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NBA Draft Preview (Hour 1)

Zach Gelb Show / Zach Gelb
The Truth Network Radio
June 22, 2023 11:13 pm

NBA Draft Preview (Hour 1)

Zach Gelb Show / Zach Gelb

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June 22, 2023 11:13 pm

Warriors trade Jordan Poole to Washington for Chris Paul l Terrence Oglesby from CBS Sports & Field of 68 joins Zach l NBA Draft preview 

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You won't want to take your Bird Dogs off, we promise you. Live from the police show yet not overly ostentatious studios of CBS Sports Radio here in beautiful New York City sitting on top of the 10th floor 345 Hudson Street. Welcome on in to a Thursday edition of the Zach Gelb show across all of our great local CBS Sports Radio affiliates, Sirius XM, Channel 158, and that free Odyssey app. 855-212-4CBS, I'm going to jump on in.

855-212-4227, you can always get at me on Instagram where I'm straight flexing or via the good old cesspool of Twitter at Zach Gelb, Z-A-C-H-G-E-L-B. Chris Hess producing our travaganza this evening. Coming up 20 minutes from now, Terrence Oglesby will stop by and then at 8 20 p.m. Eastern, 5 20 p.m. Pacific, Viking starting running back Alexander Madison will join us as well. The NBA draft has arrived, Victor Wenbunyama mania is here, he'll be the number one overall pick tonight and then all of our attention will turn to who's going to be the second overall pick and the third overall pick. Is Charlotte going to go with Scoot Henderson or are they going to take Brandon Miller conflicting reports out there and what will the Portland Trail Blazers do with the third overall pick in the draft and how will that inspire a reaction from Damian Lillard of are you going to stay or are you going to go and how that will play on out the rest of the offseason. But I got to start off today with this big trade in the NBA where the Golden State Warriors have acquired Chris Paul and the Washington Wizards have acquired Jordan Poole, a 20-30 first round pick and a 20-27 second round pick. Second round pick. You may like this deal, you may hate this deal.

I'll give you my reaction right out of the gate. I don't like the way that the Warriors have navigated this offseason. The Golden State Warriors had an opportunity as long as Draymond Green opted out of his contract, which he did, to get out of doing business with Draymond Green. The Golden State Warriors should have restored the confidence and restored a belief in Jordan Poole because for the Golden State Warriors to win another championship, I think for the next three years they needed Jordan Poole more than they did Draymond Green. Draymond Green was a phenomenal player for the Golden State Warriors, a dynastic player, someone that's always going to be linked with the Warriors dynasty. We'll have his number retired, we'll go into the Warriors Hall of Fame, but if you're a good general manager, you don't pay someone and you don't bring someone back, which the Warriors will eventually do with Draymond, for what they did in the past, you do so for what they'll do in the future. And right now in the year of 2023, the best and easiest road for the Golden State Warriors to go win another championship with Steph Curry, who's 35, let's say has three more prime years left, is to go make Jordan Poole that third splash brother again. And I know a lot of people will say, but Zach, look what he did last year in the postseason.

It was horrific. I'm just gonna ask you this, if someone punched you in the face, would you have your best year of work if nothing basically happened to the person that punched you in the face at your own company? And Draymond Green is someone for the Warriors that for so many years is what they needed and was their leader, but they've been afraid to hold Draymond Green accountable. And it derailed the Golden State Warriors season this year. So I don't wanna sit here and break down all the Warriors that have Chris Paul. For me, it was the decision that the Warriors had to make. Do you choose Jordan Poole or do you choose Draymond Green? And if I was Mike Dunleavy Jr., I would have chosen to move forward with Jordan Poole and to get rid of Draymond Green.

But the Warriors didn't do that. So now they're gonna try to go win another championship with Steph, with Clay, who Clay has been up and down. They'll bring Draymond Green back and now you bring in a very old Chris Paul. And Chris Paul will get a ton of assists. Chris Paul will be fine, right, as the quote unquote point god, as they refer to him.

And I roll my eyes at that. He's a tremendous basketball player, but that's just ridiculous to say. But does this really make me now go all in on Golden State and say, okay, they're gonna definitely win another championship?

I don't think so. Because the upside of Chris Paul at this stage of his career where he gets injured a lot and he's not great in the postseason, I know you have other winners on this team with Steph and with Clay and with Draymond. But the upside at this stage of Chris Paul's career for me don't really make sense in terms of now you're gonna make him another member of this team. And I just wish that the Golden State Warriors had the cajones to say goodbye to Draymond Green, but they didn't.

And I'll go back to Bob Myers. Bob Myers left the Golden State Warriors because I think if Bob Myers came in this studio and we shot him up a true serum, Bob Myers would admit that he didn't have the heart and he didn't have it in him to break up this dynastic core. Because Bob had to know when he put his head on the pillow at the end of the night, the best road to go win another championship is Steph and then finding the other pieces. Because right now the Warriors, you look at the state of the NBA, the Denver Nuggets is what everyone's chasing right now, especially in the Western Conference. The Warriors won a championship two years ago without even playing their best brand of basketball.

So it's easy to say you can have a few things go your way. They cannot play a great level of basketball and still find a way to win an NBA championship because they did so two years ago. But now guys are getting older and you need someone in a youth movement to really help your team out. And two years ago that guy was Jordan Poole.

And it wasn't just from afar, locally in the Bay Area, he was getting called a third splash brother. And a year later, I'm not supposed to believe that Jordan Poole stinks. I don't think Jordan Poole was as great as the way that he played two years ago.

But he's not as bad as what he did last year. And I really do believe it's the mental side of this. Because if I was Jordan Poole, I would not be able to be in my best state of mind if I showed up to work each and every day and had to look at the guy that punched me in the mouth for no reason.

And basically nothing happened to him. And that's the part to me why it's an enigma to me, why Golden State keeps on going back to the well of Draymond Green and trusting Draymond Green. And I've said this a million times, if Draymond's on your team, yeah, he'll do things that you don't love like the way that he handled Kevin Durant or what he did with Jordan Poole and the antics. They get ridiculous like what you saw this past year in the playoffs.

But for a while, the juice was worth the squeeze. Now, I look at where Draymond Green is at. Do you need him? Do the Golden State Warriors need him?

I don't think so. And what they needed to do this year was either get rid of Draymond or get rid of Jordan Poole. And even with my now Mike Dunleavy Jr. in and calling the shots, he still has a lot of issues with Jordan and calling the shots. He still believes that they needed Draymond Green over Jordan Poole. And just that decision, regardless if you go, oh, they got Chris Paul, I like Chris Paul. But the principle of that decision is something that I just vehemently agree with. And it's weird because I don't wanna say I'm stunned by it.

I don't wanna say I'm shocked by it because people show you their true colors. And throughout all the ups and down, the Golden State Warriors have always defended Draymond Green. And I did a sports minute on this week when he opted out. The Golden State Warriors should thank Draymond Green for opting out. And they shouldn't have resigned him. But now it's too late. And I know they told you how much they wanted to bring him back.

But there's one thing when you say that there's nothing to actually do it. They went through today to knock down the first domino to assure that Draymond Green was gonna be back. Because they know that it's not healthy. They know it's not right to have Draymond Green and Jordan Poole on the same team. And the Warriors elected today to say that Draymond Green is more important to winning another championship than having Jordan Poole. If this was a conversation with Draymond Green from a few years ago, sure. But now, to pay the money that you're gonna end up paying Draymond Green?

Doesn't make sense to me. And I do believe, especially I know Klay with all three pointers he hit last year and the great historical rate that he did so. There are moments though where Klay will have a great month and then Klay will have a bad month. It speaks how great of a three-point shooter he is that he's still able to put up the numbers that he did. But getting Jordan Poole to just be able to pop off again, I thought was the best road to the Golden State Warriors helping Steph to win another championship.

That's just the way that I believe. Because I don't think what Draymond Green offers, even though a lot of it was important for them winning all the championships that they did, four of them. Moving forward, I think that has run its course and it's stale now. And in a league that's defined by shooters now for the most part, I would have put my eggs in the basket of Steph, Klay, and Jordan Poole instead of instead of Steph, Klay, trade Jordan Poole, get Chris Paul, and now bring back Draymond Green. So I'm going to be fascinated by how this plays on out throughout the season and what this looks like. And the Warriors will be a contender because they'll always be a contender as long as Steph is there and Steph is playing to the level that he's capable of. But you look around this Western Conference, Denver's a force to be reckoned with. They just won the championship. Memphis, last night they get Marcus Smart.

I think that's a good veteran voice for them, but I can't trust Ja Morant. Sacramento, I hope they continue to build, build, build, and ascend and grow exponentially. The Suns, they have three, they have two great players and one really good player with Devin Booker, Kevin Durant, and then Bradley Beal. They're going to play defense.

How are they going to shape out the rest of that roster? The Clippers are never healthy. The Warriors will always be in it with Steph. LeBron will always be a tough out.

Minnesota, I can't trust. I don't like the pairing of Rudy Gobert and Karl-Anthony Towns. The Pelicans, I think Zion will be there. We don't know how many games he's going to play. The Mavericks, who's going to be the running mate next to Luka Doncic? The Thunder, up and coming.

I like them a lot. Portland, will Dame even be on the team come the start of the season? So you look at this Western Conference, there's not a lot of teams that you gather around and rally around and go, oh yeah, they're great. Oh yeah, they're definitely going to win a championship. So that's why the Warriors can still go out there and they could still go through the Western Conference and get to the NBA Finals and win a championship. I'm not saying that this team's window is over. I said it before, when everyone was ready to pronounce the dynasty being dead after this year, after this year, I'm like, nope, I'm not doing that. But if your goal is to hoist another Larry O'Brien trophy, I thought the path to the quickest road in doing that and the best decision was to restore Jordan Poole with the Warriors. And the way to do that was to finally take a stance that Draymond Green, thank you for what you've done, but the juice just simply isn't worth the squeeze anymore. And the Warriors are electing to look at what happened in the past and say, nope, that's the right way to win. And maybe they'll end up being right.

Maybe they will. But if I'm running that team, I'll say for the 9,000th time, I would have elected to change what you were doing. And that is Draymond, you were an Energizer Bunny for so many years. But now it's time for you to go somewhere else because you derailed our season and drastically changed the way that people think about Jordan Poole. And I hope Jordan Poole has a lot of success. He's easy to root for. And he'll go with the Wizards, and especially with that team just being a disaster, he'll go score a ton of points.

So individually, it may be great for him. But for the Warriors, I thought there was a way where he could thrive still in Golden State in the role that was carved out for him. But the way for that to happen was to not have Draymond Green there. And with the news today, you know that they picked Draymond Green over Jordan Poole. It is the Zach Gelb show on CBS Sports Radio. NBA draft night is here. Draft's going to get underway at 8 p.m. Eastern, 5 Pacific at the Barclays Center over in Brooklyn. Terrence Oglesby does a great job, field to 68.

He will join us when the Zach Gelb show continues in five minutes. Do you hear that? That is the sound of BMW performance without a single piston or cylinder, a generation of all electric vehicles designed and built like no other. The BMW iX, i7 and i4 revolutionize every drive into a thrilling opportunity to feel the pure rush of BMW 100% electric.

But isn't that what you'd expect from the ultimate electric driving machine? Take advantage of exceptional lease and finance offers today. Now back to the Zach Gelb show. It is NBA draft night, so let's head out to the guest line right now. Welcome in from the field of 68, Terrence Oglesby, who's kind enough to join us right now. Terrence, appreciate the time as always. How are you? I'm doing well. Excited for, I guess this is the highlight of a lot of college kids lives. It's fun to be able to cover it and I'm happy to be here with you, so thanks for having me.

Well, thanks so much for coming on. So, Victor Wambunyama is obviously the talk of this draft. It's Victor Wambunyama and then everybody else. We all know he's going to the San Antonio Spurs. With how much we've heard about him and the levels that people go to to kind of describe how he's going to have to go on to have a successful career. He has to be like a top five greatest player of all time. In year one, what are your expectations for him going to a great organization in the Spurs? There's going to be some growing pains and just because he hasn't seen the physicality that he's going to see at the NBA level and that's not to take anything away from the French league because quite frankly, that's a really good league and with a lot of really good pros.

Monaco, the team that his team metropolitans played in the French league finals, they had seven former NBA players on that roster. So, he's gone up against some high level guys. Now, keep in mind, he only played one game a week while he was there. That's customary. That's what happens whenever you're playing in some of these overseas leagues that people don't talk about.

They don't quite understand. It's a one game a week type of situation. Now, when you go to the NBA, that four and five game in a week type of deal or five games and nine nights or what have you, that's going to be difficult, especially with his slender frame.

That could be an issue, especially early before he kind of gets accustomed to that type of schedule. All of that being said, you want to talk about stats and things of that nature. I don't see any reason why he's not averaging 15 to 18 points a game in year one, 10, 11 rebounds because he's going to have ample opportunity to average those numbers.

But I think where you're really going to see the craziest stats is going to be in the shot blocking section. I think the first two years of him being in a league, people are going to have to adjust to him just because of his eight-foot wingspan. I'm not sure what his standing reach is. I'm just considering it to be nine-foot or nine-foot-ten or something along those lines.

He's a freak of nature and he's super talented and he can score from all over the court. Like I said though, the only thing that scares me is the injury bug at seven-foot-four, seven-foot-five with those big long feet. That could be an issue. And you talked about him being so slender. I know that he's resisted putting on more weight and he kind of said yesterday maybe people should skinny up instead of people telling me to bulk up.

Is that a mistake? Like he needs to go out on some weight, right? It's 10 pounds. I mean he's what? 7'5", 215 pounds. The only person that's really is in today's NBA. I'm not sure he needs to be 300 pounds. Shaquille O'Neal back in the early 2000s, he needed to be 300 pounds because the game was slower.

It was more post-driven. Wemenyama doesn't operate like that. He's not somebody that's going to score with his back to the basket six feet away. He's going to post up at the elbows, the mid post. He can score from there, use his length to get over the top to where he's facing up. So as far as him putting on weight, like do you want that to happen? Sure, but I'm almost going the other direction.

Like you want this guy long and lean and flexible just for a longevity concern to be able to not too much put too much stress on those joints that are so large. I also think another fascinating part of this conversation, Terrence Oglesby, is when the way we talk about the NBA now, it's the offseason first, then it's the playoff second, and then the regular season a lot of times feels irrelevant. This is a player that since a lot of us haven't seen him play and the hype has just gone to a ridiculous level, he's going to make you want to watch NBA regular season games this year and that's phenomenal for the sport. Yeah, go ahead and welcome the San Antonio Spurs back to national television games. It's just going to happen that way and it's good. It brings more to the regular season and let's be honest, I mean, NBA has a great product.

It's fast, it's fun to watch, almost carefree to a point at least through the first three quarters and it's a great product. Now throw something in to a team where they're going to have to develop some guys around him as well. He's going to need people around him at least to space the floor out. That all being said, you get to see his talent on full display and let's be honest too, like the number two pick going to the Hornets, Scoot Henderson, his odds have jumped tremendously. That's another fun to watch player that's going to a smaller market that should be able to get some more television time and add to that drama that is the regular season at least to get a glimpse of what the future holds for the NBA and an NBA where, quite frankly, the talent is beginning to turn to the next generation of superstars. Steph Curry's getting older and Lebron's might be 50 years old at this point. Chris Paul's going to the AARP, Golden State Warriors.

It's one of these things where the next crop of superstars is on their way and I think it's headlined by Win Binyama and a couple of others. What the Warriors did today, Terrence Oglesby, is this a mistake? Because I've been advocating they should have told Draymond Green, thank you for what you've done.

We're going to go in a different direction. You know, he opted out of the contract. I would have thought the easiest way to go win another championship is to restore Jordan Paul, who I think was clearly affected about the fight that occurred with him and Draymond Green.

You know what? There's a couple of things to be said there. I understand the concept of trying to get the old guys together for one last run and then you basically can recycle your lineup and then you go into full rebuild mode. The only thing is, I don't know that Jordan Paul really fit in all that well with some of the guys they had there currently. And let's be honest, Steph Curry, Klay Thompson, Draymond Green, they deserve the right to go after one more as much as they've given that franchise, as much as they've given that community. Those guys deserve one more good run. Jordan Paul was awful in the playoffs, but now he gets a fresh start with the team that doesn't have nearly as much on the line and I'm more concerned right now about the over-under with Jordan Paul's shot attempts in Washington because he's the only guy there.

I'm setting it at 28 and a half to start out. I'll tell you this, he's definitely going to be scoring a ton of points this year. There's no doubt about that. Terrence Ogles be here with us. You talked about how the odds have been going up for Scoot Henderson to be the second overall pick. Who do you think though is the better player, Brandon Miller or Scoot Henderson?

I think that the guy with the most upside and potential first team all NBA guy is Scoot Henderson. He just poses that type of body that's going to be ready to go sooner rather than later. 6'2, what is he?

6'2, 205, 210 pounds. This is a big dude and he also has the experience of being a pro over the last two seasons, playing it with the G League Ignite. Because he's so explosive, I've said this before and I'll say it again, he reminds me of Derrick Rose. I mean the ability to get into the paint at will. He functions really well in the pick and roll to get himself ahead of steam and then he's a big-time finisher around the rim. Now contrary to popular belief, I think 6'2 is plenty big enough because his arms are so long.

He's still going to be able to finish. Kim and Derrick Rose have a lot of the same things in that they're above the rim finishers. They were both excellent in the mid-range with a developing three-point shot.

Before Derrick Rose got hurt, people forget that was an MVP player. Yeah, I obviously believe Scoot Henderson could be one of those guys just because of his physical makeup, one. And two, his mentality as an alpha dog type leader that he's going to bring to whatever franchise is lucky enough to grab a hold. Talking to Terrence Oglesby, what else jumps out to you? We've talked about the big three, Wembanyama, Henderson, and Miller. Who else jumps off the page to you in this draft? Amin Thompson is a unique build. 6'6, a seven-foot wingspan reminds me a little bit of what Scottie Pippen was right when he entered the league. Long, athletic, can defend anybody. There's a couple of clips of him in the OTE Overtime Elite League where he is getting knocked down trying to take a charge, hops back up, blocks a shot, makes an outlet pass, and then finishes on the other end. I mean, you want to talk about a big-time athlete?

He is that. His brother's also good, a little bit more of an offensive-minded, score-first guy. I think Amin Thompson could be a really, really good player for a really long time. The first 15 picks, slash 16 picks of this draft, I think are going to be really good.

After that, you can find quality role pieces after those first 15 or 16 players. I feel like Jaime Jaquez is going to be a steal. He's 22 years old. He knows how to play. He was terrific in his workouts from everything that I've heard. You look on down the line, Kobe Jones, veteran guy, reminds me a little bit of, what's Malcolm's last name?

The place for the Celtics. Brogdon. Yeah, Malcolm Brogdon, excuse me.

I'm saying a lot of names, so I get a little bit caught up, but it reminds me a little bit of him. There's a lot of value to be had after 15 as well as far as role players are concerned. I really like this draft, and quite frankly, I like this draft a lot more than I did last year. Yeah, I like that you brought up Jaime Jaquez because I feel like if you're a player that stays a few years in college and has all those winning experiences, you always, for some reason, don't go early. Look at what Jalen Brunson has gone on to do. That dude was just dominating college. We know he won the National Player of the Year and those championships at Villanova, but it's almost as if you stay long in college, then it feels like you fall in the draft. Well, you get penalized because they feel like your second contract's coming at 26 as opposed to 23, and I understand the logic there, but at the same time, good players are going to be good players no matter how long they were in college. You know, Keontae George was there for a year.

He's dropped. It's just a matter of, it depends from time to time. There's a lot of good senior older players in this draft that you're going to be able to give value.

Do they seem more of a finished product? Sure, but I think we need to take that with a grain of salt because, let's keep in mind, they might be old in this draft, but they're still 22 and 23 years old. I mean, these are still young people that could contribute to a franchise sooner rather than later.

That's the reason I think there's a lot of value towards the end of the first. What do you think the best course of action is for West Virginia? Would you try to go find your full-time head coach right now, or do you just go the interim route and then a year from now, you go on out and find that full-time guy?

You know, it's an interesting thing. You know, what Bob Huggins went through and what he's done is obviously inexcusable. Therefore, he no longer has a job. And I hate that he made those decisions because I think it's going to dampen the impact of his retirement significantly because he did a lot of good.

But he also, over the last three months, really struggled making decisions. So, that all being said, if I were West Virginia, I don't understand why you don't go Ron Everhart just for a season and then figure out who you want next year. Because there's a lot to be said for waiting a year to see who that next coach is going to be. There's a lot of potential in the mid-major ranks.

Can they do it consistently? Pat Kelsey, College of Charleston, Bob Ritchie at Furman, there's a lot of guys that could fit that mold for West Virginia. Why rush to make a decision? We're coming into July and your roster is set. Have a guy they're familiar with come in, run it for a year. Everhart's been a head coach at two previous spots, so he'll be able to hold everything together.

Just make sure those checks clear as far as NIL is concerned. You're still going to have a really good team. I love the suggestion of Pat Kelsey. He was right at the top of my list. Then, I've also seen, right, just naturally everyone's going to throw out Dusty May maybe a year from now with what he just did. Do you think Dusty May a year from now with West Virginia could be a fit in a match?

From everything I've heard, Dusty May has not been contacted, nor has he expressed a whole lot of interest in West Virginia. The reason being is he has everybody back from a team that just made the Final Four and it wasn't a fluke Final Four. That's a really good team and they showed that all season long. Here's the thing, I agree with you. I feel like if he were to go through one more year, make another Elite Eight slash Final Four, he's very much going to be in the wheelhouse for a place like West Virginia. They say in basketball, time and score is so important.

Time and place as far as jobs is equally as big. That's the thing. This is a really rough period of time. Roster's are nearly set. Who's going to jump ship right now after putting together such a good team? The other thing, see, this is such a different circumstance because of what Bob Huggins did. When Jay Wright walked away, Roy Williams, Mike Cieszewski, Jim Boeheim, it was one of their own that ended up getting the job. I wonder at West Virginia, if they still go with the guy that is either an alum of West Virginia or has ties to Bob Huggins to try to just recreate what he did and continue to move that forward. Well, Andy Kennedy is a guy that's generated flaws and that would make some sense, especially with the success that he's had at UAB here recently. He just came out and said that he's staying at UAB.

That's true until it's not. Who knows? It would make sense. Same mentality, same kind of bravado as far as on the recruiting trail. People like Andy and he coaches a certain way. It would make a lot of sense for him to go there. Is he a permanent replacement? Yeah, I think he could be, especially at a place like West Virginia where you're able to get a certain type of player.

It's hard to say exactly where they're going to go with all this, but gosh, this is a problem I wouldn't wish on any AD in the country. Terrence Oglesby from the field of 68. Appreciate the time as always. Thank you, my friend. Absolutely.

Thank you so much for having me. Do you hear that? That is the sound of BMW performance without a single piston or cylinder. A generation of all-electric vehicles designed and built like no other. The BMW iX i7 and i4 revolutionize every drive into a thrilling opportunity to feel the pure rush of BMW 100% electric.

But isn't that what you'd expect from the ultimate electric driving machine? Take advantage of exceptional lease and finance offers today. Now back to the Zach Gelb show. Alrighty, this is Zach Gelb show on CBS Sports Radio. So I've been on the air a bunch for NFL draft shows here at CBS Sports Radio and the NFL draft in terms of the rounds and then knowing the players that are actually getting drafted, like you could be in the third or fourth round and if you're a college football fan, and I'm just talking about like a casual college football fan, you know a decent amount of the players, but with the G League and also with how many foreign players there are, there's a lot of players and also when we talk about Terrence Oglesby where if you go to school for three, four years you almost get penalized and you fall back because you're older, there's a lot of players that go that most of us have never seen play. Like how many people have seen Victor Wambunyama actually play? I'm not talking about like YouTube, like sit down, you'll watch a game of him actually playing. Scoot Henderson, how many people have actually seen him play? Eamon Thompson, how many people have seen him play? You know Brandon Miller, we've seen a ton of with him playing Alabama. Now just because you go to college doesn't necessarily mean that you're going to be the better pro, doesn't mean that, but I feel like a lot of years after the first the first five picks of the NBA draft it's like, who? What are you doing? So what I like what's happening this year is a lot of the storylines are about the current players.

Today you get a big deal done. Chris Paul going to the Golden State Warriors, you have Jordan Poole going to the Washington Wizards. Last night Chris stops for Zingas getting traded to the Boston Celtics, Marcus Smart going to the Memphis Grizzlies, and then Jones getting dealt to the Wizards. So you'll look at that, those are big stories, and heading into the draft tonight in terms of who's getting picked, you know Victor Wambunyama's going number one, and then the real intrigue in terms of who's gonna go is two-three. Scoot Henderson or Brandon Miller, and five reports will tell you Brandon Miller will go second to the to the Charlotte Hornets, then the other five will tell you'll be Scoot Henderson, if you were looking at 10 reports.

But after that, now from what you hear, and I haven't seen him play, but a lot of people like Eamonn Thompson, but after that it's like, okay, do you really captivate an audience? Now the draft is always fun because you get to hear the life stories of everyone and it's a neat moment, but after that I don't think there's a lot of big storylines that do resonate from this draft outside of the current day player, and the two players that you got to watch tonight are going to be Zion Williamson and Damian Lillard. Now you're not going to see them, but do the Pelicans trade Zion Williamson, and there's been reports, right, they're trying to move up to two, they're trying to move up to three, I don't think that's going to happen. And the other thing is, what does Portland do? Because Damian Lillard, in an off-season class that doesn't have a lot of free agents, that you're like, oh, and I'm amazing.

And some years it's loaded. But Damian Lillard, if he says the words, I want to be traded, that becomes the biggest story of the NBA off-season. And we've heard, right, Brian Windhorst going out there and telling you that Dame doesn't want to be a part of a youth movement, he wants veteran players in there. I think it's almost a lock now, as close of a lock that you could get without it being a lock, that the Portland Trailblazers make it a pick at three. I think they're making a pick at three. Like, if we find out tonight that Zion Williamson gets traded to Portland, I'd be stunned. I would really be stunned, because I don't think Zion's getting traded, or Brandon Ingram getting traded to Portland.

Like, I don't think that's going to happen. And Bradley Beal's already been dealt. So I get people that tweet me that listen to us from Portland. Man, I would love to hear someone in the national media say, okay, Portland, keep Dame and go find an alternative to go get him someone that they go in to change their life.

Someone that they go win a championship with. But we've done that. I've sat here for three, four years and have tried to get Dame to stay in Portland and figure out who you're going to get. There's been no movement.

It hasn't happened. So I do think tonight, if you're a Trailblazers fan, it may stink because if Dame says he wants to be traded or down the road says he wants to be traded because he's not happy with what they did with the third overall pick, you don't want to lose a player like Damian Liller, but it could be what's in the best interest of your franchise moving forward. Because you look at Anthony Simons, you look at Sharp, like some of the young guys that you got on this team, and then you could be getting either Brandon Miller or Henderson.

If Dame doesn't want to be there anymore, you're better off since they're nowhere close to contending for a championship with Dame getting up there in age, getting what you could get for him now to continue to get the most assets to build a young core to usher in that next era of Portland Trailblazers basketball. So I look at the Dame storyline tonight, personally, as the biggest storyline heading into this draft. And I know people are going to tell me, oh, what about Victor Wambunyama? We all know Victor Wambunyama is going one. We all know what guys like Steph and LeBron and Giannis Antetokounmpo have said about Victor Wambunyama and the high praise and the high standard that people think he's going to be. This dude's supposed to be an all-time great. It's a moment you're going to remember him getting drafted.

But ever since those ping-pong balls fell and the Spurs popped up and they were the number one overall pick, you knew who the number one overall pick was going to be and where he was going, Victor Wambunyama. So now I look for storylines and the biggest storyline for me in this draft is how will Dame react? And for Dame, we're going to really find out, and it's weird to say it this way, his loyalty, because he's been as loyal as he's can to Portland.

But how much is that loyalty now going to be synonymous with insanity? Because if Portland does the right thing tonight and they take Henderson, they take Miller, whoever it is, and Dame says, you know what, I'm going to stick around. Dame could keep on telling you he wants to win a championship, but in reality, you're not going to win a championship in Portland.

You're already too far in to your career. They're not going to be able to turn around in time where you're still going to have prime years left and go have a legit shot to win a championship. So I'm fascinated to see tonight, is this the end of Dame's time in Portland?

And it goes a few ways. They find a way to go trade that third pick and get a proven player, he stays. They make that pick and he goes, I'm done.

Or they make that pick and he just doesn't have it in him to say, I want to leave Portland. But Winhorse keeps on dropping crumbs. He really does. Keeps on dropping nuggets. And he keeps on without saying it, basically make you believe.

And I've been someone that said, I'll see it when I believe it. But Winhorse, out of everybody, is kind of dropping the hints for a while now that Portland's going to keep the pick. And also, Dame doesn't want a youth movement.

He wants veterans. So if you do the windy fingers, right, and you try to figure out what those signs are, well, logically, if you're telling me they're keeping the pick, plus Dame doesn't want to be a part of a youth movement and he wants to be playing with veterans, that should equal whether it's at the end of tonight, a week from now, two weeks from now, three weeks from now, a month from now, two months from now. But by the time the season rolls along and comes through, it should equal Damian Lillard wanting out of Portland. But if the math occurs where Dame doesn't want a youth movement, the Portland Trailblazers keep the pick and then Dame wants to stay, that's going to be what makes me throw my hands up in the air and go, well, then, Dame, you may say you want to win a championship, but your actions don't suggest that. And this is a domino effect tonight. And the end result should be, I'm not saying it will be, but should be that this is the end of Damian Lillard's time with the Portland Trailblazers. And for me, that is the biggest story from the draft tonight, the domino effect.

And I'm really curious, the first three picks, you know when Beyama will go one, then what's going to happen two and three, and what is the reaction from what does transpire with the second and third overall pick? This is Zach Gelb's show on CBS Sports Radio. We'll take a break. When we come on back, we'll teach you some of the biggest stories in the world of sports with some audio. We call that segment The News Brief. Coming on back in five minutes.
Whisper: medium.en / 2023-06-23 03:51:43 / 2023-06-23 04:08:22 / 17

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