Northwest NBA Draft Recap: Surprising Picks, Big Risks & Fantasy Winners

Northwest NBA Draft Recap: Surprising Picks, Big Risks & Fantasy Winners

Let’s continue our look around the NBA. Recapping the NBA draft. We’re going Northwest. We’re going to the division that has the fifth pick in the draft. We’re going to the division that has the NBA champs, Michael Bolton. Thanks, Josh. It’s Michael Bolton here and it’s time for another episode of the Locked On Fantasy Basketball Podcast. Let’s get to it. Let’s get to it. Indeed. You are Locked on Fantasy, your daily NBA fantasy podcast, part of the Locked On podcast network, your team every day. Hello and welcome to the Locked On Fantasy Basketball Podcast, brought to you by Basketball Monster. My name is Josh Lloyd and I’ve been waved and stretched. I’m also the lead fantasy analyst at basketball.com and thank you for making locked on fantasy basketball your first listen every day. We are free. We are available on all platforms. We are continuing to go around the league and just cover off the final couple of divisions here. In terms of the NBA draft, we’re doing Denver, Minnesota, Oklahoma City, Portland, and Utah in this show. Shouldn’t be particularly long show, just a cover off of all of these guys. As I am currently uh not live, I’m recording this show on uh July the 2nd. It is the day you’re seeing this, the 8th, or the 9th. I’m guessing it is National Dimples Day on the day you’re seeing this. So, if you got a dimple, stick your finger in it. And I guess let’s listen to stuff about the NBA draft. Yeah, let’s get in and do that. Um, of course, you’ve already seen the free agency fallout stuff. You have seen um other bunch of draft videos and dynasty ranks that I’ve put out uh week or so ago. So, check all of those out. Let’s get into talking about this Northwest Division. All right, the the start here. We’re going alphabetically on this team. There’s not a lot to talk about with the Denver Nuggets cuz they did not have a single draft pick. Now, there’s a lot to talk about in the Denver Nuggets in terms of their free agency and what they did in the offseason. You already know by now. Trades that have happened, Cam Johnson in um Jonas Valentunis in like just a bunch of stuff that’s happened, but I’ve covered that stuff previously and we’ll wrap it all up later on when we do the offseason recap when I come back. But their draft very underwhelming. They did bring in a two-way player actually for in terms of a grade. They didn’t get a grade. They didn’t make a pick, but they did bring in Tamar Bates on a two-way deal. Um, it’s fine. Uh, would he have been my number one choice for a two-way? Not really, but that doesn’t matter. I think Tamar Bates, he was someone that was on my draft board, so I thought that he was um, yeah, worthy of investigating and checking in on. He’s a 22year-old 6’5 shooting guard. Shot 40% from three last season. And we know that the Nuggets have prioritized shooting. They’re prioritizing in free agency. Hopefully, this is something that he’s able to work his way into a role. this team is going for it right now. So, I don’t think we’re going to see anything from Tamar Bates honestly this season. It just be unlikely. They also have Curtis Jones on an exhibit 10 and somebody by the name of Rain Smith on a summer league invite. And I couldn’t I don’t know if I could find a team that had less relevance in this draft/ undrafted free agency process. There’s just not a lot to talk about with a team with no picks and with the team that’s not going to use any of these guys. So, I won’t waste your time talking about it. I will waste your time talking about this next team that is the Minnesota Timberwolves. Now, they like the Nuggets are good. They like the Nuggets are going for it. They made big moves to to bolster their front court. I again I am recording this July 2nd. I don’t know if some wild trade has happened in between and Rudy Gobear is no longer on the squad or something, but they brought back Julius Randall. They brought back the Wizard of Nars Reed and they are basically intact. And what I find incredibly incredibly interesting, Windhorse fingers is they got two centers who are not dissimilar in terms of size, which they obviously value, and rim protection abilities. At pick number 17, this is a guy that I think I would say two months ago, not many people were talking about Yoan Ber as a first round option, but he ended up being a first round pick. I ended up I think I had him in the 20s but Beer goes at pick 17 to the Wolves. Now Yan Ber has like his measurements are all over the place but the official last measurements were like he was 7 foot without shoes. He’s incredibly young. He’s not 19. A low usage center who blocks a lot of shots who doesn’t space the floor who’s a strong finisher. They’ve got one of those players. Not sure if you know he’s French. He’s won defensive player of the year four times and he is the starting center for the Timberwolves. Do not expect Baron to do anything immediately. You’ve got Go, you’ve got Reed. You don’t have Luca Gaza anymore. He’s gone to Boston to maybe be the starter. I don’t know. We’ll see what else Boston has done. And then you’ve got guys like or Josh Minuts was been released. I don’t know if he’s been resigned. Lennon Miller was still there at the time of me recording this. And then you got Bon. But Gobear is old. Yes, they gave him a contract extension. There could be trades coming. And they would hope that I would think that in three years time that Boring is someone that they can look to move into that starting role. His fantasy value will be if it works out like in a very similar shape to what Goar is a shot blocker, a rebounder, a finisher. He’s not going to be a shooter. He’s not going to be a passer. He’s not going to be a steals guy or a great free throw shooter. He’s going to be your stereotypical long athletic big man. Daniel Gaffford. So maybe Daniel Gaffford is a better approximation than Rudy Gobear because you know we’re talking about outlier type players. The reason that goes the easy thing is he’s French and they play for the same team. But Bernay is it just feels like really solid insurance onto not not even insurance more of a succession plan I guess behind Rudy and like have Rudy teach him or or he learns from Rudy through osmosis. Whatever it is, I think that it’s a a situation that makes sense. I gave the Timber Wolves overall a B minus for their draft. I’m remembering with my draft grades. I’m not saying did you get the best player because obviously then Kuba play gets a plus and everyone just grades down from there. It’s what did you do with the picks? Do I like the picks? Do others like the picks in terms of valuation. Did you do anything stupid? It’s not about trades necessarily. It’s about what are you doing with the draft picks? At pick 45, they made a trade to bring in Rocco Zakoski who is 7 foot3 Australian center. I wouldn’t advise looking at his numbers from playing in the NBA this last season. He played 12 minutes a game and averaged five points. He shot 20% from three and he blocked.7 shots but.7 shots in 12 minutes is good. You can triple that out to over two per 36 which is not as good as Boring but it’s there. He is again just an incredibly big incredibly he’s bigger than um Bing. He’s probably slightly taller than Go. I don’t Zakowski had some top five buzz heading into this season and he really struggled but usually well not necessarily even usually but in games that he’s played with his age group he’s usually been significantly better than this a a dominant sort of a player um putting up I believe he’s I think he’s on the Australian under 19 World Cup team which is playing at the moment but I haven’t seen the numbers on that yet but he’s another one of these guys a field goal percentage rebound shot blocking player um maybe some sort sniff of being an outside shooter, but I doubt it. And you you’d hope like he again he did nothing in the NBL at age 18. Incredibly young, but you would have hoped he did a little bit more. Um, but this this is a league that’s for your professionals and for grown men. Zakoski is just gives them another bet of another center who can protect the rim for when Gobear retires, moves on, is traded, whatever. It’s a solid pick at 45. Now, I in my last mock, I did not have Zakaskki getting drafted. I had him around 61. So like in that zone, I didn’t love what I saw from him in the NBL. I the size obviously, you know, as big Cass would say or as Enzo Amore would say, you can’t teach that, right? He’s that big. But there were some concerning things about some of his play, but whatever. I like the pick. It’s fine at that area. There two summer league guys at the moment, CJ Fulton and Dez Watson. I’m not going to sit here and tell you that there’s a lot to talk about with them because there isn’t. Today’s episode is brought to you by Monarch Money. Do you ever wish that managing your money felt easier? With Monarch Money, it can. You could be growing your savings, you could be planning a big purchase, whatever it is, Monarch Money puts you in the driver’s seat. It’s like having your own personal CFO, giving you full visibility and control over your finances. Monarch Money is more than just a budgeting app. It’s a way for you to have a financial command center, tracking your spending, planning out your future savings and goals, and building wealth. You could check all your spending, categorize it into different areas, and go, “Oh, there’s a lot here on takeout, or there’s a lot of subscription services that maybe I need to look into, and I can save that money. It can go into an investment, and then we can figure it out from there.” You can also share things with your partners, put all of your banking apps into one spot, so you don’t have multiple loginins going. Take control of your finances with Monarch Money. Use the code lockba at monarchmoney.com for 50% off your first year. That is monarchoney.com. The code is locked on MBA for half off your first year. All right, we are here to talk about the rest of the Northwest Division in terms of the NBA draft. Recapping those uh those teams, we’ve done Denver, we’ve done Minnesota, and now we get on to some teams with some higher picks. These all these next three teams have higher selections. It’s interesting actually that the Northwest Division had picked 15, 16, and 17 in this draft. We’re going to talk about the team that just won the NBA title. We’re going to about talk about the team that does have pick six or pick 15 in this draft through trades and that is your Oklahoma City Thunder. I give them overall a B draft hall. It could have been higher. Part of the reason like I I love them selecting Thomas Sorber at pick number 15. The big gelato. Sorba is someone I had as a top 10 pick. I would have taken him as the Pelicans. I would have taken him as the Suns. I would have taken him as the Raptors. Would have taken him as nearly any of those teams. Sorba is coming off a foot injury. That’s a little concerning. I think there might be an ability for him to shoot. Obviously 16% is not great. He rebounds, he can pass, he steals, he blocks, he’s marginally undersized, but I’m not that worried about it. To me, he is outside of trying to think whether he’s out like obviously Cooper Flag’s not a center. Like I I think that he’s a better uh I had him around about the same as Malawatch about that same position, but as a really high level center like better than Derek Queen, better than Colin Murray Boils. I who’s is he a foul for or a sender? I don’t know. I I really like Sorba a lot. He was my best available player on the board for quite a while and the Thunder get him. Part of the reason why it’s a little deflating that the Thunder get him is that we’re just not going to see him play. I mean, he’ll get some minutes, but they just resigned Pig Williams. They’ve got Aar Hartenstein, they’ve got Chad Hong, so Sorba’s going to learn in the background, which is cool. And in two years time, maybe he’s a starter. I love the pick. I love the value of the pick for them. I thought he was a top 10 player. Um, others agreed, others disagreed. He was a little bit all over the place in terms of valuations. Again, if everyone had have been in agreement that this was a top 10 player and the Thunder got him a 15, he probably would have been sitting as an A minus or an A total draft hall, but it’s hard for me to knock the Thunder for this pick. I I love the pick. It’s annoying that they get him and we don’t get to see him immediately, but it’s really strong and I think he’s going to be in a great spot to be able to develop. I think he can play next to Cet, play next to Harden might be a little bit iffy, but next to the others, no problem at all. At pick 44, they selected Brooks Barnheiser. Barnheiser is going to be on a two-way. He is a shooter. And the Thunder will use these guys if they believe in someone. We saw it where they gave early minutes to Brandon Carlson. They gave AJ Mitchell minutes every game. Basically, converted him off the two-way into a full-time contract. They’ll do that. And they could do it with Barnheiser. Someone like an Isaiah Joe, for example, who had some struggles in the playoffs. No guarantee that he’s going to be around. Maybe Barnheis is the guy they look to uh bring in and replace him. Again, you don’t want to bank on someone uh you being that level of shooter immediately. And he is older. He’s 6’6, so he’s got good size. He’s 23 years of age. There’s some interesting steel numbers, which I always love to see from a prospect coming through because that that usually translates to good numbers. His shooting numbers aren’t great coming out of college. I do believe he’s going to be able to shoot at a decent enough level. He got to the line a lot. He rebounded strong. He’s just I wouldn’t say he’s like 100% just a knockdown shooter, but I do believe he can shoot. The size is there. Um, and that ability to be a defensive presence is going to be important on this team and something they’re going to value. So, I think it’s a good pick. They’re exhibit 10 guys. Payton Sanford is someone who could have been drafted last season. He’s got some all-around ability. I I think he’s a solid like small forward power forward type of player. And then Zack Austin and Chris Young Bloodood. Didn’t have those guys on my draft board, but they’re there as exhibit 10’s on the Thunder. Overall, I’m grading them out as a B. If Thomas SA went to a different team and played a little bit earlier, maybe would even go higher, but it’s hard to judge that with the Thunder. So, I’m not going to knock them for it for him being picked there. And same with Barnheiser, who I had around in this range. I don’t think that’s a gigantic steal for them to get Brooks, and he’s probably not going to be used much initially, but just another goodized wing player who’s got defensive acumen, who generates steals, who rebounds, who can pass, and I think he’s going to be able to shoot. Whether they’re all at good enough levels, I don’t know. But I think he’s got the ability to do multiple different things. And Sanford’s an interesting guy just to take a flyer on. And even if these things don’t work out, even like with a Barnheiser, like having guys around that you can trade to get other pieces in, it’s always useful. And that is why the Thunder is such a terrifying terrifying prospect um moving forward for other teams in the league. What about Portland? How harsh am I on the Blazers? I this is not including the just the the trade and the value of the trade, right? Because I I think that that trade trading down from 11 to allow Memphis to select Cedric Coward, getting an unprotected first round pick, which might be in the 20s, might not be, and a couple of seconds is really good value. There’s no question about that. I I am giving them the D. I don’t look Okay, so at pick 16, we know what they did. Young Hansen was picked at pick 16. They have now since waved DeAndre Aton got a contract buyer. I don’t know at this point where Aton has signed. I’m sure he has decided by the time you’re seeing this. I don’t know that it’s that’s immaterial. Rob Williams is not a long-term option on this team. But I do not understand on this team. You made a good move trading out of 11 to get that extra first round pick. I love that. You also used pick seven last season on Donovan Klingan who again I am not 100% convinced that Donovan Klingan is a full-time NBA starting center. Not convinced. Not convinced at all. Right. But cent’s such a weird position in the league that unless you’re getting this highle guy. I don’t know why you’re investing all of these assets into getting centers when and you’re not to say the generating is great and obviously culturally not great on the team and yeah the laziness and all that sort of stuff he not not great like none of that stuff was good and I understand that him getting rid of him even though some of his encore production was fine was better than people think it was but using two first round picks in a row to get centers who cannot play together I I don’t understand. So, like I said, at pick 16, Yang Hansen is who they picked. His numbers, they look fine. It’s really hard to contextualize the numbers that he puts up in that Chinese league. He blocked three shots per 36 minutes. He shot 29% from three with 18 points and 11 rebounds and three assists. He’s a pretty good passer. Don’t ever, again, I’m not going to even say the words. I said it once in one show. I I said I would never say it again, but he’s not that guy. He’s not a Serbian center of the players in the same division. He’s not the Chinese version of that guy. He’s not. I think he’s going to be too slow defensively. I don’t think he’s got anywhere near that level of juice offensively. I don’t think he’s necessarily going to be able to shoot. He didn’t dominate that really bad Chinese league in the way that you would hope. He’s like he’s 20. He’s not like he’s old. He’s a solid player. But I don’t think that he should have been a priority on a team that already wasted a top 10 pick on a center. Well, not wasted, used. Because, you know, I don’t like clinging that much either. And that’s where you might say it’s a little confusing, Josh. You say you don’t like Klingan as a starter. He’s fine. Like I don’t love him as a guy. I don’t think he’s a top top upper level center where you’ve got him and you go, “Well, let’s let’s be set.” But I’m bloody sure that Yang isn’t that guy as well. So what are we doing using our first round pick two years in a row just so we can get the starter and the backup and they move back and forward depending on defense and offense? That’s useless. I think it’s not how I would want to use my picks. Makes no sense to me. And their team just still makes very little sense. Drew Holidayiday’s now. So, what does that mean? And then your press conference is that Hansen Young or sorry, young Hansen is going to be spending time in the G-League. Okay. But will he now that Aton’s gone is Rob Williams going to be the backup behind Klingan? Was Dwre wreath going to return? Are we going to play those lineups where apologies I know that Denny wasn’t a small ball center? Well, he was though, but you know, it was actually Jabari Walker who played center. Whatever. But those lineups without a traditional center that enabled Abdia to thrive. We’re not going to play those anymore. We’re like I don’t think that Klingan is going to space the floor well at all. I don’t think that that Young is going to space the floor very well. I don’t know. It just it’s a baffling call. And again, that all springs back to that I don’t think anybody outside of Portland thought this guy was worth a top 20 pick. Now, if they believe he was worth a top 20 pick and that they couldn’t trade down and this is the guy we really want, go for it. I just fundamentally disagree with this idea of you must get this guy. I that in that range of the draft like I I fundamentally disagree with that especially when you’ve got a center already there again that I don’t love but this like we have to have Young like we have to I I don’t it doesn’t add up now maybe he turns into a great player and then I would 100% apologize and say that I’m wrong. I just don’t like this. The other selections that they made, well that was it. They didn’t make any other draft picks in the draft, but they did bring in a million-year-old Caleb Love on a two-way deal. He’s been around college basketball for again like a million years. Played at Arizona after starting at North Carolina. Um he’s a a shooting guard. He’s like 6’4. What did he shoot? 34% from three last season. Okay. Like averaged 17 points a game, 18 points the year before that. The shooting numbers career 33% shooter. I like no I I don’t think he’s an NBA player necessarily, but he’s got a little bit of name recognition. Then you got um the two guys they brought in on exhibit 10. Sean Padulla, I think that’s how you pronounce that name. And Andrew Carr. Now Padulla, another one of those uh older um guards. He’s only he’s 6’1. He’s obviously small. Um shot 39% from three. So that is potentially a legit sort of a shooter. He had averaged 37% from three over his four years in college. started Virginia Tech, went to Old Miss last season. He’s fine in terms of like passing numbers as a point guard, but like okay, whatever. And the other one, Andrew Carr, who I just have less thoughts on. He’s okay overall. Like, I just don’t like what Portland did in the draft. I don’t really understand a lot of it. Um, and I just think that it’s really not that it’s not the I don’t think that it’s the best way that you could have used assets there. Yeah, that’s maybe that’s the best way of phrasing it. There’s one team left and that one team had the highest pick has the highest upside player in this group and that is the Utah Jazz and Aerys Bailey. Ace was a confusing player with that confusing pre-draft process. He claimed that he didn’t want to go to certain teams and he wouldn’t work out for any of them. And it seemed like he didn’t want to go to Utah and lots of speculation. Is he going to report to the team or not? And then he did. now he looks happy and there’s going to be just so much focus on and I feel sorry for the kid. Apparently by all reports he’s a really good kid. That whole draft process was incredibly weird. Um but like the reports of him wanting to be the man and to have the high usage and to be the guy to put himself in position to score a lot like okay okay is that why he went to Ruckers cuz it didn’t work out that well. Bro average 19 points per 36 on a Ruckers team with nobody there. He can’t pass. I don’t know that he can shoot. Like the steel and block numbers are fine, but they’re not elite. His rebounding is fine. It’s not elite. He’s much smaller than you would hope that he would be given, you know, he was touted as being a 610 guy who could shoot, but he’s not 6’10. He’s young. He had high usage. Now, the idea that coming into Utah and he’s going to be the man is incredibly wrong. He might be, but he won’t be now because Larry Markin will be that guy. Now, Colin Sexon is gone. Jordan Clarkson is gone. At the time of me recording this, maybe somebody else is gone. Maybe Larry’s gone. Maybe John Collins is gone. Maybe Walker Kessle is gone. I don’t know. But I don’t think that the Jazz are clearing everything out to make Ace Bailey usage number one guy. In the future, absolutely, he is their number one usage upside bet at this point. So, I do understand that from that perspective that he will be that guy long term. I think overall from a fantasy perspective for for Bailey, he needs to be a 30 usage guy because there’s so many deficiencies in other areas that getting to those numbers to make him an upper echelon guy will be hard. I I don’t know whether he’ll be a starter on this team this season. He probably will be, but that will mean again Mark and playing at the four, meaning that Collins and Hrix and Filipowski all come off the bench, which is a lot of front court guys. That is why again at the time of me recording this as you can see up there July 2nd they’re all still there and something needs to be cleared out because if Bailey is playing the three then Markinan’s not playing the three he’s playing the four and that means Collins isn’t playing the four and that means Hendrickx isn’t playing the four so ideally you would love to see I think you would love to see Bailey Hrix Kesler that’s the grouping that you want to try and grow along with George and Collier but who knows there’s still a lot of holes in this team he is the best usage upside bet out of their young guys. The pick is fine. I gave them a B minus overall. Now, I did not have Bailey as a top three guy. I had him, I think, eighth on my draft board, but others had him high, and I get it. I think it’s a totally reasonable selection here. The size, the positional availability is fine. The tunnel vision is a real worry. The lack of assists is a worry. Some of the peripheral stuff is not great. The shooting numbers, I don’t really buy into it. A lot of it, but I don’t hate the pick. I don’t hate the pick of Walter Clayton, the pick 18. I don’t like giving up what, four second round picks and trading to try to three spots to get him. Like I don’t think he’s that important. Wal Walter Clayton. Um, but I’ve continued to say and I will continue to say that you don’t consider Konte George and Isaiah Collier as guaranteed pieces that you can’t draft over. And at the time of the draft, I was like, yeah, who cares about Colin Sex and Jordan Clarkson? They will not be there and they’ve already gone. Clayton, older player, 22, little bit smaller, shot the ball incredibly well, huge volume, good shooting percentages coming out of uh college for Florida, won the national title. He’s got that winner mentality. I think that he can be a really solid backup point guard. And at pick 18, that’s actually not that bad. I don’t again like when talking about the Blazers and and Young, like did you absolutely 100% have to get Walter Clayton? I don’t think you did. I would have much preferred Jace Richardson personally. Clayton can shoot, so I can chase. Clayton is a winner. All right, cool. What does that mean? Does it translate to the NBA? Is there anything more than a backup guard in Clayton? I guess potentially, yeah. I’m just The pick is fine. I don’t understand. Again, I’m not criticizing them in terms of the draft grade for moving up to get Walter Clayton. He’s just like, I would have picked him 25 26. Like I believe in my mock draft, I had him at 25 to the Magic and that’s where they got Jace. So, switch those guys around. That made complete sense to me. I just think there were guys that they passed on at pick number 18 to get Walter Clayton, who’s fine as a player, but the track record of undersized older shooting point guards who play for final four teams has not been particularly good. We’ll see how it goes. Like Osha and Makasa. Sure, there’s someone else at the top of my head that I can’t think of. We’ll see. And then at pick number 53, they went with John Tongi, a 66 wing from Wisconsin who is uh on the older side as well, 22 or 23, 24 actually, 24 years of age. He got to the line a million times and hit 91% of his free throws. Okay. He hit 39% of his threes on really good volume. I think he’s going to be a strong shooter now. He had a lot of usage, 28 usage at Wisconsin. His steal and block rates are really low, but we know that they waved Johnny Gujang. Um, there is an opportunity for him to play reserve minutes at the two, reserve minutes at the three, and be a knockdown shooter. It’s a fine pick in that area. There were some people who were projecting Ton in the 30s, and I didn’t really like that, but at this spot, hard to hard to disagree with it. And they also signed a two-way player, uh, RJ Luis. I believe he is a Dominican Republic legend, 6’7 forward for RJ Lewis. A lot of people were surprised he actually kept his name in the draft. He played three years in college for St. Joe’s the last two. He played 32 minutes and averaged 18 points. The shooting not really there, but good rebound numbers. Steel numbers are okay. Like he’s okay on a two-way. Guess some development time playing in the G- League and playing on this team, which again, Utah is going to be terrible. They are going to tank. There are going to be trades and fake injuries. There will not be the in and out of the lineup every second day stuff because that is what Austin A said and that is why words are always important. Austin A said there will not be manipulation of the minutes in the lineups on a day-by-day basis to tank. That’s that’s what he said. He didn’t say we won’t be tanking. He didn’t say we won’t be bad. And they’ve already shown they just cut Jordan Clarkson and dumped Colin Ston. And all that stuff I was talking about by the way with the front court. I didn’t even mention Ysef Nerkish. I don’t even know if he’s still on the team by the time I’m recording this. So, they’re going to be making moves to make themselves bad again, but in a different way. I’m sure that the um the front office, the front office, the NBA head office said to them, “Hey, we know what you’re doing. Just look at what Washington did. They just played they just got rid of guys and played bad players. They didn’t just create nonsense all the way through.” And you went, “Right, bet. Let’s just play bad players instead of we’ve got these guys that would actually make us good, but we’re deliberately not playing them.” So, we’ll see what changes there. Matthew Merl and Steven Cra, some of their exhibit 10 guys as well are fine picks. Totally okay. Nothing nothing interesting, nothing super exciting about that. But what is exciting is that is the end end of this show. That means I got one division left, the Pacific division where we get to talk about Phoenix, Sacramento, the Lakers, the Clippers, and one more team that for some reason is eluding me. Who is the other team? Phoenix, Sacramento, the Clippers, the Golden State Warriors. Of course it is. We get to talk about more Aussies. In the meantime, subscribe to the show and you’ll never miss those um these recap shows, these draft recap shows and all the other stuff that we do. Guys, we are done here. Thank you so much for listening everyone. See you. [Music]

2025 NBA Draft Northwest Division Recap:
Josh Lloyd breaks down how the Denver Nuggets, Minnesota Timberwolves, Oklahoma City Thunder, Portland Trail Blazers, and Utah Jazz attacked the draft — and what it means for your fantasy basketball strategy.

From the Timberwolves plotting life after Rudy Gobert to the Thunder sniping value and the Jazz taking a massive swing, Josh grades each team’s moves and calls out where your dynasty and redraft boards might get wrecked.

Find out why Portland’s questionable centre pick could clog their roster, how Denver’s two-way signings fit in, and whether Utah’s risky first-rounder is worth a stash.

Get your edge for the upcoming season with detailed player fit analysis, future projections, and how these moves could shape fantasy basketball leagues all year long.

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0:00 – Introduction
0:37 – Denver Nuggets draft recap
2:39 – Minnesota Timberwolves draft recap
9:16 – Oklahoma City Thunder draft recap
13:51 – Portland Trail Blazers draft recap
19:28 – Utah Jazz draft recap
27:07 – Conclusion