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Speaker 1: presented by Vanduel here at the volume Happy Tuesday, everybody.
Speaker 1: I hope all of you guys are having a great
Speaker 1: week so far. Little change of plans tonight. So originally
Speaker 1: we were gonna do an instant reaction video to Grizzlies
Speaker 1: Pelicans before we got to the rest of the show,
Speaker 1: but then Desmond Bain was ruled out, Zion Williamson was
Speaker 1: ruled out, And now that particular game doesn't quite take
Speaker 1: on the same field that it had earlier today, so
Speaker 1: we're gonna skip that and just go to the rest
Speaker 1: of the show, We're gonna do a deep dive into
Speaker 1: the Boston Celtics and their recent success. After beating the
Speaker 1: Thunder yesterday, they've won seven in a row and now
Speaker 1: they have the best record in the league. Then yesterday
Speaker 1: there was this kind of this debate running around as
Speaker 1: to whether or not Tatum and Brown are the best
Speaker 1: duo in the NBA, which obviously got me thinking. So
Speaker 1: I've got a list of the top ten duos in
Speaker 1: the NBA for you guys today. After that, I finally
Speaker 1: got to spend a good amount of time this morning
Speaker 1: doing a deep dive into shake guil Just Alexander. With
Speaker 1: him being buried in Oklahoma City, haven't gotten to spend
Speaker 1: much time watching him, but he's been unquestionably one of
Speaker 1: the top ten players in the NBA to start the season.
Speaker 1: So I did watch almost two hours of footage on
Speaker 1: him this morning and just about every basket he's made
Speaker 1: over the course of the season, and I cannot believe
Speaker 1: how good he is. So we're gonna spend some time
Speaker 1: talking about him, and then at the end, we're gonna
Speaker 1: talk to some Golden State Warriors. Has got back on track?
Speaker 1: Would they win against San Antonio Spurs last night. Their
Speaker 1: bench got going, Jordan Pool got back on track. And
Speaker 1: then I want to talk a little bit about Clay
Speaker 1: Thompson because there was a report that came about came
Speaker 1: out about him and some of the frustrations with his shooting,
Speaker 1: which I'm gonna come out in his defense a little bit.
Speaker 1: And then Grizzlies fans. I promise we are going to
Speaker 1: get to the Grizzlies eventually soon. Desmond Baine is experiencing
Speaker 1: a leap and a lot of it has to do
Speaker 1: with his ability to create his own shot, which is
Speaker 1: something I was specifically critical of about him in previous seasons.
Speaker 1: We will get to that eventually. You guys know the
Speaker 1: drill before we get started. Subscribe to the Volumes YouTube channels.
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Speaker 1: can find them wherever you get your podcasts. Under Hoops
Speaker 1: Tonight all right, let's talk some basketball. So Boston Celtics
Speaker 1: seven wins in a row. You know, I had a
Speaker 1: couple of people complaining in my mentions on Twitter that
Speaker 1: I haven't talked about them that much to start this season,
Speaker 1: and you know, it's funny, because they were basically all
Speaker 1: we talked about at the end of last year. Because
Speaker 1: if those of you guys who've been following the show,
Speaker 1: I was super high on the Celtics the entire last
Speaker 1: half of last season, and going into that playoff run,
Speaker 1: basically up until the finals, I picked them to win
Speaker 1: um and so they're a team that I've talked about
Speaker 1: a ton, and so it was kind of nice to
Speaker 1: kind of get away from the Celtics and talk about
Speaker 1: some other teams to start the season. But we can't
Speaker 1: skip over them anymore. They have the best record in
Speaker 1: the league. They are five and two against five hundred
Speaker 1: or better teams, which is best in the league by
Speaker 1: a mile. They are first in offense by a mile
Speaker 1: four points per one hundred possessions, ahead of the Nuggets,
Speaker 1: who I predicted would be number one in offense. However,
Speaker 1: they are twenty one in defense and that's not getting
Speaker 1: any better. They are seventeen and defense during the seven
Speaker 1: game win streak. But I have a theory there. So
Speaker 1: you know, rim protection in particular is far more valuable
Speaker 1: in the regular season because the prospect of sitting in
Speaker 1: a defensive stance and containing ball handlers is extremely taxing physically.
Speaker 1: It takes a lot more effort, right, versus a funneling
Speaker 1: scheme where you have a big man that's lingering around
Speaker 1: the basket, say like Robert Williams, when he's lingering around
Speaker 1: the basket and guys are funneling to them, which is,
Speaker 1: you know, a scheme that a lot of teams use
Speaker 1: over the course of a two games to try to
Speaker 1: just work their way and eat innings. During the regular season,
Speaker 1: that's just a lot less taxing to do. It's more
Speaker 1: focus and understanding your rotations and just making sure you
Speaker 1: funnel in the right directions and things along those lines,
Speaker 1: and then the big man it can linger around the
Speaker 1: basket because there's not really the game planning that you
Speaker 1: see in playoff series that require you to be better
Speaker 1: on the perimeter. Right. So Robert Williams's injury specifically was
Speaker 1: going to ask the Boston Celtics to defend in a
Speaker 1: different way. Now, They've always had that look, even in
Speaker 1: the playoffs last year they had their Robert Williams look,
Speaker 1: and then they had their Al Horford at the five
Speaker 1: look when they would bring Derk Derek White into the game. Right,
Speaker 1: I liked their Al Horford at the five lineups better.
Speaker 1: We've been over that extensively. The gist of it is
Speaker 1: is I think Robert Williams and what he does is uh,
Speaker 1: you know, It's like the vertical spacing is good, but
Speaker 1: vertical spacing is never the same as five out spacing.
Speaker 1: In my opinion, I've said that time and time again
Speaker 1: on the show. It's just way harder to make defensive
Speaker 1: rotations in five out spacing and then in general on
Speaker 1: the defensive And I thought Robert Williams also gambled quite
Speaker 1: a bit and got out of position, and them using
Speaker 1: him as a roamer actually hurt their defense in a
Speaker 1: lot of specific cases. And most importantly, they still defended
Speaker 1: really well without Robert Williams on the floor last year.
Speaker 1: Now in this regular season, without Robert Williams, their defense
Speaker 1: hasn't been the same, but it's been because of that
Speaker 1: perimeter defense that I'm talking about. You're now asking that lineup,
Speaker 1: you know, with Al Horford at the five, you're asking
Speaker 1: those groups to sit in a stance and contain at
Speaker 1: a higher level than they're used to doing during the
Speaker 1: regular season, and they just simply haven't done that. But
Speaker 1: I'm encouraged because you're still seeing these pockets of really
Speaker 1: good defense when the Celtics lock in, and they still
Speaker 1: look every bit as stifling as they did last year.
Speaker 1: And you've seen that a lot over the course, just
Speaker 1: in the last week. So last night against the Thunder,
Speaker 1: for instance, Jalen Brown really struggling to guard Shay Guild
Speaker 1: just Alexander. In general, everything looks sloppy. They're killing you
Speaker 1: with pick and top with poku, and it doesn't look good.
Speaker 1: You're down. You know. The Thunder pretty much controlled that
Speaker 1: game through through three quarters and some change. But then
Speaker 1: from the eight minute mark to the one minute mark
Speaker 1: of the fourth quarter, Boston sat in a damn defensive stance.
Speaker 1: Jalen Brown did a much better job on Shade Guil
Speaker 1: just Alexander. Tatum gotta stop on Shade Gil just Alexander
Speaker 1: as well. They forced to turn over on the door
Speaker 1: down a drive they blocked Josh Kiddy at the rim.
Speaker 1: They sat in the stance, and they played much better defense,
Speaker 1: and they allowed just eight points over seven minutes from
Speaker 1: the eight minute mark to the one minute mark. Now,
Speaker 1: Boston's offense wasn't light in the world on fire during
Speaker 1: that span. They only scored sixteen points themselves, but their
Speaker 1: defense gave them a chance to win that game. And
Speaker 1: then it was tied at one fifteen and Marcus Smart
Speaker 1: hit that tough, contested three on the left wing, and
Speaker 1: then Derek White hit a nasty movement three coming up
Speaker 1: from the left wing and turning and squaring up in
Speaker 1: mid al mid air to knock down the three. And
Speaker 1: then Marcus Smart hit a driving layup on s g
Speaker 1: A to ice the game, and the game's over. So again,
Speaker 1: like when I'm looking at, especially teams that have had
Speaker 1: a lot of deep playoff runs who might succumb to
Speaker 1: some regular season malaise, I'm curious to see what their
Speaker 1: switch looks like. What does it look like when they
Speaker 1: really turn it on? And as far as I can tell,
Speaker 1: Boston is still able to flip that switch and strangled
Speaker 1: teams when they need to. You guys might remember, I
Speaker 1: think it was just over a week ago and um
Speaker 1: uh when they played the Memphis Grizzlies, similar type of deal.
Speaker 1: Game tied at ninety with eight minutes left. We covered
Speaker 1: this game if you guys remember there was uh. It
Speaker 1: was tied at ninety, was just about eight minutes left,
Speaker 1: and they held the Grizzlies scoreless five possessions in a row.
Speaker 1: They forced Desmond Baying into a tough step back, they
Speaker 1: forced John Moran into a tough step back, they couldn't score.
Speaker 1: Then on the other end of the floor, Boston scored
Speaker 1: ten points and the game was over. So they flipped
Speaker 1: the switch and they were able to get the win.
Speaker 1: Earlier this weekend when they played the Nuggets, same deal.
Speaker 1: They're only up eight seven with three minutes left in
Speaker 1: the third, and over the course of the next seven
Speaker 1: minutes they allowed just eight point they score twenty three.
Speaker 1: Suddenly you're up sixteen in the game is over. So
Speaker 1: there's clear examples for Boston of them being able to
Speaker 1: flip the switch, because during the regular season without Rob Williams,
Speaker 1: you're asking them to contain on the perimeter, which is
Speaker 1: just really taxing emotionally, physically, and mentally. Right, So they're
Speaker 1: they're not. They're not dialed in enough on that end
Speaker 1: of the floor. You know, a possession and in possession
Speaker 1: out over the course of the season. But they're still
Speaker 1: demonstrating that when they lock in, they can do that.
Speaker 1: And Robert Williams will come back, and when he does
Speaker 1: that should bolster their regular season defense. They should take
Speaker 1: over at that point. And here's another thing too, with
Speaker 1: how good their offense has been. Again, I predict that
Speaker 1: the Nuggets would be the best offense in the league. Nope,
Speaker 1: their second, and the Celtics are four points better per
Speaker 1: one possessions. I talked about how the Clippers were the
Speaker 1: best driving, kicked team in the league and the Celtics
Speaker 1: were like the team that wanted to be the Clippers. No,
Speaker 1: that that's not the case anymore. The Celtics are the
Speaker 1: best driving, kicked team in the league. They're the best
Speaker 1: offense in the league, and it's not close. Their combination
Speaker 1: of ball handling and shooting now has made them incredibly
Speaker 1: difficult to guard. Jayson Tatum and Jalen Brown have both
Speaker 1: taken leaps and and you know, here's the deal. I'm
Speaker 1: still picking Milwaukee out of the East, but we are
Speaker 1: set up for what should be an all time great
Speaker 1: Eastern Conference Finals. I can't wait. And yes, i'd picked Milwaukee,
Speaker 1: but Boston absolutely has a chance to win that series.
Speaker 1: So over the course the last couple of days, as
Speaker 1: the Celtics have gotten back on track, there's been this
Speaker 1: debate that's been thrown out. You know, are Jayson Tatum
Speaker 1: and Jalen Brown the best duo in the NBA? Now,
Speaker 1: I was inclined to agree, but I wanted to dig
Speaker 1: into it a little bit and just make sure that
Speaker 1: my head was in the right place. So I did,
Speaker 1: and I put together a list of the top ten
Speaker 1: duos in the NBA. So what I'm gonna do, for
Speaker 1: time's sake, for the top five, I'm gonna dive into
Speaker 1: some numbers. I'm just gonna list sixth through ten, and
Speaker 1: then I have an honorable mentioned list as well. So
Speaker 1: I agree Number one, I have Jayson Tatum and Jylen Brown. There,
Speaker 1: I reaging fifty seven, fourteen rebounds, and seven assists. Both
Speaker 1: are over fifty percent true shooting, so they're both scoring
Speaker 1: at an incredibly high rate and an incredibly efficient rate.
Speaker 1: They're two of the best perimeter defenders in the league.
Speaker 1: I think Jayson Tatum is clearly a top five player
Speaker 1: right now. Look like I have a lot of predictions.
Speaker 1: It's part of the job. I'm wrong sometimes, and you
Speaker 1: guys always let me know when I'm wrong. I'm gonna
Speaker 1: be wrong. Sometimes I'm gonna be right sometimes. One of
Speaker 1: the things I was right about was when I put
Speaker 1: Tatum at six. I put Tatum at six because I
Speaker 1: said his playoff run was real and if it was
Speaker 1: anybody else, you guys would be acknowledging it. And everyone
Speaker 1: called me insane. And Jayson Tatum has been a top
Speaker 1: five player this year. That's been one of the things
Speaker 1: that I've been right about. And then Jalen Brown is
Speaker 1: firmly a top fifteen player in this league. So top
Speaker 1: five and top fifteen, two of the best perimeter defenders
Speaker 1: in basketball. Fourteen and seven. Yeah, I think Jayson Tatum
Speaker 1: and Jalen Brown are the best duo in the league.
Speaker 1: Number two Johannas Antenna Coompo and Drew Holiday fifty one points,
Speaker 1: eighteen rebounds, thirteen assists. Both will make all defense teams.
Speaker 1: Although I think Janice is pretty clearly the best defensive
Speaker 1: player in the world right now. He's the best player
Speaker 1: in the world right now, but Drew somewhere around thirty.
Speaker 1: But you can't, you know, we can't overlook the team's
Speaker 1: success Janice and Drew. You know, without Chris Middleton last year,
Speaker 1: damn near beat that Celtics team. Okay, and then this
Speaker 1: year they have been right up at the top of
Speaker 1: the league without Chris Middleton, without Pat Connaughton. Those dudes
Speaker 1: just know how to win basketball games. They play both
Speaker 1: ends of the floor. Janice is the best player in
Speaker 1: the world. I have them as the second best duo
Speaker 1: in the league, all right, number three, Steph Curry and
Speaker 1: Andrew Wiggins fifty points, twelve rebounds, nine assists, both overt
Speaker 1: true shooting. Steph Curry is at a career high sixty
Speaker 1: nine point two percent true shooting. He's the best that
Speaker 1: he's ever been. Steph is a good defensive player. Andrew
Speaker 1: wigginses is in the converse station for the best perimeter
Speaker 1: defender alive. I have Steph as the second best player
Speaker 1: in the world right now. Andrew Wiggins is somewhere in
Speaker 1: that thirty five to forty range. Once again, we got
Speaker 1: to acknowledge the winning that they've done over the course
Speaker 1: of the last couple of years. I have them at
Speaker 1: number three, number four, Joel em Beat and James Harden
Speaker 1: combining for fifty four points, seventeen rebounds, and fourteen assists,
Speaker 1: both over fifty true shooting, and Beat is having the
Speaker 1: best perimeter shooting season of his career. Don't look at
Speaker 1: the three point numbers. He is lighting the world on
Speaker 1: fire from mid range this year. He's somewhere around the
Speaker 1: sixth or seventh best player in the league. And then
Speaker 1: James Harden, Like, I know he's hurt right now, but
Speaker 1: he definitely looked more spry before the injury. Not quite
Speaker 1: two thousand nineteen, James Harden, but he looked more spry.
Speaker 1: He's somewhere around the twenty best player in the league.
Speaker 1: As a duo, they aren't as good defensively as they
Speaker 1: should be. But with as good as joe El em
Speaker 1: Beat has been this year, and with James Harden firmly
Speaker 1: being right around the twentieth best player in the league,
Speaker 1: I have them as the fourth best duo in the league.
Speaker 1: All right, number five, And again I need you like
Speaker 1: we gotta look past the roster here and look at
Speaker 1: the players. I have Lebron, James and Anthony Davis. They're
Speaker 1: averaging fort twenty rebounds and tennisis both are top four
Speaker 1: in the league and restricted area makes per game. For
Speaker 1: the record, They're gonna because of how terrible the Lakers are.
Speaker 1: There's gonna be a ton of pushback here, but we
Speaker 1: have to look past that. They are playing with far
Speaker 1: and away the worst supporting cast in the league. It's
Speaker 1: not close. Every other due on this list has significantly
Speaker 1: more help flanking them than Lebron James and Anthony Davis. Too.
Speaker 1: There are players starting games for the Lakers, multiple players
Speaker 1: that have started games for the Lakers that would not
Speaker 1: even make rotations for other players on this list. Rob
Speaker 1: Plink and Genie Buss have absolutely destroyed the roster around
Speaker 1: Lebron James and Anthony Davis. That is why the team
Speaker 1: is struggling as much as they have been. However, I
Speaker 1: used to consider or Lebron James top five Anthony Davis
Speaker 1: top five as well. In Anthony Davis has declined and
Speaker 1: l Lebron James has declined as well. I think both
Speaker 1: of them have still firmly been in that fifteen to
Speaker 1: eleven range, and they're Look, here's the thing is, we're
Speaker 1: looking at this list. The only other due on this
Speaker 1: list that I can firmly say both players are top
Speaker 1: fifteen players in the league is Tatum and Brown. So
Speaker 1: you can slander the Lakers all you want. Hell, I
Speaker 1: do too. I do it half of the week here, right.
Speaker 1: But and and we can acknowledge that Lebron James and
Speaker 1: Anthony Davis are having down years. They absolutely are, But
Speaker 1: there's still an incredibly imposing duo. And I would imagine
Speaker 1: that Lebron James is going to pick his game up
Speaker 1: over the course of this season. And Anthony Davis just
Speaker 1: played his best game probably in the last two seasons.
Speaker 1: So we can slander the Lakers, but we can't look
Speaker 1: past the fact that Lebron James and Anthony Davis two
Speaker 1: top fifteen players in the league. They are the fifth
Speaker 1: best duo in the league. They just play with the
Speaker 1: worst roster in basketball. Right now, all right, I'm gonna
Speaker 1: rip through the the back five pretty quick here. So
Speaker 1: number six, I have Zion and Brandon Ingram. Number seven,
Speaker 1: I have John Rand and Desmond Bain. Number eight, I
Speaker 1: have Nicola Yokich and Jamal Murray. Number nine, Luca don
Speaker 1: Chich and Spencer Dinwoodie and number ten Trey Young and
Speaker 1: Dijonta Murray the groups that missed the cut for me,
Speaker 1: Katie and Kyrie because Kyrie can't stay by Kevin Durant
Speaker 1: side long enough to even be considered a duo. Same
Speaker 1: goes for Kawai and Paul George Is Kauai just can't
Speaker 1: stay on the court. I had Trey Young and de
Speaker 1: gent Day Murray narrowly missing the cut, Damian Lillard and
Speaker 1: Anfreny Simmons. Oh, you could even go with Jeremy Grant there,
Speaker 1: depending on how much you value the defensive end of
Speaker 1: the floor. And then Donovan Mitchell and Darius Scarland. So
Speaker 1: if I was going to fifteen, those would be the
Speaker 1: next five that I would do. All right, Before we
Speaker 1: move on to the Warriors, I wanted to talk about
Speaker 1: Sail just Alexander for a little bit. I I literally
Speaker 1: can't believe how good this kid is, Like I said,
Speaker 1: just by virtue of like it's the nature of this job,
Speaker 1: Like if I'm covering the top teams in the league,
Speaker 1: and with how much footage I have to watch, how
Speaker 1: much film I have to watch, how much research I
Speaker 1: have to do into the numbers, and and especially when
Speaker 1: we get into the postseason. In the workload there, I
Speaker 1: can't I can't spend a ton of time watching the
Speaker 1: Orlando Magic or watching these teams that are at the
Speaker 1: bottom of the league. And so over the course of
Speaker 1: the last couple of years, I've you know, occasionally caught
Speaker 1: in ast us say, Gils Alexander game. I've I've watched him,
Speaker 1: you know, a few dozen times over the course of
Speaker 1: the last few seasons, but I haven't really dived. I
Speaker 1: haven't taken the chance he had to really dive into
Speaker 1: Shay the way that I do with the other top
Speaker 1: players in the league. And so I did this morning,
Speaker 1: and I watched about two hours of film on him.
Speaker 1: I watched almost every single basket that he's made this season,
Speaker 1: and I literally can't believe how good he is. I
Speaker 1: I like, I sent out a poll just too, because
Speaker 1: I was like, man, this kid is one of the
Speaker 1: ten best basketball players alive. And so I sent out
Speaker 1: a poll to Twitter just to get a feel for
Speaker 1: the way that everyone else was thinking. And I was like,
Speaker 1: is she Gil just Alexander a top ten player in
Speaker 1: the NBA? And over eight percent of you agreed with me.
Speaker 1: He's only twenty four years old, so he's Jason tatums age, which,
Speaker 1: by the way, that's insane that Jayson Tatum is only
Speaker 1: twenty four years old. He's six ft six with a
Speaker 1: six eleven wingspan, um he's only a hundred pounds, but
Speaker 1: he plays strong and and there's there's a huge difference
Speaker 1: between playing strength and actual strength. It's it's the the
Speaker 1: willingness to be physically aggressive, regardless of what your physical
Speaker 1: tools are. Obviously ideally you want both if you're gonna
Speaker 1: play bullyball right like a Lebron James type of guy.
Speaker 1: But even if you're not overly strong, you can play
Speaker 1: strong and that will make up for a lot. Kevin
Speaker 1: Durant is one of my favorite examples of this. He's skinny,
Speaker 1: but physical defenders don't have a ton of success on
Speaker 1: him because he plays physical back even though he is skinny.
Speaker 1: And Shay kind of falls into that class as well.
Speaker 1: So there's a play in the middle of the third
Speaker 1: quarter last night against against the Celtics where s g
Speaker 1: A had Jalen Brown and the ISO on the left
Speaker 1: wing and Jalen sitting in his stance and Shay drives
Speaker 1: left and Jalen cuts him off and catches him on
Speaker 1: the chest like squares him up, and Shay just bumps
Speaker 1: him off and then hits the gas again, and Jalen
Speaker 1: retreats and catches off and catches back and cuts him
Speaker 1: off again in the chest, and Shades pushes through him
Speaker 1: and gets all the way to the basket, makes a
Speaker 1: right handed lay up on the left side of the rim,
Speaker 1: and I'm watching that and I'm like, Jalen Brown is
Speaker 1: significantly bigger and stronger than Shay, and Shay bullied him,
Speaker 1: and it's because he was playing with physicality, understanding angles,
Speaker 1: understanding the way that the officiating works, and knowing that
Speaker 1: he was able to punch those gaps even at only
Speaker 1: a pounds. That's really impressive to me. This year, he's
Speaker 1: averaging thirty two points, four rebounds, and six assists on
Speaker 1: sixty true shooting. They've won six games out of thirteen
Speaker 1: games that he's played in, which is pretty damn solid
Speaker 1: when you look at the rest of that roster. And
Speaker 1: I'm excited about the Thunder in the future, but right
Speaker 1: now they still don't have that much talent. They beat
Speaker 1: the Clippers twice, they beat the MAVs they beat the Raptors.
Speaker 1: They're just a solid basketball team. These are not This
Speaker 1: is not you know, guy putting up good numbers on
Speaker 1: a bad team, the Thunder when they're on your schedule. Now,
Speaker 1: other NBA coaches are like, oh no, Like my locker
Speaker 1: room thinks this is the Thunder and they don't realize
Speaker 1: that this is a good basketball team coming to town.
Speaker 1: If you don't bring your a game against the Thunder,
Speaker 1: you lose flat out. Because Shay is a top ten player,
Speaker 1: you know, Mark Dagenald of I hope I'm pronouncing that correctly.
Speaker 1: Is is has got these guys playing beautiful basketball on
Speaker 1: both ends of the floor. They're like, you, you you
Speaker 1: have to be prepared to play the Thunder. You're going
Speaker 1: to lose. So looking into his skill set a little
Speaker 1: bit there, there are some stats with s g A
Speaker 1: that defy that defy any conventional basketball wisdom. Here's the
Speaker 1: first one. He gets to the rim at an insane
Speaker 1: rate for a hundred and ninety five pound guard. These
Speaker 1: are the league leaders in restricted area makes. Jana Santena
Speaker 1: Coompo's number one, Zion Williamson is number two, Anthony Davis
Speaker 1: is number three, Lebron James is number four. That's why
Speaker 1: they're still one of the best duos in the league
Speaker 1: despite having that terrible roster. Luca don Hitch is at
Speaker 1: number five and Shakil just Alexander is number six in
Speaker 1: the league and restricted area makes per game, He's making
Speaker 1: five point two shots in the restricted area at seventy
Speaker 1: And remember, for a guard, I'm looking at like six
Speaker 1: as an efficient right there, He's above Joel Embiid in
Speaker 1: restricted area makes. He's above jommer Rant in restricted area makes.
Speaker 1: He's above Nickela Yokich in restricted area makes. What do
Speaker 1: I say is the most valuable skill on the offensive
Speaker 1: end in the NBA this year pull up jump shooting.
Speaker 1: You guys know how much I value that. He's forte
Speaker 1: on ten pull up jumpers per game. That top tier.
Speaker 1: That's not I'm good. That's not I'm great. That's I
Speaker 1: am among the very best pull up jump shooters in
Speaker 1: the league. He's also shooting forty six percent on catch
Speaker 1: and shoot threes and then passing the basketball. Six assists
Speaker 1: is perfectly fine and acceptable for a score at the
Speaker 1: volume that he's scoring. He does not have an offensive
Speaker 1: weakness right now. And this is where it gets crazy.
Speaker 1: This is the second great stat. How many players in
Speaker 1: the league do you think average at least one point
Speaker 1: five steals and one point five blocks. It's one. It's Shay,
Speaker 1: That's it. Nobody else. Like, how ridiculous is that he's
Speaker 1: the only guy in the league who's blocking one and
Speaker 1: a half shots and getting one and a half steels
Speaker 1: as a hundred and nine pound guard like every again,
Speaker 1: between that in the rim finishing, it just completely defies
Speaker 1: any conventional basketball wisdom. He has unquestionably be one of
Speaker 1: the ten best players in the league to start the season.
Speaker 1: I messed up bad by leaving him off of my
Speaker 1: Power of My Player rankings last week. Will not make
Speaker 1: that mistake again. He's going to be on next week's list.
Speaker 1: And the Thunder have themselves one hell of a franchise cornerstone.
Speaker 1: You know what impresses me the most was Shay When
Speaker 1: I was watching the footage today, There's he's got all
Speaker 1: the stuff that you look for in a lead guard
Speaker 1: right Like, he's got good size and good length, um
Speaker 1: a great pull up jump shot, great catch and shoot
Speaker 1: jump shot. He's got a great floater, he's got a
Speaker 1: great handle. But so many of the players that you
Speaker 1: see that fit that mold only play one way, especially
Speaker 1: as freak athletes, which she is also a very gifted athlete,
Speaker 1: most of them are just downhill. Everything's a hundred miles
Speaker 1: an hour. Shay has old man game already. He's extremely shifty,
Speaker 1: lots of starts and stops. He plays slow sometimes, but
Speaker 1: then he can hit the jets and play fast like
Speaker 1: you're you're watching him like it's almost like like you
Speaker 1: know how I was talking about Carris Laverte and how
Speaker 1: he kind of plays that old man game. Shay can
Speaker 1: do that, but then he can also hit the Jets
Speaker 1: with his first step, and that's what makes it such
Speaker 1: a deadly combo because like you'll see him methodically work
Speaker 1: his way to a basket, but then it'll be like
Speaker 1: crunch time against the Boston Celtics and he'll just hit
Speaker 1: the Jets going left and just toast by Jalen Brown,
Speaker 1: one of the best perimeter defenders in the basketball in
Speaker 1: the in the league, and make a left handed layup
Speaker 1: and one against al Horford. So like he can hit
Speaker 1: the Jets, he can play slow, he can shift gears
Speaker 1: the the way that that specifically helps him so much
Speaker 1: is it's about being unpredictable. You know, almost none of
Speaker 1: Shay gil just Alexander's baskets look the same. Every one
Speaker 1: of them kind of has a different flare to it.
Speaker 1: Even is pull up jump shots to a certain extent,
Speaker 1: the footwork is a little different. His quickness of his release.
Speaker 1: Sometimes he rushes the release, sometimes he's slow with the release.
Speaker 1: What that means is he's always available to make a
Speaker 1: count and that makes him extremely difficult to defend. Luca
Speaker 1: is very good with this as well, where it's kind
Speaker 1: of like he's entirely planning his approach based on what
Speaker 1: the defense is doing instead of based on what he
Speaker 1: feels like doing, and that constantly keeps you off balance.
Speaker 1: It espect it will make him a very good playoff
Speaker 1: player when he gets to that point, because defenses will
Speaker 1: continue to throw new wrinkles at him like the like
Speaker 1: he he kind of doesn't have a weakness right now.
Speaker 1: It's it's wild. He's he's one of the ten best
Speaker 1: players in the world. I can't I can't believe it.
Speaker 1: I can't believe how good Shay Gildas Alexander is. And
Speaker 1: I'm really excited because I'm gonna be watching him a
Speaker 1: lot more now, especially since the thunder are probably you know,
Speaker 1: when chet Holmegren comes back, they're gonna have like that,
Speaker 1: you know, because they were really hurting Boston last night
Speaker 1: with that picking Pop with Um with Alexei Polkashevski, and
Speaker 1: they're just gonna be this like really interesting team that
Speaker 1: has shooting bigs and consistently plays five out and and
Speaker 1: has ton of length and athleticism on the perimeter because
Speaker 1: they kind of sneaky have a bunch of wings as well,
Speaker 1: and lou Dort's one of the best perimeter defenders in
Speaker 1: basketball as well. Like they're they're super interesting team. They
Speaker 1: just need that one more piece and maybe Chet ends
Speaker 1: up being that guy for them, and who knows, maybe
Speaker 1: they'll end up shutting down s g A at some
Speaker 1: point this year and they'll end up moving up in
Speaker 1: the draft lottery and getting you know, another good player
Speaker 1: this year. They have a ton of draft picks, so
Speaker 1: they've always got that like, let's flip two or three
Speaker 1: salaries and five picks for you know, some disgruntled stars
Speaker 1: somewhere in the league and then you could see somewhere
Speaker 1: where you're looking at, you know, Shay Gils just Alexander
Speaker 1: lu Dort you know, chet home Grin, you know, and
Speaker 1: and one other legitimate NBA All Star. You know, when
Speaker 1: you're in great shape. So man like, the Thunder have
Speaker 1: been really just you know, uh like hanging out around
Speaker 1: the bottom of the league ever since the Russell Westbrook trade,
Speaker 1: and uh that you could see the light at the
Speaker 1: end of the tunnel. Now there's like a really exciting
Speaker 1: future there alright. So the Warriors get back on track.
Speaker 1: They beat the hell out of the Spurs. Jordan's pool
Speaker 1: got back out track. If you on track. If you
Speaker 1: remember our last show, I was talking about how him
Speaker 1: in particular has really been struggling in his last six games,
Speaker 1: and it's a big part of why the Warriors bench
Speaker 1: has been struggling. Well what do what do I always
Speaker 1: say to do when you're in a slump, Find easy shots,
Speaker 1: build your rhythm with easy shots instead of trying to
Speaker 1: pound your head through the wall like, oh, I'm in
Speaker 1: the slump, I can't believe it. Let me keep taking
Speaker 1: these step back threes, you know where it's gonna make
Speaker 1: you get further into your head because even on your
Speaker 1: best day, a difficult three might go in thirty five
Speaker 1: percent of the time, which means you're twice as likely
Speaker 1: to miss it as you are to make it right. Well,
Speaker 1: he attacked the rim for his first two shot attempts.
Speaker 1: He got a driving layup on the right side of
Speaker 1: the rim and then a reverse lay up on the
Speaker 1: left side of the rim. Got his confidence in rhythm.
Speaker 1: Then the three point shots started following. Next thing, you know,
Speaker 1: he has thirty six points on an assortment of shots.
Speaker 1: You're driving layups, transition layups, pull up threes, movement threes,
Speaker 1: transition three's got to the foul line. Just an all
Speaker 1: around scoring performance from Jordan pool Hot take guys, the
Speaker 1: Warriors are better when Jordan Poole is playing well. Um.
Speaker 1: But the exciting part is the bench played really well.
Speaker 1: The Jonathan Cominga, Moses Moody and Anthony Lamb trio played
Speaker 1: really well. They were all moving without the basketball and
Speaker 1: hunting for each other. They had a really good chemistry
Speaker 1: working last night. Uh, they combined for tenness is and
Speaker 1: ten made threes. I want to zoom in on Anthony
Speaker 1: Lamb for a minute, so you know, it's interesting because
Speaker 1: I would argue that he's been their best bench wing
Speaker 1: to start this year because Moody's had a rough defensive season.
Speaker 1: Jonathan Cominge is all over the place. And it's interesting
Speaker 1: because he's undrafted. He's an undrafted player from was bounced
Speaker 1: around the league, playing the G League a little bit,
Speaker 1: got some you know, brief stance in Houston and in
Speaker 1: San Antonio. But he started getting minutes about halfway through
Speaker 1: this season when Steve Kerr was really grasping at straws
Speaker 1: to get something going from the bench. And I don't
Speaker 1: think it's a coincidence why he's succeeded. He's six ft six,
Speaker 1: he's almost two hundred and thirty pounds, so he can
Speaker 1: guard up in position SI. He competes like crazy on
Speaker 1: the defensive and in fact, he has the best defensive
Speaker 1: rating on the team among rotation players. The Warriors are
Speaker 1: allowing just a hundred and eight point four points per
Speaker 1: one Hunter possession in his minutes, which is best on
Speaker 1: the team. Him and Dante DiVincenzo are right there at
Speaker 1: that level. And then he can make shots. He's shooting
Speaker 1: fift on threes this year. And then this is an
Speaker 1: important part. He makes all the right reads in the
Speaker 1: Warriors system. He just does He doesn't force things. He
Speaker 1: understands how to work in those four on threes, make
Speaker 1: the extra passes, attack close outs well. This season he
Speaker 1: has ten assists to just five turnovers so far. They,
Speaker 1: like I've said so many times, they need a couple
Speaker 1: of guys to rise up to the role of dependable
Speaker 1: playoff bench wing. It might be a trade, it might
Speaker 1: be the buyout market, or it might be Moses Moody
Speaker 1: and Anthony Lamb. Obviously, we need to see a lot
Speaker 1: more good basketball from them from them for the Warriors
Speaker 1: to trust them in those situations. But you're starting to
Speaker 1: see some progress there. Anthony Lamb looks like a that
Speaker 1: they might be able to use. Obviously, with their luxury
Speaker 1: tax situation, I'm sure they'd prefer to not have to
Speaker 1: go out and sign more bodies or bring in a
Speaker 1: larger salary. So hey, that would be perfect if if
Speaker 1: Anthony Labon Moses Moody kind of developed into those guys.
Speaker 1: Last note on the on the Warriors, Clay Thompson, there
Speaker 1: was a report that came out, and who knows um
Speaker 1: had the legitimacy of this one. I personally doubt it,
Speaker 1: but that there was some frustrated, some frustration building in
Speaker 1: the Warrior's locker room over Clay Thompson's shot selection and
Speaker 1: that he's been trying to shoot his way out of
Speaker 1: his slump. I personally don't believe the report. It just
Speaker 1: it just doesn't seem like something that the Warrior's locker
Speaker 1: room would complain about. I don't think Dre would complain
Speaker 1: about it. I don't think Steph would complain about it.
Speaker 1: I don't think Jordan Pool would complain about I don't
Speaker 1: think any of the coaches would. It just doesn't It's
Speaker 1: just just something stinks about that I'm not I'm not
Speaker 1: really sure, and honestly, I just don't think that there's
Speaker 1: any chance that they end up changing his role, like
Speaker 1: bring him off the bench or using him less. First
Speaker 1: of all, it's not as bad as it looks. He's
Speaker 1: shooting thirty on catch and shoot threes this year, which, yeah,
Speaker 1: is that below where you expect Lay Thompson to be sure,
Speaker 1: but that's also zero point nine three points per possession.
Speaker 1: That's the advantage of the three point shot. They're just
Speaker 1: worth more points. So everyone's freaking out about Klay Thompson's
Speaker 1: shooting and he's still getting you almost a point per
Speaker 1: possession when he rises up into a shot, and this
Speaker 1: is the most important part. Teams are still guarding Clay
Speaker 1: Thompson as though he's Klay Thompson. That is arguably more
Speaker 1: valuable than the actual shot going in because of the
Speaker 1: things that it opens up for the Warriors on the interior.
Speaker 1: He's also shooting when he's wide open this year, when
Speaker 1: the defenders at least six ft away, that's just an anomaly.
Speaker 1: Those shots are gonna go in. Eventually. We saw a
Speaker 1: similar thing last year was Steph. Steph was having a
Speaker 1: rough shooting year. Weirdly enough, it was the wide open
Speaker 1: shots that weren't going in and it ended up not
Speaker 1: mattering because he figured it out in time for the playoffs.
Speaker 1: And most importantly, Clay Thompson is one of the best
Speaker 1: perimeter defenders in the league. Him figuring out how to
Speaker 1: guard Jalen Brown and contain his dribble drive over the
Speaker 1: second half of the NBA Finals turned that series around
Speaker 1: because Wiggins was doing such a good job on Jayson
Speaker 1: Tatum that the Celtics offense went to ship and then
Speaker 1: they couldn't score and the Warriors ran away, winning three
Speaker 1: games in a row. If he's guarded the way that
Speaker 1: he's guarded, and he is guarding the way that he's guarding.
Speaker 1: Then if he hits even thirty of his catch and
Speaker 1: shoot threes, he's an immensely valuable NBA playoff player. He's
Speaker 1: not the problem. I'm not worried about him at all.
Speaker 1: He's also coming off these two massive injuries, so yeah,
Speaker 1: he wasn't quite in the best shape coming into this
Speaker 1: season because he's a little bit paranoid about working too
Speaker 1: hard over the summer because of what happened to him
Speaker 1: when he tore his achilles. I get it. I just,
Speaker 1: I'm just I could not possibly be any less worried
Speaker 1: about Clay Thompson and and in general with the Warriors,
Speaker 1: they still have so many cards to play here, Like, yes,
Speaker 1: it's great that Anthony Lamb is developing. Yes, it's great that,
Speaker 1: you know, Moses Moody might be one of those guys
Speaker 1: and they might need to make a trade, they might
Speaker 1: need to sign a buyout guy. But they still have
Speaker 1: so many other moves in their deck, Like when push
Speaker 1: comes to shove, they're gonna play Clay Thompson forty two minutes,
Speaker 1: Steph Curry forty two minutes, Draymond Gray and forty two minutes,
Speaker 1: and then suddenly the bench becomes less important. You know,
Speaker 1: Andrew Wiggins could play forty six minutes. You know, uh,
Speaker 1: they could dust Andre Guadala off to play little bench
Speaker 1: shifts here and there. I'm just I I just remain
Speaker 1: completely unconcerned, Like, yeah, like they're struggling this year. We
Speaker 1: need to account for that when we're doing things like
Speaker 1: power rankings and talking about you know, potentially them up
Speaker 1: against the best teams in the league, right like the
Speaker 1: Bucks and Celtics, who have both looked so good. But
Speaker 1: it just these are small problems. And I still when
Speaker 1: we're looking at the rest of the Western Conference, there's
Speaker 1: a bunch of issues there. The Nuggets are struggling against
Speaker 1: the good teams. The Clippers can't score, right, Like, there's
Speaker 1: just there at the end of this, when this is
Speaker 1: all said and done, I would be stunned if the
Speaker 1: Warriors didn't win the Western Conference. The Eastern Conference is
Speaker 1: way more up in the air. There's still so much
Speaker 1: you know, kind of like intrigue there. I just you're
Speaker 1: the safe bet in the West is to stick with
Speaker 1: the Warriors, all right, guys. That is all I have
Speaker 1: for tonight. Remember, we're going double live tomorrow. We're doing
Speaker 1: a cover in the early game on AMP and then
Speaker 1: we're going live after. I believe it's Warrior Sons tomorrow
Speaker 1: night on YouTube after the final buzzer. As always, I
Speaker 1: sincerely appreciate your guys support and I will see you
Speaker 1: next time. The volume