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NBA Combine day 1: draft board shakeups, NIL impact + fallout from physical playoffs with Rafael Barlowe

NBA Combine day 1: draft board shakeups, NIL impact + fallout from physical playoffs with Rafael Barlowe

Yahoo15-05-2025
Kevin O'Connor is joined by NBA draft expert Rafael Barlowe from Chicago to break down how the NBA playoffs' rise in physical play is shifting their 2025 draft boards and prospect evaluations. They spotlight prospects like Cedric Coward and Jase Richardson and debate whether double-big lineups could become the NBA's next big trend. The pair also break down how NIL has reshaped the draft pool, leaving it older and deeper with late withdrawals.
(0:35) OKC takes series lead vs. Denver
(2:46) Pacers advance to Eastern Conf Finals
(5:23) Rafael Barlowe joins
(5:32) Impact of playoffs on draft evaluations
(6:44) Evaluation of Cedric Coward
(8:26) Evaluation of Jase Richardson
(11:18) Evaluation of Colin Murray-Boyles
(16:04) Is Dallas certain to draft Cooper Flagg?
(18:55) What should Spurs do with #2?
(20:47) Evaluation of Thomas Sorber
(23:50) Evaluation of Maxime Raynaud
(25:50) Impact of NIL on NBA Draft
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Isiah Thomas recalled a high school Kevin Garnett dominating in a pick-up game vs. Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen: "It was one of the most poetic, beautiful experiences I had"
Isiah Thomas recalled a high school Kevin Garnett dominating in a pick-up game vs. Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen: "It was one of the most poetic, beautiful experiences I had"

Yahoo

time40 minutes ago

  • Yahoo

Isiah Thomas recalled a high school Kevin Garnett dominating in a pick-up game vs. Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen: "It was one of the most poetic, beautiful experiences I had"

Isiah Thomas recalled a high school Kevin Garnett dominating in a pick-up game vs. Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen: "It was one of the most poetic, beautiful experiences I had" originally appeared on Basketball Network. Kevin Garnett's leap from high school straight into the NBA in 1995 wasn't a gamble but a moment that had been simmering behind the curtain for years, witnessed by those who could already see the future. One of them was NBA Hall of Famer Isiah Thomas, whose history in the game goes beyond his playing days and deep into the fabric of talent evaluation and legacy-building. Thomas' observation Thomas was no longer donning the Detroit Pistons jersey but navigating the infancy of the Toronto Raptors. His eye was cast far and wide for someone who could serve as the soul of a new franchise. And then came Garnett. "I had targeted him as the person that I wanted to draft and start our franchise with," Thomas said of Garnett. "Being in his presence... it was overwhelming. You felt his energy, his intensity, his passion, his love for his craft in high school, beyond anybody else who was in the gym." "It was one of the most poetic, beautiful experiences I had had or felt from a young player," he added. This wasn't flowery praise. It was a window into the exact kind of conviction that defined Thomas as both a player and an executive. He saw Garnett not just as a talented big man but as a force of nature in motion. The gym where this impression was cemented wasn't just any gym. It was in Chicago, and the pickup game featured none other than Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen, two icons who had already rewritten the rules of excellence by then. Thomas, who grew up on the west side of Chicago himself, knew exactly what a gym like that meant. Those kinds of gyms had always birthed legends, men whose names lived on in whispered stories long after the lights dimmed. Garnett walked into that same space with no professional contract, shoe deal and draft buzz. Just raw will. What Garnett did in that pickup game was not merely impressive; it shifted the temperature in the room. He didn't defer. He didn't ask for space. He took it. The game, according to Thomas, was supposed to showcase dominance, not discover it. Yet he made the kind of statement that validated every whisper coming out of Farragut wasn't waiting for permission In 1995, Garnett became the first player in two decades to leap from high school straight into the league. The last to do so had been Darryl Dawkins and Bill Willoughby in 1975. The landscape had changed dramatically since then, with the league having become far more technical, media-dense and physically unforgiving. For Garnett to enter through that door meant he had to redefine what readiness looked like. The 1995 draft eventually saw the Minnesota Timberwolves take him with the fifth overall pick. Thomas didn't get his man. But the memory remained. That moment in Chicago, that burst of energy and purpose, stuck with him, not just as a scout or executive but as someone who had lived through every kind of basketball war and still felt something new that day. Isiah already understood that Garnett's greatness was never theoretical. It had already been tested, in a no-frills gym with Jordan and Pippen on the floor, where reputations are either built or burned. What made Garnett stand out was talent and the refusal to be intimidated by proximity to greatness. That defiance would become his signature. In Boston, it would show up in his defensive scowls and locker-room sermons. In Minnesota, it would fuel his loyalty through years of franchise hardship. The high schooler Thomas once watched in a Chicago gym had become the blueprint for the next generation of prep-to-pro stars: Kobe Bryant, LeBron James, Dwight Howard. But even among them, Garnett was different. He hadn't walked through the NBA's doors quietly; he had kicked them story was originally reported by Basketball Network on Jul 26, 2025, where it first appeared.

Lakers jersey history No. 0 — Jalen Hood-Schifino
Lakers jersey history No. 0 — Jalen Hood-Schifino

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Lakers jersey history No. 0 — Jalen Hood-Schifino

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Where Could LeBron James Go Next? Top Landing Spots If He Leaves Lakers
Where Could LeBron James Go Next? Top Landing Spots If He Leaves Lakers

Newsweek

time2 hours ago

  • Newsweek

Where Could LeBron James Go Next? Top Landing Spots If He Leaves Lakers

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