(upbeat music) - Welcome to Five on the Four, daily insider show on the Miami Heat and the NBA, featuring Ethan Skolnick, Greg Soulvander and Alex Toledo, plus others from the Five Reason Sports Network. - Welcome back to Five on the Floor. I'm your host, Greg Soulvander. Today's floor plan with me, Brady Hawk. Alex Toledo, Ethan Skolnick is on location at the NBA Draft. We are going to recap the 2024 NBA Draft first round. Get into the Miami Heat selection, which was a surprise to many. Talk about kind of anything else that, you know, maybe we are takeaways from the first round, but we're going to stick to the heat pick here. First, you should have been on Discord tonight. Off the floor was popping. Everybody was chatting and reacting. The chats were completely lit. You got to go 2.99 a month. 3.99 in your Apple device. This is the place for all your Miami Heat talk. Now that the summer is heating up, you've got to join because this is where you're going to get unfiltered Miami Heat conversation with people who are just as big a fan as you are and want to have good, respectful conversations. Check it out off the floor. That is our official Discord server. Link is in the description of this episode. Also want to shout out a great sponsor of the Five Reason Sports Network. And that is Better Edge, the social betting marketplace. Legal in 45 states, Better Edge is the premier social betting marketplace. You win more when you bet with or against the community. Thousands of sports fans enjoy Better Edge. They're getting over 25,000 bettors. You can join the movement by going to BetterEdge.com. They are a tier one product in terms of, you don't bet against the book. You bet against other people that are on the app. So you can find the line that you want. This is the social betting marketplace. Check it out, BetterEdge.com. They have a web based app, super easy to use, lots of fun. Use the code 5RSN, that'll get you $20 a free play. 5RSN, get you that code. Get you $20 a free play to start playing now on BetterEdge.com. Alright y'all, so the draft unfolded. The picks were laid out and the Devin Carter dream got smashed along the way. Ron Holland went a lot higher than we expected. He was a guy we talked about for Miami and worked out for Miami. And then Dalton Connect fell. And he felt like, oh my gosh, is this a guy? 'Cause I saw him in mock drafts as high as eight, seven, all of a sudden there at 15. And the heat come out of left field with a guy that we're gonna talk about his good qualities and some of his opportunity qualities and things like that in a minute. But they go with Calelware, center out of Indiana. They add size to a team that needed size. It was a huge pick in terms of the fact that this is a team that was relying on Kevin Love as a backup big. Now they have reinforcements there. Directly following the pick, Calelware talked about maybe potentially playing next to Bam out of bio who by the way got agreed to an extension today. So there's a, it was a pick out of left field because best player available felt like a guard Alex. It felt like there was also the Dalton situation where it's like, is he so good that you can't pass on him? And then ultimately it looks like the heat targeted Calelware. This was the guy that they wanted. There was no question about it. Dalton's sliding had no bearing on that and they took him your initial thoughts. - Well, and you know, first I wanna shout out everybody that was with us on playback. Playback.tv/5RSN got a shout out here 'cause we were there all night as well throughout the draft and we're gonna do it again tomorrow which, you know, for the second round which starts at four. So be on the lookout for that. It was a good time 'cause you could feel the tension from everybody in there who kind of had like their own, you know, agenda for who they wanted, right? Including myself and we just know and we talked about it literally leading up to the pick. They're not going to pick the guy who everybody wants. No matter, you know, who slides down or not. Like whoever they wanted is whoever they wanted. And you know, it's interesting because the way that it played out, you had Dalton on the board, right? You had Tristan De Silva on the board, on the board. And it's two guys that are, I think both 23 years old and both could have contributed immediately into your rotation and both would have really helped with the shooting, which seems to be, you know, kind of has been a problem from in the past where it's like they have too many guys that you can help off of not to mention the way that they're built with Jimmy and Bama at the top who are limited as shooters don't take many threes. And so it was interesting that they had the opportunity to go with somebody like that, a 23 year old older prospect who could help right away. And they overlooked multiple guys who check off those boxes, right? After the success that they just had with Jaime. So that was interesting on its own. But then to do that and go with a big, it was surprising. And that's what the heat always do. They surprise you with their draft picks. And usually, you know, that ends up meaning that it turns out to be a good thing because they usually, you know, more often not as a being a good player. It happened with Tyler, it happened with Bam, happy with Yowich, happy with Hakkez, didn't turn out that way for Precious. And I guess Kasey Akpala, but I'm gonna give him the benefit of the doubt. I liked Khalo wears a prospect. I think, you know, getting a really athletic big man who is going to be, you know, instant impact as far as being a role man, right? That's gonna be his role to start, is being a screening role guy, a handoff and role guy, a guy who has some shooting intrigue after shooting like a nice percentage from three on some pretty low volume. I wonder how much of that we'll see right away with the history that the heat had with their backup bigs, where they just kind of put them in a conservative role, you know, on both ends of the floor. And he's a good rim protector. He uses the athleticism there. Had some concerns from what I could tell about his motor, had some concerns about, you know, his competitiveness, but supposedly, you know, had a better season in those aspects than he did before when he was playing for Oregon. So that's good to see. I wonder if the heat think that he can do more than just play in a drop. 'Cause I think the drop will probably be his, you know, the way that they use him to start. But they've been a team where, like with their backup bigs, they'll, you know, sometimes they'll bring the guy up to touch and bless or trap. I wonder if they do that with him since he's, you know, more fluid than a Thomas Bryan or Kevin Love. And so you could probably, you know, he moves better than those guys. So you can probably see some of that. You'll almost definitely see him with the way that they've, you know, the frequency that they've used zone every now and then. So that part is interesting to me. Just having a guy with that type of size. Like everybody wanted. Like I said, skeptical that we see the shot, but just getting an athlete like that, you know, 20 years old. Again, seven footer with a seven, four and a half wingspan. A guy who was really productive as a 20 year old in college, about 16 and 10 as the averages there. Like, I think it's a pretty good pick, man. And again, like somebody who everybody else had going, like, I don't know, in the 20s or so, that's usually who the heat get with these types of picks. Right? It's always somebody that you don't expect. So I'm giving them the benefit of the doubt. I think he's a fun, you know, getting another athlete in the building is nice. We just don't see a lot of that with the heat. And I think it would be really intriguing if he could show off some of that shot and see how viable it is. Because it would be nice if you had another there, right? Who you're developing in that rotation, going forward, who you feel good about the shot. And you could have him, you know, not always being a guy taking up space in the pain where he always has to roll to the pain. He could just kind of go right back out to the pain. I mean, I mean, to the arc and space for others. Like, I think if he has that option, that makes him more dynamic, not only for like just playing with bad, but just in general for like the way, you know, having more ways that you can play him. So I'm interested to see how much they put him in that box to start with as far as being a screen or roll guy on offense and maybe just a drop down defense. I think there's upside there to be, you know, a more dynamic player. But I'd like to pick. - Or spacing upside is one thing with Kaleil where interior presence, shop locking, lob threat. I think Derek Lively, like that's a name that pops in my head as a rookie who found a role and played it well for a winning team. Brady, your thoughts on the pick. And also, what is your take on the whole, he's had issues, the focus has wavered since high school, has been a buzz line that has traveled, doesn't really love basketball, his motor. What do you make of that kind of stuff and your thoughts on the Kaleil wear pick? - Yeah, I said that on the last episode when we kind of talked about heading into this draft, some of these guys and I kept saying like, hypothetically, well, not hypothetically anymore, but at the time, hypothetically, if he wore to take him, obviously if he went in for a workout and impressed him that much, they're not worried about his motor. Like I think that matters. Like I really do think that holds a lot of weight here. And I do think when you get these tags of like these adjectives that are like rough motor, like they're not a good enough motor and this and that, like I think some of that stuff can be taken out of context and be drawn out a little bit. Like we don't know, maybe it is to an extent, maybe it wasn't the past, but we don't know. Like it's just like, I compared it to the Jimmy situation before he came here where he's a locker room cancer and he's like, it's just what he is. And then all of a sudden, no way, no, he's not. He's not anymore, he's not this guy. So I just think that could be overstated a little bit. But when looking at him as a player, a lot of the stuff Alex was talking about, defensively, 100%, he's a really talented, shop blocking, drop big. I do think it could be a little bit more creative. I think when you were talking about kind of the blitzing stuff is interesting, but I do think at least playing about the level, I think it's something they could do a little bit and just to kind of try it out 'cause he can kind of contain in that way and he could recover, which is something they haven't been able to do with these other bigs. I mean, when they get these veteran minimum bigs, like Zellers and the Deadmans and Thomas Bryant's, if they put you at the level, that guard's running right past him and he's not recovering. Like none of them. If you get a guy that it's a little bit quicker, younger, athletic, even if they get by you, get by that first level, he could recover and you could look at his film, he's really good at those chase downs. He's really good at kind of controlling around the rim and kind of glassing it or just kind of blocking it out of bounds where they just haven't had that. They haven't had that aspect of things and it's like, even if he goes through, 'cause he's not gonna be perfect defensively, he's gonna have his issues as well, but I'll roll the dice with a guy that's athletic, that has the capabilities of just pure length and just the attributes there and just quicker to kind of get to the ball. He's just kind of a ball magnet. Like you just need that. These guys that are like taking charges backside and worrying about over helping here and worrying about blitzing and recovering here is taxing in the regular season. It's, I'm not saying it's why they have availability issues, but I think it's part of it. It's a lot of it, it's a taxing scheme. So when you get to kind of some young blood at that position, it kind of changes a lot of the things you can run defensively. And then the other stuff offensively, he's a really interesting post player. I think that's number one. He has really good touch and kind of play pretty strong. Like we talk about precious differences like, and I hate comparing it just because they drafted another big and comparing these two guys, but like, he's really good in traffic. He has good hands to grab the ball comes down. Like he's just really comfortable in that range. And I think that matters. And I like the upside of him as a face up player. Like just looking at how much he plays in the post and that you kind of, he kind of, you've seen him kind of branch off a little bit and he gets in that face up. He's got such a high release point that you can't really alter it. So if he's shooting over the top of you in that mid range, it's tough to guard if he just finds that fluidity and he has it. Like a lot of these big guys we look at, like they have funky jumpers, there's a little bit of a hitch in it. Not this guy. Like, Kaleo Ware has a smooth fluid jumper. And that's why the three point shooting is intriguing. Like we'll see how much that branches out and how much they'll, I don't wanna say allow it, but at first I would expect them to do some of the things out to talk about like rely on the rolling stuff, rely on the athleticism, rely on all that. They're not gonna say you want in taking three, four, threes a game, but the ability to be able to do it, the ability that teams will probably have to respect it at some level just because he could shoot it not just from above the break and pick a pause but he's good in the corners, good in all those spots. So I just think there, this is an offensive upside play here. But as much as I use the word upside, I think he's a big that could play now. I think he's a big that could play behind BAM. I think he can log minutes 100% in the regular season and he can kind of play in that range. And the last thing I'll say is like finally you just get athleticism on the roll with pure length. Like the fact that you could just throw the ball up to your big and throw it in the air instead of having to throw these bounce passes because most of these guys don't get off the ground, like that matters. And Miami's gonna have to do a better job of getting their bigs the ball and throwing lobs 'cause we know how much that's been a problem over recent years, but it's comes a whole lot easier when you have a seven footer that goes up and gets it running down the lane. Like it, you can throw balls like not right on the money and it still could end up being a lob and a dunk. So just getting some athleticism there as a roller, as a put back guy, like what's the left? How many put backs have we seen other than BAM? Like it's Kayla Martin is your second guy getting put back. So a guy you could put in the dunker spot that could be an offensive rebounder. I like it. I mean, they needed to get bigger, they needed to get more athletic and they did that. - You know, Brady said something earlier today 'cause it across the Twitter sphere, they talked about how rival organizations thought Miami was zeroing in on a guard and that meant that we should have known that they were gonna go with a big because the heat do not leak. But do you have a water leak and you can't find where it's coming from? You gotta call water cleanable Florida. Nine, five, four, five, seven, nine, zero, three, five, six for immediate assistance with over 60 years combined experience. Michael and his entire team are prepared to handle all types of leak detection issues and disasters. 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Water cleanable Florida is fully licensed insured and certified to provide the one-stop shopping, busy homeowners and business owners require. There's no need to bring in any other contractors. They'll handle your entire project from start to finish. Service areas include Miami Broward and Palm Beach County call Michael anytime on his personal cell. Nine, five, four, five, seven, nine, zero, three, five, six. Again, that's nine, five, four, five, seven, nine, zero, three, five, six, visit the website WCUFL.com. Follow them on Facebook, Instagram. They have over 75 five star reviews on Google, water cleanable Florida. If you have the schmutz, they got the guts. So Kaleil where we're gonna trust the front office. We're gonna trust scouts in this age of Miami Heat basketball because all the recent draft picks have, for the most part, been pretty solid picks. Press us a chew aside. I think that that is the prudent approach is to approach this pick with positivity because usually when they target a player and they don't deviate from the board and they pick the guy that they're really in on, it tends to work out. I think that that's gonna be something to look forward to with this pick as another player that has a lot of size. They needed size. We always talk about how are they gonna keep trotting out a bunch of six, seven players to play all the front court positions. Well, now they have a legit seven footer or close to seven footer in the building. Let's pivot quickly as we close here to tomorrow. The second round starts at 4 p.m. Heat will be picking, I don't know, maybe an hour, hour and a half into that. I don't know exactly when, but we'll have you covered on playback and we'll have another pod to go over day two of the NBA draft. They've split it into two days now. But just final thoughts on what you think Miami should do tomorrow. - I think they should keep the pick. If some people are thinking about trading, I think they should keep it. Like there's people there that are still available who seem like, honestly, like there's some names that are out there when you look at, not specifically for the heat at 43, but just guys that didn't get taken in the first round, like for the Palski, as far as heat guys, like it's still available. If he somehow was going on to 43, that would be a slam dunk. The two wings that have been brought up regardless, as far as like, in the heat's range, Harrison Ingram and Kesha Johnson, out of North Carolina and Arizona. Like I think those would be absolute slam dunks at 43. So those would be the guys I'll most be looking at. You know, we mentioned on yesterday's show, Pade Larson, I think that would be nice too. He's still out there. But there are some names on that draft board still. So I'm looking forward to see what they do tomorrow. And look, it's gonna be interesting because you know, like they could go with a couple of different positions here, right? Like maybe like I mentioned Collek at the guard. I mentioned there are two wings. There's also Jamal Shedd out of Houston, another guard who's a defensive arm. Like, I think it's interesting to see what they do here after taking a big in the first round. I'm intrigued to watch that. And just to kind of wrap things up on Collek where I think, you know, the red flags with him as far as his motor and the other one that I didn't mention before was like the feel for the game stuff. I feel like that was one that I kept seeing regarding Collek where I think he pretty much checks out as somebody who is like very much a tools prospect while also being productive in college. Right? Like I mentioned the stats before, but it's like you're basically betting on his athletic tools and putting him, you know, having him in-house in your program, ironing out and polishing the technical fundamental stuff. Right? And he knows reps, the NBA reps, you got to be able to guard and like main decisions, right? Not just on offense, but just on the defensive side of the floor, like it's gonna be a weak side, rim protector, just a, you know, in general, be a rim protector. Like he's got to be in the right spots. I think there was some questions about him in there and he did really good at teaching those things, right? So I think that's something that you can feel good about as a heat fan is like his red flags ideally can be ironed out. And I think that's basically what they're betting on. It's like take the athletic guy. And like Brady mentioned, you know, clearly his character must have not been a real red flag for them after talking to him and working him out because they took him over a lot of guys that people thought would have been taking over him. A whole lot of guys. So if there's a hold on him, I think you got to give him the best of the doubt. And, you know, it's, they've got an athletic big man in their rotation now. That's what you can say. You've got an athletic big man who could maybe play into a five out of offense at some point who like Brady mentioned has some face up and post up in this game. Skeptical that we see that when he does play. But the fact that he's got that in his bag is interesting 'cause, you know, he doesn't have to be one-dimensional on offense where it's only, you know, he can only score a loss or something like that. So I think you could diversify if he grows into an NBA player. But iron out the processing iron feel. And I think you might really get a nice NBA player from like they've done so many times before. But yeah, man, looking forward to the second route tomorrow. I mentioned the guys I really like and that's what I've got my eye on. But there's more names that were projected to go late first that are out there as well. - Brady, your final thoughts on the where pick and what do you think will be the focus point for them tomorrow as they, you know, gear up for the second round? - Yeah, I'm with a lot of the names that Alex was saying. I think there's a lot of wings around, that'll hover around 43 that are actually guys that have worked out with Miami. So like, I think that tie and matter, especially with these second round guys, but like you said, Kashad Johnson here is some Ingram, Jalen Bridges, like three different wings that are just kind of those three and D type of guys that you need that the type of guys that can replace the Caleb Martin, the type of guys that you need in the heat system that can find minutes in the regular season. So I think that matters. The funny name that everybody keeps bringing up before they made this pick at 15 that would be hilarious if they did is Adam Bona out of UCLA. Like if they were to do that after just taking a big and they just kind of double up in that way, that would be kind of wild to see. But if he's best player available, I guess you never know, Tyler Colick kind of dropping. I don't think he gets the 43. That's kind of the name that Greg, I know you've thrown around with kind of having a good workout in Miami. Tyler Smith, somebody I like not, I'm not confident he's going to get the 43. But if he somehow does, that would be an absolute steal. And another random name I just want to throw in that I feel like could be a chance at 43 is Kevin McColar. Just another guy that I really do feel like could be a heat type player if he does fall at 43. But a lot of these guys look, I mean, we keep saying falling to 43, but it's funny because the second round being another day, it's literally like they have like the 13 pick. - Yeah. - So it's like they're going to have some options here around that range. So I think they can get a good player. I mean, the fact that they took a big early and now they can have a little fun with finding like an offensive type guard or wing. Like I think they could get some production out of a guy like this. So that'll be interesting. And then to wrap up on where I do think he could get, he's going to get real backup minutes this year. Like I really do believe that just with the fact, I mean, that's not a crazy thing to say with the competition he has in that big manner. But I do think there's a possibility looking forward with him next to BAM. And I'm not somebody that's always been like pushing that. Like I'm not somebody that's been saying like moving BAM to the four. It's going to change everything. But I do think when you add in a guy like this that has the ability to stretch the floor and BAM kind of doing it right now a little bit as well. And I think you'll see it'll probably a little bit more from BAM probably this next season. There's going to be opportunities. Like there's going to be legit opportunities to run this type of style, especially against certain teams. Like it's going to be a matchup thing just like they match up small ball with certain teams. You can match up with this certain style. So I think this is the first time that I'm looking at a future season. And I think it's like it's legit. Like they can actually go big at certain points. Now it's he going to start next to BAM now. They're not going to like we can't like go crazy here. Like they're still going to play a certain style. And I think they're going to try to, I don't want to say box them in because it sounds bad when you talk about boxing and especially a young player in a big, but they do box them in to like maximize their strengths. So like when you see a guy that they say, okay, we want you to just play the duck response, screen dive and keep playing that style and defend. That's what you're going to see for the first like two or three months. Because that's the, they just want to kind of let him adapt to the NBA. And that's why a lot of these rookies from IME end up kind of hitting the floor running. But I do think there is real chance for that moving forward next to BAM. And we'll see how the defense, if the defense can keep them on the floor because that'll be the shifter for exposure. - He must have sold the organization. So I think we are sold as a show on Kaleelware. It's going to be interesting what they do tomorrow because now that the big man spot is kind of taken care of, they can focus on other areas. So that will make for an interesting day too of the NBA draft. Thank you to our sponsors, Better Edge and Water Cleanup of Florida, to Alex, to Brady. Thank you and make sure you're following with us. Come hang out with us on playback. Watch the second round. Join Discord off the floor. That'll be where you can chat with us. And let's have a good time on day two of the NBA draft coming up.
