The BroadCast: 6/8/2018 ~ Draft Pod - Sifting Through Some B1G10 Names

This will be no difference. To subscribe to the podcast, we remind you you can head to a couple of different places iTunes, Google Play, Stitcher, type in Sixers podcast Network. You can also go to SoundCloud dot com, backslash sixers

and that will take you to our feed. There are a handful of quality and intriguing players coming out of the Big Ten who just might be available for the seventy Sixers around any one of the six spots they pick at in the draft, should the Sixers ultimately hold on to those slots, and to give us some insights on what some of these Big Ten guys we're doing this past year, we're gonna welcome in a little slice of Delaware County who has since migrated out to the

Great Midwest. Brandon Quinn from the Athletic Detroit's did to talk to you man. What's going on, Brian. It's great to hear your voice again, my friend. Well, we have to subject on some people to it. Unfortunately, they draw the short straw and your time is now. I felt like they're handful of guys, nominally from Michigan and Michigan State, the two teams that you cover, but also the Big Ten that are being linked with the Sixers in all the mock drafts that have been coming out as of late.

And we're going to dive into that in a few minutes. But you've been doing some really good reporting on another story that I found pretty interesting, John Beeline and the connection to the Detroit Pistons head coaching position story bee Line, longtime head coach at Michigan. Just how close was that possibility from what you were reporting on It was so originally it was, you know, pretty pretty off the grid.

You know, John was just kind of executing this thing by himself and no one really knew it was even happening. And then it was reported on Thursday, like around June one or something like that. And that he had had met with the Pistons, He had had an actual interview with the Pistons, And it was one of these very interesting situations in observing how people accept and listen to the news cycle because you know, as an outsider here, I have no emotions in it. It's you know, I'm covering.

It's a coach at Michigan. I covered Michigan, so I'm in it and all this stuff. But at Michigan where John is now like reaching this legendary level, you know, two National Championship Games, appearances, all time winning as coach, the reaction was, you know, this isn't real. He's not going anywhere. This is fake news. This is it's a non story, and like, I hate to break it to people out here, but I mean it was very real. There was a very real interest on both sides. It

never got to the point of an offer. But John withdrew his own name. He was not told to withdraw, you know, he backed out basically in the eleventh hour. I think the Pistons are going to wrap this thing up within the next day or two. Dwane Casey being probably the front runner, but yeah, he took his own name out and for various reasons that I've been told, But it was very legitimate and it would have been

fascinating to see his style. But at sixty five years old to go be a first year NBA coach, I mean, it would have a would have made a for a heck of a story for sure, But no, it was it was legit, for sure. Both sides were very intrigued with the other. You probably have a better sense of this, but he seems like he's the type of guy that is respected amongst all coaching circles, let alone college. Also with the guys at the NBA level. I'm trying to think. I think Brett Brown even had him in for a

visit during Sixers training camp a few years back. It seems like he's got connections and a lot of respect at all levels. Yeah, it's fairly common, and they at all levels is kind of the key because John, you know, John's coaching climb has gone from he started at high school, then went n AIA, then went Division two, then went Division one, low major, then mid major, then high major. Like he's been everywhere basically except the NBA. But yeah, no,

he's highly respected. And the interesting thing with to get a little like inside Baseball into the coaching search here, the Pistons reached out to John before Ed Stefansky came on as senior advisor here, so like the wheels were in motion, and then Ed Stefansky came aboard to kind of oversee this this coaching search and the restructuring of the front office. And he was intrigued with John bee Line,

because everyone's intrigued with John bee Line. You know, he has this very this very defined reputation in the game as someone who developed players, who sees the game at a different level, who is creative, adaptable, inventive. So that's kind of the the the onus for a lot of the interest in him and why I think everyone was so fascinated with what it would look like if he did it. But maybe we'll never know. He is staying

in ann Arbor. So as we look at the upcoming draft, whether it's guys that John Beeline has coached or Tom Izzo has coached, or other coaches throughout the Big Ten Conference, are there handful players that you put on the Brandon Quinn big board for the Big Ten heading into the draft? Is likely prospects to hear their names called on June twenty. First, well, I mean the two teams that I cover, UM had a number of guys on the fence that ended up withdrawing.

I think they made the right call at being troubles Matthews for Michigan, Nick Ward from Michigan State. But yeah, between UM, Moe Wagner at Michigan who is probably a late first round guy, UM, and then obviously at Michigan State to two lottery picks Miles Bridges, who I imagine Sixers fans are getting more and more familiar with, and

Jaren Jackson, who I think will be a top five guy. Um. You know that the pro prospects that I had the ability to watch up close and personal this year, Uh, we're pretty great, um for a league that really doesn't produce that many UM, you know, surefire NBA guys anymore. It's it's very The Big Ten is certainly a league that you know, they lack kind of the influx of all Americans McDonald, All Americans every year, you know, the one and done guys. It's Arizona, Duke, Kentucky blah blah blah.

The Big Tenders isn't getting them anymore. But there were guys that a guy cans to see. Kevin Herder is someone I was always fascinated with and to kind of see him really blossom from you know, a good freshman, like not a great freshman in the Big Ten, a good freshman in the Big Ten to a guy who they're talking about mid first round is fascinating and it shows. I think he's a he's a five tool player. He's can really do a lot of good things. But you know,

that's probably it for the first round. Is that the three guys that I cover and Hurderum, I would think, But um, you know Kieta Bates Up really interesting player who I actually really like as an NBDA guy. I think he's got some old school game in him. Um that I don't know how how much how great it looks on film, but I just he's just one of those guys that you watch and I'm like, that dude knows how to play basketball. And I would put him

on my team if I were a coach. Um. And then Tony Carr, who you guys are obviously familiar with, the Philly guy, Penn State guy, Um, he can get buckets. I think it's probably h I think He's a very draftable player, and I would affect him to be a mid late second round guy, probably along with Justin Jackson, another Maryland guy who is kind of one of these long life, interesting modern bigs who probably needs some work and some weight, but he's got all the pieces. That

is certainly attractive. You mentioned Jaren Jackson probably going to be off the board by the time the Sixers go at ten should they stay there. So give me the slug to borrow some newspaper pilin. It's not actually talking about slugging Miles Bridges, but what's the slug on Miles Bridges from what you've seen over the last two years on Miles not Jared correct. Yeah, So Miles is a guy who is very interesting in that I'm still after watching him for two years, I'm not positive what heat

is in the NBA. I'm not sure if he is kind of more of the the wing guy or maybe a three and D kind of a four man, you know, undersized four Draymond ish guy with maybe a little bit of a better three point shot. Um. You know, what Miles has going for him is absolute athleticism. Um. You know, I'm sure people have seen all the highlights of what he's done. He is six to seven, he has a pro ready body. He's a pro ready athlete. Um. He can you know, he can attack. He is one of

these guys who attacks the rim with violence. Um. He plays, he plays above the rim um and just kind of is very strong, very powerful. Um. But he's only a good shooter. And I do think like for him to be a great NBA player, he fright needs to be a great shooter. If he were a great shooter, I think he could be like I see shades of Vince Carter. Right. He's not there yet, but you know, I'm talking this feeling of the ceiling, of the ceiling, right, if he

became an elite shooter, that would kind of be. But I'm talking that level of athleticism, right, And he's got those shoulders and those arms, and he can he can do those kinds of things. So but at the same time, there's questions of his position. There are questions certainly about his ball handling. You know, he's never really done that much off the bounce. He didn't really do stuff in ball screens at Michigan State. Only late in his sophomore year.

Did you even see kind of clear out stuff for him to do, and he had some success in it. I just wish I'd seen a lot more. So. He's one of these guys who, if you make that your list your pros and cons, I think by the end of it they might end on the same line. You know, you can keep going back and forth on him. But he's a fascinating clay. He's a very He's a good, good young man, you know, always pleasant to deal with. Was really good with the media, really good with the fans.

You know, he came back. A lot of NBA guys I talked to were really high on the fact that he stayed another year because he wanted to develop more. They said that showed a lot about his character. And I agree. He's from Flint, you know, he's a hard dude. But yeah, I mean, I think it's a very interesting

NBA prospect for sure. What were some of the items and you referenced sounded like a few of them, But what were some of the items as best that you can remember that we're on the to do list for him developmentally season one to season two, well, it was become more of a better three point shooter, even though he shot like over thirty five percent as a freshman, and I've actually thought, like, you know, that's an easy

number to mess up the wrong way. You know, if if you go out and you want to become a if you want to take more threes, almost as a byproduct, your percentage is probably gone to drop, you know, unless

you're a pretty high level shooter. But he basically stayed in the same area, but more so as a freshman, he played as a four, and then Tommy Zoe brought in Jaren Jackson junior, and then Michigan State also has Nick Wards, so m both intentionally and by necessity, Um, he went more to the three and played a little bit more as a perimeter guy, which a lot of NBA guys wanted to see. Um, that was the biggest thing.

You know. He wanted to show more in ball handling, wanted to show more decision making, probably needed to be a better passer with the ball in his hands. Um, you know, these he just kind of needed to show himself as more of a well rounded athlete as opposed to a guy who can put up spot threes and dunk the ball. But he's he's a good rebounder. I probably wish he would have been a better offensive rebounder at times, but he's got a good motor, plays hard played.

You know, did everything that that Tom Zoe asked of him, and it was a lot. But yeah, I mean in terms of improving those things year over year, those were the goals, and I would say, you know, did okay. I don't think anyone last year who would watched Miles Bridges said he's going to play himself into the top six, right, because just to the type of player he is. The only guys who are top five, six, seven picks now

are these unicorns, right, guys like Jaren Jackson. Miles Bridges I did not think was going to play himself up that much higher. What I said, I said, the goal for him is going to stay, be to stay in the lottery, because all that really happens sometimes in your second year is you just get dissected more and more. But to his credit, for a guy who's not overly long and not overly big, he stayed where he is. You know, most people have him in that ten to

fifteen range. So that's that's pretty good. It's it's I think that's as hard to do as playing yourself up sometimes we see the type of physical attributes that he has. What if people said about him and what have you observed defensively with what he brings to the court, because depending on how you slicier statistics and what you like to look at, his numbers there have graded out pretty well too. Yeah, he's strong enough to guard a guy

with some size. That's why, you know. I think he could probably play a little bit as an undersized four in the league. And he is athletic enough and moves laterally well enough to to stay with someone on the perimeter if he's guarding someone a little bit smaller, so he can go multiple positions, which people like. And yeah, I don't see defense being an issue. I don't. I can't imagine anyone not drafting him because of defense or

or dinging him because of defense. I think he's a guy who could probably play in a little bit higher level and might end I could certainly see him being someone who gets to the league and sees how playing time is allotted and realizes, you know, what he needs to do to get on the floor, and maybe specializing in that a little bit more so. Yeah, I think all those things. He certainly is a good defensive player who probably has a potential to be a really good

defensive player. You mentioned earlier, the type of guy that he is dealing with the media well and handling himself, good with teammates. Any anecdotes that jump out in your mind just from covering him that stand out to portray the type of person and character he might have. Yeah, the one interesting thing was in the beginning of last year. This past season, Michigan State basically made him available for

every media request that you could imagine. He had. One of my colleagues, Brian Hamilton from the athletics, spent that entire day with him, going to class and doing this and that and the other thing. He did every single TV shoot, he did, every magazine shoot, he did every interview, He did literally every last thing, to the point where kind of as a you know, observer of all of this. You know, at one point I pulled someone aside within the program and I said, he's either going to burn

out or start to resent this. I have to imagine, you know, it's kind of human nature, and I've seen it happen to other guys. And the one the guy looked at me and just said, you know, he hasn't mentioned it. He hasn't said it once that you know, I'm not doing this today, right, I'm not talking to this guy. I'm not doing this radio interview. I'm not

doing this press conference. He hadn't said it once. Like he did everything that Michigan State asked him to do in terms of being, you know, the basically the face of the program, the ambassador of the place. You know that is not named Tom Is though you know, he

fulfilled everything that they wanted. And then later in the year and people remember he was named in that Yahoo report with that the whole what players received a couple of dollars from agents, whether it was you know, in his case literally a couple of dollars versus you know, guys getting fifty k and things like that. So he was named in that, and it was in season, and it was amid all this other stuff happening at Michigan State, which is a whole other story, but there were distractions

all over the place. Then he gets named in this story him and his mother that his mother received a meal was bought for her by an agent, and whatever it was, it was something pretty minor, but if true, it was an NCAA violation and any game that he played would be vacated. And it was a very very serious story at a time for a team that was, you know, on the path to a potential one seat in the nca torn and Dana to being a two. And I thought then again, I said, okay, well this

is it. This is gonna be the one where he finally snaps and says, you know, this is a bunch of bs. I didn't sign up for this. When I came back, and then Dada, and he handled it as well as you could hope for anyone to do it. He's the next game after the report dropped, Michigan State decided to play him, and they filed a paperwork with the NCAA and he was cleared and it was all good.

But he sat in that locker room and answered every question that we had and we peppered him for ten minutes, and he sat there and he handled it without rolling his eyes, without snapping at anyone. He actually did better than Tom Izzo did that day because Tom got a couple of questions that he got fired up, and then his player sat there and uh ten fifteen minutes, answered every question and did did really really well and he's just a you know, he's a pretty cool customer. And um,

I think he gets it. I think he understands fame. I think he understands his place in the world and knows how much is writing on him, both, you know, in terms of his own professional career and what it means to his family and Flint and you know, a lot of people who look up to him. He's been a very well known player basically since early high school. He was on list. He was on you know, YouTube videos dunking over people and stuff at a very young age.

Like he knows what the spotlight looks like and he has always handled it really well. Now, I could make a really corny and bad reference about the Delaware Valley like the following, which are the bridges do you prefer? The Walt Whitman or the Ben Franklin. But I won't do that, and instead I'll just ask you simply on the surface, I would say the better question would be the mccale bridges or the Miles Bridges would be the more which bridge do you prefer? But I thank you

for that. You took care of my next part of the phrase for me. Um oh, I'm sorry, no, no, no, I like that. That's good. Even in the passing of a few years and a geographical divide, there's still some chemistry and flow, which I like. I like that. Um. So yeah, before we talk about a particular team, which you can probably guess, I'll ask you to put in context for in just a second, but simply skill level overall package as an NBA prospect, Miles or McHale, who

you saw in the championship game while covering at Michigan. Yeah, um, it's it's hard. Um. I feel like McHale is probably he's longer, right, I don't have the measurements, but he to me, he seems longer. UM and maybe a little bit of a higher skill set. Um. You know, he was one of the best outside shooting wings UM, probably in all of college basketball last year. Um. You know.

I think he's more of a volume shooter, and I think that probably projects him a little bit more to the league than Miles UM and I think Bridges, I think Mark. I can't lose the last things. I think McHale, Um, it's probably just a little bit of a higher level athlete. I think he's probably a little bit more efficient um

at a little higher skilled. You then say that he talking about McHale would then be a better fit for the seventy six ers, or does when you take that context into account, has that change your opinion at all? I think if McHale's there at ten and the Sixers don't take them, they are crazy. He looked pretty good this passion. It really is amazing just watching how far

he came. I'm sure you probably kept tabs on him from AFAR even doing the work covering Michigan State and Michigan, but just the strides that he made, it's really interesting that it seems like overtime on the surface that Jay Wright and his coaching staff never made the deliberate attempt to get NBA prospects, just guys that were solid players who could develop over three or four years. But now here it's a situation where they've got four guys in

the draft. Yeah. And you know, I kind of say Villanova and Jay Wright are basically Michigan with John Beeline in a very close way. It's almost like I'm watching that Villanova team last year. I'm like, this is a this is a John Beeline team that you just but you drop a hemy in it, like their their level of talent. You know, with Devicenzo coming off the bench, you're just like, well, this is just stupid. You know,

they're so good. Um, and yeah, I mean it is in his player development, which is you know John Beline's Forte as well. Like there's a lot of parallels, except it's just you know, Jay is young. Jay's got a little Hollywood. Um, it's a it's a fascinating thing that they got rolling over there. I mean, it's super impressive.

And it's for a guy who covered Villanova like I covered their O nine final four team, Um, to see it come full circle and it's it's just that same program just you know, but he's just got it home and now, Um, they are beyond impressive. And you know that's coming from a Saint Joe's grat so take it for you know, I mean everything I say. We had Joe Lenardi on UM on a previous podcast, and he too was effusive in his praise. So it really must be a transcendent type level that Villanova yeah gotten to

these days. You're right, they are. I mean they are hard to dislike. You had you had high praise for Kevin Hurder Adam Maryland. Can you get into him a little bit more? Someone whose name seemed to attract more and more buzz, especially after the combine. He decided to stay in the draft, and now he's projected by some to go mid to back into the first round. Yeah. Really smart player. He's got good sides. I think he's

probably about like six seven somewhere in there. But for a guy who can shoot at an extremely high level, I like his abilities to facilitate. You can play through him. He can do a lot of things. He's comfortable with the ball in his hands. On a team that struggled with some offense, sometimes he averaged like almost four assist a game, I think. And he's a guy who was also being counted on as a volume shooter and a

volume scorer. Like that's pretty high level stuff. He's a guy who when he is it and just goes into a shooting motion, everything looks like it's going in right. He's one of these beautiful He's got this beautiful form, shoulder set or you know, his feet always in the same spot, his hands in the same spot, gets off just a beautiful spin on the ball. He's really he's really, really good. Um, I don't know what he is as a pro. I don't know how good he can be

as a probe. Like I covered Nick Stauskis when he was at Michigan, and like I would say that Nick Stouskis showed a lot more at Michigan than Kevin Hrder did as a guy who was a three point shooter who can also facilitate offense and run some stuff through him. And we see how his he just never really quite got there as a pro Hurder. I don't know. I mean, can his can his defense keep him on the floor? You know how much? How how is he going to be able to get his shot off in the league?

Those are the questions I have. But I like him. He's got a good size, good frame. You know, he's not by any means going to be scared. I think his potential is there for sure. It'll probably be how much he grows in the next And there's kind of first two years of his league in the league, I should say. I was looking at his bio on the Maryland website. Is it true that his nickname is the Red Momba? Is that something that's widespread in Big ten circles? I have not I have not heard that. I've not

heard that. All right, that might be something, maybe that Maryland is perpetuating. Then last guy, I wanted you to delve a little bit deeper. Run Kay debates best player in the conference last year in terms of the hardware he took home. But someone who would seemed like benefited from a four year run, maybe three and a half year run, you could call it. At Ohio State. Yeah, a guy who always looked like he should be an absolute stud because he is crazy long. I think he

measures like sixt eight something like that. But he's got this crazy wingspan, a crazy standing reach, all these things. Um that when you when you just saw him walk on a basketball court, you're like, well, that's the best player out there obviously, oh my god, you know. UM. But then he just took a while to develop UM.

But he did, to his to his credit, UM to this year's being this guy who played with um an exceedingly high IQ on kind of what to do, where the ball needs to go, when to take over, when to delegate. Um. You know, he he took Ohio State, a team that was basically trashed the year before, to the point where it fired a Hall of Fame coach. Um, he took that team to the to the NCAA tournament.

He had them ranked all year. Um, he was the best player in the league, and on a lot of days he was basically out there just taking teams on by himself. He is unafraid. He is physically elite, and like I said before, I don't when you watch him play, he's weird because it's he's got just he's got some old man in him. And I mean, I think he can play multiple positions. I think he can do a

lot of things. I think he's a guy that if you put him around a lot of high level players, he helps you win games because you can put him in different spots and he's he just does good stuff in possessions, right, whether it's an extra pass, whether it's you know, a tip, whether whatever. He can get his hands on the ball, he can make things happen. I think he should be a higher, more highly regarded prospect

than he than he is. But we'll see. I mean, people are certainly people who know a lot more than I do. But for me, the intangibles that I like and that I look for, and now I also see the game as a college writer and as a college fan. But I feel like most of those intangible intangibles still translate to the league, because you know, winning basketball is winning basketball. And I really like Bates Dio. Think he's a first or second round guy. Well, I mean I

think he probably falls into the second. UM, I haven't seen um. I'm trying to think of any mocks that I've even seen him going in the first. UM, you'd probably know that better than me. But yeah, I don't think I have. UM. I think it's been mostly kind of middle, middle, second round, right, And he's a guy, like I don't know how he works out like he's I wouldn't be surprised if him if him in game is a lot more impressive than him in workouts, if that makes sense totally. You know, I can see him

being one of those guys. But like, but at the same time, when you get in the late first round and you see guys who you might you might want to draft on more upside, you know, I could maybe see if it's him or like you know, Mitchell Robinson late in the first round, it you're probably gonna for Robinson because he's seven one, and you know, maybe he could be an All Star. Like, I don't know if faced Ups ever going to be an All Star, but

I know he's gonna help teams win games. So it probably is a really depending on what a team is looking for at that spot late in the first round, but I would think him in the first round. But what do I know? I think you know a lot based on that conversation and the great stuff being posted on the Athletic Detroits. Brendon Quinn, the pride of Balakinwood Saint Joseph's University, now applying his great trade out in

the state of Michigan. Thanks so much, man, Austin Brian, thanks for having me Brendon Quinn breaking down Miles Bridges and some of his draft bound Big ten Brethren. Brendon's on Twitter at bf Quinn with two ends. You can read all his stuff by subscribing to The Athletic he writes for The Athletic Detroits. Thanks to Brandon for taking the time to talk. Thanks to you for listening, and continue to check your feeds for more draft pots as we head towards June twenty first and draft. See him