DEBATE: Ranking TOP 3 NBA Draft Prospects And Their Fits With Brooklyn Nets | MARCH MADNESS Preview

It's the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every day.

Introducing the all-new Mazda CX-5.

Featuring more connection.

Hey, Google, where's the nearest Pilates class?

Safety that has your back.

More discovery on the scene of crowds.

More passion in the details.

A more controlled and changing weather.

The all-new Mazda CX-5.

More to move every side of you.

See it in five films at MazdaUSA.com slash five sides.

Google is a trademark of Google LLC.

Sequence is shortened and simulated.

This is Nick Gangstead with the Lockdown Podcast.

This message is a paid partnership with Apple Card.

I love that I can run up to 3% daily cash back on every purchase of my Apple Card,

which can be automatically sent to my high-yield savings account through Apple Card right in the wallet app.

With my iPhone, I can use Apple Card with Apple Pay basically everywhere I go.

You can apply for Apple Card, too, right in the wallet app on your iPhone.

Subtract your credit approval.

Savings is available to Apple Card owners, subject to eligibility.

Savings in Apple Card by Goldman Sachsbank, USA Salt Lake City Branch member FDIC.

Terms and more at AppleCard.com.

The 2026 NBA Drafts top prospects will showcase their talents during March Madness.

I'll tell Brooklyn Nets fans which player has the most to gain and which could best fit with Brooklyn on today's episode of Lockdown Nets.

You are Lockdown Nets, your daily Brooklyn Nets Podcast.

Part of the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every day.

Welcome in to Lockdown Nets.

I'm Eric Slater.

On today's show, I'm going to be joined by a draft analyst for reveal his rankings of AJ Debansta, Darren Peterson,

and Cam Booser, a top this year's NBA draft.

We'll talk about how each can boost their stock during March Madness and which is the best fit for the Nets come June.

Let's go.

And joining the show now, we got Derek Parker, NBA draft on S.I.

Do some great stuff on YouTube with individual prospect breakdowns and Derek.

It's getting to be that time, especially for the Brooklyn Nets.

The season's winding down.

All the focus is shifting towards the draft, the lottery standings, the tank race, and now March Madness, the NCAA tournament.

So I want to get right into it and want to talk about these top three prospects that obviously all Nets fans have had their eye on this season.

And all of which are going to play in March Madness and it seems like there is a lot to gain for each of them in terms of solidifying their place.

Maybe as the number one pick, like it's very much up for grabs.

And that's obviously AJ Debansta, Darren Peterson, Cam Booser.

So I wanted to run through those guys.

But before we get to that, just your bracket, your pick.

Who do you have coming out on top right now?

Who's your team that you think has the best shot?

I've thought about this a lot already.

I have to go Michigan. They're unbelievable.

I think they have the best collegiate front court I've ever seen with Linda Borg.

That's like three guys who could play in the NBA tomorrow and they're anchoring your front court.

They've all got experience.

Have to go Michigan.

But there's some other really good choices too.

All right, let's get into the prospect board then.

And I kind of want to just work down your rankings because it's been really interesting to me.

Like obviously all these guys at the top of the draft is top three.

You could throw Caleb Wilson.

And they're even though he's not playing in the tournament.

Like they're viewed as very, very high level prospect.

This draft has been the talk of some NBA scouting circles for years now at this point.

And with the nets having a potential top three pick, I get a lot of questions like who's the best fit.

Which one of these guys would you have the top of their board?

And all these people I talked to, there's a lot of different answers there.

So let's run down your board as you have it right now.

Who's the number one prospect that you have on your board or just give me your one, two, three.

And then we'll go through those guys individually.

I want to preface this with I have wappled between all three.

Not because I'm not convicted about who I think is the best, but because I think they're truly is.

And especially situationally, I think there's a case for all three of these guys.

I think they're stellar.

I think they're all good in their own right.

Right now I do have Darren Peterson.

That's probably not the most popular take at this point in the season.

I think both Booser and the sponsor are probably trending towards being number one for everybody else.

I've stuck with DP.

I think this season has not quite shown who he truly is.

I really do think he is working through injury.

I don't think the burst has necessarily allowed him to look like a lead guard, which I think he can be down the line.

I think as a project lead guard, the passing hasn't been there.

You just haven't seen it with Kansas.

I think their system due to his issues has been a little bit messy.

So I've stuck with DP.

I think he's a superstar.

It's hard to explain in ways that, you know, show what he's done at Kansas.

But I still think Darren Peterson is just an unbelievable prospect too.

I would have Cam Booser.

I think his processing his field is phenomenal.

He's won me over in terms of all the other things.

People say it like winning impact and he can score in all these different ways.

The defense, I think, will ultimately be fine.

The stiffer athleticism for a little bit there did have me a little bit concerned.

But in the same breath, he's just so consistent, so productive, a collegiate superstar.

Probably the best player in college basketball, which for an 18-year-old is just fine with me.

And then I've got AJ DeBonza last and certainly not least a guy who I had one coming into the season.

Six, nine, so fluid, premier athleticism.

I think he's unbelievable in his own right.

I do think there's a few more issues around maybe the high level passing, the defensive outcomes.

But if he can shore those things up, then we're looking at a bona fide three levels scoring superstar.

So that's where I have it right now.

Yeah, and it's interesting because a lot of the scouts I've talked to, the draft people I've talked to.

Like people get very obsessed with like, who do you have one?

Who do you have two?

Who do you have three?

But the thing that's been emphasized to me by a lot of people is like, it's very close.

Like the tier and the margins between these guys are very close.

So, you know, let's run through it.

You said you had Darren Peterson number one.

And it's becoming, as you noted, a least less popular take, which is interesting because going into the season,

a lot of people thought that he was the bona fide number one pick.

Obviously, we've had a lot of the concerns about the injuries about him asking out of some games.

There's been some talk about, you know, his want to his love for the game, which I personally think is overblown.

And I think if you listen to the people who have good inroads with that Kansas team, they seem to think that's overblown as well.

But I understand why you have number one.

I got asked this question on the mail bag episode last week.

Who's the top guy you have?

I said Darren Peterson also just because I think I was so riveted by his high school tape, which was just, you know,

unbelievable at prolific prep, like one of the best guard tapes that I've seen in a very long time.

And yeah, it's kind of been strange this season at Kansas because you've had the injuries.

Also, they've had they've had him playing like this off ball spot up role, which is a little bit different than some of the things you saw him doing in high school.

So you having a number one, you saying he's a superstar level prospect.

Is that based on kind of you thinking that this isn't really the best version that we're seeing of Darren Peterson right now.

And you're confident in kind of the projection or him getting back to his normal physical self and the typical role, you know, him kind of having the ability to pop once that does happen.

100%.

I think coming into the season with Kansas, I was really expecting him to command the ball more and show off some of that herky jerky style.

And I don't think his handle is necessarily bad right now.

I think it's very serviceable, even in terms of, you know, orchestrating the offense, handling the ball at a high level.

And so coming into the season, thinking that thinking we were going to get much more of a combo guard than a pure shooting guard.

And then him still going for 20 points on efficient shooting, him being a tough shot maker, a good shot maker.

That kind of flips the switch, you know, in terms of what can he be if the shot making and the two guard stuff is this good.

What does the point guard stuff add to his game down the line.

I think that makes you potentially if it does come around a top five, 10 player with relative ease.

I mean, we're talking about a guy who is completely thriving as a shooting guard.

I think once he adds that handle the tougher stuff to me right now is the passing.

I do think it's a step behind.

I think had he had a season at Kansas to kind of work that out.

I would feel a lot better about it.

But that's the one concerning piece to me.

I'm not concerned about the handling.

I think eventually once all these health issues are worked out and an NBA team gives him the reins.

I think you're going to see a guy who handles the ball much more than he did at Kansas.

Who is the system opposed to trying to kind of jam himself into the system.

And then I just think he's going to be able to kind of hone his offensive game as a whole.

Yeah, and something that I've seen some people talking about and the numbers bear this out.

I looked them up.

I have looked them up throughout the last week is kind of the rim frequency being down.

You know, also the defensive playmaking like some of those numbers.

Some of that stuff on tape hasn't really popped the same amounts when you look at those two things.

Do you really just view that as a product of him not really being the same level athlete during this freshman season as he was during the high school years.

It really looks to me like that's the case.

I just don't think he's got that that A to B burst like the downhill pop even the vertical pop.

I don't think has been as good.

And it's tough to keep referencing the high school tape like I don't want to have to keep doing that.

But at this point like when you're evaluating.

Kind of at this point in the season the nuances of all of these guys.

I just don't think you can ignore it either.

You can't throw that he was like an NBA level guy out the window a year ago.

And now he's operating like a mid tier collegiate athlete.

I really think he has more in his bag than he has shown with the J ox.

And if you had to give like your quick elevator pitch to like a net spend for why this guy can be like a change your life.

You know, type prospect at the top of the draft.

Just what would that be?

Yeah, I think if you add the handling in and a few of the things we just touched on if the athleticism returns.

There's probably like three guys in the entire world that would be capable of doing what Darren Peterson can do and having the gravity that he has like.

A player that can stretch the floor that can handle the ball that can defensive play make.

That's like superstar stuff in and of itself.

So I just think at the high end he can do things that nobody else can do.

And I really believe in kind of the low end stuff coming around as well.

OK, number two, you got Cam Booser, a player who has picked up momentum.

As the season has gone on just because his production and his impact is so undeniable that it's like he's kind of forced his way.

Even amongst some of the people who look at the highlight tape and are like, oh, this guy's his highlights are boring.

He doesn't have the same highs that a guy like the bands or maybe Peterson has.

He just produces and he's just like a silent killing machine.

It looks like and people I've talked to have just pointed to the fact that every statistical model like advanced model.

He's just blowing people out of the water and he's just going to be one of those next best guys.

And you know, you said it as a freshman like he's at like I think a 19 box plus minus.

He's leading the country by like three points there.

So it's just out of this world.

And yeah, I understand why people are starting to come around because he's just.

You know, he's kind of gotten this label as like one of the safer higher floor prospects in the draft.

But I think some people kind of take that as maybe the ceiling won't be as high.

And I don't necessarily think that's the case based off of you know the size, the offensive versatility.

The fact that he can handle he can shoot it seems like decently with room for projection.

He can play make and then obviously defensively people have questions about the athleticism and him being a tweener.

But he's a very, very, very smart player.

So what have you seen from Cam Booser this season?

And why do you think that he can be one of those transformational type prospects like any of these other guys you're talking about?

Yeah, he's just the terminator like there hasn't been a time where he takes the floor and you just don't expect him to go out and a

completely dominate his competition and be and probably more importantly win the basketball game.

Like Duke has lost twice all season.

You touch on the box plus minus his counting stats 23 points 10 rebounds for assist one and a half steals.

He shooting 56 41 78 like there's just nothing you can point to statistically and in the winning percentage and win column.

That says he's a bad basketball player or that he shouldn't be the number one pick now.

I think when you jump into the athleticism there could be a few of those things.

But if it's not necessarily translating to the box score to all of these statistics then.

It gets really, really tough to make a case against Cam Booser.

I mean, we probably talked about this last year as well, but Conn Canipple had some of these same things going against him like the all of the advanced statistics were phenomenal.

He was a winning basketball player. The stats were great. All of the projections were great.

But you watch him play and it's like, well, athletically he's not phenomenal.

It just like aesthetically isn't the best thing. And I think Cam Booser has a lot of that going for him as well.

And I don't want to personally be the guy who writes off Cam Booser.

And then a year from now we're talking about him in a Conn Canipple, Rookie of the Year, S. Guay.

And say, you know, this guy had it the entire time and we never saw it.

Yeah, no, and I think that a lot of the same things could bear out there.

And I think that he's just a prospect that checks so many boxes.

So I want to get more into him.

I want to talk about AJ did answer you have three who has the most to gain during NCAA during the NCAA tournament.

And who potentially we think could be the best fit on the net. So we'll get into all that we continue locked on nets after a quick break.

Workplace chaos deadline stacking up inbox overflowing.

And the one position you have to fill still sitting open when the pressure is on and you need the right hire.

That's a job for indeed sponsor jobs indeed sponsor jobs help you reach people who actually fit what you're looking for skills experience locations.

So you're not just hoping the right candidates stumbles across your post.

And here's a stat that says it all in the middle.

I've been talking to you companies like yours made 27 hires on indeed according to indeed data worldwide.

So if you're hiring spend less time searching and more time interviewing candidates who check all your boxes with indeed sponsor jobs less stress less time.

More results when you need the right person to cut through the chaos.

That's a job for indeed sponsor jobs and listeners of this show will give us $75 sponsor job credit to help get your job.

The premium status that deserves at Indie dot com slash podcast.

Just go to Indie dot com slash podcast right now and support our show by saying you heard about indeed on this podcast.

Indie dot com slash podcast terms of conditions apply need to hire.

That's a job for indeed sponsor jobs.

There's nothing like being in an NBA arena, the crowd, the energy, the moment.

Getting tickets though that part hasn't always been so simple.

That's why game time has become the go to app for scoring tickets fast without the hassle.

It puts the advantage back where it belongs with the fans.

Guys, you'll pull up the game time app picking up coming NBA game and have tickets locked in within minutes.

You'll love seeing the all in price up front.

No surprise fees that check out being able to see the view from the seat before buying makes the decision easy zone deals will stand out.

Choose the section game time picks the seats and you save big everything deals quick, intuitive and stress free from start to finish.

So take the guesswork out of buying NBA tickets with game time.

Download the game time app, create an account and use code locked on for $20 off your first purchase.

Let's go to L O C K E D O N for $20 off.

Download the game time app today and remember it's game time.co not.com.

Guys, spring is a natural reset point.

If there's one thing that can quietly cost businesses money.

It's message communication, missed call scattered texts.

No clear threat of who said what?

That's why today's episode is brought to you by Quo spelled Q U O.

The smarter way to run your business communications.

Quo was the number one rated business phone system on G2 with over 30,000 reviews trusted by more than 90,000 businesses.

It lets your entire team share one business number so you never miss a call text or opportunity.

The part I love everything lives in one clean thread calls text voicemails.

The whole team sees the conversations.

So nothing falls through the cracks and the AI summary saves serious time by logging calls and highlighting the next steps automatically.

It just makes your business feel more organized and responsive.

Make this a season where no opportunity and no customer slips away.

Try Quo free and get 20% off your first six months at Quo.com slash locked on NBA.

That's Q U O dot com slash locked on NBA.

Quo, no miss calls, no miss customers.

All right, coming back from the break continuing today's locked on net's episode with Derek Parker.

And we're running through your top draft prospects where it's still going on.

Cam Booser, who is number two.

And yeah, I think everything that you said with Cam Booser bears out.

And I think it's interesting like the comp to Knipple because I think for a lot of fans who are watching this, a lot of fans who maybe don't dig as deep into the tape or the numbers.

I think they're similar in the sense that maybe they don't have like the flashiest highlight tapes.

And that might not, you know, to the casual fan.

That might not excite them as much as the high flying dunks that you've seen from age of advanced in the big 12 tournament.

Or the things that you've seen from Darren Peterson on his high school tape.

But I do want to get your take on what I said before of he's been viewed as like a safe prospect like a high floor prospect.

But I think a lot of that comes with the kind of like comes with the thought that the ceiling might not be as high as a result of that.

If you were making a ceiling argument for Cam Booser and why he could be more than maybe just like the complimentary guy that some people view him as.

What would that argument be for you?

I think it starts with just how important positionally he can be like people talk about him as a tweener.

I would imagine he's a four and I think that's a great thing of a four that can stretch the floor that can score in different ways that can handle in moderation.

It can function on either side of a pick and roll he can defend to some degree.

He can clog lanes just offer that winning impact.

I think that's stellar. I think that not a lot of teams have a guy that can do so many different things at the four.

And I think that really raises both the floor and ceiling of a basketball team.

Firstly, outside of that again, just to go back to the con Canipal comparison.

A lot of people put ceilings on con canipal and I would imagine they're probably not feeling so great about those ceilings right now.

I think when you look at a guy like Cam Booser who can dissect offense or dissect defense on offense the way that he can.

Pass the ball for assists to two turnovers, unbelievable processing, unbelievable feel for the game.

You just never want to cap these guys because even if they do have some athletic limitations, which by the way this guy's six foot nine 18 years old and still dominating college basketball.

I don't know how many true limitations there are, but even guys with limitations.

You can pretty much guarantee that if they're IQ is there, if they're feel for the game is there that they're going to blow past whatever the expectations are.

Yeah, and I think that sometimes people like to over complicate this stuff in the draft sphere.

And I think that if you take a step back and you just look at Cam Booser.

He's a six foot nine guy with great strength, great size who can dribble past shoot well enough and is very high IQ and is dominated at unprecedented levels at every step of his basketball journey.

So like trying to see the forest through the trees, you might not need to complicate it that much more.

And you know, for a net, we're going to talk about fit of each of these guys for, you know, for the nets, but he's a guy who based on the things we heard from Sean March, certainly would check a lot of those boxes.

Number three on your board board is a J advanced player who I think has gained a lot of momentum from some people to be the number one guy taken in this draft.

And it's certainly shown some very impressive impressive flashes during the big 12 tournament.

Why do you have him at three and you know a step behind these guys, even if it is just like by a smidge.

Yeah, I think develop mentally, it's probably going to take the most for him to be like a truly positive, you know, game changing, franchise changing basketball player.

And I don't mean that in a bad way. I think he has far and away the most tools in terms of him being six, nine in juxtaposition with Booser's athleticism.

He is like exactly what you want. He's bendy, he's fluid, he can jump out of the gym. I think his like with the ball in hand athleticism is especially good. He can create better than a guy we've seen at six, nine, then.

I mean, we haven't seen a guy like this maybe ever like he's that good athletically and that good with the ball.

But I think the processing is a little bit behind.

I think that just the general winning impact is a little bit behind and some of that is the fact that BYU has basically needed him to be the guy, especially since Richie Saunders went down.

And I think you can look to these stats and still say, you know, this is absolutely a guy who contributes to winning basketball 25 points, you know, seven rebounds for us is very statistically whole, but I think when you look at it from an NBA perspective.

And he has grown both passing and defensively, but he is a little bit behind the others in these areas for me.

And if not, maybe in the shop making department in terms of Darren Peterson. So I have him third. It is not a knock on him at all. I think he's stellar.

But I do think there's just a few areas that might take him a little longer to come around on opposed to the other two.

If he does come around on those areas, and obviously a big if like I think a lot of people think that the argument for a defense at number one is the ceiling argument of a guy who's like six foot nine can handle, you know, has good shot making ability in the mid range.

Maybe that can project out to the three point line and then the defensive versatility.

They think that that really could lead him to pop. So for you, it seems like, you know, I'm the defense, I'm curious about the defensive end first, like that is something I think is perceived as potentially a big strength for him with his size with his athletic.

And when you say that you think that he's a step behind in that regard, do you think it's in regard to just like the processing, the understanding of defensive roles or defensive, you know, coverage is like what do you mean when you think he's a little behind the other guys there.

Honestly, it could be as simple as he is like the offensive engine on this team, and it is just really hard to give output, you know, 25 points per game and play stellar D.

But I would like for a six foot nine, you know, huge lengthy seven foot wingspan guy to dominate defensively a little more in college basketball like one steal and point for blocks per game and some of the defensive advance metrics just aren't quite to my taste for a guy that is this big that should be completely dominating.

So it's partly that, but again, this is a guy who is solely focused on scoring on facilitating right now on on doing things on offense. So I give him some grace. I mean, third pick in this draft is is pretty unbelievable still.

Yeah, and I, I think that where you ended off there in terms of the processing in terms of defense, some of the things that we talked about with Cam Booser and with,

and with Darren Peterson kind of segue well into the net's conversation of who fits the best because when you talk about the net some of the things that we heard from Sean marks after the draft like the things that he pointed to were guys who can pass the ball have good feel keep the ball moving, you know, and then defensively guys with good positional size who can make things tough.

That that kind of on the surface can fit all of these guys, but Cam Booser has really stuck out to me as the guy who could be like the net's fit who checks all of those boxes.

And I think that the other guys can too, but when you assess these top three guys when you assess some of the guys the net's took in this previous draft and what they're building, who do you think might be the better fits than others in regard to kind of how they're trying to build this out.

I agree I think if the nets are not wanting to lean Helio centric that Cam Booser would probably be the play I think that his ability to involve everyone you can run the offense through him again all of the dribble past shoot he's phenomenal at all three just a stellar player top to bottom high feel if you're looking for high feel he is absolutely it so to me can Booser does jump out.

AJ debaunted to it if you're looking for the length and size, then I think it's absolutely him.

Darren Peterson, I do question his bit with Brooklyn just a little bit given that they don't have a lot of true creators right now.

If the handling doesn't come around if the point guard level processing doesn't come around, then you're kind of shoving him in there with similar like minded offensive scores and Michael Porter junior and right now you go to him and so.

All three can fit all three would be stellar picks but I think some of the fits feel a little bit better than others right now.

Yeah and I you know I get this question a lot and I've said like if the nets can get into the top three of the draft mickenland any of these players they should be over the moon and a static about it but last thing I want to close this part out on is.

You know of these three guys I think you know the question I'm going to ask is who has the most to gain during the NCAA tournament it seems like my answer would be Darren Peterson just based on some of the things that we've heard about him.

But like if he's having these physical struggles you know I don't necessarily know how much that's going to improve during the tournament.

I don't know how much like the role is going to change some of the things we talked about but who do you think has the most to gain you know during these next few weeks if their team can make a deeper on and they can be a huge part of it.

Yeah I think you're totally right it's got to be Darren Peterson.

I think can Booser has you know cemented his winning impact already Duke could go and losing the first round maybe not the first round they could go lose early and it wouldn't affect his stock too much because of the season that he's had.

I mean he's probably going to be national player of the year they're a one seed they're the number one seed and then AJ DeBonza no one's expecting a ton out of BYU they know that you know if AJ DeBonza was to play well that that would work out maybe they could win a game or two.

Kansas on the other hand especially they don't have expectations not a lot of people are expecting much from Darren Peterson at this point again given the things that you touched on the injuries and some of the inconsistencies since he's been back in the lineup full time.

If he were to go and rip off a couple of wins that they definitely shouldn't I think it could really revitalize his stock in terms of people moving him from three back to one from two to one whatever it is I think the tournament could be you know the biggest boost for him out of the three.

Alright Derek will definitely circle back and try to have you on again before the draft there's going to be non stop talk about this stuff but keep doing your thing and appreciate taking the time as always man.

That does it for today's episode of locked on nets hope you guys enjoyed the talk with Derek if you do not already make sure to subscribe to lock down nets on YouTube and wherever you get your podcast for their Apple podcast or Spotify if you enjoy my content take a second right now smash that like button leave a comment leave a five star of you.

Anything you could do to engage is much appreciated and that's got difficult upcoming matchups with the thunder and the New York mix also March madness is getting underway a lot of top prospects in action so I've covered you all that and more when I'm back tomorrow talking more Brooklyn that's basketball.

The winner games are officially here and if you're anything like us you're locking in for events you only get to see on the biggest stage every four years and that's why following the winner games on Fandall just makes sense from middle counts to individual events to finding your angle on the sports you care about most Fandall gives you more ways to say connected to the action.

The drama of curling matches that start slow and somehow get intense fast hockey games that feel different right from opening face off the winner games are on and there's no better way to follow them then with Fandall Fandall play your game.

It's tax time and for a lot of us the old way of doing taxes is just a lot but this year you're getting an upgrade into a turbo tax now has in person locations where you can meet face to face with a real tax expert get your documents uploaded and just like that you're done.

Your expert works to get you every dollar you deserve while you get real time updates and go about your day head to turbo tax dot com slash local to book your appointment.

Oh could this vintage store be any cuter right and the best part except discover except discover in a little place like this I don't think so Jennifer.

Oh yeah.

Discover is accepted where I like to shop.

Come on baby get with the times right so we shouldn't get the parachute pants these are making a comeback.

I think discover is accepted at 99% of places that take credit cards nationwide based on the February 2025 Nilsen report.