The Athletic NBA Daily
Who should the Sixers take in the NBA Draft? + Thunder Rolling | Slam N Jam
Sat, 24 May 2025
Andrew Schlecht and Alex Speers are joined by Bryce Simon of the Game Theory Podcast to discuss the NBA Draft and who the Sixers should take 3rd in the draft, which players have the most potential outside the top 3, player comps and much more. In part 2 the crew discusses the Conference Finals and if the Wolves have any answers for the Oklahoma City Thunder. Host: Andrew Schlecht and Alex SpeersWith: Bryce SimonExecutive Producer: Andrew SchlechtAudio/Video Editor: Gonzalo Torres Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Chapter 1: Who should the Sixers take with the third pick in the NBA Draft?
Yeah, so Ace Bailey is still third on my big board. I think he's probably the consent... I don't know if consensus might not be the right word. Yeah, in general, I think that's still the guy you're going to find at three. I think you will find a mixture of opinions in terms of some people will say Ace is definitely number three for...
We don't have to say it this way anymore, but if 30 different teams, any team that landed number three would draft Ace Bailey. I don't know that that is the case for everybody, though. I think some people would have Vijay. Some people, you know who I think is a good riser in this range is Trey Johnson. I think he's done really well for himself late in the cycle here, getting later in the cycle.
You know, my guy, Sam, he likes con can nipple a lot. He's a little higher on him than I am. I just see Ace Bailey and still like this is what the NBA is looking for in terms of a wing with shot making some potential defense, all of that. So I'm still there at three. There's not many teams. I probably wouldn't take Ace Bailey at three. Obviously, it's Phillies. We know that now.
And just to answer that question, I think. I think Philly should make this pick, whether it's ace or like trust your scouts, but make this pick. Do you want to go make a move for an established vet not having? And I'd be pissed if I did that. And then Joel and PG come back and they're injured again. And I missed out on getting a little bit younger with Tyrese and McCain and those guys.
So I'm making this pick. If I'm Daryl Morey, I don't know what they'll do.
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Chapter 2: What are the potential roles for Ace Bailey in the NBA?
Yeah, I kind of agree with that, especially, you know, for everything that's gone wrong with Philly, they've actually done a pretty good job drafting, you know, with Maxie McCain. So I kind of trust them, too. I want to ask you about Ace Bailey's potential role in the NBA, because there's some fans who view him as this high ceiling offensive star. Others see him.
thinking his eventual role might look something more like Michael Porter Jr., do you think it would benefit his development to go to an established team like Philly, where he would be put in a smaller role initially, or would going to a bad team benefit him because he would get a more immediate opportunity to develop the rest of his offense?
Yeah, I actually think a team... There's some things with Philly that I've had people tell me, like, Bryce, I think you're missing some stuff here in terms of, you know, how processing and stuff like that and putting him in with that team. And that's a great point with the way they've drafted.
Philly actually had a really nice draft last year between getting Jared McCain where they got him and even Justin Edwards is a guy they ended up getting and looks like maybe a rotation player. I think a... I would love to see Ace go somewhere where you said initially, where, hey, go play this Michael Porter Jr.-ish, this Jabari Smith Jr.-ish type of role where other people create shots for you.
You just work on knocking down shots. Do that work. Work on your defense, your all-around game, because that's the ceiling to me, guys, is this two-way wing. Not 3 and D wing, a two-way wing.
A guy that really guards, that makes defensive plays, that can rebound, and then develop his strength in his lower body and all of that, where then he can do a little bit more two, three years down the road and maybe ends up being your second option. But I think if you thrust him in the second option...
first option early on in his career, that's where I'd be a little bit nervous about his progression and how successful he is.
Yeah, that makes sense. I think there's like, and there's two different philosophies on that. I think like some people think like, okay, guys need reps to figure out who they are. And then there's like the guys need, you know, structure. And you can see it both ways. And I think it really just comes down to like the people
The ultimate potential of these guys and the ultimate potential of these players, because I think you can look at a guy that we'll talk about later case of Wallace for the Thunder has done so well in this kind of like boxed in limited role. And they continue to kind of expand what he's doing. And then like in this, this doesn't seem like a great example right now.
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Chapter 3: Which prospects outside the top three have star potential?
And then the other thing is Common struggles to catch the ball at times. Like It's a little Rudy go bearish, which like watching Rudy in these playoffs have really like, man, like he's not getting played off the court defensively. He can't do anything on the offensive end. Like he never makes the other team pay because he doesn't catch the ball or doesn't finish or whatever.
Common has some of that, whether it's rebounds or, you know, he'll, he'll have the highlight lob dunks, but I'm a little bit lower on common because he's, I think there's some of those worries and I'm a little less excited about the upside, even though it sounds like he's gaining steam in general.
Right, right, right. So as you've been doing mock drafts, are there any players projected in the lottery that you think could fall on draft night? Guys who have been like having trouble consistently finding good landing spots, you know? Yeah.
Yeah. So Jeremiah Fears is going to be one of the funnest names I think to watch. And what we've talked about over there. So if you go to the draft order, right, and you go through, OK, who were teams that could really use a point guard, like especially a guy like Kasperis Yakishonis is a guy that I think you can play on or off the ball. So there's a little bit more positional versatility there.
You don't have to draft him as only an on ball guy. It seems like there could be a breaking point for primary creators, true primary creators after number eight with the Brooklyn Nets. Obviously, they could use one right as we sit here today. But like to use one of everything, let's be honest, that that's fair. That's fair. Toronto at nine.
I don't think, I mean, they could, all of these teams could, but it's like they have how many different guys who can play with the ball in their hands. Like their entire starting lineup already wants to do that. Even though their wings Houston, I don't think so. Portland has plenty of guards, Atlanta, unless you're drafting trays, backup slash potential replacement. Yeah.
San Antonio has Fox and Steph Castle that does that a little bit. Oklahoma City is the inverse of Brooklyn. What could they use, right? Like I hate trying to draft for the Thunder because it's like, well, they're never going to play because they're awesome and they have depth and they just drafted Topich who didn't even get to play this year.
So then it's like nine to 16 when you get to Orlando where it's like, could some of these guys fall if they don't get in the top A or does somebody trade into that area to draft them? So I think that's something to watch.
Yeah, that makes sense to me. I am kind of interested in the idea of Atlanta because they kind of tried it with Kobe Buffkin a few years ago. That didn't really seem to work out. And I just wonder if they'd go back to that if he fell down there, which he might. Still a Buffkin boy, by the way.
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Chapter 4: How does the NBA playoff performance affect draft stock?
Ooh, nice. Tell me more about that right now. So...
Oh, Bannon sued, right? EA Sports for likeness and all of that. And then I got this thing in the mail one day, like, if you play during these years, college basketballs, fill out this form or whatever, go online, whatever it was, and you'll get compensated. So I got like a thousand bucks, I think. I think it was $500 per year. What?
kid and then played two years of division one here's the thing though my best friend made me feel bad about it because he goes that was literally our childhood EA sports was our childhood like you being a part of this is like sacrilegious or something because we grew up playing EA he was joking I think he was a little bit serious but I think he was mostly joking yeah
It's like, dude, this is this ship is going down anyways.
Yeah. Why do I not take a like I'm a teacher, man. Like, yeah, I'm taking a G if I can get a G. So for real.
Also, that's like way more than I was expecting you were going to say, because usually with these things, it's like, oh, you'll get like ten dollars. You know, there's like these class action lawsuits. Thousand bucks. That's pretty nice.
And then my teammates who played all four years, I assume they got a couple grand. And that's where it's unfair. I had no NIL. I started, I played, whatever. But it was not like I would have actually made money. I always looked at it of... I got a free education from American university in Washington, DC. Like this is, this is more than payment for me.
Other people, it's a little bit different, right? Like that's where that was unfair was I was in college at the same time as like Steph, you know, and like Steph literally could have been making money because he was like,
the face of college basketball, you know, that year, I don't know that maybe not the face, but a Blake grip, like we played Blake Griffin the next year, my senior year, we opened with Oklahoma, like Blake Griffin actually could have made NIL money. Okay. Okay.
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Chapter 5: What traits make a draft prospect valuable in today's NBA?
Who's the prospect that has the most elite NBA skill?
I mean, I just say Cooper flag, right? Okay. Okay. Non Cooper, non Cooper division.
We haven't even talked Cooper flag, right? I got to get Cooper flag. Yeah.
Yeah. Get some coop in here. I think it's just the way he approaches the game. Like, I think that's the more I've talked to scouts, you know, a couple of years ago, I wasn't in it. Like when I first started doing this, I didn't really know people. Like I, the more I got into this where I can talk to scouts and, you know, stuff like that.
It's like this mental side of the game of the NBA game is so important. Like it truly is. And I think Cooper has all of that. I was so impressed with the way he handled himself at Duke, the season he had, even just being better offensively than what I thought he was going to be.
But everything you hear about the way he approaches the game, his toughness, doing the little things, I find that to be a skill. And I think that's really impressive in a number one pick.
Okay. You've been doing a bunch of mock drafts. What has been your favorite fit between a draft prospect and a team so far? Like you just keep matching them up together.
Yeah, so I think the Trey Johnson, I alluded to early. Him in Utah, I really like that. I like that for Trey, and I like that for Utah as well. And I know people will be like, but they have so many guards. I'm like, yeah, but are any of those guards really that good or long-term? Like, to me, Keontae George is a backup guard. Isaiah Collier is a backup guard. Sorry, Keontae. Like...
how long is Colin Sexton there? How long is Jordan Clark's in there? So I would just keep throwing it at it. And again, I think it, the way they would use him really makes a lot of sense. And then I'll throw out the one I talked with Andrew about yesterday. So I can also talk about the, is it gif or jif? Cause like my students argue with me.
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Chapter 6: How do team needs influence draft decisions?
And I think they dictate what they want from you outside of Julius in the first half game one. And aunt did, you know, aunt's going to get his at times. Cause aunt's incredible. Like aunt is, is really, really good. And I, I actually thought his process was OK last night. I think he had like six assists and no turnovers. Is that right? I think he had no turnovers. Yeah, no turnovers last night.
So it's just I agree with you. And I don't know how they class it and maybe it just seems like OKC does contest everything would be my issue with that stat. But maybe I'm off. Maybe I just think that that's what happens and it's not what's actually going on.
Rudy Gobert, he's always a topic of discussion and whether he can be impactful or not in the playoffs. In Game 2, the Thunder were able to find a lot of space in the mid-range where Gobert's impact is really minimized. On the other hand, the Wolves' starting lineup did outscore the Thunder in Game 2. What have you thought about Gobert so far in this series?
Listen, I usually support Gobert. I just don't think it's been great. And this was like I said earlier, I just it's not always the defense. It's that he can't punish anybody on the offensive end. You know, he just he struggles to catch the ball. And then if he does catch the ball, he struggles to actually put it in the basket. You know, he's averaging three and a half points on three.
38% from the field. He averaged less than 10 in the series before and eight in the series before that. And even the percentages aren't great because you know where every shot attempt is coming from. And what you said about the mid-range is something I thought about Like, okay, he's deterring them from getting to the rim against a lot of teams. That matters a lot.
Does it really matter against an SGA J dub led Oklahoma city thunder team? That is perfectly fine. Pulling up at 15 feet and knocking down that shot consistently. We even saw it when they went zone three different times. three different times when, when Minnesota went zone Caruso did it back to back.
And then Chet did it in the third quarter, got to the middle of the zone and felt very comfortable hitting a little shot from eight to 10 feet before he could get, they they're just very smart about not attacking him where he can make more of an impact.
So at the end of that game, we saw Chris Finch go to a super small lineup with Nas Reed at center. Both Gobert and Randall were on the bench. And Thunder fans will remember a very similar lineup giving OKC a ton of problems in this mid-February matchup when Gobert and Randall were out with injuries.
Do you think the Wolves might have found something with this lineup that they should at least explore more in games three and four?
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Chapter 7: What are the latest insights on draft prospects like Dylan Harper?
So how this works, Andrew will give me a name, then Bryce will give me a name. So we're talking about active players who at some point during their career had a playoff run, were similar to SGA, they had at least nine 30-point games in that playoff run. Wow. Steph Curry. Steph Curry is correct. Bryce. LeBron. LeBron James is correct. It's like Andrew.
I was like, surely this is LeBron is a great answer. Cause like, if it's wrong, you don't feel stupid. It's like it, you say LeBron. And if it's yeah. Yeah.
The one thing I will say is you, I had to scroll back far. It was like Cleveland days.
So I was a little nervous if it was legit, like, like just because that's not always his, his thing. But I figured in Cleveland, there was a series or a run where he had to be that level of score. Yeah.
Yeah. KD. Kevin Durant. He has done it. Bryce.
Luca.
Luca has done it.
He did it last year. Andrew. Jokic.
Jokic has also done it. Interesting. I was not going to say Jokic. I thought me. Giannis.
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Chapter 8: What are the concerns about the Minnesota Timberwolves' playoff performance?
Nice. OK, Bryce, board is yours. Eight. Question number eight. Aaron Neesmith hit six three pointers in the fourth quarter of the Pacers dramatic comeback against the Knicks in game one. Prior to that game, how many times in his career had Neesmith hit six threes in a single game? Now, you get to choose who answers first because obviously you wouldn't know the answer to this.
So you can make Andrew answer first and then you can go higher or lower. Or you can answer first and then Andrew would go higher or lower. However, if you make Andrew answer and he gets it exactly correct, he would get a bonus point. So what would you like to do? So this is career six threes game.
in a game for Aaron Neesmith how many times has he done that okay so I will I will guess I will guess okay Bryce is going because if I guess right if I guess right I get I get extra points bonus point you could get three points here
And so is the the question is counting this game or this this game is not counting this game, not counting this game, though, that you like know the answer.
And so you need to know whether you need to subtract one or not.
Subtracting one may put us at zero. So this is going to be this is going to be a fun one. OK, I'm going to say. I'm going to say.
two okay andrew bryce has set the over under at two games would you like to go higher or lower i guess i'll go higher but that's just because i just watched what he did i don't know so in his career aaron e smith has hit six threes in a game prior to game one
Four different times, which means it's just got to make you so sick as a Knicks fan. That's got to make you just want to just throw up immediately with with over 48 minutes.
And he did it in like five minutes. OK, Andrew, board is yours. Number two. Question number two. Okay. Oklahoma City is currently shooting 32.5% from three in the playoffs. If they won the NBA finals while shooting that poorly, they would join a very short list of teams to do so. Since 2000, there have been three NBA champions that shot worse than 33% from three over their championship run.
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