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Speaker 1: All right, welcome to tonight here at the Volume. Happy Thursday, everybody.
Speaker 1: I hopeful if you guys are having a great week so far.
Speaker 1: We are live on AMPS, so if you're watching on
Speaker 1: YouTube or listening on the podcast feeds, don't forget that
Speaker 1: AMP is the very first place that you can get
Speaker 1: these shows. We're continuing our Power Rankings today, covering the
Speaker 1: Cleveland Cavaliers with a full season preview. And then I've
Speaker 1: got two mailback questions, and then I want to kind
Speaker 1: of follow up on my Damian Lillard take from the
Speaker 1: other day. You guys know the Joe Porta. Get started.
Speaker 1: Subscribe to our YouTube channel, follow me on Twitter at
Speaker 1: Underscore Jason lt don't forget about our podcast feed under
Speaker 1: Hoops tonight, and I need mailback questions, so drop those
Speaker 1: in the YouTube comments for us to hit at the
Speaker 1: end of our shows. All right, let's talk some basketball,
Speaker 1: so really quick before I go up front. I don't
Speaker 1: know how this happened, but they got switched. I had
Speaker 1: the Knicks at fourteen and the Calves at thirteen. That
Speaker 1: should be reversed. I intended for the Knicks to be
Speaker 1: above the Calves, So consider the Calves at fourteenth on
Speaker 1: my list, and consider the Knicks at thirteen. But I
Speaker 1: could care less about the order for all intents and purposes.
Speaker 1: I'd rather just dive into the teams and talk about
Speaker 1: some basketball. So let's do that today. So obviously, the
Speaker 1: Calves had a lot of roster turnover this summer, specifically
Speaker 1: designed to address their biggest roster weakness, which was shooting.
Speaker 1: But I want to take a second differentiate between what
Speaker 1: was the biggest weakness on paper or in process during
Speaker 1: the regular season versus why they lost to the Knicks,
Speaker 1: because I think they're very different, and I think that
Speaker 1: if you move only to address that big picture flaw
Speaker 1: in weakness, you could overlook the real reason why they
Speaker 1: were losing, and those reasons are reasons that are not
Speaker 1: gonna go away just because you brought in some guys
Speaker 1: that can knock down some threes. Because here's the thing,
Speaker 1: shooting is definitely their biggest weakness in the big in
Speaker 1: the big picture. But that's not why they lost to
Speaker 1: the Knicks. In fact, they made thirty seven percent of
Speaker 1: their catch and shoot threes in that series. That's perfectly fine.
Speaker 1: There were nine playoff teams, nine of the sixteen teams
Speaker 1: that shot worse in their spot up situations. The Cavs
Speaker 1: converted spot up possessions in the Knick series at one
Speaker 1: point two points per possession. That's not just good, that's
Speaker 1: off the charts good. That was the second best mark
Speaker 1: out of any of the sixteen playoff teams last year.
Speaker 1: So hitting open guys and them not being able to
Speaker 1: make shots, that's not why you lost to the Knicks.
Speaker 1: Bringing in Max Struce and George's kneeang as guys that
Speaker 1: can make threes is not going to fix that problem.
Speaker 1: They lost this series in five games. Three of the
Speaker 1: four losses didn't even involve a clutch situation. I mean,
Speaker 1: they couldn't even get it within five points with five
Speaker 1: minutes left. They got smacked. So why why did they
Speaker 1: get smacked? That's the important thing that needs to be
Speaker 1: diagnosed here. I had three main reasons that I put down,
Speaker 1: and I talked about all three of these during the series,
Speaker 1: but I actually went back and watched a bunch of
Speaker 1: the series this morning and they stood out to me again. Now,
Speaker 1: reason number one by far the biggest reason why the
Speaker 1: Knicks kicked the Cavs ass last year, and I bet
Speaker 1: you Cavs fans can probably guess this. They're bigs. Evan
Speaker 1: Mobley and Jared Allen got their ass kicked. Mitchell Robinson
Speaker 1: absolutely obliterated them on the glass. He had twenty nine
Speaker 1: offensive rebounds in five games. To give you an idea,
Speaker 1: Evan Mobley and Jared Allen combined between the two of
Speaker 1: them to get already offensive rebounds, so Mitchell Robinson almost
Speaker 1: had as many offensive rebounds by himself. And then, as
Speaker 1: I predicted before the series, Evan Mobley struggled a little
Speaker 1: bit with the physicality of Julius Randall because he's just
Speaker 1: so much bigger than him that he can dislodge him
Speaker 1: when he beats him to spots. Isaiah Hartenstein killed him
Speaker 1: on the glass two. As a team, the Knicks had
Speaker 1: seventy five offensive rebounds in five games. That's unheard of.
Speaker 1: That is unbelievably good. But here's the problem. We're just
Speaker 1: talking about the glass here. It actually got worse because
Speaker 1: the Cavs were a excellent pick and roll team in
Speaker 1: the regular season, as we know, we're gonna talk about
Speaker 1: that a lot today, but as we pointed out, when
Speaker 1: they kicked it out to shooters in this series, they
Speaker 1: actually made shots. And you know, part of the kind
Speaker 1: of plot line in that series was like, oh, we
Speaker 1: know the Knicks are gonna ignore Isaacacorro and they're gonna
Speaker 1: ignore Lamar Stevens, and they're gonna force them into taking,
Speaker 1: you know, a tough shots in pick and roll. Right. Well,
Speaker 1: the biggest problem was actually the role men. The Calves
Speaker 1: as a team logged thirty seven roleman possessions in the series,
Speaker 1: and they converted them into just eighteen points. That's zero
Speaker 1: point four to nine points per possession. Here's how bad
Speaker 1: that was. Twelve of the sixteen playoff teams last year
Speaker 1: were over a point per possession in rollman possessions. Minnesota,
Speaker 1: Brooklyn and the Clippers were the only three teams that
Speaker 1: were below a point, and all three of them were
Speaker 1: over zero points seventy five points over three quarters of
Speaker 1: a point. The Calves were less than half of a point.
Speaker 1: Evan Mobley by himself had thirteen rollman possessions that he
Speaker 1: converted into one point a free throw. He was zero
Speaker 1: for ten from the field. And this is where the
Speaker 1: actual kind of organization of the team got screwed up,
Speaker 1: because what was happening was is Julius Randall's guarding Evan Mobley.
Speaker 1: You're on a pick and roll with Darius Garland or
Speaker 1: Donovan Mitchell. Julius Randall is showing high to stop the
Speaker 1: pull up jump shot, and so the slip is wide open,
Speaker 1: and they're throwing that pass over the top to Evan Mobley,
Speaker 1: who's catching the ball wide open in the middle of
Speaker 1: the floor. And every single time you've got Jared Allen
Speaker 1: standing there in the dunker spot ready to go up.
Speaker 1: Mitchell Robinson would just hang back and kind of bait
Speaker 1: Evan Mobley into come in into him, and then as
Speaker 1: he would jump, he would time it perfectly meet him
Speaker 1: up top and force him into a tough floater over
Speaker 1: the top, which he literally could not make. He too
Speaker 1: frequently missed that lob pass to Jared Allen or couldn't
Speaker 1: figure out a way to bait Mitchell Robinson into committing
Speaker 1: so that he could make that pass, and then when
Speaker 1: they would dig down from the weak side too often
Speaker 1: he missed the kickout pass. So the math from there
Speaker 1: is pretty simple. You can put it together. So if
Speaker 1: you're allowing the other team to show high on ball
Speaker 1: screens but not punishing them on the short roll, like
Speaker 1: literally not ever scoring in the short role, then you're
Speaker 1: gonna get killed and pick and roll offensively right like
Speaker 1: you're you're gonna take what was one of the most
Speaker 1: effective pick and roll offenses in the league in the
Speaker 1: regular season, and it's gonna completely fall apart the way
Speaker 1: it did against the Knicks. And so that was the
Speaker 1: first big reason and by far the biggest reason why
Speaker 1: they lost that series. Their bigs got their ass kicked
Speaker 1: on the offensive glass, and their bigs couldn't do enough
Speaker 1: to be a threat and pick and roll in the
Speaker 1: dunker spot and as a role man. So that's reason
Speaker 1: number one. The other two reasons came down to the guards.
Speaker 1: Both Darius Garland and Donovan Mitchell I thought missed too
Speaker 1: many of those kickout opportunities. Donovan Mitchell in particular had
Speaker 1: a rough series in this regard. When I was watching
Speaker 1: the tape this morning, it's crazy how many reads he missed,
Speaker 1: not just like skip passes the shooters, but like he
Speaker 1: straight up missed Jared Allen for dunks a bunch of
Speaker 1: times in that series underneath the basket, and like tried
Speaker 1: to force something up over Mitchell Robinson that he would miss.
Speaker 1: And you know, again, like we talked about, they had
Speaker 1: one point two points per possession and spot up situations.
Speaker 1: That's great, but they didn't get as many of those
Speaker 1: possessions as they should have because the reads weren't being made.
Speaker 1: And part of that's frustration. I really think that it's
Speaker 1: a common thing that basketball players will do. A really
Speaker 1: really good basketball player, when they're frustrated by something that's
Speaker 1: happening around them that's out of their control, they'll respond
Speaker 1: by forcing the issue. And both of them took a
Speaker 1: lot of really tough shots that they probably didn't need
Speaker 1: to take over the course of that series, and so
Speaker 1: offensive process was kind of the second reason and then
Speaker 1: the third reason was the defensive entry points. And a
Speaker 1: lot of people are gonna want to say Cheddy Osmond,
Speaker 1: and don't get me wrong, Cheddy Osmond was an issue.
Speaker 1: Jalen Brunston picked on him relentlessly and then whatever was
Speaker 1: you think he played like nineteen minutes a game in
Speaker 1: that series, But it wasn't just him. The reality is
Speaker 1: is that every single time a Cleveland Cavalier ball handler
Speaker 1: looked up and saw Darius Garland on them, their eyes
Speaker 1: lit up. It'd be like, you know, Jalen Brunson seeing
Speaker 1: that he's got Darius Garland on him and immediately taking
Speaker 1: him to work, or you know r J. Barrett would
Speaker 1: catch on the left wing or in the left corner
Speaker 1: and be like, oh shit, Darius Garland's on me. Hard
Speaker 1: ripped through the left easy layup like that. That's an
Speaker 1: entry point that's gonna be a problem when you have
Speaker 1: two small guards, one of which is bad defensively and
Speaker 1: the other is average at best. It's kind of a
Speaker 1: roster alignment issue. And so again, like it's important to
Speaker 1: differentiate between what their big picture issues were in the
Speaker 1: regular season and why they lost to the Knicks. The
Speaker 1: reason why they lost to the Knicks had very little
Speaker 1: to do with their role players. It's easy to focus
Speaker 1: on role players because it allows you to avoid big
Speaker 1: picture conversations. Right, And let's look at this Cavs offseason.
Speaker 1: They went and got a bunch of shooting, right, It's
Speaker 1: clear that they view the role players as the reason
Speaker 1: why things went the way they did. And that is
Speaker 1: the easier solution, because it's much harder to sit down
Speaker 1: as a front office and be like, Hey, do you
Speaker 1: know why Evan Mobley had to contend with Mitchell Robinson
Speaker 1: every single time he caught on the short role. Oh,
Speaker 1: we're running a two big offense in twenty twenty three.
Speaker 1: And for the record, they have to right now, right
Speaker 1: because Jared Allen is your only guy that can play
Speaker 1: starting center, because Evan Mobley right now is a little
Speaker 1: too thin and not quite ready for that type of
Speaker 1: physical responsibility, right, and Evan Mobley is a limited offensive
Speaker 1: player at this point. Let's just put it straight up.
Speaker 1: So for the record, Evan Mobley was the very worst
Speaker 1: spot up player in the entire NBA last year. There
Speaker 1: were one hundred and eighty two players who attempted at
Speaker 1: least one hundred and fifty spot up possessions. Last year,
Speaker 1: Evan Mobley scored zero point six to one points per
Speaker 1: possession in those situations, which was dead last in that group.
Speaker 1: So at a low volume limit one hundred and fifty reps,
Speaker 1: almost half the league had that many, one hundred and
Speaker 1: eighty two players, he was dead last. So you can't
Speaker 1: put him in the corner and have Jared Allen run
Speaker 1: screens because you don't have to guard him out there.
Speaker 1: And so as a result, you have to run this
Speaker 1: Jankee system or Evan Mobley set in the ball screens
Speaker 1: and he rolls hard to the rim and Jared Allen
Speaker 1: is waiting in the dunker spot and you hope Evan
Speaker 1: Mobley can make plays. Here's the problem. In the regular
Speaker 1: season that works pretty well, but you're run into a
Speaker 1: good playoff defense. And here's the thing. The Knicks were
Speaker 1: not even that good of a defense. I think there
Speaker 1: were nineteenth in defensive rating last year. Now it's about
Speaker 1: matchups because the Cavs are are typically not a good
Speaker 1: spot up team, even though they were in that series.
Speaker 1: And so Tom Thibodeaux is allowed to and able to
Speaker 1: kind of pack the paint in a certain way and yeah,
Speaker 1: maybe there's a matchup they could have caught somewhere along
Speaker 1: the way where they would have fared better in pick
Speaker 1: and roll. But I would argue, if your intention is
Speaker 1: to get out of the Eastern Conference and have a
Speaker 1: chance to win the championship, you're not ever going to
Speaker 1: do that when you've got two guys on the floor
Speaker 1: that are non threats offensively. And I'm again, I'm a
Speaker 1: huge believer in Evan Mobley in the long run. I'm
Speaker 1: not trying to sit here and be super critical of
Speaker 1: Evan Moble hes he just finished his second season as
Speaker 1: a pro. But like, now you're starting to see some
Speaker 1: of the imbalances, right because you have this system built
Speaker 1: around two small guards and two bigs. That's the other Like,
Speaker 1: that's another big picture question that you'd have to have.
Speaker 1: Are you gonna sit down in the front office and
Speaker 1: be like, is there, uh, is it a good idea
Speaker 1: to have our two best shot creators, the two guys
Speaker 1: we lean on most offensively that we have to play
Speaker 1: together a lot, be two small guards, one of which
Speaker 1: is a bad defender and the other is average at
Speaker 1: best and most of the time bad. Like that's that's
Speaker 1: that's a big That's a tough conversation because how do
Speaker 1: those conversations end. Those conversations end with Like, if we
Speaker 1: give Evan Mobley the center position, we're not going to
Speaker 1: be as good for a while as Evan Mobley learns
Speaker 1: how to play center in the NBA and has to
Speaker 1: bulk up. Right if we if we address the guard issue,
Speaker 1: then that means we have to trade one of them.
Speaker 1: And like, that's a tough conversation to have. And so
Speaker 1: what ends up happening is instead it's like, hey, well
Speaker 1: let's blame the role players. Let's blame Chetti Osmon and
Speaker 1: Isaac Kora, right, and and so then you go out
Speaker 1: and you get and George' kneeaning and you run it back.
Speaker 1: But what's gonna end up happening is you're gonna be
Speaker 1: in the exact same predicament this summer or this this
Speaker 1: coming summer when you get to April, May June, when
Speaker 1: you have the exact same roster imbalances. Like ideally in
Speaker 1: the modern MBA, you want to have your roster dispersed
Speaker 1: among the three core star archetypes, right, Like you want
Speaker 1: some sort of shot creating guard that can run, pick
Speaker 1: and roll and pick defenses apart. You want some sort
Speaker 1: of like power playmaking forward, and then you want a
Speaker 1: defensive anchor at the center position. And then slotted between
Speaker 1: those three spots, you want versatile like a versatile guard
Speaker 1: and a versatile forward that can defend and can shoot
Speaker 1: and play off the ball. That's ideally how you want
Speaker 1: to orient a team. The only teams that get away
Speaker 1: with not following that structure are teams that have all
Speaker 1: time great offensive unicorns. Like, yeah, if you've got Steph
Speaker 1: Curry or Nikola Jokic, you might be able to get
Speaker 1: away with a little bit of a funky lineup, right,
Speaker 1: Like Jokic is the first the Denver Nuggets are the
Speaker 1: first team to win the title without a dominant defensive
Speaker 1: front court. Yeah, that's true, but they've got Nikola Jokic,
Speaker 1: the potentially the best offensive player of all time when
Speaker 1: it's all said and done. Like that's the potential he has.
Speaker 1: It's like, okay, the Warriors, they they won with small ball. Yeah,
Speaker 1: you're right, but they've got Steph freakin Curry. And again,
Speaker 1: like Donovan Mitchell and Darius Garland are really good players,
Speaker 1: they're not Steph Curry and they're not Nicola Jokich. And
Speaker 1: so when you run into roster and balances and you
Speaker 1: don't have the superhuman offensive production that allows you to
Speaker 1: kind of like mitigate some of those issues, you're gonna
Speaker 1: run into problems you don't have, Like you're your best
Speaker 1: athletic forward is Evan Mobley, who right now is several
Speaker 1: seasons away from being ready offensively to be a perimeter
Speaker 1: player and more than likely in the perfect world operates
Speaker 1: as like a Kevin Garnett esque center for you ideally
Speaker 1: in the long run, right, So that means you need
Speaker 1: a forward. Who's your dynamic forward. You don't have one,
Speaker 1: So you're running two bigs and two small guards, and
Speaker 1: yeah you can JB. Bicker Staff has done an amazing
Speaker 1: job getting these dudes to play hard. We're gona talk
Speaker 1: about their defense in a little bit. They did a
Speaker 1: lot of things really well defensively last year. There's best
Speaker 1: defense in the league. You can fake it in the
Speaker 1: regular season a certain amount. That's been a big theme
Speaker 1: on the show. We just talked about it in the
Speaker 1: Knixt Show yesterday, Like, yeah, you can get away with
Speaker 1: a lot in the regular season. How many times are
Speaker 1: we going to see a Calves, a Knicks or not
Speaker 1: excuse me, Calves, a King's or a Memphis Grizzlies team
Speaker 1: win a shit ton of regular season games and then
Speaker 1: lose to a middle of the pack veteran team. Like
Speaker 1: we've seen this too many times. You can't be swayed
Speaker 1: by regular season results now unless you have a different
Speaker 1: end game in mind. If your goal is to win
Speaker 1: fifty regular season games every year and just be interesting
Speaker 1: while you lose in the first or second round, then
Speaker 1: by all means, this is the way to go. But
Speaker 1: if that's the case, then, like why did you trade
Speaker 1: for Donovan Mitchell? Then? Because he's on a different timeline.
Speaker 1: He's a little bit older, right Evan Mobley's. By the
Speaker 1: time Evan Mobley enters his prime, Donovan Mitchell could be
Speaker 1: thirty and not be the same athlete that he is now.
Speaker 1: So like that's where I struggle to understand, like the
Speaker 1: kind of like big picture direction that this is going
Speaker 1: the big picture discussions are are we oriented properly? And
Speaker 1: the answer to that is probably no. But those conversations
Speaker 1: are really hard to have for Kobe Altman in that
Speaker 1: front office, and so instead they target off ball players,
Speaker 1: which they did and so again for the purpose of
Speaker 1: this preview that we're gonna focus on what they are
Speaker 1: and what they're going to be. But I do think
Speaker 1: it's important to acknowledge that they did not lose because
Speaker 1: of their role players. They lost because the Mitchell Garland
Speaker 1: Allen Mobley quad, whatever you want to call it, that
Speaker 1: foursome is misaligned. On the same basketball team. You've got
Speaker 1: two dominant pick and role players playing the hardest brand
Speaker 1: of pick and roll you can possibly play, which is
Speaker 1: the rim protector sitting right under the rim and doesn't
Speaker 1: even have to play drop coverage like that. That's just
Speaker 1: a really difficult way to play basketball. And they've signed
Speaker 1: up for this for the immediate future. All right, So
Speaker 1: quick little offseason recap. They lost Andy Green, Robin Lopez,
Speaker 1: Roal Metto, Cheti Osman, Lamar Stevens, and Dylan Windler. Again,
Speaker 1: there's lots of roster turnover this year. They added shooting again.
Speaker 1: They were twentieth in the regular season in spot up
Speaker 1: efficiency last year was significant problem. During the regular season.
Speaker 1: They went out and got several good shooters. Max Strews,
Speaker 1: he was a light at lights out spot up guy
Speaker 1: last year. One point one to eight points per possession
Speaker 1: on three hundred and fifty reps. Remember that one hundred
Speaker 1: and eighty two players spot up list that I said
Speaker 1: that Evan Mobley was dead last on. Max was thirty
Speaker 1: first on that list, so much higher on that list.
Speaker 1: And if you trim it down to the high volume guys,
Speaker 1: there were sixteen players in the league who got at
Speaker 1: least two hundred excuse me, at least three hundred and
Speaker 1: fifty spot up looks. Max was second on that list.
Speaker 1: So among the high high volume spot up guys, there
Speaker 1: were sixteen of them, he finished second. That's significant, and
Speaker 1: I think he's a really good fit Defensively. He's six
Speaker 1: foot five, two hundred and fifteen pounds, he's got good size,
Speaker 1: He competes, and he'll help you with the dirty work.
Speaker 1: George Sneeing even more efficient in spot up situations than
Speaker 1: Max Strews one point two zero points per possession. He
Speaker 1: shot sixty two percent in effective field goal percentage on
Speaker 1: catch and shoot jumpers seventy one percent when he's unguarded.
Speaker 1: He's one of the few I cannot leave him open
Speaker 1: guys that we have in the league. And what I
Speaker 1: really like about that too, is both of those shooters
Speaker 1: kind of play different positions. Those are you know, Kneang
Speaker 1: kind of slots as a four next to a rim
Speaker 1: protecting five, and Max Strews kind of ideally operates as
Speaker 1: a two or a three right, and so that kind
Speaker 1: of makes sense in terms of the alignment. And now
Speaker 1: the Cavs are gonna be able to throw at a
Speaker 1: lineups where they have like, you know, Darius Garland and
Speaker 1: Karris Lavert with Max Strew's, George's Kneeing and Jared Allen, like,
Speaker 1: they're gonna have some flexibility to run lineups like that,
Speaker 1: which they did not last year because they simply did
Speaker 1: not have the shooting. And that's where it gets exciting,
Speaker 1: because now you're talking about legitimately running spread pick and
Speaker 1: roll with three great shooters off the ball that you
Speaker 1: can't leave open, so that Darius Garland has the room
Speaker 1: to really work downhill. Even when they ran one big
Speaker 1: lineups last year, they just didn't have the shooting to
Speaker 1: properly really generate the spacing lanes that they needed. They
Speaker 1: also drafted em many baits baits when the second round
Speaker 1: and so it kind of went under the radar, but
Speaker 1: he played really well at summer League. Very very good shooter.
Speaker 1: He's got a lot of other limitations. He's super super thin. Obviously,
Speaker 1: he's got to learn how to play off the ball.
Speaker 1: He does most of his work on the ball. But
Speaker 1: in the long run, I think he's an interesting option
Speaker 1: as somebody who could potentially be that kind of swing
Speaker 1: forward if he learns how to do the dirty work
Speaker 1: and learns how to play off the ball. I don't
Speaker 1: think he's going to play much this year, but he's
Speaker 1: an interesting pickup. They also added Damian Jones, who was
Speaker 1: a decent backup center. I covered him with the Lakers.
Speaker 1: Nothing exceptional there, but he's a fine backup option. Tristan
Speaker 1: Thompson another backup big. He played very sparingly for the
Speaker 1: Lakers at the end of the Nuggets series and had
Speaker 1: some moments, but again just a backup big. Ty Jerome
Speaker 1: a backup ball handler from the Golden State Warriors last year.
Speaker 1: I actually really liked this pickup. He ran one hundred
Speaker 1: and sixty nine picking rolls last year, leading to one
Speaker 1: hundred and eighty six points. That was in the eighty
Speaker 1: eighth percentile. He's got a really nice pull up three
Speaker 1: points shot and a really nice floater he's got. He
Speaker 1: made fifty two percent of his floaters last year. Nice
Speaker 1: high arc on it can get it over rim protectors.
Speaker 1: I actually think he makes a lot of sense as
Speaker 1: a backup shot creater on this particular team. I'm actually
Speaker 1: shocked he didn't play more than he did for the Warriors,
Speaker 1: but again they were kind of guard heavy, but he
Speaker 1: had some moments when Steph was out with injury for
Speaker 1: the war Actually like that pick up a lot, and
Speaker 1: I think Cavs fans are gonna like him. So again,
Speaker 1: if we picked the direction that they could go, which
Speaker 1: is fundamentally alter the structure of the team or fix
Speaker 1: the role player shooting issue. Excepting that we chose to
Speaker 1: fix the role player shooting issue, they did a good job.
Speaker 1: They did a good job addressing that issue. I thought
Speaker 1: they picked up some good shooting at good value. I
Speaker 1: liked that summer for the Cavs from that standpoint. Depth
Speaker 1: chart at guard Darius Garland, Donovan Mitchell, Karris Lavert, and
Speaker 1: Ti Drome. At forward Evan Mobley, Max drew some kind
Speaker 1: of considering him forward here, although he could be technically
Speaker 1: considered a guard. Isaac Accorro georgi' Kniang, Dean Wade, and
Speaker 1: Emny Bates. I actually think Emy Bates has a decent
Speaker 1: chance to make the opening day roster. We'll see the
Speaker 1: bigs Jared Allen, Damien Jones, and Tristan Thompson, and obviously
Speaker 1: Evan Mobley is capable of playing some backup big as well.
Speaker 1: On offense, this is a pick and roll team. The
Speaker 1: vast majority of Caves offensive possessions will involve a ball screen.
Speaker 1: They ran forty pick and rolls per game last year,
Speaker 1: which was the sixth most in the NBA. They scored
Speaker 1: one point zero four points per possession in pick and
Speaker 1: roll last year, which was seventh most in the NBA. Now,
Speaker 1: you gotta remember that's with all of those misalignment issues
Speaker 1: that I was talking about, which is why I've been
Speaker 1: pushing so much for this, because just imagine a universe
Speaker 1: where Donovan Mitchell is able to run you know this
Speaker 1: many pick and rolls in true four out one in
Speaker 1: spacing with a good role man like it could be
Speaker 1: really dynamic if that were to happen. The Cavs do
Speaker 1: a much better job than most teams at complicating their
Speaker 1: pick and roll. And remember we talked about this yesterday,
Speaker 1: But complications are just like actions you run to get
Speaker 1: into it pick and roll, or actions that you run
Speaker 1: during pick and roll to keep things busy, right, so
Speaker 1: it occupies defenders and makes the point of attack job harder.
Speaker 1: So they'll run like a dribble handoff flowing into pick
Speaker 1: and rolls or like a pistol action for instance, again
Speaker 1: making those two defensive guards either navigate a switch or
Speaker 1: fight through a screen before they flow into the pick
Speaker 1: and roll. They'll do like they'll run Karis laverdaf of
Speaker 1: a couple of wide pin downs like a double wide screen,
Speaker 1: and then he'll come up and then immediately flow into
Speaker 1: a pick and roll off of the second screener right.
Speaker 1: Or Darius Garland's really good at like this give and
Speaker 1: go thing where he'll kind of dribble up the left
Speaker 1: side of the floor and he'll the Jared Allen or
Speaker 1: Evan Mobley will come up to set the screen and
Speaker 1: instead of like dribbling into it, he'll like look over
Speaker 1: to the left and like throw a high post entry
Speaker 1: and then just sprint off like a dribble handoff. Then
Speaker 1: as soon as he gets a dribble hand off, he'll
Speaker 1: rip back to the left and Evan Wibi will reverse
Speaker 1: the screen and he'll come off towards the left side.
Speaker 1: Like they do a nice job of making it so
Speaker 1: it's not just stagnant dribble to ball up the floor
Speaker 1: and run pick and roll type of offense, And I
Speaker 1: credit JB. Bickerstaff for that, And I really think it's
Speaker 1: one of the biggest areas of for opportunity in offense
Speaker 1: around the NBA is like we've almost become a little
Speaker 1: bit too brute force, especially during the regular season, and
Speaker 1: I'd like to see more teams do that. But the
Speaker 1: Cavs do a really nice job. Donovan Mitchell was awesome
Speaker 1: in pick and roll last year, one point one zero
Speaker 1: points per possession. Remember our high volume pick and roll list,
Speaker 1: there are fifteen players in the league who ran at
Speaker 1: least a thousand. Donovan Mitchell came in third on that list,
Speaker 1: so he's one of the best. Darius Garland was a
Speaker 1: level below that, one point zero three points per possession.
Speaker 1: He was eleventh in our high volume pick and roll list.
Speaker 1: Karris Lavert one point zero one points per possession on
Speaker 1: four hundred and seventy one reps. It's basically average attacking
Speaker 1: in ISO. Darius Garland had a rough year zero point
Speaker 1: eighty seven points per possession, but both Donovan Mitchell and
Speaker 1: Karis Lavert were good well over a point per possession.
Speaker 1: They have no post up attack. They scored just three
Speaker 1: hundred and twenty points out of the post all season.
Speaker 1: That was twenty fifth in the NBA, and they were
Speaker 1: twenty ninth in efficiency out of the post. But the
Speaker 1: real area for opportunity here is trying to avoid the
Speaker 1: two big spacing issues as much as possible, Like, yeah,
Speaker 1: you were eighth in offensive rating last year, and it's
Speaker 1: easy to be like, oh, we're good on offense, but
Speaker 1: you were twentieth in clutch offensive ratings. So when the
Speaker 1: game really slowed down at the end of games, you
Speaker 1: couldn't score relative to your peers. And then you got
Speaker 1: to the postseason, he ran into a league average defense
Speaker 1: and couldn't score. So I think it's important to identify
Speaker 1: that ceiling there that needs to be addressed, and I
Speaker 1: think a couple of ways you can address it in
Speaker 1: the short term is just staggering out Mobile and Allen
Speaker 1: more like cutting Jared Allen's minutes a little bit and
Speaker 1: running more Evan Mobley at the five. I think George
Speaker 1: is kneeing slots really nicely as a four next to him,
Speaker 1: and so you could find more opportunities for one big
Speaker 1: lineups to make things easier. Or you know, here's the thing,
Speaker 1: like you can pay the price with some regular season
Speaker 1: struggles by giving Mobiley more reps at the five, knowing
Speaker 1: he's not gonna do great at it, and maybe you
Speaker 1: pay the price in the regular season, but over the
Speaker 1: course of the season he improves at it, and you
Speaker 1: have that as a look when you get to the postseason.
Speaker 1: But really, I don't think they're gonna be able to
Speaker 1: reach their ultimate offensive potential until they reorient themselves on defense.
Speaker 1: They were the best defense in the league last year.
Speaker 1: They were the only team in the NBA to allow
Speaker 1: fewer than one hundred and ten points per possessions points
Speaker 1: per one hundred possesions excuse me. They were the sixth
Speaker 1: best paint defense and the fifth best three point defense.
Speaker 1: They allowed just eleven point six made threes per game,
Speaker 1: so one of the few teams in the league that
Speaker 1: did a really nice job of taking away the two
Speaker 1: most efficient shots in the game, which is the ram
Speaker 1: and the three point line to JB. Bickerstaff and his
Speaker 1: staff for building a really good modern defense. I don't
Speaker 1: think it's a coincidence that they were the best defense
Speaker 1: in the league as a result. One weakness in their
Speaker 1: defense is they were twentieth and rebounding, So not a
Speaker 1: big shock to see why New York caused him so
Speaker 1: many problems there. Most of that's just a couple of things.
Speaker 1: Two small guards. You're going to struggle to secure long
Speaker 1: rebounds with two small guards, and then Evan Mobley just
Speaker 1: being a little thin, something that he'll get better at
Speaker 1: in the long run. And then they do have entry
Speaker 1: points like we talked about in the postseason. Again, it's
Speaker 1: easy to talk about Cheddy Osmond, but wasn't just Chetty Osman.
Speaker 1: And the problem is their best point of attack defender
Speaker 1: last year was Isaac Cacorro, but he was a bad
Speaker 1: spot up player, only zero point nine to seven points
Speaker 1: per possession, and so as a result, when they got
Speaker 1: to the postseason, they only played him fifteen minutes a game,
Speaker 1: and so they had to play a lot more Chetty
Speaker 1: Osmen and he did get attacked a lot. But again
Speaker 1: it's not just him, it's Also, it's also the Darius
Speaker 1: Garland issue. Donovan Mitchell doesn't so much get picked on
Speaker 1: because he's a great athlete, but he does struggle just
Speaker 1: in of his overall defensive awareness. I do think Max
Speaker 1: Strus is gonna help here, though, I think Max Strews
Speaker 1: is a better combination of like offensive threat and defensive
Speaker 1: capable point of attack defender. Like I think that he's
Speaker 1: a better combination of those two things than really anybody
Speaker 1: who played on the wing last year for the Kavs,
Speaker 1: And so I think Max Stus is really gonna help
Speaker 1: them there, but it's still gonna be a fundamental issue
Speaker 1: with the ability to attack their guards when they get
Speaker 1: to the postseason. So again, like accepting the simple fact
Speaker 1: that the Caves front office probably will not move off
Speaker 1: of the Garland Mitchell Mobiley Allen core for at least
Speaker 1: one more season, if not more, that leaves us with
Speaker 1: two harsh truths about the Caves defense, Like Darius Garland
Speaker 1: and Donovan Mitchell have to find a way to hold
Speaker 1: up defensively, and Evan Mobley and Jared Allen have to
Speaker 1: find a way to hold up on the glass. They're
Speaker 1: just going to have to if they're gonna have any
Speaker 1: chance to reach their ultimate potential for this season, I
Speaker 1: expect the Cavs to finish around the four to five
Speaker 1: spot again and to lose in the first round unless
Speaker 1: they catch a really favorable matchup. I really think this
Speaker 1: team has some defense are some playoff flaws that are
Speaker 1: going to be difficult to overcome in the short term.
Speaker 1: All right, before we get out of here, I've got
Speaker 1: I want to talk about the Damian Lillard situation for
Speaker 1: just a second, and then we'll take two mail back questions.
Speaker 1: So I've got a lot of backlash today over my
Speaker 1: Damian Lillard position on social media, and I wanted to
Speaker 1: address two counterpoints that I've heard that I don't understand.
Speaker 1: So one of the most common refrains I'll hear when
Speaker 1: I've had this position that I've taken is people will
Speaker 1: say things like he signed a contract, like all they
Speaker 1: owe him is the money that's in the contract. And
Speaker 1: I think there's a couple things that we got to
Speaker 1: separate there. First of all, like this is not this
Speaker 1: is not an employer type of situation where like you
Speaker 1: just like this is a salary that you collect, and
Speaker 1: like the company is choosing to pay you that this
Speaker 1: is a revenue share. The league generates a certain amount
Speaker 1: of revenue and the players get half of it. So like, though,
Speaker 1: I don't look at it as like Portland gave Dame money.
Speaker 1: Dame got his share of the revenue. Portland just happens
Speaker 1: to be the vehicle with which he's enjoying that revenue.
Speaker 1: I don't think. I don't think Portland should get bonus
Speaker 1: points for paying Damian Lillard max contracts when all thirty
Speaker 1: NBA teams would pay him max contracts. Like, I don't
Speaker 1: understand that philosophy. Also, the second side of that is
Speaker 1: like people will say things like, he signed a contract,
Speaker 1: if he wanted to leave, why doesn't he just not
Speaker 1: sign the contract, become a free agent, and then go
Speaker 1: sign wherever he wants. And that sounds great on the surface, right,
Speaker 1: that sounds super logical, But it's not that simple because
Speaker 1: Dame wants to leave because he wants an opportunity to
Speaker 1: contend for a championship. How often does a championship team
Speaker 1: have max cap space a team that can win a
Speaker 1: championship Almost never. One of the few times it happened
Speaker 1: recently was in twenty sixteen and it literally generated the
Speaker 1: greatest team ever assembled. Who were the teams with cap
Speaker 1: space this summer, the San Antonio Spurs and the Houston Rockets.
Speaker 1: So yeah, Dame should have gotten out of his contract
Speaker 1: so he can sign with one of the worst teams
Speaker 1: in the league. Cap space is not very valuable anymore
Speaker 1: because stars don't sign in free agency through that method. So,
Speaker 1: as a result, if Dame wants to at this phase
Speaker 1: in his career, go to Miami. This is the only way.
Speaker 1: If you are an NBA star and you want to
Speaker 1: go play for one of the ten best teams in
Speaker 1: the league, the only way you can do it is
Speaker 1: sign a long term deal with your team in request
Speaker 1: to trade. So again, it sounds great to be like,
Speaker 1: don't sign the deal, you could be a free agent.
Speaker 1: You signed up for this, You took away your own freedom. No,
Speaker 1: he just made a decision based on the way the
Speaker 1: league works. He wanted to go to Miami. His only
Speaker 1: way to get there was to stay with Portland and
Speaker 1: request a trade. Like, let's not like, there are takes
Speaker 1: that I appreciate and I understand, but like that one
Speaker 1: I really struggle with. I don't I don't get it.
Speaker 1: Like every star that has changed teams over the last
Speaker 1: five years. It's been through it's been through trades like
Speaker 1: that's just how it's done these days. I wish I
Speaker 1: had a I wish I mean, we can argue about
Speaker 1: the system all we want, but this is what the
Speaker 1: system is. The second thing I don't understand is when
Speaker 1: they say they owe it to the fans, and like, again,
Speaker 1: I'm not trying to to to to shit on Portland
Speaker 1: fans here. That's not what I'm trying to do. I'm
Speaker 1: trying to point out the dichotomy or the reality of
Speaker 1: the situation. I should say there is a three way
Speaker 1: relationship here. It's not just the I should say it's
Speaker 1: a four way relationship. There's the revenue is being split
Speaker 1: between the players and the and the owners, right, But
Speaker 1: the actual dynamic, the living organ that is the NBA
Speaker 1: has four factions and arguably more, but four main factions.
Speaker 1: You've got the organizations and you've got the players, but
Speaker 1: you also have the fans in the media, and all
Speaker 1: four are incredibly important. The media is responsible for marketing
Speaker 1: the league. It's what makes the league digestible. Like that
Speaker 1: they're these these media companies from the big guys at ESPN,
Speaker 1: to the smaller media companies like the volume, to the
Speaker 1: individual team specific podcast out there, all of them, all
Speaker 1: down the line, to the beat writers, to to to
Speaker 1: the former players that just talk big picture stuff with
Speaker 1: their buddies in the on a couch somewhere. All of
Speaker 1: that helps market the league, which helps everybody. It helps
Speaker 1: the owners make money, it helps the players make money,
Speaker 1: it helps members of the media make money. That's that, right.
Speaker 1: Then there's the fans, and their trade off is simple.
Speaker 1: They get a entertainment product and they get to root
Speaker 1: for their team, and we market to them, right. I
Speaker 1: shouldn't say we, but the advertisers do, right, So like
Speaker 1: that's the trade off. Right. It's like you get to
Speaker 1: see this game, but you have to watch these ads, right,
Speaker 1: Or if you want to watch your favorite team on
Speaker 1: League Pass, you've got to pay the NBA, right your
Speaker 1: League Pass subscription. But it's all intricately related. So like yeah,
Speaker 1: like like does Portland owe it to the fans to
Speaker 1: do what's best for the franchise? Yes, but they also
Speaker 1: owe something to day You can pretend that this is
Speaker 1: just a business relationship and oh, you only have to
Speaker 1: fulfill the terms of your contract. That's not how it works.
Speaker 1: Any of you guys who listen to the show that
Speaker 1: run your own business in some way, shape or form,
Speaker 1: whether you run a small business in town, whether you've
Speaker 1: got a side hustle, whether you sell real estate, whether
Speaker 1: whether you're an uber driver. I don't care what it
Speaker 1: is you do. If you have a ten ninety nine
Speaker 1: and you run your own kind of personal business, how
Speaker 1: you treat people matters. You can pretend it doesn't matter,
Speaker 1: but it does. And if you take a guy who
Speaker 1: devoted eleven years of his career, they're probably a few
Speaker 1: years more than he should have what like like you
Speaker 1: do have to do right by him, and if you
Speaker 1: do wrong by him, that will come back to bite you.
Speaker 1: I firmly believe that. And so you've got to appease
Speaker 1: all parties involved. Yes, Portland owes it to their fans,
Speaker 1: but they also owe it to their players to take
Speaker 1: care of them. And the other side of that is
Speaker 1: I'd be like, where was that sense of obligation from
Speaker 1: Portland fans to do what's best for the team when
Speaker 1: the Portland front office was screwing off and wasting the
Speaker 1: Dame era like that? That doesn't make any sense to me.
Speaker 1: The one real opinion that I understand, the one that
Speaker 1: I've seen that like, I'm like, okay, I see where
Speaker 1: you're coming from. Is when people say, hey, Dame should
Speaker 1: have given them like three teams instead of one team,
Speaker 1: so at least they could pit them against each other
Speaker 1: and get a better offer. Again, that makes sense in
Speaker 1: a vacuum, and I do respect that opinion, But even
Speaker 1: then I'd point out, like, does anybody really have three
Speaker 1: that they want or is it one that they want?
Speaker 1: Like if I told you guys you had to you know,
Speaker 1: if you're a hooper and you had to you wanted
Speaker 1: to get a new pair of basketball shoes, and you're
Speaker 1: a huge believer in the Kobe's and you can get
Speaker 1: a Kobe, or you can get the PGS, or you
Speaker 1: can get the the Kyries, Like and yeah, those are
Speaker 1: your top three, but like, which one are you getting?
Speaker 1: If you if you if you have your own choice,
Speaker 1: you're gonna take Kobe's, right, if you're a Kobe fan,
Speaker 1: or if you like the Kobe shoes better, Like it
Speaker 1: sounds fancy in theory to be like, oh, yeah, here's
Speaker 1: my list of three teams, but like, by the way
Speaker 1: I want Miami. Like, sure, I'll go to Toronto, OKC
Speaker 1: or Miami. Cool, But you don't think him and his
Speaker 1: agent are still gonna tell the Heat that they want
Speaker 1: he wants to go there first. You don't think Dame's
Speaker 1: gonna let those other teams know like, yeah, by the way,
Speaker 1: I prefer Miami. Like again, my criticism of Damian Lillard
Speaker 1: is just the overall way he's handled it. I think
Speaker 1: him and his agent have been way too aggressive behind this.
Speaker 1: We get it, bro, you want to go to Miami.
Speaker 1: That's been clear since you made the trade request. No
Speaker 1: one is no one is not clear on what your
Speaker 1: intentions are. You want to go to Miami. The way
Speaker 1: you've behaved behind the scenes, it's made you look bad,
Speaker 1: there's no doubt. But fundamentally, here, I've got an organization
Speaker 1: that a player has been remarkably loyal to, way more
Speaker 1: loyal than most stars have in this era. Most stars
Speaker 1: in this era would have gotten the year six or
Speaker 1: seven in Portland and been like, actually, this isn't really
Speaker 1: working out for me. I would like to go somewhere else.
Speaker 1: We've seen that time and time again. Instead, Dame said, no,
Speaker 1: I will try to make this work with you again.
Speaker 1: He gave them much more margin for error than they deserved.
Speaker 1: I think they should do right by him. But like again,
Speaker 1: like he signed a contract, he gets half the revenue.
Speaker 1: That's how it works. And the only way you can
Speaker 1: go anywhere in free agency these days in terms of
Speaker 1: a good team is via trade. So like saying that
Speaker 1: a player requesting a trade is dishonoring a contract is
Speaker 1: total bullshit. Because you have free agency is not free
Speaker 1: agency anymore. Free agency is I get to pick from
Speaker 1: one of like maybe maybe if I'm lucky in a
Speaker 1: good summer, a half dozen teams that have available cap space,
Speaker 1: and they probably all suck. So like, don't say he
Speaker 1: should have gone to free agency when free agency doesn't
Speaker 1: exist anymore. That's dishonest. But again, I I'm just ready
Speaker 1: for this to be over. I thankfully I have the
Speaker 1: Heat pretty high on my list anyway, so we'll get
Speaker 1: to them, and hopefully by the time we get their
Speaker 1: Dame's already there. Because you know what I want to do.
Speaker 1: I want to talk about basketball, and I want to
Speaker 1: get back to talking about how Damian Lillard with BAM
Speaker 1: Adebayo is a super interesting duo and what Eric Spolscher
Speaker 1: can do to bring the best out of him offense
Speaker 1: or defense. Right, Like, that's the kind of stuff that
Speaker 1: I want to talk about. But the saga needs to end,
Speaker 1: and it's dragging out because Portland's concerned with getting what's
Speaker 1: absolutely best for them instead of acknowledging the realities of
Speaker 1: their relationship with Damian Lillard over a decade. All Right,
Speaker 1: two mail back questions. First one is from Jacob. If
Speaker 1: the Sun's elite jump shooting continued and they somehow beat Denver,
Speaker 1: who would you have taken in a Sun's Lakers Western
Speaker 1: Conference Finals and why? The answer to this is pretty simple.
Speaker 1: Are we accepting that that elite jump shooting continues into
Speaker 1: the next round? Because Yeah, if Devin Booker makes seventy
Speaker 1: percent of his pull up jump shots, they're beating everybody,
Speaker 1: including the Lakers. But the reality is, like they do
Speaker 1: rely a lot on pull up jump shooting, and they
Speaker 1: didn't have a single player that could actually physically hang
Speaker 1: with Lebron and Anthony Davis has kicked DeAndre Ayton's ass
Speaker 1: all over the place forever, right, And so as I
Speaker 1: look at that if they played like the Suns did.
Speaker 1: For the most part, I think the Lakers win the series.
Speaker 1: But yeah, in the world where the Suns continue to
Speaker 1: shoot the lights out, I would have picked the Suns
Speaker 1: to win. That series certainly would have been a lot closer.
Speaker 1: I certainly think the Suns would have had a very
Speaker 1: good chance to be the Lakers, but I would have
Speaker 1: picked the Lakers. Last mail back question. Been watching your
Speaker 1: podcast since the twenty twenty two season and really enjoy
Speaker 1: the insight you bring. My question is do you believe
Speaker 1: you could ever be a GM or a coach at
Speaker 1: the NBA level, and if not, what qualifications do you
Speaker 1: think one needs to get such a position. So, first
Speaker 1: of all, like, uh, it's in terms of qualifications. Coaching
Speaker 1: is a really interesting thing because I remember when I
Speaker 1: first got out of when I first got done playing,
Speaker 1: I wanted to coach, And for the record, like I
Speaker 1: love what I do right now, But the one thing
Speaker 1: that I would stop doing this for is to coach,
Speaker 1: and only in the NBA because I'm not interested in
Speaker 1: doing it at the college level because I don't want
Speaker 1: to recruit. But the main reason why it is because
Speaker 1: I missed the locker room like I miss the camaraderie,
Speaker 1: I miss the team goal, Like I get a lot
Speaker 1: that with the volume, Like the volume has grown so
Speaker 1: much since I've been here, and we've added all these
Speaker 1: big names. We added Channon Sharp the other day. That's awesome, right,
Speaker 1: Like we've added some big name NFL guys. We added
Speaker 1: Daniel Cormier is one of the biggest UFC media members
Speaker 1: in the world. We have a huge announcement for an
Speaker 1: NBA guy that we have a partnership with that that's
Speaker 1: coming next week that I'm excited for you guys to
Speaker 1: hear about. Like I've enjoyed the growth of the volume
Speaker 1: and I'm stoked about that. And but like at the
Speaker 1: end of the day, this is kind of a solo deal, right,
Speaker 1: Like I work by myself. I have my producer and
Speaker 1: some other producers behind the scene that I work with.
Speaker 1: But like in terms of this show, like it's it's
Speaker 1: it's not very much of like the basketball team type
Speaker 1: of vibe. And also like the nature of this job
Speaker 1: involves criticism, Like I have to talk about basketball players
Speaker 1: not playing particularly well, or a coach doing something that
Speaker 1: I disagree with, which doesn't really sit right with me.
Speaker 1: Why because like, who am I to sit here and
Speaker 1: criticize Donovan Mitchell, an NBA player, an NBA All Star,
Speaker 1: an All NBA player about his you know, missing reads
Speaker 1: and pick and roll. I'm Jason fucking Timpf. I'm sitting
Speaker 1: in my guest bedroom in Tucson, Arizona. Like that doesn't
Speaker 1: sit right with me, right, Like me talking about Tom
Speaker 1: Thibodeaux overhelping on drives, Like Tom Thibodeau is a is
Speaker 1: a proven NBA coach, Like who am I to criticize
Speaker 1: Tom Thibodeau. But at the end of the day, Like
Speaker 1: that's the overly rational way of looking at it. The
Speaker 1: reality is, this is sports media and my job is
Speaker 1: to give my opinion, and I do. I put in
Speaker 1: a lot of work to try to legitimize those opinions, right,
Speaker 1: Like you guys know that I'd never say anything on
Speaker 1: the show unless I've seen overwhelming evidence that makes me
Speaker 1: feel that way about it, right, So, like that you
Speaker 1: got to separate the reality of what this job is
Speaker 1: versus what kind of about being an amateur criticizing a professional, right,
Speaker 1: Like Draymond Green talks about this a lot with the
Speaker 1: idea of the new media and it's an interesting idea.
Speaker 1: But like I, if I ever get to interview an
Speaker 1: NBA player, which I'm sure it will eventually happen, this
Speaker 1: will be one of the questions I ask, Like, what's
Speaker 1: it like understanding that the media has a job to do,
Speaker 1: but being criticized by non professionals, Like what's that like?
Speaker 1: Because I'm curious because I know if I was a player,
Speaker 1: I'd be like, who the fuck is this guy? You
Speaker 1: know what I mean? Like I would be that guy
Speaker 1: if I was playing in the NBA. Right, So, Like
Speaker 1: it's a super super interesting dynamic, and that's one of
Speaker 1: the drawbacks of this job that I don't particularly like.
Speaker 1: And so what's beautiful about working for a team is
Speaker 1: like it's camaraderie. It's it's part of that ultimate goal.
Speaker 1: It's weaponizing my competitiveness towards trying to get the Larry
Speaker 1: O'Brien trophy versus doing what I do now, which is
Speaker 1: try to produce a successful NBA show, right, And like,
Speaker 1: obviously I'd love to do that. Obviously that would be ideal.
Speaker 1: I would never have to be critical of another team
Speaker 1: or coach except for in private, you know, in conversations, right,
Speaker 1: Like I wouldn't have to publicly come out and criticize
Speaker 1: a player or coach, right, So like that I certainly
Speaker 1: would like to do that. That would be the dream, right,
Speaker 1: I'd love to work for an NBA team, specifically in
Speaker 1: the coaching staff. I'm not as interested in potentially working
Speaker 1: in a front office, but I'd be lying if I
Speaker 1: said I wouldn't consider it. But the reality is is
Speaker 1: like the there's a pathway there. There's a pathway to
Speaker 1: get to those jobs. And like I remember when I
Speaker 1: got out of college, I wanted to coach, and like
Speaker 1: when I looked into it, it was like, wait, wait,
Speaker 1: I need to go be like a graduate assistant at
Speaker 1: some school and like just do a bunch of like
Speaker 1: shitty work for some old dinosaur of a college basketball
Speaker 1: coach for fifteen years, just in hopes that maybe I'll
Speaker 1: get an assistant gig where I can handle recruiting for
Speaker 1: some dude forever before I finally maybe get some chance
Speaker 1: to maybe go coach at some mid major somewhere. And
Speaker 1: then at that point, I'm already forty eight years old,
Speaker 1: and like, like that path just didn't interest me. It's
Speaker 1: basketball coaching is much less of a meritocracy from the
Speaker 1: standpoint of like grinding up through the ranks than actual
Speaker 1: play actually playing the sport is And in the NBA
Speaker 1: it's kind of similar. It's like it's so many former
Speaker 1: players that are coaching in different positions, right, and like
Speaker 1: it's like, okay, or you can maybe work in a
Speaker 1: film room like Eric Spolshra and grind away and maybe
Speaker 1: get that chance. And it's like, obviously I can't do that.
Speaker 1: I can't quit my job here at the volume to
Speaker 1: go work a film room somewhere, right, So, like the
Speaker 1: reality is is like the only way it would work
Speaker 1: is if somebody just offered me a job, and that's
Speaker 1: not going to happen because I'm not qualified, so to speak.
Speaker 1: I like, obviously I take very much pride in my work.
Speaker 1: I I hope you guys have seen that in this show,
Speaker 1: Like how hard I work to make these to take
Speaker 1: these positions and to provide this analysis. And like I
Speaker 1: am obviously confident in my abilities. I believe that I
Speaker 1: know the game well and I believe that I can
Speaker 1: offer something as a basketball mind, but like that's not
Speaker 1: something I can write on a resume, Like at the
Speaker 1: end of the day, like They're gonna take some dude
Speaker 1: who was, you know, a former player or an assistant
Speaker 1: at some other organization before they'd consider me. And I'm
Speaker 1: fine with that, and I'm at peace with that, And like,
Speaker 1: if I do this for the rest of my life,
Speaker 1: I'd be thrilled, Like how fortunate am I to get
Speaker 1: to talk about the game of basketball every day? Like
Speaker 1: I was actually thinking about this. I was talking about
Speaker 1: it with my wife the other night. But like, I
Speaker 1: had a really good day on Monday. I well, I
Speaker 1: like played in my men's league on Sunday, and then
Speaker 1: I came home and then I woke up on Monday
Speaker 1: morning and I trained my high school team, and then
Speaker 1: I came home and I did my video on I
Speaker 1: think it was the Minnesota Timberwolves that day, and then
Speaker 1: like I did a really good basketball workout, like a
Speaker 1: really good wait session, and then I went and did
Speaker 1: a shooting workout, and I told my wife, I'm like,
Speaker 1: I feel so blessed that, like I do basketball every day,
Speaker 1: like every day in some form or fashion, I am
Speaker 1: around the game of basketball, and I feel very fortunate
Speaker 1: for that. And so like I don't want to sit
Speaker 1: there and complain about my position, that's not what I'm doing.
Speaker 1: I love what I do, and if I do this forever,
Speaker 1: I will be thrilled. But at the end of the day,
Speaker 1: like i'd be lying to you if I said I
Speaker 1: wouldn't love the opportunity to be a part of a
Speaker 1: team and their journey to trying to win an NBA championship,
Speaker 1: I would love to do that one day. And who knows,
Speaker 1: maybe if I ever got to do that, maybe I'd
Speaker 1: still get to do this anyway, at least in some capacity.
Speaker 1: But very good question. And again like, I don't think
Speaker 1: that'll ever happen, and I think there are a lot
Speaker 1: of people that are more qualified than me that deserve it,
Speaker 1: and I'm at peace with that. But it is an
Speaker 1: interesting question. All right, guys. That is all I have
Speaker 1: for today is always I sincerely appreciate your support. We
Speaker 1: will be back tomorrow with number twelve and I will
Speaker 1: see you guys then. And for some more male bad questions.
Speaker 1: The volume