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Speaker 1: dot co slash b ball. All right, well, good to
Speaker 1: tonight here at the volume Heavy Monday. Everybody up. All
Speaker 1: of you guys had a great weekend. We had a
Speaker 1: jam pack show for you today. I want to be
Speaker 1: able to bounce all around the league because there's so
Speaker 1: many different teams that we need to hit on, and
Speaker 1: so I came up with a format today. We're gonna
Speaker 1: do stock rising or stock falling. I'm basically going to
Speaker 1: hit on a team and tell you guys whether or
Speaker 1: not I'm feeling better about them. Compared to before the season,
Speaker 1: or worse about them compared to before the season. And
Speaker 1: then at the tail end of the show, we're gonna
Speaker 1: have an episode of TIMPs tape where I have eighteen clips.
Speaker 1: We're going to be bouncing around the league for that
Speaker 1: as well. You guys are the Joe before we get started,
Speaker 1: subscribe to the Hoops to Night YouTube channels. You don't
Speaker 1: miss any more of our videos. Follow me on Twitter
Speaker 1: at Underscore JCNLTS. You guys, don't miss you announcementsn't forget
Speaker 1: about a podcast feed where you get your podcasts under
Speaker 1: Hoops Tonight, and then keep dropping mail back questions and
Speaker 1: those YouTube comments so we keep hitting them throughout the
Speaker 1: remainder of the season. All right, let's talk some basketball.
Speaker 1: So a little disclaimer off the top. This is all
Speaker 1: very small sample size stuff, right, Like, it's only been
Speaker 1: two or three games for most of these teams, so
Speaker 1: obviously a lot can change over the course of even
Speaker 1: just the next week for any of these teams. But
Speaker 1: this is what we have, This is what we have
Speaker 1: to work with to try to evaluate these teams. See,
Speaker 1: we're gonna have We're gonna try to find what we
Speaker 1: can learn within the small sample size. But let's also
Speaker 1: just keep in mind that it's not the end all
Speaker 1: be all, certainly not this early in the season. Like,
Speaker 1: for instance, the Lakers. They're three to zero, that doesn't
Speaker 1: mean they're the twenty seventeen Warriors, just means they're off
Speaker 1: to a good start. Good teams can go on runs
Speaker 1: where they win a couple of good win a couple
Speaker 1: of games in a row against other good teams. It's
Speaker 1: about sustained excellence that separates you, right The Nuggets, the Sixers,
Speaker 1: and the Bucks, three teams that are all in my
Speaker 1: top ten championship contenders, are two and six to start
Speaker 1: the year. Doesn't mean this guy is falling for them either.
Speaker 1: There's lots of things that could turn positively for them.
Speaker 1: So remember, let's just kind of keep that small sample
Speaker 1: size kind of disclaimer in the back of our minds
Speaker 1: as we're looking forward. But let's start with first team today,
Speaker 1: stock rising the Boston Celtics. Their last two games, they
Speaker 1: blew out Washington and they ended up in a kind
Speaker 1: of a tough game in Detroit. They were down by
Speaker 1: six without four minutes left, but then they just went
Speaker 1: on this Like Vin Titch, Boston Celtics run. They generated
Speaker 1: a wide open three for Drew Holliday, where Al Horford
Speaker 1: screen for Tatum. But like we've talked about so much
Speaker 1: on the show, when teams are switching, if you're setting
Speaker 1: the screen, you want to screen on the bottom side,
Speaker 1: Horford screen on the bottom side and slips Tatum throw
Speaker 1: Hi an easy pass formed a two on one on
Speaker 1: the weak side. Kickout pass to Drew Holliday knocks down
Speaker 1: at three very next possession, Jalen Brown just a beautiful
Speaker 1: transition drive, gets into the lane. All hell breaks loose
Speaker 1: around him, but he makes an amazing kickout pass to
Speaker 1: the right wing swing swing another wide open three for
Speaker 1: Drew Holiday. He knocks it down. Next possession, Jason Tatum's
Speaker 1: trying to come off of an off ball screen, but
Speaker 1: Tim Hardaway Junior is top locking him, and instead of
Speaker 1: trying to force his way through the screen, he just
Speaker 1: cuts to the post. And now he's got inside position
Speaker 1: because Tim Hardaway Junior is on his top side trying
Speaker 1: to top block, gets a quick post up, gets an
Speaker 1: easy bucket, and then Tatum ice is the game with
Speaker 1: a little iso jumper in the left short corner versus
Speaker 1: Jayden Ivy, while on the other end of the floor,
Speaker 1: just mothering defense. Drew Holliday gets a steal in transition
Speaker 1: on Jada and Ivy. There's this crazy player, Ky Cunningham
Speaker 1: breaks open on a back door cut, looks like he's
Speaker 1: gonna get a dunk, and in comes Derek White just
Speaker 1: flying in and gets a block. And by the way,
Speaker 1: there's gonna be a lot of Knights like that for
Speaker 1: the Boston Celtics. There's gonna be nice where they beat
Speaker 1: the shit out of you, then there's gonna be nights
Speaker 1: where they're in these tougher spots. And to me, it's
Speaker 1: always a sign of a great team in the regular
Speaker 1: season when you just find a way to win on
Speaker 1: the nights when it doesn't necessarily look great. And that
Speaker 1: what I just broke down for you. It's four really
Speaker 1: good offensive possessions in a row and four stops and bam,
Speaker 1: you got yourself a win in a game that it
Speaker 1: looked like you had a decent chance of losing. And again,
Speaker 1: those to me are like big characteristics of teams that
Speaker 1: are serious about trying to repeat, that are serious about
Speaker 1: trying to build championship habits over the course of the season.
Speaker 1: They got out of there with a win, so farther
Speaker 1: three oh. They're number one in offense with a one
Speaker 1: twenty nine offensive rating. Their paint defense is getting shredded
Speaker 1: a little bit, but that's to be expected. They're only
Speaker 1: playing a starting caliber center for about twenty six minutes
Speaker 1: a night, smartly keeping Horford's minutes down so he doesn't
Speaker 1: get worn down. They're also really overplaying the three point line,
Speaker 1: which is gonna lead to more paint scoring. They're allowing
Speaker 1: just fourteen point seven wide open threes per game. That's
Speaker 1: with the defender at least six feet away. That's the
Speaker 1: third best mark in the league overall. Their fifteenth in defense,
Speaker 1: which is fine. You also have to factor in there's
Speaker 1: a couple of massive blowouts in there, and that just
Speaker 1: means there's gonna be a lot of stretches of the
Speaker 1: game where there's very little urgency. So that's gonna hurt
Speaker 1: your defensive numbers as well. But we all expected the
Speaker 1: Celtics to start three to zero. So why am I
Speaker 1: saying their stock is rising? It's because Jason Tatum has
Speaker 1: looked absolutely amazing to start the season. Thirty three point
Speaker 1: six rebound, six assists, fifty five percent from the field,
Speaker 1: forty nine percent from three. The jump shooting is absurd.
Speaker 1: He's taken forty jump shots so far the season, made
Speaker 1: twenty of them. He's sixteen for thirty four off the dribble.
Speaker 1: That's forty seven percent overall, one point three to two
Speaker 1: points per tempt. Now, obviously he's not gonna shoot that
Speaker 1: well for the entire season, because no, but he shoots it.
Speaker 1: Not even Steph Curry shoots that well for the entire season.
Speaker 1: But if he can stay remotely close, that's a fundamentally
Speaker 1: different type of star, a fundamentally different type of player
Speaker 1: than the guy who was still really damn good, who
Speaker 1: was the best player on a championship team last year.
Speaker 1: His shot creation has been completely off the charts. He's
Speaker 1: ran seventy two ISOs pick and rolls in post ups,
Speaker 1: including passes that have generated one hundred and fourteen points.
Speaker 1: That's one point five a points per possession. That's like,
Speaker 1: completely absurd, Guys, he is They were already the best
Speaker 1: team in the league last year with this, with a
Speaker 1: lesser version of Jason Tatum. The guy that we had
Speaker 1: last year was a very versatile defender, very good playmaker,
Speaker 1: but he was an inconsistent jump shooter and an inconsistent
Speaker 1: rim finisher. This year, he just seems to have tightened up,
Speaker 1: specifically that jump shot piece, to such a crazy level.
Speaker 1: It's unlocked so much more of his playmaking if he
Speaker 1: rises to the ranks of the super duper stars like
Speaker 1: the Jokich Luca tier. If he gets up into that tier,
Speaker 1: we might as well just skip ahead to June when
Speaker 1: he's got the Finals MVP Trophy in his hands, because
Speaker 1: I don't know how anybody's gonna beat this team if
Speaker 1: they don't have an advantage in that best player on
Speaker 1: the team category, which used to be the one thing
Speaker 1: that teams would look at. It's like, if we end
Speaker 1: up in a series with Boston, at least we have
Speaker 1: Luka don chicch and even that wasn't even enough. But
Speaker 1: if if Jason Tatum is going to go toe to
Speaker 1: toe with the best players in the league and be
Speaker 1: at that level, nobody's beating these guys. Four times out
Speaker 1: of seven. The Celtics have five different rotation players right
Speaker 1: now that are shooting at least forty percent from three
Speaker 1: on at least four attempts per game. They look like
Speaker 1: a well oiled machine. How could you not be higher
Speaker 1: on them even than what we thought going into the season,
Speaker 1: stock falling the Celtics competition out in the Eastern Conference.
Speaker 1: The Knicks, they had a nice bounce back win against
Speaker 1: the Pacers or another team that's off to a rough start.
Speaker 1: We'll be talking about them later on in the show.
Speaker 1: They had four starters score twenty plus points, got one
Speaker 1: point three to six points per jump shot in that game,
Speaker 1: so a nice little bounce back game. They defended super well.
Speaker 1: They gave Tyres haliburt in a nightmare game, but as
Speaker 1: we saw on opening night, they're just miles away from
Speaker 1: Boston right now. The Sixers, they got a big win
Speaker 1: in Indy. Kind of a weird game. The Indy had
Speaker 1: a late lead, they kind of combusted down the stretch.
Speaker 1: Tyres Alliburton somehow ends up syncing like a double pump
Speaker 1: three to send it to OT. But then the Sixers
Speaker 1: end up winning in OT. But they also in that game.
Speaker 1: One last shout out. Andre Drummond had a couple of
Speaker 1: huge defensive plays at the end of regulation where he
Speaker 1: was coming up to the level of the screen and
Speaker 1: just being active with his hands on the ball handler.
Speaker 1: I think he got a strip on Nemhard and then
Speaker 1: another strip on Tyres Halliburton, two huge stops at the
Speaker 1: end of the game that gave him a really good
Speaker 1: chance to win. But they're one and two, and Paul
Speaker 1: George and Joel Embiid are still not healthy and not
Speaker 1: on the floor together, so it's hard not to be
Speaker 1: at least a little bit discouraged by that. And then
Speaker 1: the Bucks they follow up their impressive win against Philly
Speaker 1: to start the season with two really ugly losses at
Speaker 1: home to the Chicago Bulls and then on the road
Speaker 1: in Brooklyn. Same issue in both games, a lot of
Speaker 1: limited defensive personnel on the floor in these lineups, like
Speaker 1: the starting lineup has been okay. They played one hundred
Speaker 1: and fifteen possessions, they have won sixteen off rating, they
Speaker 1: have a one eleven defensive rating that's plus five net.
Speaker 1: That's fine. Obviously, you want it to be better. You
Speaker 1: want Damon Giannis led units to just wax everybody that
Speaker 1: needs to be like and they did last year. Damon
Speaker 1: Giannis led units were i want to say, over ten
Speaker 1: over plus ten in net ratings. So they were good
Speaker 1: last year. But they're not playing too well to start
Speaker 1: the year, but it's the bench units that have been rough.
Speaker 1: Anything with Bobby Portos on the floor has been really
Speaker 1: difficult to deal with. Defensively, he's just lost all over
Speaker 1: the place. Last night in the Brooklyn game, they just
Speaker 1: completely got annihilated in that early stretch of the fourth quarter,
Speaker 1: and Pat Connoton was the guy they were going at
Speaker 1: every time. Dennis Schroeder and Cam Thomas were just going
Speaker 1: at Pat every single time. He had this really ugly
Speaker 1: play where he there's a defensive rebound. There was right
Speaker 1: in his face like he should have grabbed it, and
Speaker 1: somehow he didn't grab it and then committed a flagrant
Speaker 1: foul on Dennis Schroeder. So it went from should have
Speaker 1: been Bucks ball to now the Bucks are shooting or
Speaker 1: now the Nets are shooting two free throws and they
Speaker 1: get the ball back. He just had an absolute disaster
Speaker 1: to shift to start the fourth quarter. All of those
Speaker 1: bench units, they're just incredibly slow. They're not getting enough
Speaker 1: production out of them, and then when the starters came
Speaker 1: back and they just have these effort issues. Like one
Speaker 1: of the first possessions after Dame checks back in the
Speaker 1: game in the fourth quarter, he gives up a tip
Speaker 1: dunk in the left corner because he's not boxing out
Speaker 1: and the man just runs right by him and gets
Speaker 1: a tip dunk. It just it just seems like there's
Speaker 1: that same funk that kind of sat over this team
Speaker 1: last year where they just seemed like they could lose
Speaker 1: on any given night to any given team, is still there,
Speaker 1: and you know, you know how it goes like that,
Speaker 1: then they'll turn around and beat the shit out of
Speaker 1: a good team two nights later. But it's just it's
Speaker 1: kind of a just a bizarre vibe that kind of
Speaker 1: centers around that team. And to me, it really comes
Speaker 1: down to the athleticism piece. And we were hoping that
Speaker 1: Gary Trent and Delon Wright would kind of help address
Speaker 1: this a little bit. But when you're slow and you're old,
Speaker 1: the league is super athletic now and with these younger teams,
Speaker 1: like if you bring poor effort, if you play lineups
Speaker 1: and have a bunch of slow footed guys, like you're
Speaker 1: just gonna get killed. And so it like, as we
Speaker 1: look look back and we look at how Philly looks
Speaker 1: right now, we look at how Milwaukee looks right now,
Speaker 1: we look at how the Knicks look right now, we
Speaker 1: look at how the Pacers look right now, it's hard
Speaker 1: not to feel extremely confident if you're in that Boston
Speaker 1: and Celtics locker room, or if you're a Boston Celtics fan,
Speaker 1: that they're not going to get back to the finals,
Speaker 1: because just everybody else is stumbling out of the gate,
Speaker 1: and the Celtics are whooping everybody's ass. And they ended
Speaker 1: up in one close game and they just turned into
Speaker 1: an unbeatable half court machine in the final few minutes
Speaker 1: of the game, and they got out of there with
Speaker 1: the wins. So definitely stock falling for the Eastern Conference
Speaker 1: competition for the Boston Celtics, stock rising the Los Angeles Lakers.
Speaker 1: The Western Conference gave them a brutal schedule to start
Speaker 1: the year. They played the Minnesota Timberwolves and then the
Speaker 1: Suns and the Kings back to back. They ended up
Speaker 1: going three to zero. Once again on the strength of
Speaker 1: their offense, which is something I talked about coming into
Speaker 1: the season. That was what made them so good at
Speaker 1: the tail end of the year last year. Remember, from
Speaker 1: basically their last forty six games of the season, they
Speaker 1: were the third best offense in all of basketball. They
Speaker 1: had a one twenty offensive rating through that first three
Speaker 1: games of the season. That's in the league, again, obviously
Speaker 1: small sample. One to six offensive rating in the half
Speaker 1: court according to Cleaning and Glass, that's also an awesome number.
Speaker 1: That was fourth in the NBA. Ironically, though, with all
Speaker 1: the talk about them shooting more threes and everything I
Speaker 1: talked about in preseason and everything about JJ Redick, here
Speaker 1: they're in real games and they've kind of stylistically just
Speaker 1: landed on the same type of offensive approach as last year,
Speaker 1: which is like everything's in the paint and then taking
Speaker 1: wide open threes out of it. They're twenty eighth in
Speaker 1: three point attempts per one hundred possessions, so they're not
Speaker 1: generating a ton of threes. Yet they're still a top
Speaker 1: five offense, which again is what I talk about all
Speaker 1: the time. It doesn't matter if you shoot threes, it's
Speaker 1: just who can get the most high quality shots. The
Speaker 1: Lakers don't shoot a ton of threes, but they're scoring
Speaker 1: a lot because they're number one in points in the
Speaker 1: paint per one hundred possessions with the five point lead
Speaker 1: over the second place team. The Lakers butcher teams in
Speaker 1: the paint that is where they drive the majority of
Speaker 1: their offensive success. So that's what's kind of funny, is
Speaker 1: like they went from Oh, we're gonna shoot more threes,
Speaker 1: blah blah blah, and now they're just playing the same
Speaker 1: way they did last year. Now there are a couple
Speaker 1: of major changes to the way that they are actually
Speaker 1: going about that paint to great attack on offense. One,
Speaker 1: they have switched some of their lineup configurations. So in
Speaker 1: the past, they used to pair Austin with Lebron and
Speaker 1: d Lo with AD because Delo is a better playmaker
Speaker 1: and when Lebron's off the floor, you need playmaking, right
Speaker 1: and the Austin Lebron two man game has been really good,
Speaker 1: so there's been that was kind of the driving force
Speaker 1: behind that configuration in the past. This year they flipped it.
Speaker 1: Now Austin's running with AD and Delo's running with Lebron.
Speaker 1: It feels counterintuitive for the short term, right because Delo
Speaker 1: is legitimately someone that in the large sample last year
Speaker 1: just looked like a better fit with AD. But I
Speaker 1: like the idea of investing in the Austin AD pairing
Speaker 1: because I do think that we are going to finally
Speaker 1: get that d' angelo Russell trade this year. So the
Speaker 1: future of this team is Austin and AD units with
Speaker 1: Lebron off the floor, those units needing to float themselves.
Speaker 1: They're about minus two per Lebron off AD on lineups
Speaker 1: right now are minus two per one hundred possessions in
Speaker 1: the early going, which is not bad. They're floating around
Speaker 1: even that's okay. Again, this team has always had big
Speaker 1: splits with Lebron on and off the floor, so they
Speaker 1: can hover around even with Lebron off. I think that's
Speaker 1: a win. But that's the main difference in the way
Speaker 1: that they're pairing the lineups. The other big change is
Speaker 1: how often they're playing through AD. He's got a thirty
Speaker 1: percent usage right that's the highest he's had since he's
Speaker 1: come to the Lakers. He's shooting nineteen field goal attempts
Speaker 1: per late per game, that's the highest since he's come
Speaker 1: to the Lakers. So a lot more usage for Anthony Davis.
Speaker 1: And he's been on an absolute tear. Like if you're
Speaker 1: if you're asking, like, who are the standout players in
Speaker 1: the league. The guys that have just been absolutely shredding
Speaker 1: everybody to start the season. In the small sample, it's
Speaker 1: Jason Tatum and Anthony Davis. Those are the two guys
Speaker 1: that have been kicking everybody's ass to start this particular
Speaker 1: ironically number six and number seven on my player rankings
Speaker 1: come into the season that have been the most impressive.
Speaker 1: He had completely dominated the Wolves game. He had thirty
Speaker 1: six and sixteen, totally took that game over in the
Speaker 1: second half. He had twenty in the second half against
Speaker 1: Phoenix two, a lot of late game surges from Anthony Davis.
Speaker 1: Then he hit the biggest shot of the game against Cremeno,
Speaker 1: picking Pop three over Demonasibonas had another thirty point night
Speaker 1: in that one. He's been a monster on defense in
Speaker 1: every single game, playing like the best player in the
Speaker 1: league right now. Is thirty four points and eleven rebounds
Speaker 1: per game with four steals and blocks a game on
Speaker 1: sixty seven percent tru shooting. Lebron got off to a
Speaker 1: somewhat slow start as he eased his way into things
Speaker 1: this season, but then he had that crazy run at
Speaker 1: the start of the fourth quarter of the Kings game
Speaker 1: that he had like sixteen points in three minutes as
Speaker 1: he turned what probably should have been a loss into
Speaker 1: a win. He's at twenty three points, eight rebound, seven
Speaker 1: assists on sixty one percent trough shooting. Austin and Ruey
Speaker 1: have both been excellent. They're getting thirty five points per
Speaker 1: game out of those two guys, and they're both defending
Speaker 1: well to start the year. But the main reason why
Speaker 1: my stock is rising slightly with the Lakers is the
Speaker 1: encouraging stuff from their bench groups. They are dominating the
Speaker 1: minutes with Anthony Davis on the bench. So far, they
Speaker 1: are plus fifty in sixty four possessions with AD on
Speaker 1: the bench. And that was again over the years, when
Speaker 1: AD is hurt or when AD's out, they've to put
Speaker 1: together kind of like coherent lineups. Hasn't been the case
Speaker 1: so far this year, all because of the play of
Speaker 1: Dalton Connect and Jackson Hayes in terms of guys producing
Speaker 1: off the bench. As we went into the season, if
Speaker 1: you guys remember I talked about depth being the main
Speaker 1: issue for this Laker team. The starters are good, that
Speaker 1: Austin dil Ruiy lebron a d That lineup's good. They're
Speaker 1: gonna win a lot of their minutes with that particular unit.
Speaker 1: Right Gabe Vinson is a solid backup guard. Van Do
Speaker 1: when he's healthy is a solid backup forward. But beyond
Speaker 1: that and Vandal's got his own health issues, everything's a
Speaker 1: question mark. It's like Max Christie's very young. Is he
Speaker 1: gonna be able to produce? Dalton Connects a rookie, Is
Speaker 1: he gonna be able to produce? Jackson Hayes is a
Speaker 1: player with some really big weakness. Is he gonna be
Speaker 1: able to produce? Like who's gonna be able to produce
Speaker 1: from this bench group? And the two guys that have
Speaker 1: really stood out so far as Dalton Connect and Jackson Hayes.
Speaker 1: Dalton Connect has been great so far. He's brought this
Speaker 1: like aggressive movement shooting. He's flying off the screens and
Speaker 1: looking to shoot right away. He's making good reads when
Speaker 1: he's coming off the screens. He brings real downhill athleticism
Speaker 1: in transition. Hasn't really stuck out as a bad piece
Speaker 1: on defense yet, although I think he will have some
Speaker 1: ugly moments there in the large sample. And then Jackson
Speaker 1: Hayes's finishing really well on cuts and rolls. He's six
Speaker 1: for seven from the field on cuts and rolls. He
Speaker 1: has five offensive rebounds. He's been active on the glass
Speaker 1: STI fouling at an obsurd right six point one fouls
Speaker 1: for thirty six minutes. That he's been really solid so
Speaker 1: far too, and so they've been able to hold their
Speaker 1: own with ad on the bench. The other big exciting
Speaker 1: thing is the early returns on the JJ Reddick coaching process.
Speaker 1: They look incredibly sharp on both ends of the floor.
Speaker 1: One of the big things that before we get into
Speaker 1: some of the specifics, JJ is actively coaching, and this
Speaker 1: is something that I begged for last year. Darbnham got
Speaker 1: made fun of all the time for having his hands
Speaker 1: in his pockets, to call him hot pockets. They made
Speaker 1: all these jokes about it, but it was less about
Speaker 1: the body language and more about the fact that, like,
Speaker 1: what are you doing to help your team win the game?
Speaker 1: Like the players are out there doing everything they can
Speaker 1: to win the game. Yes, I get it, you did
Speaker 1: whatever you did before the game in terms of game
Speaker 1: plan and preparation and scouting and all that sort of stuff.
Speaker 1: Now we're in the game, though, what are you doing
Speaker 1: to help the team win? On a possession by possession
Speaker 1: during the game. Is super active on the sideline, talking
Speaker 1: to the refs all the time, talking to the players
Speaker 1: all the time, talking about schematic adjustments he can make
Speaker 1: over the course of the game, emphasizing game plan details
Speaker 1: that are not being executed, positively reinforcing game plan details
Speaker 1: that are getting executed. He is active on the sidelines
Speaker 1: and it's leading to a lot more organization on a
Speaker 1: possession by possession basis. Their offensive organization in general was
Speaker 1: already pretty solid last year, but it's gone up a
Speaker 1: level or getting two or three beautiful after timeout plays
Speaker 1: every single game, really smart concepts that are getting their
Speaker 1: best players going with an advantage. The defensive organization has
Speaker 1: been really exciting so far. Their game plans have been smart,
Speaker 1: very nicely curated to each specific opponent they're playing. They're
Speaker 1: doing a much better job at chasing teams off the
Speaker 1: three point line than they did last year. They're performing
Speaker 1: well on the margins too. That's a big coaching piece.
Speaker 1: They're rebounding well on both ends. Last year they were
Speaker 1: not a good offensive rebounding team. They're forcing more turnovers
Speaker 1: and scoring on them. Last year that just was not
Speaker 1: a margin for them. They're taking really good care of
Speaker 1: the basketball now, like they just look like a really
Speaker 1: well coached team. Now does that mean I think that
Speaker 1: they're suddenly a top tier contender. No, of course not.
Speaker 1: They still have their personal limitations. We saw their personal
Speaker 1: limitations in the Sacramento game. They should have lost to Sacramento,
Speaker 1: the same issues that they've always had. When Sacramento came
Speaker 1: up in that second half, Ad really struggles to handle
Speaker 1: Sabonis just because Sibonis is stronger and quicker than him.
Speaker 1: And then two, the guards for Sacramento are so fast,
Speaker 1: and the athleticism for the guardcore for the Lakers is
Speaker 1: one of the biggest weaknesses on that roster. And so
Speaker 1: when they turned up pressure, when they turned up the pace,
Speaker 1: when Sabonis started going at Ad, the wheels kind of
Speaker 1: came off and the Lakers really lost control of that game. Well,
Speaker 1: Lebron just stole it. Lebron came in in the fourth
Speaker 1: quarter and led a twenty one to nothing run and
Speaker 1: stole that game. Like, the Lakers still have their personnel limitations.
Speaker 1: The difference is is because they're well coached now, they
Speaker 1: have a little bit more ability to pull out that
Speaker 1: type of That's the hallmark of what makes a team different.
Speaker 1: This team different from last year's team. You have two
Speaker 1: top ten players and you're well coached. That will allow
Speaker 1: you to cover for some of your weaknesses in the
Speaker 1: large sample. It's a big part of why I said
Speaker 1: before the season, I think this is a fifty win
Speaker 1: team if they stay healthy, if Lebron and ad both
Speaker 1: play at least, you know, sixty five to seventy games,
Speaker 1: because the infrastructure is better now than it used to be.
Speaker 1: But yeah, if they want to win the Western Conference,
Speaker 1: they're gonna have to upgrade D'Angelo Russell into a really
Speaker 1: good athlete that can play both ends of the floor
Speaker 1: at the two, because when you get into the smaller sample,
Speaker 1: all of a sudden, your personnel weaknesses get much harder
Speaker 1: to hide. But heading into a tough five game road trip,
Speaker 1: now they're at Phoenix or at Cleveland, at Toronto, at Detroit,
Speaker 1: at Memphis, we're gonna learn a lot more about this
Speaker 1: team over the course of that stretch. I think three
Speaker 1: and two would be a huge win for the Lakers.
Speaker 1: If they got back into LA at six and two,
Speaker 1: I think that that's a really nice start to this season.
Speaker 1: I don't think they're world beaters. I don't think they're
Speaker 1: in that top tier contender tier. I don't think their
Speaker 1: personnel is good enough, but they're sharp, and sharp teams
Speaker 1: can win games in the regular season, and that's what
Speaker 1: they've done to start the year. So shout out to
Speaker 1: JJ reddet Stock. Following the Denver Nuggets owing two out
Speaker 1: the gates after a super disappointing loss at Homes to
Speaker 1: the Los Angeles Clippers. Once again, Michael Porter Junior, Jamal Murray,
Speaker 1: and Aaron Gordon just not providing any offensive pot for
Speaker 1: this team. They are combined twenty eight for seventy nine
Speaker 1: from the field for only eighty points so far this season.
Speaker 1: Jokic looks amazing. He completely dominated the Clippers game when
Speaker 1: he was on the floor, and his three point shot
Speaker 1: looks great. So like, if you're looking for silver linings
Speaker 1: as a Denver Nuggets fan, they're two main things that
Speaker 1: I look at. One. Christian Brown looks like a great
Speaker 1: replacement for KCP with the starters you've won. His minutes
Speaker 1: in both games, he's been a positive. He's been super
Speaker 1: active screener and cutter. He's actually producing more points per
Speaker 1: game individually than Michael Porter Junior, which is obviously a
Speaker 1: negative on Michael Porter Junior that he's got to figure
Speaker 1: out I've got to figure out. But the second piece
Speaker 1: of that is that's legitimate production for a guy that
Speaker 1: we all think is a limited offensive player. So far,
Speaker 1: he's been in double figures both games, so like, he's
Speaker 1: been productive. He's been doing his job. He's a more
Speaker 1: versatile defender than KCP. And by the way, KCP is
Speaker 1: off to kind of a rough start in Orlando. Now,
Speaker 1: I think KCP will be fine in the long run.
Speaker 1: He's going to hit shots. It's a new team for
Speaker 1: him to a lot of different things. He's got to
Speaker 1: figure out not getting the same types of opportunities. But
Speaker 1: like as of right now, the Christian Brown swap in
Speaker 1: for KCP with the starters has looked like a move
Speaker 1: that was somewhat savvy by the front office. The second
Speaker 1: big like kind of upside. The second big silver lining
Speaker 1: if you're a Nuggets fan is Jokic's jump shot looks great.
Speaker 1: He had seven threes against the Clippers. He's eight for
Speaker 1: fifteen from three on the season. As I've talked about
Speaker 1: so much, that's such an important part of his game.
Speaker 1: The pick and pop is a great way for Jokic
Speaker 1: to generate offense without having to work as hard as
Speaker 1: he does when he worked closer to the basket, not
Speaker 1: just for shooting threes, but driving closeouts where he can
Speaker 1: then weaponize his playmaking ability. It's just an important part
Speaker 1: of what is a ceiling razer for yoks I've said
Speaker 1: this before, but Jokic as a mediocre to inconsistent three
Speaker 1: point shooter is the best player in the league. Jokic
Speaker 1: with an elite three point shot is the best player
Speaker 1: in the league by a mile. That is the big
Speaker 1: differentiator for him. Obviously, only two games, very small sample,
Speaker 1: but that to me is a super encouraging start to
Speaker 1: the season for Nikole Jokic. The the other starters, though,
Speaker 1: those are the two silver linings. Everything else for the
Speaker 1: Nuggets has been an absolute tire fire. Obviously, Aaron Gordon,
Speaker 1: Jamal Murray and Michael Porter Jr. Have been bad, but
Speaker 1: that's especially extending into the bench units when they get
Speaker 1: to the stretches of the game when Yokic is off
Speaker 1: the floor, they are falling apart to a much greater
Speaker 1: extent than they did in years past, and a very
Speaker 1: very on a very very basic level, on a per
Speaker 1: one hundred possessions basis. This season. In years past, they've
Speaker 1: hovered around minus eleven. So when Jokic's off, they lose
Speaker 1: those minutes by about eleven points per one hundred possessions
Speaker 1: this year so far, again only two games, they're losing
Speaker 1: those minutes by forty three point three points per one
Speaker 1: hundred possessions. That is untenable. And it's because when you're
Speaker 1: staggering starters with bench players, and the starters aren't playing well,
Speaker 1: and the guys that you're bringing it off the bench
Speaker 1: that you're needing to provide firepower aren't playing well, you're
Speaker 1: not going to get anything out of them. Right, Like
Speaker 1: Julian Strather hit some shots, but Peyton Watson and Julian
Speaker 1: Strather combined have scored seventeen points through two games. That's
Speaker 1: not firepower. That's not a contribution. Russell Westbrook. Some of
Speaker 1: this is part of the Russell Westbrook experience, right. Like
Speaker 1: I said before the start of the year, Russell Westbrook
Speaker 1: has a higher ceiling than Reggie Jackson, for sure, but
Speaker 1: he has a much lower floor. The bad RUSS games
Speaker 1: are so damaging. And you got two bad RUSS games
Speaker 1: to start theories, two for eighteen from the field, one
Speaker 1: for nine from three a lot of the usual Russ
Speaker 1: mistakes where he's missing box out's bad off ball defense.
Speaker 1: The Nuggets are minus thirty seven in forty minutes of
Speaker 1: game time that Russell Westbrook has played. That's a total disaster. Now,
Speaker 1: to be clear, Russ's ceiling is way higher than Reggie
Speaker 1: Reggie Jackson's. There will be many games this year where
Speaker 1: Russ is awesome and many and there will be a
Speaker 1: few times where you win a game because of Russ,
Speaker 1: So Nuggets fans, it's not all like this, There's going
Speaker 1: to be good times, but this is part of the experience.
Speaker 1: The Russ experiences wild oscillations back and forth between downright
Speaker 1: damaging and impressively good. And that's kind of the experience.
Speaker 1: That's why, like Reggie Jackson, you're not gonna get the highs,
Speaker 1: but the floor is a little bit higher, and like
Speaker 1: that's the thing. Like it just that's the one part
Speaker 1: of like making this type of move is it just
Speaker 1: comes with a lot of volatility that comes with it.
Speaker 1: You almost, if you're Michael Malone, you almost hope by
Speaker 1: the end of the year that it turns more into
Speaker 1: like a let's see if Rouss has it tonight thing
Speaker 1: and if Russ comes out and he's sloppy in undisciplined
Speaker 1: and not paying attention, maybe a bail on him for
Speaker 1: that game and give him a longer leash in games
Speaker 1: where he's sharper and he has it going. But like,
Speaker 1: he's been pretty bad to start the year. And as
Speaker 1: a result, there's been twenty four minutes of Nuggets basketball
Speaker 1: with Yokach on the bench and they're minus eighteen. So
Speaker 1: they're just hemorrhaging leads when Yokich is on the bench.
Speaker 1: So like the other thing with the backup with the
Speaker 1: bench units is Dario sar It's has just been real,
Speaker 1: like actually really bad on both ends of the floor,
Speaker 1: like getting cooked on defense, not providing anything on offense.
Speaker 1: Sarage is a good player. I think he'll be fine
Speaker 1: in the long run, but he's not off to a
Speaker 1: good start. So here's the deal. Are the Nuggets this bad?
Speaker 1: Obviously not. Michael Porter Junior will play better, Jaal Murray
Speaker 1: will play better. Jamal Murray in particular kind of has
Speaker 1: a habit of coming into the seasons out of shape
Speaker 1: and playing his way into shape. Right, Nicole Yokitch is
Speaker 1: still the best player in the world and Mike Malone
Speaker 1: is a good coach who will patch war together a
Speaker 1: bench that at least isn't completely terrible. Right, they'll find
Speaker 1: a footing, but at this point they don't look even
Speaker 1: close to the favorite to win the conference that I
Speaker 1: said they were before the season started. Now, I never
Speaker 1: thought they were gonna get the one seed or anything.
Speaker 1: I thought they'd be above the play in I thought
Speaker 1: they'd be in that like two, three, four, five range.
Speaker 1: But like I picked them to win the conference, they
Speaker 1: don't look like a team that can win three playoffs
Speaker 1: series at this point, they look far away from that.
Speaker 1: So again, small sample, we'll see, but it's hard not
Speaker 1: to be at least a little bit discouraged with how
Speaker 1: the Nuggets look to this point. Also, Nuggets fans, I'm
Speaker 1: going on with Adam Mars from DNVR tomorrow on his
Speaker 1: All NBA podcast to talk about the entire league, but
Speaker 1: I'm sure we'll be talking a lot of Nuggets, so
Speaker 1: make sure if you guys follow Adam keep an eye
Speaker 1: out for that particular episode. Stock Rising Evan Mobley is
Speaker 1: averaging eighteen points and nine rebounds here in the early going.
Speaker 1: He's hit three threes and seven attempts doing a lot
Speaker 1: more work on the ball. You u to rate in
Speaker 1: the first three years of his career was right around
Speaker 1: twenty percent this year so far, obviously in small sample
Speaker 1: usage rate of twenty five percent, so a substantial increase
Speaker 1: in how much he's involved in the offense. The main
Speaker 1: thing is he's run twelve ball screens so far. That's
Speaker 1: four per game. He ran less than one ball screen
Speaker 1: per game last year, zero point seven ball screens per
Speaker 1: game last year. So they're going to a legitimate change
Speaker 1: in their offensive approach to give Evan Mobley more touches
Speaker 1: with the ball in his hands starting from the perimeter. Now,
Speaker 1: these are inverted ball screens, right. Inverted ball screens function
Speaker 1: in a unique way for two reasons. One, the guy
Speaker 1: guarding mobilely is typically a bigger forward. Bigger forwards typically
Speaker 1: don't spend a lot of time in their career navigating screens,
Speaker 1: and so they are big targets. If you set a
Speaker 1: good screen on him, you can get them caught on them, right,
Speaker 1: That's what causes That's the first half of what makes
Speaker 1: inverted ball screens hard to guard. The second piece of
Speaker 1: it is guards don't spend a lot of time at
Speaker 1: operating as the screen defender. In ball screens, usually it's
Speaker 1: the inverse, right, they're the guy chasing the guard over
Speaker 1: the top. They're really good at navigating screens, but they
Speaker 1: don't know how to help when their man screens as
Speaker 1: well as forwards do. It's inverted ball screen. It's literally
Speaker 1: an inversion of defensive responsibilities. And when you invert defensive responsibilities,
Speaker 1: you start to make people do things that they're not
Speaker 1: comfortable with, and so they're getting a lot of really
Speaker 1: good stuff out of it. They're getting one point per
Speaker 1: possession so far through the twelve attempts, we're seeing a
Speaker 1: couple of different specific dynamics take place. One, the forward
Speaker 1: is typically ducking underneath the pick. So when he ducks
Speaker 1: underneath the pick, Evan Mobley can either one take a
Speaker 1: pull up jump shot, which he's been shooting his pull
Speaker 1: up jump shot pretty well to start the year. Or
Speaker 1: two it's a runway if he goes underneath the screen.
Speaker 1: Now there's a gap between Evan and the defender. Went
Speaker 1: underneath the screen, so he can attack get downhill. He's
Speaker 1: got a head of steam before he runs into the defender,
Speaker 1: which he can then into momentum that he can get
Speaker 1: closer to the basket for an easier shot. The second
Speaker 1: piece of that is when the guard screens for Evan Mobley.
Speaker 1: In many cases the other guard will linger or help.
Speaker 1: In cases like this, Evan Mobley can use it as
Speaker 1: an opportunity to get the defense in rotation. There was
Speaker 1: a layup that Donovan Mitchell got on a inverted ball
Speaker 1: screen where Mitchell went to go screen for him. Evan
Speaker 1: went downhill, Mitchell's man followed him on the hedge, there's
Speaker 1: two on the ball, kicked it back to Mitch hard
Speaker 1: close out. Mitch beat him off the dribble, got into
Speaker 1: the basket for a layup. That's a really really interesting
Speaker 1: wrinkle to this offense that I'd love to see continue
Speaker 1: to develop over the course of the season. He's still
Speaker 1: struggling a little bit with short range finishing. That's always
Speaker 1: been a weakness of his and his career. He's just
Speaker 1: six for eighteen on floaters, hooks, and layups so far.
Speaker 1: But the jump shooting piece is super encouraging. Remember, guys,
Speaker 1: Evan Mobley's development is the number one swing factor in
Speaker 1: everything Cleveland is trying to accomplish in this era. He
Speaker 1: comes an All Star level player, we're looking at a
Speaker 1: contender in the last few years. If he doesn't, this
Speaker 1: team isn't going anywhere. So it's hard not to be
Speaker 1: at least a little encouraged by the growth that we're
Speaker 1: finally starting to see out of Evan Mobley stock falling.
Speaker 1: Tyrese Haliburt twelve points per game in less than four
Speaker 1: assists per game on thirty nine percent true shooting to
Speaker 1: start the year, had a zero point night against the
Speaker 1: New York Mix the other day. He's really struggling to
Speaker 1: put the ball in the basket himself on the ball,
Speaker 1: and that is the issue because it is the give
Speaker 1: and take of every playmaker, right. You have to demonstrate
Speaker 1: your threat to score to warp the defense. If you
Speaker 1: warp the defense, that unlocks your playmaking. And when one
Speaker 1: of those elements is failing you, it's just like for
Speaker 1: really good scorers that don't see the floor well. If
Speaker 1: you don't pass the ball well enough to loosen up
Speaker 1: the defense on you, you're not going to get the
Speaker 1: opportunities in single coverage. You need to actually score the basketball.
Speaker 1: It's a give and take, right. He's shooting just five
Speaker 1: for nineteen as the ball handler pick and roll when
Speaker 1: he takes shots just five for nineteen, he's just seven
Speaker 1: for thirty on jump shots, he's just five for twenty
Speaker 1: one on off the dribble jump shots, and he has
Speaker 1: six total made shots at the rim in three games.
Speaker 1: And so this is then turning into a trickle down
Speaker 1: effect towards starting to effect his playmaking, which has been
Speaker 1: non existent to start the year. And the worst part
Speaker 1: about it is he's starting to look a little bit
Speaker 1: like he has the yips. He's had some bad body language.
Speaker 1: The end of that Sixers game, there were these like
Speaker 1: close up shots of his face after he'd make a
Speaker 1: mistake where he looks kind of like flabbergasted, like he's
Speaker 1: just kind of in a weird spot. He had this
Speaker 1: really weird play at the end of regulation where he
Speaker 1: was coming off of a ball screen on the right
Speaker 1: wing and Andre Drummond was up at the level and
Speaker 1: right in his face and he just like wasn't paying
Speaker 1: attention and exposed the ball out and Drummond just knocked
Speaker 1: it out of his hands. Critical turnover at the end
Speaker 1: of the game. He just now he's salvage and he
Speaker 1: ended up phitting this crazy like double pump, like prayer
Speaker 1: three point shot to send the game to OT, but
Speaker 1: they ended up losing a ot anyway. And like he's
Speaker 1: just the engine that makes this whole thing go, and
Speaker 1: like he's had moments, he had some good playoff games.
Speaker 1: Sure he had some good stretches at the end of
Speaker 1: last year, but he just hasn't been able to like
Speaker 1: really reach the level he was at before he heard
Speaker 1: his hamstring. And that's concerning because the guy before he
Speaker 1: heard his hamstring looked like a guy who was on
Speaker 1: a like legit star trajectory, like superstar trajectory. That's how
Speaker 1: good I was, averaging what fourteen assists per games, fifty
Speaker 1: to forty ninety guy leading one of the best offenses
Speaker 1: in the league. He looked like like a like a
Speaker 1: transcendently great player in the making, and then he pulls
Speaker 1: his hammy and he's been something less than that ever since.
Speaker 1: And again, it's small sample size to start the season,
Speaker 1: but it's hard not to be once again at least
Speaker 1: a little bit discouraged about how he looks stock rising
Speaker 1: the Golden State Warriors, but Jason, they just lost to
Speaker 1: the Clippers. Steph got hurt, Andrew Wiggins and the Anthony
Speaker 1: Melder both having back issues. How could you be higher
Speaker 1: on them than you were to start the season? Well
Speaker 1: for starters. The MRI's back on Steph and it appears
Speaker 1: to be super mild. It looks like he's going to
Speaker 1: be reevaluated on Friday, so I doubt they lose him
Speaker 1: for more than a week or so. Right, So not
Speaker 1: too worried about Steph. The injuries to d Anthony Melton
Speaker 1: and Andrew Wiggins both appeared to be somewhat mild as well,
Speaker 1: so I'm not super concerned there. But the main thing
Speaker 1: is the depth has bared out in a way that
Speaker 1: shows the Warriors have a much higher floor than all
Speaker 1: of us anticipated going into the season, which makes them
Speaker 1: more well positioned to be aggressive than they were last year.
Speaker 1: The additions that they made this offseason have given them
Speaker 1: a deep rotation of solid basketball players, a ton of
Speaker 1: speed on the perimeter that can cover ground and guard,
Speaker 1: and then two lots of guys who can actually do
Speaker 1: a decent job of generating offense within the Warrior system.
Speaker 1: Beyond death right, we talked about Buddy Heald a lot.
Speaker 1: He's been an absolute shoe and fit. He had a
Speaker 1: really nice first half against Clippers. Struggled a little bit
Speaker 1: in the in the second half, but like Buddy Hild's
Speaker 1: had a pretty good start to really good start to
Speaker 1: the season. The Anthony Melton can run action and run
Speaker 1: it well. Brandon Pizemski can run action and run it well. Obviously,
Speaker 1: Jonathanminga brings a little bit of that firepower. There's a
Speaker 1: lot of guys that can run offense for this team
Speaker 1: and generate quality shots. That, combined with their enormous amount
Speaker 1: of perimeter speed and just overall depth of athletic talent,
Speaker 1: has given them a really high floor. I mean, guys,
Speaker 1: they beat the shit out of Portland in Utah. They
Speaker 1: beat Portland in Utah so bad that even after last
Speaker 1: night's loss, they have the best net rating in basketball
Speaker 1: right now. That's how high their floor is. That's going
Speaker 1: to help them win a lot of regular season games.
Speaker 1: They're going to have a very high win percentage against
Speaker 1: the bad and mediocre teams in the league compared to
Speaker 1: the rest of their peers, especially in the Western Conference.
Speaker 1: That will help them stay afloat in the standings. Now,
Speaker 1: they still have their top end talent limitations. Steph has
Speaker 1: been okay to start the year, but he hasn't produced
Speaker 1: like a superstar yet, Like he hasn't had a game
Speaker 1: with over twenty points in a single game yet. But
Speaker 1: although I thought he looked fine, Like I was watching
Speaker 1: the Clippers game this morning, in that middle portion of
Speaker 1: the Clippers game floory where he with a clip when
Speaker 1: the Clippers took their first double digit lead, we went
Speaker 1: on a floory where he kind of erased it where
Speaker 1: it's like, oh, yeah, like Steph is still that guy,
Speaker 1: you know what I mean, Like it's in there. But
Speaker 1: then he got hurt obviously in that kind of disrupted
Speaker 1: that momentum from really lasting. But beyond Steph is the issue.
Speaker 1: Beyond Steph, they have no star level firepower. Other teams
Speaker 1: in the West just have more. Let's just look at
Speaker 1: a real basic level, who are the second and third
Speaker 1: options on these Western Conference teams? For the Lakers, it's
Speaker 1: Austin Reeves and Lebron James, pretty damn good second and
Speaker 1: third options. For the Suns, Devin Booker and Bradley Beal
Speaker 1: pretty damn good second and third options. For the Nuggets,
Speaker 1: Jamal Murray, Michael Porter Jr. They're not even playing well
Speaker 1: right now, but those are pretty solid second and third
Speaker 1: options right Oklahoma City Jalen Williams and Chet Holmgren, Memphis
Speaker 1: Desmond Bain, Jared Jackson, Junior Minnesota Julius Randall and Mike Conley,
Speaker 1: the MAVs, Kyrie Irving and Klay Thompson, The Kings, Demarta
Speaker 1: rosen In the Leak Monk, the Pelicans, de Jonte Murray
Speaker 1: and Andrew Wiggins. For the Warriors, it's Buddy Healed and
Speaker 1: Andrew Wiggins. Like it's not even close in terms of
Speaker 1: firepower off the top star compared to the rest of
Speaker 1: the teams in the West. So that's what's exciting, is like,
Speaker 1: you've got a ton of depth. You've got like what
Speaker 1: twelve thirteen guys that are legitimate NBA rotation players. You've
Speaker 1: got a perfect dude at the top, and you're really
Speaker 1: good at defense, and you're really well coached, and you
Speaker 1: just have a super high floor. What that means is
Speaker 1: you're gonna stay aflow in the standings. If you stay
Speaker 1: afloat in the standings, and you've got that kind of depth,
Speaker 1: because most teams are gonna want to go down to
Speaker 1: an eight or nine man rotation by the time they
Speaker 1: get to the playoffs anyway, right, you can you can
Speaker 1: afford to make a consolidation trade. Now, the Warriors have
Speaker 1: two major weaknesses in my opinion, in terms of personnel.
Speaker 1: One that secondary shot creator. You got to have somebody
Speaker 1: on this team that is a reliable, dependably good offensive
Speaker 1: player next to Steph like every night twenty something points.
Speaker 1: Like you gotta have somebody like that on the roster.
Speaker 1: That's the main target they've got to figure out. The
Speaker 1: second piece is they're a little bit matchup depend with
Speaker 1: their front court. Zubos really did a number on them
Speaker 1: last night because he's huge. I think he had like
Speaker 1: twenty three points and eighteen rebounds. Anthony Davis has always
Speaker 1: given their frontline issues. You'll get like all these big
Speaker 1: front lines have a tendency to give the Warriors some
Speaker 1: issues because they're a little undersized. So they could really
Speaker 1: use another backup center who's big, like a legitimately big
Speaker 1: and strong backup center, and they could really use a
Speaker 1: legitimate secondary shot creator. Well last year, it just that
Speaker 1: they weren't good enough in the regular season to actually
Speaker 1: justify that level of aggression. If they continue to stay
Speaker 1: afloat in the regular season with this machine that they've
Speaker 1: got run in And this is where like in the
Speaker 1: depth piece, what brings in the depth is you bring
Speaker 1: in three really good rotation players at discounts this summer. Yeah,
Speaker 1: you lose Klay Thompson, but you bring in to Anthony Melton,
Speaker 1: you bring in Buddy Held, you bring in Kyle Anderson.
Speaker 1: You've got the depth to be able to take a
Speaker 1: few players and package them for somebody else and not
Speaker 1: have to worry about nuking your own depth. That is
Speaker 1: what makes me excited about this particular team. They are
Speaker 1: deeper than they were last year. They have a much
Speaker 1: higher floor than they had last year. That will keep
Speaker 1: them afloat in the regular season and gives them more
Speaker 1: flexibility to make some sort of trade. To put it
Speaker 1: really simple, going into the season, I didn't think that
Speaker 1: they were I didn't think that they had a like
Speaker 1: a real championship upside. They did not make my contender list.
Speaker 1: I had eleven teams in the contender list. I had
Speaker 1: four top tier contenders and I had seven like if
Speaker 1: things go right contenders. The Warriors were not on that
Speaker 1: list for me. I had them as a play in team.
Speaker 1: Now I actually think that they have a shot if
Speaker 1: they hit on a deal to enter into that puncher's
Speaker 1: chance tier, to enter into that top eleven, because they
Speaker 1: have the resources to make a deal, and their floor
Speaker 1: is so high that I don't worry about them as
Speaker 1: a regular season team like I don't. I would have
Speaker 1: thought coming into the season they would have been fighting
Speaker 1: for the nine or ten seed all season. As long
Speaker 1: as Steph doesn't miss too much time, I think there'll
Speaker 1: be I think they'll be in that five to six
Speaker 1: range they like because they just have such a high
Speaker 1: floor with how much depth of talent in their organizational excellence. Again,
Speaker 1: that organizational excellent we're talking about this with the Lakers.
Speaker 1: They win margins. They know how to win basketball games institutionally,
Speaker 1: and that is what creates that margin for them. There's
Speaker 1: personal limitations there. Looney got his butt kicked by Zubach
Speaker 1: last night, right like Kaminga still is super inconsistent up
Speaker 1: and down. There are personnel weaknesses there, but there are
Speaker 1: personal weaknesses that can be addressed, and there's such a
Speaker 1: depth of quality role player talent on there that it
Speaker 1: raises their floor to the point where I think that
Speaker 1: they're a little bit more of a threat. So again,
Speaker 1: as long as they can hit on a deal, I
Speaker 1: think they can enter into that tier with like Memphis
Speaker 1: and the Lakers and the Suns and all those teams
Speaker 1: that are kind of like middle of the pack Western
Speaker 1: Conference teams. That was not something that I thought going
Speaker 1: into the season. Stock falling the Sacramento Kings. I've watched
Speaker 1: both of their games so far, and everything comes down
Speaker 1: to consistency. Third quarter against the Lakers was a thing
Speaker 1: of beauty. Defensively, great ball pressure. They're disrupting LA's offensive
Speaker 1: flow and keeping them out of their sets into late
Speaker 1: in the shot clock, great rotations, no one's open for
Speaker 1: very long, active hands, they're forcing deflections, getting great contests
Speaker 1: on three point shooters. They held the Lakers to eighty
Speaker 1: two point one offensive rating in that third quarter while
Speaker 1: getting out in transition, while scoring. They were just cooking
Speaker 1: the Lakers the way that they always have over the
Speaker 1: course of the last few years. Then in the fourth quarter,
Speaker 1: it just is a completely different basketball team. They give
Speaker 1: up a one point fifty seven offensive rating to the Lakers. Now,
Speaker 1: obviously there's there is a Lebron flurry in there, but
Speaker 1: for the entire quarter, they could not get a stop,
Speaker 1: there's no ball pressure. Their back line was super disjointed,
Speaker 1: and Lebron was picking them apart as a passer, just
Speaker 1: like beating every single help with just like a headfake.
Speaker 1: The same exact thing happened in Minnesota too, Like they
Speaker 1: defended well, they take a lead, they let their foot
Speaker 1: off the gas, Minnesota get back into it. They take
Speaker 1: a lead, Minnesota get back into it. They take a lead,
Speaker 1: Minnesota get back into it. Then all of a sudden,
Speaker 1: you're in a crunch time game. Anthony Edwards hits a jumps,
Speaker 1: draws a foul, and you lose, and like that. That's
Speaker 1: that's the thing. It's like, I've never seen a team
Speaker 1: like this, where like when they are good, they look
Speaker 1: so so so good, but then they can look like
Speaker 1: legitimately like basement of the Western Conference bad at other times.
Speaker 1: It's a really bizarre kind of feeling around this team.
Speaker 1: But again only two games. Want to give it some time.
Speaker 1: You're also fitting in a new piece. The only other
Speaker 1: thing that really stood out to me is they're very small,
Speaker 1: Like Julius Randall just had a size mismatch basically regardless
Speaker 1: of who was guarding him in that in that first
Speaker 1: game of the season. That is a legitimate personnel weakness.
Speaker 1: They are very very small on the perimeter compared to
Speaker 1: their peers in the conference. Stock rising the Orlando Magic
Speaker 1: your top five jump shooting team of the early part
Speaker 1: of the season. Orlando Magic once again very small sample
Speaker 1: size one point one points per jump shot so far.
Speaker 1: That's fifth in the NBA. Remember they were below one
Speaker 1: point per attempt last year, ranked twenty fourth in the NBA.
Speaker 1: Palo and Franz are shooting a combined sixteen for thirty
Speaker 1: six from three. Franz is like lighting up the nets.
Speaker 1: He's at ten threes already. Remember how poorly shot last year.
Speaker 1: That was such a huge important thing for him to
Speaker 1: work on this summer. Jalen Suggs is shooting great. Gary
Speaker 1: Harris is shooting great and all this is before Kntavio's
Speaker 1: called what Pope has really even found his groove. Yet.
Speaker 1: The defense looks great too. They did a number to
Speaker 1: Jimmy Butler on opening night. They're fifth and defense and
Speaker 1: sixth and rebounding so far. They just ran into a
Speaker 1: buzz saw on Memphis the Jay Huff game. Jay Huff
Speaker 1: played so well in that game. He got a new
Speaker 1: deal out of it the very next day. So, like,
Speaker 1: by the way, that's something that's gonna happen a lot
Speaker 1: in the NBA this year because there's so many good teams.
Speaker 1: Like there's twenty good teams right, Like, there's roughly thirteen
Speaker 1: of them out West and there's roughly seven of them
Speaker 1: out East, and like anytime they run into each other,
Speaker 1: the home team is gonna have a legitimate chance to win,
Speaker 1: even if they have a talent deficiency. Memphis is really
Speaker 1: really damn good, and Memphis is Memphis might even be
Speaker 1: more talented than Orlando. They've got some really good shot
Speaker 1: creators off the top. That's just the NBA this year.
Speaker 1: We're gonna see a lot of teams go on the
Speaker 1: road and lose games to media. Well, we think our
Speaker 1: mediocre team is because the middle tier in the NBA
Speaker 1: is so so good this year. One more quick and
Speaker 1: then we're done. Stock rising the Dallas Mavericks. Yes they
Speaker 1: lost to the Suns. Guess what. It's gonna be hard
Speaker 1: to win in Phoenix. I think the Lakers are a
Speaker 1: better basketball team than Phoenix. I think the Phoenix should
Speaker 1: be favored tonight. I wouldn't be the least bit surprised
Speaker 1: if Phoenix beat the Lakers tonight for the exact same
Speaker 1: reason I was just talking about with the magic in Memphis, Like,
Speaker 1: it is hard in the NBA to win on the road.
Speaker 1: So Jason, they lose to the Spurs, or they beat
Speaker 1: the Spurs and they lose to the Phoenix Suns. Why
Speaker 1: are you so optimistic about Dallas. It's the style of
Speaker 1: offense that has me excited, and they're still adopting it,
Speaker 1: like this is gonna take time. They haven't even statistically
Speaker 1: produced offensively yet the way they're capable of. Same thing
Speaker 1: happened to the Lakers last year. Lakers, remember two years
Speaker 1: ago they were a four out one in brute force offense,
Speaker 1: very similar to what the MAVs were last year. Then
Speaker 1: at the start of the year they went five out.
Speaker 1: It was super clunky. It took them a long time,
Speaker 1: but they hit their gear in January and suddenly it
Speaker 1: was like a completely different team. Every Lebron offense had
Speaker 1: been bad since since he came to the Lakers because
Speaker 1: they were so heavy on defensive personnel, and suddenly they
Speaker 1: had one of the best offenses in the league. When
Speaker 1: everything clicked into place, that's the type of investment Dallas
Speaker 1: is making. When you're looking at the big picture here,
Speaker 1: I had a lot of mass fans out they're playing
Speaker 1: the same way that they did that it was the
Speaker 1: same stuff we ran with Tim Hardaway Junior. No, it's not,
Speaker 1: it's not. I've watched both teams very closely. You're doing
Speaker 1: a lot more action, a lot more involvement of all
Speaker 1: your stars, a lot more ball in player movement, a
Speaker 1: lot more having your center at the top of the
Speaker 1: key operating as a passing volcrum with off ball action
Speaker 1: happening around them. That is a different offense than what
Speaker 1: you ran last year. It's a great thing. It's going
Speaker 1: to take time. They're going to have to figure shit out.
Speaker 1: They're gonna have bad games. They're gonna have nights where
Speaker 1: they miss a lot of shots. They're gonna have knights
Speaker 1: where there's turnovers. They're gonna have nights where it looks clunky.
Speaker 1: But in the long run, that is an investment that
Speaker 1: will pay off for Dallas because that is the variety
Speaker 1: that will make them more resilient offensively when they get
Speaker 1: into the postseason. All right, guys, let's get into our
Speaker 1: film session for today again, I've got eighteen clips free you.
Speaker 1: We're gonna be bouncing around to a bunch of teams
Speaker 1: around the league. Let's get into our film session for
Speaker 1: today again. I've got eighteen clips for You're gonna be
Speaker 1: bouncing around to a bunch of teams around the league.
Speaker 1: If you're listening on the podcast feed, you're going to
Speaker 1: want to head over to YouTube to see that part
Speaker 1: to actually get the visual representations of what we're talking about.
Speaker 1: All right, our first one here, this is a great
Speaker 1: example of off ball action that doesn't necessarily result in
Speaker 1: and assist, but that results in an advantage that still
Speaker 1: ends in a bucket. So, as you can see our
Speaker 1: setup here, we have Tray Jackson Davis in the post
Speaker 1: against Zubas. We're gonna get a split cut here. What
Speaker 1: that means is Kaminga is going to set a screen
Speaker 1: for Steph to come off and then he's going to
Speaker 1: cut off of it. So as you watch, because he
Speaker 1: sets this off ball screen, Kaminga's looked off. Now this
Speaker 1: action is useless now because Kminga is now looking or
Speaker 1: excuse me, Tray X and Davis is now looking to score.
Speaker 1: So Trace Jackson Davis has taken his eye off this action.
Speaker 1: He's looking to score. But just because you ran the action,
Speaker 1: Kevin Porter Junior stepped out on Steph to help. That
Speaker 1: means Jonathan Kaminga has a free crash to the rim
Speaker 1: on what would have been his cut had it been
Speaker 1: a more traditional post up, had Trace been looking to
Speaker 1: pass the basketball instead, Trace looks to shoot and he misses.
Speaker 1: But Kaminga's got a straight runway to the rim for
Speaker 1: a tip dunk literally stemming off of this off ball
Speaker 1: action with Steph that drew two to the ball. So
Speaker 1: once again, part of the gravity that Steph has but two.
Speaker 1: That's why offball action is so important. It extends beyond
Speaker 1: spacing even to offensive rebounding, just anything you can do
Speaker 1: to get the defense in rotation. Really good defensive possession
Speaker 1: for the Clippers here. I've talked a lot about how
Speaker 1: the Clippers just have so much speed on the perimeter.
Speaker 1: Watch this speed. So we got Buddy hild sprint up
Speaker 1: the floor. Watch the transition defense, stop the ball, turn
Speaker 1: him to the sideline. We got to close out. We
Speaker 1: need to close out here, James Harden close out. Sharp
Speaker 1: Or Junior stays attached to Buddy Heeld. After he gives
Speaker 1: up the ball, a lot of guys they'll pass boom
Speaker 1: and then Kevin Porter will a lot of guys in
Speaker 1: this position will relax and then the shooter will relocate
Speaker 1: and get open. No, Kevin Porter's staying attached. Were Kevin
Speaker 1: Porter's denying the ball. Now we're swinging the ball to
Speaker 1: across the court. Look at the close out from Terrence Man.
Speaker 1: He's there on the catch. Kevin Porter's there on the catch.
Speaker 1: They're flying around and making sure none of these openings
Speaker 1: are there, switching off the ball to take over and
Speaker 1: opening another switch off the ball. Good communication. Kevin Porter
Speaker 1: stays attached on the cut. Now all of a sudden,
Speaker 1: there's five seconds on the shot clock and no one's open.
Speaker 1: Now Steph has to throw up a prayer notice off
Speaker 1: ball to Derek Jones Junior. It's remind a little bit
Speaker 1: watch Derek Jones stay disciplined, stays attached, no openings. Really
Speaker 1: really good defense from the Clippers. They look so sharp
Speaker 1: defensively on the perimeter to start the year. This is
Speaker 1: a really example, a really good example of beating what's
Speaker 1: called strongside zone. So basically, when you have a player
Speaker 1: do what James Harden does here, which is like, this
Speaker 1: is the strong side of the floor, right, this is
Speaker 1: where the ball is. James Harden is straight up ignoring
Speaker 1: his man to zone up, meaning he's basically just guarding
Speaker 1: this entire area of the floor as a third defender,
Speaker 1: and Steph beats it by hitting Gary Payton just cutting
Speaker 1: along the baseline. Really nice work from the Warriors to
Speaker 1: beat a strong side zone. I thought this was a
Speaker 1: really nice low man rotation from James Harden that I
Speaker 1: wanted to shout out. You could tell that they're putting
Speaker 1: him in low man situations a lot to try to
Speaker 1: keep him engaged off the ball. He had a couple
Speaker 1: ugly ones, like he had a possession where he let
Speaker 1: Andrew Wiggins just jog right along the baseline and get
Speaker 1: over here and hit a three. But for the most part,
Speaker 1: he's been pretty good here at just playing good health defense.
Speaker 1: And again, all it is about reading the play. He's
Speaker 1: a low man. He's not too worried about Gary Payton
Speaker 1: taking a jumper, so he had a ball screen. Kai
Speaker 1: Jones comes up to the level off. Kai Jones comes
Speaker 1: up to the level. There's a pocket pass here, but
Speaker 1: notice how James Harden identifies it. He's running right now.
Speaker 1: He's gonna start running right now, sees the screen coming,
Speaker 1: he sees Kai up at the level. James is making
Speaker 1: his rotation right away, and he gets in there and
Speaker 1: knocks the ball away and gets a steal. Really nice
Speaker 1: lowman defense from James Harden. There's another level to a
Speaker 1: low man rotation though, so watches Steph is pointing to
Speaker 1: Buddy Heel to be the low man in this rotation.
Speaker 1: Buddy makes the rotation as the lowman over. But then
Speaker 1: Steph makes what I call windshield wiper rotation, meaning basically,
Speaker 1: as Buddy's rotating, he's rotating. If Buddy helps. Chris Dunn
Speaker 1: is wide open, right, but Steph makes the rotation too
Speaker 1: and gets into that baseline passing lane. So now watch
Speaker 1: Buddy and Steph again full speed from here. There's your
Speaker 1: shooters on the weak side. They're switching because there's an interchange, right,
Speaker 1: So there's your interchange switch. But then lowman rotation steal.
Speaker 1: Nice work from Steph. This is a fun example of
Speaker 1: like you can tell something something that Golden State has
Speaker 1: practiced a lot, which is double teaming and rotating out
Speaker 1: of it. But The specific thing I think is really
Speaker 1: smart here is how quickly they get out of the
Speaker 1: double team. So a mere coffee sets a screen. Steph
Speaker 1: is on the ball. They don't want Steph to be
Speaker 1: in a switch with James Harden. James Harden has been
Speaker 1: kicked cooking smaller guards on switches a lot in this season.
Speaker 1: It's been something he's been targeting a lot. So Andrew
Speaker 1: Wiggins comes up in double teams hard double Kaminga rotates up.
Speaker 1: So now the only pass that's open is the skip
Speaker 1: pass to done. But on the double team, as soon
Speaker 1: as James Harden picks up his dribble, Boom. As soon
Speaker 1: as James Harden picks up his dribble, he's no longer
Speaker 1: a threat, right sil threat sil threat, not a threat.
Speaker 1: Notice how Steph immediately when James picks up his dribble
Speaker 1: starts making his rotation. I'm gonna slow it down again.
Speaker 1: Watch Steph. He's watching James threat threat threat, pick up
Speaker 1: the dribble, not a threat, Rotate back, boom, Kaminga shoots
Speaker 1: up the line, Steph rotates down, waves Pajemski in. Now
Speaker 1: he's back on Derek Jones Jr. Advantage is gone That
Speaker 1: is a beautiful example of the proper way to double
Speaker 1: team and help a star that's or one of your
Speaker 1: weaker defensive players that's in a disadvantageous position. Again, pressure
Speaker 1: push out as soon as he picks up his dribble,
Speaker 1: immediately start your rotation. It's a pre rotation, if that
Speaker 1: makes sense. This next stretch is the incredibly damaging stretch
Speaker 1: of basketball from Pat Connaton in the in the Brooklyn
Speaker 1: Nets game. And this is all in reverse order because
Speaker 1: I ended up going back and adding the other clips,
Speaker 1: so these actually happened in reverse order in the game.
Speaker 1: But these are the mistakes that he made. This one
Speaker 1: was one of the weirder plays I've seen. So it's
Speaker 1: a long rebound, that's Pat Conninson's ball right, Dennis Schroeder's
Speaker 1: running in. That's Pat Connaton's ball right like he should
Speaker 1: get that doesn't get it, and then whax Dennis Schroder
Speaker 1: in the face and commits a flav or foul. So
Speaker 1: instead of getting the defensive reebound and going the other way,
Speaker 1: the Nets get two free throws and possession of the ball.
Speaker 1: That was really damaging. This was a point of attack
Speaker 1: defense possession on Cam Thomas that I didn't like. I
Speaker 1: just thought he was way too passive. So as we
Speaker 1: fast forward, here we go to Cam Thomas. There's no pressure.
Speaker 1: We're sitting off and letting Cam get comfortable, which allows
Speaker 1: Cam to just easily come off of the screen into
Speaker 1: this area and shoot an easy pull up three over
Speaker 1: the top. You have to with these really good pull
Speaker 1: up shooters, disrupt their handle, disrupt their pocket, disrupt their base.
Speaker 1: You've got to be more physical and apply more ball pressure.
Speaker 1: That's just that's just not good defense. And then this
Speaker 1: next one here against Dennis Schroeder, it's just clear the
Speaker 1: side get the matchup they want. Okay, we like pat
Speaker 1: content against Schroeder. I'm just gonna beat him off the
Speaker 1: dribble and get to the basket and draw an easy foul.
Speaker 1: And just like that, like it was like it was
Speaker 1: like one after the other. It was just it was
Speaker 1: just such a bad shift for that Bucks bench unit
Speaker 1: to start the fourth quarter and they completely lost control
Speaker 1: of the game. So then Dame comes in, right. See
Speaker 1: it's four point game, right, four point game. This game
Speaker 1: is is this is a hold on. This is one
Speaker 1: more content play. The Dame one is next. I apologize.
Speaker 1: So this is no man's land from Pat. So this
Speaker 1: is again I've had him in reverse order. So this
Speaker 1: was early at the start of this run, it was
Speaker 1: a four point game, and by the time all four
Speaker 1: of these defensive mistakes from Content happened, it's a twelve
Speaker 1: point game. That's how quickly things turned around. Look at
Speaker 1: this week'side defense. Who's Pat guarding like he's not low man,
Speaker 1: but Bobby's the low man, so he's got to be
Speaker 1: over here, but he's way he's caught in no man's line.
Speaker 1: This is like that limbo we talked about all the time.
Speaker 1: This has helped defense. Limbo. You're not helping on the ball,
Speaker 1: and you're not helping off the ball. Easy kickout pass
Speaker 1: for Schroeder. It's bad close out, gives up middle penetration,
Speaker 1: he gets all the way to basket for a layup.
Speaker 1: Just really rough defensive shift. So now Dame comes back
Speaker 1: in the game. You're trying to regain control. Dame is
Speaker 1: guarding here in the corner. Watch the corner crash cam
Speaker 1: Thomas takes I think a pull up three here. It
Speaker 1: takes a short jump shot. But look at Dame, like,
Speaker 1: what's Dame doing. You're not helping, you're not tracking, your
Speaker 1: man just goes right behind him for an easy tip dunk.
Speaker 1: Like the Bucks are gonna just keep getting kicked around
Speaker 1: by these young teams on these nights when they don't
Speaker 1: engage defensively like that. You've got to be sharper because
Speaker 1: you're not as athletic. If you're not as you can't
Speaker 1: you can't be the worst execution team and the worst
Speaker 1: athleticism team. You're gonna get beat a lot if you
Speaker 1: play that way. Here's that incredible stretch of offensive basketball
Speaker 1: from the Boston Celtics at the tail end of the
Speaker 1: Pistons game. Here's the inside seal from Tatum to Al Horford.
Speaker 1: Real basic action to beat switching. Right here comes Horford.
Speaker 1: We're expecting a switch, so he wants to screen the
Speaker 1: bottom side, kind of gets that inside forty five degree angle,
Speaker 1: creates inside seal. Tatum just throws the easy pass over
Speaker 1: the top that forces the help from the week side,
Speaker 1: and now we have our week side two on one.
Speaker 1: And remember, that's the foundation of everything that makes Boston great.
Speaker 1: If they can create these week side two on ones,
Speaker 1: they're just always wide open threes for really good shooters.
Speaker 1: Drew Holliday hits the three. This transition kickout pass from
Speaker 1: Jalen Brown is ridiculous. Get the rebound. Watch Jalen Brown's
Speaker 1: push here in transition nasty behind the back move, gets
Speaker 1: into the paint, draws three bodies, kick out the Alahifford
Speaker 1: pass pass rotate easy, wide open three for Drew Holiday.
Speaker 1: Boom games tied. Here's that top block play I was
Speaker 1: talking about. So again, they're setting up off ball action,
Speaker 1: but Tim Hardaway Junior is playing on the high side.
Speaker 1: This is called top blocking. He's trying to stop Tatum
Speaker 1: from flashing high to go get the basketball off of
Speaker 1: a Horford screen. But Tatum smartly just cuts out of
Speaker 1: it and gets really good post position out of it.
Speaker 1: See because Hardaway was basically conceding that inside cut, Tatum
Speaker 1: gets an easy layup. That's bad defense, but also just
Speaker 1: a really nice counter to a coverage from Jason Tatum.
Speaker 1: And then this was just this was just insane. A
Speaker 1: backscreen gets kay Cunnyham wide open. You think you're dead
Speaker 1: to rights, watch this block from Derreck White that is
Speaker 1: in a two point game with less than a minute left.
Speaker 1: That is a waning type of play from Derek White.
Speaker 1: That stop the Pistons from tying in that game, and
Speaker 1: then Jason Tatum goes down and ices it on the
Speaker 1: other end. All right, last, before we get out of here,
Speaker 1: let's talk about these inverted ball screens with Evan Mobley.
Speaker 1: This first one here again, notice the defender here, Jalen
Speaker 1: Durn's going way underneath the pick. Because he's going under
Speaker 1: the pick, Evan Mobley can easily set into his pull
Speaker 1: up three off the dribble, which he is been shooting
Speaker 1: well to start this year. The second one, he's going
Speaker 1: to draw two on the ball, So once again Durren's
Speaker 1: on the ball. When Mitch sets the screen, he draws
Speaker 1: the help because this guy's just thinking I've got to
Speaker 1: be there. Otherwise Mobley's gonna get downhill. That allows Mitchell
Speaker 1: this wide open close out at the top of the
Speaker 1: key and it gets all the way to the rim
Speaker 1: for a lamp here. Again, if you have another way
Speaker 1: to get the defense in rotation, that's a huge advantage
Speaker 1: because certain matchups might swing in each depending on who
Speaker 1: you're playing where those advantages are harder to come by,
Speaker 1: and if you have more ways to generate the advantages,
Speaker 1: it mix for a more resilient offense. Having Evan Mobley
Speaker 1: also be able to generate advantage makes your offense more resilient.
Speaker 1: This is why I've been harping on it with the
Speaker 1: Dallas Mavericks and they're playing style. You want to have
Speaker 1: more people involved so that you have more resilience on
Speaker 1: the offensive end of the floor. Last one, this is
Speaker 1: where you see that runway that I talk about. When
Speaker 1: Mobley gets the screen, Notice the defender, Tobias Harris in
Speaker 1: this case, goes under. Because Tobias goes under. Now we've
Speaker 1: got a solid like seven or eight foot gap here
Speaker 1: that allows Mobley to get ahead of steam. When he
Speaker 1: gets ahead of steam, by the time he drops that shoulder,
Speaker 1: now look where he is. He's eight feet from the basket,
Speaker 1: and then he can just turn easily over his left
Speaker 1: shoulder for a short range hook shot he's able to get.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna watch it. I want you guys to watch
Speaker 1: it full speed again, looking out easily he can get
Speaker 1: downhill because the defender goes under. The pick from that
Speaker 1: two man game where he's inverting it. It's a nice
Speaker 1: little wrinkle in the Cavs offense to start this year.
Speaker 1: All right, guys, That is all I have for today.
Speaker 1: As always, as sincerely appreciate you guys for supporting the show.
Speaker 1: I've got a little bit of a crazy day schedule
Speaker 1: wized tomorrow, so we're just gonna do a really short
Speaker 1: episode tomorrow morning, but then we'll be back with a
Speaker 1: bunch of breakdowns on Wednesday. As always, as sincerely appreciate
Speaker 1: you guys for supporting the show, and I'll see you
Speaker 1: then the volume. What's up guys? As always, I appreciate
Speaker 1: you for listening to and supporting OOPS tonight. It would
Speaker 1: actually be really helpful for us if you guys would
Speaker 1: take a second and leave a rating and a review.
Speaker 1: As always, I appreciate you guys supporting us, but if
Speaker 1: you get t a minute to do that, I'd really
Speaker 1: appreciate it.