Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Foreign.
[00:00:08] Welcome back to the Ali Perspective. I am Kayla Ali. And let's get straight into it, guys. So, as we all have seen, Malaysia Fuwali has committed to lsu. And I'm going to give my honest opinion about that situation.
[00:00:27] First of all, I did not think that she was going to go to lsu. I thought that maybe Tennessee was, was going to be the school that, that got her. In the end, I didn't think it was going to be lsu. But I'm gonna be honest with you, I don't think that's going to work out. Like, I, I don't see that working out. And that's, this is based off of my past. Like, from what I've seen.
[00:00:49] I've been watching women's college basketball since 2008. I've been paying attention to Kimoki since Kimoki was at Baylor. Okay? So I need y, I am not new to this, okay? I, I, I, I really be watching. And I have been watching since I was eight years old.
[00:01:09] Obviously, Malaysia at lsu, she's going to get more minutes, okay? So more minutes means she is going to score more. Okay? Her ability to score has never been a problem, I don't think, except for, I think that she can be a better finisher at the rim sometimes, Sometimes she's too flashy and she can't finish consistently. She was only shooting about 43%. 43% for her mid range and her layup game. And I think that with a player like her 43% field goal percentage, I think it definitely can be higher for her because she's so talented.
[00:01:50] And then on the, like I said, she's going to score, she's going to get the ball in her hands more. Her numbers are going to go up. Do I think Kim Mokey is going to make Malaysia a better player than she was at South Carolina? Absolutely not. I don't, I don't see that, I don't see that at all.
[00:02:14] She, Kim and her point guards. Because let's be honest, let's be honest. I'm gonna even take it back before I even talk about Kim. Um, Malaysia is going to be the third option on that team. Um, that is Flage's team, 100%. And then after Flage, it is Mikayla Williams. And then after Mikayla Williams, then it'll be Malaysia. Um, and I don't see why she would give up being the second, if not possibly the first option offensively at South Carolina. Um, even though Raven Johnson is staying. Raven Johnson isn't a point of focus for an Offense, that's just not her game. Malaysia would have been that point of focus and then she would have had someone along with her in the transfer from Florida State who would have kind of took a little bit of the pressure off of her being the number one option offensively.
[00:03:09] But with her going to LSU now, she's the third option. She's the third option. And I don't see Kim pushing her to be better on defense. Malaysia is a great offensive player, but defensively she's not that great. Does she get steals? Yes, she does, but she also averages more turnovers than she does still. So offense, defense, kind of go hand in hand. Okay. But anyway, and when I say defensively, I'm not talking about her one on one defense. I'm talking about her team hip defense. And if you think that I'm. I'm wrong or my point of view isn't right, go look at the minutes that she played with UConn, okay, against UConn in the national championship game. And I want you to look at her hip defense. Her hip defense was trash. It was a couple times she laid off of AZ foot to be in the paint. But Iz Fudd is one of the best three point shooters in the game. I mean, her, her release is ridiculous. Okay. Or she is late on helping out in the paint, which is a foul, and then naughty is the N1 situation. Okay, you can go back and look at this. Okay? I'm not just saying this to say this. Please go back and watch the film. Please go back and watch the tape. Her help defense sucks. She's not going to get better at help with help defense at lsu. If Don Staley couldn't get that out of her, who is a fully functioning defensive mindset. Coach Kimoki is, is not going to get that out of her. That's why I think that's not going to work out in her favor in terms of making her better and preparing her for the wnba. Okay. Some of Kimoki's better players, they were pretty sound defensively, but they kind of came from schools from high school that was.
[00:05:08] They had to play defense in high school as well. Like, they were known for being good defenders. And then they got, they got to her and they were able to continue to be good defenders. Malaysia isn't coming from a situation where she necessarily had to play consistently good defense. I mean, this is somebody that played varsity pretty much six years. And even when you look at our high school tape, sometimes on defensively she could be a liability. And Don, I felt like Don was trying to break six years of bad habits, did not work. Which is why I think she ultimately left South Carolina and she's going to end up at lsu. And she ended up at lsu. I don't think it's going to be that drastic of a, of a drop off for her like it was for Haley Van Lith when she got to lsu.
[00:05:55] And then once she left lsu, she was pretty much back to the Haley Van lift that we all knew. I don't think it's going to be that. Like, I don't think Malaysia is going to drop off. Like I said, her minutes in scoring is going to increase. I just think defensively she's not going to get better. And we all know to make it in the WNBA you have to be good on defense. You have to be good on defense. Like there's no if, ands or bus. You have to be good at defense. Even Caitlyn Clark has gotten better defensively. And I'm not saying that like she's a great defender now. I'm not saying that at all. I mean, not even in the slightest. Okay. But what I'm saying is I don't see Kim Mokey helping her out to that extent at all. I really don't. And like I said, I've seen Kimoki coach for years since she was at Baylor. I don't think that's going to work out in Malaysia. Fawali's best interest in that terms. But I wish her all the best. I mean, she's super talented. I'm excited to see her. I'm excited to see what that backcourt looks like with her, Michaela and Flage. Okay, that's going to be very interesting. It's going to be fun to watch. And I can't wait for LSU and South Carolina to play.
[00:07:03] And I want to say this now. South Carolina is still going to beat them and yeah, yeah, that's all I have to say about that situation.
[00:07:14] And then now we got to talk about the NFL draft because what was that? I mean, okay, I knew Ken Moore was going first. Okay, I've said I thought Ken Moore was the best quarterback in the, in college football that I saw this year. His poise in the pocket, his ability to make good decisions even though he had a couple moments where.
[00:07:37] But for the most part he was one of the better quarterbacks. His defense didn't help him out much in Miami, but he, I knew he was going to go first overall especially the Titans had nothing good to say about him after their team meeting. And how he broke down plays and did all that stuff. I knew he was going first.
[00:07:57] I didn't expect the Jaguars to trade up to get Travis Hunter, but I get it. I completely get it. And he's from Florida. He gets to stay home. I mean, going, I mean, going all the way to Colorado and then going to Florida. I know he's happy, and I can't wait to see how that translates to.
[00:08:14] I kind of hate that it's with the Jaguars, but just because the Jags are just so iffy and he's a great player and I don't want him to be in a situation that's iffy, you know, and then on to the next thing.
[00:08:30] Shador Sanders being the fifth quarterback to be drafted is insane. Now, I don't know what was said in those meetings with the GMs and the coaches. I don't know. None of us would ever really know what happened except for the people that was in that room, in those rooms. But what I do know from a playing ability, there is no way he, There are five quarterbacks ahead of him, especially not coming out of this class. Cam Ward. Okay, I get it. I, I understand it, all right?
[00:09:07] Jackson dart.
[00:09:10] I don't get it. I, I, I, I, I don't get it that. I, I really don't.
[00:09:16] I really don't. I really don't. Yes, he was an SEC quarterback. Yes, he was able to, you know, he threw for a lot of yards. He threw for some touchdowns. But what was crazy to me is when you look at the numbers, chador numbers are even better. Okay? And not to even mention the fact that Shador was also sacked 48 times last year, but he still threw for over 30 touchdowns, over 4,000 yards, and he was the most set quarterback out of all the quarterbacks that was drafted this year.
[00:09:49] So seeing them pick Jackson, and I was like, okay, Jackson dart. Kind of get that. All right. Also, that video, him talking about his snap count, and his snap count is only.
[00:10:03] That's it. That's all he's done for three years. No dummy count, no nothing. Just, I mean, he's gonna have to get a real snap count when he goes to, to the NFL. So that's going to be interesting to see how that goes. Then moving on. After Jackson Dark got drafted, Tyler Shao Show. Show. I'm sorry if I'm pronouncing that last name wrong. My apologies. But Tyler, really. He'll be 26 by the time the NFL season start. I looked at his pro day, I looked at his not his pro day up, my apologies, but his NFL combine, Tate, I'm not. I'm not impressed. I'm not impressed. I didn't see anything in that that was completely better than Shador's. But if he had a good meeting with the GMs and the coaches, then okay, that's fine. All right. Still no, not better than Shador. Then you move on to Jaylen Monroe. Now, as someone who roots for Alabama, Jalen Milroe is not better than Shador. Jayla Miro's biggest problem when you go back and look at his film is the fact that he can't read defense as well. He does not read defense as well. Now, he got better from last year to this year, but it wasn't like a drastic difference of him, like being able to understand and how to read a defense. He can't read a defense. And maybe he can get better. And who knows, maybe his conversation with Seattle was better than Shador's, but he shouldn't have been drafted. I don't think he should have been drafted higher than Shador. And then lastly, Dylan Gabriel, as someone who also rules for Oklahoma, I love Dylan Gabriel, but he's a smaller quarterback. It's easier for balls to get batted down for him. And it's only going to get worse when he makes it to the NFL and he's been drafted for Shador. Like I said, I don't know what went on in those meetings. I don't know if this is. People just don't want to deal with Deion or people are scared to coach him because Shador has only ever been coached by his father. Little league, middle, high school, college, I don't know if that's the problem, but there is no way that four of those quarterbacks went higher than him. Cam Ward, I'll give you that. But after that, no. And mind you, all of those quarterbacks numbers are not as great as him. And he will sack far more than them, trust me. I. I looked at all the numbers. Okay. Cam Ward being taken up?
[00:12:32] Yes. Anybody else? No. Not out of this draft class. Absolutely not. Okay, moving on.
[00:12:40] I thought, and I'm only just gonna say this for the first round of the draft. The first round of the draft.
[00:12:46] As a Carolina Panthers fan, I was not impressed with the wide receiver that we got. And only thing I like about him, only thing I like about him is his hands. Okay. And that's something that we have struggled with in our wide receiver room last year, is wide receivers catching the ball consistently. We lost three games because of that. Okay. His hands, his hands are pretty solid, but his routes, not that great. Footwork, not that great.
[00:13:14] His ability to high point the ball was pretty solid. He has speed after the ball. If I was the Carolina Panthers, I would have got Iboka from Ohio State. That's what I would have got. That shorthands, he run clean. Chris routes, he has the ability to share the spotlight because when he was at Ohio State, I mean, he was in the shadow of Marvin Harrison then with Jeremiah Smith this year. Okay.
[00:13:42] I thought he would have been a better fit then than the guy that we got from Arizona. And I'm sorry, I don't want to say his name wrong. That's why I referred to him that way. So please excuse me for that. All right. And then lastly, I thought the Eagles got us the steal at the end of the draft. Jihad Campbell is going to be a. Not. I'm not gonna say great because I, I want. I want to see. I want to see him.
[00:14:13] I want to hear what's going on in Cam and I before I assess it completely and give you my 100%. He's going to be great in NFL. I think he could easily be the still of the first round. And the reason why I say that is because when you look at his film, this is a guy that he finds the ball easily. He's able to pinpoint where the ball is and go in and attack. And not only that, he also does a great job of being very versatile.
[00:14:48] He can drop back in coverage, he can back down passes. He has long arms. I mean, he's six, three, around 240 pounds. He can also stick his hand in the ground. And then you're putting that with a bunch of other young, talented players on that defensive side of the ball. And the Eagles love Alabama and Georgia players, whether it's offensively or defensively. I mean, look at their roster. It's many players from either Alabama or Georgia, and I think that he's going to complement them very well. Nicole Dean is coming off of an injury, and if he can heal because he had to have shoulder surgery, which is why I think he kind of slid down in the draft that way, he's still kind of healing from that. If he's able to be healthy and Nicobe Dean is still hurt, I can definitely see him starting in that role. And if he is able to translate how I think he's. He's going to translate, it might be hard for Nicole to get that. That starting spot back. But you, like I said, you never know. The NFL, it's. I gotta. I'mma wait till some preseason games and I'mma wait to kind of see what happens. But if he's as good as I think he's going to be, the Eagles really just locked in and got another stud. Okay, now on to the NBA playoffs. Okay, so in the east, the Pacers have moved on and they have defeated the books for one Damian Lillard. Unfortunately, after coming back and, and beating blood clots and all that good stuff, he tore his Achilles. And I hate to see that. I mean, he's 35 years old. I don't know if he's going to be the same player after that. But we've seen other players their Achilles and they've been able to come back. Medicine has changed, rehab has changed, all those good things have changed. So there's a possibility that we can still possibly see him.
[00:16:42] Well, I don't know, because normally in Achilles tear, that's an entire year and you tearing it this late in the season.
[00:16:49] I don't know if we're ever gonna see Damian Lillard again, if I'm being honest with you guys. And that sucks because he's such a great player. And on top of that, Indiana Pacers defeat the Bucs in that last game. The Bucs execution in overtime was just horrible. I mean, you're up by 7 with 40 secs left in the game, and then you lose. And if you go back and look at those highlights from those games, the way they just turned the ball over, Gary Clark Jr. He kept them in the game. And I mean, he had what, 12 in the third quarter and then 12 in overtime. I mean, when he was hot, he was hot from three, but at the same time, he had two costly turnovers that lost him that game. So that just goes to show you how. How small of a. How small of a margin that you have to succeed in the NBA. Okay, but I really want to talk about what happened after that game. So many people saw the second part of Giannis.
[00:17:50] Giannis and Tyrese Halliburton's dad, but many people didn't see that first clip of it when his dad literally gets out the stands, walk onto the court and holds up his son's towel and is waving it in Giannis's face. I have not seen anything like that ever. Okay? So how Giannis reacted was perfectly okay with me. And that man is lucky that that is all Giannis did. Okay? And I think the NBA needs to have better control over that. Okay? Need to unders they. They need to make sure people aren't going on to the court to taunt other players. Okay. That they need to get. They need to fix that. They need to get that better. All right. On top of that, if that was. I just say this, if that was John Moran's dad, I think we would be seeing all types of sanctions and all types of takes on that. But I'll leave that. I'll leave that for another time. Okay? But.
[00:19:03] But yeah, shout out to the Pacers. They're moving on. And Halliburton was able to talk trash and say because he had the game winning shot and he can talk about how when the other players voted him the most overrated player in the NBA, so he shut up a few people with that. But we'll see because they will be facing the Cavs next. And the way the Cavs destroyed the Miami Heat, I turned that game on and turned it off probably like 15 minutes later.
[00:19:35] Because there's no way that you are beating up on another NBA team like that. I mean, just downright, just demolished him. Okay, then next in the east we have. Hold on, let me make sure I have it right, guys, because I don't want to lead y'all astray, give you all wrong information, and then y'all are telling me in my comments that I don't know what I'm talking about.
[00:20:01] Okay, so then we have Celtics and the Magics. My Celtics. My magic. We beat them 4 1. Jason Tatum ended that fourth, that fifth game with 35 points.
[00:20:18] I'm excited. Glad that we were able to move on from that. And yeah, I'm missing one.
[00:20:28] What was. What's. What's the other games that are going on in the east right now? Because I think the west kind of has my attention. That's why I've been. Yeah. Because the west has been kind of crazy. Oh, the Pistons and the Knicks, My apologies. The Pistons were able to survive elimination. That series has been really good. I know if you look at it and you saw that the knicks were up 3:1. No. Every single one of those games have been close. Have been down to the wire. The Pistons should have the. It should at least be 22 right now. Like, if I'm being honest, like the. The Pistons kind of shot themselves in the foot a few times. But Cade Cunningham, if he is not the most improved player in the NBA, I. That would be a snub. He is going. He is a superstar. He is definitely a superstar. He's a superstar. He's a superstar. He can flat out score. Okay. And he has good body control. He has good handles. He has good shot making decisions. That's a. That's a. Yeah, he. He's the truth. He's the truth. And shout out to Detroit for. For sticking with the process, allowing him to get better, putting other good pieces around him, but good young pieces as well as like, they have a good mix of veterans as well as young players. So yes, shout out to Detroit for that. And then the Knicks. The Knicks. The Knicks gonna do. The Knicks do. Carl Anthony Towns, he's been great. Jalen Brunson has been great like that. That's a, that. That's. Honestly, I think that's been one of the more competitive series. And then having them having like really good games and consistently good games in that series.
[00:22:11] I do think the Knicks are going to ultimately win that. Once you go up three one, it's pretty much over. Okay. Now moving on to the West. In the west, the most competitive, not. I wouldn't say most competitive. The mo. The games that I've enjoyed the absolute most have been the Nuggets and the Clippers. I didn't think that series is going to be as exciting as it is, but that's a really good series.
[00:22:34] Kawhi, most players who miss as much time as Kawai have don't come back and be as efficient and is like he hasn't missed time off like Kawhi scary for that. But I mean the Nuggets, you have Jokic, you have Jamal Murray, you have like they. Their pieces are together. Like they have gel together perfectly. And then Russell is having one of his better years, I think. I think him going to the Nuggets has been great for him. I like watching him play again.
[00:23:01] He. His. I mean, he always has had tenacity, but I don't know, he is something different with him being with the Nuggets. And I mean, you know the Joker, he's gonna do what he's gonna do. All right. But I really, I really enjoyed that and I. I think the Nuggets are also going to finish going to close that one out. Then we have the Lakers and the Timberwolves. I did not think the Timberwolves was going to go up 3:1 on the Lakers. I did not see that coming. I did not see that coming at all. I mean, with the Lakers, let's be honest, you go out and you make a blockbuster trade for Luca. I'm thinking you trying to win the championship. I mean, you third in the west, so. And I mean you still got LeBron and I don't care even if LeBron is 40. You got LeBron on your team along with Luca. And you're down 3:1 to the Timberwolves.
[00:23:54] I guess we'll see next year, but shout out to the Timberwolves, man. Shout out to Ant.
[00:24:01] Julius Randall. Um, in that last game, Nas Reed was the expert for me. Yes, yes. Ant scored over 40 points. He had a great, solid game. He had a really good second half. But Nas Reed scored two really important three pointers that allowed the Timberwolves to separate. And he hadn't been having a great game. So him hitting those two were. They were crucial. And, you know, that helped them out a lot. Okay, so. But yeah, the Timberwolves close it out. I do think it'll go to a game five. I think the Lakers are gonna. Gonna win one more. Then moving on to the Rockets and the Warriors. The Rockets and the warriors are a tale of youth versus experience. Okay? I think the Rockets have a lot. They have a lot of potential. They can be a really, really good team. I mean, saying Goon, who would have thought Sanguine would have been as good as he hits? I mean, he is dominant in the paint. He has good footwork, he has good hands, he ball, and he has a good touch on his shot when he's doing hook shots, push shots, it doesn't matter. Tingoon is. He is really, really good. Okay. Jalen Green has been a disappointment.
[00:25:12] He has had eight points, 38 points. Back to eight points, then 11 points, then he only shot eight times. You're. You're supposed to be the. You're. You're that guy on that team and you're only shooting the ball eight times. No, no, no, no, no. Then in that last game, he gets pulled for the last five minutes of the game because he. Offensively, he's just not there. And he's still young. He has a lot of time to figure out and develop and get out of that, but he's not doing it this series. And I mean, the warriors, that's just true grit. They've been here, they've done that, and you can tell. And I mean, you got Jimmy Buckets. Curry didn't have a great game, but Jimmy stepped up. Buddy Hill stepped up, Perchinski stepped up. Like, the warriors are really a strength in numbers type of team. I understand that saying with them because that. That has been the model and it has worked. But also all of that experience and understanding what goes into win a playoff series or playoff game, I mean, that's just the warriors. And of course the warriors are going to close that out. And then finally okc, and I'm just OKC still is the best team I think I've seen in the entire playoff run. If anybody beats them, I'm going to be surprised. I'm gonna be a little surprised. Okay. But yeah, those are all of my thoughts from the NFL draft to Malaysia to to the NBA playoffs. Okay. Once again, I am Kayla Ali. Please make sure you like comment and subscribe, guys. And leaving comments. I reply back. Okay, so leave your comments. Make sure you follow all of my social medias where I am talking about sports. Okay. And I need to know your opinions. All right. So I'll see you guys back here next week.
