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Speaker 1: The Volume.

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Speaker 2: All right, welcome to hoops tonight here at the Volume.

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Speaker 2: Happy Monday, everybody, hopefull if you guys had an incredible weekend.

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Speaker 2: We're back to talk some hoops today. Damian Lillard and

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Speaker 2: Jannison Tendacumpo made their preseason debut with the Bucks, and

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Speaker 2: we're about as impactful as you would expect them to be.

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Speaker 2: We're gonna break that game down, and then we're gonna

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Speaker 2: dive into two young players who've had great preseasons so far.

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Speaker 2: Jonathan Kminga is averaging twenty six points per game for

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Speaker 2: the Warriors, a team that desperately needs a forward who's

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Speaker 2: ready to play, not just in the season, but in

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Speaker 2: the postseason. So we're gonna do a deep dive into

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Speaker 2: Jonathan Kminga's preseason what translates to what they need from

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Speaker 2: him in the long run. And then Victor Wentbinyama is

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Speaker 2: putting up just absolutely staggering numbers so far in preseason

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Speaker 2: as well. We're gonna dive into his first two performances

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Speaker 2: and then we're back up to number two in our

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Speaker 2: power rank. The Milwaukee Bucks are up for a full

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Speaker 2: season previews, so we're gonna do a full breakdown of

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Speaker 2: everything the Bucks did this offseason and what I expect

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Speaker 2: to see from them this season as well. So jam

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Speaker 2: packed show. We're gonna be spending a lot of time

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Speaker 2: on the Eastern Conference. You guys know the drill. Before

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Speaker 2: we get started. We did actually just launch a new

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Speaker 2: YouTube channel under Hoops Tonight, So it would mean the

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Speaker 2: world to me if you guys would take the time

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Speaker 2: to hit that subscribe button and let's try to grow

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Speaker 2: that channel up to some sort of cool, massive number.

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Speaker 2: Let's go for it, and then follow me on Twitter, Instagram,

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Speaker 2: and TikTok wherever you can find me under Jason timp

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Speaker 2: and then my podcast feed under Hoops Tonight. And then

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Speaker 2: last but not least, we need more mailbag questions, so

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Speaker 2: keep dropping those under the YouTube comments. All right, let's

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Speaker 2: talk some basketball. So it was interesting the Bucks came

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Speaker 2: out and we were all waiting for the Dame Jannis

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Speaker 2: pick and Roll, which we're gonna spend a lot of

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Speaker 2: time talking about today. We're gonna talk a little bit

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Speaker 2: about it in this particular breakdown. Then I'm gonna do

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Speaker 2: a deep dive into the schematics of the Dame Jannis

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Speaker 2: Pick and Roll. All the different ways to guard it.

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Speaker 2: I each one of those ways probably won't work and

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Speaker 2: everything entailing those two playing together when we get to

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Speaker 2: the season preview, so stick around to the end of

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Speaker 2: the episode for that. But I thought it was interesting

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Speaker 2: that they actually opened the game with back to back

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Speaker 2: post ups. For Jannis on the left block, he had

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Speaker 2: that kind of step through hook shot over Christian Wood

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Speaker 2: and then he had to turn around fade away over

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Speaker 2: his right shoulder that he missed. But what was interesting

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Speaker 2: is they ran a screening action with Dame to get

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Speaker 2: Janis the ball on the block. Why is that important?

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Speaker 2: That's an easy way to fight for easy post position.

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Speaker 2: Now you might say it's Christian wood Yiannis probably doesn't

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Speaker 2: need help getting deep post position, and that's true. But

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Speaker 2: against certain matchups, especially fire hydrant forwards right like big strong.

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Speaker 2: Imagine Grant Williams as an example, a guy that's had

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Speaker 2: some success guarding Gianis in the past. Imagine a guy

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Speaker 2: like that. It can be hard for Jannis to bully

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Speaker 2: down to specific spots closer to the basket. So if

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Speaker 2: you run a screening action with a guy like Dame

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Speaker 2: that is impossible to help off of, it makes it

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Speaker 2: so that that forward has to navigate that screening action

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Speaker 2: before they can beat Giannis to that spot. It will

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Speaker 2: help him catch deeper post position. I thought that was

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Speaker 2: an interesting little wrinkle there that you saw right from

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Speaker 2: the opening tip the first pick and roll they ran

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Speaker 2: on the left wing, Christian Wood and D'Angelo Russell both

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Speaker 2: kind of bracket around Dame. Dame throws that easy pocket

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Speaker 2: pass to Giannis rolling down the middle. The Lakers actually

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Speaker 2: tagged two guys on the roller, and in the process,

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Speaker 2: Ruey Hachimura rotates down to brook Lopez. You have two

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Speaker 2: wide open shooters. You've got j Crowder on the right wing,

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Speaker 2: who Jannis ended up making the pass too, and then

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Speaker 2: you have an even better shooter who was even more

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Speaker 2: wide open in the left corder in Malik Beasley at

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Speaker 2: just one action with one simple example of how much

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Speaker 2: chaos it can cause for the defense, and it goes

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Speaker 2: even further than that because Crowder misses the three, but

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Speaker 2: on the possession, brook Lopez rolls to the basket to

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Speaker 2: crash the offensive glass. But because Ruey kind of rotated

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Speaker 2: on that possession, he was out of position. Because ad

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Speaker 2: was tagging the roller, he was out of position. So

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Speaker 2: what did brook Lopez do. He just went right under

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Speaker 2: the basket and boxed eighty out, got an easy offensive rebound,

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Speaker 2: and put it back in the basket. That's the kind

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Speaker 2: of havoc that is caused when your defense gets put

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Speaker 2: into rotation. We're gonna talk about that specific concept a

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Speaker 2: lot today, the concept of getting a defense into rotation

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Speaker 2: and what that means for how much harder it is

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Speaker 2: for them to do that job, especially when we get

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Speaker 2: into the season preview. In the game, they ran a

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Speaker 2: total of seven pick and rolls together, all in the

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Speaker 2: first half, and here were the outcomes. That wide open

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Speaker 2: three for Crowder that led to the easy put back

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Speaker 2: which I just told you about. Second one on the

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Speaker 2: left wing, Dame got doubled, so they just straight up

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Speaker 2: doubled and trapped Dame out by the three point line.

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Speaker 2: Giannis rolled to the basket. When he rolled to the

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Speaker 2: basket for like a post up position, Dame hits him

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Speaker 2: with the pass at the block, and it's kind of

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Speaker 2: like this weird possession where Ads pinned on his top side,

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Speaker 2: in large part because Giannis was rolling to the basket unguarded,

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Speaker 2: and Giannice kind of fumbled the ball and went up

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Speaker 2: and dunked it. It was ugly, but it's two points, right,

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Speaker 2: So we're through two pick and rolls and we have

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Speaker 2: four points already. The next one, Dame got fouled onto

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Speaker 2: three pointer and he made all three to three points,

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Speaker 2: all three free throws. Then we have a Dame missed

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Speaker 2: pull up three. Then we had a Dame he got

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Speaker 2: downhill on Christian Wood and tried to do like a

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Speaker 2: foul grifty kind of pull up jump shot that he missed.

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Speaker 2: Then there was a play that Dame rejected the screen

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Speaker 2: and got downhill like just toasted Torny and Prince. And

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Speaker 2: on the play he had Brook Lopez wide open in

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Speaker 2: the corner, but he misread the rotation and he actually

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Speaker 2: ended up kicking to Malik Beasily instead, who wasn't as open.

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Speaker 2: It got rotated to Lopez, but the close out opportunity

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Speaker 2: was gone. Lopez ended up getting into the lane and

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Speaker 2: missing like a little tough like kind of like high

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Speaker 2: push shot. But still, I mean the action itself generated

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Speaker 2: what it was supposed to generate, which was a straight

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Speaker 2: line drive and help defense to make a read. Dame

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Speaker 2: just missed the read. And then the last one he

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Speaker 2: split christian Wood on a pick and roll. So christian

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Speaker 2: Wood showed and he split with the dribble, got downhill

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Speaker 2: and made an and one layup and made the free throw.

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Speaker 2: So he made some bad reads and missed all of

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Speaker 2: his pull up jump shots, and they still got ten

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Speaker 2: points out of seven Jannis Dame ball screens, So like again,

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Speaker 2: ten points on seven ball screens, and it didn't really

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Speaker 2: go all that well and was still kind of sloppy.

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Speaker 2: So like again, it's just gonna be nearly impossible to guard.

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Speaker 2: And again I'm gonna dive into the schematics of it

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Speaker 2: later on in the show, because I do think it's interesting,

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Speaker 2: because I've tried to think of any different way that

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Speaker 2: you could guard it, different types of hedges versus high drop,

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Speaker 2: versus blitzing, versus dropping versus switching, and all the different

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Speaker 2: ramifications that can come into play there. We are going

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Speaker 2: to dive into that later on in the show. Yannis

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Speaker 2: looked more and more or less like Yannis. He took

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Speaker 2: five jumpers and made one of them, but he did

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Speaker 2: make every other shot attempt heam made mostly dunks, as

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Speaker 2: per usual. I thought Pat Conaton looked better at the

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Speaker 2: two guard spot. Than Malik Beasley. I think he's just

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Speaker 2: a little bigger, a little better rebounder, and in general,

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Speaker 2: just a more consistent shooter. Something that we'll talk about.

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Speaker 2: I covered Malik Beasley very closely with the Lakers last year,

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Speaker 2: so we'll talk about that when we get to the

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Speaker 2: season preview. But I thought that that was a pat

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Speaker 2: Coninton made four threes in the game at eight rebounds.

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Speaker 2: I think he just makes more sense than that two

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Speaker 2: guard spot in the long run, unless they have a

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Speaker 2: trade in mind at some point down the road. And

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Speaker 2: then Marjon Beauchamp had a really nice first half. He

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Speaker 2: was out working Cam Reddish. There was a play where

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Speaker 2: he kind of crashed the glass out of the corner.

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Speaker 2: Cam kind of chased him down under the basket, but

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Speaker 2: then Marjar just kept going kind of like in a

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Speaker 2: banana route around to the front of the rim. Just

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Speaker 2: by being a body perpetually staying in motion, he ends

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Speaker 2: up getting an offensive rebound put back. He had a

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Speaker 2: nice pull up jump shot off of a curl where

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Speaker 2: his defender was in a trail position. He got downhill

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Speaker 2: made a little fifteen footer. And then there was a

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Speaker 2: play later in the first half where he took a

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Speaker 2: dribble hand off from Pat Conenton, and the Lakers botched

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Speaker 2: the switch and both guys ran with Pat, and he

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Speaker 2: actually did a really nice job of looking down, identifying

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Speaker 2: that he was open, seeing that he was in two

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Speaker 2: point range, but along too, and just took a little

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Speaker 2: step back that not only set his rhythm but got

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Speaker 2: him to a point where it was a higher value

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Speaker 2: shot and he knocked down a three. He's gonna be

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Speaker 2: a very important player for this Bucks team, especially with

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Speaker 2: some of the depth that they lost in the Drew

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Speaker 2: Holiday trade. But overall, I thought it was a really

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Speaker 2: encouraging first performance for the Bucks. On the defensive end, Obviously,

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Speaker 2: the talk was Dame on defense, what is he gonna

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Speaker 2: be able to accomplish compared to what Drew accomplished, And

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Speaker 2: you saw some of the downsides of that early on.

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Speaker 2: You saw Ruy Hachimura attacking Dame in the post, and

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Speaker 2: there was a play where he got a deep seal

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Speaker 2: and they were able to throw the pass over the

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Speaker 2: top and Ruey got a dunk because Dame tried to

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Speaker 2: front him. And then there was a player where they

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Speaker 2: double teamed Dame or double teamed Ruey on a Dame

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Speaker 2: post up. When Ruy was attacking Dame, Ruey made the

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Speaker 2: skip pass that ended up working around back to Anthony

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Speaker 2: Davison rotation for an easy layup and one. So there

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Speaker 2: are some things they're gonna have to work on, Like,

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Speaker 2: for instance, like if Dame is gonna front the post,

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Speaker 2: there has to be backside help, right If you're gonna

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Speaker 2: double Dame in post up situations, there's got to be

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Speaker 2: really sharp rotations. Again, like a lot of people are

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Speaker 2: gonna hyper focus on that, And like, here's what I

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Speaker 2: would say, Dame is not the only basketball player in

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Speaker 2: the league that Ruy, Hatcha Mura, or other big forwards

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Speaker 2: around the league can post up. It's very nice that

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Speaker 2: Drew was uniquely equipped to be able to kind of

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Speaker 2: battle against that stuff, but he's unique in that sense.

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Speaker 2: Every team in the league has those problems to some extent,

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Speaker 2: some sort of smaller player in the back court that

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Speaker 2: if you post him up, you can have problems. Right now,

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Speaker 2: this particular Bucks team hasn't had that problem as much

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Speaker 2: in years past, but this year that's something they're gonna

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Speaker 2: have to sharpen up in their defense. They're gonna have

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Speaker 2: to have basically contingencies set up to make it so

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Speaker 2: that they can come up or make up for Dame's

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Speaker 2: lack of size and specific matchups. Overall, though, like I said,

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Speaker 2: I thought it was very encouraging on the Lakers front.

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Speaker 2: Another really solid performance from Anthony Davis sixteen points, seven rebounds,

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Speaker 2: and five assists with zero turnovers, two steals, and two

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Speaker 2: blocks in one half of play. Hard to do much

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Speaker 2: better than that. Another one of those plays that just

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Speaker 2: kind of demonstrates how incredibly gifted Anthony Davis is defensively.

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Speaker 2: Damian Lother comes off a dribble handoff in the right

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Speaker 2: corner and he ends up kind of like right worthy

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Speaker 2: above the break line, starts and he appears wide open

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Speaker 2: if you freeze it. Dame has the ball and he's

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Speaker 2: wide open, and Anthony Davis takes one step and rises

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Speaker 2: up to contest and blocks a Damian Lillard pull up three.

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Speaker 2: I know the nbagms, for whatever reason, have it out

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Speaker 2: for him, but I still think he's the best defensive

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Speaker 2: player in the league, and that was just an unbelievable

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Speaker 2: only he's only he can make that type of play

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Speaker 2: performance from Anthony Davis. He is plus twenty five in

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Speaker 2: his shifts so far in preseason, He's been a positive

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Speaker 2: against every team that he's faced, and his jumper looks great.

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Speaker 2: Anthony Davis has taken fourteen jump shots so far in

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Speaker 2: preseason that have led to nineteen points. That's one point

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Speaker 2: three to six points per shot. Last year in the

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Speaker 2: regular season, he was at zero point seven eight. So

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Speaker 2: he's almost twice as efficient so far in preseason with

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Speaker 2: his jump shot as he was last season. Now, again,

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Speaker 2: small sample size preseason obviously, like I won't expect many

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Speaker 2: players in the league to maintain that type of jump

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Speaker 2: efficiency over the course of a season, but it's a

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Speaker 2: really good sign that Anthony Davis has been working on

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Speaker 2: that specifically a lot this offseason. His release looks smoother.

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Speaker 2: I think it's a very encouraging sign of what's to

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Speaker 2: come because they need him to make those jump shots.

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Speaker 2: One of our mailback questions later is involving Lebron's jump shot,

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Speaker 2: and there's gonna be some talk there and it does matter.

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Speaker 2: But at the end of the day, to me, especially

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Speaker 2: at this phase in his career, Anthony Davis, in his

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Speaker 2: over the top scoring is going to be the thing

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Speaker 2: that kind of like separates their offense from what it

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Speaker 2: can be from what it was last year. He did

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Speaker 2: hit a nice little step back jump shot over Brook

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Speaker 2: Lopez that kind of like over the top shot making

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Speaker 2: in particular is going to be super valuable for a

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Speaker 2: Lakers team that struggled in the half court, especially in

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Speaker 2: clutch situations last year. In the postseason, Torrian Prince as

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Speaker 2: a starter is my last Lakers thing, and then we're

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Speaker 2: gonna move on to the young guys. So I was

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Speaker 2: under the impression before the season. Well, Jovan Buja told

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Speaker 2: us in the when he came on the show that

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Speaker 2: he thought Ruey Hachimurro was the clubhouse favorite coming into preseason.

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Speaker 2: Then after the start of camp and stuff, him and

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Speaker 2: I were both leaning towards Jared Vanderbilt. But a couple things.

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Speaker 2: Jared Vanderbilt has been a little hurt, and Ruby Hatcha

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Speaker 2: Mura makes a lot of sense coming off the bench,

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Speaker 2: And as a result of that, Torrian Prince has got

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Speaker 2: an opportunity, and Torrian Prince has been playing lights out

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Speaker 2: in that starting three position. Now here's the thing. It's

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Speaker 2: all about synergy that's making this work. In my opinion,

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Speaker 2: and the reason why I think he's got a chance

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Speaker 2: to earn this spot. I don't think Torrian does any

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Speaker 2: one thing as well as Jared Vanderbilt does defensively on

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Speaker 2: the perimeter, or as Ruby Hatchimura can do as a

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Speaker 2: scorer in general with his physical tools, right, But he

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Speaker 2: does a lot of things pretty well right, and he's

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Speaker 2: probably the best stand still jump shooter. Then, out of

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Speaker 2: those three guys, here's the thing in a lineup that's

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Speaker 2: gonna have. Austin Reeves a high level shot creator, D'Angel

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Speaker 2: Russell hi level shot creator, Lebron James a high level

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Speaker 2: shot creator, and Anthony Day as a high level shot creator.

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Speaker 2: You need a guy who's a specialist when it comes

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Speaker 2: to knocking down spot up three point shots right or

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Speaker 2: making plays attacking closeouts. And then on the defensive end

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Speaker 2: of the floor, He's not as good of a perimeter

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Speaker 2: defender as Jared Vanderbilt, but he is a better perimeter

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Speaker 2: defender than Ruby Hotcha. Murray is a little thinner, a

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Speaker 2: little quicker with his feet, and better at navigating screens.

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Speaker 2: And so, in a weird way, it's less about which

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Speaker 2: player's best out of those three guys, and better about

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Speaker 2: and more about which player compliments the core four players more.

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Speaker 2: And it's clear that Torre and Prince compliments the core

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Speaker 2: four Lakers starters at a really high level right now,

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Speaker 2: and I think as of right now, it appears that

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Speaker 2: he will be the starter on opening night at the

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Speaker 2: Small Ford. And then here's the thing that just opens

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Speaker 2: up the ability to go to bench lineups that have

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Speaker 2: Jared Vanderbilt, Ruby hot Chimura in them, which takes even

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Speaker 2: further to the concept that I've been talking about with

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Speaker 2: the Lakers all preseason, which is about their depth and

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Speaker 2: the advantage that that provides over the course of the

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Speaker 2: eighty two the ability to have guys out of the

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Speaker 2: lineup and have your bench lineups still have guys that

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Speaker 2: are high caliber players, Guys like Gabe Vincent who started

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Speaker 2: on a final team, Guys like Ruy Hatcha Mura who

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Speaker 2: was a very important player on a conference finals team

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Speaker 2: last year. Right, Jackson Hayes is a better backup center

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Speaker 2: than what they had last year. Jared Vanderbilt is one

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Speaker 2: of the better perimeter defenders in the league. So you

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Speaker 2: can kind of piece that together and see that just

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Speaker 2: from the sheer standpoint of down the roster talent, they're

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Speaker 2: in a better position than they were in years past.

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Speaker 2: All Right, So a lot of talking the preseason for

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Speaker 2: Golden State about what they're going to do at the

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Speaker 2: forward position, right, And we saw last year that Steve

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Speaker 2: Kerr did not trust Jonathan Kaminga, but he did trust

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Speaker 2: Moses Moody. Especially towards the latter portion of that Lakers series.

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Speaker 2: He was playing solid point of attack defense, although he's

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Speaker 2: committing a few too many fouls, and he shot the

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Speaker 2: ball well and that kind of ended up being the

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Speaker 2: reason why he got that spot. Now we know they

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Speaker 2: brought in Dario Sarich, who's going to be a guy

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Speaker 2: who helps with forward death, but that's gonna be matchup dependent.

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Speaker 2: There are going to be teams out there where you

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Speaker 2: can't afford to have a guy like Dario sarch on

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Speaker 2: the floor of some of his limitations defensively, right, And

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Speaker 2: so what they're hoping for is for one of these

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Speaker 2: forwards to pop. And obviously Moses Moody is like your

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Speaker 2: higher floor, lower ceiling option, right. He's a guy that

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Speaker 2: is a better standstill, knocked down three point shooter than

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Speaker 2: Jonathan Kaminga, but not as good at putting the ball

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Speaker 2: on the floor as Jonathan Kminga, right, not as athletic

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Speaker 2: as Jonathan Kamina. He's a good physical point of attack defender,

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Speaker 2: but he's not as good as Jonathan Kaminga can be

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Speaker 2: when he's at his peak at the perimeter. Jonathan Kaminga's

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Speaker 2: got a little bit of that and Andrew Wiggins potential

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Speaker 2: as a as an athletic perimeter defender, right, But in

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Speaker 2: terms of decision making and just what he does well

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Speaker 2: that fits alongside the core Warriors players. Moody's been in

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Speaker 2: a better position over the course of the last couple

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Speaker 2: of years, but Jonathan Kaminga is whooping his ass off

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Speaker 2: in preseason. He's averaging twenty six points, six rebounds, and

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Speaker 2: three assists so far, fifty five percent from the field,

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Speaker 2: forty seven percent from three on six attempts per game,

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Speaker 2: and seventy six percent from the line. He's converting spot

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Speaker 2: up possessions at one point two points per possession, and

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Speaker 2: his half court creation metrics have been outstanding. Nine points

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Speaker 2: on eight pick and rolls that's over a point per possession,

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Speaker 2: thirteen points on nine ISOs that's way over a point

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Speaker 2: per possession, and eight points on six post ups that

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Speaker 2: total's at thirty points on twenty three possessions against set

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Speaker 2: half court defenses where he's initiating the action, and he's

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Speaker 2: at one point three points per possession. That's outstanding. He's

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Speaker 2: made ten of his nineteen jump shots. He's taken four

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Speaker 2: pull up jump shots and he's made three of them.

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Speaker 2: So it's hard to be any better than what Jonathan

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Speaker 2: k Ming has been so far in preseason. So the

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Speaker 2: next question is what is replicable from that with the

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Speaker 2: core lineups? Right, because obviously free preseason has more of

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Speaker 2: a free flowing type of feel compared to what you're

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Speaker 2: gonna be asking this guy to do in Game three

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Speaker 2: against the Lakers in the Western Conference semifinals, right, Like,

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Speaker 2: it's gonna be different, right, So I wanted to take

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Speaker 2: a closer look at that. So, first of all, the

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Speaker 2: spot up possessions, obviously, whether it's him in the corner

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Speaker 2: or cutting along the baseline, which he does pretty well

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Speaker 2: for the most part, he needs to be able to

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Speaker 2: make defenses pay for not guarding him. Two points for

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Speaker 2: spotup possessions so far, that's encouraging. If he can keep

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Speaker 2: that up, that's a big step in that direction. Transition possessions.

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Speaker 2: The Golden State Warriors are constantly hunting transition possessions, which

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Speaker 2: is something they need to do because last year they

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Speaker 2: struggled with half court offense against the best defenses right

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Speaker 2: So again, the best half court offenses are never going

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Speaker 2: to be as efficient as an average transition offense, So

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Speaker 2: having guys that can get up and down and run

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Speaker 2: the floor and score is a huge value. Second half

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Speaker 2: of the Kings game the other night, he blew by

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Speaker 2: Kevin Herder and semi transitions coming up the left wing,

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Speaker 2: Herders backpedaling. Herders just a smaller, less athletic player, and

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Speaker 2: Kaminga just hits him with a hard right handed dribble,

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Speaker 2: just blows right by him, lays it up on the

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Speaker 2: right side of the rim, right like that's something that

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Speaker 2: he can continue to do even with the core guys.

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Speaker 2: He's had a couple of baskets trailing the play right,

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Speaker 2: like we saw the Gary Payton drop off pass where

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Speaker 2: a Kamingo was like floating head above the rim as

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Speaker 2: he laid it in, and then he had that lob

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Speaker 2: dunk in the in the Lakers game. These are easy

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Speaker 2: buckets that he can get in the flow of the

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Speaker 2: offense without having to command half court possessions or take

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Speaker 2: the ball away from Steph Curry or do something that

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Speaker 2: he's not gonna be able to do in some sort

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Speaker 2: of key postseason environment. That is a legitimate weapon to

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Speaker 2: have an athlete that can run the floor and transition

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Speaker 2: and score the matchup attacking I think has been really interesting.

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Speaker 2: And again, are they going to run a bunch of

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Speaker 2: Kaminga ISOs or post ups at the end of a

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Speaker 2: close playoff game. Probably not, but it is a useful

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Speaker 2: weapon over the course of the eighty two, and if

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00:18:27,359 --> 00:18:30,480
Speaker 2: he demonstrates it over the eighty two, you might see

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Speaker 2: it in bench runs during the playoffs, like late first quarter,

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Speaker 2: early second quarter, late third quarter, early fourth quarter, where

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Speaker 2: you might see Jonathan Kaminga get some opportunities to score.

401
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Speaker 2: He's just two damn big, strong and athletic for most

402
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Speaker 2: of these NBA defenders, and they've done some stuff to

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Speaker 2: make it easy on him, right, Like I've seen, especially

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Speaker 2: against the Kings, they had a couple plays where they

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Speaker 2: cleared the side for him. There's a play where he

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Speaker 2: cleared the side against Aaron Fox. He was in the

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Speaker 2: first half and like he patiently waited for the guys

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Speaker 2: to go get spaced out, and then he literally didn't

409
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Speaker 2: do anything fancy. He just looked Darren Fox in the face,

410
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Speaker 2: ripped through to the middle, shouldered him with that left arm,

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Speaker 2: bumped him off and made an easy floater in the lane.

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Speaker 2: That's easy basketball. Darren Fox is a good defensive player,

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Speaker 2: but that's just a bigger, stronger athlete. There's nothing he

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Speaker 2: can do about that. Then in the second half, same thing.

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Speaker 2: They clear the right side this time and he's going

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00:19:23,640 --> 00:19:28,320
Speaker 2: against Sasha Vazankov. Same thing, just hard dribble towards the left.

417
00:19:28,800 --> 00:19:32,119
Speaker 2: Vzaykov cuts him off because he anticipated the move. But

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Speaker 2: there's just no way in hell he's gonna be able

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Speaker 2: to hang with him on the counter move. Hard dribble,

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Speaker 2: spin all the way to the basket, easy layup at

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Speaker 2: the rim, a layup he's going to literally make one

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Speaker 2: hundred percent of the time. That's the type of physical

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Speaker 2: advantage he brings to the table. Second half against Alex

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Speaker 2: Lenni gets him on a switch. They're spaced out in

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Speaker 2: five out spacing. He doesn't even have a cleared side,

426
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Speaker 2: but he just beats Alex Lenne with a really quick

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Speaker 2: dribble to the left hand in a layup. And then

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Speaker 2: I know you guys all remember the first Lakers game,

429
00:20:00,240 --> 00:20:03,200
Speaker 2: the very first preseason game when he hit that spin

430
00:20:03,240 --> 00:20:05,399
Speaker 2: move against Torrian Prince and the lane for the n one.

431
00:20:05,560 --> 00:20:08,400
Speaker 2: He's just he just has such a physical advantage that

432
00:20:08,400 --> 00:20:11,960
Speaker 2: there's there's points there. And the Warriors again, they're they're

433
00:20:12,119 --> 00:20:15,400
Speaker 2: they're putting him in positions where he has significant physical

434
00:20:15,440 --> 00:20:18,919
Speaker 2: advantages and where he's got good spacing, meaning they are

435
00:20:18,920 --> 00:20:21,760
Speaker 2: either clearing the side or making his reads easy. Why

436
00:20:21,840 --> 00:20:23,639
Speaker 2: is clearing the side important because then you don't have

437
00:20:23,680 --> 00:20:25,880
Speaker 2: to worry about help from one side of the court.

438
00:20:25,920 --> 00:20:28,480
Speaker 2: You can just face the other side. A lot of

439
00:20:28,560 --> 00:20:31,560
Speaker 2: young players and guys that you know aren't accustomed to

440
00:20:31,560 --> 00:20:33,520
Speaker 2: being floor generals, are not as good at kind of

441
00:20:33,520 --> 00:20:36,720
Speaker 2: digesting everything that's happening on the court. So clear aside

442
00:20:36,720 --> 00:20:38,720
Speaker 2: for him, you take away half of his decision making

443
00:20:38,760 --> 00:20:42,040
Speaker 2: process and you make things easier for him. And then lastly,

444
00:20:42,080 --> 00:20:45,600
Speaker 2: he's using his gifts. He's not taking dumb fait aways,

445
00:20:45,600 --> 00:20:49,480
Speaker 2: he's not settling. He is being physically aggressive towards the

446
00:20:49,520 --> 00:20:52,440
Speaker 2: basket and elevating over the top of guys for easy shots.

447
00:20:53,000 --> 00:20:55,119
Speaker 2: Now the question is what will be the keys for

448
00:20:55,200 --> 00:20:58,160
Speaker 2: him to crack the playoff rotation to get more minutes

449
00:20:58,200 --> 00:21:00,800
Speaker 2: than guys like Dario sarach or Moses Because here's the thing,

450
00:21:01,359 --> 00:21:04,440
Speaker 2: Like Moses Moody to me is that higher floor, lower

451
00:21:04,440 --> 00:21:07,560
Speaker 2: ceiling option, right, Like he's gonna be more consistent in

452
00:21:07,560 --> 00:21:10,800
Speaker 2: all likelihood. Dario sariz I would argue even higher floor,

453
00:21:10,960 --> 00:21:13,320
Speaker 2: right because he's just a veteran who's been in a

454
00:21:13,359 --> 00:21:16,240
Speaker 2: lot of a lot. He's just play a lot more basketball, right.

455
00:21:16,680 --> 00:21:19,560
Speaker 2: So obviously the floor is higher for those guys, but

456
00:21:19,800 --> 00:21:23,760
Speaker 2: unquestionably the ceiling is higher for Kaminga. There's a universe

457
00:21:23,760 --> 00:21:26,399
Speaker 2: where if he gets eighteen minutes a game in the playoffs,

458
00:21:26,520 --> 00:21:28,320
Speaker 2: that he could have a twenty point game or two.

459
00:21:28,680 --> 00:21:30,399
Speaker 2: That's the type of ceiling that he has that a

460
00:21:30,440 --> 00:21:33,280
Speaker 2: guy like Moses Moody doesn't have. But in order to

461
00:21:33,280 --> 00:21:36,000
Speaker 2: crack the rotation, he's got to be sharpened some specific areas.

462
00:21:36,119 --> 00:21:38,000
Speaker 2: He has to defend on the perimeter at the same

463
00:21:38,080 --> 00:21:40,280
Speaker 2: level that Andrew Wiggins does, which is something he's more

464
00:21:40,320 --> 00:21:43,399
Speaker 2: than capable of. He has to shoot the ball close

465
00:21:43,440 --> 00:21:45,600
Speaker 2: to as well as he has in the preseason. That's

466
00:21:45,600 --> 00:21:48,560
Speaker 2: something he's capable of. But most importantly, he has to

467
00:21:48,600 --> 00:21:52,159
Speaker 2: consistently make good decisions. That's the big pet peeve for

468
00:21:52,240 --> 00:21:55,320
Speaker 2: the Warriors. Ball stopping missing that extra pass to one

469
00:21:55,320 --> 00:21:58,520
Speaker 2: of their shooters, lack of attention to detail and transition defense,

470
00:21:58,560 --> 00:22:01,359
Speaker 2: help defense, things along those lines. Those are those areas

471
00:22:01,359 --> 00:22:04,199
Speaker 2: where Kamina has to be sharp throughout this season in

472
00:22:04,320 --> 00:22:08,080
Speaker 2: order to earn that spot in the playoff rotation. Now,

473
00:22:08,280 --> 00:22:12,240
Speaker 2: no matter what, I think, it's plainly visible to all

474
00:22:12,280 --> 00:22:14,400
Speaker 2: of us that this kid's going to be a star.

475
00:22:14,800 --> 00:22:17,160
Speaker 2: It's just a matter of when the tools are too insane.

476
00:22:17,440 --> 00:22:19,480
Speaker 2: The leaps that he's making on a season by season

477
00:22:19,680 --> 00:22:23,520
Speaker 2: basis with his specific skill set is you can't You

478
00:22:23,520 --> 00:22:25,480
Speaker 2: can't deny it at this point. It's it might take

479
00:22:25,480 --> 00:22:28,679
Speaker 2: another four or five years, but I think Jonathan Kaminga

480
00:22:28,720 --> 00:22:30,040
Speaker 2: has all Star in his future.

481
00:22:30,359 --> 00:22:34,960
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491
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505
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Speaker 2: is yours all right, let's move on to Wembnyama. So

506
00:24:01,600 --> 00:24:05,520
Speaker 2: far in two preseason games, Wemby is scoring at a

507
00:24:05,600 --> 00:24:09,080
Speaker 2: rate of thirty seven points per thirty six minutes on

508
00:24:09,200 --> 00:24:12,239
Speaker 2: sixty four percent shooting. Now, why do I say per

509
00:24:12,280 --> 00:24:15,080
Speaker 2: thirty six Because in preseason you're playing limited shifts, and

510
00:24:15,160 --> 00:24:17,679
Speaker 2: the average NBA player is going to play around thirty

511
00:24:17,720 --> 00:24:20,800
Speaker 2: six minutes per game during the course of the regular season.

512
00:24:20,800 --> 00:24:23,080
Speaker 2: Maybe the Spurs limit him down to thirty two or

513
00:24:23,119 --> 00:24:24,960
Speaker 2: thirty four or something like that. But I like per

514
00:24:25,000 --> 00:24:27,439
Speaker 2: thirty six because it's a way to take small, sample

515
00:24:27,480 --> 00:24:30,400
Speaker 2: sized stuff like, Oh, here's a bench big Let's see

516
00:24:30,400 --> 00:24:32,720
Speaker 2: how he would produce in a bigger role. Oh here's

517
00:24:33,000 --> 00:24:35,400
Speaker 2: a preseason shift. How would this look over the course

518
00:24:35,440 --> 00:24:36,719
Speaker 2: of a full regular season game?

519
00:24:36,800 --> 00:24:36,960
Speaker 1: Right?

520
00:24:36,960 --> 00:24:39,280
Speaker 2: Like, that's why I use per thirty six. So wembn

521
00:24:39,320 --> 00:24:43,159
Speaker 2: Yama is scoring at a rate of thirty seven points

522
00:24:43,160 --> 00:24:46,200
Speaker 2: per thirty six minutes. He's also at three point four

523
00:24:46,280 --> 00:24:49,959
Speaker 2: blocks and one point seven steals per thirty six minutes.

524
00:24:50,560 --> 00:24:54,400
Speaker 2: That's five point one stocks, which is steals plus box

525
00:24:54,440 --> 00:24:58,000
Speaker 2: put together. That's insane. And the crazy part is he

526
00:24:58,000 --> 00:25:00,719
Speaker 2: hasn't even functioned like a big man like I expected

527
00:25:00,800 --> 00:25:02,440
Speaker 2: him to For the most part, he had a couple

528
00:25:02,520 --> 00:25:05,199
Speaker 2: of pick and pop reps against the Heat, but for

529
00:25:05,240 --> 00:25:09,280
Speaker 2: the most part, he's acting like a scoring wing, which

530
00:25:09,280 --> 00:25:11,800
Speaker 2: I did not see coming coming into the disease. I thought

531
00:25:11,880 --> 00:25:15,320
Speaker 2: for sure that Popovich would kind of repurpose him into

532
00:25:15,400 --> 00:25:19,719
Speaker 2: a textbook you know, pick and pop, scoring big and

533
00:25:19,720 --> 00:25:22,080
Speaker 2: get him a lot of advantage situations. And I'm sure

534
00:25:22,119 --> 00:25:23,560
Speaker 2: he still will do a lot of that over the

535
00:25:23,560 --> 00:25:26,280
Speaker 2: course of his career. I just figured his scoring polish

536
00:25:26,359 --> 00:25:29,359
Speaker 2: would be kind of not quite ready to be used

537
00:25:29,400 --> 00:25:31,880
Speaker 2: as a wing. But I couldn't have been more wrong

538
00:25:31,920 --> 00:25:35,000
Speaker 2: about that so far through preseason. He made ten of

539
00:25:35,000 --> 00:25:38,720
Speaker 2: his fifteen shots against the Heat the other night, and

540
00:25:38,760 --> 00:25:41,920
Speaker 2: those ten makes included a pull up jumper at the

541
00:25:41,920 --> 00:25:43,800
Speaker 2: foul line coming off of a dribble handoff. That's a

542
00:25:43,840 --> 00:25:47,320
Speaker 2: wing move. A step back jumper from the elbow in transition.

543
00:25:47,560 --> 00:25:49,960
Speaker 2: That's a wing move. A face up jumper off of

544
00:25:50,000 --> 00:25:53,280
Speaker 2: an iverson cut that's a wing move, a lot dunk

545
00:25:53,320 --> 00:25:54,880
Speaker 2: off of a give and go. One of the craziest

546
00:25:54,920 --> 00:25:57,040
Speaker 2: plays I've ever seen give and go from the wing

547
00:25:57,400 --> 00:25:59,480
Speaker 2: just points to the rim, the guard just throws it

548
00:25:59,560 --> 00:26:01,200
Speaker 2: up and he just catches it with two hands and dunks.

549
00:26:01,200 --> 00:26:03,040
Speaker 2: It was one of the most ridiculous basketball plays I've

550
00:26:03,040 --> 00:26:06,240
Speaker 2: ever seen. And then we had a transition pick and

551
00:26:06,320 --> 00:26:09,480
Speaker 2: roll where Cheddy Osman sets the ball screen forty feet

552
00:26:09,520 --> 00:26:12,120
Speaker 2: from the basket. He gets into the screen defender, hits

553
00:26:12,160 --> 00:26:15,040
Speaker 2: an in and out between the legs, step back jump shot,

554
00:26:16,440 --> 00:26:17,720
Speaker 2: and then on a pick and pop, he had a

555
00:26:17,760 --> 00:26:21,760
Speaker 2: jab step driving left hard dribble with his left hand

556
00:26:21,880 --> 00:26:25,440
Speaker 2: spinning into a left shoulder fade. These are all super

557
00:26:25,600 --> 00:26:30,760
Speaker 2: high level wing scoring plays. And here's the thing again,

558
00:26:30,880 --> 00:26:32,520
Speaker 2: I thought he was going to be a big man

559
00:26:32,760 --> 00:26:36,359
Speaker 2: who slowly learned how to shoot at a high level

560
00:26:36,560 --> 00:26:39,240
Speaker 2: and how to score from the wing at a high level.

561
00:26:39,800 --> 00:26:42,600
Speaker 2: If he's just gonna come into the league and be

562
00:26:42,760 --> 00:26:46,080
Speaker 2: a stretched out Kevin Durant from day one, we need

563
00:26:46,080 --> 00:26:50,560
Speaker 2: to recalibrate everything about what this kid can be, because

564
00:26:50,560 --> 00:26:53,879
Speaker 2: that's the hard stuff. When he's on good basketball teams,

565
00:26:53,880 --> 00:26:56,800
Speaker 2: there's gonna be easy stuff, the pick and pops. He

566
00:26:56,800 --> 00:26:58,960
Speaker 2: had a wide open pick and pop three against Miami

567
00:27:00,119 --> 00:27:02,199
Speaker 2: left shoulder Faid that was attacking a close out out

568
00:27:02,240 --> 00:27:03,960
Speaker 2: of a pick and pop. He's gonna have lots of

569
00:27:04,040 --> 00:27:08,200
Speaker 2: advantage situations that crazy left handed Dunkey had over Thomas Bryant,

570
00:27:08,200 --> 00:27:10,600
Speaker 2: where Thomas Bryant like looked over at the sideline like

571
00:27:10,600 --> 00:27:12,200
Speaker 2: what the hell am I supposed to do with that? Which,

572
00:27:12,200 --> 00:27:13,959
Speaker 2: by the way, is one of my favorite NBA clips

573
00:27:13,960 --> 00:27:16,359
Speaker 2: ever that needs to be in the Webben Yama documentary

574
00:27:16,480 --> 00:27:18,440
Speaker 2: twenty five Years from Now is just Thomas Bryant looking

575
00:27:18,480 --> 00:27:20,919
Speaker 2: over like what am I supposed to do? Guys? You know,

576
00:27:21,920 --> 00:27:23,719
Speaker 2: but that's off. That was off of a drop off

577
00:27:23,800 --> 00:27:26,040
Speaker 2: to the dunker spot someone else was driving. He's standing

578
00:27:26,040 --> 00:27:27,879
Speaker 2: there and the dunker sbody gets the ball and he

579
00:27:27,960 --> 00:27:30,200
Speaker 2: just takes the dribble and goes up and finishes. He's

580
00:27:30,240 --> 00:27:32,680
Speaker 2: gonna get lots of easy stuff in his NBA career,

581
00:27:32,800 --> 00:27:35,520
Speaker 2: especially when he starts playing alongside players that are at

582
00:27:35,600 --> 00:27:39,760
Speaker 2: least nearby his caliber, right, But like, if he's already

583
00:27:39,760 --> 00:27:43,919
Speaker 2: got the hard stuff, that's just like rescue possessions and

584
00:27:44,359 --> 00:27:48,400
Speaker 2: you know, uh like late game, slow down, half court

585
00:27:48,480 --> 00:27:52,720
Speaker 2: situations where that stuff becomes vitally important. Those are ceiling razors.

586
00:27:53,920 --> 00:27:55,640
Speaker 2: When he actually gets to a point where the game

587
00:27:55,720 --> 00:27:57,960
Speaker 2: is super easy for him, that stuff will just push

588
00:27:58,040 --> 00:28:01,000
Speaker 2: him to the next level of impact. But to put

589
00:28:01,040 --> 00:28:04,600
Speaker 2: it simply, he is way way way more polished and

590
00:28:04,720 --> 00:28:08,119
Speaker 2: way way closer to that wing score archetype level of

591
00:28:08,480 --> 00:28:11,280
Speaker 2: skill than I would expect him to be at this point.

592
00:28:12,119 --> 00:28:14,359
Speaker 2: I thought we'd see flashes. We saw flashes, right, We

593
00:28:14,400 --> 00:28:17,200
Speaker 2: saw flashes in Europe. We saw him hit a one

594
00:28:17,240 --> 00:28:20,600
Speaker 2: leg pull up three, we saw him take crazy off

595
00:28:20,600 --> 00:28:24,000
Speaker 2: the dribble jump shots. But like, we never anticipated that

596
00:28:24,040 --> 00:28:25,760
Speaker 2: he'd be able to come into the NBA and then

597
00:28:25,840 --> 00:28:30,120
Speaker 2: just immediately score at that rate, at that level of efficiency.

598
00:28:31,000 --> 00:28:34,560
Speaker 2: And again it's just preseason, but like, it's hard not

599
00:28:34,680 --> 00:28:37,600
Speaker 2: to be excited at this point. We're not seeing flashes.

600
00:28:37,640 --> 00:28:41,680
Speaker 2: We're seeing a super confident score at this point. So far,

601
00:28:41,760 --> 00:28:44,200
Speaker 2: he's at fifty eight percent an effective field goal percentage

602
00:28:44,240 --> 00:28:47,280
Speaker 2: on jump shots. Overall, he's made five of his seven

603
00:28:47,280 --> 00:28:50,200
Speaker 2: pull up jump shot attempts. He's nine for nine at

604
00:28:50,200 --> 00:28:53,600
Speaker 2: the rim, and he's at nine points on seven post

605
00:28:53,680 --> 00:28:55,720
Speaker 2: ups and ISOs, which is well over a point possession.

606
00:28:55,800 --> 00:28:57,440
Speaker 2: It's hard to get off to a much better stop

607
00:28:57,440 --> 00:29:00,240
Speaker 2: than start than that. And again, guys like he don't

608
00:29:00,560 --> 00:29:05,240
Speaker 2: underestimate the defensive impact there. Five point one stocks steals

609
00:29:05,240 --> 00:29:09,920
Speaker 2: plus blocks per thirty six minutes. That's insane. Jaren Jackson

610
00:29:10,000 --> 00:29:13,120
Speaker 2: led the league in stocks per game last year at

611
00:29:13,120 --> 00:29:18,240
Speaker 2: four a little under four. Like, we're talking about an

612
00:29:18,360 --> 00:29:22,480
Speaker 2: unprecedented ability to disrupt NBA offenses with deflections and steals

613
00:29:22,480 --> 00:29:27,360
Speaker 2: and blocks. This is it's not normal. And it's honestly

614
00:29:27,360 --> 00:29:29,080
Speaker 2: funny looking back at the Summer League now, because you

615
00:29:29,080 --> 00:29:32,000
Speaker 2: remember how everybody reacted after that first Victor Wembenyama game,

616
00:29:32,800 --> 00:29:34,040
Speaker 2: And those are you guys who listened to the show.

617
00:29:34,080 --> 00:29:37,560
Speaker 2: Do you remember what I said then? I said, this

618
00:29:37,680 --> 00:29:39,560
Speaker 2: is not what it's gonna look like. When he's playing

619
00:29:39,760 --> 00:29:41,800
Speaker 2: on a real NBA roster, it's gonna be a lot

620
00:29:41,800 --> 00:29:44,720
Speaker 2: easier for him. And I mean, how stupid does that

621
00:29:44,760 --> 00:29:48,480
Speaker 2: all look now? The people that said, oh, it's just

622
00:29:48,520 --> 00:29:52,280
Speaker 2: another Bowl Bowl, how does that look now? Like again,

623
00:29:52,360 --> 00:29:54,360
Speaker 2: I tried to get people not to overthink it, because like,

624
00:29:54,720 --> 00:29:57,880
Speaker 2: this isn't a guy that only showed potential in workouts

625
00:29:57,960 --> 00:30:00,040
Speaker 2: or anything like that. He was a very, very a

626
00:30:00,040 --> 00:30:05,360
Speaker 2: good player playing against grown ass men last year. Professionally,

627
00:30:06,400 --> 00:30:08,440
Speaker 2: I'm not mistaking his team made it to the championship.

628
00:30:10,560 --> 00:30:13,000
Speaker 2: I think they lost in the finals. So like again,

629
00:30:13,080 --> 00:30:16,080
Speaker 2: like there's a lot more that's proven about Victor than

630
00:30:16,120 --> 00:30:19,080
Speaker 2: we thought, but he's also proving to be even better

631
00:30:19,120 --> 00:30:22,800
Speaker 2: than we thought at the same time, and I hope

632
00:30:22,840 --> 00:30:26,320
Speaker 2: everybody gets on board with it pretty quickly, all right,

633
00:30:26,360 --> 00:30:29,680
Speaker 2: Moving on to our season preview for the Milwaukee Bucks,

634
00:30:30,920 --> 00:30:33,760
Speaker 2: so our offseason recap. They lost Grayson Allen, John Carter,

635
00:30:34,240 --> 00:30:38,280
Speaker 2: Goran Rodgers, Drew Holliday, Joe Ingles Myers, Leonard, and Wesley Matthews.

636
00:30:38,960 --> 00:30:43,240
Speaker 2: They added Malik Beasley, Robin Lopez, Campaign, ty Ty Washington,

637
00:30:43,280 --> 00:30:45,920
Speaker 2: and a backup card for the Rockets last year Drew

638
00:30:45,960 --> 00:30:50,040
Speaker 2: Timmy was a Milwaukee Buck and Damian Lillard, who were

639
00:30:50,040 --> 00:30:51,440
Speaker 2: going to talk about in a little bit their depth

640
00:30:51,480 --> 00:30:55,320
Speaker 2: chart as of right now, Damian Lillard, Pat Conaton, Malik Beasley,

641
00:30:55,320 --> 00:30:58,600
Speaker 2: campaign and ty Ty Washington at guard at Ford, Jannison,

642
00:30:58,640 --> 00:31:02,120
Speaker 2: Tenna Kombo, Chris Middleton, marsh On Bouchamp, Jay Crowder, Bobby

643
00:31:02,160 --> 00:31:05,160
Speaker 2: Portis depending on who you ask. And then Brook Lopez,

644
00:31:05,360 --> 00:31:10,400
Speaker 2: Robin Lopez, Andrew Timmy. Now, why was the Damian Lillard

645
00:31:10,400 --> 00:31:12,360
Speaker 2: trade the right move? And before I frame this, I

646
00:31:12,360 --> 00:31:14,320
Speaker 2: want to talk about like kind of the Devil's advocate

647
00:31:14,400 --> 00:31:18,640
Speaker 2: case against it, right because there were some Galaxy Brain

648
00:31:18,720 --> 00:31:20,640
Speaker 2: people out there trying to overthink it. And the case

649
00:31:20,720 --> 00:31:23,080
Speaker 2: was basically, you give up Grayson Allen and the deal

650
00:31:23,120 --> 00:31:26,000
Speaker 2: it was a starting NBA two guard, and he was

651
00:31:26,040 --> 00:31:28,760
Speaker 2: particularly important to the Bucks last year because not only

652
00:31:28,840 --> 00:31:31,680
Speaker 2: was he announced standing spot up player, but he specifically

653
00:31:31,720 --> 00:31:34,160
Speaker 2: was very good at deep above the break threes, So

654
00:31:34,200 --> 00:31:36,040
Speaker 2: like you could position him on the left wing or

655
00:31:36,040 --> 00:31:39,080
Speaker 2: on the right wing, like twenty five twenty six feet

656
00:31:39,080 --> 00:31:41,320
Speaker 2: away from the basket, and he was gonna pull that

657
00:31:41,440 --> 00:31:44,440
Speaker 2: defender away from digging down because he could consistently knock

658
00:31:44,440 --> 00:31:47,280
Speaker 2: that shot down. So he was pretty important, right. And

659
00:31:47,320 --> 00:31:49,959
Speaker 2: then obviously you give up your best and most versatile

660
00:31:50,000 --> 00:31:52,720
Speaker 2: perimeter defender and Drew Holliday, right, and a guy who

661
00:31:52,760 --> 00:31:56,000
Speaker 2: was a huge part of their defensive identity when they

662
00:31:56,040 --> 00:31:58,440
Speaker 2: won the title in twenty twenty one. I'd argue he

663
00:31:58,480 --> 00:32:03,240
Speaker 2: was their second most important defensive right. So like that,

664
00:32:03,240 --> 00:32:05,960
Speaker 2: that's the Devil's advocate case. You give up that depth

665
00:32:05,960 --> 00:32:07,680
Speaker 2: at the starting two guard spot, and you give up

666
00:32:07,680 --> 00:32:10,560
Speaker 2: your defensive identity. But here's the harsh truth. And this

667
00:32:10,600 --> 00:32:13,720
Speaker 2: is again like I talk all the time about NBA

668
00:32:13,800 --> 00:32:17,200
Speaker 2: front offices and being honest with what your predicament is

669
00:32:17,600 --> 00:32:21,280
Speaker 2: even above and beyond wins and losses, because like, whatever

670
00:32:21,360 --> 00:32:25,560
Speaker 2: happened last year, it doesn't necessarily, you know, it doesn't

671
00:32:25,560 --> 00:32:29,600
Speaker 2: necessarily have anything to do with what your current predicament is. Right, So, like,

672
00:32:29,920 --> 00:32:32,680
Speaker 2: you won the title in twenty twenty one, and it's

673
00:32:32,680 --> 00:32:36,400
Speaker 2: completely legitimate, but that doesn't mean that your next title

674
00:32:36,480 --> 00:32:38,280
Speaker 2: is going to look like that. It might have to

675
00:32:38,320 --> 00:32:41,320
Speaker 2: look different, right, And see, here's the thing. You won

676
00:32:41,400 --> 00:32:44,160
Speaker 2: your title in twenty twenty one off the strength of

677
00:32:44,200 --> 00:32:49,680
Speaker 2: your defensive identity, but every playoff defeat outside of that

678
00:32:49,760 --> 00:32:51,920
Speaker 2: over the last five years has come down to the

679
00:32:51,960 --> 00:32:56,880
Speaker 2: same thing every single time, half court offense. It's getting

680
00:32:56,920 --> 00:32:59,720
Speaker 2: stuck in the half court against a better half court

681
00:32:59,760 --> 00:33:03,280
Speaker 2: shot creator on the other team and not being able

682
00:33:03,280 --> 00:33:08,080
Speaker 2: to score. Like again, like, there was some hope, especially

683
00:33:08,120 --> 00:33:10,200
Speaker 2: after twenty twenty one, when he had the free throw

684
00:33:10,200 --> 00:33:13,480
Speaker 2: shooting performance in Game six in the finals, there was

685
00:33:13,480 --> 00:33:15,760
Speaker 2: some hope that Giannis would polish up as a score

686
00:33:16,080 --> 00:33:18,400
Speaker 2: right and polish up as a free throw shooter, and

687
00:33:18,680 --> 00:33:22,160
Speaker 2: that would fix the half court offense issues. But instead

688
00:33:22,160 --> 00:33:25,800
Speaker 2: the opposite is happening. Yannis dropped back below sixty five

689
00:33:25,840 --> 00:33:27,680
Speaker 2: percent from the foul line last year, was his worst

690
00:33:27,680 --> 00:33:31,120
Speaker 2: market from the foul line since twenty twenty, and last

691
00:33:31,200 --> 00:33:34,840
Speaker 2: year on shot attempts outside of the restricted area, Yiannis

692
00:33:34,880 --> 00:33:37,000
Speaker 2: was one hundred and seventy one for five hundred and

693
00:33:37,000 --> 00:33:41,120
Speaker 2: sixty that's thirty point five percent. He doesn't even have

694
00:33:41,160 --> 00:33:43,800
Speaker 2: a reliable hook shot. He only made thirteen all season

695
00:33:43,880 --> 00:33:46,240
Speaker 2: last year on thirty five percent, and he was two

696
00:33:46,240 --> 00:33:48,560
Speaker 2: for seven in the playoffs. And this is not a

697
00:33:48,600 --> 00:33:50,800
Speaker 2: young player anymore. He's been in the league ten seasons.

698
00:33:50,800 --> 00:33:54,600
Speaker 2: He's going into his eleventh season, so that ship has sailed.

699
00:33:55,200 --> 00:33:57,719
Speaker 2: And that's what I mean by self awareness and acknowledging

700
00:33:57,760 --> 00:34:00,280
Speaker 2: problems in the front office. You have to you have

701
00:34:00,320 --> 00:34:04,240
Speaker 2: to acknowledge the reality of your specific situation. Self awareness

702
00:34:04,320 --> 00:34:07,800
Speaker 2: is the only pathway to identifying your flaws and making

703
00:34:07,840 --> 00:34:10,000
Speaker 2: whatever changes need to be made so that you can

704
00:34:10,360 --> 00:34:12,759
Speaker 2: be better off in the long run. Right, And it's

705
00:34:12,800 --> 00:34:15,759
Speaker 2: clear to me the Dame trade signifies the Bucks front

706
00:34:15,760 --> 00:34:18,879
Speaker 2: office acknowledging Yiannis is never going to become that guy.

707
00:34:19,080 --> 00:34:20,920
Speaker 2: He's never going to be the guy who's going to

708
00:34:20,960 --> 00:34:23,239
Speaker 2: be able to out execute the best superstars in the

709
00:34:23,320 --> 00:34:26,719
Speaker 2: league in the half court offensively. So that's why it's

710
00:34:26,760 --> 00:34:29,560
Speaker 2: worth giving up your two guard. That's why it's worth

711
00:34:29,600 --> 00:34:32,440
Speaker 2: giving up your defensive identity if you can take the

712
00:34:32,480 --> 00:34:35,520
Speaker 2: biggest flaw in Giannis's game and turn it into something

713
00:34:35,560 --> 00:34:40,799
Speaker 2: that's actually a strength for your team. Again, you won

714
00:34:40,880 --> 00:34:45,160
Speaker 2: the title in twenty twenty one. It was legit, as

715
00:34:45,239 --> 00:34:48,040
Speaker 2: legit as any title in NBA history. I'm not undercutting it,

716
00:34:48,120 --> 00:34:51,120
Speaker 2: but let's talk about what happened. You faced an injury

717
00:34:51,320 --> 00:34:54,440
Speaker 2: riddled Nets team, right with James Harden on a bad

718
00:34:54,440 --> 00:34:56,719
Speaker 2: hamstring and Kyrie Irving out of the lineup. You face

719
00:34:56,800 --> 00:34:59,600
Speaker 2: the Atlanta Hawks, who are good basketball team, but not

720
00:34:59,640 --> 00:35:02,479
Speaker 2: your team, typical conference finalist, right, and then you faced

721
00:35:02,520 --> 00:35:04,520
Speaker 2: a Suns team in the final that did not have

722
00:35:04,640 --> 00:35:08,680
Speaker 2: a top ten player on the roster. So that defensive

723
00:35:08,719 --> 00:35:14,160
Speaker 2: identity was good enough to overcome those circumstances. But usually

724
00:35:14,160 --> 00:35:16,799
Speaker 2: in NBA history, you have to face one of those

725
00:35:17,200 --> 00:35:19,440
Speaker 2: top tier shot creators. You have to face a Lebron,

726
00:35:19,480 --> 00:35:20,960
Speaker 2: you have to face a steph you have to face

727
00:35:20,960 --> 00:35:23,120
Speaker 2: a Jokic, you have to face a Luca. That's usually

728
00:35:23,160 --> 00:35:25,319
Speaker 2: the kind of guy you have to face in those settings. Right,

729
00:35:26,280 --> 00:35:28,920
Speaker 2: You lost in twenty nineteen to a Raptors team that

730
00:35:28,920 --> 00:35:31,840
Speaker 2: had a better half court offense. You lost in twenty

731
00:35:31,880 --> 00:35:34,080
Speaker 2: twenty to a Miami Heat team that had a better

732
00:35:34,120 --> 00:35:37,080
Speaker 2: half court offense. Twenty twenty two, I would say it

733
00:35:37,120 --> 00:35:40,239
Speaker 2: was mostly the Chris Middleton injury, but chances are they

734
00:35:40,239 --> 00:35:42,640
Speaker 2: would have run into Steph and had the exact same problem,

735
00:35:42,640 --> 00:35:45,799
Speaker 2: a half court offense that can't compete with what Steph

736
00:35:45,880 --> 00:35:48,880
Speaker 2: can do right. And then in lot you lost in

737
00:35:48,880 --> 00:35:51,520
Speaker 2: twenty twenty three because of your half court offense. Once again,

738
00:35:51,840 --> 00:35:55,160
Speaker 2: the Bucks notched a clutch net rating of minus fifty

739
00:35:55,239 --> 00:35:58,400
Speaker 2: three point eight in their two losses against the Miami

740
00:35:58,440 --> 00:36:01,560
Speaker 2: Heat that involved clutch situations. They had a seventy seven

741
00:36:01,600 --> 00:36:05,480
Speaker 2: offensive rating in those situations. They couldn't score time and

742
00:36:05,480 --> 00:36:08,680
Speaker 2: time again, that's been the issue, and again it doesn't

743
00:36:08,719 --> 00:36:10,880
Speaker 2: take away from the title. The title is the title

744
00:36:10,920 --> 00:36:13,279
Speaker 2: is the title. But if you look at the five

745
00:36:13,360 --> 00:36:16,560
Speaker 2: year window, it's been four losses at the hands of

746
00:36:17,440 --> 00:36:19,440
Speaker 2: half court shot creation or an injury that would have

747
00:36:19,480 --> 00:36:22,480
Speaker 2: eventually lost because of half court shot creation, and then

748
00:36:22,520 --> 00:36:24,320
Speaker 2: your title in the middle where you didn't have to

749
00:36:24,320 --> 00:36:26,000
Speaker 2: face one of those teams. So I think it was

750
00:36:26,040 --> 00:36:29,040
Speaker 2: the right decision to understand the limitations of this roster

751
00:36:29,360 --> 00:36:32,080
Speaker 2: and to make a move that puts your team in

752
00:36:32,120 --> 00:36:34,359
Speaker 2: a better chance to compete at a year in, year

753
00:36:34,400 --> 00:36:38,480
Speaker 2: out basis, because had you run it back, the only

754
00:36:38,520 --> 00:36:40,759
Speaker 2: way you're winning is if all of the top tier

755
00:36:40,800 --> 00:36:44,239
Speaker 2: shot creators somehow get knocked out and you end up

756
00:36:44,320 --> 00:36:47,520
Speaker 2: running into some team like Minnesota in the finals, which

757
00:36:47,560 --> 00:36:51,080
Speaker 2: this isn't gonna happen, right, So I thought, I thought

758
00:36:51,120 --> 00:36:55,080
Speaker 2: this was the right decision. Jianness, in my opinion, is

759
00:36:55,120 --> 00:36:57,600
Speaker 2: by far the best player in the world if you

760
00:36:57,680 --> 00:37:01,480
Speaker 2: remove that slow down half court environment, right, Like, he's

761
00:37:01,680 --> 00:37:04,440
Speaker 2: top five defensive player in the world, by far, the

762
00:37:04,440 --> 00:37:07,160
Speaker 2: best transition player in the world. It's a very very

763
00:37:07,200 --> 00:37:11,640
Speaker 2: good passer. He does all these things exceedingly well, but

764
00:37:12,200 --> 00:37:14,080
Speaker 2: he just can't make shots over the top of the defense,

765
00:37:14,280 --> 00:37:18,560
Speaker 2: right And so like that's where that limitation. And again,

766
00:37:18,600 --> 00:37:21,400
Speaker 2: like Drew Holliday and Chris Middleton were good players, but

767
00:37:21,440 --> 00:37:25,759
Speaker 2: they were never consistently good enough to overcome that. Now, well,

768
00:37:25,800 --> 00:37:28,400
Speaker 2: they have defensive questions to answer with dame of course,

769
00:37:29,000 --> 00:37:30,680
Speaker 2: but now at the very least, when they end up

770
00:37:30,680 --> 00:37:32,839
Speaker 2: in these slow down half court environments against the best

771
00:37:32,840 --> 00:37:34,960
Speaker 2: shot creators in the league, they have one of the

772
00:37:34,960 --> 00:37:37,560
Speaker 2: top tier guys in the League two in that situation,

773
00:37:40,160 --> 00:37:42,200
Speaker 2: not to mention in just in general, throughout the whole

774
00:37:42,239 --> 00:37:45,880
Speaker 2: season and throughout the entire playoff run, You've just given

775
00:37:45,920 --> 00:37:49,560
Speaker 2: a much better offensive fire power to your offense. That

776
00:37:49,600 --> 00:37:53,319
Speaker 2: will make Giannis's job easier, That will allow him to

777
00:37:53,320 --> 00:37:56,400
Speaker 2: devote more resources to what he's best at, which is

778
00:37:56,480 --> 00:37:58,839
Speaker 2: dominating games on the defensive end of the four, which

779
00:37:58,880 --> 00:38:01,120
Speaker 2: is being that freight train and in transition that nobody

780
00:38:01,120 --> 00:38:03,160
Speaker 2: can stop. Do you remember in that Celtics series in

781
00:38:03,200 --> 00:38:05,480
Speaker 2: twenty twenty two how tired Giannis looked at the end

782
00:38:06,200 --> 00:38:11,040
Speaker 2: and he still almost won it. Imagine what I imagine

783
00:38:11,040 --> 00:38:13,320
Speaker 2: what he can do as a wrecking ball in games.

784
00:38:13,680 --> 00:38:16,319
Speaker 2: When Dame can take two thirds of those offensive, slow

785
00:38:16,360 --> 00:38:21,280
Speaker 2: down half court possessions, then we have the natural synergy

786
00:38:21,280 --> 00:38:24,320
Speaker 2: of the damieness two man game. And I want to

787
00:38:24,360 --> 00:38:25,759
Speaker 2: dive into this concept for a little bit because I

788
00:38:25,760 --> 00:38:27,919
Speaker 2: think it's it's you know, I've seen a lot of people,

789
00:38:27,960 --> 00:38:29,839
Speaker 2: a lot of people have talked about how it's gonna

790
00:38:29,840 --> 00:38:31,719
Speaker 2: be impossible to guard, including myself, But I wanted to

791
00:38:31,719 --> 00:38:35,080
Speaker 2: dive into it schematically for a little bit, and you know,

792
00:38:36,840 --> 00:38:40,400
Speaker 2: to me, it comes down to getting dribble penetration and

793
00:38:40,440 --> 00:38:42,399
Speaker 2: getting teams into rotation. Like I said at the very

794
00:38:42,400 --> 00:38:45,200
Speaker 2: beginning of the show, getting a defense in rotation is

795
00:38:45,280 --> 00:38:46,720
Speaker 2: kind of the theme of this show, and the reason

796
00:38:46,719 --> 00:38:49,320
Speaker 2: why is because it's just an easier way to play basketball.

797
00:38:49,840 --> 00:38:53,640
Speaker 2: Think of it simply, Okay, I'm guarding you. You're where

798
00:38:53,680 --> 00:38:56,840
Speaker 2: the camera is. If I'm just standing here ready to go,

799
00:38:56,960 --> 00:38:59,440
Speaker 2: sitting in a defensive stands with my hand up, it's

800
00:38:59,480 --> 00:39:02,319
Speaker 2: gonna be a lot harder for you to score than

801
00:39:02,360 --> 00:39:04,960
Speaker 2: if I'm ten feet further back and I'm sprinting at

802
00:39:05,000 --> 00:39:06,279
Speaker 2: you full speed in a closeout.

803
00:39:06,640 --> 00:39:06,839
Speaker 1: Right.

804
00:39:07,120 --> 00:39:10,799
Speaker 2: That's pretty simple concept, right, But the only way you

805
00:39:10,840 --> 00:39:14,719
Speaker 2: were gonna get that situation is if one of your

806
00:39:14,760 --> 00:39:17,879
Speaker 2: other offensive players at the beginning of the possession, when

807
00:39:17,920 --> 00:39:22,880
Speaker 2: the defense is set, can draw a help defender. Because

808
00:39:22,880 --> 00:39:26,120
Speaker 2: once you draw the help defender, that's what leaves you open,

809
00:39:26,680 --> 00:39:29,839
Speaker 2: which allows me to make that pass, and from there,

810
00:39:29,920 --> 00:39:32,799
Speaker 2: the defenses in rotation you pump fake and beat me

811
00:39:32,840 --> 00:39:36,879
Speaker 2: off the dribble. Now you engage another help defender, which

812
00:39:36,960 --> 00:39:40,200
Speaker 2: leaves another open player, right, and then you can drive

813
00:39:40,239 --> 00:39:42,360
Speaker 2: and kick until you get the right shot, which is

814
00:39:42,360 --> 00:39:44,759
Speaker 2: gonna be a wide open three, or a layup or

815
00:39:44,800 --> 00:39:47,120
Speaker 2: a dunk at the basket right. But the only way

816
00:39:47,120 --> 00:39:49,120
Speaker 2: you can get a defense in rotation is to get

817
00:39:49,239 --> 00:39:53,880
Speaker 2: dribble penetration. And again, drill penetration does not have to

818
00:39:53,960 --> 00:39:56,680
Speaker 2: be me beating my guy off the dribble right, and

819
00:39:56,719 --> 00:39:59,439
Speaker 2: we know Yiannis can do that, But there are other

820
00:39:59,520 --> 00:40:04,360
Speaker 2: ways to generate drimal penetration. What if you just beat

821
00:40:04,400 --> 00:40:07,960
Speaker 2: someone back door right standing on the sideline, Guys overplaying

822
00:40:07,960 --> 00:40:09,680
Speaker 2: the passing lane, I cut back door, you hit me

823
00:40:09,680 --> 00:40:14,520
Speaker 2: with bounce pass. I'm gonna draw help defender right. And

824
00:40:14,560 --> 00:40:17,000
Speaker 2: then a big one is slipping ball screens. Come to

825
00:40:17,000 --> 00:40:19,200
Speaker 2: set a ball screen. Then I slip to the basket.

826
00:40:19,400 --> 00:40:21,760
Speaker 2: You throw the ball over the top. If both defenders

827
00:40:21,800 --> 00:40:24,120
Speaker 2: are behind me, you're gonna have to send a help defender.

828
00:40:24,200 --> 00:40:29,920
Speaker 2: Now you're in rotation. So you can find opportunities to

829
00:40:29,920 --> 00:40:33,000
Speaker 2: get the defense in rotation without having to say, Yannis

830
00:40:33,080 --> 00:40:36,520
Speaker 2: beat this guy off the dribble right. And so that's

831
00:40:36,520 --> 00:40:39,439
Speaker 2: where the Damian Lillard Yannis two man game comes into

832
00:40:39,440 --> 00:40:45,359
Speaker 2: the picture. It creates advantage situations and it's just way

833
00:40:45,360 --> 00:40:47,480
Speaker 2: easier to play basketball that way. When you have an

834
00:40:47,520 --> 00:40:51,200
Speaker 2: advantage versus one defenses are set. This is why every

835
00:40:51,239 --> 00:40:55,360
Speaker 2: defense tries to guard ISO's one on one, tries to

836
00:40:55,440 --> 00:40:58,480
Speaker 2: guards post ups, one on one, tries to guard pick

837
00:40:58,520 --> 00:41:01,279
Speaker 2: and roll in dribble handoffs, two on two, tries to

838
00:41:01,400 --> 00:41:04,040
Speaker 2: guard spain pick and roll, and other three man actions

839
00:41:04,080 --> 00:41:06,759
Speaker 2: three on three. They do that because they're trying to

840
00:41:06,760 --> 00:41:09,240
Speaker 2: stay out of rotation, because they know if they're in rotation,

841
00:41:09,239 --> 00:41:11,520
Speaker 2: they're gonna give up open threes, they're gonna give up

842
00:41:11,520 --> 00:41:15,080
Speaker 2: open layups, and they're gonna give up offensive rebounds because

843
00:41:15,080 --> 00:41:18,120
Speaker 2: guys aren't matched up. Talked about that at the beginning

844
00:41:18,120 --> 00:41:18,480
Speaker 2: of the show.

845
00:41:18,480 --> 00:41:18,759
Speaker 1: But that.

846
00:41:21,040 --> 00:41:23,160
Speaker 2: First Damian littler Gianni's pick and roll, they got the

847
00:41:23,200 --> 00:41:25,080
Speaker 2: wide open three for Jay Crowder. At the beginning of

848
00:41:25,120 --> 00:41:29,279
Speaker 2: the Laker game, it was a miss three, but Brook

849
00:41:29,320 --> 00:41:32,000
Speaker 2: Lopez ended up breaking open for the offensive rebound because

850
00:41:32,000 --> 00:41:35,120
Speaker 2: the Lakers were in rotation and they weren't matched up.

851
00:41:35,880 --> 00:41:39,200
Speaker 2: Getting your defense into getting the opponent's defense into rotation

852
00:41:39,600 --> 00:41:44,480
Speaker 2: is the key to any offensive success. And so this

853
00:41:44,520 --> 00:41:47,200
Speaker 2: is where that two man game comes into comes into

854
00:41:47,200 --> 00:41:51,839
Speaker 2: the the picture. So let's talk about all the different ways.

855
00:41:51,880 --> 00:41:53,319
Speaker 2: And when I say two man game, it could look

856
00:41:53,320 --> 00:41:54,839
Speaker 2: at a bunch of different ways, right Like, it could

857
00:41:54,880 --> 00:41:58,520
Speaker 2: be a damianis pick and roll where Janni's just simply

858
00:41:58,600 --> 00:42:00,520
Speaker 2: comes up and sets a ball screen. It could be

859
00:42:00,520 --> 00:42:02,840
Speaker 2: a dribble handoff. It could be off of a wide

860
00:42:02,840 --> 00:42:05,200
Speaker 2: pin down right like, it could just be Brooks standing

861
00:42:05,200 --> 00:42:07,480
Speaker 2: at the top of the key, Dame in the corner,

862
00:42:07,880 --> 00:42:09,920
Speaker 2: Giannis at the elbow, Giannis goes down and sets a

863
00:42:09,920 --> 00:42:12,239
Speaker 2: screen for Dame coming off. Any form of two man

864
00:42:12,320 --> 00:42:15,000
Speaker 2: game involving those two will put you in the same predicament.

865
00:42:16,840 --> 00:42:19,920
Speaker 2: First is a let's talk about the different defensive coverages

866
00:42:20,239 --> 00:42:22,960
Speaker 2: you could run against this action in what would happen

867
00:42:22,960 --> 00:42:25,960
Speaker 2: if you did right? So, first of all, if you

868
00:42:26,040 --> 00:42:29,440
Speaker 2: run a deep drop coverage right meaning we also call

869
00:42:29,520 --> 00:42:32,040
Speaker 2: this a no roller behind coverage, meaning the big man,

870
00:42:32,160 --> 00:42:35,239
Speaker 2: the screen defender in the pick and roll, has to

871
00:42:35,320 --> 00:42:38,919
Speaker 2: keep both the roller and the ball handler in front

872
00:42:38,920 --> 00:42:41,640
Speaker 2: of him. So if the roller is rolling hard, he's

873
00:42:41,680 --> 00:42:45,080
Speaker 2: backing up with him. In that kind of coverage. What's

874
00:42:45,120 --> 00:42:48,759
Speaker 2: gonna happen with Damian Lillard. He's going to come off

875
00:42:48,800 --> 00:42:50,920
Speaker 2: of these ball screens and he's going to hit a

876
00:42:50,960 --> 00:42:54,200
Speaker 2: bunch of pull up threes, pull up twos, and floaters,

877
00:42:54,760 --> 00:42:57,520
Speaker 2: and again, the vast majority of guys in the league,

878
00:42:57,600 --> 00:43:01,360
Speaker 2: you live with that. With Drew holl you live with that,

879
00:43:01,960 --> 00:43:04,320
Speaker 2: he's not gonna make enough of them. He's not gonna

880
00:43:04,320 --> 00:43:06,680
Speaker 2: make enough pull up threes, he's not gonna make enough floaters,

881
00:43:06,680 --> 00:43:09,880
Speaker 2: he's not gonna make enough fifteen footers. Right, But Dame

882
00:43:10,000 --> 00:43:12,480
Speaker 2: is like one of just a small handful of guys

883
00:43:12,480 --> 00:43:15,200
Speaker 2: that it's like, if we give him these shots, he's

884
00:43:15,239 --> 00:43:17,759
Speaker 2: not just gonna make them, he's gonna make them at

885
00:43:17,760 --> 00:43:21,760
Speaker 2: an untenable rate, meaning he's gonna be scoring one point

886
00:43:21,760 --> 00:43:24,520
Speaker 2: two to one point three points per possession. When you

887
00:43:24,600 --> 00:43:27,480
Speaker 2: run a deep drop coverage against him, that's not tenable.

888
00:43:27,520 --> 00:43:31,359
Speaker 2: You will lose playoffs series that way. So that's option one.

889
00:43:31,440 --> 00:43:34,480
Speaker 2: That doesn't work. Now, the upside there is your defense

890
00:43:34,520 --> 00:43:37,799
Speaker 2: stays out of rotation and that might end up being

891
00:43:37,840 --> 00:43:40,560
Speaker 2: the best way to guard them for the simple fact

892
00:43:40,640 --> 00:43:44,680
Speaker 2: that maybe Dame gets tired and he misses shots. But

893
00:43:44,800 --> 00:43:47,439
Speaker 2: that's suicide. You're not gonna see a lot of teams

894
00:43:47,520 --> 00:43:50,560
Speaker 2: run deep drop against Portland or Portland against Milwaukee for

895
00:43:50,600 --> 00:43:58,160
Speaker 2: that reason. So that's option one. Option two is switching. Theoretically,

896
00:43:58,560 --> 00:44:01,000
Speaker 2: they run a two man game, which the action. Now

897
00:44:01,000 --> 00:44:02,680
Speaker 2: they have to ISO or post up. Right, if you

898
00:44:02,680 --> 00:44:06,440
Speaker 2: switch properly and you prevent them from slipping. Here's the problem.

899
00:44:06,640 --> 00:44:10,200
Speaker 2: This isn't Lebron and Ad the Lebron and Ad pick

900
00:44:10,200 --> 00:44:12,200
Speaker 2: and roll. Everyone's like, oh, Lebron and Ad pick and roll.

901
00:44:12,239 --> 00:44:14,480
Speaker 2: It's gonna be so hard to guard. It has never

902
00:44:14,560 --> 00:44:18,920
Speaker 2: been that damaging over the entire era. Why because who

903
00:44:18,920 --> 00:44:21,640
Speaker 2: do you guard Lebron with a big strong forward deck

904
00:44:21,640 --> 00:44:24,080
Speaker 2: can slide his feet? Who do you guard Anthony Davis

905
00:44:24,120 --> 00:44:27,000
Speaker 2: with a big strong forward deck can slide his feet?

906
00:44:27,560 --> 00:44:29,840
Speaker 2: So you could switch, and it's more or less the

907
00:44:29,920 --> 00:44:34,080
Speaker 2: same type of advantage, right, But the type of guy

908
00:44:34,160 --> 00:44:37,719
Speaker 2: you need to guard Dame is extremely different from the

909
00:44:37,719 --> 00:44:40,239
Speaker 2: type of guy you need to guard Giannis. You need

910
00:44:40,280 --> 00:44:42,400
Speaker 2: a big, strong forward who moves his feet well to

911
00:44:42,440 --> 00:44:47,279
Speaker 2: guard Giannis. You need a quick, nimble athlete with long

912
00:44:47,400 --> 00:44:52,239
Speaker 2: arms to guard Dame. And that quick nimble athlete is

913
00:44:52,280 --> 00:44:55,640
Speaker 2: gonna get pulverized in the post by Yannis And that

914
00:44:55,719 --> 00:44:58,439
Speaker 2: big strong forward that moves his feet well is gonna

915
00:44:58,480 --> 00:45:03,239
Speaker 2: get absolutely barbecued by Damian Lillard. And it's either gonna

916
00:45:03,280 --> 00:45:06,839
Speaker 2: be Giannis catching in the post an immediate double team,

917
00:45:06,880 --> 00:45:10,120
Speaker 2: which gets your defense in rotation, or it's gonna be

918
00:45:10,200 --> 00:45:12,799
Speaker 2: Dame beating his man off the dribble, the big man

919
00:45:12,880 --> 00:45:15,360
Speaker 2: off the dribble, which is gonna get your defense in rotation.

920
00:45:17,200 --> 00:45:19,440
Speaker 2: Or you can force da him to take step back

921
00:45:19,480 --> 00:45:21,719
Speaker 2: threes by giving him space, which he's gonna make at

922
00:45:21,719 --> 00:45:24,120
Speaker 2: such a high rate it's untenable anyway, because he's one

923
00:45:24,160 --> 00:45:26,200
Speaker 2: of the small handful of guys in the league that

924
00:45:26,280 --> 00:45:29,080
Speaker 2: you can't afford to give that shot to, so switching

925
00:45:29,239 --> 00:45:32,839
Speaker 2: not gonna work. Last is any sort of aggressive pick

926
00:45:32,880 --> 00:45:35,640
Speaker 2: and roll coverage, so a high drop where you're dropping

927
00:45:35,640 --> 00:45:37,240
Speaker 2: but you're way up at the level of the screen,

928
00:45:37,320 --> 00:45:39,200
Speaker 2: or a show where you actually come out above the

929
00:45:39,239 --> 00:45:41,240
Speaker 2: level of the screen to stop the guard from turning

930
00:45:41,239 --> 00:45:43,279
Speaker 2: the corner and then you recover back, or any sort

931
00:45:43,280 --> 00:45:45,800
Speaker 2: of blitzer trap, and that's where both guys just double

932
00:45:45,840 --> 00:45:48,440
Speaker 2: team and actually forced Dame to get rid of the basketball.

933
00:45:48,680 --> 00:45:51,920
Speaker 2: In any of those situations, Dame has been facing that

934
00:45:52,000 --> 00:45:56,919
Speaker 2: coverage forever because he's been playing with lower quality role

935
00:45:56,960 --> 00:45:59,520
Speaker 2: men than Giannis over the years, and so it's been

936
00:45:59,520 --> 00:46:02,759
Speaker 2: smart for teams to blitz and trap and high high

937
00:46:02,960 --> 00:46:07,560
Speaker 2: hedge and to show to the high drop against Dame right,

938
00:46:08,320 --> 00:46:10,040
Speaker 2: and so he knows how to make the over the

939
00:46:10,040 --> 00:46:12,960
Speaker 2: top pass or the pocket pass to Jannis barreling down

940
00:46:13,000 --> 00:46:16,640
Speaker 2: the basket. And now you put yourself in a predicament

941
00:46:17,040 --> 00:46:19,040
Speaker 2: where if we saw this a bunch of the Lakers

942
00:46:19,080 --> 00:46:21,880
Speaker 2: with Christian Wood right, if Christian Wood's gonna do a

943
00:46:21,920 --> 00:46:24,840
Speaker 2: hedge or a high show or or a high drop,

944
00:46:25,520 --> 00:46:29,920
Speaker 2: that means Giannis is rolling behind him. Now, when that

945
00:46:29,960 --> 00:46:33,640
Speaker 2: pass is made, you have D'Angel Russell and Christian Wood

946
00:46:33,640 --> 00:46:37,640
Speaker 2: on Damian Lillard twenty five feet from the basket. Now

947
00:46:37,719 --> 00:46:40,560
Speaker 2: Jannis is barreling down the hill running a four on

948
00:46:40,680 --> 00:46:44,480
Speaker 2: three and in a lot of cases his role gravity

949
00:46:44,560 --> 00:46:47,320
Speaker 2: is so crazy you'll pull multiple defenders, which he literally

950
00:46:47,320 --> 00:46:49,040
Speaker 2: did against the Lakers. There were multiple pick and rolls

951
00:46:49,040 --> 00:46:53,080
Speaker 2: where there were multiple wide open shooters. That's the predicament

952
00:46:53,160 --> 00:46:55,000
Speaker 2: they put you in. Oh and Giannis is one of

953
00:46:55,000 --> 00:46:56,520
Speaker 2: the best rim finishers in the league and one of

954
00:46:56,560 --> 00:47:00,480
Speaker 2: the best passers for his position. So to put a simply,

955
00:47:00,680 --> 00:47:04,560
Speaker 2: there is no defensive strategy that can successfully guard the

956
00:47:04,640 --> 00:47:08,080
Speaker 2: Janna Stain pick and roll without either conceding a jump

957
00:47:08,080 --> 00:47:09,759
Speaker 2: shot to one of the best jump shooters in the

958
00:47:09,880 --> 00:47:13,080
Speaker 2: history of the NBA, or putting your defense into rotation

959
00:47:13,840 --> 00:47:15,759
Speaker 2: which allows the other team to play, which a lies

960
00:47:15,760 --> 00:47:19,480
Speaker 2: your offense to play with an advantage the entire game. So,

961
00:47:19,520 --> 00:47:23,640
Speaker 2: in short, everyone is screwed. I literally can't. If I

962
00:47:23,719 --> 00:47:27,560
Speaker 2: was coaching against the Bucks, your best bet is to

963
00:47:27,600 --> 00:47:30,400
Speaker 2: find the very best point of attack defender on your roster,

964
00:47:31,000 --> 00:47:33,640
Speaker 2: put him on Dame, and pray to god he misses.

965
00:47:35,239 --> 00:47:37,640
Speaker 2: That's a tough spot to be in. You run a

966
00:47:37,640 --> 00:47:40,359
Speaker 2: deeper drop, take away those four on threes, take away

967
00:47:40,400 --> 00:47:44,719
Speaker 2: those Roman possessions, and you pray he misses. It's just

968
00:47:44,840 --> 00:47:48,680
Speaker 2: it's probably not going to work. But there are some

969
00:47:48,800 --> 00:47:50,920
Speaker 2: questions about this Bucks roster, so let's dig into him

970
00:47:50,920 --> 00:47:55,480
Speaker 2: a little bit. Can the Bucks piece together a functional

971
00:47:55,560 --> 00:47:58,360
Speaker 2: rotation around those two guys? The first question is the

972
00:47:58,360 --> 00:48:00,480
Speaker 2: two guard spot. This was the Grayson Allen's we talked

973
00:48:00,520 --> 00:48:03,440
Speaker 2: better earlier, but he was a deadly spot up threat

974
00:48:04,800 --> 00:48:07,560
Speaker 2: and specifically with deep three point shooting in the value

975
00:48:07,600 --> 00:48:10,480
Speaker 2: that brought. So in the Laker game, they started Malik Beasley.

976
00:48:10,560 --> 00:48:12,160
Speaker 2: I covered him with the Lakers last year. He's just

977
00:48:12,239 --> 00:48:15,640
Speaker 2: not very good. He's he was out of the rotation

978
00:48:15,760 --> 00:48:19,279
Speaker 2: for the Lakers after the Grizzly series. He's a really

979
00:48:19,360 --> 00:48:22,560
Speaker 2: aggressive shooter that just doesn't really make shots, and he

980
00:48:22,560 --> 00:48:24,400
Speaker 2: doesn't attack closeouts really well because he can't put the

981
00:48:24,440 --> 00:48:25,480
Speaker 2: ball on the floor and he doesn't have a mid

982
00:48:25,560 --> 00:48:28,120
Speaker 2: range game. He converted one hundred and four spot up

983
00:48:28,160 --> 00:48:30,719
Speaker 2: opportunities for the Lakers last year into just seventy five

984
00:48:30,760 --> 00:48:33,600
Speaker 2: points at zero point seven to two points per possession,

985
00:48:33,840 --> 00:48:35,839
Speaker 2: and trust me, they were pretty damn good looks as

986
00:48:35,880 --> 00:48:38,280
Speaker 2: teams were loading up on Lebron and Ad and Austin

987
00:48:38,320 --> 00:48:41,600
Speaker 2: and d Lo and all those guys. He was also

988
00:48:41,640 --> 00:48:44,440
Speaker 2: one of the worst defenders on the Lakers last year. Now,

989
00:48:44,760 --> 00:48:46,960
Speaker 2: he did shoot much better a couple of years ago,

990
00:48:47,080 --> 00:48:49,000
Speaker 2: so maybe he gets to the point where he shoots better,

991
00:48:49,400 --> 00:48:52,319
Speaker 2: but again, the defense and rebounding limitations I think make

992
00:48:52,400 --> 00:48:55,520
Speaker 2: him not a great option. The second option is Pat Conaton,

993
00:48:55,840 --> 00:48:57,719
Speaker 2: and he had a downshooting year last year, but even

994
00:48:57,760 --> 00:49:00,279
Speaker 2: despite that, he still converted spot of possesion is at

995
00:49:00,320 --> 00:49:02,959
Speaker 2: one point zero five points per possession, which is solid,

996
00:49:03,800 --> 00:49:05,239
Speaker 2: and if you go back two years to the twenty

997
00:49:05,280 --> 00:49:06,719
Speaker 2: twenty two season, he was one of the best spot

998
00:49:06,800 --> 00:49:09,440
Speaker 2: up players in the league. Shot sixty percent in effective

999
00:49:09,400 --> 00:49:11,440
Speaker 2: field goal percentage on catch two jump shots. He converted

1000
00:49:11,480 --> 00:49:14,760
Speaker 2: spot up possessions at one point one six points per possession,

1001
00:49:14,760 --> 00:49:17,840
Speaker 2: which is outstanding. Now, he's not his athletic as Malik Beasley,

1002
00:49:17,840 --> 00:49:19,839
Speaker 2: but he's a little bigger and a little stronger. He's

1003
00:49:19,840 --> 00:49:21,960
Speaker 2: a better rebounder, and he's a more committed and smarter

1004
00:49:22,040 --> 00:49:24,960
Speaker 2: team defender. So I think in the long run, unless

1005
00:49:24,960 --> 00:49:27,080
Speaker 2: they make a trade for two guard, I think Pat

1006
00:49:27,120 --> 00:49:29,360
Speaker 2: Conton is actually the better option to go in that spot.

1007
00:49:29,480 --> 00:49:30,960
Speaker 2: I don't think you can go with Campaign because in

1008
00:49:31,000 --> 00:49:33,320
Speaker 2: your way too small, so Pat Contenton to me feels

1009
00:49:33,320 --> 00:49:35,040
Speaker 2: like the guy who inevitably ends up starting at the

1010
00:49:35,040 --> 00:49:38,680
Speaker 2: two in the long run. The second question is depth,

1011
00:49:38,800 --> 00:49:42,480
Speaker 2: and I'm not super concerned here. Campaign is a perfectly

1012
00:49:42,520 --> 00:49:44,879
Speaker 2: fine backup guard. He's actually one of the best guards

1013
00:49:44,880 --> 00:49:46,960
Speaker 2: in the league at generating dribble penetration, which we just

1014
00:49:47,000 --> 00:49:48,960
Speaker 2: talked about for a while how important that is. He's

1015
00:49:49,000 --> 00:49:50,960
Speaker 2: just so damn fast guys can't keep him in front.

1016
00:49:51,760 --> 00:49:54,480
Speaker 2: Malik Beasley again, for all his flaws, perfectly fine as

1017
00:49:54,480 --> 00:49:57,279
Speaker 2: a backup guard. Marjon Beauchamp has looked pretty good in

1018
00:49:57,320 --> 00:50:02,200
Speaker 2: preseason so far. Jay Crowder perfectly fine as a backup four, right,

1019
00:50:02,560 --> 00:50:04,200
Speaker 2: And those both of those guys kind of are the

1020
00:50:04,239 --> 00:50:06,520
Speaker 2: different archetypes, right, Ja crowd are the bigger, stronger for

1021
00:50:07,080 --> 00:50:10,839
Speaker 2: Marjhon the longer, more athletic forward right, and then Robin

1022
00:50:10,840 --> 00:50:14,399
Speaker 2: Lopez and Bobby Portis are a perfectly fine backup front court.

1023
00:50:14,480 --> 00:50:14,680
Speaker 1: Right.

1024
00:50:14,719 --> 00:50:17,640
Speaker 2: So I don't necessarily worry too much about their depth.

1025
00:50:17,640 --> 00:50:21,879
Speaker 2: Obviously they can't withhold a season full of injuries, but

1026
00:50:21,920 --> 00:50:23,319
Speaker 2: there's not a whole lot of teams in the league

1027
00:50:23,360 --> 00:50:26,520
Speaker 2: that can. The biggest question is their playoff rotation, right, Like,

1028
00:50:26,560 --> 00:50:28,040
Speaker 2: you got to have at least eight guys that you

1029
00:50:28,080 --> 00:50:30,880
Speaker 2: can trust. Well, you have four right away, Giannis, Dame,

1030
00:50:31,000 --> 00:50:33,560
Speaker 2: Chris and Brook. There's four. Pat I've seen him play

1031
00:50:33,560 --> 00:50:34,840
Speaker 2: a role in a playoff team. I think he can

1032
00:50:34,880 --> 00:50:36,480
Speaker 2: be fine. I thought he played really well for this

1033
00:50:36,520 --> 00:50:39,560
Speaker 2: twenty twenty two bucks. So you really just need three

1034
00:50:39,640 --> 00:50:42,239
Speaker 2: more out of Ja Crowder Bobby Portis, who I think

1035
00:50:42,280 --> 00:50:44,520
Speaker 2: both of them will be fine. That's seven. So you

1036
00:50:44,600 --> 00:50:47,320
Speaker 2: really just need one of campaign Malik Beasley or Marjon

1037
00:50:47,360 --> 00:50:50,600
Speaker 2: Beauchamp to pop before the end of the season, and

1038
00:50:50,800 --> 00:50:52,440
Speaker 2: or to find someone in the trade or buy out

1039
00:50:52,480 --> 00:50:58,160
Speaker 2: market right. So like, again, you need injury luck, but

1040
00:50:58,320 --> 00:51:01,600
Speaker 2: NBA history tells us you need injury luck anyway to

1041
00:51:01,640 --> 00:51:05,640
Speaker 2: win the title. So I'm not overly concerned about their depth.

1042
00:51:06,520 --> 00:51:09,360
Speaker 2: The only real question mark that has me somewhat concerned

1043
00:51:09,360 --> 00:51:12,560
Speaker 2: about this team is their point of attack defense. They

1044
00:51:12,600 --> 00:51:15,319
Speaker 2: have the star talent, they have the shooting, they have

1045
00:51:15,360 --> 00:51:17,839
Speaker 2: the defensive foundation of Giannison Brook in the front court,

1046
00:51:17,880 --> 00:51:21,200
Speaker 2: but they are not a good perimeter defense team on paper.

1047
00:51:23,239 --> 00:51:25,439
Speaker 2: You know, like if you face there are certain teams

1048
00:51:25,480 --> 00:51:27,319
Speaker 2: that it might not matter against. Like if you face

1049
00:51:27,360 --> 00:51:31,280
Speaker 2: Miami tomorrow in the playoffs, you're fine with Chris Middleton

1050
00:51:31,280 --> 00:51:33,279
Speaker 2: guard and Jimmy Butler. None of those other guards are

1051
00:51:33,280 --> 00:51:36,040
Speaker 2: gonna hurt you enough for it to matter. But specific matchups,

1052
00:51:36,040 --> 00:51:39,480
Speaker 2: teams like Cleveland, multiple shot creators in the backcourt, right

1053
00:51:39,520 --> 00:51:42,960
Speaker 2: teams like Boston, or loaded with shot creation right like

1054
00:51:43,719 --> 00:51:47,200
Speaker 2: Philly as a little bit of that with a Tyree

1055
00:51:47,200 --> 00:51:50,200
Speaker 2: Smacks and James Harden. Potentially right teams in the Western

1056
00:51:50,200 --> 00:51:52,839
Speaker 2: Conference they could see in the finals, teams like you know,

1057
00:51:53,120 --> 00:51:55,960
Speaker 2: Golden State, teams like Denver. There are teams like Phoenix.

1058
00:51:56,040 --> 00:51:57,160
Speaker 2: There are a lot of teams that are gonna have

1059
00:51:57,200 --> 00:52:00,200
Speaker 2: a lot of perimeter options that they can go at

1060
00:52:00,200 --> 00:52:03,200
Speaker 2: the bucks with, and so that that's gonna be the

1061
00:52:03,200 --> 00:52:04,840
Speaker 2: one thing that I'm gonna have to look at with

1062
00:52:04,880 --> 00:52:06,320
Speaker 2: them over the course of the season and whether or

1063
00:52:06,360 --> 00:52:08,239
Speaker 2: not that could be a problem. And again, like we

1064
00:52:08,320 --> 00:52:11,640
Speaker 2: talked about that defensive rotation concept that goes both ways.

1065
00:52:11,760 --> 00:52:14,480
Speaker 2: If your point of attack defenders are giving up too

1066
00:52:14,560 --> 00:52:18,000
Speaker 2: easy dribble penetration, then your defense is in rotation all

1067
00:52:18,000 --> 00:52:21,480
Speaker 2: the time, which can be a problem. But here's where

1068
00:52:21,480 --> 00:52:24,960
Speaker 2: I'm at with it. I think you can guard Cleveland

1069
00:52:25,640 --> 00:52:28,319
Speaker 2: just like New York did right because of the Evan

1070
00:52:28,400 --> 00:52:31,640
Speaker 2: Mobley Jared Allen problem. A guy like Brook Lopez is

1071
00:52:31,680 --> 00:52:33,640
Speaker 2: gonna be able to kind of split that difference and

1072
00:52:34,200 --> 00:52:36,680
Speaker 2: guard both of those guys as Evan Mobley's rolling down

1073
00:52:36,719 --> 00:52:39,000
Speaker 2: to the basket. So I'm not too worried about Cleveland.

1074
00:52:39,480 --> 00:52:41,120
Speaker 2: I know, I know they brought in some shooting, but

1075
00:52:41,160 --> 00:52:43,000
Speaker 2: it's the front court that I think makes them easy

1076
00:52:43,000 --> 00:52:46,160
Speaker 2: to guard. Miami's not gonna hit enough pull up jump shots,

1077
00:52:46,200 --> 00:52:48,879
Speaker 2: not unless they make a trade. Philly I don't think

1078
00:52:48,960 --> 00:52:52,520
Speaker 2: is gonna hit enough pull up jump shots. Boston, I mean,

1079
00:52:52,560 --> 00:52:54,840
Speaker 2: I think they have enough aggregate ball handling to really

1080
00:52:54,880 --> 00:52:57,960
Speaker 2: spread the Bucks out and cause some problems, but their

1081
00:52:58,080 --> 00:53:01,279
Speaker 2: execution is so sloppy I ever trust their offense to

1082
00:53:01,320 --> 00:53:03,800
Speaker 2: really be a weapon at that phase. It's the West

1083
00:53:03,880 --> 00:53:06,400
Speaker 2: where I really start to get concerned. Team like teams

1084
00:53:06,400 --> 00:53:08,360
Speaker 2: like Denver, teams like Golden State, teams like Phoenix that

1085
00:53:08,400 --> 00:53:10,360
Speaker 2: have a ton of pull up shooting, a ton of

1086
00:53:10,400 --> 00:53:12,600
Speaker 2: perimeter talent. Those are the teams that are gonna be

1087
00:53:12,600 --> 00:53:14,960
Speaker 2: able to pull Brook Lopez and pull Giannis away from

1088
00:53:15,000 --> 00:53:17,480
Speaker 2: the rim and get them into rotation. But again, those

1089
00:53:17,560 --> 00:53:21,799
Speaker 2: dynamics play both ways, right Like, if if you've got

1090
00:53:21,800 --> 00:53:25,319
Speaker 2: a team that's able to stretch the Bucks out, they're

1091
00:53:25,320 --> 00:53:26,680
Speaker 2: gonna be doing the same thing to you on the

1092
00:53:26,680 --> 00:53:28,960
Speaker 2: other end with Damon pick and roll. So again, it

1093
00:53:29,000 --> 00:53:32,280
Speaker 2: goes both ways. I just think it's something that's worth mentioning.

1094
00:53:32,719 --> 00:53:37,480
Speaker 2: You know, Pat Connaton, Malik Beasley, Damian Lillard, Marjon Beauchamp,

1095
00:53:37,520 --> 00:53:41,200
Speaker 2: that that's a Jay crowder at this phase in his career.

1096
00:53:41,280 --> 00:53:43,520
Speaker 2: Chris Middleton's a pretty good point of attack defender, but

1097
00:53:43,560 --> 00:53:46,000
Speaker 2: he's not great, So like that's gonna be a limitation

1098
00:53:46,120 --> 00:53:49,960
Speaker 2: for them, And you know, even against a team like Boston,

1099
00:53:50,200 --> 00:53:52,080
Speaker 2: You're gonna have to ask Giannis to guard one of

1100
00:53:52,080 --> 00:53:54,640
Speaker 2: the Jayson, either Jason Tatum or Jaylen Brown. So they're

1101
00:53:54,640 --> 00:53:57,400
Speaker 2: definitely not gonna be as good as they were defensively

1102
00:53:57,600 --> 00:53:59,680
Speaker 2: last year. And I mean, as far as predictions go

1103
00:53:59,719 --> 00:54:01,520
Speaker 2: for this, and that's where I have to start, because

1104
00:54:01,760 --> 00:54:03,840
Speaker 2: I do think that the Bucks will go down a

1105
00:54:03,920 --> 00:54:06,600
Speaker 2: level in the regular season, like I think the Celtics

1106
00:54:06,640 --> 00:54:08,239
Speaker 2: are gonna run away with the one seed. I bet

1107
00:54:08,239 --> 00:54:10,920
Speaker 2: you they have about a five game lead over everybody

1108
00:54:11,000 --> 00:54:12,920
Speaker 2: when it's all said and done. They just aren't as

1109
00:54:12,960 --> 00:54:15,880
Speaker 2: good defensively and aren't as deep the Bucks, which I

1110
00:54:15,880 --> 00:54:17,440
Speaker 2: think is gonna hurt them over the course of the

1111
00:54:17,480 --> 00:54:21,120
Speaker 2: regular season. But at the end of the day, you combine,

1112
00:54:21,480 --> 00:54:25,440
Speaker 2: you shrink the rotation, you combine the Yiannis Dame factor.

1113
00:54:25,480 --> 00:54:28,799
Speaker 2: In a playoff series, I just I just trust them

1114
00:54:29,000 --> 00:54:33,040
Speaker 2: a tiny bit more to generate higher quality shots than

1115
00:54:33,160 --> 00:54:35,680
Speaker 2: Boston over the course of a seven game series, which

1116
00:54:35,760 --> 00:54:38,120
Speaker 2: is going to be a slow down, knockdown, drag out

1117
00:54:38,200 --> 00:54:42,600
Speaker 2: fight of a series, right, And I also expect Giannis

1118
00:54:42,640 --> 00:54:45,440
Speaker 2: to be much more devastating in the margins of the

1119
00:54:45,480 --> 00:54:48,160
Speaker 2: game without the offensive workload he had to carry in

1120
00:54:48,200 --> 00:54:51,440
Speaker 2: the past. So that's where I'm at with the Bucks

1121
00:54:51,480 --> 00:54:53,120
Speaker 2: right now. I think they're gonna win the Eastern Conference.

1122
00:54:53,120 --> 00:54:55,080
Speaker 2: They might pick to win the East, but as of

1123
00:54:55,160 --> 00:54:57,080
Speaker 2: right now, I'm going with the Denver Nuggets at number

1124
00:54:57,080 --> 00:54:58,839
Speaker 2: one in my power rankings. I think they're the team

1125
00:54:59,239 --> 00:55:02,680
Speaker 2: that has proven but obviously most recently, but I think

1126
00:55:02,680 --> 00:55:04,760
Speaker 2: got the best player in the world, the best offense

1127
00:55:04,800 --> 00:55:06,640
Speaker 2: in the world, the most unguardable offense in the world.

1128
00:55:06,680 --> 00:55:08,920
Speaker 2: I'm going with the Nuggets for right now. We'll do

1129
00:55:08,920 --> 00:55:12,759
Speaker 2: a full season preview on them later this week. All right,

1130
00:55:12,800 --> 00:55:15,720
Speaker 2: moving on to the mailbag, we have two questions today

1131
00:55:16,239 --> 00:55:19,520
Speaker 2: versus from Alejandro. Last year, you were very high on

1132
00:55:19,600 --> 00:55:22,880
Speaker 2: James Harden's revenge season, but now after his performance last playoffs,

1133
00:55:22,880 --> 00:55:24,840
Speaker 2: you no longer trust his ability to contribute to a

1134
00:55:24,840 --> 00:55:26,840
Speaker 2: team in the playoffs. What was the last straw and

1135
00:55:26,920 --> 00:55:29,840
Speaker 2: why last season? First of all, great question, al, but

1136
00:55:30,280 --> 00:55:34,120
Speaker 2: that's the reason. If there was a season where James

1137
00:55:34,120 --> 00:55:36,879
Speaker 2: would finally pop in the playoffs, it was last year.

1138
00:55:37,719 --> 00:55:40,840
Speaker 2: Why no longer the best player on his team? So

1139
00:55:41,440 --> 00:55:44,120
Speaker 2: it hard embiads getting the line share of the defensive

1140
00:55:44,120 --> 00:55:47,479
Speaker 2: coverages and attention. Right the pressures off of him as well,

1141
00:55:47,880 --> 00:55:50,480
Speaker 2: and he looked better in the regular season, Like he

1142
00:55:50,520 --> 00:55:53,080
Speaker 2: looked in shape and like it looked like the best

1143
00:55:53,160 --> 00:55:56,359
Speaker 2: version of James Harden that could have existed within that

1144
00:55:56,520 --> 00:56:00,480
Speaker 2: age of his career. Right, and he still was atrocious

1145
00:56:00,520 --> 00:56:03,080
Speaker 2: in the playoffs outside of two games. So it's hard

1146
00:56:03,080 --> 00:56:05,960
Speaker 2: for me to believe that another year is going to

1147
00:56:06,040 --> 00:56:09,880
Speaker 2: suddenly fix that problem. The reality is is the stuff

1148
00:56:09,920 --> 00:56:13,120
Speaker 2: that he does, specifically is rim finishing tanked in the postseason,

1149
00:56:14,360 --> 00:56:17,759
Speaker 2: but also timely turnovers and decision making like always so

1150
00:56:17,880 --> 00:56:19,960
Speaker 2: like again, like, if there was a year where it

1151
00:56:19,960 --> 00:56:21,879
Speaker 2: would have come together for him, it was last year

1152
00:56:21,880 --> 00:56:25,440
Speaker 2: and it didn't happen, which leaves me utterly discouraged regardless

1153
00:56:25,480 --> 00:56:27,600
Speaker 2: of what happens for James Harden this season as to

1154
00:56:27,640 --> 00:56:31,600
Speaker 2: what he could potentially accomplish in this postseason. All right,

1155
00:56:31,640 --> 00:56:34,279
Speaker 2: last mail back question, This one's from Nelson. How'd you

1156
00:56:34,320 --> 00:56:38,120
Speaker 2: settle on PRS guitars as your brand of choice? Which

1157
00:56:38,120 --> 00:56:42,040
Speaker 2: one do you use the most? And why? So? I

1158
00:56:43,200 --> 00:56:47,319
Speaker 2: got into PRS from the standpoint of like learning of

1159
00:56:47,360 --> 00:56:50,839
Speaker 2: its existence through Debt and Company and John Mayer. Right,

1160
00:56:51,560 --> 00:56:54,840
Speaker 2: John was playing this guy right here was playing the

1161
00:56:55,360 --> 00:56:57,880
Speaker 2: that's the what they call the Super Eagle. It was

1162
00:56:57,920 --> 00:57:00,520
Speaker 2: a custom guitar that they made. I think, I want

1163
00:57:00,560 --> 00:57:02,319
Speaker 2: to say they were charging like twenty grand for them,

1164
00:57:02,800 --> 00:57:04,719
Speaker 2: but they only made like a hundred of them, I think.

1165
00:57:05,320 --> 00:57:07,200
Speaker 2: And it was like kind of this cool custom guitar.

1166
00:57:07,239 --> 00:57:09,080
Speaker 2: It was a semi hollow and had these this three

1167
00:57:09,080 --> 00:57:13,440
Speaker 2: pickup setup. It was supposed to mimic Jerry Garcia's guitars

1168
00:57:13,440 --> 00:57:15,760
Speaker 2: that he was using. It also had a preamp built

1169
00:57:15,760 --> 00:57:19,760
Speaker 2: into it, like a treble boost, and these like vintage,

1170
00:57:19,840 --> 00:57:22,000
Speaker 2: these vintage style pickups that what they call their fifty

1171
00:57:22,040 --> 00:57:25,040
Speaker 2: eight fifteen's, And I just fell in love with this guitar.

1172
00:57:25,080 --> 00:57:26,680
Speaker 2: But obviously I was never gonna be able to get

1173
00:57:27,320 --> 00:57:30,680
Speaker 2: a twenty thousand dollars guitar, so I just started looking

1174
00:57:30,720 --> 00:57:33,040
Speaker 2: into prs. It's funny because I always look at sales

1175
00:57:33,040 --> 00:57:35,720
Speaker 2: as like a two pronged approach, like you gotta have

1176
00:57:35,880 --> 00:57:39,400
Speaker 2: something that catches people's attention, and then you have to

1177
00:57:39,440 --> 00:57:41,880
Speaker 2: have the long form sales pitch, which is like, Okay,

1178
00:57:41,880 --> 00:57:43,720
Speaker 2: now I have your attention, let me tell you why

1179
00:57:44,680 --> 00:57:48,040
Speaker 2: you know, using our product is best. And so obviously

1180
00:57:48,160 --> 00:57:50,560
Speaker 2: John Mayer got my initial attention to the guitar. I

1181
00:57:50,560 --> 00:57:52,160
Speaker 2: just thought it looked really cool with that, like the

1182
00:57:52,200 --> 00:57:54,000
Speaker 2: birds on the neck. I love the way it sounded

1183
00:57:54,000 --> 00:57:56,200
Speaker 2: when he was playing it. And so then I started

1184
00:57:56,200 --> 00:58:00,920
Speaker 2: doing research and they are made in Maryland, and their

1185
00:58:01,000 --> 00:58:04,400
Speaker 2: quality control is just legendary. Every piece of the guitar.

1186
00:58:04,680 --> 00:58:08,480
Speaker 2: When they finished the guitar tech who's working that piece

1187
00:58:08,760 --> 00:58:11,720
Speaker 2: has to initial in a part that's invisible. They have

1188
00:58:11,760 --> 00:58:14,560
Speaker 2: to initial that piece so that if like this guitar

1189
00:58:14,600 --> 00:58:17,320
Speaker 2: had an issue and I sent it back, they would

1190
00:58:17,320 --> 00:58:19,760
Speaker 2: literally disassemble it and they would be able to basically

1191
00:58:19,800 --> 00:58:23,480
Speaker 2: hold the person accountable for making that particular mistake. So

1192
00:58:23,480 --> 00:58:27,320
Speaker 2: they have really high level quality control in general. It

1193
00:58:27,440 --> 00:58:30,000
Speaker 2: just feel I felt like a real passion from this

1194
00:58:30,160 --> 00:58:32,440
Speaker 2: from the whole company in their overall quality and their

1195
00:58:32,440 --> 00:58:34,720
Speaker 2: guitar making. And then I've really been a fan of

1196
00:58:34,760 --> 00:58:37,640
Speaker 2: their the curly maple stuff that they do. So this

1197
00:58:37,720 --> 00:58:40,800
Speaker 2: is what they call CE twenty four, So this is

1198
00:58:40,800 --> 00:58:43,560
Speaker 2: one of their lower level pieces of wood. But you

1199
00:58:43,600 --> 00:58:45,480
Speaker 2: could just see this like beautiful, like kind of like

1200
00:58:45,600 --> 00:58:49,280
Speaker 2: striations in the maple, and all they do is stain

1201
00:58:49,360 --> 00:58:51,439
Speaker 2: it and it pulls out all those lines, which gives

1202
00:58:51,440 --> 00:58:55,720
Speaker 2: you like that tiger stripe, and then this one above here,

1203
00:58:55,880 --> 00:58:59,360
Speaker 2: this one above me here, this is the uh, the

1204
00:58:59,400 --> 00:59:01,760
Speaker 2: hollow body two. So it's a whole thing because it

1205
00:59:01,800 --> 00:59:05,400
Speaker 2: does the acoustic sound out of the bridge. But this

1206
00:59:05,480 --> 00:59:06,760
Speaker 2: is a ten top. So this is one of their

1207
00:59:06,800 --> 00:59:09,600
Speaker 2: higher quality pieces of wood. And it's just this beautiful

1208
00:59:10,320 --> 00:59:14,560
Speaker 2: maple you can see in there throughout but it and

1209
00:59:14,720 --> 00:59:16,760
Speaker 2: it has that kind of like a black color behind it,

1210
00:59:16,760 --> 00:59:19,240
Speaker 2: which I think is really pretty. But so I've always

1211
00:59:19,280 --> 00:59:22,080
Speaker 2: been drawn to their craftsmanship. But they're also just beautiful

1212
00:59:22,080 --> 00:59:25,800
Speaker 2: sounding guitars. And so these are the two that I have.

1213
00:59:25,840 --> 00:59:28,080
Speaker 2: The CEE twenty four, this is like their modern pickup.

1214
00:59:28,280 --> 00:59:30,000
Speaker 2: This is actually the guitar that I think is the

1215
00:59:30,040 --> 00:59:33,640
Speaker 2: best for the price from PRS because you save money

1216
00:59:33,640 --> 00:59:35,320
Speaker 2: with a little bit of the cheaper wood, and then

1217
00:59:35,320 --> 00:59:37,680
Speaker 2: they do a bolt on neck and they do a

1218
00:59:37,720 --> 00:59:40,800
Speaker 2: maple neck, and then they do a steel bridge. So

1219
00:59:40,880 --> 00:59:44,640
Speaker 2: it's got some cheaper components, but the key components are

1220
00:59:44,840 --> 00:59:47,120
Speaker 2: just as good. It's still a solid piece of mahogany.

1221
00:59:47,440 --> 00:59:51,480
Speaker 2: This is still their top tier pickups. I think it's

1222
00:59:51,480 --> 00:59:53,760
Speaker 2: called eighty five to fifteen. So you can get this

1223
00:59:53,800 --> 00:59:55,280
Speaker 2: guitar for like I think you're right around like twenty

1224
00:59:55,320 --> 01:00:00,720
Speaker 2: five hundred bucks. But that's that's all the electron equipment

1225
01:00:00,720 --> 01:00:02,840
Speaker 2: that you get from a five thousand dollars guitar and

1226
01:00:02,960 --> 01:00:05,480
Speaker 2: something half as expensive. So that was after I did

1227
01:00:05,480 --> 01:00:07,960
Speaker 2: a bunch of research. I had a bunch of cheaper guitars.

1228
01:00:08,000 --> 01:00:10,360
Speaker 2: I'm surrounded by guitars in here, so like I had

1229
01:00:10,440 --> 01:00:12,600
Speaker 2: when I first started playing, I was using epiphone a lot.

1230
01:00:13,080 --> 01:00:14,880
Speaker 2: So I've got an SG and un let's Paul over

1231
01:00:14,920 --> 01:00:17,480
Speaker 2: here their epiphone, but they're just I was. I was

1232
01:00:17,520 --> 01:00:19,920
Speaker 2: ready to get a real guitar, and so that was

1233
01:00:19,920 --> 01:00:23,919
Speaker 2: when I saved up and got that one. Really again

1234
01:00:23,920 --> 01:00:26,040
Speaker 2: a really good price point. This one. I just really

1235
01:00:26,080 --> 01:00:28,560
Speaker 2: wanted the vintage sound and then I wanted to be

1236
01:00:28,600 --> 01:00:30,640
Speaker 2: able to play acoustic, and so this one does both

1237
01:00:30,640 --> 01:00:34,600
Speaker 2: of those. This guitar is really really cool. Like literally

1238
01:00:34,600 --> 01:00:36,560
Speaker 2: you can plug and see how there's two ports on it,

1239
01:00:37,280 --> 01:00:40,080
Speaker 2: so that port is just for the acoustic and then

1240
01:00:40,120 --> 01:00:42,240
Speaker 2: this is for both, and then there's a switch and

1241
01:00:42,280 --> 01:00:44,400
Speaker 2: you can actually blend the two sounds together, so you

1242
01:00:44,400 --> 01:00:46,040
Speaker 2: can get like a bunch of really cool sounds out

1243
01:00:46,040 --> 01:00:48,600
Speaker 2: of this. And then, in my opinion, the fifty eight

1244
01:00:48,600 --> 01:00:54,600
Speaker 2: to fifteen vintage pickups are just unbelievable sounding. But the

1245
01:00:54,600 --> 01:00:58,320
Speaker 2: one downside with that one is with the way that

1246
01:00:58,360 --> 01:01:00,200
Speaker 2: it's set up, it's a little harder to reach the

1247
01:01:00,200 --> 01:01:02,320
Speaker 2: top of the neck. So ironically, this is the easiest

1248
01:01:02,320 --> 01:01:04,240
Speaker 2: guitar for me to play, and just in terms of

1249
01:01:04,280 --> 01:01:07,440
Speaker 2: like mobility with my hands. But I think this one

1250
01:01:07,480 --> 01:01:09,680
Speaker 2: sounds the best. So I kind of alternate through, and

1251
01:01:09,960 --> 01:01:12,400
Speaker 2: like I have a Fender stratocaster that's behind the camera.

1252
01:01:13,360 --> 01:01:15,439
Speaker 2: Those of you guys who play guitar, No, like there's

1253
01:01:15,920 --> 01:01:19,040
Speaker 2: super unique sounds that you get from every guitar type, right,

1254
01:01:19,120 --> 01:01:22,960
Speaker 2: Like there's these prs is Like this this PRS I

1255
01:01:22,960 --> 01:01:26,040
Speaker 2: can actually pop this tone knob out, which turns this

1256
01:01:26,120 --> 01:01:29,840
Speaker 2: into a single coil. But the single coil sound that

1257
01:01:29,920 --> 01:01:33,480
Speaker 2: the prs is make when you pop the knob are

1258
01:01:33,600 --> 01:01:36,920
Speaker 2: not even remotely close to what a stratocaster sounds like,

1259
01:01:37,080 --> 01:01:40,919
Speaker 2: you know, like you just can't replicate a stratocaster neck

1260
01:01:41,000 --> 01:01:45,640
Speaker 2: pickup or like neck middle or treble middle right, or

1261
01:01:45,960 --> 01:01:49,640
Speaker 2: like you just can't you can't beat those very very

1262
01:01:49,720 --> 01:01:52,760
Speaker 2: unique stratocaster sounds. So like I kind of rotate through

1263
01:01:52,800 --> 01:01:57,800
Speaker 2: based on what mood I'm in right, and but again

1264
01:01:58,000 --> 01:01:59,640
Speaker 2: that's just a hobby of mine. It's not something I

1265
01:01:59,640 --> 01:02:02,320
Speaker 2: take in you really as seriously as basketball. I'd say

1266
01:02:02,360 --> 01:02:06,000
Speaker 2: it's like a very very clear second place. But it

1267
01:02:06,080 --> 01:02:09,560
Speaker 2: is something that I love to do for fun. Great question, Nelson,

1268
01:02:09,800 --> 01:02:12,480
Speaker 2: Thank you Alejandro as well. Don't forget to keep dropping

1269
01:02:12,800 --> 01:02:15,200
Speaker 2: mailbag questions and the YouTube comments does not have to

1270
01:02:15,200 --> 01:02:16,920
Speaker 2: be related to basketball. I actually think it's fun to

1271
01:02:16,920 --> 01:02:19,640
Speaker 2: occasionally talk about something different. As always, I appreciate you

1272
01:02:19,640 --> 01:02:21,880
Speaker 2: guys for supporting the show, and I will see you

1273
01:02:21,920 --> 01:02:23,520
Speaker 2: tomorrow for some more preseason breaking

1274
01:02:35,240 --> 01:02:35,960
Speaker 1: The volume