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Speaker 1: All right, well, Condobe tonight here at the volume evy Friday. Everybody,
Speaker 1: it is mail bag Day. I got a bunch of
Speaker 1: good questions. If you guys want to drop mailbag questions
Speaker 1: for the show in the YouTube comments, put mailbag colon.
Speaker 1: Write your question and we'll get to it on Fridays
Speaker 1: throughout the rest of the season. You guys knowe the
Speaker 1: joke before we get started. Subscribe to the Hoops Tonight youtubechannels.
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Speaker 1: that front. We also have social media feeds on Twitter, Instagram,
Speaker 1: and Facebook where we're releasing content throughout the season. Make
Speaker 1: sure you guys follow us there now. Like I mentioned
Speaker 1: off the top, last but not least, keepdropping mail bad
Speaker 1: questions in those YouTube comment Every few weeks, I feel
Speaker 1: like I have to say this, and part of it
Speaker 1: is just because we still, thanks to the YouTube algorithm,
Speaker 1: get exposed to a lot of new people that haven't
Speaker 1: seen the show. I'm a Lakers fan, more accurately, a
Speaker 1: Lebron James fan that roots for the Lakers, and when
Speaker 1: Lebron retires, I won't have any of that nostalgic emotional
Speaker 1: fanhood from my childhood, which will be probably better for
Speaker 1: my job. But I am a Lakers fan and so
Speaker 1: I watch almost every Lakers game, and of course I'm
Speaker 1: going to talk about it on my show. Why wouldn't
Speaker 1: I have opinions. They're my favorite team, right, And so
Speaker 1: some of that is going to come through in the show.
Speaker 1: That said, I work extremely hard to cover the rest
Speaker 1: of the league this week. After this show, we'll have
Speaker 1: like over three hours of non Lakers content that will
Speaker 1: be released in this week. I spend a great deal
Speaker 1: of time covering the rest of the teams, and so
Speaker 1: what we do to try to make that easier for
Speaker 1: you guys is we put chapters and we do breakout clips,
Speaker 1: so it's pretty clear to see where what we're going
Speaker 1: to be covering on any given show. And so if
Speaker 1: you don't want to watch any Lakers content, don't watch
Speaker 1: any Lakers content. I totally get that. I sympathize with it.
Speaker 1: I understand. I get that there's a lot of people
Speaker 1: out there that hate the Lakers for the obvious reasons
Speaker 1: involving the Laker franchise, and you may not want to
Speaker 1: hear me talk about them. I don't blame you skip
Speaker 1: over it. But there's a lot of good stuff covering
Speaker 1: the rest of the league beyond that if you just
Speaker 1: look at our channel. And so that's just a little
Speaker 1: disclaimer for our new listeners that I've joined the show
Speaker 1: within the last couple of weeks couple of months. Yes,
Speaker 1: we're going to talk about the Lakers and my favorite team,
Speaker 1: but that's really in the big picture, doesn't come close
Speaker 1: to encapsulating what we do on this show. Fantasy mailbag question.
Speaker 1: If you're the Warriors, are you doing a similar deal
Speaker 1: for Beal? Maybe in that scenario you keep kaminga and
Speaker 1: at Kyle Anderson talking about Bradley Beal instead of trading
Speaker 1: for Kevin Durant. I would not make a deal for
Speaker 1: Bradley Bial. I don't think the Warriors really have a
Speaker 1: need of in guard depth. I think that they've got
Speaker 1: a lot of guards that can do different things, and
Speaker 1: they've got a skill guard already. Bradley bial is an
Speaker 1: excellent athlete who should in theory be a guy that
Speaker 1: can help in a lot of ways. But he's just
Speaker 1: such a bad off ball defender and just in general
Speaker 1: off ball role player that I on the defensive end
Speaker 1: of the floor that I don't think it actually solves
Speaker 1: many problems for Golden State. I think for them, especially
Speaker 1: at that salary point. I think for them, if they
Speaker 1: were going to make a big swing for you know,
Speaker 1: a high powered player, it'd be in the front court.
Speaker 1: Jason Nets fan here saving the obvious. The Nets are rebuilding.
Speaker 1: They are set to have the most cap room in
Speaker 1: the NBA next season, and they're tanking to get a
Speaker 1: high pick. Clearly they want to get a star or
Speaker 1: two in free agency or a trade. In order to
Speaker 1: have a bottom three record and likely a top three pick,
Speaker 1: They're going to have to start losing even more. The
Speaker 1: Nets offload Cam Johnson and Nick Claxton, they won't have
Speaker 1: any good role players on the roster. Won't that lack
Speaker 1: of decent starters make it harder to recruit free agents
Speaker 1: and or entice a star to demand a trade to
Speaker 1: the Nets. I think the Nets should hang on Cam
Speaker 1: Johnson and Nick Claxton in order to be an attractive
Speaker 1: destination and hopefully they get lucky in the lottery and
Speaker 1: snag a top four or five pick. What do you
Speaker 1: think is the best case for course forward for the Nets? So?
Speaker 1: I think the idea of building through free agency doesn't
Speaker 1: make a lot of sense, certainly not in this coming
Speaker 1: summer one. It just hasn't been the way that people
Speaker 1: have done it as of late stars have renewed deals
Speaker 1: on their current teams and then asked for trades. That's
Speaker 1: how player movement has happened for the most part. Also,
Speaker 1: if you look at free agency this year, there's just
Speaker 1: not a lot in the way of great options. Like
Speaker 1: Lebron could be a free agent, he's not going to Brooklyn.
Speaker 1: I think Jimmy Butler might go if you offer him
Speaker 1: a max contract, just if no one else does. If
Speaker 1: he just opts out and go and Bok offers him
Speaker 1: a max I think Jimmy would probably go, just because
Speaker 1: I think he's gonna have hard time getting a max
Speaker 1: contract elsewhere. But I don't know how that makes any
Speaker 1: sense for Brooklyn, Like, why would Brooklyn do that? What
Speaker 1: Jimmy Butler is gonna put you in the same position
Speaker 1: Miami's in, if that makes sense. So, like, I think
Speaker 1: the Clippers will probably try to resign James harden I,
Speaker 1: especially since they still have Kwhi Leonard under contract. I
Speaker 1: don't see any point in going after a guy like
Speaker 1: a Fred Van Vliet, maybe Brandon Ingram. He's a guy that, like,
Speaker 1: if you're gonna throw a big max offer because you
Speaker 1: wanted to, Brandon's the kind of guy that I would
Speaker 1: I would go after. Like, he's only twenty seven years old,
Speaker 1: and Brandon is actually at his best when he's not
Speaker 1: on a team with a ton of ball handling, but
Speaker 1: on a team where he kind of gets to run
Speaker 1: the show. I think he's better and more of a
Speaker 1: heliocentric role than in like a read and react type
Speaker 1: of role. I think he's one of the better among
Speaker 1: the forwards in the league. I think he's one of
Speaker 1: the better kind of like pick and roll passers that
Speaker 1: we have very good at throwing skip passes and getting
Speaker 1: the defense into rotation. So Brandon Ingram's an interesting option.
Speaker 1: But then again, I mean, if Brandon Ingram's your best player,
Speaker 1: I don't think you're necessarily going anywhere a special at
Speaker 1: that point either. So, like I think i'd use the
Speaker 1: cap space to try to win bidding wars for proven
Speaker 1: role players, especially ones that are do big raises, because
Speaker 1: those are the kinds of guys that you can turn
Speaker 1: around in trade for more asset return. Most of the
Speaker 1: guys that you sign you can turn around and trade
Speaker 1: by like December fifteenth or January fifteenth, in the middle
Speaker 1: of the season. I think it's December fifteenth, if I
Speaker 1: remember the date. But like it's one of those things
Speaker 1: where like, for instance, like remember when Indiana signed Bruce Brown,
Speaker 1: you know, like you end up getting a guy like that.
Speaker 1: Now they intended him to more be a role player
Speaker 1: on that team and they ended up using him as
Speaker 1: salary ballast to go get a Pascal Siakam. But it's
Speaker 1: very possible that somebody turns around and trades a first
Speaker 1: round pick for Bruce Brown this year even though he
Speaker 1: makes twenty something million. Nobody wants to pay Bruce Brown
Speaker 1: twenty seven million or twenty something million to be a
Speaker 1: role player on their team. But like, if you have
Speaker 1: other bad contracts that are not that are not contributing
Speaker 1: to your team, you will happily take a higher paid
Speaker 1: role player that'll help you and you can get multiple
Speaker 1: second round picks, protected first round picks, things like that.
Speaker 1: So like you could try to get into the free
Speaker 1: agent conversation with specific guys to try to drive like
Speaker 1: just basically bringing in assets that you can turn around
Speaker 1: and flip. But I mean, self awareness is a big
Speaker 1: deal in these sorts of situations, And to me, like
Speaker 1: it's pretty obvious that the nets are years and years
Speaker 1: away from serious contention. So at this point, I actually
Speaker 1: go the Oklahoma City route, which is take on as
Speaker 1: much young talent as possible, getting as many cracks at
Speaker 1: the first round as you can get. Look for in
Speaker 1: the trade market, lottery picks that failed for other teams,
Speaker 1: guys that are in their third fourth year that didn't
Speaker 1: pan out, but it might have something to do with
Speaker 1: situation or role that might have a better chance. Like
Speaker 1: those are the kinds of like if I think they
Speaker 1: should be calling a Golden State and trying to get
Speaker 1: a Jonathan Kaminga, I would make more sense for a
Speaker 1: team like Brooklyn to get a guy like Jonathan Kaminga
Speaker 1: and like really just give him the keys to the
Speaker 1: offense and just see what he's capable of. Then go
Speaker 1: after a guy like Brandon Ingram, who we know exactly
Speaker 1: what he's capable of and exactly where the ceiling is there, right,
Speaker 1: Like there's just at this point, if you're gonna be bad,
Speaker 1: be bad with a purpose, don't be bad without a purpose.
Speaker 1: But like, as long as you have as many first
Speaker 1: round picks as possible and you're bringing in those younger
Speaker 1: cast offs from elsewhere in the league, you just get
Speaker 1: a bunch of opportunities to evaluate young talent, and then
Speaker 1: once you hit on one or two of those guys,
Speaker 1: then you have a good idea, like, Okay, this guy
Speaker 1: can be the best player on a championship team, or like,
Speaker 1: this guy can be the second best player on a
Speaker 1: championship team, So now we need the best guy, or
Speaker 1: like whatever it is. You get like a couple of
Speaker 1: guys that are like rock solid guys that you get
Speaker 1: out of your draft and development system. Then from there
Speaker 1: you take a strategy approach to what are our strengths
Speaker 1: and weaknesses. Okay, well with this group, we really need
Speaker 1: to anchor him with this sort of thing. Oh like,
Speaker 1: this guy's really gonna need a five that can shoot.
Speaker 1: Oh no, this guy's gonna really need this this guy's
Speaker 1: this guy's gonna really need a ball handler that can
Speaker 1: free him up and make him more of like a
Speaker 1: screening threat. Whatever it might be. Right, there's all of
Speaker 1: these different directions you can go with team building, but
Speaker 1: you can't really make that decision until you know what
Speaker 1: your foundation is. And if you make your foundation brandon Ingram,
Speaker 1: you'll know what your foundation is, but you won't have
Speaker 1: any real upside there. The better option there is to
Speaker 1: to look for younger talent. Once you identify what they
Speaker 1: are capable of, then you can build around their strengths
Speaker 1: and weaknesses. Last thing I'll say on that front is
Speaker 1: just you got to establish basketball culture. It's just so important.
Speaker 1: You need to from the ground up in your franchise,
Speaker 1: from the coaching staff to the development staff, even the
Speaker 1: front office with the types of guys that they go after.
Speaker 1: You need to establish a basketball culture that permeates from
Speaker 1: year to year so that as you're building in that direction,
Speaker 1: you don't become a bad team. Right Like it's okay
Speaker 1: to be a bad team in terms of like your
Speaker 1: talent level and your ability to win games. You don't
Speaker 1: want to be a bad team in terms of the
Speaker 1: style of basketball you're playing. You want to play solid
Speaker 1: basketball on both ends of the floor, so that as
Speaker 1: the talent grows, the ecosystem is already there for the
Speaker 1: talent to thrive in. How come teams in the NBA
Speaker 1: overlook G League players and even overseas European players. Example,
Speaker 1: Jay Huff was in the G League for years and
Speaker 1: never got an opportunity, but now he's a decent backup center.
Speaker 1: So why don't teams look outside current rosters for backup
Speaker 1: Biggs exclaimer or disclaimer, I know that they will have
Speaker 1: certain flaws, and they are backups for a reason. First
Speaker 1: of all, the good teams do you know Memphis has
Speaker 1: been finding this kind of guy just about every year.
Speaker 1: Golden State has done it again with this gee Santos,
Speaker 1: who's been doing some really useful stuff for them. Biggs,
Speaker 1: I think, in particular, translate better. Bigger forwards, bigger athletes
Speaker 1: translate better because simple athleticism focused jobs. You can find
Speaker 1: a lot of young, useful talent around the world, but
Speaker 1: some of your perimeter, especially shot creation talent, they rely
Speaker 1: so much on skill and decision making and there's like
Speaker 1: a huge drop off the NBA level to sub NBA
Speaker 1: levels in that regard. And so I again like teams
Speaker 1: do some teams are better at it than others. But
Speaker 1: like I think there's certain types of players where that's
Speaker 1: an advantageous way to look, and there are other types
Speaker 1: of players where it's not. Can you break down how
Speaker 1: Amen Thompson, a non shooter starting for Jabari Smith, has
Speaker 1: not negatively impacted the Rockets offense with his cutting and
Speaker 1: fast breaking, his fast breakability. I would also say his
Speaker 1: offensive rebounding ability. You know, the inability to convert spot
Speaker 1: up possessions is an issue for a man, right Like,
Speaker 1: he gets zero point seven to four points per spot up,
Speaker 1: that's in the eleventh percentile. But he actually logs more
Speaker 1: cuts than he does spot ups. Houston does a good
Speaker 1: job of not putting him in that position very often.
Speaker 1: Like most players like Amn Thompson that are bad shooters
Speaker 1: still log a lot of spot up possessions. The reason
Speaker 1: why is they just somehow end up with the ball
Speaker 1: because people aren't guarding him, right Like, that's usually how
Speaker 1: it ends up going. But he logs more cuts than
Speaker 1: spot ups because of the way that the offense is organized.
Speaker 1: Like look at the end the Memphis game, for instance,
Speaker 1: so steady diet of Fred van Vliet, Jalen Green, high
Speaker 1: ballscreens that sort of thing, high ball screens, high ISOs.
Speaker 1: They put Jaron Jackson on him for a good chunk
Speaker 1: of that, and they put Brandon Clark on him for
Speaker 1: a good chunk of that. But where is he always sitting.
Speaker 1: He's just sitting in the dunker spot on the left
Speaker 1: side of the paint, where if the guy steps up,
Speaker 1: he can get in there and get a quick drop
Speaker 1: off passer a lob and dunk it. Or if someone
Speaker 1: shoots something, he can crash the offensive glass. He can
Speaker 1: just do damage there. And that's really the thing. Like
Speaker 1: if you miss a spot up three, of course it
Speaker 1: hurts your team. That's an opportunity that you couldn't convert,
Speaker 1: but you can make up for it by overwhelming impact
Speaker 1: as an athlete running in transion transition where a men
Speaker 1: Thompson is amazing crashing the last cutting to the rim.
Speaker 1: Like we talked about defending on the perimeter, he had
Speaker 1: a huge stop against John Morant at the end of
Speaker 1: that game. You can turn yourself into a net positive
Speaker 1: while being a bad shooter. This is again it's all
Speaker 1: about organization and being the right type of high motor
Speaker 1: athlete that can really make teams pay for leaving him.
Speaker 1: I think part of it too, as far as the
Speaker 1: swap for Jabari Smith has been that Jabari Smith has
Speaker 1: been a blow average spot up shooter spot up player
Speaker 1: this year himself. He shoots forty percent on unguarded catch
Speaker 1: and shoot three, so he'll knock down the wide open ones,
Speaker 1: but he misses quite a bit when he gets closed
Speaker 1: out at and then he'll drive into long twos. Like
Speaker 1: he's taken forty three mid range jump shots this year,
Speaker 1: only made sixteen of them, only gotten thirty two points.
Speaker 1: Thirty two points on forty three shots is not good.
Speaker 1: That undercuts his success. So like again, like the realities is,
Speaker 1: it's not that much of a drop off in spot
Speaker 1: up capability and there's just so few of those opportunities
Speaker 1: because of the way that they use him in a
Speaker 1: man was so good at the end of that second
Speaker 1: Rockets win against Memphis. They were down eight middle of
Speaker 1: the fourth quarter and he had three dunks out of
Speaker 1: the dunker spot, including a pretty nasty alley loop off
Speaker 1: of a play where Jaren Jackson overhelped on Shan Gun.
Speaker 1: His vertical spacing is legit. He's an easy target and
Speaker 1: he'll pop up off the ground quickly. Again, like to
Speaker 1: finish in the dunker spot, you have to be able
Speaker 1: to quickly come off of two feet around the basket,
Speaker 1: like Lakers fans. You'll notice this with Max Christy as
Speaker 1: of late, who does it more like cutting to the
Speaker 1: rim off of inverted ball screens with Lebron But like
Speaker 1: if you're gonna finish among the trees. You got to
Speaker 1: use speed off the ground, like quickly popping off the
Speaker 1: ground off of two feet and finishing and men Thompson
Speaker 1: is really really good at that. He blocked Jalen Wells
Speaker 1: at the rim and a help side possession. He spooked
Speaker 1: Jalen Wells on a close out that forced him into
Speaker 1: an air ball on a catch and shoot possession down
Speaker 1: the stretch. He got the stop of the game on
Speaker 1: a hard John Moran drive where he stripped him down
Speaker 1: low and forced him out of bounds. He had two
Speaker 1: free throws after getting fouled out of another catch in
Speaker 1: the dunker spot, and then he got the biggest rebound
Speaker 1: of the game after John missed two free throws. It
Speaker 1: came flying in from above the break and grab the rebound.
Speaker 1: So like, just did so much good and never ended
Speaker 1: up in a position where it was a problem that
Speaker 1: he was being helped off of. The Grizzlies put centers
Speaker 1: on him and helped off him all game and a
Speaker 1: man just made him pay for it. And that's really
Speaker 1: all that you have to do to be a useful
Speaker 1: role player in this league. I also want to shout
Speaker 1: out Jaalen Green. The Rockets had been playing really, really well.
Speaker 1: They're on a five game winning streak, and in this
Speaker 1: five game winning streak, Jalen Green has been averaging thirty
Speaker 1: three points per game on fifty five percent from the field,
Speaker 1: fifty three percent from three to ninety six percent from
Speaker 1: the line. That's just outrageous. I've talked a lot about
Speaker 1: how this team is so good defensively and they compete
Speaker 1: so hard, and they're so good in transition that like,
Speaker 1: if they just get good shot creation from Jalen and Fred,
Speaker 1: they win. Like I've pulled the stats in the past
Speaker 1: and don't have him in front of me, but there's
Speaker 1: like a pretty clear through line for the Rockets between
Speaker 1: their shot creation from Jalen and Fred and whether or
Speaker 1: not they win games. One last thing I'll say about
Speaker 1: Jalen Green too, Like I talked about this long time
Speaker 1: ago with respect it was about a month and a
Speaker 1: half ago with respect to Jalen and to Jonathan Kamingo,
Speaker 1: which is like, guys that their respective fan bases has
Speaker 1: been pretty low on. There's a chunk of Warriors fans
Speaker 1: that think Jonathan k ming is like the second coming
Speaker 1: of like Lebron James, but a lot of Warriors fans,
Speaker 1: most of the Warriors fans that I talk to are
Speaker 1: are kind of like they think he's fine. I think
Speaker 1: he's fine. I don't think he's anything special. Rockets fans
Speaker 1: have been mostly out on Jalen Green over the last
Speaker 1: couple of years, and I just I can't quit on
Speaker 1: guys like him and John or Jonathan because that freaky
Speaker 1: rangey athleticism with size, not like a small guard like
Speaker 1: Jalen Green's big, He's a decent sized guard or two guard.
Speaker 1: And when you have the ability to cover ground and
Speaker 1: to beat people off the dribble and to do athletic things,
Speaker 1: when games become super physical and become more about leveraging athleticism,
Speaker 1: I'm always gonna be high on that type of guy.
Speaker 1: And like I understand, Jalen Green comes with a lot
Speaker 1: of poor decision making, inconsistent defensive effort and execution. There's
Speaker 1: stuff with Jalen that undercuts his success, but the talent
Speaker 1: is undeniable. And like going on a five and oh
Speaker 1: streak averaging thirty three points per game on the level
Speaker 1: of efficients, again, that's fifty five, fifty three to ninety six.
Speaker 1: That's outrageous that that's just a really exciting stretch of
Speaker 1: asking all the Dalen Green, Hey, Jason, absolutely love your
Speaker 1: show and the way you break down the game has
Speaker 1: helped me understand so much more about it since I've
Speaker 1: been listening, since I've been listening in this past year.
Speaker 1: My question for you is when you say reeling about
Speaker 1: the Spurs. I've always thought reeling was a term used
Speaker 1: as a good term. Can you explain why you use
Speaker 1: that term to describe why they have been not doing
Speaker 1: so great? So they're four and seven in their last
Speaker 1: eleven games, their fifth in defense in that span. It's
Speaker 1: all about the offense. In their seven losses, they're twenty
Speaker 1: first in offense. It's been brutally bad. In the losses.
Speaker 1: They have a actually that's that twenty first in offense
Speaker 1: numbers through the entire eleven games. I need to fix that.
Speaker 1: In my notes, four and seven in their last eleven games,
Speaker 1: fifth and defense, twenty first in offense in the seven losses,
Speaker 1: they have an offensive rating at one oh eight, which
Speaker 1: is really really bad. It's been especially a bad in
Speaker 1: the clutch situations. It's been kind of an ironic shift
Speaker 1: because the Spurs actually started the season winning eight of
Speaker 1: their first eleven games that went to clutch situations, but
Speaker 1: they're one in six in clutch situations during this four
Speaker 1: and seven stretch. In those seven clutch games, they have
Speaker 1: an eighty three offensive rating, which is just in the gutter.
Speaker 1: And it's a combination a lot of things. I've talked
Speaker 1: a lot about settling for tough shots with Wemby. I
Speaker 1: won't get into that again today because I've harped on
Speaker 1: it like four times in the last couple of weeks.
Speaker 1: But some of it is decision making, like late in
Speaker 1: the Grizzlies game, like Steph Castle was in like kind
Speaker 1: of a one on one with Jaron Jackson at the
Speaker 1: rim and was clearly kind of engaged with him and
Speaker 1: tried to like go through him and shoot out to
Speaker 1: the side. It went exactly as you would expect. Jaron
Speaker 1: Jackson just swallowed the shot up. Like Victor women Yama
Speaker 1: had a play where he drove right into Jaron Jackson
Speaker 1: and got blocked like that. It's just poor decision making.
Speaker 1: Some of it, too, is just that they're shooting really,
Speaker 1: really poorly, like Chris Paul and Victor wemen Yama are
Speaker 1: two for sixteen on clutch threes in those seven clutch situations,
Speaker 1: the rest of the team is only three for nine,
Speaker 1: so like they're not making any shots. And there's been
Speaker 1: some sloppy defense in there too, like some really bad
Speaker 1: backside rotations. Victor wemen Yama was getting pretty pissed off
Speaker 1: at the end of the Grizzlies game. Where of their
Speaker 1: Grizzlies game where there was a couple of plays where
Speaker 1: they got burned, there was a play where like Santi
Speaker 1: al Dama was being guarded by Wemby, and Santi's set
Speaker 1: like a ghost screen for Desmond Baine and went out
Speaker 1: to the left corner and Keldon Johnson was on Desmond
Speaker 1: Baine and fell for the ghost screen. Falling for the
Speaker 1: ghost screen is like he opened up like preparing to
Speaker 1: run into the screen instead of just sliding with Bain.
Speaker 1: And so when he opened up and there was no screen,
Speaker 1: Bain just went around, and which is what happens in
Speaker 1: ghost screens. Like ghost screens are really effective because it
Speaker 1: tricks people into thinking there's going to be a screen
Speaker 1: when there's not going to be a screen, which can
Speaker 1: breed a relax like maybe we're gonna get switched here,
Speaker 1: or maybe I'll just be able to chase over to
Speaker 1: the top because I'll have drop coverage help. But on
Speaker 1: that possession, Aldama went to the corner. Wenby didn't want
Speaker 1: to help, so because obviously he's guarding a shooter, so
Speaker 1: dest maywell right to the basket. Nobody else in his
Speaker 1: Spurs Jeers he helped at the rim. Wenby's looking around, like,
Speaker 1: what the hell are you guys doing. And then there
Speaker 1: was another play a couple of plays later where he
Speaker 1: showed up at the level against Bain, and obviously when
Speaker 1: you show up at the level, the role man is
Speaker 1: going to get open on the backside, and Desmond Bain
Speaker 1: through the pass. Wenby tried to deflect it, but it
Speaker 1: got through. Well, there's a scheme for that, right if
Speaker 1: the big shows at the level, that's where the lowman
Speaker 1: steps over to rotate. The Spurs had no lowman step
Speaker 1: over on that play and gave up another dunk, and so, like,
Speaker 1: Wenby was pissed off, but like it's just sloppy defense
Speaker 1: right at the end of a game. CP three can help,
Speaker 1: Harrison Barnes can help, but at the end of the day,
Speaker 1: this team is still relying on a lot of young
Speaker 1: players that will make mistakes. I don't think Steph Castle
Speaker 1: and Victor Wemenyamo will be foolishly challenging RIM detectors in
Speaker 1: a few years after they learned their lesson. This is
Speaker 1: this is like just kind of part of the process
Speaker 1: of developing as a basketball player. Yo, Jason, keep up
Speaker 1: the great videos and great content. Do you think the
Speaker 1: Spurs should make a win now move while Victor's contract
Speaker 1: is low and he's playing at an all NBA level. Personally,
Speaker 1: I think if you gave Victor Adierre in Fox right
Speaker 1: now we are a playoff team. The guys that would
Speaker 1: keep untouchable are Vic and Castle. I've already talked about
Speaker 1: this before, but I agree with you. I think vic
Speaker 1: Vick obviously is untouchable. I think Devin Vessel has been
Speaker 1: impressing me in some other ways, Like I think he's
Speaker 1: got some ability to cover ground in rotation, his closeouts
Speaker 1: are sharp, and obviously he's a capable offensive player. I'm
Speaker 1: with you, though, like Steph Castle, I think is just
Speaker 1: going to be really damn good in the big picture.
Speaker 1: But like remember when I was talking in the last
Speaker 1: question about young players and making mistakes. There's a development
Speaker 1: process that takes place, and some players are going to
Speaker 1: be faster than others, Like like I think Steph Castle
Speaker 1: is gonna develop faster, Victor wemin Yam is gonna develop faster,
Speaker 1: but other young players are going to develop slower, like
Speaker 1: Kelt Johnson has been in the league for a while
Speaker 1: now and he's still making mistakes. And so like, if
Speaker 1: you put yourself on the trajectory of, like, let's just
Speaker 1: be patient and hope all these guys, you know, pan
Speaker 1: out the way they're supposed to, you're going to run
Speaker 1: into issues where some of the guys are ready but
Speaker 1: other guys are not, and then you're not good enough,
Speaker 1: and then Victor is going to be pissed and you're
Speaker 1: not going to be competitive the way that you need
Speaker 1: to be. So like, in my opinion, because of Victor's trajectory,
Speaker 1: which is like he's already playing at a top ten
Speaker 1: level for most of this season, probably will be a
Speaker 1: consensus top five player as soon as next season, would
Speaker 1: that being the case, Like, like you gotta get on
Speaker 1: his schedule, and that would involve you being more picky
Speaker 1: and choosy about which young players you're willing to wait
Speaker 1: and watch develop. Darren Fox is a super interesting option
Speaker 1: for this team. It's one that I think is a
Speaker 1: shoe in natural fit with Victor women Yam on both
Speaker 1: ends of the floor. Darren Fox because of his offensive load,
Speaker 1: like his workload. He is a guy that gets kind
Speaker 1: of physically aggressive at the point of attack, like at
Speaker 1: the ball, like tries to swipe at the ball and
Speaker 1: force turnovers. But he's not the best like contained guard
Speaker 1: in the league because that just takes a lot of
Speaker 1: work and he's got a lot of work on the
Speaker 1: other end of the floor. Well, if you're gonna partner
Speaker 1: a guy like that and a ford aggressive defender, like
Speaker 1: a gambling aggressive, try to force turnovers type of defender,
Speaker 1: you want rim protection behind it. Victor wmen Yam and
Speaker 1: can support him in a way that Demonda simonas cannot.
Speaker 1: And it's just a guard, a real perimeter shot creator
Speaker 1: that is ready to be at VIX level in big
Speaker 1: spots that can like actually hang instead of relying on
Speaker 1: a very old Chris Paul to be the guy that's
Speaker 1: setting him up in those situations. So, like, if you
Speaker 1: can do it at the deadline this year, great, If
Speaker 1: it's something that you do over the summer. Great, whatever
Speaker 1: it is you need to do, but I would love
Speaker 1: to pair Dearon Fox with Victor women Yam. I think
Speaker 1: I think it's the kind of move that is aggressive
Speaker 1: while also like cognizant of a of a more extended timeline,
Speaker 1: because I think Daron Fox has a lot of good
Speaker 1: basketball left. Hey, Jason loved the show. With Russell Westbrook's resurgence,
Speaker 1: Aaron Gordon returning from injury, and Peyton Watson looking like
Speaker 1: a better perimeter defense option at times? Is it time
Speaker 1: to think about moving Christian Brown to the bench. Also,
Speaker 1: if you're Mike Malone in a playoff series, who are
Speaker 1: the four you want on the floor next to Yokich?
Speaker 1: We actually just talked about this. Was it yesterday? I
Speaker 1: think it was yesterday's show, Well, that would have been
Speaker 1: Wednesdays show because I'm recording this on Thursday. But I'm
Speaker 1: of the opinion that you need to keep Russell Westbrook
Speaker 1: in the starting lineup because you need to maintain this
Speaker 1: set of circumstances to see if you can ride this
Speaker 1: wave of really good Russell Westbrook basketball as long as
Speaker 1: you can. Aaron Gordon, I think you have to have
Speaker 1: out on the floor in terms of lowman help for
Speaker 1: Jokic so that he can get up to the level
Speaker 1: of ball screens. So I think those guys have to
Speaker 1: be out there in the short term. If Russ starts
Speaker 1: to struggle, then by all means, bump him out of
Speaker 1: the starting lineup put Christian Brown back in there. But
Speaker 1: I absolutely would bench Christian Brown at this point he
Speaker 1: came Westbrook in the starting lineup. Hey, Jason, not so
Speaker 1: much a basketball question, but more of a podcasting one.
Speaker 1: When you make appearances on other shows, for example, Koc's
Speaker 1: a while back, can you walk us through the behind
Speaker 1: the scenes about how you organize these guest appearances? Is
Speaker 1: it a conversation between Colin and whoever? The bosses of Yeah?
Speaker 1: Who sports are? Is a lot more informal here in Australia.
Speaker 1: I'm friends with someone that runs one of the biggest
Speaker 1: podcasts of OSSI Rules Footy, And because there aren't a
Speaker 1: whole lot of podcasts compared to NBA and NFL, everyone
Speaker 1: sort of knows everyone else and it's really easy to
Speaker 1: schedule appearances on other shows. Just curious how things work
Speaker 1: in the US and the fact that the NBA is
Speaker 1: a lot bigger than the AFL, so there's way more
Speaker 1: podcast slash shows for consumers, thinks. Fun fact, one of
Speaker 1: my former high school teammates, guy who played at the
Speaker 1: University of Arizona. One of the grooms men in my wedding,
Speaker 1: a guy named Mat Korchik. He actually played in the
Speaker 1: AFL for Carlton. There was this. I don't know if
Speaker 1: they're still doing it, but apparently the AFL comes and
Speaker 1: recruits like d one big men that don't play in
Speaker 1: the NBA because they're just the kinds of guys that
Speaker 1: can fill the ruckman position, where I guess is like
Speaker 1: a jump ball that they throw in the middle of
Speaker 1: the field where you basically just have to the two
Speaker 1: biggest guys in either team just like fight like hell
Speaker 1: to try to get the get the ball. So that
Speaker 1: was interesting. But so I have a just a rough
Speaker 1: understanding of the AFL for my buddy Matt's journey over there.
Speaker 1: But anyway, as far as the guest appearances, I it's
Speaker 1: a lot simpler than you'd think. First of all, the
Speaker 1: volume doesn't care if I do guest appearances with anybody.
Speaker 1: I don't have to clear that with anybody as long
Speaker 1: as I do my job and like produce my show
Speaker 1: the way that it's supposed to and put in a
Speaker 1: certain amount of effort for guest appearances with other volume shows,
Speaker 1: like they'll let me do whatever I want. Outside outside
Speaker 1: of that, I pretty much say yes to everybody who asks,
Speaker 1: and it usually just results in like a text message
Speaker 1: like Chaos will text me, or Colin's producer will text me,
Speaker 1: or whatever it is that that wants to have me
Speaker 1: on the show. And yeah, there's like a there's like
Speaker 1: a common courtesy and I provide this in reverse when
Speaker 1: I have guests on my show, but there's a common
Speaker 1: courtesy to send him a rundown like hey, here's what
Speaker 1: I want to talk about. But it's really simple. It's like,
Speaker 1: well what works for your schedule this time? Okay, great,
Speaker 1: Well what do you want to talk about? Well we're
Speaker 1: gonna talk about this okay. Cool, Like it's really not
Speaker 1: as complicated as you think. And then it works just
Speaker 1: like any other guest appearance where it just becomes more conversational,
Speaker 1: which I enjoy as a mix up from what I
Speaker 1: do on this show. Long time listener, thanks for all
Speaker 1: the work you put in for us. Two Part question one,
Speaker 1: do you think it's worth it for the Pistons to
Speaker 1: make a deadline move this year, ideally for Cam Johnson
Speaker 1: or do you think they ride out the year and
Speaker 1: build through the draft and free agency. I've been coaching
Speaker 1: a freshman high school team. We are routinely less talented
Speaker 1: and athletic than the majority of teams on our schedule.
Speaker 1: Are there certain offensive philosophies or sets you would suggest
Speaker 1: implementing to get the most out of my roster? Sorry
Speaker 1: for the length and comment. Thanks again, keep up the
Speaker 1: great work for number one. As far as the Pistons go, Like,
Speaker 1: here's the thing, you call up Detroit, and if you
Speaker 1: can do something like Tim Hardaway Junior and Simone Fontechio
Speaker 1: and get Cam Johnson er, or maybe you can get
Speaker 1: it with just Tim Hardway Junior. But if you do
Speaker 1: some sort of deal like that and you don't have
Speaker 1: to include a ton of draft compensation, sure, by all means,
Speaker 1: I just think it's going to be more of a
Speaker 1: bidding war. And what I would not do is give
Speaker 1: two first round picks for Cam Johnson because that first
Speaker 1: round draft compensation you need to save just in case
Speaker 1: you need to make a more aggressive trade down the
Speaker 1: line for a more elite talent, especially for an off
Speaker 1: ball score like Cam Johnson. There's a lot of opportunity,
Speaker 1: in my opinion, in the middle of the first round
Speaker 1: to find wings that can shoot and defend a little bit.
Speaker 1: And so I'd rather build that sort of talent side
Speaker 1: out through the draft because it's discounted and it keeps
Speaker 1: you on a timeline that doesn't disrupt your ability to
Speaker 1: adjust the team and the roster moving forward. But again,
Speaker 1: like if you can get Cam Johnson for Tim Hartovia
Speaker 1: jor not include a ton by all means, like, just
Speaker 1: do it. But I just wouldn't be super aggressive in
Speaker 1: terms of draft compensation as far as your high school
Speaker 1: team goes. In terms of like sets, it's just really
Speaker 1: difficult because I don't know what players are on your team.
Speaker 1: And the reality is is like there are certain like
Speaker 1: structures that work best for certain teams and not for others. Right, Like,
Speaker 1: if you have a supreme ball handler but you don't
Speaker 1: have a lot of surrounding talent, you need to generate
Speaker 1: space for him to work. But if you have a
Speaker 1: conglomeration of talent, then you need to play with more
Speaker 1: five out concepts, more three man action, more motion, side
Speaker 1: to side stuff that's going to get everybody the ball,
Speaker 1: where your decision making and your aggregate skill can kind
Speaker 1: of take over. Right, But like, I don't want to
Speaker 1: get into sets for any more than that, just because
Speaker 1: I don't know about your team. As far as like
Speaker 1: competing with more athletic and more talented teams, the best
Speaker 1: thing you can do is win the margins. If you're
Speaker 1: in better shape and your guys sprint the floor an
Speaker 1: offensive transition and defensive transition every time. If in defensive transition,
Speaker 1: they stop the ball, protect the rim, spray out to shooters.
Speaker 1: If in offensive transition, they run their lanes, Meaning you
Speaker 1: have your best athlete forward or center run to the rim,
Speaker 1: your best shooting forward trail to play, and you have
Speaker 1: your wing run to the corners, and you run early offense,
Speaker 1: and you on defense if you have a good shell
Speaker 1: drill where you're loading up on the strong side and
Speaker 1: you have good principles like that also is contingent on
Speaker 1: the roster, Like if you have a center, you don't
Speaker 1: want to be switching a lot, But most high school
Speaker 1: teams don't have a center, so they do a lot
Speaker 1: more switching. Like I coach high school and there's almost
Speaker 1: every team is doing a ton of switching among the
Speaker 1: teams that we compete with. So like again, like those
Speaker 1: the more schematic stuff on either end of the floor
Speaker 1: is just really difficult for me to get into because
Speaker 1: I don't know your roster. But just win the margins. Like,
Speaker 1: make sure your team competes on the glass. Make sure
Speaker 1: your team like is good at setting their man up
Speaker 1: for screens, and make sure your screeners are really good
Speaker 1: at setting good, fundamentally sound screens. Make sure that guys
Speaker 1: are running and sprinting into their cuts. If you're running
Speaker 1: ball screens, don't let your big jog up into the screen.
Speaker 1: Make sure he sprints up into the screen. All of
Speaker 1: those little things will go a long way towards decreasing
Speaker 1: the gap in the talent and athleticism between you and
Speaker 1: your opponents. How do you think Clay is fit in Dallas?
Speaker 1: So far? He's averaging the least amount of points since
Speaker 1: his rookie season, and his three point percentage is near
Speaker 1: the lowest of his career as well. But the Mavericks
Speaker 1: are winning and look strong when healthy, and the defense
Speaker 1: is held up as well. Even when Luka, Kyrie, and
Speaker 1: Clay all play together. What's working in Dallas that didn't
Speaker 1: work in Golden State? Thanks love the show. I think
Speaker 1: he's mostly been really good. I was looking at the
Speaker 1: numbers today. He's still at one point two points per
Speaker 1: catch and shoot this season, one point twenty six when
Speaker 1: he's unguarded, one point one to six when he's guarded.
Speaker 1: Those are both excellent numbers. His number of unguarded attempts
Speaker 1: is down. I think that has mostly to do with
Speaker 1: the injuries, though. Like in Golden State he got three
Speaker 1: point six unguarded catch and shoots per game, he's getting
Speaker 1: two point six with Dallas. Again, that's to be expected
Speaker 1: when Kyrie and Luca have missed as much time as
Speaker 1: they have. The trio of guys have actually played seven
Speaker 1: hundred and eighty four possessions, which is not a big
Speaker 1: sample size, but it's not a tiny sample size either.
Speaker 1: They have a one to twenty offensive rating with that group,
Speaker 1: which is really good, and they have a one thirteen
Speaker 1: defensive rating with that group, which is above average. It's
Speaker 1: not to write home about, but it's above average. I
Speaker 1: still think they could use a lot in the way
Speaker 1: of reps and Luca wasn't close to healthy in the
Speaker 1: time they played, so I think that could look better
Speaker 1: down the line. I still just really like the roster.
Speaker 1: I've talked about this a lot, but I think Dallas
Speaker 1: is the best roster in the West behind Oklahoma City.
Speaker 1: And what I like about the Clay thing is it's
Speaker 1: about options. Like, there will be situations where Clay makes
Speaker 1: the most sense. There will be situations where they need
Speaker 1: more ball handling and Spencer din what he makes more sense.
Speaker 1: There will be situations where they need better defense on
Speaker 1: the perimeter but also need spot up shooting. They'll go
Speaker 1: with someone like Quentin Grimes, right Like there will be
Speaker 1: situations where between Quenton Grimes and Naji Marshall, Naji Marshall
Speaker 1: is playing better. Nausee probably gives you the best combination
Speaker 1: of defense, ball handling, and spot up shooting. But again,
Speaker 1: a lot of it you can feel out from night
Speaker 1: to night. Like this guy is feeling it tonight, Let's
Speaker 1: go with him. Clay's body is feeling great, and he's
Speaker 1: sliding his feet and he's guarding tonight. Okay, we're leaning
Speaker 1: on Clay. That sort of flexibility to me is what
Speaker 1: like that? To me? Is what makes this Dallas roster
Speaker 1: is like they just have depth at every position group. Okay,
Speaker 1: you need a primary shot creator, Well, guess what. Kyrie
Speaker 1: and Luke are two of the very best in the NBA. Okay, well,
Speaker 1: one of them is down. We need somebody to step
Speaker 1: into that spot. Well, we have Spencer Dinwiddie who can
Speaker 1: really create shots in that system. Jaden Hardy, Naji Marshall
Speaker 1: can put the ball on the floor, Klay Thompson can
Speaker 1: run action. Like, there's just a lot of depth there
Speaker 1: off ball shooting. There's just a ton of off ball shooting.
Speaker 1: For depth, you have PJ Washington, you have Maxic Kleb
Speaker 1: the center position. You have to just literally rock solid
Speaker 1: starting caliber NBA centers. Like that team is just loaded
Speaker 1: with talent. And I know that they've been losing a
Speaker 1: lot of games since Kyrie and Luca got out, and
Speaker 1: I know that they may not be in this situation
Speaker 1: and the standings that you would have thought this year.
Speaker 1: But I mean, this is one of those teams where, like,
Speaker 1: very rarely an NBA history, is there a team where
Speaker 1: I'm like, if they get healthy and they get right
Speaker 1: for the end of the of the season, they can
Speaker 1: really make a run in Dallas is one of those
Speaker 1: teams for me. For more, what do you think is
Speaker 1: the biggest reason for westbrook success with the Nuggets. Would
Speaker 1: you have credit it to Yokic's amazing passing ability or
Speaker 1: do you think it's more Westbrook's doing. I've noticed Westbrook
Speaker 1: has been very good at cutting off the ball and
Speaker 1: seems to be hitting more catch and shoot threes. Absolutely
Speaker 1: love the show. I watch almost ever every episode. Never
Speaker 1: stopped doing this. Thank you. That's very kind of you.
Speaker 1: I talked to it. I did a deep dive breakdown
Speaker 1: of this the other day, so I don't want to
Speaker 1: get too far into it. You can actually find it
Speaker 1: on our YouTube channel. It's like Westbrook's return. It's a
Speaker 1: big thumbnail with Russell Westbrook on it. But I think
Speaker 1: it's a combination of a lot of factors. I've seen
Speaker 1: a lot of Nuggets fans that are like kind of
Speaker 1: victory lapping over, like the well we fixed Russ no
Speaker 1: one else could. And I think that's disrespectful to the
Speaker 1: multiple fan bases that watched and rooted for Russ. He's
Speaker 1: on his sixth team in seven years. Guys like it
Speaker 1: can't all be the Laker's fault if he's on his
Speaker 1: sixth team and seven years. Here's the thing, there's blame
Speaker 1: to go all the way around in all of these situations.
Speaker 1: Russ is not the only reason why the Lakers sucked
Speaker 1: in that twenty twenty two season and missed the playoffs.
Speaker 1: He's like, he's not the only reason why things we
Speaker 1: were bad in that period, which by the way, they
Speaker 1: traded Russ and went to the Western Conference finals, Like
Speaker 1: it was clearly a bad fit. They brought in better
Speaker 1: fitting talent and they went on a run. But like
Speaker 1: during that time, like other people were to blame as well.
Speaker 1: It wasn't just Russ's fault. That said, Like it was
Speaker 1: also Russ's fault. Like Russ was not hitting catch and
Speaker 1: shoot threes, he was not cutting. I shared the numbers,
Speaker 1: but like he's already had almost three times as many
Speaker 1: buckets off of cuts this season, just in this small
Speaker 1: half of a season then he did his last year
Speaker 1: in Los Angeles with the Lakers. I mean, so like there,
Speaker 1: it's a combination of factors. Jokic definitely makes it easier.
Speaker 1: He's the best player in the world and as good
Speaker 1: as Lebron and Adr neither of them were the best
Speaker 1: player in the world in twenty twenty two or twenty
Speaker 1: twenty right, the Nuggets in general, I think are a better,
Speaker 1: more organized basketball team than the Lakers. That definitely helps.
Speaker 1: But a big chunk of it is Russ is starting
Speaker 1: to hit threes when he didn't, and Russ is being
Speaker 1: willing to move off the ball and to cut and
Speaker 1: to be a threat without just standing around on the perimeter.
Speaker 1: It's Russ, through the humiliation of the last few years,
Speaker 1: has become an active participant in his own survival in
Speaker 1: this league. He's put in the work, and so it's
Speaker 1: a combination of all those factors. I think Nuggets fans
Speaker 1: should feel a certain amount of pride in the way
Speaker 1: that they've been able to weaponize Russell Westbrook but making
Speaker 1: it so that everyone else was terrible and Russ was
Speaker 1: never to blame and here we are finally giving Russ's opportunity.
Speaker 1: That's just not reality. And guys, I watched every single
Speaker 1: game he played with the Lakers. I promise you he
Speaker 1: was to blame too for how things went during that span.
Speaker 1: Do you think the concept of a tough shot maker
Speaker 1: is real? And if so, how valuable is it to
Speaker 1: a team? I find it hard to understand how a
Speaker 1: tough shot maker or clutch player averaging twenty one points
Speaker 1: per game will be seen as a more valuable piece
Speaker 1: on a team compared to someone else who averages the
Speaker 1: same amount of points doing it with less tough shots.
Speaker 1: Tough shot making is a skill in basketball, just like
Speaker 1: anything else's. But if it's your foundational skill, I don't
Speaker 1: think it's a good foundational skill. I'll use myself as
Speaker 1: an example here for a minute. Like one of my
Speaker 1: best traits as a basketball players, I'm a tough shot maker,
Speaker 1: and I've had that since i was young. I'm a
Speaker 1: good athlete, and I'm tall, i have long arms, and
Speaker 1: I've just I've worked really hard behind the scenes on
Speaker 1: like right shoulder fade aways, left shoulder fadeaways, one leg fadeaway,
Speaker 1: step back's going right, step back's going left, all this
Speaker 1: different footwork, and those shots were useful for me when
Speaker 1: I was younger. But when I was younger, and I
Speaker 1: could make tough shots, but I couldn't do much else.
Speaker 1: It wasn't I wasn't a good basketball player, not nearly
Speaker 1: as good as I am when I'm older, now, tough
Speaker 1: shot making still helps me to this day if there's
Speaker 1: spots where like I need to get a bucket in
Speaker 1: a in my men's league or in a pickup game,
Speaker 1: like I like having the ability to create my own shot.
Speaker 1: That that's something that is a useful skill. But what
Speaker 1: made me a good basketball a better basketball player in
Speaker 1: the later in this later phase of my time playing
Speaker 1: is all of the other stuff, you know, like defending, rebounding,
Speaker 1: playing within a team concept as an offensive player. So
Speaker 1: like when it comes to tough shot making, like having
Speaker 1: a tough shot making is a shot maker on your
Speaker 1: NBA team is super useful, But like if your entire
Speaker 1: offense is predicated on guys hitting tough, contested pull up
Speaker 1: jump shots, it just puts a certain ceiling on your
Speaker 1: team offensively, especially when things get grinded down to halt
Speaker 1: in playoff games. This has been something I've seen with
Speaker 1: some of the best pull up shooters in the league
Speaker 1: in recent years. I've seen this happen to James Harden.
Speaker 1: I saw it happened to Kevin Durant in twenty twenty too,
Speaker 1: if you remember when he lost to Boston. There's there's
Speaker 1: a lot of examples of this where like it gets
Speaker 1: so physical that you're so tired that it's hard to
Speaker 1: make the tough shots. Tough shots are like fifty percent
Speaker 1: footwork and then or I should say thirty three percent footwork,
Speaker 1: thirty three percent touch, but thirty three percent is leg strength.
Speaker 1: Like if I'm looking at a good defender and I
Speaker 1: go in and out cross between the legs and I
Speaker 1: cover ground on the side step to the right and
Speaker 1: rise up and shoot, I have to on that side
Speaker 1: step cover enough ground to get separation while also having
Speaker 1: the leg strength to stop my sideway's momentum and get
Speaker 1: straight up and down and get the lift I need
Speaker 1: to shoot over a contest and get the ball to
Speaker 1: the rim. It's hard to do in a knockdown, drag
Speaker 1: out fistfight of a playoff series. And so I just
Speaker 1: think I've even seen this with me, like where like
Speaker 1: when I'm playing and like tough money tournaments and it's
Speaker 1: like the money's on the line and I'm playing my
Speaker 1: fifth game in the same day, Like I can't be
Speaker 1: leaning on my right shoulder fade or my left shoulder
Speaker 1: fade in that situation. I'm just not gonna get enough
Speaker 1: lift to knock it down. In those sorts of situations,
Speaker 1: that's where I've got to use more of my size
Speaker 1: and strength to get closer to the basket and try
Speaker 1: to win bully ball battles. I had a money tournament
Speaker 1: just a couple of months ago in the fall where
Speaker 1: in the last we played six games in the same
Speaker 1: day because we ended up dropping the first game to
Speaker 1: the to the team from Phoenix that came down and
Speaker 1: we had to go down and beat the loser's bracket
Speaker 1: and then go back up and beat the team from Phoenix.
Speaker 1: And like, I didn't do much work in the post
Speaker 1: all day. I'd been doing a lot more shooting from
Speaker 1: the perimeter, operating as a ball handler, that kind of stuff.
Speaker 1: And in that final game, I was like, I'm dead.
Speaker 1: I need to just use my size, and I just
Speaker 1: went down to the block and worked out of the
Speaker 1: post during the championship game. And it's just more reliable
Speaker 1: in those sorts of situations. And that's kind of what
Speaker 1: I've always been drawn to Jokic about as in more
Speaker 1: in the NBA concept. And by the way, when I
Speaker 1: talk about myself as a player, most of you guys
Speaker 1: take it the right way, but like it's just how
Speaker 1: I relate to the game. I don't have delusions of grangeur.
Speaker 1: I'm not here sitting here thinking I should be in
Speaker 1: the NBA. As a matter of fact, I think I'm
Speaker 1: far from that level. But I've worked really hard to
Speaker 1: become a good basketball player, and it's how I relate
Speaker 1: to these situations. It's how I think about the game.
Speaker 1: And like Jokic, for instance, one of the things that's
Speaker 1: always drawn me to him as a player is like
Speaker 1: he thrives in those situations because his game is predicated
Speaker 1: on close to the basket shot making, which doesn't rely
Speaker 1: as much on his like strength and is less susceptible
Speaker 1: to fatigue related decline. If that makes sense. All right,
Speaker 1: Two more quick ones, Hi, Jason, I had a question
Speaker 1: about the comments here. I feel like there's always a
Speaker 1: loud minority that just wants to hate on the show.
Speaker 1: I was wondering how you managed to deal with comments
Speaker 1: like that so professionally and not let it get to you.
Speaker 1: When I tried making stuff on YouTube, I had a
Speaker 1: similar situation on a much smaller scale, and the hate
Speaker 1: comments really got under my skin. Thanks for your content.
Speaker 1: You enrich mikes with basketball thank you for the kind
Speaker 1: of words. It's it's not easy. Like I was talking
Speaker 1: about this with my wife actually the other night. It's
Speaker 1: it's really bizarre actually to have a lot of people
Speaker 1: talking shit about you on the internet every day. I
Speaker 1: really struggled with it a lot in the first like
Speaker 1: year or two. I've got a lot better at it
Speaker 1: more just compartmentalizing The reality is, though, is it never
Speaker 1: it never goes like the icky feeling you get when
Speaker 1: you read someone who says something bad about you doesn't
Speaker 1: go away like it h every time I read a
Speaker 1: comment like that, it still feels funky, right. I've just
Speaker 1: gotten better at quickly compartmentalizing it and moving on. But
Speaker 1: it's just an important part of the space. And something
Speaker 1: I would say with this sort of thing is like
Speaker 1: anytime you do anything that has you in the public sphere,
Speaker 1: and some of this is like the reality. I've seen
Speaker 1: some like professional athletes complaining about this, and I want
Speaker 1: to be like, you're a professional athlete, You're in the
Speaker 1: public sphere. This is what comes the space. But like
Speaker 1: everybody that exists in this space of whether it's media,
Speaker 1: whether it's just being a public figure, whether it's being
Speaker 1: an influencer, whether it's being a professional athlete that has
Speaker 1: big social media profiles, whatever it is, the Internet is
Speaker 1: just going to bring a certain amount of nastiness to you,
Speaker 1: and you just got to find a way to deal
Speaker 1: with it as best as you can. I think of
Speaker 1: the real part of it is the self awareness to
Speaker 1: just know that it's never going to stop, like will
Speaker 1: no matter what I do. Even if I tried so hard,
Speaker 1: even if I identified every single thing that people are
Speaker 1: upset about and I tried to cater my analysis to
Speaker 1: fit into this like perfect zone, there would still be
Speaker 1: hundreds of people who would be pissed off at me.
Speaker 1: So like part of it is understanding that no matter
Speaker 1: what you do, you're gonna piss people off and there's
Speaker 1: gonna be negativity. And once you accept that reality, it
Speaker 1: becomes about navigating it within your own mental health as
Speaker 1: best as you can. And I know that certain people
Speaker 1: deal with it in different ways than others. So what
Speaker 1: works for me may not work for you. I'll tell you, guys,
Speaker 1: to be honest with you, the big one that works
Speaker 1: for me is zooming out and looking at the big picture,
Speaker 1: which is that when I have a video that or
Speaker 1: like if we have a week where we get two
Speaker 1: hundred and fifty thousand views or three hundred thousand views,
Speaker 1: and there's you know, three or four hundred really nasty comments,
Speaker 1: there's usually like way more very positive comments, like really
Speaker 1: positive comments, and there's the viewership. You can't deny the
Speaker 1: viewership is what is two hundred assholes in the mix
Speaker 1: of two hundred and fifty thousand views? Right? And so,
Speaker 1: like zooming out and like looking at the big picture
Speaker 1: helps me compartmentalize it a little bit. But yeah, like
Speaker 1: i'd be lying to you if I said it just
Speaker 1: I don't just look at it and just feel great
Speaker 1: and rolls off the back. It sucks, and you just
Speaker 1: get better at handling it as you get older. Jason,
Speaker 1: you are the man. I've been reading some of these comments,
Speaker 1: and I was wondering, as a reporter, what do you
Speaker 1: think about comments from people that give you directives on
Speaker 1: how you should report on things? Is when they don't
Speaker 1: study or know nearly as much as you. I think
Speaker 1: part of the the issue is not having ego within
Speaker 1: this space, which is like I work really hard behind
Speaker 1: the scenes. I watch a ton of film and I
Speaker 1: try to learn as much about the NBA as I can.
Speaker 1: I'm on this like side mission that runs hand in
Speaker 1: hand with this job, which is I want to run
Speaker 1: the best show that I can, but I also want
Speaker 1: to learn as much about NBA basketball as I possibly can.
Speaker 1: I want to be an expert on NBA basketball, and
Speaker 1: so I have a certain confidence in my analysis based
Speaker 1: out of the work that I do behind the scenes.
Speaker 1: But I also think it's important to not feel like
Speaker 1: you've got it all figured out. And and so that's
Speaker 1: the thing is like when people disagree with me, I
Speaker 1: look at it as just additional perspective, another opportunity to
Speaker 1: another opportunity to learn about the game from somebody who've
Speaker 1: used it differently. And so that with that with within
Speaker 1: that context, like when I see people that comment stuff
Speaker 1: and they argue or say you're wrong, that's stupid, I
Speaker 1: think it's this Like there are times, of course, there
Speaker 1: are times where I look at it and I go, yeah,
Speaker 1: I disagree with that, But there are other times where
Speaker 1: I see that's why I read the comments. I read
Speaker 1: the comments because I want you guys as perspective. And
Speaker 1: there are times where like I've listened to a or
Speaker 1: read a comment and someone will have like a hey, actually,
Speaker 1: you know, you know with the pacers, I've noticed this,
Speaker 1: and I'll be like, oh, that's super interesting, and then
Speaker 1: like I'll do my own digging into it and come
Speaker 1: to another conclusion. And like I was actually talking about
Speaker 1: this with a couple of Celtics guys the other day.
Speaker 1: I think that everybody that has the intention of being
Speaker 1: an expert and anything should try to listen to as
Speaker 1: many people as possible, to gain as many perspectives as
Speaker 1: you can, and to just increase the just the total
Speaker 1: amount that you can learn from something like this. But again,
Speaker 1: like I don't take it personally when people disagree with
Speaker 1: me about basketball takes, I just look at it as
Speaker 1: an opportunity to get additional perspective. All right, guys, it's
Speaker 1: all I have for today. As always, I sincerely appreciate
Speaker 1: you guys for supporting me and supporting the show. Tomorrow,
Speaker 1: I got the special I recorded with Jova on yesterday
Speaker 1: that's going to be running just kind of a Lakers
Speaker 1: deadline centric piece, and then we'll be back on Monday
Speaker 1: with our power rankings and everything like usual. I'll see
Speaker 1: you guys then the volume. What's up guys. As always,
Speaker 1: I appreciate you for listening to and supporting hoops tonight.
Speaker 1: It would actually be really helpful for us if you
Speaker 1: guys would take a second and leave a rating and
Speaker 1: a review. As always, I appreciate you guys supporting us,
Speaker 1: but if you could take a minute to do that,
Speaker 1: I'd really appreciate it.