Colin Cowherd Podcast - Jordan Love Reality, CP3/Warriors + Porzingis/Celtics Fits, Draft Reaction w/ Jason Timpf

probably one. This is it. I get about three weeks after the Super Bowl where I don't have to on a nightly basis sit and watch sports. I get about eight weeks now where I'll watch I watched the Mets meltdown against the Phillies yesterday, a complete meltdown with a Mets bull and they don't do anything particularly well. Buck Show Walter is apparently now no longer a genius. He's

in trouble. But I get about eight weeks where I don't have to, you know, race home at night and sit in front of a TV, so I kind of bounce around and watch a lot of different stuff. I can watch the United States men's national team against Jamaica. I can watch a baseball game, the Mets bullpen melting down. There's a little bit of a freedom that I can

kind of watch what I want to watch. There's not a lot of things that are major topics right now as we await a couple of NBA potential trades to happen. I also like this time of the year because I start reading Phil Steele, my college football books, my NFL books, and I get ready for the season. I do have a little bit of a gym on the Green Bay Packers. So through the years, I've had, you know, multiple people

that were on the Packers. I think you know that I know Jeff Saturday, well, Mercedes Lewis, I know Aaron Jones. But there's four or five other Packers, some the team, some not that I have not brought on my show, but I have an ability to get a hold of them through people. And so I had an interesting discussion yesterday yesterday being Saturday, because I'm taping this on Sunday with a I won't tell you if it's a former Packer or a current Packer, but it's somebody on the

offensive side of the ball, you know. And I just asked the question. I said, Hey, what do you expect from Jordan Love. The organization went heavy into offense this draft. They went and got a couple of tight ends, one I really like Musgrave out of Oregon State, and then I think three different wide receivers and a running back. So the organization, which is always really first round once

again was an and outside linebacker from Iowa. But they really loaded up on young offensive people, and I think when you consider Christian Watson and Romeo Dobbs from last year wide receivers along with this draft class, you know, the feeling in Green Bay is We're going to grow with Jordan Love here. He's going to have people of his age that he can sort of grow with. The question becomes how patient will they be? So somebody that is connected to the Packers, I won't say if they're

a current or a former packer. I asked about Jordan Love and his takeaway is in three years, I've yet to see a wow moment. There are no wow moments. So doesn't mean he's a bust, doesn't mean it won't work. But generally, if you look at the great quarterbacks over the last twenty five years, there's a wow somewhere. It's arm it's movement, it's pre snap. Now, some of you would say, did Eli Manning have a lot of wow?

not give you wow stuff. Brock Purty was the last guy drafted in the seventh round for the forty nine ers. The Packers moved up for Jordan Love. If you move up for Jordan Love, there's gotta be some wow. Right. That's what a first round picks about. I don't care if it's a rush end, a running back, a wide receiver. The difference between a first and a fifth round guy is the wow. Right. That's that's why they move up.

They do something that's consistently high end or spectacular. So it was just an interesting comment from that person that hasn't really seen in three years a wow moment. So here's where I'll say about Jordan Love. We really don't know. I have been, like all of you, if you're a Packer fan or not, hearing the comments from Brian Goudenkuns to the GM, David Baktiari other teammates. There's been a lot of be patient, let's not get ahead of ourselves.

That leads me to believe that they're going really, really slow, and they have concerns. You know, I've said this. When Aaron left, My takeaway was, all right, young quarterback, he's going to work with these young guys. We don't know anything. I also think that if something had been spectacular, the video would get out. And I remember Patrick Mahomes first

year in Kansas City, his first camp. He made many spectacular plays, but there was one play in particular when he threw its side arm into the end zone beat coverage, and that video leaked out. And that video leaked out because somebody within the Chiefs wanted that video out. They wanted the fans to understand this is what we have here. I remember Peter Schrager coming to me multiple sources. Schreger came to me two or three times it said they

are saying Mahomes is out of this world. So I'm kind of pessimistic on Jordan Law with all the cynicism and the questions. If there was a great piece of video, if there was a great moment, we'd see it, you'd hear about it. Because we all know Aaron leaves Jordan Love's team, there's going to be some backlash, right, There's going to be some pushback. There's loyalties in that locker room. Now to Aaron Rodgers. You know, I've said this for years.

Stuff leaks out when somebody wants it out, right, When nothing gets out, the organization doesn't want it out. Remember when Tua was getting a lot of pushback. Was it a year or two years ago? And suddenly there was these pieces of video out of the Dolphins camp with perfectly thrown Tua bombs down the field that got out because somebody wanted it out. Four years ago, when the Giants drafted Dave Gettelman, the GM drafted Daniel Jones with a number six pick, there was a lot of heat

on Gettleman and the Giants. It was a reach then, it's a reach now you started getting in camp, these slow motion Daniel Jones video vignettes suddenly being released and leaked out of the Giants cam because Gettleman was getting hammered, the Giants were getting ripped. This is a reach. I swear I saw six pieces of video. The ball never touched the turf, It never touched the grat. Daniel Jones looked like a combination of Joe Namath and Phil Simms

and Eli Manning. It was unbelievable. The best New York quarterbacks ever that got out because they wanted it out to His video got out because they wanted it out. When Trey Lance was struggling with accuracy in practice, it never got out. And so I don't care if it's a grainy piece of film. In three years, nothing makes me pretty pessimistic. Good news. It's a wonky division. NFC's never been weaker in the last twenty years that I can remember. I mean, I was looking through some NFL magazines,

and nobody knows what to do with the NFC. South Saints, Falcons, Bucks Charlotte myself included. Derek Carr is the best quarterback, and so most of us. When you look at their defensive personnel. The defensive head coach kind of feel like they'll just be in a matter of attrition. They'll just win more games based on a better quarterback and better defensive personnel. But their coach has a thirty five percent winning percentage in his second job in the NFL Raiders Saints.

So if that's your favorite, good luck. It's quarterback coach league. This coach wins thirty five percent of his games, So we'll see. But I'm just watching all these bat signals. The Buffalo Bills on Friday released a BAT signal that the owner gave the extension to the GM and head coach and announced it Friday. Why because before they get to camp, they want very unhappy wide receiver Stefon Diggs to know this is the GM and more notably Sean McDermott,

the head coach's team. So you're not happy, you're noisy, you're grumbling. Just a heads up. We know you signed a contract recently, but the camp and the team goes through Sean McDermott. There's a reason that extension was signed and it was made public the BAT signals. So watch the signals. The news that gets out, the news you think should get out that doesn't get out. Those will be little tells over the next eight weeks before we head into Labor Day weekend and practice ends. Exhibition games

are over. Look for the signals. Can't wait. I just love this time of the year. Do you have some home projects you need to get done, whether you own the house or you rent it in your apartment, your condo, or your town hall. Angie's List is now the ang app for all your projects at home, whether you're moving, installing something, or cleaning something. They have a network of pros that you can rely on. They've been rated and reviewed by others in your areas. Hundreds of projects, big

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little bits and pieces coming out here now. Jason timpf Our guy at Hoops tonight, we have had so much fun over the last six seven weeks of NBA playoffs

and drafts. It's been an absolute blast. And for those who didn't know who Jason was before and if we've possibly introduced Jason to you, I get so much feedback, maybe more positive feedback on Jason than any single person we have at the volume and the stuff that trickled out today, I think it was Chris Haynes reported that the Suns have decided DeAndre Ayton we're going to keep him at My takeaway first is that Vogel's always been known. I mean, Vogel made Roy Hibbert into a nuisance against

Lebron James. Roy Hibbert was a nine to ten point a game guy and was a big pain in Lebron's butt for several years for the Pacers. I think Vogels, oh, you know, he won a championship. I thought Anthony Davis was a dominating defender. He liked size, and so so my takeaway is we'll see the best DeAndre Ayton of his career with Vogel. What I do worry about Jason. This is a player now that will get fewer offensive opportunities perhaps, and he can kind of disengage when he

doesn't get looks. So I do think they're a really good basketball team. If you told me that four best players in every team, you know, Denver and Phoenix are right near the top of the NBA. Are you worried at all if they keep him though that you know he for lack of a better word, he's pouted before. If he doesn't get looks.

two reasons. One, it's the foundational piece in vogel scheme. He loves to run drop coverage, which involves the big back at the rim, and he asks his guards to chase over the top all the time. So foundationally, Vogel needs a center. But the second part of it is you're gonna have to go through Denver at some point, and so you absolutely have to have somebody that can bang with Jokic. The tricky part is is the specific type of production they need out of Aighton for Phoenix

is all dirty work. You know. Obviously there's some stuff with catching in the role and finishing around the rim, and Eighton's great at that, but you can probably find a player who makes like the mid level exception, who's about eighty percent as good as him at that stuff, and every bit is good defensively and as a rebounder. And so I'm sure they did look, but I just think it was really difficult for them to find a taker. And that's just the reality of Aten in this predicament.

And so I mean, you hit the nail on the head. He's going to have to have a good attitude through all of this, and I'm not sure that he's going to, but they'll have the ability to move him down the line if they need to. But with how talent to Dayton is, it makes sense. And I'm sure Vogel behind the scenes has probably been actively pushing to give it a chance.

that's a really good foursome, all with different skills. There is some duplication with Phoenix, you know, whereas Bial and Booker, you know their scores, their two guards and scorers, and very much a lot of times it's pull up jump shooters. That's what Kevin Durant is. So I do think there's value in Aighton being a different body type, having some limitations, being able to score low. Could he be impactful in the playoffs? And I would defend him. I mean I

watch him in Arizona. I thought he was going to be a dominant player. He wasn't, but he's almost gotten to a point now where he is so beaten down that it's as if we're not acknowledging eighteen and ten. He is a really active big. I mean, he really is, and he's pretty damn good six feet in. He's a I mean, you tell me your take. I think he's a pretty good finisher close.

he's better. But I do believe in diminishing returns in basketball, especially when you have that type of redundancy. The example I'd give is like you need a superstar to break down the defense, then you need quality role players to finish possessions when the ball ends up in their hands after the defense has warped towards the star. So how much of a gap is there between a Bradley Beal and a KCP To start possessions a massive gap because

Bradley Beal is so much more gifted offensively. But if the vast majority of the possessions are going to be initiated by Devin Booker and Kevin Durant, how much of a gap is there in play finishing between a brad Beal and a KCP A much smaller gap. And so that doesn't mean it can't work, because talent obviously helps. But the only way this is going to work is if all four of those guys, not just Satan, but all four of those guys really embrace the dirty work.

Because what happens on a Denver Nuggets team is Jamal Murray and Nicole Yokich take on that initial creation role and KCP works his ass off all the time, and then he'll catch and finish at the end of plays. And so one of those guys is going to have to really lean into being an off ball threat that really competes defensively. It's going to be Bradley Beal because he's the best player in that group. But they're, you know, someone everyone's been saying, of course the Suns are better.

Of course the Suns are better. Yeah they are, but they have to beat Denver four times out of seven, and the only way they're gonna do that is if they can win a freaking fistfight, man like a really physical, grind out series. And so I do think this can work, but all three of those guys have to just work their butts off on the details, including Kevin Durant, like who has the capability to be an Anthony at Davis Esqua defender when he's trying.

So but if you brought in, say a Brook Lopez, you could say, listen, our second unit is going to have a different tempo and we will eventually bridge those during the regular season, but as we age, we're not going to be we're not playing the same style because Jordan Poole wanted to play the same style when Steph was on the bench, but they didn't trust him. So it's almost as if they're saying, listen, this is the

first of two moves. We're going to go to a veteran, big high IQ can fundamentally work quickly in our offense, which they were hoping Wiseman could do. But Wiseman played three college games. He's a kid. It's way, it's like asking a kid out of college. It'll be an executive at Google. You're probably not going to figure it out, right, Like, give the kid a break. So Wiseman gets there, plays three college games, goes and it's one hundred miles an hour.

Brook Lopez really bright guy, been around the league. You bring him in and your second unit is more physical. They play at a slower pace. If you look at who they drafted, it's the next Clay, although not the defender. Clay was at Washington State. But it's a shooter, an athletic shooter. And what they're basically saying is, and that kid will probably play on that second unit is we're going to have some fundamental differences first unit to second unit.

Now that that's what I'm guessing. You tell me, as somebody who played college basketball, is that impossible? Does it work? Because I mean, Chris Paul is I think amenable to some different styles, but he's thirty eight. Okay, he's there is no next gear. This is what he is now. Like if you're really on seven years ago and say, hey, Chris, we're going to ask you to, you know, play a little faster, this is what he is. He's a walking

up the floor guy. Right. So I'm my take on Chris is that this is the first of two moves, and I think they're going to go get a Brook Lopez type. Does that make any sense? Or am I just reaching So again.

was Michael Porter Junior. He's twenty four. He was the one guy who really struggled, because kids struggled in the later phases of the NBA playoffs. They now Jordan Poole actually did play great in last year's postseason, but that's an anomaly and most of the young guards that play in the postseason look more like what he did this year. So they upgraded him to a sound, veteran presence that might not have the highs that Jordan Poole brought, but

it's going to be much more stable. And if you look at their on off numbers with Steph this year, they were plus forty seven in the playoffs with Steph on the floor, minus forty nine without Steph on the floor in the postseason.

them survive the non Steph minutes. Here's the thing. The style differences could not be more dramatic, and I found some numbers that are absolutely stunning, and these numbers are percent energy. So the Warriors ran just over twenty two hundred pick and rolls last year, which amounted to just twenty four percent of their possessions, which was dead last

in the league. Chris Paul by himself ran over eleven hundred pick and rolls, which was seventy seven percent of his possessions, which was number one in the entire league. So you have the guy who runs pick and roll more than anybody in the entire NBA on a per possession basis, going to the team that runs it as infrequently as any team in the NBA. So the styles are really really weird there. But the one thing though, is they do inevitably have to lean more on pick

and roll in the postseason. And so the way I look at it is like it's a move for the playoffs, because what happened in the Lakers series is AD was shutting all their stuff down on the back line when they were running their motion, and so they had to just go to Steph high pick and roll, and he got fatigued and he wore down and his jumper started missing.

If you could toss some of those possessions to Chris Paul, maybe you lighten his workload and Steph is able to stay at his ceiling law in the playoffs.

The second thing is, I think, to your point, you have to run some pick and roll in the playoffs, a Brook Lopez, a Chris Paul, So why not get a guy who runs it as often and frequently as anybody else? So I do feel like to your point, what they're saying is, listen, our non step minutes will be significantly better. We won't be a Peak and Valley team,

will be a Peak Plateau Peak Plateau team. Plus, secondly, let's acknowledge that we probably now at this point have to do some pick and rolls, So why not get a guy who's in as good as any anybody that's ever done it, or certainly in a small group. So as you explain it, I think to myself, Oh, those are wins. I don't know. I don't know if they're title wins. But the non Steff moments, I mean, those are just that's the difference between a W and an

L in a road game or a playoff game. I mean, that's the difference.

Because of their cap situation, they don't really have the means with which to sign anybody for anything more than a veteran minimum contract for the rest of the postseason so or for the rest of the off season, so they're not really going to be able to get that guy. So in my opinion, the best way to have done that would have been to try to use Pool's contract the way the Lakers use Westbrook's contract as a vehicle with which to bring back multiple players. Does that make sense?

So like obviously, like yeah, Like you don't get D'Angelo Russell, Jared Vanderbilt, and Malik Beasley in the offseason market because they just cost too much. But if you have a giant contract and teams are moving these mid level contracts around, it's a vehicle to bring back multiple players. They used Jordan Poole to bring back one player, so they did address a need. They addressed their high pick and roll need that they have in the late postseason, which, by

the way, it's just literally the way basketball works. Teams scout too much, so all your sets stop working, they start switching things more frequently. You need guys that can work out of pick and roll in ISO in the playoffs. Chris Paul addresses that helps you when stuffs off the floor. But it just I think it severely hampered them in their ability to address the front court need, which comes to an interesting follow up like does this end with

Clayton and getting traded? Does this end with a different, larger salary bringing back a different piece. I don't know if you noticed, but Rashaun Holmes got traded recently, and now all of a sudden, the Sacramento Kings have like thirty five million dollars in cap space. You know who they'd love to have, mister Draymond Green MN, and all it takes is blackluster. Now, I think Golden State's going to get a deal done, and I hope so because

I think the Warriors are more entertaining with Draymond. But like they're going to have to, they may end up having to give up one of their core pieces to address the rest of their needs, because, as you know, as someone who covered the Lakers pretty closely the last couple of years, the whole vetteran minimum contract thing is tends to be pretty underwhelming.

I don't think will be as bad porzingis is. He's not a great locker room guy. He's certainly not a leader. Right, so now the team feels like it's more tatums And it's not a knock on Marcus Smart, but he was kind of considered the soul of it. You know, he was going into his tenth year, he was older, he's hyper aggressive, he's at times their best defensive player, so they move off him, which I never had a problem

with because he wasn't a true facilitator. Porzingis not a great pick and roll defender, not a great locker room guy. Gets hurt. But I do think when they get clogged up, we're dropping the ball. Big fella, go get a basket. Marcus Smart was really hot and cold, so that part I think they're better offensively. But I think one of the other moves was because everybody loved Marcus Smart. It feels like to me one of the moves was to create more clarity personality wise that Jason, this is your team.

We're getting rid of the decade long. That's what it felt like to me. It's like, we're probably not going to be as good defensively will be better offensively, but there'll be more clarity on whose team it is. Does that sound crazy?

of the game, it's still in Tatum's hands. Like, so the lesson, the big lesson I learned is top end ball handling still matters way more than down the roster ball handling. And that's how teams like you know, Denver and Miami win even though they don't have the level of ball handling down the roster, their best guy is just so damn good that it's hard to out execute him down the stretch of a big time playoff game.

So like taking Marcus mallertt out of the equation, kind of relieving that ball handling logjam leans more into Jason Tatum. And we said this after the Celtics series. But I really do think the Celtics' best pathway forward to reaching back to contender status is, Yeah, they got to defend better, they got to re embrace their defensive identity. But Jason Tatum just has to continue to improve as a shot creator. Now.

Krisaps Porzingis is a really interesting player because he almost always picks and pops to the three point line in ball screens, which is actually super useful in the NBA. That's why Victor wembin Yama is such as an exciting prospect. When you pick and pop, it pulls the screen defender away from the basket like because he has to close out to the top of the key, which opens up all kinds of driving wings and then when they switch. Risps Porzingis has actually turned himself into a very effective

post up player. He was actually one of the top five post up players in the league this year. He particularly was great at beating switches, so when they would get a smaller defender on him, He's actually deceptively physical for being such a thin guy. He's pretty physical and he gets a guy pinned on his backside and while they're trying to reach around, he just quick, pivots to

the basket and finishes. So he's going to be a guy that can help beat switching teams with by dump because Jason Tatum just a band in his post game this year for whatever reason, and I hope he gets it back. But they really became a very one dimensional team this year. There's a lot of dribble, like fifteen dribbles at the top of the key, somebody trying to make a shot. So it gives some more dimension to their offense. But most importantly, it combines Warford and Robert

Williams and their strengths into one useful player. So you know, Robert Williams is this big vertical threat who's a rim protector. Chriss Porzingis can do that, but Robert Williams is very limited offensively, and so al Horford. They were much better offensively because they could play five out because Wharford could shoot at space the floor better. Porzingis gives you the best of both worlds and gives you the depth if you run into an NBA Finals series against Denver to

have three bigs to throw out Nicole Jokic. So I actually really liked this deal.

goes in the first round. Jalen hood Scaffino, who's a one and donner. So that's a good sign. Average almost fourteen game is a one and donner. In college, most of your most talented college kids stay for a year. You know, it's a tarmac. College basketball now is a tarmac. You're just waiting for the next flight. So he's long, doesn't have a jump shot yet, But I never worry too much about that. It's the one thing even even decent shooters who become like shooting guards. Nobody. Booker wasn't

that good of a shooter at Kentucky. I'm sorry, folks, he wasn't like Jamal Murray. It develops over time. He's his wingspans like six ' ten, He's long, angular, clever, He'll be a score or I looked at him, and I looked at all his highlights, and you know, whenever a kid goes one and done, the fans are like, Ay's over right and he should have stayed in school.

My takeaway is if he could become by the end of a season a top seven rotational player with Ruey and Austin and Ad and Lebron just rotational, that would feel like an enormous win to me? Is that is that reasonable?

catch and shoot situations. He was awful as a catch and shoot player, and obviously that's gonna hurt him in off ball situations, which is probably why he won't close games for the Lakers, which is not what they're expecting from a from a draft pick, but what the Lakers do a ton of because Lebron James and Anthony Davis have declined so much as as shot creators, they use him as screeners a ton now, like you literally saw

that in Game four against the Warriors. It was Fannie Walker running pick and rolls with Lebron James as a screener, you know, like that kind of thing. So like Lonnie Walker is probably going to be gone. Dennis Schroeder was not a veteran minimum contract player, so he's probably gonna get signed. So you've got Austin Reason, D'Angel Russell. But at this point, you really are most likely going to end up with nobody at that guard slot coming off the bench yet, unless they end up hitting a home

run in free agency. So Jalen hu Chafino, as bad as he is as a as a catch and shoot player, he actually shot forty percent on pull up jump shots this year, so he can hit shots in pick and roll as he gets downhill into that mid range area. He also is limited as a passer to the weak side, like making cross court passes to shooters, but he's very good at making passes to the role man you guys might know Trace Jackson Davis, who ended up going to

the Warriors at the end of the second round. He was a really good big man that was one of Jalen's teammates and he was awesome at feeding him in pick and roll constantly in just like the little passes over the top and pocket passes. That's a great fit with Anthony Davis and Lebron So I think the thought pro says there for the Lakers was we're looking for a backup guard. And for as high as he was picked, and with his physical tools, you get the nail on head.

He's like six nine wingspan, six to ten wingspan. Without shoes, he's like six four in a quarter so he's like six ' five and some change. He weighs almost two hundred and twenty pounds, so he's really big. That means he's going to be able to defend up a position and things like that. Not a fantastic athlete, but that's kind of the trade off there they're going for. They're not looking for upside from that pick. They're looking for

immediate productivity at the NBA level. I will say, though, Colin, I really liked the kid that got in the second round, this Max Lewis kid. So you played a Pepperdine freaky athlete, just a knockdown shooter, just like an absolute knockdown shooter.

The player he reminds me the most of you remember Trey Murphy from New Orleans, that wing that can just shoot the out of the basketball, Like that's that's literally the kind of upside that I see from Maxwell Lewis, and so between him and Max Christy, the other wing they got last year who's already bulked up and can

shoot really well too. Like the Lakers scouting department might be the best in the league, and they have so many hits between Austin Reeves and Alex Caruso and Kyle Kuzma, Josh Hart, you go further back, like this is what an asset to a front office to where even if you're cap strapped, even if you're struggling, you know, to make the right trades or you're just getting two or three useful players every couple of season that can like

Austin Reeves averaged seventeen points and five assists and was really efficient in the postseason last year. Like, they're getting really useful players out of the draft. So shout out to the Lakers scouting department.

I've been told by an NFL general manager one time that if you just took SEC players sixty percent, if you just said I want to build an NFL team and only draft out of the SEC, he said, as long as you had a quarterback, he said, you'd be viable. He's that's how many athletes there are in the SEC. So think about that the NFL. If you had the star quarterback and you just drafted the SEC, you know, like that's that was your picks. He's like, you could build.

He goes, you wouldn't be the best roster, he said, but you could build like a viable roster. The NBA now the map is not only not the South, it's the globe. And they're younger, and you have less tape and let fewer games. So it's it. I always defend these nbagms. You've got and now you've got kids, in Europe playing against older players, so that dynamic. I'm watching tape and I'm like, Okay, he's sixteen and that guy's twenty four and he's going to be an NBA player,

and that guy's never going to be. So I think basketball, to scout, we have to be we have. There's some whiffs in this sport, but we've got to be realistic here. It's hard like it's really like in baseball. I got a jugs gun. I know what to throw, I know what the speed is. Right. If you're playing college baseball, it's college player against college player. There's there's obviously Latin America, some international leagues and players, but I think basketball, I mean,

the Lakers have done a very admirable job. It's you almost have to bake in some misses. You really do have to bake in some misses. I remember years ago when Mike Dunleyvy who's now the GM of the Warriors. I covered him in high school and Jesuit High School in Portland, and I knew his dad. I covered him he was the Blazers coach, and I asked his dad one time. When he left early, people thought he was kind of thin. He should have stayed at Duke one

more year. And Mike and I had a long talk one time about that, and he said, you know, Colin, it was really about practice. Is that the best players he ever faced were at Duke's practice. He wasn't facing NBA players in games. And it's like, yeah, he's probably leaving a year early, but he'll go up against better players even if he doesn't play just at NBA practice. And he said, you do get to a point where you're not leaving just for the money. You're leaving to

get better faster, Right. So I guess my point is I always kind of defend general managers in the NBA and scouts. It's hard. The other thing is the younger people. I have six kids in my life. The younger your kid, the bigger the leaps they take. Like my son between fourteen and seventeen is a different person. In the NFL, you got a kid at twenty three. The gap between twenty three and twenty five is you're a little more mature. But I grew six inches myself junior to senior year

in high school. So your body's not done, You're emotionally not there, and you're asked as an NBA scout at seventeen to grab, put your arms around it and figure out this Rubik's cube, the jigsaw puzzle of a young man. Boys mature slower than women. We never think about that. So of the two sexes, of the two genders, boys tend to mature much later. So you can draft a player and he goes sideways. He's a kid, he's got money.

I guess it's a long winded way of saying the Lakers deserve credit because it is hard to find your Austin Reeves undrafted players averaging seventeen eighteen in the playoffs. That is rare man. That's needle Haystacks stuck.

NBA to get to that second contract. I'd be like, what, Like I can't even relate to that, Like what are you talking about? Like I get it, I understand like you want to provide financial security to your family. I'm not trying to undercut the money side of it. But like I do think that like freakish competitiveness, like the unrelenting desire to be better than your peers is something that you have to try to identify obviously physical tools

and the certain limitations that take place there. Basketball, like Ques a huge one, Like Austin Reeves in particular, a huge reason why he's been so good is he's just really a really smart basketball player. And so like he went to go play with Lebron James in a preseason mini camp, and Lebron like right away it was like Colin Robb and like, sign this dude, because like Lebron picked up on, Hey, if I have him as the fifth guy on my team, he just kind of makes

everything gel and work. But I do I don't envy the job because especially I'm sure it's gotten even more complicated post COVID, But I wonder how difficult it is even to get close to these kids, to get to know them and to learn what makes them tick before you make a draft pick. Like it's a really, really

difficult job. And that's why I want to like shout out the Lakers scouting department because they have an incredibly high batting average for what should be a career with a lot more misses than hits, you know what I mean.

finally we'll wrap it up. We talked about this last podcast about the and it's been the emergence over seven to eight years of the European basketball and Steve Kerr has noted that the aaum of basketball is not necessarily

great for character building going forward. Adam Silver's I think Adam Silver sense this when he made the suspension the jah morant, and I think Adam's really bright, but I think Adam knew it was a moment He's watching Zion go sideways, he's watching Jogo sideways and he sees these mature European players, and I think he understands the value of our domestic players on his TV ratings. This is not a knock on Jokic, but nobody in this league outside of Denver watched him for the first two years

he was in the league. Nobody's watching these second round guys. Draymond Green was a second rounder, but he was four years at Michigan State. He was a tremendous college player. He may have been a college All American. He was a great college player. I remember Draymond Green second round like first time. I saw him as a problem. Oh that's the Spartan. I watched that guy with tom Izzo. You don't get that with second run internet players or

Giannis going ten to eleven twelfth. I thought the Jahn Morant suspension was sort of a It was Adam Silver's way of saying, guys, we're unraveling. Our domestic players are unraveling here a bit, we're asking more. They're bigger stars. There's Instagram. It's all And I think I think he saw it and kind of says, guys, the world's changing really fast. The phones now he had mentioned two years ago, my players are miserable. There was a lot of pushback

on jows twenty five game suspension. Even jos family reported they think he's picking on him. How did it land with you? I mean, when Adam made it, did you just see it as right? I saw it as a big picture, a little bit of a warning sign to the league. Guys. We got guys unraveling here. We're not going soft on this. That was my take here.

college coach is super competent and knows what they're doing. No, no, no, there are plenty of colleges out there that are running the exact opposite of a tight ship. Whereas like overseas, it's pretty straightforward. It's like, oh, you're sixteen, time for you to start playing with the men and you're and you're gonna be You're gonna behave like professional. They're going to be in locker rooms with professionals. They're going to

teach you. You're going to learn, and you know, I think ironically, and he's not even an American, but I guess you can call North American. But if I had to pick the North American player that is most capable of competing with the Jannis and Embiid and and lu Luca and Jokic, it's probably shake Gilges Alexander. And he's such a grown up. He's never in the news, he's never doing anything except for kicking people's ass on the basketball court. He's quiet, but he's loud within his locker

room and as a leader. And he's just a growth Shay Gills as Alexander's a grown man already at his age. And so I think maturity is the big part of it. And I don't I don't know what a good answer is. I think Adam Silver obviously being more of a disciplinarian, I think helps, Like I think it's important to kind of send this message because it's not just about hurting the kids in the short term in terms of making

them miss games. It's also about teaching a lesson that could help them have a longer NBA career, you know, like to even some of these some of these women out there that have been taking advantage of players and causing problems, Like there needs to be education on that front. Hey, guess what, Like if she's reaching out to you on Instagram, she may not have your best interest at heart. She

may be trying to take advantage of you. There's a lot of immaturity in our basketball pipeline, so to speak. And I don't I don't really know what the answer is. I just as someone who's a fan of American basketball, I hope we get it together.

get it. The slow growth build, slightly humbled, sit on a bench. Second round. What a shock. John Zion were superstars. I mean the day they're drafted. That's all I talked about for two years was these guys. So we can blame Zion and Job, but I think you could have put a lot of kids in that. It was a lot, and I'm not giving them a pass. But I watched my kids. My wife and I always talk about this,

not too much too soon. There are steps and appropriate steps, and you know, when you're giving your kids an allowance, what's appropriate for their age. I mean we have like tears of what's appropriate. Okay, you're in college now, you get a little bit more now you're out of college for a year, like you know, you gotta will help you pay your cell phone bill. So no, Shay's a really good example of it. Shae's a grown up because Shae was humbled and it's a slow growth story. Is this his fifth year?

He's his game is constructed to succeed in the playoffs.

immediately coming into great amounts of wealth. Obviously, the sneaker deals are huge with the marketing capability provided by social media, Guys like Zion and jaw as highlight reels are just so marketable. And I'm sure, I mean you said it yourself, Like toss any kid into that situation, they're going to

have some issues. And so maybe that's what it is, like Joel Embii coming up as like a late bloomer soccer player kid to Janna Santani hoopo, same thing, like just at this kind of like long lanky, super raw player, Like they come up in a way that they're humbled along the way. And the reality is is the Lebron James type, the dude who's the protege from the beginning, the dude who's the legitimate, like all time prospect from day one. He's the exception that's super rare. Yes, they're

super rare. Like I mean even this kid from Duke that Dallas drafted, he was the number one pick or the number one prospect coming out of high school before he went to Duke and like barely played twenty minutes a game like, it's a completely different level of process. When you are getting humbled, when you run into somebody who's legitimately better than you, versus when you're constantly clying up. You just kind of have a chip on your shoulder that sens.