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Speaker 1: responsible gaming resources. All right, welcome to tonight. You're at
Speaker 1: the volume heavy Friday. Everybody, hope all if you guys
Speaker 1: are having a great week. On a fun show for
Speaker 1: you today, We're gonna do an instant reaction to Nix
Speaker 1: Nuggets from last night. Fun game for both teams Monster,
Speaker 1: Isaiah Hardenstein, Knight the Nick's battle, but the Nuggets end
Speaker 1: up pulling away late. Jokich is awesome. We're gonna break
Speaker 1: that game down from the perspective of both teams, and
Speaker 1: then after that we're gonna hit a mail bag as
Speaker 1: I promised at the tail end of the show. You
Speaker 1: guys are the joke before we get started. Subscribe to
Speaker 1: our brand new YouTube channels. You don't miss any more
Speaker 1: of our videos. Follow me on Twitter, I underscore jcnlts.
Speaker 1: You guys, don't misshow announcements or film threads. Don't forget
Speaker 1: about our podcast feed wherever you get your podcast on
Speaker 1: our Hoops Tonight. It's also super helpful if you levey
Speaker 1: rating in a review on that front. And the last but
Speaker 1: not least, keep dropping mail bag questions in the YouTube
Speaker 1: comments so we can keep hitting them throughout the rest
Speaker 1: of the season. All right, really quickly, before we get
Speaker 1: started too, I want to give you guys a quick
Speaker 1: breakdown of how the next week's gonna go, because I
Speaker 1: actually go out of town on Sunday morning, and I'm
Speaker 1: out of town until Thursday afternoon. I'm again one last
Speaker 1: getaway with my wife. We're going skiing in like Tahoe.
Speaker 1: And remember when I get back, that's when everything hits
Speaker 1: the fan. Three weeks from Sunday is actually the final
Speaker 1: day of the regular season. That Tuesday is the start
Speaker 1: of the play in tournament. During that week, we're gonna
Speaker 1: have series previews for every playoff series and instant reactions
Speaker 1: to the play in playing matchups. Then we have the
Speaker 1: actual opening day of the postse and that Saturday, where
Speaker 1: they have the four games, and that's when we start
Speaker 1: going live on YouTube every single night, so a little
Speaker 1: bit of a break from Sunday to Thursday. Then obviously
Speaker 1: it's grind time. But I've got content coming out the
Speaker 1: entire time I'm gone, So obviously today the Nick Nuggets
Speaker 1: reaction mail bags run in on Saturday. The Nerd Sash
Speaker 1: guys came on this morning and we went for over
Speaker 1: an hour. We recorded a bunch of stuff. We did
Speaker 1: a deep dive into the play in tournament and both conferences.
Speaker 1: We also hit the top of the league, talk some
Speaker 1: Celtics and Bucks, some Nuggets, and we also had a
Speaker 1: fun segment at the end of the show that I
Speaker 1: think you guys will like. That's all rolling out on Sunday, Monday, Tuesday,
Speaker 1: and Wednesday, so there'll be content coming out the entire
Speaker 1: time I'm gone, but no actual like instant reaction live
Speaker 1: reacting to games and stuff until I get back on Thursday,
Speaker 1: which will be a fun one because on Wednesday night
Speaker 1: we have our rematch between the Suns and the Nuggets,
Speaker 1: that epic overtime game that Phoenix won last time, so
Speaker 1: that's gonna be a really fun one to react to.
Speaker 1: We'll be hitting that one on Thursday when I get
Speaker 1: back into town. All right, on that note, let's get
Speaker 1: into Nick Nugget. So Nick Nuggets is probably my favorite
Speaker 1: NBA Finals matchup outside of Nugget Celtics. Obviously, I think
Speaker 1: Nugget Celtics would just be an all timer. I think
Speaker 1: it would go six or seven games. I'd picked the Nuggets,
Speaker 1: but I think it would be an incredibly entertaining series.
Speaker 1: But when the healthy Knicks are actually whole, when they
Speaker 1: have Mitchell Robinson, when they have Isaiah Hartenstein backing up
Speaker 1: Mitchell Robinson, you can make a case that could be
Speaker 1: reversed too, when you have Julius Randall and now Precious
Speaker 1: to two up playing more at the four instead of
Speaker 1: at the five. When you have Og and Ando be
Speaker 1: healthy out there, they are just so incredibly physically imposing.
Speaker 1: I mean, as a as a Denver fan, you got
Speaker 1: to experience that last night. Just with the injury riddled Knicks,
Speaker 1: I just think that'd be a really, really fun final series.
Speaker 1: And so this is a matchup that I really liked.
Speaker 1: But in this particular game, obviously still no front court
Speaker 1: for the Knicks. Tough matchup for them. Under those circumstances.
Speaker 1: But they played a hell of a game and it
Speaker 1: was close for the most part. Jalen Brunson was great.
Speaker 1: He had twenty six points and nine assists with zero turnovers.
Speaker 1: Denver defended him pretty well too. They were throwing aggressive
Speaker 1: coverages o him. He just had all of his shot
Speaker 1: making stuff working. His start stop quickness was locked in.
Speaker 1: He found all the little openings that take place over
Speaker 1: the game to find easy shots. I thought, I thought
Speaker 1: duce McBride played a really good game. I thought he
Speaker 1: defended Jamal Murray really well. Started to he continued to
Speaker 1: flash some of that high level shot making that he's
Speaker 1: been showing as of late. Like Duce McBride has been
Speaker 1: flashing a little bit of that off the dribble pop
Speaker 1: that I think he's had in the bag for a while.
Speaker 1: But he's the opportunity presented to him after the trade
Speaker 1: deadline has given him more opportunities to show that now.
Speaker 1: Jamal Murray was still able to bully him to spots
Speaker 1: because he had that physical size advantage, and we've seen
Speaker 1: that before where the really good ball pressure quick guards
Speaker 1: can struggle sometimes against Jamal Murray when he's physically aggressive
Speaker 1: with them, but Douce did his job, made him work.
Speaker 1: Jamal was just nine for twenty from the field and
Speaker 1: then four turnovers. Isay, Hardenstein was a monster. I've been
Speaker 1: so impressed by him this year in general. Obviously, he's
Speaker 1: always been a great rebounder, and he's always been great
Speaker 1: in that short role with those little pop shots right, Like,
Speaker 1: he's in total offensive rebounds in the entire NBYEAR this
Speaker 1: year NBA this year, and he's shooting fifty seven percent
Speaker 1: on those floaters that he takes in the lane. So like,
Speaker 1: obviously that's something we've always known about Isaiah Hartenstein, but
Speaker 1: he's making a lot of really high level offensive plays
Speaker 1: around that. Like, big part of this game was him
Speaker 1: just taking Jokic one on one. He got a couple
Speaker 1: of buckets on him that way. It kind of reminded
Speaker 1: me of what he was doing to Sibonis in the
Speaker 1: Sacramento game. Like Hardenstein will he'll drop his shoulder and
Speaker 1: go into your chest and he can make little shots
Speaker 1: over the top. He got to a little right handed
Speaker 1: hook shot over Nicole Jokic in this game too. He's
Speaker 1: also starting to figure out some of the intricacies of
Speaker 1: the pick and roll game, like how to angle screens properly,
Speaker 1: when to slip, and when to disengage from the screen
Speaker 1: and start rolling to the basket. There was a specific
Speaker 1: play too that was really high level that that I
Speaker 1: want to call out where he said a go tot
Speaker 1: screen and I want to break this down for you guys.
Speaker 1: So basically, as a Jalen Brunson Isaiah Hartenstein ball screen
Speaker 1: on a cleared side, they ran in action to get
Speaker 1: into it, but it resulted in just a clear side
Speaker 1: ball screen. Two defenders in the play where Jokich on Hartenstein,
Speaker 1: Aaron Gordon on Jalen Brunson. So obviously it's a clear
Speaker 1: side pick and roll. So, like most teams in the
Speaker 1: NBA do, Denver ends up calling for ice coverage. Now,
Speaker 1: ice coverage is the most common pick and roll coverage
Speaker 1: you'll see in cleared side ball screens or in really
Speaker 1: any sort of side ball screen at any level of basketball.
Speaker 1: And essentially the idea there is is that the ball
Speaker 1: handler Jalen Broughns in this case a lefty, is on
Speaker 1: the right wing. He wants to get to his strong
Speaker 1: hand going into the lane working in pick and roll
Speaker 1: right Aaron Gordon instead of chasing him like a typical
Speaker 1: lock and trail type of situation, in applying back pressure
Speaker 1: like you would in a middle ball screen or anything
Speaker 1: towards the middle of the floor. Instead, what he's doing
Speaker 1: is he's jumping way on Jalen Brunson's high side up
Speaker 1: on his left hand side, taking away the screen as
Speaker 1: an option and basically giving him a right handed driving lane.
Speaker 1: Nikole Jokicic drops directly into that right handed driving lane,
Speaker 1: making himself a v in help. This is a textbook
Speaker 1: ice coverage in that situation, Hartenstein's job as soon as
Speaker 1: he realizes that the ice is happening, his job now
Speaker 1: is a screen doesn't really help because he's not gonna
Speaker 1: actually be able to get Aaron Gordon out of position
Speaker 1: because Aaron Gordon's literally denying the left handed drive. So
Speaker 1: his job there is to find a gap, an opening
Speaker 1: between Aaron Gordon and Nikolejokic to make himself available for
Speaker 1: the catch so that he can shoot his little pop
Speaker 1: shot in the lane. That's what Hartenstein does. Goes to
Speaker 1: set the screen, sees Aaron Gordon hop high side to
Speaker 1: set up that ice, and then he disengages from the
Speaker 1: screen slips into that opening. Okay, Jalen Brunson does what
Speaker 1: he's supposed to do. He makes a hard dribble move
Speaker 1: to his right, but he wants to get back to
Speaker 1: his strong hand so after he goes to his right
Speaker 1: hard he brings it back to his left hand side
Speaker 1: and Aaron Gordon gets out of position. He gets stuck
Speaker 1: on Jalen Brunson's right hand side. This is where Hartenstein
Speaker 1: makes an incredibly smart read. So Nikole Jokicic is waiting
Speaker 1: there and now Aaron Gordon, instead of being on Jaln
Speaker 1: Brunston's left hand side, is on Jlen Brunson's right hand side. Okay,
Speaker 1: Hartenstein identifies there Jalen Brunson has an opportunity to drive
Speaker 1: to his strong hand so Hartenstein bails on trying to
Speaker 1: make himself available and just goes and sets a screen
Speaker 1: on Jokic. Because Jokic is the help man, Jalen Brunson
Speaker 1: already has Aaron Gordon out a position so he can
Speaker 1: get to his strong left hand side. Brunson his only
Speaker 1: issue now is the helper, which is Nicole Jokic At
Speaker 1: the rim. Hartenstein identifies on the fly that his best
Speaker 1: way to help Brunson is just to set that screen
Speaker 1: on Nikole Jokich in the lane so that he can't help.
Speaker 1: He runs over and screens the kol Jokic, Brunson drives
Speaker 1: left right behind him, gets all the way to the basket,
Speaker 1: and lays it in. There's even an additional element there
Speaker 1: of timing with Jalen Brunson because Michael Porter Junior had
Speaker 1: come into the lane to defend the action three on two,
Speaker 1: and Jalen Brunson waited to hit the Jets until Michael
Speaker 1: Porter Junior had to vacate the lane on his defensive
Speaker 1: three second call, and that just kind of parted like
Speaker 1: the red seat, Michael Porter Junior ran out, Jokic got
Speaker 1: screened by Hartenstein. Brunson like snuck right in there and
Speaker 1: got a layup, and I was literally sitting there watching that.
Speaker 1: I'm like, that is a really high level offensive play
Speaker 1: from Isaiah Hartenstein. That is getting classified as a layup
Speaker 1: for Jalen Brunson, obviously, and obviously Brunson in his ability
Speaker 1: to handle the basketball and get to his spots was
Speaker 1: a big part of that. But that's really high level
Speaker 1: offensive roleman play from Isaiah Hartenstein. He's just turning into
Speaker 1: a really good basketball player. He's also been a really
Speaker 1: solid defensive anchor this year. I've been impressed by his
Speaker 1: pick and roll defense and how active he is with
Speaker 1: his hands. Isaiah Hartenstein's just really damn good. And again,
Speaker 1: you can make the case that when Mitchell Robinson comes back,
Speaker 1: that Mitchell Robinson come off the bench, not because of
Speaker 1: anything Mitchell Robinson's doing, just because Isaiah Hartenstein in his
Speaker 1: pick and roll chemistry with Jalen Brunson, in the job
Speaker 1: that he's been doing. But yeah, the Knicks battle, they
Speaker 1: kept it close. They really did damage. In the Jokic
Speaker 1: off minutes. They were plus thirteen. Excuse me, I want
Speaker 1: to say they were plus seventeen. Yeah, they were plus
Speaker 1: seventeen in the minutes that Nicola Jokic was off the
Speaker 1: floor in this game. But every time Nicola jokicch checked
Speaker 1: into the game would just quickly assert himself and regain
Speaker 1: control of the situation. He had thirty points, fourteen rebounds,
Speaker 1: and eleven assists, which is one turnover. The Knicks. We're
Speaker 1: bringing a lot of double teams from the backside, especially
Speaker 1: like when Jokic would turn his back and kind of
Speaker 1: protect the basketball. They kept trying to sneak behind him,
Speaker 1: and I don't know why teams again like this is
Speaker 1: something that Yokic is consistently punished, and you know, to
Speaker 1: break it down on a deeper level, do you guys
Speaker 1: remember when I've talked with a lower level passers, think
Speaker 1: guys like Embiid, Anthony Davis, Yannis, how I always talk
Speaker 1: about them running cleared side actions. The reason why I
Speaker 1: talk about them running cleared side actions is because when
Speaker 1: the side is cleared, it's much harder to double on
Speaker 1: their backside. And when you double from the backside, those
Speaker 1: guys struggle to see everything because they can really only
Speaker 1: see what's in front of them. And so as a
Speaker 1: result of that, if you put them in the middle
Speaker 1: of the floor or with an occupied corner where someone
Speaker 1: can sneak in from behind and get steals, those guys
Speaker 1: can become turned over prone and most importantly, be uncomfortable
Speaker 1: and more more likely to just get the ball out
Speaker 1: to somebody rather than to try to make the kill
Speaker 1: pass because they're worried, they don't know where everybody is.
Speaker 1: They feel uncomfortable. And then what I said when we
Speaker 1: were talking about those guys is when it comes to
Speaker 1: the higher level passers, the Lebron's, the Lucas, the Jokic is,
Speaker 1: those guys you want in the middle of the floor
Speaker 1: because in the middle of the floor or with an
Speaker 1: occupied corner, you want them there because they can see
Speaker 1: everything that's taking place. They are comfortable even though there
Speaker 1: are guys that they can't necessarily see every given second
Speaker 1: because Yogic can identify I know this guy is here.
Speaker 1: I know he's here. I can check this out, and
Speaker 1: I can just kind of periodically kind of monitor where
Speaker 1: these guys are and they can kind of anticipate things
Speaker 1: before they happen. Right, It's kind of like that ridiculous
Speaker 1: pass that he had last night where he threw the
Speaker 1: ball overhand behind his back and Aaron Gordon. So basically,
Speaker 1: Nikole Jokic is posting like what sixteen seventeen feet away
Speaker 1: from the basket on like kind of left elbow extended right,
Speaker 1: and I want to say, josh hart Se, either Joshun
Speaker 1: or Dante DiVincenzo comes with the backside help, right, So
Speaker 1: Jokic has the ball like this and the help is
Speaker 1: coming from behind and on the help the help is
Speaker 1: coming from Gordon's man, So Jalen Brunson comes out of
Speaker 1: the weak side and tries to dig down onto Aaron
Speaker 1: Gordon to take away that post entry pass. But Jokicic
Speaker 1: just sees the whole thing. He identifies this guy's coming
Speaker 1: on this week side. That means Aaron Gordon is my
Speaker 1: open guy. But he also knows that Jalen Brunson's coming
Speaker 1: on the top side, So if he wants to throw
Speaker 1: that pass, he's got to hit it to Aaron Gordon's
Speaker 1: right hand side, because if he throws it to the
Speaker 1: left hand side, Jalen Brunson is gonna be able to
Speaker 1: three quarter front and knock the ball away, And without
Speaker 1: even damn looking while the defender's coming around his backside,
Speaker 1: he just throws it like this backwards and hits Aaron
Speaker 1: Gordon perfectly on the right hand side so that he
Speaker 1: could go up and lay it in. And there were
Speaker 1: literally like a half dozen plays in this game where
Speaker 1: the Knicks came with backside help to Jokic's blind side
Speaker 1: and he burned him with it. Because again, those types
Speaker 1: of players, they can actually see the whole floor, or
Speaker 1: at least have an understanding of where everybody is on
Speaker 1: the floor, even when they're not necessarily looking in that
Speaker 1: particular area. And again, when you are in the middle
Speaker 1: of the floor with an occupy or have an occupied corner,
Speaker 1: meaning when there are defensive players literally surrounding you, you're
Speaker 1: actually closer to every offensive player. Again, if I have
Speaker 1: Jokich on a cleared side, which by the way, he
Speaker 1: had some success in cleared side situations too, I don't
Speaker 1: want to pretend like that didn't happen. But when Yokich
Speaker 1: is on a cleared side and everyone's on the opposite
Speaker 1: side of the floor, Let's say let's say you got
Speaker 1: Aaron Gordon under the rim, but all the other three
Speaker 1: point shooters are spaced out along the three point line,
Speaker 1: They're all those passes are in the same direction, and
Speaker 1: therefore they're further away right, Whereas if he's in the
Speaker 1: middle of the floor or when he has an occupied corner,
Speaker 1: he's effectively closer to every offensive player. Every offensive player
Speaker 1: is within like fifteen feet of him, right, And so
Speaker 1: when those double teams come from different angles, when he
Speaker 1: gets the ball to the right spot, there's less time
Speaker 1: for the defense to rotate. There's actually more openings there.
Speaker 1: It's just that the guys like Anthony Davis and Giannis
Speaker 1: and Embiid, they really struggle to make those reads when
Speaker 1: they're surrounded by defenders, so you almost need to clear
Speaker 1: the side for them and make them make skip passes
Speaker 1: over the top, which are easier to rotate to right.
Speaker 1: That's the advantage of having a player that's capable of
Speaker 1: operating in the beginning in the middle of the floor.
Speaker 1: And again for Jokic, you saw last night just a
Speaker 1: perfect example of every single time the Knicks brought that
Speaker 1: backside help along that along his blind side, he was
Speaker 1: able to make them pay for it, just because he
Speaker 1: has such a good understanding of where everybody is on
Speaker 1: the floor. The Nuggets were plus thirty when Nicole Jokic
Speaker 1: on the floor in this game. Think about that, they
Speaker 1: were minus seventeen when he was off the floor, and
Speaker 1: they still won the game by double digits and were
Speaker 1: never truly threatened. Unbelievably dominant performance. Michael Porter Junior had
Speaker 1: a big night, two thirty one points on sixteen shots.
Speaker 1: Hit a big jumper in ISO against Boy and mcdonovitch
Speaker 1: on the right corner area after the Knicks had cut
Speaker 1: it to four. I want to say it was on
Speaker 1: a precious to chew a layup if I remember correctly.
Speaker 1: But the Knicks cut it to four, or excuse me,
Speaker 1: cut it to two is like ninety to eighty eight
Speaker 1: or something like that. And Michael Porter Junior just straight
Speaker 1: iso got a bucket over Boy and Magdonovitch, who was
Speaker 1: super efficient in this game. He's actually been the most
Speaker 1: efficient jump shooter in the entire league this year. He's
Speaker 1: taken six hundred and forty four jump shots. There are
Speaker 1: forty five players in the NBA that have attempted at
Speaker 1: least five hundred. He ranks number one on that list.
Speaker 1: And Michael Porter Junior jump shot has been worth one
Speaker 1: point nine points per possession this year. Now points per shot,
Speaker 1: I should say, so, just for trivia, who do you
Speaker 1: guys think is number two on that list? The answer
Speaker 1: is Dante de Vincenzo of the Knicks. He's just three
Speaker 1: one thousandths of a point per shot behind Michael Porter Junior. So,
Speaker 1: like two the two best jump shooters in the NBA
Speaker 1: were on the floor together last night. The Nuggets are
Speaker 1: rolling thirteen and two since the All Star break, and
Speaker 1: again there are only two losses were in games where
Speaker 1: they lost either at the buzzer or had a shot
Speaker 1: that sent the game to ot at the buzz that
Speaker 1: they lost in OT. That's the best record in the
Speaker 1: league over that span. Their second offense, eighth in defense,
Speaker 1: second net rating, and third in points in the paint
Speaker 1: for one hundred possessions over that span. You know, last
Speaker 1: year after the ull Star break, they came out hot.
Speaker 1: They were five and one in their first six games,
Speaker 1: and then they immediately fell apart. And this year they've
Speaker 1: just been so much sharper. They just to me like,
Speaker 1: this is a major like check box that they've a
Speaker 1: box that they've checked in their process towards a championship. Repeat.
Speaker 1: This is not a team that is relaxing. This is
Speaker 1: a team that is focusing. This is not a team
Speaker 1: that looks like they think it's going to be easy.
Speaker 1: This is a team that is preparing for the hard
Speaker 1: challenge that is winning for playoff rounds. If you're Nuggets fan,
Speaker 1: you should feel very very confident in your team right now.
Speaker 1: All right, let's move on to our mailbag. So first question,
Speaker 1: by the way, I got fifty one questions to the
Speaker 1: mail bag tweet that I sent out. Obviously normally take
Speaker 1: mailback questions from YouTube, but I wanted to take them
Speaker 1: from Twitter this time, so we had like fifty one questions.
Speaker 1: They were all super, super interesting. I'm sorry that I
Speaker 1: can't actually get to all of them. I think we
Speaker 1: only have about a dozen here that we're going to
Speaker 1: get to. But I do sincerely appreciate you guys taking
Speaker 1: the time. And again, we're gonna keep doing mail bags
Speaker 1: really throughout the entire year moving forward. So if there's
Speaker 1: a mailbag question that I haven't got to that you
Speaker 1: really want, just keep dropping it in there and we
Speaker 1: will eventually get to it. All right, Do you believe
Speaker 1: that Lebron should leave the Lakers next season from a
Speaker 1: fan standpoint? And if so, where is the ideal place
Speaker 1: you would want to see him compete? And if not,
Speaker 1: could the Lakers be competitive next season? So if Lebron leaves,
Speaker 1: which if they lose in a disastrous fashion, I think
Speaker 1: that I think that he should. I just I would
Speaker 1: hate to see Lebron go down with this particular ship
Speaker 1: in Los Angeles, where he's surrounded by incompetence in so
Speaker 1: many different levels, in the coaching staff and in the
Speaker 1: ownership group, and in the front office, it's just layer
Speaker 1: after layer, even like even in the medical staff, even
Speaker 1: like there's a statue with typos on it out front
Speaker 1: of the arena, Like it's just it's like it's just clear.
Speaker 1: It's just so funny to me. How like when there's
Speaker 1: incompetence at the ownership level, it just trickles down to
Speaker 1: every single level from there. But I want to see
Speaker 1: him play for the Knicks. I think it's a like
Speaker 1: an absolutely perfect fit in that front line. If you
Speaker 1: just kind of slotted him into that Julius Randall spot,
Speaker 1: I think it would immediately make them a top tier
Speaker 1: championship contender. It'd be a big market that actually justifies
Speaker 1: a presence like Lebron making a move in that direction.
Speaker 1: I think Jalen Brunson is the perfect type of co
Speaker 1: star for him. Is that like offensive folkrum type of guy.
Speaker 1: He'd be in a defensive role where because of Dante
Speaker 1: devencenzo Og and Andobi, he'd never have to defend on
Speaker 1: the ball. Because of mitchter Robinson and Isaiah Hartenstein, he'd
Speaker 1: be consistently in that low man position where I think
Speaker 1: he'd be really impactful. I think the Knicks would be amazing.
Speaker 1: Can the Lakers be competitive next season? It just really
Speaker 1: depends on what they end up doing around the draft.
Speaker 1: They're gonna have three draft picks as well as some
Speaker 1: other roster assets that they can move. They really really
Speaker 1: really got to go one of two, and I talked
Speaker 1: about this yesterday with Jovon. But they either need to
Speaker 1: bring in a legitimate offensive fulcrum to run the offense
Speaker 1: the entire season, which will just help them be better
Speaker 1: in the eighty two games, or they need to bring
Speaker 1: real high motor athletes on the perimeter because at this point,
Speaker 1: Lebron and ad are just not consistent enough with their
Speaker 1: athletic engagement. Next question, If the Knicks are healthy, do
Speaker 1: you think they have a legitimate chance to go to
Speaker 1: the finals? Absolutely? I think that the I think that
Speaker 1: everybody butt the Celtics is flat out beatable, and I'd
Speaker 1: be tempted to pick a Knicks, a healthy Knicks team
Speaker 1: over all of them, including the Bucks. Because the Knicks
Speaker 1: aren't healthy, I would pick the Bucks as the safer
Speaker 1: number two in that conference. But if they were, if
Speaker 1: the Knicks were fully healthy and in rhythm, they've just
Speaker 1: played better basketball this year than Milwaukee in my opinion,
Speaker 1: relative to the talent that they've had available to them
Speaker 1: in the lineup. As far as getting to the finals,
Speaker 1: they'd have to beat Boston, right but they're a big,
Speaker 1: physical team and they can wear you out, and I
Speaker 1: think they could bait Boston into some of their worst tendencies.
Speaker 1: Then scoring the basketball would be tricky because of all
Speaker 1: the perimeter defense that they could throw at the table.
Speaker 1: But if they could drag it down into the mud,
Speaker 1: and if they get enough out of Jalen Brunts and
Speaker 1: I absolutely think they can. They to me, the Knicks
Speaker 1: are not in the top tier of contenders obviously, but
Speaker 1: they're in that next tier and I think when they're healthy,
Speaker 1: they're very capable of making a finals run. We have
Speaker 1: two Pelicans related questions. I'll read them both and we'll
Speaker 1: go through them both. Can the Pelicans win the Western
Speaker 1: Conference and make it to the finals? Second question, pels
Speaker 1: fan here, do you think Zion's play right now is
Speaker 1: sustainable for the playoffs, for when the game slows down
Speaker 1: and teams can really zero in on him defensively. He's
Speaker 1: a great regular season player, but he's untested in the playoffs.
Speaker 1: So first, of all, can the Pelicans win the Western
Speaker 1: Conference and make it to the finals. Of course they can.
Speaker 1: I just have them at the bottom tier among the
Speaker 1: Western Conference playoff teams. They have a couple of specific
Speaker 1: things that are big red flags for me. So, for instance,
Speaker 1: they've been a very good defensive team, but they have
Speaker 1: not been a very good defensive front court. And throughout
Speaker 1: this season that Zion jonas front court at on many
Speaker 1: different occasions has been picked to pieces and NBA tells
Speaker 1: us you need an elite defensive front court to win
Speaker 1: the title. I mean, Jokic Gordon is probably the worst
Speaker 1: defensive front court to win the title in well over
Speaker 1: a decade. And Aaron Gordon was unbelievable defensively both as
Speaker 1: a low man and as an on ball defender during
Speaker 1: that playoff run. So for me, like, I just don't
Speaker 1: think the Pelicans at the defensive personnel in the front
Speaker 1: court that they need as far as the in order
Speaker 1: to be considered as as as dangerous as their record
Speaker 1: would lead you to believe, right as far as the
Speaker 1: offensive end of the four goes in Zion like Obviously,
Speaker 1: this season turned around for the Pelicans when Zion took
Speaker 1: a larger role offensively, I also think Zion has got
Speaker 1: in better shape and started to get his legs underneath him.
Speaker 1: That Lob Donkey had the other night was the most
Speaker 1: athletic I've seen him look pretty much since Duke, so
Speaker 1: like I think, or at least since he was healthy
Speaker 1: a few years ago. So like, I really do think
Speaker 1: Zion coming around has been what's turned this season around.
Speaker 1: That said, like when we get to the postseason. Offensively,
Speaker 1: there is something to be said about the borderline comic
Speaker 1: way that teams will try to attack your flaws. Like
Speaker 1: think about like what Lebron James did to Zion in
Speaker 1: the n season tournament game, the one where the Lakers
Speaker 1: beat the hell out of him. He basically just sagged
Speaker 1: way the hell off of him and anticipated his driving
Speaker 1: angles and more or less removed him from the game.
Speaker 1: And now I think Zion is a better athlete now
Speaker 1: than he was then. He's in better shape and he's
Speaker 1: moving better, and I do think that Zion would be
Speaker 1: able to have more impact. But I am curious to
Speaker 1: see how teams kind of play him, because they'll sag
Speaker 1: way the hell off and they'll try to kind of
Speaker 1: like be sitting on that left hand side and just
Speaker 1: try to beat him to spots in the lane. They'll
Speaker 1: bring physicality. Here's my prediction. Though, My guess is that
Speaker 1: Zion will have success offensively in the postseason. My bigger
Speaker 1: concern is just that Zion being targeted on the defensive
Speaker 1: end of the floor, just again putting him in a
Speaker 1: bunch of actions where they can try to bait him
Speaker 1: into getting out of position and getting a lot of
Speaker 1: easy baskets at the rim. Again, that has been a
Speaker 1: consistent theme this year. Their perimeter defense is unbelievable. Herb
Speaker 1: Jones is like one of the best defensive players that
Speaker 1: I've watched this year. Brandon Ingram is having the best
Speaker 1: defensive season I've seen him have in years. They have
Speaker 1: a ton that they bring to the table on the
Speaker 1: perimeter defensively, and they fly around and they play hard,
Speaker 1: and they play passing lanes, and they apply ball pressure
Speaker 1: and they force turnovers and then it's like the front
Speaker 1: court where I have my concerns, and so that's where
Speaker 1: I think they'll have issues when we get to the postseason.
Speaker 1: Do you think there's a chance that Van Do and
Speaker 1: Gabe can come back and actually have impact towards winning
Speaker 1: once the postseason comes, I know them not having conditioning
Speaker 1: is going to make things a lot more difficult, or
Speaker 1: should we rock with the guys who have been playing.
Speaker 1: Gabe is the one that I don't really understand where
Speaker 1: he fits. You think of him as like a perimeter
Speaker 1: defense kind of guy at the guard position, but that
Speaker 1: to me is what Spencer Dinwoodie has been filling. And
Speaker 1: I think Spencer Dinwoodie is is just a little bigger,
Speaker 1: a little more athletic, and probably a little bit more
Speaker 1: resilient when you get to that postseason environment. I do
Speaker 1: think gab will play and games when Spencer's not playing well,
Speaker 1: I think that Darvin will go his direction or one
Speaker 1: of the skill guards is him playing well, but his
Speaker 1: role is a little bit more up in the air.
Speaker 1: Vanderbilt like, you just absolutely need him. You absolutely need him,
Speaker 1: You need to start him, and you need him to
Speaker 1: be ready. Now you mentioned conditioning, that's an interesting point.
Speaker 1: Jared Vanderbilt was not very good to start the season
Speaker 1: as he was coming back from his injury. It was
Speaker 1: really just before he got hurt again that he started
Speaker 1: to kind of get back into shape and really look
Speaker 1: like the Vando we saw last year, and so that's
Speaker 1: my big concern too, is like, it's not about Vandal
Speaker 1: coming back, It's about Vandam coming back and looking like
Speaker 1: the Vando we know he can be. And I mean,
Speaker 1: let's say he comes back at the start of April,
Speaker 1: like April first, You've got two weeks to get him
Speaker 1: back into rhythm, and that's just a lot to ask.
Speaker 1: And so I think the only hope for the Lakers
Speaker 1: to make any sort of significant postseason run is Jared
Speaker 1: Vanderbilt being healthy and in shape, in rhythm, and prepared
Speaker 1: to play the way that we're accustomed to seeing from him.
Speaker 1: Next question, would you rather build around Wemby or Luca?
Speaker 1: This was a fascinating one, A couple of really interesting
Speaker 1: questions from you guys that were gonna be hitting here
Speaker 1: in the next few So you know, my prevailing basketball
Speaker 1: wisdom would say Luca, because I've always been a big
Speaker 1: fan of matchup attacking forwards and have always favored offense
Speaker 1: over defense because I think it's easier to coach up
Speaker 1: defense in a way that you can't on the offensive
Speaker 1: end of the floor. So that would lead you to
Speaker 1: believe to think Luca. But Wemby to me is a
Speaker 1: truly transcendently great NBA prospect, and I think he has
Speaker 1: real potential to be the best offensive player and best
Speaker 1: defensive player in the league one day. I think that
Speaker 1: he's the kind of guy that could that could bring
Speaker 1: a two way impact that rivals the greatest players in
Speaker 1: NBA history. So if not, he has the potential potential
Speaker 1: to be better than all of them. So I think,
Speaker 1: I think regardless of who you are, even if you're
Speaker 1: a Dallas fan like Wemby's Wemby man like like he's
Speaker 1: he's one of one, and Lucas Luca to me, is
Speaker 1: also in an all time great trajectory. But he's more
Speaker 1: or less what he is now, what he's always going
Speaker 1: to be. He will make small improvements, maybe defensively, maybe
Speaker 1: in his conditioning, and maybe he'll get a little bit
Speaker 1: more consistent as a shooter. But like Wemby's already top
Speaker 1: twenty player in this league. He's a rookie and he
Speaker 1: literally can get many orders of magnitude better than he
Speaker 1: is right now. Next question, what do you think about
Speaker 1: the idea that you can't win if your best player
Speaker 1: is small, like six ' four under what do you
Speaker 1: need for it to happen in your opinion? And right now,
Speaker 1: which players do you think can slash could do it
Speaker 1: in the future. I think it's possible, but his team
Speaker 1: has to be perfectly built. So first of all, Steph
Speaker 1: Curry is a guy that has won a title as
Speaker 1: the best player on his team under six y four.
Speaker 1: He did it in twenty twenty two. Now, Steph is
Speaker 1: the best small player in NBA history, and it's not close.
Speaker 1: When you look at the top ten players in NBA history,
Speaker 1: most people are gonna have Steph on there, and then
Speaker 1: everyone else on that list is either a six '
Speaker 1: six super athletic shooting guard or someone who's six '
Speaker 1: eight and taller and has all these incredible physical gifts
Speaker 1: in terms of their size. Right. And so that's why
Speaker 1: I say Steph is the most skilled player in NBA history.
Speaker 1: Is just he's one with skill at a higher rate
Speaker 1: than anybody who's ever come before him. That said, I
Speaker 1: do think it can happen. Again, you ask to pick
Speaker 1: a couple of guys. I picked two. Jalen Brunson I
Speaker 1: think is a guy that if you built the perfect
Speaker 1: type of team around him, that I think he could
Speaker 1: do it like that Knicks team I think has just
Speaker 1: an outside shot and when they're healthy, and so I
Speaker 1: think I think you have to include Brunson in that list.
Speaker 1: The other guy who was John Morant. I think John Morant,
Speaker 1: especially if they can kind of rebuild around him in Memphis,
Speaker 1: I think that he's the kind of guy that could
Speaker 1: be so transcendently great offensively and so difficult to guard
Speaker 1: that he's the guy that could lead a team to
Speaker 1: a title. So Brunson and Morant would be the two guys.
Speaker 1: But again, it is uncommon, and there's a reason why
Speaker 1: Steph's the only guy who's really done it, and it's because,
Speaker 1: like in the modern era, it's just difficult to do
Speaker 1: at that size, and Steph is more like an exception
Speaker 1: that proves the rule in a lot of ways. And
Speaker 1: for instance, I'd feel a lot better about Brunson and
Speaker 1: Morant if they were the second best players on their team,
Speaker 1: if that makes sense. Next question, do you believe that
Speaker 1: if the Cavs had won Game one of the twenty
Speaker 1: eighteen Finals after Lebron's dominant performance when he had fifty one,
Speaker 1: do you think they could have had any shot at
Speaker 1: winning this series? No? Unfortunately. I wanted Lebron to win
Speaker 1: that game really badly, just as I felt like he
Speaker 1: deserved it. I thought he played, he played a game
Speaker 1: that deserved to win. And there was that bizarre overturned
Speaker 1: charge call, the missed George Hill free throw, the j R.
Speaker 1: Smith forgetting the clock. There's a bunch of stuff that
Speaker 1: went against him down the stretch of that game that
Speaker 1: took the game away. But I thought Lebron was far
Speaker 1: and away the best player on the floor and deserved
Speaker 1: to win that game. And it's unfortunate is what it is.
Speaker 1: But had he won, all I would have been is
Speaker 1: a slightly different footnote on a gentleman's sweep for one
Speaker 1: type of win. For Golden State, they were just so
Speaker 1: much again, like, look at the guys that Lebron is
Speaker 1: playing with in that series compared to, in my opinion,
Speaker 1: the most talented roster in NBA history. Next question, I
Speaker 1: don't know whether you addressed this before, but what are
Speaker 1: your thoughts on the playing games in general? For me personally,
Speaker 1: I don't like seven verse eight and nine verse ten.
Speaker 1: I think it should be seven verse ten and eight
Speaker 1: verse nine. Love your show upen following since the Lakers
Speaker 1: tonight years. Thank you so much for supporting the show.
Speaker 1: Its sincerely appreciates. I sincerely appreciate that so many of
Speaker 1: you guys wrote kind things to me in the mailbag,
Speaker 1: and I hope you guys just know that, like not
Speaker 1: a day goes by that I don't think about how
Speaker 1: lucky I am to do what I do for a
Speaker 1: living and how I wouldn't be able to do it
Speaker 1: if it wasn't for you guys in supporting me. So
Speaker 1: thank you so much. It's really this simple. You can't
Speaker 1: do that because you can't have an eighty two game
Speaker 1: season come down to one game. For teams that actually
Speaker 1: did crack the top eight in the standings, they do
Speaker 1: it seven verse eight and nine verse ten because seven
Speaker 1: to eight get to potentially lose twice. So like, if
Speaker 1: that seven game you happen to have just an ice
Speaker 1: cold shooting night and eight comes in and beats you,
Speaker 1: you can turn around. Like look at Miami last year, right,
Speaker 1: Miami loses to Atlanta. Miami ends up going to the
Speaker 1: finals and they lost their first playing game. It wouldn't
Speaker 1: have been fair in my opinion, if they had been
Speaker 1: in the top eight to kick them out over one
Speaker 1: loss where they just had a bad night on the
Speaker 1: defensive glassic in ste Atlanta Hawks, Right, So, like that's
Speaker 1: kind of the way I look at it. Like seven
Speaker 1: to v. Ten seems fair because it's a better matchup
Speaker 1: for the seven. But if you're the seven seed, you
Speaker 1: would rather play the better team but have two chances
Speaker 1: overplaying the worst team and have one chance any day
Speaker 1: of the week because of the variants that exists in basketball.
Speaker 1: All Right, we have five more questions. It looks like
Speaker 1: this is a really interesting one. If I had a
Speaker 1: time machine and went to the future and came back
Speaker 1: and I told you that neither the Nuggets or the
Speaker 1: Celtics were going to make the finals, what teams would
Speaker 1: you pick to make the finals? And what do you
Speaker 1: think would be the reason the Celtics and Nuggets wouldn't
Speaker 1: make the finals? So reasons Boston would lose in the
Speaker 1: classic way that we've seen them lose. They would go
Speaker 1: cold from three and then fail to find higher percentage
Speaker 1: shots around the basket and go down shooting and missing
Speaker 1: threes and not defending as well as they're capable of
Speaker 1: because they didn't bring appropriate urgency on that side of
Speaker 1: the floor. Denver. I put one of two things, either
Speaker 1: an injury to a starter, because I think their whole
Speaker 1: system could become easier to guard if one of those
Speaker 1: guys gets hurt, and then two kind of like what
Speaker 1: happened in overtime against Phoenix, Like if there's been one
Speaker 1: kind of little vulnerability. I've noticed sometimes late in games,
Speaker 1: Jamal Murray plays hero ball and he makes them a
Speaker 1: lot like he made big shots against Phoenix. He made
Speaker 1: big shots against Dallas, But specifically in the overtime against
Speaker 1: against Phoenix, Bradley Beal was ignoring KCP, defending all those
Speaker 1: actions three on two, really sitting down in the lane,
Speaker 1: and Jamal was just hunting his own shot and missed
Speaker 1: a couple of really tough ones instead of like just
Speaker 1: playing basketball in the flow the way that Denver typically does.
Speaker 1: He even looks off Jokic a lot of times in
Speaker 1: those situations. Again, I'm being super nitpicky here, but if
Speaker 1: they were going to lose, that's what I think it
Speaker 1: would look like. Now, if they were healthy, I would
Speaker 1: take the Knicks as the second best team out of
Speaker 1: the East. But like I talked about earlier, it's just
Speaker 1: Julius randalls out of rhythm. I don't know if Mitchell
Speaker 1: Robinson will be back og and Anobi. This elbow thing
Speaker 1: flared up again, and I think he had a procedure
Speaker 1: on it earlier, So like that's concerning that he had
Speaker 1: a procedure and that it's still giving him issues. So
Speaker 1: like I would lean with Milwaukee. Damian Lillard last thirteen
Speaker 1: games nine to three point attempts per game at over
Speaker 1: forty percent shooting, so Milwaukee's starting to look a little
Speaker 1: bit better. I think they're probably the safest bet out West.
Speaker 1: You know, I think this is going to come off
Speaker 1: as crazy because they're a playing team right now, But
Speaker 1: I'm to say the Phoenix Suns. I think that they
Speaker 1: have the best ability to knock off Denver out of
Speaker 1: the teams in that conference. I was originally leaning towards
Speaker 1: the Clippers in that regard, but the Clippers have been
Speaker 1: playing some dog shit basketball for the last couple of
Speaker 1: months and I'm actually pretty concerned about them. So I'm
Speaker 1: gonna go. I'm gonna go with Milwaukee versus Phoenix, all right.
Speaker 1: For more, as Golden State transitions from an offense around
Speaker 1: Steph Curry, what kind of offense should they adopt if
Speaker 1: Kaminga develops into a player who could be a focal point.
Speaker 1: So I'm still a big believer in the five out
Speaker 1: offense in general as a foundational build, especially with Tray
Speaker 1: Jackson Davis and some of the higher level stuff he's
Speaker 1: shown as a kind of screen and roll guy and
Speaker 1: as a cutter in general. It would look a little
Speaker 1: bit different because I think Kaminga has a lot of
Speaker 1: like individual on an island game to him, and I
Speaker 1: think that's part of his best, you know, kind of
Speaker 1: future potential in this league is a guy that like
Speaker 1: no one can guard on an island, especially those like
Speaker 1: face up ISO and post up situations, And so I
Speaker 1: kind of think of it a lot like the twenty
Speaker 1: eighteen twenty seventeen Warriors, where they run their five out stuff,
Speaker 1: but a lot of times they'll run action just to
Speaker 1: get Kaminga or excuse me, to get Kevin Durant to
Speaker 1: a spot where he can go to work. Right. Another
Speaker 1: team who does this a lot is Denver. Denver runs
Speaker 1: the five out offense, but like a lot of times
Speaker 1: they'll just be like, let's run this wedge screen, which
Speaker 1: is like essentially a cross screen that takes place around
Speaker 1: the high post to try to get Jokic into deep
Speaker 1: post position. Then they'll throw the ball down to Yokitch
Speaker 1: and then everyone spaces the floor. You know, like even
Speaker 1: even the five out approach for Denver looks like four
Speaker 1: out sometimes in the sense that they'll just come down
Speaker 1: and they'll get out of their five out stuff and
Speaker 1: they'll just space and then they'll run two man game.
Speaker 1: You know, they'll also come down and they'll run their
Speaker 1: five out right, They'll run horn sets, they'll run you know,
Speaker 1: pistol stuff, and they'll get into their actions. But a
Speaker 1: lot of times they'll just be like, you know what,
Speaker 1: we're gonna run our Yokich Murray two man game and
Speaker 1: we're just gonna clear the side right, or we're gonna
Speaker 1: run with an occupied corner, run it in the at
Speaker 1: the top of the floor. Whatever it is they're gonna do.
Speaker 1: They will just spam an action to get the their
Speaker 1: scores into spots, right. That's kind of the way look
Speaker 1: at it with KAMINGA. I'd still i think it's important
Speaker 1: for Kamina to learn how to play and the read
Speaker 1: and react five out stuff that Golden State does because
Speaker 1: Steph Curry's not going anywhere, and Steph Curry's got at
Speaker 1: least a couple more years of him being damn good,
Speaker 1: and so you need to learn how to play off
Speaker 1: of that. And that's gonna involve a lot of the
Speaker 1: five out stuff. But I think they could break away
Speaker 1: and just it'd be a call, right So, like maybe
Speaker 1: on a dead ball situation, Steve Curry is gonna call
Speaker 1: a play to get Kaminga and Iso in a good
Speaker 1: position on the floor. I mean, they more or less
Speaker 1: are doing this right now anyway. But like that to
Speaker 1: me is where I look at the development for Kaminga.
Speaker 1: It's got to be both. He's got to be able
Speaker 1: to function as a cog in the five out alongside
Speaker 1: Steph Curry while also being a guy that can work
Speaker 1: on an island, because that's one of his best individual traits.
Speaker 1: This is a fun one. What team do you reckon
Speaker 1: has the best vibes? This is important because he's trying
Speaker 1: to settle a debate. So I just off the top
Speaker 1: of my head, I ranked my top five vibes teams
Speaker 1: now again, vibes for me are teams that just like
Speaker 1: each other, love playing basketball just overall, over the course
Speaker 1: of the season, there's less of the dips down into
Speaker 1: the malaise, and the word just seems like they're unhappy
Speaker 1: and don't like each other. Number One, I put the
Speaker 1: Denver Nuggets again. They've just been I've just had so
Speaker 1: much fun watching them this year. They've been a really
Speaker 1: fun defending champion because they just have been better in
Speaker 1: so many different ways, and everyone is so bought into
Speaker 1: their role. They don't even have disease of more stuff
Speaker 1: like that was the whole thing with pat Riley remembers,
Speaker 1: like you win a title and then it's the disease
Speaker 1: of more. Everybody wants more after they have the trophy.
Speaker 1: That has not been an issue for Denver. For Two.
Speaker 1: I put the New York Knicks. They all year long,
Speaker 1: they just everyone seems to be in line in their roles.
Speaker 1: Everyone trust Jalen Brunson to lead everything, everyone to trust
Speaker 1: Tom Thibodeaux, everyone's body in every single night. They play
Speaker 1: for a group of a lot of veteran guys. They
Speaker 1: play really hard all the time. Really really like the Knicks. Three.
Speaker 1: I put the New Orleans Pelicans. They've been one of
Speaker 1: the best vibes teams in the league for a half decade.
Speaker 1: Now they have their their theirroles where they don't play
Speaker 1: super well. But it doesn't really stem from personality differences
Speaker 1: or seeming like they like they don't like each other.
Speaker 1: It's just they have their own talent issues that they
Speaker 1: have that they have to deal with. But I have
Speaker 1: New Orleans at three. Four, I put Boston. I think
Speaker 1: they've had really good vibes this year, and then five
Speaker 1: I put the Oklahoma City Thunder. All right, two more?
Speaker 1: Do you think d lo is gonna break in the
Speaker 1: playoffs again? I don't see him being able to handle
Speaker 1: a lot of speed or physicality. He's good, but I
Speaker 1: feel kind of soft hard defenders throw him off, So
Speaker 1: I agree for the record, I specifically think dil has
Speaker 1: improved this year, but in areas he was already good.
Speaker 1: He's gone from being a good shooter to a better shooter.
Speaker 1: He's gone from being a good pick and roll decision
Speaker 1: maker to a better pick and roll decision maker. He's
Speaker 1: gone from being like a guy who was let's just
Speaker 1: set that aside for a second. His weaknesses though, were handling,
Speaker 1: physical ball pressure, defensive focus and effectiveness, especially in off
Speaker 1: ball situations, and just in general, like his shot falling
Speaker 1: apart when the physical intensity picks up, not just falling apart,
Speaker 1: but falling apart in a bad way, like where he's
Speaker 1: missing by a lot. Right, those are his issues. What
Speaker 1: have we seen this year? We've seen him be better
Speaker 1: at the things that we know he's already good at.
Speaker 1: But he continues to struggle with ball pressure. He continues
Speaker 1: to struggle to make shots in super physical environments. He
Speaker 1: continues to turn the basketball over and struggle with dealing
Speaker 1: with length on the ball. Like he just struggles there.
Speaker 1: So like, I tend to think that Dlo is going
Speaker 1: to be more or less the same player when we
Speaker 1: get to the postseason, depending on the matchup. I do
Speaker 1: think he'll still have really high highs as we get
Speaker 1: to specific matchups where he's more comfortable. That is, if
Speaker 1: the Lakers even make the playoffs last one. Why isn't
Speaker 1: Luca in the MVP discussion. He leads the NBA in
Speaker 1: overall stats and the MAVs have been on fire since
Speaker 1: the trade deadline. It's really as simple. They don't even
Speaker 1: have a top ten record in the league, at least
Speaker 1: at the time of recording here on Friday morning, So like,
Speaker 1: really it's just if you go back through NBA history,
Speaker 1: if you're not in the top ten in the NBA standings,
Speaker 1: like you can't be considered for MVP. Your team's just
Speaker 1: not good enough. Luca's been amazing this year, massively improved
Speaker 1: as a three point shooter, obviously, even though there's some
Speaker 1: ugly moments and Lucas still good for some duds on
Speaker 1: the defensive end of the floor. For the most part,
Speaker 1: he's been much better defensively this year than he has
Speaker 1: been in years past. So like Luca's played like an MVP,
Speaker 1: but like winning an MVP is as much a team
Speaker 1: accomplishment as it is a player accomplishment, and the Dallas
Speaker 1: Mavericks have just not quite been good enough. All right, guys,
Speaker 1: That is all I have for today is always as
Speaker 1: sincerely appreciate you guys for supporting the show. Thanks for
Speaker 1: letting me hop out of town for a little bit.
Speaker 1: I will see you guys on Thursday for a fun
Speaker 1: breakdown of Sun's nuggets. Should be a good one. I'll
Speaker 1: see you guys. Then. The volume