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Speaker 1: responsible gambling resources. All right, welcome to hoops tonight. You're

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Speaker 1: at the volume. Happy Thursday, everybody. Hope all of you

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Speaker 1: guys are having an incredible week. It feels great to

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Speaker 1: be back. We had just unbelievable ski conditions up in

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Speaker 1: it was just unbelievable trip. That said, it's good to

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Speaker 1: be back. We've missed a couple of significant pieces of news.

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Speaker 1: Doc Rivers is now the coach of the Milwaukee Bucks.

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Speaker 1: That's weird, right, and it was weird the way it

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Speaker 1: went down. We're going to talk about that, and then

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Speaker 1: Terry Rogier is headed to or Is with the Miami Heat.

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Speaker 1: I actually watched his first game with the Heat this morning,

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Speaker 1: and so I want to hit those two topics and

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Speaker 1: a couple of others. What we're gonna do today is

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Speaker 1: five big NBA questions. I wrote five questions that will

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Speaker 1: help us hit all of these big storylines around the league.

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Speaker 1: You guys know the Joe four we get started. Subscribe

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Speaker 1: to our brand new YouTube channel. I mean a lot

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Speaker 1: our podcast feed wherever you get your podcast. If you

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Speaker 1: question number one of our five NBA questions, Jason, why

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Speaker 1: did the Bucks fire Adrian Griffin and hire Doc Rivers? So,

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Speaker 1: first of all, there's two.

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Speaker 2: Ways of looking at this.

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Speaker 1: There's like the kind of like retrospective, like, let's look

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Speaker 1: back and kind of try to see what the ultimate

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Speaker 1: kind of like goal here was. And that gets confusing

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Speaker 1: as you zoom out and you're like, okay, so you

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Speaker 1: fire Mike Budenholzer because you don't think he's good enough

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Speaker 1: with playoff adjustments, So you hire a rookie head coach,

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Speaker 1: and then when that goes south, you then go hire

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Speaker 1: Doc Rivers, another guy whose kind of reputation is being

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Speaker 1: a guy who struggles with playoff adjustments and famously has

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Speaker 1: blown a lot of series late after taking early series leads.

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Speaker 1: So yeah, as you zoom out, like it doesn't make

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Speaker 1: a ton of sense, there's no doubt. However, if you

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Speaker 1: zoom in just a little bit like cut the Mike

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Speaker 1: Budenholzer and hiring Adrian Griffin, peace out, and you just

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Speaker 1: zoom in on this season. It makes sense to me.

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Speaker 1: Do I think it's gonna fix all of Milwaukee's problems? No,

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Speaker 1: but it does make sense to me. And I want

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Speaker 1: to kind of break this down so you guys can

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Speaker 1: kind of understand where I'm coming from. First of all,

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Speaker 1: Adrian Griffin was not the right coach for this particular team.

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Speaker 1: Forget about the decision to hire him. Just acknowledge the

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Speaker 1: reality that he was the head coach for this season. Okay,

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Speaker 1: It's been a pretty consistent thing. One of the things

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Speaker 1: that I do in my job is I constantly am

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Speaker 1: picking the brains of other people around the league. Like

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Speaker 1: I'm a big believer, and I don't actually I don't

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Speaker 1: know everything about basketball. I just have my personal perspective,

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Speaker 1: and the best way to kind of round out that

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Speaker 1: perspective is to include as many perspectives as possible. And

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Speaker 1: so I talk to a lot of people around the league.

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Speaker 1: People who cover the league nationally, people cover individual teams, agents,

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Speaker 1: so on and so forth. Right, So when I talk

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Speaker 1: to those guys, there have been some consistent things that

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Speaker 1: I've gotten back, and one of the big ones is

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Speaker 1: Adrian Griffin is not doing a very good job with

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Speaker 1: the Bucks this year. Obviously, I had my own kind

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Speaker 1: of suspicions there right as I'm watching the team, I'm like, hmm, okay,

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Speaker 1: Adrian Griffin coach for the Raptors. The Raptors under Nick

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Speaker 1: Nurse ran this like super aggressive like pick and roll,

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Speaker 1: blitz and recover scheme, and Adrian Griffin's bringing that.

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Speaker 2: To the Bucks.

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Speaker 1: And the Bucks have Brook Lopez, this like kind of

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Speaker 1: slow footed big guy who's like really good when he's

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Speaker 1: around the basket, but when he gets out to the

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Speaker 1: perimeter can have some issues. Like overall, their team speed

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Speaker 1: isn't great, so they're not great in rotation. Outside of

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Speaker 1: like Giannis, they're pretty unathletic at most positions, So I'm like,

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Speaker 1: this doesn't make a lot of sense, right, And then

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Speaker 1: there were a lot of like clear indicators that the

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Speaker 1: team wasn't playing hard consistently, right, Like twentieth in defensive rating,

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Speaker 1: they don't guard their dead last and opponent transition frequency,

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Speaker 1: they don't run back, there's bad body language, there's blowout losses,

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Speaker 1: all these like clear indicators that things weren't working right,

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Speaker 1: and then you got to add the urgency element to it.

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Speaker 1: Dame is older and appears to be on the decline, right, Like,

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Speaker 1: I'm not saying that he is declined, but like this

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Speaker 1: is the first season where you're starting to see like, oh,

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Speaker 1: like smaller guard, a little bit undersized, shots not falling.

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Speaker 1: The defense is worse than it's ever been, Like there

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Speaker 1: are some concerns there, right, and then also if things

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Speaker 1: go south, Gianni's requesting a trade is a high likelihood, right, Like,

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Speaker 1: this whole team is old, they don't have a ton

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Speaker 1: to offer. Janis on the basketball side of things other

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Speaker 1: than Dame, and Dame is older, So like you can

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Speaker 1: imagine a scenario where like Dame has some struggles this year, things.

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Speaker 2: Don't go well. Brook gets older, Chris Middleton gets older.

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Speaker 1: There's a version of this where Yannis looks around and

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Speaker 1: goes like, what, I don't want to be here anymore?

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Speaker 2: Right, So there's submergency there.

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Speaker 1: And then also these young teams are coming, Like you

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Speaker 1: look around the league and it's a lot of these

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Speaker 1: Like it's like, okay, Orlando looks like they could be

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Speaker 1: really good.

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Speaker 2: In the long run.

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Speaker 1: Oklahoma City looks like it could be really good in

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Speaker 1: the long run. The New Orleans Pelicans look like it

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Speaker 1: can be really good in the long run. Right Like

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Speaker 1: in Minnesota Timberwolves. There's all these teams out there that

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Speaker 1: look like they're on the rise, and so it kind

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Speaker 1: of feels like this is a very important season for

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Speaker 1: the Milwaukee Bucks, right and so I don't think interim

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Speaker 1: head coach was an option for them. They knew Adrian

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Speaker 1: Griffin wasn't the right guy. That's a consensus, that's not

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Speaker 1: just me, that's within that locker room. Giannis himself was

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Speaker 1: going up to the press conferences and he was literally

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Speaker 1: saying that he was complaining about the defensive schemes.

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Speaker 2: So obviously there was issues with the.

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Speaker 1: General manager, or I should say the front office and

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Speaker 1: the ownership group as it pertains Adrian Griffin. Obviously the

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Speaker 1: players had some issue with him, Terry Stotts had issues

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Speaker 1: with him, and then around the he gets a consensus

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Speaker 1: that he was struggling, right, So like that's the reality.

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Speaker 1: Then you combine that with the urgency and it's you

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Speaker 1: gotta find somebody to get in there. Who's the best

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Speaker 1: possible option to get in there and just kind of

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Speaker 1: get the most out of this group for this season. Right,

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Speaker 1: They didn't want to go to an interim head coach.

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Speaker 1: They sense the urgency, they go for Doc Rivers. Now,

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Speaker 1: is Doc Rivers going to help with the tactical side

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Speaker 1: of things? That's not what he's known for. To me,

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Speaker 1: Doc Rivers' best trait that he brings to a basketball team.

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Speaker 1: His personality, management, and motivation get him into a room

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Speaker 1: with a bunch of guys with egos. He's got enough

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Speaker 1: of an aura surrounding him that he commands respect. He's

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Speaker 1: gonna be able to get some of that buy in

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Speaker 1: that they weren't getting. And if he can just clean

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Speaker 1: up things on the margins, that will go a long

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Speaker 1: way towards helping their situation. We're gonna talk more about

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Speaker 1: the basketball side of it here in just a second.

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Speaker 1: I'm just focusing on the big picture here, right. So

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Speaker 1: as we zoom out and you go from Budenholzer to

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Speaker 1: Griffin to Doc, you're like, what the hell are they

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Speaker 1: doing right? Right? But you zoom in and you go,

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Speaker 1: Adrian Griffin's not the right coach. There's real urgency. We

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Speaker 1: need someone to come in in January to turn this

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Speaker 1: thing around. Doc's available, He'll at least be able to

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Speaker 1: get them to buy in.

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Speaker 2: I get it, I get it.

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Speaker 1: I obviously he's not the perfect coach in a vacuum

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Speaker 1: for this team, but under the circumstances, I think we

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Speaker 1: can state unequivocally that the Bucks have a better chance

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Speaker 1: to get it done this season with Doc than they

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Speaker 1: do with Adriane Griffin. And therefore, if we zoom in

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Speaker 1: it was a good move. That obviously we zoom out

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Speaker 1: it's confusing. Zoom in it's a good move. Question number two,

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Speaker 1: what can Doc help the Bucks with to help them

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Speaker 1: reach their potential? I wrote down a few things for us,

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Speaker 1: three things in specific. Number one, get defensive buy in

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Speaker 1: from Dame. He's been the primary culprit and their defensive

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Speaker 1: struggles all season long. He doesn't need to be amazing

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Speaker 1: on that end, but he needs to do his job,

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Speaker 1: and right now he's not even doing his job. To

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Speaker 1: put it simply, they can't win the title this year

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Speaker 1: unless they get like a Steph Curry esque just commitment

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Speaker 1: to doing the job from Damian Lillard. And that's something

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Speaker 1: I think a dot can help with. From the same

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Speaker 1: point of being a big enough personality to look Dame

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Speaker 1: in the face and be like, this is non negotiable.

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Speaker 1: This is what we need from you. And when I

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Speaker 1: say Steph, what I mean. Steph was never a deeply

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Speaker 1: impactful athlete. He's not a guy that like is going

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Speaker 1: to go toe to toe with the best perimeter initiators

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Speaker 1: of the league and hold his own. As a matter

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Speaker 1: of fact, Dame is actually a little bit quicker, right.

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Speaker 1: Dame is actually, even though he's undersized, is a little

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Speaker 1: bit better athlete. But Steph does his job. He understands

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Speaker 1: his role in the defensive scheme. You can see him

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Speaker 1: working his butt off. You can see him chasing over

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Speaker 1: the top. You can see him putting himself and help

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Speaker 1: and recover situations. You can see him at least trying

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Speaker 1: to keep the person in front and force him to

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Speaker 1: take a tough jump shot. You can see Steph trying right.

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Speaker 1: And that's gone from making him too what early in

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Speaker 1: his career is a bad defensive player to being an

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Speaker 1: average defensive player. And if you have an average defensive

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Speaker 1: player in an excellent defensive scheme, you can get stops.

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Speaker 1: That's step one. You got to get defensive buy in

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Speaker 1: from day step two help Dame and Giannis maximize their

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Speaker 1: success in pick and roll. The Bucks are just ninth

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Speaker 1: in offense in January. They've been a really good offense

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Speaker 1: most of the season, but I still think they have

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Speaker 1: some significant room for improvement. By the way, this has

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Speaker 1: been something I've said all season. What if I said

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Speaker 1: consistently about the Bucks, they can be so much better

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Speaker 1: than they have been. Right specifically, I think if we

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Speaker 1: can acknowledge the reality that they're not going to be

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Speaker 1: an elite defense, right, they're not gonna be elite. They

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Speaker 1: can get to okay, but they're not gonna be elite.

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Speaker 1: And so if you're not gonna be an elite a defense,

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Speaker 1: you've got to be like Denver on offense, meaning in

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Speaker 1: a half court, slowdown environment, you have to consistently get

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Speaker 1: absolutely great shots every single time, which this group is

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Speaker 1: capable of doing. In the Dame pick and roll stuff.

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Speaker 1: With Yah, I think there's a lot of meat on

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Speaker 1: the bone there. Still Giannis is missing reads on the roll,

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Speaker 1: which we'll talk about in a minute. They're getting in

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Speaker 1: each other's way a lot of the time. Obviously, this

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Speaker 1: is this is normal, is to be expected. Two stars

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Speaker 1: kind of learning how to play together, and then Dame

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Speaker 1: in general is struggling to find his offensive rhythm. They

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Speaker 1: can run more pick and roll. These are some fixes.

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Speaker 1: Dames pick and roll frequency is down this year from

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Speaker 1: last year. I think that's having an effect on his rhythm.

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Speaker 1: All the reps you can get not just for Dame's rhythm,

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Speaker 1: but for the continuity and chemistry between those two. And

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Speaker 1: then obviously I would I've been talking about this all year.

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Speaker 1: I think they need to simplify the reeds. You know,

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Speaker 1: a lot of like the high pick and roll in

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Speaker 1: the middle of the floor stuff leads to Gianni's catching

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Speaker 1: on short rolls around the foul line. When he catches

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Speaker 1: short rolls around the foul line, he has to see

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Speaker 1: a ton of the floor on both sides of him,

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Speaker 1: and that can get a little tricky for Yannis. Sometimes

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Speaker 1: I love middle of the floor operation for top tier

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Speaker 1: passers because it is actually the hardest spot on the

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Speaker 1: floor for the defense to guard because there's a lot

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Speaker 1: more openings right, whereas with the cleared side you can

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Speaker 1: do more loading up and then the rotations are a

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Speaker 1: little bit less spread out on the weak side right.

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Speaker 1: But the problem is if you don't have a guy

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Speaker 1: that can actually see all of those reads and quickly

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Speaker 1: digest them, rolling into the middle of the floor, it

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Speaker 1: can be a little bit of an issue. So I

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Speaker 1: like clearing the side because you keep the entire floor

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Speaker 1: in front of Yannis, which makes his reads easier. I've

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Speaker 1: called out several examples in my Twitter threads as I've

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Speaker 1: done film sessions this year where Yannis catches in the

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Speaker 1: middle of the floor and he doesn't see what's happening

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Speaker 1: behind him and he misses an open shooter, or like

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Speaker 1: drives into traffic and struggles to make those decisions. It's

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Speaker 1: just easier for Yannis when the side is clear. So

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Speaker 1: from there I would just run more action where it's

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Speaker 1: like Dame Gianis pick and roll right side of the floor,

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Speaker 1: left side of the floor, everyone else is on the

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Speaker 1: opposite side of the floor. Have Dame working towards the middle,

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Speaker 1: with Yanis catching his rolls on the short corner on

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Speaker 1: that cleared side where he's barreling down to the rim.

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Speaker 1: If they zone up on that side, he has easy

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Speaker 1: reads to skip because they're right in front of him.

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Speaker 1: If they don't zone up, he's going ahead. Esteam towards

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Speaker 1: the rent, So run it more, run it with a

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Speaker 1: more deliberate schematic approach to kind of create easy reads

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Speaker 1: for Giannis. That's where I think things can kind of

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Speaker 1: open up for them on the offensive end of the four.

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Speaker 1: You've got to find a way to get to where

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Speaker 1: that action is as reliable as a Jokich Murray pick

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Speaker 1: and roll. That's got to be the goal. And then lastly,

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Speaker 1: the biggest thing I think that Doc can help with

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Speaker 1: is just cleaning up the details. They have to fix

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Speaker 1: their transition defense. They're literally the worst in the league.

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Speaker 1: They allow teams to get out and transition on more

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Speaker 1: than seventeen percent of their possessions, dead last in the

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Speaker 1: NBA two. They need better contests in pick and roll.

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Speaker 1: The Bucks allow opponents to shoot forty six percent in

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Speaker 1: the mid range. That's the second worst mark in the

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Speaker 1: league to the Detroit Pistons. They are the fourth worst

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Speaker 1: team in the league guarding opposing pick and roll ball

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Speaker 1: handlers based on points per possession. Why lutely no back

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Speaker 1: pressure they have Brook running this drop coverage, He's sitting

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Speaker 1: back towards the Rami's offering late contests. That means that

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Speaker 1: middle of the floor is where things are open, and

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Speaker 1: specifically Damon Malik Beasley. Malik's trying, but he just has

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Speaker 1: some limitations and he loses focus. Dame's not even trying

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Speaker 1: at all whatsoever.

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Speaker 2: But they're not.

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Speaker 1: Getting any of that back pressure that chasing from behind

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Speaker 1: to funnel into brook. The late contests on floaters and

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Speaker 1: pull up jump shots back the rear view contests to

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Speaker 1: try to get misses there. These are details by though.

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Speaker 1: These are details that DOC can help with. DOC can

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Speaker 1: help get them to buy in to sprinting back and

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Speaker 1: transition defense and communicating. DOC can help by getting their

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Speaker 1: guards to be more willing to commit to the work

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Speaker 1: at the point of attack. Better closeouts. Teams score one

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Speaker 1: point zero eight points per spot at possession against the Bucks.

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Speaker 1: That's bottom ten in the league. That's an effort thing,

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Speaker 1: closing out, containing funneling in the right direction. Every team

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Speaker 1: has a help scheme set up. You're expected to give

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Speaker 1: up close out opportunities. That's how it works. You run

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Speaker 1: a ball screen, you're coming over to tag the roller.

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Speaker 1: There's a skip pass to the left corner. You have

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Speaker 1: a job. The majority of those teams they want you

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Speaker 1: to close out high side and funnel towards the baseline

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Speaker 1: because that's where if you can push them behind the backboard,

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Speaker 1: it's an easier secondary rotation. Every team depending on the

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Speaker 1: spot on the floor, depending on the scouting report. There's

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Speaker 1: a lot of guys too where it's like, oh, this

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Speaker 1: guy's a lefty, always drives left. You want to close

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Speaker 1: out to the left side, even regardless of which side

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Speaker 1: of the floor he's on. There's a defensive game plan

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Speaker 1: when it comes to closing out to shooters on the

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Speaker 1: weak side. The Bucks are bad at it. That's something

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Speaker 1: that Doc can help clean up. And then lastly, paint rotations.

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Speaker 1: The Bucks allow fifty two points per paint points per

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Speaker 1: game in the paint, which is bottom ten in the league,

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Speaker 1: which with a Jannison Brook Lopez team.

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Speaker 2: Is just bad.

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Speaker 1: Right, So these are all like again, at the end

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Speaker 1: of the day, this is on the players. Notice I'm

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Speaker 1: not talking about any sort of gigantic schematic change. I

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Speaker 1: don't think Doc's gonna come in and flip their whole

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Speaker 1: system over. But if you can just get them to

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Speaker 1: buy in, which means again, it's on the players. If

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Speaker 1: they all do their jobs better, this team builds themselves

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Speaker 1: more margin for air because Dami Giannis are awesome and

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Speaker 1: they're gonna be a devastating playoff duo. But in order

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Speaker 1: to beat the best teams in the league, they can't

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Speaker 1: afford to hemorrhage points and transition defense, hemorrhage points in

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Speaker 1: pick and roll, hemorrhage points with bad closeouts, and hemorrhage

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Speaker 1: points not making extra rotations into the paint when guys

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Speaker 1: are driving.

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Speaker 2: That's the thing. Are you good enough to beat Boston? Yes?

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Speaker 1: Are you good enough to beat Boston when you're hemorrhaging

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Speaker 1: points elsewhere?

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Speaker 2: No?

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Speaker 1: That's where Doc can come in and kind of clean

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Speaker 1: things up. So again insummation obviously in a vacuum, as

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Speaker 1: you kind of zoom out and you look at everything,

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Speaker 1: you're like, oh, this doesn't really make a lot of sense.

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Speaker 1: But Doc's a better coach for this group than Adrian Griffin.

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Speaker 1: And if you can just get everybody to do their jobs,

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Speaker 1: the Bucks will be better and they will get more

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Speaker 1: were out of this season than they would have otherwise.

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Speaker 1: That's why I look at it as a good move,

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Speaker 1: even if it's not the perfect move, and even if

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Speaker 1: it doesn't make sense in the grand scheme of things.

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Speaker 1: Question number three, Jason, is Terry Rosier enough to put

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Speaker 1: the Miami Heat onto the same tier with Boston and Milwaukee. No,

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Speaker 1: of course not, but it does make them better and

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Speaker 1: most importantly, it maintains their flexibility moving forward. Miami is

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Speaker 1: telling you they don't think Dejonte Murray is worth whatever

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Speaker 1: the cost to pay is. They don't think DeMar DeRos

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Speaker 1: In or Zach Levine are gonna be transformative players for

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Speaker 1: the Miami offense. Now you can argue whether or not

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Speaker 1: they let Dame slip. That's a whole other discussion. And again,

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Speaker 1: similar to the conversation around Adrian Griffin, like, yes, we

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Speaker 1: zoom out some of this doesn't make sense. But as

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Speaker 1: we zoom in to right now, Lukhu's available, Terry Rozier,

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Speaker 1: You're gonna get a good chunk of what a Dejonte

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Speaker 1: Murray brings to the table and for less on a

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Speaker 1: shorter term deal. So I understand that right now, specifically

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Speaker 1: on a basketball front, how does Terry Rozier make the

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Speaker 1: Heat better? First and foremost, he fundamentally changes the physical

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Speaker 1: profile of the team. I've talked a lot about this

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Speaker 1: with the Lakers, specifically, as it pertains to Bruce Brown, like,

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Speaker 1: when you have like a really good athletic front court,

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Speaker 1: like a bam Adebio and Jimmy Butler, or a Lebron

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Speaker 1: James and Anthony Davis, or a Jannis and Tenna Kumbo

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Speaker 1: and Brook Lopez, but you have lesser athletic players on

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Speaker 1: the perimeter, you can still run into issues because it's

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Speaker 1: just really hard for those guys to cover all the gaps.

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Speaker 1: We've seen that in a resounding way with the Bucks

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Speaker 1: and the Lakers this year right, So specifically, what I

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Speaker 1: like is you're giving yourself a really really good athlete

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Speaker 1: at the guard position who also can play both sides

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Speaker 1: of the floor. Alongside Jimmy Butler and bam Adebayo. You're

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Speaker 1: changing the athletic profile of the team. You're making it

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Speaker 1: so that you are incredibly athletic in all three position groups,

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Speaker 1: at least within your core lineups. I really really like

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Speaker 1: that piece, And like, again, at the guard position, it's

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Speaker 1: different we talked about at the forward position. In center position,

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Speaker 1: it's like matchup attacking in the post, it's like rim protection.

431
00:21:10,040 --> 00:21:12,679
Speaker 1: It's like the ability to switch on to smaller guards

432
00:21:12,680 --> 00:21:16,520
Speaker 1: and hold your own. It's like help defense. Low man possessions,

433
00:21:16,560 --> 00:21:19,960
Speaker 1: tagging rollers, blocking shots, cleaning up the defensive glass. Weeks

434
00:21:19,960 --> 00:21:23,520
Speaker 1: had rotations at the guard position. It's like a lot

435
00:21:23,560 --> 00:21:27,600
Speaker 1: of just point of attack stuff. It's like generating dribble

436
00:21:27,640 --> 00:21:31,480
Speaker 1: penetration while containing dribble penetration on the other end. That's

437
00:21:31,480 --> 00:21:35,240
Speaker 1: like the fundamental athletic imposition of a really good athletic guard.

438
00:21:35,440 --> 00:21:38,919
Speaker 2: Right. And Terry Rozier is just an excellent athlete at

439
00:21:38,960 --> 00:21:40,040
Speaker 2: his position. Right.

440
00:21:40,280 --> 00:21:43,600
Speaker 1: The Memphis game last night, obviously, the Heat lost, bad loss.

441
00:21:44,160 --> 00:21:46,840
Speaker 1: That to me is just regular season basketball, right, And

442
00:21:46,880 --> 00:21:48,800
Speaker 1: Memphis is one of those what do I keep telling

443
00:21:48,800 --> 00:21:51,760
Speaker 1: you guys about young athletic teams in January that don't

444
00:21:51,760 --> 00:21:52,760
Speaker 1: really have anything to lose.

445
00:21:53,160 --> 00:21:53,280
Speaker 2: Right.

446
00:21:53,320 --> 00:21:54,760
Speaker 1: We've seen this with the Jazz, We're seeing it with

447
00:21:54,800 --> 00:21:58,800
Speaker 1: Memphis now, Like even Portland has had their moments like that.

448
00:21:58,880 --> 00:22:00,720
Speaker 1: These young athletic teams are going to have a lot

449
00:22:00,720 --> 00:22:03,119
Speaker 1: of success in the NBA regular season, especially around this

450
00:22:03,160 --> 00:22:05,920
Speaker 1: time of year when teams aren't playing hard consistently. Right,

451
00:22:06,320 --> 00:22:09,560
Speaker 1: But in that game, terror Rose Yeer was beating people

452
00:22:09,600 --> 00:22:12,280
Speaker 1: off the dribble, doing it in pick and roll. We

453
00:22:12,320 --> 00:22:13,879
Speaker 1: talked about how important it is in pick and roll

454
00:22:13,920 --> 00:22:17,240
Speaker 1: to engage the screen defender to open up other pieces. Right,

455
00:22:17,400 --> 00:22:20,760
Speaker 1: That's what allows bam Adebayo to get behind the pick

456
00:22:20,760 --> 00:22:24,080
Speaker 1: and roll defender. The only way to prevent a screen

457
00:22:24,119 --> 00:22:26,439
Speaker 1: defender from keeping the roller and the ball handler in

458
00:22:26,440 --> 00:22:28,919
Speaker 1: front is to engage him fully. Terry can do that

459
00:22:28,960 --> 00:22:32,480
Speaker 1: by getting real downhill rim pressure and ball screens. And

460
00:22:32,520 --> 00:22:34,800
Speaker 1: then on switches. There is a play in the second

461
00:22:34,800 --> 00:22:37,800
Speaker 1: half terror rose Year gets Xavier Tillman on a switch,

462
00:22:37,920 --> 00:22:40,480
Speaker 1: just a nasty dribble move gets right by Xavier Tillman

463
00:22:40,520 --> 00:22:43,000
Speaker 1: all the way to the basket. That's an important part

464
00:22:43,400 --> 00:22:46,200
Speaker 1: of beating pick and roll coverages that end in switches.

465
00:22:47,480 --> 00:22:49,280
Speaker 1: So like, that's the offensive side of things, and then

466
00:22:49,320 --> 00:22:50,760
Speaker 1: on the defensive end of the floor, it's just a

467
00:22:50,800 --> 00:22:53,600
Speaker 1: better athlete at the guard position that can contend with

468
00:22:53,640 --> 00:22:57,359
Speaker 1: the other great athletes around the league. The second and

469
00:22:57,400 --> 00:23:00,919
Speaker 1: like again, look at it just specifically with the player context.

470
00:23:01,440 --> 00:23:04,560
Speaker 1: It just adds another two way athlete to your position

471
00:23:04,600 --> 00:23:06,480
Speaker 1: group where you did not have a two way athlete.

472
00:23:07,080 --> 00:23:09,760
Speaker 1: Now you have bam As kind of like that defensive

473
00:23:09,760 --> 00:23:11,960
Speaker 1: full crum, offensive full crum. Then you have Jimmy As

474
00:23:12,000 --> 00:23:14,560
Speaker 1: like that versatile ford. Then you have Terry Rosier is

475
00:23:14,600 --> 00:23:18,320
Speaker 1: your two way athlete guard, which again, as I've said,

476
00:23:18,600 --> 00:23:20,639
Speaker 1: one of the most important archetypes in the league. You

477
00:23:20,680 --> 00:23:23,879
Speaker 1: can kind of start to see the team starting to

478
00:23:23,880 --> 00:23:27,439
Speaker 1: take shape with like a skill guard like Tyler Harrow,

479
00:23:27,640 --> 00:23:30,040
Speaker 1: and then an athlete guard like Terry Rozier, right, my

480
00:23:30,160 --> 00:23:34,399
Speaker 1: versatile defensive coverage guru and bam and a bio that

481
00:23:34,440 --> 00:23:36,159
Speaker 1: can switch and drop and high drop and blitz and

482
00:23:36,200 --> 00:23:39,200
Speaker 1: do all these things. And then I've got Jimmy and

483
00:23:39,240 --> 00:23:41,639
Speaker 1: like think about what Heimai Hawki's junior can do is

484
00:23:41,640 --> 00:23:43,520
Speaker 1: more of like a matchup attacking forward, and Jimmy can

485
00:23:43,560 --> 00:23:45,560
Speaker 1: guard on the perimeter. It's like you start to see

486
00:23:45,560 --> 00:23:47,800
Speaker 1: things just start to make sense from the athletic profile

487
00:23:47,840 --> 00:23:48,240
Speaker 1: of the team.

488
00:23:48,320 --> 00:23:48,480
Speaker 2: Right.

489
00:23:49,600 --> 00:23:54,399
Speaker 1: Secondly, secondary shot creation. He's a slightly above average pick

490
00:23:54,440 --> 00:23:56,040
Speaker 1: and roll shot creator in Charlotte, but we have to

491
00:23:56,040 --> 00:23:59,320
Speaker 1: remember it's Charlotte, right, four hundred and eighty five points

492
00:23:59,320 --> 00:24:00,919
Speaker 1: on four hundred nine tenty four pick and rolls, just

493
00:24:00,960 --> 00:24:03,879
Speaker 1: under a point per possession fifty fifth percent tile, but

494
00:24:05,320 --> 00:24:07,919
Speaker 1: most of that was related to his passing and who

495
00:24:08,000 --> 00:24:11,960
Speaker 1: he was passing the ball to. Terry shot fifty percent

496
00:24:12,280 --> 00:24:15,080
Speaker 1: when he shot in pick and roll fifty eight percent

497
00:24:15,480 --> 00:24:17,679
Speaker 1: in effective field goal percentage when we weigh it for threes,

498
00:24:18,600 --> 00:24:20,600
Speaker 1: that's one point one to one points per pick and

499
00:24:20,680 --> 00:24:23,960
Speaker 1: roll where he shoots, that's in the ninety third percentile.

500
00:24:24,600 --> 00:24:26,840
Speaker 1: He also gets one point three points per his own

501
00:24:26,840 --> 00:24:30,480
Speaker 1: shot attempt out of ISO, so like he can score

502
00:24:30,520 --> 00:24:34,320
Speaker 1: the basketball. And again even when it comes to the

503
00:24:34,320 --> 00:24:36,200
Speaker 1: stuff with Charlotte and the rest of the roster. Even

504
00:24:36,240 --> 00:24:38,000
Speaker 1: despite that, he had a three to one assist a

505
00:24:38,000 --> 00:24:40,360
Speaker 1: turnover ratio six point six assists per game, two point

506
00:24:40,359 --> 00:24:45,680
Speaker 1: two turnovers per game, So totally solid. Secondary shot creator

507
00:24:46,240 --> 00:24:49,399
Speaker 1: gives you an additional offensive weapon on a team that

508
00:24:49,520 --> 00:24:52,760
Speaker 1: was a bottom ten offense before the trade. He scored

509
00:24:52,760 --> 00:24:54,320
Speaker 1: twenty three points per game in Charlotte.

510
00:24:55,480 --> 00:24:56,040
Speaker 2: So here's the thing.

511
00:24:56,080 --> 00:24:58,199
Speaker 1: In summary, Do I think it's Do I think he

512
00:24:58,880 --> 00:25:01,720
Speaker 1: puts Miami on the same tier with Boston or Milwaukee. No,

513
00:25:02,640 --> 00:25:05,280
Speaker 1: but that guy wasn't really available except for Dame this

514
00:25:05,359 --> 00:25:11,199
Speaker 1: last summer, right, So you made a smaller move that

515
00:25:11,320 --> 00:25:14,679
Speaker 1: maintained some of your future flexibility, made you better in

516
00:25:14,720 --> 00:25:17,720
Speaker 1: the short run. But yeah, I mean you're gonna be

517
00:25:17,720 --> 00:25:19,640
Speaker 1: outgunned again when you get into some of these late

518
00:25:19,680 --> 00:25:23,120
Speaker 1: playoff rounds. I do think that it closes the gap

519
00:25:23,200 --> 00:25:26,879
Speaker 1: somewhat and does give Miami more of a puncher's chance.

520
00:25:27,840 --> 00:25:30,480
Speaker 1: But yeah, like, obviously we're we'd be lying to ourselves

521
00:25:30,520 --> 00:25:32,080
Speaker 1: if we think if we think Terry Rogier is the

522
00:25:32,119 --> 00:25:34,720
Speaker 1: difference between that Boston Celtics team and this Miami Heat team,

523
00:25:34,800 --> 00:25:37,320
Speaker 1: or that Milwaukee Bucks team in this Miami Heat team.

524
00:25:37,359 --> 00:25:38,120
Speaker 2: But I do like the deal.

525
00:25:38,119 --> 00:25:40,439
Speaker 1: I like the deal because it makes the Heat more interesting,

526
00:25:40,480 --> 00:25:42,480
Speaker 1: it makes them better, and it maintains their ability to

527
00:25:42,480 --> 00:25:46,679
Speaker 1: make a move in the future. Question number four, Jason,

528
00:25:46,720 --> 00:25:49,200
Speaker 1: the seventy six Ers have won six games in a row,

529
00:25:49,760 --> 00:25:52,320
Speaker 1: have the fifth best record in the league, and Joel

530
00:25:52,320 --> 00:25:55,360
Speaker 1: Embiide is having one of the best seasons in NBA history.

531
00:25:55,600 --> 00:26:02,280
Speaker 1: Why don't you take Philly more seriously as a championship tender. Okay,

532
00:26:02,280 --> 00:26:05,680
Speaker 1: first of all, I want to be clear, I think

533
00:26:05,760 --> 00:26:07,879
Speaker 1: Boston and Denver are the two best teams in the league.

534
00:26:08,760 --> 00:26:11,160
Speaker 1: I think both of them have good chances to win

535
00:26:11,200 --> 00:26:16,960
Speaker 1: the title. After that, from three Milwaukee all the way

536
00:26:17,000 --> 00:26:20,600
Speaker 1: to Golden State or whatever, as the eleventh or twelfth,

537
00:26:20,600 --> 00:26:23,280
Speaker 1: whatever you want to call in that list, they all

538
00:26:23,720 --> 00:26:25,919
Speaker 1: have a very small chance of winning the title in

539
00:26:25,920 --> 00:26:28,879
Speaker 1: my opinion, Like, what have you seen from Milwaukee that

540
00:26:28,920 --> 00:26:31,439
Speaker 1: makes you think they can beat Boston this year? Really

541
00:26:31,920 --> 00:26:35,600
Speaker 1: in the big picture, right, Like, there's a clear gap there.

542
00:26:36,359 --> 00:26:39,840
Speaker 1: So even though it's three Milwaukee and two Boston, that

543
00:26:39,880 --> 00:26:41,880
Speaker 1: doesn't mean they're right next to each other in terms

544
00:26:41,880 --> 00:26:45,200
Speaker 1: of their capability of winning a championship. Boston is significantly

545
00:26:45,280 --> 00:26:47,800
Speaker 1: more well equipped in a lot of the phases of

546
00:26:47,840 --> 00:26:50,320
Speaker 1: the game to win the title. We are now splitting

547
00:26:50,400 --> 00:26:54,920
Speaker 1: hairs between smaller chances from there. It's about sorting through

548
00:26:54,960 --> 00:26:58,840
Speaker 1: regular season noise, right. It's just something that I've talked

549
00:26:58,880 --> 00:27:01,960
Speaker 1: to you guys about on the show. There is if

550
00:27:01,960 --> 00:27:06,040
Speaker 1: you want to have a show where people are way

551
00:27:06,040 --> 00:27:06,840
Speaker 1: more invested in.

552
00:27:06,760 --> 00:27:08,640
Speaker 2: Regular season results, those shows are out there.

553
00:27:08,720 --> 00:27:10,480
Speaker 1: That's just not the way that I kind of see

554
00:27:10,920 --> 00:27:16,439
Speaker 1: the NBA championship landscape for starters. This Philly regular season

555
00:27:16,480 --> 00:27:19,639
Speaker 1: has some major caveats. Phillies' opponents have won just forty

556
00:27:19,640 --> 00:27:21,919
Speaker 1: seven point eight percent of their games. They've played the

557
00:27:22,000 --> 00:27:24,639
Speaker 1: second easiest schedule in the NBA so far this season.

558
00:27:24,880 --> 00:27:27,040
Speaker 2: That plays a big role in their record.

559
00:27:27,040 --> 00:27:29,840
Speaker 1: As a matter of fact, just nine of Phillies twenty

560
00:27:29,920 --> 00:27:31,760
Speaker 1: nine wins this year have been against teams that are

561
00:27:31,760 --> 00:27:35,080
Speaker 1: over five hundred. The Los Angeles Lakers have won eleven

562
00:27:35,200 --> 00:27:41,200
Speaker 1: such games. So like, there hasn't exactly been this overwhelming

563
00:27:41,240 --> 00:27:43,520
Speaker 1: evidence in this Philly regular season that they are a

564
00:27:43,560 --> 00:27:47,840
Speaker 1: dominant team. They're a really good team that has played

565
00:27:47,880 --> 00:27:50,840
Speaker 1: a really weak schedule, and so they look like one

566
00:27:50,880 --> 00:27:53,919
Speaker 1: of those unbelievable regular season dominant teams.

567
00:27:54,119 --> 00:27:54,359
Speaker 2: Right.

568
00:27:54,960 --> 00:27:59,959
Speaker 1: Secondly, Joel Embiid, as the best player on a playoff

569
00:28:00,080 --> 00:28:03,040
Speaker 1: team has been super underwhelming to this point in his career.

570
00:28:03,080 --> 00:28:05,760
Speaker 1: That's not a hot take. Yes, there have been injuries,

571
00:28:06,680 --> 00:28:10,880
Speaker 1: Yes shots haven't fallen, but the reality is his playoff

572
00:28:10,920 --> 00:28:15,080
Speaker 1: impact has gone down a level in his career compared

573
00:28:15,080 --> 00:28:18,399
Speaker 1: to the regular season regardless of circumstance. That's what's happened

574
00:28:18,840 --> 00:28:19,720
Speaker 1: time and time again.

575
00:28:20,280 --> 00:28:21,600
Speaker 2: That's reality. Right.

576
00:28:23,040 --> 00:28:27,240
Speaker 1: Three, Tyrese Maxey is your best perimeter player and he's

577
00:28:27,280 --> 00:28:30,679
Speaker 1: a very good young guard player I'm super excited about

578
00:28:30,720 --> 00:28:35,320
Speaker 1: in the long run. But last year, in a secondary

579
00:28:35,440 --> 00:28:39,640
Speaker 1: role off of James Harden, his true shooting percentage plummeted

580
00:28:39,680 --> 00:28:45,040
Speaker 1: by six percent compared to the regular season. Why Because

581
00:28:45,080 --> 00:28:48,280
Speaker 1: the playoffs are more physical, they're more it's more difficult

582
00:28:48,280 --> 00:28:51,560
Speaker 1: to knock down those long distant jump shots. The two

583
00:28:51,640 --> 00:28:54,320
Speaker 1: way imposition in the physicality wears you down and makes

584
00:28:54,360 --> 00:28:56,760
Speaker 1: offense harder. This is a this is not a Tyres

585
00:28:56,800 --> 00:28:59,160
Speaker 1: Maxey thing. This is a consistent thing we see. So

586
00:28:59,200 --> 00:29:01,920
Speaker 1: you combine that with his youth. Right Like, again, he

587
00:29:02,160 --> 00:29:05,560
Speaker 1: struggled transitioning from the regular season to the postseason last

588
00:29:05,600 --> 00:29:08,560
Speaker 1: year as his second option on the perimeter. Now he's

589
00:29:08,600 --> 00:29:11,200
Speaker 1: the number one option. Now he's getting the other team's

590
00:29:11,240 --> 00:29:17,280
Speaker 1: best perimeter defender in every single lineup. So it's just

591
00:29:17,320 --> 00:29:19,480
Speaker 1: a little bit more of a long shot. These kinds

592
00:29:19,480 --> 00:29:23,000
Speaker 1: of things take growing pains. Look at the guys who'll

593
00:29:23,040 --> 00:29:25,000
Speaker 1: be competing against to get out of the Eastern Conference.

594
00:29:25,280 --> 00:29:28,840
Speaker 1: He'll be going against Damian Lillard. He'll be going against

595
00:29:29,080 --> 00:29:33,680
Speaker 1: Drew Holliday and Derek White. Even Terry Rogier has played

596
00:29:33,680 --> 00:29:35,960
Speaker 1: in a Game seven of an Eastern Conference Finals against

597
00:29:36,000 --> 00:29:39,280
Speaker 1: Lebron James. Even he has been in wars that are

598
00:29:39,320 --> 00:29:44,360
Speaker 1: different than the wars that Tyres Maxy has faced. So like,

599
00:29:45,240 --> 00:29:47,880
Speaker 1: there is no singular thing I can point to with

600
00:29:47,960 --> 00:29:51,320
Speaker 1: Philly anywhere on that roster where I go, Oh, I've

601
00:29:51,360 --> 00:29:56,000
Speaker 1: seen that work in the playoffs, before there's hypotheticals like

602
00:29:56,200 --> 00:30:00,480
Speaker 1: the one point of optimism for Philly is like maybe

603
00:30:00,520 --> 00:30:04,440
Speaker 1: emb just figures it out and kills everybody, right, And

604
00:30:04,640 --> 00:30:06,520
Speaker 1: but for the record, I actually do think that will

605
00:30:06,600 --> 00:30:09,840
Speaker 1: eventually happen. I believe Joel Embiid is going to break

606
00:30:09,880 --> 00:30:15,560
Speaker 1: through in the postseason eventually, But in this singular season,

607
00:30:16,160 --> 00:30:19,000
Speaker 1: I think there are better bets. When I look at Denver,

608
00:30:19,120 --> 00:30:22,120
Speaker 1: I can literally look at like, oh, I know, Jokichen

609
00:30:22,240 --> 00:30:25,720
Speaker 1: Murray is impossible to guard, Like even Bam and Jimmy

610
00:30:25,720 --> 00:30:28,360
Speaker 1: couldn't do it. Okay, they have a five man group

611
00:30:28,400 --> 00:30:30,120
Speaker 1: that makes perfect sense that they're going to start and

612
00:30:30,160 --> 00:30:33,120
Speaker 1: close the most majority of games with. Okay, that makes sense.

613
00:30:33,400 --> 00:30:36,400
Speaker 1: I know their late gaming execution works in the postseason. Okay,

614
00:30:36,680 --> 00:30:39,320
Speaker 1: I know Contavious Colwell, Pope and Aaron Gordon can guard

615
00:30:39,360 --> 00:30:41,280
Speaker 1: the opposing best players and do a really good job.

616
00:30:42,680 --> 00:30:46,400
Speaker 1: That's just a way way safer bet than those question

617
00:30:46,480 --> 00:30:48,800
Speaker 1: marks have talked about with Philly Boston. They have the

618
00:30:48,840 --> 00:30:52,400
Speaker 1: most talented roster in the league, and even with Tatum's limitations,

619
00:30:52,640 --> 00:30:55,320
Speaker 1: he's clearly been a better playoff player than Joel Embiid

620
00:30:55,320 --> 00:30:57,800
Speaker 1: to this point. So I have a more talented team

621
00:30:58,080 --> 00:30:59,960
Speaker 1: and a guy in Jason Tatum who's been a better

622
00:31:00,040 --> 00:31:03,960
Speaker 1: playoff player than Joel Embiid. That's pretty significant when I'm

623
00:31:03,960 --> 00:31:08,080
Speaker 1: weighing title chances between Boston and Philly Milwaukee. Giannis is

624
00:31:08,120 --> 00:31:10,480
Speaker 1: a much better playoff player than Joel Embiid. And I

625
00:31:10,560 --> 00:31:13,880
Speaker 1: trust Dame more as a playoff initiator than I trust

626
00:31:13,920 --> 00:31:18,360
Speaker 1: Tyres Maxy. That's pretty clear cut. Guys number four, the Clippers,

627
00:31:18,680 --> 00:31:22,640
Speaker 1: they have their question marks, but I know Kawhi works

628
00:31:22,680 --> 00:31:25,560
Speaker 1: in the playoffs, and this is the best talented roster

629
00:31:25,880 --> 00:31:28,000
Speaker 1: that I've seen around Kawhi in a playoff runt. That

630
00:31:28,080 --> 00:31:31,560
Speaker 1: to me is a safe for bet. The Los Angeles Lakers.

631
00:31:31,720 --> 00:31:35,400
Speaker 1: Anthony Davis has proven himself to be a better playoff

632
00:31:35,400 --> 00:31:38,600
Speaker 1: player than Joel Embiid. That's just a fact. And I

633
00:31:38,720 --> 00:31:41,120
Speaker 1: know Lebron James is going to find a way to

634
00:31:41,160 --> 00:31:44,840
Speaker 1: be impactful in that stage if he's healthy. Specifically, I've

635
00:31:44,960 --> 00:31:47,600
Speaker 1: seen Lebron James and Anthony Davis when a lot of

636
00:31:47,600 --> 00:31:50,560
Speaker 1: playoff series make two conference finals in a hoist the

637
00:31:50,640 --> 00:31:51,720
Speaker 1: Larry O'Brien Trophy.

638
00:31:51,840 --> 00:31:53,560
Speaker 2: I know that works.

639
00:31:55,600 --> 00:31:59,040
Speaker 1: Even after that is where you start to see why

640
00:31:59,080 --> 00:32:01,480
Speaker 1: I have Philly above, It's like, Okay, Minnesota, you're betting

641
00:32:01,480 --> 00:32:03,920
Speaker 1: on a twenty two year old and Anthony Edwards and

642
00:32:04,080 --> 00:32:08,640
Speaker 1: Karl Anthony Towns to out execute experienced superstars in a

643
00:32:08,640 --> 00:32:12,400
Speaker 1: slow down playoff game series. Yeah, that to me is

644
00:32:12,400 --> 00:32:14,400
Speaker 1: a big question mark the Thunder. They're young and small.

645
00:32:14,440 --> 00:32:17,480
Speaker 1: That's like a death sentence in the NBA postseason the heat.

646
00:32:17,680 --> 00:32:20,200
Speaker 1: No matter how good Jimmy and Bamar, they always end

647
00:32:20,280 --> 00:32:22,959
Speaker 1: up out gunned from a talent perspective when they get

648
00:32:23,000 --> 00:32:25,840
Speaker 1: to the later rounds. Honestly, the one team that I

649
00:32:25,840 --> 00:32:28,200
Speaker 1: have to kind of reevaluate as it pertains to Philly

650
00:32:28,280 --> 00:32:31,480
Speaker 1: is Phoenix. Phoenix is on my radar is a team

651
00:32:31,480 --> 00:32:34,640
Speaker 1: that we need to kind of reevaluate. They've played fourteen

652
00:32:34,680 --> 00:32:36,640
Speaker 1: straight games with Bradley Beal in the lineup and they're

653
00:32:36,640 --> 00:32:39,719
Speaker 1: eleven and three in that group of games. So like,

654
00:32:40,120 --> 00:32:41,960
Speaker 1: and we know Kevin Durant and Devin Booker can score

655
00:32:42,000 --> 00:32:44,680
Speaker 1: in the postseason, So Phoenix I need to reevaluate. We're

656
00:32:44,720 --> 00:32:46,640
Speaker 1: gonna do a deep dive on them soon and probably

657
00:32:46,640 --> 00:32:51,240
Speaker 1: move them significantly higher up on the list. But even

658
00:32:51,280 --> 00:32:53,880
Speaker 1: with them, it's like they're small and they're just a

659
00:32:53,920 --> 00:32:56,560
Speaker 1: worse version of the Clippers and Celtics. So it just

660
00:32:56,600 --> 00:32:59,680
Speaker 1: feels like an incredible long shot that they would suddenly

661
00:33:00,120 --> 00:33:01,920
Speaker 1: just rise above the pile and end up poisting the

662
00:33:01,960 --> 00:33:03,640
Speaker 1: trophy at the end of the day. But again, like

663
00:33:04,120 --> 00:33:06,680
Speaker 1: the way I do things on this show is I'm

664
00:33:06,720 --> 00:33:11,360
Speaker 1: looking for playoff like specific trends that I know work

665
00:33:11,400 --> 00:33:13,480
Speaker 1: in the playoffs. Why do you think I haven't written

666
00:33:13,480 --> 00:33:16,160
Speaker 1: off the Warriors. I'm like, Oh, Steph works in the playoffs.

667
00:33:16,640 --> 00:33:20,360
Speaker 1: Make a couple, make a couple of roster tweaks, Draymond

668
00:33:20,360 --> 00:33:22,880
Speaker 1: gets back in the lineup and fixes the defense. You know,

669
00:33:24,320 --> 00:33:26,760
Speaker 1: maybe they get rid of some of the younger players

670
00:33:26,800 --> 00:33:28,800
Speaker 1: that are kind of disrupting chemistry. Maybe things turn around,

671
00:33:28,840 --> 00:33:30,880
Speaker 1: and it's like, I know Steph works in the playoffs.

672
00:33:31,320 --> 00:33:35,440
Speaker 1: I know it does. It worked last year's they beat

673
00:33:35,480 --> 00:33:38,880
Speaker 1: the Kings and it took a super like a struggling

674
00:33:38,880 --> 00:33:41,280
Speaker 1: Warriors team to a sixth game against the Lakers. It

675
00:33:41,320 --> 00:33:43,520
Speaker 1: worked when they hoisted the trophy in twenty twenty two,

676
00:33:44,240 --> 00:33:47,000
Speaker 1: It worked the last time everyone was healthy in twenty nineteen.

677
00:33:47,680 --> 00:33:52,320
Speaker 2: Right, So, like I.

678
00:33:50,560 --> 00:33:53,120
Speaker 1: I'm always going to look for those trends that I

679
00:33:53,200 --> 00:33:55,520
Speaker 1: know work in the postseason. When I look at Philly,

680
00:33:55,840 --> 00:33:58,320
Speaker 1: I see a team with a great record that only

681
00:33:58,360 --> 00:34:01,160
Speaker 1: has nine wins against team that are above five hundred,

682
00:34:01,640 --> 00:34:05,320
Speaker 1: with a with their best player being a historical playoff

683
00:34:05,400 --> 00:34:09,360
Speaker 1: underachiever and a very young guard who is their primary

684
00:34:09,400 --> 00:34:13,480
Speaker 1: playoff initiator. That's a lot of question marks and there

685
00:34:13,560 --> 00:34:15,719
Speaker 1: is no singular thing you can point to where you're

686
00:34:15,760 --> 00:34:21,240
Speaker 1: like that I know works, and so they're a long shot.

687
00:34:22,440 --> 00:34:26,479
Speaker 1: But again, before Philly fans get upset, everybody's a long shot.

688
00:34:26,480 --> 00:34:29,320
Speaker 1: In my opinion, outside of the top two teams. I

689
00:34:29,360 --> 00:34:33,400
Speaker 1: think we're getting to Denver Boston finals. That's what I

690
00:34:33,400 --> 00:34:36,640
Speaker 1: think we're getting. But all of these other teams have

691
00:34:36,719 --> 00:34:37,360
Speaker 1: a long shot.

692
00:34:37,400 --> 00:34:37,879
Speaker 2: You can see.

693
00:34:37,920 --> 00:34:40,920
Speaker 1: It's like, oh, Milwaukee, what if Damon Giann has just

694
00:34:40,960 --> 00:34:44,160
Speaker 1: become completely unguardable and they defend well enough. What if

695
00:34:44,239 --> 00:34:47,000
Speaker 1: Lebron James and Anthony Davis are healthy, they're re engaged,

696
00:34:47,160 --> 00:34:48,840
Speaker 1: they do exactly what they did last year and just

697
00:34:48,880 --> 00:34:51,000
Speaker 1: bully their way to the conference finals and maybe somehow

698
00:34:51,040 --> 00:34:54,239
Speaker 1: they upset Denver right like the Clippers. It's like everyone say,

699
00:34:54,239 --> 00:34:57,160
Speaker 1: he's healthy, James Harden has his best playoff run as

700
00:34:57,200 --> 00:34:59,839
Speaker 1: he's getting the third best perimeter defender on every group,

701
00:34:59,840 --> 00:35:02,319
Speaker 1: and Kawhi Leonard just cyborgs his way to the NBA

702
00:35:02,400 --> 00:35:04,880
Speaker 1: Finals and somehow they beat Boston. Like, you can draw

703
00:35:04,920 --> 00:35:07,480
Speaker 1: a line for these teams, but they're all long shots.

704
00:35:08,000 --> 00:35:09,719
Speaker 1: And I'm just saying some of these long shots are

705
00:35:09,719 --> 00:35:12,680
Speaker 1: better long shots than Philly for the reasons that I

706
00:35:12,960 --> 00:35:18,320
Speaker 1: laid out for you guys, all right. Fourth question, Jason

707
00:35:18,400 --> 00:35:22,000
Speaker 1: D'Angelo Russell is averaging twenty seven points and seven assists

708
00:35:22,000 --> 00:35:24,600
Speaker 1: on fifty four percent from the field fifty one percent

709
00:35:24,640 --> 00:35:27,840
Speaker 1: from three, ninety four percent from the line over his

710
00:35:27,960 --> 00:35:31,040
Speaker 1: last six games since rejoining the starting lineup. What does

711
00:35:31,080 --> 00:35:35,759
Speaker 1: this mean for the Lakers in the approaching trade deadline? Now,

712
00:35:35,760 --> 00:35:38,239
Speaker 1: first of all, I've been saying for a while that

713
00:35:38,360 --> 00:35:40,960
Speaker 1: Dangel Russell is a very good basketball player who's just

714
00:35:41,000 --> 00:35:44,760
Speaker 1: a poor use of resources for the Lakers. Here's why.

715
00:35:45,719 --> 00:35:48,600
Speaker 1: For a six game stretch in January, when you get

716
00:35:48,600 --> 00:35:51,319
Speaker 1: to play three teams that are below five hundred, he's

717
00:35:51,360 --> 00:35:54,160
Speaker 1: an awesome innings zeter I said this before the season.

718
00:35:54,160 --> 00:35:55,720
Speaker 1: One of the reasons why I actually thought the Lakers

719
00:35:55,719 --> 00:35:57,560
Speaker 1: would be a better regular season team than they were

720
00:35:57,760 --> 00:36:01,000
Speaker 1: is I'm like, oh, D'Angelo Russell. Forget about the playoff stuff.

721
00:36:01,239 --> 00:36:04,640
Speaker 1: The dude's great for regular season basketball. You can have

722
00:36:04,719 --> 00:36:08,400
Speaker 1: him until February help them win a lot of games. So, like,

723
00:36:08,560 --> 00:36:12,200
Speaker 1: I already knew that DLO could do this, right, But

724
00:36:12,360 --> 00:36:15,840
Speaker 1: two things are true. One, you're not running your offense

725
00:36:15,880 --> 00:36:18,160
Speaker 1: through d Lo in the playoffs. We just know that

726
00:36:18,239 --> 00:36:21,680
Speaker 1: when he runs into like really athletic and physical teams,

727
00:36:22,080 --> 00:36:25,719
Speaker 1: his ability to make shots and a drive advantage situations

728
00:36:25,719 --> 00:36:28,280
Speaker 1: goes down a big level, right. And then two, Lebron

729
00:36:28,320 --> 00:36:29,920
Speaker 1: and ad are just going to take more control in

730
00:36:29,960 --> 00:36:33,719
Speaker 1: those situations. So all of a sudden, that specific thing

731
00:36:33,719 --> 00:36:37,040
Speaker 1: that Dlo's great at becomes significantly less valuable when we

732
00:36:37,040 --> 00:36:40,600
Speaker 1: get into April and May. And then two, his athleticism

733
00:36:40,800 --> 00:36:44,200
Speaker 1: or lack thereof, and his lack of focus on defense

734
00:36:44,320 --> 00:36:47,239
Speaker 1: causes his impact in the other areas of game to

735
00:36:47,280 --> 00:36:51,320
Speaker 1: go down, especially when he's not scoring twenty seven points. Right,

736
00:36:52,600 --> 00:36:53,880
Speaker 1: So what is his value?

737
00:36:53,880 --> 00:36:56,239
Speaker 2: Then? What is the with dl and what he brings

738
00:36:56,280 --> 00:36:57,520
Speaker 2: to the table. What is his value?

739
00:36:57,600 --> 00:37:00,920
Speaker 1: Ideally for a championship level team, you'd want him to

740
00:37:00,920 --> 00:37:02,840
Speaker 1: be your sixth man, the guy who'd come in and

741
00:37:02,960 --> 00:37:06,719
Speaker 1: run the offense for your bench groups. But then the

742
00:37:06,800 --> 00:37:09,880
Speaker 1: question becomes, do you want to use a seventeen million

743
00:37:09,920 --> 00:37:15,120
Speaker 1: dollars salary slot on a sixth man while you're also

744
00:37:15,360 --> 00:37:17,680
Speaker 1: not nearly good enough at the two in the three

745
00:37:18,440 --> 00:37:20,520
Speaker 1: to compete with the best teams in the league, Because

746
00:37:20,520 --> 00:37:22,160
Speaker 1: that's the thing before you go, oh, Jason Dilo is

747
00:37:22,160 --> 00:37:26,240
Speaker 1: a starter. We've talked about this, Austin de Loo, Torreon. Fine,

748
00:37:26,280 --> 00:37:28,799
Speaker 1: for the regular season, you're not beating the best teams

749
00:37:28,800 --> 00:37:30,359
Speaker 1: in the league in a seven game series if that's

750
00:37:30,360 --> 00:37:34,279
Speaker 1: your one, two, three, So to me, in a championship team,

751
00:37:34,560 --> 00:37:38,919
Speaker 1: DL is a sixth man. But you're using seventeen million

752
00:37:38,920 --> 00:37:40,799
Speaker 1: dollars in salary and a six man when you've got

753
00:37:40,840 --> 00:37:43,640
Speaker 1: a guy making the biannual exception in Torrian Prince playing

754
00:37:43,680 --> 00:37:45,960
Speaker 1: the three, and you've spent most of the season with

755
00:37:46,000 --> 00:37:48,840
Speaker 1: a two guard named Cam Reddish who's a veteran minimum

756
00:37:48,840 --> 00:37:49,919
Speaker 1: guy playing right.

757
00:37:50,320 --> 00:37:51,560
Speaker 2: You need upgrades there.

758
00:37:53,080 --> 00:37:55,880
Speaker 1: So it doesn't make sense to have that seventeen million

759
00:37:55,880 --> 00:37:58,879
Speaker 1: dollars sixth man unless you already have your core five down,

760
00:37:58,920 --> 00:38:03,239
Speaker 1: which the Lakers do not. Becomes a misallocation of resources.

761
00:38:03,320 --> 00:38:05,680
Speaker 1: Right then you start to ask yourself, would I be

762
00:38:05,719 --> 00:38:09,719
Speaker 1: better off, if I had Gabe Vincent just kind of

763
00:38:09,920 --> 00:38:12,239
Speaker 1: when he gets back from his injury takeover is like

764
00:38:12,280 --> 00:38:14,560
Speaker 1: that bench guard who kind of leads that point of

765
00:38:14,560 --> 00:38:17,280
Speaker 1: the offense and use the Angela Russell as a vehicle

766
00:38:17,320 --> 00:38:22,560
Speaker 1: to upgrade the two in the three. So let's look

767
00:38:22,600 --> 00:38:25,920
Speaker 1: at the second half of this. Bud Jason d Loo

768
00:38:26,160 --> 00:38:30,720
Speaker 1: is better than Austin reeves, why not trade Austin, Because

769
00:38:30,719 --> 00:38:33,360
Speaker 1: that's the thing if we're talking about it, is Austin

770
00:38:33,440 --> 00:38:36,400
Speaker 1: Dilo Torreon is not good enough and we need to

771
00:38:36,480 --> 00:38:40,360
Speaker 1: upgrade something in there. And I've got these two skill guards. Okay,

772
00:38:40,400 --> 00:38:42,400
Speaker 1: what if I trade Austin and I have d Lo

773
00:38:42,560 --> 00:38:44,719
Speaker 1: as my one and then I upgrade the two in

774
00:38:44,719 --> 00:38:47,440
Speaker 1: the three somehow. Well, there's several reasons why that's not

775
00:38:47,480 --> 00:38:52,080
Speaker 1: the right approach. One, Austin has clearly demonstrated himself to

776
00:38:52,080 --> 00:38:58,040
Speaker 1: be a better playoff player with more matchup resiliency. He's

777
00:38:58,120 --> 00:39:01,360
Speaker 1: just better at doing the little things. So when Lebron

778
00:39:01,400 --> 00:39:04,000
Speaker 1: and Ad kind of command the offense, he's a better

779
00:39:04,040 --> 00:39:08,239
Speaker 1: connective piece. He's a better like playing passing lanes, he's

780
00:39:08,239 --> 00:39:12,880
Speaker 1: better at taking charges, he's better at you know, attacking closeouts,

781
00:39:12,920 --> 00:39:15,080
Speaker 1: and just kind of being that connective piece on offense, right, Like,

782
00:39:15,120 --> 00:39:17,279
Speaker 1: he just finds a way to be more impactful in

783
00:39:17,320 --> 00:39:20,600
Speaker 1: a smaller role, Whereas with d Lo, it's like, if

784
00:39:20,640 --> 00:39:23,680
Speaker 1: you give him the keys of the offense in January,

785
00:39:23,920 --> 00:39:27,600
Speaker 1: he's obviously better than Austin at that. But once the

786
00:39:27,640 --> 00:39:29,640
Speaker 1: athleticism goes up and Lebron and ad have to play

787
00:39:29,680 --> 00:39:31,360
Speaker 1: vullyball more and all these other things change all of

788
00:39:31,400 --> 00:39:33,759
Speaker 1: a sudden, Austin's impact goes up a level. And I

789
00:39:33,760 --> 00:39:36,439
Speaker 1: say matchup resiliency because no matter who the Lakers played

790
00:39:36,480 --> 00:39:38,480
Speaker 1: last year, you never felt like you were bad with

791
00:39:38,560 --> 00:39:42,520
Speaker 1: Austin on the floor, But with d Lo, it was

792
00:39:42,600 --> 00:39:45,080
Speaker 1: like some nights it worked, some nights it didn't. Some

793
00:39:45,200 --> 00:39:47,399
Speaker 1: matchups it worked, some matchups that did it. So that's

794
00:39:47,440 --> 00:39:51,239
Speaker 1: reason number one. Secondly, Austin's salary is lower, so it's

795
00:39:51,280 --> 00:39:53,319
Speaker 1: just harder to use a salary filler. You'd have to

796
00:39:53,360 --> 00:39:55,640
Speaker 1: include more players if you want to go get a

797
00:39:55,640 --> 00:39:57,680
Speaker 1: good player. Austin makes twelve million, what are you going

798
00:39:57,719 --> 00:40:00,480
Speaker 1: to do for the rest of the salary? There makes

799
00:40:00,520 --> 00:40:03,600
Speaker 1: seventeen and change. That's just bigger. It's a bigger number

800
00:40:03,680 --> 00:40:06,239
Speaker 1: to fill up more of that salary. Filler gap and

801
00:40:06,280 --> 00:40:09,280
Speaker 1: then third, Austin is just more important to the future

802
00:40:09,280 --> 00:40:12,040
Speaker 1: of the Lakers. He's a couple of years younger, he

803
00:40:12,160 --> 00:40:15,680
Speaker 1: just signed a four year contract extension on an affordable number,

804
00:40:15,680 --> 00:40:19,080
Speaker 1: whereas Dlo will become an expiring contract next year. He's

805
00:40:19,120 --> 00:40:24,440
Speaker 1: just more value. That's why nbagms are asking for Austin

806
00:40:24,520 --> 00:40:27,320
Speaker 1: in these trades. They view him as a more valuable asset,

807
00:40:27,880 --> 00:40:30,640
Speaker 1: which is why the Lakers would prefer to keep it right. So,

808
00:40:30,680 --> 00:40:33,960
Speaker 1: it really is this simple. We know Austin Dilo Torrian

809
00:40:34,080 --> 00:40:35,960
Speaker 1: is too small and unathletic to compete with the best

810
00:40:35,960 --> 00:40:38,279
Speaker 1: teams in the league. We know an upgrade has to

811
00:40:38,280 --> 00:40:41,080
Speaker 1: be made somewhere in that group. DLO is simply the

812
00:40:41,080 --> 00:40:44,480
Speaker 1: best vehicle with which to make that happen. Now, maybe

813
00:40:44,520 --> 00:40:46,920
Speaker 1: the Lakers will change their mind and trade Austin instead

814
00:40:46,960 --> 00:40:49,600
Speaker 1: because Delo is playing really well. I personally think that

815
00:40:49,600 --> 00:40:52,200
Speaker 1: would be a mistake, but hopefully that kind of breaks

816
00:40:52,200 --> 00:40:54,680
Speaker 1: it down. Like I never thought Dilo wasn't capable of this.

817
00:40:55,000 --> 00:40:57,759
Speaker 1: I never thought Dilo wasn't a good player. I just

818
00:40:57,800 --> 00:41:00,920
Speaker 1: look at him as the obvious vehicle via his salary,

819
00:41:01,040 --> 00:41:03,719
Speaker 1: via the length of his contract, via some of his

820
00:41:03,800 --> 00:41:07,680
Speaker 1: playoff limitations and via his redundancy with Austin, I viewed

821
00:41:07,719 --> 00:41:12,280
Speaker 1: him as the clear opportunity or the vehicle I should

822
00:41:12,280 --> 00:41:16,359
Speaker 1: say to make an improvement in that starting five. All right, guys,

823
00:41:16,360 --> 00:41:17,680
Speaker 1: that's all I have for this episode. We're gonna be

824
00:41:17,719 --> 00:41:21,560
Speaker 1: back later this afternoon with our breakdown with Jovon Buja

825
00:41:21,600 --> 00:41:24,040
Speaker 1: and some of the dramas arounding the Lakers around the deadline,

826
00:41:24,440 --> 00:41:26,560
Speaker 1: and then we'll have some more stuff tomorrow, game breakdowns

827
00:41:26,560 --> 00:41:28,520
Speaker 1: from tonight's games. As always, I appreciate you, guys, and

828
00:41:28,520 --> 00:41:57,520
Speaker 1: I'll see you that the volume