1
00:00:01,280 --> 00:00:02,000
Speaker 1: The Volume.

2
00:00:15,880 --> 00:00:17,720
Speaker 2: All right, Well, good to him tonight, you're at the volume.

3
00:00:17,720 --> 00:00:19,680
Speaker 3: Happy Friday, everybody. Hope all of you guys are having

4
00:00:19,720 --> 00:00:21,599
Speaker 3: an incredible week. Got a jam pack show for you

5
00:00:21,640 --> 00:00:23,840
Speaker 3: guys today. I want to hit on the two crazy

6
00:00:23,920 --> 00:00:27,440
Speaker 3: games from last night before we get into our mail bag.

7
00:00:27,480 --> 00:00:32,000
Speaker 3: As Lebron James Is one thousand, two ninety seven game

8
00:00:32,159 --> 00:00:36,960
Speaker 3: streak of double figure scoring finally comes to end in

9
00:00:37,040 --> 00:00:39,760
Speaker 3: a poetic fashion as he makes an extra pass out

10
00:00:39,760 --> 00:00:42,000
Speaker 3: of an Austin Reeves double team that leads to a

11
00:00:42,080 --> 00:00:44,199
Speaker 3: wide open corner three for Ruey Hachimura to get a

12
00:00:44,240 --> 00:00:46,440
Speaker 3: big win for the Lakers without Luka Dancic on the

13
00:00:46,479 --> 00:00:49,559
Speaker 3: road in against a very good Toronto Raptors team. After that,

14
00:00:49,600 --> 00:00:52,599
Speaker 3: we're going to talk briefly about the Philadelphia seventy six

15
00:00:52,720 --> 00:00:56,760
Speaker 3: ers getting a win after blowing an eighteen point fourth

16
00:00:56,880 --> 00:01:00,240
Speaker 3: quarter lead versus the Golden State Warriors, an interest seeing

17
00:01:00,280 --> 00:01:02,080
Speaker 3: kind of like bench group for the war years that

18
00:01:02,160 --> 00:01:04,960
Speaker 3: came together. I also want to talk briefly about the

19
00:01:05,200 --> 00:01:08,600
Speaker 3: lack of development for some of Golden State's young players

20
00:01:08,680 --> 00:01:10,720
Speaker 3: and how that's been a big part of their struggles

21
00:01:10,920 --> 00:01:13,280
Speaker 3: throughout the season. And then as usual, on Fridays, we're

22
00:01:13,280 --> 00:01:15,840
Speaker 3: going to get into our mail bag at the tail

23
00:01:15,920 --> 00:01:17,320
Speaker 3: end of the show. You guys know the joke before

24
00:01:17,319 --> 00:01:18,800
Speaker 3: we get started. Subscribe to the Hoops to Not YouTube

25
00:01:18,840 --> 00:01:20,279
Speaker 3: channel so you don't miss any more of our videos.

26
00:01:20,360 --> 00:01:22,479
Speaker 3: Follow me on Twitter and underscore jcnlts. You guys don't

27
00:01:22,480 --> 00:01:24,800
Speaker 3: misshow announcements. Don't forget about our podcast feed wherever you

28
00:01:24,800 --> 00:01:26,720
Speaker 3: get your podcast on our Hoops Tonight. It's also super

29
00:01:26,720 --> 00:01:28,920
Speaker 3: helpful if you leave a rating in a review on

30
00:01:28,959 --> 00:01:31,440
Speaker 3: that front. Jackson's doing incredible work on our social media

31
00:01:31,480 --> 00:01:33,760
Speaker 3: feeds on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and TikTok. Make sure you

32
00:01:33,760 --> 00:01:37,000
Speaker 3: guys follow us there for more content throughout the season.

33
00:01:37,800 --> 00:01:39,280
Speaker 3: And then don't forget about our mail bags. If you

34
00:01:39,280 --> 00:01:41,160
Speaker 3: want to get in questions for our Friday mail bags,

35
00:01:41,200 --> 00:01:43,640
Speaker 3: just drop them in our full episodes on YouTube in

36
00:01:43,720 --> 00:01:46,520
Speaker 3: the comments right mail bag with a colon, write your question.

37
00:01:46,600 --> 00:01:48,080
Speaker 3: That's how I can sort through them when I'm looking

38
00:01:48,080 --> 00:01:50,320
Speaker 3: through the comments. We'll get to them on Fridays throughout

39
00:01:50,320 --> 00:01:52,800
Speaker 3: the remainder of the season. A couple other quick announcements.

40
00:01:52,480 --> 00:01:53,160
Speaker 2: Like this video.

41
00:01:53,240 --> 00:01:54,840
Speaker 3: It's super helpful for us if you just would take

42
00:01:54,840 --> 00:01:56,600
Speaker 3: a second to scroll down and hit that like button

43
00:01:57,160 --> 00:02:01,080
Speaker 3: and then we have our second playback stream of the week. Tonight,

44
00:02:02,120 --> 00:02:05,680
Speaker 3: we have the Lakers on the road in Boston against

45
00:02:05,680 --> 00:02:08,080
Speaker 3: the Celtics. Should be a fun one. I've also got

46
00:02:08,080 --> 00:02:12,760
Speaker 3: my buddy Adam Taylor, who covers the Celtics individually as

47
00:02:12,800 --> 00:02:14,960
Speaker 3: a team, so he'll be joining us to hang out

48
00:02:14,960 --> 00:02:16,960
Speaker 3: for that Celtics game tonight. Should be a fun one.

49
00:02:17,040 --> 00:02:19,720
Speaker 3: All right, let's talk some basketball. So again, what looked

50
00:02:19,720 --> 00:02:21,400
Speaker 3: like it was going to be a slow night in

51
00:02:21,440 --> 00:02:24,200
Speaker 3: the NBA turned into a fun one thanks to a

52
00:02:24,240 --> 00:02:27,480
Speaker 3: couple of wild finishes in Philly and Toronto. And we're

53
00:02:27,520 --> 00:02:29,080
Speaker 3: gonna hit those two games before we get into our

54
00:02:29,080 --> 00:02:32,800
Speaker 3: mail bag. So Lebron's twelve hundred ninety seven consecutive double

55
00:02:32,800 --> 00:02:36,680
Speaker 3: digit scoring streak finally comes to the end. And according

56
00:02:36,800 --> 00:02:40,280
Speaker 3: to what both Lebron and Rui said in their postgame interviews,

57
00:02:40,720 --> 00:02:43,399
Speaker 3: essentially what happened was is Lebron knew the double team

58
00:02:43,480 --> 00:02:43,840
Speaker 3: was coming.

59
00:02:43,840 --> 00:02:45,760
Speaker 1: I want to put him in a payoff spot. You know,

60
00:02:46,000 --> 00:02:48,240
Speaker 1: ar been cooking all night and you know, ost are

61
00:02:48,320 --> 00:02:51,000
Speaker 1: seeing our coach kind of you know, telling you know,

62
00:02:51,000 --> 00:02:53,799
Speaker 1: Scottie Barnes a possibly double So I wanted to keep

63
00:02:53,880 --> 00:02:56,239
Speaker 1: Rural on the same side to be my payoff, my

64
00:02:56,280 --> 00:02:56,880
Speaker 1: payoff spot.

65
00:02:57,440 --> 00:03:00,639
Speaker 3: He knew that Austin, after cooking the Raptor for forty

66
00:03:00,639 --> 00:03:03,280
Speaker 3: four points last night, was going to get double teamed,

67
00:03:03,720 --> 00:03:06,360
Speaker 3: and so he directed Rui to go to what he

68
00:03:06,440 --> 00:03:09,720
Speaker 3: called the payoff spot, meaning the weak side corner, and

69
00:03:09,760 --> 00:03:11,519
Speaker 3: basically told him he was going to pass him the

70
00:03:11,560 --> 00:03:14,720
Speaker 3: ball and then light clockwork, the double team came from

71
00:03:14,720 --> 00:03:18,240
Speaker 3: Scottie Barnes against Austin. Lebron cut into the passing lane

72
00:03:18,240 --> 00:03:21,160
Speaker 3: and rifled a cross court pass right into the shooting

73
00:03:21,160 --> 00:03:24,560
Speaker 3: pocket for Ruey Hachimura, who wins the game with that

74
00:03:24,639 --> 00:03:26,520
Speaker 3: corner three. And it was kind of cool listening to

75
00:03:26,600 --> 00:03:28,760
Speaker 3: Lebron and Ruey talk about it after the game, and

76
00:03:29,000 --> 00:03:32,120
Speaker 3: specifically Lebron talking about that concept of the payoff spot,

77
00:03:32,120 --> 00:03:34,480
Speaker 3: because it's something we've actually talked about quite a bit

78
00:03:34,880 --> 00:03:36,480
Speaker 3: on this show, specifically a couple.

79
00:03:36,360 --> 00:03:36,800
Speaker 2: Of weeks ago.

80
00:03:36,800 --> 00:03:38,800
Speaker 3: You guys might remember we had a conversation about this

81
00:03:38,880 --> 00:03:42,000
Speaker 3: surrounding Desmond Baine in the Magic offense. In some of

82
00:03:42,000 --> 00:03:44,720
Speaker 3: the sequence where Desmond Bain is off ball, the Magic

83
00:03:44,760 --> 00:03:46,880
Speaker 3: started putting him in the weak side corner instead of

84
00:03:46,880 --> 00:03:50,040
Speaker 3: on the opposite wing, essentially allowing him to be in

85
00:03:50,120 --> 00:03:54,000
Speaker 3: that payoff spot. The reason is is because many basketball

86
00:03:54,040 --> 00:03:58,640
Speaker 3: plays have repeatable sequences. Whenever a team doubles on the

87
00:03:58,680 --> 00:04:02,560
Speaker 3: strong side, almost always going to leave that weak side

88
00:04:02,640 --> 00:04:05,840
Speaker 3: corner guy open. Why because the strong side corner is

89
00:04:05,880 --> 00:04:07,840
Speaker 3: too easy of a pass to make. If you leave

90
00:04:07,840 --> 00:04:09,920
Speaker 3: the guy in the dunker spot open, he's gonna dunk it.

91
00:04:10,000 --> 00:04:12,680
Speaker 3: That's going to go in. Every single time the opposite

92
00:04:12,680 --> 00:04:15,280
Speaker 3: wing one pass away, it's an easy pass to make,

93
00:04:15,320 --> 00:04:17,039
Speaker 3: So you're going to rotate to that guy kind of

94
00:04:17,040 --> 00:04:20,160
Speaker 3: like a Manuel Quickly did on that final possession to Lebron,

95
00:04:20,520 --> 00:04:22,640
Speaker 3: and the guy on the opposite end of the court

96
00:04:22,800 --> 00:04:25,279
Speaker 3: is going to be the most difficult guy to pass to,

97
00:04:25,640 --> 00:04:27,320
Speaker 3: and the ball is going to take the longest amount

98
00:04:27,360 --> 00:04:29,360
Speaker 3: of time to get there, which is going to allow

99
00:04:29,400 --> 00:04:31,800
Speaker 3: your defense a chance to rotate. That's why that's the

100
00:04:31,839 --> 00:04:35,440
Speaker 3: payoff spot. That's the spot that a defense is most

101
00:04:35,480 --> 00:04:37,920
Speaker 3: willing to leave open, and that if an offense can

102
00:04:37,960 --> 00:04:40,880
Speaker 3: get it there soon enough, there's an open look to

103
00:04:40,880 --> 00:04:44,239
Speaker 3: be had. And that's what Lebron identified with that final sequence.

104
00:04:44,279 --> 00:04:47,919
Speaker 3: And again, Lebron saw that whole sequence before it happened,

105
00:04:48,240 --> 00:04:50,880
Speaker 3: informed his teammate about it, told him where to be

106
00:04:50,920 --> 00:04:53,640
Speaker 3: in to be ready, made the read so fast, and

107
00:04:53,680 --> 00:04:56,359
Speaker 3: made the pass on a line drive right into his

108
00:04:56,400 --> 00:04:59,120
Speaker 3: shooting pocket so the Raptors had no chance to rotate

109
00:04:59,600 --> 00:05:02,240
Speaker 3: in rooms. He burns them to win the game. Really,

110
00:05:02,279 --> 00:05:07,200
Speaker 3: just a classic career defining type of play from Lebron James.

111
00:05:07,200 --> 00:05:09,640
Speaker 3: One of my biggest pet peeves over the years with

112
00:05:09,720 --> 00:05:12,279
Speaker 3: the way Lebron has been covered is just the way

113
00:05:12,279 --> 00:05:14,920
Speaker 3: that he's portrayed by his detractors to be this guy

114
00:05:14,960 --> 00:05:17,840
Speaker 3: who cares more about things that have nothing to do

115
00:05:17,920 --> 00:05:22,560
Speaker 3: with winning, like himself or the showmanship or whatever it

116
00:05:22,640 --> 00:05:26,000
Speaker 3: might be off court behavior. People try to portray him

117
00:05:26,000 --> 00:05:29,200
Speaker 3: as a guy that doesn't care about winning. And here's

118
00:05:29,200 --> 00:05:34,080
Speaker 3: the thing. Does Lebron enjoy being famous? Clearly that doesn't

119
00:05:34,080 --> 00:05:37,040
Speaker 3: take a whole lot to come to that conclusion. Does

120
00:05:37,120 --> 00:05:40,520
Speaker 3: Lebron play to the camera and really lean into being

121
00:05:40,600 --> 00:05:43,520
Speaker 3: a showman? Of course he does. Does he care about

122
00:05:43,560 --> 00:05:48,119
Speaker 3: his individual records and personal resume more than most people. Yeah,

123
00:05:48,200 --> 00:05:50,760
Speaker 3: because he's the one player in NBA history to actually

124
00:05:50,800 --> 00:05:53,719
Speaker 3: get compared to Michael Jordan, and he's competitive and he

125
00:05:53,720 --> 00:05:56,440
Speaker 3: wants to win that race, and he knows that everything,

126
00:05:56,480 --> 00:05:59,719
Speaker 3: including the wins, including the individual records in his personal resume,

127
00:06:00,120 --> 00:06:01,800
Speaker 3: will help him achieve.

128
00:06:01,480 --> 00:06:03,320
Speaker 2: That goal of his that he has.

129
00:06:03,640 --> 00:06:05,839
Speaker 3: And the funniest thing about the people who focus on

130
00:06:06,040 --> 00:06:10,840
Speaker 3: those things is they refuse to acknowledge the how behind

131
00:06:10,839 --> 00:06:11,880
Speaker 3: those behaviors.

132
00:06:12,320 --> 00:06:13,040
Speaker 2: You want to know.

133
00:06:12,960 --> 00:06:16,520
Speaker 3: Why Lebron has become so famous that he can play

134
00:06:16,560 --> 00:06:19,159
Speaker 3: to the camera whenever he wants. You want to know

135
00:06:19,240 --> 00:06:23,160
Speaker 3: why Lebron is the only NBA player to get compared

136
00:06:23,200 --> 00:06:26,640
Speaker 3: to Michael Jordan because he's one of the greatest winners

137
00:06:27,240 --> 00:06:30,359
Speaker 3: in the history of sports. Winning has always been the

138
00:06:30,400 --> 00:06:33,839
Speaker 3: main thing for Lebron, and it's been clearly demonstrated throughout

139
00:06:33,839 --> 00:06:36,720
Speaker 3: his career. This guy has won his conference ten times.

140
00:06:36,839 --> 00:06:39,640
Speaker 3: He's made it to the conference finals two additional times.

141
00:06:39,800 --> 00:06:44,520
Speaker 3: He's won more playoff series than any NBA franchise since

142
00:06:44,560 --> 00:06:47,800
Speaker 3: he came into the league in the summer of two

143
00:06:47,800 --> 00:06:51,960
Speaker 3: thousand and three. He's literally hoisted the Larry O'Brien Trophy

144
00:06:52,080 --> 00:06:54,880
Speaker 3: four different times, a feat only matched by the Golden

145
00:06:54,880 --> 00:06:57,760
Speaker 3: State Warriors since he came into the league, who achieved

146
00:06:57,800 --> 00:07:00,520
Speaker 3: two of those by putting together the most talent roster

147
00:07:00,640 --> 00:07:02,920
Speaker 3: in the history of the NBA by a wide margin.

148
00:07:03,960 --> 00:07:06,960
Speaker 3: He's the greatest winner of his era, and last night

149
00:07:07,080 --> 00:07:09,920
Speaker 3: was just the latest in a long line of examples

150
00:07:09,920 --> 00:07:13,200
Speaker 3: of it. I talk all the time about for young

151
00:07:13,240 --> 00:07:16,360
Speaker 3: players about how when you're having a bad game, you

152
00:07:16,480 --> 00:07:18,040
Speaker 3: just need to try to find a way to make

153
00:07:18,080 --> 00:07:22,280
Speaker 3: a play. Lebron wasn't ready for what they asked him

154
00:07:22,280 --> 00:07:23,800
Speaker 3: to do last night. We talked about it in the

155
00:07:23,840 --> 00:07:26,520
Speaker 3: Laker Collective pod with Trevor and yovonn yesterday in the morning.

156
00:07:26,880 --> 00:07:30,000
Speaker 3: I talked about it right on the playback stream before

157
00:07:30,040 --> 00:07:34,720
Speaker 3: the tip went up last night. Lebron last season was

158
00:07:34,840 --> 00:07:37,760
Speaker 3: healthy for all of training camp and still looked bad

159
00:07:37,760 --> 00:07:40,360
Speaker 3: for the first month. Why because he's forty years old

160
00:07:40,400 --> 00:07:42,960
Speaker 3: and it takes a long time for him to ramp

161
00:07:43,000 --> 00:07:47,800
Speaker 3: his body up for NBA basketball This season because of

162
00:07:47,840 --> 00:07:50,560
Speaker 3: the sciatica. He wasn't working out in July or he

163
00:07:50,600 --> 00:07:52,560
Speaker 3: got injured in July, but he wasn't working out at

164
00:07:52,560 --> 00:07:54,600
Speaker 3: the end of July or all of August or all

165
00:07:54,680 --> 00:07:58,520
Speaker 3: of September. He was starting his ramp up substantially later

166
00:07:58,600 --> 00:08:00,960
Speaker 3: in the process. This dude's been playing five on five

167
00:08:01,000 --> 00:08:05,320
Speaker 3: basketball against pros for a couple of weeks, and it

168
00:08:05,400 --> 00:08:08,280
Speaker 3: was fine when Luca was there because the team is

169
00:08:08,320 --> 00:08:10,920
Speaker 3: so damn good without him that they can rack up

170
00:08:10,960 --> 00:08:14,560
Speaker 3: regular season wins and let him slowly ramp up. It's

171
00:08:14,560 --> 00:08:16,680
Speaker 3: why I haven't been worried at all about how he's

172
00:08:16,680 --> 00:08:19,440
Speaker 3: looked over the last couple of weeks. Take your time, Lebron.

173
00:08:19,640 --> 00:08:22,120
Speaker 3: They're going to keep racking up wins even as you're

174
00:08:22,120 --> 00:08:26,800
Speaker 3: building your rhythm. But unfortunately, in congratulations to Luca welcoming

175
00:08:26,840 --> 00:08:29,280
Speaker 3: another child into the world, but because Luca's over in

176
00:08:29,280 --> 00:08:33,680
Speaker 3: Slovenia with his family, Lebron was basically forced through that

177
00:08:33,800 --> 00:08:37,199
Speaker 3: next man up mentality to be ready for something that

178
00:08:37,280 --> 00:08:41,120
Speaker 3: he wasn't ready for. He wasn't ready to be a

179
00:08:41,160 --> 00:08:43,080
Speaker 3: guy that had to be like one of the two

180
00:08:43,160 --> 00:08:46,680
Speaker 3: primary shot creators for the Lakers last night. He's probably

181
00:08:46,720 --> 00:08:48,920
Speaker 3: like a month away from that, at least a couple

182
00:08:49,000 --> 00:08:53,120
Speaker 3: of weeks. I expected him to be pretty mediocre last night,

183
00:08:54,080 --> 00:08:56,360
Speaker 3: and Scotty Barnes made things even harder for him. He

184
00:08:56,480 --> 00:08:59,480
Speaker 3: basically refused to switch off of him all game as

185
00:08:59,480 --> 00:09:01,640
Speaker 3: one of the big game plan things that was causing

186
00:09:01,679 --> 00:09:04,480
Speaker 3: problems for Lebron. So like in Guard Guard screens. They

187
00:09:04,480 --> 00:09:07,680
Speaker 3: were hedging and recovering. Even when Lebron was setting screens,

188
00:09:07,720 --> 00:09:10,480
Speaker 3: Scotty wasn't helping. He was doing everything he could to

189
00:09:10,520 --> 00:09:13,040
Speaker 3: stay attached to Lebron, and that was a big part

190
00:09:13,080 --> 00:09:16,040
Speaker 3: of why Lebron was four for seventeen. From the field,

191
00:09:16,080 --> 00:09:21,360
Speaker 3: Scotty Barnes athletically overwhelmed him one on one. So like,

192
00:09:21,679 --> 00:09:24,560
Speaker 3: just as a little side point, Scotty Barnes deserves a

193
00:09:24,559 --> 00:09:27,960
Speaker 3: ton of credit for being the first guy physically capable

194
00:09:28,000 --> 00:09:31,760
Speaker 3: of holding Lebron below a double digit scoring output. Took

195
00:09:31,800 --> 00:09:35,199
Speaker 3: seventeen shots, And it's not like Lebron wanted to shoot

196
00:09:35,240 --> 00:09:38,880
Speaker 3: seventeen shots last night. Like like I've seen people be like, oh,

197
00:09:38,880 --> 00:09:40,320
Speaker 3: he was four for seventeen last night.

198
00:09:40,360 --> 00:09:42,560
Speaker 2: He was bad. You're a damn loser.

199
00:09:44,000 --> 00:09:46,720
Speaker 3: You think Lebron wanted to take seventeen shots last night.

200
00:09:47,000 --> 00:09:50,280
Speaker 3: He had no choice under the circumstances but to try

201
00:09:50,320 --> 00:09:53,600
Speaker 3: to manufacture offense. The Lakers were playing Nick Smith Junior

202
00:09:54,840 --> 00:09:58,040
Speaker 3: in an attempt to try to find ball handling with

203
00:09:58,160 --> 00:10:01,720
Speaker 3: Luka Dancic out of the lineup. He wasn't close to

204
00:10:01,800 --> 00:10:03,600
Speaker 3: being ready for the role that he had last night,

205
00:10:03,640 --> 00:10:05,600
Speaker 3: but he had no choice but to try. And here's

206
00:10:05,640 --> 00:10:07,400
Speaker 3: the thing. He couldn't make a shot to save his

207
00:10:07,440 --> 00:10:10,280
Speaker 3: life at the rim or from the perimeter. But he

208
00:10:10,440 --> 00:10:13,400
Speaker 3: just found ways to contribute throughout the game. He had

209
00:10:13,400 --> 00:10:17,800
Speaker 3: eleven assists and zero turnovers, generating offense by like burning

210
00:10:17,840 --> 00:10:20,640
Speaker 3: the Raptors for helping off of the corners multiple times.

211
00:10:20,679 --> 00:10:22,480
Speaker 3: He drew a couple of double teams off of Jake

212
00:10:22,520 --> 00:10:24,720
Speaker 3: Laavia where he hit him in the corner for threes.

213
00:10:24,760 --> 00:10:27,560
Speaker 3: He caught a Manuel quickly once sitting at the block

214
00:10:27,920 --> 00:10:30,360
Speaker 3: about fifteen feet off of Dalton Connect in the right

215
00:10:30,400 --> 00:10:32,280
Speaker 3: in the left corner, rifle to pass right in the

216
00:10:32,360 --> 00:10:35,319
Speaker 3: Dalton Connects shooting pocket. He knocked down a three. Made

217
00:10:35,360 --> 00:10:38,160
Speaker 3: a bunch of advantage reads in four on three sequences,

218
00:10:38,200 --> 00:10:40,920
Speaker 3: one where Austin drew a blitz. Jackson got the ball

219
00:10:40,960 --> 00:10:43,080
Speaker 3: in the short roll, had made their pass to Lebron,

220
00:10:43,280 --> 00:10:45,600
Speaker 3: they rotated to Lebron, he just rifled it right back

221
00:10:45,640 --> 00:10:48,360
Speaker 3: to Jackson down the lane for a dunk. He drove

222
00:10:48,360 --> 00:10:50,360
Speaker 3: a close out off the left wing in the second

223
00:10:50,440 --> 00:10:52,720
Speaker 3: half and lobbed the ball to Deandrayton for a dunk.

224
00:10:52,920 --> 00:10:54,880
Speaker 3: The game winner to Rueye in the corner. Those are

225
00:10:54,920 --> 00:10:59,280
Speaker 3: all advantage sequences where he made that extra read that

226
00:10:59,360 --> 00:11:02,000
Speaker 3: ended up finished the play. He ran that two man

227
00:11:02,080 --> 00:11:04,760
Speaker 3: game with Austin to generate a bucket. He got one

228
00:11:04,800 --> 00:11:06,640
Speaker 3: right in the start of the third quarter, that classic

229
00:11:06,640 --> 00:11:09,920
Speaker 3: little inverted ball screen where Austin screens for Lebron and

230
00:11:09,920 --> 00:11:11,880
Speaker 3: then slips to the front of the rim and Lebron

231
00:11:11,960 --> 00:11:13,640
Speaker 3: just hits him with the bounce pass for a layup.

232
00:11:13,880 --> 00:11:17,800
Speaker 3: Eleven assists in zero turnovers. Just found a way to

233
00:11:17,880 --> 00:11:20,720
Speaker 3: generate offense as much as possible. And again, when you're

234
00:11:20,760 --> 00:11:24,440
Speaker 3: having a rough night as a basketball player, you just

235
00:11:24,600 --> 00:11:28,120
Speaker 3: have to try to find a way to make a

236
00:11:28,400 --> 00:11:32,160
Speaker 3: play or a couple of plays to help your team

237
00:11:32,240 --> 00:11:34,960
Speaker 3: win the game, and then no one's gonna care about

238
00:11:35,000 --> 00:11:39,040
Speaker 3: everything else. That happened obviously as the game winning assists,

239
00:11:39,040 --> 00:11:41,320
Speaker 3: but he had a big defensive rebound in crunch time,

240
00:11:41,360 --> 00:11:44,360
Speaker 3: boxing out Scottie Barnes underneath the basket. He had several

241
00:11:44,360 --> 00:11:47,880
Speaker 3: big defensive rotations late in the game that helped the

242
00:11:47,920 --> 00:11:49,960
Speaker 3: Lakers get stops. And by the way, the Lakers logged

243
00:11:50,000 --> 00:11:53,679
Speaker 3: a seventy eight defensive rating and clutch time yesterday, continuing

244
00:11:53,679 --> 00:11:55,920
Speaker 3: their trend to being the best clutch defense in the NBA,

245
00:11:55,960 --> 00:11:58,520
Speaker 3: as they improved a seven to zero in clutch games

246
00:11:58,520 --> 00:11:59,920
Speaker 3: the season. The Lakers have been able to get stop

247
00:12:00,040 --> 00:12:03,200
Speaker 3: up at the end of games when they need to anyway, Like,

248
00:12:03,240 --> 00:12:05,280
Speaker 3: as far as Lebron goes, I'm just going to enjoy

249
00:12:05,960 --> 00:12:09,000
Speaker 3: these final moments of his career while we can. I

250
00:12:09,000 --> 00:12:12,600
Speaker 3: think he's been an excellent example for young basketball players

251
00:12:12,600 --> 00:12:15,160
Speaker 3: when it comes to how to approach the game, impacting

252
00:12:15,240 --> 00:12:19,040
Speaker 3: winning through your effort, through your IQ, focusing on every

253
00:12:19,120 --> 00:12:21,800
Speaker 3: single facet of the game. He's just the greatest winner

254
00:12:22,160 --> 00:12:25,640
Speaker 3: of this era of NBA basketball, and no detractor will

255
00:12:25,679 --> 00:12:27,760
Speaker 3: ever be able to take that away from him, no

256
00:12:27,800 --> 00:12:29,960
Speaker 3: matter what they say. A couple other quick Lakers things

257
00:12:30,160 --> 00:12:35,840
Speaker 3: before we get to our mailbag. Austin Reeves forty four

258
00:12:35,840 --> 00:12:39,400
Speaker 3: and ten again last night, averaging twenty nine six and

259
00:12:39,559 --> 00:12:42,560
Speaker 3: seven on sixty nine percent true shooting this season. I

260
00:12:42,559 --> 00:12:45,280
Speaker 3: was talking about this last night on playback. To be clear,

261
00:12:45,559 --> 00:12:48,760
Speaker 3: the Lakers aren't getting Yannest, certainly not this season. If

262
00:12:48,760 --> 00:12:50,720
Speaker 3: they did, it would be because he somehow made it

263
00:12:50,760 --> 00:12:52,839
Speaker 3: to the offseason and the Lakers got access to another

264
00:12:52,920 --> 00:12:56,560
Speaker 3: draft pick. But I still think that's extremely unlikely. One

265
00:12:56,559 --> 00:12:58,520
Speaker 3: of these other teams is going to have so much

266
00:12:58,559 --> 00:13:01,160
Speaker 3: more to offer in terms of draft compensation as well

267
00:13:01,160 --> 00:13:03,920
Speaker 3: as a good young player, and they'll end up getting Yanis.

268
00:13:04,440 --> 00:13:06,280
Speaker 3: And again, if they even try to do it during

269
00:13:06,320 --> 00:13:09,160
Speaker 3: this season, it's just impossible. With the salaries, would be

270
00:13:09,200 --> 00:13:11,640
Speaker 3: extremely difficult for them to pull off. But just as

271
00:13:11,679 --> 00:13:15,280
Speaker 3: a thought exercise, I think he'd be the best player

272
00:13:15,960 --> 00:13:19,880
Speaker 3: included in any potential package for Giannis. Like if the

273
00:13:19,920 --> 00:13:23,840
Speaker 3: season ended today, Austin would make the All NBA team,

274
00:13:25,080 --> 00:13:29,079
Speaker 3: maybe even second team. He'd be a better center piece

275
00:13:29,160 --> 00:13:31,480
Speaker 3: than any of the other packages I've seen thrown around.

276
00:13:31,600 --> 00:13:34,240
Speaker 3: He's a better player than Jalen Johnson right now. He's

277
00:13:34,280 --> 00:13:37,120
Speaker 3: a better player than Pala Bancaro right now. He's a

278
00:13:37,120 --> 00:13:40,640
Speaker 3: better player than Steph Castle or Dylan Harper. He's easily

279
00:13:40,679 --> 00:13:43,480
Speaker 3: the best player in the league that's been thrown around

280
00:13:43,520 --> 00:13:46,480
Speaker 3: as a featured piece in one of these Giannis trade packages.

281
00:13:46,640 --> 00:13:48,880
Speaker 3: And I only say that as a thought exercise. Again,

282
00:13:48,920 --> 00:13:50,800
Speaker 3: I don't think Austin's going to be a Buck and

283
00:13:50,840 --> 00:13:52,880
Speaker 3: Giannis is going to be a Laker. I'm simply saying

284
00:13:53,400 --> 00:13:56,400
Speaker 3: this is how great of a player Austin Reeves has

285
00:13:56,440 --> 00:13:59,199
Speaker 3: become in this league. It's like dependable.

286
00:13:59,240 --> 00:13:59,480
Speaker 2: Now.

287
00:13:59,760 --> 00:14:03,480
Speaker 3: It's like, oh Austin, we need him to get forty

288
00:14:03,520 --> 00:14:06,320
Speaker 3: and ten tonight, and he's just gonna get forty and ten,

289
00:14:07,200 --> 00:14:09,600
Speaker 3: a career high twenty two points in a single quarter

290
00:14:10,200 --> 00:14:14,559
Speaker 3: last night. Was bombing logo threes, frustrating the hell out

291
00:14:14,559 --> 00:14:17,559
Speaker 3: of Toronto's perimeter defenders with his pump fakes and drawing fouls.

292
00:14:17,600 --> 00:14:20,800
Speaker 3: Just literally just turning over his right shoulder on Colin

293
00:14:20,880 --> 00:14:23,240
Speaker 3: Murray Boyles and just showing the ball, leaves his feet,

294
00:14:23,360 --> 00:14:25,960
Speaker 3: draws the foul. Same thing against Jamal shd on the

295
00:14:26,000 --> 00:14:28,920
Speaker 3: left baseline, little step back, show the ball, Jamal lunges in.

296
00:14:29,000 --> 00:14:33,120
Speaker 3: They can't help themselves and they're committing fouls. He was

297
00:14:33,160 --> 00:14:35,400
Speaker 3: getting to the rim at will. He had this crazy play,

298
00:14:35,440 --> 00:14:38,840
Speaker 3: one of my favorite highlights of Austin's young career. In

299
00:14:38,920 --> 00:14:40,720
Speaker 3: crunch time, Lakers are down by two and it looks

300
00:14:40,720 --> 00:14:42,760
Speaker 3: like they're gonna call a time out. All the Lakers

301
00:14:42,800 --> 00:14:45,800
Speaker 3: players drift into the backcourt, just kind of waiting for

302
00:14:45,840 --> 00:14:48,160
Speaker 3: Austin to dribble across half court and call a time out.

303
00:14:48,320 --> 00:14:50,920
Speaker 3: Austin says, screw it, just drives to the basket and

304
00:14:50,960 --> 00:14:54,280
Speaker 3: scores a layup. Over a triple team to tie the game.

305
00:14:55,680 --> 00:14:59,080
Speaker 3: He's just an absolute hooper man, and it's been such

306
00:14:59,080 --> 00:15:01,720
Speaker 3: a joy covering the league to be able to watch

307
00:15:01,760 --> 00:15:04,080
Speaker 3: his ascent on the Lakers has been a lot of fun.

308
00:15:04,080 --> 00:15:06,080
Speaker 3: Lots of other shoutouts for Lakers role players in a

309
00:15:06,080 --> 00:15:08,840
Speaker 3: big roa to win. DeAndre Ayton was phenomenal in this game.

310
00:15:08,880 --> 00:15:11,400
Speaker 3: He was burning the Raptors in there at the level

311
00:15:11,440 --> 00:15:13,480
Speaker 3: coverage with lobs. So when Austin would come off of

312
00:15:13,520 --> 00:15:16,800
Speaker 3: a screen attacking Mamu in particular, Mamu was coming up

313
00:15:16,880 --> 00:15:19,560
Speaker 3: to the level. When Mamu would come up, Ayton would

314
00:15:19,640 --> 00:15:22,440
Speaker 3: roll behind him and Austin, who's been a terrible lob

315
00:15:22,480 --> 00:15:24,800
Speaker 3: thrower this year, actually was pretty good with his lobs

316
00:15:24,880 --> 00:15:28,320
Speaker 3: last night completed three of them to DeAndre Ayton over

317
00:15:28,360 --> 00:15:31,200
Speaker 3: the top. I thought Ayton's transition defense was amazing. He

318
00:15:31,240 --> 00:15:33,360
Speaker 3: was a part of several big transition stops that the

319
00:15:33,440 --> 00:15:35,920
Speaker 3: Lakers got in the second half just by sprinting back

320
00:15:36,120 --> 00:15:38,440
Speaker 3: and being big around the rim. He had the biggest

321
00:15:38,480 --> 00:15:40,720
Speaker 3: stop of the game, a switch on to Brandon Ingram

322
00:15:40,760 --> 00:15:43,600
Speaker 3: and crunch time on the second the second last possession,

323
00:15:43,600 --> 00:15:46,680
Speaker 3: so the final defensive possession guarding brandon ingram Won on

324
00:15:46,680 --> 00:15:50,280
Speaker 3: one runs with him along the lane line to the basket,

325
00:15:50,320 --> 00:15:53,440
Speaker 3: gets a great contest forces him into a miss. He

326
00:15:53,560 --> 00:15:56,440
Speaker 3: anchored the defense in the half court all night. Ayton

327
00:15:56,560 --> 00:15:59,600
Speaker 3: just continues to be amazing. Jacob Ravia kind had of

328
00:15:59,600 --> 00:16:01,280
Speaker 3: a bit of a rough first shift, but I thought

329
00:16:01,280 --> 00:16:03,240
Speaker 3: he was amazing in the second half. He was scrapping

330
00:16:03,320 --> 00:16:05,640
Speaker 3: on the defensive glass all night, either getting the ball

331
00:16:05,760 --> 00:16:08,360
Speaker 3: or like tapping the ball out to other Lakers who

332
00:16:08,360 --> 00:16:10,880
Speaker 3: could get the ball. He hit a couple of huge

333
00:16:10,880 --> 00:16:13,280
Speaker 3: corner threes off of double teams. At Lebron, he made

334
00:16:13,280 --> 00:16:14,880
Speaker 3: one of the biggest transition plays of the night. It

335
00:16:14,920 --> 00:16:17,400
Speaker 3: was actually a goaltend. It's this weird sequence where Mamu

336
00:16:17,520 --> 00:16:19,640
Speaker 3: was like probably going to miss a dunkey, like went

337
00:16:19,720 --> 00:16:21,440
Speaker 3: up to dunk it and like threw the ball into

338
00:16:21,440 --> 00:16:24,240
Speaker 3: the rim, and then Jake Lavia came flying in and

339
00:16:24,560 --> 00:16:25,600
Speaker 3: blocked it off of the rim.

340
00:16:25,640 --> 00:16:26,040
Speaker 2: And here's the thing.

341
00:16:26,080 --> 00:16:28,360
Speaker 3: It was probably a goaltend, but you know, it's bang bang.

342
00:16:28,400 --> 00:16:30,680
Speaker 3: Play had been lightning fast, and it was such a

343
00:16:30,680 --> 00:16:33,680
Speaker 3: weird play because Mamu was gonna miss anyway, and it

344
00:16:33,760 --> 00:16:35,680
Speaker 3: was just a big hustle play. That he made that

345
00:16:35,720 --> 00:16:37,920
Speaker 3: converted what would have been two points for the Rafts

346
00:16:37,960 --> 00:16:43,000
Speaker 3: into a stop. Ruly big game, makes the corner three

347
00:16:43,040 --> 00:16:45,920
Speaker 3: that wins it. Nick Smith again sliding into a bigger

348
00:16:46,040 --> 00:16:48,400
Speaker 3: role when the Lakers need ball handling. He also had

349
00:16:48,440 --> 00:16:50,880
Speaker 3: one of those big transition sequences last night. Austin had

350
00:16:50,880 --> 00:16:54,560
Speaker 3: a turnover that led to a runout. Nick Smith sprinted back,

351
00:16:54,920 --> 00:16:57,440
Speaker 3: stole the ball underneath the basket, and then went down

352
00:16:57,440 --> 00:16:59,360
Speaker 3: the other end. It hit a little mid range, a

353
00:16:59,480 --> 00:17:03,480
Speaker 3: jump shot, a four point swing. Massive, massive play there

354
00:17:03,520 --> 00:17:06,080
Speaker 3: in the second half. Just a really fun Lakers win.

355
00:17:06,200 --> 00:17:08,080
Speaker 3: I was fun listening to JJ Reddick talk about it

356
00:17:08,080 --> 00:17:09,440
Speaker 3: after the game. He was just talking about how it

357
00:17:09,480 --> 00:17:12,840
Speaker 3: was a very connected team and that he really enjoyed

358
00:17:12,840 --> 00:17:16,000
Speaker 3: competing with the guys. Really good vibes for a Lakers

359
00:17:16,000 --> 00:17:18,960
Speaker 3: team that's only a half game back for the second

360
00:17:19,040 --> 00:17:22,119
Speaker 3: best record in the entire NBA right now. With Luca

361
00:17:22,200 --> 00:17:26,560
Speaker 3: missing five games, with Lebron missing fifteen games, with Austin

362
00:17:26,560 --> 00:17:29,240
Speaker 3: missing a few games with a groin injury, it's just

363
00:17:29,280 --> 00:17:32,520
Speaker 3: been a special season for them so far, and another

364
00:17:32,600 --> 00:17:36,320
Speaker 3: challenge tonight in Boston, and might be without Lebron as well.

365
00:17:36,440 --> 00:17:38,680
Speaker 3: In addition, to Luca and that one is Lebron hasn't

366
00:17:38,960 --> 00:17:41,840
Speaker 3: hasn't been playing in back to backs to start the season.

367
00:17:41,840 --> 00:17:44,440
Speaker 3: We will be covering that game on Playback tonight at

368
00:17:44,440 --> 00:17:48,840
Speaker 3: four pm Pacific time. Today's show is brought to you

369
00:17:48,880 --> 00:17:52,040
Speaker 3: by our new presenting sponsor, hard Rock Bet Big News.

370
00:17:52,320 --> 00:17:55,080
Speaker 3: Hard Rock Bet is now live in Michigan. Sign up

371
00:17:55,119 --> 00:17:57,679
Speaker 3: today in place your first five dollars sports bet. If

372
00:17:57,720 --> 00:17:59,520
Speaker 3: it wins, you get one hundred and fifty dollars in

373
00:17:59,560 --> 00:18:01,840
Speaker 3: bonus bet that's on top of your winnings. And if

374
00:18:01,840 --> 00:18:04,159
Speaker 3: you're into more casino games, new customers can get up

375
00:18:04,200 --> 00:18:07,240
Speaker 3: to one thousand dollars back in casino bonus. If you're

376
00:18:07,240 --> 00:18:10,080
Speaker 3: not up money after your first twenty four hours playing slots,

377
00:18:10,520 --> 00:18:13,480
Speaker 3: win money or get a casino bonus back, plus you

378
00:18:13,520 --> 00:18:17,560
Speaker 3: get two hundred bonus spins winnings paid in cash. Want

379
00:18:17,600 --> 00:18:19,560
Speaker 3: to see what everyone else is betting on tonight? Top

380
00:18:19,560 --> 00:18:22,840
Speaker 3: picks or parlays across any sport. The hard rock Bet

381
00:18:22,880 --> 00:18:25,680
Speaker 3: app literally shows you. It's another reason to download the

382
00:18:25,680 --> 00:18:28,359
Speaker 3: app just for the info. Tap discover and you can

383
00:18:28,400 --> 00:18:31,320
Speaker 3: see trending picks and parlays at any time. Hard Rock

384
00:18:31,320 --> 00:18:34,840
Speaker 3: Bet offers new promos daily plus big legendary rewards drops

385
00:18:34,840 --> 00:18:38,080
Speaker 3: every Thursday like gifts under the Tree, So whenever you're listening,

386
00:18:38,200 --> 00:18:40,200
Speaker 3: just open up the app and check out what you

387
00:18:40,280 --> 00:18:42,640
Speaker 3: got waiting for you. Download the hard Rock Bet app

388
00:18:42,640 --> 00:18:45,439
Speaker 3: and make your first deposit payble on bonus bets. Not

389
00:18:45,520 --> 00:18:47,920
Speaker 3: a cash offer offered by the Seminal Tribe of Florida.

390
00:18:47,960 --> 00:18:51,280
Speaker 3: In Florida, offered by Seminal hard Rock Digital LLC. In

391
00:18:51,320 --> 00:18:53,920
Speaker 3: all other states. Must be twenty one plus and physically

392
00:18:53,920 --> 00:18:58,560
Speaker 3: present in Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Illinois, Indiana, New Jersey, Ohio, Tennessee,

393
00:18:58,640 --> 00:19:02,160
Speaker 3: or Virginia to play. Terms and conditions apply. Concerned about

394
00:19:02,200 --> 00:19:05,200
Speaker 3: gambling in Florida called one eight three to three play

395
00:19:05,240 --> 00:19:07,719
Speaker 3: wise In Indiana, if you or someone you know has

396
00:19:07,760 --> 00:19:10,479
Speaker 3: a gambling problem and wants help, call one eight hundred

397
00:19:10,520 --> 00:19:14,200
Speaker 3: and nine with it gambling problem called one eight hundred

398
00:19:14,200 --> 00:19:19,320
Speaker 3: gambler in Arizona, Colorado, Illinois, New Jersey, Ohio, Tennessee, or Virginia.

399
00:19:19,920 --> 00:19:22,719
Speaker 3: Sports Welcome offer is payable in bonus bets, not a

400
00:19:22,760 --> 00:19:26,400
Speaker 3: cash offer. Casino offer issued as non withdrawable site credits.

401
00:19:26,720 --> 00:19:29,760
Speaker 3: Ten plus dollars deposit required for two hundred bonus spins

402
00:19:30,080 --> 00:19:32,479
Speaker 3: for Huff and more Puff only up to one thousand

403
00:19:32,480 --> 00:19:35,600
Speaker 3: dollars back in casino bonus if player has net loss

404
00:19:35,640 --> 00:19:38,960
Speaker 3: on slots after first twenty four hours. Casino bonus credit

405
00:19:39,119 --> 00:19:42,639
Speaker 3: has a one x wager requirement offered by Seminal hard

406
00:19:42,720 --> 00:19:45,680
Speaker 3: Rock Digital LLC. Must be twenty one plus and physically

407
00:19:45,680 --> 00:19:49,240
Speaker 3: present in Michigan to play. Terms and conditions apply. Concerned

408
00:19:49,240 --> 00:19:54,400
Speaker 3: about gambling called one eight hundred Gambler. Another wild finish

409
00:19:54,480 --> 00:19:58,359
Speaker 3: in Philly. The Warriors went into Philly without Steph and Jimmy,

410
00:19:58,560 --> 00:20:00,879
Speaker 3: and then Draymond got his footst stomped on again, so

411
00:20:00,880 --> 00:20:03,200
Speaker 3: we ended up leaving the game in a walking boot.

412
00:20:03,320 --> 00:20:06,159
Speaker 3: So some more trouble there, although the reporting is that

413
00:20:06,240 --> 00:20:09,120
Speaker 3: Draymond is expected to continue to try to play through

414
00:20:09,160 --> 00:20:09,720
Speaker 3: that injury.

415
00:20:10,640 --> 00:20:12,320
Speaker 2: Warriors couldn't score to save their lives.

416
00:20:12,520 --> 00:20:14,840
Speaker 3: Brandon Pajemski and Jonathan Minga both had really rough games.

417
00:20:14,880 --> 00:20:16,200
Speaker 3: I want to talk to them a little bit more

418
00:20:16,280 --> 00:20:18,640
Speaker 3: in a minute, because the negativity surrounding them is really

419
00:20:18,640 --> 00:20:22,400
Speaker 3: starting to reach a fever pitch right now. Tyres Maxie's

420
00:20:22,440 --> 00:20:24,280
Speaker 3: lighting him on fire on the other end, and the

421
00:20:24,280 --> 00:20:26,240
Speaker 3: Warriors end up going down by twenty two in the

422
00:20:26,240 --> 00:20:28,400
Speaker 3: first quarter. They end up stiff arming them around there

423
00:20:28,480 --> 00:20:30,879
Speaker 3: most of the rest of the game, but then the

424
00:20:30,920 --> 00:20:34,200
Speaker 3: Warriors mount and epic eighteen point fourth quarter comeback, led

425
00:20:34,200 --> 00:20:38,479
Speaker 3: by one of those classic little three guard lineups that

426
00:20:38,520 --> 00:20:40,639
Speaker 3: you know, Golden State fans complained about all the time.

427
00:20:40,880 --> 00:20:43,520
Speaker 3: We had Buddy Heal, d Anthony Melton, and Pat Spencer.

428
00:20:44,080 --> 00:20:45,720
Speaker 3: Will Richard got in there a little bit too, so

429
00:20:45,760 --> 00:20:47,720
Speaker 3: three of those four guards at any given time, Gie

430
00:20:47,760 --> 00:20:50,400
Speaker 3: Santo's playing the four, and then a mix of Al

431
00:20:50,440 --> 00:20:53,159
Speaker 3: Horford and Quinton Posts was the group that ended up

432
00:20:53,240 --> 00:20:56,560
Speaker 3: leading the comeback. Buddy Heals like constantly just running by

433
00:20:56,600 --> 00:20:59,600
Speaker 3: Tyrese Maxie and getting every single offensive rebound. Tyres Maxie's

434
00:20:59,600 --> 00:21:01,520
Speaker 3: got to be more intentive on the defensive glass. That's

435
00:21:01,560 --> 00:21:03,280
Speaker 3: something that's been standing out to me in film. He's

436
00:21:03,280 --> 00:21:05,520
Speaker 3: got to figure that out. It's just a little detail

437
00:21:05,560 --> 00:21:08,280
Speaker 3: that's undercutting some of his success. On the other end,

438
00:21:08,880 --> 00:21:11,760
Speaker 3: d Anthony Melton was flying around on defense, breaking plays up,

439
00:21:11,880 --> 00:21:14,840
Speaker 3: hitting jump shots. Pat Spencer continues to provide like that,

440
00:21:15,000 --> 00:21:19,640
Speaker 3: like little bit of audacious scoring in these situations, hit

441
00:21:19,720 --> 00:21:22,320
Speaker 3: and pull up threes, drawn fouls in the mid range

442
00:21:22,640 --> 00:21:24,639
Speaker 3: GUIs Santos hit a couple of spot up threes. He

443
00:21:24,680 --> 00:21:27,760
Speaker 3: had a spin move on the baseline that got the

444
00:21:27,800 --> 00:21:30,040
Speaker 3: Warriors bench all stoked, where he kind of got caught

445
00:21:30,040 --> 00:21:31,600
Speaker 3: the ball in the short corner and the possession kind

446
00:21:31,640 --> 00:21:34,280
Speaker 3: of died. No one was open, and he just ripped

447
00:21:34,320 --> 00:21:37,320
Speaker 3: to the right and pounded into his spin move, toasted

448
00:21:37,320 --> 00:21:39,560
Speaker 3: his man off the drible got into a little reverse layup,

449
00:21:39,600 --> 00:21:42,400
Speaker 3: a nice move from GUIs Santo's. Horford had a big

450
00:21:42,440 --> 00:21:44,800
Speaker 3: block and dropped coverage. He also had an assist out

451
00:21:44,840 --> 00:21:47,280
Speaker 3: of a post up double team, and Quinton Post hit

452
00:21:47,320 --> 00:21:49,920
Speaker 3: a couple of threes, all while the team was playing great,

453
00:21:50,080 --> 00:21:50,679
Speaker 3: great defense.

454
00:21:50,720 --> 00:21:51,440
Speaker 2: On the other end.

455
00:21:52,240 --> 00:21:54,520
Speaker 3: They've mixed in some one to three one zone during

456
00:21:54,560 --> 00:21:57,159
Speaker 3: that defensive run as well as some man demand. The

457
00:21:57,200 --> 00:22:00,000
Speaker 3: Sixers were kind of playing into it a little bit

458
00:22:00,000 --> 00:22:02,359
Speaker 3: by letting their foot off the gas and just passing

459
00:22:02,400 --> 00:22:04,240
Speaker 3: the ball around the perimeter and taking some bad pull

460
00:22:04,280 --> 00:22:06,639
Speaker 3: up jump shots. But the Warriors just battled, and all

461
00:22:06,640 --> 00:22:08,480
Speaker 3: of a sudden, Pat Spencer hits a three off the

462
00:22:08,560 --> 00:22:10,679
Speaker 3: left wing and they're up by four, and it's like,

463
00:22:10,720 --> 00:22:13,080
Speaker 3: oh man, like the Warriors are about to have a

464
00:22:13,240 --> 00:22:16,560
Speaker 3: massive win here. But the Sixers finally woke up and

465
00:22:16,600 --> 00:22:19,480
Speaker 3: they made four big plays late in the game that

466
00:22:19,640 --> 00:22:23,160
Speaker 3: ended up stealing the victory back in their direction. Quinn

467
00:22:23,160 --> 00:22:25,080
Speaker 3: Grimes had a big driving and one out of the

468
00:22:25,160 --> 00:22:27,400
Speaker 3: left corner where he just kind of went through Pat

469
00:22:27,400 --> 00:22:31,720
Speaker 3: Spencer's chest and got an and one. Tyres Maxi, after

470
00:22:31,760 --> 00:22:34,480
Speaker 3: settling a few times for some bad jump shots, finally

471
00:22:34,480 --> 00:22:37,280
Speaker 3: got downhill, pounded into a spin move over his right

472
00:22:37,320 --> 00:22:38,919
Speaker 3: shoulder and put it up off the glass with his

473
00:22:39,000 --> 00:22:41,760
Speaker 3: left hand. A really really nice basket attack from Tyras Maxey.

474
00:22:42,240 --> 00:22:44,480
Speaker 3: And then the final sequence, so the Sixers have the

475
00:22:44,480 --> 00:22:49,400
Speaker 3: ball down by one and VJ. Edgecombe identifies Tyras Maxey's

476
00:22:49,440 --> 00:22:51,560
Speaker 3: taken like a tough step back jump shot like eighteen

477
00:22:51,640 --> 00:22:54,840
Speaker 3: nineteen feet off of the left elbow, off of the

478
00:22:54,880 --> 00:22:58,600
Speaker 3: right elbow extended, and he airballs it. But VJ just

479
00:22:58,680 --> 00:23:01,199
Speaker 3: kind of like identify that the airball is coming and

480
00:23:01,280 --> 00:23:04,760
Speaker 3: just cuts into the open gap times it perfectly jumps,

481
00:23:04,800 --> 00:23:07,879
Speaker 3: grabs the air ball and feeds it back into the

482
00:23:07,920 --> 00:23:10,760
Speaker 3: basket to put the Sixers up by one. D Anthony

483
00:23:10,760 --> 00:23:14,320
Speaker 3: Mountain leaks out and Buddy Heal grabs the inbound and

484
00:23:14,400 --> 00:23:17,480
Speaker 3: just rifles it down the floor to the Anthony Meltin

485
00:23:17,560 --> 00:23:19,760
Speaker 3: wide open for what would have been a layup to

486
00:23:19,840 --> 00:23:22,720
Speaker 3: win the game. And Tyrese Maxy, who was literally like

487
00:23:22,840 --> 00:23:25,880
Speaker 3: wrapped up in the bench, in the Sixers bench because

488
00:23:25,920 --> 00:23:28,200
Speaker 3: on his fallaway jump shot he was like falling over

489
00:23:28,280 --> 00:23:31,919
Speaker 3: into the bench. He somehow entangles himself from the mess

490
00:23:32,119 --> 00:23:36,040
Speaker 3: and sprints back and blocks the Anthony Melton at the

491
00:23:36,040 --> 00:23:39,399
Speaker 3: buzzer to save the game, easily the best defensive play

492
00:23:39,840 --> 00:23:42,600
Speaker 3: of his young career, and just an insane display of

493
00:23:42,640 --> 00:23:46,320
Speaker 3: his speed in the open floor, and just a lot

494
00:23:46,320 --> 00:23:49,639
Speaker 3: of fun in that particular game. Couple really fun finishes

495
00:23:49,800 --> 00:23:52,320
Speaker 3: between the two games that we covered this morning, and

496
00:23:52,359 --> 00:23:56,040
Speaker 3: I love that about the NBA. Like we complain a

497
00:23:56,080 --> 00:23:58,359
Speaker 3: lot about the NBA regular season about how it's too

498
00:23:58,480 --> 00:24:02,840
Speaker 3: long and how it can last urgency sometimes, but that

499
00:24:02,960 --> 00:24:05,320
Speaker 3: was what looked like a pretty mediocre slate and it

500
00:24:05,359 --> 00:24:07,800
Speaker 3: gave us some really cool moments. And that's ultimately what

501
00:24:07,920 --> 00:24:12,040
Speaker 3: makes the NBA regular season still fun is that it

502
00:24:12,160 --> 00:24:14,640
Speaker 3: just provides so many moments over the course of those

503
00:24:14,680 --> 00:24:16,439
Speaker 3: six months. Yeah, there's a lot of bad games and

504
00:24:16,480 --> 00:24:20,040
Speaker 3: blowouts in there as well, but generally speaking, each week

505
00:24:20,119 --> 00:24:23,119
Speaker 3: you just get a dozen or so classic games with

506
00:24:23,160 --> 00:24:26,320
Speaker 3: great finishes with crazy highlights, and that's why we keep

507
00:24:26,320 --> 00:24:28,720
Speaker 3: coming back to this shit like a drug every single

508
00:24:28,840 --> 00:24:31,879
Speaker 3: year when mid October comes around, before we get to

509
00:24:31,920 --> 00:24:33,600
Speaker 3: the mailbag. I was thinking a little bit last night

510
00:24:33,600 --> 00:24:36,360
Speaker 3: about how things have gone so wrong for the Warriors

511
00:24:36,400 --> 00:24:39,000
Speaker 3: this year. And to be clear, it's not over for them.

512
00:24:39,280 --> 00:24:41,240
Speaker 3: They're three and a half games back of the sixth

513
00:24:41,280 --> 00:24:44,359
Speaker 3: seed to get out of the plane. That's an achievable gap.

514
00:24:45,040 --> 00:24:47,280
Speaker 3: And when they have their top three guys healthy and

515
00:24:47,320 --> 00:24:49,320
Speaker 3: available on the floor, they've been really.

516
00:24:49,080 --> 00:24:49,680
Speaker 2: Good this year.

517
00:24:51,040 --> 00:24:52,520
Speaker 3: But I was thinking about it because, like, the reason

518
00:24:52,560 --> 00:24:56,040
Speaker 3: why they're below five hundred instead of staying afloat has

519
00:24:56,200 --> 00:24:58,600
Speaker 3: essentially come down to the lack of development of their

520
00:24:58,600 --> 00:25:01,439
Speaker 3: young talent. You look at the end of their roster,

521
00:25:01,920 --> 00:25:04,159
Speaker 3: a lot of those guys have been great, Like you

522
00:25:04,280 --> 00:25:07,320
Speaker 3: keep finding the Will Richard types and the Pat Spencer types,

523
00:25:07,359 --> 00:25:09,440
Speaker 3: and the Gie Santos types, and the guys that can

524
00:25:09,440 --> 00:25:12,520
Speaker 3: be their eighth, ninth, tenth man on any given night

525
00:25:13,000 --> 00:25:17,280
Speaker 3: when Steve Kerr needs to find some quality rotation minutes

526
00:25:17,280 --> 00:25:20,040
Speaker 3: in the back end of his roster, they keep succeeding there.

527
00:25:20,359 --> 00:25:23,639
Speaker 3: Their stars are just true pros right. They do their

528
00:25:23,720 --> 00:25:25,600
Speaker 3: jobs every night when they've been on the floor, they've

529
00:25:25,600 --> 00:25:27,840
Speaker 3: been winning their minutes. The stars do their jobs. They've

530
00:25:27,880 --> 00:25:30,239
Speaker 3: been perfect. There's been bad games mixed in there, but

531
00:25:30,280 --> 00:25:32,520
Speaker 3: for the most part, those guys have been really, really good.

532
00:25:32,560 --> 00:25:36,040
Speaker 3: It's that middle tier of the roster where they've needed

533
00:25:36,359 --> 00:25:39,720
Speaker 3: some of these not like the undrafted second round pick

534
00:25:39,840 --> 00:25:43,760
Speaker 3: types to pop, but where they've needed like these first

535
00:25:43,880 --> 00:25:47,560
Speaker 3: round pick, high pedigree dudes to pop, and they just

536
00:25:47,600 --> 00:25:51,359
Speaker 3: have it. And they've needed Pods to be on a

537
00:25:51,359 --> 00:25:54,440
Speaker 3: little bit more of that Austin Reeves type of trajectory

538
00:25:54,480 --> 00:25:57,679
Speaker 3: of becoming like a legitimate offensive weapon at the guard spot,

539
00:25:58,000 --> 00:26:01,600
Speaker 3: and he just hasn't become that. He needed Jonathan Kaminga

540
00:26:01,680 --> 00:26:05,200
Speaker 3: to become something closer to what Pascal Siakam or Ogn

541
00:26:05,200 --> 00:26:10,120
Speaker 3: Andobi have become, and he just hasn't. And it's because

542
00:26:10,119 --> 00:26:12,359
Speaker 3: of that. It just puts so much more emphasis and

543
00:26:12,440 --> 00:26:15,600
Speaker 3: pressure on the older veterans to be awesome every night,

544
00:26:16,040 --> 00:26:19,240
Speaker 3: and it forces Steve Kerr to lean on his eighth, ninth,

545
00:26:19,359 --> 00:26:22,159
Speaker 3: tenth man more often. And those guys they can do

546
00:26:22,200 --> 00:26:25,200
Speaker 3: their jobs, but ultimately it's a key possession late in

547
00:26:25,240 --> 00:26:28,000
Speaker 3: the game and de Anthony Meltons isoing off the top

548
00:26:28,040 --> 00:26:30,600
Speaker 3: and smoking a left handed layup off the glass. It'd

549
00:26:30,640 --> 00:26:33,320
Speaker 3: be great if one of those first round picks that

550
00:26:33,359 --> 00:26:36,480
Speaker 3: you had, a lottery pick could have developed into a

551
00:26:36,520 --> 00:26:42,320
Speaker 3: guy when steps out with a thigh contusion that could

552
00:26:42,359 --> 00:26:45,720
Speaker 3: come in and get a bucket when the team needs

553
00:26:45,760 --> 00:26:48,800
Speaker 3: a bucket. And that lack of development in that middle

554
00:26:48,840 --> 00:26:51,200
Speaker 3: portion of their roster where some of their higher pedigree

555
00:26:51,840 --> 00:26:54,800
Speaker 3: young talent has been that lack of development I think

556
00:26:54,880 --> 00:26:57,240
Speaker 3: ultimately has been the thing that's led to this frustrating

557
00:26:57,240 --> 00:26:59,920
Speaker 3: start as the Warriors end up slipping below five hundred.

558
00:27:00,920 --> 00:27:03,720
Speaker 3: All right, let's get into our mail bag. First question,

559
00:27:04,600 --> 00:27:06,840
Speaker 3: would you rather see the Spurs split up their young

560
00:27:06,880 --> 00:27:09,760
Speaker 3: core in depth for Giannis or trade sohan Olynic three

561
00:27:09,840 --> 00:27:12,440
Speaker 3: or four first for Trey Murphy If it takes that

562
00:27:12,520 --> 00:27:14,880
Speaker 3: much man three or four first for Trey Murphy would

563
00:27:14,920 --> 00:27:20,080
Speaker 3: be pretty wild. I keep thinking about things in the

564
00:27:20,080 --> 00:27:25,600
Speaker 3: context of Oklahoma City. Oklahoma City isn't going anywhere. You

565
00:27:25,720 --> 00:27:28,399
Speaker 3: have to find a way to compete with them. They're

566
00:27:28,400 --> 00:27:32,200
Speaker 3: gonna get another lottery pick this year. Chet is gonna

567
00:27:32,240 --> 00:27:35,359
Speaker 3: keep dramatically improving year over year, so is Jalen Williams.

568
00:27:35,760 --> 00:27:41,119
Speaker 3: Shay has shown another leap basically marginally across the board

569
00:27:41,160 --> 00:27:42,719
Speaker 3: in his game this season.

570
00:27:43,000 --> 00:27:43,639
Speaker 2: This season, A J.

571
00:27:43,800 --> 00:27:45,840
Speaker 3: Mitchell has popped. They have other first round picks that

572
00:27:45,840 --> 00:27:48,080
Speaker 3: have gotten hurt that I'll be rejoining the team at

573
00:27:48,080 --> 00:27:49,920
Speaker 3: some point in the future. Cason Wallace is going to

574
00:27:50,000 --> 00:27:54,000
Speaker 3: continue to get better. The Thunder aren't going anywhere. This

575
00:27:54,080 --> 00:27:59,560
Speaker 3: is an arms race. Now you have to call on Giannis. Now,

576
00:27:59,600 --> 00:28:02,960
Speaker 3: I'm not saying like I personally hope that Giannis stays

577
00:28:03,000 --> 00:28:04,760
Speaker 3: out in the East. We talked about that yesterday. I

578
00:28:04,760 --> 00:28:06,880
Speaker 3: think it's better for the conference balance in the NBA.

579
00:28:06,960 --> 00:28:09,000
Speaker 3: And I don't think it's good to have all four

580
00:28:09,000 --> 00:28:11,199
Speaker 3: of your top tier superstars and all four of your

581
00:28:11,200 --> 00:28:13,760
Speaker 3: top tier contenders all out in the Western Conference.

582
00:28:13,760 --> 00:28:14,760
Speaker 2: I don't. I don't think that that.

583
00:28:15,400 --> 00:28:17,240
Speaker 3: And then you know, Luca and the Lakers are probably

584
00:28:17,320 --> 00:28:19,760
Speaker 3: that like fifth team, and like, you just don't want

585
00:28:19,800 --> 00:28:23,240
Speaker 3: all of those teams all stacked up in one conference, right,

586
00:28:23,880 --> 00:28:27,760
Speaker 3: But San Antonio shouldn't care about that. They should care

587
00:28:27,800 --> 00:28:30,480
Speaker 3: about how they're trying to compete with the Yoklahoma City

588
00:28:30,480 --> 00:28:33,000
Speaker 3: Thunder at the top of the conference. And if you

589
00:28:33,080 --> 00:28:35,080
Speaker 3: make a deal for Giannis. You can get it done

590
00:28:35,200 --> 00:28:38,560
Speaker 3: with something like Harrison Barnes and Keldon Johnson in either

591
00:28:38,640 --> 00:28:41,000
Speaker 3: of your two young guards Dylan Harper or Steph Castle,

592
00:28:41,160 --> 00:28:44,680
Speaker 3: just one of them and some draft compensation. If you

593
00:28:44,800 --> 00:28:49,480
Speaker 3: do that, your starting lineup becomes Dearon Fox, Devin Vassel,

594
00:28:49,760 --> 00:28:54,560
Speaker 3: Julian Champagnee, Giannison Tennecompo, and Victor wem Minyama. That is

595
00:28:54,600 --> 00:28:59,400
Speaker 3: a frightening combination of a duo that's impossible to score

596
00:28:59,440 --> 00:29:02,040
Speaker 3: on at the rim and Giannis and Wemby and super

597
00:29:02,080 --> 00:29:05,040
Speaker 3: athletes on the perimeter. Dearon Fox shooting the three super

598
00:29:05,040 --> 00:29:08,520
Speaker 3: well this year, Devin Vessel, Julian Champagnee traditional shooters, that's

599
00:29:08,560 --> 00:29:12,200
Speaker 3: shooting and two way talent on the perimeters, surrounding two

600
00:29:12,240 --> 00:29:16,040
Speaker 3: of the very best front court players literally in the

601
00:29:16,080 --> 00:29:18,520
Speaker 3: history of the league for Giannis and soon to be

602
00:29:18,920 --> 00:29:22,800
Speaker 3: for Victor Webbinyama. And you don't sacrifice much in depth.

603
00:29:22,840 --> 00:29:25,240
Speaker 3: You still have Steph Castle off the bench, You still

604
00:29:25,280 --> 00:29:27,600
Speaker 3: have Luke Cornett off the bench, you still have Jeremy

605
00:29:27,600 --> 00:29:30,680
Speaker 3: Sohan off the bench. That's probably the best top eight

606
00:29:30,880 --> 00:29:34,560
Speaker 3: in the entire NBA, even over a team like ok

607
00:29:34,760 --> 00:29:38,840
Speaker 3: See and you'd still have flexibility to make moves and

608
00:29:38,920 --> 00:29:41,160
Speaker 3: pivot off of that core if you need to. There's

609
00:29:41,200 --> 00:29:46,240
Speaker 3: a depth there of like literally three starting caliber awesome

610
00:29:46,320 --> 00:29:48,360
Speaker 3: guards there. You could flip one at some point in

611
00:29:48,360 --> 00:29:50,920
Speaker 3: the future if you needed to, say Steph Castle makes

612
00:29:50,920 --> 00:29:52,640
Speaker 3: a leap and you pivot off of the Aaron Fox

613
00:29:52,720 --> 00:29:55,160
Speaker 3: or whatever it is. It's not like you're tying yourself

614
00:29:55,160 --> 00:29:57,520
Speaker 3: into honest and sacrificing your entire future.

615
00:29:58,240 --> 00:30:00,360
Speaker 2: It's a no brainer. You make the call.

616
00:30:01,240 --> 00:30:04,400
Speaker 3: Maybe you get out bid, Maybe Orlando ends up jumping in,

617
00:30:04,440 --> 00:30:05,680
Speaker 3: Maybe Atlanta ends up jumping in.

618
00:30:05,840 --> 00:30:07,800
Speaker 2: Maybe Oklahoma City ends up jumping in. Who knows.

619
00:30:08,400 --> 00:30:10,920
Speaker 3: But I think you make the call because you're the

620
00:30:10,920 --> 00:30:14,400
Speaker 3: one team that presents a real physical dynamic that Okac

621
00:30:14,520 --> 00:30:17,880
Speaker 3: could struggle with, and that's Giannis and Wemby completely shutting

622
00:30:17,880 --> 00:30:21,600
Speaker 3: down the rim and having the type of big athletic

623
00:30:21,640 --> 00:30:23,920
Speaker 3: guards that can make things a little bit tougher on

624
00:30:23,960 --> 00:30:28,120
Speaker 3: Okac's pull up jump shooters. It's an arms race, okay.

625
00:30:28,120 --> 00:30:30,200
Speaker 3: See he's a junger not and you're one of the

626
00:30:30,200 --> 00:30:33,200
Speaker 3: few teams positioned well enough to actually compete with them

627
00:30:33,200 --> 00:30:35,480
Speaker 3: in the coming years. I think it's something you have

628
00:30:35,560 --> 00:30:39,280
Speaker 3: to consider, what do you think will happen if OKC

629
00:30:39,480 --> 00:30:42,840
Speaker 3: approaches the Bucks and offers JDub plus salary filler, probably

630
00:30:42,840 --> 00:30:45,440
Speaker 3: Hartenstein with picks for Jiannis. For the record, I don't

631
00:30:45,480 --> 00:30:47,840
Speaker 3: think Sam Presty will ever do something like that, but

632
00:30:47,880 --> 00:30:49,480
Speaker 3: I think it's the best return that the Bucks can

633
00:30:49,560 --> 00:30:52,040
Speaker 3: get on Yiannis and instantly makes okay See the favorites

634
00:30:52,080 --> 00:30:54,480
Speaker 3: to win the title to potentially being more scary than

635
00:30:54,520 --> 00:30:57,560
Speaker 3: the twenty seventeen Warriors. Another question, do you think if

636
00:30:57,560 --> 00:30:59,280
Speaker 3: a move like that was on the table, Shouitt Adam

637
00:30:59,280 --> 00:31:01,680
Speaker 3: Silver stop it to straight up say no to this

638
00:31:01,720 --> 00:31:04,120
Speaker 3: trade because it would make the league so unfair.

639
00:31:05,240 --> 00:31:05,880
Speaker 2: So here's the thing.

640
00:31:06,440 --> 00:31:09,560
Speaker 3: I agree with you that if the thunder actually wanted Giannis,

641
00:31:09,600 --> 00:31:11,960
Speaker 3: they could have him. They've got all the draft picks,

642
00:31:11,960 --> 00:31:14,200
Speaker 3: they've got all the talented young players. They could certainly

643
00:31:14,240 --> 00:31:18,120
Speaker 3: make something like that happen. It's just an unnecessary risk

644
00:31:18,400 --> 00:31:19,320
Speaker 3: for oka See.

645
00:31:19,600 --> 00:31:20,520
Speaker 2: So think, are it this way?

646
00:31:21,600 --> 00:31:28,120
Speaker 3: You've already made yourself, as currently constructed, a substantial championship favorite.

647
00:31:28,320 --> 00:31:30,280
Speaker 3: We'll see how things go over the next month. There's

648
00:31:30,280 --> 00:31:32,480
Speaker 3: a lot of basketball games to be played, and okay

649
00:31:32,480 --> 00:31:35,760
Speaker 3: See definitely has a tougher December schedule, but at some

650
00:31:35,920 --> 00:31:38,480
Speaker 3: point in the next month, if things stay the same.

651
00:31:38,840 --> 00:31:41,320
Speaker 3: In our next contender rankings, I'm going to put Okac

652
00:31:41,520 --> 00:31:43,640
Speaker 3: in a tier by themselves at the top of the

653
00:31:43,680 --> 00:31:48,800
Speaker 3: league without any trade. Jannis has become a bit injury

654
00:31:48,840 --> 00:31:51,680
Speaker 3: prone in recent years. He's heard again has calf injury.

655
00:31:51,720 --> 00:31:54,120
Speaker 3: He's missed a bunch of playoff games over the course

656
00:31:54,160 --> 00:31:59,000
Speaker 3: of the last few years. So you could, yes, increase

657
00:31:59,040 --> 00:32:02,960
Speaker 3: your championship odds this season, but also have a higher

658
00:32:03,080 --> 00:32:06,000
Speaker 3: risk for some sort of derailing injury where if you

659
00:32:06,080 --> 00:32:08,560
Speaker 3: don't have Ja Dubb and you don't have a Yannis,

660
00:32:09,120 --> 00:32:12,240
Speaker 3: and you don't have an Isaiah Hartenstein, then you could

661
00:32:12,280 --> 00:32:14,440
Speaker 3: run into an issue where you become more beatable. This

662
00:32:14,560 --> 00:32:17,640
Speaker 3: season right now is currently constructed. They might not be

663
00:32:17,720 --> 00:32:19,640
Speaker 3: as much of a favorite as they would be if

664
00:32:19,640 --> 00:32:21,880
Speaker 3: they made a Giannis trade, but I think they're more

665
00:32:21,960 --> 00:32:26,360
Speaker 3: resilient to injuries right now because they're younger. They're built

666
00:32:26,360 --> 00:32:29,240
Speaker 3: in a way to where even if Jadub is out,

667
00:32:29,520 --> 00:32:32,840
Speaker 3: they can handle, you know, large chunks of the regular season.

668
00:32:32,880 --> 00:32:35,240
Speaker 3: I just think for Okay see, it's an unnecessary risk

669
00:32:35,280 --> 00:32:37,400
Speaker 3: for them, So I'd be stunned if they made a

670
00:32:37,440 --> 00:32:47,080
Speaker 3: Yianni's trade. Next question, do you buy the idea that

671
00:32:47,120 --> 00:32:50,840
Speaker 3: the Orlando Magic are a better basketball team without Palo

672
00:32:51,280 --> 00:32:53,840
Speaker 3: or is it just better spacing from Da Silva and

673
00:32:53,920 --> 00:32:58,360
Speaker 3: Jet Howard playing in place of Pallo couple things. I've

674
00:32:58,480 --> 00:33:01,320
Speaker 3: mentioned this a lot lately, but the Magic started their

675
00:33:01,360 --> 00:33:04,360
Speaker 3: turnaround before Palabun Karol got hurt. They were five and

676
00:33:04,480 --> 00:33:07,640
Speaker 3: two in the last seven games that Paalo played in,

677
00:33:08,560 --> 00:33:10,760
Speaker 3: and they had already started to flash some of those

678
00:33:10,840 --> 00:33:14,480
Speaker 3: higher end passing and driving kick sequences, some of the

679
00:33:14,520 --> 00:33:18,120
Speaker 3: spacing principles that we discussed when we had that conversation

680
00:33:19,040 --> 00:33:23,200
Speaker 3: surrounding putting Desmond Baine more in the play finishing spot

681
00:33:23,240 --> 00:33:26,200
Speaker 3: in the weekside corner when they're running action. That was

682
00:33:26,240 --> 00:33:29,040
Speaker 3: when Palo was still playing, and so it's one of

683
00:33:29,040 --> 00:33:31,720
Speaker 3: those things for me that like, yes, the team is

684
00:33:31,760 --> 00:33:34,840
Speaker 3: playing really good basketball right now. Specifically, they're moving the

685
00:33:34,840 --> 00:33:38,120
Speaker 3: ball more than ever. Their assist percentage is dramatically higher

686
00:33:38,160 --> 00:33:41,200
Speaker 3: than it was the entirety of this Palo in Fran's era.

687
00:33:41,560 --> 00:33:44,720
Speaker 3: In the last few seasons, they've gained some real momentum

688
00:33:45,280 --> 00:33:48,200
Speaker 3: as like a ball in player movement type of team

689
00:33:49,040 --> 00:33:51,360
Speaker 3: and They've had some improvement in some key areas with

690
00:33:51,400 --> 00:33:53,479
Speaker 3: their jump shooting, and they are starting to get out

691
00:33:53,480 --> 00:33:55,640
Speaker 3: and transition more, which is something we've been begging for

692
00:33:55,640 --> 00:33:59,360
Speaker 3: for Orlando forever. But they did start those trends before

693
00:33:59,400 --> 00:34:01,520
Speaker 3: Palo got hurt. So here's the thing. See what it

694
00:34:01,560 --> 00:34:04,640
Speaker 3: looks like when he comes back. There's a version of

695
00:34:04,640 --> 00:34:06,560
Speaker 3: this where he comes back and he just continues to

696
00:34:06,560 --> 00:34:09,479
Speaker 3: buy into that and he's more talented and as a team,

697
00:34:09,520 --> 00:34:12,000
Speaker 3: you look better. There's also a version where he comes

698
00:34:12,040 --> 00:34:14,480
Speaker 3: back and he makes things clunky and you lose some

699
00:34:14,560 --> 00:34:18,399
Speaker 3: of that identity. But ultimately, I think as long as

700
00:34:18,440 --> 00:34:21,279
Speaker 3: Palo's on the roster, you've got to try to see

701
00:34:21,280 --> 00:34:23,120
Speaker 3: if he can make things work in this system. And

702
00:34:23,160 --> 00:34:24,719
Speaker 3: I do want to give him a little bit more

703
00:34:24,760 --> 00:34:27,440
Speaker 3: credit than just saying, oh, Pallo's out, the Magic are

704
00:34:27,520 --> 00:34:32,080
Speaker 3: kicking butt again. They started this these winning habits before

705
00:34:32,120 --> 00:34:34,719
Speaker 3: Palow got hurt. I do still like this a lot

706
00:34:34,760 --> 00:34:39,279
Speaker 3: as a Yiannis destination for this reason. Paalo is, in

707
00:34:39,400 --> 00:34:41,400
Speaker 3: theory on paper, kind of a clunky fit in a

708
00:34:41,440 --> 00:34:44,680
Speaker 3: ball in player movement type of attack, and bringing in

709
00:34:44,680 --> 00:34:47,120
Speaker 3: the guy like Gianis is just dramatically better than Palo

710
00:34:47,680 --> 00:34:50,399
Speaker 3: could vault Orlando up to being a clear top tier

711
00:34:50,400 --> 00:34:52,239
Speaker 3: contender and far and away the best team in the

712
00:34:52,239 --> 00:34:56,839
Speaker 3: Eastern Conference, an unbelievable defense, rebound transition team, And yes,

713
00:34:56,840 --> 00:34:59,040
Speaker 3: there would be some clunkiness on offense, but I think

714
00:34:59,080 --> 00:35:01,000
Speaker 3: they'd be better than people. I think there's a lot

715
00:35:01,000 --> 00:35:03,240
Speaker 3: of natural synergy between him and a guy like Desmond

716
00:35:03,239 --> 00:35:05,880
Speaker 3: Bain too. I still like that as a Yiannis destination,

717
00:35:06,000 --> 00:35:08,360
Speaker 3: but take Gianna's trade and remove it from the equation.

718
00:35:09,120 --> 00:35:10,640
Speaker 3: You got to see what it looks like when Palla

719
00:35:10,760 --> 00:35:12,840
Speaker 3: comes back, because he was a part of his success

720
00:35:12,880 --> 00:35:17,960
Speaker 3: before he got hurt. Should the Warriors trade Buddy Healed

721
00:35:17,960 --> 00:35:20,840
Speaker 3: from Buddy Heeld and Moody for John Collins. I know

722
00:35:20,920 --> 00:35:23,040
Speaker 3: Collins isn't the perfect player slash fit, but I think

723
00:35:23,040 --> 00:35:25,280
Speaker 3: the Warriors can afford to give up some guard depth

724
00:35:25,600 --> 00:35:28,200
Speaker 3: with Seth and Melton coming in. Would love to hear

725
00:35:28,239 --> 00:35:30,320
Speaker 3: if you think this would help the Warriors. I agree

726
00:35:30,320 --> 00:35:32,839
Speaker 3: that they can afford to make some sort of consolidation

727
00:35:33,080 --> 00:35:35,560
Speaker 3: trade from the guard position, but I keep coming back

728
00:35:35,600 --> 00:35:39,720
Speaker 3: to offensive firepower. The Warriors are twenty third in offensive

729
00:35:39,760 --> 00:35:44,280
Speaker 3: raiding this year, yet just like last year, once again

730
00:35:45,000 --> 00:35:48,920
Speaker 3: in the latest example of Steph's absurd advantage creation and

731
00:35:48,960 --> 00:35:51,000
Speaker 3: why he's still one of the greatest offensive engines in

732
00:35:51,000 --> 00:35:53,719
Speaker 3: the sport. The Warriors with Steph Curry on the floor

733
00:35:53,800 --> 00:35:57,399
Speaker 3: this year have a one nineteen point three offensive rating

734
00:35:58,440 --> 00:36:02,000
Speaker 3: and it was one twenty last year. He continues to

735
00:36:02,080 --> 00:36:06,040
Speaker 3: be an elite NBA offense in and of himself. Why

736
00:36:06,080 --> 00:36:09,239
Speaker 3: are they twenty third in offense though? Because they have

737
00:36:09,280 --> 00:36:12,400
Speaker 3: a one toh eight offensive rating in eleven hundred and

738
00:36:12,400 --> 00:36:15,360
Speaker 3: sixty eight possessions. With Steph off the floor. They can't

739
00:36:15,400 --> 00:36:19,600
Speaker 3: score unless Steph creates it. And it's a problem even

740
00:36:19,640 --> 00:36:22,239
Speaker 3: with Jimmy on the floor, without Steph only a one

741
00:36:22,239 --> 00:36:25,200
Speaker 3: to twelve point six offensive rating, he hasn't been able

742
00:36:25,200 --> 00:36:27,400
Speaker 3: to carry the load. And that's another conversation to have

743
00:36:27,440 --> 00:36:30,919
Speaker 3: around Jimmy and the lack of offensive ceiling that we've

744
00:36:30,920 --> 00:36:34,120
Speaker 3: seen there. But ultimately, because of that, and because the

745
00:36:34,160 --> 00:36:37,040
Speaker 3: young guys like we talked about earlier and Kamina, Kamina

746
00:36:37,080 --> 00:36:42,279
Speaker 3: and Pods haven't popped offensively. You need firepower. You need

747
00:36:42,320 --> 00:36:45,120
Speaker 3: someone who can score the basketball. You need someone that

748
00:36:45,200 --> 00:36:48,160
Speaker 3: can raise the floor of this offense when Steph is

749
00:36:48,160 --> 00:36:49,759
Speaker 3: off the floor, and that ultimately needs to be the

750
00:36:49,800 --> 00:36:52,959
Speaker 3: kind of guy that they target. Whether that's a Trey

751
00:36:53,120 --> 00:36:56,319
Speaker 3: Murphy or it's a Malik Monk, or it ends up

752
00:36:56,360 --> 00:36:59,600
Speaker 3: being some other type of higher level offensive player. They

753
00:36:59,640 --> 00:37:02,960
Speaker 3: need to bring a higher end offensive floor to the

754
00:37:03,040 --> 00:37:05,400
Speaker 3: table through the trade market. That needs to be the

755
00:37:05,480 --> 00:37:09,400
Speaker 3: kind of thing that they're targeting. Hey Jason, longtime listener.

756
00:37:09,760 --> 00:37:12,160
Speaker 3: My question is this. I've always been of the mindset

757
00:37:12,160 --> 00:37:15,440
Speaker 3: that la should flip Reeves, given that Luca and Reeves

758
00:37:15,440 --> 00:37:18,840
Speaker 3: backcourt long term seems to lack too much athleticism and

759
00:37:18,880 --> 00:37:21,920
Speaker 3: foot speed to coexist. The problem always was whether Reeves

760
00:37:22,000 --> 00:37:24,239
Speaker 3: trade value could net enough to make it worth it.

761
00:37:24,600 --> 00:37:26,600
Speaker 3: Now the way he's playing currently having one of the

762
00:37:26,640 --> 00:37:29,520
Speaker 3: most efficient, high volume scoring seasons ever for a guard,

763
00:37:29,960 --> 00:37:32,120
Speaker 3: I'm wondering who you realistically think they could get for

764
00:37:32,200 --> 00:37:34,040
Speaker 3: him if it's worth it, and if you see a

765
00:37:34,040 --> 00:37:37,560
Speaker 3: potential long term fit with Luca, so they should hold

766
00:37:37,600 --> 00:37:39,920
Speaker 3: on to him. Keep up the awesome work. Thanks for

767
00:37:39,960 --> 00:37:41,960
Speaker 3: supporting the show. I really appreciate it. So this is

768
00:37:42,000 --> 00:37:47,239
Speaker 3: the thing with Austin. He's made himself so good that

769
00:37:47,280 --> 00:37:50,799
Speaker 3: you basically can't trade him unless it's gonna get back

770
00:37:50,840 --> 00:37:54,400
Speaker 3: a guy like Giannis there was a time when Yiannis

771
00:37:54,560 --> 00:37:58,040
Speaker 3: was when Austin, excuse me, was less consistent, and it

772
00:37:58,160 --> 00:37:59,960
Speaker 3: was like, yeah, you go for twenty three some night.

773
00:38:00,360 --> 00:38:01,320
Speaker 2: Other nights he wouldn't.

774
00:38:02,080 --> 00:38:06,160
Speaker 3: And the lack of that consistent offensive pop made it

775
00:38:06,239 --> 00:38:09,800
Speaker 3: so that his defensive limitations, because he's a lesser athlete,

776
00:38:09,920 --> 00:38:12,440
Speaker 3: that would pop up every once aile. Austin's a fundamentally

777
00:38:12,480 --> 00:38:15,920
Speaker 3: sound athlete, he just has athletic limitations, right, But like

778
00:38:16,080 --> 00:38:19,080
Speaker 3: some of those athletic limitations would become a bigger problem

779
00:38:19,239 --> 00:38:23,600
Speaker 3: because he wasn't as good offensively as he needed to

780
00:38:23,640 --> 00:38:27,120
Speaker 3: be to cover for that gap. Right, During those times,

781
00:38:27,360 --> 00:38:29,760
Speaker 3: I used to think about Austin trades and I'd be like, okay,

782
00:38:29,800 --> 00:38:32,719
Speaker 3: Like I really like Austin. I think that he, you know,

783
00:38:32,760 --> 00:38:34,880
Speaker 3: in the right system, could be the third best player

784
00:38:34,880 --> 00:38:37,560
Speaker 3: on a championship team if he's surrounded by lots of athletes.

785
00:38:37,600 --> 00:38:40,760
Speaker 3: But like, you know, maybe they'd be better served turning

786
00:38:40,840 --> 00:38:45,560
Speaker 3: him into a plus athlete, someone that is like maybe

787
00:38:45,600 --> 00:38:49,080
Speaker 3: not quite as good offensively, or maybe you attach him

788
00:38:49,080 --> 00:38:51,080
Speaker 3: to a pick to bring back a higher level guard

789
00:38:51,200 --> 00:38:53,440
Speaker 3: or whatever it is, but maybe the Lakers need some

790
00:38:53,440 --> 00:38:57,680
Speaker 3: more athleticism at that spot. Austin's become so good offensively

791
00:38:58,280 --> 00:39:02,520
Speaker 3: that any perceived potential upside that you get by bringing

792
00:39:02,520 --> 00:39:06,160
Speaker 3: in a better athlete would be dramatically undercut by the

793
00:39:06,160 --> 00:39:09,960
Speaker 3: fact that Austin is just a way, way better offensive player,

794
00:39:11,239 --> 00:39:14,360
Speaker 3: and that just kind of puts any conversation surrounding trading

795
00:39:14,440 --> 00:39:18,200
Speaker 3: him dead on arrival. Austin just went for forty and

796
00:39:18,280 --> 00:39:22,959
Speaker 3: ten again last night. He's literally averaging what twenty nine

797
00:39:23,560 --> 00:39:27,239
Speaker 3: seven and twenty nine six and seven on sixty six

798
00:39:27,360 --> 00:39:29,359
Speaker 3: sixty seven percent true shooting this year.

799
00:39:29,520 --> 00:39:30,719
Speaker 2: He's like so.

800
00:39:30,960 --> 00:39:36,680
Speaker 3: Unbelievably good now that it dramatically under it dramatically outweighs

801
00:39:36,840 --> 00:39:40,160
Speaker 3: any sort of downsides that come with his athleticism. So

802
00:39:40,200 --> 00:39:42,839
Speaker 3: if you're not getting a dude that is like legitimately

803
00:39:42,920 --> 00:39:45,919
Speaker 3: just better than Austin who is now, you know, he's

804
00:39:45,920 --> 00:39:48,319
Speaker 3: like a third team All NBA guy this year. So

805
00:39:48,400 --> 00:39:50,920
Speaker 3: if you're not getting back like a second team All

806
00:39:51,040 --> 00:39:53,960
Speaker 3: NBA guy in an Austin deal, it just doesn't make

807
00:39:54,000 --> 00:39:56,160
Speaker 3: sense to do it at this point. And he's just

808
00:39:56,239 --> 00:39:59,320
Speaker 3: the perfect guy to situate with Luca long term because

809
00:39:59,360 --> 00:40:01,960
Speaker 3: he can complete run the offense when Lucas out. Remember

810
00:40:02,000 --> 00:40:06,320
Speaker 3: the year where Luca had the injury. I think it

811
00:40:06,360 --> 00:40:09,239
Speaker 3: was twenty twenty two, and Jalen Brunson like had to

812
00:40:09,280 --> 00:40:12,520
Speaker 3: win a big playoff game on the road in Utah

813
00:40:12,640 --> 00:40:14,680
Speaker 3: or against Utah. It might have been at home, I

814
00:40:14,680 --> 00:40:17,120
Speaker 3: can't remember, but its in twenty twenty two. Jalen Brunson

815
00:40:17,680 --> 00:40:21,080
Speaker 3: took a game early in that series without Luca. That

816
00:40:21,200 --> 00:40:23,759
Speaker 3: was what made him the ideal Luca partner. He could

817
00:40:23,760 --> 00:40:25,799
Speaker 3: play off of Luca when Luca was there, and he

818
00:40:25,800 --> 00:40:27,839
Speaker 3: could step into that number one role when Luca had

819
00:40:27,840 --> 00:40:30,400
Speaker 3: to miss a game for an injury. Austin has clearly

820
00:40:30,440 --> 00:40:32,719
Speaker 3: demonstrated that he can be that kind of guy. At

821
00:40:32,719 --> 00:40:35,440
Speaker 3: that point, he's foundational to the Lakers and you can't

822
00:40:35,480 --> 00:40:38,560
Speaker 3: move off of him unless some sort of dramatically better

823
00:40:38,640 --> 00:40:42,680
Speaker 3: option shows up in the future. Thinking Basketball just made

824
00:40:42,680 --> 00:40:45,600
Speaker 3: a whole video about how the league about how the

825
00:40:45,680 --> 00:40:48,000
Speaker 3: league in general, but especially the Miami Heat, are purposely

826
00:40:48,080 --> 00:40:50,040
Speaker 3: running fewer pick and rolls. I think Miami is only

827
00:40:50,080 --> 00:40:52,200
Speaker 3: running something like thirteen pick and rolls per one hundred.

828
00:40:52,320 --> 00:40:54,600
Speaker 3: I definitely checked that video out. I think you might

829
00:40:54,600 --> 00:40:57,640
Speaker 3: be disappointed if you're expecting to see the Heat run

830
00:40:57,680 --> 00:41:01,239
Speaker 3: more pick and rolls. Eventually. So here's the thing I

831
00:41:01,719 --> 00:41:04,440
Speaker 3: think that the offense at the Heat are running is

832
00:41:04,480 --> 00:41:08,239
Speaker 3: a really fascinating bit of basketball philosophy, essentially, like why

833
00:41:08,280 --> 00:41:10,560
Speaker 3: do we run pick and roll? Why do we run action?

834
00:41:11,080 --> 00:41:13,160
Speaker 3: We do it to get an advantage. You do it

835
00:41:13,239 --> 00:41:15,360
Speaker 3: to try to force the defense to react if we

836
00:41:15,440 --> 00:41:18,400
Speaker 3: score enough going over the top of the screen. Eventually

837
00:41:18,400 --> 00:41:20,040
Speaker 3: they're big will come up to the level. If they're

838
00:41:20,040 --> 00:41:21,800
Speaker 3: big comes up to the level. Now they're defending it

839
00:41:21,880 --> 00:41:24,759
Speaker 3: three on two, we get the defense in rotation. Now

840
00:41:24,800 --> 00:41:27,240
Speaker 3: we're starting to get those skip passes for open threes

841
00:41:27,280 --> 00:41:29,319
Speaker 3: and guys cutting along the baseline and all the good

842
00:41:29,360 --> 00:41:31,160
Speaker 3: things that come when you get a three on two

843
00:41:31,840 --> 00:41:32,960
Speaker 3: on the offensive.

844
00:41:32,560 --> 00:41:34,879
Speaker 2: End of the floor. Right, that's why you run pick

845
00:41:34,920 --> 00:41:38,799
Speaker 2: and roll. Why do the Miami Heat play the way

846
00:41:38,840 --> 00:41:39,560
Speaker 2: they play.

847
00:41:39,360 --> 00:41:42,680
Speaker 3: Because they get their advantages through driving, by pushing the

848
00:41:42,719 --> 00:41:45,759
Speaker 3: ball up in transition, playing super fast. They get those

849
00:41:45,800 --> 00:41:48,600
Speaker 3: advantages the open man in the corner, the two on

850
00:41:48,680 --> 00:41:51,000
Speaker 3: the ball sequence as someone helps on a drive, they

851
00:41:51,040 --> 00:41:53,440
Speaker 3: get those with their transition pushes. And then in the

852
00:41:53,480 --> 00:41:55,799
Speaker 3: half court they just try to beat their man off

853
00:41:55,800 --> 00:41:58,920
Speaker 3: the dribble. Right like down the roster too, like You'll

854
00:41:58,920 --> 00:42:03,040
Speaker 3: see Pelo Larson just no offensive advantage catches on the perimeter.

855
00:42:03,120 --> 00:42:05,640
Speaker 3: Pelele will just throw a damn jab step and then

856
00:42:05,719 --> 00:42:07,480
Speaker 3: hit a gap and all of a sudden, the defense

857
00:42:07,520 --> 00:42:10,359
Speaker 3: reacts kick kick, open three or open shot for someone else.

858
00:42:10,400 --> 00:42:15,680
Speaker 3: Like they use dribble penetration to generate those initial advantages.

859
00:42:15,680 --> 00:42:17,920
Speaker 3: And it fits their roster because they don't really have

860
00:42:17,960 --> 00:42:19,640
Speaker 3: a lot of high level pick and roll players. They

861
00:42:19,680 --> 00:42:22,239
Speaker 3: got one and Tyler Harrow, but everyone else. It's like

862
00:42:22,280 --> 00:42:26,480
Speaker 3: Jaimehakez is at his best attacking downhill in semi transition

863
00:42:26,600 --> 00:42:29,200
Speaker 3: and turning his back to the basket and posting. Daveon

864
00:42:29,239 --> 00:42:32,080
Speaker 3: Mitchell is at his best just isoing a dude off

865
00:42:32,120 --> 00:42:33,279
Speaker 3: the top of the key and hitting him with the

866
00:42:33,320 --> 00:42:35,160
Speaker 3: dribble combination to try to beat him off the dribble

867
00:42:35,160 --> 00:42:36,839
Speaker 3: and get all the way to the basket, right, So

868
00:42:36,880 --> 00:42:40,040
Speaker 3: it fits their roster extremely well. Now, why did I

869
00:42:40,160 --> 00:42:42,640
Speaker 3: say in that Tyler Harrow video that I think they'll

870
00:42:42,680 --> 00:42:46,360
Speaker 3: eventually run more pick and roll. It's about variety. So

871
00:42:46,440 --> 00:42:48,319
Speaker 3: for instance, take the end of the Dallas Mavericks game.

872
00:42:48,360 --> 00:42:51,759
Speaker 3: For example, you put Naji Marshall on Tyler Hero and

873
00:42:51,920 --> 00:42:54,160
Speaker 3: Nazi's doing a really good job, and all of a sudden,

874
00:42:54,239 --> 00:42:57,480
Speaker 3: Tyler's not feeling comfortable beating him off the dribble. Well,

875
00:42:57,560 --> 00:43:00,160
Speaker 3: it'd be nice in that situation if you could still

876
00:43:00,200 --> 00:43:01,800
Speaker 3: go to your best player, because at the end of

877
00:43:01,840 --> 00:43:03,719
Speaker 3: that game, Tyler didn't seem to want the ball much.

878
00:43:04,480 --> 00:43:08,000
Speaker 3: But if you're running ball screens with Bam, maybe Tyler

879
00:43:08,080 --> 00:43:10,200
Speaker 3: is more engaged in the offense at the end of

880
00:43:10,200 --> 00:43:12,879
Speaker 3: that game, and your best offensive player has the ball

881
00:43:12,920 --> 00:43:16,880
Speaker 3: in his hands more as a counter when the actual

882
00:43:16,880 --> 00:43:18,759
Speaker 3: offense isn't working. And that's all I was saying is

883
00:43:18,800 --> 00:43:21,319
Speaker 3: like I expect over the course of the season for

884
00:43:21,440 --> 00:43:24,640
Speaker 3: the Harrow or the Hero Bam pick and roll to

885
00:43:24,760 --> 00:43:27,640
Speaker 3: at least occasionally be used. That doesn't mean they're going

886
00:43:27,680 --> 00:43:29,759
Speaker 3: to bail on the system. The system is perfect for them,

887
00:43:29,760 --> 00:43:32,200
Speaker 3: and on many nights it works great for Tyler. It's

888
00:43:32,239 --> 00:43:34,800
Speaker 3: an offense that I think will continue to be their foundation.

889
00:43:35,000 --> 00:43:36,520
Speaker 3: I just think they'll lean on pick and roll as

890
00:43:36,520 --> 00:43:38,560
Speaker 3: a counter a little bit more than people think as

891
00:43:38,560 --> 00:43:40,799
Speaker 3: we get deeper into the system. A couple more quick

892
00:43:40,800 --> 00:43:42,000
Speaker 3: ones before we get out of here. If you were

893
00:43:42,000 --> 00:43:44,960
Speaker 3: a GM, would you prefer to build around a top

894
00:43:44,960 --> 00:43:47,920
Speaker 3: tier superstar with slightly questionable character for the sake of example,

895
00:43:48,000 --> 00:43:50,960
Speaker 3: say prime James Harden or a second tier superstar with

896
00:43:51,080 --> 00:43:54,239
Speaker 3: solid character, someone like Jason Tatum. I'm just going to

897
00:43:54,320 --> 00:43:56,040
Speaker 3: keep it to these two. Would I rather build around

898
00:43:56,080 --> 00:43:58,480
Speaker 3: prime Jason Tatum or James Harden. It'd be Jason Tatum.

899
00:43:58,480 --> 00:43:59,560
Speaker 3: And a lot of that has to do with if

900
00:43:59,600 --> 00:44:03,040
Speaker 3: you're saying slightly questionable character. I think James Harden's a

901
00:44:03,080 --> 00:44:05,200
Speaker 3: good person and a good teammate. I think the main

902
00:44:05,239 --> 00:44:07,640
Speaker 3: issue with James Harden is his unwillingness to do the

903
00:44:07,680 --> 00:44:12,040
Speaker 3: work on the margins. He has been a big problem

904
00:44:12,080 --> 00:44:14,360
Speaker 3: for the Clippers defense during some of their losing issues

905
00:44:14,360 --> 00:44:15,879
Speaker 3: that they've had this season, and that's been an issue

906
00:44:15,920 --> 00:44:18,640
Speaker 3: throughout his career. A guy like Jason Tatum may not

907
00:44:18,680 --> 00:44:22,680
Speaker 3: provide that dramatic offensive upside, but he's just so well

908
00:44:22,760 --> 00:44:25,640
Speaker 3: rounded around the margins that he's going to be able

909
00:44:25,680 --> 00:44:28,040
Speaker 3: to anchor me on both ends of the floor in

910
00:44:28,080 --> 00:44:30,120
Speaker 3: a way that makes him easier to build around. So

911
00:44:30,239 --> 00:44:32,840
Speaker 3: for those two specific examples, I would take Jason Tatum.

912
00:44:33,000 --> 00:44:36,200
Speaker 3: Last question, Hey, Jason, longtime fan, been here since before

913
00:44:36,200 --> 00:44:37,520
Speaker 3: you had your own channel and everything was on the

914
00:44:37,600 --> 00:44:38,200
Speaker 3: volumes feed.

915
00:44:38,280 --> 00:44:38,560
Speaker 2: Lol.

916
00:44:38,640 --> 00:44:41,480
Speaker 3: What do you think about Kat to a cat for

917
00:44:41,560 --> 00:44:44,560
Speaker 3: a d trade for both sides. I think the salaries match.

918
00:44:44,840 --> 00:44:46,680
Speaker 3: AD gives the Knicks a higher ceiling things to his

919
00:44:46,719 --> 00:44:48,680
Speaker 3: defense if he reaches his peak again, and he's a

920
00:44:48,719 --> 00:44:51,120
Speaker 3: damn good offensive player too. He is averaging twenty five

921
00:44:51,200 --> 00:44:53,400
Speaker 3: and eleven on good efficiency. Sure, the Knicks would get

922
00:44:53,440 --> 00:44:55,480
Speaker 3: to the finals with Kat, but once you're there, do

923
00:44:55,520 --> 00:44:57,640
Speaker 3: you even have a puncher's chance with two great offensive

924
00:44:57,640 --> 00:44:59,960
Speaker 3: liabilities as your two best players? I think they'd get killed.

925
00:45:00,480 --> 00:45:02,479
Speaker 3: Of course, Ad also comes with a ton of risk

926
00:45:02,719 --> 00:45:04,439
Speaker 3: for Dallas. You get a big salary, but you stay

927
00:45:04,480 --> 00:45:05,680
Speaker 3: relevant and you can space the floor.

928
00:45:05,800 --> 00:45:06,160
Speaker 2: Flag.

929
00:45:06,480 --> 00:45:08,279
Speaker 3: Yeah, I like it as a roster balancing move for

930
00:45:08,360 --> 00:45:11,640
Speaker 3: both teams. For the Knicks once again, in that Celtics game,

931
00:45:11,719 --> 00:45:15,280
Speaker 3: Karl Anthony Towns was an absolute nightmare on defense, Batching

932
00:45:15,320 --> 00:45:17,200
Speaker 3: coverages early in the game, just making a bunch of

933
00:45:17,200 --> 00:45:20,799
Speaker 3: silly mistakes down the stretch, like chasing Jordan Walsh off

934
00:45:20,800 --> 00:45:23,120
Speaker 3: the corner when he's made three corner threes all season,

935
00:45:23,200 --> 00:45:25,920
Speaker 3: giving up an open layup like, just all sorts of

936
00:45:26,080 --> 00:45:28,799
Speaker 3: nonsense from Kat that continues to cost his team at

937
00:45:28,800 --> 00:45:31,840
Speaker 3: the end of big games. To me, putting him in

938
00:45:31,880 --> 00:45:34,520
Speaker 3: a situation like Dallas where he's anchored by centers and

939
00:45:34,560 --> 00:45:36,279
Speaker 3: he's playing at the four kind of like he was

940
00:45:36,320 --> 00:45:39,040
Speaker 3: in Minnesota is a better situation for him. And he's

941
00:45:39,040 --> 00:45:41,479
Speaker 3: a good offensive fit for a team that needs jump

942
00:45:41,480 --> 00:45:44,320
Speaker 3: shooting like you wouldn't believe. I really like that fit there.

943
00:45:44,560 --> 00:45:47,240
Speaker 3: And then for the Knicks, Anthony Davis, to your point,

944
00:45:47,400 --> 00:45:50,920
Speaker 3: actually gives you a legitimate athletic imposition to bring to

945
00:45:51,000 --> 00:45:53,520
Speaker 3: a finals matchup against in Oklahoma City. I think if

946
00:45:53,600 --> 00:45:56,000
Speaker 3: flat out makes him better on both ends of the floor.

947
00:45:56,160 --> 00:45:59,439
Speaker 3: I think Ad brings a vertical spacing role man short

948
00:45:59,520 --> 00:46:01,920
Speaker 3: role element to his game that is higher level. I

949
00:46:01,920 --> 00:46:04,800
Speaker 3: think he's a better post player than Karl Anthony Towns

950
00:46:05,000 --> 00:46:07,279
Speaker 3: in a large sample against elite defenses. I think he

951
00:46:07,320 --> 00:46:09,560
Speaker 3: handles double teams better. I don't think he's great at it,

952
00:46:09,560 --> 00:46:11,120
Speaker 3: but I think he's better than Kat at it. Like

953
00:46:11,160 --> 00:46:12,919
Speaker 3: I think, I think it would just be the kind

954
00:46:12,920 --> 00:46:15,760
Speaker 3: of move that makes sense for both teams. The Knicks

955
00:46:15,760 --> 00:46:19,000
Speaker 3: have more urgency, the MAVs don't. Well, Cat's two years younger.

956
00:46:19,280 --> 00:46:20,919
Speaker 3: I think there's a lot of reasons why that deal

957
00:46:20,960 --> 00:46:23,440
Speaker 3: makes sense for both teams. All right, guys, It's all

958
00:46:23,440 --> 00:46:25,200
Speaker 3: I have for today is always to sincerely appreciate you

959
00:46:25,239 --> 00:46:28,040
Speaker 3: guys for supporting us, in supporting the show. We'll be

960
00:46:28,080 --> 00:46:31,200
Speaker 3: back tonight on playback for Lakers Celtics. I'll see you

961
00:46:31,200 --> 00:46:32,960
Speaker 3: guys at four pm Pacific time. If we don't see

962
00:46:32,960 --> 00:46:34,880
Speaker 3: you have playback, We'll see you guys on Monday morning

963
00:46:34,960 --> 00:46:36,560
Speaker 3: for our weekly power rankings.

964
00:46:36,760 --> 00:46:37,759
Speaker 2: I will see you guys then,