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Speaker 1: in West Virginia. All right, welcome to Hoops Tonight, presented

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Speaker 1: by Vanduel here at the volume we are live on AMP.

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Speaker 1: It is time for our bi weekly power rankings. And

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Speaker 1: don't forget if you're watching on YouTube or on our

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Speaker 1: podcast feed, that AMP is the very first place that

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Speaker 1: you guys can get our live breakdowns like this, so

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Speaker 1: you guys know the drill We're gonna remember. I'm gonna

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Speaker 1: be I'm gonna mention a lot today, things along the

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Speaker 1: lines of in the last two weeks or since our

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Speaker 1: last list or in the last chunk of games, and

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Speaker 1: the main reason why is I I don't want to

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Speaker 1: be just a standard power rankings list that primarily focuses

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Speaker 1: on the on the postseason for starters. I just want

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Speaker 1: to do something different. And then secondly, I just don't

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Speaker 1: really change my opinion that much based on regular season

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Speaker 1: basketball unless I see some things super drastic, like for instance,

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Speaker 1: with the Warriors. Yeah, it's been a rough start. I

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Speaker 1: still think they are a top tier contender. If I

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Speaker 1: was doing a playoff power rankings, they'd probably still be

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Speaker 1: in my top three right now. They're not even on

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Speaker 1: the list this week. So the way that these power

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Speaker 1: rankings lists are gonna work because I really want to

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Speaker 1: take it as an opportunity to focus on who's playing

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Speaker 1: well right now just to kind of help us keep

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Speaker 1: things interesting during the regular season. So here are the

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Speaker 1: teams that dropped off the list from last week. First

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Speaker 1: is the Warriors. I had them up at ten two

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Speaker 1: weeks ago based on respect as the defending champs, and

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Speaker 1: their starting lineup was still playing really well. And then

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Speaker 1: they went three and four since that list. Their seventh

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Speaker 1: in offense during that span, but defense continues to be

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Speaker 1: their issue, their sixteenth over that span. And I talked

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Speaker 1: last night about how it's not just the bench, it's

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Speaker 1: the starters that are having issues too. That starting lineup

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Speaker 1: of Steph Curry, Clay Thompson, Andrew Wiggins, Draymond Green and

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Speaker 1: Covan Looney. Over the course of the first six games,

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Speaker 1: that grouping had a deep sense of rating of one

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Speaker 1: oh three and since that East Coast road trip their

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Speaker 1: last seven games, they have a defensive rating of a

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Speaker 1: hundred and ten. So they just you know, we can

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Speaker 1: talk about the bench all we want. We could talk

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Speaker 1: about Clay Thompson missing shots. We could talk about Jordan

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Speaker 1: Pool missing shots. The core five guys are also not

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Speaker 1: defending the way they did to start the season. Uh,

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Speaker 1: the Chicago Bulls, I had them at nine after their

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Speaker 1: five and four start. They were defending really well. Well,

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Speaker 1: the bottom is fallen out of their defense. Their twenty

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Speaker 1: fifth and defense over the last two weeks and they

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Speaker 1: dropped five out of their last six games. The Toronto

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Speaker 1: Raptors there four and four in the last two weeks.

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Speaker 1: I was concerned about their inability to score and defend

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Speaker 1: in the half court. If you guys remember like they

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Speaker 1: were third in offense, but and there their third in

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Speaker 1: offense and eighth and defense. But if you looked at

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Speaker 1: cleaning the glass and looked at their half court numbers,

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Speaker 1: they weren't good at all. Well, it seems like other

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Speaker 1: teams have figured that out. They were third in offense

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Speaker 1: the first two weeks, seventeenth and offense the last two weeks,

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Speaker 1: eighth in defense the first two weeks eighteenth and defense.

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Speaker 1: The last two weeks they were fourth and net rating.

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Speaker 1: The first two weeks they were twenty second in net

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Speaker 1: race eating the last two weeks. They did get a

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Speaker 1: nice little win at home last night over the Heat.

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Speaker 1: No Gna Nobi was awesome on both ends of the floor.

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Speaker 1: So this is where I enjoyed this particular structure. We

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Speaker 1: might never talk about a team like the Indiana Pacers

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Speaker 1: over the course of the season, but with this type

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Speaker 1: of structure and power rankings, we get to talk about them.

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Speaker 1: This week. At number ten, I have the Indiana Pacers.

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Speaker 1: They were four and one. Since our last list, they've

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Speaker 1: won six out of eight overall, pushing them up over

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Speaker 1: five day are now seven and six on the season.

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Speaker 1: They beat the Raptors, they beat the Pelicans, they beat

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Speaker 1: the neat the Heat and the nets in that span.

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Speaker 1: They're also fourth in defense. Since our last list, anchored

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Speaker 1: by Miles Turner has been fantastic. He had and ten

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Speaker 1: with three blocks last night in a win over the Hornets.

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Speaker 1: One of the revelations here in the early part of

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Speaker 1: the season has been Benedict Mathin. You know, and I

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Speaker 1: liked him at Arizona. Remember I'm from Tucson, so I

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Speaker 1: followed the Wildcats closely, and you know, there were a

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Speaker 1: lot of things I liked. He was an obvious NBA athlete.

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Speaker 1: He already was pretty built into his grown man body,

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Speaker 1: and he was really competitive. You could see that fire

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Speaker 1: in him, which you know, manifested in his work, ethic

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Speaker 1: and things along those lines. So I liked him as

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Speaker 1: a prospect. But my main concern was his jump shot.

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Speaker 1: I thought his form was a little funky. It's got

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Speaker 1: a hitch in it. It's kind of off to the

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Speaker 1: side of his head. But he's shooting on pull up

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Speaker 1: jumpers this year, including on pull up threes. I remember

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Speaker 1: when I started coaching high school basketball. I I coach

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Speaker 1: with a really good coach here in Tucson as one

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Speaker 1: of his assistants. Obviously, because my availability in the evenings

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Speaker 1: is tough, so I primarily hope in the morning, help

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Speaker 1: in the mornings with like skill development and stuff, and

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Speaker 1: our head coach. He played professionally in Italy for like

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Speaker 1: seven years. He's point guard, just a basketball genius. And

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Speaker 1: one of the things he told me was like, don't

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Speaker 1: worry so much about form, especially with young players, because

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Speaker 1: that it's just gonna get in their heads. Focus on

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Speaker 1: things that are more controllable, like their base, making sure

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Speaker 1: they get good lift every time, making sure they ditch

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Speaker 1: unnecessary movement, and things along those lines. And we could

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Speaker 1: talk about Bennedic Natherin's release all we want, but he's

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Speaker 1: always had a really good bass, he gets great lift,

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Speaker 1: there's not a ton of wasted movement, and that's why

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Speaker 1: he's knocking down shots right now. So a fun little

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Speaker 1: stretch of basketball from the Indiana Pacers, and both Buddy

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Speaker 1: Yild and Miles Turner look excellent. I still I still

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Speaker 1: remain shocked that the Lakers didn't see those guys as

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Speaker 1: people that would um give Lebron and Anthony Davis a

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Speaker 1: real fighting chance. Number nine the Dallas Mavericks. There are

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Speaker 1: four and three since our last list. They did drop

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Speaker 1: a game without Luka donchitch last night. They started the

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Speaker 1: year grade on offense and poorly on defense, and it's

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Speaker 1: been the exact opposite since. So since our last power rankings,

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Speaker 1: there twenty eight in offense and fifth in defense. I

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Speaker 1: watched the Clippers game yesterday from I believe it was

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Speaker 1: Monday night, might have been Sunday. Dallas jumped out to

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Speaker 1: a huge lead. Then you know, the Clippers methodically worked

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Speaker 1: their way back in by playing good defense, forcing Luca

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Speaker 1: and a bunch of mrs getting out on the other

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Speaker 1: end and scoring. John Wall had a really nice game

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Speaker 1: um getting getting to the basket, knocking down, pull up

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Speaker 1: fifteen footers and stuff like that. The game was tied

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Speaker 1: at ninety three late and both teams were double teaming

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Speaker 1: the Stars, So the Mavericks were double teaming Paul George

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Speaker 1: and the Clippers were double teaming Luca don che It's.

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Speaker 1: But in this four possession sequence, the Clippers went down,

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Speaker 1: they double team Paul George. He turned it over. Then

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Speaker 1: the Mavericks went down, the double team Luca don che

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Speaker 1: It got a wide open three for Reggie Bullock because

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Speaker 1: Luca made the play right. Then they went down and

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Speaker 1: they double team Paul George again. He turned it over again,

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Speaker 1: and then they went down and the double team Luca

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Speaker 1: don Chech. He made the right play, Dwight Powell on

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Speaker 1: the short roll, hit Reggie Bullock on the left wing.

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Speaker 1: He hit another big shot and the game was over.

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Speaker 1: So it's kind of an interesting game back and forth

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Speaker 1: where Luca just made the right plays at the end

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Speaker 1: of the game and PG turned it over twice. It's

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Speaker 1: also good to see Reggie Bullock finally get going hitting

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Speaker 1: those massive three's. Christian Wood is also averaging twenty points

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Speaker 1: per game in their last three, and they're toning back

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Speaker 1: Luca's usage a bit. It's only thirty six percent since

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Speaker 1: our last list, when it was up over fort to

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Speaker 1: start the season. Alright, number eight the Memphis Grizzlies there

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Speaker 1: four and three since our last list, twenty one and

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Speaker 1: offense and third in defense. I wanted to talk about

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Speaker 1: Desmond Bain for a second. He heard his big toes,

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Speaker 1: who's gonna be out for a few weeks, but he's

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Speaker 1: having a fantastic season, fueled by his improvements as a

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Speaker 1: shot creator. If you guys remember I I always really

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Speaker 1: like Desmond Bain's spot up shooting and a little bit

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Speaker 1: of his relocation shooting, you know, some of that stuff's

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Speaker 1: off the dribble, but not too much more, mostly attacking

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Speaker 1: closeouts right. And I love his competitiveness. He competes on

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Speaker 1: the defensive end as well. Lots to love about Desmond Baine.

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Speaker 1: But I've never thought he's a little too upright, and

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Speaker 1: he doesn't have a great first step and so, and

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Speaker 1: he doesn't handle the ball super well. So I was

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Speaker 1: concerned about his shot creation. Well, he's put a ton

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Speaker 1: of work over the course of the off season. I

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Speaker 1: was listening to a Grizzlies broadcast the other day and

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Speaker 1: they were talking about this. He um relentlessly focused on

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Speaker 1: his off the dribble shooting and just his ball handling

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Speaker 1: in general. Well, look at this. He's forty six percent

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Speaker 1: on seven pull up jumpers for per game, including forty

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Speaker 1: percent from three, And he's getting into the restricted area

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Speaker 1: to attempt shots four point three times per game, up

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Speaker 1: from two point seven last year. So he's just getting

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Speaker 1: to the basket a lot more, although he is missing

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Speaker 1: some layups right now. Memphis desperately needed a second legit

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Speaker 1: shot creator. If Desmond Baine becomes that, that's huge for them.

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Speaker 1: Um number seven is number seven, the New Orleans Pelicans.

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Speaker 1: They're five and three since our last list. Wins over

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Speaker 1: Chicago twice, they beat Memphis. They also beat the Warriors

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Speaker 1: ninth and offense and tenth and defense since our last list.

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Speaker 1: Really balanced attack, They've got six guys averaging double figures

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Speaker 1: in this stretch. They've also been really good in crunch

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Speaker 1: time closing games. They're three and one in games that

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Speaker 1: involved crunch time with a one seven offensive rating in

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Speaker 1: a nine five defensive rating when the game is within

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Speaker 1: five with less than five minutes left. UM the Sacramento

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Speaker 1: Kings at number six. They're five and one since our

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Speaker 1: last list, seven and two since their own four start,

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Speaker 1: their second in offense and nineteenth and defense over the

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Speaker 1: last two weeks. Daron Fox's improvement as a jump shooter

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Speaker 1: is one of the main things that is driving this resurgence.

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Speaker 1: From the King's last year, He's got thirty four percent

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Speaker 1: on catching shoot jumpers. This year he's shooting fifty on

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Speaker 1: catching shoot jumpers. Obviously a big deal, especially with Demonic

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Speaker 1: Sabonis on the floor and the attention that he commands

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Speaker 1: around the basket. Demonus has also been fantastic over the

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Speaker 1: course of the last couple of weeks, and then tarn

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Speaker 1: Fox is up to on eight point four pull up

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Speaker 1: jump shots per game, which is really solid. He's been

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Speaker 1: going to that pull up to a lot at the

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Speaker 1: end of games and it's been going in for him alright.

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Speaker 1: Number five the Phoenix Suns. They are three and four

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Speaker 1: since our last list, but they've been decimated by injuries.

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Speaker 1: CP three has a heel issue, Cam Johnson tours meniscus. Obviously,

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Speaker 1: Jake Crowder has been out the entire season because he

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Speaker 1: demanded a trade. So they're just a little thin right now,

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Speaker 1: but they're still thirteenth in offense and fourteenth and defense

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Speaker 1: over this stretch and manufacturing some wins, including an impressive

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Speaker 1: win last night against the Golden State Warriors. I was

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Speaker 1: really impressed by Devin Booker last night, yet again passing

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Speaker 1: the basketball. That's been something that I've been on all season.

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Speaker 1: I think has been the biggest driver of his success

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Speaker 1: as he's been rising up the league over the course

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Speaker 1: of the last couple of seasons. And then Campaign is

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Speaker 1: doing a really nice job filling in for Chris Paul.

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Speaker 1: He's averaging nineteen points and six assists. He gets a

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Speaker 1: ton of dribble penetration. Last night, I was talking about

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Speaker 1: how he's like the fastball to Chris Paul's change up.

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Speaker 1: You know, Chris Paul methodically works in the lane and

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Speaker 1: dries debate defenders into getting out of position so that

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Speaker 1: he can make passes to advantage situations. Campaign it's a

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Speaker 1: lot more straightforward than that. He's just getting downhill and

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Speaker 1: drawing help kicking out with Everything with Phoenix is about

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Speaker 1: getting to that backside so you can have guys like

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Speaker 1: Damian Lee and Michaal Bridges making plays um because they're

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Speaker 1: really talented and when you give them advantages, they're gonna score.

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Speaker 1: And Damian Lee, for instance, is shooting seventeen for thirty

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Speaker 1: from three since our last list, number four. The Portland Trailblazers.

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Speaker 1: They're five and two since our last power rankings with

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Speaker 1: wins over the Pels, The Heat and the Sun's are

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Speaker 1: eighteenth in offense and twelfth and defense. They're doing it

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Speaker 1: in crunch time. They've won three games in crunch time

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Speaker 1: during this span. Is a team. They're shooting fifties fifty

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Speaker 1: percent from the field in sixty from three in clutch

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Speaker 1: situations over the last two weeks. Jeremy Grant is playing

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Speaker 1: incredibly well in this span despite some injuries, you know,

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Speaker 1: because Dame has been in and out of the lineup

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Speaker 1: with that calf issue. He's averaging twenty seven, six and

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Speaker 1: three in this five and two stretch on fifty six

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Speaker 1: percent shooting from the field and six from three. You know,

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Speaker 1: I was kind of uh intrigued by Jeremy Grant a

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Speaker 1: lot over the last couple of years. I wanted the

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Speaker 1: Lakers to get him when I was covering the Lakers.

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Speaker 1: You know, when he went to Detroit, he from Denver

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Speaker 1: for the same amount of money that Denver offered him.

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Speaker 1: He wanted to be a lead ball creator, right, So

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Speaker 1: he goes to Detroit and he has a pretty productive season.

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Speaker 1: I think he averaged somewhere around twenty four points per game,

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Speaker 1: and he was relatively efficient. Next year, he was kind

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Speaker 1: of injury plagued, right. But what you're seeing is, you know,

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Speaker 1: when someone goes that route transitioning from off ball to

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Speaker 1: on ball type of creation, there's an adjustment period and

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Speaker 1: then there's like a comfortability that builds over time. And

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Speaker 1: what are seeing is a player that that is only

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Speaker 1: in his third season really in this type of role,

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Speaker 1: and he's thriving in it now because he's getting a

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Speaker 1: lot more reps, he's a lot more comfortable. You're seeing

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Speaker 1: development as a pull up jump shooter. His handle looks great.

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Speaker 1: There was that game against the Pels that we covered

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Speaker 1: i think last week where he was hitt and pull

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Speaker 1: up jump shots to get the defender to come up

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Speaker 1: on him and then using counter moves to get to

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Speaker 1: the rim and make him big plays to lead his

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Speaker 1: team to a win without Damian Lillard or use of

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Speaker 1: Nurkics on the floor. So a really really nice pick

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Speaker 1: up for Portland. And hey, they're top four team here

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Speaker 1: early in the season. Number three. The Denver Nuggets there

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Speaker 1: five and two since our last list, and they're one

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Speaker 1: of those two losses was without Local, without Nickel Yokich.

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Speaker 1: This has been a weaker stretch of their schedule though,

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Speaker 1: um just for a little bit of context, the only

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Speaker 1: really good team they played during this fan was Boston

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Speaker 1: and they did get rolled in that game. But they're

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Speaker 1: making some progress on defense there, up to up in

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Speaker 1: the league in defense over their last seven games. And

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Speaker 1: then Jamal Murray just looking a little bit more like himself.

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Speaker 1: Every single day. Um hit some big shots last night

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Speaker 1: against the Knicks. He's up to nineteen points per game

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Speaker 1: on fifty three percent shooting in his last seven games

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Speaker 1: and forty one on ten pull up jumpers per game.

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Speaker 1: Like to see that closer to forty percent. But once

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Speaker 1: he gets there, that's when we'll really know that Jamal

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Speaker 1: Murray is back to what he used to be because

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Speaker 1: he's one of the best pull up jump jump shooters

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Speaker 1: in the league. Bones Highland, after a rough start to

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Speaker 1: the season, is also starting to get going. He made

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Speaker 1: three massive threes uh in the late third quarter in

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Speaker 1: early fourth quarter against the Knicks last night. He had

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Speaker 1: one to start the fourth quarter where he got an

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Speaker 1: and one falling forward. It was one of the most

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Speaker 1: bizarre um you know and one threes that I've ever seen. Uh.

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Speaker 1: That gave him a big lead. I think they went

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Speaker 1: up like eighty, but they ended up falling apart. Just

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Speaker 1: without Yokich, they just don't have the interior presence that

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Speaker 1: they need, especially against the Knicks team that has a

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Speaker 1: good amount of interior size. Bones Highland is shooting on

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Speaker 1: five pull up threes per game since our last list.

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Speaker 1: All right, number two, the Milwaukee Bucks. They are four

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Speaker 1: and three since our last list, but still just a

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Speaker 1: half game back of the best record in UH in

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Speaker 1: the entire league, and injuries are really the driver of

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Speaker 1: this current little, somewhat um less impressive stretch. Janice smissed

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Speaker 1: three games he had a foot ankle issue. He's also

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Speaker 1: only averaging twenty four points on thirty nine percent shooting

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Speaker 1: UH in the four games that he did play, so

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Speaker 1: he's obviously a little banged up right now. Now. Drew

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Speaker 1: Holiday is out with an ankle issue. So they went

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Speaker 1: in the last night's game down three starters and with

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Speaker 1: one of their starters not quite a hundred percent yet.

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Speaker 1: Bobby Portis was starting, Javon Carter started, who's been really good,

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Speaker 1: and then uh bou Champ. I hope I'm pronouncing that correctly. Um,

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Speaker 1: he's a rookie and he had a little bit of

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Speaker 1: a rough shooting night last night, but he shows a

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Speaker 1: lot of flashes defensively and he's got a good frame.

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Speaker 1: They're still just finding a way to win games. How

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Speaker 1: is that? Because they defend their sixth and defense since

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Speaker 1: our last list, despite being down all of those players,

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Speaker 1: and Brook Lopez is one of the early season favorites

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Speaker 1: for defensive Player of the Year this year. He made

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Speaker 1: seven threes in block three shots last night in that

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Speaker 1: win against Cleveland. And so despite all that bad luck,

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Speaker 1: despite Janice being you know, hurt and out of the

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Speaker 1: lineup a little bit, just bit, Drew being out, despite

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Speaker 1: Pat Connaton being out, just by Chris Middleton being out,

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Speaker 1: despite all of that, they went four and three because

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Speaker 1: that's what teams with championship aspirations do. They have a

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Speaker 1: real identity that they can lean on when there's lineup turmoil.

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Speaker 1: There is a large chasm for me between the top

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Speaker 1: two teams Boston and Milwaukee, and the rest of the

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Speaker 1: league right now. I expect some other teams to join

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Speaker 1: that level over the course of the season, but right

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Speaker 1: now Boston and Milwaukee look like they're in a class

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Speaker 1: of their own. Number one in the Boston Celtics. They

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Speaker 1: had a defensive clinic versus Atlanta last night to bring

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Speaker 1: them to eight and oh since our last list, their

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Speaker 1: first an offense since our last list, and first an

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Speaker 1: offense for the season with a comfortable margin. They're up

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Speaker 1: to eleventh and defense over their last eight games, driven

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Speaker 1: in large part because of their really good defensive performance

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Speaker 1: last night against Atlanta. Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown are

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Speaker 1: still killing it. They're averaging fifty and eight in the

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Speaker 1: last two weeks. And then I wanted to talk about

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Speaker 1: Marcus Smart for a second, because you know, I've been

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Speaker 1: a little as good as Jason Tatum has been offensively.

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Speaker 1: I was a little disappointed because he kind of stopped

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Speaker 1: being the playmaker that he was towards the end of

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Speaker 1: the year last year. Now, I wanted him to do

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Speaker 1: that because he wasn't a great isolation player and he

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Speaker 1: wasn't getting to the basket and finishing well enough, and

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Speaker 1: he needed to improve more in those areas, and he

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Speaker 1: was already showing some high showing some promise as a playmaker,

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Speaker 1: so I thought it made more sense for him to

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Speaker 1: take that role and for Jalen Brown to kind of

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Speaker 1: be your, you know, point him and shoot him type

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Speaker 1: of of score well. As Tatum has kind of gone

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Speaker 1: into this season, he's been much better isolating, much better

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Speaker 1: getting to the rim, much better scoring efficiently. So it's

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Speaker 1: kind of worked out that he let go of some

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Speaker 1: of that playmaking rope and the guy who slotted into

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Speaker 1: that role as Marcus Smart, Um, he's he's been I

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Speaker 1: want to say, he's averaging a career high and in

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Speaker 1: assist right now, he's averaging like eight or nine assists

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Speaker 1: per game since our last Power rankings, and he is

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Speaker 1: taking on that specific role of getting dribble penetration, starting

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Speaker 1: the advantage creation process for Boston that they do such

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Speaker 1: a good job of extending because they have so many

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Speaker 1: good players, and Grant Williams and Jaylen Brown and Jayson

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Speaker 1: Tatum and and uh and uh, you know Malcolm brogged

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Speaker 1: in on the back end, Al Horford, you know, uh,

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Speaker 1: spotting up in the corners, whatever it is. They just

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Speaker 1: have so many guys that can expand the advantage that

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Speaker 1: they just need that guy to get that initial dribble

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Speaker 1: penetration and kick out. And right now Marcus Smart is

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Speaker 1: the guy that's filling that role. And then lastly, Grant Williams,

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Speaker 1: He's on four threes per game and has been excellent defensively. Um,

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Speaker 1: in the last couple of weeks. You know, like I

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Speaker 1: said last night, he bet on himself turning down that

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Speaker 1: extension to try to get more and he's been so

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Speaker 1: good to start the season that he's probably gonna get

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Speaker 1: it um and then Luke Cornette has done a really

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Speaker 1: nice job filling in for Robert Williams. They look like

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Speaker 1: the best team in the world right now, and they

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Speaker 1: deserve the top spot on our list. You might notice

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Speaker 1: next to me here on the screen, good friend, Mr Carson.

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Speaker 1: We've had no Carson for a while because we've been

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Speaker 1: waiting on a specific piece of equipment that we finally

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Speaker 1: got installed so that we can functionally make this whole

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Speaker 1: thing work. But dude, it is good to see you man.

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Speaker 1: How are you today? Oh Jason, it is just a

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Speaker 1: joy to be here and I'm great, very happy. Some

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Speaker 1: great basketball going on. Hell yeah, We've got five questions

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Speaker 1: from the early chunk of the season here really quickly.

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Speaker 1: Before we get started, Please subscribe to the YouTube channels

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

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Speaker 1: me on Twitter and underscore Jason lt s. You guys

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Speaker 1: don't miss show announcements or any film breakdowns that we do.

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Speaker 1: And if you miss one of these episodes and you

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Speaker 1: can't get back to YouTube, remember you can find them

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Speaker 1: wherever you get your podcasts Under Hoops tonight. And on

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Speaker 1: that note, Carson, let's get to question number one. What

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Speaker 1: do you got question number one. Despite their struggles, the

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Speaker 1: Warriors and the Clippers are still co favorites to get

430
00:20:55,320 --> 00:20:58,320
Speaker 1: out of the West Jason. They're both plus three thirty

431
00:20:58,359 --> 00:21:01,840
Speaker 1: on fandel to win the Western Conference. Does that make

432
00:21:01,880 --> 00:21:06,840
Speaker 1: sense to you? Are they still deserving favorites? Yes, because, well,

433
00:21:06,880 --> 00:21:10,399
Speaker 1: specifically with the Warriors, I'll say yes. I don't feel

434
00:21:10,440 --> 00:21:13,800
Speaker 1: nearly as optimistic about the Clippers. I mean, for starters,

435
00:21:13,800 --> 00:21:16,719
Speaker 1: there's nobody else in the Western Conference that's really blowing

436
00:21:16,760 --> 00:21:20,359
Speaker 1: anybody away. Like Portland's off to a good start, but

437
00:21:20,520 --> 00:21:22,520
Speaker 1: then they drop a game at home to the Brooklyn

438
00:21:22,520 --> 00:21:25,320
Speaker 1: Nets last night. You know, like the Nuggets. They're nine

439
00:21:25,320 --> 00:21:28,200
Speaker 1: in five, but they have lost a lot of games

440
00:21:28,200 --> 00:21:31,280
Speaker 1: too good teams, and their defense isn't nearly where you

441
00:21:31,280 --> 00:21:34,679
Speaker 1: expect it to be. So no one's really impressing in

442
00:21:34,720 --> 00:21:36,480
Speaker 1: a way that would lead you to believe that the

443
00:21:36,480 --> 00:21:39,119
Speaker 1: Clippers or Warriors are in trouble out West now? Is

444
00:21:39,119 --> 00:21:43,600
Speaker 1: there a chasm forming between them and the Bucks and Celtics. Absolutely,

445
00:21:43,840 --> 00:21:46,040
Speaker 1: I think everybody would agree with that. But in the

446
00:21:46,080 --> 00:21:49,200
Speaker 1: Western Conference, I'm not overly concerned with the Warriors. They've

447
00:21:49,200 --> 00:21:51,280
Speaker 1: got a bunch of issues. Their defense is falling off

448
00:21:51,280 --> 00:21:54,000
Speaker 1: a cliff, their seventeenth in their last seven games. Their

449
00:21:54,040 --> 00:21:56,720
Speaker 1: starters have a one ten defensive rating during that span

450
00:21:56,760 --> 00:21:59,080
Speaker 1: as well, which is not good. Clay Thompson and Jordan

451
00:21:59,119 --> 00:22:01,520
Speaker 1: Pool are both struggling a bit offensively, and then their

452
00:22:01,560 --> 00:22:04,560
Speaker 1: bench has trouble holding leads. They're getting outscored by thirteen

453
00:22:04,600 --> 00:22:07,400
Speaker 1: points per one Hunter possessions with Steph off the floor,

454
00:22:07,960 --> 00:22:10,800
Speaker 1: when they're outscoring teams by seven when Steff is on

455
00:22:10,840 --> 00:22:12,919
Speaker 1: the floor, which is a twenty point swing. But everything

456
00:22:12,960 --> 00:22:15,360
Speaker 1: is fixable. The starters aren't defending, but we know they

457
00:22:15,440 --> 00:22:17,680
Speaker 1: can and we know they will. They were one of

458
00:22:17,720 --> 00:22:20,080
Speaker 1: the best defensive units in the league to start the season,

459
00:22:20,359 --> 00:22:22,679
Speaker 1: and they were outstanding in the playoffs last year, so

460
00:22:22,720 --> 00:22:25,560
Speaker 1: they will again be outstanding soon. It's just a matter

461
00:22:25,600 --> 00:22:29,439
Speaker 1: of commitment. Clay Thompson is shooting on a wide open threes.

462
00:22:29,800 --> 00:22:31,960
Speaker 1: Hot take here, Carson. I think those are gonna start

463
00:22:32,000 --> 00:22:35,320
Speaker 1: going in eventually. Yes, he's had some shot selection stuff,

464
00:22:35,320 --> 00:22:38,000
Speaker 1: but if really you want Clay to be aggressive, if

465
00:22:38,000 --> 00:22:40,040
Speaker 1: you just want him to be making shots, people are

466
00:22:40,040 --> 00:22:42,920
Speaker 1: really only complaining about the shots because they're not going in.

467
00:22:43,280 --> 00:22:45,720
Speaker 1: And then Jordan pools a young players are gonna occasionally

468
00:22:45,760 --> 00:22:48,320
Speaker 1: gonna have some cold stretches, but they're gonna find a

469
00:22:48,359 --> 00:22:50,560
Speaker 1: way to bolster the bench. They've got trades they can

470
00:22:50,600 --> 00:22:53,399
Speaker 1: make um involving the young players. They're gonna be a

471
00:22:53,400 --> 00:22:57,040
Speaker 1: buyout destination because they'll have minutes available. It's a great culture,

472
00:22:57,440 --> 00:23:01,359
Speaker 1: you know, a West Coast and uh chance legitimately to

473
00:23:01,359 --> 00:23:04,360
Speaker 1: win a title. They're gonna get a good buyout wing somewhere.

474
00:23:04,680 --> 00:23:06,680
Speaker 1: And then they could always do things like dusting off

475
00:23:06,680 --> 00:23:10,679
Speaker 1: on Drake Gudala or increasing the starters minutes as we

476
00:23:10,680 --> 00:23:12,560
Speaker 1: get closer to the playoffs to just make the bench

477
00:23:12,640 --> 00:23:16,119
Speaker 1: less important. And then with the Clippers, like they're playing better,

478
00:23:16,520 --> 00:23:19,280
Speaker 1: but they're twenty seven and offense in this last ten

479
00:23:19,320 --> 00:23:21,679
Speaker 1: game stretch, even when they've gone seven and three, they

480
00:23:21,680 --> 00:23:25,320
Speaker 1: can't score. And then Kauai, like, dude, Kauai was doing

481
00:23:25,400 --> 00:23:29,760
Speaker 1: jan Kie stuff like playing one first half shift to

482
00:23:29,800 --> 00:23:33,200
Speaker 1: try to limit his minutes, and he still broke down.

483
00:23:34,200 --> 00:23:37,200
Speaker 1: So like, what what universe is he gonna suddenly survive

484
00:23:37,240 --> 00:23:39,560
Speaker 1: the rest of the season, let alone ever look like

485
00:23:39,680 --> 00:23:42,680
Speaker 1: the old Kauai. So with with the Clippers, I'm a

486
00:23:42,720 --> 00:23:45,400
Speaker 1: lot more pessimistic. But the Warriors issues I think are fixable.

487
00:23:47,160 --> 00:23:50,000
Speaker 1: I think the Warriors are certainly in an interesting spot,

488
00:23:50,040 --> 00:23:53,080
Speaker 1: and I think you've been a big advocate of make

489
00:23:53,280 --> 00:23:55,879
Speaker 1: the mid season move. Go out there, put all your

490
00:23:55,880 --> 00:23:58,960
Speaker 1: pieces in, because this is a title caliber core with

491
00:23:59,119 --> 00:24:02,639
Speaker 1: an all time gray player and the future entry you

492
00:24:02,680 --> 00:24:06,119
Speaker 1: get from the Moody's. The commingas the Wiseman's just does

493
00:24:06,160 --> 00:24:08,359
Speaker 1: not compare and value to the immediacy of hey, we

494
00:24:08,400 --> 00:24:10,679
Speaker 1: can win a title right now, and I completely agree

495
00:24:10,680 --> 00:24:14,000
Speaker 1: with that. I also think it is absolutely necessary because

496
00:24:14,640 --> 00:24:17,520
Speaker 1: this top six is title caliber. We saw it last year.

497
00:24:17,560 --> 00:24:20,639
Speaker 1: That is undeniable. I don't think anybody's really significantly regressed here.

498
00:24:20,720 --> 00:24:24,000
Speaker 1: Steph looks even better. Clay is playing very poorly, but

499
00:24:24,080 --> 00:24:26,240
Speaker 1: it's like you said, I mean, for most of his career,

500
00:24:26,280 --> 00:24:30,119
Speaker 1: Clay's job has been to make contested shots. And guess what,

501
00:24:30,280 --> 00:24:33,040
Speaker 1: He's been inconsistent since coming back from injury. But I

502
00:24:33,040 --> 00:24:35,640
Speaker 1: still think he'll shoot thirty seven percent from three. He'll

503
00:24:35,680 --> 00:24:38,440
Speaker 1: be okay. But the reality is that the loss of

504
00:24:38,480 --> 00:24:41,680
Speaker 1: Gary Payton, the second Auto Porter junior, have really completely

505
00:24:41,800 --> 00:24:44,359
Speaker 1: changed the outlook of this bench. And you know, Anthony

506
00:24:44,440 --> 00:24:46,480
Speaker 1: Lamb is the best bench player outside of Jordan pool

507
00:24:46,560 --> 00:24:50,080
Speaker 1: right now, and so I like Dante DiVincenzo, he has

508
00:24:50,119 --> 00:24:53,320
Speaker 1: not looked like the same player he was before his injury.

509
00:24:53,320 --> 00:24:57,399
Speaker 1: In Milwaukee, Jamichael Green has been very mess So I

510
00:24:57,480 --> 00:25:00,560
Speaker 1: just don't think you can count on this ben rotation

511
00:25:00,680 --> 00:25:03,479
Speaker 1: right now to be good enough to really make a

512
00:25:03,520 --> 00:25:07,480
Speaker 1: meaningful push in the playoffs. But they're not that far away,

513
00:25:07,560 --> 00:25:09,320
Speaker 1: so I think they have to make a move. But

514
00:25:09,359 --> 00:25:11,920
Speaker 1: it's not a move that's at all impossible to make,

515
00:25:12,040 --> 00:25:15,200
Speaker 1: especially with the assets they have, which are decreasing in value.

516
00:25:15,240 --> 00:25:18,520
Speaker 1: But I'm sure still holds some intrigue. Yeah, and a

517
00:25:18,520 --> 00:25:20,320
Speaker 1: lot of the options, you know, because I've had Warriors

518
00:25:20,359 --> 00:25:23,000
Speaker 1: fans asking the comments like hey, can you provide some options,

519
00:25:23,040 --> 00:25:24,760
Speaker 1: And it's the same kind of trade targets that you're

520
00:25:24,760 --> 00:25:27,119
Speaker 1: seeing elsewhere around the league. They could go the route

521
00:25:27,160 --> 00:25:29,479
Speaker 1: of trying to poach a couple of the role players

522
00:25:29,480 --> 00:25:32,400
Speaker 1: that are playing for the Utah Jazz. Right They could

523
00:25:32,400 --> 00:25:36,000
Speaker 1: go after you know, Yaka Purdle and Doug McDermott from

524
00:25:36,040 --> 00:25:38,720
Speaker 1: the San Antonio Spurs, giving them a legit because like

525
00:25:38,800 --> 00:25:40,919
Speaker 1: right now, they're one front court injury away from the

526
00:25:40,920 --> 00:25:43,520
Speaker 1: season basically being over. Like if kevn Looney or Draymond

527
00:25:43,560 --> 00:25:46,440
Speaker 1: Green goes down, they're gonna have an extremely hard time

528
00:25:46,480 --> 00:25:49,520
Speaker 1: winning any games. Um, you know, I I look at

529
00:25:49,560 --> 00:25:52,199
Speaker 1: you know, Miles Turner for instance, as a guy who

530
00:25:52,280 --> 00:25:54,840
Speaker 1: you know, was playing really good basketball this season, and

531
00:25:54,920 --> 00:25:56,760
Speaker 1: yes he's been mentioned with the Lakers, but the Lakers

532
00:25:56,760 --> 00:25:58,720
Speaker 1: don't seem to want him, so someone else is probably

533
00:25:58,720 --> 00:26:01,159
Speaker 1: gonna get him because of Pacers aren't gonna you know,

534
00:26:01,280 --> 00:26:03,480
Speaker 1: ride this out. Yeah, they're over five now, but they're

535
00:26:03,440 --> 00:26:05,439
Speaker 1: eventually going to pull the plug out of all of this,

536
00:26:05,880 --> 00:26:08,360
Speaker 1: and they're gonna, you know, take a first round pick

537
00:26:08,440 --> 00:26:10,080
Speaker 1: or something along those lines, and you might be able

538
00:26:10,080 --> 00:26:11,719
Speaker 1: to get him from one of those young players if

539
00:26:11,720 --> 00:26:14,840
Speaker 1: you're Golden State, especially since I'm sure Indiana would like

540
00:26:14,880 --> 00:26:17,680
Speaker 1: to get a good wing in there alongside their their

541
00:26:17,720 --> 00:26:21,680
Speaker 1: new backcourts. So you know, there's options out there. They

542
00:26:21,720 --> 00:26:23,439
Speaker 1: just have a bunch of different directions they can go.

543
00:26:23,520 --> 00:26:26,520
Speaker 1: If Anthony Lamb pans out, which he's been playing really well,

544
00:26:26,520 --> 00:26:29,879
Speaker 1: shooting the ball well, guarding multiple positions. If Moses Moses

545
00:26:29,920 --> 00:26:32,840
Speaker 1: Moody gets it together, they dust off Andrey Gudala, they

546
00:26:32,840 --> 00:26:34,840
Speaker 1: increase minutes for the starters. They might not need to

547
00:26:34,880 --> 00:26:38,119
Speaker 1: do anything, but when the time comes in February, they'll

548
00:26:38,160 --> 00:26:40,840
Speaker 1: have the flexibility with a bunch of different ways that

549
00:26:40,880 --> 00:26:43,000
Speaker 1: they can go. And so I think, I mean that's why, like,

550
00:26:43,080 --> 00:26:44,879
Speaker 1: of all the teams to be concerned about, I just

551
00:26:44,920 --> 00:26:48,359
Speaker 1: wouldn't be like it. It's not there. Like you said,

552
00:26:48,359 --> 00:26:51,600
Speaker 1: Steph looks better than ever. There's the best lineup for

553
00:26:51,600 --> 00:26:53,480
Speaker 1: the Warriors. This isn't guarding the way they used to,

554
00:26:53,560 --> 00:26:55,679
Speaker 1: and it's it's only been like four months. It's not

555
00:26:55,720 --> 00:26:58,640
Speaker 1: like they've lost that capability. They're just this is classic,

556
00:26:59,000 --> 00:27:03,120
Speaker 1: you know, title defense malaise. Right. The Clippers are also

557
00:27:03,160 --> 00:27:06,240
Speaker 1: interesting to me because they have been so great defensively

558
00:27:06,400 --> 00:27:08,400
Speaker 1: number two in defensive writing on the year, and that

559
00:27:09,520 --> 00:27:13,560
Speaker 1: is probably, I would say, actually certainly the more reliable

560
00:27:13,600 --> 00:27:16,800
Speaker 1: predictor of if you're looking at which end of the floor,

561
00:27:16,840 --> 00:27:20,040
Speaker 1: which can we trust more Certainly it's the defense compared

562
00:27:20,040 --> 00:27:23,280
Speaker 1: to the offense without Kauai, because so much of what

563
00:27:23,320 --> 00:27:27,600
Speaker 1: the Clippers do is predicated on the isolation, the drive

564
00:27:27,640 --> 00:27:29,800
Speaker 1: and kick, trusting their perimeter guys to go out there

565
00:27:29,800 --> 00:27:32,800
Speaker 1: and get buckets like their third in isolation percentage there

566
00:27:32,880 --> 00:27:34,960
Speaker 1: twenty nine and passes made, which is just how they've

567
00:27:34,960 --> 00:27:38,000
Speaker 1: always played basketball. But when Reggie Jackson has not been great,

568
00:27:38,000 --> 00:27:40,000
Speaker 1: when Norman Powell has not been great, when John Wall

569
00:27:40,040 --> 00:27:43,120
Speaker 1: hasn't been great, and when you don't have Kauai, that's

570
00:27:43,160 --> 00:27:46,680
Speaker 1: basically their entire offensive identity kind of thrown out the windows.

571
00:27:46,800 --> 00:27:49,840
Speaker 1: So I'm not overly confident that Kauai is gonna be

572
00:27:50,600 --> 00:27:55,760
Speaker 1: himself or healthy. We just don't know, so I think

573
00:27:55,880 --> 00:27:59,359
Speaker 1: right now I would certainly put the Suns in the

574
00:27:59,480 --> 00:28:02,880
Speaker 1: Nuggets right in that same tier. I think all these

575
00:28:02,880 --> 00:28:06,239
Speaker 1: teams are flawed. I think there's uncertainty with all of them,

576
00:28:06,280 --> 00:28:07,919
Speaker 1: and I don't think any of them compare to the

577
00:28:07,960 --> 00:28:11,920
Speaker 1: top tier of teams out East. Certainly agree on that. Yeah,

578
00:28:12,000 --> 00:28:13,960
Speaker 1: I put the Nuggets as the one team that I

579
00:28:13,960 --> 00:28:17,800
Speaker 1: would put as a legitimate Western Conference threat. They're nine

580
00:28:17,840 --> 00:28:20,679
Speaker 1: in four when Yoki's plays, and that was despite at

581
00:28:20,680 --> 00:28:23,200
Speaker 1: the start of the season. Jamal Murray is still kind

582
00:28:23,200 --> 00:28:25,959
Speaker 1: of working his way back, and Bones Hiland did not

583
00:28:26,000 --> 00:28:28,800
Speaker 1: shoot well to start the season, but Jamal looks a

584
00:28:28,880 --> 00:28:31,400
Speaker 1: little bit more and more like himself each and every

585
00:28:31,440 --> 00:28:34,280
Speaker 1: game that he plays. Bones Highland is shaking off that

586
00:28:34,400 --> 00:28:36,840
Speaker 1: rough start. Now he's making his shots again in this

587
00:28:36,920 --> 00:28:40,120
Speaker 1: recent stretch from the Nuggets, he's shooting like pull up

588
00:28:40,160 --> 00:28:43,479
Speaker 1: threes or something insane like that. Their defense is still

589
00:28:43,640 --> 00:28:47,320
Speaker 1: just terrible, but we know that they're capable of playing

590
00:28:47,360 --> 00:28:49,360
Speaker 1: better than they have. They're never gonna be a top

591
00:28:49,400 --> 00:28:52,000
Speaker 1: five defense, but they should be closer to fifteen, and

592
00:28:52,040 --> 00:28:54,000
Speaker 1: I think they're twenty three right now. So they've just

593
00:28:54,000 --> 00:28:55,800
Speaker 1: got a bunch of different ways that they can improve.

594
00:28:56,040 --> 00:28:59,040
Speaker 1: And then, to put it simply, the Clippers and the Warriors,

595
00:28:59,600 --> 00:29:02,400
Speaker 1: that Yo Kitch matchup is just really tough for them,

596
00:29:02,440 --> 00:29:04,800
Speaker 1: you know. The the the Warriors have beaten the Nuggets

597
00:29:04,840 --> 00:29:08,520
Speaker 1: in the playoffs with the injuries that they've sustained, but

598
00:29:08,600 --> 00:29:11,640
Speaker 1: they've suffered some losses to the fully healthy version of

599
00:29:11,640 --> 00:29:14,360
Speaker 1: the Nuggets during the regular season because it's just a

600
00:29:14,360 --> 00:29:17,360
Speaker 1: different matchup for them physically. And then obviously we've seen

601
00:29:17,400 --> 00:29:20,000
Speaker 1: what happens when Yoki comes into contact with the Clippers.

602
00:29:20,040 --> 00:29:22,320
Speaker 1: So I put the Nuggets as my biggest threat to

603
00:29:22,320 --> 00:29:25,560
Speaker 1: those two teams. I would agree with you there Sons

604
00:29:25,600 --> 00:29:27,800
Speaker 1: have looked good, but I think their depth is a

605
00:29:27,840 --> 00:29:29,720
Speaker 1: bit of an issue, and the Nuggets have the potential

606
00:29:29,760 --> 00:29:32,800
Speaker 1: of being the best offense in basketball on any given night,

607
00:29:32,840 --> 00:29:36,000
Speaker 1: and that gives you a pretty high ceiling. Let's flip

608
00:29:36,080 --> 00:29:39,760
Speaker 1: here from some teams that have struggled, but overall there's

609
00:29:39,800 --> 00:29:41,800
Speaker 1: still a pretty high confidence level. And I mean certainly

610
00:29:41,840 --> 00:29:43,960
Speaker 1: Vegas is still respecting them to a team that has

611
00:29:44,000 --> 00:29:48,479
Speaker 1: been a complete circus this entire year, and it seems

612
00:29:48,520 --> 00:29:51,320
Speaker 1: that every not even weak, every few days there's a

613
00:29:51,360 --> 00:29:54,920
Speaker 1: new obstacle thrown at them. So Jason, does the next

614
00:29:55,000 --> 00:29:58,560
Speaker 1: season get more ridiculous or less ridiculous as the year

615
00:29:58,640 --> 00:30:03,880
Speaker 1: goes on? You know, because the Nets have so much

616
00:30:03,920 --> 00:30:08,960
Speaker 1: talent on paper, there's always the chance that it could improve.

617
00:30:09,440 --> 00:30:13,040
Speaker 1: You know, like if what we saw from Ben Simmons

618
00:30:13,160 --> 00:30:15,080
Speaker 1: last night is the way he plays the rest of

619
00:30:15,080 --> 00:30:18,880
Speaker 1: the season, that's encouraging. Katie plays like an m v P.

620
00:30:19,160 --> 00:30:21,880
Speaker 1: Kyrie Irving comes back. They defend the way they defended,

621
00:30:22,160 --> 00:30:24,280
Speaker 1: you know, getting what you're getting from you don't want

622
00:30:24,360 --> 00:30:26,200
Speaker 1: Nabby for instance, who by the way, did a really

623
00:30:26,320 --> 00:30:30,040
Speaker 1: nice job defending Damian Lillard on switches. He's just super

624
00:30:30,040 --> 00:30:32,480
Speaker 1: tall and super long and can knock down threes and

625
00:30:32,520 --> 00:30:35,160
Speaker 1: he's actually a pretty decent athlete, right, Like, you know

626
00:30:35,440 --> 00:30:37,800
Speaker 1: that there's a bunch of good there. But as I'm

627
00:30:37,840 --> 00:30:40,080
Speaker 1: putting that all together. It kind of feels like one

628
00:30:40,120 --> 00:30:42,080
Speaker 1: of those like same game parlays where I make a

629
00:30:42,080 --> 00:30:45,479
Speaker 1: two dollar bet that has like a payout, Like, yeah,

630
00:30:45,720 --> 00:30:47,680
Speaker 1: it could all go that way and we could all

631
00:30:47,680 --> 00:30:51,360
Speaker 1: get rich. Or the far more likely scenario is that

632
00:30:51,400 --> 00:30:53,440
Speaker 1: one or two of those things go wrong, which leads

633
00:30:53,440 --> 00:30:56,240
Speaker 1: to the domino effect of everybody else going off the

634
00:30:56,320 --> 00:30:58,200
Speaker 1: rails and then it goes south, you know, like the

635
00:30:58,800 --> 00:31:01,000
Speaker 1: we we've just we've just seen in this movie before.

636
00:31:01,040 --> 00:31:03,560
Speaker 1: They can play good basketball and the right matchups two

637
00:31:03,640 --> 00:31:05,120
Speaker 1: or three games in a row, like last night, I

638
00:31:05,200 --> 00:31:08,520
Speaker 1: was an impressive win. They defended Damian Lillard extremely well.

639
00:31:08,960 --> 00:31:12,320
Speaker 1: They down the stretch of that game kind of strangled

640
00:31:12,320 --> 00:31:16,000
Speaker 1: the pace, got better shots, and it looks good. But

641
00:31:16,080 --> 00:31:17,920
Speaker 1: it's a lot of its matchup dependent. You know, they

642
00:31:17,920 --> 00:31:20,040
Speaker 1: struggle against the Kings because they've got a couple front

643
00:31:20,040 --> 00:31:22,000
Speaker 1: court players that are more physical, right, you know, and

644
00:31:22,000 --> 00:31:25,920
Speaker 1: then Portland's not so much. And then you know, there's

645
00:31:25,920 --> 00:31:29,480
Speaker 1: also the reality of the Celtics box matchups like uh,

646
00:31:29,520 --> 00:31:32,560
Speaker 1: no matter what the idealized version of this NETS team is,

647
00:31:33,240 --> 00:31:38,720
Speaker 1: specifically uh specifically, Boston and Milwaukee are equipped to not

648
00:31:38,800 --> 00:31:41,400
Speaker 1: just beat the nets but kind of snatch their heart

649
00:31:41,520 --> 00:31:43,120
Speaker 1: with the way that they play on both ends of

650
00:31:43,160 --> 00:31:45,640
Speaker 1: the floor. So like you know what, Josiah never stops

651
00:31:45,720 --> 00:31:48,720
Speaker 1: believing and he's like the X, the X that's still

652
00:31:48,760 --> 00:31:50,200
Speaker 1: are the guy who's still in love with his X,

653
00:31:50,320 --> 00:31:53,680
Speaker 1: and did no matter how often she stabs him, stabs

654
00:31:53,760 --> 00:31:55,360
Speaker 1: him in the back, he just keeps going back. You know.

655
00:31:55,400 --> 00:31:57,560
Speaker 1: It's one of those types of deals. But my guess

656
00:31:57,560 --> 00:32:00,520
Speaker 1: is it gets more ridiculous, but there's it's always on

657
00:32:00,520 --> 00:32:03,960
Speaker 1: the table that Kyrie comes back. Ben Simmons turns into

658
00:32:04,160 --> 00:32:07,000
Speaker 1: Wing Draymond. Kevin dray plays like an m v P.

659
00:32:07,160 --> 00:32:09,240
Speaker 1: Seth Curry does his thing, Joe Harris makes a bunch

660
00:32:09,280 --> 00:32:10,719
Speaker 1: of threes, like you did you get a couple of

661
00:32:10,960 --> 00:32:14,880
Speaker 1: key role player performances. Yeah, there's there is a ceiling here,

662
00:32:15,040 --> 00:32:18,640
Speaker 1: but that same ceiling has existed all season for various reasons,

663
00:32:18,680 --> 00:32:20,840
Speaker 1: and it just continues to go up and down the

664
00:32:20,840 --> 00:32:24,840
Speaker 1: way that it has. I don't know how much more

665
00:32:24,960 --> 00:32:28,440
Speaker 1: ridiculous things can get, but I also wouldn't really predict

666
00:32:28,480 --> 00:32:33,160
Speaker 1: them to get less ridiculous. And I agree that last

667
00:32:33,240 --> 00:32:36,080
Speaker 1: night was outside of that Knicks game, maybe they're best

668
00:32:36,120 --> 00:32:39,520
Speaker 1: all around effort of the year. I still think Portland,

669
00:32:39,720 --> 00:32:42,160
Speaker 1: I mean clearly just felt to me like a more

670
00:32:42,240 --> 00:32:44,240
Speaker 1: talented team. It was kind of an issue of shot

671
00:32:44,280 --> 00:32:46,080
Speaker 1: making for them in spots, but the nets were locked

672
00:32:46,080 --> 00:32:49,720
Speaker 1: in defensively, Like you said, Watanabe was great, Joe Harris

673
00:32:49,760 --> 00:32:54,320
Speaker 1: was finally making shots. But it's still just feels far

674
00:32:54,400 --> 00:32:58,160
Speaker 1: too ambitious to bet on everything consistently coming together and jelling,

675
00:32:59,200 --> 00:33:02,440
Speaker 1: especially when you're reintroduced Kyrie, even though obviously he elevates

676
00:33:02,440 --> 00:33:05,720
Speaker 1: your offensive ceiling. It's just like the defense was abysmal

677
00:33:05,800 --> 00:33:08,480
Speaker 1: when he was out there. We have no reason to

678
00:33:08,520 --> 00:33:11,160
Speaker 1: have any sort of confidence in the chemistry, in the

679
00:33:11,160 --> 00:33:14,960
Speaker 1: cohesion of this team. Simmons. I mean, he finally scored

680
00:33:15,000 --> 00:33:18,000
Speaker 1: fifteen points, and you know, he attacked a couple of

681
00:33:18,000 --> 00:33:19,960
Speaker 1: times downhill and out of the post, but he's just

682
00:33:20,000 --> 00:33:23,000
Speaker 1: so clearly not the same athlete. He's not the same defensively,

683
00:33:23,240 --> 00:33:24,520
Speaker 1: and he's still in his head. I mean, he only

684
00:33:24,520 --> 00:33:33,200
Speaker 1: took six shots. A couple of them were like one exactly.

685
00:33:33,400 --> 00:33:37,120
Speaker 1: It's like he is just so so far from what

686
00:33:37,160 --> 00:33:39,000
Speaker 1: he was, what we could have ever expected him to be.

687
00:33:39,080 --> 00:33:43,000
Speaker 1: So I think we should just buckle in and not

688
00:33:43,120 --> 00:33:46,280
Speaker 1: invest in any nets success and invest in a lot

689
00:33:46,360 --> 00:33:50,240
Speaker 1: more hijinks in mayhem, because I really I don't see

690
00:33:50,240 --> 00:33:52,440
Speaker 1: this team winning a playoff series. It's like to be

691
00:33:52,920 --> 00:33:56,280
Speaker 1: fully healthy and committed and together and like each other

692
00:33:56,360 --> 00:33:59,360
Speaker 1: and play both ends against a really good top tier

693
00:33:59,360 --> 00:34:03,640
Speaker 1: out east. I just think, no way. Well, that's the key,

694
00:34:03,680 --> 00:34:07,080
Speaker 1: because bad things happen to every basketball team. That's a

695
00:34:07,120 --> 00:34:09,600
Speaker 1: dirty little secret. There's two different kinds of teams out there.

696
00:34:09,640 --> 00:34:11,839
Speaker 1: There's the teams that complain as the bad things happen,

697
00:34:11,880 --> 00:34:14,359
Speaker 1: as they spiral out of control, and then the teams that,

698
00:34:14,440 --> 00:34:16,760
Speaker 1: like you're you're just looking. It's like, oh, the Bucks

699
00:34:16,760 --> 00:34:20,640
Speaker 1: won again last night, and whoa two starters were out

700
00:34:20,719 --> 00:34:24,440
Speaker 1: and six for seventeen, Like what in the world? Like

701
00:34:24,719 --> 00:34:26,840
Speaker 1: like you you look at it, and it's like like

702
00:34:26,840 --> 00:34:30,879
Speaker 1: like Janice messed up his foot and is is been

703
00:34:31,000 --> 00:34:33,640
Speaker 1: like below from the field in his last four games,

704
00:34:33,640 --> 00:34:36,000
Speaker 1: has missed three of the last seven games, and Drew

705
00:34:36,040 --> 00:34:39,120
Speaker 1: Holidays out with an acle issue. Pat Connaughton's out, Chris

706
00:34:39,200 --> 00:34:42,359
Speaker 1: Middleton's out, and they're just winning games because they're just

707
00:34:42,600 --> 00:34:45,800
Speaker 1: in the locker room. There's such a buy in down

708
00:34:45,880 --> 00:34:50,120
Speaker 1: the roster that every night you're getting a consistent product.

709
00:34:50,440 --> 00:34:52,920
Speaker 1: And yeah, even in the downsides like this past two

710
00:34:52,960 --> 00:34:55,759
Speaker 1: weeks stretch, all that went wrong for the Bucks and

711
00:34:55,760 --> 00:34:58,239
Speaker 1: they went four and three, you know, and they beat

712
00:34:58,239 --> 00:35:01,520
Speaker 1: a Calves team um the other day that was you know,

713
00:35:01,560 --> 00:35:04,719
Speaker 1: obviously down Jared Allen, but had everybody else available. So like,

714
00:35:05,040 --> 00:35:06,920
Speaker 1: it's just it's just the difference between the top and

715
00:35:06,960 --> 00:35:09,880
Speaker 1: the bottom. Like the Nets have demonstrated that a little

716
00:35:09,880 --> 00:35:12,880
Speaker 1: bit of adversity kind of causes them to fracture, you know,

717
00:35:13,160 --> 00:35:15,000
Speaker 1: and and that sort of thing isn't going to suddenly

718
00:35:15,120 --> 00:35:20,600
Speaker 1: change in this case. Yeah, I completely agree. And before

719
00:35:20,840 --> 00:35:24,879
Speaker 1: the Nets started destroying themselves and embarrassing themselves, they were

720
00:35:24,920 --> 00:35:28,040
Speaker 1: destroyed and embarrassed by the Boston Celtics in the playoffs

721
00:35:28,080 --> 00:35:30,919
Speaker 1: last year, who have been really exceptional this year. They're

722
00:35:30,920 --> 00:35:32,799
Speaker 1: twelve and three, they're on pace to have the best

723
00:35:32,840 --> 00:35:36,160
Speaker 1: offense in basketball history, and obviously they've done this all

724
00:35:36,600 --> 00:35:40,920
Speaker 1: without email Doca. So, Jason, do you think that his

725
00:35:41,040 --> 00:35:46,400
Speaker 1: impact on the Celtics was overrated? Not necessarily, but I

726
00:35:46,440 --> 00:35:49,000
Speaker 1: do think that in general, when we see things like this,

727
00:35:49,160 --> 00:35:52,319
Speaker 1: we don't give enough credit to the other party. So,

728
00:35:52,360 --> 00:35:55,160
Speaker 1: for instance, like Emma Udoka is a tough guy, and

729
00:35:55,200 --> 00:35:58,560
Speaker 1: he was brought in to help specifically with toughness with

730
00:35:58,600 --> 00:36:01,440
Speaker 1: a core of players and Mark Smart, Jayson Tatum and

731
00:36:01,520 --> 00:36:04,040
Speaker 1: Jaylen excuse me, and Jaylen Brown who had struggled a

732
00:36:04,080 --> 00:36:06,359
Speaker 1: little bit with toughness over the course of the years. Right,

733
00:36:07,000 --> 00:36:11,040
Speaker 1: And yes, Judoka helped with that transition that led to

734
00:36:11,040 --> 00:36:13,320
Speaker 1: that finals run last year, But you also got to

735
00:36:13,360 --> 00:36:15,520
Speaker 1: give those guys credit for changing. To me, it reminds

736
00:36:15,520 --> 00:36:18,440
Speaker 1: me of like Kobe and pal Gasol. You know, the

737
00:36:18,560 --> 00:36:22,040
Speaker 1: narrative is like Kobe changed Palkasol, and like, I don't

738
00:36:22,080 --> 00:36:26,000
Speaker 1: doubt that Kobe's competitiveness and toughness had an impact on him,

739
00:36:26,040 --> 00:36:29,279
Speaker 1: but give Pal Gasol some credit for just toughening up

740
00:36:29,560 --> 00:36:32,480
Speaker 1: as he got into late round playoff series consistently. You

741
00:36:32,520 --> 00:36:34,800
Speaker 1: know a lot of times it's the pain and suffering

742
00:36:34,840 --> 00:36:37,560
Speaker 1: of the loss that helps lead to that toughness as well.

743
00:36:37,600 --> 00:36:39,520
Speaker 1: And again, so it's it's kind of that kind of thing,

744
00:36:39,600 --> 00:36:41,680
Speaker 1: like I give a good chunk of the credit to Kobe,

745
00:36:41,680 --> 00:36:43,160
Speaker 1: and I give a good chunk of the credit to

746
00:36:43,200 --> 00:36:45,520
Speaker 1: Pal in this case, what did I say all summer

747
00:36:45,520 --> 00:36:47,799
Speaker 1: after the email, Udoka said, a thing came down. I

748
00:36:47,880 --> 00:36:51,640
Speaker 1: was like, yes, Emay helped with this, but I think

749
00:36:51,680 --> 00:36:54,080
Speaker 1: the change has already been made by the core players

750
00:36:54,120 --> 00:36:56,920
Speaker 1: and they will continue to exhibit that toughness now that

751
00:36:56,960 --> 00:36:59,560
Speaker 1: email Udoka has gone. And that's exactly what has happened.

752
00:36:59,560 --> 00:37:02,239
Speaker 1: And you know, give those guys credit. They just you know,

753
00:37:02,320 --> 00:37:06,080
Speaker 1: Jayson Tatum and Jalen Brown came out uh three or

754
00:37:06,080 --> 00:37:08,640
Speaker 1: four months after an embarrassing loss in the finals, and

755
00:37:08,680 --> 00:37:11,040
Speaker 1: they both look like better players than they were last year.

756
00:37:11,280 --> 00:37:13,640
Speaker 1: That's a credit to that. Jayson Tatum was a bad

757
00:37:13,680 --> 00:37:16,440
Speaker 1: isolation player last year. This year he's been a good

758
00:37:16,480 --> 00:37:19,480
Speaker 1: isolation player. He's increased his efficiency in a bunch of

759
00:37:19,560 --> 00:37:22,560
Speaker 1: very important areas. He was a bad mid range scorer

760
00:37:22,640 --> 00:37:25,440
Speaker 1: last year. This year he's a good mid range scorer.

761
00:37:25,520 --> 00:37:28,000
Speaker 1: You know, like you're just seeing improvement from those guys.

762
00:37:28,080 --> 00:37:30,960
Speaker 1: Give them credit. Jayson Tatum and Jalen Brown two in

763
00:37:31,120 --> 00:37:33,879
Speaker 1: key moments of this series in the season. Even though

764
00:37:33,920 --> 00:37:35,879
Speaker 1: the team defense hasn't been as good as you'd hope,

765
00:37:36,160 --> 00:37:38,120
Speaker 1: they've locked in and there's still two of the best

766
00:37:38,160 --> 00:37:41,560
Speaker 1: perimeter defenders in the entire league. And then dude, Marcus Smart,

767
00:37:42,680 --> 00:37:45,400
Speaker 1: what he's done for them offensively as a dribble creator.

768
00:37:45,480 --> 00:37:48,560
Speaker 1: Just getting into the gaps of the defense and creating

769
00:37:48,600 --> 00:37:50,680
Speaker 1: that initial advantage is super impressive. He's one of the

770
00:37:50,719 --> 00:37:55,879
Speaker 1: best pick and roll ball handlers in the league this year. Yeah,

771
00:37:56,120 --> 00:38:00,359
Speaker 1: I think you put it very well. My thought kind

772
00:38:00,400 --> 00:38:04,560
Speaker 1: of what Udoka did last year was extremely important and

773
00:38:04,640 --> 00:38:07,719
Speaker 1: extremely impressive. But I also thought this year, bringing in

774
00:38:07,800 --> 00:38:11,280
Speaker 1: Joe Massoula, who has been there, it's a lot easier

775
00:38:11,320 --> 00:38:14,920
Speaker 1: to sustain that defensive culture once it's been established. Those

776
00:38:14,960 --> 00:38:18,200
Speaker 1: offensive principles, once they've been established. It's like how Luke

777
00:38:18,239 --> 00:38:20,919
Speaker 1: Wallon could come in and coach the Warriors to being

778
00:38:20,960 --> 00:38:24,320
Speaker 1: thirty nine and four because they had already done the

779
00:38:24,400 --> 00:38:29,360
Speaker 1: handiwork behind Steve Kerr in establishing those habits, those principles,

780
00:38:29,440 --> 00:38:32,240
Speaker 1: and then of course it's difficult to sustain those things.

781
00:38:32,480 --> 00:38:34,880
Speaker 1: But then it's a matter of the commitment by the players.

782
00:38:34,880 --> 00:38:36,840
Speaker 1: They're aware of what they need to do, and clearly

783
00:38:36,880 --> 00:38:40,520
Speaker 1: the Celtics players are committed in continuing to improve. So

784
00:38:41,440 --> 00:38:43,600
Speaker 1: I don't really think that that will ever come back

785
00:38:44,040 --> 00:38:47,440
Speaker 1: to bite them. Do you think right now if you

786
00:38:47,480 --> 00:38:49,440
Speaker 1: had to pick between the top teams out East, are

787
00:38:49,440 --> 00:38:51,759
Speaker 1: the Celtics the team that you would trust the most

788
00:38:51,760 --> 00:38:54,839
Speaker 1: to win it all. No, I still get I still

789
00:38:54,840 --> 00:38:57,279
Speaker 1: give an edge to the Bucks. Um, but I do

790
00:38:57,360 --> 00:38:59,840
Speaker 1: think that the Celtics have gained ground in a sense

791
00:39:00,000 --> 00:39:01,799
Speaker 1: compared to where you might have felt about those two

792
00:39:01,880 --> 00:39:06,000
Speaker 1: teams after their Eastern Conference in my final last year. Um.

793
00:39:06,040 --> 00:39:08,080
Speaker 1: But yeah, I wanted to give one last story to

794
00:39:08,160 --> 00:39:09,960
Speaker 1: just kind of like hammer this point home. When I

795
00:39:10,000 --> 00:39:11,879
Speaker 1: was in junior college, when I was playing up in Utah,

796
00:39:11,920 --> 00:39:13,680
Speaker 1: I had a coach. His name was Carter Roe. Now

797
00:39:13,680 --> 00:39:17,440
Speaker 1: he coaches at Arizona Western UH, which which is in

798
00:39:17,480 --> 00:39:20,719
Speaker 1: a conference here in Arizona, And like he was one

799
00:39:20,719 --> 00:39:23,680
Speaker 1: of the guys who really targeted my lack of toughness

800
00:39:24,120 --> 00:39:26,800
Speaker 1: when I was a young basketball player. And I remember

801
00:39:26,880 --> 00:39:31,520
Speaker 1: like vividly, like ice cold Utah mornings doing planks on

802
00:39:31,560 --> 00:39:34,959
Speaker 1: the soccer field where the grass is frozen, and I'm

803
00:39:35,000 --> 00:39:37,759
Speaker 1: like quitting on the drill and stuff, and he's like down,

804
00:39:37,840 --> 00:39:39,960
Speaker 1: just screaming in my face, telling me I'm not tough

805
00:39:40,000 --> 00:39:41,839
Speaker 1: and stuff like that, and like he worked on me

806
00:39:41,920 --> 00:39:44,319
Speaker 1: really hard over the course of that season. And it's

807
00:39:44,320 --> 00:39:46,680
Speaker 1: like he hasn't been my coach since that season for

808
00:39:46,719 --> 00:39:50,680
Speaker 1: obvious reasons, but his impact has lingered with me, and

809
00:39:50,800 --> 00:39:52,920
Speaker 1: a lot of the things that changed about me as

810
00:39:52,920 --> 00:39:54,920
Speaker 1: a player that year are still a part of my

811
00:39:54,960 --> 00:39:57,120
Speaker 1: basketball identity to this day. And that's kind of like

812
00:39:57,440 --> 00:40:00,360
Speaker 1: the way that a coach can impact any basketball player.

813
00:40:00,400 --> 00:40:01,680
Speaker 1: And so that's kind of the way I see the

814
00:40:01,719 --> 00:40:04,120
Speaker 1: Udoka thing. He came in, he worked with those guys

815
00:40:04,160 --> 00:40:07,359
Speaker 1: for a year, He targeted some specific weaknesses for them

816
00:40:07,560 --> 00:40:10,239
Speaker 1: in terms of mental toughness. That impact is there even

817
00:40:10,280 --> 00:40:13,319
Speaker 1: now that he's gone, And now that role in your

818
00:40:13,320 --> 00:40:16,360
Speaker 1: life is taken on by producer Ryan Bromley, who's yelling

819
00:40:16,400 --> 00:40:20,719
Speaker 1: at you when you're down there in the gold all right.

820
00:40:22,640 --> 00:40:26,200
Speaker 1: So one of the main stories of this season are

821
00:40:26,239 --> 00:40:28,239
Speaker 1: one of the most fun stories I think has been

822
00:40:28,239 --> 00:40:30,759
Speaker 1: the explosion of shape Gil just Alexander and You've talked

823
00:40:30,800 --> 00:40:33,920
Speaker 1: about it recently. He's now had thirty seven plus in

824
00:40:34,000 --> 00:40:36,879
Speaker 1: three straight games. He's averaging thirty two on the year.

825
00:40:38,400 --> 00:40:40,120
Speaker 1: Is he a top ten player in the league now?

826
00:40:42,040 --> 00:40:45,839
Speaker 1: So this is a delicate conversation because I I've been

827
00:40:45,840 --> 00:40:48,120
Speaker 1: doing I've been going out of my way for this

828
00:40:48,200 --> 00:40:52,360
Speaker 1: season to really focus on evaluating players based on this

829
00:40:52,400 --> 00:40:55,000
Speaker 1: season because I have some like long standing philosophies like,

830
00:40:55,080 --> 00:40:59,520
Speaker 1: I'm not going to put younger players over experienced players

831
00:40:59,520 --> 00:41:02,040
Speaker 1: that have and there and done that in terms of

832
00:41:02,080 --> 00:41:04,040
Speaker 1: the way I ranked them in the grand scheme of things,

833
00:41:04,560 --> 00:41:07,400
Speaker 1: you know, Like, for instance, I had Lebron fourth before

834
00:41:07,440 --> 00:41:10,880
Speaker 1: the season. I will not adjust that in my grand

835
00:41:10,880 --> 00:41:15,000
Speaker 1: scheme rankings until after the playoffs this year, right, But

836
00:41:15,200 --> 00:41:17,680
Speaker 1: as we zoom in on this season, has Lebron been

837
00:41:17,680 --> 00:41:20,120
Speaker 1: a top top four player? Absolutely not. He's been somewhere

838
00:41:20,120 --> 00:41:23,160
Speaker 1: between fifteen and eleven, right, Like you know, Tatum, I

839
00:41:23,200 --> 00:41:26,640
Speaker 1: had him down at six. He's actually been better than

840
00:41:26,680 --> 00:41:29,120
Speaker 1: that this season in terms of just in the vacuum

841
00:41:29,120 --> 00:41:31,799
Speaker 1: of this season, you know, like that, as we go

842
00:41:31,880 --> 00:41:34,120
Speaker 1: down that list, there's kind of a difference between talking

843
00:41:34,120 --> 00:41:36,879
Speaker 1: about what's going on this year versus the grand scheme

844
00:41:36,880 --> 00:41:39,399
Speaker 1: of things. Has shay Gil just Alexander been a top

845
00:41:39,440 --> 00:41:44,879
Speaker 1: ten player in this season? Unquestionably, maybe even top five? Right,

846
00:41:45,280 --> 00:41:48,200
Speaker 1: But as I'm ranking him against the other players in

847
00:41:48,239 --> 00:41:49,839
Speaker 1: the league in the grand scheme of things, I would

848
00:41:49,880 --> 00:41:52,560
Speaker 1: wait until after the season. I would want like, how

849
00:41:52,600 --> 00:41:55,400
Speaker 1: am I supposed to? For instance, I had Paul George

850
00:41:55,440 --> 00:41:58,439
Speaker 1: somewhere around like eleven right in the in the list

851
00:41:58,480 --> 00:42:00,960
Speaker 1: before the season. Why would I put s g A

852
00:42:01,160 --> 00:42:05,799
Speaker 1: over Paul George, who two years ago when Kauai went down,

853
00:42:05,880 --> 00:42:08,160
Speaker 1: dragged his team with two within two wins of an

854
00:42:08,200 --> 00:42:11,000
Speaker 1: NBA Finals birth Like, that's not fair in my opinion.

855
00:42:11,120 --> 00:42:14,799
Speaker 1: So just remember, in general, for everybody who's listening, when

856
00:42:14,800 --> 00:42:17,200
Speaker 1: I'm having these kinds of conversations and talking about these

857
00:42:17,239 --> 00:42:20,319
Speaker 1: kinds of lists, if it's during the regular season, it's

858
00:42:20,320 --> 00:42:23,399
Speaker 1: a different type of kind of like measuring system than

859
00:42:23,440 --> 00:42:25,759
Speaker 1: what I would use outside of the season. But he's

860
00:42:25,840 --> 00:42:28,600
Speaker 1: unquestionably been a top five, top ten, top five ish

861
00:42:28,640 --> 00:42:31,400
Speaker 1: player this year. He's a top tier rim finisher, Like,

862
00:42:31,440 --> 00:42:33,520
Speaker 1: he finishes at the rim better than just about everybody

863
00:42:33,520 --> 00:42:36,319
Speaker 1: except for the the usual guys you'd expect at the top.

864
00:42:36,520 --> 00:42:39,360
Speaker 1: He's a top tier pull up jump shooter. He's shooting

865
00:42:39,400 --> 00:42:42,160
Speaker 1: the high forties on huge volume. He's excellent pick and

866
00:42:42,280 --> 00:42:45,080
Speaker 1: roll he's eighty four percentile among pick and roll ball handlers.

867
00:42:45,080 --> 00:42:47,880
Speaker 1: And he's a massively disruptive defender, gets a ton of

868
00:42:47,920 --> 00:42:51,760
Speaker 1: steals in blocks for a hundred pound guard. You can't

869
00:42:51,800 --> 00:42:56,000
Speaker 1: you can't argue with the results this season. I think

870
00:42:56,000 --> 00:43:00,000
Speaker 1: that that's very sound logic, and I'm generally pretty tenant,

871
00:43:00,000 --> 00:43:02,120
Speaker 1: if at least I try to be to lift people

872
00:43:02,280 --> 00:43:05,240
Speaker 1: above somebody else because of a regular season are certainly

873
00:43:05,239 --> 00:43:08,359
Speaker 1: only a stretch of regular season play. But he looks

874
00:43:08,360 --> 00:43:11,040
Speaker 1: like a top ten player right now, and I think, honestly,

875
00:43:11,080 --> 00:43:14,279
Speaker 1: there might only be concretely like seven or so guys

876
00:43:14,280 --> 00:43:16,480
Speaker 1: who I would say they're better than s. G A

877
00:43:16,600 --> 00:43:18,879
Speaker 1: right now. I think that you hit on it. I mean,

878
00:43:18,920 --> 00:43:21,719
Speaker 1: he's a top three paint guard in the league. Unequivocally.

879
00:43:21,840 --> 00:43:25,400
Speaker 1: He's always had that unbelievable change and pace and slinkiness

880
00:43:25,440 --> 00:43:29,040
Speaker 1: to his game. His paint footwork is ridiculous, the variety

881
00:43:29,080 --> 00:43:31,480
Speaker 1: of finishes in there, and then now he's paired it

882
00:43:31,520 --> 00:43:34,719
Speaker 1: with this elite midrange pull up jump shooting game where

883
00:43:34,760 --> 00:43:38,360
Speaker 1: he's fifty one for mid range and everyone's terrified of s.

884
00:43:38,400 --> 00:43:40,440
Speaker 1: G A getting all the way downhill, and he just

885
00:43:40,480 --> 00:43:42,759
Speaker 1: has this incredible ability to stop on a dime, to

886
00:43:42,840 --> 00:43:46,000
Speaker 1: step back, and to make all those shots. And it's

887
00:43:46,000 --> 00:43:48,440
Speaker 1: also just incredible that now we have a couple of

888
00:43:48,480 --> 00:43:51,680
Speaker 1: guards in the league, him even more so than Job,

889
00:43:51,719 --> 00:43:54,920
Speaker 1: but guys who they're both shooting well from three this year,

890
00:43:54,920 --> 00:43:56,759
Speaker 1: and they have that a bit in their game. But

891
00:43:56,920 --> 00:44:00,680
Speaker 1: really guards who are predicated on getting downhill into the bucket,

892
00:44:01,200 --> 00:44:03,759
Speaker 1: and that's their greatest strength, and they are truly among

893
00:44:03,760 --> 00:44:06,759
Speaker 1: the best players on the planet. Let me ask you this,

894
00:44:08,840 --> 00:44:12,480
Speaker 1: how do you feel about the okay, see approach around

895
00:44:12,680 --> 00:44:15,240
Speaker 1: s g A when they have maybe a top ten player.

896
00:44:15,680 --> 00:44:18,080
Speaker 1: When he's on the floor, they outscore opponents by four

897
00:44:18,080 --> 00:44:20,040
Speaker 1: points per a Hunter possessions. There are eleven points per

898
00:44:20,040 --> 00:44:22,800
Speaker 1: a Hunter possessions better with him, and yet still obviously

899
00:44:22,800 --> 00:44:26,200
Speaker 1: the roster is so far away from accomplishing anything of significance.

900
00:44:26,600 --> 00:44:29,000
Speaker 1: Is that justifiable to you at this point? Is that

901
00:44:29,040 --> 00:44:31,680
Speaker 1: going to become an issue in your eyes? Like, what's

902
00:44:31,719 --> 00:44:36,480
Speaker 1: your take on that? Well, I think we can make

903
00:44:36,520 --> 00:44:40,160
Speaker 1: that call from this point looking forward, because at the

904
00:44:40,239 --> 00:44:42,600
Speaker 1: end of the day, we knew SA was good. We

905
00:44:42,640 --> 00:44:44,960
Speaker 1: didn't know he was this good, you know, Like, I

906
00:44:45,360 --> 00:44:47,680
Speaker 1: like the way we're talking about this. I guarantee you

907
00:44:47,719 --> 00:44:50,200
Speaker 1: the front office is talking about this too, like they're

908
00:44:50,239 --> 00:44:53,400
Speaker 1: having new conversations now, Like, Okay, it turns out we

909
00:44:53,520 --> 00:44:55,960
Speaker 1: have one of the ten best basketball players alive. What

910
00:44:55,960 --> 00:44:58,520
Speaker 1: do we do about this? You know, like there's Chad

911
00:44:58,600 --> 00:45:01,600
Speaker 1: Holmgren potentially coming back. Actually hate sneaky have a bunch

912
00:45:01,600 --> 00:45:04,960
Speaker 1: of really good wings um including lu Doer, who's one

913
00:45:05,000 --> 00:45:06,920
Speaker 1: of the best defensive wings that we have in the league.

914
00:45:07,280 --> 00:45:11,720
Speaker 1: Chet Holmgren and Alexei post Polkashovski represent two really interesting

915
00:45:11,800 --> 00:45:15,680
Speaker 1: stretch bigs, so they can consistently play five out basketball

916
00:45:15,680 --> 00:45:18,399
Speaker 1: in a way that a lot of teams can't functionally play.

917
00:45:18,480 --> 00:45:22,080
Speaker 1: You know there, Uh, it's like specifically with s G

918
00:45:22,239 --> 00:45:25,000
Speaker 1: A two what you said, that's so interesting we have

919
00:45:25,760 --> 00:45:30,400
Speaker 1: we have a lot of guards who are excellent downhill

920
00:45:31,640 --> 00:45:33,439
Speaker 1: and then we have a lot of guards that are

921
00:45:33,520 --> 00:45:37,840
Speaker 1: excellent pull up jump shooters. What we don't have is

922
00:45:37,920 --> 00:45:41,760
Speaker 1: like a guard who's both you know, the Bradley Beal's

923
00:45:41,760 --> 00:45:44,080
Speaker 1: and the Devin Bookers and the Jamal Murray's of the world.

924
00:45:44,080 --> 00:45:45,799
Speaker 1: They'll get in the lane and they'll make one or

925
00:45:45,800 --> 00:45:47,920
Speaker 1: two shots a game, right Like I could beat you

926
00:45:47,960 --> 00:45:50,319
Speaker 1: to the basket if you're if if things shake up

927
00:45:50,360 --> 00:45:54,000
Speaker 1: a certain way. Shay is like finishing at the rim

928
00:45:54,040 --> 00:45:59,080
Speaker 1: more frequently than John Morant while taking in taking eleven

929
00:45:59,160 --> 00:46:01,200
Speaker 1: something pull up shots of game and making like for

930
00:46:01,800 --> 00:46:04,239
Speaker 1: pcent of them. Like that is the thing that is

931
00:46:04,320 --> 00:46:07,640
Speaker 1: kind of unheard of here is he's got the all

932
00:46:07,680 --> 00:46:10,320
Speaker 1: the pull up jump shooting with all of the downhill stuff,

933
00:46:10,360 --> 00:46:12,279
Speaker 1: and that's what makes him so and so exciting. But

934
00:46:12,360 --> 00:46:15,640
Speaker 1: my guess is that whatever approach the Thunder had, which

935
00:46:15,680 --> 00:46:18,319
Speaker 1: was to absorb as many picks as possible, you know,

936
00:46:18,400 --> 00:46:20,879
Speaker 1: develop these young wings and give s g A plenty

937
00:46:20,920 --> 00:46:23,480
Speaker 1: of time to to develop his skill set well at

938
00:46:23,520 --> 00:46:25,680
Speaker 1: the same time not wearing him out physically because they're

939
00:46:25,800 --> 00:46:28,239
Speaker 1: resting him all the time and all this kind of stuff.

940
00:46:28,280 --> 00:46:31,480
Speaker 1: They were doing that now they've got to change their approach.

941
00:46:32,520 --> 00:46:36,080
Speaker 1: Chats coming back now, they'll probably target more veteran players

942
00:46:36,120 --> 00:46:38,799
Speaker 1: to surround s g A and them. You know, they

943
00:46:38,840 --> 00:46:40,920
Speaker 1: might look to that. I know they signed door to

944
00:46:40,960 --> 00:46:43,200
Speaker 1: an extension. They might try to piece a couple of

945
00:46:43,200 --> 00:46:46,879
Speaker 1: these guys together and target a star wing out there

946
00:46:47,400 --> 00:46:50,000
Speaker 1: for a couple of picks and and and try to

947
00:46:50,000 --> 00:46:52,799
Speaker 1: go at it with you know, Chet and some kind

948
00:46:52,800 --> 00:46:55,120
Speaker 1: of star wing and s g A. But I'm not

949
00:46:55,160 --> 00:46:58,720
Speaker 1: gonna be critical of okay SE's front office necessarily unless

950
00:46:58,800 --> 00:47:01,719
Speaker 1: we're looking at them this time next year and SJA

951
00:47:01,800 --> 00:47:04,080
Speaker 1: is putting up massive numbers on a garbage team again,

952
00:47:04,120 --> 00:47:06,160
Speaker 1: I think that's when we could start having that conversation.

953
00:47:06,200 --> 00:47:08,239
Speaker 1: But I mean, what were they gonna do, go go

954
00:47:08,320 --> 00:47:10,120
Speaker 1: all in on s g A last year when he

955
00:47:10,200 --> 00:47:11,879
Speaker 1: wasn't this good, you know, like and he was good

956
00:47:11,920 --> 00:47:14,080
Speaker 1: last year, But this is different. What we're seeing right

957
00:47:14,120 --> 00:47:17,319
Speaker 1: now is a whole other level. It's completely different. And

958
00:47:17,360 --> 00:47:19,440
Speaker 1: you talk about blending the skill set of the pull up,

959
00:47:19,520 --> 00:47:21,600
Speaker 1: jump shooting and the finishing. Just one stat that I

960
00:47:21,600 --> 00:47:24,719
Speaker 1: think is remarkable on that the short mid range pull

961
00:47:24,800 --> 00:47:27,439
Speaker 1: up game, especially in terms of people who are leading

962
00:47:27,480 --> 00:47:29,800
Speaker 1: league in field goals made from ten to fourteen feet

963
00:47:30,120 --> 00:47:32,839
Speaker 1: sa second. He's only in a tier with Katie right now.

964
00:47:33,120 --> 00:47:35,279
Speaker 1: Last year he was not even in the top twenty five.

965
00:47:35,400 --> 00:47:38,600
Speaker 1: He's over two and a half times as many makes

966
00:47:38,960 --> 00:47:42,000
Speaker 1: on fifty eight percent shooting from that range. So I

967
00:47:42,040 --> 00:47:45,160
Speaker 1: agree with you, he has completely taken a leap. He

968
00:47:45,239 --> 00:47:48,319
Speaker 1: has still been for three years now though young of course,

969
00:47:48,400 --> 00:47:51,239
Speaker 1: but head and shoulders above everybody else in Okay. See,

970
00:47:51,239 --> 00:47:53,440
Speaker 1: so it is a strange dynamic, But I agree with you,

971
00:47:53,480 --> 00:47:55,680
Speaker 1: this is a different tier. Like now you're looking at

972
00:47:56,120 --> 00:48:00,719
Speaker 1: young star to superstar. That adjust your outlook. I'm sure

973
00:48:01,560 --> 00:48:04,680
Speaker 1: we have a guy who's also in that young star

974
00:48:04,960 --> 00:48:08,920
Speaker 1: category though already, I think, and that's Paolo Bankaro, who

975
00:48:09,000 --> 00:48:11,080
Speaker 1: is dealing with an injury right now, so he's missed

976
00:48:11,080 --> 00:48:13,720
Speaker 1: a few games, but has been one of the most

977
00:48:14,160 --> 00:48:18,240
Speaker 1: prolific rookies that we have seen in a long time. Jason,

978
00:48:18,719 --> 00:48:22,000
Speaker 1: he was your favorite guy in this draft ended up

979
00:48:22,000 --> 00:48:25,680
Speaker 1: going number one. Have you been surprised by his immediate

980
00:48:25,680 --> 00:48:30,799
Speaker 1: success in the league. Absolutely, I mean I knew he

981
00:48:30,840 --> 00:48:36,839
Speaker 1: could score, but it's more just the sheer, the sheer

982
00:48:36,880 --> 00:48:40,400
Speaker 1: efficiency of his scoring that is so unusual for a rookie.

983
00:48:41,080 --> 00:48:45,600
Speaker 1: Um He's he's averaging one point one one points per

984
00:48:45,680 --> 00:48:50,360
Speaker 1: is so including passes, which is seventy percentile in the league.

985
00:48:51,239 --> 00:48:56,000
Speaker 1: He's averaging this is insane, Carson one point for one

986
00:48:56,480 --> 00:49:00,480
Speaker 1: points per post up including passes, which is in the

987
00:49:01,920 --> 00:49:05,000
Speaker 1: percentile in the league. I went back this morning and

988
00:49:05,040 --> 00:49:08,160
Speaker 1: I watched every single Pala Bunk arrow is so a

989
00:49:08,360 --> 00:49:13,520
Speaker 1: post up from this season, and like Okay, starting with

990
00:49:13,560 --> 00:49:16,960
Speaker 1: the ISO, everything's built out of this high hesitation in

991
00:49:17,000 --> 00:49:20,080
Speaker 1: his left hand. He actually prefers to drive left because

992
00:49:20,080 --> 00:49:23,160
Speaker 1: he likes to drop his right shoulder. But what's wild

993
00:49:23,320 --> 00:49:27,680
Speaker 1: is there's clips in this in this set where he's

994
00:49:27,680 --> 00:49:29,600
Speaker 1: going in. Some of the best perimeter defenders in the

995
00:49:29,680 --> 00:49:32,799
Speaker 1: league who just can't handle him when he drops that

996
00:49:32,880 --> 00:49:35,680
Speaker 1: right shoulder. You know, there's not really a player like

997
00:49:35,800 --> 00:49:38,560
Speaker 1: him in the league right now. We have guys who

998
00:49:38,560 --> 00:49:41,680
Speaker 1: are bowling balls but that are kind of unpolished, so

999
00:49:41,960 --> 00:49:44,480
Speaker 1: I kind of think like Julius randall right. And then

1000
00:49:44,560 --> 00:49:47,480
Speaker 1: we've got like you know, Janice, which is just an

1001
00:49:47,480 --> 00:49:50,320
Speaker 1: alien and an entirely doesn't even really compare to anybody

1002
00:49:50,360 --> 00:49:51,839
Speaker 1: else in the league. And then we have a lot

1003
00:49:51,920 --> 00:49:55,439
Speaker 1: of really skinny wings and forwards that have some good

1004
00:49:55,440 --> 00:49:58,240
Speaker 1: footwork and pull up jump shooting ability and a good handle.

1005
00:49:58,680 --> 00:50:01,360
Speaker 1: He's really the only I of his archetype in the

1006
00:50:01,440 --> 00:50:05,319
Speaker 1: league who's like giant, like just a grown man on

1007
00:50:05,360 --> 00:50:08,360
Speaker 1: the basketball court as a rookie who's got the handle

1008
00:50:08,440 --> 00:50:10,839
Speaker 1: to keep guys off balance and and kind of he's

1009
00:50:10,840 --> 00:50:12,880
Speaker 1: always just kind of dribbling and waiting for you to

1010
00:50:12,960 --> 00:50:14,799
Speaker 1: lean one way, and then as soon as you lean

1011
00:50:14,880 --> 00:50:18,600
Speaker 1: one way, he's just punching that gap with physicality, dropping

1012
00:50:18,640 --> 00:50:20,920
Speaker 1: his shoulder and getting to the rim. And then when

1013
00:50:20,960 --> 00:50:23,560
Speaker 1: you're sending extra defenders, he's making the easy reads that

1014
00:50:23,600 --> 00:50:27,959
Speaker 1: are there in the post, he's going, like what's really

1015
00:50:28,000 --> 00:50:29,960
Speaker 1: interesting about him in the post is He's doing it

1016
00:50:30,000 --> 00:50:33,560
Speaker 1: in every single conceivable way. He's balanced on which side

1017
00:50:33,560 --> 00:50:35,560
Speaker 1: of the floor he's attacking from. He's going over his

1018
00:50:35,640 --> 00:50:37,560
Speaker 1: left shoulder just about the same amount as he's going

1019
00:50:37,560 --> 00:50:39,960
Speaker 1: over his right shoulder. He'll turn and face and he

1020
00:50:40,000 --> 00:50:41,880
Speaker 1: does like kind of this violent ripped through where he

1021
00:50:41,880 --> 00:50:45,160
Speaker 1: brings his elbows up high and and dribbles on the

1022
00:50:45,239 --> 00:50:47,080
Speaker 1: right side of his body and then drops his left

1023
00:50:47,080 --> 00:50:49,160
Speaker 1: shoulder and then tries to go physically to the basket.

1024
00:50:49,480 --> 00:50:53,359
Speaker 1: He's got so much versatility there that he's unpredictable. And

1025
00:50:53,480 --> 00:50:56,799
Speaker 1: you know what's wild about it, Carson is like he's

1026
00:50:56,800 --> 00:51:00,400
Speaker 1: a rookie, doesn't know doesn't really kind of field the

1027
00:51:00,400 --> 00:51:03,560
Speaker 1: game yet doesn't really necessarily see the floor super well.

1028
00:51:03,719 --> 00:51:06,879
Speaker 1: Yet over time, he's just gonna get better and better

1029
00:51:06,880 --> 00:51:08,719
Speaker 1: and better and better at this stuff. And just wait

1030
00:51:08,800 --> 00:51:11,640
Speaker 1: until the jumper is really polished. He's gonna put on

1031
00:51:11,680 --> 00:51:14,920
Speaker 1: a number another like five pounds of lean muscle, like

1032
00:51:15,000 --> 00:51:17,719
Speaker 1: he'll probably be right around the same weight but be

1033
00:51:17,840 --> 00:51:21,239
Speaker 1: more lean, and like this kid is gonna be so

1034
00:51:21,320 --> 00:51:24,719
Speaker 1: damn good scoring the basketball. Obviously, there's all these other

1035
00:51:24,760 --> 00:51:26,239
Speaker 1: different things we got to look at, like how he

1036
00:51:26,280 --> 00:51:28,480
Speaker 1: develops as a pastor over the years, how competitive he

1037
00:51:28,560 --> 00:51:30,600
Speaker 1: is as a defensive player. What does he like just

1038
00:51:30,680 --> 00:51:32,480
Speaker 1: in terms of his demeanor on a night and night

1039
00:51:32,480 --> 00:51:34,960
Speaker 1: out basis, in terms of bringing good effort and energy.

1040
00:51:35,160 --> 00:51:37,000
Speaker 1: There's always that kind of stuff that could be the

1041
00:51:37,040 --> 00:51:39,960
Speaker 1: things that derail him or prevent him from being, you know,

1042
00:51:40,000 --> 00:51:41,640
Speaker 1: instead of a top ten player, he ends up being

1043
00:51:41,640 --> 00:51:43,520
Speaker 1: a top thirty player. Like, those are all the little

1044
00:51:43,520 --> 00:51:46,759
Speaker 1: forks in the road for him. But he is massively

1045
00:51:46,880 --> 00:51:50,400
Speaker 1: except exceeding any potential expectations as a scorer in this league.

1046
00:51:50,400 --> 00:51:52,719
Speaker 1: In fact, he's already one of the best io and

1047
00:51:52,760 --> 00:51:57,120
Speaker 1: post guys that we have. He has a remarkable skill

1048
00:51:57,160 --> 00:52:00,719
Speaker 1: set and in terms of just his product and historically

1049
00:52:00,760 --> 00:52:03,680
Speaker 1: he's scoring the most points per game by any rookie

1050
00:52:03,719 --> 00:52:07,520
Speaker 1: since David Robinson in and by the way, he was

1051
00:52:07,520 --> 00:52:09,480
Speaker 1: twenty four, he was kind of cheating in the rookie

1052
00:52:09,480 --> 00:52:12,799
Speaker 1: categories so and still an all time great player. So

1053
00:52:13,840 --> 00:52:16,600
Speaker 1: I was really high on him. I think that you

1054
00:52:16,719 --> 00:52:19,640
Speaker 1: look at just the prospects we're getting overall, these are

1055
00:52:19,719 --> 00:52:22,680
Speaker 1: super evolved freaks who like didn't used to exist before.

1056
00:52:23,000 --> 00:52:24,840
Speaker 1: I thought he could score close to twenty This is

1057
00:52:25,280 --> 00:52:27,600
Speaker 1: twenty three and a half on league average efficiency as

1058
00:52:27,640 --> 00:52:30,320
Speaker 1: a rookie is so impressive. When he is the complete

1059
00:52:30,320 --> 00:52:34,359
Speaker 1: focal point of the Magic offense, it is remarkable and

1060
00:52:35,719 --> 00:52:38,960
Speaker 1: like he's been better in probably just about every way

1061
00:52:38,960 --> 00:52:41,040
Speaker 1: than we could have expected, but still was a prospect.

1062
00:52:41,040 --> 00:52:44,400
Speaker 1: This guy was a six ten two fifty crazy powerful

1063
00:52:44,440 --> 00:52:47,000
Speaker 1: athlete with a pretty darn good handle, who could look

1064
00:52:47,000 --> 00:52:49,520
Speaker 1: like a wing in spots with the pull up jump shooting,

1065
00:52:49,840 --> 00:52:52,319
Speaker 1: who could attack out of the post, who could roll,

1066
00:52:52,360 --> 00:52:55,560
Speaker 1: who could push in transition, and he's even, you know,

1067
00:52:55,840 --> 00:52:58,400
Speaker 1: overachieved those expectations. I think the post game has been

1068
00:52:58,400 --> 00:53:01,239
Speaker 1: one of the most impressive things. I don't remember him

1069
00:53:01,239 --> 00:53:04,920
Speaker 1: demonstrating that kind of variety in college. It's been really impressive,

1070
00:53:05,080 --> 00:53:08,399
Speaker 1: and I think with the playmaking, you want to see

1071
00:53:08,400 --> 00:53:11,760
Speaker 1: it be more consistent. But his best moments as a passer,

1072
00:53:12,400 --> 00:53:14,799
Speaker 1: he does some pretty advanced stuff. Sometimes he makes some

1073
00:53:14,840 --> 00:53:19,359
Speaker 1: pretty remarkable fines in the corners, the ability to sort

1074
00:53:19,360 --> 00:53:21,719
Speaker 1: of adapt mid air and still get the ball out

1075
00:53:21,719 --> 00:53:24,880
Speaker 1: with velocity and accuracy. So I agree he has to

1076
00:53:24,920 --> 00:53:27,799
Speaker 1: develop there, but I think he really will because the

1077
00:53:27,880 --> 00:53:31,480
Speaker 1: moments that you see are so tantalizing, so impressive. The

1078
00:53:31,560 --> 00:53:34,480
Speaker 1: guy's a freak. I was a believer in Chet over him.

1079
00:53:34,480 --> 00:53:37,399
Speaker 1: I thought they were both great prospects. And Chet's gonna

1080
00:53:37,440 --> 00:53:39,640
Speaker 1: have to do a lot to validate that opinion right now,

1081
00:53:39,680 --> 00:53:42,160
Speaker 1: because I'd be pretty confident that Paulo is going to

1082
00:53:42,200 --> 00:53:47,000
Speaker 1: be an all NBA guy. Yeah. I've seen him get

1083
00:53:47,080 --> 00:53:51,520
Speaker 1: Andrew Wiggins off the dribble and just dog walk him

1084
00:53:51,520 --> 00:53:55,320
Speaker 1: to the basket. I've seen him in the fourth quarter

1085
00:53:55,400 --> 00:53:58,880
Speaker 1: of a close game just bully Jason take him to

1086
00:53:58,880 --> 00:54:00,880
Speaker 1: the rim with the spin, move a basket like he

1087
00:54:01,280 --> 00:54:05,360
Speaker 1: The physical tools that he possesses are legitimate problems for people,

1088
00:54:06,160 --> 00:54:10,000
Speaker 1: and not only that it translates to the postseason specifically,

1089
00:54:10,000 --> 00:54:13,479
Speaker 1: because we know that the bullyball stuff always translates better

1090
00:54:13,520 --> 00:54:16,319
Speaker 1: in the postseason. Then pull up jump shooting and things

1091
00:54:16,320 --> 00:54:18,560
Speaker 1: along those lines, because everyone loses their legs and the

1092
00:54:18,640 --> 00:54:22,239
Speaker 1: shot accuracy and stuff goes down. Um, he's got good

1093
00:54:22,280 --> 00:54:25,839
Speaker 1: passing chemistry already with Wendell Carter Jr. Where like he'll

1094
00:54:25,920 --> 00:54:28,879
Speaker 1: kind of work into the lane as he's posting up

1095
00:54:28,920 --> 00:54:30,600
Speaker 1: and then wen Dell will just kind of cut behind

1096
00:54:30,640 --> 00:54:33,160
Speaker 1: the basket and he'll just elevate like he's going up

1097
00:54:33,160 --> 00:54:35,400
Speaker 1: for a shot, and then just dumping down for an

1098
00:54:35,400 --> 00:54:38,120
Speaker 1: easy lay up underneath the rim. He's good man. I

1099
00:54:38,320 --> 00:54:40,719
Speaker 1: got to see him up close and personal when I

1100
00:54:40,760 --> 00:54:43,319
Speaker 1: was in Vegas this year, and I remember sitting there

1101
00:54:43,320 --> 00:54:46,960
Speaker 1: thinking like, Okay, Jade and Ivy was the most impressive

1102
00:54:47,080 --> 00:54:49,319
Speaker 1: player in the sense that, like I came away from

1103
00:54:49,360 --> 00:54:52,040
Speaker 1: that thing being like, wow, I can't believe how good

1104
00:54:52,120 --> 00:54:53,920
Speaker 1: he is. I didn't expect that. And we can talk

1105
00:54:53,920 --> 00:54:56,959
Speaker 1: about Jade and Ivy some other day, but like, but yeah,

1106
00:54:57,640 --> 00:55:01,080
Speaker 1: like even in spite of that, the hollow thing just

1107
00:55:01,360 --> 00:55:03,480
Speaker 1: was just hitting everybody in the face in that arena

1108
00:55:03,480 --> 00:55:06,439
Speaker 1: because he's huge, just bigger than everybody. It's like he's

1109
00:55:06,520 --> 00:55:08,719
Speaker 1: he's he's kind of an archetype of player that we

1110
00:55:08,760 --> 00:55:12,640
Speaker 1: haven't seen in a long time. He is an invitable mismatch.

1111
00:55:13,120 --> 00:55:16,160
Speaker 1: Go ahead. Yeah, I was just saying, you're completely right.

1112
00:55:16,239 --> 00:55:18,239
Speaker 1: We don't see people like him. No matter who you

1113
00:55:18,280 --> 00:55:20,000
Speaker 1: try to guard him with, he's a mismatch. He will

1114
00:55:20,040 --> 00:55:23,400
Speaker 1: overpower your wings, he will get by your fours and bigs.

1115
00:55:23,600 --> 00:55:27,040
Speaker 1: He's just a monster, Yes, he is, and I'm very

1116
00:55:27,080 --> 00:55:29,080
Speaker 1: much looking forward to watching him. This was fun, Carson.

1117
00:55:29,080 --> 00:55:30,680
Speaker 1: We gotta do this more often, and we gotta get

1118
00:55:30,719 --> 00:55:33,520
Speaker 1: into some more of these young guys. Alright, guys, that

1119
00:55:33,680 --> 00:55:36,320
Speaker 1: is all we have for today. As always, we sincerely

1120
00:55:36,360 --> 00:55:38,480
Speaker 1: appreciate your support. We are off for the weekend and

1121
00:55:38,520 --> 00:55:40,719
Speaker 1: then we're going Monday Tuesday next week before we take

1122
00:55:40,760 --> 00:55:43,719
Speaker 1: some time off for Thanksgiving. As always, I appreciate your

1123
00:55:43,760 --> 00:56:42,880
Speaker 1: support and we will see you on Monday. The Volume