NBA Bubble Expectations; 'Decision' at 10, Top 2021 HS Prospects with Rivals Analyst Eric Bossi

with the Basketball Tournament on TV. Get Gets talk a little bit about that in a second, But um, like NBA basketball is a couple of weeks away, and it's gonna be fascinating because as much as we we like to act like no one's been doing anything, I think the reality is lots of guys have been doing something. Now. Look, I have heard several players say, well, I hadn't touched the ball for a couple of months. I find that

to be bullshit. Frankly, Um, it doesn't mean that you've been doing You are doing full workouts the entire time. But the I haven't touched the ball in three months, Come on, and maybe you haven't, but that's negligence. You do well there was just no gym's open. Try that one with your coach. You know, we're gonna be reasonable

about health and injuries and all that other stuff. But in the real in the real world of sports, I don't buy for a second that guys UH didn't touch a basketball or like guys couldn't find a gym, right, but everybody has. If you, if you're if you're an NBA player, I guarantee there is a basketball gym which you could get some shots up. Could you be in your regular routine? Of course not, that's that's reasonable. But this idea, and I'm not talking about you had a

Mike Conley set up. He had a full gym in your house. Every one of those guys if they wanted to, they wanted to, was working on their game or working on their body. All right, let's welcome him in. I want to talk to hoops. I got some different thoughts. Eric Bossey, who's UH a lead basketball analysts for Rivals, good friend of the program, the radio program, and he has been on the pod before. He's awesome. Let's get

after it. Let's let's welcome in. He's Eric Fosse, he's a friend of the pod and I think he does a great job, and uh, Eric, I really appreciate you taking some time with this. Um. What are your expectations for basketball in the bubble? Like when I say I hadn't played for a couple of months, they're gonna they're gonna have they have a short training camp, they start games in a couple of weeks. What are your expectations

for what hoop looks like. Uh, I think it's gonna be hopefully a little bit higher level than most people are expecting, just because I feel like there's a lot of these guys who are ready to get out there and continue. But even if if it's not up to the standards that we would be expecting normally, we're watching basketball in the summer is normally, you know, Jude or July basketball is the NBA Finals, right when it's at

his highest level. I'm sorry, I got a lung to goron by, so we know that it's not going to be perfect, but I don't think it's gonna be terrible, And frankly, I really don't care. I'm just so excited to get to see basketball. And I don't know, I'm kind of a nerd. I keep seeing these random names like the Michael Beasley's of the world popping up and

getting another shot at things. I'm kind of interested to see these guys and see, maybe can these guys were fighting for the professional lives inject a little bit of life into things. Yeah, I mean, look, I think they're gonna get buckets. I think whether it's Beasley if he

gets minutes, or is Jamal Crawford. Um, I don't think those those type of guys generally win games, but yes, I'm with you, it feels like it for those that like an advanced veterans sort of summer league where you're gonna match up those type of guys with some there will be some G League guys playing at who are hungry, right, hungry, hungry to play, And that part of it is I didn't even think of that. That part of it should

make it fun. Yeah, it's just obviously that's not who you're tuning in for, Like I'm tuning in to see who's gonna win a championship. You know how Lebron gonna look after all these things like any normal basketball fan, but also you know, as someone who lives and breeding basketball, all these different substories that they're really interesting to me.

They're interesting to me as well. Um. I guess my thought is pre the the the games before the playoffs, especially the teams that are established, my guests would be they cycle through everybody, they work at, they work on stuff, they they let everybody plays like right, like if you've got a uniform in, some socks and some shoes you're getting in. I think that part will be interesting. Up for like the Lakers and the Bucks and the Clippers.

My expectations are for them to tinker with some lineups, play some depth, you know, try some different things as well, and it will be I can advance preseason, which I which I really like. And then you have all those kinds. Then you have the teams that are not playoff teams and that's you know, like like the Washington Wizards and how they play will be interesting. And then you have the Nets who all their best players decided to to

not show up. What what I want you? When you see some of these dudes complaining about food and accommodations, what do you think? Uh? On one hand, I kind of get it because they're they're they're they're they're rich, right, And I think any rich person or a lot of rich people are a lot of people would means in that situation who are used to a certain level of service. There's there's gonna be some grass and we'd like to say that we wouldn't, but you know, I mean, I'm

far from rich. And as I've gone through the years, I've been known to complain a time or two about a hotel that a lot of people would be very happy to stay in. But I think right now a lot of it is on the tongue in cheek and just kind of a woes me. But I really don't think it's that big of an issue. And you know, there's lots of things for me to get upset about in my life NBA players compared complaining about their food and Disney just isn't on tie on my list of

things to worry about. No, I don't. But I also think that that it's it's um here's the part that I was thinking of, where on one level, we're starting to realize or maybe the guys are starting to realize that they do have power behind their voice, right like, like, look, your respected guys, because in your chosen craft, you've made it and many of these guys, as you've known following them through the recruiting circuit, like they're they're actually very

very bright guys who would be successful in whatever field they chosen. They're just bodies and skills, and early development was basketball, and so they've used that and it's built their platform. Be like wow, you know, there's a lot of the rest of America who has come to figure out that these guys are actually super, super bright, active citizens the United States. The juctaposition of that with the bitching about food and a decent hotel room, you know,

where America goes to vacation with their kids. I just think it's a it's a little bit of a dicey thing because the old picture is worth a thousand words, like video with commentary is worth even more words than that. And I just think you have to be very You're like, you don't have to kiss everybody's ass and tell them how great Disney World is and how amazing it is and when you're showing a regular hotel room. But I I just think there's a limit, and you've got to

be smart with your use of social media. If you're gonna use social media just to have fun and to clown around with what's going on in quarantine. Cool, but use it for that and then you you want to you know, you want social change. I think that can be really hard for most people's brains, like my ear brain, and I think a lot of people we understand there's a difference there. I don't know if that's how more people take can make the switch in the social media. Oh,

now you're serious about demanding social change. Five minutes ago, you're complaining about the fact that you've got a sandwich in some sort of plastic container. Yeah, I think I think that's a really fair point, doug Um. You know, I think what you're getting to is because some of the message there, some of the greater, broader, more important societal messages they're looking at me made, can some people look at them to go, well, I can't take this

guy seriously. He's he's graping about I was chicken looks is staying in the Swan and Disney, Right. I get that, and I see that, and I see some merit in that. But I also think that anyone who's small minded enough to dismiss someone uh position on social issues or things like that because they complain about some food, you're probably not changing their mind anyway. Yeah, that's a it's a that's a very smart point me, Eric Bossi joining us here in the All Ball podcast years ago. Lebron um,

it wasn't just that he chose Miami. It was the way in which he went about it. And look, you've been around for hundreds of these. I can remember the time where I put on the Notre Dame hat to choose Notre Dame and we had a little press conference. It's like a tradition that seems to be you know, like I remember, was it like Johnny be Good? Right?

That was the but in that movie in the I think the eighties Anthony Michael Johnny be Good, where you have a big press conference you announce where you're gonna go to school. That was kind of what Lebron did, only he hired Jim Gray. They did in Connecticut. There was some weird aspects to it. First thing ten years ago when that announcement came down. Where were you, Um, I was in a gym watching a basketball so I didn't even get to watch it on TV. Where gosh,

I can't remember. I would imagine probably probably at the Peach Jamber getting ready for the Pam. But I know I didn't watch it on TV, and so given the time of year, I'm gonna assume I was watching summer basketball, all right, So what do what? What was? Do you remember what you thought? Was you just nodding or did you think it was weird? Like? What do you think? There was a lot of talk about, cause certainly it caused a lot of things. Um to me, I thought

it was I didn't think it was. I thought a little bit much ado about not thinking And when I saw the video of it, I thought back to when Kobe Bryant announced coming out of high school, because he said something very similar. He said that he was gonna take his talents to the NBA, and so I thought maybe it was kind of a nod to Kobe in it. And then all of a sudden, you know, things just exploded. I guess I didn't realize that it would it would

rub so many people the wrong way. I was just like, you know, this is a a young guy making a big deal, trying to do something different, and maybe it didn't go off perfectly, but you know, I guess I'm more of a don't get too fired up about things you can't control and I'm sure in retrospect Lebron would like to do it differently, But I think the bigger conversation and it was what it led to, what's kind of the formation of the super keep and stuff that

are coming about. And I think that more more than how he did it, there's what really got some people going. Did well it was it good for basketball? Yeah? I mean I don't I don't think it was. I don't think it was bad for basketball. Um, you know, we

all like to see guys compete ball man. I kind of like seeing really good players play with other really good players, and that movement and they got going with with him and and and Wade and Bosh and it ushered in kind of a new era whereas you had super teams in the past, but they were they were built from within because guys were locked in the longer contracts and free agency was so much different and stuff

like that. So it was kind of I guess the kickoff, kickstart and the jumping off to the NBA that we've see right now. And you know, as I mentioned to you, Sorry if I'm rambling here, I mentioned to you, I thought that was I thought it was a little bit of byproduct of the summer basketball system that Lebron came up in. When you know, he was traveling to play with the team out of Oakland with Kendrick Perkins in

leon Po and stuff like that. And I thought it was just a manifestation of the summer thing that most of those younger star NBA players who didn't send much time in college came up through making its way to the NBA, and those guys kind of learning that hey, you know, we got flown all around in summer ball. Now we could kind of we could kind of take

controls things and kind of reshape the NBA. Yeah. The problem, the downside to it is um again, the juxtaposition with the National Football League, where player movement is not, especially with the most important position at quarterback. It rarely happens in the prime of somebody's prime, with somebody's career because really they have to want to get rid of you in order for that to happen. Right, Like Brady left, but Brady's forty three years old. Uh, bred Farv left,

but bred Farv had retired and come back. It was his third time he was trying to come back. Um, Philip Rivers is like thirty eight, thirty nine years old, and that that's the only where's you know in the primus career is no chance he's getting out of sane diego no chance. And these guys moved for the most part in the prime of their career. And what I think that does is between the teams, the familiar familiarity,

and even the opponents of the teams. You you know, well, every year when you played the Annapolis Colts, you had Paid Manning. Every year when you play the Patriots, you got Tom Brady, et cetera. Like there's a it's better for the sport. And I think the same is true with the NBA. And I again, I understand the Lebron like for to me, the Lebron thing was more. Also, it wasn't just about playing with otter players than he

had in Cleveland, or for better organization. But I also think it was about a kind of a coming of age. He hadn't gotten a chance to get out of Ohio. He went to high school there, he played professionally there, and like at some point, like man, I gotta see what the you know, I gotta see what the some other part of the world is, Like I gotta gotta grow up, and I think he did, and and I think even losing that first NBA Finals helped him grow up and and then and then obviously came back and

made it a success story. But I understood it. I can understand it and tell you he had every right to do it and get why playing around better players already better. But I think it it won change the trajectory of how we will always look at him fair unfair.

That's just the reality of it. And secondly, I think it changed the landscape of the NBA for the worst because guys don't have the same affinity for where they're playing, and they're waiting for that moment where they can get out and they can, you know, find the guys that they've always wanted to play with and create their own dream team. Yeah. I think you've got some really fair points, fair, Doug.

And I think also though, if we're gonna hold players to those kind of standards on things, I think ownership and general managers and people of that nature and how they treat those star players has changed quite a bit too. I don't think there's quite as much loyalty from that end of things, and so I think that has uh, enabled these guys and emboldened them to grab the bull

by the horns and do this more on their own. Whereas, like you said, you're talking about these NFL quarterbacks, there was never any questions if those guys are gonna get

brought back. There's never any question is if Pat Mahomes was gonna get taken care of about the Kanas City Chiefs, right, I feel in basketball, maybe there's been a little bit more questions on those guys, and especially now with the way the contracts have taken off and everything and things of guys you know, well, you know, we really want to keep rad Beal around. Are we gonna pay him this next super Max? When you know Bill has been nothing but the best guy guy could be for the Wizards,

And what have they done to help him out? Could you blame him for wanting to jump out on his next chance? You know, So there's a lot of sides you could take him. But I think you've got a fair point. And it's definitely I think it's maybe a little bit of different and how the different viewers and consumers of the NBA look at things. I think the more new school Twitter NBA fans probably don't care about it.

But the old school guys, the more purist and thing like you know, who sit around and it really want a team and a guy that they can root for through his entire career in one place. They don't like it. But guys, I think now there's more fans of players versus fans of thieves. And it's probably a result of guys jumping around. So it's a little bit of both. Yeah, um, I and I do think though it, you know, I think the AU mentality also has has changed things. I know,

the Oakland Soldiers thing was always interesting. And look, it's interesting because my my late father, I mean, we used to bring guys in. Ronnie Henderson stayed in my house for us a summer. I mean, you've got to go back through I could. We used to have a guy from Roman Rushenko who played with Ronnie Henderson and l s U uh uh yeah. I can think of like thirty guys who would stay at my house from out of the area. And then AU of course tried to, uh tried to, you know, change the rule where you

gotta play with guys kind of in your area. But but you can get around that by saying you're going to prep school or whatever. Like there's there was always loopholes. But it's interesting because that movement combined with Lebrons movement UM, and I think some player empowerment because of social media, and I think that's why we have so much movement

in college basketball, which I definitely think has hurt the work. Again, I'm a transfer and I'm not sure and for people don't know, like, yeah, I got in trouble, but I was thinking about transferring anyway, just for a better fit and to play with better players. Um. But I also think that uh so I'd be hypocritical if I didn't

mention that. But I think all of this movement it makes it hard when you turn on college basketball on TV to know who's playing for who, because there's so much player movement from when you're next, no question, it all triples down and it's all part of kind of instant gratification. And you know there are a lot of players who like this. If you're a school and you're recruited kid who went to three different high schools and play for four different summer teams, I've got no problem

with the kid who did that. He needs to do whatever he thinks isn't his best interest, right. But if you're a school and he recruit that kid expecting that you've got the secret saft to be the reason that he's not going to switch, well, then I pack it's kind of foolish on your part to expect a different result. You now, if you can make, if you can if you can change that and you can get that kid to stay, then wow, you know, more power to you.

You've done something impressive. But a lot of it is is guys taking guys that they know they're going to transfer, or as you know this, every spring, we got a lot of we get a lot of kids to get reached on by schools, and some of us an industry, we joke around with each other like there's a lot of kids where we could probably write their transfer story the same day we write their commitment story, just because we know either a history of jumping around or we

know that a schools taking a guy just to take a guy. So until we get schools not taking guys that they know they don't really have any future plans for they just want practice bodies. And until we've got guys going to places that they're serious about, it's gonna be a problem that the answers have to from all around. So, you know, I think the NBA and some of those things like it contribue it. Because you dream of playing that, you watch those guys doing it suponsciously, you think you

need to do that too. It's a human nature, right. But the solution is it's as you know, Doug, it's it's a really big conversation and and and it involves a lot of moving parts. Um, okay, so what you for for people don't know? Ericson National Basketball Analysts for arrivals. You can follow on Twitter at boss Hoops. You can follo him on Facebook which is facebook dot com, slash e Boss Hoops on Instagram at the Boss Hoops as well.

He's McDonald's all American voter. This is your time of year, right, this is July. You're supposed to be pee jam Vegas, Indian speace, you know, maybe coming here and watch some pangos or some l A staff or whatever. Um, how how are you able to do your job to evaluate? And we didn't have a conclusion to high school most high school hoops. We didn't have spring and we're not

having summer. Yeah, it's it's been tough dugs because for the most part, most state High Schools Association has got their seasons completed or at least to a final four, quarterfinals or something like that, so you're able to go back and review the last month and a half of

the season. So because there's so much more film available, whether it be with huddle or NHS or streaming services or whatever, so you can you can find a pretty good representation of how how a player finished his sophomore, freshman, software, junior, or high school. Those are the guys that were evaluating now, right, But to go beyond that, it's tricky because with these kids, man, what they looked like in February of their sophomore year, it looks a lot different than what they look like

in July before junior year of high school. There's a lot of growth and a lot of maturation going on there. And yes, there's there's some events out there that are being streams. Uh, you know, like you mentioned Pengos Donos Is run leagues in Arizona and Iowa and Utah. There's been a lot of events in Texas, Florida and things like that. But that's really I would guess maybe only of the country is really out there playing and guys aren't playing against the same level of competition that you're

used to sing against. And we're watching things online and some streams are great, some streams are not great. So

it's it's made a very tough to evaluate. You can you still I still probably spend I don't know a minimum sendence twelve hours each weekend watching live streams to try and keep up on guys and follow up on guys, and people are given me STIPs on but you just can't substitute being in the gym and seeing guys because you get so much better feel for actual size, actual level lettuces and speed of the games, things like that, um you know, its ability to side on the fly.

And then also we're only getting a quarter of the picture, and it's hard to sit there and say, okay, I feel like this guy's elevated into a top twenty five player nashally the top one hunter player or whatever, or high major wins. You can't see him against three quarters in the rest of the country, or even if not against him, you can't see those guys from all those other regions. So it's really tricky and man, I can't imagine what it's like for college coaches right now, because

I know what's happening. They're getting called from high school coaches, summer coaches, and they're getting told, hey, man, you guys, say my word for this guy's this guy is a good night. You need to offer him. And we're in this. You've got to offer environment right now in high school sports. And I think that a few things are gonna happen. We're gonna see some guys go too high, some guys go too low. And like you're talking about with the transfers that have been bad, now we're about to enter.

We're about to enter like a tsunami of transfers. And compared to the hurricane or whatever you want to call it, a transfers it it's going to get a lot worse before it gets better. I think I'm fascinated by like three names I want to ask you about in one. Let me start with Patrick Baldwin. Um. He's a top five on everybody's list, maybe top ten, I don't know where you have evaluated. For people who don't know, his

dad is the head coach u W Milwaukee. His dad also played at Northwestern and he's a former assistant with Doug Collins. Um, he's a great student, he's a very good player. He's six nine. Last time we saw him, it was two hundred pounds. And there's the does he go to u w M and save his dad's job? Does he go to his dad's alma mater and and and kind of save save Chris Collins job? Right? Or does he go to Duke where, of course Chris Collins played, And it would it would kind of make a lot

of sense. And if the other things, if the other entanglements weren't there. For somebody who hasn't seen Patrick Baldwin Jr. Play, what is he like? Uh, he's he's gifted. He's extremely skilled. Um, he's regardless of position or class, he's one of the best shooters in the country. He can handle the ball. He's as you might expect from a coach's son. He's

very fundamentally sound. And by the way, another fun thing about Patrick balder and senior with the leaven Worth High School where I went, he was a stumer when I was a freshman at high school. Um, so I have gone way back with those guys. But you know, he's a new age player. I think he's you can play him in the stretch forward, you can play him as a big three. He's got tremendous versatility with with a skill set and in a high i Q and the

guys worker two. So everything that you want in a prospect. And like you said, that recruitment is it's it's really interesting because by the way you get the North Carolina Xucky is the world of water real bed and I'm for the Jsy initiative. Would love to have him even though he's He's meant pretty clear he wants to college. Um, I think Duke, it's probably the team to beat, just because dad sees big picture and wants to what's best

overall for a son. But having spoken to both of them, you know that that chance of coming to play with dad, it's very real. It's not something to be taken lightly. I don't think outside of that bubble people can understand how important it is for some kids to play for their fathers. They've got a chance, especially a coaches's son who hasn't had a chance to spend the type of time with his father the most kids do. Um, Okay,

what about Chad Holmgren kid from Minni Haha, Academy. He's in Minneapolis, like seven ft Obviously, everybody in the in the in the Midwest wants and everybody naturally wants him really really really thin but also skilled. Is he a twenty first century player, big and that he can defend the rim, stretch the floor, and defend the ball screen? Yeah,

I think so. Um. You know, I think in the NBA it's not a perfect comparison, but you eventually hope to see him playing like a Karl Anthony Towns this type role, you know, a big stretch five who protects the rim but shoots the ball and isn't your typical power player around the drim that we would expect seven footers of your in the NBA. Yeah, he's got to get stronger, but and you know this, you can't mistake

being skinny for lacking cutness. And the thing that people really underrat about Chat is that dude is a competitor, Like he'll he'll shove his mother out of the way to get a rebound. He doesn't care. Um, he's gonna play hard and he's a good athlete. He's just skinny, but I think he definitely projects into what people are trying to do down the road. The only thing that's gonna hamper him is just how long it takes him to develop physically. Okay, last player I want to ask

you about was Kennedy Chandler, Memphis, Tennessee Sunrise Academy. Um. I believe you know he and uh maybe J D. Davison, maybe Hunter salis a kid from Omaha. Like those are three of there's the rough and kid from Mississippi. But you know, in the conversation of the top point guard in the class, when if somebody hasn't seen Kennedy Chandler, what are the missing? Uh? A little bit more of of a of a throwback point guard. I think, yes, he can score, but I think he's more of a

run the team kind of guy. If you're gonna compare him to an NBA type point guard, he's more Chris Faul than Derrick Rose in terms of a style and attack. He's he's gonna pick his spots offensively. He's low to the ground and a lot more athletic and stronger than you realize. He likes that mid range jumper. Uh. As he rounds out and become more of a consistent threat from three, he can be really dangerous, but also, you know,

Chris Paul, it is certainly one of the cotton. I'm not saying that the Kenny's gonna be him, but you don't see a lot of guys Chris Paul's size doing damage at the highest level of the NBA. Right He's he's he's he's he's he's the exception to the rule. So that's what Kenny's have to prove going on. But he's tough, he's a leader, he's a winner, he's strong minded.

And you know, in a class that I think it's pretty imperfect to the point guard, like that's probably the position group that as a whole I would have the most questions about in the class of two thousand. You know, it's no knock on Kennity, but in a typical year, you wouldn't think of him as the best point guard in the country. You know, you would certainly think him as the top four or five point guard. But he's not typically the kind of guy you looked to and go, oh, yeah,

you know, that's that's the one. And here we get back to the summer conversation. Then it's short of bean fun to see. Okay, how how how does the Hunter Saalist come along, who I'm a big believer on after seeing him with the high school team in the winners Omaha not too far from me in Kansas City. You know Kenna J. D. Davidson, who is this extreme crazy athlete and has a vision can he can't get, can't blend and be a little bit more under control and find things. And so how do we judge those guys

right now? And if your schools, how do you decide which of those are prioritized. You've just gotta go with the guy that you've been you've been rocking with all along. Yeah, it's fascinating you mentioned Kansas City? Is you r and A? Is he going to Florida State? Uh, I'll be off. I haven't heard yet on your I've been so wrapped up in trying to keep up with these high school guys. I forget about the transfers sometimes. But there's certainly been

some rumblies about that. It's a weird one though, because you know his his old mentors, Victor Williams, who played at Oklahoma State, right and then you know he's like one of the only ones not to recommit to going to Oklahoma State because I think he wants like a bigger role, like, hey, did you guys just to play a kid? Cunningham And No, n c A tournament is actually a good thing because that means every scout is

rolling into every game that you have to play. I do think that even have to sit because the year out, that could be good for him. But I don't think anybody thinks they're gonna sit this year because they all think they're gonna get uh, you know, they're gonna get to the COVID waiver. So it's a it's a weird

one to me. And well, I would say she'll have a pretty good chance that a waiver since they're going to be ineligible for the n A tournament and it has them now you get automatic, you get automatic waiver. And that's that's the remarkable thing about them keeping all their players is they all could have left and transferred and play right away, right And what's what's interesting, Doug, And obviously you know Oklahoma State as well as anybody else in the country. Here you're a little bit of

an interested party there. You know, maybe yours role wouldn't have been like the star player, but he stills a role that they don't have anyone else to fill right now, right they've she had a place that's going to be locked in because he's the true rim protector on the team. They don't want to have anyone else like that. It's it's I'm certainly surprised that. I'm sure. I'm sure Victory was like, what are you doing? Man? But it's it

is what it is these guys, you know. I think George got off to a great start of the freshman, probably played better as a freshman than was expected, and then had some struggles up and down last year, and now here we go again. Are coming cool circles to the discussion we're at earlier with with guys that will pack up a movie. They don't want to fight through

some adversity a little bit. And that's that's not a knock on you, or I'm not saying he's not willing to fight adversity or anything like that, but I think he's leaving what was really a good situation for him for the next two years. Whether or not they could play in the NA Tournament in two thousand twenty one or not, it was a really good set up for him.

And so he's now going to be really tricky in picking where he goes because something might look good from the outside, but he's not gonna know for sure until he gets there. And especially in the environment that we've got going on with COVID, with so much in the air, it's a tricky time to transfer unless you're really really unhappy or you're really really getting done bad by a coach. And I don't know, maybe I'm blind to this, but I don't see Mike Boyton is the kind of guy

who's doing due the dirty uh about. He's about the sharpest guy I've come across in a long time, and I think has a great future in college basketball. It's the kind of guy as a player. But I think I'd be pretty likely to want to be around. Well my my my point, what if I was and I haven't talked to your and was and this was could he have a bigger role at a different school? Yeah, I'm sure he could. Now. One, I don't think he he earned a bigger role, right Like it wasn't like

he was. And two. But but here's the most important thing. Like, Hey, if you're what is your goal, right Like, if your goal is to go to n c A tournament, win a National Championship, Like, okay, that that I can understand. When you're Oakham State, you're not gonna have kaide in two years when you'd be a senior. But I don't believe that's his school. I believe his goal is to play in the NBA. If you're gonna play in the NBA, you're gonna play as a roller and a rim protector.

That's it. That's what you're gonna do. Can you switch on ball screens? Can you defend the rim? And yeah, every year you kind of work further and further out of making shots, but that's not really all that important as much as what you do the defensive end. Can you roll, catch and finish? And I you know, guys get caught up in the how many points, how many rebounds? What did I average? Where that's actually a role you If that's your role, you won't have to change that

role at all. And the hardest thing that guys have to do is they get to the NBA, like, hey, all that stuff you did in college you can't do here. We need you for a specific task. And they have to perry down what they were trying to do in college. Right right, you're exactly right, that's that's it's you. You. You were more substinct to it. I tend to ramble sometimes, but we're on the exact same page here. Maybe you're

confined some place where his role is expanded. But the role that he was going to play at Oklahoma State is the role that he's perfectful, and it's the role that is likely going to be a future on the professional level. So he's walking away from as much experience for his futures he probably could have been getting any school in America. Last, is there any confidence that you're gonna have any event to evaluate in person this summer at all? Not any like event that I'm used to

going to a year's past. There's there's gonna be no peace Sham or no All American camp or Las Vegas a big time or anything like that. Are there going to be some things? I mean, heck, I'm not even allowed to travel. Were owned by Verizon, and Horizon has a travel ban for all employees. So even if there were an event, until my my employer gives me the okay to go ahead and go, I'm not going anywhere now.

If there's something that I can drive to and be home that same day, like, for instance, in Kansas City. In the next couple of weeks, there's a few smaller events going on where like vocan Elite when the travel seams in the country is gonna bring in forty kids for four or five days and do like a camp uh Casey Wren g MC is gonna have a couple of other nearby teams in and do kind of a campus the skirmish game. So that's that's the extent of what my in person you experiences are going to be

for the summer. They're great stuff, man. I love catching up and talking hopes with you because you like me love it, you'd like me miss it. And I do think there's something cool though to having like to those of us who have grown up watching or coaching or playing in summer games and relatively empty gyms, like I don't. I don't think that's as big adjustment for most of these guys as people will lead you to believe. Obviously,

for a championship NBA championship, it will be weird. I think the hard part is going to be living in the hotel room for two or three months, Like at some point you're gonna want to kill your teammates, right, Like I just need my own personal space. You're gonna miss your wife or kids or borrow or whatever that Now they can come, they can get there. They actually

can get there, but they have to quarantine for four days. Right, It's not like it's not a typical going home and you know you can you can go chill out in your basement and play the next ball or you know, watched the kid ride their hoverboard and the driveway and things like that. It's different and you know, a real quick back to your original point with the playing time. Yeah,

what does seating matter now? With this, It's all that matters is getting in, And I guess seating matters a little bit in terms of matchups, but home court advantage, those crowds, listen, things are all out the window. And it's it's fitting that it's a Disney at wide world of sports because so many of these guys spent so many of their formative years playing in those buildings. So I think it's kind of cool to see them going back to it. Eric great stuff. Remember you can follow

him on on Twitter. We gave that out Facebook, I g wherever and still evaluating all the best hoopsters across the country. EB thanks so much, dude. Hey, thanks for having me on Doug. I really appreciate it. Man, that was that was awesome with Eric. Like it if it doesn't, if it doesn't make you feel like you're ready for basketball, like just two basketball guys. And and I'll say this,

look my my issues with the bubble. I I mean, look, i haven't lived an NBA lifestyle, but I've gotten to a point where sometimes I do have to check myself my expectation for a hotel. The danger is when if you're gonna use social media to be your platform for your voice for social change, you've got to be careful about, you know, clowning a relatively nice upper upper echelon hotel room and all you can eat food service. Like I

get it, you're used to want. It would be like if we're watching somebody hands you a brand new TV and says, hey, here's your TV for month. It's standard deaf. Sorry, dude, you don't get the good channels. Like we have this level of expectation because of our time in the United States. We're gonna have high death, We're gonna have the best channels. And suddenly you can't get it. I understand, you just gotta be careful about it and how it does dilute

the rest of your voice when you handle it that way. Um. I now that the rosters are completed in full, I do believe that if the Clippers have Lou Williams, assuming cool I gets there and everybody's healthy, I think the Clippers benefit the most because I just losing Avery Bradley really hurts the Lakers. They were playing great basketball, but they probably didn't have the best roster. Now their roster

isn't as good. Yeah, j R. Smith who can make shots and can defend and does have obviously you know, postseason experience, but I I you've you've taken away that

momentum which will be hard to regenerate. And I also think that playing in front of nobody will be better for the younger guys who are more of the more recent AU generation where you just play games to play games, and you have to find ways to to to navigate this and manage against, uh, manage against you know, guys being around each other too much and eventually being at each other's stroke. Hey, hope you enjoyed the pod. A

lot more to come. Remember to download subscribe and right Listen to The Doug Gotlip Show daily three to six Eastern twelve through Pacific I Heart Radio, Fox Sports Radio, etcetera, etcetera. Fall me on I G and on Twitter at Gottlieb Show. In the meantime, we're getting closer. It's gonna happen. We're gonna have actual, real basketball on TV. I'm Doug Gottliebin. This is all ball.