Alright, I think all the levels are set. Showtime!
Now? Welcome to the drive, setting the sports agenda before dinner. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Good tunes.
Back at it on a Wednesday drive, right here on WSJS. Appreciate B. for joining us for a bit. But we gotta talk about Will Wade. That's what we gotta do here.
Because. He started to run his mouth again. He finally started to do that. We actually haven't heard from him in a little while. We haven't heard anything about LSU actually in a little while, and that's actually kind of the point of what we're about to get into right here.
So The general Will Wade is, they call him the general, apparently, over there. As we look. at the different rosters. take shape in college basketball, what's one of the things that we talk about? Like, okay, most notably with Carolina, when we were looking at the Henry Vesar situation and whether or not he was going to go, and then he did go to the NBA draft.
And at the time that he did it, what did we say? That's going to be a tough one to Replace, it's gonna be a tough one to replace in general, but like in the portal. Because At that time, things were kind of depleted. Things were kind of thinning out. And That's No exception for LSU.
So LSU apparently. Coming into today. only had one. Juan. Player.
listed on their roster. It's Modi Abate. Transfer from Kentucky, a four-star. No relation to Musa diabate from the Hornets. I was kind of bummed out to hear that.
I thought maybe oh. Another Diabate's out there somewhere. No, not that one. Will Wade claims. That they're going to assemble their roster heavily from international players.
Morgan's rolling his eyes at that. I think a lot of people would roll their eyes at that.
Now. On that note, they did get a commitment today from Marcio Santos. A six-nine big man from Brazil. Cool. He also, so a lot of what you're going to hear from Will Wade right now came from John Rostein's podcast yesterday.
John Rosteen of CBS Sports. And Will actually went on a different LSU podcast, an actual LSU podcast the other day and claimed that one of the reasons that LSU has been kind of quiet in terms of their portal activity is because, quote, This year the portal didn't have as many good players in it. Really? That it really I mean, just look at some of the players that were in it. Jew Karis.
Badanga. Like this. This portal Had so many players that were former five-stars. Were NBA ready guys that maybe were trying to decide NBA draft or come back to college? I mean, P.J.
Haggerty was one. John Blackwell that Duke picked up. Jackson Shelstad. Paul McNeil was in the portal, but guess where he's going? Right back to NC State, where he was to play for Justin Gainey.
And not for Will and that could have been a guy. I mean, that was probably one of his. most productive players in NC State that Will Wade had. You know, could have brought him to L S U. Brought him to Baton Rouge, get him some of that SEC cash.
that they have. Not he's gonna go back to NC State.
So Miss me with, oh, this portal didn't have as many good players in it. Like, miss me with that. Also Will Wade claims that there's seven or eight players that we don't know about yet that they're bringing in.
Okay, not really sure what to make of that. And he says, quote, when school starts, we'll have a really good team.
Well There's one thing we know about Will Wade. Don't believe anything he says. Just don't do it. NC State had to learn that lesson. Also, The smear campaign towards his former players continues.
This is a guy that Routinely. After games in press conferences, he would call his players soft, would try to communicate with them through the media, through his little rants. I get that maybe once or twice when you're trying to make a point, but not all the time. And then you know, some of the players that Would look at how he left NC State, the things that he promised, back to not believing anything he says. And then just hearing the things he said in his introductory presser at LSU, his former players at States probably look at that and roll their eyes.
And then With John Rothstein, he said one of the things that he regretted or would have done differently at NC State. or that they didn't do right was they had a lot of quote dead money. on the roster. I don't want to hear that if I'm a former player. And that's not what future potential players want to hear either.
That you might be trying to persuade to come to LSU. It's not a great way to recruit them.
So Getting to some of the clips here. He also spoke on The difference between being At NC State, NLSU. Great basketball.
Well, look, NC State's a great, great basketball job as well. I think NC State is a great place. It was tough to leave there. But I think at LSU, with the SEC, we just have more resources. The SEC, you know, the saying in the SEC, it just means more, it's true.
It's 100% the truth. And we've got tremendous resources down here just because of the revenue that's generated through our basketball and football contracts. And so I think that we have the ability to. to compete with the best in the SEC, and you compete in the best, the SEC. You got the opportunity to compete nationally.
The ACC has a lot more national titles than the SEC does in the last 25 years. Quite a bit more.
So I get maybe the money being different. That that part is for sure, but I don't know, his ability. He hasn't shown the ability here lately to put together a really good roster that could compete for a Final Four or something like that. And LSU fans will hit you with how great his record was as a coach when he was there the first time. But again, Didn't go far in the tournament.
Never did that.
So That was one of the things he said. But then this is the part that's really going to make NC State fans laugh. He spoke on His decision to leave NC State? And it's gonna make you chuckle because One thing you know if you've wa if you've followed it closely. you know, reading things that Brendan Marks put out for the athletic.
I forget the guy's name that hosts the Locked On LSU podcast. But like th these people would tell you, oh, this has been in the works for months. It's been in the works. And just hearing that timeline, the accurate one, and then the way Will Wade describes it, it just, again, just listen. Was it hard to leave NC State after just one season?
It was very difficult. is something that um You know, I thought about. Quite a bit. I stayed up that night when I knew that LSU would be a possibility and had to weigh the pros and the cons. You know, NC State was great during the year that I was there.
The fan supports phenomenal. They've got some of the most passionate fans in all of college basketball. I've seen both sides of that passion, which I totally understand and totally get. But it's a great, great place. They've got good leadership with Boo Corrigan, and I know that they'll continue to support the program and do everything they can to chase down another national championship at NC State.
Couldn't sleep the night before. If I'm MC State, I'm happy. Oh, for sure. They dodged a bullet. Absolutely.
First, you have a coach that really didn't, sounds like he didn't want to be there to begin with. Mm-hmm. But sounds like he didn't like the players that he brought in and was blaming everybody else for it and not taking accountability. And if you want to take your team to the next level, yeah, great coach is one thing. But a coach that's accountable and takes the blame.
And also very important. Yeah, and he hasn't demonstrated the ability to do that. And like you say, he recruited these players that he's got negative things to say about.
So Yeah, not being able to sleep the night before when this has been months in the works, like, give me a break. Will Wade. Got in front of a microphone yet again. Let's talk about the Lakers very quickly, though. If the Lakers don't get Luca Donchich back.
In this series with the Thunder. It is going to be a tough and probably short outing for the Lakers against OKC. I think so.
So we heard from Luca. for the first time since the injury happened, And spoke to reporters talking about he was still unsure when he might return. In game two. is on Thursday night of this series, and that'll mark five weeks to the day. Since his surgery for the hamstring.
And here he was talking about What it felt like watching the Lakers, you know, because they kept it tight in the first half, but the second half, you know. It was a struggle without him. Here he was. It's very frustrating. I don't think people understand how frustrating it is.
You know, all I wanna do is play basketball, uh especially this time. It's the best time to play basketball. Uh it's very frustrating, uh, you know, seeing what my team's doing, I'm very proud of them. Uh It's been Very tough, you know, touch just to see it and watch it watch it play. I bet it is.
LeBron was asked after the game. At his locker, he was like Or somebody asked him. Offensively, what do you think the problem is? Or what do you think would be better? And he was very candid.
He said, you know what the problem is? And obviously, I'm paraphrasing here. You know what the problem is? The fact that we lost a guy that averaged 37 points a game, that's the hole here, offensively. Seems pretty straightforward.
Um As mentioned, They did hang with OKC in the first half. largely in part to LeBron. Finish with 27 points. 12 of 17 from the field. My guy is 41 years old, and he's still the best player out there.
He was the best player between LA and Houston in that series.
Now, obviously, Shea Gilgis Alexander is the best player in this one, but he's the best player for the Lakers. Going to make the offseason very interesting. From both parties, LeBron and the Lakers, what he decides to do. But The Lakers ultimately They have a obviously a Luka Doncic. problem where they don't have him.
But they also have a bit of an Austin Reeves problem right now because You can't go up against OKC, who is the NBA Finals defending champ and favorite to win this one. and Austin Reeves be your number two. Like it's just not Going to be good enough. And especially when Austin Reeves hasn't even looked all that great since returning from injury in game five against Houston. Like last night he had eight points.
I went three of 16 from the field. 0 of 5 from 3. That's not That's not great. Defensively, the Lakers struggled a little bit. Rui Hachimura was minus 21.
When he was on the floor. Chad Holgram went off on him.
So Lakers They got some things to figure out. I mean, other than Austin Reeves right now, they are playing about as good as they can play. The problem is. It's just not enough. If you're looking to get back into your fitness journey, like let's just say.
You've been out of it for a while. You're trying to get back in it. And you want somebody to keep you accountable. Hey, guess what? The YMCA, they've got people that can do that.
They got personal trainers for you. Nothing wrong with that, needing a personal trainer. Keep you accountable, keep you disciplined. Get you a program in place.
So check them out. YMCANWNC.org is the place to go. They're going to help you. put a fitness journey together. It is a lifestyle transformation.
It is that. Like, if you're trying to do something you're going to sustain, like, it's a lifestyle. It can't just be, oh, yeah, I'm going to lose this amount of pounds in two weeks. And then, guess what? You do it and then you go right back to the bad habits for it.
It's got to be a shift, it's a mindset shift. YMCA, they're going to help you do that. YMCA, NWNC.org. You having spaghetti again tonight? No What are you havin'?
Undecided Yeah, I need to go to the grocery store. Unless I'm going to have eggs for dinner. Or some pizza? I don't want pizza. I do like uh listen, I love me some breakfast food.
I really do. But I kind of want something a little more filling for dinner tonight. Like a cow's own? What is it with you and the Italian food? I love Italian food.
Pizza and calzo, stromboli. Stromboli, yeah. Cannoli is a great dessert. I just love Italian. I think I might be Italian.
I don't think that's true, but. In a past life you were Italian? I was for sure Italian in a past life. Maybe I'll go get some salmon. That's not Italian.
No, but it's what I think I'm going to eat when I go to the grocery store. Sports talk for people who yell at the TV. Back at it for the drive, right here on WSJS.
So the Coke 600. Still a few weekends out, but To talk about this now, though, we bring in the driver of. The number 42, Toyota Camry, John Hunter Nemachek. John, how we doing, man? I'm good.
How are you? I'm doing pretty terrific.
Now, you look like you're on the side of the road somewhere right now. Where are you at? I am. I am. Actually, I made one of my daughters from school.
I just left the shop in Daysville, North Carolina. Nice, man.
Well, we know you're very busy, so we appreciate the time, of course. I wanted to start here, though.
So Being a kid from Mooresville, how special is it? Because this will be your fourth Coke 600. How special is it when you get to return out to Charlotte Motor Speedway and get out there? Yeah, it's super neat being able to have a hometown race like Charlotte and being able to really just enjoy being at home, kind of spending the week at home, being able to stay at home and drive to the racetrack. It's super neat.
I grew up going to the racetrack with my dad and all of the Coke 600s that he was able to run. It's definitely a different atmosphere. You can tell when the race is in town, traffic definitely picks up around here and things of that sort. But overall, it's just an amazing experience. You know, I know it's a full weekend, these races.
What does a typical race weekend look like for you? It's definitely changed now with the limited practice that we have and kind of the lesser amount of days that we're there per se. For instance, going to Watkins Glenn this weekend, we fly up Friday night, practice and qualify Saturday and race Sunday.
So really short weekend as far as in car wise, total of 25 minutes of practice on Saturday, straight into qualifying after that. And then race Sunday, but a lot of media obligations.
Something that I do every weekend is we go to The merch rig and go sign autographs, try and sell merch, different things of that sort.
So, definitely a lot of sponsorship obligations as well. Very busy at the racetrack. John Hunter Nimachek with us here on WSJS, driver of the number 42 Toyota. Camry, so I wanted to ask you about this.
So, Stephen A. Smith made some comments a couple of weeks ago, which I'm sure you've heard by now, claiming that NASCAR drivers are not athletes, which were based in North Carolina.
So, we obviously strongly disagree with that. Considering we are talking about the Coke 600 here, the longest track you can get to. How physically demanding is it when you go to Charlotte Motor Speedway? What does it mean? Yeah, I think just for reference, I think I burned just over 4,000 calories last year during the Coke 600.
So yeah, I like to see him try and do what we do. Concept, he has no concept of anything, I think, NASCAR related.
So, um Yeah, it's a unique sport for sure. The heat is one thing that we have to deal with, but also the physical, the mental aspect of it. And then running for 600 miles at one time as well is pretty wild.
So it's a long time to be in the race car. I mean, you can equivalate it to running a marathon every single weekend as far as looking at heart rate data and things that we're able to track. Yeah, I know I was listening to Kevin Harvick last week, and he kind of echoed.
Something like he got like a special watch or something, and he was talking about all the calories that you do, in fact, burn.
So it's just like I agree with you 100%. It just didn't know what he was talking about.
So let's actually talk about this very quickly. I know everybody's talking about the incident with Kyle Bush. At Texas last weekend, and I'm not going to ask you to rehash any of that or relive it. Not going to ask you to do that. But I was curious because when you're battling for a top 10 spot like that, and you get taken out like you did.
I know as athletes, you're trained to have a short memory and turn the page, but how long does that stick with you? Like how long till you are actually able to turn the page? Because you were talking about the mental aspect of racing. Yeah, I mean you turn it fast, right? That's why we race every single weekend.
We back up and we race against the same guys every single weekend.
So it's hard to say, right, how soon you turn the page. But at the same time, you show up with the best intentions of going to run the best that you can, like this going to Walk and Sland this weekend. Just kind of out of sight, out of mind, and go and race as hard as you can every single weekend. John Hunter Nemachu, but this here on WSJS.
So, as you mentioned, you are going to Watkins Glenn this weekend.
So, my producer, he's the NASCAR junkie around here, my producer Morgan. And he actually had an interesting question about Watkins Glenn that he wanted to sneak in here. Yeah, hey, John. Watkins Glenn this weekend, NASCAR announced they're going to have those tire barriers in one and five. I wanted to know how that's going to change your ability to attack or how it changes the how you're going to attack those corners.
Yeah, I think from years past, you were able to kind of just ship the exits in a sense and not really focused of staying on the racetrack. You were able to roll a lot of speed, which could make it harder to pass at times.
So I think having the tire barriers there, you definitely don't want to hit them. They will do damage for sure. It just creates a narrower racing surface, but kind of a more technical corner, I would have to say.
So it's going to be interesting to see how it plays out this weekend. Luckily, we have the truck race and O'Reilly race Friday and Saturday to be able to kind of watch some of that. And then our practice on Saturday, I'm sure that there will be a lot of feedback going into Sunday as well. John Hunter Neiman Check. We appreciate the time.
Go get a win this weekend over at Watkins Glen. And good luck in the Coke 600 in a couple of weeks as well. Charlottemotorspeedway.com is where you can get tickets for that. Have a great rest of your day and we appreciate the time. Yeah, thank you guys for having me on.
I appreciate it. John Hunter Nimichek. There he. goes. Always love getting some NASCAR in here.
And the audience seems to appreciate it too. We always get really good feedback, whether we do in the fast lane. Do we have drivers on? Uh as we just did right there. Um, appreciate him taking a little bit of time for us.
And you actually, so you again, you're the racing junkie, Morgan, and you had some interesting facts. That you pulled on the Coke 600. Yeah, so the Coke 600 is A spectacular race if you haven't watched it. It's on Memorial Day. That is very much so focused towards the service members.
It's a it does a lot for it's uh midway through the race, so at lap 200, they stop the race. And all the cars come down Pitt Road, and there's a moment of silence for all the fallen troops and all those that have served in our country's military. Um every driver that weekend will have a servi a fallen service member's name. On the car, so where the driver's name would normally be above the windshield, it would have a fallen service member's name on it and their rank. And during the show, they'll show some of their stories and share some of their stories with the audience.
And that's a really awesome thing. The drivers go out and meet the troops, and some of them go out to bases around the country and do meet and greets with soldiers. And it's a really cool thing that they do with NASCAR. But this is a 600-mile race. Dave Tona, the crown jewel of NASCAR, 500.
It's the equivalent of driving from the track. To New York City. That is nuts to me. That takes 10 hours if you take the interstate. Yeah, they're gonna do it in about four and a half hours.
Yeah, I think that's something an athlete would do, just saying. I mean, it there's nothing really like it. And some of these drivers, it's not very often, but some drivers, I think just a handful, have done the Indy 500 in the morning. And the Coke 600 at night.
So Tony Stewart was the only one to really be competitive in both of them. But It's 1,100 miles in one day. Kyle Larson did it the last two years, but had to cut off early because of rain. But. It's just what these drivers are able to do with these cars.
Being able to jump from Indy to NASCAR or just stay in NASCAR is phenomenal. It's definitely worth a watch. And worth a go, too. Charlotte Motor Speedway, I've been once. It's a beautiful track.
There's not a bad seat. You get the whole view of the track. A great fan experience. You get to meet some of the drivers before the race outside of the stadium. I guess yeah, I guess it's a stadium or a rac I guess it's a racetrack.
Yeah, speedway. Yeah, but you get to meet some of the drivers outside the speedway. It's just an amazing environment as well. Can't go wrong going to the race. Charlottemotorspeedway.com.
It's where you can get your tickets. They got the NC Education Lottery 200, NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series on Friday. That weekend. Saturday, it'll be the O'Reilly series. Charlroyle 300, and then, of course.
The Coke 600 on Uh Sunday. Charlotte Motorspeedway. Calm. This is it. Ready?
All right, hold on. All right, do it, do it. All right, listen up. If it matters in sports, it's on the drive. Back at it on the drive, right here on WSJS.
Or it's time to talk a little college football. Little ACC. Big four. Football. Because ESPN the other day, they put out a ranking.
Of each Power for Conference. They ranked them all. Individually. And what they were doing was ranking their offseasons.
So naturally, my eyes went straight for the ACC where they believe that Miami. had the best offseason in the ACC, which Considering they had at Cooper Barcade. Darian Mensa Damon Wilson, the defensive end, I think I'd have to agree with that. They lose Ruben Bain, of course, Francis Mauinoa, Akeem Mesador. Um But Between the guys that they added.
Between the guys that they retained. I like what old uh I like what The canes got cooking. But let's go to the big four here. Where our locals did not fare very well on this list at all. You have to go all the way down To number 10.
to find the first one, that being in C State. Dave Doran's group, Diamond Dave. Yeah. They felt that the biggest coaching move that was made is the fact that They kept their coordinators in place on both defensive and the offensive end. But Yeah, they They have the pack down at 10.
Then after that Who do you find? But Duke at twelve. After that, They lost that Darian Mensa guy and that Cooper Bar Cake guy.
So. That's a bit of a problem for the Devils. Tough situation for Manny Diaz to navigate. We'll see how well he's able to do it. Then right after them at thirteen is Wake Forest.
Jake Dickert's group.
Now they added Gio Lopez at quarterback. Lost Amon Claiborne, who went to the Minnesota Vikings round seven. I think that's a steal. Excited to see what he does. in the sh in the National Football League, the Shield.
Decided to see that. Lost Nick Anderson.
So those are some of the key departures there. But Then You get to Bill Balichek's group. And you got to go down a couple more notches for that one at number 15. We don't know who the quarterback is going to be. They added Billy Edwards Jr.
From Wisconsin, that might be the answer.
So Yeah, it's not a great go of it for our locals. At all. Bobby Petrino makes you feel maybe a little bit better about the offense than Freddie Kitchens. I don't know how much better, though, when you just, again, you don't know who the quarterback's going to be. And these days, if you don't know who your quarterback is, Doesn't leave you feeling too great.
It just doesn't.
So that's how our locals fared in ESPN's latest rankings of each Power Four Conference's offseasons.
Now Let's get to some bats. Stack it up, stack, stack, gotta stack it up. Get the money. Get the money on the thumbnail. It's time to cash in.
Welcome to Dalton's Dollars. Come in the money! Show me the money. Breaking down the board and building the bankroll. Your boy bounced back last night.
I took a break. Because I went like 0 for 5, 0 for 6, and you know, back-to-back days last week. It's just time to put it down.
Sometimes you just got to. Put the controller down for a second. Put down the sticks. Pass them. Pass the sticks.
Regroup. Refocus. Take a breather. And now you're back in the race. NASCAR on the mind.
So that's what we did. Let's take a look at it. Pistons. Calves last night. I took the pistons.
Uh, as a three and a half point favorite. They took care of that one. Drop me a- One by ten. I also had Donovan Mitchell To go under 25 and a half points. I thought Detroit, their defense, was going to be really good.
Maybe put the clamps on him a little bit.
Now, he still played well. But not quite well enough. Only 23 points for Donovan Mitchell. Strove me to my- Mm-hmm.
Now you get to the Lakers. Where I was conflicted, Lake Earth's Thunder. 15 and a half point. Hey, Jay Davis in our comments. 15 and a half point dogs were the Lakers.
I took the Thunder, 15 and a half point favorites. They won by 18. Strove Vega! The one that did not hit, so those are the three that did, the one that didn't, Wild Avalanche. I took the Wild Puck line to even that series.
The Avalanche handled business. They lead 2-0.
So no bueno on that one. But Looking at tonight's bets. In the NBA. Knicks Sixers Joelle Embiid is out. Man, that dude can't catch a break.
And Philly, they look pretty exhausted in game one.
Now they come back out, and they do lose a big piece in Embiid, but now they might try to play a little faster, but.
Okay. I think I'm going to take the Knicks 10.5 favorites. SHOW ME GO! I'm not sure what I'm doing. That's what I think I'm gonna do.
T-Wolf Spurs Minnesota, they stole game one on the road. In San Antonio. I'm not going to mess with the spread in this one. I think I'm just going to take the under 216. SHOW ME GO!
That's what I'm gonna do. In terms of props. Tyrese Maxey, I like him to make more or three or more three-pointers. Drove me in life! In the NHL?
Canadians Sabers. I'll take the Canadians buckling. You mean Yeah. And It's a Paul Skeens night. That's why I'm going to take him to go over five and a half strikeouts.
Drop me! That's right. Spend Dalton's dollars. Nice plethora there. MBA NHL.
Baseball Can't really go wrong with that. Lot of variety there. Uh oh oh uh Back at it on a Wednesday drive. Where we are joined by one of our favorites. It is the sixth man of the Tar Heels D-Dot.
What's happening? How we doing, Dot? Life's good, man. Minimal complaints, living it up, living the life here in Charlotte, the 704, you know, enjoying the festivities of the week. What's happening, man?
I wanted to ask you something.
So, yesterday, because I mean, that isn't why you have a guest on a show to ask questions. I was about to say, yeah, I would assume you did, WD. I would assume you had a couple of questions. Cinco DiMayo. Was yesterday.
How did you celebrate? Um for me it's Cinco Damami. Two years ago on Cinco de Mayo, I lost my mom. Um, and so it's really a day of reflection for me in that space.
So, I did things that mommy would do. Mommy was a um. Was a pioneer in the nail tech industry in Greensboro.
So I went and got a manicure, I got a pedicure, you know what I'm saying? A lot of loving on myself type joint. And I actually. For the past couple of years, it's been difficult for me to take mommy out of her. She was cremated, and she's been in the cupboard, just sitting in the cupboard in the darkness for two years.
And my sister actually hit me yesterday and she was like, Doc, you know damn well mama claustrophobic. If you don't get her out of that damn cupboard. She's gonna come hunt you, boy. And I said, You know what? You are exactly right.
So, for the first time in like two years, I took her out of the cover, man. I actually put her in these pendants for myself and for my sister and my brother. Um and just got to love Omami a little bit for Cenko de Mommy. That's super dope, man. I love that.
You know what's crazy though, WD? Most people celebrate Cenco DiMayo and have no clue how they're even celebrating. I didn't know, maybe you didn't either, a series that you've been doing for a long time now. And I happened to stumble across an Instagram post you put out yesterday. Mm-hmm.
And you were asking people. Why do we celebrate it? And, you know, we had a bunch of different people there. It's like, hey, it's to eat tacos. Oh, it's to drink tequila.
None of those things. What is it? You tell us.
Well, it isn't Independence Day. A lot of people get the misconception that because we do 4th of July, we think Cinco de Mayo is 4th of July for Mexico. And it's not. They're Independence Day. 16th.
They're Virgos. But that actually was a big war between Mexico and France in 1862. And just a little bit more history on as far as black folk is concerned. That was the war where. Mexico was super on demand.
France was supposed to beat the Wheels off Mexico. They put the belt because you know, the 1860s, France was top tier. But, you know, the African-American slaves who had slipped over from the United States and moved to Mexico actually assisted Mexico in that war against France. And they actually won that war on the Battle of El Puebla.
So, like, that's just a little bit of history for you. While you're out there getting toe up on your tacos and tequilas, at least know what holiday you celebrate. I mean, you could be like my producer, Morgan, who ate spaghetti. Why would you do that? Why did you do it, Morgan?
It was the option last night. It was the option. He said it was good. But I mean, it's like it's supposed to be Mexican-themed we're eating Italian food. That?
Yeah, that's kind of a mix-up of things. Like, if you're not going to eat the Mexican dishes, then you should eat some French fries or some crochets or something from France. That's the representation. I don't know how you got to Italy, Morgan, but to Northern Merrier. Feedot, the sixth man of the Tar Heels.
What is he here in WSGS? Let's get to the Tar Heels because you. Desmond Johnson, who was a guest on yesterday's show, PJ Harriston put out a new episode of Believe and Heels Hoop and I wanted to ask you this because Henry Vessar Decided to go to the NBA draft and stay there. He's not going back to college. And it seems.
If he goes as high. as he's been projected. It's going to be late first round, which means at the most he's going to be making like $2 million or $2.10 million, as opposed to a $4 million that he could have gotten to come back to Carolina to play for Michael Malone, improve his draft stock, and a weaker draft next year that he could have gone higher in. Why do you think he decided to go to the draft now? I think that boy was just tired of going to class.
That boy was sick of taking class and taking tests and carrying on, man. Like, Henry Vesar is either engaged or married with a child on the way or here. Like, Henry's a grown-ass man out here. And, like, to be sitting in World Sea of for another six to eight months, like, he just probably wasn't interested in that, man. Like, and I think that he may be able to slip higher in the draft in the late first round just because this draft is so locked in with guards.
Like, this is. Overly, overly with the guards. And Everybody doesn't need a guard. There are some teams that could use a big that's in that in that first round, in those in that lottery pick, in those 14 picks. I know a team in the 704 that could use a big to the likings of a Henry Vesar.
So I don't see him going as late as these mock drafts are. And I think that next year it would have been even a bit more difficult with guys like the big man from Arizona to stay, the big man from Michigan to stay. All those guys are coming out next year.
So this is the year where Henry could slip under the radar and hit that lottery and make some generational money for his family. Who's the favorite player that you've seen Michael Malone add so far? Because you got some options here. Terrence Brown. You got Matt Abel.
You got the seven-footer from FC Barcelona. Like, who's that dude that you really like right now? I'm really interested in Neo. WD. Like, I'm really interested in this, in this, this, this very, very tall point guard type position from VTech.
Like, I'm very, very interested in that. And I really like TB. Um because I think he gives us like that Caleb. Caleb love type energy that we're missing from a few years ago. Just a downhill trash talking, get to the bucket, bucket getter.
Like, I really like TB, but Neo really is just. A unicorn type player to me as it pertains to Carolina basketball. I don't think we've ever seen a player like him. You know, like Brady Manic was like a unicorn. We had never seen a big bearded white assassin from the corner that could just we had never seen that in Carolina.
I'm talking about just buckets on buckets. I think that Neo is going to be that type of player for us. And I'm just interested to see in what type of style Mike Malone, or I'm sorry, Michael Malone, Coach Malone, implements. Is he going to move him to like, because PJ, if you've been checking out Bleving Hills, PJ seems to think that he's not going to play the one, he's going to play the four because in Coach Malone's offense in Denver, You know, Joker was the facilitator from that four position. He could bring the ball up.
He can get him in sets and those type of things.
So that could very well be the case.
So I'm interested to see how Coach Malone's offense from the NBA translates to Carolina and where Neo will fit. And I hope he is as advertised because, you know, again, like we were talking on the pod this morning, PJ and them said that the boy was going 35 and 40 balls over there when they were playing in the Bahamas or something. Like he's really, really a gym. And I'm just looking forward to it. Yeah, I don't think people are talking about him enough.
Like everybody's talking about Matt Abel. Everybody's talking about Terrence Brown. Neo, I don't think he's being talked about enough. I don't think Jaron Stevenson's being talked about enough. Like I think he might take a real step this year.
Well, he's going to have to. He's going to have to get stronger. He's going to have to get a lot more confident in his skill set. We've seen what he can do being from North Carolina. We saw you when you went to Alabama and got buckets, and we see what you're capable of in a Tar Heel jersey.
But, you know, I like the fact that Coach Malone is obviously putting some guys on that bench to say, hey, Jaron, if you don't want to get better this offseason, guess what? We got some guys that's ready to go. And I think that's going to be motivational enough to have Jaron ready to ball and bring his best stuff next season for sure. Six man of the Tar Heels beat up with us here on WSJS. A couple more things for you on the way out.
Lakers. They're playing about as well as they can minus Austin Reeves right now without Luca. Luca. Oh. Yeah, they don't have Luca, but I mean, like, minus production from Austin Reeves because, like, eight points, three of 16 from the field, that's not going to do it.
And you got LeBron over here at 41 years old, dropping 27, like it's nothing. It. Uh Is there anything they can do against the Thunder? What's out, Luca? Play these next three games and get this check and take the ass home.
That's what they can do against the Thunder. I mean, the Thunder, man, they're just a juggernaut. Like PJ was saying this morning, man, they got a start. They got a five-man rotation on the bench that could go start for the Wizards and win 30, 40 games right now, probably. Like, it's impossible.
I mean, it's disrespectful how stacked they are, and not to mention. They get a lottery pick this year.
So, like, even when they get rid of some guys, you know, they can restock the cupboards. Like, it's just insane what they've done over there in OKC. And I really thought that the Juggernaut was going to be OKC versus the Spurs, but Ant-Man says he's got something to say about that, man. I will be very interested in seeing SGA. Versus Ant-Man in a seven-game series.
I would really, really like that. I really would.
So I don't know, man, but the championship runs through OKC. I think they got a big chip on their shoulder, one of them big lays, potato chips on their shoulder, because they don't think they got respected from last year when they did win a championship. And it's like, that wasn't good enough. Then we put belt to everybody this season. That wasn't good enough.
So we got to get back to backs. And then y'all will say that ain't good enough.
So then we try to do the MJ routine and get a trilogy. Speaking of MJ, not a different MJ, Michael. The movie. I've seen it twice. I love it.
So, Michael Jackson's my favorite artist, full disclosure. I don't know if you knew that about me. Of all time? I didn't know that. Of all time.
I would have taken you to be a Johnny Cash guy. No, no, it's not really my spade. Not at all, Dot. At all. I loved it.
I thought Jafar crushed it. I thought there was moments of that movie where he was possessed. by MJ and just captured his aura and his spirit. What say you? Have have y I assume you've seen it by now.
Yeah, I've definitely seen it. I think I'm going to try to get it to go see it again this weekend with the fam, but absolutely freaking Lulu. I mirror every sentiment you just spoke. Like, I think Jafar, it was like you were watching at some point, you were watching a documentary. It's like you were watching behind-the-scenes footage that just had never been released on Michael Jackson.
Then it felt like you were watching a hologram Michael Jackson concert. Like, I was in there singing all the damn songs. Like, it was, it was, it was amazing. Like, I took some pictures yesterday and the photographer was saying. I didn't like it.
I wanted to see more. I'm like, damn. First of all, how long did you want the movie to be? And secondly, what else were you expecting to see? I know everything there is about, unless they got a video of Michael Jackson in the purple, I mean, in the green tights, pretending to be Peter Pan at Never Neverland.
We've seen everything you can see from Michael Jackson.
So at this point, just sit back, shut up, sing the songs, and enjoy it, man. You're not going to see anything new, but Jafar. Look like my Sounded like Mike, mannerisms like Mike. Even when you see some of the pictures that have been recreated. I mean, you would really have to squint this.
Oh, no, this is the Jafar. It's insane. It's absolutely insane. It's a great movie, man. And it's probably going to be a part two if you see it.
Oh, there is. There is. See And on that one, that's probably when he's gonna dangle the baby out the window.
So I know that's what y'all want to see. Y'all want to see him dangle that damn baby out the hotel room window. They're gonna get to that. You know what? The former host of the show, Josh Graham, when we were on Westwood One a couple of weeks ago, he said he knows I like Michael.
And he knows I love the movie. And you know, he's got to, you know, go the opposite way on this. He hates biopics. Like you and I, we love Delvis. And he had terrible things to say about Elvis.
And he had terrible things to say about Michael, and he didn't even go see it. Dot. Hello, Michael. See, no, man. Like, see, that's what Josh.
See, the problem is we've given Josh a microphone and a platform, and he actually thinks that we give a damn what he says. And we don't, Josh. People just pay you to talk. We don't care about your ridiculous takes. Anybody that thinks they can talk about a movie that they haven't even gone seen, please take your shoes and socks off and kick a boulder.
Six video tutorials, B Dot. I appreciate you doing it. I know you're very busy. But we always love to make a spot for you here to talk some tar heels, to talk what whatever. Cinco to my it doesn't it doesn't matter.
Just show up. The listening audience doesn't realize that this is basically just a 15-minute phone conversation with me and WD catching up, and y'all just happen to be listening to it. But before I get out of here, I do want to say this, man. Yeah. Danny.
Zay? Denny, Isaiah Dennis, he's going to be a star this season for us. Mark my words. Zay Denny. You heard it here first.
We'll clip it. We'll document it, we'll put it away. And I'll give you the clip whenever you're right about this. That part. I'll make sure that happens.
All right, B-Dot. We'll catch you next time, man. We appreciate it. Always, man. Appreciate y'all.
There you go. Six men at the Tor Heels. B. Dot. It's never like there's just never enough time, man.
There's too many things to get to with him. He gave you some grief about the spaghetti. It was amazing spaghetti. I'm not denying that. I'm not denying it.
Just not the time. Not the place. It was great. Whatever.
