Locked On Knicks - Daily Podcast On The New York Knicks
Locked On Knicks - Daily Podcast On The New York Knicks

NBA Futures Draft Part Three: These Teams Shouldn't Concern The Knicks...Yet

August 28, 2026

AI Summary

5 min read

In the third and final installment of their NBA Futures Draft, the hosts of Locked On Knicks—Gavin, XJ, and guest Jeff Rasmussen of the Hot Hand Theory Podcast—draft the teams they believe are least likely to challenge the New York Knicks over the next five seasons. The throughline is that these are organizations with real talent or interesting builds, but each has a fatal flaw—poor roster construction, limited flexibility, a missing star, or a murky organizational vision—that keeps them a step behind the Knicks for the foreseeable future.

The Case for the Hornets: The Best Shooting Infrastructure in History?

Jeff made the most passionate and specific pitch of the episode for the Charlotte Hornets. He argued that the team has "constructed the best shooting team in the history of the NBA currently," a claim he made without exception, even over the best versions of the Golden State Warriors. His reasoning was granular: the Hornets have Grayson Allen (who was once the league's best shooter on high volume), Royce O'Neill, Brandon Miller (whom Jeff called "one of the most underrated players overall in the game of basketball"), and rookie Kon Knueppel, who he believes has the capacity to be the best shooter in the league. The key mechanism, Jeff explained, is that the Hornets' bigs—Musa Diabate and Hanus Steinbach—are elite offensive rebounders. This creates a compounding advan

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What you'll learn

  • 1 (01:05) **Futures Draft Part Three: The Teams Knicks Fans Can Ignore (For Now)** - Gavin introduces the final installment of the NBA Futures Draft, where the panel drafts the teams least likely to challenge the Knicks in the next five years, along with a few higher-upside dark horses.
  • 2 (02:20) **Gavin’s Pick: The Atlanta Hawks** - Gavin selects the Hawks as a high-floor team, betting on their established young core and organizational direction.
  • 3 (04:54) **XJ’s Pick: The Charlotte Hornets** - XJ makes a bold, controversial pick, claiming the Hornets have constructed the best shooting team in NBA history.
  • 4 (08:33) **Gavin’s Second Pick: The Miami Heat** - Gavin takes the Heat as a conservative, low-ceiling pick, betting on Giannis Antetokounmpo’s talent despite a flawed roster fit.
  • 5 (12:28) **XJ’s Second Pick: The Portland Trail Blazers** - XJ takes the Blazers for their young talent pool, focusing on Donovan Clingan as an underrated player.
  • 6 (14:37) **Gavin’s Third Pick: The Brooklyn Nets** - Gavin selects the Nets for their massive draft equity and smart organizational rebuild, predicting they will be a sneaky threat.
  • 7 (16:53) **Gavin’s Final Pick: The Chicago Bulls** - Gavin takes the Bulls as a bet on prospect Caleb Wilson, who he believes could be the best player in the draft.

+ Full timestamped outline available in the app

Show Notes

The NBA Futures Draft  take center stage as the New York Knicks look to maintain their dominance while rivals reposition for a shot at contention. Gavin Schall, XJ, and Geoff Rasmussen from Hot Hand Theory Podcast debate which franchises—like the Charlotte Hornets with LaMelo Ball and Brandon Miller, or the Atlanta Hawks with Jalen Johnson—pose the biggest threats in the league’s next half-decade. Is Charlotte’s historic shooting arsenal or Brooklyn Nets’ draft equity primed to shake up the Eastern Conference?

Key insights include Miami Heat’s Giannis-Bam experiment, Portland Trail Blazers’ belief in Donovan Clingan, and the upside of the Milwaukee Bucks’ Kel’el Ware. The discussion explores superstar roster fits, organizational direction, and sleeper young cores—from the Bulls’ Caleb Wilson, to the Clippers’ Darius Garland, and even the fate of Steph Curry with the Warriors. Which struggling team could surprise and who owns the NBA’s brightest future? Find out in this in-depth contenders draft.

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