot wingspan so he’s he’s really that in addition to his unbelievable defensive play you’re kind of just getting the all-around package in Cooper flag so what are your thoughts on him yeah I mean I just think the question is you know a lot of been going out about like is he a number one option on a on a great team i think that’s the only question but I mean if you end up with I’ve seen a couple comparisons not necessarily in terms of play style but an impact of like a Scotty Pippen who I consider one of the best players of all time even though he was usually a second banana right or even to a lesser extent but still great like a Shawn Marian um with a better shot you know those kind of things a little bigger but I don’t think you would ever be mad with any of those results i think it’s fair to say that he’ll at least be a multi-time all-star so um you know maybe not an MVP candidate per se but you just you never know and I I think that’s a safe bet so let’s not waste time talking about who number one is i think number two we probably have the same guy as well who do you have for number two yeah I I I’m sure we have the same guy Dylan Harper um at our at our number two slot but yeah why don’t you go ahead and talk a little bit about him Graham and I’ll I’ll play off what you say about him yeah I think I think you know he’s a big guard um I I like the comparison of like kind of a bigger Jaylen Brunson because he’s not he’s not unathletic but he’s not athletic in terms of jump out the gym or being really fast which is the same with Jaylen Brunson jaylen Brunson is very good hand eye coordination and he’s strong which you know I think Dylan Harper projects is like a strong guard kind of like that i do think he probably is less of a scorer and more of a playmaker than a Jaylen Brunson but yeah he’s a he’s a big-bodied guard and I think that you know whether he’s a true point guard or he’s playing these days kind of positionless basketball as they all say like he has enough play making to be the lead ball handler and maybe you just have you know like we’ve seen a lot in the playoffs that you’ve pointed out smaller defender type guys that maybe guard the other team’s point guards and he’s he’s shifted up to a you know the weaker of a two or a three so yep yeah well I think I think he’ll be good i I think he’s not going to be Killian Hayes you know um but shout out shout out Kevin O’ Conor from Yo still on the Killian Hayes bandwagon yeah I I agree with you i think you know I think I’m a bit lower on Harper than most people but I I feel like you know he’s he in watching highlights from him recently from his Rucker season is just I I do appreciate that he operates at his own pace and kind of forces his defender to play at his pace he’s also one thing that I didn’t really recognize earlier earlier on and I was looking at his stats later on uh recently is just that he’s a really good finisher at the rim so that is something where you know that’s encouraging I think for a player that’s going from a college level basketball to an NBA level like where the athleticism and the size of those wing defenders and centers and power forwards just get that much bigger and you have to be able to be crafty around the rim and be able to finish around the rim so I think he’s the the total package for the most part love his development next to winyama um obviously we’re not talking about draft today but um at the number two slot pretty comfortable thinking that the Spurs would keep the pick and and Yeah and this might be blasphemy for Blazer fans but another guy that he reminds me of that’s not as contemporary is he gives me a little bit of Brandon Roy like big guard playmaker you know um I think Brandon probably had a little more sneakier bounce but when you said plays at his own pace like that was right you know yes totally yeah cool all right number three maybe we start differing here i’m sure we do on this one okay so I had Ace Bailey here who did you have i have VJ Edgecomb okay so I have VJ at six yeah I figured we’d differ quite a bit i know you’re a little bit lower on edge but yeah make my case but I I you know we can we can throw Edgecomb in there but what the what’s interesting is I heard um that he’s been telling teams that he’s a point guard and not a shooting guard and I don’t know because you know one of my issues is that he is kind of small i know it says 6’5 here but he came in under 6’4 with shoes he is very athletic i don’t think he’s like Shaden Sharp athletic though um and his wingspan isn’t as extensive as Sharp for example but I see the allure of him um I just think you know I my my small guard problem like he’s just Yeah he seems a little combo guard and now that he’s saying he’s a point guard I like that from a size perspective better but I have not seen point guard skills out of him from what I’ve watched um you know I guess he averaged what three assists a game um but yeah we’ll see what What do you What do you like about him i just like his crazy athleticism and explosiveness i like the block rate that he had um on the defensive end as a guard um he had that dunk uh I think on Gonzaga um I I know you just you don’t want to isolate like there’s there’s lots of like incredible dunkers that go from you know NCAA to the NBA but I I just like his evolution um I do think that there like I think the question I have for him is if he can match the technical skills with how athletic he is i would say yeah Sharp is Shaden Sharp on the Blazers obviously probably one of the best dunkers you know top two or three dunker in the NBA you know for his size now um I think VJ is actually right there with him in my estimation um I just like his ability to create space be a shot maker even though the shot you know was a little bit questionable at times i think he shot around 34% from three this year pretty solid true true shooting percentage but I I do just like the fact that he can he kind of reminds me he like he might be the Victor Oladipo type he might be the um you know he might be kind of a a hybrid between a you know if if he meets his ceiling can he be like that Victor Oladipo combined with like Donovan Mitchell type right like yeah do a little bit on both ends of the floor so that’s what’s intriguing to me about him yeah yeah and you know I put Ace Bailey on here i don’t know if you have him at four but the reason I’m putting him on just cuz that’s who we’re kind of comparing and I have really big problems with Ace in terms of like decision making he’s they say 610 here he’s 6’8 yeah a shade without shoes right yeah without shoes without shoes yeah yeah um pretty athletic moves pretty well his ball handling is average um but I think that’s something that he’s not bad but um I just think because he takes such hard shots he still makes them you know and it’s like if he if he does change where hey I can get an easier shot but then he has that ability to like I can still pull up whenever I want basically kind of like a Kevin Durant where you know you’re taller than most of the people you’re going against and it’s like this isn’t that bad of a shot for me so I still like that um and I think a lot of it is like prototype of if you’re looking at a a shooting guard or small forward that’s 6’8 and can shoot and is pretty athletic like it’s hard to find that there’s not a lot of them and even though I hate some of that and how you know Ruters was horrendous but a lot of people pundits have come out and been like well they were really horrendous outside of the two guys outside of those two who were both 18 years old right and like that’s not a storyried program or anything so that’s why I would still have him really high so who did you have at four i have him yeah so we just have him switched i think you have three and then I have VJ at four so the one thing I will say is just to kind of back up what you’re saying is when when I was I watched a couple Ruckers games this year and it would be like where the defense just kind of like the slight 20 guys on him yeah yeah the slightest pressure on him and it just felt like oh like you’re in a really bad spot now what are you going to and then he would make the shot and you’re like “Oh okay well I guess I guess that’s okay right?” Um yeah you wonder if maybe he didn’t trust his teammates a little bit too yeah you know and like if he goes to Philly like that dog don’t hunt with all their options so still shot it like to your point still shot it pretty well um you know good rebounder 35 splits good rebounder actually had decent rim protector as well at his yeah yeah so I think I think he’s still he’s he’s a it’s a mental thing more with him right so you know I had VJ at six the guy I actually had at four was Trey Johnson okay where did you Who did you have at five i guess I have him at five trey Johnson okay so I think we can pencil him in i just think he’s I don’t want to say he’s short i think he’s more of a small forward but um you know he’s 6’5 but he he just can shoot so well and like he has that thing you can’t teach and he does have it’s not like like I like Khan Kuple a lot we’ll get to him probably here shortly but like he almost is purely a shooter or like if you close him out one one dribble pullup type of guy whereas Trey Johnson’s like his handle isn’t great but he does try to get to the basket i think that’s kind of the difference he’s a little more athletic um and he’s he’s very he he puts a lot of pressure on a defense like he’s always looking for a shot and u he’s been a good defender as well but I think he I mean he averaged what 20 points a game as a freshman yeah 19.9 yeah 20 shot Yeah 43% but like taken a lot of threes um once you shot at a high clip so I think that’s that’s a good guy especially plugandplay like your prototypical 3 and D guy underrated athleticism like 38 at the combine um 82 standing reach just hits kind of from like you just feel like when he has the ball in his hands he’s at like there’s a good chance that he’s gonna if he shoots he’s going to make it so he’s just one of those he’s going to pull guys quote he’s going to pull you know like like you just don’t know even from like 28 feet he’s be like you know he he shoots 40% and that at the next level I can see that being a real um obviously a real asset he’s just a he’s just a flatout scoreer really so I like Yeah I think I think he’s a fairly safe pick like at worst he’ll be like a a solid bench player you know i think he’s pretty I think he has a pretty high floor yeah so I compared him probably not the athlete but uh to Terrence Ross Jefferson’s own yeah you know because he was pretty prolific as a shooter um but mostly known for athleticism so Yep yeah um all right who Who else did Who do you have next here i think we’re pretty similar on this but you already mentioned him coniple is who I have at six yep me too so we have I have him at five but we’re It’s the same yeah yeah so we’re Yeah so and just for me for Con um he obviously had a phenomenal season at at Duke um one of the things that I notice about uh you know in interviews with um Kan Malowich as well as obviously Cooper Flag is just like how um you know like how complimentary they are of of Conaniple like there’s just there’s something to that where his game he’s a team player type player he also his game just kind of evolved during the course of the season just had unbelievable touch developed more of that like ball handling presence I think as the season went on i think he shot like what 48 49% on spot up threes this year that’s just incredible yeah his his shooting size is insane yeah I my concern with him is what you would maybe suspect and that I think he might be targeted a bit defensively he does have good size he did come in shorter like he’s listed 67 here he was he came out 65 yeah so you think you know I So my my point being I know we differ a little bit on you know defensive strategy but like he’ll just be one of those like you know bigger guard smaller wings that’ll have to you’ll kind of have to scheme for on the defensive end like can he develop the ability to guard um bigger players um can he stay with you know smaller guards so that that’s some of the risk he’s pretty strong which is he is he is strong enough yeah I agree and I just think he’s he’s a really you know um really heady player like I I kind of see him if if we’re modeling like against like uh current NBA players or or recent NBA players maybe can he develop into an Austin Reeves type um can he be that Gordon Hayward type not as big as Gordon Hayward but yeah um yeah I don’t really have much to add but I just think I mean his shooting is so elite that it’s doesn’t really matter and that as long as he’s not horrendous at defense it’ll be fine so um yeah he’ll he’ll fit in pretty much anywhere too with his ability to shoot which is which is always a good thing that versatility of like Yeah we can use shooting yep um I think this is probably where it’s going to get a little crazy um I bet we start differing pretty yeah so my seven actually why don’t we go with your seven who’s your seven okay so I’m I’m excited about my seventh pick i have come on Malawich at seven i And again we’re talking Blazer specific here this is just our overall this is also kind of just a combination of Blazer specific but to GMAC’s point like also just our own big boards i love a rim running big to start right um you said rim running okay rim running big like not [Â __Â ] yeah right defensive anchor the the other thing that kind of stands out and GMA you know you can appreciate that I uh you know I played fantasy hoops for a long time but I’m always looking for those like out of position stats so to speak and the one thing that stands out from Malawich is that he’s a good free throw shooter 70 I think 77% um something like that so that’s he shot from the field too he shot 71% yeah like 74% true shooting percentage which is obviously like he’s just dunking and you know close to the a lot obviously so but like the free throws is a he’s not going to necessarily be like a DeAndre Jordan right like right like yeah he might be still dunking all the time but you won’t have to worry about him getting fouled and not hitting shots right the the other thing that I found really intriguing about him is that when I watch when I watched him during the course of the season and the tournament is that he while he can’t necessarily stay with quicker perimeter players he has the ability to like actually hedge pretty well and get down on the defensive end on the perimeter unlike a lot of other bigs even that are rim running like a gaffer or a lightweight type for Dallas um he like I’m just really intrigued by him i also think from a Blazers perspective that if we did I don’t think he would be available at 11 i think he’ll go earlier than that but I do think like it kind of fits Chanty Bilips scheme and strategy for like how he likes to run his defensive schemes so what do you have to add to that like I know that’s kind of it’s probably not I have him at 14 okay yeah so quite a bit different and I don’t disagree with any of the stuff you’re saying but similar to my I wouldn’t say anti-claning but like I do feel like you can find these guys easier like a rim protecting rim running big outside of the lottery right so he’s still I mean depending on what you consider like Colin Murray Boils he’s still my first true big right on my board i just have him uh yeah 14th and that’s not you know that’s not to say when we do a mock draft that he could go higher but again my personal big board he would be there and it’s like okay if he’s still available here like you have to take him is kind of my thought um but I like a lot of these other guys ahead of him the guy I had is the complete opposite end of the spectrum and I usually do hate these guys too small guard Jeremiah fears um okay I I have a fear no pun intended that he’s going to end up being like what we wanted Scoot to be um the thing that he has that I really like he’s not a great shooter but his handle is so good like yeah and I don’t just mean like he controls the ball like a lot of point guards have a good handle because you know they don’t lose the ball or they can get out of traffic but his handles like break people down handle like I’m not going to say he’s Kyrie or anything but um I just watch him and like he does get downhill a lot um you know 174 and four as a really young freshman and he shot you know it’s 43% overall and that was with some bad three-point shooting but um I just have a belief that he his downhill ability with his speed and he’s he’s a little bigger than Scoot in terms of height but they have a similar build um but I just I can see him going to somewhere like Brooklyn or something like that where it’s like okay here you go you know kind of how Utah did with uh Keonte George but just a better finisher i guess that’s the thing he’s a He’s a pretty good finisher he has a nice little pullup he’s just got to expand that to more of a a three-point game i don’t know if you where did you have fears i had him so almost opposite i had him at 14 yeah so we basically switched Malawich and Fears i And that was a hard hard one for me because I think if I was the Blazers we’ll get to these guys later but I’d rather have some of these bigger point guards than Fierce if I was picking you know like if Fierce Yakos and Demine were all available at 11 Fierce would not be my pick so um but I do think he has value for someone that doesn’t have like if you’re looking at him more as like a star potential i think uh I think that’s who you’d want i I can understand that my my concern with fears just specifically I won’t touch on it too much but just a few things almost a one to one assist to turnover ratio know he’s got a tight handle know he’s a good finisher but that and just the size for what the style of play that he plays you know 6’2 and a half without shoes um also only a 65 wingspan like I I I have concerns at the next level of like okay yeah you can finish and um you know at the NCAA level a little bit of concern over that as well as just his three-point percentage like he shot it at like 28 29% from three um so I just there’s some those are some red flags to me which is why he’s down further on the list fully realizing that he’s mocked like as an aggregate I think much higher probably around this range yeah totally just like Malawak was with with me i think it’s it’s I I don’t know what it is with me of him because as I’ve said before I don’t like small guards but he has like that that it factor and I just feel like you don’t see guys with that kind of handle as a freshman coming into the league so he very well could could you know could be a great player it’s the one of the complaints with Scoot was that like I don’t think he had any elite skill you know like he was he had really good athleticism um but like I see this as like oh he’s by far the best ball handler in the draft so I won’t spend too much time on Fierce uh who do you have at uh eight or nine we might match this one i have Casper Yakonis at Me too at my eighth and now this ninth yeah so I mean I’ll start out Start with him 6’5 without shoes big crafty guard i love that he just puts defenders in an uncomfortable spot he just had some passes in watching his games this year where even having like a bird’s eye view of the court you’re like how did he how did he even find that player right like and some flare too he just has some flare i’m I’m confident he can maintain being like a crafty score at the next level i realized um that I think he had a forearm injury like mid-season really impacted his shooting and I and I um I think someone I think it was like Danny Shower Jay Kyle man on the ringer that was talking about like he shot actually I think 41% from three pre-injjury so I really I I if he’s available um when Blazers pick and kind of in our range Yeah boy that’s a hard one to pass up yeah that’s my my guy unless any of these top six Yeah don’t fall further right like if Khan through Cooper fall then I would take them but of of that next set like I just think to you know his size is one thing but he also does have the ability to play off the ball so it’s like you can play him with Scoot and you can play him with Shaden and you can play him with I mean I I’m assuming Anthony won’t be for long but like you can go double guard and he can guard the worst of the the shooting guard or small forward because he has that good size and like he’s strong um and I think you know they say he does he’s not athletic like he can’t jump but he he has a really quick first step which I think is very important for a point guard right he’s not like John Wall or De’ar Fox like sprinting down the court but like his handle is good he did have some turnover problems but I think you know you kind of live with that uh you know Tyres Hallebertton has some of those problems too and you’re like it’s worth it you know so yeah I see him as a real strong playmaker and the Blazers in particular would really need that they just don’t have a lot of that um okay i love I love him on the Blazers i I hope we have a shot on him yeah that that’d probably be my pick um who’s your next guy my next guy is also a playmaker you mentioned him earlier Igor Deon okay i have him just one spot below so I’m right there with you so just uh you know high basketball IQ one of the things that you know shot lights out at the combine which I know that’s not you know a game setting but I was I I would have had concerns had he like shot really poorly at the combine as well because he obviously had those concerns in season from a Blazers perspective and I think this has been mentioned but he does have a lot of similars similar similar similarities to Danny Abia um I think he’s probably just because he can see over the defender at such a high level because he’s just so tall at 6’8 69 he’s probably the best passer in this draft I would say like I I think he just possesses that ability just to have like again the bird’s eye view over a defender um and if he can develop a consistent shot I can see him easily being a top three guy in this draft that might be a little bit bold but I think most people think that his shot will be at least okay the the complaints I’ve heard are like defensively um Yeah same but like I would never expect a 6869 guy to be guarding like point guards all the time i think you you know again if you look at a Blazers perspective let’s say he’s starting like most likely you know Tummani or Sharp or Denny will be guarding the best two perimeter players on the other team and he’s so at 68 69 he’s going to be able to guard most threes and fours at least without having to worry about the foot speed issue um but it’s it’s some of it it’s not foot speed some of it’s just maybe he hasn’t played enough you know so I think that can go but yeah his passing he’s not ma Magic Johnson but in terms of like his height being able to see over everything like he and this wasn’t just like highlights like he does it all the time he whips these balls like basically like he’s flown frisbee with his right hand and just whips it crosscourt like into the corner right to a guy and you’re like okay like that’s pretty good and he is pretty athletic too for his height in terms of like dunking and getting to the basket so obviously not even clo like his ceiling is not even close obviously to this like top three player all time but just just his p like his crosscourt passing sometimes reminds me of like those single hand um passes that LeBron will will throw to like a baseline shooter like a corner three shooter that’s kind of what it reminds me of um I’ve seen some comparisons to Giddy but I actually think he’s much more athletic than Giddy is um obviously there’s other intangibles but like people have also compared him to Abdia you know so like I like the AIA comparison not as strong um of course or but maybe not yet so um Okay okay guy that I had Oh what’ you I was gonna say no you you start with one because I picked I think the last couple so yeah I had Colin Murray Boils here i I can’t quite figure him out yeah um I think I I like him as like a a Draymond Green type of guy um maybe with a little more ball handling going to the basket um and less playmaking but like defensively he’s just very disruptive i don’t think he’ll ever be like a star but I think he’s a guy that like hey if he’s coming off the bench or he’s starting like you’re just not going to have to worry about him yeah you know like he’s going to play good defense he’s going to make the right play he can’t really shoot um but like he’s a plugandplay guy probably from even when he’s young so I I had to put him there above you know some of these other guys that are below him seem like more projects and project a higher ceiling but um he seems to be like “Oh yeah he’s going to be a solid NBA player.” You know I think he’ll be at least a rotation player i have him outside of my top 14 um but I just have concerns that he’s considered a bit of a tweener um I don’t like the fact that at his size he can’t shoot the three at all which I’m at least looking for and I realize he can develop that potentially um we’ve seen other wings um develop a three-point shot like in the league so if he can do that I think he’s going to be very valuable i love his playmaking and but but you know just that tweener status and um it’s just going to be if if he can if he can start making a shot um and you know provide that value on the court I think he’ll be you know heavily in rotations I can see him being an eventual starter on a good team if he can do that I I I just have some questions around that yeah not so much the playmaking but the other stuff i think it it’s almost similar to Jeremy Grant when he came in the league you know he’s like known as like a defensive guy is he a power forward small forward and then yeah he just now he Well I mean even last year he shot horribly from the field but his three-point shooting was still around 40% you know like he became a 20 point guy when he started shooting so that’s a really good comparison yeah Jeremy Grant was not in any way shape or form an like offensive any sort of offensive player when he came to the league he has really developed that shot so if he if he can do that yeah he’s really valuable he’s a just absolutely elite defender so all right almost done with the lottery here um we just talked some Colin Murray Boils who did you have in this next spot yeah we’ve talked about this player um quite a bit in the p like basically directly after the combine as well but this is kind of a unique prospect in that um he’s kind of bounced around a few schools started at the D3 level but I really like Cedric Coward in this range as well i have a 13 so pretty close okay gotcha so not too far away i I didn’t know if you’d have him in the top in your top uh 14 but 187 and four last season with Washington State started with um you know shout out to our relatively local um D3 school in this area in Salem Oregon uh same conference as us yeah want Bearcats um and then he transferred to Eastern Washington for a season or two and then ended up at Washington State i think he followed the his coach from Eastern Washington to Washington State and was planning to go to Duke next year exactly exactly so bit of an bit of an older prospect i think I think he’s probably pretty close to 22 now if memory serves y I he had a season ending shoulder surgery at Washington State but in those five or six games he was like an 187 and four five guy um just really well-rounded 56% from the field 40% from three yeah it just like uh you 7 foot wingspan uh pretty good athleticism known as a good defender i mean it’s kind of like what’s not to like i think I think his age is kind of a deterrent a little bit but I that doesn’t really bother me like in today’s age just because it feels like there’s more player movement regardless so I’m okay i mean we took obviously as Blazer fans we took Dame Lillard when he was like 22 it doesn’t really bother me to have a more well-rounded like evolved player coming into the league so I’m perfectly comfortable in this range and honestly if he worked out really well um for us in like a a single or group workout probably be more of a single workout but I I I would be happy with the Blazers taking him um at 11 if you know other guys were off the board already so he just he seems to check a lot of the boxes great size uh stats to back it up and just really seems like he’s peing at the right time so yeah I mean I’ve heard several people say like he’s going to be a star crazy like now I my my comparison that I shared with you a while back was Aaron Nesmith um it’s a little bit bigger but like Nith had that shortened season but he was like rid he shot lights out right and you’re obviously seeing like yeah he’s not a star but he’s a he’s you know maybe the second tier defender on a on the perimeter for a finals team um who can he does shoot pretty much lights out um he’s strong he makes some stupid mistakes i I’ve heard Coward is very smart um I mean he went he went to Wamut he paid money to go to Wamut to play basketball yeah you know like and you can’t just get into a laminate either like there’s not an athletic scholarship that you know they can just take you if you have bad grades like he he seems like a smart dude i’ve heard some interviews with him yep one of the comps I heard was freaking Kawawaii Leonard and you’re like you know yeah one too and I I kind of Yeah I think that’s a little But like people are really impressed with him he was great at the combine his interviews have been great he’s had a few workouts and there’s like a part of me that’s like gotta maybe take it you know if he’s really intriguing as a prospect so and he’s kind of just like I think if he was like 18 or 19 you’re probably looking at him top three top three i would say top three if you’re if you’re have those numbers and you’re 19 yeah but the and that’s the thing is like obviously the D3 season um you know he kind of proved himself but I I do think similar to Dame there’s like a chip on the shoulder type of guy that you’re like hey this guy wants to prove himself whatever level he gets to he wants to keep going up um like I had to go to D3 then I had to fight my way to you know a pretty lowlevel D1 school know um uh not not to disparrage Eastern Washington University but um but yeah and then even Washington State like the non-pack 12 Washington State like wasn’t you were not playing at like that high of a level but then Duke notices you like that’s a really good sign to me that’s a good sign yeah so yeah he’s and again the the measurements I’ve mentioned that several times like that’s that’s your prototype for like a small forward shooting guard guy i think his his biggest um the biggest complaint I’ve heard like doesn’t have an advanced handle in any way right um but his shooting is is very smooth i don’t know if you mentioned it but like pull-ups and spot-ups which Right and then like Yeah he’s a good defender like he gets a lot of blocks um which is always interesting as a as a wing player for guys to get blocks uh from behind and at the rim i mean that’s one reason like I think Tum thinks so highly of Tumani like challenges dudes at the rim um so yeah there’s like I think a month ago he was like “Oh this guy’s cool maybe he’ll make the first round.” And now I was like “God should he be in the top 10?” Like I was thinking that highly of him yeah I’ve seen him mocked somewhere like I’ve seen him mocked like pretty early as well as outside of the lottery as well so he’s got a pretty wide range but um I think when people look at his resume and see D3 that’s certainly the turn and then his age are the two biggest things but the fact that he just keeps going to the next level like that’s and and he was planning to go to Duke until people are like “No you’re going to get picked like also a good sign.” Right exactly so yeah the the only guys I had above him that we haven’t mentioned yet uh was Carter Bryant i had him at 12 okay and then Noah uh Sing I think is pronounce it uh the French guy who he actually we saw him play last year against the Blazers um and he actually had a pretty good game but he he was rail thin and now he looks much more filled out i think he’s pretty young um he’s really young turned 18 I think yeah yeah um but he and he’s been having a hell of a run in the I don’t know if it’s Euro basket but whatever the hell playoff season right now um he like he’s really sprung up because of those and he looks like he’s getting it but he moves well he has a pretty fluid shot i think he’s like mid to low 30s percentage-wise but it’s one of those things that it’s gotten better over the season uh defensively you know he’s I think he’s 68 no shoes where did you have Where did you have Es i had him at 15 so right in this range as well like I had him right outside the lottery but I I I actually had him higher i just again when we kind of related to the Blazers specifically i’m just like we kind of have this guy in Ryan Rupair already like I don’t know i um there’s Well we also and we also are just flush with other wings and we have pretty much are our incumbent starters right and that doesn’t even count Jeremy Grant so it’s kind of hard to see yeah he’s one of those guys where like it’s kind it’s a bit of a roll of the dice just because he’s so young but he shows a lot of tools he’s really gangly like he he literally has like star upside like he he you know who you mentioned Ryan Rupair who’s also been compared to this guy but he’s got he’s got some Batum in him and but when Batum came in he didn’t have the playmaking skills you know that took him a few years but um just kind of that raw understanding i mean I think people kind of forget like Batum started as a rookie on a 54 win team you know like he kind of filled all those little spots like he was the defender and I remember him dunking on Rudy Gobear um and Pog Gasol you know and had like really just long and skinny and so yeah I mean I would be I would be happy with a player like that with Oh totally yeah but um what about what about Carter Bryant where did you have him yeah I had Carter Bryant I believe at my 13th pick so probably similar range to where you had him as well yeah I have Carter at and I would say these guys are pretty interchangeable for me but Carter Bryant’s also like again that prototype and I think the only knock on him is like he just didn’t start at Arizona but I mean they were a really good team um he shot well he didn’t shoot a lot but he did shoot well he’s very athletic he’s really filled out uh I can totally see him like his comparison has been Tummani which is good um you know obviously a lot younger like I don’t think you can go wrong taking a guy like that in a late lottery um like again he’s what 19 yep i think he’s pretty young too but he’s young i think he’s 19 yeah if you watch some of his plays he’s very athletic bouncy athletic kind of covers a lot of space looks to be a good help defender i think he’s a worthy project and again his shots pretty good so like we don’t maybe really know how good he could have been like again not at Arizona just struggled to to It wasn’t that he couldn’t get minutes it was more of like an opportunity on offense they just had a lot of other right you I mean they went to the elite eight right so it’s not like that was some crappy team I don’t worry about him in the Zack Collins sense at first I was like oh great another guy didn’t start you know for his team right um but yeah what what’s your take on Carter yeah I I like him I think he’s you know he’s like like you’re saying if you know at the late lottery especially you want a guy if you’re kind of going for fit at that point you kind of you kind of want to try to blend a little bit of like all right what’s the ceiling of this player but also can we get some like immediate production from him and I feel like he’s kind of that archetype where you’re just like hey three and D guys are always going to be productive you know and um if if he can slot into like an you know eight through 10 rotation player by season’s end um and there’s a little bit of room for even more production then I think that that’s a a worthy flyer he’s got good size i think he weighs like 215 220 220 like he’s pretty like for a 19year-old is built yeah um not you know like you know um he he just to your point he just didn’t have a lot of usage so it’s kind of tough to be like yeah like if he had more usage you probably have a better idea of like it might actually it might actually hurt him right like if it’s like sure oh this guy with more usage like his like that volume really impacted his efficiency type of deal like you never know like that that could have been actually bad for him so you never really know with the with the usage conversation if that’s going to be helpful or hurt a player’s like status yes to counter that too like in some ways you know you have these guys that they’ve been the star at where they go and then they come to the NBA and they have to adjust to not being the star and that’s that’s really hard for him and he’s the opposite of like hey you already know you’re not the star you’re going to do all these intangibles and get good at them and then in the background you know that’s where you’ll work on your three-point shooting and your handle and and things like that and then slowly kind of we don’t need you to do anything else we need you to do those other things whereas for the stars it’s like I’m nothing without the ball you know sometimes so it’s they struggle a little bit okay so we did you have anyone else in the the top 14 that we didn’t mention uh yes for me I have a couple guys that I can just touch on briefly but they’re just they’re they’re because you you obviously a little bit of differences there but we can also throw them into the like you know this late lottery early non lottery sure sure yeah that’s what I’m kind of getting at is like our next few so I had outside of the players that we’ve already talked about which we obviously had some similarities i know this one you’re not going to agree with because we’ve already chatted about him but I have Jace Richardson in my 11 slot [Music] 22 is where I had him yeah so Noy Small during the course of the season just really developed that selfcreation knows how to run the pick and roll which I think will allow him to play point at the next level because he showed a lot more of that later in the season uh the other thing is like I just think that he has a lot of intangibles i know that’s a cliche term at the NBA level but he just seems like a real heady like intelligent he has basketball intelligence for sure and the other thing that just from a statistical perspective he shot like lights out like he’s just he he shot 41 42% from three i think 48 to 50% from field goal like just in general um decent wingspan you know i know he’s only six feet like but 66 wingspan um I kind of compare him to like that this player really you know before his injury was like “Wow where did this guy come from?” Jared McCain um okay yeah also a smaller guard not necessarily the deacto point guard at the NCAA level but just like that type i don’t like the term combo guard and it kind of makes me like uh you know I I know he wasn’t the traditional point guard for that Spartan squad but I love I just like his style of play i mean you could see him on a like plug him into OKC next to any of those other defensiveminded guards and you know with SGA still in there you know or bigger ball handler and he’s the really the secondary ball handler things like that I think can work i don’t probably see him as a starter you know so that also might not be a problem like usually your backup point guard is doesn’t have to be a as true of a point guard um or at least as much of a burden on them so and see I can see him I can see him i’m just higher on him i I can see him as an eventual start i’ I’ve seen um some mocks where he’s up in the six seven range now i’ve seen some where to your point he’s outside the top 20 so he he has a at this level you’re going to expect some range on that i’m just higher on him I would say than most um I liked his his um you know just development of a as a player over the course of the season i also like Tom Mizo like he’s pretty hard-nosed doesn’t like to play a lot of freshman and uh Jayce Richardson was getting a lot of run like he is a legacy though yeah but I mean like in the tournament like you don’t care what your leg you know what I mean like Yeah um anyway so you had in the the top 14 yeah briefly the other guy I have that’s kind of my I think maybe my Tristan Dilva type from last year is Nick Clifford oh I got him at 15 oh awesome i’m at 12 yeah so just a really well-rounded player also I think 23 24 years old he’s older but the way he’s been described as a bigger Josh Hart is like “Oh that’s Yeah exactly yeah he averaged 18 19 points basically 10 rebounds and basically five assists like shot 50% from the field i think he’s probably a better shooter but yeah he he seems to be a guy it’s like everyone needs a dude like that i wouldn’t expect him to be a big scorer but you know yeah Josh Hart bigger Josh Hart that’s bigger Josh Hart with I mean probably not the probably not the rebounder that Josh Hart is at his size at the NBA level but maybe I mean 10 10 a game in college is not bad no I know but I mean like at the NBA level and then like and then maybe a better shooter slightly right like Josh’s not a great three-point shooter so um I I just I like his his overall game and again I’m just different in the fact that I like um I think both of us are similar in the like that that the older age like a prospect is doesn’t really like deter us from like wanting to draft them so no no especially now um like if we’re looking like if this if he ended up on the Blazers I’d be completely happy probably not at 11 but but like Yeah someone’s going to get him later yeah he shot 38% from three on five attempts a game that’s pretty good yeah he’s a fifthear senior yep um and he really broke out the last two years he did you know he did play in a crappy conference he went you know call he went he was at Colorado um which is also funny because Jabari knows him walker they played together when they were there so that connection um but yeah I think I think he’s one of those guys someone’s going to get a good a good value out of him um yeah some of the guys I had on the on the precipice we mentioned mentioned Malawak earlier i had him at 14 y um after Nick at 16 I have Nolan Trayori he’s a super fast French guard but he’s not really that good at anything else um but I do like his like at one point he was a projected like top five so there’s something there and then I have a bunch of big men so I’m just going to list them all off in order i have Rashir Fleming yep people see he’s gotten some comparisons to like a like a Kawawaii in a way too like he’s I don’t I do not see him as a small forward at all right i don’t I can’t like maybe he can guard him a little bit but like yeah he to me he’s kind of reminds me of honestly like a poor man’s Jabari uh not Jabari Walker uh Parker Smith Jr oh Jabari Smith Jr yeah yeah he’s you know 69 and he he can shoot i mean Jabari could shoot in college quite a bit um good defender uh you know probably he’s a little bit bigger and better rebounder but like I think he could find a spot coming off the bench versus some having those minutes you know maybe like a Jay Crowder type guy but like more of a four and then I have Thomas Sorber the Georgetown guy Austin Derek Queen which I know is in tons of lottery and we do not like him i just they’re like “Oh he’s like uh Al Jefferson.” I’m like there’s no guys in the NBA right now that are like Al Jefferson like I just you can’t be a post good postcore like good I mean if you’re elite fine but a good postcore with no defense you just can’t agreed i just I I I think there’s just too many defensive limitations i There are some people that love I mean there’s people he can play the four no he can’t uh I mean he’s not a great three-point shooter to my knowledge um or didn’t just didn’t take a lot of maybe can develop that but I mean he is a connector i mean Maryland just made a hell of a run there in the tournament so I I don’t know i don’t really I don’t see it but um again there’s some pundits that have him really high so maybe I’m just missing something on him i’ll just mention Noah Penda another French player i don’t know if you have him in your I don’t He’s not in my top 34 yeah he’s just kind of that you know defense first type player he’s I think Yeah 225 230 pounds like I think he led the um led the his current league the his current I think he might have gotten really Clint Capella was maybe a comp for him yeah he’s much smaller than Clint though like he’s only like 67 68 oh is he that short yeah he’s not he he’s more of a like athletic um kind of one of those versatile large wings jonath Jonathan Moogbo or Mogbo yeah right right um so and then he’s also just got like some playmaking ability as well so we we don’t need to really dive in too much more the other guy I wanted to mention and again you’re not gonna probably agree with this pick but it’s well a couple a couple quick guys i’ll start with Walter Clayton Jr i already mentioned him yeah I don’t have him in the top one but I I would agree like he’s going to be a good value for someone yeah so I I just like him in the you know probably the late first um where do you have Danny Wolf i I saw I’ve seen Danny kind of all over the place as well i like that you might like a a team with a rim running or defensive first big might just throw like throw a pick at Danny or throw you throw themselves at Danny just for like just a different look at center i just it’s not really my style of No he’s I think he’s a better play a better playmaking less um worse shooting Kelly Olen yeah that’s a good way yeah like like and I actually like Oolen oolin’s pretty versatile i do too is he like a you know Filipowski from last year type of type i have him at 23 i mean I think that’s fair right like Yeah I would say any anywhere in that like 18 to 25 range for him yeah I’ve seen him as high as like eight or nine though the guy who’s really moved up for me who’s also a center is Maxim Rayude from Yeah yeah I’ve seen him too he can shoot and he can rim protect and I’m like like for the Blazers I’m like this is perfect you get a little bit of the rim protection when he’s in and then you get the change of right of you know you have a guy who can pick and pop outside or shoot and just kind of you know I mean this in the best way possible but like uh like a Myers Leonard type of guy um hopefully much smarter like I mean basketball smarts not even the other smarts um but yeah he’s he’s a guy do you have any like kind of sleeper guys the one guy we haven’t mentioned also is Liam McNeely i’ve seen him mocked pretty high i have him at 26 floor spacer um where poor man’s poor man’s conne Yeah pretty much i mean he shot horribly that’s the problem like I think you have to believe he’s a much better shooter i mean he shot 38% from the field you know um but he was supposed to be good i I think he’ll his catch and shoot his catch and shoots were like 44% or something sam Hower was a like you can talk that’s probably pretty decent i’m you can say I mean Sam Hower’s been averaging like eight or nine points the last few years on a really good team you know and he Sam Hazer actually is not a terrible defender so I mean yeah like you get a guy like that late lottery that’s fine do you see anyone in like outside of the guys we’ve talked about that projects may not projects but like has a star potential boy I have I have one that I think has a possibility but he could also Is it going to be Is it going to be Ben Sif no I do have him at 25 okay um the guy who who I’ve really kind of come around to and he didn’t like score all that much he played for UNCC drake Powell oh Drake Powell yeah yeah he’s super fast and athletic he’s like a legit 65 um he shot pretty well i’m like God this is a guy I can see maybe his star potentials is strong but like I see him as like oh he’s going to be much better like as a pro than he would be um like I think he’ll be better than Nas Little for example you know he’s kind of a similar profile not like as big of a guy but right the other guy is who and I don’t really know why he’s not projected as high but he’s a big point guard he shoots the hell out of the ball doesn’t not a great playmaker but good defender tyrese Proctctor from Duke oh right yeah he’s six like he’s 6’5 good defense and can shoot like and you know you see him as a point guard he went back to school he was supposed to come out last year and as much as I hate the Duke like I mean he’s he’s really good like if you get him I have him at 30 like if you get him in the late first round or early second round like that seems like a really good pick so Blazers don’t have a second round pick as of yet so it’s not as fun to look at these guys but yeah there’s a bunch of like Mark Sears is one of those guys i’m like “Yeah take him with a second you know.” Yeah true you liked him last year a lot didn’t you who was that mark Sears oh Mark Sears yeah that Yeah yeah that was I remember we talked about him quite a bit last year but he kind of he his shooting percentage dropped off a little bit but he’s I mean he’s still a good play cam Jones is another like right out of that Wesley Matthews Jimmy Butler Marquette guy you know like you talked about Nemhard right like just that yeah i don’t think he’ll get drafted but like he’d be perfect as a G-League guy yep another Dink Pat um he’s like a 67 oh right he played for with Scoot on the Ignite and then he’s been in the Mexican Mexico City the Mexican city Mexico City Capitans but I’ve I’ve kind of liked his game just because he’s a tall ball handler um but yeah I think we covered pretty much everyone i mean there’s I haven’t seen any other sleepers there’s Micah Peavey from Georgetown Will Riley from Illinois that was kind of an intriguing freshman hate his shot yeah he’s Yeah that’s the thing with him just like yeah it’s um you know just projects as a pretty well-rounded player but it’s can he get the shot to fall so at this range that’s you’re like you know it’s a question of development versus immediate productivity and where do you kind of see him on your roster i’m also just weary of like you know first round’s guaranteed money and you’re like playing that game of like like are we you know do do we need to what do we have as a guarantee here as a franchise right so you just kind of have to weigh the weigh that but he’s got good size young kind of a gangly guy he’s like 180 pounds so yeah 6’8 but Jim Carrey big teeth kind of gangly yeah um but I I mentioned his name but didn’t mention much about him but um I go back and forth on Thomas Sorber or is it Sorbet um Sorber I think yeah he Yeah he reminds me of uh Wendell Cart Wendell Carter Jr like kind of groundbound but like strong really long arms and you know pretty good touch like I think he’s a little more athletic maybe and Wendell got a lot bigger so it’s kind of hard to remember what he was like when he first came in the league but um short right I think he’s like 68 and a half without shoes and a half without shoes oh I thought he was 6’8 and a half maybe maybe um but he’s not he’s not like your traditional tall center right but I I could see him he has really long arms um so I I could see him being a pretty good late pickup i have him at 18 but yeah not not loving this i mean honestly I should move him up just because I like him but Maxim I would be like “Yeah take him.” Not at not at 11 but over some of these other guys like I’d probably rather have him than Derek Queen even though Derrick Queen’s a better basketball player it’s like if he’s not a focal point of your offense like what’s the point yeah i just I don’t I don’t see it with him but now that we’ve said that he’s probably going to come in and just like win rookie of the year or something i mean I’m trying to think of where he could go in the lottery that he would just get feels like maybe maybe he could fit in like I mean they wouldn’t take him that high but like Washington you know next that’s what I was saying i feel like he could fit in with Sar Washington yeah a very mobile other big man that can that can guard guys but yeah I’ve seen them projected to Utah and I’m like him and Kesler there a lot of bodies down the line you have to be able to shoot like if you’re going to be paired with the center like that like Yeah well and they don’t have any other shooting really except for Yeah they just need a lot of shooting honestly yeah i don’t know what they’ll do with marketing then but cool well let’s we can wrap this up and then uh next week we’ll we’ll try to put this into a full mock i don’t think it’s going to be incredibly different but I do think like some of the guys we had lower like I mean Derek Queen and that guy we might actually mock him much higher than we have him he definitely will be mocked much higher yeah just because there’s teams out there that are definitely intrigued by him yeah all right cheers everyone see you next week cheers guys thanks for watching and listening [Music] hey hey hey
A Portland Trail Blazers-centric look at the top prospects heading into the 2025 NBA draft. Plus our recent favorite beers.
