We're live. I'm sorry, I'm late. There's some protests in this city. What else is new on this episode of The Heat check Man twenty twenty two draft is history and oh my god, the pre draft consensus number one, Jabari Smith went third overall to Houston, a team that cleared a spot on their roster for him, traded a player for him, Paolo ban Carrol, the pre draft consensus number three, was drafted number one despite never working out with the Magic And that was just the beginning, folks,
just utter and complete madness. We will break it down all along with you, along with some Kyrie news on his quote unquote preferred destinations. Seems like a divorce is inevitable in Brooklyn. We also have a great interview with Matt McEwan, a betting insider. I help us understand all of the insanity around the NBA Draft and what that meant from a betting perspective. So much chaos, Brock, I need you to drop that from Welcome, Welcome to our
post draft show, live, absolutely live. We are going to have on Matt McEwan later on today, editor in chief of Sports Betting Dime, friend of the show. He is going to break down the odds, betting odds for the number one pick and why it went so wonky also really quickly before we also get into some news. Google Palo Ban Carro's suit for Draft night. If you're wondering do I hate this or do I actually love this? Let me just tell you this. This one little bit
of news I think will change your mind. If you're like, what was that on Palo Ban Carro's purple suit? Those are solitaire diamonds? Fire, absolute fire. Anyone who can put I think four carrot diamonds all around his suit, plastered on and so on. This man knew he was going
number one. Sesh all right. So after what felt like a little bit of news, after what felt like fake information, misinformation disinformation about the growing impass, the growing impasse between the Brooklyn Nets and the Kyrie Irving camp, which be honest, it's just Kyrie Irving. There is no camp, there is no It's like, that's just a that's a very large
over statement. Turns out, where there's smoke, there's burning sage. Yes, the Nets have now all but confirmed they are not going to offer Kyrie the max that he's looking for. Now Kai is opting out of his deal most likely, and is floating out all sorts of wild ass landing spots for a sign in trade. Kyrie texted Sat Shams and floated out a bunch of teams he would like to be traded for. Lakers, Clippers, Knicks, heat Maps, Sixers, all of whom don't have any fucking cap space. Sixers.
You mean to tell me he's gonna play with James Harden? I know this is some boys. A week ago, I would have said the odds of Kyrie going to another team or zero point zero percent, I would give you plus five thousand odds, which is five hundred to one. You give me ten dollars, I give you five thousand dollars. Maschool. Now, I don't know anymore. Up and down, Down is up. Kyrie might again be playing with Lebron. This is going to be one of those insane offseasons. This is gonna
be like the Lebron James to Lakers offseason. It feels like, let's break it down really quickly. According to Sam Ammick, it's not a far fetched idea quote that Kyrie will be in purple and gold next season, And let me tell you, I need it I need it, I want it. This is what he said. You've got people within the league actually thinking, man, I think he might find a way to get back together with Lebron, And I do get the sense that Lebron would open that door, and
we'll see if they can pull that off. Leave it to the Lakers to sign another future Hall of Famer who's a massive headache and probably won't still make the playoffs. With you, I cannot express to you how much I need this. I cannot express to you how much I want this. Because Kyrie and Braun and nobody else that can play defense or shoot is just gonna be glorious television.
Delusional Laker fans will already buy their tickets to the finals, are already bet on the Lakers to win it all before they'll plan the parade, their location of said parade. By training camp, they still won't play defense. No matter where or how Kyrie ends up in Lakerland, somehow, Sam Presty will end up with another first round pick because of it. Once again, the Brooklyn Nets will dominate the NBA offseason news and with rumors now that if Kyrie goes KD goes interesting, I know a lot of DC
fans think you can get them. You're not gonna get them. You're not gonna get them. I'm sorry, you're just not. Maybe maybe a three team trade where Kyrie goes through Washington, or Kadi goes to Washington, or maybe be O goes, you know, bo goes then to the Nets. I don't know, but Katie's not playing for DC, y'all. He might want to go to Miami. He might want to go to Dallas. He might want to go that Dallas is a good location. Mike thinking about Phoenix. Phoenix would be an interesting spot
for him. Denver interesting spot for him. Chaos is a ladder, as they say, and that ladder has a permanent home in Barclay Center.
Let's move forward towards the draft.
It was absolute madness during the draft. Madness thirty minutes before madness twenty four hours before. Things themed set in concrete until they were not. Briefly, here is what happened massively. Consensus number one pick twenty four hours before the draft ended up going third. The guy Houston restructed their restructured their roster to draft Powol. Ben Carol ended up going number one to Orlando. The team he actually rejected working
out for five times. They asked him to come in for a workout five times, and he was like his people's were like, no, why would we do that. You don't even care you're taking Jabbari. And they were like, but we'd really like to evaluate all three of y'all. And they were like, no, we're good, we know you're taking Jabbari. Stop playing around. And then they called back like, hey, we'd like to see we'd like to see Paolo. And
they're like, GoF, we told you you're taking Jabbari. And they're like, you know, Monday of the Monday of draft week, they call and they're like, hey, any chance we could just do like a zoom workout? They're like, no, GoF Thursday there, Wednesday before the draft, the day before the draft. They're like, hey, any chance you could just fly in on the way to Barclays. We'll get you in on draft day on Thursday. We'll get you out any chance, two hour, three hour flight, whatever it is, any chance.
And they're like, it's weird that you'd be asking us this day before but still not interested, and I go where fine, and they just decided we're taking them anyway. Interesting stuff, very interesting. Sacramento Kings came out whift again. They took Keegan Murray at number four when everybody thought that they could move down, and they would move down. There was a million suitors for Jade and Ivy, and now they got a guy who's probably in a dreamland,
Kyle Kuzma. In a dreamland, he turns into Kyle Kuzma. Yet they could have just drafted Kyle. They could have just taken that number four pick, traded it to the Wizards and gotten Kyle Kuzma and probably the number ten pick. Stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid. Maybe you don't like Kyle Kuzma's decision making, but he's a hell of a wing player and an athlete, and maybe that keeps Bradley Beal in DC. Detroit Pistons could not have drafted Jade n Ivy faster. They were like,
what this guy's here? Yes, excuse me, yes, created this complicated set of moves with trot Troy Weaver twenty four hours ago with everyone killing the Pistons for trading Jeremy Grant for a bag of potato chips, which we talked about and people wanted to Then after the draft wanted to build a statue around Troy Weaver and Detroit. That's how fast things changed. At least a dozen teams were jocking to get Jade and Ivy after Detroit picked him.
Like no. They ended up also making some moves with that twenty twenty five first round pick that they got from Portland in the Jeremy Grand trade that everyone said that they got nothing for to get Jalen Durn. Yes, they moved up to the twelfth spot, thirteen spot, moved up to the thirteen spot to get Jalen Durn and somehow they screwed the Knicks over in the process. Let's discuss the Knicks. Probably the most disappointing draft night for
Knicks fans. Steven A Smith in consolable. He's getting shoulder rubs from Spike Lee. Like Spike Lee's name is Drake and steven A's name is Nick Nurse. On the sidelines of a finals game. They traded away their eleventh pick for a bunch of future first rounders that are protected basically for the entire first round, so you don't even get them, all right, We're gonna give you twenty twenty three first round pick protected up into twenty nine. Uh wait, what so you mean to tell me unless I win
the championship next year. Unless unless you win the championship next year, I don't get this pick. Yeah. Yeah, Also, it's a Detroit pick. It doesn't convey unless they are the nineteenth picker. Worse, wait, so you mean to tell me Detroit has to make the playoffs next year in order for me to get this Yes, and somehow Leon Rose neglected to do that research. It's just a few first round picks that probably will never convey. They traded Kemba Walk, They moved Kemba Walker away, got rid of
some cap space for Jalen Brunson player. I love a player. You guys know that. I like a lot table setter. Good Point are very traditionally sound set the table, tough defensively Villanova, tough guy. But he's largely expected, like, at least on draft night, was largely expected to be back in a Dallas Maverick's uniform. So there's a lot of speculation about why you do that, baby, Why you do that trade if he's going back to Dallas because you
don't have any other options. Mark Cuban thinks he can resign him good things he can they can resign them, and it's probably gonna cost him in the upper twenties to get them if they can get them. And now Wendy and others are reporting that the Knicks are inching closer to making Brunson a reality in New York because because because because of the wonderful things he does. No, that's not why. Because Rick Brunson is an assistant for
the New York next his dad. Yeah, the Brunson family, So they must have a little little home cooking.
Uh.
Yeah, it's just not a coincidence. There's another Brunson there that's actually his daddy. But this is a big ass But what if they can't get Brunson, what do they do? What Bruns is like, sorry, dad, I love you, but you saw what happened with Patrick Baldwin junior right when he went to whatever school that was God his dad
fired in the process, his draft stock boomed kaboomed. Can they go and get de Jontay Murray with some of the whack ass pieces that they have and trade those away and maybe have to move some first round picks that they got they probably won't convey to San Antonio M m I don't know that R. C. Buford is doing that deal. I don't know if he's like he will suss out that those trade that those pieces and those those first round picks won't convey. He knows how
it all works. This could be an unmitigated disaster. It's the Knicks. What do you expect? It's Madison Square Garden and Dolan And I love Dolan. You guys know that he's a good dude. Good dude Dolan. I always say that JD. And he's also he's also a good guitarist. I've heard he does a good job. Moving on, Oka see found a way to make moves like only Sam Presty can. They picked Chad up at number two. They
traded up to get Uzman Jang at eleven. They didn't have to give up two well to get Jang at eleven. Took another skinny big man who can play and can pass. He's six eleven, one hundred and ninety pounds, just like Chet. They should work out perfect together. They took Jalen Williams from Santa Clara at twelve, another good kid who's moved up the draft board. Then they took another Jalen Williams two Jalen Williams, Yes, one with the al, one with the A Y L. Yes, it's true. He played at Arkansas.
The other one played at Santa Clara. It's true. Just to full on kick ash draft for OKC to the point where I say, are they my league past team? I'm not sure, but it's close. Sga Giddy, Lou dort Chet, Jalen Williams, Jalen Williams, A lot of them. Chatter that they wanted to move up to seven. Didn't end up happening.
Sam Presty still playing chess while everyone else is playing checkers, ended up trading three first rounders to the Knicks, and they were the three least valuable first round picks that he has out of the nineteen that he has. And they still have sixteen first rounders in the next six years. Blazers, fam, I don't know. Is it good? Is it bad? I don't know. I haven't seen the kid play. No one has seen Shaden Sharp play in the last twelve months.
Shade Sharp has not played any competitive basketball in the last year, but because of the way that these rules work, he was able to declare early for college come in and the spring semester, thought about playing when's backcourt for Kentucky was all banged up. Calipari mench move, don't do it. You're only gonna hurt yourself in your draft stock. We don't need this. They ended up getting bounced out the
first round. Calipari tie. The kid thinks he could be a first round pick next year, number one overall pick. Next year. We took Shaden Sharp seven. What does that mean for a team that says that they are contending and building a contender around Dame in the immediate future, but we haven't seen him play basketball competitively in over a year. I don't know. Does that mean he could be a next superstar? Maybe? Am I patient with Shaden? Absolutely is Dame patient with Shaden Sharp? I don't know.
Here's the thing that's the big upside. You listen to this guy, Shaden Sharp talk. He says, I think I can be the best player to ever play basketball. I what do I do? Since you don't have a comp on me, you don't have a scouting report on me because I've played no competitive basketball in twelve months. Well, let me tell you what I do. Straight line drives to the rim. I play above the rim at all times.
I'm long. He's six foot He's six foot five with a seven foot wingspan, can shoot the three effectively, plays very tough defense. He's skinny as hell. But if he wasn't skinny as hell, who does that remind you of? To me? Aunt Edwards? To me shades of brandon Ingram. Can he be the next aunt Edwards? Can he be the next BI? We're gonna have to see in the midst of all this, Like I said, KDE rumors flying around.
No one wants to make moves in the draft anymore because they're like, we might need the cap space for KD. What does that do? Creates more chaos. Memphis Grizzlies seemed to be involved in half the draft picks in the first round, ending up with Jake Lauravia and David Roddy at the expense of d Anthony Melton. The Wizards did everything that they could do to push Bradley Beale out of DC Yeah, by drafting at ten instead of going to get a veteran point guard with that number ten spot.
It feels like this was an interesting choice given the fact that Bradley Beal said that his number one priority in terms of his free agency decision is winning. Can a rookie point guard out of Wisconsin get you to winning in your prime? Bradley Beal, even Bradley Beal, who I know is delusional, who I know wants to make this work in his heart, knows this is not the way. If I was a betting woman, which I am, I would bet that Bradley Beal is not happy right now
with Johnny Davis on this team. What does that mean for his free agency status? Possibly deuces, Possibly deuces. San Antonio Spurs continued. A lot of DC fans want him out because he's gonna make sixty million. We'll have to see. San Antonio. Spurs continue to march to the beat of their own drum. They do not give a fool about what anybody thinks. That's why they took Josh Primo twenty
sloughts higher than anybody thought. That's why they started with the Draymond clones in Jeremy Sohan, got better with Malachi brand at twenty, who I loved. Then they ended up getting Blake Wesley at twenty five. All of them were way up the Spurs draft board, Brandon being pegged as a mid lottery pick at one point. Interesting, interesting stuff. I cannot wait to see how this all ends up. Do we have Matt mcewanon, Wow, what great timing. Amazing
timing here, So let's talk about it. So first and foremost, yesterday we saw a series of unprecedenting swings in the odds for who would go number one in the draft. In the span of eight hours, Jabari Smith went from negative ten thousand, which means for every dollar you bet, you get back one penny, to plus three hundred to plus three hundred, which means for every dollar you bet bet you get back three dollars, and then it went
back down again. Eventual number one pick, Paolo ben Caro was plus twenty two hundred, which means every dollar you get back, you get every dollar you bet, you get twenty two back. Ten days ago. Never seen anything like this. Benedict Matherren love him. Ben Mathren maybe gonna be one of the best players in the draft. Pacers took him at number six. Snake this Jeremy Sohan spurs very interesting pickup. I think he could become a more offensive shooting threat.
But like a Draymond Green. Loved Jake Laavia and that pick Grizzlies took him at nineteen. He's a dog. He fits in with what they want to do. Absolutely, Max Christy on the Lakers number thirty five. Quick little story. Lakers targeted Andrew Nemhard, but he went number thirty one, so they were very, very happy to get Christy in this spot. Probably ranked in the twenties on many draft boards, basically a better version of thht. Lakers also ended up
getting Scottie Pippen Junior and Sharif O'Neill. Interesting pedigree of names there, and then the Pelicans end up getting EJ. Ladell at forty one. Is he gonna be this? This Ayu de soon move version like somebody who slipped in the draft probably should have been a number one pick or number first round pick. I'm not sure, but it could be who I think is Suskeek and Murray. He's a diet Wish version of Kyle Kuzma. I think he's
an absolute dream if he becomes Kyle Kuzma. And I put this out there because the Kings have been atrocious in their draft history. This is a team that took Marvin Bagley at two, Luca went three, took Thomas Robinson f five, Dame went six, jimmerferdn At ted ten, Clay Win eleven. So the Kings don't get any benefit of the doubt from me at all. When Keegan is a nice piece, that's fine. But Jaden Ivy was the guy that everybody said will will make an impact now, and
the Kings are gonna get murdered for this pick. I also am a little suspect on Dyson Daniels, a little suspect on Uzman Jang. We'll break that down the next teak mq andon. Wow, what great timing. Amazing timing here, So let's talk about it. So first and foremost, yesterday we saw a series of unprecedenting swings in the odds
for who would go number one in the draft. In the span of eight hours, Jabari Smith went from negative ten thousand, which means for every dollar you bet you get back one penny, to plus three hundred to plus three hundred, which means for every dollar you bet bet you get back three dollars, and then it went back down again. Eventual number one pick PLO Ben Carol was plus twenty two hundred, which means every dollar you get back you get every dollar you bet you get twenty
two back ten days ago. Never seen anything like this, so to help us understand what all happened and how it might affect future drafts as a league as a whole, Please welcome Matt McEwan. Matt is editor in chief of the Sports Betting Dime. He has been a friend of a show for a long time now. He is also he has created their futures trackers, score predictors and other betting models. Welcome to the show, Matt.
He so much for having me.
Yeah, thanks for coming on. Man. It was what a crazy time it is to be a sports betting person in the business. I had people even that were people that were newsbreakers who wanted to get my perspective in terms of how this blew up on Twitter, you know, not just gambling Twitter, but NBA Twitter. So I figured, you know, for the people to get somebody on who does this all the time and understands how markets move.
So I wanted to have you on explain to those maybe who don't bet or don't understand, you know, how these things go, how we can get odds change so rapidly and so wildly in such a short period of time, and not just in one direction where everything goes and stays, but then in every direction.
Yeah, so I'm interested all boils down to money. Right, And these sports books they aren't you know, they're in the betting industry, but they're not into making bets themselves. Right, They're not sitting here saying, okay, we're okay if we're you know, have.
This massive liability on Palo to go first.
Now, their job is to even the money up proportionally.
Right.
What they want is, again it's not necessarily an equal amount of money on each side, but what they need is a proportional amount of money on each side.
Right.
And I say that because hey, if you got minus one ten odds on each side, sure you want equal money on each side. But when we're talking about something like you just said there where Jabari Smith was minus ten thousand, you know that's okay. You you you should have a lot more money on Jabari Smith than you should have on anybody else.
At that point.
Right.
So you know this, this was just very interesting to see the money flowing, right, And that's exactly what happened here was you know, and we live in this age of social media now and it's becoming stronger in the insiders and the rumors, and and you know, whether they're real or or fake, they're flowing right. And all it takes, as we've seen, is one of them to get a ton of people on it willing to say, Okay, you know, I'm gonna throw some money on this side. I think
it's it's got some value. All of a sudden, you create some steam. You got a ton of money coming in there. The book starts saying, we can't have this. You know, if this event occurs now, we would be out a lot of money.
So what do we have to do.
We got to start driving some money on the other options. Right, So that's where you see this fluctuation happening, and that's why you saw it happen so fast, so wildly, like you described there, right, there was just this massive flow of money that started about seventy two hours ago on Palo there. And you know, then Wadge sends out his tweet that it is going to be Jabbari, and all of a sudden, everybody's back on Jabbari, and so then they've got to swing it again because they're all of
a sudden liable again. They're not in a good position in where the money's lying, right, So it was wild and you know, for those who are familiar, you know, NFL fans as well, we saw this happen in the NFL draft too, right with Aiden Hutchinson and Trevon Walker. We even saw it. I mean, if you go a little bit further back, Icky and Evan Neil, all of a sudden, we're the favorites to go first overall, right, and the same type of thing. It didn't happen, you know,
as you know, as abruptly as this one did. But as as more markets come online, right, more people are betting, there's more money available to be bet and just more rumors going around, right, So that's that's why it's it's essentially the money.
So I'm curious what can betters learn from this the next time it happens, and is there a philosophy because it feels like seventy two hours ago there was no news that was the reason that Paolo was getting a lot of influx of money other than just the value of seeing twenty two twenty one to one odds.
Well, so I mean, if there's a lassing here, and I mean I think this goes.
Beyond sports even Tristan and I know this is a sports podcast, but I mean, if there's a lesson, it is you know, understand the sources that that you're you're trusting, right, And it's you know, these insiders understand that they don't need firm, credible evidence to go and put out a report, right, they just need a rumor and and it's and it's
a report. So you know, if there's a lesson that you had here, I think it's, uh, it's one, you know, know your sources, but two, understand that around these drafts, nobody knows anything you know, and and the teams themselves are are thrown out fake reports to try to throw each other off of you know, each other's scent, right. The I mean, you know, nobody, nobody wants to nobody.
They they don't want everybody else knowing who they're taking first overall, right, They they would love, they would have loved, you know, somebody to try to trade up to come get Jabbari Smith because you know they wanted Jabbari Smith and that was their guy, right. So it's it's just knowing that these drafts are very unpredictable and and you know when you do see twenty two hundred, huts, it
is worth a little sprinkle. You know, obviously we bet responsibly, and you know, don't don't put your life savings on something like this, but a couple bucks at twenty two hundred at that point, I mean, you know, obviously you were laughing come come draft day, if you if you got on that train early.
How does this compare to other drafts that we've seen in the NBA, because it feels like most are pretty consensus number, Like I'm thinking about the Zion draft. There was nothing that anyone could do to get me to draft any to get me to put money on anyone but Zion. And so how does what we saw last night compared to maybe what you've seen in prior drafts?
You are absolutely correct, right, I think this was the first draft in a little bit that we have seen a little bit of skepticism over like who who is the true number one here?
Right and there?
There wasn't any clear sign that it is this guy. So no, this this was unique. This, this, wanted to be very honest with you, reminded me of of certain NFL drafts where there isn't that top flight quarterback right whenever you have the top quarterback, you know, you know who's going number one. But this reminded me of that where it was all of a sudden, you know there. I know Chat didn't really ever see like you know, his odds short in a ton, but.
I think plus one eighty all the way down to one ten back up the plus four hundred up to twenty two hundred on draft day, So a little.
Some some movement there, right, But he he What I was saying is essentially he never became a favorite, right like he there there there wasn't this swing to Chat wolveson. But at the same time, it very well could have been Chet as well, like there were there were three guys that really it could have been any one of these, right, And no that this was truly unique. And this is you know, you get these betting opportunities very seldomly, you know,
these these types of things, don't. I mean that the draft itself only shows up once a year, and like you said, most are you know, consensus, there's a number one, this guy's going. Don't waste your money on anything else, right, So no, I mean to your to your point before it's you know, understand when there is uncertainty and capitalize.
Do you think this changes how information like the news information business around events like the draft? Like, does this put does this put pressure on maybe making these non sporting sporting events illegal nationwide because they are so predicated on information and not something that's like completely unpredictable, given that there's already five states, including New York, where it's not legal.
So I personally don't believe we're going to see this this mass rush to like, hey, let's not offer odds here.
This is just too much.
I think the you know, the moves we'll see are are likely going to be you know, there's some states that basically shut shut it down like twenty four hours prior.
Right.
That's that's one step I think we would see well before anything like that. The other one is just cap in the bets, right, like take you know, and they already do to an extent. You know, every sportsbook has the right to refuse any bet that you come to them with, and they do you know, if you showed up with you know, half a million dollars on Paolo, I don't think any sportsbook would have taken at.
Twenty two to one.
They're like, nah, dog, no, chance, right, No, nobody wants that liability.
Would they let me ask you a quick follow up question, would they move the line even if they didn't take the bet? Just like say I gets them five, I want to put five hundred thousand dollars on Palo twenty two to one. They turn me away? Do then the traders go back into a little powwow and say, holy shit, we there's something that might be don't.
Yeah, So that in itself may not move the line right away, but that's gonna put high alert on that line all of a sudden, and you're gonna have somebody watching that line and watching every bet from there out that comes in on that line, right and and yeah, your your your next bet on that draft is not gonna be accepted as quickly as it would have been ten minutes ago. Right, So it may not shut it down, but high alert that that that's gonna get the attention.
Right.
So, you know, those are the moves I think we would see right just and and and we already do see.
Them to an extent. They just may continue moving in that direction.
Maybe you're you know, they take less you know, five figure bets, four figure bets on these types of events, right, I don't think we'll they take they take too much handle, you know, for for what it is, like it's it's worth it for them.
Right. So, Adrian wolj Jzanowski, as well as Sham Sharanya to the top newsbreakers in the business have been courted. It's no secret they're being courted by books. How does this change if woj is working for someone like points Bet.
Yeah, so, I mean that's an interesting one in in my opinion here, you know, and I think what what we all hope this means is just that his information goes to the books first.
Right, That's what they're paying the seven million dollars or whatever it is for.
And and that's it, and it's it's basically before you go public, it's hey, just let us know so that we can put our line either on alert, we can move it, or we can just take it down.
Right, And uh so, what what does that do?
You know?
As a better it gives you less opportunities to expose a bad line. But again, as we've said, like this is only like the informational based betting events too, right, so you know, sure Woh might have an injury to report ahead of time, right. I feel there's I feel there's enough people that are, you know, privy to that information that you'll still get it in a reasonable time, you know, And when it comes to a single game like that, there's enough handle on it that you're not
going to instantly start moving that line. So you know, it does though, it will limit your opportunities to expose a bad line.
Do you think what we saw was good for basketball or bad for basketball?
I thought it was good, So I mean, I'll be very honest with you, and and just again from I hate to keep calling back to the NFL here. I'm sure you know I'm a bit NFL fan. The NFL Draft for me anyways, and I think for most Americans as well, is a much bigger event than the NBA Draft is, you know, and the betting handle says so as well. You know, the Johnny Avello was on talking about the NFL Draft being at least three times the handle of the the NBA Draft, you know. So I
feel it was good. I feel all this because I mean, you know, every time someone sees a long shot win, right, their head gets filled with that could be me, you know, next time, maybe maybe that could be me. Maybe I could be that lottery winner next time, right, So I.
Think it's great for basketball.
I think it will drive a little more interest in next year's draft and you know, specifically betting on the draft as well, right, which I mean that drives a lot of interest.
We saw a trade before the draft, Christian Wood got moved based on the perception, the false perception that Jabari was a lock to go number one, that Carol was going to be there for Houston at number three. Does this does that change like pre draft trades from got from teams in the lottery perhaps, Like how do you think this changes? I guess how how teams communicate with one another, you know.
What I mean?
I think that was always a concern, you know, like that was always a risk that that they were taking in doing so, right, And I would you know, be willing to bet money that this isn't the first time that you know, one team maybe fed another team that information about what they were doing. You know, I don't think that's that's never happened before. So I you know what, I I don't I don't think that has any effect.
I think, you know, Houston maybe.
Got burned a little bit, but I think they're gonna be okay to borri Ma.
So I'm looking at odds now for Rookie of the Year, and I see that Paolo ban Cao is the odds on favorite plus three hundred. Why does this say he's in Detroit. That's so weird. Anyway, that's strange. Palo ban Caro plus plus three hundred. The longest odd that I see on sports betting Dime is Jalen Duran at thirty to one. I'm curious, though, for those who have never bet on Rookie of the Year before, what's the smartest strategy to bet on that?
So in in my opinion, here from what I've seen, and you know, I've I've been tracking these Rookie of the Year odds for about six years now, right, It ultimately the main factor is points, sadly, right, which you know, I think a lot of the basketball purists get a little upset over this. You know, there's there's a lot that goes into the game that you know, and points is the sexy stat, right, And it's it's points. It's
highlight reel plays. You know, how how many times are you gonna see Jabbari throwing down on on you know, some some big forward.
As well.
As they're there, they're recently, what I've seen is some team success go into it, though, you know, and I team team success comes in when there isn't a clear cut super sexy point scorer, highlight reel, most night player, then it deffers to and And I mean, I think that's what you saw with Scottie Barx this this past year, winning winning Rookie of the Year, right you looked at the Raptors and said he wasn't really key piece in getting them to the playoffs going from you know, picking
was at four uh to up into the playoffs there, you know, so, yeah, he played a massive role on that team, and all of a sudden, I think for the first time in a while, we saw that come into play.
But for the.
Most part, I think you're looking at which which player is going to be on the floor and score.
I'm betting, I'm betting, and Jamari.
Yeah, so I'm take me through the reason the reasoning for that. Jabari obviously on the on the Houston Rocket's going to be playing alongside Jalen Green, a noted chucker willing passer, but noted Chucker can put up you know ten threes a night. Kevin Porter Junior, another noted chucker on that team as well, will shoot from anywhere, not a willing passer. So take me through kind of your strategy on how you get to Jabbari.
So right away, I look, you know, looking at the favorite Paalo there. I don't love him in that.
Offense necessarily, and what I mean, I don't love his usage. There's a lot that, like I think, Orlando has this idea that they're gonna compete this year a little bit, you know, which I see you laugh at and I kind of do internally too, because it's the Orlando magic and we haven't seen them really do that in a
long time now. But there's a lot of players in Orlando that want the ball as well, and especially if all of a sudden, like Markel Foltz has like a summer where all of a sudden he finds himself again and now of a sudden, you've got just all these guys that want to get their own I mean, that's a full that's a loaded roster of young, hungry players there, right. So I'm out on him, and his odds are just
a little little too short for me. With with his situation looking around elsewhere, Chat, I have fears over him just in the NBA in general. You know, his his weight worries me a little bit, and and just how yeah, how thin he is, how lean he is. So I don't know what that's gonna look like in the NBA,
I have. I have some doubts there admittedly, So you know, looking basically, I look at those top three guys because I think they stand above the rest and and and you know, those those are, yeah, in my opinion, the kind of top tier guys. And I do look to Houston, and that's a situation where you have a team there that isn't too far removed from being championship contenders year in year out, right, And I think you have a like that that's that's still a proud team that wants
to get back to competing. And I think they've seen they can't do that playing basketball the way they did the way that you just mentioned them doing. And I think there's going to be a very concerted effort from the coaching staff to get the ball into Jabbari's hands and to be a little more efficient offensively. You know, it's very efficient throwing down dunks, so I think we're gonna see a lot of Jabbari this year.
I think we're gonna see the offense run.
Through Jabbari a little more than some expect, because, like I said, I know, I mean Jalen Green shot taker. I think Houston's I think Houston's gonna do everything they can to put the ball through Jabari's hands. And I think he'll be, you know, a little similar to Scottie in Toronto, where he's almost like the focal point of the offense. He may not score all the points, but I think the ball is gonna run through him pretty consistently.
If if Bradley Beal ends up leaving Washington, is there a chance that the line moves on Johnny Davis? It's plus two thousand now, so wow, yeah, that's a great value. So would you take a flyer? And also, on top of Johnny Davis, are there any other So I guess the two part of question, any other long shots that you absolutely love and then long shots that you would absolutely stay away from outside of maybe Mark Williams and Jalen Durn because of the usage rate.
So Johnny Davis isn't is a very interesting name there, right, And I just have my concerns, like is Bradley Beal really leaving?
And you know, I don't know.
At plus two thousand, I absolutely think that's worth a little sprinkle. It's not something that I would put a ton on there, because I mean, the whole Bradley Beal situation is just again it's another one of these like NBA draft things like I don't think any but he knows the real truth.
Here, you know.
And and again I don't like betting a lot of money on things that I have no idea about, right.
So when it comes to other long shots, I'm just pulling on the board here.
There's honestly, there's not a ton of names far down the board that grab my attention.
What about how are you feeling about Shaden Sharp in Portland?
So, I mean, funny enough, I was just about to mention Benedict Mathrin because I wanted him to end up in Portland. That that like that that I thought was a really ideal fit. And if he ended up there, he I think I would have been betting Benedict Mathron, Shade and Sharp, I think at twelve to one, same things similar to Johnny Davis, where I think it's worth
a little sprinkle. I'm not I'm not putting a ton on on that, but he's He's probably as far down the board as I would look, which isn't far, I know, but I like it. I mean, you know, Dame wants to win now, for Portland to win. I do think Dame's going to be taking the final shot every game, you know, and I think that is the best thing for Portland. As you know, I think we probably all agree with We've seen over the years what that looks like.
So I do if you're looking, if you're looking outside the top tier, I think Shaden Sharp is the the you know, best candidate there for you know, a little bit of a long shot.
Matt. When are we gonna get Kyrie destination odds? Kdie destination odds? What's up with that?
So, you know what, those are always interesting that, you know, the books. I do feel the books kind of trying to slide those in there real quick, and you know, don't they don't make it super public because.
They never promote it.
No, and there's a.
Reason they don't want, you know know, first bet in to be you know, one hundred thousand dollars on some guy who knows Kevin Durant and you know.
Knows where he's going.
The books aren't going to open anything there until they feel they have enough information, right, and again.
Who knows when that is?
Yeah, if you had to ask me, I honestly, I don't know that we even see any Durant. Odds, I wouldn't. I it wouldn't surprise me if we see some Kyrie. But I think they'll come late, like there'll there'll there will be an announcement and and and they'll come late.
So if you have an idea of where you think KD Kyrie end up, would you then just place I guess back back in backing into it and just place future future bets on you know, futures bets on teams.
That's what I would recommend, because I mean the other thing too that you're dealing with there is similar to the NBA draft, where I mean, if you want to lay a big chunk of money on something like that, decent chance they're not taking your bet, right, So I wouldn't wait if you have some credible information on.
Where one or both may go.
The futures market is a little better there, and again maybe not even the the championship futures, but you know, look into division if win totals come out, you know in time for that, you know that that's in my opinion, one of I know it's not the lottery ticket that a lot of people like, right, but that's that's one that that you know a little more certainty around that, a little better probability of actually hitting that bet.
Final question, I guess, as you said, if you have more definitive information, then you know, maybe you can go ahead and place a bed on X, Y or z because you know something that others don't know. How do books from your perspective, keep it keep track on? You know who they can limit as a as a better like you know, can woj bet, can Sham's bet? Can
Jerry West bet? You know what? What where are we at in terms of the murkiness of I know Calvin Ridley can't bet, he cannot anyone, but but like, where's the line here?
So, from from my understanding, the leagues are submitting names at this point.
Now again, don't don't quote me on.
This because as you're live on the broadcast.
If it hasn't happened yet, it's going to start happening. There, there's gonna be names and and you know, the the onus in the past has just always been on like the teams, the leagues, right, and the sports books were doing a favor, you know that, like the Calvin Ridley thing. Like they basically said, hey, like sure, we'll take your bet, but like we gotta go notify the NFL of this, right, Like all these leagues are getting money from these sports books.
They're partnered with the sports books, right, So I mean they don't want that, like they these both sides want this to be a nice, clean, uh trustworthy, credible partnership here, right,
They don't want this drama. So it's you know, it's growing into a partnership here of hey, here's here's you know, names do not take these or on the sportsbook side, if somebody slips in, yeah, Jerry West slips in and makes a bet, they might call the NBA and say, hey, what's up here, like, you know, should should we take this?
Should?
I mean, they can always cancel a bet after it's made, right, So it's it is it's getting to a point where where the two sides are really going to start working together and and they have to because you know, you you there's already enough skepticism around, you know, sports betting and just nervousness around or what is this doing to the to the integrity of the game, right, And.
Neither side wants that.
Neither side wants these questions, So it will it's going to continue just growing into this nice shared partnership of hey, don't let this person bet Okay, okay.
Yeah, awesome stuff, Matt, Thank you so much for joining us, sir. We'll have to do it later on this season when Kyrie ends up somewhere and Katie either ends up somewhere or he doesn't.
Yeah, no, my pleasure.
Trist I had one for you. I think I saw you liked my Toronto Raptors. Christian Kloka, Oh.
My god, that's a great pickup. He is right, He's exactly what Massi wants. Massi likes international players. He likes players who are a long and athletic who can switch on defense. Christian coloco I pegged Arizona as being one of the surprise teams of this year before they even played a regular season game because of what you know you're seeing from the coaching staff coming from Gonzaga and some of these other guys. So I watched a lot of Christian Cloaco and I was impressed by him. He's
he's an athletic freak. I think that was a very underrated such a Toronto pick, you know what I mean? Yeah, yeah, and he didn't have to give up OG andob to us in order to get what you wanted.
I'm really happy we did. I'm really happy. I love O G.
But I mean that that was a big hole on the Raptors roster. We didn't have that big kind of banger to play at center. And funny enough, I'm with some bachelor party here for the weekend and a bunch of Raptors fanned around fans around me. Here, there's people here who are more excited about the Ron Harper Junior signing. That's a big one too, So like they're they're they're going wild out there about Ron Harper Junior. And I'm in here at saying I don't not that I don't
like Ron Harper JUNR. But I'm the one, like I'm the quiet voice here saying, hey, Christian Cloaco, I think is gonna gonna do sometthing't.
Sleep, do not sleep. He's gonna he might start at five.
I agree with you as much as I like what precious kind of broad he's He's a little undersized, you know.
Absolutely, at least you have someone who can bang with Joel Embid.
Now that's what they need.
Precious to chew is cute and all against the Warriors, but sometimes you need that defensive versatility against guys like you know, Jojo, against guys like you know, the Lopez, Any Lopez and.
Exactly he's great to throw on Yannis who you know. Sure, go ahead, Darren to shoot shoot the three, you know, but that length to put on him. Yeah, absolutely, I'm with you.
Tris, Go Raptors, Go Raptors. Have a great one. Enjoy the Bachelor party. We will talk to you soon, sir.
Thanks so much Chris for talk.
Thank you. This is all the time that we have. I appreciate y'all. We'll be back Monday with a new episode. As we head into free agency in the Summer League. Follow us as the season comes to a quote free agency begins. Do not forget to download subscribe, Please tell your friends follow us. Follow us. Follow us at he check on TikTok and at your Fountain back Bound, Fat Fact Mountains fading back bat fountains BA