Top 10 NBA Prospects To Watch During March Madness, Draymond's DPOY Case, Vintage Kawhi

2025/3/19

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Good morning, sweet world, and welcome to the No Dunks Podcast on the Athletic Network. It's Wednesday, March 19th, 2025. I'm J.E. Skeets, here on the Classic Factory, and alongside me, as always, Tass Mellis. Podcast listeners, this is for you. Next to him, it's the bearded one, my top shot hot boy, Trey Kirby. Hey-o! Hey-o! And over yonder, making the magic happen, super producer J.D. Whoa, whoa, whoa, hello, hello. Hey. There he is. Here we are. There we are.

Easy, JD. Easy, boy. I knew I was forgetting something. Shout out to the stream team joining us live right now on YouTube. Hit the like button and subscribe. Podcast listeners, five-star ratings and reviews. We got a live show next week here in Atlanta at the Seven Stages Theater. Tickets still on sale. You can get a ticket by hitting that link in the show notes both here on YouTube and in your podcast description of the show. Thursday, March 27th at 7 p.m. Eastern.

It's the live podcast pizza party with Tabasco. Did you guys see when you walked into the Classic Factory? There's a box on the stairs with your name on it from Tabasco. Oh, I saw the boxes on the stairs, but I didn't know they were mine.

Looking forward to saucing some slices with all the fans out there. That's right. We're going to have a blast. Let me sauce your slice. We're going to have a blast next Thursday, so get your tickets and come on out and see a live show of No Dunks. Yesterday, we had a fun cold open where it was Jeopardy. It was Jeff, Jeff, Jeff, Jeff, Jeff. And that got us thinking about, ah, remember that famous Jeff clip?

The guy on the Suns dance team trying to do a backflip landed on his head. And you were like, we're going to find that. Oh, yeah. We're going to show it to the people. And then you started saying we were going to find like every clip of Madden. So we got a lot of work to do still. But we did find the Jeff clip. So here it is. And man, I think it lives up to the hype. Jeff just eats.

eating it on his shoulder side of his head trying to do that backflip I guess this was the 16-17 NBA season yeah that's gotta be a broken clavicle for Jeff so you see if you're watching this on YouTube it says funniest moment we pulled this from a Stardees award show yeah

This was just the nominee, Kemba Walker, taking a three-pointer and walking off before it goes in. One funniest moment. Yeah. And then we just showed the Jeff clip over and over and talked about it for a minute straight. We're like, yeah, we gave it to Kemba, but this is way funnier. Kemba deserves it, but we want to talk about this thing where this man, I mean. Come on, Jeff. I got to get the doctor report. What happened? Yeah.

Yeah, how quickly did he bounce back? Or is that like the last time we ever saw this guy on the dance team?

I'm convinced that Matty-O wouldn't let us give the award to Jeff. Just the guy. Yeah, he's like, you can't give it. You got to give it to an actual NBA play. So we had to give it to Kemba, which was a funny moment, but this is way better. And I love that we titled it, Come On, Jeff. We're still talking about this a decade later. Like, burning our memories. If you look at his face, he knows he's not making it. You know what I mean? Oh, yeah. He's like, yeah, I'm ready. He doesn't get close. He's like...

I don't, I can't, okay, I guess. You're right. He knows he's not going to flip, but that's why he kind of, I believe, had the ability to save himself a little bit. Yeah, like he put an arm down slightly. I think he stands up. Now that we've watched this a thousand times, he does roll up and looks like he's going to get up no problem. Literally watch this.

58 times. It never gets old. We could just watch that for an hour. You should, hey, keep that other box you had and just keep that running. Great idea. For the entire show, Jeff tried to do a backflip. All right, Jeff, hopefully you're okay. I mean, what a clip. Like you said, we're talking about a decade later. Love you, Jeff. That clip, him doing the backflip and the woman getting smashed in the face with the glasses from the air and pass. Yeah.

Those are two of our favorites. So good. What else were we looking for from yesterday's show? We're looking for Eric Spolster being sweaty. I went to the...

2014 NBA finals where the air conditioner stopped working in game one of the NBA finals in San Antonio. I figured we might have a sweaty. If he's not sweating then, yeah. No, he wasn't. We're looking for other stuff. Well, I asked everybody out there, send in some coaches who are sweaty. Got nothing from you, but that's okay. They're hard to find. We got a JB. We got a Chauncey Billups. Anyways, here's our box in one.

We're back in our NBA TV days. They loved a box in one there. You could just watch this all day. It's getting funnier now. Going back to it. Oh, make it smaller, throw it in the corner.

There you go, Jeff. Look at JD doing it on the fly here. You're coming down to the corner. There you go. A couple more looks at Jeff. I'll bring it back in time. It's a rush. Oh, gosh. It's worse when it's small because he just looks dead. Well, later on today's show, Trey Kirby is going to share some top NBA prospects to watch in March Madness, which officially gets underway on Thursday, though we had the couple of first four games last night.

Started it with a bang. We had a Hail Mary. That was awesome. And the first game was amazing. Great pass. Alabama State, right? Yeah. I think one. Beating St. Francis. And then North Carolina. Stomped them. Quieting the haters. Saying they don't belong. Yeah. So they're going to be in the actual dance. But anyway, we'll get to the prospects later. There was some basketball on last night. A few games to touch on. Clippers rallied past the Cavaliers. 132-119 handed the East leaders their second straight loss. And from the

And for the first time since the trade deadline, the Clippers had their entire rotation of players, but they were without their head coach, Ty Lue, for the fourth time in six games. He's having a lot of back pain right now, so he's away from the team. And then they were also missing lead assistant coach Jeff Van Gundy.

who was out for a personal matter. So they got their team back, their players, but obviously now their coaching staff shorthand, but they still got the victory and pretty impressive win here from LAC. Absolutely. It's marked. It's that time of the season where everything you watch in the NBA may or may not be true. Are the Clippers a contender is the question after taking out the Cleveland Cavaliers. If you just watch this game, you have to believe this team is a contender.

contender because they do everything out there and this was a cavaliers team that wanted to win they came off a loss they rarely lose it's just their third time this season where they've lost two games in a row and here it is they came out and smashed the clippers early they're awesome they're leading by double digits yeah 45 points in the first quarter yeah yeah because they can dominate but the los angeles clippers showed why they are contender

Their perimeter defense stepped up. They limited Donovan Mitchell to just 5 of 18 in this game. And we know how many perimeter defenders they have, whether they throw Kawhi on you or Chris Dunn on you, all-defense player, or Derek Jones Jr. who made it to the NBA Finals last year. They've got those guys. They've got the big Inovita Zubats, who was huge in this game. 20 rebounds.

49-29, the Clippers were able to out-rebound the Cavs. So I think they've got really good matchups when it comes to bigs in the Western Conference. I think he plays Jokic well. We can go down the line. I think they've got a good matchup with the Lakers, obviously, the Grizzlies, the Warriors. They've beaten them three times already. I think they match up well there. And...

in the end, it's the Kawhi show. I mean, this Kawhi Leonard show was, I don't know how he's going to fare in the playoffs. AI is taking over. Maybe he's found the best form of his robot. I don't know, man. He just looks so good. He just, he looked like literally old Kawhi where you, we need a bucket. I'm going to get it. Yeah. 33 and seven for him. He was fantastic. I,

This also looks like a contender because James Harden, bad shooting night, 2 of 11. Norman Powell, the guy who was their leading scorer for a long time this season, quiet night, only 11 points for him. Limited minutes for him coming back from injury. Yeah, he's not quite right yet, even though they have their guys. You've got to bog Dan off the bench. I don't expect him to be perfect from the night, but...

Every single night because he was 8 for 8 from this game. But there was just a lot of moments, including Bogdan punching the air and getting a taunting for that, that they bounced back from. Why does the guy get a taunting for a punch in the air? They also had a call, an overturned call overturned against them. It was just a weird night for them, but it was a resilient win for them. So it looks like a team that can contend in the West. That's for sure. I believe this. Zilla wrote it in his newsletter this morning. The Clippers remain perhaps the most enigmatic team in the NBA. Capable of losing to anyone. Capable of getting swept. Capable of...

beating anyone maybe four times in a series I 100% agree with that and I'll tell you right now if the Clippers I guess make it to the playoffs right now they're in the play-in would have to get in to either the seventh seed or the eighth seed yeah it's very difficult but if they get in and they might whatever team I pick in that series that the Clippers are involved in the opposite will happen I am calling it right now okay if I pick the Clippers to win like a big upset or something I'm

They won't. And if I say, ah, no, they're going to be outclassed, they're going to be outmatched, they'll either put up a really good fight or do the upset. I will guarantee it right now on March 19th, I'll be wrong about the Clippers because they're very difficult to figure out and you never know what type of kawaii really...

you're going to have in any potential playoff series. Yes, you don't know if he's going to play in the playoffs. That's the question. Hey, if Kawhi Leonard is healthy, the Clippers can beat anybody. Of course. Still true. That was true every single year he's been healthy. And he's never healthy. But he is right now, and he looks awesome. And James Harden doesn't have to be the number one guy. Like you said, two for 11 from three was okay scoring inside, but good distributing. The Clippers are kind of funny because they play two different styles. When it's Harden and Kawhi Leonard out there with the starters, they're slow.

They're walking the ball up. They're getting good shots, methodical offense. And then when the bench comes in, they're running the entire time. I thought they were really good pushing the pace last night. 20 points for Bogdanovich, went 8 of 8 from the field for a while. DeAndre Hunter, I think he was like 6 for 6 to start this game. I was like, man, the Hawks were cooking for a while.

Can't miss. Of course, neither of them play for the Hawks anymore. Seven assists as well for Bogdanovich, and they were just really fast, I thought, as a second unit. The Clippers' defense was legitimately awesome the entire night. In the fourth quarter, they held the Cavs to 17 points, one of 13 from three, and I think the three-pointer was Okoro making a wide-open one. So they basically held them...

Nothing from the three-point line as far as I'm concerned. The first half, Cleveland hit 11 threes. In the second half, they went three for 19. You could tell it was a point of emphasis for them coming out of halftime to run the Cavaliers off the line and make them play in the mid-range game. And it just wasn't working for Cleveland because that's not necessarily what they want to do. You guys mentioned Zubats. His third big beef of the season had two huge layups around the four-minute mark here that were kind of the dagger, I thought. And this game got an and-one, missed the layup on it. I did notice...

Back-to-back losses for the Cavs. Who cares? It's the end of the season. They're awesome. The only thing they really have to play for right now is the number one overall seed, and it seems like they don't care about that that much. They care about competing. But this loss, Orlando loss, they got out-physicaled. When we've seen them lose in the playoffs against the Knicks a couple of years ago, they got out-physicaled. Much different team now, but that does seem to be the recipe and something to keep in your back pocket when you're talking about these playoff matchups coming forward. Yeah, totally, and I thought that was their—

The reason they lost the first game against the Boston Celtics this season, they're out-toughed. And that's a good sign for the Clippers is that they can out-tough anybody. They really do feel like that type of team. They are gritty. When you can out-rebound the Cavs, it's a very large team, 49-29. That's a big, obviously an example of why you can...

Bank on this team. If they are healthy, obviously Kawhi Leonard sat out the entire first part of the season for the first time in his career where he didn't play in the first calendar year to try and slow play it. Is that the way to do it? Who the heck knows? But the Clippers are playing their best ball right now. Obviously, this is their biggest win. They've won seven of eight. They look good.

Will it be the same thing in 30 days when the playoffs start? How about the play where James Harden turned Evan Mobley into a training cone? That was a nice one, man. It was a wild play. He had a rough night, like you said. 5 of 18 for Harden. Couldn't hit the three. He was getting to the line and knocking those down. But that play where he had Mobley

guessing what he was doing. Is he doing his step back? Is he going? Is he not? And he like changed his mind two or three times. And then not only does he finish at the rim, but then he has the great celebration where he throws his hands on his heads and even he can't believe it. Yeah, the modified McAllister. Kevin went to the cheeks. James went to the temples. That was a nasty double cross on Mobley. It's crazy though. They're like punching the air. That's a taunting technique. Running 94 feet, taunting the guy. Whoa, what did I do?

What did I just do? That's fine. Don't punch the air. The air did nothing to you. Does Zubat have a chance at making an all-NBA team? Third team? No. No. All defense, I think. All defense? Maybe a second team? Yeah. Center problem.

There's too many centers out there. Well, you don't even need to pick centers anymore. There's 15 better players. I would say that's the main problem. He'll be a nice honorable mention on some podcast. He could make your seventh team, I think. Oh, yeah. I think so. Yeah, if you really went with positions like I have in the past, yes. If you don't and you open it up, yeah.

He's around there. He's just been great this season. Maybe one of the more underrated players in the league for sure. 28-20. I'm not sure if we said this. The points he chipped in as well as the boards. And then Kawhi with the game-high 33. His first 30-point game in a Clippers win since last year. March. He doesn't play very much. No, he doesn't. No, he doesn't. But good, good win there from the Clippers. Let's keep it moving. Jimmy Butler scored 24 as the Warriors win without Curry. Got the night off. Got to rest. Both physically and mentally.

And mentally. Mental rest. Yes, mental rest. And they win 104-93 over the Milwaukee Bucs.

Second big defense win for the Warriors lately. I mentioned they held the Knicks to 94 points over the weekend and then just 93 for Milwaukee. And if Draymond Green wants to make a defensive player of the year case, he should send this tape in because he dominated Giannis in this game. Giannis went 5 for 16 from the field, and I'm pretty sure none of the buckets he scored were on Draymond. Got a couple in transition. Got one on, maybe two on Buddy Heald on switches, but he had no answer.

for Draymond. Draymond was so good showing in the pick and roll and then recovering Deionis. They try and throw a lob Deionis. He's blocking him at the rim. Four blocks and two steals on the night for Draymond. He was just completely locked in on this one. It was really impressive defensively from him to see him

Take over the game. And take Giannis completely out of the game. Dame also only went six for 18. He was just out of it, I thought. Kalen Azebuki, he was bragging about how good his cornbread was. And he was admitting that the referees give the Warriors the benefit of the doubt now that they have Jimmy Butler. Before the Jimmy trade, 28th in free throw rate. They've never got to the line. After Jimmy trade, fifth in free throw rate. That has changed from 15 free throws made per game, which was 30th in the league. They're now making 21 free throws per game. That's first in the league.

That's a lot of easy extra points, and it's all Jimmy Butler. He went 11 for 11 from the line last night. Warriors as a team went 23 for 26. Jimmy drew four free throws in about eight seconds on three-pointers. One was a foul three-pointer. One was a made three-pointer. And then he made the and one as well. Pretty easy. Played the entire fourth quarter. Had 10 assists in the game. In the fourth quarter, he had nine points, three rebounds, four assists. And Steve Kerr ran every single play for him.

They would not be able to win that game prior to the trade. Simple as that.

Yeah, the free throw stats are crazy. What's also crazy is that pre-Jimmy, their free throw percentage was also 30th in the NBA. That's just weird. You've got Steph on your team. You'd think your free throw percentage would be better. But yeah, they've jumped in everything, made attempts. And free throw percentage, they're now second in the NBA in free throw percentage post-Jimmy. That was some odd calls there, or some weird things by the Milwaukee Bucks where Jimmy Butler's just flying down the court at the end of the third quarter. Why are you fouling a guy shooting a three flying down the court? Just don't do that. You saw Thanasis Atetokounmpo

He's sitting there front row right in front of Jimmy Butler saying he's going to pump, he's going to pump.

And Ken Porter Jr., he bites that punt, man. He went for it. It was a fantastic show without Steph out there, how they were just moving the ball. I mean, the first four minutes, there are four shooters, you know, without, you know, exclude Draymond from that, Moody, Quentin Post, Pajemski, and Jimmy. You got to throw them in there. They all had a three. I mean, they were banging threes. That's all they were shooting. First six minutes, they just shot threes, 10 threes, and just one two-point shot because they're just moving the ball. The Bucs were just super flat, man.

They were literally flat coming out for this game. They didn't feel like it. They got back into this game, but then you saw the bench come back for the Warriors. They won the bench battle. 39-13. You saw Kaminga put back Dunk. Just looks like the right thing to do for him. He's doing the right thing, is what I should say. He doesn't have to start every possession. Just do what we need you to do, and that's rebound, my man. Buddy Heald, 15 off the bench. Now, the

The Bucs did miss no Jericho Sims, who's out for a while. That would be helpful for their bench. But they got out fast break in this game. And Draymond is really good at guarding Giannis. There's no doubt about that. He's also good at getting away with being physical, throwing that hand into Giannis, throwing that arm. He's good at that. He's very good at that. He doesn't get called for those.

But the Warriors are just a much better team. I mean, they just look like they're moving the ball. How they are 7-3 without Steph Curry this season is...

That's a mystery, though. Draymond Green, also good at making his own case for a defensive player of the year. He had a lot of quotes after this game about his DPOY chances. He said, quote, I look around the league and I don't see many players impacting the game on the defensive end the way I do. I don't see many players completely throwing off an entire team's offense the way I do. He continued, you got some people that have a vote on the East Coast that probably see us play four times a year. Okay.

Okay, weird. And if you look at the stats, you'd be like, oh, Draymond averages one steal and one block. Those numbers don't jump off the page at you, but if you watch me play and then ask the opposing coach, what did I do to their offense? It's a different story. So that goes to what you were saying, Trey, of like, send in this tape.

To whoever's voting, even those East Coast voters who barely watch you, I guess, Draymond. And then, you know, maybe let him do the director's cut. He could commentate over it. Here's what I'm doing. Look at this. Look at these tiny things. And look, he's got a point. He's an incredible defender. And he's been incredible, especially since the Jimmy Butler trade or since the deadline. And, you know, we showed you the odds yesterday. Draymond Green was second, trailing Mobley as the favorite, at least according to BetMGM.

There's still about 15 games left. I wonder if there's enough time for him to maybe win another one of these, or it will go to potentially a player for the Thunder or maybe Mobley and a bunch of deserving guys. J.R. Jackson Jr., as we've mentioned. I think Draymond's in the mix, and he's trying his hardest to go get another one here. I think he could steal it here. I sort of do too. Just because it feels like the Cavs are probably going to downshift right now. Their main thing is staying healthy for the rest of the playoffs, whereas the Warriors have something to play for.

Just making it into the top six is huge for them right now, staying out of the play. And so they still have important games to play. And the Warriors have been terrific defensively since Jimmy Butler came over. And if Draymond has games like this where he's being disruptive and putting up stats, he's going to close the gap a little bit, I think.

I think. Yeah, the Warriors were interesting in that they start Quentin Post against the Milwaukee Bucks to be their, frankly, their free safety just to help out. And it helped. He doesn't have a post game. He's a three-point shooter man. But his name is Quentin Post because he's very tall and he can help defend. That's all he had to do against Giannis was just show a body and just be in front. And I don't think the tape is all that sexy, to be honest, this Draymond versus Giannis tape.

It's not going to be a short. I don't think it's all that sexy. It was two guys bunching up against him, and they were okay. I don't know. It was a weird Giannis game. He didn't look like himself out there. Well, they're not guarding Kuzma either. He took 13 threes, and they didn't guard him at all. So there was a lot of bodies to be seen, but the tape is good. I think it's short-worthy, personally. I don't think so. We'll see how the numbers do. Yeah, let's see how it gets cut.

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Alright, two other games on last night, we can touch on them quickly. Celtics rookie Baylor Shireman led the Celtics to a 104-96 win over the Nets. When I say his name, do you remember the YouTube account RunForTheCube that would like purposely mispronounce players' names or anything really when it came to pronunciations? Baylor Shireman! That sounds like a RunForTheCube name, but he scored 13 of his career, had 20 points in the fourth quarter, there's no Tatum, there's no Brown, he gets an opportunity.

He played really well. Porzingis was great too for the Celtics, but they took care of business in the end. Beat Brooklyn. And then Trey Young scored 31 as the Hawks.

Crush the Hornets, 134-102. They swept their season series against them. Any thoughts? Yeah, Baylor Shireman, we got to be big fans. He's a former South Dakota State University Jackrabbit. Come on, Jackrabbits! I've got to be the only player in the league who went to SDSU. Also the only player in the league who looks like he can be part of Jeremy Renner's crew pulling the heist in the town. This guy does not look like an NBA player. Looks like a relief pitcher.

But he was awesome. Knocking down threes. He got really hot. Like you mentioned, Porzingis dominated this game. Every minute he was in, he was the best player on the court. 25-13. Three assists to steal. Three big-time blocks as well. And I thought one of the plays of the game was there was a late trap

by the Nets probably like a minute left or something like that. It looked like they had this deal. Great catch by Peyton Pritchard on the sideline in between two guys. He spins and they get an easy basket out of it. So that was nice. This was a closer game than probably it should have been, but the Celtics were kind of chillin'.

It was a Baylor-Shireman kind of night. Yeah, no Jays in this one. The starting five has only played 20 games together this season, which is Porzingis' injury. There's a big reason to that. But 20 games is not a lot. Does that say something about the Boston Celtics, that they don't have a lot of chemistry going? I guess not. You're a prior. Yeah, they want it. Yeah, but you know.

Yeah, either way, they could be a team that gets to the finals. There's no doubt. Porzingis, yeah, looked great. That's the whole point of this story here. Also, Derek White made some history. This is a stat you'll never remember, but he became just the second player in NBA history to have at least 225 three-pointers, 50-plus offensive rebounds, at least 60 steals, and 60-plus blocks in a season.

Okay. What? Okay. Who's the other one? That's the question. Oh, you don't know? Oh, I do know. Oh, you don't know. Okay. Can we get it? 200 threes. Yeah. Nah, I don't know if you'll get it. No, you won't think. James Harden? Kevin Durant. Bang! Oh, nice. You're pretty smart, man. Nice. You're smart, yeah. I think you could have been thrown off by the blocks. Nah.

Yeah, it gets underrated defender. If you just think three-pointers. Yeah, he's hit a lot of three-pointers, 225 threes. That is a decent amount of threes. Also, a guy who's shooting really well from three.

I got to mention Zachary Rissache because he takes all his threes, not all his threes, a lot of threes above the break. And I've kept on saying here on the show in 2024, this calendar year of the NBA season, only 28.9 as a three point shooter, 2025, bam, he's turned it on 41.7. So is he just a corner shooter? Nah, he's also an above the break guy. And I think that's important for any team, really 19%.

before the calendar year, 37% after the calendar year for above the break guys. So you can shoot from everywhere. Five of nine from threes in this game. It was such a terrible game against the Charlotte Hornets. That was abysmal. I mean, you just swing it once and you got to lay up, dude. I mean, it's so easy. The Hornets are miserable. Yeah, that's a tough watch. At home in front of their fans. I know. Imagine paying for that ticket. Oh my God. I had a new who?

is that guy who started for the Hornets last night. Do you know what I'm talking about? I know who it is. Damien Baugh. I don't even know if I'm saying his name right. I think it's Damien Baugh. I looked it up too. It's a B-A-U-G-H. Maybe it's a Baugh.

I was like, who the hell is this guy? That guy got absolutely flambéed last night. He got cooked so many times. He might have given up 100 by himself. The Hawks dialed up an open layup or a wide open three-pointer every single possession. They had 19 dunks or layups last night. They went 22 of 45 from three. I checked the tracking data. 30 of their 45 attempts were classified as wide open layups.

13 of the remaining 15 were classified as open. So that means the Hornets guarded two shots from three, and that's what it felt like. Risa Shea, maybe he can shoot from above the break, but he can definitely shoot from the left wing. He hit three straight from the exact same spot. Eric Collins on the broadcast was like, he didn't move an inch. You literally get a hand up.

The other thing I was thinking is, is our friend Larry going to bring back the Threesa shirts for Zachary Threesa-she? Oh, it does work well. Yeah, I was wearing my Kyle Korver midriff one the other day. I was like, this would be nice. I like it. Bring it back. And just again, I don't want to go too far on this point, but again, the who is that guy is usually reserved for a guy that gets in at the end of the game, plays five minutes, maybe hits the shot. You're like, man, I've never seen this guy. Who is he?

Damien Baa led the Hornets in minutes played last night.

He started. He played 33 minutes as he was getting waxed out there. He chipped in offensively. He scored 11. I mean, Daquan Jeffries, he's probably a big who to a lot of people too. But anyway, it's just crazy you're seeing these lineups of what they're rolling out there. Damian Barr. Yeah, he's on basketball reference. You see his headshot, and he's got a Lakers jersey on. How did that happen? Well, he was in a training camp for the Lakers once upon a time. Yeah, Zachary Russo, as you said, he's great from the left corner. He's shooting nearly 50%.

From the left corner this season. That's very, very good. It's great to see a guy just get better as the season goes on. He's great. So those are last night's games.

One game tonight, we've got some news heading into it. The Thunder are holding out three starters for tonight's game against the 76ers. Oh, it's March, baby. Including MVP favorite Shea Gildas-Alexander due to rest. It's straight-up rest. Jalen Williams and Lou Dort are also out due to hip injuries. While Hartenstein has a bit of a back issue and Kaysen Wallace, his shoulder, they're listed as questionable. So the Thunder sit in three starters here. And I bring this up. We don't usually do this, like looking ahead like this, unless we get to pick them, but...

The Thunder control Philadelphia's 2025 first round pick should it fall outside the top six. So people are wondering, you know, the tweets were flying last night. This might be some diabolical shit. I saw one tweet say that the Thunder are attempting to give the Sixers a win to increase the odds that they get their first round pick.

Now, the Thunder are so good, they'll probably win anyway if none of their main guys play. But it is pretty funny to think that they could be like, no, no, you take the win. And would help their chances to get the pick from Philadelphia. It helps. That's pretty funny. So who did you say? Shea, Hartenstein, and J-Dub aren't playing? J-Dub, Lou Doerr, they're out. And then SGA, and then maybe Hartenstein, and maybe Cason Wallace. Yeah.

Aaron Wiggins, 40-point game incoming. Coming up. It's also shutdown season right now. This is when teams are definitely downshifting. I think the Cavs are going to do it. You look back at a couple of recent champions, the 22 Warriors. Steph Curry missed the last 12 games of the season, kind of for a sprained foot, kind of to rest up for the playoffs. They went deep. They won the championship. The 23 Nuggets rested Nikola Jokic,

five of their last seven games. They went 7-10 in their last 17 games. And then guess what? They won the championship in 2023. So just because you're not good in March doesn't mean you're not going to be good in April. Right. Okay. So keep an eye on it. And I still think the Thunder will win, by the way, tonight. How about an Isaiah Joe revenge game? Oh, where did he go? Yeah, right? Wasn't he on the 6th?

the end of the season. They just let them go. Yeah, that's right. They don't need shooting anyways. No. Okay. Let's, let's pivot to March Madness talk because again, first four underway, final four starts on Thursday for the men's and TK, you got some NBA prospects to watch for, for us casuals when it comes to the college game. Yeah. I did a lot of scouting. Yeah. I watched like five or six tournament games over the weekend. Nice. YouTube video.

So I'm in on this. Some NIT? NIT? Yeah, why not? No, conference tournaments, buddy. Okay, buddy. NIT? Go deep, man. You're deep. That's Hollinger level. That's Hollinger mode. Isn't there, there's like a third tournament, I think, even. It's like NBT or something. What? I don't know if it still exists, but they'll do anything to keep playing. But these are guys that are in the men's NCAA tournament.

tournament, so you won't get any of these Rutgers guys. No Dylan Harper, no Ace Bailey. You won't get any of the international guys as well. So these are all fellas who are going to be playing starting...

Some tonight, actually. One guy tonight. And that we think are going to be high draft picks. High draft picks. Guys that I want to see play. No boring players as well. There's some good wings out there who are good at defense and three-point shooting. They are going to be boring to watch in the tournament. Maybe Liam McNeely is good. I don't know.

Maybe he is. But my number one prospect, shocker, Cooper Flagg. Oh, yeah, I've heard of him. Yeah, he's pretty good. Ever since he dominated Team USA for the select team at 17 years old, his hype has been unbelievable. He is the rare dude who is going to be the youngest player in the draft and also maybe the best player in college basketball. Like, he could win National Player of the Year. It's him or the guy from Auburn. Basically, Sam Vecini's mock draft came out today. No surprise. He's number one.

He had a dominant season as a freshman who was one of the youngest guys in the entire NCAA. Pretty sweet. Yeah, they had an interesting point, I thought, on the Hoop Collective podcast today talking about some of the prospects to watch too. The idea of Cooper Flagg. Like, do you think there's been enough, like, buzz about him?

From casuals like us and from other maybe NBA fans or other just sports fans, it's not on the level of Zion. Definitely not on the level of Zion. Which is really fascinating because he has exceeded a lot of very high preseason expectations. He's been incredible. And he does everything. I know, but it's like, yeah, for some reason it's not there. I don't know why.

I don't get it. Maybe it will. Maybe it's because he plays for Duke, but like you're saying, Zion. He was a Duke guy as well, but Zion was like a social media superstar before he ever got to college as well. I don't know, but I'm excited to see him. Apparently, he might even be playing on Friday. He sprained his ankle in the tournament over the weekend, but he might play Friday. If not Friday, assuming Duke advances, they would play on Sunday. So that's cool that he'll actually get a nice run here, and that will...

send him into overdrive hype-wise if he plays and they have a nice run in the tournament. And they might have a nice run in the tournament because I'm not putting these guys in my top 10, but they do have two other high draft prospects. Con Canipple. Say what? Straight up, Con Canipple. K-N-U-E-P-P-E-L. He's number six in Sam Vecini's mock draft. So I'm just putting him as like a side guy. He's like 6'7", 215. Yeah.

Like, you don't want to call him Joe Ingles, man. It just seems too easy. He's also hopefully better than Joe Ingles. You don't want to call him Luke Canary because you're like, what, another white guy from Duke? Come on. So how about this? Poor man's Paul Pierce. He's got a wide body. Okay. He's a good player. He's a good ball handler. He kind of does it all. Also a really good shooter because guess what? He's a white guy. Okay. Uh,

Poor man's Paul Pierce. Poor man's Paul Pierce. And who's the other guy then? The other guy is Common Malawach. Right. Oh, yeah. I've heard of him. Yes. He is like your classic Tyson Chandler style center. Setting screens, rolling to the hoop, defending the rim. Also a pretty good switch guy. He's 7 foot 250 pounds. He's 14th in Sam Vecini's mock draft today. And for me, he's always going to be the puke guy. He's the guy that vomited all over the court.

Tracy Morgan coming from that crowd. Yeah, exactly. Tracy Morgan, okay, by the way, food poisoning is what he told us. The puke from Duke. Yeah, I brought that up today in the locker room at the gym. I heard somebody kind of burp, and I thought it turned into a vomit. I thought it turned into a vomit. It was such a loud burp. I said, whoa, Tracy Morgan is in the house.

He was okay. He was okay. Tracy Morgan was okay. Also, this guy in the locker room was okay. Janai Broom, he may be here next weekend because the tournament here comes to Atlanta. When I say here, he's going to maybe come in here. So I'm going to go watch Janai Broom. I didn't know that was a pronunciation.

Good to hear it. Same. I thought for sure Johnny. Yeah, J-O-H-N-I. That's Johnny. Nope, that's Janai. Different guy. All right, my number two draft prospect from Baylor, Vijay Edgecombe. 6'5", 180, shooting guard. The guy is a super athlete. Okay shooter. Makes a lot of plays defensively. He might not be able to dribble. Sounds like a Raptor to me. How dare you? DeMar DeRozan out of dribbles. Thank you very much.

At the very least, he's going to be a good 3 and D wing guy. But I think in the second half of the season, he really got untracked playing in transition and had a little bit better shooting as well. Sam Vecini bumped him up to number three in his mock draft. He's kind of been at number four mostly. But he's definitely a top five pick guy. And I think if the bracket plays out the right way, he could go up against Cooper Flagg on Sunday.

I think it's Sunday. It's the first weekend. Is that right? Yeah, because I think Duke's a one seed, and I think Baylor is in the 8-9, so they play pretty quickly. That would be awesome. And they could be matched up against each other. I guess Edgecombe would probably go on Con Canipple. VJ versus Con. Try and turn that off. But he's a super explosive athlete, this guy. Super athlete, yep. At worst, he's going to be a Ron Holland type. Right. Ooh. Okay.

I like that comparison. You love Ron Holland, I feel like. I love athletes, yeah. Yeah, he's good. Okay. Baylor. Poor man's Jalen Brown, they're saying. Okay. Wow. I mean, young Jalen Brown didn't have much of a shot either. Yeah. And he turned into a shooter. Got some muscles on him. Hell yeah. Number three prospect from the University of Illinois by way of Vilnius, Lithuania, Kasperas Jakachonis. Jakachonis.

Jackachonis. Jackachonis. Man, this tournament's got the names. Yeah, we got some good names in this class. You can call him KJ. Yeah. Yeah, I think. VJ and KJ. VJ and KJ. 6'6", 205, a big point guard, basically. Really good feel for the game. Handles the ball. Plays in pick and roll. Good passer. Like I said, he's 6'6", so pretty good size. Finishes inside. Only shooting 33% from three. Hmm.

but 84% of the line. So I think he can shoot, but we'll see if he can shoot. I can tell you right now. I'm going to love this guy for all those things you said. He's like great in the pick and roll. He's a tall guard. I like that. Sounds like he might be a streaky shooter. Even perfect. Yep. Check, check, check for me. Uh,

Yeah, big fan of KJ already. Big fan. And he's got a chance, depending on if Texas wins tonight, he would go against another guy who's like a top 10 pick, who will be a little bit later on. So it could be a pretty nice matchup. Illinois also has another draft prospect who's like a late first round guy named Will Riley. He just shoots a lot of threes. He just shoots a lot. If you can do that, you can play in college basketball. That's right. And watching those games last night, I was reminded, oh yeah, we shoot a bunch of threes in this.

I sometimes think the NBA is all three-pointers. Like you watch a college game, oh yeah. Oh, it's a whole bunch. Now, North Carolina, they were on fire. Absolutely on fire last night. They were on fire. I went to bed at halftime because I was like, that's a blowout. Yep. Jack O'Chona is currently fifth.

Wow, he's that high? Yeah, he's high. He's high up. People are thinking this guy is a bull because he's Lithuanian. Oh, yeah. He can sell some tickets. Nice. Yeah, Fuzelis. I mean, obviously the GM in Karnaschovas and Bulls fans are convinced that they're going to pull a trade for Sabonis over the summer.

Interesting. Full Lithuanian mode. Do it. Honestly, do it. Yeah, do it. They never win in the Olympics, but they're always close. Sounds like a Bulls team to me. Our number four draft prospect, mine at least, Derek Queen.

From Maryland, 6'10", 245, an undersized bucket-getting five. He handles the ball. He's a playmaker, a really good passer with the ball in his hands. He's getting a lot of comparisons to Alperen Shengun, some Nas Reid with the way he's able to cook as a big guy, I think even a little bit of Julius Randall. He doesn't necessarily play like the bully style like Randall does, but face-up game. The question is, can he play any defense defensively?

just like Chengun, who has become a good defender for the Rockets this year, but not a lot of foot speed. Like I said, he's 6'10", so a little bit undersized, and he's going to be at a quickness disadvantage, but the guy can score. Really polished game. Fun to watch. One of my favorite dudes. And, you know, always nice to know a new way to spell Derek. New Derek. Yeah, exactly. New Derek. Just dropped D-E-R-I-K. There's a lot of ways to spell Derek. You can go with I's. You can go with E's. You can go C-K's. Straight up K's.

I haven't seen this version. D-E-R-I-K-A-D-E. Just one R. Just one R is surprising. It's a fun name to give...

when you're getting a coffee or whatever because you want to see what the barista spells it like. You know? It's fun. This guy's got no shot, apparently. 8% from three points land this season. Working inside. Yeah. He's a big. Stretch it out. Stretch it out in the NBA. That's right. I don't know. Start with the corners. Get him with the shot, doctor. Big range on. He's eighth on Sam Vecini's board, but can drop down into the teens even for some in the mock draft. Okay. Some people think you're too slow. Mm-hmm.

All you can do is score. Are you Greg Monroe? Or are you Alperen Schengen? What a range. That's a hell of a range right there. What a range. From Schengen to moose. From the goose to the moose. Nobody calls it the goose. Cool nickname, though. It is a good nickname for somebody.

Number five draft prospect, Trey Johnson. Great name. Yeah. And missing a Y. Nonetheless, he plays at Texas, 6'6", 185. They play tonight against Xavier. If they win, they play against Illinois, so that'd be a pretty cool matchup. But he's 22 a game. Pretty impressive in college. That's all he does, though. Yeah.

All he does is score. Is he the guy that I heard compared to he's just a taller Cam Thomas? That's the guy. Yeah. Yep. What a tough shot maker. He doesn't even like get to the rim all that often, but he's got a really nice shot. Not a great athlete and just scores. Like you look at his pluses and minuses and it's all offense and everything else is like defense effort.

for fouling, passing. But he's a bucket. He's a bucket. He's got a great name, Trey Johnson. Seventh on Sam Vassini's mock draft today. Okay. So watch them tonight because they might be done. Yeah. They may not even be favorites in that game. No idea. No idea. So the 11th versus 11th, right? 11 versus 11. That's sort of funny. I always found that so weird with that first four. It's like, I get the 16-16 to get in to play then the number one seed.

I've never really understood. Okay. We're ranking you as the 11th seeds if you get in, but you're not in, both of you. It is unusual. It is weird.

I think it's just got to be a... It's like conference reasons, I'm sure. Probably, and like marketing, right? Because like North Carolina, huge fan base. They were an 11th seed. Texas, huge fan base. They're an 11th seed. So you have one game that has teams people know, and then one game between 16 seeds that are exciting. And you just reminded me, sweaty coach in the college game, Hubert Davis. Oh, good one. He was sweating last night. He was a sweater. And it's funny to see like coaches in suits.

It looks good. I mean, I totally miss it in the NBA. I'm like, oh, this is better. And they don't all do it, but Hubert Davis had on a nice blazer last night. That's why he's hot. Yeah. People are speculating. That's why we can't find sweaty coaches in the NBA. Yeah. The wicking materials. The wicking materials. They're too comfortable now. That's a fair point. Too comfy. Yep.

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All right, the back half of our top 10 starts with number six prospect, Jace Richardson. Sounds like a familiar name, huh? Yeah. Jace's son, Richardson? Yeah, that's his son. Yeah. Plays at Michigan State just like it's Pops. 6'3", 185, in shoes. He's kind of short.

Especially compared to Jason Richardson. It's, I mean, unusual that he's not like the greatest athlete on the court either. Yeah. He's not a high flyer, but he's a crafty dude shooting 41% from three. People are like, is he really that good of a shooter? I guess we'll see in the tournament. He got moved into a starting role because one of the guys on the Spartans got sick. So they let him handle the ball a lot more and it's gone really, really well. So maybe it's like a Devin Booker thing where like, you're not handling the ball at all until you start handling the ball. It's like, wait a second.

we should have given you the ball more often. So I'm looking forward to see him. I know he's a guy that's kind of getting mocked into the bulls range. Uh, Sam Vecini has him at number 10 right now. I like his game. Okay. Yeah. Small though, much smaller than his dad who was like six, six, you know, easily over 200, I assume, but this guy's very light, but yeah, more of a shooter.

And not that athletic? Question mark? Because when I'm reading... I mean, he ain't going to win two dunk contests. He ain't J-Rich. Yeah. But when reading what Zach Harper wrote about him, the freshman is so efficient, so athletic. And I don't know what to believe when I read these. Well, that's because Zach Harper's comparing him to himself. Oh, well.

So then he's going to write so athletic about every player. Oh, yeah, that's what I would do, too. This guy's huge, I would say, about every guy. Even if he's 6'2". That's the opposite for me. I'm like, ooh, shorter than me? Too small. Honestly. Chase Richardson? Too small. Too small. But, yeah, we'll see what he can do. Yeah, I think he's a good athlete, but, I mean, it's a...

compared to the NBA. Like, they talk about edge, they're like, he'll come into the NBA and he'll be one of the top 5% of athletes. I don't think that's the case for a G-State. But he's got craft. Craft is important too. And, you know, Michigan State, I assume, expected to go pretty far in this. Number two seed. Some people, I assume. They're good in tournaments. Yeah, Tom Izzo, man. Tom. Come on. Big Tom. Tell me an NCAA tournament that didn't have Tom Izzo in it. You gotta go back...

30 years. You gotta go back. I don't know. Feels like that at least. He's been there forever. Yeah, the Izzo. Like I remember watching this in the 90s and Tom Izzo's coaching the Michigan State...

I mean, he coached Jason Richardson. So he looked that up. And his son. I bet he's been. Yeah. Literally his son. And he made Jace Richardson a starter late in the season, apparently. Just the last nine games. Tom Izzo NCAA tournament. So there's a little story. There's your Cinderella. Let me give you this. Let me give you this. Tom Izzo. Yeah. 27 consecutive NCAA tournaments.

That's pretty amazing. That's pretty good. Yeah. That's wild. Were he coached? Yeah. Or were he attended? No, coached. Just wondering. That's a weird question, but I was just wondering. That would be weird. He played in one. They let him play during the COVID season. I think he meant like he just bought a ticket one year and attended. Yeah, he just showed up. Yeah, more so. They're not playing. What is he? Matt Ishpia?

He played in one. Anyway. Four-time Israel, right? Tom Izzo. All right, number seven prospect. Greatest name in the draft. Eager Demon. Eager Demon. What? Perhaps pronounced Agor Damon. From BYU, 6'9", 190-pound point guard.

He's a point guard. Ooh, okay. Yeah, love a tall point guard. I do. But he might be Russian Josh Giddey. 27%. He's 27% from three, 68% at the free throw line. Can't get by anybody. Very limited athleticism. Brilliant passer, though. Great vision, and he's 6'9", so he can see over everybody. He's good in the open court as well, but like...

He just might be able to pass because he's tall. And guess what? There's other tall guys in the NBA. Yeah, I don't love seeing this. I read a little bit on him. Turnover, proneness, and occasional mental lapses make him a situational fit for most NBA teams. Yeah.

Don't know that. Yeah, he's a turnover machine. I mean, BYU obviously isn't like top of the pops, but yeah, he can get pretty loose with it. Sam Vecini has him at 21 in his mock draft, and this was a guy who was probably like in top tens early in the year when he was shooting it a little bit better as well. Okay. So maybe he'll have a good tournament though. Yeah. You know, he needs it. Sounds like he needs it. Yeah, yeah. Bounce back. Eager Demon.

Agor Damon. That's an awesome name, man. That is a cool name. Very cool. Number eight prospect from the University of Michigan, Danny Wolf. Is he Dick Wolf's son? I don't know. He's seven feet tall, 250 pounds, and he's a shooting guard.

This is crazy, man. Like he literally plays point a lot for Michigan. They run pick and roll with him and another seven foot dude. And it just looks insane to see a guy that big. And he's not like a quick guy. It's not like Kevin Durant handling the ball out there. He's a big, slow dude. Shoots threes. He can defend the rim because he is seven feet tall, but he is a very slow player. I do believe Sam Vecini mocked him at number 30.

But come on, a seven foot ball handling shooter. He's going to go higher than 30. I would have to think if you can shoot 35 percent from three at seven feet tall, NBA teams are going to have you on a roster for 15 years. Yeah. See him in a mock draft at 20. OK, so that's a heck of a jump. It's an interesting he's an older player. That's being his junior year. Interesting that he's coming out now.

I think he played at Yale before this year at Michigan, so some more eyeballs on him. Bit of a brainiac, is he? I don't know. He had good test scores, at least. You were joking that it might be Dick Wolf's son. I legit, for a long time, when I saw him play over the weekend in a tournament, I was like, oh, is that Joe Wolf's son? Is it? I don't think so. Okay. I looked it up. No, and I don't believe Joe Wolf is no longer with us, but he used to play in the NBA. Obviously, big dude. I was like, oh, could be, right? Yeah. But no.

Just Wolf. Danny Wolf. He's a lone wolf, this one. Yeah, that's it. Does he fit into a team concept? Good question. Number nine prospect, Jeremiah Fears.

No, I like this name. Jeremiah Fears. His parents like this name, too, because he has an older brother named Jeremy Fears. That's crazy. But the name's that good. Just put it back. Switch it. This Fears, he plays for Oklahoma. They're going up against UConn, who has some draft prospects as well, and Liam McNeely and Alex Caraban. They're wings. They're going to make some shots. But Jeremiah Fears, 6'4", 180 pounds. He's a guard that can't shoot.

but he gets buckets 28% from three ton of turnovers. Sam Vecini has him mocked at number 13. People are really up or down on this guy because he has a great handle, can get basically anywhere, but not a great finisher.

not a great shooter but can get really hot and put up some massive scoring games i've seen him comped to amante ellis which you don't hear very often yeah you don't hear that comp very often okay not a bad comp i mean the pros and cons with that comp for sure guy yeah yep um jeremiah fear that is great name yeah so this guy just gets anywhere he wants yes great handle but just not a great shot and maybe a little uh toot loose with the ball yeah and i think he had a they would say he had a big lift for

for Oklahoma. They didn't have very much else going on, so he has crazy usage rate. And when he gets to an NBA team and he's just a guy on their team, probably slots in a little bit better. That's similar to the two Rutger guys too, right? There's not a lot of other talent on that team. You look at their numbers this year, it's like, are they all that great? But they're like, well, if you surround them with good players, they'd probably pop, right? Okay, Jeremiah Fierce. Yeah, mocked at top 10.

Some places. Guard. Okay. Love it. Final one. Final guy from the University of Georgia. Aza. Aza? A-S-A. Newell. 6'10", 205 pounds. He's kind of a tweener forward. Really good athlete. Good motor. Very productive. The question for him...

What position is he going to play? Because he's a little small, a little light to really be a center. Probably not quick enough to necessarily be a power forward. But like I said, he produces, scores a bunch. Sam Vecini has him at number 17. He plays super hard, which is a very big skill in the NBA. He probably gets drafted ahead of Jonai Broome.

was another guy who I considered here because he might win National Player of the Year. And he's a tweener as well, but a little bit better athleticism and certainly younger for Newell. Okay. Yeah, this guy was named to the SEC All-Freshman Team for Georgia. I think he led them in scoring and rebounding. I like the motor. I love seeing that high motor. Yeah.

Ty Motor. But he's super young, too. Okay. Georgia. They're in an 8-9 matchup, I believe, as well this weekend. Okay. I'm sorry. Thursday or Friday. I don't know which day. Yeah, I think they're UConn. No, no, no. No, they're not. I lied to you. I don't remember who it is. Who did they play? I forget. I just filled out my bracket. I've changed my bracket like three times. Why? I don't know. I keep reading and hearing things. It's upset season, baby, apparently. I'm like, should I just go with my gut? I'm going to regret it. But I go back and I'm tweaking things. I've never done that, ever. I usually fill it out and leave it and forget about it. Yeah. But I'm tweaking this year.

Come on. Tweak it. Just like LiAngelo Ball. I don't know. We'll see if it works out. Apparently it's finally the tournament where we're going to see a lot of upsets. More upsets than usual because we just don't know who's going to win this year. It's up in the air. It's open-ended, sure. A little bit. But then again, the four number one seeds are juggernauts, right? They can be had. Who is a juggernaut, too?

Did they lose in the first round? They lost to a 16 seed. Yeah. Not last year, but the year prior. Oh, that's it. That's it. Okay. It's very difficult. It's one game. Anything can happen. It's just one game. Team get hot. Team get foul trouble. That's right. Get rattled. It's going to be tough for me. Last year, I won hockey cards because I won my NCAA tournament. Did you really? Yeah, I won cartons. Oh, you won the athletic. Yeah, that's right. Yeah. I got hockey cards at home. You getting good ones? Yeah.

For sure. Who's the Chicago Blackhawks guy? The guy that just dropped it. Conor DeBard? Yeah, Bedard. Yeah. Yeah. Got him. Nice, man. That's like getting a Crosby in 03. Is that when he was drafted? I don't know. He's been playing a long time. Yeah, he's been around a lot. He's still playing. I think Crosby just did something last night. Was it him that like...

He passed Gretzky for most points scored with one... Like, with one franchise. Oh. Because Gretzky obviously moved. I mean, Gretzky had a ton of points with the Oilers and then moved and played, obviously, for LA and then eventually, what, St. Louis and blah, blah, blah, and Rangers. But...

Yeah, Crosby, I think, is like the fourth all-time now for points with one franchise. And this is his 20th season. Yeah, he's played forever. Crosby, he's the Will Chamberlain of hockey. Oh, that's amazing. Ovechkin's getting close to passing him, I think, on goals all the time. We're just talking some hockey stats. He's a handful away, for sure.

All right, so I liked it, Trey. Ten prospects to watch in March Madness from an NBA fan's perspective. And tomorrow we're going to do something a little different here on No Dunks. We are going to fill out our No Dunks bracket together, the entire thing. So we'll just do an entire show on that. If anything of note happens in the NBA, I'm sure we'll slip that in as well. But we'll mainly focus on filling out our bracket. A bunch of college basketball dummies...

Try and pick the perfect bracket. We're doing it this year. We're going to do it. Yeah. No tweaks. We're not going to have enough time. No tweaking. No, we're going to go with our gut. Maybe you give us a little bit of stats, you know, a type of style of play, and then we pick our team. Generally picking our team off their name, their mascot, their colors. And how old they are. I'm picking old players this year. Very smart. Except for apparently Duke is awesome. How's that going to work out? And they're super young. Yeah. Yeah.

Good point. All right, pick them tonight, Tass. Where are we going in the NBA? There are a lot of games on. I saw the Nuggets playing the Lakers again. They just played on Friday night. I had to go with it. Want to see if the Lakers can exact a little revenge because they did lose to the Denver Nuggets, of course. They lost without Luka. They lost without LeBron. They played an incredible game down to the wire against a really great Nuggets team.

a full slot of Nuggets players. Tonight, Luka will be playing. No LeBron, again. So we shall see. I guess that's why I'm the only one taking the Lakers.

They're at home, just plus one and a half. So it's basically a pick-em. Why are you two taking the Denver Nuggets? This is a tough one. Yeah, I like their main guys coming back in theory, right? With Denver? Yeah, they sat out another game, but they should be back. I assume they're going to play, so well-rested. And they do have their number for whatever reason. The Nuggets have the Lakers' number. So I'll keep riding that sort of success against them. I think they're...

think didn't the Lakers get a win against the Nuggets earlier this year I think earlier in the era though yeah so yeah I'm with you I just think that Denver usually plays LA pretty solid very well yep and unlike my bracket this I go with my gut

How about that Clippers pick last night? How about that swerve that I did? I moneylined him. Something funny about that line. I moneylined him last night, baby. So we'll see. You're the only one with the Lakers. Yeah, I've flipped a coin these last two days. Have you really? We're still watching Jeff. I flipped a Jeff. All right, Jeff. Oh, man. There he is. Wow. Jeff is moving. All right. A couple more times of Jeff falling on his head. Yeah, he was a draft prospect before this.

They're like, you should see this guy. He can do a backflip. No problem. We'll put him right at center court. There's a funny part of that clip after watching it now a hundred times where he does a little glance over at his buddy who obviously successfully pulls it off.

Because I guess he's maybe waiting for him to finish it. Yeah, because they do it in order. Yeah. Like, see, see, see, see. He literally nodded. He's like, all right, let's do this. It's done. I can understand the reason that we didn't make this guy the winner. Yeah, we were working for the, you know, air quotes, NBA at the time. Oh, we were afraid. We were...

I can understand. Get that call from Silver. The control room deciding, nah, we can't do that. Not good enough. That's my nephew! That's my nephew you're making fun of on NBA TV!

That's me doing silver. That guy's name is Jeff Silver. Hi-ho, Jeff Silver. People are saying that's the next pick and payoff. You got to do that. Wow. That's how me attempting to do it would not look exactly. I think I could do exactly what Jeff did. You got to keep trying to do a backflip until you land it.

Jesus. If I were to... Like our neck. I couldn't even do that. I would fall. I wouldn't get that far. Would you just like jump on your back? That's hard, dude. Yeah, that's hard. That's hard, dude. Trampoline. Maybe we could use a little trampoline to help us. Okay. Okay. Sure, why not? Let's call it there. Silly season here in the NBA. Join us tomorrow. We're going to fill out our bracket. The perfect bracket happens tomorrow. You're going to watch it live.

here on No Dunks at 10 a.m. Eastern. We'll talk about whatever we need to about the NBA tonight, and hopefully we'll see you then. Until then, cover bros. You heard it here first. Have a great time. Turn up. Love you guys. Awesome. Thanks for joining us, and remember, if anyone knows where Jeff is, Jeff's story, let us know. Because here in the stream team, there's rumors here. These rumors are not true, so I'm not even going to repeat it. This is not true. This is...

not been verified. Who's your source? Anyway, let us know what's going on with Jeff. What are they saying? That Jeff is there? Or they know Jeff? Well, it's the opposite. The opposite of that. He's there. Oh, come on. Come on. I'm going to name you SpoonieBard3000. I'm not going to say what you said, but SpoonieBard3000. I don't think that's true. This is turning into a Dick Wolf production. Race the day, people.

What up, y'all? Zena Kata here with a huge announcement. We're dropping a new show. No off-season, the Athletic Women's Basketball Show. Same place, same time, but we're bringing the heat with some brand new energy. Join myself, Ben, Chantel, and Sabrina as we give you an inside look at the game with candid conversations, in-depth analysis, and taking on the hottest topics around women's basketball. Plus, we're bringing in the big

the biggest names in the game to weigh in on all the action. So mark your calendars because no off season. The athletic women's basketball show is launching Monday, March 17th with fresh episodes every Tuesday and Friday. You can find us on Apple, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Top 10 NBA Prospects To Watch During March Madness, Draymond's DPOY Case, Vintage Kawhi 01:04:59 Share

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Top 10 NBA Prospects To Watch During March Madness, Draymond's DPOY Case, Vintage Kawhi