Is Thomas Sorber READY TO IMPACT OKC Thunder | Grading Your HOT TAKES

0:00This is the Lockdown Podcast Network celebrating 10 years of your team every day. Thank you for making Lockdown your first listen every day. For your second listen, find the Lockdown NBA Podcast where there's no offseason. West Matt and Hayes keep you up to date on contract negotiations, rumors and everything you need to be the most informed NBA fan. Find Lockdown NBA on YouTube or wherever you listen to podcasts. Part of the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every day. On today's Lockdown Thunder Podcast, is Thomas Sorber ready to make an impact for O.K.C.? Don't be surprised to see this rookie in the rotation. You are Lockdown Thunder, your daily Oklahoma City Thunder Podcast.

1:00Part of the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every day. Let's get it going on the Lockdown Thunder Podcast on the Lockdown Podcast Network. Your teams every day, I am your host. Meet me, and beat Ryder for Thunder on SI.com. Ryland Styles, follow me on Twitter, Ryland Under's Quest House. Follow the show on Twitter at a little ThunderPod. Email the show, a little ThunderPod.com. On today's show, we're diving into the Oklahoma City Thunder's hot takes from you. The fans as the season draws near. We've allowed for a lot of your hot takes to come through. We'll react to them today, including about one Thomas Sorber. Surprisingly, a lot of hot takes were about Thomas Sorber, including this one from Nevermind, who says Thomas Sorber, will fill all of the O.K.C. flaws. That's a lot of expectation to put on Thomas Sorber. Michael Kennedy says Thomas Sorber will average 13 points,

2:008.5 rebounds, 1.2 blocks, and 38% from three this season. That's a lot of expectation to put on Thomas Sorber. Smokey Barra, Cost Thomas Sorber, The Missing Piece, and The X Factor for O.K.C. this season. We're rolling that all into one, and we can break these down. Is he going to fix all of the Thunder flaws? Well, that's a 8.5 out of 10 hot takes, just from the standpoint of it would take him being an excellent three-point shooter. It would take him being a suretly a guy who can switch and defend wings where there's conflicting ideas about that. Me personally, I do see Thomas Sorber as a guy who could defend fours and fives, but there are people like Derek Parker who don't believe in that, who believe that Thomas Sorber can exclusively play the five at the NBA level.

3:00So for him to overcome all of that, and plug in those holes for O.K.C. and erase those two obvious concerns, obvious flaws of this team, it would be a remarkable rookie season. Even for him to simply average 13 points per game on this team, with this many scores, with this role that you're expecting Thomas Sorber to play, it would have to be a 10 at the time of the day, and not take coupling with 8.5 rebounds a night and 1.2 blocks a night. The three-point shooting is what I'm interested in for Thomas Sorber, not because I think that he's going to be some sort of sharp shooter, but because I do wonder what will the three-point shot look like in a same vein as a J. Will, who was not a shooter in college, if you remember J. Will, neither Thomas Sorber, Sorber shot just 18% from Beyond the Arc in college,

4:01but Sorber did shoot 72% at the three-throw line, which we always use to translate to the touch in the three-point shot, etc. But if you remember J. Will, he was confident in shooting the ball, even as a rookie from Beyond the Arc, even though he'd never done it before, and his high-level basketball life, right, obviously probably didn't high school, but must be serious. And the defensive structure from the opposition welcomed J. Will, and he shot the ball with confidence and knocked it down at a high-club, and for two straight years, teams practically ignored him on the outside, forced him to shoot, and he waltzed his way into good efficiency, and it's an easy bucket to impossessions. Could Thomas Sorber have that similar outcome as a guy who's coming off of a 20 ACL in a red shirt season, in which, you know, form shooting and trying to work on your shot, one of the few things that you can do earlier on in the rehab process?

5:04But Thomas Sorber's impact on this team, I think, will be one to monitor because you heard Justin Martinez and I yesterday talking about the best bets for the Thunder, and we made some bets that were fake. We're just for fun to keep track of on the pot. And one of mine was that Thomas Sorber would play more minutes than the Dymara. And I think that that hinges on the defensive end for Thomas Sorber, who in college was an elite defender. I mean, in all possessions, he greets out as an excellent defender according to synergy, giving up 0.7 points per possession. And you look at what he did in college, and how he defended in the post, only letting up 0.4 points per possession and the post, only letting up 0.6 points per possession and isolation. And dominating in the picking role, allowing a roll man to score 0.5% of the time. Like, he was really good defensively. He was a shot blocker. He was athletic. He was long. He was physical.

6:04And those things have to be day one ready for Thomas Sorber to make an impact at the NBA level. Now, the question is, how is he going to be as a lateral mover coming off of this ACL? How is he going to be with a foot speed to keep up with wings at the NBA level? Because if he can turn himself into a more versatile defender, then that's the pathway to more minutes. That's the pathway to a higher impact level on this team. Then you get to the offensive end. I think he's got to be better than Winston College as a roll man in the picking role. He's got to be a more vertical threat, rolling through the rim. He's got to be polished in the dunker spot. He's got to go up with explosiveness at the cup, force the issue at the rim, play with force. And then from there, how much can he grow from a nice connective playmaker to a good borderline, very good connective playmaker,

7:06which is kind of a focal point of this thunder system of which a lot of the pigs are ahead of him. Like I say, a heart and sign obviously is elite. J will very good teetering toward elite if he continues to progress that way. A dimara huge selling point of his game as a connective playmaker. And then you've got Thomas Orber. How much does that grow this season? His playmaking ability out of the short roll. His playmaking ability for this team in the high post. How much does he improve as a picking role partner? How much does he improve in the dunker spot? And then yes, can he knock down threes at any level, given the floor spacing of the thunder offense in the sense of where they position their players on the court, and what that will do to the defenses. But I do wonder if you can use Thomas Orber as a curve ball, as a change up, as an out pitch for this thunder repertoire.

8:07So that's an analogy that Mark uses a lot, you know, curve ball, slider, etc. And one of the ways that I think that he can do that for this team is by being around the basket. Letting this guy with this catch radius, with this length, with this hypothetical explosiveness at the rim, hang out around the cup and force you to make a decision early in the action with shade coming downhill. With Jada coming downhill, with AJ coming downhill, where either his defender has to freeze and stay with sorbure and allow for those three guys, Shay, AJ, to pick apart the defense in the mid range as those three guys are known to do. Or his defender has to commit to the incumbent driver of those three, and those three can dump off a pass to him behind the defense, and he gets an easy bucket. So it's kind of flipping the script from the typical guys of the drive and kick to a guy planted at the rim, and that's how you space the floor.

9:17That's how you force defensive decisions. That's how you open up clean locks. I think it'll be very interesting to figure out who Thomas sorbure is going to be. And especially if he improves as a playmaker to any respect, because this is based on his playmaker is already pretty good. But if he improves in any respect as a playmaker from learning and sitting and watching, as it's hard to sign work, Jay will work talking to those guys and implementing that into his game. Well, then all of a sudden you can start to talk about what has been an area that Oklahoma City has not leaned on overly much undermark and with this roster. And that's his ability to score on post-op opportunities. If you can dump the ball into him as a post-op man, and he can either get to his shot and score, or force attention to him and make the right read and kick it to the open man, then it's another vessel. It's another option for you to generate high quality offense, high quality shots, and you give a roster this talented, you give a roster this deep, you give a roster this good, high quality possessions, the math is going to math.

10:29You're going to eventually find success offensively. And so when we're talking about this offseason of Oklahoma City, something that I've always came back to was Sam Presses' quote in the Oklahoma about reimagining who they are after these offseason moves. Those are two ways that they can kind of change what's been their typical MO and change it for the better. But I think that the pathway for more sober minutes does hinge on who's right. If I'm right and he can defend multiple positions, even just PowerFord and Center, then he deserves a lot more minutes as the season progresses. However, if I'm wrong, if someone like Derek Parker, who's usually right, is right, and he is a exclusively five defender at the NBA, almost exclusively playing drop coverage, not very switchable, at least not switchable as I think that he can be.

11:30Well, then you look at it and say, well, you know, the skillsets that we're talking about, other guys on this roster is just simply better at a dime more a walks into this league for as many flaws as you can point to from his summer league performance. A dime more a walks into this league as a better drop covers defender than Thomas Sober. I say a heart and Stein clearly a better drop covers defender than Thomas Sober already and more versatile provenly in the NBA level than both of these two guys of sober and Mar. J. Will with his defensive improvement from a year ago, he would be better at that point than Thomas Sober defensively. It looked different because Thomas Sober's would look with a lot of wild plays, right. You wouldn't have to necessarily be as as in tune into the film room to see the sober stand at defensive plays as you would for the J. Will looks at defensive plays. But when it comes out in the wash of who lets up buckets, who's in the right spots, who can cover more ground, you would lean J. Will from the jail improvements of these made from a year ago, athletically with a spotty with his defense.

12:33And so a lot of this is going to hinge on that simple aspect. And I think that we'll see it right away. I think that you'll I think that in training camp, you'll hear murmur rings, right. And I take this every year. The first people to know who's going to have a good year is that team. And it's been foolproof. Since I've gotten here and started spouting that off every training camp, we show up at the Thunder Facility. We get let in for the last five minutes of the shoot around portion of practice at the end of practices. They waltz a player over a couple players over in training camp in a coach. And every year. They tell you who's good. They tell you who's standing out and not and you have to really dissect this. The players who are standing out above the rest, the answers will always come back to them, even if it's not asked about them directly, even if they're not asked directly, how does Thomas Sober look?

13:34If they're standing out and training camp, somehow it'll be tied back to those guys. Look at AJ Mitchell. His rookie season. Every third question. Somehow the answer included an AJ Mitchell story, an AJ Mitchell anecdote, an AJ Mitchell praise. Then you get tonight one in Denver. When you're excited about this new team who went in for Coruso, who went in for Isaiah Hardenstein. Who had a championship aspirations, who was just the one seed in the West. And here's AJ Mitchell in the first game in Denver. I think guys couldn't stop talking about him in preseason and training camp for good reason. Who's going to be that training camp story this year? I think it could be Thomas Sober. Because again, I think it'll have the wild plays defensively, taking things away vertically as a vertical rempire doctor. And then unique ways to create offense. While also having the pie in the sky. And what's the pie in the sky? The pie in the sky for Thomas Sober is his three point shooting.

14:38What if he's just killing it and training camp from three? And every player has a little bit of a pie in the sky. What if Kason Wallace is dominant on the ball? Now I've had my reservations about Kason Wallace actually taking it on in the ball. This year, that's been well documented on this show. But we'll know when training camp. So if he's crushing it on the ball and training camp, they'll tell you. Because these guys are going to be excited like the training camp is an exciting time. And they can't wait to tell you about their team and about their roster, about their guys. This is a very connected team, a very supportive team. A team that is very high on giving each other praise. So I'm excited to see and hear the stories from these guys on their teammates. And Thomas Sober could be a guy that stands out because they haven't had a post up guy. I got you dumped the ball into the post and he figures it out. They haven't had that many opportunities to have a vertical rim threat out of the pick and roll off.

15:39They've had they've had shed homebrews of excellent shop locker. Like Thomas Sober, at least shop locker in the sense of outside of chat, who they brought in. And then similarly to J. Will, right, with the three point shooting. The surprise aspect. No one's expecting Thomas over to shoot three's. And I don't know that he will. Right, but we also didn't know that J. Will would and look what happened with his career. So it's all very fascinating. I understand the excitement. The question is is he ready to play. And I think this guy's going to be ready. I think he's ready to make some level of impact. And you can't get above your skis. You can't get you can't get too far down the trail of saying that he's going to be some sort of fixture of this team. But I do think that he can make a winning contribution to this team in the regular season.

16:43And lay the foundation for the rest of his career this year. It'll be fun to watch. But coming up, we'll get the more of your hot takes. First one thing right now, but your friends over at Odo go check out Odo today because running a business shouldn't feel like you're trying to connect the bunch of systems that were never designed to work together. One app for accounting another for inventory and other for sales. And somehow none of them talked to each other. That's where Odo comes in. Odo is an all in one business management software that brings every part of your business together in one powerful platform from sales and accounting to inventory and marketing. Everything works in one place. Odo is the one platform to manage, grow and scale your business. The best organizations know that success isn't just about talent. It's about having everyone working toward the same goal. That's true in sports just like in business. Go check it out today because the one thing that really stands out is the fact that this is the way you should be running your organization. Everybody pulling in the same direction with the decisions that are made with your company with your business. It isn't just a one great player in it or in this case, one great employee.

17:44You want to have coordination. You want to have a coordinated effort across the entire organization to make you successful just like you do in sports. So great organizations when because operations matter. That's why you should get Odo. Odo is the one platform to manage, grow and scale your business. Try for free today. Odo. Odo. O. O. .com slash lock down. Odo.com slash lock down. This is Jake from Lockdown. When the game's on the line, the best no way to pass because the right assist can change everything. And off the court, it's no different. That's where your state farm agent comes in, whether it's protecting your car, your home or helping you prep for the unexpected. They'll upset you up with a game plan that works for you like a good neighbor state farm is there coverage options are selected by the customer availability and eligibility vary by state. We're back. I'm like down Thunder podcast. I'm all like done podcast work your teams every day. We're talking Thunder basketball. How many have some hot takes first one being OK, so you'll be healthy and we'll win the championship with only four to five losses and all the playoffs.

18:52So an entire playoff run of only losing four to five games. Well, this year, right, they swept the first two rounds that they lost four games in the Western Currents finals. Let's say that they sweep the first two rounds again. It's hard to sweep all around and they've swept the first round upon it. No Orleans Memphis and Phoenix. There'd be four straight years of sweeping the first round and Peckley are sweeping the second round, even harder. Let's just say for the sake of argument that they do it. The question is what happens in the West finals and the NBA finals at that point if you're going to win it and you're going to keep the losses low. Well, obviously you can't lose four times in the Western Currents finals, but the really think that OK, C and San Antonio won't play a seven game series. That series is going to go seven games. So that's three losses right there to get to the NBA finals and you've left them four to five, which means that the NBA finals can go no longer than six, which isn't unheard of by any means.

20:04And perhaps, right? Perhaps there's a world in which you can get the right draw and the right match up and the Eastern comments foe by the OK, see being fully healthy can only push you to six. But you go back to 2025 and you think about this question. 2025, they sweep Memphis. They go to seven against Denver. They go to five against Minnesota in a series in which yeah, you got blown out in game three and yeah, Minnesota played a tough game for otherwise the series was as laps sided as can be. In terms of pure diamonds in terms of knowing who the better team was. But then you ran into the Indiana Pacers who will if you go back a lot of people in Oklahoma City, a lot of people nationally try to tell you that doesn't be a quick series. Uncle Ryan knocked on Thunder told you that go the distance that a pastures team was unique that Pacers team was equipped that Pacers team pushed OK, C to seven games.

21:15And so you look at the Eastern comments competition this year, New York. You know, Philadelphia, Philadelphia, hypothetically got to the finals. That means that not only did these accusations work of LeBron and Jalen Brown, but Jolene B is healthy. Terry's Maxi has taken another step. DJ Edgecom is awesome. So you've got to think I know that right now and I'm with you. If you just were ranking teams, you would rank OK, C San Antonio, one or two in the NBA, flip flop them however you want to and then have a clear line in the sand of that's tier one. I think that that's very fair. Even for the fact that the next are winning champions, even for the fact that that all of you has made their additions, I think that there's a clear line of demarcation of tier one being OK, C in San Antonio and then tier two, starting off in the east. But man, you're giving up three losses to San Antonio.

22:19And again, you've got to remember what it will take to get to the finals, especially in this Eastern conference and Eastern conference with extreme competitiveness and Eastern conference that is much improved and Eastern conference champion will be battle tested. I think that this has to be considered a minimum 9.85 out of 10 hot take. Because it's just it is unbelievably difficult to win a championship period no matter how you do it. Then you bake into the cake, the question mark of health, you bake into the cake, the question mark of could you only lose four to five games. Because we did skip over the first two rounds. You go to that Minnesota series, you got to bring it back to that. The Minnesota series was never in jeopardy. You were never going to lose to Minnesota. You were always the superior team in Minnesota, but you still lost a game.

23:19Because it's hard. It's really hard to sweep opponents. If this team is the two seed in the West, instead of the one, which I could see happening, and now you're playing the three seed instead of the four or five matchup, the bracket can work out in a disfigurable position. I do think that this has to be considered at least a 9.85 out of 10. But it's a hot take. It's a hot take. Listen, financially speaking, business wise, lock time funder would hope that the state comes to be. A lot of moving parts in it. Okay, so you will have three ONBA selections this season. I'm going to give that this is my surprise. I'm going to give that at 8.15 out of 10. Because here's the deal. I am on record saying that J double return to all NBA status this year. I think that's true.

24:19I'm also on record saying that Chet Holmerins all in BACs in last year was deserved. I think that that's true. And then chase a lock. Now, I do think it'd be very difficult to convince the voters to give OKC three slots on the all NBA team. But if they have the best record again, and they have a healthy season of J double chat while doing so and she. Then you're only a couple guys missing the 65 game threshold, a couple locks that you think right now on paper. If all things were equal, they'd be locked into the all NBA team. Just a couple of them missing the 65 game threshold from this coming to be. And also the fun of the whole to hold up there into the bargain. So the complications there is what brings up the rating, but it's not about how to take a saying what the first one. And then your next I take Mara and sober are going to play more than 500 minutes each minutes each this season.

25:22That's a 7.3 out of 10. A lot of minutes, a lot of minutes for two rookies. But then I look at it and say, look, you know what? This team has an exactly in the picture of health over the last couple of seasons. And I uncle right look, I'm not a doctor. I didn't stay the best Western. I don't pretend to be one on television or on podcasting platforms. But I would encourage Oklahoma City to be cautious this year as a hard and a sign. Two straight seasons of him having these calf strains flare up. You want to be very careful with him because of how pivotal it is to this raster and to this team and to this team's ability to win big. It is similar, but not quite right somewhere, but not quite the same as the crew so situation where you know with crew so you want him at the end. And you want him playing his style of basketball at the end. You do not want to waste that in the regular.

26:23She's doing a bubble wrap him. You don't have to bubble wrap as a hard sign to the extreme. They do crew so. But I think you got to be cautious with him. And I think they want to figure out what are these young guys. Because those decisions are coming faster than a hurry. Because again, Swobar hasn't played yet. He's a rookie. But that contract clock has already started for Swobar. So I could see it happening 500 minutes is a lot though obviously. But between injuries that can pop up between protecting players between one of these guys are both being good. It has a more higher probability than the other two. And the last one it'll be Kinrich's best season in OKC this year. I'll give it a 4.5. Because it is very loose with the definition of best. You can talk me into Kinrich's playing a big role in this roster this year. And so it's a very loose definition of best.

27:23So I think that that is a very fair take. That you can look back on it. You can find a statistic. You can find an eye test. You can find a gut feeling. That this is the best that you got from Kinrich. So those were all takes from our guy. Harvey coming up. Well, more of your heart takes. The problem of finding clothes that you can live it all day. Be comfortable and do whatever you need to do. Whether it's just chilling, go into meetings, playing golf, being on the move. That problem has been solved by Kozy Earth. The everyday polo is the answer. It's lightweight. Built to move with you. Just easy to wherever I've got it on right now. And it's fabulous. Plus the Kozy Earth essential socks. They're exactly what the name suggests. Soft, supportive, comfortable enough that you stop thinking about them halfway through the day. Plus Kozy Earth backs everything with a 10 year warranty and hassle free returns.

28:25So if something isn't quite right, you're covered. That makes trying them for yourself an easy decision. I've got the Kozy Earth everyday polo in blue and in black. Check them out at KozyEarth.com. Use the code Locked On for 20% off. That's right. Locked on for an exclusive 20% off. And if you see a post purchase survey, please mention you heard about it right here. KozyEarth.com. We're back. I'm Locked On Thunder podcast. I'm a Locked On podcast network. Your teams every day we hear talking thunder basketball. We hear talking about your hot takes this season. So let's continue on with this one from Thunder up 9991. Major hot take. Mark will sit down during a game this year. That's a 10 out of 10 out of 10. I don't think I've ever seen it happen before. It's very difficult to track.

29:26But especially if we're only counting in game action. Not time out. Not coming out of half time. But when the ball is live and in play, I think that this is not take that will come true, even while being a 10 out of 10 hot take. A.J. Mitchell FC says O.K.C. will have five players averaging 15 plus points per game this season. Now that's interesting. That is a fun one. But it is very difficult to see it happening. Five players averaging 15 plus points per game. So you look at it last year. You scroll down on the basketball reference page. And you look last year. They had three players who hit this plateau. A.J. Mitchell was close at 13.6. And let's just go ahead and bump him up to 15. So that's four. Now who's the fifth guy going to come from? Now, you know, as I had drove, had 11.1 points per game.

30:27And J.M. Cain had 10.4 points per game. But A.J. Mitchell getting to the 15 threshold while keeping Che and J.D. up and Chet above 15. That's a lot of scoring. And, you know, as I had drove, the benefit of having most of his shots come from the three point line. Now I will say this. It could happen with Kason Wallace, but not in the way that you think. And you might be thinking to yourself, that's crazy. Kason's never averaged above 10 points per game. How is he going to do it? Are you now pivoting from your stance of him being an on-ball guy? I'm not pivoting from my stance. I'm being an on-ball guy. That would be silly. There's nothing that's happened yet to change my mind. I'm not opposed to changing my mind. But again, we have nothing more to base it off of the way we've had the rest of the summer. However, while I've been trying to cool the jets on Kason being an on-ball guy, this year, and cool the expectation level. Because I think that the expectation might be a bit too much to put on the guy. Because I think that it is at this point become self-serving.

31:28Right? It's self-serving to the fans to say, well, look at that two game stretch, four game stretch in February. He's going to do it. He said that was a lot of fun. And you've hyped it up to the point where, if it doesn't happen, you're going to crush Kason Wallace. When, again, I will point to you, this is the guy who's never averaged over 10 points per game. And never particularly gotten close. This is the guy who's never performed on the ball in his NBA career outside of a four game stretch. In fact, when this team was down and out in the postseason in terms of ball handlers, he still didn't do more on the ball. We'll get to that in a second. And he plays for a coach who is the most exploratory coach in the entire NBA, who's willing to try unorthodox methods, who's willing to do anything it takes to explore his roster. And even with the point card background, and even with that four game sample size, didn't go to the case that on ball will at all hardly in three years. So, you know, color me skeptical that all of a sudden things will flip in year number four.

32:31It might, and if it does, I'll change my mind. But I'm not going to put that on him right away. But we're going to tie back to the playoffs. Yes, case and did not, all the sudden, become an on ball extraordinaire in the postseason, especially in that spur series, when this team did not have ball handlers and did not have other options. And they needed anybody and anybody to step up. He didn't do that. But what did he do in that spur series? This is where I think his pathway to averaging 15 points per game comes from. He mastered his role of a 3-in-D player. He mastered it. He shot, you know, over, you know, he shot 50% from three on five attempts a night. You look at the spur series, eight points in game one, 12 points, 11 points, 5 points, 7 points, 11 and 17 points. Yes, like this is a guy who didn't have that on ball explosion.

33:36But if you can get this guy to three to five, three, a night, like he ended that series on while having a 4 point, 3 point, 3 night in game two, if you can get him to that level consistently. Well, now you're talking about a guy who's going to have more minutes than is a Joe, the benefit of the three point shooting like as he had Joe on top of the fast break opportunities that he creates for himself, and him running the floor off of other turnovers defensively. And you can see him pieceworking together 15 points per game because again in that spur series, while he didn't have the on ball leap, he did leap up to 10 points per game. And you know, again, he hasn't done that over a season in his career. And that's with the five point snooze fast of the blowout loss in San Antonio. And that's with the disappointing eight points in game one. So if he does master the three in the role, I think that you could see it get to the point where that mix with any other improvement offensively,

34:38playing off the catch better and getting to the rim, being in transition, attacking a closeout and getting into the mid range. And the other improvement on top of mastering the three in the role would put him flirting with 15 points per game, which would really be the only way to get the additional fifth 15 point per game guy. So that's what you're banking on. And after laying that out, right, after hanging all that out, what do you think we should grade this hot take? Because I think that this is another easy 9.8 minimum. Because none of those other guys can regress and two guys have to progress pretty substantially. I think that this is a very, very hot take, but that was the goal. That was the mission. So good job from AJ Mitchell FC. He also puts in there a Utah one. Utah will be top six seed in the West.

35:39I'd say 6.7. I didn't do that on purpose, but that's a good little meme there. Maybe I'm clickbaiting. Maybe I'm what's it called? Clip farming. Clip farming. I got my memes mixed up. But yeah, 6.7 for Utah being top six. I could see that happening. I do wonder though what this season will look like. Because Utah is a prime team who in years past, under the old lottery rules and during drafts in which there was a key prospects at the top of them, which this draft does not have and this draft does not have good lottery odds. Under those circumstances, a team like Utah with this roster could just simply outwork teams. They could just simply try harder in the 18 game season and outperform their win lost total and outperform their seeding. Then the playoffs, they don't they fizzle out. But this year, I do think that there's not that much incentive at all to be a roll full team. There's not much incentive at all to not try each and every night. So it would be harder to do it based off that alone.

36:43But Utah still is a pretty good roster that could do this based upon merit. So I think that it's a it is a simpler pathway to a victory there on that hot take. Let's end this with a 17 out of 10. Harry says this has to be this has to be a troll. This has to be a troll. Harry says Brooks Bartiser will be a starter in the next five years. Look, Brooksy is my guy. Let's worry. Let's worry first about role player. That's where he first about bench player in the NBA before we talk starter. starter for Brooks, by nicer. That's the hottest take we've had all year. And we had a guy that had J will having like what 10 triple doubles. Let's worry about being in the league and fires and again, Brooksy is my guy. And I know it doesn't sound like it because of this segment. I really like proxy as person, but like, come on.

37:44That's got to be a troll. Anyway, folks, we'll be back tomorrow with McCrain to rank the contenders in the NBA. Be good and be good to one another. This is Jake from Lockdown. When the game's on the line, the best no end to pass. Because the right assist can change everything. And off the court, it's no different. That's where your state farm agent comes in, whether it's protecting your car, your home, or helping you prep for the unexpected, they'll upset you up with a game plan that works for you. Like a good neighbor, state farm is there. Covered options are selected by the customer, availability and eligibility vary by state. Thank you for making Lockdown your first listen every day. For your second listen, find the Lockdown NBA podcast where there's no off season, West Matt and Hayes keep you up to date on contract negotiations, rumors and everything you need to be the most informed NBA fan. Find Lockdown NBA on YouTube or wherever you listen to podcasts. Part of the Lockdown Podcast Network. Your team every day.