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Speaker 1: The volume. All right, welcome to Hoops to Night. You're

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Speaker 1: at the volume. Hapvy Tuesday, everybody. I hope all of

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Speaker 1: you guys are having an incredible week so far. It

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Speaker 1: is mail bag Day. We've had Tuesday mailbags during the holidays.

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Speaker 1: We'll get back to our usual Fridays starting next week.

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Speaker 1: Got a lot of interesting questions from around the league.

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Speaker 1: I'm excited to dig into it. You guys are the

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Speaker 1: job before we started. Subscribe to Hoops Tonight YouTube channel

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Speaker 1: so you don't miss any more of our videos. Then

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Speaker 1: like this video. That helps us a lot. And then lastly,

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Speaker 1: if you want to get mailback questions in, just drop

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Speaker 1: them in our full episodes on YouTube. In the comments,

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Speaker 1: just write mail bag with the colon write your question.

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Speaker 1: We'll get to them on Fridays throughout the remainder of

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Speaker 1: the season. All right, let's talk some basketball. First question,

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Speaker 1: an interesting one here. Would you rather have Stefan Castle

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Speaker 1: or a Men Thompson? To me, it's Castle at this

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Speaker 1: point almost no question, but the national media seems to

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Speaker 1: still pick Thompson. I think Castle's pretty much better every

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Speaker 1: aspect offensively while still being a slightly worse or while

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Speaker 1: being a slightly worse defender. Okay, so this one's complicated.

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Speaker 1: I do think it's close. I lean slightly versus towards

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Speaker 1: Steph Castle as well, but I do think it's very close.

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Speaker 1: The thing with the Men Thompson is like he's barely

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Speaker 1: scratching the surface of his potential as well. So for

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Speaker 1: both of these guys, it's kind of like you're looking

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Speaker 1: at like a you know when you see those like

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Speaker 1: hurricane maps where they're trying to project where it's gonna go,

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Speaker 1: and it's just like their potential future is just so

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Speaker 1: far out. It could be such a wide range of

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Speaker 1: outcomes for either of these guys, Like there's a version

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Speaker 1: of the story where Steph Castle leaves a bunch of

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Speaker 1: unfulfilled potential on the table, and the same thing goes

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Speaker 1: for Men Thompson, and I'd argue both of these guys

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Speaker 1: have like legit top tier superstar potential if things go

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Speaker 1: a certain way with their skill development in the coming years.

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Speaker 1: So again, it's a wide range of outcomes for both guys.

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Speaker 1: I lean Steph Castle for a couple of reasons. One,

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Speaker 1: I think Steph Castle is a substantially better passer. I

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Speaker 1: think that like in terms of just natural feel for

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Speaker 1: the game when he's making reads in the middle of

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Speaker 1: the floor. A men Thompson, to be clear, is a

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Speaker 1: good passer. I think a men Thompson sees the flour well.

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Speaker 1: I think he makes read and react sequence reads very well.

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Speaker 1: It's not that a men Thompson is not a good passer.

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Speaker 1: It's just that Steph Castle, to me, is one of

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Speaker 1: those guys that sees another layer to that like high

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Speaker 1: pick and roll, high iso read progression that I think

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Speaker 1: is going to suit him really well as he becomes

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Speaker 1: a more dynamic score over the course of his career.

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Speaker 1: He's also a little bit bigger. To me, Steph Castle

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Speaker 1: almost kind of reminds me of like an evolutionary version

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Speaker 1: of Jimmy Butler. There's this like weird size profile that

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Speaker 1: he sits in where he's in that like he is

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Speaker 1: six six sixty seven ish, you know, in terms of

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Speaker 1: his height, he's big and strong, but he's also very fast,

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Speaker 1: and he's got great footwork and a lot of like

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Speaker 1: starch stop quickness going on. Right, So what that does

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Speaker 1: is it puts him in a position where he's way

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Speaker 1: too big for most guards and he's way too fast.

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Speaker 1: For most under the basket players and most of these

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Speaker 1: like bigger wings that he might run into. He's got

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Speaker 1: like a like a like a on the ground center

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Speaker 1: of gravity advantage because he plays so well off of

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Speaker 1: two feet. And that's the part that reminds me so

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Speaker 1: much of Jimmy Butler. Like Jimmy Butler similarly fell into

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Speaker 1: that same kind of category, like that undersized power forward

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Speaker 1: but like oversized guard kind of guy. But that when

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Speaker 1: he was at his peak athletically was plenty fast and

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Speaker 1: athletic enough to guard multiple positions and then was just

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Speaker 1: too difficult to match up with on the offensive end,

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Speaker 1: Like a big was too slow for him, a guard

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Speaker 1: was too small for him. He just had this like

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Speaker 1: he just kind of fit into that perfect little athletic

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Speaker 1: niche there as the oversized small forward type of dude. Right.

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Speaker 1: I think Steph Castle has a lot of that same

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Speaker 1: type of potential. There's a natural wiggle with this game

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Speaker 1: that allows him to beat people off the dribble. He

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Speaker 1: plays off of two feet, so he wins the ground

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Speaker 1: battle all the time. He's always dislodging people from their

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Speaker 1: spot and going up clean off of two feet. I

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Speaker 1: think the jump shot looks like something that will become

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Speaker 1: reliable for him over time. He's been shooting the ball

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Speaker 1: really well over the course of the last month or so.

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Speaker 1: And then again there's that other layer of playmaking. I

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Speaker 1: actually think he has a lot of potential on the

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Speaker 1: defensive end as well, that he's barely starting to scratch

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Speaker 1: the surface of. He has that positional versatility. So like

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Speaker 1: Amend's not an example here, but like Asar Thompson yesterday

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Speaker 1: was getting cooked by Kawhi because he's just too big, right,

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Speaker 1: there's a type of player, that bigger forward that Steph's

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Speaker 1: going to be able to do a better job of

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Speaker 1: a better job against in certain matchups. I agree that

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Speaker 1: I think a Men Thompson is a better defender right now,

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Speaker 1: but I think Steph Castle has good defensive potential. So

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Speaker 1: like the question for a Men is going to be

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Speaker 1: will he be able to add some of that higher

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Speaker 1: polish as a shot creator that he hasn't shown to

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Speaker 1: this point, right, And like that's where you have the

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Speaker 1: wide range of outcomes for both players. But for me

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Speaker 1: right now, if I was starting a team from scratch,

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Speaker 1: I'd rather have Steph Castle. I think he's going to

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Speaker 1: be a little bit better, but it's very, very close.

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Speaker 1: It's not like an indictment of in men Thompson at all.

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Speaker 1: It's just that's how high I am on Steph Castle

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Speaker 1: as a player player comp Castle versus Jada. Another interesting

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Speaker 1: question from the mailbag, Jaydub is a little bit or

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Speaker 1: complicated because Jadub we were talking about that kind of

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Speaker 1: like hurricane path right, JDub is much further along in

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Speaker 1: that pathway, so the range of outcomes is tighter. We

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Speaker 1: have a better feel for the type of player he's

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Speaker 1: gonna be because he's already closer to that version of

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Speaker 1: himself right now. He's just been in the league longer.

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Speaker 1: The thing with Jadub is we've seen a lot of

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Speaker 1: this stuff get rounded out. We've seen the type of

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Speaker 1: defensive player that he's become. We've seen him score forty

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Speaker 1: points in an NBA Finals game. We've seen him over

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Speaker 1: the course of the final two rounds of last year's

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Speaker 1: playoffs just be this devastating basket attacker. So we have

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Speaker 1: like a good feel for what Jadub is, but we

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Speaker 1: also have a good feel for what he's not. Like.

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Speaker 1: One of the things I've noticed is like he brings

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Speaker 1: a ton of downhill power, but there's not a lot

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Speaker 1: of like real shimmy and shiftiness in his game in

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Speaker 1: terms of beating people off the dribble when he doesn't

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Speaker 1: have a head of steam. Right, So, like I've seen

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Speaker 1: Jadeb go through games where he can't quite turn the

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Speaker 1: corner and all of a sudden, it's a lot of

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Speaker 1: like drifting layups that are lower percentage or tougher pull

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Speaker 1: up jump shots. Right. So, like I've seen that the

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Speaker 1: ceiling for JDub is probably somewhere below that of a

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Speaker 1: top tier superstar, right, Like, to me, Jdubb is destined

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Speaker 1: to be someone that when he's at his absolute peak

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Speaker 1: and his prime is hunting in that like six to

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Speaker 1: seven to like fifteen to sixteen range in the NBA. Like,

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Speaker 1: I don't think Ja Dob's ever going to be a

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Speaker 1: top five player in the NBA. Right, Steph Castle, You're

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Speaker 1: not gonna sit here and say he's better than JDub

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Speaker 1: right now, because he's certainly not. Like I do think

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Speaker 1: Steph Castle right now is better than a Men Thompson.

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Speaker 1: That's like an actual leg up that he has on him. Right,

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Speaker 1: But like with Jadub, it's all about projecting what he

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Speaker 1: can be. I do think Steph Castle has the potential

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Speaker 1: to be better than JDub. I think Steph Castle has

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Speaker 1: the potential to be a top tier superstar in this league.

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Speaker 1: That's on the table for him. Is he gonna get there?

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Speaker 1: Who knows. Odds are always small for that kind of thing,

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Speaker 1: because it's such a rare air that you're reaching when

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Speaker 1: you get to that level as a basketball player. But

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Speaker 1: I do think Steph has that potential. So to answer

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Speaker 1: your question, Jdub's obvious the better player right now, but

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Speaker 1: Steph Castle has the potential to surpass him one day.

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Speaker 1: I think he has a higher ceiling overall, for whatever

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Speaker 1: that's worth at this phase of his career. Jason and

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Speaker 1: your excitement to bash Luca, you made a comment about

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Speaker 1: how he hasn't played up to superstar status in recent games.

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Speaker 1: He went on to site the most recent Sons game. However,

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Speaker 1: Luca didn't even play in that game. You might have

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Speaker 1: confused it with a game almost two weeks ago against

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Speaker 1: the Suns where he did not play well. But consider this,

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Speaker 1: there's barely two games ago that Luca put up forty

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Speaker 1: five eleven and fourteen with five steals and only one turnover.

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Speaker 1: Luca's performance that day was something that Lebron nor Kobe

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Speaker 1: has never done as a Laker, Yet Luca did it

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Speaker 1: in less than a year with the organization. When you

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Speaker 1: put that in perspective and then proceed to comment after

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Speaker 1: comment about how terrible he is, it speaks volumes about

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Speaker 1: the sheer lunacy of this fan base. This provides a

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Speaker 1: perfect segue to your recent comment about how Luca fans

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Speaker 1: aren't used to how the Laker fan base holds their

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Speaker 1: best players accountable on a game to game basis, because

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Speaker 1: Lakers fans expect championships or something to that effect. Well,

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Speaker 1: my response to that is fairly simple, and I must

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Speaker 1: say that I'm surprised that the fan base is unaware

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Speaker 1: of this, but the fact that their opinions do not

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Speaker 1: mean a damn thing. No decisions regarding Luca will be

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Speaker 1: made because you are some cleatest clown down the road

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Speaker 1: is upset that he took too many threes or that

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Speaker 1: he did something on defense that they weren't happy with.

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Speaker 1: What could happen with the constant berating of the guy

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Speaker 1: that is leading the team in virtually every offensive category

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Speaker 1: is that he hears enough of it and he requests

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Speaker 1: the trade. Personally, I would love that, But the thing is,

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Speaker 1: I recognize that my opinion on the matter is worthless.

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Speaker 1: Perhaps some of these fans will realize that about themselves

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Speaker 1: as well. So a lot to get into here. First thing,

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Speaker 1: what I was trying to refer to when I was

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Speaker 1: mentioning the Sun's game was actually the Clippers game. I

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Speaker 1: just got confused and one of the things that and

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Speaker 1: I just made a mistake. It happens I make mistakes

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Speaker 1: on the show. But one of the things that stood

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Speaker 1: out to me specifically about the Clippers game and then

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Speaker 1: the Rockets game, was the Lakers dug these massive holes

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Speaker 1: with their starting lineup, and you know, all the focus

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Speaker 1: gets kind of centered around what the starting lineup has

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Speaker 1: personnel in terms of personnel on defense, so it's like,

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Speaker 1: can you play Ruie, Luca and Lebron all at the

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Speaker 1: same time, or like, are they just too slow footed?

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Speaker 1: Is there not enough defensive personnel in the starting lineup?

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Speaker 1: And that stuff is absolutely worth digging into. But in

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Speaker 1: both of those games, the Clippers game, Luca literally came

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Speaker 1: out and was straight ass on offense for the first

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Speaker 1: like nine minutes of the game. And because of that,

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Speaker 1: he spotted the Clippers a double digit lead. I think

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Speaker 1: they were up like twelve or fourteen points when he

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Speaker 1: subbed out, right. Same thing with the Rockets game. He

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Speaker 1: came out and was just turning the ball over every

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Speaker 1: time down the floor and couldn't make a shot, and

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Speaker 1: so all of a sudden, they're down ten twelve points.

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Speaker 1: And what that does is it sets the tone in

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Speaker 1: a way for the team that makes it already feel

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Speaker 1: like you're like behind the eight ball, so to speak.

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Speaker 1: You're already in a position where you're down double digits

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Speaker 1: and you're fighting for your life in the first quarter.

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Speaker 1: And again, like I can talk about the rebounding, I

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Speaker 1: could talk about the defense, but Luca in the Clippers

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Speaker 1: game and in the Rockets game, was so bad on

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Speaker 1: offense to start that it literally put his team in

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Speaker 1: position and to be to have to dig uphill or

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Speaker 1: to have to fight uphill the rest of the game,

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Speaker 1: and it just puts it just makes life that much harder. So,

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Speaker 1: like all I was talking about in those games is like, hey,

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Speaker 1: if Luca comes out and goes instead of you know,

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Speaker 1: five turnovers in the first quarter against the Rockets, instead

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Speaker 1: he has zero turnovers and goes three for four from

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Speaker 1: the field to three assists. Maybe instead of them being

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Speaker 1: down twelve, they're down two or they're up to and

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Speaker 1: maybe everyone fights a little harder on defense and everyone

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Speaker 1: is a little bit tougher on the glass because they

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Speaker 1: feel like they have a chance to win the game

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Speaker 1: instead of feeling like they're dead on arrival. Same thing

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Speaker 1: goes in the Clippers game. You play better to start

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Speaker 1: the game. Instead of being down twelve, fourteen points, you're

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Speaker 1: up to four points. You have a better chance to

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Speaker 1: compete the rest of the way. Like Luca was the

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Speaker 1: driving force of those early deficits because how bad he

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Speaker 1: was on offense. And again, like as far as like

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Speaker 1: the conversation surrounding holding stars accountable, I'm like that with

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Speaker 1: the entire league. I'm like that with all the top

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Speaker 1: tier guys. When your top tier superstar is not operating

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Speaker 1: at that level and is operating somewhere below that, I'm

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Speaker 1: gonna look there first, because he is the guy that

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Speaker 1: makes fifty plus million, because he is the guy that

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Speaker 1: actually has the skill set in the tools to flip

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Speaker 1: the script and change the dynamic and help the basketball team.

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Speaker 1: It doesn't make sense to go to the dude who

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Speaker 1: makes eight million and be like, why aren't you doing

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Speaker 1: more until the star is doing his job. Now, when

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Speaker 1: the star is doing his job and he's scoring the

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Speaker 1: basketball effectively, and he's not turning the basketball over, and

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Speaker 1: he's creating good shots consistently, and guys are not doing

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Speaker 1: their job down the line, that's when it's time to

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Speaker 1: look at the rest of the roster. And again, no

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Speaker 1: one's saying don't talk to Rob Polinka about this. No

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Speaker 1: one's saying, don't look at the Lakers and their limitations

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Speaker 1: as athletes and as spot up shooters and all those things.

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Speaker 1: Those things all matter. But I've watched this same group

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Speaker 1: when twenty basketball games, they've won six games again or

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Speaker 1: five games against teams that are above the plane in

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Speaker 1: both brackets. They've won three games against teams that I

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Speaker 1: consider to be legitimate championship contenders. They are capable of

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Speaker 1: being better than they are. What happened in those games

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Speaker 1: in those ones that they won, their stars played like superstars.

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Speaker 1: That's why I talk about it that way. It's strictly

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Speaker 1: a matter of like Luca is the guy who's capable

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Speaker 1: of flipping the script here if he comes out every

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Speaker 1: night and brings that top tier, superstar level of play.

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Speaker 1: Things will become easier down the line, and guys will

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Speaker 1: be more capable of holding up their end of the bargain. Now,

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Speaker 1: the point you're making about like Luca, like requesting a

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Speaker 1: trade or not being able to handle the negativity, I'm

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Speaker 1: not hearing that from Luca. When I'm hearing him in

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Speaker 1: his postgame pressers, he is taking blame. He is talking

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Speaker 1: about how he needs to be better, because that's what

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Speaker 1: competitors do. They look in the mirror, they find out

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Speaker 1: what they need to do to get better, to improve

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Speaker 1: their situation, and they go about doing so. And like

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Speaker 1: we'll see, it's been one game with the Kings. But

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Speaker 1: I did think Luca was more surgical on offense. I

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Speaker 1: did like the turnovers came later in the game. He

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Speaker 1: was better out the gates, he was better on defense

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Speaker 1: throughout the entire night. Like there's another layer that we're

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Speaker 1: capable of getting out of these guys to get better basketball.

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Speaker 1: That's all I were saying. No one's saying that Luca.

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Speaker 1: I think lucas the third best player in the league

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Speaker 1: this season, but for the last month or so, he

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Speaker 1: hasn't been as efficient putting the ball in the basket,

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Speaker 1: and he's been turning the basketball over too much and

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Speaker 1: it's been hurting the team. There's levels to this. When

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Speaker 1: Lucas at his best, he's fifty percent from two, thirty

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Speaker 1: six percent from three and three turnovers a game. When

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Speaker 1: he's forty percent from two, or like forty five percent

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Speaker 1: from two and twenty five percent from three and five

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Speaker 1: turnovers per game, it doesn't matter if he's putting up

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Speaker 1: thirty two, thirteen and eleven because all of those misses

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Speaker 1: and all of those turnovers are hurting the team and

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Speaker 1: putting them against the eight ball in transition. So it's

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Speaker 1: just about holding him to the standard that Luca has established. Guys,

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Speaker 1: just go to the Basketball Reference page. Just go to

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Speaker 1: Basketball Reference look at Luca's numbers from twenty twenty four

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Speaker 1: when he was with Dallas, and look at his numbers

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Speaker 1: this year. Luca's Luca, but he's not as good as

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Speaker 1: he's capable of being. And when he's at that level,

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Speaker 1: that's when he's in the conversation for being legitimately the

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Speaker 1: best player in the world. But he's got to be

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Speaker 1: able to get back to that level for the Lakers

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Speaker 1: New Jersey, Ohio, Tennessee, or Virginia. Next question, Hey, Jason

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Speaker 1: loved the show. At the time of this question. The

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Speaker 1: Thunder are currently twenty six and four. This was a

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Speaker 1: mail bag from before their most recent loss. They've lost

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Speaker 1: three games in December. They're still my championship favorites. I

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Speaker 1: know players are still trying to find a rhythm like JDub,

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Speaker 1: but is it crazy for me to believe that the

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Speaker 1: Thunder are at their best offensively when Shay is at

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Speaker 1: the helm and AJ Mitchell is leading the bench units

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Speaker 1: with JDub and Chet playing off of AJ Mitchell? Am

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Speaker 1: I crazy for believing that JDub is a couple of

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Speaker 1: years away from being that secondary lead initiator. I just

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Speaker 1: think JDub over dribbles and can lose his dribble when

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Speaker 1: trying to countermove. In my opinion, he also doesn't have

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Speaker 1: a really great first step that allows him to just

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Speaker 1: blow by guys, which makes him settle for over the

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Speaker 1: top mid range shooting, which he could improve. In my opinion,

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Speaker 1: Jadub is at his best when he's able to get

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Speaker 1: a head of steam off of spot ups, curls, and transition.

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Speaker 1: I still believe Jadub is a top thirty player in

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Speaker 1: this league. I just don't think he's the secondary lead

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Speaker 1: initiator the Thunder need right now in a perfect world?

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Speaker 1: What do you think, Jason? A lot of the stuff

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Speaker 1: you said I agree with. I also agree that Jadub

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Speaker 1: is more of like a when he has momentum. He

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Speaker 1: brings a lot of power to this situation, which makes

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Speaker 1: him a big downhill threat. But in a static situation

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Speaker 1: against a great defender, he's not like a great first

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Speaker 1: step quickness slash, like shimmy shake, get a guy off

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Speaker 1: balance to beat him off the dribble type of dude.

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Speaker 1: Here's the thing, the dude scored forty points in a

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Speaker 1: finals game last year. From the Game seven against the

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Speaker 1: Nuggets through the end of the postseason, he was dramatically

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Speaker 1: better and very very important to this Thunder offense. He

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Speaker 1: just is coming back. Anytime you enter a situation as

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Speaker 1: a basketball player where a bunch of guys have been

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Speaker 1: playing and you're kind of shoehorning yourself in, it takes

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Speaker 1: a while to find your rhythm. It takes a while

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Speaker 1: to find your confidence. It takes a while for the

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Speaker 1: team to find their rhythm around you. Again, the losses

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Speaker 1: to me are indicative of some bigger issues that the

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Speaker 1: Thunder have to contend with for specific matchups, like, Yeah,

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Speaker 1: they're gonna have to do better on the defensive glass

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Speaker 1: than they did against Minnesota and San Antonio. Alice Cruz

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Speaker 1: is gonna need a knockdown open shots. Lou Dort's gonna

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Speaker 1: need to be able to knock down open shots. Cason

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Speaker 1: Wallas is gonna be able to need to be able

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Speaker 1: to knock down open shots. There are some stuff from

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Speaker 1: the past that has shown up again that needs to

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Speaker 1: be resolved, but ultimately the construct of the team is

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Speaker 1: just fine, and Ja dubb is going to need to

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Speaker 1: be their second best player for them to get to

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Speaker 1: where they want to go. You got to give him

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Speaker 1: a long runway under the circumstances. It's just such a

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Speaker 1: long process trying to integrate yourself in this type of environment. Hey, Jason,

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Speaker 1: my friend and I are having a Luca versus Brunson debate.

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Speaker 1: I think it's silly to not pick Luca, not to

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00:18:26,080 --> 00:18:29,040
Speaker 1: dimension Brunson clearly a top six to ten player right now,

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00:18:29,160 --> 00:18:31,040
Speaker 1: but he's a Knicks fan and is arguing Brunson. His

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00:18:31,119 --> 00:18:34,240
Speaker 1: argument centers around primarily Brunson's three level scoring being better

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Speaker 1: right now and Luca's higher volume pumping his stats a

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Speaker 1: little bit more than Brunson's. My argument is that outside

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Speaker 1: of the huge playmaking and rebounding advantage that the Knicks

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00:18:42,040 --> 00:18:44,960
Speaker 1: and Lakers shouldn't shouldn't have, basically the same records, but

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Speaker 1: then the Knicks have a drastically better roster. I get

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Speaker 1: Luca's been struggling some and Brunson's been cooking, but saying

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Speaker 1: Brunson is over Luca is just shortsighted and fandom in

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Speaker 1: my opinion, I'm curious what your take is. Thanks, huge

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Speaker 1: fan of the show. Happy holidays. So it's tricky because

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Speaker 1: I actually do think that Jalen Brunson's been better than

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Speaker 1: Luca for the last month. There's conversations to have regarding

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Speaker 1: like what's a player's standing in the league versus who's

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Speaker 1: playing better basketball right now? No one's gonna put Brunton

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Speaker 1: over Luca based on what's happened through October November December, right, Like,

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Speaker 1: that's a conversation for next summer. When we get to

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Speaker 1: next summer, we'll have another fifty games of regular season

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Speaker 1: basketball for both of these guys, and we'll have a

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Speaker 1: full playoff run. We'll see what Jalen Brunson does when

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Speaker 1: he gets into the postseason. We'll see what Luka Doncic

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Speaker 1: does when he gets into the postseason. Then we'll sit

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Speaker 1: down in July and August and we'll be like, which

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Speaker 1: guy was better. Right, that's the kind of conversation that's

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Speaker 1: going to actually carry some weight and actually change some

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Speaker 1: minds for some of these fans around the league. Right.

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Speaker 1: But strictly speaking, there is a simple dynamic that's taking

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Speaker 1: place with Brunson and with Luca in the last month

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00:19:52,080 --> 00:19:54,159
Speaker 1: that has made it so that Brunson's been better in

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Speaker 1: the last month, which again is not a big picture

428
00:19:56,800 --> 00:19:59,639
Speaker 1: conversation about the players, it's just a conversation about how

429
00:19:59,680 --> 00:20:03,720
Speaker 1: they've been playing in the last month. Really simple. Luca's

430
00:20:03,920 --> 00:20:07,440
Speaker 1: turnovers have gone up and his efficiency has gone down.

431
00:20:07,440 --> 00:20:10,880
Speaker 1: As a shot maker, Brunson is operating in the mid

432
00:20:11,080 --> 00:20:15,240
Speaker 1: sixties in true shooting percentage and his turnovers are way down.

433
00:20:16,000 --> 00:20:19,280
Speaker 1: So that's in that like Shake Gildes Alexander territory of

434
00:20:19,600 --> 00:20:23,639
Speaker 1: high volume, high efficiency offense without many mistakes that can

435
00:20:23,720 --> 00:20:26,960
Speaker 1: hurt your team going the other way that dynamic over time,

436
00:20:27,680 --> 00:20:30,760
Speaker 1: if Brunson's efficiency ticks down and his turnovers go up,

437
00:20:31,119 --> 00:20:35,200
Speaker 1: Luca's turnovers go down and his efficiency goes up, That'll

438
00:20:35,240 --> 00:20:37,119
Speaker 1: be the kind of thing that Luca can do to

439
00:20:37,240 --> 00:20:40,240
Speaker 1: reassert control over that debate over the course of the season.

440
00:20:40,320 --> 00:20:42,920
Speaker 1: But yeah, I think over the last month. The lack

441
00:20:42,960 --> 00:20:45,440
Speaker 1: of turnovers from Brunson and the higher true shooting percentage

442
00:20:45,440 --> 00:20:47,760
Speaker 1: has made him a better basketball player just for the

443
00:20:47,840 --> 00:20:50,520
Speaker 1: last month. That doesn't mean he's a better player than Luca.

444
00:20:50,600 --> 00:20:53,920
Speaker 1: Luke will have more to say on that matter. A

445
00:20:54,000 --> 00:20:55,479
Speaker 1: couple more quick ones. What do you think is more

446
00:20:55,480 --> 00:20:58,520
Speaker 1: important to Houston? To Houston Reed Shepherd's ability to knock

447
00:20:58,560 --> 00:21:01,720
Speaker 1: down pull ups consistently or his ability to improve defensively

448
00:21:01,760 --> 00:21:04,600
Speaker 1: and at least be an average defender. To me, it's

449
00:21:04,720 --> 00:21:06,760
Speaker 1: more the defensive end of the floor. The pull ups

450
00:21:06,760 --> 00:21:08,520
Speaker 1: and the stuff out of ball screens is really nice

451
00:21:08,560 --> 00:21:11,560
Speaker 1: for their bench units. But I really like his shooting

452
00:21:11,800 --> 00:21:14,480
Speaker 1: on the floor with the final five. It's just he

453
00:21:14,520 --> 00:21:16,159
Speaker 1: can't be out there. And I'm not talking about off

454
00:21:16,200 --> 00:21:17,960
Speaker 1: the dribble shooting, although he has hit some big off

455
00:21:18,000 --> 00:21:20,480
Speaker 1: the dribble shots in crunch time. It's his ability to

456
00:21:20,600 --> 00:21:23,640
Speaker 1: just be a dead eye like fifty plus percent knockdown,

457
00:21:23,680 --> 00:21:26,159
Speaker 1: catch and shoot guy, which makes it that much harder

458
00:21:26,160 --> 00:21:30,400
Speaker 1: to put additional bodies on offensive rebounders, or two bodies

459
00:21:30,400 --> 00:21:33,320
Speaker 1: on KD and ball screens, or two bodies on Shangun

460
00:21:33,400 --> 00:21:35,360
Speaker 1: in post ups, because now you're leaving this guy that's

461
00:21:35,440 --> 00:21:37,679
Speaker 1: just a dead eye three point shooter out there who

462
00:21:37,760 --> 00:21:39,800
Speaker 1: can do all that damage. In order for him to

463
00:21:39,840 --> 00:21:42,080
Speaker 1: actually be on the floor in those situations, he has

464
00:21:42,119 --> 00:21:44,840
Speaker 1: to be better defensively. He's been just picked on relentlessly.

465
00:21:45,200 --> 00:21:47,560
Speaker 1: That was what happened at the end of that Kings game,

466
00:21:47,600 --> 00:21:50,080
Speaker 1: if you guys remember so. To me, it's all about

467
00:21:50,080 --> 00:21:52,560
Speaker 1: reach Shepherd's ability to add in a little bit of muscle,

468
00:21:52,720 --> 00:21:54,880
Speaker 1: a little bit more physicality on defense, and being more

469
00:21:54,880 --> 00:21:59,520
Speaker 1: reliable defensive player. All right, last question, Hi, Jason. Being

470
00:21:59,520 --> 00:22:01,400
Speaker 1: back in air for the holidays, what do you miss

471
00:22:01,440 --> 00:22:04,080
Speaker 1: the most and what do you like the most about Colorado?

472
00:22:04,960 --> 00:22:07,640
Speaker 1: So obviously being back in Arizona, that was my first

473
00:22:07,680 --> 00:22:10,639
Speaker 1: time going back for a long time because when I

474
00:22:10,680 --> 00:22:12,639
Speaker 1: when I went back a couple times over the summer,

475
00:22:12,680 --> 00:22:14,760
Speaker 1: it was literally just to get more stuff to move,

476
00:22:15,240 --> 00:22:17,639
Speaker 1: and it was I was flying out of Tucson on

477
00:22:17,680 --> 00:22:20,800
Speaker 1: some vacations that took place around that time. But this

478
00:22:21,000 --> 00:22:23,959
Speaker 1: was like just five straight uninterrupted days getting to be

479
00:22:23,960 --> 00:22:27,040
Speaker 1: back in Tucson and a couple things like the mountains

480
00:22:27,040 --> 00:22:29,000
Speaker 1: are beautiful there. I always end up taking them for

481
00:22:29,040 --> 00:22:30,639
Speaker 1: granted when I live there, and whenever I come back

482
00:22:30,680 --> 00:22:33,639
Speaker 1: to visit. Just that they have three peaks in the

483
00:22:33,720 --> 00:22:35,440
Speaker 1: area that are right around them that are like, you know,

484
00:22:35,480 --> 00:22:38,600
Speaker 1: around nine thousand feet tall, and the surrounding terrain. Because

485
00:22:38,640 --> 00:22:41,520
Speaker 1: it's relatively low elevation, they're very prominent, they stick out

486
00:22:41,560 --> 00:22:43,040
Speaker 1: a lot. And so when I was driving around, I

487
00:22:43,040 --> 00:22:44,760
Speaker 1: was just like, man, tu Soon's a beautiful place. And

488
00:22:44,960 --> 00:22:47,919
Speaker 1: you know, every day was like seventy five degrees and sunny,

489
00:22:47,920 --> 00:22:49,639
Speaker 1: and so this time of year it's like the best

490
00:22:49,680 --> 00:22:53,240
Speaker 1: weather out there. But to me, easily, it's the friends

491
00:22:53,280 --> 00:22:56,520
Speaker 1: and family, you know, Like I don't have a ton

492
00:22:56,600 --> 00:22:59,399
Speaker 1: of like you know, when it comes to like what

493
00:22:59,480 --> 00:23:02,119
Speaker 1: my routine is, Like I play basketball obviously, and I

494
00:23:02,119 --> 00:23:03,679
Speaker 1: have my hobbies, like I like to ski, and I

495
00:23:03,720 --> 00:23:05,919
Speaker 1: like to play guitar and things like that. But easily,

496
00:23:05,920 --> 00:23:07,320
Speaker 1: my favorite thing to do is just hang out with

497
00:23:07,320 --> 00:23:10,000
Speaker 1: friends and family. And so just getting to be back

498
00:23:10,119 --> 00:23:12,320
Speaker 1: and uh and to get to see everybody in person,

499
00:23:12,320 --> 00:23:13,560
Speaker 1: and to get to spend a lot of time with

500
00:23:13,600 --> 00:23:15,520
Speaker 1: my We stayed with my family while we were there,

501
00:23:15,520 --> 00:23:17,480
Speaker 1: I got to see my friends and it was just

502
00:23:17,520 --> 00:23:19,800
Speaker 1: great to kind of get back and just see all

503
00:23:19,840 --> 00:23:24,400
Speaker 1: the people that we love Colorado. I've been really frustrated

504
00:23:24,400 --> 00:23:28,440
Speaker 1: with the lack of snow that's been killer. I'm hoping

505
00:23:28,440 --> 00:23:30,480
Speaker 1: that that changes at some point next month or so.

506
00:23:31,240 --> 00:23:33,840
Speaker 1: But overall, I love it here. The basketball scene is incredible.

507
00:23:33,840 --> 00:23:36,320
Speaker 1: It's engaged me competitively as a basketball player in a

508
00:23:36,320 --> 00:23:39,479
Speaker 1: way that I haven't felt literally since college. The people

509
00:23:39,480 --> 00:23:41,520
Speaker 1: here are incredible. There's just a lot of really really

510
00:23:41,600 --> 00:23:44,600
Speaker 1: nice people that I've met in you know, everywhere that

511
00:23:44,640 --> 00:23:46,199
Speaker 1: I've gone, and you could just tell that there's like

512
00:23:46,400 --> 00:23:49,240
Speaker 1: a culture of kindness here that I've really liked. And

513
00:23:49,280 --> 00:23:51,359
Speaker 1: then the weather, you know, honestly, like it gets cold

514
00:23:51,400 --> 00:23:53,080
Speaker 1: and there's snow, and there's been a lot more wind

515
00:23:53,119 --> 00:23:55,000
Speaker 1: than I was expecting. But overall, I just think it's

516
00:23:55,000 --> 00:23:57,000
Speaker 1: beautiful out here. And every single day when I'm driving

517
00:23:57,000 --> 00:23:58,520
Speaker 1: around and I'm looking at the mountains and I'm looking

518
00:23:58,520 --> 00:24:01,200
Speaker 1: at all the color you know, they say colorful Colorado.

519
00:24:01,240 --> 00:24:02,680
Speaker 1: That's what you see on the state signs when you're

520
00:24:02,680 --> 00:24:06,320
Speaker 1: coming in, and it couldn't be more true. I've definitely,

521
00:24:06,359 --> 00:24:08,680
Speaker 1: really really enjoyed living out here. I do miss Arizona

522
00:24:08,720 --> 00:24:10,480
Speaker 1: for my friends and family, but that's the beautiful thing

523
00:24:10,480 --> 00:24:12,240
Speaker 1: as we can visit them and we have the technology

524
00:24:12,280 --> 00:24:14,320
Speaker 1: to be able to talk to them FaceTime, phone calls,

525
00:24:14,320 --> 00:24:16,440
Speaker 1: all that kind of stuff. So like, honestly, it's been

526
00:24:16,520 --> 00:24:19,200
Speaker 1: it's been really good for Carly and I and I

527
00:24:19,240 --> 00:24:20,840
Speaker 1: think we're gonna we're gonna be here for at least

528
00:24:20,840 --> 00:24:22,800
Speaker 1: a couple of years, and we'll see how it goes

529
00:24:22,840 --> 00:24:24,840
Speaker 1: in the long run. All Right, guys, it's all I

530
00:24:24,840 --> 00:24:26,960
Speaker 1: have for today. As always, sincerely appreciate you guys for

531
00:24:26,960 --> 00:24:29,440
Speaker 1: supporting us and supporting the show again. We'll be back

532
00:24:29,760 --> 00:24:31,960
Speaker 1: tomorrow morning with a breakdown of the Tuesday night slate.

533
00:24:32,040 --> 00:24:32,960
Speaker 1: I'll see you guys, bet