Full Court, Full Draft

[00:00:00] Hello and welcome to full court, full field, full count. I'm Leonardo Mejia, freshman at SUNY Oswego. I'm a broadcasting major and inspire to become a professional sports broadcaster or analyst one day. [00:00:16] My three favorite sports are football, full court or, well, basketball, full court, football for full field and baseball for full, full count. We will talk about other sports on this podcast when they are relevant, at least to me. [00:00:35] But for the most part, those are the three sports that I will be choosing to focus on. [00:00:42] And yeah, we're gonna start out with some football, obviously. Football season recently ended with the the super bowl winning Seahawks defeating the Patriots 29 to 13. It's a very boring game, better super bowl than last year, but that's not really saying much. But in recent years we've gotten much better Super Bowls than that. Like, I mean, the Chiefs versus the, the Eagles, the first time was a fantastic Super Bowl. The 49ers versus the Chiefs, the second time was a fantastic Super Bowl. And even the first time, that was a good super bowl too, too. So we just haven't gotten as many good games recently in the super bowl, at least the last two. [00:01:28] Which is kind of disappointing because my thoughts on the NFL season as a whole was, wow. I mean this was a great season. I mean, who could have expected the Seahawks and Patriots to make it to Super Bowl? So I'll give it that. I think it was a great season. There was many crazy moments in the season like the Bears magic and you know, looking, it looked like the Rams were the team that were to be. Seahawks beat them and then basically didn't like lose from there ever since they, ever since that big Thursday night game. [00:02:00] But yeah, now Congrats to the 2025 Seahawks. They have few free agents. They're gonna have to bring back this off season. But expect them to be back next year competing for another super bowl. Especially with that defense. [00:02:17] They got arguably the best receiver in the league. If I had to rank Jackson, Smith and Jigba based off last season, yeah, he's the best in the league going into next year. [00:02:30] It's really difficult because I, I think there's a clear cut top four in terms of receivers and that's obviously Justin Jefferson, Jamar Chase, Jason Smith and Jigba and Puka Nakua. [00:02:45] If I had to predict for next year, I would, I honestly, I think Jamar Chase is going to be the most productive receiver in the league next year. I think that'd be followed by Puka, then JSN and then Jefferson, which it sucks to say Jefferson for, but we really just don't know the quarterback situation there. [00:03:05] Healthy barrel like Jamar Chase is going to have a fantastic year. We saw the year he had the season prior. Like Jamar Chase has been so consistent since he's entered the league. [00:03:16] But yeah, and if I had to rank for the top four receivers for next year, that's how I would do it. [00:03:21] We're going to transition, transition into stuff that's a little bit more relevant nowadays in football and that's free agency, slash, trade, slash. You know, I'm just predicting starting quarterbacks for next team, for, for teams next season. [00:03:38] So this is, this was pretty difficult for me, to be honest, because it's just hard to predict where people are going to go in free agency, if people are going to be traded, if someone's going to retire or not. [00:03:52] You know who I'm talking about there. But I like to start off with the most like, mocked one and like everyone sees it, the Dolphins and Malik Willis. [00:04:04] The Dolphins recently fired their GM and their head coach. So it's a completely new regime going to be rebuilding. They have no attachment to Tua. I don't see Tua even being a starter next season. [00:04:16] I could see him being a backup possibly. That contract is huge. So we'll see what the Dolphins choose to do with that. But I think it'd be in their best interest to sign Malik Willis to now, this isn't a great comparison for Malik Willis because I think he's much better than Justin Fields. But two, adjusting Fields s contract, you know, $20 million a year over the next two, three seasons, what would be a good deal? I mean, it gives Malik Willis a chance to prove, yes, I'm a real starter. I'm not just, you know, a product of Matt LaFleur system. [00:04:52] I can win games. Even with this Dolphins team that is clearly not as good as the Green Bay Packer team that I was just working with. [00:05:00] Yeah, Dolphins have various moves to make. They already lost Tyreek Hill, so they're probably going to need to bring in a receiver or at least a receiving threat from Malik Willis. But I personally don't think the Dolphins are going to be too great next season, but we'll see what, what they can do. And it just makes sense for Malik Willis to go to the Dolphins because they just hired the assistant GM from the packers and the defensive coordinator and Jeff Atley who's the new head coach. So they already have that familiarity. [00:05:33] And Malik Willis deserves to be a starter in this league. If I'm being honest, I've always been high on him personally coming out of college. [00:05:42] There was some point where I thought he could possibly be a first round pick. He ended up going in the third round. It was kind of a weird slip, but yeah. Willis to the Dolphins Next. Oh my God, the Jets. This was so hard for me to predict. So obviously at some point we thought it'd be Dante Moore. [00:05:59] I guess at other points we thought it would be Fernando Mendoza because we thought the jets were going to get the first pick, especially with how they started, what, 07 this season. [00:06:08] So I have a very jets move. [00:06:10] I think they're going to get Kirk Cousins and that really sucks for them. I just don't know where the jets can possibly go at the quarterback position next year. You can't run it back with Justin Fields. You can't run it back with Tyrod Taylor. What are you going to do? Get Joe Flacco? Doesn't make much sense. [00:06:27] Now Kirk Cousins, he's not that much younger than Joe Flacco or a player like that, but he is younger and he, he played fairly well for the Falcons last year, especially down the stretch where we saw them what, go on a four game winning streak to close out the season. Kirk Cousins was the QB for all four of those wins. [00:06:48] He had some very good games, especially against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. [00:06:53] This is just a fit where it's like the jets need a bridge quarterback. Kirk Cousins at this age is, is literally the definition of a bridge quarterback. He can probably be your starter next year and after that hopefully you finally don't mess up in the draft and you finally get the first pick or at least in a draft that has more than one good QB and you're just, you're able to get, you know, start, start a new. Maybe it is Dante Moore next year for the jets, maybe it's Arch Manning for the jets next year. We don't know. [00:07:28] But what I can say is that number two, they're not picking a QB. They could pick a QB with their second first round pick, which I believe is at number 16, but I don't think they will. I think they have too many holes on the team to draft, draft a qb. So Kurt, Kirk Cousins, who was released, I think he can sign with the jets and that's kind of ugly for the jets. But I you your goal isn't really to be good next year, especially with all the draft capital you have. Like if you can be good, that'd be good. [00:07:59] But like your goal is to have someone at Quarterback like Justin Fields was just incapable, if we're being honest. And you know, maybe that's not all on him, but you know, there's a decent O line. You've definitely figured out the tackles going forward. Elijah Vera, Tucker, if he stays healthy, that's good interior depth. [00:08:19] So their, their offensive line isn't bad. It's just they literally only have one receiver in, Garrett Wilson. So they have to draft someone. [00:08:26] Their defense is God awful. Didn't get a single interception. They need cornerbacks badly. They need a linebacker and edge rusher. We'll get to that though in the mock draft. But yeah, that's for the Jets. For the Steelers, I'm going keep this short and sweet. I think it's Aaron Rodgers coming back. Mike McCarthy took the job for the Steelers, so obviously that has, that, that probably lured Rogers back if anything. And I, I don't mind the McCarthy hire for the Steelers, by the way. [00:08:56] I think ideally he's there to develop your next quarterback you like. They need to figure out something so Aaron Rodgers, you know, bridge the gap another year. He already has the familiarity with Mike McCarthy, so that makes sense to me. Browns, God. So I could see them going two ways. I could see them drafting a Ty Simpson. [00:09:16] I guess they could sign back Joe Flacco or someone like that, but I don't see either of those happening. I guess they could sign Daniel Jones, who really knows. But honestly I think they're just going to roll it out with Shadur Sanders, Todd Monken, who was supposed to be my favorite team's offensive coordinator. So I'm very upset that he's the Browns head coach right now, now that the Giants got Matt Nagy instead. But he has always liked Shooter Sanders and obviously he didn't need Shurtur Sanders when he was coaching Lamar Jackson last year. But this season he's gonna, he's got a chance to coach up Shooter Sanders. And Todd Monkin is a brilliant offensive mind in my opinion, especially in the run game. And we know that they have Judkins. So ideally for the Browns it's like, okay, get shitter receiver, get him at least one offensive lineman, whether that's through free agency, through the draft, whatever you have to do. [00:10:13] Like you, you need to get playmakers, you need offensive pieces in there. The defense is obviously great. We know how good Miles Garrett is, but I think they're going to give Shadur a chance. Like at the end of the day, he's not, he didn't have a good season last year for being honest, but he was kind of winning games at times. And you know, like the Browns were dense funct. They fired their head coach. You know, a lot of noise going on. Like Shooter didn't get the first team reps. But now Shudder has a chance to, I think win the job over the offseason, get all those first team reps and we can see what he can do in a full season of work. But you know, like, like this is the longest leash they're going to have for him. Like he's gonna play next year and if it's not good, they're gonna draft a QB. Like I 100%. [00:11:03] As for the Colts here, I think what the Colts are going to do is they're going to have Riley Leonard start the season because I think Riley Leonard honestly was kind of solid in that game. He played against the Texans last year. [00:11:16] Well, at the end of this season, but I think the goal is to resign Daniel Jones. We saw how well that pairing worked out. And Shane Steichen's offense, Daniel Jones, you know that they were the best offense in the league. They weren't turning over the ball at all. Daniel Jones was gonna, you know, win the passing yard crown for the NFL. [00:11:36] So this match just makes too much sense in my head. Unless Jones gets paid heavily by another team, I don't think he should leave the Colts. I don't think the Colts want him to leave either. So I think that's a good matching. [00:11:50] As for the Vikings, so this one's interesting. They could go with JJ McCarthy again and I expect that he would will be in discussion to get the job. But with how bad it turned out, with all the talk on J.J. mcCarthy and like, oh, if the Vikings just had a QB last year, they could have been where the Seahawks are. If they just had Sam Darnold, they would have been the Seahawks, which I don't think is necessarily true. Their defense was not nearly as good as the Seahawks defense. But yeah, I, I get what people are saying about the Vikings. They kind of like just need a quarterback. Like, yeah, there's other positions in these such as a cornerback too, but you know, they're not going to draft one. They're not drafting Ty Simpson with the 18th pick. That would make no sense. [00:12:31] So they're going to probably draft someone that can. [00:12:35] They're probably, they're probably going to draft a corner and then I think they're going to trade for Kyler Murray. [00:12:42] Now as for Kyler Murray, I don't really know what's going on. Does he still want to be a Cardinal. Obviously he didn't want to last year, but it's a completely different system. But like from everything I've seen, Kyler Murray clearly loved Jonathan Gannon. [00:12:58] So I don't know if you know, Mike LaFleur is really convincing him to stay with the Cardinals if Gannon clearly wasn't last season. But at the same time he is an offensive mind. But you know, I think the Cardinals and Kyler kind of just have to move on from each other. I think the Vikings is if I'm Kyler, that's where I want to go. You have a wide receiver one, you have a decent offensive line, you have a good tight end. [00:13:22] The running back room, not great. But you know, there are guys in free agency. I mean imagine if they could sign a Breeze hall type of guy. I don't expect them to sign Kenneth Walker, but they could do that, especially if they want to get payback. And, and I'm saying that in quotation marks against the Seahawks for stealing one of their best players last season. [00:13:43] But yeah, no, I think Kyler would be a match made in heaven in Minnesota for the Cardinals Ty Simpson. [00:13:53] So I don't know if Ty Simpson necessarily goes in the first round, but the Cardinals have a pick to trade up for it. I don't think they want to go Jacoby Brissette. I think they brought in Michael Floor to develop a qb and I think the Rams would have been a possible Ty Simpson team and LaFleur would have been the offensive coordinator had he not taken this job. So like, I just feel like Ty Simpson kind of like fits what he was doing last year. Like, I mean he's nowhere near as good as Matthew Stafford, but I feel like Ty Simpson could fit in that type of RAM system. That would be great for him. [00:14:27] And as for the Falcons, I just have Michael Penix. I don't really know where they go. [00:14:32] Pennis obviously coming off of the injury. So maybe they get someone to start like a bit like a Kenny Pickett, a Gardiner Minshew type of player and then once Penix comes back from injury. [00:14:43] But yeah, that's all for me. Just to recap, Dolphins get Malik Willis. Jets get Kirk Cousins. Steelers stay with Aaron Rodgers. Brown stay with Shadur Sanders. Colts stay with Daniel Jones. Vikings get Kyler Murray. Cardinals draft Ty Simpson whether that's in the late second or the the late first or the early second round. And the Falcons stay with Michael Penix Jr. [00:15:05] And now we're going to move on. I'm going to quickly do my top 10 NFL mock draft as of right now. So first Fernando Mendoza, I got him going to the Raiders, obviously. I mean he's a leader, he wins games, he's tough, resilient. I mean did you guys watch him in the national championship game when he literally ran over a Miami defender, put his whole body on the line and scored the game winning touchdown? That's just the type of player that Fernando Mendoza is. He wins games. [00:15:34] He is all about toughness. He's kind of mobile and his precision, his accuracy is very, very, very good. [00:15:44] As we saw in, what was it, the first couple games in the College Football playoff he had more touchdowns than incompletions like this. He's so accurate, like just Mendoza had a great season last year. He deserves to be the first overall pick. And there's not really going to be much of the discussion because the Raiders need a QB and Mendoza is the only good QB in this draft or at least like first round level QB in this draft. [00:16:08] Jets, I got them going. Arville reese, he's 64253. He's a hybrid linebacker. Could edge rush too. I think this would be great for the jets. They need just anything on defense. Arville Reese is probably the best defensive player in this draft class so makes sense for the jets to take him there. At number two. At number three, got the Cardinals going with Francis Maliaga, the offensive tackle who of course went on the run with Miami. Was great in the college football playoffs. He's lean, he's got a broad frame, he's decent in the run and the pass block. [00:16:44] As for The Titans at 4, got them going. Roomid Bain Jr. The edge out of Miami 63275. [00:16:52] His minor downside is his short arms. People have talked about that so many times about the short arms but honestly I think Bane will be fine. He's twitchy and he's a really good route run defender. [00:17:06] At number five. My New York Giants, I got them dry. They could go a lot of places here but I got them going with Spencer Fano, the offensive tackle, second one off the board from Utah. [00:17:18] He's really mobile, elite mobility, quick for footwork that goes hand in hand and he really does possess the ability to excel in both the pass and the run game. [00:17:30] Neither of which like, like some, some offensive linemen are really good at defending the run or yeah in the run game. Some are really good at blocking in the past game. But Fado possesses the ability to, you know, be good at both. So I think the Giants would love that, especially trying to protect Your qb. [00:17:51] It's really going to matter whether or not Wando Robinson resigns if he doesn't Johnson draft receiver here. That's just the. That's just the truth. [00:18:00] I could see them also going with the Caleb Downs. I could see them going with the player I got at number six with the Browns, which is Carnell Tate, the receiver out of Ohio State. He's got elite ball skills, his body control is excellent, man and he really excels at deep route running. So you know you want to get Shadur Sanders or whoever's playing quarterback for the Browns next season a good weapon. Cardinal Tate's the best one in this draft class. The commanders I got them going with David Bailey, the edge rusher from Texas Tech. [00:18:32] He's really explosive. He's a fluid pass rusher and really we could see Bailey go as high as two to the Jets. We could see him go at seven, eight or nine to the commander. Saints or Chiefs, don't really know where he's gonna go. [00:18:47] But yeah, we, we have the combine going on tomorrow, so that's really going to. The combine is going to determine lot of these players stocks like see what Reuben Bain measures in as and David Bailey and stuff at number eight. I got the Saints drafting Jordan Tyson, the wide receiver from Arizona State, who in my opinion he's the most talented in this draft class. [00:19:14] Maybe Carnell Tate possesses better like NFL traits slightly. But the main thing with Jordan Tyson is his injury concerns. If it wasn't for that, I would want the Giants to take him at 5. I think the Titans could take him at 4, but I'm slipping to 8 because of those injury concerns. He was hurt this year, was hurt last year. He's just hurt a lot. [00:19:34] He's twitchy, he's a smooth separator and he's the player that ASU would call on or target on every important down you need to fourth down, it's fourth and goal. You need touchdown. Like Jordan Tyson was the guy that ASU relied on the Saints, they already have Chris Olave, who's a good wide receiver one in this league. Imagine pairing him up with Jordan Tyson. How good the Saints team can be with Tyler Schuck next year. They could, they could easily win the win the NFC South. [00:20:08] As for number nine, the Chiefs, I got them drafting Jeremiah Love. This one has been mocked by a lot of people, but I mean, come on, J. Love, he's the best running back in this draft. He's one of the better running back prospects we've seen in the past Couple of years. He's on par with B John Robinson. He's on par with Ashton Jensen as a running back prospect. He's, he's elite and explosive. He's a three down back. He's exceptional. [00:20:35] He has exceptional agility and he really creates big plays and we know how quick he is. I can't wait to see his 40 time BS got the Kansas City Chiefs drafting Love. I mean, running back is just a big position of need and imagine how good the offense could be if they pair Jeremiah Love in the backfield with Patrick Mahomes at number 10. I got the Bengals drafting who might be the best defensive player in the draft and that's Caleb Downs at safety. He's a box safety. He's got a really high football iq. He's relentless in the run support game and, and he's versatile in coverage. So I think Caleb Downs is a great, great prospect. If I had to rank prospects in the top 10, downs in terms of talent is probably two or three, but obviously positionally not as valuable as, you know, a qb, a linebacker, offensive tackle or even a receiver. [00:21:32] So that's why we see Caleb Downs go at number 10. [00:21:36] Moving on, I would like to start with the MBA so. [00:21:43] Well, actually we're gonna do trivia real quick because I have a trivia question. This is sent in from my dad. [00:21:52] Back in high school when I used to go on the radio every other morning my dad used to send me trivia questions and I want to make this, I want to make it a part of this show as well. So this is what he says. Carl Anthony Towns is currently leading the NBA in double doubles. If he finishes the season leading, he will be the third nick to accomplish his feet. Name the other two. [00:22:20] Okay, so we have 60 seconds now on the clock because we don't want to take too long starting now. [00:22:29] So I'm thinking of Knicks centers, I guess that would be leading the league in double doubles because rebounds happen more frequently than assists. So I don't think it's going to be guard. So rule out any guards. But I guess it could be Clyde Fraser. But first I'm gonna have to go with Patrick Ewing. I'm guessing he did at some point. [00:22:50] Now here's the hard part. [00:22:53] Could it be a Tyson Chandler? Could it be Amari Sotomayor? I'm just gonna go with Willis Reed and Patrick Ewing as my guests. But we shall see. The answer it is Patrick Ewing and David Lee. Wow, David Lee, really? [00:23:07] He really escaped my mind. [00:23:10] He's slightly. Now I say Slightly before my time as a Knicks fan. I've said I've been a Nick super fan since 2012, which was when I was 5 years old, but literally used to watch like every next game and I still basically do. But speaking of the Knicks and that trivia question, thank you to my dad for sending that. [00:23:34] David Lee will really switch my mind, but at least we got one of the two, even if it was obvious. We're going to talk about my New York knicks, who are 37 and 22 on the season. They're six and a half games back from Detroit, they're the third seed and they're tied with Cleveland as third seed currently. [00:23:53] And just looking at like where they rank in the east in terms of offense and defense. They're fourth in points per game and they're third in opponent's point per game, which is actually pretty interesting that they're been a better defensive team than offensive team this season because I feel like the offense has been good, but there's been ups and downs this season and we're, we're going to discuss that right now. So the Knicks, you know, they obviously won the NBA Cup. They started the season 23 and 9. I guess he can make it 24 and 9 if you want to count the cup, but doesn't technically count as a regular season game. So it started 23 and 9 and then they went on one of the roughest 11 game stretches I've seen. A good team or, or even a great, supposed to be like finals contending team. Like they were second in the east when this happened and they just go 2 and 9 and now they're tied for third in these. But they just, they, they, they're 12 and 4 in the last 16. So they're, they're kind of pacing back towards where they were at the beginning of the year. Actually 12 and 4 is better pace than 23 and 9, but 23 and 9 is obviously bigger sample size. So you know, but the, the 2 and 9 issue, like literally that 11 game stretch has been the reason why the, the Knicks aren't in contention for the first seed right now. And you know, had they just won two or three more of those games, which they probably should have, you know, this, we could be talking about a completely different, you know, view on the season, but that stretch was bad. People were saying to fire Mike Brown, which was, you know, just not something I personally agree with. But people are fans on social media. You gotta, you kind of have to take with the grain of salt, especially us New York fans, we say a lot, especially like Yankees fans. But we'll, we'll get to the Yankees eventually because even though spring training just started, in my opinion, like, I don't really feel like discussing baseball quite yet till we get a bit closer. We can do predictions like for the division and the World Series and award predictions. So we'll do that probably the week prior then to the season starting, but as of right now, probably not going to discuss baseball. World Baseball Classic. We, we should like. I would like to make it known I'm Puerto Rican, so obviously I'll be cheering for team Puerto Rico, even though we'll be missing our two best players in Francisco Lindor and Carlos Correa since they. Lindor needs surgery and Correa couldn't get insurance, which I hate that whole insurance thing. A bunch of players getting. Being kept out of the World Baseball Classic because of it. Anyway, back to the Knicks. Jalen Brunson on the season averaging 27 points and six assists on 47, 37, 84 splits. So, you know, very efficient this year. He's been passing a bit less and that's kind of on purpose in this Mike Brown system. Brunson is used slightly less as a playmaker and you know, he's more so supposed to be quite horror. As for Karl Anthony Towns, who people have been clowning on this season, but you know, he was an all star. He's averaging 20 and 12 and yeah, 20 and 12 is a down year for Town. So like that just goes to show you the type of player he is, especially when it comes to scoring the basketball. [00:27:18] Yeah. So this is the first season under Mike Brown, as previously mentioned. How. How would I grade it? [00:27:26] Personally, I'm gonna have to give it a B. And it's. It's really because of that 2 and n stretch. If not, it could have been better. [00:27:33] Right now the Knicks are on pace to go 51 and 31, which is exactly the record last year, I believe. [00:27:42] If not their record was like 50 and 32. So pretty pretty much the exact same record as last year. If not the. Well, they're on pace to go the same record. [00:27:53] So you fired my. You fired Tom Thibodeau and now you just replace them with someone that is doing very similar things in the regular season. But this is something that like next season obviously can't be graded till it's completed. So as of right now, I'm giving it a B. But we shall see see how they do in the playoffs. If they lose in the first round, it's A. Well, if they lose in the first round, it's a D or an F. They lose in the second round. It's probably more like a C plus B minus range, depending on who they lose to. And this east that was supposedly supposed to be weak has honestly been pretty, pretty good this season, especially with the Pistons up top and the Celtics and the Cavs and the Knicks. [00:28:37] I think there's like four title contenders out of the East. [00:28:42] But this iteration of Nick of the Knicks, or as I like to call them, the Brunson era Nicks, because, I mean, dude's the biggest superstar we've had since Melo and he's also helping us actually win playoff games. Not trying to blame Melo, but those Knicks teams had bad rosters for the most part outside of him, so they never really won anything. But. Yeah, so. But this iteration of the Knicks have just never had this much depth. [00:29:12] And let me just say it, at point guard, obviously you have Jalen Brunson, who in the playoff setting is playing 40 minutes. So you really only need eight minutes to back a point guard play in which you have Jose Alvarado and you have Tyler Kulik. [00:29:27] But like, that's also really good for the regular season to have those guys on the bench to be able to get Brunson to rest a bit more. [00:29:35] At the shooting guard position, you have Josh Hart starting there, who once again, he'll play 48 minutes if he has to, but that was more of a Tom Thibodeau thing, I think. Miles McBride, who's hurt and could be healthy. If not, obviously you have Kulak as well that can play shooting guard, any of Jordan Clarkson. So just a lot of guards like in the depth, small forward wise, you got Mikel Bridges, you got Landry Shammit, Jeremy Shohan could play small forward as well. At power forward, you got OJ and Anobi, you got Mohamed Diarara and you have Shohan, you know, you can play power forward as well. And then at the center you have Carl Anthony Towns and Mitchell Robinson. Obviously you can do the double big thing where you put Cat at the four, Mitch Rob at the three. You move and Anobi up to the. [00:30:27] No, no. Well, Mitch Rob at the five, not the three, and Anobi to the three, and then Bridges to the two and Heart on the bench. So like, very flexible team, a very deep team, which is why I feel pretty confident in the Knicks when it comes playoff time. But we shall see. And I keep saying that because, you know, this is the point the Post All Star break where the NBA really takes off and you really see the real contenders in March and marches, you know, approaching fastly. So we're about to see like the, the true, most important parts of the season where teams are fighting for seating, they're fighting for the play in spots, they're fighting for to not be in the play in, to be locked into the playoffs. [00:31:14] And like we saw the Pacers last year, who were a play in team when the All Star break started and then ended up making the final. So it's like it's really a whole new season out here and it's the last third of the NBA season right now where it gets most exciting. Obviously we have the playoffs coming up in a month and a half, which I can't wait for as the Knicks fan, which is weird because as a child I would never say something like that the Knicks used to suck. [00:31:43] But yeah, let's just address the NBA as a whole, where firstly, I like to talk about this tanking issue that we've seen in the news recently. Like teams being fine for tanking. You know, the. Obviously the lottery odds have already been flat and the ones I was used to as a kid was, you know, the 25 chance. So 1 in 4 chance for the worst team in the league to get the first pick. [00:32:09] But now obviously, the flooding, the odds, the top three teams have the same chance. You can drop from one to five now when it used to just be one to four. [00:32:18] So like the whole reason why they did that is to stop thinking like the, the odds are still in your favor if you're the first, if you have the first projected odds. But that doesn't necessarily mean you're gonna need the first pick. Actually you can get the fifth pick. The Pistons, it happened to them twice, which, look at that, didn't end up mattering because the Pistons have the best record in the league right now. But yeah, no, I, I think this tanking issue is also just like because of how good this draft class is, which I'm about to talk about. Like the 2026 draft class. I genuinely think it's generational. [00:32:59] So I think that makes more teams inclined to tank. Like, why wouldn't you? Like there's genuinely like eight or nine blue chip prospects type of players that go top five in any other draft. But in this draft, you know, maybe they fall to 8 or 9. But that's exactly what I'm saying. Like the reason why this has been an issue this season, and I don't even really think it's an issue because, like, how else are teams supposed to get better? Like, the Wizards are just like, obviously Anthony Davis and Trey Young are, like, on the bench, but they're. Without them, they're just straight up a bad team. Like, they're not winning games. And the Kings shut down some players, but they weren't winning games, even with Zach Levine. So it doesn't matter that he's out for the year. [00:33:45] But yeah, that. That's just the tanking issue. [00:33:48] We'll see how bad it gets in March. Like, these lineups that we're going to see, the Wizards, the Pacers, the Pelicans have. Don't have their own picks. They're probably not them. But, you know, like I said, the Kings, the Wizards, the Pacers, the Jazz, teams like that trying to tank for better odds in the draft. [00:34:09] So speaking of the draft and like I just said, how I think it's generational. Let's talk about these prospects. First, I want to talk about Darren Peterson. There's been a little controversy with Darren Peterson as a prospect recently, saying he doesn't care about playing and he's only using college, you know, as a stepping stool to the NBA. Which, I mean, that's not wrong. It is a stepping stool to the NBA when you're a player of Darren Peterson's caliber. And apparently he didn't even want to go to college. [00:34:39] I mean, if he could have declared out of high school, he probably would have gone number two after Cooper Flag and arguably could have gone number one. But, I mean, I don't think he would have, but probably. But on the season, Peterson's averaging 20 points and four rebounds on 47, 41, 80 splits. And, you know, he shoots the three ball really well. He's pretty efficient. He's good at slashing. [00:35:08] He's good at defense. Like, when he, when he genuinely puts in effort, he's good at defense. [00:35:14] And I just watched the Kansas or Houston game, so I got to see a good look at him, and he only had 14 points in that game. But I thought he had a. He had a good game. You know, sometimes he don't. Like, even though he's averaging 20 points on the season, sometimes he doesn't need to score 20 points. Like, Kansas won that game and he was a vital part of that. And I, I just think that Darren Peterson is similar to Anthony Edwards. So I think there's good reason for him to be the number one prospect in this draft class. [00:35:47] Number two prospect who's having a better season than Peterson, no doubt. About it. But, you know, still, Peterson's got the edge for me slightly right now is AJ Debanza, who's averaging 25, 7 and 4 on 53, 37, 76 splits. [00:36:06] AJ is honestly just like motoring this BYU team who just lost the UCF last night. So that was a bad unranked loss. But I mean, they were. They just got ranked at number 19 in the recent poll. And like, let's be honest, AJ DeBance is the reason, not why he had what, 29 and 8 last night? They still lost like he is. [00:36:31] It's crazy. His game resembles Tracy McGrady, except he's 6, 9, so he's even taller than T. Mac was. And I mean, he's averaging 25 points per game as a freshman. Like, that's ridiculous. What AJ Demands is currently doing is absolutely ridiculous. [00:36:50] Yeah, I, I think there's a good shot. He goes number one. [00:36:54] There's also a chance he goes number three. We don't really know yet because of how. How good these prospects at the top of the. This draft are. Like, we're gonna see in March Madness. [00:37:06] This whole. How. How it'll. It'll go down. Which, which is why I'm like, so happy that Peterson's on Kansas. That's a good team. BYU is a pretty good team for the Bance A. Boozer on the best team in the nation and Duke. Caleb Wilson on unc. [00:37:22] Kingston Fleming on Houston. Darius A. Cuff, Arkansas. Keenan Wagler, Illinois. Mikel Brown, Jr. Louisville. Like, all of these are ranked teams that are going to be in March Madness. So we'll be able to look at them further and we'll be able to look at them at. In the tournament games coming up. So it's really a big. [00:37:42] Like, just because Peterson's the number one prospect right now doesn't necessarily mean anything, especially when AJ Debanza and Cameron Woozer are as good as they are. And same with Caleb Wilson. [00:37:56] Speaking of Cameron Boozer, he's averaging 23, 10 and 4 on 58, 41, 77 splits. So just an absolutely ridiculous season for Cameron Boozer on the best team in the nation, just continuing his dominant season. [00:38:12] And you know, he kind of resembles a Palo, especially in that like, you know, D6,9 and like, weight wise, I think he plays slightly different than Palo, but yeah, that. That's probably his closest NBA comp right now. [00:38:29] And then as for Caleb Wilson, who's averaging 29 and 3, shooting 58% from the field, he kind of reminds me of like a young Kevin Garnett like I don't necessarily think Caleb Wilson is going to be anywhere near Kevin Garnet is all time because that is very high expectations. And you know, the same could be said for you know, comparing Darren Peterson to ant. Like maybe Darren Peterson isn't quite as good as Anthony Edwards. But I, it's just these players are the players they resemble. Like I think Cameron Boozer has a chance of being better than pal Bankero in the NBA. I honestly think he will be but you know, we obviously we don't know yet and these are just comparisons. So young Kevin Garnett for Caleb Wilson who's you know, he's great on defense and then offensively he's had a great season as well as for Kingston flemings he's averaging 175 and 4 on 48, 38, 85 splits. So pretty good efficient efficiency. Freshman kind of came out of nowhere on Houston and yeah, Kingston Flemings I think he's another reason why this draft class is generational. And although the top four are in a tier of their own like Peterson, Debancer, Boozer and Wilson, they're going to go one through four in the draft like that. I can guarantee that right now. [00:39:59] And then these next four guys are going to go are going to go between 4 and 10 because there are other guys I could see that I didn't include the to spotlight like a native met like a, like a LeBaron for Filon. But yeah, Darius A. Cuff 22, 6 and 3, 51% from the field, 44 from 3, 80% for the line. Darius A. Cup just having a ridiculous season. He dropped 49 points the other night against Alabama. Well at this point, that was maybe a week ago now, but still that game is pretty fresh in my mind. And Darius A. Cuff just, you know, great at driving to the lane. He's in the NBA. He can be the central guy of running about an offense and he's proven that here. [00:40:51] Keenan Wagler 18, 5 and 4, 46, 42, 81 splits. So once again really good from the three point beyond the three point arc which a lot of the players in this, this draft class are. And that's just kind of where the game's going other than like Caleb Wilson. [00:41:07] But yeah, no Waggler, great efficiency, good season. Mikel Brown Jr. 19, 5 and 3, 42, 36, 84 split. So kind of more so average efficiency but still not bad. I watched him the other night unfortunately did not watch Caleb Wilson since he did not play but I watched two nights ago UNC versus Louisville and Mikel Brown Jr. Although he missed like eight, he missed like eight shots in a row at some point. But he, he was kind of coming in clutch at times. And although he shoots the ball a lot, he, he still has passable efficiency. [00:41:52] The field goal percentage may be slightly low at 42, but the 3 point percent said 36. That's more than fine. [00:42:01] So now, so, so now I'm gonna move into my top contenders for both the east and the West. [00:42:10] So for the. But like, I feel like these are kind of obvious. Like it's the Pistons, the Celtics, the Knicks and the Cavs, like one of those four teams. I can pretty much guarantee it will be the team representing the Eastern Conference in the NBA Finals and could possibly win it. As for the Pistons, obviously, like previously mentioned, they got the best record in the league. They got a really great roster. They got an MVP candidate in Cade Cunningham. [00:42:40] They got a second all star in Jalen Duran. They got good depth and good role players on that team. [00:42:48] As for the Celtics, this one is so interesting. Like, I really don't. The, the Celtics might be my pick out of the east, which I hate to say, actually might throw up saying because I'm a Knicks fan. But just when you look at it from an unbiased New Yorker point of view, the Celtics are the second seed in the east, they're without their best player, and Jaylen Brown has really elevated his game this season. The only thing that could hurt them is if Tatum comes back and is either not playing well or just isn't gluing with the team, which we saw at times last year that Tatum wasn't. But I mean, the Celtics would Tatum coming back, they're gonna improve even more and they've been so good this season. [00:43:34] So yeah, hate to say it, but the Celtics are a true title contender in the Eastern Conference. My New York Knicks, we've talked about them extensively already in this podcast, but the Knicks, obviously, they have the star in Jalen Brunson, the dude that they go to in the clutch, and he's almost always going to provide. We saw what he did to Detroit. I hate you, Detroit, by the way. But we saw what, what Brunson did against Detroit last season in the playoffs. And we saw what he did against the Celtics last season and we saw what he did against the fourth team that I'm going to mention, the Cavs, two seasons ago. [00:44:15] The Cavs is a completely different team than the one that we were expecting. And the main reason why is you brought in James Harden. You brought in Keon Ellis and you replaced Darius Garland and DeAndre Hunter. [00:44:29] So it's a completely different team. Obviously, James Harden has, you know, the whole choker thing, but James Harden, Donovan Mitchell, Evan Mobley, Jared Allen, those being your core four gods this season, the Cavs absolutely have a great chance of winning the Eastern Conference. [00:44:49] As for the West Thunder, I mean, they're the defending champs. [00:44:53] They have the second best player in the league. [00:44:56] They have probably the best depth in the league. They made another great trade at the trade deadline, getting Jared McCain. [00:45:04] They are beating teams like the Cavs without their two best players. J Dub hasn't played much this season. [00:45:12] Chat was out for point in the season, I think, actually, was he. [00:45:18] But as for J Dub and Shea, like those guys, being out and still being able to beat a team like the Cavs is huge for the Thunder. Just showing how good the team is without, you know, two of their three all stars. [00:45:34] Ash for second, got the Denver Nuggets. [00:45:39] Obviously, they have the best player in the league. [00:45:41] And although the MPJ trade maybe isn't aging the best, they still got, you know, a guy like Aaron Gordon. Jamal Murray has really taken this step this season. [00:45:51] He's been fantastic. [00:45:53] I. I just think the Nuggets are going to be dangerous in the playoffs, and I really want to see them. Matchup against okc this or. Or against the Spurs. But just like these, the. I have four teams for the west, so my third team is the spurs, who have a chance to still be the number one seed in this conference, which will be interesting. Obviously, they lack that playoff experience, but at the same time, they have Victor Wenbanyama, who's literally an alien to this game. [00:46:27] His defense is so good. We saw what they just did to the Pistons with his six blocks. And how. How well a player like Victor when Minyama can counteract a player like Cade Cunningham. [00:46:40] The spurs, the spurs are a great team. And then number four, I got the Minnesota Timberwolves. I just. I think the Timberwolves are always going to be with Anthony Edwards. Ellie's always going to be in Kentucky contention to win the East. They. The west, obviously they went to the last two Western Conference finals. They lost both. But, you know, they were there and you know, they have the experience. [00:47:06] They have the superstar. They have good, good pieces on that roster. [00:47:12] So, yeah, I could absolutely see the Timberwolves winning the West. [00:47:17] And yeah, I think one of those eight teams I just mentioned, which, I mean, I guess it's not that hard to say when it's eight Teams are going to be lifting up the the Larry o' Brien at the end of the season. [00:47:32] As for my MVP ladder, top five, we're going to start at number five where I got who we were just talking about, Anthony Edwards, who's averaging 30 points on the season, five rebounds, four assists, 50, 40, 79 splits. So once again shooting great from three point range, shooting 40%, 50% from the field. So really good efficiency. He's averaging 30 points per game. [00:47:57] And the Timberwolves are the fifth seed or the six seed in the West. I believe the fifth seed in the West. The Lakers are six seed in the West. [00:48:06] But yeah, Edwards once again having a good season and I think right now he's fit than mvp. Number four got Cade Cunningham on the best team in the league. So people probably want him to be higher and he's having a fantastic season. [00:48:21] But I mean like come on, 25, 10 and 6, 46 in the field, 34 from 3, 81 from the line obviously being the engine and the main reason why the Pistons are the first place team in the whole league right now. [00:48:38] And yeah, I would, I would love to have him higher, but I just don't think he's as good as the players above it. Well, the player at number two I think he's better than. But like in terms of storylines and like the type of season he's having, I would probably, I, I would put him number four currently. But he could still win mvp, especially if certain players don't meet the requirements. [00:49:01] Just letting you guys know, I did not include Jokic because if he misses two of the next. [00:49:08] Was it like 26 games? [00:49:10] Two. If he misses just two of 26 games, he's not eligible. So we shall see if Jokic does become eligible. But if he ends up missing any games, he's not going to be. [00:49:23] So for now I'm not going to include him until you know, it seems like he's on pace to actually hit that goal. [00:49:30] But yeah, number three, I got Luca who is, you know, leading the NBA in points with 30, 32 per game. [00:49:39] He's got nine assists, eight rebounds, 47, 35, 77 splits. [00:49:46] Luca obviously been the main reason why the Lakers are in playoff contention, but you know, the record might not just, just might not be good enough and like just them as a team. [00:50:01] Maybe Cade Cunningham does finish higher than him at the end of the year, but as of right now I'm gonna have Luka there also if he picks up another. [00:50:10] Just like any, honestly like any decent sized injury that Keeps him out for more than like three or four games. He's also not going to qualify for the MVP award because he will not have played enough games. But I think there's a higher chance of Lukas being able to qualify than Jokic because he still has like five games to that. He sells like four or five games he can miss, whereas Jokic has one game he can miss. And once he misses more than that, he's not going to be in contention at number two. God, I hate saying this. I don't want to. I have Jaylen Brown. He's averaging 29, 7 and 5. 48, 30, 34, 78. Splits on the Boston Celtics team that was supposed to be in the playing race. Maybe, you know, like a five or six seed in the east, but they were not expected to be the number two seed in the the east once again, like they were last year. [00:51:05] They were not, not expected to be this great of a team. And Jalen Brown, averaging almost 30 points per game. He's the main reason why he. [00:51:14] And this is, you know, the storyline, like, they lost their best player and Jaylen Brown stepped up and now he's, you know, this Celtics team is great and they. And they changed up from last year, too. Like, they. They switched the roster construction around a bit. But, like, this is a team that shouldn't. They should not be ahead of the Knicks and the Cavs in the standings without Jayson Tatum. But Jaylen Brown has them doing that right now. So he deserves credit in the MVP race. And then at number one, someone that he, hey, he could not qualify if he misses a few more games. And that's Jay Gilligris Alexander, who is currently out. We'll see when he's back. He. [00:51:58] I think he'll be back within the next few days, which is why I have him still number one. [00:52:03] But we're gonna see if another injury happens or if a setback happens, then he also couldn't qualify for the awards. [00:52:10] So if that does end up happening, it might be Jalen Brown, Kate Cunningham and Anthony Edwards as your top three in MVP voting if Shai and Luka don't end up making it to that point. But 32, 6 and 4, 55, 39, 89 splits SGA on the best team in the West. [00:52:31] There's a good chance that they win the finals this year. Obviously, it doesn't matter for MVP discussion, but there's a good chance that they're the best record. [00:52:40] They have the best record in league. And, you know, I. They're even their like record without Shea. It's not like it's been like that good. Obviously, like I mentioned earlier, they beat the Cavs without shame. [00:52:57] Well, they're six and three without him. So if they continue to play this well with, without him, we could see maybe Jalen Brown or Cade Cunningham or Luke or. And elevate above him just because, like, the Thunder are one of the best teams in the league with Shay and then the best team in the league, one of the best teams in the league without shame. The best team with him. So, like, I guess if you want to do the whole MVP thing, you take them off of their team versus you take Jalen Brown off of the team. Like, oh, the Celtics want to be in the playoffs. Thunder still would. I hate that argument personally. [00:53:35] But yeah, I guess if the Thunder continued to perform well without Shay, we could see him slip in the MVP discussion because of that. And to wrap it up, this is the last thing we're going to discuss on the first episode of the show. And then, you know, we'll be back next week to discuss more. [00:53:59] We'll be getting more into March Madness. But this is my March Madness top five contenders. I want to. [00:54:06] I'll probably do this every week, so we'll do. [00:54:10] Actually, yes, I'm gonna do this every week. So we're gonna, we're gonna go over these top five contenders and then, you know, as the weeks progress, we're gonna see who's fallen out of or who's jumped up in. But yeah, at number five, I got Houston, who's 23 five. I know they just lost to Kansas and I know they're on a three game losing streak, but they were just 23 and two three games ago. [00:54:34] And you know, other than this three game stretch, they've been very good on the season. They have a guy like Kingston Flemings and they have other players on the roster that are good. I think Houston has a chance at winning March Madness. Number four got UConn, who's 253 this season. We'll see how they play against St. John's that'll be a big determining factor to see if they go up or down in these rankings. But, you know, they're already having a, they're having great season. We know how dangerous they can be in March. [00:55:08] They won. [00:55:10] They won back to back March madness to just two years ago. [00:55:17] So, yeah, UConn, they're at four. At number three. I got Arizona, who started, what was it, 23 zero. They're now 25 and two. [00:55:26] But they recently just beat Houston. They beat in so many teams like byu. [00:55:32] So this Arizona team is really good, but there's. There's just a lot of good teams in March and, well, in college basketball this season. [00:55:43] And while Arizona might be the best team in the Big 12, which is the best conference, they might not necessarily be the best team in the entire NCAA. At number two, I got Michigan 25. Two. Yes, they just dropped a game to Duke, but their only two losses are to Duke in Wisconsin, who are obviously, you know, obviously they're going to be in March Madness, especially Duke, who I have at number one just to reveal that right now. But, yeah, no, Michigan, they've had numerous of really good wins this season. Same on Arizona and then Duke. They've also had great wins. And, you know, they're like one of their only losses, like UNC on a buzzer beater like this. And then I believe they lost to Texas Tech by one point. So it's like they. I'm pretty sure on the season, like, yeah, the one game they lost, they had. They lost by one. The other game they lost, they lost by two points. They just beat Michigan, who I've ranked at number two. They're clearly the number one team as of right now. They have Cameron Boozer, who's fantastic, and we've talked about him already on this show, but that'll do it for me. Those are my top five March Madness contenders, as well as everything else we discussed on this first episode of Full Court, Full field, full count. I am Leonardo Mejia. I will see you guys next week. Goodbye.