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Speaker 1: welcome to Hoops Tonight. You're at the volume. Happy Friday, everybody.
Speaker 1: Oh ave you guys are having a great week. It
Speaker 1: is mail bag Day. Thank you to all of you
Speaker 1: guys who submitted questions. Remember, if you want to submit
Speaker 1: questions YouTube full episodes, go into the comments, put Mailbag,
Speaker 1: Colon and Imus your question and we'll get to them
Speaker 1: on Fridays throughout the rest of the season. You guys
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Speaker 1: on that front. Well. Also have brand new social media
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Speaker 1: Night channel. We're releasing content throughout the year. Make sure
Speaker 1: you guys follow us there, and then, like I mentioned
Speaker 1: off the top, keep dropping mail back questions in those
Speaker 1: YouTube comments so we can hit them throughout the rest
Speaker 1: of the season. All right, let's talk some basketball. Hey,
Speaker 1: how's it going? Jason Love the show? Have been a
Speaker 1: fan for a while. My question is about the Oklahoma
Speaker 1: City Thunder. I hear a lot of people say that
Speaker 1: they are a team that needs to find a way
Speaker 1: to raise their offensive ceiling but can throw a hillacious
Speaker 1: defensive punch. From a historical perspective, do you think this
Speaker 1: year's Thunder is more comparable to the Four Pistons, the
Speaker 1: eight Celtics, or the nine Lakers and how they are
Speaker 1: made up at this current moment. So ironically, the team
Speaker 1: that I actually think they remind me a lot of
Speaker 1: is the old Thunder in the sense that it's more
Speaker 1: of a two big type of look, and it's younger,
Speaker 1: right Like, as we talk about the Celtics and the
Speaker 1: Lakers from eight to nine, those are very veteran teams.
Speaker 1: Not a lot of young talent on those teams, and
Speaker 1: obviously the Thunder are more infused with youth. So in
Speaker 1: terms of basketball build, there's similarities across the board. Defensively, yeah,
Speaker 1: you're similar to the four Pistons, although I would say
Speaker 1: that the four Pistons team didn't have nearly the shot
Speaker 1: creation talent that Shake Gilds Alexander is the wait Celtics
Speaker 1: remind me of this team in the two big look
Speaker 1: or like you're four, and Kevin Garnett is this very
Speaker 1: versatile offensive player and more of a play finisher at
Speaker 1: the center spot. But it's kind of similar there. And
Speaker 1: then Paul Pierce being like this guy in poor spacing
Speaker 1: that was asked to make a lot of mid range
Speaker 1: jump shots. The Lakers are the team that I'd probably
Speaker 1: compare him to the most because of the two big
Speaker 1: look versatle offensive four, but just that heavy reliance on
Speaker 1: tough shot making from Kobe Bryant, which obviously was a
Speaker 1: huge part of this Thunder team with Shay and I
Speaker 1: talked about yesterday actually after the Cavs game, how Shae
Speaker 1: reminds me a lot of Kobe Bryant in that stretch. Well,
Speaker 1: you talked about about raising their offensive ceiling. Is a
Speaker 1: really interesting point though, And I think that's going to
Speaker 1: be the main question mark because I've talked a lot
Speaker 1: about shooting when it comes to the Thunder. There's still
Speaker 1: haven't checked after the Cavs game, But after the Celtics game,
Speaker 1: they were down to twentieth in or I think they
Speaker 1: sh well in that game, so up to twentieth I
Speaker 1: should say in three point shooting on the season, and
Speaker 1: like they've just continued to make shots as of late,
Speaker 1: Like these are a couple of big games. Like they
Speaker 1: didn't lose to the Calves because of shot making. They
Speaker 1: made shots. They lost to the Calves because they couldn't
Speaker 1: get stops, which was ironic and just a testament to
Speaker 1: the Cleveland defense because that's same or Cleveland offense, because
Speaker 1: that same Thunder defense just put the Celtics in jail
Speaker 1: in the second half of their game, right, But like,
Speaker 1: there is a certain decision that the Thunder are gonna
Speaker 1: have to make at the deadline this year, which is
Speaker 1: are we good enough on offense to win the title?
Speaker 1: And there's a tendency in a lot of these situations
Speaker 1: to be like, oh, we have time, and I'm not
Speaker 1: gonna sit here and pretend like this is the last
Speaker 1: shot for the Thunder because it's not. But as we've
Speaker 1: seen so many times throughout NBA history, every time we
Speaker 1: think there's a five to eight year window, it ends
Speaker 1: up being shorter. It's usually not like the Warriors, they're
Speaker 1: usually the they're the exception. It's usually a lot of turnover.
Speaker 1: It's usually some guy wants a bigger role, this guy
Speaker 1: gets squeezed by the payroll. We don't want to be
Speaker 1: a second Apron team, so we let this guy go.
Speaker 1: There's usually something that leads to a like kind of
Speaker 1: a pullback in talent in these sorts of situations, right,
Speaker 1: And so the question is do you feel urgency to
Speaker 1: try to win this season? And that's where you kind
Speaker 1: of have to find a sweet spot, like is it
Speaker 1: worth Like let's take Cam Johnson for instance, I haven't
Speaker 1: done the exact machinations of the deal. But let's say
Speaker 1: it's Isaiah Joe and Aaron Wiggins, Like, it's a lot
Speaker 1: to give up. I like Aaron Wiggins a lot. Aaron
Speaker 1: Wiggins is just a pro. I've been talking about him
Speaker 1: a lot, Like I'm amazed at his ability to drive
Speaker 1: closeouts and defend, knockdown catch and shoot threes. Isaiah Joe
Speaker 1: has been one of the most reliable shooters of the
Speaker 1: last couple of years. I understand that's a lot to
Speaker 1: give up. But if you get a really high level
Speaker 1: player like Cam Johnson, and you can sit it a
Speaker 1: situation where it's like, I know who our small ball
Speaker 1: groups are, because you know who the big groups are,
Speaker 1: right Shay JW Dort Hartenstein Chet, Right. You know with
Speaker 1: the small ball groups, it's going to be Jada Chet
Speaker 1: and then somebody is that fifth guy, and there's flaws
Speaker 1: with all of them. With Alex Crusoe, it's like a
Speaker 1: really good defender, but man, he can really struggle to shoot.
Speaker 1: Sometimes you talk about kese On Wallace a little undersized,
Speaker 1: also can struggle to shoot. Sometimes you talk about Isaiah
Speaker 1: Joe really skinny and undersized, right, Like there's downsides with
Speaker 1: any of your options that you go with a guy
Speaker 1: like Cam Johnson. It's like pretty solid permitter, defender, big athlete,
Speaker 1: and really good offensive player. So like you could see
Speaker 1: that as an opportunity to raise the ceiling. And it's
Speaker 1: just I'm not even saying which direction that I personally
Speaker 1: would go. I'm generally a pusher, chips in kind of guy.
Speaker 1: But like, I think it's completely defensible to just ride
Speaker 1: it out with this roster if you want to. But
Speaker 1: Cam Johnson would be the type of guy that the
Speaker 1: Thunder could go for that would just raise their offensive
Speaker 1: ceiling without having too much of an impact on their
Speaker 1: defensive capabilities and legitimately increases your chances of winning a
Speaker 1: championship this season at the expense of a little bit
Speaker 1: of depth. That would be an example of a move
Speaker 1: along those lines. But again, like, I think there's a
Speaker 1: case to be made that they should just ride it
Speaker 1: out as well, and I think that that's gonna be
Speaker 1: a really tough decision when the time comes. I am
Speaker 1: a Celtics fan, but I'm also a fan of the game,
Speaker 1: and I really enjoyed yesterday's game between okay See and
Speaker 1: the Calves. Congratulations to Atkinson, who was a very good coach.
Speaker 1: But at the same time, in defense of J. Bickerstaff,
Speaker 1: we shouldn't forget that Garland was far from being himself
Speaker 1: last year and that mobile seems to have improved a
Speaker 1: lot during the summer, or maybe is that Atkinson's effect.
Speaker 1: Aside from that, who do you think has the best
Speaker 1: chance to dethrow on the Celtics in the East? To me,
Speaker 1: so and so far every team being healthy, Celtics included,
Speaker 1: I really only fear this Calves team. So here's the
Speaker 1: deal with the Atkinson JB. Bickerstaff stuff. We had Carter
Speaker 1: Rodriguez from the Chase Down podcast on earlier this year,
Speaker 1: and he talked a lot about how like a lot
Speaker 1: of these concepts like were things that or that J. B.
Speaker 1: Bickerstaff was hammering. J. B. Bickerstaff did preach playing with pace.
Speaker 1: J B. Bickerstaff did ask Starius Garland to make more
Speaker 1: to take more threes. There was a lot of thing
Speaker 1: that he was preaching behind the scenes that just didn't resonate.
Speaker 1: And that happens sometimes. That's why when you ask me, like,
Speaker 1: I'm not gonna sit here and pretend like Atkinson's not
Speaker 1: doing an incredible job. He is doing an incredible job.
Speaker 1: He seems like a shoe in for Coach of the
Speaker 1: Year this year. I'm all in on the Kenny Atkinson thing,
Speaker 1: but if you asked me to list the number one
Speaker 1: reason why the Cavs are better this year, I would
Speaker 1: go with the improvement of Darius Garland and Evan Mobley
Speaker 1: as individual players. Health is part of it. Natural player
Speaker 1: development is part of it too. Atkinson has then pushed
Speaker 1: that up into a team that's playing at over a
Speaker 1: seventy win pace. But to me, it's the talent influx.
Speaker 1: Jared Allen's a little better, Darius Garland's a lot better,
Speaker 1: Evan Mobley's a lot better. That's allowed Donovan Mitchell to
Speaker 1: be more picking his spots and they have this depth
Speaker 1: of role player talent. Ty Jerome has really panned out,
Speaker 1: a lot of Dean Wade's healthy and playing great. All
Speaker 1: of that has come together and made them into this
Speaker 1: more successful team. But like Atkinson is part of it.
Speaker 1: And again, I think a lot of times when it
Speaker 1: comes to these coaches, sometimes it's just like one voice
Speaker 1: doesn't resonate and the next one does. You know, it's
Speaker 1: no different than if like certain people told you something
Speaker 1: that was critical, you might you know, laugh it off
Speaker 1: or you know, roll your eyes. But if like a
Speaker 1: different person told you the same thing, you might be
Speaker 1: more willing to listen. Right, Like, It's just kind of
Speaker 1: a new voice in the room, if that makes sense.
Speaker 1: As far as your last question though, like who has
Speaker 1: the best chance to throw in the Celtics in the East,
Speaker 1: I agree the Calves are the only team that really
Speaker 1: threaten in my opinion, Like I still watch Knicks games
Speaker 1: and watch Jalen Brunson and Karl Anthony Towns get picked
Speaker 1: apart in space. I just still worry about that with
Speaker 1: any sort of Celtics matchup. The Bucks as good as
Speaker 1: they are, same sort of thing in terms of entry
Speaker 1: points where they can get attacked. Those are teams that
Speaker 1: have a puncher's chance. I don't want to say they
Speaker 1: can't win, but to me, the Calves are the only
Speaker 1: team that I think is on the same tier as
Speaker 1: Boston and a team Boston should be appropriately scared of.
Speaker 1: I had a lot of people talking about titles in
Speaker 1: my YouTube videos. All I'm going to say on this
Speaker 1: is I don't make the titles, guys. The volume has
Speaker 1: a marketing strategy that is company wide that they do
Speaker 1: with this kind of thing. I just make my notes
Speaker 1: that I make a show and then my team handles
Speaker 1: the rest. So just something to keep in mind. Next one,
Speaker 1: Hey Jason, longtime watcher, first time mailbagger. Been a fan
Speaker 1: of the show since the volume days, and I just
Speaker 1: want to say it's been a pleasure watching this channel
Speaker 1: grow to what it is now. Thank you so much.
Speaker 1: It's been cool to watch as well. For me. I'm
Speaker 1: coming up on three years at the end of this month.
Speaker 1: I'm watching from Melbourne, Australia, so I get to tune
Speaker 1: into your videos first thing in the morning. Keep up
Speaker 1: the good work and analysis. Someone posted a stat though
Speaker 1: I don't know how accurate it is, that since twenty
Speaker 1: twenty two and Jason Tatum's usage rate is above thirty
Speaker 1: three percent, the Celtics have a record of forty nine
Speaker 1: and three. Given their current struggles, albeit coming off of
Speaker 1: a championship in January, basketball, should the Celtics try to
Speaker 1: change their philosophy around the way they play. Should the
Speaker 1: Celtics play a little bit more heliocentric with Tatum making
Speaker 1: all the decisions, Maybe it might make them win more
Speaker 1: games during the regular season or is this just a
Speaker 1: mid season lowl for the defending champs and we should
Speaker 1: expect to turn around come March in April. It's just
Speaker 1: frustrating as a Celtics fans know what they're capable of,
Speaker 1: but not play up to their standard this year as
Speaker 1: opposed to last. Keen to know what you're thought. I'm
Speaker 1: exactly there in terms of the mid season lowl. The
Speaker 1: Calves and Thunder are really good, but they are playing
Speaker 1: this season with a ton of urgency on a night
Speaker 1: and night out basis because they're both kind of on
Speaker 1: the verge of something special, right like the Thunder a
Speaker 1: just barely below a seventy game pace, the Calves are
Speaker 1: over a seventy win pace. Like it's very possible for
Speaker 1: both of those teams that if they take some losses
Speaker 1: and they get off of that pace, that they might
Speaker 1: tone things back a little bit and get a little
Speaker 1: bit conservative down the stretch of the season. But most importantly,
Speaker 1: they neither of those teams have ever played beyond the
Speaker 1: second round, So with the Thunder not having that experience,
Speaker 1: with the Calves not having that experience, they don't even
Speaker 1: like really grasp or understand yet the fact that there's
Speaker 1: two months of playoff basketball at the end of this
Speaker 1: thing if you want to get to the Promised Land.
Speaker 1: The Celtics are aware of that. The Celtics know they're
Speaker 1: the real fight is on the horizon. The Celtics know
Speaker 1: that it doesn't really matter what they accomplish during the
Speaker 1: regular season if they can't win the games in May
Speaker 1: and June. So like they're dealing with that lull, and
Speaker 1: that's led to a little bit of a gap in
Speaker 1: the standings. But I've still I still view the Celtics
Speaker 1: a hair above the both of those teams as far
Speaker 1: as the Jayson Tatum usage right stuff. It's always tricky
Speaker 1: when you start talking about record and talking about game
Speaker 1: to game stuff, because one of the things that I
Speaker 1: think is really fascinating, and you guys as fans will notice,
Speaker 1: especially you guys, you fans that watch the same team
Speaker 1: every night, every basketball game is different. You know, how
Speaker 1: you watch your game. You watch a game, you're like, oh,
Speaker 1: this is the Derek White game, like he's got it going.
Speaker 1: Oh this is the Jason Tatum game. Oh Al Horford
Speaker 1: hit five threes this game. Oh this is a porzingis game.
Speaker 1: Like basketball games, you start with the plan and then
Speaker 1: things start to happen in the game just starts to
Speaker 1: go in all these different directions based on how things
Speaker 1: are going, and every game looks different, and there's something
Speaker 1: to be said about the teams that have some more
Speaker 1: consistency there. But like in these in a specifically in
Speaker 1: an advantage creation like mismatch hunting, you know, uh, killer
Speaker 1: Way offense, it just depends on the night. So yeah,
Speaker 1: on the Knights and on the Knights where Jason Tatum
Speaker 1: is hooping his ass off and he's grabbing more of
Speaker 1: the reins like he's one of the best players in
Speaker 1: the world. So when he's at his best, it's gonna
Speaker 1: be really hard to beat the Celtics. And I'm not
Speaker 1: surprised that that manifest in a good record. But what
Speaker 1: makes the Celtics dominant is they don't need Jason Tatum
Speaker 1: to be super duper star every single night. They need
Speaker 1: him to be hyperversaal defensive player and advantage creator, which
Speaker 1: sometimes manifests in him becoming more heliocentric and taking the
Speaker 1: reins of the offense to a greater extent. But I
Speaker 1: think that has been What has led to the success
Speaker 1: for the Celtics back in twenty two is too much
Speaker 1: Tatum and Brown. Now it's there's a lot more of
Speaker 1: the ball popping around. Everyone's involved. I wouldn't overreact to
Speaker 1: this role. I think they're gonna be fine. Most importantly,
Speaker 1: guys like there's a the Calves and Thunder optimism is
Speaker 1: a runaway freight train right now. It's it's literally a
Speaker 1: runaway freight trade. Everyone's on this bandwagon. That should appeal
Speaker 1: to the Boston's pride a little bit. That should help
Speaker 1: them to get off their ass and to lock back
Speaker 1: in and play some better basketball down the stretch of
Speaker 1: the season. Which season which I expect them to do?
Speaker 1: Next question, I personally don't think that the Nuggets shouldrade
Speaker 1: Michael Porter Junior. I think he's a good compliment to
Speaker 1: Jokich and has been playing very well and more consistently lately.
Speaker 1: Where's all of the buzz to trade him coming from?
Speaker 1: And do you think Denver is actually considering it. Mpj's
Speaker 1: younger than met Jimmy Butler and Zach Lavine and offers
Speaker 1: better rebounding and height than both of them. If they
Speaker 1: made one of these trades, would you lower the Nuggets
Speaker 1: ceiling and decrease their odds to win a championship this year?
Speaker 1: I definitely think it would hurt them, especially in the
Speaker 1: long run due to the age differences. So as far
Speaker 1: as the trades go, the big thing for me is
Speaker 1: it's just super high risk. Like you bring in a
Speaker 1: guy like Jimmy Butler. He's better than Michael Porter Junior.
Speaker 1: But Jimmy Butler is a very different player than Michael
Speaker 1: Porter Junior, and Michael Porter Junior's off ball scoring is
Speaker 1: so immensely valuable to this Denver Nuggets team. But Jimmy
Speaker 1: Butler does a ton a Jimmy, Aaron Gordon, Christian Brown
Speaker 1: two three four is a much better defensive two three
Speaker 1: four than Christian Brown, Michael Porter Junior, Aaron Gordon. It's
Speaker 1: an influx of defensive talent in the half court. You
Speaker 1: gain more versatility. You still have the Murray Jokics two
Speaker 1: man game, but now you have Jimmy Butler who can
Speaker 1: either run two man game and is just a much
Speaker 1: better version of Jamal Murray in terms of matchup hunting
Speaker 1: in ISO situations. So there's upside. My thing is the
Speaker 1: upside is relative to what they could fix in house
Speaker 1: with Michael Porter Junior. Right, same thing goes with Zach Levine.
Speaker 1: There's upside, right, Zach Colvine is just an awesome offensive player,
Speaker 1: really good movement shooter, a guy that brings some of
Speaker 1: that off ball scoring that Michael Porter Junior does, but
Speaker 1: also brings some on ball scoring. Could be a two
Speaker 1: man game partner with Jokis that's pretty effective. But he's
Speaker 1: I don't think he's the type of off ball defender
Speaker 1: and a rebounder that Michael Porter Junior is either. So
Speaker 1: there's risk there, right, I look at it from this perspective,
Speaker 1: do I think? I think the reason why a lot
Speaker 1: of these teams are a lot of these fans are
Speaker 1: looking at potentially making a trade for Denver is because
Speaker 1: they're they're worried. They're looking around, and they're like, we
Speaker 1: look like a Tier two team, which they are. For
Speaker 1: the record, Denver's a Tier two team. They're not on
Speaker 1: that top tier with Cleveland, Boston and Oklahoma City, and
Speaker 1: so you feel like you're not there. However, take this
Speaker 1: Denver team out of the equation and let's look at
Speaker 1: it in a vacuum. Jokic best player in the world.
Speaker 1: If Jamal Murray can get back to eighty five ninety
Speaker 1: percent of what he's like, and he has been playing
Speaker 1: better as of late. Aaron Gordon, Michael Porter, Junior, Christian
Speaker 1: Brown a fit that I actually like those five guys.
Speaker 1: I still think they're one of the scariest five man
Speaker 1: lineups in the league, especially with their ability to get
Speaker 1: better over the course of the season by getting back
Speaker 1: to their previous peaks as players. So you have to
Speaker 1: ask yourself what gives the Nuggets the best chance to
Speaker 1: win the title. Everyone getting back to form and riding
Speaker 1: the continuity and Jokich's greatness to win in the playoffs,
Speaker 1: or a gamble. And there's been a lot of examples
Speaker 1: in NBA history, like the Russell Westbrook trade for the Lakers,
Speaker 1: where it's like you take that gamble thinking you're gonna
Speaker 1: raise your ceiling and instead the bottom gets pulled out
Speaker 1: from you and now you're digging out of it for years.
Speaker 1: I think for this Nuggets team, between those two options,
Speaker 1: their best bet to win the championship is to bet
Speaker 1: on continuity, to bet on that five man group. That's
Speaker 1: just what I would do. That doesn't mean you don't
Speaker 1: explore options. It doesn't mean you don't look out there
Speaker 1: to see if something can't be done. I just tend
Speaker 1: to lean towards that being the best option I would
Speaker 1: look for, Like, if you were to make some type
Speaker 1: of deal, I would try to do something with like
Speaker 1: Zeke Nagy's contract, something with the bench group to try
Speaker 1: to bring in talent by attaching draft compensation, just to
Speaker 1: increase your depth. Maybe give you a shooting option at
Speaker 1: the two over Christian Brown and in case that he
Speaker 1: becomes an offensive issue in the playoff series. But like,
Speaker 1: at the end of the day, like I think that
Speaker 1: team has a lot to bet on when it comes
Speaker 1: to continuity. Hey, Jason, love the show. I'm a Warriors fan,
Speaker 1: and I'm thinking about what trades we should make to
Speaker 1: become a real championship contender. I don't really understand the
Speaker 1: reason to trade for Vucevich or some mid center, because
Speaker 1: our best lineup in the playoffs will be Raymond at
Speaker 1: the five. I like cam Johnson. If the trade doesn't
Speaker 1: include Wiggins Jonathan Kaminga, we probably won't get Lebron or KD.
Speaker 1: So I thought about the trade that would send Camena
Speaker 1: and other role players with draft capital to New Orleans
Speaker 1: for Zion. I think the Warriors as a winning environment
Speaker 1: would help Zion get through his struggles off the court
Speaker 1: and as a basketball fit. He would just bring some
Speaker 1: downhill dominance that would open up everything for everyone on
Speaker 1: the offense. On defense, he just has to do his job,
Speaker 1: and I think the defense will be fine. The trade
Speaker 1: is high risk, high reward, but if everything goes right,
Speaker 1: I think it puts us in a much better spot
Speaker 1: right now and for the future. And I think Zion
Speaker 1: would make us better than someone like Jimmy or Brandon Ingram.
Speaker 1: So what do you think about this idea? Is it
Speaker 1: stupid or is there any trade that you would have
Speaker 1: in mind for Golden State? And do you think a
Speaker 1: healthy starting five of Steph Dennis cam if we can
Speaker 1: pull that off to Wiggins, Zion and Draymond and the
Speaker 1: bench with like three reliable role players can bring us
Speaker 1: another shit. Sorry for such a long question, but I
Speaker 1: need to hear your opinion. Have a good one. Again,
Speaker 1: this is really high risk, So like with me, for
Speaker 1: the Warriors, I keep saying this, but like they're an
Speaker 1: up and down team that's gonna stay afloat in the
Speaker 1: regular season. So I don't think they need to do
Speaker 1: anything until you get to early February. When you get
Speaker 1: to early February, it's about how desperate you are and
Speaker 1: what you're planning on doing, right. I tend to agree
Speaker 1: with you. A Cam Johnson deal that doesn't include Jonathan
Speaker 1: Kaminga is my favorite deal. I think Cam Johnson is
Speaker 1: a shoe in fit within the Warriors offense. If you
Speaker 1: can pull that off, that's the direction to go. I
Speaker 1: think that that has real ceiling raising potential with very
Speaker 1: little in the way of risk. Right, but there's a
Speaker 1: lot of people that could benefit from Cam Johnson. You
Speaker 1: might not win that bidding war. You might find yourself
Speaker 1: up against it in February and have to really go
Speaker 1: all in. When I look at the Zion fit, I
Speaker 1: saw this going around. Kevin O'Connor suggested it on his show.
Speaker 1: I think, if I remember, there's real upside. Zion when
Speaker 1: he's healthy is one of the hardest players in the
Speaker 1: lead to contain in terms of his dribble penetration. There's
Speaker 1: a lot to get excited about in terms of a
Speaker 1: Zion STEPH two man game. There's some complications the Draymon
Speaker 1: Zion fit in particular on both ends of the floor,
Speaker 1: meaning when Zion's looking to drive, he loves these slot drives.
Speaker 1: Or you get him on like the right wing, you
Speaker 1: create a gap where you have Steph spacing on the
Speaker 1: left wing above the break two corner spacers. Draymon's probably
Speaker 1: in the dunker spot, and Zion loves to just get
Speaker 1: to the high hesitation dribble with his left hand and
Speaker 1: then just try to get a left hand to drive
Speaker 1: towards the middle, and he's just gonna run into Draymon's
Speaker 1: man and help a lot of the in those situations.
Speaker 1: In in Steph Zion two man game, Draymon's man will
Speaker 1: be available and help a lot of the time. So
Speaker 1: there's some clunkiness there, but it's an undeniable influx of
Speaker 1: real offensive talent on the defensive end of the floor.
Speaker 1: I don't mean the fit in Draymon and Zion in
Speaker 1: terms of Draymond. I mean Draymond would have to find
Speaker 1: a way to help Zion on the floor as a
Speaker 1: coach and communicator to make sure that he could be
Speaker 1: a viable off ball defensive threat. Point is really high risk.
Speaker 1: So you wait till February and maybe that ends up
Speaker 1: being your best option. But you got to look at
Speaker 1: how things look when you get to early February, and
Speaker 1: we will we will talk about that when we get closer.
Speaker 1: But like there's a lot of risk with Zion, so
Speaker 1: you would just want to wait to see how things
Speaker 1: look in terms of the information when you get into
Speaker 1: that early February stretch. I would be lying to you
Speaker 1: if I didn't say I wanted to see what that
Speaker 1: looks like though, three more quick ones. As a depressed
Speaker 1: Warriors fan, what do you think would be a fun
Speaker 1: be team to watch? I'm looking for a team that
Speaker 1: has a unique and exciting star like Steph, but is
Speaker 1: also more winning. So both teams I'm watching aren't losing frequently.
Speaker 1: Thank you for all the content I see the Caaz dude,
Speaker 1: I've really really enjoyed watching them this season. Darius Garland
Speaker 1: in particular, as a player you guys will really enjoy watching.
Speaker 1: He reminds me of Steph in his ability to get
Speaker 1: wherever he wants on the floor, although Steph does it
Speaker 1: by weaponizing his shooting with elite ball handling. Darius Garland
Speaker 1: has like otherworldly quickness and it's really fun to watch
Speaker 1: him pick defenses apart Evan Mobley's a lot of fun
Speaker 1: to watch as well. They play hard every single night.
Speaker 1: They're super well coached. Their off ball player movement and
Speaker 1: connectivity on offense is top tier. They're an incredibly fun
Speaker 1: team to watch. Check out the Cleveland Cavaliers if you
Speaker 1: haven't done so yet. Next question mail back question Keon
Speaker 1: Ellis for the Lakers? Perfect? Yeah, Keon Ellis would is
Speaker 1: the ideal type of player I'd want next to Austin Reeves.
Speaker 1: But I don't think the Sacramento Kings are ever going
Speaker 1: to do a deal with the Los Angeles Lakers. They're
Speaker 1: just a team that I think would They know that
Speaker 1: their fan base because Kings fans love Keon Ellis. If
Speaker 1: you trade Keon Ellis to the Lakers, a team that
Speaker 1: all Kings fans hate, you will get your fan base
Speaker 1: to revolt on you. You'd have to have a pretty
Speaker 1: incredible return on that deal. Last question, did you catch
Speaker 1: the Ryan Roscillo podcast about three years ago and Colin
Speaker 1: Cowherd was the guest. Early in the show, Colin basically
Speaker 1: said you were Risillo, as in working harder than anyone
Speaker 1: everyone else in the business. Even mentioned that he told
Speaker 1: you to take weekends off and wanted you to spend
Speaker 1: some time with your wife. Also said knowing that everything
Speaker 1: also said knowing everything isn't what makes an a plus
Speaker 1: sports talk show host, but things like timing, humor, and
Speaker 1: some extra icing on the cake. I've noticed that I
Speaker 1: used to listen to every podcast episode you made in
Speaker 1: you first years of the volume, but haven't been able
Speaker 1: to do as much this year with the expanded coverage.
Speaker 1: So I'm wondering how have you taken Collin's comments to
Speaker 1: Ryan really appreciate the show and learning more about the
Speaker 1: teams I'm not familiar with. Keep up the great work
Speaker 1: and be sure to take some time off. So ironically,
Speaker 1: I was working out at the gym. My wife and
Speaker 1: I have a membership at this place called F forty five.
Speaker 1: It's my wife did it for years before I did it,
Speaker 1: and then I got kind of roped into trying it,
Speaker 1: and then I immediately fell in love with it because
Speaker 1: it's just an awesome basketball workout. A lot of conditioning
Speaker 1: related like strength, which is just awesome for basketball. Lot
Speaker 1: of like different types of leg strength exercises from different angles,
Speaker 1: different weight distributions, and a lot of these overtow stuff,
Speaker 1: a lot of single leg stuff, a lot of stuff
Speaker 1: that's just really good for basketball, and it's just been
Speaker 1: really good for me. I'm feeling great physically as a
Speaker 1: result of it. But I was working out an F
Speaker 1: forty five and this one of the guys in there
Speaker 1: that works out just ran up on me and was like, hey,
Speaker 1: I was listening to the Rasillo podcast the other day
Speaker 1: and they shouted you out, you need to check it out.
Speaker 1: And I listened to that bit. And it's kind of
Speaker 1: funny because, to make a long story short, like this
Speaker 1: was a dream of mine to work in this business.
Speaker 1: I like worked two jobs for a while to try
Speaker 1: to make it happen. And when I got my opportunity,
Speaker 1: I became like paranoid or terrified of losing my opportunity,
Speaker 1: losing my footing in the business, so to speak. And
Speaker 1: so I worked with a layer of desperation, especially in
Speaker 1: the first two years, to where I would work on vacation.
Speaker 1: I was taking travel equipment with me. I was doing
Speaker 1: six episodes a week during the regular season, fourteen episodes
Speaker 1: a week during the postseason. I was just killing myself
Speaker 1: and shout out to my wife and my friends and
Speaker 1: stuff and family at home for being supportive of that,
Speaker 1: but I was. It was stupid. I shouldn't have done that,
Speaker 1: but I did because I just really really wanted to
Speaker 1: make this work. And Colin Logan, our head of content
Speaker 1: at the volume, those guys were all behind the scenes
Speaker 1: so supportive of me taking more time off and more importantly,
Speaker 1: like when I'm taking time off not working, like I
Speaker 1: remember recording multiple videos out of my cruise ship room
Speaker 1: on an Alaskan cruise in the summer of a couple
Speaker 1: of years ago. You have any idea how stupid that is.
Speaker 1: That's so dumb, Like why was I doing that? It
Speaker 1: was the summer, Like it's just not necessary, but like
Speaker 1: it was just kind of the way that I was
Speaker 1: doing it. And this year I did so much better.
Speaker 1: I went on my ski trips, didn't work, Like did
Speaker 1: little basic things like pre recording content so that I
Speaker 1: could take the occasional three day weekend here or there
Speaker 1: or over the summer. When we got into that like
Speaker 1: August September stretch, you guys saw I only did new
Speaker 1: episodes on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. There's just no reason
Speaker 1: to kill myself during that time. Of the year when
Speaker 1: there wasn't anything to talk about really right, And so
Speaker 1: I've been better at it. I think I could probably
Speaker 1: still get better. My wife is still talking to me
Speaker 1: about trying to cut back. I struggle with that. I
Speaker 1: feel like I've already kind of cut back to the
Speaker 1: point where I'm comfortable. But we'll see how it evolves
Speaker 1: over the years. It's just I know what it's like
Speaker 1: being a fan of a show. I'm still a fan
Speaker 1: of some shows and wanting to have new content, and
Speaker 1: I just I know that that matters to you guys.
Speaker 1: And I always feel this like anxiety about covering teams
Speaker 1: like I will you know, obviously I hit the Lakers
Speaker 1: and Warrior, Celtics, those teams a lot. But then there's
Speaker 1: like this group of you know, fifteen other teams that
Speaker 1: are relevant in the league that I'm always rotating through,
Speaker 1: and I always just feel this, like, God, I got
Speaker 1: to hit this team, Like I really need to hit
Speaker 1: this team. Like there's some teams, Like there's some teams
Speaker 1: that I feel that anxiety now, like I need to
Speaker 1: find time to hit this team. I need to feel
Speaker 1: time to hit that team, and like like then I'll
Speaker 1: look back at my feed and I'll be like, I've
Speaker 1: hit on twenty five teams in the last three weeks,
Speaker 1: Like why am I you know, why am I so
Speaker 1: concerned about this? But it's just like a lot of times,
Speaker 1: it just is that that anxiety that kind of leads
Speaker 1: me to just do that extra episode, force that extra
Speaker 1: thing that I probably shouldn't but I'm getting I'm getting
Speaker 1: better at it as time goes on, and I think
Speaker 1: the big thing that I just want to say, you know,
Speaker 1: since we're at the end here, like, uh, you know,
Speaker 1: it's been three years as of February first, and this
Speaker 1: has become such a cool thing to watch grow. And
Speaker 1: I'm just incredibly thankful for you guys, because I just
Speaker 1: wouldn't have this opportunity. I wouldn't have the setup that
Speaker 1: I have right now if it wasn't for you guys
Speaker 1: and supporting me and supporting the show. I just I
Speaker 1: am just incredibly thankful for you guys, and I could
Speaker 1: never express it enough. But that's all I have for
Speaker 1: today and for this weekend is always I sincerely appreciate
Speaker 1: you guys. I hope you guys enjoy the weekend, enjoy
Speaker 1: some relaxation. We will be back on Monday with our
Speaker 1: usual routine power rankings in the whole bit. I'll see
Speaker 1: you guys then the volume. What's up guys. As always,
Speaker 1: I appreciate you for listening to and supporting hoops tonight.
Speaker 1: It would actually be really helpful for us if you
Speaker 1: guys would take a second and leave a rating and
Speaker 1: a review. As always, I appreciate you guys supporting us,
Speaker 1: but if you could take a minute to do that,
Speaker 1: I'd really appreciate it.