Don't Look At Me

Yes, Josh Graham has opinions. There is nothing that entertains the audience and the masses more than me being bothered. And yes, he's got attitude.

Really, none of the game made sense to me. And that's exactly why you love him. When this all gets sorted out, I think you and me should get an apartment together. You're on the drive with Josh Graham. Happy draft day! You're listening to WSJS, News Talk Sports for the Triad. We're just a few hours out from the NBA draft. We still don't have a good idea who the Charlotte Hornets are going to be picking after Victor Webb and Yama goes number one tonight. A couple days ago, Wode said Brandon Miller was the focus for Michael Jordan and Mitch Kupchak. Then Shams reported today that Scoot Henderson had gained, quote, serious momentum, close quote to go number two. And there are still plenty of rumors out there that Charlotte could still trade the pick in order to bring in a star. I don't know, maybe like Zion Williamson.

It's all still on the table, it feels like. Since pro basketball returned to Charlotte about two decades ago, the Bobcats slash Hornets have been one of the worst franchises in the NBA. You could even argue that they've been the worst. And you don't really change that by playing it safe.

The Hornets, they have to take a swing here. Ask any billionaire who's gone from being poor to being incredibly wealthy. Our guy, Mr. Concert himself, David Tepper with the Panthers. Yeah. He bet. How did he accrue his wealth? He bet on the banks when nobody was during the housing crisis 15 years ago.

That's when he went from being a millionaire type to being one of the richest men in the world. Charlotte's only ticket out of mediocrity is by taking a swing and it paying off. And either Zion bringing in a guy like him or Brandon Ingram via trade, or by taking Scoot Henderson number two would qualify as such a swing. Taking Brandon Miller would not. He's a safe pick, probably has the highest floor out of the guys who will be available to Charlotte, but it would be playing it safe.

This would be prioritizing fit. Oh, we already got a point guard. We don't want to mess up chemistry with Terry Rozier and the mellow ball.

It would just fit so neatly. He's a little bit firmer defensively, an easier evaluation playing in college basketball in the SEC. It's easier. It's a better fit. But you're picking number two fit really shouldn't be factored into it. The question, the one question you should be asking when you pick number two overall is who's the best player on the board. And whatever the answer to that question is, when you're the Charlotte Hornets, you should take that player. Oh, yes. Injected into my veins.

Oh, such a great sound. Just go through recent history. The Warriors couldn't draft LaMelo ball number two prior to the Hornets taking him third. Why? Well, we got Steph and Pull and Klay Thompson. Do you think they regret that?

Because I do. It's just, you know, Wiseman, he fits a lot better. The Hornets, we can't take Bradley Beal, who went third in 2012. He's we got Kimba. We drafted him a year before. So we got to take Michael Kidd Gilchrist here. The most prominent example of this is probably 1984 when number two overall Portland had Clyde Drexler. So and they had a need at center. There was belief in the Blazers organization that Michael Jordan was the best player on the board. But they needed a center. So they took Sam Bowie, took him number two overall.

Michael Jordan went third, as we all know. I like that example because Sam Bowie wasn't a bust. Sam Bowie, anytime he's talked about is as if he's a terrible basketball player because of the guy who was taken right after him.

But Sam Bowie played 12 years in the NBA. The reason that's a good example here, Brandon Miller, he's going to be a fine player. He's going to be a good player. He's not a bust.

He has a high floor. That's what you're getting with Brandon Miller. The problem is he's not a star. And when you're picking second overall, that should be what you're trying to get.

There's a better option available to you. And that could be via trade and bringing in Zion, who of course has his problems, but maybe one day could be an MVP caliber player. Brandon Ingram, who's already played in an All-Star game and Scoot Henderson, who just has that feel. He's been groomed for superstardom. He works out and has gotten the seal of approval from Steph Curry, one of Charlotte's proudest sons. He's been a pro for the last two years. He's worked with G-League Ignite, playing against G-League teams. So there's not going to be that transition when it comes to adjusting to NBA spacing and things of that nature when Scoot plays in the league. He's got these long, rangy arms that you don't really see on a 6'2 frame.

There's a lot to like there. That's the guy who one day could be an MVP candidate, not Brandon Miller. That's what I want to see Charlotte do.

I want to see Charlotte take a swing. On Twitter at wsjsradio, if you want it on today's show, 336-777-1600 is the phone number if you have thoughts. In addition to wsjsradio on Twitter, where we're streaming video, we're also streaming on YouTube and on Twitch. However, and wherever you are listening or watching this show, we appreciate that.

Will Dalton is the executive producer of this show, who watched Mean Girls for the first time earlier today. Darn right I did. You'll review that a little bit later.

AD, what do you have? This might be our question of the day, if you will, to go old school. What do you have a better feel for today? What the Hornets are going to do at number two or Wake Forest LSU? What's going to happen when Rhett Louder faces Paul Skeans tonight? It is easily Wake Forest tonight. I have no clue what Charlotte's going to do. Do you have a good feel for Wake Forest? Considering their bullpen has more rest and more depth right now, LSU is probably a little more on the tired side. I'd say so.

Four straight days. And I'm going to bet on that. But what's funny is, it's funny you mentioned betting, LSU is an overwhelming favorite. Last I saw, they were minus 210, which in betting circles, for those who don't know, it's, you would have to bet $210 just to make 100 for LSU.

That's how big of a favorite they are tonight. JC Horn, you want to tell the people how, what people should do on that in North Carolina? They're betting on January 8th next year, we hope, because of that bill that was signed a couple weeks ago.

Send me that cash out, fam. That's exactly right. Yeah. Don't read too much into what Vegas says, because in this instance, you're talking about one of the biggest college fan bases facing one of the smallest, and they might be trying to protect the books a little bit by having Vegas as a, or LSU as a favorite. But getting into the baseball, after losing its first game of the entire NCAA tournament thus far, Wake Forest fans, they are freaking out today.

Oh, I've seen all the freaking out. I already see, Graham, you've cursed us, you jinxed us, all of this. It's the first game they've lost the entire NCAA tournament. And they've got this winner goes home game against LSU tonight. A game you can listen to, by the way, right here on WSJS, 640 pregame start, 7 o'clock first pitch. LSU, as mentioned, actually pretty lopsided favorite. But despite all these things, I think the Deacs should be fine. They actually have an upper hand against LSU, and these are the reasons why.

Yes, it's louder against Skeens, but then what? Both these pitchers are coming off a hundred pitch outings on Saturday, and they're on four days rest. Quick question, how many times have Paul Skeens and Rhett Louder pitched on four days rest? The answer, zero. How many times have they pitched on five days rest?

Your answer, zero. So fresh off a hundred pitch out is, in fact, I think last Saturday, 123 pitches might have been the most pitches that Paul Skeens threw all year long. How many innings do you think they're going to go tonight? I think it's a huge win for either staff if you get one of these guys going after five.

Like, if they get through five, you're feeling pretty good. The problem for LSU is we have no idea who they have after Paul Skeens. There were a couple guys who pitched two days ago that you might think could be options here.

But juxtapose that with Wake Forest, who has the best pitching staff in America. Aside from Sean Sullivan and Seth Keener, who went last night, everyone else is available to Wake if they want them. I don't think they'd throw Josh Hartle because you'd want him to start Game 1 against Florida. But if it's really all hands on deck, they have everybody available. Minasci, Masci, yes, Hartle. They have Cole Rowland.

They have everybody available to them right now. LSU can't say that. And this Deke's team always bounces back. When you look at the numbers, it is Rhett Louder day.

What's that mean? It's a day Wake Forest likely wins. Every single game that Rhett Louder has pitched in this year, Wake Forest has won.

Every single one. Wake Forest has played 65 games this year. I think they've lost 11. They've lost 11 games all year. Do you know how many times in the first 10 losses Wake Forest followed a loss with another loss?

Zero. They've not lost back-to-back games the entire season. They're going to close the year with back-to-back losses?

Fat chances there. And Wake, they're also so close to getting it done at the plate. Like they had 12 runners or so left on base last night. They just couldn't get the big hit.

They just couldn't get it. But they were getting guys on base. They're bound for a breakout. This is a team that averaged close to 10 runs a game all year long.

And in the first five NCAA tournament wins, averaged 15 runs per game. They're close. They always bounce back. They probably should have won last night. And they're playing a team that is playing its fourth day in a row in LSU. Is this Rumors by Lindsay Lohan? You know it.

Excellent work on your part. We'll get to at the movies with the WD Mean Girls edition. A movie that's almost 20 years old in just a bit. However, we need to talk about tonight's scheduling for a bit. So much is happening. Wake Baseball, they're playing in the game of the year in college baseball. We've got Rhett Louder throwing against Paul Skeans for a right to face Florida on Saturday.

You can listen to that on WSJS. It's going to be a busy sports night. Chris Paul, he's going to be at Wake Chapel. Gee, I wonder if today's headline is going to come up when Chris is back on campus and speaking to folks.

Hmm. It's been an interesting week for him as he promotes his book. Steve Forbes, going to be in attendance for that too. Should be a fun night out in Winston-Salem.

I think we have a tent out there. Our guy Gray, say hi to Gray if you're going to that. But don't tell Gray what the Wake Baseball score is tonight. That was a funny exchange earlier today.

Like the thing starts at seven o'clock. He's, I got it recorded. Don't tell me the Wake Baseball score. I'm like Gray, I won't tell you what the Wake Baseball score is. But you're at a Wake Forest athletic event.

You're on campus. Chris Paul's there. Everybody there cares about that score. You're going to find out what that score is.

It's not, I won't text you, but you're probably going to have that score spoiled for you. Chris Paul, rookie mistake by the way. I'm not going to blame him for having an event the night that Wake's having an important baseball game.

But I will blame him on having an event on draft night. Come on, Chris. You can't look at the calendar and see that this is an important night in the NBA. Come on, Chris. Rookie mistake. So it is a big night. Now, let's get to the most important thing that happened today and will happen today. And that's WD watching Mean Girls for the first time.

It's time for rat the boobies with the WD. Unless you're talking about Star Wars. Obi-Wan has taught you well. Movies aren't exactly Will's thing. I don't get it.

You want cups of swine? But that's about to change because Josh can't stand it anymore. This is At The Movies with Will Dalton. 2004's Mean Girls, WD told me this might be his favorite movie that we've made him watch yet over the last year. That's high praise, WD. Yes, it is. What did you like so much about this movie?

It's definitely up there with some of the best I've watched. Well, for starters, Lindsay Lohan reminded me just how much I like when a girl wears a choker necklace. I'm a big fan of that look. Yeah.

That was a specific time. Do people still wear chokers? Some do.

Some do. I'm a fan of it. Lindsay Lohan is the answer to this question. Do you have any name association with Lindsay Lohan?

Does that name mean anything to you? I mean, I know who she is. What did you know her from prior to watching Mean Girls? I mean, I just knew her just from seeing her in headlines or things like that. She was in the parent trap, right? As a kid.

That's right. It's impossible to really explain to a Gen Z-er how famous Lindsay Lohan was, but it was parent trap, which she was incredible in. Young kid playing two characters in the same movie, Freaky Friday with Jamie Lee Curtis. And then you had this movie. Everybody was convinced this is going to be an Oscar star. This is going to be one of the best actresses we have. And then sometime around the point where that song you just heard a few minutes ago, Rumors, came out, things completely fell apart. She's like the movie version of David Thompson back in the day. I was about to say except for drugs, but I'm sure drugs were involved with the Lindsay Lohan deal.

In fact, I know that with rehab stints and stuff. It was right around the point where paparazzi and these magazines started to crop up. TMZ became very popular and she was one of the first big casualties of that. I hope she makes a comeback at some point. Sarah Bradford was telling me that, oh yeah, Lindsay Lohan, she's now starting to do some stuff. I hope that's the case because she was like a number one draft pick to use the draft pun for stars coming out of this movie. Even over Tina Fey, Amanda Seyfried, Rachel McAdams who a year later would do The Notebook and a year after that would do Wedding Crashers.

She was the number one draft pick. The other thing I liked about this movie besides Lindsay Lohan, this might be the most quotable movie. Quotable is not the right word. Anchorman came out the same year and that's the most quotable movie of all time in my opinion. It was the fact that every two seconds... The Godfather there are so many lines in that people still use to this day 50 years later. It was like every two minutes I was finding a new quote, a new favorite quote. I have so many written down here, don't have sex because you'll get pregnant and die. She asked me how to spell orange.

Are we going to get to best quotes now or later? What didn't you like about this movie? The fact that she kept saying she's from an entire continent, Africa. Yeah. You're not from Africa.

Let's dig into that a little more. Why was Katie from Africa? I don't remember.

Maybe I missed it. Katie is a foreign exchange student, she comes in from Africa. Was she born there?

Why? Why did we choose Africa as the place that she was from? Was it to make the analogies later in the movie where they were like lions and all the stuff?

That was the most uncomfortable piece of the entire thing to be honest. Making analogies to African forests and stuff, things happening. We didn't need Katie to be from Africa. She could have been from Europe, she could have been from New Zealand or Australia or Sweden.

Why is she from Africa? It lends itself to more questions than there are answers. That's a great choice on your part. What is the best quote though? Should we just rattle them off? I can rattle off several here. The two that have the most staying power that I've heard the most in the last 20 years since this movie's come out, probably Amy Poehler's I'm not a regular mom, I'm a cool mom.

Or she doesn't even go here. I've heard those probably more than any other. It's like a heavy ESPN or something. Yeah.

Is butter a carb? My personal favorite quote just comes from my favorite movie. It speaks to the amount of detail the writing you see in this movie pertains itself to. Even though the ending of this movie was just bad. Bad. The speech at the end is terrible. Oh, you get it?

Her crown is made of plastic. Didn't really care for that all that much. I have some issues with that. But my personal favorite moment was the talent show. Not when they did Jingle Bell Rock. But when Damian performs Christina Aguilera's Beautiful, walks on stage, and includes the very first part of that song, which is not, Nowadays I get insecure.

No. It's Christina Aguilera whispering kind of loudly, Don't look at me. Damian on stage looking off the stage to say to Tina Fey playing the piano, Don't look at me. Is my favorite part of this movie singularly. He might be my favorite character of this movie. I needed more Damian. He's in the girl's bathroom. What are you doing in here? Danny DeVito, I love your work.

He's just incredible this entire movie. Rotten Tomatoes, what would you give it? Hmm. I'm going to give this one a 90. 66. Whoa. Can't explain it. Oh.

That's the audience score though. You can't just ask someone why they're white. You can't sit here. That's been at the movies with the WD. Instead of just talking, why don't you listen?

That's why you have people call in. Listen for a minute. Oh, welcome back to the happy circle. The drive with Josh Graham. If you're a basketball nerd, odds are you're going to like the next half hour that we have on the show. Brian Geisinger is going to join us. He's the biggest hoop nerd I know. He'll make the show a lot smarter when he drops by the day of the NBA draft. Excited for that. Especially with Charlotte having the number two pick and there being a lot of drama there.

But myself being a basketball nerd and having the glasses to prove it. Here are three bold ACC draft night predictions that I have for you. Predictions that involve ACC players. And let's start with Derek Lively. He's going to be taken not just in the lottery. He's going to be taken in the top 10.

Somebody's going to look at him and think, yep, I know what he is. He can help my basketball team right now. Every year WD, I usually pick a guy or two that I like a lot in a draft that's outside of the top five picks. And usually we have a pretty high batting average when talking about those players.

Panning out to be rotation guys or even better than that. This is the first time it's a guy that I covered. This is my favorite player in the draft that is not in the top five, Derek Lively. Because I've seen up close his ability to defend one through five. He has legit NBA length. He has a good three point stroke. Hasn't hit him consistently. But they believe in the NBA level he could, if he works at it, be a 35-36% three point shooter. Which would be more than enough.

That'd be a huge win. You already know what he is if he doesn't hit a three point shot. Great defensive acumen. Great athleticism to rim run.

Can affect games in so many different ways. Somebody's going to look at that seven, eight, nine in the draft. And take a swing there on Derek Lively. Second ACC draft night prediction. Terquavion Smith's not going to be drafted. It was alarming when he wasn't a NBA draft invitee. Maybe he was invited and decided not to go.

That was a bit alarming. It seems he's fallen out of favor. Which is a shame, but when you think about it. You're talking about a guy that there's probably a dime a dozen of in the NBA. When you are a rookie coming into the league. Yes, you can score, but it's kind of like, what else can you do for the team when you're not scoring? Are you a great passer?

And Terquavion isn't. He is an elite scorer. He has special traits. Can you affect the game defensively? He didn't really do that in the ACC level either. I think some teams are going to be scared off by how skinny he is too. I think that could hurt him. These are bold picks. I hope I'm wrong.

Not a lot of people agree with this. And certainly him being an Eastern North Carolina guy. I watched him play high school basketball.

I hope I'm dead wrong. And he has a great personality. Wouldn't surprise me if a team falls in love with him. But as of right now, seeing how things have cooled off on him. Not even being projected as a first round guy anymore. I think he doesn't get drafted tonight.

Last prediction. Dereek Whitehead goes in round one tonight. He's had multiple surgeries on his foot over the last year. Came off the bench for Duke. Kind of being written off a bit because of these injury concerns. And yes, that is the biggest factor that teams look at. We understand that. But who just won the title this year, W.D.?

It was... In the NBA. Oh, in the NBA.

It was Denver. And one of their key players is Michael Porter Jr. That's right. Who fell in the draft because of back concerns that he was having.

Backs are a lot more concerning than what you're dealing with with Dereek Whitehead's feet. When you get past the lottery, this is the dirty truth of the draft. When you get past the first 10 to 15 picks, it is very murky of what you're going to find. There are some gems, but there are so many misses. A lot more than you see in the NFL. So many misses that are out there.

It's such a crapshoot. So when Dereek Whitehead is projected to be a top 10 pick at this time a year ago. And prior to this injury is being seen as like an end of lottery guy. There's going to be a team at the end of the first round that looks at it and says, hold a minute, if this guy, if his foot gets healthy, he could be maybe not a star, but a regular rotation starter on a good team.

Yeah, sign us up for that. We're fine for taking that risk. I think a team is going to. So Derek Lively in the top 10 is a bold pick. Taquavion Smith not being drafted.

That's another. And Dereek Whitehead going in round one tonight. Those are my three bold predictions for NBA draft night. We're a couple of hours away from the draft starting. Have you seen some of the suits guys are wearing?

No, I haven't. Grady Dick probably going to win the evening. He's got this sparkling, dazzling, sparkling red jacket.

I put it up on my social media. He's clearly going for the Dorothy from Wizard of Oz. Absolutely. Got some got red underneath the black on the shoes. It's pretty rock solid here. Yeah, it does look pretty good.

The shades are rocking. Grady Dick. See, my favorite three guys in this draft outside of the top five are Derek Lively, Grady Dick from Kansas and Jamie Jacquez Jr. from UCLA, all of which are going to be taken in the first round, all of which you're going to hear about in the NBA playing a role with some teams. There you go. Get into Wake baseball. Both these things can be true. Wake Forest blew it last night and Wake Forest still has the upper hand on LSU tonight.

Both those things could be true. Now, we've gotten into Wake Forest, why they have the upper hand against LSU. But getting into last night, they should have finished off the job because they had this battered, tired staff on the ropes. They out hit LSU last night. They just couldn't get the big hit. They left 11 or 12 guys on base. And now they got to face Paul Skeens tonight. That's why it's such a great missed opportunity last night.

Tom Walter, he didn't intervene during LSU's beginning. We could all see it. Every time they panned the Seth Keener on the mound before pitches, he looked terrified out there. He looked scared. He looked like the moment was too big for him. Big first inning, but then things were starting to fall apart. And from the stretch, he looked really rattled. And at that point, it became clear, hey, you need to talk to this guy.

You need to figure it out. He had three options. Do you visit with him? Do you intentionally walk a bad matchup batter to get to some more favorable matchups? Or do you take him out to bring Son Sullivan in, who had already started to warm up?

Tom Walter did none of those things. It led to the home run that ended up being the end of scoring. 5-2 is the final, and 5-2 is the score after the three-run homer. And Tom Walter even said after the game that was a mistake on his part. I had a chance to walk Beloso there and 2-0 count. I wanted to do it.

I was in between. And I should have pulled the trigger on an intentional walk there and loaded the bases for Thompson. And I regret doing that through a 2-0 changeup that he just elevated. And Beloso didn't miss it. He's a good hitter. I should have walked him in that situation, and I think it would have been a totally different game had I done that and put a little more pressure on them.

But I've got to come out tomorrow and play good baseball. Good on him for recognizing the mistake. It was clearly one.

Everyone could see that home run coming from a mile away. LSU is still in deep trouble. Four days in a row that they're playing.

I would still take Wake Forest tonight. Dave and Clemons once in on the big news of the day. Chris Paul traded for the second time this week. He's now a Golden State Warrior, something I want to throw Brian Geisinger's way when he joins us.

336-777-1600 if you want in on the show. Dave, what do you have for us? What up, JG? I wanted to run an idea by you and see what you thought about this. Earlier you referenced the Lakers super team with Nash.

I wanted to go back to 2003. An air quote. An air quote, super team. I am not sold on this Chris Paul partnership. I don't really see it. It's an older group of guys that Chris is joining. And it reminds me a lot of that Sports Illustrated cover where Steve Nash was there with Dwight Howard and Kobe was on the team and it was like, this is going to be fun. And then they turned out to be a disastrous team because everybody was old.

Well, I wanted to throw this at you. LeBron James going to Golden State and it would just be like the 2003 Lakers team that had Gary Payton, Karl Malone, Shaq, Kobe, those four aging stars. Hey, that could be in Golden State.

What do you think about LeBron James going to Golden State? Kobe wasn't an aging star at that point. Kobe was right in his prime. But Gary Payton and Malone, the mailman, kind of teamed up. So the key question is, who's Kobe in this instance?

Who's the guy? Well, you've still got some good years with Curry and Thompson. All right.

If you say so, I appreciate the call. I see what you're getting at because that team... Wait, did that team even win a championship? The Lakers?

Yeah. I thought they lost to the Spurs. See, the mailman, Karl Malone, yeah, he never won a title. Yeah, they didn't win that title. So, okay, yeah, it's like the 2003, 2004 Lakers that lost to the Spurs. Or I guess that would have been 2003. Yeah, I think he's right on that. But they didn't win a title.

Not with the mailman. Before that, it was Shaq and Kobe and three-peating. But that was when they were in their prime already. I do think Curry's still in his prime. Again, Steph's still really good, just like LeBron's still really good. But you're fooling yourself if you think this is the best of Curry, the best of LeBron. That's what it means to be in your prime.

It's your apex. It's you at your best. They're not at their best right now. We've seen their best, and it was amazing.

But let's not try to lie to ourselves about it. Brian Geissinger, he'll tell us about certain decisions, what it would look like for the Charlotte Hornets, and I'll try to out-precise the guys next on The Drive. The Drive with Josh Graham, only on WSJS. If you had any doubt who was throwing tonight for Wake Forest, the Wake Baseball Twitter account just tweeted a five-second video, which is somebody maneuvering their cap upward with very long hair, whose name rhymes with Chet Powder. Not Schmidt-Schmatter? No.

Okay. Rhett Louder's going to throw for Wake Forest against LSU in about an hour and a half. So, in about an hour and a half, Chris Paul is going to be at Waite Chapel with his book, and we've been giving away tickets to this event, and I'm sure a topic that's going to come up is the one I want to run by Brian Geissinger now, who joins us to make this show a lot smarter, and that is the Triad's beloved son playing for his third team this week.

He started the week a son and then was a wizard. I've got to get myself one of those Chris Paul, you know, Washington Wizards jerseys, and now he's a Golden State Warrior, and the immediate reaction by everybody, because he's a star and it's Golden State, is, oh, well, they're a title contender. Just like Phoenix, we did the same thing a few days ago either. But then when you start diving into the details of it, I don't know why my brain immediately went here, and I'm sure it's, you know, disparaging to do this, but BG, I just thought of that Sports Illustrated cover from 10, 11 years ago, where it's Steve Nash standing next to Dwight Howard talking about how fun this was going to be with Kobe Bryant, because these guys, Steph's going to be 36 next year. Draymond, if he comes back, 34. Klay's had injury concerns, and so has CP3, who is 38 years old. How concerned are you about the fit, Chris Paul going to Golden State? Um, it's an interesting fit, and that's even before you get into, like, the ages of the players.

You know, Chris, for a long time, has been a sort of, like, slow, methodical pick-and-roll operator, and a lot of the teams that he's played on have taken that personality. Even in Houston, people think of the Rockets as, like, go-go under Harden and Daryl Morey, James Harden and Daryl Morey, but, you know, that still became a pretty, like, ISO pick-and-roll-heavy, you know, half-court-oriented team with James and Chris, and I will be curious to see what that looks like with Golden State's off-ball motion, the movement. So I think it's a bit of an interesting fit, and they gave up real things to get it, like a good draft pick and Jordan Poole, who had a tough season but was pivotal to them winning the title a season ago and is still 24 years old and has proven himself to be, like, at times, you know, a pretty good, you know, on-ball creator in the NBA and just desperately needs a change of Siri, but for, you know, what is basically will turn into, like, a one-year flyer, I think it's okay for the Warriors to put this many guys aged like this together as long as they're healthy come postseason time, and Steph and Draymond were still brilliant last year, and Chris was still 14 points, 8 assists, 38% on threes, and I think putting him next to Steph Curry's gravity in a role where neither one of those guys is maybe...

Both guys are maybe getting a slightly reduced role from years prior could be beneficial for them long-term. We'll see how they finish out the roster. They've still got... You know, Wiggins is in the prime of his career. They still have young guys like Moses Moody, Jonathan Kaminga, Patrick Baldwin Jr., so it's like they've got some younger prospects on the roster at the time, and we'll see how they round out the roster, but I still think Chris Paul, Clay Thompson, Andrew Wiggins, Steph Curry, Kavon Looney, and assuming Draymond Green comes back, I mean, this is the nucleus of a team that should be a top-four team in the Western Conference. We don't want this to absorb all the oxygen out of the room on draft day.

Ryan Geisinger's here. The Charlotte Hornets are picking second. So we don't spend so much time on one particular possibility. Let's go pretty quickly on all three of these potential options, BG, starting with the most likely, given Woge's reports. If the Charlotte Hornets were to draft Brandon Miller, your reaction will be what? I would say, I mean, Brandon Miller's a good prospect, but I think he would be mildly disappointed, to say the least. I like Miller a lot, movement shooter, possibly a gravity-bending movement shooter that can pass, good size, gives you something on defense, but I think it's a little bit, I don't think you're maximizing that pick. I wouldn't say it's a disaster or anything like that, but I don't think that's the route they should go. If the Charlotte Hornets drafted Scoot Henderson, your immediate thought would be? Great pick, right decision, and can't wait to see what it looks like in purple and teal next to LaMelo. Let's go.

I'm right there with you. If the Charlotte Hornets traded the pick, or Zion or Brandon Ingram, your thought would be? I just don't think they should be. Ultimately, I don't think they should do it, either of one of those trades. Brandon Ingram is a great player. He's proven himself in the 2022 playoffs, but I don't think they have the stuff in place to go make a deal for Ingram and think that's going to be the thing that gets them ultimately to where they want to go. I would kind of understand it on Zion, because when Randy's right, he's the top 5-10 player in the league, and so it's a once in 100 years opportunity to get a guy like that, so I would almost understand it, but for them, I think it's simple. You don't have to galaxy brain this thing.

Just push the button and draft the scoop. Have you soldiered Zion's stock? Because I have not. Absolutely not. No, I'm going to hold on to that until he was a top 5 player in the league as recently as January. That was 5 months ago. 27 a game through 29 games.

Not yet. I mean, we need to see it, but he's still young. He's just starting his second contract.

If he can just get healthy, stay healthy, maybe those are big ifs, but he is an unbelievable talent, so he's just got to be healthy, that's all. Before we play a game we like to call Outprecise the Geist, I always love getting you to tell me one guy outside of the top 5 that you're absolutely in love with. For me, it's never a guy I cover, it tends to be, but this year it's different. Derek Lively has been that guy for me that I'm really excited to see where he ends up. Who's the guy for you this year?

Yeah, there are a lot to choose from. There's a lot of interesting tobacco road, I think, guys that you could also pick from. I'll be fascinated to see what happens with Dereek Whitehead, Derek Lively's teammate. This is a guy that was projected as a top 5 pick before the season, before the injuries. You and I covered him. We saw Josh this past season. We saw him up close at Cameron.

He never looked quite right. He shot the ball well from deep. But he's been mocked anywhere from late lottery to pick 30 this week by ESPN. So, as a guy that could, who knows, the Hornets have the 27th pick via Denver, so maybe he's a guy that could be in play. I don't think he should fall that far. But Whitehead is a guy that I am fascinated to see, ultimately, where he and someone like also Bryce Sensabaugh from Ohio State, who I think has lottery talent, but was being mocked at 32 this week also by ESPN, as a 19-year-old scoring machine. So, I'll be curious to see, ultimately, where those guys end and if they do, in fact, slip to like way late in the first round. I think that would be a mistake and a miscalculation by some teams on those two guys. Now let's play Out Precise the Guys. Brian Geisinger is a basketball genius.

Josh Graham is not. I'm smart, you're dumb. I'm big, you're little. I'm right, you're wrong. Listen as Brian launches half-court shots and Josh, well, double dribbles all over himself.

And there's nothing you can do about it. Get off the bench and try to out-precise the guys. Okay, WD has three questions to throw at BG and myself and I have no idea what direction you're headed in. So, because CP3 is news today, let's take a look back at his time in Phoenix. So his first year there of the three was his highest in points per game. Finals year.

Correct. How many less points per game did he have this year than that first year? Ooh, I will say three. So how many this year he had less than his first year? He had less this year. How many less points per game this year versus his first year?

Okay, well, I know he finished under 14 points a game for the first time in his career. So I'm going to say it's about a three-point difference. Did you both say three?

No, I'll go more specific number. I'll go 2.8. It's 2.5.

Hey, look at you coming in hot. Right, I knew it was like 13.9. 13.9 compared to 16. Yeah, it's just under 14. Yeah.

What's next? The other guy that got moved in the last 48 hours, Kristaps Porzingis heading to Boston. He really didn't have a bad season this year in Washington, but like Bradley Beal, he was stuck in Washington.

Yeah. So he had 23.3 points per game. What was his field goal percentage this year? Yeah, KP was actually really good this season for Washington. I think he could be pretty good at Boston.

In Boston, on both ends, he stays healthy. I'll say 50% for KP. I probably went way too low. I went 42%. It is 49.8. Time ball game.

Yeah, a couple times. Yeah, man, this guy's off by a half point if he's off at all. It's incredible. I may have been looking at Porzingis' stats a decent amount in the last 24 hours. Understandable. That'll help, yeah.

I like that though. We'll see. Who do you think is going to be the point card for Boston next year?

We don't know yet? I mean, maybe they'll try a sign and trade to get Fred Van Vliet. I thought Chris Paul might be on their radar.

That's what I thought. I mean, they still have Peyton Pritchard there. They could try to move up in the draft. But with Paul off the board now, my guess would be that they'll try to go after, do a sign and trade with Toronto to get Van Vliet.

But maybe they have something else in mind. Last one here. This is for the win. So we've talked nonstop about Scoot, Brandon Miller. What about the guy that's going number one, Victor Webinama? Yeah, what about him? So in some of his highlights overseas with the Metropolitans, we've seen him pop some threes. What was his three-point percentage this season with the Mets? You should also mention the Celtics still have Derek White.

Oh, yeah. White, Tatum, Brown. That's still a pretty darn good perimeter trio.

The White guy. Yeah, Derek White's really good. I will say 28% for Wembe from threes. I have 38%, which is way too high. It's 27.5. That's amazing.

There's BG coming from behind to win out Precise, the guys. Okay, I got to ask you this, though. So Chris Paul's talking about his book, 61, which is about his grandfather and everything that happened, of course, 20 years ago and such and the lessons he learned from him. You grew up in this area at about that time. Do you remember vividly those headlines and then the national story and then him going on campus at Wake Forest? What do you remember about that period of time?

A lot. That was a pretty formative moment for me as a basketball fan and a fan of Chris. I had known him the year prior. His junior year, he played at the Frank Spencer. I guess that was his first year on varsity and he was just unstoppable.

And then the following year was when his grandfather died. That is one of those games. The game was West Forsyth versus Parkland High School. And that is one of those moments I was not at the game. But if you lived in Winston at the time, if you cared about basketball, you definitely remember when it happened.

It was a pretty amazing, amazing moment. And then everything after that, his star was already taking off. But certainly that gained a lot of national headlines.

It still does 20 years later. And it was basically a year after that. I remember being, as a kid, being taken to Midnight Madness in 2003 on Wake Forest's campus, not at the Miller Center, at old Reynolds Gym. And, yeah, the first game against John Calipari in Memphis. I mean, Chris had this unbelievable pass. He didn't score many points in that game. He was just doing the Chris Paul in Viper mode, just data collection, making great passes.

You could just see it right from the jump. But, look, I played for the same AAU organization that Chris Paul did, Kappa Magic. I played with family members of Chris growing up. So there's several years of age difference between the two of us.

But this is someone who is, you know, near and dear to my heart as like a basketball fan. And, you know, it's good to hear that he's back. The mayor of Winston-Salem is Dick Vitale, used to say back in Winston. If you're interested in getting a copy of the book, let us know. We'll figure out a way to make that happen. But it's, yeah, I can't wait to read about, you know, Winston at the time and all the stuff that was formative for him. BG, appreciate you spending time, my friend. We'll talk to you soon. Yeah, be good, guys.