It is the JR Sportbreeze Show here with you coast to coast on the Infinity Sports Network. Man, we are about 24 hours away from the 2025 NBA Draft. There's been a foregone conclusion that Cooper Flag is going to be selected at number one overall. We have such a widened pool right now when it comes to the draft, not just college prospects, international players. There's a lot of great talent that comes into the league. This draft expected to be better than what we got last year.
To talk about what we can expect, not just tomorrow, but the day after as well, is someone who covers the draft extensively where he founded Swish Theory. It is Matt Powers. Matt, how are you, man? Hey, doing great. Thanks for having me. Absolutely. I'm boiling hot in New York City without an AC unit right now. So happy to be distracted to talk some drafts with you.
Oh, I certainly understand. You may want to try the subway. I heard it may be a little cooler. It might be back. Thank you, Matt. Well, all things considered, we know the draft is going to take place in New York tomorrow. Cooper Flag expected to be drafted at number one overall.
But what are some of the other storylines and individuals that we should pay attention to tomorrow? Yeah, I think a big one is Ace Bailey's draft range. I think that's really highly uncertain right now. It was kind of a foregone conclusion through most of the season that he would be number three pick, like really hyped prospect, crazy shot maker at 6'8". But his kind of refusal to do workouts with some teams and just kind of seems like he is insistent on having an on-ball role versus like more of an off-ball role, which would make more sense for him as a shot maker. So it seems like he has a really wide range of outcomes. Could go anywhere from three to, who knows, like towards the end of the lottery, depending on, you know, we could see some team want to trade up for him if he starts to fall. So I'm really curious to see where he ends up, for sure. Well, Matt, when you take a look at the teams that are selecting past the Mavericks, the Spurs are at two, the Sixers are right there at three, the Hornets at four. What do you think the deal is with Ace Bailey? Is there a team, A, why would you want to, you know, forego money? Is he just trying to go to a team where he can just jack up shots?
Yeah, that's a good question. I think he kind of views himself as that on-ball threat. I kind of, I compare him more to Jabari Smith type skill set, but he kind of plays or wants to play more like a Brandon Ingram on-ball, bring the ball up. So I could see, actually I could see a really good fit in Utah at number five because they have more of kind of like a quick hitter system where he won't have that much pressure on-ball.
But yeah, I'm not really sure exactly where he is angling to specifically. And draft analyst Matt Powers is joining us here on the JR Sport Brief Show. Ultimately, when you take a look at a lot of the trades that have already taken place between established players, we see picks that are getting moved around as a result, what team do you think is most likely to trade out and down from their current spot?
Yeah, that's a good question. I mean, I think the Memphis Grizzlies could. They're kind of later, but they just trade for that pick on the Desmond Vane deal with Orlando.
So I could see them moving that. Again, Chicago's kind of in an awkward spot at 12 where they could just see who falls to them or if they kind of want to target a more established player because I think there is a lot of real talent towards the end of the lotto in particular. It's kind of like a big eye of the beholder draft where there's guys that have very clear, defined skills, but also some kind of glaring weaknesses.
So I could see some teams kind of trading up for some player that they're really named by into that late lottery area. Well, Matt, we know that outside of Cooper Flag, there's a lot of names, whether it's Harper or Bailey. What name and what individual is capturing your attention the most?
Who are you paying attention to to see where they might land? Yeah, I'm a huge fan of Colin Murray-Boiles from South Carolina. He's, even though he's a sophomore, he's still freshman age, just like super highly productive. The issue is he's 6'7 and can't shoot threes, so there's going to be some hesitancy from some teams thinking that he might hurt their spacing, but he's a smart passer, can drive the ball, really has like a really big like strong frame and can defend all like multiple positions, just a good playmaker on defense. I could see like an analytically mighty front office kind of moving up round. Again, like maybe OKC would be interested there in the middle of the first.
But yeah, I think he's someone who could really surprise people. Well, Matt, you talk about OKC. We know about their three picks here early on in the first round, also going into the second.
Man, they just won the championship. What could they possibly be looking to do? Who could they possibly be aiming for?
Yeah, that's a good question. I think, again, Colin Murray-Boyles, I think could be a really like defensive force for them. I mean, there's a lot of targets. They have such flexibility of a roster that they could trade up for Kamon Malawach and go kind of another spacing big. They could go Noah Singay, I think, on the wing as somebody who's still only 18 years old but can kind of contribute now. He was in the Germany playoffs and one of the best teams there.
So I think they could go that direction. Cedric Cowards, another interesting guy who has a 7-3 wingspan, a really good shooting touch, more kind of like a mystery man because he was out most of the year. So there's some very intriguing prospects that feel like kind of thunder guys that they could maybe even move up a little bit for since they have so many assets. Well, you talk about the young man, a Singay, playing in Germany. Is he the best prospect from outside of the United States? We've seen so many players dominate the league that have been from other countries. Who do you expect to be the best prospect from outside the United States?
Yeah, Kamon Malawach is from South Sudan originally who played at Duke this year. He's my top international prospect. I have him at number five on my board.
Just like an incredible lob threat. Can maybe space the four a little bit even because he has such good shooting touch. Potentially a really good drop big defender. But yeah, Noah Singay definitely second best for me. Basically also a safe pick, but one that also has some kind of upside as a really good transition score, draws a ton of fouls, and like best in class ground coverage while blocking some shots. Kind of a do it all type player. Matt Powers is joining us from Switch Theory.
It's the JR Sport Reshow Coast to Coast on the Infinity Sports Network. The Philadelphia 76ers just had just about every human being on the team imaginable injured last year. And so here they end up with the number three overall pick. Do you see them going for broke and maybe moving that pick around? Or do you see them saying, and we were hurt last year, this might be our best and only chance to bring on a guy for the future? Yeah, I would not be surprised to see them move down and take a more sure thing.
But if they stay there, I expect them to take Vijay Edgecombe. I think he is a really productive player. I know they're like analytically friendly guy that Mori would like. There were some rumors that he was like nervous in his workout and like not hitting shots. So I think that might terrify some Sixers fans that, you know, have the Markelle Fultz history there, like just worried about him losing his confidence. So that was freaking out some people, but I really like him. He's a really good player.
Really good. You can kind of slot him in defensively immediately. We saw in the playoffs how important defensive playmaking is.
He would be one of the top in the league pretty quickly. So I would be more uncomfortable taking him to the Sixers. Matt, it was less than an hour ago that we learned of Chris Staps Porzingis and his trade being moved to Atlanta and the draft picks going out to the Brooklyn Nets. The Nets select the number eight overall. I feel like they're housing nothing but draft picks and young players.
What do you think their deal is? Yeah, they now have one sixth of the first round picks. I really expect them to move up. Honestly, they have that number, not was it eight, nine pick?
Eight pick. But it sounds like they're, I would not be surprised if they're very in on Jeremiah Fiers from Oklahoma, another young freshman who had like a really high usage rate and one of the best college conferences of all time in the SEC this year. Just somebody that could take on a lot of usage pretty quickly for the Nets. You kind of have some chance to be that on-ball creator that they lack right now. When you take a look at just a couple of months ago, I can't believe Tom flies this much, but we just had the NCAA tournament and we saw Florida walk away the champs and we saw the explosion of Clayton Jr.
He's going on a heater. You got Queen as well. Who are some of the guys who really emerged in a tournament? Where do you think some of them are going to end up?
Yeah, I love Walter Clayton. I think he has a pretty wide range of outcomes too. I would not be surprised if Oklahoma City took a swing on him also, just because he's such an elite shot maker and if they could add one more thing that they're missing, it would be more shot making from three point as a guard there.
But Con Canipple from the tournament was, I think, just viewed as a really safe piece in the middle of the lottery, maybe early lottery even. Just a really reliable player who might have some underrated upside just as a passer and an incredible three point shooter. Yeah, I mean, who else in the tournament?
Those are the big ones. Yeah, how do you think he'll fit? I mean, he doesn't necessarily have the athleticism, but I mean, one of the best guys in the whole league is not a freak athlete and he dominates the game and that's Jokic.
Yeah, my guy Nick Kalinsky on Twitter has a score to measure someone's combine performance and he was in like the bottom fifth percentile all time. So it's really, it's an uphill battle for him, but you know, he plays at his own pace. He can like decelerate through the paint. He's an incredible driving prospect, can create a shot in the mid-range some.
I kind of, I buy the passing. I think he's super creative there, just kind of older for freshmen at age 20 already, but I think the potential is still incredibly high for him to be kind of somebody to take a lot of offensive use of the job. And Matt, as we start to wrap things up, when you take a look at the draft now spread out, not just over over one night, how is that going to affect any potential movement and trades that we have? Yeah, I mean, it sounds like we're going to be in for a pretty crazy two days just to have any additional time to process the what's happening, what's going on and see who falls. But yeah, I'm excited for the two day event.
I don't know how necessary it was to switch the two days, but more draft content is always welcome. When you take a look at Ed Cooper flag from what you've seen at Duke and how his game has evolved from high school up until now, competing at Team USA and what have you, what do you expect from him? He's heading into an interesting situation with a lot of well-known vets who have their own health issues with the Mavericks. How do you think his usage is going to fit in in Dallas? Yeah, I think you can kind of throw him into the fire a little bit pretty quickly just because we saw how adept he was, you know, as National Player of the Year level talent already at a young freshman age. So I think he can really handle some on-ball pressure pretty quickly because he's got so adept at running, picking roles at Duke, you know, not really a role he was used to playing before. You know, even if he ramps down that usage a little bit, he's the incredible defender, kind of even a better defender that we saw at Duke. You know, if you look back as performance with Team USA where he's more kind of as a role player where he was, I think he had like eight blocks in the championship game or something like that. So I think he even has more to his game than he showed at Duke somehow. Well, we certainly hope so. I know Mavericks fans hope so.
I mean, they're probably happy what they've seen already. Well, Matt, thank you so much for the time. Please tell everybody where they can keep up with you, your work, and everything you do with Swish Theory. Yeah, thanks so much for having me. You can find me at theswishtheory.com, all my work there and our big board, check it out.
And on Twitter, you can find me at draftpal. Again, thanks so much. No doubt about it. Enjoy, enjoy the next two days, man. And stay cool. Try your best. Will do. Appreciate it.
