LEAP: Will Dylan Harper or Stephon Castle ASCEND To All-NBA This Year?!

0:00This is the Lockdown Podcast Network celebrating 10 years of your team every day. This is Jake from Lockdown. When the game is 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 help set you up with a game plan that works for you. Like a good neighbor, State Farm is there. The cover options are selected by the customer, availability and eligibility, vary by state. On Today's Show, on Yesterday's Show, we talked about breakout stars for this upcoming

1:10season in the Eastern Conference. Well, tonight we are flipping things over to the West. Swipe and I both have five guys that we think could take a big leap forward in the Western Conference. We'll tell you who there are next right here on this edition of Lockdown and Be a Game Night. When that final buzzer rings, you know it's time for Lockdown NBA Game Night. All the post game reactions to every game across the league, every single night with insights only the hosts that Lockdown can provide. It's the true NBA fans. One stop for all the action. Every game every night. It's Lockdown NBA Game Night tipping off now. What's up everybody? My name is Danny Cunningham from Over at Lockdown Caps. You swipe up from Over at Lockdown nuggets and you're making the latest edition of Lockdown NBA Game Night. You're very first listen of the day and today's episode brought you by Square. Right now you can get up to $200 off Square Hardware at square.com slash go slash NBA. Run your business smarter with Square. Get started today. If you missed yesterday's show, it's a great one. You don't want to go back and listen to it after you're done listening to this one because

2:14what we did yesterday night, Swipe, the rare weekend where you and I are together both nights. So what we did on Saturday night, we talked about five players. We both picked five players in the Eastern Conference that we think are going to take big steps forward this year. Now those big steps look a little bit different like for Scotty Barnes. It looks different. Taking a big step forward for him, maybe the Nas Reed or Matas Buzelles taking a big step forward for those guys. So on Sunday night show, we're going to do the same thing, but for the Western Conference guys, the way this is going to work, we're both going to pick five guys that we think can take big steps forward that play in the Western Conference. And again, these big steps forward going to look different. I think for everybody, but it was a lot of fun yesterday. And I'm excited to talk about some young rising stars in the West. Yep. And I am sure that you're going to be in disagreement with some of the stuff that I'm going to have up here, but you know what? I'm not going to let you bully me anymore, Danny. What if I ever bullied you? Have I ever bullied you?

3:15I can't wait because there are multiple players are on my agenda machine for next year. Can't wait to talk about it. All right, who's the first player on your agenda? Castle. I have him written down. Castlevania. I have him written down. Go. Castlevania. There is not a person other than the family member for Stefan castle, including Spurs fans, I will say that probably likes to fall more than I do. Okay. I wanted so badly for him to not be a top 10 player. About midway through his year at Connecticut. I was like, maybe people will think he's like a, you know, a project in really good defensive upside, no offensive skills whatsoever. And to be fair, his rookie year, not great offense, not great, but he showed a lot upside extremely inefficient player his rookie year, but you could see there's hope are in him. Good passer, good rebounder, really good defensive chops. But then the second year, 16.7 points per game.

4:18Y'all, he shot 33% from three in a year, but he shot 40% from three from January on up. And then on top of that, he shot 53% from two. And this is somebody that for me, he is like the next gen Russell Westbrook. He does it all. Don't drive, shoot, pull up, defend, block, you name it. He can do it all. He is a Uber, Uber, Uber athlete. Just the Fond Castle, I think his upside is Magnumus. And I'm talking about all in B.A. Magnumus. He is 21 years old, chat. He's 21 years old will not be 20 until November 1st of this season. He is incredible. And he's already played some really good playoff games. He has some big moments into playoffs in the finals. Some moments I was pretty hard on them, obviously an NBA final where he wasn't playing up to par mentally, I think. But to do look SGA in the eye and gave him all he had defensively.

5:23And then he had 20 turnovers in the first two games of the Western Conference finals, I believe, but it was like it was him and no deer in Fox. And he had to go out there and figure out how to play point guard against the best perimeter defense maybe ever as a second year player. And you can see like the moment he's just figuring out more and more. He is a he's years away from being a complete product. But he got which I still think this is not good. He got two all in B.A. votes this last year, which I thought we're ridiculous because he doesn't deserve anything near and all B.A. But I see the vision with the voters that did that. I think that we're going to be here next year, Danny. He might be an all star next year. We're going to be like dang and year four, he's going to be an all in B.A. player. And then he's going to have signed a rookie extensions and super max that match it win be at $250 million by the time we get here next off season as well. He's one of those players like put him on my board.

6:29Right home to mama to Fond Castle, one of my guys. So I had him written down to. I thought that he was a relatively easy pick to make because I think that when you see the ups and downs that he had in the post season and the way that I think he grew through some tough moments like you brought up the what was it 20 turnovers in the first two games of the Western Conference styles and yesterday in Fox was out in those games and there was more on Castle shoulders against a really, really good defensive unit in Oklahoma City. But the way that he responded to that stuff, just like it really struck me as somebody that's going to be a star in this league for a really long time. And I think that with what he's able to do and the steps forward that I think he's taken offensively from the guy that he was after being the number four overall pick out of Yukon coming into the league is rookie. So the guy he is now and it's only two seasons in. I think he's made a really, really big step in that direction already. And I expect more from him offensively this upcoming season.

7:31Now like the one question I have because I've got another guy from the spurs written down here too and it's a minute second. Yeah, we know what it is. I wonder, I wonder what this all looks like because we're not going to talk about Wembee today. Like Wembee is not what he's going to be, but like I don't think that he is taking these big steps anymore as far as like where he's at in the NBA, right? Are we going to do you have Wembee on your list? Of course, no, but like he's 22. Of course, but like he, we already know that like he is in that upper, upper, upper tier. Like he's in the comment when we ranked our best players like you had Wembee ahead of Yokech right now in the last year. Like that way, I think we did that last week. So I wonder what this all looks like with the spurs because they've got Wembee the guy that like if you told me that when April comes around, he is going to win the MVP and he's the guy that people look at and say, you know what, he is the best player in the world. I don't think I would be surprised by that, but I also wouldn't be surprised if Stefan

8:32Castle takes this big step forward the upcoming season and is in all star. And I wouldn't be surprised if Dylan Harper looks like a guy that's like, hey, we can't keep bringing this guy off the bench. Like he is a starter on a on a championship team in year two already. So I wonder how all that fits in in San Antonio. Well, it's going to have been in nicely. So Shostle is far castle. I think they have the best upcoming trio in the NBA and they are going to be a better version than Tim Duncan, Mono and Tony. So shut up. So let me ask you this about castle. What do you think is because offensively is the thing that I think is where he's taken the biggest strides and will continue to take strides. What do you think is next for him on that under the floor? What is he have to add to get to that level? We think he can get to for you. Oh, I mean, this is easily just control. He is, he can be an out of control player at times. If you look at per 100 possessions, he's averaging four and a half turn over the game per 100 possessions like given like his role on the team.

9:37Like that's not great. And he obviously is somebody who is learning how to play modern NBA basketball. And I say that because there was a moment in the NBA finals where the Fond Castle had an opportunity to try to score a jump shot. He tried to foul bait and he basically almost hurt himself, foul baiting. And then they ran down and they scored on the other end of three that ended up also costing the game and they lost by one. I just think for him, it's just maturity. Like he's still so young. He is not the most efficient player ever. But I don't think people know this. Danny, do you realize that he's already per 75 possessions? The same thing that we did in the mellable. Per 75 possessions is averaging 23 assists points. Per 75. The Fond Castle is at 22 assists points. Per 75. You know what I mean? Like we're not just talking about like somebody that like this dude, he could be an upper level passer in the sport at some point in time. And I think that's it's all within range for him to do. The other average is three remissists.

10:39Per 75 as well. The problem is he's averaging 3.8 turnovers per 75. Danny, that is 19 percentile. That is horrible. Terrible. I don't want him to be that version of us. He needs to be the version of us that does everything at a high level. But if he can just like work on containing the on ball turnovers, a passing turnover, a scoring turnovers, I think that is the stuff that will continue to help him develop into what he's going to be. Because again, just to give you another number. He's averaging 10. So basically when you look at scoring turnovers on 10 percent, almost 11 percent, 10.5 percent of his possessions where he's trying to score. He's turning the ball over almost 11 percent of the time. He's turning the ball over. That is a 3 percentile. Three. He's third percent to get better. He's turned over as a score. And then that's a passer. What did I say? That's a 1 percentile turnover.

11:40That's inexcusable. That's horrible. That has to make a seismic improvement. That is being a young player. And that's not an excuse for it. Like it is, as you said, an inexcusable thing. But that is one of those things that I look at and say, okay, this is your second year. Your third year, you cannot be anywhere near those numbers. I'm not saying that you have to go out there and win the assist to turnover ratio title. You don't have to turn into tie-as-shones in that category. But you can't be 19 percentile. You can't be what was it? Third percentile when you're a score. You have to be, I think a good goal in those areas for him would probably be let's shoot for 50th percentile or better because you do enough things otherwise really, really well, where you're not going to, at this point in your career, eliminate all of those bad things. That's just not a realistic ask, right? But if you can get him to be just like top half of the league in that area with all of the other things that he does really, really well, I think that could be a big recipe

12:41towards him taking a huge step forward. Offensively, I agree with you 100 percent. 100 percent, brother. So that's our first pick for both of us. We each have four more that we will talk about. We'll do so next right here. Lockdown NBA game night. But first, today's show is brought to you by Square, the system powering so many of the places that we already know and love, whether you're running a packed game day spot, a local restaurant, a growing business, whatever it is, Square gives sellers the tools to run their business without making things any more complicated than they need to be business. It can be complicated, but with Square, it doesn't have to be Square brings payments, inventory, payroll, invoices, customer insights, and so much more together in one connected system. So whether you're a one location business or if you're going into multiple locations, Square gives you the tools to sell, manage, and grow without needing an IT team to figure everything out. There's something that I think everybody can appreciate about a local spot that you go to on a game day, right? Football season is here. We had a full boat of college games this weekend.

13:41The NFL starts next weekend, and you might have a place you want to go to every weekend and watch games. And you could wonder, okay, like this is, it's crazy in here. How do they handle everything? You've got to quick check out easy payments, all that stuff keeps things moving smoothly. Well, they could be on a platform like Square because it does make a real difference behind the scene. So if you're a business or if you're running one that just quite frankly deserves better tools, Square helps you sell, manage, and grow without slowing down. And right now you can get up to $200 off Square Hardware at square.com slash go slash NBA that's square SQU ARE dot com slash go geo slash NBA. Run your business smarter with Square and get started today. This is Angus Maximus. This partner has one pound of a pound of hot sushi cooked to honor Angus Speed. It's more expensive than a quarter pounder. The burger of clothes. And for only $5.99 even regular juice can afford it. Like that guy. Give me that big old burger. Yeah.

14:42The whole Angus Maximus only $5.99 is cold senior. A bill for a limited time of participating restaurants tax on included. Not valid for use within a combo or in combination with any other offer or discount. Thank you for making this additional act that can be a game that your first or maybe even second listen to today. If you would please do us a favor, make sure you hit that thumbs up button and notification bell if you're watching alongside on YouTube. It really does help this channel out. So we both we talked about is to find Castle for about 10 minutes. He's on both of our lists. Who's your number two guy that you got on your list? Well, this is a no surprise at all. This is another player that I cannot stop talking about and I still in Harper. I'm sure he's on your list as well. Incredible player. Like I think he just had the best run for any guard. That's been a real for rookie since Magic Johnson in the playoffs. Just for context, everybody. This dude last year in the NBA playoffs and the reason I'm going straight to the playoff because in a regular seed, I think he was already better than Kelly Johnson and all

15:42of them. He's just didn't get the reps and the run to do it in the NBA playoff last year. He average 19 and a half points for 75. Nine and a half, nine point eight to six points for 75, 90% top, seven point seven rebounds for 75. And then on top of that, a 61 true shooting and he shot the ball, seven attempts a game at the rim on 66% versus the Portland trailbladers and Donovan clinging in Robert Williams versus Rudy Gobert and the Minnesota Timberwolves versus Chet Hart will do it. Everybody else for the Thunder and then versus Carl Anthony Tows and Mitchell Robinson for the next. He went through four really good defenses, really good defense. He still shot that well at the rim. His three point ball is something he's figuring out. But in that game seven, he did so much. They were a plus 11.4. It's a rookie when he was on the floor. The deepest in the playoffs was eight points better when he was on the floor.

16:45So you're talking about dude, Danny. I think he is going to be like CP three, not the passer playmaker, but in terms of like the defender, maybe John wall is a good like archetype for what he is. Like he's not going to be like a super, super high level passer, but he's going to be a really elite defender. Very good driver, good shooter. And he's also six foot four or whatever he is. Six five. Six five. Yeah. Yeah, that's a special like that's like a really special mix of a kind of player. And I think Dylan Harper is going to absolutely beat him in. So the CP three thing defensively is the little tough for me just because of the size difference. Like CP was what made him not what made him a little bit more impressive for him is that he was a smaller dude that was able to compete on that in the floor, which you just in today's

17:46NBA is a little bit different than when he was in his prime. But the fact that Dylan Harper is six foot five, unable to do all these things. I look at him and one of the questions that I had coming out of the playoffs is if he plays more in that series against the next, does that series go any differently? And I don't think it goes worse for them. Like yes, he had some rookie moments in the postseason. And I don't think that's an unfair thing to expect. But I think one of the things if you want just like in one sentence or maybe even one step to say, tell me the story of Dylan Harper's postseason, I think you would say Dylan Harper played more minutes per game in the playoffs than he did the regular season. And to say that about a rookie is a really, really rare thing because so often you see guys get to the postseason, those lights are a little brighter. It's the stages bigger and the coaches because you know, I just don't trust you quite as much. And you go from playing the 22.6 minutes per game that Dylan Harper played in the regular

18:47season. And it was like, okay, you're getting 17 minutes a night. No, and instead it was 22.6 to 26.7. So it's close to five minutes. It was four and a half minutes more per game in the postseason. Like that, I think tells a really accurate story of that this guy belongs out there. And I think that one of the things San Antonio is going to have to figure out is where does he fit in in this starting lineup because Dylan Harper cannot come off the bench for very much longer. I don't think you'll be started. Four games is rookie. He's going to like he needs to be in that starting lineup sooner than later. Yeah, it's going to be tough, man. It's not his fault that he probably won't start. I mean, a man's taking $50 million, $55, the starting lineup. Right. I'm going to take House out. But so has to start from me. He's a he's starting. There's no there's no taking him out of the lineup. And then it's going to be Tobias Harris and Wimby. Maybe Wimby can come off the bench. Could it doesn't matter, apparently, when he was putting it in for. Apparently doesn't matter when he plays. They're going to dominate those minutes anyway. Yeah, it's he's going to be a six man.

19:48It's going to be a little bit of a James Harden stuff. He might be better than James right now. It's going to be a little bit of a James Harden situation with OKC where he's probably going to win six man maybe once or twice. And it has nothing to do with talent. It's just like, I don't think I'm going to take out of the game. I don't think you can keep him on the bench for two more years, man. But like Fox is making $55, like how? I think Dylan Harper is too good. I think he's too bad. Yeah, for sure. Like he is. But like, what do you do with the, so I say, what do you do with like, because you can't like, you can't take Castle out, right? So like, you're really, really talking about Deer and Fox. And so if Deer and Fox, he has a four years left on this deal. He is going to be sitting at, let me see. His essentially just kicking in this year. Yeah, he has 49 next year, 53, 57, and then 61. That's upcoming. And these are all guaranteed seasons. This is not a player option, not a team option.

20:49So moving Deer and Fox, who is currently 29 years old this season. Moving him at 30 for 53 with 57 and 61 on the books. When they signed that contract, they didn't know they were getting the number two pick. When they signed that extension, they did not know they were getting that draft. Or when they traded for Deer and Fox, they didn't know they were getting that draft pick. Sure. And when they traded for Deer and Fox, they knew they were extending Deer and Fox. And I think that like, it's not to say, you know, if the Spurs could do this over, they would. Like I don't think they're unhappy to have Deer and Fox. But it changes things like it put them in a bit of an, it's a situation that would have been really tough to predict yourself. Like to be in, but it's a tough one. It is. It's a challenging situation to navigate. But I mean, it's a great situation, right? Like we have too many good players. Yeah, let's say we're awesome. We're the Spurs. We won 60 games in Wembe's 30 year. We went to the finals and our first playoff runs together.

21:49Oh, yeah, that's yeah. What a situation to be in. All right. Well, we now have, we both have three more guys to talk about and we don't have a time to do it. So we're going to hear our last break. And then we are going to kind of go through a little bit more rapid fire through our next picks right here on Lockdown and Big and Night. But first today's show is brought to you by Fandall. Welcome to your most rewarding NFL season ever, only on Fandall. How rewarding are we talking while more rewarding than a touchdown with time expiring, which may be we saw this past week. And in college, I don't know if time was expiring or if time had already expired. More rewarding than an 18 point comeback, maybe even more rewarding than an offensive lineman catching a touchdown. Because this season, Fandall's making the excitement go beyond what happens on the field with the all new Fandall rewards club featuring exclusive offer surprises in so much more. And this season, Fandall's making the excitement go beyond what happens on the field with the all new Fandall rewards club. Again, exclusive offer surprises and more every week check the Fandall app to see what's waiting for you.

22:50There are tons of great games. We've got games starting on Wednesday game on Wednesday game on Thursday abroad. And then of course, Sunday a packed slate, right? You're going to want to be on Fandall this weekend because there will be something for everybody. Maybe you want to get things started Seattle taking on New England on Wednesday now, or maybe Thursday night football in Australia. Probably going to be a little weird watching a game that's, you know, in a time zone 14 hours ahead of where I'm at on these coasts where a lot of people are at like that could be interesting just to see how that looks, but Fandall is going to have you covered. So make this your most rewarding season ever with Fandall visit Fandall.com to get started today that's Fandall F and D U E L dot com Fandall play your game. It's more face to the quarter pounder. The battle is closed and for only 599 even regular teams can afford it like that guy. You get that big open.

23:51Yeah. The whole thing just makes the most of the 599 is cold senior available for a limited time to participate in restaurants tax on included not valid for use within a combo or in combination with any other offer or discount. All right. So far in our Western conference list, we have more overlap than we did in the Eastern Conference. We both had Stefan Castle. We both had Dylan Harford. Do you have anyone else from the Spurs? Are we going to talk about some other teams now? No, I don't believe I have a Spurs player yet for you, but you know, she's going to see going. Are you okay? Well, I hope you're not bringing up to buy his hairs with your next pick. No, I'm going to go a little deep cut. I'm going to go Johan Beringer. I'm very sure you're out there. That one. That's it. Johan Beringer. I think he is going to be really important for what the wolves are wanting to do this next season. They don't have size outside of Rudy. And I don't care what anybody says in the Western Conference. That is a death note. One of the reasons they're so good at because how athletic they are, how big they are, how strong they are.

24:52And that's why Denver, you know, I think has struggled with it. Could Denver is also big, but they're even more athletic than Denver is in some way. They and they just play it obviously at certain level when they play them. But I just think that for them to be where they want to be next year, Johan has to become a legitimate rotation player. He needs to be somebody that allows for Rudy Gobert to take a break to sit on the bench and to rest because Rudy is going to be 35 years old this next year, I believe. Like that, that, that, that peak is been here. But that fall, people are really like wondering when he's going to take that down term. I don't think people realize Rudy, he's 34 now. He's had one of the longest defensive peaks we've ever seen. Typically, big don't last this long as good as they are. And he is literally the anchor for the squad. He is, I've said his freer, he's the most important player they have. Anthony is the best player to have because he is their identity.

25:53He's, they do everything around Rudy, but I do think there's a world man where they just need to be able to spell him a little bit. And Barry and Jay has to be to what I think to do that. And I think that trading Nas Reed and the way they did for La Mella Ball, who we're going to talk about in a second is a bit of a bad unbearanger. And I think the same thing can be said. And like I realized, the Julius Randall thing was the salary dump as well to kind of be able to open up what they were able to do this off season. But trading away that they're really, they're other two bigs, not that Julius was a guy you wanted to play at center, a bunch, but trading away their other bigs or a bet here. And I think it's one that I am going to be fascinated to see how it plays out. But I had La Mella Ball to try and like kind of go across our talk wolves here. I am, I am higher on La Mella in Minnesota than I think I was in Charlotte. And part of my reason here is, I think La Mella was in a mentally talented basketball player. I don't think he's built to be the guy.

26:55And I think part of the reason why at times things in Charlotte didn't go all that well is because La Mella was not somebody that is the guy. Like he's not a face of the franchise type of player. I think that sometimes his game can lack a certain seriousness that is required there. Like some of the, some of the high light real worthy stuff is awesome. But there's also some real low light worthy stuff that kind of goes along with it. But now being in a situation where he's going to play alongside Anthony Edwards. I think that he has an opportunity to play the best basketball of his career and really elevate a Minnesota offense that I don't necessarily look at and say, oh yeah, like that, you know, the wolves really needed an injection offensively. Like no, they didn't have words they were awesome. But I think that La Mella was going to make Anthony Edwards his life easier. I think Anthony Edwards is going to make La Mella Ball's life incredibly easier. Now part of it's going to have to be like some of those circus three is going to have to tone that down a little bit. But you mentioned that stat about 24 assists per 75 possessions,

27:57references to his points. I think we could see that number be higher this year in minutes. Given that who he's going to be and this is not shade to con Canippel and Brandon Miller and Miles Bridges and the guys that he was playing with in Charlotte. But he's playing with an MVP candidate type guy now in Minnesota. And I think because of that, La Mella was games going to be elevated. Yeah, I mean, I'm all on board with that. I think La Mella was going to be really good this year. Cures to see how it obviously to fit works, but I'm excited to see how everybody works, how it works for everybody. But yeah, for sure, I'm on board with that. Who do you have next? This is easy for me as Cooper Black. Him too. Perfect. Yeah. Cooper is already like on. He had star a star. He had star months last year at 18 in 19 years old. He is already going to be a monster. He has 21, 7 and 5 last year as a rookie, 47% from the field. More importantly, 51 from two, only 29 and a half from three.

29:00But you saw the defensive upside, the playmaking upside, the rebounding upside, the scoring upside, the shooting upside. And he also is just massive. Like he's legitimately six foot 10. Brother, he is going to be a, he'll be an all in being a player by year three. I'll take that right now. I think next year he becomes an all star. Like that is that quick. I wouldn't be surprised by that. And I think when we look at what Cooper Flag's rookie year was and what his second year could be, I think we kind of forget about something that I do think is going to be really important for him is what Dallas did with him positionally. Right. Like he played a lot of point guard for that Maverick's team. That's a really tough place to be, especially for somebody that is like not projecting as a point guard. When we, you know, 15, 18 years from now, when we look at Cooper Flag's career, you and I are not going to be doing the show going, man, Cooper Flag, what a great point guard. That's not what he's going to be. But he's going to have Kyrie Irving back this year. And that is going to be something that I think just having Kyrie's presence.

30:01And Kyrie's wild for me to say, like Kyrie's older statesman, like I just, I can't believe Kyrie's as old as he is at this point. Like it just feels like time has gone by way too fast. But having Kyrie in the back court to really help Cooper along, I think could be a really big deal for his development to sure. I like that. Let's go point. I think that's something that could happen. So now we are both at four. So you've got one left. Who is it? I really struggled with this one because I wanted to try to find a good one. I feel like we got some deep. I say, I say, Igor Yeeman yesterday. I was not expecting that. That was a really good pull. But I feel like this one's going to be a little simpler. And I'm just going to say scoot Henderson. I think he's kind of lost in the Jomeran, Dame Lillard, Shade and Sharp. And the scoot's like, you know, I got way better last year. Right. And there's a reality where a scoot also could be traded.

31:04I don't know if people know this. But scoot is like an actual NBA player now. And he had some real pop to his game. The shooting has gotten better. He shot 48% from two last year. He shot 35% from three over the last two years. Five minutes into game last year. Four assists, but his minutes went down. It was five assists that year prior. And then if you just look at Scoots overall game, like he actually is somebody that legitimately has real offensive upside with some defensive punch as well. So he will continue to get better. And just for people to understand what I mean by the defensive stuff, he defends like if you just look at his overall numbers as a closest rim protector, it's like a Derek White number. He has defended seven rim attempts, basically per game. Team for shooting 5% worse when he's the nearest defender at the rim. That's a Derek White stat.

32:06Like there are certain things you can start to build out with his game. You're like, okay, well, like the hand of the Paul Handling's there. The scoring is behind. He's not there yet. But like, you can see that he's getting better consistently. And there's things he's continuing to improve at. Not a great finisher at the rim yet. Not a great jump shooter yet. But like he's figuring out more and more how to do certain things. And again, the defense is five and a half points better when he's on the floor as well. That matters to me a lot that you could be a guard and the defense like infrastructure gets better because you're a part of it. And now it's just about figuring out the tinkering with the offensive stuff. Scoot is a little further along as a valuable starter guard for a team than I think a lot of people realize. I think that's a good pick. I like what Portland has on the roster this year. And I think part of the question with Scoot is going to be health, right? He only played 30 games last year. And I just think that when you're a young guy, even if he's

33:06played 60 plus games, you're one and you're two. When you're coming off a year where you don't play all that many games, you are going to be somebody that does have this opportunity to take a big step for, but it's also going to be okay. Like, was that a blip on the radar or is that who this guy is going to be? And I hope that's just a blip on the radar, but like there's a world where it's like, oh, the health stuff is real with him. And we will have to wait and see. So for my last one, I have somebody that I don't know that they're necessarily going to take a huge step up. But I think a lot of people are going to notice the sky more. And that is Kianta George in Utah. So very quietly last year because nobody's paid attention to Utah jazz other than when they are purposely trying to bail or mayor, sick of mayors, maybe exactly right up your alley here. Not many people have been paying attention, right? Because Utah has just been trying to lose games. Like unless you are really dialed into the NBA or a jazz fan, you're not watching the jazz every night. He went from year two as a 21 year old 16.8 5.6 assists on 39 percent

34:13booting 34 percent from three in 31 and a half minutes. Did that his age two season at 21 to last season? 23 and a half points 6.1 assists did so on at 45 percent shooting 37 percent from beyond the arc shot 51 percent from two shot just under 90 percent from the free throw line. He made a big leap last year and nobody noticed it. But this year, what's the big difference here? You thought jazz are going to be trying to win some basketball games. They're not going to try and be in the tank the way that they have been in the past. Now I wonder what's the opportunity you're going to look like? Jaron Jackson will be there. Daron Peterson will be there. Like the jazz will look different and the jazz will be good. But I think Kianta George is a real player and I think people are going to have to notice him this year. Yeah. In terms of like self-created scoring, he shot a plus three on basically relative like how well you were scoring when you were just simply like existing as a self-creator which is 90 second percentile. That's really good. You know, he was

35:15diverging 16 potential assists the game which is 60 second percentile. He's on ball a lot. 37 percent from three on the kind of shot that he takes as well. That's also important. He's also a very good tough shot maker which is like a my comfort him out of college was like your mole Murray and he very much has that kind of like you know physical like physicality to his game but also really good jump shooter. The problem is brother. You know, I said that first scoot Henderson on the defensive end that when he was the nearest defender just in general like that the team shot 5 percent worse. Yeah. Okay, but he's the nearest defender. Kianta George team shoot 15 percent better. That's not good. Brother. That's uh that's bad. You know a percentile that is? I'm guessing bad like fifth. That's bad. That's even worse. That's a zero percentile for those podcasts. Well, would you rather be a three percentile turnover player as a scorer is the

36:19fond of castle. There's zero percentile defender. Kianta George. Zero percentile defender. Really? I think yeah because I think that when you're a turnover high turnover guy like that it turns into points on the other end like it's a little bit different with castle because he's got wimpy that can erase a lot of stuff on the other end but turnovers often lead to easy offense. If you're just a bad defender sometimes you just get the ball back and go score yourself. You're not scoring and they're probably scoring. So I would rather be the bad defender than the turnover machine. That is hilarious. Yeah man. That's that's tough. I can't see my guy too bro. The jazz is going to be serious next year bro. I think they will be. I think I would be surprised. I'd be very surprised if they're at the very least not in the play in and I wouldn't be stunned if they're in the 7-8 game. Like there's a lot of talent on that team. I think Will Hardy is a really good coach and they're going to try and win basketball games for the first time since state trader for a lot of remarks since they traded down of a Mitchell and Rudy Gover. Like it's been a long time since they've tried to win games and they're going to do that this year. I'm excited to watch what it's going to be

37:21like. So those are the five guys in the Western conference that we think could take some big leaps. Maybe you have some guys that you want to comment below that you think could take a big leap as well either in the West or in the Eastern Conference if you missed yesterday's episode but that's going to do it for Swipe and I on this Sunday edition of Lockdown and Be a Game. So as we get out of here please do us a favor. Make sure you hit the thumbs up button and click that notification bell on YouTube if you haven't done so already and make sure that you're subscribed to this podcast where are you getting it. That's Apple. That's Spotify and of course YouTube as well. Lockdown and Be a Daily will be back on Monday and then Lockdown and Be a Game. We'll be back tomorrow talking about everything going on in the NBA. Meet the Red Bull Dragonberry Emergizer. It's one of the many new drinks out now. Who knew ice cold drinks could be so fire. Try them all only at McDonald's. Toyota's easy choice sales event is on whether you're looking for the performance of a camera the versatility of her at four the efficiency of a Corolla or all electric driving in the BZ

38:26there's a Toyota that's just right for you and with great deals across the lineup now's the time to find yours. But hurry these deals won't last long. Toyota's easy choice sales event and soon. We make it easy. Toyota let's go places.