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Speaker 2: to I here at the volume. Happy Wednesday, everybody. I

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Speaker 2: hope all of you guys are having an incredible week.

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Speaker 2: As you guys know. On Monday, we sat down with

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Speaker 2: Sam Vssini to do our contender rankings and we went

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Speaker 2: all over the place. We ended up talking for almost

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Speaker 2: three hours. We hit like seventeen different teams. Yesterday we

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Speaker 2: ran part one of that list, which included a contender's

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Speaker 2: one through five on my list as well as Sam's

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Speaker 2: agreements and disagreements, and then I went through the four

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Speaker 2: teams with thirty one plus wins that I don't think

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Speaker 2: have a chance to win the title. So if you

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Speaker 2: missed that, that's on our feed from yesterday. In today's show,

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Speaker 2: we're running part two of that show with Samassini. We're

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Speaker 2: gonna be hitting my number six through number thirteen on

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Speaker 2: my contender's list, as well as Sam's agreements and disagreements.

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Speaker 2: So we also got into some tactical stuff, some stuff

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Speaker 2: that we would potentially see in matchups should these teams

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Speaker 2: make deep playoff runs. A lot of good Hoops talk

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Speaker 2: in there for you. You guys know the joke before

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Speaker 2: we get started. Subscribe to a brand new YouTube channel.

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Speaker 2: I mean a lot to me if you guys would

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Speaker 2: take a second to scroll down and hit that subscribe button.

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Speaker 2: Don't forget about our podcast feed wherever you get your

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Speaker 2: podcast under Hoops Tonight. It's also really helpful if you

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Speaker 2: guys take a second to leave a rating and a

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Speaker 2: review on that front. Don't forget about my Twitter feed

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Speaker 2: at underscore json lt for the film threads that I

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Speaker 2: do in the mornings, as well as show announcements and

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Speaker 2: then keep dropping mail bad questions in those YouTube comments

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Speaker 2: so we can keep hitting them throughout the season. And

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Speaker 2: All right, without any further ado, let's get to part

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Speaker 2: two with Sam Vessini of our contender rankings number six

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Speaker 2: the Phoenix Suns for me, sure, yeah, the I you know,

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Speaker 2: it's funny. I am lower on the MAVs uh trade

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Speaker 2: deadline moves than you are in the sense that like

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Speaker 2: I don't necessarily I guess you haven't actually said anything

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Speaker 2: about their deadline moves. But I thought Phoenix's deadline moves

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Speaker 2: were smart because they actually brought players into the equation

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Speaker 2: that I could see playing significant roles. For instance, like

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Speaker 2: I think there's a k one player. Well, so I

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Speaker 2: think I think there's a universe where a Kadi at

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Speaker 2: center lineup could have Royce O'Neil and Daddy is young

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Speaker 2: although he was more of a buyout. He was a buyout,

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Speaker 2: but like but still like I could see, like to me,

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Speaker 2: Royce O'Neil is probably in their closing five, which is

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Speaker 2: what makes it like, whereas with the MAVs, it's like

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Speaker 2: I would probably rather have I'm we'll talk about the

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Speaker 2: mass it gets a little bit tougher, so like I

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Speaker 2: you know, it's interesting because they were the two teams

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Speaker 2: that I thought behaved most desperately at the deadline in

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Speaker 2: terms of like going to to like to make these

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Speaker 2: like moves on the margins.

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Speaker 3: And behind the scenes. Phoenix was like really impressive, trying

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Speaker 3: to find a lot of options.

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Speaker 2: For four hundred and forty minutes of Bradley Beal, Devin

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Speaker 2: Booker and Kevin Durant this year. One twenty five offensive rating,

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Speaker 2: one thirteen defensive rating. They've held up well enough on

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Speaker 2: the glass for it not to be a problem. I

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Speaker 2: like the KD at center look for specific kind of

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Speaker 2: like like a curveball for a short stretch. I actually

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Speaker 2: thought I was smart for them to go away from

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Speaker 2: it against Sacramento when they won last week. I like

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Speaker 2: what I'm seeing from Phoenix overall. I do get concerned, though,

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Speaker 2: not to bring up the injury thing, but like they

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Speaker 2: Beal and Booker are both susceptible to these like soft

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Speaker 2: tissue injuries, which always freaked me out a little bit because, like,

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Speaker 2: I think they need to be really humming on offense

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Speaker 2: when they get to the postseason for this to work,

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Speaker 2: and rhythm is going to be a huge part of that.

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Speaker 2: And like Beale just went down with another hammy, and

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Speaker 2: so I do get concerned about him getting back and

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Speaker 2: actually getting into rhythm and time for it to matter.

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Speaker 2: Because things really took off for the Suns this year

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Speaker 2: when Beial was consistently in the lineup, and so I

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Speaker 2: do believe in that group. I actually think they're just

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Speaker 2: a much better version of last year's Suns team. It's

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Speaker 2: just I'm concerned about whether or not they'll be in

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Speaker 2: rhythm at the right time. Where do you have Phoenix set?

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Speaker 3: I had Phoenix at eight, largely because of the injury question.

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Speaker 3: Feels continued health is concerning Kevin Durant has a history

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Speaker 3: of soft soft tissue injuries at this point that needs

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Speaker 3: to be accounted for on some level and use of

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Speaker 3: Nurkic has played at most fifty six games in the

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Speaker 3: previous four seasons. He is currently at fifty two. We

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Speaker 3: will see if he can stay healthy for the whole way.

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Speaker 3: I think Nurkic has been an utterly like he has

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Speaker 3: to be out there for thirty minutes plus for them

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Speaker 3: or else it gets really really hard for them. I

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Speaker 3: agree with you in terms of the Katie closing at

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Speaker 3: the five lineups. Sometimes time can be really valuable. But

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Speaker 3: in the Western Conference, where you have to deal with

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Speaker 3: Carl Town's Rudy Gobert combination in the front court, you

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Speaker 3: have to deal with Nikola Jokic in the front court,

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Speaker 3: I think that it's going to be very difficult for

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Speaker 3: them to not have Nurkic on the court. I mean,

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Speaker 3: how would you even feel about a Lakers series against

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Speaker 3: the Suns if they tried to go small with KD

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Speaker 3: against like Anthony Davis at the five. Like, I think

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Speaker 3: that's probably a bad idea for the Suns because I

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Speaker 3: think it would be putting too much onto Kd's shoulders

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Speaker 3: just physically in terms of wear and tear over the

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Speaker 3: course of a full series in my opinion, So I

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Speaker 3: really think Nurkic is essential, and I worry about his

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Speaker 3: health a little bit. Biale as you mentioned, continues to

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Speaker 3: go down here and there with injuries. I've only played

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Speaker 3: four hundred and forty minutes together this season, and yet

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Speaker 3: when they have been playing together, they have been phenomenal

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Speaker 3: this year. Like, those lineups are fantastic. Grayson Allen this year.

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Speaker 3: Grayson Allen is shooting fifty one forty eight eighty nine

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Speaker 3: this season. Grayson Allen is going to get so much

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Speaker 3: money this offseason that, uh, he's the guy that people

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Speaker 3: keep not bringing up in free agency as like an

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Speaker 3: option for some of these teams. Grayson Allen is having

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Speaker 3: like the best like walk year marginally compared to like

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Speaker 3: where everybody else was entering the season, compared to where

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Speaker 3: they are now in the NBA, Like he's averaging thirteen

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Speaker 3: points a game on fifty one eighty nine in a

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Speaker 3: role where they desperately need him night after night after

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Speaker 3: night to perform and succeed. Okay, let's talk about the

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Speaker 3: questions here, Like their closing lineup, it sounds like you

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Speaker 3: think is Booker, Katie Beal, Grayson Allen, and Royce O'Neil

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Speaker 3: or Nurkic depending on the matchup for Royce or Grayson.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, I think I think I'd go with Royce instead

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Speaker 2: of Eric Gordon in their in their small ball lineups.

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Speaker 2: I think that when they I think they will have

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Speaker 2: bigger looks where they go Royce instead of Grayson too.

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Speaker 2: Like Yusuf Nurkic, For as much as he gets criticized

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Speaker 2: for his defense, like he's had some moments this year,

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Speaker 2: Like I thought he was awesome down the stretch against

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Speaker 2: Sacramento the other night. That's like several huge plays down

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Speaker 2: He's one of those guys kind of like Jokic, where

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Speaker 2: like when he's really active with his hands, especially like

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Speaker 2: on the ball handler, like when he's not sitting back

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Speaker 2: passively but rather more aggressive, he can actually be pretty

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Speaker 2: impactful because he's a smart player. I actually get more

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Speaker 2: concerned about him against Like you know why I think

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Speaker 2: he's such a bad matchup against the Lakers is like

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Speaker 2: Lebron can run pick and roll against him, whereas so

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Speaker 2: many other teams can switch, Like he can get downhill

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Speaker 2: against him, he.

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Speaker 3: Can't play against the Thunder like point blank, like the

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Speaker 3: Thunder would just like completely cause all sorts of issues

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Speaker 3: for him in space over the course of a seven

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Speaker 3: game series. But you know, do you think that the

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Speaker 3: KD Booker Beale combination is just good enough to beat

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Speaker 3: the Thunder?

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Speaker 2: Like?

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Speaker 3: I think that's a completely reasonable opinion because they actually

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Speaker 3: can go to the KD at the five lineup against

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Speaker 3: the Thunder and not get blitzed on the defensive class.

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Speaker 3: So it's The Sons are interesting. The Sons are a

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Speaker 3: team that I've really come to enjoy when they've been

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Speaker 3: fully healthy this season. I had the Sons below the

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Speaker 3: MAVs in the Timberlves at this point.

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Speaker 2: And then also the Thunder.

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Speaker 3: I'm assuming, right, I I'm realizing I have the Thunder,

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Speaker 3: or I have the Sons at seven, Sons at seven, Okay, gotcha?

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Speaker 2: All right? My number seven is a team that I'm

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Speaker 2: actually kind of sneaky high on. And I had to

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Speaker 2: really temper myself because there was a there was a

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Speaker 2: version of this list where they were higher, and it's

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Speaker 2: the New York Knicks. And here's my reasoning. I think

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Speaker 2: if a couple of things go right for them, and

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Speaker 2: that's Mitchell Robinson coming back from his ankle injury, which

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Speaker 2: apparently there's some optimism coming out of his camp that

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Speaker 2: it's a possibility if Mitchell Robinson can come back from

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Speaker 2: his injury, if Julius Randall can come back and get

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Speaker 2: in rhythm in time for the playoffs. I think they're

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Speaker 2: one of the most physically imposing teams in the league.

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Speaker 2: The numbers coming out of their core three are insane

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Speaker 2: two hundred and eighty five minutes of Randall, Brunson, and

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Speaker 2: Anonoby one twenty nine offensive rating, one oh four defensive rating,

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Speaker 2: and a fifty six percent rebound percentage. And before anybody

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Speaker 2: brings up the talent stuff, I think personally, Jalen Brunson

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Speaker 2: is a fringe superstar type of guard. Like I think

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Speaker 2: he is so so, so good. I think he's let

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Speaker 2: me put it this way, I think he's closer to

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Speaker 2: like what people think Dame is than like the Donovan

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Speaker 2: Mitchell tier. In my opinion, like I think he is.

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Speaker 2: I think Jalen Brunson is freaking awesome, and I think

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Speaker 2: if you give him a truly physically imposing team that

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Speaker 2: can defend at an elite level, that can rebound at

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Speaker 2: an elite level, and as long as Julius Randall doesn't

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Speaker 2: piss down his leg when he gets to the playoffs,

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Speaker 2: I think they have that type of potential. Am I

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Speaker 2: too high on the Knicks? What do you feel about

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Speaker 2: the Knicks?

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Speaker 3: The Knicks were my clear third team in the East,

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Speaker 3: for sure. I had them a little bit lower in

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Speaker 3: the grand scheme of the league. I had them ninth.

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Speaker 3: I have a couple of teams in the West ahead

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Speaker 3: of them still, but we're not too far off in

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Speaker 3: terms of where we are. If you have them seven,

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Speaker 3: I have them ninth. I am generally with you that

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Speaker 3: this construction of this roster really extends wits Jalen Brunson

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Speaker 3: and makes him to the point where, look, I would

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Speaker 3: have Donovan Mitchell in this year. But I don't mind

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Speaker 3: your take there that like he is within that Lillard

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Speaker 3: Mitchell grouping of players at this point, he really just

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Speaker 3: kind of is. He is a fantastic, fantastic player in

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Speaker 3: terms of being able to get through his spots. He

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Speaker 3: decelerates exceptionally well, He's constantly on balance, he has elite,

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Speaker 3: elite elite touch. He's a genuine three level scorer. In

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Speaker 3: a way that you need three level scorers to consistently

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Speaker 3: keep defenders off of their toes. Now, how much do

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Speaker 3: you trust him in isolation versus without a ball screen.

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Speaker 3: The only reason I say that is because I don't

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Speaker 3: know if they have another guy on this team that

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Speaker 3: can score without a ball screen. Right now, that's my

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Speaker 3: one concern about this. Everything is so tied to what

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Speaker 3: Jalen can do offensively, being able to create separation, being

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Speaker 3: able to make the offense work. What do they do

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Speaker 3: if an opposing team, you know, I'm trying to think

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Speaker 3: of like in the West for instance, right like, if

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Speaker 3: an opposing team is just like fuck it, We're gonna

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Speaker 3: throw Kawai on him and like just go okay, like

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Speaker 3: let's make this work. Or the Nuggets throw KCP on

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Speaker 3: him and say let's go crazy and like completely shut

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Speaker 3: it down. On top of it, teams are going to

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Speaker 3: attack him on defense. That's the reality. The Calves last

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Speaker 3: year had an easy spot to hide Jalen Brunson on

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Speaker 3: and TIBs did that immaculately well. They spent time using

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Speaker 3: the lavert Acoro et cetera grouping at the three, where

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Speaker 3: they'd space that guy into the corner, use it like

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Speaker 3: an attacking help defender, and they spent time with Brunson

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Speaker 3: using him as like a rest defender basically to get

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Speaker 3: him a blow, to be able to get some like

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Speaker 3: active rest on the court. Basically. The heat also really

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Speaker 3: gave him a lot of options to be able to

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Speaker 3: hide on in a real way. If they run into

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Speaker 3: the Celtics, there isn't a place to hide. If they

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Speaker 3: run into the Bucks, there are probably places to hide.

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Speaker 3: I would say, like you could hide him on Patrick

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Speaker 3: Beverley and be fine. You could hide him on Andre Jackson,

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Speaker 3: on Jay Crowd or whoever. But in the West, I

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Speaker 3: think there are much there are many fewer places to

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Speaker 3: hide on Jalen Brunson. So I agree with you. On offense.

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Speaker 3: I think Brunson's a bit worse defensively than what Donovan

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Speaker 3: Mitchell is and that causes a few issues for them. Schematically,

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Speaker 3: they are total ass kickers if they're fully healthy. Oj

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Speaker 3: A Nanobi is a stud playoff potential player. Hasn't really

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Speaker 3: shown it yet in the playoffs, but like I think

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Speaker 3: that that will come. I think it will happen at

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Speaker 3: the highest level. Like you said, Mitchell, Robinson is kind

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Speaker 3: of the key for me. I love Isaiah Hartenstein. I

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Speaker 3: think he is again another one of the most like

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Speaker 3: underrated impactful players across the entire league. But they need

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Speaker 3: forty eight minutes of just being like total last kickers

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Speaker 3: on the glass, not just twenty four, I think to

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Speaker 3: be able to make a run. Honestly, if they got

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Speaker 3: placed into a Bucks series right now, I really might

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Speaker 3: take that.

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Speaker 2: Man. Yeah, well, to put it clearly, if they if

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Speaker 2: they started tomorrow, the Bucks aren't sharp enough. But for

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Speaker 2: the record, they start once we get to the play.

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Speaker 2: It's tricky. But like I look, man, like, I literally

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Speaker 2: sit there and I think, okay, Like, if they're healthy,

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Speaker 2: they have such a clear top five in the sense

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Speaker 2: that it's like like like literally Dante Devincenzo has been

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Speaker 2: one of the best spot up players in the league

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Speaker 2: this year, and he's a good point of attack defender

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Speaker 2: who brings physical ball pressure like like that Brunson, Devincenzo,

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Speaker 2: og Julius, Mitchell Robinson. That's just a really good basketball team.

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Speaker 2: I I that's an that's an interesting thing to put

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Speaker 2: him against Milwaukee because Milwaukee is like one of those

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Speaker 2: teams that's just so far from their potential at this point.

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Speaker 2: But that to me is the case. It is like

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Speaker 2: the case. You know, we talked about the Suns a

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Speaker 2: minute ago. If the Suns started their playoff run tomorrow,

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Speaker 2: they would have to beat Denver four times out of seven,

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Speaker 2: and then after that they would have to turn around

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Speaker 2: and beat Minnesota four times after out of seven. And

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Speaker 2: then after that they'd have to turn around and beat

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Speaker 2: what Oklahoma City probably four times out of seven, and

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Speaker 2: then after that Clippers or the Clippers or the Clippers, yeah,

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Speaker 2: most likely the Clippers. And then if they won that,

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Speaker 2: they'd have to turn around and most likely beat Boston

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Speaker 2: or somebody like that four times out of seven. There's

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Speaker 2: just in the Eastern Conference. To your point, they're third,

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Speaker 2: like in all likelihood if you're ranking the team so

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Speaker 2: so like, it's really like if the Bucks don't materialize,

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Speaker 2: you physically bully the Bucks, you get it done. Then

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Speaker 2: you go on and it's like all we have to

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Speaker 2: do is beat Boston and now we're in the finals.

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Speaker 2: You know, just it just seems like a more achieva.

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Speaker 3: They have a lot of ways, They have a lot

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Speaker 3: of ways to cause problems schematically from Milwaukee in that series,

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Speaker 3: you could throw og Nanobi onto Jannis. You could use

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Speaker 3: Julius Randall to guard Brook Lopez shooting in the corner.

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Speaker 3: Whatever you want to do, get late contests, et cetera.

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Speaker 3: You can also then use your big Isaiah Hartenstein, Mitchell

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Speaker 3: Robinson onto whoever the help defender you know, player is.

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Speaker 3: You know you can't do it if it's Malik Beasley

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Speaker 3: out on the court. So they probably have played Beasley

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Speaker 3: in those circumstances. But if you're playing Beasley, then you

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Speaker 3: have a real schematic offensive advantage on the court. So

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Speaker 3: let's say it's Beasley, you put honestly, like I would,

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Speaker 3: I don't know if I would put Randall on them.

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Speaker 3: They run Beasley off of a lot of actions. There

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Speaker 3: are different ways chematically, like you can really cause problems

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Speaker 3: for them in terms of light up constructions, in terms

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Speaker 3: of different things, because you have the n Andobe factor. Now,

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Speaker 3: who can throw thirty minutes onto Jannis and he won't

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Speaker 3: stop Jannis, but he's strong enough, physical enough to at

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Speaker 3: least slightly reduce Jannis's you know, effectiveness over the course

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Speaker 3: to series, especially when you have a help defender at

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Speaker 3: the center position. They're waiting as well. You can just

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Speaker 3: get late contests on brook Lopez Three's at that point,

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Speaker 3: and you'd be pretty comfortable. I think if you're the Knicks.

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Speaker 3: The more I talk about this, the more I think

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Speaker 3: I would take the Knicks in a series specifically against

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Speaker 3: the Bucks. Right now, I.

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Speaker 2: Think I would too, But it's only because of the

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Speaker 2: fact that, like there's still so much theoretical with the Bucks.

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Speaker 2: But then I feel bad saying that because like, like

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Speaker 2: literally the entire Knicks front court is injured right now,

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Speaker 2: like all three guys, so I.

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Speaker 3: Know, like it's all theoretical, like everything about this exercise.

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Speaker 2: I do think you can run out of bodies, though,

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Speaker 2: I think there could be a point where it's like, Okay,

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Speaker 2: we have somebody that's way too small to guard o

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Speaker 2: Giannanobi on him right now. Like I think they present,

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Speaker 2: I think they're a difficult team to match up with physically.

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Speaker 2: And by the way, Mitchell Robinson we talked about the

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Speaker 2: Evan Mobley stuff, Mitchell Robinson also just kicked their ass

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Speaker 2: on the offensive glass in that series. Like Mitchell Robinson

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Speaker 2: is a real playoff mismatch problem for a lot of

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Speaker 2: frontlines in the league. I'm just really high. I'm just

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Speaker 2: really high on the Knicks.

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Speaker 3: No, I'm one hundred percent with you. And by the way,

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Speaker 3: that could create a real just like possession issue because

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Speaker 3: the Bucks never hit the offensive class like that's your

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Speaker 3: whole thing. Like they would really have to. They've been

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Speaker 3: a good defensive rebounding team this year. They have been

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Speaker 3: a great defensive rebounding team this year. Uh, they would

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Speaker 3: really have to control the defensive glass in that series

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Speaker 3: in order to win that series.

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Speaker 2: And and if they're in rotation non st think like

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Speaker 2: if they're like as if they can't contain at the

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Speaker 2: point of attack and Jannison brook are always in help,

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Speaker 2: then no one's matched up on the back line.

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Speaker 3: So like thinking about it, like offensively, there you put

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Speaker 3: Giannis on Julius Randall assuredly, and then you have Brooke

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Speaker 3: be the help man. And then what you're then throwing

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Speaker 3: like Andre Jackson, Malik Beasley, Damian Lillard on Jalen Brunts.

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Speaker 2: And middle and Middleton's on Og and Og is bigger

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Speaker 2: and stronger than Middleton.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, they have a real look Like again, the Bucks

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Speaker 3: have the two best players in that series in my opinion, Uh,

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Speaker 3: that might be enough, but the Knicks have real schematic

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Speaker 3: advantages against the Bucks in a series that are also let's.

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Speaker 2: Just let's just call it what it is. I think

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Speaker 2: Jalen Brunson's been a substantially better player this season than Dame.

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Speaker 3: I agree, I agree with that whole heart.

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Speaker 2: But yeah, at least two of the top three. But yeah,

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Speaker 2: at the Nicks are interesting to me. I just I

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Speaker 2: think they're dangerous. My number eight is the Los Angeles Lakers,

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Speaker 2: and this is my last team on the tier of

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Speaker 2: teams that are missing traditional championship benchmarks. But you can

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Speaker 2: see the pathway for them. The case for the Lakers

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Speaker 2: is pretty simple. Like I mentioned earlier, they're one of

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Speaker 2: only five teams in the league that definitively have two

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Speaker 2: of the top twenty players in the NBA. They are

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Speaker 2: top ten in both half court offense and defense. Of

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Speaker 2: something that I'm sure a lot of people are not

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Speaker 2: aware of with the Lakers, they are also the third

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Speaker 2: best clutch team in the league this year. They've been

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Speaker 2: really good on both ends of the floor there. They

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Speaker 2: have been like four different teams this year because like

431
00:23:54,320 --> 00:23:56,359
Speaker 2: when they won the nd season Tournament, they were like

432
00:23:56,440 --> 00:24:01,719
Speaker 2: this grinded out, defensive minded team that just like strangled

433
00:24:01,760 --> 00:24:05,399
Speaker 2: games into the mud and ran everything out of the post.

434
00:24:05,880 --> 00:24:07,760
Speaker 2: And then all of a sudden, like now they're like

435
00:24:07,800 --> 00:24:13,600
Speaker 2: this like beautiful ball movement, player movement, five five out offense.

436
00:24:13,680 --> 00:24:16,240
Speaker 2: They're like the best assisted turnover team in the league

437
00:24:16,280 --> 00:24:19,240
Speaker 2: over the last fifteen games and fifth in offensive rating.

438
00:24:19,280 --> 00:24:21,320
Speaker 2: But they can't guard anybody to save their lives, and

439
00:24:21,359 --> 00:24:24,920
Speaker 2: they have now with Jared Vanderbilt out, they literally don't

440
00:24:24,920 --> 00:24:27,080
Speaker 2: even have a single healthy point of attack defender on

441
00:24:27,119 --> 00:24:29,560
Speaker 2: the roster. So but like the case for the Lakers

442
00:24:29,680 --> 00:24:33,640
Speaker 2: is simple, Jared vander Jared Vanderbilt comes back, he gets healthy,

443
00:24:33,920 --> 00:24:37,480
Speaker 2: he takes primary point of attack assignments the five out approach,

444
00:24:37,520 --> 00:24:40,199
Speaker 2: which involves Jared Vanderbilt not standing in the corner but

445
00:24:40,920 --> 00:24:43,359
Speaker 2: rather constantly moving as a screener and as a drouble

446
00:24:43,400 --> 00:24:46,399
Speaker 2: handoff guy and cutting to the basket. And basically, the

447
00:24:47,160 --> 00:24:50,720
Speaker 2: Lakers had turned Jared Vanderbilt into a useful offensive player

448
00:24:50,800 --> 00:24:52,399
Speaker 2: right before he got hurt. He actually had like a

449
00:24:52,400 --> 00:24:55,080
Speaker 2: bunch of double figure scoring games in a row. And

450
00:24:55,119 --> 00:24:56,880
Speaker 2: then the case would be is that the five out

451
00:24:56,920 --> 00:25:01,199
Speaker 2: offense just achieves a transcendent you know, you know, like

452
00:25:01,480 --> 00:25:05,000
Speaker 2: just Lebron Anthony Davis hutting and moving without the basketball,

453
00:25:05,040 --> 00:25:07,400
Speaker 2: and Austin and Di Loo just making great decisions. That's

454
00:25:07,440 --> 00:25:09,560
Speaker 2: the case for it. But I do think it's a

455
00:25:09,600 --> 00:25:11,760
Speaker 2: long shot, and I thought that their inability to bring

456
00:25:11,760 --> 00:25:15,120
Speaker 2: in a legitimate two way athlete on the perimeter at

457
00:25:15,119 --> 00:25:17,359
Speaker 2: the deadline was kind of the death knell of their season.

458
00:25:17,600 --> 00:25:19,439
Speaker 2: But I still think they have an outside shot and

459
00:25:19,480 --> 00:25:21,720
Speaker 2: you can kind of see it, and that's why I

460
00:25:21,720 --> 00:25:24,800
Speaker 2: have them at number eight, or do you have the Lakers?

461
00:25:26,200 --> 00:25:32,320
Speaker 3: I have the Lakers right now at number eleven. It

462
00:25:32,359 --> 00:25:36,200
Speaker 3: looks like which is still top half of the league.

463
00:25:36,280 --> 00:25:38,280
Speaker 3: Given the way their season is gone, and they are

464
00:25:38,440 --> 00:25:42,320
Speaker 3: thirty and twenty six, like pretty high up. I think

465
00:25:42,440 --> 00:25:45,240
Speaker 3: is reasonable to say they're what ninth in the West

466
00:25:45,320 --> 00:25:48,960
Speaker 3: right now, So you know, to have them eleventh in

467
00:25:49,000 --> 00:25:54,600
Speaker 3: the league is saying a lot you It sounds like

468
00:25:54,760 --> 00:26:00,800
Speaker 3: you think their closing lineup right now is re Russell,

469
00:26:01,600 --> 00:26:03,080
Speaker 3: Vanderbilt Lebron.

470
00:26:03,600 --> 00:26:06,080
Speaker 2: Is what you would go with when healthy.

471
00:26:07,320 --> 00:26:09,680
Speaker 3: I think you can get away with a lot of

472
00:26:09,720 --> 00:26:15,720
Speaker 3: the like Vanderbilt, like cutting, moving, constantly, screening, rolling, everything

473
00:26:15,800 --> 00:26:19,120
Speaker 3: like that a lot easier in the regular season than

474
00:26:19,160 --> 00:26:25,000
Speaker 3: you can in the playoffs, when teams will essentially just

475
00:26:25,160 --> 00:26:28,280
Speaker 3: play off of him. They will put the center on

476
00:26:28,400 --> 00:26:30,840
Speaker 3: him and play off of him in the playoffs if

477
00:26:30,880 --> 00:26:33,840
Speaker 3: you are if you have a second body to be

478
00:26:33,880 --> 00:26:38,560
Speaker 3: able to do so, Like the Nuggets will just use

479
00:26:39,600 --> 00:26:42,840
Speaker 3: Nicola Jokic like in the middle of the court and

480
00:26:42,920 --> 00:26:46,080
Speaker 3: play off of him, right, the Clippers would just use

481
00:26:46,240 --> 00:26:49,360
Speaker 3: I think I would bet you the Clippers would put

482
00:26:49,400 --> 00:26:53,159
Speaker 3: Kawhi on ad and just use a Vitza Zubats like

483
00:26:53,200 --> 00:26:55,600
Speaker 3: in the middle of the court as the help defender

484
00:26:55,840 --> 00:26:58,640
Speaker 3: and just say, okay, Jared, run around, do your thing,

485
00:26:58,920 --> 00:27:01,959
Speaker 3: like move around, that's fine. We'll just be here waiting

486
00:27:02,200 --> 00:27:04,680
Speaker 3: for you at the rim, and we'll be here waiting

487
00:27:04,680 --> 00:27:08,520
Speaker 3: for everybody else at the rim as well. I don't

488
00:27:08,520 --> 00:27:11,080
Speaker 3: think you can close with Vanderbilt. I think Vanderbilt's a

489
00:27:11,119 --> 00:27:13,280
Speaker 3: valuable player for twenty minutes a game in the playoffs,

490
00:27:13,320 --> 00:27:15,359
Speaker 3: like you've shown that before. I just don't think you

491
00:27:15,400 --> 00:27:20,440
Speaker 3: can close with them. I wonder if their best closing

492
00:27:20,480 --> 00:27:24,600
Speaker 3: lineup is actually the three guards including Spencer Dinwitty.

493
00:27:26,280 --> 00:27:30,000
Speaker 2: The case would be the fact that like, like you're

494
00:27:30,080 --> 00:27:35,000
Speaker 2: just getting more just in as just a better basketball player, right,

495
00:27:35,040 --> 00:27:37,680
Speaker 2: So like whatever you're giving up in terms of Jared's

496
00:27:37,680 --> 00:27:41,400
Speaker 2: fight and speed and perimeter defense. You're just getting back elsewhere, Right,

497
00:27:41,440 --> 00:27:43,840
Speaker 2: that's the case or Ruey?

498
00:27:44,320 --> 00:27:46,960
Speaker 3: Like, maybe it's Ruey if teams, you know, if Ruey

499
00:27:46,960 --> 00:27:49,960
Speaker 3: continues to knock down shots from the perimeter and you know,

500
00:27:50,040 --> 00:27:51,920
Speaker 3: teams feel like they have to guard him and Ruey

501
00:27:52,000 --> 00:27:55,520
Speaker 3: can match up, you know, physically with somebody, it might

502
00:27:55,520 --> 00:27:58,520
Speaker 3: be Ruey. Actually, Like this is a wild thing to say,

503
00:27:58,560 --> 00:28:00,280
Speaker 3: but like I kind of think their best line up

504
00:28:00,359 --> 00:28:05,000
Speaker 3: is going to be Reeves, Russell, Reui starter and that's

505
00:28:05,040 --> 00:28:09,159
Speaker 3: not yeah, something that I'm like wildly enthused about necessarily.

506
00:28:09,320 --> 00:28:14,320
Speaker 3: Either can they guard anybody at the point of attack

507
00:28:14,400 --> 00:28:18,280
Speaker 3: if they run into the MAVs? Like, can they defend

508
00:28:18,320 --> 00:28:21,200
Speaker 3: either of Luca or Kyrie?

509
00:28:21,400 --> 00:28:23,480
Speaker 2: No, I mean they can't. Like for the record, Like

510
00:28:23,760 --> 00:28:25,760
Speaker 2: what bothers me the most about it from a management

511
00:28:25,800 --> 00:28:28,639
Speaker 2: perspective is this was abundantly clear as a fall as

512
00:28:28,640 --> 00:28:30,960
Speaker 2: a flaw in the Nuggets series last year, Like they

513
00:28:31,080 --> 00:28:33,960
Speaker 2: just they didn't have it was like, oh, we don't

514
00:28:33,960 --> 00:28:37,000
Speaker 2: have anybody at the one, two or three that has

515
00:28:37,160 --> 00:28:40,080
Speaker 2: good size, good athleticism and is a and is a

516
00:28:40,080 --> 00:28:41,960
Speaker 2: plus player on both ends. Of the floor, like they

517
00:28:42,000 --> 00:28:45,320
Speaker 2: did not have a single player. They had all off

518
00:28:45,320 --> 00:28:47,520
Speaker 2: season to figure it out, They had all season to

519
00:28:47,560 --> 00:28:50,360
Speaker 2: figure it out, and they just literally did not even

520
00:28:50,440 --> 00:28:52,480
Speaker 2: come up with a single option. As a matter of fact,

521
00:28:52,680 --> 00:28:56,040
Speaker 2: they ditched Dennis Schroeder, which in my opinion, like if

522
00:28:56,080 --> 00:28:58,720
Speaker 2: the alternative was Gabe Vincent, I'd rather have Dennis Schroeder.

523
00:28:58,960 --> 00:29:03,440
Speaker 2: So like, like it just it. I don't understand why

524
00:29:03,480 --> 00:29:05,840
Speaker 2: they never addressed it. But I mean that said, like,

525
00:29:07,080 --> 00:29:11,000
Speaker 2: here's the thing, why is it such a big deal

526
00:29:11,040 --> 00:29:13,840
Speaker 2: for the Lakers and not for the Bucks? And I

527
00:29:13,920 --> 00:29:17,120
Speaker 2: understand that the Bucks have a better record, but the

528
00:29:17,160 --> 00:29:20,520
Speaker 2: Bucks have also played a substantially easier schedule and are

529
00:29:20,560 --> 00:29:23,160
Speaker 2: playing in a conference with a lot of teams at

530
00:29:23,160 --> 00:29:25,360
Speaker 2: the bottom where you can pile up some easier wins.

531
00:29:25,760 --> 00:29:29,040
Speaker 2: I actually think in bigger games this year, the Lakers

532
00:29:29,040 --> 00:29:33,600
Speaker 2: have actually fared about as well as Milwaukee has. So

533
00:29:33,720 --> 00:29:36,480
Speaker 2: like that's that would be My counter to that case

534
00:29:36,560 --> 00:29:40,360
Speaker 2: is like why are we giving Milwaukee that leeway but

535
00:29:40,560 --> 00:29:42,920
Speaker 2: not the Laker? Like why is it that we go like, oh,

536
00:29:43,000 --> 00:29:45,000
Speaker 2: Damon Giannis, what don't they just figure it out? But

537
00:29:45,040 --> 00:29:48,120
Speaker 2: we can't just say Lebron James and Anthony Davis and

538
00:29:48,200 --> 00:29:50,560
Speaker 2: a bunch of offensive skill can't figure it out, you know

539
00:29:50,600 --> 00:29:51,000
Speaker 2: what I mean?

540
00:29:51,760 --> 00:29:55,080
Speaker 3: Because the Bucks have brook Lopez as an interior defender,

541
00:29:56,800 --> 00:30:01,320
Speaker 3: you know, mixed with their ad defensive in Yannis, as

542
00:30:01,320 --> 00:30:05,560
Speaker 3: opposed to the Lakers, who have you know, throw the

543
00:30:05,600 --> 00:30:08,480
Speaker 3: hands up and just like question marks like across the

544
00:30:08,480 --> 00:30:11,920
Speaker 3: board on the interior as a secondary defender. Vanderbilt is

545
00:30:11,960 --> 00:30:14,840
Speaker 3: a fantastic, fantastic defender. I don't mean to like completely

546
00:30:14,880 --> 00:30:17,520
Speaker 3: disparage him. He's a better point of attack like aggressive

547
00:30:17,520 --> 00:30:20,240
Speaker 3: defender than he is, Like he can scramble around and move,

548
00:30:20,320 --> 00:30:22,400
Speaker 3: but like he tends to be like pretty over aggressive

549
00:30:22,440 --> 00:30:25,560
Speaker 3: I think in scramble situations and in help situations and

550
00:30:25,560 --> 00:30:27,280
Speaker 3: like kind of gets lost a little bit. So like

551
00:30:28,560 --> 00:30:30,960
Speaker 3: to me, that's actually the difference. It's like the backing

552
00:30:31,000 --> 00:30:35,600
Speaker 3: of having brook Lopez there in addition to their you know,

553
00:30:35,800 --> 00:30:41,040
Speaker 3: ad in Yannis. I think that they can It's hard

554
00:30:41,080 --> 00:30:43,880
Speaker 3: to say the Bucks can stand on defense when they

555
00:30:43,880 --> 00:30:46,720
Speaker 3: haven't stood on defense this year for a single second

556
00:30:46,760 --> 00:30:51,800
Speaker 3: of the season, but like I do think that schematically

557
00:30:52,160 --> 00:30:54,680
Speaker 3: it makes a little bit more sense for them to

558
00:30:54,720 --> 00:30:57,200
Speaker 3: be able to do so, and they're just more physical.

559
00:30:57,600 --> 00:31:00,000
Speaker 3: You know. One of the reasons that like I think

560
00:31:00,000 --> 00:31:02,040
Speaker 3: think it's like absolutely insane DEVI the Lakers ahead of

561
00:31:02,080 --> 00:31:05,800
Speaker 3: the Thunder at this point is the way to beat

562
00:31:05,840 --> 00:31:08,400
Speaker 3: the Thunder is to like be an absolute ass kicker

563
00:31:08,720 --> 00:31:12,200
Speaker 3: going toward the ram uh finishing at the basket, but

564
00:31:12,280 --> 00:31:15,120
Speaker 3: also like crashing the offensive last being aggressive that way.

565
00:31:15,280 --> 00:31:17,000
Speaker 3: Do you know the worst offensive rebounding team is in

566
00:31:17,000 --> 00:31:21,480
Speaker 3: the NBA right now, the Lakers, the Los Angeles Lakers.

567
00:31:23,040 --> 00:31:25,760
Speaker 2: Transition and they had a bad transition defense. They had

568
00:31:25,800 --> 00:31:27,000
Speaker 2: to stop crashing.

569
00:31:28,720 --> 00:31:32,360
Speaker 3: And they have to like that's the thing against That's

570
00:31:32,400 --> 00:31:34,960
Speaker 3: actually like a big piece of why I think that

571
00:31:35,000 --> 00:31:38,800
Speaker 3: the Thunder people bring up the defensive rebounding side of it,

572
00:31:38,840 --> 00:31:41,240
Speaker 3: and maybe we should. I assume you have the Thunder next.

573
00:31:42,400 --> 00:31:46,800
Speaker 2: I have them at ten actually, but to me, like,

574
00:31:46,960 --> 00:31:48,920
Speaker 2: to me, there the tears are all kind of like

575
00:31:49,000 --> 00:31:49,560
Speaker 2: jammed up.

576
00:31:51,280 --> 00:31:53,200
Speaker 3: But okay, we'll talk about the Thunder when we get

577
00:31:53,240 --> 00:31:56,120
Speaker 3: to the Thunder. But I'll kind of give my case

578
00:31:56,160 --> 00:31:59,640
Speaker 3: on why the like defensive rebounding thing is worrisome, but

579
00:31:59,680 --> 00:32:04,880
Speaker 3: not like potential death now might worry is just purely

580
00:32:04,920 --> 00:32:08,760
Speaker 3: point of attack defense with the Lakers and being able

581
00:32:08,800 --> 00:32:11,840
Speaker 3: to construct two way lineups like it's actually quite similar

582
00:32:11,880 --> 00:32:15,080
Speaker 3: to the Pelicans in a lot of ways. The advantage

583
00:32:15,080 --> 00:32:16,760
Speaker 3: that the Lakers have and why they should be ahead

584
00:32:16,800 --> 00:32:18,760
Speaker 3: of the Pelicans in my opinion, is that they have

585
00:32:18,800 --> 00:32:21,800
Speaker 3: Anthony Davis. He is arguably the best two way player

586
00:32:21,840 --> 00:32:23,760
Speaker 3: in the league this season, and Anthony Davis should be

587
00:32:23,760 --> 00:32:26,280
Speaker 3: top three in defensive Player of the Year on equivocally,

588
00:32:26,320 --> 00:32:29,920
Speaker 3: so far, I think he has been fantastic on that end.

589
00:32:31,160 --> 00:32:35,920
Speaker 3: Beyond that, Lebron has not been awesome on defense this year.

590
00:32:35,960 --> 00:32:38,000
Speaker 3: He's I think that, like there have been moments where

591
00:32:38,000 --> 00:32:41,360
Speaker 3: he's brought it, but like he's not been great. The

592
00:32:41,440 --> 00:32:43,520
Speaker 3: advanced numbers because he pairs a lot of his minutes

593
00:32:43,520 --> 00:32:45,720
Speaker 3: with a D are like pretty okay, and like forgiving

594
00:32:45,880 --> 00:32:49,920
Speaker 3: to Lebron on that end, but like generally so I

595
00:32:49,920 --> 00:32:52,000
Speaker 3: think he has not been great and like attentive on

596
00:32:52,040 --> 00:32:54,640
Speaker 3: that end. Austin Reeves has not been very good on defense.

597
00:32:54,680 --> 00:32:56,720
Speaker 3: The Angela Russell has not been very good on defense.

598
00:32:56,960 --> 00:33:00,400
Speaker 3: Ruey is you know still space CANETI off the ball

599
00:33:00,440 --> 00:33:03,120
Speaker 3: in a way that is concerning that they just don't have,

600
00:33:03,200 --> 00:33:06,040
Speaker 3: you know, Cam Reddish Camp offense at a level that

601
00:33:06,080 --> 00:33:11,800
Speaker 3: you need to in the playoffs. Spencer Dinwitty sneakily. I

602
00:33:11,880 --> 00:33:14,160
Speaker 3: know that it hasn't been a great offensive season for him.

603
00:33:15,160 --> 00:33:18,960
Speaker 3: I actually thought that, like he took on a lot

604
00:33:19,000 --> 00:33:24,000
Speaker 3: of difficult assignments for Brooklyn this season, Like nobody paid

605
00:33:24,000 --> 00:33:27,120
Speaker 3: attention to Brooklyn because they were like the most milk

606
00:33:27,200 --> 00:33:31,400
Speaker 3: toasted basketball team on planet Earth prior to the deadline.

607
00:33:31,440 --> 00:33:35,480
Speaker 3: But like Spencer, for like people who said like Spencer

608
00:33:35,640 --> 00:33:40,080
Speaker 3: was like quiet quitting the nets, he were like he

609
00:33:40,600 --> 00:33:43,520
Speaker 3: had to fight every night against like an opposing team's

610
00:33:43,600 --> 00:33:47,360
Speaker 3: good offensive player when they were running out Cam Thomas.

611
00:33:47,400 --> 00:33:49,800
Speaker 3: Like he had to do more than what I think

612
00:33:49,840 --> 00:33:51,520
Speaker 3: people gave him credit for. Now, he hasn't had a

613
00:33:51,520 --> 00:33:53,520
Speaker 3: great offensive season. I'm not gonna sit here and like

614
00:33:53,560 --> 00:33:58,160
Speaker 3: defend Spencer dinwitdi. I do wonder if you know, six

615
00:33:58,200 --> 00:34:02,680
Speaker 3: foot six can at least like hold up in those

616
00:34:02,680 --> 00:34:06,560
Speaker 3: matchups a little bit better certainly than Reeves than Russell have.

617
00:34:08,440 --> 00:34:10,799
Speaker 3: I mean, like it's like damning with faint praise, but

618
00:34:10,880 --> 00:34:14,359
Speaker 3: like I think Spencer might actually be really helpful for them.

619
00:34:14,360 --> 00:34:18,399
Speaker 2: Oh, I love the people. Yeah, I loved I loved

620
00:34:18,400 --> 00:34:20,759
Speaker 2: Spencer the Lakers just because he like at the very

621
00:34:20,840 --> 00:34:24,200
Speaker 2: least for nothing, he brought in a much much better

622
00:34:24,920 --> 00:34:27,719
Speaker 2: athlete to the guard position than what the Lakers had.

623
00:34:28,040 --> 00:34:31,200
Speaker 2: And Lakers fans are all like Max Christie and Cam Reddish,

624
00:34:31,239 --> 00:34:33,960
Speaker 2: They're all high on them. I think I think Cam

625
00:34:33,960 --> 00:34:36,880
Speaker 2: Reddish is bad and I think that Max Christie is

626
00:34:36,880 --> 00:34:39,560
Speaker 2: too young, so like, I'm not as high on them.

627
00:34:39,680 --> 00:34:41,480
Speaker 2: I will say this, like, because you know, I know

628
00:34:41,560 --> 00:34:43,959
Speaker 2: that you have both the Thunder and the MAVs over

629
00:34:44,000 --> 00:34:47,240
Speaker 2: the Lakers in large part because they don't have guys

630
00:34:47,239 --> 00:34:50,680
Speaker 2: to throw at those two perimeter options for both teams,

631
00:34:52,320 --> 00:34:54,480
Speaker 2: I am not as worried about that for one very

632
00:34:54,480 --> 00:34:57,319
Speaker 2: simple reason. I think Lebron James and Anthony Davis would

633
00:34:57,400 --> 00:35:00,280
Speaker 2: rip through the MAVs in Thunder front lines for Evans

634
00:35:00,280 --> 00:35:03,200
Speaker 2: straight games. I think they would just obliterate their front lines. Like,

635
00:35:03,239 --> 00:35:06,680
Speaker 2: I think it would be an utter physical ass kicking

636
00:35:06,680 --> 00:35:08,719
Speaker 2: in the front lines in the same way that Shay

637
00:35:08,760 --> 00:35:12,160
Speaker 2: and Jalen and Luca and Kyrie would kick the ass

638
00:35:12,160 --> 00:35:14,360
Speaker 2: of the Laker perimeter players and so like to me,

639
00:35:15,200 --> 00:35:20,319
Speaker 2: I think it's I think I think people are a

640
00:35:20,400 --> 00:35:22,840
Speaker 2: little low on the Lebron ad front line as a

641
00:35:22,840 --> 00:35:26,360
Speaker 2: playoff duo. Just In general, I think again. You pointed

642
00:35:26,360 --> 00:35:29,239
Speaker 2: it out. Lebron James in the N Season Tournament was

643
00:35:29,280 --> 00:35:31,280
Speaker 2: the that was the only time he tried on defense

644
00:35:31,320 --> 00:35:33,080
Speaker 2: this year. I can state that as someone who's watched

645
00:35:33,080 --> 00:35:35,880
Speaker 2: the team very closely, like the Lakers are a lot

646
00:35:35,960 --> 00:35:39,399
Speaker 2: better than their record would indicate. As a matter of fact,

647
00:35:39,480 --> 00:35:41,759
Speaker 2: they went three and ten in the first thirteen games

648
00:35:41,760 --> 00:35:44,400
Speaker 2: after the N Season Tournament and blew a bunch of

649
00:35:44,400 --> 00:35:47,799
Speaker 2: games against atrocious teams, like truly bad teams that they

650
00:35:47,840 --> 00:35:50,840
Speaker 2: just went out, didn't play hard and lost to. So

651
00:35:50,960 --> 00:35:54,880
Speaker 2: like I my thing is like any case for the Lakers,

652
00:35:54,880 --> 00:35:57,880
Speaker 2: for me falls apart when they run into teams that

653
00:35:57,920 --> 00:36:02,480
Speaker 2: are big and have the advantages on the on the perimeter.

654
00:36:02,600 --> 00:36:06,160
Speaker 2: So like for me, the Lakers, I get scared about Minnesota,

655
00:36:06,200 --> 00:36:08,439
Speaker 2: I get scared about Denver. I even get scared about

656
00:36:08,440 --> 00:36:10,600
Speaker 2: the Clippers a little bit because of the fact that

657
00:36:11,120 --> 00:36:13,680
Speaker 2: Kauhi can bang with Lebron, and because of the fact

658
00:36:13,719 --> 00:36:17,399
Speaker 2: that Zubac has always given ad issues just in terms

659
00:36:17,440 --> 00:36:20,520
Speaker 2: of like shoving him under the basket, getting offensive rebounds,

660
00:36:20,600 --> 00:36:23,520
Speaker 2: just hold like he just physically overwhelms a d sometimes.

661
00:36:23,520 --> 00:36:26,360
Speaker 2: So like to me, I'm way more worried about the

662
00:36:26,400 --> 00:36:29,640
Speaker 2: Lakers against the big teams like you and I argued

663
00:36:29,680 --> 00:36:31,480
Speaker 2: about this on the phone. I would pick the Lakers

664
00:36:31,560 --> 00:36:33,560
Speaker 2: over the Thunder and the MAVs in a playoff series.

665
00:36:33,600 --> 00:36:35,840
Speaker 2: I just think they'd obliterate them on the front line.

666
00:36:38,120 --> 00:36:40,160
Speaker 3: Yeah, we'll talk about that when we get to the MAVs.

667
00:36:40,200 --> 00:36:42,000
Speaker 3: I think the MAVs, I think the mass front line

668
00:36:42,040 --> 00:36:44,680
Speaker 3: is a little bit better than what people think. So

669
00:36:46,040 --> 00:36:50,600
Speaker 3: with the with the addition with one particular edition. But look,

670
00:36:50,640 --> 00:36:52,800
Speaker 3: I agree with you that, like people are way underrating

671
00:36:52,840 --> 00:36:55,040
Speaker 3: the idea of Anthony Davis and Lebron James together. There's

672
00:36:55,040 --> 00:36:57,040
Speaker 3: a reason that they were as successful as they were

673
00:36:57,040 --> 00:37:00,839
Speaker 3: in the Ncason Tournament, right, Like they can really play.

674
00:37:00,880 --> 00:37:02,840
Speaker 3: When they decide to turn it up for like a real,

675
00:37:03,520 --> 00:37:06,520
Speaker 3: you know, set of games, it's gonna be hard. Like

676
00:37:06,840 --> 00:37:09,880
Speaker 3: dealing with those two is a handful. They can really

677
00:37:09,960 --> 00:37:12,120
Speaker 3: really defend when they want to defend, and they are

678
00:37:12,160 --> 00:37:16,920
Speaker 3: great offensively. Having to do it from where they're gonna

679
00:37:16,960 --> 00:37:20,480
Speaker 3: have to come from is my issue kind of similar

680
00:37:20,520 --> 00:37:24,440
Speaker 3: to what you said with was it was It Phoenix.

681
00:37:24,520 --> 00:37:26,239
Speaker 3: I believe you know, we're talking about the Knicks in

682
00:37:26,360 --> 00:37:33,239
Speaker 3: terms of like third seed or whatever. Right like, they're

683
00:37:33,239 --> 00:37:35,879
Speaker 3: gonna have to do it against the timber Wolves and

684
00:37:35,960 --> 00:37:39,040
Speaker 3: the Gobert a D or the Gobert Towns front line.

685
00:37:39,680 --> 00:37:42,799
Speaker 3: Then they're probably gonna have to do it against you know,

686
00:37:43,520 --> 00:37:46,400
Speaker 3: whoever the hell finishes four or five. It could honestly

687
00:37:46,440 --> 00:37:48,960
Speaker 3: be Denver in the four or five matchups, So you

688
00:37:49,000 --> 00:37:50,480
Speaker 3: might have to do it against Denver again, and they

689
00:37:50,520 --> 00:37:53,239
Speaker 3: have no shot against Denver in my opinion, And then

690
00:37:53,239 --> 00:37:54,839
Speaker 3: you might have to do it against the Clippers where

691
00:37:54,880 --> 00:37:58,399
Speaker 3: zoobots is gonna go against them. Right Like, coming from

692
00:37:58,440 --> 00:38:01,799
Speaker 3: the eight seed the seventh seed is a substantial, substantial

693
00:38:01,840 --> 00:38:05,080
Speaker 3: problem I think for the Lakers again and again and again,

694
00:38:05,200 --> 00:38:09,240
Speaker 3: just having to get up for Lebron for two months

695
00:38:09,320 --> 00:38:12,359
Speaker 3: straight of playoff basketball against teams where they don't have

696
00:38:12,840 --> 00:38:15,960
Speaker 3: a schematic advantage because of how bad their perimeter point

697
00:38:15,960 --> 00:38:17,359
Speaker 3: of attack defense is totally fair.

698
00:38:17,400 --> 00:38:19,200
Speaker 2: And by the way, like I was as soon as

699
00:38:19,239 --> 00:38:21,400
Speaker 2: they couldn't address that d like you know what's funny,

700
00:38:21,400 --> 00:38:23,480
Speaker 2: I was actually way higher on them going after Bruce

701
00:38:23,480 --> 00:38:26,240
Speaker 2: Brown the Dejonte Murray this deadline, Like had they gotten

702
00:38:26,280 --> 00:38:29,280
Speaker 2: Bruce Brown, I would have been all over the Lakers

703
00:38:29,320 --> 00:38:33,120
Speaker 2: because I just think that that I'm a big believer too.

704
00:38:33,239 --> 00:38:36,000
Speaker 2: This is one of my overarching basketball philosophies. Like we

705
00:38:36,040 --> 00:38:38,480
Speaker 2: talked about this earlier with Jamal Murray and like winning impact.

706
00:38:38,480 --> 00:38:41,680
Speaker 2: I'm a big believer in like even a limited player

707
00:38:42,440 --> 00:38:44,919
Speaker 2: that is great at a thing you're bad at as

708
00:38:44,920 --> 00:38:49,359
Speaker 2: a team can be monumentally important for your basketball team.

709
00:38:50,040 --> 00:38:52,440
Speaker 2: It's just something I've seen time and time again. It's

710
00:38:52,440 --> 00:38:57,680
Speaker 2: something that I believe very strongly. And so number nine

711
00:38:57,800 --> 00:38:59,640
Speaker 2: and this is my last tier of teams. These are

712
00:38:59,640 --> 00:39:01,720
Speaker 2: all law shots to me. So these are all teams

713
00:39:01,719 --> 00:39:05,000
Speaker 2: where like I just I would be really surprised if

714
00:39:05,000 --> 00:39:10,040
Speaker 2: they won. But they have just like specific things each

715
00:39:10,080 --> 00:39:12,480
Speaker 2: of them have, like that one big thing for me

716
00:39:12,520 --> 00:39:14,560
Speaker 2: that's like, yeah, you can't write them off because of this.

717
00:39:15,160 --> 00:39:17,280
Speaker 2: And Number nine for me is the Golden State Warriors.

718
00:39:17,360 --> 00:39:19,319
Speaker 2: The reason is simple, you can't write them off because

719
00:39:19,360 --> 00:39:22,880
Speaker 2: of Steph Curry. He's playing incredible as of late. The

720
00:39:23,040 --> 00:39:25,760
Speaker 2: Steph Curry, Draymond Green, Andrew Wiggins, John I Thin kaminga

721
00:39:25,880 --> 00:39:29,040
Speaker 2: foursome in two hundred and forty six minutes this year.

722
00:39:29,520 --> 00:39:31,440
Speaker 2: It has a one to twenty offensive rating and a

723
00:39:31,440 --> 00:39:35,680
Speaker 2: one oh four defensive rating. They have been bad at rebounding,

724
00:39:35,680 --> 00:39:37,839
Speaker 2: but that's been kind of an issue regardless of their

725
00:39:37,880 --> 00:39:42,480
Speaker 2: lineups as of late. Their main concerns they're late in games.

726
00:39:42,520 --> 00:39:46,279
Speaker 2: Their offense just goes from being this like beautiful ballplayer

727
00:39:46,320 --> 00:39:49,560
Speaker 2: movement to just Steph Curry running around chasing his own shot,

728
00:39:49,719 --> 00:39:52,640
Speaker 2: which I think I think is as much as I

729
00:39:52,640 --> 00:39:54,640
Speaker 2: love Stephan as much as I love Steve Curry, I

730
00:39:54,680 --> 00:39:58,080
Speaker 2: think it's bad process. I think they I think that

731
00:39:58,239 --> 00:40:01,040
Speaker 2: has actually led to diminishing turns in a lot of ways,

732
00:40:01,040 --> 00:40:04,600
Speaker 2: and I think they have more options than what they've demonstrated. Also,

733
00:40:05,080 --> 00:40:08,239
Speaker 2: I'm higher on their defensive issues that they've had as

734
00:40:08,280 --> 00:40:10,319
Speaker 2: of late, Like their crunch time defense has been really

735
00:40:10,320 --> 00:40:12,560
Speaker 2: bad and it's cost them in a lot of these games.

736
00:40:12,600 --> 00:40:16,360
Speaker 2: But I think it's schematic, not personnel based, Like they're

737
00:40:16,520 --> 00:40:19,600
Speaker 2: really overhelping a lot right now. It's a major thing

738
00:40:19,640 --> 00:40:24,640
Speaker 2: that I'm noticing, where like if a guy has a defender,

739
00:40:24,719 --> 00:40:26,680
Speaker 2: or if a guy has an offensive player on his

740
00:40:26,800 --> 00:40:29,640
Speaker 2: hip and he's like tracking him and driving with him

741
00:40:29,680 --> 00:40:32,279
Speaker 2: to the basket and instead of just letting him force

742
00:40:32,320 --> 00:40:34,960
Speaker 2: him into a tough contested layup at the rim or

743
00:40:35,600 --> 00:40:39,000
Speaker 2: anything other than an easy kickout. They're just all converging

744
00:40:39,000 --> 00:40:41,400
Speaker 2: on the basketball and giving up these wide open shots. So, like,

745
00:40:41,800 --> 00:40:44,440
Speaker 2: I think they can be a lot better than what

746
00:40:44,520 --> 00:40:48,360
Speaker 2: they have been. It's an extreme long shot because they

747
00:40:48,440 --> 00:40:50,919
Speaker 2: just don't have any offensive production outside of Steph Curry

748
00:40:50,960 --> 00:40:53,880
Speaker 2: that's consistent, especially within a playoff lens. But like you

749
00:40:53,960 --> 00:40:56,040
Speaker 2: can kind of see it's like Steph Curry's top five

750
00:40:56,080 --> 00:40:58,440
Speaker 2: player in the world. They have a ton of athleticism

751
00:40:58,440 --> 00:41:00,120
Speaker 2: now that they've been going to Kamena and Wiggins in

752
00:41:00,120 --> 00:41:02,160
Speaker 2: the front line. Like that's the long shot. Where are

753
00:41:02,160 --> 00:41:02,920
Speaker 2: you at with the Warriors?

754
00:41:03,080 --> 00:41:07,640
Speaker 3: Pad The Warriors at number nine, so we're not far

755
00:41:07,680 --> 00:41:10,719
Speaker 3: off on that. Over the last month, the team with

756
00:41:10,960 --> 00:41:14,320
Speaker 3: the fourth best net rating in the NBA seven point seven,

757
00:41:14,400 --> 00:41:17,200
Speaker 3: the Golden State Warriors. They've really found something with this

758
00:41:17,320 --> 00:41:21,399
Speaker 3: Jonathan kaminga Draymond Green front court. I think that has

759
00:41:21,640 --> 00:41:25,480
Speaker 3: really really been impactful for them. Basically removing Kevon Looney

760
00:41:25,560 --> 00:41:29,160
Speaker 3: from the lineup has been valuable. But the problem for

761
00:41:29,280 --> 00:41:32,279
Speaker 3: them is that they're going to run into teams that

762
00:41:32,400 --> 00:41:34,800
Speaker 3: have real bigs where they have to play Kevon Looney

763
00:41:35,440 --> 00:41:38,040
Speaker 3: and they have to play Draymond Green with Kevon Looney

764
00:41:38,040 --> 00:41:40,400
Speaker 3: in all likelihood, Like, you can't just run out. I

765
00:41:40,440 --> 00:41:48,760
Speaker 3: think that where they have found success is in situations

766
00:41:48,800 --> 00:41:53,399
Speaker 3: that probably aren't that applicable to the teams that they're

767
00:41:53,440 --> 00:41:57,040
Speaker 3: going to have to play in the playoffs. If they

768
00:41:57,040 --> 00:42:00,440
Speaker 3: play the Nuggets as the seventh seed, they have to

769
00:42:00,440 --> 00:42:04,279
Speaker 3: play Kevon Looney thirty minutes a night or else, Like,

770
00:42:04,320 --> 00:42:07,960
Speaker 3: what are you gonna put Draymond Green on Nikola Jokic? Like,

771
00:42:08,000 --> 00:42:12,919
Speaker 3: I love, love, love Draymond Green, but I don't feel

772
00:42:12,920 --> 00:42:16,640
Speaker 3: great about that matchup. I just don't. I'm sorry. It's

773
00:42:16,719 --> 00:42:19,120
Speaker 3: really hard to play five out against the Nuggets because

774
00:42:19,120 --> 00:42:22,960
Speaker 3: the Nuggets are better than you at playing five out.

775
00:42:23,719 --> 00:42:26,680
Speaker 3: If they play the Timberwolves, you have to play Kevon Looney,

776
00:42:26,880 --> 00:42:28,600
Speaker 3: I think, Like, at the end of the day, I

777
00:42:28,640 --> 00:42:32,080
Speaker 3: think that you're gonna have to do that. So I

778
00:42:32,200 --> 00:42:36,919
Speaker 3: worry about what the playoff schematics look like as much

779
00:42:36,960 --> 00:42:39,200
Speaker 3: as anything. Like, the Warriors have been great with this

780
00:42:39,280 --> 00:42:43,440
Speaker 3: smaller lineup. But do you think, and this is a

781
00:42:43,480 --> 00:42:47,719
Speaker 3: real question for you, do you think that this smaller

782
00:42:47,760 --> 00:42:53,080
Speaker 3: lineup can find success in the playoffs consistently? Because if

783
00:42:53,120 --> 00:42:55,919
Speaker 3: you look at the teams that they've beat recently, it's

784
00:42:55,960 --> 00:42:59,160
Speaker 3: like seventy six ers if I remember correctly, that was

785
00:42:59,160 --> 00:43:01,719
Speaker 3: the game where Joellen be got hurt. Right, So, like

786
00:43:01,760 --> 00:43:05,440
Speaker 3: they blew the doors off of them, beat the Nets,

787
00:43:05,520 --> 00:43:08,279
Speaker 3: beat the Hawks, beat the Grizzlies, you know, beat the

788
00:43:08,320 --> 00:43:13,360
Speaker 3: Pacers with like a reduced Tyres Halliburton, beat the Jazz twice,

789
00:43:13,560 --> 00:43:16,840
Speaker 3: beat the or lost of the Clippers, right or no,

790
00:43:16,920 --> 00:43:18,600
Speaker 3: they lost to the Hawks, I'm sorry, but then like

791
00:43:18,800 --> 00:43:20,640
Speaker 3: lost to the Lakers, lost of the Kings. Like the

792
00:43:20,680 --> 00:43:22,839
Speaker 3: good teams they've played over the course of this month,

793
00:43:22,880 --> 00:43:26,680
Speaker 3: for the most part, they have struggled to beat them.

794
00:43:27,040 --> 00:43:30,839
Speaker 3: And I wonder if it's like a schematic thing where

795
00:43:30,840 --> 00:43:34,239
Speaker 3: teams with real size they forced them away from the

796
00:43:34,360 --> 00:43:37,719
Speaker 3: Kaminga Draymond look can cause them real issues, and that

797
00:43:37,800 --> 00:43:41,080
Speaker 3: those actual problems haven't been addressed and been fitted.

798
00:43:41,120 --> 00:43:44,360
Speaker 2: I have a feeling that some of this is regular

799
00:43:44,440 --> 00:43:48,799
Speaker 2: season you know success as well, stemming from like just

800
00:43:49,080 --> 00:43:51,360
Speaker 2: lessons that we've learned over the years. Like to me,

801
00:43:51,440 --> 00:43:55,759
Speaker 2: Jonathan Kaminga, I've been so impressed by Jonathan Kaminga as

802
00:43:55,800 --> 00:43:58,279
Speaker 2: like a long term prospect and like he's won me

803
00:43:58,360 --> 00:44:00,399
Speaker 2: over this year in a lot of ways. Like I

804
00:44:00,480 --> 00:44:04,279
Speaker 2: really think defenders struggled to handle him one on one,

805
00:44:04,400 --> 00:44:06,719
Speaker 2: which is like a which is a which is like

806
00:44:06,760 --> 00:44:09,239
Speaker 2: a legitimate thing that you can build a career off of,

807
00:44:09,320 --> 00:44:12,879
Speaker 2: you know what I mean. But his jump shot after

808
00:44:12,880 --> 00:44:15,680
Speaker 2: being red hot during that hot streak has gone way

809
00:44:15,719 --> 00:44:19,080
Speaker 2: way way down and he does struggle that now Now

810
00:44:19,160 --> 00:44:21,400
Speaker 2: teams are starting to throw multiple bodies at him, And

811
00:44:21,680 --> 00:44:23,280
Speaker 2: this is what I've been saying over that whole stretch.

812
00:44:23,320 --> 00:44:25,480
Speaker 2: I was like, Okay, John Kamina is playing really really well.

813
00:44:25,920 --> 00:44:29,200
Speaker 2: But you get to the postseason, everything is about exposing

814
00:44:29,200 --> 00:44:32,120
Speaker 2: your weaknesses. They're going to find a way to. Like

815
00:44:32,560 --> 00:44:35,080
Speaker 2: the big one with Kaminga is like if you throw

816
00:44:35,280 --> 00:44:37,280
Speaker 2: late help after he puts the ball on the floor,

817
00:44:37,440 --> 00:44:40,719
Speaker 2: he is turnover prone, and so that's a big one.

818
00:44:40,719 --> 00:44:42,400
Speaker 2: And then the other one too is just in off

819
00:44:42,440 --> 00:44:44,879
Speaker 2: ball situations you can just straight up play off of him,

820
00:44:44,920 --> 00:44:46,480
Speaker 2: like he's not a guy that you necessarily have to

821
00:44:46,480 --> 00:44:49,239
Speaker 2: worry about out there, and so that puts you in

822
00:44:49,280 --> 00:44:52,080
Speaker 2: a situation where you basically don't have a reliable secondary

823
00:44:52,120 --> 00:44:57,720
Speaker 2: shot creator. I'm less worried about the I'm less worried

824
00:44:57,760 --> 00:45:01,280
Speaker 2: about the defensive configuration as a pertin to Looney because

825
00:45:01,320 --> 00:45:04,400
Speaker 2: I think the I think Looney has been so bad

826
00:45:04,480 --> 00:45:08,080
Speaker 2: this year that whatever athletic advantages you gain in rotation

827
00:45:08,360 --> 00:45:11,880
Speaker 2: by just being faster are are more important than whatever

828
00:45:11,960 --> 00:45:15,200
Speaker 2: size you get from Kevon Looney. I think Kevon Looney,

829
00:45:16,520 --> 00:45:18,480
Speaker 2: I don't know. I don't know if it's because he's

830
00:45:18,480 --> 00:45:22,120
Speaker 2: still kind of young, like he's not that old, Like

831
00:45:22,200 --> 00:45:24,360
Speaker 2: I don't understand what it is with him, but he

832
00:45:24,480 --> 00:45:27,319
Speaker 2: just has not been as useful this year as he

833
00:45:27,520 --> 00:45:31,279
Speaker 2: as he was in previous years. Like I I would

834
00:45:31,360 --> 00:45:34,319
Speaker 2: lean more on speed and be like, we just got

835
00:45:34,360 --> 00:45:36,560
Speaker 2: to be a team that's excellent in rotation against these

836
00:45:36,600 --> 00:45:39,440
Speaker 2: teams that are too big for Draymond to handle one

837
00:45:39,480 --> 00:45:41,279
Speaker 2: on one in the front line. But like, here's the

838
00:45:41,280 --> 00:45:43,200
Speaker 2: bottom line, though, as you put it, like there's a

839
00:45:43,239 --> 00:45:45,279
Speaker 2: reason why I have them in my long shot tier,

840
00:45:45,360 --> 00:45:48,080
Speaker 2: why you have them at number nine is like there's

841
00:45:48,160 --> 00:45:50,480
Speaker 2: just teams that are way better than them at the

842
00:45:50,520 --> 00:45:53,280
Speaker 2: things that they do, And it's really that simple.

843
00:45:53,960 --> 00:45:57,319
Speaker 3: The more we talk through this, the more I think that,

844
00:45:57,480 --> 00:46:01,439
Speaker 3: like I should probably have the A eleven, not nine.

845
00:46:02,080 --> 00:46:05,200
Speaker 3: Like the fact that they haven't beaten anybody during this stretch.

846
00:46:05,239 --> 00:46:07,319
Speaker 3: I kind of like thought about it a little bit

847
00:46:07,360 --> 00:46:10,560
Speaker 3: more toward like they've been successful. I've really liked this group,

848
00:46:10,600 --> 00:46:14,000
Speaker 3: but like in terms of playoff success, I actually truly

849
00:46:14,080 --> 00:46:18,560
Speaker 3: really think that you need SI, Like you need somebody

850
00:46:18,600 --> 00:46:20,960
Speaker 3: to match up with Nikole Jokich, you need somebody to

851
00:46:21,000 --> 00:46:23,359
Speaker 3: match up Carl Towns, you need somebody to match up

852
00:46:23,400 --> 00:46:28,680
Speaker 3: with like anybody else that Like, even I think they

853
00:46:28,760 --> 00:46:30,799
Speaker 3: deal well with the Pelicans, like I think they deal

854
00:46:30,840 --> 00:46:34,839
Speaker 3: well with Zion, but like like Yonah's would cause them

855
00:46:34,880 --> 00:46:37,600
Speaker 3: some problems. I think on the front line, the Yonahs

856
00:46:37,640 --> 00:46:40,920
Speaker 3: Zion combination would cause them some problems. I think in

857
00:46:40,960 --> 00:46:46,480
Speaker 3: the front line, I just I don't think they've solved it.

858
00:46:46,640 --> 00:46:50,400
Speaker 3: I really don't. In terms of when teams they have

859
00:46:50,440 --> 00:46:53,759
Speaker 3: too many gaps that you can attack. I really respect

860
00:46:53,920 --> 00:46:58,040
Speaker 3: how hard you know, Brandon Pajemski plays on the ball,

861
00:46:58,120 --> 00:47:00,040
Speaker 3: and like I really are off the ball, and I

862
00:47:00,040 --> 00:47:03,080
Speaker 3: really respect his basketball IQ Like he's like kind of

863
00:47:03,080 --> 00:47:05,399
Speaker 3: a necessity for them as a secondary creator a lot

864
00:47:05,400 --> 00:47:08,759
Speaker 3: of the time, and teams are gonna attack him on

865
00:47:08,800 --> 00:47:13,520
Speaker 3: the ball, like pretty regularly. On defense, I don't think

866
00:47:13,560 --> 00:47:16,160
Speaker 3: that they're gonna find an answer defensively for this at

867
00:47:16,160 --> 00:47:18,120
Speaker 3: the end of the day, And if they do find

868
00:47:18,160 --> 00:47:20,760
Speaker 3: an answer for it defensively, like if Kevon can figure

869
00:47:20,760 --> 00:47:23,680
Speaker 3: out whatever's going on there, and if Andrew Wiggins can

870
00:47:24,200 --> 00:47:27,320
Speaker 3: come back to like this world which he hasn't benep it,

871
00:47:27,480 --> 00:47:33,279
Speaker 3: yeah in recent weeks. Yeah, I still think that they

872
00:47:33,320 --> 00:47:36,080
Speaker 3: have too many mismatch issues on the defensive end to

873
00:47:36,120 --> 00:47:38,480
Speaker 3: where teams are gonna be able to take advantage of them. Like, Okay,

874
00:47:38,520 --> 00:47:40,160
Speaker 3: like what you would like to do against Minnesota is

875
00:47:40,200 --> 00:47:42,480
Speaker 3: you'd like to play a big against Carl Towns and

876
00:47:42,480 --> 00:47:48,040
Speaker 3: then have Draymond guard Rudy Gobert and then help off

877
00:47:48,080 --> 00:47:50,239
Speaker 3: of Draymond like on the or use Draymond as the

878
00:47:50,239 --> 00:47:53,759
Speaker 3: help defender on Towns, drives on Town's post ups, force

879
00:47:53,840 --> 00:47:56,120
Speaker 3: him into tough decisions and be able to attack that way.

880
00:47:57,440 --> 00:48:00,160
Speaker 3: You can't really do that with like Jonathan Kaminga. You

881
00:48:00,200 --> 00:48:03,080
Speaker 3: can't put him on Carl Towns. Towns will bury him

882
00:48:03,080 --> 00:48:04,960
Speaker 3: on the block, which means you then have to put

883
00:48:05,320 --> 00:48:07,719
Speaker 3: Draymond on Towns, and I think Draymond would annoy the

884
00:48:07,719 --> 00:48:11,360
Speaker 3: shit out of Carl Town's But like then you're putting

885
00:48:11,680 --> 00:48:15,720
Speaker 3: Rudy Gobert on You're putting Jonathan Kaminga on Rdy Gobert,

886
00:48:15,719 --> 00:48:19,000
Speaker 3: and they'll just spam one five ball screens with Mike

887
00:48:19,040 --> 00:48:22,880
Speaker 3: Conley and Gobert, and for his athletic as Kaminga is,

888
00:48:22,920 --> 00:48:26,160
Speaker 3: he can't out high point Gobert. And then if you

889
00:48:26,239 --> 00:48:28,799
Speaker 3: do that, you're then helping off of towns, probably with

890
00:48:28,840 --> 00:48:32,520
Speaker 3: the tag defender in Draymond, in order to try and

891
00:48:32,520 --> 00:48:34,360
Speaker 3: shut that down. And then you're leaving towns open, and

892
00:48:34,440 --> 00:48:37,160
Speaker 3: then you're in scramble situations where you have Anthony Edwards

893
00:48:37,200 --> 00:48:39,640
Speaker 3: setting up in a scramble situation right where he can

894
00:48:39,680 --> 00:48:43,759
Speaker 3: attack a scramble bent defense. I think they're coming from

895
00:48:43,840 --> 00:48:46,080
Speaker 3: too far away, is where I'm at right now. I

896
00:48:46,080 --> 00:48:48,200
Speaker 3: think the Warriors are coming from too far away from

897
00:48:49,239 --> 00:48:52,239
Speaker 3: where they are to be able to really truly contend.

898
00:48:52,040 --> 00:48:54,560
Speaker 2: Right, and Kaminga and Gobert opens up even more defensive

899
00:48:54,560 --> 00:48:57,000
Speaker 2: rebounding issues, which has been just a huge problem as

900
00:48:57,480 --> 00:49:01,680
Speaker 2: even that dominant lineup that Wiggans, Kminga, Draymond Curry, for

901
00:49:01,880 --> 00:49:04,800
Speaker 2: some they have not rebounded well. They've been a bad

902
00:49:05,239 --> 00:49:07,919
Speaker 2: defensive rebounding team. It's like you watch the Jazz game

903
00:49:07,960 --> 00:49:10,719
Speaker 2: and it's like they keep getting stops, but just guys

904
00:49:10,719 --> 00:49:12,799
Speaker 2: are flying in and getting rebounds over them, and then

905
00:49:12,800 --> 00:49:14,440
Speaker 2: it's like they finally get a stop at the end

906
00:49:14,480 --> 00:49:16,320
Speaker 2: of the Clippers game and no one boxes out Russell

907
00:49:16,320 --> 00:49:18,319
Speaker 2: Westbrook and they he comes flying in and he like

908
00:49:18,520 --> 00:49:21,839
Speaker 2: they just that that to me. Like I actually, again,

909
00:49:21,880 --> 00:49:24,680
Speaker 2: I'm higher on their defensive potential than you are. But like,

910
00:49:24,680 --> 00:49:26,799
Speaker 2: like the defense, the rebounding piece, I don't know that

911
00:49:26,800 --> 00:49:29,600
Speaker 2: that can be fixed. All Right, we're gonna do We're

912
00:49:29,600 --> 00:49:31,480
Speaker 2: gonna do one more in depth and then we're gonna

913
00:49:31,520 --> 00:49:35,560
Speaker 2: move quick through the end. So number ten, I have

914
00:49:35,800 --> 00:49:42,560
Speaker 2: the Oklahoma City Thunder. So my my, my Thunder pessimism.

915
00:49:42,640 --> 00:49:44,759
Speaker 2: And I've said this a million times, and I have

916
00:49:44,800 --> 00:49:46,520
Speaker 2: to say it as a disclaimer just because of the

917
00:49:46,560 --> 00:49:50,600
Speaker 2: way that sometimes people act in the way that the

918
00:49:50,640 --> 00:49:54,640
Speaker 2: internet is. Yes, uh, I love everything about this Thunder team.

919
00:49:54,880 --> 00:49:56,920
Speaker 2: I love Shay. I've been super high on him for

920
00:49:56,960 --> 00:49:59,840
Speaker 2: a long time. Jalen Williams was talking about him this morning.

921
00:50:00,040 --> 00:50:04,759
Speaker 2: He had a couple of nasty step back threes the

922
00:50:04,760 --> 00:50:09,000
Speaker 2: other night against god who was it, I can't even remember,

923
00:50:09,160 --> 00:50:10,680
Speaker 2: but I was. I was watching him, you know. You know,

924
00:50:10,719 --> 00:50:12,480
Speaker 2: he's actually been the second best pull up jump shooter

925
00:50:12,480 --> 00:50:15,920
Speaker 2: in the league this year, Like minimum two hundred attempts.

926
00:50:15,920 --> 00:50:18,600
Speaker 2: There's like forty four guys. James Harden's number one, Jalen

927
00:50:18,719 --> 00:50:21,839
Speaker 2: Williams is number two. He's getting like one point one

928
00:50:21,840 --> 00:50:24,240
Speaker 2: point eight points per pull up jump shot. It's completely

929
00:50:24,280 --> 00:50:27,200
Speaker 2: outrageous and like and he's like just got that in

930
00:50:27,239 --> 00:50:31,279
Speaker 2: combination with real downhill force. I love Chet. I love

931
00:50:31,440 --> 00:50:33,400
Speaker 2: not just how good he is now, but what his

932
00:50:33,440 --> 00:50:36,360
Speaker 2: potential is and what his demeanor is like and his competitiveness.

933
00:50:37,320 --> 00:50:39,360
Speaker 2: Lou Dort's one of my favorite three and D players

934
00:50:39,400 --> 00:50:43,040
Speaker 2: in the league. Huge thunderfan. This is just simply based

935
00:50:43,160 --> 00:50:48,239
Speaker 2: on my overarching basketball opinions, which is our book philosophies,

936
00:50:48,280 --> 00:50:50,640
Speaker 2: whatever you want to call it. In my opinion, if

937
00:50:50,680 --> 00:50:54,360
Speaker 2: you are small and young, you're not gonna win in

938
00:50:54,400 --> 00:50:59,080
Speaker 2: the late phases of the NBA playoffs, specifically, last year's

939
00:50:59,120 --> 00:51:02,520
Speaker 2: conference finalists final four teams all four, we're top eleven

940
00:51:02,560 --> 00:51:05,880
Speaker 2: in defensive rebounding at twenty twenty two. The MAVs, Warriors,

941
00:51:05,880 --> 00:51:08,320
Speaker 2: and Heat were all top ten. The Celtics were fifteenth

942
00:51:08,640 --> 00:51:12,759
Speaker 2: twenty twenty one. All four conference finalists we're all in

943
00:51:12,800 --> 00:51:15,880
Speaker 2: the top eleven in defensive rebounding percentage. I think a

944
00:51:15,920 --> 00:51:18,440
Speaker 2: big part of it is when you get into that phase,

945
00:51:18,560 --> 00:51:20,400
Speaker 2: kind of like we saw in the Cavs Nicks series

946
00:51:20,440 --> 00:51:25,080
Speaker 2: last year, those physical advantages actually just get over emphasized

947
00:51:25,120 --> 00:51:27,040
Speaker 2: when you get to that point. There's a reason why

948
00:51:27,040 --> 00:51:30,160
Speaker 2: no rebounds, no rings is a saying. It's actually a big,

949
00:51:31,080 --> 00:51:34,200
Speaker 2: big version of why I have some skepticism surrounding the Clippers.

950
00:51:35,320 --> 00:51:37,920
Speaker 2: In my opinion, the Clippers are just a better version

951
00:51:38,080 --> 00:51:40,400
Speaker 2: of the Thunder. I know they don't play schematically the

952
00:51:40,440 --> 00:51:42,640
Speaker 2: exact same way, but in terms of the way that

953
00:51:42,680 --> 00:51:46,680
Speaker 2: they're constructed as like these kind of two way perimeter players,

954
00:51:47,120 --> 00:51:50,000
Speaker 2: I just think Kawhi and Paul George are better versions

955
00:51:50,360 --> 00:51:52,759
Speaker 2: of that than Shay and Jalen are, especially at this

956
00:51:52,800 --> 00:51:56,920
Speaker 2: phase in their careers. So like I really like Oklahoma City,

957
00:51:57,000 --> 00:52:01,239
Speaker 2: I would be as Barrings, some sort of weird thing

958
00:52:01,239 --> 00:52:03,000
Speaker 2: where like Shaye decides he doesn't want to be in

959
00:52:03,000 --> 00:52:06,360
Speaker 2: the Thunder anymore and demands a trade. I don't think

960
00:52:06,400 --> 00:52:08,120
Speaker 2: that the Thunder are going to go through this era

961
00:52:08,239 --> 00:52:10,480
Speaker 2: without winning a title. I think they're going to. I

962
00:52:10,480 --> 00:52:13,680
Speaker 2: think they're too good, not too I just to me

963
00:52:13,880 --> 00:52:16,000
Speaker 2: in a field this stacked, I would just be so

964
00:52:16,280 --> 00:52:21,319
Speaker 2: surprised if this super young, super small team somehow ended

965
00:52:21,400 --> 00:52:22,640
Speaker 2: up with the trophy at the end of the day,

966
00:52:22,640 --> 00:52:28,760
Speaker 2: tell me why I'm wrong, Sam.

967
00:52:26,320 --> 00:52:28,799
Speaker 3: Okay, So look, I say this as somebody who had

968
00:52:28,800 --> 00:52:31,720
Speaker 3: the Thunder at like seven or eight or something like that, right,

969
00:52:31,840 --> 00:52:37,359
Speaker 3: So I am not drastically higher on the Thunder than

970
00:52:37,440 --> 00:52:41,680
Speaker 3: where you are for this season's playoffs. The highest I

971
00:52:41,760 --> 00:52:45,360
Speaker 3: think you can reasonably get them right now is probably

972
00:52:45,480 --> 00:52:52,000
Speaker 3: fifth or so. I think they are a total ass

973
00:52:52,080 --> 00:52:56,120
Speaker 3: kicking team on offense and on defense. They bring some

974
00:52:56,160 --> 00:53:00,680
Speaker 3: real schematic point of attack issues that cause also problems

975
00:53:00,719 --> 00:53:04,640
Speaker 3: in terms of half court execution. On top of that,

976
00:53:04,680 --> 00:53:08,760
Speaker 3: they are the best transition team in the NBA. Now,

977
00:53:10,440 --> 00:53:14,080
Speaker 3: I typically don't love transition basketball in the playoffs. I

978
00:53:14,120 --> 00:53:19,640
Speaker 3: think it is much more difficult to execute than just

979
00:53:19,719 --> 00:53:24,799
Speaker 3: being an elite level half court execution offense. Having said that,

980
00:53:25,200 --> 00:53:31,800
Speaker 3: with the Thunder, where the transition adeptness helps is if

981
00:53:31,960 --> 00:53:34,920
Speaker 3: you decide that you want to try and attack the

982
00:53:35,000 --> 00:53:38,160
Speaker 3: offensive glass against the Thunder and you want to go

983
00:53:38,239 --> 00:53:42,439
Speaker 3: for that, they're going to kill you in transition even

984
00:53:42,480 --> 00:53:47,239
Speaker 3: in the playoffs. Like if you decide, hey, we're the Lakers,

985
00:53:47,440 --> 00:53:49,840
Speaker 3: we want to crash with ad we want to crash

986
00:53:49,880 --> 00:53:54,839
Speaker 3: with really just ad I guess Lebron as well, would

987
00:53:54,840 --> 00:53:58,400
Speaker 3: be your idea. If I'm the Thunder, I'm saying, be

988
00:53:58,560 --> 00:54:03,040
Speaker 3: my guests, we're still gonna get probably sixty five percent

989
00:54:03,080 --> 00:54:05,480
Speaker 3: of those, like, even if we're the worst defensive rebounding

990
00:54:05,520 --> 00:54:08,359
Speaker 3: team in the league. Will probably like, even if we

991
00:54:08,440 --> 00:54:11,000
Speaker 3: like go even worse than the worst defensive rebounding team

992
00:54:11,000 --> 00:54:12,520
Speaker 3: in the league and we get sixty five percent of

993
00:54:12,520 --> 00:54:16,520
Speaker 3: the offensive or the defensive rebounds and you're crashing multiple guys,

994
00:54:16,880 --> 00:54:19,040
Speaker 3: we're gonna beat you in transition more than you're gonna

995
00:54:19,040 --> 00:54:22,200
Speaker 3: beat us on the offensive class. So I would invite

996
00:54:22,280 --> 00:54:25,960
Speaker 3: that if I'm them. Now, the question with the Lakers,

997
00:54:26,000 --> 00:54:28,400
Speaker 3: the question with teams that like can really get downhill

998
00:54:28,440 --> 00:54:33,040
Speaker 3: rim pressure is what will Chet look like in the playoffs.

999
00:54:34,000 --> 00:54:37,480
Speaker 3: I think Chet is an outstanding competitor. I think Chet

1000
00:54:37,840 --> 00:54:41,760
Speaker 3: is somebody whose mentality is going to translate exceedingly well

1001
00:54:42,160 --> 00:54:45,160
Speaker 3: toward the playoffs. I worry a little bit in terms

1002
00:54:45,200 --> 00:54:47,520
Speaker 3: of foul trouble in the playoffs for Chet. If he

1003
00:54:47,560 --> 00:54:50,200
Speaker 3: gets into foul trouble, what is their combo breaker? What

1004
00:54:50,320 --> 00:54:56,720
Speaker 3: is their counter? They don't really have one question mark Uh,

1005
00:54:56,960 --> 00:54:59,680
Speaker 3: it's going to be entirely reliant on Chet being able

1006
00:54:59,719 --> 00:55:03,359
Speaker 3: to play thirty five minutes a night in the playoffs.

1007
00:55:03,640 --> 00:55:07,240
Speaker 3: And I say that thinking Chet is their third best player,

1008
00:55:07,880 --> 00:55:10,440
Speaker 3: but he is probably their second most important player in

1009
00:55:10,560 --> 00:55:15,960
Speaker 3: terms of playoff success, behind Shay. Now part of my

1010
00:55:16,080 --> 00:55:20,000
Speaker 3: thunder optimism compared to your being a thunder hater, which

1011
00:55:20,040 --> 00:55:22,200
Speaker 3: is what I will be referred to you as from

1012
00:55:22,239 --> 00:55:27,879
Speaker 3: now on, Jason Uh, I think Shay is an absolute dude,

1013
00:55:28,440 --> 00:55:31,000
Speaker 3: and I think he is going to be able to

1014
00:55:31,080 --> 00:55:34,920
Speaker 3: wreak havoc on opposing teams, and in part the reason

1015
00:55:35,040 --> 00:55:39,000
Speaker 3: for that is you have to guard them. Now, five

1016
00:55:39,080 --> 00:55:43,560
Speaker 3: out the big underrated unsung trade edition that a team

1017
00:55:43,600 --> 00:55:45,920
Speaker 3: made at the deadline if he can be healthy, is

1018
00:55:45,960 --> 00:55:50,839
Speaker 3: Gordon Hayward. Because previously, what teams have done to kind

1019
00:55:50,840 --> 00:55:53,520
Speaker 3: of gum up the works for Oklahoma City on offense

1020
00:55:54,280 --> 00:55:58,520
Speaker 3: is play your center on Josh Giddy and then be

1021
00:55:58,640 --> 00:56:01,400
Speaker 3: able to try and filter toward the help in the

1022
00:56:01,440 --> 00:56:04,560
Speaker 3: middle and then leave Josh Giddy literally wide open from three.

1023
00:56:05,160 --> 00:56:07,319
Speaker 3: That's the way that teams have had success against them

1024
00:56:07,360 --> 00:56:12,520
Speaker 3: this season. With Gordon Hayward, you cannot do that. He

1025
00:56:12,600 --> 00:56:15,520
Speaker 3: will kill you from three. He will beat you as

1026
00:56:15,600 --> 00:56:19,280
Speaker 3: a shooter from distance, and he's bigger than Isaiah Joe,

1027
00:56:19,360 --> 00:56:23,279
Speaker 3: which was their other like combo breaker counter whatever you

1028
00:56:23,320 --> 00:56:27,560
Speaker 3: want to call it. Isaiah I think is a smart defender,

1029
00:56:27,600 --> 00:56:29,600
Speaker 3: but he's somebody that you can attack a little bit

1030
00:56:29,600 --> 00:56:34,000
Speaker 3: too often on defense. With Hayward, I think that you're

1031
00:56:34,040 --> 00:56:36,400
Speaker 3: not going to be able to attack him as much,

1032
00:56:37,760 --> 00:56:41,440
Speaker 3: which leads to a circumstance where they can play genuine

1033
00:56:41,640 --> 00:56:46,839
Speaker 3: five out offense, force all sorts of issues as you're

1034
00:56:46,880 --> 00:56:49,399
Speaker 3: trying to stay in front of Shay Gilges Alexander, who

1035
00:56:49,480 --> 00:56:53,440
Speaker 3: is the best paint touch guy in the NBA right now.

1036
00:56:53,600 --> 00:56:55,080
Speaker 3: I think you would probably agree with you.

1037
00:56:55,600 --> 00:56:56,760
Speaker 2: He can beat people off the dribble.

1038
00:56:58,480 --> 00:57:00,720
Speaker 3: He can beat anybody in the NBA off the dribble.

1039
00:57:03,440 --> 00:57:06,479
Speaker 3: Then on top of it, you have Jalen Williams, who

1040
00:57:06,680 --> 00:57:12,160
Speaker 3: I think is still underrated league now. I don't think

1041
00:57:12,200 --> 00:57:16,760
Speaker 3: people understand what Oklahoma City has in Jalen Williams. This

1042
00:57:16,920 --> 00:57:21,240
Speaker 3: is not like your run of the mill like potential

1043
00:57:21,280 --> 00:57:23,960
Speaker 3: second star. At some point he is going to be

1044
00:57:24,000 --> 00:57:24,600
Speaker 3: an all NBA.

1045
00:57:26,680 --> 00:57:31,520
Speaker 2: Right, it was you that gave me that, right, Yes,

1046
00:57:30,440 --> 00:57:31,000
Speaker 2: I'm going to.

1047
00:57:32,480 --> 00:57:36,520
Speaker 3: Yet he is like Jimmy Butler for this coming era.

1048
00:57:37,080 --> 00:57:41,479
Speaker 3: He is in huge, he is physical, He's six foot

1049
00:57:41,480 --> 00:57:44,280
Speaker 3: six with seven foot two wingspan. The biggest thing, though,

1050
00:57:44,320 --> 00:57:47,640
Speaker 3: is he's a genuine three level scorer. How many teams

1051
00:57:47,800 --> 00:57:53,680
Speaker 3: right now can you point to that have too legitimate

1052
00:57:54,160 --> 00:57:57,880
Speaker 3: elite and I would say Jalen is in maybe not

1053
00:57:58,000 --> 00:58:01,320
Speaker 3: like elite of the elite, but he's damn clos three

1054
00:58:01,440 --> 00:58:05,040
Speaker 3: level scorers right now. I would not say Yiannis is

1055
00:58:05,040 --> 00:58:07,160
Speaker 3: a three level scorer. I would not say Anthony Davis

1056
00:58:07,200 --> 00:58:10,600
Speaker 3: is a three level scorer. I would say that the

1057
00:58:10,680 --> 00:58:13,040
Speaker 3: Nuggets certainly have multiple three level scorers. I would say

1058
00:58:13,040 --> 00:58:13,880
Speaker 3: the Clippers have three.

1059
00:58:13,760 --> 00:58:17,040
Speaker 2: Levels even and Paul George don't get to the rim

1060
00:58:17,080 --> 00:58:18,360
Speaker 2: the way that Shane Jalen do.

1061
00:58:20,040 --> 00:58:25,520
Speaker 3: One hundred percent. That ability to constantly pressure the defense

1062
00:58:25,600 --> 00:58:30,600
Speaker 3: from multiple angles, I think is enormous. You can constantly

1063
00:58:30,640 --> 00:58:33,640
Speaker 3: pressure the defense from multiple angles on the court from

1064
00:58:33,800 --> 00:58:37,600
Speaker 3: all three levels while having three other additional guys on

1065
00:58:37,640 --> 00:58:40,600
Speaker 3: the court that are spacing the court. I think they're

1066
00:58:40,680 --> 00:58:44,320
Speaker 3: actually an impossible guard in the playoffs if they don't

1067
00:58:44,320 --> 00:58:45,320
Speaker 3: have to play Josh Giddy.

1068
00:58:46,640 --> 00:58:51,160
Speaker 2: It's totally reasonable. I loved the Gordon Hayward Edition. If

1069
00:58:51,200 --> 00:58:53,960
Speaker 2: for nothing else, I'm just excited to watch Gordon Hayward

1070
00:58:54,000 --> 00:58:55,880
Speaker 2: play in big playoff games. I don't know about you,

1071
00:58:55,920 --> 00:58:59,080
Speaker 2: but I feel like we haven't gotten nearly enough of that,

1072
00:58:59,240 --> 00:59:06,479
Speaker 2: especially after what he was like in college, specifically with Shay.

1073
00:59:06,800 --> 00:59:08,320
Speaker 2: You and I had an argument on the phone the

1074
00:59:08,320 --> 00:59:10,640
Speaker 2: other day, and I want I wanted to kind of

1075
00:59:10,640 --> 00:59:14,200
Speaker 2: get that on the record here. So basically what I

1076
00:59:14,200 --> 00:59:15,840
Speaker 2: said to Sam on the phone.

1077
00:59:16,400 --> 00:59:22,480
Speaker 1: And you think he's James No, So I use James

1078
00:59:22,520 --> 00:59:24,800
Speaker 1: Harden as a cop at to make an example about

1079
00:59:24,800 --> 00:59:28,080
Speaker 1: playoff defense, but I'll accept it.

1080
00:59:28,240 --> 00:59:30,880
Speaker 2: So basically, this is this is what I said to Sam.

1081
00:59:31,240 --> 00:59:33,160
Speaker 2: For the record, I do not think Shae is going

1082
00:59:33,200 --> 00:59:36,200
Speaker 2: to be James Harden. But one of the things that

1083
00:59:36,280 --> 00:59:39,040
Speaker 2: happened to James Harden is he was a guy that

1084
00:59:39,160 --> 00:59:41,440
Speaker 2: had the basketball in his hands a lot and did

1085
00:59:41,480 --> 00:59:44,160
Speaker 2: a lot of attacking, specifically from the same angles on

1086
00:59:44,200 --> 00:59:47,360
Speaker 2: the floor out of ball screens and an isolation. And

1087
00:59:47,400 --> 00:59:49,200
Speaker 2: one of the things I noticed with James Harden is

1088
00:59:49,320 --> 00:59:51,880
Speaker 2: he was a guy that was gifted at beating people

1089
00:59:51,880 --> 00:59:54,200
Speaker 2: off the dribble, but was not a supreme athlete at

1090
00:59:54,200 --> 00:59:57,360
Speaker 2: his position, which is what I would describe Shay to

1091
00:59:57,400 --> 01:00:00,120
Speaker 2: me is a very good athlete, but he is not

1092
01:00:00,320 --> 01:00:04,400
Speaker 2: Anthony Edwards. Okay, he doesn't bring like incredible force to

1093
01:00:04,480 --> 01:00:07,520
Speaker 2: the position. He is shifty with the way that he

1094
01:00:07,520 --> 01:00:10,240
Speaker 2: beats people off the dribble, amazing with change of pace

1095
01:00:10,320 --> 01:00:13,120
Speaker 2: and footwork and all the like kind of week. He's

1096
01:00:13,160 --> 01:00:15,120
Speaker 2: got kind of like a weird old fashion game in

1097
01:00:15,120 --> 01:00:16,680
Speaker 2: a lot of ways with his ability to beat people

1098
01:00:16,680 --> 01:00:19,720
Speaker 2: off the dribble with hesitations in and outs, and he's

1099
01:00:19,760 --> 01:00:22,400
Speaker 2: really good at protecting the basketball while making aggressive moves.

1100
01:00:23,480 --> 01:00:27,000
Speaker 2: But what happened with James Harden is by game five,

1101
01:00:27,120 --> 01:00:29,800
Speaker 2: by game six, by game seven of a series, an

1102
01:00:29,800 --> 01:00:32,960
Speaker 2: elite perimeter defender would see his dribble package and see

1103
01:00:32,960 --> 01:00:36,280
Speaker 2: his hesitation moves dozens and dozens and dozens and dozens

1104
01:00:36,320 --> 01:00:38,400
Speaker 2: of times, and he just wouldn't be able to get

1105
01:00:38,400 --> 01:00:41,640
Speaker 2: as much separation as the series progressed. All I'm saying

1106
01:00:41,760 --> 01:00:47,480
Speaker 2: is I am curious to see Shay in his first

1107
01:00:47,480 --> 01:00:50,800
Speaker 2: playoff series as a number one option, simply because he

1108
01:00:51,080 --> 01:00:55,480
Speaker 2: is a guy that relies a lot on change of pace,

1109
01:00:55,640 --> 01:00:59,000
Speaker 2: hesitation type of stuff to beat people off the dribble.

1110
01:00:59,320 --> 01:01:02,560
Speaker 2: I'm cure to see if we see an elite perimeter

1111
01:01:02,640 --> 01:01:06,680
Speaker 2: defender not solve him, but figure out a way to

1112
01:01:06,760 --> 01:01:09,920
Speaker 2: kind of slow him down a little bit. I'm just

1113
01:01:10,160 --> 01:01:14,080
Speaker 2: curious to see it. I personally think that Shay will

1114
01:01:14,160 --> 01:01:17,320
Speaker 2: eventually solve that himself in his career. Even if he

1115
01:01:17,360 --> 01:01:21,360
Speaker 2: does encounter that problem, I just think he's way better then.

1116
01:01:21,720 --> 01:01:23,880
Speaker 2: I think he will be way better than James Harden

1117
01:01:23,920 --> 01:01:27,600
Speaker 2: ever was. But I just think, and that almost feels

1118
01:01:27,640 --> 01:01:29,360
Speaker 2: mean to say, with how good James Harden was at

1119
01:01:29,400 --> 01:01:32,240
Speaker 2: his prime, but I want to say I believe in

1120
01:01:32,280 --> 01:01:34,480
Speaker 2: Shae long term. I'm just curious to see if there

1121
01:01:34,480 --> 01:01:37,400
Speaker 2: will be an adjustment period with him as it pertains

1122
01:01:37,400 --> 01:01:38,400
Speaker 2: to playoff basketball.

1123
01:01:40,200 --> 01:01:44,400
Speaker 3: Here's my counter to that. James Harden never had a

1124
01:01:44,440 --> 01:01:47,880
Speaker 3: mid range game that was nearly the level that Shay's

1125
01:01:47,960 --> 01:01:51,800
Speaker 3: mid range game is. Shay is shooting something like fifty

1126
01:01:51,840 --> 01:01:55,600
Speaker 3: two to fifty three percent from between ten and twenty

1127
01:01:55,640 --> 01:01:58,680
Speaker 3: three feet right now. So even if you do stay

1128
01:01:58,720 --> 01:02:02,000
Speaker 3: in front of him, were Harden struggled was deciding Okay,

1129
01:02:02,080 --> 01:02:03,880
Speaker 3: I'm just going to step back in the mid range

1130
01:02:04,000 --> 01:02:06,160
Speaker 3: and find a way into that shot. He had to

1131
01:02:06,160 --> 01:02:07,440
Speaker 3: get all the way to the rim, he had to

1132
01:02:07,440 --> 01:02:11,680
Speaker 3: rely on fouls right, Shae has the body mechanics and

1133
01:02:11,800 --> 01:02:14,360
Speaker 3: that shiftiness to be able to stop and pop in

1134
01:02:14,400 --> 01:02:16,360
Speaker 3: the mid range and be able to just shoot over

1135
01:02:16,360 --> 01:02:20,320
Speaker 3: the top of its tough He can create high yish

1136
01:02:20,480 --> 01:02:24,520
Speaker 3: not super high, but like high ish efficiency looks from

1137
01:02:24,560 --> 01:02:27,960
Speaker 3: the mid range in a way that James Harden really

1138
01:02:28,080 --> 01:02:30,720
Speaker 3: couldn't at the end of the day. And I think

1139
01:02:30,760 --> 01:02:34,400
Speaker 3: that it's much harder to sit on Shay's moves in

1140
01:02:34,440 --> 01:02:40,320
Speaker 3: that way, particularly knowing that with Harden it was okay,

1141
01:02:40,400 --> 01:02:43,240
Speaker 3: I either need to sit on the step back or

1142
01:02:43,320 --> 01:02:45,439
Speaker 3: I need to be ready to stop him at the rim,

1143
01:02:45,520 --> 01:02:48,720
Speaker 3: and we need to have second body coming over. With Shae,

1144
01:02:48,800 --> 01:02:51,919
Speaker 3: it's I have to be available for the step back. Three.

1145
01:02:52,040 --> 01:02:55,120
Speaker 3: I have to be available basically at every single step

1146
01:02:55,280 --> 01:02:58,760
Speaker 3: along the line toward him driving to the rim. I

1147
01:02:58,880 --> 01:03:00,560
Speaker 3: have to be ready that he he's going to stop

1148
01:03:00,600 --> 01:03:03,200
Speaker 3: and pop ahead of me. And I think that that

1149
01:03:03,320 --> 01:03:05,960
Speaker 3: makes it a lot more difficult to guard him than

1150
01:03:06,040 --> 01:03:08,600
Speaker 3: what it was to guard James in the playoffs at

1151
01:03:08,600 --> 01:03:10,200
Speaker 3: the end of the day, when you had seven games

1152
01:03:10,240 --> 01:03:12,800
Speaker 3: to adjust, throw different looks at him, throw different counters

1153
01:03:12,800 --> 01:03:14,959
Speaker 3: at him, and on top of it, seriously, like Jayalen

1154
01:03:15,000 --> 01:03:18,520
Speaker 3: Williams is waiting on the second side once the defense

1155
01:03:18,600 --> 01:03:21,640
Speaker 3: is bent, and he can score from all three levels too.

1156
01:03:22,120 --> 01:03:24,640
Speaker 3: He's a fifty. I think he's shooting like fifty four,

1157
01:03:24,840 --> 01:03:28,000
Speaker 3: forty five, eighty two or something right now, So like

1158
01:03:28,040 --> 01:03:30,080
Speaker 3: he's a one eighty shooter on the other side, just

1159
01:03:30,120 --> 01:03:33,200
Speaker 3: in a different, you know, mechanical way that he's going

1160
01:03:33,240 --> 01:03:37,360
Speaker 3: about it in terms of the numbers. So, man, I

1161
01:03:37,360 --> 01:03:39,880
Speaker 3: think this is a really good team, dude, I think

1162
01:03:39,920 --> 01:03:43,160
Speaker 3: that it really does. I think your points are entirely

1163
01:03:43,280 --> 01:03:46,360
Speaker 3: valid about what do they look like in terms of

1164
01:03:46,400 --> 01:03:50,000
Speaker 3: the physicality. If Check can't stay on the floor, they

1165
01:03:50,000 --> 01:03:51,640
Speaker 3: have a real chance to lose in the first round.

1166
01:03:52,000 --> 01:03:56,400
Speaker 3: That is a fact of the matter. If he proves

1167
01:03:56,400 --> 01:03:59,520
Speaker 3: that he can stay on the floor, I think they

1168
01:03:59,560 --> 01:04:04,400
Speaker 3: can make finals. Like, to me, the swing is all him,

1169
01:04:05,040 --> 01:04:07,240
Speaker 3: and I don't know the answer to that yet. I

1170
01:04:07,240 --> 01:04:09,040
Speaker 3: don't think anybody does. In terms of the way that

1171
01:04:09,160 --> 01:04:12,400
Speaker 3: like his game will be officiated as much as anything, like,

1172
01:04:12,440 --> 01:04:15,600
Speaker 3: I trust the person, like the human being to bring it.

1173
01:04:16,360 --> 01:04:18,640
Speaker 3: I'm just really interested to see the way he's officiated

1174
01:04:18,680 --> 01:04:19,000
Speaker 3: in the play.

1175
01:04:19,160 --> 01:04:22,400
Speaker 2: I'm excited to see what happens. To be clear, I'm

1176
01:04:22,480 --> 01:04:26,200
Speaker 2: rooting for them. This is not this is not a

1177
01:04:26,320 --> 01:04:30,360
Speaker 2: negative like thunder type of take. It's just it's just

1178
01:04:31,640 --> 01:04:35,200
Speaker 2: I am I think this kind of work to my

1179
01:04:35,240 --> 01:04:38,760
Speaker 2: detriment sometimes, but I lean heavily out my basketball philosophies

1180
01:04:38,800 --> 01:04:40,360
Speaker 2: and they just kind of it layed into some of

1181
01:04:40,400 --> 01:04:42,760
Speaker 2: those boxes. So I I do want to do a

1182
01:04:42,800 --> 01:04:45,000
Speaker 2: little bit of a deeper dive on this particular team,

1183
01:04:45,040 --> 01:04:49,720
Speaker 2: my number eleven, which is the Dallas Mavericks. So I'm

1184
01:04:49,760 --> 01:04:51,880
Speaker 2: assuming the front court player you're really high on is

1185
01:04:51,960 --> 01:04:58,120
Speaker 2: Daniel Gafford. I like Daniel Gafford. I think he falls

1186
01:04:58,280 --> 01:05:03,480
Speaker 2: a little bit into the the like I think he's

1187
01:05:03,600 --> 01:05:06,400
Speaker 2: better than this player for the record, but I I

1188
01:05:06,600 --> 01:05:08,800
Speaker 2: to me falls a little bit into the Montreze Harald

1189
01:05:08,840 --> 01:05:11,200
Speaker 2: type of tear, where like, he's an incredible role man

1190
01:05:11,240 --> 01:05:14,760
Speaker 2: who finishes on a catching rolling to the rim really well,

1191
01:05:14,760 --> 01:05:16,440
Speaker 2: but I get concerned about him as a pick and

1192
01:05:16,520 --> 01:05:18,720
Speaker 2: roll defender in particular.

1193
01:05:19,120 --> 01:05:21,960
Speaker 3: Yeah, that's that I think is reasonable And.

1194
01:05:22,400 --> 01:05:23,840
Speaker 2: To the point that I was trying to make about

1195
01:05:23,880 --> 01:05:26,920
Speaker 2: the Suns earlier, like there's a case to be made

1196
01:05:26,960 --> 01:05:30,200
Speaker 2: that Derek Lively is actually their best option at center.

1197
01:05:30,480 --> 01:05:33,640
Speaker 2: There's a case to be made that Josh Green is

1198
01:05:33,680 --> 01:05:36,320
Speaker 2: actually a better, you know, option for them to use

1199
01:05:36,360 --> 01:05:40,120
Speaker 2: as kind of like a perimeter versatile forward than a

1200
01:05:40,200 --> 01:05:42,840
Speaker 2: you know, than a PJ. Washington, even though he's undersized.

1201
01:05:42,880 --> 01:05:44,600
Speaker 2: You know, there's a case to be made that some

1202
01:05:44,640 --> 01:05:46,640
Speaker 2: of the guys they brought back in the deadline aren't

1203
01:05:46,720 --> 01:05:50,960
Speaker 2: necessarily even in their closing five. I am curious. I

1204
01:05:51,120 --> 01:05:53,600
Speaker 2: I you know, I hate that our only film I

1205
01:05:53,600 --> 01:05:55,280
Speaker 2: wanted to watch film and it's like the only film

1206
01:05:55,320 --> 01:05:57,919
Speaker 2: we get is the damn Spurs game, which just they're

1207
01:05:57,960 --> 01:06:01,200
Speaker 2: so easy to guard because because of their lack of

1208
01:06:01,520 --> 01:06:05,080
Speaker 2: legitimate ball handling. But I have them as my long

1209
01:06:05,080 --> 01:06:07,280
Speaker 2: shots for one very simple reason. And actually had a

1210
01:06:07,360 --> 01:06:09,280
Speaker 2: question earlier. Someone gave me three teams, and I want

1211
01:06:09,320 --> 01:06:11,680
Speaker 2: to say it was like the Helicans, the MAVs, and

1212
01:06:11,720 --> 01:06:13,400
Speaker 2: then I can't remember their last team was, But I

1213
01:06:13,440 --> 01:06:15,520
Speaker 2: said the MAVs had the best chance to win out

1214
01:06:15,560 --> 01:06:18,560
Speaker 2: of that group because to me, Kyrie Irving and Luka

1215
01:06:18,600 --> 01:06:21,160
Speaker 2: Doncic are just two of the best half court shot

1216
01:06:21,160 --> 01:06:23,400
Speaker 2: creators in the playoffs that you could have, and so

1217
01:06:23,440 --> 01:06:25,480
Speaker 2: if they can find a way to defend and compete

1218
01:06:25,480 --> 01:06:26,960
Speaker 2: on the glass, well enough and they've been a bad

1219
01:06:26,960 --> 01:06:29,400
Speaker 2: defensive rebounding team this year as well. But if they

1220
01:06:29,440 --> 01:06:31,240
Speaker 2: can find a way to contend in those areas, I

1221
01:06:31,280 --> 01:06:32,920
Speaker 2: just think it's foolish to count those guys out, and

1222
01:06:32,920 --> 01:06:34,240
Speaker 2: that's why I have them as long shots. But you're

1223
01:06:34,240 --> 01:06:36,360
Speaker 2: way higher on the MAVs, so make the case.

1224
01:06:38,920 --> 01:06:43,280
Speaker 3: They will enter every series with a reasonable case that

1225
01:06:43,320 --> 01:06:47,120
Speaker 3: they have the best player in the series outside of Denver.

1226
01:06:47,480 --> 01:06:50,160
Speaker 3: I think I would take Nikola Jokic over all of

1227
01:06:50,160 --> 01:06:54,920
Speaker 3: these guys. But like if you were drafting playoff games

1228
01:06:54,920 --> 01:07:00,760
Speaker 3: and playoff lineups, I might take Luca third, like I

1229
01:07:00,840 --> 01:07:05,200
Speaker 3: really might, given what he has been able to do

1230
01:07:05,280 --> 01:07:10,600
Speaker 3: in the playoffs. He has been unstoppable every time that

1231
01:07:10,640 --> 01:07:14,320
Speaker 3: he has hit the highest level of NBA caliber competition.

1232
01:07:15,840 --> 01:07:19,440
Speaker 3: Now you look at the schematics around it, I actually

1233
01:07:19,480 --> 01:07:22,280
Speaker 3: really like the way that this roster is built. From

1234
01:07:22,280 --> 01:07:24,400
Speaker 3: that perspective, I wouldn't have given up a first round

1235
01:07:24,400 --> 01:07:30,640
Speaker 3: pick for PJ. Washington, but he does create some flexibility

1236
01:07:30,680 --> 01:07:33,200
Speaker 3: for them lineup wise that I think is intriguing for

1237
01:07:33,440 --> 01:07:37,440
Speaker 3: what I'll talk about momentarily, they now just have a

1238
01:07:37,480 --> 01:07:39,600
Speaker 3: lot of different bodies that they can throw out there.

1239
01:07:39,680 --> 01:07:42,160
Speaker 3: They have Tim Hardaway junior. If you want like the

1240
01:07:42,680 --> 01:07:45,240
Speaker 3: high volume three point scorer. They have Josh Green, who

1241
01:07:45,280 --> 01:07:47,480
Speaker 3: I think is a really interesting body that they can

1242
01:07:47,520 --> 01:07:50,920
Speaker 3: throw out there athletically on defense, who I don't know

1243
01:07:50,960 --> 01:07:53,520
Speaker 3: if you can leave him open from three anymore. That

1244
01:07:53,640 --> 01:07:55,480
Speaker 3: was kind of what I thought you would do in

1245
01:07:55,520 --> 01:07:58,960
Speaker 3: a place for years ago, like he's yeah, he's been

1246
01:07:59,080 --> 01:08:01,240
Speaker 3: consistent the last like a year and a half to

1247
01:08:01,280 --> 01:08:02,680
Speaker 3: where like I kind of think you might not be

1248
01:08:02,720 --> 01:08:05,680
Speaker 3: able to leave him totally open. I really loved the

1249
01:08:05,720 --> 01:08:08,720
Speaker 3: minutes that Dante exem gave them. We'll see what happens

1250
01:08:08,760 --> 01:08:10,720
Speaker 3: with Dante. He has the knee injury. He hasn't played

1251
01:08:10,720 --> 01:08:12,720
Speaker 3: in what like three or four weeks. It feels like

1252
01:08:12,760 --> 01:08:15,400
Speaker 3: now if he's there, I think that he gives them

1253
01:08:15,440 --> 01:08:18,519
Speaker 3: another option then in the front court. I agree with

1254
01:08:18,560 --> 01:08:21,120
Speaker 3: you that in the playoffs that Derek Lively I think

1255
01:08:21,200 --> 01:08:25,240
Speaker 3: is probably their best option, right because you can do

1256
01:08:25,320 --> 01:08:27,360
Speaker 3: multiple things with him in ball screens at the end

1257
01:08:27,400 --> 01:08:30,920
Speaker 3: of the day, whereas with Gafford, you really have to

1258
01:08:30,920 --> 01:08:33,599
Speaker 3: play drop, you really have to fight over the top,

1259
01:08:33,760 --> 01:08:37,519
Speaker 3: and their guards Luca and Kyrie are not necessarily built

1260
01:08:37,880 --> 01:08:40,040
Speaker 3: to fight over the top. If you are a team

1261
01:08:40,080 --> 01:08:43,320
Speaker 3: that has two creators that you can trust. You'll have

1262
01:08:43,479 --> 01:08:46,479
Speaker 3: you know, Josh Green, whoever reguarded the point of attack right,

1263
01:08:47,000 --> 01:08:50,719
Speaker 3: Dante Exam as well, Derek Jones Junior potentially for minutes

1264
01:08:50,720 --> 01:08:53,960
Speaker 3: as well. Like, but if you have the second creator

1265
01:08:54,000 --> 01:08:57,320
Speaker 3: that you trust to be able to get real opportunities,

1266
01:08:58,680 --> 01:09:00,960
Speaker 3: that's where you make Luca and Kyrie fight over the

1267
01:09:01,040 --> 01:09:03,240
Speaker 3: top in gafferd screens, and that's probably gonna lead to

1268
01:09:03,240 --> 01:09:06,160
Speaker 3: open opportunities and looks. So I'm with you. I think

1269
01:09:06,160 --> 01:09:10,880
Speaker 3: it's probably Lively that's gonna have to play. But they

1270
01:09:10,920 --> 01:09:13,519
Speaker 3: have forty eight minutes now if they want it of

1271
01:09:13,600 --> 01:09:17,600
Speaker 3: elite level rim protection and Lively in Gafford, that's the

1272
01:09:17,640 --> 01:09:21,800
Speaker 3: difference between Gafford in Tres In my opinion, Gafford is

1273
01:09:21,840 --> 01:09:24,679
Speaker 3: at least like a very good rim. He's got more length,

1274
01:09:24,800 --> 01:09:28,879
Speaker 3: he contests, He has more length, and he contests everything

1275
01:09:29,040 --> 01:09:32,200
Speaker 3: like he off into his detriment in terms of defensive rebounding,

1276
01:09:32,240 --> 01:09:36,040
Speaker 3: like he chases everything in terms of contesting at the basket,

1277
01:09:36,080 --> 01:09:38,080
Speaker 3: So teams are gonna miss against them. And I think

1278
01:09:38,120 --> 01:09:40,040
Speaker 3: it's actually a little bit easier for him to chase

1279
01:09:40,040 --> 01:09:42,559
Speaker 3: everything when you have Luca crashing in to clean up

1280
01:09:42,560 --> 01:09:44,200
Speaker 3: on the defensive glass because of how good of a

1281
01:09:44,240 --> 01:09:47,040
Speaker 3: defensive rebounder Luca is. Now, Like you still need to

1282
01:09:47,080 --> 01:09:48,519
Speaker 3: get a body on guys, you still need to be

1283
01:09:48,520 --> 01:09:54,120
Speaker 3: able to create things that way, but Luca is so

1284
01:09:54,240 --> 01:09:58,000
Speaker 3: good in the playoffs. Kyrie is also incredible in the playoffs.

1285
01:09:58,080 --> 01:10:00,519
Speaker 3: And I think that his season is really gone under

1286
01:10:00,520 --> 01:10:02,960
Speaker 3: the radar because he's missed so many games already to

1287
01:10:02,960 --> 01:10:04,960
Speaker 3: where he's not going to be eligible for all NBA.

1288
01:10:05,840 --> 01:10:08,640
Speaker 3: Kyrie right now is averaging twenty six on forty nine

1289
01:10:08,760 --> 01:10:12,080
Speaker 3: forty one A so good and nobody is talking so good.

1290
01:10:12,560 --> 01:10:13,920
Speaker 3: He has like a four and a half to one.

1291
01:10:14,360 --> 01:10:16,040
Speaker 3: He's like a four to one a sis turnover ratio

1292
01:10:16,120 --> 01:10:21,240
Speaker 3: right now. Like Kyrie has been unbelievable this season, like

1293
01:10:21,320 --> 01:10:26,639
Speaker 3: to a ridiculous, ridiculous degree. I think there's like almost

1294
01:10:26,640 --> 01:10:30,280
Speaker 3: a case where if you're the Suns, would you rather

1295
01:10:30,360 --> 01:10:33,160
Speaker 3: have Luca and Kyrie or Devin Booker and Kevin Durant

1296
01:10:33,560 --> 01:10:35,559
Speaker 3: given how good Luca has been this season.

1297
01:10:36,240 --> 01:10:43,680
Speaker 2: Man, that's a tough question. I uh I. I've it's

1298
01:10:43,720 --> 01:10:47,200
Speaker 2: always annoyed me with all the conversations surrounding Kyrie, irving

1299
01:10:47,560 --> 01:10:50,720
Speaker 2: that like he's awesome at basketball, isn't brought up more

1300
01:10:51,160 --> 01:10:55,320
Speaker 2: like like because he is incredible. He's incredible, And like

1301
01:10:55,400 --> 01:10:57,400
Speaker 2: I do think a lot of people Galaxy brained that

1302
01:10:57,439 --> 01:11:01,040
Speaker 2: situation in the sense that, like like the COVID stuff.

1303
01:11:01,760 --> 01:11:04,320
Speaker 2: Totally understand why everyone was frustrated that was super annoying

1304
01:11:04,400 --> 01:11:06,479
Speaker 2: the year before when he just left his family or

1305
01:11:06,840 --> 01:11:08,600
Speaker 2: left the team to go be with his family or

1306
01:11:08,600 --> 01:11:10,960
Speaker 2: whatever the hell he was doing. Totally understand what he

1307
01:11:11,000 --> 01:11:13,559
Speaker 2: did to Cleveland, Totally understand what he did to Boston,

1308
01:11:13,840 --> 01:11:15,800
Speaker 2: Totally understand what happened at the end of Brooklyn was

1309
01:11:15,880 --> 01:11:17,559
Speaker 2: super obvious. He had a falling out with the front

1310
01:11:17,600 --> 01:11:19,479
Speaker 2: office and he wanted a new deal. That was what

1311
01:11:19,520 --> 01:11:22,040
Speaker 2: he was trying to do. So like, I was pretty

1312
01:11:22,479 --> 01:11:25,280
Speaker 2: pretty certain that he would be focused when he was

1313
01:11:25,320 --> 01:11:28,559
Speaker 2: in Dallas for that specific reason, and when he's in

1314
01:11:28,640 --> 01:11:31,360
Speaker 2: a situation where the contract isn't hanging over his head,

1315
01:11:31,400 --> 01:11:34,240
Speaker 2: and you know, I have a feeling that, at least

1316
01:11:34,280 --> 01:11:36,400
Speaker 2: within the context of this season, that that was never

1317
01:11:36,439 --> 01:11:40,120
Speaker 2: going to be an issue. And he's been awesome, I do.

1318
01:11:40,320 --> 01:11:42,720
Speaker 2: What's I get a little worried about Dallas with who

1319
01:11:42,760 --> 01:11:49,639
Speaker 2: their best five is, So like if I'm if I'm Dallas. Obviously,

1320
01:11:49,680 --> 01:11:51,840
Speaker 2: we talked about Derek Lively as the five. To me,

1321
01:11:52,240 --> 01:11:57,160
Speaker 2: I kind of lean Josh Green for more physical matchups,

1322
01:11:57,160 --> 01:11:59,360
Speaker 2: maybe at Tim Hardaway Junior against teams where you really

1323
01:11:59,400 --> 01:12:01,960
Speaker 2: need more shoot, But that four spot is the interesting

1324
01:12:02,040 --> 01:12:05,400
Speaker 2: one to me. Would you would you rather go with

1325
01:12:05,479 --> 01:12:08,120
Speaker 2: like a guy like Derek Jones Junior who's like a

1326
01:12:08,160 --> 01:12:12,040
Speaker 2: really solid perimeter defender who's actually been a decent kind

1327
01:12:12,080 --> 01:12:15,200
Speaker 2: of like weak side kind of slasher off the wing

1328
01:12:15,760 --> 01:12:17,519
Speaker 2: and has done some good stuff for them offensively, or

1329
01:12:17,560 --> 01:12:19,200
Speaker 2: would you go with PJ Washington at the four.

1330
01:12:19,240 --> 01:12:23,879
Speaker 3: There it's matchup dependent, and it's dependent on how serious

1331
01:12:23,960 --> 01:12:29,439
Speaker 3: PJ like takes defensive attention to detail, because that's always

1332
01:12:29,439 --> 01:12:31,120
Speaker 3: been the issue with him and Charlotte. It's just like

1333
01:12:31,160 --> 01:12:34,600
Speaker 3: the attention to detail, the transition defense, the willingness to

1334
01:12:34,640 --> 01:12:38,240
Speaker 3: like consistently fight like gaming Gabriel, He's a very skill

1335
01:12:38,560 --> 01:12:42,200
Speaker 3: he The answer should be PJ like.

1336
01:12:42,280 --> 01:12:44,720
Speaker 2: Very what the team wants. I'm assuming, right'.

1337
01:12:45,600 --> 01:12:47,880
Speaker 3: It's what the team wants, and it's what I would want.

1338
01:12:47,880 --> 01:12:49,960
Speaker 3: It's what I think everybody in the league should want.

1339
01:12:50,800 --> 01:12:53,680
Speaker 3: PJ needs to prove that it can be PJ. In

1340
01:12:53,720 --> 01:12:57,960
Speaker 3: my opinion, if he really it's it's up to PJ

1341
01:12:58,160 --> 01:13:02,639
Speaker 3: Washington if he is there closing four or Frankly, another

1342
01:13:02,720 --> 01:13:05,839
Speaker 3: situation that was very useful for Charlotte in the past

1343
01:13:06,240 --> 01:13:09,080
Speaker 3: when PJ was in his second season and was like

1344
01:13:09,120 --> 01:13:13,120
Speaker 3: a little bit more engaged, was playing PJ at the five.

1345
01:13:13,760 --> 01:13:15,519
Speaker 3: This is kind of the other thing that I think

1346
01:13:15,640 --> 01:13:20,040
Speaker 3: is a little bit interesting about Dallas what their moves

1347
01:13:20,160 --> 01:13:23,200
Speaker 3: did at the deadline, is it allowed them to play

1348
01:13:23,200 --> 01:13:26,080
Speaker 3: big with Lively and Gafford for forty eight minutes at

1349
01:13:26,080 --> 01:13:28,759
Speaker 3: the five spot, or it allowed them to go small.

1350
01:13:29,520 --> 01:13:32,519
Speaker 3: You can downsize and you can go like Maxi Kleba,

1351
01:13:32,600 --> 01:13:35,479
Speaker 3: PJ Washington at the four or five, and you can

1352
01:13:35,520 --> 01:13:38,880
Speaker 3: still have like requisite size intelligence out there with Maxi.

1353
01:13:39,280 --> 01:13:42,400
Speaker 3: Hopefully Maxie knocks down threes and hopefully Maxi like stays healthy.

1354
01:13:42,439 --> 01:13:45,160
Speaker 3: He's had issues with that of obviously over the course

1355
01:13:45,200 --> 01:13:49,800
Speaker 3: of the last couple of years. But you have a

1356
01:13:49,880 --> 01:13:53,760
Speaker 3: lot of different front court lineup variations to where if

1357
01:13:53,800 --> 01:13:55,599
Speaker 3: you need to shut down, if you need to switch

1358
01:13:55,640 --> 01:13:58,719
Speaker 3: ball screens and shut down things, you can go PJ

1359
01:13:58,880 --> 01:14:01,360
Speaker 3: and Maxie at the four and the if you want

1360
01:14:01,360 --> 01:14:03,400
Speaker 3: to play drop or something like that. PJ is not

1361
01:14:03,479 --> 01:14:06,640
Speaker 3: going to be good at drop, but you can have

1362
01:14:06,720 --> 01:14:08,880
Speaker 3: Maxi rotating over from the weak side and at least

1363
01:14:08,920 --> 01:14:12,160
Speaker 3: be like a presence there as a good, intelligent, tall,

1364
01:14:12,360 --> 01:14:16,000
Speaker 3: high end defender, and then you go five out around Luca.

1365
01:14:16,800 --> 01:14:19,080
Speaker 3: Luca likes having the lob threat. He likes having the

1366
01:14:19,120 --> 01:14:22,400
Speaker 3: downhill body that can also like gortat screen for him

1367
01:14:22,439 --> 01:14:27,360
Speaker 3: as he's like navigating the paint and everything. But like

1368
01:14:28,000 --> 01:14:30,840
Speaker 3: their optionality in the front court, like some of these

1369
01:14:30,920 --> 01:14:34,120
Speaker 3: other teams, I think they don't have enough options, Like

1370
01:14:34,360 --> 01:14:37,880
Speaker 3: Phoenix does not have enough options around their stars to

1371
01:14:37,960 --> 01:14:40,200
Speaker 3: be able to get the most out of their stars

1372
01:14:40,280 --> 01:14:45,640
Speaker 3: if something goes on a wire right Oklahoma City, to

1373
01:14:45,720 --> 01:14:48,800
Speaker 3: an extent, they fixed it with Hayward a little bit,

1374
01:14:49,160 --> 01:14:54,400
Speaker 3: but largely they don't have enough optionality behind Chet if

1375
01:14:54,400 --> 01:14:56,960
Speaker 3: something was to go wrong, or like if they were

1376
01:14:57,360 --> 01:14:59,519
Speaker 3: counting on Josh Giddy to play like twenty five minutes

1377
01:14:59,560 --> 01:15:03,360
Speaker 3: a game the playoffs. Right Dallas to me actually has

1378
01:15:03,400 --> 01:15:07,120
Speaker 3: optionality because they have two way players. PJ is an

1379
01:15:07,320 --> 01:15:11,120
Speaker 3: entirely theoretical two way player in my opinion, but there's

1380
01:15:11,160 --> 01:15:13,120
Speaker 3: a chance that he could be that he's shown the

1381
01:15:13,120 --> 01:15:16,160
Speaker 3: wherewithal to do it, especially in on ball settings in

1382
01:15:16,200 --> 01:15:19,759
Speaker 3: the past, Josh Green can be a two way player.

1383
01:15:19,920 --> 01:15:22,400
Speaker 3: If you get a hot shooting night from Derek Jones Junior,

1384
01:15:22,800 --> 01:15:24,599
Speaker 3: he could be a two way player for a night.

1385
01:15:25,160 --> 01:15:27,400
Speaker 3: Dante exem has been like a pretty solid two way

1386
01:15:27,400 --> 01:15:29,840
Speaker 3: player throughout the course of the season. And then you

1387
01:15:29,880 --> 01:15:32,519
Speaker 3: have Gafford and Lively, both of whom are two way

1388
01:15:32,560 --> 01:15:35,400
Speaker 3: players in the context of what Dallas asks them to

1389
01:15:35,479 --> 01:15:39,280
Speaker 3: do within their offense, being a screen role rim run guy,

1390
01:15:39,560 --> 01:15:43,559
Speaker 3: being screen role rim run guys. Whereas these other teams

1391
01:15:43,560 --> 01:15:46,519
Speaker 3: I think are inflexible. I actually think Dallas is a

1392
01:15:46,560 --> 01:15:50,040
Speaker 3: little bit more flexible in how they can surround their

1393
01:15:50,040 --> 01:15:53,519
Speaker 3: stars with talent and let those guys be great.

1394
01:15:53,760 --> 01:15:56,599
Speaker 2: I wonder if you could run some like Josh Green

1395
01:15:56,760 --> 01:16:01,479
Speaker 2: PJ Washington liba front court looks where you do more

1396
01:16:01,520 --> 01:16:04,920
Speaker 2: switching to like that's always been a big one for me,

1397
01:16:04,960 --> 01:16:08,000
Speaker 2: that defensive versatility piece. And I will say I will

1398
01:16:08,040 --> 01:16:10,600
Speaker 2: say I have been really impressed by the job that

1399
01:16:10,640 --> 01:16:14,720
Speaker 2: front office has done since last year massively increasing the

1400
01:16:14,760 --> 01:16:18,800
Speaker 2: athletic profile of the team, because like they were not

1401
01:16:19,040 --> 01:16:22,760
Speaker 2: athletic last year and now it's like between Derek Jones junior,

1402
01:16:22,880 --> 01:16:24,600
Speaker 2: Josh Green I think is a really good athlete at

1403
01:16:24,640 --> 01:16:27,920
Speaker 2: the position. But even Jim Hardaway, for all of his flaws,

1404
01:16:27,960 --> 01:16:32,000
Speaker 2: he can move, you know, like he maxically but is

1405
01:16:31,760 --> 01:16:35,559
Speaker 2: a is a very mobile big guy. PJ. Washington very mobile,

1406
01:16:36,160 --> 01:16:38,920
Speaker 2: Derek Lively very mobile, Daniel Gafford very mobile. Like they

1407
01:16:39,280 --> 01:16:41,719
Speaker 2: all of a sudden have a lot of to your point,

1408
01:16:41,800 --> 01:16:45,560
Speaker 2: it's a lot of guys who theoretically could be good defensively,

1409
01:16:45,640 --> 01:16:47,240
Speaker 2: and that's what kind of gets you to the situation

1410
01:16:47,280 --> 01:16:49,400
Speaker 2: where you can kind of see a path, which is like,

1411
01:16:49,800 --> 01:16:52,040
Speaker 2: as long as Jason Kidd kind of touched the right

1412
01:16:52,120 --> 01:16:54,600
Speaker 2: notes about who those other three guys are depending on

1413
01:16:54,640 --> 01:16:57,200
Speaker 2: the matchup, as long as Luca and Kyrie bring the

1414
01:16:57,320 --> 01:17:02,360
Speaker 2: requisite superstar shot creation, you have a chance to beat

1415
01:17:02,400 --> 01:17:06,240
Speaker 2: really anybody. You've You've definitely raised my opinion of the

1416
01:17:06,240 --> 01:17:08,439
Speaker 2: MAVs through this conversation, but I'm not surprised you've done

1417
01:17:08,439 --> 01:17:12,400
Speaker 2: that before. Let's go quickly through these last bits of our.

1418
01:17:12,800 --> 01:17:15,600
Speaker 3: Hold on real quick to finish Dallas. Where do you

1419
01:17:15,600 --> 01:17:17,720
Speaker 3: think I have Dallas ranked right now in this thing?

1420
01:17:20,040 --> 01:17:25,320
Speaker 2: I'm gonna guess that you have them at six behind Milwaukee.

1421
01:17:26,960 --> 01:17:30,200
Speaker 3: Yeah, I have them five five five, I have them.

1422
01:17:30,479 --> 01:17:31,760
Speaker 3: I have them ahead of Minnesota.

1423
01:17:31,800 --> 01:17:32,679
Speaker 2: Wow. Wow.

1424
01:17:33,920 --> 01:17:37,000
Speaker 3: I think that they cause real schematic problems for Minnesota

1425
01:17:37,479 --> 01:17:41,880
Speaker 3: in terms of yeah, you throw Jaden McDaniels on Luca,

1426
01:17:42,000 --> 01:17:45,280
Speaker 3: probably that's your goal, But okay, then you're going to

1427
01:17:45,360 --> 01:17:49,040
Speaker 3: force Anthony Edwards to guard Kyrie for minutes upon minutes

1428
01:17:49,080 --> 01:17:51,200
Speaker 3: upon minutes in that series, and that feels like a

1429
01:17:51,200 --> 01:17:54,000
Speaker 3: real issue. And then they can throw multiple big bodies

1430
01:17:54,040 --> 01:17:57,840
Speaker 3: out there at Carltown's and Rudy Gobert if they want to.

1431
01:17:58,880 --> 01:18:04,280
Speaker 2: Next two weeks Phoenix, Indy, Cleveland, and Boston on Dallas's schedule,

1432
01:18:05,040 --> 01:18:07,360
Speaker 2: So we're we're going alearn a lot. One other thing

1433
01:18:07,400 --> 01:18:09,880
Speaker 2: with Dallas, it's made them impossible for me to evaluate.

1434
01:18:10,120 --> 01:18:12,800
Speaker 2: They've had sixteen different guys start games from this year

1435
01:18:13,600 --> 01:18:16,880
Speaker 2: they've had They've had eleven different guys start at least

1436
01:18:16,880 --> 01:18:19,639
Speaker 2: five games for them this year. So like, it's been

1437
01:18:20,240 --> 01:18:22,559
Speaker 2: really difficult for me to get a read on the

1438
01:18:22,600 --> 01:18:24,840
Speaker 2: team just because they've had constant guys in and out

1439
01:18:24,880 --> 01:18:28,720
Speaker 2: of the lineup. You make some really good points about

1440
01:18:29,200 --> 01:18:33,960
Speaker 2: the matchup with Minnesota in particular. You know what's interesting too,

1441
01:18:34,040 --> 01:18:36,439
Speaker 2: Last thing I'll say about it. You had talked about

1442
01:18:36,479 --> 01:18:40,599
Speaker 2: like the Lakers coming from the seven seed, and I

1443
01:18:40,760 --> 01:18:44,680
Speaker 2: in general don't think there's an easy matchup anywhere in

1444
01:18:44,720 --> 01:18:47,679
Speaker 2: the West. From the same point of like, like let's

1445
01:18:47,680 --> 01:18:50,559
Speaker 2: say you're the one seed. Yeah, if you're the one seed.

1446
01:18:50,560 --> 01:18:53,479
Speaker 2: If you're let's say that the Timberwolves run away with it,

1447
01:18:53,479 --> 01:18:57,240
Speaker 2: they get the one seed, Like, you're probably gonna have

1448
01:18:57,320 --> 01:19:00,920
Speaker 2: to face Golden State or the Lake in the first round.

1449
01:19:02,160 --> 01:19:05,439
Speaker 2: Like that's not an easy matchup, you know, Like you're

1450
01:19:05,479 --> 01:19:08,840
Speaker 2: not going it's not easy, but you're not going into

1451
01:19:08,880 --> 01:19:11,360
Speaker 2: that matchup saying like you're not going into that matchup

1452
01:19:11,400 --> 01:19:14,519
Speaker 2: like it's easy. Okay, So you win, you you play

1453
01:19:14,560 --> 01:19:17,240
Speaker 2: the winner of Denver Phoenix, you know, and then like

1454
01:19:17,640 --> 01:19:19,599
Speaker 2: if you win that, you play the winner of Okay,

1455
01:19:19,600 --> 01:19:22,040
Speaker 2: see the Clippers. So like, I don't really look at

1456
01:19:22,040 --> 01:19:25,920
Speaker 2: seating as as as as important. It's more just the

1457
01:19:25,960 --> 01:19:28,400
Speaker 2: home court advantage piece I think is a big differentiator.

1458
01:19:28,600 --> 01:19:30,320
Speaker 2: But yeah, like I agree with you, like, like the

1459
01:19:30,360 --> 01:19:32,360
Speaker 2: maps are going to present some real matchup problems for

1460
01:19:32,439 --> 01:19:35,840
Speaker 2: teams just just with the sheer amount of looks that

1461
01:19:35,880 --> 01:19:38,720
Speaker 2: they can go with. That's a really interesting take. I

1462
01:19:38,760 --> 01:19:41,000
Speaker 2: at number twelve had the Miami Heat. I love the

1463
01:19:41,040 --> 01:19:44,080
Speaker 2: Miami Heat, But once again, I think they're a great

1464
01:19:44,200 --> 01:19:48,639
Speaker 2: upset candidate for teams that are flawed. I think they're

1465
01:19:48,640 --> 01:19:54,120
Speaker 2: a good championship like security station, where like, if you

1466
01:19:54,120 --> 01:19:57,759
Speaker 2: don't get through Miami, you're clearly not a championship contender anyway,

1467
01:19:57,800 --> 01:20:00,240
Speaker 2: because like they'll just expose you for the sh you're

1468
01:20:00,240 --> 01:20:04,680
Speaker 2: bad at. I love the Delon Wright pick up. I

1469
01:20:04,680 --> 01:20:07,840
Speaker 2: think that's a guy that can help them. I do

1470
01:20:07,960 --> 01:20:10,200
Speaker 2: think they'll get more out of Terry Roseier god willing,

1471
01:20:10,240 --> 01:20:13,479
Speaker 2: if hell his knee can get right, I do think

1472
01:20:13,479 --> 01:20:15,639
Speaker 2: they'll get more out of him than what they've gotten.

1473
01:20:16,560 --> 01:20:17,720
Speaker 2: But I do think there's a little bit of a

1474
01:20:17,760 --> 01:20:19,760
Speaker 2: good status bad team thing going on with Terry Rozier,

1475
01:20:19,800 --> 01:20:22,920
Speaker 2: at least as an offensive shot creator, which which I

1476
01:20:22,920 --> 01:20:25,120
Speaker 2: think you've seen some of the early returns of this

1477
01:20:25,240 --> 01:20:29,200
Speaker 2: year with Miami. I just again just don't think they

1478
01:20:29,200 --> 01:20:31,080
Speaker 2: have the firepower. But I do think they've got the

1479
01:20:31,120 --> 01:20:35,160
Speaker 2: capability of upsetting anybody just simply on the strength of Spolstra,

1480
01:20:35,360 --> 01:20:38,280
Speaker 2: Jimmy Bam and some of the backcourt athleticism that they've added.

1481
01:20:39,920 --> 01:20:41,920
Speaker 3: Yeah, so I also have the heat and am ready

1482
01:20:41,960 --> 01:20:45,439
Speaker 3: for people to come back to this in two months

1483
01:20:45,479 --> 01:20:46,200
Speaker 3: and just be like.

1484
01:20:46,240 --> 01:20:47,360
Speaker 2: What they did it again?

1485
01:20:49,160 --> 01:20:53,920
Speaker 3: They did it again. Uh, Like, look, if they play

1486
01:20:53,960 --> 01:20:57,000
Speaker 3: the Bucks in a two seven matter or like they're

1487
01:20:57,040 --> 01:21:00,320
Speaker 3: not going to finish seventh, but like if they finish,

1488
01:21:00,439 --> 01:21:03,160
Speaker 3: you know, if the Bucks fall to the four seed

1489
01:21:03,200 --> 01:21:05,519
Speaker 3: and they're the five seed or something like that, if

1490
01:21:05,520 --> 01:21:07,160
Speaker 3: they play the Bucks in the first round and that's

1491
01:21:07,160 --> 01:21:10,360
Speaker 3: Spulture against Doc Rivers in that like MESSI Bucks team,

1492
01:21:11,600 --> 01:21:13,000
Speaker 3: that would be the best outcome.

1493
01:21:13,120 --> 01:21:15,439
Speaker 2: That would be the peak outcome for this season.

1494
01:21:17,280 --> 01:21:19,439
Speaker 3: I really like kind of want it to happen, if

1495
01:21:19,479 --> 01:21:21,400
Speaker 3: I'm being honest. And look, I know they're in seventh

1496
01:21:21,400 --> 01:21:24,040
Speaker 3: in the East right now, so like I should say

1497
01:21:24,120 --> 01:21:26,040
Speaker 3: that they could finish seventh in the East, I guess,

1498
01:21:26,040 --> 01:21:29,879
Speaker 3: but like I think they finish ahead of man Indiana

1499
01:21:29,920 --> 01:21:31,280
Speaker 3: could get healthy and like go on a bit of

1500
01:21:31,280 --> 01:21:34,000
Speaker 3: a run. They're only you know, two and a half

1501
01:21:34,000 --> 01:21:36,840
Speaker 3: games back of Philadelphia right now. We'll see what Philadelphia

1502
01:21:37,040 --> 01:21:40,519
Speaker 3: ends up being coming down the stretch here. If they

1503
01:21:40,520 --> 01:21:42,800
Speaker 3: get to the six and Milwaukee ends up the three

1504
01:21:43,040 --> 01:21:45,200
Speaker 3: or something like that, that could be just like really

1505
01:21:45,240 --> 01:21:45,719
Speaker 3: really fun.

1506
01:21:45,800 --> 01:21:49,880
Speaker 2: Oh my gosh, it'ld be amazing. Number thirteen I had

1507
01:21:49,880 --> 01:21:53,280
Speaker 2: the Philadelphia seventy six ers, and it's just it's all

1508
01:21:53,280 --> 01:21:56,160
Speaker 2: theoretical based on like what if Embiid comes back and

1509
01:21:56,240 --> 01:21:58,960
Speaker 2: just kicks everyone's ass, Like that's always like an outcome

1510
01:21:59,000 --> 01:22:01,439
Speaker 2: that you have to write rank them.

1511
01:22:01,520 --> 01:22:03,400
Speaker 3: Where would you rank them if Joel was healthy?

1512
01:22:03,920 --> 01:22:07,920
Speaker 2: I think if I remember correctly, after right around the

1513
01:22:07,960 --> 01:22:11,120
Speaker 2: time that the Denver game went down, I think I

1514
01:22:11,200 --> 01:22:15,640
Speaker 2: had them like fifth if I remember correctly. Again, my

1515
01:22:16,400 --> 01:22:21,960
Speaker 2: take on Embiid is really simple. I think if he

1516
01:22:22,040 --> 01:22:24,439
Speaker 2: stays healthy, and I mean in the long run, that

1517
01:22:24,560 --> 01:22:26,720
Speaker 2: he will have a breakthrough playoff run. I think he's

1518
01:22:26,720 --> 01:22:30,040
Speaker 2: too talented, not too Yeah, it's just a question of

1519
01:22:30,080 --> 01:22:32,960
Speaker 2: when he could figure those things out. And I do

1520
01:22:33,000 --> 01:22:34,720
Speaker 2: think health has played a role. I think it's been

1521
01:22:34,720 --> 01:22:36,920
Speaker 2: a combination of him leaning a little bit too much

1522
01:22:36,920 --> 01:22:40,320
Speaker 2: on the jump shot in postseason settings and then two

1523
01:22:40,680 --> 01:22:42,120
Speaker 2: in him not being able to hit it when he

1524
01:22:42,120 --> 01:22:44,439
Speaker 2: gets there, and then the health I think has been

1525
01:22:44,479 --> 01:22:47,519
Speaker 2: a legitimate issue for him. But in terms of the

1526
01:22:47,520 --> 01:22:50,280
Speaker 2: six Ers overall, I look at it like I do

1527
01:22:50,360 --> 01:22:54,160
Speaker 2: think that Tyres Masey it's a lot to ask for

1528
01:22:54,240 --> 01:22:56,000
Speaker 2: him to be the second best player on a championship

1529
01:22:56,040 --> 01:22:58,760
Speaker 2: team in this phase of his career, and I run

1530
01:22:58,800 --> 01:23:00,280
Speaker 2: into a little bit of like a do they having

1531
01:23:00,280 --> 01:23:03,960
Speaker 2: a firepower type of discussion? Would they be able to

1532
01:23:04,000 --> 01:23:07,559
Speaker 2: weather a Joel embiide clunker, you know, in a big

1533
01:23:07,560 --> 01:23:10,640
Speaker 2: moment that you know is something that he's has the

1534
01:23:10,640 --> 01:23:13,439
Speaker 2: potential to kind of deal with. And really, ever since

1535
01:23:13,600 --> 01:23:15,639
Speaker 2: Jimmy Butler has been out of the equation, I haven't

1536
01:23:15,640 --> 01:23:18,360
Speaker 2: felt like they've had that type of guy, you know

1537
01:23:18,360 --> 01:23:21,839
Speaker 2: what I mean. And so I'm high on the Sixers

1538
01:23:21,840 --> 01:23:23,880
Speaker 2: in the long run. I thought that Daryl Moray did

1539
01:23:23,880 --> 01:23:25,800
Speaker 2: a really nice job with the James Harden trade. I

1540
01:23:25,840 --> 01:23:29,280
Speaker 2: was actually surprised with how much he got back, not

1541
01:23:29,439 --> 01:23:32,440
Speaker 2: just in usable players, but also in just draft compensation.

1542
01:23:32,640 --> 01:23:35,240
Speaker 2: And I thought Daryl Mory did a really good job there.

1543
01:23:35,439 --> 01:23:38,760
Speaker 2: I think they're poised for another big move to kind

1544
01:23:38,760 --> 01:23:41,439
Speaker 2: of address some of their firepower issues in the long run.

1545
01:23:41,479 --> 01:23:44,040
Speaker 2: But like to me, even if they were fully healthy,

1546
01:23:44,040 --> 01:23:45,719
Speaker 2: I would have had him pretty far down on this list.

1547
01:23:45,720 --> 01:23:49,960
Speaker 2: But under the circumstances, the idea of Embi coming back

1548
01:23:50,040 --> 01:23:51,479
Speaker 2: for the end of the year, just getting in rhythm

1549
01:23:51,520 --> 01:23:53,880
Speaker 2: and time to kick everybody's but just felt like a

1550
01:23:53,880 --> 01:23:54,559
Speaker 2: long shot to me.

1551
01:23:57,120 --> 01:23:59,160
Speaker 3: How many playoff games do you think Tyre s Maxi

1552
01:23:59,200 --> 01:24:00,400
Speaker 3: has played so far career?

1553
01:24:03,240 --> 01:24:07,479
Speaker 2: Gosh, I'm gonna guess. Was he even in the rotation

1554
01:24:07,560 --> 01:24:15,080
Speaker 2: two years ago? He was? Okay, I'm gonna say twenty five.

1555
01:24:16,760 --> 01:24:20,240
Speaker 3: Yeah, he's played thirty five playoff games already, So he's

1556
01:24:20,240 --> 01:24:22,200
Speaker 3: played like half a season in the playoffs. Like I

1557
01:24:22,280 --> 01:24:26,880
Speaker 3: wonder if we might be under looking and underrating like

1558
01:24:26,960 --> 01:24:30,400
Speaker 3: his comfort level in the playoffs already. Obviously, like up

1559
01:24:30,439 --> 01:24:33,400
Speaker 3: until last season, it was a different role. But you

1560
01:24:33,439 --> 01:24:35,800
Speaker 3: know what, each of the last two seasons where he's

1561
01:24:36,040 --> 01:24:39,200
Speaker 3: played forty minutes a night, he's averaged twenty one points

1562
01:24:39,240 --> 01:24:42,519
Speaker 3: a game in the playoffs. And his like that second year,

1563
01:24:42,520 --> 01:24:45,479
Speaker 3: that twenty twenty two year, he shot forty eight thirty

1564
01:24:45,479 --> 01:24:48,800
Speaker 3: eight ninety four on twenty one points a night in

1565
01:24:48,840 --> 01:24:51,439
Speaker 3: the playoffs. I think ty Rees might be fine in

1566
01:24:51,479 --> 01:24:53,960
Speaker 3: the playoffs. Is where what I'm getting at here. If

1567
01:24:54,000 --> 01:24:55,800
Speaker 3: he's able to not be the number one, if he's

1568
01:24:55,800 --> 01:24:58,559
Speaker 3: able to be the number two behind Joell. I love

1569
01:24:58,600 --> 01:25:00,559
Speaker 3: the Buddy Heeled edition for them. If Joe else healthy,

1570
01:25:01,600 --> 01:25:04,920
Speaker 3: it creates so many problems for opposing teams on the

1571
01:25:04,960 --> 01:25:09,880
Speaker 3: backside of those empty side pick and roll actions they

1572
01:25:09,960 --> 01:25:12,200
Speaker 3: like to run with ty Reese. If you just put

1573
01:25:12,240 --> 01:25:15,320
Speaker 3: Buddy in the corner of those actions, most teams like

1574
01:25:15,320 --> 01:25:18,040
Speaker 3: to pre rotate from the corner in order to help

1575
01:25:18,080 --> 01:25:20,800
Speaker 3: those in order to help on the empty side roll.

1576
01:25:22,360 --> 01:25:24,559
Speaker 3: If you put him in the corner, your team can't

1577
01:25:24,600 --> 01:25:27,439
Speaker 3: pre rotate. That means you're pre rotating from the wing,

1578
01:25:27,880 --> 01:25:30,280
Speaker 3: which means that then you're able to kick to the

1579
01:25:30,320 --> 01:25:33,840
Speaker 3: wing in all likelihood, and then you have either the

1580
01:25:33,880 --> 01:25:36,200
Speaker 3: corner man lifting, which is Buddy's guy, or you have

1581
01:25:36,600 --> 01:25:39,240
Speaker 3: top of the key that's helping, which is just an

1582
01:25:39,280 --> 01:25:41,360
Speaker 3: easy reversal, and then you're basically back into the action

1583
01:25:41,439 --> 01:25:45,360
Speaker 3: again with one more pass. Right, So like it flows

1584
01:25:45,400 --> 01:25:48,400
Speaker 3: into itself really well. And that's even just like not

1585
01:25:48,479 --> 01:25:51,160
Speaker 3: accounting for you could do some fucking wild stuff with

1586
01:25:51,240 --> 01:25:54,240
Speaker 3: like Joel and Buddy and like five two ballscreen like

1587
01:25:54,280 --> 01:25:57,640
Speaker 3: slip actions. Right, you could do some crazy stuff with

1588
01:25:57,760 --> 01:26:00,960
Speaker 3: like Maxi healed speed action, like you could run some

1589
01:26:01,120 --> 01:26:04,360
Speaker 3: like twenty one actions where like Buddy is you know,

1590
01:26:04,680 --> 01:26:07,800
Speaker 3: you're running like empty side with Buddy like ghosting in

1591
01:26:08,360 --> 01:26:11,400
Speaker 3: just like the wing, Like you could just do so

1592
01:26:11,400 --> 01:26:13,200
Speaker 3: so much, you could do exactly right, you could do

1593
01:26:13,240 --> 01:26:16,479
Speaker 3: so so much with them. I think that Buddy is

1594
01:26:16,800 --> 01:26:19,960
Speaker 3: a real schematic addition for them in a playoff setting,

1595
01:26:20,040 --> 01:26:23,920
Speaker 3: in my opinion, even with the defensive liabilities that he

1596
01:26:24,000 --> 01:26:27,840
Speaker 3: brings to the table, I just don't trust that Joelle

1597
01:26:27,880 --> 01:26:29,240
Speaker 3: is going to be healthy enough to see any of it.

1598
01:26:29,320 --> 01:26:32,160
Speaker 2: Unfortunately. I'm really high on Tyres Maxy. I think he's

1599
01:26:32,240 --> 01:26:35,000
Speaker 2: the probably the best combination of speed in shooting ability

1600
01:26:35,040 --> 01:26:37,320
Speaker 2: that we have in the league right now. I'm a

1601
01:26:37,400 --> 01:26:39,840
Speaker 2: huge I'm a huge believer in him in the long run.

1602
01:26:39,960 --> 01:26:43,280
Speaker 2: His efficiency did tank quite a bit last year. That

1603
01:26:43,400 --> 01:26:44,760
Speaker 2: was the one thing that kind of got me a

1604
01:26:44,800 --> 01:26:47,360
Speaker 2: little bit worried about him, and like we've seen even

1605
01:26:47,920 --> 01:26:50,320
Speaker 2: just for stretches this year where he can go cold.

1606
01:26:51,520 --> 01:26:53,880
Speaker 2: I am a big believer in Tyree. I just think

1607
01:26:53,920 --> 01:26:55,320
Speaker 2: I think it's a lot to ask for a guy

1608
01:26:55,320 --> 01:26:57,559
Speaker 2: in his first year being the number one and by

1609
01:26:57,600 --> 01:27:00,559
Speaker 2: the way, to me, number two option doesn't mean as

1610
01:27:00,640 --> 01:27:02,840
Speaker 2: much when you factor in the fact that he's gonna

1611
01:27:02,840 --> 01:27:05,920
Speaker 2: get the number one perimeter defender, like he's going to

1612
01:27:05,960 --> 01:27:08,479
Speaker 2: get the best perimeter defender that the other team has

1613
01:27:08,479 --> 01:27:12,200
Speaker 2: to offer. I am, I again, just huge believer in

1614
01:27:12,200 --> 01:27:14,519
Speaker 2: Tyres Maxie long run. But like, guys, just think of

1615
01:27:14,520 --> 01:27:17,679
Speaker 2: it like this, he's Tyler Harrow's age, He's Jordan Poole's age.

1616
01:27:17,680 --> 01:27:21,439
Speaker 2: Like he's young, he's got there's there, there's there's something

1617
01:27:21,479 --> 01:27:24,519
Speaker 2: to be said about about like if there's if there's

1618
01:27:24,560 --> 01:27:25,880
Speaker 2: been a theme that you guys have picked up for

1619
01:27:26,000 --> 01:27:28,719
Speaker 2: me on this today's show. It's like Jason hates the youth.

1620
01:27:28,800 --> 01:27:33,800
Speaker 2: But I I am a believer in Tyree's long run.

1621
01:27:34,000 --> 01:27:35,679
Speaker 2: In the long run, I am a believer that Joel

1622
01:27:35,680 --> 01:27:38,200
Speaker 2: Embiide will eventually break through. Just doesn't feel like this

1623
01:27:38,240 --> 01:27:41,200
Speaker 2: is going to be the year. So is there anybody

1624
01:27:41,360 --> 01:27:43,400
Speaker 2: that's the end of my list? Is there any team

1625
01:27:43,520 --> 01:27:45,360
Speaker 2: that you had on your list that I didn't have?

1626
01:27:47,120 --> 01:27:48,400
Speaker 3: No, the end of my list too.

1627
01:27:48,880 --> 01:27:50,800
Speaker 2: I just the teams we discussed earlier.

1628
01:27:50,600 --> 01:27:53,240
Speaker 3: Talked about the cas. Yeah, we've talked to everybody yet. Cool.

1629
01:27:53,280 --> 01:27:57,040
Speaker 2: All right, Well two and a half hours later, is

1630
01:27:57,040 --> 01:27:58,760
Speaker 2: gonna have to He's gonna have to cut this into

1631
01:27:58,840 --> 01:28:05,000
Speaker 2: multiple episodes for sure, multiple episodes. It's fine, but I appreciate. Yeah,

1632
01:28:05,040 --> 01:28:06,800
Speaker 2: we shouldn't even thank each other for this. We should

1633
01:28:06,840 --> 01:28:09,120
Speaker 2: just thank Paul for listening to us for the last

1634
01:28:09,160 --> 01:28:12,639
Speaker 2: two and a half hours. Thank you guys so much

1635
01:28:12,640 --> 01:28:14,639
Speaker 2: for supporting the show. Sam. Can you please shout out

1636
01:28:14,640 --> 01:28:16,639
Speaker 2: your work. Sam does amazing work for the Athletic.

1637
01:28:18,560 --> 01:28:22,160
Speaker 3: Go to the Game Theory podcast over on YouTube. Go

1638
01:28:22,200 --> 01:28:25,519
Speaker 3: to the Athletic Keep Me Employed over there. That's you

1639
01:28:25,560 --> 01:28:27,080
Speaker 3: know all we got nothing too crazy.

1640
01:28:27,200 --> 01:28:29,599
Speaker 2: Let's how about you and I plan on doing a

1641
01:28:29,640 --> 01:28:32,320
Speaker 2: playoff preview at some point when we get closer. Is

1642
01:28:32,360 --> 01:28:34,560
Speaker 2: that something? Because I love talking matchups with you. I

1643
01:28:34,560 --> 01:28:35,280
Speaker 2: think that'd be fun.

1644
01:28:36,920 --> 01:28:38,000
Speaker 3: Yeah, of course, man, anytime.

1645
01:28:38,000 --> 01:28:40,040
Speaker 2: All right, guys, As always, we appreciate you for supporting

1646
01:28:40,040 --> 01:28:44,719
Speaker 2: the show. I am taking every minute off until Warriors

1647
01:28:44,800 --> 01:28:47,040
Speaker 2: Lakers on Thursday night. I will see you guys for

1648
01:28:47,040 --> 01:28:50,000
Speaker 2: an instant reaction. Then we appreciate you guys. Will see

1649
01:28:50,000 --> 01:28:50,120
Speaker 2: then

1650
01:29:17,800 --> 01:29:18,479
Speaker 1: The volume