 All right, I am honored to have as our guest today, Rashad Phillips. What's happening, brother? Thanks for having me, Chris. Wonderful platform you got here. Man, look, you doing some great things. You have your own college basketball show called Sports Talk 2319. People can subscribe on YouTube. I've checked it out. I've heard you break down some players and you do a fabulous job. That's why we wanted you here in the zone as we had obviously into the 2018 draft. Let me give a little background on you because this is not to go against the guys that didn't play. But you know what you're talking about, not only from an analytical standpoint and a scouting standpoint, but you also played at a very high level. Absolutely. So Sports Talk 2319, the 2319 is 2,319 points that you scored at the University of Detroit Mercy. Let them know what two NCAA tournament appearances, player of the year in the Midwestern Collegiate Conference, two-time player of the year, okay? And played for what, 10 years pro? Eight years overseas. Eight years pro overseas in the Middle East and Europe. Everywhere. Kobe Bryant, none other than Kobe Bryant said you were the best player that never got drafted. And that means a lot. That's saying a lot. You played with him in the Magic Groundball Classic in 1996, when y'all were both coming out of high school. They used to call you baby Iverson. You had the cornrows, you shade them out. You need to get the memo to Kawhi. Like, yo, the cornrows is kind of played out. Yeah, you gotta play it out. But so you, and here's the topper. Here's the clincher. You're only five, eight, right? Five, nine. Five, nine. Come on, man, give me my eight. I don't know, I'm only five, ten. And I got you, I think, by a couple inches. You got dress shoes on, man. All right, so we'll give you five, nine. But that's incredible, man. I mean, you had a great career. I didn't see you much back then. But reading about you, looking at some of the highlights on YouTube, I mean, for you to do that at five, nine, it's incredible. So you must have been a heck of a baller. Let me, I gotta ask you this. I think I know the answer. You could dunk, right? Yes. Okay, did you dunk in games? No, in high school I did. Once I got to college, man, I'm two, three hour practices in college, man. I started wearing down on my knees, man. No, uh-uh. Okay, did you have a nice package, or you were just dunking? I had a little backwards. I'd catch a little oop, but I was a joint shooter. You weren't spelled well. No, no, no, no. I was a skilled guy. I like to dance with the ball like Zeke. Okay, okay, ain't nothing wrong with that. Ain't nothing wrong with that. So let's get to it, man. I'm excited about this, because the draft is one of the big moments of the year for the NBA and for basketball fans. And like I said, you're an expert in it. So let's get right down to it. First, I want you to tell me, how do you go about scouting players, analyzing players? What all goes into you determining whether or not it's a great prospect, a mediocre prospect, or a poor prospect? Yeah, well, what I do is during the college season, I like to scan the whole landscape first. And I'm usually attracted to great players. So once I see that, I can just watch any type of game. And once I'm attracted to a player in regards to how they play, then I start to hone in on that particular player. I start to scout him. I start to look at him on film. I start looking at the stats. And then I break him down from there. It's almost like a car. So I feel like I'm more of a basketball engineer. A lot of times you see people wash cars, but I like to get under the hood and get everything done that way. So I break players all the way down. Okay, okay. And I know you talk to a lot of coaches too. So let's just get to it. How would you rate this draft? Great, bad, poor? Or great, good, or poor? I think this is a good draft. Not great, good. I won't say great, but I think it's really good. There are some players that you can get later on in the first round that I believe that will be major contributors on some teams. And you got some guys on the top side that I believe that has the it factor. Okay. Yeah. How many guys have the it factor? Only two guys when I look. Only two. So when you, the it factor is future superstar. Yeah. Future number one guy on a great team. Can change your organization. Okay. And I see two guys when I look at this year's list, I see two guys that have the it. That's not taken away from anybody else on that list because there are other good players on that list, but two it guys. Because people have said there is seven or eight at the top, right, in the first tier. Yeah. But you see two that are separated. All right, so give me the two. The two guys, when I look on paper, it guys that can change your franchise is Trey Young out of Oklahoma and Mo Bamba out of Texas. Those are the two guys that I believe that if you get them on your team, they can change your franchise. Mo Bamba has a lot of Anthony Davis upside. And a lot of people don't look at it like this, but Anthony Davis and Mo Bamba has similar college careers. They wasn't really expected to be great offensively at the pro level. But once they got to the pro level, well, once Anthony got to the pro level, he was able to show people how good he was offensively. But defensively, he got my highest grade. Mo Bamba has that same type of skill set and that same type of selling. Wow. So there's so much to unpack from there. But first, the guy that is everyone is saying Phoenix is going to take number one, DeAndre, eight and seven foot center out of Arizona, he's not a guy with the it factor. So you wouldn't take him number one, obviously. If you were Phoenix. If I'm Phoenix, I'll be juggling between taking Mo Bamba, Trey or DeAndre. Like those two guys have to be in that conversation. So tell me why you don't see the it factor in him. Well, I just see a traditional big. He has a little bit of splash of that new evolution type of play. He reminds me a lot of Ralph Samson back in 83. He has some Ralph Samson. And Ralph wanted to play on a perimeter. I remember that. They thought he was soft back then. Yeah, he a three time ACC player of the year. So he has those type of characteristics, but not the it factor for number one. You drive Trey Young number one, changes your franchise. Now, are you counting charisma and fan appeal in the it? Everything in the it factor. Because I take a dude that can hoop but don't have the charisma in the fan appeal. I understand that. I get that, but Trey Young has the it in regards to he's dynamic. He is the new evolution of point guard play. And we cannot ignore that. The common denominator of great NBA teams is a dynamic point guard. Period. All right. Now, some people gonna say, man, Rashad is five, nine. He liked the little dudes. He's a point guard. He was, you know. Of course. So, you know, you've heard the negatives about trade. The people that think he might not be that good. And obviously the price. So why do you love him so much? Why you convince? Cause I think he could be Steph Curry or close or he could be a career backup. So what convinces you that he's gonna be closer to a Steph Curry? I'm not gonna say he's gonna be a Steph Curry. Okay. Well, when I look at Trey Young, it's something that we've never seen before. We've never seen a player come in and lead the nation in scoring and assists. Okay. So Trey's a UFO. I like to call him a UFO. And the rest of the point guards in college basketball are like planes. When we're driving on a freeway, there's a plane that goes past us. And we ignore it. It's a plane. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But if a UFO passes us. Are we stopping? We're gonna stop and analyze it. So Trey Young has been under a microscope because he's something that we've never seen before. No matter how you try to chop this up, this is a kid that led the nation in scoring and assists in the toughest conference in college basketball. That's a game-changing point guard. That's a game-changing point guard. So you, like, I was, to your point, I was talking to an executive whose team is in the lottery. They're too low, I think, to get Trey Young. He's the same way as you. Loves him. And he said, when you really, everybody's pointing to, he didn't shoot that high, as high as Steph percentage from three. He said, when you break down, the NBA distance threes he took, not the 30-footers, take out the 30-footers. The NBA distance three pointers. And take away the ones when he was double-teamed. His shooting percentage is off the charts. Absolutely, absolutely. He said, he's going, so you're thinking this guy is a superstar, obviously second half of the season, he wasn't as impressive as the first half, why? There's a reason, well, when he came into college basketball, nobody knew how great he was going to be. Now, this is a guy that I pointed out in October, on my Sports Talk 2319 show. In October, I said, Trey Young will light up college basketball. Here's a kid that averaged 40 points a game in high school. Okay, he wasn't no slouch. I think Trey took the hard route, which I give him more credit for. He could have went to Kentucky. He could have went to Kansas and went to the final four, and averaged 16 points and five assists. And we'll be raving about him then. He took the hard route. He went to Oklahoma, they had 11 wins previously. So he took that long route, so his name began to be first on the scouting report in the second half of the season. They started to wear him down as a point guard. I'm telling you as a former point guard, when you're coming off those ball screens at the second half of the season, those big stars sticking those knees out, when he come through on the screen, chop him a little bit, catch him in the ribs. He started to face that and at 19 years old, that's tough to swallow. His worst game was against West Virginia. A lot of people said, but to me, I watched the tape, it was his best game. Really? Because he fought. Okay, wow. He fought Javon Carter. He fought him, and I was impressed. I was so after the West Virginia game, when everybody else said that was his worst game I've ever seen him play. I thought it was his best game. Wow. So you wanna see him get in the weight room, I assume, and just walk up a little bit, get a little bit stronger? Yeah, you gotta get a little bit stronger. See, when I look at Trey, he's 19. So this kid has the chance to be the best point guard in the NBA and the face of the NBA in the next six years. And let me tell you why. Let me tell you why. Because all the premier point guards in the NBA right now are in their thirties. Yup. In six years, Steph Curry- Well, Kyrie- Kyrie's 27, 28. In six years, he'll be 34. Steph Curry will be 36. Damian Lillard will be 35. Trey Young will be 25. He has a chance to be the face of the NBA if he goes about his business right. So you think he's gonna be, whether he's that good or not, but of Steph Curry. There's no question. Yeah, I think he has a little bit more, their games are different. You like, okay, tell me about how, cause most people just say Steph. No. Tell me about how their games are different. Totally different games. Really? Yeah, totally different games. When you look at Trey, this is a guy that's a ball dominator. So when he has the ball in his hands, what Trey does is he undresses the whole defense. So he has the ball, he's undressing one, two, three, four, five. When Steph has the ball, he's only undressing the guy that's guarding him. See, see, when Trey has it, he'll undress five guys and he'll zip it. How does he do that? How does he undress five? Well, it's like a cyborg, man. It sounds funny, but as point guards, we can see, we pre-read stuff. Steph doesn't pre-read defenses. You think he's more of a true point despite the score and everything. He's more of a Mike Bibby. He's more in a Mike Bibby range. Chris Paul with a sprinkle of Damian Lillard. With a sprinkle. What he and Steph Curry do share is magnetism. Everybody wants to play with Steph Curry. I believe if you draft Trey Young, then everybody will want to play whatever organization drafts him. He will attract free agents that want to get some of those passes. Yeah, he's a great passer. And Steph is a great passer, too. They don't utilize it as much as you can with a shooting. So do you think, because Steph, before Steve Kerr went in there and put in this new offensive system, Steph was an all-star. His numbers actually went down the first year with Kerr. So he can play and, you know, they would run a lot of high-picking roles. He can shine in that system. But he didn't become what, you know, a two-time MVP type player until the system. So I've heard a lot of people say, if you draft a Trey Young, you have to put in the type of system you have for Steph Curry. You obviously don't feel that way. No, I don't believe in that. I believe that Steph Curry is such a skilled player. You don't have to cater our offense around him. You just find the right players, find the right players, and you let him play. That's what Lion Kruger did this year. He just gave Trey the ball and allowed him to play the NBA. Wait, you know, Lion Kruger coached in the NBA. So he knew he had an NBA player. So when you have an NBA player, you allow them to be great. And Trey will not change. He averaged 40 points in high school. They said he was too small. He went to Oklahoma, led the nation. He's getting the same narrative. When are we gonna get rid of the narrative? Cause he's already, he's kicking those narratives out each time. Wow. Cause look, him, Trey Young, and Devin Booker, you talk about the Splash Brothers 2.0, that's what it could be. It could be that with Trey and Devin Booker. I mean, so that's what you would do. I know that's what you would do. I would take Trey number one because of that factor, the markability, the excitement, and pairing them with Devin Booker. What have, cause I know you talked to NBA scouts, GE executives, like when you've said that, cause there are some that are skeptical. Yes. What have they said? I've talked to a few that said, ah, nah, I wouldn't go number one. I wouldn't take them after seven or eight. But there's been a few guys that agree with me. Yeah, yeah, I know that's something for sure. You're dead on with this. You're dead on with the comparison of Mike Bibby. Mike Bibby went number two in the draft. Let's think about the dynamic guards in the NBA right now. Kyrie Irvin was a, he's a dynamic guard. He went one. Damien Lillard, he went like six. Chris, he was out of nowhere. So that was for him. Yeah, but he was dynamic. Doesn't matter. He still was dynamic. Chris Paul went four. Kimba Walker, like all these dynamic guards go in the top six, seven in the draft. So me wanting to pick Trey Young at number one is not far-fetched. He's a dynamic guard. This is like college football when you have a superstar quarterback. When you're in NFL draft, you don't pass on superstar quarterbacks. We watched the Cleveland Browns draft Baker Mayfield because they feel he's a superstar quarterback. So why are we gonna change the narrative for NBA? All right. And the one thing I've said is look, you have to take into account that he was the total show at Oklahoma and everything was focused on him defensively. So for him, even though his numbers and his production went down a little bit, the fact that they were throwing the kitchen sink at him should make you say, hey, he did. He's not gonna have that in the NBA. He's not gonna be the only guy. And so it should open up. That's good. Man, look, I would like nothing more than Trey Young to become another Steph Curry type player. I love that. I love that. Let's get to a few more. Michael Porter Jr. I'm hearing a lot about him. Obviously he had the back injury. He has the hip now. I don't know if that's a problem. What are your thoughts on that, on Michael Porter Jr.? Before the injury, I was really high on this kid. When I watched him on tape, I saw a Jason Tatum type of style, not as skilled as Jason Tatum, but in that same prototype. But once the injuries hit, I think that kind of derailed him as being the consensus number one pick. He sat out the college season. And when he tried to come back and to turn him again, he just kind of was out of rhythm. He was a little winded there. So he has a lot to prove and he canceled a workout last week. So I think NBA GMs are a little skeptical, but he's a high reward, high-risk draft pick. So is he, because I agree, I think the reward could be great because I agree I saw the Jason Tatum. Maybe even at this stage, might even be a better shooter than Tatum was. Yeah, can shoot it. Yeah, absolutely. But you think there's a good possibility that he just becomes a decent or average player. I'm scared and I really hope I'm wrong here. I want to be wrong here because that back is something else. So mainly it's the injury that scares me. It's the injury, it's not anything else. Nothing about his game, guy has great ability, versatility. He's the new positionless type of basketball player. So without the injury, he's a consensus number one pick. And you're Phoenix and my reporter. No injury he would be. Absolutely. Really? I think so, yeah, he's a positionless player. He's positionless. Okay, so if the medical records pan out though, he's- If he's 100% healthy, that's a guy you don't pass up on. Okay, okay. Marvin Bagley. Oh. A few months ago, everybody's talking like he's the definite number one, right? Yeah, people were talking that. Not me. Okay, so give me the why not you at that time and why do you think people have cooled on you? Well, I think they've seen Mo Bamba. So the measurables of Mo Bamba, those measurables have kind of erased all of the post players in this draft. Bagley had a lot of hype going in and he obviously reclassified, came to Duke, one of the top scorers in the ACC, led the ACC in rebounding. So he has a terrific motor. He can score the ball, little tight in the hips, little tight in the hips on the defensive end. Well, that's a big concern like getting out on the perimeter and guard. Yeah, because he's gonna have to guard. He got tight hips. He got tight hips. Is he a four or five? He's definitely not a five. Okay, so he's a four. He's a four. He's a four. Okay, so he had, let me ask you this, is there any comparison to Carl Anthony Towns? No, absolutely not. Not at all. Totally different players. Carl Anthony is a back to the basket scorer. He's starting to come out a little bit. He's starting to evolve on the offensive end a little bit. But Bagley is, he got some Chris Bosch in him, and he got some Michael Beasley in him. Now Michael Beasley, no, no. Michael Beasley at Kansas State was a deal. Yeah, if Beasley had been six, 10, and just, you know, a little more mature, yeah, he could've been a bigger player. I see Michael Beasley with this kid. Beasley's not a great defender either, but he's instant offense. So I believe Marvin Bagley is gonna always be a player that you can count on where you can find baskets. He played in the post at Kentucky, but what a, you know, obviously, I'm sorry, Duke. He's not gonna do that in the NBA just in the post. So does he have the perimeter game? I think that can, yeah, I think that can come along. He has a really quick burst. He has good bursts on the offensive end. It's funny because on the defensive end, he's tight, but offensively he's loose. So you think it's a matter of just want to? It's a want, it's a want to. He has a great motor. He gets up on the ball. Obviously he's a great offensive player. I don't think he has any problems offensively in the NBA. It's gonna be on the defensive end. Does he really want to get in the stance and lockdown? There are guys though that have been in the NBA and are in the NBA. When I think of the past, Glenn Robinson from Purdue, I'm trying to think off the top of my head, a guy, but guys that score, they give you 24 points a game, but aren't, you know, they're not superstars. Whether it's the defense or what, they just don't really change the game. Is that what you see? A guy to put up the numbers, but it won't be like he's dominating the game. Yeah, I just see him as a really great offensive player and that's no slight to him. I just think he's a great offensive player, but it doesn't have the superstar tag or anything like that. But if I'm a GM and I'm in that range, obviously I'll draft him if I'm struggling from the offensive standpoint, but if I need a guy that's going to stop somebody, I won't be looking in Bagley's direction for that. Now let me get back to Aten. Cause I've heard comparisons to Joe L.M.B. who I love. I get the whole, you know, we don't need a back to the basket center in today's NBA, but M.B. can go out and guard on the perimeter a little bit and stretch the floor. I think his three point shot will get even better. So is that a, that's not a fair, an accurate comparison with M.B.? No, he doesn't have the skill set Joe has. Joe has a real tool kit. Aten has great footwork. He runs the floor well. He's strong, he's more powerful, but he doesn't have the set or the plethora of post moves in the post. So over the left shoulder, shimmy over the right shoulder, step back, three pointers, like Joe L.B. will face you, give you a little Elijah Wynne crossover, turn his back again. So he doesn't have that yet, but he can evolve and get that. But just watching him on tape, he has a little bit of a jab step pull. He has the basic post player moves, like the starter kit, the NBA post player starter kit, but he hasn't, he hasn't gotten this bag yet. Who, who, what NBA player do you compare him to right now? I like Ralph Samson. I mean, I know that's an old school player. It's hard to picture what Ralph would be like. What would be, Ralph was a unicorn. He was a unicorn. And Ralph was great. I mean, in that era, I mean, if he hadn't gotten hurt, he was obviously. Yeah, the knees went out, but he was, he was playing number one pick in 83. Yeah, yeah, he was spectacular. So guys go to YouTube and look up Ralph Samson, but that's who he kind of reminds me of. I've heard David Robinson, no, he doesn't score like David. Okay. Doesn't have David's motor. He won't beat, won't. No. Okay, he ain't gonna be dropping. He's not gonna be a 20 point score. 1711 guy. 1711 guy. Aiden will be a really good pro. Okay. He won't be a superstar, but he's gonna be a really good pro. He's gonna be a 1711 guy. He won't be a 25-13 guy. I don't see that. Well, I don't mind 17 and 11. Me neither. Me neither. I just, I don't see that, you know? All right, there's a mystery man in the draft, Luca Dantje. Do you know a lot about, I know you focus on the NCAA. How much you know about Luca? Tons. Okay, tell me now. Tons, here's a guy that I- Let me, before you say this, I'm gonna throw this out. Cause I've heard both things too. You know, positive, negative. And this has to be an overstatement. But a long time NBA scout that I respect, I know nosy stuff, he said he's a cross between Larry Bird and Steve Nash. I said, if that's the case, then this dude's gonna like the legal fire. Tell me about Luca Dantje. Okay, well, when you look at Luca, here's a kid that I respect. Okay, 19 years old, dominating the Euro league. This kid is a European sensation, first of all. Okay, when you look at him, here's a guy that has high IQ, great craft, can handle the ball, can play on the ball screen, can shoot a little bit and can get in the lane. But on a defensive end is where he's gonna struggle. His feet is floored, his feet is slower than rush hour traffic. Okay, really slow feet. Really, that's a problem. Really slow feet. And he's gonna have to guard the Jason Tatum's, you know. Well, that is, cause I've heard people talk about him, like he's gonna be bringing the ball up the court. Like he's a point. No. Like he's great in the pick and roll and all that. He can play the pick and roll, but he's not a point guard. There's a difference between being point guard and being able to go off the ball. And he is a great passer. He got good vision, but he still got slow feet and those slow feet hurt him on the offensive end too. So when I look at him on tape, he struggled with quick defenders. Okay. Guys defending him. Oh yeah, guys getting in his pocket, getting after him. Not a great after. You don't see that obviously. Every night. So his NBA comparison is Hidu Terkalu. Okay. Bigger, bigger guard. Hidu. He had a little playmaker in him. He was a little kid. Orlando, he was the playmaker. He was the playmaker. You're right. So when I say Hidu Terkalu, there's no slight to Luca D'Ancius. He shoots it like Hidu? No, he don't shoot it like that. Okay, cause Hidu can shoot. Hidu can come off and knock it down, but he's 19. So that can happen over time, but I don't see Steve Nash and I definitely don't see Larry Bird. So he has, you know, slow feet can see the floor, but at the European level, this is what we gotta understand. We tend to over-sensation a lot of European basketball, okay? There's restrictions that cater to him. You can't have nine Americans on the floor in Europe. There's gonna be nine Brad Americans on the floor with you 95% of the time in the NBA. That changes the dynamics of the game, okay? So I believe Luca should go to a good team. I don't believe he's a lottery pick. Not a lottery pick, wow. I think he should, he fall right outside the lottery, but for his benefit. Cause everybody, you heard a couple of weeks ago, people saying number two. Yeah, but for his benefit, okay? Just drafting a guy in a lottery doesn't mean that he's gonna turn out to be a great player. Donovan Mitchell, we have to understand like, I'm all about fit for players. I think dockets will fit better with a San Antonio Spurs. How about the Clippers and San Antonio trade one of them picks, San Antonio moves up in the draft, grabs a guy like Luca Doncic, who can play under Greg Popovich, who's had success with European superstars. The defensive system's already in play. I believe Luca will be a good pro on a good team. He won't be a good pro on a bad team. Wow. So I'm not loving what I'm hearing about Luca then. The athleticism, that's the lack of athleticism. Yeah, it doesn't have it. What about, you got Yolkich, Nikola Yolkich and Denver, who's a very good player. Obviously lack of athleticism, but he's so big he gets it done. Is this guy anything like a smaller Yolkich? Well, he's six, eight. Yeah, he has the vision. He does have that type of vision. Because Yolkich is seven foot me. Yeah, but he got vision. Yeah, yeah. Yolkich is more like our Venusabonus. Remember our Venusabonus? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Because the Nuggets run a lot of pinch posts for him. So they throw it to him in a pinch post and he let guys, Gary Harris and those guys cut off for him and he makes plays. With Luca Doncic, he's more of a ball hammer. So the Hidu Turcaloo just continues to pop up. My eyes, my eyes don't deceive me. Hidu Turcaloo, and that's no slight to Luca. Hidu was a great playmaker, man. So, but I get what you're saying. It sounds like you're saying Luca will not be like a perennial all-star type player, but if he's rid of a couple great players, he can be that great number three guy or something like that. Absolutely, that's what he will be great at. But he's gotta work on the shot, I guess, because that was a big part of Hidu. Yeah. Does that scare you that, because a lot, obviously in Europe, you got a lot of guys that can shoot it well? Yes. Does that bother you that he can't? Because Ricky Rubio couldn't shoot. Couldn't shoot it. Everybody was like, that's the problem. He's okay now to shoot him, but he's not. That's been a problem with him. Does that bother you that all those years in Europe, he still is not much of a shooter? No, it doesn't bother me. I think Luca is young enough, and he's crafty enough, and he's big enough to create space to get his own shot. He does a good job. He has a nice little snatch crossover. So he has a couple combinations to get his shot off. That just has to improve. Rubio just didn't have the mechanics to be a good shooter. Yeah, okay. But Luca got really good mechanics. Who is the sleeper, I guess? The dark horse, like the Donovan Mitchell in this draft. Jerome Robison, Boston College. This kid led the ACC in scoring six, five and a half, can score without the ball, can score with the ball. Great playmaker, plays with great pace. He reminds me of Devin Booker. I watched a ton of tape on Jerome Robison, lit Duke up, he lit the ACC up, but this kid allows the game to come to him. Great footwork, effortless score, great trajectory on his jump shot. He has some Devin Booker-ish. Okay, okay. Yeah, this kid is going to surprise them people. The Bulls have the 20, I think the 22nd pick. I think the Bulls should move up and try to get him, because the Bulls were 26 in the NBA in scoring last year. They struggle with manufacturing points. Jerome Robison is an instant offense type of guy, so I believe he's a guy that will be a sleeper coming into this draft. When I look at the field, I love Philadelphia. I love Ben Simmons and Joel Enby. I hope that they can, I think both of those guys would be superstars, and that they can be a great team. It pains me that they didn't take nothing against Markel Fulls, but that they didn't take Jason Tatum. Because he, to me, I think he'd just be the perfect fit for those two. So they got the number 10 pick. I assume they're looking for that type of guy. Who do you think they should take at 10? Well, two guys I have in mind. Kevin Knox from Kentucky, and McKell Bridges. I think McKell probably will be going by 10. Philly really needs a point guard at 10. So you don't like Simmons at the point? Because I don't like him off the ball. I don't like him at the point. So what you gonna do, he can't shoot? Play him in a pinch post. Play him in a pinch post, and use them how Dan Tony used Sean Marion. Because Ben Simmons is not a... Marion could shoot the three though. Yeah, yeah, he could shoot. I mean, it was funny looking, but he could shoot it, yeah. But you have to find a way, like Philadelphia was better with T.J. McConnell playing the point. Well, they did. That's statistically... And that showed you he could play, now I don't know if that was for the whole season. It certainly was for that Boston series. That's, yeah. And that did give you hope that Simmons can play off the ball. He could play off the ball. But I see, I like him as a point. You're right. He's got a lot to learn. He a lot to learn. Decision making and all that, but... He doesn't possess the natural point guard instincts. Those are instincts. It's almost like... He's got vision and passing, but instincts. It's like having Gronkowski play quarterback. Gronkowski is 6'6". He's big. He probably can throw the ball, but he doesn't possess quarterback instincts. Ben Simmons doesn't have point guard instincts. People were telling me on Twitter, well, Rondo can't shoot. Rondo has instincts. He was born with point guard instincts, and that's what Ben Simmons lacks. And I believe they should take a point guard at 10. They probably won't, because Colin Sexton and Trey will be gone. So if those guys were there, obviously you take Trey. If... Or Sexton. It would be, you would think about, like as much as you like Trey. I'll take Sexton. If both of them were there for affiliate 10. Sexton. He fits Philly better. He fits Philly better. Philly has to, they have to stop the guy in Boston at the point guard position. That's Kyrie Irvin. Colin Sexton's strength is on that side of the ball. This is a shut down corner. See, when you look at Trey and you look at Colin Sexton, you're looking at a superstar quarterback or a derail revist type, a shut down corner. That's what you're looking at. So with Colin Sexton, I need him on the defensive side of the ball and Philly. How's he gonna be offensively? He'll manage. He'll manage. Because I mean, is he Marcus Smart? No. Great defender, but I need a little office too. I know what you're saying. No, he's a little better in transition. He's better in transition. He's a better scorer than Marcus Smart. What type of numbers does he, four years from now, what type of numbers does Colin Sexton have? He's a 12 to 15 point scorer. 15 is gonna be his high. And how many is this? Seven. He's a 15, seven guy. I can't take that over Trey Young. No, I can't. Trey, Trey, Trey's gonna be... Even if I'm Philly. I understand, but I just think he blends better with that unit. You know, Trey's more exciting. He's gonna give you more offense, obviously. I'm just thinking, we vibe and I like this. Yeah. I get what you say about Trey Young and Philly, but picture this, if Trey Young, now he's not gonna be there at 10, I don't think. He'll be gone. But if Trey Young is in Philly, based off what you said about Simmons, you could theoretically, Trey could be that staff guy that stretches the defense. Oh, man, absolutely. Right, so now you gotta pick us up at 30, 35 feet. Absolutely. Ben Simmons could then be in the hoop. Dre mine green roll. Yeah, I like that. So, you know what I'm saying? No, no, I see, I like that. I like, and I think Philly goes to a championship with a guy like Trey Young. But I just think Sexton fits the city. He fits the mentality. He's a more of a hard nose type of guy. So I like Sexton with Philadelphia. I really do. But if they don't take a point, you think it's Knox or Bridges, I know you like Bridges a little better. I love McKell Bridges. So tell me why you love it. McKell Bridges to me is the most polished player in this draft. And I can tell you why. This is the kid that red shirted. Wasn't a McDonald's All-American, so he came up the hard way. Red shirted, two-time national champion, and he comes from Jay Wright's tree. Every kid that comes from Villanova, they come in as college players and they leave out professionals. McKell Bridges epitomizes development. So he's ready to play NBA basketball right now. He could have helped the Cleveland Cavaliers this series. Wow. Like, he's ready to play. Okay, okay. There's some other guys that's gonna need a learning curve. I don't think McKell Bridges needs a learning curve. Who's the comparison in the NBA that he's seen? Kauai Leonard, Paul George. He's a two-way guy that doesn't waste a lot of dribbles to get his shot off. And defensively, he can guard one through four. So he's viewed as kind of that mid, lottery guy? How high should he go, in your opinion? He shouldn't go past 10. Okay, so I was wondering if you were gonna say he should be in the top five or something like that. No, he shouldn't go past 10. I think Cleveland should take him, but depending on what LeBron's gonna do, Cleveland's gonna end up taking a point guard, but if LeBron was gonna stay, I would take McKell Bridges because he's missing that guy that can defend and take some pressure off him while LeBron can rest on defense. Hey, man, you guard Curry, you guard Clay. Like, McKell can guard one through four, literally. Like, he's that type of defender. I've watched tons of tape on him. Man, yo, I'm excited. I'm more excited than I was 40 minutes ago or whatever because no, this was great stuff, man. You did an excellent job breaking it down. I'm gonna be watching. I'm gonna remember everything you said. I'm gonna be watching. Okay, how did anything out? He gonna shoot me a text. Like, yes, no doubt. You were wrong on this one. But I loved the breakdown. I thought you did a great job. And yeah, man, this is interesting. Anything else that you didn't get to say about this draft that you think is important? No, I think it's gonna be a fun draft. I'm excited about Thursday. I'll be live streaming it as well on my YouTube station, Sports Talk 2319. I'll be live streaming it. So going over some stuff with that, but I'm excited for these. I just love to see kids reach their dreams, whether it's the number one pick or the 60th pick. I'm all for these kids. I never want people to think that I'm against one kid and I'm for all the kids and I'm just evaluating them from a basketball standpoint. Let me ask you this, because you obviously had that dream of getting to the NBA and didn't quite get there. What would you say to the players out there who are really good and have reason to think they will be in the NBA one day? What would you say to them though? You know, because everybody's not gonna make it. Yeah, you have play every game like it's your last. Okay. Play every game like it's your last and I know it sounds cliche, but educating yourself. Study the landscape of how draft picks go. Like I used to use tape, these VCR tape and I used to write how many point guards went in the first round. How many shooting guards went in the second round. Because I wanted to know when my turn came up would I be one of the 11 point guards drafted in the first round. So do your homework and make sure that you're prepared but be prepared for the unexpected. Because there's a lot of things that go on behind a curtain that you can't control. The other thing too, I mean now you're making a career in basketball. And I tell this to guys, cause I wasn't as good as you obviously, but I had dreams one day to be a pro athlete and never made it, but now I have a career in sports. So I tell guys, you can have a career in sports even if you don't make it as an athlete, but what are the things you did to prepare yourself in case you didn't make it to the pros? Well, I got the right major going into college. Communications was my major and I took that very seriously because as a kid growing up with my father, I was always commentating games as a kid, watching my father do it as well. So it became something natural to me to actually watch the game and commentate it and do scouting reports. My father used to give me papers of players in high school. We would go to high school games and he'll say write a scouting report on his point guard. So that would be my homework. So I would get home and I would write a scouting report and give it to my dad. I was doing it at eight, nine years old. So when I got to college, I knew what my passion was outside of basketball and that was evaluating and studying the game. So pick the right major. Don't just pick anything that you can't use when you're done playing. Pick the right major and communication was mine and here I am sitting next to you. I feel big time today. You are big time, man. And we, you know, I'm gonna be in touch with you. I want to get you back in the zone. But man, great job. And check him out, Sports Talk 2319. You can download, subscribe to it on YouTube and he'll be streaming during the draft. So definitely want to check him out. Man, great, great stuff. Appreciate you. And thanks for being in the zone. Absolutely.