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Speaker 1: All right, welcome to tonight. You're at the volume heavy Wednesday. Everybody,

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Speaker 1: oh ball, If you guys are having a great week

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Speaker 1: so far. We are continuing our player rankings today with

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Speaker 1: number nine and number eight. We also, predictably whoever we

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Speaker 1: put at number ten or number eleven. Those fan bases,

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Speaker 1: we're gonna be very upset. Got a lot of upset

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Speaker 1: joelmb fans, a lot of upset Steph Curry fans. We

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Speaker 1: have a male section at the tail end of the

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Speaker 1: show where I took a bunch of your guys's stuff.

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Speaker 1: I took some specific, well thought out basketball arguments against

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Speaker 1: my case. We're gonna kind of have a little debate

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Speaker 1: in the mail bag section at the tail end of

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Speaker 1: the show. You guys know the Joe before we get started.

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Speaker 1: Subscribe to Hoops Tonight YouTube channels. You don't miss any

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Speaker 1: more of our videos. Follow me on Twitter at underscore JSNLTS.

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Speaker 1: You guys don't miss show announcement. Don't forget about a

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Speaker 1: podcast feed where you get your podcast on our Hoops Tonight.

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Speaker 1: Don't forget it's helpful if you leave a rating and

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Speaker 1: a review on that front. And the last, but not least,

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Speaker 1: keep dropping mail bag questions in those YouTube comments. We're

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Speaker 1: gonna be using those mail bag questions to do the

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Speaker 1: debate segment at the tail end of the show. So

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Speaker 1: if you disagree with the ranking, make a basketball case.

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Speaker 1: We'll get into it in the mail bag. All right,

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Speaker 1: let's talk some basketball. So before we go to number

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Speaker 1: nine and number eight, as I've had to continually kind

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Speaker 1: of reiterate, remember the purpose of this list. This is

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Speaker 1: not a who's the best basketball player for a series

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Speaker 1: that starts tomorrow. Obviously that would look very different, right,

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Speaker 1: and we're gonna make multiple references to this today. But

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Speaker 1: if I was ranking my top five guys to start

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Speaker 1: a series that started tomorrow, Lebron and Steph are both

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Speaker 1: in that top five. They're probably not above Jokich and

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Speaker 1: Luca for me, but they're in the top five. But

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Speaker 1: I don't have them in the top five because this

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Speaker 1: isn't how this particular list works. The pursuit of an

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Speaker 1: NBA championship is not about a playoff series that starts tomorrow.

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Speaker 1: It's not even about a playoff run that starts tomorrow.

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Speaker 1: You don't get to teleport to June and just play

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Speaker 1: for all the marbles. Especially out in the Western Conference,

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Speaker 1: where there's considerably more talent. There are thirteen teams that

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Speaker 1: are actively trying to win the title out of the

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Speaker 1: Western Conference, or at least actively trying to make the playoffs.

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Speaker 1: I'd say eleven probably want to actually legitimately try to

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Speaker 1: win the title, and thirteen are trying to make the playoffs.

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Speaker 1: Oklahoma City, Denver, Minnesota, the Clippers, Lakers, Dallas Mavericks, the

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Speaker 1: Phoenix Suns, the New Orleans Pelicans, the Sacramento Kings, the

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Speaker 1: Golden State Warriors, the Houston Rockets are gonna be trying

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Speaker 1: to win. The Memphis Grizzlies are gonna be right back

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Speaker 1: at the top of the conference. And you bet your

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Speaker 1: ass Chris Paul and Victor wemb minyama Al in San

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Speaker 1: Antonio are gonna be trying to make the playoffs. So again,

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Speaker 1: eleven teams desperately fighting in thirteen that are certainly going

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Speaker 1: to think they're going to be a playoff team, only

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Speaker 1: eight are going to get in. You have to navigate

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Speaker 1: eighty two games from October all the way potentially to

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Speaker 1: a seven game series that starts in June. That's a

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Speaker 1: nine month span, guys. So to put it simply, who's

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Speaker 1: the best player in a series that starts tomorrow just

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Speaker 1: isn't a realistic way to rank players unless the series

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Speaker 1: actually starts tomorrow, which it doesn't. And so lebron KD

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Speaker 1: and Steph are all players that I believe can outplay

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Speaker 1: basically any star in the league in a series except

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Speaker 1: for maybe Luka and Jokic, and I still think they

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Speaker 1: can go toe to toe with those guys in a series.

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Speaker 1: But they all, all three of those, lebron KD and

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Speaker 1: Steph do struggle to maintain that level over eighty two

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Speaker 1: games at this point, which is something that if you

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Speaker 1: were a GM and we were doing this actual exercise,

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Speaker 1: meaning like all four hundred and fifty players are available,

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Speaker 1: we are drafting for this upcoming season as a GM.

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Speaker 1: You would have to account for that with the way

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Speaker 1: that you build your roster. So let's keep that in

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Speaker 1: mind as we continue to move forward in this list. Now,

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Speaker 1: why specifically do I have lebron kd and Steph in

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Speaker 1: the order that I have them in on the list.

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Speaker 1: I'm going to get to that when we get to

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Speaker 1: the mail bag. I want to quick run through the

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Speaker 1: numbers for both guys. First, So number nine in our

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Speaker 1: player rankings this year goes to Kevin Durant. He had

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Speaker 1: his best regular season since he tore his achilles. He

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Speaker 1: played in seventy five games, average twenty seven point one

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Speaker 1: points per game, six point six rebounds and five assists

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Speaker 1: per game, two point one stocks per game. His shooting

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Speaker 1: splits fifty two point three percent from the field forty

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Speaker 1: one point three percent from three. He's actually shot over

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Speaker 1: forty percent from three in three of his last four seasons.

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Speaker 1: A bunch of crazy stats today where you're going to

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Speaker 1: see some of these guys showing up. Only two players

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Speaker 1: in the entire NBA last year averaged at least twenty

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Speaker 1: five points on at least fifty percent from the field

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Speaker 1: and at least forty percent from three, and it's the

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Speaker 1: two guys we're talking about today, Kevin Durant and Lebron James.

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Speaker 1: It is still really rare to be as efficient as

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Speaker 1: KD and Lebron were this year. Eighty six percent free

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Speaker 1: throws for KD, fifty eight percent in effective field goal

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Speaker 1: percentage when you take his field goal percentage and weait

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Speaker 1: it for threes, sixty three percent in true shooting percentage

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Speaker 1: when you add free throws to that equation. This is

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Speaker 1: kd's twelfth consecutive season with a true shooting percentage over

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Speaker 1: sixty percent, continuing his dominant run as the most efficient

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Speaker 1: volume score in the league. Shooting stats pers energy one

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Speaker 1: point one to one points per jump shot, one point

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Speaker 1: twenty four points per catch and shoot jump shot that's outstanding,

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Speaker 1: one point zero three points per pull up jumper. A

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Speaker 1: little lower on the efficiency there. He shoots forty eight

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Speaker 1: percent overall on those pull up jump shots are just

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Speaker 1: mostly pull up two, so he doesn't get as much

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Speaker 1: of the additional value from the three point shot. Did

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Speaker 1: shoot fifty four percent on floaters, but he only made

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Speaker 1: thirty one over the whole season, so not super high volume.

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Speaker 1: Shot seventy two percent at the rim but this is

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Speaker 1: where it gets tricky. Kevin Durant only attempted two point

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Speaker 1: nine shots per game in the restricted area two point

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Speaker 1: nine less than three. These are some of his forward peers.

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Speaker 1: His peers at the forward position, Giannis eleven point seven

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Speaker 1: attempts per game, Lebron seven point seven, Franz Wagner six

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Speaker 1: point three, Pascal Siakam five point nine, Julius Randall five

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Speaker 1: point eight, Jalen Brown five point seven, Jason Tatum five

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Speaker 1: point four, Pala Bonkaro five point two, Karl Anthony Towns

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Speaker 1: another big forward who primarily operates from the perimeter, even

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Speaker 1: he gets to the rim five point one times per game.

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Speaker 1: Kyle Kuzma, like Kyle Kuzma gets to the rim four

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Speaker 1: point eight times per game. For restricted area attempts, Kevin

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Speaker 1: Durant just two point nine, so he basically doesn't get

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Speaker 1: to the and this has been a career long thing

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Speaker 1: for him. By the way, his last year in Golden

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Speaker 1: State in twenty nineteen just three point six, which would

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Speaker 1: have been at the bottom of that list, and his

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Speaker 1: last year in Oklahoma City going all the way back

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Speaker 1: to before he went to Golden State, when he was

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Speaker 1: in his Athletic Prime just four point three restricted area

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Speaker 1: attempts per game, So that's been a consistent thing with it. Now,

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Speaker 1: to be clear, he's a way better jump shooter than

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Speaker 1: those guys, but that's the main down mark with KD.

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Speaker 1: Doesn't really have another weakness. He's one of the top

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Speaker 1: tier scorers in the league who brings the efficiency to boot.

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Speaker 1: He's a good passer. I don't think he's in that

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Speaker 1: great passer tier, but I think he's a really good passer.

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Speaker 1: He can do the offensive engine thing. You know, this

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Speaker 1: was something that really kind of started to come to

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Speaker 1: the surface in Brooklyn. If you guys remember, and I

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Speaker 1: did a lot of talking about this when I was

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Speaker 1: covering the league separately from The Volume, and then even

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Speaker 1: after that when I started with the Volume, there was

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Speaker 1: a stretch there where Kevin Durant kind of figured out

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Speaker 1: the Steph Curry thing, which was, you know, Kevin Durantz's

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Speaker 1: dominant pull up shooter. Right, we talked about it earlier.

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Speaker 1: Shot almost fifty percent on pull up jump shots this season.

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Speaker 1: So what that means is is as he comes off

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Speaker 1: of ball screen, if you do not have a big

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Speaker 1: up at the level of the screen, then KD is

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Speaker 1: going to come off of that and he's going to

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Speaker 1: shoot it, and he's gonna make it half the time, right,

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Speaker 1: especially if he gets a decent screen set. So that

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Speaker 1: puts you in a predicament as the defense where you

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Speaker 1: almost always have to have your big up at the

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Speaker 1: level of the screen. From there, as we've talked about,

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Speaker 1: every time you bring your big up to the level

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Speaker 1: of the screen and the guard is or whoever's guarding

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Speaker 1: KD is chasing over the top, those two guys are

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Speaker 1: now effectively on the ball. So as your big man

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Speaker 1: kind of slips out of that, you have a four

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Speaker 1: on three there. And there are all sorts of different

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Speaker 1: reads you can make. Right, if they tag that roller,

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Speaker 1: there's a skip pass. If they don't tag the roller,

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Speaker 1: you hit the roller. There's an advantage with KD because

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Speaker 1: he's so damn tall. What a lot of teams will

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Speaker 1: do in those situations. And this is something that one

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Speaker 1: of the reasons why Steph over the years has struggle

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Speaker 1: a little bit with turnovers. He gets these super aggressive coverages,

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Speaker 1: but he's six foot three and it's a little bit

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Speaker 1: harder to get the ball over those traps and over

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Speaker 1: those blitzes, and even just a good high hands contest

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Speaker 1: from a big man who comes up to the level

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Speaker 1: of screen, it can be challenging. Kevin Durant's seven feet tall,

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Speaker 1: so all he has to do and you can see

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Speaker 1: it's so funny. I watched a bunch of Kevin Durant

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Speaker 1: pick and roll this morning, and it's something that has

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Speaker 1: always stood out to me as I've watched him over

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Speaker 1: the years. He can kind of take a relatively relaxed

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Speaker 1: approach to pick and roll creation because all he really

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Speaker 1: has to do is engage that screen defender by coming

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Speaker 1: off the ball screen and then you'll see him kind

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Speaker 1: of take a step back, just pick up his dribble

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Speaker 1: and just pop it right over the top to the

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Speaker 1: guy that slip into the rim, or throw that skip

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Speaker 1: pass if it's there. And it's because he has that

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Speaker 1: physical gift that height to be able to easily see

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Speaker 1: over the top. We talk about this all the time,

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Speaker 1: but when it comes to defense, one of the best

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Speaker 1: ways to give your defense an advantage in rotation is

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Speaker 1: to either force one a looping pass, meaning like in

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Speaker 1: order to get the ball over the contest, you have

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Speaker 1: to throw it on an arc, which means the ball's

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Speaker 1: in the air longer, which means as your guys are rotating,

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Speaker 1: they have more time to get to their next rotation

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Speaker 1: or to get a deflection. Doesn't matter how good your

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Speaker 1: four on three advantage is. If you get a deflection

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Speaker 1: on the pass, now how all of a sudden that

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Speaker 1: pass is going to be bobbled or the offensive player

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Speaker 1: is gonna have to come back to get it or

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Speaker 1: help maybe even get a force a turnover there. And

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Speaker 1: so that's been a big part of what's made KD

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Speaker 1: such a successful playmaker over the years is he's just

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Speaker 1: become an unbelievable passer in those situations because of his height,

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Speaker 1: it's like unfair. He can just easily just drop the

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Speaker 1: ball over the top. And so again he's one of

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Speaker 1: the top tier scores in the league with the efficiency

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Speaker 1: to bring it. He's a good passer. He can do

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Speaker 1: the offensive engine thing like I just was breaking down

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Speaker 1: for you guys, Like he can just bring the ball

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Speaker 1: off the floor and get the defense in rotation consistently.

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Speaker 1: He's a very good defensive player both on the ball

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Speaker 1: and off the ball, even if his effort can be inconsistent,

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Speaker 1: which is something that is consistent with this tier of

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Speaker 1: guys here below the top tier superstar tier, but the

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Speaker 1: one down mark. The one thing with KD is he

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Speaker 1: just doesn't really get to the rim. And that really

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Speaker 1: comes down to a couple of different things. I think

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Speaker 1: part of it comes down to just how thin he is,

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Speaker 1: and that manifests in a couple of different areas, right

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Speaker 1: Like for starters, if Kd's trying to drive to the

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Speaker 1: basket and someone gives him a little bit of contact

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Speaker 1: like a forearm or a hip check or something like that,

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Speaker 1: Katie's just more susceptible to getting bumped off of his

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Speaker 1: line because of the fact that he's not bringing a

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Speaker 1: lot of like momentum with him because he's not particularly

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Speaker 1: big and shrunk, and so that just makes it a

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Speaker 1: little bit harder to kind of slide through those gaps.

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Speaker 1: Like take, for counterexample, a guy like Giannis. He only

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Speaker 1: needs this tiny little gap because like he'll do that

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Speaker 1: thing where he kind of gathers and like chicken wings

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Speaker 1: the hell out of the on ball defender, and then

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Speaker 1: like the two guys are coming over and helping, he'll

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Speaker 1: just somehow just bulldoze through the two of them and

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Speaker 1: get all the way to the rim, like Katie's gonna

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Speaker 1: lose a lot of those battles, and that manifests in

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Speaker 1: some other areas too. Like Katie defensively is very useful

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Speaker 1: off ball player, could play passing lanes, very good rim

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Speaker 1: protector on that weak side, very good low man, very

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Speaker 1: good defensive rebounder. But like he's gonna get buried by

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Speaker 1: a post threat, right because he's not particularly big and

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Speaker 1: strongk So like he can't do like the Jason Tatum

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Speaker 1: thing where I'm just gonna guard the opposing center if

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Speaker 1: that opposing center has any sort of like offensive rebounding

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Speaker 1: chops or post up chops, right, Like, that's gonna be

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Speaker 1: something that he struggles with. But that's really the one

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Speaker 1: downside with KD is it's he's a little thin, which

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Speaker 1: prevents him from getting to the rim and limits some

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Speaker 1: of his ability to be a switchable defender as as

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Speaker 1: it pertains a switching on to centers. But I still

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Speaker 1: think that KD on the ball is an outstanding defender

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Speaker 1: because he can guard guards and wings really well just

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Speaker 1: with his length and his mobility. The second piece of

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Speaker 1: him not getting to the rim is just I think

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Speaker 1: he's picky, and I think some of this comes down

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Speaker 1: to what's happened after the injury. But the big debt,

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Speaker 1: the debt giveaway there is the efficiency. He shoots seventy

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Speaker 1: two percent at the rim. He shoots seventy two percent

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Speaker 1: at the rim because he only goes if it's a

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Speaker 1: pretty damn good opportunity, and so he'll be super efficient.

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Speaker 1: But he doesn't get there a ton. But again, guys

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Speaker 1: who don't apply a ton of rim pressure, that's always

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Speaker 1: gonna be something that I account for, just simply because

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Speaker 1: I think there's a ton of advantage there in terms

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Speaker 1: of collapsing the defense. When when a defense really views

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Speaker 1: you as a threat to get to the rim, they're

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Speaker 1: just more likely to pack the paint. The second piece

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Speaker 1: of it is occupying the rim protector. The more times

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Speaker 1: you get to the rim and just shoot shots, it

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Speaker 1: brings that big man over so that your big man

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Speaker 1: can clean up stuff around the rim. It's an advantage,

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Speaker 1: especially when you someone like Usef Nurkic, who can do

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Speaker 1: some real damage on the offensive glass. Let's get into

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Speaker 1: some play type data. So Kevin in Pick and Roll

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Speaker 1: was eighty seventh percentile last year five hundred and sixty

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Speaker 1: possessions to be expected as he's sharing that load with

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Speaker 1: Bradley Beal and Devin Booker, but got one point one

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Speaker 1: zero points per possession. That is outstanding. He personally shot

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Speaker 1: fifty one point four percent in pick and roll, like

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Speaker 1: we talked about it, shoots forty eight percent on the

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Speaker 1: season on pull up jump shots, and as we mentioned

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Speaker 1: earlier in detail, his ability to see over the defense

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Speaker 1: and get passes over the top when they bring that

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Speaker 1: second defender, that screen defender up to the level of

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Speaker 1: the screen. Again, that started. That was a big thing

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Speaker 1: that we started to see from KDE in Brooklyn, and

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Speaker 1: it's extended to Phoenix. They do a lot of guard

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Speaker 1: guard stuff. You'll see them do it sometimes with Grayson Allen.

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Speaker 1: You'll see them do it sometimes with like Josha Koge,

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Speaker 1: like where he's more rolling towards the rim. Grayson Allen's

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Speaker 1: more like ghost screens than just popping right back to

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Speaker 1: the three point line. But even with Nurkic, he'll run

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Speaker 1: up to set the screen. He'll just kind of roll

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Speaker 1: into the lane and then he can make the reads

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Speaker 1: in those four on threes ISO situations down year for

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Speaker 1: KD it's kind of an interesting little thing with KD.

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Speaker 1: His efficiency as it pertains to one on one basketball

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Speaker 1: actually was low for what we expect from KD. But

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Speaker 1: then he was outstanding coming off of screen. So as

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Speaker 1: we talked about one point one zero coming off of

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Speaker 1: on ball screens, one point one five points per possession

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Speaker 1: coming off of off ball screens, he shot fifty five

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Speaker 1: percent field goals on shots coming off of off ball screens.

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Speaker 1: So like when KD has a screen, he's still one

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Speaker 1: of the most deadly scorers in the league. His on

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Speaker 1: an island scoring did go down a level last year,

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Speaker 1: though he had four hundred and twenty nine ISOs including passes,

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Speaker 1: according to Synergy, got just three hundred and eighty eight

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Speaker 1: points out of him. That zero point nine zero points

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Speaker 1: per possession. That's in the forty first percent tile that

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Speaker 1: ranked just twenty second out of twenty four players to

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Speaker 1: attempt at least two hundred and fifty shots out of

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Speaker 1: ISO last year, or two hundred fifty possessions. I should say,

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Speaker 1: just didn't shoot well individually. Kd's individual field goal percentage

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Speaker 1: in ISOs last year was just forty three point nine percent,

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Speaker 1: which is obviously down for what we expect from KD

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Speaker 1: post ups. He was over a point per possession, but

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Speaker 1: not by much. He was at two hundred and eighty

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Speaker 1: four points and two hundred and seventy seven post ups.

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Speaker 1: That comes out to one point zero three points per possession.

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Speaker 1: That's pretty average. I want to say it's like forty

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Speaker 1: eight percent tile. That was twelve out of the eighteen

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Speaker 1: players to make our high volume post up list with

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Speaker 1: two hundred and fifty reps. So definitely a down year

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Speaker 1: for KD as it pertains to scoring one on one

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Speaker 1: like man up with a defender. But he's still about

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Speaker 1: as good as you'll find in the league anything coming

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Speaker 1: off of a screen looking to score or coming off

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Speaker 1: of a screen looking to pass, as we saw in

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Speaker 1: the points per possession data. So in summary, Katie has

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Speaker 1: definitely lost some of his athletic juice and that's manifesting

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Speaker 1: in his really low rim attempts and then just on

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Speaker 1: an island scoring which has gone down. But he's still

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Speaker 1: one of the most profoundly impactful two way players we

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Speaker 1: have in the league for several reasons. One, he's still

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Speaker 1: a deadly efficient scorer coming off of any kind of screen. Two,

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Speaker 1: he has the size and court vision to torch defenses

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Speaker 1: as a passer coming off of those screens, and when

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Speaker 1: he's engaged, he's an extremely versatile defender both on and

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Speaker 1: off the ball. Most importantly, he fits the criteria of

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Speaker 1: this list very well. I've talked about how this list

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Speaker 1: is kind of a combination of like regular season availability

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Speaker 1: and motor, Like how often you play at the top

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Speaker 1: of your game in the regular season. Two how well

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Speaker 1: your games game translates to the playoffs? But three how

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Speaker 1: easy is it to build around you? Again, remember, in

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Speaker 1: this thought exercise, we're drafting these guys, but in theory,

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Speaker 1: after we're done, we're going back around and we're drafting

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Speaker 1: other players, right, and so like, if I had KD

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Speaker 1: as my number one, how would it be to build

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Speaker 1: around him? If I had Joel Embiid as my number one,

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Speaker 1: how would it be to build around him? And as

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Speaker 1: we've talked about, I find KD to be a much

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Speaker 1: easier player to build around than a Joel Embid. Joel

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Speaker 1: and B can only defend in one type of defensive scheme.

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Speaker 1: On offense, he kind of needs everything to run through him.

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Speaker 1: He struggles with read and react with lots of other

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Speaker 1: good basketball players on the floor. I know KD can

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Speaker 1: be helio centric. I could ask KD to bring the

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Speaker 1: ball to the floor on twenty five pick and rolls

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Speaker 1: every single game and to just dominate as a helio

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Speaker 1: central shock creator. He doesn't really play that style, but

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Speaker 1: he could if I needed him to. Kadie can also

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Speaker 1: play five out on the ball as the guy who's

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Speaker 1: making the decisions coming off the screens. He can also

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Speaker 1: play five out off the ball, operating more with an

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Speaker 1: advantage on the defensive end. I can use him in

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Speaker 1: a switching scheme. He could pretty much guard one through

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Speaker 1: four and most fives that aren't superstars right. He can

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Speaker 1: guard off the ball in a bunch of different contexts, jumping,

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Speaker 1: passing lanes. More as a guy who's playing above the break,

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Speaker 1: he could play the low man position. I could use

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Speaker 1: him to blitz. He's got all sorts of length and

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Speaker 1: athleticism to use flashing up high on the ball if

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Speaker 1: for putting two on the ball. I can just do

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00:18:35,840 --> 00:18:38,600
Speaker 1: so much more with KD if I'm building a team

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Speaker 1: around him, than I can with someone like Joel Embiid.

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Speaker 1: And so that for me is like a great example,

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Speaker 1: like if I'm looking at those three categories, regular season

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Speaker 1: availability and motor is probably Kevin Durant's biggest weakness out

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Speaker 1: of those three categories. But he just had a season

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Speaker 1: where he played what seventy five games was the number again,

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Speaker 1: I'm looking at it, seventy five, So he just played

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Speaker 1: seventy five games. So whatever your regular season availability concerns are,

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Speaker 1: he just had his best season of that since his injury.

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Speaker 1: Postseason translatability I actually had I had a comment yesterday

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Speaker 1: talking about how KD isn't a good playoff player, and

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Speaker 1: I just very much disagree with that. He did have

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Speaker 1: a rough series in twenty twenty two against Boston, but

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Speaker 1: that was literally just four games. Overall. In thirty one

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Speaker 1: playoff games since returning from his Achilles injury, he's averaging

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00:19:23,680 --> 00:19:26,359
Speaker 1: thirty points, eight rebounds in five assists on sixty one

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Speaker 1: percent true shooting, So by any measure, he's still one

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Speaker 1: of the most dependably good playoff players in the league.

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Speaker 1: So again, had a good available regular season last year.

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Speaker 1: Although that I would argue that's his one main kind

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Speaker 1: of weakness is how consistent can he be in the

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Speaker 1: eighty two postseason translatability. I give him an a in versatility,

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Speaker 1: how well he fits alongside other players, and how many

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Speaker 1: different schemes he can play in. I'd give him an

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Speaker 1: A plus. I think he's one of the best in

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Speaker 1: the league plugging into playing in any different basketball circumstances.

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Speaker 1: And even as it pertains to the injuries, they were

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00:19:57,680 --> 00:20:00,080
Speaker 1: all regular season injuries. He never missed a playoff game

432
00:20:00,320 --> 00:20:03,000
Speaker 1: since coming back in twenty twenty one, and a lot

433
00:20:03,040 --> 00:20:06,040
Speaker 1: of them were fluky, like like there was the one

434
00:20:06,080 --> 00:20:07,679
Speaker 1: weird one where he kind of twisted his ankle and

435
00:20:07,720 --> 00:20:10,520
Speaker 1: warm ups, there was the I think he had two

436
00:20:10,520 --> 00:20:13,399
Speaker 1: separate instances where someone fell into his knee, Like just

437
00:20:13,400 --> 00:20:17,040
Speaker 1: someone fell into his knee. That's not necessarily a durability concern.

438
00:20:17,160 --> 00:20:20,480
Speaker 1: That's a fluky injury that might happen. So like again,

439
00:20:21,160 --> 00:20:23,160
Speaker 1: I understand, and this for all three guys, for KD,

440
00:20:23,280 --> 00:20:25,440
Speaker 1: Stephan Lebron, there's gonna be a lot of guys talking

441
00:20:25,480 --> 00:20:27,920
Speaker 1: about like first round sweep or you know, first round

442
00:20:27,920 --> 00:20:30,399
Speaker 1: gentlemen sweep, or always in the play in or whatever

443
00:20:30,440 --> 00:20:31,840
Speaker 1: it is, or missed the playoffs and all that kind

444
00:20:31,840 --> 00:20:34,280
Speaker 1: of stuff. Basketball is a team sport, and these are

445
00:20:34,320 --> 00:20:36,639
Speaker 1: guys that are playing on rosters that literally do not

446
00:20:36,760 --> 00:20:39,960
Speaker 1: have good two way players outside of their stars. And

447
00:20:40,040 --> 00:20:41,640
Speaker 1: that's just something as you go up in the league,

448
00:20:41,640 --> 00:20:44,600
Speaker 1: as you look at Oklahoma City, as you look at Denver,

449
00:20:44,640 --> 00:20:47,720
Speaker 1: as you look at Boston, as you look at the Knicks,

450
00:20:47,760 --> 00:20:50,480
Speaker 1: like all these teams have like four or five role

451
00:20:50,520 --> 00:20:53,480
Speaker 1: players who are legitimately good on both ends of the floor,

452
00:20:53,480 --> 00:20:56,560
Speaker 1: which just makes playing basketball a lot easier and is

453
00:20:56,600 --> 00:21:00,280
Speaker 1: certainly going to accentuate what stars bring to the table. Yeah,

454
00:21:00,320 --> 00:21:01,840
Speaker 1: Katie was one of those guys a lot of people

455
00:21:01,920 --> 00:21:04,879
Speaker 1: had lower on their list. I still think he's firmly

456
00:21:04,920 --> 00:21:06,960
Speaker 1: in the top ten I have met. I have him

457
00:21:07,000 --> 00:21:10,000
Speaker 1: at number nine in this year's list.

458
00:21:12,600 --> 00:21:15,400
Speaker 2: Preparing for your upcoming fantasy football draft, do you wish

459
00:21:15,440 --> 00:21:18,119
Speaker 2: that you could wave a magic wand and somehow know

460
00:21:18,240 --> 00:21:20,400
Speaker 2: who exactly your league mates are going to take.

461
00:21:20,760 --> 00:21:20,920
Speaker 1: Well?

462
00:21:20,960 --> 00:21:23,680
Speaker 2: With draft Intel from Fantasy Pros, you'll know exactly how

463
00:21:23,680 --> 00:21:26,679
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464
00:21:26,720 --> 00:21:30,200
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465
00:21:30,280 --> 00:21:32,360
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466
00:21:32,400 --> 00:21:35,040
Speaker 2: takes too many rookies, and who is going to reach

467
00:21:35,040 --> 00:21:38,320
Speaker 2: for their favorite teams players. Over and over again, everybody

468
00:21:38,320 --> 00:21:40,240
Speaker 2: hates a homer and every league has one of them.

469
00:21:40,280 --> 00:21:42,679
Speaker 2: But right now, you can put all that intel to

470
00:21:42,760 --> 00:21:45,440
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471
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472
00:21:49,080 --> 00:21:52,480
Speaker 2: Check out fantasypros dot com slash volume today to get

473
00:21:52,520 --> 00:21:56,080
Speaker 2: an edge over your league mates right now and forever.

474
00:22:09,320 --> 00:22:12,879
Speaker 1: Number eight Lebron James last year seventy one games, played

475
00:22:13,480 --> 00:22:15,800
Speaker 1: twenty five point seven points per game, seven point three

476
00:22:15,800 --> 00:22:18,760
Speaker 1: rebounds per game, eight point three assists per game. Here's

477
00:22:18,760 --> 00:22:21,280
Speaker 1: another crazy stat for you. Lebron James was one of

478
00:22:21,440 --> 00:22:25,159
Speaker 1: just three players in the entire NBA last year to

479
00:22:25,200 --> 00:22:28,320
Speaker 1: average at least twenty five points, seven rebounds, and seven assists.

480
00:22:28,960 --> 00:22:33,280
Speaker 1: It was Lebron James, Luka, Doncic, Nikola Jokic. That's it.

481
00:22:33,680 --> 00:22:37,119
Speaker 1: In the entire league. The all around play that Lebron

482
00:22:37,119 --> 00:22:40,639
Speaker 1: brings to the table is still extremely rare around the league.

483
00:22:40,880 --> 00:22:43,119
Speaker 1: One point eight stocks per game is shooting splits. This

484
00:22:43,160 --> 00:22:46,320
Speaker 1: is insane. Fifty four percent from the field, forty one

485
00:22:46,359 --> 00:22:48,560
Speaker 1: percent from three to seventy five percent from the line.

486
00:22:48,880 --> 00:22:51,919
Speaker 1: That amounts to sixty percent in effective field goal percentage

487
00:22:52,040 --> 00:22:56,000
Speaker 1: and sixty three percent in true shooting percentage. He's still,

488
00:22:56,480 --> 00:22:59,640
Speaker 1: even as he's coming into his age forty season, one

489
00:22:59,680 --> 00:23:03,720
Speaker 1: of the most efficient volume scores in the league. Only

490
00:23:03,800 --> 00:23:06,240
Speaker 1: two players in the NBA last year, as we mentioned

491
00:23:06,280 --> 00:23:09,480
Speaker 1: earlier with Kevin Durant, averaged at least twenty five on

492
00:23:09,560 --> 00:23:11,640
Speaker 1: fifty percent from the field and forty percent from three.

493
00:23:11,680 --> 00:23:14,199
Speaker 1: It was Kevin Durant and Lebron James. And the crazy

494
00:23:14,200 --> 00:23:16,960
Speaker 1: thing is Lebron got better as the season went along

495
00:23:17,520 --> 00:23:21,639
Speaker 1: from the over his last twenty two games, and I

496
00:23:21,720 --> 00:23:23,840
Speaker 1: want to say this was like February twenty third on

497
00:23:23,960 --> 00:23:25,680
Speaker 1: or something like that, I can't remember the exact number,

498
00:23:26,480 --> 00:23:29,800
Speaker 1: but over Lebron's last twenty two games he averaged twenty

499
00:23:29,840 --> 00:23:35,080
Speaker 1: eight points, eight rebounds in tennysis on fifty eight percent

500
00:23:35,160 --> 00:23:39,159
Speaker 1: from the field and forty five percent from three twenty

501
00:23:39,200 --> 00:23:41,800
Speaker 1: eight to eight to ten on sixty seven percent true shooting.

502
00:23:42,680 --> 00:23:45,800
Speaker 1: That's not just that's not like good for Lebron. That's

503
00:23:46,000 --> 00:23:49,000
Speaker 1: MVP level production that he put up over the final

504
00:23:49,000 --> 00:23:51,199
Speaker 1: third of the season or so. And then he followed

505
00:23:51,200 --> 00:23:53,840
Speaker 1: it up with an impressive series against Denver twenty eight points,

506
00:23:53,880 --> 00:23:57,040
Speaker 1: seven rebounds, nine to sis sixty four percent true shooting.

507
00:23:57,359 --> 00:23:59,399
Speaker 1: He also shot four out of five from the field

508
00:23:59,440 --> 00:24:02,919
Speaker 1: and clutched situations. Remember after the Western Conference Finals sweep,

509
00:24:03,359 --> 00:24:06,000
Speaker 1: I said the Lakers needed to improve in three areas

510
00:24:06,359 --> 00:24:09,760
Speaker 1: to surpass Denver. The first two were roster related. I

511
00:24:09,760 --> 00:24:11,000
Speaker 1: won't get him to it right now, but it had

512
00:24:11,000 --> 00:24:12,520
Speaker 1: to do with Rob Plinket what he needed to do

513
00:24:12,560 --> 00:24:14,360
Speaker 1: over the summer. The last one, though, if you guys,

514
00:24:14,359 --> 00:24:17,919
Speaker 1: remember I said Lebron, James, and Anthony Davis had to

515
00:24:18,000 --> 00:24:21,160
Speaker 1: hit jump shots. They had to hit jump shots over

516
00:24:21,200 --> 00:24:23,480
Speaker 1: the top of the defense to keep up with Jokichen

517
00:24:23,560 --> 00:24:27,120
Speaker 1: Murray in a shootout, especially in crunch time. And Lebron

518
00:24:27,320 --> 00:24:29,600
Speaker 1: did that. He went in the gym, he figured it out,

519
00:24:29,640 --> 00:24:32,119
Speaker 1: and he did that. He shot thirty nine percent on

520
00:24:32,200 --> 00:24:35,320
Speaker 1: threes in the series. After getting just zero point eighty

521
00:24:35,359 --> 00:24:37,879
Speaker 1: six points per jump shot in the twenty twenty three sweep,

522
00:24:38,080 --> 00:24:40,760
Speaker 1: he bumped that all the way up to one point

523
00:24:40,840 --> 00:24:44,000
Speaker 1: zero six points per jump shot. So a massive improvement

524
00:24:44,040 --> 00:24:46,320
Speaker 1: year over year in jump shooting. But the problem was

525
00:24:46,400 --> 00:24:49,120
Speaker 1: is those first two roster related issues just simply were

526
00:24:49,160 --> 00:24:52,040
Speaker 1: not addressed. So even though Lebron brought the jump shooting,

527
00:24:52,080 --> 00:24:55,280
Speaker 1: even though Lebron brought the clutch shot making. It just

528
00:24:55,400 --> 00:24:57,560
Speaker 1: wasn't enough to make it any more than a competitive

529
00:24:57,920 --> 00:24:59,800
Speaker 1: five game loss. And again, that series was closer than

530
00:24:59,800 --> 00:25:02,000
Speaker 1: a you had two Jamal Murray game winners in that game.

531
00:25:02,000 --> 00:25:04,360
Speaker 1: That series could have been three two Lakers very easily

532
00:25:04,520 --> 00:25:06,840
Speaker 1: if a couple of things go differently. But then Lebron

533
00:25:06,880 --> 00:25:11,880
Speaker 1: followed that up by winning MVP of the Olympics by

534
00:25:12,000 --> 00:25:14,720
Speaker 1: essentially being a Swiss Army knife for them on both

535
00:25:14,800 --> 00:25:16,840
Speaker 1: ends of the floor. So the point is Lebron has

536
00:25:16,920 --> 00:25:19,199
Speaker 1: actually been one of the five best basketball players on

537
00:25:19,240 --> 00:25:23,240
Speaker 1: the planet since February. I'd argue he's been the third

538
00:25:23,280 --> 00:25:27,720
Speaker 1: best player behind Yo Kitchen Luca. Lebron is the only

539
00:25:27,760 --> 00:25:31,080
Speaker 1: player that he is the play He's been better than

540
00:25:31,119 --> 00:25:33,480
Speaker 1: everyone else in the league since February except for those

541
00:25:33,520 --> 00:25:37,320
Speaker 1: two guys. Now he's lower on this list for the

542
00:25:37,359 --> 00:25:40,080
Speaker 1: same age related stuff that we're going to get too shortly,

543
00:25:40,119 --> 00:25:42,720
Speaker 1: the same stuff that's plaguing everybody that's down on this

544
00:25:42,800 --> 00:25:45,800
Speaker 1: part of the list. But just make no mistake, Lebron

545
00:25:45,880 --> 00:25:48,119
Speaker 1: is there's not many players playing better basketball than Lebron

546
00:25:48,400 --> 00:25:51,040
Speaker 1: at this point in time. Shooting stats pers energy one

547
00:25:51,080 --> 00:25:53,680
Speaker 1: point one to one points per jump shot one point

548
00:25:53,680 --> 00:25:55,800
Speaker 1: twenty seven points per catch and shoot jump shot and

549
00:25:55,840 --> 00:25:58,040
Speaker 1: out standing catch and shoot season for Lebron. There are

550
00:25:58,040 --> 00:26:00,119
Speaker 1: one hundred and seventeen players in the league. Ten did

551
00:26:00,119 --> 00:26:02,560
Speaker 1: at least two hundred catch and shoot jump shots. Lebron

552
00:26:02,720 --> 00:26:05,480
Speaker 1: ranked fifteenth out of one hundred and seventeen players in

553
00:26:05,560 --> 00:26:08,320
Speaker 1: catch and shoot efficiency. He also got zero point ninety

554
00:26:08,400 --> 00:26:10,560
Speaker 1: six points per off the dribble jumper. That was sixty

555
00:26:10,600 --> 00:26:13,040
Speaker 1: third percent tile, so above average. Obviously not as good

556
00:26:13,080 --> 00:26:16,000
Speaker 1: as his skill oriented piers like I think Katie If

557
00:26:16,040 --> 00:26:18,120
Speaker 1: I remember correctly, Katie was at one point zero three

558
00:26:18,480 --> 00:26:20,240
Speaker 1: and then Steph was at one point zero five, so

559
00:26:20,240 --> 00:26:23,960
Speaker 1: they're both like roughly ten percent better in that vicinity

560
00:26:24,119 --> 00:26:26,359
Speaker 1: than Lebron is a pull up shooter, but Lebron had

561
00:26:26,359 --> 00:26:28,959
Speaker 1: a I say ten percent relative, not ten percent in percentage.

562
00:26:29,720 --> 00:26:32,560
Speaker 1: But Lebron still a a above average pull up jump

563
00:26:32,600 --> 00:26:35,640
Speaker 1: shooter forty four percent on floaters, forty seven percent on hooks.

564
00:26:35,960 --> 00:26:39,119
Speaker 1: This is an interesting piece though. Lebron sixty seven percent

565
00:26:39,200 --> 00:26:41,960
Speaker 1: at the rim. Now that's still outstanding. That's eighty third

566
00:26:42,000 --> 00:26:44,200
Speaker 1: percent tile. But this is an interesting trend to keep

567
00:26:44,200 --> 00:26:46,639
Speaker 1: an eye on with Lebron. He is starting to trend

568
00:26:46,720 --> 00:26:50,000
Speaker 1: down in that that department, sixty seven percent at the

569
00:26:50,040 --> 00:26:53,639
Speaker 1: room this year, sixty nine percent at the rim the

570
00:26:53,720 --> 00:26:56,720
Speaker 1: year before, seventy one percent at the rim the year

571
00:26:56,760 --> 00:26:59,119
Speaker 1: before that, and seventy two percent at the rim the

572
00:26:59,160 --> 00:27:01,879
Speaker 1: year before that. So I've seen a steady kind of

573
00:27:01,920 --> 00:27:05,439
Speaker 1: like trending down very slightly in Lebron's rim finishing, and

574
00:27:05,440 --> 00:27:07,440
Speaker 1: that's a big part of why this late career jump

575
00:27:07,440 --> 00:27:10,720
Speaker 1: shooting surge that he's having is so important for him.

576
00:27:10,760 --> 00:27:14,640
Speaker 1: Playmaking stuff with Lebron pick and roll one point zero

577
00:27:14,760 --> 00:27:17,520
Speaker 1: six points per possession, which is in the eightieth percentile.

578
00:27:17,520 --> 00:27:21,160
Speaker 1: That's very good, however, just seven hundred and twenty seven possessions,

579
00:27:21,160 --> 00:27:22,920
Speaker 1: so he didn't make our high volume list, but that's

580
00:27:22,920 --> 00:27:25,119
Speaker 1: to be expected. He's sharing touches kind of similar to

581
00:27:25,480 --> 00:27:28,240
Speaker 1: KD with Booker and Beal, Lebron's sharing pick and roll

582
00:27:28,240 --> 00:27:30,760
Speaker 1: touches with d LO and Austin Reeves. But he was

583
00:27:30,800 --> 00:27:33,560
Speaker 1: again in the eightieth percentile for pick and roll ISO

584
00:27:33,720 --> 00:27:36,159
Speaker 1: similar to KD, not as a two grade of a

585
00:27:36,200 --> 00:27:38,480
Speaker 1: season zero point nine to seven points per possession on

586
00:27:38,520 --> 00:27:41,160
Speaker 1: three hundred and twenty eight reps, only three spots ahead

587
00:27:41,160 --> 00:27:43,320
Speaker 1: of where KD was in that high volume list, Lebron

588
00:27:43,400 --> 00:27:45,959
Speaker 1: ranked nineteenth out of twenty four players to attempt at

589
00:27:46,000 --> 00:27:49,000
Speaker 1: least two hundred and fifty. However, in the post, Lebron

590
00:27:49,080 --> 00:27:52,040
Speaker 1: James was the second best high volume post player in

591
00:27:52,080 --> 00:27:54,920
Speaker 1: the entire NBA last year. He ran two hundred and

592
00:27:54,960 --> 00:27:57,600
Speaker 1: ninety one post ups got one point one to two

593
00:27:57,640 --> 00:28:02,840
Speaker 1: points per possession including passes. Only Nikola Jokic was better

594
00:28:03,200 --> 00:28:05,320
Speaker 1: out of the eighteen players to run at least two

595
00:28:05,359 --> 00:28:08,320
Speaker 1: hundred and fifty post ups. So Lebron is still absolutely

596
00:28:08,359 --> 00:28:10,560
Speaker 1: dominant with his back to the basket when he can

597
00:28:10,600 --> 00:28:13,320
Speaker 1: bully players towards the rim and playmake out of that

598
00:28:13,840 --> 00:28:17,000
Speaker 1: as team send multiple defenders. There are two weaknesses with

599
00:28:17,080 --> 00:28:20,760
Speaker 1: Lebron that I want to call attention to. One, he

600
00:28:20,800 --> 00:28:23,800
Speaker 1: can be one of the most inconsistent effort guys in

601
00:28:23,840 --> 00:28:26,960
Speaker 1: the regular season among the stars, as to be expected

602
00:28:27,080 --> 00:28:30,199
Speaker 1: he turns forty four months from today, But it's a

603
00:28:30,240 --> 00:28:32,960
Speaker 1: reality when you're trying to build a roster around him. Right,

604
00:28:33,080 --> 00:28:35,760
Speaker 1: Just like I was talking about Katie So on defense,

605
00:28:36,440 --> 00:28:39,280
Speaker 1: the main area you'll see that manifest with Lebron is

606
00:28:39,360 --> 00:28:41,600
Speaker 1: him just he has a very important job within the

607
00:28:41,680 --> 00:28:43,800
Speaker 1: Laker defense. He's typically the low man. That means AD

608
00:28:43,960 --> 00:28:45,920
Speaker 1: is typically coming up higher to the level of the screen.

609
00:28:46,160 --> 00:28:48,240
Speaker 1: Lebron is the guy kind of filling in behind him

610
00:28:48,400 --> 00:28:51,200
Speaker 1: to tag the roller, contest shots at the rim, get

611
00:28:51,240 --> 00:28:53,440
Speaker 1: defensive rebounds, and close out to the weak side. That

612
00:28:53,560 --> 00:28:56,840
Speaker 1: is an incredibly important job on the defense. If you

613
00:28:56,880 --> 00:28:59,760
Speaker 1: were ranking the roles on defense, obviously on the ball

614
00:29:00,040 --> 00:29:02,720
Speaker 1: and you're pick and roll defender, probably your two most important.

615
00:29:02,880 --> 00:29:05,880
Speaker 1: But that next most important role is that low man position.

616
00:29:05,920 --> 00:29:09,480
Speaker 1: And so when Lebron's being lazy down there, when he's

617
00:29:09,720 --> 00:29:11,760
Speaker 1: letting role men catch and fit, like you will see

618
00:29:11,960 --> 00:29:14,920
Speaker 1: dozens of times this year, Lebron will just let someone

619
00:29:14,960 --> 00:29:16,680
Speaker 1: catch on the role in dunk because he just doesn't

620
00:29:16,680 --> 00:29:19,640
Speaker 1: feel like making the rotation right. So like that's part

621
00:29:19,640 --> 00:29:22,720
Speaker 1: of it, not fighting for defensive rebounds, that kind of thing,

622
00:29:22,720 --> 00:29:25,280
Speaker 1: like you're gonna see. He'll always lock in and do

623
00:29:25,400 --> 00:29:27,800
Speaker 1: it and crunch time or whenever the team needs to

624
00:29:27,800 --> 00:29:29,440
Speaker 1: go on a run or something like that. But he

625
00:29:29,480 --> 00:29:32,000
Speaker 1: will have extended stretches during the course of the regular

626
00:29:32,000 --> 00:29:34,200
Speaker 1: season where he just doesn't really try that hard on

627
00:29:34,240 --> 00:29:36,240
Speaker 1: the defensive end of the four. I still think Lebron's

628
00:29:36,240 --> 00:29:38,640
Speaker 1: one of the better defenders in the league. When he's trying,

629
00:29:38,920 --> 00:29:41,520
Speaker 1: he just you're only going to see that big time moments,

630
00:29:41,560 --> 00:29:45,120
Speaker 1: big time national TV games and like playoff games. That's

631
00:29:45,160 --> 00:29:47,640
Speaker 1: pretty much it at this phase of his career. On offense,

632
00:29:47,960 --> 00:29:50,840
Speaker 1: or you see that laziness manifest is how physically aggressive

633
00:29:50,880 --> 00:29:54,160
Speaker 1: he's being towards the rim. One being willing to post up,

634
00:29:54,320 --> 00:29:57,800
Speaker 1: two being willing to drive hard in isolation situations. The

635
00:29:57,800 --> 00:30:00,280
Speaker 1: big one you'll see three is lazy play ma in

636
00:30:00,360 --> 00:30:02,880
Speaker 1: ball screens, as I've talked about a lot, in order

637
00:30:02,960 --> 00:30:05,040
Speaker 1: to get an opening for to make a play as

638
00:30:05,080 --> 00:30:07,640
Speaker 1: a passer in ball screens, you have to engage that

639
00:30:07,720 --> 00:30:11,320
Speaker 1: screen defender by getting downhill or by being deadly enough

640
00:30:11,360 --> 00:30:13,120
Speaker 1: as a shooter that he has to come up. You

641
00:30:13,200 --> 00:30:14,880
Speaker 1: have to make him guard you. If you do not

642
00:30:14,960 --> 00:30:17,040
Speaker 1: make him guard you and he can drop back, there's

643
00:30:17,040 --> 00:30:18,880
Speaker 1: not gonna be anything open. And you'll see Lebron a

644
00:30:18,880 --> 00:30:21,680
Speaker 1: lot in the regular season kind of dribble off picks

645
00:30:21,760 --> 00:30:24,640
Speaker 1: lazy and just try to like jam a pocket pass

646
00:30:24,680 --> 00:30:27,240
Speaker 1: in there that's not open, or throw a skip pass

647
00:30:27,320 --> 00:30:29,000
Speaker 1: to a guy who's guarded and still have to put

648
00:30:29,000 --> 00:30:30,760
Speaker 1: it really high and then the guy have to jump

649
00:30:30,800 --> 00:30:32,760
Speaker 1: way back on his heels to grab it, and the

650
00:30:32,840 --> 00:30:34,760
Speaker 1: advantage is gone right, so like, or there was no

651
00:30:34,800 --> 00:30:37,560
Speaker 1: advantage to begin with, and so like. There are definitely

652
00:30:37,560 --> 00:30:40,239
Speaker 1: some things with Lebron where he can be lazy. In

653
00:30:40,240 --> 00:30:42,600
Speaker 1: the regular season, He's simply not as good as his

654
00:30:42,720 --> 00:30:46,400
Speaker 1: younger peers, the guys who are in their twenties, at

655
00:30:46,480 --> 00:30:49,640
Speaker 1: just carrying the load time and time again over an

656
00:30:49,640 --> 00:30:52,080
Speaker 1: eighty two game season. That is something you have to

657
00:30:52,120 --> 00:30:55,040
Speaker 1: account for when you're building a roster around him when

658
00:30:55,040 --> 00:30:57,400
Speaker 1: the season starts in October. The second piece of it.

659
00:30:58,120 --> 00:31:02,120
Speaker 1: Even within the playoff context, when Lebron is engaged, he's

660
00:31:02,160 --> 00:31:05,560
Speaker 1: not as good at doing everything as he was when

661
00:31:05,600 --> 00:31:08,800
Speaker 1: he was younger in terms of energy resources. He does

662
00:31:08,960 --> 00:31:11,600
Speaker 1: seem to get a little fatigue. A couple of examples.

663
00:31:11,840 --> 00:31:14,440
Speaker 1: Game one against Denver, in the third quarter, he had

664
00:31:14,440 --> 00:31:17,200
Speaker 1: a stretch like I described just a second ago, where

665
00:31:17,200 --> 00:31:20,160
Speaker 1: he got lazy with the ball as a playmaker because

666
00:31:20,160 --> 00:31:22,720
Speaker 1: he was tired, had a couple of bad turnovers. It

667
00:31:22,840 --> 00:31:26,280
Speaker 1: sparked a Denver run. Game five against Denver, they win

668
00:31:26,440 --> 00:31:29,840
Speaker 1: that game if Lebron secures a defensive rebound against Aaron

669
00:31:29,880 --> 00:31:33,000
Speaker 1: Gordon where he had inside position. Now, Lebron has been

670
00:31:33,080 --> 00:31:35,960
Speaker 1: one of the best defensive rebounding forwards in the league

671
00:31:36,000 --> 00:31:38,440
Speaker 1: for a long time. This is something he used to

672
00:31:38,640 --> 00:31:43,080
Speaker 1: literally never lose. He never used to lose rebounding battles

673
00:31:43,120 --> 00:31:45,840
Speaker 1: like that. The reason why he did is because he

674
00:31:45,920 --> 00:31:49,200
Speaker 1: was doing so much and at this phase in his career,

675
00:31:49,480 --> 00:31:52,040
Speaker 1: he still is susceptible to a little bit of fatigue,

676
00:31:52,320 --> 00:31:55,640
Speaker 1: and he lost a physical battle that he doesn't typically lose.

677
00:31:55,640 --> 00:31:58,200
Speaker 1: And so again, I thought he was mostly magnificent in

678
00:31:58,200 --> 00:32:00,640
Speaker 1: that series outside of those sorts of things. But the

679
00:32:00,680 --> 00:32:03,200
Speaker 1: point is, in order to get the most out of

680
00:32:03,280 --> 00:32:06,080
Speaker 1: Lebron James, you need to surround him with enough support

681
00:32:06,240 --> 00:32:08,360
Speaker 1: for him to be able to conserve energy and pick

682
00:32:08,360 --> 00:32:12,160
Speaker 1: his spots. Because when he engages himself, he's still one

683
00:32:12,160 --> 00:32:14,640
Speaker 1: of the very best players in the world. But he

684
00:32:14,800 --> 00:32:19,520
Speaker 1: can't be consistently engaged without running into fatigue related issues.

685
00:32:19,520 --> 00:32:22,640
Speaker 1: And so again, in the regular season, it's more just

686
00:32:22,680 --> 00:32:25,120
Speaker 1: like conserving energy. In the playoffs, it's like he legitimately

687
00:32:25,120 --> 00:32:27,480
Speaker 1: can run out of energy sometimes. But if I were

688
00:32:27,520 --> 00:32:30,240
Speaker 1: draft like, it's just something that I'd have to account for.

689
00:32:30,560 --> 00:32:33,520
Speaker 1: If I was a GM and I was drafting a

690
00:32:34,280 --> 00:32:37,640
Speaker 1: team now if we tweaked the rules, if I were

691
00:32:37,720 --> 00:32:41,000
Speaker 1: drafting players for a playoff series, just a playoff series,

692
00:32:41,080 --> 00:32:44,240
Speaker 1: not a season, but a playoff series that started tomorrow.

693
00:32:44,960 --> 00:32:47,920
Speaker 1: Nicole Jokitch and Luka Dancic are the only two players

694
00:32:47,960 --> 00:32:51,600
Speaker 1: that I'd take over Lebron. That's how insane of a

695
00:32:51,640 --> 00:32:54,920
Speaker 1: high level he's been playing at Since February. He's still

696
00:32:54,960 --> 00:32:56,800
Speaker 1: one of the top tier shot creators in the league

697
00:32:56,800 --> 00:32:59,720
Speaker 1: in both volume and efficiency. As we know, there just

698
00:32:59,800 --> 00:33:01,920
Speaker 1: are many players who can give you twenty five points

699
00:33:01,920 --> 00:33:05,120
Speaker 1: and eight assists a game. Jokich, Luca and Trey Young

700
00:33:05,120 --> 00:33:07,120
Speaker 1: were the only other guys in the league last year

701
00:33:07,120 --> 00:33:09,720
Speaker 1: other than Lebron to give you twenty five points and

702
00:33:09,840 --> 00:33:13,240
Speaker 1: eight assists. That's how rare that is still in this league.

703
00:33:13,560 --> 00:33:16,640
Speaker 1: In Lebron, when he's engaged, is a much better defender

704
00:33:16,640 --> 00:33:19,360
Speaker 1: than all of those guys, and that's why I have

705
00:33:19,480 --> 00:33:22,520
Speaker 1: him that high. I'd have him third if I just

706
00:33:22,560 --> 00:33:25,640
Speaker 1: needed to win a series that starts tomorrow. But he

707
00:33:25,760 --> 00:33:28,360
Speaker 1: requires a great deal of support in the regular season

708
00:33:28,720 --> 00:33:31,920
Speaker 1: and can't quite scale up his athleticism in the postseason

709
00:33:32,000 --> 00:33:34,400
Speaker 1: like he used to, which makes the job of building

710
00:33:34,440 --> 00:33:36,240
Speaker 1: around him a little bit tougher than it was when

711
00:33:36,240 --> 00:33:37,720
Speaker 1: he was in his prime, and certainly tougher than some

712
00:33:37,760 --> 00:33:39,200
Speaker 1: of the guys that are above him on this list. So

713
00:33:39,240 --> 00:33:41,680
Speaker 1: for a list like this, I feel like number eight

714
00:33:42,120 --> 00:33:45,600
Speaker 1: is the right spot for Lebron James on two hour mailback,

715
00:33:51,040 --> 00:33:53,920
Speaker 1: here's our first question. This one is not necessarily a question,

716
00:33:54,000 --> 00:33:55,640
Speaker 1: just an opportunity to kind of talk a little bit

717
00:33:55,640 --> 00:33:59,000
Speaker 1: about the ranking. So what is my rationale for putting

718
00:33:59,080 --> 00:34:02,920
Speaker 1: Lebron eight, KD nine, Steph ten? Why did I have

719
00:34:02,960 --> 00:34:04,760
Speaker 1: them ranked in that order? Now, mind you, I have

720
00:34:04,840 --> 00:34:08,880
Speaker 1: them minusculely separated. They're not. This is not tiers of players.

721
00:34:08,880 --> 00:34:10,960
Speaker 1: They're all jammed up with each other, right, as I've

722
00:34:10,960 --> 00:34:14,960
Speaker 1: said multiple times, from five to eleven, they're all right

723
00:34:14,960 --> 00:34:16,719
Speaker 1: next to each other. In my opinion, the tiers are

724
00:34:16,719 --> 00:34:21,719
Speaker 1: more indicated as a separation in level of play. So

725
00:34:21,800 --> 00:34:24,600
Speaker 1: here's the deal. Steph was a clear third place for me.

726
00:34:25,080 --> 00:34:27,359
Speaker 1: In addition to missing the playoffs, Even if we all

727
00:34:27,400 --> 00:34:29,520
Speaker 1: agree that it mostly had to do with the roster,

728
00:34:30,040 --> 00:34:33,040
Speaker 1: Steph just didn't play well to end the season. Post

729
00:34:33,080 --> 00:34:36,480
Speaker 1: All Star Break, Steph Curry twenty three points, five rebounds,

730
00:34:36,480 --> 00:34:40,240
Speaker 1: five assists, fifty seven percent tru shooting, Lebron James twenty

731
00:34:40,280 --> 00:34:44,800
Speaker 1: eight points, eight rebounds, ten assists, sixty seven percent true shooting.

732
00:34:45,960 --> 00:34:49,359
Speaker 1: Like that's just a simple example to show you, guys,

733
00:34:49,560 --> 00:34:52,600
Speaker 1: the giant chasm and the level of play between those

734
00:34:52,600 --> 00:34:56,640
Speaker 1: two guys. Ten percentage points in true shooting, ten additional assists,

735
00:34:56,800 --> 00:35:00,560
Speaker 1: three additional rebounds, five additional points every game. Katie and

736
00:35:00,640 --> 00:35:03,840
Speaker 1: Lebron both are just simply playing at a higher level

737
00:35:04,120 --> 00:35:07,759
Speaker 1: than Steph. Now, I understand Steph had two really good

738
00:35:07,760 --> 00:35:10,400
Speaker 1: games at the end of the Olympics, and I personally

739
00:35:10,480 --> 00:35:12,480
Speaker 1: am really excited about that, and that's a big part

740
00:35:12,520 --> 00:35:13,719
Speaker 1: of why I think he's going to have a bounce

741
00:35:13,760 --> 00:35:16,200
Speaker 1: back year. But I can't just take those two games

742
00:35:16,480 --> 00:35:19,320
Speaker 1: to erase months of additional evidence that Katie and Lebron

743
00:35:19,320 --> 00:35:21,560
Speaker 1: are just playing at a higher level right now. And

744
00:35:21,600 --> 00:35:23,640
Speaker 1: then between Katie and Lebron, I thought Lebron was clearly

745
00:35:23,680 --> 00:35:25,200
Speaker 1: at the higher level among the three for all the

746
00:35:25,200 --> 00:35:27,960
Speaker 1: reasons that I just broke down in the two breakdowns

747
00:35:27,960 --> 00:35:30,279
Speaker 1: that I did, so that naturally left Katie in the middle. So,

748
00:35:30,320 --> 00:35:32,680
Speaker 1: like again, I thought the Lebron, Katie Steph in that

749
00:35:32,840 --> 00:35:37,600
Speaker 1: order was pretty straightforward. Had a bunch of Steph related questions,

750
00:35:37,600 --> 00:35:40,200
Speaker 1: So let's get into some of those right now. You're

751
00:35:40,360 --> 00:35:42,720
Speaker 1: entitled to your opinion, but having Steph Curry below Anthony

752
00:35:42,760 --> 00:35:45,680
Speaker 1: Davis KDI or Anthony Edwards at this at this point

753
00:35:45,719 --> 00:35:50,000
Speaker 1: in their careers is blasphemous. Blasphemous. Ad cannot, I repeat,

754
00:35:50,080 --> 00:35:52,520
Speaker 1: cannot be a number one option on a championship team.

755
00:35:52,520 --> 00:35:54,480
Speaker 1: He's probably the best defender in the league, but he's

756
00:35:54,520 --> 00:35:57,839
Speaker 1: insanely limited on offense. If your list is just based

757
00:35:57,880 --> 00:36:00,560
Speaker 1: on October through June picking the best player for your team,

758
00:36:00,840 --> 00:36:03,400
Speaker 1: you're really taking Ad over Steph. Sounds a bit like

759
00:36:03,480 --> 00:36:06,320
Speaker 1: Lakers fan biased to me coming from a Lakers fan myself,

760
00:36:06,719 --> 00:36:08,799
Speaker 1: and is still way too raw to be taken over.

761
00:36:08,840 --> 00:36:12,280
Speaker 1: Curry and Katie's team underachieves time and time again despite

762
00:36:12,360 --> 00:36:14,960
Speaker 1: him really being a plug and play masterpiece of a player.

763
00:36:15,239 --> 00:36:16,839
Speaker 1: It's just that you know you can't count on him

764
00:36:16,880 --> 00:36:18,800
Speaker 1: being that alpha dog, and Steph is just a killer.

765
00:36:19,320 --> 00:36:21,640
Speaker 1: One could even argue that Tatum should be below Curry too,

766
00:36:21,680 --> 00:36:25,279
Speaker 1: but defensive versatility, age, availability, and champ status certainly give

767
00:36:25,320 --> 00:36:26,759
Speaker 1: him the case to be above. But again, are you

768
00:36:26,840 --> 00:36:29,520
Speaker 1: really taking Tatum over your number one guy as your

769
00:36:29,600 --> 00:36:32,920
Speaker 1: number one guy over steph friggin Curry Nah. As for Embiid,

770
00:36:32,920 --> 00:36:34,520
Speaker 1: I don't have a problem with him at eleven. He's

771
00:36:34,520 --> 00:36:38,359
Speaker 1: an over hyped cry baby that's always hurt, always sulking, foulgrifting,

772
00:36:38,520 --> 00:36:40,320
Speaker 1: and just looking for a whistle if he can't assert

773
00:36:40,360 --> 00:36:43,040
Speaker 1: physical dominance or if his jumper isn't falling way too

774
00:36:43,040 --> 00:36:46,200
Speaker 1: one dimensional, way too fragile, way too mentally weak to

775
00:36:46,280 --> 00:36:48,440
Speaker 1: take for an eighty two game run, especially deep in

776
00:36:48,440 --> 00:36:51,000
Speaker 1: the playoffs when his parlor tricks stop working with the refs.

777
00:36:51,600 --> 00:36:53,919
Speaker 1: I'd take any of these top ten guys over him

778
00:36:53,960 --> 00:36:56,040
Speaker 1: any day of the week. Awesome show, brother, Keep up

779
00:36:56,040 --> 00:36:57,880
Speaker 1: a good work and keep creating a platform for us

780
00:36:57,920 --> 00:37:01,560
Speaker 1: hoop lovers to talk real basketball, unbiased and educated based

781
00:37:01,560 --> 00:37:05,000
Speaker 1: on arguments and facts, not just blatant smack talk, fangirling

782
00:37:05,200 --> 00:37:08,200
Speaker 1: and personal preference slash opinion. Thank you for taking the

783
00:37:08,239 --> 00:37:11,200
Speaker 1: time to break down your basketball case. Thanks for supporting

784
00:37:11,200 --> 00:37:13,600
Speaker 1: the show. One of my favorite things about what we

785
00:37:13,600 --> 00:37:15,480
Speaker 1: do here at Hoops Tonight is make just a community

786
00:37:15,480 --> 00:37:17,440
Speaker 1: for hoopers to hang out and talk basketball. So that

787
00:37:17,480 --> 00:37:19,279
Speaker 1: means a lot to me that you guys see it

788
00:37:19,320 --> 00:37:21,880
Speaker 1: that way. I'll go kind of down the list. So

789
00:37:22,840 --> 00:37:25,879
Speaker 1: the first comment you made about Anthony Davis saying that

790
00:37:26,360 --> 00:37:29,799
Speaker 1: he's insanely limited on offense, I kind of disagree with that.

791
00:37:30,120 --> 00:37:32,440
Speaker 1: First of all, we know Ad can be the best

792
00:37:32,480 --> 00:37:34,640
Speaker 1: player on a championship team because Tatum just did it.

793
00:37:34,719 --> 00:37:37,399
Speaker 1: So like, you certainly can build a championship roster around

794
00:37:37,400 --> 00:37:39,480
Speaker 1: Anthony Davis, who just probably would need a little more

795
00:37:39,480 --> 00:37:41,319
Speaker 1: help than some of the guys that are above him.

796
00:37:41,360 --> 00:37:44,080
Speaker 1: Right as far as the offense thing, Like, yeah, I

797
00:37:44,120 --> 00:37:46,520
Speaker 1: think Tatum had a I think Anthony Davis had a

798
00:37:46,560 --> 00:37:49,839
Speaker 1: rough series two years ago, the Western Conference final series.

799
00:37:49,840 --> 00:37:52,279
Speaker 1: I thought Jokic kicked his ass. I thought Ad kind

800
00:37:52,280 --> 00:37:54,040
Speaker 1: of went out soft, Like I didn't think he fought

801
00:37:54,080 --> 00:37:56,600
Speaker 1: hard enough in that circumstance, Like I think he kind

802
00:37:56,600 --> 00:37:58,640
Speaker 1: of let Yokic walk all over him. But if you

803
00:37:58,800 --> 00:38:02,759
Speaker 1: just kind of pull that specific series out, he's been

804
00:38:02,760 --> 00:38:07,240
Speaker 1: an incredible playoff player Outside of that. He just averaged

805
00:38:07,280 --> 00:38:09,480
Speaker 1: twenty eight points per game in the playoffs against Denver.

806
00:38:09,840 --> 00:38:13,080
Speaker 1: He was straight up barbecuing Jokichen one on one. He

807
00:38:13,160 --> 00:38:15,560
Speaker 1: ran thirty four ISOs and post ups in the series

808
00:38:15,560 --> 00:38:17,919
Speaker 1: and got forty points. That's one point one to eight

809
00:38:18,239 --> 00:38:21,480
Speaker 1: points per possession, which is literally amazing. And I mean

810
00:38:21,640 --> 00:38:23,480
Speaker 1: we got to like, obviously the twenty twenty two to

811
00:38:23,480 --> 00:38:25,359
Speaker 1: twenty twenty one seasons he was hurt, but it's like

812
00:38:25,640 --> 00:38:28,640
Speaker 1: twenty twenty best player or not best player, but like

813
00:38:28,960 --> 00:38:30,920
Speaker 1: just as good as Lebron, Like I had Lebron one

814
00:38:31,000 --> 00:38:34,000
Speaker 1: in eighty four after that playoff run, So like eighty

815
00:38:34,160 --> 00:38:36,880
Speaker 1: was basically at Lebron's level for a title run and

816
00:38:37,040 --> 00:38:40,480
Speaker 1: was an incredible offensive player and an incredible defensive player.

817
00:38:40,760 --> 00:38:42,640
Speaker 1: And then I want to say, he had thirteen playoff

818
00:38:42,640 --> 00:38:45,719
Speaker 1: games before twenty twenty and he averaged like thirty one

819
00:38:45,760 --> 00:38:48,280
Speaker 1: points and thirteen rebounds a game. So like, the idea

820
00:38:48,280 --> 00:38:50,959
Speaker 1: that he's an insanely limited offensive player is just something

821
00:38:50,960 --> 00:38:53,120
Speaker 1: that I would disagree with. He just had a really

822
00:38:53,239 --> 00:38:56,719
Speaker 1: rough offensive series against Denver two years ago when they

823
00:38:56,719 --> 00:38:59,719
Speaker 1: faced him in the Western Conference finals. Now, is he

824
00:38:59,760 --> 00:39:02,640
Speaker 1: as offensively as some of the other superstars in the league. No,

825
00:39:02,800 --> 00:39:06,200
Speaker 1: but he's still an insanely good offensive player. Like and

826
00:39:06,200 --> 00:39:08,680
Speaker 1: here's the other thing too, even beyond the on ball stuff,

827
00:39:09,160 --> 00:39:12,200
Speaker 1: I think it's unfair if we give Jokic like a

828
00:39:12,239 --> 00:39:15,719
Speaker 1: ton of bonus points for being this deadly roll man

829
00:39:16,160 --> 00:39:18,520
Speaker 1: who like catches on the roll with with Jamal Murray

830
00:39:18,560 --> 00:39:20,520
Speaker 1: and hits those floaters in the lane. And there's no

831
00:39:20,560 --> 00:39:22,840
Speaker 1: doubt that Joki is probably the best at that, and

832
00:39:22,880 --> 00:39:25,560
Speaker 1: he's certainly better than Ad. But Ad is also one

833
00:39:25,600 --> 00:39:27,480
Speaker 1: of the best role men in the league, and he's

834
00:39:27,520 --> 00:39:30,440
Speaker 1: a huge part of what makes the Laker pick and

835
00:39:30,560 --> 00:39:34,120
Speaker 1: roll attack so deadly because he can short roll and

836
00:39:34,160 --> 00:39:36,520
Speaker 1: make floaters right or he could short roll to the

837
00:39:36,560 --> 00:39:38,640
Speaker 1: foul line and catch and make quick ISO moves. Off

838
00:39:38,640 --> 00:39:40,560
Speaker 1: the catch, he can roll a little bit further into

839
00:39:40,560 --> 00:39:43,040
Speaker 1: the lane and make floaters right or quick dribble moves

840
00:39:43,040 --> 00:39:44,960
Speaker 1: into hook shots. He can also roll hard to the

841
00:39:45,000 --> 00:39:48,239
Speaker 1: raymany brings vertical gravity like the actual spacing to be

842
00:39:48,239 --> 00:39:50,560
Speaker 1: able to throw lob passes to him. Like Ad is

843
00:39:50,560 --> 00:39:53,080
Speaker 1: a far more useful offensive player than I think people

844
00:39:53,120 --> 00:39:56,320
Speaker 1: give him credit for. As for Kevin Durant Anthony Edwards.

845
00:39:57,000 --> 00:39:59,439
Speaker 1: Without getting into all the individual comparisons here what else,

846
00:39:59,440 --> 00:40:03,759
Speaker 1: Here's what I'll say. Remember that if I said everyone

847
00:40:03,960 --> 00:40:06,839
Speaker 1: is healthy and the series is starting tomorrow, I'm doing

848
00:40:06,880 --> 00:40:10,480
Speaker 1: a different list. As I mentioned earlier, I'm going Jokichen

849
00:40:10,560 --> 00:40:14,279
Speaker 1: Luka and then I have Lebron three. Steph's probably four

850
00:40:14,320 --> 00:40:16,799
Speaker 1: for me on that list, So when everyone's healthy, I

851
00:40:16,800 --> 00:40:19,120
Speaker 1: do think Steph is a better player than it. I

852
00:40:19,160 --> 00:40:21,520
Speaker 1: do think Steph is a better player than KD. I

853
00:40:21,520 --> 00:40:23,960
Speaker 1: do think Steph is a better player than AD. But

854
00:40:24,040 --> 00:40:27,160
Speaker 1: the point is Steph hasn't been playing at that level

855
00:40:27,200 --> 00:40:29,960
Speaker 1: as of late. Here's a simple stat to break this down.

856
00:40:30,440 --> 00:40:33,600
Speaker 1: Steph in his last nineteen games to end last year,

857
00:40:34,200 --> 00:40:37,120
Speaker 1: failed to reach twenty five points in nine of them.

858
00:40:38,040 --> 00:40:41,240
Speaker 1: Think about that, when they desperately needed him to score

859
00:40:41,320 --> 00:40:43,879
Speaker 1: because they don't have much offensive talent, he couldn't even

860
00:40:43,880 --> 00:40:45,560
Speaker 1: get to twenty five points in half the games over

861
00:40:45,600 --> 00:40:49,440
Speaker 1: the final fourth of the season. I am genuinely sincerely

862
00:40:49,560 --> 00:40:51,880
Speaker 1: rooting for Steph to have a bounce back year, and

863
00:40:51,920 --> 00:40:56,080
Speaker 1: I believe he will, but it's all theoretical at this point,

864
00:40:56,480 --> 00:41:00,480
Speaker 1: which makes him a riskier pick, which puts him lower

865
00:41:00,560 --> 00:41:04,200
Speaker 1: on this type of list. As far as the MBD

866
00:41:04,200 --> 00:41:06,480
Speaker 1: piece goes, I'm actually surprised and how many people kind

867
00:41:06,480 --> 00:41:08,719
Speaker 1: of agreed with me. There are obviously some pissed off

868
00:41:08,760 --> 00:41:11,360
Speaker 1: Sixers fans that was to be expected, but seems to

869
00:41:11,400 --> 00:41:13,200
Speaker 1: me like most of the other people, at least maybe

870
00:41:13,239 --> 00:41:15,480
Speaker 1: not as far down as eleven, but at least agree

871
00:41:15,520 --> 00:41:18,120
Speaker 1: that MB can't be on that top tier superstar list

872
00:41:18,120 --> 00:41:21,120
Speaker 1: anymore when you're factoring in all of his physical limitations

873
00:41:21,160 --> 00:41:23,840
Speaker 1: in terms of health and his inability to impact winning

874
00:41:23,880 --> 00:41:25,960
Speaker 1: as as well as he does in the regular season

875
00:41:26,000 --> 00:41:27,799
Speaker 1: when he gets to the postseason. And the thing with

876
00:41:27,880 --> 00:41:29,640
Speaker 1: NB two is now he's over thirty, so it's not

877
00:41:29,640 --> 00:41:30,960
Speaker 1: like the health issues are going to get better for

878
00:41:31,000 --> 00:41:35,279
Speaker 1: him at this point. Putting together a top twenty five

879
00:41:35,360 --> 00:41:37,960
Speaker 1: list is tough work considering all the talent in the league,

880
00:41:38,000 --> 00:41:39,719
Speaker 1: so I commend you doing the work and sharing with

881
00:41:39,719 --> 00:41:42,280
Speaker 1: the viewers. If your criteria for the list is based

882
00:41:42,280 --> 00:41:43,799
Speaker 1: on who you would pick for an eighty two game

883
00:41:43,840 --> 00:41:46,200
Speaker 1: season out of a vacuum, it doesn't make sense to

884
00:41:46,200 --> 00:41:49,000
Speaker 1: put Curry at ten, considering the lack of help on

885
00:41:49,040 --> 00:41:52,640
Speaker 1: his team was directly responsible for the efficiency slumps this

886
00:41:52,680 --> 00:41:54,919
Speaker 1: past year. When you put Curry on an All Star

887
00:41:55,000 --> 00:41:57,120
Speaker 1: team or an Olympic roster, or even when his team

888
00:41:57,160 --> 00:41:59,600
Speaker 1: plays like above average NBA players allah of the twenty

889
00:41:59,600 --> 00:42:02,759
Speaker 1: twenty two playoffs, he is clearly an MVP candidate, even

890
00:42:02,760 --> 00:42:05,319
Speaker 1: in this late stage of his career. An important note

891
00:42:05,360 --> 00:42:07,319
Speaker 1: about Steph's game is the attention he demands when he's

892
00:42:07,360 --> 00:42:09,759
Speaker 1: on the floor, which cannot be quantified from counting stats,

893
00:42:09,800 --> 00:42:12,640
Speaker 1: since he's arguably the most heavily guarded player in NBA history.

894
00:42:12,880 --> 00:42:14,759
Speaker 1: Put Shay on the Warriors, and I would argue they

895
00:42:14,760 --> 00:42:16,760
Speaker 1: don't even sniff a play in spot in the stack

896
00:42:16,880 --> 00:42:19,879
Speaker 1: Western Conference, having won the CHIP only two years ago.

897
00:42:19,920 --> 00:42:22,479
Speaker 1: Over a better team holds far more weight than Ant

898
00:42:22,560 --> 00:42:25,040
Speaker 1: or Shay, who are projected to have better seasons, neither

899
00:42:25,080 --> 00:42:27,640
Speaker 1: of which are guarded like Steph. So here's the thing.

900
00:42:27,760 --> 00:42:31,960
Speaker 1: As far as I agree that the Warriors are extremely

901
00:42:31,960 --> 00:42:34,759
Speaker 1: limited in terms of personnel, and I also agree that

902
00:42:34,880 --> 00:42:38,280
Speaker 1: made things harder for Steph, here's where it's different. Though.

903
00:42:38,680 --> 00:42:41,439
Speaker 1: The twenty twenty one team was very limited as well.

904
00:42:42,120 --> 00:42:44,719
Speaker 1: They had no Klay Thompson if you remember, they had

905
00:42:44,760 --> 00:42:47,719
Speaker 1: funky role players guys like Kelly Hubray Junior and Brad

906
00:42:47,760 --> 00:42:52,280
Speaker 1: Wanamaker and Kent Bazemore. And yet in that season Steph

907
00:42:52,280 --> 00:42:54,479
Speaker 1: averaged thirty two points per game on sixty six percent

908
00:42:54,520 --> 00:42:57,160
Speaker 1: true shooting. He had twenty six games with at least

909
00:42:57,160 --> 00:43:01,239
Speaker 1: thirty five points. He wasn't even to that level this year,

910
00:43:01,880 --> 00:43:04,760
Speaker 1: so like, if your case is Steph is still awesome,

911
00:43:04,880 --> 00:43:08,319
Speaker 1: he just has a bad team. What happened in twenty

912
00:43:08,360 --> 00:43:12,080
Speaker 1: twenty one, That's where I have an issue, and that

913
00:43:12,120 --> 00:43:13,640
Speaker 1: team at the exact same issue made it to the

914
00:43:13,640 --> 00:43:16,319
Speaker 1: play in got eliminated in the play in tournament. And

915
00:43:16,400 --> 00:43:19,920
Speaker 1: so yeah, Like, I sympathize with Steph for the plight,

916
00:43:20,200 --> 00:43:22,000
Speaker 1: and I do believe he still has the ability to

917
00:43:22,040 --> 00:43:23,520
Speaker 1: get to a top ten level this year, which is

918
00:43:23,520 --> 00:43:24,799
Speaker 1: why I put him in the top ten, and I

919
00:43:24,800 --> 00:43:28,239
Speaker 1: expect him to bounce back. But he was down in

920
00:43:28,280 --> 00:43:32,279
Speaker 1: every major statistical category last year and was tailing off

921
00:43:32,280 --> 00:43:36,759
Speaker 1: at the tail end of the season. So again, I,

922
00:43:36,800 --> 00:43:40,320
Speaker 1: as I mentioned Big Game Tomorrow night, give me Steph

923
00:43:40,480 --> 00:43:43,319
Speaker 1: as the fourth best player in the league. But that's

924
00:43:43,360 --> 00:43:46,279
Speaker 1: not the reality of this season. There's a great deal

925
00:43:46,320 --> 00:43:49,840
Speaker 1: of risk involved with Steph being your foundational piece for

926
00:43:49,960 --> 00:43:53,200
Speaker 1: this season. Therefore I had him at ten for the

927
00:43:53,239 --> 00:44:09,720
Speaker 1: sake of the way this list works. I'm shocked Curry

928
00:44:09,800 --> 00:44:11,680
Speaker 1: is this low. I understand why because he had a

929
00:44:11,680 --> 00:44:14,080
Speaker 1: down year because he's old, But man, I might be

930
00:44:14,120 --> 00:44:15,880
Speaker 1: biased as Warriors diehard, but I don't know how you

931
00:44:15,920 --> 00:44:18,040
Speaker 1: could watch the metal rounds in the Olympics, and I

932
00:44:18,040 --> 00:44:19,640
Speaker 1: feel like Steph is one of the five best players

933
00:44:19,680 --> 00:44:22,680
Speaker 1: in the world. Here's the thing. The Metal rounds are

934
00:44:22,680 --> 00:44:24,480
Speaker 1: a big source of optimism for me as well. But

935
00:44:24,640 --> 00:44:27,839
Speaker 1: two games when the chips are down, that falls into

936
00:44:27,880 --> 00:44:30,080
Speaker 1: what I was talking about earlier. Yeah, you're right, two

937
00:44:30,120 --> 00:44:32,520
Speaker 1: games chips are down. I think Steph is the fourth

938
00:44:32,560 --> 00:44:35,120
Speaker 1: best player in the world. But this isn't two games

939
00:44:35,160 --> 00:44:37,360
Speaker 1: where the chips are down. This is eighty two games

940
00:44:37,920 --> 00:44:42,040
Speaker 1: and four series spanning nine months. Totally different type of criteria.

941
00:44:43,120 --> 00:44:45,680
Speaker 1: Here's another Steph one, a bunch of them. But we

942
00:44:45,680 --> 00:44:48,560
Speaker 1: don't I promise we get into some other stuff. Hey, Jason,

943
00:44:48,600 --> 00:44:50,680
Speaker 1: I have agreed for the most part so far in

944
00:44:50,680 --> 00:44:53,560
Speaker 1: your rankings. However, Steph's ranking is the first time I

945
00:44:53,560 --> 00:44:56,359
Speaker 1: strongly disagree with your ranking, and I'm a non Warriors fan.

946
00:44:56,400 --> 00:44:59,040
Speaker 1: By the way, you begin your argument by referring to

947
00:44:59,040 --> 00:45:01,799
Speaker 1: Steph's extended to end the regular season and through the

948
00:45:01,800 --> 00:45:05,040
Speaker 1: majority of the Olympics, I think this is fair criticism. However,

949
00:45:05,480 --> 00:45:08,560
Speaker 1: I would argue Tatum's slump is equally as bad, if

950
00:45:08,600 --> 00:45:11,800
Speaker 1: not worse than Steph's, and therefore should be ranked lower

951
00:45:11,800 --> 00:45:14,680
Speaker 1: than Steph. In the rankings. I believe the main factor

952
00:45:14,680 --> 00:45:17,799
Speaker 1: in this argument is their scenarios. Steph was dealing with

953
00:45:17,880 --> 00:45:23,040
Speaker 1: unideal situations in Golden State, unlike Draymond's excuse me. Steph

954
00:45:23,160 --> 00:45:25,960
Speaker 1: was dealing with unideal situations in Golden State, like Draymond's

955
00:45:25,960 --> 00:45:32,360
Speaker 1: emotional immaturity, Clay's frustrations, tons of lineup changes, roster injuries, etc. Meanwhile,

956
00:45:32,360 --> 00:45:34,720
Speaker 1: Tatum was operating on the most talented roster in the league.

957
00:45:34,840 --> 00:45:37,040
Speaker 1: I don't think it's fair to drop Steph this far

958
00:45:37,120 --> 00:45:39,880
Speaker 1: below the environment he was working in. Besides that, Curry

959
00:45:39,920 --> 00:45:42,200
Speaker 1: is still a much better half court shot maker than Tatum,

960
00:45:42,560 --> 00:45:45,480
Speaker 1: which is your main factor when making this list, not

961
00:45:45,560 --> 00:45:46,960
Speaker 1: just as an on ball creator, but through is off

962
00:45:47,000 --> 00:45:50,719
Speaker 1: ball ability. The amount of quality shots he generates for

963
00:45:50,760 --> 00:45:53,040
Speaker 1: his team simply by existing in the half court greatly

964
00:45:53,080 --> 00:45:55,640
Speaker 1: exceeds anything that Tatum showed during the playoffs in the

965
00:45:55,719 --> 00:45:57,959
Speaker 1: last half of the year. I'd also argue for Curry

966
00:45:57,960 --> 00:46:00,600
Speaker 1: above Anton Ad for the same reason, although the Tatum

967
00:46:00,640 --> 00:46:03,919
Speaker 1: comparison is my primary reason for commenting. Love the show.

968
00:46:04,040 --> 00:46:05,520
Speaker 1: Thanks for supporting the show. I mean it means a

969
00:46:05,520 --> 00:46:08,759
Speaker 1: lot to me. So a couple things Tatum sumps a

970
00:46:08,760 --> 00:46:12,840
Speaker 1: little different. Tatum is a in his prime athlete who's

971
00:46:12,880 --> 00:46:16,760
Speaker 1: in a jump shooting slump. Steph Curry declined in every

972
00:46:16,760 --> 00:46:19,280
Speaker 1: single phase of the game last year, including the defensive

973
00:46:19,360 --> 00:46:21,759
Speaker 1: end of the floor, including just his ability to get

974
00:46:21,800 --> 00:46:24,799
Speaker 1: separation from defenders, all that kind of stuff, So it's

975
00:46:24,840 --> 00:46:28,279
Speaker 1: not necessarily the same to me. I will I will

976
00:46:28,320 --> 00:46:33,200
Speaker 1: admit that I ranked Tatum under the impression that his

977
00:46:33,239 --> 00:46:35,799
Speaker 1: shot is going to come back around, because again, over

978
00:46:35,840 --> 00:46:38,239
Speaker 1: a large sample in his career, he's been a good

979
00:46:38,320 --> 00:46:41,279
Speaker 1: jump shooter. He's had a bad jump shooting stretch. I mean,

980
00:46:41,360 --> 00:46:43,959
Speaker 1: we've had our criticism with Tatum in terms of off

981
00:46:44,000 --> 00:46:47,040
Speaker 1: the dribble shooting, but he's he should still be a

982
00:46:47,120 --> 00:46:49,279
Speaker 1: much much better catch and shoot player than he has been.

983
00:46:49,480 --> 00:46:51,080
Speaker 1: He's just been in a slump. But again, it's a

984
00:46:51,120 --> 00:46:54,320
Speaker 1: little different when you're Tatum's age, you're in your late twenties,

985
00:46:54,360 --> 00:46:57,400
Speaker 1: in your prime. I would be shocked if Tatum didn't

986
00:46:57,400 --> 00:47:00,360
Speaker 1: come into next season with a event jump shot ready

987
00:47:00,360 --> 00:47:02,720
Speaker 1: to go. But like the bottom, let's just take Tatum

988
00:47:02,719 --> 00:47:05,200
Speaker 1: for an example as what I mean when I talked

989
00:47:05,200 --> 00:47:09,560
Speaker 1: about the value over the eighty two. Okay, Tate, Let's

990
00:47:09,560 --> 00:47:13,080
Speaker 1: say I drafted Tatum because I had, you know, the

991
00:47:13,120 --> 00:47:15,080
Speaker 1: pick that I have Tatum ranked at, which I'm not

992
00:47:15,080 --> 00:47:18,879
Speaker 1: gonna reveal yet, but let's say I drafted Tatum. I'm

993
00:47:18,920 --> 00:47:21,160
Speaker 1: gonna get seventy five games out of him. Like he's

994
00:47:21,200 --> 00:47:23,840
Speaker 1: gonna play seventy five games at least around there. You know,

995
00:47:23,960 --> 00:47:26,200
Speaker 1: I think he played seventy four the last two years, right,

996
00:47:26,280 --> 00:47:29,440
Speaker 1: So like gonna play mid seventies and games. He's gonna

997
00:47:29,440 --> 00:47:31,640
Speaker 1: bring motor every single night because he's in his twenties

998
00:47:31,680 --> 00:47:34,000
Speaker 1: and he's got he's just young, and you know, he

999
00:47:34,160 --> 00:47:36,640
Speaker 1: just has a lot of that youthful exuberans. Right, He's

1000
00:47:36,640 --> 00:47:39,520
Speaker 1: gonna play hard. We're gonna get the better version of

1001
00:47:39,520 --> 00:47:42,520
Speaker 1: Tatum the vast majority of nights three. He's gonna be

1002
00:47:42,520 --> 00:47:46,000
Speaker 1: a foundational piece to my defense and rebounding backline. I'm

1003
00:47:46,040 --> 00:47:48,680
Speaker 1: gonna be able to use him to guard star forwards

1004
00:47:48,760 --> 00:47:50,279
Speaker 1: if I need to. I'm gonna be able to use

1005
00:47:50,320 --> 00:47:52,239
Speaker 1: him to guard guards even if I need to. I'm

1006
00:47:52,280 --> 00:47:54,120
Speaker 1: gonna be able to use him to guard centers if

1007
00:47:54,160 --> 00:47:55,919
Speaker 1: I want to, just like Boston did through their entire

1008
00:47:55,920 --> 00:47:58,359
Speaker 1: playoff runt, I can use him as the lowman if

1009
00:47:58,400 --> 00:48:01,640
Speaker 1: I need to I could count on him to help

1010
00:48:01,680 --> 00:48:04,600
Speaker 1: secure the defensive rebounding part of my defensive back line.

1011
00:48:04,680 --> 00:48:07,320
Speaker 1: That's a huge asset to me as I'm building a

1012
00:48:07,360 --> 00:48:10,680
Speaker 1: team around him. For he's going to give me somewhere

1013
00:48:10,680 --> 00:48:16,200
Speaker 1: between twenty seven and thirty points per game. That's basically guaranteed.

1014
00:48:16,840 --> 00:48:19,399
Speaker 1: He's going to give me eight or nine rebounds. That's

1015
00:48:19,440 --> 00:48:22,120
Speaker 1: basically guaranteed. He's going to give me five plus assists.

1016
00:48:22,120 --> 00:48:26,840
Speaker 1: It's a super safe bet. If I take Tatum, I

1017
00:48:27,120 --> 00:48:30,200
Speaker 1: know what I'm getting from October all the way to June.

1018
00:48:30,400 --> 00:48:33,320
Speaker 1: If I take Steph, there's two versions of that story.

1019
00:48:33,600 --> 00:48:37,880
Speaker 1: There's everything somehow breaks right and he gets back to

1020
00:48:37,960 --> 00:48:41,000
Speaker 1: form and he stays healthy, and I get superstar Stephan. Yeah,

1021
00:48:41,000 --> 00:48:44,880
Speaker 1: you're You're damn right. That's a better player. Put it simply, guys,

1022
00:48:44,920 --> 00:48:47,040
Speaker 1: like basketball is a team sport. If I put Steph

1023
00:48:47,040 --> 00:48:49,560
Speaker 1: on the Boston Celtics for Jason Tatum, the Celtics are

1024
00:48:49,560 --> 00:48:53,560
Speaker 1: winning the title again. So like, yeah, I'm not debating

1025
00:48:53,560 --> 00:48:55,960
Speaker 1: that Tatum's had it easy. Of course he has. He's

1026
00:48:55,960 --> 00:48:58,440
Speaker 1: flat out had it easy at the easiest title run

1027
00:48:58,480 --> 00:49:02,000
Speaker 1: I've seen from a star in a very long time time. Right, So,

1028
00:49:02,080 --> 00:49:03,759
Speaker 1: like I'm not trying to debate that, but we're looking

1029
00:49:03,760 --> 00:49:05,880
Speaker 1: at these guys in a vacuum. If I was drafting

1030
00:49:06,200 --> 00:49:10,320
Speaker 1: players at Tatum's age, I know I'm getting seventy five games.

1031
00:49:10,360 --> 00:49:12,840
Speaker 1: I know I'm getting high motor, I'm getting excellent defense

1032
00:49:12,880 --> 00:49:15,480
Speaker 1: and rebounding, and I'm getting twenty seven and five at

1033
00:49:15,560 --> 00:49:19,640
Speaker 1: least in terms of points and assists. He is a

1034
00:49:19,680 --> 00:49:25,799
Speaker 1: super safe bet. And so in this list that has

1035
00:49:26,160 --> 00:49:30,399
Speaker 1: a very very tight grouping from five to eleven, I'm

1036
00:49:30,400 --> 00:49:35,839
Speaker 1: giving Tatum a slight edge for the eighty two. Now.

1037
00:49:35,960 --> 00:49:38,240
Speaker 1: To be clear, if I had to win a single

1038
00:49:38,280 --> 00:49:41,880
Speaker 1: game tomorrow or a single series tomorrow, give me Steph

1039
00:49:42,000 --> 00:49:45,520
Speaker 1: over Tatum one hundred out of one hundred times. I

1040
00:49:45,560 --> 00:49:48,960
Speaker 1: do not think Tatum is better at basketball than Steph.

1041
00:49:49,400 --> 00:49:51,640
Speaker 1: I just think he's younger and healthier and more likely

1042
00:49:51,760 --> 00:49:55,040
Speaker 1: to provide more winning impact over a nine month span

1043
00:49:55,880 --> 00:49:58,440
Speaker 1: or anything can happen. And I know I've explained that

1044
00:49:58,440 --> 00:50:00,600
Speaker 1: one hundred times during this list. I just feel like

1045
00:50:00,600 --> 00:50:03,120
Speaker 1: I need to hammer that home. The rankings are not important.

1046
00:50:03,239 --> 00:50:05,480
Speaker 1: Basketball talk is the only thing that matters. It's our

1047
00:50:05,520 --> 00:50:09,640
Speaker 1: next comment. Amen. We do this to kill time in

1048
00:50:09,680 --> 00:50:12,920
Speaker 1: the summer and to give us something to argue about.

1049
00:50:13,239 --> 00:50:17,120
Speaker 1: But in the words of Kevin Durant, when October comes around,

1050
00:50:17,560 --> 00:50:21,239
Speaker 1: it's check ball and we're playing basketball and everyone's zero

1051
00:50:21,280 --> 00:50:24,800
Speaker 1: and zero and every player's averaging zero point, zero rebound,

1052
00:50:24,840 --> 00:50:28,520
Speaker 1: zero sists. Let's see what everyone can do. If I

1053
00:50:28,600 --> 00:50:31,080
Speaker 1: have Steph at ten and I'm actively rooting for him

1054
00:50:31,120 --> 00:50:34,200
Speaker 1: to bounce back, that has no bearing on what actually

1055
00:50:34,239 --> 00:50:36,239
Speaker 1: is going to happen for the Warriors this year, and

1056
00:50:36,239 --> 00:50:39,239
Speaker 1: we're gonna cover it thoroughly, like this is what we

1057
00:50:39,280 --> 00:50:41,200
Speaker 1: do during the summer. But what I love to do.

1058
00:50:41,280 --> 00:50:44,240
Speaker 1: My favorite thing about this show is to talk about

1059
00:50:44,320 --> 00:50:46,799
Speaker 1: basketball games. It's why I was so thankful for those

1060
00:50:46,800 --> 00:50:49,600
Speaker 1: Team USA games this summer. Well, how great was that

1061
00:50:49,600 --> 00:50:52,319
Speaker 1: that we got another couple dozen games between TMUOSA and

1062
00:50:52,320 --> 00:50:54,360
Speaker 1: some of the other teams that we covered to just

1063
00:50:54,400 --> 00:50:58,080
Speaker 1: talk about basketball, actual basketball games that are actually happening.

1064
00:50:58,320 --> 00:51:00,959
Speaker 1: And so I appreciated that comment because that is the truth.

1065
00:51:01,000 --> 00:51:04,400
Speaker 1: The rankings are not important. The basketball talk, well, I

1066
00:51:04,400 --> 00:51:06,839
Speaker 1: would just remove talk from that, just say the basketball

1067
00:51:07,320 --> 00:51:09,000
Speaker 1: is the only thing that matters, and that's what I

1068
00:51:09,040 --> 00:51:10,600
Speaker 1: love to talk about the most, and that's what we're

1069
00:51:10,600 --> 00:51:13,319
Speaker 1: gonna do. Literally here in less than two months. Can

1070
00:51:13,320 --> 00:51:16,040
Speaker 1: you believe that we're less than two months away? We

1071
00:51:16,080 --> 00:51:19,440
Speaker 1: are one month away from training camp. Guys, it's right

1072
00:51:19,480 --> 00:51:22,440
Speaker 1: around the corner. Next question, or I should say comment.

1073
00:51:22,719 --> 00:51:25,680
Speaker 1: Y'all have to understand this is a business. Having Curry

1074
00:51:25,719 --> 00:51:27,480
Speaker 1: at ten is going to get him a lot of

1075
00:51:27,600 --> 00:51:30,920
Speaker 1: clicks and engagement. He knows Curry is top five at worst.

1076
00:51:31,239 --> 00:51:34,040
Speaker 1: This is just silly. I mean, the Warriors are probably

1077
00:51:34,200 --> 00:51:36,600
Speaker 1: still our largest fan base within the Hoops to Night community.

1078
00:51:36,600 --> 00:51:37,960
Speaker 1: We have some big ones, right Like we have a

1079
00:51:38,520 --> 00:51:42,239
Speaker 1: lot of Laker fans, a lot of Denver Nugget fans,

1080
00:51:42,239 --> 00:51:43,960
Speaker 1: a lot of Dallas Mavericks fans, a lot of Boston

1081
00:51:44,000 --> 00:51:46,719
Speaker 1: Celtics fans. We've built up like certain fan bases that

1082
00:51:47,440 --> 00:51:49,560
Speaker 1: we have a good chunk of that follow our show.

1083
00:51:49,600 --> 00:51:52,399
Speaker 1: But I still think the Warriors are the largest fan

1084
00:51:52,480 --> 00:51:54,000
Speaker 1: base that we have, and a big part of that

1085
00:51:54,040 --> 00:51:56,440
Speaker 1: is step Steph's one of the most popular players in

1086
00:51:56,480 --> 00:52:00,000
Speaker 1: the world. But like, I would have gotten more views

1087
00:52:00,040 --> 00:52:03,080
Speaker 1: by putting Steph number one. That's what would have gotten views.

1088
00:52:03,960 --> 00:52:08,800
Speaker 1: But it's legitimately hard for me to do this and

1089
00:52:10,200 --> 00:52:12,880
Speaker 1: to actually put these guys in the right spot and

1090
00:52:12,960 --> 00:52:16,799
Speaker 1: I'm working really hard to follow my own criteria. It

1091
00:52:16,880 --> 00:52:19,600
Speaker 1: was tough for me to put Kdi, Steph and Lebron

1092
00:52:19,800 --> 00:52:22,760
Speaker 1: as low as I did. But I'm not here to propagandaz.

1093
00:52:22,800 --> 00:52:25,239
Speaker 1: I'm not here to lie and say things I don't

1094
00:52:25,280 --> 00:52:29,440
Speaker 1: believe for clicks. That's not even how it works. I

1095
00:52:29,640 --> 00:52:33,040
Speaker 1: put Kde, Stephan, Lebron where I would draft them in

1096
00:52:33,160 --> 00:52:35,640
Speaker 1: a snake draft style or a snake draft doesn't even

1097
00:52:35,719 --> 00:52:38,040
Speaker 1: it's not even relevant. But just in a straight up

1098
00:52:38,160 --> 00:52:42,200
Speaker 1: draft between twenty five teams starting with all four hundred

1099
00:52:42,200 --> 00:52:45,520
Speaker 1: and fifty players, if I just to start a franchise with,

1100
00:52:45,680 --> 00:52:48,680
Speaker 1: that's the entire purpose of it. Only for this upcoming

1101
00:52:48,760 --> 00:52:51,600
Speaker 1: season from October to June. I put Steph at ten

1102
00:52:51,960 --> 00:52:54,840
Speaker 1: because I view him as the tenth safest bet to

1103
00:52:54,960 --> 00:52:58,560
Speaker 1: build a franchise around for this upcoming season. For eighty

1104
00:52:58,600 --> 00:53:02,239
Speaker 1: two games in four series, dude is saying I still

1105
00:53:02,280 --> 00:53:04,960
Speaker 1: think he's top ten, like that's a compliment. It is

1106
00:53:05,000 --> 00:53:06,960
Speaker 1: a compliment. Steph didn't play at a top ten level

1107
00:53:07,040 --> 00:53:09,040
Speaker 1: last year. Steph did not have a top ten season

1108
00:53:09,120 --> 00:53:12,040
Speaker 1: last year by any measure. Guys like Donovan Mitchell had

1109
00:53:12,040 --> 00:53:15,640
Speaker 1: a better season. Guys like Jalen Brunson had a better season,

1110
00:53:16,320 --> 00:53:19,160
Speaker 1: Like there are a lot of players had better seasons

1111
00:53:19,360 --> 00:53:21,640
Speaker 1: than Steph Curry last year. I'm giving him top ten

1112
00:53:21,920 --> 00:53:26,120
Speaker 1: as a payment of respect to what I believe he

1113
00:53:26,160 --> 00:53:29,560
Speaker 1: is capable of on a better roster and how and

1114
00:53:29,600 --> 00:53:32,239
Speaker 1: because I think he's going to bounce back. I'm projecting

1115
00:53:32,280 --> 00:53:34,160
Speaker 1: a better season from Steph next year. That's why I

1116
00:53:34,200 --> 00:53:37,759
Speaker 1: have him at number ten. He requires a ton of

1117
00:53:37,800 --> 00:53:40,400
Speaker 1: regular season support as well as postseason support. Who are

1118
00:53:40,440 --> 00:53:43,480
Speaker 1: you talking about Tatum or Embiid and you got Tatum higher?

1119
00:53:43,560 --> 00:53:47,520
Speaker 1: That's comedy. So in my opinion, Tatum is the far

1120
00:53:47,600 --> 00:53:50,840
Speaker 1: more available regular season player, and he's actually been a

1121
00:53:50,840 --> 00:53:53,920
Speaker 1: better playoff player than Embiid, including out playing him head

1122
00:53:53,920 --> 00:53:56,839
Speaker 1: to head. Specifically in Game seven a few years back,

1123
00:53:57,120 --> 00:53:59,480
Speaker 1: he exposed one of Embiid's biggest weaknesses that we talked

1124
00:53:59,480 --> 00:54:01,799
Speaker 1: about on this show, his ability to come out and

1125
00:54:01,800 --> 00:54:03,960
Speaker 1: guard in space, either switching in pick and roll or

1126
00:54:03,960 --> 00:54:06,719
Speaker 1: coming up to the level of the screen. Tatum was

1127
00:54:06,760 --> 00:54:10,720
Speaker 1: just repeatedly torching him in that Game seven. So putting

1128
00:54:10,719 --> 00:54:13,319
Speaker 1: Tatum over Embiid was a very easy decision for me.

1129
00:54:13,560 --> 00:54:17,799
Speaker 1: He's a more available regular season player and he's been

1130
00:54:17,880 --> 00:54:20,239
Speaker 1: a better postseason player in his career. That was just

1131
00:54:20,239 --> 00:54:23,680
Speaker 1: a no brainer for me. Here's another basketball case from

1132
00:54:23,719 --> 00:54:27,560
Speaker 1: somebody as it associates to Embiid, specifically with regard to

1133
00:54:27,640 --> 00:54:30,880
Speaker 1: Anthony Davis. Hey, Jason love the video. I know you

1134
00:54:30,920 --> 00:54:33,879
Speaker 1: haven't released AD's ranking, but here's a basketball reason why

1135
00:54:33,880 --> 00:54:38,120
Speaker 1: I'm taking Embiid over Anthony Davis. First, both players have

1136
00:54:38,120 --> 00:54:40,440
Speaker 1: struggled with injuries. I know Ad has been more durable

1137
00:54:40,480 --> 00:54:42,680
Speaker 1: than Embid the past two years, but it's undeniable that

1138
00:54:42,719 --> 00:54:45,399
Speaker 1: if you're concerned about that, you're concerned with both's long

1139
00:54:45,480 --> 00:54:48,400
Speaker 1: term health in any given season. So durability is mostly

1140
00:54:48,400 --> 00:54:52,200
Speaker 1: a wash between these two players. Second, I think Embiid's

1141
00:54:52,200 --> 00:54:55,560
Speaker 1: playoff struggles are almost exclusively due to injury, whereas AD's

1142
00:54:55,560 --> 00:54:59,160
Speaker 1: playoff struggles post twenty twenty have been consistency and mentality related.

1143
00:55:00,000 --> 00:55:02,160
Speaker 1: Against Yokich and the last couple of playoff runs, AD

1144
00:55:02,239 --> 00:55:04,360
Speaker 1: would have thirty plus points one night and then fifteen

1145
00:55:04,440 --> 00:55:06,280
Speaker 1: or sixteen the next night, even though he wasn't injured.

1146
00:55:06,520 --> 00:55:09,360
Speaker 1: Commentators often lament during games how Ad seems to be

1147
00:55:09,440 --> 00:55:11,640
Speaker 1: out of it and not being aggressive, which is never

1148
00:55:11,680 --> 00:55:14,680
Speaker 1: a problem for Embiid AD post twenty twenty has not

1149
00:55:14,719 --> 00:55:16,600
Speaker 1: been that great of a playoff performer in my view,

1150
00:55:16,680 --> 00:55:19,160
Speaker 1: at least not good enough for the Lakers to beat Denver. Finally,

1151
00:55:19,200 --> 00:55:23,520
Speaker 1: and most importantly, Embiid eats eighty's lunch every time they play. Yes,

1152
00:55:23,560 --> 00:55:25,839
Speaker 1: it's regular season, but Embid is seven and one against AD.

1153
00:55:25,920 --> 00:55:28,319
Speaker 1: In their last two matchups, Embiid had thirty eight and

1154
00:55:28,360 --> 00:55:30,799
Speaker 1: twelve and a thirty point triple double on seventy five

1155
00:55:30,800 --> 00:55:34,080
Speaker 1: percent and sixty percent shooting, respectively. Ady's best case for

1156
00:55:34,080 --> 00:55:36,440
Speaker 1: being higher than Embiid is he's a much better defender

1157
00:55:36,480 --> 00:55:39,400
Speaker 1: than Embiid. The fact that he that his superior defense

1158
00:55:39,440 --> 00:55:42,000
Speaker 1: doesn't infect it doesn't affect Embiid when they play, is

1159
00:55:42,040 --> 00:55:44,560
Speaker 1: evidence to me that Embiid is a full tier above

1160
00:55:44,640 --> 00:55:47,520
Speaker 1: eighty is a player. Appreciate the content and I'm looking

1161
00:55:47,560 --> 00:55:49,520
Speaker 1: forward to the rest of the rankings. Again, thank you

1162
00:55:49,520 --> 00:55:51,479
Speaker 1: for taking the time to break down your basketball case,

1163
00:55:51,680 --> 00:55:53,120
Speaker 1: and thank you for supporting the show. It means a

1164
00:55:53,160 --> 00:55:55,440
Speaker 1: lot to me. So, starting with the injury risk, I

1165
00:55:55,520 --> 00:55:58,120
Speaker 1: disagree there. I don't think it's a wash between both players.

1166
00:55:58,320 --> 00:56:00,839
Speaker 1: AD has had some health concerns, particularly in the twenty

1167
00:56:00,840 --> 00:56:03,239
Speaker 1: twenty one and twenty twenty two seasons, but he's been

1168
00:56:03,239 --> 00:56:05,839
Speaker 1: good since then, and I actually think it's far more

1169
00:56:05,960 --> 00:56:08,520
Speaker 1: likely that Embiid has a health related issue this year

1170
00:56:08,520 --> 00:56:11,120
Speaker 1: than Ad. Now, obviously anything happened, and we'll see, but

1171
00:56:11,200 --> 00:56:13,439
Speaker 1: my read on things is like Embiid is a guy

1172
00:56:13,440 --> 00:56:15,480
Speaker 1: that like it almost feels like a certainty that he'll

1173
00:56:15,520 --> 00:56:17,640
Speaker 1: break down, whereas Ad it feels like it's a maybe,

1174
00:56:17,760 --> 00:56:19,719
Speaker 1: And so I don't think that they're on the same tier.

1175
00:56:19,719 --> 00:56:21,279
Speaker 1: Although I agree with you that both of them do

1176
00:56:21,360 --> 00:56:23,360
Speaker 1: have some health concerns, I just think it's Embid to

1177
00:56:23,360 --> 00:56:26,920
Speaker 1: a larger extent. As I mentioned earlier, AD did have

1178
00:56:26,960 --> 00:56:29,239
Speaker 1: a rough series in twenty twenty three against Denver, There's

1179
00:56:29,239 --> 00:56:31,520
Speaker 1: no question about it, and I was very critical of

1180
00:56:31,560 --> 00:56:35,120
Speaker 1: him after that series, But he's been literally awesome in

1181
00:56:35,280 --> 00:56:39,200
Speaker 1: every playoff run outside of that. Even just before that series,

1182
00:56:40,239 --> 00:56:44,000
Speaker 1: like before the Denver series where they got swept, AD

1183
00:56:44,239 --> 00:56:47,240
Speaker 1: was like so good defensively in the Golden State Warrior

1184
00:56:47,360 --> 00:56:51,000
Speaker 1: series that every adjustment that both teams was making, it

1185
00:56:51,040 --> 00:56:54,480
Speaker 1: was geared around the Warriors trying to avoid Ad and

1186
00:56:54,520 --> 00:56:56,879
Speaker 1: the Lakers trying to keep Ad in the action. That's

1187
00:56:56,920 --> 00:57:00,040
Speaker 1: how dominant. He was defensively in that playoff run, the

1188
00:57:00,120 --> 00:57:01,759
Speaker 1: best player on the Kers because Lebron wasn't as good.

1189
00:57:01,760 --> 00:57:03,360
Speaker 1: He was playing with that hurt foot, if you remember,

1190
00:57:03,600 --> 00:57:06,160
Speaker 1: during that playoff run. So like he was awesome in

1191
00:57:06,160 --> 00:57:08,880
Speaker 1: the playoff run before the Warrior or before the Nuggets series.

1192
00:57:09,200 --> 00:57:12,560
Speaker 1: Then this past year, I thought he basically played Jokic

1193
00:57:12,640 --> 00:57:15,719
Speaker 1: to a draw. He averaged twenty eight points and sixteen rebounds,

1194
00:57:16,240 --> 00:57:19,840
Speaker 1: like straight up fried Nicole Jokicic one on one. Then

1195
00:57:19,840 --> 00:57:22,160
Speaker 1: again obviously hurt twenty twenty one and twenty twenty two,

1196
00:57:22,240 --> 00:57:24,800
Speaker 1: but twenty twenty incredible both ends of the four they win

1197
00:57:24,840 --> 00:57:27,800
Speaker 1: the title. First thirteen playoff games before twenty twenty, he

1198
00:57:27,800 --> 00:57:31,680
Speaker 1: averaged thirty one and thirteen. So like, I think AD's

1199
00:57:31,800 --> 00:57:35,280
Speaker 1: playoff resume is substantially better than him. Beats just flat

1200
00:57:35,320 --> 00:57:38,000
Speaker 1: out bar none. I don't think it's close, to be honest,

1201
00:57:38,480 --> 00:57:40,480
Speaker 1: and to put it more aggressively, I just think Ad

1202
00:57:40,560 --> 00:57:43,280
Speaker 1: is a better basketball player in that setting because he's

1203
00:57:43,640 --> 00:57:46,760
Speaker 1: so good defensively, because he thrives in rock fights, because

1204
00:57:46,800 --> 00:57:50,360
Speaker 1: he can like win when things get ugly, because his

1205
00:57:50,680 --> 00:57:52,920
Speaker 1: impact on winning is not tied to whether or not

1206
00:57:52,960 --> 00:57:54,640
Speaker 1: he's getting to the foul line or knocking down his

1207
00:57:54,720 --> 00:57:57,880
Speaker 1: jump shot. Now here's the thing. Everything with em beat

1208
00:57:57,920 --> 00:58:01,800
Speaker 1: is theoretical. He has a roum remarkably dominant level that

1209
00:58:01,840 --> 00:58:06,480
Speaker 1: he can get to. He's certainly had remarkably dominant regular

1210
00:58:06,520 --> 00:58:10,280
Speaker 1: seasons that if eclipsed what Ad has done in the

1211
00:58:10,320 --> 00:58:14,680
Speaker 1: regular season. But like, we can keep imagining that all

1212
00:58:14,680 --> 00:58:17,280
Speaker 1: coming together all we want. We can imagine him be

1213
00:58:17,520 --> 00:58:20,280
Speaker 1: just wrecking ball everybody through the playoffs. Hell, I've been

1214
00:58:20,320 --> 00:58:22,680
Speaker 1: imagining it. We talked about it on the show, but

1215
00:58:22,920 --> 00:58:27,160
Speaker 1: for whatever reason, that has never actually materialized. And then

1216
00:58:27,160 --> 00:58:29,920
Speaker 1: the last piece of it to the big piece of

1217
00:58:29,960 --> 00:58:32,800
Speaker 1: our criteria that, like versatility, how easy it is to

1218
00:58:32,800 --> 00:58:35,680
Speaker 1: build around you, Ad is much easier to build around.

1219
00:58:35,840 --> 00:58:38,960
Speaker 1: He is a prototypical five out big man who excels

1220
00:58:39,000 --> 00:58:42,440
Speaker 1: as a roleman, as a screening and rolling into space

1221
00:58:42,840 --> 00:58:45,720
Speaker 1: as a scorer with and without the ball. He plays

1222
00:58:45,760 --> 00:58:49,440
Speaker 1: really well alongside other stars. He doesn't require the ball

1223
00:58:49,480 --> 00:58:51,560
Speaker 1: to be in his hands all the time, and he's

1224
00:58:51,560 --> 00:58:54,160
Speaker 1: the best defensive player in the world that can defend

1225
00:58:54,160 --> 00:58:56,320
Speaker 1: in any scheme that you want him to defend. In

1226
00:58:56,600 --> 00:59:02,240
Speaker 1: deep drop, you know, catch Hedge up at the level blitzing, switching,

1227
00:59:02,400 --> 00:59:04,919
Speaker 1: he can do it all. So like that's the thing,

1228
00:59:04,960 --> 00:59:07,560
Speaker 1: Like there's no doubt that embeads ceiling is higher than AD.

1229
00:59:08,080 --> 00:59:10,560
Speaker 1: That just goes without saying. But and B just can't

1230
00:59:10,560 --> 00:59:13,880
Speaker 1: get there often enough. And when things really like when

1231
00:59:13,920 --> 00:59:17,160
Speaker 1: things get to those higher levels, AD is just played

1232
00:59:17,200 --> 00:59:19,360
Speaker 1: at a much higher level, far more consistently than MB.

1233
00:59:20,520 --> 00:59:22,920
Speaker 1: And again like, yes, he has some offensive limitations, but

1234
00:59:23,800 --> 00:59:26,960
Speaker 1: in the regular season, even as I'm as I'm drafting players,

1235
00:59:26,960 --> 00:59:29,760
Speaker 1: if I draft a D, you know, much easier everything

1236
00:59:29,760 --> 00:59:31,280
Speaker 1: else gets from me at that point. Look at the

1237
00:59:31,360 --> 00:59:36,600
Speaker 1: Lakers defense. They were playing literally literally to like Austin

1238
00:59:36,680 --> 00:59:39,920
Speaker 1: Reeves an average defensive player, d Lo a bad defensive player,

1239
00:59:40,200 --> 00:59:43,080
Speaker 1: Ruey Hachimura a bad defensive player, Lebron James good DEFENSEI

1240
00:59:43,080 --> 00:59:45,080
Speaker 1: player when he's trying. Most of the time he's not trying,

1241
00:59:45,360 --> 00:59:49,560
Speaker 1: and AD anchors it all, just hides them all. That's

1242
00:59:49,600 --> 00:59:52,360
Speaker 1: a huge asset to a general manager. Yeah, so like yeah,

1243
00:59:52,440 --> 00:59:55,960
Speaker 1: the I again, I it's hard to do this kind

1244
00:59:56,000 --> 01:00:00,360
Speaker 1: of thing, guys, it really is. It's painstaking. I just say,

1245
01:00:00,440 --> 01:00:02,360
Speaker 1: let's say the two guys that everyone kept throwing out today,

1246
01:00:02,680 --> 01:00:05,920
Speaker 1: if I would have put ant at eleven in eighty

1247
01:00:05,960 --> 01:00:08,919
Speaker 1: at ten. You don't think Minnesota Timberwolves fans are gonna

1248
01:00:08,920 --> 01:00:11,800
Speaker 1: be crying to me NonStop about how Anthony Edwards averaged

1249
01:00:11,800 --> 01:00:14,080
Speaker 1: twenty eight points on sixty percent through shooting in the

1250
01:00:14,120 --> 01:00:18,600
Speaker 1: playoffs and like eliminated the defending champs straight up alpha

1251
01:00:18,640 --> 01:00:22,120
Speaker 1: dog to everybody on the Phoenix Suns and got within

1252
01:00:22,160 --> 01:00:24,600
Speaker 1: three wins of the NBA Finals. You don't think I'm

1253
01:00:24,600 --> 01:00:29,200
Speaker 1: gonna have people crying about that. Anthony Davis, like he was,

1254
01:00:29,240 --> 01:00:31,280
Speaker 1: what the fourth best player on the Olympic team, the

1255
01:00:31,280 --> 01:00:34,640
Speaker 1: fifth best player on the Olympic team. He is the

1256
01:00:34,640 --> 01:00:37,640
Speaker 1: best defensive player in the world. Just played Nikolea Jokic

1257
01:00:37,760 --> 01:00:42,160
Speaker 1: to pretty much even in that Like the differentiators in

1258
01:00:42,160 --> 01:00:44,320
Speaker 1: that series were like Michael Porter Junior and the fact

1259
01:00:44,360 --> 01:00:46,640
Speaker 1: that Ruey was terrible, Like they're like they're the swinge.

1260
01:00:46,840 --> 01:00:49,440
Speaker 1: Lebron and ad went. Lebron and eighty out played Murray

1261
01:00:49,480 --> 01:00:51,320
Speaker 1: and Jokic in that series, and they lost the series

1262
01:00:51,360 --> 01:00:54,520
Speaker 1: in five because Lebron out played Jamal Murray. Just Jamal

1263
01:00:54,600 --> 01:00:57,480
Speaker 1: Murray hit two big shots and Michael Porter Junior made

1264
01:00:57,520 --> 01:00:59,800
Speaker 1: everything he got his hands on, and Aaron Gordon had

1265
01:00:59,800 --> 01:01:02,240
Speaker 1: a at Game three, and the Lakers just got no

1266
01:01:02,400 --> 01:01:06,480
Speaker 1: contributions from role players outside of Austin Reeves and like

1267
01:01:06,560 --> 01:01:11,320
Speaker 1: and again, like, if I would have put a DA ten,

1268
01:01:11,360 --> 01:01:12,560
Speaker 1: it just would have been an issue. It has just

1269
01:01:12,560 --> 01:01:14,480
Speaker 1: been a whole other issue. And that's the thing. There

1270
01:01:14,600 --> 01:01:16,600
Speaker 1: was no version of this top eleven that wasn't going

1271
01:01:16,640 --> 01:01:18,720
Speaker 1: to piss people off. But at the end of the day,

1272
01:01:18,720 --> 01:01:19,960
Speaker 1: all I can do is kind of give you guys

1273
01:01:19,960 --> 01:01:22,400
Speaker 1: my reasoning and hear you guys out when you disagree,

1274
01:01:22,400 --> 01:01:24,240
Speaker 1: and we can go from there. But as I'm going

1275
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Speaker 1: to reread this comment from earlier, as the Gentleman shared earlier,

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Speaker 1: the rankings are not important. Basketball is the only thing

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Speaker 1: that matters, all right, guys. That is all I have

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Speaker 1: for today is always sincerely appreciate you guys for supporting

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Speaker 1: the show. We'll be back on Friday with number seven

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Speaker 1: at number six. I will see you guys. Then the

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Speaker 1: Volume the NFL seasons right around the corner. We'll be

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Speaker 1: breaking down all the off season storylines on the Colin

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Speaker 1: Cowherd podcast my best takes guests like my buddy Nick Wright.

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Speaker 1: Check out the Colin Coward Podcast, part of the Volume network,

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Speaker 1: available on Apple Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.