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Speaker 2: You're at the volume heavy Wednesday, everybody. I hope all

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Speaker 2: of you guys are having a great week. I figured now,

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Speaker 2: right before we head into our Thanksgiving break is the

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Speaker 2: best time for us to touch base on contenders. And

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Speaker 2: I've done a lot of power rankings. I've done a

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Speaker 2: lot of game breakdowns. I've done a lot of film breakdowns.

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Speaker 2: I've done a lot of arguing of various sorts. But

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Speaker 2: I have yet to reapproach my contend rankings. And so

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Speaker 2: what I'd like to do is do what I've done

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Speaker 2: every time we've done tender rankings over the last couple

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Speaker 2: of years, which is have my good friend Sam Vessini

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Speaker 2: from The Athletic on the show to break it all down.

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Speaker 2: First of all, Sam, how are you doing, man? How

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Speaker 2: is life down in Melbourne? No Thanksgiving right here?

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Speaker 1: Life is great. We you know, Thanksgiving unsurprisingly, given the

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Speaker 1: nature of what Thanksgiving is with the Pilgrims and the

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Speaker 1: Indians or the Native Americans, I'm sorry coming together and

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Speaker 1: you know, having a meal that didn't really happen here.

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Speaker 1: So you know, at the end of the day, my

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Speaker 1: wife's father is American and by nature, my wife is an American.

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Speaker 1: Because of that, she's dual citizenship. So we had like

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Speaker 1: a little get together with you know, fifteen twenty people,

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Speaker 1: some of my wife's parents' friends and everything. And yeah,

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Speaker 1: we have a Thanksgiving meal every year, just on the weekend,

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Speaker 1: not on Thursday. My Thursday will be a normal Thursday

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Speaker 1: for me.

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Speaker 2: Thursday is a horribly inconvenient day for us to do

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Speaker 2: this giant amount of cooking and social life before we

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Speaker 2: all go back to work on Friday. My wife works

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Speaker 2: in retail, so she'd end up ends up having a

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Speaker 2: crazy day. Then I used to work in retail ages ago,

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Speaker 2: so like that is what it is. But any excuse

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Speaker 2: to cook some turkey or Prime Rib or a big

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Speaker 2: prime Rib family. That's something that we do around our house.

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Speaker 2: But I want to start on a very basic concept,

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Speaker 2: which is when we did our contender rankings to start

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Speaker 2: the year, I had four teams in that tier, which

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Speaker 2: was Boston. I had Denver two, and then I had

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Speaker 2: OKAC three, and I had New York four. You had

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Speaker 2: Boston and Oklahoma City on their own tier. I've watched

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Speaker 2: quite a bit of Oklahoma City this year, especially in

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Speaker 2: the last week, and I'm actually starting to view Boston

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Speaker 2: as on a tier by themselves. And my case for

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Speaker 2: that is not that Oklahoma City doesn't have the potential

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Speaker 2: to improve, because they've underachieved a little bit offensively to

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Speaker 2: this point in the season, and I know that they'll

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Speaker 2: get better in time. And I'm liking their early returns

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Speaker 2: on Isaiah Hartenstein, both as like a connective passer and

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Speaker 2: also as a screener and all that kind of stuff.

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Speaker 2: The thing specific that has me a little hesitant with

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Speaker 2: Oklahoma City, and I want you to either talk me

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Speaker 2: off the led to or agree, is their decision making

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Speaker 2: in the half court kind of reminds me of Boston

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Speaker 2: a few years ago. Where their talent is almost the

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Speaker 2: enemy of their success sometimes and their pursuit of the

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Speaker 2: best shot or a great shot is not quite where

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Speaker 2: it needs to be relative to where Boston is, where

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Speaker 2: you can tell they have their stretches of bad shot selection,

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Speaker 2: but they're better at settling down and maintaining focus for longer.

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Speaker 2: So what have been your concerns with Oklahoma City's offense

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Speaker 2: and do you still consider them to be on the

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Speaker 2: same tier as Boston.

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Speaker 1: So I would have Boston. I think I said I

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Speaker 1: had Boston one A and Oklahoma City one B previously.

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Speaker 1: I think that if we're, you know, doing the tier

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Speaker 1: system here, I would probably have Boston at number one,

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Speaker 1: Oklahoma City at number two, but would have Oklahoma City.

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Speaker 1: Like if Boston is the highest end of that tier,

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Speaker 1: maybe Oklahoma City is like the lowest end of what

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Speaker 1: a Tier one team looks like. And the reason for

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Speaker 1: that is, Look, we'll talk about the offensive things that

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Speaker 1: you brought up, and I think they're all valid. Actually,

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Speaker 1: I do Oklahoma City's defense to start the year. Like

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Speaker 1: when we talked about Oklahoma City, I think I said

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Speaker 1: that they were almost guaranteed to be like a top

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Speaker 1: three defense, like almost no matter what they did, that's

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Speaker 1: probably where they're going to be. Do you know what

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Speaker 1: they were defensively before chet Holmgren got hurt and they

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Speaker 1: had to start experimenting with these like Jalen Williams at

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Speaker 1: the center lineups. They were They were not just number one,

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Speaker 1: they were number one by like eight points per one

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Speaker 1: hundred possessions over number two. They had a ninety seven

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Speaker 1: point five defensive rating in the game before chet Holmgren

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Speaker 1: got hurt. So we all expected, Hey, team that was

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Speaker 1: a top five defense last year goes out, gets Alex

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Speaker 1: Caruso and Isaiah Hartenstein, two of what I would argue

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Speaker 1: are probably in the top fifteen to twenty defenders across

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Speaker 1: the entire NBA, and adding them into your lineup, along

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Speaker 1: with improvement from Cason Wallace, who is another really really

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Speaker 1: good defender. You know, it was very hard to envision

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Speaker 1: this team not being a super high level defense, But

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Speaker 1: I think I somehow underestimated how good they might be

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Speaker 1: on defense. So that's where I would start and why

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Speaker 1: I think that they are in that top tier with

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Speaker 1: Boston because they still have all the line of flexibility

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Speaker 1: that we talked about in the preseason. The ability to

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Speaker 1: match high or match big with Christopson Al Horford, or

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Speaker 1: matchup against Yokich, or the ability to go small, which

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Speaker 1: they've now gotten to showcase with like even hyper super

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Speaker 1: small lineups with Jalen Williams at the five let alone,

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Speaker 1: just like the flexibility they having Chet at the five

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Speaker 1: brings you in terms of five out spacing. So I'm

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Speaker 1: excited about that. The offensive decision making, the overall offensive flow,

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Speaker 1: especially late in games, I do agree with you generally

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Speaker 1: that it can get a little bit stagnant. I think

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Speaker 1: that in general, Shay gilg Just Alexander and Jalen Williams

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Speaker 1: are great players, great drivers of the ball. They're not

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Speaker 1: selfish players by any stretch of the imagination. I just

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Speaker 1: don't know that they consistently make the super super high

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Speaker 1: level reads all the time for two guys that are

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Speaker 1: going to have the ball in their hands late in games.

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Speaker 1: You know, It's not like Anthony Edwards level, which has

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Speaker 1: been you know somehow. I don't know if he's regressed.

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Speaker 1: We'll probably talk about the Wolves a little bit later,

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Speaker 1: but he feels like he is certainly not taking a

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Speaker 1: step forward in regard to late game decision making. They're

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Speaker 1: not that level in terms of frustrating, but I do

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Speaker 1: think that they need to take that next step forward

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Speaker 1: in terms of being able to consistently just make the

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Speaker 1: high level reads over the last five minutes of the

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Speaker 1: game when defense is really tightened up.

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Speaker 2: The point you made about the defense is important, and

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Speaker 2: it's one that I think I've undersold in my coverage

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Speaker 2: of Oklahoma City in the sense that like they have

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Speaker 2: a lot of the similar kind of like perimeter athleticism, strength,

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Speaker 2: ground coverage, all the stuff we've talked about, the ability

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Speaker 2: to pressure the ball, keeping waves of defenders coming in

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Speaker 2: the game. The one difference is Boston just has a

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Speaker 2: little bit more size on the perimeter just because of

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Speaker 2: the Tatum Jalen Brown piece. But I in a weird way,

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Speaker 2: like I think lou Dort kind of has a lot

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Speaker 2: of size in his own way, Like I don't think

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Speaker 2: it's a coincidence that lou Dort made Luca feel a

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Speaker 2: hell of a lot more uncomfortable than Jaden McDaniels did,

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Speaker 2: for instance, last year.

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Speaker 3: The piece that makes it.

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Speaker 2: Different is everyone talks about Chrisapsportzincas as the rim protector. Right,

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Speaker 2: It's like, Okay, we got a rim protector back. Boston

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Speaker 2: doesn't really have a rim protector. This is that other

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Speaker 2: element of that you know, kind of elite defensive profile

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Speaker 2: that we've seen over the years that said, like Chet

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Speaker 2: is a rim protector that also has ground coverage, and

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Speaker 2: that is the thing that makes him so terrifying, and

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Speaker 2: what makes that entire unit so terrifying is like they

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Speaker 2: can engage in high level defensive you know process that

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Speaker 2: we've seen around the league in terms of keeping Chet

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Speaker 2: at the rim, which we've already seen, Like we've seen

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Speaker 2: stuff like him communicating with guards off ball to make

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Speaker 2: sure he's always the low man instead of getting pulled up.

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Speaker 3: High and things along those lines.

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Speaker 2: And when you combine that with the layers of perimeter

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Speaker 2: d I actually would agree that I think Oklahoma City

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Speaker 2: can actually get to a higher level defensively than Boston

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Speaker 2: can get. There are like Oklahoma City started to freak

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Speaker 2: me out a little bit in the Dallas series with

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Speaker 2: their incessant challenging of the rim protectors.

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Speaker 3: I said this on my show yesterday.

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Speaker 2: It kind of reminded me of Boston against Milwaukee in

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Speaker 2: the second round of twenty twenty two. If you remember

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Speaker 2: where those idiots kept trying Brook Lopez at the rim,

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Speaker 2: like the series kept oscillating back and forth when Jalen

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Speaker 2: Brown and Jason Tatum would make better reads when they

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Speaker 2: got to the rim, you know what I mean, Like

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Speaker 2: because they had the ability to get great looks whenever

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Speaker 2: they wanted to, but they would bog down too often

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Speaker 2: through that bad process. And so I think, like I remember,

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Speaker 2: coming into the season, I talked about how my main

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Speaker 2: concerns were, like, Jalen Williams and Chad Holmgren are basically

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Speaker 2: your number two, and they're very young and very inexperienced,

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Speaker 2: and they're going to be asked to carry significant stretches

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Speaker 2: of basketball in big moments. And so that is the

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Speaker 2: part to me that I get. I just get a

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Speaker 2: little bit concerned about, is just are they grown up

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Speaker 2: enough to be in a big playoff game against a

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Speaker 2: really good team late and to make the right decisions

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Speaker 2: they need to make. Because as we look back on Dallas, Sam,

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Speaker 2: Dallas is good. I think they're firmly in that second

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Speaker 2: tier of championship contending teams. But I didn't think they

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Speaker 2: were in the top tier last year. I thought they

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Speaker 2: were a team that caught some favorable matchups and got

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Speaker 2: out of the West, which means, okay, see basically got

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Speaker 2: upset in that second round series by Dallas, and so

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Speaker 2: I would argue they're further away than that series would

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Speaker 2: lead you to believe. And so I'm just I'm just

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Speaker 2: a little bit skeptical of that decision making process. What

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Speaker 2: have you seen from Jalen Williams that makes you feel

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Speaker 2: like he might be ready for that sort of thing

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Speaker 2: this year?

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Speaker 1: Everything is kind of the answer. Jaler Williams been unbelievable.

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Speaker 1: If you look at his last ten games since they've

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Speaker 1: been you know, basically without chat for a large portion

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Speaker 1: of that run, he's really had to step up. He's

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Speaker 1: averaging twenty five points, seven rebounds, six assists versus only

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Speaker 1: two point three turnovers, two point two steals, one point

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Speaker 1: three blocks. I think he has also sneaky taken a

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Speaker 1: big step forward defensively without a lot of people necessarily

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Speaker 1: recognizing yet. But by the way, he's shooting fifty seven

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Speaker 1: forty ninety four over that run in his last ten games.

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Speaker 1: So again, like Jalen Williams is one of those guys

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Speaker 1: where I think you and I have been talking about

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Speaker 1: him for like three years. As if there's a guy

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Speaker 1: I'm betting on in the league right now that you

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Speaker 1: know people, you can't give me enough stock of his Basically,

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Speaker 1: there's not enough. There's not enough out there that I

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Speaker 1: won't just buy it all and be happy with the results.

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Speaker 1: At a certain point. To me, he's going to be

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Speaker 1: an All NBA player, and this year he is starting

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Speaker 1: to take steps toward being that. At the very least

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Speaker 1: so far, I think he has been one of the

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Speaker 1: ten best players in the Western Conference to this point,

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Speaker 1: so you see where he is going. And I still

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Speaker 1: think that there are moments kind of like we discussed

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Speaker 1: where late in games they do give him the ball

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Speaker 1: quite a bit, and he does need to just continue

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Speaker 1: to improve small decision making issues in terms of overdriving

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Speaker 1: to the basket. For some reason, and I can't quite

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Speaker 1: figure out what this is, he is like the most

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Speaker 1: like physical dude. He drives and slashes constantly. He is

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Speaker 1: physical at the point of attack, defensive, he just does

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Speaker 1: not draw fowls for whatever reason. Even in this great

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Speaker 1: run where he's been unbelievable, he's still only getting three

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Speaker 1: foul shots per game. I don't know if it's a

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Speaker 1: I can't put my finger on if it's if it's

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Speaker 1: a footwork thing where he's kind of leaning away, if

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Speaker 1: it's a thing where he just doesn't have their respective

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Speaker 1: officials yet. I think that might be part of it. Honestly,

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Speaker 1: I can't tell why he doesn't get calls around the basket,

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Speaker 1: but he does drive into the basket pretty regularly in

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Speaker 1: a way that you would expect him to eventually draw fouls.

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Speaker 1: That's really the next step for him, if he starts

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Speaker 1: drawing fouls in the way that somebody like Jimmy Butler does,

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Speaker 1: and he has the ability to do that because of

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Speaker 1: his physical frame, like he can take contact, absorb it,

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Speaker 1: and finish through contact. I don't I don't know. Man

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Speaker 1: like that guy looks like he could be a top

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Speaker 1: ten player in the league at some point. And if

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Speaker 1: you have him an Shay, maybe.

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Speaker 3: It's a year early.

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Speaker 1: You know, maybe he doesn't work out those kind of

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Speaker 1: issues and doesn't get to the line and things like

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Speaker 1: that happen. But I don't know. They just might not

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Speaker 1: be as good as Boston, Like Boston was terrifying last

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Speaker 1: night against the Clippers at the end of the day,

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Speaker 1: like they were insane. That was Christop's first game, and

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Speaker 1: like you could just see the impact he had immediately,

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Speaker 1: Like they start, they didn't know what to do, Like

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Speaker 1: they started with zoobots on him, and then they started running,

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Speaker 1: like even with bench units they at Houser and Pritchard

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Speaker 1: come in, Like they'll run Prichard and Hauser as ball screeners.

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Speaker 1: They'll run them as the backman in stack pick and rolls.

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Speaker 1: They'll do like early exit stacks. They'll do just like

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Speaker 1: late release stacks where a screener gets there. They will

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Speaker 1: like run all sorts of different options in terms of

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Speaker 1: trying to find you know, creative avenues in transition. If

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Speaker 1: you are off even by the slightest smallest angle in

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Speaker 1: transition defense, if you are overloaded to one side by

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Speaker 1: one person, they will kill you because they will spread

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Speaker 1: out to the three point line and they will make

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Speaker 1: shots atay forty five to fifty percent clip probably in transition.

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Speaker 1: So and then on top of it, you saw the

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Speaker 1: Clippers trying to adjust, they would go, Okay, we're gonna

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Speaker 1: put zoobots on Drew. Holiday that didn't work because then

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Speaker 1: you've got a smaller guy in KP, and KP can

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Speaker 1: put as.

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Speaker 2: The primary defender for a stretch of that game is insane.

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Speaker 1: It was just like, well, okay, I get it. Maybe

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Speaker 1: you want zu bots to be the help defender and

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Speaker 1: you want him around the basket. They use Drew Holliday

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Speaker 1: as a cutter pretty regularly, but Drew Holliday is a

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Speaker 1: freaking All Star and multi time like Gold medalist. He's

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Speaker 1: able to take guys off the bounce on the perimeter.

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Speaker 1: He just doesn't do it because he doesn't have to

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Speaker 1: within that offense. So they just have so many different

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Speaker 1: ways to beat you at the end of the day.

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Speaker 1: That's my main concern and main issue if I was

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Speaker 1: Oklahoma City. Look, Boston's the best team in the league.

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Speaker 1: Like that's the reality of this, and their their highest

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Speaker 1: level is better than anybody else's highest level. It's just

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Speaker 1: whether or not they get to the playoffs clean.

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Speaker 2: I think, Yeah, I'm on the same page with you.

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Speaker 2: I think I would. I think I make them a

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Speaker 2: slight favorite to win the title, even if Porzingis never

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Speaker 2: played another game this year. Like that's that's that's how

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Speaker 2: I feel about them in general as is. And so yeah, yeah,

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Speaker 2: the James Harden and Porzingis thing was was a little

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Speaker 2: weird because I'm just watching James Harden inattentively stand around

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Speaker 2: as Porzingis just walks inside position on him and gets

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Speaker 2: an offensive rebound put back, and I'm.

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Speaker 3: Like, what are we even doing here?

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Speaker 2: So We're on the same page there at the Boston's

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Speaker 2: level one, it just sounds to me like I have okay, see,

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Speaker 2: I'm kind of a separate tier and you kind of

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Speaker 2: have them as just like kind of hanging on to

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Speaker 2: that top tier, just kind of almost at that level.

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Speaker 2: So the next two teams that have been big surprises

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Speaker 2: in the early part of the season a couple of

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Speaker 2: things that make it difficult to interpret. For instance, the

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Speaker 2: Cleveland Cavaliers have seven teen wins, but only four of

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Speaker 2: them have been against teams that are currently five hundred

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Speaker 2: are better, which makes them difficult to interpret. And then

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Speaker 2: the Golden State Warriors are a twelve and five in

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Speaker 2: the Western Conference. Do you give either of those teams

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Speaker 2: a real chance to win four playoff rounds based on

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Speaker 2: what you've seen from them here in the early going?

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Speaker 1: The Warriors, I think no, They're the easier answer to

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Speaker 1: me because I feel like the Warriors are getting by

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Speaker 1: with depth and with like eleven man lineups in Cleveland

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Speaker 1: is too, by the way, Like that's an underrated thing

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Speaker 1: that's happening with the Cavs, Like their bench has been

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Speaker 1: unbelievable to this point, led by Tijerome, But like the Warriors,

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Speaker 1: it feels like are getting by with just like a

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Speaker 1: ton of really smart basketball players that know how to

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Speaker 1: play the game, that know how to run that scheme.

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Speaker 1: And I don't even know that they necessarily have unbelievable

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Speaker 1: ways to match up with you, Like they don't have

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Speaker 1: an enormous front line, right like Tray Shackson Davis is

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Speaker 1: an undersized center. Kaman Looney probably isn't like totally undersized,

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Speaker 1: but kun Looney just like might not be good enough

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Speaker 1: anymore to like anchor a defense. So they're almost always

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Speaker 1: gonna have to go small right in order to get

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Speaker 1: the most out of their lineups. And if you go

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Speaker 1: small against, for instance, the Denver Nuggets, if you go

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Speaker 1: small against this iteration of the Oklahoma City Thunder, I

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Speaker 1: think you're gonna have problems now if because they can

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Speaker 1: go big against you, and they can go Hartenstein and

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Speaker 1: chat once we see chet back, and that's a whole

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Speaker 1: other thing, like what is Check gonna be once he

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Speaker 1: gets back. From what I understand about the hip injury,

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Speaker 1: it's one of these is that it's a from what

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Speaker 1: I understand, it's just like a pain thing. It's not

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Speaker 1: something that will like inflict upon his mobility, uh moving forward,

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Speaker 1: or like even once he heals from it. It's just

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Speaker 1: literally like when the pain stops kind of thing, and

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Speaker 1: once the injury itself, the fracture heals, right.

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Speaker 2: So.

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Speaker 3: Fractures for a while too.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, Like I think he'll be back this year. It's

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Speaker 1: just like, look, I can't sit here and tell you

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Speaker 1: like the level that he's definitely gonna be back at,

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Speaker 1: but that what I will say about Chet is like,

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Speaker 1: you know, people look at him. He's missed his whole

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Speaker 1: rookie season. He's going to miss a portion of this year. Now,

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Speaker 1: don't mistake that with like a lack of toughness necessarily,

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Speaker 1: Like he suffered a serious injury in that pro am game.

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Speaker 1: He suffered a serious injury where he fractured that bone

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Speaker 1: in his hip or whatever, uh in this game against

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Speaker 1: the Golden State Warriors who were talking about and Andrew Wiggins.

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Speaker 1: So don't mistake that though with a lack of toughness.

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Speaker 1: Like chet Holmgren will get out there and play. He

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Speaker 1: will play through the pain like if Oklahoma City allows him.

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Speaker 1: It's just whether or not he's going to be able

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Speaker 1: to or not. Don't don't take that, you know, one

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Speaker 1: way or another in terms of his lack of pain tolerance.

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Speaker 1: On the Warriors, I just don't know that they have

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Speaker 1: enough talent. It's kind of where I'm at with them.

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Speaker 1: Like they have a lot of depth, They have a

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Speaker 1: lot of interesting depth. That cool thing about them is

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Speaker 1: that if a star comes available for whatever reason this season,

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Speaker 1: they are very well positioned to be able to go

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Speaker 1: get that star. If they want to extend out the

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Speaker 1: Stephan Curry window. They have Jonathan kaminga who they decided

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Speaker 1: not to extend, which makes him a potential trade target.

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Speaker 1: They have all of their picks moving forward, which gives

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Speaker 1: them a number of potential avenues to create deals. Even

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Speaker 1: somebody I think like Cam Johnson would really help them

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Speaker 1: immensely just in terms of offensive flow, structure, consistent spacing.

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Speaker 1: When Buddy Healed isn't on the court. Buddy Healed started

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Speaker 1: the season incredibly well. Over the class six yes, six

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Speaker 1: or seven games he's cooled way off and he's really

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Speaker 1: hard to have out there defensively. So there are matchups

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Speaker 1: where he's gonna have it. There are gonna be nights

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Speaker 1: where he has it. But what do you do when

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Speaker 1: he doesn't have it? Is a big question for Golden

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Speaker 1: State on offense. For me right now, I mean, where

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Speaker 1: do you fall on them? Let's let's start with us

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Speaker 1: the way we go to the calves here.

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Speaker 2: I found the Warriors to be kind of proof of

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Speaker 2: concept of a couple of key things that you and

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Speaker 2: I both believe in at a really high level in

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Speaker 2: terms of our kind of like basketball worldview. And like

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Speaker 2: you said depth, I think it's not just depth, it's

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Speaker 2: a depth of a specific type of player, which is

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Speaker 2: like a fast player who's pretty good at everything, like

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Speaker 2: not necessarily.

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Speaker 1: Like there's thinks fast.

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Speaker 3: Yes, the big thing fast exactly.

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Speaker 2: And like I've thought so much about just kind of

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Speaker 2: the way the game has changed, particularly in the regular season.

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Speaker 2: And I'm glad you mentioned that there's a talent limit

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Speaker 2: there because this has been something that's been a difficult

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Speaker 2: pill for some Warriors fans to swallow over the course

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Speaker 2: of the start of the season. And I don't blame them,

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Speaker 2: because every fan base can get a little bit arrogant

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Speaker 2: when their team starts to rack up wins. But like

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Speaker 2: there is a there is a certain type of game

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Speaker 2: that Golden State can play that shows and spits teams

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Speaker 2: out in terms of the way that they pressure the ball,

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Speaker 2: in terms of the way that they fly around and rotate.

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Speaker 2: They have these some of the sharpest closeouts I see

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Speaker 2: in the league come out of Golden State and their

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Speaker 2: ability to defend the three point line while also offering

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Speaker 2: help there. It's it's a it's a principle that I

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Speaker 2: believe in very strongly now, which is that the best

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Speaker 2: foundational like trait that any roster can have is to

433
00:22:32,680 --> 00:22:36,360
Speaker 2: have a bunch of big athletes on the perimeter that

434
00:22:37,040 --> 00:22:40,840
Speaker 2: compete and I think like specifically on the perimeter, that

435
00:22:40,880 --> 00:22:42,879
Speaker 2: can cover ground and that play hard. You need a

436
00:22:42,880 --> 00:22:45,520
Speaker 2: good variety two of like different sizes and types, but

437
00:22:45,600 --> 00:22:47,440
Speaker 2: you need that type of type of trade.

438
00:22:47,560 --> 00:22:48,440
Speaker 3: I don't. I can't.

439
00:22:48,520 --> 00:22:52,560
Speaker 2: I would argue besides foundational superstar, of which there's only

440
00:22:52,600 --> 00:22:55,240
Speaker 2: four or five in the entire league, that's the most

441
00:22:55,280 --> 00:22:58,320
Speaker 2: important thing you can have is a trove of athletes.

442
00:22:58,359 --> 00:23:00,000
Speaker 2: Would you agree at that point as the number.

443
00:23:00,119 --> 00:23:02,800
Speaker 1: Look ros, yeah, I was gonna say, like, I'll give

444
00:23:02,800 --> 00:23:06,240
Speaker 1: you an example. Like Atlanta this year has been like

445
00:23:06,520 --> 00:23:09,439
Speaker 1: pretty feisty and competitive for the most part, despite not

446
00:23:09,560 --> 00:23:13,000
Speaker 1: having DeAndre Hunter and Bogden mcdonovich for like a majority

447
00:23:13,240 --> 00:23:16,119
Speaker 1: of the year. Right. I know that they've lost like

448
00:23:16,200 --> 00:23:18,560
Speaker 1: three in a row and like they haven't played super

449
00:23:18,640 --> 00:23:21,199
Speaker 1: super well over the course of the last week, but like,

450
00:23:21,440 --> 00:23:23,440
Speaker 1: that's a team that is feisty and in large part

451
00:23:23,480 --> 00:23:27,920
Speaker 1: their biggest additions this summer, we're Dyson Daniels, Zachary Rissa Chet,

452
00:23:28,240 --> 00:23:30,440
Speaker 1: guys that are feisty, that are long, they can cover

453
00:23:30,520 --> 00:23:34,520
Speaker 1: ground defensively. Like, those guys really really help, I think

454
00:23:34,600 --> 00:23:38,119
Speaker 1: in terms of what Atlanta is looking to do with,

455
00:23:38,840 --> 00:23:42,159
Speaker 1: you know, surrounding Trey Young with talent. Right, you know,

456
00:23:42,200 --> 00:23:44,880
Speaker 1: Trey Young is probably not one of those foundational superstars,

457
00:23:45,200 --> 00:23:48,480
Speaker 1: but he is somebody that is an incredible offensive talent,

458
00:23:48,600 --> 00:23:51,080
Speaker 1: and having those guys around him allows him just to

459
00:23:51,119 --> 00:23:54,080
Speaker 1: go and be like, hey, create the offense every night,

460
00:23:54,520 --> 00:23:57,520
Speaker 1: Please don't be a total sieve on defense, and you know,

461
00:23:57,600 --> 00:23:59,439
Speaker 1: we trust that we'll be able to rack you know,

462
00:23:59,560 --> 00:24:02,080
Speaker 1: maybe not a five hundred team, but we might get

463
00:24:02,119 --> 00:24:07,399
Speaker 1: to thirty five to forty wins. Maybe the antithesis of

464
00:24:07,440 --> 00:24:09,560
Speaker 1: this is another team that I'm sure we'll talk about today,

465
00:24:09,560 --> 00:24:13,119
Speaker 1: The Bucks. Right the Bucks have really struggled with that,

466
00:24:13,280 --> 00:24:15,520
Speaker 1: and that's a big reason why on some level they

467
00:24:15,520 --> 00:24:19,600
Speaker 1: are playing below their talent level, even though Yannis over

468
00:24:19,640 --> 00:24:22,080
Speaker 1: the last I would argue two and a half three weeks,

469
00:24:23,480 --> 00:24:25,760
Speaker 1: this might be the best I've ever seen Yannis play

470
00:24:25,760 --> 00:24:28,640
Speaker 1: on offense. Just point blank, he has been.

471
00:24:28,920 --> 00:24:30,760
Speaker 2: He's been so good, otherworldly.

472
00:24:31,760 --> 00:24:34,679
Speaker 1: You can maybe say the final series against the Suns,

473
00:24:34,760 --> 00:24:37,159
Speaker 1: and I would hear that out as well. But like,

474
00:24:37,240 --> 00:24:39,359
Speaker 1: what he's adding now is the mid range jumper and

475
00:24:39,400 --> 00:24:41,880
Speaker 1: every like, it's a totally different beast to deal with

476
00:24:41,880 --> 00:24:45,840
Speaker 1: with Yannis. So the fact that they don't have that

477
00:24:45,920 --> 00:24:50,560
Speaker 1: foundational perimeter skill and speed and understanding of how to

478
00:24:50,560 --> 00:24:54,560
Speaker 1: close out onto shooters, that is a critical, critical thing

479
00:24:54,600 --> 00:24:56,480
Speaker 1: that they're missing right now, and they need to go

480
00:24:56,520 --> 00:24:59,119
Speaker 1: out and find that at the trade deadline, you know,

481
00:24:59,280 --> 00:25:01,200
Speaker 1: before the trade line. Frankly, hopefully.

482
00:25:02,800 --> 00:25:04,840
Speaker 2: One of the things I've appreciated with the Bucks is

483
00:25:04,880 --> 00:25:06,880
Speaker 2: like they kind of have found it a little bit.

484
00:25:07,000 --> 00:25:09,800
Speaker 2: They found a little bit of a baseline for them

485
00:25:09,800 --> 00:25:12,840
Speaker 2: for forty eight minutes at the point of attack between

486
00:25:12,960 --> 00:25:16,679
Speaker 2: ajax And and aj Green, who I actually think has

487
00:25:16,720 --> 00:25:19,000
Speaker 2: done a pretty damn good job guarding the ball, and

488
00:25:19,560 --> 00:25:22,400
Speaker 2: he's like these converting spot ups that like damn near

489
00:25:22,480 --> 00:25:24,639
Speaker 2: point and a half for possessions, so like that they

490
00:25:24,720 --> 00:25:27,240
Speaker 2: kind of have like found their little formula there where.

491
00:25:27,920 --> 00:25:29,800
Speaker 2: Shout out to Brooke and Giannis, by the way, those

492
00:25:29,840 --> 00:25:32,440
Speaker 2: two guys have had a flashback defensive stretch here over

493
00:25:32,440 --> 00:25:34,960
Speaker 2: the last couple of weeks, nothing like a nothing like

494
00:25:35,000 --> 00:25:38,160
Speaker 2: a disastrous and two and eight start to kind of

495
00:25:38,200 --> 00:25:40,159
Speaker 2: like to kick you in the butt a little bit

496
00:25:40,200 --> 00:25:43,680
Speaker 2: and get you moving. But like, yeah, I that has

497
00:25:43,720 --> 00:25:46,119
Speaker 2: become my biggest You and I have talked about this

498
00:25:46,160 --> 00:25:48,359
Speaker 2: at various points over the course of the last few years,

499
00:25:48,359 --> 00:25:51,560
Speaker 2: and it's manifested in different like kind of like buzzwords,

500
00:25:51,840 --> 00:25:54,679
Speaker 2: but I remember for you it was ground coverage. That

501
00:25:54,800 --> 00:25:56,199
Speaker 2: was the thing that you said to me in our

502
00:25:56,560 --> 00:26:00,360
Speaker 2: postseason kind of conversation last year. And for me, I've

503
00:26:00,359 --> 00:26:03,080
Speaker 2: been referring to it as perimeter athleticism, but it basically

504
00:26:03,160 --> 00:26:05,040
Speaker 2: means the exact same thing. But I've viewed that as

505
00:26:05,080 --> 00:26:07,439
Speaker 2: like the baseline and then the second piece of it,

506
00:26:08,680 --> 00:26:10,920
Speaker 2: and I think some of the success that Dallas has

507
00:26:10,920 --> 00:26:12,679
Speaker 2: had without Luca in the last couple of weeks has

508
00:26:12,680 --> 00:26:17,560
Speaker 2: been a great example of this is creating space by

509
00:26:17,640 --> 00:26:20,960
Speaker 2: allowing your big men to operate as screening and passing

510
00:26:21,000 --> 00:26:24,160
Speaker 2: folcrums from the perimeter rather than occupying space around the rim.

511
00:26:24,480 --> 00:26:26,360
Speaker 2: And this has been a Golden State staple for over

512
00:26:26,400 --> 00:26:28,199
Speaker 2: a decade now. But this is something we've seen all

513
00:26:28,200 --> 00:26:32,200
Speaker 2: around the league. The Dallas when they are trying to

514
00:26:32,240 --> 00:26:34,200
Speaker 2: run offense with Luke off the floor, it's a lot

515
00:26:34,200 --> 00:26:36,080
Speaker 2: of Lively at the top of the key with guards

516
00:26:36,080 --> 00:26:38,320
Speaker 2: screening for each other and cutting off of them. They

517
00:26:38,400 --> 00:26:41,840
Speaker 2: ran like a blender possession against the Nuggets when they

518
00:26:41,880 --> 00:26:45,400
Speaker 2: beat them the other night, where they had Kyrie come

519
00:26:45,480 --> 00:26:48,000
Speaker 2: running off of a Derek Lively dribble hand off at

520
00:26:48,040 --> 00:26:49,760
Speaker 2: the top, but it was a fake. He didn't get it.

521
00:26:49,840 --> 00:26:52,160
Speaker 2: Then Quintin Grimes came flying off the dribble hand off.

522
00:26:52,440 --> 00:26:54,840
Speaker 2: He did get it. As he got it, Lively rolled,

523
00:26:54,840 --> 00:26:57,200
Speaker 2: but then as he rolled he kind of dragged Jamal

524
00:26:57,280 --> 00:26:59,680
Speaker 2: Murray into the payton. Nasey Marshall relocated to the top,

525
00:27:00,040 --> 00:27:02,040
Speaker 2: got a little close that opportunity to be Jamal murraybou

526
00:27:02,160 --> 00:27:05,119
Speaker 2: Jamal Murray, by the way, some of the worst defense

527
00:27:05,160 --> 00:27:07,200
Speaker 2: I've seen ever from a player in the last couple

528
00:27:07,200 --> 00:27:10,199
Speaker 2: of games from him. It's his little comment that he

529
00:27:10,240 --> 00:27:12,760
Speaker 2: threw out that this was part of my video that

530
00:27:12,760 --> 00:27:15,439
Speaker 2: I recorded today that just disappeared into the ether. But

531
00:27:16,000 --> 00:27:18,480
Speaker 2: Jamal Murray had a Jamal Murray had a yeah for

532
00:27:18,520 --> 00:27:20,280
Speaker 2: the hoops to night listeners, I did work today. You're

533
00:27:20,280 --> 00:27:22,320
Speaker 2: just not gonna see the video because it doesn't exist anymore.

534
00:27:22,480 --> 00:27:25,480
Speaker 2: That we had a little mac crisis today. But anyway,

535
00:27:25,560 --> 00:27:27,879
Speaker 2: Jamal Murray like went out and started talking about his

536
00:27:27,880 --> 00:27:31,600
Speaker 2: teammates partying partying in Los Angeles and then was the

537
00:27:31,760 --> 00:27:35,119
Speaker 2: reason why they like got eviscerated by the Knicks. But anyway,

538
00:27:35,480 --> 00:27:39,760
Speaker 2: my basketball worldview has come around to this idea that like,

539
00:27:39,800 --> 00:27:43,480
Speaker 2: if you are not creating space around the rim by

540
00:27:43,560 --> 00:27:45,920
Speaker 2: using your bigs further away from the rim as screening

541
00:27:45,920 --> 00:27:48,160
Speaker 2: and passing folkrums, if you are not getting the ball

542
00:27:48,240 --> 00:27:50,800
Speaker 2: side to side, if you do not have multiple ball

543
00:27:50,800 --> 00:27:53,560
Speaker 2: handling threats on the floor, there's a ceiling to your offense,

544
00:27:53,840 --> 00:27:55,639
Speaker 2: especially when you get to the light playoff rounds. It's

545
00:27:55,680 --> 00:27:58,560
Speaker 2: something that I feel very very passionately about, and like

546
00:27:58,960 --> 00:28:01,520
Speaker 2: ironically it kind of the gap to Cleveland because in

547
00:28:01,560 --> 00:28:04,040
Speaker 2: the same way that Golden State, to me is proof

548
00:28:04,080 --> 00:28:07,680
Speaker 2: of concept of two ideas, which is that offensive organization

549
00:28:07,720 --> 00:28:10,280
Speaker 2: piece I was just talking about, in that perimeter athleticism piece,

550
00:28:10,720 --> 00:28:13,160
Speaker 2: the Caves to me are kind of another example of

551
00:28:14,240 --> 00:28:17,840
Speaker 2: Kenny Atkinson bringing a lot of the same ideologies to

552
00:28:18,200 --> 00:28:20,919
Speaker 2: Cleveland in terms of how to play offense, how to

553
00:28:21,920 --> 00:28:24,800
Speaker 2: defend as well with the switching and containing. But like

554
00:28:25,000 --> 00:28:26,879
Speaker 2: staying on Golden State for a second, to put it

555
00:28:26,960 --> 00:28:30,600
Speaker 2: very simply, like there right now, there's way too much

556
00:28:31,440 --> 00:28:34,119
Speaker 2: like Andrew Wiggins needs to be our savior for this

557
00:28:34,200 --> 00:28:36,840
Speaker 2: thing to work out, and like he's been playing really well.

558
00:28:36,880 --> 00:28:41,160
Speaker 2: Like I pulled this out on my mythological show that

559
00:28:41,280 --> 00:28:45,600
Speaker 2: existed earlier today. I said that Andrew Wiggins had played

560
00:28:45,640 --> 00:28:47,640
Speaker 2: four games in a row and scored twenty plus points

561
00:28:47,640 --> 00:28:49,680
Speaker 2: for the first time since May of twenty twenty one

562
00:28:50,480 --> 00:28:52,880
Speaker 2: in this recent stretch, and he only had eighteen in

563
00:28:52,880 --> 00:28:55,120
Speaker 2: the lost to Brooklyn last night. But like the previous

564
00:28:55,160 --> 00:28:57,280
Speaker 2: four games, he's like he's been playing really, really well,

565
00:28:57,320 --> 00:28:59,720
Speaker 2: and like I've been saying, like the Warriors need like

566
00:29:00,000 --> 00:29:02,880
Speaker 2: specifically a front court type of player who can pretty

567
00:29:02,920 --> 00:29:05,840
Speaker 2: reliably get them to twenty points a game efficiently and

568
00:29:06,040 --> 00:29:08,520
Speaker 2: can create his own shot without having to rely on

569
00:29:08,560 --> 00:29:10,400
Speaker 2: Steph And like, one of the things that's things that's

570
00:29:10,440 --> 00:29:11,920
Speaker 2: happening is and this is where it went off the

571
00:29:11,960 --> 00:29:14,280
Speaker 2: rails for them in the Brooklyn game last night, is

572
00:29:14,800 --> 00:29:19,000
Speaker 2: their bench units really struggle to score unless Buddy Heield's

573
00:29:19,080 --> 00:29:22,360
Speaker 2: just making everything. And Buddy Hild, even when he was hot,

574
00:29:22,480 --> 00:29:25,360
Speaker 2: was making a lot of pretty tough, tightly contested shots.

575
00:29:25,920 --> 00:29:27,959
Speaker 2: And so my thing is, like there's a lot of

576
00:29:28,160 --> 00:29:31,080
Speaker 2: guys who can get hot, Like Lindy Waters can get

577
00:29:31,120 --> 00:29:32,840
Speaker 2: hot and make shots. He's a little bit of a

578
00:29:32,840 --> 00:29:35,440
Speaker 2: movement shooter, right Like Jonathan Kamenka can go for twenty

579
00:29:35,480 --> 00:29:38,120
Speaker 2: five thirty on any given night. Like Buddyhield obviously can

580
00:29:38,120 --> 00:29:40,280
Speaker 2: get hot and make shots. Brandy Pozimski can get hot

581
00:29:40,320 --> 00:29:42,360
Speaker 2: and he can make shots. What they don't have is

582
00:29:42,400 --> 00:29:44,720
Speaker 2: a guy who's like kind of a more consistent night

583
00:29:44,720 --> 00:29:47,160
Speaker 2: to night shot creator. And what scares me for them

584
00:29:47,160 --> 00:29:48,720
Speaker 2: in the big picture is like I look around the

585
00:29:48,760 --> 00:29:51,080
Speaker 2: league and I'm like, Okay, Jimmy Butler makes some sense,

586
00:29:51,560 --> 00:29:53,640
Speaker 2: but I don't know if he's even got the juice

587
00:29:53,640 --> 00:29:56,080
Speaker 2: in the tank. Left brandon Ingram I think might be

588
00:29:56,120 --> 00:29:58,000
Speaker 2: a little bit too methodical and a little bit too

589
00:29:58,080 --> 00:30:01,320
Speaker 2: much of a ball stopper to make work Zach Lavine,

590
00:30:01,320 --> 00:30:04,880
Speaker 2: the salary and the concerns about his health. Is there

591
00:30:04,920 --> 00:30:07,560
Speaker 2: even a player that you see as a realistic trade

592
00:30:07,920 --> 00:30:10,600
Speaker 2: target that could move Golden State into that tier for you?

593
00:30:13,840 --> 00:30:15,760
Speaker 1: I don't know that I have an answer to that. Unfortunately,

594
00:30:15,840 --> 00:30:18,520
Speaker 1: Jimmy is the answer to me. I think Jimmy, Jimmy

595
00:30:18,520 --> 00:30:21,239
Speaker 1: can get ball stoppy, but he also feel like I'm

596
00:30:21,280 --> 00:30:23,400
Speaker 1: on Seinfeld right now. Jimmy can get ball stoppy, but

597
00:30:23,520 --> 00:30:28,560
Speaker 1: like Jimmy and do that. But I think that when

598
00:30:28,560 --> 00:30:30,520
Speaker 1: he's within a scheme and within a flow like he's

599
00:30:30,560 --> 00:30:33,400
Speaker 1: more than happy to play within that. Right, I don't

600
00:30:33,440 --> 00:30:35,880
Speaker 1: know if Jimmy's gonna be available like the Miami Heater,

601
00:30:36,000 --> 00:30:38,360
Speaker 1: a team that constantly tries to contend. The only reason

602
00:30:38,400 --> 00:30:41,760
Speaker 1: that he would be potentially available is if they just decide,

603
00:30:41,760 --> 00:30:44,640
Speaker 1: you know what, he's a free agent. He's not resigning this, that,

604
00:30:44,680 --> 00:30:46,680
Speaker 1: and the other thing, right, and they're out of it

605
00:30:46,760 --> 00:30:51,840
Speaker 1: by February. That feels unlikely to me. It's not impossible

606
00:30:51,840 --> 00:30:53,560
Speaker 1: by any stretch, but like, I think they're gonna be

607
00:30:53,560 --> 00:30:55,479
Speaker 1: competitive enough to where they're gonna feel like they can

608
00:30:55,480 --> 00:30:57,920
Speaker 1: make a playoff run with Eric Bolstro with Jimmy Butler

609
00:30:58,000 --> 00:31:00,800
Speaker 1: and give this team like one final Roadie and you know,

610
00:31:00,920 --> 00:31:04,720
Speaker 1: chance at it with Jimmy and Bamcore. I don't know

611
00:31:04,760 --> 00:31:07,120
Speaker 1: that it would be that expensive necessarily to go get

612
00:31:07,200 --> 00:31:10,280
Speaker 1: Jimmy Butler for five months? Four months?

613
00:31:10,320 --> 00:31:14,280
Speaker 2: Maybe would that changed it for you from just from

614
00:31:14,320 --> 00:31:16,400
Speaker 2: the same point of matching salaries. From what I understand,

615
00:31:16,440 --> 00:31:17,800
Speaker 2: it'd be like Wigans or no.

616
00:31:18,680 --> 00:31:21,640
Speaker 1: I would still do it if I was them, You're

617
00:31:21,640 --> 00:31:25,600
Speaker 1: getting Jimmy Butler, and like honestly with Wiggins, if you

618
00:31:25,640 --> 00:31:29,400
Speaker 1: could parlay this great stretch of games into getting off

619
00:31:29,440 --> 00:31:31,360
Speaker 1: of that content. But more than anything like getting off

620
00:31:31,360 --> 00:31:34,200
Speaker 1: that contract, which this summer looked like it would be

621
00:31:34,280 --> 00:31:38,040
Speaker 1: unmovable or like immovable whatever that word is. Uh, that

622
00:31:38,200 --> 00:31:41,720
Speaker 1: is something I would probably do if I was them.

623
00:31:41,840 --> 00:31:43,680
Speaker 1: I would have to think about that, like in terms

624
00:31:43,720 --> 00:31:47,520
Speaker 1: of is that true or not, I'll have to I

625
00:31:47,520 --> 00:31:50,480
Speaker 1: would guess that it is off the top of my head,

626
00:31:50,640 --> 00:31:54,560
Speaker 1: but I'm sure that that's right now. Having like I'm

627
00:31:54,560 --> 00:31:57,480
Speaker 1: trying to think like, could you do could you like

628
00:31:57,640 --> 00:32:00,840
Speaker 1: Melton's deal, plus like a few other kind of things.

629
00:32:00,920 --> 00:32:03,640
Speaker 1: But I'd have to really kind of dive into it,

630
00:32:03,680 --> 00:32:06,160
Speaker 1: and you'd probably have to involve a third team as well.

631
00:32:07,040 --> 00:32:09,440
Speaker 3: You might be able to a pretty tough fall off.

632
00:32:09,480 --> 00:32:12,080
Speaker 2: Wiggins makes twenty six, but after Draymond, you got Melton

633
00:32:12,120 --> 00:32:15,360
Speaker 2: at twelve, Peyton at nine, Kyle Anderson at nine, Buddy

634
00:32:15,440 --> 00:32:18,520
Speaker 2: Heel at nine, Kevin Kevon Looney at eight, So like

635
00:32:18,880 --> 00:32:21,760
Speaker 2: you could piece together deals, but you would give up

636
00:32:21,760 --> 00:32:24,840
Speaker 2: a couple of your key role players. The way I

637
00:32:24,880 --> 00:32:26,400
Speaker 2: put it on my show is like, I think it's

638
00:32:26,400 --> 00:32:30,160
Speaker 2: a February decision. I think if you get to February

639
00:32:30,160 --> 00:32:32,120
Speaker 2: and Wiggins is more or less the same player he's

640
00:32:32,120 --> 00:32:34,680
Speaker 2: been for the last couple of years, and Jimmy Butler

641
00:32:34,680 --> 00:32:36,840
Speaker 2: looks like he's got some juice but the Heat are

642
00:32:37,160 --> 00:32:39,960
Speaker 2: floundering in the play in again in a terrible Eastern Conference,

643
00:32:40,000 --> 00:32:41,960
Speaker 2: then you call him up and you see if you

644
00:32:42,000 --> 00:32:44,240
Speaker 2: can't work something out and you try to make a

645
00:32:44,280 --> 00:32:47,680
Speaker 2: run at it. But like, if Wiggins goes for twenty

646
00:32:47,680 --> 00:32:50,160
Speaker 2: plus and two thirds of his games for the next

647
00:32:50,200 --> 00:32:51,840
Speaker 2: two months, then I think you have to kind of

648
00:32:51,880 --> 00:32:54,920
Speaker 2: approach it in a different way. But yeah, with Golden State,

649
00:32:54,960 --> 00:32:58,280
Speaker 2: for me, like I think they're here. Here's where I'm at.

650
00:32:58,280 --> 00:33:00,560
Speaker 2: With Golden State. I think that they are certain to

651
00:33:00,560 --> 00:33:02,640
Speaker 2: finish above the play in as long as step stays

652
00:33:02,680 --> 00:33:04,920
Speaker 2: healthy because of that floor that we talked so much

653
00:33:04,920 --> 00:33:07,840
Speaker 2: about in terms of their perimeter, athleticism and scheme.

654
00:33:08,440 --> 00:33:09,920
Speaker 3: But I don't take them.

655
00:33:09,760 --> 00:33:13,400
Speaker 2: Seriously as like a top tier championship contending threat unless

656
00:33:13,400 --> 00:33:16,160
Speaker 2: they get a legitimate number two next to Steph because again,

657
00:33:16,240 --> 00:33:18,600
Speaker 2: every other team we're talking about just has so much

658
00:33:18,640 --> 00:33:21,240
Speaker 2: more firepower at the top. It's like not even close.

659
00:33:21,360 --> 00:33:26,240
Speaker 2: And so that's where I get concerned with Cleveland. I

660
00:33:26,480 --> 00:33:32,440
Speaker 2: left that Celtics game way more like convinced that Boston

661
00:33:32,520 --> 00:33:34,920
Speaker 2: was on another tier than so many others, Like there

662
00:33:35,000 --> 00:33:37,480
Speaker 2: was a lot of stuff getting thrown out where it's like, oh, well,

663
00:33:37,720 --> 00:33:39,800
Speaker 2: Darius Garland played a bad game and we were down

664
00:33:39,840 --> 00:33:41,640
Speaker 2: all of our wings, and like, I want to be clear,

665
00:33:41,840 --> 00:33:44,200
Speaker 2: I don't think Cleveland's fraudulent or anything like that. I

666
00:33:44,240 --> 00:33:46,880
Speaker 2: think they're very clearly in that second tier of teams

667
00:33:46,880 --> 00:33:47,680
Speaker 2: somewhere in there.

668
00:33:47,960 --> 00:33:49,080
Speaker 3: But when I think about.

669
00:33:48,880 --> 00:33:52,600
Speaker 2: Cleveland, like like when I watched that game, I felt

670
00:33:52,600 --> 00:33:56,560
Speaker 2: like Boston every single time Cleveland made a push, they

671
00:33:56,560 --> 00:33:59,480
Speaker 2: were able to immediately regain control, which to me is

672
00:33:59,520 --> 00:34:01,240
Speaker 2: like when you see those games where it's like the

673
00:34:01,280 --> 00:34:03,520
Speaker 2: team always gets close, but they can't get over the top.

674
00:34:03,840 --> 00:34:06,120
Speaker 2: That to me is indicative of a trend where like

675
00:34:06,160 --> 00:34:09,000
Speaker 2: the team is able to kind of like refocus, get

676
00:34:09,000 --> 00:34:12,040
Speaker 2: the right shots, lock in on defense. Boston's defense has

677
00:34:12,080 --> 00:34:15,200
Speaker 2: been spotty at times this season from a commitment standpoint,

678
00:34:15,239 --> 00:34:17,600
Speaker 2: but then it's been like stifled, Like they had a

679
00:34:17,640 --> 00:34:20,440
Speaker 2: third quarter stretch against Minnesota the other night that was terrifying,

680
00:34:21,160 --> 00:34:24,160
Speaker 2: like like like where they completely put those dudes in jail.

681
00:34:24,520 --> 00:34:27,799
Speaker 2: And like I think I I a lot of the

682
00:34:27,800 --> 00:34:29,799
Speaker 2: stuff that I was concerned about, like, oh, they still

683
00:34:29,800 --> 00:34:34,200
Speaker 2: have entry points, like Darius Garland is an easy pathway

684
00:34:34,239 --> 00:34:36,640
Speaker 2: to get the calves in rotation. And yet you know what,

685
00:34:36,680 --> 00:34:38,680
Speaker 2: they got a massive frontline, but as soon as those

686
00:34:38,719 --> 00:34:41,480
Speaker 2: dudes start running around to shooters, it's not so massive

687
00:34:41,520 --> 00:34:42,680
Speaker 2: on the front line anymore.

688
00:34:42,760 --> 00:34:44,080
Speaker 3: And so like I.

689
00:34:44,200 --> 00:34:47,640
Speaker 2: View Cleveland as a very well constructed team that has

690
00:34:47,640 --> 00:34:50,719
Speaker 2: a very traditional built in their you know, kind of

691
00:34:50,800 --> 00:34:52,960
Speaker 2: two big look in terms of like the lots of

692
00:34:53,040 --> 00:34:56,400
Speaker 2: interior size, they're they're loading up in ball screens, all

693
00:34:56,440 --> 00:35:01,279
Speaker 2: that kind of stuff. The concern that I have is

694
00:35:01,360 --> 00:35:04,560
Speaker 2: like a lot of this is just really good organization

695
00:35:05,600 --> 00:35:09,000
Speaker 2: from Kenny Atkinson that is achieving a very high floor

696
00:35:09,440 --> 00:35:11,600
Speaker 2: in the regular season, that's gonna beat all the bad

697
00:35:11,600 --> 00:35:14,640
Speaker 2: teams in the league and certainly compete against the good

698
00:35:14,640 --> 00:35:16,360
Speaker 2: teams in the league. But when it comes down to

699
00:35:16,520 --> 00:35:20,200
Speaker 2: just the strict chess match of the half court battle

700
00:35:20,200 --> 00:35:22,360
Speaker 2: against a team like Boston, I just don't think that

701
00:35:22,400 --> 00:35:24,480
Speaker 2: they can get there. Is there are you higher on

702
00:35:24,520 --> 00:35:26,400
Speaker 2: Cleveland than I am?

703
00:35:26,520 --> 00:35:31,120
Speaker 1: I think I'm probably a little bit higher. I guess

704
00:35:31,120 --> 00:35:33,400
Speaker 1: I'm like a little bit higher in theory because we

705
00:35:33,400 --> 00:35:37,000
Speaker 1: haven't seen what I'm about to say, like bear itself

706
00:35:37,040 --> 00:35:40,240
Speaker 1: out yet, because they haven't had Max Shruce. Max Strews

707
00:35:40,320 --> 00:35:42,640
Speaker 1: is like a huge addition for this team that they're

708
00:35:42,680 --> 00:35:46,319
Speaker 1: gonna get back because Max isn't just a shooter. He's

709
00:35:46,360 --> 00:35:49,279
Speaker 1: somebody that can guard. He can guard one on one,

710
00:35:49,360 --> 00:35:51,600
Speaker 1: he can close out onto shooters like he's not I'm

711
00:35:51,600 --> 00:35:53,000
Speaker 1: not gonna sit here and tell you he's like some

712
00:35:53,040 --> 00:35:55,759
Speaker 1: all defense guy or even like some incredible defender by

713
00:35:55,760 --> 00:35:59,359
Speaker 1: any stretch but I think he's solid on that end

714
00:35:59,600 --> 00:36:01,480
Speaker 1: in a way that to me, when I watched that

715
00:36:01,600 --> 00:36:06,040
Speaker 1: game against Boston, it wasn't that they just had Garland

716
00:36:06,480 --> 00:36:09,200
Speaker 1: on the court. It was that they had Garland and

717
00:36:09,320 --> 00:36:13,440
Speaker 1: Niang or Garland and Merrill or Garland, and like Ty

718
00:36:13,520 --> 00:36:16,400
Speaker 1: Jerome has actually been like pretty feisty this year defensively,

719
00:36:16,719 --> 00:36:18,960
Speaker 1: but he's not super fast, right, He gets by with

720
00:36:19,080 --> 00:36:21,480
Speaker 1: like really good hand eye coordination. He's being able to

721
00:36:21,920 --> 00:36:26,160
Speaker 1: that way, and he's six foot five, right. So it

722
00:36:26,200 --> 00:36:29,640
Speaker 1: was the fact that they had multiple entry points. If

723
00:36:29,680 --> 00:36:33,680
Speaker 1: you give Struce to them, and you know, also a

724
00:36:33,760 --> 00:36:39,200
Speaker 1: coor of cos vert boys guys being wide, I think

725
00:36:39,239 --> 00:36:43,600
Speaker 1: it at least could potentially limit how badly they get

726
00:36:43,680 --> 00:36:47,360
Speaker 1: hit when they're in rotation and when they have to

727
00:36:47,360 --> 00:36:51,120
Speaker 1: fly around and try and scramble and recover. But that's

728
00:36:51,200 --> 00:36:53,799
Speaker 1: just like theory for me right now, Like we haven't

729
00:36:53,800 --> 00:36:55,480
Speaker 1: seen Max Struce, and I think he's the one that

730
00:36:55,520 --> 00:36:57,880
Speaker 1: does it better than anybody because he allows you to

731
00:36:57,880 --> 00:36:59,960
Speaker 1: play the math game with Cleveland. He allows you to

732
00:37:00,239 --> 00:37:03,040
Speaker 1: smaller if you want to, with Evan Mobley at the five,

733
00:37:03,200 --> 00:37:04,839
Speaker 1: which I think is the key for them being able

734
00:37:04,880 --> 00:37:08,040
Speaker 1: to match up. They did that in this game. But

735
00:37:08,080 --> 00:37:10,600
Speaker 1: the problem was, and I love George Nyang as a player.

736
00:37:10,640 --> 00:37:12,840
Speaker 1: I think he's been really useful this year as a shooter,

737
00:37:13,239 --> 00:37:16,960
Speaker 1: as a you know, just general smart basketball player that

738
00:37:16,960 --> 00:37:19,120
Speaker 1: you can have on the court. He's just not fast

739
00:37:19,200 --> 00:37:21,840
Speaker 1: enough for that situation. I actually thought they made a

740
00:37:21,840 --> 00:37:23,640
Speaker 1: mistake not having Jared Allen.

741
00:37:23,800 --> 00:37:24,760
Speaker 3: I thought that was the star.

742
00:37:25,520 --> 00:37:29,200
Speaker 1: Yeah, Like to me, like Jared Allen just is a

743
00:37:29,200 --> 00:37:32,120
Speaker 1: better defender on the perimeter than George Nyang. But I

744
00:37:32,120 --> 00:37:33,800
Speaker 1: think they wanted the shooting. I think they wanted the

745
00:37:33,840 --> 00:37:36,719
Speaker 1: spacing that comes with that. So, you know whatever, Right,

746
00:37:37,680 --> 00:37:40,880
Speaker 1: the problem for them is that I don't know how

747
00:37:40,920 --> 00:37:44,040
Speaker 1: anybody stops Boston. Like we just talked through their offense, right,

748
00:37:45,480 --> 00:37:47,359
Speaker 1: We're talking about all of this in theory. We're talking

749
00:37:47,400 --> 00:37:51,520
Speaker 1: about all this like in practicality, you need Boston to

750
00:37:51,680 --> 00:37:57,000
Speaker 1: have four games where they don't shoot well coinciding with

751
00:37:57,120 --> 00:38:00,359
Speaker 1: four games where you do shoot well, and we can

752
00:38:00,400 --> 00:38:02,360
Speaker 1: talk about the way that they get to these shots.

753
00:38:02,400 --> 00:38:04,640
Speaker 1: We can talk about the way that you know, these

754
00:38:04,680 --> 00:38:07,520
Speaker 1: things bear themselves out on the court from a matchup perspective.

755
00:38:07,560 --> 00:38:11,960
Speaker 1: From you know, Boston's entire offense is predicated upon finding mismatches. Right,

756
00:38:12,160 --> 00:38:14,480
Speaker 1: They're gonna bring Peyton Pritchard up to screen and get

757
00:38:14,560 --> 00:38:18,399
Speaker 1: Darius Garland on Jason Tatum. Right, They're gonna bring you know,

758
00:38:18,560 --> 00:38:21,280
Speaker 1: George n Yang up to screen and get him onto

759
00:38:21,440 --> 00:38:23,960
Speaker 1: Jalen Brown. That's the whole thing that they're trying to do.

760
00:38:24,400 --> 00:38:26,240
Speaker 1: And then they're gonna collapse and then they're gonna shoot

761
00:38:26,239 --> 00:38:27,919
Speaker 1: it out and spray it out and try and shoot threes,

762
00:38:28,000 --> 00:38:29,480
Speaker 1: or they're gonna dump it to Drew Holliday and the

763
00:38:29,520 --> 00:38:32,600
Speaker 1: dunker spot. Whatever they're gonna do. They have different ways

764
00:38:32,600 --> 00:38:38,000
Speaker 1: to get there, but that's ultimately their goal. Offensively, you

765
00:38:38,120 --> 00:38:41,719
Speaker 1: need to have days where you shoot well and they

766
00:38:41,719 --> 00:38:45,879
Speaker 1: shoot poorly. Sometimes the shots just don't go in right.

767
00:38:46,000 --> 00:38:49,120
Speaker 1: Like that that can happen where that is a thing

768
00:38:49,160 --> 00:38:52,600
Speaker 1: that happens. There is a luck factor to shooting on

769
00:38:52,640 --> 00:38:55,359
Speaker 1: some level. I think that it is maybe not as

770
00:38:55,360 --> 00:38:58,520
Speaker 1: big as the analytics people will say from time to time,

771
00:38:58,760 --> 00:39:01,960
Speaker 1: but there's undeniably thing of a luck factor where the

772
00:39:02,000 --> 00:39:06,120
Speaker 1: shot goes in or it doesn't go in right. You

773
00:39:06,200 --> 00:39:09,200
Speaker 1: need four days where that happens and four days where

774
00:39:09,239 --> 00:39:11,839
Speaker 1: on your end you're shooting it well against a group

775
00:39:11,840 --> 00:39:16,040
Speaker 1: of perimative defenders with Drew Holliday, Derek White, Jalen Brown

776
00:39:16,080 --> 00:39:18,399
Speaker 1: who's a really good on ball defender, Jason Tatum, who's

777
00:39:18,400 --> 00:39:20,960
Speaker 1: a really good off ball defender, Al Horford who can

778
00:39:20,960 --> 00:39:23,680
Speaker 1: switch out there because Sosporzingis who's an unbelievable rim protector.

779
00:39:24,880 --> 00:39:27,680
Speaker 1: You need to do that against that team. That's what

780
00:39:27,800 --> 00:39:30,359
Speaker 1: makes them such a difficult problem to solve. They beat

781
00:39:30,360 --> 00:39:31,960
Speaker 1: you on the math game, they beat you on the

782
00:39:32,000 --> 00:39:36,080
Speaker 1: matchups game. At the end of the day, Like, that's

783
00:39:36,120 --> 00:39:40,840
Speaker 1: just an incredibly hard problem for anybody, let alone Cleveland.

784
00:39:40,920 --> 00:39:43,480
Speaker 1: Cleveland would be clearly number two for me in the East.

785
00:39:43,560 --> 00:39:47,319
Speaker 1: Like I don't think that I like them more than

786
00:39:47,360 --> 00:39:49,520
Speaker 1: I like the Knicks by like a pretty real margin

787
00:39:49,800 --> 00:39:53,719
Speaker 1: right now. But it's just a it's you know, if

788
00:39:53,760 --> 00:39:56,240
Speaker 1: we're trying to compare them in terms of championship tiers

789
00:39:56,239 --> 00:40:00,600
Speaker 1: and contenders, it's I have worries about just anybody being

790
00:40:00,800 --> 00:40:01,959
Speaker 1: beating Boston at this point.

791
00:40:16,760 --> 00:40:21,440
Speaker 2: Cleveland has the similar to what we talked about Golden State.

792
00:40:21,680 --> 00:40:25,359
Speaker 3: They just they're just a really good NBA team.

793
00:40:25,520 --> 00:40:28,960
Speaker 2: They're well coached, they've got good players, they're super deep,

794
00:40:29,360 --> 00:40:31,359
Speaker 2: they have a bunch of different ways they can beat you.

795
00:40:31,760 --> 00:40:35,719
Speaker 2: It's strictly their top end that I'm concerned about, strictly

796
00:40:35,760 --> 00:40:38,600
Speaker 2: within the context of the other top tier teams in

797
00:40:38,640 --> 00:40:42,360
Speaker 2: the league. New York is a team that right now

798
00:40:42,400 --> 00:40:46,799
Speaker 2: I'm kind of considering beneath Cleveland, but I do think

799
00:40:46,800 --> 00:40:49,800
Speaker 2: they're a team that in the long run I could

800
00:40:49,880 --> 00:40:53,799
Speaker 2: view higher than Cleveland. New York is hitting an offensive

801
00:40:53,920 --> 00:40:55,960
Speaker 2: level here in the last couple of weeks that's kind

802
00:40:55,960 --> 00:40:59,160
Speaker 2: of terrifying. They've basically been operating around a one thirty

803
00:40:59,200 --> 00:41:02,120
Speaker 2: offensive rate for the blast like for the last couple

804
00:41:02,160 --> 00:41:06,960
Speaker 2: of weeks, and I thought that the game in Denver

805
00:41:07,080 --> 00:41:09,279
Speaker 2: was such a classic example of what makes them so

806
00:41:09,400 --> 00:41:11,719
Speaker 2: tough to guard, which is the unique combination of like

807
00:41:11,800 --> 00:41:15,560
Speaker 2: a superstar that consistently draws two to the ball, and

808
00:41:15,600 --> 00:41:17,919
Speaker 2: then a bunch of dudes are who are professional off

809
00:41:17,960 --> 00:41:21,520
Speaker 2: ball scores, like the like Michale Bridges has been scoring

810
00:41:21,560 --> 00:41:23,600
Speaker 2: off the ball since he was catching skip passes and

811
00:41:23,600 --> 00:41:26,279
Speaker 2: pick and roll from Chris Paul, you know, four or

812
00:41:26,320 --> 00:41:29,480
Speaker 2: five years ago, right like og Nanobi has turned into

813
00:41:29,520 --> 00:41:31,239
Speaker 2: one of the most gifted Like It's kind of looks

814
00:41:31,239 --> 00:41:34,719
Speaker 2: a little clunky sometimes, but he's such a gifted like

815
00:41:35,280 --> 00:41:37,600
Speaker 2: he's such a gifted like shot creator when a dude's

816
00:41:37,680 --> 00:41:40,279
Speaker 2: chasing him off the three point line. They have so

817
00:41:40,400 --> 00:41:43,439
Speaker 2: many smart players in that in that four on three

818
00:41:43,480 --> 00:41:46,959
Speaker 2: that inevitably comes from every single time Jalen Brunson brings

819
00:41:47,000 --> 00:41:49,440
Speaker 2: the ball out the floor, that they're just impossible to guard.

820
00:41:49,640 --> 00:41:51,960
Speaker 2: The thing that's bothering me is like they literally have

821
00:41:52,080 --> 00:41:54,640
Speaker 2: not played more than one or two good games of

822
00:41:54,680 --> 00:41:58,160
Speaker 2: defense this entire season. Even in their wins, they're not guarding,

823
00:41:58,600 --> 00:42:00,400
Speaker 2: Like they had a win streak where they won, you know,

824
00:42:00,480 --> 00:42:02,680
Speaker 2: four out of five, and like they were like out

825
00:42:02,680 --> 00:42:04,799
Speaker 2: of like a one to nineteen defensive rating in those

826
00:42:04,840 --> 00:42:08,680
Speaker 2: four wins against like Washington and like Brooklyn and like

827
00:42:08,760 --> 00:42:12,680
Speaker 2: just some really limited teams. And I have been trying

828
00:42:12,719 --> 00:42:17,160
Speaker 2: to investigate this Knicks defense problem for a while, and

829
00:42:17,200 --> 00:42:19,359
Speaker 2: I'm so curious to hear your opinion on it because

830
00:42:19,360 --> 00:42:23,160
Speaker 2: we haven't talked about it yet. But my initial impression

831
00:42:23,440 --> 00:42:27,160
Speaker 2: is it's a combination of some effort, focus, energy stuff,

832
00:42:27,400 --> 00:42:30,319
Speaker 2: like specifically some of their perimeter defenders are not having

833
00:42:30,360 --> 00:42:36,280
Speaker 2: good perimeter defensive seasons. And then two, there's a little

834
00:42:36,280 --> 00:42:39,560
Speaker 2: bit of like a schematic thing with TIBs that's driving

835
00:42:39,640 --> 00:42:42,600
Speaker 2: me crazy, which is like they like still are not

836
00:42:42,760 --> 00:42:44,920
Speaker 2: doing a ton of switching even when it's Og and

837
00:42:45,000 --> 00:42:48,200
Speaker 2: McHale and Josh in the action, They're still doing a

838
00:42:48,280 --> 00:42:52,400
Speaker 2: lot of overhelping and lingering that's completely unnecessary. There's some

839
00:42:52,560 --> 00:42:55,120
Speaker 2: of it that's unavoidable. Like teams are hunting Brunson and

840
00:42:55,239 --> 00:42:57,120
Speaker 2: Kat a lot, Like I want to be clear, that's

841
00:42:57,120 --> 00:42:59,919
Speaker 2: how teams are looking to attack the Knicks, but its

842
00:43:00,080 --> 00:43:02,200
Speaker 2: stands so much further to that because like my thing

843
00:43:02,280 --> 00:43:04,879
Speaker 2: is like the effort and energy piece I think will

844
00:43:04,920 --> 00:43:06,320
Speaker 2: improve in the long run, and that to me is

845
00:43:06,360 --> 00:43:09,359
Speaker 2: the gap between Cleveland. Like Cleveland's practicing being a championship team.

846
00:43:09,520 --> 00:43:11,319
Speaker 2: Say what you want about whether or not they actually are.

847
00:43:11,600 --> 00:43:14,000
Speaker 2: They're practicing being a championship team that is a dead

848
00:43:14,040 --> 00:43:18,400
Speaker 2: serious basketball team in their daily process. Nicks not so much.

849
00:43:18,480 --> 00:43:21,000
Speaker 2: That's definitely something that they can clean up there. There's

850
00:43:21,080 --> 00:43:25,880
Speaker 2: no doubt that like the that Cat and Jalen Brunson

851
00:43:25,920 --> 00:43:28,319
Speaker 2: are gonna get attacked a great amount over the course

852
00:43:28,360 --> 00:43:30,360
Speaker 2: of the rest of the season, but there's some self

853
00:43:30,400 --> 00:43:33,640
Speaker 2: inflicted damage there. And their three point defense metrics are

854
00:43:33,680 --> 00:43:36,359
Speaker 2: really bad. They're giving up a ton of volume on threes,

855
00:43:36,400 --> 00:43:39,080
Speaker 2: they're giving up high percentage. They're giving up a lot

856
00:43:39,080 --> 00:43:42,000
Speaker 2: of spot up opportunities. In general, they are not guarding

857
00:43:42,000 --> 00:43:43,719
Speaker 2: the three point line well. And like for all to

858
00:43:43,719 --> 00:43:46,400
Speaker 2: talk about cat as are improtector. Their paint defense has

859
00:43:46,440 --> 00:43:49,440
Speaker 2: been pretty solid. So like, what is your takeaway on

860
00:43:49,480 --> 00:43:51,200
Speaker 2: what's going wrong with the Knicks defense?

861
00:43:52,280 --> 00:43:54,799
Speaker 1: So, yeah, so they have looked better recently. They have

862
00:43:54,880 --> 00:43:59,440
Speaker 1: won five out of six here, and it's largely due

863
00:43:59,440 --> 00:44:02,960
Speaker 1: to their offense. What I will say about their defense

864
00:44:03,160 --> 00:44:05,120
Speaker 1: is that I think that in part it could get

865
00:44:05,200 --> 00:44:07,840
Speaker 1: fixed a little bit with Mitchell Robinson coming back. So

866
00:44:07,920 --> 00:44:10,839
Speaker 1: like let's look at the positive here first and just say, hey,

867
00:44:11,280 --> 00:44:15,000
Speaker 1: a lot of what I'm going to say could get

868
00:44:15,560 --> 00:44:18,960
Speaker 1: solved with Mitch coming back. A big issue for me

869
00:44:19,080 --> 00:44:23,960
Speaker 1: personally is that Carl Towns is a bad drop coverage defender,

870
00:44:24,880 --> 00:44:29,760
Speaker 1: and early in the season they basically played only drop coverage.

871
00:44:31,080 --> 00:44:33,359
Speaker 1: Over the last like two weeks, I felt like I've

872
00:44:33,360 --> 00:44:36,279
Speaker 1: seen them experiment a little bit more with like having

873
00:44:36,360 --> 00:44:38,280
Speaker 1: him come out to the level a little bit higher.

874
00:44:39,000 --> 00:44:43,040
Speaker 1: They will occasionally, not regularly, but like at times like

875
00:44:43,080 --> 00:44:44,920
Speaker 1: I've seen them switch. You know, it could have just

876
00:44:44,920 --> 00:44:47,319
Speaker 1: been like a peel switch situation, but like it felt

877
00:44:47,360 --> 00:44:49,759
Speaker 1: like kind of an early peel switch to me, Like

878
00:44:50,160 --> 00:44:55,160
Speaker 1: I will hear out that they are adjusting and experimenting,

879
00:44:55,200 --> 00:44:57,440
Speaker 1: and that Tibbs is trying to find different answers. It

880
00:44:57,480 --> 00:44:59,759
Speaker 1: hasn't gone well, Like, let's be clear about that too,

881
00:45:00,120 --> 00:45:05,160
Speaker 1: it hasn't gone super great to this point, but I

882
00:45:05,239 --> 00:45:08,000
Speaker 1: do think that they have at least tried to solve

883
00:45:08,120 --> 00:45:12,640
Speaker 1: the problem. A Towns is a really really bad drop

884
00:45:12,680 --> 00:45:16,480
Speaker 1: covers defender. I think that he doesn't really understand his angles,

885
00:45:16,520 --> 00:45:19,239
Speaker 1: he doesn't really understand his depth. He often gets caught

886
00:45:19,239 --> 00:45:22,720
Speaker 1: in no man's land where the roller will get behind

887
00:45:22,800 --> 00:45:25,719
Speaker 1: him and he's not really actually contesting the guard, and

888
00:45:25,760 --> 00:45:27,279
Speaker 1: the guard is able to just get to a pull

889
00:45:27,320 --> 00:45:28,960
Speaker 1: up a little bit too easily or have that lob

890
00:45:29,040 --> 00:45:32,759
Speaker 1: over the top of them. The second piece of it

891
00:45:32,840 --> 00:45:36,960
Speaker 1: for me is you mentioned the perimeter defense. I actually

892
00:45:37,000 --> 00:45:40,719
Speaker 1: think mckail bridge has been quite poor to this point defensively.

893
00:45:41,320 --> 00:45:43,319
Speaker 1: In general, I think he has not been very good

894
00:45:43,600 --> 00:45:49,200
Speaker 1: this season offensively. The shot is obviously a whole other conversation, but.

895
00:45:49,360 --> 00:45:51,439
Speaker 2: Did you see how many times Jamal Murray left him

896
00:45:51,560 --> 00:45:53,800
Speaker 2: completely wide open just not paying attention he just was

897
00:45:53,840 --> 00:45:55,759
Speaker 2: missing every shot and then nuggets that could have been

898
00:45:55,880 --> 00:45:56,880
Speaker 2: a worse blowout.

899
00:45:57,440 --> 00:46:00,399
Speaker 1: Teams are going to do that with them, They're going

900
00:46:00,440 --> 00:46:02,759
Speaker 1: to force him to shoot. Michael's a crazy worker, and

901
00:46:02,800 --> 00:46:05,239
Speaker 1: I hope that he comes available here and like comes

902
00:46:05,239 --> 00:46:07,799
Speaker 1: around and is able to shoot it. Like I've never

903
00:46:07,840 --> 00:46:09,600
Speaker 1: heard anything, but like Michael Bridge is like an awesome

904
00:46:09,680 --> 00:46:11,719
Speaker 1: human being. So like when I say what I'm about

905
00:46:11,760 --> 00:46:15,120
Speaker 1: to say, like I don't say this with joy right.

906
00:46:15,280 --> 00:46:17,880
Speaker 3: Being so negative. Sam, He's been.

907
00:46:17,880 --> 00:46:22,240
Speaker 1: Really bad on defense. He has been the big issue

908
00:46:22,280 --> 00:46:26,319
Speaker 1: for me is that he has been incapable. When you

909
00:46:26,360 --> 00:46:29,960
Speaker 1: watched him get through screens when he was younger, he

910
00:46:30,080 --> 00:46:32,640
Speaker 1: like kind of used that length and like slithered around

911
00:46:32,680 --> 00:46:35,960
Speaker 1: them and like found different ways to get back into recovery.

912
00:46:36,840 --> 00:46:39,560
Speaker 1: Right now, he's getting caught on screens for that extra

913
00:46:39,600 --> 00:46:42,359
Speaker 1: split second. I feel like his hips aren't quite as

914
00:46:42,400 --> 00:46:44,719
Speaker 1: flexible as they used to be when he was a

915
00:46:44,760 --> 00:46:48,440
Speaker 1: little bit younger, and he's just getting caught trying to

916
00:46:48,440 --> 00:46:50,239
Speaker 1: get up over the top. He's a guy that has

917
00:46:50,680 --> 00:46:53,759
Speaker 1: super long limbs, super long arms, but also a really

918
00:46:53,840 --> 00:46:56,600
Speaker 1: high waist, so when he tries to get around screens,

919
00:46:56,600 --> 00:46:59,560
Speaker 1: he has to like really open up his hips and

920
00:46:59,600 --> 00:47:03,480
Speaker 1: then like open around and like get back around the screen.

921
00:47:03,520 --> 00:47:05,799
Speaker 1: And I think he's getting clipped on those a little

922
00:47:05,840 --> 00:47:08,560
Speaker 1: bit more often than what we've seen in the past

923
00:47:08,640 --> 00:47:11,720
Speaker 1: from him, and that's an issue for them right now.

924
00:47:11,960 --> 00:47:14,440
Speaker 1: If he's not an elite level perimeter defender, if he

925
00:47:14,560 --> 00:47:16,839
Speaker 1: is on it. If I'm being completely honest, I think

926
00:47:16,840 --> 00:47:20,600
Speaker 1: he's been a blow average perimeter defender this season. I

927
00:47:20,640 --> 00:47:23,520
Speaker 1: will hear out you know that he's been average or whatever,

928
00:47:23,600 --> 00:47:26,040
Speaker 1: but I haven't really seen that personally.

929
00:47:26,320 --> 00:47:31,240
Speaker 2: Let's assume they're not getting they're not getting against bad teams.

930
00:47:31,760 --> 00:47:32,080
Speaker 3: They're not.

931
00:47:32,520 --> 00:47:34,720
Speaker 1: But like if you want to say he'll get to average,

932
00:47:34,760 --> 00:47:37,399
Speaker 1: I still think that's a problem for them because then

933
00:47:37,440 --> 00:47:40,600
Speaker 1: you have two. You know, you have og Anobi, who's

934
00:47:40,600 --> 00:47:43,520
Speaker 1: a great defender. You have Josh Hart, who's like an

935
00:47:43,520 --> 00:47:45,640
Speaker 1: above average defender who works his balls off and like

936
00:47:45,719 --> 00:47:48,520
Speaker 1: flies around the court. Right you have an average defender

937
00:47:48,560 --> 00:47:52,399
Speaker 1: in Mikale, and then you know Cat and Jalen are

938
00:47:52,440 --> 00:47:55,440
Speaker 1: just guys that teams will attack relentlessly. So if you

939
00:47:55,440 --> 00:48:00,400
Speaker 1: don't have that extra great defender with those two, to me,

940
00:48:00,520 --> 00:48:04,520
Speaker 1: it's a real problem. So the way that you phrased this.

941
00:48:05,840 --> 00:48:07,839
Speaker 1: Whenever we decided, hey, what are we going to do?

942
00:48:08,040 --> 00:48:10,600
Speaker 1: Are you higher or lower on these teams than you

943
00:48:10,640 --> 00:48:13,480
Speaker 1: were in the preseason in terms of them contending for

944
00:48:13,520 --> 00:48:16,360
Speaker 1: a title? My answer for the Knicks right now is

945
00:48:16,360 --> 00:48:21,360
Speaker 1: actually lower, and in part it's because of Bridges, and

946
00:48:21,400 --> 00:48:24,160
Speaker 1: I would really like to see him fix it, but

947
00:48:24,280 --> 00:48:27,360
Speaker 1: he's not playing well on either end right now. And

948
00:48:27,520 --> 00:48:29,239
Speaker 1: like that deal, when that deal got done, I was

949
00:48:29,239 --> 00:48:31,920
Speaker 1: literally live like doing a mock draft show with Price,

950
00:48:31,960 --> 00:48:35,760
Speaker 1: my podcast partner and A we were just like stunned

951
00:48:35,800 --> 00:48:38,000
Speaker 1: and befuddled when that deal happened. And then we got

952
00:48:38,040 --> 00:48:40,680
Speaker 1: the price, and I was like, man, I like McHale,

953
00:48:41,480 --> 00:48:43,399
Speaker 1: and I knew that the price was going to be big,

954
00:48:43,800 --> 00:48:45,680
Speaker 1: and I still thought that was too much to pay

955
00:48:45,719 --> 00:48:46,240
Speaker 1: for him.

956
00:48:46,600 --> 00:48:49,719
Speaker 2: Superstar prices. Man, they paid prices.

957
00:48:50,239 --> 00:48:52,400
Speaker 1: They paid superstar price for a guy that is a

958
00:48:52,480 --> 00:48:55,279
Speaker 1: top you know, when he's at his best, right a

959
00:48:55,280 --> 00:48:57,160
Speaker 1: top forty player in the league in terms of like

960
00:48:57,200 --> 00:48:59,799
Speaker 1: impacting winning, top fifty player in the league, whatever it is.

961
00:49:00,120 --> 00:49:03,920
Speaker 1: And it was just too much, I thought. But you know,

962
00:49:04,000 --> 00:49:06,440
Speaker 1: at the end of the day, they're going to get

963
00:49:06,480 --> 00:49:09,080
Speaker 1: Mitchell back. We're going to see if that can really

964
00:49:09,080 --> 00:49:12,480
Speaker 1: solve some of the issues that they have defensively because

965
00:49:12,560 --> 00:49:14,319
Speaker 1: they can play him and drop and then you can

966
00:49:14,360 --> 00:49:16,719
Speaker 1: get Kat back to play the role that he was

967
00:49:16,760 --> 00:49:20,600
Speaker 1: in in Minnesota. It makes life a little bit easier,

968
00:49:21,040 --> 00:49:23,960
Speaker 1: I think for everybody, and that could really go a

969
00:49:24,000 --> 00:49:26,480
Speaker 1: long way towards solving their defense, and that could make

970
00:49:26,520 --> 00:49:28,879
Speaker 1: me in the end a little bit higher on them.

971
00:49:29,320 --> 00:49:32,719
Speaker 1: But given that Mitchell's injury situation seems a little bit

972
00:49:33,040 --> 00:49:34,880
Speaker 1: questionable in terms of when he'll be back, what he

973
00:49:34,920 --> 00:49:38,040
Speaker 1: will look like when he gets back, I am a

974
00:49:38,080 --> 00:49:40,360
Speaker 1: little bit lower on them than I was in the preseason.

975
00:49:40,480 --> 00:49:40,759
Speaker 1: I am.

976
00:49:41,560 --> 00:49:44,160
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's interesting the cat.

977
00:49:44,200 --> 00:49:46,759
Speaker 2: If Kat could just guard your kitchen, the post every

978
00:49:46,800 --> 00:49:50,640
Speaker 2: single possession, I think he'd be considered an all defense guy. Unfortunately,

979
00:49:50,680 --> 00:49:53,560
Speaker 2: there's a lot more to guarding NBA teams. I'd like

980
00:49:53,640 --> 00:49:55,880
Speaker 2: the idea of Mitchell Robinson just kind of like putting

981
00:49:55,920 --> 00:50:00,200
Speaker 2: them into a lot more natural positions on on a

982
00:50:00,200 --> 00:50:03,160
Speaker 2: lot of Like first of all, Mitch is like one

983
00:50:03,160 --> 00:50:04,800
Speaker 2: of my favorite bigs in the league at getting to

984
00:50:04,840 --> 00:50:06,920
Speaker 2: the level of screens and contesting pull up shooters. He

985
00:50:07,000 --> 00:50:08,920
Speaker 2: just has such a natural gift for at the timing

986
00:50:08,960 --> 00:50:11,000
Speaker 2: and he's got such quick.

987
00:50:10,800 --> 00:50:12,560
Speaker 3: Leaping in long arms.

988
00:50:13,000 --> 00:50:15,080
Speaker 2: And then I like Kat more as a low man

989
00:50:15,160 --> 00:50:18,080
Speaker 2: than I do as a ball screen defender. And then

990
00:50:18,520 --> 00:50:20,520
Speaker 2: the Josh Hart stuff, Like Josh Hart brings so much

991
00:50:20,520 --> 00:50:22,840
Speaker 2: good to the table, but like and there's no doubt that,

992
00:50:22,880 --> 00:50:26,359
Speaker 2: like from a spacing standpoint, there would be some complications

993
00:50:26,360 --> 00:50:29,080
Speaker 2: with Mitch. It gets It's not as simple as it

994
00:50:29,120 --> 00:50:31,480
Speaker 2: looks though, because one teams aren't guarding Josh Hart on

995
00:50:31,480 --> 00:50:33,880
Speaker 2: the perimeter. I have seen so many teams this year

996
00:50:33,920 --> 00:50:36,680
Speaker 2: put their center on Josh Hart for extended stretches and

997
00:50:36,760 --> 00:50:40,480
Speaker 2: just sag him into the paint anyway. And I think

998
00:50:40,520 --> 00:50:42,640
Speaker 2: that Mitch can bring back some of their offensive rebounding

999
00:50:42,680 --> 00:50:46,280
Speaker 2: identity in a lot of ways too. He's just always

1000
00:50:46,280 --> 00:50:49,840
Speaker 2: been super super good at that. So, like with the Knicks,

1001
00:50:49,920 --> 00:50:52,080
Speaker 2: I think Cleveland is a clear number two right now,

1002
00:50:52,160 --> 00:50:55,319
Speaker 2: but I give them I wouldn't be surprised if I

1003
00:50:55,320 --> 00:50:58,480
Speaker 2: felt differently in two three months, if they just kind

1004
00:50:58,480 --> 00:51:00,600
Speaker 2: of figured some of that additional stuff out before we

1005
00:51:00,600 --> 00:51:02,000
Speaker 2: get out of here. I want to spend about ten

1006
00:51:02,000 --> 00:51:05,560
Speaker 2: to fifteen minutes on the middle tier in the Western Conference.

1007
00:51:06,520 --> 00:51:09,839
Speaker 2: So this is a total shit show. Sacramento's lost four

1008
00:51:09,840 --> 00:51:11,719
Speaker 2: in a row. They're now the twelve seed, but like

1009
00:51:12,040 --> 00:51:13,560
Speaker 2: you just know that they're going to have a stretch

1010
00:51:13,600 --> 00:51:15,560
Speaker 2: where they win eight out of nine games, and they've

1011
00:51:15,560 --> 00:51:17,840
Speaker 2: been devastated by injuries, and it's been deer and Fox

1012
00:51:17,920 --> 00:51:22,800
Speaker 2: just playing one on five every game. Even Portland scrappy

1013
00:51:22,880 --> 00:51:25,560
Speaker 2: and difficult. Like, as much as we talk trash about

1014
00:51:25,560 --> 00:51:27,800
Speaker 2: the Pelicans, they will get healthier at some point in

1015
00:51:27,840 --> 00:51:30,360
Speaker 2: the season and rip off some wins at some point.

1016
00:51:31,320 --> 00:51:34,319
Speaker 2: San Antonio is like it's the classic home road team,

1017
00:51:34,440 --> 00:51:37,480
Speaker 2: Like if there they are just a huge pain in

1018
00:51:37,520 --> 00:51:39,640
Speaker 2: the butt to beat in San Antonio, and that's just

1019
00:51:39,680 --> 00:51:43,360
Speaker 2: something that's going to keep them afloating the standings all season. Dallas,

1020
00:51:43,400 --> 00:51:46,719
Speaker 2: it's been the Lucas stuff and a lot of like

1021
00:51:46,960 --> 00:51:50,560
Speaker 2: kind of early burying of Klay Thompson, even though it

1022
00:51:50,600 --> 00:51:52,200
Speaker 2: has so much more to do with the fact that

1023
00:51:52,320 --> 00:51:56,120
Speaker 2: his ceiling kind of depends on Luca creating advantages for him,

1024
00:51:56,120 --> 00:51:58,480
Speaker 2: and so I'm not super concerned about playing the big picture.

1025
00:51:58,520 --> 00:52:01,640
Speaker 2: But like every team as it is shoes Denver's like

1026
00:52:01,719 --> 00:52:04,200
Speaker 2: atrociously bad. When Yokich is off the floor, the Suns

1027
00:52:04,200 --> 00:52:07,800
Speaker 2: can't do anything without Kevin Durant. The Clippers are actually

1028
00:52:07,840 --> 00:52:10,120
Speaker 2: like my one of my big success stories from the season.

1029
00:52:10,160 --> 00:52:11,560
Speaker 2: I was like, the Clippers are going to be a

1030
00:52:11,640 --> 00:52:14,280
Speaker 2: pain in the ass. I swear it's all these athletes.

1031
00:52:14,280 --> 00:52:17,319
Speaker 2: They're big in athletic called the Perimeter Memphis, same sort

1032
00:52:17,320 --> 00:52:19,640
Speaker 2: of thing with the home road splits. But like that,

1033
00:52:19,640 --> 00:52:22,399
Speaker 2: that tier in the West that is beyond Oklahoma City

1034
00:52:22,440 --> 00:52:25,400
Speaker 2: and Golden State is like ten teams deep, and I

1035
00:52:25,440 --> 00:52:27,600
Speaker 2: have no idea what to make of it. Where do

1036
00:52:27,600 --> 00:52:29,520
Speaker 2: you like, where are you feeling with that group? Do

1037
00:52:29,560 --> 00:52:31,400
Speaker 2: you have them all still in one tier? Are there

1038
00:52:31,440 --> 00:52:33,719
Speaker 2: a couple of teams that are separating themselves for you?

1039
00:52:34,080 --> 00:52:35,759
Speaker 2: How do you feel about that tier in the West

1040
00:52:35,800 --> 00:52:36,160
Speaker 2: right now?

1041
00:52:36,600 --> 00:52:39,360
Speaker 1: I mean, if you didn't mention the team that I

1042
00:52:39,400 --> 00:52:42,400
Speaker 1: think I might like you most outside of Denver.

1043
00:52:43,239 --> 00:52:47,120
Speaker 3: No, the Lakers, Oh, come on, I'm a Lakers.

1044
00:52:47,520 --> 00:52:50,160
Speaker 1: You just don't like. You just don't like the transition

1045
00:52:50,280 --> 00:52:54,480
Speaker 1: defense is the issue that'll get cleaned up. Like that

1046
00:52:54,560 --> 00:52:56,800
Speaker 1: will figure itself out. We've already started to see science

1047
00:52:56,800 --> 00:52:58,520
Speaker 1: and it's going to figure itself out. Look, I like

1048
00:52:58,560 --> 00:53:00,520
Speaker 1: Denver more than the Lakers, to be clear, Like I

1049
00:53:00,520 --> 00:53:01,520
Speaker 1: have Denver like.

1050
00:53:01,880 --> 00:53:04,399
Speaker 3: In the same year with the Lakers. But I do like.

1051
00:53:04,360 --> 00:53:06,160
Speaker 1: Denver more than the Lakers, to be clear, I was

1052
00:53:06,160 --> 00:53:10,960
Speaker 1: just surprised you didn't mention them. But with the Lakers particularly, Yeah,

1053
00:53:11,200 --> 00:53:14,160
Speaker 1: Like with the Lakers particularly, they have this incredible offensive

1054
00:53:14,160 --> 00:53:17,040
Speaker 1: scheme that is working really, really well in terms of

1055
00:53:17,200 --> 00:53:20,880
Speaker 1: actualizing Anthony Davis. Honestly, I think a big thing that

1056
00:53:20,920 --> 00:53:24,239
Speaker 1: it's doing that people aren't really noticing is minimizing the

1057
00:53:24,239 --> 00:53:27,680
Speaker 1: wear and tear on Lebron throughout the regular season, and

1058
00:53:27,800 --> 00:53:30,080
Speaker 1: that's going to make a big difference, I think potentially

1059
00:53:30,160 --> 00:53:33,000
Speaker 1: come playoff time. They have Austin Reeves, who's been like

1060
00:53:33,080 --> 00:53:35,280
Speaker 1: hot and cold, it feels like, to start the season.

1061
00:53:35,440 --> 00:53:37,200
Speaker 1: They have Dalton connect To who looks like a real hit.

1062
00:53:37,600 --> 00:53:40,720
Speaker 1: He's a guy that kind of elevates their starting lineup.

1063
00:53:41,000 --> 00:53:43,360
Speaker 1: Like it's funny. They've moved him to the bench to

1064
00:53:43,400 --> 00:53:45,239
Speaker 1: bring Ruby back into the starting lineup, and I think

1065
00:53:45,280 --> 00:53:48,440
Speaker 1: that's a mistake because when I watch when I watch Dalton,

1066
00:53:48,480 --> 00:53:51,920
Speaker 1: I think he's a guy that elevates your best players,

1067
00:53:51,960 --> 00:53:54,680
Speaker 1: but probably isn't a guy yet that can go get

1068
00:53:54,719 --> 00:53:58,160
Speaker 1: his own or you know, be at his best with

1069
00:53:58,440 --> 00:54:01,960
Speaker 1: bench players. In the NBA, So if I was the Lakers,

1070
00:54:02,000 --> 00:54:05,360
Speaker 1: I would have Dalton in the starting lineup in order

1071
00:54:05,400 --> 00:54:10,600
Speaker 1: to maximize both his potential and the players around him. Offensively.

1072
00:54:10,719 --> 00:54:13,640
Speaker 1: I get the defensive concerns, but the thing about the

1073
00:54:13,719 --> 00:54:16,879
Speaker 1: Lakers is that when you look at all the other

1074
00:54:16,920 --> 00:54:21,200
Speaker 1: teams in the West, Denver included certainly, and this is

1075
00:54:21,239 --> 00:54:28,040
Speaker 1: removing Oklahoma City in my opinion, you look at, oh,

1076
00:54:28,160 --> 00:54:30,560
Speaker 1: you know, like Sacramento, who I think just probably doesn't

1077
00:54:30,560 --> 00:54:34,080
Speaker 1: have enough juice in terms of star power, and Minnesota,

1078
00:54:34,120 --> 00:54:36,800
Speaker 1: who you know, obviously sold a lot of their assets

1079
00:54:36,800 --> 00:54:39,560
Speaker 1: to go get Rudy Gobert, but you know, has some

1080
00:54:39,600 --> 00:54:41,960
Speaker 1: new assets that they could potentially move if they wanted to.

1081
00:54:43,000 --> 00:54:45,600
Speaker 1: You can look at the Clippers, who probably doesn't probably

1082
00:54:45,600 --> 00:54:47,920
Speaker 1: don't have enough juice. Unles Kauai is just like a superstar.

1083
00:54:49,480 --> 00:54:53,640
Speaker 1: Houston's interesting. Houston certainly has more trade capital than anybody

1084
00:54:53,640 --> 00:54:56,960
Speaker 1: in the league if they want to use it. But

1085
00:54:57,040 --> 00:55:01,160
Speaker 1: I think the Lakers have the most realistic stick avenues

1086
00:55:01,520 --> 00:55:06,960
Speaker 1: toward improving their roster that doesn't involve, like, for instance,

1087
00:55:07,000 --> 00:55:11,719
Speaker 1: Houston having to upend everything it does with a star trade. Right,

1088
00:55:12,320 --> 00:55:14,919
Speaker 1: the Lakers can solve their issues. They have three first

1089
00:55:15,000 --> 00:55:17,680
Speaker 1: round picks available to go out and get like a

1090
00:55:17,760 --> 00:55:21,440
Speaker 1: Bruce Brown. They have a bunch of tradable contracts Ruey, Gabe, Vincent,

1091
00:55:22,280 --> 00:55:24,760
Speaker 1: Jared Vanderbilt, like whoever you want to bring up across

1092
00:55:24,800 --> 00:55:27,600
Speaker 1: the board. They have all these deals that they can

1093
00:55:27,640 --> 00:55:31,279
Speaker 1: move for players right within their price range. Like if

1094
00:55:31,320 --> 00:55:33,800
Speaker 1: they can go get Bruce Brown. To me, that's the

1095
00:55:33,880 --> 00:55:36,040
Speaker 1: name that I've been thinking about. That just makes an

1096
00:55:36,040 --> 00:55:37,920
Speaker 1: immense amount of sense. We knew that they liked him.

1097
00:55:37,960 --> 00:55:41,959
Speaker 1: They tried to sign him before he signed that big

1098
00:55:42,000 --> 00:55:45,440
Speaker 1: balloon contract with the Indiana Pacers and then got traded

1099
00:55:45,600 --> 00:55:49,000
Speaker 1: to the Toronto Raptors in the Sea Yakham deal. If

1100
00:55:49,000 --> 00:55:53,880
Speaker 1: I remember correctly right, he is the kind of player

1101
00:55:53,880 --> 00:55:56,120
Speaker 1: that'd be perfect for them, like a perimeter defender who

1102
00:55:56,200 --> 00:55:58,960
Speaker 1: processes the game at a super high level, can guard

1103
00:55:59,040 --> 00:56:03,239
Speaker 1: one through four, perfect like crash bang player that would

1104
00:56:03,239 --> 00:56:07,000
Speaker 1: take some wearing's hair off of you know, some of

1105
00:56:07,040 --> 00:56:10,600
Speaker 1: their perimeter players and some of their wings, Like they

1106
00:56:10,640 --> 00:56:13,879
Speaker 1: can go do that. Like Toronto is not contending this year,

1107
00:56:14,960 --> 00:56:16,560
Speaker 1: they would be able to go get give up a

1108
00:56:16,560 --> 00:56:19,000
Speaker 1: first round pick for Bruce Brown and it would be fine.

1109
00:56:19,160 --> 00:56:20,879
Speaker 1: And on top of it, the sneaky thing with Bruce

1110
00:56:20,880 --> 00:56:23,479
Speaker 1: Brown is that because his contract is so big right now,

1111
00:56:24,400 --> 00:56:26,080
Speaker 1: he's not going to get that much on his next

1112
00:56:26,080 --> 00:56:29,239
Speaker 1: contract exactly. You have the early bird rights to be

1113
00:56:29,280 --> 00:56:31,680
Speaker 1: able to retain him as well. I think he's actually

1114
00:56:31,719 --> 00:56:35,200
Speaker 1: like a really sneaky valuable player on this trade market.

1115
00:56:35,239 --> 00:56:37,920
Speaker 1: That because he hasn't played much this season, if at all,

1116
00:56:37,960 --> 00:56:40,359
Speaker 1: if I can remember correctly, I haven't seen him play

1117
00:56:40,360 --> 00:56:44,160
Speaker 1: this year. At least, he's someone that he will be

1118
00:56:44,200 --> 00:56:46,200
Speaker 1: a very valuable trade target as long as he's healthy

1119
00:56:46,239 --> 00:56:50,320
Speaker 1: at some point in December January. Dorian Finney Smith is

1120
00:56:50,320 --> 00:56:52,960
Speaker 1: the name that makes a lot of like sense for

1121
00:56:53,000 --> 00:56:55,080
Speaker 1: the Lakers. I've said, like a Dorian Finney Smith, they

1122
00:56:55,080 --> 00:56:57,400
Speaker 1: are on sharp deal for the Lakers solves like almost

1123
00:56:57,440 --> 00:57:00,600
Speaker 1: all of their problems to me right now, backup center

1124
00:57:00,640 --> 00:57:03,399
Speaker 1: issue solves. You know, going to get a wing who

1125
00:57:03,400 --> 00:57:06,239
Speaker 1: can be switchable defensively. Phinney Smith has taken like a

1126
00:57:06,239 --> 00:57:09,040
Speaker 1: small step back defensively, but not an enormous one. But

1127
00:57:09,160 --> 00:57:13,040
Speaker 1: the guys that are on the market, they have the

1128
00:57:13,080 --> 00:57:17,200
Speaker 1: ability to go make moves to solve their issues. Is

1129
00:57:17,280 --> 00:57:20,479
Speaker 1: why I like them a lot, and they're already really good.

1130
00:57:21,000 --> 00:57:22,960
Speaker 1: Is the thing, like the Lakers are already what eleven

1131
00:57:22,960 --> 00:57:26,720
Speaker 1: and seven something like that, six, ten and six. Yeah,

1132
00:57:26,960 --> 00:57:29,760
Speaker 1: so they're in a really good position as it is,

1133
00:57:29,800 --> 00:57:32,720
Speaker 1: like Denver doesn't have the ability really to go out

1134
00:57:32,720 --> 00:57:35,920
Speaker 1: and improve. They've moved all their picks. They would have

1135
00:57:35,960 --> 00:57:38,880
Speaker 1: to give up like a Peyton Watson or a Christian

1136
00:57:38,920 --> 00:57:43,040
Speaker 1: Brown or a Julian Strather to go make a realistic upgrade,

1137
00:57:43,520 --> 00:57:45,440
Speaker 1: and that's not something they should really be in the

1138
00:57:45,440 --> 00:57:49,160
Speaker 1: market of doing in my opinion. You can look at

1139
00:57:49,800 --> 00:57:52,640
Speaker 1: I don't know Minnesota. Minnesota could go make a realistic upgrade,

1140
00:57:52,680 --> 00:57:54,520
Speaker 1: but more than anything, their season is going to come

1141
00:57:54,520 --> 00:57:57,640
Speaker 1: down to whether or not Anthony Edwards can make decisions

1142
00:57:57,680 --> 00:58:00,520
Speaker 1: and consistently make plays at the end, and I don't

1143
00:58:00,560 --> 00:58:02,160
Speaker 1: know if I trust that yet. They could also just

1144
00:58:02,160 --> 00:58:05,120
Speaker 1: like move off of the Julius Randall experiment and decide

1145
00:58:05,120 --> 00:58:07,560
Speaker 1: to do something totally different with that position, but that

1146
00:58:07,680 --> 00:58:09,760
Speaker 1: up ends their season in some way, and that would

1147
00:58:09,760 --> 00:58:12,400
Speaker 1: take some time to try and work through and figure out.

1148
00:58:12,800 --> 00:58:16,200
Speaker 1: So when I say that I really like the Lakers,

1149
00:58:16,720 --> 00:58:19,120
Speaker 1: I like the potential of what the Lakers can be

1150
00:58:20,080 --> 00:58:25,600
Speaker 1: after February, once they eventually inevitably make their move. I

1151
00:58:25,640 --> 00:58:29,200
Speaker 1: think that might be the team that I it's Denver

1152
00:58:29,280 --> 00:58:31,080
Speaker 1: because they have the best player in the world, they

1153
00:58:31,080 --> 00:58:34,320
Speaker 1: have Nicola Jokic. But outside of them in the West, like,

1154
00:58:34,440 --> 00:58:37,640
Speaker 1: I think the Lakers are the team even honestly, I

1155
00:58:37,760 --> 00:58:40,240
Speaker 1: like them more than Golden State in a playoff situation.

1156
00:58:40,400 --> 00:58:42,800
Speaker 1: I know that might be like sacrilege to hear right now,

1157
00:58:44,240 --> 00:58:46,080
Speaker 1: but I would buy them more in a playoff situation.

1158
00:58:46,120 --> 00:58:47,760
Speaker 1: They have the star power and they have the wherewithal

1159
00:58:47,800 --> 00:58:49,600
Speaker 1: to be able to go get go, do moves. Golden

1160
00:58:49,600 --> 00:58:51,400
Speaker 1: State does as well. Though, by the way, like that's

1161
00:58:51,400 --> 00:58:53,240
Speaker 1: the other thing that we, you know, have mentioned a

1162
00:58:53,280 --> 00:58:56,480
Speaker 1: little bit. Golden State to me is a you knowd'

1163
00:58:56,480 --> 00:59:00,320
Speaker 1: anthony Melton and Gary Payton in two first round pays

1164
00:59:00,400 --> 00:59:04,320
Speaker 1: for Cam Johnson move from being ahead of you know,

1165
00:59:04,400 --> 00:59:07,440
Speaker 1: all these teams potentially maybe not Denver because Denver is

1166
00:59:07,480 --> 00:59:11,360
Speaker 1: still really good. But yeah, like that that middle tier,

1167
00:59:11,440 --> 00:59:15,360
Speaker 1: like those three teams beyond Oklahoma City, Golden se Denver Lakers,

1168
00:59:15,680 --> 00:59:18,200
Speaker 1: Denver Lakers, those feel like the three teams to me

1169
00:59:18,320 --> 00:59:21,680
Speaker 1: that not only have the star power but also have

1170
00:59:21,760 --> 00:59:25,440
Speaker 1: the potential to get better and separate themselves from the

1171
00:59:25,480 --> 00:59:26,320
Speaker 1: rest of this group.

1172
00:59:27,360 --> 00:59:29,760
Speaker 2: Yeah, when I look at I think a lot of

1173
00:59:29,760 --> 00:59:32,840
Speaker 2: times when we hear people talk about issues with the Lakers,

1174
00:59:32,920 --> 00:59:35,360
Speaker 2: they conveniently gloss over the fact that every team in

1175
00:59:35,400 --> 00:59:38,640
Speaker 2: that tier has major issues, you know, like like like

1176
00:59:38,680 --> 00:59:40,440
Speaker 2: the Kings can't guard anybody.

1177
00:59:40,600 --> 00:59:41,200
Speaker 3: Minnesota.

1178
00:59:41,240 --> 00:59:45,640
Speaker 2: I literally hate that roster like it's it is like

1179
00:59:45,680 --> 00:59:48,360
Speaker 2: the player that I'm highest on in the next like

1180
00:59:48,480 --> 00:59:50,320
Speaker 2: generation of young basketball players.

1181
00:59:50,320 --> 00:59:51,440
Speaker 3: But I just hate that.

1182
00:59:51,480 --> 00:59:55,720
Speaker 2: Team's construct so much, and I think it plays directly

1183
00:59:55,840 --> 00:59:58,600
Speaker 2: into a lot of the issues that ant has had

1184
00:59:58,640 --> 01:00:01,600
Speaker 2: over the years. Don't get me started, San Antonio. Ever

1185
01:00:01,640 --> 01:00:04,520
Speaker 2: since I saw how good Stefan Castle has become, I'm

1186
01:00:04,560 --> 01:00:07,320
Speaker 2: like all in on them for the future. Like Stefan

1187
01:00:07,400 --> 01:00:09,840
Speaker 2: Castle has made me go from hating the Spurs core

1188
01:00:09,960 --> 01:00:12,600
Speaker 2: to like loving the Spurs core, which is like kind

1189
01:00:12,600 --> 01:00:14,480
Speaker 2: of been a funny transformation. I just think he I

1190
01:00:14,480 --> 01:00:17,080
Speaker 2: think he's like the two way guard. I'll even say

1191
01:00:17,080 --> 01:00:19,880
Speaker 2: I think Stefan Castle's are more interesting prospect than Denvin

1192
01:00:19,960 --> 01:00:21,720
Speaker 2: to sell in my opinion at this point.

1193
01:00:21,720 --> 01:00:24,200
Speaker 1: Because it's just and so but like not even a

1194
01:00:24,280 --> 01:00:24,880
Speaker 1: question to me.

1195
01:00:25,000 --> 01:00:27,760
Speaker 2: Denver, their bench is atrocious and Jamal Murray is like

1196
01:00:27,920 --> 01:00:30,840
Speaker 2: literally a shell of himself it's a real problem Phoenix.

1197
01:00:31,400 --> 01:00:34,600
Speaker 2: The Nurkic problem is real, and like I just think

1198
01:00:34,600 --> 01:00:37,160
Speaker 2: they're a little redundant in there in the way that

1199
01:00:37,200 --> 01:00:38,240
Speaker 2: they attack on offense.

1200
01:00:38,400 --> 01:00:41,080
Speaker 1: But by the way, with them another team that can't

1201
01:00:41,120 --> 01:00:44,680
Speaker 1: really solve their problems with the trade market, right they

1202
01:00:44,680 --> 01:00:49,080
Speaker 1: have one first round pick and really the only functionality

1203
01:00:49,080 --> 01:00:51,280
Speaker 1: that they have is like moving Grayson Allen for a

1204
01:00:51,320 --> 01:00:54,680
Speaker 1: center or moving Nurkic, which I don't think anybody's gonna

1205
01:00:54,720 --> 01:00:57,440
Speaker 1: take that contract. So I completely agree with you, Like

1206
01:00:57,480 --> 01:00:59,560
Speaker 1: there are worlds where you could maybe try and figure

1207
01:00:59,600 --> 01:01:02,680
Speaker 1: out how to make something like this function, But I

1208
01:01:03,720 --> 01:01:05,960
Speaker 1: think they're going to really struggle to improve their roster,

1209
01:01:06,280 --> 01:01:08,080
Speaker 1: even though I love what they have been so far

1210
01:01:08,160 --> 01:01:09,000
Speaker 1: with Kevin Durant.

1211
01:01:10,400 --> 01:01:13,200
Speaker 2: And and that's where Phoenix to me is kind of

1212
01:01:13,240 --> 01:01:15,680
Speaker 2: like I don't view them as a serious threat for

1213
01:01:15,720 --> 01:01:18,640
Speaker 2: that exact reason that you're explaining. Like all of these teams,

1214
01:01:18,720 --> 01:01:23,480
Speaker 2: whether it's Golden State, Lakers, Denver, I think is a

1215
01:01:23,520 --> 01:01:26,560
Speaker 2: little bit trapped, as you said, like they're they have

1216
01:01:26,680 --> 01:01:30,840
Speaker 2: the avenues with which to improve themselves. Houston, the offense

1217
01:01:30,880 --> 01:01:32,720
Speaker 2: and the half quarter is just too bad. I as

1218
01:01:32,800 --> 01:01:34,280
Speaker 2: good as they are as interesting they are. They're the

1219
01:01:34,280 --> 01:01:37,200
Speaker 2: regular season wins drug or not this season. We've seen

1220
01:01:37,200 --> 01:01:40,120
Speaker 2: that year in year out over the last the last

1221
01:01:40,160 --> 01:01:44,000
Speaker 2: few years. Right Clippers obviously like it's it's a James

1222
01:01:44,000 --> 01:01:45,840
Speaker 2: Harden and Norman Palall team. It's hard to take them

1223
01:01:45,880 --> 01:01:59,960
Speaker 2: really seriously. I want to zero in on the Lake

1224
01:02:00,160 --> 01:02:04,320
Speaker 2: for a second because I have a very complicated opinion

1225
01:02:04,360 --> 01:02:06,920
Speaker 2: on them. But before I do that, I would say

1226
01:02:06,960 --> 01:02:10,920
Speaker 2: that I think Golden State. I have Golden State above

1227
01:02:10,920 --> 01:02:12,960
Speaker 2: the First of all, if Golden State played the Lakers

1228
01:02:12,960 --> 01:02:14,640
Speaker 2: in a series tomorrow, I think Golden State would kick

1229
01:02:14,680 --> 01:02:17,240
Speaker 2: their ass. I as much as I as much as

1230
01:02:17,240 --> 01:02:21,520
Speaker 2: I like the firepower stuff with the Lakers, the mismatch

1231
01:02:21,560 --> 01:02:24,280
Speaker 2: on the perimeter is so dramatic between those two teams,

1232
01:02:24,320 --> 01:02:25,560
Speaker 2: I think it would be a disaster.

1233
01:02:26,040 --> 01:02:28,600
Speaker 1: So like and to your point that you've talked about

1234
01:02:28,640 --> 01:02:31,200
Speaker 1: a lot, the transition defense would be an enormous issue

1235
01:02:31,240 --> 01:02:34,440
Speaker 1: against Golden exactly. Oh, Mike, I agree with I agree

1236
01:02:34,480 --> 01:02:36,960
Speaker 1: with you on this that Golden State tomorrow in a

1237
01:02:36,960 --> 01:02:38,640
Speaker 1: seven game series would beat the Lakers.

1238
01:02:39,280 --> 01:02:40,920
Speaker 2: But like, I also agree with you that if you

1239
01:02:40,920 --> 01:02:43,240
Speaker 2: start to talk about who can win four series between

1240
01:02:43,280 --> 01:02:45,920
Speaker 2: those two teams, it gets a little more complicated because obviously,

1241
01:02:45,960 --> 01:02:48,360
Speaker 2: like the Lakers are a bad matchup with Golden State,

1242
01:02:48,400 --> 01:02:50,480
Speaker 2: but they are better matchup for other teams, right, So

1243
01:02:50,560 --> 01:02:54,120
Speaker 2: like it gets complicated in that regard. But like I

1244
01:02:54,160 --> 01:02:57,680
Speaker 2: think Golden State i'd put above the Lakers, Denver I'd

1245
01:02:57,680 --> 01:03:00,400
Speaker 2: certainly put above the Lakers, because I actually do Jamal

1246
01:03:00,520 --> 01:03:03,160
Speaker 2: is gonna get Like Jamal's not as bad as he's been,

1247
01:03:03,200 --> 01:03:05,400
Speaker 2: He's going to be better, in my opinion. Maybe I'm

1248
01:03:05,480 --> 01:03:07,160
Speaker 2: just being glass half full a little too much. You

1249
01:03:07,160 --> 01:03:08,480
Speaker 2: have a little smirk on your face, so maybe you

1250
01:03:08,520 --> 01:03:09,320
Speaker 2: feel otherwise.

1251
01:03:10,880 --> 01:03:13,080
Speaker 1: It's not that I think he's definitely not. It's just

1252
01:03:13,120 --> 01:03:15,800
Speaker 1: that I don't know, Like when it goes for like

1253
01:03:15,800 --> 01:03:18,200
Speaker 1: when it went for John Wall, it went, you know

1254
01:03:18,280 --> 01:03:20,560
Speaker 1: what I mean, Like the injuries piled up and he

1255
01:03:20,640 --> 01:03:23,280
Speaker 1: just couldn't separate from anybody anymore. And Jamal has the

1256
01:03:23,280 --> 01:03:27,160
Speaker 1: shooting to fall back on. But sometimes for guys, it

1257
01:03:27,280 --> 01:03:30,240
Speaker 1: just goes. And I really hope that's not the case

1258
01:03:30,280 --> 01:03:32,840
Speaker 1: for Jamal. It's just that I don't I don't know

1259
01:03:33,520 --> 01:03:35,240
Speaker 1: if it is, is what I'm worried about.

1260
01:03:35,960 --> 01:03:37,960
Speaker 2: To your point, he hit a couple of jumpers against

1261
01:03:38,000 --> 01:03:42,000
Speaker 2: the knicks where it was a lot of wrist and

1262
01:03:42,080 --> 01:03:44,640
Speaker 2: like snap of the of the top of the shot

1263
01:03:44,680 --> 01:03:46,760
Speaker 2: where you can tell he was not getting a tonnel

1264
01:03:47,040 --> 01:03:50,280
Speaker 2: energy in his shot from the bottom, And some of

1265
01:03:50,320 --> 01:03:52,840
Speaker 2: these possessions where he's running around on the perimeter literally

1266
01:03:52,880 --> 01:03:56,680
Speaker 2: looks like me when I'm like playing when I've played

1267
01:03:56,720 --> 01:03:58,480
Speaker 2: seven or eight pickup games and I'm in the last

1268
01:03:58,520 --> 01:04:00,360
Speaker 2: game of the day and I'm kind of limping around

1269
01:04:00,400 --> 01:04:03,560
Speaker 2: the court. Like that's literally what what Jamal Murray looks

1270
01:04:03,600 --> 01:04:06,600
Speaker 2: like in some of these health defense possessions, like like

1271
01:04:06,680 --> 01:04:08,520
Speaker 2: where I'm just like, dude, this is an NBA game,

1272
01:04:08,560 --> 01:04:12,240
Speaker 2: Like you can't be this like like hob hobbling around,

1273
01:04:12,280 --> 01:04:14,240
Speaker 2: you know what I mean. But like, I think Denver

1274
01:04:14,360 --> 01:04:16,000
Speaker 2: is a team that I put above them, and then

1275
01:04:16,040 --> 01:04:18,000
Speaker 2: the other team I'd put above the Lakers still at

1276
01:04:18,000 --> 01:04:20,800
Speaker 2: this point is Dallas. In Dallas I'm a little bit

1277
01:04:20,840 --> 01:04:22,560
Speaker 2: lower on because I do think the trade off for

1278
01:04:22,640 --> 01:04:25,640
Speaker 2: Derek Jones Junior did make them less athletic, But even

1279
01:04:25,680 --> 01:04:30,320
Speaker 2: within that context, they do have more athletes than a

1280
01:04:30,360 --> 01:04:33,680
Speaker 2: team like the Lakers does, so like and I do

1281
01:04:33,720 --> 01:04:35,520
Speaker 2: think Luca will play better in the long run. So

1282
01:04:35,640 --> 01:04:38,240
Speaker 2: like for me, I have the Lakers kind of sitting

1283
01:04:38,280 --> 01:04:40,400
Speaker 2: as like the fifth best team in the West. Now

1284
01:04:41,040 --> 01:04:42,400
Speaker 2: you look like you had a thought on Dallas, because

1285
01:04:42,400 --> 01:04:43,680
Speaker 2: I'm about to go off on the Lakers, So why

1286
01:04:43,720 --> 01:04:45,360
Speaker 2: don't you give me your thoughts on Dallas real quick?

1287
01:04:45,600 --> 01:04:47,720
Speaker 1: No, honestly, I don't. I mean you know that you

1288
01:04:47,800 --> 01:04:51,040
Speaker 1: know when we did contender rankings, like at the deadline

1289
01:04:51,120 --> 01:04:53,960
Speaker 1: last year, I Dallas was your team five or whatever,

1290
01:04:54,040 --> 01:04:56,680
Speaker 1: and like, I love that team and I think they're terrific,

1291
01:04:56,800 --> 01:04:59,760
Speaker 1: So I guess I would put them ahead of the

1292
01:04:59,800 --> 01:05:05,840
Speaker 1: Lake right now. They do have some flexibility, not a ton,

1293
01:05:05,960 --> 01:05:09,120
Speaker 1: but like enough. I mean, the other weird team that

1294
01:05:09,120 --> 01:05:10,720
Speaker 1: we haven't talked about before we get to the Lakers

1295
01:05:10,800 --> 01:05:14,240
Speaker 1: is Memphis. Like Memphis is so weird and bizarre, and

1296
01:05:14,280 --> 01:05:16,120
Speaker 1: we haven't seen them with like a full complement of

1297
01:05:16,160 --> 01:05:18,640
Speaker 1: players yet exactly. I mean, I don't know if you

1298
01:05:18,680 --> 01:05:21,840
Speaker 1: watched the Portland Memphis game last night and two nights

1299
01:05:21,840 --> 01:05:24,520
Speaker 1: ago for when this goes live, Jamran had like twenty

1300
01:05:24,520 --> 01:05:27,160
Speaker 1: two and eleven in twenty three minutes and was just

1301
01:05:28,280 --> 01:05:30,640
Speaker 1: so far and away the best player on the court

1302
01:05:30,920 --> 01:05:34,280
Speaker 1: that it was remarkable. And I know it's in Memphis,

1303
01:05:34,280 --> 01:05:37,720
Speaker 1: whatever I can't remember for some reason. I think it

1304
01:05:37,720 --> 01:05:40,440
Speaker 1: was in Portland, but like I'm bad at remembering if

1305
01:05:40,480 --> 01:05:41,440
Speaker 1: it's home or road or not.

1306
01:05:41,760 --> 01:05:45,439
Speaker 2: But it was in Memphis. And every Jamaran game in

1307
01:05:45,480 --> 01:05:48,680
Speaker 2: Memphis is like an event. He puts on a show

1308
01:05:49,040 --> 01:05:50,080
Speaker 2: every single game.

1309
01:05:50,680 --> 01:05:54,480
Speaker 1: His speed, his explosiveness, you saw like the he is.

1310
01:05:54,800 --> 01:05:57,920
Speaker 1: He and Trey Young to me are the two guards

1311
01:05:57,920 --> 01:06:02,960
Speaker 1: in the NBA where I don't understand how they understand

1312
01:06:03,080 --> 01:06:06,600
Speaker 1: angles when they make passes, Like both of them can

1313
01:06:06,600 --> 01:06:10,000
Speaker 1: throw logrible passes left hand, right hand from crazy angles

1314
01:06:10,000 --> 01:06:14,080
Speaker 1: from whatever position they're in on the court. Right. But

1315
01:06:14,200 --> 01:06:18,160
Speaker 1: those two guys particularly, I just watch them, and Ja

1316
01:06:18,160 --> 01:06:21,360
Speaker 1: throws these left handed whip cross court passes where I'm

1317
01:06:21,360 --> 01:06:24,280
Speaker 1: just like, I'm not even sure how you saw that,

1318
01:06:25,040 --> 01:06:28,880
Speaker 1: let alone how you executed that. Like Jokich can do

1319
01:06:28,920 --> 01:06:30,480
Speaker 1: this stuff, there are wings that can do this stuff

1320
01:06:30,480 --> 01:06:32,520
Speaker 1: as well. Like I'm not sitting here saying they're like

1321
01:06:32,560 --> 01:06:35,320
Speaker 1: the best two passers in the NBA. Necessarily they're probably

1322
01:06:35,320 --> 01:06:38,480
Speaker 1: in the top five, but like when I watch those two,

1323
01:06:38,480 --> 01:06:41,240
Speaker 1: I'm just like, holy shit. And Jaw is also like

1324
01:06:41,280 --> 01:06:44,880
Speaker 1: the most explosive athlete in the end. He is I say,

1325
01:06:44,920 --> 01:06:48,600
Speaker 1: Memphis just to say that, like, if Jaw is this good,

1326
01:06:49,120 --> 01:06:52,760
Speaker 1: and they get Desbane and they get Jaron Jackson playing

1327
01:06:52,760 --> 01:06:55,720
Speaker 1: a full compliment of games, they have all of these

1328
01:06:55,760 --> 01:06:58,360
Speaker 1: potential options that they can mix and match with against

1329
01:06:58,400 --> 01:07:03,280
Speaker 1: you in certain situation and matchups. They're interesting to me.

1330
01:07:03,360 --> 01:07:06,960
Speaker 1: They've been playing goofy ass like Santy al Dama, Jaren Jackson,

1331
01:07:07,120 --> 01:07:10,360
Speaker 1: Zach Edy lineups that are like three seven footers basically,

1332
01:07:10,840 --> 01:07:12,560
Speaker 1: and it's just really hard to score on them. And

1333
01:07:12,600 --> 01:07:15,360
Speaker 1: they still have like perimeter play because of Sancy and Jaren.

1334
01:07:15,480 --> 01:07:19,200
Speaker 1: So they're a weird team. But I also bring them

1335
01:07:19,240 --> 01:07:20,840
Speaker 1: up to say that they have their full compliment of

1336
01:07:20,840 --> 01:07:22,680
Speaker 1: picks to be able to move if they want to.

1337
01:07:22,840 --> 01:07:25,480
Speaker 2: Yeah, I need to see more of Memphis now that

1338
01:07:25,520 --> 01:07:27,480
Speaker 2: Marcus Smartin Desmond Mayne are back. They're a team that

1339
01:07:27,520 --> 01:07:29,200
Speaker 2: I'm gonna be zeroing in on in the next couple

1340
01:07:29,240 --> 01:07:31,959
Speaker 2: of weeks because like, there's there's fun, Spunky, We're winning

1341
01:07:32,000 --> 01:07:35,160
Speaker 2: games at home with you know, Scottie Pippen Junior and

1342
01:07:35,240 --> 01:07:36,880
Speaker 2: Jay Huff and and all these kind of guys, and

1343
01:07:36,960 --> 01:07:38,840
Speaker 2: then there's like, okay, let's get a good look at

1344
01:07:38,840 --> 01:07:44,200
Speaker 2: like what you know, uh, joh Desmond Marcus Smart, They've

1345
01:07:44,200 --> 01:07:46,600
Speaker 2: been starting Jalen Wells. It's interesting to me because I

1346
01:07:46,640 --> 01:07:50,520
Speaker 2: actually liked the Smart Bane Jaw trio last year, but

1347
01:07:50,560 --> 01:07:52,880
Speaker 2: then like the with Jared Jackson and Edie and then

1348
01:07:52,920 --> 01:07:55,480
Speaker 2: also with Santi al Dama and Jared Jackson, is a smaller,

1349
01:07:55,520 --> 01:07:57,600
Speaker 2: like kind of more spacing. Look, I need to just

1350
01:07:57,640 --> 01:07:59,640
Speaker 2: see more of them. Their team that I their team

1351
01:07:59,680 --> 01:08:01,800
Speaker 2: that I just don't have a really strong opinion about

1352
01:08:01,840 --> 01:08:03,600
Speaker 2: at this point on.

1353
01:08:03,560 --> 01:08:04,440
Speaker 3: The Lakers front.

1354
01:08:05,080 --> 01:08:08,600
Speaker 2: They are there's so many things that I really like

1355
01:08:08,640 --> 01:08:12,880
Speaker 2: about this team. I do think JJ Reddick has done

1356
01:08:12,920 --> 01:08:15,080
Speaker 2: a good job of at least bringing a more serious

1357
01:08:15,080 --> 01:08:18,600
Speaker 2: approach on a daily basis. Yeah, I love some of

1358
01:08:18,640 --> 01:08:21,120
Speaker 2: the concepts that he's brought in offensively in the sense

1359
01:08:21,120 --> 01:08:24,600
Speaker 2: that last year they were very much like a Horns

1360
01:08:24,720 --> 01:08:28,640
Speaker 2: team and like a lot of like you're kind of

1361
01:08:28,680 --> 01:08:32,519
Speaker 2: like just stack and double drag and that sort of thing.

1362
01:08:32,560 --> 01:08:34,920
Speaker 2: It was just a lot of like pretty standard horn

1363
01:08:35,000 --> 01:08:39,800
Speaker 2: stack double drag across the board. JJ's brought in the

1364
01:08:40,439 --> 01:08:42,680
Speaker 2: lebron and ad as a folkrum at the top of

1365
01:08:42,680 --> 01:08:45,280
Speaker 2: the key for off ball guard action stuff, which has

1366
01:08:45,320 --> 01:08:47,800
Speaker 2: been really really intriguing, and I've liked a lot of

1367
01:08:47,800 --> 01:08:49,799
Speaker 2: that stuff you mentioned using.

1368
01:08:49,640 --> 01:08:53,639
Speaker 1: Lebron by the way, they're getting there like in similar sets,

1369
01:08:53,680 --> 01:08:55,519
Speaker 1: like they still run a lot of horns actions, they

1370
01:08:55,560 --> 01:08:59,479
Speaker 1: still run a lot of double drag stuff. Yeah. I

1371
01:08:59,520 --> 01:09:03,559
Speaker 1: think what has done is particularly weaponized his two best

1372
01:09:03,560 --> 01:09:07,240
Speaker 1: players in a different way than what Darvin Ham did

1373
01:09:07,280 --> 01:09:10,040
Speaker 1: and that's what makes him a much better coach.

1374
01:09:10,280 --> 01:09:13,559
Speaker 2: Frankly, and to your point, that's I think that's that

1375
01:09:13,680 --> 01:09:15,599
Speaker 2: and then giving a lot more of the guard reps

1376
01:09:15,640 --> 01:09:18,760
Speaker 2: to Austin has definitely played a part in d Low's

1377
01:09:18,760 --> 01:09:21,120
Speaker 2: struggles to this point in the season. He's just been really,

1378
01:09:21,200 --> 01:09:25,800
Speaker 2: really bad where it gets complicated for me and before

1379
01:09:25,800 --> 01:09:27,000
Speaker 2: I even get there, I want I want to focus

1380
01:09:27,040 --> 01:09:28,560
Speaker 2: in on the starting lineup for a second. Two like that,

1381
01:09:28,880 --> 01:09:33,679
Speaker 2: I think that Dalton connect has to start too, because one,

1382
01:09:33,760 --> 01:09:37,280
Speaker 2: he's just such a natural fit offensively, because he's an

1383
01:09:37,280 --> 01:09:38,040
Speaker 2: off ball score.

1384
01:09:38,120 --> 01:09:38,960
Speaker 3: I think this is such a.

1385
01:09:39,920 --> 01:09:42,040
Speaker 2: Valuable talent in the NBA, A guy that you can

1386
01:09:42,120 --> 01:09:45,000
Speaker 2: like realistically expect fifteen to twenty five points on any

1387
01:09:45,040 --> 01:09:48,280
Speaker 2: given night without really having to, Like, yeah, you'll drop

1388
01:09:48,320 --> 01:09:50,040
Speaker 2: stuff for him when he gets hot to kind of

1389
01:09:50,240 --> 01:09:53,719
Speaker 2: keep feeding the hot hand. But he can play within

1390
01:09:53,800 --> 01:09:57,519
Speaker 2: the low of the game right and the second piece

1391
01:09:57,520 --> 01:09:59,280
Speaker 2: of it. He's just a really good athlete, and this

1392
01:09:59,320 --> 01:10:01,599
Speaker 2: is the team that does and have athleticism on the perimeter,

1393
01:10:01,640 --> 01:10:04,439
Speaker 2: even though he has his defensive limitations. Just like him

1394
01:10:04,479 --> 01:10:07,080
Speaker 2: going after a contested rebound, or him running his lane

1395
01:10:07,120 --> 01:10:09,760
Speaker 2: in transition, or him high pointing some sort of loose

1396
01:10:09,760 --> 01:10:11,760
Speaker 2: ball just looks different than it does for the other

1397
01:10:11,840 --> 01:10:14,360
Speaker 2: Laker guards. Which is why I kind of lean more

1398
01:10:14,400 --> 01:10:16,439
Speaker 2: towards the trade you presented to me on the phone

1399
01:10:16,479 --> 01:10:18,880
Speaker 2: the other day, which is the Dorian Phinney Smith day.

1400
01:10:18,880 --> 01:10:21,759
Speaker 2: Were on sharp type of move because, like I originally

1401
01:10:21,800 --> 01:10:23,400
Speaker 2: was in the same spot where I was like Delo's

1402
01:10:23,400 --> 01:10:25,960
Speaker 2: the weak link here. You gotta go get a Bruce Brown.

1403
01:10:26,200 --> 01:10:28,559
Speaker 2: You gotta go get a you know, Derrek Jones junior

1404
01:10:28,640 --> 01:10:31,160
Speaker 2: or something like that to anchor the two, and then

1405
01:10:31,240 --> 01:10:33,599
Speaker 2: Ruy's your three. I am in the opposite spot now

1406
01:10:33,600 --> 01:10:35,479
Speaker 2: where I think this needs to be an Austin Dalton

1407
01:10:35,560 --> 01:10:39,599
Speaker 2: Lebron ad team and a traditional three and D guy

1408
01:10:39,600 --> 01:10:41,439
Speaker 2: that you can put on the other team's best perimeter

1409
01:10:41,479 --> 01:10:44,120
Speaker 2: player makes the most sense. That's where a Dorian Finney

1410
01:10:44,160 --> 01:10:46,200
Speaker 2: Smith kind of falls into that spot for me. The

1411
01:10:46,240 --> 01:10:48,080
Speaker 2: tricky part is is I don't like a ton of

1412
01:10:48,120 --> 01:10:50,599
Speaker 2: the other options around the league. I think he's the

1413
01:10:50,600 --> 01:10:52,600
Speaker 2: one guy that makes a lot of sense because like

1414
01:10:52,880 --> 01:10:54,000
Speaker 2: I look at it and I'm like, I kind of

1415
01:10:54,040 --> 01:10:56,000
Speaker 2: like Zire Williams too, But I just don't think he's

1416
01:10:56,000 --> 01:10:58,000
Speaker 2: a starter. I don't think he shoots the ball well enough.

1417
01:10:58,320 --> 01:11:00,640
Speaker 2: There's I like Josh Green as a guy that they

1418
01:11:00,680 --> 01:11:02,680
Speaker 2: could potentially go after, but then again, he plays the

1419
01:11:02,720 --> 01:11:05,280
Speaker 2: same position more or less as Dalton connect which kind

1420
01:11:05,280 --> 01:11:07,920
Speaker 2: of presents some issues. So like they're a little bit

1421
01:11:07,920 --> 01:11:09,960
Speaker 2: more limited in terms of the types of players that

1422
01:11:10,040 --> 01:11:12,320
Speaker 2: can go there. Like does Jeremy Grant want to come

1423
01:11:12,360 --> 01:11:14,120
Speaker 2: in and guard the other team's best player every game?

1424
01:11:14,160 --> 01:11:16,800
Speaker 2: Probably not, right, So, like there are some limitations there,

1425
01:11:16,840 --> 01:11:18,519
Speaker 2: But I do think Dalton at the two is the

1426
01:11:18,520 --> 01:11:22,040
Speaker 2: direction they need to go in the long run. My

1427
01:11:22,200 --> 01:11:26,920
Speaker 2: pessimism surrounding the Lakers entirely centers around the Perimmeter athleticism piece,

1428
01:11:27,320 --> 01:11:29,040
Speaker 2: and I just don't know if it's something they can

1429
01:11:29,040 --> 01:11:33,080
Speaker 2: fix within one season. They will defend better than they

1430
01:11:33,120 --> 01:11:36,400
Speaker 2: have to be clear, their defense is in shambles right

1431
01:11:36,439 --> 01:11:39,080
Speaker 2: now for a variety of different reasons, mostly centering around

1432
01:11:39,120 --> 01:11:42,320
Speaker 2: transition and the offensive glass. They're actually like a decent

1433
01:11:42,479 --> 01:11:45,720
Speaker 2: load up half court defense, Like they're okay in the

1434
01:11:45,760 --> 01:11:49,400
Speaker 2: decent half court load up situations. It's rebounding, and it

1435
01:11:49,479 --> 01:11:53,719
Speaker 2: is transition that is entirely perimeterive athletes. That's entirely perimeterive

1436
01:11:53,720 --> 01:11:55,720
Speaker 2: athletes like Lebron and ad are two of the best

1437
01:11:55,760 --> 01:12:00,200
Speaker 2: defensive rebounders of their generation, and they can't rebound like

1438
01:12:00,280 --> 01:12:03,840
Speaker 2: it is a perimeter athlete issue. And so like I'm

1439
01:12:03,880 --> 01:12:05,479
Speaker 2: with you in the sense that like if you told

1440
01:12:05,520 --> 01:12:07,920
Speaker 2: me like we were gonna be watching Oka see Los

1441
01:12:07,960 --> 01:12:10,760
Speaker 2: Angeles Lakers in the Western Conference Finals, I wouldn't be

1442
01:12:11,400 --> 01:12:13,840
Speaker 2: stunned because I do think that that stealing is in there.

1443
01:12:13,880 --> 01:12:16,200
Speaker 2: Anthony Davis is playing at a top five level this year.

1444
01:12:16,280 --> 01:12:18,320
Speaker 2: Lebron isn't even at the level I think he will

1445
01:12:18,320 --> 01:12:19,840
Speaker 2: be in the long run. Like there's a lot to

1446
01:12:19,840 --> 01:12:22,400
Speaker 2: be excited about there. It's just like I've had I've

1447
01:12:22,439 --> 01:12:25,360
Speaker 2: been Sam, I've been bitching about this perimeter athleticism thing

1448
01:12:25,400 --> 01:12:27,640
Speaker 2: with the Lakers for two years now, and Rob just

1449
01:12:27,680 --> 01:12:31,240
Speaker 2: hasn't done anything. So like we're where like it's hard

1450
01:12:31,240 --> 01:12:35,040
Speaker 2: for me to eve. It's like Jared Vanderbilt really interesting player,

1451
01:12:35,760 --> 01:12:38,200
Speaker 2: but like I haven't watched him play in a basketball

1452
01:12:38,240 --> 01:12:41,080
Speaker 2: game in so long that it's like, is theoretical to

1453
01:12:41,120 --> 01:12:42,360
Speaker 2: this point, he just.

1454
01:12:42,280 --> 01:12:45,800
Speaker 1: Doesn't get guarded either. That's the other thing, Like nobody

1455
01:12:46,479 --> 01:12:47,519
Speaker 1: so and so.

1456
01:12:47,520 --> 01:12:50,639
Speaker 2: So I just am concerned. I'm just concerned that Rob

1457
01:12:50,760 --> 01:12:53,000
Speaker 2: is thinking more like this team needs a third star,

1458
01:12:53,160 --> 01:12:55,639
Speaker 2: and like, I just don't think Rob is actually aware

1459
01:12:55,680 --> 01:12:58,280
Speaker 2: of the fact that the main weakness of this roster

1460
01:12:58,439 --> 01:13:00,320
Speaker 2: is that they've got a bunch of skill player on

1461
01:13:00,360 --> 01:13:01,760
Speaker 2: the perimeter that can't move or fight.

1462
01:13:02,840 --> 01:13:06,559
Speaker 1: It's it's funny that you say that you like the

1463
01:13:06,640 --> 01:13:09,519
Speaker 1: Dorian Finney Smith move more now because I'm kind of

1464
01:13:09,560 --> 01:13:11,559
Speaker 1: going the opposite way a little bit where I like

1465
01:13:11,600 --> 01:13:13,519
Speaker 1: that one first originally, probably because it was like my

1466
01:13:13,560 --> 01:13:14,960
Speaker 1: first thought and I was like anchored to it a

1467
01:13:14,960 --> 01:13:16,920
Speaker 1: little bit. But the more I think about it, the

1468
01:13:16,920 --> 01:13:20,160
Speaker 1: more I'm like, oh no, Like it's Bruce Brown's the

1469
01:13:20,200 --> 01:13:22,160
Speaker 1: one that makes more sense because he's the better athlete,

1470
01:13:22,200 --> 01:13:24,120
Speaker 1: he's the better defender on the perimeter. Like he's the

1471
01:13:24,160 --> 01:13:27,200
Speaker 1: guy that you can trust to go deal with like

1472
01:13:27,280 --> 01:13:29,880
Speaker 1: one s, twos and threes, like even with Denver right,

1473
01:13:30,040 --> 01:13:32,840
Speaker 1: like part of like a big part of his role

1474
01:13:32,960 --> 01:13:34,800
Speaker 1: was that he could play the four on offense, but

1475
01:13:34,840 --> 01:13:38,080
Speaker 1: could guard perimeter players on defense. And that's kind of

1476
01:13:38,120 --> 01:13:40,240
Speaker 1: what I think they need, Like they need somebody that

1477
01:13:40,280 --> 01:13:43,200
Speaker 1: will like deal with you know, the fours and can

1478
01:13:43,200 --> 01:13:45,599
Speaker 1: take on tough matchups or I can like just make

1479
01:13:45,680 --> 01:13:48,160
Speaker 1: high level passing reads and can do different things like that.

1480
01:13:49,040 --> 01:13:52,519
Speaker 1: But on offense, they want Dalton and you know, Austin

1481
01:13:52,600 --> 01:13:53,960
Speaker 1: to be the one and the two kind of like

1482
01:13:54,000 --> 01:13:57,439
Speaker 1: you said, on defense, having Bruce allows you to kind

1483
01:13:57,439 --> 01:14:00,599
Speaker 1: of play him at the two, the you know one,

1484
01:14:00,800 --> 01:14:03,599
Speaker 1: the three, whoever you have to shut down in terms

1485
01:14:03,600 --> 01:14:05,360
Speaker 1: of the matchup. He's just kind of a better defender,

1486
01:14:05,400 --> 01:14:07,280
Speaker 1: I think at this point than what Dorian Phinney Smith is.

1487
01:14:07,439 --> 01:14:10,519
Speaker 1: But what Phinney Smith adds that he doesn't is he's

1488
01:14:10,560 --> 01:14:13,080
Speaker 1: a fine defender at this point. Is he's longer, and

1489
01:14:13,240 --> 01:14:16,560
Speaker 1: he is also a real shooter, which Bruce unfortunately is

1490
01:14:16,600 --> 01:14:20,040
Speaker 1: not at this point. So I go back and forth

1491
01:14:20,080 --> 01:14:21,360
Speaker 1: on it. I think I lean a little bit more

1492
01:14:21,360 --> 01:14:24,360
Speaker 1: toward Bruce Brown now, but like it's a tricky it's

1493
01:14:24,360 --> 01:14:26,840
Speaker 1: a tricky conversation for sure, and they have to make

1494
01:14:26,840 --> 01:14:29,760
Speaker 1: the right decision because while I talk about their flexibility,

1495
01:14:30,360 --> 01:14:32,200
Speaker 1: they really have like one move that they can make

1496
01:14:32,240 --> 01:14:34,880
Speaker 1: without like totally selling the farm, you know what I mean.

1497
01:14:35,320 --> 01:14:37,280
Speaker 1: If they don't make if they decide to like go

1498
01:14:37,320 --> 01:14:39,920
Speaker 1: all out and you know, go get somebody, they're giving

1499
01:14:39,960 --> 01:14:43,320
Speaker 1: up like three first rounders or whatever, and that doesn't

1500
01:14:43,360 --> 01:14:48,040
Speaker 1: feel like a great plan to me either. So I

1501
01:14:48,160 --> 01:14:50,160
Speaker 1: like what they can do. I like their flexibility. I

1502
01:14:50,200 --> 01:14:52,920
Speaker 1: think they are one player away. Realistically, you can slide

1503
01:14:53,479 --> 01:14:56,000
Speaker 1: D'Angelo Russell to the bench, You hopefully get Jared Vanderbilt

1504
01:14:56,040 --> 01:14:59,240
Speaker 1: back to be able to play defense in stretches for

1505
01:14:59,320 --> 01:15:03,200
Speaker 1: fifteen minutes the game. Right they can solve the backup

1506
01:15:03,240 --> 01:15:05,840
Speaker 1: center issue, like you can find backup centers for second

1507
01:15:05,920 --> 01:15:09,960
Speaker 1: round picks on the trade market. Uh, they're gonna have

1508
01:15:10,000 --> 01:15:12,000
Speaker 1: to find They can find answers, though, I think is

1509
01:15:12,000 --> 01:15:14,360
Speaker 1: why I like them, Like they can go They're not

1510
01:15:14,439 --> 01:15:16,680
Speaker 1: a great team right now, they're not, but they can

1511
01:15:16,720 --> 01:15:17,439
Speaker 1: find the answers.

1512
01:15:17,479 --> 01:15:20,400
Speaker 2: I think the Yeah, there, I'm with you in the

1513
01:15:20,439 --> 01:15:23,840
Speaker 2: sense that, like, I think that that trait is such

1514
01:15:23,880 --> 01:15:26,680
Speaker 2: a specifically valuable trait that even if you're great at

1515
01:15:26,680 --> 01:15:29,200
Speaker 2: everything else, it can undercut a team.

1516
01:15:29,920 --> 01:15:31,559
Speaker 3: And there's it's just.

1517
01:15:34,479 --> 01:15:36,720
Speaker 2: I'm of the opinion that this needs to be a

1518
01:15:36,800 --> 01:15:39,720
Speaker 2: kind of like a too pronged approach at the deadline,

1519
01:15:39,800 --> 01:15:42,519
Speaker 2: which is like, they need to find a starter that

1520
01:15:42,560 --> 01:15:45,240
Speaker 2: they can put at the two or the three, starting

1521
01:15:45,280 --> 01:15:49,400
Speaker 2: caliber two way player, but they also I also think

1522
01:15:49,439 --> 01:15:51,360
Speaker 2: they need to add some athletes for their bench.

1523
01:15:52,640 --> 01:15:53,880
Speaker 3: And here's the thing.

1524
01:15:53,960 --> 01:15:57,120
Speaker 2: If Jared Vanderbilt gets back and he gets to form

1525
01:15:57,479 --> 01:15:59,000
Speaker 2: and that works out, great, great.

1526
01:15:59,360 --> 01:16:02,080
Speaker 3: If Gabe Vince gets at least decent.

1527
01:16:01,760 --> 01:16:04,040
Speaker 2: At basketball at some point in the next couple of months,

1528
01:16:04,479 --> 01:16:07,280
Speaker 2: that would be great. If Max Christie settles down a

1529
01:16:07,320 --> 01:16:10,120
Speaker 2: little bit, then maybe that's fine. But it's just I

1530
01:16:10,160 --> 01:16:12,200
Speaker 2: think it's more likely than not that they need a

1531
01:16:12,200 --> 01:16:15,160
Speaker 2: couple of different moves, and I just am not sure

1532
01:16:15,160 --> 01:16:17,080
Speaker 2: that I trust Rob to get it done. So in

1533
01:16:17,080 --> 01:16:18,960
Speaker 2: a weird way, like if you asked me to rank

1534
01:16:19,000 --> 01:16:21,200
Speaker 2: contenders like I still have, I had them coming into

1535
01:16:21,200 --> 01:16:23,679
Speaker 2: the season, I think eight, and like, yeah, they're probably

1536
01:16:23,720 --> 01:16:25,720
Speaker 2: still right around there, seven or eight, right, Like I'm

1537
01:16:25,800 --> 01:16:28,080
Speaker 2: if I look out east, I'm looking at Boston and

1538
01:16:28,080 --> 01:16:30,720
Speaker 2: Cleveland clearly as a level above maybe the Knicks too.

1539
01:16:31,000 --> 01:16:33,320
Speaker 2: If I look out West, it's clearly okay. See Golden

1540
01:16:33,320 --> 01:16:35,800
Speaker 2: State Denver in Dallas, so like they're somewhere around seven

1541
01:16:35,880 --> 01:16:38,599
Speaker 2: or eight, but like here'd be them vaulting up.

1542
01:16:39,200 --> 01:16:42,519
Speaker 1: We talked about the Knicks, right, would you have the

1543
01:16:42,560 --> 01:16:43,720
Speaker 1: Knicks of the Lakers right now?

1544
01:16:48,560 --> 01:16:49,080
Speaker 3: Oh, man?

1545
01:16:51,160 --> 01:16:53,840
Speaker 1: Because the Knicks are a team that I think have

1546
01:16:53,920 --> 01:16:55,800
Speaker 1: had ahead of them coming into the year.

1547
01:16:57,880 --> 01:17:03,360
Speaker 2: I I here's the thing I think the Lake Akers. Oh,

1548
01:17:03,400 --> 01:17:06,720
Speaker 2: this is such a good question, Sam.

1549
01:17:06,920 --> 01:17:10,040
Speaker 1: And also neither of these teams right now can win

1550
01:17:10,080 --> 01:17:11,920
Speaker 1: a title. But the Knicks are going to get back

1551
01:17:11,920 --> 01:17:14,639
Speaker 1: Mitchell Robinson at some point, and the Lakers have moves

1552
01:17:14,680 --> 01:17:17,320
Speaker 1: to be able to make to go get players like it.

1553
01:17:17,720 --> 01:17:20,080
Speaker 2: I still take lebron Ady in a playoff series over

1554
01:17:20,120 --> 01:17:22,840
Speaker 2: a brunts and bridges kind of brunts and bridges an

1555
01:17:22,880 --> 01:17:28,120
Speaker 2: Andobe group. But like I that my basketball heart loves

1556
01:17:28,240 --> 01:17:30,639
Speaker 2: the Knicks perimeter athletes. But then again, it just hasn't

1557
01:17:30,640 --> 01:17:33,280
Speaker 2: manifested the way it needs to. So yeah, I think

1558
01:17:33,320 --> 01:17:36,960
Speaker 2: I lean very, very slightly Lakers. But there's a part

1559
01:17:37,000 --> 01:17:38,600
Speaker 2: of me that goes, that's stupid, Why would you say that?

1560
01:17:38,720 --> 01:17:42,439
Speaker 2: So I don't that, man, you might have you might

1561
01:17:42,439 --> 01:17:45,400
Speaker 2: have found the two teams that I'm most evenly opinionated

1562
01:17:45,439 --> 01:17:46,439
Speaker 2: about that's crazy.

1563
01:17:47,040 --> 01:17:48,040
Speaker 1: Yeah, because you.

1564
01:17:48,080 --> 01:17:49,680
Speaker 2: Told me, if you told me Lakers or Bucks right now,

1565
01:17:49,720 --> 01:17:52,080
Speaker 2: I'd be like Lakers ten times out of ten. You know,

1566
01:17:52,240 --> 01:17:54,120
Speaker 2: like if if you told me Lakers Suns right now,

1567
01:17:54,120 --> 01:17:56,880
Speaker 2: I'd say Lakers ten times out of ten. But like

1568
01:17:56,880 --> 01:17:58,640
Speaker 2: like the like the teams that are but yeah, the

1569
01:17:58,720 --> 01:18:00,479
Speaker 2: Knicks to me are like East.

1570
01:18:01,360 --> 01:18:02,200
Speaker 1: Yeah, I would go.

1571
01:18:02,840 --> 01:18:04,759
Speaker 2: Utah was one of the worst losses of the season

1572
01:18:04,760 --> 01:18:05,920
Speaker 2: that any NBA team has had.

1573
01:18:06,439 --> 01:18:07,280
Speaker 1: That is accurate.

1574
01:18:07,960 --> 01:18:11,320
Speaker 2: Yeah, accurate, Sam, This show is exactly what I hoped

1575
01:18:11,360 --> 01:18:13,360
Speaker 2: it would be. I had kind of like a loose format.

1576
01:18:13,400 --> 01:18:15,040
Speaker 2: We ended up just completely ditching it and it was

1577
01:18:15,080 --> 01:18:16,639
Speaker 2: like you and I just talking hoops on the phone

1578
01:18:16,640 --> 01:18:18,280
Speaker 2: for some time. It was everything I hoped it would be.

1579
01:18:18,320 --> 01:18:20,920
Speaker 2: I sincerely appreciate you giving us your time. Can you

1580
01:18:20,920 --> 01:18:23,320
Speaker 2: tell our audience everything you've been working on as of Blake.

1581
01:18:24,280 --> 01:18:26,880
Speaker 1: Go to the Athletic Keep Me Employed over there. Go

1582
01:18:26,920 --> 01:18:30,120
Speaker 1: to the Game Theory podcast with Sam Fassini over on YouTube,

1583
01:18:30,400 --> 01:18:35,000
Speaker 1: over on Spotify, whatever podcast platform you listen to shows on.

1584
01:18:36,320 --> 01:18:38,759
Speaker 1: I've been doing things where I kind of steal Jason's

1585
01:18:38,800 --> 01:18:41,600
Speaker 1: thunder a little bit and go live after games and

1586
01:18:41,680 --> 01:18:44,400
Speaker 1: talk to some things that happen. We're calling it post

1587
01:18:44,439 --> 01:18:46,800
Speaker 1: game theory or game theory after dark. We don't really

1588
01:18:46,840 --> 01:18:48,040
Speaker 1: have a name for it. We just kind of talk

1589
01:18:48,080 --> 01:18:48,759
Speaker 1: about basketball.

1590
01:18:48,840 --> 01:18:49,960
Speaker 3: I like post game theory.

1591
01:18:50,520 --> 01:18:54,479
Speaker 1: I do too. I'm still trying to make make some

1592
01:18:54,640 --> 01:18:58,559
Speaker 1: different thoughts about it at this point and change minds

1593
01:18:58,640 --> 01:19:00,880
Speaker 1: within the fan base, because the fan base, it feels like,

1594
01:19:01,000 --> 01:19:05,920
Speaker 1: is sway in another way. Yeah, no, go over there,

1595
01:19:05,960 --> 01:19:08,479
Speaker 1: listen to the show, watch me breakdown tape by breakdown tape,

1596
01:19:08,479 --> 01:19:10,559
Speaker 1: you know, two or three times a night, or two

1597
01:19:10,640 --> 01:19:13,320
Speaker 1: or three times a week on games that happen over

1598
01:19:13,360 --> 01:19:15,599
Speaker 1: the course of the previous couple of days. So go

1599
01:19:15,640 --> 01:19:17,080
Speaker 1: there and come hang out.

1600
01:19:18,040 --> 01:19:20,479
Speaker 2: I talked to a lot of people about basketball on

1601
01:19:20,520 --> 01:19:23,400
Speaker 2: a daily basis, and whenever I have a basketball idea

1602
01:19:23,600 --> 01:19:25,240
Speaker 2: or something that I need to run by someone, Sam

1603
01:19:25,320 --> 01:19:27,280
Speaker 2: is the first person that I reach out to. He's

1604
01:19:27,400 --> 01:19:29,280
Speaker 2: a basketball mind that I respect a great deal. You

1605
01:19:29,320 --> 01:19:31,400
Speaker 2: guys need to get over to the Athletic and to

1606
01:19:31,479 --> 01:19:34,160
Speaker 2: the Game Theory podcast and support him. And I'm sure

1607
01:19:34,200 --> 01:19:36,000
Speaker 2: we'll be having you back on somewhere right around the

1608
01:19:36,000 --> 01:19:38,559
Speaker 2: All Star break to get into some stuff. And I

1609
01:19:38,560 --> 01:19:39,720
Speaker 2: owe you a show. So you got to let me

1610
01:19:39,720 --> 01:19:41,000
Speaker 2: know if you have some stuff that you want to

1611
01:19:41,000 --> 01:19:43,400
Speaker 2: talk about. But as always, we sincerely appreciate you guys

1612
01:19:43,400 --> 01:19:46,400
Speaker 2: for supporting us and for supporting the show. We will

1613
01:19:46,400 --> 01:19:49,920
Speaker 2: be back after Thanksgiving break. I was about to say

1614
01:19:49,960 --> 01:19:52,000
Speaker 2: tonight after Lakers Suns, but you guys are seeing this

1615
01:19:52,040 --> 01:19:54,480
Speaker 2: till Wednesday, so I will see you guys after Thanksgiving

1616
01:19:54,520 --> 01:19:56,720
Speaker 2: break for some power rankings on Monday.

1617
01:19:58,560 --> 01:20:00,519
Speaker 3: The volume What's up guys.

1618
01:20:00,520 --> 01:20:03,320
Speaker 2: As always, I appreciate you for listening to and supporting

1619
01:20:03,360 --> 01:20:05,920
Speaker 2: Hoops tonight. It would actually be really helpful for us

1620
01:20:05,960 --> 01:20:07,840
Speaker 2: if you guys would take a second and leave a

1621
01:20:08,000 --> 01:20:10,519
Speaker 2: rating and a review. As always, I appreciate you guys

1622
01:20:10,560 --> 01:20:12,160
Speaker 2: supporting us, but if you could take a minute to

1623
01:20:12,200 --> 01:20:14,040
Speaker 2: do that, I'd really appreciate it.