00:00Nick Engstad of Locked On Mavs. Nick, join us on the fan cam Twitch and YouTube. Nick, what's up, man?
00:08Nick. Nicholas. Nick is not there. No, he's muted. Oh, you muted. There you go. Nick, we got you.
00:17There we go. He's there. So if there's a fire in Rockwell, do you guys have to move all that
00:22stuff
00:22and get out of the way or what's everybody just toast over there? No, that's why they had like
00:26that's the benefit of doing it from a firehouse. They can put it out without us ever having
00:29to move. Yeah. You know what I mean? Nick, have you ever been in a fire truck before? That's
00:38why I should be asking you. Probably when I was a little kid, little plastic hat, you
00:42know, got the sticker. Have you ever been in a fire before? Have I started a fire or been
00:48in one? Been in a fire. No, never. I've been on fire a couple of times, hit some threes,
00:55you know, felt good. Nick, when the lottery results happened, myself and I think a ton
01:03of Mavs fans, as you probably saw, very disappointed dropping from eight to nine. And then when we
01:09mock these guys and start talking about the depth of this draft, I don't feel so terrible
01:14about it anymore. What are your feelings right now? The Mavs having the nine spot with the
01:19combine taking place? You know, sometimes math is disappointing. It's just, it was just kind
01:24of the odds, right? The second most likely result is that they're going to drop to nine.
01:27But this draft is pretty deep in that range. Like you said, you get that group of like
01:33five guards, the Keaton Wagler, Darius Acuff, Braden Buries, you know, Mike L Brown, right
01:39in that range. And any of those guards, I think if the Mavs walk away with one of them, I
01:42think
01:42that you're doing really well. You've got somebody that you can build, you know, an offense
01:46around. I think that any of them fit with Cooper flag. That's the great thing about Cooper
01:49flag is that he's just so malleable that you can put anybody with him. And this pick
01:54may determine like what kind of team the Mavericks are trying to, to make it or to build
01:59around Cooper flag, because these guys are different and kind of their own way. Give
02:03us your one, two, three wish list of the reasonable names.
02:06Ooh, the, of the reasonable names. I love Braden Buries. I think he's the best defender out
02:11of this guard group. I think he is the most versatile of that group. He tested really well
02:15athletically. He's the biggest of that group. Uh, you know, like a LeBaron Phylon measure
02:20like 180 pounds and Braden Buries is like 220. It's like, that's like a huge difference
02:24in the, in the NBA, especially at a, at a guard spot. And so he's ready to come in right
02:28now. He led that Arizona team to, you know, to a good record and through the NCAA tournament
02:32last year. So he'd be my number one, probably Keaton Wagler after that, just a really good
02:37shooter shot maker. Uh, he's trying to, you know, he said he wanted to position his game
02:41off of like shake Gilders, Alexander Tyrese Halliburton with the pace and space and things
02:45like that. Uh, and then after that, I probably go Michael Brown. He impressed a lot of people
02:50at the combine. He's a guy that a lot of people had in the top five before the college season.
02:55Then he had this back injury that flared up and he said, he's fine with the back injury. I guess
02:59that's what you're supposed to say at the combine, but that would be another guy that has a real
03:03high upside. What about, you know, and I know it may not be somebody on their radar, but people
03:08have been asking about like, uh, the Lopez, uh, the kid from Mexico at nine. Is he somebody that's
03:14in the mix or not? I don't think yet at nine. Uh, and I, and that's a guy that I
03:20watched in the
03:20combine and I was like, I just don't know. Maybe you're a three and D guy. I'm just not sure
03:24what
03:24his role is on the next level, but being potentially being the first like Mexican American player being
03:29born or to be drafted is a, that's pretty cool. It's a pretty cool story. Nick Ang set locked on
03:34maps here on Sean and RJ one Oh five, three, the fan. Um, y'all's coverage has been everywhere. So
03:39were you at the lottery and combine week or did you have like your team out there? Where were you
03:45specifically? Yeah, the team, the team is the me and Isaac and the intern, the intern is us. Uh,
03:50yeah, we were, we were both out there. Uh, got to talk to Masai, Mike Schmitz, got to see the
03:55whole
03:55lottery thing behind the scenes and everything. It was, it was a, it was a good experience. Give us
03:59your opening impressions of the new leadership. Masai Ujiri walked into a room with every single draft
04:06prospect, all their families, all the agents, a bunch of different, you know, team officials and
04:11everybody turned around and looked at him. He just has an aura and like a commanding presence that
04:15he, when he walks in the room, he's somebody that is one of the best communicators. I think that we
04:20have as, as GMs or president of basketball operations in the NBA, he just gets right to the
04:25point. He's, you know, straight up business. Uh, he's just somebody that commands that attention
04:30to commands that respect. And so I think that's something that the Mavericks haven't had in a,
04:34a little while and, uh, is, you know, a visionary. And then you bring in Mike Schmitz to be the
04:39work
04:39horse, to be the guy, to do the day-to-day operations and to be the guy that does, you
04:43know, grind the tape and the footage and watch all these guys. And he's had a lot of hits in
04:47his career going back to his time at draft express and ESPN. He was, you know, a really
04:52good draft analyst and then working for the Blazers last few years as the assistant GM. Uh, he's
04:57somebody that a lot of people at the combine respected because he was there and he was, he was,
05:00he put in the time. And, uh, and I think that the, the, I think leadership is going in a
05:04good
05:05direction. And if you were worried about the maps, like ability to draft this combination
05:10should completely change that for you. Nick, you know, we, we, in DFW, we've had, obviously,
05:15you know, last year, the, the Cowboys had their struggles on defense. And so it's like, all right,
05:19this is the top priority. The Rangers headed into the off season. It's like, got to do something
05:23about our approach at the plate. Things are just not working there. What is like the blinking
05:28light for the Mavericks head in the soft season where it's like, that has to get better. If that
05:32doesn't get better, you're, you're not doing anything else in terms of progress in the next
05:36year. Oh, it's, it's guard play. It's like initiating the offense, having somebody to just
05:42to set things up, somebody that can dribble. I mean, at certain points of the year, the Mavericks had
05:47three players on the roster that could dribble against certain teams. And you're just like, man,
05:52this needs to get better next season. Uh, and so Kyrie Irving obviously does that in a big way.
05:56He didn't play at all, obviously last year. And so that's something that will, you know,
06:00be a huge influx of ball handling and playmaking at the guard position, but they need somebody
06:05going forward. They need somebody that, uh, they can, you know, build a team around, build
06:09an offense around in a way next to Cooper flag. And so that's why you look at this group
06:12of guards in a spot and it makes a lot of sense for the Mavericks to grab one of them
06:16and basically whichever one falls to them. How do you weigh Kyrie Irving as a contributor
06:22to what the Mavericks can be next year versus as a contributor through the trade market and
06:27building pieces moving forward? Yeah, I think, I think you look at where the Mavericks are and
06:33where the Mavericks are positioned like draft wise and think about like the, the, the future
06:38of the team. Cooper flag is kind of ready to, to, to win right now. He played so well. I
06:43think
06:43he's like a top 30 NBA player already the way that he played last year. And so that's a
06:47player that you would expect. All right, well, we can, we can realistically win some games
06:50next year if we bring back, you know, Kyrie like that. And then you look at where Kyrie
06:56has been in the, in the past, he's, he's forced to trade out a couple of places or requested
06:59a trade out of some places. He's revitalized his image in Dallas and that he's been nothing
07:05but professional and awesome with the Mavs. Seems really happy here in Dallas. And so is
07:09that somebody that you want to, to trade and get some, some pieces for? Is that some, somebody
07:13that other teams would trade for? You look at the team, like the Pistons or the Rockets
07:17of teams that have also struggled with guard play. And maybe, maybe those teams could,
07:21could be there, but the Mavs don't have their draft pick next year. And so they can't play
07:24this game of like, let's just go get a bunch of assets and then we'll tank for another year
07:28or so and get another good player. That's just not, that's not in the cards for them. And
07:32then even the next couple of years after that, they have swaps with OKC and the Spurs and
07:35things like that. And so, I mean, I think you keep Kyrie for as long as he's happy and you
07:40have him mentor these young guys. I mean, Kyrie being the mentor of a, you know, an
07:46Mikel Brown or whoever, whatever guard they bring is maybe more invaluable than the assets
07:50he could actually bring in. Nick Angstadt locked on Mavs here on 105 through the fan. We go
07:54to the combine now in Indy. Well, and we know what a big deal that is on television. What
08:00is the NBA combine like? The NBA combine is like a conference with all the NBA like decision
08:08makers all at once. And then there's something else happening over to the side. That's what it
08:13feels like. It's just a big, it's a big networking event. Some of the testing and, you know,
08:18five on five things are good. I love the interviews that we got to do. We post them all on
08:24Locked
08:24Mavs YouTube channel. And so we got to talk to like, you know, pretty much every one of
08:28these guards that I've mentioned. Kingston Flemings was the one that stood out to me.
08:32Incredible personality. But that is sort of what the combine is like. You're just walking
08:37around. You see this person, you see this person, you see Sam Presti, you know, just like
08:41taking it all in. And then just deals happening at least between, you know, some teams probably.
08:47What is the testing they do? They do the, you know, they do all the like the measurements.
08:53So wingspan, standing reach, height, weight, they do all that. And then they do vertical.
08:58They do a three fourths court sprint, a pro lane drill with like a cone drill where they
09:02go back and forth. That was one. If you saw that boozer, you know, Caleb Wilson video that
09:06was going around yesterday. They do five on five too. They do shooting drills. They do,
09:11you know, all kinds of stuff like that. Have there been winners and losers so far?
09:15I guess as far as there, as far as there are winners and losers of like measurements and
09:20things like that. I think, you know, Caleb Wilson measured it insanely well. He's an insane
09:26athlete that, you know, the wing from, from North Carolina. I thought Brayden Burry's and
09:31Michael Brown and Kingston Flemings all measured really well athletically. There's that thing about
09:37the combine is it's kind of like summer league. There are, there are like some guys you go,
09:40Oh, okay. That could be a winner. And then there are some losers too, where you go, man,
09:44like this guy did not shoot the ball. Well, I co-opete airballed one of his shots with nobody
09:48in front of him. And you're like, Ooh, that's a, that's a tough one. Not going to come back
09:52from that one. Probably Nick, how much trade up or trade down talk? Do you think Mavs fans
09:58should entertain? Oh, the fans can entertain all of it. Go ahead. Just, just like talk it all up.
10:04That's what they, that's what they do. Right. I'm not talking to any of them off of like any
10:07kind of trades because this, this whole process, you, you fall in love with somebody and you think
10:12about what range they're in. And then you're just all in. I've seen people say, Oh, we got,
10:15we have to trade up for a cuff. That's the guy. He's the next Kyrie. He's the next whoever.
10:20And if you get stuck on a guy like that, then sure. Yeah. I don't think the Mavericks are going
10:23to trade up. That's not something Masai Ujiri has really done in his career. The Mavericks don't have
10:28a ton of assets going forward in order to do that. They don't have just like an abundance,
10:32like the jazz or the thunder and one of these other teams that are just like, yeah, we can,
10:35we can part with another first round pick going forward. That's just not the position the Mavericks
10:39are in. And then I think they're going to get somebody good. One of those guards is going to
10:42fall to them. And so I think you just, you, you, you deal with the, you know, the punches that
10:47are
10:47thrown to you in the draft and, and go forward with it. But trading down is another, is another option
10:51that people have thrown out that, that thunder trade. If you can get 12 and 17 for number nine,
10:56would you do it? That's something that people have thrown out a lot that, I don't know,
11:00see if the thunder would even want to do that. How much are you buying the talk of Washington
11:05trading out of one? As soon as Utah was two, I was like, man, Utah is going to do anything
11:12they
11:12can to go get to bonds. I mean, that's the Utah BYU guy, like Ryan Smith, their owner has invested
11:17in him and that program a lot. Uh, I can't imagine that they wouldn't throw a whole bunch at,
11:22at the, you know, the wizards to move up. And then if you're the wizards, man, go get those assets.
11:27Cause you probably want Darren Peterson anyway. That's a, that's definitely a better fit with
11:30your team. And he's Darren Peterson is an incredible shooter, incredible athlete and had
11:35that weird story at Kansas, but it seems like it's clearing up now with whatever the creatine
11:39story was that he overdosed on creatine or whatever that was, but at least he'll be there in the NBA
11:45with, you know, pro dietitians and trainers and things like that. And hopefully that clears all
11:49that up. Nick, thank you so much for the time, man. Keep up the great work. The combine audio and
11:54video really jumped out. Thank you so much and enjoy the weekend. Absolutely boys.
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